NOVEL NEXT Chapter 194: The Confrontation
The room was completely silent. None of the dark elves inside said a single word and stewed in the silence. Despite having a lot to say to Dolk and the other dark elves, Astrid was unable to say a single word. All she could do was quietly glare at her former comrades.
People she used to trust. People she used to care about and consider her own family. And all of them stabbed her in the back. All of them tried to kill her. To make matters worse, the dark elves that were with them died in the middle of that chaos as well.
They died...because Dolk and the rest of them were trying to kill her. The fact that she was faced with this situation sickened her. They sickened her.
She could feel a boiling rage build up within her. Just waiting to explode. She wanted to grab Dolk and the other four and beat them to death for what they did. All the death. All the lies. All the hell she was putting her and the village through for betraying them.
Her hands were tightly clenched into fists, desperate to punch the object of her anger. But she held back. She had to. They had information regarding the conspiracy that was happening within Meir. And Astrid needed to know how far the conspiracy went.
"So, are we going to keep staring at one another all day, or are you going to say something already?" Dolk questioned sarcastically.
Astrid glared at him, once again feeling the surge of rage slowly overwhelming her. It took all of her strength to control that anger and push it down, keeping it from boiling over.
However, what Dolk said next destroyed that effort.
"Wow, judging from your expression, you really want to pun-!?"
His sentence was cut off as Astrid socked him in the face. The blow knocked his head to the side. Blood dripped from his mouth before he spat some of it on the floor next to him.
"O-okay..." He huffed, trying to smile with his blood-stained teeth. "I-I definitely deserved that."
Astrid's hand blurred toward the bastard dark elf again. But instead of punching him like before, she instead grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer to her.
"You deserve more than that!" She snarled. "All of you do! What you did back on that mission...was despicable."
"We had no choice..." Dagny muttered softly.
"That doesn't excuse what you did!" She snapped, whipping her head over to face her. "You not only betrayed your tribe and tried to kill me, but you also killed our comrades who were just following orders! Finnr...Halli...Kári...Sǫlvi!" Astrid's eyes teared up as she mentioned these names. "They're dead because of you! Because of all of you!"
She ingrained the names of her people who died when Dolk and the others betrayed them. She did this so that she could finally avenge them. And now she had that opportunity right before her. But before that, she wanted some answers.
"What do you want from us, huh?" Dolk questioned with a sharp tone. "You want us to apologize? To show remorse?"
"After what you did? No remorse would erase or forgive what you've done."
"Then why are we still alive?" Esil demanded. "You have all of us before you, so just kill us and be done with it!"
Astrid shook her head. "I'm not going to grace you with death so early. Not when I have so many questions to get out of your worthless, pathetic mouths."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She was determined to get every last bit of information regarding her brother and his deal with the High Elves. She wanted to know everything. No matter how big or small the detail.
"How many more people do the High Elves have under their finger? I already know about my brother and you lot. Are there any others within our tribe that are currently working with them?"
While she was aware that many tribes within the great forest of Meir were likely conspiring with the High Elves, Astrid's current priority was weeding out the traitors within her tribe first. Because once she returned home, she planned to take down everyone involved with Kollr.
"...Several of the elders of our village," Dagny confessed. "That and many more members of the legion."
Astrid clicked her tongue. "Of course, those stuck-up bastards got involved. And here I thought they still had their pride when it came to dealing with High Elves. Why did my brother and the other traitors decide to join the High Elves anyway? What could those arrogant and narcissistic bastards possibly offer them that they would work together with them?"
Out of all the races within the Great Forest of Meir, the High Elves and Dark Elves had the most hostile relationship with one another. The High Elves viewed her kind as nothing more than defects. Failures that needed to be eradicated. And they've been trying to get rid of them for centuries. And yet, somehow, the Dark Elves were willingly working with the Dark Elves? There had to be something that the High Elves were offering them. Something big. Otherwise, they wouldn't have done such a heinous act in the first place.
"The High Elves offered them power...and a chance to become something greater," Dolk said in a hushed tone.
Astrid looked at him with a suspicious gaze. "Power and to become something greater? The hell does the latter part mean?"
"I...don't know exactly, but I do believe that...it involves the system."
"What? But the system happened before this whole conspiracy in the first place. How the hell would they know about it beforehand?"
At first, Astrid believed that Dolk was lying to her. But after taking a look at his face...she was reconsidering that. He looked anxious and...afraid. That bastard had been rather aloof and silent this entire time since getting captured. But after talking about Kollr and the High Elves, he suddenly looked panicked and frantic. Like he knew something that shook him to his very core.
"Dolk," She uttered his name with a stern yet calm tone. "How did Kollr and the high elves know about the system before it appeared?"
Dolk hesitated to answer as if something was preventing him from confessing. His eyes darted around the room, searching for a way out or something to distract himself with. However, he could no longer endure Astrid's piercing gaze and quickly confessed.
"I believe Kollr learned about the system from the High Elves. How they knew about it before its appearance, I don't know. But I do know that Kollr and those high and mighty bastards were preparing for its arrival. They were making sure that all of their preparations were complete before the system arrived. I think Kollr also told us to kill you on that day because he didn't want the system to give you a chance to retaliate."
Astrid tried to comprehend Dolk's words but was unable to process all the information he bombarded her with. So, not only did the High Elves and Kollr know about the system, but her brother also wanted to get rid of her to avoid allowing the system to give her the same opportunity to rise to power as he was offered.
The more Astrid started putting the pieces together, the more sickened and disturbed she was by the whole thing. In the pursuit of power, the people she trusted the most sacrificed everything. And now everyone within Meir was suffering from this decision. And it was all because of the High Elves.
The question now was...how did the High Elves know about the system? No one should've known about its existence until its first appearance. And that would be when everyone was transported to a separate dimension and were told to try and survive for a whole month. So, how in the world did those bastards learn about it before its arrival?
Astrid wanted to question Dolk and the others about it, but judging from Dolk's frantic expression, this whole thing could very well be an assumption he deduced out of paranoia. Which made his statement even less credible to her. But something told her that he wasn't lying. And deep down, something also told her that he might be right about this whole thing.
"Dolk, I need you to-?!"
Before she could finish, the sound of the door opening behind her drew her attention. As she whirled around to see who would dare interrupt her alone time with her former companions, her expression softened when Hazel suddenly emerged through the entrance.
However, when the dark elf noticed the grim look on her partner's face, her brows creased worryingly. There was clearly something on her mind. Something heavy and dreadful...
"Hazel, what's going on?"
Hazel nervously stared at Astrid, hesitant to answer. But knowing that stalling wasn't going to solve anything, she inevitably spoke up. And what came out of her mouth only worried Astrid more.
"Astrid, we need to talk..."