I reached to touch a beautiful, yet alien red flower I didn't recognize, but was stopped by a beatiful elf's hand gripping my wrist, just inches away from the flower.

"Touch that and you'll wake up the Green Terra beneath us." She warned, releasing my wrist and backing up. "If you want to die, go ahead. I'll watch."

I chose to back away from the plant.

"Wise choice." She nodded, taking all of me in, her gaze lingering on my ears. "Come with me."

"Why?" I had some trust in her since she had saved me, but I wasn't foolish enough to blindly follow her.

"Because I saved your life. And because you owe me a life debt now." She responded, leaning against a tree. "Don't believe me, eh human?"

She picked up a rock and threw at the flower.

I watched it draw a shallow arc until it hit the flower, which abruptly erupted with vines that coalesced into a net and then receded into the ground.

"Oh." I said stupidly. That was the moment I accepted I was no longer on earth.

She giggled. "Coming?"

I figured she's be able to at least be able to guide me out of the forest.

After a while I finally decided to start asking questions.

"Where are we now?" I asked, hoping it wasn't a dumb question.

"We're now on the west side of Fernein Forest." (I know, I know. This was a speedwriting contest. Shut up.) She responded, laughing at me.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

She looked at me over her shoulder, giggling and saying nothing.

"Why did you save me?" I asked, aggravated by her laughter at the same time I was captivated by it.

"Because there are several instances of humans randomy appearing in remote areas with knowledge far beyond that of anything anyone had even considered." She stopped and poked my chest. "You have knowledge like that, right?"

It appeared she only just realized she should have asked that earlier.

"That depends." I responded mysteriously. "What kind of knowledge do you seek?"

She laughed outright, the sound enthralling me. "I want to know about weapons!"

She turned back to me and wrapped her arms around my neck and hanging on me.

"Won't you teach me?" She looked up at me, winking.

"I'd rather not." I pulled her arms over my head and distanced myself from her. "The weapons I know of have incredible power, and will harm more than help."

"Oh, come on!" She pouted cutely. "How destructive can they be?"

"I could erase cities with a single bomb." I said, recalling the published blueprints I had studied in my free time when I was still in my homeworld. "Not to mention the energy it would release contaminating the area around it and killing everything."

She gaped at me. "You... You could level a city with a bomb?"

"Yes." I nodded. "And destroy everything around it with radiation."

"What's that?" She asked curiously, returning to her usual attitude.

"It's an energy that harms your cells. You'll basically rot alive if the dosage is on the lower end." I explained, finding her shock funny. "If it's high enough you can die in as little as five minutes."

"But a sword is faster." She pointed out.

"A sword can't kill almost one hundred thousand in an hour." I chuckled when I saw her face of abject shock.

"So you won't make one for me?" She asked, pleading with her eyes.

"Hell no!" I exclaimed. "Even if I would, I doubt you'd be able to find the Uranium or Plutonium to make it; much less enrich it."

"What is Uraniumorplutonium?" She asked, mashing the words into one.

"It's Uranium and Plutonium." I corrected her. "They are radioactive elements that can be used to jumpstart the fission reaction that can level cities."

"What do they look like?" She asked hopefully. "Maybe I could find you some."

"I just said I wouldn't make you a nuke!" I exclaimed. "And even if you were to get them, you'd die of radiation poisoning."

"Oh." She hung her head and began trudging away.

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed. "Are you mad?"

"Yes, I'm mad!" She exclaimed. "I want a bomb like that!"

''I just told you I couldn't make it even if I wanted to!" I wanted to pull my hair out at that point.

"But-" She turned to me again, hoping to argue more.

"Tell you what." I interrupted her. "I'll make you something else."

"Oooh~" Her previous act of sadness vanished without a trace. "What is it?"

"I'll make you a gun." I sighed. Only after I said I would make her a gun did I realize it was probably a horrible idea.

"Yay!" She pumped a fist into the air and merrily led me through the forest. "You're the best!"

Seeing her attitude, I realized I didn't have the heart to tell her no.

We walked in uncomfortable silence for a while longer.

"What's a gun?" She finally asked.

"It's a weapon that fires projectiles faster than the speed of sound.'' I responded nonchalantly.

"WHAT?" She exclaimed. "HOW?"

"Well, through the rapid combustion of a propellant which used gas to them make the bullet fire." I explained.

"Propellant? Combustion? Bullet?" The elf repeated, uncomprenending.

"Propellant is something used to make something move, propel if you will, often at a high speed. Combustion is the process of which something burns. And a bullet is what a gun shoots." I felt like a schoolteacher trying to explain physics to a first grader for a moment.

"Wow! You're so knowledgable!" She squealed in delight. "I can't wait to have one!"

"Didn't you say that other humans have come to this world?" I asked, recalling our earlier conversation. "What knowledge did they bring?"

"Well, one was brought to the capital and sold to the king. He made instruments that the king loved." She thought for a moment. "Another brought what he called 'glass', which introduced what he called 'telescopes' and 'mirrors'. He was bought by a noble.

And the last one brought the steam engine. He is free as of now, and pioneering steam technology."

"Hold up." I stopped. "Sold? Like slaves?"

"Yes. Exactly." She smiled at me. "But I won't sell you. You're mine~"

I got chills.

"I don't think I want to go to the city." I said. "I'd rather live here, where I won't be less than anyone else. Here I will be just as food as the rest of the animals."

I sat down and patted the ground.

"The ground will swallow us all the same." I nodded. "The ground is fair."

"What kind of nonsense is that?" She demanded, stalking back towards me. "Up. We're going to the city."

"Did you not just hear me?" I looked up at her.

"I heard you, and you have no choice." She grabbed my collar and began dragging me towards the city. ''You've got to make me my gun when we get there."

"Why couldn't I make it here?" I whined. "I don't want to be a slave."

"Too bad." She said unsympathetically.

I seriously considered stabbing her.

She continued to drag me along the forest floor, no longer bothering to check the surroundings. Her focus was entirely on literally dragging me to the city.

Luckily for me, she managed to bump into some vine monster which promptly encircled her and began tugging her towards the ground.

"Fuck!" She shouted in fury. "And things were starting to look up, too!"

The plant left me alone entirely. It probed with a few tendrils, but quickly retreated when it got near to me.

"Help me!" She growled at me, seeing me entirely untouched.

"Why should I?" I asked. "You want to sell me as a slave."

"Who said I'd sell you?" She demanded, violently struggling against the vines. "You're mine and mine alone. No one else can have you."

My eyebrows rose.

"What makes me yours?" I asked curiously.

"I found you!" She screamed, thrashing about. "That means you're mine! Finders keepers!"

"That's a horrible mindset." I noted. "In my world, slavery has been banned."

"This isn't your world!" She growled.

"I know." I nodded. "Anyway, have fun."

I turned to leave.

"Wait! No! Don't leave!" She struggled in vain, trying to reach out towards me. "I don't want to die!"

"I don't want to be a slave either." I said reasonably.

"Help me!" She demanded.

"Promise me I won't be a slave." I said reasonably.

"But then I won't get to keep you." She began crying.

'What the fuck is her deal?' I wondered. 'I have no idea what the hell is going through her head.'

"What does that even mean?" I demanded.

"I wanted to keep you!" She sobbed. "I won't make you my slave and I won't sell you, just stay with meeeee!"

I ignored the last bit of her statement and thought for a moment.

'If the vines avoided me, is it reasonable to assume they fear me?' I wondered.

I walked towards the vines and as I anticipated, they fled as I approached.

I stood directly in front of the shocked elf and watched the vines unwind from around her body.

"We're even." I said.

She stared at me dumbly.

I pulled the stunned elf out of the area of the vines.

"That...What...How did you do that?" She sputtered.

"No idea." I admitted.

"Thank you for saving me despite my words." She blushed cutely as she spoke, emberassed by either her apology or her earlier words. I couldn't tell.

"You are very welcome." I smirked, amused. "Hey, what races are present in this world?"

"Well, there are elves and humans as of now." She responded, relived to move on to another topic. "The first human appearer two years ago. There are three known humans."

"Four now, then." I held my chin in my hand. "Is it really a good idea to take me to the city?"

"Why are you ignoring the fact that you saved my life?" The elf seemed bewildered.

"We're equals now." I said. "We're watching each other's back now. Why should we focus on thanking each other for saving our lives when we can focus on repaying the other?"

She looked at me strangely.

"You're overlooking the fact I wanted you as a slave?" She asked, stunned.

"Well, from the start you treated me like someone to be protected." I admitted. "It kind of felt nice to have someone care whether I lived or died."

"Did...Did people not care if you died?" It seemed like human society is an enigma for her.

"Well, there were seven billion humans on the planet." I shrugged. "If I died someone would replace me."

"That's a horrible mindset." She exclaimed.

"So is slavery." I extended my hand. "I'm Samuel, but you can call me Sam."

She took it and pulled herself up. "I'm Sarah.Thanks again for saving me."

"We're both lucky the plant feared me." I shrugged off her praise. "We both could have died there."

She shivered. "Do you know what those plants do to you?"

"I don't want to know." I figured it must be something bad if the thought of what could have happened gave her shivers. "We just get out of this forest, but I don't actually think that going into the city would be an excellent idea."

"Why do you want to avoid the city?" Sarah asked. "It's a beautiful city."

"I'm human." I explained. "I think that I, being human, would draw enough attention that people might put a target on your back."

"You make a good point." She fell into silent thought as she began leading me through the forest once more.

"Why don't we enter at night with stealth?" I asked. "How are the guard patrols structured?"

"You wouldn't be able to sneak in." Sarah shook her head. "There's a formation that marks everyone who comes over the walls."

"Troublesome." I glanced at the sky briefly. "Hey, shouldn't we find shelter? It's almost nighttime."

I pointed to the sun that had begun kissing the horizon and dyeing the sky with streaks of red orange and purple.

"Oh shit!" Sarah cursed abruptly. "This might be bad."

"Could we not just sleep in a tree?" I asked.

"Certain trees are carnivorous." She replied. "And they look identical to the herbivorous ones."

"Well, shit." I sighed. "Are they only active at night?"

"Yes." She nodded. "But that doesn't make them any less deadly."

I inspected the tree nearest to myself, hoping to find some clue as to whether or not it'd kill me.

"Perhaps we ought to dig a hole." I said, giving up on trying to identify the plant. "And then fill in the entrance."

"We don't have time!" She hissed.

"Well, we don't really have a choice other than to do that, do we?" I rebuked. "It's that or man-eating trees."

She scowled and picked a spot where the ground was comparatively softer and began digging with her hands.

I scraped away the nearby foliage and helped her by moving the dirt to the side, making it ready to partially fill our hidey-hole.

We worked rapidly, creating a shockingly spacious hole just before the sun sank entirely beneath the horizon.

I grabbed a bunch of sticks before getting into the small hole with Sarah and used them to poke holes through the soil into the air above, creating vents for us to breathe.

We sat with our legs out and our backs against the side of our hole.

And so began our first nerve-wracking night together.

For the duration of the night, we heard scary noises and loud rustling, as well as the snuffling of some large animals around our hidey-hole. The sound was promptly cut short by a rapidly receding squeal as the animal was carried off somewhere.

Sarah seemed to be the most affected by this, judging by her rapid breathing.

I blindly reached to the side until I found her shoulder and patted it, hoping to offer some comfort.

She yelped in surprise before abruptly stifling it when she realized it was my hand.

"Sorry." She whispered, shivering.

"Just calm down." I whispered back. "It'll be over in a bit."

I heard her scuffle about and then I had to surpress a gasp of surprise when I felt something warm begin to press against me

Sarah had huddled up against me, shivering.

"Sam." She hissed. "Why don't I hear sound from the forest?"

I listened closely and heard nothing.

The hairs on my neck stood straight up as I heard a blood-curdling screech right above us.

I instinctively held Sarah, holding her close to me.

She seemed to draw comfort from my touch judging by the fact that she began pressing herself against me as much as possible.

The screech was soon replied by a howl.

"Do you think the animals are fighting for territory?" I whispered to a shivering Sarah.

She remained silent, intently listening to the sounds outside.

The howl sounded again, closer this time, and the animal nearby let out a screech. I heard the beat of wings and prayed with all my heart that it had left.

My prayers were answered when the sounds of the forest came back in full force, as if they were waiting for the animal to leave.

I released the deathgrip I had around Sarah and realized she was asleep.

Her head was leaning on my sternum and her breathing was deep and even.

'I wish I had that skill.' I thought to myself. 'I would have lost a lot less sleep in Iraq if I did."

As I listened to the sounds of the nocturnal forest start to ebb, I heard a deafeningly loud keening that ended as abruptly as it started.

The sleeping Sarah jolted awake, blearily taking in her surroundings.

"What was that?" She whispered.

"I have no fucking clue." I responded, taking a stick and widening a vent so I could see through it.

"Look through the vent. See if you can see the sky." I whispered.

"It's grey." She whispered. "Dawn is coming."