#elenion

You heard something rustle to your right, and you pointed your flashlight in its direction before running to stand beside Namjoon, a chill running down your spine. He gave you an amused look when you linked your arms together, but said nothing. “I’d have more faith if we weren’t wandering in the fucking woods at one in the morning,” you mumbled.

There seemed to be nothing but tall trees for miles, and everywhere you directed your gaze looked the same. The fact that Namjoon didn’t have anything other than an old, decomposing leather-bound book to direct you two made your stomach churn. You were starting to think you should’ve been dropping breadcrumbs this entire time.

“First of all, this a forest. The Esgal Forest, to be exact.” You snorted. He said it as if it was supposed to mean something to you. “Second of all, the parma says we need to visit after dusk, but before dawn.”

You groaned. “‘Parma’? ‘After dusk, but before dawn’? Are you listening to the words coming out of your mouth? What the fuck even is a 'parma’? And dusk is at like, seven PM. We could’ve come here after dinner, for crying out loud! And isn’t the Esgal Forest the one in the fairytale from when we were kids? Are you sure—”

“Shh, shh,” he said suddenly, his body tensing and feet stopping in his tracks. Your eyes darted around nervously, not liking the sudden onslaught of silence. You could clearly hear the wind rustle through the trees, the leaves dancing in the gusts, and you’d never been more terrified by that sound. As you waited for some sort of explanation for why you two had stopped, you hoped your heartbeat and breathing weren’t as loud as they seemed to be. “…They know we’re here.”

“Who the fuck are 'they’?” you hissed, but then you were being dragged, and you would’ve fallen on your face if not for Namjoon’s strong grip on your forearm. “Why are we running??”

You didn’t receive an answer, but you kept running anyway, because whoever they were, they sounded like bad company.

“If 'they’ are the cops or park rangers or other people in authority, we really, really shouldn’t be running!” you said in between breaths. You should start running more.

You couldn’t see his face, but you were pretty sure he rolled his eyes at your comment. “Just shut up for a second, please,” he whispered, exasperated.

He turned sharply behind a tree and pulled you close, turning off his flashlight and motioning for you to do the same. Great, you thought. Now it was freezing and dark.

You shut your eyes, not wanting to know who was chasing you two until after they’d passed. You heard leaves and twigs snapping beneath heavy steps, and harsh voices shouting amongst themselves in a language you couldn’t understand. Namjoon’s breath hitched as the voices grew louder, and you instinctively clung to him.

A few seconds passed, the tension in the air so thick you almost felt like you were choking. After a few more, the voices and footsteps stopped, and though you were still wary, you sighed in relief.

Then suddenly you were being ripped away from Namjoon, rough hands gripping your shoulders and throwing you harshly to the ground. His name left your lips in a desperate cry, your shoulder thudding against the earth and taking most of the damage from the fall. As quickly as you were brought down, you were hoisted back up, this time by your hair. Your fingers clawed helplessly at your attacker’s hand, but you were powerless against them.

“Let me go!” you screamed. You were answered with a slap across your face, and you would have crumpled to the leaves beneath you if not for the hand holding you up.

“[Name]!” Namjoon yelled. “Don't—!” his warning was cut off by a sickening crack, and you gasped in horror. The darkness made it impossible for you to know what happened to him.

Your bottom lip quivered, and you hung your head, not wanting to make your attacker angrier. He must have sensed your submission, as he lowered you to your knees and let go of your hair. He kneeled beside you, and you turned your head away, trembling.

“Who sent you, human?” he asked, his voice gravelly, and his words heavily accented.

“No one,” you sobbed. “Please let me go.”

The man said something in his native tongue, and one of his comrades behind you grabbed the back of your neck and lifted up. Your hands automatically flew to your throat, scrambling to free yourself.

The man who was kneeling got to his feet and stood directly in front of you, and in the moonlight, you could very faintly make out his features. He was bald, his dark skin was cracked and deeply grooved, he had no nose, and his eyes were a bright green. He looked like something out of a fairy tale.

“You…” you breathed, “what are you?”

He didn’t answer you, and instead stepped forward, making you flinch. “Who. Sent. You?”

You barely choked out a sound before a roar reverberated through the forest, shaking the trees and stirring up the dirt and leaves. The thing before you fell to the ground, and the hand that was holding you up dropped you. You fell to your hands and knees and replenished your body with oxygen, trying to register all that had transpired in the past brief moments. You heard a couple more loud thumps that you assumed were the other creatures fainting, and then you hastily got to your feet, suddenly becoming aware that, whatever that roar was, there was now something in the forest that was even more powerful than your attackers—and that was terrifying.

“Namjoon?” you whispered into the darkness, knowing that you needed to run, but not wanting to leave your best friend behind. “Namjoon!”

Then the ground beneath you started to shake, and everything inside you was screaming at you to move, so you whispered an apology to Namjoon before letting your feet carry you to a place that was far, far away from the terrors that currently surrounded you.

You couldn’t tell where you were running, so you stumbled a couple of times, but you thankfully didn’t crash into a tree trunk. Your lungs were ablaze, and your body screamed with every step, but you couldn’t stop running until you knew you were safe. So you blinked back the tears and let your feet carry you towards the edge of the forest…

Until the ground swallowed you whole.            

It was a nice evening.

Hoseok hadn’t been able to take a night to himself like this for a while, but since it was his father’s birthday, the guards and servants had more important things to tend to than the monitoring of his presence in the castle.

He hadn’t gone far. The party had quickly grown suffocating, and he just needed some fresh air. There was a nice glade about half a mile outside the castle walls that he sometimes visited with his guards during the day, and though he started off by wandering aimlessly, he found himself heading there. He never saw any other elves so much as approach the forest before, though he couldn’t possibly fathom why. It was beautiful and well kept, and though the forest was seemingly avoided by the other Eldar, it was decorated with lanterns and silme crystals to light the way like the rest of the kingdom. Something about it was different from the other forests. He thought that maybe the royal family owned this one, and regular Eldar weren’t allowed in it.

He was just standing in the glade, staring up at the starless night sky, when a voice broke the silence.

“My prince, you can’t keep doing this.” It was his most trusted servant, Jimin, who spoke. “Everyone may be occupied with the festivities for now, but they must return to their homes soon. Once they start leaving, your father is going to take notice of your absence and start questioning your whereabouts.”

Hoseok smiled sadly to himself. “I am the second most powerful person in this kingdom, and I can’t even go outside.” He lowered his hood and turned around to face Jimin, who was eyeing him sympathetically. “Is that not one of the most tragic things you’ve ever heard?”

Jimin frowned. “I understand your perspective, my prince, but believe me when I say that there are things in this world that are far worse than being protected.”

“Protected, sheltered, shielded, guarded…” Hoseok turned his eyes back to the sky. “What other excuses can my father come up with for trapping me? It’s been more than 300 years since the war, and the Eldar have had plenty of time to heal. There are no things I need to be protected from that can reasonably keep me within the confines of the castle.”

“When you remember that we are immortal, you realize that 300 years is not a long time at all, my prince.”

“Jimin, we are very far from the castle. No consequence will come from you calling me by my name.” He sighed. “And forgive me. I know I’m not the easiest prince to serve.”

“You have done nothing to warrant a need for my forgiveness, Hoseok.”

Hoseok’s eyes twinkled. “I’m going to, if you let me.”

Jimin paused, staring at the man. Then he ran his hand through his hair and huffed, exasperated. “I’m younger than you and yet you make me feel like I’m as old as His Majesty, I swear. Be back soon.”

With those words and a final sigh, the smaller man turned around and walked back towards the castle. Hoseok smiled softly at his retreating frame, content and grateful, before settling on the grass. His fingers immediately tangled themselves in the grass and soil gathered beneath his fingernails, and he could already hear his father scolding him for getting his hands filthy. He shut his eyes and chuckled. His mother always used to meet him by the castle doors, saying it was to make sure he was presentable before his father saw him. But he knew it was just because she hated spending time with the king alone.

His thoughts were interrupted with a cry.

“Help me!”

It came from a distance, but in the silent night air, it was clear. Hoseok’s head automatically turned in the direction from which it came, but he didn’t move immediately; the person’s voice sounded foreign and unfamiliar. Whoever needed help was definitely not an Eldar, and maybe not even an elf.

“Please!”

A cry for help is a cry for help, Hoseok decided, taking off in the direction of the voice. It came from a part in the forest that he had never been to before, but he wasn’t very concerned. The only things that existed in the kingdom were elves, aldagor, livestock, and other animals—none of which being dangerous to him.

He stopped when he saw an aldagor hovering over you. The sight in itself was very unsettling to him; aldagor were always portrayed as defenders, not attackers. Seeing an aldagor in a predatory stance made his brow furrow.

“Aldagor!” he bellowed, stopping the creature from swinging at you.

It dropped its fist and slowly turned towards him, immediately folding into a bow. “Your Royal Highness.“ It spoke in Quenyarin, the language of the Eldar. “What are you doing here?”

Hoseok glanced at you to see you gaping at him, and upon seeing your face, he almost mirrored your expression. He was right, you were neither and Eldar nor an elf— but he hadn’t expected you to be human.

He returned his attention to the aldagor. “Begone,” he commanded. “You have no business here.”

The aldagor began to say something, its eyes darting quickly to you, but Hoseok’s gaze didn’t falter. Eventually it bowed, fists clenched at its sides, and walked away, disappearing into the shade of the towering trees.

You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding, and your knees gave way. Hoseok quickly darted towards you in an attempt to keep you from hitting the ground, but you recoil and fall ever so gracefully on your butt.

“Stay back!” you yelled, holding your hands out in front of you. Your eyes darted around your surroundings to find anything you could potentially use as a weapon, but you saw nothing, so you returned your gaze to him and hoped the panic and fear in your eyes came off as menacing.

Hoseok just stared at you, and you felt small under his gaze. “You're… human?”

You were too disoriented to even process that he had just spoken to you in English. “No, I’m a fucking alpaca. Yes, I’m human!! What the fuck was that thing? Why di—” You froze momentarily upon studying his features. “Your ears. Oh my god, your ears.” You chuckled nervously, backing away from him. “Okay, no. No, this isn’t real, and that–that tree-monster thing was just part of this fucked up dream I’m having, and I’ll wake up soon, at home, in my bed, safe, and—”

“Your manner of speaking is quite strange,” Hoseok said, amused by your rambling, “though 'unrefined’ may be a better word. The stories and books always have portrayed humans as barbaric.”

Your brows furrowed. “Are you… did you just… did you just refer to me as 'unrefined’ and 'barbaric’?”

“No, I referred to your manner of speaking as unrefined, and your kind as barbaric. I used neither of those traits to characterize you.”

You scoffed. “I’m being insulted by an elf. Great.”

“The fact that you know what I am comes as a surprise to me,” Hoseok mused. “But you perceive me as a dream.”

“Because you are,” you said, raising your voice. Your eyes were wild when you finally looked at him again. When he just stared back at you, you sighed. Your voice was quieter when you spoke, “None of this night has been real.”

He could tell by your tone of voice that something had happened—something even more traumatizing than being attacked by an aldagor. It would’ve been just plain rude of him not to ask about it, regardless of the fact you were human, so he voiced his concerns.

“My best friend,” you muttered, your voice stuck in your throat. “He, uh… that thing that attacked me… he was killed by one of its kind.”

“Oh,” Hoseok said, “that’s horrible. I apologize.”

You shook your head, your eyes watery. “It should’ve been me.”

Hoseok frowned. “The aldagor do not mindlessly slaughter.”

“Right,” you huffed. “So you’re saying he deserved to die.”

“I am saying that there is a reason why you were not killed at the time, and to the aldagor that killed your friend, your death would not have been beneficial.”

“Are all of you like this? So cold and calculating, always thinking about benefits and other things of the sort?”

Hoseok shrugged. “Not all of us, but I think I get it from my father. It must run in the royal family.”

“Royal family,” you mumbled, the solid earth beneath you suddenly turning into a gentle tide. You tried to take a step—towards where, you didn’t know—but stumbled. Hoseok caught your arm and brought you to his side to steady you.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his brows furrowed as he looked down at your unstable form. The way you were made him question the accuracy of his history books. There was no way humans were as terrifying and monstrous as their depictions if you were anything like the rest of them. Maybe the war didn’t even really happen.

“… You’re an elf prince,” you whispered, unable to speak at a normal volume. The sudden pounding in your head made it hard for you to focus on his face, and you squinted at him. “This is your kingdom.”

“Yes,” he said, easing you down so you were sitting on the grass. “This is Elenion, land of the stars, home of the Eldar. I am Prince Hoseok, son of King Beleg and the late Queen Tuilë.”

“I—” You just stared at him, unsure of how to respond to that flood of information. Though he was speaking English, you had a hard time understanding what he said, and you didn’t know what you could do other than just sit there.