Somewhere Someplace

A chamber. One located somewhat underground within the confounds of a smooth rocky mountain. One large and spacious, less a chamber and more an auditorium befit for a gathering. Shiny and crystalline. Everything was composed of such glowing and glistening rocky material, illuminating this entire space so thoroughly that it was practically daytime always, without being so tiresome to the eyes. Connected, this place was, to a greater network, as evident by two large tunnel paths and the many lesser paths scattered in kind.

Standing tall and off to the side behind a line of its lessers was a—perhaps familiar—bronze golem lord. And gently sitting with dangling legs upon its shoulder was that same—perhaps prior encountered—cloaked figure of unknown affiliation. Humming away, patiently waiting as a meeting of sorts, or other kind of relevant gathering, was slowly accumulating, having yet to begin.

Her ignited ghostly-pink eyes looked down, peering at the lessers below… That which stood at attention below was merely for show; a fraction of the whole legion this golem was in command of; that she was in command of.

Her eyes then peered around, bored…

Armored orcish guards flanked the major entrances, standing with silent attention… Large, heavy, and brutish, indeed… Though, orcs were not the only armored and armed fellows providing security; they were joined by elves.

Elves armored in their distinct and unmistakable fashion and styles, utterly distinguishable from that of man. Comparable to that of the elven high civilizations of the New World, yet…far more rustic and improvised; colored in dark blue, purple, and brown as well; their skin, likewise, was more greyish purple and palish blue. These elves were under dwellers, not from the surface… Both these armored orcs and elves being shadows of bygones.

Slowly gathering here from the sprawling network of associates and allies… Goblins, orcs, gnomes, elves, and other such relatives, she saw… Some were tall; some were small. Some were ‘primitive’; others were ‘civilized’. Some were under dwellers; others were from the surface. It was hardly uniform, indeed… Diverse in so many ways. Yet in certain eyes, they all were the same: worthy of nothing more than a spear’s piercing tip.

Hmm… Elves, she saw, who were more ‘archaic’ and ‘tribal’… Forest elves who were evidently from surface. A slight surprise, honestly, for the elven kin of the surface had long buried their hatchets, accepting their abject primitiveness and isolation to the forests above…

Though, she was a surface dweller too. Even though… she was apparently born in a crystalline place like here, she was ultimately raised on the surface. She was a half-elf, a true and proper one; half-man, half-elf. A fact that was not merely known by her, but also…all those glaring eyes staring at her…

“Thankfully, I have a knight…” she blurted in mumble, thoughts bleeding out… “What are you looking at, big nose?”

A goblin quickly retracted his glaring eyes. Not all eyes were glaring with prejudice or envy; some were amazed by that which she sat upon.

“Hmph…” She nevertheless raised her hood, covering her half-elven ears.

She was different than the rest here… At least, she believed she was. She had not the same motivations with respect to that which everyone else here had. She had her own goals… Her own reasons… Her own lust for revenge.

“Pewy…” Suddenly, she began to caress her head… “It is like…there is something in my head… I feel peculiar, as if my thoughts are being read…” she muttered, her pink ignited eyes…perhaps ‘flickering’ a little, so to speak, though she could not notice.

Her head turned to that of the bronze golem whose shoulder she remained seated upon. “You feel something strange, too? So, it is not merely me, then?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah…” She turned her head away, looking at the rest around… “It is the same feeling I had in that United Company camp…” she mumbled, before turning her head…sighing; “Certainly a side-effect of our relationship”.

“Huh?” She blurted, lancing eyes to the golem’s own; “…whatever…” she blushed.

Although she and this bronze golem had only been associates for a—relatively speaking—short while, them having a rather…direct line for constant communication had nevertheless sped up their relationship. She had come to understand this bronze knight in more ways than she ever expected, and the golem had come to understand this…strange girl…far more than it had ever cared for.

“I am still getting those…fantasies of yours, you know that? You have not let go of those…” She was trying to remember…

“Rightly, yes…those two Company soldiers… You are very spiteful, sir knight” she remarked; “I want to sleep with dreams of vengeance on a greater scheme, yet all I receive are your dreams of chasing two men across the ocean as a battle-boat—I mean, why… I have to ask… Why do you want to be a boat? You are made of bronze! Water corrupts you!”

The bronze golem turned its triangular head, staring into her. She could see the true source of its apparent glowing eyes; that being an actual physical object of sorts… It looked crystalline yet was so…different from anything else she had seen prior. There were actual…eye-like…things—she could not describe, but they expanded and focused as if pupils.

“…” She stared as the golem stared in kind… There were no words, merely a transmission of knowing. “Rightly, obviously…” she looked away.

Truly, what a strange girl… The bronze golem had not any the choice but to feel such instincts of…not necessarily affection as much as…relaxing warmth and docile comfort. It was linked with her far more than she was linked to it. The only reason why it had not simply slaughtered every last soul in this chamber was because of her… She told it not to, thus it did not.

It still could not really…come to terms with this…evolution in its…behavior.

“Now you are getting that feeling too? Something is in your…”—she stared…—“Do you even have a head?”

“I mean, obviously, I know you literally have a head… I was more wondering… You know…the…the… The thing…that is…”

“Brain—rightly, brain… I do not know why that word became clogged…”

“Because the brain is…that organ responsible for… It is what aches during a mindache and when one overthinks—it is what is connected to the living roots that grant the soul a way to think and express…”

“…a blood-cooler? What? That is…so…stupid!”

“I never wanted to be born a full daughter of mankind, and this only expands that desire… Blood-cooler… Elven anatomical studies had long proven what each organ was responsible for many thousands of years ago! They were even capable of regrowing and replacing them!”

“…yes, I know all of the learned and knowing elves fled to Alfenya and lost much of their knowledges and histories in doing so…”

“Whatever, that is what my so-called ‘father’…told me…”

“Why did I say it like that? Because…he is…”

“It is a…story… A truth I sometimes wish I never knew…”

“I do not want to talk about this anymore, please…”

“I know I am the one who initiated this!”

To those eyes who bothered to stare, it certainly seemed she was going mad, arguing with herself, seemingly.

“[Halflites, beh…]” a rather fancy goblin, close-by, scoffed.

Hearing, she lanced her eyes down…glaring; “Do you wish to call me that to my face, gobble-mouth?” She did not need to speak goblin tongue to understand his words…

The offending goblin stared… It was not only her that was eyeing him, but also the bronze golem and all of its lovely friends, of which it stood in command. The goblin went mute, though certainly remained grumbly.

“I am the strongest one here now… That is still hard to process…” she mumbled…

The bronze golem turned its triangular head again…

“…I know, you are the strongest… But by your being the strongest, I am thus the strongest… Although, I was not after strength, only retribution… But it is nice to have more respect… First the crystal golems, now you and your legion… There should be no more questions…”

“Oh, I can handle it… We were caretakers, after all; our spirit and magic is specialized for this…”

“I know I am half!”

Time began to pass as things entered and things departed… The girl continued to hum and wait, becoming bored…quite…

Yet finally, entering from an opening crevice and walking upon an elevated standing at the frontest end of this chamber…were many cloaked figures of sorts, all with prominent pointy ears. Elves, the same greyish skinned sorts as the elven guards, though more…civil and dignitary in appearance. Their hair was of a light-greyish or white color, with eyes red or purple…

She was not…whatever these elves were. Her mother was apparently a crystal elf, once inhabitants of crystalline places such as here…or rather, caretakers… Crystal elves had pale skin, thus she had pale skin. Her hair was also a crystal-blue sort of color, her eyes naturally pink even outside of her arcanity—an inherited arcanity of which was also…well, fairly neat.

She scratched at her head, ignited eyes ‘flickering’… “It feels like it is becoming worse, this feeling… As if memories are being leached—how is that even a feeling?”

“SILENCE!” so abruptly shouted in echoing turmoil…an announcing voice. No spells or technology, this one’s voice was exceptionally good at just being plain loud. Never mind that the crystalline environment of this space was…naturally conducive to sound.

All went silent, and all began to pay attention.

Aheming, the announcer so wavingly made way away, giving the floor to he who was to so speak and address.

Stepping forth and standing tall, this addresser cleared his throat…

“What a gargantuan developed chin” she quietly blurted… “It is like it traversed so far across the attractive line it swung right back to ugly…”

The bronze golem told her to hush, despite not telling her.

Silence and anticipation…

“You all must have been wondering why this gathering was called, though I am sure you all now understand the answer, for it stands tall and strong! With these cries and words, my friends, my brothers and sisters in arms, ushers the next step forward in avenging our children! Our siblings! Our parents! Our forebearers!” Thus, with such a passionate voice, the speech began…

“For thousands of years, mankind has ruled above with every manner of wickedness and malus spilling forth from that grand rotting wound… Since the Fall, they have blamed the Crown; they blame us… They call us evil and twisted! They cry that we were the ones corrupted, when it was mankind that had become corrupted and who had twisted the Crown! Betrayed… Butchered… Forced to live in shadows beneath, they considered us absent and irrelevant… Yet their arrogance, as they shall soon see, has given us time…”

“Hm. But you would think that within the millennia they were at this, they would have made progress well before now…” her breath’s quietly blurted…

“Mankind, those tainted souls of the Child they corrupted; they who betrayed the Crown… They accuse us of being worshippers of those ‘demons’ conjured by their own twised hearts, yet all we ever did was remain true and loyal to the Crown! We are the demonic ones, they say, yet all we ever wanted was the world that once was! A world finally cleansed of wicked blight that has dominated, suffocated, it… A world where our children and their children can finally breathe without the fears of butchery and slaughter!”

“By butchering mankind, of course…” she blurted. She had no problems with that, theoretically, but the hypocrisy was evident. “So as long as I can eviscerate the Far West…”

“And year by year, mankind’s endless greed and insatiable gluttony has only grown… Piece by piece, the whole world is being devoured and digested…slowly and cruelly… But the omens are clear, first heralded by the death of the Forsaken King by the barrel of alien guns and not the blade of their False Hero, and now…the destruction of their monkey-den of Coastfield by those very flames once feared… Mankind is completing their prophecy; they are becoming those very demons they accuse us of worshipping!”

“His voice is so passionate and piercing, yet his words are…disorganized” she blurted; “or maybe I am stupid and not following…”

“Whispers speak to me, the voices of the Gods above shackled to mankind yearn to me! And I have seen visions foretelling of war and destruction on a scale…incomprehensible… Flying metallic beasts raining fire from the sky, bombs that can destroy entire cities—nay, entire lands! It is mankind’s destiny to destroy themselves and the whole world with them! Man will not stop until the world is soot and ash; that is the Truth the Child saw… And the hostage Gods above, begging to be freed, have made it clear… that it is we who will keep the world from falling! That it is we who will be their arbiters of this new dawning era! That it is we…who are destined to heal that open rotting wound still bleeding!”

This continued on and on, until finally…

“You!” the addresser pointed his finger towards she herself and the bronze golem… “Step forth with your accomplishment!”

“Finally… But I hope that I do not have to speak…” she muttered…

“Go on…”

The bronze golem and its lessers began to march way towards the front standing. All of the elves, goblins, orcs, gnomes, and extremely fidgety…gremlins of sorts…moved out of the way, clanking steps crushing into the ground.

The golem lord stood front and center, its lessers at attention below. Knowing what to do, the towering golem kneeled along with its lessers—a sign of respect.

The figure atop, however, remained standing and tried to balance herself… “Salutations, great one…” she greeted, lowering her hood yet again. She, admittedly, was a little nervous now that so many eyes were…staring, with awe, judgement, or…envy.

The addresser tapped his staff with rather the force upon the floor, hitting a not-so-obvious square switch; standing still, he suddenly protruded upwards, the square patch of crystalline ground he stood upon extending higher so that he could be taller than the golem, and thus remain the center of all eyes.

“This halflite daughter of Crysta, despite having blood impure and violated by man, had nevertheless showed, in spite of rightful skepticisms, that she is one of us! Nay, better than most! Utilizing her arcane gifts inherited by her foremothers, those caretakers of Crystalia, we have been slowly mustering an army of golems… And, in a plan most cunning and executed most perfectly, we now stand in control…of a Bronze Golem Lord and his legion! The same bronze legions that once ravaged the surface millennia ago! We now stand upon the end of our preparation, and the beginning of our retribution!”

Cheers began to rejoice.

She blushed, resisting the urge to…let the moment engulf her personality. “Thank you, thank you… I am marvelous…” she whispered, fantasying.

“What we need now is a victory! One to show all those remaining naysayers and skeptics of our cause, all those who stand in opposition such as those perfidious ‘Protectors’ of Smiles, that our reclamation is not only possible, but inevitable!”

Cheers continued forth.

“Divided by self-hatred; blinded by arrogance and bloodlust… Mankind, despite sitting strongly upon their throne, has never been weaker… And for the last year, we have been mobilizing underneath the tattered corpse of the Huckleberry Dutchy, our movements within the underways masked by the shadows of opportunists and surface bands without purpose or goals… The mans of Huckleberry none the wiser of our revelation that awaits: the recapture of so-called ‘Grandberry’! That once great elven city long violated by man’s hands! That will be our grand victory! Our sign to the rest that we are favored; the heralder of our reclamation!”

The addresser promptly pointed his grand staff straight towards her. “And you, half-daughter of Crysta! Come forth!” thus he so vocated.

She finally slid off and stepped forth, kneeling before that towering crystalline platform atop which he so stood.

“You and your golems will be our righteous spearhead! At once, you and your legion are to traverse to the Huckleberry Dutchy and abet our detachments there!” thus he so declared and ordained. “There is no space for failure or defeat. There is no space for anything grander than victory… And rest assured, by this year’s end, once more so-called ‘Grandberry’ will be under elven control! And from there, we all—goblin, orc, gnome, beast, every last one of you—will reclaim what was stolen! What was lost!”

Even more cheers erupted. His voice was carrying him more than his actual words, she felt. None of this was preprepared or rehearsed; it all came from his heart and soul in the moment. Such was something she could not help but admire.

Though, it was rather ironic that he was giving this speech in the language of man…and that they all had to speak it to communicate inter-lingually.

Tapping the pommel of his grand staff onto the switch again, the pillar atop which he stood contracted back to the ground below; standing before she who kneeled, he leaned in closer. “Forgive any insults, child… This is a necessary show, especially for those slobbering goblins…” he began to speak, his voice far quieter and less theatrical… more truthful; “But away from that, we have been told by whispers from above that…the United Company detachment you had encountered was likely heading for Huckleberry, and thus that boon of theirs, that false divine servant or whatever, too…”

Ah… She was wondering when that…would be brought up.

“Should you encounter this…boon of theirs, it is your duty to slay it… However, if it is too strong or if our plan fails, it is your duty to run and endure. You are our boon, our hallowed instrument, and your blood is of a kind that hardly exists anymore. There is no replacing you.”

“Lord…” she acknowledged, perhaps slightly…affected.

“But let that not distract, for we still expect you to fulfill the plans and strive for victory… Even if we cannot take Grandberry, a close attempt should be enough to silence opposition and skeptics… We are playing the long game, and the word alone should rally thousands to our cause” thus he explained; “You are cautious, and you lack the same bloodlust as the rest… This is a trait we also favor in you, remember that.”

“Thy will is mine, lord” thus she swore.

“Good.” Without further words, he once again tapped his staff with rather the force, standing with fervor as he rose higher and higher. “We, those children of smiles loyal to the Crown!” thus he raised his voice in resuming theatrical clamor; “We will rise upon the surface once more! Our homes! Our dignities! Our histories! Our future! We will retake it all! We will avenge our betrayal! We will avenge all those victims of mankind’s evil! And with righteous fury and the blood of man, we will avenge our Crown! And heal it from its twisted blight… And with these cries, may our reclamation unfurl! Let the cleansing of mankind begin!”

“He does not know how to end, does he?” her breaths blurted quietly.

Despite his speech dragging on longer than necessary, it was nevertheless met with such roaring cries. For the Fallen had nothing more they could do besides to look up to the world above, yearning…craving for what had once been theirs.

Enose puno en emit, ereth zauv e Dlich ohuv reavuid e Nuvoric, robid ib chihuv reuv lah eth dilrowz elimss

[Once upon a time, there was a Child who wore a Crown, borne by which were all the world’s smiles]