Chapter 16: The Elves of the Navir Forest

Tears welled up in Johnny's eyes.

"From the moment that damn goddess put me in this place, it's been one bad turn after another, and now this?!"

He felt as though his entire being was falling apart. The one thing he hoped for in this world was the fantastical creatures and races he would find. He was anticipating that they would, more or less, fall in line with his past life's experience with them in MMORPG's, or traditional RPG's like Statuary of Honor. It would never have crossed his mind, or even so much as fallen within his furthest flung fancy, nor was it even a consideration that they wouldn't, in fact, cooperate with his many years of RPG intuition. He never expected that the very denizens of the world would betray his preconceptions of what fantasy worlds were like. And that is what brought him to the brink of near self-destruction, at this moment.

"No, there's still hope. I haven't seen the dwarves or the humans of this world yet. There's a chance that I can recover my sanity."

He muttered under his breath. He smacked his face in an attempt to right his train of thought and rubbed his eyes which, moments prior, had flooded from an excessive amount of unnecessary grief.

The bearded elf, who this entire time had observed Johnny's antics in bewilderment, inquisitively eyed the semi-composed man. He wasn't entirely certain if Johnny were going to erupt into a fountain of tears and yelling again, and wasn't about to approach any closer until he was sure. That said, the elf was torn from his apprehensions by his duty to escort the human. To that end, he decided to break the momentary lapse in howling to question the sniffling man in front of him.

"Vilac, vo d'you?"

"Huh?"

Johnny turned his attention once more to the elf. He still couldn't get over the beard yet. The sparse bush of facial hair hung from the elf's chin, and several centimeters downward in a tightly bound goatee, on which some binding of a sky blue-dyed fiber cordage held it together in a tight broom.

Johnny's eyes met the elf's and responded, a confused expression pasted on his face.

"Ah... what was that?"

"Vilac, mar vo d'you?"

An awkward pause between the two ensued. Indeed, just as it was with the Denizens of the Expanse, and the unintelligible roarings of the tiger from earlier, this elf was, just like them, speaking a language Johnny could not understand.

"Mhm, yeah, I don't get you."

Johnny scratched his chin with his hand, confused. To his surprise, the scratch of whiskers greeted his touch. It's been roughly a day since he arrived in this world. During that time, a twelve o'clock shadow had firmly taken root. It must have been an added benefit of the Divine Shard, as his old body never grew any facial hair. Not that he really cared, it would've been a nuisance during his speedrunning days. Cosmetics and body maintenance weren't his strongest suit, given his shut-in lifestyle. It would've only been a hindrance.

"So, you all speak a foreign language, I see... this is awkward."

He glanced around him. The city was high overhead, and a great many onlookers had gathered in the platforms above to watch his spectacle. They all looked on, some with worry, others with amusement. Children were giggling, hoping to see more of his chaotic act

Johnny flushed at their stares. They had all seen that pathetic display.

"Haha... kill me... though not literally, okay?"

-

"Thrifan!"

At the sudden exclamation, the group of robed elves dispersed and went their separate ways, some to the lifts to take them up to the city above, and others back into the depths of the forest after opening the barrier to the city. They left the singular, bearded elf behind, to watch over Johnny.

Once they had all left, the remaining elf reached for Johnny, and latched onto his arm tightly with a gloved fist. The glove was a curious design, with a blue gem on the back of the hand, and silver glidings along the knuckle lines. It glowed like the Green Manastone Johny acquired in the caves earlier. In contrast, however, the sparkling light within the elf's gem was a light turquoise in hue, and its radiance was far weaker.

There was a hard jerk on Johnny's arm. The force nearly pulled him over.

"Hey... not so hard will you?"

The treatment was unexpectedly rough, more than what Johnny would have thought necessary for a guest, as he had suspected he was in this place. Another strong tug caused him to trip from the suddenness of the action.

"What the hell? What's wrong with you?"

Johnny's muffled yell rose from the ground, where his face had planted deeply.

Incensed by the lack of courtesy, Johnny rose, intending to resist the abuse.

Which was unwise.

His resistance was met with a resounding strike to the top of his head with what appeared to be a wooden stave. It nearly knocked him senseless. Once more, the elf jerked. However, his charge was dazed from the impact and had fallen to his knees from the force of the blow. After several moments of coercing, which was met without response, the elf decided to drag the senseless man by the arms.

"...Ughh, what did you do that for?"

Johnny's rhetorical question, of course, went unnoticed. The elf, who had adjusted to Johnny's oddities, now assumed a stone-faced expression as he dragged the mumbling man onto one of the lifts. He gave two brief tugs on the loose line that hung beside the lift. Moments later, the lift jolted, which signaled that the two passengers had begun their ascent into the city among the trees.

-

The bearded elf deposited Johnny, who came to his senses once more, on the floor. Johnny scratched the spot the stave had struck him.

"Did that bastard really have to hit me so hard?" He grumbled irritably.

He craned his neck backward from his position on the ground where he lay on his back. The bearded elf had taken a knee, his head bowed low in reverence to something or someone. Johnny's view of the honoree was obscured, as the elf's body interposed. Johnny rolled over to secure a better angle.

"Tall."

The word was all the awed Johnny could utter, and with good reason. The backside of a towering figure stood at the end of a massive court constructed of the wood of the region and stone, in front of an altar made of living, spiraling tendrils of plants and the branches of trees. The figure's hands were outstretched, and head upturned to the ceiling in a pose often attributed to lifting one's praises to the heavens. From head to toe, it was garbed in a thin, white veil, the sleeves of which draped over the hands and feet. The transparency of the material belied its supposed function, as the milk-white skin of the figure could be seen clearly underneath the seemingly pointless garment.

The individual lowered itself into a more natural stance of repose and slowly turned toward the kneeling elf and the prostrate Johnny.

It wasn't an elf, that much was for sure, Johnny noted, as the ears were not pointed. Considering the figure's height, it followed that it wouldn't be. After all, the elves in this world were short, much to his consternation.

However, he could not discern anything beyond that, for the face of the figure was concealed behind a ceremonial mask of white. Black stripes curved from the centers of the sides, and from the center-top downward. The stripes all converged into an intricate pattern of stars and symbols foreign to him, and at its midpoint they formed a radial pattern, which thinned the further from the center your eyes strayed.

While Johnny was dumbfounded by the presence of the stranger before him, he was more curious by what it had turned away from. It was hidden behind the stranger's body, but he could see its faint, blue glow diffracting around their body.

It stood motionless, and in silence for several minutes. During that time, the elf, who was now slightly to Johnny's left and afore, had done likewise. Not a single limb twitched, despite the uncomfortable position his kneeling seemed to be.

Johnny was unsure of when, or even how to speak up. The wooden floor underneath his stomach was rough and uncomfortable. Not only that, the tense atmosphere was starting to get on his nerves. His legs were shaking from impatience.

At last, Johnny could stand the silence no longer.

"Um, what's going on? Can anyone understand me, or... not?"

The head of the tall "thing" snapped its neck in Johnny's direction in a most unsettling manner. The suddenness of it startled him.

"What... now?" Johnny asked. His inquiry shook with trepidation.

He glanced at the elf to his left. Sweat had beaded on the bearded elf's forehead and slowly trailed down the side of his face. He made no movement, nor moved his eyes away from the floor.

"Hey, aren't you going to do something?" Johnny whispered to him, his voice raised a half-octave.

There was no response. Johnny returned his alarmed gaze back to the figure. The cold touch of terror caressed his heart, for the figure was gone.

"Greetings, human. What brings a wretched, bloodstained mortal to the Navir forest?"

The disembodied voice echoed within the confines of Johnny's psyche. He could say nothing nor move for the intense feeling of dread that locked his body to the floor and his lips together.

"Oh, how rude of me, perhaps I should introduce myself. As trivial as it may be, proper etiquette is an absolute necessity..."

A real hand grasped Johnny's heart, its fingers coiled around its breadth and lightly squeezed, as though assessing its elasticity. He could barely breathe.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, human. My name is Galeliel."