Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 21: Arrogance on Fire

He had swept her hair aside so he could kiss the back of her neck. She leaned her head back so far that it was nearly resting on the fairy's shoulder.

Fjorn whispered in her ear with vicious excitement, "I wanted to see it happen... I had to see it with my own eyes."

"You mean you knew this would happen?" Pollyanna leaned her head further back so that the front of it was completely exposed for Fjorn to kiss.

"Oh yes... Every species with that amount of arrogance is doomed to die. Did you hear what they did?" Fjorn asked between kisses.

"No. What did they do?" Pollyanna replied—only half listening.

"They brought a meteor down from the sky to try and eradicate a different faction of Astral Elves—ones with different beliefs from their own." Fjorn continued. "They used the blackest of evil magics to summon that meteor—magics that had been sealed away by the first creatures to walk this earth; one has to pay the price of their own bodies for that kind of power. Every single one of them who helped summon that meteor will burst into flame."

Pollyanna spun around—she playfully and impulsively shoving him to the ground. Her hasty fingers found the belt at his waist. "And why do they burst into flames from using this magic? Why are you so intent on watching them die from their own foolishness?"

"They burst into flames because their newfound magic, in turn, found their arrogance in the form of tiny flames which are burrowed deep within their hearts. The magic fostered those flames until they consumed the elves bodily. As for why I want to watch them burn..." Fjorn murmured as he pulled her close. "They had the nerve to spit in my face when I offered them to freely become my servants. I told them of how I had conquered the humans of Maribel, including you, my darling, and how I would be coming for them next, but they didn't listen." Fjorn replied.

Pollyanna found the laces on his breeches, but he seized her shoulders and shoved her to the ground roughly. He whispered in her ear, "it turns out the only masters of black magic are the Arrozans."

Pollyanna felt the tips of her fingers and toes go numb with fear and passion, and she merely lay there, frozen in fear for an awkward beat.

She recovered in a moment, however.

"What were these different beliefs the other elves had?" Pollyanna asked with her arms stretched above her head.

"They believed that they were entitled to own slaves whereas this faction deemed it barbaric." Fjorn answered as he worked at removing the armor covering her torso. "Why did I have to make you into such a fine warrior? How am I supposed to get you naked now?"

Pollyanna giggled and she glanced to her left—down the cliffside. She gasped when she saw a moving shape.

An Astral Elf who was being consumed by fire was creeping up the hill with a sword in hand.

She shoved Fjorn to the side, unsheathed her blade, and launched it at the elf who tumbled down the mountainside with it in his forehead.

Fjorn laughed loudly. "Ah yes! That is why I made you the greatest warrior in all the land!"

He stood behind her, grabbing her hips, and just as she thought he was going to continue kissing her, he shoved her down the hill with a laugh. "Let's see how much you can survive, my love!"

Pollyanna tumbled down the hill and broke her neck, but her body repaired it in a second and she was on her feet in an instant.

Fjorn snapped his fingers and appeared at her side in a shower of black smoke. He pulled her close in an embrace and said, "help me kill them even as they burn to death! I order you to!"

Pollyanna grinned with tears springing from her eyes. "Anything for you!"

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Pollyanna snapped back to reality when Them asked the Astral Elf a question. "What are the doppelgangers? How were they made?"

The Astral Elf lecturing them turned to him and explained in his monotone voice while displaying images with the magic between his fingers, "when the Crater was formed, something else was formed with it; the dark magic and the arrogance of the elves used to summon the meteor lingered there with it for so long that it festered and sank into the earth here. Now, every night, black shadows of the elves who summoned the meteor arise from the earth and have only one goal in mind; killing everything they come into contact with."

The Astral Elf, who had been telling the story of his arrogant people with the use of magic, now dropped his hands and cleared his throat as he paced back and forth.

"Most people outside of the Crater don't even know what the doppelgangers are; while elves, gamayuns, fairies, and humans are all safe and asleep in their beds, it is our duty to make sure that the doppelgangers are contained here and can never hurt a soul outside the Crater." The Astral Elf affirmed. "That being said, I'm sure you all are very curious as to how to defeat these creatures."

Pollyanna's ears perked up and she concentrated now.

"There is still an arrogant flame where their heart would be if they were still living. You must pierce their hearts and then throw water on them to dispose of them." Said the Astral Elf.

He took a deep breath and then sat down with one of his legs pulled up to his chest. He gathered his thoughts as he thought of any and all important details he needed to tell the new recruits.

"Now, we always need someone standing watch on the fortress' battlements because the doppelgangers can appear at any time in the day. Usually they appear in very small number if they appear at all during the day. However, they appear most often and in largest number when the sun is setting and night settles upon the land. There can be upwards of one-hundred of them that appear each night."

Pollyanna was grinning.

She was still intent on finding a way out of this situation that Eory had gotten them into, but at least while she did, she could have fun killing doppelgangers.

Pollyanna took a moment at Taylor who was sitting next to her with frightened eyes and felt badly for the poor fairy. She wasn't being quite so obnoxious now, and she reminded Pollyanna very much of Rebecca who was similarly thrust into being a man the way Taylor had been.

Pollyanna remembered she wanted Eory back, and if she wanted him back, she had to start treating Taylor like a man.

She scooted away from her and didn't let her lean on her.

Pollyanna did something very unlike her as she had been doing of late. She wondered how evil a thing it was to want Eory back when she had seen what damage foisting an unwanted gender upon a fairy could do to them.

The Astral Elf let out a sigh and seemed nearly finished with his explanation.

"Astral Elves used to be so wild and arrogant—we had no cap on our emotions, and so, we decided to get rid of them through magic. It is true that one faction of Astral Elves tried to kill the other due to one wanting to keep slaves, but there was another, more prominent and far more silly reason they wanted the other faction gone.... One faction had three eyes, and the other had two." The Astral Elf looked at the wooden floor thoughtfully and then murmured, "such a silly thing to kill each other over, don't you think?"