A DISASTER MADE IN RED AND WHITE

Chapter 3: Faith

All of us knew what Santa was talking about. Every year the required gifts for the good kids were becoming less and less, resulting in some of the divisions getting decreased funds or shutting down completely. If we hadn't tried to disguise ourselves as humans and cooperate with the mundane toy industries or taking advantage of technology, then the humans would have stopped believing in us ages ago, resulting to our death.

Yes, you heard me right. If you have ever read fairytales or mythology, then you must already be aware that many magical creatures cannot continue existing without a human's faith in them. Actually, a lot of beings even came into existence, due to someone's strong faith in their imagination and will. A prime example are our cousins in the Asian Continent, where a creature or even an object can take a form solely by believing they have life in them.

Faith in magic works as our life fuel and it's our purpose to keep going. But not every faith is a good one. We are aware that they are many humans who would gladly harm and exploit us in any way, if they found us, just like they did in the past. All the tales and legends you heard or read come from a real story after all...but most of them are not ours. They were written by awful individuals who sought our abilities and wanted to claim them us their own, making us appear as heinous creatures plotting for their demise.

Of course, they were also good people who tried to write the truth about us and help our situation. But all it took was one single bad conflict to put everything under the rag and to forget all the good deeds we do. A dragon who defended the humans' land from evil? You barely see any surviving dragons nowadays, because they hunted them for sport. The pixies who loved playing with kids in the woods? They were turned into flying devils, trying to lure the others to their deaths, in order to isolate them and steal their wings for medicine. The harpies and sirens? Eradicated, due to some evil ones deciding to drawn the sailors, even though for centuries many good-natured ones helped the ships from crushing into the giant rocks by guiding them with their singing. The witches who were the best healers? Banned from society and labelled "evil", not to mention murdered among with many innocent humans due to absurd accusations!

Even elves like us were portrayed as demons once upon a time. The so-called goblins, who live in caves underground, have sharps nails, ugly short figures and make a mess every Christmas' night in peoples' houses...This rumor started, because our redescents had indeed short stature and lived underground, but that was for convenience. Where else could they find a place to hide a whole toy factory? And the only reason they went into human houses where to deliver the presents effectively through the underground tunnels around the world, cause Santa Clause didn't always have a magic sleigh.

This rumor affected many of us negatively. The job for delivering presents became deadly and risky, because many humans were waiting awake to assault the elves. A lot of us couldn't manage to come back alive, with some times losing more than half of our numbers. That's why one of the Santas created the original magic sleigh with his reindeers in order to ease our burden. But in recent decades, the people managed to differentiate us from the goblins, thanks to the game developments and mythology lovers, surpassing the rumor and dangers as a result.

I know what you are thinking...why would we go that far into delivering presents to kids? Why bother getting killed for a gift even though we could just stay safe in our homes? Because a child's smile is worth that much. Their happiness and faith depend on us and that's what our entire existence is made of. I may be a scaredy cat, but for that mission...I will give my best to fulfil it!

΄΄...As I was saying΄΄ Santa's words pull me out from my thoughts. I looked up to the screen and realized that he had already finished his presentation and explained the details of the mission. This internal monologue habit of mine will ruin me one day!

΄΄Um...*cough* Santa?΄΄ I raised my hand hesitantly.

He turned his head towards me and asked curiously ΄΄What is it, No 1036?΄΄. The other elves also stared at me waiting for what I have to say.

΄΄Ah, well...could you say one more time what we will do at the mission? I, uhm..I wasn't listening...΄΄my voice was becoming lower with every passing word, to the point of whispering. I am pretty sure my face also had a hint of red flush on it, which made the situation more embarrassing.

΄΄You...you weren't listening at all?΄΄Santa responded with a little bewilderment in his voice. He probably didn't expect an elf not to pay attention at such important information. Combined with the weird looks from the other elves, my face was burning more, making it red whole.

΄΄S-sorry...΄΄I whispered.

Santa doesn't respond for a while. Then a soft sigh was heard, followed by his comfort ΄΄It's okay...I don't mind explaining it again΄΄He walked towards me and patted my head.

΄΄If you have trouble understanding anything just let me know, okay?΄΄His soothing words and touch made me calm down a little. He is not considered the best at calming down crying or raging kids for no reason.

΄΄Alright, let's start again΄΄ he continued ΄΄We explained that the good kids and their faith are declining rapidly, so we need to find the source of all this and stop it΄΄. He signaled with his hands and Melissa changed the screen's pictures into four projections, portraying four elves with different uniforms.

΄΄What we see here are your arranged roles for this mission΄΄he pointed at the figures ΄΄The first one is Information Management, the second's Gadgets & Repayments, the third's Essential Provider and the last one is the Protector. The roles were given as follows΄΄. A paper list of names next to the roles appeared, one for each of us.

"Roles & Names

Information Management: No 260

Gadgets & Repairments: No 578

Essential Provider: No 112

The Protector: No 1036"

HUH!??! I AM THE PROTECTOR???