ELF

The cloaked figure just stood there unwavering.

Despite the bright, full moon, Chinatsu couldn’t make out any features beyond humanoid. He felt sure that it wasn’t a monster, but who knew with this place?

He felt Miyabi stirring. Then a beam of light hit the person in front of them. Miyabi had pulled Chinatsu’s smartphone from the pants pocket and activated the flashlight.

The figure winced and shielded their eyes from the sudden bright light, but now Chinatsu could make out their features. Pale skin, white hair, and…pointy ears?

“Are you an enemy!?” Miyabi barked.

“No.”

“Are you an Elf!?” Chinatsu blurted out.

“Yes…?”

They seemed to relax a bit. This Elf had surely been the one to just save them. But how?

“Why did you…How did you…?” Chinatsu asked.

“With my magic… And because you two were in trouble,” the Elf replied, lowering their hood.

Long, white hair cascaded down their back. Chinatsu could make out more clearly now the Elf’s soft, youthful appearance, and their differently colored eyes.

Miyabi tried to move on her own, but collapsed to the ground.

“Ah! The Wraith–” Chinatsu cradled Miyabi in his arms. She was cold and clammy. The Elf rushed forward.

“Your friend just needs to rest right now, but I can try to help speed up his recovery time with my magic,” the Elf said, gently placing their hand on Miyabi’s forehead.

“But we need to keep going,” Chinatsu’s voice quivered.

“Please rest, traveler,” the Elf pleaded. “I’ll keep you safe tonight.”

The Elf came and went from the dead end, gathering materials to build a small fire, which they lit with a flint from their pouch. Chinatsu and the Elf moved Miyabi closer to the fire. She was pale and weak.

“The fire will keep Wraiths away, so I can concentrate my magic on your friend,” the Elf explained.

They immediately got to work on Miyabi. The Elf’s hands hovered over Miyabi’s heart and emitted a soft, glowing light. They muttered unintelligible prayers.

“Um, what’s your name?” Chinatsu asked.

“Shh, I need to concentrate,” the Elf said, with a gentle smile.

The Elf’s attention was focused solely on Miyabi now. Chinatsu gazed intently at this mysterious Elf’s even more mysterious eyes. The right iris was bright blue, while the left iris was red but shifted to a deeper purple color as light and shadow from the fire flickered across the Elf’s face.

Chinatsu's eyelids started to get heavy. It had felt like the longest day of his life. He curled up on the ground, resting his head on the school bag. Very uncomfortable, but this body he was in was just too tired to care.

Too tired to even dream.

Chinatsu woke with a start, as if some survival instinct deep inside was urging him to wake up. He had hoped that this had all been some long nightmare, but the sight of his own body sitting opposite of himself cemented the reality of it all.

The fire had long since died down and was cold, with no trace of a single ember. Miyabi was quietly reading one of the textbooks that had made its way over to this world with them.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Miyabi yawned.

“Are you…studying?” Chinatsu squinted, trying to make out which textbook Miyabi held.

Miyabi clapped the book closed. It was a history textbook.

“I don’t want to fall behind,” she said curtly.

“You almost died last night, and you’re worried about falling behind,” Chinatsu sighed and flopped onto his back.

“Good morning!” the Elf leaned over Chinatsu.

“Argh!” he startled. “You’re still here?”

“Chinatsu, honestly…Is that any way to talk to someone who saved us?” Miyabi chided.

“I found the thing you dropped,” the Elf said, handing over the pink water bottle to Miyabi. It had been dropped when the two of them ran from the Wraith.

“Thank you!” Miyabi said before chugging the water.

“Ah! Hey! We’re supposed to be rationing that!” Chinatsu leaped up to wrestle the water bottle from Miyabi.

“I almost died,” she grunted. “I need it more than you right now.”

Miyabi guzzled the remainder of the water and tipped the empty bottle over as if to taunt Chinatsu.

“Don’t worry, there are more drinking water sources in here, little Chinatsu,” the Elf said, patting his head.

“Huh? How do you know my name?”

“Miyabi told me your names while you were still asleep,” the Elf smiled. “My name is Peony!”

Miyabi stood up and dusted herself off. She extended a hand to help Chinatsu off the ground, but Chinatsu smacked the hand away and helped himself up. Miyabi rolled her eyes and walked away to gather up the sword and schoolbag.

Chinatsu began to pick up his stuff and realized he was still barefoot. The shoes and socks had been left behind at the spot where they had rested before the Wraith attacked them. But his feet didn’t hurt anymore? He examined them–no signs of blisters, and the cut from the minotaur was gone too.

“I healed your feet,” Peony said.

When!? When he was asleep?

“Oh! Um, thank you,” Chinatsu said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Chinatsu couldn’t help but stare at Peony. He couldn’t quite tell if they were a boy or a girl. Although, wasn’t that often the case with Elves? Peony was slender and close in height to the body Chinatsu was currently occupying. They had an ethereal beauty to them, and in the sun, their pale skin looked almost translucent.

“Um!” Peony suddenly got flustered. “I also found these. They’re yours, right?”

Peony handed the shoes and socks to Chinatsu. The socks were crusted with dried blood from the blisters, but the shoes would be better to wear than going barefoot in this place.

“Th-thank you!” Chinatsu suddenly felt flustered, too. “I’m sorry for staring.”

“This idiot is probably just excited to meet an Elf like you, Peony,” Miyabi teased. “Chinatsu is a fantasy geek after all.”

“Ah! I’m not a fantasy geek! Don’t make things up!” Chinatsu blushed.

“Oh, do you not have Elves in your world?” Peony asked.

“No. Just humans. Elves are something out of a book where we’re from,” Miyabi stated.

“Wow! I hope that I can make a good impression for all Elfkind.” Peony started to fidget and pulled the hood of their royal blue cloak up, hiding a shy smile.

“Well, I don’t know about this person,” Miyabi said, gesturing to Chinatsu. “But I’m impressed. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough for saving me–for saving us.”

“Y-yeah! Me too! Thank you so much for everything!” Chinatsu added, not wanting to be outdone by Miyabi.

Peony fidgeted.

“Um…if it’s not too much trouble, please travel with us. We need you. We’ll help ensure your safety if you continue helping us in return,” Miyabi bowed and put her hand out to Peony.

“I may not look like much, but I’m pretty much the brains of this operation. And this one is the brawn!” Chinatsu said, clapping Miyabi on the back.

Peony lowered their hood once more and looked at the outstretched hand. They hesitated for a moment but clasped Miyabi’s hand tightly in their own small hands.

“If you’ll have me!” the Elf smiled brightly.

“The three of us will be unstoppable, I bet,” Chinatsu exclaimed, throwing his arm over Peony’s shoulder.

Peony pulled the two humans into a tight hug. The Elf smelled like medicinal herbs and spices. Chinatsu got the feeling that Peony was very lonely and patted them on the back.

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Peony said, pulling away from the hug and wiping a tear from their eye.

“Well, we’re ready to go if you are,” Miyabi said, looking at the ground.

“Yes!” Peony’s excitement grew. “But I must warn you, we have to stop when the sun goes down. When we make camp, I can put up a protective barrier for us.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s right, we learned our lesson, didn’t we? We don’t want to encounter any more monsters at night,” Chinatsu whined.

“Actually, the monsters are only active during the day. For some reason, they completely stop when the sun goes down. The Wraiths are the real danger at night,” Peony explained.

It was true. Chinatsu and Miyabi went into the night with a false sense of security since they hadn’t encountered anything until the Wraith. So were Wraiths the only danger at night?

“By the way, Peony, last night you said you used magic to dispel the Wraith,” Chinatsu said, putting the shoes on without socks. “So what kind of magic was it exactly? Because I know that Wraiths don’t really take slashing or piercing or bludgeoning damage. In fact, they’re resistant to most attacks, magical or non-magical. Though I think silver weapons can work? But they’re weak to light. It was so bright, could it have been some kind of sunlight spell? Hmm…but maybe something else because I noticed the Wraith changed…”

“Wow, and you claim you’re not a fantasy geek?” Miyabi interrupted.

“Shaddup!” Chinatsu stomped his foot. He tried to push Miyabi over, but in his body her center of balance was far greater, and she could not be toppled.

“I exorcised it,” Peony stated.

“Exorcised?” The two stopped their roughhousing.

“Wraiths are the souls of people like you or me who died in the maze with a strong feeling of regret. Their souls are bound to this place. They tend to wander in the general area in which they died,” Peony grew serious.

Peony picked up their staff. It was slightly longer than Peony was tall, delicate and made of silver. Ornamentation on the top of it jingled when it moved. They carried themself with a regal air while holding it.

“In my world, I was known as a Saint. All elves can use magic where I’m from, but my power comes directly from our God. I’m the only one who can use Holy and healing magic. Thus, I can exorcise spirits and demons, and heal any wound like I healed you two,” Peony continued.

Chinatsu was speechless. The boy he saw in the light before the Wraith had completely dissipated…that was the Wraith!? If he or Miyabi had died, would they have become one too?

“Don’t tell me…You’re not from here either!?” Miyabi questioned.

“That’s right,” Peony said. “I was brought here just like you two.”