Ellandris was a powerful man- Money? He had tons! Authority? He was the most influential Druid of the council, as an Elf he was the one who had the highest connection to nature and understood it!
He didn't expect for his love to betray him. As he held his bleeding chest, his long golden hair was a mess, his green robes were torn by the talons and blades of beasts and men who fought him for two days and two nights, he was poisoned by something that weakened his mana flow which made him rely on the mana he already had within his body and stop drawing mana from nature or else he would damage himself- Right now, he was looking at the one he loved once: Andressa Asvir was the princess of the Human Race, the most beautiful woman, even more graceful than Elves. He looked at the man beside her and realized: Captain Evans, the Head of the Warrior Seat of the Council was her lover, wasn't he? 'I am dying...' He coughed black blood upon the ground before looking at his enemies- The majority of them were dead upon the ground as he looked at them. 'If I'm going down- I'm taking them with me!' He slammed his bloodied hand on the ground as he decided to use all his mana, all his life energy into this single curse.
"I curse this place- Nature will never allow neither human nor dwarf to walk upon this land, forever they'll die, killed by beasts, plants, insects, nature itself will kill them!" His golden hair greyed out, his skin turned brittle as his bones withered- The spell was taking his life to cast due to the severity of the spell itself. Fun fact: "This place" as refered by Ellandris, was the Ellarian Forest, which consists of 80% of the Ellaris Continent, which is where they are right now! So, he basically cursed the forest that spreads over 80% of a continent to allow only elves to walk safely inside for the millennia to come- After his death, he became known as the Cursed One for the dwarves and humans, while the Elves called him their hero and saviour.
Unknowingly, he also caused elves to be highly desired slaves, but that's a whole different story.
Our story starts with a young slave boy, who just had the worst fever he has ever had in his life- It actually killed him, but his body was the perfect recipient for the soul of a certain very old elf. Gasping the newly reincarnated Ellandris coughed as he sat down, he felt this really strong headache that felt like it was killing him! 'Ugrh!' He shaked his head as these... images filled his mind, from being mistreated to even abused, this boy by the name of Eki was truly a brave soul. He was born with a very weak constitution, the people of this world wouldn't be able to categorize this constitution as nothing but a birth defect, but Ellandris? He knew what this was: Broken Energy Veins.
When someone's body has their veins for mana broken, which disrupts the mana flow through their body and damages it- This was what almost happened to him after he was poisoned. 'I need to be careful-' He tried to control the mana within his body to flow smoother, and it was painful as fuck! With the amount of mana he has, he can probably cast a 1st Circle Spell at best and a Beginner Circle Spell at worst! "Ghake! Eki is awake-" Hearing a woman's voice, Ellandris, or rather, Eki, froze. Ghake was his owner, the one who abused him a lot and the one who captured him in the first place! Ghake was a warrior, in this Primitive world power was everything and a Warrior was given anything they desire.
But Ghake desired one thing- Eki's love.
But Eki didn't love him- In fact, Eki despised him. Here is the thing; Ghake is part of the Green Scale tribe, a tribe of warriors who sometimes are born with green scales in parts of their bodies ('That sounds a lot like recessive draconification...') and from this tribe, Ghake was their strongest! The Green Scale tribe did trading with Eki's original tribe, the Soft Silk tribe! They were famous for their works with silk and for the beauty of their people, many wanted them as their own, but the Soft Silk tribe had been untouched for years due to their Shaman, a man who was a practitioner of witchcraft and healing as well as cursing and blessing, he was the one who kept enemies far away! But one night, their Shaman died suddenly, and their protection was gone.
Soon various tribes raided the Soft Silk tribe, taking their women and riches, so much that tribes fought for the Soft Silk people- Ghake was one of the warriors who managed to get something from the Soft Silk tribe, the son of the chief, Eki. Eki was the most beautiful man Ghake had ever seen, so he decided to make him his, even forcing it ('That was just a kiss, hug, and sleeping on the same tent, this boy is spoiled... Although I agree- Don't like that!') Eki hated him, but his body did not allow him to do anything about his situation! "Eki!" With worry in his eyes, Ghake came into the tent: "You're awake-" Eki, the reincarnated Ellandris didn't even look at the man, he was a slave now and that was the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to him, so he vowed to break himself free from this. "-Eki?"
First things first, he needs to take care of his Broken Energy Veins (BEV) before he attempts on getting stronger. He needs a few herbs, but his body is too weak to go looking for them for too long, so he might as well use this man right? "-Ghake." Huh, his voice was really soft, he isn't used to this! "... I need something." Never had Eki ever asked him anythint, so when he heard those words the very first thing that came to his mind was doubt, for why would Eki ever ask him something? Then realization came: Eki would only ask him something if he was desperate! "Whatever you need." If he gave whatever Eki needed, would he like him a little bit more then? "Herbs... I need some herbs." Eki was the son of the chief, he knew a few herbs that he needed and that existed here! "Draw them to me, I'll get them for you."
Eki drawed them for him- Three herbs he needed to make a medicine to heal his constitution, which would be slow.
He didn't expect, however, for the Green Scale tribe to be attacked by another tribe- A stronger tribe, a tribe with bone weapons that cut through the warriors of the Green Scale tribe, cutting them to pieces. Eki hid, he was too weak to fight against them, his plans had to change since Ghake is probably dead anyway! Eki waited, hiding behind the broken tents as the soldiers all went killing any warrior they found and taking any women they wanted. Eki could hear the screams, he could hear the distress, he could hear the pain- And nature sang.
Nature is not kind to its children.
Nature is ruthless.
It took about 3 hours for the attack to end- They were massacred! Eki got out of the rubbles he was hiding away in and started to search for things he could take, he lifted a few broken structures with a lot of rubble and broken wood, the splinters hurt his hand a little but thankfully he wasn't as weak as he thought he would be because of his broken constitution. His endurance was shit of course, but at least his physical strength was enough to help him search for things to take- He did not expect, however, to find someone within the rubble... He found him, Ghake, losing an arm, with broken legs, and looking like he was going to die from blood loss. On his hand, he clutched a bright white flower that Eki had asked from him, one of the ingredients that would help him heal his Broken Energy Veins. "E-eki?" Ghake groaned softly, his voice weak: "Thank the Gods..." He smiled: "You're alright." Ghake extended his hand and offered Eki the white flower, making the cold and old soul find a spark of pity within himself that he thought he had long lost... He put so much effort, he is useful, he can't let him die here right? "Don't thank the Gods-" Eki placed his hand on the bloody stump, his palm glowed a bright green as he did something that would hurt his body further: "-Thank me, the Soft Silk tribe's Shaman."
Fun fact! Eki was, in fact, the Soft Silk tribe Shaman! Someone had done the same they had done to Ellandris, they poisoned him and made his mana veins shatter, damaging his body. Well, compared to the High Druid that Ellandris was, the knowledge this Shaman had was pathetic and not very useful... Well, there were a few herbs native to this place that could be useful. A few animals could probably be tamed by him with some effort, and maybe there was a colony of Dwarves within the volcano up north if the legends are true.
Ghake watched in awe as the bleeding on his arm simply stopped, his minor cuts and bruises also faded away - Did he hear it right? Eki is the famous Shaman of the Soft Silk tribe!? Did he just find gold? "Thank you for bringing me this... I won't let you die as a thank you." Ghake listened, but his mind kept echoing words he never heard Eki say to him before, 'Thank you' being one of them and 'I won't let you die' being the other: "Don't misunderstand me here, i need you and you need me, it's nothing more than mutual benefit." Ghake's brain echoed the words 'I need you' over and over and he was convinced that Eki just declared to him!
Eki coughed blood upon the ground, making Ghake extremely distressed, but he couldn't move seeing as his legs were fucking broken! "Eki..." He softly cried in pain as he tried to sit down only for Eki to push him down to the ground: "Stay." He said before leaving, Ghake didn't have much energy within him so he fainted soon after... He came back to consciousness later, he looked above to see the rocky ceiling of a cavern. 'Did Eki drag me here...?' Looking down at his legs, yeah, still broken, but now they were wrapped in these green vines with sticks on them. Every warrior knew that a broken bone was a death sentence, as well as a lost limb, and yet here he is! Without an arm and with both legs broken, and Eki still dragged him to a cavern! 'He loves me?' Only someone who loves another can do so much for them!
Meanwhile, Eki, who broke a finger dragging Ghake to the cave because he still has uses for him in the future: 'Fuck, he better be ready to pay me for this!'
He did search for the other herbs, just because he wasn't an elf anymore it doesn't mean he doesn't have the aspects and talents an elf has! He closed his eyes and focused for a while before he felt nature around him- Earth, Plants, Minerals, Animals, and more were felt by him, but no sign of the herbs he wants... "At least this white flower will help me momentarily to stabilize my BEV..." With a stabilized BEV, he can cast higher Circle spells for a while without damaging his body! With this single flower, he could probably cast the spell to heal Ghake's broken legs so he can find the other herbs he needs! But for that, Eki would need to make a sacrifice, something to empower the spell enough since he doesn't have enough mana within him! He hasn't even made his first inner circle! He is scratching his potential, he needs more, but for that he needs the herbs, and for that he needs Ghake.
"Well..." Looking at the blood from the dead warriors left behind, Eki pondered for a while before smirking- Blood Magic and Necromancy wasn't his specialty, but blood is still part of nature! Blood is water, blood is life! Channeling mana through his fingers, Eki drew a symbol on the corpse of one of the fallen and watched as the corpse slowly got up, broken legs and arms twisting and cracking as the corpse came to be under Eki's control. He soon noticed that his limit was 3 corpses, which had to be enough! He made them follow him to the cavern he found, and when he entered, Ghake was awake! "Eki-" He froze when he saw the corpses, his eyes filled with fear and terror as the corpses walked towards him and fell face first to the ground. "Eki, what're you doin'...?" Ghake's voice was weak, he looked like he wanted to cry and throw up, but Eki didn't care! "Healing you."
"This... You're going against the gods!" The dead walking again? That was not something that their gods would approve of! "I don't care- To save you (because you're useful to me) i would do anything (because you're useful to me), even defy the gods themselves! (because i need you, or else i will never get good!)" Ghake couldn't believe his ears- Eki really loved him? He acted like he hated him most of the time for a long time, acting spoiled and like a child, who knew he would love him so much as to defy the gods themselves to save him!? "Okay..." I swear Eki, I'll be worthy of your love!
Meanwhile, Eki, who just wanted to get herbs: 'Why do i feel weird?'