“I don’t understand? I am a stranger to you and accused of assaulting the princess. There are so many red flags for who I am,” I reasoned. Does this world just not have a basic concept of good and evil at all? My reason didn’t even reach Elijah as he just chuckled softly. I was speaking to a void.

“For a boy considered a dangerous culprit to society, you have so much pureness and innocence that I could not gather anything that would paint you in a harmful way.” Elijah guffawed, slapping his lap as he leaned in closer as the taste of coffee muffled my face as he scooped his hands on my shoulders, giving them a reassuring rub.

“You’ve only just met me. You cannot come to that conclusion that quickly,” I denied over and over. All of this has to be a trap.

“I made up my mind. Nobody can stop me when I make up my mind. Boy, take it easy. I know you are innocent because once a rapist rapes one victim, they will be itching for more. And when you introduced yourself out of thin air, you had no intention of raping my wife. Besides, Carina is known to have traits of borderline personality disorder, yet people will still believe her because she is a daughter of royalty, an important one.” Elijah spoke ill of Carina but made it sound very rational, providing logic and not sounding one-sided.

“But- What about the other residents?”

“What about them? They’re a close friend of mine and my wife, and they don’t give two shits about the royal family. They all dislike the royal family anyway, so you're safe.” Elijah countered, still massaging my shoulders.

Just before I could get another word in, Elijah spoke again.

“She has traumatised you in such a short period. Paranoia has cursed you and made you agitated and vigil. Get some sleep. Then we can carry on with this conversation afterwards.”

He was right, even though this is not my original body. I’ve grown paranoid of an assumption that wasn’t even on me. Somehow, my emotions got the better of me and broke the chains that suppressed them so I could think logically. Maybe, it’s because I’m tired that my brain became sensitive to every problem that wasn’t mine in the first place.

“He needs to eat his dinner first!” Glenda shouted from the kitchen.

“Oh, yes. Eat your dinner first before you go to bed.”

–

As I opened my eyes, feeling my sticky forearm on my forehead. I rolled onto my left side and gazed out the window at the middle of the bed, watching birds flock into tribes and sing morning tunes. As my thoughts slowly organised while I recalled everything that happened, I dragged myself up and sat at the end of the bed, breaking out a sigh and kneading my head to arouse my tiredness. I looked around and saw a clean white room with just a bed and a desk with a gaming console at the bottom of the black sheeted singular bed.

“I need to get ready. Elijah said he is introducing me to his neighbours,” I yawned, dragging my feet over to the dark oak wardrobe next to the door in the left corner of the room. A large mirror just inches away from the closet to its left showed the state of my unpleasing physique, deprived of a balanced diet and good treatment. I was unhealthful and excessively skinny. I was a moving skeleton.

I got on my black shirt, black cargo trousers, white socks and black trainers and opened the creamy door in the midst of spraying my armpits. I diverted my eyes over to the stairs, walked down, twisted my body and went into the kitchen, where the stroke of the cypher greeted me by the click of a toaster and the shuddering feel of the black marble floor. When the smell of toast broomed the air, my stomach grumbled. But, as I sat on a wooden chair pleated under a marble dining table with the toast in hand. I saw none of the elders around.

I chewed into the hard texture like a shell protecting the fuzzy insides. I thought less of the problem. They gifted me a roof to spare, and I can’t run mad thinking this was a conducted plan to get me caught. From all I gathered, they are out with their neighbours Elijah wants me to meet.

I hope they accept me.

The click of a door redirected my eyes down the hallway. The front door was opening and a short, slumped shadow was casting through the windows descending the middle. A wrinkly hand curled around the edge of the door, followed by an innocent smile. It was Elijah, and it looked like Elijah had just come back from shopping. I dropped my toast and rushed over to grab all the orange plastic bags Elijah held in his right hand. It was full of meal deals in rectangular boxes.

“Thank you very much,” Elijah blessed me, rubbing the back of his palm across his wet patchy forehead as he grasped his hands onto his knees, sinking his body to exhale sharply.

“No worries, it’s the best I can do for you,” I replied, taking the bags away from Elijah as he followed me into the kitchen. I dropped the bags onto the marble counter and rubbed my hands on my trousers to cleanse possible bacteria. I looked over to find Elijah resting on a chair, taking deep breaths.

“Where is Glenda?” I asked out of curiosity.

“I am not sure. Glenda told me she had to do something,” Elijah smiled.

I hope I am overthinking.

“Really? Have a rest. You look knackered,” I proposed, tapping my fingers on the counter.

“It’s nothing to worry about, boy. I need to keep moving, or my old age will catch up. I still have a decade or three left to be active,” Elijah chuckled, standing up with energy, “Alright, let’s get you introduced to the neighbours,”

–

There were three men and five women in their late sixties. They all greeted me with interest and ease as I shook the men’s hands and hugged the women one by one. Since it has been a hot week, the neighbours plan on having a BBQ around Lucas’ house - Lucas was the youngest and had the most experience in cooking that he was on a chef level. Lucas was short and tubby. He wore grey cuffed trousers with straps over a buttoned-up white shirt and had barbed smart shoes polished in glossy black. Lucas brushed his grey hair to the left side.

Lucas was the first person to greet me and wanted to learn more about me as he took me to the BBQ area. It was in the back of his small, lively garden where I met all the other elders. Unexpectedly, I met another elf. It was a woman, and she was wide-hipped and stacked. Her violet eyes sparkled as soon as she saw another elf and clung to me right from the start. She was named Eldrya and had opulent wavy chocolate locks winding under her sallow, dilute adolescent face. For a middle-aged woman, she looked like a young girl.

I didn’t want to be rude during our first meeting, but as she merged her arms around my arm, becoming one. My raging hormone mind fixated on Eldrya’s breast as they melted around my arm. I could see her inattentive cleavage in that tight purple dress. I kept squinting my eyes to stop looking, but nothing helped as I sat on a bench and had her still ironed against me. I darted my eyes around, avoiding the gaze of her breast and tried paying attention to Eldrya flipping burgers.

“It’s okay. You can stare all you want,” Eldrya whispered in my ear, rubbing against my arm as her sweet breath stirred my skin.

“W-What do you mean?” I stammered, anxious to the core as I scratched the back of my head.

“I know you’re trying to be a gentleman and not stare, but it is okay. I like it when you look at the place I love the most about me,” Eldyra buzzed my ear in a flirtatious, erotic tone.

“Oh, looks like Asvin has caught an elf in heat's attention,” Donna, a chubby tanned granny with pale blonde hair tied in a bun, cackled playfully. She sat opposite me, a few inches away on another bench, accompanied by her old man, Jack. A chubby, laid-back grandpa dressed in black pyjamas with short receding hair.

“Tsk, Eldrya! Get your rotten hands off him,” Lucas clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he rocked his tongs all over the place to scare Eldrya off me as he waddled over to us.

“Ah! Asvin, save me!” Eldrya bellowed like a baby, tucking her head behind my ears as she threw her legs over my lap, smoothing her arms around my nape, propelling her mushy breast onto my chest. Lucas dropped the tongs and snatched his hands onto Eldyra’s shoulders, trying to drag her off me, but she had a much younger body and made it easier to resist.

Eldrya took the chance and relocated herself as she swiftly hopped onto my crotch. She didn’t meet my eyes yet because she focused on pushing Lucas away, but I swear I saw eyeballs sticking out the back of her head because I heard an amorous giggle from her mouth as she subtly rubbed on my crotch to make it stand tall.

Fortunately, it did not stand tall. I felt guilty rather than interested in banging the same species. Eldrya rubbing me ignited a memory I didn’t want to visit again. The more aggressive her rubbing got to pleasure herself, the more her image fuzzled into Carina. A fire flickered deep in my heart as Eldrya and Carina kept flashing in and out of each other, spasming in a havoc way that, at one point, they were the same.

Anger was steadily growing, and my vision watered into the red shade of blood. My veins crinkled, and my face creased. Eerie energy showered me as prying virulent thoughts ravaged my brain. I felt my blood stiffen into poison. Eldrya’s playful giggles abruptly stopped when our eyes touched. The rubs on my crotch slowed as her face lessened into colour, becoming stale and defunct looking.

“Your eyes are glowing. Why is there a dark elf still around?” Eldrya mumbled in terror. Her body trembled at the sight of me, but she was still sitting on me, staring profoundly into my eyes like she was trying to elude being stunned into fear. Eldrya gripped her steamy fingers around my nape, tangling them into each other as her breathing got coarse.

A pinkish colour bleached and blinkered Eldrya's eyes as she stared more, drooling as her pupils sizzled into a pumping heart-shaped symbol. She was sweating furiously as her cheeks reddened.

“You’re dangerous,” Edlrya spoke softly at me.

“Get off me,” I demanded. I had enough of the games Edlrya played with me. She has angered me more than I thought.

“Y-Yes,” Edlrya stumbled over her words as she climbed off my lap. Then she just stood there like a robot waiting for another order.

“Edlrya, that’s enough now. You’ve annoyed the guest,” Lucas sighed, holding Edlrya by the shoulder to begin taking her away. She didn’t even flinch nor react to Lucas' presence, “Edlrya, that’s enough now!”

She stared. Her world was just me as her heartily pupils dribbled over me with a face drained of life. There weren’t any facial muscles strong enough to appear. She was an empty vessel.

“Go home,” I demanded. I felt like I needed to say it- Edlrya suddenly moved and started walking away, blind to the world as she walked stiffly. Barely of her limbs flowed smoothly. They were straight as a pole.

I saw something else. After telling Edlrya to go home. In an instant. Her eyes flashed pink seconds after my command. I felt something brim inside me. A circle of light enlightened the darkness of a bland future. I was energetic as a toddler, raging to run around crazy.

Something is fishy about who I am.

All the women I’ve met so far have one thing in common. Their empty eyes expressed their desire, longing to have me all to themselves. They fluttered around me like puppets on strings, the gravity around them was twisted, and it all absorbed me. I looked at myself in the mirror. I know I am not attractive. I am average at best. Some mysterious energy was crumbling their image of me into an altered version.

Even the guards had trouble shooting me. I would be shot dead in a heartbeat if that was somewhere else. No, that is to the extreme. They didn’t want to shoot Carina’s mum. She is too important to the nation.

Should I give it a shot? Make Carina’s mum a captive and learn all about who I am? She was all over me, and it didn’t feel like she would disobey me. The moment she saw me, she went into offensive mode. Or she was purposely doing it to delay my escape by seducing me.

“Sorry about her, boy. She has been in heat for the past few days. This month is mating season for matured elves like her,” Lucas apologises on behalf of Edlrya, kneeling to meet my eyes.

“No, I understand a little,” I chuckled nervously.

“That’s great then. Come, I’ma teach you to be the best chef ever,” Lucas snickered.

“I’d love to learn from the best!”

I need to investigate.

Or I’ll never know if I am a danger to myself and the world.