Destiny Dreams And Demons 15 Laylan - 15

"No, actually, I only know what happened to Artimous," she answered. They were walking through the forest headed to a destination that Laylan did not know.

Greagan looked over at Laylan in surprise, "How do you know of his story?"

"He told me some time ago. He told me of how he was killed by humans and my mother brought him back. He told me how you were there too and you saw it all." She looked over at him waiting for a response.

"Oh, well, allow me to explain what led to that day. As you might have already been told, a very long time ago, we all lived in the Mortal World with the humans. It wasn't always bad times with humans, but the humans liked war and fighting. There were many wars among humans over many different things. Religion, beliefs, opinions, and superiority were some of the reasons that humans would fight amongst each other. We had been allies with them, until one day, they turned against us."

"Why?" Laylan asked as she stepped over a log that had fallen onto their path. "Why would they turn against you? You were allies."

"We are different; we communicate and have a bond with the nature of the world around us. We use herbs and spells to perform magick. They are very prejudiced against people and things that they do not understand." Greagan paused. "They did not understand us, or our ways. They began to fear us. Their fear became hatred and once hatred had sprouted in their hearts, it festered until it all turned us into enemies in their eyes." Greagan stopped walking for a moment to catch his words. Laylan looked at him and realized a bed of tears lining his eyes. He looked up into her eyes, "Sorry, M'lady, the memories are truly haunting at times. But allow me to finish." He motioned for them to continue on their way.

After a few steps, Greagan began again. "Once we were named a common enemy of all humans, the raids began."

"Raids?" she asked in horror.

"Yes, Laylan, they would organize into parties and attack our villages, fighting our warriors, killing everyone, all but those who were able to retreat quickly enough."

Greagan wiped his eyes. Laylan stayed quiet as she observed true emotion in her mentor. A man who was always very controlled in emotions, she felt sympathy in her heart for all of those that she loved, for the hardships that they all endured.

"Then, what?" Laylan asked carefully, after a few moments of silence.

Greagan opened his mouth and began, "They would search through everything, looking at our books, our tools, and our utensils, then once they had taken everything they wanted, they would burn our cottages down. It was horrible. They had declared war upon us, their allies and we were not prepared for war with anyone. They were annihilating all elves, one village at a time."

Laylan stopped with astonishment at what Greagan was telling her. "But war? We are peaceful. Everyone here is peaceful. I know that we have the skill to fight but we would fight for a reason, not for something as petty as fear."

"Yes, my dear Laylan, we are. We live in harmony with the earth around us. We listen to nature; we do not fight each other because we choose not to."

"Please continue, how did we all end up here?"

"After thousands of elves had been lost at the hands of the humans and countless negotiations had failed. All of the villages had been lost but one. Our numbers were down to merely a few hundred when I was named their leader. I had had close experiences with humans and knew the most about them." They neared a brook and turned to follow it upstream.

"As the leader of all elves and the future of our kind was now in my hands, I chose to go to the temple of the G.o.ds."

"Temple of the G.o.ds?" Laylan asked, confused and surprised. "There was a temple of the G.o.ds?"

Greagan smiled at Laylan. "Yes, Laylan there was a temple in the Mortal World. I went to the temple and begged the G.o.d and G.o.ddess to grant us all the sanctuary from the humans. I explained their greed and the war that they had waged upon us. I waited in silence as the statues of our G.o.ds stood still looking at me. I dropped to my knees and pleaded for their response. I bowed my head and stilled myself. I stayed, bowing with my head down when I felt a gentle hand touch my shoulder and I heard the most angelic voice call my name. I faced the woman standing before me.

"She was tall and thin like you M'lady, with pale blue nearly white eyes and hair to match. She smiled down at me and introduced herself as our Moon G.o.ddess. She had heard my plea and she asked me to rise. She gently took my arm and led me out of the temple, into the sun.

"She explained that the G.o.ds were deliberating as to what they wanted to do. There just weren't enough motives to abandon their plans of peace between the humans and us, magickal beings. I was beginning to give up hope that they would ever fully admit the destructive nature of humans. They would never see the peace that they were hoping for, I knew it but they didn't seem to perceive it as I did." Greagan paused as he and Laylan neared a waterfall.

He stopped and took a seat on an adjacent rock that rested near the bank of the creek. He motioned for Laylan to sit, and as she did he looked over at her and continued, "She and I walked through the woods near the temple discussing the possibilities at hand. She explained that she could definitely see the nature of human beings and believed as I did, that no peace would be found. She understood but it was not solely up to her, your father and Perithian, the G.o.d of the humans, were both determined for harmony to be obtained.

"We continued walking when suddenly she stopped and a look of distraction crossed her delicate face. I stood waiting for her to acknowledge me again, but instead, she began to walk swiftly away. I remember asking if I should follow and she quickly turned and looked at me. As she turned, her long straight white hair almost flew around her face. Her pale eyes looked deep into my own and I could feel a sharp pain strike deep within my heart." Greagan lifted his hand and clutched his chest. He slowly blinked his eyes and tightly squeezed them.

Laylan could see a tear trickle down Greagan's cheek, down his jawline and splatter a dark spot on his tan pants. She shuffled as she sat, not knowing what to say or do. In all of her years, she had never seen her mentor shed a tear. She looked around and looked at the waterfall; suddenly she realized where Greagan had brought her.

This was the same fall that Artimous had jumped through to get to the Mortal World. Laylan looked back at Greagan and noticed that he was looking at her. His gaze a.s.sured her that her a.s.sumptions were correct, but to wait for the explanation. Greagan opened his mouth and began again, "We ran through the forest, she led the way and I followed. I began hearing the laughter and whooping of men and all at once I knew what had pained your mother's heart. We came into a small clearing and your mother stopped at the sight before us. There, on the ground, was a majestic, white unicorn that had been whipped and stabbed. The men all stood smiling over the carca.s.s while one began to saw through the horn of this creature. I stood beside your mother in horror. They were laughing at this beautiful, deceased unicorn and that is when it happened.

"Your mother looked over at me and whispered to me, 'cover your ears.' She glared forward again and gaped her mouth open as she took in a deep breath. I could feel the tension in the air as she did. I reached up and clasped my hands over my ears. Just as I did, she let out a wail of pain. It filled the air around us and an intense wind moved in from behind me and they cowered in fear. They were all on the ground laying with their hands were cupped over their ears in pain as your mother finally exerted all of the air that she had taken in. She stood silent for a moment glaring at the men who were now stumbling to their feet. Fear painted their faces.

"Finally, after a few moments, she opened her mouth and spoke in her velvet voice, 'How? How could you destroy such a creature? We give you all life, to live. We give you beauty, to view. We give you food, to eat. And, what?' I could see her continued glare at them. 'You kill an innocent unicorn for what? Some horrid attempts at dominance? To prove your worth?' She took a step forward and I could see rage flame up in her face. She raised her hands up to her sides with her palms up as she spoke. She snarled in disgust as she finished, 'In my eyes, your worth, IS NOTHING!' She thrust her hands forward and the men flew back into the trees and vanished from my sight.

"She stepped forward, tranquility washing over her face as she approached the unicorn. She crouched down next to him and held her hands over his body. She slowly breathed in and closed her eyes as she lifted her face toward the sky. She exhaled and I could see a faint light shine under her palms and fingers.

"Suddenly, I watched as the unicorn's side rose up from the air entering its lungs. She stood gracefully as I watched in shock as the unicorn took another breath and began to open its eyes. She spoke to him delicately. 'Please, stand.' I continued watching as the magick continued with your mother." Greagan paused and Laylan could hear approaching footfalls. Greagan looked at Laylan solemnly as Artimous emerged from the tree line.

Greagan and Artimous locked eyes than both turned back to Laylan. "I stood as your mother had asked of me," Artimous continued Greagan's story. "She looked at me and I turned toward her and Greagan who was s standing just behind her. She asked, 'What is your name?' Not realizing that I could answer I merely looked at her, not understanding. A gentle smile painted across her face as she spoke again. 'Speak, My Child. What do you call yourself?'

"' Artimous,' I answered in astonishment."

"I myself stood in shock of his speaking." Greagan smiled.

"Yes, I do remember the look upon your face, Friend." They both chuckled at the thought.

After a moment Artimous looked at Laylan again, composed. "After hearing my name, your mother, looked at me, caressed my face and spoke again, 'I am truly sorry, Artimous, my Son. But they shall never hurt you as such ever again."

"She instructed us to return to the temple and await the decision that I had been waiting and hoping for." Greagan took over smiling, then continued, "We nodded our heads and agreed to do so. She smiled once more before vanishing into the breeze that moved slightly through the trees."

"We made our way through the forest toward the temple, Greagan kept asking questions and I gladly answered them. I liked the idea of being able to speak as anyone else." They both chuckled again.
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Greagan began again and finished the story, "Once we returned to the temple, we waited, though we didn't have to wait long before you mother returned to us. She told us that they had reached a decision. She motioned for us to follow her without a word. We followed in silence as we walked back through the forest again. As we neared a waterfall she turned back toward us and stopped. Her body was still only turned partly in our direction as she motioned to the fall. 'Pa.s.s-through, my Children, and embrace your new home, in peace, away from all those who would hurt or harm you. Gather all of our children and make your escape, my sons.' And that was the end of our time in the Mortal World.

"We gathered all of our people. Elves, unicorns, and mermaids were first, later the rest. It took Artimous, Luca.s.sius and me a few days to get everyone through, and then we pa.s.sed through ourselves." Another tear gathered in Greagan's eye and a smile crossed his face, as he finished. "As soon as we were through, we knew, it was over. Our suffering would only be bad memories and our joy would be everlasting."