Chapter 5: Entering the Elf Kingdom

I became a fugitive for a crime I didn't commit. I meet a guy named Bob who has a disturbing relationship with his bug Familiar. I am on my way to a race of people who are elves. And now I'm stuck in a tree because I'm inside a forest with fog that kills you. My life is going great right now don't you think.

The fog appeared out of nowhere, the only hint it was coming was a large gust of wind, and my Familiar sensing something was about to happen. My new friend Bob and everything he had vanished in the fog. I was holding Greed with me because I'm nervous to lose him. He's acting like a feral animal in my arms, sniffing and wanting to jump in the air. I can't understand if he's afraid and scared or if he's just suicidal, but my arms hurt holding him down.

After a while, I'm worried about whether the fog will rise and if we will disappear too. And once Greed calmed down he crawled up my head and sniffed again. 

" What do you smell, you won't stop sniffing the air"

"I smell bob. Or more specifically Linda's fish breath"

Shocked because I'm surprised I can't smell it too. It smelt rancid and like a sewer. But if the fog didn't eat them and they are alive, then what's happening? All the stories of the Forsaken forest claimed it was the fog that was dangerous. But it's not? What's going on?

" So what do you think we*swoosh " before I even finish my sentence, Greed jumps off my head and disappears in the fog. 

" Well, it was good to know him I guess"

Looking out in the fog, I hear this heavy breathing and panting like a dog chasing a ball. And this blur keeps jumping from one spot to another, it's moving like a fish, each time it lands I hear what sounds like high pitch squeaking. Sitting here really makes me realize how boring I am.

After 5 minutes, Greed skirts up the tree, panting like he ran 100 kilometers, and sits on my lap. He looks at my face… And pukes

On me.

In my face

I throw him

I hope he dies

I vomit at this insidious act upon my beautiful face and the fact my familiar has no respect for me. Once I stopped I looked behind me and saw him sitting with a smile on his dark black face. I grab him and throw him again, this simple act makes me feel so much better. I feel something stuck in my hair and I'm praying that it's not puke. I reach up there and I feel… Hair, it's not mine, I look at it, and it's a light blue tuft of hair… Wait… I puke again realizing that this probably came from Greed's trash heap of a stomach.

I ask him what it is and he says

" When I was down there I could smell something but I couldn't see it. Until I ate something and now I see all of them"

Is that why everything is covered in fog and I can't see anything? Does the creature with this kind of hair control the fog? I place the hair in my pocket just in case and as if I'm drunk off of fear, I jump.

Other than landing on a rock and hurting my ankle, I'm fine. Everything I know and own is still here. Sweet. I call Greed and he jumps off the branch and lands on me. I land face-first on the ground, eating what I hope is dirt. I swear Greed will be the death of me. I got up and threw him, but he seemed to be enlightened by this action, and I see why, when I come back I see that inside his pitch-black mouth and pearly white teeth, is a creature with just as white of skin. And soft blue hair.

He spits the creature out and I stare in awe of it. It has soft, light blue hair with a simple hairstyle. To the neck but its bangs don't go past the eyebrows. It's the size of a tiny doll a young girl would play with. On its back it has these angelic-like wings, with some light, I imagine it would shine with a blue/ blackish tone. The clothes it is wearing are on the same theme as her. I've never seen a style like this, something out of an old story.

I go to pick it up and it moves, he didn't kill it. Greed shows sympathy to this one yet treats others as nothing more than a snack. I go to him and slap him, yet hitting him hurts me more than him judging by his shiny smile. I go back and pick up the creature and it comes back to life in my hands. I hold it with little force because I don't know how strong or weak this thing is but I hope it won't kill me.

It looks at Greed. Then at me, back to Greed, it sticks out its tongue and blows a raspberry and looks and starts to speak, Greed starts to laugh. 

" She called you "phallic" which I believe means penis"

" Wait it's talking, how come I can't understand… And what?"

All I was hearing was this high pitch squeak, like someone rubbing 2 pieces of soft metal together.

" Why can you understand what it's saying?"

" Cause I'm better"

" Well at least I have hands"

" And if I cause a problem, you will take the blame cause I'm your familiar"

God, I hate him.

" Since you're better, what is this?"

" Easy, a snack"

He jumps up into the air and the next thing I know my hand is inside his mouth…. He's biting the wrong hand, I think he's not smart.

" What are you?" I say with a hope that it will say something I can understand, yet all I hear is… Silence, sometimes that's a good thing but not now.

As I wait for a response this thing turns its head up and shouts out this loud ringing sound. Like a ground bat, looking for a bug in the night.

I asked Greed what she said and all he did was laugh

His laugh sounds that of a person insane, a cackle of someone whose heart just got broken and they are about to kill something, anything in its Infinite void of a mind and limited sight. And all he said was Run. 

Before I knew it this fireball the size of a large hand and in the shape of a palm shoots out from the cover of the fog, aiming for the creature, and before I knew it, I used my shoulder as a shield for it.

The spot where it hit me hurt, but the worst pain was the sound. Oh, the sound of my flesh burning not only hurt my ears, but also my soul. And before I could look where it came from, two tiny columns made up of rocks went straight through my feet. And I thought my shoulder hurt.

I look around and I hear this buzzing, my ears seem to have entered a heightened state of awareness, must be my adrenaline kicking in. I lift my feet off of the pikes and I look and all I see is blood coming from my foot, I get the other one-off and begin to run.

Rocks and fireballs are flying past me and Greed is in front, I don't know why but he seems to know where to go.

"We need to get out of here?"

Silence

"Do you know where we are going?" 

Silence

I don't know why but I'm still holding on to this creature but I feel like if I let her go she will be attacked. And as we run for what seems like a lifetime, we reach a cliff. A straight drop off this cliff would easily kill anyone, I turn around and I see the creatures behind the attacks. Judging by the way they look, I guess they are the same as her. The one shooting fire had bright red hair standing up, and wings, flapping faster than my eye could see and barely wearing any clothes except shorts. And on the ground is a large bulky creature, brown hair and barely could see his face from all the hair. His body was covered in what seemed like fur and mud.

They are looking at me. But not at the same time, not at me, but at what I had.

" What are you?"

And no one answered, except a soft breeze through the trees. But standing in this silence, I began to wonder what was going on. And I thought running from them was long. I take a step back to see how far away and judging by my foot size, I'm less than a few inches from the cliff.

" Soooooo. Does anyone know the time, I should get some sleep"

And as soon as I finished my sentence, the breeze picked up speed. And from the forest, I heard what I thought was someone blowing air. The red and brown tiny creatures moved as if something was coming

Something was coming. Before I knew it, this white creature was moving faster than my eyes could see, and before it touched me, I could see its face, a larger creature, actually it looked larger than me, with white hair and pointy ears, pale skin, and spinning. It was as if time slowed down, I could see that it was flying and spinning like an arrow, and in front of its head was its hand. And as I look down the hand touches my chest.

And nothing happened. I look at what seems like a male and nervously laugh, and yet he's still floating, and then I see that he begins to smile. And my smile becomes a look of fear

And before I knew what was happening, my bones in my chest began to shatter, and the force from his attack picked me up off the ground, and I started to fly backward. All from seeing him and flying off happened within a second. I let go of the creature because my arm broke and I saw the white-haired one grab her and place him on his shoulder. Time still feels slow for me as I fly

10 feet

20 feet

40, 50, 70, 100 feet is how far he hit me. And I haven't even started to drop yet. I look down and my clothes are destroyed, and my bones are now lumping in my chest. My right arm broke but my left arm just hurts a lot. And my legs are broken too. I coughed and more blood I have ever seen flowed out of my chest, my mouth, and everything. It is floating in front of me, also defying gravity.

I look up at the sky, and the moon is straight above me, it's so bright. It looks at me, it's reaching out to me. I lift my left arm towards it. And before I can grab the light, I drop.

I lost consciousness before I hit the ground. But I imagine my body hit the ground like a hard object, hitting it as hard and as fast as it can, and bouncing back up. To at least 10 feet and back to the ground.

I couldn't tell how long I was out but when I came too, I couldn't see and all I heard was squeaking. I thought I should be dead, and even though I couldn't see, I could tell my limbs were broken. I could feel that they were not broken but twisted and shattered, my lungs were punctured and I listened to my body, it was wet. Wet from my blood, the more I tried the breath the more I was in pain. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move, I could see. I was in hell.

I tried to cry cause I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't. And all I hear is squeaking. And that's the last thing I hear.

An hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, lifetime. My lifetime. I don't know how long I was out, but when I came back I was fine, I woke up and I could move my arms and I could feel my legs, I was wrapped in bandages and I felt sour, but I wasn't dead, better than I was expecting. I look around. It's rocks, placed together and seemed like they are glued, it's wet, very wet and it smells like animals are kept down here. I was locked in a cell.

I was hoping when I came back that there would be my favorite food, a celebration as if I was a king. Or a hero, loud music, pretty girls. But I'm alone. 

After a while, one of the small creatures came and was shocked to see me awake. I didn't look that bad, did I? I look around and see a puddle on the ground, I look in it and I'm overwhelmed to see that my face had nothing on it as if all that happened was a dream. The thing flew away like it was looking for help but I still waited in my cell. After a while, another one came, this time it wasn't one of the tiny ones, but the one taller than me, he kinda looked like the one who attacked me but this one looks older and sadder. With grey hair and wrinkled skin, like he's been alive for a century. His voice sounds like something you would expect as an old man who was a soldier.

" you shouldn't be alive"

For the first time, I finally have something, someone that speaks and understands me. 

" I tried to die but god didn't want me yet."

"If i was god, i would have struck you down from the moment you entered our land"

Our land? But I was in the forsaken forest. On our way towards the…. Oh my. 

"Wait so the forest is."

"It is what we use to keep outsiders from coming to our kin. We use the elemental sprites to kill outsiders like you. But you somehow got inside the kingdom somehow, you will face judgment."

So those small things where sprites, or maybe fairies would be a better term. But how did I get into the kingdom? I don't remember seeing anything when I was at the cliff. Wait. I was about to ask him about Bob and if he was alive, but he began to walk away, and judging by his tone and demeanor, he didn't want to listen to someone like me. 

"Who was the white one, the wind guy, he was bigger and seemed a lot more powerful than the sprites."

He stopped, surprised to hear me describe him

"That… was Tama"

And just as fast as he entered, he left. And I was taken back to my hole of loneliness. I just now realized that Greed is not here. I wonder how he is, I hope he is well.