“No, I am not, Eldana. I tell you the truth and nothing but the truth. That is my job, remember?”
Eldana was quiet.
“Listen. You are a child of this world. It belongs to you just as much as you belong to it. When you doubt yourself, reach into Toas for help.”
Now, about to put her psychic powers to use, Eldana found Sinto’s advise refreshingly useful. She smiled and thanked Sinto silently. She made a mental note to prove herself to the old man.
Bringing herself back to the task at hand, Eldana plucked out her thoughts, one after the other, until her mind was empty, fresh, and rich for growth. Slowly, she began to reach towards the earth as Sinto had taught her. Through her yearning to be one with the earth. She felt her mind-stretching, making contact with everything around her, and becoming one with it. And then suddenly, she felt a spark in her mind.
“Dear God Camin!” Eldana heard someone exclaim the holy name, and her eyes flew open.
She found herself looking down at Mosa and Mosa looking up at her. She was floating in the air, along with the metal rod, and the ring of candlelight.
Mosa had never seen someone display this level of psychic power with such ease, especially one who was a first-timer. Some people lifted boulders with their minds, and things as heavy as entire houses, or full-grown elephants. But that took years of exercise to strengthen the mind. The mind was like the body in some ways and needed to go through similar exercises. Multi-tasking was even more difficult. To lift different objects at once or do something like what Eldana did – lift them while maintaining a particular arrangement – required decades of training. But here was a beginner doing these things. And there were no signs yet of haemorrhaging from stressing the mind. The story of the being of Balance and Chaos and their immense power was one that had entertained the ears of every person in Toas since childbirth. The mark of chaos was powerful. Not very many got to personally encounter one, or to see them use their powers. But here he was.
“How?” he asked no one in particular, his eyes still fixed on Eldana.
Eldana smiled and lifted Mosa very slowly with her mind until he was level with her in the air.
“Have I pleased my teacher?” she asked.
Mosa stuttered as he searched for words to put in his mouth.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Elves of Ciroc
Not very many creatures in Toas knew of the times before the new gods – Camin and Lowus. The times before Camin and Lowus were rife with unbridled chaos. It was like the world was turning against itself like a snake and tearing itself apart. The elves were witness to these times, and so were the orcs. They were creations of gods who had withered away for some unknown reason, leaving their creations, and the world they had created to fend for itself. In this chaos, created by the new and the old gods, magic ran like wildfire through the land, manifesting without cause or provocation, and making alterations in different places.
When the world settled under the reign of Camin and Lowus, ancient gods whose pre-existence was unknown, the humans and a lot of other races rose. And so too, did their kingdoms, cities, and towns. The majority of the elfsoc – a name ascribed to the elves by humans – settled in Kleas, and indulged their immortality, watching the world move with very little involvement.
Now, that the end of the hundred-year cycle was due and the being of Balance and Chaos was still alive, the world was unravelling again and returning to its state before Camin and Lowus. Chaos was coming back. A rash of killings had begun in Kleas and the Middle Kingdom. The elves, indifferent to the plight of others but theirs, lived in the woods, where they could look after their own affairs. They had survived chaos before. Surely, they could do it again?
They made a part of the Ciroc, rarely travelled upon by anything asides animals, their home.
The elves were led by Fraweyni, Child of the First, Daughter of Tessa. She was the sole child of the very first elf, Tessa, who grew tired of the world two millennia ago, and micronized herself to become part of the stars. She was a beacon of strength, wisdom, and power to her people, and she led them like they were an extension of herself.
Once they had secured their place in the forest, she had sentries stationed at the outskirts of the space they had cut out for themselves. The sentries morphed into trees and alerted others through a special signal whenever intruders stepped within their boundaries. Unwilling to let any of her people die in a skirmish, Fraweyni would, with an attachment of guards, let out her voice – which was so soulful, magical, and powerful that it could bring the stars to brightness in some days – and sometimes the minds of intruders.
Earlier today, she had been alerted to the presence of a magician within her boundaries. He was alone, the sentries had told her. But magicians were dangerous, and even though this one was outnumbered, he could still cause a fair amount of harm. So, she sang, and as expected, had ensnared him.
She got bothered, however, when moments later, the sentries reported that there were three more magicians within their boundaries, who looked to be searching for something or someone.
“They must be friends of the magician we captured.” She said.
But why were all three here? She asked herself.
A magician strolling this deep into the Ciroc, she could call a mistake. But three more was something else.
Could they be looking for a way to launch an attack on us? She asked herself.
The best course of action, for her, would be to have them killed immediately. But she was seeing more than an accidental invasion here, and so had to
