My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

Anywhere else for anything else, what I was doing was definitely a classic case-closed verdict for 'Main-Character Syndrome'.

Random guy shows up out of the blue mid-production, has an entire character written in haste just for him and forcibly shoved into the story for seemingly no other clear reason than pure nepotism.

Now the guy thinks he can just waltz up here and make one of the most pivotal scenes in the film all about him? Just who the hell does he think he is?

And I'm right there with them. Who the hell do I think I am? Has my head really swelled so big to the point I could think I could just simply take over an entire movie—and worse, actually act on that impulse?

I waited for a moment. Surely someone's gonna stop me dead in my tracks, right? Yank me off the set with a hook, take me out somewhere in the back, gun to my head, bullet to my brain—well, come on already. Don't actually let me keep going.

Look at me you dictator-director, I'm going against your script here! Defying your authority! Not gonna bite my head off? I'm going off the cuff, doing my own thing—you want that?

Still quiet. Still nothing. I gave it another moment. But there were still no hooks, no sudden sound of a gunshot, the cameras continued to roll… the shimmer of glints of their lenses edging the corners of my eyes.

So be it then. My movie now.

Leaving the comfort and safety of his tree, Chester placed himself between the Hero and the Demon, sailing past the heavy tension brimming in the air with little trouble.

Terestra followed me with her gaze all the while, all too painfully aware that her pure amusement was the sole reason I was able to do and speak as I had.

"Courteous, aren't you?" She remarked, before cocking her brow toward Leonardo. "Another friend of yours?"

"That's right!" I chimed in hastily, noticing Leonardo's lips twitch for an answer. "A friend. An excellent friend at that. One that can understand and sympathize… and the grievances you have put my dear friend through, hearing it—truly, what you've done—it wounds the heart, I must say."

Leonardo glanced at me briefly as I spoke, his eyes a chaotic mix of disbelief and confusion tugging his facial muscles in a fight for control. It was hard to tell if he was still the hero I knew and was coerced by… or if it was someone else entirely staring at me right then.

"And so," I continued to speak, rifling in desperate silence for the perfect words to say. "Loathe as I am to impose myself upon this lovely, er—reunion of yours… I'm afraid I just must. If only to clarify my own musings," I bowed my hat at her for that little extra touch. "If you would kindly indulge me, of course."

I was finally starting to see it. Feel it. That mounting sense of terror everyone was talking about. Terestra had a way of staring that just seemed to bore its way into the very depths of your being and no amount of courage or boldness you could muster to stop it.

It's only fortunate for me that it wasn't just the devil that had those eyes of hers. The smile on her lips, as harmless as it was dreadfully wicked.

"I suppose that depends," She replied, a hint of glee in her voice. "What kind of musings might you have about me?"

Her line was still the same. If that was any silver lining, I wasn't drastically steering the plot off-course or anything like that. Everything was still the same, except now I had to pass lines that were intended for Leonardo through a meticulous filter of charm and grace.

"Then if you would pardon this witless fool's confusion, once again, I must ask—why? Why send Leonardo here?"

"Witless, indeed," she giggled at me. "Doesn't it only make sense I'd want to keep him at bay? If someone's stopping you from doing something, well you should probably stop them from doing so, no?"

"But it's not just 'something' you're doing, are you?" I said, my tone stripped of any sort of bias. "The tales he has shared of your deeds. A cruelty I can't even begin to fathom. Terestra the Vile. Tell me, is there any merit to his claims? Two sides to every tale—what could be yours?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've heard all that you had to hear. My tale is a simple one, and you've already heard the complete whole. There's no justifying me, I'm afraid. I am as I am."

Unsettling? Well, if the expressions of everyone else around me were anything to go by then absolutely yes. But Chester does not get unsettled. And the only chills evoked in his presence are from the silky words that would leave his lips.

"I do not ask for justifications. An explanation would more than suffice, truthfully," I said. "For you to do as you do. I believe I speak for everyone here when I ask—why? Why is it that this is what you do?"

"A witless question once again," she remarked, shaking her head ever so slightly at me. "Hmm, in that case—can you tell me why is it that you breathe? Why do you grow? Can you tell me the reason why you live? Or perhaps explain to me why you die? Anyone?"

She waited for a response, yet was beset only by silence. Tressa's gaze remained embedded deep in the earth. Remelda continued to scowl, clenched fists quivering by her side. There was a flicker in Leonardo's stoic expression, a little rouse of life, nevertheless, the silence persisted.

"We are as we are, you see," she said simply. "And I am as I am."

Surreal. I keep using that word. But this time I really mean it. Having her explain herself to me in this way. Through smoke and mirrors of cameras and make-believe.

"If what you say is true," I said quietly, turning slowly to the brooding figure behind me. "Why haven't you killed him?"

Her chin lifted slightly. "You wish him dead?"

"I desire no such thing, I assure you," I said, "But it does beg the question. If you are as you are and chaos and destruction are as you do, why then didn't you just kill him when you could? Why send him off, when you could very well have just gotten rid of him for good? Now here you emerge, stopping him from trying to return—why choose to stop at just stopping him? Wouldn't it be more befitting of you to continue to just do as you do?"

"Ah, finally, a sensible question at last," Terestra beamed with joy. "And to answer, stopping him here now would be more than enough. With no way to return, there would be no one left in the realm to oppose me."

"But he'll still be alive."

"Of course he will," she said. "I don't want him dead."

I've already asked her these questions before, and even back then, she more or less said the exact same thing. But that was my mother I was talking to before; her eyes soft with endearment speaking in whispered words of love.

"Why?"

And here I was asking her again. In separate circumstances. A different person. Maybe this way I thought I would feel something different. Seeing her like this. Dressed as she was. Acting as she was. That clearly there was a fine line separating the before and after.

But turns out, it's exactly as she said. There was no difference.

"Why?" A chuckle. A smile. That same look of love and fondness ringing true. "Because I like him, that's why."

She was no different.

Leonardo looked affronted. Visibly so. Too stunned to even say a word. At least this time he has a very good reason for not doing so.

"You… like him?" I asked.

"He is an admirable man," Terestra said. "And there are many things I admire about him. His strength, kindness… his resolve especially—the lengths that he would go to to achieve his goal. I feel a sort of kinship in that. Even now, lost and astray as he is, still he refuses to concede… he will do what has to be done, and as such… so will I."

Once again. This was supposed to be Leonardo's scene. In the end, after learning all that he has, he'll somehow manage to talk her down and make her leave—the gallant hero that he was.

According to the script, it would be him doubling down once again on his beliefs that'll eventually make Terestra relent for the time being. But thanks to the direction I went and steered us in, that wouldn't really fit the scene now.

But honestly speaking, that ending never did sit right with me in the first place anyway. The woman I know wouldn't just walk away for a reason like that. It's just a hunch, but if I were to guess how it all probably went down, it'd probably be something like this… supposing a random guy in a top hat was there anyway.

"In that case," I said, lightening up. "Wouldn't it actually be better if he were to return instead?"

For once, Terestra looked quizzical. Surprised. "Would it now?"

"I agree with you there, m'lady. Indeed, resolve is a most attractive quality to find in an individual," I began to pace, gesture, channeling the suaveness of a thousand rom-com actors. "And clearly, you've a keen eye for quality if I do say so myself. That being said, you've clearly made a lapse in judgment somewhere, I dread to say."

Terestra was even more bemused now. "Have I?"

"If unwavering resolve is truly what you admire in a man, why then would you choose to deliberately hamper his?" I said, beckoning her with empty inquiring hands. "You adore the lengths that he would go, yet you would decide to cut him short? Is it not that very determination that caught your eye in the first place? How he will continue to defy you, oppose you every step of the way towards the very end?"

"Are you persuading me to let him return?" She asked. "That I should let him try and stop me and possibly succeed? Risk my goal for his own?"

"Will all that strength, all that perseverance that rival yours, does he not deserve the chance to try? Wouldn't you rather see just how far his resolve will take him? Or how it measures to yours? At the very least…" I threw a final shrug. "Wouldn't that be a little more exciting than winning unopposed?"

Terestra was silent for the longest time yet. Twice or thrice, she blinked. And twice or thrice, her eyes would veer. To mine, to everyone else's, and finally to Leonardo.

Eventually, I noticed dots of sunlight peppered across the grass. It was getting brighter, the air lighter, warmer… and as the darkness began to dwindle, Terestra spun around, the crooked hems of her dress gliding her slowly toward the gaps in the trees.

"I'll see you back home, Leonardo," she said, glancing back for a parting smile. "Try not to keep me waiting too long, alright?"