Disenchantment Sagas Chapter 52 – The Elf and The Wanderer
As the following weekend arrived, Elfo made his way to knights barracks. Elfo was going to make sure that Koga would hold up on the promise he made to him last week on hanging out. Surprisingly, Elfo was looking forward to hanging out with Koga. Once Elfo was in the barracks, he walked around looking for where Koga could be till he came across Pendergast, who was polishing his sword In his room. He looks over at Elfo and greets him.
"Oh, our jolly friend Elfo! What brings you to the barracks?" He asked.
"Hey, Pendergast. I'm looking for Koga. Is he around?" Elfo asked. "He and I were supposed to hang out today."
"He's further down on the right. He's currently asleep. Getting him up sometimes is hard because he's such a heavy sleeper. He only ever wakes up if Turbish and Mertz are around, and he calls them idiots and then falls back asleep. It's pretty funny at times." Pendergast quietly laughs.
Elfo scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Did he fall asleep on the day we're supposed to do stuff? UGH!" He angrily walks down to Koga's room and sees him passed out on his bed, snoring. He walks up to his bed and tries to wake Koga by shaking him. "Koga," He said. "Koga!" He shook him more. But Koga did not wake. "You gotta be kidding me…how is this much of a heavy sleeper?" The Elf stares at Koga, annoyed.
Elfo would climb onto Koga's bed and stand on his stomach. He proceeds to hop up and down on his stomach to wake him. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake uuuup!" He would shout. But Koga would still not wake. He pants and sits on him. "Ok…this is rediciouls…" He looks at the side of the bed, seeing a bow of half-eaten pudding. "God…how could someone be so obsessed with pudding?" He picks the bowl up.
Koga snaps his eyes open and grasps his hand around Elfo's neck. "Who the hell has the never to touch my pudding and-oh hey, Elfo. Why are you trying to steal my pudding? I was saving that for later."
"I-I-ARGH!" Elfo gagged.
"Oh right, sorry," Koga lets go of Elfo and falls back on the bed. "Turbish has been trying to take my leftover pudding, and I think I've built a sleeping defence mechanism? Thankfully, I woke up this time. I almost killed Turbish in my sleep by strangling him."
Elfo coughs and rubs his neck. "You damn near killed me!" He glared at him.
"Hey, I said I was sorry. What are you doing here anyway?"
"Uh…you promised to hang out with me this weekend?" Elfo crossed his arms.
"That was this weekend? Wait, is next weekend already here? Well damn," Koga scratches the back of his head. "Well, alright then," He pops his neck a few times. "Alright…so what do you wanna do?"
"Well-" Elfo paused for a moment. "Uh…we can…umm…I think…"
"You don't know what you want to do?"
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" said Elfo. "Ok, I got nothing. What do you usually do in your spare time?"
"Sleep, sleep…and beat up mertz," said Koga. "And play with Trevor."
"You don't go out on adventures? I always thought that you, Pendergast and the others would go out on crusades and slay monsters or something,"
"I usually skip the crusades and just chill. It gives me time to put in my bets for the next beetle wrestling match,"
"There has to be something we can do! We can't just let a weekend go to waste!" said Elfo eagerly.
"Alright, alright," Koga picks up Elfo, places him on the floor and gets out of bed. He pops his back and does a few stretches. "Well, if we don't have a plan, let's wing it." He reaches for his travelling bag and pulls out a map of the land. "I've been lounging around so much I haven't had the opportunity to try to explore the land as much. There are still parts of the enchanted forest I haven't seen. So you can join me on that." He looks at the Elf.
"Oh, ok!" said Elfo excitedly. "How about we gooooo…." He guides his finger around the map. "HERE!" He tapped his finger on the map in the centre of the enchanted forest.
"The heart of the enchanted forest, huh? Now that sounds like an adventure," said Koga, grinning. Koga rolls up the map, grabs his belongings, and the two leave the barracks and the castle. Bean and Luci would catch Koga and Elfo on the way out and greet them.
"Hey, you two! Where you boys off to?" Bean asked.
"Koga and I are exploring more of the enchanted forest!" said Elfo. "Just us, though!"
"Sounds romantic," said Luci.
"Just you two?" said Bean, curious
"Yeah, I promised Elfo that I'd hang out with him this weekend," Koga replied. Elfo let out "Mmhmm," with a nod as Koga explained.
"You sure you want to go back in there? The queen bee is probably still looking for you," said Bean jokingly.
"Thankfully, we're not heading in that direction," said Elfo.
"Let's not waste any more time. Off we go," said Koga, hopping on his horse.
"Bye, guys! See you later!" said Elfo, climbing up to the horse and sitting behind Koga. Koga snaps the reigns, and they ride out of Dreamland into the enchanted forest.
Bean waved at the two as they rode off. "Soo…what do you wanna do?" She asked the demon.
"Wanna go pull a prank on Tavish?" Luci asked.
"Oh, hell yeah," Bean smirked.
The two let out evil laughter as they ran into the castle.
…
The horse trotted on the dirt path through the enchanted forest. All sorts of noises came from the forest as Elfo was telling Koga about his time in Elfwood.
"And every time Kissy and I would do anything, weirdo would always spy on us!" Elfo ranted.
"Hey, quick question. Do all elves have other names that aren't a word pun for Elf? Or is that something they nickname themselves?" Koga asked.
Elfo places his finger on his chin and begins to think. "Uhhhh…I….I don't know…I never gave it much thought."
"Does Kissy have another name?"
"Kissy is her nickname. Her real name is Kissandra,"
"Huh, ok. What other elves have o's in their names?"
"Well, let's see," Elfo held out his hand and began counting on his fingers. "There's Annoyo; you can guess what he does, Blabbo, Blow jo, Braino, Deserto, speako, superviso, and then there's our king Rulo." Elfo went on.
"Blow Jo?" Koga looks at Elfo.
"He blows a horn," Elfo replied.
"OH! That's what he does…" said Koga. "What kind of horn?"
"A conch shell,"
"Oh…ok…"
"What did you think he blew?"
"Nothing in particular…"
The horse would suddenly whine, and its legs would go in the air. "WHOA! What's wrong, girl?" Koga shouts as he pulls on the reins, trying to regain control of his horse. Koga would catch a glimpse of what startled his horse. A large brown bear was snarling and growling at the three. The horse would reel again, causing Koga and Elfo to fall off the horse. Elfo falls to the ground and rolls down a hill, screaming.
"ELFO!" Koga yelled as the horse ran off into the woods. Koga attempted to head after Elfo, but the bear would pin him down and claw at him. "OW! GODDAMN, IT GET THE HELL OFF ME!" with one kick, Koga knocks back the bear, and it falls on its back with a thud. The bear would get back on its feet and charge at Koga. Koga and the bear would grapple. Koga overpowers the bear and slams it to the ground, kicking up dust. Koga would kick the bear in the butt, causing it to run off fearfully. "YEAH YOU BETTER RUN!" He threatened. His eyes widened. "Oh crap, Elfo!" Koga hurries down the hill after him. "Elfo, talk to me! Are you ok? Where are you?!" He called out to him.
"I'm down here!" Elfo responded.
"Where?!"
"OVER HERE!"
"WHERE IS HERE?"
"HERE!"
"You're two feet tall, Elfo; give me a break!" Koga snapped as he walked through some bushes and found Elfo beside a lake. Inside the pound was a woman with bright red hair, long eyelashes, and four blue dots along her head. "There you are!"
"You're just in time, Koga! Look who I found!" said Elfo.
"Hi there," The Lady in the lake wiggled her fingers at Koga, greeting him. "You two look like you need a bath. Wanna join me?" She fluttered her eyes.
"Ok!" Elfo began removing his shirt, but Koga stopped him.
"Unfortunately, we're busy men here. But you go ahead and enjoy your bath time," said Koga, picking up Elfo by the back of his shirt.
"H-Hey, Koga, what the heck? Could you not pick me up like this? I'm not a cat!" Elfo whined.
Koga and Elfo returned to the path of the enchanted forest. Koga puts Elfo down, and he dusts himself off. "Jeez, Koga, cock block much?" The Elfo looked up at the wanderer with a glare.
"What the heck is wrong with you? Don't go jumping into a lake with some random woman," Koga lectured the Elf. "Something was off about her too. I just can't put my finger on what it was."
"Oh, whatever," Elfo looks around. "Where's our horse?"
"He ran off into the forest,"
"Oh, well, that's just great," Elfo sighed. "Our map and belongings were on her…"
Koga let out a gasp. "MY EMERGENCY PUDDING! NOOOO!" He screamed. His echoing voice startled the birds in the trees.
"That's what you're worried about?" Elfo crosses his arms and slits his eyes at him.
Koga sighed. "Oh well, let's keep heading down this path. The heart of the enchanted forest shouldn't be too far away."
And so the two walked on. The trees were getting thicker as they continued down the dirt path. Elfo grew bored of the walking and let out a few long yawns. He ended up catching a bug in his mouth, and he gagged. "ARGH! ACK! EWW!" He spits out a fly that buzzes off, disoriented. Elfo looks up at Koga and begins to strike up a conversation.
"Sooo…have you written to Freya at all?" Elfo asked.
"What?" Koga looks down at Elfo.
"You know…do you send letters to her at all?"
"No? Why would I do that?"
Elfo looks at Koga, puzzled. "To keep up with her? Tell her how you're doing. Tell her that you miss her and all of that?"
"Sounds like a hassle to me,"
"It's not a hassle to write to people you like!" Elfo shot back. "It's sweet and romantic! And I'm sure Freya would be happy to hear from you instead of being gone for months and only to see you in a few years!"
Koga was silent momentarily before he replied, "I guess." He shrugs.
With that reply, Elfo would give up on talking about Freya. It was apparent to him that he wasn't interested in the topic. For now, at least.
Koga and Elfo stopped walking as they found themselves in front of the entrance to another part of the forest. The inside of the heart of the forest was pitch black and looked like a bottomless void. The sign on the right reads Enter if you dare!
"Well, I think we found our entrance to the heart of the forest," said Koga.
Elfo gulps. "Oh man…I don't know about this…that looks completely unsafe," He said timidly.
"Oh, come on, Elfo. It's just a dark void. It's nothing to be afraid of," said Koga nonchalantly.
"Oh wow…that doesn't sound bad at all," said Elfo sarcastically.
Koga picks up Elfo by the back of his shirt, which results in Elfo screaming. "STOP DOING THAT!" He cried. But his cry would turn into a whale as Koga tosses him into the pitch-black void. Koga would walk through the dark entrance soon after. Koga would emerge from the other side. His jaw drops as he and Elfo look at the vast area before them. The area was full of mythical creatures. Harpies, centaurs, fairies, and talking animals ranged from rabbits, deer, elk, and unicorns. The creatures all turned towards Koga and gasped.
"It's a human!" said one deer.
"He's got a weapon! Look at the size of that sword!" said a rabbit.
"He's the one that punched me in the face!" said the unicorn Marcello.
Two harpies would swoop down in front of Koga and Elfo and hiss. The harpie on the left had a beige colour pattern to its bird legs and wings, while the other had a black pattern. The harpies' wings flapped and clawed at the ground as they walked closer and closer to Koga and Elfo.
"Whoa…are you two harpies?" Koga asked in awe. "Wow…I've never seen harpies before!"
"And we'll be the last thing you'll ever see!" said the beige Harpie Nicrisssa as she circled Koga.
"W-Wait! We don't mean any harm!" said Elfo. "We're just exploring and wanted to see more of the enchanted forest!"
The harpie, Nicrissa, looked down at Elfo. "You dare bring a human these sacred woods!" She snarled.
"Hey, hey, what's going on out here?" said the fairy, Sagatha. Three other fairies followed her.
"Sagatha!" said Elfo, breaking into a big smile.
"Elfo? Koga? You two are deep in the enchanted forest, aren't you?" Sagatha went over to peck Elfo on the cheek.
"Sagatha, you know these two?" said the other harpie, Jinx.
"These two are cool," said Sagatha. "No need to claw their organs out or anything." The harpies would hiss at the two and slowly back away. Sagatha takes a puff of her cigarette and exhales. "Sorry about those two. They can be a bit overprotective,"
"No worries, humans are scary," said Koga.
"What brings you two out here anyway?" Sagatha asked.
"We're just exploring the rest of the enchanted forest. Standard adventure stuff," said Elfo.
"I see, I see," said Sagatha. "Well, since your adventures are here, wanna party? The girls and I just opened up our club. You two are willing to join if you want!"
Elfo looks up at Koga. "You're not going to pull me away from this one, are you?"
Koga rolls his eyes. "Go knock yourself out…"
"Wohoo!" Elfo said. "Lead the way, fairy ladies!"
Sagatha, along with her friends, takes Elfo into a small hut. The sign on the hut had two dancing fairies, and the sign itself read, fluttering wings.
"I don't even want to know," said Koga. He sits down next to a tree. "He's going to be awhile…" Koga places his hands behind his head and closes his eyes, relaxed as he leans against the tree. It was then that Koga began hearing whispers from other creatures. He opens one eye and looks to the right, seeing a snake, a centaur, and a toad whispering to each other.
"It was here again…" said the deer. "Flying over the forest…"
"The beast?" said The Centaur. "It didn't take anyone, did it?"
"Not this time…" said the toad. "But we all need to be careful. Stick the curfew time!"
"Someone caught one of them stepping out from the beast! It was a human!" said the snake
"Shhh!" said the rabbit. He gestures toward Koga. "Don't say anything to make him upset."
"A beast is kidnapping enchanted creatures?" said Koga.
The enchanted creatures looked at each other and back at Koga. Sebastian, the centaur, stepped forward to speak to Koga. He had long brown curly hair and curly hair on his chest. "Umm..yes…it's part of why we're all on edge. Well, that and the centuries of enchanted creature's magic and likeness being used by man…"
"They descend and tie up our friends, and we never see them again!" said the snake.
"Huh…why does that sound familiar?" said Koga. As the memory returned to his mind, a bird flew past Koga with great speed into the fluttering wings. "What the hell was that?" He looks around.
Angry chirping could be heard from fluttering wings when two regular birds stepped out. A female bird wearing a pink dress was swinging a tiny frying pan at a male bird wearing a blue suit. Elfo, Sagatha and her friends stepped out of the club to watch this unfold.
"That is one tiny frying pan…" said Elfo.
"Yeah, but she's good with it," said Koga. "Look at the form."
"What can we say?" said Sagatha. "Us fairies are worth the coin."
After that, Koga and Elfo would say goodbye to Sagatha and the enchanted inhabitants. The walk back to Dreamland was another quiet one for the two. Elfo looks over at Koga and remembers the conversation he had about Freya. So he decides to ask-
"Hey Koga…" said Elfo.
"Hm?"
"Uh, sure. What's up?"
"You like Freya, right?"
Koga looks down at him. "Again, about Freya?" He sounded annoyed.
"I'm just curious, is all!"
Koga sighs. "Yes…I do like-well…it's more than liking, honestly," His annoyed tone was replaced with a sad one.
"Love?" Elfo tilts his head curiously.
Koga scratches the back of his head, embarrassed.
"I wanted to ask…if you loved her that much…how come you didn't stay in Southwold with her?" Elfo asked.
Koga stopped walking, and so did Elfo. Koga looks up at the evening sky. He takes a deep breath and exhales."I…I wanted to. I love Freya so much but…It's me." He sits down and places his back against a tree.
Elfo would sit beside him and ask, "What do you mean?"
"Part of me wants to spend my whole life with Freya…but another part of me always tells myself…I'm not good enough for her."
"What? You are not good enough for Freya?" said Elfo, confused. "How? I mean, look at you! You're tall, you have long black hair, you're super strong and handsome!"
Koga looks at Elfo and raises a brow.
"I mean that in a plutonic way!" said Elfo, holding his hands up. "But why would you think something like that?"
"Looks and strength don't mean anything when deep down you'd be a lousy person to be with," said Koga, looking away from Elfo and staring at the sky.
"You're not lousy, Koga!" said Elfo.
"I am…" The wanderer replied. "I don't know what I want, Elfo. I don't know if I want to be with Freya…or continue with my goals. I love her…but I don't think my mind is in the right place to be with her. If I stayed with everyone in Southwold…I'd end up hurting everyone I care about…"
Elfo twiddles his thumbs. "But…what if-"
"If she finds someone else?"
"Yeah…"
"Then…I'd be happy for her. At the end of the day…if she's happy…that's all that matters…"
Elfo looks at Koga. "You know…I do think you might be wrong about a few things. Maybe you're just struggling to find out what matters in life. I think about that a lot myself. But Koga, you're not a lousy person. You're awesome! You went out of your way to help me when I got into a sticky situation. And…you called me your friend…"
Koga looks at Elfo. "Why are you surprised that I called you a friend?"
"I didn't think you saw me as a friend…" Elfo looks at Koga.
"Well…you are…" The wanderer replied softly.
Elfo smiled at Koga. "Thanks…"
Koga smiles a bit. "Of course, Elfo,"
Koga gets to his feet. "Come on, buddy, let's head home."
"Yeah!" said Elfo, getting to his feet.
The Elf and the Wanderer would continue on the path back to Dreamland.
The two would talk about whatever came to mind.