AN: Hello everyone! Welcome to this little story I have been working on for two years with the goal to get it published day. Would you be so kind to send me a message/leave a review telling me what you liked/didn't like about the chapter? That way I can keep improving and maybe fulfill my dream some day! Thank you in advance and I hope you enjoy reading!

- Lauren Roover

Chapter 1: Dancing dust

Ozzy narrowed his curious little eyes and looked up to the highest shelf. Around him dust flew through the chamber, a light coming from an enormous lamp, attached to only three strings to the ceiling,  softly touched the particles. The beam of light swung back and forth, throwing shadows over the piles of books and papers which were stalled around in the back of the bookstore.
The little boy, who stood amidst all this, nodded shortly to himself, as if he’d made a decision. He knew the shop owner wouldn’t approve of his plan, that’s why he figured he shouldn’t tell him about it.
That’s why the little boy stepped as nonchalant as possible towards the enormous bookshelf, which covered most of the wall, from the floor up to the ceiling.
Gathering up all the power he had in his tiny arms Ozzy lifted up the ladder, which leaned against the side of the bookshelf. He couldn’t lift it up very high, causing the ends of the ladder to scrape over the wooden floor, but he didn’t really care. He’d just put a book over the scratches to cover up, so the old fart wouldn’t notice.
Ozzy put down the ladder at the front of the bookshelf, and the thud made the lamp swing around dangerously. The little boy looked to the left, to the front of the store. The old fart lay, as usual, with this head on the counter, sleeping. Passer-by’s could see him through the front window when crossing the street, which made it no surprise that the only regular the store had was a ten-year-old, whom didn’t even have money to buy something.
Finally having positioned the ladder, Ozzy climbed up with hand and feet. The gaps between  the steps were too wide for him to cross at once, so it took some time to get to the top. When he got there he had to wipe the dust from his trousers, since the ladder was really, really old and barely used. He sighed, placed his hands on his hips and started reading the titles of the books in front of him. He had to turn his head about ninety degrees, since all the titles were written vertically.
The ladder under his feet started to shake, as if it was suffocating by the weight of the little boy, but the boy himself didn’t really pay attentions. He had other business to attend to, or so he figured.
“Hmmm…” he grumbled out loud, scratching an invisible beard on his chin. It was a gesture he’d copied from the shop owner, who’s facial hair was really in a league of its own. Ozzy thought beards and moustaches were rather strange. In fact, facial hair seemed unnecessary to him. Hair itself seemed weird.
The little boy glanced over to the counter, where he could see the body of the owner go up and down with every breath, accompanied by soft snoring.
Then he stretched out his arm to touch a book which he’d seen on an even higher shelf. Some books were just so old the title had faded away throughout the years, as well as the colours. The book Ozzy was looking for had a faded dark blue cover, with the title written in a colour which used to be gold.
He smiled happily, and descended back to the ground, the book under his arms. The ladder itself let out soft cries, as if a few screws were starting to get loose. The boy wondered what would happen if he were to fall down, but the thought that this could actually become reality didn’t come to mind.
Both his feet on the ground, Ozzy decided there was no need to put the ladder back in place, since there were barely any customers and not even the shop owner himself hung around this part of the store. The dancing dust particles were proof of that.
The little boy made haste towards a heavy slide door. As he progressed through the store papers flew around his ears and the shelfs trembled with every step. Even a little boy seemed enough to make the entire building collapse.
The shop owner had put a paper on the door saying ‘Staff Only’, but that didn’t bother Ozzy. He carefully put down the blue book on the ground and grabbed the doorknob with both hands. With one foot against the wall he managed to pull it to the opposite side. There was a lot of scraping and scarring coming from the floor as a new space behind the door was revealed, which led to a special place.
Ozzy stepped inside and searched with his hand for a switch. With some flickering, light emerged from three TL – pipes attached to the ceiling, a modern concept in comparison to the old dangerous lamps inside the store.
The little boy grabbed his book and entered the new space, leaving the door open behind him. The shop owner wouldn’t wake up for at least another hour and by the time he would, Ozzy would be long gone.
The special place was a reading chamber, were there stood a big bookcase with special books, personal belongings of the shop owner. In the middle stood a special table with a special bureau lamp. It belonged to the shop owner’s wife, who was an artist. After her death the shop owner had made some slight changes and turned it into the perfect reading spot. He did leave the inkpot, which she used for her last work. The first time Ozzy entered the special reading chamber  to read a forbidden book he’d asked about the little pot. The shop owner wasn’t mad about the fact he entered the secret reading chamber, but more about the thought the little boy might touch his beloved inkpot.
“Don’t you dare touch that, you little brat!”
With a loud thud the blue book came down on the small table, and the little boy turned  on the small lamp. After a slight struggle Ozzy managed to climb onto the chair, which was supposed to be for grown-ups. It was custom-made, perfectly measured for the shop owner’s wife, who was probably half-giant.
But Ozzy read grown-up books, which meant he could sit in the grown-up chair. He’d never read a children’s book again. Ever.
With big eyes the little boy awed over the cover of the blue book in front of him. He was almost certain there wouldn’t be any pictures in it, but he still wanted to read it. The fact it had been stored at the top shelf of the bookcase meant it held many secrets, things most common folk wouldn’t know. Ozzy wanted to learn all about these kinds of things, especially the uncommon things.
He sat on his knees to get a better view and then  opened the mysterious book. As always he was greeted by a cloud of dust and the smell of old papers.
Leaning on his hand Ozzy started reading the first page, but turned it after a couple minutes. Foreword of the author. Always boring. This one had a length of two pages. Two pages!
The little boy glanced shortly at the index and continued till he’d found the first chapter, which included a picture, to his surprise. A very beautiful picture. An illustration of a man wearing green trousers and a red sweater and a purple hat. His cheeks were reddened and his dark eyes had an excited twinkle in them. Ozzy frowned, and leaned forward till his nose almost touched the paper. The man had wings. Weird.
After some staring the little boy turned the page, and on the next there was only text in really, really tiny letters. Satisfied he started reading. He let himself get dragged in by the words, which always happened when he was reading. His surroundings seemed to fade away, and without warning he ended up in a place where time was not of the essence. There was no dancing dust, no old papers, no unstable ladders or lamps that could crush you if you weren’t careful enough. Ozzy turned page after page, reading the interesting bits and skipping the boring ones.
This was the way he spent most of his days in the bookstore, from opening till closing, for as long as he could remember. In the beginning, he only hung around the front part of the store, where books were stored out on tables with price tickets attached to the. The little boy got ‘expelled’ from this area after a customer fell over the boy laying in the middle of the path with a book in front of his face. He then had to sit in the children’s corner of the store, where the  books which children his age were supposed to read were also stored. But it wasn’t really a place to read. The spot was separated from the rest of the store by a few bricks made of sponge-material. There stood a few beanbags and there lay some toys on the floor.
The beanbags were nice, but not ideal for Ozzy’s taste of books, which were mostly around three hundred pages or more. It just wasn’t comfortable. That’s why he ended up leaning with his back against the wall. He ignored the warning the shop owner gave him about reading books above his age. He would be expelled from the store entirely, which seemed ridiculous to Ozzy. He once asked the man about it.
“How is it that someone can be ‘too young’ to read a particular book?”
Shop owner sighed and asked himself why the boy had to ask the complicated questions first. “Well, some writers just specialize themselves in a certain group of readers and the age range in that category. You can cry about it all you want, kid, but that’s how it is.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense” the boy had replied. “It’s all the same letters, the same words and language. Every person who can read should be able to.”
“That’s not really the point” the shop owner had sighed again. “It’s about understanding what’s been written. There’s no point in reading a text and not understanding what it’s about.”
The little boy had been silent for a while. He’d scratched his imaginary beard again. “Maybe not. I don’t always understand every word either, but there are dictionaries to deal with that problem. I learn while reading. So I can read grown-up books, because I’ll learn more words. I’ll learn more vocabulearn.”
“It’s ‘vocabulary’, to be exact” the old man had mumbled.
“That’s what I said” Ozzy quickly said. The shop owner had rolled his eyes and grumbled behind his moustache, but didn’t comment any further.

~~Chapter 2: The Customer
Even though the book store wasn’t often visited by anyone, there once was a day where a friendly looking young lady with a screaming child on her arm entered the store. The shop owner, as customer friendly as he was, pointed at the corner specially designed for children to sit and read and play whenever they liked. Ozzy sat there with a book on his knees, in the deepest concentration
The woman put down her daughter between the soft bricks and toys and walked away with a suspiciously fast pace towards he counter.
The little girl watched with a pouting lip as her mother left her there in a strange new place, and blinked confused with her big blue eyes, surrounded by curly long eyelashes. A little disorientated she analysed her surroundings, a thick index finger put in the corner of her mouth.
The boy that sat in the corner peeked over the edge of his book, but didn’t say a word. The little girl stared at him for a few seconds, but hadn’t learnt to greet people yet.
Her young eyes caught sight of the toys on the ground, which lay there untouched. She placed the heels of her stumpy feet in the ground, pulled her knees towards her and pulled her bottom across the floor towards the toys. The diaper she was wearing made soft squeaking sounds, and the boy in the corner made a face when a horrible smell met his nose.
Arriving at her destination, the little girl removed her finger from her mouth, accompanied by threats of drool and snot, and lunged forward to take hold of the toy.
With an intrigued look in her eyes the little girl analysed the fine techniques of the plastic. The toy slowly got more slippery by he drops of drool, so that the little girl didn’t notice that her thick thumb got stuck behind a small lever at the side. It started a mechanism within the fire truck toy which the firemen would use to save people from a burning house. The small plastic ladder at the roof of the fire truck was launched upwards like a catapult and hit the little girl’s dumb face right in the middle.
The toddler froze, taken aback by shock. Slowly her lower lip curled into a pout, her blue lips filled up with tears. A second later she opened her mouth wide, and an enormous scream erupted from her tiny body. The boy in the corner removed his hand from his nose and glanced disgusted at the little girl.
“Sst!” Ozzy hissed. The little girl turned her round head towards him and looked at him stupidly. Her curly eyelashes were glued together by the tears and her face was red where the tiny ladder had hit her in the face. The little boy, however, didn’t seem to care about any of that and didn’t make the slightest attempt to comfort the girl in any way. That’s why the silence didn’t last for long, because the girl let out another frustrated cry. The boy grunted annoyed.
“Silence! I’m busy with my voca...voca…thingy!”
The little girl stopped again, looked at the boy with a questioning expression, threw the plastic fire truck angrily on the ground and started screaming again. Ozzy grunted again, closed his book and stood up.
The shop owner was just making conversation with the mother of the little girl, discussing a particular book she was looking for. The man didn’t seem interested anymore, as he leaned on his elbow on the counter. The book the woman was looking for was available in almost every store on the planet, it was that popular. Unfortunately it wasn’t because of its literary contribution, but because bought it for some reason. The people nowadays went along with  the stream, which the shop owner  and book-lover hated with a real passion.  It wasn’t that hard to read a less popular book every once in a while, something  else than the current published works, something that actually made sense?
Everything that was currently being written seemed to just copy the old master pieces, but not in a good way. Originality didn’t exist any longer. Just look at what happened to Dracula.
Of course, the shop owner loved to help customers in his store, but the thing he loved most were the authentic book lovers which adored literature just as much as he himself did.
The woman standing in front on him was one of the people that wasn’t anything like that. And on top of that she also brought a hell of a child with her which screamed like a dying animal.
“But I’ve searched literally everywhere, for real” the woman sighed with a hand on her hip. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the screams of her daughter in the background. She was probably used to it already, so much that she didn’t notice it anymore. “It’s sold out literally everywhere. This is literally the only store where I haven’t tried yet. C’mon, are you sure you don’t have any copies in the back or something?”
The shop owner snorted bored, straightened his back and mumbled “I’ll take a look, madam.”
He walked away from the counter through the maze of tables with irregular piles of works and dusty price cards towards the back. Along the way he glanced irritated at the screaming child in the children’s reading corner. He noticed Ozzy wasn’t there anymore, which was something to be worried about. Who knows what he might be planning now. At the other hand the shop owner could understand the little boy wanted some place quiet instead of a screaming snot monster next to you.
The shop owner entered the storage room, where he lifted up and put down boxes, threw around some papers, took books from shelves and put them back. Clearly, he wasn’t really searching or even trying his best to find the particular book, but he was doing his best to make it look like he did. He ‘searched’ like this for five more minutes before returning to the counter with a sad look on his face and ready to tell the lady that the product was sold out. His love for literature overpowered his love for business. He didn’t start this damn business to just sell trash?!
He opened his mouth to tell the customer the bad news, when he saw Ozzy standing in front of the lady, with an enormous book under his arm, going by the title of ‘The universal encyclopaedia of the animal kingdom’.
“Is that yours?” he asked, pointing at the children’s reading corner, where the little girl was still screaming her lungs out. The woman lifted one eyebrow, surprised about the way the little boy addressed her daughter and the tone he spoke with, almost as if she was his customer, and not the shop owner’s, whose face was turning red of madness and slight amusement.
“Yes, that ‘it’ so happened to be my daughter” the woman answered, with insecurity sounding through. Ozzy nodded, as if he was doing grown-up business.
“Thought so. Could you please remove your daughter from the children’s reading corner? I am not entirely sure you yourself know what this place is, but what I do know is that your daughter has no clue whatsoever. You’re supposed to read books, not drool over broken toys. There are people, such as myself, that actually do these kinds of things.
The woman blinked, staring with a sour face. at the little boy, who tried so hard to sound smarter than anyone. Her lips formed a thin line and there appeared a stretch mark in her clean forehead. When she noticed the shop owner standing there with a red face, she turned her furious face towards him. “Is this your grandson?”
“G-grandson?!” the shop owner shouted surprised, and his voice skipped three octaves. He cleared his throat and went with his hand through his few grey hairs, clearly  hurt by the comment. The search for the book he didn’t have in the store had probably messed it up a bit. And besides; who did the lady think she was, calling him an old man! “Grandson, you say? No, I’m lucky enough to tell you that’s not the case. I haven’t quite yet reached that age.”
“Oh, really?” the lady mumbled with a sneer. The shop owner grumbled furiously, crossing his arms.
Ozzy watched the two grown-ups without understanding anything that was going on and almost jumped through the roof when the woman grabbed his chin with her thin fingers and pierced her long nails in his soft skin. She brought her face close towards his and looked at him with a disgusted expression as she spoke to him. “My daughter and I will leave as soon as I found what I’m looking for.”
The boy blinked surprised and a little disorientated, but got a hold of himself quickly. Calmly, he stared back in the face of the woman. She let go of his face a little anxious. The little boy shook his head with an overdramatic look on his face, as if he saw something tragic happen before his eyes.
“And here I was, thinking I could finally finish reading my book, in a book store, where books are being sold, where books can be repaired, books are being repaired and books are being collected. The store is almost a book itself, if you think about it. There’s room for books, but no room for the people that love them. Such a tragedy…”
The woman raised a thin eyebrow and eyed the shop owner, who just shrugged his shoulders and tried no to laugh, knowing where Ozzy got his words from. A literary master piece, only known to the people that truly love books.
“Well, Ozzy” he said, smiling behind his hand, “you know very well there’s a place like that. And you know where to find it. So just…get going already…boy.”
The boy smiled brightly, tightened the grip around his beloved animal encyclopaedia and ran through the maze of tables towards the back of the store. The shop owner watched him with a slight hope for the future in his eyes.
The woman cleared her throat, asking for attention. Crunching his teeth together the old man turned around, with a face that had been trained for customer service throughout the years.
“Can I ask you something?” the lady asked, while watching the boy disappear through a heavy door.
“Hit it” the shop owner said sarcastically, stroking his grey hair.
“Why would you let a kid like that hang around in your store? Why don’t you send that brat outside, like normal children, to play?”
The old man walked with slow steps back to his spot behind the counter, folded his hands together and let them rest on the old wood, thinking about how to explain the relationship they had to  a person that couldn’t treat her own daughter like a human being. The little girl still made the same kind of annoying nagging background music. The shop owner didn’t want to think about how the lady treated the little girl after seeing how she almost harassed a boy she’d just met.
“Speaking from the heart; I don’t know. Maybe the fact that there aren’t many youngsters as interested in books anymore as they used to be. Maybe because the store could use some company. Maybe because it’s so silent ever since the stereo broke down.” He sighed, knowing the last reason had a different cause. “I tried, once. Sending him off. The entire day he’d stand in front of the window. The next day he even dared to enter. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him to leave, he’ll just keep coming back. In the beginning I once thought of warning the police, that’s how crazy it made me.
I don’t know anything about the brat. He just appeared one day, introduced himself, looked around, and started reading book after book. I don’t know where he lives, who his parents are, if he goes to school, nothing. During my thirty-five years of running this shop I hadn’t seen a greater reader other than my wife. It may sound strange to you, but after I while I started caring about the kid.” He chuckled, as if a funny memory came to mind. “He does everything to get what he wants, as you’ve just witnessed yourself. He knows I can barely forbid him anything anymore and he surely makes use of that.”
The woman stared at the old man with a clean face, there was nothing to be read. Then she nodded, as if she’d confirmed something. She pushed the band of her bag further over her shoulder and walked in a straight line towards the children’s reading corner. The shop owner followed her with his eyes, confused.
The woman lifted up her daughter, whom still screamed dramatically, and made her way to the exit. With one hand on the doorknob, she turned around.
“I don’t think you understand how much that kid has broken your authority. You can’t see that he’s the one with more power in this situation. I can’t see how a man such as yourself can be overruled by a six year-old. Have a nice day, sir.”
With that she stepped outside, slamming the door behind her, leaving the shop owner dazzled. He scratched the back of his neck, mumbling that Ozzy ‘is in fact ten years old, to be exact.’
He then sighed, and asked  himself if the lady was right. Of course, he didn’t say that out loud. He would never believe a word a person that read books about grey said.

On a particular day, Ozzy was reading the dark blue book in the special chair in the special place, when the shop owner bumped into the ladder the little boy had left in front of the shelves so carefully. The books the old man was holding all fell around him on the ground with loud thuds, calling Ozzy back from his trance, back to the special chair for grown-ups. A little confused he blinked his big eyes and looked around. The safe surroundings and the smell of old paper seemed strange in his eyes, as if he had to get used to it all over again.
“Damn it…” The grumbling voice cursed the world and everything on it while the shop owner entered the special chamber, where Ozzy quickly closed the book. When the old man eyed the boy a few wrinkles appeared in his forehead and his mouth turned in a downward line. Ozzy smiled innocently, but the old fart didn’t buy it.
“So this is where you where, you brat!” the shop owner said, still grumbling. He took a few steps towards the reading table, with a furious expression on his face. He squinted his brown eyes, but Ozzy only had eyes for the weird mustache of the man. It was grey and every time old man Gerald spoke it moved around like a weird hairy worm. Gerald’s eyebrows were also weird, because they looked like his mustache a lot. Two hairy mustaches above his eyes. Gerald had three mustaches in his face.
The old man crossed his arms, trying to look dangerous and mad, but as soon as he noticed Ozzy wasn’t paying attention at all he dropped the act. “My eyes are over here, worm!”
The little boy looked away from the mustache, and frowned. “How do mustaches grow?”
Gerald raised one of his upper mustaches. “I honestly don’t really concern myself with such knowledge, but I’ve got a feeling there’s a book about it somewhere in the store.”
“Why are eyebrows called ‘eyebrows?” the boy asked then.
“Someone came up with that, and other people just went along with it, like they do with so many things, but also because no one else had thought of a word for it.”
“But why…eyebrows?”
“Because it’s above your ‘eye’. The ‘brow’ part is something to think about, but like I said; there probably exists a book about this subject.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense” Ozzy objected, while rubbing his own eyebrows with his fingers. “Eyebrows? Eyebrows, eyebrows…”
The shop owner sighed. “Well, what would you call it then, genius?”
“Simple” the little boy answered, straightening his back. “Eye mustaches, of course.”
“Eye…mustaches?” Gerald repeated.
Ozzy nodded. “It makes sense, other than that other name.”
The old man scratched the back of his neck, not knowing if the kid was intelligent or just plain stupid. Keeping the age of the boy in mind Gerald could manage to keep himself from smiling, and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, makes sense.”
The boy nodded again, and then shoved the book he was reading under his arm and jumped off the chair.
“I think I have to write a letter to person who makes dictionaries, because there’s mistake.”
The shop owner chuckled. “Ambitious, as always.
Ozzy left the special room to return his book, while the shop owner stayed behind. He glanced at the reading table, just to make sure the ink pot was still in place. With a smile he turned off the reading lamp, and carefully awed the table. Then he left and followed the boy back to the store.
His eyes locked at the book the boy was holding and read the almost faded title, which made him frown.
“Boy, oh boy” he mumbled. “Where did you find this, then?”
Ozzy halted in front of the shelve he had found the book, and shrugged.
“It was up there somewhere. Why, exactly? It’s a fun book. Fun books should be put on a lower shelf, for me to reach.”
The boy held out the book to the old man, who stared at the dark blue cover and asked himself why he hadn’t put this even lower in the book case.
“How much have you read of it?” he asked. The little boy grabbed the ladder from the ground, or at least, he attempted to. With a little help of the old man he managed to put it up against the bookshelf without him being crushed by it.
“I’m not sure. Some parts were boring, so I skipped those. Did you know it has pictures? At first I didn’t think so, but it’s true!”
Gerald investigated the book from all perspectives and carefully touched the golden letters on the side. It was barely recognizable, but he could tell the contents not supposed to be read by kids, pictures or not. He quickly read a few pages, and then shook his head.
Ozzy climbed up the first few steps of the ladder, but paused when he saw the face the old fart was making.
“Is there something wrong?” he asked confused. Gerald realized he must’ve looked rather unpleasant in the eyes of the boy. Ozzy didn’t care whether Gerald was mad at him or not, but when the old man looked concerned over something , it scared him.
Gerald forced himself to smile, and put away the book nonchalantly on top of one of the many piles around him. “Nothing you should worry about. By the way, isn’t it about time you go home? You won’t get any lunch from me.”
The little boy shook his head, and proudly placed his hands on his hips, still standing on the ladder. “No. I’m not going home. I’m going somewhere else.”
The old man sighed. The brat always talked in riddles, said things that made the other person in the conversation ask questions till he discovered what the kid was talking about. “Where, if I may ask?”
Ozzy pointed at the book the old man had put away. “According to the book I have to go to the forest.”
The old man glanced annoyed at the book. “To the forest, at this hour? Don’t you feel hungry, then?”
The boy shrugged. “I’ll find something to eat. I just have to leave as soon as possible, because I have to search for something and it has to happen today.”
Yet again the old man wished he had put away the book more careful. Kids like Ozzy thought everything that was written was supposed to be true. Thanks to this book he’d come up with all kinds of strange ideas. “What are you looking for, if I may ask?”
“Magic.”
And there it was. Gerald chuckled to himself and patted Ozzy on the head. “Is that what this book’s about? Where to find magic?”
The boy nodded happily. “I have to find the little elves first, because they do magic.”
“Do magic?” the old man asked with a laughter. “Boy, I think men use magic, not do it.”
“Doesn’t matter, I wanna do magic” Ozzy quickly said, and Gerald rolled his eyes. “I’ll ask the little elves if they can teach me and then I’ll become a wizard and then I can do magic.”
Gerald nodded, still laughing. “Yeah, I can see that. But what are you going to do once you can use magic?”
Above Ozzy’s eyes a deep frown appeared and he thought about it for a time. “I’m not sure, but it’s probably something fun. Maybe I’ll magic you a new store, because this one’s dirty.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“And a new ladder, and a new secret reading chair.” Suddenly, the boy gasped, as if the best idea ever just came to his mind. “I’ll magic a mustache”
Gerald let out the greatest laughter in ages and had to grab the table behind him to prevent himself from falling to the ground. “Delusional ideas, that’s what they are.”
“How would you know?” Ozzy asked, crossing his arms skeptically. “All you do all day is hang around pretending to help customers and read books yourself.”
“Those are the things a working man like me does.” The old man wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye and chuckled again. “When you grow up you’ll become just like me.”
“No way, I’ll become a wizard, didn’t you hear me?”

The old man smiled warmly. “Oh, right. I forgot. Then please ‘magic’ a lot of smart people who like to read, then my nothingness will have had some good influence.
“Don’t you want to come along?” the little boy asked, and the old man smelled hope in the young voice.
“What? No. What would the little elves want with someone like me? And besides; it might be good for you to hang around kids your age instead of an middle aged man and a bag of dust.”
“Middle aged? I’d say ancient.”
“B-beg your pardon?!”
“Bye!” Then he had disappeared. Giggly the little boy ran between the piles of books, jumped over them and around. The bell above the door sounded before he closed it with a swing.
“Farewell!” he shouted, just like all the adventurers from the books. Gerald shook his head while chuckling, rubbing his balding skull, still thinking about the foolish ideas of that kid, with his ‘doing magic’.

Lying on his tummy in the grass, in the middle of the forest where he hoped to find the little elves’ village, Ozzy sighed deeply. He couldn’t just go back home, not without the little elves. Gerald had said books were only stories, but Ozzy knew better. He knew that some of them were true. He could feel it.
He also felt how the sun dragged along the sky and almost painted the clouds pink, but he couldn’t leave just yet.
Quickly he stood up and patted the green of his clothes. Both his knees and behind were covered in green smudge. Not to mention his sleeves.
Ozzy felt something itching, and it wouldn’t surprise him if there was a little beetle in his hair or something. At least a few leafs. He could feel them break as he went with his hand through his raven colored hair.
He looked at a beetle, who managed to climb over a tree trunk after a lot of effort.
“Good luck” Ozzy said to the insect, as meant for his further journeys. But the beetle didn’t respond, sadly.
The little boy blinked surprised when he saw the little thing spread his wings. It flew in a big circle and then turned into Ozzy’s direction. The beetle flew over the little boy’s shoulder, went around his head close to his ear, and then the other way around. The boy giggled, a little nervous by this sudden turn of events, and tried to follow the beetle with his eyes, afraid that if he’d move too much he’d scare it away.
After three rounds the beetle changed direction and left Ozzy, but the little boy couldn’t let him go just like that. “Farewell!”
The beetle didn’t return, but the little boy wasn’t bothered by that. He had to go on an adventure of his own. He had to find the little elves’ village.
He went over the clues once again, given by him by the strange blue book. There was high grass, a source for water and an oak for shadow and protection. Those were the important aspects, but for as far as Ozzy had seen he hadn’t come across a place in the forest which had all these things.
He had also run around a lot, jumped over fallen trunks, climbed into trees like a squirrel and jump to the next one (which didn’t work out as he planned. He managed to get a hold of a branch, which almost broke down, causing him to hang about two feet above the ground, before letting go and falling in a bed of leafs which conveniently lay there. It made him frown a little, because he hadn’t noticed it before.)
Ozzy breathed deeply and looked around once more. Today was, even though much time had already passed, a beautiful day. The sun shone through a roof made of leafs, making funny figures on the ground and trees. Now and then a soft wind blew through all the green, making everything shake a little and making a greater mess of Ozzy’s hair than it already was.During its travel through the forest it brought along a marvelous smell of fresh-and sweetness.
“High grass…” Ozzy mumbled to himself, waking himself up from the distraction of the amazing smell. It was so surprising, so new. He never smelled something like this in the city. There was only the aroma  filthy gasses, garbage and unwashed clothes. There was no green, like in the pretty forest. There was only grey and high glass buildings.
There were also a lot of people in the city, but not in the forest, which was probably the thing Ozzy liked most about it. The people in the city always seemed angry and walked really fast, so fast it was difficult for a boy of Ozzy’s height to only cross the street. He had to make sure to not get dragged along the stream.
The forest was quiet and empty. There was a bush shaking here and there when a tiny animal ran back to its home. Sometimes grass curled sideways when another one of the insect kingdom made its way through.
Ozzy wondered how his friend the beetle, but then remembered he had to make haste to the little elves’ village. He was losing daylight like this.
It seemed best not to start running again, since it really wore him out. He also had to be careful where to put his feet, because there were many small bugs in the grass which he would crush with his shoe.
Not long ago, before he’d sat down and met the beetle, he’d climbed up a great oak in order to see where he could find the high grass, he’d noticed a small river running through the green pallet, not far from where he was then. If he could find the river, he’d probably reach the high grass as well.
Ozzy turned around, standing in front of that same oak, and held up his hands above his head. He made fists of them, excluding his thumb and index finger. With one of his hands he could make the letter ‘L’, which meant it was his left hand. The beetle had flew to the left.
His other hand was right, which was where the river was supposed to be. Ozzy smiled at his smart little trick and went on his way with renewed confidence.
He’d once read a book about rivers which said you could always hear a streaming river from afar, so he concentrated on his ears. And also his feet, because of the insects.
He stepped aside to give a ladybug room to pass, and almost fell down himself. Ozzy had seen a ladybug once before.
It had entered the book store through a window and immediately sat down on the edge of one of the pages of a book Ozzy was reading. He’d stopped immediately and inspected the small living thing carefully. He wanted to know what it was, so he asked Gerald, who gave him a book about insects. Ozzy knew what beetles looked like, and butterflies. And a centipede, who had a lot of arms.
“You should be more careful, you know” Ozzy warned the ladybug when he continued walking through the forest. He kept a good eye on the ladybug, but not on what was in front of him. He turned his head just a little too late and bumped into a tree which suddenly appeared. He cut his cheek at the wood, and immediately looked angry at the tree, as if it was his fault.
His cheek warmed under his hand and his chest also hurt. And his knees. And his feet too, because of all the walking.
“It’s all your fault!” Ozzy screamed angrily at the ladybug, who was now resting on the ground. It seemed to look up and stare back at the little boy, which spooked him. He didn’t expect the bug to actually understand what was being said to him. The insect looked at the boy with intelligent eyes and just wouldn’t look away. It made the boy feel uneasy. “Uh, sorry.”
The bug eyed Ozzy for a little while longer, before turning its head elsewhere. The little boy stood there dazzled before a small voice in his head reminded him of his quest in the forest.
“No time for hesitating, boy” he mumbled to himself. It was what Gerald told him when he was about to close the shop and the boy slipped his feet over the ground, not wanting to leave at all. There were just too many books that had yet to be read.
Ozzy kept walking through the green mass in a straight line and decided not to look at his feet anymore. He couldn’t help but to sometimes look down if he wasn’t hurting anyone, but he didn’t want to bump into another tree either.
After a while he started to notice something was off. There was a sound. A sound of something soft being slammed into an hard object such as a stone. Ozzy couldn’t exactly describe it, but it was something he’d never heard before. He realized then he didn’t know what a streaming river sounded like either. Could this be the sound it made?
He started to fasten his pace, until he was almost running again. It would make him tired, but he was too close to slack off now. The forest was enormous and now that he finally found a lead to what he was looking for all along. All the walking, running, climbing up and falling down wasn’t for naught after all.
Ozzy pushed aside a branch blocking his few, and then suddenly found himself standing at the bank of a small stream. It seemed smaller than he had anticipated at first when he had seen it from up the tree. Was this the same stream? Didn’t he end up reaching the wrong one?
He knelt down at the bank and analyzed the water from up close. It was very clear, which surprised him. He could see the stones shining at the bottom. When the water hit the rocks peeking over the surface he could almost look through the drops flying through the air. Almost like a dance, Ozzy thought.
Curiously he put his hand in the water. It was shockingly cold, but felt soft in some way. He laughed at the refreshing element and suddenly felt the thirst in his throat.
He stuck another hand (his left one, he saw) in and made a bowl of the two of them combined. Bowing forward he took a sip and felt how the icy substance made its way down his throat. He could almost draw a line, that’s how cold it was. He giggled and took another sip, before let the remaining liquid slip through his fingers back in the pool.
He dried his hands with his trousers, which were dirty already, and decided to watch the stream some more. It moved so graciously, the way it curled up and spread but stayed clear. It wasn’t too deep, it would reach Ozzy’s elbows if he were to enter the stream. He didn’t, of course, he would never want to ruin the dance.
He followed the water with his eyes, which went to the left, till his eyes locked at something drifting on the water. Something that didn’t belong. He waited for it to come across his place at the riverbank before fishing it out with his hand.
It was a hat. A little hat. A tiny, purple, hat, with a green band around it. It would fit nicely as an accessory to the little boy’s thumb.
There was something sticking out of the green band, and when he looked closer he concluded it was a tiny flower. It was a real flower, not a fake one. He confirmed it by carefully touching it. The crown leafs were lively and soft.
Chuckling to himself, Ozzy crowned his thumb with this  hat. Now his finger was like a little man. If he’d had a marker he could draw a face on it.
He moved his thumb around, pretending to be taking a walk whit his new friend.
His playtime got rudely interrupted by a high pitched scream of fear. Ozzy quickly jumped up, looking around. Where did that come from?
The next thing he heard was a scream for help. It came from the left, from the direction the water was streaming from. The little boy narrowed his eyes and searched every inch of the surface. It sounded like someone had fallen in.
“Help!”  the voice screamed. It was a manly scream, a high pitched man’s voice. The screams were often interrupted by water entering the person’s mouth when it disappeared under water. Ozzy searched even harder, feeling panic rising up in his stomach.
Finally, he saw a small hand popping up. A tiny hand, as big as one finger tip of Ozzy’s. It moved around spastically in the apparently strong stream of the river. A short time after the hand had appeared a small round head surfaced. Two big round cheeks and a round little nose tried desperately to fight the water dragging it down. The glasses of the person hang across his face, only clinging to one ear.
“Help me! Please!” the little man begged. Ozzy didn’t hesitate any longer and stepped into the icy water. Close to the riverbank it only reached up to his knees, but he didn’t know how far he could go till he himself would disappear, but he didn’t think about it any longer. The little man needed his help badly.
Ozzy did his best to make his way against the stream to get closer to the little man, who drifted slowly towards him. He still moved around in panic, water splashing up everywhere.
Ozzy lifted him out of the stream with both his hands and fought his way back to the riverbank.

The little man coughed and wheezed. His enormous round belly moved up and down and his round cheeks became more red by the second.
Not without effort, Ozzy managed to climb out of the water, and carefully lay the little man in his hands in the grass, where it cried a little further. A little worried, Ozzy sat down on his knees. “Are you alright?”
The little man opened his eyes a little and at that moment he found out Ozzy was there too. He widened his thick eyes and sat up straight. Instinctively he pushed his glasses back on his nose, even though there wasn’t much to see through all the drops and spots. The little man opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but he stayed silent.
“I’m sorry!” Ozzy quickly said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I won’t hurt you or anything.” Afraid he did something wrong, the boy moved back. The little man shook his head exactly three times. Then crawled up his own feet, looking up to the boy. Nervously he folded his hands and quickly bowed his head, as if the stare had been long enough. Without looking him in the eyes, the little man mumbled a small ‘thank you’ to Ozzy.
The boy could only stare at the little man, his eyes narrowed. He had brown curly hair which was glued to his face because of the river water, and his eyes were really dark, almost black. Just like his head his belly was really round, like a marble. It made him look like a circle on two sticks.
For clothes he wore a green jumper with two giant knops on each chest, and a red sweater. His little shoes were shining brown.
The little man lifted his head again, inspecting Ozzy with something which suggested something anxious. Ozzy stared back, thinking of the ladybug which he’d met earlier. After a while, the little man coughed awkwardly, and folded his hands behind his back. “The water’s dirty, ain’t it?”
Ozzy blinked of confusion, surprised by the sudden question. “Uh, well, I actually thought it looked beautiful. Very clear, and fresh. It taste great as well.”
The little man frowned. “Tastes? Whatta yah mean, ‘taste’? You didn’t drink it, did ya?”
Ozzy nodded slowly and uncertainly, thinking he might’ve done something wrong. “Well, I did. I did drink the water…is that wrong?”
The little man squinted his eyes and seemed to ignore the question completely. “May I ask you whatcha doin’ here? I mean, a person such as you…must be a long way from home, doncha think?”
Ozzy didn’t quite understand what the little man was getting at. Maybe he lived in the forest and never seen a human before.  The boy, in fact, had never seen a man this tiny. “I’m looking for something which is far away from home, actually.”
The little man nodded and smiled. His curvy cheeks curled up. “As I thought. I’ve never seen someone of your kind this far into the forest…” He took his specs from his nose and sighed at the wet glasses. “You got anything like a napkin on you or somethin’?”
Ozzy dug deep in his pockets, but sadly shook his head. The little man looked around thoughtfully, when his eyes locked at a bush not far away from the riverbank. He hopped over, and roughly pulled a leaf from one of the branches. “Cleanherb. Works for me.”
He sat down in front of Ozzy, cleaning his specs. He looked up at the boy, who was still staring in awe. “So, what’s your name? I’m Eddy, by the way. Eddimeus, to be exact. But you can call me Eddy.”
Ozzy crossed his legs, making himself comfortable in the grass. “My name’s Ozzy.”
Eddy nodded, again three times in a row. With a smile he placed his glasses back on his knows, his round head seemed to become even more like a marble.
“Ozzy? Such a strange name. Never heard it before.” With a frown he folded the leaf and put it carefully in his chest pocket. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say more, but then blinked confused. Eddy looked upwards, and then slowly searched his head with his hands. In a second his face changed from playful red to pale as a sheet and his eyes screamed panic. He turned around swiftly, turning and turning.  He didn’t realize it himself, but he pushed his specs yet again back further up his nose, basically planting it in his fat face.
“Oh no, oh no…” he mumbled in a trembling voice.
“What’s wrong?” Ozzy asked,  as Eddy started running around, waving his hands in the air. The boy followed the little man with his eyes, a frown on his face. After some seconds Eddy stopped abruptly with what he was doing, but instead threw his head back dramtically.
“My hat! My hat!” he screamed in total panic. He placed his hands over his eyes and made another turn. “I lost my damn hat! Oh no, oh Lord…not good, not good.”
Ozzy realized then he still had a little hat on his thumb and immediately felt guilty. The marble-like little man had totally lost his cool over that. “Erm, Eddy?”
Eddy looked between his fingers, swallowing back a sob. When his eyes locked at the little object on the boy’s thumb they widened, and almost popped out of his round head. His purple hat hung there around the nail, as if it waited for its owner to pick it up. The round little man slowly removed his hands from his eyes and sniffed his nose. Ozzy waited patiently, afraid the little man would hate him now and call him names like ‘thief’ or ‘traitor’. Then the little man screamed, and the boy bowed his head in shame.
“Hurray! You found my hat! You found it!”
The marble-man hurried over to Ozzy and held out his hands, like a dog waiting to receive a cooky. The boy carefully removed the small hat from his nail and placed it in the hands of the owner. Despite his guilt the boy smiled at the happiness of the little man. “Don’t lose it again, alright?”
Eddy shook his head (three times) in shock, as if the boy had insulted him. “No, ain’t happenin’! If I lose my hat, I’ll lose my gramps! He’ll be mad at me for sure!”
Eddy voice then faded out, as if someone turned down the volume. He turned his eyes to the sky in shock, as if he remembered something important. Ozzy followed his eyes, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Oh Lord, gramps! I gotta go back to the village! Right away!”
“Village…?” Ozzy asked curiously. Eddy started walking away from the riverbank without answering, so the boy quickly got on his feet and followed him. “You live in a village?”
“Yes, of course!” Eddy answered, again seemingly insulted. “Everyone lives in a village, neh? Otherwise none of us can survive, not alone. Well…your kind, maybe. But mine ain’t.”
“My kind?” Ozzy repeated, and stood still in his tracks. Eddy kept walking, climbing over rocks bigger than hi mand jumping over roots. He had put his hat back in place, but while moving he kept one hand on top of it, pushing it down so he wouldn’t lose it again. With every step he took drops of river water splashed around from his wet clothes and hair.
Ozzy stared at the little man for a while. If he lived in a village, he might knew where the little elves lived. Unless he was a gnome, or a small troll. The boy read they were real archenemies, and always at war. If Eddy was a gnome, he probably wouldn’t know where to find the little elves. The elves used special magic to hide their villages from intruders and enemies, especially from gnomes.
“Eddy?” Ozzy asked carefully. The little man glanced over his shoulder, but kept walking. “What are you exactly?”
Eddy’s pace slowed down a little, as a reaction to the, in his eyes, odd question. “What I am?”
“Yeah, you know…maybe you’re a goblin….or a gnome? A troll, maybe?”
The little man stopped with whatever he was doing. He froze completely. He still had his back turned to the boy. Ozzy saw the little man folded his little hands in little fists. His whole marble body trembled, and when he turned around slowly he showed his angry face. The round cheeks hung downwards, his dark eyes spit fire, his mouth showed sharp teeth. Then he started roaring to Ozzy in a language he did not understand.
“QOERKE SAVALSA KANTALOPA VALASARASSA!” and other phrases. Ozzy jumped back in surprise, holding his hands in front of him, as if protecting himself form a deadly animal. The little man switched back to the language the boy could understand.
“A gnome?! Did you just called me a gnome? How dare you!”
Ozzy swallowed his dry throat, feeling uneasy by the change of atmosphere the little man carried out. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!” He didn’t really know what he did mean.
Suddenly, the little man jumped up from his place in the grass. What sounded was a loud bang, like fireworks. White dust fell down from the sky, and a weird aroma filled the air. Something Ozzy had never smelled before. Fresher than the forest, fresher than the water.
When the dust disappeared, Ozzy widened his eyes in awe. Eddy, the little man, was floating in the air before him.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. From Eddy’s back two small mint green-shaded wings grew, which moved around slowly. They glimmered in the sunlight, showing off the curly patterns imbedded in the new limbs. Eddy crossed his arms proudly, looking down at the little boy below him.
“I’m an elf, you two legged freak!” he said, making a gracious turn, showing the wings again. He was spinning faster and faster, till he seemed blurry like wrinkles in the river. The drops which had hidden themselves in his clothes flew around and landed in Ozzy’s face, who watched the little man as if he was doing a performance. He even applauded.
“That’s amazing! How do you do that?”
Eddy stopped, but instead of answering he held up his hand. He made a gesture he couldn’t speak at the moment, swallowing something down his throat. “I should stay off the pearlemon juice before work…”
He landed carefully back on his spot on the ground. There was the sound of bells, a soft sweet twinkle, and with that his wings disappeared, leaving only a tiny glimmering in the air around him. Eddy stroke his now dried curly hair with a satisfied expression on his round face.
Ozzy waited patiently for the little man to talk, curious about what more he had to say. He didn’t want to ask about it, afraid he might say something wrong again. He’d never felt such discomfort.
To Gerald he dared to say anything, but Eddy just had this aura around him which made him feel humble.
Was this little man really…?
“Yes, I am an elf” Eddy announced with the same pride as before, even though he seemed to feel a little sick after all that spinning. The little elf felt like he could really show off his talents and could prove himself to someone who actually cared. He wanted to enjoy this feeling a little longer, before returning to the village. Seeing the little boy’s uncertain expression however bumped his confidence.
“But…if you’re a little elf…well, I thought little elves…the book said…” Ozzy didn’t know how to put it. Eddy just didn’t look like the pictures. The little elves were handsome and beautiful and shiny and slim and smart. Eddy seemed…different.
“The book said the little elves wear clothes made of leafs and flowers and…”
Eddy nodded three times. “That’s true in some ways. But…you see, the thing is…I ain’t got the body for such clothes…”
Ozzy nodded as well. “I understand. Sorry for calling you a gnome. I promise to never do that again.”
The little elf nodded three times, again, and slimed happily. Finally, someone who listened. “I’ll accept your apology, legs.”
“Can I ask you something?” the boy carefully said. Eddy nodded slowly. Three times. “I also read little elves do magic. I mean, ‘use’. What kind of magic do you use?”
The elf crossed his arms contemptuously. “I figured it was obvious. I had higher expectations for you, mate; I use Maker Magic. To make wings. Because…” He suddenly paused, as if he’d said too much. He hesitated, but decided to continue. “I ain’t got wings of my own. That’s why I use magic. So I can fly, like the others.”
“Elves live in a village, right?” Ozzy continued his questioning. He tried not to get too pumped. It was all so exciting, he finally had the chance to go to the little elves’ village.
If Eddy wanted to help him, of course. He could only hope for that to happen.
“Yes. My village’s called ‘Gilmore’” Eddy explained. “We live close to a hollow tree. Our ancestors did that themselves and it’s now our city hall where the jobs are bein’ announced every day. We’ve built our houses close to the HT, from braided grass. What a work, lemme tell you. I’m always so depressed when I’ve to help build them. I love explorin’, but they never lemme go. Although I tried sneakin’ after one of the squads, but the bloody general found out. Lord Hal, our leader, always puts me with Gardenin’. Not that I can’t do it, but it just gets really boring after a while.
Sometimes, they lemme do Fruit Search, mostly pearmelons. Today, I’d to make due with banapples, which’re hard to find. But we’re not allowed to return to Gilmore without. Lord Hal won’t be happy with me today, and I’ll never get to go explorin’. Maybe I ain’t get to do anything anymore, or use my magic. And gramps…oh, he’ll burn my eyebrows.” A clear watchable shiver went down the little man’s spine. “And I can’t go to the Harvest Festival. But I’ve been practising with dancin’  since forever! I can’t miss out!”
The little elf seemed to panic once again. Ozzy sat down in the grass in front of the elf, feeling a little sorry for him.
“Shall I help you?” he asked friendly. The elf, on the other hand, frowned.
“With what? Dancing?”
Ozzy shook his head, laughing. He opened his mouth to explain the elf had clearly misundersood him, but he didn’t get the chance.
“This ain’t somethin’ to laugh at, legs!” Eddy spit angrily.
“The fruit!” Ozzy said loudly. “Can I help you with finding the fruit?”
He’d never seen a pearmelon or banapple, he’d never even heard of it before. Or read about it, which was a first.
Eddy’s face brightened. “You mean it? But…you needed to find somethin’ yourself, didn’tcha? That’s why you’re far away from home, you said. Don’t you’ve to go back to your rocks or somethin’?”
Ozzy shrugged. “The thing I was trying to find was the little elves’ village. I want to learn magic.” He frowned. “Use. Learn to use magic.” A smile cracked around his lips. “I’ll become the best wizard ever!”
Eddy placed a hand on his round chin. “I see. You’ve come to the right place, mate. I’ll take you to Gilmore!”
“Really?” Ozzy almost screamed.
The elf nodded. “Lord Hal’ll be pumped to meet you. And after all those things you’ve done for me, this’s the least I can do.”
The human boy picked up the little elf from the ground, dancing around. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Eddy desperately tried not to lose his hat again as Ozzy swung him around in his hands and jumped around like an idiot. The elf managed to escape between the fingers and fireworks sounded.
He wiped his forehead while lightly hovering in front of the boy. “You’re welcome!”

Eddy cleared his throat after the little boy had calmed down a bit. “Now that we’ve sorted this mess out, I’d like to ask you a question.
Ozzy frowned. “Alright. What do you want to know?”
The little elf hovered in the air in front of the boy’s face, examining every inch. “What are you?”
Ozzy shrugged. “Just a human, I guess.”
The loudest gasp sounded, and the whole forest seemed to follow in Eddy’s shock. There was no wind, the leafs stopped moving, animals stayed in their holes, even the water seemed to only whisper.
“H-HUMAN?!” the little elf stuttered, his eyes almost popping out of his round head. Ozzy looked around, feeling the change in the atmosphere.
“Yes, I am a human. I’m looking for the little elves’ village to learn about magic.”
“H-H-HUMAAAN?” the little elf cried out again. The boy didn’t understand a thing, but knew that the book had been absolutely wrong about the little elves. They weren’t pretty and very rude.
“Yes!” he said again, hoping Eddy would hear it this time. “You’re a little elf, not a gnome. I’m a human, not a…what did you think I was, exactly?”
Eddimeus took his head in both his hands, his face slowly growing pale. He seemed to be realizing a terrifying fact. “A human…oh lord.”
“Yes!” Ozzy said again, feeling panic rising from within him. For some reason, the trees seemed to bow over to him, attempting to grab him with their sticky claws of branches. “Can we please go find your fruits? E-…Ed…Edmus?”
“Just call me Eddy” the little man mumbled softly, lost in thought. A human, looking for the elves’ village to learn about magic. It must’ve been faith that brought the two together.
Just imagine, Eddy thought to himself. He would be the one to bring the king his first human student in a hundred years. Say goodbye to the stupid harvesting jobs, from now on this little elf was going to be an explorer! Sir Conclectus, you can put that ‘not fit’- paper in your-
“You wanna see Gilmore, eh?” Eddy asked eventually. Ozzy nodded his head quickly. Finally, the little elf said something.
Eddy smiled. “Alright. I promised I’d take you there, but first we have to look for pearmelons. We can’t arrive without.” The little elf pointed at the boy’s shirt. “We can use that as a sack. You’re a great help already.”
If Ozzy had been a little older he might’ve noticed the sarcasm in the elves’ voices, but the age he was now he could only wonder what a pearmelon would look like.
“Pearmelons” he said out loud, tasting the letters. It felt weird in his mouth, as if something was off. “What are they?”
Eddy narrowed his black eyes at the boy, with a slight disbelief in them. When he saw the boy was being honest, he shook his round head. “Where’re you from?”
“The city” the boy answered truthfully. “It’s my first time being here.”
Eddy slapped himself on his forehead and grunted. The reward for bringing this loon to the village better be good, he thought. This was going to take a while. “Beyond the Grey Stream, no? Well, that explains a lot. Just listen to everythin’ I say, because this is gonna be important. In this forest there grow fruits known as ‘pearmelons’. They’re about as big as my hands together.” The little elf made a bowl of his tiny hands and held them up, as an example. It looked like the pearmelons were as a big as an average strawberry. “They’re mostly orange, and can be found alongside the riverbanks. In Gimore we have fields full with them, but they’re mostly used to create medicine. They’re not eatable, only the ones which grow wildly are.”
“How many do we have to collect?” Ozzy asked, wiping his shirt clean. Eddy shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m guessing about fifteen, which is above APE.”
“Ape? Why an ape?”
Eddy rolled his eyes, as if Ozzy was the stupidest person he’d ever encountered. “Average Per Elf, you smartass.”
He softly landed in the grass, and started walking alongside the river with somehting which looked like pride, as if he’d accomplished something great. Ozzy had no choice but to follow him, slightly confused. He felt really nervous, because he was almost there. Just fifteen little fruits, and he could go the little elves’ village. He couldn’t wait to meet the king, and to start learning about magic. He was so lucky to have met a little elf. It might’ve been bizarre circumstances, but they managed.
“Eddy?” Ozzy asked, as he decided to walk next to the little elf. “How did you fell into the river, exactly?”
Instinctively, the little elf grabbed his purple hat, and started coughing, as if he got something stuck in his throat. “I…er, well, kinda a long story. See, it’s like this…there was this branch, and this squirrel got stuck. I helped ‘m out, but then he started screamin’ and runnin’ and the branch broke in two and I fell but he got away and….well, that’s how I got here.”
Out of frustration, the little elf kicked a tiny stone away from his feet. Without a warning, he made a sharp turn, walking into the forest. The boy followed the elf silently, which made Eddy a little anxious. He looked up at the boy, his eyes squinted in distrust.
“Just laugh, already. I know it’s hilarious, ha, ha.”
The boy frowned. “Why? Is it a joke? Did you lie?”
Eddy shook his head. “No, I told you what happened. Don’t you want to crack a smile at least?”
The boy scratched his invisible beard. “No, not really. You saved someone. I don’t think that’s funny. Jokes are funny. Well, some of them.”
Eddy stared up at the little boy, his big black eyes turning bigger than they were already. He suddenly tripped over a small rock, and saw the ground suddenly coming really close to his face. Just in time, the boy managed to grab hold of the elves’ pants, and pulled him carefully back on his feet.
The little elf patted his trousers clean, feeling his face burning up. He felt guilty for being impolite  to the boy earlier that day. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome” the boy answered.
The two little ones stood still in front of a fallen tree trunk. The human boy stepped over it with ease, but was called back by his friend who shyly asked if he would be so kind to carry him over it. Eddy clung his thin arm around the thumb as Ozzy took a step. But before the boy could set his foot down at the other side, the little elf suddenly called out.
“Wait! Stop! Don’t move!”
With his foot still in mid-air, Ozzy started to tremble over his whole body.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. The elf didn’t answer, but instead stood up and sniffed his nose, as if he smelled something.
“What is it?!” Ozzy asked again, as his leg started to feel sour. He got an index finger gesturing he should shut up as an answer. Eddy closed his eyes and sniffed again. Loudly and somehow professional, as if he’d done this a hundred times before. After a few seconds he opened his eyes again and scratched with a concerned face his chin.
“Right” he mumbled serious. He stretched out his thin arms, pointing in the direction parallel to where the tree had once stood. “That way. Now.”
“So I can move now?” Ozzy asked, almost begging.
“Yes! And hurry up a bit, will yah?!”
Relieved, Ozzy put his foot back on the ground, and followed the directions the elf gave him. “Did you smell them?”
The elf lifted an eyebrow. “Smell what?”
“The pearmelons, of course!”
Eddy rolled his eyes. “No, it was the fart of a squirrel. Of course it was the pearmelons! Not very sharp, are you?”
Ozzy grunted, a little annoyed by the way the little elf treated him. Without warning he let the little man slip off his hand back on the ground. “You’re heavy.”
The little man blinked in confusion, as the boy continued walking. When he came to his senses he jumped in the air, his face turning red again.
“Whatta thing to say! Ain’t nothing wrong with respecting your elders here!”
“The fatties, you mean” Ozzy mumbled without turning around. The little elf grunted angrily and was already shouting in his own elfish language, but the boy ignored him. The little man was really getting on his nerves.
Then he realized something. He stopped and turned around. “Elders?”
Eddy straightened the sleeves of his shirt and patted his gardening suit, with something which hinted pride. To Ozzy it looked more like arrogance. “Yes. Since I’m older than you, you gotta respect me.”
“How can you be so sure?” the boy replied, knowing that one human year was five for the little elves.
The little man chuckled. “You’re still a kid. I’m an adult already.”
Ozzy crossed his arms skeptically. “How old are you, then?”
“22” the elf said, almost shouting. The boy placed his index finger on his chin as he calculated the difference. When he came to a conclusion, he burst out laughing. Eddy frowned and felt a bump in his confidence.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, his high pitched voice skipping a few octaves. Ozzy wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
“In human years, you would be about 4,5 years old” he grinned.
“Eh?” was all the little man would say. Then he shook his head, as if he was trying to wake himself up. With renewed faith he placed his hands on his round hips. “How old are you then, in human years?”
“Ten. Fifty in little elves’ years.”
For the third time that day the little man slapped his own forehead with his hand. “You’ve gotta be jokin’.”
Ozzy grinned brightly. “So you better respect me….kiddo.”
Eddy shook his head. “You’re so gonna take advantage of this, aren’t you?”
The boy nodded. “Oh, yes.”
The little man sighed sadly, as Ozzy turned his back on him and continued to walk towards the pearmelons. “Hey, old man!”
The boy giggled in himself, glancing over his shoulder. The elf looked ashamed, his head bowed and his ears red.
“Can I just ask you one tiny favour?”
The boy shrugged. “It’s gonna cost yah, but alright. What do you want?”
“Can I…sit on your shoulder? You walk way faster than I do, and it’s quite the distance….ain’t a big deal, right?”
The boy stared at the little man, then pursed his lips and nodded. “As long as you don’t order me around, it’s fine by me.”
And so the little boy carefully placed the elf on his shoulder. Eddy made himself comfortable, and sighed relieved. With one hand he took hold of the boy’s ear, to prevent himself from slipping off.
“Hey, don’t squeeze!” Ozzy warned. The elf rolled his eyes, and the shy ‘kid’ from just now had completely disappeared.
“Ah, stop cryin’, man!” he said, as he crossed his thin legs. “Get going already!”
The boy sighed, knowing he shouldn’t let himself be persuaded like this. As he continued to walk he could feel the elf swing with every move. It was quite the experience, having a living creature on your shoulder, but it wasn’t annoying or anything. Well, that was when  the little elf had his mouth closed. With him being so close to an ear the high pitched voice echoed through the boy’s head like the bells of a church. Very unpleasant bells.
“Can you really smell pearlmelons?” the boy asked after a while. He could see the little elf nod his head from the corner of his eye.
“Yup. Every little elf can…”,he interrupted himself and chuckled, “but of course mine’s a little better than the rest.”
“Why’s that?”
The elf proudly lifted his chin. “Because I’m from the pure bloodline of the Tolkons. We have extraordinary noses, we're known for being the best in our village. My father is quite famous. He can smell magic from miles away.”
“Smell magic…” Ozzy mumbled to himself. He then cracked a smile. He found himself thinking of Gerald, who’d tried so hard to teach him ‘someone uses magic, not does it’. But if the little elves could smell magic….
He suddenly wondered what the old man was doing at the moment, now that the little boy wasn’t in the shop any more. He hoped for him the scary woman with the screaming child wouldn’t return any time soon.
“What’s that?” Eddy suddenly asked, shaking the boy from his thoughts. He was squeezing in the ear next to him, trying to get his attention. “Why’re you smilin’?”
The boy shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
“That ain’t nothing, mate” the little elf continued stubbornly. “Come on,  tell me. Who’re you thinkin’ of?”
“Just….someone.”
“What’s this someone to you? Probably dear to you, otherwise you wouldn’t be smillin’ like an idiot.”
Ozzy opened his mouth to give a witty answer, but then closed up. He realized he actually didn’t know what Gerald was to him. He just thought he was nice.
“He’s just nice” he then said out loud. “It’s just an old man in a bookstore. He has a very grant moustache, and eyebrows, which actually aren’t eyebrows at all, but eye-moustaches. I go there to read and not buy, but he doesn’t mind. Not anymore. In the beginning he would often get mad, but he changed his mind and now he likes having me around. His wife died and he really misses her. He must be very lonely, I think.”
The little man nodded, and it almost seemed like he was genuinely interested in what the boy had to say. “Eyemoustacheman. Never heard of that creature. Almost sounds like my gramps, though I doubt his personality is anything like that creature.” A shiver seemed to go down the spine of the little man, and Ozzy could almost physically feel it. “Gramps is the strictest person you’ll ever meet. He also has a thick moustache and eyebrows, and he gets angry at me all the time. He always says how my father would be disappointed and blah, blah, blah….” The little elf sighed. “I think we’re almost there. There are the pearmelons.”

The little elf pulled himself up by the ear of the boy, who protested loudly. Standing on the human shoulder with both his feet he looked up to the tree. The boy felt the two shoes stinging in his skin and had to bite the inside of his cheek because of the pain.
“Cover your ears, Ozzy” Eddy said, but before the boy could respond there was a loud bang. A bright light blinded the boy and there sounded a high tune in his poor ear. Stumbling back Ozzy fell on his bum in the grass. With a red face he rubbed over his ear.
“You should’ve told me sooner!” he shouted angrily. The little elf ignored him completely. Instead he disappeared between the high branches.
Angry at himself and the world, Ozzy crawled back on his feet, patting the grass off his legs. He sometimes really liked Eddy, but sometimes he wished he’d just left him in the river.
Ozzy blinked. Was that really how he felt? How cruel.
But yet again; Eddy seemed very impolite and egocentric, but sometimes his voice softened, and his eyes glimmered sadly. Especially when he spoke of his grandfather. He could nag a lot, but not about his grandfather. There was only fear and respect when they conversed about that subject.
“Shirt!” the high pitched voice sounded from high up in the tree. This time Ozzy responded right away and held his shirt in front of him, which had almost dried up in the sun. He spread his legs, standing steady on the ground, and focused on the tree top. Still, he found himself surprised by a small orange fruit coming right at him. He was a second too late to duck, and the pearmelon splashed onto his forehead. The juice dripped over his eyes and cheeks onto his shirt which he had tried so hard to keep ready.
He opened his mouth to shout at that idiot of an elf, when a drop of the pearmelon juice fell onto his tongue. An explosion of tastes spread throughout his mouth, a sensation of sour and sweet and salty. Something he’d never tasted before.
“Wow!” was all he could say. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and immediately licked he remaining juice off. “This is amazing!”
“Wabswowutewy!” the high pitched voice sounded. The elf had stuffed himself with the fruits as well. “Hewe they come!”
It almost looked like the little elf emptied a bucket full of pearmelons. Like a waterfall they fell from the branches, and Ozzy ran around to catch as many of them in his shirt. He even caught one in his mouth, and knowing what one drop had made him feel he was excited what the effect of an entire fruit would be.
The little elf reappeared and landed onto the boy’s knee. He smiled as he saw the number they’d caught (twice the amount of the APE), and the grin on the boy’s face as he chewed on the small fruit.
“Delicious, ain’t they?”
Ozzy nodded with a mouth full. The little elf patted on the boy’s knee. “Don’t eat too much, eh? You’re gonna get a belly ache if you do.”
Ozzy nodded again, wiping his mouth. Eddy sighed as he jumped from the knee to the ground. He lay down on his back, his head resting on his hands. This was nice, he thought, as he looked up. The leaves of the tree spread out above them like an umbrella, holding the bright sunlight from shining in their eyes. Each leaf had its own bright colour, as if they’d been just painted. Every archery could be seen, the little cracks and wrinkles. The light revealed all its secrets.
A warm breeze danced through the leaf umbrella, making it tremble and ripple. All day long, Eddy had been worrying over a lot, but now he felt relaxed. He had not only obtained the right amount of pearmelons, but also his ticket to promotion; a human. A HUMAN.
He couldn’t wait to see the look on his grandfather’s face when he’d arrive with Ozzy at his side. And all the others in the village. They’d see him as a hero, instead of a failure. The soldiers of the White Order wouldn’t know what to say when the one and only Eddimus Tolkon, the little elf without wings, would bring them a human boy, which would save them from the downfall of Gilmore.
Well, that might be a bit melodramatic. It might not be the downfall of Gilmore, but more that of magic.
The little elves were the only ones to still use the original magic. They were the ones given the task to spread the word, yet it seemed less creatures were interested in the origins of magic.
For as far as Eddy knew the dwarfs had cut all ties with magic, creatures born in the dark and not immune to sunlight, like trolls, couldn’t use it at all, and dragons were extinct. The Great Elves, he knew, had their own academy, just like The Little Elves, where they would teach anyone of their own kind and other about magic. Most of the ‘other’ were human, although the last time a human studied at Gilmore’s academy was a hundred human years ago.
“Right” the little elf sighed, and crawled up. Placing his hands on his round hips he looked at the boy, who sat leaning back against a tree, his face still covered in juice. “That’s enough resting. I’m gonna take a look up there to figure out where we are. It probably ain’t that far anymore.
Ozzy licked his fingers. “But earlier you said we were off course. How can you know it’s not that far?”
“I…just know” the little elf answered, then his wings appeared and he was gone. The loud bang gave the boy Goose bumps.
“You forgot to warn again!” he shouted into the tree, but there was no response. Sometimes he really didn’t like the little man who was supposed to be a little elf.
He might just not be. Firstly, he didn’t look like the pictures in the book. Well, the only thing that did were the colors of his clothes, but that could be just coincidence. Little elves were supposed to be thin, pretty, with beautiful hair and almond-like eyes. Eddy had none of that. He was round, his hair was messy and his eyes looked like two black marbles.
Secondly, Eddy didn’t seem as nice a person as the books described a little elf to be. The description said they were peace loving, cared for nature more than anything and adored magic more than anything. If Ozzy were to believe what the little man told him, the little elves were currently at war with the gnomes (that’s why he hates them so much) and used magic to grow fruits.
Lastly, and this was the thing which bothered Ozzy the most, was the fact that Eddy made his wings appear through magic. The book he’d read didn’t say anything about that. It said the wings were attached to his back and they could spread them out whenever they wanted.
In Eddy’s case his wings also looked very different from the pictures, maybe even prettier, yet it just didn’t add up. Maybe Ozzy should ask him about it.
Despite his uncertainties Ozzy trusted the little man so far. He’d told him many facts which did add up with the books, but also new ones that seemed logical in his ears and seemed to have connections to the information Ozzy had. And he seemed to really care for his village, although he seemed to hate The White Order, the guards of the Lord.
And above all that; Eddy was his first and only way to get to the elf village. He couldn’t imagine having to run around again, looking for clues.
Ozzy gathered the remaining pearmelons from the ground and put them in his shirt, which still served as a sack. In the meantime the cotton was covered in juice stains from smashed fruits. He sure hoped it wasn’t far to the village, because he wouldn’t be able to hold up his shirt the whole way.
He sat down in the grass again, and decided to wait for the little elf to say something, or maybe appear again, telling him it was time to go.
Leaning against the trunk of a tree, he suddenly felt a sting in his right shoulder. As if someone poked him with a pointy stick.
He sat up, rubbing over the sour spot. He tried to look under his shirt at the skin, but there wasn’t anything odd to be seen. He frowned.
A second later, the same stingy feeling was in his upper arm. He grunted of pain as this lasted longer. A little scared he stared at the skin, but nothing happened, only the pain.
It moved down to his lower arm, to his hand. Ozzy bit on his lip, trying not to scream. What was happening?
He kept staring at his hand, tried to move his fingers one by one. Something was terribly wrong.
The boy felt panic burning up inside of him. Desperately he opened his mouth to call out to the little elf, but his voice failed him. The only think a person with good ears would hear was a soft wheeze.
A horrific cold shiver went through the boy’s body. It felt like a dagger made of ice sliced his back open alongside his spine.
And still, he couldn’t scream.
Ozzy had his eyes wide open as he trembled spastically. His head thrown back, all he could do was look up. There, a shadow black as the night crossed the sky. As soon as it touched Ozzy’s foot, all the air was pushed out of his lungs.
He coughed and let out a soft cry. His throat felt dry and sour, drool dripped down from the corners of his mouth.
There was another shiver, even more intense than the previous one. The boy had his mouth wide open in a silent scream and could only spit. Every cough was a knife through his throat.
His hand was warm. When the shocks stopped, he took that time to raise it. Holding it in front of his face, his eyes widened.
Red.
The shadow crossed again. Iron water filled up in Ozzy’s mouth and almost blocked his airways, as if his own body tried to drown him. He lunged forward and a stream of red painted the grass, mixing with the orange pearmelon juice.
Shocked, Ozzy stared at the colors dancing before his eyes. His breathing fastened as he waited for the next blow. The corners of his eyes filled themselves with tears and he tried to scream one desperate time again.

Chapter 8: Black Soup

Above the ceiling made of leafs, the little elf still hovered unaware of what had occurred below him. He hadn’t seen any shadow or felt any pain, like the little boy had. In fact, he was busier with searching the horizon, looking for anything familiar.
Everywhere he looked there was green. Only green. A whole lot of green. And now the sky was starting to show red shades and clouds were starting to form. Clouds that could contain anything.
Rain, of course, wasn’t unfamiliar to the little elves, but it was a rare event. Eddy, for example, had only experienced rain three times in his life. The first time, he was only a rookie at the academy. His entire class stood with their noses against the windows made of shaved crystal.
The second time was during work. He’d gotten a cleaning job for the day, making sure the town square looked stunning for the harvesting festival. He’d screamed loudly when the first drop landed on his glasses.
The third time there was this huge storm, which almost flooded entire village away. It rained for three weeks straight, making the rivers overflow and damaging houses and other properties. There was an admirable amount of casualties and wounded, which left deep scars with Eddy himself.
He shook his head, waving off those horrible thoughts. He had to get back to this beloved village he’d risked his life for.
The round little elf narrowed his eyes and flew a couple feet to the East, where he’d spotted something blue in the green. It probably was the river they’d just come from. The boy and the elf had first walked a few miles into the forest to find the best pearmelons. But now they had to go back.
“Stupid, stupid squirrel” the little elf said to himself.
In silence he dug through his memories of the geography of this land. If he remembered it correctly that river right there was the Yellow Stream, which is part of the Blue Stream, which is where the village is located across. But the more he thought about it, the more unsure he got. It might as well jus be  the Green Stream, or the Purple Stream.
Eddy scratched the back of his head. He regretted not paying attention in school.
Looking at their options right now, Eddy figured it would be  best for them to just make their way to the river closest and then take another look from up high. It was a temporary solution, but the little elf was still somehow proud of himself.
He spun around graciously, his wings throwing glimmerings around him. It were these moments where the little man didn’t understand why the elves in the village called him ‘useless’ or a ‘good-for-nothing’. He’d figured this out on his own, and he was the one brining a human to the village.
From the corner of his round eyes, Eddy saw a shadow rising behind him. He swiftly turned around, and at the same time dashing back. He wanted to do a warrior’s cry, but changed his mind quickly.
The space behind the little elf was empty. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The horizon, the roof of leafs under his feet, and stuffy clouds moving by like snails in  hurry. Did he imagine it?
The little man frowned. Was it getting dark, maybe?
Eddy gasped. Already?! That wouldn’t be good. That would bring him and the human boy in a lot of trouble, because the wolves would come out at night and haunt the forest. None of the two looked like they were able to protect themselves from anything. The little man would have one advantage by being so small and being able to fly away when necessary, but the boy…
Eddy looked around the sky once more, but besides it turning slightly orange it seemed as if they’d have about four or five hours left before the wolves would start hunting. But what was that shadow, then?
What could it be, so high up above the trees? Surely not a wolf, so Eddy concluded.
An enormous bird? Nah, birds were friendly, they’d come to play or beg for food. Not disappear the moment you turn around.
A dragon? No, they went extinct before this forest even existed.
Another little elf, then? Why would he or she be spying on Eddy? It wasn’t like he was doing anything illegal.
Still, Eddy’s cheeks reddened at the idea that the Lord would have someone watch him. Maybe it was a way of recruiting members for Exploration Squad, which was basically Eddy’s dream coming true.
“Hello? Is someone there?” he asked in his own language. Secretly, he hoped someone would just come forward, congratulating him on his acceptance into the E-squad. That he would be brought for the Lord, who would reward him with a golden metal and free pearmelons for life.
Several fantasies flashed before his eyes, mixed up with reality and then completely disappeared when it stayed silent. There was no response from anyone. Like always.
But that would change. Eddy could feel it. The moment he’d bring the human boy into the village, his life would change. No one would look down on him ever again. No one would ignore him, manipulate or embarrass him. His grandfather would look up to him instead of down. The girls would walk up to him, not away. His neighbour would share her winter stockings not out of pity, but admiring.
Today was the day Eddy’s life would take a drastic turn. And maybe not the way he’d anticipated.
The first sign was a black dot in the orange sky, which was growing at a massive speed. It seemed as if the sun had spilled some black paint while colouring the horizon. A moving black drip of paint.
The eyes of the little elf widened as he realized the shadow from earlier was heading for him. Feeling as if someone just threw a bucket full of water over his head, the little elf watched as the black figure neared and neared. If his feet were still on the ground, his legs would be shaking.
Without moving his head, the little elf looked around. Panic rose from his belly to his throat. What was he supposed to do? This unidentified thing was flying towards him and looked really angry, but he didn’t know why. What had he done wrong this time?
It would take too long to try to hide in the trees. The shadow would catch him for sure.
Eddy was out of time. He held his thin arms straight alongside his round body, his feet clung togheter and his chin high, hoping to somehow look brave. In only a few seconds, the black thing and the little elf would clash, and in those last few seconds the little elf figured he could always try to evade the shadow at the last minute, if he was fast enough.
The dark thing crossed the sky like a swift knife through a painting. It seemed to almost rub the roof of leafs with its own shadow blurring over the bumps and unevenness of nature. The closer it came, the bigger it got. It seemed to have taken on the shape of a triangle, now that it was moving so fast.
Eddy clung his fingers together, and let out a soft wheeze as he realized the thing wasn’t slowing down. It would come at him and swallow the little elf in its darkness. A few feet remained, and the little elf squinted his eyes.
A cold breeze slapped Eddy in the face, throwing him back a few feet. He let out a cry which he wished no one would ever get to hear about and desperately tried to regain his balance. He blinked a few times, his sight blurry from the horrible backflip, and then realized he’d lost his hat again.
The curse words were stuck in his throat as his eyes caught the pool of darkness a few feet away from him.
It was truly spilled paint. A flying mass of black paint. It moved around like a living being, but it didn’t seem alive like the little elf and the human boy were. Yes, it seemed to have a way of thinking, and instincts, and even knowledge. But it had no personality. The cold aura and trembling air around the darkness both suggested a killing intent, nothing more.
Physically, it didn’t look like any kind of animal, or human, or elf, or anything. It was just as attractive as a bowl of spurring bean soup.
Eddy stared at the darkness, not knowing what to do. The mass seemed to watch his every move, and was waiting for him to flee, so it could catch him. As in a game.
Almost paralyzed the little elf hovered in the air, with his wings slowing down every second. A sudden breeze went through his brown curly hair, and if he wasn’t frozen in fear he would’ve frowned at the odd occurrence. It hadn’t been windy at all that day. Only a warm, calming breeze, not a slap with a cold towel. The temperature was also going down, as if someone was blocking the sunlight. The cold wrapped itself around the little man like a coat made of ice. It made his whole body tremble and his teeth clatter.
Suddenly an odd sound came from above. It was the sound of blankets being slapped together. The danger wasn’t only in front of him, but also above him. Were there two of them? Were they the same thing? Was this even real?
His throat felt sore. He wouldn’t be able to call out to anyone, like he’d done before. He couldn’t warn Ozzy.
Their chances seemed unfavourable. Escaping had a miniscular percent of succes.
They probably wouldn’t see the sunset after all.
Taking all this in consideration, it felt like Eddy’s head was about to explode. But right before the fireworks would go off, the fire was put out.
For a moment there was nothing. No thought in his head.
There was only fear. Something you feel when threatened. It doesn’t necessarily have to involve your life and the future of your existence, but fear is fear. Scared. Anxious. Afraid. Whichever you prefer.
It’s the kind of feeling that stops the world from spinning. Everything freezes. Your mouth is dry, your ears are filled with water, you smell things which aren’t present at the moment and all you really want to do is lie down and wait for it all to be over.
Eddy’s heart bumped gallons of blood through his tiny body, but he was still too cold to move. The nerves in his lower body spread out like plastic marbles bouncing about, telling him to get away while he still could. Or could he?
No, he couldn’t. His central engine, his brain, his mind. It was all empty. It was all over the place. Someone ripped out all his memories, emotions, senses and put them in the wrong spot. Every single thing crossed one another. He saw the smile of his mother and felt rage. His father who turned his back on him, mixed with happiness. His grandfather shaking his head, feeling confusion. The White Guards who pointed at him and laughed. The maid of the Lord who blushed and pointed at a hole in his trousers. The squirrel that called out for help. The laughing face of a dwarf.
A dwarf?
No. That can’t be right.
That’s not a dwarf.
It’s Ozzy. Ozzy….Ozzy…
A giant ship broke through the ice which kept his mind frozen. The waves caused by the shock pushed every memory into one bulp, every emotion back to its own puddle, his senses put back in his brain like rods in a construction. The little elf blinked with his eyes, and slowly the world opened up for him.
The darkness had surrounded him. He could hear the prattling of the black soup, see the bubbles pop and feel the cold breath against his skin. But he wasn’t cold. He knew exactly what to do.

Chapter 9: Run

“A human” Eddy whispered. “He ain’t a dwarf, he’s a human.” He listened to the sound of his own voice, repeated the words in his mind, concentrated on the forms his lips made with every letter, what his tongue was doing, where his voice came from. It was all he needed to prevent himself from falling back into that paralyzed state. The easy sentence somehow caused a chain reaction which brought his mind back up.
Eddy stretched his tiny fingers, wiggled his toes in his shoes. The power had returned. He whispered to himself, planning on what to do next.
His first priority was to descend, as fast as possible. Warn Ozzy, letting him now they had to get out of there immediately. The most reliable option was to hide in the shadows of the trees while running away and hopefully lose it somehow. It was only a guess, since Eddy didn’t know much about the creature. He just hoped this thing didn’t have unlimited power or something, because that would be a pain.
Another strategy would be to hide in a cave or a hollow tree or something like that. Maybe if they stayed out of sight for long enough they’d have a chance to run away without being chased, which sounded much safer.
In Gilmore the little elves started teaching the youngsters early on about this creature. At the academy they learned all about how the beast was the soul of a once great bird. An eagle who once served a human king. But he betrayed the king, and plucked out the eyes. The bird was killed and sent to hell, where he swore loyalty to the devil. In exchange for both his hearing and sense of smell he received the perfect eyes, which could spot every move, every breath and every bacteria floating in the air.
The beast was said to swarm around this forest for a long time, but he never appeared during the day. Which made Eddy wonder if this was the same bird. Everything looked exactly like how it was described in the books; red piercing eyes, black mist, feathers like ink and claws like knifes. And above that, there was also the cold. Everything was just how it was said, but there was one thing which didn’t fit well with Eddy.
Not only the fact that it was flying during the bright daylight. It was the motive. Just what was this giant bird doing here? What was it looking for? Why hasn’t it attacked yet?
It certainly wasn’t Eddy he was looking for. Maybe he’d spotted Ozzy somehow. Humans were indeed very rare in this forest, but if the bird wanted to have one so badly he could fly to the human city of Odep, which was about a mile from the border.
He was going after Ozzy in particular.
There were many stories about the speed the beast could attack with, but just like with everything else Eddy had learned on the academy, this had faded from his mind. And with shadow magic the beast was able to attack its prey in ‘groups’.  As of that moment, Eddy was surrounded by shadows and black mist, which could jump onto him when ordered by the beast.
It could come at any moment, and Eddy had to think of a solution quickly. Ozzy was still down there, without knowing the danger above him. He had to warn him fast.
The only spot on the roof of leafs the shadows hadn’t covered was right underneath Eddy. His own shadow covered the space below him, so the other one could touch it. It was his only chance of escaping.
There was a huge possibility of one of the shadows grabbing him before he could disappear underneath the trees, but he didn’t have to time to think of something else. And when he would get to Ozzy, where would they go?
Eddy knew a place. It was a dangerous one, but not as dangerous as the current situation. He could take Ozzy there, but he would have to make sure no one from the village would know they went to that place.
“Dang it” the little elf mumbled, as he locked his legs together and slipped through the leafs. The beast let out a surprised cry, and Eddy felt a breeze over his head. The huge bird had almost ripped his head from his shoulders.
Eddy descended and descended, branches and thorns scraping his face and arms. He didn’t have time to avoid them. He had to get back on the ground.
“What  the…” he mumbled as he arrived at a bizarre scene. Ozzy, the human boy, lay flat on his face in the grass. Seemingly stuck in sweet dreams.
“Oi, kid!” Eddy shouted, hearing the wings flapping above the trees. Ozzy didn’t respond. The little elf breathed out through his nose. Placing his thin hands on his hips he flew up. Aiming carefully, he flew downwards at a massive speed, his shoes kicking the boy on the head. A loud knock could be heard as the little feet hit the skull.
“Ow!” the boy screamed, as he sat up. His light eyes widened, and for a moment it seemed as if he didn’t remember a thing.
“Hey, kid!” the little elf said again, as he made sure he hovered in front of the boy’s face. He really needed the boy to be focused now. “Listen, we got a situation. Get on your feet, we gotta go.”
The boy blinked and rubbed in his eyes. “Go where?”
Suddenly, all the air seemed to be pushed out of the little lungs of the boy. Eddy frowned and actually felt concerned.
The boy grabbed his arm, his face showing nothing but pain. “My shoulder hurts…what happened?”
The little elf opened and closed his mouth. He didn’t know if he should be comforting the kid or forcing him to stand up. He actually had no idea what had occurred when he flew high above the trees.
“I dunno, Oz, but we gotta move. Can you stand?”
As the boy moved around, his face turned paler and paler. When he straightened his back, he was somehow able to grin. “Yeah.”
A loud crack sounded from above the two, followed by a high scream. The bird was getting impatient.
Before Ozzy could ask any questions, the little elf flew into a seemingly on particular direction, as if he chose it with his eyes closed.
“No time to explain, just follow me!”
Ozzy grinded his teeth, trying to keep that scream from emerging. Dragging his feet over the ground, he tried to keep up with the little elf, who kept making strange turns and kept changing course every few seconds. While running, Ozzy tried to glance through the roof of leafs. Something was following them, but he couldn’t see what it was.
He figured it might be something that could climb in trees. Like a giant squirrel, or a monkey. No, he could hear the sound of enormous wings and feel the breezes it caused. And the screams coming from that bird….it almost seemed the trees would burst just by the disturbance it caused in the air. At one point, Ozzy could almost see little cracks appearing in the trunk of a thick oak.
Eddy changed from air travel to foot. He breathed heavily as his thin legs tried to keep pushing his round body forward. His little foot got stuck behind a stone and he fell flat on his face.
Above them , another scream sounded, almost like a laughter.
Without hesitating, Ozzy kneeled down and picked the little elf from the ground. The little elf seemed exhausted after using so much magic and doing physical exercise. He had his eyes closed, which made Ozzy really uneasy.
Which way would he go now?
A scream like thunder made the entire forest tremble, several leafs and tiny fruits fell on the ground. Ozzy almost stumbled over his own feet as another scream made the earth around him shake.
“No fooling around, Ozzy” he mumbled to himself, remembering the voice of the old man.
Glancing over his shoulder, he could see that the enormous bird wasn’t the only one following them; there was a shadow crawling over the ground, almost like a living creature. Claws with long, sharp nails al knifes emerged from the black pool, grabbing strains of grass and pulling itself forward.
Behind the boy and the elf, a tree fell down, barely scraping the boy’s back. He cried as a branch made a cut in his skin, but he couldn’t stop running. With tears streaming down his face, he kept forcing his legs to take another step. His muscles felt sore. Behind him, the sky was slowly turning dark.
Next to him, another tree fell, and almost exploded as it hit the ground. Several splinters flew around, scratching the boy’s face and arms as he tried to protect the little elf in his hands.
The hug bird was trying to destroy the forest, with the two of them in it.
While running for his life, a million thoughts swarmed through the boy’s mind, like a groups of fish fleeing from a shark. He wondered how he’d gotten himself into this mess. How it all got so complicated. Why things would never just go according to plan.
He’d been too ptimistic.
“Hey, kid.” Relief surrounded Ozzy like a warm blanket. He turned back to look at his little friend. He wanted to tell him how happy he was that he wasn’t alone in this and how scared he was and tired and afraid.  “That way.”
Ozzy didn’t argue. In the hours the boy had spent with the little elf he had often wondered about the little man’s honesty and ways of thinking, but right now he would accept any advice given to him.
But then the forest ended. In a second, the roof of leafs had disappeared. The shielding trees had disappeared and made room for a clear sky and the last traces of sunlight shining down on a field of low cut grass.
“Eddy, what did you do?!” the boy cried out, anxiously looking over his shoulder. The bird wasn’t far behind as a thick tree split in two. Ozzy could see two wings above the roof, cutting the horizon like two black knifes.
“Keep goin’!” the little elf wheezed. Ozzy looked from his friend to the danger nearing and back. He felt so cold, his body hurt and he was tired. And now he had nowhere to go.
In the field, he would be stuck in plain sight. The bird wouldn’t even have to try to find him. It would be all over.
“Trust me, kid!” the little elf grumbled. Another tree fell down, and Ozzy could feel tiny splinters piercing his back. Time’s up.
The boy turned off his brain and let his feet do all the work. He could feel how the ground underneath him softened, as if it changed from a field of thorns to a bed made of feathers. The trembling stopped, as did the cracking sound of trees breaking. Even the screams seemed to die out somehow.
At one point, Ozzy couldn’t even feel the wind through his hair as he ran.
Before the screams completely faded, the bird cried out once more. And this one was different.
It was a sound which would haunt Ozzy for the rest of his life.
It was his own name.
The sound was like fuel for his legs. His speed doubled, and adrenaline rushed through his body. The urge to get away from the danger was greater than ever. That bird knew his name. He screamed his name.
“That’s far enough” Eddy said after a while, but Ozzy couldn’t stop. He had to keep going. Away. AWAY.
“Cut it” Eddy tried again. They were in the magic circle. If they went any further, they would be leave it and then it was back to square one.
“STOP!” the little elf shouted. The little boy blinked, as if he’d finally heard his friend. He halted abruptly in his tracks. The little elf nodded satisfied. “Great, thanks.”
Eddy crawled onto his feet, seemingly feeling a lot more energetic than before. He sighed, placing his hands on his hips with pride on his face. Ozzy was panting heavily, staring at something in front of him.
The little elf frowned at that, because when he glanced over his shoulder he didn’t see a thing. “Oi, you alright?”
Then the eyes of the boy rolled back into his head and he collapsed. The little elf was able to jump off the hand before he would be crushed by the boy.
“Well..” he sighed, looking around, “this is great.”
“What is?”

Chapter 10: Dawn

His ears were stuffed.
This was the first thing coming to Ozzy’s mind as he slowly regained consciousness. It felt as if someone had pushed layers of tissues in his eardrums.
He had no idea why someone would do such a thing.
His entire body hurt. As if the same person who put tissues in his ears had wrapped the boy in ropes and knotted them tightly around his limbs. To save himself, Ozzy tried to stay still.
Ah, he thought. I’m lying. On the ground.
But it’s not uncomfortable. It’s actually quite nice. Soft, and warm. That is only when the pain goes away.
Can’t it just stay away?
His eyelids felt sore and heavy. His ‘kidnapper’, as he called him, seemed to push his eyes closed. But he started to lose power as Ozzy could slowly but surely open his eyes.
Immediately he felt pain from the bright sunlight shining directly onto him. He groaned, although he couldn’t hear himself make that sound. His ears were still stuffed.
He couldn’t move or hear. Only see. So he waited.
He didn’t know what was going on, where he was or why he couldn’t do anything, but he wasn’t scared. He felt that if he just waited long enough, it would be alright.
A few times, he tried to groan again, to see if he could hear again. The first attempt, he only heard a slight echo. The second try, it sounded just as a background sound.
Finally they popped. As if the tissues were blown out, all the noises of the world flew back into his ears. The rattling of the leafs as a warm breeze sighed through it, birds performing the most beautiful songs, his own breathing, and a soft voice…
A warming, sweet and unfamiliar voice. It hummed a tune unknown to Ozzy, but he felt relaxed when it reached his ears. The gorgeous sounds grew louder and louder  and on its way to Ozzy’s ears added more companions to the party; branches softly shrieking, buzzing from small insects and the clattering sound of a campfire.
Ozzy closed his eyes, and frowned. A fire…?
He focused on his ears, filtered out the crispy sound of wood slowly eating away by a small fire dancing above it.
Slowly and carefully, Ozzy decided to sit up. He grinded his teeth as a ways to keep himself from screaming as his muscles burned with every move. He blinked against the bright lights of the day, so he used his remaining strength raising his hand to hide his eyes in the shadow.
He then noticed the song had stopped.
Ozzy peeked through his fingers. First, he only saw blurry spots, as an abstract painting which hung in Gerald’s store. Green, brown, blue.
Yet every time he blinked the pattern changed, but his sight got sharper. But before he had a chance to closely analyse his surroundings, he felt a cold shadow bowing over him.
He froze, as the last image he remembered before passing out flashed before his eyes. A mist of black following his every move, trees falling down where he’d just stood seconds ago.
He felt an arrow of pain through his spine, a fading memory of the splinters scraping his back.
“Are you alright?” a soft voice sounded. The soft singing voice from before.
Ozzy relaxed immediately relaxed, as the pain faded away by the sweet sounds. He cleared his throat, which felt like papers scraping together.
“Yes” he managed to say, with a crackling voice. A high giggle arose, a sound as beautiful as Christmas Bells. It confused Ozzy. Did he say something funny?
He felt frightened as the person placed a hand on his raised hand, which he still held in front of his eyes.
“Glad to hear it.”
The girl who sat next to him carefully pushed his hand down, so he could see around him. Ozzy turned his head from side to side, quickly taking a look around.
He lay on a mattress made of dried grass, with a thick blanket filled with wool pulled up to his navel. The mattress was placed in the open field he last remembered entering before losing consciousness. He knew it was almost dark before he fell.
The sun shone bright in his eyes. How long had he been away?
The field was surrounded by a circle of trees, as if they guarded this serene place. There was no sign of the bird.
Ozzy turned  to look at the girl next to him. The first thing he noticed was the friendly smile around her pink lips. Her brown eyes glimmered in the same way. Her hair was the lightest shade of blonde Ozzy had ever seen, almost as bright as the sunlight. It was thick and a bit messy, but straight, making her face look even smaller than it already was. Her chin was small and pointy, and her nose was as tiny and round as a knob on a little elf’s coat. Under her eyes and on her nose several ligth freckles danced around.
She wore a simple, beige coloured dress which hung loosely around her slim body, as if it was a few sizes too big for her. The sleeves were too long as well and every time she tried to roll them up they nonchalantly slithered down and hid her hands. Around her waist she wore a small belt with a little pouch.
She looked around Ozzy’s age, perhaps a little older.
She giggled, and again it seemed as if the bells sounded. “Please don’t stare like that.”
Ozzy blinked embarrassed and quickly bowed his head. “I’m sorry, I think I’m still a bit sleepy.”
The girl stood up, and patted the strains of grass off her dress. “How do you feel?”
Ozzy dared to stretch his arms, which didn’t hurt as much as before. “A little stiffy. And I’m thirsty.”
She giggled again. “Cup of water, right away, sir!”
Ozzy frowned. Although he liked the sound of the girl’s laughter, he didn’t understand why she said that. It didn’t sound that nice. “You asked me how I felt, didn’t you? I just answered your question.”
The lovely smile disappeared from the slim face, and was replaced by something which looked like wondering. She placed a finger, trapped in sleeve, on her chin and aimed her eyes at the sky above her, as if she had to think about this.
“Yes, indeed” she then whispered. “But you still sound like you think I’m your maid. Just so you know; I’m not.”
Ozzy felt his cheeks burning up and shame in his stomach. “That’s not what I meant. I just-“
He accidently waved his arm around, which send shivers of pain through his entire body. It turned his stomach around and his apologies turned into groans.
The girl’s eyes widened as she kneeled down next to him. She had transformed from the stubborn girl to the nursing woman. She placed two hands on the aching shoulder, and this time her smile spoke only pity.
“That’s alright. I’ll get you some water.”
Ozzy panted, but managed to look her in the eyes. “It hurts.”
The girl stood up. “I know.”
She’d already turned her back on him to walk away, but Ozzy stopped her one more time. “Wait, please.”
She turned around, still with big concerned eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
Ozzy felt embarrassed, and shook his head slowly. “No, it’s just…what’s your name?”
The girl seemed surprised, and blushed for some reason, which made Ozzy feel even more embarrassed. “Dawn. My name is Dawn.”
Ozzy nodded, as if he understood. In the future, he would often slap his own forehead thinking back at his first encounter with the girl named Dawn. “I’m Ozzy.”
“A friend of Eddy’s.”
“EDDY?!” Ozzy shouted, and immediately regret it. The pain got so bad he had to lean forward and wait for it to go away.
“Stop forcing yourself, idiot!” Dawn sighed, more concerned than irritated. Ozzy panted, lifting his arm as a gesture he wasn’t done yet.
“Where is he? Is he alright? Wait….where am I?”
Dawn raised her hands as a way of calming him down, although it seemed as if she didn’t know what she was doing. “I’ll tell them you’re awake, and they’ll explain-“
“They?! Who is- argh!”
Ozzy pushed his face in his woollen blanket, as the pain got worse. But when he sat up again, Dawn had disappeared. He breathed in and out, hoping he could somehow treat the pain himself. He didn’t want to look like a person that needs taking care of. He’d embarrassed himself in front of Dawn already.
He looked around the field again, and wondered where Dawn had gone too. There was nothing but trees, everywhere he looked. It wasn’t only a shield against the outside, but it was also a wall keeping the ones inside blind for what was out there.
He wondered if Dawn had disappeared through there. He hoped she would find her way back again, because she owed him an explanation.
He threw his head back, staring into the  blue sky. What day was it? What was the time? Where had the pink gone? When did it become blue?
As he sat there thinking, something underground rumbled. It send trembles through the ground, and suddenly the entire world seemed to shake.  Ozzy jumped up on his mattress, and immediately fell down, cursing himself with Gerald’s words.
He swiftly glanced around, searching for any signs foretelling the return of that devilish bird. A cracking noise arose, but not of trees breaking in half. Ozzy didn’t know if the unknowing was scarier than the knowing.
It was more like a shrieking sound, as if someone opened an old, heavy door. Ozzy looked around, hoping to see Dawn appear anywhere. She was not there.
From the corner of his eyes, Ozzy saw something brown arise from the green ground. When turning his head, he had to blink a few times in order to understand what he saw.
It looked like someone had cut a square of earth from the ground. A perfect, square piece of earth, lay next to the hole and seemed to fit perfectly, like a puzzle piece.
If Ozzy could walk, he would’ve stepped towards the hole, but he felt too weak. But he could hear a sound coming from down there. It was a familiar loud bang, which had deafened him on multiple occasions. In a split second, something arose from the hole, and a second later it bumped into Ozzy’s chest like a bounce ball.
“OZZYYYYYYYYYYYY!” Eddimeus Tolkon shouted, as tiny tears wetted the boy’s shirt. Ozzy almost fell backwards from the shock.
“Eddy!” he managed to say. The little elf hovered back, wiping the tears from his face.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that, ever!” he spat, seemingly angry and happy at the same time. “I thought you’d died, you idiot!”
“Er….sorry?” the boy mumbled, scratching the back of his head. The little elf wiped his nose, and hovered in front of the boy’s face. As proudly as ever, he placed his hands on his hips, as if he got a hold of himself.
“Yes, I understand. We were both scared. You obviously more than me…but we’re both resurrected an’ healthy, an’ ready to continue our journey…”
Ozzy decided not to respond to the thing about being scared, although he noted to himself he had to remember this. “Where are we?”
Eddy landed back on the ground. As his wings disappeared and he pushed his glasses farther up his round nose. “We’re stayin’ at a friend’s place…more like an acquaintance.”
“Dawn?”
Eddy shook his head, but t, then nodded which didn’t really give away anything. “Kinda, but it’s her uncle that owes me.”
With that being said, as if it had been rehearsed, the ground started to tremble again. Eddy had to clung to the mattress to not fall, yet he didn’t seem scared. Rather annoyed. “Ah, speakin’ of the devil.”

Chapter 11: Buck The Demon Hunter

A few feet further away from the hole Eddy appeared out of, another piece of ground was tossed aside, revealing yet another underground space. A loud groan echoed from below.
“Crack-a-doo!” it said. “That light burns!”
Ozzy frowned. He first expected for Dawn to pop up, but this was a male’s voice speaking. A low and deep, yet warm sound. It was the kind of tender noise making everyone feel at ease. Ozzy immediately felt curious to meet this person with that remarkable voice.
He stared at the hole, waiting for this individual to appear. He would try to memorize everything he’d see of that man.
And so the first thing he saw were two giant hands grabbing the edges of the hole. Thick fingers dug filthy nails into the earth as the man pulled himself up to the surface.
First, there was a bulb of brown hair with a glimmer of red when the sunlight gently stroke it. It was pulled back into tail, or a braid. Ozzy couldn’t yet see it.
Next he noticed where the huge eye moustaches above two gigantic blue eyes. Next to these two colourful irises was the nose the most important of the man’s face. It was a big one, with wide nostrils, big enough for Ozzy to put two index fingers in them. If he wanted to, that was.
Under the huge nose hung a great moustache and beard, in the same colour and glimmer as his hair.   It covered his face from the nose down, only leaving his red round cheeks naked.
The two remarkable eyes met the pair of the boy, who felt busted. Ozzy immediately bowed his head, as if a means of respect. Up till now, never in his life had Ozzy ever explicitly showed respect towards anyone. Not Gerald, not strangers, and surely not Eddy.
But being in this man’s presence made him shy.
“Well howdy, little bastard!” the man said excitingly as he pulled himself onto the grass. Ozzy dared to look up for a second, but still felt too  humble to speak. And he also just didn’t know how to respond. The man treated him like an old friend, yet he’d never met the boy before.
Ozzy suddenly felt something tingling his knee. Eddy was poking him with an angry look on his face. His eyebrows basically clung his round glasses as his eyes spit fire.
“Don’t get rude, idiot” he mumbled. “This man saved your life. The least you can do is greet him.”
The man patted some dust of his wide trousers as he’d finally set foot on the ground. While he did, he chuckled. “Oh, you’re too kind.”
He then straightened  his back, and almost unnoticeable gave Ozzy a wink. “Yet a bit harsh.”
Eddy turned towards the giant man, placing his hands yet again on his hips. The simple gesture with which was his way of telling he didn’t agree with whatever statement was made. “An’ what’s that supposed to mean, pal?”
The man started stepping towards the mattress, and with every step he took the ground shook under his weight.
Before he answered the little elf, he sighed. Then, on a very casual tone, said: “It means you’re an uncivilized piece of shit, Tolkon.”
Ozzy quickly placed a hand over his mouth to hide his giggling. He’d never heard someone speak so rude to someone else. True, he did learn some swear words from the old man Gerald, but those were never directed to anyone in particular.
Eddy, however, didn’t seem to get the gist. The boy could see how the back of the little elf’s neck began to redden. The little man stepped away from the mattress, his hands folded into fists.
“’S that how you treat an ol’ friend, bud?”
The man stood before the mattress, his gigantic body casting a shadow over both the elf and the boy. In order to look down the man had to place his chin on his chest, since the little elf didn’t even reach his ankle.
“Puh, ‘ol’ friend’?” he snorted. “Last time I saw you was three damn years ago. And that’s in human ones! Longer in elfish! We’re merely acquaintances, you and I.”
The little elf jumped angrily on his feet, shouting in an elfish language Ozzy couldn’t make much sense out of. But he also couldn’t of this entire conversation.
Eddy kept calling the man his friend, yet he told the boy they were acquaintances. And now he’d gotten angry because the man called the elf his acquaintance. It was all very blurry.
The man casually stepped over the shouting elf, not affected by whatever was coming out of the elf’s mouth. He instead turned to Ozzy, whom he probably figured was more interesting than an elf who let his emotions be stirred by someone else by just a few words. 
The man kneeled down next to the mattress, with a warm smile on his face. He was either amused or just kind.
“So, how ‘bout you?” he asked. The little boy frowned a bit awkward, as he didn’t really understand what that question meant. Luckily, the man quickly caught up on that. “How ‘bout I introduce myself first, right?”
Ozzy nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by the presence of a man who looked like the ultimate warrior from his adventure books. Not only his great amount of facial hair, but also his big shoulders and weight chest. And although the shirt he wore was very baggy, there was no doubt they hid some strong arms underneath. His trousers also looked more like pyjama’s, but his feet wore heavy boots, capable of kicking the life out of anything.
Yet his eyes showed nothing but kindness, making it impossible for Ozzy to imagine this man would harm even the tiniest insect.
Eddy finally calmed down a bit, and although he kept on mumbling angrily, he did seem interested in joining the conversation. He climbed up the mattress and swung his thin legs over the edge, but he did turn his back on the man, still too stubborn.
This man sat down cross legged, and sighed. “The name’s Buck. I am…” He paused and glanced at the little elf, with a twinkle in his eyes. “Well, what did the bobble head tell you?”
Eddy glared over his shoulder, but kept his mouth shut. Ozzy looked from the little elf to Buck and back. He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling the need to put up a good first impression. “You’re a wizard, aren’t you?”
Buck’s big blue eyes widened in surprise. Slowly his mouth started curling up, his cheeks went up to his eyes, causing wrinkles in his face. He leaned back, slapped his knee with the back of his hand and swung back forward. A mixture of bad breath and spit was launched in Ozzy’s face as the man burst out laughing. His shoulders moved up and down, and he seemed to have trouble maintaining his balance with the next salvo.
The boy blinked, wiping his cheeks. He had no idea where the joke was hidden.
“A wizard?!” Buck shouted. He bowed towards the little elf, bringing his face close to the little man. “That’s what you told him?”
Eddy waved his hand in front of his nose. “Get that filthy face away from me, will yah? And no. I just said…oh well, you’re one, aren’t you?”
Buck leaned back again, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “Gimme a break. A wizard! Can you imagine?!” He giggled, in a pitch higher than one would except from him. “Me, with a pointy stick, wavin’ all ‘round like a drunk, talkin’ nonsense. And a long grey beard wavin’ like a curtain! Ha!”
He leaned back again to laugh again. “Crack-a-doo! What a story that would be.”
After some more chuckling, he seemed to recover from that terrible joke. Ozzy’s face had turned red in the main time. He was wondering if he’d somehow insulted the warrior.
Buck breathed in and out as his face got a serious expression. When he looked Ozzy in the eyes, he spoke with pride and honour. As a real warrior would do.
It made the boy respect the man even more.
“I” Buck started, and he spoke very slow, “am a demon hunter.”
The boy was in awe. He’d never heard of such a thing. The man grinned at the excitement of the youngster. When he continued speaking his voice seemed to regain some youth. His profession was awesome, after all.
“I slay demons who’ve escaped the underworld, with something which is called ‘Weaponry Making.’”
The little elf grunted. “Which is the same damn thing as magic!”
Buck narrowed his eyes, for as much as that was possible, at the little man. “It ain’t. I’ve shown you dozens of times, you should know that by now.”
“Whatever” the little elf replied stubbornly. The man grumbled, seemingly tired of talking to someone who just won’t listen.
“Ozzy, was it?” he continued, turning his attention back to the boy. Ozzy nodded, and started to feel more comfortable around the man. He seemed nice. The wrinkles around his eyes made him think of Gerald. Not the beard, not the eye moustaches. The wrinkles.
“You look better than when you first got here” Buck said as he quickly examined the boy. “How much do you remember of before?”
The serene atmosphere around Ozzy suddenly turned cold. A shadow flashed before him. The trees were screaming as they were being ripped apart. A horrific festival of leafs descending too soon for this time of year surrounded him. There was a scream which hurt his ears.
And the pain. Oh, the pain. From the bottom of his spine it dragged itself up to his shoulders. He curled up, his muscles moving around spastically.
From his toes up to his throat he pulled up a scream, louder than he’d ever screamed. He felt his vocal cords burn, but he couldn’t stop.
Then it was gone. As pulled away by a string, the images faded. The pain immobilizing him exploded into nothing but dust particles after a firework.
The boy felt so tired.
Slowly but surely, the blurry world opened up again. As he slowly regained his sight, the face of the demon hunter was the first thing coming into view. Buck’s eye moustaches formed a downward spiral, and the boy indicated that as him being angry.
“I…I’m sorry” he coughed. His dry throat barely allowed him to speak.
“Don’t apologize” the demon hunter mumbled, as he kept on staring. “This is the bird’s doing, not yours.”
Buck turned to look at Eddy. The little elf had his arms hanging loosely around his round body, his eyes widened and his face as pale as a sheet. He swallowed.
“Where’s he from?”
The little elf didn’t take his eyes off the boy. “How should I know? I only know the kid for, like, a day.”
Buck responded by grunting in a very low tune. As an animal protecting the cubs. Eddy finally seemed to understand the dire situation.
“Beyond the Grey Stream. ‘S all I know.”
All Ozzy sat there like a statue. He didn’t understand any of it. The demon hunter was able to pull away his nightmares. Just like that. How?
And Eddy kept talking about a place called the ‘Grey Stream’, but he’d never heard of it, or read about it. And the two men were talking about him as if he wasn’t present.
“I see…” Buck nodded wisely. When he noticed Ozzy’s scared eyes, his face softened once again. “Don’t worry, boy. We’ll figure somethin’ out.”
The boy nodded slowly, feeling ever so thirsty. Dawn sure took her time to get that water from the river.
“Right” he mumbled, hoping he’d sound a lot more braver in reality.

Chapter 12: Circle of fire

The next time Ozzy awoke, it was night. He looked in the face of the moon, which was a great white bowl of light shining over him. It threw shadows between the strains of grass. There was no cloud to be seen, yet the stars seemed to have fallen asleep as they weren’t present.
At his right, Ozzy noticed a yellow beacon if light. There was a fire dancing happily over a few logs. Three shadows sat around it. One big one, a smaller one, and a tiny shadow.
The giant man, Buck, was speaking. His voice travelled through the air like a loud drum. When he laughed, the world underneath him seemed to do so too. The ground would shiver by the sound of his laughter alone. He looked nothing like the serious hunter he was that past afternoon.
Dawn, who was the smaller shadow, sat next to him, a brown overcoat thrown around her shoulders. She held a dark coloured cloth in her hands, which she was sewing together with another one. She sometimes looked up in an annoyed way when Buck said something. But along with those annoyed eyes was a tiny smile.
The tiniest shadow was, of course, the little elf Eddy. He sat on top of a log with his arms crossed. Whenever he spoke his voice sounded like an annoying insect buzzing about. He seemed to be stuck in a very interesting discussion with Buck.
Ozzy looked at the group, and after a while he noticed he was smiling. It looked so welcoming, a campfire like that. He wished he knew what they were talking about and what Dawn was doing with those cloths.
He threw the blankets of his body, and immediately Buck turned his head. “Ah, Oswald. Good to see you on yer feet.”
Ozzy frowned at the strange nickname the man had given him, but he decided to ignore it. “Yes. I’m feeling much better now.”
Dawn chuckled. “Anything else his majesty desires?”
The girl apparently hadn’t forgotten about their conversation earlier, and Ozzy felt a little shame in his stomach. He quickly pushed that aside, and figured that he couldn’t just back away. “No thank you, maid.”
Buck burst out laughing, slapping his giant knees, but Dawn was less impressed. Her cheeks reddened and her eyebrows turned downwards so much they almost touched each other.
“Now, now” Buck said when he’d finally found the breath to speak, “let’s keep it light, shall we? Join us, Osman!”
Ozzy hesitantly sat down next to Eddy, who mumbled about the several names Ozzy had gotten in the past minute.
“How ‘bout some soup?” Buck leaned back to where a cattle stood behind him. Ozzy felt his stomach roaring and nodded. Buck grinned underneath his beard and handed him a bowl. “It’s my specialty.” Dawn coughed loudly and gave him a look. “With a bit of her help, that is.”
Ozzy felt a delicious smell entering his nose. “Then it must be delicious.”
Dawn narrowed her eyes at him, before returning to her sewing. Ozzy felt a bit of victory that she’d gone silent. She was kind of annoying.
“Now, then” Buck said, as Ozzy took a first sip of his soup. “Now that we’re all gathered here on this beautiful evenin’, I think it’s time I’ll tell y’all some important things. Some of you,” and with that he leaned towards Dawn, who seemed annoyed once again, “may have already heard these stories a few times. For the new ones this might come as a shock, so try to keep yer food down, alright?”
Ozzy took another sip, as he saw this as a challenge. What story would be so scary he wouldn’t be able to eat?
Buck laughed at that, and his blue eyes sparkled mysteriously. “Now, where to begin? I guess I’ll start with the fact that you, my friend,” he pointed at Ozzy, “have been marked by that ridiculous bird. Thanks to you we’re now temporarily stuck in this circle. So thanks for that.”
Ozzy dropped his spoon. “What?”
The boy looked at Eddy, who shrugged his shoulders. “It’s true. That beast’s looking for you right now. The shadow touched your bum.”
“What?”
Dawn sighed. “Quit repeating the same thing over and over again. What these two idiots are trying to say is that the bird who attacked you used his shadow to harm you. While doing so, he left a mark on your back, parallel to your spine. Through that mark, he’s been trying to enter your mind to take over your body and-“
“Hold up,” Buck suddenly interrupted, as he saw how Ozzy’s face had gotten paler and paler by the second. “Let’s take it one step at the time, alright?”
“What is happening?” Ozzy whispered, as he felt the coldness surrounding him again. He heard the sound of branches breaking and great wings above him. Splinters of fallen trees danced around him as he was running through the forest.
“Hey!” There was a loud bang and suddenly the little elf floated in front of the boy’s face. Eddy grabbed Ozzy’s cheeks with both his hands and squeezed. “Snap out of it, you moron!”
“Aw!” the boy cried out as the little fingers dug deeper into his skin.
“I think he’s awake” Buck said, as a means of saying the little elf should stop.
“I don’t think so” Dawn mumbled, meaning the opposite of that.
The little elf let go, but didn’t remove his wings. He hovered in front of the boy’s face for a while longer, crossing his thin arms. He didn’t seem annoyed, not at all. There was some worry hidden in his dark eyes. When the boy picked up his bowl of soup, the little elf finally dared to sit down again, but he didn’t look away from the boy for a second.
Unknown to the little elf, the giant man Buck stared at him. Hidden underneath his thick beard was a smile. He was surprised and glad to see the little elf had finally found someone other than himself to look out for. Buck sometimes wanted to crush the little elf under his giant feet, but other times he was a close friend he held dear.
“Alright, I think we’re clear now” he continued as Ozzy had taken his first sip again. “What Dawn just told you is true. The Beast, that demonised bird, uses his shadow magic to mark his victims. Whenever he does so, he tries to take over that person’s body. When he succeeds, he’s able to spy for his Lord and get his hands on important information.”
Ozzy frowned. “But I don’t know anything important. I’m just…normal.”
Buck smiled at that, and his eyes spoke nothing but sympathy for the child. It was obvious the boy had gotten himself in the troubles of a world he didn’t belong in. When Buck didn’t respond, Dawn did that for him. She didn’t have a lot of patience and in combination with her big mouth it mostly turned out disastrous.
“He apparently overheard you guys were heading for the elf’s village” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe he’s spying to see how far the war has progressed.”
Ozzy’s eyes widened, and from the corner of his eye he could see Eddy froze for a second, as if the boy had heard something he wasn’t supposed to. The boy slowly turned towards the little elf, his face more confused than ever. “War? What is she talking about?”
Eddy’s face reddened and he started to stutter. “Well…uh…you see…we….the elves…..y’know…..we got….well…uh…”
“So you didn’t tell him” Dawn sighed, rolling her eyes. “Do I have to do everything myself?”
Buck locked eyes with the little elf, and his look spoke a little disappointment. “I think we can give the honour to our little friend over there, Dawn.”
The girl shrugged again and bowed over her sewing again. “Whatever.”
Ozzy stared at Eddy, who scratched nervously behind his ears. “Alright, Ozzy, don’t hate me for this….but there are some things I didn’t tell you before….”
“Some very important things” Dawn mumbled, before she got silenced by Buck. She made it appear as if she wasn’t listening, when in fact she was. Eddy cleared his throat and wiped his forehead, which was dripping with sweat.
“Well…we, the little elves, have declared war on the gnome folk, a long time ago. It’s been going on for as long as I can remember, and…well, the bird you saw, the bird that attacked you….he’s a mercenary, basically. He’s always been an enemy of the little folk in general, but the gnomes have now hired him to, well, get information about our defences and what not. As you may see, little elves are very hard to catch and to take over. But a human like you…” He hesitated, and decided not to finish his sentence. “Y’know?”
“No I don’t” Ozzy responded quickly. He felt nervous and scared, and very tired, even though he’d almost slept for two days straight. “This bird is trying to take over my body? But…but…”
Buck raised a hand to silence the boy. Ozzy instinctively did so, as if Buck had already gotten some kind of authority in his eyes. He already respected the demon hunter to some extent.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe for now. As you may know, we’re in a magic circle. No livin’ creature can enter this sphere from the outside without my knowledge. As a matter of fact, they can’t even see the thing. All they see is a plain field of grass. The sphere’s not too big, but it’s doable. And I can keep it up for as long as I like, so we got enough time to figure somethin’ out for yah. And I already have a few ideas.”
As the giant man was speaking, Ozzy felt the nerves in his stomach die down. Buck had a really calm aura around him, and his voice felt like a warm blanket wrapping around him, telling him everything was going to be alright.
The boy wasn’t hungry anymore. He placed his bowl on the ground, and thanked both Dawn and Buck for the meal. The girl just snorted in a patronizing way.
“Our pleasure” Buck said, glaring at Dawn. “Tomorrow, we’ll start with the first few experiments I have in mind. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s better if you get another good night of sleep, because things will get intense.”
Ozzy nodded, and for some reason felt a lump in his throat. He had gotten the greatest scare in his life just a few minutes ago, and this man, this stranger, was willing to help him with his ‘condition’. The boy bit his lip. Buck was so nice.
“Thank you” he mumbled, barely detectable. His throat felt so thick he couldn’t speak. He was so happy and relieved everything was going to be alright.
Dawn looked up from her sewing work with widened eyes, surprised by the emotion the boy suddenly showed. Buck just smiled warmly as the boy sniffed his nose in the sleeve of his shirt.
“I’m just doing my job, kiddo.”
Dawn blinked, still a bit confused. She bowed over her sewing work and quickly finished the last few inches. The she stood up and walked over to Ozzy, who was wiping his eyes with his filthy clothes. Nonchalantly the girl threw the cloth his in lap.
“Here.” The boy looked up, his eyes still watery. Dawn felt a slight sympathy for him, but turned her head away from him before he could notice. “It’s a costume, accustomed to the fashion of this region. The bird already knew you were different, so it’s better if you just adjust from now on, before you get yourself in even more trouble.”
Her voice sounded cold and harsh, as if she had no interest at all and didn’t even want to help. But secretly, the girl hoped the boy would survive the things her uncle had planned for him.
“Thank you” the boy said again. Dawn didn’t respond. The robe she’d made had more chance of survival than the owner.

Chapter 13: The Underground Castle

“Underground?” Ozzy said in surprise. Dawn nodded, slightly annoyed.
“Yes, that’s what I said. Buck and I both have our rooms underground, and close to our armoury there is a cave with an underground lake. Buck’s busy today with some other business, so he asked me to take you there. The water in the lake is supposed to heal the physical wounds. It might even slow down the process of the….” She hesitated, and seemed to choose different words to say the same thing. “...shadow’s mark.”
Ozzy gulped. Every mentioning of the bird thus far had let to the boy falling into some kind of trance where he couldn’t get out of by himself. He felt guilty every time it happened, because he’d cause so much worry for the demon hunter and the girl. They had done so much for him already.
So he too tried his best to keep the scary memories and thoughts away. It didn’t help much, but at least he was trying. That’s what he kept telling himself.
“So, eat up” Dawn said, handing him a sack. It contained bread and cheese. Ozzy’s mouth felt dried out. Ever since Dawn had given him a dark blue garment to keep him warm, he didn’t dare to insult her anymore, but he couldn’t resist but to ask if he could get something to drink. She shook her head. “Nope, sorry. It’s dangerous entering the sacred water with different water in your stomach. It’s better not to.”
Ozzy sighed disappointed, and ate a bit of breakfast. Eddy had gone off somewhere early in the morning saying he would try to find the fastest path to Gilmore. That was, of course, the initial goal and still the quest the boy and the little elf were on. It was sad that something like this had to come between.
A voice in the back of Ozzy’s head was saying that the little elf might be avoiding having to answer questions about the war with the gnomes. Because Ozzy had a lot of questions.
He knew about the rivalry between the gnomes and the little elves from the book he’d read back in Gerald’s store, but there wasn’t anything implying they were at war.
Ozzy broke off a tiny piece of cheese and chewed it for some time as he was lost in thoughts. Now that he thought about it, there also wasn’t any mentions of the bird. It was almost like the book didn’t know that much as he first thought. There was only one fact which had proven to be correct thus far; the little elves did magic and were  prepared to teach other creatures the art.
But after everything that had happened, the boy wasn’t sure what to believe.
He stared over the grand field and had to squint his eyes against the bright sun. It was still sunny weather, and although he couldn’t exactly feel the heat through the magic sphere, just like he couldn’t feel the breeze going through the trees, it must’ve been a hot day. Not far away from him, Dawn was squeezing out some of Buck’s shirts and hanging them to dry at a tiny rope. She kept glancing at him, almost unnoticeable. When she caught the boy staring back, she quickly pretended to be very concentrated on her work.
Ozzy figured he could ask her some things, now that they were all alone.
“Dawn?” he said. The girl  acted annoyed again and quickly regretted every lying eyes on the boy. She folded up a shirt against her chest and only responded with a ‘Hmm?’
“Can I ask you something?” Ozzy continued. Dawn threw the folded clothing on the pile with the rest and sighed.
“If this is about the gnome-elven war, you can save that for Eddimeus.”
Ozzy felt his cheeks turning red. How did she know he was going to ask about that? “Well, you must at least know something, right?”
Dawn turned to look at him, her brown eyes narrowed. “I only know that it’s been going on for quite some time. If you’d ask Buck about it he would say the same. What happens between the little folk is none of our business. And besides, they’re all really strict about their information. Why do you think the gnomes hired a mercenary to spy on the enemy?” She paused to sigh again. Then, for some reason, her eyes softened. The thin harsh stripe her mouth had been the entire time slightly turned downwards. “War really is a horrible thing. So many innocent people die for such stupid reasons…”
She stared at Ozzy, but didn’t really see him. She seemed to be somewhere entirely else. When she realized she was still having a conversation, she snapped her head the other way. “That’s why we don’t get involved. And neither should you.”
Ozzy took another bite of the bread, chewed, and then put the remaining piece back in the sack for later. “How am I supposed to do that? I’m going to the village anyway.”
Dawn’s face got a grim expression. “It’s easier than you think. Like I said: they’re strict about information.”
She threw the last folded shirt on the pile and placed her hands on her hips. “Now stop interrogating me and get up. We’re going.”
Ozzy placed the sack under his arm and crawled onto his feet. He was aware of the coldness surrounding his spine, which had gotten more intense overnight. He hoped the water would take care of that.
Dawn strolled over to a spot in the field where she’d come out from as well. Kneeling down, she searched with her hands in the grass, till she got grip over a rope. With a slight pull, a piece of earth plopped out, like a piece of a puzzle. When Ozzy leaned over the hole he could see nothing but darkness.
“Jump in” Dawn mumbled, holding the ‘door’ open for him. Ozzy looked from the hole back to the girl, and the girl grunted. “Alright, I’ll go first. I didn’t know you were afraid of the dark.”
“I’m not!” Ozzy snapped back. “It’s just….I don’t know what’s down there.”
Dawn rolled her eyes, before agilely jumping down. There was a soft thud as her feet landed not far below ground level. A second later a light shone in the hole, revealing an underground tunnel big enough for someone Buck’s size could pass through. And considering that, it must be a great jump.
Dawn’s face appeared in the dark, holding a lantern to lit her path. “Still scared?”
Ozzy grunted something back as he shivered on his feet. His jump was more like a fall, and he collapsed onto his knees. Dawn opened her mouth to say something about Ozzy dirtying his new robes, but changed her mind.
Instead, she started walking down the tunnel, without waiting for the boy to get back on his feet. He swiftly jumped up, holding the sack with food close to him as he ran after her. The lantern only shone a few feet in front of the too, revealing nothing but dirt and a few poles to keep the tunnel from collapsing. It seemed well crafted and very stable. The dry dirt was carefully polished and almost seemed like concrete walls from afar, but when Ozzy accidently touched it, the sand got loosened and crumbled.
The tunnel made a turn to the left, and then revealed a bigger space underground. The ceiling seemed higher, or the two had just gone deeper into the ground. There were five separate spaces carved out into the ground, which had become more like rocks the more they had walked.
Ozzy stood in awe at the entrance. Dawn casually walked in and lit some more lanterns around the space, revealing pieces of furniture and several other household object. It seemed almost like a normal home.
“Wow” was all Ozzy could say. Dawn placed her lantern on a table in one of the spaces, which appeared to be a kitchen. “So this is where you live.”
Dawn snorted. “Yup. Our underground castle. I need to refill. You can drop the sack here,” She pointed at a corner of the kitchen, and with a little hesitation, she added “if you’d like.”
Ozzy didn’t clinch to the sack as much as before. He placed at a stool in the corner Dawn had pointed at and looked around the kitchen. At one side, some kind of faucet was carved in stone, it even had some drawers. At the other end stood sacks, made of the same raw material as Ozzy’s food sack, all stuffed to the top with vegetables. One giant lantern hung from the ceiling.
Dawn stood at the faucet, emptying her belt’s pouches and filling them again with seeds and several dried leafs. Sometimes, she lifted on of them up to smell it, and either put it in one of the pouches or put it back in the many jars that were stalled out.
Ozzy walked back to the main space and peeked in every of the different spaces. Two of them contained beds, and seeing the sizes he knew which one was Dawn’s. The girl glanced at him from time to time, making sure he didn’t get his fingers on any of her belongings.
“It is really amazing” Ozzy whispered, as he headed over to a place where all kinds of weird objects and weapons were stalled out. Dawn cracked a grim smile.
“It can get claustrophobic sometimes. I barely come here during the day. Otherwise I won’t get any sunlight at all.” She finished getting everything she needed and blew out the lantern in the kitchen. “Now stop lurking around. This way.”
She walked past her own ‘room’ with a lantern held in front of her. Ozzy peeked for the last time. When passing the girl’s room, his eyes caught sight of a piece of jewellery carefully placed next to the bed, in a hole in the wall. It was a silver medallion, with a black stone in the middle. It was about the size of his palm and flickered when the lantern threw its light over it, revealing ancient encryptions. It was only a split second he saw of the thing, and it had already left Ozzy’s mind as soon as they continued their journey to the underground lake.
The further they went the darker it got. The ceiling seemed to get lower and Ozzy started to understand why Dawn didn’t like to be down here. After some time, a blue light started to appear at the end of the darkness. It became greater and greater as the neared the end of the tunnel. Ozzy couldn’t see much over Dawn’s silhouette, who was taller than his.
When they reached the next open space, Ozzy felt as if he was outside again. Dawn stepped aside to reveal a great cave, tallest than any building Ozzy had ever seen in his life. He imagined even a giant would bump his head in the ceiling.
The blue light came from the reflection of the sun shining from a hole above, through blue crystals, which hang from the ceiling. Some even went as far as to touch the ground and had grown into shiny pillars. The grey stones seemed a dark blue shade through the bright filter.
Around and between the pillars was a silent water. This was glowing of itself as well, as if it was toxic to some extent. Ozzy walked over to the banks of the lake. It was so deep he couldn’t see the end.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Dawn suddenly said, her voice sounding soft. Ozzy glanced at her, seeing her stare into the water. The light made her brown eyes celebrate, and she looked much prettier when she didn’t seem annoyed.
This sight disappeared as soon as it had come. She turned away from the water to look at Ozzy with a strand expression on her face. “Take off your clothes.”
 

Chapter 14: The Shiny Lake

Ozzy felt his cheeks burning up with both shame and fear. “W-what?”
Dawn sighed and turned her back on him. “I won’t look. Just take of your clothes and get in.”
Ozzy looked at the water and back to the blonde girl, who had her arms crossed. He’d rather ask her to leave right now, but for some reason he suspected she wouldn’t until he had entered the water.
Ozzy walked further towards the edge of the bank. He glanced over his shoulder every ten seconds to make sure she wasn’t peeking as he pulled the robe over his head. He put it down gently on the stone floor and kicked his shoes off. His sneakers seemed so out of place next to the old fashioned garment.
He glanced over his shoulder once more, but Dawn did as she promised. With one foot first, the boy touched the surface of the lake. It was cold and created goosebumps all over his body. He heard Dawn sigh, and knew he should hurry.
He took one step first, the water came up to his knees. With the next step, it reached his navel. He held his arms up and his shoulders were frozen in a shrug. His teeth chattered as he went in deeper and deeper.
Suddenly, the bottom disappeared under his feet. He sunk down, the water reaching over his head. He saw nothing but light surrounding him, as if he’d fallen into the sun. He waved his arms and feet around, touching nothing but light. He struggled underwater till he found the higher spot again. He saw Dawn standing at the river bank, her face caught in a frown. When Ozzy appeared above the surface again, it changed to a smirk.
“There. Was that so hard?”
Ozzy coughed the water from his mouth and shivered. Dawn’s smirk disappeared.
“Well, I’m just over there. I have more important stuff to do.” With that said, she turned around to walk towards the tunnel, back to the underground castle.
“Wait!” Ozzy called out, as he found the breath to speak. “What am I supposed to do?”
Dawn turned around on one foot and shrugged her shoulders. “Just fool around a bit. I’ll come get you in one hour, that should be enough to heal everything.” She turned around again, but halted again. “Just…shout, if you need anything. I’ll hear it.”
Then she disappeared. Ozzy stared at the dark tunnel, feeling a bit lost. He was alone, in this giant shiny cave.
Dawn had left the lantern behind. He stared at it, thinking he should probably tell her. But she’d probably get mad at him again. If she didn’t come back herself to get it, she was probably able to find the castle in the dark on her own.
Ozzy couldn’t swim. Even if he could, the water was too cold for anyone to move around in for a long time. Ozzy decided to sit down at the higher spots, leaning against the stone walls. He let the water reach his chin, but not any further. That split second under was enough for one day.
He held one of his hands in front of his face to see if the scratches from the day before had already healed. They didn’t seem to have changed at all. Maybe Dawn had lied to him.
He let the hand sink back and sighed. This wasn’t how he imagined the magical forest to be. He imagined peaceful little houses full of elves and gnomes and even the kind little trolls, who lived around these parts as well. He was interested in meeting them as well. And the gnomes.
Ozzy felt betrayed by Eddy. He hadn’t told him anything about what was going on in Gilmore. All the beautiful lies he’d told all matched what the book had showed him of the magical world. And there was no word about a bird. It just wasn’t fair.
The boy splattered his hand in the water, as if wrinkling the surface would somehow help him with his anger. When Eddy came back, he would question him about everything. Nothing would get past him anymore.
The water didn’t seem as cold as it was at first, and Ozzy actually felt quite comfortable. It was almost like a blanket surrounding him, or a hug from big arms. After a while, the boy stood up. He had enough of sitting around. After all, Dawn told him to ‘fool around’. So that was exactly what he was going to do.
He didn’t go to the deeper parts, but stayed close to the banks. He splattered his feet around, causing shiny waves to appear. He chuckled to himself. He could pretend to control the water, like a real wizard would.
He made a cup of his hands, filled it with and threw it around. This was his ‘water grenade’. A very powerful attack, he said so himself. He also added ‘wave kick’ and ‘water turner’ to the list, and soon he was the most powerful wizard in the cave.
After a while, he started to make sounds with every attack he used. “Oah! Hah! Hyaaa!”
They got louder and louder, and even became sentences. “You will not defeat me…for I am the most powerful wizard on this planet!”
He used ‘Wave Kick’ on his invisible enemy, who died instantly. Ozzy was victorious.
After a while, the boy got tired. He sat down at the side again, feeling satisfied. Playing in the water was fun. It was almost like reading a book; he got lost in a world only known to him.
Books. That reminded him of someone.
The boy suddenly felt sad. He missed the old book seller. The joy of pranking him, or seeing how long it would take till he got actually mad at him.
Ozzy leaned his head back against the stones. He remembered the time Gerald first caught him reading at the special table in the special place. It was the first and only time the boy had felt guilty towards the old man as he seemed really hurt by what he had done. Most of the times, Gerald just seemed annoyed, but he was emotionally damaged. Ozzy would never forget that time.

He sat on the big chair by the reading table. The desk lamp shone a bright light on the pages of a new book he’d just found this afternoon. It was called ‘Tales of the Unfamiliar’. It contained all kinds of mystical stories about strange creatures and far off lands. Ozzy didn’t hear the old man entering the special room, he only snapped out of his reading when he heard a shocked gasp.
He glanced over to see Gerald standing in the doorway, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
He almost ran over to the table, grabbed the boy by his arm and pulled him from the chair.
“Gerald! What are YOU doing?” the boy had responded. The old man grabbed the book Ozzy was reading with both his hands and threw it as far away as possible. The book hit a wall and a few pages got loose. They danced around and lay still on the floor.
The old mad started to stroke the table gently, mumbling softly. “Oh no, oh dear, oh no.”
Ozzy opened his mouth to sneer at the book seller, but his voice got stuck in his throat.
The old man was crying.
The boy blinked in utter shock. Snot dripped from the old man’s nose into his moustache as he laid his cheek on the table. It almost as if he’d lost something.
Ozzy slowly stepped backwards, towards the door. He didn’t care the book was damaged. He’d damaged something way more valuable.
He ran out of the store. He ran as fast as he could, feeling tears stinging behind his eyes. He didn’t know the old man could cry.
The bell above the door sounded as the boy left. He ran down the street, his head bowed. He bumped into other people on the streets and apologized many times.
But not to those people.
The following days, the boy didn’t dare to come close to the book store. He felt like he was banned from that place from now on. He’d done something unforgivable.
What his evil deed was he didn’t know. But he imagined it had to be evil for Gerald to cry like that.
But it seemed the love the boy carried for books was greater than his determination. After four days, he dared to peek through the front windows. He spotted the old man, sitting at the service desk, resting his head on top of it and snoring loudly.
It looked normal like always.
Ozzy bit his lip. He wanted to enter so bad. But if he’d open the door, the bell would ring and the old man would wake up. Normally, the old man would greet him with ‘Oh, it’s you. Don’t cause any trouble, will yah?’
In his fantasy scenario of this situation, Ozzy predicted the old man wouldn’t greet him at all, but scare him away with a pitchfork or something.
So he left.
A day later, he entered the store. Gerald was snoring again, and opened his eyes slightly as the boy came in.
Ozzy didn’t look at him, but kept his head bowed, his dark hair hiding his shameful eyes.
The old man just yawned, leaned back in his chair and said: “Oh, it’s you. Don’t cause any trouble, will yah?”
The boy slowly lifted his head, his eyes widened. Gerald just rubbed in his eyes with his knuckles and stretched his shoulders. When his eyes caught the boy looking he frowned. ‘Oh, also; there’s a place in the back. There’s a table and everything. You can go there if you want.”
Ozzy blinked. He didn’t understand it. He’d done something horrible, yet the old man acted as if nothing ever happened. He opened his mouth to say something intelligent, but he couldn’t. He was just happy Gerald wasn’t mad at him anymore.
“Don’t get any weird ideas, Ozzy” the man added as Ozzy sprinted to the secret door. “Just this once. If I find you there on any other time...!”

There was a shadow. It hung above him. A cold breeze surrounded him, pushing him forward and pulling him back like a ship at sea. A loud scream travelled through the air, hurting his ears.
Ozzy couldn’t run. Every step he took he lost double. The distance between him and the shadow got smaller and smaller by the second. He couldn’t escape the shadow’s wrath.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
His own voice pierced through the flashy images and called Ozzy back to the underground lake he lay in. He panted as the blurry world got sharper and sharper. The shadow disappeared, there was no coldness, no screaming.
He sat there, leaning against the wall. There was a lot of light surrounding him, but only parts of the landscape reached his eye sight. He blinked and blinked.
Then his ears were turned on. First, there was a long high pitched tone. At the background he could hear voices which became clearer and clearer.
“Ozzy! Come back here!”
“Osman, it’s alright….just….ah, crack-a-doo.”
“I knew this was a bad idea…”
“I shouldn’t have left!”
“No, Dawn, I’ll be alright. Just…tend to him first.”
“But…Buck, this is….”
“Just do it!”
 Then the curtain was lifted off his eyesight. Ozzy could see clearly. He expected to see the big cave and the beautiful shiny lake and crystal pillars, but none of it was left. The cave was in ruins.
Ozzy felt panic in his stomach. The cave lay around him in ruins, the bright sky of the afternoon shining directly into the crater in the ground.
“What….” he whispered. He was surrounded by giant rocks, all barely crushing him. He managed to crawl up and look over the remains. He caught sight of three figures standing not far away from him.
Buck leaned heavily onto Dawn, his face covered in blood and his leg twisted in a weird turn. Dawn’s eyes were watery as she didn’t look away from the man once. Eddy flew around the rocks, calling out Ozzy’s name several times over.
The boy stood between the ruins, and gulped. “What’s going on?”

Chapter 15: Intruder

The fact that he was still naked for everyone to see didn’t cross Ozzy’s mind even once as he stood there, surrounded by rocks and dust. Buck breathed heavily and shivered on his feet. He could lose consciousness any second.
Ozzy licked his lips. “What happened?”
Dawn’s head suddenly jacked in his direction, her eyes filled with rage. “You! That’s what happened! You lost your damn mind, you let your fears get the better of you! This is YOUR fault! You did this! You…you…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence as tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes. Buck coughed and placed a hand on the nearest rock. Leaning heavily onto it, he let go of Dawn and sat down. A loud thud echoed through the remains of the cave as he hit the ground.
“That’s enough, Dawn. I ain’t dead yet.”
Ozzy stood in shock. He felt really cold again, but not because of the bird. It was guilt which he felt. He’d hurt the man who was willing to do so much to help him. And this was how he repaid that.
“I…I…” he stuttered, while taking a few steps back. “I had no idea…”
Buck looked in the boy’s direction, and he somehow managed to crack a smile through the pain. “It’s alright, Osman. Dawn’s just bein’ dramatic. I’ll be back on my feet before you know it!”
With that he swung his arm in a jolly way, but immediately halted when he felt the pain going through his shoulder. His face got paler and his eyebrows got caught in a deep frown. Dawn kneeled down next to him, with a worried look on her face. She started to search through her many pouches, whispering to herself.
Eddy, who hadn’t said anything yet, came flying up to Ozzy, dragging the blue robe with him. He threw it in the boy’s arms. “For the love of the Lord, please cover yourself.”
Ozzy threw the costume around his shoulders in an almost robotic manner. He tried to remember what had happened after he entered the lake. It seemed obvious to him that someone else had entered the cave, otherwise there wouldn’t be a huge crater where the ceiling used to be. The afternoon sun shone on what appeared to be the aftermath of a fight between giants. Whoever did this to the cave must’ve been incredibly strong.
“Don’t let her words get to you” Eddy said softly, as if he didn’t want Dawn to hear it. Ozzy turned to look at the little elf, who landed onto a rock and swung his legs over the edge to sit down. “It’s not exactly as she says it is.”
Ozzy glanced over at the blonde girl, who was still whispering. She held a fist full of some kind of dark powder. It slid between her fingers, onto the wound on Buck’s stomach.
“Then what is it?” he asked the little elf. Eddy sighed and scratched behind his ear.
“Well…” Right before he was about to speak, a cold breeze entered the crater. It echoed between the many rocks and pillars like  flute. Eddy’s eyes widened and he seemed to lose some weight in that very moment. Next, the sound of air being pushed under giant wings sounded. It got louder and louder.
Buck softly pushed Dawn away and sat up, his face directed at the sky. Ozzy followed his eyes, staring at the hole in the ceiling. Slowly but surely, a shadow appeared. It moved slowly, as if it had all the time in the world.
The boy didn’t blink even once, afraid the shadow would be right next to him if he missed even the slightest movement.
“Dawn” Buck said softly, “please hurry. He’s coming.”
He didn’t need to say more. Ozzy already knew who was coming. Who else could bring the cold with him like this shadow did?
Buck turned to look at Eddy. They seemed to have a conversation only they could hear, as the little elf nodded. He flew over to the boy, grabbed the end of one of his sleeves and dragged him away.
“Wha-? Eddy, what are you doing?” Ozzy cried out. He looked over his shoulder to the demon hunter and the girl. Dawn continued whispering with the powder as Buck stretched his shoulders, as if preparing for a fight.
“I’m savin’ your life, idiot!” the little elf replied, leading the boy on a path between the many rocks. They were going the opposite way from where the tunnel to the underground castle was, yet when the neared the end of the crater there was another hole in the wall.
Eddy continued dragging the boy with him, but Ozzy resisted. “No! We can’t! That bird…it’s my fault he’s here!”
The little elf grunted and kept pulling, even though he was no match for the human. “Listen, piglet. I’m not savin’ you from that damn bird! It’s the demon hunter that will get you killed!”
Ozzy’s strength suddenly disappeared, causing the little elf to fly back by the lack of resistance. The boy was too confused to do anything. “Buck? What are you saying?”
Eddy regained his strength and pulled the boy further into the tunnel. “I’m saying that if you stayed here you would get killed by the power of that hunter. He’s too powerful for you to be around.”
Ozzy glanced over his shoulder, and saw the silhouette of the demon hunter rise to his feet. He seemed not to be in pain anymore. Dawn stood next to him, her hands placed on her hips. Right before Ozzy completely entered the tunnel, he thought he saw the eyes of the girl light up. Not like a glimmer, but like actual candles being lit.
Eddy dragged him through the dark of the tunnel. There was no light after they left  the crater behind, yet the little elf didn’t seem to have trouble with finding his way around. Ozzy just hoped he wouldn’t let go of him. Neither of the two spoke. The only sound noticeable was that of Ozzy’s hesitating footsteps and the flapping of Eddy’s wings.
There was a lot the boy didn’t understand. First, he woke up in the cave, but the cave was destroyed and was now a crater. Next, Dawn blamed him for the destruction he didn’t even remember causing. Then the bird suddenly appeared who, according to Buck, shouldn’t even be able to enter the sphere surrounding the field with its many underground passages. And lastly, Buck seemed to be more dangerous than the bird.
Ozzy kept all these things in mind and decided to wait till they’d reached wherever they were going to ask Eddy about it. And he also had to find out more about the gnome-elven war. It was all very dazzling. The boy thought he knew so much about magic, yet new things appeared every second he was in this forest. It was also clear to him that he wasn’t near the city anymore. The book store and Gerald were far away now. He would probably see neither any time soon. Maybe never.
The thought scared Ozzy and he suddenly felt really sick. He wished he’d never got his hands on that stupid blue book.
Finally, a warm light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Ozzy sighed of relief, which made the little elf chuckle for some reason. “Don’t get your hopes up. We’re still far from being safe.”
The light came from a large underground space similar to the home of the demon hunter, with the exception of furniture. It was mostly made from the ground itself. The light came from a large lantern standing on a rock in the middle of the space, revealing every corner of the round room.
The little elf finally let go of the boy and flew over to a rock to sit down. He seemed exhausted from the long flight and struggled to keep his eyes open.
“Eddy” Ozzy called out, as he sat down close to the little elf. He couldn’t let him fall asleep. “About what you said about Buck…what does that mean?”
The little elf sighed, opened his mouth to say something, but right as he’d found the right words the whole room started shaking. A loud thunders seemed to echo through the underground maze. Sand and small pieces of stone came down from the ceiling, covering both the boy and the elf in dust.
Eddy chuckled in a grim way. “That. Do I need to say more?”
“That’s…Buck?!” Ozzy stuttered, as another earthquake happened. The little elf nodded.
“Yup. He’s one scary bastard, I can tell you that much. He sure is a handful to demons, but I think he wouldn’t be a match to an actual wizard.”
Another earthquake. Ozzy suddenly saw the lightning eyes of Dawn before him. “What about Dawn?”
The little elf leaned back, making himself comfortable. “Look kiddo, I know these people very well. I wouldn’t say we’re the best palls, but I ain’t going around sharin’ their secrets to the world and everybody.”
“Oh” Ozzy said softly, “Sorry.”
Eddy placed his hands on his round belly, plucking at one of the yellow buttons on his jumper. “Buck’s an idiot, but he’s not stupid. There are a lot of things he can tell you about anything. He’ll tell you when he wants to. When, according to him, you’re worthy of knowing. I don’t know much about Dawn. I’ve only seen her two or three times before. Buck introduced her as his ‘niece’, that’s all.”
Eddy placed one hand under his head and lay down, his back turned towards Ozzy. “I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me up when they’re done.”
Ozzy felt his stomach turn. “Wait, Eddy…I need to know about the war.”
The little elf froze, and seemed to hold his breath. “Some other time, alright? I need sleep, otherwise we’ll never get out of here. All I’m saying is that the gnomes killed my parents and I hate them for it.”