The One-Eyed Elf

“Leo… Leo!… Leonardo!…”

“LEONARDO!”

Leonardo gasps as he wakes up. Breathing heavily, he realizes that all the equipment has been striped from him. With only a shirt and boxers, he senses that his wounds were treated and it has rags and cloths covering them.

The voice who was calling me… who was it… Juan?

He thinks as he sees an unfamiliar green ceiling, it’s daytime.

It was all a dream then? In which tent am I?

He wonders as he sees the green walls of the tent being supported by some logs. As he is in a bed close by the walls he reaches his hand to touch it.

This is… not fabric?

“You’re finally awake.” Says a female voice from the other side. Leonardo quickly turns around to face her. And he sees a human face, but with long fox ears coming from her head. Clearly a human with animal features. Leonardo abruptly sits upright in his bed and puts his back to the wall.

“Who— What are you?!”

“Don’t be so alarmed, you’re safe. Just wait here.” The woman says as she stands up from the tree stump and leaves the tent. Now that he’s alone, he jumps out from his bed and begins looking around the tent. The walls are indeed not made of fabric, they are huge leaves. The bed is also not a common one, it is only wool, a great amount of wool lying on the floor. Besides the tree stump, there was a knife stuck in the ground. He quickly grabs it, then a tall figure enters the tent.

“You still seem to be on the defensive.”

“Who are you?” Leonardo says pointing the knife towards the tall man. “And where is my stuff!?”

“My name is Da’el, and the things you had with you, we are just taking a look at them. If we can trust you, you will have them back soon. So, what is your name?”

“I’m Leonardo… what’s— what’s up with your ears?” He asks as he focuses on his long, sharp ears. They are not animal-like. They still seem human, despite how long they are. The man, with long straight hair, also has a patch covering his left eye, although it is not as big to cover that scar on his face.

“Oh, you have probably never seen an elf before have you? The world is suddenly much bigger when you leave the iron cage. There are many, many more races besides humans and faunos. But I’m not like the animals, so you don’t have to fear me.”

“You’re spitting nonsense! What the hell is a faunos?”

“Uhmm… That’s… unexpected.” The elf says as he begins to ponder with his hand on his chin. Leonardo, goes straight past him, leaving the tent made of leaves.

As he steps outside, he drops the knife he was holding onto. He found himself somewhere akin to a campsite. At his feet he feels the tickling sensation of bright green grass blades, and in front of him there can be found other tents just like the one he was inside. Some men, half of them exactly like him, while the others have some kind of animal characteristics, are working together. They are trying to build a wooden house, not with nails and hammers, but tying planks with twines. Then he hears the clash of iron nearby, as he approaches to take a peek, he sees at the other side of a narrow river, many people fighting with swords. It is not a free for all, but rather one-on-one combat between several pairs.

They are… sparring?

Then he notices a drop of sweat running down his face, only to finally fall on the grass. He takes a look up to the sky and sees a beautiful blue sky with a scorching sun.

There is no way, how can it be this hot? We’re supposed to be in the middle of fall.

“This is a nice place, is it not?” Asks the elf a few meters behind him.

“We are… not in Malvinas right now. How?”

“Uhm, I’m not very sure I know this place you speak of. What exactly is ‘Malvinas’?”

“They are islands at the end of the world… what happened to the war?”

“What war?”

“Against the British.” Says Leonardo now looking directly at the elf, as he sees his long ear partner confused, he elaborates further.

“The British empire, the United Kingdom… y’know… England.”

“I don’t know this kingdom you’re speaking of, which race governs that empire?”

“Which race?” Leonardo asks again, dumbfounded by the question. “The… human race.”

“But you're also a human being. A war between humans— cannot happen in this world.” And so, the elf appears to have realized something.

“Come with me!” The elf commands as he grabs Leonardo from the wrist and begins trotting, they go past many tents, Leonardo is confused enough that he does not even try to resist the sudden urge of the elf, and he curiously observes at his surroundings as he goes by. He takes sight of a great campfire, there you can see many people, men and women, humans and not humans bonding together, grilling meat and cooking stew in a giant pot. They keep the fast trot until they finally arrive at a bigger tent, made with leaves which are already a bit brown-ish.

“Just wait here for a moment.” Orders the elf as only he goes inside the tent. Leonardo complies.

“Dal! Finally.” Says a young man with messy curly hair. He is at the other side of a big wooden table, on top of the table Leonardo’s equipment is found.

“Have you figured something out?” Asks Da’el with a stern look.

“Course not! How could I? You told me not to touch it! Only by looking at the damn thing I cannot figure anything out!” Says while moving his hands in an almost exaggerated manner pointing at the elf, and then at the equipment.

“So you have never seen anything like it before?”

“Never!”

At the next moment, Leonardo sees the elf head peaking out of the tent.

“Come inside.” He says as he moves the leaves to make an entry way for him. When he enters, the confused and curious expression Leonardo was carrying on his face the last five minutes, turns back to that defiant face he had when waking up facing the woman with long fox ears. His instinctive reaction is to reach his gun as fast as possible, Da’el watches in silence while the other man panics.

“No! Why is he allowed to do that!?” The young man screams and tries to approach Leonardo.

“Stay back!” He shouts back, and points the gun directly at him. The FAL still lies on the table, alongside his military webbing and uniform.

“You better do what he wants, Cidorio.” Says the elf to the young, expressive guy. And so he stands still where he is at, grudgingly.

“I have told you Leonardo that we do not mean any harm to you. There you have what is yours, but first I only want to understand what is happening. What are these things you brought with you?” Asks the elf in a calm manner.

“You— there is no way you’re asking what this stuff is!”. Replies now pointing directly his gun at the elf.

“There is, this is the first time we see things like these. Leonardo, have you experienced anything weird lately? Apart from being sent to this place, seemingly far away from home.”

Leonardo, with his fast breathing now beginning to tone down, he slowly starts putting down his gun and starts remembering.

“The last thing I remember at the Islands is that… I was in really bad shape.” He says as he sees his bare legs, only with the few wounds caused by the animal people, now all covered in cloth.

“I— I shouldn’t be able to walk.” Says with a cracking voice.

“What else?”

“Then, someone whispered to me that… ‘This world is in danger' and that I ‘must save it’. Does that mean anything to you?” Leonardo asks, holding his breath.

“So it happened again. You should have noticed it by now, but it seems you have yet to accept it. Where we are now is not part of the world you knew of.”

Leonardo’s eyes widens after hearing that, then Da’el looks directly at him with a serious expression and firmly says:

“You have been reincarnated into another world.”