“Who’s he?”

Instead of giving a reply to his rather forward statement, Danial watched as the elf(yes, an actual honest-to-god straight out of a fantasy novel long-eared elf) turned to the wall his bed was laid against and pointed at a poster above it.

“That’s…Lewandowski, he plays soccer. He’s a pretty big deal around here. Well not here, but like, in Europe, where my family is from.”

“Hmm…is he strong?” The elf asked him.

“I can show you what he does if you want?” He offered her.

Daniel kept his gaze on the elf just long enough to see her give him a nod, and once she had done so, he got on his seat and immediately started browsing on his computer.

Less than a minute later, Daniel had a YouTube compilation of Lewandowski’s best goals and plays from his Bayern days up on his monitor.

If the elf was surprised at all by the marvels of modern technology or Lewandowski skill, then she definitely didn’t let it show on her face. Although Daniel did note how she watched his actions intently, but considering there wasn’t really anything else for her to do, he wasn’t sure if that meant much of anything.

Once the video was up, the elf switched her focus from him to the video on the screen. She gave it her full attention, and patiently watched the nearly ten minute long video without uttering a single word or showing any displeasure in doing so. Yet at the same time, Daniel couldn’t find a single sign or expression from her that she found any of it enjoyable or impressive.

So while that was going on, Daniel took the ten minutes that the elf was distracted to get his thoughts in order. He thought back on the moment the lights had gone on in his apartment, the shock and fear he had felt when his room was suddenly inundated by a new strange light. Only to then find himself absolutely baffled when the light subsided and then, not just discovering a young woman, but one that looked like an elf straight out of Lord of the Rings. And by now, he would not have been so insistent on calling her one in his head, if it wasn’t for the magic she had performed before him.

He…had honestly surprised himself at first. Surprised himself by how calm he had felt and acted as everything went down. Whether that was after suddenly having an elf in his room, or after hearing the fantasy-like story from her about searching for some kind of mythical hero to save her home world.

But now that he had time to think, time to allow the initial bout of adrenaline in his body to subside. He realized that he hadn’t been calm. No, what he was was in complete shock. So shocked by the entire thing that he had moved on autopilot, trying not to think too much about what was going on and keeping his emotions sedated for the moment. And now, now that he had time to think, to fully allow the events from just a few minutes ago to be processed by his mind, Daniel began to feel the full brunt of the excitement, fear, and shock that the whole thing brought.

He let out a deep sigh, an action that caught the attention of the elf for only a second before she returned to staring at Lewa’s greatest moments with an absolutely bored expression.

Now that he had time to think about it, he found himself smirking as the looked back on one disappointing thing he learned. And that was that after battling with the elf in an arm wrestling competition, he did not unlock some hidden strength or feel some mysterious energy coursing through him that designated him the hero she was searching for.

It seemed…that the chance to experience the adventure of a lifetime would not be given to him. Maybe someone else in this world would have the time, but as he had told the elf, he highly doubted it.

And that brought him back to the elf. To the woman who had suddenly appeared before him by magic in what clearly had been some sort of mistake. Ever since the two had laid eyes on each other, he had found it difficult to figure her out. She, like Spock, maintained a solemn and disinterested expression at all times. With only a few flashes and slip-ups here and there that showed that she did, in fact, have more emotions hidden under that perfect face of hers. Even if they were squashed quickly as any proper Vulcan would.

Although, despite how good her poker face might have been, one that she was using even now as she watched Lewa’s highlight reel. Her body language was a lot more honest than she might have liked..

From the way her foot would tap against the floor, or how her finger would do the same but against her arm. These little signs here and there served as clues to what the elf truly felt behind that facade of hers. To the frustration and restlessness she was experiencing at no doubt finding herself in the wrong place.

The video came to an end.

“So…what did you think?” Daniel asked her. Whether she interpreted the question to be about Lewandowski or the computer or something else, it was all the same to him.

“How does this work?” She gave a tap at the monitor.

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He didn’t know, actually, the science behind computers. So he said as much with a simple joke. “Magic, I guess.”

“Really? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Her interest in the topic leaked in her voice. Something which made Daniel realize right away that he had been an idiot for joking in such a manner, especially when he had to disappoint the elf by explaining the truth.

“That…that was a joke. I just don’t really know how these things work. It’s not magic though.”

“I see…”

An awkward silence filled the room. And while Daniel would have liked to break it, the entire situation was one that was far beyond anything a high school senior could properly handle. And so, he found himself not knowing how to proceed.

“How do you know the person I’m looking for doesn’t exist in this world?” The elf suddenly asked.

Daniel just pointed back to the monitor.

“If they did, the world would know..”

“How? How can you be so certain about that? And how can that thing let you know that the person I’m looking for, that the hero in our prophecies, isn’t this world?”

Daniel thought for a bit about how to explain the computer, and most importantly the internet, to her. In the end, he decided to focus on getting the concept across rather than being technically correct.

“Well…you can think about it as a thing that holds all of the world’s knowledge. If someone knows something, it’s probably there.”

Daniel’s words actually got a clear reaction from the elf this time around, as she raised her eyebrow in disbelief at his claim.

“The important part is that if someone as strong as you probably imagined this hero to be, existed, you’d be able to find them with this. Here, let me show you.”

The elf moved in closer as Daniel got to work on the computer once more. This time, he waited for her to lean in and look at what he was doing before he started typing on the empty google page.

“So look, I’m going to look up ‘Who is the strongest person in the world.’ and look.”

The result shown by Google was not one person or a list of the strongest men in the world, but instead a competition based on discovering that very thing.

“World’s Strongest Man.” She read off slowly from the screen. “What is that?”

“That’s a competition to decide who the strongest person in the world is.” He wasn’t sure how true that statement was, but at the very least, he didn’t doubt that the people there were among the strongest humanity had to offer. At least as far as brute strength was concerned.

She pointed to the monitor. “Can you do the same thing you did for…that dude right there.” She pointed to the Lewa poster.

“Yeah, let me pull it up.”

In less than a minute, the two were watching a YouTube video showing some very big men lifting some very big weights. However, considering the result of their impromptu arm wrestling competition,, he highly doubted that what they were doing was what she was searching for.

“Are there other people nearby?” Were the first words out of her mouth when the video had ended.

“Uhmm, there’s some people around here…” He got up from his seat and made his way towards his window. Then, opening up his blinders, he said. “Should be at least someone in each of these houses.”

Daniel watched as the elf looked around his neighborhood. And he wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt she looked slightly more despondent than before.

“If you want to see more people…I could take you to New York.” He offered her.

“New York?”

“Yeah, the Capital of the World as some would call it. Big city.”

“How far from here is it?” She asked.

“About an hour from here.”

“That’s…not that far.”

He shook his head. “Nope. pretty close by, just on the other side really..”

The elf nodded her head. “Alright, please take me there.”

“Got you. Let me get dressed first—” At that moment, Daniel could hear his cell phone vibrating from his desk.

“Give me a sec, I forgot about something.”

Daniel answered the call, whereupon someone informed him that his Domino’s delivery had arrived.

“Want to eat something?” He asked the elf after hanging up the phone.

“I’d prefer to wait until after visiting this, ‘New York’. Don’t want to waste time seeing how late it is.”

“I mean, like, the food is already made and everything. I ordered some It's just that I forgot about it because of the whole, you know.”

The elf nodded but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

Daniel quickly ran down the stairs, received his order, and came back up the stairs.

“This is what I got.” He showed the elf one of the extra cheese pizzas he had ordered. “Want some? It doesn’t take long to eat.”

The elf contemplated it for a moment, taking a few sniffs of the air before shrugging and then saying. “Alright. If you insist, then I accept. Thank you.”

Daniel nodded at the elf and passed her a box. This was a moment where him being a fatass thankfully saved him. As despite being the only person home for the day, he had ordered two whole pies for himself.

He took his place on his bed, offering the seat on his computer desk to the elf who graciously accepted it. At first, the elf wasn’t entirely sure what to do, but after Daniel took a slice and ate it, the elf was quick to copy.

The two were perhaps halfway done with their pies, something that had been done in silence up until now, when Daniel decided to ask a question that he felt should have been asked long ago.

“Didn’t catch your name earlier. I’m Daniel by the way.”

The elf stared at him for a good ten seconds before reaching down to grab another slice of pizza.

“I’m Nidea...Thanks for the food by the way.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

And so, the two returned to finishing the rest of their pizzas in awkward silence.