Chapter 66: Maximilien and Mariel I

425 Years Ago:

A young man with short black hair and gray eyes walked through the forests of Gallia, hunting a deer to feed himself. As the deer bent its neck to drink water from a spring, he hid behind a bush so it didn't notice him.

Slowly, he set an arrow in his bow and drew the bowstring back. After taking some time to aim, he released the string, sending the arrow flying towards the deer's head. However, as the arrow flew towards the deer, a bright light appeared in its path.

A person walked out of the light, only immediately to be struck by the arrow, causing them to fall to the ground. The man with the bow, at first confused, ran to aide the person he had accidentally shot. They were wearing a hood and a mask, thus concealing their face.

They had been shot in their left leg and were bleeding profusely, so he removed his own cloak to tie it. Quickly, he removed the arrow, then used his cloak to bandage the wound. When he was finished, he finally looked at the person's face, although it was covered by a blank white mask.

"I apologize about that." He said. "I meant to shoot that deer."

"Leave me be. I can handle myself." The person said in a distorted voice.

"Nonsense. Let me take you home. I can treat you better." He said.

"I have no need for tr-" They began before being cut off.

He had lifted them up, wrapping their arm around his neck, then began walking in a certain direction. The person was in shock, wondering why they were being helped by a random stranger. Despite their previous protests, they allowed themselves to be taken away.

For several hours, they walked in silence before reaching a small village. The villagers seemed to look at the man with disdain as he walked through the village, eventually reaching a small house near the village center. He walked inside, having the stranger sit on a table. He rummaged through his cabinets for medical supplies, then came back to them.

"Take off your mask. It's a hot day." He said, reaching for the mask.

The person grabbed his arm before it could touch their mask.

"Fine, fine. I'll leave it on." He said, pulling his arm back. "I'll have to cut your pant leg where the arrow went in so I can treat the wound."

He got a pair of scissors from his cabinet and began to cut open the left leg of the baggy black pants they were wearing. When it was cut off, he saw that the wound was still bleeding, so he applied a coagulant to the wound.

He then applied alcohol to the wound and washed off the leg, then finally wrapped it in a bandage. When he was done, he sat back and looked at his handy work. He then noticed that their leg was extremely soft and very feminine, making his face turn red.

"You...You should take it easy for a while." He said, turning away from them. "I stopped the bleeding, but it could start again if you're not careful."

"Thank you." The person said, getting on their feet.

"Ummm, what's your name?" He asked.

The person was silent for several seconds, hesitant to reveal their identity.

"My name is Mariel." They finally said.

"I-I'm Maximilien. It's nice to meet you." He replied, still looking away. "Ummm...if you want, you can stay here until you heal. You don't have to! Just a suggestion..."

"No, I have to get home." She said, her voice still distorted.

However, when she stood up, pain shot through her leg, making her wince in pain. She tried again to walk away, but she fell on the ground in pain. Immediately, and rather instinctively, he rushed to help her up.

As he helped her stand up, he noticed that her mask was on the ground, having come off when she fell. When he looked at her, he saw an extremely beautiful young woman with pale but glowing skin, emerald green eyes, and jet black hair.

After several seconds of staring at her, he realized how close his face was to hers, making him quickly move away after setting her down on a chair.

"Sorry!" He said, blushing red.

"For what?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"Ummm...your mask. It came off." He said, pointing at the white object on the ground.

"How unfortunate." She replied. "I would have preferred it stay on, but since it has come off, so be it."

"I'll go get you some food." He said. "It's the least I can do since I hurt you. Just remain here and relax."

He quickly left the house to get food, being gone for several hours. As she sat in the house alone, she decided to look around since she had nothing better to do.

It was effectively a wood cabin with two stories. There was very little furniture inside and she could tell that Max was very poor to be living there, as the kitchen contained little food. That which was edible was rotting, yet it seemed to be valued to him.

Upstairs, his bedroom was barren, consisting of a rather dirty rag on the floor. Their was no bathroom that was immediately identifiable by her. Despite the house's rather large size, it was very obviously not meant for those blessed with great fortunes.

After waiting for about four hours, Max finally returned. He was dragging a sack behind him, which Mariel could smell was full of food. However, what caught her attention was that his face and the rest of his body seemed bruised.

He didn't seem to care about his bruises, instead setting the sack on the table. It was filled with several meats, bread, fruit, and wines. As her eyes took in the sight of the food and her nose took in the delicious aroma, she snapped herself out of her trance and turned her attention back to his bruises.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Let's just say that people around here don't like me." He replied, wearing a warm smile. "It doesn't matter. Feel free to eat as much as you like. There's enough for the next few weeks."

Despite still worrying about his well being, she couldn't ignore the feeling of her stomach needing to be filled, so she began to eat. As she satisfied her voracious appetite, she noticed that he wasn't eating with her, making her feel rather rude.

"Please eat." She said. "It's your food, not mine."

"I'll eat when you're satisfied." He replied, wearing the same warm smile. "You're injured, so you need a lot of energy."

"But you're injured too." She said.

"This? This is nothing." He replied, despite his bruises giving him a great amount of pain. "Just a few scratches."

Not satisfied with his answer, Mariel stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her eyes started to glow as she stared at his body, making him feel rather scared, although he chose not to move in case it somehow threatened her. After a few minutes, her eyes finally stopped glowing and she moved away.

"You have six fractured ribs, a broken hand, and several bruises and lesions." She said. "What happened?"

"How could you possibly know all that?" He asked.

"I'm...not normal." She said. "I will tell you if you tell me how you were hurt."

"Fine." Max sighed. "A group of guys ganged up on me when I was coming back."

"Why did they hurt you?" She asked.

"Because they think I'm descended from Elves." He replied. "Nobody likes Elves, so being descended from one isn't ideal."

"Do you know if your ancestors were Elves?" She asked.

"Not at all." He said. "My parents were both human as far as I knew."

"I see." She said rather sadly. "Could you not defend yourself?"

"Only aristocrats can use magic, so I have no way of defending myself against a group of people." He replied.

"Such foolishness." She said.

"What?" He asked.

"Never mind." She said quickly.

"So how come you could see what my injuries were?" He asked, choosing to dismiss her comments.

She looked at him for a few moments, contemplating whether she should inform him of her heritage. After a while, she seemed to make up her mind.

"I only do this because you have helped me." She said.

Slowly, she reached for the hood that still covered her head and pulled it down, revealing her head. She looked completely normal to him at first, but he then noticed the two swept back pointy ears that extended out of her long hair.

"You're an Elf..." He said in a bit of shock.

"If you no longer wish to treat me, I understand." She said, putting on her hood and standing up. "I will take my leave now."

"No, it's okay!" He said, grabbing her hand. "I have nothing against you for being an Elf."

"All humans hate Elves." She replied. "You have a particular reason to hate my kind considering we ruined your life."

"Elves didn't ruing my life. The people who hate them did." He replied. "Besides, even if they did ruin my life, it's not like you've done anything to hurt me, so I have no reason to hate you."

They stared at each other for a short while, rather intrigued by one another. However, after a short while, there was banging on his door. He looked behind his curtains to see who it was, cursing under his breath.

"Hide!" He said to her.

She seemingly fazed into thin air as she moved to a hiding spot. When she was out of sight, he opened his door. A group of six men forced their way past him and into his house. They were much bigger than he was, very obviously the warriors of the village.

They looked around the house, seemingly disgusted by its lack of luxuries. They then looked at the pile of good food on his table, then looked back at him.

"So how does a pauper like you afford all this food?" One of the men asked with a scruffy voice.

"I used all of my savings." He said, making sure not to look them in the eyes.

"Like you'd spend your life savings on a bunch of damn food!" Another one shouted. "You stole all this, didn't you?!"

"What do you expect from someone with the blood of an Elf?" A third one said.

Mariel, who was hiding on top of one of the beams in the ceiling, was surprised to see that Max said nothing in response to being called a thief, simply remaining silent.

"Just take the food and go." He said, still looking at the ground.

"Trying to be smart with us?!" The fourth man said. "We'll show you for giving us that attitude!"

The man proceeded to kick the side of Max's knee, which Mariel could hear had shattered at least one bone. With Max on the ground, all of the men began to beat him mercilessly, kicking him, punching him, beating him with random objects and spitting on him.

Throughout all of it, Max never tried to fight back even though he was being beaten closer and closer to death. After several minutes of abuse, the men finally stopped.

"You're lucky we even leave you alive!" The first man said, spitting on him.

"We'll be taking back this stolen food." The fourth man said. "Don't worry. We'll make sure to enjoy it."

The men all laughed as they put all of his food in a bag and then walked out of the door, stepping on Max's body as they left. When they were out of sight, Mariel jumped down from roof beam to Max's side.

He was barely conscious and was having trouble breathing. Several more of his bones were shattered and he had several wounds on his skin. Very gently, she picked him up and slowly laid him down on his table.

"Why did you say nothing back?" She asked.

"It wouldn't have helped." He replied, struggling to speak without coughing up blood.

"I won't let you die. Don't worry." She said, placing her hands on his chest.

He began to feel like the inside of his body was burning, which was a very uncomfortable feeling. It went on like this for more than an hour, with Mariel not listening to anything he was saying since most of it was questions about what she was doing.

After a while, the feeling went away. He could feel that his bones were still fractured, but he didn't feel like coughing whenever he spoke.

"I healed the major internal wounds, but you are still bleeding inside." She said. "You may die like this..."

"I'm not afraid of dying." He said. "I spent my life in poverty, but at the very least, I was able to help people even if they hated me."

She looked at him as he spoke. He seemed incredibly noble and brave, speaking with such courage even though with her powers, Mariel could feel that he was very afraid.

"I managed to soothe your hunger." He continued. "I'm happy to know I died having all of my debts paid."

After a few minutes, he began to fall unconscious due to blood loss. As his consciousness was fading from him, his eyes met with Mariel's. He took in her beauty, although his eyes were blurry. At the moment, she looked very upset.

"At least I was able to die next to a friend..." He said before everything around him going black.

Eventually, and quite suddenly, he woke up in a bed. His eyes slowly cracked open. He was in a room that looked to be made of stone and was bathed in the warm light of several torches on the wall. Wondering where he was, he started to hear voices talking in the room.

"Little sister, he helped me. I could not just let him die." One voice said in his ears.

"He helped you after he shot you, elder sister." The other voice said. "No human should be in this place."

"He is a good person." The first voice said. "He feels no hate for our kind."

As they spoke, he slowly sat up in bed. When he looked around, he saw Mariel talking to another Elf woman. It was an equally as beautiful woman with short white hair and the same emerald green eyes. Her face was stoic and she spoke in a rather emotionless voice, although at the moment, she was very clearly upset.

"You are awake." Mariel said, rushing to his side. "How do you feel?"

"I have a headache and my body feels like it's burning, but I'm glad to be alive." He said. "How long have I been asleep."

"Twelve days." Mariel replied. "I'm glad I managed to save you."

"You saved me? Thank you so much. Looks like I'm in debt to you again. " He said, wearing his signature warm smile. "Where am I?"

"I brought you to my home." Mariel replied. "It would have been impossible to save you in your home, so I brought you here. I had the tools to heal you here, thankfully."

"Do not get used to this hospitality, human." The white haired woman said.

"Never mind her." Mariel said. "She is my little sister, Sasha."

"Oh. Hello, Sasha. My name is Maximilien." He said, bowing his head.

"Try not to move." Mariel said. "Your body just finished healing, so it isn't quite ready to do very much."

"I'm not welcome here, so I have to go back home." He replied, getting up onto his feet. "I appreciate your help, but I'll be leaving now. It was great to have a friend, even if it was for a day."

He grabbed his clothes from a nearby closet, clothing his well built and newly healed body. When all of his clothes were on, he looked back at Mariel.

"Can you lead me to the exit?" He asked.

"Very well." She said.

Rather against his will, she lifted him onto her back and walked out of the hallway. She walked very swiftly, quickly reaching outside, where Max could see that he was still in some woods. He then realized that during that time, they were in the gargantuan mountain that stood behind them.

Before he could as where exactly they were, she put him on her pet dragon and flew towards the exit of her land. While in the air, Max could see the several cities that rested on lakes. He could see how the land was sounded by a tall mountain range.

After a short while, the dragon landed in the middle of the forest. Confused, Max was about to ask where they were, but before he could, she began to speak in her native tongue and draw a series of symbols in the air.

After a short while, an ovular light appeared in front of them, which Mariel signaled for him to walk through. Rather hesitantly, he walked through it, closing his eyes as he did. When they opened, he was still in the woods, but the light was nowhere to be seen.

"I will help you to your village." Mariel said, putting on her hood and her mask. "It will be better for both of us if I wear this mask."

"Oh, okay." He said. "Thank you."

She put his arm around her shoulder and began to walk in the direction of his house. When they finally reached the entrance of his village, people looked at him with the same scorn as they had before. As they got closer to his house, the same group of men that beat him to near death stopped them in their path.

"So where have you been for two weeks, runt?" One of them asked. "No doubt up to no good."

"Move." Mariel said in her distorted voice.

"You have some nerve talking back to us." The man replied. "Who do you think you are?"

"I said move." Mariel said again.

"Looks like we need to teach these two a lesson 'bout respect, don't we?" Another man said in a gruff voice.

He moved to punch Mariel's face, making Max close his eyes, expecting to hear the sound of a punch landing. Indeed, he did hear a punch land, but Mariel's body did not move in response to it. She remained standing, having not moved even an inch.

"Do not let me say it again." She said, sounding more angry than before. "Move aside."

"Mariel, don't do this." Max said. "It's me they want, just leave. I don't want you getting hurt again because of me."

"How cute. The runt's in love." One of the man said, laughing heartily. The comment made Max turn bright red, but he said nothing in response. "Like he could stand a chance with anyone, man or woman!"

However, as the men were laughing at him, they were all suddenly thrown back onto the sides of the street. Confused and furious, they got up to attack the two again, but were again knocked aside. This time, they got up with their swords drawn, now with the intent of killing them.

As their swords were about to make contact with Mariel's mask, all of the men suddenly stopped. Mariel kept walking towards Max's house as if nothing happened. As Max looked back at the men who were still frozen in place, they suddenly fell to the ground, crying in agony and coughing blood.

Mariel didn't seem fazed by what just happened, so Max knew that she must have done something to them. When they got inside his house, she set him down on a chair and sat next to him

"What did you do to them?" Max asked.

"I hurt them as they hurt you." Mariel said, still seeming very angry.

"How?" He asked.

"I am not a normal Elf. I'm...fast." She replied.

"You didn't have-" Max began.

"Yes, I did." Mariel said, cutting him off. "Listen, I will be going back to my land, so I cannot be here to protect you all the time."

"Well, with what you just did to them, I might just have to leave the town." He said, smiling at her again, which somehow made her feel less angry.

"No, you won't." She said. "While I was healing you, I gave you the power to protect yourself."

"What do you mean?" Max asked.

"Magic. I have awoken your ability to use it." She said.

"But only aristocrats can use magic. I'm just a plebeian." He replied.

"That is foolishness." Mariel said. "All manner of human can use magic as long as they reserves of power are no longer sealed."

"Then how come when I read all of those textbooks about magic, I was never able to use it?" He asked.

"Your power was sealed, as it is in all humans from birth." Mariel replied. "The only reason so-called aristocrats are capable of using magic is because they have the money and power to know how to unlock their powers."

"I see. So...what can I do?" He asked.

"You had a tremendous amount of power, so you may do anything you like." She replied. "Which affinity your magic has is unknown to me, so you will have to find out for yourself."

"I see. Thank you, Mariel." He said.

"I am happy to help." She replied. "Now, I will take my leave. Do take care of yourself."

As she got up to leave, he watched her walking towards his door. He began to think about how one of the men said he fell in love and stood no chance with anyone. These thoughts drove him to rather instinctively stand up and hold her hand to stop her.

"What is wrong?" She asked.

"Ummm...will we be able to talk with each other again?" He asked, turning slightly red.

She seemed slightly amused by his question, showing him her smile for the first time. He thought it was very pretty, making him feel embarrassed.

"Of course. We're friends." She said giving him a tight hug.

"Thanks." He said, hugging her back.

After a short time, she pulled away and walked out of his door, waving goodbye, then seemingly disappeared into thin air. He stared at the spot where she last stood, remembering her smile, then quickly went back into his house to begin practicing magic with the textbooks he had hidden away.

He was determined to quickly learn all he could since he knew that soon, the whole village would be coming to kill him.