Elysia's Quest for Harmony

The sun was high in the sky, and the air was warm. I walked toward a village that lay in my path, hoping to find a suitable place to sleep for the night. It had been almost two weeks since I left home, and I was still far from reaching my destination, but I knew that the hard work will all be worth it someday. When I finally reach my goal.

I stopped walking when I reached a small stream that ran through the middle of the forest. A group of children stood at the bank of the stream, throwing rocks into its waters. They were laughing as they watched their rocks splash against the surface of the stream. "Hey there," I said to them as I approached them.

"Ahh! Who is it? An elf?" one of them asked when they saw me.

"Yes, it's an elf!" another child yelled excitedly as he pointed at me. He dropped his rock into the water and picked up a stick to poke at me with. "Are you alone?" he asked me with a worried look on his face. The other children were starting to walk towards me as well.

"Yes, but don't worry," I told him with a smile, "I mean you no harm." Their eyes widened and some of them started whispering among themselves when they heard what I said. "Your village is just over there, right?" I pointed to a steep hill behind them, "Can you point it out for me?"

"No!" one of them shouted loudly, "You're an elf! That means you're dangerous!" He pulled out his stick from his pocket and threw it at me angrily before running back to the rest of his friends. They followed him quickly away from me and back towards the village. It looked like they really are afraid of elves. But why? And what's this about pointing out their village? They didn't even want to talk to me anymore…

I sighed sadly as I sat down by the side of the stream where they had been playing earlier. Without any humans around for almost two weeks now, my mind has been occupied with thoughts about my journey so far and what lies ahead for me in this world… Ever since my childhood days, when my mother taught me about nature and how we can live in harmony with it instead of fighting against each other like we are doing now… My world has changed so much since then… All because humans decided that their power over others was more important than anything else… That they could do whatever they wanted without having to face any consequences… Now everything is just so twisted… So horrible… Is this really the kind of world that we want to live in?

A fierce wind blew past me suddenly and shook some leaves off of nearby trees. A storm must be approaching soon… Rain would be nice right now... Suddenly something fell onto my head from above – an apple! It wasn't very big but it seemed pretty plump and juicy so I decided to eat it anyway. After taking a bite out of it, I realized that there was something inside… Something hard and cold… A stone?! Why would anyone put a stone inside an apple? Maybe this is just some sort of prank or joke made by humans or something… Wait… This isn't a human thing! Elves never play pranks like this! This must have been made by someone from another race! Someone who knows that elves live here! Someone who wants us dead!

Suddenly a man dressed in black clothes appeared on top of a nearby tree branch. He jumped down onto the ground near me and pointed a sword at my throat before saying, "Hands up elf!"