End of Eternity

Content warning: Mental health. Physical violence. Abuse.

I winced as I healed an oak tree. The tree showed me glimpses of "The War of Shadows." The final war. I saw my own comrades screaming and dying. I watched my friend...no don't show me that. I ordered the tree. I'll heal you but please don't show me that traitor. I clutched my chest. The agony of the tree tugged at my elven heart. I sighed and panted as I released the now thriving tree. My magic could only do so much. The humans had destroyed everything. Fools. "The War of Shadows" had devastated this once lush and green land. They forsook all of their long held religious believes and respect for nature. They gave way to all of the their sinful desires. Nobody knew right from wrong. Nobody cared. In so doing, they ruined nature. They almost wiped out my people along with them. Elves need the essence of the land and the land needs us. Few of us our left. I'm afraid Via and I will have to marry to carry on our progeny. It's bittersweet. We've always been friends. I always thought she'd marry Ramala. She'd had a crush on him since she was a young elf of only one hundred. In the end he betrayed us. He took the side of the humans. The losing side. Via was too golden hearted for her own good. She cried for those filthy wretches. I told her we had to. They were destroying everything. For the sake of our people the humans had to be eliminated. All of the good ones had been taken away by their deity long ago. I would never understand her compassion. Especially, after Ramala's betrayal. How could she forgive him so easily?

"Rem? Were you able to heal any trees?"

"A few." I nodded. More like one but I couldn't bring myself to tell her that.

She smiled and my heart did a summer sault. She was so beautiful she took my breathe away. Her golden hair shone even in this world without sunlight. Her eyes as blue as the ocean that once graced this land. I loved how small and delicate she was. With her small stature her head only came up to my shoulder. She moved with the grace of a ballerina. She was an angel in her white flowing gown. A contrast to the vast darkness swallowing everything around us. I couldn't help but stare at her thin pink lips. Would they be as soft as they looked?

"What?"

"Nothing." I looked up at the blackened sky. I'd been staring. Yes, we were childhood friends. A friend was all I'd ever been to her. However, for me it was different. I'd loved her since we were young. She didn't know. At least she pretended not to. I hadn't the courage to tell her. I knew her heart belonged to someone else. However, the competition was now eliminated. My chest ached at the memory. The suffering of our people. Ramala's betrayal. Such a senseless way to die. Now I could have Via. I'd prefer to have everyone back even if that meant I'd be watching her marry Ramala. Although, I couldn't allow her to marry a traitor. Although we wouldn't have known. It didn't matter now. Who would be there to witness our joining ceremony? Who would bless our children? Would our children even be born with magic in such a devastated world? What a sad sight that would be. Watching our children grow up without magic. Without any trees or water or plants to draw power from. Perhaps, we shouldn't continue our line? It pains me deep in my soul to think of missing out on having Via for my wife. Perhaps we could marry and just avoid having children? That would grieve an elven wife to her core. It was a great honor for a elven woman to produce heirs. Elves don't conceive often. Their weren't that many of us to begin with and after the war....

"I'm running out of magic." she whimpered.

"Don't cry." I wrapped her in my arms. What else could I say? We gave the trees what little magic we had left and they gave us what little they could give. Would we even live long enough to have children? "Via, let's get married."

She startled. "What?'

I lifted her chin with my long dark finger. '"Via, I've always loved you."

She gasped. She really didn't know?

"I don't know how much time we have left. The world is bereft of magic. It's dying."

She nodded. "Yes, you're right."

I had to ask. I needed to know. "Via, do you love me?"

She stiffened. "You've always been my friend. I..."

"No. I mean in a romantic way?"

She shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I know you still grieve for him. I don't expect you to love me back. Perhaps in time you will." my stomach sank as her face grew ashen. Time was something we didn't have. At least not much of it.

"Rem, I.." she twirled her hair around her finger as she often did when she was nervous. "I'm sorry I never told you but Ramala and I...we...we got married in secret. A long time ago. We knew the elders would never approve. We knew it was the only way to be together. It was risky. I couldn't even tell you even though I longed too."

I winced. it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Married? To Ramala? The traitor? How did I not notice this? It didn't matter now. Ramala wasn't coming back. I'd made sure of it. My chest ached again. I never thought I'd see a day where I'd have to kill a friend. I clasped her small delicate hands in mine to reassure her. I was shocked and a little hurt that she hadn't confided in me. I was her best friend. It didn't make me love her any less.

"Rem, I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant?" I whispered. A torrent of emotions washed over me. I was devastated and joyful at the same time. This meant the line of elves would continue. However, I would not be the father. Who knew if we'd get to conceive another child? One from my line. I know it's selfish to want to be the forefather of our future people. If we had a future. I'd always dreamed of a day when Via would be mine and we'd have a girl with my dark hair and her blue eyes and a boy with her golden locks and my dark eyes. It was a child's fantasy. Her heart had always belonged to Ramala. This child would look like Via but not like me. Still, this was good news.

"Rem, I'm sorry.'

'No," I whispered. "This is good. Perhaps with this child our people will live on. I will still marry you, if you'd like. I will raise the child as my own. I love you."

"I'd like that." she rested her head on my chest. We sat underneath the oak tree I had healed. The only tree green and flourishing. There was no one to perform the ceremony. We recited the sacred vows and kissed under the tree. It being our only witness. Via laid her head on my chest and closed her eyes. She felt so frail in my arms. I rested my head on top of hers and I stroked her hair. I looked around me and I saw nothing except ashes on the ground and burnt trees. Their was no sound of running water or tickle of a breeze on my face. The air was stale and left a bitter metallic taste in my mouth. Everything was swallowed in a vast darkness. Everything except for the sacred oak tree I had managed to heal. I prayed we could survive in this dark world. At least long enough for Via to have her child. How that child could possibly survive in this devastated world is beyond me but we had to try. I inhaled the fresh leaves of the oak tree and the tree drew magic from me. We were trying to to get magic from each other. This was going to be hopeless if we didn't find another source. I already knew there wasn't another source. Curse you, humans. I tightened my grip around Via and I gave her as much of my magic as I could. She glowed in a faint light of my sky blue magic. She would need it for the baby to survive. I knew it was futile. Without magic, without anything to draw it from save for one tree we were doomed. It was only a matter of time. We were waiting to die. I knew it. Via knew it. Neither of us said it but we were waiting here to die. At least I had Via.

* * *

I jolted awake. Where was Via? I stood up and searched the area. I caught a glimpse of golden hair fading behind a blackened tree. I froze as another dark figure came up behind her. No! I screamed internally. The dark figure was raising a blade to her back. I darted forward and pulled on his knees causing him to stumble to the ground. The blade flew out of his hand and narrowly missed Via's head as it whizzed passed. She let out a startled scream and turned to see us scuffling.

"Ramala?" she gasped.

What? She had to be seeing things. "Run, Via!"

He took advantage of my distraction and tried to kick my legs out from under me. I was agile and I leapt out of the way just in the nick of time. I pressed my booted foot onto his chest to hold him down. I heard myself panting from the exertion. I looked down at him and my heart stopped. He had cut his raven hair short like the humans and he wore all black but their was no mistaking those gold eyes. Ramala.

Via ran over to us. "Ramala! You're alive?" I'm having your baby."

He spat at me. "Don't be stupid, Via. We're all going to die. I don't want any children. It's probably not even mine."

The hurt and shocked expression on her face ripped my heart out and my ire rose to a level I didn't know I possessed. "I thought I killed you already."

He flashed an evil smile. "I ate the moonstone."

That's how he revived. Moonstones were rare magical objects that could only be used once and he had wasted one on bringing his treacherous self back. Well, it wouldn't work a second time. I'd just have to kill him again.

"Don't look." I ordered Via as I drew "Defender" my elven blade. She seemed to be frozen in place. I wish she would run. I gritted my teeth. She didn't need to see this. "No!" I shouted as he grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her to the ground. I couldn't risk hurting Via. He used his other hand to stab my ankle with his javelin and I jerked my foot back.

He leapt up and put his disgusting hands on Via's neck and squeezed. She gasped for air.

"Allow me to end your suffering." he hissed.

Nobody hurts my Via. I couldn't risk hurting her with "Defender." He was too close to her. I pulled the javelin out of my ankle and I aimed for his neck. I must've been moving too slow from the blood loss. It felt like my body was moving through muddy water. I wished I'd had another magic source. I was running on magical fumes. He dodged my attack and stabbed at my shoulder with a switchblade while his other hand held Via in an iron grip. The world was beginning to spin around me. I felt my hold on "Defender" slacken. I couldn't fight it. I was too weak from the lack of magic. No. I prayed. Please. Please, save Via. Then I heard it. A blade penetrating flesh. Via had stabbed Ramala with "Defender." How had she even gotten it? Ramala stumbled backwards and hit his head on a jagged boulder. Via gasped for air. All of the color had drained from her face. I went to her and knelt beside her. I caught her in my arms as she collapsed.

"Via! Via, stay with me!" I cried so loud it echoed off of the ashen mountains. Please, I can't live without her. I squeezed her tighter and she gave a soft moan. Thank the moons. She was alive.