The world had seen wonders beyond imagination, and Lady Ellenore had perhaps spent much of her time in speechless curiosity. Her father would say, “No matter how spectacular life may be, in a hundred years, it’ll be outdated. And all things may be forgotten.” He wasn’t an optimistic man, nor pessimistic. If his daughter had to conjure a label, her father was honest. 

How else could he exist after living through countless world evolutions? 

Ellenore’s father had witnessed humanity abandon magic for the new arts of science. More than that, he pioneered the change. And, like most men of his unfathomable mind, he erected an empire of machines and invention. 

It was a wonderful thing to have known him. Most were sure it must have been. But the great pioneer and his daughter had fallen away from one another as she grew into a woman. Despite her father's incredible achievements, she couldn't disregard the things he left behind. 

During her father's era, magic was disregarded and allowed to fade away. Few believed the old arts could compare to modern machinery. No one but Ellenore dared ask the question. No one but the minds she had sought after across the globe on a great pilgrimage of knowledge were willing to entertain old wonders. But every adventure comes to a close. Every fairytale had an ending. 

When Ellenore’s father died, she had to return home. As his only heir, her right and responsibility were to take up the iron heart. She had a kingdom of innovation to keep.

“Why won’t you sell it?”

“It’s all that I... all that I have left of him, Vilk,” the woman moaned through bitten lip.  

“You have his estate, the staff, his money. He’s left you plenty,” her green-skinned lover spoke when his tongue had more immediate uses dripping for attention.

“Yes, but his company meant the most,” Ellenore argued with burning aggravation. 

Vilk’s hands were rough, yet he knew how to make his fingers objects of power. To say he knew Ellenore would have been an understatement. Vilk understood just where to agitate. With measured pressure, he drew the girl closer to a stream of relief. 

“Slower! You’d best not be in a hurry, or I’ll have you return to your post,” Ell warned. 

His fingers slid free, glistening, and his girl braced herself against the desk as he licked his digits clean. Goblins were mischievous, no doubt. The devilish glare on Vilk’s face as he moved to kiss his lover’s heated well was nearly enough. 

Sadly, their morning routine was interrupted by the sudden opening of Ellenore’s office door. 

“Lady Ellenore!”

Quickly, the woman pushed Vilk to hide under her desk as she stood. Her legs hadn’t caught their wind. With a buckle, she rested her hand atop a statuette of a copper elephant to keep her balance as best she could. 

“Hardwing? What is it now?” She spoke hurriedly. 

The pale-skinned elf moved to cross the grand floor. As one might have expected, there was a wide gap between the glass door and the wooden desk. 

“You’re needed in the Pavilion. Armez has the prototype ready,” he said, beaming with joy Ellenore might have echoed had she not noticed the elf’s foot standing on her undergarments. 

“Oh, no!” Vilk shouted and came out of hiding, to the woman’s displeasure and Hardwing’s surprise. 

Her goblin, bold, blunt, and nude, hadn’t a garment on his body to hide cock or ass from the assistant’s eye.

“Lady Ellenore, I was unaware you had company,” Hardwing spoke, jittered and looking away. 

“We’ll be down in a moment. And haven’t I told you to stop calling me lady?”

“Yes, boss,” the boy answered and left without further word. 

It was Ellenore’s fault for hiring someone so green in experience. When she took over her father’s company, only weeks prior, she had prioritized hiring labor from races that had long been underappreciated for their ties to the old arts. Elves had a skill for remembering the most minor details. Of course, Ellenore, creative, curious, and racing, needed Hardwing in order to compensate for all that she had to learn in a short period. Had it not been for her assistant, she might have missed every appointment set before her. 

Regardless of his impeccable memory, somehow, the young elf could never remember to knock. 

“You can’t,” Vilk protested while Ell fixed her hair in the reflection of the office’s warped windows. 

Her short red curls were exhausting to maintain in the summer heat. She longed to return to the cold of distant mountains. 

Peering through yellowed glass, she saw the construction of yet another city district progressing. Day by day, the horizon was blocked by newer skyscrapers. Someday, there would surely be a building tall enough to cast a shadow on her father’s castle. That day hadn’t arrived, but loomed.

“I will. It’s my right,” she said.

“No one will take you earnestly now. If you proceed with this, your father’s company will be a laugh across the iron streets,” Vilk continued to speak in opposition.

“What he has left is mine now. I must run it my way.” 

“Magic is an old thing, Ellenore. No one wants to see it revived,” he said.

Honesty was a trait most challenging to find in good people. Ell cherished the truth in her goblin lover, though it took none of the sting out of his words. 

“I’m sorry. When did I ever say my decisions were yours to make?” Ellenore said, turning around to find her goblin sitting on the desk. Her father’s desk was her property, and she knew it was a helm.

“It can’t be done, and trying the gambit is a risk. As your guard, it’s my duty to sway you from harm,” Vilk added and stood up. 

As Ell approached him, they were eye to eye, thanks to the male’s elevation. His stature never mattered to the girl’s eye, but she knew he enjoyed being taller for once, even by a few hairs. 

“As my lover, is it not your duty to support me in my endeavors? Put away your cock, clean your face of me, and hurry downstairs. I want you by my side as we marry machine and magic into one.” 

“You’ll be the death of me, woman.”

“Yes, and you’ll die happier than most, won’t you?” 

It was time to bring old wonders back to the world; she thought. It was time the world remembered its past.