No no no! This is a disaster! I ran at full speed into the darkness of the forest. I don’t have rosy cheeks -I’m a scale-haver- but if I did they would be burning bright red! So embarrassing, so humiliating!

  I just wanted to learn more about my neighbors, how’d it turn out like this? That elf, Windthrow, the one who almost turned me into a lizard pin cushion. It was him who set the trap. And I was clueless enough to think that I was some sort of stealth master. I lost my chance for a good first impression. Actually, this was the worst possible introduction…and I lost Tanglewood! How am I gonna fix this? I recalled Windthrow’s look of pity and shock. How his beautiful purple eyes looked at me.

  “Stop thinking like that Vylet!” I shouted. I heard a flock of bats somewhere take off as my cry echoed across the dark forest.

  He wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me if I went back for my spear. The only thing that stopped him the first time was that I was so damn pathetic.

  Okay. Maybe I could sneak in and take back Tanglewood. Yeah, maybe that would work, I could-

  Mid-stride my talons colliding with something like a string. I tripped forward and fell face first into a massive web strung between two trees.

  I tried to tug my legs and arms free. No luck. The web was sticky and strong.

  There was rumbling above me. What the…

  A huge blue and white spider materialized on the web above me. Each disgustingly hairy leg was half of my height. Neon green venom dripped off its fangs. Slowly it crawled down towards me, apparently confident that I couldn’t escape.

  Wrong move arachnid. I was already cutting my way out! Using my claws I freed my right arm, then my left. The spider noticed and sped up. Left leg, right leg. I was free!

  It collided right on top of me. My vision flashed white.

  The spider pinned me on my back. It bit towards my face as I frantically tried to slash it off me. Its dripping fangs inched closer and closer, finally I scored a lucky kick with one of my talons. Blue blood erupted from its thorax. I rolled away and hopped to my feet, claws at the ready.

  Where was I?! The dark forest was replaced by a strange world of white fog. The trees were grey, and vaguely transparent. Everything was fuzzy; almost out of focus. The spider I’d just injured was gone too.

  Then I felt a sharp pain in my side. A bite! I jumped back, clutching my side. No blood. My scales held up, for now.

  Two of the blue-white spiders circled around me. Neither of them wounded.

  I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t have Tanglewood. So I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.

  This world of mist was silent and cold. All I heard was the sound of clicking and gnawing from behind me. Everything was blurred, fuzzy, and ill defined. Like a nightmare.

  I activated my Action Surge for an extra boost. High up in the ghostly trees the spiders continued to stalk me. It soon wore off. I again tripped over a low slung web, impossible to spot in this awful grey and white world.

  As I fell, the darkness and humidity of the real world returned. I was back in the forest, laying in the grass and mud. In the canopy above were flashes of blue and white. The spiders had returned too! One jumped down directly at me, its legs were outstretched like daggers!

  There was a whistling noise and an arrow pierced its head midair. It screeched and blue blood splashed over me. The force of the arrow pinned it to a nearby tree, where it flailed wildly, before dying. I climbed to my feet and traced the path of the arrow.

  My eyes rested upon Windthrow, holding his dark wooden bow, and already readying another arrow from his hip quiver. His eyes scanned the trees for more spiders.

  He missed the one that materialized on the ground behind him. I charged it. His eyes flicked towards me, anticipating an attack. Instead he decided to focus on the enemies above us. Meanwhile, I ran past him towards the flanking arachnid. I needed to protect Windthrow! I reeled back and slashed straight upwards. It tried to dodge. All three claws cut through one of its front most legs. Before it could recover I jumped onto its thorax and started stomping with my talons.

  Waves of blue blood spilled out as I stomped again and again. It was dead, but I was pissed! This fucker was trying to kill a potential mate! Wait what. Another arrow whizzed past me, shortly followed by a pained inhuman screech.

  “That battle isn’t over! Get behind me and watch my back!” Windthrow shouted as I stood their dumbstruck.

  Returning to my senses I stepped out of the spider thorax. I ran over to Windthrow and positioned myself at his back. We stood at the ready, looking for any more of the horrid creatures.

  The spiders must have known when to cut their losses. The last one in the trees above us faded away, and didn’t return. A few awkward minutes passed as Windthrow and I hesitated to let our guard down.

  At one point I felt the tip of my tail brush against his ankle, a shiver ran up my spine. Even in the midst of battle…it was a pleasant feeling.

  Eventually it was clear that we’d won.

  Windthrow sighed and lowered his bow.

  “Phase Spiders. Didn’t know they lived in the Weald,” he said while turning to face me. He flashed a playful smile, as if we weren’t just fighting for our lives moments ago.

  “No…I was-one of them I mean, it took me someplace strange,” I said. My heart was still racing from the battle. That weird feeling in my belly must be from the battle too. Windthrow started examining the nearby spider corpse, gently prodding it with his boot.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “That would be the Ethereal Plane. They drag their prey there, then tear em to pieces,” he explained. “Very dangerous, and very rare. But when processed correctly, they can yield some very useful materials.” He’d taken out a silver knife and was kneeling next to the body.

  “Oh…that misty place was the ethereal plane?” I peeked over his shoulder. It looked like he was carefully cutting through the parts of the exoskeleton that I hadn’t stomped. “I don’t really understand how I escaped.”

  There was a loud crunch. He reached shoulder deep into the cavity.

  “Ah yeah, not many live to tell about it. I take it you ran long enough for their phase magic to wear off? Glad you left enough of a trail for me to track you down.” The mushy noises were even making me squeamish. Windthrow proceeded to pull a fleshy blue sack from the corpse, then he squeezed it like an overripe lemon, collecting the juices into a vial. Just before it overflowed, he popped a cork on it.

  He held it up to the moonlight and gazed at the blue liquid. His eyes shined and a deeply contended smile grew on his face.

  “Eh, are you okay?”

  He jumped and fumbled the vial, only catching it at the last second. Then he turned and looked at me in surprise, apparently remembering I was still here.

  “My apologies! I got carried away. I’ve not hunted phase spiders in a very very long time and wanted to harvest some of their oil. Anyway- sorry!” He bowed deeply. “My name is Windthrow Zerzan, and I’m the person who so rudely trapped you earlier. Can I ask your name?”

  “I’m Vylet. Just Vylet” I awkwardly returned his bow. “And that was my fault! Don’t apologize!”

  “Well too late, I’ve already apologized.” He laughed softly, before stifling a cough. He looked away from me. Did I do something wrong? “Vylet, your things are just against the tree back there. If you wouldn’t mind very quickly putting on your cloak.”

  Oh, of course. Other people usually wear clothes. I ran over to my things and quickly clasped my green-gold cloak over my shoulders. And there it was, Tanglewood! I picked up my beloved spear and hugged it close to my chest.

  “So Vylet, do you happen to live nearby? I can show you how to process a Phase Spider. But you know, we should probably do it in a safer place.” He gestured to one of the other corpses which only hosted a few arrows (as opposed to the stomped one that he dissected earlier).

  It was a little embarrassing that he’d see my little home. I wish I cleaned up…too late now!

  “I live underground. Nearby underground. Not a cave. Like a room. You can follow me.”

  “Okay, sure. Lead the way!” He seemed a mix of intrigued and concerned.

  Together we dragged the non-pulverized phase spider while I led us to my home. On the way he told me a bit about his people, nothing I didn’t already know. He was curious about me, but hesitant. Doesn't help that I’d apparently forgotten how to speak like a normal person.

  After a nice midnight walk, we arrived at the hatch that led to my home. I threw it open and gestured down the dark passage.

  “Just down here!”

  He looked at me, then at the stone steps down into the darkness.

  Windthrow sighed loudly. “You’re full of surprises Vylet, lead the way.”

  The poor guy was clearly nervous as we descended. His hand hovered nearby his hip quiver. But as we entered the main room, seeing that it was empty, he visibly relaxed.

  “You have a very interesting home Vylet.” He looked up at the huge blue crystal which bathed the room in dim light. “I have so many questions, but first!” He lifted the Phase Spider effortlessly onto one of the surgical tables.

  “Now, watch closely. I’ll show you easiest and best part to harvest.” He took out his knife, and led me step by step through the process. Windthrow was a fantastic and patient teacher. Finally we arrived at the last step. “You have to be very careful, it’s delicate.” He removed the same organ as earlier, pierced it, then drained the liquid into a small vial. “This liquid will allow you to briefly enter the ethereal plane when imbibed. And now if you ever hunt these again you can harvest it yourself!”

  “I appreciate you teaching me, just one issue..” I showed him my three-clawed hands. “I’m not so great at being delicate.”

  “Ah, ah- let me apologize, again. You know what..” He offered the vial to me. “You can keep this one.”

  “I appreciate that!” I took the small vial -holding it between my two palms- and carefully placed it in my nearby rucksack.

  Windthrow took a seat on a nearby table -the one with an old blanket that I’d been using as a bed.

  “So Vylet, mind if I ask you a couple questions?”

  I nodded affirmatively and sat next to Windthrow. Then I gave him my best fanged smile. Was he blushing? Nah, must be my imagination. He seemed like more of the calm and cool type.

  “Okay, first, sorry if this seems rude, but what species are you?” he asked.

  “Sorry, but I don’t know. Really I don’t.”

  “But you must come from a tribe or have family? There must be others like you in the Weald somewhere.”

  This was a difficult question. I couldn’t tell him that my soul or something came from another world. But I wouldn’t lie.

  “I don’t know- I don’t think I have family. My memory isn’t so great.” .

  He stared at me with his beautiful purple eyes. God, now I felt embarrassed. Finally, he shook his head, and patted my shoulder.

  “That okay Vylet, this probably won’t make sense to you but that’s not a unique situation. Many people have difficulty remembering details from the War years. Do you know about the Empire, or were you involved with them?”

  “I know about them. I think this place belonged to them. And my friend- they did awful things to my friend. Oh, and I fought some of them, but they were undead.”

  His long elven ears twitched when I mentioned that they were undead.

  “Undead? I suppose that wouldn’t be impossible. Not that they don’t deserve it, trust me, they do. It’s just I’ve not heard of any undead Imperials.” He paused for a moment and gazed at the ceiling in deep thought. “Vylet, you should visit our village, I trust you know where it is? I’d like to introduce you to my friends. And you can tell us more about these undead Imperials.”

  I kicked my feet and my tail swished behind me. “I’d like to visit, as long as I’ll be safe.”

  “Of course! We’d never hurt you. And there are so many different species among us. I think Gorefang in particular would love to meet you!” He hopped off the table. “So tomorrow then?”

  Eh. That seemed so soon. But I couldn’t say no at this point!

  “Yeah! Tomorrow!”

  He gathered his things and started walking to the stairs.

  “They'll organize search parties for me soon. And I think we both need some rest, so I have to wish you goodnight. It was lovely to meet you, Vylet.” Windthrow gave me a wave and walked up the stairs, a moment later I heard the familiar sound of the hatch closing.

  I took a few deep breaths. Then I ran around like a happy schoolgirl, or probably more like a golden retriever with the zoomies. I hadn’t spoken that much since I lost Telar! And Windthrow was so kind. Plus he’s good with a bow. He knew about different creatures and what parts were useful. Damn, he made me question a lot about myself!

  I was nervous, but in a good way. No more sneaking around; I’d visit the village tomorrow.