Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

In the heart of an elven forest lived a couple expecting a child. The mother stayed home nurturing her baby while the father headed outdoors to join the hunt. The clan itself was their family and the both of them, its greatest warriors–however, being expectant, the mother was bed-bound and the father far too busy trying to cover the responsibilities of his wife.

And that's when it happened, in the dead of the night. It started with a battalion of dark elves slaughtering the sparse guards left in the village. They knew that the hunt had nearly everyone away and that gave them time to prepare their traps. The women were taken prisoners inside their homes and the men slaughtered in places where the returning elves wouldn't notice the hint of their blood. As for the kids, they suffered the worst fate of them all–being cooked alive or used as toys while the dark elves waited.

The mothers cradling the children were the most fortunate in a sense, for they were kept safe by the dark elf's leader as a bargaining chip against the returning soldiers. Amongst those women was the mother of a very special eleven child, but it wasn't yet time for her to bloom–and thus the mother held back even though she really wanted to act, rebel, and free the few that had remained alive.

A week passed and nobody came, the dark elves were growing impatient. Somehow, the soldiers knew what had happened to their village, and most expected their families to be gone already, a handful had gathered and planned a rescue mission.

"Are they here yet?" Asked the woman to the dark-elven lady who'd kept an eye on them throughout the week. Pregnant herself, the mother of a dark child, she was the most empathetic of these women cradling their child in a dark and damp dungeon.

"No, nobody came…" She answered, sitting down beside the fair elf.

Leaning her back against the mossy wall, she turned her head to the enemy and for a fleeting moment admired that fair white skin of hers. Her instincts told her to turn to rags yet the sight of that bulging belly and the baby inside of her pushed a smile across those dark lips of hers.

"How long until the baby comes out?" She asked, glancing up at the elf's face, illuminated only by a lone torched in that room.

Turning her head to the dark pair of eyes looking at her, the fair elf felt reluctant to tell the woman anything–but yet again, being pregnant just like her, a sense of camaraderie emerged inside her heart.

"A week, maybe? It's hard to keep track of time here," she answered, her eyes lowering to the dark elf's belly.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Asked the dark elf, gently caressing her belly.

"Hmm?" Unsure why the wife of an enemy would be interested in her child's name, the fair elf lifted her eyes to look at the dark elf's face again. "I…haven't we were going to come up with a name together once she was born, but…"

The thought of her husband slipped back into her mind. She hadn't seen him for a week and had no clue if he was even alive. Gripped with sadness, her eyes dejected to the ground covered in moss and the bodies of dead and rotting rats.

"Melicia," uttering that name, the dark elf smiled and watched the fair elf's face lifting to her again. Holding a shared glance at each other, she continued to beam a bright smile. "It used to be a fairy's name. She saved my ancestry's life from another clan of elves, long before this clan ever existed."

"A creature of malice, why would it help someone?" Asked the fair elf, for the name and the actions were terribly contradictory.

Raising her shoulders and letting them fall carelessly, the dark elf turned her head to the front and chuckled for a moment.

"Who knows? But…" Glancing sideways at the fair elf, the woman added further. "It gives me hope that even in the worst of times there's someone who's willing to help, you just need to reach out to them."

Moving her hand over the fair elf's belly, the dark mother's expression changed from cheery to stern.

"When I come back to you after this week has passed, it will be the last time you'll see me and maybe even your child," closing her eyes, the dark elf drew a deep breath and just let it out. "But if you can just trust me, maybe I can help, not you but your child."

What answer could she even give? No? Don't take my child from me so she may die in this gutter beside me? She couldn't do that, yet putting the life of her offspring in the hands of the enemy? It was no easier than accepting her own death which would come soon enough.

"Before I can make up my mind," moving the dark elf's hands off of her belly, the fair elf looked into her very soul through her eyes and asked. "Is my husband still alive?"

Those reaching fingers of the dark elf curled themselves at the questions. Looking away from the fair, she didn't know how she could tell a mother that her husband was…

"N-no…No! Don't tell me he's–" Realizing what the elf was hiding behind the sombre expression, the fair elf squeezed at her heart and tears began to shower down her rosy cheeks.

"I'm sorry–"

"SHUT UP!" And the dark elf did.

Despite that, once the week had passed the mother of the dark elf Melicia was carrying not just hers but the child of the fair elf out of the dungeon in secrecy. The others died in delivering their child and so did the fair elf, but her cute baby girl braved that dungeon and came out alive.

"Your mother was chased by her people, injured and maimed, but she managed to slip inside of Athenia with the elf of another fair elven man who'd lost his wife," as the first story came to an end, everyone's eyes were glued to Athenia. Some had tears in their eyes from seeing the slaughter of elf in a dream while the others were angry at the fact that the goddess had kept it all a secret.

"But their names, why did it–"

"The dark elven woman left a note in the basket with the names of both the girls," cutting Erika off, Athenia looked to the elves seated across from her on the table. "But the names never cleared who was supposed to be who and the priest got it wrong and that's why the names got shifted."

Taking a moment to look around and making sure everyone was paying close attention still, Athenia leaned back in her chair and offered the last piece of the puzzle to the story.

"Aria was the name of the elf who gave birth to you Melicia, the dark elf lady named you after your mother but then again the church messed it up. As for what happened to your mother Aria, she died from her injuries and that's why she had already submitted you to the church."

"How can you hide it from us for so long?" Staring into thin air trying to absorb everything that Athenia had revealed, Mel felt great contempt building up for the goddess. But instead of an answer, she was brushed right past.

"I'm not done yet," said Athenia, her eyes shifting to Amedith before she began telling the tale of his parents.