"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Someone said from behind me, and I almost literally jumped out of my skin. I turned and saw the creep from earlier coming out of the bushes.

"Salamander?" I screamed out of terror as he had come out of nowhere. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've been looking everywhere for you." He told me trying to be seductive, a trick that worked with the rest of the town. And apparently one that he never turned off. He held up his hand to show me his charming rings. "I wanted to personally invite you to my party on my yacht tonight." Even though I still wanted to know what the other ring was, I smacked his hand away from my face anyway.

"Yeah nice try, you creep." I said and took a step back before crossing my arms to show him I wasn't interested, or under his spell. He immediately got offended by my choice of words.

"Creep?" He questioned.

"I know what you've been doing to the girls of this town, with those fancy-schmancy rings of yours." I told him and crossed my arms. "And it's not going to work. I know about it now and that means it won't work."

"Just as I thought, you're a clever one, aren't you?" He said trying to flatter me. "I knew you were as soon as I laid eyes on you. Either way, my offer still stands."

"Why would I want to affiliate myself with someone who's using a charm spell to get girls to notice him?" I asked, hate to admit it but I was actually curious why he'd still want me there at the party.

"Well, you can't blame me for wanting to be a little famous in this game now, can you?" He asked me as he shrugged. "If anything, being famous in here is more important than being famous out there in the real world." I laughed a little as it finally clicked.

"You were a streamer, weren't you?" I asked him. "You made a living off playing games."

"Well of course I did, and can you blame me? We are loading into a new era of the way we do, everything." He said, making sure to make it a little extra extravagant. "And it doesn't hurt trying to get ahead while we're already ahead." He told me.

'Well, he's got a point.'

"So will I see you at my party tonight?" He asked me. "If not for my charming, good looks and talents, at least for good company?"

"Yeah, go ahead and forget about that." I told him and turned to walk away, but I didn't even get five steps in when I heard him pipe up.

"Not even if that means that you get to join an Elven Guild?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned and looked at him in amazement.

"How do you know what I am?" I demanded, hoping nobody was nearby to hear this conversation.

"I saw your ears when we met. That and it takes one to know one." He said, and turned his head to the side. And indeed his ears were pointed as well, however nowhere as close as mine. "I got lucky with shorter ears."

"And you've found an Elven Guild already?" I asked him. Due to Elves being rare and in some cases valuable, there were no listed Guilds anywhere on the map. In order to help keep my kind safe.

Besides keys, I've been doing practically nothing but visiting every library everywhere in between my travel points. Looking for anything about elves, and where to find more of my kind in the game. Any myths, or last spotted locations. But nothing. Only the information about Elves being a rarity and just how valuable I could be in the wrong hands.

 I swear I'm seeing hearts all over again.

'I'm tired of being alone.'

"You're serious?" I asked and he chuckled. 

"Of course." He told me. "Our kind should really be the ones that stick together. We can talk more about it at my party." He offered. I took a deep breath and sighed at the annoyance that I was going to have to face. 

"I would love to go to your party if you could help me get into an Elven Guild" I told him.

"Well, then I'll see you tonight." He told me and winked before flying away on his purple fire.

"I want to die now." I said as I processed what just happened. Tonight was going to be long, and most likely annoying. But it was also going to be for my own safety.