---

---

Thud.

Thud.

Thud thud.

Thud thud thud thud thudthudthudthudthudthudthud---

The heavy pounding of the creature in pursuit was growing louder. The moment they started running, it became clear that its pace had quickened, and now it was only growing louder and more swift.

It wasn't just chasing them. It was gaining on them.

The forest had seemed serene and peaceful before. But now, the light of the sun above seemed to have grown dimmer. Where once the only thing obscuring their vision was the green leaves of the lush foliage, now it seemed far darker. Between the trees was inky blackness, the kind that could normally only be seen on a truly starless, moonless night.

Worse than that was the fact it was now far more difficult to see where they were going.

Behind them, a pair of pale green orbs could now be discerned, emerging from the shadows that consumed the path they left behind.

If they were eyes, whatever they belonged to was far taller than a human being.

It almost seemed as if the shadows themselves were rolling across the earth and through the undergrowth, close to the ground, but this wasn't the case.

No, instead, what crawled along the ground was hundreds upon hundreds of black-red centipedes, their numerous limbs scrabbling through the leaflitter as they moved in unison ahead of their green-eyed pursuer.

A shape of something could almost be discerned now, thundering footfalls growing louder. A ragged, rasping sound seemed to fill the forest, coming from every direction at once.

They had to think quickly of some way to lose the creature chasing them down---!

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Pyromania99@Raineh Daze

Javal followed the doll downstairs, following their failure to find anything useful- or any other reincarnated souls- on the current floor. Wherever they were, it appeared to be long-abandoned. If there was anything resembling good news so far, it was that he wasn't hearing any noise coming from below.

The first thing he noticed when he came down was the boarded windows and barricaded doors. Someone had clearly made an effort to secure this building from whatever was outside, which meant that whatever was out there was almost certainly dangerous. Any remaining doubt as to the danger of their situation evaporated completely when the doll girl brought his attention to a corpse.

Javal followed the doll to examine the body. It appeared to be a knight, and judging by the blood adorning the wall behind him, his death was a violent one. His armor was in poor condition, certainly of no use to any of them, but the dagger might be of use to them. From the look of it, he had to have been dead for quite a while, yet was untouched by scavengers. Perhaps he received his fatal wounds before the building was boarded up, but seeing a violently slain man in this building did not inspire any confidence in Javal that this location was safe.

"Judging by this poor fellow here, I'd say we're in for some trouble," Javel stated as he grabbed the leg of an upturned table and began to pry it off to use as a makeshift weapon. Table leg in hand, he headed to the kitchen, leaving the doll to loot the knight. The kitchen, as expected, was in disarray, with scattered implements and molded remains of food. To Javal, however, this junk was far from useless. He reached down and picked up a produce sack.

This should do nicely, he thought as he eptied it of its very perished contents, then placed a knife spoon, small pot, and bottle inside. Now they had some basic survival gear.

"You find anything on that knight, Lena?" he called out.

---

---

---!

My grandfather passed away in my first year of high school. He'd been ill for a while. It wasn't really unexpected.

He'd been a kind, but increasingly distant person in his last few years. Maybe it was depression, over realizing that his life was going to end soon.

I'd been in the room when it happened.

I thought he was just sleeping at first, but as I got closer I realized I couldn't hear him breathing anymore.

---I didn't cry. Not immediately. It took a little while for me to truly grasp what had just happened, and even after that the experience didn't even feel real.

He looked like he was alive, still. Just still. Just asleep.

I think what hurt the most was that I didn't say goodbye to him, properly, even though I knew it was coming. The fact he had died was expected at that point, but the fact I didn't give him that final farewell wasn't anticipated.

It was the one and only time I'd truly been present in the same place as a dead body. A surreal, unexpected yet expected experience that I only truly comprehended after the fact, that only stung in the aftermath when I truly grasped what had happened.

It was nothing like it is now.

I guess I'm thankful that the body is dried out. It's probably due to being locked inside and mostly encased in armor that whoever it was didn't rot and make things a lot worse in here.

---It wasn't quiet, though. There's dark streaks all over the wall. They're old, but---

That's blood, isn't it?

I can feel this tightness inside of me. I can't look at it for very long, I have to turn away and avert my eyes, my hands gripping tightly onto my new staff as I take in a deep breath and try to clear my head.

It's a corpse, alright. I guess I can be thankful there isn't more of them, given that it looks like there's a warzone outside.

Just one gives me a little time to adjust and stop my heart from beating quite this quickly.

It's probably for the best that I try to think of something, anything else.

Supplies. We're looking for supplies. Where could more supplies be? This place is old but not old enough to be completely destroyed, so maybe---

"I-If there's any food still useable, it'd probably be the dried or salted stuff th-they'd keep in the basement," I comment, still facing away from the corpse and holding my staff tightly. I just need a little more time before I can properly look at it and try and take in what it means for our current situation.

@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin@FujiwaraPhoenix

"Ah... Don't worry about it too much," Nick responded, waving off the slightly awkward atmosphere as his joke missed the mark. By this point, Jor had taken the initiative and picked up the smaller foxgirl with surprisingly little issue. Keeping pace with him in spite of the extra weight was a bit surprising, but it didn't take long for the young man to shrug the matter off and accept what it was at face value. If the alternative was letting her fumble in her run away from whatever was so brazenly approaching, throwing away the logic of his old world was far more reasonable.

Any sort of absent-minded thoughts he could have in the interim, however, were promptly thrown out the window as his surroundings grew darker despite the rather obvious midday sun that had been shining overhead mere moments before. The encroaching darkness only served to push him to run faster, and in between dodging any trees or detritus on the ground Nick had little time to do anything but make sure that the others weren't lost to whatever it was chasing them.

Unfortunately, whatever it was that was chasing them did not work in the same realm as any creature on Earth; even the briefest glance towards his newfound companions would incidentally reveal to him the slightest bit of the eldritch creature closing in on them.

The centipedes, obviously enough, made the matter far worse.

"What the fuck sort of world did we get chucked into?!" Nick swore as he redoubled his pace. If a monster like this so intent on chasing them down, then there wasn't any feasible way of losing it that crossed his mind beyond simply running faster. So long as they didn't run into some sort of cliff face or impassable chasm, there was still a chance that they wouldn't die a horrible second death...

And even then, maybe that would be a better end than being consumed by thousands of centipedes tearing off his flesh piece by piece.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99



The moment that Lena touched the armor upon the dead knight's personage, her mind would be provided with information as to the composition of what had been used to make it—or, more accurately, what was left of it. What had once been polished steel was now pockmarked with rust, leaving it brittle and far less useful than it had been.

Not like it really helped the deceased beforehand, unfortunately enough.

The same would occur as the doll reached out to touch the dagger, composed of simple steel and a leather grip that had most certainly seem better days. This, at least, was usable; somehow, the blood and open air had not corroded the weapon into scrap metal.

Searching the corpse's equipment proper was a bit less simple; though the body had been mummified to an extent, sifting through it's pockets meant coming into proper contact with the deceased's dried-out husk, if only indirectly. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had not been carrying anything that might have otherwise been useful in the current moment to the group. The most that Lena would find would be a small silver locket, it's luster dull but not tarnished despite the time that had had to have passed to have left the corpse in this state to begin with.

Sephily's move towards the wooden cellar door, however, would cause her to hear the faintest sound of something moving below. Her now-sharpened sense of hearing would be able to make out what the others couldn't, but the nature as to what was waiting below would be left indistinguishable to her—doubly so given how foreign that new sensitivity towards sound was.

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

The smartest and cutest doll - Lena
@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

---

Whatever her companions were saying, Lena did not hear. For the moment she touched the armor, a switch was flipped in her head. Steel. Specifically a composition currently Carbon, Iron, Iron oxide thanks to the rust, and a bunch of other elements. She already knew that's really what it would be made of, or at least could be assumed. Rather, she knew thats what steel in general was. Take out the rust and it was just an alloy of iron, carbon, and other miscellaneous elements.

The problem wasn't what it was made out of or that she could have already assumed. The interesting thing was that somehow, she knew with a hundred percent certainty that it was and she could pinpoint the trace elements left in it.

The same was for the dagger too. A little touch and she already knew what it was made out of.

She'd pocket the silver locket, and tie the dagger to her side using a spare ribbon from one of her dress' many frills. Shed inspect the locket later, for now, there was science to be done! Javal was in another area, which meant the only one she could test this one was the cute elf at the moment.

"Just a silver locket! Nothing amazing. Though," Lena called back out towards Javal as she'd approach Sephily. "Cute little Elf, I need to test something. Stay still, da?" Her hands, thus, went first to Sephily's staff. A logical first choice. Would she immediately know what it was made out of? Perhaps some wood or fantastical element? Wordlessly and regardless of results, her hands would then move to the dress Sephiliy was wearing, specifically placing a hand on her stomach for a few seconds. The cloth looked high quality and well made, and after a few seconds of inspecting the dress, Lena's hands would deftly move...right to Sephily's ears. She'd give them a little rub and a gentle pull.

It was a very important scientific question, definitely.

---

---

---Huh?

I can hear something. It's barely audible, but it's certainly there. Despite how difficult it is to hear it, I can still pinpoint exactly where it's coming from, too.

The basement.

Of course. I'm an elf now. I guess these long, pointy ears aren't just for show, are they? I guess it's true that being able to heard better is usually a trait of elves, but I hadn't even thought about it until just now.

Suddenly being a girl in a fantasy world and having to deal with a dead body kind of took all of my attention.

Putting all of that aside, there's definitely something down in the basement. I can't make out what, but even with the improved hearing of an elf I doubt I'd hear it if it was just rats or some other vermin skittering around down there. Or maybe I would, but it doesn't sound like that.

It's something bigger, at least.

---Those shambling figures outside among the barricades and ruined storefront.

That'd mean it's probably---

Wait, why does the doll girl want me to hold still?

"E-eh?"

I look back over my shoulder in time for her to reach around my body and place her jointed fingers directly onto my staff.

I've been clinging tightly to it this whole time, trying to distract myself from the corpse in the room, and now she's trying to---

No, she's not trying to steal it.

She's just touching it.

---I don't really know why, though.

Did she have to get so close to do this? She's practically pressing up against me. She might be a doll, but she's a girl, isn't this awkward for her?

Erk, I gues it's not like she knows that I wasn't always like this, but still---This proximity is really a lot. Is this just how it is for girls?

Somehow I can't imagine that's usually the case.

Aaah, damn it, my cheeks are definitely getting a little hot, I'm not used to being so close to anyone. Did she seriously have to---

"Hyek!?"

An involuntary noise leaves my lips when her hand pats my stomach. Okay, that's really uncalled for, what is she doing?! I look back over my shoulder, my cheeks now quite a bit hotter.

---Ah.

This... this is worse.

Her hands have left my stomach, but now they're running over my pointed ears. I can immediately feel them flush, my heartbeat rapidly quickening as my entire face starts to burn.

Ah... aah...

Why?

Why is she doing this?

Why is she touching them? Stroking them? That scene from Elf Mage comes into sharp focus in my mind. When Sephily's ears were touched like this by Milta, it was---

Is this what that was meant to be like!?

Even aside from that, who just played with someone's ears out of no-where?! What's wrong with this girl?!

And why do my ears have to be so sensitive?! Aah, just the way her fingertips went over them sent a tingle up my spine, that's definitely not okay!

Maybe I should have expected this, but why did I need to be prepared to have my ears molested within less then an hour of waking up as the opposite sex and an entirely different race?!

Is this sort of thing just okay where she came from!? I hope not! Why does it have to be so tingly?!

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing?!"

I try to step away as fast as I can and turn to face her. I know my face and ears have to be bright red.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

The smartest and cutest doll - Lena
@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

---

"Science, my cute elf!" Lena replied with a little giggle as she'd watch Sephily step back. "Orichalcum, Steel, Oak...Crystalized Mana? And various other unimportant trace elements. Thats what your staff is made out of." The doll placed a hand on her hip, the other held up with her pointer extended as she spoke in a fairly matter of fact manner. "If I had to guess, its made mainly of wood with a steel and orichalcum coating of some kind, and that big crystal is just...mana? That's going to take some time getting used too." Lena's expression slowly turned from serious to a bright grin. "And your ears are made of a hundred percent elvish cuteness." She'd state, perhaps far too casually and not allowing Sephily any time to say anything as she continued. "Your clothing seems to be made of Woad, Silk, Flax, gold, and leather. I am unsure of the specifics though. I worked with buildings and machines, not cloth. Now, then,"

Lena turned on her heels and walked over to the kitchen.

"Javaaaaalllll!" She'd call out as she'd approach from behind, hoping to get his attention so he could turn towards her. If he didn't well, it didn't matter too much. "Quiet, I must test something!" Javal, would thus feel the dolls hands end up on either side of his face, lightly pressing and squishing his cheeks together. "Hmhm...your not bad looking, now that I'm this close aren't you?" After a few seconds she'd lower her hands and start touching Javal's armor in various places. If the effect was this repeatable then maybe this was some ability that she gained when coming to this world? That would certainly be useful. Even if she didn't know the exact material ratios, even knowing what things were made out of could easily allow her to replicate them with some experimentation and trial and error.

"Running is easy enough, see?" Jor mentioned as she strode pretty confidently with the fox in her arms. "I'm worried your little legs might not keep running as well as Nick and I's strides." She mentioned, not looking behind. Really, the forest was nice. Well, until it wasn't. It was really dark now and that was a small bit annoying. It was pretty and peaceful and now she felt like she was in a horror movie of sorts. "I really hope this doesn't turn into a Steven King novel or something. I'm really not a fan of those at all."

In their flight from those ruins, however, there was this Thudding noise. Frustrating as it were, Jor tried to ignore it and focus on running. Surely it was just her mind playing tricks on her. This world was a little weird but that didn't mean it was... Horrid enough to have something chase her as soon as she woke up.

Well, she tried to ignore it, but the heavy thudding of whatever was behind her seemed to get louder and louder. She didn't know what it was. She was absolutely sure she didn't WANT to know what it was, however, she needed to see. She looked back to see haunting, green-hued wisps staring at Nick, Hikari and her. That was terrifying on it's own. She had an answer to what was thudding after them. What she was not expecting however...

"C-c-c-entipedes! Nononononnono.... Disgusting!" She exclaimed, pushing her body to it's limit to run faster than the multi-legged creepy crawly chasing after them. She wasn't sure if that green eyed thing was in cahoots with the bugs, but she absolutely detested both parties to a huge extent. "I hate these damn bugs!" She cried out, running quick as she could looking around for something that would stop the bugs behind them. Slow them down even, though she had little idea on what to do in either case.

Javel heard a commotion in the next room. Lena was inisting on doing something, and Sephily was protesting. What is she doing in there? This is hardly the time to be fooling around, he thought to himself as he continued to scrounge around.

He didn't have to wait too long to learn what Lena was doing to Sephily, because right afterwards, the doll decided to to it to him, too. She strode into the kitchen, called his name, and when he turned around, Lena placed her hands on his face, then his armor, all under the excuse of wanting to test something. As to what she was testing, he had no idea.

"Is there any specific reason you insist on getting handsy with us, Lena?" Javal asked, perplexed as to why the doll was doing this.

Oh. That was… that was a lot of centipedes! But, more worryingly, something behind it, and she couldn't see! Also, carrying a girl had to be super awkward, so if she could be… hmm, yes, she could do that, right? She was a fox with nine tails, and that came with certain prerogatives. For instance, being a fox. Foxes were quite small, and much more easily held while facing the other direction.

Hopefully the pretty lady didn't drop her when Hikari turned into an actual fox in her hands, complete with a still excessive amount of tails, and made an attempt to scramble up onto her shoulders. "I'll look back and say if I see anything!"

Oh, she could still talk normally? That was handy.

The smartest and cutest doll - Lena
@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

---

"Steel, so Iron, Carbon and something called Mithril plus extraneous trace elements." Lena would hold a hand on her hip and a finger pointing upwards in response to Javal's question. "Your armor. Thats what its made out of. It seems as though I have an ability to be able to discern what seemingly man made things are made of. I was testing to see what triggered the knowledge. Seems its objects such as armor or weapons for now. Handy, since I was an engineer and worked with my hands and machines back on earth." She'd nod, considering the implications of this. If she could know what something was made of at a glance...hm." The little seriousness Lena just displayed evaporated as she thought, her mouth slowly turning down into a pout. "Eeehhh...not very useful right now...why couldn't I get some fancy armor or a magic staff of some kind..." Lena turned back to Sephily, holding out her arms. "Elfy let me hug you."

From the way she was indeed, walking back to Sephily, she was not about to actually wait for permission.

---

---

---Huh?

Recovering from the embarrassing closeness is hard enough, but now I have to figure out just what she was going on about. She summarized the makeup of the materials used in the staff, and then my clothing.

Some of that could probably be written off as educated guesses, but in other cases I couldn't be so sure. Somehow, she figured that out just by touch alone?

There's no way. Even someone experienced in textiles and in the creation of---What do you even call a mage's staff?

Weaponry, I guess?

---Regardless, there's no way any ordinary person could figure all of that out by touching it. Especially when some of the materials involved didn't even exist in the real world, in the case of the staff.

In that case, since this was clearly an isekai setup, then wasn't it obvious?

It wasn't that she was making an educated guess. It's because she knew for sure what materials everything was made out of just by touching them.

Because that must be her 'cheat'.

Maybe it's jumping to conclusions, but is anything jumping to conclusions when I've woken up as a tiny elf girl in a fantasy world? It's not like there being 'cheats' in an isekai situation is unexpected.

Really, it's only natural to make the guess.

But if that's the case, if she has a cheat that lets her read the composition of any object she touches, then it would stand to reason that anyone else who got reincarnated here would also possess some sort of cheat ability.

In that case---

What's mine?

I haven't tried it, but I don't think this is the kind of setting where I'd have a status screen or anything like that. So, it's not like I can check up on any sort of special ability that way.

I'm dressed up like some kind of mage, but if this is a fantasy setting I don't think magic in and of itself would be considered a chea---

Wait.

If I'm dressed as a mage, if I'm an elf, does that mean---

Does that mean I can do magic!?

Despite the situation, despite everything, I can suddenly feel a surge of excitement rushing up through my chest.

It's a single light of hope for me.

If I can do magic, everything is just a little better!

But how do I do it?

This is clearly a mage's staff, so maybe I can use it somehow?

But h----

The doll's words reach my ears.

Erk.

"N-no way!"

I turn to face her, trying to raise my staff defensively. Having my ears molested was bad enough, who knows what she'll do if I let her hug me!

Besides, we have much more important things to focus on. I haven't forgotten the noise from the basement, despite everything.

"Th-there's something in the basement, I... I heard it, scraping around down there. Rather then bothering me, shouldn't you be more worried about that?!"

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Pyromania99@Raineh Daze

---

---

The wave of black-red centipedes flowed over the forest floor, scrabbling through the leaflitter, as the green orbs grew closer and closer. Now, a sickly rotten scent filled the air, like meat left out far too long in the heat.

From the darkness, a shape had begun to emerge.

It was tall, at least twice as high at the shoulder then a grown man, supported on four spindly legs. Worn and desiccated flesh clung to its skeleton, peeling away in places to expose yellowed bone.

Its face was fleshless, a layer of skin attached directly to the bone.

It resembled a massive deer, great antlers extending from its skull-like head. The green glow emanated from its dark eye sockets, illuminating its skeletal face. Its lower jaw seemed disarticulated, hanging open attached by mere sinew and allowing a lengthy, pallid tongue to writhe like some sort of abominable worm. Dark mist left its at a constant rate.

The breathing sound was heavier, louder, now, growing closer and closer as the skeletal deer creature gained on the fleeing trio. Each thundering fall of its hoof caused the plants beneath it to wither and die.

From the dried wounds and torn skin across its body, occasionally a black-red centipede would emerge and fall to the ground to join the writhing swarm.

It was gaining on them.

There was no way to outrun it.

It was almost upon them, its gaping jaws open even wider to reveal nothing but a yawning void beyond down its throat, blackness darker then even the forest had become.

A golden wall of light sprang up from the darkness, intercepting the lurching creature. Its neck seemingly snapped, bone jutting through the dried skin and patchy fur, its head bent at a sharp right angle.

After only a moment, it stepped back, a sickeningly fleshy sound coming from within its body as its neck slowly realigned itself.

Greenish fluid dripped from between its gaping jaws, now, a few small centipedes falling from its maw.

The source of the wall of golden light stood before it.

It was a girl, glad in black and gold clothing and wearing a wide-brimmed hat. In one slender hand, she gripped a smooth wooden staff, currently held in the air.

Her petite figure was dwarfed by the skeletal monster. The sickly scent of decay permeated the air.

"They are not the ones who wronged you," the girl said, her voice firm as her green eyes remained fixed on the creature, "You will come no further."

Leaning forward, the monster's gaping maw stretched wider, the green fluid now tinged with black as it dripped to the ground.

Give them... to me... suffer... they shall... suffer...

A whispering voice, raspy, seemingly emanating from the entire forest just as the breathing had.

Consume... I will devour...

The girl thrust her staff higher.

"They are not the ones who wronged you," she spoke again, her voice louder now, "You shall come no further."

An eternity seemed to pass. The sickly rot scent only grew stronger.

But the creature suddenly rose, its decayed body turning as it slowly shambled off into the blackness of the forest.

The sound of breathing faded. The sickly rot odor disappeared, too.

The forest seemed lighter again. Slowly, the songs of birds could be heard once more.

The girl lowered her staff, letting out a heavy sigh.

And then---

She turned on her heel, marching right up to the three assembled figures and aiming a swing of her staff squarely at the head of the nearest non-fox target.

"What were you thinking?!" she exclaimed, "Intruding on that shrine of all places?! You're lucky Relki saw you...!"

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

With his heart beating out of his chest, Nick could barely even pause to think as whatever otherworldly monster continued gaining on them. The forest was quickly blurring together in his mind, and with every tree and bush looking near-identical it was difficult to even try and thinking about anything but escape. This might have been a new world, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had suddenly come across the power to outrun something this fast.

Even if he did, this was far from the best time to test anything crazy like that.

It was only the sound of something crunching behind him that caused Nick to falter for but a second in order to glimpse at what had happened. Unfortunately, that also happened to coincide with a stray root catching him off guard and causing him to trip over himself and tumble to the ground. Where he had expected a gruesome and painful death, though, he instead found himself watching a small girl in a witch's outfit staring down the monster that had been intent on killing them.

"...Ah, yep, that's certainly magic," the young man uttered to himself as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. If anything, this whole ordeal felt more cinematic than anything else, and so he could only stare at the scene in shock.

Honestly, even if negotiations broke down, the situation was still probably screwed up enough to lead to his demise. But when things didn't break down and the monster retreated, Nick let out a deep sigh and let all the tension in his body slip away.

Unfortunately, that moment of reprieve soon gave way to an interrogation—one that Nick wasn't all too keen on taking lying down.

"While I really can't thank you enough for saving us, I don't think it's fair to accuse us of intruding somewhere when you wake up there to begin with," Nick responded, wincing as he pushed himself off the ground and attempted to brush himself off. "If your... Uh... I'm going to assume they're a familiar? Right, if they saw us, wouldn't they have thought it was weird for us to be as disoriented as we were? I don't know when they caught sight of us, but we were pretty out of it until we heard that thing coming."

Honestly, given how mismatched the three of them were when seen as a group, their excuse for being here should've at least made some sense to their savior.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99

Running, running and more running! Jor was running for her life when the fox girl... Changed into an actual fox! That didn't matter! She could do something similar. For now, she needed to keep pusbing so she didn't become bug food. Eventually, however, a horrific noise was heard behind her. At first, she was worried that Nick had been gobbled up, be a quick peek to the side showed he was just fine.

Before she had time to consider looking behind her, she saw a girl in black and gold... And she was trying to talk the creature down? Jor looked behind to see a golden wall holding the creature back, but not it's smell. She wanted to run, put more distance between her and it but her legs felt like bags of concrete. Too heavy to move.

She started to hold her breath lest she gagged from the stench of rot until eventually the beast turned and left. It took some seconds before she finally released her breath and quickly fell to her knees. Nick was being a lot more logical than she was right now. She started speaking, albeit a small bit of a crying tone to her voice. "It's not like I wanted to wake up in a forest with a disgusting Wendigo like thing or whatever it was. I don't even know where we are. Like, at all."

She sighed before turning to her fox companion. "Are you fine Hikari? No injuries or traumas or anything?" She asked, trying to calm herself more than check on ghe fox girl.

Javal listened closely to Lena's explanation for touching them. She justified herself with a claim that she could discern the material makeup of objects by touching them. An odd claim, but Javal saw no reason to cast doubt on her at the moment. After all, he entered this world with a boon of his own- his armor.

Steel with mithril- that'd explain why it feels a bit lighter than it ought to.

It's true that it might not be useful in this immediate situation, but it could be an amazing ability further down the road, once they were out of this mess. As for the elf, she had the look of a mage, and that staff definitely looked like a mage's weapon. She hadn't announced her ability, but if Javal had to guess, the girl's boon was the ability to use magic.

Speaking of the elf, as the doll moved in on her, she announced that she heard something moving in the cellar. Apparently this abandoned building was not as secure as they previously thought.

"We'd better check it out, then. It could be dangerous but we don't want it getting the jump on us," Javal stated, walking towards the cellar door, with a tight grip on his improvised club. He didn't know what awaited them, but between the three of them, they should be able to handle a little bit of danger.

"Sephily, what can you do with that staff of yours?" he asked as he slowly reached for the cellar door.

The tension in the air as Javal reached for the cellar door was palpable. With only Sephily's word to go off of, the possibility that the group wasn't alone in this abandoned inn was a concern...

But given the state the building was in, what could possibly have been moving around even now?

Slowly, the hinges on the door creaked as the door was pried back. The smell of aged wood and salt could barely be made out as the stale air within slipped out...

And with it, something moving towards the now-opened door. The steps that the petite elf had heard before were now audible, however faintly, as their source steadily plodded towards the steps that led down below.

The light that eventually shone upon the half-rotted, dried out face of the undead as it turned to stare at them would promptly reveal the true nature of what was moving down below. With the living now apparent in front of it, the zombie slowly began to shamble up the stairs—not stalled in the least by their structure in spite of it's appearance—and moved straight towards the first person that it could.

In this case, that meant the man who had opened the door to begin with.

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

Javal finally was able to see exactly what was menacing this place- a zombie. Such a thing was utterly impossible on Earth, but the short time he spent so far in this new world had prepared Javal for the possibility that just as this world had elves and supernatural powers, it also had undead. Luckily, it didn't appear to have any spark of intelligence, but he wasn't yet sure just how durable the zombies of this world were.

No time like the present to find out.

The moment the zombie began to emerge from the cellar, Javal swung the table leg at its face, attempting to knock the shambling corpse off the stairs and back down to the level below. If any of his companions had any tricks of their own for this situation, now would be the time to use them. If not it may be up to him to beat this thing until it stopped moving.

"I'm fine," the fox confirmed, shifting back into her mostly-human appearance. Hm, even after accounting for being held at arm's length, she still didn't reach the floor like this… maybe she could be put down in a minute? That would be nice, this was definitely feeling strange. Had anyone ever actually held her like this, even when she was small?

Maybe as a baby. Any other scenario would have felt more than a little strange.

The other pair had already confirmed that they'd just woken up there. She felt there was no more that she needed to add. After all, why would there be a maid sneaking out into a dilapidated shrine? She ought to have more important duties to attend to.

---

---

"I---..."

I trail off, my eyes drifting to the shape of the staff gripped in my hands. I have to be able to do magic. I'm an elf now, to begin with, and they're always good at magic in nearly every fantasy setting I know about. If I'm an elf dressed up as a mage and this is clearly a fantasy setting, then there's no reason to think otherwise.

But how do I do magic in the first place? It's not something I have any frame of reference for. I don't know how magic would even begin to work. Even if I look at fantasy media, it's not like magic works in a consistent way throughout all of them. Even if it's like one of those stories, how would I know which one?

It's like having a new limb suddenly appear on my body. How am I supposed to know how to use it?

Do I just want it enough?

"E-er, I'm not sure yet..."

I trail off, raising my staff slowly in both hands and trying to think it over. There has to be some way to figure it out, right?

---Right?

Ah.

He's opened the door.

I can hear it much louder, now. And see it, too. It's making its way up.

I had a feeling when I saw the shambling shapes outside, but they were far enough and in some cases armored enough that I couldn't be completely certain.

It's not pleasant to look at, but it's so dried out from being locked down in the basement that it's more like looking at a mummy then a rotten corpse. I guess I can be thankful for that.

I'm thankful for Javal-san, too. He's not even hesitating before trying to beat it down, and since he's got armor he's probably the best one to handle that here.

... I certainly can't. Not with this thin arms. Not with this small body.

However---

I might not know how to use magic yet, but I know what kind of setting this must be. If nothing else, I can tell him how to take it out!

"It's a magic zombie, I'm sure of it!" I call to him from behind, "That's... that's what kind of setting this is, it's fantasy! So don't bother trying to go for the head, try and make it so the body doesn't work anymore! Break its limbs, its back, make it it so it can't move!"

That has to be the way---!

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

---

---

"... Wake up there?"

For a few moments, the girl stared incredulously, as if she couldn't understand how such a thing would be possible.

"I don't understand how you find yourself out in the middle of the woods, let alone at that shrine, by accident," she said, lowering her staff, "But Relki did mention you seemed disoriented..."

She trailed off, then eyed the two older members of the trio(but notably not Hikari) suspiciously.

"Were you drunk?"

She let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, in case you needed a refresher," she began, "That shrine is given a wide berth for a reason."

She placed her free hand on her hip.

"That creature is why."

She grumbled something under her breath, barely audible. While for most it would be difficult to make out any clear words, Hikari's sensitive fox ears would be able to discern what was being said.

"---Not that staying away from the shrine is enough these days."

For a few moments, the witch-girl didn't say anything else, her brows furrowed and her lips pressed tightly together. Then, she let out another sigh.

"Listen, I'm not happy about this, but I can't have two weirdoes and an unfortunate maid dying on my conscience," she said, "And Relki wouldn't leave me alone if I just pointed you towards the way out and told you to find your own way."

As if on cue, a raven appeared from seemingly no-where, gently alighting on the tip of the girl's staff. It regarded the odd trio silently, tilting its head.

"So, follow me. I'll take you someplace safe for the night and then show you the way out in the morning. Got it?"

The girl turned and started to walk away, then paused and looked back over her shoulder.

"Since you seem so ill-informed, I'll introduce myself. I'm Ilsa, Substitute Witch of the Forest."

The raven let out a caw, and Ilsa glared at it for a moment. Eventually, she let out a sigh.

"And that's Relki. For some reason, she won't just tell you herself. Now, come on."

With that, she turned and started to walk away. The forest was no longer so dark and intimidating, with the departure of the creature, but the patches of dead plants where its hooved feet hand fallen remained. Still, the birds had returned, and the idyllic and peaceful-seeming surroundings no longer held a scrap of malice. Certainly, there were likely dangerous creatures living in the woods of a more ordinary sort, but it still seemed to be a pleasant enough place.

If one could forget the deer creature.

After a few moments of walking, the forest cleared slightly to reveal a stone path with grass growing between it, leading to a cottage across a small wooden bridge over a stream. It had a small garden out front, flush with blooming flowers, and something small and sparkly seemed to be flitting around above the rooftops and about the garden.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Pyromania99@Raineh Daze

Though he considered responding to the insinuation that they were drunk, Nik chose to hold his tongue for the moment and instead listened to the girl's comments on the situation. The fact that it was a shrine might have meant that there was some possibility it had to do with why they had awoken there, but if that thing was lurking around it there was no world in which they could explore it to maybe find some clues.

Not that it was really important at the moment, but if they had been given a second chance it might have been good form to thank the one that gave it, if only in passing.

It was a bit insulting to be considered a weirdo, though.

Regardless, with the offer of lodging on the table until they could be shown somewhere a little less suicidally dangerous (and with no other options in hand anyways), Nick gave a small bow towards the witch before responding in kind.

"Nicolas Li. I, uh... Hm. I guess 'student' probably isn't enough, but anything beyond that might not make sense anyways," he said.

The fact that their walk to the witch's house was this brief was surprising, considering how long they had run in their attempt to escape that monster from before. Either way, though, with safe lodging for the night handled, the young man could breathe easy for the moment.

Naturally, he wanted to pick the girl's brain for as much information as he could on the world they had fumbled into, but that could probably come after they were a bit less on-edge from their last encounter.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99