Chapter 4: Fallen.

Somewhere In The Targia City Underbelly.

In a dark, slimy, rancid smelly hallway, a line of human and a single young female elf in chains, walking in a straight line. A male elf in leather armor, push one of the human slaves forward to quicken the movement of the line.

"Move insect!" shouted the elf.

Another elf in leather armor walks up to him.

"Can't you move this line quicker? We're running out of time here!" The elf scolds.

"I'm trying my best here!" the elf yell back.

"Your best is not good enough!" the elf yell back.

"It's not my fault, it's that stupid king fault, his the one that decided today he wants to establish that law," the elf said.

"Don't you think I know that? If we ever get caught under here, we are going to lose a lot of good gold over this," the elf grimace.

One of the human slave in front of the young elf girl, fall to her knee and begins to cough loudly causing the line to stop. The male elf in leather armor turn to the human slave and take out his whips. He whips the human slave that on her knees.

"Move you insect!" The elf yells.

The human slave screams in pain as she tries to cover her body with her hands, hoping the whip doesn't hit the other part of her body. The elf beside him grabs the other elf whipping hand, stopping his friend from whipping the slaves laying on the floor.

"It's a waste a time!" The elf said.

He let go of the other elf hand and take out his sword. The human slave cried as she lay on the floor. She raises her hand in defense as the elf walk closer to her with a sword in his hands, he grabs the human slave hair and lifts her up. Then he stabs the sword through her belly.

"What is wrong with you? We just lost our goods!" the elf yell.

"No one going to buys a sick insect anyway," the elf said.

"Damn it, we are losing time. Take her cuff off and leave her body here," The elf said.

"Yeah, yeah!" The elf said as he takes out the keys and unlocks off the dead human cuff.

Before he could connect the chains between the other human slave and the elf girl break free of her cuff. The male elf looks shocked when the elf girl takes his dagger out and stab him with it. The male elf screams in pain and the elf girl took the keys out of his hand; unlocking all her legs cuff and collar. She then gets out of the cuff and looks around for a way out.

"What in the name of Yana?" the male elf said surprised.

The other elf take out his sword when he noticed his friend screaming. The elf girl throws the key to the back row of the line and notices a passageway in one of the hallway walls. She then runs toward the entrance of the hallway that leads to god know where.

The elf girl runs in the dim lit hallway, behind her the noise of dozen elves chasing after her. When she almost reaches the end of the hallway, her feet suddenly steps on a puddle of water which causes her to slips and falls to the floor, face first. Her face is smudge by the dirty moss and mud on the floor.

The elf girl grunts in pain when she lifted her head up, she could see a light at the end of the hallways. She gathers all her strength and stands up again, she stumbles forward until she reaches the end of the hallways. She was shocked to find several metal bars blocking her way when she looks outside and down; she could see the canal below.

The elf girl turns to look behind her and saw the lantern light coming closer to her. She tries to slip her body through the bars and succeed. The elf girl suddenly slips again and fall into the canal below. She tries to swim up, but the water current was stronger than she could expect. Her body got hit by many rough rocks under the canal, leaving cuts on her body while the water current swept her away.

Suddenly her head hit one of the rock under the water, knocking her unconscious, but she quickly wakes up when she found herself drowning. Her hands try to grab for something and manage to grab a root. She pulls herself toward it and manages to get herself out of the water. Her body lay on the mossy floor while she panted heavily for air.

The elf girl gazes at the clear blue sky above, a sudden relived spread throughout her body. She finally manages to escape those terrible people. Her stomach growls loudly while she lay on the mossy floor. The noise of a bustling people catches the elf girl attention and the smell of freshly cooked food cause her stomach to growl even louder.

The elf girl uses her hand to push her off the floor to raise her body. When she finally stands up, her head throbs slightly for no reason. After the throbbing left, she slowly climbs the stair to reach the alley above. With her raggedy cloth wet after the slips, she stumbles in the dark alley following the bustling noise and the smell of delicious food.

The elf girl stops when she reaches the end of the alley. In front of her, she can see her own Elven kind walking and bumping shoulders together as they head somewhere or try to buy something from the vendor. She only needs to step over the threshold separating her from the empty alley she in and the crowd of people in front of her.

Her hand raises and about to reach in, but suddenly an unknown fear fills her own heart, causing her hands to tremble uncontrollably. Her own breath begins to hyperventilate and the feeling of nausea forces her to take a step back. She hugs herself with her own arms while her own mind begins to panic for no reason. She back herself into a wall and slide down until her buttock reaches the ground.

The elf girl can't understand why is she feeling this horrible thing right now or why her body sweat for no reason. Tears begin to flow down her cheeks, she just doesn't understand what is going on. She is free from those horrible men, but why right now she feels like, she not.

She finally regains her composure after a couple minutes and her stomach still growl heavily. One of the doors in the alley open, a male elf wearing a chef uniform step out from the door while carrying a box of garbage. The male elf places the box in the alley and walks back inside while closing the door behind him.

The elf girl looks at the garbage, her stomach growl again. She stands up and walks to the box of garbage. She could see leftover food and a few rotten one inside of the box. Her stomach growls even louder than before while she looks at the foods inside the box.

How low has she fallen, the elf girl thought. She finally escaped but this was not what she imagined. Her body falls to her knees and cried as she has to swallows her own pride. She grabs one of the leftover food and places it inside her mouth. Her mouth chews the food feeling the grimy texture and weird sensation in her tongue.

She hears the door open again when she turned to look she saw the male elf standing in the doorway. The male elf glares intensely at her with his eyebrow furrow.

"Get out here!" The male elf shouted.

The elf girl saw the male elf grab something behind the wall beside the door. He takes out a long wooden stick and whacks the elf girl on the head.

"You think you can eat my food for free?!" The male elf shouted.

The elf girl picks her self up and grabs one of the food before running away from the male elf.

"Freaking urchin! They are everywhere these days," The male elf said after waiting for the elf girl to get out of his sight.