Are you okay?” Marikai asked her. Ashaedia rubbed her foot.
“I-I don’t know. I keep getting spiked by an invisible . . . thing.” Ashaedia said quietly. Marikai picked up the Book of Dragons for her and held her hand.
“Come on, let’s go see Sister Lura. She can –”
“I’m sorry, Prince Marikai, but we don’t have much time left. We must take Ashaedia to the library without any delays.” Sethos said.
“But Ashaedia is getting attacked by something –”
“Marikai, I know you care if Ashaedia is getting injured, but we mustn’t –”
“This thing could be the one causing Ashaedia to breathe that weird fire and whatnot! It could have injected a serious illness into her!” Marikai yelled. Ashaedia shuddered. Ashnero sighed and knelt down. He placed a hand on Ashaedia’s foot and his hand glowed a white light. Ashaedia’s shoe mended and the hole that the invisible creature left on Ashaedia’s skin healed.
“There . . . she is healed, Marikai.” Ashnero said. Marikai was surprised to hear a hint sadness in his voice.
“King Ashnero? Is there something wrong?” Marikai asked.
“I cannot bear to watch two beings of the same race yell at each other. That is how war is started . . . first, a fight . . . second, a war . . . and third . . . separation.” Ashnero said. Marikai blinked and looked up at Sethos. Sethos closed his eyes and to Marikai’s amazement, he shed a tear.
“I’m so sorry Sethos . . .” Marikai said quietly, and looked down at his feet.
“No, I should be the one saying sorry, Prince Marikai. I should’ve considered your feelings towards Ashaedia.” Sethos said.
“Uh?” Ashaedia said, confused.
“Hhh!” Marikai hissed.
“Anyway, let’s head down towards the library, shall we?” Sethos said. Marikai nodded. Everyone said their last goodbyes to Abbot Tylu and they went to the library.


They finally made it to the library and Myloros opened the door. It was huge! It was the biggest library Ashaedia has ever seen. The library had a high ceiling, many rows of large and small books, wood tables and comfy chairs and oil lamps sat near the check-out desk, and a small weird contraption stood on one of the tables.
“What’s this?” Ashaedia asked, walking over to the weird device. A couple of mugs sat next to the contraption. The thing looked like a coffee dispenser.
“Oh, that old thing? It’s tea dispenser.” Thania said. She took a mug from the table and placed it under what looked like the facet. She touched a small green square on the front and tea came out the facet. Once the tea had filled the cup, a small tea bag dropped out of the facet and landed perfectly in her tea.
“Wow, even scientists couldn’t think that one up.” Ashaedia said. She grabbed a tea mug and placed it under the facet. Ashaedia pressed the green button and the tea came out smoothly and the tea bag dropped into the tea. She lifted the tea mug up to her lips and drank. It was just perfect!
“Whoa, that’s the best cup of tea I’ve ever tasted.” Ashaedia said. Thania smiled.
“Indeed, it is the best cup of tea you’ve ever tasted.” Thania said.
“I’ll say it’s the best tea ever!” Ashaedia said again. Thania smiled. Myloros went over to a large book case and searched for a book. He found a book with a dark red binding and he pulled it out of the bookcase. Myloros opened the book and walked over to Ashaedia, Thania, Gareveth, Kurneo, Eva, Marikai, Sethos, Ashaedia’s dragons and Ashnero.
“Ashaedia, you know how you asked what a Shadow Elf was? Well, this is the book that describes one and other things too,” Myloros said. “I’m going to read to you a little story about how they became to be.”
“And why is this important?” Ashaedia asked.
“It’s important because if we teach you now, you won’t ask later. And this will a bit more . . . enchanting and exciting than the regular school lesson.” Myloros said. Ashaedia sat down on one of the chairs and so did everyone else. Myloros sat in a chair across from Ashaedia’s and Marikai sat next to Ashaedia.
“Oh, and you might want to open up your Book of Dragons.” Myloros said. Marikai handed Ashaedia the Book of Dragons and she opened it to a random page. Myloros dug around in his pocket and took out a pair of blue spectacles and opened up his book to the first page. Ashaedia guessed that he was looking at the Table of Contents. Myloros flipped to a page and he cleared his throat.
“Oh, where shall we start . . . ah, here, I shall start here. All right, the story of the Shadow Elves start off here on Tellios. Aenarion the Great had defeated his enemy, General Fredrick Ghoven and established Aelia. He was crowned king and he soon fell in love with a seeress named Mirethia and they had two sons named Malikinth and Contius in the year -4458. As you know, Malikinth is Marikai’s uncle. After Aenarion died, Malikinth was said to become the next Phoenix King. Contius was said to become the King of Aelia, which he did.”
“Wow, Malikinth and Contius are really that old?” Ashaedia asked. Malikinth only looks about twenty-nine years old!
“Indeed, Ashaedia. They are about six thousand nine hundred and eighty years old. Elves can live for a very long time.” Myloros said.
“When Contius was old enough to travel, he went to explore new lands and discovered many things. He soon found a woman named Lona. Lona was a beautiful woman that soon became his wife. But back to Malikinth. The Asyran Court didn’t believe Malikinth was suitable to be the next Phoenix King. They thought him as – Prince Marikai?” Myloros said. Marikai was covering his ears.
“I don’t want to hear this part! It’s terrible!” Marikai said. Myloros sighed.
“Very well, Prince Marikai. I will tell you when that part is over, now then,” Myloros said, looking back down at his book. “The Asyran Court thought him as a warlike thug, an Elf that settled disputes with war and violence. Malikinth, like his father, possessed a short temper. They instead appointed Baneron, the Prince of Tyslia, as the next Phoenix King. Prince Marikai, you may listen now.” Marikai opened his eyes and pulled his hands away from his ears.
“The Asyran Court had Malikinth be the general of the Elven Army. He was a fine general, both powerful and kind. Malikinth was even invited to Baneron’s coronation. He tried becoming friends with Baneron, but somehow Baneron saw him as an ‘eerie presence’. Baneron ordered his men to keep an eye on Malikinth and report any mysterious actions. Malikinth at that time was practicing Sorcery in order to heal his allies and attack his enemies from afar. Baneron’s spies reported his actions as ‘sinister’ and ‘dark’, and Baneron commanded his men to capture Malikinth and bring him to court.” Ashaedia closed her eyes and imagined this scene. She had put her hand in her pocket and was gripping the medallion Marikai had given her tightly.
“When Baneron’s soldiers attacked, Malikinth’s soldiers defended their king and fought a bloody battle against their own kind. The Elves that didn’t serve Malikinth called him, his family, his supporters and followers, and soldiers the Shadow Elves. The Shadow Elves respected the other Elves, and wanted to call them the Light Elves. But the Light Elves didn’t listen to the Shadow Elves. They called them the ‘Followers of Darkness’ and ‘Khaine’s Warriors’.
“A lot of the Light Elves are polytheistic like us humans, but many of us only believe in the one God Jesus. The Light Elves believed in a Dark God named Khaine, but they worshiped Khaine as a God of War. They worship a god named Asyran. The Light Elves fought the Shadow Elves for many years, constant incursions; recent wars, bloody battles, and conflicts between King Malikinth and King Firoh have been very deadly.” In Ashaedia’s mind’s eye, she can see the whole battle happening. The Elves fighting each other . . . Malikinth and Firoh flying high into the sky on dragons and battling each other . . .
“Their wars against each other were ruthless and pointless. King Firoh thinks Malikinth was the one that had killed his son Baneron. Malikinth’s followers believe their king did not kill Baneron. And Baneron was not killed by Malikinth. A man from Negnio assassinated Baneron because he had a pure hatred for Elves. He slit his throat in the middle of the night and Malikinth was accused for the crime.” Myloros said.
Ashaedia looked down at the Book of Dragons. The pages were glowing gold! Ashaedia felt the book get heavier, and she turned to the Table of Contents. A new term had appeared in the Table of Contents: The Shadow Elves and Light Elves Age of War.
“Whoa, how’d that get there?” Ashaedia said.
“It seems that your book has added a new term, Ashaedia. Books like yours collect information and add it into their Table of Contents. These books are called the Tomes of History.” Myloros said.
“Cool.” Ashaedia said.
“As I was saying . . . Malikinth is hated by the Light Elves and Firoh is hated by the Shadow Elves. Though Firoh is the Phoenix King, the Shadow Elves say he got the power illegally. In order for an Elven King to become the Phoenix King, they must pass the Godly Trials. The first trial is The Passing. The king must pass through the godly Flame of Asyran in order to go to the second trial. The Elven King must march through the flame and if they arrive on the other end unscathed, they will go to the Demon’s Liar.
“The Demon’s Lair is the home of a terrible beast that the king must destroy. The beast is a Daemon of Nuryle. Nuryle is a realm that is filled with horrible monsters and unspeakable beasts that carry large amounts of Chaos Energy. The king must withstand the large amounts of Chaos Energy because the Elves, like the Falcons, will faint if they take in too much Chaos Energy. If the king slays the beast, he will move on to the last trial.
“The last trial is the Trial of Khaine. The king must defeat the ‘Dark God’ Khaine in order to become the true Phoenix King. If he succeeds, the king will be crowned the Phoenix King and will be given the ability to transform into a mighty phoenix.” The pages in Ashaedia’s book glowed gold again, and it got heavier and the pages turned to the Table of Contents. In the Table of Contents was yet four new terms: The Godly Trials, Khaine the God of Shadow and War, The Phoenix King, and Asyran the God of Light and Peace.
“I got new terms!” Ashaedia declared. Marikai looked over into her Table of Contents.
“It’s very important if you have the Godly Trials and those two gods in there and of course the Phoenix King. It may help you later on.” Marikai said.
“Hmm . . . perhaps they will.” Ashaedia said. Myloros closed his book.
“And that is our lesson for you Ashaedia.” Myloros said.
“It was enchanting . . . I imagined it in my mind and it looked all so clear while you read to me . . . I saw Khaine . . . the battle between Firoh and Malikinth . . . the long wars that the Shadow Elves and Light Elves suffered.” Ashaedia said. She heard a loud cough come from somewhere in the library. She looked past Myloros and saw what looked like a child that was her height in a long dark green cloak. The back of the cloak had a white vine and wing design, two wings were connected and in the middle of them was a sixteen-pointed star. The vine design was so beautiful, the vine pattern climbed up on the hood. Myloros turned around and saw it too.
“That design . . . it must someone of the Elven races, perhaps a Light Elf or a Shadow Elf . . .” Myloros said. Marikai squinted at the figure. And then he got up walked towards it.
“Marikai! What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” Ashnero said. Marikai ignored him and tapped on the person’s shoulder. The person turned around.
“Oh, h-hello Prince M-Marikai.” The person said.
“Hello, Tearia.” Marikai said.
“Hhh! Tearia?!” Ashaedia gasped. She ran over to her.