Chapter 265: Underground Paradise (1/2)
Elfie glanced her way when she walked into the cathedral, the double doors closed by ash floating behind her. “Hey there historian.” She said, the elf rolling his eyes before he looked back to the book he was reading.
“Did the dwarf die?” He asked a moment later, Ilea checking her armor for damage. The undead knights had barely scratched her, courtesy of her ash creation’s third tier. If she could somehow make it more durable the stuff could replace her armor permanently.
Never worry about steel anymore. Plus I could fight in shorts and a shirt. Ilea wasn’t convinced of the idea, not without a sports bra. Maybe they had a suitable corset here, Elana’s dress seemed suitably well crafted. “Nah he’s fine, might wind up dead if he keeps being… well himself.”
The elf sat up and looked at her, “Did they key work?”
“Question for question. Why was there an elven armor in a Taleen dungeon? I though you lot don’t go down there?” Ilea sat down, arm resting on the chair’s side, her head cocked to the side.
The elf stared at her with his gray eyes, a color she now deemed rather common among her acquaintances. Elana’s weren’t exactly gray, more a silver really. “Either someone brought it there or a cursed one died in the dungeon.”
“Cursed one?” Ilea asked, “So there are elves who enter dungeons?”
When he didn’t answer, she smiled, “The key worked.”
“That’s all?” He asked with a grin on his face, his tongue licking over his bottom lip.
Ilea shrugged, “Questions and answers Elfie, you’re being a dick, I am a dick. Isn’t that the bargain you had suggested?”
His claws dug into the chair but his smile remained, a spark of joy or madness reaching his eyes, Ilea couldn’t quite tell. Maybe it was just light reflecting in a weird way. “There are those who seek to destroy the Taleen creations. They enter dungeons and are deemed the cursed ones. I believe they call themselves the Cerithil hunters, named after one of the first and most famous among them.”
Ilea listened, writing some of it down in her notebook, “We found two survivors of Rhyvor. King Maro Invalar and his wife, Elana Invalar. He activated a spell, machine or whatever that is considered to defend the city against its attackers. That was long ago though and it seems the attackers never came or they simply left the capital alone. I woke him up but to get him out of there we’ll have to kill all the knights still connected to him.”
The elf stood up and started pacing, “Alive… after all this time… to speak to the rulers… and you believe them? You think them the true royals?”
Ilea shrugged, “Probably. Might be a fake story but the undead he controls are called kingsguard. Might be a prisoner too but it doesn’t make sense. The captain of the kingsguard… all of that would have been fake otherwise. And why leave them in control of the knights if they weren’t who they say they are. I don’t know Elfie. I don’t dislike them personally, don’t really care if they’re king and queen of this forgotten kingdom.”
A curse spread around him, Ilea’s veil cladding her in ash, “I do care. Can you bring them out?”
Ilea shrugged, “He’s stuck I said. Can’t leave without the knights dead. Maybe you can come in and help take care of them if you really want it? Now that I know there are elves going into dungeons it can’t be that bad. Cursed ones… you’re already using curses, would be a fitting name for you.”
He hissed, a powerful barrier rushed at her, Ilea simply blinking through and ignoring the growing curse around her. “You’re right though, with that weak ass magic you’re as good as useless. What’s your level anyway?”
The elf calmed down again, his magic subsiding before he sat down, “You can’t tell yet? Your identify skill is lacking. Did you get to this realm without it?”
Ilea didn’t say anything until he spoke, “I’m level two hundred and eighty. Meaning your identify skill is below level eight. Impressive… like a child given such power.”
She smiled and actually believed him, “I thought you were super old. Did you just fuck with me?”
“I did not lie to you human. I am simply not as inclined to throw my life away in some unknown cave or against an unreasonably strong animal. What you consider a past time. There’s a reason I’ve grown old.” He stated.
“Why do they want to destroy the Taleen machines?” She asked instead, not reacting to his provocation.
The elf tapped his chair with a nail, “Because, human, the dwarves, all dead and gone by now left behind more than ruins to explore for you and your squabbling little species. I still don’t know why they would ignore the human cities, the masses of your people, spreading like an infection as they scout through the vast forests to find and kill every elven child, every warrior that stands in their way. Like a curse placed on us by a dead people.”
Ilea looked at him, really looked at him for the first time. This was certainly something new, something nobody had ever talked about. “They send out machines to hunt down elves?”
“They do. Or they did. Tens of thousands of them. My people welcome them as a challenge, welcome them as the test to reach maturity.” He spat on the ground, his expression turning to horror immediately after. Ilea watched in amazement as he went on his knees and cleaned up the spit with frantic movements. “The cursed ones go into their homes, destroy what they can find but it doesn’t change anything. The machines still come, unstoppable, in greater numbers every year.”
Ilea leaned forward as he sat down again, his face not revealing any sentiment in regards to what had just happened, “How long has this been going on?”
The elf didn’t answer her, “Can you get the queen out then, if the king is stuck?”
“Perhaps, I’m not sure if she wants to go out. Terok will be back at some point, maybe talk to him about it. I’d have difficulties getting her out, she lacks a teleportation ability to get past the kingsguard apparently.” She explained to which he nodded. “Is that why you’re a historian? You’re trying to figure out why the Taleen are coming after you?”
The elf looked at her, “I am over six hundred years old human and even I was only deemed mature after facing down the sea of Guardians, killing my first Taleen Centurion.”
Ilea chuckled, “Guess I’d be mature too then.”
His eyebrows rose at that but he didn’t mention it, “Why not join the hunters then? Bring an end to their invasions?” Ilea asked.
He hissed, “Betrayal. I cannot. Now begone human, leave.I am tired of your presence.”
Ilea just grabbed one of the bottles they had found in the king’s chambers and poured herself a glass. Looking at the elf as she put down the bottle, she took a sip. “No, I don’t think I will.”