"Six turies!" excimed Aira. "That's several lifetimes for an average person! Even if they live lohanks to magid that's not a given."

  "As I said," Ainorrh replied, "We live slower lives as enlightened. It doesn't feel that long. But I uand how it be perceived, especially by the humans of this world."

  "So, what happened?" Aira asked.

  "One day, everything ged," Ainorrh said. "Some people woke up and they were the same. But others, like me, got ected to the Nexus. We never got any expnations of why that happened or how the sele was made."

  "In my world," Aira said, "we don't even know if the System was always there or if it appeared in some fotten time. For all of us, it just… is…"

  "It seems that we teach each other a lot of things about different aspeagic," Ainorrh said, smiling. "And even about philosophy and ology. Anyway, the first decades after the ge were very dark for my people. We lost the ability to unicate with humans and became outcasts. Initially, we were able to uand them, retaining most of the memories. But we weren't able to answer. And other methods of unication, like writing, weren't an option."

  "Ah, I rete to that st part," said Aira, unsciously rubbing her wrists. "I remember these first weeks after the transition really well..."

  Aira tiransting Ainorrh's story to Li, and the woman ented: "By the roots, I picture it clear as sunrise. Living through it with Aira, I've seen just how tahings get."

  "You ?" asked Ainorrh, "How peculiar. So, did you try to kill her for being different?"

  After a brief moment of hesitation, Aira trahe message in its plete acridity. Li choked on these words but answered, heless: "Not a the shadowline," Li said firmly. "I worked my tail off trying te the gap, though I'll grant you, there were others who wanted her gone. 't deny that ugly truth."

  "Ah… Sweet child," said Ainorrh, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "There were people like you in the old times. All of them who didn't join us were killed by your fellow humans in the end."

  "But anyway, it was quite scary at the beginning," Ainorrh tinued. "The smartest and the luckiest of us put at least some distaween themselves and the humans. I 't say I was smart enough to do that, but as you see, I definitely was lucky."

  "Well, you obviously survived," said Aira. "But how did your introdu to magic go? How did you even figure out what was happening?"

  "If you think that it was just like a menu popping up in our minds, you are wrong," Ainorrh said. "At least that's not how it happened for me. The process was gradual. But then, pretty soon, most of us started exhibitirange powers and abilities. Magic that aligned with one of the four affinities or elements, whatever you want to call it: air, earth, water, and fire."

  "Do you have any theories of how they were assigned?" asked Aira.

  "Not a clue," answered Ainorrh." But nowadays, the naturally transitioning enlightened most likely gets the affinity of the closest enlightened ter. So, most people in the viity of Wentouk will be aligned with the Air element."

  "And what about humans?" asked Li, still hoping for something. As usual, Aira transted her question to Ainorrh.

  "And humans still ruled the world," answered Ainorrh. "They still held a lot of power and we didn't yet know the limits of our new abilities. You probably guess how the situation evolved."

  "No, I meahere any humans with magiot a single spark i of us?" added Li.

  "Ah, that," Ainorrh smiled, but her smile redatory this time. "Luckily for us, no humans had magic. We wouldn't be here otherwise, I guess."

  "If all of you were low-level and unanized but with range abilities," Aira said. "Usually, somebody powerful es and decides to add ing tools to their powerset."

  "Yes, some of the most powerful humans decided it would be fun to experiment on us," Ainorrh said. "tration camps were built, and many of my fellow enlightened were tortured and killed. These experiments, though, only boosted the skills for other enlightened. Made them progress faster thahe ones who survived. That's whearted gaining access to the Nexus interfad expl our neabilities deeper. And soon we rebelled."

  "Not a leaf of that's ever reached my ears," said Li. "Still, after what I've seen with Garrick's mess and the Elders treating Aira like a cursed vine, I 't say it shocks me. What ihorny thicket did they do to you, Ainorrh?"

  "I was among the lucky ones, I guess," Ainorrh said. "My first skill was Enlightened Governance. Back then, more of us got skills that didn't have any obvious elemental fvor. It's different now. The skill didn't have any fshy effects, so, I was mostly left to rot in a prison. But then, it was this skill that allowed me to create my first squad. Day after day, year after year, I've built what you see here, around you."

  "But there was a war in the end?" asked Li. "Humans versus… enlightened? All my life, we've been told you lot attacked us first, drove us out of the old cities. That's why we're stuck carviowns out of the wilderness. Roots and rivers, what really went down?"

  "Well, one definitely say that we started the war," Ainorrh said. "After we were ensved and tortured for years. As you imagihere wasn't much love between our races. For several decades, we fought for independence. And yes, in the end, we pushed humans away from the cities. But these cities were ours as much as they were theirs, you know. And it wasn't us who started the violence. In the beginning… we were just disoriented and pletely lost. We didn't deserve to be exploited."

  Ainorrh paused her narration, absentmindedly looking into the distance.

  "Our numbers were quite lht from the start," she tinued in a few moments. "And even with the new magical powers, it was hard to overwhelm the humans. Still, we succeeded iing a atus quo. Our skills remihem of fairy tales, the most horrific stories childreo each other. They brought a primordial threat from deep within their psyche. And we were able to exploit that fear. You know, we still remembered these fears well, ing from the same source. Ultimately, we were left alone and allowed to build our new unities."

  "But how exactly did you get the a cities?" Aira asked. "If I uand Li correctly, all humans of this world nowadays live in smaller towns they established after the Fall. And after walking through this a city that sprawls around your forest, it seems there were many more humans right before the camity than the modern bined popution of humans and enlightened."

  "You are right once again, bravo!" said Ainorrh. "We braved through some dark times. By the end of the war between humans and the enlightened, not more than ten pert of the old popution remained. We still were a minority, but the difference wasn't as stark as before. That, probably, was one of the reasons why humans finally left us alone."

  Li was ily following the story through bursts of transmissioo her by Aira. While it answered some of her burning questions, the woman wasn't yet ready to believe without any doubt that the undead, or the enlightened, as they called themselves, were bmeless victims of that a flict. They held so much power! They could have easily overwhelmed humans. But then, if they could, why they didn't? Why the humans were allowed to live?

  "That's not the tale we've beehe story of the fall of the old civilization," she said, after some hesitation. "We lear was some kind of shift—turned people into undead, zombies… or enlightened, if that's what you want to call it. But then you all went straight for our throats, sughtering humans wholesale. At least, that's how it's always been told."

  "Ah… zombies… another fun word," said Ainorrh. "You know that it es from the old scary stories and myths of the a human civilization? And, yes, while there are some simirities with the undead from those old stories, like the fact that we don't o eat or sleep, even the Nexus itself reizes us as the enlightehat should t for something, right?"

  She looked at Li, waiting while Aira transferred the message in full.

  "In my world, history is often written by the victors," said Aira. "I'm not surprised by the flig messaging. But who is the victor here?"

  "As I said, now there's a ban the world," said Ainorrh. "And we are happy to keep that bance. I hope that this world is the victor. It itself became more banced. And our task is to make it eveer."

  Suddenly, she took Aira's palm in her hands.

  "I wouldn't lie or hide anything from you, Aira," Ainorrh said, looking directly into Aira's eyes. "You may be a crucial element in that."

  "How so," asked Aira, rattled by this sudden show of affe. "I'm just an outworlder looking for a way home. I'm just passing through."

  "But your appearan this world, it was… unusual," Ainorrh said. "All of us high shama it. You should feel it as well! We discussed it with each other and waited while you tacted us. We were sure you'd find your way to the enlightened, even if it took some time. And, as you imagine, we know how to wait."

  She paused again as if remembering the events of the past turies.

  "As I said, there is a banow," said Ainorrh." And we feel like all of us, both enlightened and humans, are much closer to nature now. Of course, they 't se as deep as we do. But the old civilization was exploiting this world, it wasn't good. Humans… as you see, it's their doe to spin that old flict as an unprovoked attack. While I don't think I say anything that would sound like proof to Li, I tell you that I'm among the few enlightened who still remember the old days. There are not many of us left. Most of our brothers and sisters transded much ter, after the war had ended."

  ***

  Li didn't even wait for Aira to transmit all of Ainorrh's words. Her head inning. She stood up aantly made a few steps away from the treehouse, away from Aira and Ainorrh.

  Her undead friend made a motion to stand up as well and looked at Li questioningly. But Li sigo her not to leave Ainorrh and to give her some space.

  She made a few more steps and then threw up. Her head was light, ahoughts were in plete disorder.

  "How could all of that even be! Elder's madness…" she whispered. "Lies... Lies everywhere...!"

  Somebody unched her fist and put a gss of water in it. Only then did Li realize she was on her knees. She took the gss and gnced up. It was Aira trying to help her.

  Everything she had just heard raised a lot of doubts in her. All the things she saw around her went against everything she knew about the undead for her whole life.

  Who was lying? Or who was lying more? Which side?

  These people weren't the mindless monsters she had been taught to fear. That alone made her questiohing. But then, pletely demolishing the foundation of her beliefs wasn't easy. She had to grasp onto something, to leave something to build on. The enlightened... they were intelligent beings with their own society, culture, and history. Moreover, they were the humans of the old times. At least this shaman supposedly was.

  The revetion was overwhelming, leaving her flicted and agitated. She couldn't stay still, her mind rag with a flood of emotions. She began to pace around the clearing, going even further away from Aira, her steps quid restless.

  She looked at the two undead who were watg her with their shining, unnatural eyes.

  "That 't be!" Li excimed, her voice rising in disbelief. "Impossible! Those bastards lied to us all these years!"

  Her fists ched at her sides, Li's eyes fshed with a mixture of anger and fusion.

  "Everything I've ever known... it's all been a lie?"

  Li saw Aira watg her with . That reminded Li that her undead friend had to undergo araransformation. Still, it wasn't like her whole life was a lie. And again, why did she even have to believe everything Ainorrh said? She could have her own agenda.

  "Li, please calm down," Aira said gently, stepping closer and taking Li's hand into hers. "I know this is a lot to take in, but you have to breathe and think clearly. Let's figure this out oep at a time. We learned somethioday. Now we just o adjust."

  Li stopped pag and looked at Aira, her eyes filled with a desperate need for answers.

  "Calm down? By the bark, Aira, how I?" she asked. "If any of this is true, it uproots everything I've ever known! How am I supposed to go bay town after this? Face my friends ahem the whole forest of our beliefs is a lie? And even if I do, how do I get them to buy into this taale? Will I even have a ce to see them again?"

  Aira stepped closer, hugging Li. "We'll figure it out," she said. "Just breathe."

  "Probably," said Li, tearing herself away from Aira's embrace. "But right now, I need space—time to untahis mess in my head."

  And with that, Li stomped away into the magical forest.