~~WHAT HAPPENS NEXT; Chapter Ten--Not the Only Kiss~~

I leave the cave, my companions by my side, feeling more alone than I have felt in a very, very long time.
I feel afraid. I feel like screaming, like crying, like asking all the gods why my sister was gone from this world. What trick of fate would steal her away so cruelly.
But you could probably guess that’s how I’m feeling.
What’s important about what I feel is how very little I feel like singing.
Ordinarily, that would be an extremely random thing. But you see, it becomes a rather key element of what happens over the next while.
Why, you ask?
We run into a crowd of werewolves.
To be more exact, we run into a crowd of singing werewolves.
“SING FOR US!” one of them howls, “SING AND LIVE!”
My eye twitches. Looks like I was going to sing….
I start singing, but it’s not long before I realized I was really, really, really bad at it.
Anne shoots me a disgusted glare, opens her mouth, and begins to sing.
You know what? She’s even worse than I am.
Same goes for Max.
I groan, and wonder exactly how we’re going to be getting out of this one. Could we fight? Unlikely, they were very big and I didn’t think I could handle using so much magic in so short a time span after all the magic I had used in the cave.
So, unless we felt like outrunning extremely fast werewolves with really big teeth, it looks like our only option was to out sing them.
I look around us.
No way were we running.
I was about to give up all hope when Leslie opened up her mouth and began to sing.
She sounded like an angel….
The werewolves stare, smiling, their long muzzles contorting with expressions of apparent enjoyment and pleasure.  One of them growls, “GOOD VOICE GIRL PUP.”
She smiles with pride, stops her singing, and the werewolves leave us.
And so we’re left to continue our journey feeling a lot more confused than we had before.
But, all in all, it was good that we were alive. Things could have gone a hell of a lot worse than they had.
Leslie smiles at me. Apparently the little brat feels like she deserves candy for that, and I have to admit that she does. I swing my pack of my shoulder, dig around some, and toss her a sweet. She smiles widely at me and sucks on it greedily, her eyes filled with childlike joy.
We continue on, only stopping when I realize that I have absolutely no idea where we’re supposed to be going.
I check my map, leaning against a towering tree, breathing easily. “We’re a few miles away from a town. From there, it’s about a two day’s walk to a mountain clearing, where we should find our next Key.”
They give me a tired look, and collapse to the ground, every last one of them falling fast asleep almost instantly.
It’s then that I feel the exhaustion in my own body, and I decide that we do really need a break. I curl up on the ground, using my arm as my pillow, and drift easily into restless dreams, listening to my companions’ calm breathing.
I wake up the next morning utterly calm. Feeling rather pleased with myself, feeling rather good, feeling okay. I smile, look around. The bright sun doesn’t sear my eyes too badly, so I ignore it and climb to my feet.
Wait…sun? Had we slept the whole night through?
I swallowed. If we had, than we were very far behind schedule.
I wake up the others, and start running, barely caring that they struggle to keep up. I just run hard and fast, following the directions on the map and the tugs of the stone, knowing that if I wanted to manage to do this on schedule we would have no choice but to move fast. We’d slept way too long—and those hours of sleep were definitely gonna cost us.
‘Gonna’….was I starting to sound like a human?
I groaned, slowing down just a bit, allowing them to catch up with me. “Ru-run slo-slower,” Max stammers, the first words he’d spoken in quite a while.
“We need to hurry, Max. And besides it’s not that far from here. Only a few more kilometers before we reach our destination.”
“Bu-but I can’t run that far.”
I give him a look. Sigh. “You’re going to have to, young one. We don’t have any other options. We need to keep moving.”
“Why?”
“Lady White wants these Keys. Therefor we must hurry to fulfill her orders.”
“Can’t she just be patient? Like normal people?” Anne asks, raising her shaped eyebrows at me.
“She isn’t normal people, Anne. She’s Lady White, and I would appreciate it if you treat her with the respect she deserves.”
“What respect can a whore earn?” she responds, sashaying up to me, daring to be near me after such a comment.
I raise my hand to hit her.
But I can’t make it fall.
“Go ahead, elf boy….Hit me.”
I stare at her.
Attempt to force my hand to move.
It refuses to.
I swallow, stare at her. “What kind of magic is this?” I ask her softly. “What are you doing to me?”
“Nothing you’re not doing to yourself.”
I swallow. Breathe deeply. “Anne….I….No. Stop this now. I will NEVER be attracted to you! You are nothing but a lowly human girl.”
She rolls her eyes at me, and then kisses me only once, before stepping back and smiling softly. “Don’t even try to tell me, elf boy, that you didn’t  like that kiss….”
I swallow, turn away from her, and keep right on running.
I definitely did not to admit to her, and to all the others, that I wished deep inside my elfin heart that that had not been the only kiss.
I was, of course, horrified at myself. Was I not an elf? Was I not one of the fairer race? The better race?
So why was I attracted to a lowly human girl? And one from a different planet as well?
I couldn’t comprehend it. There was something so…tantalizing about her fragile and frail form combined with her rough and tumble personality. Something so loveable. Something I could feel myself falling for. But…No! This was not going to happen! I refused to let myself become involved with her. Was I not Lady White’s? Did I not belong to her?
I doubted it. Even though I loved Lady White….Could we ever be? Could I ever be more than a servant to her? More than a second in command?
I knew that I never would be.
So why did I serve her?
I halted right then, where I stood, the thought that had run through my mind keeping me from moving a single inch. My very first disloyal thought, I think to myself, and it was brought on because of Anne.
This was decidedly not good in the least.
I needed to get away from Anne. Get away from her fast before she compromised my mission.
But, of course, where could she and the others go but wherever I went?
And where could I go besides the next Key?
I run. I find myself on a large forest path, well used by many, cutting through the underbrush and the shade of trees that go from scraggly to giants. Before long I’m forced to light the torch, the path dwindling away at my feet, the trees’ shade becoming far too dark to support any vegetation.
The humans look around in wonder, exclaim in desperate breaths at the beauty and wonder of this place.
A strange feeling of kindness overwhelms me and I slow, turning to them. “These trees are older than time. No living elf remembers these woods when they were first beginning to grow. No records exist of this place being barren.
“This is the forest of Darwe. We’re on the edge of the Mountains of Darles, which is where we will find the next Key. In this forest, the first elves started out their lives. This place is where all life began. Where everything first started.”
“Why’d you leave?” Joey asks, looking at me, worry in his eyes.
“Because there’s…something here. Something powerful. Something beyond our comprehension, beyond our control. The only reason we haven’t encountered it yet because we are barely on the outskirts of the forest.”
Anne says slowly, “What is it?”
“To put it simply, it’s evil itself. And it’s guarding the Key.”
They swallow, and Leslie murmurs, “I wanna go home….”
We turn, and just stare at her for a few seconds. In the end, Anne bends down and hugs the kid, saying into her ear, “So do we all, kid. So do we all.”
But all of us know there’s no going home without the Keys.
We give each other looks of sorrow and understanding, before we set off once more, deeper and deeper into the forest, knowing that there would most likely be no turning back.
Not for any of us.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“I’m hungry,” Leslie says, about ten minutes later.
I’m not sure why, but I just start laughing, loud and long into the shadow of the trees, daring whatever might be listening to come and get me.
Come get all of us.
Yes, I did lose my mind for a very quick second there…..I’m afraid that I’m not really fully sane in the least. Besides, it didn’t matter to me right now whether we lived or died.
I just wanted to be done with this. Done with all of this.
I groaned, shut my eyes tightly, and started trying not to cry.
Why was everything so hard? Why was my life only growing harder? Why was my heart only breaking more and more? I was attracted to Anne, but that was wrong. I loved Lady White, but I would never get her. So what was the right thing to do?
I sighed, rubbed my eyes with clenched fists, and remind myself, No matter who I love, who I care about, I have no choice. All I can do is get those Keys. Once I have them, all else will have calmed down. When I have them, I will be okay, and either Lady White will be mine or Anne will. I just hav to believe that.
But I knew that I would never believe it, and that it would also never happen. So my only option was to just keep right on moving, do this quest, and then get back. No matter what happened afterwards I still had to do this quest.
The others caught up to me then, and looked at me worriedly. “What’s wrong, Avery?” Anne asks softly, looking perhaps just a bit worried. I raised my eyebrows at her, refusing to let myself believe that she cared whether or not I was hurt.
“I’m fine,” I reply, and I keep right on moving, deeper and deeper into the darkness.
The torch was nowhere near enough light for us. We stayed closer and closer together as time went on, our strides shortening and slowing down, taking care to not get ourselves killed by either falling off a random cliff or running into an angry bear.
It was then that I finally noticed the massive lack of animals. Of any kind of wildlife. When I realized it, I sent out desperate flicks of magic, searching for any signs of the animals that had surrounded us when we were still on the outskirts of the forest.
I found none of them.
There was nothing alive here—nothing but the vegetation and a small group of travelers on an impossible quest.
I attempt to figure out what could have pretty much annihilated all animal life, and it takes me less than a second to do so. I take a deep breath, and say to them, “We’re close. Very close.”
A few steps later, I start sensing it. My entire body fills with horror and with fear—I’m far, far too young to die! I’m too weak to fight it. I’m not going to win…
“What the hell is this?” Anne yells, drawing her knife from her boot. “What’s here?”
“Something….” I respond, my heart rate racing upwards. “Something evil. Something we can’t fight.”
“Well…that’s really cheery….” Joey mutters, but they follow me nonetheless.
I feel rather proud of them for doing that. If it was anyone but me, would they be doing this so willingly, or would they run and hide?
Did it matter at all, though? Most likely not.
Eventually, though, Anne screams:
“I forgot to put on makeup!”
I just turn and stare at her for a few minutes, wondering, is she anywhere close to sane?
As if reading my thoughts, Max muttered, “Anne’s lo-lost it.”
“Did she ever have it in the first place?” Anne responds, rolling her eyes. “Look, I need to do this. And god we also need to get changed. Didn’t you buy any clothes when you were out shopping for supplies?”
I blushed furiously when I realized that I had not. I’d spent all of my money on food and on supplies, and the money I had from when I had sold the horses was pretty much useless to us out here.
They just looked at me and sighed. “Way to go, Fearless Leader.”
I glared at her.
And it’s then that something extremely strange happens: A sack flies out from nowhere and hits me in the head.
Well, at least it was a soft sack….
I roll back to my feet a few seconds later, and glare at the sack. It was a plain brown cloth sack, tied tight with a teal scarf. The only weird thing was that it had come flying out of a forest to hit a resistance fighter elf in the head when the magical elf was unable to sense any living things whatsoever in the world around him.
That fact, of course, doesn’t stop me from opening said random sack.
I reach into it, and pull out clothes.
Anne tackles me aside and starts digging through it, wrenching out an outfit that looked to be not far off of her usual skinny jeans, band t-shirt, black leather bracelets, and boots. She grins, and cheerily scampers off into the forest, unafraid, eager to get into more fresh-smelling garments.
The rest of us do the same, thankfully going into other directions than the young girl, and before long we regroup at our random magic sack dressed in our new clothes.
I was wearing a long white tunic belted at the waist with a black ribbon, tight brown leggings, knee-length laced-up boots, and a brand-new wide-brimmed hat tilted merrily sideways on my head. I posed proudly, liking how my muscular form was made very apparent with my new outfit.
Anne was decked out almost entirely in black. Her shirt was a straight black long t-shirt, pulled tight against her body, her leggings looked like they had been custom made to fit her, her boots came with steel toes, and her long red and black hair had been pulled back with what appeared to be a metal chain dangling skulls, her slim fingers had been garnished with rings that looked like they were made for punching, and her forearms and hands were hidden beneath thick black leather gloves.
Joey looked amazingly elegant in his new getup. He was wearing brown leggings, a green tunic belted at the waist with a gold chain, and soft leather boots. He looked rather pleased with himself.
Max was a different story. Whoever had provided us with the clothes had managed to make him into a male miniature Anne: All black and red, thankfully no rings but there was definitely steel on his boots and a skull necklace around his neck. He looked terribly out of place.
Leslie…Well, she looked like a pumpkin. I have to say that I adore whoever gave us our clothing, because she was dressed entirely in orange, and her clothes were fitted so her roundness was emphasized. She, in a sentence, was a pumpkin with legs.
I think we just stood there staring at one another for perhaps a straight minute. None of us could comprehend each other in each other’s new clothes—and I myself could scarce tear my eyes away from how Anne’s neckline dipped rather far below what was considered dignified. She noticed me noticing, flashed me a white-toothed smile—it was then I noticed that she had managed to put on her makeup despite the dark, and do it perfectly—and took special care to let her eyes wander up and down my body.
I have never felt more humiliated, or more excited, in my entire existence.
Not even Lady White could get me to react this much….
There was absolutely no question about it now: I was decidedly head over heels for Anne, the human girl from another world.
And that was perhaps the worst thing that could possibly happen right now.
But, hey, at least we were clothed…..
So we were, at the very least, moving slowly up in the world.
I sighed, turned, and continued leading my ragtag group of companions deeper and deeper into the forest, knowing that right now the only thing that remained for us was to keep right on moving.
But….Moving in this direction might just lead to all of us getting killed.
It’s not like we had much of a choice though, right?
We couldn’t turn around.
Couldn’t turn back.
And, wow, I really needed to stop thinking such disloyal thoughts.
The thoughts stop when I suddenly start hurting. Every inch of my body floods with pain and I scream, halting in my steps instantly. I wasn’t the only one who felt it either—Leslie whimpered, Anne shrieked, Max screamed, and Joey yelled. We fell to our knees, our vision swimming red, unable and unwilling to move.
“What’s happening?” Anne shrieks. “What’s going on?”
I try to force out an answer, but it only comes out as a choked whimper.
But someone answers….
“I’m happening, kiddo. I’m happening.”
I looked up.
And stared into the eyes of my magic teacher Lord John.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Hello, Avery,” he greets me, kissing my forehead gently. I recoil, my skin hurting even more where his lips had touched me. It felt like he had burned me.
“Turn off the magic….” I plead. “It hurts, Master, it hurts….”
“You were never a good student. If you truly were a student of magic, if you had allowed me to latch fully onto your power, unlock your full potential….How much more powerful you would be! But, no, you had to be weak. Too weak to undergo the most basic of magical training. Too afraid to endure even the simplest of magical torments.” Master stares at me, his deep dark blue eyes daring me to deny him, daring me to tell him I was strong, that I was a good student.
I knew him too well to do so, though. The torment he would inflict on me if I stood up to him would only worsen, only hurt more. And he, worse yet, would also increase the agony for the others.
And that I could not do.
“What are you doing here, Master? Where is the evil?” I ask instead, forcing the words out between clenched teeth, fighting to remain conscious.
“The evil? Why, evil is all around us, and inside each of us. You’ll have to be more specific, student.” He smiles at me contempt fully, even now finding little ways to taunt me, and show me how much better he is than me.
“The evil…from all the legends. That people say haunt this forest. The ageless evil that cannot be killed.” I tried to go more in-depth, but I could feel the words I wanted—nay, had to say—slipping away from me with every second of this fierce agony.
“Ah, Avery….You haven’t yet figured it out. You never were precisely wonderful  at deducing things, no matter how obvious they should be. Student mine, think for a moment….If I’m here, would I allow anything else as powerful as I to be around me?”
I looked at him in horror as my mind started to figure it out.  “Master….I heard you were dead. How did you get from Koronala to here?”
“Just because they found my body in my mansion doesn’t mean it was me, Avery. One of the spells us trained magicians have access to is the ability to change something’s shape. It was one of the first spells I would have taught you if I could completely train you.”
I nodded at him, “Master, could…could you…gods….let some of the pain up? For the others?”
He shook his head, eyeing me darkly. “Not happening, I’m afraid.”
It was then that something occurred to me. I turned to look at Anne, slipping a bit closer to her. I touched her ring with my finger, looking at her meaningfully. She looks at me for a second, confused, before she nods and slides off her rings, all of them, to release her power to drain the magic.
And, of course, absolutely nothing happens.
My mind wonders at it, even as a part of me starts to comprehend this while Master begins to laugh. “You honestly thought that she was powerful? The Conduits are only elven. They can only be elven. So, my young student, you have been tricked from the very beginning. Did you honestly think that Lady White would send you off alone without a way of keeping track of you? The ring is a tracking device—it’s been a trick from the very start.”
I don’t want to believe it. I refuse to. It just can’t be. She wouldn’t have lied to me—would she?
“She’s been helping you from the start. The supplies. The directions. She even delayed the guards for you when you were running from them in the capital city. She didn’t trust you in the least, Avery. She never did, my student, and she never ever will. And, ah yes, don’t expect any help from her. None of the people she sent are brave enough to enter the pain.”
My teeth clench. I force out the words: “I am not your student.”
Master only smiles and laughs, even as he increases the agony. I scream, and beside me, Anne begins to shake and seizure. “Her body can’t take it,” he laughs, “So it’s shutting down.”
“No! Stop this! Stop this now!” I scream, louder and louder, but the words are lost and morphed into a howl of agony. “Let us go!” Please just let us go!”
“Not until you are taught…” Master laughs, and increases the agony just a bit more.
“What do you want? If you let us do this, there won’t be any more Conduits! Magic will remain free!”
“And perhaps I don’t want it to remain free. Perhaps I would rather it to become something only available to the most trained, the most powerful, so you less trained army of magicians will be no longer able to fight us. And me and my fellows can finally rule over you.”
Can I just insert a brief monologue of mine here? Just to explain some things? I know that I said earlier I was the most powerful magician in existence—well, I’m not. I’m the most powerful magician of my group. Of the resistance, I was without counterpart. But, when you include the Masters and the Viziers (elfin servants of the human king who had turned traitor rather than join the resistance and lose the status and the glorified life that they had once enjoyed)—I was far beneath their level. To put it in terms you might comprehend, my magical strength was the equivalent of an ant picking up a leaf fragment. And theirs…that was the equivalent of a giant picking up a mansion.
And back into the story….
Wait…Where were we?
Oh, yes, Master had just been explaining his evil plot to take over the planet.
It seemed to me to be that this was perhaps far, far too clichéd for words.
But, yet, it didn’t matter how clichéd my story is right now, as long as it keeps on going.
And right now I honestly wondered if it would or not.
But, no matter what, it truly didn’t matter right now did it?
Perhaps because he sensed my failings at narration, Joey snaps me out of it by tackling Master.
And the pain disappears, Lord John unable to keep up the magic.
The pain disappeared for only a second, but that was long enough.
Long enough for the followers of Lady White to attack.
They blasted him backwards, ensnaring him with their magic, freezing him in place. They laughed and taunted him, even as they yelled at us to run, go get the Key.
And run we did.
We ran faster and harder than we had ever ran, covering the ground in long and desperate strides, the torch blowing out with our speed. I carry Anne in my arms, while Joey and Max carry Leslie between them. For a second I find that sight comical, before I decide it’s far less important than running and running hard.
Following the tugs of the magic stone, we soon reach the location of the second Key. When we reach it, I just stop and stare.
The Key was in a tree.
A really, really big tree.
A really, really, really big tree that glowed.
The others stop beside me, unable to comprehend the extremely weird sight that greeted our uncomprehending eyes.
Anne summed up our feelings when she said, “What the hell is that thing?”
I looked at her, then at the tree, and back at her. I could think of absolutely no answer that would tell her anything. I couldn’t make sense of any of the sights that greeted me, and I realized it didn’t matter at all whether or not I knew what was going on.
All that mattered was getting that Key.
A bit nervously, I approached the tree. I had no idea what to expect—was there danger here? Something unseen?
Why, of course there was. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.
Trusting my instincts, I grabbed a branch, and hurled it at the tree like a javelin.
It incinerates on contact.
I just stare at it. Think to myself that it was just my luck.
But then I get moving.
I walk towards the tree, and carefully, ever so carefully, begin to send blasts of magic towards the earth. I flew upwards, and, focusing every last part of my mind and soul, began to maneuver carefully between the branches. A part of my sleeve brushes against a branch, and it turns to ash before I have the chance to move it away. I swallowed. I was going to have to be very, very careful….
And I wasn’t really good at being careful.
I gently blast against branches, trying to keep a steady blast of magic at the ground far below, rising slowly, slowly, slowly. My teeth clench, my fingernails dig into my palms, and I start trying to slip around an extremely thick branch. I contort my body, be as careful as I can, but even so my foot grazes against a branch that I pass over.
The scent of burnt leather fills the air.
Come on, Avery…You can do this. Just get that Key.
Right now, I am more afraid than I have ever been. But that’s not all.
I have also never been more determined.
I force myself upwards, flying carefully through branches that blind my eyes, using a rather unstable magic I have limited to no control over.
I honestly think this might be the best time of my life.
An eternity later, I clear the rest of the tree. I reached the top, and looked around. There, inside what appeared to be the concrete nest of a massive bird, lay a single book.
Cautiously, I landed, picked up the book, and flipped through it. It was the Key.
I’d found the Book of Journeys.
Two down, one Key remaining….

~~WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Chapter Nine--The Possessor of Infinity~~

I have no idea how we got from kissing on the rooftop to running all around the streets, searching for a missing boy.
I have no idea how all of this happened.
All I know is that I’m running, blasting the humans that chase me with magic, pumping my legs hard, laughing under my breath. I’m the most wanted elf in this entire realm, I’m in the accursed capital city, I’m running for my life, and the one main problem in my life is that I kissed a human girl and I liked it.
I laugh harder and harder, and send a few brief flicks of magic all around me, searching the minds of the ones around me for any signs of Max. Where could he have gotten to? Why hadn’t the others watched him?
I scramble up the walls again, dash across rooftops, drop and roll into alleyways only to scramble up again and run even harder, even faster than I had before. MAX! my mind shouts into the world around me, reaching into minds, searching for a mind that replies to me anxious scream.
But I hear nothing.
What is going on? What’s going wrong?
Well, granted, this is my glorious world. So of course nothing’s got an explanation and nothing’s going the way it should be.
I whirl at the top of a tall roof, stare at the humans as they attempt to climb up after me. I wait patiently, and they eventually reach me. “You blasted fast elf…” one of them mutters at me, pulling his sword and trying not to collapse from exhaustion.
I shoot him the finger—something humans apparently do—spin on my heel and continue running, feeling rather pleased with myself.
Even though I knew I was only losing my mind more and more, this feeling of freedom was more than worth my sanity. I knew it wouldn’t be worth it, falling in love with Anne. It would only lead to complications in the mission, which honestly was complicated enough as it is.
But onto more pressing things…..
I blast them backwards, gently enough to make sure they don’t fall off the roof, but hard enough to send them staggering. I laughed wildly, loving this, loving this freedom, loving this wildness. I never understood until now what it was to be a ‘rebel’: Utterly free, running fast, going off on psychotic impossible missions to get things enchanted with spells you can’t comprehend, trying to deal with circumstances way beyond you, chained by love and loyalty while somehow remaining free. I laugh and whirl, dancing upon the rooftops, my hair red as rubies in the wild western wind, loving every second.
I ran across what seemed to be half the rooftops in the city, dodging arrows they shot at me, going for blocks without magic when they drained it from the area, or shooting back when they attacked with magic. Loving this, loving every moment, I run fast and hard.
And then I sense him: Quiet, curled up in a corner, a few hundred feet beneath my feet, between us a solid wood ceiling. You have one guess as to what the building was: A library.
Rolling my eyes, I leap the few hundred feet down to the earth, landing in a roll to keep from breaking every bone in my body and softening my fall with gentle blasts of magic. I get to my feet easily and run up the hard marble steps, worn smooth from centuries’ worth of feet passing over them, dodging through a small crowd of pale-skinned humans with large reading glasses perched over pierced noses. I scamper past guards, ignoring their hands as they reach for me, continuing on and on. I find myself in a cavernous room dimly lit by lamps, bookshelves reaching hundreds of feet into the sky. My eyes fill with wonder—I had never been much of a reader, but yet I couldn’t deny the glory of that library. How many books could there be in this wondrous world, if this massive, glorious room doesn’t hold anywhere near close to all of them?
I send flicks of magic all around, sifting through minds as I run, taking care to take the stairs and avoid touching the shelves, not desiring in the least to cause any damage at all to this haven of books.
I find Max in a few seconds of hard running. He was curled up in a corner, knees up, balancing a massive dusty book in his lap as best he can, puzzling over words written in a language he didn’t comprehend. I smile and sigh, before grabbing him, lifting him up in my arms, and carrying him out of there.
The run back was only mildly harder, as even with Max in my arms I was still faster. And the fact that Max was so caught up in his book that he barely noticed anything going on around him helped me out a great deal.
I reach the harbor, Max held quietly in my arms, to see Joey, Leslie, and Anne waiting there for me. “Maxie!” Leslie shouts, toddling over to him.
I groan, and set the kid down on his feet, stretching. The mob that had been tailing me for the past few dozen streets I’d ditched a few corners ago, and it’d take them a while to get here. Which, of course, didn’t mean I could go slowly. I still needed to find transportation out of here to our correct destination.
I pulled out my lucky stone.
It glowed in my hand, and it seemed to pull me to the left, so I go left. I follow its directions in this matter for a couple hundred feet to a horse-drawn wagon, the back of it filled to the brim with hay. “Well, looks like we’re leaving the horses here. We should buy more supplies.”
I grab the horses’ reins, and guide them in the general direction of the scent of manure. Which, oddly enough, leads me to a noble’s household. I glare at it, and follow my nose to where the smell of flowers originates.
It’s a stable.
I refuse to think about it, sell the horses, and follow the scent of rotting food to the market, getting used to following these weird scents. Or, at the very least, learning to expect the very opposite of the expected from this weird city.
This weird city that goes by the name Wild Wind Work City.
In its defense, the people who named it were high…..
High on misery, that is.
Grinning to myself about the weird thoughts going through my head, I purchase as much supplies as I can carry (aka about twice the amount we most likely need) and run back to the harbor, running into very little opposition.
God, this city was depressingly easy to be notorious in and not get caught.
I reach the harbor in a few quick seconds, laughing and smiling. I sling the packs of supplies onto the others’ backs, keeping one for myself, and dive surreptitiously into the hay. They follow me, complaining and decidedly displeased, but willing enough to not have to walk or ride.
We scurry deep into the hay, managing to avoid arousing suspicion from the people all around, hurrying into seclusion. And well we did, as about half a minute after we were fully hidden the wagon began to move.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We spend perhaps an hour buried deep in the hay, barely moving, breathing in the scent of farms, trying not to inhale the lice that swarm over us. Finally, when I feel the stone give a sharp jerk in my pocket, we scramble out and drop gratefully to the ground, gasping for breath and fighting to breathe but unable to. We roll off the road, Anne and me collapsing into the ditch on one side, Joey, Max, and Leslie ending up in a small pile of limbs on the other.
“That was officially the worst hour of my life.” Joey mutters, groaning and raising his head to glare at me.
“I’ve had worse….Try letting a guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing give it to you from behind for an hour. Trust me, that was heaven compared to what he did to me.”
I feel, of all things, a random burst of jealousy. I wasn’t jealous of her—I was jealous of whoever that man had been…..
I scramble to my feet, and I don’t help Anne to her feet as I doubted I could handle touching her skin at this second. It would only make my feelings for her even more confused than they already were.
We gather on the road, stretch, scratch, and our muscles screech with stiffness. “I’m tired!” Leslie whines. “I wanna sleepies.”
I groan, rub my eyes, and examine the packs of supplies. Luckily, not too much was broken or damaged. A few of the vegetables and fruits were damaged, and the bread now was mildly flattened, but otherwise everything seemed to be fine.
“Where to now, fearless leader?” Anne asks, resting her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off, and step away, pulling the stone out of my pocket. It doesn’t seem to move at all.
“Give me a minute….” I tell them, and sprint into the trees, hoping that maybe Lady White’s other directional tip would help.
Feeling like a fool, I skid to a stop, do a backflip, land, spin in a circle, do a few jumps, flying kicks, mid-air somersaults, all the while attempting to sing the words, “I wanna go, where do I go, I wanna go, tell me where to go!”
I land for the final time, and start doing something humans call the Chicken Dance.  I have never felt more like an idiot than I do at this second, and I have no idea if it will be worth it, but I just have to trust her and try. I just have to trust her and try.
After maybe ten minutes of the infernal torture they call the Chicken Dance, I stop, barely able to breathe. I shout into the world around me, both mentally and physically: “TELL ME WHERE TO GO!”
My efforts pay off.
I’m hit in the head with a rock.
And do you know what?
It was actually preferable to enduring another few minutes of that horrific dance.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I wake up to find a piece of paper lying on my chest. It seems to be around ten minutes or so after the hit, so I know I should most likely be heading back as soon as I feel like I can stand. I eye the paper, and I’m pleased to find orders on it. Well, it looks like Lady White had been telling me the truth: The world was on our side.
I run back to them, and before long we’re on our way once more, our steps lighter despite our heavier packs: We were less than a quarter mile from our very first Key.
We reach the cave where it is in a few brief minutes of running.
It looks like a very ordinary cave. Nothing spectacular, very calm in fact. I didn’t sense anything sentient about it, and the only bats I could hear inside it were ordinary ones. So what could be special about this place to make it a suiting hiding spot for something as powerful and important as a Key?
Keeping the thought of what I was searching for inside my mind, I walk in first, ready for anything, any kind of defense that might be thrown against me and my companions.
But I encounter nothing.
I light my single torch with a snap of magic, and begin walking.
The cave is dark. The scent of must floods my nostrils, my breath hitches in my throat, and I try not to throw up. It’s not an easy thing to avoid doing. Taking my companions’ hands so we form a chain, I guide them into the dark, wishing I had thought to purchase a few more torches.
It’s not long until we hear the chattering and squeaking.
My heart leaps into my throat. I know that noise. I know it all too well.
The puffballs were here.
I swallow, and lead my companions towards the sound, knowing that our chances of victory had just halved.
I stop when the sounds of chattering and squeaking flood my ears, the echoes almost shaking the walls, knowing that now we were right at the edge of a massive pit. I look down, and try to keep from screaming as I make out their tiny red eyes peering back up at me like sparks from a fire in a starless night. Suddenly, a little pink ball leaps into the area lit by my torch, propelled by tiny little stubby legs. I scream and jump back. As I do so, a few hundred other puffballs begin to jump as well, drawn by my horrified scream.
But of course the only place the Key could be was on the other side of the puffballs….
So which one of us was going across? I doubted all of us could make it over, and whoever did go over might not be able to make it back. Who knew was on the other side?
But I was, after all, the only really magical one….
So it looked like I was going to fly over a pit of pink puffballs propelled by power people pretty much never possessed.
I groan, give them one last look, make my companions swear to not leave here unless it was a guarantee that I was deceased, and sent a single hard blast of pure power at the cave floor, hurling myself up and forward.
I fly through the air, blasting at the cave floor and the puffballs that soar up to attempt to eat me, unsure whether I was more afraid or more entertained by this psychotic experience.
I land hard on the other side, rolling several feet until I can halt my momentum, more than a bit pleased to be far from the dangerous pink puffballs in the pit.
Staggering to my feet, I pull the stone from my pocket, and thankfully it works. I follow it, relying on my instincts, as I had been unable to take the torch with me.
I continue walking, getting happier every second that the horrific sound of the puffballs fades away. I start going downhill, but luckily it’s not that steep. I walk into walls a few times, but otherwise it was rather easy to find my way through the cave.
I end up bursting into a run as I become a bit more aware of the passage of time, unwilling to be in here longer than absolutely necessary.
Perhaps ten minutes after landing on this side of the pit, I find the innermost chamber of the cave.
I walk into a room flooded with light, my boots whispering through soft carpet, my hair being played with by the gentle wind. I didn’t know what I was doing, where I was going, how I had gotten here but I knew the Key had to be somewhere around me.
I look around, turning full circle, but I see nothing that seems out of place.
Nothing besides my dear sister, of course.
“Natalie….” I whisper, staring at her. She walks toward me, her waist-length ruby red locks shining in the light, her long legs carrying her elegantly from where she had leaned, posed, in the corner of the room.
“Brother dear,” she replies, “You’ve come for the Key.”
“Yes…yes, I have….Do you, by any chance, know where it can be found?” I ask her, before stammering out, “The-they told me you were dead.”
“I am dead. The only thing keeping me alive is this.”
She pulls at a chain that dangles around her neck, and lifts the rest of the necklace out from between her breasts underneath the neckline of her red dress.
It was the Key.
The Necklace of Infinity was here.
“You have it…?” I ask foolishly, before the full implications of this sink in: If she was wearing the Necklace of Infinity, her body would shut down the instant its magic was taken from her. You see, the name is literally meant: Its wearer is granted an infinite life. They will never die as long as they wear it constantly.
“I have it. And you need it.”
I swallowed. I did need it—but there had to be another way…. “Come with me!” I beg, “I don’t want to lose you again.”
“I died three years ago, Avery. I died giving birth to my daughter on the road. I can’t ever see her, ever tell her I’m alive. There isn’t any reason for me to be alive. So take the Necklace, and let me die.”
“No!”
“You lost me three years ago, Avery. Even though I stand before you now, I’m still not back. I’m still dead. Still gone.”
“Natalie, I can’t. I can’t take your life. You’re my sister!”
She reaches up to her Necklace with both hands, and gives a sharp jerk.
With a sharp snap, it breaks, and falls to the floor.
Natalie smiles, hugs me, turns, and walks away.
She takes four long strides before she collapses to the floor, her breath leaving her in a single whoosh, her limbs losing all strength instantaneously.
I fall to my knees, gazing at her. Natalie was dead.
I take the Necklace of Infinity, still warm from her skin, slip it into my pocket, turn around, and start the journey back to my companions.

~~WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Chapter Eight--Of Course This Happened~~

**DISCLAIMER**
Due to my failure at counting, I do believe there are only ELEVEN chapters of What Happens Next.



I looked around. I knew it was the wrong place. There shouldn’t be massive towering buildings, smoke rising masterfully from brick chimneys, or brilliant purple flags flying from, well, basically everywhere a flag could be put. We should be in a small farming community, not a city!
And, if my hunch was correct, we should definitely not be in this place.
It was definitely the capital city.
And I, if you remember, was one of the most wanted elves currently still alive.
Well….This was going to be fun.
Of course this happened.
Now, what was going to happen? A massive random explosion? An attack of evil kitties? A puppy barking?
Surprisingly….Nothing.
I stand there in full view of about a hundred people bustling all around us, and no one shouts, “Look, it’s Avery Leaf; get him!”
Oh, no, I’m not complaining exactly….I’m just mildly surprised is all.
And…More than a bit disappointed.
I look around, curious. I hadn’t had much dealings with humans, and to see so many in one place was definitely a culture shock to me. I, however, was determined to make the best of my current situation and get us safe transport out of here as soon as possible.
While I was lost in my musings, Max takes the opportunity to disappear.
I snap out of it quickly, and start heading after him, just when I notice Anne going in the exact opposite direction. I glance over at Joey and point him in the general direction of Max and order him to take Leslie along, before going to go and locate the tough skinny human girl.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She wasn’t at all hard to find. There was, for one, a massive crowd all around her cheering. For another, she was fighting an absolutely massive human soldier.
And she was winning.
Of course she was.
I sigh, and wonder if it was worth attempting to break up the fight and get out of here sooner. It didn’t look like it would take long, so I just stood back and waited for her to punch him down.
Anne finishes him off with a head butt to a private place, and she grins quietly to herself before working her way through the crowd towards me, looking ready to continue the journey.
Which is, of course, when things go horribly and horrifically wrong.
You just knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?
Anywho, this is how things go wrong: She never makes it through the crowd. They grab her, and drag her away. She tries to fight, but she isn’t strong enough to break free. I send magic whirling through the crowd towards her, but all it manages to accomplish is the increased annoyance of her captors. “Where are they taking her?” I demand of one of the bystanders.
“The fight club. People pay to watch people fight to the death.”
“Of course they do….” I mutter, more to myself than to the confused-looking bookish youth, before running off after her.
I shove my way through the small crowd that still remains, moving as fast as I can, knowing I don’t have long before she will disappear from the streets forever. Even with my elven speed, however, I was finding it difficult to keep close to her captors.
It seemed they’d discovered the ability to fly.
Which was just unfair.
I glanced up at the merciless sun, groaning and sighing. Up, up, up there in the bright blue sky was Anne, kicking her booted feet, screaming obscenities, and scratching with her black painted nails. I wasn’t sure what her logic was behind attempting to get them to let go of her when she was so high up in the air, but I was certain that somewhere, somehow, it actually made sense to someone.
That someone would just never be me.
And I was actually more than happy to say that. The more different I ended up being from Anne, the happier I could live with myself.
But….that wasn’t at all important right now, was it?
I needed to find a way higher.
I turn, running sideways, and spot the perfect thing: A ladder stretching high to the rooftop of one of the buildings. I scramble up it, wrench myself over the top, and sprint along the rooftops. I follow the shadow of Anne and her captors, gaining step by step, but still far too low.
I pass underneath her shadow, and keep pace with it as I gaze around, attempting to find somewhere where I can leap up, catch her, and bring her back down to the earth.
I just…didn’t see anywhere that looked like it would work.
My breath starts to turn uneven, and as a last-chance effort, I send a fierce blast of magic toward the roof a few feet behind me, propelling me forward and up.
My aim is perfect.
I end up slamming my face, hard, into Anne’s chest. She shrieks—whether more in indignant anger or in pain I do not know—and glares at me.
“Hey you ass! Get the hell off me!” she shouts, spitting in my face.
“Are you completely blind? Look where you are!”
“I know exactly where I am! I’m flying to somewhere where I can fight as many things as I can handle without guilt!”
It’s then that I make my decision: I let go and drop fifty feet—
Blast magic hard against the rooftop a few feet beneath my feet—
Fly back up again—
And ram straight into the people carrying Anne.
They let go, dropping her, and I grab her—
The wind whooshes  past my ears as she glares at me, screaming—
The blast of desperate magic sends a horrendous echo throughout what seems to be the entire world—
I chance a glance downwards at the ground—
It flies up to meet us—
And then suddenly slows its approach—
Slows just a bit more—
I blast it again and again—
It’s still too fast—
Still too close—
I scream—
And the ground gently kisses my boots when we land.
I calm down swiftly, and pin Anne to the rooftop, glaring at her. “Anne, just to tell you, I didn’t save you because I wanted you to live.”
“Why didn’t you just let me go then? I would’ve been fine!”
I flick her nose with my finger, and say with the tiniest hint of affectionate humor: “I saved you because I felt sorry for the things you’d have slaughtered if I had let them take you.”
She looked at me.
And up there, a hundred feet above the streets of a capital city, a notorious elf and a too-tough-to-tumble human from another world laugh together, giving birth to a friendship that just might change the world.
Well, at least it would have, had she not kissed me.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I slap her across the face. Shove her away. Yell at her.
She swears, and demands, “What the hell is wrong with you? You know you’re attracted to me bastard.”
“Anne, no offense, but humans repulse me. And even if you were an elf, chances are I would still have hit you for that.”
“So who is? That player Lady White?”
I have never hated someone more than I hate Anne now.
Why, you ask?
Because I enjoyed that kiss, and I really did not want to let her in on that fact.
But suddenly she smiles, and it’s as if she read my mind. “You know you want me, Avery. So kiss me. You know it’ll be worth it.”
I swallow. I did know that…I couldn’t deny that I was actually very attracted to Anne. But I was Lady White’s, wasn’t I? Hers heart and soul?
I thought for a few seconds, gazing at Anne and wondering: Could I ever truly be Lady White’s? Will she ever love me?
But I just know she won’t. I know it’s hopeless. I know I might as well be single, unloved, and perhaps just a bit used.
After all, that was all I was and ever had been.
I spend another ten seconds immersed in thought, before taking her hand and taking her with me back down to the city streets, more discombobulated than I had ever been in my life.

~~WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Chapter Seven--Upon the Ribbon of the RIver~~

It was going to be one of the strangest journeys of my life. Perhaps the last. But I was doing it for a good reason: Because Lady White had asked it of me. So if I was to fall on the journey, I would die in her name.
It would be a very good way to go.
But….That would also mean leaving her without what she wanted. Which I refused to do.
So therefore, no matter what, I had to survive and keep the others alive as well. This should be fun.
Not.
Anywho, where were we? Oh, yeah, just rescued by teleporting invisible kitties from massive army bats being controlled by a sentient cave. Whoop-de-freaking-doo.
So, according to my magic rock that Lady White had given to me before departure—sorry for forgetting to mention that piece of equipment—we were now headed east to a cave close to the Bera Mountains. This should be fun.
Again, not.
So we set off, down on spirit but not on supplies, heading for the closest major river. If my hunch was right, we could take that river for most of the way to the mountains. Just to be absolutely certain, I check my map, and grin. Exactly right. Elves are extraordinarily good at directions.
Oh, my apologies for bragging! I’m sure other races are good at finding things in areas where they’ve never been too.
We seem to be making good progress when things abruptly sour. And what is the cause of this?
Why, who but the lovely Royal Pudginess herself!
“I don’t wanna ride!” she whines. “My bum hurts.”
“Oh, poor baby. Wait ten years and try anal sex, and then tell me your ass hurts,” Anne yells back from her position ahead of Max and the Princess’ horse.
“ANNE!” Joey shrieks. “Watch your language in front of the little one!”
“She didn’t understand it anyways. I don’t think it matters that she heard the words anal sex.” To prove her point, Anne reins in her horse, rides back until she’s level with Max and the Princess, and she hollers: “ANAL SEX IS AWESOME!”
I sigh. People suck.
Of course, Joey does not find Anne’s behavior amusing at all. He, of course, finds it very and excruciatingly offensive. So Joey leaps from his horse, runs alongside Anne’s, and pulls her off. “Asshole, let me fucking go!”
“Not unless you promise to watch your tongue!” he yells back, succeeding in unseating her, giving her a death glare and putting her in a head lock.
“Hell no! Now get the hell off me, jerk!”
I didn’t let it get any further. I turned around, ran back, and tackled Joey away from her as gently as I could. “No more fighting, Joey. And you,” I turn to Anne, FLICKING her mind harshly to enforce my order, “Watch your tongue. No more profanity or obscenity, or there will be consequences.”
Anne glares at me, brushing herself off, before sighing and nodding. “Fine.”
So we continue on, much without incident thankfully.
Not long after, we at last are really on our way. We make it to the river in rather good time, and before long we had arrived at the river.
It was massive. Three or so kilometers across, stretching straight and true on either side of us as far as our eyes could see, shining gleaming silver.
I stand by it for a few brief moments, breathing in the water-damp air, smelling its scent and savoring its taste on my tongue. Water. How I loved the water.
I kneel beside it reverently, and carefully dip my hand into it, capturing some of its preciousness in my hand before lifting it to my lips, taking a single sip, and….
Getting soaked by it when a black-booted foot kicked my hand.
I clench my teeth. I will not shout. I will not swear. I will not worsen the problem. I refuse to. It won’t help anything in the least.
Anne, looking rather annoyed at my lack of reaction, shoots me a contempt-flooded look and settles on her stomach by the water, sticking her entire head into its silvery ribbon and chugging.
I sigh. Did she have no respect for the water at all? No caring? No love? What was wrong with mankind if they didn’t treat water with the respect its beauty more than earned?
Not being a possessor of the time to think about that, I continue my drink, taking a bit more care to watch the world around me than I had before.
And well I had, as it wasn’t long before I heard the first misplaced meow.
“Cats,” I say softly to myself, as another and another meow confirms my fear. “We must find a way out of here.”
“Out of where?” Joey asks, looking around.
“This trap. We’re surrounded on all sides.”
“By what? There’s nothing there!”
“Oh, there’s something……And it doesn’t want us alive.”
Anne stands up, before falling to one knee and digging around inside her left boot. A few seconds later, she stands, a knife held victoriously and viciously in her hand. “Let ‘em come.”
I swallowed. They didn’t understand did they? Cats were nigh impossible to kill. Even with my magic, I’d be just as likely to hit one of my companions as I was to hit an enemy.
“Av-Avery, wha-what do we do-do?” Max asks, slipping closer to me.
“Protect me, sirrah! Me no likey kitties.” Leslie cried, pouting up at me.
“I’ll try,” I promise her. It was the best I could do—there was no guarantee any of us would survive this encounter.
Slowly, slowly the meows draw closer and closer, louder and louder, and I catch the popPOPpop’s of their teleportation. They were savoring this, savoring and delighting in the sight of their prey, knowing we had nowhere to go with the rushing river to the back of us and them to all sides.
We were dead meat, waiting for the kill.
I draw my sword and ready my magic, even though I know it won’t do much good. I could maybe protect us from a few of their attacks, but certainly not all. And walls around us were useless—they’d just teleport right through them.
Of course, a miracle happens.
I was getting rather used to being randomly rescued by random things, and our rescuers certainly take the cake on the ‘random’ requirement.
From behind us, I hear screams and shouts of, “GET IN YOU BLOODY FUCKING FOOLS!”
For about two seconds, all I could think was: They have worse language than Anne.
But then I realize what is truly important: Doing what we’re told.
I whirl, and take half a second to attempt to comprehend the monstrosity that lurked in the silvery ribbon of the river: It was perhaps ten feet tall, entirely made of painted and resin coated wood, and it was carved in the shape of what appeared to be a tormented and tortured swan. The swan was carved with its head bowed low, its beak hanging open, and its wings raised and acting as sails. Across all of its white surface were scars and bloody marks, burns, and places where the ‘feathers’ had been torn out.
Even worse, the name painted on the side read: “The True Angel.”
It makes me sick to my stomach.
But it wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter.
I watch as a drawbridge smacks into the sand a few feet from me, and I don’t waste time in taking hold of the others and dragging them in my wake onto the ship of our saviors.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Ello elfie. I’m Miss Spreadshe, and this is my sister Mr. Spreadshe,” she points to a young, very handsome man. She looked at least twice his age.
“Don’t you mean brother?” Joey asks before I stop him—it usually isn’t a good idea to ask crazy people to go into more details on their insanity. On the grounds that it would take far too long, of course.
“OH YUSH!!!!” she shrieks, throwing her white-haired head back with laughter. “You’re right!!! I did mean brother.”
We exchange weird looks, and the brother/sister breaks the silence with a muttered, “She’s bonkers, ignore her.”
We try our best to do so, but we’re not honestly sure if we can.
We follow the very strange pair deeper into their monstrosity of a ship just as it begins to pick up speed once more. “Thank you for saving us, my name is Avery.” I say, earnestly.
“Aw, so the elfie does have a name. And he can talk, too! Isn’t that good for oo, elfie?”
I clench my teeth and try not to scream. “I may be an elf,” I say tensely, “But I am far more civilized than you savages make my kind out to be.”
Surprisingly enough, rather than a dark glare, Mr. Spreadshe shoots me a small smile.
Was I the only one wondering how many sane people were on this boat?
And feeling rather afraid that the answer would turn out to be, well, zero?
We’re shown to a few rooms, one for each of us. Mine is the smallest—I sigh when I realize that, but otherwise do not bother paying attention to it—and the Princess’ is the largest.
I think on how I rarely call her Leslie, and decide to change it just a bit: I would call her by her first name more often. And….Maybe calling Leslie Her Royal Pudginess is a bit offensive as well.
But don’t expect me to stop calling her that…It was far, far too amusing for me to ever give up.
I settle down onto my tiny bed, groan, and take off my boots. My feet smell awful.
Well, the day could be worse, right.
Three seconds later, the boat starts tipping starboard.
That wasn’t a challenge, world! I yell in my head. I didn’t dare you to ruin things even more!
But of course it had happened anyways.
I stagger out into the hallway, leaning against the wall and trying to keep my balance, following the screams to where I knew I could locate my companions. “Answer me! Where are you?” I yell out when the screams lead me nowhere.
These curved walls….They’re throwing off the echoes so much it’s hard to follow them!
Swearing, I start to run towards where I thought the drawbridge was.
It’s not there.
I gaze around frantically, my eyes searching the plain wood walls as if they would have my answer, praying that I could find them soon.
The boat jerks over more.
I give up on standing on the floor, and shift my feet over so I’m standing with one foot on the wall, one foot on the floor, and fully upright.
And I start to run like that, jerking sideways every few minutes as it tilts more and more, growing more and more desperate.
What was causing this?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I wake up in my bed, screaming, the sheets plastered to my skin.
Only a nightmare.
Only a nightmare.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling of fear….
I go to find the others, following the scent of food and the sound of laughter, mockery, and whining.
I end up in what looks like a mess hall, its walls curved to match the outline of the swan’s body, brightly lit by magical lights scattered all around. “Elfie, you finally wakeses!” Ms. Spreadshe exclaims.
I smile just a bit, and take the final empty seat. I eye the food already on the table, and sigh a bit in dismay. “Do you, perhaps, anything other than meat? I’m not…too fond of it, you see. I would prefer vegetables or fruit, and I do not mean to be a bother or to cause offence in the least.”
They look at me for a few seconds, every last one of them, before Mr.  Spreadshe sighs. “Certainly, young Avery. I’ll just get you one of the hardest things for me and my sister to obtain. After all, anyone can shoot a deer or catch a fish. It takes a real talented man to grow a garden.”
I blush, and lower my head. “I don’t feel very hungry, I’m sorry. I swore to never eat meat, as of the disrespect it represents.”
They seem to accept that, and so we continue our meal in almost perfect peace.
Or…As peaceful as you can get with the motley companions that I am enjoying this meal beside.
An hour or so after the meal had ended, we were on land again, and realizing where we were: The completely wrong village.

~~WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Chapter Six--Shouldn't Be Surprised

I whirl, pulling out the sword belted at my hip.
The reference to my sword reminds me of something—I’ve never really described myself to you, have I? Well, I’m tall, long-legged, lean, muscled but not bulkily so, I’m wearing plain leather leggings, a long white tunic belted at the hips, I have fiery red curly hair, pointed ears, and there are a few scattered scars all around my body.
And back to the story.
Anywho, it wasn’t hard to realize who had thrown the rock: Leslie, her face contorted with anger, stood there with her pudgy little hand still raised. Ah, yes, I’d forgotten her feelings for Max. “Save him!” she commands.
Well, I think to myself, she is the princess. Do I have a choice but to do as she commands me?
But, wait…she’s the HUMAN princess. I’m an elf.
I think on it for another instant, before sighing as I realize I truly couldn’t just leave him. Even though he would only slow us down and probably end up getting us into more trouble later on, I wasn’t heartless, much as I wanted to be. I had no choice but to go after him.
Readying myself as best I can, I go in to see what can be done to save him.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Two seconds later, I realize it’s hopeless.
Max is surrounded in the center of the cave, his eyes filled with fear, crouching low and looking terrified. “Avery!” he yells. “Sa-sa-save me!”
I clench my teeth, and look around him wildly. An instant later, I see them too: Little red eyes, staring out at us from the darkness of the cave. Bats.
A heartbeat after that, I feel it: the deep voice throbbing through me, filling me, and commanding me.
The voice of the cave.
YES, the cave has a voice. YES, it’s sentient. YES, it’s populated by bats with red eyes that it controls with its mind. YES, it uses bats to wreak havoc on the world because the cave itself cannot move.
What, this surprised you?
Weird thoughts aside, I had to find a way. Maybe I could reason with the cave, get it to let Max go?
A TRADE WOULD SUFFICE.
Oh, how I wish I had thought that myself….
But it was the cave, speaking to me through my mind.
Of course it was.
Sighing, I asked it silently, What is it you desire?
YOUR SOUL.
Very funny. What is it you desire in return for my friend?
YOUR SOUL. I ALREADY TOLD YOU.
You’re not telling me the truth. You couldn’t possibly have the ability to take my soul.
WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT?
The fact that I know it’s impossible.
Okay, there seriously was something quite out of the ordinary going on. The cave couldn’t possibly be able to take my soul….Could it?
I was getting a bit too freaked out….
We talk for a while, the cave and I. I realize that I have almost no chance of being let out of here, that I am doomed and it might just be worthwhile to give up right now. It really was that hopeless. There really was very little I could do.
But of course things weren’t going to work out that way….
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“You suck at rescues,” I told Anne frankly, sitting on my now badly bruised behind as the bats surrounded us.
“You wouldn’t have needed to be rescued if you had be successful in your rescue of Max.”
“Good point.”
We sat there for a few minutes. We were captured, and it really was hopeless for the others to try and free us. They wouldn’t be able to do anything but be captured by the bats the size of our torsos with their massive swords. All in all, Lady White’s quest for the Three Keys had ended before it had even really began.
And who had caused it? Me.
Well….Technically Max who had gotten trapped in the first place, but yet I should have been able to save him. I was an elf, wasn’t I? And let’s not forget a very well-trained magician.
Why hadn’t I used my magic, you ask? Well, the answer’s simple: Bats are…rather immune to magic. Whatever things you try to hit them with only pass through them if they are propelled by magic. Yes, I do realize how little sense that really makes, but this world is one without reason and to try and understand it will only leave you with a very bad headache. Eventually, you learn to cope with the magic and the world the way it is. It’s that, or go insane.
And I wasn’t quite ready to go bonkers.
And why hadn’t I fought my way out? I was a trained fighter. Well, the answer is easy: There are a massive amount of them, and only one me. I might have been able to escape on my own, but with a rather terrified Max and an enraged (but not very refined) Anne to defend as well, I wasn’t at all surprised at my failure.
I could only hope that Lady White would be able to find new people to do this mission for her, and that they would do better at it than I did.
Forgive me, My Lady.
I actually do not care in the least that the cave heard that. I didn’t care at all. I was doomed to die when the cave decided it was time for me to pay for invading its inner sanctuary, and at this stage it was worth it to say that I deserved it. If I had proved myself to be so worthless and useless at completing tasks, what real reason was there for me to continue to live and breathe? In this world, was there even a place left for elves? We had retreated too far into the trees for us to truly be anything resembling owners it the land we used to live upon. And so much of this world was changing. Man, despite not adjusting to magic, had found themselves a new magic: Technology, one that we elves found as confusing as the humans found magic.
Luckily, they actually hadn’t spent all that much time on figuring out how to turn technology into weaponry. All they had were bows, swords, arrows, carriages, and occasionally crossbows if they were really far advanced. But most of the humans weren’t.
And we elves had magic. Spells, enchantments, illusions, mind control, mind reading, and other useful skills. So it was a understatement to say that we were hard to beat.
We just preferred to be left alone. We weren’t creatures made for war. All we were meant to be were peaceful.
And even though I was a possessor of many different skills extremely useful in combat, it didn’t mean I was actually willing to utilize them.
Perhaps it would be best that I changed. Become more of a fighter, less of a peacekeeper.
But no matter what I did now, I was doomed. I wasn’t getting out of here. None of us were.
So what should we do but wait to die?
About five or six minutes later, the weirdest thing happened.
We were rescued by invisible teleporting kitties.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
All we heard of them in warning was loud meows coming from absolutely nowhere, scattered from all around.
And then screams.
I saw, all around me, bats flying around wildly as they tried to escape claws that tore deep into their skin, even though they had no visible source. I screamed and laughed, because even though I was terrified I somehow knew that I wouldn’t be touched. That I would not be harmed.
All around us there are fights and screams, blood spurting all around, and the little POPS of temelportation.
I laughed louder and louder.
The cave screamed and howled in rage, demanding to be left alone. But none of the cats listened, and meows of anger turned into howls of victory.
And, before very long, we were freed.
And so we left, to continue our adventure.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Honestly, you shouldn’t be at all surprised. You’ve followed quite a bit of my adventuring already, so why the shocked look at the utterly random teleporting and invisible kitties? It’s not like it matters.
All you should care about is that the story is not over just yet.