She had only met this young boy a few weeks ago in the middle of what he called a 'battle'. She was just travelling with Sir Pippen on a short journey through the forest like she did every few months. However, what wasn't the same was that when they were travelling, they were stopped by a group of really strange elves whose ears were round and whose stature were shorter but more muscular. Sir Pippen told her to stay inside the carriage and wait for him to 'talk it out with those gentleman', but that was the last time she saw him. The only thing she knew was that she heard some screaming, and not long after a terrifying beast attacked her.

And that was when she finally met Andrew.

Andrew was an... interesting character. He was never rude to her, but he treated her differently than others. Even Sir Pippen, who was her closest friend, always spoke to her with big words she didn't really understand, and sometimes she could even hear his voice somewhat trembling.

Andrew was different. He didn't do anything to harm her - he protected her, in fact - but he was also not the most gentle person she had ever met. He was nice most of the time, but whenever Eliza would mess something up he would be as bossy as he liked to be, usually knocking on her head and frowning at her. Despite him often doing that, Eliza really liked this boy. She never felt... distant from him. He was her friend.

And that was why she was so motivated to find him.

Andrew usually left Eliza to scout their surroundings in the evening, but he always returned minutes later, smiling and assuring Eliza that nothing dangerous was around them. But he hadn't returned yet. Eliza didn't know why, nor did she know where he went, but the only thing that she could think of was Andrew lost in the forest and trapped in the cold. So she started running. She only grabbed some basic tools and started tracking Andrew's footsteps.

She wasn't really sure where she was going or even what she was going to do even if she did find Andrew. The only thing Eliza had in her mind was Andrew was lost somewhere, and she had to go after him.

Then suddenly, she heard a roar as everything faded to black.

Eliza wearily opened her eyes. Everything in front of her was red. At first, she panicked, thinking it was blood. But then, when everything came into focus, she realized that it was something much more sinister. It was a blood-red mist, covering every inch of the forest. She coughed as she tried to chase the dizziness away. Eliza stood up. She couldn't see anything within the red mist, and all the supplies she had brought with her disappeared. She sat down, hopeless, thinking that the red mist would be her demise.

Why did I ask Sir Pippen to go with me? she thought as she started sobbing, Nothing good has happened since then. Why was I so stupid?

As her tears fell onto the ground, Eliza could see a greenish colour starting to creep onto the rocks beneath her. She stared at it before reaching out her hand, touching it. As the tip of her fingers came into contact with the green, it started... sprouting, covering more and more of the rocks. The feeling of the green substance was... familiar. And then she realized what it was.

"Moss?" she whispered to herself, questioning her sanity. Although she kept her voice as low as she could, it somehow still echoed through the forest eerily.

"Eliza?" she suddenly heard. It wasn't exactly somebody saying something to her. It was a whisper, an echo approaching her from far away.

Eliza turned around, looking everywhere to see where the voice had come from. Then she heard footsteps. The footsteps were light and gentle, but in a place where there was absolute silence, Eliza couldn't help but shiver to the thought of what could be approaching her. She opened her hand, weakly raising a small rock to the air as Andrew had taught her. She had no idea what was closing on her, but what she was sure about was that she wasn't going down without a fight.

The footsteps continued approaching her as Eliza squinted her eyes. She only had one shot at it, so she was going to make the most out of her chance.

As soon as Eliza was able to see what seemed to be a silhouette of her enemy, she thrust her arm forward. The stone spike immediately flew forward, cutting through the wind and closing in on the silhouette. However, the silhouette did a motion that resembled raising its arm as another stone spike flew at Eliza's. The two collided as they both broke into pieces.

Small and able to manipulate rocks? Eliza thought, Is this a dwarf?

"Please," Eliza yelled, "I am a good person. Don't fight."

Her opponent just stood there in the red mist, seemingly staring at her curiously. Eliza was just utterly confused before she heard a stifled laugh.

"I am a good person?" she heard a familiar voice, "That's your defence?"

"An... Andrew?" she hopefully asked.

"I really need to teach you some vocabulary lessons, don't I?" Andrew said as he emerged from the red mist, "Now, I would usually charge you a few hundred gold coins just because you'll get to look at my heroic and handsome face, but..."

Before Andrew could finish, Eliza had already dashed forward and hugged Andrew tightly while tears rolled down her face, "Don't ever leave me again," she cried.

"Alright," Andrew laughed as he patted Eliza on the head, "I think I found something interesting."