Corrupt Creations

Seth sat on the seat reserved for him and looked towards the man in front. He had the same face as Theod, but a completely different countenance. 

"So, you're Seth, right? My name is Thellor Allakiir, the leader of the Allakiir family." 

"Nice to meet you, Mister Thellor." 

"My brother told me about you and there is something that I would like to ask you. Are you really a participant of the Wild Games?" 

"That's right." 

"Sigh... A youngster, less than thirty years old and already at the Mana Control initial-stage Realm... Are you for instance a disciple of any of those places the humans call "Higher Grounds"? 

"You're wrong. I am not from any of the human Higher Grounds." 

"Then, where do you come from?" Thellor was intently gazing towards Seth, trying to see through his deceit. 

Seth saw that he placed a lot of importance to his origin. 

"I come from the Blazing Phoenix Sect, the ruler of one of the human countries. Our specialty lays on our good affinity with the fire element." 

Seth opened his palm, and a small phoenix made of fire flew to the air, circling the room some times and disappearing a bit after. 

Thellor observed tha flame art but he knew that none of the human Higher Grounds were specialized in fire attribute skills like this. 

"I see... It is very uncommon for a person like you to birth in a place like that. Well... that may be the reason you were invited by the Elf Queen on the first place. With you participating in the upcoming Wild Games, there is not a single practitioner able to get the first place from you, but I don't think she would let a human get the best resources for free like that. Hm..." 

"Actually, Mister Thellor, I'm really curious about your Elf Queen. Is she actually a saint or is she a tyrant?" 

"You shouldn't be saying something like that about her, because she is neither of them. She is a normal member of the royalty and a leader that has been conducting our territory in a good and mild pace, however, she is more than that, she is the pride of our race." 

"The pride of your race?" 

"Yes. Let me explain it to you. The elves were born from a very sacred existence called the World Tree. This isn't just something from the legends, but we elves treat it as the utmost truth. The World Tree is our god and we all wish to connect with it, but it is a distant dream for every one of us. I will tell you something now that you might not have heard of it yet, but it is not a secret, so it is alright. There is a replica of the World Tree planted inside the secret gardens of the Royal Castle." 

"A replica?" 

"Yes. It is not our original god, but it may be a fragment or a small seed left behind by our god itself, to bless us, the descendants. The Elf Queen is considered to be our pride, because she was the only elf capable enough to connect with our World Tree. She was the chosen one." 

"So, you all respect her like that, because she was the chosen one? I'm not trying to deny the fact that she deserves that respect, but being the chosen one doesn't mean being your god, am I wrong?" 

"No, you're right. But we still respect her and treat her as a deity, not only because of that, but because she is strong. As you already know, strength is the king and that woman is not only powerful but resilient too." 

"Would you mind to explain that to me?" 

"After being chosen by the replica of the World Tree, she was granted a power that was beyond everyone's imagination. If I recall it correctly, at that time, she had recently married the strongest practitioner in our kingdom. He was the youngest Mana Sovereign our territory had, yet he was found dead a day after she got her powers. Some years later, she was engaged in a strategical marriage that would strengthen the royalty, but each and every single person that had entered in contact with her for some time, ended up dying one after the other. Her second husband, her mother, her father and every single member of the royal family." 

"How did that happen?" 

"The researchers discovered that every single one of those people had been poisoned." 

"Poisoned? Did she poison them all?" 

"Yes. But it wasn't intentional. It was the ability she received from the World Tree." 

"What?!" 

"After that, there was another episode. Another Mana Sovereign miraculously emerged inside our territory. He was from a very influent family at that time and he had come across the inheritance from an ancient supreme being. It gave him a very high resistance against poisons, what gave him the confidence to pursue the love of the Elf Queen. After trying to approach her for many times, she finally decided to accept his feelings, marrying a third time. That was because he seemed to be able to support that poison." 

"What happened? Were they able to live together?" 

"A week. After a single week living beside her, he died by the poison. At that time, she was finally broken. She cursed her destiny and that cursed power she received. With the royal family gone and a broken minded queen, a very strong family tried to take control of the Royal Palace and steal the power from the royal family. They claimed she was a plague to our race, inducing a wide scale conflict. So many things happened one after the other in her life and in the end she still prevailed." 

Seth couldn't believe things escalated so fast. 

Thellor continued: "She was a single woman and had to fight against many individuals, but the result of that conflict was a one-sided crushing victory for the Elf Queen. Her powers were unimaginable and beyond any expectation for her level. There was a battle of epic proportions that took the lives of many innocent people and is carved in our hearts until today. Every respectable elf, is ashamed that they were cowardly enough to not fight for our Queen. If we had done it, there would have been a lot less victims. Those powers were granted to her by our god, and she is already bearing the pain of carrying it in her shoulders, yet we turned our backs towards her. Sigh..." 

Thellor stopped a bit as he remembered that his family was literally nothing at that time, if it weren't for the flourishing business, they would be a common family until now. The resources and connections they were able to acquire, brought them towards the place they are today. 

"After that conflict ended, she was about to flee from the capital and live inside the forest, but she discovered that she was pregnant. She decided to stay in the capital and build an empire for her daughter. It is a blessing that her daughter was born immune to it, giving her a new horizon. This is a story from a bit less than thirty years ago." 

"Thirty years ago? It is more or less still recent. I did not know the Elf Queen had gone through so much. I can see now why you said that she is strong. She must be a very strong-willed person, to bear with so many hardships and still be successful. Now even I have a bit of respect towards her. I have to thank you, Mister Thellor, for explaining those things to a total outsider like me." 

Seth was starting to comprehend where the Elf Queen strength lies. She is not only a Mana Sovereign cultivator, but a very strong-willed person. He just didn't understand why did she invite him to the Wild Games, even though they haven't even met before. 

'Are there any rumors about me that I don't know? Just like Eternal Shadow thing...' 

Seth couldn't bring himself to remember a single thing he did to attract her attention. But he knew that he wouldn't discover it without asking her personally, so he just had to wait for the time they would meet. 

"I think that's everything we have to talk for now. There might still be two to three weeks until the preliminaries for the event opens, so take you time resting and preparing for that." Thellor said while standing. 

"Don't worry brother. I will make sure to introduce Seth to our young generation and ask him to give them some pointers." Theod said with a mild smile. 

"You and that mentality of yours that wants to profit of anything. Sigh..." 

"Ahaha. I don't mind. Just that I will need a day or two to organize some things." Seth still had to do something together with Lexi. 

"Alright then." 

Seth left the room and was led towards his guest courtyard by that maid that brought him over. 

"What do you think brother?" Theod asked. 

"I'm not a hundred percent sure if he was telling the truth, but I could not spot any lies on his speech. We don't need to be over suspicious of him, because I can feel that he is exposing himself on purpose, to let us know that he is not normal at all, furthermore, it was the Elf Queen that invited him. She would not harm her own kingdom, even though we've let her down." 

"I agree with father's words. The Elf Queen is way more capable than we are, yet she was the one that invited him to the Wild Games. However, we can never let our guards down." A beautiful female voice suddenly resounded inside the room. 

Standing next to the wall, behind the twin brothers. There was a very beautiful female elf. She seemed to be standing there way longer before Seth arrived, however he was not able to detect her presence.