Silence filled the forest as two moons shined down. Every once in a while, the sound of prey struggling to fight off the predators echoed throughout. Stars twinkled in the night sky and fireflies danced below in the distance as if conversing.  

Nights like these were what made a person appreciate nature, except for one lone figure seen flicking fireflies out of the way as he continued his search. It wasn’t that Cyrus didn’t appreciate what was around him, but his current predicament allowed for no spare thoughts. In the game, harvesting had been extremely easy, storing away as many things as you wanted into the menu. But the lack of a menu function currently stumped him. In both hands and mouth, Cyrus carried different plants as he walked back, mentally exhausted from his longer-then-expected foraging. He decided that he would need to make money somehow to buy a bag, vowing never to go through this again.

“I wonder if they have something like an extra-dimensional bag or something.” Or at least that’s what Cyrus attempted to say but he mumbled about with his mouth full. He made sure not to have swallowed any and kept walking. This is how he spent the past couple hours while collecting what he needed.

Soon, Cyrus made it back to his house. The female elf seemed the same as when he had left her. She must not have been with those men for so long, due to the lack of major injuries and symptoms of long-term abuse. So he went to a door near the staircase that led to the second floor and opened it, revealing a staircase that led down to the basement. 

In the basement were a couple of large tables and an endless array of bottles, test tubes and all different kinds of equipment that resembled a lab. He put the ingredients down on the table and went in search of what he needed: a scale, flasks, a heating stone, a bucket of water, and a mortar and pestle. Cyrus quickly ground the plants that he brought and placed some in a flask and poured some water in. Waiting for the heating stone to bring it to a boil, he carefully measured out different quantities of the other ground up herbs. Cyrus had collected enough ingredients to make several potions, but he wasn’t sure how the quality would turn out outside of the game. After the first flask started to boil, he poured a couple different piles of ground herbs and added more water. The liquid in the flask began to turn pink, then blue in color, the color of a normal potion. 

Now with the base of his potion done, Cyrus began to grind the different flowers that he had found that should increase the quality of the healing potions. Cyrus knew this is where it got tricky, he had to pour perfect amounts of each flower into the base at specific intervals and in a precise order. Not doing so would lead to ruining the entire potion. This part was the most difficult and time consuming part of making high quality potions, which is why most alchemists in the game avoided it. Cyrus, however, enjoyed the process. It may have something to do with his family’s business, but he enjoyed the challenge of making high quality concoctions. He also experimented quite often, usually leading to loss of spending huge amounts of money to buy ingredients but the rare results were worthwhile and always kept him going. 

By now, roughly an hour passed by and Cyrus had used that time to make several other average quality potions that he hoped to sell somewhere. With enough money, he could buy processed ingredients at an alchemist’s shop rather than spending so much time foraging. Even though Cyrus was a master alchemist and enjoyed alchemy, he preferred to experiment rather than make things to sell. But with a lack of funds, he would need to change his priorities for a while.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Leaving the other potions in the basement, Cyrus walked up the stairs with his now blood red potion. It was very late into the night and Cyrus was starting to feel the effects of his mental exhaustion. 

Before Cyrus gave the girl the potion, he wanted to clean her face first, something he probably should have done earlier but forgot to. He cleaned her face of all the blood and dirt with a damp cloth but decided against cleaning her body. He decided it would be better for her peace of mind if she did it herself later. Putting the dirtied cloth away, Cyrus leaned her head up on a pillow and gently opened her mouth. He slowly poured the potion into her mouth, making sure not to put in too much at a time. When the flask emptied, her wounds, internal and external, immediately began to heal. He knew that she would probably not wake up for a while, but he was still unsure of her reaction when she does wake up. Although the potion would heal all of her injuries and potential diseases, it could not heal mental injuries.          

Exhausted, Cyrus went upstairs and jumped on the bed, bothering only to take his sword off. Staring at the ceiling, Cyrus thought back to everything that had happened in just one day. As his eyes began to close, Cyrus hoped for a more peaceful and quiet life.

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A pair of delicate green eyes fluttered open. Quickly looking around, fear gripped the female elf when she couldn't recognize her surroundings. She remembered running away from home and hoping to travel to the Kingdom of Elderon in search of her elder brother. She realized that she had been tricked by several men and kidnapped, then been beaten and abused. She didn’t know where she was, but her mind was too filled with fear to think properly. Clutching the robe, she stumbled to get outside. The chill morning air gave her goosebumps but that didn’t stop her from running. She didn’t know where she was running to, be she just had to get away, away from it all. Running deeper into the forest, the young elf made no effort to hide her presence.

The scent of the elf caught the attention of a creature sleeping inside a large hole in a tree. Normally a nocturnal predator, the black dire wolf couldn’t let the thought of such easy prey go. With quick determination, the wolf chased after her. Seeing the large monster behind her, the girl could only try to run faster, but the dense forest was unknown to her. She tripped on the mangled roots beneath her and fell to the ground. The girl let go of the oversized cloak and tried to crawl as far as she could. But she no longer had the power in her legs to get up and continue running.

The dire wolf charged faster seeing its prey so vulnerable. Reaching a close distance, the monster lunged at the elf’s neck. Crashing down, a red sword right in the middle of the dire wolf’s head pinned it to the ground right in front of her.

“Thanks for helping us get breakfast.” A smiling male elf sat on top of the large wolf, both hands on the hilt of the sword. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement at the situation. 

A/N: Sometimes it takes me multiple hours to write a chapter because I have no set plan for this story, so sorry for the lack of chapters and their length. If any of you guys have any ideas for anything or comments, let me know. Thanks for reading