It had been a day since Barry and the crew had helped the tamafrogs and trolls find their friends from Ms.Epple’s domain. Barry would sleep on one of the cushy seats in Abe’s carriage but found it more difficult compared to sleeping on his favorite couch that was currently occupied by the unconscious elf woman that he had saved.

  He spent the rest of his time training in his dreamworld with Thalia and Claude while the rest of his group were still awake. Ron was with Abe giving directions as he continued to read the Magic Mike books, his interest in them growing with each volume. Anna and Luna were taking care of the elf woman at the time, during the same time Kat and Puck were training in.

  And as the sisters took care of her, Luna was the first to see the elf’s hand twitch. “Anna! Her hand moved! Look.” She pointed out, the two watched as the elf continued to show more signs of activity.

  Her low breathing picked up a bit, and eventually her eyes opened up slowly. She glanced around the room with a bit of light headedness, this being her first time of awakening in a long time. She spoke in a quiet tone, her words being intelligible to Anna and Luna. They could only assume that it was some sort of elf language. “Hey there.” Luna greeted with a smile. “You’re finally awake-”

  The elf noticed Luna’s greeting, glanced at the sisters for a moment, and suddenly got spooked as she tried fleeing away from them off the couch only to stumble off the couch. “Woah, wait! Calm down.” Anna said with concern as came over to check on her. “Are you okay-”

  Again, the elf did her best to get as far away from the two with a fearful look on her face. “D-Don’t touch me! W-Where d-did you take me!? W-Where’s the evil hag!?”

  “Take it easy, we’re not going to harm you. We killed the hag, you’re safe now. We’ve been looking after you since then.” Anna reassured, though she could clearly still see how nervous the elf was. “You must be traumatized after going through so much torture. I can only imagine what it was like…”

  There was silence in that moment, the elf stood far behind a chair as her only protection against the two sisters and one sleeping guy who was unfazed by all the ruckus going on. Anna turned to Luna, who also looked back, they weren’t sure what to do in order to convince her that they were friendly. But one thing that was bothering Anna, was how Barry was still sleeping through all this. ‘My god, you just have to be sleeping at the worst time. You sleeping through all this is just plain awkward and stupid…’ Anna thought, she wondered if throwing something at Barry would wake him up.

  No one moved from their spot, the three simply remained in place, the atmosphere was still and tense. This lasted for a couple of minutes until all eyes darted towards the door leading to Abe’s biome room. Kat and Puck walked out, feeling exhausted from their training. “You’re doing great Puck, I’m sure Barry-” Kat was speaking with Puck but stopped when she realized the awkward situation that was happening. The two looked at the frightened elf who was now awake before looking back at Anna and Luna, both at opposite ends of the room. “Um…w-what did we walk into?”

  All of them then heard the elf speak in her own language, her frightful expression and the way she was looking at Kat and Puck must have meant she was saying something about them. “She’s scared of us and we don’t know why. We’ve tried getting her to relax but nothing's working.” Luna explained to them.

  “Oh! Maybe Barry can get her to calm down.” Puck suggested, everyone then watched as the little Kobold scurried over to Barry. His team quickly started warning him, thinking that might not be the best thing to do since the elf was already frightened.

  And before Puck could make his attempt to wake up Barry, what the elf said next made Puck stop. “N-No! Don’t wake up the male human! I-I’ll cooperate as long as you don’t wake him! I won’t otherwise.”

  Everyone was confused why the elf would say such a thing. “But…Barry saved you from evil old lady? Barry won’t hurt you.” Puck replied, tilting his head.

  The elf thought about what Puck said, she remembered what her clan told her plenty of times in the past and provided her reason why. “...humans…I’m scared of humans…that’s why I don’t trust all of you…” She was still unsure of the Kobold, but was mainly wary of the humans in the room.

  With a reason being provided now, the others were able to understand a bit better about what the situation was looking like from the elf’s point of view. Kat joined the others and figured that if the woman wasn’t comfortable talking to them, then there might be one other person that could talk to her. “We should stop travelling for now and have Ron talk to her.” Kat proposed.

  Everyone agreed to her idea and Luna was sent out to let Ron and Abe know to pull over. The elf became more timid upon seeing them discuss something, while seeing Luna stick her head out the carriage door to let their drivers know what was going on.

  Abe pulled the carriage over and the guys came inside. The woman was stunned from two things: the first being that she couldn’t believe to see a spectre ranger walking inside nonchalantly, and the second being Ron who was another elf. “Ah, she’s like a stray cat trapped in a corner. So scared.” Abe joked, yet received a slight nudge from Anna’s elbow. “I kid, I kid.”

  The elf had her eyes locked on to Ron’s as she tried speaking to him in elvish language, her tone a mix of both confusion and anxiousness. Ron rubbed the back of his neck, trying to construct the right words to respond back to her. Although they were both elves, the woman’s dialect and use of words were still a bit different from what Ron was used to knowing. Regardless, Ron was able to understand and get his thoughts across to her.

  Overtime, the group began to see the woman ease up and let her guard down. Ron then had gotten her to take a seat on one of the chairs, successfully getting her to relax for now. “Everyone, she’s willing to tell us her story. So let’s hear her…” Ron’s voice died down as he noticed that Barry was still sleeping. A face of disbelief formed. “How is he not awake!? Someone wake him up.”

  Puck went ahead and shook Barry. Within a couple of seconds, Barry was brought back to the time of living with a stiff neck from the chair he wasn’t used to. “Are we under attack? Are we close to our arrival? What is it-” Barry was trying to process the situation currently after waking up. “She’s conscious. Alright.” He said, referring to the elf woman.

  “Enjoy your nap, fool?” Anna mocked. “The world could be ending and you’d still be asleep without knowing. Seriously, how could you not hear everything going on.”

  Barry was in the middle of learning something useful under Thalia and Claude’s tutelage in his dreams. He chose not to explain and just accepted Anna’s criticism. “I’m just that heavy of a sleeper, okay. Now is she going to tell us something or what?”

  Everyone got seated and awaited for the elf woman to begin explaining how she was kidnapped by the hag. “F-First of all, y-you all can call me Fae. My clan isn’t open to giving out their true names to non-elves, so Fae is my nickname.”

  Barry wondered if Ron, Sherry, and Oswald had decided to drop their true name after leaving their clan and adopt what they called themselves as their official names. ‘It would explain why their names sound normal and not overly complex like Thordaxicon…so exaggerated.’

  Fae resumed speaking. “I was trapped in the hag’s cells for possibly months, I’m not sure. But how I ended up there to begin with was when I was out exploring with…” She looked around, her eyes shifting from Luna all the way to Barry. “Humans. I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to be rude with how wary I am of you all…”

  “It’s okay. We don’t have any underlying motives here.” Kat comforted. “Clearly the humans you encountered before must have been bad people. B-But I assure you, all we want is to bring you back home. I guarantee you that. Right guys?”

  The team agreed that was what they wanted, even Barry, although he was mainly hoping that talking to Fae’s clan would give him insight as to whether they knew about the shit show they were all in.

  Doubt was still in Fae’s mind even after talking things over with Ron. Though they seemed like good hearted humans, albeit Barry looking more intimidating compared to the rest, she continued to share what happened. “I left my clan for a few days because I wanted to watch and observe human life since my people would always warn how dangerous and primitive they were. Especially the males, how they tend to think that everything and all of creation is theirs to take…”

  All eyes fell on Barry, who quickly noticed this and made an irritable look like he had done something that wasn’t his fault. “Oh, haha, very funny guys. But isn’t that just anyone who is an arrogant asshole that thinks the world revolves around them? That’s just being a total airhead with a snobby attitude. I’m pretty sure humans aren’t the only ones with that mind set.”

  His team only found it funny and not true at all, they didn’t mean it but thought the way Fae described humans must have been due to some hardships in terms of relations from the past. “Anyways…” Fae spoke once again. “I was caught spying on some humans in the forest but became unconscious due to one of the hag’s spells. What happened to them after, I’m not sure.”

  Silence filled the air for a couple of seconds as Barry sifted through his memories of freeing the tamafrogs, trolls, and wild animals. He then recalled seeing a few dead human corpses that must have not survived Ms.Epple’s blood farming method. “There were a few human bodies that I found in that place of horror. Maybe they were the ones that must have caught you spying. Their deaths might have been recent, maybe a few days ago. We can guess they gave up enduring the hag’s torture, those leeches must have sucked them dry.”

  Thoughts of suffering and torment filled Fae’s mind, she brought her hands to her head like she was trying to drown out the sounds of pain and agony from her time as a victim. Barry realized it was probably his fault for saying all that. ‘Should not have said all that to her…’

  Anna did her best to soothe her by placing a hand on her shoulder and speaking in an easy tone. “That hag is dead. You’re safe now. You want to go home right? We can take you there right now, that is if you can remember the way back.”

  Fae gave herself a moment to regain her composure and when she calmed down, she nodded to Anna. “Yes, I would very much like to go back home soon. I’d greatly appreciate it if you could do that for me. I would just need to step outside to get a feel of where home is located.”

  Upon receiving her request, they all stepped outside of the carriage and allowed her time alone to figure out where she was. As soon as Fae stepped outside, she couldn’t believe that she was outside in what seemed like an eternity. It was still daylight outside, with the warm rays of sunshine beaming down on her in a less-humid environment unlike the swamp biome they were deep into. The way the wind brushed and gave light kisses on her arms, how she could hear birds chirping from amongst the vibrant environment of flora of trees and flowers.

  It was all so stimulating to her that she suddenly dropped down to her knees and began to weep out her tears of sorrow after having to endure the trauma and torture under Ms.Epple’s rule. Everyone but Ron and Barry made haste to comfort Fae, letting all her emotions out, as the realization of being free flowed through her.

  A look of concern drew on Ron’s face, he thought back on what he was avoiding telling Barry and the others about how Fae’s clan would react to her scarred appearance. Ron looked to Barry, who seemed to be thinking about something as well. “Barry…I have something to tell you that I’m hoping might not be true…Fae-”

  “Fae’s clan isn’t going to be happy seeing her return looking as she is.” Barry cut off, his face being pensive. “That’s what you didn’t want to tell everyone. Am I right?”

  “Uh…yeah. There’s a chance they might not accept Fae back…and I’m hoping I’m wrong.” Ron was crossing his fingers he was. “From what I’ve read, depending on the circumstances and why an elf would leave their clan, they can either accept or deny an elf trying to integrate back in.”

  Barry wondered how everything would play out once they returned her back home, his first guess was that Fae’s clan would most certainly despise people like him given how Fae was fed stories of how humans were to be avoided at all cost. “Let’s just hope they’re willing to hear us out rather than starting trouble at first glance. Sounds like the other elves around this world aren’t particularly friendly to humans like you and Sherry.”

  Suddenly, Ron had a light bulb appear in his head. “You know what, I just thought of something that might help smooth our encounter with Fae’s clan.” Barry was intrigued by what Ron was thinking. “But it could also be risky…”

  “If you think it would help, tell me anyway.” Barry encouraged. Ron then figured it wouldn’t hurt to tell since Barry and the group could decide for themselves about it. When the idea was brought to Barry, he also thought it’d be a good plan.

  After giving Fae some time to herself from crying her heart out, she was later able to orientate and tell where her home was. Fae’s mana flow wasn’t like it once was, but she was able to channel enough to act like a compass in order to give herself a hint of where to go. She knew her clan had an object that acted as a marker to pin-point in the event anyone got lost.

  Everyone then set out to bring Fae back to her clan, which happened to be in the vicinity of where the 4th prism was located. Fae sat in the coach box with Abe to give directions while everyone else stayed inside the carriage till they arrived.

  It would take them about an hour and a half of travel till Fae announced that they were close by. The path they had taken caused them to enter a more vegetative scenery with trees reaching about a 100 ft tall that let small gaps of light peer through to give a mystic feel all around, along these trees were vibrant colored bushes of flowers and schools of glowing bugs of light dancing around.

  Abe had sent some of his animal pals out for recon both behind and up head, since he knew that elves were very territorial of their land and wanted to be aware of their presence. And because of this action, Abe was relayed information back to him from his animals about some stalkers eyeing them. “My little buddies are telling me we have some folks tailing us. Could be yours.” Abe told Fae.

  “Possibly…” Fae began getting nervous once Abe mentioned her people observing them from a certain distance. “Though, I will say that your phantasmal appearance and this spectral carriage must be what they are most curious about. It’s not everyday you see a ghost wandering in daylight.”

  “Haha, you’re not wrong.” Abe wondered what everyone’s first impression of his appearance was like. “You can say that most spirits tend to show up at night but I’m not ‘most’ spirits. I’m The Great Abe.” Fae made a faint smile in response to his self praise.

  After about 10 minutes of continued travel through the mesmerizing forest, Abe and Fae would make their first encounter with the locals of the land. Abe halted his carriage after receiving word from his animals about an ambush that was being set up just a minute ahead from their path. He figured that he might as well discuss things now instead of getting into unnecessary conflict. “Your folks were just laying out a welcome mat for us, I think this is where they decide to draw the line of entry. Stay calm Fae, I’ll talk to them first.”

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  Abe straightened his outfit out, making sure his good looks were as charming as ever before stepping down from his carriage in a cool manner. He tapped his ghostly chest to clear his non-existent throat before calling out to the hidden elves. “Why hello there folks! I don’t mean to trespass on your beautiful land and I apologize, but I couldn’t refuse a request from one of your lost residents sitting on my carriage. Wave hi, Fae.”

  Fae nervously waved a hand in the dead silent air. No elves appeared in response to neither Abe’s explanation or Fae’s show of gesture, Abe went on to further elaborate themselves. “I get it, I get it, you’re all obviously speculating why a spirit of all things is bringing back an individual from your clan. Strange I know, but I assure you that if I was a wicked being, I wouldn’t go so far as to put myself in potential danger for the sake of helping a kind hearted soul like Fae here. Which I’m sure you all have dealt with malicious spirits before.”

  Again, no one appeared to greet them or anything. Abe turned to look at Fae, shrugging his shoulders. “Your clan is either very scared of spirits, or very shy when talking to one. I’d like to think it’s the-”

  “Abe!” Fae shouted to quickly get his attention.

  Multiple arrows were fired around Abe’s feet that stuck in the ground, the back ends of them radiating pulses of white light. Abe did not freak out and remained still in place. “Woah, woah! I suppose this is a warning shot? Well that’s a start. I’m okay standing here if this how y’all would like to talk things-”

  Suddenly the glowing lights from the arrows manifested a binding restraint of lights around Abe’s ghostly figure. Still, he did not choose to struggle, keeping a calm mind despite how tense things were looking. Fae rose from her seat to try and help Abe but he quickly denied. “Hold it madam, don’t move. Although I’m being given a rude greeting, I’m The Great Abe. I’ll be fine.”

  Fae was hesitant to help now, but was given a firm nod by Abe which she reluctantly accepted and sat back down. Abe was about to move his fingers just enough to snap them lightly, signalling for one of his animals to let the others inside his carriage that something was going on.

  And from the corner of Abe’s eye, he spotted the appearance of a lone elf stepping out of the forest. They were outfitted in moss green leather armor with a hood and cloak, their face was hard to see from the shadow being casted by their hood but became clear to be a male elf. No weapons were drawn from this elf, although still armed, possibly because they were confident their friends would cover for them.

  “Quite the welcome you’re showing me.” Abe greeted in a kind tone, adding a smile and nod to his speech. “Binds are a bit too tight, but I can understand the need for caution. Better safe than sorry, you don’t see many spirits like me around-”

  “Quiet spirit.” The rogue elf commanded as he looked past Abe, trying to see if there was any one else hiding near the carriage before looking at Fae with curiosity. Abe kept his mouth shut as told, only speaking when spoken to now. Fae looked back, intimidated by him. “What are you spirit? A carriage driver still giving rides after death?”

  “Eeeh, you can say that. You can consider me a chauffeur as my part-time job. My primary job though is looking out for mother Gwendalia’s children, for that is my ranger code.” Abe replied back, sounding very proud of his job title.

  The elf looked back at Abe, took a quick look at his appearance and laughed a bit. “Ha, a follower of Gwendalia. Such dedication to maintain the balance of life that you are even able to persist after death itself. I respect your resolve.”

  “Thank you. Does that mean I get to be free from these bindings? My nose is getting kinda itchy.” Abe asked in a polite manner, but the rogue said nothing, ignoring his request. ‘I’ll take that as no…’

  Fae was then spoken to by the rogue in their language, she was startled at first yet replied back as calmly as she could. Abe couldn’t tell what they were saying but it seemed like their talk was going better than he thought. Eventually Fae was apparently told to come down and so she did, taking the rouge’s hand and stepping off the carriage.

  She was inspected by the rogue now that he was able to get a closer look, and he did so in a gentle and soft manner. Abe could tell that he was displeased with how she looked, it was mainly the scars from the leeches and the hag’s doing. Regardless, the rogue told her a few words which seemed to give her some solace.

  The rogue looked back at Abe and walked over to him. “Fae tells me your name is Abe. I thank you Abe, I don’t recall ever encountering a spirit as kind as you in my lifetime. And I think you should be generously rewarded for saving one of my own from a wretched hag. Don’t you think?”

  “Reward? I was simply doing the right thing as I was passing by. My assistance doesn’t just extend to the children of Gwendalia you know?” Abe told him as he flashed a charming grin at him.

  This made the rogue respond with a slight smile, he found Abe’s personality very amusing. “I see. Well then, how about we show you a bit of hospitality for making the long trip here. You may not require sustenance, but we’re able to conjure alcoholic beverages for spirits such as yourself to taste.”

  Upon hearing this, Abe’s eyes instantly lit up, his grin transforming into one of total excitement. “W-Wait, what!? Are you serious!? I’d love to taste some of that. And if it's coming from you guys, woooooweee, I’ll be tasting some mighty fine liquor indeed."

  Seeing Abe get all jittery made the rogue continue to grin, he then asked Abe one more thing. “Then Abe, I have one more question before we take you into our grand home.”

  Abe’s focus returned back to the rogue. “Huh? Yeah, yeah, what is it?”

  “I’d like to inspect your carriage if that’s alright with you.” Abe’s expression froze for a moment, processing what the rogue just said. “Although you seem like an easy-going individual with a kind…soul. There’s still a bit of doubt in my mind that you might be hiding something. Should I be concerned about anything in particular?”

  “Concerned? Pfff, nah, not at all. But I do have a couple of other passengers taking a ride inside now that you’re asking to do an inspection.” Abe quickly responded as to not draw suspicion. He was expecting this type of situation to happen.

  “Really? Then I would love to meet them.” The rogue whistled out to the forest and suddenly the magic binds restraining Abe were dispelled. “I will have you open your carriage and see if these passengers are as good-natured as you are. What I find inside will determine what happens next.”

  Now free from his binds, Abe dramatically brushed himself, looked at Fae for a moment, tipped his hat as a sign of promise, and strolled over to the carriage door. He snapped his fingers in a casual manner in front of the rogue, letting the group inside know that something serious was going to happen. ‘I hope Ron did a convincing job…’

  Abe knocked on the door then realized something else and looked back at the rogue. “What was your name again? Or what should I call you?”

  “Call me Basil.” The rogue provided in a serious, yet polite manner.

  Now given a name, Abe decided to open the door to announce what was happening to the rest of the group. “Hey! My friend Basil would like to say hi to y’all, so come on out!”

  Moments after, the rest of the group emerged out of the carriage, one by one. Basil observed all of them like a judge seeing them on a runway, he was overall surprised by the type of passengers Abe was chauffeuring. Puck, who was a Kobold, was one Basil was not expecting to see inside. However, that wasn’t the only person that intrigued him, he thought he’d find humans but instead he found…more elves?

  Utilizing his illusion magic, Ron was able to make Barry, Anna, Kat, and Luna pass off as elves. Their complexion being slightly altered, but most notably their ears being somewhat pointy. “This is quite a group of travellers you have…” Basil commented, the group remained calm. “I’m not sure which is more surprising to see, a Kobold or another group of elves.”

  Abe laughed. “Haha, yeah. That Kobold’s name is Puck, he’s a friend of theirs, a real firecracker I tell yah. They all also helped save Fae here from that wicked hag. If anything, they deserve a reward more than me.”

  “Is that so…” Basil scanned them all, the group could feel his keen eye analyzing them for anything that would give him concern. “And your names? What are they?”

  Each one of them gave their names out, Kat was the shyest of the group and Basil could tell, but when it came to Barry…there was something about him that drew Basil to focus more on. Basil went ahead and asked them one more question. “And where are you all from exactly?”

  They all decided beforehand to let Ron be the main spokesperson of the group and so he stepped up. “We’re actually not from a specific clan of elves if that’s what you’re trying to find out. And honestly, we’ve been going to different places to try and save the world from a great calamity foretold by the gods.”

  After mention of the calamity from Ron, Basil’s attention turned to Ron. “So you’re a part of this game as well from the gods? Then do you know what these prisms are that we’re supposed to seek out? Or these villains that the gods warn us about? Any information at all?”

  ‘So they are aware of what’s going on in the world…’ Barry thought in his head. It was relieving for him to hear Basil say what he was curious about.

  Ron replied to Basil’s question. “We have encountered a villain as a matter of fact and also obtained one of these prisms too. Our group had to travel overseas to an island in order to get it. Luckily we had help from some humans and managed to successfully secure the prism.”

  “Humans…” Basil looked away for a moment, like he was judging them now that he heard they received help from humans. “So you’ve interacted with humans already? And how helpful were they during that time?”

  And just as Ron was about to give him an answer, Barry chimed in. “They were scared.”

  Suddenly everyone’s eyes shifted to Barry, his group wasn’t expecting Barry to speak out of turn for them but kept calm. Basil approached Barry, his gaze focused on him now. “Scared you say, then what part of them was helpful at all? How were the humans able to provide any assistance then?”

  Barry gathered his words carefully, looked Basil in the eyes, his face full of conviction, and spoke. “They were scared to die, scared to give their lives for a greater cause; heck, they wanted to give up when I met them. It pissed me off so much that I pitied them all…”

  Ron and the others wondered why Barry was bad mouthing the people that helped them in the past but that was not all Barry would say. A fire was lit up inside Barry’s as he resumed speaking to Basil. “But that was when we first met, it was until after I told them I’d go and face the danger myself that they all decided to join in. Despite the weak-mind set they had at the time, they chose to follow me in an attempt to secure the prism. I became that someone who sparked the inspiration they needed. And through our struggles and conflict with the enemy, we managed to win.”

  He then dug through one of his pockets and pulled out the blue prism, Basil eyed it with curiosity. “This is what we’re after. Without the help of those humans on that island, obtaining this might not have been possible. It was from their efforts and renewed resolve that we were able to make our first step to completing this damn quest we’re all in. Humans can become cowardly, yes, but when given a bit of motivation, they can then show their true worth. What they’ve shown me changed my opinions about them. Never doubt a human’s capability, because joining hands with them can be what we need to get through this blasted challenge.”

  Shock and awe of expressions were spread all around, Barry’s group didn’t know he could sound so motivating and express credibility of this level. But what was more important, was what Basil thought of his vouchful words about the humans. The rogue had a blank face on the entire time Barry spoke, every thought something terrible was about to happen.

  Basil ended the silence and spoke to Barry. “That was quite the speech you said there. It seems to me like you see humans as equals. Are you perhaps favorable towards humans after your battle to obtain this prism?”

  Again, Barry prepared his words. “I value strength, loyalty, and above all, the willingness to make a change in one’s self for the greater good. Those humans made that change in order to assist us, and I believe they’ll continue to do so from that point on. I don’t judge based on the race of others. Especially in this fuck fest we’re in, we can’t be picky who we choose to hold hands with can we?”

  It felt like the air was thick with tension, everyone was hoping Basil would just accept them so the mood could ease up. And after one hard look into Barry’s soul, Basil said something. “You really have a way with words, Barry. You’ve nearly convinced me that joining forces with humans might not be such a bad idea…nearly…”

  Everyone watched as Basil stepped away from the group and whistled a soft melody. This made the group nervous because it was unsure if it meant they passed inspection or if they were doomed. Their answer would soon come when Basil looked back and spoke. “Let us go. Spirit, I will sit with you up front with Fae. I hope you are ready for some divine elvish liquor, Abe.”

  “Oh heck yeah!” Abe was thrilled when Basil gave them the green light. “I’ve been thinking about it for so long. Come on y’all! Hop aboard the Great Abe’s carriage!”

  The nerves inside the group made all but Barry want to rush inside Abe’s carriage, yet they still remained calm and made their way inside, shutting the door. And that was when the group finally decided to let their emotions of anxiety and worry all out.

  “What the fuck was that Barry!” Ron was the first to rant at Barry before Anna could get a chance to, surprisingly. “You almost blew your cover by running your mouth about how admirable humans can be!? That Basil guy was definitely suspecting if you were really a human!”

  “Yeah! I thought we agreed to let Ron talk things out.” Anna jumped in. “As nice as it was for you to express your acknowledgement of those who helped in the past. That was too risky to say. We can’t expose ourselves now, and we certainly can’t expose ourselves when we get inside the elves domain. And we can imagine how much trouble we’ll be in if that happens.”

  Barry waved his hands as a gesture to get them to calm down before giving his reason. “I understand what I said almost put us in a crap shoot. But listen, I was trying to get a point across to him about working together with humans. And you all heard him, he said he was NEARLY convinced. No one got in trouble, we’re all in the clear, and I just planted a seed of thought about working together.” He then sighed. “But I am sorry for making you all nervous…”

  After being given an explanation, they all became more understanding of Barry’s sudden action and forgave him. “Well…you were sounding rather convincing.” Kat agreed.

  “In any case, now that you’ve shown Basil our prism, he’ll likely want to bring us to their council for questioning.” Ron commented, looking a bit worried. “However, it is good to know that they’re aware of the game we’re in. I’m sure they’ve been working hard in their own way to complete this main quest.”

  They all took the rest of their time as an opportunity to relax before being introduced to Fae’s civilization of elves. And now that Barry’s favorite couch was free, he decided he’d take a short nap to spend time training in his dreams, while also informing his tutors. The rest of the group couldn’t believe he was taking the time they had to sleep.

  About 30 minutes passed until the group received a knock on their door from the outside, which had to mean they'd arrived. Anna went up to Barry and shook his shoulder violently. This woke him up immediately and figured that it was time to go. The team walked out of the carriage and were amazed by the change in scenery around them.

  Similar to Puck’s treehouse, there were multiple like it around with bridges connected to one another. Houses, shops, and other structures were built on these ginormous trees. There were also buildings on the green and lavish ground below with dainty cobblestone pathways leading to all sorts of places. A clean and crystal clear river flowed throughout the entire area in splitted routes, all coming from a waterfall that was absolutely mesmerizing. Everyone could say that their first impression of Fae’s home was mystical and out of this world.

  Basil was talking with some other elves, one of his hands gesturing towards Abe specifically, and gave them a smile before walking back to the group with them. “Abe, if you would follow these kindhearted individuals. They will take you to enjoy your impossible wish. Do have fun.”

  “Oh, hooo! Yes, sir!” Abe gladly did as told, following the elves, the rest of the group watching him stroll away in a pleasant mood. If the group had to guess if Abe was a responsible drinker in his time of living, they’d all assume he never was.

  “Now then…” Basil switched back to the others. “Before I give you a grand tour here, I’d like to take you all to meet our council table. Since you’ve all managed to obtain one of the prisms, and I’d even go so far as to say you all know a lot more about what is going on in the world. Is that alright with everyone?”

  Ron took a quick glance at Barry, who also looked at him too, and gave him the ‘I told you so’ look before speaking for everyone. “Sure thing, that’s not a problem. We’d be happy to share what we know so far. We’re in this mess together afterall.”

  “That we are!” Basil responded with a bit of energy. “And after introducing yourselves to the council and exchanging information, I’ll treat you all to a favorite diner of mine. You all must be hungry after travelling so much. Especially you Fae, having to endure such horrible treatment.”

  “Y-Yes, I am happy to be free from that place. And I greatly appreciate this band of adventurers for doing so.” Fae praised from the bottom of her fractured heart.

  The group collectively replied back like it was no trouble at all and they were glad to save her from captivity. They all began to follow Basil throughout the enchanting home, making their way to the top of the highest tree in the area.

  Barry hoped that this council of theirs would be as reasonable and understanding as Basil seemed to be. Even if it was temporary, the unity of elves and others outside of their race would be very beneficial to increasing their chances of completing the quest. One could only dream…