The first light of the morning shines upon the woods.
Just as the first beam of light touches the trees, a blackbird sings in the distance. Nelly gradually steps through the undergrowth.
With a mask over my face, no one can spot me.
The wood fills with the chirps of birds and the last hoots of the owls escape their throats. The morning wood has an eerie beauty to it, as always.
Wooooo!
A cry of a werewolf echoes through the undergrowth, reverberating in my ears.
Brrrr! Alerted, Nelly neighs. I touch the side of her neck, allowing her to calm herself.
"That confirms it, Nelly. We're here at the right place at the right time," I say to her, gazing around the forest through the two small eye holes in my wooden mask. Not a single apparition meets my eye.
"...but where is the princess?"
There is a complete lack of a princess in the woods, though.
The wood is large. Hundreds of trees cover everything in sight. After the cries of the werewolves recede, there's an eerie silence to it.
Elves have a wide range of hearing, so even the tiniest sounds will grace the tip of my ear. I close my eyes, focusing my hearing senses on the wood. My ears twitch as it graces the sound of water trickling down a rock, a frog croaking, and the neigh of another horse.
"Another horse?" I gaze in the direction where the sound comes from. "Let's go, Nelly," I smirk.
I turn Nelly around and begin riding across the forest toward the sound of the other horse.
'It shouldn't be a coincidence. Another horse must mean the princess is here like she promised.'
Nelly moves through the undergrowth as I push away vines that fall over us from the branches.
'God, no caterpillars, please,' I beg as I remove them with my hand. As I get closer to the sound of the horse, I hear the sprinkling sound of water.
Brr!
Through a small gap in a bush right ahead, I see a horse.
Nelly goes closer to it, and I finally see the princess that I am missing so much.
The beautiful young lady is crouching in the middle of a pond of crystal clear water. Water is flowing down a crack from the massive rock beside the pond, but the strangely clear water is certainly uncommon for a pond in the middle of the woods.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" The princess turns to me, moving her soft white hand through the surface of the water.
"Yeah, I'm surprised to see such a beautiful pond in the middle of the woods. And a princess, even more so," I reply to her, sweeping off the back of the horse.
"Oh dear, thank you, kind gentleman." She chuckles.
I grab Nelly's leash and tie her to a nearby tree.
My eyes fall upon the beautiful princess once again. She splashes water against her face, wiping her soft and plump cheeks with those hands.
"How does such a pond exist?" I ask her, stepping closer to it.
"Surprised? It is a wonderful place. It's magical. That's all I know. Sometimes, I come here to enjoy this natural beauty, you know. Escape life." She continues, sitting on a rock that emerges from the water. "Step into the water."
I take my muddy shoes off and throw them into the carpet of grass beside me. I step into the water. It's ice cold, but I stay unhinged.
'She's certainly resistant to cold too,' I presume, crouching in the water.
"Are you not going to take off that mask, my dearest?" She smiles at me, her crimson eyes glowing.
I've changed the color of my hair and my eyes. There's no reason for me to hide.
I pull off my mask, throwing my hood down. My crimson eyes gaze into hers. She's staring at my face without moving an inch.
"Um, wow."
"Here's my face, princess," I smile at her, dipping my hands into the water of the pond and splashing a handful of it on my face.
"Well then, princess. First, I need to ask your name, and get to know you, but I can't do that cause I already know most of the basic things. Let's start with how you managed to get all the way here on your own."
"Haha, sure," she chuckles. "I got here under a Ghost Cloak, given to me by my Grandfather. I come here often, using that cloak. I don't like to stay at the castle, always. It gets boring within those walls real quick."
"Ghost Cloak? Certainly, a magical item that can only be possessed by the royals," I smirk at her.
"Well, it's your turn, my friend. Why not introduce yourself to me, quick. I can already see that you're an elf." Reya says to me, gazing at my ear. "A dark elf, possibly?"
"I am," I lie to her. "But certainly not a mass murdering one," I add, to reassure her.
"Certainly not. And you're certainly no God either, are you? I like narcissism a bit, but you thought I was delusional enough to believe that you're a God?"
"In a Godless world, no harm in believing that we are Gods, right?"
"Mhm, is that what you think?" She asks me. I feel like I've butchered my chance with her, but that cannot have too much effect on her, can it?
"I respect your opinion. But – you know that you can't simply steal my heart with a letter. Or that beauty in your face," she says softly, laying down in the water pond.
The water flows over her body. White gravel covers the bottom of the pond, and the water is hardly shallow. We can sleep in the pond without drowning if we want.
"I came here to decide. If you can be a king. If you can see the world the way I see it. I come from the genes of my grandfather King Muri, you know. I know a thing or two about the kingdom and how to rule. It's in my blood. So, I must know if you can be a fitting king for me. For that purpose, I shall ask one question from you."
I stare at her, waiting for the question.
"Want to join me, um, what's the name?"
"Elm."
"Want to join me, Elm?" She invites me.
Whatever the questions she will be asking me, if I do not reply to her with the most righteous answers, she will turn me down. Sleeping with her will be a dream.
Everything depends on the next few questions she will be asking me.
"Gladly."
'So, the rumors didn't carry the entire truth, huh? She's not entirely delusional. She's smart,' I ponder, immersing myself in the spine-chillingly cold water.