The sun fell behind the tree line, and the elves went about assembling a massive bonfire, moving large wooden tables. The steam from dozens of cauldrons wafted across the landscape, ovens baking special bread. They were preparing for a large feast.

The air in the Elven village buzzed with tension as Alynna, Lariel, Zyra, and I made our way toward the heart of the settlement. Tall trees loomed around us, their canopies casting dappled shadows over the path. And once again, we were the center of attention. I could feel their eyes on me—some curious, others skeptical. And they talked, oh, how they talked.

It was hard to tell what they truly thought of me, but I could sense their unease.

“There they are,” Alynna said, leaning into my ear.

“I still don’t understand half of what’s going on,” I said. “So, Zyra is not in command. Is she just their military commander? Who’s in charge?”

“It’s not like our human kingdoms, and clans they have a bureaucracy of sorts. I don’t get how it works, but it works for them.”

She was talking as if our political systems were the same.

I shrugged. “Well, I know bureaucracy. It’s a pain in the ass, but could be worse.”

“Anyway,” Alynna said. “You see that old elf?”

He looked about forty by human standards. He had brown hair to his shoulders, wide golden pauldrons and a white cape.

“He’s the Council Head. He's not really in charge, or they say that he isn’t. He just moderates. And that one, the one coming from the other side, is the Father.”

“Father? Like Mother?” I spoke out a little bit too loud.

“Be more respectful!” Zyra hissed severely.

“Sorry,” I hissed. “And, is Mother coming? Is she not gonna come?”

“Silence!” Zyra hissed.

Alynna and I pressed our lips together.

“THey feel like it’s beneath her,” Lariel leaned in, whispering in my ear. Damn, she smelled so good. It was kind of flowery. “She belongs in her temple, and her word is not to be questioned. After all, she’s the gate to the goddess of this world.”

The priest, or Father, stood tall and imposing, dressed in deep green robes embroidered with gold. His face was lined with age, and his eyes carried the weight of centuries of knowledge. But his face looked no older than fifty. How old was he? Did elves really live tens of thousands of years?

“How long do elves live?” I asked Lariel.

She giggled.

“On average, a thousand. But we can’t breed anymore, sadly.”

One doesn’t ask a lady her age.

“I’m only a hundred, by the way,” she said. “I’m in my prime, as they say. I could try to have kids.”

I… didn’t know what to say to that.

“How is it among you?’ she asked. “Were you married in your other world.”

“I was once.”

Zyra faced us with venom in our eyes.

“Seriously, if you three don’t shut up I’m gonna behead you and serve you for dessert.”

That was enough to keep us quiet. I suppressed another question, but I noticed dozens of eyes, especially from the elven delegates, fixed on me as if I were some sort of circus freaks.

The council of other elven leaders sat in a semicircle, their faces grave. Each of them, adorned in the traditional robes of their station, represented the different clans and aspects of elven society. It was clear from their expressions that this was no ordinary meeting.

And it was all about me.

Holy shit, what had I gotten myself into?

Arthanium, that word was repeated over and over, especially by the Father.

I looked at Lariel, and she placed her hand over mine.

She ogled Zyra quickly, before rubbing my hand. I couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy the attention, but it felt strange to receive it so quickly.

“It’s gonna be alright.”

Was I so easy to read?

Zyra signaled for us to walk and sit at the table. The rest of the elven leaders did the same.

“Well,” the Council head started. “It seems like it did happen. The goddess has chosen a tactician.”

Every eye swung toward me.

Did they expect me to leap over the table and do a jig?

This was the weirdest dream I’d ever had. I still couldn’t believe any of it. Aside from the fact that every sensation was as real as anything I’d experienced.

And then, the Father was the one to speak to me.

“Arthamium, is it you?”

“Yes,” I replied, blinking in shock at my own response. I leaned back, feeling my own skin go pale. “I mean, it’s not me. It was my past life. My name is Connor McKinney.”

The councilman continued. “This human is from… where, again?”

“America,” I said. “I’m from another dimension. Or the world, I guess. I was doing my thing, sliding down a mountain, when a purple gate opened up and I was transported into your forest.”

“So,” the council head went on. “You were chosen by the goddess. Is this verifiable that it was correct?”

The Father stared at the other man with contempt, he almost smashed the sides of his wooden armrest. “Are you suggesting that Mother can err? Half of the settlement saw the aura coming from Mother’s home. Aria has communicated with him.”

“I’m just asking a question,” the council head said with a shrug. “You know what our people are going through. And this Arthamium. Is he trustable? Is he as committed as it has been suggested? I have never heard of such a man, even in our histories. Are humans going to accept him as their general?”

The Father cleared his throat, slid a hand into his robe and extracted a scroll, unfurling it for all to see. The letters seemed to have been painted in gold, and the rest of the parchment had been dyed the color of jade.

“Arthamium was one of Aria’s most trusted servants in the Eternal War. He succeeded in defeating the twisted, burned down their cities, burned their books.”

Wait, what? Burned their books? Burned down their cities? And who were the Twisted?

And the name itself felt like poison in my mind.

“He destroyed their works of darkness from the earth. Before Hath Aman took them over again and studied their methods. Some human kingdoms have record of him, but he’s in their more remote legends, sometimes, with other names that even they forgot.”

“They may know,” the council head said. “But they don’t care. Humans don’t care about us? Why would we entrust our future, and our most powerful warriors, into the hands of a human?”

So this was what it was about.

“He’s not a human from here…” said another. “Maybe this type of human is better.”

“It doesn’t matter, listen,” the council head replied. “I’ve dealt with humans for years. They’re all the same. All they care is what’s on the table tonight. Or their bed, for that matter. Tomorrow, perhaps, that’s as far as their horizon goes. They can’t see past their bellies. I can already see what King Elrion’s court might say. They’re gonna laugh at us and ask if we can finally let them get timber from our woods. That’s all they want.”

I couldn’t deny humans could get a bit greedy.

“All the while,” the council head continued. “He starts trading with Hath Aman’s proxies.”

“Didn’t you say there were allies among that human court? Havaldir, you gave us hope.” Father questioned him.

The council head, Havaldir, shrugged.

“The second prince and his daughters. But the emperor is an absolute fool, a pushover who does everything his uncles inject into his mind. I’ve told you many times. And most of his courtiers are dogs of the worst kind. The only way to approach this problem, human way, by the way, is to get rid of them. Poison their wine.”

Another, older elven gentleman with platinum hair, but the looks and the fluidity of movement of a younger man, stabbed the ground with his cane.

“You’ve spent so much time with humans that you sound like them.”

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Father slammed the table with the sides of his palm.

“This is idiot talk! There’s one thing to worry about now, and one thing only. Are you accepting him as the goddess’ tactician?”

A few raised hesitant hands, but Havaldir remained on his seat, shaking his head.

“Well, she must have a good reason,” Havaldir said. “But it doesn’t mean it’ll amount to much, I’d say. This is far from the only thing to worry. I want things to happen, I want my people to protect the world. But, and that’s a big but, I think it’s all useless. The enemy is winning again, and there’s no way to go out.”

“But there’s a way!” Father raised his hand. “Mother has declared it. Mother has spoken.”

He pointed at me.

“Arthamium will do it.”

I didn’t even know how to answer.

Father raised to his feet. “He will bind human and elf, he will lead us on a last stand against the Destroyer, and Aria will clean the world from his evil.”

***

Dinner was bland, but I was hungry as hell. I was supposed to be following a ketogenic diet. Yeah, cheese was allowed. It consisted of copious amounts of elven bread, fresh and tender but a bit too dense and filling, some kind of alien dips like hummus. Not that bad, but there was no salt and just a bit of olive oil. Luckily, they had cheese, and a little bit of meat. It tasted like chicken.

The desserts were local fruit, which were enjoyable. Lariel was eating pomegranates delicately, while Alynna ordered slab after slab of cheese and gulped it down with a glass of milk.

As for alcohol, they had a very acidic white wine that did go well with the cheese.

I leaned back on my elven quarters. Basically, a glorified treehouse. I had given a change of clothes, in this case, comfortable silk pajamas that happened to fit me well. There was no actual bed, just a semi hard one inch thick…. mattress? Was it supposed to be a blanket?

Suddenly, I heard a knock. I lifted my head, looking through the shadows. To my surprise, a figure calmly slid in through my window.

“Hey!” Liriel whispered, leaning her pretty face in.

I couldn’t complain of the pleasant surprise of a hot elf just slipping into my room. I could imagine things, but… What did she actually want?

“We finally get some time to talk,” she said, her bare feet prancing around the wooden floor, sitting cross legged right in front of me. “I’m sorry for acting so strange. But, it’s been a while. A few thousand years, hasn’t it?”

She giggled. “Anyway, glad to see you again.”

“Glad to see you too, thank you for earlier. It’s been a tough day.”

Lariel gave me a small, knowing smile. Her eyes glimmered in the soft moonlight seeping through the house’s entrance, casting a faint glow on her soft features. It was strange seeing her like this, relaxed and casual, like she had known me for an eternity.

And damn, she was hot.

She stretched her arms and leaned back, making herself comfortable on the wooden floor. “I’m glad you went to visit Mother. I was waiting for this. For you. Have. No. Idea. How. Long.”

I blinked in surprise. What was she talking about?

She looked like she expected something.

I cocked my head.

Thoughts kept racing through my mind, but I dared not acknowledge them.

She cleared her throat. “You saw yourself in the past, didn’t you? Did you see me?”

“I…”

Had I seen her? I didn’t remember. I’d seen a brunette. A brunette, with long elven ears. Their eyes were similar. Their smiles, their expressions, were remarkably similar, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Could you please refresh my mind?”

Her smile faded abruptly.

“Oh, then… nevermind.”

“Hey,” I said, reaching for her, and placing a hand gently on her arm. “It’s alright. You’ve been great to me today. Stick around, if you want.”

“Well, of course! I actually would like to stay,” she said, her cheeks burning red. “It’s just that… This is kind of not going exactly how I envisioned it.”

“Wait one second, tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s awkward now,” she said, running a hand through her hair, her eyes looking down. “I… Well, we knew each other from before. Mother revealed that to me, we were… partners. You and I. In our previous lives.”

The words hung in the air like a spell, leaving me breathless for a moment. I blinked, trying to process what she had just said. Partners? It felt distant, surreal—like a dream that didn’t belong to me. But at the same time, something inside stirred, like a buried memory that hadn’t fully surfaced yet.

I looked into her eyes again.

“I know this might be uncomfortable to hear,” she continued, her voice gentle but firm. “I get it—being thrust back into this life and suddenly told you had some wild, passionate connection with someone who feels like a stranger now... it’s a lot. And, to be honest, I… I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long.” Lariel’s smile softened, but there was a nervous edge to it, like she was holding something back. “I don’t know why I… silly little me, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for a long time. I just thought you would know. No pretending. We’ve both been through so much, and things are different now. But I won’t lie—you're everything I expected..” She added the last part with a chuckle, her face glowing red in the moonlight.

I felt my heart skip a beat.

Now this came too quickly.

I shifted on the small mattress—blanket?—whatever it was, trying to figure out how I was supposed to respond. This was a beautiful woman, a dream, and I’d barely met her in the past couple of hours.

A bit of it smelled like trouble. She was an elf, a fantasy come true, in every book, but I’d been married, I’d slept around, done some things I regretted, and I didn’t want to hurt anyone else anymore. And very high energy girls who fall in love the first minute they see you, well, it usually doesn’t end well.

“I—uh—don’t really know what to say. I mean, that’s... a lot. I appreciate you telling me that.” I laughed awkwardly, feeling the tension between us thicken. “I won’t lie either. You’re stunning. But I think it’d be wise to take it slow.”

Lariel nodded. “I understand. We’ll figure it out as we go. No pressure.” She smiled again, this time more relaxed, the awkwardness fading just a little.

She sighed, her eyes drifting toward me.

“There’s so much I’d like to know about you. I don’t even know where to start. I wish we could spend every minute together.”

And talking about intense.

“My life is not that interesting,” I said. “But you, I’d love to know about you.”

“Not interesting?” she asked. “The human princess told me you literally ride a giant flying monster-machine.”

“I can show you,” I said. “In fact, I still think I still have a bit of battery left.”

I pulled out my cellphone.

“What is that?” she asked, eyes open wide.

“A cellphone, it’s a device for communicating. Look.”

She leaned her head back in fright as soon as the main screen came up, lightening the area around her.

She came around.

Cooper was my background picture. A black labrador I’d raised since it were a pup.

“Is that your dog? He’s so gorgeous!”

“Yup,” I said. “He’s the best. Name’s Cooper.”

“Such a cutie! I wish I had a dog.” She gasped. “Maybe we can get one!”

I smiled at the suggestion, but I sighed in my heart. How was Cooper holding up? My ex-wife was taking care of him, since I started working in Dubai and had to fly even more long distance.

“So,” she continued, leaning in and looking at every angle of my phone. “Interesting magic mirror. So… You were going to show me your monster-machine.”

“Right, my monster-machine.”

I scrolled through my phone, showing her a picture of me with the crew, next to a massive Boeing 787.

“Who are they,are they your wives?”

I giggled. “No, coworkers.”

“Did you have anything with them?”

“Not at all.” At least none of the ones in the picture. “We just work together. And this is the plane.”

I shifted to another picture, showing the hangar from a wider angle, the sunset in the distance.

“These are our machines.”

“This giant thing?” she said, leaning in to see better. She huddled on my shoulder, pushing me back into my pillow. She smelled amazing. My monster-machine started to bulge in my pants.

“I can’t imagine it,” she went on, her head fully resting on my chest. “It’s like… A bird. A horrible iron bird. A monstrosity. It’s really amazing. How does it work, with magic?”

“If you can call it that.”

“Huh? This can’t be anything but magic.”

“We also have smaller ones that can be used for war. They're incredibly fast.”

She sighed. Her mood shifting immediately. “I don’t like war.”

“That's very relatable.”

She turned, looking at me with those glorious eyes.

“You’re even more incredible than I expected. Show me more.”

I looked through my phone, looking for more pictures from Kansas City, Missouri, but the battery ran out.

“Oh,” I said, stowing it back. I supposed I wouldn’t be able to call and report sick for the flight anymore.

I looked at her. Those eyes were fascinated with me. I could assume that mine were too. She was a dream, curly blonde hair. I loved blondes! Those long ears straight out of a teenage fantasy, and the body of a fantasy painting by Frank Frazetta. My fantasies coming to life in 3D.

Had we really loved each other unconditionally before? Like an instinct coming through, our hands met, fingers interlocked, eyes fixed on each other’s. Warmth grew in my heart.

The words came out of my mouth.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

I was shocked to even say them. She leaned forward, as if overpowered by the same spell, bliss in her eyes as her eyes reached for me.

“Don’t leave me ever again.”

And then, our lips met, softly at first, my eyes found her hips, my fingers glided across her cheeks, pulling back her hair, revealing her long ears, as our lips grew more intense.

It felt more than natural, part of me yearned for it more. Our bodies pressed together, our tongues meeting, intensity rising. She writhed, her long tanned legs on display. My hands reached for them, caressing them, while she lowered one sleeve of her dress. I reached back with one finger, unclasping the single button that held her dress together. Her sleeve fell forward, her cleavage becoming larger, falling and revealing two ample, abundant breasts. I leaned in, my mouth watering.

***

Sensations drifted as we laid back, our hands still together.

This felt weird. Not wrong, but…. It felt simultaneously like a crazy one night stand and a passionate sex with someone that I had loved all my life. Someone I loved with all my heart.

But, this was the tricky part. In my conscience, after all I’d been through in my life, I couldn’t say that I did love her.

I looked over toward her. I was worn out. And I was sure that a few elves had been woken up by her screams. It didn’t help that the house creaked every time we moved.

Her expression was serene, dreamy, almost blissful, her hair a beautiful mess.

“This was really worth waiting for,” she said with a grin, pulling me closer.

She turned around and pressed herself against me.

“Ah,” she said, turning her face toward me. “But we should actually sleep. Zyra has plans.”

“Right,” I said. “What’s going on tomorrow, exactly?”

“We’re going out towards Alabenia. Remember? We’ll be officially sent as ambassadors to tell them to stop accepting Hath-Aman’s offers.”

Hath Aman. The name made me clench my teeth in rage.

“What’s the deal? Are the Alabenians at war with him?”

“We elves have been relegated to mere advisors. There are, you know, lots of religions now in their towns and they don’t believe in Aria. And… well, since Hath Aman has gained control of the trade routes, they are really interested in letting them through.”

“But they’re psychopaths! I mean, I’ve seen horrible things.”

“That’s the worst part. They know what Hath Aman’s goal is. He wants to rule the entire world and literally eat babies. It’s even worse. We’re right in between them. Most people respect us, humans I guess. But… things are changing, and there are some very outspoken elf-haters out there.”

“It’s more complicated than I thought,” I said. “More… real.”

As usual, war and politics weren’t just a black and white good vs evil, corruption vs. order. There were tons of different interests in between, and one big important factor was the common people and food on their tables.

“It’s real,” she said. “And it’s happening. There’s an underlying fear… that something horrible will happen to us. That we may be sent somewhere else. We’re of no use, no one believes us.”

“But don’t they see? It’s an evil wizard who sacrifices people that we’re talking about?”

“I think what’s most important to them now is what’s better for their economy.”

“Yeah, I thought of that.”

“So... we’re supposed to convince the city to just reject them?” I asked, skeptical.

“Something like that,” she said, her fingers tracing a pattern on my naked chest. “It won’t be easy. The Alabenians been on edge, and Hath Aman has powerful backers. But Zyra thinks there’s still a chance to sway them, with truth.”

“I wish it were that easy. So, no pressure there either, huh?” I muttered sarcastically, rubbing my temples. “We’ll just... walk into the forest, march up to the city, and tell them to stand up to a political powerhouse?”

“Pretty much.” Lariel’s grin seemed resigned. “The forest itself is dangerous enough. We’ll have to be careful. Zyra wants you to… well, test yourself.”

I exhaled slowly. This day was turning into something I hadn’t anticipated at all—old flames, political intrigue, and a forest filled with gods-knows-what.

“Thank you for tonight,” she said. “Tomorrow will be… eventful.”

She leaned in, placing a finger over my mouth before I could respond, and kissing me.

Lariel nodded and got up gracefully, heading towards the window she had slipped through. She paused, turning back for a moment. “And hey... whatever happens, just remember, you’re not alone in this. We’ve done this before—well, in a way.”

And with that, she slipped out into the night as quietly as she had come.