It was daybreak.
The elven forest was calm, the passing breeze brushing past the leaves which rustled in merriment as the breeze made its way to their camp.
And then it caressed the houses, carrying with it a thick smell of ash…
And blood.
Eliron's eyes slowly opened and he groaned angrily, feeling as though he had slept on a rock.
But strangely, apart from that, he felt perfectly fine. His body that was meant to be tired and the injury he had sustained were all gone.
Almost as if they had vanished overnight.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Yennefer's face. She was sitting down next to him, her head slightly tilted, and her silver hair spilling over her shoulders to frame her face.
'Was she watching me through the night?' Eliron mused. 'She probably healed my wounds then…'
Yennefer's eyelids twitched slightly, and then she opened them, her golden pupils shimmering for a moment before settling.
"Oh? Eliron, you're already awake." She smiled as she stretched.
"Ahhhhhhh… My second day on the mortal realm, let's make the best of it—"
She paused mid sentence and tapped Eliron's shoulder.
Eliron grudgingly sat up straight. "What is it—?!"
They were surrounded on all sides by the wood elves.
Many of them wore tattered clothes, their faces covered in soot, some were injured terribly, their bodies bruised from last night's events.
But there was one thing common in every single one of them, it was an expression Eliron had once seen on himself as well.
Despair.
Hopelessness.
Defeat.
He took in a deep breath, feeling a little pang of pain in his chest, then he rose to his feet and stared at them, his eyes hard.
He didn't even need to refer to the story to know what was happening with them. He had lived 18 years of his life with them after all.
The wood elves were subject to violent bullying. They were treated as second class, less than even animals.
Trading was difficult for them, their food was always being rationed and worse of all, they were caged in on all sides by supernatural monsters.
Every now and then, one or two creatures would even sneak into the village and snatch up a child or two, depending on their appetite.
It was horrible.
And the reason for their torment?
It was ironic really. The cause of these people's grief, and the ones who paid the mercenaries to plunder the village were one and the same.
'The high elves.'
The crowd began to part and out of them came a man more muscular than most elves, holding a large double edged axe stained in blood.
There was a large bloody wound on his chest, and each step he took was laboured, but he still managed to make his way to Eliron.
When he arrived, he stopped right in front of him, his gaze sharp as he stared down at Eliron's small frame.
His face hardened, he clenched his jaw and then he immediately went to his knees.
"BOW BEFORE THE NEW LORD OF THE WOOD ELVES!" he screamed with tears rolling down his eyes.
The crowd immediately began to weep as well because they knew exactly what it meant.
Their lord was dead.
And yet, they screamed at the top of their voices, their voices tinged with fear and anguish.
"May your days be as long as the Tanakan tree whose branches stretch over the world!"
"May your youth be as unshakable as the northern mountains that never change!"
"May your wisdom span forever like the ancient Nile!"
"May your reign be filled with peace!"
All the elves fell to a knee, their heads bowed in reverence.
'It's just like the novel…' Eliron thought as he watched them.
The man in front of him was Ash, his brother's right hand man and head of the village guards.
Ash stared up at him and smiled sadly. "It's great to see you survived my lord, I'm sorry to throw this onto you but the people need a leader."
Eliron nodded, his expression difficult to read.
"The people are down and morale is declining. No one is working to rebuild the village because they feel it will only get torn down once again."
Ash slowly shook his head.
"I understand them, but we can't just do nothing. We have to keep fighting down to our last breaths!" Ash said fiercely, then he took a deep breath to calm himself.
"I already tried to talk to them, but at the end of the day, my influence has its limits."
He glanced up at Eliron, meeting his gaze.
"What do you want me to do?" Eliron asked.
"Usually, our late lord would give a speech at this time to raise their morale…"
Although Ash had said it confidently, Eliron noticed the slight change in his demeanor.
That was how he knew…
He was just speaking for the sake of speaking. In truth, he had no faith that Eliron would be able to move their hearts.
It was not his fault…
Eliron lived a quiet life and was rather reclusive and shy. He was like a pampered boy who never really stepped into the world.
But that was the old Eliron.
Eliron took a step forward.
"A speech huh?"
Ash immediately noticed a shift in the atmosphere. 'Is he really going to—'
"Wood elves!"
Eliron's voice boomed over the forest, interrupting Ash's thoughts.
"What do you want from me?!"
"Do you want me to encourage you? Give you words of comfort? Tell you it is going to be alright?! Bullshit!"
The wood elves shared a look, unsure of what had gotten into the young lord.
He was far different from the calm boy who would skip around the village and help out whichever way he could.
Right now, he was like an entirely different person.
Ash's heart fell. 'What the hell is he doing?'
Eliron on the other hand gritted his teeth.
He had lived at the bottom of the food chain in his last life, and now, he had been reincarnated into a world where his race was second fiddle to all others.
The same old script rewritten and tossed back into his face. It was as though fate was trying to mock him.
He was more than angry, Eliron was furious!
And the more he looked at the elves, the more his rage grew.
'How could they be content living like this?'
"You are a bunch of nobodies, you can't even eat three times a day, the forest smells of shit and there is probably a monster hiding, waiting to snatch up your children."
He paused, giving them a few seconds to gawk at him.
"And you want a speech?! You want me to live your own lives? What are you? Fucking children?!"
Every single day, Eliron had gotten up from his bed, fueled by self motivation.
He had run from site to site, lifting blocks and heavy metal just to make his dream a reality.
And here they were, months away from death waiting for a speech.
"For centuries we have suffered under the abuse of those bastards that call themselves high elves."
"We have been driven from our lands and sent into this death zone!"
"We have starved, cried and been utterly humiliated! Are you just going to stand there and watch it happen?"
"Are you going to sit back and let those bastards dictate your life till the day you die?!"
A wave of murmurs spread through the crowd, a fierce argument brewing in their midst.
There were three types of motivations in the world that could drive people to the point of madness.
The first was religion, a powerful force that could drive people to lay down their lives for their faith.
The second was love, intense emotions that pushed people to the point of sacrificing their lives, bodies and resources to see the other person happy.
And the last was hate.
Eliron was going to fuel their hate, he was going to use it as a catalyst to ignite their hearts, and then he would force these lazy fucks…
To evolve!