Onyx

Chapter 3: Revelation

Onyx dreamt of a great war. She saw dragons and elves magnificent in demeanor. The elves were slim and toned, with beautiful pale faces. Not a crease could be seen wrinkling their pearl smooth skin. Their hair was long and braided in many updos and styles, with an assortment of different colors. They were skilled and sharp warriors cutting down anyone who got in their way.

Where the elves were cunning and sly, the dragons radiated pure power. They seemed connected to every little thing from the particles in the sky, to the organisms in the soil. They reigned over every creature with an undeniable dominance. They were brilliant in colors and their muscles rippled under their scales like a flowing waterfall. Nothing outshone them, not even the elves, despite the elves beauty and grace.

Then she saw...humans! They paled in comparison to the elves and dragons. Even still, Onyx could see that they were mighty warriors who could hold their own against those two mighty forces using magic.

The war was bloody and long, but in the end the dragons prevailed. The remaining humans and elves separated and isolated themselves. Onyx saw the dragons— though there were few —gather in a circle, touch the tips of their wings together, and chant in a language that Onyx could not recognize.

A magic spread through the land and the world went quiet as the dragons disappeared.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The first thing Onyx sensed was a cold, hard, stone floor. Opening her eyes she saw it was just as dark as when she had them closed.  That blasted little girl blindfolded me she thought. Head throbbing she tried sitting up and found her hands were bound behind her back. Her entire body ached, and she knew for sure she broke her right ring finger.

She couldn't see, nor walk so she tried to listen. The room was completely silent and her breathing sounded unnaturally loud. After what seemed about half an hour, she finally heard the echoing of footsteps.

"Shes awake! This is a mess, I knew we shouldn't have gone into that cursed humans village. Keanu is furious he was spo-"

"Shut up Mandel, nobody wants to hear your ridiculous ramblings."

"Don't shush me I am of the high order it would do you well-"

"Quiet." came a deep booming voice. When the voice spoke, it sounded as if an avalanche of rocks was falling down a mountainside.

The other 2 voices went unnaturally quiet. Onyx heard footsteps coming closer in her direction. The creature bent down and tilted her chin with his finger moving her head side to side.

As if suddenly disgusted by her touch he snatched his hand away and walked towards the end of the room. "Mandel, remove the blindfold please."

Onyx felt fingers fumbling on the back of the cloth. There was the sound of feet scurrying away as Mandel rejoined the others. Eyes adjusting as the cloth slipped from her eyes, she saw the room was almost as dark as the blindfold. She seemed to be in a massive circular cavern, with the ceiling over a 100 feet tall. The room was dimly lit with oil lamps and strange runes carved into the walls. The room was completely bare of furniture. There were 3 men standing before her.

The first  man was short, but buff with legs the size of tree trunks. He wore a black wool tunic with gold etching on the sides. He had a thick beard that covered a stern, but not unkind face.

The second man was long and lanky, bones sticking out at his joints. He wore a long purple robe covered with the writing of a strange language. He was a pathetic looking thing, yet he stared down at Onyx with a disgusted sneer.

The third man stood in the back of the room cast in shadow. His very presence radiated an undeniable power. "Who are you?"

Onyx's throat felt dry and raw. She wondered if it was wrong timing to ask for a cup of water. " My name is Onyx Windward."

"Are you human?"

"Yes..."

"You dont smell human. Let me rephrase my question. What are you?"

Afraid to answer wrong, Onyx hesitated this time. "I-I am human. I work in the groves for my village, I-I collect wood."

There was a long pause. Just when Onyx felt like she was about to break from the suspense the man rumbled, "Mandel, Cato. Leave us."

A look of disbelief flickered in the face of the tall, lanky one, and quickly disappeared as if it had never been there. "Of course sir." he replied bowing low, exiting with Cato towing behind him.

Onyx was terrified at the prospect of being left alone in the room with the scary man. There was a long moment of silence before the man finally spoke.

"Do you know the history of this land?"

She shook her head no. "My village is too poor to afford history books."

To Onyx's utter shock, the man started laughing, the sound of boulders colliding. He continued on in this fashion for a minute until regaining his self control. "It is because of that sentence right there that I don't strike you down myself as a leech."

The mans aura suddenly darkened as he said, "Would you like to know the real reason you don't have history books?"

A bit dismayed by his reaction, Onyx reluctantly nodded her head. She had always been curious as to why they had none. She always suspected it was something else.

"100 years ago, the land was filled with humans, elves, and dragons. We all lived in harmony and peace together. The dragons are of an ancient race who has abilities far beyond those of men and elves. The source of power of their life-force was unknown, except by the dragons themselves. Anyone who harnessed this power had the ability to shape the world. The elves found out about this power source, and sought to gain it for themselves. The humans caught wind of this power and also sought to gain it as well. A bloody war erupted causing tremendous loss on all sides. Both the elves and the humans used the dark arts to try to overwhelm the dragons, but in the end the dragons prevailed. To prevent an event like this occurring again, the dragons joined together and cast a spell over the land, wiping the memories of both the elves and humans."

The man heaved a sigh seemingly distressed, and said, "Unfortunately the elves emerged unscathed. Our magic did not work on them through what I suspect was the work of the dark arts. Humans fortunately did forget."

Our? What does he mean our? He's human! thought Onyx. There's no way this is real.

He was silent for a while. Onyx was hesitant in addressing her concerns. Just when she was about to tell him he was deluded, it hit her. Flashes of the vision she had right before she awoke came back. It was then that she knew everything this man said was truth.

Terrifying.

Terrible.

Truth.

"Why would the dragons wipe our memories? If humans were so weak, then why even bother?"

Seemingly amused the man chuckled a bit.

"What's funny?"

The man stepped forward, the light shining on the tips of his boots. "You smell different."

"What do you mean?"

The man sighed heavily, his shadow moving as he shook his head. "This will cause quite the uproar.."

Onyx just sat there and stared. He wasn't making any sense.

Walking towards the exit the man halted for a moment as if hesitant to say something. He looked back, then turned and walked out of the room leaving Onyx utterly alone with her thoughts.