It was darkness that met him when he first woke up. Confusion didn’t have time to register when he had to lean forward, narrowly avoiding a nasty claw to the face. Only to find out that it wasn’t needed.

Jeylin suddenly became acutely aware of his now tiny body. Wiping the sweat off his face, it wasn’t the built, solid hands that met him. Instead, it was that of a child. Small, petite, soft. The swipe that was sent his way was too high to have actually landed on him.

In front of him were three wolves, snarling from their failure. ‘Didn’t seem to deter them though.’ He noted.

In fact, it seemed to motivate them further. Rage and anger fueling their attacks. The sight made his heart pound. The blood in his veins heated up even in the cold biome. Snow crunched with every step as he moved to dodge every swipe, bite and tackle.

This pattern continued for a while, minutes at least. But to Jeylin, it felt like hours because of one factor; Fear.

It was not a fear of death however. If not, a fear of what? It was the fear of things ending. The sheer excitement of dodging, not only for the sake of survival, but also just for the sake of it. In a way, it was like a game. ‘I don’t want it to end.’

But his body, his instincts, thought otherwise. The same instinct that helps him stay alive wants to run away. The unending conflict in his head was distracting. He agonized to sort out his mind, trying with his hardest to come to a decision.

Constantly moving around will eventually kill him. His body only had enough heat to warm his torso. His arms and legs were cold. Every breath he took poured cold air into his lungs. His throat felt dry from simply breathing.

But it was nice, he thought.

‘What the fuck am I doing?’ He realized. There doesn’t have to be only two choices– run or fight– There will likely be a chance for him to fight again. He had feared that there would never be another opportunity like this– Sinking back into his boring life– but you don’t just wake up one day in the body of your younger self.

So Jeylin reached one conclusion; He was isekai’d into another world. A dangerous world. That thought excited him more than it should.

‘I think I know what to do.’ He will allow a compromise with himself.

The boy spread his vision, not taking off his eyes from the wolves but still looking into the background. Thinking on the fly, he kicked up snow to block the two wolves' vision– He ducked the moment he heard snow crunch behind him– and effectively bought himself some time.

He bolted the moment he heard the wolf crash into snow, chasing the light he saw for the briefest moments. The excitement he felt was like molten lava flowing through his bones as though it had the consistency of air. ‘I’d probably be leading the wolves to however made that fire but…’

That meant that the wolves would also be their problem. Or the wolves would get killed along with him. Honestly, he thought that was pretty funny. ‘Problem for the future I suppose.’

Right now, he was running in between trees and making sure he didn’t trip on snow. Every chirp of the crows and every crunch of the leaves were blocked out by the sounds of growling and roaring. To Jeylin, those sounds were the embodiment of death itself. He hit his foot against a rock. The split second it took him to right himself became the split second the wolves were able to get to him.

One of them slashed at his arm but he was able to back away in time to minimize the wound. The large cut on his hand stung painfully. He didn’t let that slow him down however.

Instead, he went faster and faster. He was sure that he was using hysterical strength by now, how his legs didn’t break he wasn’t sure. Because of the rather large roots of the trees, he used those as footholds rather than the snow. The hard roots sent painful jolts through his already protesting legs since it didn’t soften his impact like snow did..

Thankfully, his efforts bore fruit. The sounds chasing him started to die down.

He grinned to no one, showing teeth. Even if he couldn’t fight them right now, he would get stronger and hunt them down. Not out of hate, not because they tried to kill and eat him.

No, it was because they would prove to be opponents he could fight in the future. And that's enough reason for him.

In spite of being a silent kid, Jeylin couldn’t keep himself from taking rapid, shallow breaths. Having given up his attempt to breathe slowly and deeply, he allowed himself to pant like a dog.

When he saw light peek through the trees, painting the snow orange, he couldn’t help but stop for a moment.

Able to relax, he sat down on the root of a particularly big tree. The root itself was more or less the size of a wooden bench, making him chuckle at the thought that it would share the same fate as a chair either way.

But trees were inanimate, alive but unable to think. It was funny either way.

Cracks could be heard as he popped his joints. Though, he made sure to be careful about it. He didn’t know the limits of his suddenly child-like body and he feared that he might break something. It was futile however, seeing as he already had a wound on his hand.

It was bleeding and red with blood. Right in between his thumb and index finger, on the back of his hand. ‘Should I disinfect it?’ He wondered. ‘Probably.’ But it was best to follow that light he saw earlier, seeing as he had no alcohol– or anything, really– at hand.

He took a few steps toward the light… and his hopes quickly dwindled. Peeking through the trees was the light and he came to the realization that it only lit the area around it, most likely a campfire and not a city, town or even a village.

He walked between the trees and, as expected, came to see a campfire. There was also a girl that seems to be his age, startled by his presence but he only looked over her in a deadpan.

Jeylin didn’t blame her or anything like that, but his disappointment did little to improve his mood. The wound on his hand was more irritating than it was painful, making it hard to keep track of his emotions.

Not wanting to make too bad of an impression, he looked away. Checking the snowy area instead to see if she set up a tent or something. A meek voice could be heard to his right.“Um…”

He didn’t answer her, simply watching her with his peripheral vision. “Who… are you?” She asked weakly.

He slowly turned to her with the speed that even a snail could race past, casually staring into her eyes. She quickly looked away, intimidated. “I am Jeylin.” He said finally. It did little to explain who he was but he felt a bit of amusement when frustration lingered in her eyes before she forced herself to speak again. ‘This girl isn’t very social is she?’ He thought, didn’t matter that it was hypocritical.

“...I mean, who– where are you from?” She asked again, just barely avoided repeating the same question. Something told her he would say the same thing just to fuck with her.

He held himself back from telling a gen-z level joke and answered honestly, “Don’t know, just woke up here.” He forgot how soft his voice was back when he was younger. Looking back, he had a much more feminine appearance as a kid. Not to say he didn’t as a teen but it was much more obvious here.

Short and smooth dark hair, petite hands and slim limbs. The boy also wore the same white shirt he wore as a kid. It had an odd symbol at the back, which he told other kids that it was actually the symbol of demons and gods, just to fuck with them.

“...Like me?” She muttered, seemingly… happy with the kinship? Though, he didn’t know if she should really be happy for the kinship of being mutually lost in some forest. That said, he didn’t say anything and simply sat down opposite to her.

“Yeah, you got anything to disinfect this cut?” He asked, showing her his hand. She gasped at the sight as her eyes widened at the sight. He thought she was exaggerating a bit but also noted his higher pain tolerance. It was pretty easy to just ignore pain after a while.

In her distraction, Jeylin examined her appearance. White hair that was slightly turquoise. The highlights from the fire made it seem like there were blood-red clouds in an otherwise green sky. She wore what seemed to be a sailor fuku that was somehow a mini-dress as well. Long sleeves with a long, loose skirt that reaches her knees.

Finally gathering herself, she shook her head shyly.

“Guess not.“ He said. Jeylin already noticed the lack of tents and items but thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

He wondered what his next step would be. Obviously, this girl wouldn’t hold the answers to his questions. The ‘Why did I wake up in a child’s body’ and the ‘How did I get here?’ questions at least.

Though, there were a set of questions he could ask. Like those pointy ears of her’s.

“I’m not exactly from here… Can you tell me about your ears?” He asked as politely as he could. A vague suspicion from his otaku heart was screaming out, but he forced his mind to rationality. Anything is possible, could have been a sort of surgery or something. Or a genetic mutation.

Even if he was convinced he was isekai’d.

“Oh…” She muttered, locking her fingers together, “I’m an elf.” There was something in her voice that Jeylin couldn’t catch the meaning of. Was she ashamed or something?

“Elf?” He echoed back. She met his eyes once again with a hardened will. As if she was a bear, ready to fight and defend herself. “Yes, I am an elf.” She confirmed with a sudden resolve.

Feeling the rush of intent from her, he had to hold back his instincts from striking her with his fist. It wasn’t even bloodlust or killing intent, but it was unexpected from the meek elf girl. WIth a discipline that no outside eye could see, he instead hummed. “Okay.”

“...’Okay?’” Her gaze faltered under his raised brow. ‘Seems she’s getting braver now.’ “Well, I don’t know what to say.” He didn’t really care about differences in race. Sure, it was surprising to meet what he thought was a race that only existed in fantasy, but it didn’t really impact his life that much.

‘Everyone falls under death, equal in eternal silence.’ He thought with dark amusement. Though, he didn’t voice that outloud, not wanting to scare the girl.

“People– humans– are usually surprised when they meet us…” She admits, her confusion evident.

“Just ‘cause other people behave one way, doesn’t mean i have to do the same.” He said simply, and he meant every word he said. The world could be ending and he would still laugh if he sees a person faceplant.

The elf girl gave it some thought, the ice between them that made her nervous seemed to have mostly melted. She didn’t get the chance to speak however.

“Anyway, I’m tired and hungry. Night.”

And with that, he fell asleep.