Elvira
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Seventy-seven... seventy-eight.... seventy-nine. I counted on it. I was so bored out of my mind that I resulted to counting the black and white tiles on the floor to keep my mind busy.
That was it? that was the last tile? ugh. Well, what should I expect from such an average-sized room?
The rest of us who weren’t chosen just laid around doing absolutely nothing. I didn’t know having free time could be a new form of torture. Well at least for me it was. Everyone else was busy talking to each other, but I on the other hand had no one. Not to mention, I was extremely hungry. At least if I was busy doing something, my mind won’t be constantly drifting off to food.
Done with my total count of tiles, I set out to count how many sole black tiles there were. With every count that I made, a thought popped into my head.
One black tile - I wonder what Mira is doing right now
Two black tiles - The guest must be arriving at this moment
Three black tiles - Im curious to see what people from other kingdoms look like, it must be fascinating to see.
Four black tiles - Maybe I’ll be able to sneak some food now.
Five black tiles - nope fuck that, I’m done counting.
My eccentric thoughts were growing by the moment, begging me to satisfy them. And so I made up my mind to do just that.
I looked around me to see if anyone was paying any attention to me, unsurprisingly they weren’t. They were too busy squealing and cackling at whatever hot gossip they had going on to mind me, the freak of the room.
I got up slowly, careful not to draw any notice to my actions. If I was caught sneaking out, it wouldn’t be unpredictable for some to tattle on me.
Wow, that gossip must have been really good because no one noticed me slipping out of the room even after the door made a loud creaking noise when I opened it.
As soon as the door shut, I pressed my ears up against it to hear if anyone was alarmed by my little escape. To my glee, the loud laughter and voices continued, uninterrupted.
I stood in my spot for a couple of minutes, debating with my brain and my mind if I wanted food, or wanted to be nosy.
My brain argued ‘Food. Your body needs food right this instance.’
My mind argued ’Adventure. It’s our only chance to see the other kingdoms
When I was done being the judge of the little debate going on inside me, I turned around and headed toward the main entrance. In case it wasn’t obvious, my mind won. I was a really curious person after all. I’ve gone a whole week without food. This much was nothing.
At the first corner I rounded, I spotted two guards. I immediately darted behind a pillar to hide myself. It was like that for the next several minutes. I would round a corner and there would be lots of guards either standing post or roaming about. Suspecting it would only get worse the more I got closer to the front door, I decided to opt out and use the back door.
After dodging a few more guards, I finally made it through the backdoor that was close to the servants’ quarters and out into the bushes near the fields. Just I suspected, there were fewer to no guards back here.
My body started relaxing, thinking I was in the clear. But before I could fully relax I heard the sound of metal clanging. My head whirled to look at the cause of the sound. It was the knights, about a thousand of them all roaming the fields. They were mobilizing in full-blown armor like they were preparing for war.
That’s strange. I get that we must take precautions due to the number of powerful people coming here, but this was a bit much. It was almost as if they were sure we would go to war. My ears burned slightly at the sight of them, and I raised my hand to rub it, ignoring the feeling.
The bushes were trimmed earlier today so it didn’t make for a good cover as it usually did, due to that I had to duck and sometimes crawl on the ground. This was definitely more exciting than being stuck in that musty cramped up room.
I finally made it to the main gates. Well literally speaking, the flower bushes that were somewhat of a great distance from the gate. The sight that greeted me was magnificent. Various types of people and supernaturals all strolled in through the gates.
The first person my eyes saw, was a woman with long blood red nails. She wore a frilly red dress that contrasted with her extremely pale skin and had an umbrella over her head. Next to her was a man that was also matching her image. He had jet-black hair, that matched his neat black suit which flowed with his also pale skin.
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Behind them were a couple of women that wore black dresses with big round hats on their heads. They looked ominous and shrouded in mystery.
I kept scanning through the crowd in amazement and...expectation. It wasn’t something I wanted to outright admit to myself, however deep down I knew there was a race I wished to see. The elves.
Admitting this to myself meant admitting I was an elf which I didn’t want to do. Because if I did, then it meant I was a sorry excuse of an elf and a sorry excuse of a human. It would mean I truly didn’t belong anywhere, so I’ll keep believing I’m a normal human because humans are what surround me.
However, I keep subconsciously thinking it would be nice to see the elves and maybe learn more about them. I could also figure out why I’m only half of them and why I’m in Elysia. But to my dismay, I didn’t see anyone that would fit the description of an elf.
At that moment that disappointment was clouding my eyes, something caught my gaze. My breath hitched, my heart pulsated and my ears tingled - This was a new sensation.
The thing that caught my eye was actually a...man. He had a reddish ginger hair, that made my fingers itch to touch it. He was tall in height and I could tell from all the way down here that his body was toned and chiseled.
It was like the very air and presence around us moved in unison with him. His very aura was heavy and diminishing. Like he could crush this whole world in an instant if he saw fit.
When he walked, everyone slowly parted ways for him to walk through. No one dared to stand in his path.
Who was he? and why did I feel this strongly for him? Every time his face turned to the side, I wished that it’ll rotate a little more... just a little more so I could see his face.
As if hearing my request, his head suddenly whirled around and snapped in my direction.
Fuck.
Almost instinctively I sunk into the bushes. Did he see me? How the hell did he sense me from all the way there? His gaze was far too accurate in pinpointing my direction for it to all be a coincidence.
Who was it that said to be careful what you wished for?
I decided it was a wise choice to return to the servant quarters before I got into real trouble, and before anyone noticed I wasn’t in the room.
Sneaking back from the way I came out, I was able to make it past the guards and into the palace.
On my way to the servants’ quarters, I couldn’t help but let my thoughts drift back to the man I saw earlier. His reddish ginger hair, his toned body, and stern jawline. It was weird that every time I thought about him, my ears would tingle and something would flutter in my chest. I don’t think I know him, so why would my body be reacting like this? It was all so strange.
Lost in my thoughts, I realized I had made it to the room. Laughter and voices were spilling out the door. It seemed like everyone was still engrossed in their little gossip.
However, just as I was about to open the door, someone called out to me.
“Elvira right?” a gruff voice said.
I stiffened. My hand slowly dropped from the door and I turned around in a rigid motion.
It was a man dressed in armor, and alongside him was Andrew. The man must have been the one to call my name because Andrew had better know my name after all the torment he and Lola have caused me.
“Yes?” I answered
“The king wishes to see you” he spoke again.
“Huh? The king?”
“You heard me” his gruff voice was stern
“Come on move it,” Andrew said
I sent him a glare and turned back to the other guy “Why would the king wish to see me?” I asked with a worried voice.
“Why would we know the answer to that question? We are only here to escort you” Andrew chimed in
By this time, I was a little nervous. Why would the king need to see me? and he also sent people to ‘escort’ me to him. There’s no other explanation, I am definitely in trouble. Maybe it was the incident from yesterday or was it Andrew that told on me? I mean he was in the fields earlier. Or better still the mystery redhead man rattled me out.
Andrew cast me an annoyed glance and said “What are you waiting for? get moving.”
Not sparing him a look, I went to his companion and said “Okay I’ll answer his call”
“Wait a minute are you ignoring me?” Andrew said in disbelief.
Took this moron long enough to realize.
I had expected to be taken to the king’s chambers, however, we have been walking for quite a while now and it didn’t seem like we were heading in that direction.
The more we walked, the more I noticed we were going further down the secluded part of the palace. I’ve never been to this corner before. Something doesn’t seem right. As if to agree with my thoughts, my ears started to burn. Warning bells went off in my head.
“Um...” I started to say, “Is this the way to his majesty? wouldn’t he be in his chambers or at least near the throne room preparing to receive guests?”
“Shut up and keep moving, if the king is this way then he is.” Andrew spat at me.
The burning sensation in my ears intensified, causing me to pause in my steps.
“Don’t stop, keep walking,” Andrew’s companion said to me in his curt tone.
I shook my head and started to step backward, something was amiss. Just as I turned around to run, something cold and hard smacked the back of my head, making me fall to the floor.
I groaned. What the hell?
My head throbbed as I tried to get up. The man grabbed me by the hair and said
“Where do you think you’re going freak?”
“Away from you asshole!“, I said as I kicked him in his balls.
He grunted and smacked my face, causing me to stumble backward. But I wasn’t giving up. I wasn’t going to let them drag me to wherever they wanted.
I grabbed one of the torch holders sitting on the wall and swung it at the man and Andrew.
“Stay away from me!” I yelled, swinging the torch back and forth.
“Listen woman just put the torch down,” Andrew said.
“Shut up sir gaudy,” I said swinging the touch in Andrew’s direction. He staggered back a little bit.
I was about to swing it at Andrew’s partner when he brought his sword and smacked the torch from my hands.
Seeing that my first option of ‘fight’ was a failure, I attempted the second which was ‘flight’. However, when I turned to run, something metallic smacked my head once again and I fell to the floor.
My eyesight blurred, I could see Andrew’s companion sheathing his sword. He must have used to hilt to hit my head.
“I thought the king said we shouldn’t hurt her?” I heard Andrew’s voice say.
“We’ll just tell him she attacked us. Here lift her hands up let’s carry her to the king.” the man said.
Unable to maintain consciousness, I slowly passed out.