Waking up, I had not gotten much sleep, hanks to the excitement I felt. Looking to my right, I saw Olivia sleeping next to me, at some point she'd climbed into my bed and had fallen asleep. Seeing her sleeping face, I found it quiet cute, especially since the usual serious look she had while fighting or talking was replaced by a relaxed face. Carefully getting out of the bed, I quietly move over to the window and sit down, looking out at the town again.
I knew why I am excited. I'd never thought I'd be able to travel like this, not even half a year ago I was still a slave to the humans of Crater, and suddenly I had become free enough to escape and explore outside of Crater. Part of me felt like this was just a prolonged dream, while another part of me wanted to just explore this new world.
Hearing Olivia groaning, I see her sit up yawning while looking at me with a sleepy expression and messy blonde hair. Getting up, she came over and sat next to me, and just like I do with Sally she rested her head on my shoulder before closing her eyes and sleeping again.
I had found that Olivia in the last few days had become a lot more attached to Sallyand I. It wasn’t uncommon for her to share a bed with me or Sally, or even just spend time talking to us or even just sitting in silence. I wonder if this is what having a sister was like. Though it could be that she had just become comfortable around us, we had spent a few months around each other.
Letting her continue resting for a few hours, soon enough the sun started rising as I felt power drain from my body. I would never get used to feeling weakened when the sun came out, it was really uncomfortable. Feeling Olivia stir to the side, she sat up and looked around confused.
“What am I doing here…”
Giggling at her confused face I get up just as a knock came from the door. Putting my guard up right away, Olivia pats my shoulder.
“It’s alright, it’ll be our breakfast I ordered.” Mumbling sleeply, Olivia gives me a small smile.
“Ordered?” Before I could get an answer, Olivia opened the door where an elderly man was standing, pushing a cart into the room before leaving. Smelling food of various kinds from this cart, Olivia beckons me over and hands me a plate of strange types of food.
“Kraa!” Seeing Alice looking at the food, I was about to hand her some when Olivia grabbed a bowl.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you, Alice.”
In the bowl was very finely sliced meat. Putting the bowl on the table in the room, Alice flew over and started pecking from it as I sat down with her. Trying out a piece of meat in the shape of a tube, I found it delicious. There were a lot of different types of food, each one as good as the other until I tried a strange red slice with seeds in it. Finding the taste foul, I looked at the rest of it and frowned.
“That’s called a tomato. It’s not very good is it?” Looking over at Olivia who hadn’t touched the red fruit either, I nodded in agreement. Finishing the food, Olivia puts the plates and bowls on the cart and pushes it to the side.
“Are you ready to go?” Nodding to her question, I went and carried Elizabeth first. Leaving the inn after a short stop at what Olivia called the front desk, we headed to the opposite end of the town.
“We don’t need to worry about where to go, I remember from here we walk along this path then go off road into the forest where Ithil. I can sense where to go, and once in the forest I’ll know the way right away, leave it to me.
Nodding to her, I follow as Olivia takes the lead. As we continue to walk to the end of the town, we exit and start running down the road once again. After nearly an entire day of running with me carrying Elizabeth the entire time, we finally arrived at the edge of a new forest.
Describing this forest was difficult. Beautiful was a word that came to mind, a thick fog ran through the entirety of the forest, the trees had a faint blue glow to them and the leaves were a dazzling green. I could hear plenty of insects, and looking around a question sprung to my mind.
“Olivia, where are the monsters?”
I hadn’t seen any this entire time, a sight I’m not used to in the slightest.
“Ah, I forgot to tell you. The humans have adventurers and guards who patrol the roads constantly and they kill any monsters that appear. We have a similar system in the forest, with some help from the other residents.
Oh, and the location of our village is a bit of a secret…I’m sure it’ll be fine, the circumstances for why you are Elizabeth are here are special, my family will vouch for you two.”
Nodding at her words as I watch her pull her hood up, we continue on. We could keep going for a few days without rest if we needed to, as long as we didn’t have to fight and use stamina we’d have no problems travelling. Entering the forest, Olivia takes a deep breath in and smiles with excitement. Turning in a certain direction, she starts moving forwards as I continue following her while carrying Elizabeth.
As I continued to follow Olivia, I felt myself being watched. At first it felt like a glance, but now I was aware several beings were looking in our direction, and feeling a bit uneasy I glanced towards Olivia. Seeing her relaxed, I let it be as we continued onwards.
After continuing for half a day, I suddenly felt danger heading towards us as I stopped and dodged to the side. Nothing came however and looking around, I see Olivia staring in a direction with an annoyed frown on her face. As I’m about to ask her what happened, I smelled someone approaching from a tree, and looking up I saw another just like Olivia.
With piercing green eyes and blonde hair, the new elf glared at me before shifting their eyes to Elizabeth then to Olivia. As tempted as I was, I avoided peering at their System information, remembering Janet’s words from Zalus that higher level people could tell when you checked. I could tell however this person was strong, much stronger than I at the moment.
“Olivia…you’ve returned, with a monster and human following you. And you’ve ascended incorrectly as well.” Speaking with a voice that reverberated in my ears, the elf looked down at Olivia.
Finding myself frowning at the wording of that sentence, I heard Olivia scoff, and with a voice that was filled with arrogance, something I’ve never heard before, she remarks.
“It’s none of your business, Elladan. Or do I need to remind you of my family name?”
Seeing Elladan frown, I could see annoyance in his eyes. I couldn’t understand why he is so hostile from the get go, but after a minute of staring at Olivia he steps back into the trees and disappears. Olivia shakes her head and glances back at me.
“I should tell you now so it doesn’t surprise you later. My family is considered an upper class family among the elves, while we’re not exactly royalty we do have good ties to a certain faction that is connected to the Patriarch, so our name has some leeway. Now, let's keep going before Elladan decides to change his mind.”
As Olivia takes the lead once again, I kept following behind her as we made our way through the forest. It hadn’t changed since we entered and I had gotten slightly bored of the sight. However, the deeper we started going, the bigger the trees became, growing massive in size, some thicker than the average house in the last town we were in, with spacing between each.
Seeing Olivia pick up more speed the closer we got, I knew she was avoiding bolting into her village and leaving me behind. I would’ve usually encouraged her to go ahead, but I knew if I did I’d likely end up dead. The stares on me were rather intense.
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After walking for a bit longer, the fog suddenly lifted after stepping past a certain tree. In front of me is a town that I’d never thought possible. Between the trees were bridges with houses built on the trees, on the ground were individual buildings. The houses were rather simple looking, mostly made from wood. Looking at the buildings attached to the middle of the trees, I wondered how they built them.
Seeing elves walk along the bridges and around on the ground, some of them turned to look towards us and I felt more hostile stares land on me. Shrugging off the feeling of discomfort, I keep my guard up just in case.
Looking towards Olivia, I could see her smiling at this sight. As I watched she closed her eyes, breathed out and changed her expression to look more like Elladan, annoyed with a touch of arrogance.
“Let’s go, I’m sure my parents would love to meet you.”
Olivia starts walking besides me as I carry Elizabeth on my back and we walk through the village. Seeing Olivia ignore the stares of people around us, I intimidate her and ignore those around us as well. She leads us to a spiral staircase, leading up to the houses on the trees. Hearing the staircase creaking, I worried for a moment that it wouldn’t hold up, but kept walking.
Reaching the top of the staircase, we arrived on a landing in front of a house. Ignoring the house, Olivia walked along the landing and went behind the treehouse and continued down a bridge. After a few more of these going deeper into the forest, we arrived in front of one of the bigger houses here.
Three stories high, there’s a garden that spreads out with a path leading to the house. Wondering how they managed to make a garden here, it had short grass with various coloured flowers running along the path, as a faint light ran down the pathway. The house was similar in nature to all others, simple but it looked extremely clean. Looking at Olivia I could see she had been crying since laying eyes on the house.
Wiping the tears away, she smiles at me as we walk down the path towards the door. I could still feel stares on me from behind, I wondered why they hadn’t approached us yet, or at least taken action against Elizabeth or I. Is it because of Olivia’s family, or is there another reason why?
Arriving at the door, Olivia is about to knock when the door swings open. A tall, beautiful elf lady stands before us, looking at Olivia in disbelief. Without another word, she hugs Olivia with such a speed I couldn’t see and grips her tightly.
Pulling Olivia away, the lady caresses Olivia’s face while crying. “Oh Olivia, they said you died…how are you here?!” Glancing at me for a moment, she smiles and drags Olivia in as I stand there not knowing what to do. I felt like I was intruding on something I shouldn’t be, but before I could think of what to do, the same lady came back without Olivia and beckoned for me to follow.
Walking into the house, I was led through the lobby into a side room, a big room with a large table and chairs, couches on the side and a fireplace at the far end of the room. Not seeing Olivia, I was about to ask where she was when the lady turned and spoke.
“Feel free to relax here.”
Without another word she left the room again. Feeling things were moving too quickly for me to keep up with, I laid Elizabeth down on a couch and sat down, with Alice jumping onto the table in front of me. Waiting quietly, I listened to the sounds through the house, as if a few people were moving around. Soon loud footsteps came from outside the room as it opened, revealing Olivia and the same lady once again.
Seeing Olivia, her eyes were red like she’d been crying. Looking at the lady who was walking next to Olivia, they both looked very similar, with Olivia looking a lot younger. I had assumed this was her mother. Coming over and sitting down opposite me was Olivia, and next to her the lady.
“I’m sorry about that, I had to make sure it really was Olivia. We had been told she was killed without a corpse during a routine scout, which is now coming out as a falsehood. So dear, can you tell me what happened?”
Glancing at me for a moment, Olivia starts talking about what’s happened. I’d heard the story of how she woke up in the middle of nowhere and had survived purely from using her natural ability to blend in with her surroundings, until she had met and saved us.
Just as she was talking about meeting us in the swamp, the doors to the room opened and an older male elf entered, I could see a few wrinkles on the edges of his eyes and he held himself straight. Pushing a cart into the room, there was food and drinks on it. Placing a cup in front of me, he does the same to the other two before bowing and leaving.
As Olivia continued, the hours seemed to pass by. Her mother never interrupted Olivia and allowed her to keep talking until finally reaching the part of returning to the forest. As I had been there for most of her tale, it was rather boring but I kept myself looking interested. Seeing her mother ponder for a while, she turned to me.
“I thank you for looking after Olivia this entire time. I forgot to introduce myself before, but I am Eowyn, Olivia's mother. It’s a pleasure to meet you Alisha. Though from your story dear it seems we have some troubles ahead of us. Bringing a human and a monster into our village will cause some outrage, regardless of the circumstances.”
Hearing Eowyn, I knew I wasn’t welcomed from the moment I’d entered this village. The hostile stares were more than enough to show me that.
“We’ll protect you so don’t worry. As to how to treat your friend Elizabeth there…I have an idea, I’ll need to run it by your father once he has returned. Now Olivia, I suppose you’ve figured out the truth behind this matter, correct?”
Biting her lip, Olivia looks down and nods. “Most likely I was knocked out at some point during our scouting and thrown into Crater Hell by those I was with. I didn’t want to admit it before, but there is no avoiding it now.”
“And you’ve now returned as a deviant Elf. I suppose I should just be glad you’ve returned to me safely, you even met some new friends and surely have plenty of stories to share.”
Seeing Olivia look up with some excitement, I remember her original motivation for joining us in exploring the Temple of the Blood God was to find some stories to tell. As I was remembering her comments during that time, the door to the room slammed open and an elderly man stood there. He was an elf with many scars on his arms and face, along with some wrinkles he had the same blonde hair and green eyes as Eowyn and Olivia did.
Staring at Olivia in disbelief, he rushes to her and embraces her as well. I felt a bit of loneliness seeing this sight, I wouldn’t be embraced like that by anyone…shaking those thoughts from my mind, I see Olivia also start crying as she hugged her father.
After Olivia explained the story again, which took a few more hours once again, her father turned to me and thanked me again. Learning that he was named Erestor, he also commented about Elizabeth’s condition.
“I know a practitioner who studies the soul. He lives in another village but I should be able to get him to visit and have a look for you. I can’t make any promises though, it sounds like you guys have had a hard time yourselves.”
Unable to deny his words, he looks at me once again.
“I do have to say though, it’s very surprising to learn that not only is Crater Hell filled with monsters but there are humans as well. Most elves can be…quite arrogant and unaccepting of other races, so there will be some who will try and make your life difficult here. Though I suppose we’d have our hands filled with Olivia becoming a deviant.”
Tilting my head, I finally ask the question I’d been holding for a bit. “What’s wrong with being a deviant?”
Seeing the three remain quiet, I knew I asked a sensitive question but I still wanted to know. Eowyn looks at me and explains.
“It’s an old tradition of the elves, they believe all elves belong to nature and are born to serve and wield it. Any elves that do not or can not use nature magic or ascend into an elf with a different element will be seen as evil. Of course, you know Olivia is anything but evil, however the other elves in this village won’t think like that.”
Wondering why they would just label someone like that, I was about to ask why they thought deviants were evil when the elderly elf who bought us drinks and food entered the room. Bowing slightly, he spoke.
“Madam, Sir, a messenger from the patriarch has arrived. The Patriarch wishes to see both Olivia and the monster she brought into the village now.”
Surprised at this comment, I see Eowyn and Erestor look slightly annoyed.
“Gwindor, tell the messenger we will send the two tomorrow, we have just received our daughter and wish to spend time with her.”
Just as those words Eowyn’s lips, my eyes flicked to behind Gwindor to where another elf suddenly appeared, a hooded figure that I couldn’t make out.
“I’m afraid the Patriarch demands to see them now.” A voice comes from this new figure. Before Eowyn or Erestor could say anything, the hooded figure added “The Patriarch says he wants to meet them alone. He wants to know the truth behind Olivia’s disappearance.”
Seeing the two parents look at each other for a moment, they nodded. “Olivia, Alisha, go meet the patriarch. He’s honest and it’s true he had suspicions on why Olivia had suddenly been killed as per the scouting teams report. The fact that the royal guard isn’t here means they don’t have plans to exile Olivia or chase Alisha and Elizabeth away…yet.”
Looking at Elizabeth, I heard Erestor speak up. “Don’t fret, we’ll take care of her while you guys see the Patriarch. When you two return, we’ll have a lovely dinner prepared for you.”
Nodding at their words, Olivia gets up and looks at me as I pick up Alice and put her on my head. She’s been asleep this entire time, seemingly bored or exhausted from all the talking. I couldn’t blame her, I wanted to nap too. Following the messenger out, we start walking deeper into the forest…to a place where I’d remember a very important rule of this world.