Miles was lost. The massive trees seemed to taunt him, he knew that he might die. The moonlight reminded him that he had been gone for a long time. All because he couldn’t find the bathroom. He walked for hours, his legs felt like they were jelly, he was ready to collapse at any moment.

Then he saw it.

At first, he thought that it was just a hallucination, he rubbed his eyes just to make sure. It was a quaint little shed, about 6 feet high and 8 feet wide on both sides. Moss was growing against the small concrete walls, and the building as a whole seemed very run down. What if there was someone in there? He thought he knew it was his only chance. 

He began to approach the small building and slowly opened the door. However, instead of a small maintenance shed, he saw nothing, just black. He began to step into the darkness. His head pounded, he began to shake, he hit the floor with a massive thud and began to slowly fade away into the darkness.

Miles woke up on a bed of what felt like tough furs and straw. It seemed decently comfortable and pretty warm- wait, where was he? He tried to get up, but he couldn’t, it was all he could do to stay awake, let alone make coherent thoughts. Before he could decide what to do though, he passed out again. 

He came to as she was pouring him tea. “You were passed out for a while, I found you in the woods. Where do you come from young traveler?” She whispered, her blond hair trailing over her face in the wind. 

“W-where am I?” Miles spoke, his voice was so hoarse that the words came out soft and rough. Then he noticed her ears- they were pointed at the tip! 

“Your in the world of Insha, a magical place filled with lots of wonderful things!” the strange woman spoke as she poured more tea for herself. “My name’s Falc, there’s nothing to be afraid of here, I’m a Half-Elf, what are you?”

“I’m a Human? Just a Human being,” Miles answered, confused about what she meant, and trying his best to reply logically, without seeming crazy.

“Oh, I’m surprised, we haven’t had a human here in a long time. Ever since the monster came, they've stopped coming here.” Falc said. She stood up and motioned for him to join her. Miles got up and limped along with her. As they walked down the long hallway, Miles began to notice all of the other creatures that walked along with him. There were dozens of fairies, dwarves, pegasi, even a couple dragons, and especially elves going about their daily business, all dressed up in very odd attire. Some looked normal, they had suits and ties and looked very business-like. Others, however, were wearing leather and armors, with various weapons and bags scattered about. One even had a couple of small horned animal corpses in a sack. Miles was in awe at the sheer majesty of the world surrounding him. 

They walked through a small door, far aside from the main hall, it was relatively quiet and cramped. Miles immediately noticed two other Half-Elves about the same size as Falc. He could see that they were talking about something very serious, and quite intimidating. One of them motioned for him and Falc to sit down.

The small one began to speak first. “We have a problem, that- well only you can solve for us, and you’ll be risking your life.” 

The other one began to cut in. “It's fine if you don’t want to, we completely understand. If you do, we’ll be heavily in your debt, we might just be able to bring you home if that’s you want.” 

Miles didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to die, but he could go home! He was homesick, and he knew his family was worried. After a moment spent deep in thought, he knew what he had to do.

“I’ll do it, but you have to promise me that I will see my family again. Does that sound fair?” Sure Miles could die, but that was a risk he could take. “What’s this problem anyways? I think I should at least know.” 

“It’s a monster, known as the ShadowHand, it drains the energy every living thing in our world, and it’s slowly killing all of us-including you- we don’t have enough power to kill it, but Humans, on the other hand, can.” 

“So all I need to do, is slay some stupid monster?” Miles let out a deep, hardened sigh, “Easy enough,” 

It was all Miles could do to calm himself down. They led him towards the armory. He saw knives, swords, shields galore, and every other weapon imaginable lining the walls like leaves on a tree. Even still there was still a deep feeling of dread inside of him. They began to suit him up in heavy armor, they said it was made of a rare metal found deep inside the earth. He picked out a huge battleax, but after holding it for a second or two, his knees began to quake.

“Listen, I know this was all very sudden, and this might be too much to handle for you...but...I, now-we need you to do this for all the people who've died. My parents died in a deadly fire that was caused by the ShadowHand, their last dying breaths led me here.” Falc had tears in her eyes, and Miles was struck with a sudden urge to avenge his friend, even though he had only known her for a few hours. 

A large tremor shook the building, it was time, he was here. Miles didn’t know if he’d survive, but he knew his goal and wanted it more than anything. 

He saw the massive beast, it was running around on all fours, its massive yellow teeth bared and ready to bite. Th-this thing charged at him, at what felt like the speed of sound. Miles’ heart began to race, and he dove to the left. Before the monster could react it slammed into the building. Few, That was a close one. Miles thought, he knew that it was time to strike. He ran forward jumped up and struck the beast, it screamed in pain, grabbing at its wound. Is it going to be that easy? 

Miles tore the blade from its chest, blood, and fur flying everywhere. The beast began to slump over, and its breathing began to slow. But there was something off about it, but Miles didn’t think much of it, for he was already celebrating in his head.

But, it’s never that easy, is it?

The monster slowly pushed itself up, and screamed out in pure agony. Miles knew that he would die. The monster started running towards 

Miles, he knew that there was nothing he could do to resist. He stood there, not moving, embracing his fate.

Then there was a flash of light then nothing, the beast was gone. All he could see was Falc throwing herself in front of him, he could tell that she had died. She had sacrificed herself for him, but he knew it was more than that, she sacrificed herself to save the entire world.

Miles woke up slumped against the small shack. He saw his mother, she was crying, holding his hand, happy that they finally found him. He began to cry too, for he knew that he had been saved. He was alive and with his family, and that was what mattered the most.