Edylra’s mannerism fooled me into thinking she wanted sexual favours. It was none of that sort. It was an alliance in taking down the ruler of what had wrecked England for a century, turning the once beautiful place into a haven for slave traders. I sat opposite Edylra, crossing my legs over each other as I stared into the mysterious eyes of a professional. Her speech stayed formal, and her voice was one singular tone throughout the explanation, soft and strict.

“And why do you believe that I will complete the job of assassinating the king?” I asked. Edylra glanced out of my eye’s range of view once and back at me, collecting a proper answer.

“Is it not obvious? Firstly, your power is compelling. Secondly, it is so astronomically strong that it could completely control a human. Most dark elves didn’t have that capacity to handle a mere rat. They could only manage an ordinary elf.”

“Doesn't hypnosis only work on the opposite gender?”

“No, hypnosis can control both genders. Perverts of the dark elf race just wanted to manage one gender for sexual needs.” Edylra snarled.

“Why couldn’t you just use your magical powers to overthrow the king?”

“If I could, I would have. Only elves connected to a powerful family that owns a city or a whole country could attain magical powers. And if I were to kill a king. Another Eleven-Human war will break out.”

“But, from the history, I learnt-”

“Fuck whatever the internet says. A human that hates the elves created the internet. Most historical websites are one-sided to make the elves look like the bad guys of today’s society where both species are supposed to be peaceful and create disgusting offsprings of half-elves and half-humans.” Her eyebrows hostilely furrowed as we continued talking about humans.

“You hate the humans this much, yet you live in a village where the majority is humans.”

“I don’t hate humans. I hate the humans creating the system to fuck over the elves, the same way I hate elves who make a system to fuck over the humans.”

Her sharp, frizzy nails were beginning to scratch the wood of the coffee table as hatred started pouring out of Edylra’s eyes. They were a glossy green colour and grew strong by the second. I had to calm down the situation.

“Accepted, I will help you assassinate the king.”

“Perfect! I already created a fake identification card and a human mask to hide your elf features. You’re going to The Royal Academy, where you will be at the king’s doorstep.” Edylra clapped her hands in glee, passionately smiling as she pulled out a plastic card and held a piece of fake information about this fake identity card. I looked at it in confusion and directed my confusion right at Edylra.

“Why do you have this just lying around?” I asked, flashing the card that didn’t have a picture slot in the left corner of the card.

“Everyone in the village has one. It keeps us under the radar. Identity cards are given to us as babies and have everything about us documented on the card. It lets the government keep track of where we are at all times, which is why the detectives don’t ask for our fingerprints. They already have the fingerprint stored in their data.” Edylra explained.

She snatched the card from my hand without asking permission and took a picture of me with her phone. With the photo taken, Edylra placed the card flat on the back of her palm, faced the back of her phone on the card then waited a few seconds before a green ray of light manifested from the logo lasered in the centre of the mobile device enveloped in silver.

Sizzling noises came from the card as black burnt plastic trailed off the card, and thin strands of light smoke scaled Edylra’s nostrils. A rich unearthly substance of smell filled my nose. I had to back away from the trail of smoke while Edylra looked unphased with this unbearable smell. I only saw a smile and eyes that were sparkling.

“And it is done!” Edylra chimed, showing me my identification card. The picture showed me having elf ears.

“It still shows my elf ears?...”

“This is your real one. After I measure your face for the human disguise, I can finish the fake card.”

“I don’t see myself using this card, though?”

“The government scans every inch of their land yearly to catch runaways and find if there is any opposing military force planning on attacking. I am not asking you. I am telling you.” She grimaced at me.

Huh.

–

A fake identification card? I sat up from the bed and looked at the shiny card like I was unwrapping a legendary item. It was a win-win type of thing for sure. I could use the king as a ransom for whoever placed me in this universe and get answers to clear everything from the start of this new life. I have no awareness of if it is reality, a facade, an accidental reincarnation, or if my mind has completely gone insane.

I would like to think I haven’t gone insane. Maybe I just had a dementia moment, and pockets of memories are starting to gather again? Because, as clueless as I am, I know a lot about this world. I still need to know what kind of childhood I had for the whole family monarch to be obsessed with me sexually and psychologically.

Did my previous self use that mind control power–?

I am a dark elf, after all.

No, they’re the monarch, for God's sake. I’m sure they have some weird power disabling protection all over the building to avoid moments of terrorism and fear. They’d be stupid not having the thought about having protection. Now that I think about it, when Edylra went mental over my penis, I sensed a weird tingling feeling in my heart, like energy, was parting from my body.

I didn’t feel anything like that with Carina. Well, for one, she was raping me, so a feeling of my heart tingling wouldn’t have crossed my mind when all I was feeling was pain throbbing around my penis.

“Alvin! If you don’t mind, can you come and help me carry the BBQ back to Lucas?” Glenda called from downstairs.

Finishing up my thoughts, I went downstairs and saw Glenda struggling to carry out the BBQ through the gap in the thick door. She was panting sharply.

“Jesus! Don’t force yourself if you don’t have the strength to do so,” I sighed as I ran over to Glenda, applying all the pressure onto my arms as I carried it out of the door while Glenda watched. It wasn’t that heavy. The only problem was fitting this fat gargantuan fucking thing through this skinny ass doorway.

Every puff, I felt my bones wanting to succumb and disable me permanently for life. I wobbled out like a crab, bungling sideways while my fingertips varied to a pink colour like a mix of strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream as the rest of my fingers seared into a pale yellow colour.

“How you do this every summer puzzles me!..”

“Elijah mostly does it, but he is at the shop,” Glenda replied sheepishly.

“Then how does he do it?”

“He used to be a bodybuilder. That might explain, I guess.”

“Whew! A bodybuilder? After carrying this out, I need to hit the gym, haha. Any recommendations?” I chuckled, brushing off the sweat on my forehead after I placed the BBQ a few feet away from the door.

“What do you mean you need to work out? Was that not heavy at all? Platinum was used in the process to make that BBQ?”

“Ah? Why are people using platinum to make-”

“Alvin! Good morning, lad!” Lucas greeted me with energy as he hopped over to me, hugging his arm around me, pulling me down to scratch my head frantically.

“H-Hey, Lucas,” I groaned silently, gently pushing Lucas off me while he greeted Glenda, thanking her again for cleaning out the BBQ. I couldn't stop myself from looking over to Edylra’s house. It felt so dark and upsetting. I couldn’t see her through the windows, no movement of a shadow caught, and none of the lights appeared. It was utter darkness.

“Is Edylra ok?” I asked the two elderlies chattering on.

“I am not sure. Edylra hasn’t come out of that house ever since last night.” Lucas replied.

There’s nothing to worry about, Alvin. Seriously, why do you make me worry so much? She’s probably just making that card thingy, nothing biggie. Still, I need to check up on her just to make sure she still isn’t under that ‘spell’ somehow. After helping Alvin carry the BBQ over to his garden with a bare minimum of strength issues, I sneaked out the back when the elders were deep into a conversation and strolled over to the smoothly carved ladder with leaves wrapped around the body like chains to Edylra’s house.

Not wanting to startle Edylra, I tapped onto the ladder loud enough that she should hear the vibrations from inside her house. Then, I stepped back and raised my head to look through the windows, waiting for her green eyes to show.

Nothing. It was silent. I couldn’t hear the wooden floor croak when a foot sparked pressure as that individual walked over it. I couldn’t even hear breathing, nor did I smell that unearthly smell.

This weird feeling of looking at this house made me think I was staring at something that wasn’t supposed to be in this world. At any moment, something could drag me into a space that has banished everything in existence if I wandered far in.

Nausea punched me in the gut the more my mind rambled on, snapping the force in my legs, unsteadying the balance in my feet.

What kind of trickery is this?!

Ugh! My head!

I grated my hands across my forehead to ease the growing pain. I gripped onto the ladder as I felt my soul trying its best to leave my body as I stumbled onto the ladder’s steps. My body encountered a wave of chills and a scary drop in temperature. I couldn’t think nor control my eyes that didn’t blink. This pain in the middle of my forehead resembled a distorted vortex sucking in my blood cells.

My vision flattered into some pixelated vision as bursts of white dots filled my eyes like fireworks exhibiting beautiful flashes. I yelped in pain, scrunching my hands into a fist to counter the attack, but the more I resisted, the more flickers of some sort of dream grew clearer.

A dream revealed to me as someone running down a trailed path, chasing after someone in a forest. I don’t know! The person’s whole figure was a shadow, but as the shadow turned its head around, its eyes were a glowing white and showed me a blinding smile.

“You’re too slow, Alvin!” The shadow giggled, reaching their arm toward me as their glitchy voice, which sounded like a girl and a boy simultaneously, trailed off into a passing echo.

“W-Wait up!” I called out in a high-pitched voice, panting.

“I can’t let you catch me just yet!” The voice giggled, holding its stare and the innocent smile, finding no difficulties running without a direction. I looked ahead of the shadow, finding a broken-down treehouse far down the contract path. The left side of the treehouse had collapsed in on itself like an avalanche, leaving only the right side standing tall.

Even though I carried on chasing this shadow without a conscience, my small muscles were weakening and begging to take a break. A stubborn thought allowed me to carry on, disregarding the limits of my young self. My breathing tactic was rough. It was jumping all over the place, and my throat felt caustic.

“Come on, is that all you got?” The voice echoed, teasing me.

“Why are you complaining? You’re the one who is athletic here!” I whined. This entity, I was at peace and like I knew who it was. So, why can I not see their face?

“It’s a dream, Alvin. There are no limits!” The shadow laughed. They were self-aware of everything.

“Then, who are you?! Why are you in my dream?!” I shouted, cutting short as I stopped sprinting and crumbled onto my bum, panting quickly. I looked up from my feet to look back at the shadow to see it had vanished, “W-Where did-”

“Behind you!” The shadow’s voice giggled into my ear. My heart froze for a split second as I zipped my head behind to find the shadow crouching beside my right side, resting its non-existing chin on my shoulder. I didn’t react at all. I just strangely stared without processing any emotion.

“Do I know you?” I asked. A buzzing noise came from the shadow while its chin bobbed in and out on my right shoulder.

“At the moment, no. You do not know me. I am just a mystery in your screwed-up memory to figure out near the future.”

“How near is the future?”

“You’re close. Let’s say a year, considering where you are right now.” The shadow answered, plucking its lips as its tilted its head sideways to stare into my soul.

“Why can’t you just find me now?”

“That’ll be boring, and it will just unravel all those memories stored in your brain.”

“But, that’s what I want. I want my memories back to solve who I am and where I am.”

“Go on an adventure! It will be more interesting that way. Gradually find yourself in an unknown world as you journey out on an adventure with so many thrilling moments! Did you know you have a billion pounds over your name?” The shadow giggled, changing topics.

“No, I haven’t looked at the wanted list because I do not care,” I replied, going along with it.

“Let’s say you are the most wanted, kicking a serial killer with a thousand people under his name down the list. That's going to hurt him a lot!” The shadow laughed.

If this is a dream, how do I have free will and control everything I say? Is this a lucid dream? I need to ask.

“How are you interacting with me when it is supposed to be a dream?” I questioned. The shadow went silent, and its smile dropped as it now only had its eyes staring at me.

“You always have been a curious one.” The shadow rolled its eyes, patting my shoulder as it stood up in a feminine way. I saw the shadow circle me, standing in front of me as I perked my head to a shadow looking down on me.

My instincts didn’t kick in at all. The now tall shadow in a developed, matured body with curvy edges and a petite aspect had no uneasy feeling about it. I still felt rested and still felt nostalgic. The shadow looked at the trees for a moment like it was thinking of something and crouched down to me.

The buzzing noise got louder as the shadow tilted closer to my face so that I could feel the heat coming off the figure’s body brushing against my skin. The weird feeling of wind swimming around the entity’s body snatched me into paralysis as a black, murky hand cupped the right side of my chin as this entity read me in admiration. It was like the beast captured me and was planning on killing me, but remorse kicked in, and now all it can do is stare at me, trying to figure me out.

I couldn’t see the shadow’s smile, but I felt something genuine brimming in the tight, knotted air that never existed.

“It’s because we are connected, Alvin. We are all connected to you,” The shadow spoke softly, almost a whisper.

“We? What do you mean?”

“The Inutiles, the last of its kind. All twelve of us connected the Original Inutile.”

“Who is the original?”

“You are. Three months older than all of us combined, but something wasn’t right about you, so they abandoned you, Alvin, and threw you away.” The shadow’s calm voice was starting to perish.

“Who are they?”

“Our creators.” The shadow was withering away, squeezing out words I could not understand until it was dust.

–

My eyes shot open as I looked around my whereabouts, finding myself crunched onto my face. I stood up onto my feet and looked at the sky, finding my heart to be nothing but emptiness.

“Am I being tested?”