Today was the day she decided to spend as much time as needed in the Haunted woods. She had spent plenty of time in the woods since she was alone, but now she needed to be one with it. Natali pushed away the thought of when she wasn’t alone, that time was gone she was alone now. The trees rustled around her bringing peace, but the scent of death around her soon demolished that sense of peace. Everyone believed that the deeper into the woods you got the more death took control of you, but Natali knew that wasn’t true. The death that filled the woods came from the fact that the Shadow elves lived there; the Shadow elves are harmless to them, they just want to protect their home.

  Natali spent the next two days, she believed, exploring the woods, surviving only on what she found. The experience felt great for Natali, she loved the woods and no matter what she was told it almost felt more like home than her actual home. She of course missed her little sister, but it was nice not having her cause problems all the time. Natali decided to follow a rough path through the woods; it was a faint path that not many people would even be able to see, but it was there enough that she would be able to find her way home.

  She had just sat on a fallen tree to eat when she heard a twig snap. Anyone living in the woods wouldn’t be that careless, so she had no clue who it was. Then she heard a voice whisper from behind a few trees “what, I am being quiet”.

  “I can hear you, come out whoever you are.” Natali called while standing up.

  “Natali it’s me Willow, I brought a friend with me. He’s crazy loud.” The shadow elf Natali had met a few years back came from behind a tree.

  “I’m not that loud, I was being as quiet as I could.” A man walked over, staying behind Willow.

  “Who is this, and why is he with you?” Natali looked him up and down, noticing the strength in his Amber eyes.

  “I’m…” The man started but was cut off by Willow.

  “This is Opiltan, he got lost while exploring the woods. I decided to help him.” Willow casually said.

  “Why would you help someone like him?” Noticing his well-built figure and sleek hair Natali assumed that this was another stuck-up brat who was some noble’s son.

  “What do you mean someone like me?” Opiltan got out before Willow could stop him.

  “Willow knows what I mean and that’s all that matters.” Natali glared at Opiltan, Opiltan met her eyes with a fire behind his eyes.

  “Come on Nat, he was lost, and I felt bad for him. His not at all like he looks.” Willow explained to Natali.

  “Are you sure? How well do you even know him?” Natali moved her eyes from Opiltan to Willow.

  “I spent a few hours talking with him, then we traveled the length of the woods to meet you here.” Willow’s gentle violet eyes were like a window into her soul.

  “Fine, what do you want with me then.” Natali turned her attention to Opiltan, who was looking back and forth between Natali and Willow.

  “Um… Well, I’m supposed to be gathering information on the haunted woods, but I got lost almost immediately. Willow said that I might be able to rest in a village near by, would you be able to bring me there?” Opiltan rambled.

  “I can’t bring you to the village right now because I need to stay in the woods for a while, but I guess if you’re trying to get information on the woods, I can help you.” Natali sat down and started eating a slice of bread.

  “Natali, can I leave him with you? I should get back before people start wondering what happened to me.” Willow started backing up into the woods.

  “I’m not staying alone in the woods with this guy. If you’re leaving, then I want Cody with me.” Natali Called to Willow before she left.

  “Fine.” Willow called back to Cody and the white ghost wolf appeared next to her. “Cody stay with Natali. For the time being she is going to be your master, until I tell you, do what she tells you to.”

  “Come here Cody, we’re going to have a great time.” Cody ran over to Natali, and she gave him a piece of her bread.

  “Don’t give him to much food, he’ll just throw it up.” Willow called back before leaving.

  “Do we really have to keep that… thing with us.” Opiltan gestured to Cody.

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  “Do I really have to keep that thing with me.” Natali looked at Cody while gesturing to Opiltan.

  “Fine, I guess I’ll deal with the ghost.” Opiltan rolled his eyes and found a rock to sit on.

  “Did you hear that Cody, I guess we have to deal with the noble rat.” Natali mocked.

  “I’m not a noble rat. What even made you think that?” Opiltan asked, pulling out what looked like squares of thin sliced bread crust.

  “I mean you’re on a mission; only noble rats go on ‘missions’.” Natali joked. “I’m not blind either, you just look like a noble too. What are you eating anyway?”

  “Oh, this?” Opiltan held up the weird square to Natali. “It’s a cracker, I would offer you some, but they suck. They just last a long time.”

  “Even your food is a gross copy of what the world already gave us.” She rolled her eyes and took a bite of her bread.

  “Wait, back to what you were saying before. What do you mean I look like a noble? I’ve met nobles and I’m nothing like them.” Opiltan questioned.

  “I’ve met nobles too. And you’re the practically the same as all of them.” She hadn’t really met a noble but based on the stories he was the perfect example of one. A stuck-up snob who is unnaturally strong and gifted.

  “ugh, whatever. When do you think we could, I don’t know, explore the woods?” Opiltan sneered.

  “We’ll go when I feel like going. You wanted me to be your guide, so you get to deal with my schedule.” Natali relaxed hoping she was driving this noble insane.

  “Alright, I could talk to you all day.” Opiltan started, and didn’t stop.

  After what felt like eternity of Opiltan just talking and talking, Natali gave up and just started walking away. Cody followed close behind, also annoyed with Opiltan’s talking. Opiltan wasn’t done talking though, he kept talking about some story of a peasant that had to join nobility or something.

  “Could you shut up for a second, I can’t hear my self-think.” Natali complained.

  “I could, but then you might stop walking away from me. That would stop us from moving.” Opiltan informed her.

  “I get it, you’re smart. Now shut up or I’ll leave you alone in the middle of the woods.” She bit back, done with his comments.

  “Whatever you wish little hermit.” He muttered behind her.

  “I heard that, and I’m not a hermit. You would know that if you ever left your territory, noble toy.” She shot back.

  “If you listened to a word I said, you would know how wrong you are hermit.” He moved to stand next to her.

  “I don’t need to listen; I just need to have functional eyes. Something you clearly don’t have, wanna be prince.”

  “I don’t want to be a prince; the prince is a jerk. You might know that if you ever talked to people, wanna be wolf.”

  “Of course, you know the prince, if you don’t want to be him then you clearly wish you were in his place. Then you would be in a bigger castle with more power, spoiled brat.”

  “Power doesn’t mean better; power means more work. Someone with a life would understand.”

  “You’re just spoiled; bet you’ve never worked a day in your life. I bet yelling attack would be too much for you.”

  “I bet a simple interaction with a person would give you heart attack.”

  “You would ask someone to get you a wife so you could be lazier.”

  “That was too far.”

  “So, you’re saying I won.” Natali felt the presence of something nearby and froze.

  “You did not.” Opiltan stopped and looked at Natali.

  “Shut up.” Natali pushed Opiltan into a bush and signaled for Cody to hold him down.

  “What are you doing? You can’t just push me into a bush.” Opiltan tried to get up, but Cody held him down.

  “I can when you moving might get us killed.” Natali quietly bit back. “Stop blabbering, that might get us killed too.”

  “What’s happening?” Opiltan whispered.

  “I don’t know, but something or someone is nearby.” Natali joined Opiltan in the bush.

  “What if they are here to help us? Aren’t people usually good?”

  “Not in a quiet forest like this. The only people who come out here are elves guarding their territory and hunters that kill anything that moves.”

  “Then what are we in all of that.”

  “Outliers. Its safest to assume that we are the only ones out here.”

  Natali peaked thought the bush and saw a shadowed figure creeping around. It stood tall enough to reach the treetops and it seemed to consume all that it crossed with its shadow cloak. Across its back a bow and quiver of arrows sat waiting for a foe to cross it’s path. When it looked toward the bush Natali’s eyes met the glowing black eyes of this monster. The life drained out of Natali in a moment, every memory she had seemed to leave her body in that moment, and they flashed across her mind in the process. When the monster’s eyes moved on every memory that had left, they returned to her mind in another flash, then all went black.

  “Hi little girl, what are you doing out here all alone?” A woman looked down at a Natali.

  “I got lost, do you know how I can get back home?” A young Natali asked the gentle looking woman. Natali remembered this day, she was 2 and had gotten lost in the haunted woods after the first snowfall. but she had no recollection of the woman standing in front of her.

  “You must be from the local village; I can help you find your way back. But first can you promise me something?” The young Natali timidly nodded her head at the woman who was now kneeling across from her. “You see all of these plants and creatures that call this forest home.”

  “Yeah, they’re really pretty, they can all keep each other alive without any help from humans.” Natali’s eyes lit up and finally met the woman’s amber eyes.

  “I agree they are the most precious thing on this planet to me. They can solve any problem on this world, except the damage humans do. I want you to promise me that no matter what happens you will always protect the plants and the nature around you. Can you do that.” The woman picked up the last bloom in the field and put it behind Natali’s ear.

  “I can do that, but what do you mean plants can solve any problem in the world except humans? Are humans really that bad?”

  “You’ll understand when you’re older my child.” The woman stood up headed back into the woods. “To return home just continue that way and you’ll find the path home. Oh, and my blessing will fully appear when you’re old enough to use it properly.”