Elder Hughes

It has been few days since I got here. Elder Hughes was the previous king of Avalon. He married a human noble woman from a house under Egilhard Duchy. It was the main reason behind his friendship with grandpa. Grandpa supported their relationship. But it didn't change the fact that there was quite a difference between elves lifetime and a human lifetime. If nothing significant happened an elf can love upto a thousand years. While a human lifetime can hardly cross hundred yrs. But why elves lived in the forest when they could cause havoc on the continent. I once asked grandpa about this.

He told me elves are friendly nation. Though they are powerful but their population is quite small as an elf couple hardly is blessed with offspring. And due to long lifespans their partners may change. And only ancient elves lived long enough a thousand years. But today's elf lifespan has shortened to few hundred years.

In ancient times after the great War when all the people faced the consequences of war, elfs condition was the worst. They lost more than their half of population. And almost all of their warriors. So their leader of that time(the last warrior) shut the elves from the rest of the world. Because he knew after the war with demons, now all different nations will start the battle for land and its resources though a pact was formed. Through that pact the elves demanded the territory of Eigentes Forest. Humans took most of the land. And after losing their demon lord the remaining demons went to their territory beyond the Eigentes forest. Since the spirits of Forest did not allow them to trespass the forest. And elves kingdom served as a shield. That's why nobody objected when they chose their territory. The very first king of elves made a pact with the spirit queen and their children role the Avalon.

Elder Hughes was the first in line of throne as the eldest prince but after falling in love with a human girl he left the throne and his regin of only a few years ended. His younger brother took the throne and Ikejel was his grandson.

That human Lady died few decades ago. And after her death elder Hughes shut himself from the world. He lived in a house at the border of the kingdom. Avalon only comprised of 1/4th of the Forest. The rest of the forest was inhabitanted with mana beasts and few hidden dungeons. Only adventures entered the forest in order to fight the beasts for their valuable things. Demonic beast also lived here but for quite decades no one has encountered one.

After waiting for two weeks I was summoned by the elder. Ikejel and Elisa both came to escort me to the elder house. During my stay though Ikejel was hostile to me at first but after our sparing match we became close. This saying was True when you spar with someone you comes to know a lot of things about your opponent. Though I won most of the matches but not all of them. He had quite the potential. His sword style was quite different from what I had seen so far. And I only knew Egilhard sword style. This was the first time I regretted that I could not learn the Aurelius sword style. But my brother would be learning that sword. Each royal family had special sword and it had quite a significant affect on the raod of becoming the sword master. I shift my thoughts to my surroundings when we reached the elder house. It was a small villa with a lake by its side. The view was great. But the villa had a gloom look. When ikejel knocked at the door, the door was opened by an elderly elf he dressed like a butler. He showed us a way in and informed us that our rooms have been arranged.

After having our dinner, we went to sleep but I couldn't sleep. So I decided to go out for a walk. Rather than getting excited for new tomorrow my heart was depressed. I was immersed in my past. Everything had changed since that ceremony. Mother lost her life and now she was regarded as an incompetent Empress who abandoned her duties and her people. Those rumors were the work of Lilian but even grandpa didn't do anything about it. Mother's death was a mystery. That demon that day was not simple. Even today I could still vividly visualize that scene. He was just too powerful. And the air around was too eerie. I can't take revenge for her in my current state. I was still too week. I had not even learned how to use all of my power. And those mysterious purple eyes only added to my confusion. My relation with Edward and the upcoming battle of throne, there were so many things that needed to be resolved.

Suddenly there was a sharp gust of wind from behind. I would have injured myself if I did not dogded the attack. I was able to sense it because of killing instinct of other party. The air changed. And this time the attack came from right. But this time I was prepared, I activated earth shield. But the ground under me shook and abruptly went up. I was thrown on the ground ruthlessly but I stood up. And before I could cast a spell the green vines tied me up. And to my surprise the vines had poisonous thrones. I had poisonous tolerance but still I felt week as hundreds of poisonous needles piercing my skin. I could not clear the poison continously. The vines tightened around me as I tried to move. The pain didn't subside even after shutting my eyes. I had to find the source of this magic. I gathered mana and focused on vines around me. I consumed a lot of mana in the process of cleansing my blood. But I managed to summon the blue flame because ordinary flame didn't work on the vines. The vines turned to ashes and just as I got free from them, I was attacked by an air arrow. I shifted but it left a cut on cheek.

3rd person view:

Blood flowed on the porcelain skin. Even the messed up face with a side smile was beautiful under the moonlight. The clothes were torn. But it was mesmerizing because even in this odd situation her confidence made her looked invincible.

The last attack exposed the perpetrators position. Before he could change his position athy attacked with three spells. The speed was terrifying. Because the attacker could only see the blue flame pool towards him. He counted with water attack to put out the fire. But he got entangled with vines and the temperature suddenly dropped as the vines were not made of green but frozen vines which had thorns that torn the skin. The blood sprayed out of his body. Athy got closer to the attacker with a smile on her face she said:"Athanasia greets the Elder Hughes".

Elder's eyes were blood shot. He saw the princess Athanasia. Though her torned clothes could not hide her beauty but behind that mesmerizing face was something he could not comprehend. He sensed a terrifying blood lust from a 12/13 years old girl. He couldn't understand that. She was more than a four tier wizard. Her use of three offensive spells of terrifying power made Elder to see her in different light. The spell were too accurate. Not a single one missed the target. And her reservoir mana was something beyond his imagination. Most of people would have lost consciousness after that poisonous vines attack. But she endured it for 4 minutes and then used such mana consuming spells. If he didn't reveal his shadow then the situation would have been diring. Rather than being bound to ice vines an ice spear would have torn his body. Just thinking about that sent shivers down his spine.Elder was done with his evaluation. Meantime Athy freed him from the spell and used healing magic on him.

Ikejel and Elisa came out of shadows at that time. Both had bewildered look but Elisa manged to pull herself out of stupor and hugged Athy while showering her with compliments.

"Athy I always knew you were not simple but today you have shown a great show. After seeing your combat skills nobody would be able to say that you are a princess of empire".

"Are all humans are that good at it".

Ikejel interrupted said while hiding his embarrassment that how can all human could be this good. She is just special as she has affinity for three elements. She should be at least be this good at it. Well if they knew that I can use all 6 elements what kind of face they would make. No one hates compliments so she just showed them a shy smile. Saying that it was luck.

Elder Hughes coughed trying to get some attention. Children had embarrassing look and athy came forward while greeting him again but now with a slight bow.

"Crown princess Athanasia de Augustus de Aurelius of Obelion empire greets the reagent of Avalon Kingdom. Elder Hughes, I have come to Avalon kingdom as you have required".