Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:39:24 +1200
From: Arthur <artcart65@vodafone.co.nz>
Subject: The Thread Chapter 1

				THE THREAD

				 CHAPTER 1

				 BY ARTHUR


AUTHORS NOTE:

The copywrite of this story belongs to the author; any attempt to copy
without his permission can lead to prosecution. This story contains sexual
scenes that may upset some people, if so then you should not be here, it
has gay themes and some magical themes, all is not as it seems, read on at
your own risk.

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Author Contact:

Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz



Do you believe in the Elvin Folk? Do you REALLY believe, if you do then you
also believe in magic and, if you believe in magic, then you will know that
I am real and that there is more to this world than you first thought or
suspected.

My name can not be pronounced in your language so you can call me Alexi; as
you can guess it is not my real name but for the purpose of this story it
will have to do, ah, so you want my real name, ok then here it is,
KHAXHALIS, see, you still have no idea so I think I have proved my point
and we will stay with Alexi.

To fully understand this story I had better begin at the beginning, I have
been told that, that is the best place to start.

Long ago, in a time before humans, the one we call Creator, looked about
and saw only blackness, after eons had passed, Creator decided he (and I
use this term loosely) wanted something more to look at than the depths of
darkness and so, with a movement of his fingers, created light, not any
light but a bright yellow light.

Creator was so impressed with this act that he decided to add more lights;
Creator kept adding all types of lights to the darkness until he was
surrounded by all manner of glows and shimmers, red, yellow, blue and even
green, this was the basis of the universe and, as you look up at night, you
will see that he had a really good idea.

For more eons, Creator watched the play of his lights until he eventually
decided that there should be something more to entertain him in his
solitude, to this end he formed the planets from the detritus of the
glowing suns, some of these planets he left barren and cold, others he
allowed to be hot and turbulent, but some, not many, he created for magical
purposes.

To protect those few magical worlds he created guardians, to those
guardians he gave names so that those who followed would know to pay
respect to his creation, those names in your language were; Ranganui,
Father Sky, Papatuanuku, Mother Earth, Tangaroa, Brother Water, and Tane
Mahuta, Brother Forrest, to these he gave certain powers so that the worlds
would be protected from any manner of unearthly things.

It was the magic of Creator that also brought to life us, the Elvin Folk,
this was long before he made the decision to add humans to the mix and
therefore add many more complications to the survival of this world.

Now not many know this about Creator, but he does have a sense of humour,
sometimes it is a dark humour and sometimes it is a bright humour, to this
end he also created both the Elves of the light and the Elves of the dark,
it was millennium before humans came along to complicate it even further
with their sense of greed and disbelief of magic and their desire to lay
waste to everything they did not like.

Creator gave to the Elvin Folk the ability to use magic and to understand
the correlation of the four guardians to the normal world and to everyday
life, in the beginning the Elves lived in full harmony with the spirits,
their lives were not ruled by time as so many are today, because, as you
all know, or should know, that Elves live for a very long time, a very,
very long time.

Now I'm sure that you all think you know everything about Elves and their
magical abilities as well as what they do and how they do it, REALLY? I do
so like your confidence, it is the one thing about humans that I have
always laughed about, in fact all the Elves I know have had the same
laughs, what is it? Well it is the thought that humans think they are the
only ones with any truth and that what they say or think is the whole
truth, after all, look at who they like to believe in, an illiterate
carpenter who surrounded himself with other illiterates and had the
audacity to claim divine rights, as I said before, humans are such funny
animals.

Once Creator had filled this world with everything and called it paradise,
or words to that effect, he then made the Elvin Folk and set them upon the
ground to work and protect the lands and seas, yes there are different
types of Elves, there are the Woodland Elves, the Plains Elves, the
Mountain Elves, and the Ocean Elves, all of us are very similar to look at
and have the same abilities under the spirits except for the location of
your home.

For example, a Woodland Elf will have added powers given to him by Tane
Mahuta when in the forest or among the trees and plants, an Ocean Elf will
have added powers given by Tangaroa over water and wind, the Mountain Elf
will have added power over the rocks and the earth given by Papatuanuku the
Earth Mother and the Plains Elf will have the added powers given to him by
Ranganui, the Sky Father.

Of course there are differences within the tribes as well as the
differences directed by Creator as to our powers and abilities, most Elves
are, as you think you know, tall, slim and blonde with pointed ears, well
for once you are nearly right, most Elves do come under that general
description and are called Light Elves, but some, like myself, are of dark
complexion with long fine strands of jet black hair, we are called, Black
Elves, not to be confused with Dark Elves, also known as Dow Elves, they
are something entirely different and I will get to explain them later.

It has always been the fashion for Elves to wear their hair long, usually
down to their waists, once it reaches that length it grows no further, nope
not even cutting it will make any difference, once you are bound by the
thread, your hair stays the same for the rest of your long life.

There are other differences among the tribes, for instance, the Plains
Elves are taller, usually in your measurements, between 6'6" and 7'6" and
their stride is more of a flowing of movement when they walk or run, when
looked at with human eyes they appear to float above the ground when they
move, this has given rise to the legend that Elves can fly, Ha, again you
are wrong.

The Plains Elves are the Sword Warriors, they wear a pair of swords that
are much like a combination of what you know as a Scimitar and a Katana,
they are long curved bladed weapons made from the fabled Mithral, these are
worn on their backs for ease of use, they also wear Mithral chain mail with
Helms that are inlaid with gold and silver and are topped with a long
flowing tail of white hair taken from the tail of the Elvan Stallions, yes
they also are real but that is another story for another time.

The Woodland Elves are between 6'0 and 6'6" they are the Bow Warriors,
their garb is usually made from a special tree and woven into impenetrable
cloth over which is draped Mithral armour, their special ability is that
they can disappear into the trees and never be seen by man or beast, they
are also very accurate with their bows and have the ability to fire arrows
faster than a human can blink with each and every arrow finding its mark
with perfection.

The Ocean Elves are usually the same height as the Woodland Elves but are
heavier through the chest and shoulders from their work on the sails of
their fine boats that can run on the wind faster than a man or a horse can
run, they are the Warriors of the Knife and Axe, both are made from the
fabled Mithral and the Ocean Elves wear armour made from the tanned skin of
the Skerrit, a sea creature similar to a High Dragon, it is as tough and
strong as Mithral but as light as silk, the Ocean Elves have the ability to
control the winds and water, it is not a good idea to attack them anywhere
near either of these elements.

The Mountain Elves are the shortest of them all, most are no more than 5'
6" tall but are very thick of arm and chest and have legs like small tree
trunks, they are the Warriors of the Hammer and they have domain over the
rocks and the earth, their hammer is such that no normal human could lift
it or use it, it is imbued with magic and can split a rock the size of a
mans house with one blow, the Mountain Elves wear no armour as they are
surrounded by a magical aura that protects them.

This now leads to the difference between Light Elves, Black Elves and Dark
Elves, as I have already explained, Light Elves are blonde and their name
has nothing to do with their style of magic, unlike the Dark Elves, Black
Elves, such as I, are of course denoted by their dark visage and long black
hair, it also has nothing to do with Dark Elves.

Black Elves are very rare and also feared by most others as we are the
Mages, the Warriors of Magic but also we are the healing Elves, it is very
rare for an Elf to get injured but when it happens it is we that are
called, we are also called when a female gives birth and for all ceremonies
during the four seasons, we neither follow the good or the bad side but are
the arbitrators of both, for this reason we are usually held at arms length
from the other Elves, in all my long life I have met only seven other Black
Elves so you can see how rare we are.

Now on to the other type of Elf, the Dark Elves, or Dow Elves, these, while
not in great numbers, are to be truly feared by the unwary, they have
little soul or heart, the Dark Elves are the wielders of Dark Magic and
have the disposition of an angry Orc, not a very pleasant personality at
all, they are the raiders and never to be trusted under any circumstances,
even if they are being pleasant, also a very rare trait with them, most are
of average height and build, that is to say about 6'0" give or take a few
of your inches, they can not breed so usually steal very young children and
turn them to their side before they gather the strength to resist.

As we of the Black Elves are very strong in all facets of magic, we are
very hard to injure or kill, it is only the Dark Elves that will give us
cause to pause and think about things, their magic is as powerful as ours
and, while we have the aid of all of the spirits and the powers of all the
four corners, theirs is still strong and dangerous, it is only our ability
with all things in the natural world that gives us the edge unless the Dark
Elves catch us unawares.

And now onto the Thread, the Thread is a channel of magic, it is the way we
find our soul mate, sometimes it is female and sometimes it is male, oh yes
we don't have the hang-ups of you humans as far as sexuality goes, if your
Thread is set on a male then that is who your soul mate is, you have no say
in the matter, it is decided by the Creator, most Black Elves are mated to
another male as their magic is so strong that a female could not survive
living so close to the power of it.

To my knowledge there has never been a mating of an Elf with a human, it
would be impractical unless the Creator was having a jocular moment at the
time, but as far as I know it is unheard of, besides, your mate is for life
and humans only live for a blink of time so it would be too much of a loss
for an Elf who is capable of living for millennium unless killed by an
accident or war.

When your Thread finds your soul mate and you meet for the first touch, you
stop aging and that is why some elves look to be in their mid twenties or
thirties while others look like teenagers, it all depends on what age you
find your mate, after all this you can well understand my surprise when I
found my own mate.

I was born originally in the time of the Pharaohs; even at an early age I
knew something was wrong, both my parents were of the Light Elves and,
while at a young age I did not see what was wrong or why I could not make
any friends like the other boys and girls, it took until I was nearly in my
sixth year before I realised that I was dark haired and all the others were
blonde, at that age it hurt to be shunned by others and, even though my
parents still showered me with their love, it was still hard to live each
day, that is until I discovered magic, ah that was a day to remember.

The first sign of magic is when you see your Thread for the first time,
this usually occurs when you reach the age of puberty, for me it was in my
eighth year, even at that age I knew it meant something special, nobody of
my age group or those even above me, had seen their Thread at such a young
age, while this did not surprise my parents, as they knew I was of the
magic, being a Black Elf, it was still a surprise for me although it got
better when I realised that I could turn all the derisive remarks of my
peers back on them by magic, freedom at last.

Now the Thread in the early times will only show you the direction you must
take to find your mate, if you are, like me, able to use a little magic to
assist, then you can sometimes see a little more, in my case it was the
general area where my mate waited but as to their looks I had nothing but a
bright yellow glow that shone like the sun on a summers day, all I was
positive about was that I had to soon move Southward to find them or him, I
was sure it would be a him as that is what all Black Elves have.

>From my eighth year until the first stirrings of puberty in my thirteenth
year, the Thread increased its pull on my body, my main concern was that I
had never heard of any Elves living as far south as my magic had shown, on
the eve of my thirteenth year my parents sent me to the stones, they are a
large circle of stones that stand upright and form a ring around a seat of
magical power, in the centre of the ring as the alter stone, it is where
boys and girls are marked at puberty as free Elves and are allowed to leave
on their quest for their mates when they reach their sixteenth year as this
is seen as the safest age for a young Elf to leave their homeland.

This time, after laying on the alter and receiving my birth mark from the
Black Elf that oversaw my ceremony, I was told by my parents that I could
leave at any time to seek my Mate, the urging of the Thread was by now so
strong that I would have left without their agreement, the Black Elf that
gave me my mark, also gave me something far more valuable, as a fellow
Black Elf, he gave me my cloak, this cloak was made especially for Black
Elves and only given on by another Black Elf, in some ways it was partially
responsible for some of our magical power.

The cloak was so long it hung from your shoulders all the way down to your
ankles, it also had a deep hood that once pulled up you could not see the
face of the wearer, with a little extra magic, the face of the hood could
be made to show only blackness when looked into, the cloak was made from
the hide taken from the neck of a High Dragon, once tanned it is impervious
to damage or dirt, the fine neck scales of the dragon make it stronger than
the toughest Mithral, once given a little magic it can perform any task you
ask of it, it also has the added advantage of resisting any magic thrown at
it from another mage, for this reason alone if for no other, Black Elves
are feared, we are after all, the hardest of the Elves to kill or hurt as
long as you are wearing the cloak.

In my thirteenth year I received my cloak and knew then that I must set
out, my parents offered to purchase an Elvin Horse for me but I decided I
would use Creators legs and see the world for the first time, the pull of
my Thread would lead me unerringly to my mate so there was no way that I
could get lost and, while a horse would have been a good Idea as they are
very valuable outside the plains, I somehow knew that I would be going
further than the edge of our known lands and that a horse would or could be
a liability for a young Elf, even a young Black Elf.

There have been many theories why now and again there is a Black Elf born,
it has been debated by all and sundry but most believe it is a direct gift
of Creator and that is why we are given the ability of unlimited magic,
where as the other Elves have to be trained to use their magical abilities
much like training with their bows or swords, a Black Elf's magic is just
there, I am, therefore It Is.

There is very little that will confront a Black Elf, even the mighty Orc
will think twice about attacking a lone Black Elf and thinking is not one
of the strong points of an Orc, other fey creatures will usually give us a
very wide birth and will only confront a Black Elf under dire situations or
as a last resort, the outcome is nearly always the same though.

And so, on the day after my ceremony and with my newly acquired cape of
magic, I set my steps towards the South to find my Soul Mate, who he or she
may be is another matter that I could not fathom as I have said before, the
chances of Elves living in the barren place I had seen in my vision, gave
me some little pause, not enough that an adventurous young Elf would pull
away from the challenge but pause enough to wonder who they were and what
would they look like, it was a strange place to find a soul mate.

For most Elves the search for their mate was usually close to their home
and may only take twenty or thirty days travel, ahead of me loomed the
prospect of more than a years travel, and that was without any
interruptions on the way, a very unlikely event for a very young Black Elf
who just happened to be also very inquisitive and nosey due to his
isolation by his peers when younger.

You are probably wondering about our marking day, the ceremony is not long
but it must be performed the day you show the first signs of puberty, these
are not readily known as Elves are not encumbered with the masses of ugly
hair like humans, in fact we are hairless all over except for on our heads,
the first sign is of course the sudden lengthening of our hair, from the
normal shoulder length, almost overnight, our hair grows to waist length,
from that day onward, it never varies, if you cut it short in the evening,
by morning it is back to the waist again.

This is the sign of puberty, apart from the other obvious one, which is
when you wake in the morning to your first erection but that is kept
private until you meet your mate, the ceremony is very swift and short, the
Elf is laid on the alter naked and the presiding Black Elf asks the
assistance of Creator for the Elf's protection through life, the Black Elf
will then use a sacred knife to place a mark on your shoulder in the form
of a protective stygle, its shape and placement will tell others who you
are and where you are from, for us Black Elves it is a special mark which
in all societies of the Elves, is the mark of Creator, yes it hurt like
hell for a few seconds until the Black Elf gave it magic and stopped the
shooting pain, it was after this that the Black Elf himself laid the High
Dragon cloak over my body and pronounced me Adult.

The next morning I began my travels, it would take a few days for the cloak
to grow to me and for me to grow to the cloak, they were like a sentient
being and it took time to adjust to each other, the power and magic
contained in the cloak is overpowering and, were I not a Black Elf and
chosen by Creator, I would have succumbed to its power, for this reason a
normal Elf can not touch or even attempt to wear a High Dragon cloak.

Over the next year I would attain my full height, most Black Elves are
around 5'8" or 5'9' and of slender build, they mature earlier than other
Elves but never attain the height or muscular strength of others of their
kind, on my first few days it was almost enjoyable to see other Elves that
had for so long derided my smaller stature and dark visage, move aside on
the road or give me a wide birth in the narrower streets of the villages I
passed, it was a sign of the power built into this small frame.

In my belt pouch I carried a small number of copper and Elvin silver coins
for my passage, these were a parting gift from my parents, it was
acknowledged by them that the chances of seeing me again were very slim,
once I met my soul mate all my time would be spent with them, soul mates
can not be parted for more than a few days or they are inclined to reduce
themselves to nervous wrecks and then go into a coma until they are
reunited, it is the one and the worst shortcoming of the mating bond, it is
also for this reason that no Elf would be mated to a human, they just don't
live long enough and the Elf would be reduced to a coma very quickly and
then die of a broken heart, something that can not be fixed by the magic of
a Black Elf.

While I have spent most of the time telling you about the drawbacks of
being a Black Elf I have not told you about the good parts, as I said
earlier, we have more magic than other Elves, not only do we have all of
the abilities of the four corners, we also have others, we can see the
truth in a man, we have the ability to heal as I have already said, we can
pull magical power from anywhere, for instance, if we are attacked by Orcs
we can pull power from their very life force and turn it against them or
just gather it from the ground under our feet, our cloak gives us the
freedom to stay anywhere and in any conditions, if it is cold, the cloak
will keep us warm, if it is hot, the cloak will keep us cool, if it is wet,
the cloak will keep us dry, when we lay down to sleep, it matters not where
we are, the cloak will give us a soft place to lay, even if it is amongst
rocks and stones, it also protects us while we sleep, while wearing the
cloak we can go for days on end without the need to sleep as long as we can
sit to eat a huge amount of food to replace the used energy.

Under special circumstances we can produce food by magic and, while this is
very handy, the food is generally not as filling as true food so we use
this ability only under circumstances that make it difficult to find food
any other way, while I travelled I would pick fruits and berries along the
way and, in the evening, if I was close to a village, I would stay at an
Inn or hostelry and eat my fill, even as young as I was I had no fear of
ever being accosted or cheated, no sane person would attempt that with a
Black Elf, young or old, unless they were only a human.

For the first week I travelled well, striding along with the certainty of
youth, the pull of my Thread urging me onward, most evenings I was able to
find a room in a village and, like any youth, fill my belly to overflowing
for the next days travel, it was on the tenth day that I had my first
understanding of who I was.

As I strode along during mid morning, I heard ahead of me loud shouting, as
I quickened my steps I soon saw just over a rise in the road, two Elves in
a fight for their lives with four Orcs, it looked to be a mated pair, both
were plains Elves and stood back to back with their curved swords flashing,
the female held only a single sword as all females do, the young man was
using both of his, do not think that Elvin females are any less than a man
in a fight, it would be a very serious mistake to think so but both were
under pressure from all four Orcs attack at a single time.

With the ignorance of youth a rushed forward, at that time I didn't really
know what I would do as, like all Black Elves, I carried no weapons, as I
got closer I could see that the male had already sustained an injury to one
leg and was only holding on through sheer will power, the female was
beginning to tire but still held her place to protect her mate.

The first thing I truly noticed as I came closer was the rank smell of the
Orcs, not the sort of thing you want to encounter just before breakfast,
one of them was severely wounded and was out of the fight, the other three
however were not in the least worried about their friend as they forced the
attack on the two Elves.

Not being a trained Warrior, I was at first not quite sure what I should do
to help, I had no weapons, and even if I had some I did not know how to use
them so I did the only thing I could come up with on the spur of the
moment, I raised both hands and imagined a bright blue flaming orb in each
one, once they were formed a l sent them at high speed towards the three
remaining Orcs, there was a bright flash and the intense smell of something
rancid, where the three Orcs had been was now a burnt hole in the ground, I
think it was a little bit of overkill after seeing the results, the two
Elves were also singed but not badly, I think the sudden shock of my attack
and the power of it surprised them somewhat, as it did myself.

The fourth Orc did not have time to look for me as the Elvin man quickly
separated his head from his shoulders and sent him onto the place all dead
Orcs go to after death, after a quick introduction to the two, I assisted
in healing the man of his wound and watched as they departed with their
thanks for the help, in the direction I had just come from, myself I set
out for the next village and a huge meal, I must have used more power than
I thought as I was truly feeling as though my back bone had come forward to
greet my stomach.

In mid afternoon I came across the village, for the next two hours I filled
my small stomach to over full, it cost me a full silver coin to pay for it
all, at this rate I would have to be very careful or I would run out of
coin before I reached my soul mate, it seemed as though as quick as I ate
it disappeared, it was the first indication on how much power it took to
perform very high magic without being prepared before hand, it was a lesson
I did not need to learn twice.

For the next two weeks I travelled Southward, each day now brought
something new, a healing here, an assistance with a birth there, giving
help to a traveller or helping a farmer to improve his crops, each and
every thing gave me more idea on who I was and what my purpose was, it also
refilled my belt purse, I may have been young and inexperienced but I was
not fool enough to think I would do all this for free, every man must look
to his own welfare.

There now remained many more weeks and months before I would find my hidden
soul mate, those times of travel would complete my education in begin a
Black Elf, unfortunately not all of them would be as easy nor as final as
the battle with the Orcs, my first meeting with humans was just such an
example, but that is for next time.


TBC.


Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz