I flopped back on my bed, staring at my phone.

What a boring Saturday, I thought to myself, There has to be some sort of party going on tonight. Maybe a bonfire at the beach? That would be awesome! I texted some of my friends, wondering if anything was happening tonight.

All of them said there was nothing.

“Typical.” I let out a huge sigh.

I looked at the message Sierra, my best friend, sent me a couple days ago.

Hey chicka, are you doing anything Saturday?

Although she didn’t say it, that was her way of asking me to come over and hang out. I haven’t heard from her since that day, but I wasn’t worried. It was pretty common to go a few days without talking with her. As I was about to leave to her place, so I figured I should let her know.

Okay, I’m getting ready and I’ll be heading to your place in about 20 min or so

With that, I got off my bed and headed to the bathroom. As I was washing my face and brushing my teeth, I couldn’t help but stare at my reflection, my bright blue eyes staring back at me, almost tauntingly.

Everyone always said how pretty my eyes were. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

They’re just eyes, just like yours. The only difference is I can’t see without my glasses and the iris’ are a brighter color than yours. Big whoop. If I could chose, I would have green or purple eyes, not this bluish grey.

I slowly surveyed my pale face. Even though I was an adult and should have grown out of it by now, my face has been plagued by a very persistent and horrible case of acne since I started puberty. I considered it a lucky day when I could count on one hand the number of pimples on my face. An even better day if they weren’t inflamed. It was an unfortunate event and something I was bullied for a lot during school since I can’t wear make up for fear of making it worse.

Despite all of that, I still considered myself beautiful. Acne wasn’t something to be ashamed of. Of course I would get rid of it if products like Neutrogena and Clearasil actually worked, but it wasn’t much of a big deal.

 I spat out my tooth paste and pulled my hair up in a ponytail. I turned off the light and went back to my room to get my purse and iPod.

Volts came bounding in my room and rubbed up against my legs. I picked her up and scratched between her ears as she rubbed her head against my neck. I put her down and told her to be good while I was gone. I checked her food and water dishes and closed the door behind me as I made my way down the stairs and out the front door.

It was about an hour and a half walk to Sierra’s house. I found listening to music makes the trip feel like it’s going by faster.

I started thinking about the story behind how I got my cat. She recently turned two and the only reason I got her was because of my ex-fiancé. He worked as a security guard for a man who lived in a mobile home with about 12 cats. One of them got pregnant and I was asked to take one of them because he was threatened with eviction if he couldn’t get rid of majority of the cats. When she was old enough, I took her home and loved her ever since. I tended to refer to her as mu daughter because she was about as high maintenance as a child, without having to spend as much money.

Thinking of my ex made me ball my fists and grit my teeth.

At least Volts was one of the very few good things that came out of that relationship.

As I was passing the public library, I found someone’s phone just lying on the sidewalk. I looked around, but there was no one else walking. I stopped and picked it up and turned around to head to the police station to turn it in.

As I was walking, it started to ring. The number didn’t come up in the caller ID, but figuring it was the owner trying to contact their phone, I answered it. “Ello?”

“Hello. This is Treeden Freight. Would you be willing to answer a few questions for a survey?”

That’s definitely not the owner.

The voice that came on the phone was an automated female voice. Figuring I have nothing better to do, I agreed to take the survey.

“Great. Please answer all questions honestly and to the best of your ability.”

I raised my eyebrows and waited for the automated voice to continue.

“First question, what is your age?”

“22.”

“What is your blood type?”

“I don’t know.”

“What would you say your favorite season is?”

“Fall.”

“What is your political standing, or, if you are registered with a political party, which one is it?”

What the hell kind of survey is this anyways?

“I’m registered for the Independent Party.”

“What is your favorite color?”

This is getting really weird…

“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“Please answer the question to the best of your ability”, the automated voice said.

“Green … “

“What is your religious standing?”

I stared at the phone with disbelief. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Who are you and why are you asking these weird questions?”

“Please answer the question to the best of your ability”, the voice repeated.

“Not until you tell me what kind of survey this is”, I persisted.

“Please answer the question to the best of your ability.”

I sighed.

I guess I’m not getting anywhere with this.

“I’m an atheist. Happy?” The exasperation in my voice wasn’t hard to recognize.

“Thank you for taking our quick survey and have a great day. Goodbye.” They hung up the second after they said ‘goodbye.’

I slowly pulled the phone away from my face and just stared at it was a confused look on my face.

I…I don’t even know what to say about what just happened…

In a confused daze, I dropped it off at the police station and continued to walk to Sierra’s house. As soon as I got down the stairs, I felt incredibly dizzy and light headed. I reached out and gripped the railing to steady myself and gingerly put a hand to my forehead. I took several, long blinks to make the pressure behind my eyes go away. It wasn’t working very well, so I shook my head.

That just made it worse.

I felt myself blacking out and put my arms up to protect my head as I fainted.

I have no idea how long I was out, but damn was my head killing me.

I let out a groan and squeezed my eyes tighter together against the bright light.

“Aw, what the shit, mate?” I felt my head to make sure there weren’t any injuries.

No blood. That’s a good sign.

Slowly I sat up and rubbed my eyes. After a few seconds, I finally opened my eyes. I think that was probably the loudest I’ve ever screamed in my life.

Spread out in front of me was a vast forest, so thick with trees I could barely see 10 meters in.

I started to breathe heavily as I panicked.

What the hell happened to the police station? I’m supposed to be staring at a flight of stairs, not a God damn forest! Okay Ana, just calm down. There has to be a reasonable and logical explanation for this. Just calm your shit, and take in your surroundings. Try to find something familiar and just get back home.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down and looked around me. As I looked, I found I was sitting on the side of a dirt path that ran parallel to the edge of the forest, which was about 10 feet away from the path. I got up and dusted off my clothes. While turning around and looking behind me, I found a large plain spread out before me. A few desolate trees and scattered bushes were all I could see. Off in the distance to my right I could make out a mountain range, but that was it. As I turned back to the forest, I noticed a sign on the side of the road with two planks of wood pointed in opposite directions with woods written on them.

A road sign!

Excited, I scrambled as fast as I could to the sign. The sign to the right pointed to a place called Falconspike, the left said Sardin.

I had to hold the pole for support as I almost fell down in despair. I’ve never heard of these places, therefor I had no idea where I am, or if I was still in California for that matter.

I finally sat down beside the sign as I thought of how I got here.

Okay, so the last thing I remember I was walking down the flight of stairs from the police station. As I reached the bottom I felt dizzy and blacked out…This doesn’t make sense! How the hell did I go from the city to the middle of God knows where!

I let out a frustrated yell and put my head on my knees.

What if I never see my friends or family again...?

That thought almost made me tear up.

“Excuse me, are you alright?”

I almost fell over because I was startled at the sudden voice. I looked up in surprise to see a female about my height with black hair and olive green eyes, wearing all brown clothes.

Wait a second…

As I took a second look at her clothes, I noticed it was the type of clothes you would find someone wearing in the middle ages. Tunic, bodice, pants, boots; all made of leather and cotton.

Did I get kidnapped to a Renaissance Faire? Okay this is weird…

She was still staring at me, waiting for a response.

“Oh, yes I’m fine. At least, I think I am. I’m not sure. I think I’m lost.”

“Lost? Oh dear, maybe I can help you with that. Here, give me your hand so I can help you up.” She held her hand out for me and I took it.

As I looked closer, I noticed something off about her in general. I can honestly say she was one of the most attractive women I’ve ever seen and her dark hair was pulled back in an attempt to cover her pointy ears and her eyes…

Wait, what?!?!

I quickly looked at anything else besides her ears. Pointed ears? I’ve never heard of someone having pointed ears…except elves…but that’s impossible because elves don’t exist except in fantasy like The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons, not in real life.

So, why are her ears pointy, then?

“Do you know where you’re supposed to be going?”

I shook my head, still refusing to look at her. “I don’t even remember getting here. The last thing I remember was walking down a flight of stairs, and then I fainted and woke up on the side of this road.” I made a vague gesture towards the sign. “I have never heard of those places before. I don’t even know where I am.”

“You just woke up here? My, that sounds suspicious. Do you remember anything else about this place?”

I shook my head.

Since I have no idea where I am, probably best to play dumb and let her give me details about this place.

Her eyes widened. “I should get you to a city to see a healer.  If you don’t remember anything, you might have been cursed and those can be extremely dangerous. Do you remember your name?”

I nodded. “Ana.”

She nodded. “Your age?”

I swallowed. “No.”

“Do you know where you’re from?”

I bit my lip and shook my head. “That’s all I remember.”

“Goodness. You’re in luck though. You’re half way between two of them. Do you have a preference of which one you want to go to?”

I shrugged. “A city’s a city. I don’t see the difference between them.”

I thought I caught a grimace when I said that. “Well, that way,” she said pointing in front of her, “is headed to Falconspike. It’s the biggest city in this region, almost 25,000 people. It has six different districts that specialize in specific areas of trade, each headed by a guild. For example, in the fighter’s district, a man named Ayan is the guild leader. It’s also the biggest and most accepting city around for the different species.”

I thought it weird she said ‘different species’ but I brushed it off and let her finish.

 “And over there,” she continued pointing behind her, “is the town of Sardin. Much smaller than Falconspike. Only about 3,000 people live there. They’re a lot less…accepting of the different races than the city is. That’s where I came from.”

She pauses and looks at my face. “You’re human, so you have nothing to worry about. They’re more prejudice towards non-humans, like me.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise if I tried.

She gave a small, amused smile. “Yes, I noticed you were staring at my ears earlier. No, I’m not human. I’m an elf.”

An elf?!?!  Holy shit, is this…no. NO, that’s impossible! I must be dreaming…am I? I think I’m going to faint again…

“I wouldn’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, so I don’t mind going to the city.” I had to concentrate so I didn’t stutter while saying that.

She laughed. “Both places have healers so I wouldn’t mind going back to Sardin.”

I thought about my possibilities. I have absolutely no idea where I am. However impossible it seems, I don’t think I’m on Earth anymore. With that said, I have no idea how or when I’ll be able to go home. Hell, I have absolutely no idea how I got here in the first place! For all I know, I could be stuck here for years before I find a way home. I should find a place to live and get a job for money for food and basic supplies in the meantime. Big cities usually have more opportunities than small ones…

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth…” I mumbled the famous quote under my breath.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, it’s just something I remembered suddenly. Take me to Falconspike, please. I want to go there.”

She gave me a weird look, but nodded none the less. “Okay, let’s go. We can make camp in a few hours and we’ll be at the city games by mid-afternoon tomorrow.”

I nodded, and followed her down the trail towards Falconspike.

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