Mage Legend

"The same as my idea?" Yilinrui's face turned slightly pale, this statement clearly angered her: "No, in my mind, there is never a need for the undead to enter the realm of elves, nor their cold touch, nor that voice from the Death World, and certainly not the black flames igniting on Heather's land. Fyyian, you and I are not on the same path!"

"Fyyian. Ah! Fyyian..." The disfigurer caressed his face, gazing at the elf in front of him with his small eyes squeezed by swollen tumors: "So you still recognize my name, or maybe you won't call that name again! Yilinrui, you are still so beautiful, so captivating. No! Even more radiant than the image in my memory. And I have become like this. Of course, I would not blame you for this, all of it stems from my own intentions."

"Free will." Fyyian added.

Yilinrui tried to focus her mind, trying to recall Fyyian's real name. But the seal she set in her own mind was like a black stone gate, holding the answer firmly behind it.

"How much have you suffered all these years?" The Elf Princess said, her voice turning very gentle: "After you left Sarandil, where did you go?"

"Left? Left!!" Fyyian stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Yes! I have left there! It was under the 'friendly send-off' of all the elves that I left that suffocating place. Yilinrui, oh Yilinrui, your prophecies have never failed, your eyes can always catch glimpses of the future. That time, you saw the harm I would cause to my own kind, so I had to 'leave'. But if I didn't leave, how could I 'return' today?"

Fyyian looked at the female elf opposite him, his fingers constantly tapping each other, making a dull sound. Under this gaze, Yilinrui lowered her head; she couldn't deny this fact, couldn't deny that it was due to her prophecy that pushed Fyyian down this path.

"It's all my fault..." Yilinrui said: "I should bear all the blame, I should endure the pain you have suffered. Everything started because of me; you should aim your revenge at me. If it can spare Sarandil from this disaster, I will do anything."

"No, you don't have to." Fyyian's voice softened: "I have never truly resented you. I did not become an Undead Mage because of you; I did not become the master of the undead for you; and my return to Heather now is not for you either. For you, I could die; but there is no need for me to go to all this trouble for you!"

"Look at my face, do you know what caused this?" Fyyian said: "No, from your confused eyes, I don't see the answer. 'Was it the elves' expulsion that caused it?' you might think, 'Or cursed by the undead?' 'Could it be the harm from magic experiments?' None of these answers are correct." He pointed at the mirror in his hand, saying to Yilinrui: "Every time I look through the mirror, I see an elf's face. Not the most handsome, yet not ugly. Maybe you remember that face, or maybe you don't, it makes no difference. But as I look into the mirror again and again, I can no longer see any characteristics on that face. I see any elf's face. That face is the old Xilintas from Moon Song Theater, the little Dichi by the Holy Lake ferry, the Great Druid, also the Elf Queen Hernfurry. I can't tell the difference between these faces, or rather, they have long since ceased to have differences."

"What exactly are you trying to say, Fyyian?" Yilinrui felt the person opposite her becoming increasingly agitated, and so she asked.

"I am talking about differences!" Fyyian shouted: "I was once a bard, singing praises of many legendary figures. Whenever I think of the faces of these elves, their images in my mind become increasingly uniform. The eternal life shackled the elves, making the originally elegant creatures increasingly alike, losing distinction, becoming monotonous, like an overplayed song with nothing but repetition. While human life has become diverse and when their civilization built over a mere few hundred years is blooming and bearing fruit, the elves remain stagnant, instead growing more and more decadent. 'Meeting one elf is like meeting all elves', this phrase is not wrong at all. Your souls have become completely the same, in my eyes, the blue flames seem like they were stamped out of a mold, just placed in different bodies."