“I told ya guys it was a dumb idea!” One spoke. 

“We’d all agreed that it’d work,” replied another. 

“It did work. We got two from that vamp.” A third said as the other two continued to argue.  

They didn’t see me in the mud but pointed out the giant boar. My heart had almost leaped out of my chest. A thousand thoughts went through my mind at once, beginning with could I take them on in a fight? Three against one? No, my nerves would destroy me way before they could cast their first spell.  

Besides my thoughts hindering me, I was also stuck in deep mud. A fight in that position would not end in my favor. I waited, afraid that at any moment they would come back and yell: “we knew you were there, the whole-time thief! We were just making you suffer!”  

The sun had yielded to the night, the three mages, or at least one mage and two other creatures, and I was still stuck in the mud. It stunk, and it was unpleasant, but it was safe. Who in their right mind would hide there? Me. A little cowardly me.  

I slept in the pit feeling cold, sticky, and very stinky. Well, it wasn’t that cold since the boar’s breath was warm. Still, not one of my best moments, but there are times when all you can do is laugh at yourself.  

Hahaha. Ah, it’s still so embarrassing... 

I awoke to the boar grumbling, a sign that I took to mean they were starting to wake up. I leaped to my feet and tried to scale the wall, but the mixture of mud and drool made it extremely slippery. I panicked as the realization that I couldn’t get out set in.  

“Need to think of something and quick,” I whispered to myself as the brilliant idea to dig hand holes in the mud wall entered my mind.  

It was impossible. The mud simply fell away at my weight, and the drool’s viscosity made it hard to properly dig through the mud. During one of my attempts to climb up, I accidentally slid downward and bumped the boar’s nose with my boots.  

I silently chanted for it not to wake up, but my luck ran out. They woke up, their big eyes shining red as their vision changed to night mode. After a long yawn that let out a stink, which almost made me throw up what little I ate for breakfast, they began to violently shake their head. I say violently because I got pelted with flying mud that stung on impact! Is stung the right word? I remember how it hurt each time I got hit. During one of my evasive maneuvers to avoid being pelted with mud, I got caught on one of the boar’s tusks. I was stuck in there in the same way a piece of spinach gets stuck in your teeth. 

My instincts told me to hold on because being thrown off would probably cause me more damage. I counted three oscillations before they stopped and stood up to their full height. The movement gave me a bit of vertigo, and for good reason. They were huge! Easily over eight feet, if I remember correctly from the last time I saw them.  

Once the boar started walking, I panicked for a second before realizing the boar could get me out. My insurmountable wall of mud was a simple step up for the boar. Just goes to show how something so hard for one person can be so easy for another. Not even a minute later, I was out of the pit while dangling from one of their tusks. 

Yay! Hurray! Now all I had to do was safely jump off from the tusk. Easier said than done. The boar’s tusk was caked with residual mud, branches that kept digging into my skin, and bugs. Plus, the movement as the boar walked didn’t help me get a good grip on anything to pull myself up.  

Maybe, it’s better to wait for it to stop somewhere, I thought.  

And then I heard a perfect melody as clear as the sound of water running down a stream. I cursed myself. I shouldn’t have hesitated and just jumped off and hoped I didn’t break anything. It was too late now. The elves were playing their windpipes.  

What a rare treat to hear the elves play their windpipes. In any other situation, I would have enjoyed secretly listening to the wonderful tune produced by such elegant creatures. But I was in the middle of taking the Knoles Academy’s test, and they weren’t here to play around gleefully. They were here to become students of the best and most diverse schools in the empire.  

The elves were on my list of creatures I did not want to meet during the test. For one particular reason, I’m one-eighth elf. Practically nothing, right? My grandfather on my father’s side has more elf blood in him than me. It’s not like it’s a bad thing, but there are still many old customs and prejudice about mixing with other races.  

My grandfather knew there was a high chance I would meet elves during the test or at the academy if I were to pass, so he volunteered himself to give me training and advice. The training started out involuntary because I wanted to focus on my magic. Grandfather’s persistence finally convinced me to begin training with him. It was complete hell, but I can’t complain now since it came in handy, and helped me gain muscle.  

As for his advice, it was simple: just keep out of the way. Don’t engage an elf, don’t pretend to know anything about them or their customs, and do not go to an elf village without a proper invitation. In other words, he emphasized the importance of knowing one's place within a close community such as that of the elves. 

I didn't know then just how afraid grandfather was for my safety till much later. It was also much later that I learned you can't run from the past. Especially when the past involves a group of people who refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. 

And oh goodness, there's a lot of that! Compared to that whole mess, I prefer the mud pit.