Author's note

Ok the time has come to start the next book. Unfortunately, the artwork I had commissioned did not get finished on time for me to include it before this chapter's release. Well, enjoy the new Arc, I have been excited to wrap up this major arc of the story and have one particular scene I really am having a hard time waiting to get to. Unfortunately, it will require a lot of stage-setting still.

The last arc was hyper-focused on the capital and the court. I somewhat intend for the scope of this arc to be a bit more broad and cover at minimum 3 key regions (including the capital) but this experience has taught me that things do not always go according to the initial plan.

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Arc 3: Earth's dark influence

1st Act: Gathering strength

??? POV

Deep beneath the ground, black feathered wings bearing the mark of betrayal. Blood. A clawed hand reaches out for an innocent. A scream of pain and a sense of having been wronged rises from the freshly spilled blood.

From above, black roots. The creature fears the roots, and grasps out for the innocent all the more desperately. And then, the clawed hand is struck. The blood drips from the hand directly onto the innocent soul.

The scene suddenly shifts. As the roots penetrate deeper and deeper beneath the surface, a swarm of insects flees the approach. All of them converge on a tree with green roots that is bathed in light. The insects rise up from the ground around the tree with green roots, while some stay to gnaw at the roots of the tree. A great roar, and then the tree falls.

-

Sainel’s POV

“Master Sainel!” The hunter captain cried out in shock and concern as Sainel slumped over in her seat clutching her head.

Sainel held up a hand to the concerned hunter captain. “It is alright Eziril.” She said, sitting herself back up. “I merely had a disturbing vision. It was like a trance dream, but I was fully awake and aware. It was… strange, and disturbing. Especially those wings.”

“Wings? What kind of wings?” Eziril asked.

“Black feathered wings, like those of a crow.” Sainel answered with a dark edge to her voice.

“So, wings but not the bird they were attached to?”

“No, I could not clearly see what they were attached to, but I got the sense it was an anthromorph of some form, as though it were a male harpy.”

“Male? You are certain about that?” Eziril responded with a skeptical tone. “Well, that is rather strange. And you say the wings were black?”

“Yes, but it seemed to have far more power than a harpy should ever have as well. But, somehow the power felt… familiar, and dark. After seeing those wings, I feel as though there is something waking up inside of me. It’s like a memory from before my life as an elf.”

“Memories from before your life as an elf!?” Eziril responded with more shock than anything said so far. “That would be a first, now wouldn’t it?” She waved the thought off dismissively.

“Hm, It wouldn’t actually. Don’t you remember? Our new princess is a grey elf, and she has retained all her memories from her previous life.”

“Magus Sainel, I do not mean to disrespect you, but you are several hundred years old. How could you suddenly recover your previous life’s memories at such an age? Comparing yourself to the princess, she was born with her previous life’s memories, was she not?”

“I know! I know that, but… this all feels very important. There was something dark and evil in those wings, and somehow it feels like I had a mission in my previous life to stop whatever it was.”

“Well, I am unsure about any of that, but… we may want to continue readying ourselves. The dragon who will bring the jury members back to the carravan has already called to have them gather. If we are unable to ride along with them, we will have to venture across the barrens of the heaven’s scar on foot.”

“Hah! They have us come here to serve as witnesses for a trial that is canceled before we are to make our appearance, and now they will not even give us a lift back to our village. I do understand that the nobility is becoming stretched thin by the crisis with the dryads and having to fight the demons at the same time, but this still seems like rather poor treatment.” Sainel scoffs.

“Well, we can just be glad someone was able to negotiate for the jururs to be returned, it is because of that we managed to at least get a ride to the edge of the heaven’s scar.”

“And then it is a week on foot to return to the village through demon infested territory, and you shall only be armed with a few wooden spears and small dryad sword.” Sainel said, gesturing to the sharp-edged wooden sword at Eziril’s hip. “Well, at least they all have the power of the great tree. This should be enough to ward off anything short of an alra une.”

“I am not so concerned about alra unes. We will be quite mobile with only two people on foot. They can be easily avoided. I am not so concerned, we will be able to make it back to the village without much trouble.”

“Yes, back to the village.” Sainel muses with her hand on her chin.

“Master Sainel, are you feeling unwell?” Eziril asks. “It is unlike you to fret this much, and especially to complain about the nobility as you have been.”

“I just feel… like it is a bad idea to return to the village. I suppose that must be what is going on.”

“Whah!!” Eziril stared at the magus Sainel with her mouth agape. “What… ma-master Sainel, what do you mean!?”

“Exactly what I just said Eziril. It makes sense now. It is the same sense I had before, I will be needed here. I cannot leave. That is what all of that complaining was about, I was simply trying to find an excuse to stay without realizing it.” Magus Sainel’s face was far more assured now as she looked up at her companion. “You may do as you like. However, I will be remaining here. You may take a ride with the jurors in order to return to the village, or even join the caravan. Or, you can decide to remain here along with me. If my vision proves to be true though, I get the feeling that the battle with the demons will escalate, and this will be the center of a great conflict. You will be safer outside of the capital.”

Eziril stared skeptically back at the magus, trying to make up her mind about all that was just said. However, her face turned resolute as she seemed to have made a decision. “Well, if what you say is true, then I believe my place is right here at your side Master Sainel.”

Sainel grinned. “You are a very noble woman Eziril. I am the magus of the village that came to yours, and it was a member of our hunters who said the word to Everon that started this whole mess. And yet, you have decided to stand by me to be my shield?”

“It is as you say, there is a lot for our people to be angry at yours for, and just as much for yours to be angry at us. However, we as the representatives of the two villages must come together to be an example to our people. In the spirit of this, I will treat you exactly as I would the magus of my own village.”

Sainel nodded. “I see. Well, that is truly admirable. Well, let’s make this a good working relationship and be an excellent set of role models for our people.”

-

Aerien’s POV

Of those that would oppress you, there are those who are callous and who do not care for the lives of those who they oppress. If you are living under such an oppressor, their eyes will turn to you any time they want something from you. When this happens, you need only give it, and soon their eyes will turn away and they will leave you alone.

The oppressor who does not care whether you even live or die is an oppressor you can survive under quite easily. So long as you learn the rules, you can even prosper. However, the truly frightening thing, the thing you need to fear the most, is the oppressor who oppresses you out of an sense of virtue. The oppressor who feels what they are doing is for your own good. Such an oppressor will never leave you alone, and will never turn their eyes away. They will merely take and take from you until you have nothing left, and every time you try to get back to your feet they will take from you once again.

I am not certain if the queen can be entirely categorized as the oppressor who does not care about me. It is certain that she at least wants something from me. To her, I am a tool. In that way, it may even be easy to prosper under her. At the very least, she would want her tool to be sharp. However, I can say for certain that Dryad absolutely fits the bill of the oppressor who cares too much.

Dryad is way too volatile, and clearly has an ambitious plan far beyond their abilities to implement. A plan that will cause a lot of trouble if and when it starts going wrong. No, even if this plan of theirs goes right it will cause trouble. Both times I have seen them move has proven that beyond any shadow of a doubt. The first time resulted in hundreds of deaths in the village of my birth. The second time, it involved kidnapping my mother and the man who was the closest thing to a father I have ever had in this life. Neither one of them were exactly what I would call the best parent material, but I could tell that Eirlathion at least cared for me. As for my birth mother, well… I could understand she was going through a lot. She likely never wanted for us to be born, but I do want to believe that one day she may accept Gaerien and I.

Dryad though, Dryad took them away from me. I do not believe they would be dead, Dryad would want those two alive every single bit as much as I would. I cannot tell for certain whether or not they had their own selfish reasons for wanting Eirlathion and my mother, but at the very least I am certain part of it is because they felt painting themselves as the bad guy in my life would somehow be good for me. The proof, they also took mister Steven, and made certain Sagel would bring this imp mister Steven was protecting into my care.

“So, what exactly are we going to do with this guy?” I asked Gaerien and the boys.

[Hmph! So, this little pipsqueak speaks this stupid language like that coward as well, huh?] The imp bit back in a very unpleasant tone. [This is all just pure torture. I am about ready to give up on you fools, how about just letting me out to go join the demons if you aren’t going to kill me.]

I decided to pretend not to understand any of what he just said. Instead, I turned to Gaerien. “I am going to guess Dryad thinks we might have some way to reverse his demonization. At the very least, I feel it would be a violation of some form of trust to simply kill him after mister Steven, who stood up as Eirlathion’s defense and got captured for his troubles, went through so much trouble to care for this guy. I feel curing him could be some way that I could pay him back for his efforts.”

“Umm…” Gaerien responded and then reached her little baby hand out to me. Of course, a conversation of this sort would be too much for her mouth and oral motor skills to relay correctly. So, I was limited to our contact telepathy, as Rolwen had named it. I took her hand and looked in her direction. ‘Well, divine energy has the ability to cancel out arcane energy, but there is a problem. My divinity is attuned to destroy fey, and he’s a demonized fairy.’

‘Well, I guess that’s no good then, huh?’

‘Yeah, if it was an orc or an ogre, or even a werewolf, I could easily turn them back into humans or whatever else. But, for a fairy, he would be dead before I could purge the arcane energy.’

‘So, does this mean our option is to find a god of this world to cure him?’ I asked.

‘I doubt they would extend their power to heal an imp back into a fairy on the word of an elf. Most deities would see little benefit in aiding a fey.’

‘Hmmm…’

‘There IS one other way though.’ Gaerien said. ‘It is probably impossible here, but if we were to take him away from here he might be able to purge the arcane energies on his own. You see, there is a difference between the arcane magic used by humans and fey, and the demonic magic used by demons. Demons actually consume arcane energy instead of mana. They instinctively prefer areas dense in arcane energy, but if he were to be taken to an area where there were thin or no arcane energy and begin using magic then eventually he would revert to his natural state as he is forced to consume the arcane energy in his own body.’

‘Well, that’s going to be much easier said than done.’

‘I suppose the best way would be for you to endear yourself to the queen as you mentioned in the training room.’

‘Yes, I believe so.’ Well then, time to go ask that my blade be sharpened, and I just so happen to have the perfect subject to ask about.

-

Oren’s POV

‘Changeling Sagel, while I do appreciate you appearing before me to give report, is it entirely safe for you to be here at this time? My daughter is in a tumultuous state at the moment, I do NOT want for her cooperation to be at risk for a careless move from you.’

‘I must confess your majesty, it is not entirely safe. She has already begun to distrust me. However, she is preoccupied at the moment in regards to a minor puzzle the dryad left for her. Given this opportunity, I felt your majesty would like to receive an update on the princess' state of mind given recent events.’

‘Very well, give your report. How has my daughter reacted to the recent events?’

‘She was disturbed by the dryad’s actions, however she became absolutely enraged to an entirely new degree when she deduced something I had only suspected when I was told by the dryad to secure the safety of that imp. It seems the dryad’s actions in kidnapping those three individuals was entirely fueled by the dryad wishing to manipulate the princess in some way. The exact purpose is not entirely clear to me, but going by her track record, I believe her highness will likely be the first to figure it out.’

‘Hmm… this is understandable. I would like to know though, how has she reacted to the dryad’s attempts to sow discord between her and me?’

‘She also does not seem all that positively inclined toward your majesty, however, she has verbally stated her intention to forge a positive working relationship with you on a surface level at the very least. It seems she feels such an action would be the reverse of the dryad’s desire. As such, her active attempts to forge a relationship with you are an expression of her anger toward the dryad.’

‘This is not the greatest possible attitude while handling a dryad.’ Oren laments. ‘However, if it does not trigger a reaction from her oath, I believe we shall have to trust my daughter’s judgement. I have become convinced of it after seeing the ways in which Aerien thinks. The frightening intelligence expressed by this dryad comes entirely from her. This dryad awakened under her energy, and it is her spirit energy which fed the development of this dryad’s mind. It is frightening, Aerien’s intelligence in the package of a far less mature mind. However, Aerien is the one who would best understand what would and would not be an appropriate way to handle this situation.’

‘I suppose that would be true, so long as her judgement is not impaired by her anger.’ Sagel said, and then raised up his head suddenly. ‘Ah, I apologize for being abrupt before your majesty but…’

‘My daughter is currently on her way, I know. Isanil just told me. Go.’

With a bow of his head, the changeling vanished in the teleportation glow of the fairy circle he had never left since his arrival.

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Subscriber's comment of the chapter

"when it got to the Sainel part i was like who the fk is dat lol"

                                                                                                      -Roy

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Well, hopefully the context cleared up Roy's, as well as the rest of your confusion in regards to who Sainel was. Actually, there is really 1 reason why Sainel was the starter for this chapter. I decided on a rule for the significance of certain things I was going to include in this series that are as important as the use of the color red  in the 6th sense. However, as I was writing, I realized I had messed up and accidentally included this series' equivalent of that color red in Sainel's character without meaning to. Well, I had to fix that this arc, and I decided to fix it by re-directing her character in a way that would make her fit the profile of people who have that aspect which I will not name.

Actually, altering her character in this way should add an extremely interesting wrinkle to this arc. I feel most authors would try to retroactively fix her character and remove those things I had accidentally included with her, but since my mind has been shaped by a board-game called "go," I refuse to take back a move and instead am going to work with it as it is. This was not planned, but being forced to work around it ought to make things incredibly interesting.

Anyway, bottom line, Sainel was never meant to have all that large a role, but this little writing mistake forced me to elevate her significance several levels. That's part of why you might not remember her as well, but she was significant enough in the last 2 books that it wasn't all THAT hard to justify her continued presence in the plot.