“What do you mean different universe?” Ashter asked and looked around nervously.

“Relax, as long as you’re seen as elves, you’re ok.” I said as I swished my hand and their ears grew longer and pointier into elf ears.

“Oooh.” Mercedes said as she wandered around like a toddler, getting distracted by everything. Cove stood up, a bit awe-struck, as if she was just realizing how things looked. We were in a lush green forest with shades between dark pine green, and light emerald green. You could hear birds and crickets, and if you listened, you could hear water. 

“How is this universe so gorgeous?” She asked as walked up to a bright purple butterfly and was about to touch it. 

“DON’T!” I yelled and pulled her away as she glared at me. 

“What was that for?!” She exclaimed and I pointed at the butterfly as it grew large talons and large, pointed teeth. It grew into a large, purple, snarling beast that looked almost like a lion mixed with a bear and stared at us with beady red eyes. We took a few steps back, maintaining eye contact. The beast got on all fours and started snarling, then a loud, ear shattering roar rose from the trees, and the beast ran off as if it were a scared kitten. We all looked towards where we heard the roar. Mercedes started walking in that direction, and we followed. It was stupid, yes, but this was a different universe, and besides, it was probably hunters killing the beast. Right? 

—

As we walked through the forest, we heard the weirdest noises. We walked past a field of faded yellow flowers that looked like bells, but they sounded like an awful bagpipe player mixed with a dying duck. We also walked past toucans with baboon heads for their heads, and it sounded like, well, a baboon mixed with a toucan. After a while, we made it to a small stream, but there was something that felt off. Unlike the other areas of the forest, it was silent, and there wasn’t any sign of life aside from the plants growing there. 

“Why is it so quiet?” Ashter asked, looking around nervously. Cove however seemed overjoyed that it was quiet. She went on and on about how it would be a perfect spot for reading, or a picnic in the spring. 

“Cove, I don’t think this would be a good spot for anything. Something seems off.” I said in a cautious tone as I looked around. 

“I agree with Forrest, this place seems off.” Birch muttered as he shrank next to a tree trunk, under the shade of the leaves. He had been quiet the entire time and seemed extra nervous here. 

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about. This place is gorgeous and SO much quieter than the rest of the forest!” Cove said with a slightly judgemental look towards us. 

“Yes but-” I started, but was cut off by a rustling noise and we stopped talking. I heard rustling noises from all around us. We all backed up into each other and Mercedes squeaked when our backs touched, and quick confession, I may have gotten a bit startled. But just a bit.

“Who’s there? I’m warning you. Show yourself! Or selves, UGH! My brain hurts…” I mumbled, then heard giggling amongst the trees and the others must’ve heard it too, because we all turned around to try and pinpoint the noise.

“Sh-Show yourselves!” Cove demanded and had picked up a large stick and was pointing it wherever she heard noises. Mercedes was trying to hide behind us, Ashter and Birch were back to back trying to find the thing or things that were making the noises.

“You guys look silly!” An elf said as they jumped out of a tree. The elf had long dark black hair that faded to white. Their skin was a chestnut brown and had lighter splotches. So, I guess that elves could also have vitiligo. I wondered if it was genetic or maybe something different. They wore various shades of light and pale yellows on their clothes which looked like they were hand made. The clothes were pretty casual, a pale yellow t-shirt with a small, bright, neon sun in the corner, there were several patches on them. The black shorts were biker shorts, but a bit longer than usual biker shorts. The elf also wore a flannel jacket around their waist, but the elfs distinguishing feature was their ear. A piece of their ear was floating above the rest, there was a dip where it was floating. Another feature was a dearlike tail, so I assumed it was an animal or nature elf. But their canary yellow eyes caught me off guard. They were startlingly bright. 

“Who are you?” Cove questioned, dropping her arms slightly but not loosening her grip on the stick.

“My name is Sunny! Who are you?” The elf, apparently named Sunny, asked and tilted her head but she still had a smile.

“Uhm, I’m…” I started thinking of a name, I wasn’t sure if we could trust her when, 

“I’m Mercedes, this is Cove, Ashter, Birch, and Forrest!” Mercedes said and pointed at us as she said our names. I put my head in my hands. Great... 

“Cool names!” Sunny complimented, the smile not leaving her face. “I don’t know if Devin will trust you though.”

“Who’s Devin?” Ashter asked.

“My twin! He doesn't like other elves though.” Sunny replied as she looked at us. “Why are you guys here? This is where the beast feeds.”

“Uhm.. beast?” Cove asked as she looked around nervously and tightened her grip on the stick.

“Oh don’t worry! The beast only comes out at night!” Sunny assured and I looked up at the sky, it was sunset, we’d already been here most of the day.

“Here, follow me!” Sunny said and walked in the direction of the roar that we had been following.

“Uhm, one minute please.” I said as I grabbed the others and we huddled.

“Can we trust her? She seems happy, TOO happy…” I whispered.

“So? Mercedes is happy, TOO happy.” Cove whispered back, rolling her eyes slightly.

“She also has amnesia.”

“So? She was always TOO happy at school.”

“Cove, Forrest, quit fighting.” Ashter cut in, glaring at us both and I huffed. 

“What do you think, Birch? Wait, where’s Birch?” Ashter asked and looked around, then we saw him walk up to Sunny. 

“Ok, we talked about it and we agree!” Birch said with a smile, his hands on his hips.

“Awesome! My home isn’t far from here!” Sunny smiled and continued walking.

We all glared at Birch, except Mercedes who followed Sunny happily. Birch shrugged, “What? You guys were busy arguing and I was bored.”

He then followed Mercedes and Sunny.

“I guess we follow.” Cove huffed and followed, I was close behind her and Ashter followed behind us, staying in the shadows. He.

—

 After walking in silence for a few minutes, I walked closer to Cove and dropped my voice to a whisper, “Something seems off with this entire thing.”

She looked me dead in the eyes and nodded, “You’re 100% right.”

“What should we do?” I asked and she shrugged.

“Almost there!” Sunny yelled back to us. We hadn’t been walking for 15 minutes, this house was close! After a few more moments of silence we arrived at a small house, actually, I wouldn’t even call it a house, it was more of a hut. It wasn’t much. There were holes in the roof that had been covered with boards of wood, and that wood didn’t seem like it would hang on for much longer. It was a bit smaller than one of those cottages you see in princess movies. The windows had no glass, so they were basically holes in the wall, which, when I took a closer look, they probably were holes in the wall. The outside had lots of beautiful flowers I had never seen before. There was also a small porch with a few rocking chairs. Sunny approached the house slowly.

“Wait outside, I need to check something really quick.” She said then dashed inside and came out a few seconds later. “Ok, you can come in, Devins asleep.”

And just as she said that, a tall elf that looked like Sunny walked out. The elfs clothes also looked hand made, but the elf wore a plate of armor over it. They had the same black to white hair, only much shorter. The elf had a drip below their ear, similar to Sunny’s above ear drip. The elf wore dark shades of red and black. I couldn’t tell you the color of both eyes because one eye was covered by a bandage, the one eye I could see was a dark red that reminded me of blood. And the elf also had several scars on their face. They had a serpentine-like tail, and black scars covering their arm. Another thing I noticed was an armor plate above the black shirt they were wearing, and on their belt, glasses.

“Yeah, I’m totally asleep.” The elf said with an eye roll. I assumed the elf was Devin because Sunny jumped back in shock.

“Who are these people? Why are they here? They could be with the empire Sunny! Remember what the empire did?” Devin asked and looked annoyed while Sunny looked sad.

“I’m sorry, but they aren’t part of the empire! They didn’t know what the beast was and it scared them!” Sunny said, trying to convince Devin and he just sighed.

“Alright, fine, but if something bad happens and we find out they’re lying, they go.” Dustin said sternly, then he walked inside and we followed. It wasn’t much better than the inside, it was small with maybe 2 rooms and a combined kitchen living room.

“Make yourselves comfortable.” Devin said with a huff and walked into one of the rooms. Sunny giggled nervously.

“Ha ha… Devin isn’t a very social person… He prefers alone time…” She explained as Mercedes wandered around the house. She seemed to like it and sat on the floor, poking at a piece of the roof that had fallen and Cove bapped her hand. 

“Don’t touch that, you don’t know where it’s been!” She scolded as Mercedes rubbed her hand and muttered something that I assumed was a cuss word.

“I like the place!” Birch complimented and looked at the kitchen, a gleam in his eye. I knew what that meant.

“Birch.”

“Yeees?” He asked in a mock innocent tone.

“Don’t.”

Birch huffed, “I wasn’t gonna..”

“OH! That’s what he was gonna do!” Ashter said and started snickering causing Birch to turn redder than a tomato.

“It was one time!” He said in defense and Cove giggled.

“And it was hilarious!”

“What was it?” Sunny questioned. She looked like she really wanted to hear the story. Cove was the one that managed to stop giggling long enough to tell the story.

“So, once, when we were in 8th grade, Birch saw this really pretty cake online and decided to try and make it.” she began explaining and Birch turned even redder as Cove continued, “And so he went to the store to get all the materials, but instead of flour, he got baking soda, and instead of sugar, he got salt! He also messed up the vanilla with molasses! And when he tried to make the cake,”

“Please don’t..” Birch pleaded and hid his face in his hands.

“The cake was burnt, and when he tried to take it out of the pan, it fell apart! On top of that, when he tasted it, he couldn’t stop chugging water from the large amount of salt!” Cove finished explaining and her and Ashter started laughing louder than they had before and Sunny was giggling. I rolled my eyes, but had a small smile on my face, and Mercedes copied my eye roll, criss-crossing her legs.

“Sunny! I found it!” Devin exclaimed and ran out of the room, holding an odd looking gem in his hand. The gem seemed to glow a million colors at once, it was a pretty small size, it was an oval shape. It kind of reminded me of an Opal, just less opaque and more colorful.

“It looks like your eyes Forrest!” Ashter said, wiping a tear from his eye after finally managing to calm down.

“Huh, you’re right..” Devin muttered as he looked in my eyes, and I hate to say, I felt a bit, a bit, flustered.

“Forrest, are you ok? You look red.” Birch asked, looking a bit worried for me.

“O-Oh, um, yup! I-I just need some fresh air!” I replied and chuckled nervously before walking outside. Birch followed me and giggled, “Forrest has a cru-ush!” he teased and I slapped his face.

 “Shut up!” I exclaimed and looked away in embarrassment.

“OW! How are you so strong!?” He grumbled and rubbed his face for the 3rd time today. 

—

After the sun had set and the others were asleep, I snuck outside and stared at the moon from the porch, sighing quietly.

“You ok?” Sunny asked as she walked outside and stood next to me.

“Ya, just a bit homesick..” I replied quietly and stared at the stars, wondering what each constellation was.

“I know how you feel…” Sunny said with a sigh and followed my gaze. “That constellation is Oculus Oceani. Eye of the Ocean.”

I looked up at the constellation, and I could swear I heard the ocean.

“It only comes out during wars, the elders say it’s because it watches over everyone, keeping them safe.” Devin explained and walked outside to join us. We stood silently for a while before Devin spoke, “We should get to bed, we need to wake up early and get you guys home.”

Me and Sunny nodded and walked inside, and I swore I heard Devin say something to the constellation before walking inside.