The body was humanoid, but the skin and features definitely weren't.

In fact, Naya had never seen nor heard of anything like what she saw before her. 

Its skin was a slightly darker shade of green than a blade of grass, but that wasn't the most surprising thing about it. It only had a single eye, normal-sized in the middle of its forehead, and a large mouth. Its ears were human-sized while also pointed similarly at the tip. Two sharp teeth protruded out of the sides of its mouth.

Sophia and Rula moved behind her.

"What is that?!" Sophia yelled.

Rula squatted beside Naya and bravely poked the humanoid's cheek, "I don't know, but they suddenly attacked me! Luckily, I summoned Borp the moment we got separated!"

Borp?

Verala lightly chuckled. She definitely has an... odd naming sense.

I feel sorry for her future children.

The summon in question, Borp, stood off to the side with its swords sheathed at its side but with both hilts gripped tightly. It looked ready to attack at any moment.

"I haven't heard of anything like these," Sophia flipped one of the other bodies. "Naya?"

That one had long green hair and human-like feminine features, which included a larger chest.

"Never." 

Do either of you know what these are?

Usually, I'd suggest a race of Demons, and while it can't be ruled out entirely, I do doubt it. Verala answered.

I know of something similar, but not quite like these. Lia said with a low tone as if she questioned her own logic.

How long ago? It's possible they changed.

It's not just about physical appearance: the ones I know should all be dead. 

A whole race, dead? 

Lia didn't respond.

Interesting... It seemed Verala gained an increased interest in Lia, and Naya wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"I take it Lia hasn't heard anything either, then." Sophia sighed while she flipped the last body over.

Oh? She knows about you.

So does Rula: it's better this way.

 I suppose you don't intend to tell them about me.

No.

However, that reminded Naya that Sophia could see Arcana. It was a surprise she hadn't commented about Verala, especially given the amount of Arcana it took for the spell to activate. Perhaps the presence was different somehow.

"Soo~" Rula stood and dusted her pants off, "What now?"

Sophia clapped once and smirked, "We tie them up!" 

Naya stood and looked at her dubiously, "How?"

"Silly Naya, a lady never comes unprepared." Sophia wagged her finger and launched her arm forward.

It was comedic.

Sophia's arm didn't hit the air. Instead, it went through a black portal that formed instantly. It looked as though she rummaged through a chest as her arm moved from left to right.

"Not there... or there... hmmm~" Sophia mumbled as she dug, "Aha!" 

When she pulled her arm out of the portal, there was a thick rope in her hand. 

Naya's eyes slightly widened, "Why?"

Sophia shrugged, "You never know! That's why I keep one of pretty much everything you can buy at a craftsman's shop." 

"That's so cool!" Rula jumped over to Sophia, "Can I tie one?" 

Sophia briefly chuckled and rustled Rula's hair, much to the girl's annoyance, "Unless you mastered the art of tying knots, I think you should leave this one to me."

Rula deflated but didn't show signs of arguing. "Fine... But I'll watch for next time!"

Naya only wondered how and why Sophia knew how to tie rope. 

"Rula, can you have..." Sophia paused and had a funny look.

"Her name is Borp! But sure!" Rula ran up to Borp, "Borp, move the bodies to seperate trees!"

Borp moved immediately and got to work while Rula watched as if she were the boss at a building site.

"Thank you." Sophia followed after it.

Interesting. Verala hummed. Her summons appear to have some degree of sentience and can obey commands outside their summoned purpose. 

Dwarven abilities must be abnormal.

They are, simply because most of them are nonsense and can be incredibly strong or weaker than a child's fist.

Naya walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Below was the ocean and a rocky shore with waves crashing into the rock wall. But, she noticed wooden parts of a ship.

That looks old, but it could mean there are people here.

Lia sighed. Assuming any made friends with the natives.

Any ideas?

Well... I think I can tell you after you speak with them and ask about their race.

Naya nodded

That easily? Verala spoke like a child who had her candy taken. Why not tell us now? My curiosity is burning a hole in my chest!

I can't since, even to me, it is only a theory, and I might be wrong. I need to be sure.

Weird.

Naya's ears perked, and she deftly moved to her right.

"All done- Ah!" Sophia tried to pull Naya into another hug, but she dodged.

However, her reflexive action nearly caused Sophia to stumble off the cliff.

Naya was sure it wouldn't have harmed Sophia since she could probably have teleported. But her heart still dropped, and she reacted instantly.

Her hand whipped out and latched onto Sophia's. In one swift motion, she pulled Sophia backward and into her chest with a single step back to brace herself.

It ended up opposite of how it would have gone, with Sophia nestled against Naya's chest. 

It was a weird feeling.

Naya's ears twitched, and she felt her face heat up.

She grabbed Sophia by her shoulders and gently pushed her in the opposite direction of the cliff.

Sophia quickly moved backward with her head turned away from Naya, "M-my bad, I wasn't thinking." She had her hand on the back of her head, too, where she had hit Naya's chest.

That was the first time Naya had ever heard Sophia sound embarrassed. If she was half as much of a flirt as her, Naya would have taken advantage to tease, but it was just as embarrassing for her.

"Hey, they're waking up now!" Rula shouted without looking back since her eyes were glued to one of the humanoids.

Sophia cleared her throat, "Right, right." 

Naya decided to forget about it and was only thankful the voices in her head didn't feel the need to comment.

You're welcome.

Hm?

Nothing.

It turned out that forgetting something like that wasn't easy, but luckily, there was a more pressing matter for Naya to deal with.

The groaning from the humanoid awakening sounded strange to Naya's ears. It sounded like the ordinary voice of an adult human male while also producing a noise akin to the chirps of a bug.

His eye snapped open, and he thrashed around in his bindings while growling with his mix of a bug-and-man voice.

"That rope isn't so weak that it would break from just some resistance." Sophia stopped before the man.

"Let... me... go!" The man spoke between bouts of struggle, which confirmed what Naya gathered from his earlier groans; he sounded like a man mixed with a bug's chirps.

Sophia squatted and tilted her head slightly, "Damn, that's an interesting sound." 

They really are... Lia stopped.

Sophia patiently watched as the man continued to struggle in vain against the ropes.

He was tenacious, and it felt like the thrashing continued for ten minutes before he finally stopped moving, whether from tiredness or resignation, Naya didn't know. He only looked at the ground.

Get ready to hit his eye! Lia warned.

Naya reacted instantly.

She grabbed Sophia's shoulder and threw her back.

"Wha-"

"Naya?"

The humanoid whipped his head up, and his bright green eye glowed brightly enough to light up the area. The man smirked, and the glow intensified for a second.

Naya had to admit she enjoyed the feeling of erasing smirks like that.

And erase it she did.

A moment after the eye intensified, a very thin, green transparent square launched from it fast enough to where, if Lia hadn't warned her, she wouldn't have been able to block it in time unenhanced.

But she was prepared, and the green square hit her hand.

The purple vortex formed and sucked in the green square, which folded like paper as it flew into her palm.

It all happened in a mere few seconds.

Naya's purple lines went up to her wrist, which indicated whatever attack he used had a lot of power.

When the light from his eye cleared, the man's smirk froze.

Rather than the spot where his ability vanished, he was looking at Naya's ears.

"B-betrayer!" He started to thrash again, more violent than before. "Betrayer! BETRAYER!" He shouted between violent thrusts of his body.

"What?" 

Naya was taken aback. 

Sophia walked forward, "You ought to be more gentle with a lady." 

Rula, with Borp at her side, stood to Naya's right. 

"What's with him?" Rula asked; she sounded a lot calmer now.

"Seems like he has a history with your people."

"Obviously."  

At this point, Naya couldn't be surprised. It seemed everybody had some history with her people, even those she wouldn't think mattered at all. But still, to call her a betrayer... 

It obviously wasn't related to her own past, but it still wasn't something she wanted to hear.

Interesting. The time when the Elves roamed the world is lost history; we could get some very useful information out here.

Some of it is better left in the past.

After another ten minutes, the man seemed fully exhausted, "B-betrayer..." he sputtered.

It would be dark soon, so Naya stepped forward instead of allowing Sophia to do it. 

"Why did you attack us?"

The man struggled to keep eye contact with Naya, flicking his pupil from the ground and back to her. He seemed terrified and angry. "...Betrayer..."

Naya's brow twitched, and she felt her temper rising. She hated dealing with people like this. Still, she kept her emotions under control as best she could since the only thing lashing out would do was confirm their fears.

"Why do you call me that?" 

The man didn't respond.

Sophia placed her hand on Naya's shoulder, "I don't think we're getting anything out of him like this."

Naya's ears twitched; there was movement to the side, and another was awakening. "Hopefully, this one will be different; they are lucky we didn't just kill them." 

In her mind, it would be justified: they tried to kill Rula. If they weren't already knocked out when she got there, she'd have likely just killed them all.

"You're... Eluva... the betrayers." It was the feminine one who spoke. Her voice sounded similar to the male, but the chirp was higher pitched along with her adult female voice.

"Eluva?" Rula asked, then she realized, "Elves!"

"Syillia!" The man shouted.

Naya turned toward her, "Stop calling me that."

"You wish to erase the past?!" The girl, Syillia, raised her voice.

"Calm down!" Sophia moved closer to Syillia, partly blocking Naya's sight, "I don't know your history, but the Elves haven't been around for hundreds of years." 

Syillia's single green eye widened, but her frown didn't diminish, "So long..."

"Yep, so whatever problems you have with the Elves, Naya is unrelated," Sophia said placatingly.

Naya didn't want to deal with that. Trying to get on their good side to get information didn't please her. But neither did torture. 

She looked toward the sky: the moon was coming up, and it would be pitch black soon. She didn't want to have to listen to a history lesson; there would be plenty of time for that.

Naya really only wanted one answer, "You attacked her." Naya made sure she had Syillia's attention, then gestured toward Rula. "Why?"

Syillia took a moment to respond: she was likely in a stupor about the information she was given. A few seconds later, she looked at Rula, specifically at her ears. "Eluva ears. Thought she was a betrayer coming to finish the job."

"I'm a Dwarf!" Rula immediately shouted and touched her ears.

"That's it?" Sophia asked, "You attacked a child because she looked like an Elf?"

"The betrayers killed nearly all of us!" Syillia shouted defensively, and the chirp in her tone was heightened by quite a bit. "Even if long ago..."

Sophia sighed, "Fine, this is stupid." She stood up and stared down at her, "Just tell me two things: the name of this land and your race."

Syillia was silent.

Naya prepared to pull on her Arcana, just as a threat.

But the other man spoke, "We... are Frigach, and... we call this land... Higa."

Frigach: the experimental race created by a mad Elven researcher for the sole purpose of war. Lia explained with a low and grave tone.

What? Naya nearly reacted physically. War? Her people didn't go to war, nor was there ever a war she had even heard rumors of. Not to mention creating a race, which was a sin. Playing god was against Aleria's will.

I cannot tell you the specifics. I'm sorry. But, they were supposed to have all been killed because they ended up far too weak to be of any use.

Naya didn't have any words. She wanted to argue, to say that they wouldn't do such a thing. However, she already had plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise. All it took was another, just like Soranulam, who experimented with people.

Interesting. Verala's tone echoed her intrigue. So, the question becomes if Arcanum knows of this place and, if so, why they transported you to it.