John and Leon pulled into the driveway of Leon's house. It was a large modern house, if you could even call something this big a house. John would be surprised that Leon lived in a mansion, but with the car and the fact that he was funding a build as big as he was on his own, John wouldn't have been surprised if he had a few mansions.
"Nice place" John said.
Leon smiled. "Thanks. I have a couple, but this one is the safest, lots of modern security features and preventative measures. Too many of the Eld are stuck in the past." Before John could ask a question, Leon answered him. "Before I start answering questions, lets go inside and sit down."
Leon led him through a large room with tall ceilings and massive floor to ceiling windows. To his left was a kitchen with an island, the counters made of something like slate. Leon opened up what John thought was a cupboard, but turned out to be a door that led to another room. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked. "Just a water is fine for me, thanks." John answered. Leon disappeared into the room and came back out with a bottle of whiskey that looked older than John's grandparents. Leon poured himself a glass and then a glass of water for John and they moved to the living room.
It was another large room that had about a twelve foot high ceiling and floor to ceiling windows. This room had one window facing the front, like the kitchen, which revealed an expansive view out over the surrounding area. The other window in the living room faced the other direction looking out into the backyard and pool and then out into the forest behind the house. The other two walls were slate, like the counter tops and one had a fireplace in it and a TV mounted above that.
They sat on large comfortable seats. There were two large "L" shaped couches that formed a "U" facing the fireplace, the two couches separated by a glass coffee table. Leon took a sip of his drink. "Where should I start?"
John spoke up. "What's an Eld?"
Leon raised his eyebrows. "You are a clever one. That is a great place to start. I am sure you have heard of the idea of immortality, it shows up constantly in stories. In the real world some people found immortality. The origin of it is still a bit of a debated topic, even for immortals who were alive at the very discovery. Some argued that they appealed to the Elder Gods somehow, but that would be like single celled bacteria trying to appeal to you for a snack. Others argue that one of the legends was true, like the Holy Grail, and that is how we did it at first, and some think that some of us evolved this way and others were only transformed. There was a large war over that argument called the Great Purge, we will get to it later. All that matters is that there is a group of people on earth who are immortal. They are known as the Eld. The original immortals with the most experience formed the Council. Immortals who reveal the existence of immortality or try to interfere with mortal affairs on a large scale will find themselves in front of the Council. They can also call a vote to interfere with mortal affairs, if there is good reasoning. The Treaty of Versailles was an example of that, and an example of the fact that immortals can make mistakes too."
They both took a drink, John trying to absorb this information, Leon trying to wet his throat and plan out this explanation.
"There was a particularly nasty immortal on the council for a long time. He slowly convinced many that only the original immortals were the ones that evolved to be superior, while the ones who were just transformed were still half-mortals. There were a lot of people who simply ignored this because it didn't seem to matter, and there were a few people who really believed in it, while there were still a few that really disagreed, it ended up getting voted into the accepted truth. After people accepted that, the nasty immortal started blaming things on the half-mortals, using them as a scapegoat. He argued that they were less than real immortals. This resulted in the Council getting more power, and is ultimately what led to the Great purge." He took a deep breath.
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