On a cool winter morning, light began to gently peak through the window of the humble home of Kaida and Firion, where snuggled in each other's arms after steamy night of love making.
The sun rays landed on the elf's eyes first, making them twitch, and then slowly opening them to the sight of his adorable wife who was still in a deep slumber.
Her face was still flushed, and Firion did not want to wake her right away, because she still looked so adorable sleeping! He lightly caressed her face by sweeping her hair.
He also felt forehead, and thankfully its appears her fever had lifted! ("Hopefully she's finally over what was ailing her.") he thought to himself.
Something else he did not realize before, he noticed how Kaida's horns were sparkling as they reflected the sunlight. Firion peered at them closer, and realizes they're slightly transparent, and look like fine sapphires.
He lightly kissed her on the lips and decided to let her sleep some more, after all she must still be tired and sore from last night.
("When I observe her, I don't feel the anger that I once had for the blue-horn demons, but sometimes I still want to know, why did they start that fire that killed so many people in my village?") He pondered to himself, as if there was still a piece of his heart seeking closure.
However these were feelings he did not want to project onto Kaida, nor did he want her to feel any type of guilt for something she had nothing to do with, but something about the tragedy with his home village left a hole of unanswered questions.
Firion then remembered something! ("Wait a minute! Where's that old tome that was wedged deep in the pantry? I think I might be able to read a little bit of it!")
He found where he placed it, the book with strange "木" letter on it, but the spine was elvish writing that said "Devas of the Wood."
Hesitantly he opened it while sitting on the bed, Kaida was still fast asleep, the book had extremely old pages with ancient illustrations that even an elf like Firion could not recognize, despite being over 400 years old!
("Some of these figures that appear in these pictures look like earliest ancestors of elves, the "fae" who crossed over from a foreign realm, and over time we evolved into the elves...with the noblest of elf families having the strongest lineage to our ancestors.") he thought to himself.
But its true, the most powerful and influential families of the Aldenburg Kingdom were those who had the most "purest" of blood that linked them to the original "faes", which could only be determined by a "mana bloom" test.
Only the blood of a highborn elf could force the ancient mana flower, the Primordial Lily, to open from rich mana bloodlines!
Firion peered into the book further, but then came across something puzzling, one of the illustrations clearly shows a group of fae leaving what appears to be a kingdom, but the next page really started making him sweat.
The next page...show the group of fae kneeling before the depiction of what Firion could make out as a huge drake, the text below the image said, "We offered ourselves to the greater gods to preserve our bloodlines!"
He turned the next page, looking more nervous as to what he was reading.
The following image shows the mighty drake offering what appears to be its own blood to the group of fae that kneel before the beast, and the next panel shows the fae drinking it!
Firion now had cold sweat, as he feels like he's reading something that would never be permitted in the bookshelves of Aldenburg's oldest librariums.
The next page...the illustration and text reveals something that turn's the harden elf's wisdom of the world around him upside down, as he can barely fathom what he is reading.
The book displays what happen to the fae that consumed the giant dragon's blood, it shows them acquiring the "horns" of the beast! The same exact horns of the blue horn demon tribe! But the text reveals a bigger conspiracy....
"In our strife to preserve our ethereal blood from becoming lost we pledged our loyalty to the sacred "Azure Dragon" and with our allegiance it bestowed us with its noble blood and made us half-divines in its image. From this day forward, we call ourselves "Devas." We are the half-gods of the deity of the Wood!"
Firion dropped the book on the floor and stared at it, everything he was taught in life was turned upside down based on what he just read.
("Kaida...and the blue horns...they're not true demons that came from beneath ground...they're descendants of fae who consumed the blood of gods! They're true name, is Devas! And that means we all came from lineage!") Firion told himself as he ascertained a forbidden knowledge.