The wards were simply there one second, then gone the next.

It was as if they had never existed in the first place, or had been turned to nothing.

Feeling the severance of my protective barrier, I bolted upright from bed, immediately grabbing for Nightfall, which was leaning on the nightstand.

I ignored the cramp that tore through my midsection, and sent Nightfall’s scabbard flying across the room with the force of my draw.

I waited for a few tense seconds, while watching to see if anyone would enter my room.

Nothing.

There was no noise, and the door didn’t open.

I checked, and there were no presences beyond that door, no scheming shadows seeking to spirit me away from this summit.

It was dead silent.

I relaxed marginally, and sent out feeler of power, to see what had happened to my wards. Those things don’t go down for nothing, you know. Unless someone uses a void-attuned attack on them—Because, those are almost literarily comprised of nothing. But that’s just semantics, I guess. 

...

Huh. That’s odd. There’s nothing from beyond that door that might have broken the wards I had painstakingly set up.

No, but then that would mean that it had come from someplace else.

I searched around quickly, desperately trying to find traces of whatever had broken my wards.

I knew where it had come from a fraction of a second later, though, when I heard a tinkling sound behind me, as my window broke when a small object flew through it, and landed on my floor.

Bare seconds had passed between the point where my wards had fallen, and when this object sailed into my room. And only a second more passed when a blinding and silent light filled the room, and winked out as quickly as it had come. I hadn’t the time to be able to take cover, futile though it surely would have been.

The light obliterated all my thoughts, leading me to darkness.

My last thought before unconsciousness took over was that at least I’ll be able to find out what had happened to those two elves now.

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I jerked upright as soon as I had woken up, throwing myself into a ready position with Nightfall held before me.

Again ignoring the cramps, I listened intently, and watched the scenery around me intensely.

Nothing. Only the wind whispering through young looking trees, and the soft sway of grass underneath me. There were no people around me, judging from the lack of presences. And, if there were people here, but I simply couldn’t feel their presence, then I was in for far more trouble than I could escape.

Gathering myself mentally, I decided that waiting around an unknown area, after having found myself here through unknown circumstances, isn’t a very good idea.

So, I picked a direction and started walking while ignoring the pain at the pit of my stomach. Along the way, I spotted no people, nor any animals, just smooth rolling hills, and young trees, whose width did not exceed the size of my leg.

And, while it was full of plant life and vivacious greenery, it seemed a desolate place without even the chitterling of small animals, and nor was there any underbrush anywhere.

The whole thing seemed fake, manufactured somehow.

I can’t remember something like this existing in the continents.

And, when I had gingerly climbed one of the trees to get a better vantage-point, I only saw a rolling field of green canopies as far as my eyes could see.

This odd forest continued on for miles upon miles, with all the trees occupying the same sort of height and uniformity. It was more than uncanny with its creepy sort of perfection.

Even worse than that, was that all the trees I had come across so far seemed to be of a fruitless variety, and I hadn’t seen a source of water even after walking for a day or so.

I really needed to find food soon.

And, while I had some stocked up inside my bag, along with other essentials, I hadn’t been holding my bag when that bright flash of light occurred.

Speaking of which, now that I’ve had some time to think, and ponder my situation, I think I know what had happened.

I didn’t think it would have been possible, but someone must have developed a teleportation grenade, or something that acts the same.

That bright flash must have been it activating, and my unconsciousness must have been a natural response to the violent ripping of space that had happened.

I can’t even begin to understand how someone might have been able to weaponize teleportation like that, nor fine-tune it so that only I had been caught in its field.

I do wonder of the other two elves had been caught like this, and whether or not they had woken up in the same place as me, and walk much as I have been.

It seemed unlikely, since I hadn’t seen any trails in the forest, even from that bit that I had woken up in. Maybe we all got teleported to random places?

I decided it didn’t matter at the moment. My biggest concern was food. While I could go without it for a while longer as of yet, it would be absolute hell with my current condition.

The cramps were already bad enough, and I didn’t want to see what starvation would add to them. Thankfully, through my magic, I had a limitless supply of water. I just pulled the moisture from the trees and the air, and voila, I had drinkable water.

It was bland and tasteless though, since it had none of the minerals commonly found in ground water.

Oh well. It would keep me from dehydrating for now.

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It’s been a week since I was teleported into this forest, and even though I continue to walk in a straight line, I seem to not make any progress. It might be the fact that all the trees look almost exactly the same. Even worse, when I slashed a few of the trees with Nightfall, which I had been carrying this whole time, they returned to normal after an hour or so.  

I could very well be going in circles, and never notice it. I’ve been judging my direction by the position of the sun, so I’m fairly confident in being able to move forward properly. But, there’s no reason to trust this sun. I could be lost in an illusion forest of some sort after all.

I hope that’s not the case. I have no idea how I’d even begin to break out of an illusion that would be as big as this forest.

So, I’m going to continue walking, and perhaps I’ll find my way out of this forest.

And, this will have to happen soon. I’m beginning to get very hungry. Well, on the plus side, at least the cramps and bleeding have stopped now. I’m able to move around much easier now. 

I’ve also diligently kept my eyes open for anything edible, like fruit or animals. So far, there’s nothing here. Not even insects. If this continues, I might have to resort to chewing bark from the trees, even with how little it’ll help.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

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It’s been two weeks now.

I’ve finally resorted to chewing bark.

The bark is very bitter, it seems, and really didn’t do anything to fill my empty stomach.

It acted like chewing gum, falsely convincing myself that it could stave off my hunger.

I knew though, that it wouldn’t. I still needed to eat like a normal person, even with my abilities and power. Everyone needs to eat, or they die.

Did you think the most powerful people could just forgo one of their bodies’ most important functions? They can’t just sustain themselves on raw energy, since they still need the vitamins and minerals necessary to live. As such, the most powerful beings also still need to expel waste. If you ever feel intimidated by a powerful figure, just remember, this person shits just like you do.

But first, they have to eat. Which I haven’t been able to.

I really need to soon, since I really don’t want to die in some unknown place, without anyone realizing what had happened.

Especially since starving to death absolutely sucks.

*Shutters* Never again.

Not if I can help it this time.

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“Princess Anhara! The hunting party is ready to move!”

I searched for the source of the yelling and hoarse voice, and nodded back at the castle-city’s resident huntsman, and he signaled for the group to begin moving into the royal woods. 

The sound of thundering hooves assaulted my eardrums, as we set off into the royal hunting grounds.

I despised the fact that I was the one who had to lead this party. It was my royal duty, I’ve been told. No! I wanted to scream back at them. My duty is not to entertain those vapid and vain nobles, whose greatest accomplishments are depriving their land of money through feasts and other needless pursuits.

But, is there anything I can say without having a voice?

The hunting party moves farther into the expansive woods, while I stay near the tail end of the pack. Not only do I not believe in killing animals for sport, but all the worst nobles tend to run forward, in anticipation of the hunt. These are the one’s I wish to avoid the most, the most violent and idiotic of the nobility.

At least when I am in the back of the group, I am surrounded by people smart enough to not talk to me.

They, at least, know that I won’t reply.

Or, at least, they should.

“Oi oi oi, are you still ignoring the rest of us little nobles, Princess?”

I try to ignore the noble who brings his white war-horse astride my own.  

“You know, I sent your father a formal request for your hand?”

I jolted a little, and turned to look at the gaudily dressed nobleman riding next to me. His name is Hoffery Von Wervenn, and he’s one of those who would normally be found riding at the front of the hunting group.

I tilt my head to one side, and this man three times my age interprets the motion.

“Of course I failed. The King believes in you making your own choice, for some idiotic reason. So, it looks like I have to convince you personally.”

I felt hivers up and down my spine as I gazed upon this man who I knew to have a rotten heart, and to treat others with cruelty.

I shook my head at him, displaying my unwillingness to listen to him any longer. I stay at the back to avoid conversations like this, where one or more seek my hand, and the power it would bring.

My guards, observing my movements and reacting to my un-spoken wishes, move to escort Hoffery away from me.

He scoffs at this.

“What, do you think these second-rate guards will keep you away from harm forever, little Princess? The only thing they are good for is to sacrifice their own lives for yours. You, of all people, should know this.”

I turn away from him, mostly so that he can’t see the pained expression that crosses my face at his words.

He leaves without saying another word.

Frustrated with what he had said, I lost myself while thinking about various things. While thinking, my little group consisting of myself and four guards wandered away from the main hunting party. This was nothing unusual, since smaller group broke away from the main one all the time, spreading out to catch more of the prey released into the woods yesterday.

What was unusual, was the distance we had gone. Before I had realized it, our little group had lost sight of the main group, and the sun was reaching for the ground.

I turned to the guards, but none of them would look me in the eyes.

Right. I forgot for a moment. Royalty was always correct.

They didn’t want to point out the distance we had gone, for fear of punishment.

I spun my horse around, deciding to backtrack to where the main group had been when we had left. From there, it would be an easy feat to track the group to whatever campsite they had surely built by now.

It was then that the smell of blood hit my nose.

It was coming from the right, and I wouldn’t have noticed it, other than the fact that the wind had shifted towards me at that moment.

Curious, and wondering what had caused the smell, I led my horse toward the smell. My guards had also caught the smell, and were warily grabbing their weapons, just in case whatever had spilt that blood was dangerous.  

As we approached, the smell grew thicker, and I could make out a lump of fur laying on the ground, and some chewing noises.

The dying light made it hard to make out any details, but I would recognize that coarse brown and gold fur anywhere. It belonged to a Goliath-Bear, one of the more challenging beasts that had been released into the royal-hunting grounds, with an average level that went upwards of four-hundred. I was ready to run away—something like this would require a more experienced hunter than I, though my guards could certainly deal with it—when I noticed that the lump of fur wasn’t moving. 

On the contrary, something else was.

A small figure sat by the side of the fallen bear, with long hair matted and colored red by blood, and wearing simple clothes that were impossibly clean despite the carnage around her.

Then, this person turned around, and I saw a beautiful, if slightly immature face, and eyes like that of a phoenix serpent lighting up in the little light available now. 

And horns. She had horns as dark as the night sticking from the side of her head.    

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Author's Note:

Well, I'm not dead. 

Sorry for missing out on so many days consecutively, but RL called me back with headaches and pain. 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. 

I should have another chapter for tomorrow as well.

—River.