Snow capped mountains surrounded me. Most of the snow was a dull, not-clear black. But some of it, lower to the ground, was grey. Not a speck of white.

Blue clouds covered most of the unusually large yellow sun. The sky was a pale red that reflected on the snow. 

There were a few trees, tall and strong, that surrounded. They had no leaves, but were alive. Most were old, with their roots spreading far away, as if trying to break free. 

I was on a mountain. It wasn’t too steep, but just steep enough for it to be a difficult climb. I was leaning on one of the trees. I miserably realised that I was too high up to see the ground. But I must have been almost at the top of the tall mountain, because I was able to see the tip, full of snow. 

There was snow here, too, but barely any. It sat in small, thin patches mostly in circles just around where the branches of the trees ended above. 

It was snowing now, but I was partly shielded by the strong tree that supported me. But still, I was shivering uncontrollably. My hospital gown was barely a thin sheet struggling to stay above my shoulders. I had no shoes, at this point I couldn’t remember if I’d lost them or I never had them in the first place. 

What now? I wasn’t going to go back down, for sure. I would fall. But up? I was almost at the top of this mountain, so it seemed to be my only option. 

I decided to waste no time feeling sorry for myself. I had a mountain to climb, and that was that. I had no other options that had a possibility of me surviving. So up I went. I huffed and puffed and kept forcing myself to go on. 

I wasn’t too tired, because I had a lot of rest in Buddy’s cave. But soon I was. And then I started to get thirsty and hungry. But I kept going. At some point during the day I decided to rest but quickly refused that thought; I wanted to get to the top as soon as possible.

Finally, when the sun was beginning to leave my sight for the night, I reached the top.

Civilization! I thanked every god or goddess I’d ever heard of. Actual people! This was wonderful!

Spread out in front of me was a wide black snow covered landscape. Little huts, all attached, were spread out to make a massive circle. It was like a wall of houses. The huts were made of bricks as walls, and wooden planks laid on top, and on top of that were sticks to shape a roof. There was a small chimney on each roof, and no space between each house. 

There was a small gap in the circle of houses. This was the only way to enter this “village”, unless you wanted to climb over the huts. In the center of it all was an enormous tent, which I couldn’t see inside. Everywhere else were plants of all kinds that didn’t exist in my world, that grew fruits and vegetables, and other things that I had no idea what they were.

The second I arrived a crowd of. . . not quite people surrounded me, weapons pointed. I raised my hands in surrender, and said nothing. The people stood far away from me, like I was poisonous, so I couldn’t really see how they looked. But cautiously, one approached.

It was obviously a male. He had a long fuzzy black beard. His hair came down to his shoulders, and was loosely tied back with a thin but sturdy rope. He had wise black eyes which shined in the moonlight from the newly risen moon. He had dark green lips, and a lighter but still dark green face. He wore a hat of animal fur, but definitely not an animal from my world. It was brown and yellow, and a bit blue. His tall, rabbit-like ears stuck out of two holes in his strange hat. He wore a long coat of the same fur, and his little green feet stuck out at the bottom.

An Elf.

He was exactly what I’d pictured an Elf to look like. Weird, because the Goblins were exactly what I’d pictured them to look like. Weird.

I turned my attention back to the Elf. We stood there for a moment awkwardly. Finally, when you could only see the highest tip of the sun, he spoke.

“Hello, Stranger. What brings you here?” The Elf had a comforting, deep voice. It was like a whisper, but one you could hear clearly. It sends shudders of warmth down my spine.

“Um. . . hi.” I said, finding it so strange to finally speak to someone again. I expected the surrounding Elves to shoot their arrows, or throw their spears, or advance with their swords and shields. But when none of that happened, and the Elf who spoke to me smiled, I continued. “My name is Mariel. I-I just appeared on this mountain, and it was too steep to go down, so I came up here, and now. . .”

The Elf nodded.

“My name is Arkel, an Elf. A sub-species of Personios. Welcome, Mariel.” he signaled for the surrounding Personios to lower their weapons. This was a great relief; it meant that the Personios trusted me. But what was a personio? And why did they look like Elves? When everyone had lowered their weapons, Arkel continued.

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“What species are you, Mariel? I’ve never seen your kind.”

“I’m a Human.” I responded quickly.

“And what might that be?” asked Arkel who now looked honestly confused. I was very surprised he hadn’t heard of-much less seen-my kind. I’d grown up with the same people in the same room with the same ugly view from my window, but now, hearing someone confused about what was ordinary to me, was really really strange.

I didn’t know how to answer. What could I say? But thankfully Arkel just smiled and nodded, and gave a little “Mm-hmm”. He stopped moving for a minute, and was so still that you could say he was a very well carved statue. But then he announced:

“Mariel the Human will be staying with us for the night; it’s too late and too cold to decide on otherwise now. This conversation will be continued when the sun rises again.”

And that was it. I decided that Arkel was the leader after he concluded the subject with his soft, deep, soothing voice. 

He then asked who would share their hut for my stay, and a younger-looking Personio stepped forward. She seemed to be female, and was shorter than Arkel. She had the same black hair (I soon noticed all the Personios had black hair) down to her waist. She wore a plain dress of the same strange fur as Arkel’s, and wore no hat. She had small black eyes with thick lashes, and had smaller ears, but still quite big for a human, that poked out of her hair.

“My name is Karym.” She introduced me. The Personio had a thin voice, like she had been yelling for a long time, and now she had a sore throat. It was the kind of voice that made my eyes water, but I told myself that I’d get used to it, and I did.

Karym had been one of the archers, ready to shoot. She had a sack that she soon replaced her bow in, and another full of quivers. 

Once the ten guards at the entrance stepped aside, everyone waited patiently for Arkel to walk in, and then the rest of the crowd went. I hadn’t realised how many Personios were aiming weapons at me. Nor did I realise how big the circle of huts was until I entered with Karym grabbing my hand so we wouldn’t be separated.

I thought that the circle of huts was about the size of a really big park, but when I got in I realised that there were many circles, all attached, like a line crossing through a series of circles. In this first of I could see the front of the huts, the big tent in the middle, and the open space leading into the next circle of huts. The “village” that I was in was about the size of two football fields.

Dragging me along, Karym pushed her way through the crowd. After lots and lots of noise and chaos, we finally made it to around the middle of the circle, to one of the huts. Now that I was closer up, I noticed that each hut was two stories, and only wide enough for about four big steps.

There was a door of old, thin wood, and on the right of it a circular window. On the second story was a bigger rectangular window that I figured to be the master bedroom.

Karym knocked on the door in a special way: Toc, toc, tic tic tic tic toc, toc. There was thumping from inside, like someone ascending or descending a staircase. There was a moment’s pause, and then a small flap of wood in the doorway opened, and out looked a big black eye like Karym’s and Arkel’s. Once the eye saw Karym, and then turned to me nervously, It asked:

“What is this?”

The Voice was crackly and old, older than Arkel’s. It was kind and wise, but had a strange unexplainable tingle to it that made me shiver.

“A Human. Arkel needed volunteers to give her a home for the night, and I said yes.” explained Karym.

Slowly the door creaked open, and was so old it sounded as if it was going to fall off its hinges. When the door was opened fully the first thing I decided to look at was the one who spoke. A very, very old Personio. She crouched like a Hunchback, and she had so many wrinkles that I thought she had no skin left that wasn’t sunken to her skull. She had no hair on her green head, but had a tiny thin white beard.

She wore a thick brown dress that was also made of some fur that I’d never seen before. She had no shoes (none of the Personios did) or socks. Her dress sleeves covered her cracked fingers and legs.

Karym began speaking to the old Personio, but I wasn’t paying any attention. I was too busy taking in the warmth of the old hut. It was an absolutely incredible feeling after climbing a black snowy mountain all day. 

I was in a small living room, with a brown couch in the corner made of hay, and held together by another fur I didn’t recognise. In the other further corner from me, facing the couch, was a stone fireplace, with a wild crackling fire dancing in it. In between these two was a long rectangular window with faded purple curtains which seemed to be made of some leaves that I wouldn’t find in my world. To my left was a small wooden table, with four matching chairs around it. Next to it was a staircase leading down, and on my right a staircase leading up.

Now I started listening to Karym.

“-found her, and so Arkel told us to lower our weapons, and then asked for volunteers. So I stepped forward, and we came back here, and now here we are.”

She looked at me with a proud smile. Then I yawned. And then yawned again. And again and again.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Mariel!” started Karym. “I forgot how late it was. Come, let’s set you up in my room, and I’ll take the couch.”

“Oh, no. I’ll take the couch.” I insisted, but I was so tired that I couldn’t think straight. Karym just smiled again, took my hand, and pushed me up the stairs on the right. It was a tiny space upstairs, but there were two doors. Karym led me through one, into a bedroom.

There was the window I had seen from the outside, and under it a mattress stuffed with hay. There was no bed frame. On it were two thick blankets of the same fur from the couch, and a pillow of soft yellow leaves, stuffed with hay. 

On the right of the room was a big wooden chest, big enough to contain two maine coons. On the left was a wardrobe of the same wood. 

I was so dreadfully tired I barely had time to notice this, and no time to continue fighting with Karym about how she should have her own room. I fell face first onto the bed, and fell into an amazingly refreshing dreamless sleep.