Atop a hill on the outskirts of the Throm family’s Mansion, close to afternoon, a group of four elves stood at an opening. They consisted of a maiden with her dark blue hair gracefully dancing with the wind, a plus-sized elf whose head was completely bald, an elegant elf with striking black eyes and hair, and an elf whose features were indiscernible as he was covered in clothing from head to toe. A large crowd was also present that surrounded the four elves. They were the family members of the elves.

The maiden spoke to the elegant elf with a melodious voice, “Sorry about yesterday, Aldon! Did you have fun shopping with Taeral?” Aldon smiled and answered, “No problem, Sylph! How was your training session with Grandpa Neige?”[1] Sylph smiled wryly and replied, “Ah! You know his personality! He doesn’t go easy during any of the training sessions!” Taeral smiled and nodded in affirmation.

The bald elf in the group, Taeral, interrupted their chat, curious about the elf covered wholly in clothes standing next to Aldon, “Hey, Aldon! Who’s that elf beside you? Do you guys know each other? If so, why the heck is he covered in clothes from head to toe? Doesn’t he find it taxing to breathe?”

Aldon had known that this question was one that couldn’t be avoided, and he had prepared for it. With a straight face, he lied, “That elf is my attendant. My grandpa took the Emperor’s permission behind my back and assigned an attendant to me for this mission! I cannot believe him!” In actuality, the attendant elf was the Prince, who had disguised himself and tagged along with Aldon to reach the Kingdom of Anae in complete secrecy. The Prince’s family was not present in the crowd of families as it would not have been feasible for them to abandon their duties and see him off. The Prince smiled slightly, which wasn’t visible through the clothes, as he found Aldon’s lie to be believable since everybody knew that Haldir could sometimes act erratically. Aldon continued, with a genuinely confused face, “I honestly don’t know why he’s dressed like that.”

The Prince, hearing Aldon’s words, felt like crying since his current attire was one that his mother, the Imperial Queen, had forced him to wear. He grumbled in a very quiet voice, “I get that she’s scared that I may be discovered, but this is making me stand out like a sore thumb! I’ll absolutely change into a more appropriate attire when I arrive at the Kingdom of Anae.”

Aldon overheard the Prince’s dilemma as he was next to him and tried his best to stifle his laughter but was unsuccessful. Hearing Aldon’s laughter and figuring out that he had heard his monologue, the Prince kicked him lightly in annoyance and embarrassment.

Aldon eventually stopped laughing and looked over to his family, who was looking in his direction. Looking at the warm gazes of Haldir, Elrohir, Luthien, Aerin, and Neia, Aldon felt a kind of fullness that he lacked in his previous life. Haldir gave him a thumbs up and nodded confidently.

Aldon nodded back to Haldir and started to remember yesterday’s events after they had gone home from the Castle.

***

The moment Aldon and Haldir’s carriage reached their home, Haldir whispered in Aldon’s ears before getting off, “Come to my study after a while. We can talk there without any restrictions.”

After freshening up, Aldon went to Haldir’s study and knocked. Haldir finished tidying up the study and let Aldon in. While entering, Aldon didn’t notice the marked Map of the Elven Empire that was hidden away clumsily behind the door. Seeing this, Haldir breathed a sigh of relief.

Aldon and Haldir took a seat as Aldon began to narrate how he, along with two other elves, were given the mission to aid the Kingdom of Anae. Haldir interrupted him, “If this is the important matter, then stop. I already know about it! The Emperor had taken the permission of the families of you three prior to assigning you all the mission. If this is not the important matter, then come straight to the point.”

Though Aldon was surprised by the kind nature of the Emperor, he didn’t dwell on it, as he came straight to the point, “I was given a choice to accept or decline another mission by the Emperor. I heard the specifics of it and decided to accept it. Here’s what happened.” He narrated the entire event word to word.

Haldir began to frown as he listened to Aldon’s narration. After Aldon had finished his narration, Haldir sighed and muttered to himself, “No use worrying over it now. What’s done is done.” He then took a deep breath and spoke, “I know about this mission because I’m the one who assigned the Prince to this mission. Now that you are also involved in this mission, I’ll have to inform you of all the things you should know regarding this mission.”

Haldir slowly spoke, “As you already know, this mission is about finding out whether the suspicions of the Emperor and the Elven Council are valid. That is, to find out whether the ‘Eye of Eclipse’ guild is in any way involved with the crisis faced by the Kingdom of Anae. You also know not to confront them in whatsoever way! You also know of the plan to deploy the Night Fang troops if the suspicions turn out to be true. I’ll now explain why the Eye of Eclipse guild is so feared.” He continued, “You may know about the War that occurred a century ago. The Kingdom of Vitos rebelled against the Elven Empire and waged War against it. The casualties in the War and its impact on the Empire were disastrous. The entire army of the Kingdom of Lydia, which had come to the aid of the Elven Empire, was completely decimated! The actual reason the Kingdom of Vitos rebelled was due to the misleading information fed to them by the undercover spies of the Eye of Eclipse guild! Though this was uncovered later during the War, the damage was already done, and the relations between the Kingdom of Vitos and the Empire fell to rock bottom. Since then, the mere mention of the Eye of Eclipse guild raises immense fear and fury among the Empire’s elves.”

Haldir took a deep breath and continued, “Now that you know about the sensitivity regarding the matter of the Eye of Eclipse guild, I’ll reveal the reason why they are antagonistic to the Empire. The guild members all consist of ‘Fallen Elves.’ The ‘Fallen Elves’ are not a different race from the normal elves. An elf turns into a ‘Fallen Elf’ when he commits such heinous crimes that even the World Tree, the God we all worship, forsakes that soul and curses it. This fall from the grace of the World Tree became the basis as to why the forsaken souls came to be called the ‘Fallen Elves.’ Due to the World Tree’s curse, the Fallen Elves’ souls slowly start to rot, gradually tainting their bodies and Mana. When their entire body finally becomes tainted, the World Tree will appear in the Mundane World and personally destroy their souls. The Fallen Elf would be completely erased from existence. The process of getting your soul destroyed seems to be one filled with excruciating pain as the elves who witnessed a Fallen Elf get his soul destroyed described his screams as the most terrifying thing they had ever heard in their lives!”

Letting out the breath he had taken, Haldir continued, “In present times, though the World Tree is presumed to be deceased, through some miracle, it continues to create Fallen Elves and destroy them. Hence, the Elven Empire believes that the World Tree continues to exist and protects its presumed final resting place. The Fallen Elves resent the World Tree for leaving them with no path but death and make it their lives’ mission to infiltrate the World Tree’s final resting place and kill it for good. This is completely hostile to the Elven Empire’s objective of protecting the World Tree’s final resting place. Hence, they always look for opportunities to eliminate us, the Elven Empire, and us, them.” He took a short break and continued, “The powerful members of the Fallen Elves banded together and formed the Eye of Eclipse guild, whose main objective is to kill the World Tree completely and destroy the Elven Empire once and for all. They know that as long as the Elven Empire stands guard, they won’t be able to enter the final resting place of the World Tree. This brings us to the end of the long explanation. Is there anything that you haven’t understood?”

Aldon silently listened to Haldir’s explanation and felt his mind being blown away by it. He took a long time to process the things and finally opened his mouth, “Ah! That makes it clear why they are deemed immensely dangerous, and we were advised to avoid confronting them. Even though I’m quite confident in my strength, I’m not arrogant enough to claim superiority over others. I’ll be sure to take extra caution, Grandpa! Thank you for revealing all of this!”

Haldir chuckled lightly and waved his right hand, “No problem! You deserved to know this information as you’re now a part of the mission.” He then continued with a serious expression, “I think the Emperor has mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again. Only reveal the existence of the mission and its information when the situation calls for it. That is, only on a need-to-know basis. Don’t go around blabbing this to anyone! Even your parents! Keep this to yourself!” He continued, after thinking for a while, “If the suspicions regarding the involvement of the Eye of Eclipse guild turns out to be true, then the situation in the Kingdom of Anae could turn volatile. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears wide open and react accordingly. Bear in mind that I’m not restricting you to keep the information regarding the mission to yourself in all situations. If the situation calls for it, don’t hesitate to reveal it. I trust your sense of judgment and will believe your decisions regarding the secrecy of the mission.”

Aldon felt warm from the confidence and trust Haldir had placed in him. After thinking for a bit, Haldir spoke, “I had proposed to give you some Artifacts to help in your earlier mission, but the Emperor had denied it, stating that if you were coddled too much, your growth would be hampered. But now that you’re involved with this mission and are at a much greater risk of danger than before, I believe the Emperor won’t object if I give you those Artifacts.”

Haldir rummaged through his study and selected three Artifacts; one was a small, jet-black dagger; another was a heavily adorned hand-size mirror; and the last was a small bag of red, spherical beads that were almost a centimeter in diameter and had a glossy finish. Haldir held all of them in his gigantic hands, and before handing them over to Aldon, advised him, “Remember that I’m giving this simply with the condition that you only use them during life-or-death situations.” Haldir handed over the Artifacts to Aldon after advising him.

Holding these Artifacts carefully, Aldon questioned, “What are the functions of these Artifacts, Grandpa? I barely recognize any of them!”

Haldir carefully explained how to operate the Artifacts and their functions as Aldon listened very intently. After he memorized everything, Aldon thanked Haldir and started to leave the study, intending to prepare for tomorrow’s journey.

Haldir called out to him, “Ah! I forgot to mention this. I’ll be telling your aunt, Aerin, about all this!” Aldon quickly froze as he questioned, quite puzzled, “Why, though?” Haldir chuckled as he replied, “Well, she IS one of the Generals of the Empire’s military, but more importantly, it is because she’s in charge of the Prince’s mission.”

Aldon was shocked silly and exited the study blankly. Haldir chuckled lightly as he began to rearrange the things he had hidden earlier.

***

Snapping back to reality, Aldon stopped reminiscing over yesterday’s events focused on the present. His parents were worried when they saw their only son standing silently and blanking out. Embarrassed, he approached them and assured them that he was fine.

While he was chatting with his parents, his aunt, Aerin, pulled his arm and dragged him away from the crowd. Aside from the Throm family, nobody noticed this as they were busy interacting with others.

After traveling out of earshot of the crowd, Aerin teased Aldon, “What, Aldon?! Already leaving your family behind to go on a rendezvous with your fiance? Isn’t it a little too early for that? A little birdy told me that you only recently got to know that Sylph was your fiance? You sure are very bold and forward!”

Aldon didn’t know whether to cry or laugh as he replied, “Please don’t tease me, Aunt Aerin! And whose’s fault do you think that was? If you guys had informed me of her name and appearance priorly, I wouldn’t have had to embarrass myself like that!”

Aerin chuckled, seeing her beloved nephew complain. After a while, she stopped chuckling, and with a serious expression, spoke, “Aldon! Father told me that you would also be participating in the Prince’s mission in the Kingdom of Anae. It’s too late for me to ask you to withdraw from it, right?”

Aldon nodded and replied, “Yeah. Although I agreed to the mission without being properly informed on the risks and dangers of it, I still stand by my word and will provide assistance to the Prince. He seems to be a good guy, and I honestly like his personality. I already think of him as a friend. There’s no way you’d leave a friend alone on a dangerous mission, would you?”

Aerin proudly exclaimed, “True! Spoken like a true Throm!” She then continued with a reminiscing sigh, “You really are similar to Uncle Keiran in many ways!”

Aldon, who had never heard of this Uncle Keiran, questioned curiously, “Aunt, who is this Uncle Keiran you mentioned? I have never heard about him before!” Aerin replied absentmindedly, still caught up in her reminiscence, “Uncle Keiran was the elder brother of your Grandpa. He was the greatest combatant I’ve ever seen in my life! Even Father lost to Uncle Keiran quite often! His death in the War was…” She came to her senses and caught herself in time. She cleared her throat and continued, “You didn’t hear about Uncle Keiran from me, understood!? Father will be furious if he finds out I accidentally let it slip from my mouth!” Taking a playful tone, she slyly threatened him, “If you even think about asking others about Uncle Keiran, I’ll tell Sylph about what you were doing in your room five years ago!”

Aldon became beet red by her mention of the incident as he quickly covered Aerin’s mouth and spoke embarrassedly, “You promised to never talk about that! Okay, okay, I understand! I’ll not ask around about Uncle Keiran till Grandpa himself breaches the subject! So don’t mention the incident anymore!”

Aerin chuckled for a while and spoke with a serious expression, “Now, coming back to the matter at hand, since I can’t stop you from taking up the mission, the most I can do is give you this.” She showed him a rustic coin that appeared to have seen the vicissitudes of time and continued, “This is an ancient Artifact. I won’t tell you its function, so you have to trust me. When you’re in a life-or-death situation where you cannot imagine yourself coming out of it alive, no matter how dangerous the situation may be, I want you to pour all of your Mana into this coin. Don’t hold back anything. Just trust me and pour your everything into it. The result will shock you!”

Before Aldon could refuse the Artifact, Aerin swiftly slipped it into his pocket and backed away. Aldon could only helplessly shake his head and thank her. Aerin quickly broke into a wide smile and brought Aldon back into the crowd.

***

After a while, when the Sun reached its peak in the sky, a hooded figure appeared on the hill. It pulled back its hood to reveal a bright red-haired elf. It was the ambassador to the Kingdom of Anae.

Aldon, Taeral, Sylph, and the Prince quickly formed a line and systematically greeted the ambassador. After accepting their greeting and similarly greeting back, he questioned them, “Are you all ready? It’s about time we depart to the Kingdom of Anae.”

Aldon and the rest quietly gazed upon their family present around them, took in a deep breath, and replied in unison, “We are!”

Happy with the response, the ambassador gave them some time to bid farewell to their family. After everyone had bid their farewells, the ambassador activated an Artifact. It began to create a huge Magic Circle under their feet. The crowd of families promptly backed off the circle.

When the Magic Circle finished forming, it began to glow, indicating the start of the teleportation. At this moment, the Throm family started to cheer for Aldon and shouted encouragement to him. Aldon quickly became embarrassed by this. Not wanting to fall behind, both the Neige family and Lunos family began to cheer for their respective children. Aldon turned around to see the reactions of Taeral and Sylph. Taeral had gone beet red and started to scratch his chin embarrassedly. Though there was no noticeable change in Sylph’s facial expression, she was turning red at an alarming rate. Even her ear tips seemed to turn red from the embarrassment. Aldon quickly became captivated by the sight of the embarrassed Sylph.

The Prince witnessed the reactions of the group and gently smiled under the layers of clothes. The Magic Circle glowed to quite an intensity and suddenly teleported the group, along with the ambassador, to its destination.

The families of the group quieted down after noticing that the group had teleported away. They wished for the group’s success and began to climb down the hill.

***

The group suddenly appeared amidst a crowd of chaotic and tumultuous elves running around in a panic. Noticing this, the ambassador quickly panicked as he spoke, “Something must have happened in the Kingdom while I was out.” Before rushing towards the Castle of the Kingdom, he quickly turned to the group and urged, “Please hurry up and follow me. We must meet the King by the earliest.” The group nodded affirmatively and soon followed the ambassador.

Aldon had an excited look in his eyes as he followed the ambassador. He licked his lips unconsciously as he thought to himself, ‘Ah! How I’ve missed this sort of excitement!”

***(Footnote)***

END OF ARC 1: Reincarnation