I sensed unease from the Elite squad, panic on their faces and fear in their eyes.
“Ahhh, it’s been awhile since I changed,” Freya stretched out. “You’re all lucky,” she chuckled. “You’re witnessing a rare event.”
The elf surged forward as a blur, kicking up dust and sand in her wake. I heard a thundering boom and turned, just in time to see one of the men fly out from her first, crunching through plenty of trees before finally coming to a stop. I looked to his health bar from where I stood. I couldn’t see it well, but enough to know it had gone to zero just from that one move.
My eyes turned towards Freya, completely astounded by what was going on here. That man was around Level 160 and she’d taken him out in one hit. My mind tried to come up explanations for how that had just happened, but I found none. All of this was just…weird.
“We need to regroup,” one of the two men remaining said, panic in his voice. “Let us leave now.”
“You freaking elf!” the first woman completely ignored him and charged at Freya in rage, picking up her sword and pointing it right at the now red-haired elf.
“Sword-fighting it is,” Freya grinned and grabbed her sword, sliding the massive chunk of metal out from behind her back. I heard a low hum as the weapon stood in front of her, as though it was speaking out in its own tongue.
The elf surged forward and swung her weapon at the lady, the strike moving a lot faster than I’d expected. The lady was just as surprised and quickly threw her sword up in front of her, getting into a good defensive stance. Freya’s sword swung undeterred and thundered into her stance. The lady’s weapon shattered on impact, but Freya’s sword kept going, sinking deep into her body and cutting her open at the hip.
She screamed in pain as the force of the attack threw her into the air. Her body smashed against a treetop and thudded to the floor half a second later. I didn’t even need to look to see that she was dead.
I looked at the elf, noticing the smile on her face. What is going on here? I asked myself. Is this even okay?
I felt a hand on my shoulder and the next moment there was a sword under my neck, threatening to sink into my skin.
“You would listen well to stop this, elf,” one of the men stood behind me, holding me captive.
Dammit, I cursed, angered that I was being used as a hostage.
“Resorting to cheap tricks now are we?” Freya said calmly as she walked up to us, sword still gripped tight.
The man was rattled by her demeanor. “This is not a joke,” he said, bringing his blade closer to my throat. “If you do not wish to lose this man, I suggest you-”
A blast of white shot out from in front of me and the man flew away, crunching through tree after tree before coming to a rest. Dead.
“Been awhile since I cast that,” Freya chuckled, shaking her hand. “Are you okay Zoran?”
I stared at her, then at the scene of death around me. I wasn’t being threatened by anyone now.
But was I really okay?
The sound of a spoken word descended the air, the tone of two voices uttering it. A violet circle of runes emerged beneath Freya and ropes of light surged out of it, wrapping around her limbs and bounding her still.
A woman and a man, the last two remaining, shot out of the trees and right at me. I panicked, realizing they were trying to snatch me away. I turned around, trying to dive out of their reach, but I was too slow.
I felt the woman’s arm on my shoulder one moment, but oddly, it was gone the next. I turned around, only to see her on the floor, her body twisted harshly, her eyes rolled up in her head. Dead. Freya stood over her, her massive sword slick with blood.
“Don’t you touch him,” she muttered, and then looked to the man, the last one remaining. He lay on the ground a few feet away, his legs broken from whatever Freya had done to him, his terrified presence trying desperately trying to crawl away from her.
The elf stepped to the man and flicked her sword clean of the blood on its blade. She stood over him, her weapon raised high up in the air. He looked at her and his eyes immediately widened.
“You,” he said, his voice shaking. “The traitorous Queen of Iskaeil.”
“Indeed,” she smiled and sunk her sword, cleaving his head clean off his body. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
I stared at the elf, unable to believe what had just happened. My eyes looked to the death around me as my world stood still, frozen by blood and silence.
***
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The traitorous Queen of Iskaeil.
The phrase rang within my mind, sending unease coursing through me.
Freya had now changed back to her normal form, the shades of blood no longer part of her body, her longsword was not a massive weapon of death. I watched her walk around the silent battlefield, kneeling before her victims and shutting their eyes close. She uttered a few words before each of them, a prayer of passing.
When she finally came to me she wore a sorrowful smile on her face, as though she could already tell what was going to happen now.
“Freya,” I said quietly. “What was that?” I asked, standing in the middle of the death she had caused. I saw the bodies of men and women around us, some of them recognizably bodies, the others…not so fortunate.
The elf sighed. “I really hoped I didn’t have to tell you about any of this, Zoran,” she said. “I really did.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re in this situation now,” I said, not afraid to show a little annoyance in my voice. “Are you going to tell me what all of this means? Or are you just going to keep quiet and let me make my own assumptions?”
“Zoran,” she sighed once more, her face showing it was hard for her to talk to me about this. Even so, I wasn’t going to back down. I needed to know what was going on here. My mind wasn’t going to rest easy otherwise.
Freya took a few steps away and sat herself down on one of the tree trunks she’d broken. “Fine,” she said.
I stepped closer to her, just to make sure I didn’t miss any words from her explanation.
“I am not a regular Moon Elf,” she began. “When you last used your analyze skill on me, you still saw a version of my information that I had greatly manipulated. My true race is not exactly one that exists. I am a hybrid.”
She ran her fingers along the tree bark, as if to comfort herself. “My mother was the Queen of Iskaeil, a Moon-Elf of great strength. My father however, was a man in middle of conflict, an exiled prince from a far-off kingdom. He was an outcast, thrown away from his home, but my mother loved him dearly. I do not know how the subjects of my kingdom felt about their romance, but they did not intervene in it. My parents’ relationship quickly graduated, but the moment I was born, my father immediately disappeared, leaving no explanation for why. My mother was distraught, lost for words, but she still stayed strong.”
Freya paused, her eyes living the very memories she was talking about. “My mother diverted all her focus onto me and taught me the warrior’s arts every second she could spare. The soothsayers of my kingdom said I would grow to be a powerful ruler and my mother made sure I exceeded even that. When she finally passed and I took over the throne, I was a ruler that the neighboring kingdoms feared even more than her. The elven soothsayers were in joy, telling wild tales of my future fortunes.”
She stopped, her hands shaking a bit, her fingers gripping the tree bark hard. “That was when it happened for the first time,” she said, pausing. “I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was a normal day in the royal court. I and my generals were discussing potential threats to the kingdom when all of a sudden I felt tremors within me. One moment I was the normal Freya you see, and the next I was…that. Blood-red hair and bloodier eyes.”
She smiled sorrowfully. “The soothsayers of Iskaeil were known to save people from terrible harm,” she chuckled. “But what all of them failed to see was who I really was, or rather who my father really was,” she said. “He wasn�
��t an exiled prince. He wasn’t even a Moon elf,” her voice went quiet. “He was a demon elf, an elven race so dark and destructive they are said to live only in the lands of death and despair. I do not know if my mother knew of this or not, but it did not change how it affected me. I was a hybrid creature, part Moon-Elf, part Demon-Elf. A monster.”
She sighed. “I was a tainted being, no longer pure enough in the eyes of my subjects,” she said. “They all turned against me, accusing me of knowing who I was all along and hiding it just to gain power for myself. And so I left Iskaeil, not wanting anything to do with a kingdom that no longer wanted me.”
She smiled at me. “And that is the story of why I am the Traitorous Queen of Iskaeil, an elf that can change forms.”
I stood silent, my face expressionless in the light of her words. When that man from the Elite Squad had called her the Traitorous Queen of Iskaeil I’d panicked, afraid of what she had been hiding from me, wondering if her secrets were going to open a rift between us. But after what I’d heard, my mind was too numb to react.
Things slowly began to make sense to me, why Freya hid her identity, why she was so paranoid about people finding out who she was. She didn’t want to risk being recognized by anyone who knew of who she really was. My heart ached, resonating with the pain that the Moon-elf faced recalling her past.
“Freya,” I said, my voice soft. I stepped forward, putting my arms around her. “I’m sorry,” I held her close, hugging her gently. Her arms wrapped around me as she leaned her head against my shoulder, her soft hair brushing against my arms. I felt a wet sensation on my skin, and I didn’t need to look to know she was tearing up. I felt terrible now. Freya was the strongest person I knew and I’d just forced her to tell me something that had brought her to tears.
I wanted to console her, to help her out. And so I did the only thing I could. I held her close, staying there for what felt like an eternity.
When she finally pulled away from me she wore a smile on her face. Whether it was forced or not, I did not know. “I’m sorry I showed you something unpleasant,” she laughed, sounding a little dry. She had no tears in her eyes but I could still sense sorrow in her demeanor.
“Freya I-”
“We should get a move on,” she said, standing herself up and walking away.
I thought for a second, wondering if I should say something, but decided against it. I followed her silently as we made our way through the forest for the umpteenth time. And as always, I couldn’t help but think about what had just happened.
I looked to Freya, wondering if I’d been wrong in asking her about everything.
DING!
My analyze popped up in front of me, even though all I’d done was look at her head.
Not now, I muttered and was about to dismiss it when I noticed the numbers it displayed.
Name
Freya
Race
Demon Moon Elf
Level
506
Health
12640
Mana
15270
Stamina
12470
WHAT THE HECK? I yelled in my mind. I’d expected Freya’s true level to be much higher than what I’d analyzed before, but this was just insane! Her numbers were beyond what my mind could even comprehend at this moment.
DING!
Congratulations! Your skill ‘Analyze’ has advanced to Level 3. Analyze screen generation times will now be reduced by 40%. Screens will stay hidden from other eyes for 10 seconds after generation. You can now also view information about racial characteristics of the subject being analyzed.
Racial characteristics? I thought. I looked to the screen that was in front of me right now. There wasn’t any new information on the screen about the racial characteristics and so I did the next best thing - tapped on the race subdivision on the screen.
A new screen opened up, populating itself with text.
Racial characteristics cannot be accurately determined for subjects of mixed blood or race.
Beneath that piece of text were two sub headings, each with separate text next to them.
Moon Elf: A powerful subclass of an elf, Moon Elves are nocturnal creatures that prefer silence and calm over anything else. They are known for their high magical affinity, and especially for their very high affinity to the Light arts. Their magical prowess and physical strength increase as the moon phases to its full moon stage.
Demon Elf: A powerful and rare subclass of an elf, Demon elves are creatures of the dark and are not looked upon favorably by other elf subclasses. They are known for their pronounced love for causing death and destruction. Unlike most elven subclasses, Demon Elves are physically very strong creatures and have a high magical affinity to the Dark Arts. Their strength and vigor is said to increase the more despair and darkness they are surrounded by.
I read through the text, immediately noticing that there were quite a few contradictory traits between the two different races. For one the Moon Elves seemed peaceful and calm, while the Demon Elves seemed to live for chaos. I wondered if that meant Freya as a person was made of two things that couldn’t really co-exist with each other. What would that mean in the long run?
“Analyzing me are you?” Freya chuckled without even looking at my screen.
Dammit, she knew, I thought, quickly shutting my screen down, embarrassed that I’d been caught.
“I didn’t really mean to do that,” I said. “It’s just, I accidentally summoned the screen and-”
“It’s fine, Zoran,” she looked at me, a smile on her face. She seemed a little livelier now and that made me glad. “There were many things that I kept hidden from everyone,” she said. “I would not blame you if you were still curious about who I was.”
“It’s not like that,” I said.
“Really?” she chuckled. “Do you not have any further questions then?”
“I don’t have any-” I stopped. “Okay I might have one.”
“Let’s hear it,” she smiled.
“What are those runes that were on your body before?” I asked, a familiar feeling of worry enwrapping me as I asked. “Back when I first saw them I genuinely wondered if you were under control of the Phantom Lord as well.”
“Maybe I am,” she said, her face straight.
“What?” I took a step back.
“Kidding,” she chuckled. “Those runes…they’re to keep my demon side locked inside me. It’s a seal of sorts.”
“You have a seal?” I asked. “Why?”
“When my demon side first appeared, I could not control it, and so I went on big rampages, destroying things around my palace. I never hurt anyone, but I wasn’t far from it either. I knew I had to do something about it and so I went to the people who I still trusted most, a few strong wizards and mages. I asked them cast a seal on me so my demon side would never take complete control of me again.”
“Oh,” I said, not really sure of how to reply. I hadn’t expected that answer from her.
“Don’t worry,” Freya said. “I know what happened today did make me seem like a savage, but it’s extremely civilized compared to what might have happened if I didn’t have the seal.”
I stayed silent, wondering how bad a situation she was talking about.
“Listen, I don’t want you to worry about this, okay?” she said. “I won’t attack you ever. Demon form or not.”
“I know,” I said. “I trust you, Freya.”
“Thank you,” she smiled. “Oh and one more thing. My demon form, as you might have seen in your analyze screen, is aggravated by darkness. So every time there’s a new moon, my Moon elf side weakens and my demon elf side becomes extremely strong. That’s the only time my demon elf side might break the seal on its own. But even then it’d be too weak to take completely control of me. Still, I just wanted you to know. We’ve still got a long way to go ahead of us and I don’t want you to freak out if something happens in between.”
“I understan
d,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Phew,” she said. “I guess I’ve answered all your questions with that then.”
“Well….” I said.
Her eyes looked at me teasingly. “What else do you have?” she chuckled.
“It’s not exactly a question, but when I used analyze on you two times before this, both screens gave me falsified information. Was that because of your illusion magic?”
She nodded. “Light Arts are strong with illusion magic,” she said. “I was able to manipulate what kind of information people saw of me. What you saw in your screen now is what truly am. A Level 506 Demon Moon Elf. However, that’s only when I can break out of my seal.”
“What?”
“Every seal has a price you must pay,” she said. “I sacrifice my power in levels in order to seal off my demon side.”
I stared at her. “Wait, so your seal pushes you down to a level 47?!” I asked, astounded.
“I know it sounds silly,” she grinned. “But that’s how it is. My seal is going to take complete control over me in a few minutes, so if you analyze me later, I should be back to my Level 47 self.”
I stood silent, not really sure of what to think of that. That seemed like a ton of power to sacrifice just to keep her demon side under control. But I knew it was wrong for me to judge. I did not know any of the true hardships she faced by having a demon side within her. I did not know of the things she’d gone through because of that thing.
We kept walking, neither of us saying a word to each other after that. The only sounds in the air were that of the leaves against the wood and our feet against the ground. A gentle breeze blew through from time to time, setting a chilling sensation on my face.
I couldn’t tell how long we’d been walking but when Freya finally stopped my arms were sore and my legs felt nearly numb. I didn’t know if dawn had broken yet, courtesy of the dense canopy above us but the darkness seemed to have lightened up a bit.
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1) Page 16
