I arched an eyebrow. "Twilight?"
"Remember when I told you about the other name for the war that went down a millennium ago?"
The girl had informed me that there was an alternate name for the war, one that differed from the knowledge I possessed...and according to her, my understanding of the events that took place during that time was somehow incomplete or incorrect.
As far as I knew, the devastating war that had ravaged our world a thousand years ago was simply referred to as the World War. It had been a bloody conflict that had brought unimaginable horror and death, nearly claiming the lives of all the foreign heroes who had come to our world to vanquish the demon lord. The toll on our own people had been even more catastrophic, with almost 90 percent of the population, including humans, demi-humans, and beast people, perishing in the merciless onslaught.
The girl flashed me a playful grin. "Do you want to know the real story, Leon? The whole truth, nothing held back?"
"I suppose I do." I said, interested despite myself.
Her eyes gleamed with mischief as I expressed my interest in hearing her tale. "Excellent," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "But, in order to truly grasp the significance of what I'm about to tell you, we need to start from the very beginning. Are you ready for the full story, Leon?"
Without waiting for my answer, she summoned a basket of biscuits onto the table, grabbed one and chomped on it. "Trust me, this is going to be worth it," she continued, her tone playful yet conspiratorial. "Once you hear what I have to say, everything will become crystal clear. You'll understand why I'm here and why I'm telling you all of this."
"Can't you just tell me straight out what you want to say instead of beating around the bush with a story?"
She grinned devilishly. "Where's the fun in that?"
"...It's only fun for you," I let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, whatever. So what's this story you want to tell me about?"
She tapped a finger on her chin, lost in thought for a moment. "Now, where to begin?" she mused aloud, before suddenly slapping her palm with her other hand. "I know! Let's start at the very, very beginning!"
She uncrossed and then re-crossed her legs, settling in to her story. "Over a thousand years ago, a demon lord ruled over this entire world with an iron fist. No one could stand up to him, no matter how hard they tried. He was simply too powerful to defeat."
"But then," she continued, "a priest from the Elsa Theocracy stumbled upon a forbidden ritual. A space-time magic, to be exact. Can you guess what he used it for, Leon?"
I chose to stay quiet, but it seemed like the situation would continue indefinitely if I didn't speak up, so I said, "He used it to summon the heroes, didn't he?"
The girl clapped her hands in delight. "Bravo, you got it right!" she exclaimed. "The space-time magic was powerful enough to bring heroes from another dimension into this world, and the priest used it to summon them. Their mission? To slay the demon lord and save the world. And once they had completed their task, they went back to their own world - or so the books say, right?"
I nodded, unsure where this was going.
"But did you know that there are sacrifices to be made for this ritual to work?"
"Sacrifices?"
"The hero summoning ritual itself is a breeze, really. Just your average run-of-the-mill ritual with the usual offerings. But here's the kicker, unlike any other ritual, it takes unimaginable sacrifices to make it work. Of course, creating the summoning circle requires an insane amount of mana. But let's be real here, even the most potent circle can't just whisk someone from another world to ours. I mean, breaking the rules of the heavens isn't child's play, right? So, Leon, care to guess what else they needed to offer for this ritual to succeed?"
"I suppose it has something to do with the sacrifices you just mentioned," I guessed.
"You catch on quick, Leon. Sacrifices are definitely in order. But what, pray tell, do you think those sacrifices might entail?" she said, her smile turning even more sinister. "Well, let's just say that for this hero summoning ritual to succeed..."
Her smile grew even more eerie as she leaned in closer.
"...it demanded the lives of countless mortals."
Although I had already suspected what she was about to reveal, her words still sent a shiver down my spine.
"And not just one or two measly lives, mind you. Bringing someone from another world was strictly forbidden, for it would wreak havoc on the delicate balance of space-time across all dimensions. Plus, all those poor souls in the smaller dimensions that were destroyed in the process... Just imagine how many mortals had to die for this to work, Leon."
I wasn't well-versed in the concept of dimensions, but it occurred to me that if they were similar to our own, then the destruction of those smaller dimensions could mean the loss of countless lives. It was unsettling to think that not only were the people in our own world sacrificed for the sake of this ritual, but that other dimensions were also brought to ruin.
"And like I said before, my dear, just one or two lives simply wouldn't do for this ritual," she said, her voice dripping with wicked glee. "No, no, no. The ritual required a whole lot more to bring just one soul. Can you even begin to fathom how many lives were snuffed out for the summoning of a single hero?"
I remained silent, giving her the satisfaction of revealing the answer herself.
"A hundred lives, my dear Leon."
One hundred lives for just one hero. And with forty heroes summoned in total, that meant a staggering 4,000 mortal lives had been sacrificed for the sake of the ritual.
"But that's just the beginning, my dear Leon. The summoning ritual actually consists of four steps in total," she continued. "Taking an unfathomable amount of mortal lives was just the cherry on top for the first step - summoning the heroes. But then there's the matter of drawing the magic circle, and supplying enough mana to make it work. And let's not forget about the enormous, powerful barrier that needs to be created to protect the hero from harm during their journey between worlds."
"Wait, so you're telling me that in addition to the 4,000 lives sacrificed for the heroes, there's even more?"
"Well, of course, darling. Did you really think the drawing of the magic circle for this ritual was a simple task? It required an immense amount of natural energies."
Drawing a magic circle for the ritual wasn't just about using mana. Natural energy played a critical role as well. This type of energy was stored within nature itself, such as the power of storms and volcanic eruptions. While similar to mana in some ways, natural energy was much more challenging to harness and manipulate. Beast people were known for their expertise in handling it.
"Well, my dear Leon, to gather that much natural energy they needed the help of thousands of beast people to draw it for them. And as you can imagine, that means..." She trailed off, letting the implications of her words sink in.
I remained silent.
"While it's true that beast people are skilled in manipulating natural energy, it comes at a cost. Using this type of energy puts a severe strain on their bodies, as it essentially utilizes their life force. Given the length of time it took to complete the magic circle, it's not surprising that all of the beast people who drew it perished in the process, is it now?" the girl continued, a sly smile playing across her lips.
So, even with the sacrifice of those 4000 lives, it still wasn't enough to complete the ritual.
"To gather the massive amount of mana needed to create the barrier and complete the ritual, they had to sacrifice even more. I'm sure you can imagine what they had to give up for that kind of power," the girl explained, her smile growing even more sinister.
I felt a sudden chill creeping up my spine as the girl continued to speak.
"...Dont tell me..."
The girl's smile grew wider, as if she was enjoying the discomfort she was causing me.
"There's a specific race that possesses a vast reserve of mana, but it's not unlimited. This race was the one that supplied the massive amount of mana required to summon the heroes and construct the barrier to shield them. Can you guess which race it is?"
There was only one race that had such a large amount of mana...
I involuntarily tightened my grip into a fist, hoping the answer would be different.
But the girl's mischievous grin only grew wider. "This race is none other than...elves," she declared.
A sense of dread overcame me, as if something was being forcibly extracted from within me.
"You see, using all of their mana, even for an elf, has consequences. It's not infinite after all. And do you know what happens to those who use up all their mana, Leon?"
I could feel the color draining from my face as I braced myself for her answer.
"They die."