“That thing was nightmare fuel,” I said.

“It came out of nowhere, too,” said Noel.

“Like, why does it have long legs? How does that help it swim?” I said. Noel shrugged. I figured I could come up with a reason. Maybe it used its legs to anchor itself to the ground or swum using some sort of magic. Either way, I wasn’t about to go jump into the ocean and look for another one to confirm my theories.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Noel. “Other monsters might come for the carcass.”

Noel insisted we take what we wanted from the shark monster’s body, and leave the beach behind. She was wary of the ocean, which made sense because of the walking four-legged shark monster that attacked us on the beach, but I figured uncertainty was partially to blame. She had never seen the ocean before, and having a traumatic experience the first time she saw it might have stoked her thalassophobia.

We cut off some shark meat and cartilage, picked up the two red gems that had been on its forehead, and left the beach. We went just far enough away that we could still make out the coastline, which we followed as we walked across the wasteland. The high cliffs that used to separate the highlands from the plains had long since faded into each other as the ancient river must have spread into a delta to flow into the ocean. The place we were walking through had probably once been a river delta, but the river had either dried up or changed course. Since I didn’t remember there being a large river running through the plains, I figured the river had already shrunk by the time I came to this world.

I played with the two red gems we had retrieved from the shark monster’s corpse. Counting the one we had gathered from the snake monster at the watering hole, we now had three red gems. I hadn’t been able to keep the gems from the one star Farro bird or The Terrible, but even if I had managed to keep them, I had no idea what to use them for.

I didn’t feel any magical energy inside them, although I hadn’t developed a way to sense magical energy, anyway, so that didn’t mean much. The gems’ red glow had dulled now that they were no longer adorning the foreheads of frightening monsters, but they retained a mesmerizing luster that made them almost hypnotic to stare at. I resolved not to look at them for too long.

We debated throwing them away. What if other monsters could sense them? What if holding on to them made the God of Evil angry? Or what if touching them for too long corrupted our minds or turned us into monsters as well?

In the end, we kept them. I figured if other monsters could sense them, we could use them as bait. It was unlikely that would work, since no monsters chased after us in the wasteland even when we held onto one gem.

It didn’t matter if holding on to them made the God of Evil angry, since we’d already killed his Ikon, the Oracle, and his minion, The Terrible. It was way too late to try to get on his good side.

And as for getting corrupted by the gems, it didn’t seem likely. Touching them didn’t make me feel any different, nor did they increase or decrease my magic power. There were no voices in my head, no strange emotions taking over my body, nothing that would raise any red flags. Still, we decided to keep them inside a small pouch made of shark monster skin which we took turns holding every other day.

I did try to experiment on the gems, but I couldn’t crush them or cut them or break them, no matter how hard I tried. They didn’t react to water or blood or even a caustic lye solution. I rubbed some soap on them just in case, but that washed straight off, leaving the gem just a little bit brighter. Maybe that would make the God of Evil a little happier?

After a few days, Noel spotted something in the distance. It was late and we’d set up camp. We didn’t have any wood so we slept without a campfire, and our motion detection magic had kept worked well so far. I squinted in the direction in which Noel was pointing.

A crescent moon hung lazily in the sky, with the red star pulsing gently next to it. Underneath the two heavenly bodies, way off in the distance, a small light bobbed through the darkness. The light was on the ground, at a height a little above my head. It went up and down, and flickered like a candle in the wind.

No. Not a candle. A torch!

Noel and I abandoned our camp, grabbed our supplies, and ran towards the bobbing light. We kept our spells ready, just in case this was some sort of light emitting monster, but judging by the way the light was moving, we were pretty sure it wasn’t a monster.

As we ran up to the light, I realized we were near a cove. Saltwater poked into the land, with craggy rocks bordering it on three sides. In the dim moonlight, I made out some trees on the coast on the other side of the cove. The light was running away from the trees, towards a rocky outcropping away from the water. The light dipped behind the rocks, and as Noel and I caught up, we found a cave hidden behind a layer of overgrown vines. I brushed aside the vines and prepared some fire magic to help us see in the dark.

Something rushed towards my neck. I took a step back and the spear stopped in mid-air. Noel cast a fireball in front of her body, lighting up the entrance of the cave. The fireball hovered next to the spear, which quickly retracted as its wielder jumped back in fright.

I pulled out the Dragon’s Tooth and pointed it forward. Noel joined my side with her fireball. The spear-wielding figure fell backwards as he tried to get away from Noel’s hovering fireball, tripped over his own feet, and crashed to the ground. His spear cluttered against the rocky ground, coming to a rest near my feet.

I blinked my eyes. I looked at Noel and she met my gaze. She made her fireball float forward, lighting up the bumbling figure who was tapping the ground, searching for his spear. The fire illuminated his face once again. The young boy looked up at us with his startling green eyes. He had moppy red hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in years. It was hard to tell in the orange light, but there were freckles on his chubby cheeks, which made him look even younger and stranger. He was wearing a strange, scaly blue loincloth, with a pouch made of the same substance slung over his shoulder.

We stared at each other in silence. The boy didn’t move. Noel didn’t say a word. In the end, I figured I would have to break the silence, but the boy spoke first, instead:

“Are you elves?”

I was a little taken aback. Noel looked confused too. It was then that I narrowed my eyes and stared at the boy even harder. He had short stubby legs and a surprisingly lean torso, but that wasn’t strange at all. Instead, it was when I saw his ears that I opened my mouth and spoke almost without meaning to:

“You’re a human?”

I lit another fireball to illuminate the entire cave entrance. The orange glow washed over everything: the craggy walls, the rocky ground, the narrowing path further into the cave, as well as the half dozen or so adult humans who were cautiously piling out of the path, spears at the ready. The humans’ eyes traveled to my face, and some of them began to tremble.

An older human fell to his knees and clasped his hands in the air.

“Great, benevolent elf, thank you for visiting my humble people once again!” he said, loudly.