5th day of the 7thmonth 580th year of the 8th era

Akuchi sat in front of a fire, out by his small hovel the half-moon resting in the sky. The sound of the crackling fire could be heard over the faint roar of distant waves. He had just finished planting his first field with tubers while keeping the first field on grain. He sat on a log before the fir, staring absently. A fine coat of sweat glistened on his chest in the moonlight.

Aquillia approached from behind and sat next to him, laying her double-bladed sword against another log that sat to the right of him.

Akuchi turned and smiled at her. A faint smell of sap and wild grass came over him. Aquillia’s faintly green skin glowed under the campfire light.

“Did you enjoy the harvest festival?” she asked poking a small stick into the fire.

“It was quite different.”

“How so?” she asked looking at him.

“Well, my family didn’t really celebrate the festival.”

“That is a shame.”

“Because there were so many of us, feasting wasn’t really something we did. We barely had enough food to survive.”

“Is that why you left them?”

“Yeah, another baby had just been born and with me being of age …” Akuchi elaborated, “my father gave me my first pair of pants and told me I needed to go find my way in the world.”

“You had not worn pants your whole life?” Aquillia asked incredulously.

“There wasn’t any money. We ate what we farmed, that was all there was.”

“You were never able to sell anything?”

“Never.”

“Wow, that is quite amazing.”

A twig snapped. Aquillia’s head turned and looked into the darkness beyond. Another twig snapped and Aquillia took up her sword. Akuchi reached for his sword and unsheathed it. He took up a mountain defence stance.

Aquillia spun her swords in front of her and then brought one blade in front of her, sliding the second blade along her right side, taking up a water stance.

Two dark elves painted completely black came out of the darkness and attacked. Their ebony blades cut through the light, swinging at the pair.

Aquillia battered the attacking blade aside and brought the other blade forward and sliced through the gut of the dark elf. He sank to the ground, blood and gore pumping on to the ground. The acrid stench of blood filled their noses.

Akuchi blocked the first strike with his blade, side-stepped to the left away from Aquillia’s spinning blade and attacked the dark elf with a fluid elbow to the chin. The dark elf fell to the ground and hit his head on the log with a loud thud followed by a cracking snap.

A third dark elf sprang out of the darkness wielding ebony blades. He took up a mountain stance and crossed his blades in front of him. His head swung from Akuchi to Aquillia, and a look of horror came over him.

“Invader!” he called out. “We own these trees. You must leave this place.”

“You attacked us,” Akuchi replied and stepped forward bringing his falchion down towards the dark elf.

“I was defending an ally,” Aquillia called. “I, Aquillia of the Shining Ones, seek counsel with the Dark Ones.”

The dark elf stepped back as Akuchi lifted his falchion and brought it down again. The dark elf blocked and stepped back again.

“Call off your dog,” snarled the dark elf. “Shining One.”

“Akuchi, cease,” Aquillia ordered.

Akuchi stopped and straightened up. He held his falchion pointing down, limbs frozen in place. The scent of burnt metal overpowered him.

What is happening? Why can’t I move? Akuchi tried to lift his sword; his muscles flexed and tensed but did not move, frozen in place by Aquillia’s command. He took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles. A tingling sensation washed over his arms and legs. I can breathe, just not move. What is this?

“Shining One.” The dark elf relaxed his stance and sheathed his swords into the loops on either side of his belt. “My thanks.”

“Explain your attack Dark One,” Aquillia demanded formally.

Akuchi watched as the two elves moved to stand in front of each other and began to talk.

“We are defending what is ours,” insisted the dark elf, his face matted with warts and lumps.

“Your nearest safe trees are not anywhere near here,” Aquillia stated. The glow of her skin grew.

“Shining One, you are hard to look at,” the dark elf, complained covering his eyes.

Akuchi looked at Aquillia. She was glowing. The fire was behind her but her face was clear to be seen, even at night.

“Tell me why you attacked us,” insisted Aquillia. Her glow grew and the dark one winced and whimpered, falling to his knees.

“The shame is too great, Shining One,” the dark elf grovelled.

A twig snapped and Akuchi found he could move his legs. Aquillia turned her head as another dark elf came out of the darkness. She twirled her blade back up and connected with the dark elf’s blade as it came crashing down. The first dark elf jumped to his feet. Akuchi moved forward, lifted and swiftly severed his head.

Aquillia side-stepped and allowed her opponent to fall forward and land on her blade. He stumbled, spilling his guts all over the ground. Aquillia pulled her blade from underneath him and let the dark elf fall onto his own innards.

A howl of despair echoed from the forest as three dark elf women charged out. The women were all covered in paint of blacks and browns with thin bands of green and yellow. They wielded ebony blades as they attacked.

Akuchi and Aquillia took up a water defence stance and braced as the three warriors came down upon them. Akuchi blocked the first and side-stepped away from Aquillia, forcing the dark elf warrior woman to stumble forward a few steps towards the fire. Aquillia stepped forward and spun his blade, catching her on the throat. Spurting blood, she gurgled her last breath and fell to the dirt.

As the second blocked and stepped away, Akuchi turned on her, brought his sword down on her back and severed the spinal column. She collapsed face down in the dirt.

Aquillia stopped spinning her blade and pointed it at the last remaining dark elf who looked back and forth from between them and snarled. She then charged forward, raised her blade, and brought it down at Aquillia who side-stepped and thrust out. As the attacker stumbled past, she landed on the back blade of Aquillia’s sword. Aquillia waited until the dark elf was on the blade and then pulled it forward, running the length of the blade across her midriff, and slicing open her stomach. Blood spurted out of the dark elf’s side as she crumpled down to the ground, blood pooling into the dirt.

Akuchi squatted beside the dark elf he had incapacitated and lifted her up off the ground by the back of her neck. He looked at her face contorted with rage and fear. A large wart pushed her nose to the left out of joint. Her eyes were different sized and her lip was split and chaffed. She spat dirt and phlegm into Akuchi’s face and snarled.

“What have you done?” she cursed. “Why can’t I move my legs?”

“Your back is broken. Why are you attacking me?”

She spat into his face again and he dropped her back into the dirt. Aquillia came up and ran her sword through the back of the elf’s neck.

“Why did you do that?” Akuchi asked.

“She had lost the use of her legs,” Aquillia said, “and unless you want to spend the rest of your life tending to someone that hates you … this was the kinder action.”

“I could have coaxed some information out of her,” Akuchi insisted.

“You will have better luck with the men.”

“Silence yourself, Shining One,” a deep voice boomed from the trees.

Aquillia and Akuchi turned to face the voice, both taking mountain stances.

“Who goes there?” Aquillia called out into the forest.

“Names are no longer important for you,” declared the voice, “for tonight … you die.”

A tall dark elf stepped into the firelight, painted completely black. His eyes were yellow and his teeth crooked. On his back he wore a large great-sword, held with a black leather strap. He held his arms behind him.

“Name yourself!” demanded Aquillia.

The dark elf looked around at the bodies scattered around the campfire.

“You have slain many of my friends this night,” stated the dark elf, “you will die not knowing who killed you.”

He slowly moved his hands from behind his back and spread them open. He then reached up, grasped the top of his sword and drew it out. The blade was ebony black with a thin strip of red running along the centre. When he brought it down, the whole blade blurred and disappeared before reforming at the end of his downward strike.

Aquillia muttered and her blade began to glow faintly. She spun the sword, creating a nimbus of light around her and her blade.

The dark elf attacked and rushed forward, kicking dirt into the fire, extinguishing it. The only light now coming from Aquillia and the faint half-moon in the sky.

Aquillia responded with a strike forward. Her blade clashed with the dark elf’s blade.

They both stepped back and watched each other. The dark elf darted forward and was blocked by Aquillia’s shining blade, trailing a streak of light through the air before her.

Akuchi watched, his blade held at the ready. Slowly he moved behind the dark elf. If I could get behind him without him noticing me, I might be able to drop him without killing him - then I would be able to get some information out of him.

Aquillia and the dark elf continued to attack and counterattack, locked in deadly combat where one mistake could signal their death. Each time one would run forward only to be blocked by the other’s blade. Akuchi moved along in the darkness watching the fight, watching the blurry dark blade strike against the shining blade. Sweat broke out on Aquillia’s forehead. Akuchi stepped forward and closed in on the dark elf. I must do it in one hit because if I don’t, he will escape or kill me.

Akuchi stepped forward, closer to the dark elf.

The dark elf leapt back, landing in front of Akuchi who struck him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. The dark elf went down like a sack of tubers.

Aquillia leapt forward, sword ready.

“Hold,” Akuchi called out. “He is out.”

Aquillia breathed deeply, her whole body glistening with sweat.

“Thank you,” Aquillia breathed, taking in a deep breath. “I don’t think I would have beaten him, he was very strong.”

“We should tie him up,” said Akuchi. “There is rope in the hovel.”

“Good idea,” agreed Aquillia, “Let me get it.”

Aquillia embedded her blade into the ground next to the dark elf and headed into the hovel for a rope. Akuchi watched her go and saw her panting from the exertion. Her body moved stiffly, the normal grace gone.

When she returned they bound the enemy to one of Akuchi’s fence posts and then they both sat back on a log.

“What happened?” Akuchi asked. “You were glowing.”

“I was using what little magic I had to fight him,” she explained. “Elves are naturally magical but since the Wars of Light we haven’t had much in us anymore.”

“Why have I never seen or heard anything about it?” asked Akuchi.

“That’s because we don’t have much left,” explained Aquillia. “Magic drains the user pretty quickly. I doubt if he had much left himself.”

“So, it was a good thing I took him out?”

“Yes,” agreed Aquillia. “Thank you.”

“What was this War of Light you spoke of?”

“Before time began, the elves were one people. There was a disagreement about the fabric of nature—should it be dark or light. Things eventually got heated and the elves became two people. We have been at war ever since.”

They lapsed into silence. Aquillia panted heavily, sweat glistening all over her body. The green sheen had left her.

“Perhaps you should go rest,” suggested Akuchi.

“I will rise before the sun is up; it will replenish my magic,” said Aquillia. She arose, padded to the back of the hovel, opened the door, and stepped inside. A few minutes later he could hear her heavy snoring.

First, I must deal with attacks from a species that I didn’t even know existed, now I must contend with magic … The world is a stranger place than I ever thought possible.

Akuchi arose and started to move the dead elves into a small heap. We will have a hard time getting rid of these bodies tomorrow. Three men and three women dead, in a quick fight, then this guy emerges and boasts that we will die tonight. His blade moved so fast I don’t think I could have defeated him, I couldn’t even see his damn blade. My farm seems to have become the front lines of a cosmic cold war. What will I do? What can I do about it?