When Toma woke up, he saw that all the other elves were
lying on the floor too. He felt a sudden dizziness. Then he
got up and started searching for Eldiea and the chief. The
evacuation centre was full of darkness, and silence filled the
area.
He searched the whole area and suddenly noticed Eldiea
lying on the floor with her bow in one hand and in the other
hand, she was holding an arrow that was hard like a rock.
He woke Eldiea. When she woke up, she immediately
started searching for someone or something.
Toma asked her what the matter was. But she kept on
ignoring him and kept on looking for something particular.
On noticing her strange behaviour, Toma decided to find the
chief and ask him what was going on.
Toma, when he saw the chief of elves, he was covered in
bruises as if someone had attacked him. He noticed a quite
large red bruise on his right arm as if the enemy kept on
hitting that spot for a long time.
So, Toma woke the chief up. When the chief woke up, he
also started behaving the same way as Eldiea, looking for something or someone. Toma asked the chief if he could
help him in any way. The chief reacted the same way as
Eldiea, ignoring him as if he didn't even exist.
After searching for a while, when the chief found nothing
and was hopeless, Eldiea came rushing to the chief with the
green cloth and the small wooden box Toma remembered in
his blurry memories.
"Chief, I found something horrible!" exclaimed Eldiea,
handing over the objects to the chief.
"What is it? What happened? You look very..." The chief's
eye fell on the wooden box and the cloth, and he stopped
talking.
"The ORE, THE ORE...", Eldiea took a heavy sigh and
continued. "THE ORE HAS BEEN STOLEN." Saying so, she
bust out in tears.
The chief opened the small wooden box and found a small
piece of paper in it. The paper was curled into a ball. The
chief unfolded the paper and read the text inside it. He
looked devastated, then he put the paper away and looked
inside the box and found the box empty.
The box was covered in gold on the outside and, inside the
box lay a red silk cloth under which something that looked
like cotton was placed.
"What's the ore, chief? Who stole it?" Toma asked the chief
to know the details about what was going on around him.
"The ore is a very important aspect of our lives. We can't
afford to lose it. The ore is said to have been given by the
creator of this world to the first elf that was born in this
world. No one knows its significance. But it is a very integral
part of our lives. If we were to lose it, it would be a shame for
our ancestors who had been protecting Thaloryn with their
lives." the chief answered gloomily.
"Thaloryn? Is it the name of that ore?' Toma asked out of
curiosity.
"Yes, indeed." Eldiea answered with a gloomy yet strong
voice.
"But I want to ask a question. How come we were all put to
sleep? I can still feel the dizziness in my whole body." Toma
asked.
"I think they used the sleeping gas when everyone was busy
at the banquet. I think that someone must have infiltrated
the place and, they had this planned all the time. On top of
that, I think that 'that someone' is a hero who all this time
was among us and, most probably someone was with him
this whole time.", the chief put forward his idea.
"I think, Chief, you are right because when I was searching
for Thaloryn. I found footprints in the gathering area. There
were footprints of two people." Eldiea agreed with the chief's
conclusion.
"I don't know, but when I was asleep, my eyes opened for a
second and, I saw the chief coming out of the dungeon with
that box and the cloth. But I don't know what happened
after that." Toma told them what he saw in his blurry
memory.
"You saw ME? But I was asleep the whole time, like all of
you. Are you sure it was me?" The chief was taken by
surprise listening to Toma's memory. Even Eldiea couldn't
believe what she heard.
"I am a hundred percent sure it was you. When I woke up, I
saw Eldiea with her bow and arrow, and you covered in
bruises." Toma further told them what he saw earlier.
The chief and Eldiea agreed with him, as it was clearly
visible that the chief was covered in bruises. Eldiea, too,
remembered that she had a bow and an arrow in her hand,
but why she couldn't remember.
Slowly, everyone in the camp started to wake up on their
own, but they didn't know about the tragedy that had just
taken place in their lives. Just like those three, on interrogation, they came to know that everyone in the camp
also lost their memories of the moment after the banquet.
Out of irresistible curiosity, Toma asked Eldiea, "What was
the significance of the green cloth?"
Eldiea looked straight into Toma's eyes and said, "Nothing,
it's just a normal cloth."
Listening to this answer, Toma couldn't control his laugh.
The way the box and the cloth were hyped by the two, Toma
couldn't think that it was just a normal cloth. But seeing the
seriousness of the matter at that time, Toma decided to hold
his laugh and be serious like a mature adult.
Some elves started to get a little suspicious of Toma as all
this took place just after he arrived. But keeping in mind the
agreement of Toma on his arrival, the majority of elves
thought that it was just a coincidence. But still, some of the
elves did not agree that Toma was not related to all of this.
Some of the elves even started to accuse Toma of being the
reason that all was happening and pointed their weapons at
him. That's when the Chief came to rescue. The chief took all
the responsibility on him instead of dumping it on Toma.
The moment everyone in the camp woke up and realised
Thaloryn was stolen, all of them started to panic and, started thinking about what would now happen in their lives and
how they all would survive without it.
There was a hush and rush everywhere. Amidst this
confusion, Eldiea was sitting at the corner of the room, lost
and lonely. Toma approached her to calm her down. She was
sitting alone not because she was sad. She was sitting alone
because she was angry and she didn't want to show that
anger to anyone else.
It was always her habit to be alone whenever she was full of
emotions, whether it was happiness or anger. She didn't
want to accept the reality because it was harsh. No one else
in the camp was as worried as she was about the situation.
"Eldiea, why are you sitting alone? Don't worry! We'll figure
out something. I will help you get the ore back. Just trust
me. Everything would be fine." Toma tried his best to
console her and distract her mind.
"YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND!" Eldiea cried out loud.
"Yes, I know I won't understand. I WON'T UNDERSTAND
UNTIL YOU EXPLAIN IT TO ME. So, please, make me
understand."
The pleading words of Toma and a sense that someone cared
about her, pierced right through Eldiea's heart. She was so
overwhelmed with emotions that she started stuttering.
32 "How?.... How can... I make... You... understand? What I
have... been through... how can I put it in words? The pain....
the suffering... the sense of being the one to be alone... How
will you understand it? How?"
"I understand. The pain... The suffering... The sense of being
alone... I will try my best to understand your pain. So tell
me."
"My family... My family... always... have been in charge of
protecting the ore... so much... that my parents... my parents
died protecting that ore. I... don't know how to express the
feeling of wrath and pain that I am suffering from right now.
Thanks for asking about my pain."
"Talking and listening to one's pain reduces it. Even when I
was just listening to it, it somehow made me feel your pain.
So don't live the sorrowful life alone. I am here to help you
anytime you want. So trust me. I want nothing, just your
trust."
"Okay, okay." Wiping off the sorrowful smile from her face,
she turned to her bold self and said, "Well, be ready.
Tomorrow, I am gonna be harsh on you. Tomorrow is the
first day of your training. And once you are ready, we will
look for the ore."
"Aye, aye, boss." Said Toma in an effort to make her smile.
33 A small smile cracked on her face from the depths of
sadness. For Toma, this moment felt familiar, like that one
moment of a friend in his life who he tried his best to forget.
Eldiea took Toma to the place where he was supposed to
sleep that night. Eldiea looked at his messy hair, and with a
pretty smile, wished him a good night.
The next morning, Toma woke up with a rooster beside his
bed. He was surprised to see a rooster with big black eyes
and was the height of a deer. It had large feathers like a
peacock but was a rooster. This made his mind sick,
thinking whether he was dreaming or not.