Chapter 5

In the Wake of Aranorn

When it all stopped, Quistis opened her eyes, and the first thing she did was to throw all her breakfast and lunch out of her guts and on the grass below her. She never remembered having such a bad travel sickness before. Barely recovering from the terrible vomiting, the blonde was given another, though nicer, shock- She was alive and well, unscathed by the water or the "Hell reincarnated" situation. Quistis lifted her head to take a look around the place.

Where was she? Everything was not the same as it used to be. The trees and greeneries around her were greener, fresher, more fragrant and maybe even more… natural. The pathway through the forest apparently made by Galbadian military trucks had also vanished into thin air, leaving but a carpet of green grass and beautiful flowers all around her. She could even hear soft, celestial songs sounding everywhere in harmony with the peaceful chirping of beautiful songbirds. It was a near paradise for a nature lover like her.

"It's… beautiful…" She mumbled, totally possessed by the natural scenery "Eh, mister, where are we?"

"Well, I wonder whether I should have brought you her or not, but if you really want to know, I will tell you that this place is called Aranorn. Welcome, young lady, to the renowned sacred forest of the elves!"

The blonde was amazed. The elves? She had heard of the elves in classic fairy tales many times. Not once had the story-teller, Edea as she could recall, mentioned that they were real. Yet now she was there in a close encounter with such a race. Hardly had Quistis recovered from her first astonishment when the second came right under way.

"QUISTY!" A loud yell echoed over the horizon, scaring off a few songbirds and disrupting the forest's tranquility temporarily. She turned around at the call, and to her amazement, in front of her stood the rest of her friends, safe and sound, as unharmed as she was. Zell Dincht, as always, was standing with one foot on the ground and the other proudly laid on a sideway boulder in such a Christopher Columbus pose, while Irvine Kinneas, rifle resting against his shoulder, was leaning on a huge oak tree, covering Selphie with his other arm. The look on their face was enough to guarantee nothing was wrong.

Quistis smiled, and ran towards them. They looked fine, and were fine actually- what had happened seemed to have been no more than a little rough crossing.

"Instructor" Zell said gleefully, stomping the ground "See that? We don't die that easily, do we?"

"And I am certain that never am I letting my Sefie die before me- at least not in front of my eyes- OUCH!" Irvine spoke his part, all the while nudging Selphie under her rib, and got a hard pinch on his side in return

"How about you, Quisty?" Selphie managed to get a word in from under Irvine's protective arm "Still OK?"

"I am alright" Quistis answered, looking around, obviously trying to capture as much of the natural beauty around her as she could "What a beautiful place, isn't it?"

All this while, the elven ranger had been looking at the group with increasing despise. Certainly, since the Timber War of Enroth the elves had been looking down on humans. And they would be especially displeased to see any uninvited human being in the forest they call home. Let alone, the reluctant savior of Quistis Trepe seemed to be one of the more arrogant of his kind.

"So, looks like I have transported a whole lot of you guys here by mistake, haven't I?" the elf interrupted with a sarcastic smile "Well, guess I'll have to report to my King and Queen of how I got you all stranded in our noble territory… through our portal"

"Oh yeah?" Zell snapped, stepping one step forward and rolling up his sleeve threateningly "Had it not been for your stinking 'portal' or whatever you call it, we would still be in OUR place now, not YOURS. Go tell your nutty king he needed to stay out of our place in the first place!"

"Oh well oh well oh well" the elf shook his head and lifted his shoulder disparagingly "So what can I say? Enjoy your stay, misters and misses, as you are going to be the first ever human to have come into our sacred grove and, well, maybe suffer from the consequences…You know what, we elves don't take kindly to your kind here too well"

"Listen up, long-pointed-ear" Irvine shouted, cocking his rifle "If you wanna see your skull ruptured, just tell me, alright?"

"Say, young fellow" the elf answered back, not even looking at Irvine and his threatening pose "Did you know that we elves have been practicing archery long before your grandparents were even born? Well, to say the least, I can right now see an arrow through your forehead before you can press that slothful trigger"

"You…" Irvine took one step forward, frenzied, but was stop in his track by a more anxious and fearful Selphie

"No, Irvy" Selphie spoke worriedly, restraining her boyfriend within her petite arms, finally succeeding in braking a crazed Irvine "You should not do that…should you?"

"Ah, good, good, human" the elf said, taunting "Surrendered yet? Given up? Quitted? Ah, whatever…humans are still that pathetic… no solution for you guys…"

The elf then turned away, leaving the four of them to stand in a circle still facing him angrily. He said nothing more but grinning all his way, and the four SeeDs were deadlocked by that kind of behavior as well. The confrontation soon boiled down to a four-on-one patience teaser. Finally, the silence broke off when Zell couldn't hold him back any longer, swipe Quistis away, put on his gloves and rushed at the arrogant elf. Quistis was caught by surprise, and before she knew it, the tiger named Zell Dincht had broken free from her hold, and went on his shock charge. The ex-instructor nearly screamed out seeing that- after all, she had observed the elf's archery skills, and she could only say it was legendary of sort. She tried to grab Zell back, but failed, and the spiky haired martial artist charged his way towards the elf like a horrifying firestorm…

WHOOOOSH!

Zell could barely brake. He could not believe his eyes or his ears any more. For the elf in front of him had just performed an unbelievable task with his bow and arrows. Within the one second span during which Zell closed in on him, the elf had shot three solid golden arrows through his left sleeve, rupturing it. The three deadly arrows then safely hit another oak tree behind Zell, and got firmly embedded in it in a straight line, showing what tremendous strength and accuracy with which the bolts were fired. The main thing was, deadly and accurately as the arrows were, they did not even touch his flesh, nor did they hit anyone else.

"Now, saw that, young people?" the elf snuffed "I can do even better than…Argh!"

The arrogant elf was stopped dead from further blabbering by a solid gunshot that astounded everyone. He bent down involuntarily, kneeling one knee on the ground, as if badly hurt. He dropped one of his hands on the ground, supporting the rest of his body, and then stayed still in that position. Blood was not quite visible, but it seemed that the elf had been hit... and killed…

Selphie turned back. She knew just one person around capable of carrying out that task- Irvine Kinneas. And now the cowboy was standing there, looking murderously furious, with his famous rifle held in one outstretched hand, fresh smoke coming out of its barrel. The brunette frowned as she looked at Irvine. Never before had he been so furious before. Never had she known that he could be so dangerous when he was that furious. The lone gunner, obviously insulted, had let go of his self-control and reached for the trigger…

Quistis looked at Irvine too. She was quite surprised by the way the usually calm and humorous Irvine Kinneas had reacted. She knew that some time ago he had shot down a few birds at a picnic for the gang, but shooting down a human-like being by the spur of a moment? That was simply not his nature. And furthermore, they were on alien territories, and it would never be wise to shoot down someone when they didn't even know what was happening around them.

The rest of the gang- saved for Zell, who was no more sympathetic to the elven ranger than Irvine- looked nervously at the elf. It seemed that Irvine had killed- the elf hadn't moved for some minutes now. Even though they were uncomfortable around that arrogant fellow, the ladies felt that killing wasn't quite the right thing to do to him. The shot had brought about temporary silence- it seemed that all the other SeeDs were either too shocked or astonished to speak up.

"H…hey, Irvy" Selphie finally broke the silence "Y…you killed him?"

However, hardly had Selphie finished the question when she heard something- the distinctive crushing sound of someone stepping on dried leaves. She turned back, and to her horror, realized that the apparently dead elf had stood up on his feet firmly. Without saying a word, the elf reached for his hood, detached it from his cloak, and took a look at it. His eyes flashed with astonishment- on the hood, the decorative feather dangling proudly over his forehead, a supposedly beautiful nightingale feather, had been cut in half. One half was still attached to the hood, and the other had been blown off somewhere. He trembled a bit, then looked up, his eyes catching the culprit's.

"You shot me, didn't you?" he asked, pointing at Irvine

"Oh yeah?" Irvine said in a sullen tone "I think that hood fits you more than the last one"

There was silence once more, as the elf slowly put on his hood again and mounted his bow. He looked up the sky some more, and then suddenly broke out in an uncontrollable laughter

"Okay, you're good, I admit" the elf said between his laughter

"Hey!" Zell cried out, nursing his torn sleeve "What's so funny?"

"That was a good counter, you know, man-with-the-rifle" the elf continued, looking at Irvine "That was the best shot I have ever seen in a human for such a long, long time"

The elf then walked towards the group, this time in a friendlier manner, and spoke to them openly

"Okay, men, I think I've forgotten my manners" he said "Well, it's a shame to start fighting someone without even knowing who he is!"

Then, he took a few more steps away from the still bewildered SeeDs, raised his arms and spoke proudly

"I am Ivor Goldenbow" he said with a broad smile "The best ranger in the whole of Aranorn, to this date"

"Zell Dincht" Zell replied, tearing up his badly torn sleeve angrily "And to say it outright, I don't like it very much when other people destroy my favorite shirt!"

"My name is Selphie Tilmitt" Selphie moved towards the elf and waved at him in a friendly manner "Please forgive my friend for his rather… rude behavior"

"Ah, great" Ivor said, turning to Irvine "And you, young gunner. How may I call you?"

"Irvine Kinneas" Irvine spoke coldly, still annoyed

"Irvine…" the elf repeated "Okay then. If you were an elf and used a bow I would call for a shooting competition right now.

Unfortunately you are a human and use a rifle… Maybe another day we'll have a rematch"

"So you'd like a rematch?" Irvine said, having warmed to Ivor a bit now "I'm ready to beat you anytime- given the chance"

"Call the shots" Ivor said, chopping his hand into the air. The he turned to Quistis and asked politely "Now, fair lady, could I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"I am Quistis Trepe- call me Quisty if you like" Quistis also spoke, and then blushed lightly "Ivor, thank you for saving my life"

"Ah, no problem…" the elf grinned "It would be a pity not to help a pretty lady like you"

Quistis blushed harder. That fellow was saying that she was pretty? Was he trying to flirt with her or something? If he thought it was just that easy, he would have to think again, she thought.

"Well, I may be, but my whip certainly is not" she said, trying to conceal her reddened face

"Just kidding" Ivor grinned even louder "You think I saved you because I am interested in you? Ah what a mistake, my lady. It is just family tradition. Got it? A Goldenbow never let a beast bully anyone and let it get away with it"

"Oh, forget it" Quistis said, now a red as a beetroot "What did you say we are now?"

"Aranorn" the elf answered "The glorious kingdom of the elves"

"I still don't get it!" Selphie said "So we have been here by a… you called it a portal, right? That means we are very far from our own world now, right?"

"You just took the word right out of my mouth" Ivor replied "This world is called Axeoth, and for your information we should be a few lives away from your place. Magical portals are the only things that can possibly link our worlds"

"And… and my friends and I have fallen through one such portal to your world?" Quistis asked "by accident?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid. That portal was created so that I could go home from your world" Ivor raised his shoulder "and I am afraid that it had been closed by the order of King Elwin and Queen Shaera"

"So how should we get back?" Quistis asked anxiously "We can't afford to be here forever!"

"Well, right now my kingdom is under attack by ferocious beasts… like the ones that attacked you." Ivor answered importantly "We are not so sure from where or when did they started to 'migrate' into our world. We only know one thing- they must be gotten rid of, and until they are dealt with, there will be no leaving Aranorn"

"Damn… We have people to search for, you know!" Irvine said angrily "We can't stay here!"

"Hmm… wait… maybe we could use your help!" Ivor laid his chin on his palm "Would you like to aid our glorious kingdom to clean up those filthy beasts?"

"Okay, okay, whatever" Zell said, clearly running out of patience "What must we do now to get the hell out of this place? Clear up those monsters? Just let the damn thing on!"

"You look like good warriors, I insist… four extra recruits would do good to any army in a pinch" Ivor explained "but first I must take you to our king and queen. They will decide what you need to do and how. Who know, you may end up killing a good army of them and get promoted!"

"Where are the king and queen?" Selphie asked impatiently "How could we go there?"

"They are now in the Wise Oak Castle to recruit new soldiers" Ivor answered promptly "We can go as soon as you are prepared"

"On foot?" Irvine growled "Well, we can walk but you had better find some better means for the ladies!" then he looked at Selphie naughtily "Right, Sefie? OUCH!" He was pinched on the rib once more.

"Hmm… about that, well, maybe we'll have a Town Portal to get us there" Ivor smirked "Magic is created to save people precious breath, I can see that"

"Town Portal?" Quistis asked in bewilderment

"Well, all what you have to do is to gather round here and close your eyes" Ivor instructed "and we'll be in Wise Oak in a nick of time"

Then Ivor drew a circle on the ground with the heel of his shoes, telling everyone to step into the circle. Zell promptly walked in, followed by Irvine, Selphie and Quistis. Then, when everyone had been inside, Ivor walked in as well, and drew out a leather scroll from his cloak. He started chanting in an unknown language, and as he chanted, blue magical beams of light started to surround the circle. The eerie light started to make Selphie a little nauseous, but resting her head on Irvine's arm seemed to ease the queasiness a bit.

Quistis took a stealthy look at Ivor Goldenbow. He was still chanting in the magician's language, or that was what she thought it was. As his chanting got louder, so did the light grow brighter and brighter, until the beams had become so bright and intense that they created a blue cylinder, with everyone inside. Finally, the tiny chanting turned into a loud screech and the spell culminated with the beams of light leaking inside the circle and eventually, blue light was filling all around the group. For a moment, Quistis thought she had drowned in the light, when Ivor told them all to close their eyes tightly, and she followed his words unconsciously. The last thing she knew was the whizzing sound of the wind by her ear as her body was carried far, far away…