Chapter 10: The Legend of the Fallen Elf
It's a rather bland story, really. Completely overdone. Don't waste your time with it. I've wasted enough of both our time living it.
Oh, you still want to hear it?
Okay. Your loss.
I was much younger then. Perhaps I should restate that. My body was younger, I was as old as the earth. I didn't have a name; none of the Originals do. I lived my life. Tended to my duties. Nothing unusual.
But I made a terrible, unforgivable mistake: I fell in love.
It wasn't planned. It hardly ever is.
And don't bother asking me who it was: if there's a name, or a gender, or anything to distinguish this person from anyone else. I won't tell you. It isn't in the nature of elves to care about such things. My story is shared from elf to elf, and to every new generation; it is immortalized in tale. Why would we immortalize the name of a human, if we don't even bother to name ourselves?
Yes, it was a human. I'll give you that one. But only because it pertains to the story.
But I certainly won't tell you this person's gender. It is a human concern to worry more about the physical parts between lovers than the actual feelings involved. We are all sexual creatures in need of stimulation now and again. Elves care about the act of loving and falling in love, not who you fall for.
Oh, you've heard this before? Well, alright then. Moving on.
For some reason, entirely unknown to me, this person stood out to me. I was smitten. I would have done anything to make this person happy. And I did.
But this person was a jealous creature, as most humans are, and wanted proof that I was loyal. I assured this person, as I assure you here and now, that I was loyal to no one else.
Words, however, were not enough; nor were the gifts, or the sweaty nights, or the sweet, innocent kisses of first love. This person wanted the ultimate gift that I had to offer: my birthright. My life.
I was ignorant; blinded by my heart. I couldn't see through the lies. I gave my birthright willingly, passionately, and without question.
Let me tell you what this means for an elf.
We are made from the earth, so if we do not tend to it, we are, in essence, neglecting ourselves. So to simply ignore the urges of our nature, the backbone of our birthright, is to lose all sense of purpose, leading inevitably to death. But when we give away our birthright, we no longer suffer the punishment of immediate death; instead, we doom ourselves to mortality. In a way, we become human.
Although the land no longer rules us, we are restricted to the grounds we once tended to, watching it die, just as we ourselves, slowly from day to day, die. Like sad, purposeless creatures: like humans.
No longer can we help those in need because we are those in need. No longer can we live amidst the clouds like others of our kind. No longer can we hold our heads up high in self-respect.
But I was willing to take this on to prove my love.
The problem was that this person was nothing but a miserable cheat, who stole my life and left Lazytown, and me, forever.
What this person didn't understand, however, was the concept of responsibility. By leaving Lazytown unattended, this person set an early date with death. My one and only retribution.
I was otherwise bitter. I found a place as far away from others as I could while still remaining in town, and lived quite unabashedly alone and undisturbed.
I made it my goal in life to undo everything I ever stood for as an elf. I made it my purpose to be rotten; even took it as my name.
Were there other elves after me, you ask? Yes, yes, there were replacements.
The first one was just as pathetic as I had been, only younger. A bit of an insult, if you ask me, to be replaced by a Secondary Elf. Nonetheless, I watched him make the same mistake that I had: falling in love with humans. He made his mark, left his seed, and in sheer embarrassment and shame, left of his own free-will.
Suicide.
It isn't forbidden to breed with humans, only gravely discouraged. His guilt for the little accident drove him away for good.
As for his replacement, well, an even younger elf at that. But I suppose that was to be expected.
What I didn't expect, however, was that I would come to love the wretched blue elf, almost as much, if not more, than I had once loved before.