"Do you have anything to say before you leave?" asks the king "Yes, Your Majesty! I think I have." I have to cling to any thread of life. There must be something that I can still do. "The chamber became silent for a moment" "What is it?" "Since this is my last morning, can I ask for something?" Please say yes, I have to save time... maybe I can find a way to escape... "Whispers" The king looked at the elders, and they looked back at him. "Silence" "Let's see. I cannot promise you that I will accept it, but tell us what you want?" "I really liked the last five days being here even if on the 4th day I was imprisoned till today. The guards were protecting me, the maids served me in my room tea every morning and I had the chance to see this beautiful castle, the mighty statues, and the surroundings. I am grateful and if it possible, I would like to drink in this morning a cup of tea since is my last morning, Your Majesty!" bowing in air "Whispers" The elves were talking to each other trying to think about justice. No one seemed to want to accept the request, neither to ignore it. The words I said this time hit a weak spot. The king raises a hand. "Silence" "I shall accept your request!" A large number of elves looked amazed. The three elders couldn't say a thing because they would make the king look bad in the eyes of others so they kept their mouth shut. "Send a maid to get some tea for the prisoner!" says the king "You can call me Haro, Your Majesty!" No response. Awkward silence. "The doors are opening." I look back and I see the maid that looked after me until I waked up 5 days ago, the one with a "big soul". She was carrying a silver tray with two cups and a kettle. Why two cups? She makes eye contact with me when she gets close and I notice her red eyes like children have after they cry a lot. "I'm sorry.. f-for t-that.." I say on a low tone as she passes by me When she arrives near the king, she serves him with a cup of tea. "Is there something wrong?" asks the king while looking at her eyes "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. It's nothing important." smiling while taking the silver tray "I'm honored to drink tea with you, Your Majesty!" smiling and trying to diminish the awkwardness in the air The tea is served to me and I enjoy every sip because I feel that with the end of the cup tea, comes my end too. I've never been in such an awkward situation my whole life... I'm practically levitating above a hole at 8000 meters altitude, with my hands in handcuffs, with a maid on my left side that saw me naked 5 days ago, drinking a tea with the king, and over 300 elves are staring and whispering about me. "I am pleasantly surprised that I was served with my favorite flavor. Many thanks to the one who did this!" Taking another swallow "Silence" I notice the maid's face becomes red and stares at the floor. Hm... my imagination, probably. Looking at my cup. My tea is almost finished... In my previous life, I didn't like it. Who would've guessed that tea can make difference between life and death? I finish drinking the tea and I lean towards the maid to return her cup. She intentionally touches my hand and says in a quiet tone, looking into my eyes: "It's Sylvie, my name is Sylvie Faenorin." and smiles taking the cup from my hand Her green eyes, her small lips, her voice, her short green hair... Wait, wait a second. What I am thinking about when going to die? All eyes are directed to the king who is now rising from his chair. "Your last wish come true, Haro. May the God's forgive you!" makes a sign towards the mage in the cloak My heartbeat was so fast, the blood was flowing through my veins with such speed that time flowed differently from my perspective than from the perspective of others. For me, a second meant 5 seconds, so I could see every movement 5 times faster .. when the king gave the order, when the elves on both sides rejoiced, when Sylvie turned her head towards me, her green eyes moistened and tried to say something. ... her lips are moving, but no sound is heard ... as if everyone is mimicking. The spell surrounding me loses its power and I get sucked through the Gate of Heaven. I was looking at the king and seeing how I was getting closer and closer to the level of the floor in slow motion, then when I plunged through the gate I fell through a tunnel with old stone walls and greenery growing through the cracks until everything became so bright, that I could not keep my eyes open. "Strong wind" "It feels like a dream." "Am I going to die?" "This is not a bad way to die, I feel like I fly!" Falling from 8000 meters I stabbed some clouds and then, facing the ground, I see part of the kingdom of the elves, a borderless forest with few grasslands where there are no trees. Some mountains, a waterfall and sharp rocks at the foot of this mountain from where I was thrown and only 4000 meters separated us. Pieces of earth were visible because it was sunny in the last days and the snow began to melt. "I wish to have more time to fly like this, I don't want to stop too soon." But what was that? I saw something before I fell. Thinking about Sylvie. "She tried to say... o... ai.." I try to decipher the message from her lips from my memory "He.. n... way" "Hel... on.. way?" "Help is on the way!" "She wanted to tell me that help is on the way?" "Eagle call sounds" I turn with my face to the sky and I see someone diving on an eagle's back. The person bends to diminish the friction with the wind to provide more speed. He is approaching the back of the eagle with an armor that allows the movement made of a helmet, plate on the chest, shoulders and thighs, leather gloves and iron boots and in the back a wig that is blown with force by the wind. I'm going through another cloud, this time bigger. Within 3 seconds after coming out of the cloud, the person on the eagle comes out too like the bullet from the pipe of a gun and approaches little by little. From behind, three other people on eagles descend in the same position and use crossbows to stop the one who wants to save me. He uses evasive maneuvers to avoid sharp arrows but this slows him down and an arrow hits my right leg. "Auuuuucch!! Fuck!" "Ahhh, this hurts soo badly!" I try to look at my leg and the arrow went right through it like it was destined for me. The elves from behind are preparing to shoot again by placing the string back to its position which is not an easy job, so the one who tries to save me uses the time to dive at full speed again. Closer and closer. He extends his hand to me and I extend my hands locked with handcuffs to him. "Almost!.. just a little!" And... He grabs my right hand firmly. "I'm saved! Thank God!" But after grabbing my hand, he falls from the eagle with three arrows in the back and the eagle with which he was diving, returns, and flies in another direction, letting me fall free. "H-he-help!!" I say while falling with the hands pointed at the other 3 elves They stop in mid-air for a moment, look at me and then fly back through the clouds. I let myself to fall without troubling anymore... Between me and the ground remains like 2000 meters now. "Thank you, Sylvie! You tried to help me." tears were flying from my closed eyes "Sound of a machine starting" "System online!" "Good morning, Master!" Am I dreaming? Did I die? "No, Master! You are very alive, more than I am!" A warning appears on a window in front of me. Warning! The collision with the earth is imminent! Duration until impact: 30 seconds System, can I use the teleportation to save me? The chance of survival is very low! The System requires the approval of the Master to use the autopilot. 15 seconds "Use autopilot!" "Proceeding to autopilot." Around me appears a bubble of energy that I have never seen before with hundreds of light symbols circulating in a certain way. A few magic symbols merge and form a simple magic circle with a shield in the middle. "Prepare for impact!" says the System 5 seconds I closed my eyes and protected my face. The bubble gets a new layer, this being the shield (a blue sphere with hexagonal pieces). From far away, it could be heard a big "Booom!" that produces a shock wave so strong that anyone within 8 km away could sense it. At the place of impact, a crater formed and a lot of trees were shaken, losing the snow from branches due to the shock wave. After a couple of minutes, I open my eyes and get up looking around. "System, I am alive! I am alive thanks to you!" "I'm honored to be helpful, hehe!" My right leg hurts and the bleeding is slow but constant. "Can you heal my leg?" "System can't do that, System can't do that again..." "But what happened, your mode of speech is a little different now." "I am developing a human personality with each update, Master! System's capacities have been improved due to the update which means that the efficacity with which the System decides what is good for Master is better so that the calculation errors like last time won't happen again. Also, I've got new skills and Master is now able to see them." I tear my prisoner pants off my right foot and bandage the wound around the arrow to reduce blood loss then I climb the edge of the crater and look at the roots of the trees that have a little vegetation to their stems that seem to be at least three meters in diameter with 10 meters high. "First we must find a covered place to start a fire and heal somehow my wound, otherwise I will die from infection if not from other cause." Walking beside the trees using a stick as support, I talk with the System and the further I go, the more green grass I find grown among the leaves. The wind blows slowly through the trees, birds are heard, flying squirrels fly from tree to tree and light penetrates harder through the branches which do not give a sense of security. "We need to be careful here, if we met a beast this might be our end." I say "System can use surveillance mode. Any creature that has no stealth skill within 200 meters will be found but it will take 20 mana for each attempt." "Activate it every two hours." I say as I walked on the soft soil made of several layers of wet leaves that not long ago, they were buried in a thin layer of snow "Yes, Master!"