Lianne looked at me and smiled. “Elves are a peaceful race but when they are cornered they can be scarier than demons. We live peacefully yet…”

She continued. In literal words, elves were like a coin. They had two sides. But isn’t that true for all the races? Humans in particular are like that from the day they were born. So we are really not all that different, huh? I didn’t tell her that though and continued to listen to her.

“My country is the most beautiful land I’ve ever seen. I’m not bragging when I say, Alfeim is the most beautiful country in the world.”

It did sound like bragging a little, but I let it slide. Every country is beautiful to its inhabitants. But perhaps Lianne had more love for her country than most others.

But soon my primal instincts kicked in. Something was wrong and I knew it. But I really hoped it wasn’t what I thought it to be.

There appeared a red glow in Lianne’s eyes as the conversation went on. Is it me or…? At first it wasn’t noticeable. Her eyes had the same color but the glow continued to brighten. As we continued to talk it became more and more apparent. And after evening-as the sun went down- her eyes were as red an undead’s. I tried to be as normal about it as possible but my speech began to falter and she understood it.

“This was the reason I gave you that knife.” She pointed at her eye. Her smile was still there but her eyes wavered. She didn’t want me to know. But she couldn’t hide it either.

“Are you an undead?” Probably the most stupid question I could have asked, but I still had to.

Lianne hesitated for a second and then looked straight at me. “Not exactly: I’m what you’d call a half-dead.”

I was speechless but still spoke anyway. “Half-dead?”

“Yes, a half-dead. I’m not dead, yet I’m not alive either. I am in somewhere between the two,” she said. She giggled to hide her pain. But it was so apparent, I couldn’t ignore it.

“…” I stayed quiet. I didn’t have anything to add. My needless poking rubbed her in the wrong way. Perhaps I ought to apologize. This was my fault, and if I wasn’t here she wouldn’t had to disclose her secret. “Sor-”

Before I could apologize she continued. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I only gave you that knife so that when I fully become an undead you won’t be at risk. There’s a very, very slim chance that it might happen but it hasn’t happened to any of my kin yet, so rest assured. It’s just my theory.” She was trying her best to calm me down. But it was pointless, as I was already as calm as I could be.

She’s worrying about me even in that state? I might have given her the wrong impression by staying quiet. “I believe you.” when I said that, she looked at me with a smile. It was the smile that suited her most. She must have really felt at ease hearing me say that. But now that I got myself involved, I decided to go all out. “How did this happen?”

“My lineage was cursed long ago.” She stayed quiet for a minute. “Let’s drop the subject. I’m not comfortable.”

“I see,” I said. “Okay.” I didn’t press her. I had no right to.

I looked at my feet. Somehow I could feel her pain despite not knowing what she’d gone through. It was weird.

“Don’t feel bad. This actually had some good outcomes. I don’t turn to ash when sunlight hits me, I don’t feel the intense urge to eat humans when the sun goes down and I can also use better magic. Ironically fire magic.” She giggled. It put me at ease. “Besides, my body is much tougher this way.”

“…”

I stayed quiet again. She could see that I was not afraid, rather I was sad. Not being able to live your life despite being alive was not something anyone should desire, even if it came with the benefit of magic. And yet, she wasn’t sad. Perhaps she was trying to cheer me up instead.

The conversation had dropped somewhere along the way and both of us just watched the rain quietly. It wasn’t pouring anymore. It was more like drizzling now.

We ate little food and turned in. With the fire going, fear of the undead was low. However, when there’s an undead right next to you, would you be able to sleep? I couldn’t. I could tell that she couldn’t either.

“Can’t sleep?” she asked at midnight.

“Yeah. What about you?”

She sighed for the first time. “Another bonus of being undead. We don’t need sleep. More like much sleep.” She was rather cheerful about it. But I could feel the loneliness in her voice.

Really? Well perhaps it was a bonus, perhaps it was a curse. I, actually kind of liked the way she was, despite being undead or whatever. “Oh…” But I still didn’t have anything to keep the conversation going. I knew she was lonely and I knew she wasn’t fully alive, but I was glad I met her.

She looked out. “The rain stopped. There are a lot of nocturnal monsters. I’ll keep watch, so get your rest.”

I smiled and nodded. But sleeping was a chore. I couldn’t, even after trying my hardest. The more I tried the less sleepy I felt. And the occasional howls of nearby monsters weren’t helping either.

The night ended. I got a wink of sleep before morning but it wasn’t enough. Another day began- groggily. Luckily no monster attacked last night; it was also possible that Lianne made sure that none attacked. Either way, I was thankful to Lianne.

Lianne declared that we would reach the apex before the afternoon and if we’re lucky we should be able to get off this mountain by tomorrow evening. But I saw a fear in her eyes. It was the fear of the monster she talked about.. A monster that had lived for centuries or perhaps even thousands of years.