| "Make the best of it, I suppose." Astra replied, in a almost piping
but somehow beautiful sounding voice. "Not that we have much choice in
the matter, considering that if the rumors that were whispered around the
campfire at night back when I was just a fledgling member of Diana's Rangers
are true!"
"What rumors?" Fred asked in his new higher-pitched voice. "I take it
has something to do with Pronklezilch?"
"Well….not directly in the rumors….but I now have a queasy feel in my
gullet that the rumors are true," Astra says softly. "The rumors were of
a young Aqualarian mage who had been on a search for knowledge of ancient
cultures. That was admirable, in my own opinion, but he happened to be
especially an admirer of the ancient civilization of Atlantis……"
"So he was half mad, huh?" Fred interrupted, shivering. Everything he
had heard about that fell human civilization had made his blood run cold!
"Perhaps….perhaps not," Astra sighs. "But whatever the case, rumor had
it that he went on a quest to find the actual darkling capitol city of
Atlantis - rumored to have somehow survived it's sinking beneath the ocean
waves - and find an archaeological treasure trove. Something that would
get his name written down in the Guild of Magic. But, when he returned
from his travels……"
"He wasn't the same?" Fred guessed aloud.
"That's the meat of it," Astra agreed. "He came back half mad, and withdrawn.
It was rumored that he had found a powerful magical item that had been
wielded by the Mage Lord Tesla himself….before he destroyed his own nation
when they rose up in revolt…..conveting the very magic item he posessed
that would have made the Atlantians the supreme rulers of Tera."
"He found Tesla's Crystal Staff?" Fred whispered, horrified. There were
things out there that only a fool wouldn't be fearful of, and this powerful…evil
Atlantian Artifact was one of them! "The one that possesses the user, turning
him more and more evil as time progresses? The one that was said to somehow
be the Key to the Atlantian Telegate system AND able to turn entire armies
into simple….harmless animals?"
"The same…..except the rumors in MY nation said that the entity within
the staff wasn't evil…..just that the power the user could wield with it
soon corrupted the user," the Aqualarian princess said. "Indeed, the saying
'Power has corruptive qualities….and absolute power is absolutely corruptive
to the user.' seems to hold true here."
"And….he used the most powerful magical artifact from a race of the
most powerful assembly of magi in all of Teran history….." Fred sighed.
"An item that would be the only key to our returning to human…."
"Before we can make plans on somehow tracking down and somehow wresting
away the Crystal Staff from that mad mage we must first get ourselves situated
in a better position than what we have right now," Astra said. "As much
as I would like to be my normal self again….we are hardly equipped for
the task!"
And time we have to plan….considering that elves are unaging,
Fred siad to himself. Though….that aspect of all this doesn't sound
half bad….now that I consider it. I always hated the idea of dying of old
age….enfeeble and senile…… And if Astra wishes…..we could be together…..if
she's interested in a relationship…..
Fred shakes his head…..focusing on the matter at hand.
"So very true!" Fred agrees. "Especially now that I know were we are!
And by the love of the Lord, the sooner we leave the better for I know
pretty much where we are! The Xythryx forest is rumored to have been an
ancient sight of a super powerful mage battle….and besides producing giant
sized spiders……"
"What?" Astra asked nervously, seeing the look of dread on Fred's face.
"What happens here?"
"This forest is claimed by the Great Kingdom….but we've never been able
to really lay down anything substantial in the way of ownership," Fred
whispered. "Exploration teams have gone in…..never to return. Others have
come out decades older while only being away for a day OR they've returned
unaged….decades after entering this acursed forest! That and strange things
kept coming out…."
Astra nods, seeing just why Fred is nervous and is about to say
something when there's a blinding flash of light blinds them all….followed
by an extreme feeling of vertigo!
-
 The new elves
awake to the sight of two other elves looking down at them in concern….and
the sight of the moon peeking through a break in the trees. Strange since
there had been no moon out that night when they had blacked out.
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