I need to do sothing! I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to do sothing, anything. So, I made up my mind and decided to search for water. It would be terrible if I encountered a monster or sothing but since the chances were slim, I took the risk.
The air felt stagnant. Yet I could hear trees creak and croak. Honestly, I was terrified of forests by now- even green ones. And yet there I was, all alone in the middle of nowhere pretending and trying to be useful.
I heard a streaming sound nearby. For a mont my mind sank. Finally water! I rushed toward the sound with my aching body. There was a large river there. But there was sothing else as well. A pair of bright black pulsating eyes glared at . Why the hell didn't I listen to her?
A pale humanoid creature caught in its gaze. With little clothing, it lay close to the water. Without even thinking about anything else, I drew my sword. It was already starting to get dark and I didn't want to take any chances.
But this creature was different from goblins although they shared similar traits. Of course it was much taller than goblins and perhaps taller than most humans. With a longer and skinnier body than most humans this thing appeared very skinny- to the point where I could even see the bones. What I could tell from my observation that it possessed intelligence as it didn't attack head on. The ears looked similar to that of an elf or sothing close to that. Should I attack it or wait for it? For a second I didn't know what to do.
"It is okay human. There's no need for caution. I won't attack you," With a human like voice the creature answered; a voice which seed profound. Maybe it took my staggering as a warning. Perhaps it was warning instead.
"What the hell! You can talk!" It shouldn't have surprised at this point, but maybe my brain was going haywire after all the thrashing it took in the last few days.
The skin of the creature was muddy in color and it behaved almost humane. For a mont I even considered the possibility of it not being a monster. But I couldn't trust sothing which looked like one- I just couldn't. Besides, its eyes were a pure shade of red, just like those pesky undead.
"I believe it is more astonishing that you can understand . I talked in old human tongue without even considering that almost all humans can't understand in this era." His withering silver hair flowed with the wind. He almost felt like a noble for a second. I'd never t royalty or nobility. But I saw countless movies and I knew how those folks talked. This thing in particular was talking like that. Maybe he was once human or sothing like that?
This era? How long have you been alive? "What do you an? Why should I trust you?" I still had reasons to doubt it. Besides, his eyes were still giving the heebee geebies.
"I'm not a big fan of human at. Too salty for ," he said. For a second his eyes flashed a glint of red darkness, if that made sense. He was serious. Which ant, he already ate humans before.
That's not sothing I needed to know. Although the creature didn't seem to lie, I didn't trust it. At this point I lost the ability to trust anything that looked monstrous. "Were you human?"
"No. I was born a high elf. But through…." It sighed. "I don't plan on boring you with this nonsense. After all, I've wrought this unto myself." He turned around. I could see his spine. I could even count most of his bones. It sent a slight chill down my bones. "Anyway, I will take my leave now. Just a warning. There's a demon camp at the base of this mountain. If I were a human travelling with an elf, I would definitely not get the elf tangled in my business." His voice trailed off. He seed…almost sad.
"Hey wait, what do you an?"
The creature left without any delay. Its last words resonated with . Demons ant trouble and I knew it. However it was also true that it was my problem and not Lianne's. If the creature was once an elf, then it ant he'd care for his kin. Maybe that was why he warned . As I thought about it, the sun went down for good. Oh shoot the water! I'd almost forgotten about why I ca here in the first place.
I had my water pouch with . I filled it up and headed for the camp. Yet again I didn't encounter any monsters.
Lianne was, already back at the camp. She was skinning a wild deer. My heart skipped a few beats. Was it excitent to seeing delicious food or was it the terror of Lianne using a knife- probably the latter. She didn't look at . Yet she knew it was . "Where were you? I was about to go search for you…"
It was kind of scary how she was skinning the deer. Her eyes were red and glistening and yet…. She was calm and composed.
"Just gathering so woods. I got so water from the river too. But …" Of course I tried to be as nonchalant as possible. But when I rembered about that creature, I kind of stumbled at my words. After all, it had warned not to drag Lianne down.
Lianne stopped. She looked at . "What did you see?"
Why are you looking at like that? I didn't have any excuses, so I ca out clean. "A humanoid creature…"
"Looked like goblin but bigger, and had red eyes?"
"How did you know?" Did she happen to et him too? Lianne acted a little awkward. Till then I didn't see her talk like that. You're not going to attack because I saw sothing I shouldn't have, right? It was a weird assumption but not an implausible one. Nothing was impossible in this world and that much I knew already. But the though only made feel cruciated. I sweated. My chest felt tight. If Lianne turned into my enemy, I'd probably end up dead.
"Tha-that is the fate of my kin." But Lianne answered. She didn't attack and didn't even look at . Her questioning voice was gone and it was now filled with sadness.
"What?" I wasn't prepared to hear that. Why would elves beco monsters? That was the question. But if I recall correctly that thing did say sothing like it was a high elf. I thought it was probably cursed or sothing but co to think of it, so was Lianne. So it did make sense, in a way.
"All elves in my lineage will turn into that before their deaths. Elves live long lives. But you see, my lineage, the lineage of high elves live significantly longer lives but when this life cos to an end, we will look like that."
But, Lianne was a high elf? I didn't know the difference, but I didn't really pry into it either. It was surprising but made sense. After all, it was a curse. "Because of the curse?"
"Yes…"
"…" I couldn't say anything- I just couldn't. After all, there was nothing left to say.
She didn't say anything for a few minutes.
The deer was still being skinned. "What did he say?"
"He warned about a demon camp at the base and then left imdiately. He also-"
She cut off. "I see. Let's boil the water and afterward cook this at."
"Alright. He said-"
She cut off again. Now I understood that it was intentional. "I know…" Lianne looked at and smiled. She paused for a second. "That was probably my grandfather."
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