Eleanor Usaldo

Right outside capital city Ratatosk

“NO I already said no, I have neither the need for a traveling companion nor the desire to have one. I travel alone so stop following me.” I basically screamed back to the tiny thing, she had been following me ever sense I left that dammed pit, and ever sense she has been nothing but a nuisance.

Aren't creatures like this supposed to have a parent or something? Someone to look over her.

“Where’s your parents?” I stopped walking to look back at the squirrel. The sound of dragging stopping along with me. Clutched in my left hand was the scruff of a squirrel who seemed to think himself important. I have been dragging this knight ever sense I ambushed that convoy I saw earlier. Past the almost dead body that I was dragging, I saw as the girl shifted uncomfortably at my words.

“They… I actually never met them, but I have heard from others that they were lovely people, and that they didn’t deserve to die.”

“Well, I’m sorry for your loss.” I said slowly, cooling down from my outburst from earlier. “But if you don’t mind me asking, how did they die?” I decided to take a more sympathetic approach to this, dead relatives are something I can relate to as well even if I have already gotten over my parents death at this point. And looking back, she seems to have lightened up a bit, so there probably wasn’t a need to be so sympathetic.

“Well, I was told that my mother died of childbirth, and my dad died in some war long ago. Though that happened while my mother was still pregnant with me.” I continued my walk as she was talking, but even still, I could feel the dread coming off of her. My parents died while I was still young so I at least knew them at some point, though I cant exactly remember their faces no matter how hard ATLAS and I try.

It was at this point of reminiscing that I decided on something. Not exactly a certainty yet, but I think I could take this girl with me. At least for a little bit.

‘ATLAS.’ I asked in my head.

Yes Sergeant Major?

‘What are the pros and cons of taking this kid with me, for the at least a few months?’

Immediately, here are my results:

Pros:

-Possible inlet of knowledge of this world.

-Traveling companion that might be able to assist with dialog with and from other beings.

-Possibility of growing together and alleviating some of the user’s depression.

-possible assistant in battles (debatable)

Cons:

-You would require food along with water to either be carried with you or to be carried with someone or something else.

-Certain adversaries might use her as a ‘meat shield’ to leverage against you.

-her sudden possibly inexplicable death might grow as a burden to the user and only serve to grow the user’s depression.

‘I’m sorry, what was that third pro and last con?’ I asked threateningly.

Error, user does not seem willing to admit to having sever depression, and loneliness.

Oho, we are going to talk about this things fucking attitude at length later. For now though, I turned my attention back to the kid. Well, if we are going to be traveling together, at least for the next week, then I should probably know her name.

“Fine, but if we are going to be working together I would like to know your name.” I said through an exasperating sigh of submission. I was facing forward again, watching as the small group of stones got closer and closer. Even without looking I could tell she got excited by my words as a few seconds later I heard her run up beside me and slow down to keep pase with me.

“Yeah, though I would think of it more as me just tagging along with you not really working together. Anyway, my name is Miku, whats your’s?”

Her pure innocence was haunting, but at the same time it was sweet. She gave me the biggest smile she could muster which seemed tor reflect her personality well. It was honestly intoxicating how sweet she was, causing a small smile to form on my face as well.

Personality trait noted, it would seem I w-

‘ATLAS I swear to god if you say “I told you so” or anything similar I’m going to rip your core out of my chest and kill us both.’

the thing shut up after that (finally).

…

Royal guard

5 minutes later

I was having a nice dream, one about my family back home, my kid was just getting into secondary school and was passing all her classes with flying colors. I dreamt of my wife and I winning the massive pot at one fo the town festivals, we we were so excited, but restrained ourselves. In the end we split the money half and half with my daughter both my wife and I agreeing it would help give her a jumpstart in life.

It was nice,this dream, it truly felt like home.

Until I was woken up. I coughed and sputtered through the strange cold liquid that mysteriously woke me up. After a few seconds of wiping my face, only for my fur to get into my eyes, annoy me and make me momentarily blind.

It was at this point that I was able to see a bit and when I looked down at my hands I found the very liquid to simply be some cold water. Which was likely taken from one of the nearby rivers. I never had the chance to think about why or how it had gotten on my face though, because in a few seconds those very question would be answered.

“Hello, hello? Wakey Wakey, eggs in bakery.” A voice, likely belonging to that of an elf rung throughout my still startled/waking mind.

I wiped the rest of the fur out of my eyes and finally got a good look at the creature. A few seconds was all it took to realize that I was captured by something. What that thing was seemed to be an elf, with the pale, bare skin and all. But I specifically remember being ambushed by some strange beast that walked on all fours and had fur as black as night. I can still remember those glistening red eyes as I got dragged off to who knows where.

The elf doen’t seem too happy, based on my experience with the species. Though I could honestly care less. At the moment, I had more important things to worry about.

“Who are you, stranger? Do you know who I am?” I asked in a deep, scratchy voice, one that was obviously still rough from waking up. “More importantly, how am I alive? I thought I would have died at the hands of that beast long ago.” I wanted to air on the side of caution, I wasn’t 100% sure if this elf is my rescuer or my captor quite yet.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The elf only chuckled at my questioning, who then promptly answering all of them in one fail swoop. “Well, no I do not know who you are but I do know what you are, you are a knight. Now onto your other questions I’m no going to tell you who I am, you are alive because I need you to do something for me, and lets just say I was controlling that beast.”

“Ah, so it was a summon. Then answer me this, knowing what I am and the fact that I belong to that city right behind you.” I gestured to the obvious city behind the elf, also noting that she semed to have brought me back to the outskirts of the city, knowing that I am a knight at that very same city. “Why would you bring me here.”

She stood fully up, revealing her true hight. Where she was simply kneeling down in front of me earlier.

Now that the fat creature wasn’t blocking most of my view, I saw a child behind her who up until this point had stayed completely quiet. This time, now that I could see the child, it decided to answer for the elf.

“We need you to open up the teleportation circle behind you. And set its destination for the great forest right outside of Acomore city.” Acomore city? The circle that is only there for the nobility to hunt at for the game?

“Why do you want to go there? That place is dangerous to any creatures that are not elves.” Wait, that felt stupid to say, especially right in front of an elf.

“Yeah, thats fine, just do it, the sun’s starting to set.” This time the elf spoke up for herself. “I promise that if you do this one thing for me then I’ll let you go.” She huffed out.

Not that the word of an elf means much with all the damn treaties they have broken, but it really is all I can go off of right now.

Begrudgingly and while gritting my teeth, I conceded. “Fine, but I will hold you to your word. I don’t really feel like dying before I get to see my kid grow up.” I added that last part to hopefully get the elf’s sympathy if she was thinking about killing me.

After a few moments, they let me get up on my shaky legs. I was dusting the dirt off of myself as I did so, also realizing that I was probably was dragged back which is why there is so much dirt on me. I would definitely report this back to the king when I get back, this kind of disrespect is an affront to my whole position, title, and the country as a whole.

Slowly, I turned around to face the circle of stones. I took a few steps past the first few stones, as well as the one that they rudely woke me up on and raised both of my hands.

“Kar en tuk.” I spat out, in an instant the whole stone circle turned into a glorious light show of magic. The lights went every which way creating random circles in the sky, before dissipating, and when the rays of light shone outside of the circle, they slowly dissipated as the magic they were using as a power source dimmed the further they went from the circle.

I thought about sending them somewhere they would die for sure at, like a desert, but I have been getting a bad feeling from that little girl ever sense she opened her mouth, the elf as well, I could feel it, either one fo them could kill me in an instant if I even dared to go against their wishes. So, just this once, I guess I’ll concede; at least until I can guarantee the safety of myself and in return the long term security my family.

I lowered my arms, the spell was nearing completion, all that was needed now was to select the destination, a trivial task; but all the important nonetheless.

In front of me a small window materialized seemingly out of nowhere as looking into it revealed some strange, otherworldly silk web strewn across an inky black void. This was no web of a spider’s design though as each and every focal point was meticulously crafted and spun into the web of connections. Without prior knowledge and training, it would be like navigating a hagboat through a dense fog. In the middle of the night, while blindfolded, and restrained to the mast. As you could imagine it would not be a very enjoyable experience.

For me though, things are different. I can see through the figurative fog through a specialized spyglass, as well as not being tied down.

I navigated through the silvery web like it was the back of my own paw and after a few moments I was able to find the spot that the elf was talking about. It was a desolate area, devoid of any trusted civilization save for the elvan city and towns nearby. THe circle itself was covered in foliage and other twigs to cover it’s presence in the forest, and to keep it hidden away from any wandering eyes.

I selected the circle and as I did so, the one in front of me began to glow an intense ethereal blue as the two circles connected through space and time to complete their connection. I turned off the window that I was using to scout the circles and turned around to face my captors. The child seemed blissfully gleeful, like she had no idea what had just happened but was excited anyways. I knew better than to trust that though. The elf kept her stoic unimpressed and unexpressive face as usual.

“Well, here y’all are. This will take you to the hunting forest some miles from Acomore city.” I said gesturing to the now settled down light show that was the circle, it now stayed a steady blue glow as it awaited for beings to step atop it and transport them soul and all.

“Good job.” The elf said walking up to my side. “Now, remember, if this is a trap, if I get to the other side of that circle and there is anything there but that forest…” She paused. “There will be SEVER consequences.” suddenly, faster than my eyes could track or even react, I saw a blur reach up towards me and before I knew it, there was a blade at my throat. Not a sword or anything of the sort, but a small black dagger. One that looked to be made of the fur of that beast I saw earlier, if that was even possible. I nodded my head to the best of my abilities considering there was a blade pressed to my neck.

Suddenly, after watching my submissive attitude, She smiled. “Good!” She said, and took the blade from my throat. I had a small moment of realization, one where I realized that I had been holding onto my breath for some time now and without garnering the attention of the two, I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. This has been the closest I had ever been to death sense… probably when I was training to become a knight in the first place and had the devil as my instructor, or as he was actually called ‘sergeant jacobs’ whatever, he was the devil and I refuse to believe he was anything else.

As the little girl walked past me to catch up with her companion, her hand brushed against my leg for a moment, at the time I didn’t think much of it but thinking back, I should have immediately seeked medical attention.

I turned around to face the two as the circle began to light up, realizing that there were beings on top of it ready for transportation. I had a look of determination on my face as I stared down the elf, and it was only the moment before the two disappeared, that I noticed something.

I looked down at the little girl for a moment, and what I saw scarred me. Her face was twisted into some massive smile, something no Mikew could even begin to attempt. It was unnatural, unnerving, but most of all it was directed at me. It was smiling like it was looking at prey, or something that it at least considers beneath itself.

After a few moments, moments that felt drawn thin and like they were turning into minutes, or even hours, the two disappeared.

After that, I collapsed onto the grass. That had to be one fo the most stressful moments I have ever experienced. I took a few minutes of sitting on the grass to calm down before deciding to get up and find where they put my sword.

…

“Ah, there you are!” I exclaimed, looking at the blade resting on the very rock they woke me up at. The blade itself seemed to be fine, just some dirt here and there on the scabbard nothing more. Next to my blade rested the rest of my items, all of them still carrying their valuables inside. It really seemed like those two simply wanted to get to that forest, they were even willing to kidnap a knight to get there. Though, I do wonder, why didn’t they just simply… walk? Or even catch a ride with a traveling merchant or something. Because now, surely if they attempted to enter into any part of the kingdom they would be apprehended immediately, right?

As I pondered the reasons, I felt something off in my head. It started out small, slowly growing over time, but it was the worst headache I could ever even conceive was possible. At first, I could handle it, but it seemed to grow exponentially.

“GARGH!” Was all I could muster out before I collapsed onto the grass in pain, gripping my head like it was about to explode off of my neck.

Suddenly I remembered something, a few minutes earlier, when that little girl had brushed against me…

My eyes went wide in horror as I remembered it. I caught only a small glimpse of it and didn’t think anything of it at the time, but there was unmistakably a small piece of paper in her hand and from what I remember, it had a little strange looking cream on the inside.

Even now, the headache got even worse as the pressure in my skull began reaching dangerous levels. I wanted to call out for help, I wanted to scream out in pain, but the pressure had somehow reached my throat and was beginning to swell, I began choking to death all the while my head continued its deadly march of pain and pressure.

I couldn’t even cry, but I did something similar I guess as blood began seeping from every orifice on my face, including my eyes. I’m sure that if anyone saw me now, they would see my bloodshot eyes, bloodied and swollen face, and have run away in terror. They might think I have some plague or disease, though it is much simpler than that, I… was poisoned.

I wasn’t even mad, whatever that child really was probably had done that to plenty of other creatures. I was mostly just sad, sad that I never had the chance to write a will, or see my kid grow up. Or apologize to… my wife, for not at least saying goodby first.

In my last moments, I saw my life flash before my eyes, as all the best and even the worst aspects of my life finally caught up to me. I had a brief moment where I wondered what death would be like, until I no longer had to wonder. As it all came crashing down with one last; SQUELCH.