The Elven Shepherd

So, let’s review.

My name is Miyu Seki, 24 years old. I was at a karaoke parlor to grieve over my latest failed interview, when suddenly I was hit by a truck and died, but suddenly I’m alive and well! Is this that overused popular story element the internet is crazy about? Have I been sent to another world?

Before that, let’s calm down a bit. Breathe, Miyu! Now.. let’s see what all I have with me… my handbag is here still, and with it my phone, some candy, my wallet (as empty as it is), my folded up resume (useless if I am in another world) as well as a notepad and a pen. Oh, looks like the karaoke microphone is here as well, a lot of good a wireless mic will do without the system to hook it up to though.

I checked my reflection in my phone camera, looks like I’m still me. I’ve heard that sometimes people change sex or even race when they get sent to other worlds, so my appearance is pretty reassuring. “Ah! My phone has a signal? Am I still on Earth?” I quickly tried to connect to the internet. “Oh, server unable to be found… for the fourth time in my life G***le has failed me…” I was still wearing the suit jacket and dress clothes from my interview… If I really was in a fantasy world, I might have to walk for a while… I looked down at my heels and sighed. “Might as well take these off, they’re gonna be more harm than good.”

The only thing to do now was pick a direction to walk in. It still looked to be around noon, so figuring out which way was East or West might be tricky: there was no guarantee this world spun the same direction as Earth, it could be a contrarian, like Venus. I’m sure i could figure it out with some calculations, but that’s time I could be spending surviving. The logical decision then would be to walk towards the wind. That way, I would be downwind of any dangerous animals and could perhaps notice people a bit faster if I heard them.

The breeze was coming from the direction I am tentatively calling East. I don’t know if it actually is east, but my intuition wants me to call it that. After around an hour of walking, I noticed a sound coming from up ahead, it sounded like a flute. I wasn’t sure how, but I could make out the notes even from here, to the point where I felt confident in my ability to sing along if it had words- I guess my karaoke sessions have improved my listening to some regard. Don’t tell me hobbies are a waste of time! Well, they might use a lot of money sometimes though… More importantly, if it’s a flute, that means it might be a person! Finally! I might have found someone who can take me to a town or give me information about this world.

I climbed my way to the top of the hill and, looking down across the pasture, I saw a lone cloaked figure playing a flute as they sat near a flock of sheep. Well, they looked like sheep, but their wool was a forest green color similar to the cloak the shepherd was wearing. I silently descended, making my way towards the flock and the figure as the music came to an abrupt stop. Their head rose to look at me as I stood still. Before I could even see what happened, the figure was suddenly right in front of me, a crook pointed at my throat. How did he cross that distance in such a short time?

“Ik kenne jo net, binne jo freon of fijân?” Eh? What is that? He spoke to me, but the language was not one that I had ever heard before. It sounded similar to German or English, but not quite the same. Maybe if I try to speak some English he can recognize what I am saying?

“Hello there, nice to meet you. My name is Miyu Seki. What is your name?”

The figure seemed a bit alarmed by this, and stiffened their grip on the crook. “De argyfende taal?” He seemed as if he was trying to arrange his words for a second. “You, come with. Meet with...doarpke haad.” At the end there the figure seemed unable to find the English word and instead spoke in his native tongue. It worked! Well, somewhat. I’m glad I studied English instead of French.

What? No it wasn’t just because I found more songs in English online...

The figure removed the crook from my throat and motioned for me to follow. I suppose it would be safe. I can at least somewhat communicate with the people here, even if not very fluently. I followed slowly as we went down the hill from where the sheep were through a thicket.

We seemed to walk for around 15 minutes when it came into view, a village! It didn’t seem to be very large, but it looked like they were setting up for a festival of some sort. Several temporary looking shops were being set up, as well as a large stage in the center of the town. The buildings were simple and made of logs and branches tied together. Our small party journeyed to the largest house in the village. We received several looks from the people setting up for the festival. Well, I say looks but most of them were wearing the same cloak as my escort, so I couldn’t really see their faces. The people without cloaks, however…

Pointed ears…

Blonde hair…

Boobs that would give a normal person back pain…

And green clothing that leaves little to the imagination...

There’s no doubt about it, these are definitely female elves. But why were there only female elves? Does that mean the cloaked figures are elves as well?

We approached what was definitely the largest building in the village, it was a decent sized yurt with an important looking sigil on the door. The cloaked figure knocked on the door and spoke again. After a minute the door opened and another figure stepped into the doorway. It was another female elf. This one, however, has an air of importance to her. She wore fine jewelry around her neck and her considerably less provocative dress bared the same sigil as the door. The cloaked elf said some things to her, to which she seemed to look me over a few times before dismissing him.

“Come in, my child. You must have had a long journey.” Her accent was there, but I could understand her perfectly. I might be able to finally get answers from her! I followed her into her home, but I was not entirely expecting the results of my information gathering.