"You ok Fen?" "Do I look ok Faelar? You think I'd be used to this after living with it for so long, but I guess not huh. No one has ever spoken about our mother in such a way. Something in me just....snapped. I.. I was going to kill him. I wanted to. I needed to. If Darius hadn't stopped me-". "I know. The same happened with me. I lost it, but he stopped us." Faelar let out a half baked grin. "It seems our debt to him just keeps growing." "That it does." Fenris's eyes fell on the river before meeting his brother again. "I've made my decision." "What decision?" "After he gets what he needs, I doubt he'll stay here. Wherever he goes, I'm going with him. To travel, to get away from our so called home, and to repay what we owe." Faelar's grin grew wider. "Guess I'm going too." "You don't have to. I know you wanna prove your worth to the village."
"Not anymore. There was a time when I did. After today, I realize there's no point. We'll never be accepted by them. Better to stick with someone who treats us like normal people. Not to mention, do you really think I'd let my idiot younger brother journey into the world without me?" "Younger brother? Since when? Mom never told Gramps who came first." "Well I'm the more level headed one, it would make sense for me to be the older twin." "That's not how that works." "We'd better get back to escorting our new friend." Faelar started towards Darius. "Hey, don't walk away from me. We're not done here."
The two brothers bickered back and forth for the rest of the short journey to their village. Darius only somewhat listened to them. He was glad that their moods had changed, but was a bit too preoccupied thinking about the fact that he's being taken to a real elven village. He noticed after they crossed the river, that the trees were taller here. As they walked, the trees grew even more. They grew to the point where they were nearing the clouds, while being more and more spaced out. Eventually they got to a large clearing, and Darius again felt eyes upon them.
He looked up to see several birds circling above before four nosed dived towards them. Once they got close, he realized that they were much bigger than the average bird. They were about the size of a large horse. All of them differed in color from brown to white and everything in between. They were being ridden by elves who appeared very similar to Gael. They all wore silver chain mail under white scale like armor that covered their arms, legs, and chest. On top of that they wore cloaks that covered them from head to toe. All of them were armed with longbows and large daggers. As they got closer they began to circle again, slowly descending to the forest floor.
Fenris and Faelar's cheerful bickering had stopped and they looked at the elves with stoic faces. Finally they landed. As soon as they did they surrounded Darius with their bows drawn. There were eight of them. Their leader, or at least the one Darius assumed was the leader, spoke first in an taut tone of voice. "Who are you? I wasn't informed of any visitors for today, especially not a human one." "Yoooo. My name's Darius. I'm with them." He pointed to the twins. Fenris tried to explain. "He's-" "Silence! I was speaking to the human. Though now that I look at you, you don't have a trophy of your kill. No bark beast? Pity. Guess Gael was right. Maybe he was also right about you attacking him as well." Unable to respond the twins said nothing. Before the aggressive elf could say anything else a loud voice could be heard coming from the sky. Darius looked to see another elf free falling in a sitting cross legged position.
"BOOOOOYYYYYYYSSSSSSSSS!!!! YOU'RE FINALLY BACK. HAHAHAHAHAHA." The elf seemed quite a bit different from the others Darius had met. He again physically looked much like the others, but he looked to be in his forties. The main thing that set him apart was his demeanor. He was boisterous and jolly as opposed to the other elves he'd met so far. The elf leader glared up at him and muttered under his breath, "Montagor. Why must you always interfere?"
The falling elf spoke again just seconds before he would have hit the ground. "Levitate." He instantly slowed to a simple hovering motion above the ground. With a wave of his hand he dropped to the ground. He pushed passed everyone to Fenris and Faelar. "Gramps!" They both said in unison. Gramps? He looks like he could be their father. Darius soon forgot about the odd mismatch of age and appearance when he realized their grandfather had used magic. He started towards him with questions in mind, only to have the other elves cut him off with their daggers drawn. Their leader snapped at him. "I didn't say you could move." He let out a sigh. "Fine."
"Who's this?" The new elf seemed to materialize between Darius and the guards, but Darius seemed to be the only one that saw him move. "Back off Montagor. We're just doing our jobs." "And what a fine job you seem to be doing. You've managed to threaten one whole human. Quite impressive, but I do believe I'll take him off your hands." "You don't have the authority." "No, sadly your right. I don't have the authority, but I do have the power. You plan to try and stop me?" He turned toward them grinning his challenge confidently. The reaction was instant. Fear spread amongst the guards and they all took a few paces back. One of them, a woman after closer inspection, spoke to their leader. "Maiele. You know we cant-".
"I know. We'll report this to the council. You can have this human for now." With that, they got back on their massive feathered rides and flew back into the air. As they flew, the elven woman looked at Fenris with what looked like sorrow. He looked back and they held each other's gazed for a moment as the elves rose higher and higher. Darius noticed the exchange and wondered if there was a forbidden romance in play. Once they reached the rest of their group, they angled towards the massive skyscraper sized trees that loomed over the clearing and disappeared from sight.
"Well that was fun huh boys?" The twin's grandfather seemed unfazed by threat of the council, but Faelar voiced his concern. "Gramps! The council barely tolerates you helping us as it is. You really think openly taking Darius in won't hurt you." "Did you have any other ideas?" Faelar opened his mouth to speak, but closed it after realizing he hadn't had a plan. The elf turned towards Darius. "I don't think I ever introduced myself. My name is Montagor Lorarel. I'm the wise and handsome grandfather of these two. They told me what you did. I thank you for helping them." "No problem. I'm Darius DeGray. It's a pleasure, but I'm a bit thrown off. You don't look old enough to be anyone's grandfather."
Montagor looked at him curiously. "Well if your ridiculous aura and odd clothes weren't enough, the fact that you're surprised by the way I look confirms you're not from here. This world I mean." Fenris and Faelar looked at Darius with surprise that soon turned to understanding as everything came together in their heads. Perceptive and powerful. A dangerous foe, but a great potential ally. You should learn as much as you can from him. Raiga had been silent up til now. Hearing his voice out of the blue caused Darius to pause before responding to Montagor.
"It must not be uncommon to meet people from other worlds here then?" "Yes and no. It's not uncommon in the sense that there are plenty of examples of it, but it is a rare occurrence nonetheless." Seeing an opportunity for information in Montagor, and a lack of opportunity to meet his sexy elven beauty goal, Darius decided to pick his brain. "Well, considering I've no clue why or how I got here, could you help me to better understand this world?" "Of course, but not here. I'll take you with us to our home and explain while we're there. I'll get you some clothes and such while I'm at it. Your current apparel seems to be a bit lacking." "Can't argue with that."
Montagor cast levitation on everyone, and they began their ascent to the top of the nearest mountain of a tree. Once they got to the top Darius's breath was taken at the sight. Village was an understatement. The trees, as tall as they were, had thick long branches that seemed to have grown into each other to form make shift bridges. The bridges connected each tree together to form a giant interconnected treetop city. Each tree had rooms and other various spaces carved into their trunks. The elves made these almost cave like spots into their business areas. Blacksmiths, tailors, fletchers, and other various shops took up the first section they walked through. As they got to the bottom of stairs that had been carved into the side of the tree at the end of the bridge, Darius caught the smells of various foods being cooked. They got to the top of the stairs and entered a more crowded level filled with different food vendors.
The smells of cakes, bread, and other pastries filled his nose. They were soon followed by roasting meats, stews, and something that looked very similar to macaroni, all covered with various spices that'd he'd never smelled before. The smell of the food made Darius realize how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten since Raiga pushed him from the clouds. His stomach rumbled, which drew the attention of some of the elves as they passed. Many of them hadn't seen a human in years, and they were quite suspicious. Their suspicion doubled once they realized the human was accompanied by the twins and their grandfather. "They don't seem to like me too much." Fenris and Faelar responded together, "Welcome to the club." Montagor again seemed unfazed. "Ignore them, they'll leave us be."
They continued on in a long winding path until they got to a residential area. Darius looked around at the trees with doors and windows seemly haphazardly attached to them. "So you live here?" Montagor walked to a tree devoid of anything on the outskirts of the area. "Nope. We're further up." He cast levitate on them again and they floated even higher to two branches that formed a large platform on the side of the tree. At its end was a pair of double doors which led into the tree. Montagor opened them and walked into a room that seemed too big compared to how it looked from the outside. It was a large living room fitted with floor cushions, and small end tables low to the ground. There were stairs at the back of the room leading up and down.
"First things first. You and the boys need a bath. I'll go find you some clothes. Bathing area is upstairs. Follow my boys. They'll show you were to go." He went down the stairs and disappeared. Fenris took the lead. "Well follow me I guess." They headed upstairs to another large area with a giant wooden block carved out of the center of the room. It was filled with crystal clear water. Darius touched it. "Its like a cold version of the hot springs in Japan." He stripped down and hopped in til only his chest and head remained above water. Meanwhile, Fenris plucked a bottle containing glowing red powder off a small table on the side of the tub.
"It's enchanted. It's callled an ever clear pool. It's enchanted to destroy any form of dirt and grime that comes into contact with it." Darius curiously looked at the bottle he was holding. "That's pretty handy, but what's that?" "Bath salts." "I've seen bath salts before, and I'm pretty sure they don't glow." "Strange. How else would you know they were enchanted?" "Enchanted to do wha-" As soon as Fenris poured a handful of the salts into the pool, Darius felt the temperature of the water rise. Steam started to rise from the water. "Ohhh. Never mind. That's nice....." All the muscles in Darius's body relaxed as he soaked in the now steaming water. Faelar and Fenris joined him. There was a long moment of silence as they were all too relaxed to speak.