Emperor's Reckoning

"You're a high elf..." muttered Galaeron to the surprise of his two subordinates.

The foreign term brought Lyon furrowing his brows. (High elf? Do elves still have something to differentiate themselves from their own kin?).

"High elf, you're a high elf," muttered the dark elf before he gulped. "But... you're also..."

"A high dark elf," Kesya smiled before one of her eyes turned dark plum. "Heh," she smirked.

Lyon sighed before grabbing the top of her head and then rustling her hair, "That's enough showing off."

"Ah, my hair!" Kesya pouted but crossed her arms instead of tapping his hand away.

"That's that," said Lyon before he crossed his arms and darted back at the two elves.

"Impossible..." the dark elf took a step back.

"Huh?" Galaeron leered over. He saw the dark elf tremblings from his hair to his toes. The absurd fear was apparent as his pupils shrunk to a dot. "Accursed child..."

"What did you say?" Galaeron frowned.

"Accursed... child... there is a legend... my grandparents spoke of it... a supremely powerful elf with an infamous secret..." the dark elf gulped. "The child was the fruit of a forbidden union, the king of the high elf and the queen of the dark elf basked in the carnal desire of their beastly side, bore fruit to a forbidden entity that was not allowed to live on both sides of the world. One of her eyes was purple plum while the other was sparkling blue like the ocean."

"What? What are you talking about? What legend?" asked Galaeron.

"Only those that have enough status knew the legend's true story," the dark elf gulped. "She was forsaken, stripped out of her confusing status, and was rejected away by both sides. However, they didn't know that she would, later on, grow so powerful and came biting back, and she was not alone when she knocked on her own supposed-to-be home."

"That's really an old story," Kesya uttered before she turned and hugged Lyon. She buried her face under his forearms and tightened.

Lyon darted down before breaking apart his crossed arm then gently rustled her hair.

"You're Kesya Afsieh, the Cursed Elf!" said the dark elf before his knees dropped to the ground.

(What's going on? How come I never heard of such stories? Cursed elf? What is that?) thought Galaeron as he looked at the dark elf having his muscle turned limp.'

"Then.... that means...."

*Thump!

*Thump!

His eyes laid upon the young man that was being embraced by Kesya. The absolute confidence, the absolute overbearing that exuded out of him was something he faintly recognized. He was taken back to where his grandfather was sleeping on his deathbed.

In a small hut away from the eyes of the public, a child dark elf was sitting beside a bedridden one. The one on the bed was old and frail. They shared the same ears, and the same complexion, but the latter was on the verge of becoming ash.

"That's the story of the cursed elf," said the old elf with his hoarse voice. "I leave some minor details on purpose, you can read the story yourself if you ever find one in our ancestral home, later."

*Cough!

The old elf was making a dreadful cough as the veins inside his neck bulged every time he did it. "Son, give me wa— *Cough!"

The child immediately picked up a wooden glass and presented it to the sickly old dark elf.

"En," the old elf picked it up before saying, "Is there anything you want to ask? Back in my days, everyone knew this story, sadly, after what Paradise has done, this story has been nothing but a myth traveling from ears to ears."

"Umm... you said that she was forsaken by her own parents and homes, but you also said that when she had grown powerful she returned with someone."

"Ah..." the old elf chuckled, "Hehe, you want to know who that someone is?"

"Is it her beloved? Did she find love outside her home?"

The old elf shook his head, "Even better than that, the one that accompanied her was a man."

"A man? So she did find love?"

"A human man," the dark elf chuckled. "There were rumors that he was the one that trained the cursed child."

"A human training an elf? That's absurd!"

"Tsk! Tsk! Broaden your view of the world child, else, you will die from the unknown," the old elf shook his head. "However, we were thinking the same thing as you back then, until I actually met him in person."

"What? You met both of them?"

"Well, I was guarding the gate of the kingdom back when I was young," the old elf chuckled. "I saw her coming with a smirk on her face, but I never thought that she would come with someone like that beside her."

The child elf gulped. "Grandfather, are you messing with me?"

"Hahaha," the old elf laughed. "At first glance, he was far from what he would be later known, however, once he exerted his might, not even the finest dark elf could content against his art and wits. That was the last time I saw the high dark elf batting an eye against the humans."

"If he is so powerful, how come I've never heard of him?" asked the child dark elf.

The old elf sighed. "Even he couldn't best time itself. Everything in this world shall wither into dust, just like how all things should, but, there were rumors that he was killed in a huge battle."

"Woah, even his death is mysterious."

"Not only his death but also his beginning, he seemed to have come out of nowhere, not even a single backing, he seemed to spring up to existence and just conquer because he had too much time to spare, an aloof adventurer that love being around with beautiful women..." the old elf sighed and shook his head. "Hmmm, I think his first name was..."

His vision returned with a flash before he gulped once more. His lips were trembling as he saw the man hugging the cursed elf.

"Lyon..." the dark elf muttered as he saw Assid coming.

*Splurt!

His throat was pierced by four fingers as he looked up and saw Assid staring him down.