Who are you?

After the elf made Lulu drink a mysterious liquid and started glowing, there was a brief moment of awkward silence. it felt more eerie than awkward, though, being in this grim forest at night.

'Should I say something?

'What should I even say?

'I should confirm if this person is actually an elf.'

"Um..." I tried to talk only to be cut off.

"We should talk later. It may not be safe here."

"Al - alright," I replied nervously.

"I have a place. We'll be there after some minutes of walking."

"S - sure," I said, still stuttering. Even though I was still suspicious of them, I had to agree that it was not safe here. Just thinking of what happened earlier made me shiver. I just have to be more cautious.

I tried to carry Lulu, whom I realized had fallen asleep. Even though I'm also exhausted, I don't want to put her on the hands of a stranger.

The elf noticed my intentions, but I probably looked like I was struggling to put her on my back, so they offered to give me some help.

"If you'll let me, I can help you at least put her on your back..." Looking at me while their eyes were darting around.

I nodded in embarrassment.

***

While walking through the endless trees cautiously, we made brief introductions, I learned that his name is Sung, and we only introduced our names because just talking is taking a toll on me. After a few more minutes of following Sung's lead, we finally caught a view of something new, a small house. It looked natural, like it was part of the forest. A few branches with leaves spurting out of the roof.

'So this is what an elf house looks like.'

"We're here," Sung said.

I nodded at him as he walked towards the door.

*knock* *knock*

'it seems like he's not the only one living in the house,' I thought.

We waited for a moment but there was no answer.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Sung knocked a few more times, maybe to wake up someone if anyone was even there. But after waiting for a little bit more, Sung just went and opened the door.

*creak*

Sung went in and surveyed the house, calling out for someone.

"Trin, are you there?" He was met with silence. "Seems like she's still not home. Come on in," He gestured.

I walked in slowly. Not knowing what awaits Lulu and I inside. Upon entering, I caught a scent of what you'd call the smell of home. I felt comfortable just by being inside, forgetting whatever danger lurks around us. Surprisingly, the inside of the house looked more "modern" than I thought. I had no strength to take everything in, though.

"Feel free to relax, I bet it has been a long day for you and your friend over there."

His voice snapped me awake, and I nodded. Sung guided me to a bedroom. He and I carefully placed Lulu on the bed. After that, he left somewhere saying he was going to grab something and came back with a white futon.

"You can sleep using this instead. I apologize there's not many rooms in here," He said with sincerity, placing the futon on the floor.

"No, It's all right," I shook my head. "I appreciate everything you've done to help, so thank you," I could not and have no intention of asking for anything better, he's done so much for us already, even though we're just strangers.

"You're welcome, we can talk tomorrow after you're both well rested."

I nodded, and Sung left the room. I laid down on the futon, wanting to recount everything that had happened so far. But as soon as I put my head on the pillow, my consciousness faded.

***

... A bright light was beaming at me as if to say that I needed to wake up. I moved myself a bit, not wanting to wake up, but the light was stubborn. Feeling the softness and comfortable bed I lay on... a bed too comfortable compared to my normal bed, I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

'It wasn't a dream?'

I looked around to see that every part of the room was unfamiliar. The only familiar part I recognized was Sim, laying on a futon, I didn't wake him up because he looked to be in deep sleep. The light blinding me was the bright sun shining out the window.

'Whose house is this?' I thought as I carefully got up.

I looked at my body, looking for the bruises and scratches that I should have, but not there.

I walked toward the door and opened it.

*creak*

I walked out and was greeted by a hallway. I walked toward the left and arrived at what seemed to be a living room, there was a couch and a coffee table in the middle, some drawers to the side of the wall for the hallway, paintings of people that looked realistic enough to be called a photo. As I briefly surveyed the area, I saw a person sitting on the couch, reading at what looked like a newspaper.

'Is that the owner of this house?'

A second later, I noticed their side features, silver hair that reached below their shoulder, blue eyes, sharp nose and a defined jawline, pink lips and a long pointy ear.

'Are they an elf?!' I gasped as my eyes widened.

They heard my gasp and turned their head in my direction. They put down the newspaper and their mouth moved.

"Good morning. Have you rested well?" they asked with a sweet voice.

"..." The elf was so beautiful I couldn't move my eyes away. I was stunned, forgetting to reply.

"Uh... Hello? Are you okay?" She said, looking at me with worried eyes.

"A -ah, yes, s - sorry. Good morning, I feel much better than yesterday," I replied.

"That's good. You should eat something, come," she gestured with her hand to follow, which I did. I saw that the place she walked to looked like the dining room.

"Take a seat, I'll prepare something for you."

I replied with a nod.

A few moments later, she came back with a bowl of soup and some bread. She placed it in front of me and said, "Let the soup cool down a little. By the way, my name is Trin. Nice to meet you," With a smile on her face.

I nodded, "My name is Lulu. Nice to meet you too," I replied, feeling a bit nervous.

"I hope I'm not being too rude to ask, but are you a Gnome?"

'A gnome? Those small creatures? Aren't they a sign of luck or something?'

"...A Gnome?" I asked after a pause.

"Yes, your features — structures, looks exactly like a Gnome, but you are taller. So I'm a little confused whether you are or not."

"..." I was speechless. Not knowing what she was talking about.

"Err... I'm a human," I declared.

"A human?" She asked with visible confusion.

'Oh right... the God said that humans used to not exist on this planet.'

"Well... it's a bit of a story."

"I see. It can wait for later. My brother is out right now, probably in the city," She said, looking serious. She added, "You should eat now while the soup is still warm. If you want, you can get more in the kitchen."

"All right, I will, thank you for the food," I thanked her with sincerity.

"You're welcome," She said with a bright smile and added, "I'll go out for a bit, be comfortable after eating," as she slowly walked away.

I nodded.

***

I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

"An unfamiliar ceiling," I said.

"You really had to say it, huh," said a familiar voice with a chuckle.

"I had to, you know," I replied with a smile.

I sat up and looked at Lulu standing and eyes outside the window.

'I have no idea what's on her mind, but it must be something serious.'

"You should get up and get something to eat."

"Looks like you already did."

"Yep, I woke up like an hour ago."

"I see. Want to show me around?"

"Sure, I looked around the house earlier, so I know where to go."

I got up and stretched for a bit, then followed Lulu, telling me where the living room, kitchen, bathroom, etc. Taking in the "modernity" of the house. I say modern because you don't exactly expect a couch and glass coffee table in a fantasy world, the faucet looked like a normal faucet on earth except that there's a strange stone embedded to it, tapping it would release water.

We went back to the kitchen so that I could grab some food. After eating, I went to the living room to spot Lulu. We chatted for a while to pass the time I recounted to her what happened after she was attacked by the "Fallen." Also taking our time to take in everything that happened, because we moved too fast and couldn't adapt.

***

*creak*

Lulu and I heard the door open, startling us a bit. As the door widened, a figure showed, presenting that it was Sung, wearing a white long rolled sleeve shirt with a simple leather armor, with a bow on his back, his pants looked normal, he wore leather boots. 

I relaxed myself, but soon after, followed a new person. My eyes widened at the sudden appearance of another beautiful elf, wearing a simple dress that could easily be used for running around, leather boots, and leather armor.

"Oh, you guys are awake, well considering it's noon, I guess that's normal," Sung said, walking closer to Lulu and I, followed by Trin.

"..." Lulu and I had no replies, probably because it was the first time I saw Trin and Sung for Lulu.

"It looks like you guys are still not used with us," Sung said with a bit of a laugh.

"S - sorry, we're still new to this," I replied.

'Are beautiful people normal in this world?' I sighed inwardly.

"It's okay, you'll get used to it with time," He said, taking a seat on the other couch, of course, Trin too.

'I hope so... I don't want to be stunned every time I see a person from this world. That'll probably the death of me.'

"I really hope so..." I replied.

"Anyway, we should start discussing important things," He said with a serious expression. "I heard from Trin that you call yourselves,"Humans" instead of Gnomes."

I was taken aback a little but soon remembered that the God said that humans used to not exist here.

"Yes, we're humans, not Gnomes," I heard from Lulu what Gnomes looked like.

"What exactly are you humans?" He asked, clearly fascinated.

"I can take it from here," Lulu said with a serious expression, and I nodded. 

With a little pause, she explained, "...We humans came from a different planet named Earth, it's a blue planet," She added.

This time, it looks like the ones stunned were Trin and Sung.

'They probably can't comprehend what 'came from a different planet' means,' I felt like I won against them for the first time, even though there wasn't even a competition.

"In that planet, we were 'the only' intelligent race, I don't know of monkeys or apes count. There was no such thing as "Mana," "Magic," nor monsters, strictly speaking..."

The two of them were shocked speechless, and their eyes widened after obtaining the knowledge of a planet that had no mana and magic.

"Wh - what?! H - how did you guys even survive?!" Trin said with a loud voice, looking at us with inexplicable eyes.

It seemed like not having mana on this planet means death. She was confused, as well as her brother, who was still speechless.

"Well... we invented and developed things that would be used for our safety and daily lives..." Lulu continued explaining.

"I... I see. This is too hard to believe..." Trin said, still shocked at the revelation.

'It's understandable. They lived their whole lives with mana and magic.'

Finally regaining his senses, Sung asked a question, "So, how did you guys get here?"

Lulu replied, recounting everything that happened, from the hand to the voice that explained the situation to us.

"This is a lot to take in," Trin said.

"I agree... for us, we will still have to adapt in your world and learn many things," I replied with a nod.

We continued to chat, and soon agreed to let ourselves absorb everything in for a moment, making an awkward silence between us. After a few minutes, Sung initiated.

"Phew... Well, we'll talk about our world so that you both know what you're getting yourselves into."

"Yeah! in exchange, tell us about your world too," Trin added with excitement.

"Of course! we'd appreciate that a lot. Having no knowledge in a world with creatures that can easily kill us would be extremely dangerous," I replied also with excitement.

Lulu and I told our world's history, including but not limited to the religions, war, inventions, and knowledge. Sung and Trin did the same.

Just like that, the day passed.

...