Chapter 6
On the other side of the forest, Nasrin had been following the light trail for half the night now. She was now significantly deep into the forest, and at this point, she was blindly pursuing the light.
After a few more minutes of walking, the light path disappeared and a large wooden cottage was in its place. Nasrin's eyes gradually gained focus.
'I must have fallen asleep,' She rubbed her sore eyes as she thought. Nasrin opened the book to check. The cottage was the exact replica of the illustration in the book.
'Well at the very least the outside is not shabby, but I'm more worried about the inside.' She closed the book and tucked it into the bag. She walked to the door and slowly opened it. The lights came on as soon as she stepped in. The inside was bigger than she initially thought, but it was clean.
The entrance had a table on the side with a small blue flower on it. It had a weird feel to it, Nasrin walked towards it and unconsciously reached out for it. As soon as she touched it, she recoiled in pain. A small wound had appeared on her finger.
Nasrin shook her hand in pain and the blood on her finger fell onto the floor. Once the blood touched the floor, it disappeared without a trace. Nasrin decided to keep moving. Walking on, she reached the living room. The was a medium-sized transparent round table covered in vines in the middle of the room. Around the round table, were cotton-like couches, a medium-sized glowing orb on the ceiling and paintings all over the walls.
On the side were three different doors and on stairs leading upstairs and a door under the stairs. "Well, looks like I scored myself a rather good home," Nasrin whistled to herself as she looked around the room. She decided to go upstairs first.
Upstairs, there were two doors. One on the left and the other on the right. In the middle, a small rope was dangling; "Seems like there's also an attic." Nasrin chose to enter the right door.
Inside was a room full of tools that apothecaries used. This room was definitely the main lab. Nasrin decided to check it out in the morning. She closed the door and went to the left door.
Opening the door, she saw a bed, a closet, a table filled with weird crystals and plant roots, and a watering can. On the wall behind the bed was a large round window. "Found the bedroom," Nasrin checked the cloth, it was clean. 'Must have been recently washed since it still smells of the forest.'
Nasrin placed down the bag and walked out of the room. Walking to the middle of the hallway, she tugged at the rope. A ladder folded down with that action. She held the ladder and shook it, seeing it was sturdy she climbed up. Pipping her head through, a small garden greeted her. The room was made entirely of glass. From the outside of the cottage, all this could not be seen.
'What the h.e double hockey sticks is this cottage!' Nasrin rubbed her forehead and decided to go through the whole 'cottage', in the morning. The place was MUCH bigger than she thought.
***
When the sun rose, Nasrin went through the entire cottage and cleaned it up. Next to the cottage was a hot spring, though weird, thank nature for what you got. Nasrin also took most of the equipment down to the basement. The lab was set up there.
Though it was underground, it was well-ventilated and spacious. Nasrin let out her waist-long hair to dry as she sat on the chair in the basement to read the book.
The sound of pages flipping filled the room.
'Poison, nope. Sedatives, also nope. Poisonous flowers, already know 'em. Mushrooms… edible flowers… yata yata yata,' Nasrin kept flipping until. "Ah huh! Found it!"
"Let's see. There are different types of elves… blah blah blah… Dark, light, seasonal… umm. None fit the physical features of this body," Nasrin rubbed her chin as she kept reading. "Platinum blonde hair, emerald eyes, fair or dark skinned, possess a large cottage in the middle of a forest and owns the book of infinite knowledge…" Nasrin raised her eyebrows as she continued reading.
"So, I'm in the body of an almost extinct race of elves?" A somewhat mocking but not expression appeared on her face. 'Seems I'll have to read the book to find out.'
***
The sound of rustling leaves echoed through the forest. "Why is it so freaking hot?!" Jasper exclaimed.
"Maybe it's because you won't shut up," Elara muttered as she brushed the leaves from her face. Jasper continued to complain and cuss as they moved forward.
"Anyway," Elara rolled her eyes, watching Jasper fumble around. "Will finding the elf actually help us?"
Leon nodded. "The reward for finding the elf is two months of vacation from school."
"And if we win, we can also search for the damned remnants!" Jasper added.
Leon nodded again as he broke a branch off a tree. "That's easier said than done. The forest is bigger than you think. The map Eric showed me was massive, filled with different types of trees from various seasons. It reminded me of a Minecraft world, but much larger," Elara said, incinerating a snake that jumped at her with a single wave of her hand.
"Your 'brother' gave you a cheat?" he asked, kicking a stone at a stray wolf that lunged at them. "Damn, this forest is full of animals!"
"More like I 'accidentally found something of his," Elara said, her icy blue eyes sparkling with delight. The three boys shivered and quickened their pace. Elara rolled her eyes and picked up her speed as well.