“The last time Tasio answered my prayer, I was dumped into a monster-infested forest.”
Annala crossed her arms. “Now you’re in a forest infested with elves, including your girlfriend.”
Eric shrugged and took another bite.
“Do you want to learn how to shapeshift or not?”
“Yes.” Eric swallowed again. “That would be nice.”
“Then you need to create an elven identity. You yourself said that you couldn’t control your grendel side until you accepted that you were the grendel side.”
Eric finished the granola bar with one more bite of his grendel teeth. Then he wadded up the wrapper and tossed it back into his grendel stomach as well. It was all the same to a creature such as himself.
“Incorrect! I gained control over my grendel side by realizing that there is no grendel side. There is only me.”
Annala sighed and took his right hand in both of hers. Looking into his eyes she asked, “You want to be with me, right?”
“Yes.”
“And get along with my family?”
“Of course.”
“And fit in with my culture?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then you have to do this! At least pretend and go through the motions.”
“Fine. What do I do?”
With her right hand, Annala touched her forehead and then her left elbow. With her left hand, she touched her forehead and then her right elbow. Pushing her fists together, she bowed her head and said, “Lady Chaos, hear my prayer. Fill my soul with hope, my mind with clarity, and my body with zeal; give me the fuel to make my dreams real.”
She released her hands and lifted her head.
“That’s it. It works better than coffee. I should know because I’ve done both, or rather, I used to.” She tugged her ear. “It doesn’t work as well for me anymore, but it’s a habit that I developed.”
Eric bounced on his toes. “I feel pretty good! Imagine the money I could save on energy drinks...yeah, I could get used to this!”
“It worked for you? But how?!”
“He may not act like it, but he’s a pious believer at heart,” said a voice above them. “He keeps a shrine to me in his home and pours his heart out every day.”
Both of them looked up to see Tasio clinging to the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” they asked.
“Pretending to be Arachnidman.”
Neither teenager could think of anything to say. Then Eric pointed at him and said, “This is what you want me to pray to?”
Tasio dropped from the ceiling, flipped in midair, and landed a foot above the ground. His feet were spread out and he was bent over with one hand on the ground and the other in the air; a three-point landing.
“That’s strange,” he said. His face was hidden by his hair. “Why didn’t my sticky abilities work? Why didn’t my senses warn me? Oh...that’s right...”
He raised his face and Annala gasped. The Trickster wore her own face.
“I’m not really Arachnidman, so I don’t have his abilities. If I said, ‘by the power of Redskull,’ that wouldn’t work either because I’m not Him-Dude.”
His clothing morphed to mirror her own. From every angle, he was identical to her.
“I’m the real Annala,” he said with Annala’s voice. “You’re a hydroclone pretending to be me.” He grabbed her and spun in circles so fast that the two were a blur. Then he stopped. “Now your sticky rope doesn’t work. How odd is it that the danger sense still does!”
Then he disappeared. Annala’s eyes became glassy and she turned away from Eric.
“Don’t worry about it,” Eric said. “It’s probably because of my enlightenment in Dengel’s Lair. It’s not your fault.”
She rubbed her eyes and turned back. “No, I know it’s because I’m apostate.”
Eric reached into the box and tossed her a granola bar. “How does that work anyway? An apostate is someone who has renounced their religion and you clearly haven’t.”
Annala caught it and tugged her ear with her other hand. “I said things; blasphemous things. I did sacrilege in Tasio’s shrine and profaned Arin’s statues. There was rage and disbelief in my soul, and I haven’t worked them out yet.”
“You’re measuring the marigolds,” Tasio said. “That’s impossible in the Sea of Chaos because they’re constantly changing shape.”
“Go away!” To Annala, Eric said, “Let’s talk about mysticism and its Dominican branch on the way to the Guardian’s Lodge.”
He grabbed Annala’s hand and led her out of the house and away from the chaotic deity that was making a nuisance of himself.
“Eeeerrriiicc....”
He stopped.
“What is it that your mentor likes to say? That quote from the Mother Dragon?”
Reluctantly, Eric recited, “There are two things men will never understand: Chaos and women.”
The Guardian’s Lodge was their first stop. If they couldn’t convince the Priori Guardian, then they wouldn’t be able to convince anyone. It was a tall and grand oak reaching several stories tall with branches reaching higher still. If the trees around the village were light infantry, then the Guardian's Lodge was their heavy infantry commander.
Given the sapience of plants, it might be a leader of some sort. If so, then that big tree, Dnnac, must be their Commander-in-Chief.
A simple hinge door led to a reception office. There was a desk, chairs, and a table with both local and foreign newspapers and magazines. Both of them were dated to the day. Annala explained that people with complaints came here to report them. Then they were passed on to a guardian for investigation and resolution.
This receptionist was leaning back in her chair and reading a comic. Trickster grin apparent, Annala held a finger to her mouth and crept to the front desk. Eric stood back and watched her work. She grabbed the other girl’s feet and pushed them off the desk. Her chair rolled back and she rapidly pinwheeled to regain control.
"Annala!" she shouted. “Why are you here!?”
“It’s the Festival of Arin's Ascension. Did you think I'd be gone forever?"
The girl's shoulders dropped. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Uh, who’s your friend?"
Annala draped herself over him. "This is my boyfriend, Eric."
“Wonderful! See? I told you it wasn’t the end of the world. Although you could have done better than Dengel’s Conduit….”
“Landlord,” Eric said automatically.
“He hates Dengel as much as we do,” Annala said. “Maybe more.”
She stood up and offered her hand to Eric. “Fair enough. I’m Nilo Filef.”
He shook it. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Eric Watley.”
"Otherworlder, Dengel's Conduit, and a human turned sapient grendel who is also The Trickster’s Choice. Annala, do you want to live in interesting times that much?"
Annala simpered. “As the Elven Tome says, it’s better to live in Interesting Times than to be immobilized by fearful roots.”
Nilo head-butted her. “Hypocrite! You only left because you were too scared not to!” She pointed to Annala’s collar. “You should have mastered your own fear and stayed.”
Annala startled. “Maybe I should have…For sure this collar of control wouldn’t be on my neck, but neither would this necklace of love. That is the nature of chaos.”
Nilo was silent.
“Anyway, I came to see Aunt Alexis. Is she here?”
“Yeah, she’s here. She’s in the recreation room.”
From the reception area, they could go to other areas in the tree, such as the mission control, pantry, weapons cache, exercise area, and the recreation room. All of this was contained within a single enormous oak. On their way, they bumped into Forge because his sight was obscured by a clipboard and a pen. In his other three hands, which grew out of his back, he carried dinged or damaged weapons.
"Oh hey, Sis." He scowled at Eric. "Sis-stealer."
&nb
sp; "But I would so much like to forge a better relationship with you. I'm sure that with our mutual affection for Annala, we can smelt the—”
"Not. Funny. I'll have you know that I'm named for two of the greatest pranksters in elven history: Fredly and Georgia Sneezely."
He held his nose high as he walked out the exit.
"Who are they?" Eric asked.
"He is an elf ten thousand years old and who cultivated a female split personality out of a desire for a sounding board. He spent those years harassing everyone from emperors to village fools. The last I heard of him/them, he/they were at the Pole teaching penguins dog jokes."
Eric decided not to question further; it was likely to only get weirder.
The recreation room reminded him of the ones in his guild. There were war trophies on display and machines providing food and drink. There were tables ringed with chairs and just as many guardians. They sat around talking, playing cards, singing warrior songs, watching CV, and sparring. The major difference was that these warriors looked bored.
"Another slow day, Aunt Alexis?"
Annala asked this of one of the card sharks. She was a dispirited young woman in loose-fitting light armor. A sword hung limply at her side. The only thing that looked well cared for was her long hair; it was shimmeringly healthy. She finished the current hand before replying.
"They're all slow...The walls keep everyone out."
She dealt the next hand.
“What wall?” Eric asked. “You mean the line of trees?”
"No, I mean the Chaotic Curtain. We haven't used physical walls in centuries," Alexis said with a scoff. "We use a barrier, invented by our sister village in Najica, that both disorients and repels anyone lacking a Seed of Chaos."
"If that fails, our trees will fight off anything that gets too close," her first opponent said.
"If THAT fails…" Her second opponent simply patted the sword at their waist.
"All that on top of being hidden from everyone," Eric said, mostly to himself.
"You'll never find a safer place."
The only reason to create so many defenses is a tremendous fear of something on the other side. Are elves really that scared of humans?
They fear for their way of life, Grey Dengel explained. The village is a sanctuary. My real self is thought a villain because he defiled that which is sacred.
“Considering that it’s so safe and its guardians are so powerful,” Annala said, “might you be interested in a proposal that would please Grandmother Chaos?”
All at once, all activity ceased. Every guardian turned to stare at Annala. She tugged her ear and Eric felt his fingers shift into claws.
“You’d better not be talking about Nunnal’s idea,” Alexis said. “There’s absolutely no reason for mortals to come here.”
“The world has changed, Auntie,” Annala said. “I made friends with someone who claims to hate elves. We just have to meet and get to know each other.”
“The guardians may not leave the village often,” Alexis said coldly, “but we regularly receive reports of what happens in the world. We know what you’re proposing and such a thing has not been done for over eight hundred years.”
They returned to their games and usual boring activity. The snubbing enraged Annala so much she flipped her aunt’s card table.
“Cowardly! Lazy! Hypocrites all! You claim to hate boredom, yet you fear a handful of humans? You proudly call yourselves Grandchildren of Chaos, yet you shy away from fulfilling her divine will? My powers may be dormant and I may wear an Orderly Subjugation Collar, but I have done more to advance the mission of Lady Chaos and heal those afflicted with mutations in the last two days than all of you have in two decades!”
“Watch yourself, Annala,” Alexis said. She didn’t give her niece the dignity of looking at her as she spoke. “You were almost barred from the village for fear of Order contamination. It would not do for the elders to hear that the collar is affecting your thinking.”
“Who enforces the elders’ decisions? The guardians. Who leads the guardians? You do. Are you going to banish your sister’s daughter for following the will of Lady Chaos?”
“Medical Mana Mutation research isn’t the will of Lady Chaos,” said another guardian.
“Yeah, that’s Order,” said a different guardian. “He wants to control the transformation. I heard Latrot is already making super soldiers with it.”
“Elven Tome, Book of Fredrick the Freak, ch. 5, verses 9-11. ‘While one’s arm may be strengthened, another’s shall be weakened; a third shall be transformed and a fourth shall be destroyed. It is the third who represents Chaos, for it is everything both good and bad. Who among you would not envy the first, mock the second, and pity the fourth?’”
Alexis stood from her game, spun around, and slapped Annala across her cheek. Caught off-guard, Annala stumbled back from the force. Eric’s eyes immediately slitted and he lunged with the right arm of the grendel. Alexis grabbed it and used it to throw Eric into the floor. Pinning him in place, she addressed Annala with equal rage.
“Don’t quote scripture at me, school girl! If you were around during the Conversion War, you wouldn't want those Order-powered fiends anywhere near our home!"
“That was over eight hundred years ago!” Annala pleaded. “No human alive today was alive back then; their grandchildren's grandchildren are dead and buried. We have to move on. Lao Tu says, ‘Chaos is like a river; if dammed, it becomes stagnant and breeds disease.’”
Eric struggled in Alexis’ grip, but she held firm. Her eyes were like jagged pieces of rock.
“You can recite all you want, but it will change nothing. This isn’t a classroom debate; it’s about the safety of our community. You don’t have the right to talk to any one of us about that.”
This was the end of the conversation. No one else would talk to her. She stomped out of the Guardian’s Lodge and into the cold winter air. The chill made her cheek sting. Despite the rejection and its implications, she was confident she could drum up support elsewhere.
While walking across the village, the couple came across a large wooden platform. It had a tall back and a multitude of scenery shifting in and out of it. Someone was checking them all: a balcony, a cave, a forest, and others. This was the stage for Dnnac Ledo’s public performances and the altar of Remho, god of the theater. Two humans were helping elven children decorate it.
“Hello, Kallen Enaz,” Eric said. “When were you going to tell me?”
Kallen’s hands were busy with golden-brown ribbons and symbols like the Flower of Chaos. “I was going to surprise you, but then these rugrats roped me into doing this instead.”
She moved to Eric’s side and his head swam with warmth. As usual, something about Kallen’s presence made him feel happy and peaceful. Emily twitched slightly as she carried an empty box off the stage.
“We’re preparing the stage for the upcoming Reenactment of Elven Origin. Annala told you about that, right?”
“Yeah. It’s when Tasio turned a human woman into the first Tariatlan elf.”
Kallen appraised them. “You know...you two would be stellar in the leading roles.”
"Ohh...uh...I'm...not much an actor," Eric stammered.
"Well, I think it’s a great idea!" said a new voice. Eric groaned. Tasio descended to Kallen’s side and patted her on the back. "Good work."
Kallen bowed in a grandiose manner. "Why, thank you, milard."
"Eric, I can't think of a better way for you to learn about elven culture than to be part of a play about their origins."
"There's an angle here somewhere," Eric said.
"You're right." Tasio turned to one of the children and said, "That ribbon's a little too straight; it should swoop more."
Eric merely dropped his head.
"So are you?" Kallen wanted to know.
Eric turned to Annala. "I will if you join me."
“Absolutely!” she exclaimed. “In fact, Remho modifies the play every
year; a living story instead of a dead one. I may be able to slip in lines for Medical Mana Mutation.”
"You already have the script's template,” Kallen said. “It’s in the Elven Tome after all, so pick up the Enaz's copy sometime and look it over."
Kallen then returned to her decorating, which upon closer inspection, was really an excuse to play with wreaths.
The couple’s next destination was a bodhi tree. It was the smallest building in the village. If Eric stood on Annala's shoulder, then he would be taller than it. Together, they could also wrap their arms around it. A sign held in its branches declared it to be Dnnac Ledo's public library.
"Must be a small collection..."
"Wait and see-eee," Annala said in a singsong voice.
She pulled him inside and he stopped in his tracks. His jaw dropped and then it spread into one of the top five biggest smiles of his life.
"It...it's...."
"Yes?"
"It's bigger on the inside than the outside!"
The bookshelves were so long, they stretched out into infinity, and they were so tall, their peaks were lost in the distance. It was the same in every direction; like stepping into another world. He spread his arms wide and took a deep whiff of the book smell, slowly letting it out.
So many...it would take longer than nine days to read this….forever to read all this….His grin grew wider. Good thing I have forever.
With the power of elven magic, even text millennia old and older could still be read, albeit carefully, and new volumes were continuously being added as they were written. If it couldn't be found here, then elves had the spare time to track down whatever they were looking for and recreate it if necessary.
Nor was it limited to books and scrolls. There were virtual reality headsets for reliving history or demonstrations of scientific principles. There was a museum wing with exhibits for such wide-ranging subjects as dinosaurs, spaceships, dinosaurs who made spaceships, planets in other galaxies, every civilization that ever lived on those planets as well as Tariatla, and microorganisms. Emotions were stored in jars and thoughts in boxes. Even the astral plane, with its celestial and infernal realms, could be accessed (remotely for reasons of safety).
Everything about everything could be found here, especially elven information. From culture to history to magic to architecture was all at his fingertips. The sheer mass of knowledge compelled him to grab a text and pitch a tent. The only thing stopping him was the fact that he didn't have his tent at the moment.
Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) Page 41
