"So what happened?" Jon asked. "How did the stories get it so wrong?"
"Well, at one time, this place was a lot like the stories," the elf explained. "But then about three hundred and fifty years ago, the Darklyte arrived."
"Dark what?" Jon asked.
"I'm sorry. I forgot that everyone else in the world forgot."
"Forgot? Forgot what?"
"The invasion, of course." The elf sighed. "There was an otherworldly invasion that corrupted about two-thirds of the world. Santa had the purest heart of anyone, so he took it upon himself to absorb the Darklyte. It still possesses him today."
"So, it's like some sort of parasite?"
"That's right. And it's been slowly eating away at his soul for the last three hundred and fifty years. By now, I fear that there isn't much left of the original Santa."
"You said that everyone forgot. How did everyone forget?" Jon asked.
"After Santa absorbed the evil, everyone's memories of the event and what it caused was taken from their minds. They might have remembered something of what happened, but they would have thought that it was the evil of mankind, not the doings of another world."
"Is there any way to remove the parasite from Santa?" Jon asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. But I and some of the other elves have been planning for a while now to kill Santa ..."
"Kill him? But why ..."
"When the Darklyte is finished devouring Santa's soul, who do you think it will target next? Us elves, that's who. And something even worse could happen. It could corrupt the world like it did before. We can't let something like that happen. Killing him is the only option."
"Well, I might have a second option for you," Jon said, taking the stone out of his pocket.
