LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 172: Change Now
"Okay, PAUSE."
At Helena's request, the misty world stopped.
"Okay so do we want to talk about what happened?"
"Lycoris is turning into a dark elf." Brook shrugged, "And it turns out that the dark elves' lives were meant to fuel the normal elves. So Roland was way off with his prediction."
"What the hell?!" Roland cried.
"NO!" Helena said, "Well, I mean...yes but that's not the point for once!"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Roland threw his hands up into the air.
"Okay so I'll start." Helena said, "Does anybody know what countermagic is?"
Brook and Reaumur both looked at each other before turning to Helena, "Isn't that more of a human thing?"
"What?!" Helena frowned, confused, "What do you mean?"
"Countermagic's more of a human creation." Brook explained, "Do none of you know about it?"
"Haven't heard of it." Momo reported.
"Same here." Kaguya said.
"Is it like holy?" Corissa asked.
"No, holy makes magic disappear completely." Brook continued, "Countermagic is...if I remember correctly, uses an equal and opposite amount of magical force to counteract a spell. Like two arrows of equal strength smashing into each other and reducing each other to dust, the spells are dismantled back into pure mana. However, modern countermagic involves using the dissipated mana to form an attack equal to the combined might of the two spells."
"That sounds extremely powerful." Roko frowned, "Why haven't we heard of it?"
"My bet is that it's magic that's exclusively taught at Magus Alterna." Kaguya suggested, "That place is known for being the hot bed of magical theories that go beyond modern understanding and keeps even the most mundane magical practices among them secret."
"Wait, so how do you know about them then?" Momo asked as she turned to the dark elves.
"I read about it off some old records." Brook shrugged, "Elven history dates back way older than most human records. Probably came across it once and it got put down somewhere."
"I met someone who could use countermagic." Reaumur said.
"WAIT YOU DID?!" Everyone turned to look at Reaumur in shock.
"Yeah but that was like 50 years ago so he might be dead now or something." Reaumur shrugged.
"Wait, I have a question." Enlil spoke up, "If it's so secret then why do elves from 700,000 years know about it?"
"Things were probably different 700,000 years ago." Brook shrugged, "Who know, maybe they came across a human to teach them countermagic."
"Then why don't elves use countermagic?" Roko asked.
"From what I can tell, countermagic doesn't really have a place in elven culture. We craft magic so easily, it's more natural for us to just fight spells with actual spells. Some elven societies even consider countermagic to be unsportsmanlike. That's probably why it never really integrated with modern elven society."
"Unsportsmanlike to stop your opponent from casting a spell?" Roland frowned.
"I mean, if you imagine a magic duel where two mages are supposed to be casting spells at each other only for everything to be countered, it's not going to make for much of an interesting fight."
"Wait, so have I been acting unsportsmanlike when I cast holy?!" Corissa gasped.
"Uuuhhh, you haven't really been in a duel so it doesn't really matter. And your holy spell is more...special than normal magic. Besides, you've saved our lives with that spell so who cares if it's unsportsmanlike?"
"Are...you sure?"
"Yeah! Why do you even care anyway?!"
"I've got a question." Roland said, "Which would win, countermagic or holy?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"What?!"
"That's like asking which would win, a paper shredder or acid? One leaves traces behind, the other leaves no trace."
"Honestly, I don't think holy should even count as magic." Roko said.
"Stop!" Corissa yelped, "The more alien you make holy sound the less human you make me sound!"
"Does it matter?" Roko shrugged, "Power is power. So long as it obeys you, you are the one who gets to decide who you are. Even if you decide you're not a human, you can continue to hold human ideals making you arguably more human that some humans. Actually, if you think about it, what even are humans? How do you reduce the totality of complex life to simple ideas like morality? The more you think about it, the less humanity really seems to matter so-"
"IT MATTERS TO ME!" Corissa yelled.
"Well...alright then." Roko said, mildly taken aback by her outburst.
"Roko, you can't just go all philosophy on us like that." Helena smiled, "Some of us won't be able to keep up."
"Like who?"
"Roland."
"What?! I totally got that!" Roland cried, "It's just some cringe rambling on the nature of humanity! I can come up with way better than that!"
"Okay, do it then."
"…"
"…"
…
"Hmph." Roland shifted his posture downward as he lifted the brim of his fedora with one finger, "Life-"
"Yeah I'm bored, let's get back to the memory."
"AT LEAST GIVE ME A CHANCE!"
The memory resumed in the morning after the guard's infiltration of the Tree Cradle. Hyacinth was placing a moist towel over the Lycoris' forehead. The poor girl laid on the bed, not quite sick but clearly experiencing from some mild nightmares. Her skin had completely turned a rich brown color, marking her full turn into a dark elf. Hyacinth had a deep mix of concern, unsettlement and fear as she watched over the young child. It was a vexing feeling. This feeling of dissonance, of something...extrinsic...this feeling that Hyacinth had never felt before until this change occurred. It was something that had nagged her when interacting with other dark elves but something she easily could push aside. Looking at Lycoris now the feeling had taken on a new monstrous form. It was no longer something she could ignore, this strange unnatural discomfort… it wasn't something she felt was natural, not something she would think of normally. Something...was off…
Lycoris' rousing broke Hyacinth out of her thoughts as she quickly stood up to help the child lean up on her pillows.
"Lycoris! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Lycoris replied as she raised her hand to see her new condition, though she didn't seem surprised by it.
"Don't worry, Lycoris." Hyacinth said reassuringly, "We'll find a way to turn you and everyone back to normal, I promise."
"No..." Lycoris said barely audibly, "There is no going back anymore. Once the black elves learn how their lives are being used, there will be no way to prevent an uproar."
"T-Then let's not tell them." Hyacinth tried smiling, "We can hold off until we reverse everything. I'm sure we'll be able to-"
"Hyacinth, they deserve to know." Lycoris said softly but firmly.
Hyacinth looked down, unable to bring herself to rebut the child. And as they they were contemplating, all of a sudden the door to the home they were using burst open.
"Hyacinth!" Borage cried, "There's a war about to break out between the elves!"
"Shoot!" Hyacinth stood up, grabbing her sword and rushing out the home with Borage.
"Report the situation." Hyacinth said as she and Borage rushed towards the cradle's center.
"Do you remember Camellia and Protea?"
"Yeah. They hate each other don't they? Did something happen?"
"Protea became one of the black elves."
"When did this happen?"
"Quite a few days ago. It appears she turned in the middle of the war and was killed so she woke up here. Camellia had died earlier before her and was staying here in the middle of all this chaos. Protea was hiding away from Camellia but..."
"They finally found each other?"
"Came across more like."
"How'd that turn into a war?"
"Camellia had some choice words for Protea and it got more and more personal...or...less and less personal? Uhhh, other black elves started to take offense and it got real bad."
"Where's Nasturtium and Scabius?"
"They're there but they're not being very effective."
"They never were the most articulate of our group."
"Well that and the fact that the former soldiers started fistfighting the normal elves so then the elves called the idle soldiers to help and then they got into a fight and then the elves brought out weapons against the black elves."
"And the black elves don't have any weapons?"
"They managed to steal a sword or spear or two but that's all they managed. It's gotten to a dangerous stand-off where neither party are trying to communicate and with all the insults flying around a real fight might break out at any moment."
"Well let's hope we're not too late."
Hyacinth arrived in the middle of the central square, a place that was starting to become a common place for intense conflicts. Black elves on one side and regular elves on the other side, both hiding behind a line of soldiers with weapons pointed at each other, though the normal elves were clearly the larger party. Right now there hasn't been any violence aside from a few pokes at the other party with their spears but with all the screaming and yelling, it was clear the situation was heading to a very chaotic conclusion.
"Stop this now!" Hyacinth cried out but neither party seemed to hear her.
"Yeah good luck with that." Nasturtium scoffed from the sidelines, "We've had no luck with getting them to listen to anything at all."
"Why aren't you doing anything?!" Hyacinth shouted from across the crowd, "At least put up an ice wall or something!"
"Then their attention will turn to me." Nasturtium held up her hands innocently, "And while I probably could take them all on my own, they'd probably try to force me to join one side and I'm not about to make that decision haphazardly."
"Same." Scabius added, "That's why we sent Zinnia off to find the king. This confusion started with him so it can only end with him."
"That doesn't mean we can just do nothing now! We have to stop them!"
"And how do you propose that?"
Hyacinth ground her teeth in frustration. There had to be a way to stop them. Some way to get them to listen. She hadn't thought about how the act would end up putting her own allegiances in the spotlight but even if there was a bit of concern with that, it paled in comparison to the urgent situation in front of them. Even if there was no one who could help her, it was better than the alternative. With magic gathering around her hand, Hyacinth raised her hand and slammed it down on the ground,
"Gravity!"
Every arguing elf was suddenly lifted from the ground, left floating in the middle of the air but only for a few seconds as Hyacinth's spell quickly collapsed as they all fell back to the ground at a mild height. Hyacinth also fell to the ground, exhausted with the range of her spell.
"Wow." Nasturtium remarked, "You normally only save that spell to pick off small enemy groups. Lifting that many people, even for a few seconds is actually really impressive. You're a better mage than I thought."
"Shut up Nasturtium." Hyacinth gasped as the elven people began to pick themselves off the ground, "Now..."
Hyacinth stood back up, hiding every sign of her exhaustion from the public, "What is going on here?"
"These elves are pretending like they own us!" One of the dark elves shouted.
"We weren't even asking them to work at this moment!" One of the elves retorted, "They just decided to start talking about how we were so selfish and demanding!"
"Well you've not exactly been considerate have you?"
"Considerate of what?! We've forced no more work onto you than we have also been assigning to ourselves!"
"Some of us aren't ready to be forced into hard labor just yet!"
"Are you talking about the kids or yourself? We've given appropriate work to the kids and there's no excuse for you to lazing about doing nothing while the whole world prepares for war!"
"How can you say that when we're still processing this big change that just happened to us?!"
"Things may have changed for you but nothing has changed for us! We still have responsibilities to uphold! Are you saying we shouldn't ask you for help? I thought we were on the same side!"
"Who said we were on the same side?!"
"Uh, the King? You're literally supposed to be our support structure!"
"Well maybe I don't WANT to support you!"
"Are you defying the king? Defying the king means defying the entirety of elvenkind!"
"The king didn't give you the authority to boss us around!"
"Oh what, you need the king to give you personal orders in order for you to work?! Stop being so melodramatic!"
"All we're asking is for some time!"
"That is the one thing we don't have! The entire army mobilizes in three days! We need to be ready by then!"
"You mean YOU need to be ready by then!"
"You think just because you don't need to fight, you don't have any responsibilities?! The entire world is fighting, it's not just us!"
"Have you lost every sense of compassion?!"
"Have you lost every sense of duty?!"
"People, please! Calm down!" Hyacinth tried calming the crowd again.
"Then whose side are you on Hyacinth?! Which do you say is right?!"
"I..."
Hyacinth thought she knew the answer but it didn't come to her. Her brain sort of stalled under the pressure though even without her hesitation the argument wasn't stopping for her to take hold of herself.
"Why does her opinion matter?! She's not one of us!"
"Oh, are you saying a member of the royal guard doesn't have the authority or right to voice her opinion?"
"Why are you asking for her opinion when we're right here?!"
"Because you're being unhelpful!"
"Because you're being unreasonable!"
"Hyacinth has been there to help you ever since this change was implemented! Are you not grateful for her? Does all that still not warrant her take on the matter?!"
"We're grateful to Hyacinth but she hasn't gone through what we've gone through! You don't let someone without experience speak on your behalf no matter how much they helped you! Especially for something this personal!"
"Oh, it's personal now?! Then why are we arguing about how an entire group of people are being treated?! How are we supposed to get anywhere if we have to consider the individual at every point of the process? That's just poor governing!"
"That's the problem! We don't have a system of government! We need more time to consider the changes brought upon us!"
"You didn't start existing yesterday! You have years of experience being an elf prior to being turned! Where did all that experience go!"
"You can't expect an old system to work with new changes!"
"You're not even that different! You've just been assigned a different role, that's all! Why is this so difficult for you?!"
"It's more than that."
The voice of a small child drew the adults attention to Marigold who was helping Lycoris stand up as they approached the crowd.
"Lycoris..." Hyacinth bit her lip, knowing what was about to happen. And she didn't have the nerve to stop it.
"The lives of the dark elves are being drained to support the elves." Marigold revealed, "This was confirmed Lycoris and the royal guards last night."
"What?!"
The crowd broke out into a chilled murmur as they questioned this sudden revelation. Heads turned this way and that to question their peers before finally darting around the royal guards that were there, looking for an answer.
"The cat's out of the bag now." Nasturtium sighed, "I guess we're not getting any time to address it ourselves."
"Yes." Scabius stated, "It's true."
A numbing silence took over the cradle as the crowd processed the horror that was revealed to them. And in an instant that felt too soon, some of the elves started collapsing to the ground as they became dark elves.