Leisure is sometimes better

I was speechless after Rui finished talking. I momentarily forgot that I had more questions I wanted to ask. Eventually, Rui spoke and broke my trance.

“Does that answer your question?”

“Ah! Yes, it does, but now I have a lot more.”

“Hah... I might as well answer, if you’re not going to sleep. Ask away.”

“Okay, my first question, and the one I’m most concerned about, is whether my soul is still intact. You said earlier that when a human gets possessed, their soul gets devoured by the ghost. Did that happen to me?”

“Technically, yes. But you’re not in danger of losing your life. For some reason, the spirit was devouring your soul at an abnormally slow rate. That’s why you’re still alive and why it took so long for the ghost to fully control your body. Now your soul is almost recovered.”

“I see... I’m really glad. A follow-up question. How long does it take for a ghost to fully possess someone normally?”

“About a week.”

“Wow... So why did it take so long in my case?”

“I don’t know. My guess is that your soul is different from others in some way, but I wouldn’t even know how. Do you have other questions?”

“Yes. How do ghosts come to exist?”

“They are the souls of dead people who, for reasons unknown to me, didn’t transform into... 'energy' after their bodies died. As a result, they wander the spirit world aimlessly."

“That brings me to my next question. What is this spirit world you’re talking about? Is it just a ‘place’ of some kind where ghosts exist?”

“It is much more than that. It’s something our mortal minds could never hope to fully understand. I know a little, like the fact that time works very differently there. The past, present, and future all coexist there at once, both as a singular point and across time as a whole. I have the ability to see a fraction of the spirit world, but that’s it. It is impossible for any living being to enter the spirit world.”

“I’m so confused right now.”

Rui laughed softly and sighed.

“I am too. Don’t think about it too much, for it is impossible to understand, as I said before.”

“Okay, I have another question then.”

“Yes?”

“If elves and ghosts exist, are there any other... ‘beings’ in this world? Like aliens, maybe.”

“I don’t know about aliens, but I do know of one other species. They are extinct now, hunted down by us elves. We called them vampires. They were vile, evil, and cunning, and looked very similar to humans, but were nothing like them. They needed fresh blood from a living creature for sustenance, but would mercilessly hunt down mainly humans and elves, claiming it was more delicious than the blood of ordinary animals. Vampires are also the ones who caused the death of every single elf, other than me...”

“Oh, I’m so sorry...”

“...”

Neither of us spoke for a while after that. I had more questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t, given the atmosphere.

Is it my fault for bringing that up? But there was no way I could’ve known... Even so, I feel really bad now. Is there anything I could say to lighten the mood a little? But wouldn’t that mean disregarding what she just told me as insignificant?

In the end, it was Rui who broke the silence.

“Do you have any other questions?”

“Is... Is that alright?”

“Of course, just ask.”

Does she want to change the subject on purpose, hoping to distract herself?

“Okay. Then, can you explain a bit more about the energy that souls are made of?"

“Sure. In the past, a more common term for it was ‘ley’. And not only souls, but every single thing in existence, living or not, is made of it. Souls, flesh, mountains, water, even air, everything is just different forms of ley. Also, ley in the living world is limited and needs to be replenished by ley from the spirit world, where it exists in infinite amounts."

“Infinite? How can there be an infinite amount of it? Where does it come from?”

“As I said before, the spirit world isn’t something we can understand.”

“Right...”

“Is there anything else you want to know?”

“Hmm, let me think. Oh, there is one. How did you manage to find me in the middle of the night while I was possessed? Can you sense ghosts from far away?”

“Well, um, yes, but it’s a little complicated. I would just bore you if I told you...”

She completely changed her way of speaking. Is she trying to avoid answering? Maybe it’s something she doesn’t want to talk about? I should probably just ignore it then.

“I see... I have one last question.”

“W-what is it?”

“It’s about your ‘transformation’.”

“A-ah... I see... What about it?”

She sounds a little uncomfortable again. Is it a sensitive topic?

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I already asked you about a lot of stuff, and my curiosity is satisfied, so don’t force yourself.”

“...I appreciate that. I can answer something else if you want.”

“I can’t really think of other questions right now... How about we switch?”

“How so?”

“Well, I’ve been the one asking all this time, so maybe you could ask me something you're curious about. I know I’m not nearly as interesting as you, but if you can think of a question, I’ll gladly answer.”

“...You think I’m interesting?”

“Y-yeah... You’re an elf, you can fly, and all sorts of other stuff. It may not be interesting to you, but it is to me.”

“I see... Well then, I guess I’ll ask something.”

“Great! Ask away.”

“What is your favorite food?”

“Favorite food? If I had to pick, I guess I’d go with pizza.”

“What kind?”

“With ham and black olives.”

“You like black olives?”

“Yes! They’re my number one pizza topping. I also put them in kebabs or salads.
You don’t like them?”

“Not really.”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“It’s also pizza, preferably with pineapple and mushrooms. But I also like ice-cream.”

“That’s a nice choice.”

“What other food do you like?”

“Kebab, sushi, steak, burgers. I pretty much like every food.”

“Me too! Food has been so tasty for the past hundred years. So many choices and flavors. That’s also the reason why I like pizza and ice-cream, because there are so many variations.”

She’s much more cheerful now than when we were discussing the supernatural.
For someone like her, who has lived for more than ten thousand years, leisure topics like food must be far more engaging than ghosts or vampires, which she doesn’t have pleasant memories of.

Although things like ghosts or vampires would usually be more interesting to me, for some reason, I actually enjoy this conversation more. Is it because Rui is having fun this time?

We talked about lighthearted stuff like food, music and books before we got to sports, which led to badminton.

“Do you remember the time we played badminton against each other?”

“A little. My short-term memory is a bit unreliable, but I do remember beating you 11-0."

“Haha... Yes, that’s true. How did you get so good anyway?”

“Living for so long, I often got bored, so I learned many different things, including sports, languages, cooking, baking and so on."

“Languages? How many can you speak?”

“Not too many, only sixteen.”

“Sixteen?! You call that ‘not too many’?”

“I was too lazy. If I had tried, I could have learned a lot more.”

“That’s still really impressive. What languages can you speak? Don’t name all of them though, I wouldn’t remember it anyway.”

“Obviously, I know Czech and English, and the more common ones, like French, German, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, Korean-”

“Okay, okay, I said don’t name all of them.”

We both chuckled a little, and Rui continued.

“Aside from boredom, another reason I learned so many languages was that I had to move frequently, since people would start to get suspicious when I wouldn’t age at all.”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t even think of that. How often do you have to move? And what about a license?”

“A license isn’t a problem anymore. I learned how to make fake ones. And I usually have to move every five to ten years, if I’m living in public that is.”

“Oh? Do you just live in the wilderness sometimes?”

“Basically, yes.”

“That’s so cool! So, do you catch your own food and stuff?"

We talked like this for hours, and Rui seemed to be really enjoying herself. It went by so fast that before we knew it, the sun was already up.