The sound of wind pierced through my ears, the pain was finally mellowing

  “Am I finally free? Am I back home”

  The thought of being back in the comforts of my apartment softened my anxiety. I opened my eyes to see a cream ceiling with a mushroom’s gills.

  “What the fuck!”

  I jumped, I looked around to see I was inside a room I didn’t recognize, the hard scape and decorations looked archaic. It was like a medieval style room. I realized my body didn’t hurt as much anymore. Yet I was still panicking, I was still in this wretched place

  I looked over my hands, they were healed, although, scarred, my entire body was wrapped in bandages.

  I sighed. I looked through the room once again, it looked like it wasn’t changing.

  “Am I stuck here?”

  I grunted, scratching my head, my long dark hair was a mess. Tears flowed down my tears.

  “What did I do to deserve this”

  I pulled back into a fetal position, my head still had an aching feel from the blood loss. I continued to cry till I heard footsteps that made me jump. My breathing intensified as the sound of each step creeped closer to my position. I started at the door in front of me. Each second was a recipe for anxiety.

  As the doorknob unlocked, the door started to creek open.

  “Is he an ogre, is he an orc…?”

  I closed my eyes, ready to be met with a blood chilling beast.

  “What are you doing…?”

  I was shocked to be met with a mature woman’s voice, I cracked open my eyes to be met with a tall, fit elf? She wore a crimson red maid’s attire with hints of battle armor. Her eyes glistened an emerald hue that contrasted her short orange hair and freckles.

  In an instant she scratched her index finger with her nail, the blood expanded, formed and coagulated a sword in which she pointed at me.

  “What brings you here? How did you even get here?”

  She looked at me with piercing eyes. Her gaze was as sharp as her sword. I was unable to speak, my mind and eyes were blurry. My breathing hastened as her patience was running thin.

  “Are you not able to speak? Or you can’t understand?”

  I spoke up, in a rushing manner.

  “I can, I just wanted to… I wanted to know why you brought me here?”

  She sighed and her sword shriveled back to a drop of blood, she pinched the bridge of her nose and walked away.

  “Hey wait!”

  She didn’t listen, she continued her way to the exit.

  “Food’s on the table, eat it when you’re hungry”

  She had then slammed the door shut. I heard her footsteps rushing through wooden stairs, slowly fading away.

  “What’s her problem…”

  I sat up from the rock hard bed, I slowly got up and walked toward the door. I had expected a medieval style house, and I was right. I opened the door to an old house, although with a mystical hint from the gilled ceiling that bugged me out. I could see the food, it was full of mushrooms, the amount of fungus here was weird, more importantly I needed a way to get back home.

  I rushed down the flight of silver wood stairs, the amount of bright wood was blinding to the eyes. I sat down and saw a note, I tried to read it but it was some sort of ancient text.

  “What is this… Sumerian? Never mind that”

  My stomach gurgled, I mean obviously… anyone would be hungry after being chased by a damn beast.

  The bowl was full of mushrooms, the utensils were kind of weird.

  “A fork with two spikes? A knife with only the tip of the blade? It’s hooked too.”

  I looked at the bowl of mushrooms, it was full of it, the mushroom had a brown cap and milky white flesh.

  “Looks like shiitake mushrooms without the stem”

  I shrugged it off. I took one with my hand and bit it, which was only met with a texture of that of a rock.

  “What!?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  I knocked on the brown cap which produced a knocking sound, like I was knocking on a brick wall.

  “Is this some sort of joke? Well haha it’s not funny.”

  I then tried to touch the white part which was soft.

  “Reminds me of an oyster… is this a mollusk???”

  I then made use of the bendable knife from earlier which worked wonders. I was able to pop out a scallop looking flesh.

  I took a bite and it was heavenly. The soft texture paired with a briny savory oceanic flavor with a hint of sweetness was something I had never expected.

  I then took my time devouring the whole bowl of mushroom-looking mollusks. I’d never thought it’d taste so good. After I’d eaten my fill I’d thought about roaming around the “house”

  I stood up and walked to the left, towards a door. Full of intrigue.

  “I wonder what this leads to…”

  I opened it up to a bathroom, it was pretty average in size, a toilet, soap, shampoo and a tub that had a huge sea sponge on it.

  “What the hell?”

  I was fascinated by the sea sponge and why it was there. I poked it using my hand which then expelled clear water which soaked my bandages.

  “How do you use this thing”

  I started to poke at it with my fingers, but they all had the same effect. After a while of goofing around a surge of thirst lingered within my mouth.

  “Oh yeah I haven’t drunk any water yet…”

  I walked back to the main room, trying to search for any type of water jug, but there was absolutely nothing within the tall dimly lit room.

  After a couple minutes of searching, the elf was back. The door opened softly, she had brought back some more fungus and vegetables. She looked at me with a piercing glare, a fiery gaze.

  “Exactly what are you doing…?”

  I immediately stopped what I was doing and stood up. I started to sweat profusely. I looked away, biting my lip.

  “I was just looking for water…”

  I pouted and backed away, she raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms.

  “Is that all? Well then tell me your name first, and I’ll tell you where I keep the water.”

  I lowered my guard and relaxed my body for a bit. Was that really it? I hesitated but told her anyway, I did need that cup of water.

  “That’s it? My name? It’s Ezekiel.”

  She replied back, she pointed to the bathroom with her thumb

  “My name’s Gavanna, the water? It’s over there, just use a cup or bowl and press it on there.”

  A chill ran down my spine as my face wrinkled. The bathroom? Why there? Is she talking about that ridiculous sponge?

  “You’re not serious are you…?”

  She lowered her tone. Her eyes pierced through me, a chill ran down my spine, is she going to kill me?

  “Are you saying you have a problem with that? See, I don’t know where in the stars you came from, but you’re here now and you have to deal with it.”

  I mumbled back. Lowering my head then I faced away from her eyes.

  “Well why are you using bath water to drink…”

  She sighed, her ears twitched, and looked at me like I was some lost little puppy.

  “Do you have no common sense? You dare ridicule me?

  I retorted back angrily. I wasn’t just going to drink someone’s bath water, that’s just insane.

  “Of course I do, I just don’t wanna drink your bath water!”

  She scoffed, she looked awfully offended by what I said.

  “It’s not bath water, do you think I jump onto the damn sponge to bathe? I’m not a wild animal.”

  I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

  “You don’t?”

  She walked over to me. Then slapped me on the head softly.

  “What kind of idiot does that? I cup water for bathing and for drinking separately. Whatever… Now tell me why you’re here.”

  I lifted up my head. She stared at me like I was some outsider.

  “I was transported here… by a portal and I can’t seem to find my way back home.”

  She stepped back and walked to a fridge,

  “And where exactly is your home?”

  I was too focused on the advanced technology that was before me, it looked like a wooden drawer from before but inside was an actual working fridge.

  “Is that a fridge!?”

  She snarled, her face contorted to one of a dragon’s.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  I was snapped back to reality.

  “I’m sorry, what was that again?”

  She pinched her nose bridge and tilted her face.

  “Never mind”

  She slammed the fridge door shut.

  “I’m going to my room.”

  She walked up the stairs to a room that was beside the one I slept in. I was still curious about the refrigerator, so when I ran my way there, I opened the door to feel a refreshing chill. It looked extremely modern. My eyes glimmered, my face plastered a smile. I was still unsure about the water, although I had no choice, I took a wooden cup and pressed on it, as she told me to. The water that expelled was crystal clear, and somewhat cold? I was still reluctant to try it, but I gave it a sip.

  “This is… better than tap back at home?”

  I drank the entire cup rehydrating my dry tongue, I kept on drinking, the sensation of the chilled liquid made me smile.

  I decided to walk through the town for a bit after rehydrating myself.

  I walked over to the door and opened it to be blasted by a city full of mushrooms. I saw elves, they were either walking or using spider-like robotic appendages. Those exact people looked like they could afford more stuff… Meanwhile the people that didn’t, looked a lot more like peasants, to be exact, blue collar workers. I sighed at the scene. Moreover the city of mushrooms looked impressive, I couldn’t believe they could make architecture like this, was it tied to their culture?

  I stepped out to the tiny space on Gavanna’s porch, I didn’t know where to start looking, luckily from my peripheral vision, I saw a map of this local village in particular.

  “I see… looks like I’m at…”

  My head hurt looking at the texts, I couldn’t read at all…

  “How come this is in some ancient language…”

  My long dark hair flowed with the gusts of wind, I still had no idea where every street on the map looked similar. I sighed.

  “Should I just ask Gavanna to teach me how to read this stuff?”

  I imagined her as a dragon spitting out fire.

  “Yeah… probably not.”

  I scratched my head as I walked back to the mushroom house, it was incredibly boring without a phone on hand. I walked back to the room given to me, there was a small wooden hallway leading to the outside, I creeped slowly, careful not to anger Gavanna. Once I had made it, my eyes shone in awe as I witnessed the architecture of the city. Gavanna’s house was pretty tall. Amidst the endless number of mushrooms, at the end piqued my interest… It was a castle made of steel. It was so far away it looked miniature compared to the close proximity of the fungal homes. My arms rested on the silver wooden railings on the balcony along with my head. Why hair flowed with the wind as I enjoyed the murmur of life within the village. People that sold their hard earned crops. People that walked through the village to bond. It was beautiful.

  What Ezekiel didn’t know what to do was the suppression of his interests… There are just some things he could never hide, a passion for technology, a lust for knowledge… to know about this captivating new world. Shall it be his new poison or his antidote for the past? Creatures so mystical and magical, yet so bloodthirsty, does he, a human even have the capacity to understand an elf? Through the orange hue of sunrise, he mellowed off in a deep slumber.