I Scored Myself A Mate

"Such a handsome young man working with Naila and you're telling me that there is nothing going on with you?" An old fairy lady asked Alex and he smiled brightly. 

"Nothing is going on. She saved me so I am helping her out. Now granny here is your medicine. Remember Naila said to take it twice a day. Don't forget it." Alex said and took from his bag a small leather pouch that was filled with an aromatic dust. He carefully handed it to the old lady, her hands shaking as she grasped it. She placed the pouch to the side and gave him two golden coins. "Thank you" he told her sweetly and she smiled. 

"You should come next time too. Seeing such handsome faces makes my day." she complimented him and he laughed. 

"Of course I will." he told her before he left, hearing her close the door of her little hut behind him. 

Alex tossed the coins in the air and grabbed them again before he shoved them in his pocket. He placed his little bag, that until a few hours ago was filled to the brim with medicine, better on his shoulder and followed the little fairy made path that led to the main village of the fairy nation. 

It had been over a year that the young elf had woken up. He spent a week with deep fevers, hallucinating and in horrible pain until Naila's medicine helped him and cured the wound on his head completely. The only drawback had been that once Alex woke up he didn't remember anything, not who he was or where he came from. He had asked Naila about it. The girl told him his name but as it seemed she had no idea either. Many times he had thought of getting back to the elf kingdom, searching about who he was but no one was looking for him. He had asked the travelers many times if an elf named Alex was missing, if they had heard anything but no one knew.   

So he had decided to spend some time there, feeling indebted to Naila for all that she did for him, the young elf chose to become her helper. He would make simple positions for her, help her with collecting herbs and deliver her medicine to her older customers in the village. 

He lived a peaceful life and got along with Naila pretty well. She was kind and funny, a very smart fairy and she too seemed to enjoy his company. She would always tell him that he was a great help and that he had made her life easier. Because of that and since no one ever came looking for him Alex slowly started to forget about his so-called home, a place he didn't really remember anything about. He wanted to help Naila, after all she had saved his life. 

He was done with the work of the day, his feet a bit sore since he had to go towards the demon territory this time and the ground there was rough but thankfully not that many fairies lived close to that border. Alex had heard from Naila that the demons used to cause a lot of trouble, not only to the fairies but to other species too but since the elf king killed two of their biggest rulers they had calmed down quite a lot. 

"This king must be something." he mumbled, his thoughts traveling as he entered a small candy shop. The place smelled sweet, like melted sugar with a few hints of rose and he smiled. He really liked coming to this place, it was always filled with light and had the best caramels. He wanted to buy some for Naila, she always liked the cinnamon flavored ones while he preferred blueberry. 

The woman behind the counter raised her head, the chimes at the door signaling Alex's arrival and she smiled. 

"Hello little elf." she told him. He was a regular customer there and also many people knew him because of his deliveries. No one called him by his name though. Everyone called him little elf, something that had made him angry at first but as the days went by he learned not to mind. The elf Kingdom was far away, he probably was one of the few elves that lived there. 

"Hello miss Anya. Can I get what I always do please?" he asked and a small yawn, surprisingly escaped his lips. The woman chuckled, seeing his cute expression as apologized embarrassed. 

"You look tired today. Bad day at work?" she asked him. 

"No, it's just that sleeping is a bit hard sometimes." he told her as she took three silver coins from his pocket and left them on the counter, taking the little bag with blue and red colored caramels in his hand. "Thank you." 

"Thank you too and don't work so hard, rest from time to time. Also get a haircut" she advised him and he smiled, opening the door. 

She was right on the haircut part. His hair had actually gotten pretty long, getting even further than his shoulders and the locks didn't seem to get tamed that easily. Alex usually tied them with a hairband, having to worry only about those that fell to his eyes but today the band had snapped, freeing his hair. He had gotten many compliments about it but when they were free like that they were uncomfortable. 

The truth was that sleeping wasn't hard sometimes. It was always hard. Alex, ever since he recuperated from his head injury, had difficulty sleeping. If he had to actually count the hours he managed to sleep peacefully on his bed wouldn't be more than three every night. He had tried everything. Remedies, caramels, pills and magical potions made by Naila but nothing seemed to work. The reason why his sleep was so restless was because of his dreams. 

One dream in particular. He always had the same dream, for over a year now. It was a man, his face couldn't be seen since his back was turned towards him. Tall with broad shoulders, his hair white as snow. 

Alex would stand there, behind him and look at him. He would be still too, his head moving from side to side as if he was searching for something. Then, the moment the unknown man would intend to move, turn around and face him Alex would hear the sound of an arrow, flashing right next to his ear and landing right at the man's chest. He would fall down, a pull of blood spreading around him, a word escaping his lips but Alex did not know the meaning. 

In his dream, as if he was someone else, Alex would scream and shout. Cry and try to reach him but he wouldn't be able to move. It was as if he would be stuck. He felt like his heart was getting ripped off his chest every night, waking up in tears, while the unknown word the man said would echo in his head for hours. 

Allias.