Magic of an Elf

After hearing desperation in my tone, the truthful one that I put into my very soul, she narrows her brows, sighs wearily and comes closer while saying, "I suppose I should, right?... But leave your dagger here, I do not want to deal with another attack from you."

I cast my gaze at the short sword that was my partner throughout my stay in this world. I do not want to leave it behind, but if it means that I will get to live at least one more day, then so be it. With my last effort, I throw the dagger to the side. Although not too far, it is now out of my reach. The girl does not observe any of my movements, instead she is concentrated on my eyes. She stares so much that I involuntarily try to avoid eye contact, but whenever I return it, her persistence does not perish.

After the dagger is gone from my hands, she comes closer, while clutching onto her staff. She kneels besides me, but instead of helping me to stand up, the girl takes out a book, as if out of nowhere, and flips some of the pages.

"Healing magic can be tricky." she whispers and raises her staff. A bright light forms a cluster of small dots, which are all rotating, but gradually slowing down. Once the dots reminiscent of stars halt completely. She says, "Pollux Miaplacidus." and one of them grows exponentially and explodes into the dust that envelopes my body. I feel as if moisture swallows my body, and washes off the wounds, cuts and pain itself throughout my body. However, I still feel uneasiness in my shoulder and the arrow has not gone anywhere from my thigh.

Even though I already saw magic in this world, this is the first time when it does not harm me, but instead heals, making me feel pleasant. My interest grows with the revelation of those stars, however, I struggle to decide whether I should ask about it. On one hand, there is no harm in extra knowledge, but on the other, it might show my incompetence which is easier to believe than myself being a traveller from another world. But after further consideration, I finally open my mouth, but instead present a question in another direction.

"When I attacked you, why were not you fighting back?"

She tilts her head for a second and wonders, "I did shake you off using the wind, though."

"But when I pinned you down, you looked like you accepted your fate… Why? Why were you not scared?"

"If my destiny is to die in the field by the hands of ragamuffin, then so be it. I saw hesitation in your movements and decided to fight back, all is simple as that. You humans sure make a huge deal out of it."

Who in their right mind would simply accept death? This goes beyond anything I know, I would struggle with the slightest chance of survival no matter what, even if it means that I would need to break my arms and legs! But she is somehow different with her nihilistic outlook, perhaps, something happened in her life that devoid her of the instinct of self-preservation. I also notice another different detail in her manner of speech and ask about it directly.

"Humans, you say? Why does it sound like you do not think of yourself as a human?"

She sighs and lightly brushes her hair from her temples, showing off her long ears, "I thought it was obvious enough that I am an elf. You do not seem to notice much around you, huh."

I click my tongue at her mockery and narrow my brows, "Comes from the one who casually picked berries besides a presumably dead body!"

She shrugs and drops her hair, "Fair enough." Then helps me get on my feet, even though the healing magic is certainly a life saviour this time, I still am unable to put pressure on the leg that was shot. Seems like traditional methods of medicine are unavoidable even in the world of magic.

"An elf, huh. Never saw one before." I say, which is not a lie, but I feel like she is a rarity even among the inhabitants of this world. My speculations are quickly confirmed when she nods and tells me, "Our population is scarce, especially within the human realm. I might be the only elf present in the Schöltum region."

I notice her hardship of carrying me. Despite my small body frame for a man, she is still shorter than me, thus it must be a burden to drag me along the way like that. For some reason, I feel calm under her cold demeanour, people who act indifferent rarely lie and deceive, which makes them endearing. I did not know many people like that from my world, but those that I knew were the only ones who gave colours to my pitiful existence. One of them was a lady who worked under one key smith. She was just as short as this elf, but skin and hair were darker. One day, she was shot during the robbery… that I was part of. After that day I decided to never build connections with another human being, because of how fragile our lives are, but I remember her to this day.

After a long walk in silence along the trampled pathway, she puts me on the ground with shortness of breath. Then, she takes her staff and summons another miniature cluster of stars, but this time does not say anything and casts an unknown effect on me. At once, my body floats up in the air, it is soaring slowly, but does not fall on the ground. Naturally, I am left speechless from this trick and look at her with fear while instinctively trying to grasp onto something.

"Do not wiggle too much, you might harm yourself. I figured it would be better to get you to my shelter this way."

"I-is this also magic?"

"What else could it be? Regardless, just relax and have fun floating. This must be something humans do not get to do often."

For the first time, she breaks a smile which puts the weight into my stomach, however, the spell continues its work flawlessly. Such is the world where magic is not just fiction, it must be mundane to her, but so new to me, thus I can't help but answer with a smile of my own.

"This is amazing! It's as if I am a bird…"

Suddenly, I realise that I still do not know her name. I hesitate for a moment, but after quick consideration choose to open my mouth.

"We did not introduce each other yet, my name is Dusk. What is your name?"

She glares at me for a second, her expression calm as always, but then she turns away and murmurs just one word, "Nila."

Nila the elf it is, then.