Moonshadow (16 page)

Andrew chimed in behind his twin. “They specialize in hunting down and eliminating any possible threat to the Naphalei and our civilization.” He grinned at Diana like a mischievous child telling a scary story. “Especially dangerous humans. They hate mankind with a passion and don’t need much of an excuse to kill them.”

“That’s enough, Anderon,” Darien said firmly. “Why are you trying to scare her? Diana hasn’t done anything to warrant execution; she’s perfectly safe.”

Regardless of Darien’s assurance, the notion was beyond Diana’s understanding. She had sensed a great deal of prejudice in Darien towards humans the night they had met and had felt Terra’s hatred the first moment they laid eyes on each other.

“Why do elves hate humans so much?” she asked them.

“It’s a long and involved story,” Darien replied, apparently not wishing to go into it.

“I have all day,” Diana replied with a playful grin. “Do tell.”

Darien sighed. “Why does any race of people hate another—prejudice and fear.” He shook his head. “Though the Seraphar taught humans the magical arts, our people were always more powerful and adept at them—it’s our nature. Whether out of jealousy or fear, the humans looked for ways to be more powerful than the Naphalei. We reacted in kind, and the results were the great wars of ancient days that shattered the Mother’s peace. You are familiar with the consequences of those early conflicts.”

“The stuff about Elberon’s Tears and Endymion’s murder?”

“What
didn’t
you tell her, Endymion?” Andrew asked through a chuckle.

Darien scowled at him before continuing. “Udana’s sacrifice brought mercy, but the flood waters were still needed to purify the Mother. A remnant of our races was spared—I’m sure you know one of the many human versions of the story.”

“Everyone knows about Noah’s Ark,” Diana replied. It was one of the few stories from the Bible that she actually knew.

“After the flood,” Miri continued the story. “Madaera’s body was changed and she lost much of her connection to her soul. As a result, humans gradually lost their ability to touch the Veil.”

“Human’s used to touch the Veil?” Diana asked with wonder. “They used to be magical too?”

“Indeed,” Darien replied with a nod. “Over time, human lifespans decreased until they barely lived to be a hundred and their magic became virtually nonexistent.”

“They became just like any other animal,” Andrew interrupted.

“What a dismal thought,” Diana said with a frown.

“The Naphalei saw it as Elberon’s justice,” Miri said, sounding as if she didn’t quite agree with the statement. “They thought they had surpassed the Secondborn in the eyes of the Father.” Miri shook her head at the ridiculous notion. “It’s that type of thinking that has split our people on humanity for thousands of years.”

“So, not all of you hate humans and want to kill them?” Diana asked sarcastically, “That’s nice.”

“In those days,” Darien continued. “The majority wanted nothing to do with humans. They just wanted to rebuild their kingdoms in isolation and keep to themselves.” His tone suggested he agreed with the notion.

Andrew chuckled at Darien’s words. “That’s all well and good, Endymion. But we all know that philosophy only lasts until some group of taintrats thinks it’s a good idea to rule the humans as their gods.”

“I have to agree with Andrew on that one,” Diana said with a shrug. “And I just bet all the famous gods I know and love from mythology were just magical elven tyrants; am I right?”

“Absolutely,” Darien replied with an approving smile.

“Where was God—or Elberon—in all of this?”

“Watching, I suppose,” Darien replied. His struggles with faith were evident by his tone.

Miri’s mouth twisted like a disapproving grandmother. “Endymion, the Father has his reasons for keeping his distance. The Mother’s pain grieves him too much; would you rather he seek to ease her suffering again, just so people like you can feel better?”

Darien sighed at Miri’s words and shook his head. “That is my point Miraena. The hand of Elberon rarely moves, and when it does, it’s only to separate his children from each other.”

“How so?” Diana asked, curious.

Darien shrugged, apparently not knowing what to believe himself. “The legends say that our people and humanity can never truly coexist, and that Elberon and Madaera continually struggle to keep them apart.”

“Meh,” Andrew interrupted with obvious disbelief. “Rubbish that irksome old Almar tell younglings to keep them from going out in human lands and getting ‘corrupted.’”

Miri shot her brother a playful scowl.

“Really,
dina’ssia
?” Andrew replied with sardonic sarcasm. “Continents separating, civilizations crumbling—do you really think that the Mother and Father go to such trouble just to keep us from ‘debasing’ each other?”

“No—that’s ridiculous,” Miri replied firmly. “But there’s always
some
kernel of truth sleeping in a pile of dirt.”

“Of course it’s ridiculous,” Diana said, astounded they were even having the conversation. “We’ve been interacting for over a week and nothing cataclysmic has happened yet.”

“That depends on your point of view, Diana.” Darien replied with a tone that was just a bit too serious. “One could argue that we were almost struck by a car last night because Elberon decreed our relationship to be unnatural.”

“Like I said—ridiculous.” Diana almost laughed at Darien’s ludicrous logic. “So that’s why elves hate humans? They’re afraid of divine retribution?”

“Genocides have been committed for far less,” Andrew said nonchalantly.

Darien started to disagree with him, but really couldn’t. “Regardless, there is quite a bit more involved—mostly political—but that notion, however ridiculous it truly is, has always been at the heart of our fears and prejudices.”

“The conclaves aren’t really lacking issues to motivate their fears,” Miri said through a troubled laugh. “Not after this past century.”

“What do you mean?” Diana asked, curious.

“It’s your technology, Diana,” Miri replied with a certain amount of seriousness. “It’s developed at an alarming—and suspicious—rate, and most of it seems to have been designed so we can’t use it.”

“You can’t use human technology?”

“Nope,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “And I imagine you have absolutely
no
idea how annoying that is. Do you know how hard it is to make plans—with
anyone—
when you don’t have one of those mobile phones? My social calendar has taken quite a hit this past decade, let me tell you.”

“But why?” Diana asked, confused about the whole idea of not being able to use modern devices.

“It’s the computer chips,” Darien replied. “Our bodies constantly have powerful energies flowing through them. Whenever we come into close contact with an electronic device—.”

“It explodes,” Diana interrupted with playfully narrowed eyes. “I knew you fried my phone.”

Darien’s mouth twisted with a sheepish grin “I replaced it, didn’t I?”

“Yeah; after you blamed
me
for it and embarrassed me in front of the professor.”

Miri’s look of grandmotherly disapproval returned. “Endymion, really?”

“I was startled,” he said in defense.

Diana chuckled at their banter and her mind stirred with reflection. That was the reason why the Shepherds’ house felt like a portal to yesteryear—they couldn’t use modern technology.

“What makes computers so scary?” Diana asked, still confused on the matter. “We have Tumblr and XBOX, so what? You guys have magic powers.”

“It’s not that simple, Diana, “Darien continued. “Your society is so interlaced with its electronics that we are at a disadvantage that we’ve never known before. Our ability to watch and control humanity has been significantly weakened.”

“Watch and control humanity?” Diana repeated incredulously, shocked by such a notion.

“It isn’t as terrible as it sounds, I assure you,” Darien replied with a calming gesture.

“No—it
really
is,” Andrew interrupted and Darien scowled.

“It’s probably somewhere in between,” Miri said with the calming voice of reason. “We live here under the Watcher Mandate. As we go about our duties or business, we are charged with blending in with human society and reporting on their development and whether or not they are becoming a threat to our way of life.”

Diana thought it over a moment.

“So, you’re a part of some sort of elven National Security Agency?”

Darien nodded. “In a manner of speaking, yes. We simply watch and report.”

Diana arched an eyebrow at him. “What you’re basically saying, is that elves hate humans because they see us as forsaken animals that could one day ruin your way of life.”

Andrew smirked. “I told you it was as bad as it sounded.”

“What a closed minded and cynical view of the world,” Diana declared. “Human beings may be a lot of things, but we are people—just like you. We have hopes and dreams; we create beautiful works of art.”

Darien’s brow furrowed but quickly softened when she said, “We can be loved and show love in return.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “It doesn’t take an affinity for magic and a long life to make a person worthy to live in this world. Just because we might not live up to the idyllic elven lifestyle, it doesn’t mean that our society and culture isn’t as good as yours.”

Diana was now steaming with anger. “And to think that our culture could infiltrate and overtake yours—it’s such a backward philosophy. Don’t you think that both of our peoples would be better off if we knew and learned from each other?”

There must not be a Cultural Pluralism class in elven universities.

“Forgive me, but I must interject,” Darien said, crossing his own arms. “I understand your indignation—I do. However, all you truly know is what you have seen in your short eighteen years. You’ve only read about human history from books written by humans. We have personally witnessed your peoples’ modern capacity for war and devastation—for no other reason save one nation felt they were better than the other, or one group of people feared the other and blamed them for their misfortunes. In the last century, we have seen mankind’s capacity for evil and destruction reach its zenith. You will have to forgive us for being wary. Humans greatly fear what they don’t understand and can’t control.”

Diana continued to fume. “And your people don’t fear humans because you can’t understand and control our technology?”

Darien was silenced for a moment by her sudden—and accurate—appraisal. “There may be many enlightened humans in the world—you are one of them—but the majority would immediately fear and seek to destroy us. You can’t deny this.”

Even though she wanted to defend her people, Diana had to admit that he was right. The majority of humanity would fear the elves and seek to destroy them.

Diana was saved from the awkward socio-political debate when they emerged from the woods into the Shepherds’ backyard, just beyond the pool house.

She sighed in relief, and as they neared the water, Diana decided it was time to steer the merry party towards something a bit more fun and entertaining.

“Before we eat,” she said with a playful, pleading, grin. “Can you guys show me some of your magic?”

Even though she smiled, Miri looked to be contemplating the dangers of the request. Andrew just smirked.

“Sure thing,” he said and walked a few steps to the pool. Miri shot her brother a disapproving glare before Andrew took one dramatic step into the pool, and then started walking on the water as if it were solid ground.

For some reason, the sight chilled Diana to her core.

“Well, if it’s biblical you want.” With grace, Miri began moving her arms, as if in another dance. With a swift motion, she brought both of her arms back, and just as quickly, brought them forward again. When her hands met together in a loud clap, Diana felt a strong wind pass by her face as an unseen force hit the pool, splitting the water down the path that Andrew had walked. He didn’t have time to react as the water he had been walking on was taken out from under his feet. He fell hard on his behind on the bottom of the pool.

“Not funny, Miraena!” Andrew complained with indignation to his sister.

“It seemed pretty funny to me,
din’issi
,” she replied with laughter.

Andrew whipped his hand in Miri’s direction and a gush of pool water splashed her, soaking her front.

“My robes!” she yelled in anger. “These are sacred vestments!” Miri quickly slapped her hands together to send the split pool back to normal, but Andrew anticipated her response. He swiftly jumped up high and stood on the water, smiling wide with pride.

Instead of being angry at her failure at retribution, Miri simply smiled back and raised her right hand into the air, aiming it at her brother like she was about to shoot something from her palm. A second later, Andrew fell into the pool with a splash.

Miri had apparently canceled out her brothers powers, sending him into the water.