Her vision was blurry. She would hear sounds but could not pinpoint where it was coming from. Soon, she opened her eyes wide and the sounds became clearer now.
"She's awake."
"Why does she look so different?"
"Look at her ear."
"Hello, what are you doing out here?"
Ariel looked around a d the first thing she could see were four pairs of eyes staring at her. She quickly got up and sat on the grass.
"Does she talk?" one of the strangers asked.
"How do you know it's a 'she'?" another answered.
"What am I doing here? Where am I?" She asked nobody in particular but still expecting a response. The eyes continued staring at her intently which made her embarrassed. She then stood up from the ground and wanted to walk away, but soon staggered and almost fell. It was hard trying to maintain her balance.
"Can't you walk?" one of them asked.
"Why are you different from us?" another one asked
"Where are you going to?"
The questions never seemed to end, but Ariel knew she had better things to do than answer a bunch of aliens.
"Hey, I'm Vorgath. What's your name?" one of the boy aliens asked. Ariel staggered back and looked at the person that spoke.
"Hey Vorgath, nice...to...meet...you..." her voice trailed off as she fainted again.
"What's wrong with her?" Vorgath asked.
"Who are you asking?" another one replied sarcastically.
"Should we help her?" another one named Kaelix asked Vorgath, but he was nowhere to be found. When he looked forward, Vorgath was already trying to carry Ariel up.
"Really?" Kaelix muttered as the rest helped Vorgath to carry Ariel to their village.
"What will happen to our fish? Kaelix asked.
"We leave it." Vorgath replied.
"For a stranger? Are you falling in love or something?" another alien asked him, but he just shrugged without saying anything.
When they reached their village, they were greeted with gasps and gossips.
"We need help! We found her in the woods, we need help!" Vorgath shouted which had snapped most of the villagers back to reality. They rushed to them and carried Ariel to a shelter, but Vorgath chose to follow them while Kaelix followed Vorgath.
In the shelter, they laid Ariel on a bed and an old man came inside. He looked frail and his back was bent, so he used a stick to support himself as he walked.
"Where did you say you saw her?" he asked.
"On the woods, sir. We were fishing and saw her lying there." Vorgath replied with his head bent. Kaelix also did the same.
The man went over to where Ariel was and examined her. One significant thing he noticed were her ears.
'This race, I've only seen it in my visions. Could she be an...elf? Her ears certainly look like the ones from my vision. Could it be...' his thoughts stopped when he saw Ariel open her eyes. She rubbed them slightly and looked around the place once more.
"Where am I?" she asked, looking at the man, her eyes finally resting on Vorgath.
"You... you're the one from the woods. Vorgath?" she asked him. His face lit up when she called his name.
"Yes, I'm Vorgath. Nice to meet you too." he smiled. Too bad Ariel could not return the smile because one thing was on her mind.
"Aliens, mother, Zhilin, everybody, gone." she spoke softly, tears welling up in her eyes.
"So your people were gone, huh? Well then, we will take you in. But not without you telling us what happened to your race." the old man said.
Ariel turned to look at him as he said those words.
"You're going to need treatments and when you are well, you can start talking. But for now, welcome to our village." the man said with a big smile on his face.