Before I can even ask where she thinks she’s going, Terra is already up and away. Seriously, I don’t hold a candle to that woman, try as I might. I am so out of my depth here, it’s not even funny any more. If this was one of the stories I keep hearing about, it feels like my entire existence and everything I’ve done up to this point was for the sole reason of introducing her.
Good thing it isn’t.

I jump to my feet and have serious trouble catching up to her, because what Terra understands as ‘walking swiftly’ is for me just about short of running for my life. And this is in the open field, once we’re in the forest, her forest...I shudder at the thought. Sure, getting here was easy enough, but would I ever be able to find the bloody door again that takes me outside?

Apparently unnerved by my slowness, Terra stops and shouts, “What’s taking you so long, Detective? How do you expect to catch anyone acting like this?”
She’s right. Compared to just about everyone here, I am terrifyingly slow. Every resident I’ve met so far excelled in something they’re doing. Warriors that could snap me in half, people so nimble, they could drop from the ceiling and ram a knife through my skull without even breaking a sweat...and then there’s people like Eva. A stunning beauty sure to turn quite a few heads, but there’s a cold brilliance shining in those eyes that makes you shudder.
Come to think of it, the most ‘normal’ persons I’ve met so far are John and the Barkeeper...and the barkeeper could all the same be a frigging god watching over this world!

While moving through the forest, I wonder more than once just where the heck we are going. And whether Terra’s leading me towards a new clue or my untimely device. Weren’t there a bunch of stories about beautiful women luring unsuspecting men into the woods to suddenly discard their human skin, bursting into some sort of monster? ...I really need to stop thinking. I mean, seriously, why would some monster even bother assuming human form to lure wayward wanderers into the woods instead of just assaulting them as they’re passing through their territory? What could a single man even do against a monstrosity that eats people for breakfast? Besides, if Terra wanted me dead, she could’ve killed me ten times over and over again...yeah, that’s a good thought to hold on to. The very fact that she hasn’t harmed me yet is a good enough indication that she doesn’t intend to kill me...unless of course she’s leading me to her actual lair, where her spawn is...I really need to stop thinking!

“A-are we there soon?” I ask, huffing and puffing. Aside from thinking less, I clearly need to work out more.
“...you should work out more,” Terra notes, as if guessing my own thoughts.
“Yeah well, sorry for not running through some forest every day!” I wheeze, having to hold on to a nearby tree in order to not collapse.
“...I guess that is fair. Still, if you want to make it in this place, where villains and heroes come to rest...well, ‘regular people’ like yourself are simply outmatched here.”
No kidding there.
“But you’re in luck, it isn’t much farther. Can you walk?”
“...I’ll manage,” I reply after closing my eyes briefly and waiting for the blood rushing through my head to slow down.
“Good,” Terra replies, turns around and keeps walking. Thankfully slower.

At the end of the path only she seems to see, a clearing with a large tower awaits us. How I didn’t see that thing from two kilometers away, I don’t know...but then again, whatever is ‘normal’ in this place? For all I know, she just willed it into existing...which suggests that she was testing my limits or stalling for time...for whatever reason.

As I stumble out of the forest, shaking off some brambles I had stepped into, Terra already stops and looks up the tower, not even sweating in the slightest. As if this marathon was little more than a leisurely walk on a warm day for her. I mean, I know there’s a difference in physical fitness between her and me, but this is just ridiculous.

I shake my head and easy my shoulders to get rid of the various pains this forest run had inflicted on me and finally manage to ask, “So...where exactly are we?”
“A shortcut to the room of my Ex,” Terra replies.
“Your Ex, huh? Um...anything I should know about him before we go in there?”
“Yeah. Don’t go in there. Seriously, don’t. The tower of a dark elf mage is not a fun place for someone not attuned to the energies of darkness. Enter and you might never come back out again, caught in your own mind, in a maze of madness.”
“Is he...really that terrible a person? But...didn’t you say he was your Ex?”
“Oh, Sebarius has a heart of Gold and he’s a really swell guy and all that...but he still is a dark elf who took to studying the arts of our people. He also was my mentor back in the day. I owe him my life and so much more.”
Would you look at that...this woman is actually capable of feeling more than anger and wrath. To be honest, from the lead up, I figured she’d kick down doors or something.

Terra wipes away a single tear and then says, “Alright, time’s waiting for nobody. Wait here, I’ll be right back. Oh and...don’t worry if you should hear anything strange. I can handle myself.”
And with that, Terra walks off, her final words echoing in my ear. I mean, I know she can handle herself and I doubt I’d be able to help her if I tried, but...I...may want to step back a little.

About 10 minutes later, the entire tower in front of me starts to tremble with loud noise and I fear it might fall, but just as quickly as it started, it stops again and stands as if nothing ever happened. Another two minutes later, the door to the tower opens and a tall man dressed in black stumbles outside in a plume of black smoke. I swiftly walk forward to see how they are doing, when a menacing presence makes me stop in my tracks and my eyes fixate on the darkness beyond the gateway. Are those...red-glowing eyes in there? And...what’s with those...steps, each one sending a feeling of impending doom down my spine?
“H-help me,” the man on the ground suddenly pleads, looking at me.
“Um…,” I say, not sure what’s going on.
I only know one thing...I seriously don’t want to get involved in whatever is going on within that tower.