Demonbound Elf: Fallen from Grace

Kieren was heading home, holding a brown plastic bag with a loaf of bread inside.

During the cleansing with the priest, a fragment of memory had managed to resurface. Kieren remembered that he used to study ancient runes. Not just study them- he had recorded them, translated them. It had once been his purpose, or at the very least who he used to be.

From there, I will be able to get a lead... Why is my thought process similar to one of a detective? Was I one before I lost my memories? Kieren shook off the unnecessary thoughts and started hurrying home.

He was well aware that he could regain lost memories of who he once was from the academy, perhaps he was acquainted with them in the past, and that they could help him recall what he lost. He intended on going once the police had given him probable cause to "disappear" for two weeks.

By the time the sun had fully risen, Kieren was home. He entered the apartment building, climbed the stairs, and stopped at his door. With a quiet breath, he opened it and stepped inside. He realized something when he had opened it...

I really need to lock my door when I go out. Kieren noted in his head whilst nodding.

As he stepped into his one-room apartment, Kieren dropped the brown bag onto the large wooden counter just to the left of the entrance. The space was quite cramped, as to be expected from a one room apartment. His bed occupied most of the right side of the room, leaving little room remaining.

Beside the bed, near the window, stood another counter whose texture wasn't visible clearly due to the mess of scattered papers, a wooden chair which was tucked all the way in, and a small candle which hadn't been lit.

Perhaps I used to write? If that's the case I hope there's a journal I can read.

He headed over and grabbed the first piece of paper, which was to the left of the counter. He held it in his hand, blowing off the dust that had amounted when it was left untouched.

"⅞⅞⅞⅞⅚⅚⅘⅜⅓"

There were ancient runes drawn on the paper with black ink, next to a few seperate runes had translated text in the language of Jotunn, which was the language used in the Kingdom of Rein.

The first two runes were circled, "2nd Epoch...?" in Jotunn had been written above the circle.

From what Kieren knew, during the 2nd Epoch a very brutal war between the Southern and Eastern provinces had broke out. During this war, few God's had managed to descend from the lands above. Some stood with the South, others with the East, each shaping the tide of battle in their own province's favor. It was from this divine intervention that the divide was born. Additionally it contributes to the reason as to why, to this day, the Southern and Eastern provinces revere different gods.

The reason for the war was unknown, the only source of information you could gain were from ancient runes and carvings on the wall. It was not safe, because the carvings could be cursed. They could possibly contain depictions of a God, which would in theory, result you to go mad.

Maybe that's what occured? But how could I possibly be cleansed?

Many questions surged inside of Kieren's mind, all he could do is hope past Kieren had answered some.

As he inspected the paper further, he saw the first row of runes had been underlined, "God of Hope, Demoness, Twilight Goddess and God of War, were all mentioned, likely involved in the war, additional proof: Southern province does worship them, except for the Demoness...?"

Hmm, it's very likely that the deities that the Southern and Eastern provinces revere were all involved, furthermore the Eastern provinces reveres Lord of The Storm, God of Death, Goddess of Purity and God of Time. I wonder what Demoness was involved, it's very likely that the Southern province had to rely on evil existences for help, especially because stronger God's were involved.

In each province you can't worship specific deities, and it's not that you can worship more than one God. That's just being unfaithful. Each province allows you to worship specific deities which aided that specific province. Faith is territorial. What gods you may serve depends entirely on where you are born, or where you choose to live. Each province allows only the veneration of its sanctioned gods, and to turn your devotion elsewhere is to invite suspicion, exile, or a fate of being chained to your cell. The gods do not share their faithful lightly.

"Rune creators: Southerners.

Recorded from: An ancient cave in Myntel

Date: Day 1 of translation and recording, 5th of November, 1172."

Kieren's eyes widened, "1172? Damnation! This was recorded five years ago..."

Kieren rubbed his temple, elves naturally had longevity in life, usually living up for 200 years, but if they were Awakened, then Kieren assumed that the life span would be expanded. Kieren was 126 years old, which would be the equivalent of being a man in his mid 20s... probably.

Kieren was surprised by how much of his distant past had slipped away. The harder he tried to recall, the more he realized something. There were no memories of his parents. Not a face, not a voice. It was possible he never had any. But if they did exist, and if they were still alive, the thought tugged at his heart. How would they feel, living out the rest of their extended years, never hearing from the son who had simply vanished?

There's nothing I can do about it anyways...

Kieren sighed before moving the paper to the very edge of the counter. He looked for Day 2 of translation and recording, wanting to follow the chronological order so he could learn more effectively and understand things more easily.

After ravaging through 2 papers, he finally found the 2nd Day.

"Day 2 of recording this information, and I've already found some clues to pretty big information! Old Nyandak is what I suspect to be an ancient language that the Deities use?

Many few Churches actually exist. According to my visit to Triad and Myntel, which are located in Rein obviously, I have confirmed one thing: The name of the Deities are written in Old Nyandak!

Old Nyandak is the language in the Northern Province, for the Deities in Southern Province to have their names in this language would be very questionable.

The Church of Goddess of Twilight, God of Hope and God of War had all been established during the First Epoch, they have remained untouched: this proves that the runes which are engraved on the walls are untouched, and ancient!

I am unable at present, to translate the rest of the ancient runes of the First Epoch accurately. The language in the First and Second Epoch were switched, from Old Nyandak to Old Jotunn, the runes to mention the Deities hadn't!

My proof as to how I recognized Old Nyandak: recurring characters that matched fragments of Old Nyandak. Ancient relics in the Great Museum, which is located in the Northern Province, in the city of Lien.

If you were to write the direct translations of the Deities names, they would be vastly different, for example: in Old Jotunn, translating the name of Twilight Goddess from Old Nyandak would be known as "Blacklight Goddess".

This was Day 2 of recording and translation! 23rd of December, 1172."

Kieren had been pleasantly surprised. The reason why this discovery was quite marvelous, was because of the fact that it gave information as to what language was used by the God's and citizens in ancient Rein. During the First Epoch, the Deities had walked the lands and built Churches dedicated to their own names. Inside, the walls were etched with an ancient, undiscovered language which nobody understood. If the names of the Deities were written in Old Nyandak, then it was very reasonable to assume that the Deities had also spoken Old Nyandak!

"I really used to be a genius." Kieren praised himself whilst nodding.

I'll stop reading for now, I'm getting a headache remembering all this.

Kieren sighed, and then approached the window.

"I despise this feeling." He muttered, as he watched people go on about their daily life. They had a smile on their faces, but was it a real smile, or was it a mask to escape reality?

The feeling of being alone, without anyone. It sucked. He didn't know if he had friends, or if he had relatives, if any.

Many questions surged inside of his mind, but the one which caught his curiosity the most was:

What was my old life like?

He clenched his fists as he looked at the crescent which had chains piercing it. What can a mortal like him do, when caught between the cold indifference of the gods and the cruel will of things far older than evil, when even suffering goes unanswered?

He could only grit his teeth and keep moving forward. That's what everyone else did, and he had no choice but to do the same. Giving up now wasn't an option, not after everything. He had survived for a reason. Even if his memories were gone, even if he had nobody.

Kieren grabbed his keys, and the identification card. He left the apartment and took a right after reaching the fountain. The path narrowed into a cobblestone road. With each step he took, more carriages passed by. Eventually there was a row of three of them stopped. This was a posting station, he approached a coachman who was occupied with cleaning his horse.

"How much for a short ride, to the nearest fortune teller. I would like my fortune told."

As he was waiting for the response he saw papers plastered everywhere, "Wanted: Zam Krill. Reward: 1 million notes of Rein currency."

The man was wearing a top hat. Obsidian, black hair spilled out from beneath it in loose wavy strands. A thin scar ran down his right eye, which only could be caused by a knife.

A single mole sat crookedly on the bridge of his nose, and his expression was carved into a permanent scowl.

What could he have possibly be done to cost that much?! Kieren shook his head as he looked back at the coachman.

The coachman turned around, he was wearing a brown beanie, wearing a brown coat, similar to that of Kieren. He held a thick, black beard.

He thought for a moment.

"Hmm, the nearest teller is a five minute drive. That'll be six pents."

The currency is pretty straight forward, 10 pents make up one pound and a note is worth 10 pounds.

Kieren opened his wallet and threw 6 pents, the coachman wasn't pleased with his actions but he lead him inside the carriage.

Kieren sat inside and waited till he arrived, he naturally never believed in mysticism, or having fates read. He was a huge sceptic when it came to these kind of things, but he felt that he had no choice but to ask for advice.

A man in a hat, which covered his facial features, wearing gloves and a black coat approached a posting station.

He glanced at the carriage that took off, and got into a random carriage.

"S-sir?!"

The coachman was startled, but the man threw a pound at him. "Follow that carriage."

The coachman simply followed the orders, he knew better to not ask questions.

**************

The room was dim, lit only by flickering candles. A woman wearing strange make up, motioned for him to seat down.

Kieren sat down, he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the fortune teller, who reached beneath the cloth and pulled out a small bowl filled with dark water. She let droplets fall onto the surface, watching as ripples spread and faded. Then she traced patterns in the water with a slender finger.

Strangely the water was responding to her finger, which was hovering just above the water. "I have never seen an Elf in Redwell."

"You have now." The fortune teller, who was wearing a purple robe curled her lips. "You require assistance, but your matter is something that even deities avoid."

Kieren was a bit stunned, but he scratched his hair in response, thinking about something.

"The spirits would love to give you their blessings, but it seems they can't. Have you cleansed yourself?" The fortune teller asked in a hoarse voice.

Kieren thought for a moment, before replying. "I have gotten cleansed by a priest in The Goddess's Church."

The fortune teller laughed before she licked her lips. "You are blessed, but also cursed by 'Her', I look forward to your travels. My advice is that you go to sleep on a blood moon during the day, and that you... Hm, I advice you to run." She suddenly stopped before telling him to run, as if she sensed something amiss.

Kieren was confused, "Run?"

"Yeah, like right now." She said before she quickly grabbed the cloth, and the small bowl and stuffed it somewhere.

Kieren didn't ask any questions, although his head was full of them. He ran out from the back of the tent. What was that about? Blessed? Cursed? Run?

Kieren ran out as fast as he could, he got another chance in life, he preferred to stay relatively unharmed.

BOOM

An explosion came from the tent of the fortune teller, Kieren cursed inwardly, before getting into a carriage that was stationed conveniently in front of him.

BOOM BOOM

Two more explosions came from that area, they were slowly moving to his direction. The carriage driver hadn't even asked where Kieren wanted to go, he probably didn't care though, Kieren didn't blame him.

****************

A man wearing a coat and a hat which covered his face, entered a tent.

"Where is he." His voice was authoritative, cold and demanding.

"Whatever do you mean?" The fortune teller smiled, pretending to be oblivious.

The man gritted his teeth, before reaching into the depths of his coat's pocket with his left hand. With a quick draw, he pulled out a bottle which had crystal clear water, it was glowing in hues of gold.

"May the God curse your existence!"

The man cursed the fortune teller, as he quickly opened the cap, spilling the holy water at the fortune teller, who hissed as her skin started to burn. The fortune teller swiftly darted out on all four limbs like a wicked creature.

BOOM

A man wearing a gray suit, and glasses stood at the edge of the rooftop, coat flaring in the wind, one hand tucked in his pocket, the other raised in a manner that he was mimicking a gun.

"Pew." He said with a deadpan face, one eye closed.

BOOM

An explosion came from the area he "shot" at with his finger gun.

The explosion directly hit that fortune teller, who's body looked as if it was scorching. The explosion caused her to stagger back, there was a gaping hole in the area her heart should've been. Instead of blood dripping out, black ink came out instead.