The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 43

"As you've probably been informed by now, humans are unaware of the existence of other worlds, in most cases. That wasn't always true." Kieran said.

"In the past, there were some chosen groups of humans that were aware of the existence of magic and other worlds. Most of them kept that to themselves and were gathered in different groups in what humans called cults. It was something they allowed the others to believe since it was far better than having them know the truth.

Those groups were in contact with other worlds, although if you were to ask any of our elders, they would deny having had any contact with any humans, exchanging knowledge and trading. Some of the other realms had a big market for some of the human delicacies that were neither healthy nor common in their worlds, such as different types of overly sugary desserts, snacks, and so on.

Anyway, the truth is that all the worlds had at one point had contact with humans. It was a normal thing that didn't seem significant to anyone. Well, that is until they found out about the role the humans played in what had happened in Mag.

Some of the human groups comprised of elderly who were looking for eternal life about whom no one thought much had been crucial factors that influence the horrible events. They were never suspected since it was in human nature to seek immortality that their frail human bodies were unable to endure. Still, the inhabitants of Mag didn't consider how desperate the humans could be in their quest to cheat death.

For years, everything was more or less normal, but then strange stories started emerging, of humans spending a lot of time in my world, the world of the elves. Even though the world was war-ridden and dangerous, no one thought much about those stories. For, even if it were true, it seemed to be in human nature to seek out danger, to enjoy the adrenaline rush it provided.

No one even considered the fact that the humans had something in common with the new elf government. Some were unaware of human history, others just didn't see how similar the political situation in my world was to that of the human past. In their case, it was considered a dark past while my world was being devoured by it, at the time, and still is even after all these years.

You see, some humans believed that they were better than others, they believed in their own superiority, and they found kindred spirits in my countries highest form of government. It was as if evil gravitated towards evil, as if they had somehow attracted each other.

Unbeknownst to anyone, plans started being hatched. Alliances were formed. Promises of eternal life were made. So were the promises of swift victory and bloodshed.

Since elves were always under more scrutiny, even when they were allowed entrance to Mag, because of the political situation, humans were sent into Mag to learn all about it. Their mission was to infiltrate Mag and learn about its strengths and weaknesses.

So, under different pretenses, humans started flowing into Mag more frequently and to many different locations. Some of them even did some illegal actions to see what would happen, to see what was the response time of the guards, what punishments were made and most importantly who the weak links were.

Still, they had to be cautious and not to cause too many problems so as not to cause suspicion. Over time, they did manage to figure out all the little things that made Mag work. They knew their way in and around Mag much better than some of the people who were born here.

Not only that, but they also learned their routines. They learned when people went to work, when they came back. They became so familiar with the schedules of people in Mag that they could make flawless reports back to the elves with a precision that impressed the leader who likes to think of himself as the leader of all elves.

People in Mag, trustworthy as they were, never even suspected that something was amiss. They were happy that the humans were interested in learning more about their brethren in other worlds. It felt to them like they were progressing from their dark ways. The idea that the dark ways were imprinted in the very soul of some humans never even crossed their minds since it used to be in the nature of the people here to see only goodness in everyone and everything.

They would like to convince you that it is still so, but as you have seen, as we have seen, the events of that day have left a dark mark on the people of Mag. No longer are they able to see only the good in people, you and I are good examples. Although the enlightened few give us the benefit of a doubt, most beings living here only see the bad in us, the evils of our ancestors.

Anyway, once maps were drawn and schedules were shared with the elf warriors, a council was held on which the decision had to be made on the best way to approach the annihilation of Mag. How to destroy that beacon of hope that threatened to stop all the evils of the world. I am sorry to say, but the humans were the ones who came up with the solution, they were the ones with a fully developed plan that the elves were willing to follow.

In their visitation to Mag, the humans noticed Delinda. They noticed her kindness, her generosity, and her general amiability. They didn't see it as a wonderful thing that most of us would have seen, they saw it as a weakness, something to exploit.

So, they came up with the idea to attack during her watch. They saw her as the weak link, the one that would be the easiest to dispose of. Then they pointed out the best strategic points to attack to achieve the highest number of deaths and thus allow them to have greater chances of victory.

All the horrible things the humans did to each other left them with the uncanny ability to hurt others, to organize death and destruction. Most of them were just meek-looking elderly gentlemen, and yet those faces hid the level of cunning that no one could have predicted, not even the people in charge of my world.

But the interesting thing about it was that when the time for actual fighting came, the humans were nowhere to be found. They made an excuse about them being old and feeble, about fulfilling their part of the deal. The elves accepted that as a valid excuse and promised to procure the life-extending potion for them, as agreed.

Still, to this day, I believe humans had plans of getting the potions and then just joining the winning side, pretending they had nothing to do with the attack. It was something that never occurred to the elf warriors but these days many wander and upon arriving here I have learned the truth. They probably thought that there was no actual proof of their involvement but they forgot that everything was possible with magic. The truth could never be hidden for long.

Once the aftermath of the battle was cleaned up, and after people of Mag had somewhat recovered, Wallace did an investigation into what had happened and the human involvement was quickly discovered.

A lot of things had changed in the world of Mag because of that. The protective spells were put in place, portal usage had to be announced and approved as well as many others.

However, one of the most striking decisions that Wallace made, with a heavy heart, was erasing the memories of all humans as to what existed beyond their little worlds. Still, traces of it remain. Some of them are fairly common, deja vu you call them, others are quite rare and mostly ignored by the general populace.

From that terrible day onwards, everyone coming from either of our worlds was looked at with fear, scrutiny and in some cases hatred. That is the burden that we are condemned to carry." Kieran said.

When he finished explaining what the humans had done, both Ajana and Bluebells were stunned into silence. Their eyes were wide open as well as their mouths. They might have expected many different things, but the story they were told was definitely not one of them.

The awkward silence extended for far longer than Ajana would have allowed in normal circumstances. But after the story they had just heard, what was there to say?