• The elder sat down on the chair as Carl came in through the doorway into the elders council room.
    The circular room, even without any source of light, glowed in the twilight hours casting a soft midnight blue aura on Carl.
    "Carl. I heard you were coming. Come. Approach." The elder said raising his sunked, aged grey eyes to the boy.
    Carl did as he was told, carfully walking down the blue stone path that lead to the high chair the elder was sitting in.
    "Is there something you wanted to tell me, elder?" Carl asked, he was slightly upset about his rude awakening from his little sleep after he had trained for a good 15 to 20 hours in the elf-styled dojo.
    The elder smiled and his eyes wrinkled into crescents.
    "I was wondering through the the garden when I was struck by something... Did your human parents ever tell you stories as a child?" The elder asked letting his hands weave together.
    "A few...when I was little." Carl replied softly, he didn't want to remember that he was never going to see his family again.
    "Like what?" The elder asked with the sound of a curious grandfather.
    "Normal human stories, like Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood..."
    "Were there any involving angels and demons?" The elder interupted.
    Carl rubbed his chin.
    "I don't think so..." He said.
    "Have you heard of the tale of the Angel's Curse?" The elder asked and before Carl could answer, "I don't believe you have. It's an elf story passed down from each generation.
    "The story goes that once in the human world Angels walked the same paths as men. They were servants of the a greater good and so lived only to spread peaceful prosperity to all those they met."
    "But you said there were demons as well." Carl interupted.
    The elder laughed. "Forgetful tonight are we? You never interupt the story until it is over." He may have laughed but under the expression was a deep warning tone.
    "As I was about to explain, if there were Angels then Demons did as well, and as the stories tell of them they were beings of evil, hatred. They wondered into the hearts of humans and spread greed and despair.
    "The Angels and Demons fought constantly, both viewing the other as the enemy, both had the power to sway man's heart to good or evil.
    "But the story goes that a young Angel existed during the Angel and Demon war. As his kind he spread love and compassion to everyone he found until one day he met a young girl. He could tell from that she was harboring deep hatred inside her heart.
    "The young Angel was drawn to her and insisted she let him help her but she refused the kindness and wished him to leave her alone."
    The elder stopped and sighed dropping his gaze.
    "Before long the war turned violent and all Angels and all Demons drew arms and doned armor preparing for the final battle.
    "The young Angel, his mind still transfixed on the the pained girl, placed his helmat on his head and drew his blade and as all the others charged the wave of Demons."
    The elder seemed to wince as he spoke and still kept his head down.
    "The Angel spotted a demon dressed in all armor and they began to battle in the chaotic battle. For days the two fought, neither tiring, until finally the young Angel landed a blow to the temple of the demon shattering the helmat."
    The elder paused and became silent. Carl was entraced by the story and invisioned it in his head until the final blow...
    "The helmat flew off and the sun shown down on the young girl the Angel was smitted with. He gazed at her face, the anger and surprise as the hit and before she could counter attack... the Angel let his blade slip down into the dirt under them. The demon surprise only deeped and the Angel removed his helmat.
    "They say that when the two locked eyes the world stopped spinning, the wind stopped flowing, time itself stopped going. The two were in love. The Angel and Demon. And they decided to run away together."
    The elder's voice shook.
    "But they races found out about the the plan and immediatly called retreats. The leaders of both Angels and Demons met and discussed a treaty. Neither side wished for the love to continue, nor for new ones to arise.
    "The treaty stated that the races will remain seperate and so the Angels created a land in the clouds to live in and called it Heaven, and likewise, Demons tore into the ground and made a home they called Hell."
    Carl didn't even breath at all as the elder spoke.
    "When the Angels left for Heaven and the Demons for Hell, mankind was left with fragments of both good and evil creating the Humans today."
    The elder throughout this part seemed to choke.
    "The war was ended by the love of two being that can never be together..."
    The elder seemed to slump back as if his energy was drained from the retailing of the story.
    "That is it." The elder said at last, "That is the story I can only tell once every generation..." He sighed deeply as if his lungs were compressed, "You may go to bed now."
    But Carl barely heard the elder. He couldn't help but think about the one he had left behind in his old life... The girl he left.