Keeper of the Lost Secrets

CHAPTER FOUR: My Ego Gets Bruised (Oh, and my Comforting skills are Top Notch)

"I mean, you can be both, you know." I flashed her a smug grin. Sophie sighed. She turned to me with contempt in her eyes. Every speck of gold in her eyes looked like they were aflame. She huffed and folded her arms, turning away from me.

I sighed. I always knew that this would be difficult, but it wasn't a process left up to me. I looked at my hands, which were shaking violently. Why were they shaking? I sure didn't understand.

From beside me, I heard a sniffle. I turned to see Sophie, wiping her nose and rubbing tears on her sleeves. I wanted to pull out a tissue (those allegedly sanitary human scrolls) and hand one to her, but I didn't have any on me. I opted for a pep talk instead.

"It's okay, Sophie." I told her. She glared at me. But I knew that I should keep going. "I'm really sorry that you had to live the wrong life. You were put in an awful situation, and you're expected to change at the drop of a hat. That sucks, big time."

"Oh wow," She snarled at me. "I feel so much better now." I shrug.

"That wasn't the point, really. But... doesn't feeling something fully... help?"

She turned to me, mesmerised. "I think," she said quietly. "You might be right." She stood up, basking in the afternoon sun. She wasn't smiling, and her eyes were still red, but progress was progress.

From a small distance, I heard the sound of bells chiming, all in time, in harmony. I stood up and yanked her to the side, behind a conveniently large rock, ducking behind it myself.

Two people with capes dragging on the floor emerged, followed by at least ten muscular creatures, wearing only black pants, their muscles on display. They were absurdly tall, compared to me, and I wasn't even that short.

"Goblins," I stared at their skin, the colour (or lack thereof) of human media a century ago. "Probably the most dangerous creatures around. Which makes it an extremely good thing they signed the peace treaty."

Sophie stared at them for a second. "Then why are we hiding?"

"We're dressed like humans. Humans are forbidden in the Lost Cities." I sniffed the ocean air. "Especially here in Lumenaria, which is where are the worlds come together – Goblins, gnomes, dwarves, ogres..." Admittedly, I wasn't paying attention my last History lesson (which was far too long back for me to remember).

Sophie made a couple of squeaking noises (and a few grunts) before turning her attention back to me. "Why are humans forbidden?"

I shrugged as inconspicuously as I could. "They violated the treaty." I got up after deciding the rock wasn't good enough for me. I crept to another, motioning Sophie to follow. "The Ancient Councillors offered the same treaty they offered the rest of the intelligent creatures, and humans signed. But then, humans decided they wanted to rule the world – I blame that on Disney – and started planning a war. The Ancient Councillors decided that war wasn't the way to go and dipped from all humans – hiding themselves away" I hoped my use of modern human language made her trust me more. "Elves aren't allowed contact, it's forbidden, and now humans are on their own – which is never a great place to be if you're human."

Sophie opened her mouth. I tilted my head down and raised my eyebrows, sighing. Her mind flashed through every rebuttal she could say, I'm sure, but she shut her mouth again, and looked at me.

"After our kind disappeared," I continued, giving Sophie a pat on the back. "The humans that did know us must've sounded senile – so everything they said turned into myths over the millennia – the same crazy myths you've heard. But this is the truth – this is you, Sophie." I pointed around her, the cold wind licking at my cheek. Her head darted around in almost blocky movements – like she was in a poorly made visual interactive decoding entertaining output game (That is what VIDEO stood for, according to AI – only the most reliable).