Beyond that Elusive Place
Prologue
The call of Aversia
Split the world in three,
Break thine hope into Misery,
- Book of Aversa
“To trek alone in darkness without the rabbits clock, or the hatter’s hat is like walking into a fight without a weapon.”
Sumaria held all the creatures of the world from humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, zombies, mermaids, were-folk, trolls, animals, and odd looking beasts. Wars prominent as certain creatures treated themselves as more intelligent than others. The world dove into chaos with dragons bleeding fire along villages. Vampires ate from humans without fear. Elves succumbed to dark magic.
If these creatures continued to consume the world in violent dark magic peace would fall, and a mist of evil would coat the people.
The book of Aversa spoke of such depths should life magic fade the world shall be destroyed. All who belong to Sumaria have heard tales or stories of law from the book. Its a book heavily followed by religion like cults follow the satanic readings for necromancy. Some believed the text is meant to better society, and others thought the book told of the end of the world.
One witch studied the book of Aversa saw a way to end the suffering of many creatures of Sumaria. But being an only entity creating peace would be near impossible if achievable at all. She’s the first human to befriend the beats of ancient lore called dragons. Dragons created the magic that kept the world spinning with life flow.
The text spoke about three options to save the world. One option is splitting the world in three and segregating the magic creatures from the non magic to restore balance. Another option consisted of killing all evil or draining it of dark magic, and the last was to leave the world be and allow it to destroy itself.
True believers taking up the easiest route by trying to take arms against the evil creatures of the world. However, she was not a true follower. In her young days, she studied the occult text in both human and elven language translating as opposites. Humans finding magic to be non existent in their blood stream found other methods to combat evil. While elves followed the path of ideology that magic is going to rip the world into a void of nonexistence like a worm sucking black-hole.
She read texts becoming forbidden for the practices of magic they entailed. For every use of magic a reaction of the same value occurred.If a person wished to raise the dead they ended up killing a total stranger at the same time. A hefty price to pay. What would be the cost of splitting the world in three?
First line of duty for her is to understand the language of the great beasts. It would be risky like diving into a nest of basilisks with no way out. She shuddered at the idea of dealing with ferocious fire breathing creatons. Analesia Aversia Sanchez a name written down for ages to come for befriending the fire breathers. The beasts a mix of serpent, raven, and when humans spoke their dialect froze upon the dead carcasses of war.
Scribes tell the story wrong speaking of her as a hero but she was no hero. She asked the dragons to help her solve war problems but it only made them rise up with a battle cry, and turn to the skies in fear. Fear of humans learning their language would make them as extinct as the shape-shifting faeries.
The world heard of the heroic deed calling out to the witch like an angel. Receiving no answer as the next step on her list is finding those that hold Aversia blood or ancient blood and make a pool of their blood including her own. The process meant draining person or creature of most of their blood into a shoveled out mound in the middle of the forest. Her captured souls would not die but leave weaker than before as blood attracted evil like nuts brought squirrels to the ground. A forest named willow after a giant tree in its center.
A pool of blood used as a trade for magic needed to split the world in three. She's in her mid twenties nearly done with figuring out that for every reaction there must be another reaction to counter it. Balance. If the world is to split there would need to be doors to keep magic or power out or in. The dragons spoke that the dwarves would know about welding such items as they developed collars for the dragons to be captured and restrict their power. Slaves became of the beasts.
Creating a powerful item made the dwarves honored.Their elvish friends quick to spit words of betrayal to their forest counterparts. Elves denied dwarves any access into the western ends that they ruled taking arms against the hordes in preparation. Three items created allowed for a fair division of the world.
One a collar resting around a statue's neck as a symbol of the dragons, and their war to free themselves. A second item to be a door but to build the door would take years upon years. The tree-folk of willow forest offered their sturdy hands to help make a foundation for the giant metal door that elves cherished so much. When the third item became it was a necklace decorated with individual arrangements of stones latent with gold crevices and speckles of silver. The simplicity of the item kept all magic in the world pure for as long as possible.
Still slightly young Analesia found an elvish man to bear her first born but people had ill feelings for the witch striking up more war than solving. Her burning sapphire eyes and dark hair feared among the people as a sign of darkness to come. The first child slaughtered at the young age of three drove her hate for elven folk with a passion for all their nobility.
The pain raged over lands as the quite dragons took the skies again. Folks needed to now fear that the dead can rise again at a cost. Necromancy a forbidden magic began to reign among the Sumaria. She was divided in her path as age clouded the wise, hopeful sentiment of her younger self. A rash decision continued with upholding her choice to divide the world in three.
Her first world a place driven for humanity to be safe. Technology their savior and their doom. Only time expanded upon its purpose. The second world made for the dragons exiling them to a land of mountains that none could trespass without knowing the aversion laws to breaks. Creatures in sumaria living off magic remained in Sumaria. Her power seeped out of her as the pool of blood disappeared, and life in her eyes drained.
Sumaria's people wrote her name down in history as " The Great Wicked Witch" who created peace for people when the truth is she made it eassier for darkness to reap open hell in this land.
Ages and ages passed as the last of the aversion blood became born. It was a small half elf dropped off to the elders in Nemaria. A particular clan of elvish folk. This is where our story starts.
Log in
or
Join Tablo
to comment on this chapter...
Along an untraveled road
Rule one: For every use of magic there will be an equal output and input for magic is not free for the day it is the reckoning will feast upon the world.
-Law of Aversia
"With these hands we reap destruction upon ourselves willingly"
Nerine’s slim elven hands pushed against a large steel door. Purple decorative symbols littered the door like children’s graffiti. She was told that the door lead to another world but the elders had a tendency to joke about things like that. They would tell her that the other world was a place of pure beauty, dreams, desires, and no war. Though to her the door is just a door in an odd spot. It never opened, it never shut, and never was it ajar but the neumarian elves loved to twiddle their tongues about magical stories. Lore spoke that the door would grant the opener immense powers but it would drain the person mentally, and impair their memories.
Such tales were woven by the Neumarian elves because the door is off limits for them. Nemuarian elves taught themselves to live off the land without magic like humans had done years before the world split. Survival skills like hunting without magic, getting water without spells, and building with your own hands passed down to the elves here as a way of contribution to the stories of humans.
They were the only clan refusing the blessing of magic which made them discarded by their own kind, and exiled to protect the Alverian door in the forest. Elders repeated stories of magic twisting the user's desires, and creating darkness within the user.
Elves were cruel creatures to those not pureblood and she was the perfect target for accusations. Other elves would point out that she was not blessed with night vision like most elves but had the eyes of a human with the ears and agility of an elf. Rumors spread like a forest fire about her father not being a Neumarian elf by blood but by choice which meant she was not true born to clan as all the other clan members were full Neumarian blood. Her mother was a princess to the clan and the tribe looked at the pairing with disdain causing another reason for her fellow clan to treat her poorly.
In retribution for not listening to the elders, her parents were slaughtered like cattle placed outside on a rock to get their head cut off for the love they desired. After their death, the tribe leaders chose to raise her as a halfling allowing the clan to bully her for her sky sapphire eyes, or slight angular face that her apart from the rest of them in her beauty with dazzling strands of purple hair that curled itself at the ends like caterpillars in slumbers. Growing as an abomination meant having leaves, mud, berries, apples, and branches tossed at her on a daily bases. The higher elves took great care to send their male children towards better suitors as if being near her would corrupt their bloodlines.
Her slim right fingers gracefully traced over the glowing purple symbols as the map in her left hand fell to the ground from a gust of wind. A beautiful lake made of clear water with a river about the size of the tallest tree formed in her brain. What was that old tale the elders always spoke of like an ever changing spell? Freedom at the cost of someone’s life is no freedom at all.
Another gust of wind sent her tangled purple locks behind her as her sapphire blue eyes began to glow as a surge of power sent her stumbling backwards a little. If the door opened where would it lead?
The old leaflets full of words about the Alversia door told her enough about the door to know that in order for it to open the 10th law of aversia must break. It was like convincing a tiger cub it wanted to play when it came to opening the door itself. Lore spoke that dwarves of olden times built the door as their war with the elves because their caves to incline.
She twisted around dancing a little on her bare feet as another stronger gust of wind sent her closer towards the door forcing her back against the cold steel. A loud crackling noise like kindle from a fire burning echoed in the forest and her gut sank like a boat that got shot with too many cannons in the open sea. “ Please don’t be doing that, please don’t be doing this.”
Alversia’s door swung wide open displaying a world no one in samaria has ever seen. The world of humans Her mind started to twirl like the old toys her elders gave her called wooden tops .In a fluid like state, she fell through the door landing with a thump on something that burned her feet.
A squealing noise alerted and some weird screaming made her leap towards someone on the side of the road in fear. What had made that noise was some sort upgraded version of a carriage but it was a box with wheels that had smoke coming out of it. Baffled she placed her hands on her sides tasting the toxic air, and fumes. None of it tasted like magic and her throat burned as life substance didn’t reside here.
Plumes of smoke licked the sky as her eyes saw the dust particles from human technology. Such a race wasting their world on toxin and technology. Words spoke in odd languages to her ears like that of Orcis folks, and they pointed fingers at her like back when the village mocked the very ground she breathed on. Slashing lights from afar blinded her pupils and it made no sense why the door opened unless she broke the 10th rule which she had not as far as her hazy memory could recall.
Clicks occurred as she spun to see people holding odd devices with devilish grins on their faces. Odd structures reached for the sky like pillars, and humans waltzed out of them as if it was a daily occurrence. The crowd was growing larger and larger as confusion settled in with the loud whirring noise from one of the strange box things. Her hands cupped around her ears trying to figure out where in the seven hells of Sumaria she was. She felt like she was looking into the ripples of water only to see a disrupted reflection in return. The soles of her feet were burning from the odd gravel on the ground.
“ Mommy, look it isn’t moving.” A child with tousled brown hair scampered around her with his bright emerald eyes as if she was unusual in these parts. The mother swiftly grabbed the child’s arm away from her yanking him away.
“ It’s dangerous, whatever it is.”
“ Clear the way people!” Men dressed in a black police uniform stepped up to the crowd holding a crowd controller bar to scare them but to het they looked more like unusually dressed soldiers. Before she could grasp the world around her these men had gripped her arms tight as if she was a captive, and walked her towards one of those loud box things with bars in the back seat.
“ This is why they created special corps jimmy I swear, “ The one who had dragged her puffed out smoke from his lungs as he talked as a small slip of paper dangled between his fingers.
“ Not so that we can capture real criminals?” Inside the box thing reminded her of the carriages the Neumarian’s used on savages who went against their law.
“ What are real criminals but dressed up wannabe’s anyways.” Some noise like a buzzing sound occurred as the vehicle began its trek to its destination. Her brain passed out from an overload of information of the world making her head lean against the back of the seat.
A man sat a bar holding his scruffed up fingers around a huge cup of ale. Sounds of cards shuffling, coins being exchanged, and women bantering with men greeted his small dwarven ears that were just a little tinier than a human's.
Today was the day the world spoke about politics and anti-creature sentiments while discussing ways to cure the horde of demonic beings that have been drawn upon the world. His brother was an activist among the people attending the sumerian court but his name wasn’t half as monumental as Lord Trellish.
“Ranigel here your reward for the latest guild hit. Thank you as always.” A woman with light brown eyes, and cat-like fangs spoke. She was the prettiest thing in the bar, and an experienced trick that made more money than the whores who wandered the streets at night.
“ For you pretty lady, I’d walk to end of fire and die.” Whispers spread at his language with the lady but most the regulars knew what his goal was as a guild leader. The goal of the missionary guild was to protect, and serve the town for the people because it could not afford to pay the soldiers for protection. Due to this, the town appeased a better form of protection by hiring travelers to do certain tasks and be rewarded. He owned the tavern and many of the tasks that travelers were too terrified to do on their own would be taken up by his own hands.
“ Ah, how is business going dear girl?”
“ It is booming your new recipe has the town gossiping like tweeter birds.”
“ Thank you Leah.” He got up from the counter to make way for his room up the raggedy stairs to the left of the counter. Hums of words slipped out of patrons mouth as they were discussing if another war would be bound to happen if one of the great elder's slipped their tongue.
In his room, there was letter written in blood resting on the side of a wooden table. It spoke about the tenth law of Aversa and how the law was broken on the edge of darkness or rather in the same place as the age old pool of blood rested. “ In light of the raven’s words, I am sending you this letter brother to ask that you investigate the horde of demons as we discuss the result of such a law being broken. I trust you will gather information of importance as you are closest to the problem. Find out who broke the law. “
If the law broke it means the days of reckoning are soon or someone has a plan to try to force mass connection between the broken worlds. Nearly all humans were sent to their world but a few named wizards remained creating the limited wizard pact meant to only be seen at the world summit. They were the protectors of law, and seeked punishment for lawbreakers. Scary folk if you asked him. He threw his hands down on the desk in aggravation before slipping into to bed to await for the hangover in the morning.
“ It’s only been a few hours since the door of Alversia opened.” A neumarian elf spoke as whispers equated in a large room decorated with statues, one long table, and giant amounts of maps everywhere that span the human realm, magic realm, and beast realm.
“ By an elf whose magic should not exist. “ A burly dwarf the size of the steel chairs he was in rattled on about lies being flung around by the nevarian elves. Free from magic his hide.
“ Would you all just simmer down in the court. We are not an appeals to comment whatever it is your mind has an issue with.” A man in a black robe banged his fingers three times on the silver table establishing seniority in the court. “ We are here to judge if the Nevarian elves broke the seal, or if it was a mere coincidence their elf opened the door. We all know humans chose technology over magic. They may have more advances but we have the power to control the elements. However, the nevarians had little contact with magic on purpose. Why would that be?”
“ Sir, if you don’t mind my little trollish self, I think it would be to assure that the humans are keeping to their promise. I mean the species doesn’t live quite as long as we do.” An odd creature with green ears right up.
“ Thank you trellish. You think is not enough to retract the fact that door opened.” An old man waved his large hands at the green troll making him sit back down. Clicking from a giant golden clock reminded the room that the rest of samaria was awaiting a verdict. “ If you could be so kind tranvar could you express what the nevarian clan stands for? I hear rumors that they are not the peace loving elves we have been told to believe undoubtedly, If they were hiding a half elf in their midst what’s to say they have other secrets? “
“ The elves consider the nevarian clan an oddity among us. They are honored, respected, and cherished for accomplishing feats that only humans have done. Their ability to purify dark magics is a gift that we need. We have speculated that their irregular use of magic is too bland for most elves and that there must be a reason other than dark magic that they chose to be near the door. The book of Aversa states that the door can only be opened by those who are of ancient blood or if the tenth law is broken. We are aware that their are other aerian relics among specified elven clans.” Tranvar’s long brown locks and sharp ruby eyes with sharp angular ears sat back down. He was what most would call a king in the realm among the elves born known as sun-kissed meaning their hair darkened with age.
Trellish clicked his giant fingers on the table in impatience. “ What you are saying is that we have an even bigger problem if let’s say the night elves go ahold of the old relic.” A bit of muttering passed around the table. Men went back and forth like married couples as they argued about the balance of magic. Peace has lasted too long, and war with the elves would be disastrous for the land.
In a flash, a man in dark robes with ocean glowing eyes appeared before the council. He bowed politely biting the fangs at the side of his teeth as he went to sit at one of the empty chairs. Any chitter chatter went dead at his arrival. “ It’s great to see that old conflicts have yet to fade. But if I may have a word , I will keep an eye out for any unnecessary magic being used in the human world. “ Whispers spread like the licking of fire across the table.
“ She’s an elven witch, I thought most half elves were half other sort of elf, Tranvar is this true?”
“ Most elves are half other elf. You are considered sun-kissed if you are a pureblood elf in your clan. You are considered half if you are mixed with anything else. My concern is that if the neumarian elf knew they were housing a half witch. It is against the law to house Aversia blooded beings undocumented. “
“ How can we trust you elf? You folks were never the honest kind.” Trellish spoke grunting disdain for the elvish kind under his breath. Arguments erupted like a volcano about how the elves were the reason for peace at the moment.
“ Can we all just simmer down !!!!” A man slammed his amber trident against the tiled floor. “ I did not travel here to hear about your petty mistrust with each other. If your pretty little half elf is truly a witch, gods help us all. She can undo all of the relics and bring disruption to our peace. However, this can be done finding the last beasts left on this realm. Why so much commotion about a petty child?”
“ Have you heard the stories of Aversa?” The room began to chatter again as the man with azure eyes and a dark scarlet robe disappeared unnoticed.
A teenager with bronze hair, and emerald eyes walked along the sidewalk of New York City oblivious to the traffic around him as he read on a tiny charcoal device. The boy continued to walk not realizing that as he stepped the world began to haze itself in smoke, and slowly the as the fog cleared the boy was soon walking along a gravel path with flecks of scarlet littering the ground.
New York's skyscrapers long gone as trees in the distance replaced it, and birds squawked as they flew through the indigo sky. His charcoal device went black as he walked and in anger he tried to press buttons on it until his ears caught on to an unfamiliar sound of silence. “ Toto, I don’t think I’m in New York anymore.”
Warmth coursed through his skin as the heat from the spring air made his winter Jacket obsolete. He shed it like a snake sheds skin leaving it on the ground because he had twenty others like it. A little creature that at first looked like a pretty blue butterfly flew through his perifile view but as it go closer he could see it had a tiny body like a human with antennas. His breath sucked out of him. He didn’t remember taking accid before he left for school.
The little flutter butterfly looking creature zoomed around him chiming like a humming bird. It tugged at his pants, tried to rip out his hair, and even swept down to his shoes and climbed into them. Not long after he was being swarmed by other multicolored butterfly creatures did he notice the gravel path was made of rocks and not cement.
A child swung around an old basket woven by string with her sharp ears like a vampire, and eyes as scarlet as the bags of blood from the hospital. Her stringy raven hair looked out of place with the burning rays of light. She turned to look at him like one of those horror children from your average spooky film.
He was attacked faster than a cat pounces on a mouse. All he could do was sternly place his hands up as she bit at the side of his arm muttering in a language far beyond his. The butterfly creatures tried to protect him by buzzing around the child but as the pain reached his brain he sunk down onto his knees. This was a mistake.
The child took the height advantage and was just about to latch onto his neck when the child suddenly flung back from him. A woman stood a few feet in front of him She had a finger pointed at the child with her glowing amber eyes focused on him. “ Stranger, You are forbidden in this forest. May I ask what brought you to the edge of poison hill.”
“ I have no idea where I am?”
“ You mean to say you did not know beyond this forest lies a horde of demons that will take your skin and your soul. “ A butterfly creature flew over to the woman humming in her ear. “ Ah, so you are a human. No wonder they are so curious about you. “
“ I have no idea where this is.” He blinked positive that what he was witnessing must have been a really good acid trip trying to rule out the idea it was real.
The jaws of the uncertain
Rule Two: " Magic in places it doesn't belong can cause a ripple of darkness along a jagged line"
"Honesty is not always the best policy."
Nerine awoke with a thunk as she was greeted with frigid floor to the face. “ Make yourself comfortable I’ll be back in a few.” Noise like that of carriages rumbling along gravel from her old village resounded in the hollow room which had a futon with no bedding, random pieces of paper on the ground, and no windows. Flecks of dust littered the corners of the room reminding her of the jails back in the village that were built with firm oak wood, and kept together with steel iron. Words clung together like that of orcs, unfamiliar, harsh, and unwelcome.
“ Are you saying that her cosplay looks so real she must of paid a billion of dollars just to get the surgery? Come on Jack, It can’t be that great. “Sarcasm bleed out of a man in an expensive charcoal suit with a little pearly badge clipped to it.
"I am telling you sir She caused quite the commotion." A jangling sound reached her sharp ears. Turning her head she saw black metal bars. A jarring sound like thunder rippled in the room as a man stepped inside. Their words still sounded like some sort of orcish magic.
"Sharp ears you got there girl.I bet you can hear the water dripping from our defective sink." His words to an empty expression. She blinked sapphire pearls back at him. " Your eyes must be contact lenses. Their so reflective like the sea." A slight frown formed across his unshaven face as he poked and probed every part of her. None of felt like she had undergone surgery..not even a scar on her ears.
He felt the fabric of her golden dress shining a beautiful soft yellow against the dim fluorescence of the room. "She's real alright."Everyone chuckled in the room except Jack who put out a cig on the table behind the bars. The miscreaton's skin starting to turn pale purple as her ability to survive in such atrocious air slimmed.
"Sir I think she's dying." Jack folding his arms tried not to admire the fact that his boss was feeling up a lady right in front of him. Jack's boss with the name tag "Danny" continued to swiftly check her feet.
“ Oh, I thought she was just getting embarrassed from being---wait...is she turning plum?”
“ Yea Dan, she is turning the color of your fruit in the office.” Jack retorted.
