The End of Eternity

School

"Davena, I think we are in trouble." Mei said dryly. "Look around us."

"Why?" Davena looked around and saw crowds of elves streaming around her, none of them were openly hostile.

"Don't you get it? We want to be accepted into an elven school!"

"Eh . .I totally forgot we look like humans." Actually, from time to time, elves were giving them odd looks, humans were apparently not common in Emerald Dawn in this era.

"Whatever, we need to go around the city first anyway. We can't fabricate a story of our origin without knowing a thing."

They hoped to find out as much as possible. They decided to leave Claw behind, there was no telling, how anyone would react to his presence.

Davena and Mei walked through the elven city, observing everything with their eyes opened wide. During the time they had been absent, everything had changed radically. The only aspect of elven culture, which remained intact seemed to be their love for nature and fascination in magic. During the event with the Great Snake, every unnatural, everlasting principle present in this world had been shattered. The changes of Gerhard, nor the precious book of the Immortal Emperor and its magic existed anymore, a new balance had been found.

Well, the balance did not include a great junk yard continent and the three beings who were connected to it.

Mei and Davena spent hours wandering the city, creating a rough picture of it in their minds. The first structure to be noticed was a wall. Despite the fact, that its gates were not guarded, times were apparently far from peaceful and the city had three rings of walls. Each of these rings had been further divided into several sections, creating a good fortification, with the ability to close off a compromised section anytime. The city felt big, even when compared to the cities of the Emerald Dawn of the era Davena and Mei remembered. Therefore, this city appeared to be one of the biggest in the empire.

They wandered around the city, trying to overhear every conversation they could. Walking back and forth, they attracted attention of a young elf, who had been watching them for some time.

"Are you lost? Do you need help?" A young elf stepped out of a crowd and blocked their way.

Mei and Davena looked at him, but did not manage to produce any articulated sound. They were completely surprised someone was approaching them in such a polite manner.

"Forgive me, I have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Tivan and I study to become a magister. Is there any way I can help you? "

Either of them could not figure out, what was the elf thinking. Just in case, Mei performed her cutest face, while Davena was not lagging behind with her "tortured animal" face. It was not much, but considering the person was a male, it was a start.

* * * *

Tivan looked at the girls and his fists clenched. He knew, who they were. Odd, dirty clothes, confused expressions, their timid reaction to his words .. all pieces of the puzzle were in place, the girls had to be runaway slaves, imported from far away lands.

Slavery had been banned long time ago, but Tivan knew, some nobles just renamed their slaves to "workers" , with no actual improvement of their treatment. Some were even paying them wages, taking the money back as a payment for slaves's living quarters, food or protection, making them indebted to them. A clever trick, that could make workers into slaves again, without violating any laws. He despised elves who acted that way, they were nothing but greedy slaver scum.