The crackling of a campfire broke the song of the forest crickets. In a cave at the foot of a small hill, a trio of misfits camped. An Elf slept leaning against the rocks. A dark Elf poked at the embers, trying to keep the fire going. A human looked at his own hand, clenching and unclenching it.
"Incredible!" Li was slowly getting used to his new abilities. After walking all afternoon, he noticed differences in his body. He wasn't tired. He felt stronger than usual. This, combined with his increased mental capacity, would certainly make him a superhuman boxer. "Well… not that it matters now." Seeing Itzal near the fire, he got up and joined the elf.
"Tired of admiring yourself and came to keep this old man company?" Itzal joked.
"You really seemed a bit lonely here, so I thought you needed a friend" Li smiled.
Since they had left the starting point, Li had been talking with Itzal almost the entire time. The man was kinder and more pleasant than he had thought, and he helped Jihan understand more about what was happening. Despite his calm personality, the Elf inspired a lot of confidence, which made the other two feel comfortable in his presence.
"It's very easy to annoy you, kid. You need to start shielding your mind."
"Don't push it, old man." They both fell silent for a few minutes.
"Don't you want to know?" Itzal broke the silence.
"Know what?"
"About her." He pointed to Akemi. Li took a moment to respond.
"No, I don't really care."
"So you're not that oblivious, it just doesn't matter to you?" Itzal laughed. "Well, maybe that's why I feel like talking."
"Go ahead, an old friend of mine said I'm a great listener." Li remembered Jhin. "Well, he didn't say it, but I think it was implied." "But I won't lie, curiosity crossed my mind."
"Alright." Itzal sighed, and they fell silent again.
"If you want to talk about it, though..."
"Hahaha," Itzal laughed softly. "You're a good person, kid."
"Am I?"
"My intuition says yes, and it's never wrong..."
"There can always be a first time..."
"Don't you like yourself?" Li didn't respond. "Well, I don't know you well enough for that... but I hope you two can become friends."
"Friends?" he asked, surprised. "With me?"
"Her mother was a human," the Elf said. "The kindest and most loving woman I've ever known. She gave birth to a child who was even more beautiful and loving than herself." His eyes shone as he spoke. "When Akemi was a child, she used to play in a village. Even though we always told her she shouldn't expose herself so much, it never held her back. She was so happy… so innocent back then. How could I tell her? Tell her that she would never be accepted by others because she was born of a father like me? That she would forever walk between two species?"
Then, Itzal's gaze darkened.
"It didn't take long for them to find out. At first, no one was outraged; on the contrary, most of them accepted her with open arms, but…" The Elf's voice grew graver as a tear ran down his face. "Those SAVAGES! They imprisoned my daughter and waited for me to leave home to rescue her! When I returned, it was too late… they accused her of 'betraying humanity.'"
"Are humans everywhere rotten…? It's easy to understand why she doesn't like me," Li whispered, looking towards the girl. "So why did you trust me?"
"Her mother was also human... sometimes she herself forgets that. The kindest and most loving person I knew in hundreds of years was my wife, but Akemi probably doesn't even remember her anymore." Itzal responded. "I don't know, maybe I still hope to show her that there are people like you."
Li widened his eyes. "Am I really good...?" He bit his upper lip. "I feel like I'm deceiving him."
"Thank you, Itzal."
"No, thank you for listening to this old father's outburst." He smiled.
"You are a good father." Jihan stared at the crackling fire. "I don't know if I truly had one, but if I did, I would want him to be like you."
The Elf froze and sighed deeply, unable to hold back the tears that were neither of pain nor hatred that ran down his cheeks.
"Thank you, Li." Trying to stop them from falling, he rubbed his own face. "Thank you very much, boy."
Lying in the corner, pretending to sleep, Akemi bit her lips, trying not to make a sound. Her swollen face gave her away, and she tried to stop crying, though in vain.
At sunrise, the three left the camp. Unlike the previous day, the young woman made an effort to walk alongside the other two.
"Ah! Akemi! Decided to join us?" the old man joked.
"Yes, I'm tired of thinking alone. Besides, this kid must be tiring you out."
An aggressive voice, slightly contrasting with her sweet appearance, came from the woman's mouth.
"You can speak my language?!" Li asked, surprised.
"I never said I couldn't, I just didn't want to talk to someone like you."
Between the two, Itzal laughed. He knew that wasn't it. His daughter hated speaking the human language because of what happened to her mother. She always denied all the parts of herself that reminded her of her human side.
"What are you laughing at, old man!?" the girl asked.
"Nothing. I just thought you remind me a lot of your mother."
"Why, you!" Blushing, she punched his chest.
"Ouch! Do you want to kill your old father?"
Li just smiled. He seemed to be in a dream. The walk was peaceful. As always, when Itzal sensed danger, he had them take a detour to avoid trouble. Time passed quickly, and except for when they stopped to eat, they didn't take breaks. A few hours after noon, they stopped.
"We're close. Li, Akemi, listen well. You will do exactly what I say, understood?"
"Yes!" They said in unison.
"Very well. Now listen, I only have one rule when it comes to this type of mission. This goes double for you two."
Both gulped.
"Don't die. No item or artifact is more important than your lives." Itzal finished speaking and then hugged them. "I forbid you to break this rule. Promise me." Akemi hugged him back, and they both promised.
"And now?" Li asked.
"We wait."
The tension made the evening drag on. As soon as it got dark, it started to rain, and like the previous two days, the first thunder was heard. Itzal went ahead to check if everything was alright, to start the plan.
"Do you think it will work?" Jihan asked Akemi.
"It will, he's my father. He can do anything."
A few minutes later, the shadow reappeared. "So that's his ability? To merge with the shadows?"
"Something's wrong. I'm not sensing any living being in the nest."
"What do you mean?" the woman asked.
"It means the horn is unguarded! If the thunder is still striking in the same direction and there's nothing alive in the cave, it can only be that!"
"Should we take the risk? I mean, that wasn't the plan."
"Don't worry, Li. If it goes wrong, I'll distract the Troll, and you two run." Itzal explained. "Head back to where we were, Akemi shouldn't have trouble finding it."
"I trust you, sir."
"And I trust you, boy. Let's go."
After walking for a few minutes, they finally reached the nest. A large cave at the base of a hill. The rain seemed to erase the footprints from the ground. Surrounded by moss, the entrance was almost invisible if you saw it from a distance. Its top looked destroyed. "The lightning must have eventually broken through the rocks." After Itzal confirmed no one was there, they entered.
"Old man, are you sure there's no one here?"
"Well, I swept the cave, nothing reacted or moved, I doubt there's anything inside."
"Why didn't you take the horn then?" Li asked, curious.
"I didn't have time," he replied. "If the beast isn't inside, it's outside. In that case, it was you who were in danger."
They walked through the place. Near the end, a light shone through the ceiling, illuminating the cave.
"It must be here. If the hole is caused by the lightning, then the horn must be nearby."
After searching for a few minutes, Itzal finally found an object. In his hand, a large horn gleamed. It was almost the size of the elf's arm. Li could only imagine the size its original owner must have had.
"We found it!" Akemi, next to Jihan, celebrated.
"Perfect, now we can get out of here." Something bothered Jihan, it was too easy, his mind suspected something, like a piece of the puzzle was missing. "What am I missing..."
"Wait, Li. I have a present for you." Taking a knife from his belt, Itzal placed the horn on a stone near the wall. With all his strength, he struck it in the middle, breaking the horn and the stone together.
"This old man is really strong!"
Taking half of it, he extended his hand and called the boy over to give it to him. Li, excited, ran to the man. Being careful not to slip on the muddy floor, he looked at the ground where he stepped. A thought flashed, and an image connected in Jihan's mind. His expression froze.
"Boy? Are you alr…"
"Old man! There were no footprints… at the entrance, there were no footprints… how didn't he leav…"
"What are you saying, boy, you're scaring me."
"I mean… how did he get into the cave if not through the door?"
A pair of eyes blinked in the darkness. A round weapon blocked the light coming through the ceiling.
ROARRRRRR
The girl's legs froze. Trembling.
"AKEMI!" The elf leaped towards his daughter, shattering the ground where he stepped, pulling her away from the monster and taking her place in the club's trajectory.
BAM
The body being thrown away brought Li back to reality.