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the water, when something expires, passes on to a new life being born. She turned her face
into the shadows.
 So, how does this tie in with the chemmen? Der inquired.  I don t understand.
 Do you remember what I said about the chemmen taking millions of people and forcing
them to work until death?
 Yeah, Kelin said.  And feeding them as food! That s unbelievable!
Laurel pursed her lips.  Yes, and those innocent peoples were ground up and their
bodies defiled in order to grasp that one, single drop of life. They collected those drops. One
drop from one person, and they needed millions of drops.
 I don t understand. Der held up her hands helplessly.
 They acquired enough water to make one drink large enough to grant every chemmen
immorality.
 But, Kelin stumbled,  But, how many people would they have to kill? No, that can t be
right, because for an entire race, it d be too much. It couldn t be done.
 Regardless of your protests, it was. Laurel sighed.  The world s population still has not
recovered to what it was before this war.
Der bowed her head under the coalescing weight of Laurel s story. Millions of people,
she couldn t fathom it. She tried to picture bodies, piled high, rotting in the sun. However, she
couldn t fathom millions of people being alive, let along being slain for a selfish desire. She
tried to picture what millions of people looked like, all lined up on a field, but her mental picture
faltered because she had no idea how big of a crowd that was. She could hear the words and
she could repeat the numbers, but she still could not understand them. She let her head fall
forward into her hands, and watched her vision spin. Millions of people butchered. She felt ill.
 Now, consider this from the elves perspective. We, as a rule, do not involve ourselves
in the affairs of the mortal races. Yes, we often do break that rule. That s why the rule is there,
so we consider the implications before we break it. So, save those of us elves who made a
home in Pallens, we did not participate overtly in the Pallens Front War.
 Did you used to live in Pallens? Der asked.
Laurel watched her under a heavy gaze before nodding.  Yes, and my home was
destroyed. Arborn, the elvish kingdom, was Pallens s greatest ally. They didn t send troops, but
they sent their spies and saboteurs. So, too came the dragoon armies, and they helped to train
the armies of the Empire.
 Dragoons! Der squeaked.  I always wanted to meet them!
Laurel silenced her with a deathly stern look.  However, when the storm-readers
achieved immortality, it didn t matter that they d lost the war; that d they lost most of their
armies and lands because now they had time.
Kelin grunted.  That s too much for the elves, isn t it? To have another immortal race,
All Things Impossible Crown of the Realm Dalton 78
and one that s so wicked.
 It was. There are other immortal races besides the elves, you know, but not one so
cruel. The war showed the world what evils the chemmen could produce and now they had
immortality to design new tribulations. She rested her head on the side of her hand.  Arborn
should have done something sooner, but they wouldn t dare interfere whilst the storm-readers
were among mortals.
 What did the elves do? Der asked, frowning.
 Elves, and the Empire of Pallens beat back their supposedly unbeatable army in a
long, vicious campaign. Then, they banished the chemmen. The entire race, or so we thought.
 Where were they banished? Kelin stared at the sky instead of Laurel s darkened face.
 Darkreign. They were thrown into what we call Darkreign by a very mighty elven
sorceress.
 Where is that? Der looked directly at the red headed elf, instead of the sky.
 The question isn t where it is, but what it is. It isn t on any map of the entire world, nor
accessible by any road.
Kelin and Der exchanged a glance. He cleared his throat.  We don t understand.
Laurel breathed in deeply.  Yes. I will just simply it for you. It is not on this earth, not in
the world.
 Oh. The humans nodded.
 It is a place where no one leaves. That s the rule. It d been used as a prison for
hundreds of years prior for those few individuals who had committed the worst of crimes. Not
much else was ever known. She left them in silence for the moment. Eventually, she
appeared to reach a decision.  I will tell you more. What the elves didn t know is that the
chemmen found a way to force paths to reopen and now, they ve returned. What the elves do
not know is that the chemmen have made Darkreign their new kingdom over the millennia.
They are now its masters.
 I feel for the king and queen, I surely do, but it was their decision to banish the
chemmen. They left them alive, and now they ve returned, and I believe, to win the war elvish
history remembers them losing.
Der and Kelin squirmed, and refused eye contact. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]