Leaning back into his chair, the man began his tale: A long time ago, there was this elf, see? And she was a beautiful woman, right? But she wouldn’t have anything to do with the menfolk. She was going to be some sort of shrine maiden. That was all she wanted in her life. And being a shrine maiden was hard work She had to be pure in thought, word and deed.

There’s where the trouble began. See, there was the dragon, this black dragon. He used to take human form and torment the folks around these parts Being all mischievous and stirring up all sorts of trouble. He lays eyes on this here elf maiden and gets his blood all a boiling. So he takes her. Against her will, you see? She had been out praying for strength and mercy and wisdom. All that good stuff. She was going to be made a shrine maiden come morning. Except come morning the other ladies found her all beat up and bleeding. That black dragon, he had taken her, so she was no longer pure. She couldn’t be a shrine maiden no more.

Well, that elf lady was destroyed. She wanted to die, but elves, see, they value life above all things. Suicide’s not an option for her. So she gets all heavy with this half dragon in her. Hating her life. Wanting to die. Unable to. She drops the kid in the winter. Big storm. Huge. Worst of the year. And the half dragon is a little girl.

So the elf raises it, the kid. She even comes to love it. After all, it’s her child, right? Never mind the right half of the kid is covered in black scales. She’s still beautiful to her mother.

Later, there’s this war, see? Between dragons and monsters. And the dragon’s lose big time from what I hear. But anyway, during this war, the elf gets killed ,along with a bunch of others from these parts. The kid, who’s a woman by now, fights in the war. She gets beat up real bad by some powerful monster, and he decides to humiliated this half dragon. So he forces himself on her.

Now the kid is in a real dilemma. See, she was raised to think like an elf, to be an elf more than a dragon. So she can’t kill herself either. She goes away from all of the people here and drops her kid in private. Thing is, she took a couple of her elf friends with her. Good thing too, as she dies after the kid is born.

Now here’s these few elf ladies, with this thing to deal with. Their friend just died, and they don’t know what to do. So they take the kid to an elder elf to see what to do. This old elf man takes a look at the kid and says that he will care for it. All his kids are dead now too see? The war. Civilian casualties. So the elf ladies leave the kid with the elder elf.

 Thing is, this elder takes a real shine to the kid. So he treats the kid like his own. And the kid loves him. When the elder elf dies, the kid is real sad, see? But there is another elf there to take care of him. The elder elf’s servant. So the kid had a few more good years in the elder elf’s home. Then the servant dies too. So what’s the kid gonna do? He decides, the kid was a boy this time, see? The kid decides to go travel to the place where his mother had died. The mother was supposed to be a spirit or something, waiting there for him so that she could give a proper goodbye to him. You know how elves are about their proper customs and all. But the kid, see, he meets up with this crazy young wizard who knows he’s something special.

The kid wants nothing to do with him.

The wizard gets all bent out of shape and attacks the kid. Now the kid is pretty strong, right? I mean, he’s an elf and a dragon and half a monster. Quite the bloodline right? But see, the kid had never been taught to use his magic. The elder elf didn’t know how, or didn’t want the kid to know how. So this crazy wizard, he attacks the kid and, seeing that he can’t hurt him, he binds him with some sort of spell.

The kid can’t do anything anymore. Not unless the wizard tells him to. Now, if the wizard told him to impale himself on a crucifix during a lightning storm, the kid would have to do it, right? Cause he was bound by the wizard. So this wizard takes the kid, see, and teaches him magic. All kinds of magic: Dark magic, White magic, Shamanistic magic, Healing magic, Death magic, the whole works. Cause the kid can do it all. Good and bad blood in his veins, right?

So the wizard calls the kid Valerian. Something about sleeping right? Reference to death is my guess. And this wizard see, he’s getting old now, and the kid is still young because of his blood. Now the wizard was crazy when he was young. He’s totally loony now that he’s old. Want’s to be immortal. Thing is, evil as the guy is, the Mazoku race won’t touch him. Cause even though he’s powerful, he ain’t all that bright. Gets the kid to do all his dirty work for him. Thinks he’s a real mister fancy pants. The monsters, well, they know better.

So now, this crazy old wizard, he can barely move. He’s all rotten inside and falling apart. Thing is, nobody can kill him because he still controls the kid. Nobody can get near him because the kid is too strong. Toast them in an instant. Bamm! Nothing to it. Instant dirt nap.

Now the wizard, his name’s Colanthus, the wizard wants to get even more powerful, thinks he can switch bodies with young men. Tries it with his slave first, finds he can’t do it. But thinks he did. Told you, the guy’s crazy. So now off he rides, trying to court the kings daughter, a real chit of a thing. Tangy as blueberry jam she was. She tells him right where to go see. Thinks he’s just some dirty old man tormenting her. So he gets all indignant and the like. And he sends the kid to kill her. But we didn’t know this.

King’s daughter goes missing. Two weeks go by. Nothing. Searching everywhere. Nothing. Then, after a month has passed, this here letter shows up at the palace, this ugly bird-thing brings it. Ol’ Colanthus, see, he tells the king that he offed his daughter. And now, he’s gonna off whomever he feels like, because he’s immortal and invincible. Thinks he’s the kid see? So the king realizes the old wizard’s really stepped in it this time. But he doesn’t know what to do, seeing as the kid’s so powerful. They hadn’t hurt anybody before now see? Everybody just stayed out of their way, and they kept to themselves. Now, nobody knows what to do.

Yesterday, I found the body of the princess scattered in a corner of my field. Hardly anything left. Barely enough to bury. It was awful. Awful. . .

The man slumped, visibly worn from the effort of telling his story. He rested his head between his hands and began to sob softly. His shoulders shook. Zelgadis sat, shaken. Xellos had forgotten his hot chocolate, which was, by now, far from hot.

The man looked up at Zelgadis, tears in his eyes, his voice thick and hoarse.

"It was awful, what that crazy wizard made the poor boy do."