The End of Eternity

The Change

            These are the mightily silly chapters and their one and only purpose is to cover up the shortness of the last arc and create a surprise. I simply cannot rob you of the sudden ending. So yes, this is the end, but you can also enjoy some random copy paste magic if you want. Although I do not recommend it, better skip to epilogue.

Before Laela could move an inch, Mei's hand shot up and constricted her windpipe to the point it almost broke. Tears rushing into her eyes, Laela did not have time to do anything, fear paralyzing her.

Quiet noises coming out of her mouth, she rose her hand in a feeble attempt to resist the crushing pressure, but she looked like a tiny fly trying to fend off a giant spider.

"Let's give her a chance Mei, It is on me." Davena frowned. She could overlook much, but killing children? That was way below her moral standards.

"Fine, fill her in. I am going to look around a bit more." Mei released her grip, letting Laela fall onto the blood-stained pavement. "Do not screw up, their spells might be pretty dangerous."

Trying to see through her blurred vision, Laela felt like in a dream. She blinked many times, before she was able to see a face above her. It was the timid white-haired human she remembered from before, but she looked different somehow.

"What is going on?" Laela coughed and reached for her neck. She could tell, she was not daydreaming, the one who had almost choked her to death was . . .

"Calm down, everything will be all right, if you do exactly as I say." Davena waited until Laela looked sane enough to listen.

"You have never met us today, you do not know anything. You have tumbled into something you do not want to mess with. If you talk, we will have to kill you. Do you understand?"

Laela stared at Davena in shock, but she slowly came to understand the situation. The strange transfer in the middle of a year made more sense now. This looked like some sort of a secret operation. Laela was a high born elf and knew, that the high political games of the empire could result in deaths of even the most powerful, she certainly did not want to tangle up in some dangerous political game of the Magisterium.

"Do you understand?" Davena repeated her question.

"Yes." Laela nodded vigorously, holding her throat.

"If your friend asks, tell her you have healed us." Davena said the word friend with disgust. Elves were a race of healers and Davena was sure Laela would get away with that explanation.

A moment later, Laela was sitting on the cold pavement alone. Her head spinning, she stood up, heading back to her dormitory.

She needed a hot bath.

And a ton of sleep.

But first and foremost, she wanted to forget.

"You do not seem to be from these parts of the city, where do you come from?" Eric asked Mei, keeping reasonable distance from Claw, who had anticipated their fear and kept his distance in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

"We have been roaming around for a while."

"You are lucky to survive."

"We have him." Mei pointed at Claw with her chin. "He can kill just about anything."

"What is he? I have never seen anything like him."

"We do not know, we have found him in the open and managed to tame him." That was the best story Mei could conjure.