Soft rays of light poked through the dense foilage of the forest canopy. Small particles of dust hung suspended in the air, reflecting the light in patches clear of branches and leaves. Slowly, a human figure disturbed the still floating shimmers, as they swirled and momentarily followed the force that interrupted their peacefull lull. Some light shined upon Demetrio’s dark auburn hair, creating a golden halo around the boy’s disheveled crown. A leathery journal was clutched to his chest, open to a saved page. On the cover were the engraved words Smells Like Knowledge. A nervous glance was cast over his shoulders towards the main grounds. Unconsciously Demetrio rubbed his arm, where the broom-wielding librarian attacked him for sneezing too loudly. She wasn't much for speed or grace, but that hag could sure sneak up on someone... Demetrio trudged onward, mumbling about the mothball-smelling book-kleptomaniac.

Nervously, Demetrio trekked through the underbrush of the forest, his mind reeling at the height of the trees above him. Far larger then the average flora of the Mystic Forest, these trees grew to immense dimensions, sending the young healer’s mind reeling. Perhaps the excess of nutrients in the proximity had something to do with the height? Quickly, the though dissipated into the mind of the young Vasquez, shaking his head. He wasn’t a botanist and would never be. Trees and nature had never been his favorite things as a child and even today he only put up with it in order to collect the herbs which were essential to concocting his elixirs and potions. Demetrio would rather be in Lomedor, treating his patients or rushing through the city rather then the emptiness and trouble of hiking through a massive forest.

Suddenly, a shock of blue stood clearly out amongst the deep green. What’s this, Demetrio, perhaps a native herbalist? Alas! Perhaps he or she would know about the mystical springs which Demetrio had heard about through the housewives in the city! Silently, Demetrio walked forward, to inspect the figure, thoughts running through his intricate mind. Ever since Demetrio had treated a little girl’s broken arm, her mother, a stereotypical housewife, apron and all, had told Demetrio of a legend where in the forest there was a magical spring which had the ability to cure anything. Demetrio had at first dismissed the though at such blasphemy, but with further research, it had been noted that elves had lived for centuries although no evidence could be found. Perhaps there was this fountain of youth, and slowly Demetrio’s interest was piqued until he came to today. Well, it was his day off and the healer had finished all his reports, plus his boss had even ordered him to get some fresh air. However, Demetrio had stayed in the city for too long had quite the few accidents. So after hitching a ride with a caravan headed towards the southern coast of Ea, Demetrio finally came to this area of the forest searching for a lost city of the elves. What was it called again? Yomenpiona? Pionayoka? Something with a Y in it.

However, with Demetrio’s wandering mind, he soon found himself face to face with an Elven archer, its face full of seriousness, and a barbed arrow facing Demetrio. ”Um, hello?

Rallika had been hiking through the Elven forest for some time and he was sick of it. Trees here, trees there. There were trees everywhere. Rallika was sure that the image of a tree was imprinted into his eyesight pernamently. He left the misty forest from Lomedor and now he missed the big city. He was nearing the Elven city Yomeniampa. He had been here before and had met Darkfire again and made his 'acquaintance' to Death himself. That was one night he did not want to remember. He accidentally tripped over what he thought was a tree root but was in fact a string trap. An alarm went off and soon ten Elves had their bows ready and arrows aimed, all at Rallika. "So demon, you're back. What is it this time?" "Hey back off alright?" The Elf that appeared to be in charge spat at the ground. "Give it up. We know you were affiliated with those guys on that very night. We've only just finished rebuilding and we don't want you or any of them lurking in our city!" "That wasn't me!" "Yeah you're right." Some of the Elves gave each other confused looks, dropping their bows down but still in their hands. "It was the three of you!" The confused Elves figured out what their commander was saying and aimed their bows at Rallika once more. "Okay." Rallika drew Raku's Bane. He held it into the air. "Don't let him cast-" "Blade of Flames!" "That...spell..." Rallika's axe blades lit up with scorching flames and he gripped the weapon tight. He had no intention of hurting the Elves. He was going to use the flames to burn the arrows before they reached him. It worked before on his first visit here so why should it fail this time?

An Elf fired at Rallika and he waved his axe toward it. As predicted the arrow shriveled up and burst into flames and hit the ground at Rallika's feet. "He's doing it again! Draw your swords!" Okay I wasn't expecting this but my plan can adapt for the better! Rallika morphed and used his wings to launch himself over the circle of Elves just as they charged at him. "Well don't just stand there! Use your bows!" The Elves sheathed their swords and knocked an arrow into their bows. Rallika saw the Guard Tower that must have held the troops that set up the trap. A ballista was loaded and aimed at Rallika. Woah! Better stay on foot! Rallika reverted and landed a bit ahead of the Elves and the Ballista fired. Its bolt rammed right through the tree at Rallika's side and it began falling down right atop on Rallika. Rallika leaped ahead and the tree crashed, blocking the Elves for a short time. Rallika ran off, away from the pursuing Elves and their Ballista bolt-firing tower. He heard a second one explode and that meant one thing. The Elves broke through the tree. Rallika saw the city wall a bit ahead but what was closer was a male human and an Elf pointing a barbed arrow at the human's face. "Um, hello?"

Rallika called off his spell and sheathed his axe and heard the chasing Elves not far behind and obviously the Elf in front of him heard them too. "So it's you again huh? Once I'm done with this human I'll deal with you!" "Hey, what did he ever do?" This question caught the Elf by surprise and forced him to answer. "Well... I don't know!" "Exactly so leave him alone and start chasing someone who is thought to have blown apart half the city but is innocent!" "Really? Who?" Rallika rolled his eyes and pointed at himself. As he did he mouthed to the human. "I'm Rallika and don't worry about me. Run!" The Elf caught on. "Right. Come here you!" The Elf fired an arrow at Rallika but just missed. The arrow landed right into a tree next to Rallika and he didn't even move. Rallika laughed teasingly and ran off into the forest. Now to run around in circles until I lose this creep then head back to that human and see if he's alright.

Quietly and slowly, Demetrio felt a chill crawl down the spine of his neck, causing the small hairs to stand up. A cold sweat could almost be seen to be breaking out as the barbed arrow barely moved, its owner's eyes boring straight into the dark pit which Demetrio seemed to have dug himself.

Out of all situations, how had the young healer ended up in this? What had begun as a simple expedition to enjoy the fresh outdoors and perhaps do a bit of investigating had become a match to the death with Demetrio not only facing imminent death but no where near a civilization which would treasure his loss. Perhaps he had been better in his home kingdom of Laskar? At least there, the only things he would need to worry about that had to do with danger was his pride in court and perhaps cutting himself with a scalpel.

Almost as if fated by the gods themselves (although Demetrio highly doubted it), a flash of flames appeared near his eyesight, only the healer's peripheral vision catching it as the distracted archer tore his eyes off the poor healer. With a sudden wink and flash of sparks, Demetrio look skywards, towards a safe platform near the foliage when without another word, Demetrio was instantly teleported away from the irksome dilemma, watching a strange group of Elven guards pursue a demon which had, either purposefully or indirectly saved Demetrio. With a quick sigh, Demetrio thanked the heavens that he himself was no longer in the situation, as another squad of archers moved towards the demon, their weapons (no longer the bows but dangerous and lethal looking spears) raced towards their comrades' assistance.

However, Demetrio soon lost interest in the group as his eyes lay upon a sight which had never been viewed upon in the healer's life. Never before, had such magnificence been discovered as Demetrio walked in awe. Before him, lay an astonishing wonder of the world, an entire city supported by the humble trees which bore it to the heavens as if reaching to scrape the celestial orbs in the skies. Almost dropping his jaw in awe, Demetrio suddenly snapped out of his trance, hoping no one saw the loss of dignity.

With a quick shuffle, Demetrio soon joined a small group of elves, trying to avoid the attention of any archers which would immediately ban the human from their domain. Where he would be lead to Demetrio had no idea, catching bits of Sindarian with his poor language skills. Curse the spell books and his poor vocabulary. Soon, Demetrio began to regret learning only his incantations when he realized he was heading towards the armory, as a small but powerful force began arming themselves to rid the city of the demon below once and for all. Before Demetrio could even say a word, he was thrown a suit of chainmail and ordered (although he had no idea) to suit up. Great, just great thought Demetrio as he slowly donned the armor.

Rallika was running past the trees sourrounding the Elven city and he heard the Elf chasing him wheeze and fall behind. Yes! Once more the athletic youth wins again! Take that lazy guards! Rallika's victory is short lived however as spears were being thrown at him. One landed by his foot and a second he had to duck. He started running to dodge the spears when he saw a twenty man unit of heavily armoured spearmen. This is not good... "Ready..." The spearmen were getting ready to fire. Think you athletic youth think! Rallika sees a good, solid branch to grab onto. "Aim..." Haha, try and catch me now! Rallika morphs and flies up to the branch. "Fire!" The spearmen throw their spears just as Rallika grabbed the branch. Many spears were knocked off aim by the spears that hit the tree first. "Look he's up there!" Rallika reverted and looked down. The Elves who saw his transformation gaped in awe.

"What creature are you?" Rallika looked at his hands and replied quietly. "I don't know..." The Elven Commander grew tired of this. "It's just a charade, shoot him!" Rallika did not realise how close he was to the city wall as three untis of heavily armoured archers aimed their barbed arrows at him. "Admit it! We have you surrounded. Surrender and you'll die quickly and painlessly!" Rallika thought he saw the human he rescued inside the city. How is that possible? The human left his eyesight and Rallika turned his attention to the alarming amount of Elven soldiers gathering. The Elvenm commander's patience grew short. "Never mind, shoot him!" Rallika wasn't paying attention and just saw a barrage of arrows coming at him. He jumped to a sturdy branch on a tre next to his but an arrow found its mark in his leg. This caused Rallika to miss the branch and fall. He hit the ground with a thud. Rallika lost consciousness just as he saw the Elves put away their bows.

Quickly and through a stage of troublesome falls, Demetrio finally discovered a way to don his armor, after several embarrasing attempts. Finally rushing off, the young healer was thrown a helmet which he quickly threw on in order to disguise the fact that he was human instead of Elven.

With a quick march, Demetrio soon fell behind a large group of warriors, armed to the teeth as they immediately reached the area in which the demon fell. With a few pushes and shoves, the elves soon discovered that the demon, whose name was still unfamiliar to the young healer. Without a word, Demetrio was thrown a pair of chains and together with another younger elf they were ordered to chain the demon up. How Demetrio understood the language was a mystery, but it was probably due to the obvious sign language from which the general’s spoke. A few pokes and grunts were all he needed to solve the puzzle and keep the masquerade going.

Whatever happened to trying and not finding the magical spring from which the elves were legendary for? Demetrio questioned to himself as he slowly and finally chained the demon, finding a few more guardsmen sending the demon to the dungeon. Well, at least that was over and there would be no fighting thought Demetrio.

However, the fighting was soon the least of Demetrio’s worries when he saw a commander barking at him (this time with no sign language). Without knowledge of what to do, Demetrio absent-mindly stood there as the commander’s temper continued to rise. Mind you, Demetrio was not pleased at all with the elf yelling at him, the foul odor of his breath almost causing Demetrio to gag.

Finally it was too much as the commander finally took a swipe at Demetrio’s head, causing the helmet to fall from his head. With a gasp, the entire troop looked on with wide-eyes. Had a human infiltrated their command? Was this an ambush? Espionage too? Without another word, the commander quickly sent chains to bind Demetrio too, as a pair of elves threw the boy into the prison cells, accompanied only by the half-demon which he had helped to capture.

Something told Demetrio that today was not the best one to be trekking across unknown territory.

Rallika awoke just when the healer's cover was blown. He saw the helmet fly off and the troop gasped. Pretty soon the healer was also chained. An elf looked in Rallika's direction and he quickly closed his eyes. If they found out he was awake they would kill him outright. He heard the commander bark some orders surprisingly in the common tongue at some elves and even more surprisingly they understood and obeyed. It was very strange and Rallika was planning to look into this.

He found himself being chucked into a cell with the human healer and his back collided with the cold stone wall. His chains bound his arms and legs tight. Rallika waited for the guards to leave before introducing himself to the healer. "Wait, you stay here. Captain's orders." The soldier sighed and drew his spear. "And watch those two. The demon is dangerous and the human must be here for espionage." Many of the cells were empty except for a few. The few prisoners in the cells were all solitary and half crazy. Rallika leaned toward the healer and tried to get his attention. "Psst. Hey. I'm Rallika. You been here before? I've been in the city before but not in the jail." Rallika eyed the guard who quickly fell asleep. "I've heard sme of the high-ranking elves talk in the common tongue. What's even weirder is that the soldiers understood completely. Either most Elves know the common tongue or something's up." The guard's spear was dangling in his hand. This gave Rallika an idea. "I have an idea. If you can help me reach my longsword. I'll handle the chains on both of us. If we're going to get out of here we'll need that guard's spear. If we're careful we can steal it then make it look like he accidentally stabbed himself with it. What do you say?"