“Uh… right,” Ava said, sounding a little flustered. “He must’ve returned the Elementai key to our people, but what about the witches? How’d they get theirs back, until Marcus got his hands on it?”
“Don’t ask me,” Marcus said. “My mom gave it to me. All I know is it’s been in my family for years. Though my family has a history within the Imperium Council, our highest governing body. I’ve heard stories of my great-grandfather stealing artifacts from the Council when he was a priest, in order to protect them. He might’ve stolen the key.”
“Does it matter?” Kallie asked. “We have it now.”
“Kallie’s right,” Ava agreed. “We need to figure out what happened to the others, so we can find them.”
“The merfolk, angels, and vampires all took possession of their own keys and hid them,” Alistair explained. “You guys got the angel key from the Warden, so that’s accounted for. It’s possible the others are still with their respective races.”
“What about the Astromancer key?” I asked.
“Eddie didn’t know,” Alistair replied. “He said the Unseelie might’ve taken it, but it’s also possible the Astromancers had their key and lied about never receiving it, in order to keep anyone from coming after it.”
“What happened after the keys were divided?” Marcus asked.
“The angels threatened war,” Alistair continued. “The Elves were forced to leave Darke Island, in order to prevent the Elven Gate from destruction. Before they left, they built the Mirror of Ingress deep within the caves, so that they could move on and off Darke Island freely. They portaled from the mirror to the Mediterranean, far away from other magical races. That way, if the angels attacked the Elves, the gate would remain safe. The Elves left monsters behind and opened a magical leyline— a portal for dark energy— in order to deter people from coming for the gate. Forevermore was left abandoned, and Darke Island quickly deteriorated to what it is today, withered and ugly. The Elven Gate knew it had been left behind, and the island grew to reflect that.”
“That’s why these strange supernatural occurrences happen here,” Chancey said thoughtfully. “The Elves designed it that way.”
“That’s how Eddie described it,” Alistair confirmed. “Once they left, the Elves spread throughout the world, in order to search for the lost keys. Over time, people forgot what Darke Island once was.”
“Forevermore had been forgotten by the time the British landed here,” I realized. “They must’ve thought it abandoned, if there was even evidence left.”
“I don’t think anything but the gate survived,” Alistair said. “But the British found the mines, and settled here to search for valuable resources.”
“They were mining noxite?” Ava wondered.
“Noxite didn’t exist yet,” Alistair said. “Not until the Elven genocide.”
“Oh. Yeah, you’re right,” Ava said, a little blankly.
“But the Elves had left by then.” Kallie sounded confused.
“For a time,” Alistair confirmed. “When the supernaturals found out humans had settled their island, they came to take it back. That’s when they formed the prison, which quickly became infamous for torturing and killing its prisoners.”
I scoffed. “The Warden certainly left that out of the history lessons.”
“He wants the Institute to have agood reputation,” Alistair said.
Yeah, that’s going so well for him, Oberi said sarcastically.
Alistair cleared his throat. “Anyway, according to Eddie, the Great Supernatural War was a multi-faceted war— partially an argument about exposing the supernaturals and using magic to control humans, and partially due to the conflict over the keys. The fae, angels, and vampires were still hunting the keys and believed the Elves knew where they were. This is why the angels targeted the Elves so heavily. They began exterminating Elven colonies all over the world in a mad conquest to find the keys. With the majority of their race spread out so far around the globe, the Elves found it difficult to mobilize against their enemies effectively, and they couldn’t fight back. That’s what brought them back to Darke Island.”
“They must’ve sought refuge here because it was neutral territory,” Kallie said.
“That’s exactly what Eddie told me,” Alistair replied. “The Elves came to commune with the gods and stop the Great Supernatural War, but they were exterminated in a bloody battle. Noxite was a result of that battle. The Elves’ blood seeped into the ground and infused the metal with magic.”
“A few survived,” I recalled. “My father and grandfather fled into the caves with their people.”
“Yes,” Alistair said. “They hid underground, and the other supernaturals declared the Elves extinct. The Great Supernatural War came to an end, and from it formed the United Supernatural Union, which was considered to be a protective measure to prevent another supernatural world war from happening again. They named themselves after the Elven Union, to honor their memory, although it was an empty promise. Within a decade, the United Supernatural Union became corrupt. The angel representative was assassinated in the 1950s, though the murderer was never caught.”
“I remember this story,” Chancey said. “They tell it in our church history. The angel assassinated was Masci Taurus.”
I furrowed my brow. “Taurus. As in the Warden’s ancestor?”
Chancey scoffed. “Not just any ancestor.His father, if I remember right.”
“The Warden’s dad was on the Union council?” I asked. “He must’ve known about the keys. That’s why the Warden’s so obsessed with them.”
