Just A village elf girl (TG-empress)

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Euris is a young boy and an orphan living in the village of Duskmark. He often worked odd jobs cleaning stables at the ranch, or clearing tables at the tavern, just to survive, though most days he barely earned enough to feed himself.

Despite all that, he always worked hard and kept a smile on his face, for he believed it was only a matter of time until some knight came to town, saw how hard he worked, and decided to take him in as a squire.

Then he’d continue to work hard and work his way into knighthood, then he’d have a nice place to sleep every night and enough food to fill his belly, not to mention girls really like buff knights and not scrawny village boys who smell of horse dung.

Of course, his fantasy was just that. Most castles had plenty of knights, and children in their own towns to recruit into knighthood, ones who have potential, not just physical, but in mental and magical aspects as well.

Euris didn’t have the latter two, being that again he was a poor orphan in a random village with no schools, not to mention he was a human, and it was rare for humans in this world to have decent magical prowess.

So despite trying to show off to every knight that came to town, most didn’t give him the time of day, some merely egged him on for entertainment and some straight up beat him up to try and prove to him he was a weakling and that it would never happen.

Euris tried to stay determined but each night as he worked at the tavern and saw more knights drinking he started to lose hope. Then one day someone different came in. He, like the knights, wore the kingdom's symbol on his cloak, but unlike the knights, he wasn't wearing armor.

He wore black robes with random white lines sprawled across it. Euris wasn’t sure at first since he’d never seen one before, but he had a feeling that he was a mage. Euris knew it was true when the guy pulled out a spell book and a bright crystal ball.

Tools of a mage. Euris went up to the table behind him and pretended to be clearing it so he could listen to the mage talk to himself. Euris was able to find out that the mage had some sort of magical relic that he was trying to unlock but had been having no luck.

The mage also thought that inside the relic held a great source of power, but again he couldn't figure it out so he wasn't entirely sure. However, Euris heard power, and being young and having his dreams slowly fade away, it seemed to be his last chance.

Euris watched the mage give up on his relic for a moment to order a mug of mead from the waitress. Euris scampered off and watched him from afar. He kept wondering how he could manage to get the relic with the mage noticing, and eventually, he had an idea.

He ran outside when no one was watching and went to his secret spot, he dug up his stash and pulled out all the copper and silver he had saved up. He then brought them all back to the tavern and went up to the barkeep.

He placed all his money on the table and told the barkeep the mage wanted more meed, and to keep it coming. The barkeep nodded and then told Euris to go sweep up. Euris nodded and used it as his cover to watch the mage.

The mage was surprised when more mead showed up, but didn't question it. He just continued to chug it down, one after another until he was very drunk. After about an hour, the mage's bladder was nearly bursting, so he got up to go piss, leaving his spellbook, crystal ball, and relic unintended.

Euris looked around and no one was looking, so he ran over and grabbed the relic, slipping it into his bag. He then went over to the barkeep and told him he was done for the night. The barkeep nodded and told him the same time tomorrow.

Euris nodded and went to leave, but the barkeep suddenly told him to stop. Euris was worried he had been caught and slowly turned around. To his surprise the barkeep wasn't made, instead, he told Euris he forgot his pay.

The barkeep then tossed a small bag of copper towards Euris. Euris felt relieved and thanked him before running off back to his hideout. Euris immediately pulled out the relic and started to fiddle with it, but he had no idea what it was.

It was gold, octahedron-shaped, and had spikes coming out of the top, bottom, and sides. It was small enough to fit in Euris’ hands and seemed like it could open, but after twisting it and smashing it into the ground nothing happened.

After an hour Euris curled up into a ball and started crying. He realized that if a powerful mage couldn't unlock it he had no chance. Euris held the relic to his chest and laid down on the ground. He held it tightly even after falling asleep.

While he slept, he suddenly turned and one of the spikes on the relic cut his finger causing it to bleed. Once Euris’ blood hit the relic it started to glow. The glowing didn’t stop at the relic as it engulfed Euris as well.

When morning came around, Euris was woken up by someone shaking her. She opened her eyes and sat up. Once she rubbed her eyes and could see, she realized it was the mage from last night. She immensely panicked and apologized to the mage for stealing from him.

She then begged him not to turn her in, and that she still had the relic and would give it back. The mage didn’t say anything, nor did he seem mad, he merely looked at Euris. After a minute he asked Euris how she managed to get the relic to work.

Euris was confused and said she didn’t. The mage seemed confused and muttered something about it perhaps activating on its own. The mage then asked a very strange question out of the blue, he asked Euris if she was the human boy cleaning tables at the tavern last night.

Euris nodded and said she was. The mage seemed really surprised to hear that and then said something about being glad he didn’t actually figure out how to activate it. That sentence worried Euris, and she asked what he meant by that.

The mage pulled out his spell book and then waved his hand while chanting a spell. Suddenly a mirror appeared in front of Euris, and the person in the mirror didn't look like her, at least it didn't look like her old self.

The mirror reflected a small and very cute elf girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Euris moved her hand towards her ears and her face started to turn red as it hit her that the elven girl was in fact her. Euris looked at the mage and asked him what the hell happened to her.

The mage placed his hands on his chin and thought for a moment. He said something about the relic likely belonging to an ancient race of elves, one that no longer exists, and perhaps the relic was intended to revive the race should they face extinction.

The mage looked at the relic which was still in Euris’ hand. He asked her to focus on it and see if it would react to her again. Euris nodded and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she put all her effort into focusing on it.

Suddenly she felt something she’d never felt before starting to flow around in her body. It was powerful and strangely alive, almost like it was alive. It all then started to flow towards the hand that had the relic in it.

The relic started to glow in response to this power, and it changed shape, becoming a long golden staff with a large crystal that looked like looking into space on a clear night. Euris opened her eyes and found the mage was amazed by the staff.

The mage stood up and then asked Euris to stand up with him and point her staff at a nearby tree. Euris did so and nothing happened. The mage put his fingers on his chin, then said perhaps she should try thinking of casting a spell.

Euris was confused, even a person with no mana like herself knew you needed to chant the spell in order to cast it. What did he expect her to point this fancy staff at the tree and cast a fireball? As she thought that, a large ball of flames shot out the tip of her staff and flew towards the tree.

The entail blast sent bark flying everywhere, and the remainder of the tree was set ablaze. Euris sat there stunned at what she had just done. She actually cast a spell, she had mana. The mage next to her seemed just as impressed.

After that, he asked if he could hold the staff, and she nodded, but as soon as she handed it to him, it teleported back into her hands. As strange as that was, it was even stranger when the mage didn’t seem surprised by it.

Euris tried to give it to him again but told her not to worry about it, it was likely linked to her now, and she’d be needing it as she learned more about magic and how to use it. Euris raised her eyebrow and asked him what he was talking about.

She then pointed around and told him that there were no schools here, she didn’t even know how to read, and how on earth was she going to learn more about magic? The mage laughed and removed his hood. He told her it was obvious.

He was going to teach her and take her on as her apprentice, and under his guidance, he was sure she’d become the greatest mage in the kingdom, perhaps the greatest mage in the world. He then reached his hand out and asked her if she’d be interested in that.

Euris felt her heart flutter, though it wasn't how she imagined, this was still her dream. To be taken in, trained, become someone. Of course, she never imagined she’d be doing it as a girl, never mind as an eleven girl, but she knew she had to take this chance.

She took her master's hand and agreed to become his apprentice. That very day she left the village she’d lived in her whole life and began to travel the kingdom helping people and learning all about magic, her new elven heritage, and about herself.