Night finally fell on the rainforest we walked aimlessly in. Only Ghilya, our guide, knew where we were going. Reluctantly followed by my group. We had been walking for almost two hours and I could count on one hand the total amount of words that were spoken to each other.

Ghilya insisted we trust her and guide us to her village. She claimed she needed to visit her home to “Pick up some stuff” that she was going to need to take us to The Cauldron. Of course, the tough sell was returning her weapons to her which she secured back in their sheathes. I turned on the night vision mode to better see where we were going and I could see everything in immaculate detail. Clarke and Thomas had angrily told me to be behind her in case she decided to betray us with the logic being she would have to kill me first. Great thinking, guys.

I wondered if she did know where she was going, is she lost in this forest like us? What does her village look like?

The stream of thoughts in my brain seemed to never end, leading in one direction before changing topic altogether in the next thought that passes the forefront of my conscious mind. Eventually I began to wonder if she knew how to do magic and then suddenly, I threw my palm and slapped my forehead hard; Dammit, I forgot to ask about what Daa’quardo means! I’ll have to ask her later.

Ghilya spun around and looked at me quizzically and I realised I slapped my forehead hard enough that it drew everyone’s attention. I looked at her apologetically and she only responded with either a deadpan expression or a frustrated one… Honestly it looked like it was a mix of both. I told everyone that I thought a bug landed on me and I tried to get rid of it.

I returned to my stream of thoughts and started thinking about what I was going to do when we succeeded, I knew very well I probably shouldn’t be placing my hopes so highly on us succeeding but it was something I did, I went all in or not at all with my hopes. I started thinking about what we were going to do when we finished our goal and returned. Maybe we would be rewarded with a penthouse in the capital. Perhaps I could live with Thomas if he were willing… Or maybe it would be time for me to get a place of my own.

Ghilya stopped in her tracks and turned around to face us, she held up a finger and pointed to each of us as she spoke softly.

“Okay, another step forward and we will be within the boundaries of my home village of the wood elves kingdom. If you do exactly as I say then we can get out without anyone knowing you were here.”

On my left, I heard soft crunching of leaves as Thomas stepped into view, his hands maintaining a firm grip on his gun like he was going to have to use it any second. “So what exactly is this ‘stuff’ you need to get, missy?”

She rolled her eyes and took one step toward Thomas with her hands raised. “If I am to make this journey with you then I need supplies of my own and no offence but I am not going to be using anything that’s of yours.” She gestured to all of us with a finger.

Thomas nodded and Ghilya drew in a deep breath and exhaled a short while later. “Okay, listen closely; Once we cross into the boundary, we will have to avoid the guards on night patrol. I can get past them, no worries, but if they see you three then they will raise the alarm.”

Clarke then said, “Well then what do we do?”

“Just follow me and obey my instructions. Once we are near my village, I’ll get my stuff and meet back with you and then off we go.” And just as she said that, she spun around on her heel and proceeded to continue walking forward.

I looked down at the tracks she left which could be seen through my optics and I stopped short of where she had once stood and I realised that the next step I take would mean I will become the first human in who knows how many years to set foot in the wood elves kingdom. A part of me felt excited and giddy. And with a deep breath I took my foot off the ground and stepped forward, realising the significance of my actions causing my voice to become titillated in excitement. From behind, I heard Thomas call out to me in a hushed voice.

“What the fuck are you waiting for? Move!” He said frustratingly.

“Shut up and let me savour this!” I snapped back at him.

After taking a second step I then slowly resumed my normal walking pace before I bursted into a short sprint to catch up with Ghilya, who was already twenty feet ahead of us. After stopping short of a metre away from her, she continued to silently lead us through the rainforest, coming to an open clearing in the forest. She stopped to look around, scanning her environment and then sprinted towards a large, moss-covered rock that jutted out from the ground like a pylon. We broke into a sprint after her and lined our backs against the rock surface which made our backpacks clatter and rattle. Ghilya peeked around the corner and then crouched low as she ran to a nearby tree that had fallen.

She peeked around the corner of the log she hid behind and then gestured for us to come to her. I went first and as I ran across the open area, I looked to my left to see what it was Ghilya was looking for and that was when I saw two elven guards patrolling the circumference of the clearing. Both of them wore ornate armour similar to the one’s that closely guarded Xareith when we first met him. They were not looking in our particular direction, the light of one of the moons had made the armour shine brightly in the dark, as though their armour was made out of a small star yet emitting no light of its own.

I crouched low behind the log, behind Ghilya; next to me, Clarke pressed closely to me and Thomas behind him. Our guide turned around, raising herself slightly above me to be seen by everyone and performed a series of hand gestures in rapid succession but none of it made sense. In one gesture, she tapped her knuckles against each other before pulling them away and flexing her fingers in identical fashion on both hands. As though one hand was mimicking the other. After she finished, she concluded with the only gesture I recognised: A thumbs up.

I looked at her confused and she returned the expression to me as though I was meant to know what she was saying. Then she looked behind me and I assumed that Clarke and Thomas wore similar expressions given the intensity of Ghilya’s you-should-know-this face only increasing. She then rolled her eyes and groaned frustratingly in a soft tone before speaking.

“Ugh! I was trying to tell you that I will distract the guards and when they aren’t looking, you run to the tree line back there.”

“Wait, how will you know where we are?” Clarke asked worryingly.

“Don’t worry,” Ghilya scoffed. “I will find you. Just hide once you are in the trees.” And she left immediately after finishing her sentence. I peered over the log and zoomed in to watch her run towards the guards, my heart raced as I thought she was going to betray us. Yet, when the guards pointed their spears at her as soon as they were aware of her presence and raised her hands as though she was surrendering but then put her hands down shortly after. I could hear faint mumbling coming from their direction but no words could be made.

Like Ghilya said, the guards then focused on her as they looked away from where we were and I took this as our cue to leave. Tentatively I rose from our shared cover and carefully ran, making sure not to bounce around so the contents of my backpack clattering wouldn’t draw the attention of the guards. I looked back to check on the guards to see them still talking with Ghilya, I could hear laughter from them but thankfully they remained blissfully unaware of our presence. Once we disappeared into the trees we continued to run deep into the forest for a few minutes and then settled by a large carabeen tree.

All three of us crouched low by the exposed flat roots of the tree, keeping watch in all directions for any sign of Ghilya or the guards. After a few minutes of silence and no signs of anyone there was rustling in the branches above us; when I looked up to investigate, I saw Ghilya crouching low on a branch, looking down on us.

“Looking for me, guys?” She smiled. Then she hopped off her perch and grabbed onto it as she fell to swing her momentum against the tree trunk only to then force herself off the tree back into the air and landing before us with a solid Thwump on the ground. My eyes were wide in fascination at her graceful acrobatics, she moved so swiftly with no error. Yike’s I cannot imagine what her knees feel like.

“Shh, keep it down, we don’t know where the others are!” Thomas said in a hushed tone. His head spun on his neck from one side to the other, keeping a keen eye out.

Ghilya scoffed and casually waved to dismiss his claims. “Don’t worry; the hard part is done. Just follow me.”

We eventually walked to an incline down a mountainside, through dense shrubland. Each twig that snapped made our spines cringe in fear we had alerted an unseen guard to our presence, each rustling of branches made us all seize moving altogether and perform a quick scan of the area as if to look for anyone that would spot us. In the distance, further down the incline of the mountain lay a clearing among the dense forest filled with tiny orange-yellow lights flickering and occasionally casting shadows against wooden huts that were scattered around and built around the trunks of some of the larger trees. It took me a second to realise that the lights were torches used to illuminate Ghilya’s village and the shadows of her people.

Further down, the land beneath us started to straighten itself until we were only walking down very slowly the incline in the earth. The soft damp forest floor firmed up as the dirt around us shifted to light coloured stone that glowed brightly in the moonlight. Qamar was in a full moon phase, its light touching every surface and bringing it out of the darkness with a faint yellow tinge while just over the horizon, Charybdis was in its crescent phase and Lua was nowhere to be seen in the night sky.

The ground beneath us became solid stone, a few car sized boulders were found scattered around us which Ghilya took advantage of by climbing on top of one and then hopping over to the nearest one, giggling before she jumped down the last boulder near the cliffs edge. She stood still as she looked down at the village and then looked over towards us as we caught up with her and pointed one of her fingers down towards the settlement.

“That is my home,” she started. “Down there, is where I will get my things and I will meet you back here.”

“About that, missy.” Thomas said. His voice carried a hint of authority. “You are not going alone.”

Suddenly my gaze blurred as my head spun around to face my brother. Both he and Clarke had their arms crossed against their chest and looked at Ghilya sternly as if they were confronting her about something. I couldn’t understand what they were doing, what they were thinking, why wouldn’t they tell me if they had planned something?

“Thomas, what’s going on?” I asked nervously.

“We want you to take Michael with you just so we know you are not going to try and betray us.” He said ignoring my question.

“What!?” we both said.

“I cannot take him, they’ll spot him. It’ll blow our cover.” Ghilya protested.

Clarke then pulled something out of his bag and chucked it towards me and I held it firmly against my chest. It felt like plastic, then I held it out in front of me and watched the loose-fitting rain coat unfold in front of me. Inside me was a frustration I could not quell, a frustration I felt towards my brother and the senator for making me go undercover in enemy territory and expecting me to blend in with a cheap disposable raincoat.

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My arms drooped and I looked towards the men with disgust.

“Why the flying fuck am I going into the elven kingdom?” I angrily said.

Thomas looked at me snarling, I could see the anger flash in his bionic eyes while he jabbed a finger in my direction. “Because you decided to bring her along. So you go to make sure she doesn’t stab us in the back.”

He then shot a glance to Ghilya and she groaned in frustration.

“Ugh, fine!” She then nudged me with her elbow. “C’mon, lets go.”

Ghilya and I neared the outer perimeter of the village. Villagers and military personal started becoming a common sight to see, the darkness helped to obscure me from being recognised from a distance and nobody batted an eye when they saw me walking closely with Ghilya. Maybe they just assumed I was her kid or something. My heart pounded in my chest and despite the coolness of the night my face dripped slowly with sweat from fear of being caught, of the things they could do to me if they discovered me. Would they remove my limbs and leave me a stump, tied to a tree and left to cook in the sun? And what if I wasn’t discovered but instead ratted out by Ghilya who purposefully navigated us around torches and lamps so I would remain as obscure as possible until the very last second when she can reveal me in the middle of the village and limit my escape options?

I couldn’t keep up processing these silly theories and outcomes, eventually I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of them. The sweat that beaded over my face was shaken loose and hit the inside of my hood while some had been flung outward and hit Ghilya who brought her arm close to her face to investigate the droplets that had struck her. My heart continued to beat ferociously in my chest, even my upper legs started to tremble in fear from where we were. In the centre of the village appeared to be a small market set up of stalls organised in a maze-like pattern allowing customers to navigate through the small vendors who sold freshly picked produce, hand carved utensils and bowls and even decorative statues. Utilising my optics, I zoomed in as far as I could to get a better look at some of the commerce happening before me. Elven customers would drop small coins into the hands of the vendors who then gave their products to the customer. Smiles were seen on both the vendor and the customer giving me the impression that commerce was done much more freely in this primitive village compared to the monopolistic private corporations back home where the only time a person seemed happy was when money was going into their pockets and not out of it. Sweetened smells from the fruits and vegetables freshly grown here reached into my nostrils with an intoxicating scent that almost made me feel like I was floating on air, I had to try one to see if it was different. Then, I felt a pinch in my back and a force that pulled me away from the shops as Ghilya’s face entered my field of vision with a frustrated look mixed with confusion.

“What the Hell are you trying to do? They’ll spot you and kill you.”

We looked at each other for a moment and she cocked her eyebrows seemingly waiting for a response from me.

“Huh, oh! I don’t know what came over me. I guess I just wanted to see something.” I said half convincingly.

She groaned and said “Come on.” Gesturing me to follow her. We ducked and weaved through the huts on the ground floor, narrowly avoiding the torches and lampposts scattered around the village. We drew the stares from a few people but none were any wiser to give me a second glance.

Ghilya led me to the other side of the market to where two stone pillars stood tall in the open, tethering a wooden bridge that led to the tree canopy and the complex network of bridges and houses that resided high above the ground. We pressed our backs against the stone pillar and Ghilya checked our surroundings before inspecting the bridge. I peeked behind our cover to see nobody on the bridge or on the platform on the other side of the bridge. Shortly, Ghilya tsked me with a short jerk of her head before making her way onto the bridge.

I followed her and the bridge started to sway under our weight with each step. I looked around us with the groans and creaks of the rope and wood bearing our weights to make sure we weren’t noticed.

Ghilya turned right after she left the bridge, the platform in a circular design rounded the tree stump that it was built onto whilst being connected to other platforms on nearby trees with bridges equally decrepit and rickety looking. We made a short run over one of the bridges and Ghilya carefully approached one of the huts that wasn’t lit like the others. Its front door consisted of two curtains made out of some kind of fabric blocked outsiders from peeking in but not from them brushing it aside as Ghilya did. I assumed this to be her home which she verbally confirmed shortly after I brushed the curtains aside.

The hut was dark on the inside, after I activated night vision mode I started to see its contents in greater detail. It boasted a more spacious and open floor plan than its exterior would leave anyone guessing. A table with four chairs stood in the centre of the entire hut; behind it was a bench connected to several cabinets that lined the adjacent wall which I presumed to be the kitchen. Next to it was a bed frame made of thatch and straw pillows which looked like it would have been any hay fever sufferer’s nightmare.

Ghilya navigated her way around the dark hut and approached a fixture next to the dining table and placed both her hands around it before bringing her mouth close to it whispering in a gentle voice “Ignis arcessae” And suddenly a small flicker of light appeared between her hands, she gently guided the flame towards the fixture and it held the light before growing more brighter and hotter than before. My eyes flared up and I groaned in pain before I switched them to normal vision, when I looked up after rubbing my eyes, I saw Ghilya staring at me curiously.

“What’s wrong?” She asked softly.

“Nothing, nothing,” I said. “Its just when light like that suddenly appears when I set my eyes to night vision mode it really does blind me.”

Ghilya crossed the distance from the lamp fixture to where I stood, she continued to approach me while I walked backwards until I felt the wall creep up on me. Raising herself on her toes until her eyes scanned my face. Then they narrowed to thin slits as she studied my face before without warning, she gasped loudly and took a step back and almost collide with her own furniture. She looked frightened and disgusted at the same time and deep inside myself, I knew exactly why. It was obvious to me she saw my prosthetics and it was obvious that she was repulsed by what she saw.

“You-you are not entirely normal, are you!?” She said loudly.

“Y-yes I know how it looks but we… I had no choice, if it were up to me I would still be one hundred percent normal.”

“But your eyes and your… what else!? What else has been removed?” She asked.

“My legs, my hands and some parts have been added. The list goes on.”

“Gods above!” Ghilya exclaimed covering her mouth. “And this kind of butchery is acceptable in human culture?!”

“Acceptable? Its practically the norm. In fact, it would be abnormal for someone to be completely organic. Society has gone completely overboard with the concept of body modification, the idea that we aren’t really perfect as we are is so enforced that people are constantly replacing parts and removing more organic in an attempt to achieve societies perceived view of perfection. Personally, I don’t understand it myself.”

Ghilya took a step towards me, she looked more concerned than frightened by my appearance. Sad how she views me as an abomination. I wish I didn’t go through these mods. Dammit, Tom, why couldn’t you just let me be me!? I thought to myself. Ghilya then approached me and looked me over, studying every minute detail.

“Does it hurt; do you feel pain?” She asked with concern.

Strange how she seems to care for my wellbeing… especially after she threatened to kill me earlier. I looked down at her as she stared at my hands which rested against my sides and I lied to her about feeling any pain. Not just input from the sensors built in to the prosthetics but the pain of where they are connected to me.

She stared at me for another minute before I started to feel annoyed. A mental reminder of our objective came to me and reminded me of what we were here for. Gently I coaxed Ghilya away from me and she stood in the centre of her living room still observing me like I was some kind of machine. Sounds of a commotion came from outside and we both turned to the front entrance. The commotion grew louder and it had begun to sound like the entire village was being assembled for something. We both poked our heads out of the door curtain to look down on the village below to see a bronze dragon landing hastily in the market. Villagers from all over rushed to the centre to greet the great beast as it took great care when approaching the ground, I noticed it was holding something in its talons and spoke in some foreign language I was unfamiliar with. Not even the translation software in my processor displayed subtitles translating what was being said. Whatever the dragon said, the villagers backed away from it as it continued to flap its wings and hold itself steady off the ground when the locals created a clearing for the dragon to land.

“What’s going on?” I asked Ghilya.

“I don’t know, but that dragon is one of our top commanders for the invasion force. So what is he doing here?”

Slowly, she left the safety of her tree house and walked along the wooden bridges that suspended high above the ground. She took one look around and then gestured for me to come out. I still looked around to see if anybody would see me however I was relieved to see that the entirety of the village was converging on the foreign visitor.

In a deep gravelly tone, he spoke to some of the elves in the crowd before resorting to shouting angrily at them, Ghilya rested her elbows on the taut rope that acted as the railing for the bridge and I looked over to her as she maintained her sights on the visitor.

“What’s going on, what is that dragon saying?” I whispered to her.

She leant closer to me and whispered back in an equally hushed manner. “He’s demanding help, he’s asking for a healer to help him. Said something about a life-or-death emergency.”

“Life or death, huh?” I parroted. “He doesn’t look hurt in the slightest.”

I started to zoom in to get a better look at what was happening, the dragon lifted its rear legs up and dropped something in front of the villagers and they let out a collective gasp of horror. Even from up here, the sound they made could be heard. I couldn’t get a good view of what was going on. The crowd obstructed my view of what the dragon had dropped, suddenly the crowd of villagers parted ways and created a path for a group of white robed figures to go through and as they did it was what I saw that made me look on with horror. I couldn’t believe it, there was no possible explanation and worse yet, this spelt bad news for all of us. Ghilya took note of my horrified expression and nudged me with her elbow. “What is it, what do you see, who is that?” She asked.

I turned to face her and my hands grabbed her arms. “Grab your stuff, we gotta leave now!” I said with a shocked look.

Ghilya looked at me suspiciously but complied nevertheless. I was pacing on the bridge waiting for Ghilya to return, it felt like hours passed waiting for her to collect her stuff before I noticed the light from within her home was extinguished and she emerged wearing armoured braces on her wrists and light metal coverings on her knees and chest covered in ornate decorative patterns that seemed more fashionable than practical. Slung over her shoulder she bore a much more lethal looking version of a bow that along with a quiver full of arrows. She carried a small bag with her, as she approached me she looked at me and asked once more what it was I saw down there but instead I insisted we leave and she complied.

We left the same way we came in with less worry about being spotted. The entire village seemed preoccupied with their guests and nobody seemed interested in checking their home for intruders. By the time we left the village, I could hear wing beats boom through the night air and I spotted the dragon taking off from the village and headed back towards where home was. Oh, how I missed how things were. It didn’t seem to be looking for us, probably assuming this place would be the last it would look for us.

We ran across and through the scrubland not caring about the noises we made and took a small break halfway up the hill to where Clarke and Thomas were hiding. I sat on a rock to rest and Ghilya approached me again with heavy breathes.

“Okay… do you mind… telling me… what that was all about?” she huffed.

The thought of telling her was strong but my brother and Clarke needed to know as well. I looked up to Ghilya and said “I’ll tell you when we are together. They need to hear this.”

After a short while I felt my body relax and the perspiration stopping. I took this as my moment to run back up the hill. The massive boulders on top of the rocky cliff had me confused when I tried to navigate around them. Finally, I saw the edge and walked towards it when out of my peripherals and into the centre of my vision I found myself staring down the length barrel of Clarke’s revolver. I let out a weak scream in fright before realising it was him and he lowered it.

“What the hell did you do down there? The whole place is in chaos from here.” He said.

I sighed walking past him, brushing him with my arm. I found Thomas leaning against the lone tree that rested precariously on the edge and he threw his arms out wide as he asked me the same thing Clarke just did. I took a deep breath in and checked to see if Ghilya was present as well.

“Alright, listen; I got some bad news. Some dragon landed in the middle of the village, he was able to draw the attention of all the villagers which, thankfully, made it easier for Ghilya and I to escape.”

“Yeah, okay. Whatever, just tell me what the hell is going on down there.” Thomas said dismissively

“The dragon,” I began. “The dragon had carried Xareith here for medical attention. He’s alive and he does not look too good about it.”

The stern expressions on my male companions' faces suddenly turned into shock and horror, similar to my own expression earlier. Even Ghilya looked surprised, she looked at each of us and said. “I thought you said you killed him?”

“We thought we did! After what we did to him there was no way he could have survived!” Thomas exclaimed.

“Well clearly it was not enough to make sure he stayed dead.” Clarke added.

“Guys,” I said trying to catch their attention.

Thomas pushed himself off the tree and his hands fell from their crossed position as he closed in on Clarke with a finger jabbed to the older gentleman. “I didn’t see you helping, Clarke. In fact, we all ran and didn’t look back. Hell, you didn’t even fire your damn weapon.” Thomas growled.

“Guys, C’mon.” I said louder trying to get their attention.

“Excuse me!? I wasn’t the one who didn’t make sure the job was done properly.” Clarke replied.

Oh great, now they are going to kill each other and it’ll just be me and Ghilya to fix this. I cannot let them fight otherwise they are going to get me to pick a side and one of them is gonna hate me. I let out a sigh of contempt.

“HEY!” I shouted.

That got their attention.

“Listen, we don’t have the luxury to argue who did what and quite frankly it doesn’t matter.” My voice grew deeper and with a growl to it. “Xareith is being tended by doctors right now and when he is feeling better, he will be looking for us and maybe kill us if we are lucky.”

“He won’t kill you. Not at first.” Ghilya injected. All eyes were drawn to her as she spoke. “First he would have his guards beat you up and then feed you toxic food collected from the forests before letting you get bit by a-“

“Okay, that’s enough, Ghilya. I really do not want to hear the end of that.” I said with my hand raised.

I took a deep breath in and looked at my brother before looking back to our newest addition.

“Ghilya, would you please show us the way out of here?” My voice sounded tired. It had to have been early in the morning already. The moon reached its zenith and its pale light reminded me of the chilled air that permeated around us. Ghilya walked off back towards the hill we came from and I followed suit. Behind me I heard the others follow closely. I had no intention of running into Xareith again, just once was bad enough but I suppose we got lucky when we fried him. Just not as lucky as we thought. All I could do was silently hope that his recovery would be slow to allow us to get to the Cauldron first