New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The situation was looking dire for Astaroth and his friends. The guards had already isolated them from the other arrivals, and they quickly surrounded them, weapons aimed at the party.

Phoenix’s mind was swimming in confusion right now, not understanding why they were suddenly treated like public enemy number one.

Most players didn’t know that Ash Elves and normal Elves had a history of war and hatred. In fact, most people in New Eden as a whole did not know this.

The war between the two races had happened so long ago, history had already forgotten most of it. Only the two races concerned, and some erudites still remembered.

Since Elves tended to live quasi-endless lives, it was easy for them to keep track of their long history. And they shared most of their knowledge from generation to generation through spoken tales.

This meant that all the emotions contained in the tale survived through the ages. Many Elves, even ones that had been born centuries after the war ended, still held hatred and grudge against the Ash Elf race.

The war had taken many lives, on either side, and yet the Elves acted as victims in the story. It mattered not to them that they had enslaved and mistreated the race for generations.

It mattered only that they had rebelled and killed so many of their brethren. To most, the hypocrisy of the situation was disgusting.

But to the Elves, it was only right that Ash Elves should be their lesser, since they wouldn’t exist without them. The Elves that knew the full story were long gone, and only bribes of truth remained, smudged by loath and disgust.

Astaroth knew a bit more than most, ever since his talk with Kela’ra. But even his knowledge was extremely limited.

The only place where he could learn more would be at the palace library of the Ash Elf kingdom. But that was not a place he could go.

For now, he had bigger issues than history on his plate. Like the spears and arrows, currently aimed at his throat.

“Listen, sir. We are adventurers just passing through. We want no trouble.”

“Shut up! Your lies won’t save you.”

“I’m not lying. Look, here’s my adventurer’s card.”

Astaroth pulled out his crystalline-coloured card, getting a few oohs and ahh’s from the crowd that was amassing around the encirclement.

The guards looked at the guard with reserve. Their stances weakened a bit, as most knew what that colour meant.

But one guard didn’t seem receptive to it. He moved forward, trying to grab the card out of Astaroth’s hands.

But Astaroth pulled his hand back, not wanting to relinquish what seemed to be his only protection for now.

“You can see it without taking it. Hands off.”

“Give me the card, dark skin. I have no proof you didn’t steal it from another adventurer.”

When Astaroth refused to hand over the card again, the guard started lunging at him, his spear extended forward.

Seeing that there would be no more talking, Astaroth pulled out his weapon. As soon as Ad Astra was out in the open, the other guards went on the offensive, too.

“He’s attacking one of ours! Kill them!”

But just before all hell broke loose, a powerful pressure descended upon the portal plaza.

“Enough! All of you, stand down!”

The mana in the plaza was acting in a frenzy, as most mages or mana-susceptible people around broke into cold sweats. The soldiers all looked up to where the man emitting this pressure was floating.

Floating fifty feet above the plaza, a slender elf man with silver hair was looking down on everyone. His face was currently a mask of anger.

Astaroth wasn’t sure whether that was directed at him or not. The next phrase out of the elf’s mouth assuaged his fears.

“You! Guard captain!”

The mage pointed to a soldier. The guard he pointed to almost yelped.

“Ye…Yes, sir!”

“Why didn’t you stop your soldier? You know full well the authority of the adventurer’s guild. That card he is holding allows him to go where he pleases, and you are not in a position to refuse him access.”

“But sir. He’s an Ash Elf.”

“I don’t care!” the mage thundered.

The mage looked down at Astaroth and his friends.

“Troublesome child, leave the city at once. Next time you want to come here, make sure you send a message beforehand, so we can arrange a safe passage. Now go!”

Astaroth quickly nodded his head. He signalled to his friends it was time to go, but as they were about to leave, the guards refused to move out of the way.

The soldier standing in front of Astaroth was practically shaking in his boots, but since he had received no order to back down from his superior, he held his bowstring taut.

The pressure on that soldier suddenly increased, enough so that the elf fainted. Astaroth took that as his go signal and dashed out of the encirclement.

He and his friends ran out of the city, no longer trying to stop and do some sightseeing.

As soon as they crossed the gates outside, Phoenix took the lead, leading them in the direction they needed to go. The monsters near the city were weak, so they ignored most of them, one-shotting those that insisted on standing in their way.

They rapidly distanced themselves from the Elven city, stopping once they were miles away. Phoenix turned to look at Astaroth.

“What was all that about? Why did they immediately become hostile to us?”

“Yeah, that was weird,” Gale chimed in.

Violette looked at Astaroth, her head slightly tilted.

“It’s an old grudge, I would say.”

“An old grudge? Have you ever been there?”

“Not me personally, no. But Elves and Ash Elves have some history together. Some lingering bad blood.”

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“How bad does it have to be for them to immediately attack us like that?”

“War causing bad. But from what I gather, it’s not just black and white.”

Phoenix let out a long sigh.

“Let’s just stay away from Elven cities for a while. If we need to go, I’ll send someone other than you or Violette.”

“Aww… But I wanted to see the Elf city…” Violette pouted.

“Maybe another time, Violette.”

Astaroth interrupted them.

“We can discuss this later. We should be heading to the guild base. I want us to be up and running soon, so we can rain on Aces High’s parade.”

The group nodded before they started moving again.