The memory of a time long past has been written down in the Chronicles of the World of Faeo, which serves as a retrospective of the great epoch known as the Era of Change. In those days, humans were to blame for the demise of Sorgal Mitael Latunache, the sacred tree of the dark elves, triggering the beginning of a bloody war between races that once peacefully co-existed. The skirmish was short-lived. But the worst thing was to give in to the will of weakness....
The arrow that struck the chest of the Elder Fionius showed the humans the unwillingness of the proud Elven people to negotiate, and in response fireballs flew from the catapults of Leiton, turning the Elven army into a burning lake. The cruelty and unbridled passion for destruction had engulfed the human empire. The war claimed thousands of lives and much has been forgotten. For one thing of this short but fierce battle is not to be found in the chronicles, as it was known only to a few and buried in the debris of the past. Centuries later, the terrible events of those days have been remembered again....
Under the cover of night, the exhausted dark elves made the long journey to the ancient temple, which was hidden from prying eyes in a ring of steep mountains. The grey cloaks that made the tall handsome bodies of the warriors blend into the darkness were dropped - for their mission to escort the queen and her people unharmed to the sacred refuge had been accomplished.
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With a great roar, the huge stone barrier that served as a gate fell down and in that instant the sanctuary was transformed into an inaccessible fortress.
The pale light of the moon illuminates the gloomy but still incredibly beautiful faces of the elves, in which pain and despair are written. Fleeing from human persecution, the queen and her warriors were forced to seek refuge within the walls of the ancient temple. But they have disregarded the legacy of their ancestors: for the sacred aura of the place has been desecrated with the weapons in their hands. For those who bear arms bring death, and when they took them to the temple, they invited death there. They violated an unwritten law and as a result the followers of dark magic lost their protection. They did not need to count on any help except their own power....
The warriors of Leiton followed the Queen's followers relentlessly.
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Perhaps no one would have found the secret sanctuary of the dark elves, but the fugitives did not have time to cover their tracks and so these led the pursuers to the high mountains. Several hours passed before they found the narrow stone path that led to the elven refuge. But it was not enough for them to find the place where the enemy was hiding. They had to find out how to get inside. Mighty mountains surrounded the impregnable fortress and the only entrance was protected by an impenetrable barrier. All the humans could do was wage a strenuous siege in the hope that, having run out of food, the elves would surrender. The besiegers had lost track of time. Week after week passed and the enemy did not think of leaving their mountain fortress. Realising that the dark elves would rather starve than fall into the hands of their enemies, the humans decided on a desperate act of violence. A blind old sage remembered the secret of an ancient elven spell, which he used to bring about a terrible avalanche of stones in the mountains. The entrance to the ancient sanctuary of the dark elves was filled up with stones and they became prisoners of the old temple...
The elves trembled under the unbearable roar of the falling rocks. The most secret fears that lay deep in their hearts came true: the sanctuary that was supposed to be their salvation turned into their grave in an instant. The water reserves and food were slowly running out - starvation stretched like a dark shroud over the queen and her followers.
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And already a week later, every elf warrior could feel it. They escaped the fire near Leiton, only to die here in the sanctuary?! Hunger devoured the elves from within, poisoning their minds and draining their peace. Each new day the life of a warrior ended and in madness the unfortunate elves began to save themselves and eat the carrion of the dead. The bodies of the dead became food for their comrades, who could barely stand from weakness due to hunger. They distanced themselves from their principles while eating the flesh of their dead brothers, obsessed with madness and the quest to survive at any cost. The fear of death poisoned their souls and even the proudest and most steadfast among them were brought to their knees... An aura of hatred and malice enveloped the ancient sanctuary. The smell of death could be detected all around. And then it came to them...
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The dark elves have attracted his attention, the Nameless One who would now come to them - the God of the Dead and the Damned. Once he made a treaty with the great king Magisch and now he intended to enslave the souls of the dark elves.
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The once majestic and beautiful Andorven, the young queen of the elven people refused the dark deity's proposal three times. But one day after the next bloody feast, Andorven was too tormented by the disgust and hatred of what she had done, so she summoned the dark god and asked him to help her people overcome the painful hunger. The elves were too proud to face death directly and the insidious god did not miss the opportunity to exploit this. He promised the dark elves to free them from the unquenchable thirst for dead flesh. With a quivering voice, the pale queen spoke the curse of the god of the dead and damned, and with each word her body grew cooler and her breathing slower. As the last note of the spell left her bloodless lips, her heart and the hearts of her people stopped. The last representatives of the dark elf people of Faeo were turned into undead. |
The treacherous god has granted the elf queen's wish: Her people have now forgotten hunger forever...
Aware of what had happened, Andorven, filled with hatred for all living things, swore that no one should ever find out about her shame. Hunger now no longer tore her people apart, but their souls were stolen by the god of the dead and damned. Many of them would not accept their fate and the dark elves began to call themselves the immortal race, denying that they belonged to both the living and the dead worlds. And perhaps the inhabitants of Feo would never have found out this story if a terrible earthquake had not opened the way to the sanctuary after a few centuries. The volunteer hermits decided not to leave the temple, but they made an oath that anyone entering the sanctuary should not leave it alive. The secret of the immortal elves was not to leave the walls of the old temple....
