17Chapter Five – Part One
"You are human, yes?"
I scowled, pondering the question. Obviously Moranya expected an answer to it, but it was more the matter of the right one to give. Yes, I was human, but at the same time I was beginning to doubt that.
"Yes," I answered, letting a mask of indifference glide over my features. It wouldn't do to seem weak now, would it?
"You should know by now that you were not born that way, correct?"
"Indeed." What on earth was she getting at? Yes, I was human, and yes, I knew that I was not born human, though I was nowhere near accepting that. I doubt anyone in my position would immediately believe they were a non-human creature, apart from the gullible idiots out there, and there seemed to be a lot of those.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Was the woman a mind reader?
"No, I don't believe I do. Care to explain?" I asked scathingly, crossing my arms over my chest. So what if I was getting a bit snippy? I was the kind of person to whom knowledge was the only thing I had, and any explanation of this situation were hardly forthcoming. Perhaps my head would implode and my brains would scatter everywhere. At least then I would be at peace.
"All in good time, my child. Everything shall be made clear eventually," Moranya said calmly, almost patronizingly. I had only known the woman five minutes and already she annoyed me. I was not a child, nor was I someone to be looked down upon, and I was hardly an idiot, yet she seemed to think all three of me.
"I'm more intelligent than you must take me for, you know. Why not just tell me straight up instead of dancing around the question with your silly words?" I frowned again, scowling even more when I saw Lissa sniggering in the shadows behind Moranya.
"I'm sure you are, but right now I am simply searching for the best way to phrase this problem. Well, I suppose it is more of a question, really..." Moranya trailed off at that point, and I crossed my arms, sorely tempted to start tapping my foot against the smooth tiles of the floor in frustration, but decided it would be better to let her work it out of her own accord.
"But nonetheless, it is something you shall have to decide for yourself, my dear. I cannot make this decision for you, even if I am very much tempted to. It is not my right," Moranya said with a sad smile on her face. I raised an eyebrow questioningly, my overwhelming curiosity raging around in the corners of my mind. I had shoved it there to keep from going insane.
"There are two paths you may take, Lliira. You can stay human and go back to your world, living your life as if this never happened. Or, you can stay here-" I scoffed when she said this, giving Moranya a look that quite clearly stated my opinion of her at that moment. Quite clearly the woman was insane if she thought I would go back to that dreadful place! -" but there is a warning I must issue before you tell us your choice. Lliira, you cannot stay here as a human. I can undo the spell I put on you, but it will be excruciatingly painful. Every cell in your body – every atom – must be rewritten, and that is not something to take lightly. There is a high possibility you will will not survive." After saying this, a tear rolled down Moranya's cheek, and she turned away slightly, dabbing at her eyes with a silken handkerchief that she had drawn from her pocket.
"I think you already know my decision," I stated coolly, almost giving in to the desire to go over to the poor woman and hug her, but I had avoided physical contact for so long it seemed almost unnatural to think of it now.
"Please, just think it over. I've lost you once; I don't think I would be able to stand it again," she whispered, her voice cracking. More tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down her pale cheeks, and I averted my gaze, not wanting to see what a wreck I had made this regal woman. It felt strange to have such power over someone else after sixteen years of barely having any say in my own life, let alone someone else's.
"Why can I not stay here as a human?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. It was a question that had been hiding at the back of my mind ever since Moranya had said her little speech, and now I brought it out into the open, hoping for a straightforward answer.
"There is much magic protecting this realm, with more nuances and complications than you could ever hope to understand. I have tried studying it myself, but the art is an ancient one, and any masters of it long since dead and gone. One of the spells in place is to keep out any humans once they are here for more than a week. It was a defence put in place long ago, when the humans tried to invade. They failed, of course, but our ancestors thought it best to put up various magical barriers," she explained. I nodded to myself. The answer made sense, and it was logical, two things of which a lot of the explanations people had given me were lacking.
"How did they know about this place?" I asked. That was the one thing that made no sense to me. Apparently we had tried to conquer this realm, but the only ones that had known about the portal were the ones that had captured me, and they weren't even human!
"That is a simple enough question to answer," Moranya said with a smile. "Long ago, all the races lived together in harmony. Things change, however, and the humans turned greedy, thinking only of themselves. They did not want to share the land, and so they stole a piece of it, turning to their greatest mages to shift it to a knew realm. Since then they have thrived, but not without cost to the land. It angers me to think of what they have done to the poor earth, but there is nought we can do without breaking a treaty set down long ago."
My curiosity reared its head at this. "Treaty?"
"Yes, a treaty. When the humans left, both sides swore there would be no further fighting between them, and that so long as our realm left theirs alone, this truce would persist," Moranya explained.
"But what of the creatures that captured me? They were hardly leaving us alone, were they?" I questioned with a bitter smile, memories flooding back of that nightmarish, fog filled night when my life twisted out of control.
Moranya frowned. "What they are doing is illegal, and we have an agent on the inside. We have known about their little group for a long time, and have almost finished rooting the culprits out. Soon enough they shall be no more," she said. "I apologise for what happened to you, my dear, but there was no harm done, and that is what matters."
"I suppose," I agreed. "Oh, and Moranya?"
"Yes?"
"I've made my decision."
A/N: Right, I'm uploading this chapter in two parts, simple because it's been so long since I updated that you people deserve something, and especially to know that I am working on this story again, because I've hit a wall with my other one. I do apologise for taking so long, but I hope you'll forgive me. I'll set to work on part two right after I post this.