Chương 503: BECMI Chapter 502 – No more Idle Time for Idyllics

My Panopoly of the Heavens spoke further to all of the Herriatar elves,"We have long known who you are and what you are, my cousins. We had no use for a people as unmotivated and unskilled as yourselves, and you were safe enough where you were. That is no longer the case, of course. The Immortal magic is broken, and you are all going to die… probably within days, if we had not arrived. The orcs of the lowlands sensed the opportunity and are on the way to kill you. This time, you cannot stop them at all."

They swallowed, because a real-time view of the orcish nomad riders heading towards these mountains rose up next to me. There were a lot of them, they looked suitably savage in dino-leathers and fang-studded and spike-mounted weapons, and they were coming this way!" We are going to give you a chance. The very chance the Immortals took away from you, actually. The chance to make something of yourselves. The chance to complete the works of your ancestors.

The chance to embrace both sides of your heritage, and become figures of the legends and stories you so desperately have made up to give your lives meaning." Grab your things. Don't bother with extra clothes, they are only going to fall apart. Don't bother with technology, it's not, and it will never work again." You should have little to take with you, because you were given gossamer, and to the mists and lies it was woven of, it is returning." It is time to leave the dream and return to life.

If you cannot do so, then you are welcome to stay here and die, we will not force you to come." Now come. Do not waste our time, and do not waste yours." The side of the Fortitude's two main holds folded down to form ramps on each side of the vessel, ready to admit them, with elves in uniforms waiting calmly inside to receive them. Tottering, fearful, uncertain, the Herriatar elves stumbled and wandered in our direction.

All of them had blood smeared on their faces from their eyes and noses, and clothes that had lost their luster. Some were clutching onto blade hilts and fanciful pistols that simply would not work for them anymore, others were clasping at medallions or amulets of crystalline make that did not glitter or shine like they once had. A couple were wearing headsets that were just ornamental metal and crystal at this time, the visors showing nothing.

Men, women, and children of all ages slowly moved in the direction of the strange elven ships that had come to rescue them and take them away… Take them away from being birds willingly living in a gilded cage they could not bring themselves to escape before… but that magic binding their choices was gone now. And so they could have Hope!

I watched the first of the tree-homes actually fall apart into pseudo-crystalline wood splinters as the Liberty lifted off from the mountain valley. A few of the older elves, too set in their ways, gave in to despair and wouldn't leave the valley. We gave them a set of clothes that wouldn't fall apart within the week, some basic rations, and left without them, as they wished. Within the week, they'd be dead as the orcs swept through the place, found nothing intact worth taking, and slaughtered them all in a fury.

In a more traditional elven nation, those elders would have been extremely dangerous hit-and-run combatants, capable of leading the orcs on in guerrilla warfare until they got tired of the losses and abandoned the fertile valley. Here, they were basically artistes and casual horticulturalists of various kinds, with no combat abilities whatsoever once they lost their light pistols and photon blades. Even as serious hobbyists, none of them had exceeded Five.

Too easy to mass a bunch of pistols and shoot things down rather than fight and improve… and they couldn't expand outside the valley, so earning Karma and facing down foes was nigh impossible with no equipment to do so! Truly a sinister trap wrapped up with paradise and an idyllic life otherwise. That would not be the same for them going forward.

The elves below were taking names and entering them in computers, all very reasonable according to the Herriatar elves, but the technology was equally obviously very different from what they thought they'd known. Their questioners would respond shortly to questions of their own, leaving the Herriatar hungry for more answers, more news, more knowledge as the Hope in my words chased away the lingering remnants of the Spell of Preservation's brainwashing and left them finally eager to learn.

One of the older elves, one who seemed to have been one of the sword hobbyists and actually had a usable magical short sword, likely gained off a past intruder, probably an orc who'd gained it off an Eonic warrior, approached me cautiously as we turned towards the polar opening and began to fly. Not following the land, of course. The entire sphere was filled with air, and if the temperature rose with height, we had the magic to handle it, and wouldn't be getting that close to the sun.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Benefits of magic.

"You have force fields powerful enough to deny the fury of the sun, Lady Edge?" he asked, stepping up next to me and watching the winds swirl out of our way. Behind us, the much heavier Fortitude limited our pace, but that was fine. The Herriatar didn't have working tech, but they had plenty of stories and lore to go back on, in their own way.

"Forgive me if I am disturbing you. I am Elder Conlear."

"Yes and no, Elder Conlear," I replied neutrally, greatly easing his tension.

"Yes, we have access to such force fields. No, we are not using them now, as they are known to be one of the huge triggers that sets off Immortal hatred of technology. The fields you see are the magical spells Windshield and Environmental Envelope. They are a V and VII magic when cast on vessels of this size. One helps smooth our passage through the air, and the other satisfies the surrounding air temperature, pressure, and oxygen requirements.

"It is purely for comfort. We can seal the vessel and stay inside the hull instead, or we could simply drop down to more comfortable altitudes and maintain a lower speed.

"A force field of sufficient power could accomplish both feats, and then we might suddenly dive into a tornado appearing out of nowhere and die," I finished flatly. He shuddered as he considered the implications of my words.

"My people… are very curious as to your plans for us." He paused for a moment to consider his next words.

"The normal fate of captives in these lands is slavery, we are well aware from tales of outsiders."

"You've heard enough to know we are no slavers," I responded coolly, and he had the grace to bow, looking embarrassed.

"That said, you have literally a lifetime of idyllic lives to unlearn. Almost everything you were taught or were focused upon was based upon a grand lie foisted off on you by your Immortal zookeepers.

"We will not allow you to continue those lives at our expense. You will learn to work, you will learn to be productive, and you will reclaim the power and traditions of your ancestors, because fuck the Immortals who made you this way!" He swallowed, saying nothing, but his eyes said that he'd do anything I said for the rest of his life! I turned my crimson eyes on him, and he froze in place, spellbound.

"We are going to start you on this process by playing a game. In the Eismark Federation, this game is Exudar IV, as in the fourth expansion. It is, at this point, very old, very well-developed, and far more complex and involved than the petty attempts at videography your illusionary fake science allowed you.

"For four hours a day for the next year, one of your obligations will be to play that game." He blinked at me in disbelief. It was literally catering to their time-wasting nature!

"What you will be playing in that game will be a normal elf. Namely, yourselves." I laid my black nail on his nose, and his green eyes converged comically.

"In the game, you will learn what elves are capable of. Of magic, of martial prowess, of the spells and skills needed to survive in the game.

"Outside of the game," I leaned in, and he gawked at where his eyes went, "you will be training to BECOME that elf." He swallowed as I held his gaze.

"The game will show you what you are capable of. It will show you the paths you can follow, the builds you can make to be effective, what magic can do, can't do, and what the skills you master are capable of.

"You will talk among yourselves. You will party up. You will share builds and knowledge and effects.

"And all of that will tell you what you have to learn in real life to become the elf that you are in the game." He blinked and almost fell down as I moved my eyes away from him, turning my attention back to the fantastic tableau of a world arching up in the distance, obscured by blankets of random clouds in the way, seas and lakes and mountains and plains arcing up in the distance.

The scene was broken only by scattered skylands put into place and revolving around the tiny sun made by the Immortals and flaring at the heart of the world here. The largest of those skylands was currently a third of the world away, a couple thousand miles, and unable to see us at this distance as we cut through the air.

That was where the Delphan survivors who remained under Empress Cleossa were now ensconced, the remnants of the Spells of Preservation and Immortal magicks swirling around them and leaving the populace calm and at ease and uncaring of their new situation, as if they'd always lived here… and rather bereft of imperialist ambitions at the present. That didn't mean the Delphans wouldn't explore and discover exactly where they were and who all their neighbors were… or how to get out of here, either.

"You will ALL be taught magic, and you ALL will learn it. There will be no exceptions. If you don't need to learn magic, you don't need to eat or bathe, either. You can sit in a room and just waste away, we'll use your corpses to fertilize the gardens, the only useful thing you'll be good for." Learn magic." He swallowed deeply.

"Yes, Lady Edge!" he agreed immediately. They would find it almost ridiculously easy. The Hollow World made it difficult to learn magic, an effect confirmed on the Other Shore. Taking them outside would give every elf access to their ancestral magic once more!

"Once you learn even basic magic, you can earn funds by helping make minor magical items by Investing. It does not pay a lot, but it will earn you coin for food, rent, more lessons, and clothing.

"You will be taught traditional elven crafts and trades, especially weapons-work, and to a lesser extent true science, if you wish to. We will not teach you unrestricted technology and science, because that stirs Immortal wrath. The people who work on the most advanced technology earn that right, and are among our best and brightest." You are not them." He bowed again, realizing that they indeed had no right to ask for such consideration.

"Your ancestors made a great mistake in pursuing the heights of their technology and culture, and that was in ignoring their magical capabilities. If they had kept to their studies of magic alongside technology, they likely would have been tolerated in what they did.

"But no, they did not exert themselves, and took the lazy route, increasingly coasting along on the work of their ancestors and not having to make the individual efforts to achieve power. Why master magic when you can pick up a light pistol, force shield, and photon sword, after all?" I asked icily, and he almost wilted at the condemnation in my voice. That cultural laziness had led them to the situation they were in now!

"You will find your own balance between magic and technology, the value of your time, and your strength as individuals. You will avenge your ancestors, and rise once more to the heights of the world!" I will accept no less from you." Every Herriatar elf on both ships swallowed with Elder Conlear, having heard all of my words. But there was no fear of the future, for Valor thrummed on my words, and Hope was in the air! …