I woke up in a wooden cage with the rest of my party. We were surrounded by elves and the rest of the party was asleep next to me. One of the elves approached the cage and said, “Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”

He grabbed a wooden bowl filled with something that looks like syrup and slid it between the cage. “Give this to your friends to wake them up. Then we’ll question you.” He said.

I was hesitant to do it at first but I doubt the liquid is harmful, if they wanted to kill us they could’ve done it already. I took the bowl and poured the liquid into Killer’s mouth and he woke up instantly. Then I did the same to Ro, then Voyd. 

“Alright then,” The elf said, “for starters, why did you all come into our forest?”

I have no idea what the elves are planning to do with us but for right now I think it’s best to just be honest with them. I told them about Sanctuary and explained why we needed the flowers. 

They believed my story, the elf said they occasionally do recon outside of the forest so they know about what’s been going on the past few days around the capital ruins and the fact that they found us picking the flowers confirmed my story. 

But then they said, “Since the dawn of time, we elves have protected the forest and everything within it. The flowers are a precious and finite resource. And they’ve been made even more scarce thanks to the great disaster. Did you think you could come in here and just take what’s ours without asking? This is why we choose not to associate with you barbaric humans, did you even consider the possibility of trade?”

 I responded, “We definitely would’ve tried trading but I heard that the elves hate humans and kill anyone who comes in the forest.”

“And yet you decided to come into the forest anyways. If we were as merciless as you believed then you would be dead right now. Where did you even hear of such rumors?” The elf said.

I pointed at Voyd and said, “She told me.”

The elf looked at her and said, “I see, your name is Voyd right?”

Voyd looked up at him and asked, “How do you know my name?”

“I knew you when you were too young to speak, before your parents ran away. What did they tell you about us?” The elf replied.

“They told me that you kill all humans and that’s why we had to run away.” Voyd said.

“That’s not true at all! Your parents ran away because they broke a sacred rule, one that is punishable by death.” The elf said.

“Really?” Voyd asked.

“Yes, how else do you think your parents were able to meet?” The elf said.

“I guess that makes sense.” Voyd said.

“With that being said, your beliefs about us weren’t so much as unreasonable. The truth is the majority of humans who’ve wandered into our forests have had nothing but bad intentions so we have indeed slain many and kept even more as prisoners. But we always try to subdue and question those that we can.”

A wave of relief washed over me and I said, “Thank God, so that means you’ll let us go?”

The elf responded, “Not quite, we still have to confirm that you’re not a threat to us.” 

I asked, “What do you mean? How can we prove we’re not a threat?”

The elf said, “We still have some questions for you two. For starters, what’s this strange device here? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

He pulled out my gun and I quickly said, “Be careful with that! It’s dangerous!”

“So it’s a weapon then? I guess we were right in confiscating this. How does it work?” He asked.

I told him that it was kind of like a mini magic cannon and explained how guns work. I showed him how to turn off the safety and how to use the switch to change firing modes and then he tested it out on a target. The elves were shocked by how powerful it was and how little mana it used. Then they told us they’ll be holding onto it until we’ve left the forest which was reasonable. Then they asked me where I got it from. I wasn’t sure what to say and I don’t want to start lying to them now so I just told them that it came from my homeland. They then followed up with a bunch of questions about where I came from and I had to tell them that I didn’t remember much about it. They were a little skeptical but I haven’t given them a reason to distrust me so we were fine for now. 

“One last question,” the elf said, “Before you passed out, you said that you would spare us. That, along with the fact that Voyd was in your party is why we decided to take a non-lethal approach. However, I want to know under what circumstances would you choose to attack someone.”

“Uhh, I mean, if we didn’t pass out right away then we would’ve fought back.” I said.

“No, I don’t mean self defense. Under what parameters would you decide to attack someone first?” The elf replied.

I thought about what he said for a moment, “Well, if we tried to leave the forest peacefully and you stopped us then we’d have no choice but to fight our way out.” I told him.

“What about the flowers? Would you kill us over those?” He asked.

“I mean we could probably figure out another way to talk to the MMP’s. The flowers just make it easier.” I said.

“So in other words, you would kill anyone but only if they stood in the way of your goals.” The elf said.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I replied. 

“Very well, we’ll release you from the cage and then we’ll discuss a trade for the flowers.” Said the elf.

One of the elves pulled a chain that lowered the cage and another took out a key and opened the door for us.

“So what do you have to offer us for trade?” The main elf asked.

“Ummm, we don’t really have much.” I told him.

“That’s unfortunate, you’ll have to return with something that’ll be of use to us.” He told me.

“Hold on, do you guys need any help around the forest? Maybe we could work in exchange for the flowers.” I suggested.

“That’s an interesting proposal… I accept, follow me to our village.” He said. 

We followed the elf through the forest, while we were walking Voyd asked the elf, “Um excuse me, do you know anything else about my parents?”

“Of course, we come from a fairly small village where everyone is friendly with everyone. Tell me, what would you like to know?” The elf replied.

“What was my dad like?” Voyd asked.

“Aside from your friends, he’s the only human I’ve ever met. He was extremely kind and a great healer too. And he always made a great effort to participate in elven culture. All of us were very sad when you all were exiled, but it had to be done.” He said.

“What did they do?” I asked.

“Her father broke an ancient religious rule. He didn’t mean us any harm, but we couldn’t let them stay.” The elf told us. 

We eventually arrived at the village, their buildings were all up in the trees with many rope bridges connecting them. The plants around the village were well maintained like a botanical garden back home. I’d never expect somewhere that looks this nice to exist in this world.

“Hey uh if you don’t mind me asking, How’d you guys keep this place looking so good?” I asked the elf.

“We maintain the grounds daily.” He replied.

“No not that, I mean how’d you keep this place looking less like the rest of the wasteland.” I said.

“Oh I see what you mean. Our elders tell us that after the Amin capital fell, elven soldiers came to the empire's aid. However, the battle quickly turned into a defensive one. They described it as a sea of complete darkness that could only be stopped by the strongest defensive magic.” The elf told us.

“Wait hold on, you guys used to fight alongside humans?” I asked.

“Of course, it’s like I told you. We don’t hate humans, actually it’s a bit more complicated than that...”

"...Long ago, humanity colonized our lands and enslaved many of our people. Lord Amin I saved us and allowed us to live peacefully in the forest. Whenever the Empire needed help, we felt obligated to come to their aid. After the apocalypse however, humanity lost its charitable spirit and started looking out only for themselves. We had to keep our forest on close watch since then." The elf said.

"I see." I replied. He led us to some stairs that led up to the treetops and showed us to one of the buildings.

“This place has two rooms available for you to use while you stay. In the morning, we’ll have you guys escort our gatherers while they collect things around the forest. You may have to protect them from monsters but normally it’s an easy job. Even if you don’t end up fighting, you’ll still be doing us a huge favor by freeing up more fighters to send hunting or scouting.” The elf said.

“Alright, sounds good.” I said.

Later that night, Ro and Voyd were in their room talking.

“So what do you think about this place?” Ro asked.

“It’s nice.” Voyd replied.

“Y’know if you wanted, you could probably stay here once we’re done. Do you want me to ask the elves tomorrow morning if they’ll let you?” Ro said.

“Hmm… I’m not sure.” Voyd said.

“Really? Well, I guess you don’t have to decide right now.” Ro moved to put out the light and then she tucked herself in. “Goodnight.” She said.

“Goodnight.” Voyd replied.

In the morning, we met with the elves we would be running security for. Two other warrior elves were assigned to help us out. They handed the party their weapons back and they handed me a sword.

“Umm, where’s my gun?” I asked.

“We’ll have to hold onto it until you leave the forest, I hope you understand.” The elf said.

“Alright I guess that’s fine.” 

We followed the elves into the forest and watched them pick berries and herbs. I was bored as hell, so I tried flirting with some of the lady elves but had no success. After a little while, we heard howling from a short distance away.

“Be on your guard.” One of the fighter elves said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Clobberwolves.” The elf responded.

 A pack of large dogs with clubs for tails came sprinting out of the treeline surrounding us. The elves charged with their swords, they used wind magic to send slashes of air beyond the swords reach which gave the wolves shallow cuts.  Ro stood towards the back firing off as many shots as she can while Voyd used her wind magic to blow away any wolves that got too close to the gatherers and Killer was running around swinging wildly at any wolf that came near him. The scene was chaotic but I tried to help by keeping a wolf or two busy. I got one’s attention and it charged towards me. I’ve never swung a sword before, but I do know a little wind magic and if I can channel that power through the sword like Voyd taught me, I should be fine. I pulled my sword back and focused my mana into it then swung, but nothing happened. The wolf pounced on me and bit my left arm. I cried out in pain but before I knew it, the wolf had an arrow fly through its head.

“Stop messing around p**sy!” Ro screamed at me. 

Shortly after that the wolves retreated. The elves thanked us for our help and we started making our way back to the village. While we were walking I overheard some of the elves talking,

“Hey are you going to the o**y tonight?” One of them asked.

“Of course!” One responded. “What about you?”

“You know it.” he said.

“Awesome, I can't wait to see you there.” One male elf said to another male.

I tapped one of the elves on the shoulder and whispered. “Hey uh, is it cool if I come to the o**y?” I asked.

“Oh sorry, but it’s for elves only. I hope you understand.” The elf replied.

“Oh alright then…” I said. 

We made it back to the village and we were greeted by the chief. He thanked us for our work and told us he’d be giving us the flowers as well as my gun back tomorrow morning. We thanked him in return for giving us the opportunity to work for the flowers and then we went back to our rooms to rest.

As I sat in my room waiting for the sun to set I thought to myself, I gotta get some elf coochie before I leave.

I asked Voyd if she could disguise me as an elf. She asked me why but I didn’t wanna tell her it was for an o**y so I told her it was to practice recon in case I ever needed to disguise myself as an elf in the future. She looked really confused at first, but when I told her that if the other elves can’t notice it then no one outside the forest will either, she agreed to help me out. 

We went out and picked some mushrooms that were nearly the same pigment as my skin. We cut them into pointy ear tips then used tree sap to stick them on.

“That should be good enough.” Voyd said. I can’t tell without a mirror but I trust her judgement.

My room had a closet that was full of elf clothing, I put some on and when night fell, I went to the o**y. 

I followed all the other elves to a secluded area in the forest. They lined up and started handing out brown robes. I put mine on and followed the elves to a clearing with 8 well maintained statues all in a row with one broken statue on the far right side. Beneath the statues were plaques I couldn’t read, but one of the statues I recognized. It looks exactly like the goddess Soaria. Her statue was the second farthest to the left, next to two male statues. 

The elves circled up around the statues, I did the same. One really old elf went to the center in front of the statues and said, “Good evening friends, I hope that everyone had a blessed week. Let us all bow our heads and start with a prayer.”

All the elves bowed their heads, I did the same.

“Dear spirits, we are eternally grateful to you all for protecting the forest and all that resides within. Please accept this ceremony as a thank you, in hopes that this forest may be blessed by your powers forever. Amana.” After the prayer, all the elves said, “Amana” simultaneously. 

Next, some of the elves took out instruments and started playing music. We all grabbed hands and danced in a circle around the statues. When that was done, the old elf said there was food prepared for us to eat. I lined up with the rest of the elves.

While we were waiting for our turn to grab food I asked the guy in front of me, “Hey, when’s the part where we get naked?”

He looked at me confused. “What?” He asked.

“This is an o**y right?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but what makes you think we’re getting naked?” He said to me.

Now I look confused.

“Hold on, do I know you?” The elf asked me.

“Ummm…” I hesitated.

“What part of the village are you from?” He asked. 

I’m cooked. There’s no way I can answer that.

“Sooo… are you gonna answer or just stand there?” He said.

Now the other elves in line are staring at me. There’s no way I can get out of this now, so I stepped out of the line and ran away into the forest. Some of the elves chased me down. 

I sprinted towards the house we were staying in and busted into Voyd and Ro’s room.

“Hey! Did no one teach you to knock first a*shole!” Ro yelled at me.

“We don’t have time for that! I need you to tell me what an o**y is right now!” I said while pointing at Voyd.

“What the f**k!?” Ro screamed.

“An o**y is just a secret religious gathering for the elves.” Voyd said.

“So… that religious rule your dad broke that got him the death penalty… it was because he went to the o**y, isn't it?” I said.

“Yeah.” Voyd replied.

“Alright… we gotta go.” I told the two of them.