Persis and I proceeded to climb down from the giant tree, but as usual, my hand slipped from its grasp causing frequent falls along the way. Still, it was time for me to do the right thing and stop complaining. So, I doggedly continued with the task at hand.

"There is no shortcut to the road of success; it must be travelled with dedication and hard work.."

"Every person should overcome their pride and laziness and make things work."

"Without labor, nothing prospers."

"Believing in yourself and putting in hard work will always bring you success."

These are the mantras I keep repeating as we climb down the giant tree.

"Finally! A soil!" I happily landed my feet on the earth.

I feel a sense of accomplishment coursing through my veins as I reminisce about the challenges I faced when climbing that immense tree.

"Come here, boy! I need to tell you something important."

I approached him in a very tired manner.

"What is it, Persis?"

"Lesson number one!"

He steps back!

"Watch!"

I watch him closely.

He knocks the bark of the giant tree.

And a secret passage open.

"Don't climb to giant tree anymore!"

"Yeah! Sure!" I smiled.

The Dwarf Smiled.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" I shouted.

"secret passage"

"TO WHERE?" I shouted more

"To where we came from"

Now I am losing it!

"WHAT IS THAT CLIMBING FOR?" I use my hands to literally emphasize my words!

"For Humor" and that fucking dwarf laugh and walk away!

"I ALMOST DIED THERE YOU PEACE OF SHIT! I CAN'T TAKE THAT AS HUMOR!"

"Bwahahahaha! Can't waste time! let's go!"

The dwarf asked me to accompany him to the witch of the mountain, saying that this was not the only occasion she had provided aid to people like me.

"We dwarves have a strong sense of responsibility!" he proudly said to me.

"You help me, I return favor"

"That is how dwarves survive in this world!" For some reason, he loves talking to me right now!

We walked to the mountain for almost a whole day! There came a time when I suggested that we set up camp because, based on my experience, climbing a mountain of this height requires 24 hours of continuous walking. For some reason, the dwarf heard my complaints but he said...

"We can't afford to build camp, dangerous animals come to us"

"But why do we need to come to the witch?"

"Witch is friend of your predecessors; she gave me medicine for you!"

"Can't we just buy medicine?"

"If there are medicines, not be for humans"

I nodded as I realized that humans, especially men, no longer walk on this earth.

After 6 hours of walking and admiring the nature of this new world, we arrived at a humble hut surrounded by dense trees at the top of the mountain. The scenery was blessed with beauty and peace, with beams of light penetrating the branches of the trees, making the surroundings bright. The smell of moss refreshed my nose. A meter apart from the house was a large tree where water flowed out from a large hole in its trunk. Beneath it was a simple pond with no fish but water lilies with fat flowers sitting on top of it.

"Oooohhhh! Persis, my friend, and you, young lad, come inside."

A young Caucasian woman with her hair covered in white fabric and wearing a modest dress called to us.

I was stunned by the beauty of the woman with the soothing voice; it felt like I was experiencing an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

"OOOOOAAAAHHHH, hahahahahaha! My friend!"

The fair lady embraced the dwarf with joy and insisted that we go inside her hut.

"It has been 50 years since the last time I saw you."

"It is been 50 years since I ate proper meal hahahaha!" the dwarf responded.

The lady invites us to the table, which is already filled with plenty of good food. When I sit at the table, I quickly notice the sizzling sisig and fried chicken dipped in gravy near my plate. I look up at the lady, returning her hospitality with an ear-to-ear smile.

"Eat, my child. I know you are very hungry. Our friend here is too lazy to prepare food in the place you emerged from."

""Well, lad! Be thankful to found sack of fruits in first place." The dwarf shrugs off the low-key reprimand from the lady.

"Thank you, lady. With this food, and your beauty and kindness, I am beginning to see you as a goddess rather than a human."

"I am certainly not a goddess, but I am not a human either."

She unveils the fabric from her head, and I quickly notice the two long ears protruding out of her blonde hair. I know that fantasy exists in this world, but I still cannot stop dropping my jaw at the sight of a living elf in person. In my previous life, I prayed for a real elf girl to exist; now, here she is. I stand up and go beside her, immediately inspecting every inch of her, admiring her existence.

"Come on Lad, are you more pervert than hungry?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The dwarf pulls me back to my seat

"No!!! Don't pull me away from my childhood dream!"

We finished eating, and the elf Lady introduces herself.

"I am the Witch of the mountain,"

she said, sitting beside me and holding my hand like a grandmother.

"My poor child, I know what you are and what kind of sorrow and misery you will face. Believe me, I know."

She ran her hand along my right arm, assessing my muscles, and pressed her thumb on my pulse.

"Did you like the fried chicken and sisig I prepared for you?"

"Yes, I did! I never imagined I could eat the food I used to enjoy after emerging from the pod."

I am curious about her knowledge in making foods because the way the food was cooked was closely related to fast food, especially the sizzling sisig and the chicken.

"C..Ca..Can you tell m.."

"Hush.. I need to concentrate."

I look to Persis sitting in the corner, asking what is happening, and he just makes a keep quiet hand gesture.

One moment later...

She takes a scroll and writes something.

"My husband is the one who taught me to cook like that."

What? Did she just read my mind?

"I would like to meet your husband one day! He is a lucky man to have you."

Damn!!! I wish I had met her in my previous life; it surely would have made me avoid being sentenced to cryogenic sleep.

"He is dead now!"

"Ow! I am sorry to hear that!"

"Don't be sorry, he died with a smile on his face," she said, her eyes getting teary.

"He taught me everything, especially human anatomy and how to use herbal medicine. He is the brightest man I have ever known."

"And the bravest soldier," Persis added solemnly.

I am sad to hear what they told me about her husband. That person was really close to their hearts.

But WAAAAIIIIITTTTT???? "The?" Did Persis use an article in the sentence? Is he saving articles for a serious moment?

"He lived the fullest life. As of now, no humans live longer than him."

"Human?"

"Yes! Dr. Dhan Ryan Barbosa said he was medical commissioned officer when first meet him!"

The dwarf climbs to the upper shelves to grab a bottle of some kind of clear-looking chemical.

"And he always carries very strong tasty liquor with him just like this."

He drinks the liquor.

"Oh! My goodness sake, Persis, that's not meant for drinking."

The witch rebukes the dwarf and then turns her head towards me.

"AAAhhhhh!! BBBrrrrrrrrrrrppppppppp"

The dwarf burps, clearly satisfied from the drink.

"Put the rubbing alcohol back where you got it from, dwarf!"

"Don't put everything in your mouth that the dwarf does, understand?"

"Yeah!"

I nodded in shock.

"So tell me more about him! I want to know how he lives in this new world."

The lady stands and goes to the dwarf to take the bottle away from him, then she sits back down and faces me again.

"We need days to completely tell of his deeds and sacrifices, but I met him when I was still young, when I was only 140 years old."

140 years old is young? I think I need to readjust my understanding of aging based on my previous life.

"He rescued me from the grasp of my fellow elves. Back then, I was about to become a slave, but thanks to him, I am where I am now."

"But let me tell you about the source of his bravery, rather than his story!"

She drinks from the bottle she is holding.

"He was a man on a mission. Throughout his life, he never failed to write down the things he learned in this book."

The witch shows me her book.

"Dr. Dhan help me to buy back my family, even if he has no power, he can trap and killed large golem, materials were used first to make weapons, but he discovered stones can speed up fermentation of any kind down to 24 hours, so instead of making weapons and sell them, we mass produce high quality liquors and ciders, in return, we build a new industry in the Silver City"

"Right after we met the hut, we decided to settle and live the rest of our lives here."

"Met the hut? Whatever! It would be too rude for me to interrupt her now, especially since she seems so emotional from drinking the RUBBING ALCOHOL!"

"I love him so much! I miss him so much!" the elf sobs.

"He risked his life to become strong. He said he needed to find a way to make human men competitive in this new era, even though I always said he was enough. He still pursued strength and power, conducting many kinds of experiments on himself. It pained me to see him suffer, but when he learned that I was carrying his daughter, he completely stopped."

The witch elf is crying at this point.

"Our daughter turned out to be fully human. We became a happy family and lived here. I went to the Silver City to buy necessities, but since medicines do not exist in this world, my daughter fell ill."

"According to Dhan, she has pneumonia. Right after she died, Dhan was got infected. I watched two of my most beloved people die in my arms!"

"Why not go to the Silver City and ask for help?" I asked out of naivety.

"There are no doctors! And the last time a man walked into that city, they executed him for some reason. They would take my daughter to become their concubine regardless of her condition."

That's terrible to hear! Now I realize why Mr. Paray asked me about the continuation of science.

"I miss him too, my friend, but for now we need to focus in fulfilling our promise to Dhan"

"I would like you to have this!"

And the elf handed me the book.

"I cannot accept this, Ma'am, this is the memento of your late husband."

"So are you, my child."

I think I understand what she is talking about; maybe all human men remind her of her late husband, therefore I kept the book.

"I need to assess you first, my child. Dhan invented a ritual to preserve the memories of the humans. You need this to avoid repeating the mistakes of your predecessors."

The lady makes me stand against the wall with measurements engraved on it, writes something on the scroll, and then makes me stand on the weighing scale to record again on the scroll. She touches my forehead and then makes me open my mouth; every assessment is recorded on the scroll.

"My child, you seem healthy, but I doubt about here."

She touches my temple with her finger.

"What do you mean?"

Ignoring my question, she looks to the dwarf.

"Persis! My friend, I am afraid the ritual will be intense." The elf said in a worried voice.

"Well! If that is the case, I wake up another one!"

"Hush! Persis, we are dealing with fragile life here!" she reprimanded the dwarf.

For some reason, I felt they were talking about me like I was some fragile type of pet.

She looks at me with concerned eyes.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Oh! I am sorry, I forgot you are a different human." the elf responded

I am confused about what she said.

"If that is for my survival, I suppose I should take it!"

"You suppose?" the elf asked.

"Oh! This would be messy!" the dwarf interrupted.

"My husband tells me to avoid doing things in the human body without considering all the factors. However, in this situation, you cannot live without it, or you will die because of it."

"Ma'am, whatever it is, I will try to face it!"

"Fine, I will prepare the ritual."

She makes me lie on the cleaned dinner table and takes a lily flower from the pond. She washes it thoroughly, while the dwarf brings a jar beside me. The elf woman gets a leather pouch from the cabinet with what seems like medical tools. First, she pours a red chemical from the jar onto the pouch, attaches a thin tube to it, and then hangs it like a dextrose. After that, she takes my blood with a syringe and makes me sip water from the pond. The dwarf orders me to bite a small piece of wood. The elf slowly pushes the needle into my arm. I lie there, looking at the ceiling, and my consciousness fades away.

"Burn Him!!! Burn Him!! Burn Him!!!"

I hear the crowd chanting!

I open my eyes and am surprised by the crowd that covers the lands as I stand weakly in front of them! I cannot see all the people there, but I am sure that they are not humans, and the guards beside me are not humans either. I see a muscular, big green-skinned guy with tusks, an elf, young teenagers with butterfly or insect wings, and unidentified humanoids here and there. I feel not only fear but rage within me, then suddenly...

"We protect our children, our women! We serve them and our people, and that is the truth!" a voice came from my mouth even though I didn't meant to say it, it seems I do not have any control in myself.

"No, you are not!"

I look behind and see a guy with four white wings with a floating crown on his head and holding a scepter. He begins to float from the ground.

"Our all-benevolent and powerful race that serves the almighty being will serve justice for your filthy actions. You enslaved your women and killed your children."

He encircles me and accuses me of things that I will never do.

"Your fellow brothers are no more! You cannot repopulate the earth with your evilness. In the name of justice, your kind will end today."

"Nooooo!!!!" I shouted back.

The two guards that stand on both of my sides which I just notice they have also a floating crown on their head, spread their wings and float onto the ground. They raise their scepters, which extend and convert into spears with solidified light as their blades.

I try to unshackle the chains that bind me to the platform, but the guards point their spears at me and shoot me with beams of intense light.

"AAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!"

I am burning! I feel the heat penetrating through my body. It hurts! I am in extreme pain! I cannot breathe! I look to the crowd and shout!

"Heeeeeelllllllppppppp Meeeeeeee!!!!!!"

But no one answers. I feel like my eyes are popping out of my head! And suddenly, I cannot see but I can still hear the chanting of the crowd.

"Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!"

Then suddenly, everything went black.

I open my eyes and see myself fighting with my fellow brothers. I hold a rifle and shoot skywards.

"Don't be afraid, brothers! We need to hold our ground to give our brothers time. They need to finish their missions!"

We take cover behind trees and rocks, shooting our rifles upwards. Suddenly, a man with wings holding a spear dives down and strikes the guy beside me!

A guy far from me shouts.

"Commander, the angels are diving down to our hideout!"

"Holy shit!"

"All of you, listen! Half of us should retreat and rescue our women and children. Our hideout is being attacked!"

Another guy shout.

"Commander, there are only two of us left!"

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The guy who reported the attack on our hideout just got killed by an angel.

I look back and see my brothers lying on the bloody ground with holes in their chests. I lose my composure, and a bunch of angels come down, pointing their spears towards me.

I cry as I realize that we lost the battle.

Everything went black, and then little by little, light touched everything, everyone—every person impaled by spears in the chest, people wearing soldiers' uniforms. I saw a boy covered in blood, his dead eyes staring into nothingness. When I was his age, I was still in high school. Yes, I wasn't enjoying my high school life, but I wasn't like him, bloody and lifeless on the ground, wearing a soldier's uniform instead of a school uniform. Not far from him was a very old man, his hair turning all white and almost bald, lifeless on the ground, blood from his amputated arms covering him. During my time, few old people enjoyed their hard-earned pension, and most were abandoned by their own families, yet still alive and not like this—bloody and lifeless on the ground, surrounded by death. Instead of dying in old age while surrounded by loved ones, he was surrounded by dead people.

And suddenly, I found myself standing in front of a closed door.

"HHHMMMMMMMM!!! aaaaahhHHH! Faster! Faster!"

No!!! No!!! I know this door! I know where I am!!!

"Your so good, your so big!!!!!! HHHHMMMMM!!!"

No!!! No!!! I can't do this again! I don't want to do this again!

I feel the anxiety building up inside me!

"Just shoot inside! I'm sure my husband can't tell who the real father is - it's you!!"

"HHHMmmmm AAAAHHHHHH"

"Nisha!" I muttered.

I opened the door and saw a man on top of my wife.

"Nisha!!!!!"

"Is this the poor guy who can't satisfy you? I see the reason now! Hahahaha!"

"Oh! My baby, don't mention to him about the money I got from him to escape from his miserable life."

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Both of them laugh at me.

My blood boils and my vision starts to blur.

"Wake up! Wake up! you bastard!"

A punch makes me regain my consciousness. I see Persis with blood flowing from his head and torn clothes. I cannot clearly see the surroundings because of the smoke rising from the ground.

"What are you!!! What are you!! You are not human!" Persis is shouting.

"What happened?" The dwarf is holding the collar of my shirt and shaking me violently.

I was going to assess the surroundings, but the Witch of the Mountain holds my face.

"Don't look back!" Persis reprimanded me.

The elf holds my head to prevent me from looking back.

"Iros!" the elf said.

"And?"

"And this Child's nightmare" the elf responded.

"No other men?"

"No!"

The dwarf sighs. "Bloody hell! Ghost of Iros seems strong on boy."

"What are you two talking about?" I interrupted.

Seems like this Iros means bad news.

With worries in her eyes, "The night is coming; you should go to the Silver City as soon as possible."

The elf hands over a leather bag and two unlit torches to Persis. The torches seem to be made of bronze.

The dwarf pulls me upright.

"Come on boy we need to go now!" Persis help me to stand up.

So we walk immediately away from the witch.

I was going to look back at the witch to say my proper goodbye and gratitud

e, but the dwarf reprimands me for doing that.

"Witch knows your gratitude don't look back"

And then he walks faster while dragging me with him!

"Wait! I didn't get your name, child!" the elf shouted.

"GODWIN!!!!" I answered.

For some reason, I think the witch smiled.

"Take care of the kid, Persis, in the name of Dr. Dhan."

"IN THE NAME OF DHAN!" The dwarf raises his hand, holding the torches and the leather bag.