Élphame

Chapter Eight

          "You are one of us, then, are you?" Félix said.

          "I... I don't-"

          "We were just getting to explaining that part when you barged in," Darcy said coldly.

          "Don't let me stop you," he said as he blew on a bite of potato. "Carry on, please."

          "You do it," she spat, folding her arms angrily. "You know you're just gonna correct everything I say, anyway."

          "Very well." He turned to Naomi. "Naomi, when we bumped into one another the second time we met, I dropped a book."

          "The Origins of Brownies," Naomi recalled. "Yes, I remember. But what does that have to do with anything?"

          "Am I right in presuming you thought the book to be a work of fantasy?"

          "Well, of course it was fantasy," Naomi said. "It was talking about a species of fairy."

          "That is precisely what made The Origins of Brownies a non-fiction," Félix said.

          Naomi stared at him like he'd just pulled a live fish out of his ear. "You're telling me that Brownies are real?"

          "Oh, not just Brownies," Félix said, taking a bite of his food. "Trolls, Pixies, Hobgoblins, Witches, Manticores, Mujinas. Any and every creature from any legend or myth you can name are not only very real, but they are also very much alive." He said it so simply, so logically, that had the idea not been so impossible, Naomi might have believed him.

          "But those are just stories," Naomi argued. "Monsters for a hero to fight, or a spirit to explain natural phenomena."

          "And where do you think the inspiration for these stories came from?" he asked calmly. "Humans are astonishingly unoriginal creatures. They only know how to plagiarize, steal, and mutilate. No, humans are not clever enough to think up beings you might call magical based on nothing. You know the stories of monsters and spirits because they truly exit."

          "Well, if they exist, then why don't we see fairies flying around all the time?" Naomi demanded. "Or angry Minotaurs destroying cities?" She looked to Alec and Darcy to back her up, but they just sat and listened.

          "Once, humans did see such things," Félix said. "Thousands of years ago, before the written word was even an idea, creatures of myth and legend lived in harmony. Werewolves were hunters' best friends, and the fiery breath of Chimeras combined with the metalworking skills of Cyclopes were a must in every forge. For years, the humans and magical creature lived together. Then, everything changed when humans started to attack.

          "At first the humans were justified in their killing of magical creatures. To begin, they only attacked monstrous beasts that had destroyed human lives, for just as there are good and bad humans there are good and bad magical creatures. But the humans soon began to see any creature possessing magic as dangerous, and they began hunting them down, determined to eradicate them." He paused to eat another potato sliver, then continued. "They very nearly succeeded. Any magical creature humans didn't kill they started to use for their own selfish desires. Humans enslaved them, forcing them to build large structures they could never build on their own, like Stonehenge, or the Great Pyramids. Anything and anyone remotely associated with magic went into hiding. At least, until Oberon."

          "Oberon," Naomi repeated. "Like from Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

          "Precisely. Like in the play, Oberon was the King of the Fairies, Fairies referring to all magical creatures. He had tried to come to a peaceful resolution with humans, but to no avail. Any messengers he sent came back dead or dying, and any attempts to gather a summit to establish peace and cooperation died faster than one who has caught the Black Death."

          "Colorful way of putting it," Darcy muttered.

          Alec shushed her. "This is my favorite part."

          Pip, his plate now licked clean, leaped over to Naomi's and tilted his head in a pleading way. Naomi didn't need to be a cat whisperer to know what he was asking. She slid her plate towards him and the kitten started eating with gusto.

          Félix's grey eyes flashed in annoyance at them before he cleared his throat and continued. "Oberon knew it was only a matter of time before all magical creatures were either dead or enslaved to a life worse than death, so he gathered what remained of his kingdom and cast a powerful spell that would protect his people forever. He created a magical barrier, the Oberonian Veil, between this world and the realm of magic. The spell was a powerful one and required constant control, or else the Veil would tear to pieces and release so much raw, unfiltered magic that it would destroy all life in both this world the the one he created for his people. And so King Oberon sacrificed himself. He became one with the Veil, holding it steady and strong until this day.

          "Since that time, humans have forgotten the creatures of magic they used to hunt with, eat with, live with. They began to write them off as stories to tell around a campfire. They began to forget what their true history was. It didn't take long for the word 'magic' to be scoffed and scorned as make-believe, and life has been that way ever since. The humans have stayed on their side of the Veil, Earth, and the magical folk have remained in the realm King Oberon created for them, Élphame."

          Élphame. Naomi had heard that word before. It took her a moment to remember. Félix had mentioned it in his conversation with Darcy at school.

          Finished with his tale, Félix turned to his plate and finished his potatoes while Naomi tried to wrap her mind around what he had told her.