“Joseph, my hero… are you ready?”

Her voice was all around me, inside of me. It had an ethereal quality, it sounded both up close and far away at the same time.

Her blue eyes were glowing. It was frightening

And arousing, if I was being honest.

I tried to move any part of my body, my feet, my legs, my arms… but all of me seemed stuck, frozen.

I saw Pri smile at my struggle.

“Do not move my Hero, let me take care of you.” She took a step towards me.

Suddenly I realized that she was totally naked!

She was clad only in the leaves of the forest which somehow stuck to her breasts and her waist in just enough places to hide her most private parts.

I stared in open amazement at her lithe sexy form, her pale white skin shone in the light of the moon. I drank it all in, the gentle swells of her breasts, the taught muscular line of her stomach, leading down to the v between her legs… hidden, yet tantalizing, beneath the leaves that clung to her feminine form.

She kept advancing as I stared. Growing taller as she got closer and closer to me. I tried once more to move, but could not. I tried to shift my gaze, to see if I was bound, what was wrong.. but I could not look away.

Something beyond lust held my gaze, some deep magic was there. The glowing intensity of her eyes spread out to the rest of her body and soon she crackled with fierce blue lightning that hissed and snapped all about her.

My lust turned to fear as she towered above me and put a foot to my chest. I winced at the force of it. She pressed down and I tried to scream but found that my mouth could not emit a sound.

“What is the matter, hero?” Her voice was deeper, more distorted now.

“Are you afraid now? Afraid of your own desire?”

“Get up! Get up!” The deep voice boomed.

***

“Get up! Get up!”

I awoke, startled, and disoriented to see Pri who stood above me, her hands folded across her chest… her foot lodged in my ribcage.

I felt a painful sensation in my side which let me know she must have been both kicking me and yelling to wake me.

I groaned and rolled over.

“I was having a beautiful dream!”

Well, half beautiful… half nightmare. Was it a warning? Just my imagination… or something more…

Pri snorted.

“Get up lazy human, the morning wanes and we must make haste.”

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, the dream fading from my mind as my stiff body slowly woke up. I felt sore all over. Sleeping on the ground could not be good for my back, even in this new form.

And worse I felt my legs still sore and chafed from yesterdays’ battles and runs.

I ran my hands down the tattered linen pants I had spawned with. They were threadbare and already the knees had given way.

“You look a mess,” said Pri disapprovingly. I looked up at her, her dress was grass-stained and muddied.

“You do too,” I shot back. “Hardly the look of a highborne Elf princess. Not what I expected coming here!”

Pri’s face twitched, and I realized I had gone too far bringing up her past as princess.

“Look Pri I’m sorry…”

She waved a hand dismissively.

“Just get up and get ready Joseph, we need to find the road out of the forest.”

I nodded and got to my feet, but I had not taken two steps before my stomach let out an impressively loud growl.

Pri looked at me, and I her, and we both burst into laughter. All the tension of the moment earlier melted away.

“Don’t suppose you’ve eaten since you escaped the castle?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No, and I fear we might have to wait a while longer yet. I have no provisions and we are a ways from the nearest village.”

I smiled.

“That’s where you are wrong lady, I have an idea!”

I mentally conjured up my inventory and saw the two boar steaks I had collected off of the first monster I killed yesterday. I selected them and they appeared in my hands with a poof, raw bloody meat dripping its juices down my fingers and onto my pants.

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

Pri gasped, “How did you do that!?”

“I’m… not too sure. I have an “inventory” and if I select items they seem to be able to appear in my hands.”

“Sorcery,” she scowled and made a sign that I assumed was religious in nature, warding herself against whatever apparent black magic I had used.

“It’s not…” I tried to explain, “Well… maybe it is black magic. Honestly I have no idea. But I didn’t conjure the steaks anyhow, I killed a boar yesterday before we met. These are from it.”

She looked between me and the steaks warily. Finally it seemed her own hunger got the best of her suspicion.

“Fine, you go search for a long stick to skewer them. I will stoke the fire once more. But if this is some trick Joseph, I will…”

She pointed her finger at me, jabbing it towards my throat.

“Jesus Pri, you still don’t trust me?”

“Just get the meat ready.”

With that she turned to the fire, kneeling before it to blow on the embers and whispering words in a language that I could not understand. The flames soon came back to life, leaping higher and higher.

I watched her for a moment. Dangerous and scary as she was at times, she was my only friend in this new world.

She is a wild one. Wild, free and strong. I can’t help but think… I was meant to meet her.

“Hurry up,” came the voice of the princess.

“Yes mah-am.” I responded

***

Before long the two boar steaks were sizzling hot, dripping fat down onto the fire from where Pri and I had skewered them on tree branches. I could hardly wait. Demonic or not, the smell was to-die-for.

Hopefully not literally.

We ate ravenously, tearing hunks of meat off of the skewers I prepared. Hot grease and fat from the meat dribbled down our chins. We sucked at the meat, chewed on the gristle and fat, not a care for manners or decorum between either of us.

When we had finished I lay back against a rock by the fire and let out a loud belch. Pri, who was wiping her chin and mouth with a rag, shook her head and chided me.

“There is no call for such a noise, human!”

But I saw that beneath her stern tone there was a hint of amusement.

Perhaps I was growing on her.

The words popped up in front of me and I blinked, surprised. I had forgotten about the intrusion of the user interface into my daily interactions with the world. Of course food would have a part to play in the mechanics of this world, why hadn’t I thought of it?

Help, what does ‘satiated’ mean? And do I need to eat in this world?

Eating and Drinking!

While you don’t technically need to eat while in Valinor, your energy bar will be capped at half capacity unless you do so, limiting your ability to sprint and various other physical activities such as jumping, opening doors.

“STOP!” I yelled. It was too early for a lecture, I got it. I needed to eat to perform basic actions outside of my spells, fair enough.

Pri shot me a glance. She was already on her feet, putting out the fire and preparing to leave the camp.

“Oh not you, just… um.. Sometimes I talk to myself. I know it's weird.”

“It is. And alarming too.”

I nodded.

“I would explain it if I could, but as I said it's not magic. It’s more of… just the way I interact with the world. It's different.”

“Very different,” she agreed. But instead of pressing further she merely held out a hand to help me to my feet. I took it, and together we stood, full and ready for the day.

“You sure you don’t want to rest a bit?” I rubbed my swollen belly. I had eaten a lot, and fast.. And I was feeling far from ready to storm a castle.

I had barely been able to handle a single Boar in battle yesterday…

"We are late already, we need to get to the Keep by midday if we want to blend in with the other market-goers." Pri said quickly.

Market?

Pri must have noticed the quizzical look on my face because she launched immediately into an explanation.

It seemed the Keep was very well guarded and the only time the drawbridge was down was midday on Sunday, today evidently, when the market came to town.

People from the villages would all come to hawk their wares inside the walls of the great city and the guards could hardly check each and every person and their wagons. So this was the prime opportunity for us to sneak in and begin our heist plotline.

Good. The sooner I get that amulet, the sooner I move on to the next stage of the journey.

As much as I enjoyed downtime with Pri… I hadn’t forgotten the Orc yesterday who had nearly killed us both. I was ready to get to Heaven and out of this place.

Heaven. I bet they have beer in heaven…

"Ok Pri, that's all good. Just one problem I noticed."

I gestured to hear large pointy ears.

“They are going to realize you are an Elf right away!”

She blushed.

"Yes well, what about you? A sword and that ridiculous outfit? No-one would take you for a farmer."

"Nor you, m'lady!"

I eyed her silken white dress up and down. Though it was stained from the battle at the pond, and torn in several places from running through the branches, it still very much marked her as royalty.

She frowned, "And what do you propose we do then?"

"It sounds to me, Pri, like we need a disguise."

Quest:

Find A Disguise

You are off to Rathgar’s Keep!

But you are looking pretty shabby, and your Elf companion is a dead giveaway for a maiden on the lamb. What will you do? You recall that Pri mentioned a nearby village. Perhaps you can find a disguise there?

But be careful!

Folks around here don’t take too kindly to strangers.

Rewards:

???

50xp

Accept? Abandon?

Well obviously I accept. What choice do I have?

Hey there Adventurer! While in Valinor you will always have a choice whether or not to accept or decline quests as they are given to you-

“Can it, Help! I said I accept!” I grumbled angrily.

Pri raised an eyebrow but said nothing, apparently getting used to me talking to myself.

“Hey Pri, can you show me to that village you mentioned earlier?”

“Yes, but why?”

“Because God wants me to be a fashionista.”

I was greeted with a blank stare.

“It’s a joke, just trust me okay?”