The Runaway Princess

“He cannot make a decision now, so he will reply within 24 hours... huh.” Archon Amber spoke, seemingly unconvinced. “That human chief is buying time, even when he doesn’t have a choice. I wonder what he is planning.”

“There must be a lot of heads to convince on his side too,” I replied while looking around Archon Amber’s room. “They just won a war. The humans must be feeling cocky now.”

“Well, I hope they don’t do something rash.” Archon Amber casually said while she started to change into her ceremonial robe. “By the way, do you know that human chief? He seemed awfully shocked when he saw you.”

“…I believe I wrote that in the planning document. I was close to his family and I ate dinner with them every day for a few years.”

“Ah, is that so… I forgot to read it.” The beautiful Elf made an innocent smile while half-undressed. “But you are so cruel, Connie. After not seeing your family for so long, your first words are an ultimatum…”

“I believe you misunderstood something… anyways, that was in the planning document too. Also, Amber, may I ask you one thing?”

The attractive Elf was now fully dressed in her magnificent outfit, the opulent ceremonial staff in her elegant hands.

“Sure! What is it?” For a moment, I felt illusive flowers bloomed behind her bright smile.

“How did you managed to fill this room with garbage in two days?” I calmly spoke, sweeping aside my irritation by kicking away Amber’s half-eaten snack on the floor.

--------------------------------------

“I am sorry, Connie, I am really bad with cleaning. I might not look like it, but I was raised as a princess after all. I had servants cleaning up for me, and on the Bibliotheca drones took care of that. I forgot the Charon doesn’t have them.” As I commanded the nano-cermet floor to carry away Amber’s trash, the Elf apologised.

“It is fine --- you can’t practice the ceremony here if the room is filled with garbage. Speaking of which, how’s the preparation?”

“Oh, it’s absolutely perfect. Both the Staff of Crystal Bloom and the Grace of Seven Stars are just like they were on the day I ran away.” The Elf replied with a charming smile on her face. Amber really was a princess, or even an angel, aside from her carefree and messy demeanour that was closer to a mad scientist than royalty.

Amber continued. “I had also checked the manaflow channels --- ah, in Kexteran they are ‘psionic circuits’ --- and they also worked without a hitch. Emerald wanted to enhance them with nano-circuitry, but we cannot risk such rare artefacts, and it’s not like they wouldn’t work as is. Now we just need the Flower and an appropriate location to complete the ceremony.”

“That’s great. But is it truly OK for you to handle the ceremony? I knew you ran away from home to avoid performing the ceremonies, but I am asking you to do exactly that…” While Amber had consented to help, she would be helping a human, and I would be forcing her to do something she dreaded so much that she abandoned her status to avoid. I needed to hear from her directly.

“It is fine, Connie. I know how hard you worked to convince the Elven King so we are ostensibly working with my homeland… so that you wouldn’t make me work against my people. Though my allegiance towards them had long dissipated, I sincerely thank you for your consideration.” Amber spoke clearly while bowing her head. “Besides, it was not ceremonies that I ran away from, but that ceremony.”

“Was that one different from the others?” I asked, realising that Amber had never spoken of her past.

“It was the complete opposite of what a ceremony should be. There are many Elven ceremonies: ones that celebrate the beauty of life, or ones that celebrate the bounty of the land, or ones that heal our hearts through gratitude, or even ones that pray for the rebirth of our dead. But they all had the same goal: to bring forth the wealth, happiness, and blessings of life by offering tribute to the Spirits.

“For generations and generations, from the tribal period to we established our place in the stars, my predecessors had performed such ceremonies with the staff the dress, and the flower, bringing universal happiness to the realm. Well, like a pretty light show can do.” Amber finished her words with an unexpected remark.

“Did you imply the ceremonies were purely a religious practice, without any real impact on the inanimate whatsoever?”

“If only. The three artefacts, in fact, are connected to a different dimension. The Flower acts as the gate, the staff the key, and the dress protects the user from the energies from the other dimension. A strong user of psionic powers can use them to affect reality, let it be strengthening the soil, granting a temporary mood boost, or even transplanting memories from the recently deceased.”

“So together they are a fertiliser, a psychedelic drug, or a memory transplantation device depending on how you use it. And I suppose they can be a superweapon too? They really had my numbers back then…” I said while recalling the pain I suffered from the Flower’s lightnings.

“…and that was why I ran away. I did not want to use it for war. The Flower of Yggdrasil should bring life and happiness, not desolation and destruction. I tried to protest the decision, but my father --- the King --- could not hear a word of it. He absorbed too much arrogance and hate from his advisors, and was determined to ‘show those Terrans what happens when they step on our holy land’… They locked me up for my opposition, but Emerald rescued me and here I am.”

“The more I hear about it, the more it seems like a fantasy novel with sword and magic.” I sighed. “You know, elves, mana, reincarnations and everything.”

“Maybe Terran legends were based on reality?” Amber suggested.

“An outrageous suggestion, but I won’t be surprised if you are right.” I paused at a moment, looking up the vast expanse that is the starry sky, shining through Charon’s large windows. “I can read minds after all. Though, for Elves might not be very surprising.”

“Those who are powerful enough to read minds are like a star at dawn --- few and far in between. That you suffered from mana poisoning as a child and deflected the Flower’s lightning is the proof of your power. Please be proud, Connie. Emerald and Elisabeth had a reason to choose you.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“I forgot to tell you before…”

Amber began to apologise again. As she bowed, I noticed the gentle, blue shine on her clear and snow-white skin. I looked outside of the window; Earth, the Blue Marble, was in my sight once more. The boundary between day and night was just covering the Japanese islands, inching ever closer to the myriad isles of Indonesia. Soon, night would arrive in Singapore once more.

When the city once again become half-shrouded in darkness, surely I would hear the answer. From humanity, to my ultimatum.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

"Terran" is how Elves call humans.