BREAKING FREE

Pondering what to say and how to put it , Rukito is ready to tell Athena the truth. With the way things are going, the stakes are high, and from what he knows, Athena doesn't seem to be in it. But of course, he needs to first test her. The question is, how?

"Hey Athena, what do you think about the state of this country?"

                                              "That's a fascinating inquiry, but it's too broad for a definitive response."

"In terms of living, this side is quite nice. There's food, clean water, and the freedom to do as one pleases as long as we break no rules. But do you think there is nothing wrong?"

                                                                                                "Can you get to the point ? "

"Apologies, I was merely verifying whether you had seen it, but based on your comments, it seems they informed you of none of this." "Allow me to enlighten you."

Rukito grabs her and teleports away. This place is barren and ravaged. Broken buildings and the smell of blood. She, for the first time, is witnessing a place just outside the main city on the eastern side, but it's like a different place entirely. Looking closely, she sees what looks like a toddler with elf ears. The child is on the floor, barely able to walk, but there seems to be something he's carrying.
Rukito reveals himself and asks the elven boy what happened, which he then explains: his mother is sick , and he needs to get to her. He explains that the bad people over the wall are not giving food anymore, and he had managed to find this for his mom. Athena, as shocked as she is to see someone in such a state, notices he is so thin there's no fat, only bones. Athena asks, "Why is no one helping you? Where is everyone?"  

The child replies , " Hiding from bad guys. I can't tell where, but whenever anyone is seen, they blast us with spells. Hey lady, why do they do this to us? What have we done that they don't let us leave or give us food ? They killed my father and brother in front of everyone."

They learn from the boy that there are camps of soldiers everywhere . The place they are in is a blind spot. Rukito seems to have been here before as he knew where to go. He asks the boy for his name before giving him fresh water to drink. They both leave as the boy still won't reveal his mom's location. Rukito turns to see Athena's face, as she looks like she's going to cry.

"Now that I have shown you what your father and the royal family do, I'll give you a full explanation."

                            "When did you find out about that location?" What makes you share this with me? "I lack any sway over my father, so even if I asked him to stop, he wouldn't."

"The day that I left you alone. It was the day before school; I had taken a walk to the edge of the city and discovered that location. It's a place where elves stay. To understand why this is happening, I must go way back into history. The human race had an interest in elves. Elves had longer lives than humans, and their ability to use magic was what drew most of the attention of humankind . Time and time again, they would kidnap elven women and children. They had their own blood mixed by breaching with the elven women to create half-elves.

But unknown to the humans at the time, it's not easy for elves to fall pregnant, as their lifespan is quite long. After many years , they finally produced a successful pregnancy, but the child took on more human traits and shortly died due to harsh experiments."

                                                                                         " What about the kidnapped kids?"

"The kidnapped elven kids had it worse, as they would have them fight to the death to determine the strongest, and then train the top five as killing machines. But no matter what, they could not brainwash and control them. In the end, they ran away. Before informing the Elven nation about what the humans were doing, the great war happened, causing all the races to join forces against the demons. After the war, one of the victims of the humans was chosen to be the new king.

That king, with the permission of whoever followed, used his and the World Tree's power to seal themselves into a different realm. At the time this land existed, the elves stayed , but with only 85% of them following the king, the others believed that this was their land, so there was no need to abandon it. When the Heber Empire learned of this, they took the opportunity to enslave the remaining elves. That place that I showed you was the residence .

After years of slavery, they managed to take a portion of their land back and provided peace for 50 years. But everything changed as the Heber Empire grew greedy. So they blocked all exits and are slowly killing all the elves there. There are still elven slaves within the country, but their ears are cut to look the same as humans , as well as to make the world forget that elves even exist. What you saw are the remaining elves."

                                                                        "But I never see any elven slaves. As far as I know, the slaves we had were ones that were in debt."

" From what I've seen all the maids including the one taking care of you are elven slaves and no they don't owe money rather they where kidnapped. Anyways what they are doing to them is wrong so Im going to fix it. My name is not Haruki but Rukito sorry for lying but I couldn't lie to you anymore."

                                       "Why do you care about the elves so much ? Also, what good is telling me this if I am powerless?"

"Im telling you this because Im in love with you and I want you to see who I really am ." (Rukito transformed back to his true appearance) " I am the new chosen king and I came to spy of your country."

Athena is astounded, as she never anticipated a revelation from him, especially considering he revealed he is an elf. Her cheeks are flushed, and her mind is occupied with thoughts of him. She states, "Initially, I despised you and viewed you as a danger that could reveal my secrets, but over time, I started to have faith in you." Unlike others, you always treated me differently from those insincere people who seek my friendship solely due to my status. Before I realized it, I had fallen for you too, but I couldn't identify the emotions I experienced until this moment.

                                                           "I will only accept your confession if you can free me from this place where I have to pretend and can't live my life the way I want. With all that you said, I can deduce that you want to seize this land back for your people. So, I swear to help you; how can I not when the state of the elves is so bad ? "

I knew she would take my side. This is good ; with her here, it makes it possible for me to do much more. With this, I have the key. What I told her was mostly true. All I left out was that I was originally human , but that's not important. She doesn't need to know about my personal revenge in this. In the end, whether this country was evil or not, it's destined to be destroyed by my hand. I will create a country where I rule. This will be the greatest and strongest nation ever.