The PulseTeam, Book Two: Evolution

Chapter Twelve: A Strange New World

Part One: Learning About The New Environment

Sylvanoria Marketplace | Sylvanoria, Elf Territory
Saturday, June 3, 2034 | 08:30 EST

Last night, after we informed the Sylvanorian Council of Elders that we cannot return to our world until our spellcaster figures out how to get us out of our predicament, the Elders granted us asylum until such time as we get our situation handled. In that time, the Elders have assigned a heroes' ambassador to us named Alurathia Falanae to help us familiarize ourselves with the village (that actually turned out to be a whole city), and to provide any further assistance with anything else that we may need during our time here.

Alurathia is dark-skinned (like, a shade or two lighter than Uncle John's complexion), in heels, she's as tall as Malaya, with white hair similar to that of Malaya's, and bright green eyes. She's very pretty, almost like an elven princess, and she has the figure of a slim-thick supermodel.

They also placed us in a mansion-type house, a lot like my father's Allen Manor, but smaller, in which we've already picked our rooms and learned the primary functions of most everything in the house.

Today, we received a knock on our door at 8:15, and Alurathia was on the other side when I opened the door. Apparently, they start their weekends early. Terrific.

Now, we're on a guided tour of the Marketplace, which is kind of like Shaker Square, or Downtown Cleveland. Basically, the Marketplace is a lot of vendors selling a lot of the same stuff at different prices. Kinda like Shaker Square, and a lot like Downtown Cleveland. Alurathia, who has asked us to simply refer to her as Alura, also tells us which vendors to purchase from (because they have the highest quality merchandise for the fairest price), and which vendors to completely avoid (due to them selling crappy merch at either a really cheap price, or a very exorbitant rate).

And speaking of price, for our efforts and success in defeating Leviathan, the elders gave us each a sack full of nothing but coins called lumen. Each coin was about five centimeters in diameter, and there were one thousand coins in each pouch. So, collectively, we've got six thousand coins. Analysis on the metal in the coins revealed that they are pure platinum.

(Sidebar: Apparently, we were very handsomely rewarded, because each platinum piece is worth ten thousand gold pieces. Each gold piece is worth one thousand silver pieces, and each silver piece is worth one hundred bronze pieces. Each bronze piece is worth one lumen. And one lumen is worth exactly one American dollar. So we basically made the equivalent of six trillion dollars between us. That's way more than what my father has in the bank. And he's got more than a couple hundred billion dollars in his checking account.)

On the tour, though, Alura also explains to us their history: How they came to be, how they advanced themselves, how a small group separated themselves from the rest of the elves and became a whole Dark Elf nation, their tumultuous history with the orcs and other monsters, and what sparked a millennium-long war with them. Which was why the elves attacked Asune. The orcs have made pacts with all kinds of demons and monsters to try to eradicate all elves in general. This forced Light Elves and Dark Elves to form an alliance of their own to try to avoid extinction (via the matrimonial joining of the Light Elf Queen, whose head is on the coins, and the Dark Elf King), and it's been a symbiotic relationship between the two elf clans thus far. The Dark Elves were inexperienced in the art of healing, so the Light Elves taught them how to heal themselves and each other back to maximum capacity, and augmented the Dark Elf armor with healing and protection "magic". The Light Elves were sore inexperienced in the art of combat, so the Dark Elves taught them many forms of combat, as well as augmenting their weapons with very destructive properties and capabilities. Like Alura told us, symbiotic.