Harbinger Of Light-Elves of Aret

ArchivedUser

**Disclaimer: This is my original story currently under construction. The story is my own characters lore, leading up to Ashes of Creation. She is also involved in other writers adventures so to clarify the proper order for those who follow the timeline is below. Enjoy and please give feedback under comments. 

Harbinger of Light 
Incursion by Kesarakk  https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/35470/incursion-part-three
Tale of Two Crowns by Paizu https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/36494/tale-of-two-crowns-part-1

Six Years Ago…

Location: Aret 

Nura stood quietly with Makinoji by the huge bronze doors and for a brief moment stared at the images carved into its face. They were of creatures that no longer walked the earth of Rae, the world of the elves. They were great and fearful beasts from the times of the Zari. He had ordered the elven smiths to forge these images years ago into the face of the massive door to the Great Hall. The hall which held the secrets of their world, secrets only Nura knew the deepest of. 

But today, he wanted to begin to show his daughter and only child, Makinoji.

 She turned a new year today and Nura rued quietly what it would have been like if it had been the two children standing by his sides today. The boy had died in their mother’s womb; Makinoji had come out, fairest of elven newborns, and with the life forces of two super elves. From the minute she made her first cry announcing her entry into Rae, Nura had known the elven child was special.

In the years she had grown in the big courts of Nura’s palace as the heir to the throne of Aret and the minor elven kingdoms around, her powers had grown considerably.

Though Nura, Demi-king of Aret, had been proud of his daughter’s development, he knew there was a lot she needed to learn and master if she would ever become the great ruler of her people that he hoped one day she would become. Every morning, since the child could walk and talk and run swiftly like her elven predecessors before the first Light of the East came up over the kingdom of Aret, Nura would take the young Makinoji into the Great Hall of Magic to teach her the arcane arts of the magical. She had proven herself to be a natural as she had absorbed her teachings so swiftly. 

Now, she could do a lot of things other children her age and even older than her couldn’t do. But, even Nura knew she still had a whole lot of things to learn. Today, as she turned a new year, he had decided he would begin to show her the history of her people and her world.

Makinoji had been a curious elf, as attested to by her tutors in the sciences and arts. According to the reports they gave her father the king, the girl would ask the weirdest and strangest of questions. It was like she was a well brimming with a hunger for knowledge.

When the boy child was lost because Makinoji had absorbed his magic and lifeforce, their mother, the Queen Urid, had become utterly depressed, resisting the surviving child that came from her. She had become so possessed by grief that Nura realized the impending danger. He knew that with every time the baby Makinoji spent in the sight of her mother, the Queen would be eaten away with hate and grief. Hate for the child who had made her joy incomplete – for it was a rare feat to birth forth twin elves; and grief for her loss of a male elf child.

Nura, seeing all that the girl could become, had ordered the maids of Queen Urid to take the queen to the Citadel on the North Tower to live the rest of her days in mourning and keep the now-corrupted powers in her dormant.

Possessed by grief himself, but not at the child, but at the way his family had fallen apart, he had worked to ensure that what he had left, his only surviving child, would be guarded and kept fiercely. And more importantly, that she would be intensely groomed. It was like he wanted to make the child grow to become all that he ever wanted. It was why he had personally groomed her in the ways of the arcane magical arts. Nura’s own father, King Zandari, had assigned mages to teach Nura in all he needed to know to be prepared for the elven throne. King Zandari’s father before him, The Great King Nenthar, had also employed mages to train his son, Prince Zandari, in readiness for the throne of his fathers. These histories were fully documented in the Aret Records of The Elves.

 But, Nura would have no mage train his own daughter. It would seem there was just too much he wanted to make the child become that no mage would fully grasp. It was something he had to do himself, even if it was unorthodox. 

“We do something different today,” he spoke in the high elven tongue, the Vezix dialect. It was the dialect the highest-ranking elves spoke in. 

Growing up, Nura had learned all twelve tongues of the elven nation. And he had found knowing how to use which for who had helped in cementing the authority he wielded over his people more. Not like there was any chance of usurping his authority, but Nura knew never to leave anything to chances. That was why he was going to teach a different history to Makinoji today.

“What is that father?” the bright-eyed girl asked. She was already growing into the body of a full female elf. Her high forehead, her pointed ears, her long, bright hair draping over her shoulders, and the beginnings of an hour-glass figure.

“Follow me,” Nura said.

They walked through the great hall which was built with marble, bronze, glass, and ivory. The seats strewn about were made of finest mahogany and wine velvet cushions. It was in the hall that the mages met with Nura to give him an account of what had been happening in their assigned territories. And because it had been five elven months since the last general meeting with the mages, Nura had seen no need to have the disarrayed council seats rearranged. It was only his big silver and gold throne at the end of the hall that remained in its place.

They walked through the length of the great hall, past the big iron and marble pillars to a small door that only became visible when Nura pointed a finger at it, sending a stream of lightning-like energy at a spot. The door slid open, disappearing into the wall.

Nura entered the open space with Makinoji in tow, curiosity wrote all over her delicate features.

“Where are we father?”

“We are in the room of history of our people. And that blue orb at the center contains The Book.”

“What book?”

“I will show you.”

“Alright, father.” She said dutifully.

To Be Continued...

ArchivedUser

Nura took a long gaze at his only child till she returned his stare with a quizzical look.

“What is it, father? Is everything alright?” there was a deep concern in the young princess’ voice. It reminded Nura of her mother. 

Oh, dearest Urid! How I would have loved that you be here with us in this great hall today.

“Father… father…”

Nura was so consumed by the sudden rush of emotions for his wife that he did not realize his daughter was turning pale from fright.

“Father!” she yelled at him.

He was jolted into the present. And his face turned flush.

“I am sorry, Makinoji. I was lost in deep thoughts.”

“Are you okay?”

Nura looked away from the probing child. He knew he needed to gather himself together and get a grip on his emotions for the important task ahead of him today.

“I am fine. Just give me a moment.”

Makinoji let out the breath she had been holding in. She would give him the moment he requested and not inundate him with questions. A mage, one of her teachers, had told her that at there was a time for everything. He said it was the wisdom of some ancient human king. She had asked the mage why they needed to learn the wisdom of someone ancient, and one who was no elf. The mage, a witty old elf of the Glendasale clan, had told her that all wisdom was pure and it wouldn’t be wise if time could corrupt it and could only come from the mouth of a select few.

Now, in the small secret room filled with ancient and magical objects, Makinoji knew it was a time for her to be silent; it wasn’t every time she should be inquisitive. Certainly not this time.

The silence lasted almost five minutes before Nura cleared his throat.

“Alright. Thanks, Makinoji for the quiet. Did me a lot of good.”

His voice sounded firm and strong, unlike the shaky, emotional tone he had suddenly acquired moments ago.

“Now, we move to the business of the day.”

Makinoji could see her father was back in charge. He was once again the King of Aret. She watched him walk to the center of the room where the blue orb was. As he walked closer to it, the orb began to glow a brighter and brighter blue. Soon, the whole room was lit with a brilliant blue luminosity.  Makinoji watched her father’s pale skin turn a pale glowing blue. She looked at her own self and saw the same transformation. Even their golden blond hair was bluish.

Nura raised his two hands up over the orb and turned his face upward. His arms were outstretched, his feet spread apart as though for balance. He looked like he was ready to receive something that would be coming from above.

“Come thither o Volume of Days!”

Though it was only Nura speaking, his voice reverberated along the walls, floor, and roof of the small room as though it belonged to many people.

From the middle of the orb, Makinoji watched a bounded volume levitate out and stay suspended in the air, then, the book slowly moved to where he was standing and stopped in front of him. From the middle of the book, an immense glow of red began to emanate.

Now, the brightness of the red was absorbing the blue light slowly. Where she stood, Makinoji’s mouth began to open in wondrous awe. She had never seen something so amazing in all of her years in Aret, and Aret was a land filled with many amazing things.

The pages of the book began to open and the things written on the page began to project into the air above the pages. Where Makinoji stood, she could read the words clearly and see the images.

“Oh wow.” She caught herself saying and stopped. She didn’t want to contaminate the magic that was happening right before her eyes in the small secret room. She was certain not many elves had seen the sight she was beholding.

Makinoji could hear voices from the images the book was projecting. A page would first project like a still before the images in it became animated. 

“What would you like to know, Elf King Nura?” A voice that sounded like what a confident and wise God must sound like came from within the book.

“Great Mother and Divine Father, reveal to us The Great Happening,” Nura said with much soberness and earnestness in his voice.

The glow suddenly grew until it swallowed the blue precursor and filled the whole room. Makinoji saw her father’s eyes glow like tiny fireballs in the light of the red glow coming from within the book.

“We have heard your request, King Nura.” The response this time was many voices at once, both masculine and feminine.

Soon, the pages flipped hurriedly as though rushing to a particular page of interest. After what seemed like an eternity, the flipping slowed till it rested on a page.

The scene playing out was a city and it was showing it from a high point. Makinoji imagined that point to be one of the highlands she saw in Aret and had always wished to climb someday. His father had told her it was not time yet for her to be climbing things. To her father, learning knowledge and magic were the things that were paramount. Not climbing rough mountains and scraggly hill faces.

In the center of the city were three high buildings which looked like the palace in Aret only these were more beautiful, Makinoji had to agree.

She saw there were flying things like huge birds only they were smooth and without feathers and had mainly white colors with things drawn or written on them. The image seemed to zoom in on the city, and over a large water body. Makinoji saw a big metal path built over the water and small tin-like objects were moving speedily over it.

She saw on a closer look that the tin objects were really larger than she had thought they were. They were as big as small houses in Aret, only they could move. Soon, she saw a creature walking like an elf but she instantly recognized it was not an elf. Then, she saw others and others – hordes of them. They did not have large ears, theirs were shorter and they had different colors. She saw some were pale and others were darker while some were brown. They had clothes different from the attire of the elves. 

Makinoji realized this was an important time as any to talk.

“Father, what are those things moving and looking like us so much?” Makinoji asked with awe in her voice.

“Those, my child, are Zari.” Nura answered.

“And what is a Zari.” The princess asked, her face a puzzled expression.

“The Zaris are a race of humanoids. Meaning they are like us in a few ways, except they do not have magic the way we do, and they do not look exactly like us. They lived eons ago, about the same time I was born.” He paused and looked at his daughter who was paying rapt attention. He smiled inwardly.

So want to learn something new. He thought.

“This great tribe took much pride in their pursuits of technological advancements. These advancements, they pursued with all their powers and resources.”

Nura noticed his daughter was looking down the way she usually did when she was very deep in thoughts. He knew a question was coming from the young princess.

“So, what happened to them?” she asked.

Nura’s face changed a little. It was no longer one taking pride in the knowledge he was showing the little elf princess, it now had an edge of anger to it.

“See my daughter, the Zari took their pursuit of advancements too far. It was so much that it consumed them. The Zaris corrupted their world and themselves. They became robotic humanoids devoid of mortal emotions or sustenance. They lost their soul.”

Makinoji looked completely nonplussed and Nura felt a twinge of pity for her that he was revealing this distressing history to her young mind.

“So, how do they live and how come I am yet to see a Zari all this while?”

Knowing she was going to ask such a question, Nura already had an answer for her.

“The Zari are gone.” He said, looking down at her. “They fought against the Elven gods and perished along with them in The Great War. They have not been heard from since and their world has been dormant for a few millennia.”

“They are…,” she paused, her face both lit with the excitement of a discovery and contorted by lines of recall. It was as though she was fighting to bring a memory buried deep within her onto the surface; a memory that had so much to do with the history her father was revealing to her.

“Yes!” she squealed when she recollected what she had been struggling to remember. “The Gone! They are The Gone, right?”

“Yes. That’s right! That is them.”

She walked towards her father where he was standing before the glowing orb.

“I hope to be the first elf to see one, someday.”

Nura’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits at his daughter’s words. He reached for her tiny hand and clasped it in his. He stooped so he could be at eye level with Makinoji. His next words when he spoke them were heavy with concern and fear.

“Makinoji, I hope for our own sake, that day never comes.”

The little princess could sense the mood in the room had changed. The excitement and elation in her father’s voice had gone. In it was iciness. A coldness she had never before heard in his voice, and it chilled her , she shivered involuntarily. 

She thought to ask why her father had suddenly became deflated and upset, but she knew this was no time to ask questions. She wondered if she would ever fully understand the reason her father was upset.

“Oh, Volume of Days I bid thou return to thy resting place!”

His voice had recovered some of its earlier edge. Makinoji watched as the images began to dissolve like ashes in water and sink into the book. When the last had dropped in the book, it shut close with a loud smack that startled Makinoji. She reached for her father’s hand and the big strong arms that met hers seemed to give her comfort and an assurance of safety. The red light vanished with the book as it dropped into the blue orb.

The room was bathed in the bright blue light again and it began to dim.

“We are done here, Makinoji.” Her father said with a finality as he took her hand and led her out of the small room into the Great Hall.

As father and daughter walked along the long hall towards the great doors, there was silence between them as each was lost in thoughts.

Makinoji’s thoughts were on the Zari and their beautiful world. She silently wished she would see one of them someday and maybe be inside one of those flying white shiny steel birds or in one of those moving houses that traveled on the long steel pathway over waters. A light smile gathered on her lips as these thoughts played in her head.

King Nura gazed down at his daughter beside him, he realized there was a little smile on her beautiful and fair face as they walked. He wondered what she might be thinking. He looked at her, looking so fragile and innocent, but so full of life and curiosity. One day, she would be Queen after he was gone and his thoughts were of concerns. He contemplated how the powers residing in her, coupled with her vibrant life and curiosity would shape the person she was growing to become.

End Prologue.