Gou is a dark elf in Warhammer

Darkus turned and clung to the railing, peering out. The wind ruffled his hair, and the sunlight was a bit too bright. He then resumed his previous half-reclining position. He did this primarily to give Alyssa a response, a signal to her piloting the raiding ship that he had heard him.

And then no more.

He saw nothing. Strictly speaking, he did see something, but the hazy coastline provided no information whatsoever. He could only see the shore; a long voyage lay ahead before he could truly see the entirety of the Kingdom of Safri. Like a distant, blurry phantom, merely a shadow on the horizon, a pale, inky silhouette swaying in the distance, both real and unreal, sometimes near, sometimes far.

They're back, yes, they're back.

Their brief adventure had finally come to an end, and they had returned from Eden Valley. After emerging from the guiding stone on Death Island, the group did not immediately set off back, but instead continued to explore the island, searching for possible ancient ruins and the legendary biological laboratory.

As a result, nothing was found.

Nothing was found.

It felt like the Old Ones were piloting a spaceship, packing up all of Aubian's elves and dropping them onto the newly born land of Ulthuan, or using the Old Ones' Paths to transport them from one place to an undeveloped new continent.

The whole process was just like during the Great Invasion, when Aenarion's eldest son and second daughter were sent to Elthor Loren for refuge under Dul'Thuzad's arrangement, only to be returned after everything was over. They remained asleep throughout the entire process, oblivious and unaware, until they awoke to a completely different world. They had no idea they had traveled from Ulthuan to Elthor Loren, much less that they had ultimately returned from Elthor Loren to Ulthuan.

Then, these earliest elves lived on an island that wasn't called the Isle of Death at that time, gradually rowing north to Eden Island, and from Eden Island spread to the whole of Ulthuan—this may be the legendary first migration route, a projection of ancient memories in the blood of the elves into the depths of time, the source and beginning of elven culture.

Another theory suggests that the biological laboratory did exist, but not on the island; it was inside the spaceship. That plain, now transformed into the Obsidian Plain, was likely the place where the spaceship stopped and remained.

What happened next was pretty much it: the elves arrived on the island from the ship, and then...

Of course, neither of these conjectures mattered to Dakota.

He had no interest in asking what exactly happened to the elf gods in the beginning.

He was neither an archaeologist nor a cultural revivalist.

He didn't come here to uncover some grand truth; he was just browsing casually, thinking, "Since I'm here, I shouldn't miss anything."

And so his first trip to Death Island came to an end. The harvest was plentiful, the pace smooth, and the outcome satisfactory, though he did encounter Kane but not Caledo.

As for biological laboratories and such, if there aren't any, then there aren't any.

Anyway, he doesn't plan to do anything big.

Elves, whether in terms of senses, physical abilities, thinking, coordination, or magical bodies, are already the physical limits of what constitutes a near-perfect being in this world.

Why would we need a two-wheeled vehicle?

He had seen things like Chaos Corrosion Resistance; he had actually seen them transform into Chaos Eggs back in Lauren Loren's time. But he considered them extremely rare exceptions, anomalies born under specific conditions, backgrounds, and twisted destinies.

An elf turned into a beastman?
He had never even heard of it, let alone seen it.

What a joke.

I've never heard of an elf suddenly going berserk, then roaring as horns and hooves sprout from its head, and plunging into the forest to become a beastman.

All he heard was Malekith recounting how he brutally beat the Beastmen when he was in Elsin Alwyn; Enil and Asley talking about how they systematically wiped out the Beastmen around the forest; and Duruchi describing how he brutally beat the Beastmen active in Nagarus.

Once the search was over, the group unanimously decided to leave without hesitation. In a single second, they made a collective decision: Immediately, right now, let's go!

So the group boarded the raiding ship and fled, swiftly and efficiently, with a clear objective: to reach Eden Valley, located north of Death Island.

The Valley of Eden, supposedly a sacred place forbidden to men, but at the end of time, when Tyrion led his army in, who said what? Tradition? Rules? In the end, it all came down to need and reality.

Nevertheless, Dakous and his party maintained sufficient respect and restraint.

Saril maneuvered the raiding ship into stealth mode, then lowered its altitude, slowly patrolling over Eden Valley in a low-altitude gliding mode. Since he was going there, he decided to be polite, not to disturb or offend.

While called the Valley of Eden, it far exceeds the general understanding of a "valley." It is more like a giant island, extremely vast in area, far exceeding the island where the Great Whirlpool and the Temple of Asuyan are located.

Finally, the raiding ship stopped at a natural opening in a high valley, and as if knowing they would come, the Oracle Priestess Aisha was already waiting there when they disembarked.

The oracle stood there, silently standing in the wind, like an unyielding statue. There were no extravagant robes, no metal armor, only a white robe, a hood, and a long staff woven from willow branches, exuding a thin yet undeniable aura of mystery.

This person's existence is quite remarkable.

She was utterly mysterious, her entire being concealed beneath a hood, her face blurred and difficult to discern. It was said that her appearance would change in an instant—from a young elven maiden, to a mature elven woman, and finally to a weathered, haggard old woman. This cyclical transformation seemed connected to the moon and resonated with the tides, like the three phases of a goddess manifesting in the mortal realm.

It is also said that she has always existed. Or more precisely, that the successive successors all maintain the same appearance, clothing, and duties—like the coronation ceremony of the eternal queen, which she presides over for each successive queen.

It can be said that the eternal queens come and go, but the ever-present Elsa, the Oracle Priestess, remains constant.

Darkus suspects that this oracle might be a secondary figure to Elsa, or rather, an embodiment of some kind of "Trinity," or even a point of convergence of divine authority blessed by Lilith, Elsa, and Moraig simultaneously.

The new moon is the white goddess, symbolizing luck and dreams;
The full moon is the goddess of green, symbolizing birth and growth;
The waning moon is a black goddess, symbolizing fate and death.

If one day, Morayig tells him in person, "Aisha is my daughter," he wouldn't be surprised; he would even feel it was expected.

After all, Elsa, who is in full moon, is the mother of Lilith, who is in new moon, so it makes perfect sense that Moraig, who is in waning moon, is also Elsa's mother.

This genealogy is logically sound and even possesses a certain poetic sense of ritual.

But he wasn't that gossipy.

I have no intention of researching, asking questions, or sitting down with the spirits to discuss family trees.

As for the story of Moraige having a big son, it's more like an official version of the story, a legend, meant for the elves to hear.

If we really trace this bloodline down the line, does that mean he'd be on the same generation as Aisha? As Aisha's little brother? Wouldn't that make him Kunos's brother-in-law? And incidentally, Lilith's uncle as well?

nerve……

Upon meeting, the oracle priestess said nothing, offered no pleasantries, and performed no welcoming ceremony. Nor did the eternal maidens, hidden behind trees, suddenly fire arrows at the men in the group. She was the only one waiting in the entire valley.

She simply stood there quietly, nodded when she saw Darkus, then turned around, raised her arm, and made a quiet yet firm guiding gesture.

And so, led by her, the group stepped into the dimly lit place ahead, a naturally formed cave imbued with supreme divinity, or more accurately, a temple. Aisha's Temple.

In elven society, there is actually no such thing as a temple to Aisha. It's not that no one believes in her, but rather that there is no building specifically constructed for her.

The reason is simple: Aisha is a goddess of nature and life, and like her partner Chronos, her divinity is fluid and free, unbound by any bricks or structures. Her shrine is never in the city center or in a grand palace, but in the wilderness, in the forest, by the stream, or in a cave.

In Ulthuan, this cave, nestled deep in the Valley of Eden, is the greatest sanctuary of the Aisha faith.

Dakos doesn't like it here.

Despite the extreme balance that permeates this place: light and darkness, good and evil, life and death.

Everything in nature that is wondrous, tranquil, and magnificent is invariably accompanied by cruelty, decay, and silent destruction. Nature is a world full of cycles of death and rebirth; no flower blooms without the price of withering.

But the "flavor" here is too strong.

As soon as you step into the cave, the aroma of black smoke and wood fills the air, as if an ancient sacrificial fire is still burning deep within the mountain. Next comes the spicy fragrance of camphor and datura, mixed with a cool, musty smell from the damp stone walls, making you feel dizzy and disoriented with every breath.

Rows of oil bowls lay on the floor on both sides of the cave, with smokeless blue flames dancing quietly on them, like sparks of life. The walls were densely decorated with totem-like murals depicting the waxing and waning of the moon, blooming roses, and giant snakes coiled around branches.

The further you go, the more distant the light at the cave entrance seems, until finally it feels as if a huge door has silently collapsed, isolating you from the outside world.

The deeper we went, the more pronounced the earth's subtle tremors became, like the slow, ancient heartbeat pulsating deep beneath the earth. Each tremor seemed to emanate from the very roots of the world, rhythmic, breathing, and melodious. The air began to carry an indescribable sense of oppression, yet also felt like the warm amniotic fluid in a mother's womb, both reassuring and awe-inspiring.

The passage gradually widened, and finally, the group arrived at a vast, smoke-shrouded cavern. In the center of the cavern stood an incredibly heavy stone, its surface rough and mottled, yet meticulously carved into a spiderweb-like structure. The patterns shimmered silver under the blue flames, like rotating star trails.

They arrived.

The oracle priest stood beside the stone, silent and upright, like an ancient wooden stake or a control panel of an altar that had never been turned off.

The group of people suddenly froze, as if turned to stone, their expressions frozen, their movements still. If Darkus hadn't taken the initiative, the entire space might have been mistaken for time itself being frozen.

Drusala and Alisa stood far away, their eyes restrained, showing no intention of approaching the stone. They knew the oracle priestess would ask questions, not words, but through some higher level of resonance. She would ask the visitor: What do you want to know about the future? Which aspect of fate do you wish to hear revealed?
And that stone...

The stalemate lasted for a brief but long moment. Finally, the group silently turned around and slowly left the temple.

The stone still stood there quietly, the blue flames still leaping, and the smoke still curling, as if nothing had just happened.

The oracle priest remained standing there, motionless, as if he would always be there, waiting for the next group of visitors.

They've left, completely left, never to look back.

if not?
Should we go visit the burial grounds of the Eternal Queens? Explore a tomb? Loot a grave?
They have achieved their goal; the mission is complete, the objective is clear, and they have not dragged things out.

While in the cave, Renn clearly felt something underground. He had experienced a similar sensation, a tremor, a rhythm, and a resonance within himself, when he stood in the Temple of Asuyan and when he stepped into the center of Middenheim.

And here is Aisha's sanctuary, the oldest and most mysterious temple of the Mother Goddess in Ulthuan.

Furthermore, the flow of the winds of Girona here is exceptionally strong, so strong that the invisible ripples can almost be seen in the air, like the echo of the world's heartbeat.

Without a doubt, the constellations and the map overlap, indicating that there is indeed a creative spirit here, specifically designed to absorb, regulate, and absorb the spirit of the ancient times.

As for that stone...

In fact, Darkus had seen something extremely similar when he was in Aubian.

In the cave of Beast Peak, there is also such a huge rock—no, a stone egg.

Long ago, a prophet lost in the mountains was driven to despair by a blizzard and a pack of wolves. In her despair, she prayed to the Ancients. And she received a response. The Ancients guided her out of danger and led her deep into a cave to the so-called "Altar of Light"—that is, the flawless stone egg.

The stone did not speak, yet it granted her power; the Speaker thus gained extraordinary vision.

In other words, it was an "eye-for-eye" exchange. The ancient saint took away her eyes but gave her the ability to "see the future".

She knew when her death would come; she could sense the imminent future, briefly but precisely.

Back then, Dakotas and Maranul discussed this matter and concluded that these prophetists may have misunderstood the correct use of the ancient creations, misusing them, like using parts that could be used to make spaceships to make soup. Making the most of them was impossible, but misusing them was certainly possible.

But when he saw a similar creation again in Elsa's temple...

He began to waver.

Maybe this is how it's supposed to be used?
Or perhaps... Elsa has her own way of using her, which is different from the way the Ancient Saints used her?
Or perhaps... this wasn't actually created by the ancient saints at all, but rather by Elsa herself?

Just as Asuyan burned Hos's book, Asuyan also forbade Aisha from having any contact with the elves.

Legend has it that, in order to circumvent Asuyan's prohibitions, Aisha would sometimes plead with her daughter Lilith to deliver messages through dreams and nightmares, so that the elves, after receiving a certain degree of warning and guidance, could face the dangers of this world. Only when Asuyan's attention was diverted elsewhere would Aisha dare to intervene personally.

perhaps……

Or maybe...

do not know.

Dakos really didn't know.

He did not get the answer he wanted.

Or you could just find some time to ask Elsa; times have changed now.

When he searched the skies above Eden Valley, he found no stone tablets. So either there were no stone tablets at all, not at all, or the stone tablets were hidden elsewhere, sealed, moved, or even destroyed.

The place most likely to be transferred is his next destination.

"We've arrived." (End of Chapter)