Quid Pro Quo

The trio faced five corrupted dark elves. As the truth sank in, Oreon glared at them and tightened his grip on his daggers. The revelation hung heavily in the air.

"An assassination unit," he muttered. "Great... just great. As if magic didn't make you powerful enough already." Oreon glanced at Celestia. "Did your father really keep a squad of assassins at his side? Don't you think that's a little... I don't know, excessive?"

Celestia's jaw tightened as shame flickered across her face as she avoided Oreon's gaze.

"Every kingdom has its shadows," she said quietly, old guilt weighing on her voice. "Father believed diplomacy alone could not end every threat. The Jaegers were his answer to that, to those who sought to destabilize our realm through subterfuge or assassination."

Her sapphire eyes lifted to the five corrupted elves before them. "They were meant to be loyal, bound by sacred oaths to the Valerian family and the kingdom of Vel'Andria itself."

"You know, I'm starting to think elves and humans aren't so different," Oreon said, glaring at the Jaegers. "Every elf I've met besides you two acts just like a human. Seems every species has its backstabbers."

"Backstabbers? Don't compare us to your kind, human." The redhead stepped forward and extended her hand. A ghastly shadow ball formed above her palm, stretching into a black, red, and silver bladed wheel that settled loosely around her wrist. "Keep your pathetic opinions to yourself." She glanced at Sylvanie. “Hiya, Sylvie. Long time no see." Her voice sounded almost friendly—a tone Sylvanie recognized.

Sylvanie tightened her grip on the scythe. "...Yvonne." Fury burned in her eyes, tangled with something deeper, something almost like pain. "Even you..." She stepped forward.

Yvonne's grin only grew wider at Sylvanie's reaction. "Aww, don't look at me like that." She twirled the wheel blade lazily around her finger. "You're going to make me feel bad."

"Feel bad?" Sylvanie's voice cracked slightly, then hardened again. "You were my best friend. We fought together, trained together. Why the hell would you..."

"Your dramatic questions will have to wait for another time, Princess." Vexes stepped ahead of the group. "She made her choice alongside the rest of us." He bowed slightly. "Former Queen of Vel'Andria, it has been... some time." Drawing out the final words, he slowly raised his head and met Celestia's and Sylvanie's gazes.

Celestia's composure faltered, her hands trembling at her sides. "Vexes..." His name left her lips like a prayer twisted into a curse. "You held a seat on the elven council—the highest rank any elf could attain. You were highly decorated and served as my father's right hand. Yet you still sided with the Order and its misguided vision of purification." She stood tall before him. "Explain yourself."

Vexes released a slow, deliberate breath, his patience almost theatrical. "Save your political rhetoric for someone more easily swayed by lies and provocation." He straightened from his bow and stood tall.

"Lies?" Celestia's eyes widened slightly. "I speak the truth. I—"

"Your truth." Vexes cut her off. His eyes, marked by the holy insignia, swept over the trio before settling on Celestia. "Our perspective is... different." With his hands clasped behind his back, he adopted the measured stance of a scholar. "Your father, the high-elf king, was many things to his people: courageous, diplomatic, beloved..." He paused. "… Manipulative."

Celestia's breath caught, and her composure briefly cracked. "Manipul—You dare defile the name—"

"—I served your father for centuries, princess." He closed his eyes, then reopened them. "I watched the diplomat you admire smile at ambassadors while ordering their deaths. I saw him mourn fallen soldiers in public while privately calculating how their sacrifice strengthened his political standing." His gaze bore into her. "Your father was a brilliant ruler, but do not mistake brilliance for virtue. In the end, he was nothing less than... a tyrant." His pink tongue slowly slid from his mouth.

Celestia clenched her fists at her sides, shifting slightly as Vexes's words unsettled her.

"You're lying." The words came out hoarse. "Father would never—Father wasn't—he wasn't perfect, I know that. But a tyrant? He dedicated his life to—"

"To what, Princess?" Vexes tilted his head, his gentle voice edged with condescension. "Peace? Prosperity?" He chuckled and slowly shook his head. "Do you remember the Amber quarries? Your father assured the council they were staffed by willing workers from various elven races." He paused, letting the silence linger. "There was no variety—only dark elves. Hundreds were chained underground for decades, mining mana crystals to power the kingdom's magical infrastructure. Those who died were replaced. Those who rebelled were silenced." He folded his arms, never breaking eye contact with Celestia. "Dark elves trapped in a status they could never escape... just like those in your precious kingdom."

Silence fell. Celestia parted her lips, but no words came. She searched Vexes's face for the slightest sign of deception—anything that would let her dismiss his claim as a lie. She found only the cold certainty of someone who had carried this truth for centuries.

"No... That's..." Her voice faltered. She swallowed hard. "That's not... No, it can't be true. I wouldn't have allowed discrimination amongst our kind, especially the dark elves. I would have put a stop to it. There were no reports, no records indicating that—"

"And why do you think that is?" The blue-haired corrupted elf spoke up. "Who do you think wrote those reports while your father tried to organize his own version of purification?" He continued.

"Eilist..." Celestia's eyes shifted towards him.

He adjusted his glasses with one finger as the holy insignia in his pupils glowed faintly behind the lenses. "Every report you ever read passed through my hands first, Your Highness." His voice was measured, academic—devoid of malice, which somehow made it worse. "Every census. Every mining yield. Every casualty report from the quarries. I rewrote them all, amongst others, on your father's orders." He tapped his staff lightly against the ground. "You never saw the truth because you were never meant to. You were never meant to understand what your father truly wanted." He pressed on.

"You better watch your tongue, four eyes." Sylvanie slowly directed her gaze towards Eilist, who only chuckled in response. "The next words that come out of your mouth will easily get you put in a grave." She threatened.

"He wanted a purge—an age in which only high elves stood above the rest. Any dark elf, or any elf who refused to kneel, had no place in his kingdom. He sought dominion not only over the elven hierarchy, but over every living race, including..." Eilist glanced at Oreon. "Humans." His gaze returned to Celestia. "Did you never wonder why the elves who resisted Vel'Andria eventually submitted to your father? The Sea elves of Ledecka. The Scorch elves of the drylands. Did you never question why so few remain?" The insignia in his pupils glowed brighter as he continued.

Celestia's world tilted beneath her as everything she had ever believed began to crumble.

"That's... no. The Sea elves joined the alliance willingly. Father negotiated a treaty with their council. I was there—I read the accords myself. And the Scorch elves? Their numbers fell because the Blight swept through their lands. Father sent healers. He tried to help them. He—"

"—Sent them death," Eilist finished calmly. "The treaty was signed under duress, Your Highness. The Sea elves' council had a choice: kneel or watch their coastal cities burn and sink beneath the waters they cherished. I drafted the ultimatum myself." He paused, letting each word settle. "And the Blight? It was not the one you remember. It was an engineered magical contagion, created in laboratories beneath the royal palace—laboratories your father made sure you never knew existed."

Celestia's knees nearly gave way. She forced herself upright, though all color had drained from her face and tears glimmered in her eyes.

Oreon glanced at her. "Celestia..."

"I've heard enough." Sylvanie stepped in front of her sister, her voice low and her eyes blazing with hatred. "How dare you poison her mind with your Jaeger tactics? Break the target, then move in for the kill—just as you did before every assassination." Her red eyes glowed, and her expression turned cold. "I swear on everything. I'll kill you. Every single one of you will die today."

Dark energy crackled around Sylvanie as living shadows pooled at her feet and writhed outward, fueled by her fury. Her scythe hummed with a low vibration while darkness engulfed its steel blade. Then, tendrils erupted around the trio.

With his arms still folded, Vexes watched the display with a detached, clinical gaze. He didn't flinch. None of them did.

"Whoooo! There she is!" Yvonne exclaimed, lazily spinning the wheel blade around her wrist as she watched Sylvanie's growing rage with fascination. "I was going to say, taking the shard was going to be easy, if all we had to do was deal with the human. But look at you. All powered up."

The bald, scarred elf gave a low, rumbling chuckle—the first sound he had made since revealing himself. Unfolding his massive arms, he cracked his neck. "Little Sylvie has grown." His deep voice echoed across the square. "Still, it's always threats with you, little girl. You were always the loudest royal brat—quick to bark, slow to bite."

Sylvanie's eyes snap to him. "Grunk." The name dripped out of her mouth with hatred. "You'll die first."

Amusement twisted Grunk's scarred face. "Still got that mouth on you." He rolled his massive shoulders, his joints popping. "Good. It'll be even more satisfying when I finally shut it."

"Enough." Vexes raised a hand, silencing them. "Believe it or not, we are not here for you, though this little reunion has been... entertaining. We have other orders to carry out." His gaze settled on Oreon. "You. Human." Curiosity colored the word. "You carry something that does not belong to you."

"Things rarely end up where they belong. Funny how the world works." Oreon scanned the five pairs of eyes fixed on him. "But I don't recall this belonging to you, either—much like everything else you've taken." He shifted, glancing at the tendrils circling the trio, poised to strike.

Vexes grinned. "A foolish sentiment—one only a mere human would hold." He tilted his head. "But you are no mere human, are you?" His voice sharpened with mockery. "Our orders were to retrieve the stolen shard and the human who took it... the Purifier's son." Vexes gritted his teeth. Oreon's eyes widened, and he glanced back at Grog and his gang, still hidden behind the barrels. They stared back in equal shock.

The silence that followed was deafening.

".... What did he just say?"

"The purifier's...son?"

"He's been hiding amongst us this whole time?"

"That bastard brought this upon Haven Crest!"

Oreon's jaw clenched as he jerked himself back towards the five corrupted elves in front of him. "Great." He thought to himself. "Just what I needed." The thought finished as he glared at Vexes. "Son of a..." he muttered. Behind him, Grog and his men shifted as their whispers grew louder.

"Does that mean Meara knows?"

"I bet he was hiding it from the whole town."

"No wonder he always runs off! he was probably working for the Order!"

Vexes savored the chaos his reveal had caused. "Oh, did I let a secret slip?" he asked with mock regret. "My sincerest apologies. Still, it hardly matters now. You're coming with us either way."

Sylvanie narrowed her eyes. "Celestia... listen to me." She spoke in a low, steady voice while watching Vexes, whose attention remained fixed on Oreon. "Whatever the truth about Father is, it can wait. Don't let them get inside your head. We can't afford to lose ourselves to their words." She glanced back at her sister. "You did nothing wrong. Don't blame yourself for what you couldn't control." Then she faced their enemies again.

Celestia stood frozen, her unfocused gaze fixed on nothing. The truth about her father—the quarries, the Blight, the treaties forced under threat of annihilation—swirled through her mind like poison in clear water. Every memory of him felt tainted, every lesson suspect.

"Was everything a lie? Was I just another piece on his board? Another pawn?" She thought to herself. "No…That can't be. Why would he…Why would—"

"CELESTIA!" Sylvanie called her name louder.

The sharpness of her sister's voice interrupted her thoughts. Celestia blinked, her eyes refocusing as the world snapped back into place. "Pull yourself together. Not here, not now."

She drew a shaky breath and slowly let it out. When she spoke, her voice was soft but steady. "... You're right." Her trembling hand settled on Sylvanie's shoulder, gripping it as if for support. "I'm here. I'm with you." Tears still glimmered in her eyes, but her gaze hardened as she faced Vexes. The grief remained raw beneath the surface, yet she buried it behind the composure that had carried her through Vel'Andria's fall.

"Father's sins, whatever they may be, are not mine to answer right now." Golden light gathered at her fingertips, then spread into a thin, shimmering veil over Oreon and Sylvanie, clinging to them like a second skin. "I will not falter here." Despite everything, her voice carried a queen's authority once more.

Vexes studied the golden light surrounding the trio, his amusement fading into seriousness. "Interesting." Tilting his head, he examined the barrier with a researcher's curiosity. "So, the light still answers you—even after everything." He lowered his arms to his sides. "Despite your shaken mind, you can still summon your magic."

Eilist adjusted his glasses as the holy insignia in his pupils pulsed while he examined Celestia's barrier. "Her power is impressive in her current state. She's emotionally compromised, and healing the human and the boy likely drained her mana." He tapped his staff twice against the ground. "And two days is nowhere near enough time to recover. Your magic won't hold—not against all five of us."

"Oh, it'll hold." Sylvanie bared her teeth in something that wasn't quite a smile. "It'll hold just long enough for me to cut through you."

Yvonne laughed with delight as her wheel blade spun faster. "Oh, Sylvie, we get to play again—just like old times!" She bounced on her feet. "Too bad it'll end the same way." Settling into a fighting stance, she grinned. "You've never beaten me. Not once."

Sylvanie's grip tightened on her scythe. "Who said I couldn't have beaten you?" She responded. "Let me make it clear for you, Yvonne...You were never stronger than me."

Vexes glanced at Yvonne and then back at Oreon. "I grow tired of this... Purifier's brat, hand over the shard and come with the Order. Your father would like to discuss your punishment with you...personally."

Oreon's heart pounded as he glared at Vexes. The secret had reached Grog's men—and likely every townsperson watching from behind closed windows.

"You and my father can kiss my ass." Oreon pointed his blade at Vexes. "It doesn't matter what that zeolitic psychopath wants. He's not getting the shard, and he's definitely not getting me."

"Well, then..." He leaned forward in a shallow bow and spread his arms in a grand gesture. "I suppose... there's nothing left to discuss." The moment he finished, Divia and Yvonne surged past him toward the trio.