"Fuck... I... Really... Hate this place..." These words weakly left my mouth before my vision faded to black.

Occasionally I woke up only to pass out shortly after. I was able to make out what sounded like talking during those short few moments.

"U Pupz'f wzai ftqdq iqdq yadq pqyaze xaaeq uz ftue mdqm." I heard one of them say.

"..." I guess that bear hit me harder than I thought. This process went on for what felt like hours, when I finally came to, It was almost night and I was surrounded by those people.

They didn't notice I was awake at first, and most of them were turned away from me, talking amongst themselves. Using this time I looked around, trying to see if I was nearby anything that looked familiar.

But I wasn't in the open forest anymore, it looked like I was in some sort of village. There were bridges spanning from the tops of the trees, linking together many buildings, all seemingly surrounding where I was.

I noticed a few dozen people, men, women, and children alike, staring at me from the aforementioned bridges. I tried to turn my body, but that's when I realized I was stuck in place.

My arms and feet had been tied around a pole behind me. Although it was only held in place by one or two knots, the rope holding me in place felt uncharacteristically sturdy. I also realized these people hadn't bothered to take out the arrow in my shoulder, which still ached.

Finally one of the people noticed I was conscious and pointed while saying something strange.

"Tqk, tq'e gb, xqf'e sa fmxw fa tuy."

I still couldn't understand what they were saying, It wasn't English, that much I could make out, but it also didn't sound at all familiar to any other languages I've heard before.

One of them got up right next to my face, and then I noticed something strange about him. His ears were slightly longer than normal, and had a pointed tip rather than a rounded end. They also looked pale, almost inhumanly so. They were also much shorter than me. The tallest one was still only at my shoulders. The women among the crowd were even shorter than that, I was probably over a foot taller than them.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I've intruded on where this is, I just got lost, and I need some help." I tried explaining my situation to them, excluding all of the unnecessary, and down right unbelievable details.

The man in front of me drew a confused expression before regaining his composure and yelling something at me.

"Pqyaz! Itmf iqdq kag pauzs xaaeq? Itqdq ue kagd Nxaap Rxai Uztunufad?!" Still, I couldn't understand what they were saying in the slightest. Frustrated, I spoke my mind.

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING YOU A-" My words were cut short by a swift punch to my head. I couldn't even make out the fist flying towards me before I was already taking the brunt of it. But surprisingly, It didn't hurt as much as one would expect from a speedy punch like that.

The man in front of me turned back to his companions surrounding him, and asked one of them something. I was still shocked from the punch so I didn't bother listening.

A few seconds later however, two more men walked over to my sides, just outside of my view. I then felt a few hands grab my jaw and force it open. Despite my struggles their grip held firm. I could only watch as the original man asking me questions grabbed a knife from his side and... prick his own finger with it?

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My confusion only grew when instead of a dark red droplet forming from the cut, it was instead replaced by a cool blue liquid. He then lifted his finger above my mouth and flicked a few drops onto my tongue.

Any emotions I had before were quickly replaced by panic, as my mouth began to burn incessantly. It felt as if he had dropped liquid fire into my mouth.

My reaction must've been unexpected as the strange people took a few steps back in shock. They then began to hurriedly tone talk with each other. But something was different this time.

"Itmf pup kag pa fa tuy, itk ue tq- suddenly convulsing like that?!" said one of them.

"I just did what we normally do with demons, I placed a few blood drops into his mouth so he could understand us!"

At the same time I was able to understand them, the pain died down. They must've noticed this because he tried talking to me again.

"Demon! What were you doing loose? Where is your Blood Flow Inhibitor?!" He screamed at me.

"Listen man, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just lost, I need to get back home." I explained my situation in very brief terms so they'd understand. But it didn't seem to work.

"Is he not one of ours?" The man said to someone that was standing beside me.

"Could I at least get your name so we can talk like civilized people?" I asked, trying to keep them in a good mood. But apparently this was the wrong thing to say.

The group of them looked like I had just shot their dog.

"Silence demon! Why would we give our name to a beast like you!?" One of the women in the group yelled out.

"I get we're from different places, but don't you think 'demon' and 'beast' are a little harsh?" I kept my composure in this stressful situation.

"Why you-!" The lady was beginning a retort before she cut herself off and everyone around me dropped to their knees.

The reason was seemingly due to the appearance of three men. Two were dressed in thin plate armor, the color of which matched the green of the leaves in the towering trees around us.

The man in the center of them however, was dressed much differently, he was adorned with leaf shaped fabrics and more jewels and gemstones than I've ever seen. even in the growing darkness, his accessories seemed to shine brightly. His face was wrinkled and his hair was a fiery orange with streaks of grey running through it. If I had to guess, he looked to be in his fifties.

"Avert your gaze demon!" The man beside me said.

"Now now, be lenient with him, he doesn't know the correct customs for situations like these." The fancy gentleman said.

"Of course, Elder." said the man beside me.

"Oh my, you haven't even properly dressed his wounds, remove that arrow at once." The Elder said this while motioning towards the arrow, still sticking out of my shoulder.

When one of the plate armor wearing men yanked out the arrow, they all stopped.

I couldn't see the man's eyes but based on everyone else's faces, he was probably looking at the arrowhead, or more specifically, my blood on the arrowhead.

He threw the arrow to the ground and backed away from me, back to the elders side, all while putting his hand on the hilt of a sword at his side. I couldn't understand the reason for their behavior, and when tensions seemingly reached a zenith, the Elder spoke up.

"Now... give him something to wear, and bring him to the others." He cleared his throat after saying this, almost to keep his composure.

"Others?" I asked.

"Yes, the other slaves." He said, matter-of-factly.

My heart dropped for a moment when he said that. They cut the ropes tying me to the pole and walked me to a fenced off area. The Elder and his guards had left after they saw me being transported and returned to where ever they came from.

The sturdy fences were holding a roof about 10 feet up. It looked like a back-alley slum inside, doors that barely fit in the frames sectioned off separate rooms and I could barely make out faces hiding behind shuttered windows.

The people with me then pushed me to the ground, and I felt something sharp being cut into my neck, when they stopped, I quickly rose up and backed away from them, but they were already outside the fence with the gate securely locked.

"Damn they move fast..." I said under my breath, I reached up to touch where they had cut my neck, but there was no blood, and I couldn't feel a scab or scar. I then put on the raggedy shirt they provided me, It seemed to be made out of a normal cotton, but for some reason, It sort of hurt when I put it on.

I looked around and began to walk inside of the area I was in, It was surprisingly large, and whenever I turned a corner, there were more rooms sectioned off. It was like a secondary village. The main difference however was the quality, Everything here looked slung together and half baked.

I continued to walk around searching for anything that looked like a way out. That was when I heard a voice behind me.