Annie watched her party gather up the barrels before departing into the woods, when they disappeared she sighed, looking down at the floor shuffling her feet in the dirt she turned to face the creature. All of his eyes focused on her, he stood watching her, the elf once again held in front of him, like a favourite teddy. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Sooo, what what did you want to talk about?"

"You're and your party are not native to this world are you?"

"No, I was experimenting with portal magic and somehow ended up here, now I am not allowed to leave until I finish some kind of game without knowing what the game is, or how to win it."

The creature chuckled at that.

"You must be a player then, heheh old limbo does like having fun with reality's people, sometimes he even has others publish books telling the stories about his games. He says it's his way of sharing the fun."

He'd started gently stroking the elfs head with one of his fingers as he spoke and continued to do so for a few seconds before talking again. Annie could only watch, listen and respond to what was being said, her eyes moving between the elf and the creature as she did.

"What do you know about high elven society?"

"Nothing really"

"Ah, good good, they are an interesting bunch, tasty, give you quite a buzz as well due to their high mana affinity, you as a player will need to very careful when dealing with them however, the common people are snobby at best and have a tendency to look down on other races as being inferior. The ruling class however are even worse, they have a tendency towards politicising everything, which to them means telling the truth while making you believe a lie. You need only look at their chosen governmental structure to understand that. You see they run what is called a 2-tiered democratic system. Tier 1 is that of the common citizen, where they get to decide what random idiot gets to stand in front of them and make pretty speeches about all the good things the government is doing for them. The second tier is for the elite, the ones who democratically make decisions amongst themselves about how everyone who is not them should live their lives. They often talk about the importance and greatness of "our democracy", what many of the citizens don't realise however is that what they mean by ours is really theirs. As I said, the art of telling the truth while making everyone believe a lie."

Annie was looking at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"That's horrible."

He shrugged,

"That's the high elven elite for you, they have more interest in their own wants, than the needs of the many they govern."

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"Why doesn't anyone stop them?"

"Depends, some rely heavily on the government to feed them, others are simply not yet willing to believe most of what they thought was real was a lie. There are a few who try to resist, but they tend to get pushed to the side, ignored, or killed if they become too influential."

He paused a second to lick his lips.

"Sometimes they even get tossed in my direction, a rare treat indeed."

Before she could stop herself Annie blurted out a potentially inflammatory question.

"You mean you help them stay in power?"

After finishing Annie covered her mouth with both hands, her mind racing at the possible outcomes of her bold statement. The creature just watches her, silently contemplating her words, several long seconds passed by, a bead of sweat ran down her forehead before falling off her chin.

"You know.....I hadn't thought of it that way before.........It may actually be better if in future I let them go."

Annie let out a breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding. She forced a slight smile.

"Yes, I think you might be right"

The creature grinned at her while nodding enthusiastically.

"Yes, the more dissidents that can be created the more free meals I get"

Annie's smile dropped from her face and her bottom lip started to quiver slightly.

"That's not....."

"IT'S BRILLIANT!"

He jumped up and down a few times, the elf flopping around under his arm, he then pulled her up into a tight hug. The girl let out a cry of pain as one of her ribs broke. He growled and lifted her up in front of his face poking her nose several times as he spoke.

"I thought I told you to be quiet."

"I'm sorry, I......"

He clenched his hand into a fist and held it in front of her face while growling, she stopped making noises and nodded her head instead.

"One more peep out of you and the deal is off"

He pointed towards his mouth before lightly patting his belly.

"Understand?"

The girl nodded, tears streaming down her face which held a pained expression. Annie shifted uncomfortably, her eyes moving in the direction the other party members had disappeared towards. Please hurry, she thought to herself, her attention was immediately pulled back to the creature as he continued to speak however, the girl once again tucked under his arm.

"Know what?.... I'm glad I met you, and just to prove it I promise to try and make friends with the next elf I meet.... See what comes of it."

"That's.... nice.....I hope it works out for you."

He chuckled at that.

"I make no promises about any level of success mind you.....but I will try....my new gnomish friend."

He smiled at her, and she forced herself to smile back, her voice quivering slightly as she responded.

"Glad to hear it... My new...elf eater?...friend."

"Hah, don't worry little one, even I don't know what I am, I only know what I do, and the incredibly imaginative name it has earned me."

"You mean you don't have a name?"

"If I did, then I have long since forgotten it."

"Oh, must be loanly"

He shrugged.

"It is what it is, I am content with what I have.....hmmm"

He turned towards the direction the other party members had gone.

"Your friends seem to be taking their time, am sure the lake wasn't that far away...Oh well, no matter, I am quite enjoying our little conversation."

They continued to talk about various other topics of no real import, he seemed interested to know more about how Annie came to be there, as well as what life was like for her back in her own world. Over an hour had passed before a disheveled and exhausted looking party came back, their clothing torn, Eric put his hand in front of him then 6 barrels full to the brim with fresh water appeared in front of him.

"Ok, here's your water, ready to trade?"