The Alfheim Archives

A Late Night Scuffle...

I didn't know what time it was when I was awakened by the sound of a close arrival. I remember thinking to myself that whatever it was, it was very quiet. Whether it was friend or foe, I wasn't sure. I heard a rustle in a bush to my left. I listened to my surroundings and could barely make out as the approacher stalked to the right of me in a swift, silent movement. I decided it was best to see if the pursuer came into the clearing with me or if it stalked off. That was when I noticed that it had gotten eerily quiet. There was no more shuffling, the grasshoppers had stopped chirping and the frogs in the nearby creek had gone silent. As I was trying to figure out what had happened, a figure flashed across the clearing and put out my fire so fast that I couldn't see them, and just like that, I had been plunged into pitch-black darkness. I slipped out of my sleeping bag so that I could work some of my battle magic. I started preparing some spells when I heard my attacker attempting to creep up behind me. I turned just in time to deflect a blow to the back of my head. I threw a punch and felt physical contact with my opponent. I then used a spell to create a ball of flame to hover above the clearing and turned to my attacker. To my astonishment, I caught a glimpse of my foe and realized that it wasn't a male but a female! To top that, she was a white elf, although she kept the majority of her body covered in black clothes and bandages. What truly caught my attention was that she couldn't have been older than me. She stood in a guarded pose nursing her arm where I had punched her only moments before. I opened my mouth to speak but closed it again because I wasn't exactly sure what was safe to say. She spoke quietly to me but I couldn't hear her. I opened my mouth to speak again but she cut me off, speaking louder this time. " You have excellent skills. Just who are you?" As this question registered I became aware that she was trying to get a profile on me. So I responded with a quick muttering of my alias. "Nicholas Rune, that is who I am." Her eyes widened as realization crept upon her face. "You're the kid who slaughtered those Dark Elves in the house. The one in that village nearby?!" I was shocked when she mentioned my village. Had my name spread that quickly? It had only been a few hours. And how was she so caught up with what went on? "Adasqueil? Might that be the village?" I questioned her, keen to see her reaction. "Yeah, that's it. That is you, isn't it?" Should I agree or not? Who is she? Why did she attack me? Question after question raced through my head, all about this mysterious character in front of me. It would be better to evade the question, I decided. "I could be. So what if I am?" Perfect. I did that just right. She mumbled something so low so I couldn't make it out. So I asked what she had said. She threw a disgusted look in my direction and spoke up. "I would either back off or fight you. It depends on where this discussion ends. Although I would enjoy the fight more." This surprising response threw me off. I hadn't been expecting that. Would she really back off or was she trying to trick me by saying that? It would be best to keep an open mind, I concluded after pondering it for a few moments. "What is it that drove you to attack me in the middle of the night while I was sleeping. Just what did I do to deserve that?" Her face became tightened and I saw an immediate defense being put up in her eyes. Her eyes clouded and she responded with a harsh tone. "I could sense a dangerous aura around you. My instinct was to take you down in case you were a Dark Elf." A Dark Elf? A dangerous Aura? What was she talking about? Whatever it was, it was not normal. "Well, I am not a Dark as you can tell so you can back off. I won't hurt you either as long as you don't make a move for my throat." Her eyes brightened as she looked at me. I could see a smirk creep onto her face from behind her mask. "Hurt me? You think you can hurt me? Hah, that is the funniest thing I have heard since I found out about the one Dark elf who got caught at the border." She was obviously very confident about her skills and knew about the events in the military. Coincidence? I think not. An alarm went off in my head warning me to watch where I tread. She had studied me with a suspecting eye, looking me up and down, like a doctor over a new experiment's results, until I was sure she had seen every cut on my bare skin. I took a step back to show her I was telling the truth about not attacking her. She stared me down as I backed away, watching my every move. After I had stepped back a couple of feet, she then began cautiously retreating as well, eyes never leaving me. Once we had put about a yard between us we began to speak in a civil conversation. "Since we have an equal understanding, I guess I will tell you the truth. I am the seventeen-year-old who took out the dark elves in Adasquiel. I am also the elf who goes by the name Nicholas Rune. I was merely taking out the enemy who killed my innocent mother in front of me and took my dad prisoner. They did not deserve to have their lives ruined so. They were wonderful people. So, I took the lives of the ones who did the same to my mother and father." I could see her eyes soften, then turn hard as a stone. So she did have some sympathy along with the wits. She had a good head on her shoulders at the least..... and perhaps good looks too. In a violent, deadly sort of away. But that was not important.