"Gosh darn it," Andrew mumbled, "Where am I?"

After a while, Andrew was finally able to open his eyes without them hurting from the bright light. He took a quick look at his surroundings. He was sitting on a beautiful white bed that was so comfortable that Andrew was tempted to go back to sleep once again. He stood up. Around him were things that seemed to belong to a young child: a few pencils and crayons on a desk at the corner of the room, some poorly drawn paintings hanging on the wall. He limped towards the balcony looking over a majestic beach with blueish sand, prompting Andrew to wow at the scenery.

As Andrew was staring at the wondrous beach, he heard a creaking sound as the door behind him opened up. He turned around as he saw five people: a male elf dressed in unusual clothing, a female elf dressed in a similar fashion, two elves who had armour all over them and another elf whose ear was somewhat round, dressed as if he was a homeless person.

"Greetings, human child," the male elf dressed in strange clothing suddenly said.

Andrew stayed silent, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

"Do you have no respect for the King?" one of the armoured elves blurted out, "Bow to His Majesty Gilthorpe Greenwood of the Elven!"

King? Andrew thought.

"Answer, you rat!" the rude elf continued.

"Hey, calm down, Jean," the poorly dressed elf interrupted, "The child must be surprised by all of this... sudden change," he said as he turned his attention over to Andrew, "Hello, child. My name is Bran. What's yours?"

"An... Andrew. My name's Andrew," replied Andrew shyly.

"There's no need to be scared, Andrew," Bran said calmly, "You see, kid, These people here are important people. That's King Gilthorpe and his wife, Queen Katelyn," Bran said as he pointed at the elves dressed in strange robes, "Those two are Royal Guards. They can be a bit mean, but they're pretty cool lads overall. See, Andrew, two days ago, we found you and your... friend, Elizabeth, in the woods. Do you remember Elizabeth?"

Andrew nodded silently.

"Good, good," Bran smiled, "See, we found Elizabeth and you hanging out in the woods, so we took you in, but you've only been sleeping since. We would like to know a bit more about your... adventure with Elizabeth, so I hope you don't mind if we ask a few questions and you give us some answers, alright?"

"Alright," Andrew replied.

Bran gave Andrew a friendly smile as the guards escorted them to what seemed to be the elves' courtroom. King Gilthorpe and Queen Katelyn assumed their positions at one end of the table as Andrew and Bran sat down at the other end.

"So tell me, Andrew," King Gilthorpe said, "Where did you meet Elizabeth?"

"I, uh, I met Elizabeth when her party was attacked by some men. She was escorted by this guy, Sir Pippen, and he and bandits clashed, and they were all killed."

"They all died? Together?"

"Uh, no," Andrew shook his head, "There were only three guards. The bandits wiped them out. But then there was a beast attracted to the blood at the scene, and it killed the rest of the bandits."

"I see," King Gilthorpe nodded as he whispered something into a guard's ear before sending him off, "Please continue."

"The bandits were able to wound the beast, but it wasn't enough to kill it," Andrew continued, "So the beast approached Eliza's carriage and it prepared to attack her. I was tempted to run but I couldn't just let her die, so I fought and killed the beast."

"Blasphemy!" Jean yelled angrily as he drew his sword. However, before Jean's blade could touch Andrew, Bran stared at him with a pair of cold and deadly eyes that Andrew had never seen before. Jean immediately stopped out of pure fear. But Andrew wanted to prove that he was no pushover either.

"No, no, no," he said calmly, "Let him continue. Let him use that sword to kill me."

Everybody stared at him in disbelief.

"You see, Your Majesty, I'm young but educated," Andrew said, "It's not that you won't kill me, it's that you can't kill me. See, Sir Pippen was undoubtedly a knight, so why would a knight just escort a lowly elf? And why would you ask so much about her? No, Eliza is somebody important. Now, you should think about this, Your Majesty. If that sword so much as give me a light flesh wound, you will be known as the king who harmed Eliza's saviour. Her parents, whoever they are, might not have the courage to stand against you, but Eliza's a child. She doesn't know anything about political power. The only thing she'll know is that you harmed the child who saved her life multiple times. And she sure as hell is gonna make a big deal out of it. And boom," Andrew stood up and leaned in closer to King Gilthorpe, "Down goes the King," he whispered as a grin crept onto his face, "But don't even worry about that, because I can assure you, your problems don't start with the public. I assure you if that guard even points his sword at me once more, there will be at least two body bags exiting this room, and mine won't be the only one," he said as his right hand started to crackle with yellow-red electricity, "And then the only thing people will be talking about is how King Gilthorpe murdered a human child in cold blood because of racial discrimination, and that is a scandal that you don't wanna get into. So what's it gonna be?"

King Gilthorpe shook his head as he looked at Jean threateningly. Jean, while reluctant, had no other choice than to just grit his teeth and withdraw his sword.

"I'm sorry for his... stunt," King Gilthorpe apologised, "Please, Andrew, continue."

Andrew nodded as he kept on with his story, "So I drew the beast's attention. I knew that normal spells wouldn't be able to slay it, so I had to use my knife to slash where it had already been wounded with a combination of lightning magic to take it out. Then, I helped Eliza and we went through the woods, and that's how we arrived here... I think."

"I see," King Gilthorpe nodded. He was clearly curious about why Andrew passed out, but he was still a bit wary of Andrew after his threats, "Guards! Escort Andrew back to his room and tell the maids to prepare him for dinner."

The guards obeyed as they led Andrew out of the room, Jean still bitter about Andrew. Before Andrew exited the room, however, King Gilthorpe yelled out: "And you're not wrong about Eliza being somebody important. But what you were wrong about was that she isn't just 'somebody'. She's my daughter."

... What? Andrew thought to himself as his jaw dropped.

"Darn it," Andrew muttered to himself as he fell to the ground once more. Tameka had taught him how to use magic as efficiently as possible, and while Andrew could stay afloat in the air for a few seconds, he was still unable to fly through the air like his mentor, "Again," he said as he leapt up as high as he could, using air magic to catch him midair.

He was concentrating and trying to use his powers as efficiently as possible when all of a sudden, he could hear the door slam open as he fell on his back again.

"Ugh," he groaned, "Who is it?"

"Sounding real like an old man, Andy," a familiar voice said to him.

"Eliza?" Andrew immediately sat him as a smile appeared on his face.

"Hey," Eliza said happily before immediately bursting into tears as she leapt at Andrew, hugging him tightly, "I was very worried, you know?" she said in tears.

"Hey, hey, no need to cry," Andrew laughed, "And I don't think it's fitting for a princess to cry like this."

"You know?" Eliza asked sadly.

"Yeah," Andrew nodded, "Your father told me."

"I, uh, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner," Eliza whispered shyly, "It's just that... When people know I'm a princess... They just treat me differently."

Andrew smiled as Eliza's cheeks turned pink, "Why don't you tell me what you're here for?" he said, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, right!" Eliza said as her face brightened, "My father told me to tell you to prepare for dinner. He said he wanted to talk with you a bit more."

"I see," Andrew nodded as he suddenly tightened his grip, "Eliza, why don't you go back to your father's and tell him I'll be on my way? I just need to take care of a few things first."

"Okay!" said Eliza cheerfully as she ran off to her father.

Andrew stood still for a few seconds after making sure that Eliza was gone before turning around.

"No need to keep hiding," he said to the darkness, "Come out."

All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared from the darkness outside his balcony. The figure was tall as it stared at Andrew for about three seconds before emerging from the darkness.

"Killer instincts for a child, Andy," the person said.

"Right back at you," Andrew said coldly, "Bran."