The visions faded, and Aldrec, robed in his common form once more, knelt down exhaustedly upon the raised platform.

"Now … you … understand," he said to Skori, his sentences cut into intermittent fragments by breathy gasps. "What all of you just saw, was what the entire world saw. And by this, I hope to give them all: elf, human, android, and even dragon, a glimpse of what they have done, but more importantly, what they can become, and what I hope for them."

His strength returned, he stood, and stepped into the midst of the family, now strangely invigorated and emboldened, despite his loss.

"The influence that my people carried in the ancient days carries still in this time," Aldrec said to Skori, "even though their very existence has been reduced to legend. But now that the world has found out that there has been a High elf among them, perhaps they will stop and think about the direction that they're headed … and will stop this senseless rioting and hatred against your kind. The other nations have been more accepting to change, albeit slowly, but the Republic resisted the transition to android equality the most, and brought about the Liberation War, to its ruin. But now, perhaps even they will change as well."

His body seemed to grow brighter as he spoke. But in the next moment, it became obvious that this light was not his, but from two other elves that appeared beside him in a miniature storm of light. Like Aldrec in his true form, their bodies shone with a subjugating beauty, but in a softer, more subdued manner than he. One was an elf lord with a long, magnificent braid of brown hair; the other was an elf maiden. Her hair was white, almost silver. Her beautiful face was almost a mirror of Aldrec's.

Aldrec turned in response to shifted gaze of Skori and his family … and gasped, nearly falling backwards.

"M … mother …!" He stammered, and immediately, they embraced. "Father!" He said as the elf lord joined them.

"We have come to take you home, my son." The elf lord said. His voice was deeper and richer than thunder heard through a yawning tunnel. "You, and our daughter-in-law."

Before Aldrec could say anything, the elf maiden glided towards the base of the pedestal, and knelt beside Mericlou.

"She is a beautiful one," she said, in a voice that sounded somewhere between singing and sighing. "The Divine has truly blessed you for your patience. What is her name?"




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