"I never imagined that such a place could exist, let alone that such people would live here with such splendor." I said to myself while lying on my back on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.
I closed my eyes, and the day's events played out before me like a movie. I saw myself falling into the pond again and felt the icy water drag me down. The darkness behind my eyelids became suffocating, and I opened my eyes, gasping for air.
After the elaborate meal with the elves in gray cloaks downstairs, a girl in a white dress who looked like a hostess led me to this cozy second-floor room.
I put myself together and sat on the bed. In front of me, a mirror rested on top of a light brown wooden table, and next to it stood a large wardrobe.
A few steps further was a small toilet. This isolated tribe appeared advanced despite their old outfits. Who knows? Maybe they had modern war tools that were better than what they were using.
As I observed the room, my camera caught my eye in the mirror.
Thank God it wasn't broken, at least for now. I took its cotton string from around my neck and turned it on.
The first photo I saw was of Neldur when I was trying to use my anti-ghost weapon to drive away the evil spirits that were plaguing him. I should have kept it; I took several others and deleted the blurry ones until I reached the last photo.
It was from when I submerged my lens into the crystal lake and pressed the shutter. The underwater world was a mosaic of stones and pebbles, each with its own shape and color. But among them, something else glittered. A sight that took my breath away.
I spotted a figure under the lake. A cloaked stranger who hid his face from me, his garment fluttering in the current. The only thing that betrayed his identity was the sword he gripped in his hand. A sword that gleamed with a sinister light.
I felt a surge of panic and wonder. Who was this person? What was his intention? Did he spot me? My thoughts were a torrent of questions that I couldn't stop.
"*sound of sprinting from outside*"
I snapped my head to the window as several figures dashed by.
The footsteps faded in the breeze, but a sound of eerie quietness lingered and stirred a dread in me.
I tiptoed to the window when the only sound was the creaking of the wooden floor, which seemed too loud that night.
When I peered out of the window, all I saw was the silhouette of the trees on the wall of the neighboring house.
"The only thing left to become was a figment, and I became that too," I muttered to myself as I reached for my backpack on the bed. My eyes caught the shifting shadows under the door.
It seemed like someone was on the other side of the wooden door. I was inching towards the bed with my eyes glued to the shadows when the door burst open.
"Grab her!!!" The muffled voice of the burly man with a handkerchief over his mouth sent chills down my spine. Two others were charging at me with swords, and I was frozen like a bird in a cage facing a hunter.
The first swing missed my ear by a hair, and I could hear the air being sliced next to me. I tumbled back on the bed as the second man lifted the sword with both hands over his head and, in an instant, drove the blade into my stomach without any mercy.
World and moment merged. It wasn't supposed to end like this, not yet, God... just this once... Let me survive.
Time ticked by, and the darkness behind my eyelids couldn't conceal me any more than this, especially here in this nowhere in the heart of this forest, with people I don't even know who they are.
I tried to scream, but only silence filled the air. A terrible truth dawned on me. 'This is impossible. I should be writhing in pain.'
A sharp pain pierced through my chest as I gasped for air. I blinked and saw a grim figure looming over me, his gray cloak billowing in the wind. He held a bloody sword in his hand, the tip buried deep in my belly. His eyes were cold and merciless, staring down at me like a predator. I felt my life slipping away, but I couldn't look away from his face.
His gaze pierced through me, revealing a storm of emotions that mirrored my own. Fear, wonder, and trembling surged in his eyes, and I felt them echo in my chest.
I looked down and saw the sword buried in my flesh, as if it had sliced through butter. There was no pain, only a faint sensation of pressure where the metal met my skin. I felt nothing but numbness and shock.
It felt like a nightmare, and I desperately wanted to snap out of it. But how? The fear was bone-chilling, and it should have jolted me awake. But it didn't. I was trapped in this horror.
"Gods…" The man's eyes dropped to his feet in shock as he yanked his sword out of me and tossed it aside.
His footsteps thundered as he charged toward the door, making the two men with him shiver with fear. They backed away slowly, holding their swords in a weak grip.
"What the…fu*k…just?!" I gasped, staring at the spot where the blade had pierced my flesh. I could feel their eyes on me, disbelief and fear mingling in their expressions. The hole that the sword made in my clothes was still there, but the wound seemed to have vanished as if it had never existed. There was nothing left from the injury except blood. Blood that stained my skin and dripped onto the ground. Blood that reminded me of what I had just survived. Or had I?
My shirt was torn where the sword had slashed me, but there was no wound underneath. Only blood. I felt no pain, only confusion. How could this be? They looked at me with horror and awe, but I could bet my confusion surpassed theirs by far.
My hands trembled as I supported my weary body, unable to look away from the crimson stains that marked my clothes.
As I looked up, I realized I was the only one left. The world had gone silent, leaving me with nothing but my own reflection in the mirror. A girl who barely recognized herself and who had witnessed horrors and tragedies beyond her years.
I snatched my camera and sprinted outside. I flew down the wooden stairs, ignoring the numbness and the pain, and swung the exit door of the guest house open. I was done with this place; I was ready to go home.
The alleys were deserted and dim; only me, the moon, and the chirping of crickets filled the air. I ducked my head and dashed towards the door that Neldur and I had used to enter the city.
The stone roads had changed since I first saw them; in my eyes, they stretched endlessly and grew farther with every step I took, and that was all.
I kept galloping for a few minutes, and my legs started to give out, but I froze on my spot at the sight before my eyes.
A man wielding a wooden bow emerged from the shadows in front of me, locking eyes with me.
His sword glinted in the moonlight, and as he drew it from the sheath in an instant, it was like a bad dream that became reality.
"Listen, I didn't—what do you want from me?" I pleaded with him with a voice as if I had been frozen in the Arctic for days, but his only reply was his steps, which approached me like a gust and struck my side. But it felt like he hadn't hit me when the blade went through me and threw the man off balance.
I collapsed on the dusty earth, pain searing through my ribs. He showed no mercy, stalking towards me with deliberate strides, his raspy breathing echoing in the air.
He lifted the blade high above his head like an axe, ready to strike the wooden plank, cleaving it in two. With a roar, he swung it down,
"No!!!" As I lay on the ground, my left shoulder pressed against the dirt, I felt a surge of panic. I shut my eyes and thrust my right hand up, hoping to deflect the blade that was plunging towards my skull.
"Ahhh..." I felt a sudden loss of power in my limbs, as if I had stopped living. It was like hitting a heavy bag so hard that your hand went numb, but this time it was my whole body that went limp and collapsed.
I forced my eyes to open, feeling a sharp pain in my head. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the dim light, but I saw no one looming over me. I searched for the sword wound on my body but found none. Then I noticed the man's corpse at the corner of the alley, bloodied and lifeless.
A voice in my head urged me to forget everything and just drift into sleep, hoping this was all a bad dream.
***
"Someone slaughtered the guard at the main door and threw his body a few steps away; they must have entered the building." I could hear a dull sound.
I barely opened my eyes due to the intensity of the light in the room when I saw Neldur standing above me, staring at me.
"Where am I?" I inquired with a voice more tired than a deer escaping from the clutches of a lion.
"You are safe, stranger." I could hear a man's voice next to me, which was a good consolation for me.
I turned my face away, and in front of my eyes was a man about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. A man in a relatively long white dress, which was evident from the iron pieces on his shoulders, was wearing a war dress.
Yes, it was him—the young man I talked to last night at the guest house. But why in war clothes?
"Are you alright?" The young man asked
"Couldn't be better." I mumbled while trying to tidy myself up.
"She looks healthy, huh?" Neldor said in a loud tone, looking at the girl who was with him, Apparently, everyone was in war clothes.
"From the second wave at the village, we lost the first line." A man with a light brown beard in a head-to-toe iron suit said this as he sat on a chair.
"Let's not waste any more time. I hope your guest is well enough rested while our people are being slaughtered on the front lines—I can't stand here and watch any longer!" Neldur left the room with anger flowing from his every word; he was immediately followed by his companion.
"I don't want to say this, but—you are the only hope of the first line." The man in the iron suit commented, while I was dumbfounded. The matter seemed much bigger than I thought. The man left the room, and I was left with the young man in the white dress.
"I--I..."
"Look, I understand how you feel; I know you hate bloodshed, but if you don't come with us, it will be our blood that will be shed after other people."
Mentioned The young man, took his sword which was on the table, in his hand.
"You—you—what do you know?" I yelled, my voice shaking with panic. "I was attacked last night," I continued, my words tumbling. "I nearly died last night until...until..."
"Until you strok him with all the power you had," the young man interrupted me, his voice earnest as he leaned forward. "You have a gift and a strength that can turn the tide of this war. We need you."
A jumble of emotions swirled within me, leaving me feeling disoriented and unsure. I couldn't put a name to what I was feeling—surprise, fear, longing? All I knew was that a deep ache had settled in my chest, a yearning to return home. Yes, that was it. I just wanted to go home.
"I WANT to go home NOW!" I can't stay here any longer!" When the young man tried to keep talking to me, I abruptly cut him off.
"Neldur hath spoken of thee as a peculiar maiden," he admired. "But very well, I vow to escort thee wherever thou desirest after thou hast journeyed to the front line." Finally, the boy spoke words that brought me some peace. "The moon hath reacted to thee in such a manner that hath not been witnessed for many years. Thy mere presence bestows upon the people a warmth in their hearts, and victory shall follow. And after such a victory, you may return home. I, Adamar, Prince of the Eastern Elves, do pledge my honor." He introduced himself as the prince, but his words still didn't click in my head. But apparently, he was telling the truth.
I've got to think about the fact that this is the only way to get back home. That's it. I lost the way to the cave. Maybe I should bring someone with me. Those cave-tailed beasts might still be lurking around.
So if I help him save his people's lives, he owes me one and has to get me back home. The only problem is, how? How can I, who only spent five months training in martial arts with my grandpa, be any help to these tall folks who've been preparing for this their whole lives?
It was time to bounce. I was riding next to this dude who called himself the prince of his people—Adamar. He was holding my horse's reins since I had no clue how to ride. A handful of riders in gray cloaks followed us. But why gray cloaks? Why did we leave the city through some secret gate? And why weren't the soldiers wearing green clothes like the leaves on the trees, like the ones I saw on my first day here?
We kept going while the sun's rays beat down on our heads and faces like arrows. It was like global warming had kicked into overdrive.
As I tried to wrap my head around what went down last night, time flew by, and we rolled up to a small wooden gate.
From a distance, it looked like the ground near the village gate was covered in red carpet. But as we got closer, we saw that it was covered in blood.
Dead bodies hung from the doors and walls. People's heads were mounted on spears like flags, their hair waving in the wind.
My hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into my flesh. As we entered the village, the stench hit us like a wave. But it wasn't just the smell of death. I could sense the fear of my companions thick in the air.
"Hold fast" Adamar spoke up as we took a few more steps. The sounds of moans and screams filled the air. I felt something inside me—something I couldn't name. Damn it all, I just wanted to go home.
"I was like, wait, what?!"
He was like, "Grab your gear!" and we hopped off our horses, eyeing the huge house in front of us."
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would lead here. I fell to my knees and followed Adamar towards the looming house, my heart heavy with trepidation."
The stench of death was everywhere—overwhelming and nauseating. It felt like one drop of blood would fall from the sky and it would all be over; the sky would turn as red as the earth below."
With legs shaking and heart pounding, I forced myself to keep moving forward.
Out of nowhere, a woman's voice cut through the silence like a knife: "Gi nathlam hì..." We all spun around, caught off guard by the sudden greeting.
From behind the smoldering ruins of the houses, countless creatures emerged—the same ones I had first seen with Neldur at the cave. And among them, a woman in a dark purple-black dress stepped forward. She seemed to command the horde of fleshless beings. Yes, she was banshee!