#taleofalora

All stuff that comes from the fact I started writing this stuff like, day one of this account more or less. Plans change, plots change.

My plan was original to do this after the story was done, but it was driving me nuts.

So I've started it now. No real major changes, but good stuff for long time readers to go back to again to see the small changes, new readers wont be confused by just blatant misinformation, and it let me clean everything up for a potential audiobook-esk version.

CHAPTER 18: Certain Similarities

“I ran into Enya in the market today,” Ben explained as he walked in. Nelia was at the table goofing around with her turtle, and Alora was sitting on the end of one of the beds, her hand aglow trying to practice some of the magic she’d learned growing up.

“Oh? How’s she doing, is Vearil back yet?” Alora asked as she lowered her hand onto her belly, leaning back relaxing for the moment.

“No, still no word on that, and Beth and I agreed that if he isn’t back soon, we’ll just carry out the preparations without him. Some leader he’s turning out to be so far,” Ben replied. “No, Enya wanted us to come by tonight, apparently she’s done with whatever she’d been making for you two.”

Nelia turned in her chair, “Oooh! Yeah, I’d completely forgotten about that.” She mumbled, standing up and stretching side to side a bit. “So should we just go now?”

Alora shrugged, heaving herself to her feet as well. “Might as well.”

Heading out the door and making their way across Delyrim, Alora looked over to see Jandyce standing at the gate of her manor. Once the older woman turned to see Alora, the color drained from her face, and she quickly opened and closed the gate, jogging inside.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say she’s scared of you, Alora,” Nelia teased, nudging the elf with her elbow.

“Yeah, well, you saw what I did, she’s probably thinking if she makes me mad I’ll wipe out the whole town before the Invasion even gets here.” Alora replied in a deadpan tone.

“Well once this is all over, we’ll never have to worry about her again.” Ben muttered.

Alora and Nelia look between themselves. “What are you gonna get rid of her or something? The plan is to save these people, remember.”

Ben laughed, “Oh not like that, I just mean, well after this, we’ll have to continue our journey to get you two back to normal, right?”

Alora looked down. “That’s true… but do you really think we’ll just…go back to that after this?”

“What do you mean?” Ben questioned.

“I mean, Nelia got pregnant because the demon queen wanted it…” Alora began, “and now she’s after us. This invasion thing…the demon queen. If we’re going to stay here and fight, we’d better be getting some answers from the demons! I don’t think we move past this without figuring SOMETHING out about getting us back to normal.”

“Huh…”Nelia thought aloud.

“I think that whatever happens, we have to use this chance to figure something out,” Alora said, taking her hands from her belly to one another. “No human village has had anything for us. So…”

“I see what you’re saying,” Ben said, already in thought. “We’ll have to see what this Vearil’s plan is…or figure out ours, and then we’ll see if we can work getting answers in there. I know this seems like a good chance, but at the same time, the priority is keeping you two safe and away from the demon queen’s clutches. We all have to survive this first.”

Alora nodded in quiet agreement.

Nelia, meanwhile, had her head elsewhere, eyes looking down at her hands resting on her belly. “...but what about AFTER that?” She asked under her breath. “Do I have a place to go back to?” She looked back up at Ben and Alora ahead of her as they crossed into the elves’ district. The three continued to walk on that note, arriving at Enya’s and knocking on the door.

“Well welcome back you three! It sure is nice to see you again!” the jovial blacksmith shouted as she basically threw open the door, pulling them all inside. “Oh I can’t wait to show you what I’ve put together for you two!”

Nelia jumped up and down excitedly. “Ooo, yes yes! Show us, show us!” She giggled, as Enya turned around, whipping a cover off one of the tables, showing a large axe and sword lying there.

As Nelia’s eyes widened seeing the two weapons, Alora’s eyes flattened.

“Aren’t these things going to weigh a ton?” Alora asked, crossing her arms. “I don’t know if you’ve seen me but I don’t exactly lift. And neither of us are in a condition to-”

Enya grabbed the axe on the table and spun it over her head with ease. “Don’t know much about elvish steel, do ya? Light as a feather!”

“Really? Lemme try!” Nelia somehow launched herself forward and got both hands on the axe, though she immediately started to plummet toward the ground with an “Eeep!” Fortunately, Enya stopped her.

“But only in elven hands,” Enya said sympathetically, getting Nelia back into a standing position. She turned the axe in her hand and presented it to Alora knob first. Alora still looked skeptical but grabbed it with both hands anyway. She prepared herself to drop when Enya let go but instead it felt like the weapon floated in midair.

“Oh!” Alora’s ears perked up. She widened her grip and carefully swung the axe in front of her. Then, her hands turned around around its belly and she swung again, spinning in a circle on her heel. Ben jumped backward, only narrowly stopping short of a hanging blade on the wall.

“No this was a great idea,” he said to no one in particular.

Enya chuckled as she watched Alora test out her new weapon. “Obviously,” she said, patting Nelia’s shoulder, “you can’t wield elvish weapons, so I had to do something a little different for you.”

Enya presented Nelia the sword on the table. Despite what happened last time, Nelia grabbed the hilt of the sword and lifted it.

“So I made this with some rare ore you can only get in the mountains to the north,” Enya began, “the stone in the blade helps it hover when you hold it, and the gaps in the blade make it lighter and more aerodynamic, almost LIKE elven steel. The fun part about this one was that I balanced it differently.”

Enya grabbed a helmet that had been reshaped into a much rounder, wider structure, which she then stuffed up under her apron so that she looked pregnant.

“This is the first ever sword balanced for a pregnant wielder!” Enya said proudly as Nelia kept wobbling the sword in her hands. “Had to make this thing to test it. Really wanted to scare the neighbors and-”

Enya’s ears drooped as the door swung open, and a large figure filled the doorway. “Enya! What do you think you are doing!” Shouted the figure in a very stern tone. As he walked in and entered the light, Alora was quick to notice the long ears, and the same blue hair as Enya. Walking over, he towered over all of them, looking down at Alora.

“What are you doing here, futilitarian?” he smeared, throwing down his large, heavy bag onto the floor, moving his scowl to Enya. “I specifically told you not to talk to these three.”

“Vearil come on, we can’t just leave them to-”

“I don’t want to hear excuses, I want them out of this shop!”

“Oh leave her alone you ass!” Alora growled at Vearil, to which he turned back to face her. Alora pointed the axe she was holding in his direction.

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my sister, trust me on that. You on the other hand, if not for your condition I would throw you out of here with my own two hands” He mocked, gesturing down at Alora’s bump before his hands deftly yanked the axe from her grip. He then turned to face Nelia.

“And you, Demoness, as much as I hate what you’ve brought to our village, you likely have valuable intelligence on how I can best prepare. And human boy? Benres, was it? Mac speaks nothing but praise for you. And other than your relation to princess over there, I am poised to trust your character as well. I’ll have to speak with you and the demon for a moment, but I won’t until we’re in a place of my choosing, without the Silverian.” Vearil added, pointing to Alora, who was already red in the face, about to launch into a tirade back at the hulking elf.

Ben put a hand on her shoulder, turning away from Vearil. “Ok, don’t go off on him just yet. We have to keep him on our side, without him and his forces, our stand won’t work.”

“I know, but come on, he’s obviously a massive sack of-”

“Just, head back to the inn. Nelia and I will learn what we can and then we can figure this all out, ok?” Ben said calmly, patting Alora on the back. “You’re never going to be able to think straight with him in the room. And let’s not make a mess of this with Enya since she’s been so nice.”

Alora’s face did little to hide her disdain, but she sighed. “Fine, fine. You’re right. We can’t mess this up…” She rubbed her back, her belly shifting and moving from the emotion, her baby kicking. “I’ll head back and rest, I feel like there’s probably another round of contractions coming before long. Last thing I want is this jerk seeing that.” She added.

“Well lucky for you Vearil, I have some matters to attend to, but if I hear back from these two about you trying to pull something, you’ll see how much of a pain I can be.” Alora called back as she gathered herself to leave

“Oh I am well aware of how much of a pain you are. You see while I was abroud, I ran into an old friend of yours. Seems like the Demons aren’t the only ones looking for you.” He said coldly.

Turning back to face him again, Alora looked up at the smirking grin of Vearil. “Who would that be?”

“Some other preeminent tripe, named Jailan. She wasn’t alone, but she wanted me to let you know something.” Vearil scoffed.

“Jailan? Isn’t that-” Benres interjected.

“The Elder, yeah, she tried to warn me of something before I ran away. I assumed she had somehow seen all this.” Alora said pointing at her bump.

“I don’t care who she is, but I did agree to deliver a message to you and will be doing so with no further interruptions!” Vearil yelled, slamming a fist on the table. “After I made mention of a certain high elf girl taking refuge in my city, she was quite shocked to find out it was you. And upon hearing you were pregnant, well, let’s just say her friend wasn’t too thrilled. As I went to leave their camp, she pulled me aside, paying me handsomely to deliver this message to you.

‘I am not the only one who has seen the strings of your fate. Talyn’s ambitions have only grown.’

Now I don’t know much of your uppity culture, but I know this lady was sure shaken up at the news you were expecting.”

Alora scratched the back of her head, a bit shocked. “I’ve been gone for nearly a year and a half. I can’t imagine Talyn willing to leave the walls of the Silver City…” she mumbled, almost to herself. “What about Durlan? Or any messages from my father, Alfurion.”

“That’s all she told me, and now that I’ve told you… get out of here. Being around you pure elves makes me sick enough already.” Vearil exclaimed. Enya walked over to Alora, opening the door for her.

“Sorry, he’s in charge after all.” Enya said apologetically.

Alora nodded back. “It's fine. I need to go think about things now. Thank you for your help, Enya.”

Yo! My names Eliza, I draw pregnant girls lol. I have been posting to twitter and such for a while now, and developed these 2 groups of OC's and been writing a story about them to go along with it. This is the first of those, the main three characters of what I call "The Tale of Alora. Left to right, they are

As the afternoon sun shone through the window, Nelia looked around the room.

On the bed was Alora, lying on her side, seemingly asleep, Ben was at the desk in the other room, reading through some old texts. Nelia on the other hand, was restless as usual. She’d been having a hard time relaxing today, with some uneasy feeling scratching at the back of her mind. Looking down, she had undone her overalls, her round belly jutting out across her lap as she sat. ‘This isn’t you making me feel like this is it?’ She thought to herself, patting her belly as the life inside stirred and kicked a bit. The young demon stood up, waddling over to the window and looking out over the town. People were going about their business. It had been nearly 2 weeks since the trial, and most citizens had resumed life as normal. 

As she leaned against the windowsill, Nelia felt that unease still gnawing at her. “Hey Ben?” She asked, walking over and looking over his shoulder.”Do we have anything planned tonight?Just sitting around like this is killing me.” Ben shook his head. “No, not really. Until that Vearil guy gets back we are kind of stuck in place.” He turned around in his chair. “I can go out and get us something for dinner though.” Nelia scratched her head. “Yeah, I guess that’s fine. Alora seems tired, I think she had another wave of contractions this morning, so she might be out for a bit.” She added, pointing over her shoulder to the dozing elf. Ben looked past the demon to Alora. “Really? She didn’t tell me…” He said with a bit of worry. “If she did, that's already three times this week.” He looked over to Nelia, and down at her belly. “What about you?” Nelia placed her hands on top of her bump. “Only that round when we were checking out the walls on Sunday.” She looked down and paused for a second. “I’ll be honest with you though, I’ve just had this uneasy feeling all day. I don’t know if that means I should be bracing for some contractions or what.” She glanced over at the mirror, looking into her own green eyes. Ben stood up, grabbing a few coins out of the desk drawer and putting a hand on Nelia’s shoulder.  He walked across the room. “I wouldn’t worry. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.” Nelia smiled, putting her hand on Ben’s for a moment. “Alright. What are you thinking about for dinner?” She asked as he walked to the door. “Oh, I think I can throw together some meat and rice into something.” He replied, chuckling.

Nelia shrugged. “So the same thing again?” She teased as he left. Once he was gone, Nelia went back to the other room, her unease remaining. When she turned through the door, she froze.  She saw the window open, and a hooded figure now sitting in the desk chair.

 Immediately on alert, Nelia turned to shout for Ben, only for the hooded figure to quickly stand up and put a hand to Nelia’s mouth.  Rather than struggle, Nelia found herself trying to look under the stranger’s hood. “I’ve told you once before,” came a voice very familiar to Nelia, “if it’s not me touching you, THEN scream.” 

Turning back, she now could see the long hair of her liberator. 

“Veraaa!” Nelia shouted, in a mix of shock and joy, as she rushed forward, wrapping her arms around the fellow demon, cringing at Nelia’s shrill outburst. The commotion in the other room was enough to wake up Alora, who groggily wandered in before stopping short. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!?” She called out, both demons turning around to face her. Nelia rushed over to the elf, “Don’t worry, she's on our side! This is Vera, one of the members of the rebellion which broke me out of the prison.” Alora looked back at the other demon as they took off the cloak. Vera was a similar height to Nelia, and was dressed in similar gear to what Nelia wore when they first met. This new demon had the same piercing red eyes the hunter they encountered had, but similar silvery hair to Nelia, though longer. She had a scar across her cheek, below her eye down to her jawline, and one of her horns had a chunk missing at the top.  Alora could tell by the girl’s incomplete smile that, unlike Nelia, she wasn’t so cheery, yet her face showed just enough caring between the cracks that they looked similar. Vera took a step forward, extending a hand to Alora. “I’m glad Nelia found you after all.  You must be the elf from her dreams.  So you’re real.” The new demon said with a smile. 

“I don’t have much time to talk though, I’m just passing through with information” “I’m real? What the-”  Alora huffed.  “I’m not the one who just appeared in someone else’s room.  Are you real?  How did no one in the town notice you?”

“I’m fairly real, I think,” Vera held one of her shoulders, “but I have a skill for sneaking.  Nelia did say I helped her escape prison.  That had way more security than this town did, that’s for sure.”

“Information?” Nelia asked, getting the conversation back on track and gesturing for the other two to take a seat. “What do you mean? And what happened to the rest of the rebels?” As she took a seat Vera started to explain. “A lot has happened since we broke you out, Nelia. The rebellion is scattered, those of us who escaped the queen’s immediate retaliation over losing you took one last desperate measure and fled to this realm. I’m currently working to gather what few of us remain back together, hence why I can’t stay. Reije and his hunters are in the east looking for them, so I need to get there first.” “You didn’t lead him here did you?” Alora interjected sharply. “No, he doesn’t know I’m among the survivors.” Vera replied, “And on top of that, he already knows where you are, he’s just waiting on the Queen’s orders.”

“Waiting?” Alora asked.  “I thought demons couldn’t stay in this realm, other than Nelia.  I mean, there’s a banishment in place.”

 Vera looked at Alora, trying not to get frustrated in the limited time she had, but she answered her anyway.  “You’re correct.  It was a gamble for our faction to try using trace stones, but we were desperate to escape.  Part of the urgency of this whole situation is that the barrier is weakening, and the demons have spent all the years since it’s gone up trying to get around it.  Even if we can’t stay here indefinitely, it was a better chance of escape than running within the queen’s lands.  Now please, miss elf, if you’ll let me-”

“Why are there rebel demons anyway?” Alora put her hands on her hips.  “And…it’s Alora.  Answer that one and I’ll stop for now.”

“Thank you, Alora,” Vera took a deep breath.  “In short, it boils down to the idea that some demons felt we should have taken our loss in the great war as a sign we needed to change.  All of the other races of the world united against us, and we were humbled by them.  Some would say we were fortunate we still got to exist after that, but those aren’t the people giving the orders.  We’ve seen how they’ve spent their time in power…they’ve wasted it away in bitterness and hatred rather than building a better kingdom for the rest of us.  It’s like the war never ended for us- and now, generations like ours that had nothing to do with it are still meant to be fighting it.  Some have wasted their whole lives becoming soldiers and died before ever seeing a battlefield.”

“Vera…” Nelia sighed.

“Sorry, Nelia…I started rambling, huh?” Vera put a hand on Nelia’s shoulder.  “But you’re a great example.  They took you from your home, your purpose and for…that.”

Vera looked at Nelia’s bump with a grim expression, her eyes seeming to look past it, not directly at it.  Nelia shifted in her seat.

“Alright alright,” Alora huffed, crossing her arms and sitting down finally.  “So the older generation is a royal pain, big surprise.  So what’s this information you needed to tell us?”

Vera looked at Alora for a moment, feeling the sincere empathy she’d masked with that remark, and then pulled out a small scroll, laying it out on the table, it was written in similar runes and characters to those Alora had seen at the ruins where they encountered Reije. “I managed to swipe this from a high ranking general before I came to this realm, it's not a full report, but it outlines the Queen's plans, and as you can see '' Vera pointed to a line of text, and Nelia looked it over, her eyes going wide. “You can’t be serious!?!” Nelia exclaimed. “What does it say?” Alora asked, unable to decipher the words. Vera explained, “It doesn’t fully explain why, but the Queen is planning her invasion in about a month, which you already know, but something isn’t going according to plan on her end. She’s having trouble getting a significant force through the barrier.  Trace stones aren’t exactly easy to come by, since they’re made with artifacts from this world, so gaining the ability to send a proper attack force to another realm is no easy feat, even for royalty.  The stones don’t always work either- we’ve heard she’s lost quite a few soldiers just sending them on trips here.” “So why doesn’t she just wait for more?” Nelia asked. “If she’s sending people to gather materials to make more stones, isn’t it just a matter of time before she has enough?” “In theory, yes, but even then there are problems sending many demons through at once.  The queen isn’t necessarily careful with the lives of her subjects, but she’s acting like she’s running out of time.” Vera continued, pointing to another line near the bottom. “She closes out this report saying ‘The capture of the peasant Nelia remains the top priority, she is crucial for the coming ritual.’” Nelia shuttered at that, her hands instinctively wrapping around her belly. Alora butted in again, “No offense lady, but that’s not the most groundbreaking news. So she’s more desperate than we thought? So what? This town is still getting invaded one way or another, be it next week or next year.” Vera raised an eyebrow, but calmly responded. “‘So what is that her desperation is very uncharacteristic.  She controls the demon realm. Whatever is compelling her to rush is obviously something important. And in her rush, her invasion will likely be sloppy. If she came with her full force, I hate to say it, but you guys wouldn’t stand a chance.” Alora leaned back, realizing the scope of the news. “And you don’t know what this compelling force is?” She asked. “No, it's possible some of my comrades know, which is why-” Vera re-centered herself and shook her head.  “I need to find them before Reije does.” Vera stood up. “I’ve already spent enough time here, I must continue on.” Nelia stood up as well. “Are you sure you have to go? Our friend will be back soon with dinner, I’m sure you could use the rest.  You’re probably not used to how cold it is yet, right?” Vera opened her mouth to protest, before she stopped and smiled. 

“Oh don’t look at me like that…” She grumbled in response to Nelia pouting and looking as sincere as she could.  “I still wonder how you’re a demon sometimes.  There’s not a malicious bone in your body.” “Not even my pinky toe.  So, you’ll stay?” Nelia asked with a smile. “For dinner, and not any longer,” Vera replied, patting Nelia on the shoulder and sitting back down. Nelia raised a hand. “Well while we wait for Ben, mind getting me up to speed on the rebellion?  You said they were using trace stones to come here, but you’re the first one I’ve seen.” Vera sighed. “We’re mostly spread out, trying to keep a low profile.  I just- er…I felt personally responsible for your safety, so I had to come and find you before going to rendezvous with the others..  We’re not as large as it was before you were imprisoned. As you can imagine, the queen was furious when she found you were sprung.  Our factions were the only thing she had to take her anger out on.  There are only a few of us remaining back home…and they’re constantly living on the run.  The rest either gambled on the trace stones or, more likely…were taken back to the castle.” Nelia shrunk in her seat. “Really? So many have fallen… Hey, what about that one mage that was with you during the escape?  She was so good!  Melphia, right?”

Vera visibly shook, putting a hand to her chest, “You…remembered her name,” she said quietly, choking up before clearing her throat, “she…didn’t make it out of the castle.  Only I did.”

Nelia looked down, then looked toward the floor instead of her bump.  “I’m sorry…I didn’t know.” Vera reached over and lifted Nelia’s chin. “But we are closer to victory than ever. So long as you remain free, the Queen's plans falter, the more mistakes she makes, and the less dominion she has over the minds of the people. Word of your freedom has given hope to many, and the more the queen fails, the more the people rise. If I’ve made it here, then so have some of my allies.  And I don’t know what your elf girl being real means, but I’m sure that’s a good omen as well. Our victory is inevitable so long as you-” She is cut off by the sound of the door swinging open, and Ben walking in “They were out of pork so you’ll have to make do with chicken Nelia, y’know I still don’t know why you say it tastes so…” he stops short as he sees Vera. “Are we having a sudden guest for dinner…or did you just want me out of the place?” The girls stood up, with Vera and Nelia feeling particularly embarrassed, to Alora’s amusement.

“Oh, I think it was the latter,” Alora smirked, “she just forgot I was here.”

 Alora and Nelia set to work helping Ben to cook, repeating the conversation they’d just had with Vera while they worked. “Ok, ok.  Well, any bane of the Queen’s is our boon.  I wish we knew what the Queen was so worried about.” Ben pondered as he stirred the food around. “I wonder if we should be worried about it too?  I can think of a few situations where I’d take a complacent animal over a desperate one…” Nelia elbowed him, “Like we need more to worry about. We’ll pass that bridge when we get there.” Alora chuckled, “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll stop worrying about it. But who knows what the queen is thinking? I’m not sure I’d even want to know if it wasn’t important to my survival.  Anyway, I’m supposed to go see Aluma tomorrow. I’ll let her know about all this. You two can tell Beth and the Mayor.” Vera stood up. “I hope these people will galvanize this town’s defenses.  Not that I want to induce panic in you, but this place…it isn’t safe.  Honestly, I think the best decision would be for you three to run from here and find a better place to hide out.”

“Run,” Alora scoffed, “That’s easy for you to say, isn’t it?”

“And I…” Nelia fidgeted, “I feel kinda bad for the people here…I don’t know if I could just…leave them.”

“Nelia’s right,” Ben said, “and even if we could get far enough away by fleeing…I don’t suppose the demon queen will spare this town for sheltering us.  We would just leave a path of destruction in our wake.”

“Benres, you are quite noble and kind, aren’t you? It comforts me to know Nelia is in such big-hearted company, but I hope you’ve got a warrior’s strength to back it up.  The odds are against you, and if the goal is surviving the wrath of the queen…I can tell you, the survival rate is horrifyingly low.  You’ll need to think about how far each of you are willing to go to stay alive, okay?  I don’t want- I can’t believe that so many have sacrificed their lives for yours to end in…this place.”

Vera looked at Nelia, and she gave a determined nod. “If you’re going to stay, you should try to rally everyone to your cause.  Make some allies…get this place ready.  I’m going to gather what allies I can, and then…in whatever form it may take, we’ll help you.  I really should be going.” She stated, Ben nodded with a mouth full of food as Vera went back to the other room to grab her cloak and head out through the window.

Nelia followed her as Ben and Alora kept eating. “Vera,” she said, to stop her friend before she reached the window, “I’m so glad to see you alive.  I needed that.”  Nelia gave her friend a hug.  “Stay safe ok?”

Vera hugged back, laughing a bit. “I haven’t been safe in a long time, but I’ll stay as safe as I can.” As she pulled away from the hug, she put her hands on each side of Nelia’s bump. “You stay safe now too ok? I can’t keep my promise if something happens to you.” Vera added with a wink, patting her fellow demon’s round belly before opening the window. Nelia waved goodbye, “Say hi to everyone for me, let them know how grateful I am.  And how alive!”