Chapter 69

The scenery changed drastically as he was pulled further and further within the village.

Alex noticed the lighting once again fading. A well hidden cave entrance came into his view. If it weren't for the fact that he could 'see' the large caves it was connected to he was sure he wouldn't notice it unless he walked right up to it.

'Reminds me of home.'

'Forget that, reminds me nothing of home.' He thought as he caught sensed one of the large humanoids fighting a smaller… 'no-winged dragon?'

'Hold on is that big guy half boar? His teeth are sticking out from his mouth.'

Alex watched for a moment as the small lizard man ran circles around the boar man. Within seconds the orc fell to the ground.

'The lizard looks like a distant relative of the hologram I fought back in holdensburg.'

His attention was drawn to the crowd of elves who looked to be asking for more, the ringleader must've been listening because Alex watched two more boar men get pushed out into the fighting area.

With a sigh he removed the ropes restraining him and stretched his legs as he reappeared outside of the cage. 'I think the big green guys that they were fighting had a motive for going to war with these, elves.'

'There are rumors of these things existing back home, but it is highly looked down upon. Here it looks like everyone knows about it and does nothing.'

"It would be a shame if this operations affairs were brought to the spotlight wouldn't it." He said hearing the elves that brought him here muttering to themselves.

"'How did he get out?'" A slightly masculine voice asked.

He grabbed at a his cloth covered chain blades only to have them fall out of their covers. 'I guess I didn't secure them properly while I was in the rift.' He thought as he reached down to retrieve them.

"'That doesn't matter he has weapons, stop him!'"

Alex's eyes widened as he sensed one of the elves he had just alerted, move at a speed which shouldn't be possible. 'What the hell is this!?'

Alex's body glowed and his movement became a blur as he escaped the incoming grapple from the elf.

"'A paladin! Quick kill him before he does something!'"

Three elves charged towards him with their weapons drawn. They stumbled and lunged forward as a bright light blinded them.

With his eyes closed Alex concentrated his light mana within his hand before shooting it out forcefully and stepping back through a portal as the elves charged towards him.

For a brief moment the dark isolated forest was completely engulfed in light, it was as if the sun did the reverse blinking that tired humans do when they are woken up earlier than usual.

A clinking noise was heard as Alex reached down and picked up his weapons. He shivered as he felt like the entire forest was looking at him. Just barely, he was able to feel a presence cut through the air like a knife through butter, in his direction.

'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to alert everyone else. Even Michael isn't this fast, what kind of bull…'

Alex stopped thinking as he once again channeled light mana, this time not holding back, his grand Expert light affinity caused the surrounding environment to feel warmer.

The area around Alex lit up and for the first time he could see the details of the elves around him perfectly, he took a mental note before leaping to the side as an older looking elf landed with his spear stuck in the ground where Alex previously was. Somehow there was no loud boom that Alex had expected, there was not cloud of dust, just a thud as the elf landed.

"'You should've just gone along with everything, I can't have anyone interfering with my business. It's a pity, the others would be willing to give a lot to watch a human fight for their life.'"

As the man monologued Alex took in his appearance. 'At lease one thing didn't change, sharp angular eyebrows, forehead creases in the right spots. He looks just like any normal villain.'

A memory popped into Alex's head. 'Alex if you keep frowning like that your gonna end up getting stuck with an upset face. You don't want to be stuck with forehead creases like David has do you?' Daniels voice echoed through his mind.

"Well I don't suppose you would take it easy on me until others arrive would you?" Alex asked the elf with graying hair.

"'What did he say?'" One of the elves asked.

"'He didn't say anything?'" The old elf frowned. "'I know every language available. Unless he is not from this realm.'"

The old elf shook his head lightly before once again blurring in Alex's vision.

Alex who had less of a distance to escape this time focused on defense.

An invisible wall of spacial energy was quickly created and a crackling noise was heard as arcs of electricity appeared in between his fingers. 'Crap I had less than I expected!'

Alex thought as he felt his spacial wall crumbling into dust as the elf's spear pierced it.

His bolt of lightning assaulted the elf, at the very least it was affecting this being that was challenging Alex's perception of reality.

But the elf didn't stop, something stirred within Alex as he watched the spear come into contact with his uniform. A burst of energy from his uniform repelled the elf slightly, but the runes powering the defensive formation were shattered and Alex could still feel that it wasn't over. He reflexively closed his eyes as he attempted to conjure up his darkness domain and attempted to intercept the elf to no avail.

First he felt the cloth and armor of his uniform tear and then a cold touch of metal and a feeling of pain as his body informed him that he was injured.

Alex's vocal cords groaned as the light surrounding his body dimmed and grew darker before surrounding the spear. His spacial energy became erratic as he tried everything to avoid dying. A feeling of stuffiness over came Alex. He opened his eyes to see that all of the elves had been thrown to the ground.

He looked down at the elf that had attacked him. His weapon looked as if it had been eroded or burned as half of it was missing. The elf was attempting to stand up and was succeeding.

Alex felt a strange feeling as he paid attention to the stuffiness.

"A spacial domain. There really is a spacial domain!" He said in surprise. His moment of elation was immediately reversed as he looked down to his blood stained uniform. The chain blades in his hands trembled as a dark mist coagulated and settled on them.

He threw them out and he heard them collide with the shoulders of the old elf. A muffled groan was heard as the blades cut into the elf before being pulled back. Alex prepared to swing again but shuddered as an elf appeared in front of him once again. "'I'll take the rest from here, don't worry and be at ease they will be punished.'" The white haired elf said.

Alex nodded as he was able to understand the general meaning of what the female elf had said. He sat down on the spot as he retrieved the spacial domain. Blood stopped flowing from his wound as he channelled light energy through it. He coughed into his hand seeing a bit of red in the dim light.

'Light?' He looked up as he finally saw sunlight for the first time sense entering this world.

"'Taeral did you bring the human artifact?'"

Alex looked up as he heard the elderly elf speaking to someone. Several footstep were heard and Alex backed up as they moved in his direction.

"I don't really have the energy for another confrontation, so I'll be going now." Alex said before falling over and coughing again.

He held a hand up to his face as he noticed he was growing weaker and weaker by the second. 'Poison, some type of acid, what did he hit me with?'

There was a bit of murmuring from the approaching elves, but Alex wasn't paying enough attention to hear them.

He panicked as his vision blurred. Light from the air moved unnaturally as it bent towards Alex. He groaned as a ball of light settled above him before compressing, after a few moments a warm feeling settled around him as his body absorbed the overflowing light mana around him. His hand fell to his side and the halo of light fell apart as Alex fell unconscious. At the very least he had managed to nearly completely refill his reserve before passing out.

——————

"So, what do you think he is, a cleric, wizard, or a paladin like those thugs were screaming?" A voice said from nearby.

Alex felt a pressure on his legs and attempted to move them. His eyes shot open as he felt that he couldn't move them. 'My legs.'

He looked down towards his legs only to find a light blue haired woman laying on his legs and looking in his direction.

"I think I died. The rift killed me and now there is a girl laying on me in bed. The irony." He said before laying back down and closing his eyes. A warm smile rested on his face as he accepted what had happened.

A faint giggle was heard across the room. "I think you broke him. I told you not to lay on him, there are better ways to check on his condition than hugging his legs."

"Well I don't really feel comfortable holding his hands for too long, and besides, feels warm and calming laying on him. He must be a cleric." The blue haired lady said.

"Whatever, just take it easy on him he is still recovering from the poison." The voice from across the room said.

Alex suddenly clenched the bedsheets below him and his breathing became erratic as he pulled up his uni… shirt up to check his condition. His eyes burned as he remembered what had happened last night.

He didn't know what to do, usually he always felt calm and collected, but ever since he had arrived here he felt everything had changed. He felt distant from earth, all of his hopes and dreams were tied to it and here he was, nearly dead on the first day away.

Alex didn't know but his calm demeanor was tied to his abnormal dark affinity, and now that it was gone he was experiencing emotions just like any other human would.

He attempted to roll over and hide his face in the pillow, but found he couldn't do that with the strange woman on his legs. He looked towards her for a moment his eyes meeting hers before looking away. Alex lifted his head and pulled the pillow above his face as he vented out his emotions.

"Aww look at that, he likes you." The voice said teasingly.

The blue haired woman stood up with a downcast expression. She shook her head before speaking. "He is sad, we should give him some space Taeral."

"But we were told to watch him."

"Taeral…" Alex muttered before pulling the pillow off of his face.

"I heard that twice yesterday. You were the one who saw me. You were also there when everyone else arrived… "'see I told you I saw a flying human.'" Alex repeated remembering the strange language from yesterday.

"Elves…" he looked up to the two woman who looked back towards him. His eyes settling on their pointy ears which poked through their hair.

He jumped up out of the bed, ignoring his strange ability to recall minuscule details. "I can understand you now. Please you have to help me, I came here through a rift and I need to find one so I can go home."

"Did he just speak elven on his own for a moment?" The blue haired elf whispered to the other elf who had light brown hair.

"He said what I said when I first saw him. Although hearing him speak like that makes me question how I sound to everyone else."

Alex looked towards the brown haired elf before speaking up. "Your name is Taeral right. If you can't help then I can just get going maybe I will be able to find a way back home."

Taeral flinched for a moment as if remembering something. "No that is not my name."

"What do you mean? yes…" the blue haired elf tried to speak but found that her mouth was already covered.

Alex had a quizzical look on his face as he watched This go on. "I can just call you something else if you don't want me to call you by your name."

Taeral sighed before turning back to Alex. "Sorry it's just that we were told to never giver our names to humans, especially wizards. Apparently they have magic that can spy on us with it."

"I'm not a wizard." Alex said while feeling the top of his head.

"Do I look like one?"

"I don't know do you?" Taeral rebutted.

"Huh?" Alex sat down on the bed feeling confused and lightheaded from standing too abruptly.

"He already said he wasn't a wizard. So, what are you? Everyone saw you casting spells effortlessly. Don't tell me yours something demonic." The blue haired elf teased before blushing.

"It would explain how often your member rose and tried to seduce me." She teased while blushing.

"My wha… no."

"I'm still going through puberty it's not something I can control. I'm only 16… 17. What day is it? Never mind, we probably have different calendars."

"17 years? That's too old for a human to be still going through puberty."

"I do not make the statistics, different people grow up differently it just depends on their genetics." Alex said while looking down at the clothes that he was wearing.

"Genetics? You are a genie, that makes so much sense." Taeral said as she came to a conclusion.

Alex looked at the elf in confusion. "You haven't been listening have you? Did you guys change my clothes? Where are my belongings, and what is this?" Alex asked as he tried to pull off a wooden ring that seemed like it was glued to his finger.

"That's, what is allowing you to understand us and us to understand you, so stop trying to pull it off before you break it." Taeral said.

"She changed you so if you find anything out of sorts it was her, and your belongings are with the elder who saved you."

"Saved? If I remember correctly she saved the thug who attacked me." Alex said before standing up again.

He once again felt light headed. He looked down at his own hands and arms and for the first time realized how scrawny he had become.

"What did that poison do to me?"

"That wouldn't be the poisons fault… you've been asleep for weeks. The elder gave you a room here in her own home, she is also protecting you from all the others who want you exiled as soon as you awaken. That's why I said she saved you."

Alex grabbed his head as he tried to take in what was being said to him. "I need iron."

The two elves looked at each other quizzically before the blue haired one pulled out a dagger and tried to hand it to Alex.

"No, the type that is in meat. I've got a headache just from sitting up too fast."

The two looked at each other once again. "We don't eat or keep any meat. We can get you a bowl of salad though." Taeral answered.

A look of surprise filled Alex's face once again. 'No wonder I've been losing so much weight. Have they been feeding me salad soups? How is that any different then lightly seasoned water?'

"I'll take a salad then." Alex said with a sigh.

'How do they not only live like this, but also manage to get slightly plump from just grass? I feel so weak that I could fall over and break my leg.'

He brushed his hair away from his eyes, sat down once again, and waited as Taeral left the room.

The blue haired elf sat next to him, perhaps a bit too close as Alex scooted a bit to the side to provide more space.

"You know you never told us what you are." She said while scooting closer to him.

Alex noticing he was already at the edge of the bed spoke up. "I'm a mage."

"A mage? Isn't that the same thing as a wizard?"

Alex laughed for a moment before his laugh died down to a chuckle. "I used to thing the same thing. When I first awakened my powers and began training, I thought that one day I would be able to become the worlds most powerful wizard. Turns out back where I'm from wizards exist just in stories that children read, and yet here I am talking to an elf."

The blue haired elf looked at Alex as if trying to understand what he was saying.

"You had nightmares. Lots of them, were they about here or back at your home."

"I honestly don't remember the nightmares anymore." Alex shook his head.

"I probably would've thought I was going crazy if I hadn't met some weird people that showed me dragons, giants, and big deer existed. Still I didn't think I would ever see an elf." He said before turning to the blue haired elf.

He reached out to try and feel if she was really there but stopped midway. He shivered as he felt her hand clasp around his arm, and a look of understanding filled her face. The same look that she had when he had first woken up.

"You're an empath, right?"

She nodded.

"That's the perfect ability to have in order to take care of someone." Alex looked at his thin arms and legs. "I may have to go out and start gathering my own food, I've lost a lot of weight."

"Maybe, the food I've been giving you has been good for you."

"How so?" Alex asked.

"Your skin has cleared up, and you've stopped expelling nasty smells." She said with a sly smile.

'That does sound like the overly processed foods from home.'

"Wait are there not bugs and diseases that can infest crops." Alex asked only to be interrupted by the door opening.

Realizing that she was still holding his arm she quickly let go.

"So you've woken up." The elder from however long ago said as she eyed Alex.

"How are you, it's not every day that an old elf like me gets to speak with a master of the arcane."

"Hurry up and give him the salad he looks like he is starving."