Some ghastly creature hissed behind a nearby tree, causing me to jump and my skin to crawl. “Th-The Abyss? What do you mean, The Abyss!?” I nervously hugged myself while leaning further into him, forgetting to answer his question. “Please, I want to go home. Can you take me back to earth?”

He smiled sympathetically while clicking his heels against the horse’s side, silently commanding it to trot. We both gently swayed as the horse moved through the dark twisted trees. “To my understanding, The Abyss is a completely different world other than earth. You’re on another planet in a separate faraway dimension. And no, I myself can’t take you back, but I have a friend who can. However, that could take a while, so if you would tell me how you wound up here, it might be easier for us to figure out how to send you back ourselves.”

A foreign mixture of both hope and trepidation bloomed in my heart upon hearing his words. My eyes followed the rather spooky movement of the horse’s skeletal front leg cutting through the swirling mist, as I tried to mentally process my newly acquired information... I’m on an alien planet, in a different dimension... But luckily, there are ways of returning home?

The horse gently leapt over a fallen log, causing me to squeak and hastily grab ahold of Valarupert’s arm while we bounced. I didn’t let go either. “Well, I really don’t know what exactly happened. It was a very peculiar event. I was dancing in a stream back on earth, then my ankle got caught on a necklace around a corpse’s neck, of all things. But it wasn’t a human corpse, in fact, it looked really similar to you, except it was obviously rotted and had no eyes. I accidentally cut my foot on its spiky black armor while trying to get away, then I grabbed the necklace, and fell through some kind of portal, I suppose.” I shrugged, and peeked up at him, unsure if my seemingly senseless story would be helpful or not.

He looked as though I had just told him the most unsettling thing he’d ever heard. “Wait, wait, wait... You’re saying that there was someone who looked like me, wearing black spiky armor, back on earth?” He pointed to himself as he warily spoke.

“Yes, only they were dead.” I softly nodded.

“How dead were they? Were they dead-dead, or undead?” He seemed really concerned about this.

What kind of question is that? I wondered with a look of puzzlement... Then I remembered that we were riding a literal zombie horse. Oh, perhaps things can become undead in this world?

“Umm... Dead dead? I think...” I delicately tapped my chin.

“You think?” He furrowed his brows. “Well, if they were undead then they probably would have tried to eat you.”

It would have tried to eat me!? Well, that’s some truly horrifying information...

“Definitely dead-dead.” I quickly nodded.

“Okay then, their hair, was it braided or up but loose? And were the spikes on the armor large or small?”

I had no idea how any of that would be relevant to getting me home, but I answered him anyway. “Um, it was braided, and small... maybe?” I nervously bit my lower lip. “Why is that important to know?”

The breeze ominously blew his tangled hair out beside us, while shadows skittered all throughout the trees. “Because what you are describing sounds exactly like a royal Tenverian scout. And tenverians are heinous bloodthirsty creatures who have absolutely no place in a living world.”

Heinous bloodthirsty creatures? Perhaps he isn’t of the same species then?

“Oh, huh, I thought that you might have been the same species as it. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you then? An elf or something?” I didn’t really mean to change the topic so abruptly, but I was just dying to know what he was.

He slightly sighed and the bones on his head twitched. “No, you were correct. I am a Tenverian.” I stiffened at his words... Oh shit... “But I promise you’re in no danger with me. I’m an outcast to my people, and I shun their disgusting and violent ways.” He quickly added, clearly worried that I’d be afraid of him.

My heart rate quickened, and I quickly reconsidered all my options. There were none. He was literally my only source of protection and my only lead to getting home... Fuck, I’m stuck with him. “Well, um, alright then. That’s good to know...” I hope... “Do you still think that there might be a quicker way to get me home?” I quickly reverted the conversation back to the original question and gazed up at him with pleading eyes.

He looked back down at me as though enchanted by my gaze. “Possibly.” He shrugged. “I’m currently retracing your steps. Once we get to the spot where you first arrived, then maybe we can try to use that necklace you spoke of to send you back.”

“Oh... about that.” I nervously scratched the back of my head. “Some creature took off with the corpse. I doubt that we’ll be able to find it.” I held my palm up while defeatedly shaking my head.

“That’s alright, I know how to track.” He said with a warm smile, then raised a curious brow. “Now, tell me, what’s an elf?”

There I was once again, sitting on the massive cadaverous horse, back at the place where I’d first arrived in this atrocious abyss. The dark tempest sky raged above us, while I watched in annoyance as the tenverian man skillfully tracked every single move that I had previously made.

“And I can see that you stumbled over here...” He pointed to the root-laden ground with his sword, then mindfully took a few wide steps to the side. “...Then you tripped over here... and then again over there...”

“Well in my defense, it’s not easy being thrown into an unknown world of darkness with a sliced open foot.” I gestured down towards my poor bandaged foot... I almost preferred it when this guy only spoke like a caveman.

His eyes twinkled as if he were genuinely trying not to laugh at my expense, and his smile fluttered a bit. “No need to defend yourself. I completely understand.” His expression changed from one of amusement to one of laser beam focus, as he began predatorily circling around the spot where I’d first landed, intensely scanning every minuscule detail of the soil.

Within the short amount of time that it had taken to get here, I’d learned that this awful world was entombed in endless night, and just about everything was undead. Which explained all the frightening gloom and oppressive darkness.

Why couldn’t I have ended up somewhere cool, like Narnia or something?

I’d also learned that there was some far away and ghastly kingdom ruled by a malicious undead queen, and that’s where the scout had most likely come from. Although, it still remained a mystery how we’d ended up in the forest, and not said kingdom.

Valaralph was apparently a lone wanderer who’d abandoned life in the kingdom long ago. He didn’t share too many details about it though and didn’t speak highly of the kingdom nor of the queen, at all. So naturally, I secretly surmised that he must have been some sort of criminal on the run... A jewel thief, perhaps?

He also thought that it was downright hilarious that I’d assumed him to be an elf. At one point I thought that he was literally going to fall off of the damn horse from laughing too much, while asking things like, “You seriously thought that I was a mythological creature?” It had been really hard not to laugh at him, so I did under the guise of ‘joining in on the fun’.

“Um, Vala-um...uhh...” I began to call over to him, catching his attention. He curiously glanced at me, with his eerie crimson eyes piercing through the veil of mist. He looked so dark and ghostly, with his shadowy jacket fluttering out behind him. “In all honestly, I can’t remember your name.” I shrugged in embarrassment.

He softly chuckled in amusement. “It’s Valarendrik.” He kindly responded with a smile. “And don’t worry about it. It’s probably as alien-sounding to you, as Lucilia is to me.”

A gentle giggle chimed from my lips, while I daintily held a lock of my wavy hair out of my face. “I suppose that’s very true. Well, um, Valarendrik, have you found anything yet?” I curiously inquired.

A seal of concern was suddenly stamped across his brow. He looked down at the ground, then back up to me. “Honestly, no. Was it by chance a flying creature that took the corpse?”

Oh shit... It totally was!

“Actually, yes. It was.” I meekly replied.

He nodded with an expression as if some sort of bad news was settling in. “Mhmm, and were its wings feathered or scaled?”

“Scaled.” I softly squeaked.

He frowned, then swiftly glided back over with black mist wisping out behind him. “So, I have some bad news. I don’t think that we’ll be able to locate the necklace.”

My breath hitched in my throat, and anxiety clawed at my mind. “Well, what about your friend that you mentioned? Can you call him for me? And let him know that I’m in need of returning home?”

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Well, you see, that’s kind of the problem. I can’t exactly call upon him, and his visitations are rather random. Sometimes he leaves only for a few days, other times I don’t see him for a few months. And he was just here with his wife and two hellions last week.” He climbed onto the horse behind me, then shook his head. “I honestly have no idea when he’ll return.” His front pressed into my back, surrounding me with that sweet rosewood and pepper smell.

A feeling of dread cut through me deeper than any knife ever could. My mouth felt dry, yet my palms became embarrassingly sweaty. I opened and closed my clammy hands while staring down at them as if in a daze... Months? ...I might have to be stuck here for a few whole months?

“I-Is there a sooner, um, possibly a quicker way, perhaps?” Not only did I fail to form a proper sentence, but my body had begun uncontrollably shaking. How would I survive being trapped on this abominable planet for a few months? I had a life to get back to. It was almost unfathomable how my seemingly perfect world had so suddenly been ripped away and ruthlessly flipped upside-down right before my very eyes.

With movement so gentle and a touch so light that I almost didn’t notice at first, Valarendrik leaned forward at my side. A small sympathetic smile danced on his lips, as he softly brushed a stray tear from my cheek which I hadn’t realized had fallen.

“It’s okay, Lucilia. You will return to your world. That can I promise.” He softly said, then clicked his heels against the horse’s sides. Once again, our bodies gently swayed as the horse began to leisurely wander through the forest. “I’m highly doubtful that there’s a faster way, but there is a way no less.”

I sucked in a shaky mournful breath. “But how am I ever going to survive here for that long? There’s no sunlight or civilization. It seems like just about everything wants to kill me. And I don’t have any food or shelter.”

He gently rubbed up and down my arm to comfort me. “I can protect you. And you’re more than welcome to stay with me until you can return to your world, no matter how long it takes. I also know of several plants which are suitable for human consumption. The choice is yours though. I won’t force you to stay with me if you’re uncomfortable with it.”

I bit my lip and turned to look back at him with teary eyes. “Valarendrik, you’re the only thing in this world that’s given me any sense of comfort so far. So thank you, and of course I’ll choose to stay with you. I just don’t know how I can ever repay you for your kindness.”

“Just be my friend.” He answered with a look of compassion and a benevolent smile.

“Thank you.” I softly whispered and snuggled into him.

He seemed a bit awkward about it but placed his arm around me anyways while staring off into the distance. I didn’t think much of it though and assumed that that’s just how he was. A strange and awkward otherworldly man with crazy hair.

My dark savior.