I woke up in a hospital. A tree hospital? A tree? It was hard to tell, but there were hospital beds and it was clearly some sort of wooden structure. Whatever it was it smelled far better than than the caves.

"You passed out from blood loss," A woman said from across the room. She was pretty far away, and my eyesight wasn't great, but she was drop-dead gorgeous. She practically glowed. Her skin, hair, eyes, everything about her was perfect. "It was mean of him to cut your wrist. He could have very well just cut your hand and you would have been fine." She walked over, I could hear her high heels hit the floor but it looked like she was floating. She grabbed my wrist and inspected it. "They did a good job with some on the spot healing but you are still going to feel a bit weak." Now that she was closer I realized one thing about her that might be less than perfect. Or at least less than normal. Her ears were sharply pointed.

"Are you an elf?" I asked. I was too exhausted to beat around the bush.

She let out a musical laugh. "No, silly Image! I am-" She went on to say some word, at least I think they were words, that I did not understand at all. Once she stopped making the strange sounds, she noticed my face. "Right... I forget Images don't understand that. Um... Sure, I'm an elf. You can call me Ellett."

I slowly nodded, my head reeling. I wasn't sure if it was from the shock, the bloodloss or the strange sounds she had made. "So uh... Ellett... Where is this? Er... Where are me?"Her head snapped up from what she was reading. "They didn't tell you? Well, on second thought, maybe that was a good idea..." She fidgeted a little. "Welcome to the Core. You might call it the core of the Earth or... what was it called? Travel to the center of the Earth? We are in that center." Seeing my still confused face she decided to explain more. "We are at the center of your planet you may call the people who live her Elohim or... no... that is a bit too lofty for us. Perhaps Images call us Tsaba? I will have to get an expert in her later. My language is fairly limited as I'm sure you have noticed. It is not every day I get to talk to a real-life image!" She seemed oddly excited. I still didn't understand but she was trying so hard, so I pretended. Fake it till you make it, right?

"Tsaba, that's a really strange word... And why do you keep calling me an Image? And if you aren't lying, how di-" A loud knock at the door cut me off. A knight entered, I recognized him as the guard from earlier.

"Marccus." Ellett made it clear she wasn't overjoyed to see him. Her voice dropping a few octaves. "She is resting. Give her time."

His slight glare made it clear he did not want to follow doctor's orders. "I would if I could. They are intent on seeing her as soon as possible. She needs to begin training."

Ellett took a defensive stance as he stepped closer. "No, she does not! She just got here, she just woke up, she just lost a lot of blood. Come back later!" He took a few steps closer until he was looming over her. He was a whole head taller than she was. There was an odd staring contest before Ellett finally gave in. "I do not know much about them, but I do know that Images are much weaker. Go easy on her." He gave her a gruff nod and stepped closer to me.

"You heard the doctor, up!" He said, his words choppy and forced. I couldn't tell if his English wasn't great or if he didn't care to use many words. He didn't seem like the eloquent type. I looked at Ellett, she gave a confirming nod. Shakily, I got up. He grabbed my arm to help steady me in a surprisingly gentle way. He looked to Ellett and exchanged a few words I didn't understand before guiding me out the door.