“I’ll give you till the count of three!” Anna yelled at the intruder, still aiming her bow at the forest. “You better step out of those bushes and show yourself before I finish!”

“One. Two. Thr-”

“W-wait!” A new voice shouted from within the woods. It was male, given how deep and rough it was. “We are walking out!”

Anna’s eyes widened, and she lowered her bow. I had yet to see them because of the angle. Soon enough, two figures stepped out of the shrubbery with their arms raised. A man and a woman came into view as we got closer to Anna. They looked old, although still younger than Dr. Blake. There were barely any wrinkles on their faces, and both of them had silver-blond hair. The clothes they wore under their leaf patterned cloaks looked like something straight out of a history book. The element that stood out the most about this elderly couple, however, was without a doubt the unusual trait they shared with Anna. Those long ears both of them possessed.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Anna asked.

“We should be asking the same thing from you, child.” The man replied. He spoke slowly, as if trying not to make a mistake. His accent was thick, and definitely one I didn’t recognise. “Why would you consider living between humans?” He then turned to look at us. “That is meant to all of you. A giant, a vampire, and… whatever you two may be. Do you know not how dangerous they are?”

Anna frowned at his words. “What do you mean, dangerous? Are you guys from Kelpont? Do you know them, Alex?”

“I’ve never seen them before,” the vampire replied with a shrug.

The man grumbled. “We have not the time. If you want replies, you need to come with us, away from the humans.” Both elves didn’t think twice before turning around and walking towards the forest.

“Listen, old man,” Anna shouted, raising her bow once more. “I don’t know what your problem might be, but I don’t think you’re in position to demand anything.”

The man whipped his head back at her. “How can you not know!?”

His companion, who had been quiet the whole time, placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him. “Illy ven siad nyg, Vik.” Her voice was melodic, and whatever she said seemed to calm the man down.

He sighed deeply. “Dæn ven lint.” He looked back to Anna and spoke in our language once more. “I apologise. My beloved is correct. You are... excessively young to know. I will explain, only not here. I beg of you. We will wait by your cabin, next to the shore of the lake.”

At that moment both of them disappeared, not by walking deeper into the forest, no. They literally vanished into thin air.

“What the- Wait!” Anna shouted. She then lowered her weapon and looked at us. “What should we do?”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Alex replied. “Or do you need me to point out all the things that made no sense from this encounter?”

Anna sighed. “No, you’re right. We need answers, and I think this will be the only chance we’ll get to ask them. All in favour?”

---<>----------<>----------<>---

The lake was the farthest point from the investigation centre that still counted as our own territory. It was likely the reason they chose this location. There was no one when we arrived. Despite that, we all took seats by the cabin, where we found a table with enough seats for the group. Allison sat on the grass behind me, and Sylvia moved her wheelchair next to me.

“Thank you for coming,” the old man said from somewhere within the trees. Both elves then materialised right next to the table. “I know introductions are in order. The name of this one is Viken Deinast, and this is my beloved, Belaury.”

Odd names.

We all exchanged looks of confusion before Anna took the initiative to introduce us.

“Nice to meet you both. My name is Anna Blake.”

The old man narrowed his eyes. “Blake?”

Anna nodded. “Yes, and these are Alexander Barlow, Allison Zeul, Nora Hayes, and Sylvia Warren,” she said, pointing at each of us with an open palm.

“Tel Kyetun trun om sial virion nem,” Belaury muttered, covering her mouth to hide a short snicker. Viken didn’t find it funny, and neither did we. Though it was clearly for different reasons.

“Pardon?” Anna finally asked.

“We deeply apologise for my beloved’s rudeness.” Viken bowed to us, pushing his wife’s head down as he did. Looking up to see our puzzled faces, he continued, “I suspected this early, but... could it truly be that not one of you speaks Geilspræn?”

“I’m sorry,” Anna answered, shaking her head. “No one has spoken anything other than the Common Tongue in centuries. If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

Viken nodded slowly. “It is fine, I suppose. We understand it is important to adapt. Alas, it is a shame to forget your uh... urxures?”

The last word was aimed at his wife, who got closer and whispered in his ear.

After hearing, he nodded. “Your roots, yes. To answer your question, this one is nine hundred and two years of age. Bel is eight hundred and seventy years of age.”

“I-I see,” Anna replied, smiling awkwardly. “Anyway, what brings you here?”

“You, Miss Blake. Do you have not an idea of how much we have longed to see another of our kin? We had lost all... hope, yes. We could not believe our eyes when you appeared.”

“It was you, right?” Anna accused them with her finger. “The ones who played the same music Nora did.”

Viken bobbed his head, acknowledging the fact.

“Why would you give yourselves away like that if you fear humans so much?”

“We did no such thing, Miss Blake. We used an Alyud.” The man responded with a smile. After a long silence, he snorted at our blank stares and explained. “A wind instrument. Only our kin can hear one from far. We used it in the past to find others. Now, it is only... recreational. We did not recognise the instrument you used, but it contains, no… it has the same effect. When we heard it, we thought an elf or dræll was attempting to communicate with us. We played as a reply. We were vonyd, uh, delighted, when we saw you.”

Anna frowned. “Okay... Then, why did you hide if you were so excited to see me?”

“That’s because of your clothes, child,” Belaury answered, finally using the common tongue. Unlike her husband, she had no accent and spoke fluently.

“Bel? Vet Dæn boren dur orind?” Viken asked, placing a hand on her shoulder with an incredulous stare.

She smiled wryly at him and shrugged before she looked back at us. “It wouldn’t be the first time humans tried to lure us by disguising themselves as elves. An elf-girl wearing such an attire didn’t make sense to us, so we had to make sure you were real. In fact, we were just heading out to investigate when we saw this flying rat circling the lake.”

What did she call me!?

Viken immediately grabbed his wife’s head and repeated the bow from earlier. “Once more, we apologise for the rudeness of my beloved, Miss... Hayes was it?”

“Uh, yes. It’s fine,” I said with a wave, now more confused than irritated. “I think…”

Belaury broke free from his grasp and straightened herself. “Yes, yes, sorry. Anyway, disguising as an elf is one thing, but for a human to grow wings and fly? We knew that this little shit was the real deal, so we came looking for answers.”

I couldn’t help frowning at her insult. Viken merely craned his head backwards, as if pleading to the sky. I felt bad for him.

“Speaking of which.” Her gaze focused on me. “What are you to begin with? I’ve never seen anything like you in my entire life.”

Despite her annoying insults, I remained calm and answered properly, trying to give Viken some peace of mind. “I am a demon, ma’am.” He did look relieved with my answer.

Belaury raised an eyebrow. “Demon, huh? That’s a new one to me. What about you?” She asked Sylvia. “You resemble a human, and yet, I can see there are some differences. Faint, but enough that I don’t feel disgust towards you.”

“M-me? I, well, I’m-”

“She’s a demon too, ma’am.” I replied instead. “Will be, at least.”

“Could it be?” Viken raised an eyebrow and hummed. “Demons are created from humans, yes?”

“Yes,” Anna nodded. “Although it’s not by choice. In fact, we’re all the same. It may be hard to believe, but I was not born an elf. We changed because of a mistake other people made. Something we call a virus.”

“We know what a virus is, child,” Belaury scoffed. “We’re old, not idiots. In any case, I can’t say I’m surprised. Your name is proof enough of your human lineage.” She then chuckled. “It was about time the gods corrected what those animals did when they tried to take their place.”

Anna shook her head. “No gods were involved. It was all a human mistake. They were trying to give us the ability to use magic.”

“Right, and those morons somehow ended up bringing back at least three of the six races they worked so hard to eradicate centuries ago.” Belaury laughed. “No, child, that’s no mere coincidence.”

“Eradicate?” Alex asked with a faint smile. It creeped me out a little. “Would you mind telling us what happened?”

Belaury’s face darkened. Her knuckles turned white from how hard she clenched her fists.

“I shall take it from here.” Viken said, placing his arm around her shoulders. “Centuries ago, there were seven races that... inhabited Eizt, uh, the world. Elves had the highest magical prowess, close followed by the Dræll. Next were the Vampires, Giants, and Dwarfs. Finally, the Gnomes and Humans had none.

“Regardless of our differences, most of the races lived peacefully. We respected each other. Humans were not, uh... hostile, and we did have amicable interactions with most of their kingdoms, so, while we knew of their… nïd?”

“Envy,” Belaury corrected.

“Gradys,” he nodded at her. “While we knew of their envy towards those who could use magic, we never considered them a danger. All changed a little over six hundred years ago. We know not what caused it, but the humans suddenly declared war on the magical races. There was no… diplomacy. They simply attacked.

“Our capital was the first to fall. It did so in one night. We thought we were ready for them when their army showed up to our gates. That confidence was our mistake. They found an ally in the gnomes, who lived under the protection of those stronger than them, including us. We expected an attack from outside, and the small traitors stabbed our backs. No, not stabbed... shot us with their firearms. Such wicked creation. One they hid from us until we could not do anything about it.

“The travelling giants and lonely vampires were the next ones to fall. They were easy… prey, yes, that is it. Majority of the survivors were forced to move with the dwarfs and dræll. We knew it was useless.”

“Why?” I asked.

“It was clear that those cities would fall soon enough,” Belaury answered, finally calm enough to continue. “We had the strongest military, you see. Humans knew this, which is why they took us out of the picture before we had time to react. From there, it was only a matter of time for them to overwhelm the others with their evil technology and sheer numbers.

“Because of that, many of us went into hiding. Vik and I thought our best chance was staying close to our lost capital. It was a risky move considering how humans had taken it as their commanding centre, but we assumed they wouldn’t expect us to hide right under their noses.”

“Seeing how you’re still here, I can tell it was the wisest choice,” Alex commented.

“Thank you for your compliment,” Belaury gave him an honest smile. One that faded almost as soon as it came. “But you’re only partially right. Although rarely, they did come searching for survivors. In fact, they killed so many others who thought the same as us, we were simply lucky they never found us.

“The frequency of those expeditions diminished with time. They never stopped, even centuries after the war, yet they became so scarce and easy going that we had the chance to begin our own search. Though, as you can tell, it wasn’t successful. Not until now.”

Anna crossed her arms and thought for a moment. “That’s a lot of information to digest. It conflicts with everything we knew from the past”

“Do you doubt us, Miss Blake?” Viken spoke, narrowing his eyes.

She shook her head. “No. At least not completely. It’s hard to deny anything when you’re the living proof of it. I just have so many questions.”

“Ask away, then. We still have time to answer a few of them,” Belaury answered with a playful grin.

Anna stood up and pulled her phone out. “Hold on. Could you wait a bit? It’ll be better if my father is around to hear this, too. I’m sure he’ll love to meet you.”

Belaury’s smile turned into a grimace, and she grabbed Anna’s shoulder, interrupting her. “Is your father human?”

Anna bit her lip. “Well, yes. He’s the one in charge of this place, though. He can help.”

“No,” Belaury replied curtly. “We refuse to show ourselves to humans. I already went far enough by breaking one of the vows I made so I could talk with you. I won’t break another.”

“We were human just a few weeks ago, how is that different?”

“It’s in their blood, child. That’s something you left behind when you became one of us. It may seem ridiculous, but I’ve seen enough to know.”

“Then what about them?” Anna asked, pointing at Sylvia and me. She gave me an apologetic look as she did. “How can you blindly trust demons aren’t the same if you’ve never met any?”

“It’s not blind trust, child. We simply believe in giving others a chance until proven wrong. In a sense, that’s why we lost. We accepted the humans and the gnomes, just like we did any other. Now we know we can be betrayed, and we will be cautious; however, it would be unfair to not give this new race a chance because of something others did. We will trust the gods and their decision to create them.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Look, I understand why you might be reluctant, but that was centuries ago. People change. You just said it. You can’t hold us responsible for the mistakes our ancestors made.”

Belaury snorted at her words. “You’re naïve, child, just like we were.”

“You’re not making any sense! And can you stop with the child thing? I don’t care if you’re a thousand or a million years old, you’re more of a child for doing this when I’m trying to have a serious conversation here. Or could it be that you’ve gone senile and can’t tell what it means to be an adult?”

Belaury raised an eyebrow and laughed. “You may think of yourself as an adult by human standards, but you’re an elf now, child. And unless your ‘human mistake’ changed the rules of our biology, you’ve got quite a few decades before your menarche.”

We went speechless. If what she said was true, it explained why only two races had been confirmed as fertile. Most of us were simply too young. If that was for elves, what did it mean for demons and giants who aged so slowly?

She laughed openly. “You didn’t know? That’s simply how the gods decided to balance our long lifespans. All right, if you have so much confidence in mankind, why are you here, hiding in the forest like us? Isn’t it because you’re scared of what humans might do if they see you? Don’t try to deny it either.”

She was right. Anna and Allison kept looking down whilst Alex calmly nodded. He seemed to agree with Belaury rather than being hurt about her insulting his former race. Oddly enough, I was in a similar situation. It did annoy me that she kept denigrating humans, mostly because of my friends and family, but that was all. If anything, I felt some sympathy for the old couple. They went through a lot, after all.

What surprised me the most, though, was that Sylvia seemed indifferent to those comments as well. Even more than I was.

She growled earlier, too.

Is her mind changing along with her body instead of later?

“I thought so,” Belaury continued when she received no objections. “That’s to be expected from the race that betrayed their own allies when they were no longer useful to them.”

“You mean the gnomes?” Alex asked, lacing his fingers before placing his chin on top of them. Forget about not minding, he seemed to be enjoying the rather harsh history lesson.

“Yes, the little sycophants. Ingenious creatures, albeit with the common sense of a toddler. They fell for the humans’ honeyed words and suspected nothing until it was too late. Being so close to the action meant we got to see it firsthand. Hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny bodies being dropped into pits and burned. Can’t say I felt pity towards them. They had it coming.”

Anna closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Okay, I understand where you’re coming from now. Still, it’s my father we’re talking about. He wouldn’t do anything that could bring harm to me.”

She only earned another snort from Belaury. “You should’ve told that to my daughter’s husband. Maybe then he wouldn’t have murdered his family in cold blood.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Anna said, looking down once more.

“Don’t be.” Belaury shrugged and looked away. “It’s been centuries. The pain is long gone.”

“Hold on, your son-in-law was human?” Alex asked, wide eyed.

Belaury scowled and yelled, “That monster was not my son!”

The vampire could only raise his hands in surrender. “My bad.”

“Didn’t you just say the pain was long gone?” Anna remarked. This had suddenly become a game of toxicity.

“You’ll learn sooner or later, child,” Belaury replied calmly. “With our lifespans, not letting go of something that hurts you could mean centuries of suffering, but it is our hatred and distrust of humans that made this meeting possible in the first place. There’s a clear difference.”

Anna simply stared in silence as the older elf continued her rant.

Not interested in all that bickering, Alex returned to his previous position before speaking to the husband. “May I call you Viken?”

The elder nodded. “You may.”

“I have a few more questions regarding what your wife said. Monster or not, he was your grandchildren’s father, right? Are half-elves a thing, then?”

“Yes,” Viken calmly replied with another nod. “If the father is human, and the mother is an elf, the children will be... mixed. A human mother will have human children, always.”

“I see.” Alex hummed before throwing another question. “What if the mother is ‘mixed’?”

“It depends on the father. The children will be the same as him.”

“Aha…” Alex nodded slowly. “In other words, genetic rules are completely thrown out of the window.” His comment made me smile. Seeing how Viken’s eyebrow raised, he waved his hand. “Don’t mind that. It’s nothing important.”

“Alright,” Anna said loudly, getting our attention back. “I won’t tell my father if that makes you feel safe, but why must we go with you, why can’t you stay with us in secret?”

“And why would we do that? Our goal was to take you to safety, and it’s clear to me that you’d rather stay here,” Belaury replied.

Alex then raised a hand. “Actually, I-”

Anna cleared her throat, interrupting him. “Even so, I think we could both benefit from it. You can share your knowledge with us, and you will get the chance to meet more elves. I’m the only one here at the moment, but I can guarantee more of us will come with time.”

Belaury tapped the corner of her lips as she pondered on the idea. She then let out a heavy sigh. “It’s true that we prefer the company, and it would be a shame if we left this realm without properly guiding a new generation. I suppose we can come to an agreement. Do you swear to the eight gods that you’ll keep our secret from any human to the best of your abilities?”

Anna gave her a wry smile. “I’m afraid I’m not religious, Mrs. Deinast. Wouldn’t it be pointless?”

The elder laughed. “Just call me Bel. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure to fix that soon enough. It’s not a problem for now, though. Whether you believe in them or not doesn’t affect the validity of your oath. If you dare break it, the gods will punish you, just like they will punish me for speaking your common tongue again.”

“What is the punishment for such a thing?” Alex asked with interest.

“It is the job of Oring, he whose domain is order and justice, to dictate her... sentence.” Viken answered. “The punishment is, uh, equivalent to the importance of the oath and the harm it causes if broken.”

Anna shrugged at the explanation. “If you’re fine with it, then yes, I swear to the eight gods that I will do my best to keep you hidden from any human.” She smiled and added, “Unless you choose otherwise.”

Belaury burst in laughter. “Wise of you to add an escape clause. I’ll allow it this time. You have to be careful, though. The other party can shut down any terms that weren’t agreed upon before the oath.” She then turned to look at the rest of us. “Do you all agree to fulfil this oath as well?”

The four of us nodded. She closed her eyes and faced the sky with open arms. “May the gods reward you for keeping your promise or punish you for breaking it.” After the odd, yet short, ritual was over, she said, “Now that we have your word, we’ll return home.”

“So soon?” Alex asked, clearly disappointed.

“I’m afraid so,” Belaury answered, covering herself with the hood of her cloak. “It’s getting late, and we weren’t expecting to show ourselves yet. We also need some time to think about what we’ve learned from you. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Anna sighed in response. “We understand. We’ll see you tomorrow then.”

The couple then stood up and bowed to us before they walked towards the forest. Just before they disappeared, Viken looked back. “Expect us to be here at noon.”

After waving them goodbye, we returned to the training grounds and stayed there another hour before it got dark.