Home Of The Elves

-Start of Part Three-

After a year of seeing nothing but sand, a change of scenery was nice. Lush green forests, full of beautiful wildlife. Kies hated to admit it, but he missed these trees so. He had been to many places and the majority of them had all been forests. It was forest after forest. At one point, he started to believe that the whole world was just one big forest with a couple of bald spots here and there like Otane's desert.

Sitting down on a smooth boulder by a creek, Kies scanned the surrounding area with his eyes to see if there were any dry wood that he could use to start a fire. It was late in the day and the sun was beginning to set, creating a bright, gorgeous streak behind the clouds.

The strong scent of old musky wood filled the air. Though late, animals were still out and about, pouncing in and out of the bushes. There were all sorts of sounds in the forest. From the cries of animals to the rustling of leaves, the place was full of life.

"Did you find any good sticks?" a voice suddenly asked from next to him. Kies turned and spotted Nyana walking up to him, slung over her shoulder her bow, and in her hands a rabbit.

The elf was as strikingly beautiful as ever. Her long hair flowed behind her and her sharp green eyes could pierce even metal, letting nothing in her sight go unnoticed.

"Plenty," Kies responded. With a flick of his wrist, he called upon the winds and lifted several branches and sticks from the ground into the air. They all flew to him and fell gently in his arms.

"This should be enough," the elf said as she eyes the wood. She strolled to the river and processed the rabbit. She skinned it cleanly, taking off not even a tiny chunk of meat with the fur coat, and drained the blood into the creek. Doing so drew in hungry predators, but they all backed off once they saw the elf. They knew better than to try her.

Once done, Nyana strolled over to the fire that Kies started and began roasting it over the flames. In the meanwhile, they chat about their travel progress and other important matters.

"Remind me, how many days till we reach the capital?" Kies asked while fiddling with a burning stick, throwing it back in once the fire had fully engulfed the entire stick.

"We're nearly there. The capital is not too far from here," she answered, looking up the skewer cooking over the fire. "Thank goodness that giant's march slowed," she said again, breathing a sigh of relief. The mountain giant that was on its path to flatten the elven capital had been halted in its tracks for a few months thanks to some creative traps, however, it only temporarily stopped it. But it was these delays that allowed Nyana and Kies to stay in Otane for as long as they did to overview the reconstruction of the kingdom.

"And tell me again, what makes you think that I can take care of that mountain giant?" Kies brought up the question that was bothering him all this time now. He stared at the fire, waiting for a response from the elf. The flames flickered wildly, lashing out at the dry leaves and branches, swallowing them whole. The foliage shriveled into smaller black outlines of themselves before crumbling into ashes and rising as smoke into the air.

A captivating sunset loomed overhead, tracing the clouds in a bright, orange color. There were even hints of purple and pink, adding to its charm. A soft draft graced his cheeks and hair. How nice. Surrounded by thick green vegetation on all sides, it was truly an amazing experience. This was the kind of thing he wanted to experience back when he was in Silverfield. It was an experience that he wanted to share with his adoptive family. It was too late now, but at least he would have this pleasant moment engraved in his head.

Kies felt an emptiness clawing at his chest. He reached over, finding the wooden carving underneath his shirt where it had always been. The only thing left that served as a reminder of his younger self.

Throughout his stay at Otane, he did many things to help with the reconstruction and to pass time. Mercenary work, transporting materials, and hunting down daring beasts that wanted to attack farmers. In addition to all that, he also did one other thing, and it was the thing that he spent the most time on. That thing was searching for his family. He hoped that he would find something, but it was all hope in the end.

"Well, if I were to be fair, my initial target was a powerful earth-user," Nyana unexpectedly said, pulling Kies' head out of the clouds and back into reality.

"Sorry?" Kies tilted his head, giving the elf a disconnected glance. If she wanted an earth user, then Lentis would have been the right person to bring with her. But then again, he was a pretty important figure in Otane. She couldn't exactly just borrow one of the royal guards.

"As you know, we are dealing with a mountain giant. An earth-user would be much more preferred."

"Yes, I see your reasoning."

"But to answer your question, your magic was something that I have never seen before. It's suffocating how strong it is. It drowns out even the demons I've fought, and believe me, I have fought many. None of them come close to your level... " Nyana sharply said.

"I believe you."

"...Well, except for that female demon we encountered in Otane. She's an absolute monster. I dare say her magic rivals yours..." she noted to herself. "Speaking of which, she seemed to have known you. Do you two have some kind of history with each other?" she asked curiously. Her voice wasn't filled with suspicion since she knew that Kies wasn't on the demon's side, and it was a genuine question that she was asking.

Kies' eyes narrowed, thinking of a way to explain their relationship. It was probably not a good idea to tell the elf that they worked together before. After a short bit of consideration, he decided to just avoid the question altogether to save headaches. "It's a bit complicated," he said.

Nyana got the hint to not dig any deeper into his past with the demons and just nodded her head. "Everyone has their secrets. I have no right to ask you to tell me about it. My sincerest apologies." The elf bowed her head down, her hair hovering only a centimeter above the hungry fire.

"No, you don't have to apologize for asking a question," Kies quickly told her so that she could lean back up before the entire top of her head caught on fire. The elf sat back upright and began wolfing down the rabbit she caught. While she was eating, Kies did a short stroll around the perimeter to make sure that they were safe. He could have used his magic to do so but there were some things that even magic couldn't detect.

Nyana finished the food and went and laid down on the sea of overgrown grass. It was softer than any mattress. The only tradeoff was the numerous bugs and critters living in the grass, but that didn't matter that much to an elf.

Morning broke just a few hours after the elf went to sleep and she was all energized and ready to go despite having slept so little. At first, Kies was a little skeptical if that was a good idea but he didn't care too much about it now. Throughout their trip, Nyana slept in short intervals, regaining nearly all of her energy in that amount of time before continuing their journey. When asked about it, she told him that it was something all elven soldiers were trained to do.

The remainder of the journey was smooth traveling, and after a few days of navigating through the dense jungle of a forest, a beacon of light shone in front of them. The thick vegetation paved open the way to a large clearing. Massive living trees lined the clearing, forming something of a wall, and in the center was a single building, taking almost as much space as the clearing itself.

Sunlight peaked in from the layers of branches and leaves, shining onto the wood-woven building in the middle like a spotlight. The trees that acted like walls to the grand building had man-sized holes carved into them and bridges interconnecting them, spiraling like an intricate spider's web. A pond cut off his path in front of him with no bridge to connect this side to the other.

Nyana walked in front of Kies and nodded her head. "There are some improvements to this place since the last time I came." She spun around and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we're still some time from the capital, but for the time being, let's see how the people here are doing."

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!