Sarion the elf travels to Tierra Del Fuego to attend a ceremony where he will be installed as Opheries of Nicaragua, an unwanted but compulsory title. At the gathering of elves, he is aghast that many elves have become fascinated by the world of men. In fact, he is warned by Xiroz, an elven god of death, that this is a dire threat to their world, and that only he can prevent it. During the ceremony, he is challenged for infidelity by an elf named Galens. The two elect to battle “to the death” with flowers – the “touch of beauty” is deadly to elves. During the battle, Xiroz appears and stops time, so Sarion may kill Galens. However, Sarion realizes it is a trap and that Xiroz is the one spreading the human ideas. He threatens the god with his flower, time begins flowing again, and he allows Galens to kill him, sacrificing himself to save the elven world. At the end, a Nicaraguan human named Gustav Mendoza has just awakened from a dream where he was an elf who had to sacrifice himself by going to the “world of men.”
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