Animas: The Phantom Light

The story is about an orphan boy who is currently being passed onto the orphanage of another city. Kazegan, the great meon home, and the only place in all the continents where both factions can meet.

Animas: The Phantom Light

A novel

Daniella Plata

This is a word of fiction. Names, characters, organization, places, events and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Text copyright 2016 Daniella Plata

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Acknolwedgements

I wouldn’t have ever had the courage to follow my dream if you weren’t in my life.

This book is dedicated to my mother and brother, who mean the world and more to me.

Chapter Zero: This Ended Too Quickly

When the beast pounced at me and sent a rampage of painful claws and fangs at my chest and face I almost blacked out. As I lay there helpless and dying, all I could do was think about all the things I wished were different. I wished that I had befriended the twins earlier because my childhood felt like it had gone by in a blur of loneliness and sinking into books, I wish I had sat down and talked to Professor Okon a little more or trained harder with my magic jewel and become stronger, I wished I could've been a better fire opal. I just really wished everything hadn't

ended so quickly.

Just then, I heard the breaking of glass and suddenly the heat of flames embraced me. The beast and some of the trees had caught fire so I closed my eyes tightly, making sure I definitely couldn't see. I was scared I'd see death come to collect the time I had borrowed.

Out of all the things I never thought that the flames would remind me of the morning of the move to the other orphanage. I remembered because it was so hot that I couldn't sleep and I had to keep my arms and legs spread because I felt so sticky and hot, kind of like I felt right now. I also remembered that I could hear the twins in my half-awake-half-asleep stage. They were talking about Kae's designs because she wanted a good way to wear her jewel, the jewel we would be receiving from the oracles that day before we moved to the new orphanage. I remember how excited I was, even though I didn’t want to admit it. And now? Now I would give anything to have a second chance.

Chapter One: Goodbye, Zennan

I woke up around 12PM for like the sixth time already. I had my arms and legs spread as far as I could from my body because the temperature in the orphanage was so high right now. Even my fingers felt sticky and disgusting. I had time, though, because Saraphe, the headmaster of our next orphanage, wasn't coming until 2:30PM. So I turned around and closed my eyes about to try and sleep again when I heard the twins enter the room. I could half hear their conversation, Kae was telling Khadar about how her jewel, the thing that powers us wizards and gives us mana, was going to be an emerald and she wanted to show off the jade color of it. I could hear pages flipping and assumed it was the book that Kae had been drawing her designs on. But Khadar didn't have time to give his opinion before I heard another voice interrupt them.

"Hello kids! I'm sorry to interrupt you but Saraphe would like to have a word with you all for lunch. She's requesting all of you at the dining room."

I sat up a bit to look who it was. It looked like a meon, the species that ruled the city we were about to move to, Kazegan. They were all about as tall as my knee with furry ears ranging from 'so big they droop' to 'as tiny as bear ears'. His fur was a light shade of grey, medium length ears but big, curious and warm eyes.  I sighed quietly and sat up at the edge of the bed trying to wake up for good.

"Should we save you a seat, Daran?" Asked Khadar, who was packing up the last bit of his things in a bag,

"Sure." I muttered still too sleepy.

Me and the twins had been friends for around eight years now, although lately we had gotten even closer. I had lived in this orphanage for as long as I could remember and I had seen them all my life but I hadn't ever really made contact with anyone, specially them. Well, not until I turned seven. They were usually together all the time, did everything as a duo, so I guess it was pretty intimidating for everyone else. They were so close since young, in fact, that it was a big reason why they had never been adopted. Most people only are looking for one kid, and a pair of twins that can already walk, run and talk? It’s just too much. More than most people around here in Zennan have time for.

At first I thought they'd be really annoying, like those people who have code words and inside jokes with each other that make you feel completely left out, but it was quite the opposite, they were really engaging and funny. Afterwards it was pretty easy to approach them, which is good because I haven’t ever been the social type, or the popular kid. It’s not like I get bullied around or anything either, the rest of the world and I are just awkward acquaintances who you might say hello to when passing by the hallways, but never more than that. I much rather be reading or doing something on my own than dealing with other people’s dramas and silly things. So it was pretty great to have met them and have two people more that I could talk to whenever I might get lonely -- apart from the lunch lady, who I have always had esteem for.

Once I took a quick shower and got ready with the new clothes the orphanage had given us for the arrival at Kazegan, I went to the dining room. I was definitely going to miss this place, even if it was small and sometimes cramped up, having five kids per room, or even if the temperatures in Zennan could get so bad the orphanage would feel like you were at the gates of hell. But this had been my home and I couldn't imagine ever being this comfortable anywhere else.

The dining room was decorated in banners that said goodbye to all of us, the tables aligned so that we'd all be looking at where Saraphe was, the other meon was standing right beside her. I quickly found my reserved spot, Kae, the younger sis, had placed her huge bag right at the end of the table where I liked to sit. I got to see the first bit of magic of the day as I headed towards them since all the tables were suddenly filling up with bowls of different kinds of food, food we had never seen here in Zennan. I could only assume it was the way the meon’s were welcoming us to their orphanage by offering Kazeganian food.

"Hey, Daran!" She said as soon as she saw me, pulling the bag between her ankles under the table, "Saraphe hasn't begun her speech. Isn't she adorable though?"

"Kae's been really excited about this new orphanage thing," said Khadar, looking towards Saraphe, "She keeps fangirling over the meons."

"Good afternoon! I'm Saraphe and this is Orin." Said Saraphe. She was also a meon but unlike Orin's serious gray color, her fur was a gentle purple. Her ears were also medium sized and adorned with two pearls at the very bottom.  Orin, the little guy from earlier,  was climbing behind her onto the table she was currently standing on, "I'm early today so that I can explain to you all what will be happening and what to expect. Now, as you may already know, I'm the headmaster of your new orphanage. Kazegan is a wonderful city, I know you will all like it. There will be plenty of things for you children to do. At Kazegan's heart there's something called the Meon Trade District. You will find all kinds of things crafted by the best for each jewel. There are also theaters with human made movies and restaurants, museums and an amusement park nearby for those who like thrills. Now about the jewels," She turned around and whispered something at Orin, who quickly snapped his fingers at her command, creating twelve jewel replicas that began floating towards the tables. They went from one table to the next, slowly giving time for each one of us to take a look at the jewels before continuing onto the next one. You could see every single detail of the jewels, from their actual color, to how much a real one would weigh, to even how they lit up whenever you’d use them to make magic, "Today I will be taking you all to the oracle where you will be examined and given your very own jewel. What is a jewel? Jewels are what us meons and wizards use to make magic. They are the batteries to our magic. There is a total of twelve different jewels. Each one tries to fit in with a personality so that you can connect easier with it. After you've seen the oracle, each one of you will be given a small book where you can find pictures and explanations of each jewel so that you may learn about the one that's chosen you. Please enjoy the food and I will see you all back at Kazegan!"

Some of the kids began clapping so the three of us awkwardly followed through until Saraphe and Orin disappeared inside with the rest of the other caretakers.

"Twelve jewels though," Said Khadar,

"I already know which one I'm going to get though. I read about them some time ago and I am pretty sure the emerald is going to be mine." Said Kae, digging into the food.

"I never really bothered with it because I didn't want it to feel like an eternity for me to turn fifteen," I said, "Besides, I knew that even though it'd be great to get my own jewel and not have to say spells to make magic it also meant I had to go to Kazegan."

"Kazegan's a neutral city though, right?" Whispered Khadar as he leaned in a bit, "I mean, we're gonna be living with Dominus too?"

Kae nodded, "But I've heard they're really strict about Dominus and Zennan getting along to protect everyone. Especially themselves."

"It's like the reject orphanage. 'Please, they're all fifteen and cranky and rebellious. Just take them!” Said Khadar, and Kae chuckled.

Khadar reached out and grabbed one of the bowls, staring at it for a moment before grabbing a spoon. “How do you even eat this?” He asked.

It looked like a pie had been stuffed inside of a bowl somehow. There was a crusty outside, kind of how apple pies look, but the bowl was all around it and it had a single cherry at the top. There were also weird pancake-shaped foods with squares on them and something that looked like jelly poured all over them. On the farther end of the table were more salty meals, which I was grateful for, it seemed they really liked their sweets, even though those meals also looked weird. One of them was a simple chicken cut up in pieces and sprinkled all over a heavy amount of lettuce with a red-ish sauce draped around the chicken like a blanket. It looked odd, but Kae seemed happy enough stuffing her face with it.

Me? I’m usually more complicated with my meals, but seeing as how this was probably going to be our new menu, I decided to go for what looked the weirdest. I grabbed a plate that had what seemed like a watermelon-sized fruit, but it wasn’t any I had ever seen. It was a pink color, a little furry kind of like a peach, and it had patterns of white stripes swirling around. Khadar and Kae stopped eating for a moment to look at the strange fruit.

“Wow, that is huge,” He said, rubbing a finger against it to feel it before he smacked it with the spoon. I immediately took it back while scowling at him and hitting him with the spoon,

“Don’t touch my food, what the hell. When was the last time you even washed your hands?--”

I was interrupted before I could finish my sentence by the fruit cracking. The three of us stared down at it before glancing at each other again. I reluctantly peeled off the broken part and saw inside a swirl of white liquid with what seemed a bunch of cut up fruit.

“Ew, what is that?” Said Khadar, pointing lazily with his spoon, “It looks like coconut juice or .. Watery milk.”

Kae took a whole spoonful and tasted it first. Her face was serious at first, blank, normal expression, and then her eyes widened and she covered her mouth to speak, “Guys, this is like… Like… This is condensed milk!”

I thought at first that the fruit had produced it, which I found disturbing and disgusting. Of course, Kae traded with me her chicken salad with the strawberry jelly for my condensed milk fruit. Later on we would be taught that it’s actually a dessert recipe that is all made inside of a fruit called Mystery Okra. Apparently the inside of the fruit is usually filled with little bean and each Okra has it’s own flavor: Salty, fruity, spicy or a mix. Khadar learned that the hard way when he grabbed a handful of the beans and ate them all at once.

Once we were stuffed with all the new recipes and flavors, we headed inside the small orphanage again, deciding to take one last tour of it before we left to wait for the carriage. As we walked in I could see a few others doing the same, walking around the living room and dinning room while reminiscing.

"New kids are moving in and they're going to walk through these hallways and see all the marks that we've made," said Khadar, running his finger down one of the walls where he had once accidentally shot a spell and created a dent. He was still sucking his teeth trying to get the sticky beans out of them.

"They'll also trample over all the flowers I've planted," muttered Kae.

I felt similarly. It was weird to imagine one day someone would be sleeping in the bed that belonged to me and it made me wonder how many more had slept there and called it theirs. And now, in the new orphanage, I wondered what I'd call mine and what my favorite room would be, just like here I loved spending time in the library. It's what I had done since I was about nine years old, read in my past time, all kinds of books. That and watch morons like Kae and Khadar make a mess out of our home.

“What’s your earliest memory?” I heard Khadar ask,

“I had just stolen some of the prettiest flowers from the garden and I was running away butt naked from Mrs. Lukas. Remember? I hated bath time so I would always avoid it no matter what!” Kae replied, giggling a bit to the thought.

“I remember, yeah! They had to sooth you into taking baths or you’d scream frantically. And now look at you, you take so long you’re usually the one who uses up all the warm water.”

“It’s not like you were any cleaner though, Mr. Didn’t Learn To Use Spoons Till 5 Years Old.” Said Kae pretending to be annoyed by placing her hands on her hips.

Just like that they continued jabbing at each other’s youth and even though I had technically grown up with some of these kids, I never felt like a sibling to any of them. At least, not the real sibling feeling, not like these two. Even if they looked completely different, there was just something about the way they seemed to get lost in their own world that sometimes still made me feel like a stranger, even after so many years.

After a while of them arguing, Khadar finally snapped out of it and turned around to look at me, putting his hand on Kae’s face.

“Sorry, sometimes I just need to put my sister in place, y’know? But in all seriousness, what’s your first memory? I mean, I think we all met at like.. What? 6 and a half?”

“Yeah, right around.” I said,

“Kae had a crush on you back then,” Khadar managed to stay before his sister punched him right in the gut. I chuckled rather awkwardly before glancing at her,

“Oh, don’t get so smug, Daran.” Kae said poutily, turning her face away from me like a brat, “I liked all kinds of boys, so don’t let it get to your head.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “It’s been like eight years or something.”

“But, seriously - what is your first memory? Do you remember your parents?” She asked, both of them now staring at me. I knew they didn’t and I knew because it was a very touchy subject for Khadar, being an orphan.

Still, it got me thinking. What was my first memory? I hadn’t ever really given it much thought. The earliest thing I remembered was having nightmares and waking up to darkness and other kids’ snoring and mumbling. I also clearly remember sneaking downstairs to get ahold of the comics to read in the light of an old, broken up flashlight.

“I don’t know, I guess it was just the comic books. I don’t remember how the hell I figured out they were stashed downstairs though. Why the question?”

Khadar shrugged, “I heard some girls talking about how they remembered getting to the orphanage a few days ago. They talk about it like if it’s something to be proud of, so I thought it might make a good conversation starter because they’re taking forever to take us to Kazegan.”

We walked around a bit more, looking for other marks we had left on the walls or floor. Kae and Khadar had a bunch of stories to tell about stains of food or accidental magic or just bumps and bruises they had gotten all throughout the place. I only had a few and they were mostly at the library or downstairs. But nothing like them, they had secret crawl spots and places where they’d stash handfuls of sweets in their rooms. Khadar even had a place near the back towards the garden where he’d written his and Kae’s name in shakey kid handwriting to “immortalize” himself in Zennan.

"They're saying goodbye," I said, looking out the window. Our caretakers and teachers were all hugging the others, some people were getting emotional about it and crying. Khadar and I glanced at each other and immediately we both understood: Neither of us wanted to go say goodbye and both of us wanted to run for our lives and hide somewhere in the dormitories and so we did. Both of us bolted out from the windows so that they wouldn’t drag us out. Kae sighed loudly as we left her behind in the hallway because she did want to say goodbye to everyone. We loved our caretakers and teachers, sure. But I, for one, didn't want to start the day off by watching them cry or being smothered to death. It’s not like this was the last time we’d ever see them anyway.

Our plan was successful and we were able to sneak out towards the line waiting for the carriages. There were three lines in total, some of us would be taken by Orin, others by Saraphe, and another meon we hadn't been introduced to yet. He looked a bit older and had brown fur along with gigantic floppy ears and big green eyes. We ended up being placed with him. It took longer than we had anticipated, so Khadar took the whole bowl of the beans of Okra and sat down beside me to wait. After a while of talking, we decided to play some tic-tac-toe and the loser would have to eat three beans at once. I hadn’t eaten any yet, so when I first got my first bean of each type I was pretty surprised at the intense flavors. The sweet one tasted like strawberry mixed with vanilla, the salty one kind of like lemon bathed in salt and the spicy one.. Well, I wouldn’t know what to tell you, because I think Khadar’s bad luck made him eat most of those.

Eventually they finally called us up for the carriages and I saw Kae waving to the teachers and caretakers while she wiped her eyes a bit. Her face was puffy and red, and in her arms she had a few gifts some of them had given her. The only person I actually would have taken the time to say goodbye to would’ve been the lunch lady, and she happened to be sick today. I wasn’t bummed out about it though, I knew I could visit her in a few more years. Either way, unless I really loved Kazegan, I would probably be returning to Zenna to live the rest of my life in.

"What do you think will happen at the oracle?" I asked, looking at the carriages. The line began moving as people entered and sat down,

"I'm hoping it's nothing freaky like you just go in and he hypnotizes you into some weird state to connect to the dead." Said Khadar.

"I hope so too. I'm really curious about what I'll be."

"Yeah, I just hope there aren't any jewels like 'this is the loser jewel' type." He said and Kae, who had been too busy looking at the meons, chuckled.

"Nuh uh, it's just like ... 'This one likes nature' ... 'This one has the potential of intuition' ... 'This one has a strong will power'" Said Kae before stepping up to get inside the carriage and looking back at us, saving us seats. She held close all her gifts before stuffing them in her backpack and waving once more to everyone.

We entered the carriage, which was big and comfortable enough for around ten of us to fit inside. Everyone had their bags on their lap or in front of themselves.

"Good evening. My name is Marrak and I'll be with you all during this entire trip." Said the meon before tapping the carriage making it start moving right behind the other two. Just as we were leaving behind the orphanage, I got a glimpse of Wanda in the crowd. She looked weird being in her normal daily clothes and not her kitchen outfit, and she was looking around for me in the carriages, or so I assume. We were too far now for me to yell out or wave anymore, but I did get a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was finally settling in that we were leaving our homes and everyone we had grown up with, and suddenly it wasn’t so easy to just move on and it wasn’t just sheer laziness making me unhappy about the move. I didn’t want to leave Wanda behind anymore, nor anything else of Zenna.  "I'll also be taking you to Kazegan so if you have any questions, feel free to ask."

Kae's hand darted in the air almost immediately,

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, are there any little meon orphans?"

Marrak chuckled, "No, miss. There are only wizard orphans and I think that goes for all our cities. Other species don't really have orphans."

"Not even when their parents die?"

"Not even then."

"Basically we're the only jerks who abandon parentless kids." Said Khadar.  

I chuckled and Marrak did too.

“I’m not sure what to respond to that, honestly.” He said, rather politely. This is when I took my chance to ask some of my own questions.

“So, how often does Dominus give you a hard time? I mean, do they cause a lot of trouble in Kazegan?”

“Not really,” Marrak turned his back to the front of the carriage, I assumed because he was done fidgeting with the magic, and gave his attention to us kids, “And it’s because they know what’s best for them. Our city is neutral for now but we could at any moment become allies of only Zennan. That wouldn’t be good for them economically, I figure. Kazegan exports a lot of things that they need. Just with our frogs and critters they buy up to 75% of ‘em.” He grinned proudly as he said so, his ears lightly puffing up.

“They buy seventy-five percent of your frogs and critters?” Repeated Khadar before looking at his sis in a quick glance and then back at me, “I don’t even wanna know why they’d need all those animals for.”

“What about visitors?” I continued with my rampage of questions. I wanted to know all about my new home. I didn’t want to set foot there and feel completely ignorant.

“Oh, we have many! There come people from all kinds of places. The only one we rarely see of are the humans and I think it’s because they don’t like to leave their homes much considering how much threat the other species are to them.”

I nodded to this. I might not have been too keen on the whole being up to date on the news but I knew a thing or two about how abused humans had been in the past.

Khadar and Kae didn’t seem to have any serious questions that were worth my attention. Mostly, Kae just wanted to know things about meons, and things that weren’t all that interesting. I mean, who cares if they comb their fur every day or not? And Khadar had questions mostly related to food and entertainment which weren’t of my interest either because I wasn’t nearly as big of a food lover as he was. So I let my mind wander as we continued to stray further and further from Zennan, leaving behind the stoney looking city until it looked like a tiny grey dot in the distance and then there was nothing left behind but road and grass.

It occurred to me that this was the farthest away from home I had ever been. In fact, I had never really left Zennan’s walls because we knew there was nothing but roads and wilderness outside. The rest of the smaller towns were far from us, so I never had a reason to go. But from this perspective everything looked different, without walls and houses there was only plains, roads and mountains at the very back. There was almost too much green to take in at once because of how sunny the day was, but nonetheless it was definitely one of the prettiest things I had ever seen and it made the ride along cramped up with a bunch of other kids way more manageable.

Soon enough we actually left Zennan behind for good and entered lonely roads. The carriage, which was moving and driving itself, seemed to know where we were headed. It was a very simple thing but a lot of people seemed highly amused by it. In the other orphanage we barely saw magic, specially because we only had stones which are what kids that don’t have their jewel yet use. Come to think of it, we didn't really leave the orphanage that often unless it was to celebrate our birthday, which happened for everyone in the same day so that the orphanage would have time to collect donations to give us all either a small present each or a big party depending on what we'd all agreed on.

Zennan’s territory was disappearing from our view and we were entering unknown territory. The place outside of Zennan was plains of healthy green grass along with big mountains at the end of the horizon which went along great with it's castle theme. In fact, if I had to describe Zennan, I'd say it's a big castle that surrounds the town in a protective wall of stone. Houses were mostly made out of the same stoney theme with a bit of  wood to make them look a little more inviting, a little more homey.

At the very far end of Zennan was the actual castle where King Julius lived in. The king wasn't the worst but he wasn't the best either. He seemed to have a gigantic sense of justice but that was exactly why we'd see Zennan butting in on problems that it had no concern over. Like that one time when King Julius decided it was time to go and tell the centaur to back off from their land a bit and give space to the wisps and fairies that were being thrown too north where the temperatures were too cold for them.  But overall, he was definitely better than the ruler of Dominus anyway, who no one even knew the name of because he was always stuck away in some clock tower he owned. But they knew he was the boss cause any sign of rebellion to his rules and he'd send his men to do the dirty work for him.

“Uh, not to be annoying or anything but… Exactly how far away is this retreat from Zennan anyway?” I heard Khadar ask, turning around to look towards the front of the carriage to see what had prompted him to ask. There were new roads ahead, a bit rockier and more uphill than the ones we had already passed but no sign of any village or town.

“About an hour and a half. Maybe you’ll be entertained as we travel up the mountain because you’ll have to hold on to not end up falling off from the rocky roads we got.”

Khadar’s face twisted in slight anxiety at the prospect of falling out from the side of the road and possibly getting ran over or rolling off the mountain. Marrak gave another quiet chuckle,

“I’m kidding, child. You won’t feel a single rock for we’ll start hovering above them soon. But we definitely will be around an hour and a half more, with or without hovering.”

And so, about an hour and a quarter passed and we finally stopped going up the mountain and things began looking more leveled. It was definitely a lot colder than it had been near Zennan. There was also a lot more rock and mountain than before, not much grass. But the landscape was pretty incredible, with all the other mountains ahead and around us, disappearing into the mists and the small holes between mountains that bore lakes. You could only see the peaks in some, and in others, only the bottom.

"This doesn't look anything like I expected" Said Khadar as we entered some gates, "I'm not sure if it was because of humans and their stereotypical movies, but I expected zen music and scented candles."

The oracle retreat was pretty much a small town but instead of houses made out of wood or stone there were just big tents all over the place and small stalls where the people who lived in would sell their goods to others. I could see some incense shops, some candle shops and, the biggest one, the pillow shop. There were all kinds of colorful pillows on it, from serious brown colors to bright neon green. Though the retreat only had wizards and meons with the obsidian jewel, which was the one that could foresee things. Those who had obsidian had the option of giving in their power to become future seers. They were all calmly walking around going on about their business while the three carriages crossed their little town.

Once we arrived, one carriage followed the other. The first one to empty was Saraphe's, then Orin's and last ours. Since Saraphe's group was going to be the first one to be examined, Marrak let us walk around nearby to check out the village.

Khadar immediately approached a small shop with trinkets while Kae just watched the meons, fascinated by their 'adorableness'.

I followed them around while keeping my eyes open. I wanted to catch one of the oracles in a 'moment' or a trans or in the middle of a vision. That's when I saw three other carriages arrive, three other meons were dropping off other orphans and they weren't from Zennan so that could only mean one thing,

"Dominus." Hissed Khadar under his breath, looking at them.

"You think those guys will live with us?" Asked Kae who had quickly squeezed herself between her brother and me,

"I think so cause they're being guided by three meons," I said while they all split between the three carriages as we had done.

"You shouldn't be so unkind." Said a wizard beside us, looking straight at us behind her small shop.

"Huh?" Said Khadar,

"To the Dominus. You shouldn't be so full of prejudice."

"What's it to you?" Said Khadar, "Have you even forgotten what they've done?"

The wizard didn't pay attention though. She was too busy looking around before cracking a big, evil grin. I looked at the twins and they seemed just as confused. Kae mouthed to us to just go when suddenly we all got pushed at once and fell through some sort of portal that made my stomach twist and turn, it felt as if we had gotten tugged by two different gravities at once until we fell straight on our faces.

"Ow! Jesus lady--" When Khadar looked up, he began tapping us hard on the shoulder.

"What, what?!" Said Kae, rubbing her cheek, "Oh my God."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Chapter Two: A Walk Through Figurative Hell

All around us were cages of all sizes, but it wasn't that that almost backed us up into the corner -- it was the monsters inside of said cages. There were unspeakable things, things I didn't even know existed. I recognized a few of them: Gargoyles rattling their cages, a banshees in a magical glass box with her large, gaping mouth as she unhinged her jaw to scream out at us, fairies in bottles fluttering around manically, little baby Griffins in closed up cages. There were just too many to count and some of them looked horrifying. It took us all a moment to come back to the present, Kae gripped tightly onto her brother.

"Where the hell are we?" Asked Khadar while he looked around,

"I have no freaking idea." I replied, still wide eyed with amazement as I watched the monsters and creatures struggle in their different cages.

"Some of these look.. Look kind of human." Kae muttered, her eyes fixated on mermaid who was hung upside down by her tail,, with only her head under the water and part of her tail knifed off from her scales. Right in front of her cage was a quiet, old looking manticore who slouched awkwardly in the corner. He was nothing short of huge, with large, menacing paws, a long, thick tail, a grey maine that cascaded down to its chest and the creepiest part: his face. He looked like a lion at first glance but if you stared directly you could see the human in it. My stomach felt sick, I really, seriously, honestly, hated mixed and matched creatures.

"We better get out of here," I said, attempting to find an exit.

"Excuse me? And who might you be?" Said a man behind us, his face twisted in annoyance. It was an elf, long white hair down to his waist, his hand gripping firmly onto a whip, "Didn't you see? This is a private property."

"This is your house?" Asked Khadar in a rather disgusted tone,

"Of course not. Who in their right mind would sleep in this place?"

And he was right. Aside from the horrible animals and their rattling sounds, the smell was unbearable. Like if these animals had lived here for a hundred years and counting. The smell was so thick I could feel it going down my throat, and I wasn't surprised because there were no windows.

"What is this place? What are you doing to these creatures?" Kae asked, getting a lot braver.

"That is none of your business," he hissed, right before whipping at our feet causing both the animals and us to jolt up, "and unless you want to join them, you best get moving out of here."

My two twin friends had quite the temper and I had grown to know this now, so I immediately put my hands against their backs and began pushing them towards the exit, "We'll be off now."

"Are you insane, Daran?! Look at what he's doing to those poor animals!" Said Kae infuriated as she tried pushing me back. I gripped both her and Khadar and dragged them out of the small storage. Outside we finally were able to kind of know where the hell we even were because it was the same rocky and mountainy view we had in the Oracle Retreat. Except here there were no tents and no oracles, just a bunch of people selling goods from mermaid scales to Nymph hair. I figured we might be in some sort of market but there was something darker about it, something evil. There was no way that they could sell these things legally, at least not this way. Kae twirled around to glare up at me, pushing me back a bit.

"I'm not going anywhere until those animals are safe." She spat,

"Where even are we?" Asked Khadar,  eyeing a bottle that had 'Manticore poison' writen on it.

"I have the nasty feeling that we're at a black market." I said finally, ignoring Kae's aggressiveness "It's either a black market or we seriously have to tell king Julius about the way these people treat the animals and creatures. They look miserable."

We didn't have much more time to talk before the elf came rushing out from the storage, slamming the door behind himself before turning to us.

"You're still here? How many times do I have to tell you to scram?"

Realistically speaking, there was nothing we could do. These people seemed to be here long before we ever arrived, and unless they were incredible at hiding themselves, others must've known this was all happening. It saddened and disgusted me, but it was the unfortunate truth. The twins remained quiet when he snapped at us, looking at me for guidance. I immediately just backed off and gestured for them to follow.

"Look, we're all upset about the animals and creatures. But we can't do anything about it right now -- not alone. This guy has no qualms about encaging an almost extinct species and letting it get old and frail, imagine what he'll do to three meddling kids?"

"What do you suggest then? That we just pretend we never saw anything?" Asked Kae, glaring up at me. Her and I had always had our small spats. In fact, her and both me and Khadar. She had a sparking temper and lot of triggers. And although I would usually back off and let her argue on her own, the words just slipped out of my mouth this time.

"Okay then, let's go do it your way and be real stupid and confront the guy. What do you think is going to happen then? He'll magically come to his senses and free the animals? Obviously not, Kae. And I never said we weren't going to do anything about it. What I'm saying is, we need to find a way out of this place first and find someone who _can_ make a difference."

Her eyes scanned my face for a moment before she crossed her arms deciding I wasn't worth her breath. Khadar sighed exasperated,

"Enough. How are we even going to find our way back? I barely knew how to work my way around Zennan, let alone a total unknown place!" Said Khadar.

The market didn't look that big. It was just a clump of shops of different kinds with a few people walking around muttering in low voices to the shopkeepers and making their deals. Hell, most of the people around us were busy looking for what they needed and concealing their identity, so it's not like we had to sneak past anyone. I craned my neck a bit to be able to see above everyone else but all I saw were edges of the mountain and thin paths between the shops.

The obvious choice here was to let the Manticore out, right? Release him to fly away or maybe even eat the people that were around. But what if it attacked us? And besides, did we really want to see it ripping people apart? When you think about someone abusing an animal, you get really pissed, of course. And you wanna see that douchebag suffer. But really think about it, like, really think about it. If I were to let the Manticore out, he’s probably mad enough that he’ll chase after these people and rip them apart by pieces. Limbs will go flying, people will scream in horror, and there’ll be a lot of blood.

I shook my head, Kae was still ranting about how they were all horrible and how they deserved punishment. But I was still not entirely convinced that the rest of the world wasn’t just turning a blind eye to them anyway.

“They’re starting to look at us,” I said, awkwardly turning away from the people around us, “I think Kae’s getting their attention. They must’ve figured out we’re not here to buy ingredients.”

Khadar’s eyes scanned the place for a moment before he grabbed one of the bottles and pretended to be assessing it, “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“We free the animals.” Whispered Kae, looking up at me. This time she didn’t look at me through furious glares, but with a rather pouty feel to it. I sighed.

“Fine, let’s free the animals and creatures. I just don’t know how we’re going to come alive out of this if we do that.”

“I know a few protection spells,” Kae said

“And I know a few attack ones.” Added in Khadar.

“Okay, then I guess it’s settled. You two keep an eye out and pretend to be shopping, and I go in and free the animals from the storage room. But just… You know, warn me if someone’s coming. I don’t want to get whipped up by that elf.”

They both nodded and we all looked towards the elf. It was going to be hard getting past him considering that there were no windows to even crawl into the storage through, which meant the only way in was right behind him.  

After a while of arguing and thinking, we finally came up with a plan we all liked enough: Kae and Khadar would walk up to the elf and distract him by whining about the caged animals, and I would go to the back of the storage and try to use a spell to cut through the wall and make my own way in.

And so, I carefully scattered from them and into the crowd. They marched up towards the elf. I wanted to make sure that there weren’t any more animals in the other shops, and to both my relief and distress, there weren’t any. The others were much smaller and only had boxes full of supplies to sell. Whatever animals they were torturing to get the ingredients for weren’t here, and for that I was sorry. However, it made my job of getting the others out a lot easier.

Once I heard Kae’s voice raise as she got heated in the argument with the elf, I snuck back. I noticed he kept himself positioned so the door behind him was always visible, so there was no way I was sneaking inside through the entrance, even with them yelling and fighting him.

As soon as I got to the back of the storage, I looked around for a small rock. I dug one up from the ground and used another one to etch in a symbol of magic. All was going well and dandy until I realized I didn’t even remember the spell I needed to cast. I got up, facing the wall while I gripped the rock in my hand trying my best to remember -- was it sarro? No… Sorre? … Se-- Se-- Serra!

“Serra!” I whispered before putting my finger on the wall. Slowly but surely the spell began sawing through the solid wall, leaving only bits of dust on my hand as I drew out a large piece. Big enough so that all the animals inside could easily squeeze through. Once I had finished, I pressed my palm onto the concrete, “Evanesco” and the entirety of the wall disappeared before my eyes. It felt incredible to do magic, even if I still had to use a rock. But this was the very first time I was actually using all that we had learned and now more than ever I couldn’t wait for the moment in which I could use magic without having to remember strange words and depend on whatever little energy I find around me. Speaking of, the little rock that I had used completely evaporated as I opened my hand, letting me know it was about as much magic as I was getting from it.

I snapped out of my amazement and rushed inside. Now that I was going to liberate them all, the animals in the cages suddenly seemed much scarier. The Gargoyles bared their fangs every now and then, their creepy, long fingers gripping onto the cages angrily. I wondered if they had enough awareness to understand I wanted to help them.

In total there were three full grown gargoyles, a mermaid, the manticore, the banshee, the fairies and the baby griffins. I huffed in a mouthful of air before approaching their cages. I could see that, a few years ago, these cages must’ve been top notch, but now they were rusted out and old. The creatures weren’t even trying to fight out anymore though, like if they were so tired of trying they had lost hope. All they were doing is keeping their eyes on me, and I wasn’t entirely sure if they were impatient about being free or just really hungry. Still, I decided it was probably wiser to start off with ones that were more passive, and so I moved towards the little griffins.

As soon as I grabbed their cage they began screeching and making loud noises. I had to put them down immediately and stare towards the door. The elf seemed to have quieted down, but then went right back to arguing with Kae and threatening them with the whip. This time I just dragged their cage slowly towards the exit and once we were out of the echoey storage, I grabbed the biggest rock I could find and began bashing at the locks. The griffins scattered towards the corners in fears, not even protesting anymore. But once I got to break the rusty old lock, I opened up the cage doors and stepped back.

They seemed hesitant, just staring at me with their big brown eyes. I crouched down and began calling for them but they still didn’t move even an inch. I figured it’d be a terrible idea to put my hand in the cage and drag them out, so instead I just left the gate wide open and went back inside.

Now I went for the mermaid. This one was tricky because I had to go up some mossy old steps before getting to her. The lock wasn’t so easy to break, it was much newer than the one in the griffin’s cages. I shook the rope a bit seeing if maybe I could just at least put her down, but the mermaid gripped onto the glass firmly as if all I was doing was hurting her, so I stopped.

I looked around for a moment. Maybe the old elf had left the keys somewhere lying around.

“I’ll be back,” I promised her, climbing down the stairs while she let out a yelp of panic watching me walk away. I gestured her to shut up while I rummaged around some boxes and old crates but I couldn’t find anything but tools to do unspeakable things to the creatures and disgusting, grimy old food that he fed them.

I stopped the second I heard Kae and Khadar’s voices become distant as if they were warning me they had to leave now. I didn’t want to leave her behind, but there was just no way I was getting her out of there. Hers was the only cage and lock that just didn’t seem that old and frail.

Eventually I just had to start freeing the others instead. Starting with the gargoyles, who had been watching me for a while now and had become quieter. Their big, freaky black eyes followed me as I approached their cage. The one who had its fingers around the bars didn’t move away, but the others did. This one just stared down at me while its long fingers stretched out and gripped onto the lock instead, shaking it a few times.

I didn’t want to get anywhere near it. In fact, I was internally cursing myself for not taking the job of arguing with the elf. At this point a few whips and scratches didn’t seem so bad. Still, I took a step forward arming myself with whatever little courage I could muster up and I reached out for the lock. The gargoyle kept its fingers nearby me as I began hammering down on the lock with my rock, trying my best not to be too loud. Every now and then I’d pull my hands back when she’d reach out to me, causing me to flinch.

I didn’t get to react as I heard the lock break because the gargoyle immediately pushed forward opening up the gate so hard I crashed onto the floor on my butt. Then it proceeded to jump on me with its ugly talons, gripping my shoulders tightly and forcing me to stay still. I thought for a moment it was going to eat me, but it only waited for the other two to fly off before it took off from me too, leaving me on the ground with my shirt teared up.

The three of them spread out their wings awkwardly and flapped around a few times. They seemed weak and hurt by the way they were flying, as if they had just gotten buzzed at a pub. But eventually they caught the wind and began disappearing into the mountains, not even giving me a last glance.

“You’re welcome.” I muttered irritated before getting up. My shirt was dangling from my shoulders and my skin was a bit scratched up from the gargoyle’s perch trick.

I didn’t give myself time to live down the adrenaline before I grabbed the big rock again and began breaking out the manticore. I figured I’d rather die by its hands than the banshees, and she seemed to be annoyed as her mouth gaped wider and wider as she watched me liberate the manticore. This time I immediately moved back and stood aside letting him know I wasn’t going to get in his way if he tried to flee. But he just sat there staring at me with the creepy human looking eyes. I didn’t move for a while, just kept eye contact with him until I looked away trying to not piss it off. I noticed that the cage with griffins was now empty and they were probably long gone.

Slowly but surely I turned my back to the manticore and went towards the banshee. I kept my movements gentle and calm, and he kept his wide eyes on me. The banshee’s glass cage was much easier to open because it had no actual lock, just a small hook that I had to pull up. But as soon as I opened up the glass cage I heard the horrid screeching sound she had been making all this time, but now there was nothing to muffle it. It was so loud and sudden that I dropped the rock and covered my ears immediately. The mermaid began flopping around and screaming, too, while she stared at me impatiently. But it was too late, the banshee had caught the elves attention and he had stormed inside.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” His voice roared almost as loud as the banshee’s screaming as he took out his whip. I backed off quickly but kept my hands over my ears feeling like my head was gonna explode.

The elf took a swing at the banshee, making her dodge and turn to me with her disfigured screaming look. Her eyes wide, long tongue trailing down her awkward mouth before she flew directly at me. I just closed my eyes tightly, didn’t even get a chance to move -- but all she did was pass through me like a cold wind. It chilled me down to the bone as she went through, my hairs standing on edge. I felt a horrifying feeling of despair for just a second, and the next thing I saw was the elf lunging himself at me.

Kae and Khadar barged in right behind, too. Kae stretched out her hand and screamed out a word, her fingers clutching onto a rock. A small, thin shield surrounded me as the whip flew towards me, crashing onto the barrier. The impact had been hard enough to crack the shield because at the very end of the whip was a metal edge, but the elf didn’t get a second go at it because the gigantic manticore burst out from the cage. His huge paws clawed at the elf, sending him smashing onto the ground so fast you might think he got hit by a train. Kae screamed out, and so did Khadar, causing the manticore to stop in its tracks and scan the area. He looked at the twins, his tail whipping side to side before he looked towards me.

Despite how large he was, the manticore picked up the elf with his fangs and gracefully leapt over me as easy as a cat jumps over a small stream. I looked up as he passed by and got to see the heavy coat of fur swaying with the wind, his cramped wings spreading as it let out a loud roar. I immediately turned around to see what it was doing, and it didn’t tear the elf into pieces as I had expected -- no, it just flung him off the side of the mountain like a ragdoll. The elf screamed in horror before disappearing from our view, sounding farther and farther away as he fell.

“Daran,” Kae whispered, keeping her eyes on the manticore, “Don’t move. He looks really agitated and they’re usually very aggressive.”

“Don’t worry.” I whispered back, my heart pounding painfully against my ribs, “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

Behind me I heard Khadar gulp down, but I kept my eyes on the manticore. Now that it wasn’t caged up, now that he was standing proudly under the hot sunlight he looked even more stunning. His fur coat, although old and worn out, still shone beautifully, waving with the gentle breeze coming in from between the mountains.

The manticore kept its eyes on me as it approached again, Kae making a quiet whimpering noise.

“Oh God, I think he’s going to attack us.”

My legs felt numb. There was no way I could run from it even if I wanted to. Either way I felt almost hypnotized by it, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him even as his huge, heavy paws began dragging themselves one by one towards me. The manticore walked straight to me and then past me as he headed towards the mermaid. Just like us, she seemed scared out of her mind. No more flopping and screaming, she was still as ever.

The manticore reached out slowly and nipped at the lock. It did it twice more before it bared his huge, yellow fangs and ripped at it, shaking his head around aggressively. Eventually the chains keeping her up snapped and she fell down onto him. Neither him nor me had been able to take off the heavy clasp around her tail, but she was at least finally upright.

In her daze, she gripped onto him and he walked off towards the hole in the wall again. A loud roar escaped him as he walked to the edge of the mountain and for one terrifying second I thought he was going to fling her off like a doll, too. But instead the manticore took flight with her, gracefully passing through the mountains and disappearing from out sight.

Kae, Khadar and I stood still and in silence for a moment. The storage room was empty from creatures and I finally began feeling the pain on my shoulders.

Khadar helped me get up on my feet, before looking out to the mountains again,

“That was incredible.” He muttered.

“I thought for a moment we were going to die,” Said Kae.

“He didn’t even say thank you.” Said Khadar bitchily, “We put our hives on the line.”

“I think him not eating us is all the thank you I need.” I finally said.

I turned to Kae and Khadar now before looking out the door. All the people had taken cover in their tents and shops, and the market place was a lot emptier now. They seemed to be terrified that the monsters would come back, and part of me really hoped they did. I hoped the manticore found a pack or a friend or whatever it is manticores have, and comes by and raids them.

“Now how do we go back?” I asked, rubbing my shoulder.

“I guess we follow the path and hope for the best.” Said Khadar.

We began walking out, Kae stuffing her bag with random things from the shop before catching up to us. Everyone around stepped aside, glaring at the three of us like if we had just destroyed their hometown. But I had a feeling they wouldn’t be attacking us any time soon.

The three of us began following the path down the mountain. I still couldn’t believe what I had done -- I’d just saved a bunch of creatures. I glanced at the twins and chuckled. Both of them looked back and chuckled, too, before we all burst out laughing. The adrenaline was gone, but I was still freaked out of my mind.

Chapter Three: As Hippy As It Gets

The three of us walked for a few minutes, maybe 15 or 20 before we found a crossway. There was a path that went up a mountain and another one that went downwards and we had absolutely no idea what the right way was.

"You'd think the manticore would have helped us after we saved his furry behind." Said Khadar, wiping his brow from sweat. It might be colder up here than it ever was in Zennan, but I was still sweating like a pig and to make matters worse, the air was cold against my soaked forehead and neck.

"Now what way do we go?" Said Kae, letting out a huge sigh, "What if we never find our way out?"

"Well..." I said looking around, "We can technically still find a way off the mountain. If we go downwards we will eventually leave this area and find the main road. We could head back to Zennan."

"Back to Zennan?" Echoed Khadar with a grunt, "Do you have any idea how long we'd have to walk? What are we gonna eat? Where are we going to sleep?"

"Wait,shut up!" Kae put her hand up, gesturing for us to listen. I could hear a low humming sound, and surely enough, after a while came Marrak down from the path in the empty carriage. He nearly ran us over because he'd been looking at a map, but stopped just in time.

"Kids!" He said,

"Marrak!" We replied.

"Oh my God, Jalaan was right!" He stepped out of the carriage, waddling his way towards us, "I thought I was going to tell Saraphe I had lost you three! Don't you ever run away like that again, you hear me?!" His ears puffed out and he smacked the air with the map, "I can't keep my eyes off of you Zennan kids for even a second!"

"It wasn't us!" Said Kae,

"Yeah, the ugly lady sent us here!" Followed Khadar.

"An ugly lady?" Marrak's ear twitched a bit, "What do you mean she 'sent' you here?"

"She caught us talking about Dominus and told us not to be so full of prejudice," I said,  "And then she pushed us through a portal and into a weird market place."

"Oh... The market." Marrak said, "Why would she send you to the market?"

"You mean you know about the market?" Snapped Kae, frowning down at Marrak, "Do you have any idea how madly they treat creatures there?"

Marrak nodded, "Yes, yes. We have been trying to shut it down for a long time but they always flee and hide before we can find proof that they're making illegal trades---"

"How could you not find proof when there was a huge storage with creatures!" Exclamated Khadar,

"Yes, well, we have tried, boy! Believe me, Dominus are sneakier than you'd think. And besides, I think that these oracles--" He caught his tongue and cleared his throat, "Never mind that. It's none of your business. Now, hurry along, you're late! You're making us all late!" He pointed at the carriage with the rolled up map, "Jalaan is waiting for you so he can give you your jewels!"

The three of us got up in the carriage. We were glad we were finally safe, although my shoulder was killing me. Marrak promised he'd give me some medicine when we got to Kazegan and Khadar told the story of how we saved a handful of creatures from possible death all the way to the oracle's retreat.

This time when we arrived there were no other carriages. Apparently they'd all had taken off without us and one of them with extra passengers so that Marrak could stick around in this one and look for us. I was glad anyway, even if I felt exhausted. I had never in my life seen a creature up close like that, specially not been half attacked by one. And besides, we had skipped all the waiting around for our turn.

One by one we got off the carriage and moved towards the back of the village. There we found a bigger house than the rest, I assumed that was the Jalaan guy's house. It was way bigger than the others and even though it was still a tent like all the rest, it looked a lot more like a house. Except for all the bright colors. On the outside it looked like something you’d see out of a cartoon, very welcoming and sweet looking. On the inside it was full of pillows on the floor but they weren't placed at random. I could tell he had bought most of them from the shop I had seen earlier because of all the bright colors there were. They made different little living rooms within the living room since they were placed so that they'd make several circles all around. He also had a bunch of porcelain dolls on a big shelf. Some of them were clowns, others were animals and then there were stickfigure looking ones doing different things like playing the violin or sitting on a bench made out of the same material. I noticed, after awhile of looking at them, that they had animations that would loop. The one I most liked was the one that had a bench and a dog, because he’d walk the dog around for a while before getting tired, sitting down and having his furry best friend sit right beside him. After a while, the animation would loop and he would disappear from the bench and reappear at the side. I wasn’t used to these kinds of tricks and illusions, so I stuck around for a few minutes watching them loop over and over again.

“This is pretty epic,” Said Khadar, who had been standing beside me quietly, “Look at that one. It’s like one of the little guys that took us in the carriage today, see? He switches weapons.”

I turned to look at it. It was a small, fluffy, young looking meon who would do some attacks at the air. His weapon would switch at random times but would always have one thing in common: A small, circle glowing red. I supposed this happened so that you’d know it’s the same little guy over and over again.

"He'll see one of you first, the rest can stay here with me." Said Marrak who dropped his furry bottom on a pillow, locking his tail around himself, stopping me and Khadar from wasting any more time drooling over the little animated figurines.. "He'll give us some tea, cookies and magazines."

"You can go first," Both twins said, dropping right beside Marrak before I could even object.

"Yeah, let us know how it goes," Said Khadar

"Say hi to the oracle for us!"

I sighed and nodded before entering the room. The oracle was sitting on a large comfy chair, a king like chair. It had a straight back, mythical looking armrest carving and nice purple cushion. The walls were covered with tapestry, mostly of zodiac signs and purple colored rugs, but he managed to pull the look off. The only things in the room? His chair, my chair and a table where he had what I could only assume were the pamphlets we were supposed to get and the jewels in a small wooden box. Now the oracle… He was a very pale skin tone, he looked like he was made out of porcelain, specially because his hair was as black as an onyx. However, both things went well with the purple of his eyes, making it seem kinder and less threatening and intimidating. Overall, Jalaan made me feel at ease and I wasn’t sure it was because of the place, because of him himself or because I knew he had been the one to save us from Dominus.

"Hello, Daran. I'm glad you were able to make it back in one piece. Please excuse the woman who did this to you, she has the bad habit of teaching people lessons in... Rather unconventional ways." The oracle, which looked like a very normal wizard, pointed his hand at the fluffy chair in front of him for me to sit down. "Daran, my name is Jalaan. I'll be telling you what jewel you are."

I nodded and sat down in front of him, getting as comfortable as possible in the cushiony chair. It looked a lot less stiff than his did. And to be honest, at this point I was expecting him to whip out some dramatic instrumental music or some meditation kit or maybe even a long pendent to hypnotize me.

"Now, I usually go through a bit of a process but since you and your friends just went through a lot of adrenaline and rush, your aura is glowing quite brightly and it's making it very easy to tell what jewel is calling for you. I might even send all of the kids for an adventure next time." He said before chuckling. I tried to flash a smile back but I was still a bit shaken from the 'trip'.

"Can I ask what the process is?" I asked,

"I usually make them meditate for a while. Ask them to picture things, like what their favorite pastime is or how they make themselves feel more alive and whatnot. But your fire opal is shining like crazy right now."

"Fire opal?" I said before reaching out to a small booklet he was passing me. It had pictures of all kinds of jewels at the cover.

"That's all?" I asked and he nodded,

"That's pretty much it. From here on it all depends on you and your jewel. Please ask one of your friends to step in next. I think these sessions are going to break the time record."

"Thanks then for everything -- specially saving us." I bowed rather awkwardly unsure of how to behave in front of an oracle and he burst out laughing, bowing back at me. I stepped out, holding the book, flipping through the pages, "Khadar, you're up," I said idly before sitting beside Marrak.

"So quickly?" Asked Marrak while Khadar made his way inside,

"Apparently my aura was all out and about because of Dominus."

"Does it hurt?" Asked Kae, poking her head towards the book,

"No, he just looks at your aura or something. I'm not even really sure what happened. He just said that it was easier because of my adrenaline."

"What did you get?" Her pillow was dragged along the floor as she put herself beside me to read about the jewels too,

"Fire Opal."

"That's a nice one," said Marrak, turning his head to us, "Very strong willed!"

He chuckled and nodded encouragingly. I felt a bit intimidated by that description. Kae opened up the booklet in my hands and began reading too.

"Jewels: Introduction

Each jewel has its own personality. This makes it easy for it to choose you and then form a bond. Each wizard has a set amount of energy (also called mana in some places) that he or she can use to make magic. Once the wizard has connected with his or her jewel, he or she will be able to cast spells without words, just by simple command or thoughts.

Alexandrite: These jewels prefer wizards who live in their own little world, those who would much rather stay home and read than go out with their friends and family. It is said that this jewel connects deepest to its owner because of their solitary personality. Alexandrite owners usually display their full potential later in life which is why the jewel changes color throughout the hours of the day. The Alexandrite shifts from shades of purple to blue and back again according to the light around it.

Amethyst: This jewel feeds off of the curiosity and insights of its owner. It will seek for wizards that hunger for knowledge and keep their minds open for new information, helping them learn and understand the world around them a lot easier. Amethyst are usually a bright purple.

Obsidian: This jewel is thought to be a connection to the universe. It chooses those who have what people may call the "third eye". These people can be easily spotted for they are usually very confident in their intuition and find themselves just knowing things. Obsidian is rather mystical looking with its strange black color.

Onyx: This type of stone only chooses those wizards who are rotten to the core. Only the most brutal and evil wizards get these. It has a bad reputation of breeding brutal rulers and killers. Because of their bad reputation, law enforcements usually keep track of the wizards who are registered as onyxes. Onyx is just a simple black jewel.

Cubic Zirconia: This is the rarest jewel along with the onyx. This jewel only chooses the purest and kindest souls, those who would sacrifice all for the good of the people they care for, those who have a keen look inside of the minds and hearts of others. Cubic zirconia is much like a diamond though it has a deeper level of purity making it easier to see through it.

Bloodstone: This jewel is an omen to bloodshed and pain. Those chosen by this stone are very broken souls who are lost in desperation and anger. Bloodstone's color is mixed between onyx and red.

Opal: This jewel, though coming in varying colors, only chooses those with the most creative, open minded and spirited souls. It is said to connect to any nearby muse and enlighten its owner. Opal glows with different colors when their owner is inspired.

Moonstone: As its name says, the moonstone is linked to the moon. Those who are chosen by this jewel are true children of the night, possibly night owls, creative, mysterious, sensible and sensitive. Moonstone can have bursts of magical power, mostly at night or dusk. Moonstone gives out a dim, moonlit glow.

Citrine: This stone is also known as the sunstone. Just like the Moonstone, this is linked to the Suns of the universe. Those chosen by this jewel are usually morning birds, enthusiastic, expressive, energetic and stubborn. Sunstone can have bursts of magic during the sun hours or dawn.  Citrine is a bright orange yellow.

Fire opal: This jewel offers a glimpse into the fiery soul of its owner. Fire opals are usually courageous, decisive, strong willed and stubborn. The fire opal could be said to be a mix between Opal and Citrine, glowing fiery red inside.

Apatite: This jewel offers a glimpse into the tranquil soul of its owner. They usually don't fret easily and take life as it comes, not hurrying or worrying about much. Apatite is a calming shade of blue.

Emerald: This beautiful green gem only connects to those with true love for nature and the planet. This gives the user a keen connection to animals and nature around, some saying that it goes as far as to try and protect the wizard with coincidences from nature, like their shirt getting caught on a branch and saving you from falling to your death. Emerald is a bright green shade."

The rest of the booklet was just wishing you luck with your jewel and reminding the reader that no one is better than the other, to not feel ashamed of what they've gotten. At the end they'd show you pictures of how the jewels would look. I flipped through some of them and stopped at the fire opal. I took a moment to wonder what Khadar and Kae would get, assuming Kae might get emerald since she wanted it so bad and Khadar would probably get Citrine by how hyped up he usually seemed. I didn't have to think for too long, though, because their turns went by quickly.

"This went well," he said at Marrak, who placed his magazine aside along with the empty cup of tea,

"Yes? What did they get?" Asked Marrak, ears perked in attention.

Jalaan took out a small long box and opened it up. Inside were a fire opal, and Emerald and an Apatite, all glowing brightly.

"Very good mix between the three of you. I would've given anything to have seen this combination releasing a bunch of imprisoned creatures." I wasn’t entirely sure how he knew about our little trip but I could only assume it had something to do with him being an oracle and all. He chuckled before dropping our jewels in our palms. Kae seemed delighted with hers, moving it around to see its shiny green color, Khadar was a bit surprised with his and I was a little intimidated by mine. Fire Opal? Huge will power, strong headed? Courageous? I wasn't even sure if that really sounded like me.

"Thank you very much, Jalaan. For the meeting and warning us where they were." Said Marrak, chuckling at our excitement as we examined what from now on would be our dearest, most closest partner.

"You're quite welcome. Now, you should head to Kazegan before you arrive too late. I heard Saraphe's going to be holding everything back as long as she can for the four of you."

Marrak nodded and we all wished the oracle well before getting up on our carriage again. I put my jewel away in my pocket, Kae in her bag.

"Do you think its gonna fit this ring though?" Said Khadar, looking at the ring and the jewel, "I think it's kind of big."  a moment later the jewel shrank and, like a magnet attracting the other, it fit right into the socket. Khadar moved the ring around a bit to see if it would fall off before sliding his finger inside it, "I keep forgetting that from now on our lives are gonna be full of magic."

We didn't talk at all on our way to Kazegan, mostly because we were so exhausted from the adventures of the day. Once the carriage left the mountain, we headed towards a more foresty looking place and within about half an hour we could see Kazegan at the very end of our field of vision.

Chapter Four: Hello, Kazegan!

As the carriage approached Kazegan, the three of us began to quiet down. Our eyes were now glued on what would be, at least for the next few years, our home territory. Just like Zennan, everything started getting a little greener, but unlike Zennan, the mountains were part of the place rather than the background beauty. Still though, it looked beautiful as it was near and behind the city.

“It’s so weird to see so much wood and green.” Said Khadar, who had his arms crossed over the side of the carriage, chin resting on them.

“Are those golems?” I said, watching as the two figures near the big gates to the city became clearer and clearer. They were gigantic though, because the stone wall that protected Kazegan wasn’t much taller than them and we weren’t all that close and I could still see how their rocky complexion was in the shape of an armor all around them. It resembled a knight’s armor, with the helmet included. Both of them were different from each other though, because even though they were both brown, one of them had roots and leaves growing out of it while the other’s surface was smooth like he had been recently polished.

“Yes. Those two are our guardians of the outer wall.” Said Marrak before I saw Khadar sit up a bit more,

“This is something I know a lot about. Golems are an unusual type of spell. Only people who have a lot of control over themselves and have a deep understanding of discipline and emotion can actually control them. It takes a lot of practice to actually get them to listen to you. At least, those types.” His face had almost lit up as he looked at the guards, his body leaned forward in fascination and awe. I hadn’t ever seen golems in my life, that was for sure. But I hadn’t ever really had much interest for them either. Regardless, seeing them up front like that, merely being near them I could feel the strength of the magical power required to keep them put in their position, to keep them alert and protecting.

“Those types? There are more?”

“I mean, inside there are probably smaller golems. There’s all kinds of sizes and they have all kinds of uses to them. Some of them are just around to keep you company, others to protect, others to attack and so on. I really love them. No, in fact, I ADORE them!”

And finally his inner fan started to shine through.

“Did we forget to mention he’s obsessive about golems?” Said Kae, who was leaning back onto the carriage lazily, “He’s always loved them. Ever since he was a little boy!”

“Yeah, no kidding! I have always dreamed of being able to control them some day, and I won’t stop working until I do. If there’s anything I’ve ever been passionate about… Well, it’s golems.”

“Have you ever been near one?” I asked and Khadar shook his head,

“Nope! And I’m doing my best to stay seated and be a good boy right now!”

Marrak gave a quiet chuckle that I think only I heard.

“Then I’m proud to announce that I happen to be the one that’s in charge of most of the golems in this city!”

“WHAT? Really?” Said Khadar, quickly scooting closer towards Marrak, “You’re controlling those big guys up there?”

“Well, I control the ones inside, the guard golems. These two are controlled by a colleague of mine, actually. He’s the commander of our army. I’m the one that controls the patrol guard golems inside and the ones that are in charge of keeping our orphanage out of danger.”

Khadar raised his eyebrows at me in a gesture of, “duuuuuude” before glancing back at Marrak’s back, since he was currently piloting the carriage,

“That’s incredible. You gotta teach me about it some time!”

“Definitely.” Said Marrak, slowing the carriage down a bit, “Now, don’t be scared by these golems, okay? If they happen to pick up our carriage, it’s not because they’re attacking us. Though they rarely do so anyway.”

As we approached the city, I could feel as the nature began embracing us. The path had turned into an actual road between the trees and wilderness, and once we were close enough, we could hear the townsfolk and music. Though I understood why Marrak had warned us not to be scared, because now that we were at their feet, the golems looked a lot scarier and a lot bigger than before. In fact, from the distance we were at, I could see from cracks in their armor that inside they had a shining light of magic that was probably acting as their soul.

Just like Marrak had said, the golems didn’t pick us up. One of them got a bit closer and checked us out for a moment before recognizing Marrak and tapping his knuckles onto the wall rather lightly, causing the gates to open wide and finally… There it was. Kazegan.

Now, I’m not sure exactly how to explain what the city looked like from the inside. Zennan was pretty simple, it was the king castle’s rock arms embracing the city in a protective hug. But Kazegan? It was a circle and it was split into districts that, once I had gotten used to the city were much more apparent to me. But at first it just looked like a circular city with a lot of trees leading up to a gigantic tree in the middle, that flourished into healthy, bright green leaves. What surrounded the tree after a few paths here and there was the market district, which people called Meon Trade District, and then after that it would split into different sections of housing and entertainment, as well as a few hotels here and there.

“This city’s huge! I’m not even sure why I thought it was going to be small compared to Zennan.” Said Kae, who wasn’t slumped over lazily anymore, and rather, was perked up in attention. And with good reason, too, because there were so many things to see. From the different architecture style from our hometown, to the humongous tree in the middle, from the shops and restaurants to the cozy looking cottages. Even the people were worth a glance because it was obvious that there were a lot of them that didn’t belong. I could recognize Dominus looking people, sneering at others as they walked by, keeping their chin as high as their ego would let them and along with them I could see meons of all sorts of colors and sizes. There were brown ones with tiny ears, pink ones with gigantic ears, golden meons with brown stripes and floppy ears… So many I couldn’t even process them.

We entered the famous Meon Trade, the center of Kazegan, and the first thing we saw was an elder looking meon on a yak. His eyebrows were so thick in white fur that they covered his eyes while he sat on his yak's head, looking up at the carriage. In his hand he had a large rod with his jewel at the end, a bright, shining white one which I could recognize as apatite.

"That's the very first apatite I see!" I said, pointing at the rod. Khadar and Kae immediately turned to see. The old meon dropped his rod beside himself and took out an instrument that I hadn't ever seen. It kind of looked like an ocarina. He then began to play a very calm melody. Other instruments began sounding around Kazegan, almost muffling the blabber from the townsfolk until it became one calm, beautiful orchestra.

"It wouldn't be wrong to assume he's welcoming you," I heard Marrak say as he stirred the carriage towards one of the roads "Makari is one of the most noble, humble and kind people I have had the pleasure to meet. Him and I have been friends since way before you kids stepped into this world." He nodded to himself, "But you’ll have enough time to chat with him later, look, we're at the orphanage. Welcome to your new home!”

Everyone's eyes were on the cabin -- or mansion, because that's what it really looked like. A huge cabin like mansion. Some smoke was coming out of the chimney and there were two golems wandering around the orphanage, which I assumed to be Marrak's.

The outside of the orphanage was adorned with flowers and flower pots at the outside of the windows like you’d see in the movies. In Zennan they didn’t do that very often, only the very old houses actually had a spot for pots. The windows looked like they had come out of a Victorian Era movie, which gave the orphanage an even bigger air of greatness, aside from it’s beautifully large presentation. We hadn’t ridden too much, which was good because it meant we were close to the Meon Trade District and not hidden at the very end of the city.

Kae didn't take even a second before she hopped off the carriage, me and Khadar following behind her.

"Come, come! Oh my God, if it looks huge from the outside, you won't believe how it looks from in here!" Screamed Kae, urging us to move it.

The entrance of the orphanage was a large double door. Inside, first thing you'd find was a staircase that went up and then to the sides, turning into the second floor and then third and fourth. The decorations seemed to be very castle like, with never-ending candles adorning the walls and big chandeliers lighting up the bigger rooms. I assumed that winter fell at some point, because there were a lot of fireplaces as well as rugs and warm couches.

"Everything is so woody," said Khadar before running his fingers over the staircase handrail. I was nearly blinded by the amount of wood, too, considering that back in Zennan our orphanage was just like the rest -- rocky. Wood was a decoration, not the base of the entire structure.

"Everyone who would like a tour, please come with me!" Said the same little meon who we had seen earlier with Saraphe back in Zennan. He was holding a large stick with a lantern at the end to get everyone's attention. "The last carriage arrived!" We all quickly made our way to the crowd and got as close to the front as we could.

Orin began walking around, beginning from the right side of the orphanage. There was a living room, which we didn't get much time to see because it was so crowded, so he quickly moved on to the next thing, one of the classrooms.

"Just like your other orphanage, you'll be schooled here. There are several other courses you can take though only the necessary ones will be mandatory. Teachers are really nice here and I expect that you all treat them with respect." He stopped in the middle of the classroom. It was full of seats, a big black board and a huge library behind it, "This is your history classroom. One of my favorite subjects!"

Back in Zennan, our history classroom was full of maps and pictures from history. T he teacher had a whole wall dedicated to photographs of king Julian’s family line, from his ancestors, to himself, to his kids. Miss Meyers was obviously a teacher only because she didn’t have enough money to become a photographer. Humans had made all kinds of amazing gadgets and cameras and recorders but they were very expensive and hard to come by. It didn’t stop her from collecting other people’s photographs and putting them all around the classroom. One of my favorites was the picture of the peace treaty between Kazegan and both Zennan and Dominus. The poor meons had struggled a lot to get their own city, and once they had it they made sure that they made others respect them. I found the picture hilarious because you see two full grown men in different armors and banners, and right in the middle a small, old looking meon who looks even more serious and deadly than the two men towering three times more than him.

But this classroom was different. Instead of pictures it had posters with uplifting quotes on them and instead of focusing on historical moments the few pictures were mostly of different cultures. I almost felt a bit homesick being in a different classroom now, but Khadar and Kae seemed just more eager to see the rest. The walls felt empty and unfamiliar to me.

Orin continued out of the room urging us to follow him and so we did, onto the next classroom, which was our Myths and Legends class.

This one I had nothing to compare it to because we didn’t have anything similar to this in the other orphanage but the room was very welcoming although it had all the reasons to be creepy. The first thing that caught my eye as I entered were the tall shelves that went from floor to ceiling, and they were packed with all kinds of strange looking items. There were so many that it felt like it would collapse if I breathed too hard around it. However, the rest of the classroom was tidy and clean. The teacher’s desk was located right at the very center of the board and in front of it were rows of desks that escalated in level. It reminded me a lot of human universities as they showed them on TV.

Most of the other kids were busy looking around the desks because of the unusual setup of the classroom, but me and a few others headed towards the gigantic shelves. Orin stepped aside letting us all do our own thing before he approached us and also took a peek at what was on the shelves.

Just from what I could see in the shelves that were on my level of height, I saw a unicorn horn, a jar full of what seemed to be claws, a tribal looking necklace and more jars with unspeakable things in them. Most of them had handwritten labels, “banshee hair”, “gryffin claws”, “imp tail” and the one that most gave me the creeps: Fairy wings.

Orin seemed to be snooping, too, opening up a jar without label and smelling it. He immediately gagged, his fur getting puffy before he backed off quickly, “L-Let’s go kids, that’s enough of this room. Let’s continue now, please. Come along.”

The last classroom we got to see was the jewels class. Out of all them it seemed like the most boring and generic room. There was the board, the desks and rickety old bookshelves with way fewer books than the others. The only things in the room were the essentials, no decoration, no cool trophies from mythical sources. Just the jewels in a display case and books. None of us even bothered in really checking it out, and Orin just quickly passed through,

“Jewels class. Very important. You’ll learn how to control your powers here and hopefully become one with it. Now, let’s go, we can see the common room and head back to the dining room. The rest of the orphanage you can explore at your own pace.”

Orin opened up a huge room, the biggest one yet, and we all entered. It was full of all kinds of trophies won by other previous students, pictures of what I assumed must've been the first headmaster. There was also a lot of couches and more chimneys, rugs to sit on the ground, levitating ball chairs where you'd seem to be in your own little orb and other knick knacks like astrology charts and board games.

"This is where you can be when you've finished your classes. I beg you try to keep everything as clean as possible. Remember the orphanage can only be as clean and well maintained as all who live in it allow. Now, let's go back, Seraphe would like to have a word with you all.”

Orin led us to the huge dining room where everyone was being settled down at the tables. Me, Kae and Khadar all stuck together to make sure we'd be in the same one.

"Hello everyone!" Said a familiar voice, I turned to find Saraphe standing in front of all our tables. "We will now introduce to you all your new teachers and caretakers. Please take a seat and quiet down."

The smallest meon was the first one to step up out of all of them. She was wearing a tiny white hat and doctor clothes over her fluffy beige fur, which was specially fluffy around her cheeks. Her ears, unlike most of the meons, were rather small and had a white tip.

"Hello there. My name is Lyric and I am your nurse. If you ever have any questions that I can help you with, please don't doubt in coming to me. I'll be in the first floor of the orphanage, near the kitchen." She bowed her head to us and I saw Kae's face light up in delight.

After her, came a grumpy looking meon. He had a cane in his one hand, the other one was holding a large book. He was much older than the other meons, but seeing how their lifespans are different from us I couldn’t tell exactly how much older. His fur was grey and his head was slightly wide shaped, big furry ears accompanied by longer-than-normal whiskers. He didn't have any specific clothes like Lyric did, just a brown, simple outfit. I could bet my money that his classroom had been the boring one. I recognized him as one of the meons who had led the Dominus carriages.

"G'day," He cleared his throat, his raspy voice echoing all around the silent room "My name is Morus. I'm your jewels professor."  I glanced at Khadar and Kae, raising an eyebrow in confusion as he simply stepped back without a single word more.

"A grumpy meon?" Whispered Khadar.

"Well, it's not like they don't have their own personality. What'd you guys expect, them all to be bouncing around all day?" Retorted Kae.

The meon beside Morus seemed eager to step in front, taking a large hop forward. He had big eyes and his ears were so big the tip was slightly drooping. He was a blueish grey on his fur and wore a baby blue gown like wizards used to wear years ago.

"Hello! I'm your Myths and Legends professor, my name is Okon. I will be teaching you about creatures, spells and potions.”

The very last new meon stepped up. He was the chubbiest of them all, a long furry tail dragging behind him while he held a book up using his belly, which unlike the rest of his orange body, was white, "My name is Gargan, I'm your history teacher. It's nice to meet you all." He lifted the book and it began floating, opening in a blank spot. Whispering sounds came from around and a streak of names appeared from all of us. The blank book was suddenly full of names.  Gargan gave a gentle smile before turning away, his nose burrowed into the book, reading it.

“I’m sure you’re all familiar with Orin since he went with me to Zennan and Dominus, but nonetheless he’s worth an introduction.” Saraphe turned to Orin, who took it as a signal and stepped up in front, “He’s been my partner for many years and the one who encouraged me to become the next headmaster. Isn’t that right, Orin?”

“Yes, ma’am!” He said, nodding at her.

“Orin is in charge of the orphanage itself. We can say he’s like the supervisor. So if you have any questions or doubts, don’t hesitate to ask him. He’s in charge of most things around here, giving me a helping hand with all the responsibilities. Please treat him and the others with respect for we’re all here to take care of you all and help you get on the right track.” Saraphe gave a kind nod of her head at Orin and he stepped back. I could see his ears had puffed a bit, the fur being on end as if he’d gotten goosebumps. I was starting to understand meon body language and I was 99% sure that had been him getting a bit bashful.

"And last but not least," Said Saraphe as she stepped forward again, "This is Marrak, the orphanage guardian. I don't want you children to be alarmed, there is no specific danger he's guarding us from, we just take your safety very serious. If you ever find something that you think may be dangerous, please do tell."

"My favorite is Lyric" whispered Kae,

"I hope Morus isn't as mean as he looks," replied Khadar, "even his name is kind of creepy."

I chuckled, looking at our new meon caretakers. "They all seem alright."

"First, everyone whose parents left them something will be receiving a key. Tomorrow after lunch, you will all be going to The Vaults to claim your belongings. But for now, explore the orphanage and get to know your new home.” Her hands clasped together and she gave a big sigh, "We hope you all feel as welcomed as we wanted and settle down quickly to this being your new home.”

"Hmph, I'm guessing we're not getting anything," said Kae, rolling her eyes, "I'm glad, in fact. What kind of parent abandons you but leaves you something behind? As if that'll change the fact that you decided to leave your kid stranded?"

"I guess it makes sense though, I mean, it's not like all of them wanted to leave their kids behind just cause. Some of them had no money and stuff." Replied Khadar

I nodded in agreement, "There's a lot of teenage parents. Can you imagine us with kids? It'd be a handful. Specially not even having a job and all."

"Argh, but then why aren't they more careful? God, you'd think at this time and age people would be more responsible." She got up in a sudden burst, "Anyway, enough about that. Let's go explore, we didn't even get to see half of this place."

Khadar and I followed, getting up from the tables. But before we reached the door, Orin's familiar voice called my name through a gigantic megaphone. I turned around and found he was looking for me in the crowd.

I looked back at my friends and they slowly looked back at me,

"Lucky," whispered Khadar before jerking his head at Orin, "Go. You can catch up to us later, we'll give you a tour when you're back."

I nodded and watched them both disappear between the crowd of people.

Chapter Five: Twin Alcoholic Meons

"Hello, Daran! Looks like your parents left something for you in a vault." He dropped the small, heavy key in my hand before putting a check beside my name, "Since your parents left you something, we know your actual last name. You have the choice of either keeping it or changing it to something you want! If you'd like to change or find your last name, please ask Gargan." He patted my arm lightly before turning to his book again, reading for the next name.

The key was so tiny and insignificant that I couldn't imagine what it could even open. If they had left me something it probably wasn't too big. Now that I had been left something, I understood Kae's point... Why leave me something, even if it's the biggest and best thing in the world, if they were going to abandon me? I'd rather have them, a normal childhood, a normal life rather than all the money in the world for myself. I sighed quietly, an annoying pressure in my chest. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know what they had left me.

I turned around to look at the other kids who had been left something, I wanted to know if I was the only one who seemed upset.  One of the girls burst into tears a moment after receiving her key, Orin seemed distressed by her sudden burst of emotions and gave her head an awkward hug while his huge ears dropped back in despair. I was about to turn away from the awkward scene when I felt something bump into my knee.

"Hello!" Said Gargan, looking up at me with his big orange face, "Aren't you going to check what your last name is? Aren't you even a little curious?" His head tilted and I could hear Orin call names between kind words of comfort to the girl.

"Uh, I'm not sure if it even matters anyway. I think I'll just pick another one."

Gargan's face tensed slightly before he snapped his fingers and began floating, face to face with me.

"I know this is tough, but won't you regret it in the future? Once you change your name and get your vault it might be difficult to track down your last name again." There was a momentary pause before he raised his paw at me to shut me up before I spoke, "In fact, I've got a better idea." His huge book appeared behind him and he ripped a tiny piece of paper, taking a pen to scribble something before turning to me, "Here. If you ever want to know, it'll be there. That way you aren't pressured." His paw patted my head before he floated off.

The paper was shoved into my pockets along with the key.

It took me a while to find my twin friends again, the orphanage was huge compared to the one in Zennan and I was beginning to think they were still moving through it making it harder for me to find them.

"There he is!" Said Kae, running towards me, "Daran! How did it go? What was the key? Did they tell you what is in the vault? Are you going to go tomorrow? Can we come with?"

Khadar shook his head, patting her back lightly, "Stop being so nosey, Kae. You said it yourself, it must be painful and frustrating." He frowned a bit before looking at me, ".... Are you going to go?"

"I think so.  Or maybe not -- I'm not even really sure. I mean, what if it's something really horrible like a letter? My parents saying goodbye. Or... I mean, what could someone possibly leave their orphan kid behind?"

"Hmmm," Kae tapped her chin, shrugging a bit "I would leave them some money? Or, maybe you're right, maybe your mom left you a note letting you know that she loves you? I guess that'd be the best thing to get out of a vault, in my opinion."

"Maybe your parents didn't abandon you, what if your mom left and your dad fell ill and he ended up leaving you a whole family fortune?" Said Khadar,

"Yeah, maybe." I let out a quiet sigh, shoving my hands into my pockets. I took out the paper and handed it to them, "That's my last name. I haven't read it."

Kae took the paper and opened it almost immediately, "Ohh that's a pretty last name, Daran. It's fairly common, unfortunately..."

"Yeah, you'd take a lifetime tracking your parents with it." Said Khadar, also looking at it. "Do you wanna know what it is?"

"I'm not sure... I think not. You hold onto it, that way if I ever want to know I can just ask. What about you guys though? If you don't have a last name, does that mean you have to just choose it?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it for some time because we need one in this orphanage. Specially if we don't get adopted and have to move on with our lives once we're 18. I was thinking... Hmmm... Wiske, maybe?" She shot a look at Khadar immediately with a tiny evil grin,

"Wiske?" Asked Khadar, raising his eyebrow, "That sounds an awful lot like whisker to me. Kind of meon-ish, don't you think?"

"Well... It also kind of sounds like whiskey?"

"Great, so now we're alcoholic meons."

I chuckled, "I like it. The Wiske twins."

Khadar's face contorted into disgust, "I think it's still on the table for discussion..."

"ANYWAY..." Interrupted Kae, hopping slightly before putting my last name away in her pocket. "We found some pretty amazing rooms, Daran! There's a library and a room with a huge projector..."

"There's a game room with all kinds of stuff,"

"A huge kitchen!"

"Really nice dormitories,"

"A family style living room!"

"We even have a backyard. Professor Okon said that they had been planning on making a pool and they might this year, so I'm kind of excited for that." Finished Khadar.

"So this place is actually a lot bigger than I thought. What about the dormitories, is it girls and boys apart?" I asked, looking around at the homey looking decorations before heading off towards the living room, gesturing for them to follow. It had a fireplace and a lot of couches for people to relax on. They had even added pictures of the students and the teachers everywhere, the portraits changing picture slowly to not leave anyone out.

"Well it looks like girls will be sleeping in the 3rd floor and us boys in the 4th. But we all seem to have two people per bedroom, so maybe we could be roommates?"

"Sure," before I could even finish, Khadar grinned,

"I'm glad you said that cause I had already reserved one of the rooms. They're all similar but this one had the better mattresses. I guess that's one of the upsides of not having a vault key to wait on? I got to explore a ton faster than them."

"I've got to share my room with a girl from Dominus. I really hope she's not some psycho serial killer..." Kae narrowed her eyes a bit while she followed us.

I was taking all the details of the orphanage in, from the feel of the couch and the warmth of the chimney, to the smell of wood and food. I really liked it here, a lot more than I had thought. In fact, the orphanage gave out a vibe kind of like victorian era style houses in some movies. You know, with the creaking floors, the wallpapered walls and the overall old feel of it? That’s how I was feeling now that I had enough time to really settle into the place. I wondered if maybe they had restored the huge mansion to make it an orphanage or if the orphanage itself was just really old. But I figured it was the former because some rooms looked awkward for an orphanage. Just the whole place made me think of an old rich guy who wanted a freaking huge house and lots of studios and rooms. Saraphe had done a good job at filling up those rooms and not letting them go to waste though, because most of them were filled with things like boxes stuffed with festive decorations or old furniture that no longer fit the current overall theme of the orphanage and old, broken equipment.

I also had some time to drag the twins outside to check for what was around the orphanage itself. We had way more freedom to roam around here, more free time than in Zennan. So far I hadn’t heard anything about obligatory math classes or anything and I was itching to explore Kazegan. I had heard wonderful things about the shops here and I was very ready to stock up on some weird things that they brought in from other countries.

Just standing at the doorway I could easily make out small shops down the thin alleyway although they weren’t anything too special. A tailor, furnishing shop, pet shop and at the very far end I could see the sign of a hotel. But I had definitely seen trinket shops and bakeries on our way into Kazegan.

The twins snapped me out of my day dreaming as they pulled me back inside,

“Quit drooling and let’s go play some games!” Said Khadar,

“You guys aren’t really going to abandon me, right?” Asked Kae, whimpering quietly,

“Not if you join us!” He replied, not slowing down the dragging for even a second. I heard Kae sigh loudly,

“Fine! I’ll be watching movies alone then! Go ahead and leave me behind!”

Khadar and I usually spent a lot of time playing board games back in Zennan. They didn’t exactly have video games and consoles ready for us unlike here, and judging by how banged up and used they looked I could only assume they were here by popular demand.

I didn’t know much about games, nothing like Khadar. He was fangirling about all the different titles he had heard of but never gotten a chance to try out. I plopped down on the couch as I waited for him to choose what game we’d play, and then he brought the controllers and I spent a good hour trying to figure out how the game mechanics worked. It was an RPG, Khadar told me. All I knew was that I was taking turns with him on when I got to attack and there wasn’t any quick action style fighting like I had seen in other games. It was relaxing and intuitive, felt like I was playing a card game but with graphics.

It was almost three hours into our gaming session when Orin let us know that it was time for us to eat now. Time flew by me and I was surprised by how much fun I had. Khadar was rambling nonstop about the game.

“Oh God, I’m still so pumped about that last battle! I told you it wouldn’t be hard for you to get it. It’s a no brainer if you can get the hang of the abilities and stats.”

“It was pretty good. A lot easier to understand when I wrote down all the elements. Maybe we should include that in our game,” I said.

Khadar and I had been working on a card game for years. We hadn’t ever played with anyone but each other but it was definitely enough for us. It had helped us through rainy days in Zennan and days where we would get sick and wouldn’t wanna get out of bed. I wasn’t a fan of it at first but Khadar has a habit of bugging and bugging and bugging you about something until you finally try it, and worst of all is, he’s usually right about it. He does it to me mostly because I think Kae learned to just listen to her brother. “Khadar knows best” as he likes to tell me.

Once we got to the dining hall, we looked around for Kae and sat right beside her. I was surprised she sounded so normal and not at all butthurt about us leaving her behind. On the contrary, she was in quite a good mood, sighing quietly while her emerald lit up quite brightly.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Asked Khadar as plates of food began appearing around the huge tables,

“I had a long talk with one of the teachers and I am feeling very in my zone right now. Professor Okon also took me to watch the music lovers and their orchestra in the music room. Didn’t you guys hear it?”

Khadar and I looked at each other then back at her,

“I didn’t hear anything. And we didn’t have the game on loud either. How far away is the room?” I said, Khadar’s mouth already stuffed with food.

“It’s right there,” Kae said, pointing at a nearby room. I had seen it earlier, it was one of the biggest rooms in the entire orphanage. It was almost an amphitheater mini version. But when I had gone inside there was an ongoing class with a teacher at the front with a portable board and the students listening intently while they held onto their instruments.

“It was awesome. I had never heard such cheerful music. I get the feeling that it’s something common here in Kazegan. I wish Zennan had it’s own artists like that, too!”

“They sometimes do.” Khadar said, swallowing down the buttered bread he had stuffed in his mouth, “Don’t you remember we went to see some street artists--”

“Oh, please!” She interrupted, “They were nothing in comparison to what I’ve heard since we got here. This music is.. It’s soft and magical. It carries you away into another, wonderful land. Zennan’s artists sounded and looked like a circus.”

Khadar shrugged a bit, “I don’t hear the difference.”

Kae’s eyes rolled before she glanced towards me, leaning in onto her elbows, “I bet you would appreciate it. Maybe you should tag along me and Professor Okon next time, instead of hanging out with this deaf loser!”

I chuckled, “Sure. Maybe if we take some snacks we can lure Khadar to go with us too.”

Kae snickered and Khadar… Well, Khadar ignored us because he was “in the zone” with his inner food lover.

Kae and I fell silent as we both also dug into our food. I think the three of us needed a moment to process the entire day. From now on this was what we would call home, this was our new life and so far I think Kazegan was welcoming us home with open arms.

"I wonder if they'd let me plant some things in the backyard. I'd love to be able to grow my own plants again." Kae tapped her Emerald jewel, which was pinned onto her purple sweater, finally breaking the ongoing silence of us stuffing our faces with Kazegan’s own recipes.

"I did hear that Kazegan makes sure every jewel finds what they most like," Added Khadar, looking at me, "Maybe we could all go to the Meon District tomorrow? We may not have much money but we could find something to save up for."

"We could go after you go to your vault in case you need moral support!" Kae bounced up and about, "We could meet there."

"I think that's a great idea. If we don't find something to buy, we could at least all go together for lunch?" I suggested. I could almost feel the key burn a hole through my pants and skin on my leg, its presence was distracting to me.

"That'd be great! I'll go check out what restaurants there are around here --" Kae was interrupted by a sudden bell ringing throughout the orphanage, letting us know it was 10:30PM and time for sleep.

"Aww, well, keep me updated." She jumped up and locked her arms around me in a tight hug and then to her brother before she scurried away into the crowd.

"She seems really happy here," I said once she was gone. Khadar nodded, his eyes on where she had disappeared.

"She really is. I know she actually wished she had parents though, even if she pretends they're not important and treats them like an almighty evil." Khadar shrugged. "I really like it here though. I feel like it’s kind of like a new adventure. Anyway, you ready, roomie?"

"Ready."

Khadar and I stayed up until almost 1:30AM talking about our entire journey and playing our card game. It was nice having a private room with him, not having to whisper so quietly to not wake other people up as we all had to in the other orphanage. We had each our own bed, our own closet and our own night stand to put our things in. I hadn't stayed up talking one-on-one with him for what seemed forever so it felt like a necessary break from all the commotion. Besides, without his little sister around, he seemed a lot less censored.

"I definitely like this place, it's so... Warm. I have to admit that when I first realized we were going to be dragged to Kazegan, I was pretty scared. People are always too much in a hurry to get adopted, I don't think anyone ever realizes that this might be a lot better." He was laying flat on his back as he spoke, his jewel glowing a calm aura.

"You're right, it might be a little crowded with kids but this city is wonderful. There seemed so much to explore that I don't think we even see half of it on our way in. Did you see how all those instruments began playing though?"

"Oh yeah!" His bed creaked as he sat up a bit, "That was pretty magical. I'm not sure if it was some trick from the old meon guy or if the entire city knew what song he was playing and decided to go along with it. I wonder what melody it is though. I also liked the golems..."

I chuckled before nodding, "You know, I couldn't tell."

Khadar also chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "Though, in all seriousness, this seems like a really nice place to spend the rest of my life in. I think Kae's pretty stoked about being here too. In fact, I never heard anyone complain after we arrived here."

"They were really mad about the forest and the bugs and the presence of Dominus. I haven't really been able to tell them from us apart though."

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I guess we were all doing pretty much the same -- wandering around the orphanage and fangirling inside.” There was a moment of silence before he raised his eyes from his jewel to me, “I feel like this place is gonna change our lives. Like, I feel like we’re gonna really fit in here, you know? ..Anyway, we better get some sleep if we want to have enough energy to explore tomorrow," he said, sliding his body into the covers.

"Right. Good night, Khadar." I muttered,

'Night.”

After that, the crickets sang me to sleep.

Chapter Six: Apologies For Abandonment

I sat up quickly, drenched in sweat. I looked at the time and it was almost 3AM. For a moment I was lost in the new room feeling rather out of place. I tried to recall the dream but could only conjure up flashes and a man screaming something at me. I used the sleeve of my shirt to wipe off some sweat from my forehead before tugging on the shirt. The cloth was sticking to my skin like I had just taken a midnight dive.

I pulled the cover off myself to feel less encaged and I heard a quiet clank of the key falling to the wooden floor. I stared at it silently before picking it up, holding it tightly in my hands.  There was a strange feeling around my neck and chest, as if I had been thinking about something bad in the dream. Something evil.

I felt almost like a kid again, waking up in the middle of the night and going off to read comic books. Except I wasn’t a little kid and now I had no secret Daran spot to go to. Besides, this felt… Heavier. More serious. I had nightmares in the past but never had I felt so drained and ached. My eyes darted down to the little key, glimmering in the dim moonlight and suddenly, in the quiet and calm of the room, I felt like I couldn’t escape my own mind.

I dropped back onto the bed, keeping the cold key in my hand while I tried to find a good position again. My head felt heavy with thoughts, like everything I had ignored earlier was suddenly flooding in. I felt .. Sad and awkward inside whenever I’d think of the key, or my parents, or what it was they might’ve left me. But I felt even worse with the echoing voice of the man screaming at me. There was just something ominous about the dream, a bad aftertaste. His voice was familiar and loud. It was desperate and.. Crazy.

I switched my thoughts to something else. It wasn’t the first time I had woken up from a dream and felt different and out of place. Sometimes they feel so weird that I feel like I can barely recognize the current reality.

I shook my head, dropping the key inside of the drawer before lying down again slowly. I tried to picture what a nice day tomorrow would be, in a few hours I'd be going to lunch with my friends and exploring The Meon Trade. It was just the fact that I wasn’t sleeping in my real bed, that I wasn’t in Zennan. I was too old to be having a hard time sleeping after a nightmare.

"Wake up, Daran!" Said Kae, shaking my shoulder, "They've already served breakfast and you have to get ready if you don't want to be late for your vault thing!"

I grumbled slightly, trying hard to open my heavy eyes, managing only to keep one half open, "Good morning..." I muttered, keeping my face as far away from her as possible. I didn't want my horrible morning breath to knock her out. I had almost forgotten about the nightmare when I felt my skin was still sticky from the intense sweating I had.

"You look exhausted! At what time did you both go to bed last night?"

"Erh," grumbled Khadar from his bed, his brown hair messy from his pillows, "At like around 1AM? 2AM? I don't know..."

"Huh, well you better be energized for today 'cause I really wanna explore and I won't have you two slouching around like zombies!"

"Uhuh..." Said Khadar in a half-awake-half-asleep tone. Kae sighed quietly.

"I guess I'll give you both time to wake up. Meanwhile, I'll be getting ready for today."

I heard her footsteps disappear from our room and I stayed still. I was trying to get the strength to get out of my comfortable bed.

"You know, Daran... If you don't want to know what's in that vault, you shouldn't let Kae push you into it." Khadar's bed creaked as he rose to a sitting position, one of his hands furiously rubbing his eye, "I mean, she can be a real pain sometimes but she'll back off if you ask her to. I'll do it if you want."

"Don't worry, I'm too curious not to go. I'm treating it like a band-aid, the quicker I rip it off the better."

"That's the spirit." I heard him get up from the bed and I closed my eyes hoping he'd suggest he'd get ready first.

"I'll go take a bath and meet you downstairs," He said, patting his stomach sleepily, "I'm famished."

"You always are," I managed to mutter, "I'll see you there."

It took a while for me to get out of my bed. I was pretty tired from all the excitement that we had felt with the whole getting lost and our jewel and the exploring. But I eventually got up and took a nice long shower, dressing up quickly as soon as I smelled breakfast. I could tell it was pancakes by the sweet syrup smell.

By the time I got there, the twins were already on their second plate, I took my place beside them before looking around, "Wait, so... Where's the food?" just as I'd finish asking, a phantom hand appeared in front of me, it had a white waiter glove. Another one appeared and they both teamed up to serve me a tower of pancakes, spread the butter and soak it with syrup.

"How cool is that?" Said Khadar, who seemed much more awake now.

"I keep eating more just to watch them. Look," Kae took three large gulps of her orange juice and set the glass down, "Oh no, my juice is done..." And suddenly the two hands appeared again, offering different kinds of juices. She turned to me and grinned before choosing the orange one, watching them fill her cup up to the top.

"They're so freakin' nice, you should've seen. If you want your pancakes cut up in figures n' stuff, you just gotta ask. Professor Okon said that as long as you ask really politely, they'll pretty much do anything for you."

I looked around and saw all the other kids using the hands, just like Kae. They'd all eat or drink up quickly just to get served again. We didn't have any of these pleasures back in our first orphanage, it wasn't exactly the best one and we were too young to be surrounded by magic so often.

Seeing as I am no better than the others, I also lost count of how many cups of juices and coffee I drank and how many different pancakes I had. I couldn't help myself but to try and ask them to do anything that popped into my head. I ended up having ice cream and pancakes, pancakes shaped like me, ball shaped pancakes and even little pancake cakes with syrup inside of them that would pour out as soon as I sliced it with the knife. By the time we were done with our breakfast, the three of us were sick.

"Urgh, okay, that was fun but now I'm kind of regretting it," muttered Khadar who was slowly dropping his head towards the empty, sticky pancake plate when the hand popped up and held his head up.

"Okay..." Said Kae very slowly, "That was way too cute. I could just hug them." The other hand popped up and began walking across the table with its index and middle finger before embracing her hand in a "hug". Khadar and I watched as she smothered the poor hand in a full, actual hug.

"Can I just adopt this guy? In fact, are there different hands for each one of us or...?" He pulled his head back and looked at the bunch of hands all over different tables.

"I think so, cause even the professors have their own," I said, looking towards Professor Gargan who was licking his lips at a huge tower of pancakes. Just the sight of it made me sick, I wanted to run away from food for about a year.

"Aww, I wish I could take mine around school." Grumbled Kae, who was still suffocating the hand in a hug.

"As much as I like these guys, I think we should head to the common room for a while to let the food settle. I don't want to feel so heavy and sick when we go out today," said Khadar, getting up and nearly dragging his sister away from the tables, who was waving at the hands, which were waving at her.

"Do you think there's something cool in every room of this orphanage?" I asked, walking past the music room that played piano on its own, giving a melody to the girl who was practicing her singing.

"I hope so. It's stupid they don't let us near these type of magic when we're kids, but I guess it's thanks to that we don't grow up to be absolutely useless. Can you imagine what kind of people we'd be if those hands had existed ever since we were born? People would have to roll us to places from how big we would've gotten." Said Khadar,

Kae opened up the doors to the common room. There weren't many people there right now, mostly everyone was either at the dining room or exploring the rest of the orphanage. We took one of the biggest couches and dropped all together onto it.

"Oh man, I could take a nap forever..." Whispered Khadar, suddenly flipping himself over so that his head was on his sister's lap and his legs on mine, stretching lazily, "Ahhh yeah, this is life."

"Argh, Khadar, I'm too full for this right now!" Nagged Kae, putting her hand on his face while I sank into the couch.

"I think I'm so full I might actually vomit if I move." I said drowsily and before we knew it, we were being woken up by Orin, who was gently patting my leg over and over.

"Kids, wake up! You're going to miss the trip to the vault!"

I snapped my eyes open. Khadar was still across me and Kae, but her and I were leaning against each other. We looked like the most embarrassing trio of friends possible. It seemed that the comfort of the orphanage, the warmth of the fireplace and our full bellies had sent us to dreamland.

"Crap," said Khadar, sitting up quickly while Kae rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Go, Daran! We'll meet up at The Red Granger. I heard great things about it! A lot of positive reviews on the food." Urged Kae, nearly pushing me off the couch. "It's near The Meon District East entrance so you won't have trouble finding us."

I stumbled forward before touching my pockets for the key. It was there. The moment had arrived and I would finally be going to The Vaults. I looked back at my friends, who were both sitting up watching me closely as I walked away with Orin. I think I wasn't the only one who wanted them to come along, but in the end, I felt better being alone.

It seemed that others had already gone to The Vaults with the other meons. I was the last one along with a girl. Orin was happily walking in front of us, pointing out things and teaching us about Kazegan. I don't think neither I nor the girl were really listening. We both seemed too busy thinking about our vaults. I couldn’t settle my brain on the thin alleyways or the homey houses or even the sculptures that both her and I so blindly missed. My mind was swirling on my parents and what I might get. Deep inside I was hoping it was a lot of money, and I know it sounds selfish and strange. But what could I possibly do with a personal item from a woman or a man who left me? What use would I get from dad’s baseball cap or mom’s hairpin? And I certainly didn’t want a letter. They had no faces, no personalities in my head. Everything that I imagined them as when I was growing up faded as I let go of the ideals. I didn’t want to think of a sweet, caring woman with hair like mine, nor did I want to picture a skillful father working hard to keep a family up whose  eyes I might’ve inherited from. No. I just wanted them to be quiet, still silhouettes now. The idea of seeing their handwriting or their words made me feel strange and nervous.

The Vaults weren't too far from the orphanage but it felt like the trip had taken forever. Orin stopped at the doors and turned around to look at us. His ears dropped down a bit in what I assume was empathy.

"Ready guys?" He asked and both me and the girl nodded.

Orin then smiled gently and opened the two huge wooden doors opening up to The Vaults.

The place was gigantic from the inside. More than it looked from outside. It was fancier, too, with marble floor and heavy steel vault doors. In the middle of the room, towards the entrance, there was a long counter with people registering and letting people pass through a large, round, metallic door that had many locks. We got in line and I recognized a few people from the orphanage. There were also a few Dominus kids I had seen in the carriage the day before. I couldn't help but to wonder what it was that each one of us would get.

Orin wasn't talking anymore, probably because The Vaults was so quiet, kind of like the banks in Zennan. You could only hear the quiet muttering of the people behind the counter, asking questions and filling out a paper and even the smallest sound echoing around the mostly empty of furniture room.

About fifteen minutes went by and we had finally moved from the back to the front. Orin jumped up on a little staircase made for meons.

"Good afternoon!" He said, beaming at the woman behind the counter. She had a tight ponytail and big glasses along with the reddest lipstick I'd ever seen.

"Good day," she said without even looking at us, taking out one of the forums. "Are you all going to the same vault?"

"No, miss. Each kid is going to their own."

"Hmm, 'kay. One second, please." She took out another form and grabbed a pen, "Name?"

"Raia Vate and Daran Likimas."

Likimas. My last name is Likimas, I thought. I then looked at Raia and she seemed to not have known her last name either because she was looking straight at Orin, who I don't think ever realized we might've not known what our last names were.

"Very well," said the woman writing down our names. I immediately leaned in forward to see how mine was written.

"Your keys?" She held her hand out and I took mine out of my pocket, dropping it on her palm. I wondered if I'd ever have my key back.

"Okay, Raia Vate's vault is 389. Daran Likimas ---" She frowned and fixed her glasses before leaning in, "It seems we have a problem."

"A problem?" Said Orin as he leaned in to check, his voice getting high pitched, "What do you mean a problem? Why?"

"The vault is already being displayed to another person." The lady snapped her fingers and a new forum appeared, "Bastion Kader."

Orin looked back at me as if he was hoping I'd know who that was. I shrugged.

"How could this happen? Is it a common mistake?" He asked, turning to her again,

"No, no it isn't. One second." The lady got up and walked inside of the huge door. Orin got a bit restless, changing positions often. I reckoned he felt responsible, even if this was out of his control.

"It's okay, Orin." I heard the girl say, "I'm sure this will be fixed."

"It can't be though. These keys are handed down to us the second we are given the children." He sighed exasperated, "I'm so sorry that this is happening to you, Daran. I'm sure we'll find your vault."

The lady appeared from behind the door and urged us to go with her. We passed to the other side of the counter, Orin nearly jogging at this point.

"Raia Vater, go with Mr. Rafan, he will show you to your vault." Said the woman, pointing at a guy that was holding Raia's key. The way Raia looked at us was similar to a puppy who wants to get adopted. I would have been curious, too. "You two can come with me."

I walked along with them, looking around. It was a huge corridor, at the sides were smaller versions of the gigantic door and each one was between two thick walls to give privacy to those inside the vaults. There were too many for me to even count. I could even see some stairs leading up to a second floor.

We had walked down the same corridor for what felt like 10 minutes straight,

"Excuse me, what's my vault number?"

"Number 13." She said, without looking back at me.

I kept my eyes on the people around when I saw there was no chance of her nor Orin striking up a conversation any time soon. The poor meon looked like he might fall over dead by a heart attack. When we were getting closer, I spotted the kid I had seen in the carriage and an old man who was about as tall as my chest, his head half coated with thin, silver hair that made him look even older.

"This is him, Daran Likimas. He has the other key." The woman dropped the key in the old man's hand and he took a look at me and then at Bastion.

"Are you two related in some way?" He asked,

"No." Answered the kid and Orin shook his head,

"There's really no way to know. They're orphans." Orin said to the old man, “But one of them is from Zennan and the other from Dominus. There’s a very small chance they’re related.”

"I don't think they are," said the lady then, looking at me and Bastion. If there were two people on Earth that looked least alike it was me and him. His hair was jet black, and mine was dirty blonde. His eyes were a deep blue and mine were hazel. He was a bit taller than I was. Not even his nose or eyebrows or eyes or anything looked like me. We even had completely different face shapes. He had hard eyes and I had been told mine looked lazy, his nose looked like it had been chiseled out to replicate a roman sculptured nose. Mine? Well, mine was just a nose. A sadly average nose.

"Well, Mr. Kader and Mr. Likimas," Began the old man as he inched to the door, "This is a special kind of door, one that requires two keys. It's usually used for family occasions, when parents leave things for two siblings and what not. The only way the vault will ever open is if both keys are in the door at the same time. Seeing as though you're both owners but not related, this is something you must discuss because whatever's inside the vault is rightfully owned by the both of you."

I looked at Bastion for a moment, his eyes seemed to be piercing the vault door. He looked so concentrated I might've thought he was trying to X-ray it.

"What happens if it's a single item?" He asked, his eyes suspiciously shifting towards me,

"Only the two of you can decide what happens with whatever is in the vault." Said the old man.

"Maybe there's some legal document we can both sign agreeing that it'll be settled mutually?" Asked Bastion dead seriously,

"I don't think so. But I will go check. Give me a moment then," said the old man, "I will return." And he walked off between us.

It was probably the longest, most awkward and painful moments of my life so far. The woman with the red lipstick stayed to keep an eye on us, Orin was looking at the vault quietly, and Bastion and I were just awkwardly standing beside each other.

"If it's money, you can keep it," I finally said, "I don't really care."

"Don't be stupid. If it's money we will just split it in half. In fact, money is the easiest thing we could settle." He replied, not taking his eyes off of our vault. "Plus, I don't need the money either."

"Okay." I said simply.

"You could both donate it?" Said the woman, and at that moment even Orin looked at her, "Erh, hehe. It was just a suggestion!"

We all stayed quiet for the remaining time until the old man arrived again. "I'm afraid we would have to have lawyers and what not. How about you look at what's inside first and then we see how we could handle the splitting?" He said.

Bastion shrugged and I nodded, so the old man took the key and opened both locks. A loud clanking noise came from the door as well as the clicks as it unlocked. We all stared intently, curiosity eating us all up from inside until the old man finally pulled the door open. The vault was a huge room, but it only contained a single thing -- a chest.

"A chest?" Asked the woman stunned as her head popped out from behind the wall to peek, "Do either of you have the key for it?"

"Keys," Corrected Bastion while him and I entered to check it out, "It has three keyholes."

The chest was medium sized, three different locks. Bastion tapped the wood and it sent out a magic vibe around the chest. "I'm guessing this is impossible the break, so unless we got the keys, this chest is useless." He said, looking at me.

I shrugged, "I don't have any keys."

"Well, then I guess there'll be no settling for what's inside until we find those keys." He replied, getting up from his knees. "Who in the hell leaves two orphans a locked chest in a vault?"

"What a cruel joke," murmured the woman.

"I'm sorry, kids." Said Orin, walking around the chest, "You're going to have to find the keys if you want to see what your parents have left you."

I, too, began walking around the chest now. It looked heavy, very heavy because it was made out of pure gold. The only decoration it had were some gems around the three keyholes and weird markings and inscriptions. But no one seemed to really notice or even mention them, and they didn’t look familiar to me at all.

We all stood around like idiots for a while, just staring at the chest. There was no point in forcing it open as it was secured with strong magic and the gold seemed thick. Bastion seemed more pissed off than I was, and I wasn’t sure if it was because the chest was locked or because he had to share it with me.

In a way, I was very relieved. It wasn’t a card, it wasn’t a dusty family album -- it was a mysterious chest. A golden mysterious chest. I could only assume that inside was a fortune, and Bastion seemed fine enough with us splitting whatever money might be inside. But on the other hand, neither of us had a key and without them that chest might as well be a pebble or a stone because we couldn’t do anything with it, nor could we sell it.

The old man closed the door once we had all left the vault and handed us our keys back, "Don't lose the keys, boys. No one will ever be able to open the vault if the second one isn't around." His hands gestured for us to begin walking out of the hallway and we all headed out again. Marrak was waiting for Bastion outside of the counter and so was Raia waiting for us.

"What was it? Your vault seemed to have caused quite a commotion." She asked as soon as Orin and I arrived,

"A locked chest. Three keys are required to open it." I said and I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that I might die without knowing what's in that chest and I agreed with the woman, it was definitely a cruel thing to do to an orphan.

"A locked chest? Why was that other kid in there with you?"

"The door required two keys," Said Orin, sounding almost as bummed out as me.

"What about you, what'd you get?" I asked, walking with them.

"A ring." She raised her hand and showed me her finger, it now had a white gold ring around it with a magicless apatite engraved on it.

"Are you going to keep it?" I asked,

"I'm not sure yet. I mean, what am I gonna do with a ring from a parent I'm never gonna meet? I was considering donating it or selling it at one of the antique jewelry shops. It seems worth a lot."

Orin gave a quiet chuckle, "The woman behind the counter would've been thrilled to hear that."

Chapter Seven: Disappointment Over Nine-Thousand

Raia and Orin headed back to the orphanage, Orin seemed eager to tell the others what had happened. I eventually found my way to the Red Granger and saw my two twin friends standing outside.

"There he is!" Kae pointed, almost dashing at me, "What was it?!"

Khadar walked behind her, "Hey, hey! We gotta go inside quick before they take our table. Then you can tell us all about your adventure."

The Red Granger was a home-styled restaurant that a little old meon lady ran. Her fur was silver and she always seemed to be wearing an apron, even if she wasn't in the kitchen. She was a sweet little old lady, treating everyone by endearment names as if we were all her grandchildren. The restaurant was rather small, the walls were cobblestone and the floors were wood. The stone theme again, just like in Zennan. I felt right at home. It even had a chimney. Over the counter where you'd pay was a cookie jar along with some delicious looking cupcakes in a glass box and a donations box in the form of a chimney. On the outside it looked like a cabin you might see in a Christmas movie, cozy and small, with the chimney smoke and everything.

"Over here," said Khadar, leading us to a small round dinner table. Me and Kae followed and sat around it with him, menus appearing on our laps as soon as we sat down.

"I heard the cakes here are legendary!" Said Kae, peeking through the menu.

"We gotta order some normal food first," said Khadar naggingly.

"How about the spaghetti?" I said, mouth watering at the pictures of the full plates of amazing looking pasta,

"I think I'll have some lasagna," said Kae. Khadar shook his head,

"I think I'll go for the hamburger."

Kae dropped her menu, her eyes narrowing, "Really? Hamburger isn't normal food, it's junk food!"

"Have you even seen the picture of it? I think my stomach began eating itself by just looking at it." Said Khadar.

It wasn't even a second after we ordered that both of them dropped their elbows on the table and leaned forward to me,

"So?" Asked Kae,

"How'd it go?" Followed Khadar.

"Did you throw your gift away?"

"Was it food?"

"Was it money?"

"... It was a chest." I said, keeping an eye on their expressions.

"A... Chest?" Repeated Khadar, raising his eyebrow, "Why would they put a chest inside a vault? What was in it?"

"Was it something really important?" Followed Kae eagerly.

"Actually, it turns out the vault had to be opened by two different keys, mine and Bastion Kader's key.

"Bastion Kader? Are we supposed to know him?" Asked Kae confused.

"No, he's one of the guys we saw in the carriage."

"Don't tell me he took it all!" Said Kae, slamming her hand lightly on the table. The old meon lady poked her head out from behind the counter in surprise.

"Actually, the chest was locked with three different keyholes... And, well, looks like whoever left us the chest didn't really think it through because neither of us have a single key."

Khadar looked disappointed and frustrated, dropping back on his seat, "Well, that was boring. I'd been thinking about what you could possibly get for hours, I never thought it'd be a freakin' locked chest inside a locked vault!"

Kae sighed quietly, "What do you think it might be?"

I shrugged, "I honestly have no idea. Whatever it is though, it must be really, really important to be so tightly locked away from the world."

"Did the chest have any engraving words on it? Like 'Thou shalt pay for opening'? Or 'Death shall fall upon thee who opens'?" Asked Khadar. I shook my head.

“You used thee wrong.” Muttered Kae, Khadar poking his tongue out at her like a child.

"Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see." I said.

"That really sucks." Said Khadar,

"What did the Dominus boy say?" Asked Kae,

"Nothing, but he sounded rather disappointed. But enough of that, what about your night with the Dominus girl?"

"Well, she was really awkward... I went inside the room and she pretty much just sat on her bed and read all night. She didn't seem interested at talking to me at all. The only thing I found out her name is Azara."

"Azara doesn't sound too bad. And neither did Bastion. Although he did call me stupid and glared at me like two times."

Kae burst into a chuckle and our food arrived graciously. The hamburger looked juicy, the spaghetti looked saucy and her lasagna looked like it had been coated with the cheesiest cheese you could find. My mouth watered just watching it coat over the meat. It was the closest thing to a restaurant that actually gave you the meal it advertised in the menus.  

"I kind of miss my hand buddies," said Khadar before he squeezed some ketchup onto the hamburger, and then there was only silence in the table as we all dug into our food as if we hadn't eaten more pancakes than we could've counted in the morning.

After our big lunch we left the Red Granger and headed towards the Meon Trade District. Once we arrived, the first thing I noticed was that The District was basically a gigantic clock but instead of having numbers and hands it had sections. Each section offered a variety of items you could get for your jewel and they were each split almost exact so that no jewel had more than the other.

I could see all kinds of people, from kids to elders, walking around looking for things that the meons offered. There were so many, in fact, that it was pretty easy to tell that people from all over Azerak came here for the goods they offered. But what I most liked was how it was so neat that even within the small divisions were more divisions. If you went to the Cubic Zirconia part of the district you had little categories to choose from: Clothes, pets, trinkets, accessories, home decor, everything.

The first one was, to Kae's delight, the emerald. There were many meons selling all kinds of nature things, from essences and smells to tents and tools to seeds and companions.

"Oh my God" Sang Kae as she got close to one of the companion stalls. There were little tiny trents and foresty looking creatures, tiny little things that ranged from looking nasty, to adorable, to scary.

"Companions?" Said Khadar, raising his eyebrow, "Why would people need a companion?"

"It's like a little pet!" Retorted Kae, picking up a little wood creature that had a mask made out of leaf, "Look at this one, it's adorable."

"These are special little creatures," Said the meon who was selling them, "They're carved out by magical wood and then an essence grows within them and they become your lifelong companions. They will follow you until the day you die." He looked at the one Kae was holding up, "She's been with me for as long as I can remember. She was a gift from my grandfather. You can even make her own little mask."

"They're amazing, I'd never seen anything like it!" she said, looking down at the one she had in her hand,

"There's also these little guys," He pulled out another wooden creature and fed it some seeds, it shot them out at a blank that was set up against the wall, "They're kid's new toys now-a-days. They do competitions and you can even win prizes."

Now Kae was holding both of them in her arms, "Aww, I'm falling in love with these guys."

"We also have fairies and little plants that grow into a companion that'll stay in their pot."

"What're they called?" I asked, poking at one of them lightly,

"Well the ones that are carved out are called Mokuzai, these that spit are called Gemus, the fairies are lake fairies and these little guys that grow are Niwas."

“And how much for each?” Asked Khadar skeptically,

“Well, Lake Fairies cost 50 Novas, Niwas cost 25 Novas, Mokuzais cost 48 Novas, and last but not least Gemus coming in last with 15 Novas.” The little meon patted one of the pets as he talked before resting both his hands on the stall, looking up in attention to Kae and Khadar.

"Well, thank you for showing us," Said Kae, setting the little companions back down, "I'll definitely be saving up for them," She patted them gently, waving at the meon.

We walked through all kinds of shops in the Amethyst section, how-to books, more companions though they were mostly tiny little teachers and things that required a lot of care, trinkets and furniture.

"Ahh, the Apatite district," said Khadar, speeding up a little more, "You think this thing will have companions too?"

"Ohh someone liked the idea." Teased Kae.

"Duh, who wouldn't want a personal slave?" I heard the slight smack of Kae hitting Khadar on the arm gently while I looked around. The Apatite district was full of scented candles, books, fluffy pillows to sit on, bulky blankets, trinkets and pets, too.

"Hello, children," Said one of the meons as we passed. We all turned around to look, ending up face to face with the yak riding meon we'd seen earlier, "Very nice to see you're exploring your new home. How has Kazegan treated you?"

Kae's face lit up in delight, by the way the old man was getting to all of us, I could've sworn he was an Apatite.

"Very well, sir, it's an amazing city." I replied, nodding at him,

"Do you sell here too?" Asked Khadar, looking at the yak.

"Well, yes I do." The old meon turned the yak around and walked to the back of it where there was a tiny shop set up on it, he appeared behind the counter, "Welcome to Makari's Wandering Shop. What are you children looking for?"

"Ohh, what's this?" Asked Kae, pointing at a potion.

"I sell many types of potions," said Makari, gesturing at a selection of colorful liquids. Some were even glowing eerily.

"Are any of them dangerous?" Asked Khadar while he picked up one of the green ones as if he was scarred for life after the little trip we had at the Oracle’s Retreat.

"No, my boy. Nothing of what I sell will harm you. These potions are for transforming into animals, turning into a different color, changing gender, getting special powers. It's all for fun!"

I looked around the shop. There was a selection of wands that had different shapes and sizes, each one with its own jewel slot. I could also see some wizard hats of different colors, and a strange little orb that could fit in my hand easily.

"What's that?" I finally asked, pointing at it.

Makari looked back at it and chuckled, "This is a game I've been working on," he took the small orb and placed it in my hand before making me squeeze lightly. It suddenly grew to a full sized crystal ball. "They come with these," and he took out a pack and opened it, dropping a few cards out. The cards had pictures of warriors and animals, pictures of spells and companions, mounts, clothes, all kinds of things.

"How does it work?" Asked Khadar immediately, who stepped up next to me.

"This orb is your controller and your screen. You take the cards and place them near the orb and," He placed one of the cards and suddenly the character from the card appeared standing on it and looked around at us.

"Hello, boss!" He said to us before jumping into the orb.

"They become part of your game. You can collect the cards in these little packages and change those that you already own."

"Can I hold it?" Asked Khadar, his hands spread for it. I handed it to him and then stood beside him looking inside of the ball. We could see the character that Makari had opened through the crystal ball, he was in an empty house sitting on a single wooden chair. As soon as we leaned in, he looked up at us and waved.

"Oh this is so cool," said Khadar, waving back at him. "What are you supposed to do with it? What's the name of the game?"

"You train your character, you give him a life." Makari leaned in and placed two cards nearby. One of them poofed as an armor that clanked as it stood up right before jumping into the crystal. The other one was a dragon, that came up blowing fire at us before flying around the crystal and diving in, too. A second later, the man was happily calling at us to thank us for the gifts, putting on the armor before trying to tame the dragon, which Kae, who was now looking too, found endlessly amusing.

"You can add clothes, weapons, mounts, places, people... You can do everything. You're creating your own little world. And then, you can battle your friends. I'm not sure about the name of the game yet, maybe you can help me find it once you've learned how to play it?" Said Makari before handing Khadar the rest of the cards that had come in the stack, "Here, boy. Take it as a gift from me. I know you three are new around here."  He then looked at me and Kae and I immediately shook my head,

"Hey, thanks for the gift but please, don't give me and Kae anything, we'll come back with our money and---" But before I could even argue, he had given Kae a dark purple Wizard hat, the tip of it drooped back making her look stylish by mixing a bit of old style wizard clothing to what the 'young ones' were wearing now a days. I could see her face turn red as she cupped her cheeks looking at herself in the mirror. Her dark brown hair and curious green eyes were highlighted by the hat.

I considered for a moment just running away. But I continued trying to argue that it was okay and that him giving something to my friends was enough. But the old man had disappeared behind his counter and he was moving and throwing things inside his shop looking for something. I glanced back at my friends, Kae was still red as a tomato and Khadar was nearly hugging the crystal ball like a plush toy.

I stood restless in my spot waiting until Makari's head poked out from behind the counter and he leaned towards me, dropping a necklace in my hand. It had a slot for my jewel.

"Go on, boy! Put your jewel inside of it!" He urged, his ears perking in interest.

Khadar nodded at me and so did Kae so I sighed and took out my jewel and placed it on the little locket. Suddenly, it burst with fire and a weird sound surrounded us. Makari's eyes were wide in anticipation.

"W-What is that!?" Said Kae, pointing behind me before using Khadar as a shield. I turned back and there was a little weird creature with a hood around it, covering its face. It was floating on the ground and it had a lantern in one of its hands that was glowing eerily. Suddenly, in the darkness of the cloak, two glowy red eyes popped up.

I had never seen a creature like it before. It seemed to be hovering over the ground, its cloak flowing like it would on water. The creature’s eyes scanned us all before settling on me, and regardless of its creepy appearance I felt rather at ease with it around. The lantern between its boney fingers lighting up with a gentle blue flame.

"A poe..." Muttered Makari, poking at it with his rod, "What a very, very interesting thing." He then glanced at me as the poe frowned at him and smacked the rod away, "This is your new companion. They say these necklaces bring out a special animal or being to protect you, according to what they see in your soul. Let me say, boy, I never thought yours would be a poe!"

"What's a poe?" Said Kae,

"Oh don't worry, dear. It won't harm you."

I stared down at the little poe and it looked up at me. Its glowy eyes suddenly became a moon shaped slit, which I could only assume meant it was smiling at me. I chuckled quietly at it. It seemed awfully cute for a creepy looking creature. "What am I supposed to feed it?"

"It'll feed itself, don't worry. Now, it might not always be beside you. But when it does appear, it'll be because of a good reason. Poes might be scary looking but they were used to guard graves way back when. That's why they've got a bad reputation." Makari looked up at the sky and clapped his hands, "Okay, kids, I think it's time for you to go home. Go and have fun with your new things. I need to get going now.”

We all headed back home after thanking Makari for what felt like a billion times. Kae and Khadar seemed eager to get home to continue to explore their gifts. Kae was delighted with the hat, it's like Makari knew that she loved design, and he did really find a hat that fit her. Khadar, on the other hand, had found a way to make the crystal go back to its original small orb shape and he had it saved inside his pocket.

"I can't wait to get to our dormitory and put the other cards in," He said, walking faster than I'd ever seen him walk.

“I think I can replicate this hat in other colors,” Muttered Kae as she twisted and turned it, analyzing its shape, “I love the texture. I think I can use it even now during these sunny days without boiling my scalp.”

I looked back every now and then to check to see if the creature was still following me and surely enough, there it was. Its boney hands gripping tightly onto the lantern before looking up at me, picking up pace.

Everyone at the orphanage was heading to the dining table by the time we got back. The three of us sat on our usual table, enjoyed the company of our fingery friends although we didn’t eat much because we were still pretty full from our lunch. After that, Kae hugged us both goodnight and ran off to her room. I figured she'd probably be making herself outfits to match her new hat. Me and Khadar headed up to our dormitory and he immediately sat down on his bed with his orb.

"Okay so," he said, spreading out the cards, "I have furniture, a pet, a mount... And like three other characters. Oh, and a pajama. Ha! It's pink!"

I chuckled and sat beside him to look at the cards, "So, it's ten cards per stack for 7 Novas. That's a pretty good deal."

"Yeah, right?" He said, taking the character ones and putting them around the now full sized crystal. It was two females and a male. One of the females was short with black hair and a blue wizard outfit, a gigantic wizard hat matching her style. She waved at us before giggling and jumping in. The other female had her hair tied back and an armor suit without the headgear. Her sword flailed around madly before she charged inside of the orb and the last one, the guy, was very muscly, big and angry looking. He crossed his arms and didn't move. Me and Khadar waited for a while.

"Uh, is this supposed to happen?" He mumbled at me,

"Don't ask me, I didn't even know these things existed. Maybe it's a glitch? Makari did say he was working on this thing."

Khadar frowned, "Excuse me, you need to jump into the orb."

"Who the hell are you to tell me what I have to do?!" Snapped the little, buff guy. His sword made a sound as he unsheathed it and pointed it at him, "You want a piece of me, buddy? I'll stab your eye out!"

Khadar pulled back and stared at me, "What in the world?"

"That's right, momma's boy!" Yelled the guy at us again.

Khadar glared down at him, "Listen, punk. Go inside!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Make me!" He finally screamed, about to bounce off the card when Khadar grabbed his sword with two fingers, "What the-- Lemme go, kid!"

"Oh, not so tough now, are ya?" He lifted the guy up, high up above the orb. He clung onto his sword nervously,

"Okay, okay sorry. Put me down! Put me--"

And then Khadar let go and the guy flailed his arms and legs until he disappeared into the orb. We both leaned in quickly to see what had happened. He fell hard on his butt, dropping his sword beside himself. The guy from the first card had burst out laughing and pointed at him.

"How do we know their names?" I asked, looking at them.

"I'm not really sure... The card specifications disappear when you put them into the orb."

"Click on me!" Said the tiny girl, "Click on me gently!"

Khadar's finger tapped on her and the whole screen turned into a menu, where we could see specifications about her. Her name, her height, her stats, her specialty, her lore. Everything.

"She's a healer," he said, scrolling down, "and her name is Mimi."

"What about the jerk?"

He tapped again and then fiercely followed the buff guy around trying to tap him,

"Damn it, must you make everything so difficult!" Yelled Khadar, tapping like crazy. Once he finally caught him, we heard a quiet "ow!" and then the menu appeared.

"Kanor... His name is Kanor."

"More like Ka-jerk." Muttered Khadar,  taking off the menu. Kanor now had a purple eye. I watched Khadar fall back in a fit of laughter at Kanor's defeated face.

After a while of watching Khadar play around with his new game and go through the tutorials, I got up and stretched. I was exhausted thanks to the horrible night. I changed up into comfortable clothes and when I came back to the room, Khadar was still playing with the orb.

"The first guy's name is Zorgent and that has to be the coolest name ever. Also, the warrior chick's name is Ranna."

"Can you rename them?"

"Huh..." He fidgeted around, "I can give them a nickname. Wanna guess what Kanor's name is now?"

"What?" I asked as I moved closer to see,

"Captain Doofball."

Kanor looked furious, and Khadar very satisfied.

Chapter Eight: Homework, Homework And More Homework!

The next morning I woke up to the alarm. It felt like I had completely passed out because I had absolutely no dreams. Since Khadar was still asleep, I set the alarm for 10 minutes more and left to take a bath and get ready first. By the time I was back, the alarm had woken him up and he was already holding his orb.

"Good morning!" He said, "I had to make them train for now. I wanna get 'em strong.”

"Even Captain Doofball?"

"Even Captain Doofball." Khadar grinned almost evily.

“Are you liking the game so far?”

“It’s pretty good. I mean, I think it might be a lot better with friends but… I can’t say I’m not enjoying leveling them up and watching them go on missions or get new clothes. Plus, I’m not gonna lie, I’m tempted to spend whatever money I get on these guys.”

“I think that means Makari’s doing a great job then.” I said, standing beside his bed, looking at the orb. When I was a kid I really liked board games and video games but the older I got the less interest I had in them. Not because I believe they’re for kids only, but because I don’t have the urge in me that gamers do. I call it the “completion complex”. One of the kids in Zennan’s orphanage spent all of his money in games that he would play up until the very end. When I played video games, I would, too, but not the way he did it. He would finish everything in the game, he would get every achievement, explore every place, learn every bit he could of the story. He even had a term for it -- “One hundred percenting it”. I figured Khadar might be that type of gamer, and if he was, I had a feeling that he’d be into the game for a long, long time.

“Definitely.” He said, tapping on the orb making it go into some sort of sleep mode, reverting back to its smaller size, “And I always knew there was a lot about magic I didn’t know. But I never thought people would actually use it to create video games. I hope it catches on and they bring out a whole bunch more.”

I chuckled, patting his shoulder before heading towards the door urging him to follow so we wouldn’t be late, “Yeah. I bet you do.”

Once Khadar had gotten ready, we headed down and reunited with Kae in our very first class in the orphanage: Jewels.

"Morning." Said the Professor Morus as he made his way to the front of the room,

"Good morning." We all chorused.

Professor Morus approached his desk and dropped the bag he had over his shoulder before turning to us all,

"I assume that you all have an idea of what this class is going to be based around. I will be here to guide you through your journey to understand your powers and take control over them. Now, as you all know, each one of you has a specific jewel, and each jewel has its own strengths. Years ago, we used to have something called stances, which was an easy way to fit people into categories depending on whether they were tanks, menders or damage. Although we evolved our tactics from it years ago, I still think some of its teaching hold true." He cleared his throat, walking towards the first row of desks. No one was making a sound, making the tapping of his cane almost awkwardly loud.

"All of you have the potential to learn every and all the spells. You can all become masters in creature manipulation or in healing. However, that doesn't mean that there should be a harmony between your personal values, your temperament, your jewel and what you choose. It's much like a career. We will work on exploring that and finding your right path." Professor Morus walked back towards the desk and sat down to look inside his bag for a book. An exact copy of it appeared on all of our desks before it opened up and flipped through pages, stopping at one with a picture of a spectral bear.

"For today's class there will be no fooling around, no introducing, no getting to know each other. I do not need to know your name to guide you through magic and there's no time to waste. In the book I have given you we will be learning about talents and ways to mix your magic with them. If you do not get to read it all you shall for homework." He pulled out a stack of papers and dropped them on his desk before taking a pen. He seemed to just sink into his work immediately giving us the que to start working. Most of the class fell silent and did as he said, me included.

The book went straight to the point: No one is without talent and they urge you to find yours. Some of the examples they gave of people who found new ways to use their magic in their own personal way, one of my favorite artists being in the list: Berac'h Visdeloup. Berac'h became famous when he used photography to capture the souls of dying people and the public found out. There was an outrage because of how immoral the whole thing was -- but surprisingly there were also people who defended him. The idea of having a loved one in a photograph gave some people comfort. I suppose talking to a photograph that has the soul of your dead dog is a ton better than talking to a pile of ashes. Personally I think it's a bit macabre and cruel to trap someone inside of a photograph, specially when you take in consideration whether there's something beyond death.

What I didn't know was that Berac'h's crazy idea had given fruit to other photographers who tried reviving people through capturing their souls and that's when a lot of people began using their own talents for magic -- like Maelis Bodiou who had a knack for drawing and used it to build shelters for old, sick and crazy people on the streets.

I don't have a talent. I can't draw, I'm not the greatest photographer and I definitely do not have a good singing voice. The pages gave some examples and ideas other than the typical drawing, singing, writing: Strange connection with animals, ease for shapeshifting, knitting, and sculpting just to name a few. Some of these things I didn't even know what they were like Pooktre art, which apparently is a thing. A thing where people make art using trees. Yeah, the things people come up with, right?

The class went on quietly, only pencils and pens breaking the silence as people slowly began getting to the chapter ending. It felt eternal, especially because I had no idea what I wanted to do and since my number one hobby is reading, I was done with having 10 minutes to spare before the class ended. I dropped my cheek on my hand and looked around the classroom. Most people weren't done and I was quietly gloating about my quick reading skillz before deciding to rest my head over my arm and close my eyes. Of course, my body KO'd me into a deep sleep not long after, causing me to wake up to snickering and giggling while Professor Morus' irritated voice yelled from below.

"Excuse me? EXCUSE ME? What do you think you're doing sleeping in my class?" He smacked my knee with his cane causing me to snap upright and look around. I quickly wiped the drool from my chin,

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to fall asleep. I finished reading and I put my head down. I had a very bad night--"

"A bad night? Poor baby, he didn't get his 12 hours of beauty sleep."  Interrupted the professor, the classroom didn't silence their giggling while Professor Morus continued to glare at me, possibly plotting on how to murder me in my sleep.

I decided not to say anything back and just stared at him. Back in Zennan, Mr. Rogers our math teacher, was a bit of a.. Well, let's just say he was a total d****e. I had gotten in trouble several times in his class because of my habit of daydreaming. It was way worse when I was a kid, so much Mr. Rogers thought that I was deaf. So, after so many years, I'd learned not to talk back unless I wanted an XXL Punishment like he liked to call it.

Professor Morus huffed out irritated, "Smart keeping your mouth shut. What's-"

The bell rung and I thanked all the Gods and higher powers in the universe. The professor scoffed and limped back to his desk, "Tomorrow I expect a paper on your favorite talent based wizard and you can thank Snory for that."

The entire class groaned, some kids from Dominus shooting a glare up at me. Khadar dropped his hand on my shoulder, pulling me with himself idly,

"Man, when are you gonna stop dozing off in class?" He said jokingly as we walked out.

"Thanks a lot, Daran," Said Kae mockingly.

"I wasn't lying, I actually had a terrible night-"

"Yeah, okay, buddy. Whatever." Said Khadar, smirking like an a*s, "Anyway, how can someone who plays instrument make it a spell?" Khadar scratched his head while we walked towards our other class.

"Maybe the notes would somehow make the spell work?"

"No," Said Kae, "Your jewel would make a bond between you and your instrument. Think about it, it's kind of like those wands we saw at Makari's shop, they all had a jewel slot. Maybe if your instrument has one, you can make music and bam! Spells happen."

"Huh, in that case then, what are our talents?" Asked Khadar,

Both me and Kae shrugged.

"We better find them quick then," I said.

The next class, History, was taught by Professor Gargan. When we arrived at his classroom, he was setting up a big map of the world, his fat little tail moving side to side while he waddled around trying to make it stick to the board.

"Good morning," He said grumpily before making it float in mid air instead. The map had three continents and a few isles here and there, "Due to technical difficulties, the map may or may not fall down in the middle of this lecture, so please front row, beware." His throat cleared before he looked up at the map, "Can anyone tell me what this is?"  

"A map?" Blurted out one of the kids from behind me,

"Yes, a map." Said Gargan patiently, "But a map of what?"

Khadar raised his hand, Gargan pointed at him,

"Is it the map of our world? Our continents?"

"You're right. How many continents do we have?"

"Three," Chorused the class, half of us sounding unsure and murmury.

Gargan frowned in disbelief, "How can you say it so insecurely having the map in front of yourselves! And then people say Zennan and Dominus are more advanced. Ha! What a bunch of baloney they teach.”He patted the map showing the three continents, "This is mostly elves and dwarves, this one is creeping with vampires and humans and this is our lovely home. Now, can somebody tell me the name of the vampire continent?"

One of the guys who was always beside Bastion raised his hand,

"It’s called Drannor.”

“Correct. The elven and dwarven one is Tessarion. Please tell me you kids know where we stand?"

Khadar raised his hand, just as well as the Dominus kid again and Professor Gargan chose our genius, Khadar, before crossing his fingers exaggerating his hope for a right answer,

"Uh..." Said Khadar,

"Yes?" He urged on,

"Is it Esteron?"

A bit of confetti popped out from the ceiling over Khadar after Professor Gargan snapped his fingers,

"Nicely done. Now, don't feel ashamed, guys. The notion of other continents isn't exactly old news. We will also be learning a bit about the other species, such as vampires. I want to clear some misconceptions that I have seen you children writing. A bunch of nonsense if you ask me.”

I’m not entirely sure but I could swear I heard him mumble something under his breath about sparkling and I could see one of the girls from the front row turn different shades of red at the comment.

“Let’s start with Tessarion.” He turned around to look at the map before snapping his fingers. A few images of Tessarion, elves and dwarves appeared. The continent itself looked rather grassy and coopery. There were a lot of tall buildings with spiral staircases around them as well as castles with the architecture you’d see in Russia back in the day when the humans weren’t in danger of extinction. Professor Gargan gave us a brief explanation on how the elves and dwarves had been enemies for a long time before they finally allied together shortly after the vampires nearly wiped out the humans from existence, hoping to avoid the same thing happening to them. I think it made sense because they were so equal in strength, the elves being stronger in magic and the dwarves in brute strength.  

Back in Zennan we had barely learned about the continents or the other species, except when Miss Meyers would show us pictures and try to get us to sympathize with humans and whatnot. As homework she'd made us research a bit about them and their culture and habits. Khadar had made it short and sweet when he explained it to Kae and me: Elves are stuck ups, dwarves are drunks, humans are weak and vampires are scary.

I had found it quite interesting when I did my own learning though. The architecture in Drannor was incredible, nothing like the ones we saw here. They were daring with their buildings and colors, specially the elves whose style was very elegant with their love for marble and gold. The dwarves' style was more down to the basics. Their houses weren't anything incredibly visual or special, just strong buildings that felt like forts of their own. I thought a better explanation of what they were would be practical and very down to earth. They went for strength and convenience over stylish and pretty. Specially considering their territories were much closer to the mountains and there was all kinds of creepy roaming around.

There weren't many pictures of vampires and humans. Only a few here and there. They did have great architecture, too, like the Eiffel tower and the statue of Liberty. Too bad their wars with the vamps had destroyed nearly all their important landmarks throughout time.

The rest of History class we spent mocking vampires, elves and dwarves until Gargan felt it might be a little out of line and told us to quiet down. He gave us some notes to jot down about the next class, which would be about the very first and last war the meons had.

After the two classes we had a break for lunch. Our lunch was spaghetti and meatballs, which I hadn’t had in months. This, of course, meant I shoved as much as I could into my mouth.

“What do you guys think about the professors so far?” Asked Kae, whose fork was playing with the spaghetti strings,

“I don’t know. They’re alright. I guess the only one who sounds kind of annoying and strict is Morus.” Said Khadar before they both turned to look at me once I didn’t give my opinion. My mouth was way over its capacity in food intake, so a bit of spaghetti was dangling from the side of my mouth.

“Hrm,” I said, letting them know I was ‘thinking about it’ while trying to munch and swallow,

“Easy there, buddy. I know Professor Morus’ class was boring as heck but I don’t think the nursery would be any better!” Said Khadar causing Kae to snicker quietly. That’s when I caught the glance of one of the Dominus kids. I recognized him as the smart a*s one that kept answering all the questions in class. His eyes were resting on me. In fact, scratch that, piercing through me with an obvious hint of disgust. I raised my eyebrow at him before he shook his head at me, narrowing his eyes a bit and turning around to talk to his friends. Bastion and the other guy looked at me, too. I had a feeling they weren't very happy about the extra homework.

The three of them continued to mutter and gossip in their little group as they had been doing ever since me and Bastion had met at The Vaults. I glared at them quietly before Khadar tapped me on the shoulder, disrupting my train of thoughts.

“Hey, what’s up? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I murmured. Khadar glanced at the Dominus trio and rolled his eyes.

“What a bunch of buffoons. Sometimes I wish I could just slap ‘em across the face, you know?”

The wise guy must’ve heard cause he put his hand behind his ear as if threatening Khadar to say it louder. It all happened pretty fast but the next thing I knew, Khadar was standing up and yelling beside me.

“Oh, you wanna hear me repeat it? I said you’re a bunch of BUFFOONS.”

The dining room got a bit quieter as he spoke out. Bastion turned around and looked at Khadar then at me.

“Buffoons, you say?” Repeated the guy before chuckling, “What the hell even are you? Did you come out of a 90s kids movie? Come try again when you grow a pair.”

“Grow a pair?” I heard Khadar repeat in a quiet murmur before Kae grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down,

“Don’t waste your breath on them. What are they gonna do, glare us to dust?"

“That’s right. Sit down, boy. I wouldn’t want you going to Saraphe crying when I punch your teeth down your throat.” Hissed the guy again and that was when all hell broke loose in the cafeteria. Another group of Dominus kids began banging their fists on the table trying to incite a fight, chanting like rabid monkeys egging the guys on.

“Oh, shut up!” I heard one of the older kids say,

“Aww, boohoo! Someone’s a little sad they didn’t get adopted yet!” Said another Dominus kid from yet another table,

“WAHHHHH WAHHHHH!” Cried another.

The older kid got up and I’m not sure what it is that he said because everyone began roaring in anger at each other, but I got to see how the other Dominus boy got up and chest bumped the older kid. Within seconds they were both blowing punches at each other and their friends began intervening and it turned into a big fight. I got up and a bit closer to see because I hadn’t ever witnessed a fist fight. No one had ever fought like that in my other orphanage and I wasn’t exactly sure what I should do. I had always wondered how Zennan and Dominus just lived side by side, and now it was more obvious than ever that they didn't. I got the feeling that the reason the golems existed weren't to protect us from anything outside but from ourselves.

A loud bang sounded and most of the crowd ducked down in instinct. One of the Dominus hecklers had shot a spell and one of our Zennan allies was on the ground, surrounded by other kids. I couldn’t see what had happened, in fact, I wasn’t even sure what was going on. All I could see was a bunch of teenager boys who were railed up and angry, surrounding one of the Zennan kids and blood. My eyes darted to Khadar and Kae before I looked for the Dominus gang that had started it all. Bastion and his friends were gone without a trace and seconds after the teachers rushed in furiously yelling at everyone to stand back and calm down while golems raced to the aid of the kid.

Six kids in total got detention and one kid ended up in Lyric’s office. There were a ton of rumors about what had happened to the kid. Some said he'd gotten the shot straight to his face and lost his eyes, others said that he just got smacked in the mouth, others went as far as to say he was near death because his internal organs were bleeding from the hit. A few days later we found out that he’d been shot by a fireworks spell straight in the face and had gotten badly burnt. The blood had came from his eye, which had received a big part of the blow but he wasn't in any mortal danger - not that the entire ordeal hadn't been horrifying for the kid.

Eventually, though, some kids had told on us and Khadar had gotten called into the office. He didn’t get any big punishments or anything because he hadn’t officially fought the other kid, but he had been forced to make a whole essay on the meaning of tolerance and respect.

“I can’t believe I got punished for shutting that loud mouth up!” Roared Khadar as we walked down the hallway to our next class. “An essay? And just when I got my game, too!”

“I tried to stop you.” Said Kae, who was walking beside us, shaking her head a bit, “You could have been that kid in the nurse’s office.”

Khadar slowed down a bit and shot a glare at his sister. I hadn’t seen them argue for a while now, so I began getting a bit awkward, pretending to fidget with my bag instead. I knew how these things ended: Daran picking a side and being hated by one of the twins.

“Are you saying I would’ve been a wuss or something? How come HE couldn’t have been the one to be in the nurse’s office?” He snapped at her,

“I’m not saying you’re a wuss. Why are you putting words in my mouth? I’m just saying it was a really stupid thing to do, starting up a fight with the Dominus kids. You know where they’re from. Why did you expect any less from them? In fact, you should’ve just taken the highway and been the bigger man.” Nagged Kae back,

“The bigger man?” Khadar scoffed before rolling his eyes, “You’re such a girl sometimes, Kae.” And with that, he picked up his pace and walked quickly towards the class. I managed to grab Kae’s wrist and stop her from following.

“Such a girl?!” She said to me, “How dare he make it sound like being a girl is a bad thing!” Her hand pulled back from mine roughly and I sighed,

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. You know Khadar’s not that type of guy. I guess he just doesn’t want you to treat him like a baby.”

“Like a baby?” She repeated and I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed at me or the idea of it, “Then maybe he shouldn’t act like one!” And like brother like sister, she walked off hurried to the classroom. I sighed quietly before following behind and once I got to the class both Khadar and her had taken separated seats from each other and I was left standing unsure of who to sit beside. A quiet snicker caught my attention and I saw Bastion’s friend. I felt like burning up into a torch inside. Eventually I made my pick and sat beside Khadar hoping that Kae would understand. I didn’t say anything to him and neither did he, so we just waited silently for the class to start.

The last lesson of the day was myths and legends. Professor Okon waddled into the room with a big box full of name tags in it, Raia following behind him helping him before he began passing the tags out from the front of one row to the next,

"Just because I have good memory for myths and legends doesn't mean I have a good memory for names! Please make sure you don’t write a fake name and that your handwriting is clear." He said before hopping onto his desk, "Now, I have something interesting to talk to you about today." His voice turned eerie. "In the midst of my research for something interesting to teach as our first lesson, I found something that matched one of the rumors going on about one of the visit to The Vaults. This is what I found."

Suddenly, the picture of the chest in mine and Bastion's vault appeared at the front of the class.

"The legend of this chest had been passed down for generations but after no one ever found it, it faded away and the excitement died out."  Professor Okon turned to us, looking at me and Bastion, "and now it seems that we have finally, after many years, found it."

“I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with who Nikolaus and Duke are, though I hope for the sake of Zennan’s and Dominus’ reputation that you do. But for those who don’t, Nikolaus is the great hero that saved everyone from Duke’s plans to conquer magic. The story says that Duke, one of the creators of the city of Dominus itself, had become evil and rotten and planned to take over magic and steal it from everyone else, so he had created a powerful spell that would make his wishes come true. Once Nikolaus heard of this, he rushed to stop the evil wizard and managed to take him down in a fierce battle. Unfortunately, Nikolaus never returned either. They say that Nikolaus had to sacrifice his entire life force in order to stop the evil spell and that the only thing that remained was his wand, which his best friend, Kajetan, brought back in a locked chest. Some others say that inside the chest is the powerful spell locked up and that if the chest is opened the owner will be the ruler of magic. Others say that it’s Nikolaus’ remains.” Professor Okon snapped his fingers changing the picture to other angles of the drawn chest. It was exactly like the one Bastion and I had seen in The Vaults, from the gems on the thick gold to the three locks. It even had part of the blurred scribbles. “Many people tried to find the chest but no one was ever able to get their hands on it and eventually everyone stopped believing in the tale.”

One of the girls from the front row raised her hand and Professor Okon pointed at her,

“Professor, how come no one ever asked Kajetan?”

“Oh, but they did!” The picture changed to an old wizard. He had a blue cloak and a long beard. His face was kind with wrinkles at the edge of his eyes, which glimmered with a hint of mischief you might find in a prankster, “Kajetan remained silent about the incident for the rest of his life. Some say that he never got over Nikolaus’ death because he hid in his own palace and barely ever showed his face until he died of old age. It was very sad indeed. One of the few times he stayed around for questions was in the opening ceremony of Nikolaus’ statue in the hero plaza of Zennan.”

Then, the boy right beside me raised his hand, Professor Okon pointed at him to give him the word.

"What do you think, Professor?"

"I think that it might've been just about anything. Perhaps I like to believe most that Nikolaus and Duke fought to the death and his best friend brought his ashes back to mourn him at peace.”

Bastion began talking silently with his two buddies, who I now recognized as Simon and Steffan since I had overheard Professor Morus yelling at them earlier. Simon was the tallest out of the three of them, short, messy black hair and green eyes. He had been the one responsible for Khadar’s tolerance essay. Simon’s body was very slim and skeletal looking which looked even creepier because he was as pale skinned as Jalaan. Steffan, on the other hand, seemed to be the clown of their group. He had wavy light brown hair and blue eyes. He was shorter than both Bastion and Simon and had a rather chubbier complexion in comparison. Out of their entire trio, he looked like the nicest because he always seemed to be telling some sort of story or joke to them, which would usually end with Simon grunting or rolling his eyes. The three of them were still from Dominus, though, and it didn't matter how much I might've wanted to trust them - even if it was just me fooling myself - I felt like the whispering and murmuring weren't them discussing today's breakfast or Bastion's hobbies.

The class continued with everyone discussing about Duke, Nikolaus and the chest. Most people agreed that Nikolaus had saved everyone from Duke except for the Dominus kids who had said Nikolaus had a bad habit of butting into business that didn’t concern him and had probably gotten himself and Duke killed because of it. He reminded me a lot of King Julius with his concern for the wellbeing of others, going as far as being one of the main advocates for the humans and their safety. He truly did care for others, even if his way of showing it came off as a bit pretentious, know-it-all and nosy.

I was surprised to hear that some others actually thought it was just a myth and a big show from Kajetan. That they actually had a conspiracy theory that the old wizard had framed the murder of his best friend on Duke and gotten away with both murders. I personally thought it was stupid considering afterwards Kajetan basically disappeared from the spotlight.

Dominus and Zennan started getting heated into discussion again as people got insulted because of what had been said about Duke and Nikolaus. I knew Nikolaus was recognized as a hero back in Zennan because one of the teachers had taken us to a museum and a trip around the hero plaza. It was a long time ago but I remembered it clearly because it had been the only field trip I had ever actually enjoyed. The hall of heroes was about twice as big as Kazegan’s orphanage and with good reason because inside were humongous statues dedicated to all kinds of heroes. Some of those heroes were the inspiration to the comic books I read as a kid.

Nikolaus was in them as the hero of magic. His sculpture was of a tall man with broad shoulders, scruffy hair and a serious overall demeanor. It was hard to imagine someone like him being best friends with Kajetan. Nikolaus might be very famous, but to me his deeds paled in comparison to some. Sure, he supported a lot of humans and mythical creatures who had been wronged, but he didn’t go out on any dangerous adventure or … You know, killed a dragon. He didn’t do anything that really seemed to take much courage. Expressing your opinion and standing up for people who are being bullied shouldn’t be considered courageous, it should be considered common sense and human decency.

To Dominus it was the other way around. I had always assumed that they would’ve passed Duke’s disappearance as a failure and trampled all over his memory, but Dominus kids were easily insulted by the story and got very defensive quickly about Duke. It had got me thinking about how we were both different sides of a coin and what to me was a hero to them was the villain.

At the end Professor Okon opted for changing the subject for the last quarter of our class. It was getting hard to keep them from arguing and there had been enough bloody noses for a day. Instead, we talked about what our favorite myth and legend is. I couldn’t wait to finish the class anyway because I wanted to talk about it with Khadar and Kae. I wasn’t sure how it made me feel knowing that Nikolaus’ chest was currently in my possession and I was racing a kid from Dominus to get my hands on it first.

"As tomorrow's homework, class, I'd like you to choose your favorite creature or species. Please be detailed in your report back on facts about it, ranging from its size, to what it likes to eat, to how it behaves as it grows up and to why you like them. Thank you and please take your name tags with yourself to bring for the next few classes!" Said the professor while he watched us all pack up. I grabbed my stuff quickly and headed to the doorway before either of the twins did and waited to ambush them there.

“I’m going to go ahead to the library if you don’t mind.” Said Kae, who didn’t bother even looking at Khadar, “I already know what I want to write about. I’ll catch you guys later.” And with that she was off. I glanced at Khadar and he looked back at me, too, but I decided to let it slide. Both of them seemed in a better mood than before, even if they weren’t exactly talking to one another yet. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they made up anyway.

"I'll have an excuse to meddle around the golems now," said Khadar finally, breaking the silence.

“You’re both lucky you’ve got clear what interests you. I have no idea what I’m going to write about. I guess I’ll have to go to the library and pick up a book on mythical creatures and find one I actually like.”

"Sounds like a good idea or you'll end up writing a full essay on a boring creature," Said Khadar who sounded definitely confident about this homework.

“You’re right.” I stopped at the end of the hallway, looking back at the class, “You see where Bastion went?”

“No. Why?” He said, raising his eyebrow a bit,

“Well, I just thought he’d come and talk to me about what we just heard on the chest. It does belong to both of us after all and he seemed concerned on how we would settle what’s inside.”

“Unless he’s considering doing some research on his own.” His eyebrows raised high in suspicion, “Maybe he wants to find the key first and by himself now. I mean, it did sound like it’s a pretty powerful chest.”

"What do you think is inside the chest?" I asked, "I mean, it's not like it's huge. It can't be a weapon because it’s about this big," I said, spreading my hands a bit so he’d see the size

"Maybe it is a potion to live forever?... Well, whatever it is, half of it belongs to you. So you better watch it. I would hate for this guy to end up stealing it from you because he actually went and did the research and asked around." Khadar placed his hand on my shoulder reassuringly, "Even if it is half of Nikolaus' rotten body."

"I think you need to go easy on the gaming," I said chuckling,

"Speaking of gaming, I need to go check on my little army before I do the stupid essay.”

I sighed quietly knowing that was his leaving cue, “I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Sure thing. I’d invite you along but I’m probably gonna be grouchy until I’m done talking about why tolerance and respect is important. Unless you’d like to come along and help?” His eyebrows wiggled at me invitingly, hopeful that I’d go and do his homework for him.

“Uhh, not a chance.” I chuckled, patting his shoulder back, “I’ve got some research of my own.”

“Aw, alright. It was worth the shot. See ya.”

And with that he went off towards our dormitory. I, on the other hand, headed off to the library where Kae was.

Chapter Nine:  How To Be A Parent

Once I was at the library, I finally found Kae. She was actually doing the research she’d said she would. I creeped up towards her and sat right beside her at the table, taking a look at the amount of books she had stored up.

“Any chance you need some company?”

“Hey, Daran. I didn’t think you’d follow me.” She said, looking up from her book. I wasn’t sure if she had said that because I had chosen to sit with Khadar earlier or because she thought I was a lazy a*s

“Well, you know. The library can get boring if you’re all alone. How’s the research going?”

“Boring.” She said quietly, closing the book until it was trapping her hand in it, “I’d much rather be doing designs with Azara than this.”

"Oh yeah. How's that going?”

"It's turning out pretty amazing!" She said, rubbing her hands and finally sounding more like herself "Azara's great at tailoring, so her and I combined are a beast in design."

"So you’re spending time with Azara? I guess she’s not like the rest of the Dominus guys then. We can visit Makari this week so you can show it off to him, I'm pretty sure Khadar would want him to see how his characters are doing, too."

“And I’m glad she’s not! She’s a lot nicer than I thought. Can’t imagine myself having a rude Dominus roommate. Still, she’s kind of dry and distant. But I’m sure she’ll open up if we become good friends. What about you though?" She asked, pointing at my necklace, "How's your gift going?"

"You mean the poe? Well, after we left from Makari's it kind of disappeared. I have been waiting to see if it pops up again but... It hasn't."

"What if you summon it? In fact, have you even given it a name yet?"

"A name? I can't imagine me giving it one. Do poes even have names? I mean, it's not like it's a pet --"

"But he's your companion! Okay, here, come with me. I'll help you with homework and name the poe." She gripped onto my wrist and dragged me upstairs towards her dormitory, pushing me onto one of the couches she and Azara had in their room, which was rather nicely decorated. Unlike mine and Khadar's, their room was a mix between their styles. Their beds were separated only by a single night table, the other one, I assumed, they had given in for a couch.

"Give me a second, okay? I'm gonna bring some books about creatures from the library."

Kae disappeared from the room and I sat there in silence, hoping Azara wouldn't come to the room. In fact, I wasn't even sure I was allowed in the girls part of the orphanage without a chaperone. I got up and began looking at some of her designs instead. Her and Azara had probably been bonding over it because there were a lot more than what I'd seen in the other orphanage, and this time they were colored in. They also had a few posters and pictures of celebrities and other people I didn’t recognize.

"Okay, I got a few." She had four books in her arms, all about creatures. Kae dropped them on the bed before she sat beside them, opening the first one, "Hmmm, do you like... Cerberus?"

"Too scary and angry."

"Okay, what about Minotaurs?"

"Ugly."

"Phoenix?"

"Too typical."

She frowned at me and murmured something before continuing to search through the pages, "Unicorns..?"

"That's an alright species."

"Okay," She took out a notebook from one of the drawers and scribbled down 'unicorns' in the last page, "Let's continue looking."

"Alright." I sat down beside her now to look at the pictures of the creatures. I couldn’t believe half of these creatures actually existed or had existed and it made me wonder that, if they had not, would anyone even have the imagination to think them up? They were fascinating. Well, most of them at least. Others were hideous. In fact, it felt like we were getting to the hideous part of the book because I watched her stop in chimeras,

"Chim--"

"Heck no, they give me the absolute creeps." I said, just imagining a weird combination of snake and dog, "I think I'd rather stick to something that doesn't look like a spell gone wrong."

It took a while before she finally gave up. It felt like we had gone through all the books and more, my mind swirling with all kinds of strange creatures, some that I didn’t even know existed. But after what seemed forty years of searching I was getting pretty tired of looking through pages and pages, picture after picture.

"Okay, you know what? I'll open the book and start flipping through pages and you can just stop at any page and whatever we get is what you'll learn about."

"Sounds good, I don't think I'm ever gonna find one I like."

Kae opened the book from the beginning and began flipping through the pages quickly. Suddenly, a black tiny hand stopped the book and a weird, ghostly laugh surrounded us. It was my poe, and it was giggling at what I had gotten: The Kraken.

Kae, just like me, jumped when everything happened so quickly. But as soon as we both turned and saw the poe, she glanced at me with a very typical I told you so face, "See? It probably just thought you didn't like it very much. It's adorable, Daran. It just helped you with your homework." She put the book aside and saved the page before looking at me, "Time for homework number two, naming your little guy... Or girl."

"Uhh, okay," I said, glancing down at it. It's yellow glowing eyes moved upwards to meet with mine, the dark violet cloak waving in the air as the poe floated around, holding the unlit lantern. It gave a weird, echoey giggle again.

"Well?" Said Kae impatiently,

"I'm not sure if it's a girl or a boy..."

Kae glanced at it and raised her eyebrow, "Daran, I'm almost 100% sure that poes don't have a gender. Plus, there are plenty of unisex names to choose from. Come on! Think, think, think!"

I felt under pressure, both of them were looking at me intensely for what seemed an eternity, "If you want me to choose a name I'll be comfortable with, you gotta give me some time and space! I can't just name it whatever pops into my head. If I'm gonna like it, it's got to have an epic name."

"Fiiine," said Kae, before taking the book and dropping it on my lap, "In that case, we should learn a little about The Kraken."

I sighed defeatedly. No matter what a choose, we were about to spend the last bit of the night in absolute boredom.

About an hour later, I was running out of her room with a bunch of notes in my arms. When it came to pets and companions, Kae was definitely a bit psycho.

"We need to get your sis a pet," I said when I burst into mine and Khadar's room, poe following me behind silently.

"Did she drive you nuts?" Said Khadar, who didn't move his eyes away from the orb,

"She made me do this homework for nearly two hours without break, just looking and looking for a creature and then learning everything about it."

"What'd you choose?"

I sighed and glanced down at poe, "The Kraken."

Poe snickered mischievously and Khadar looked freaked out, turning to me

"DUDE, WARN ME WHEN THAT THING IS OUT!"

"Yeah, about that, I need a name for it."

"Good luck with that. Anyway, come here, look at how much I've advanced."

“Seriously? That’s all? Good luck? Way to be a bud and help me.” I muttered, bitchily walking towards him and looking into the orb. His characters were higher level and had a lot more abilities now. I could also see the companions and mounts he’d gotten. It was safe to say Khadar was officially obsessive about the game now, sticking to it all the time like he had nothing else to live for.

"Looks like you found your new hobby, huh?" The poe was floating around the room idly, looking at everything we had, poking our books and stuffing itself inside of my backpack.

"Yeah, I'm definitely gonna spread the word to the other kids. I want people to compete with and attack. I'm also planning on buying more cards -- when are we going there again? I need to find silly chores to do. Maybe I could get paid for raking leaves or sweeping floors."

Kae suddenly burst into the room, "You ran away while I was in the bathroom!" She said, nagging at me

"But I already know what animal I'm gonna use and I read up on him and -- "

"What about your poe?" Her eyebrow rose, "Do you have a name for it yet?"

"Yeah." I said, looking at Khadar in slight desperation, "Khadar just helped me find one."

"Oh yeah? What is it then?" The poe also seemed to be interested cause it turned around to look at us,

"Well," Said Khadar, he looked down at his game, looking for a name sounding word, "We, uh ... We... We called it Dusk! Yeah, that's right. Its name is Dusk."

Kae scoffed before looking at it momentarily, "Actually... Not bad. Come here, Dusk." She knelt down and the poe began floating towards her, "Aww, Daran. Why are you such a jerk with it!"

I looked at Khadar and gestured thank you secretly.

After dinner, I went down to the library to look for some books about The Kraken and my chest. Dusk followed me and made sure to hold the lantern up while I read, even if there was enough light for me to see. There were plenty of drawn pictures of what people assumed, or swore, it looked like. Some of them looked like a huge octopus, others were pictures of a strange fishman hybrid with four arms and fish ears. The deeper I searched the more it looked like what would happen if an alien fell in love with an unfortunate octopus and procreated. I decided to go with the gigantic octopus. After a while I realized I just kept getting the same information on loop. Kae had truly taught me all about the gigantic tentacle monster, and now I had one more task before I could go: Chest research. Somehow, that made me lazier than The Kraken now.

"Looking for things about the chest or about your homework?" I turned around to see Professor Okon holding a half eaten sandwich in one hand, the other held a fiction book about Greek mythology,

"The chest. I'm actually done with most of my homework."

"Most of it? What's left?"

"Jewels," I said quietly.

“So, what did you choose for mine?”

“The Kraken. Kae helped me learn a bit about him so expect a huge essay.”

Professor Okon chuckled, “I hope so. “ There was a pause as he tried to remember my name, pointing his furry finger at me, “Daran. So, tell me, why was The Kraken your choice?”

“Well,” I looked down at my notes and cleared my throat trying to remember some of the cool facts I had learned, “I like how it’s so huge that sailors used to think it was an island, and when they’d approach it would snatch them up. Also, did you know that it is said that its full adult length was a mile and a half?”

Professor Okon smirked proudly and nodded, “Yes, I did in fact know. My father was a fisherman and he used to tell me stories about the legends of the sea. He never did believe that The Kraken was real until he saw what he thought was the offspring. Further examination of the severed tentacle leads me to believe that it was just a giant squid. In retrospect, even if it had been the offspring, I feel terribly bad for the poor animal.”

“Your father was a fisherman?” I asked, because I’m smart and took in the most important information out of everything he said: meons can be fishermen. How they fish things that might be larger than their own body, I do not know.

Professor Okon let out a hearty laugh, forgiving my stupidity. “Yes, he was indeed a fisherman. My mother was a teacher. I took after her because I just can’t bring myself down to hurting animals.” Professor Okon cleared his throat, sitting on the chair beside me, "Daran, Bastion was also here earlier," He said, gesturing at the book with his sandwich, "Thought you should know."

"I guess it's normal, It's his chest too," I said and he nodded,

"Hopefully you two will find a way to share this chest. Whether it is Nikolaus' chest or not.” He stared at the poe for a moment, rather caught aback. Dusk was probably hiding behind me for the first few minutes because he struggled to rip his eyes off of her, “Anyway, Mr. Likimas, it was a pleasure. But I better head off if I want to finish my book. Have a good night.”

"Professor Okon.” I said quickly and he stopped, turning to me with his head tilted in curiosity. I looked down at the book for a moment, thinking about what Khadar had said earlier about Bastion and how he might try to steal the chest from me. “Do you think Bastion’s researching because it’s his chest too or because he wants to take it away from me?”

“Well…” Professor Okon sighed rather deeply. He took a moment to think it through, “I’m not sure what to tell you, Daran. He’s also my student and I wouldn’t want to be the one to cause you both even more problems by making you feel you cannot trust him. But I also don’t want to be the one who convinced you to put your guard down and caused you to lose your chest.” There was a momentary pause before he leaned in a bit closer towards me, “But I can tell you this: If there’s something I have learned throughout my years of life is that no one thinks that they’re the villain. Everyone sees themselves as the hero. So don’t give Bastion even more reasons to think you’re the bad guy in his story, especially when he has something to lose.”

I wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Would I be a bad guy if I researched too? Did I have to go and talk to him personally about it? Should I wait for him to approach me instead? All I knew was that to me, Bastion was being sketchy by researching without me, by not talking to me.

“Thanks, Professor. I think I’ll just talk to him about it and see what’s what.”

His face lit up in a big, kind smile, “You’re very welcome.” And then a big yawn shut him up before he could say anything else, his fur getting spiked and he shivered a bit, trying to stop it from fluffing so much, “I’ll be heading to my cozy bed now if you don’t mind. But thank you for trusting me enough to come to me for advice. It’s not a coincidence that we’re called caretakers. It’s because we care. And a lot.” He chuckled bashfully before turning around and waddling out of the library.

I spent about an hour more before I gave up and headed upstairs to sleep. Dusk lit the way up the stairs before tiredly disappearing into my necklace again. I pat it lightly, opening the door as silently as I could thinking Khadar was asleep, but I was wrong.

"Khadar? You're still playing?"

"Just a few more minutes. I'm so freaking close to leveling up."

I chuckled before closing the door and grabbing some comfortable clothes to change into before I dropped on my bed.

"I couldn't find anything about the chest. All the books say the same thing. I just don't understand why it’s carefully locked. I mean, if what's in it was something that they wanted no one to see, why put it in a chest in the first place? Or, why not hide it somewhere else, like a huge invisible tower?"

"And why give it to two random orphans." He said, his fingers rapidly tapping the orb, "No offense, of course. But you and Bastion aren't even related -- you're not even friends."

"None taken. I just feel like ... The chest is my responsibility. But I'm not sure if it's that or that I'm actually just worried I won't be part owner of whatever is inside of it."

Khadar took a moment to answer, he was deeply invested into his game. "Well, maybe tomorrow we should talk to Professor Okon about it? He's probably waiting for you and Bastion to ask him."

"Mhm, probably." I decided not to reply anymore, Khadar was distracted with the game and I was exhausted.

The next day my twin friends were doing a lot better about their fight, so the three of us were headed to myths and legends class together when we saw Lyric was walking down the hall with a tower of flyers that were flying from side to side, pasting themselves on the walls.

"Good morning!" She said as we approached her, taking three of them and giving them to us, "Saraphe decided that we're going to make an anonymous party tonight. She said she'd seen some tension between Dominus and Zennan and wanted to clear it out."

The flyer had a picture of a mask winking and below it, in fancy handwriting, it said: "Anonymous Masquerade party tonight. At 8PM at the dining room. Dresses and tuxedos required. NOTICE: Attendance is not optional!"

"Tuxedos? Dresses? How are we even gonna get those?" Asked Khadar, looking down at Lyric and then at us,

"Don't worry, Saraphe will make sure you all have something to wear. But I’m in a bit of a hurry, so excuse me. I'll see you tonight!" She hurried off, the flyers continuing to do its job as she disappeared behind the wall.

"I'm super excited!" Said Kae, bouncing around, "I'm going to have the most beautiful dress by then."

Khadar sighed quietly, putting his flyer away, "How long do you think it'll last? I can't wait until I can go back to my orb."

"Isn't it kind of silly?" I asked, folding the paper, "I mean it's not like we won't recognize people by their voice, hair and height and stuff. I don't think this is going to help at all.”

"Maybe we could look for each other? And then hang around and eat or drink some punch while others talk." Suggested Khadar. More of the kids were appearing in the halls, checking out the flyers.

We arrived at the classroom before anyone else and caught Professor Okon trying out a tuxedo in front of a mirror. He turned around and wiggled his tail at himself, making sure he looked good in all angles. Khadar and Kae waved at him through the mirror and he jumped in surprise, snapping his fingers making it and the tuxedo disappear before clearing his throat,

"Good morning, kids. I didn't realize time had gone by. How are you doing?"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Professor," said Kae, going down the stairs towards our row, "You looked very handsome in that tux!"

If he wasn't a furry little tiny animal, I probably would've been able to catch a hint of a blush, because his tail fluffed up and he chuckled,

"Why, thank you. I hope everyone thinks so tonight, too."

"I'm sure she will," Said Kae before clearing her throat loudly, "I mean, they will."

Even his ears were fluffed up after that.

"Okay, okay settle down kids, settle down. I'm rather excited to start the class today. Now, who did their homework last night?"

Everyone raised their hands and he rubbed his paws together excited, "Good, good. I need you all to put your homework on top of your desk, if you may, please."

All the backpacks sounded as one as we zipped them open, taking out everything we had done for homework and placing it on our desks. Khadar had almost twice as many pages as I did, and he had even drawn a little golem on the first page introducing the teacher to the homework.

"Alright, children. When I tell you, you will come one by one and bring your papers to me at the desk and I'll rate them." Said Professor Okon before snapping his fingers. Something I was definitely not expecting happened -- a baby Kraken splashed out of my paper and wrapped itself around my head with its tentacles. I was blinded momentarily because of it, but I could tell I wasn't the only one experiencing it when I heard the class yell and gasp almost all at once,

"OH MY GOD!" Said Khadar as I saw him hug the golem tightly from the little peep hole between The Kraken's tentacles. I was starting to panic now because I could almost feel its mouth giving me what I hoped were kisses. As I flailed my arms, I manage to smack Khadar and he finally realized, helping me take The Kraken off. I took a moment to catch my breath before I could realize all the chaos happening. Kae had gone voiceless, it  seemed, because she hadn't said a single thing. Her back was to us and she seemed to be rocking something in her arms. I looked around at the class, there were all kinds of animals. I could see some unicorns, pegasus, some dragons. Even some scary ones that I wondered why would have anyone chosen them. Bastion had a baby phoenix, Simon a Cerberus and Steffan what seemed to be a weird chimera. It was a disturbing looking creature with bat wings and a dog looking head. The thing I most liked about the homework was that those who were staring at their animals in absolute horror, pulling their chairs back away from them, were obviously those who hadn’t properly done their work and had just chosen one at random. Kind of like me and the crazy, head-hugging Kraken I had.

"Now," interrupted the professor, pointing at us for a moment so that the aquatic mythical creatures, like my 'cute' Kraken, would be engulfed in a little water bubble, "I hope you all took my advice and chose something you liked. I've always believed that you can learn easier hands on rather than reading. Besides, isn't this more fun?"

Khadar raised his hand quickly, his chin resting comfortably on the golem, "Professor, please, please tell us we're gonna keep them!"

"Ah, I wish!" He said, looking around admiring the babies, "However, you will only have them for a few days. During which time you will have to take very good care of them with all that you've learned. Once I call you over, you'll hand me your papers and I'll grade them. If you're missing any vital information, like how you'd keep one alive as a baby, I'll help you with it though it will lower your grade. These creatures, of course, are not real. So if you don't take care of them properly, they will disappear leaving behind a note with a big ol' F on it that will immediately fly to my desk. Any questions?"

No one raised their hand and Professor Okon proceeded to sit down at his desk, beginning to call us by list. I turned  around to look at Bastion and his friends again, they were all poking and looking at their new companions, but Steffan who seemed rather in love with his chimera.

"Look at him!" Said Kae, trying her best to keep her voice as a whisper. Finally we could see what was in her arms, a bundled up baby meon that was currently snoring. Its fur was thin and fluffy, its orange and brown little face being the only thing we could see from how she had him wrapped in the blanket. He looked a lot like a tabby cat, the ones we’d see walking around Zennan as stray. It was the very first cat looking meon I’d seen so far.

“Wait, isn’t that kind of insulting to the teachers?” I asked, staring at the miniature furball, “It’s like if we asked them what their favorite animal is and they pop out a baby?”

I could tell by the look on Kae’s face that she hadn’t thought it through. She immediately hid the baby meon from Professor Okon, “Do you think he’ll get mad? I didn’t mean any disrespect or anything. But, I mean, aren’t they creatures?”

“Well, there’s nothing you can really do about it anymore.” I said, “Besides, I think Professor Okon’s a cool guy, he won’t take it to heart if you explain.”

Kae’s face flushed and she whimpered embarrassed before getting up and going down the stairs towards the professor. Professor Okon leaned in curiously to look at what she’d brought and had let out a loud hearty laugh when she told him about it. I saw him immediately comfort her just like I’d expected anyway. If it had been Morus, on the other hand...

"I seriously cannot believe this is happening," Said Khadar once he turned his attention to his golem again. It was about as tall as a meon and it currently sat on Khadar's desk, looking up at him. Its rocky skin was red and had engraved decorations on it.

“Wait, I just realized,” I said while staring at the golem, “What the hell do they even eat? I always assumed maybe rocks but… Isn’t that cannibalism?”

There was a moment of silence while Khadar stared at me, then at the golem. “Wait, that’s a good point.” He poked his golem a bit, “I suppose they’re not supposed to eat. I mean, aren’t they makeshift souls?”

I shrugged a bit, “I think you just got a free A+. There’s no way to starve a golem.”

Khadar chuckled, “Let’s keep that between you and I, okay?”

I then sighed and looked at The Kraken, which was floating around in his little water bubble. His big, baby eyes blinking at me. And then suddenly he impulsed himself out of the bubble and right onto my face, making me drop back in surprise, screaming. Khadar burst out laughing before taking the Kraken off again, my face was riddled with small red circles from his plugs.

Thanks to Kae, my assignment had gotten an A+ because I had been thorough in detail, but thanks to Dusk and her, I officially had a floating Kraken by my side, who would constantly attack my face with affectionate "hugs" causing everyone around to mock me. Professor Okon had made us go in front of the class and show off the creatures we had and, if we wanted to, explain why we had chosen that specific animal. Most people’s reasons were similar, like saying it was because the creature was cool or cute or powerful looking. Others, like Simon, skipped the question and just displayed the homework in a very factual and matter-of-fact way. Only some of them got really deep and interesting, like a girl who had chosen a unicorn and explained she loved the way they were honored as pure and gentle creatures and how that’s what she’d aspired her whole life to be as; Bastion had the pheonix and explained that he really liked how they were seen as rebirth and second chances. Once we were all done, the rest of the class had just been us getting to know them and learning what we had gotten ourselves into.

When it was Kae's turn she hesitated about going at all. Khadar and I stared at her after her name was called and she did nothing.

"Kae?" I asked,

"I'm embarrassed..." She muttered, looking down at the baby meon, "They're going to laugh at me for choosing a meon."

Khadar burst out laughing, dropping his back onto his chair, "I love you, sis, but this is somehow really refreshing after you blabbered my ears off on the meon subject."

Kae glared at him a bit, Professor Okon calling her name again and louder. Finally she gave up and walked down with the little meon in her arms.

Some students turned around to look at the baby meon and looked rather confused. Some exchanged glances with each other and others giggled.

"Uhm..." Kae stood at the front of the classroom before showing off her meon. Most people from Zennan looked awkward and pained, but the Dominus kids were having a blast.

“That’s borderline racist and slavery.” Called out Simon, being the a*s he always is.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kae looked like she might cry from embarrassment. Professor Okon walked up to her,

"Kae chose a meon as her homework." He said proudly, looking up at us, "And I don't see what's so bad about that. Whether we are human, vampire, dog or meon, we are all creatures deep inside." He looked at Kae and beamed at her, "And she is the very first student to honor us as her favorite!"

Most kids were bummed out of their mocking once Professor Okon intervened, and Kae seemed to feel a thousand times better.

"You look like you got gigantic chicken pox!" said Kae, poking at my face as we walked out of the class, "He really likes you."

"Yeah, well I like him too but jeez," I said, pushing her hand away before looking down at the meon, who she had not put down even a single second. Even now she was carrying it in her arms, cradled in love and affection.

"Aren't you two worried you're going to get attached to them?" I asked, looking at the baby meon and golem,

"Yeah but I'm still going to shower it with love," Said Khadar, who sped up every now-and-then just to watch the golem pick up speed and waddle quickly behind him.

"I agree with Khadar, I'd rather enjoy my baby meon for as long as I can than keep him at a distance and then regret it. Besides, who wouldn't be excited to watch over this bag of fluff and adorableness?"

"What about you?" Asked Khadar, gesturing his head at The Kraken, "Don't you feel you might get attached too?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe. I mean, he is kind of cute." I could've sworn The Kraken bat his eyes excitedly when I called it cute. I stared back at it and sped up a bit. I could feel its urge to hug me.

Chapter Ten: The Great Meon War

Professor Gargan was standing outside of his class holding bags in his hand, giving one to each student,

"I know how these creatures work!" He said, urging us to take more than one, "I don't want my classroom full of unicorn poop! I hate it when Okon does these types of lessons.” He growled.

Once we were settled in our chairs, some of the kids holding and keeping their creatures close and near the bag, Professor Gargan pulled down a banner that read Meon Liberty.

"Many years ago," He began, walking around the classroom as he spoke, "Meons were slaves to Dominus. Yes, you heard me well, slaves. We were the ones who cleaned underwear for Dominus, cooked their meals and swept the streets. Demenes, a well known evil wizard, was fed up with the rules and limitations of magic in Nobrelac -- for those who might not know, Nobrelac was the name of the city before it split into Zennan and Dominus -- he wanted to be able to do as he pleased, even if the spells were evil and rotten. However, by then King Gilfred began to set down laws for the people to make Nobrelac a safer place. He’d even built the first prison in the undergrounds of his own castle.”

Professor Gargan took a step back and snapped his fingers and a picture of a tall, good looking wizard that no one would ever suspect was the typical evil lord appeared, " Demenes decided to leave and make his own city. He took with himself anyone who was interested in practicing dark magic and gave them shelter. One of those people was Duke, who was the child of one of the wealthiest families in Nobrelac. Everyone believes that it was because Duke was one of the main contributors that Dominus had so much resource to become what it is today. Together they built Dominus and left the others to become Zennan. They created their own government, crowned their own king, and made their own rules. No one thought they would succeed, thinking they would eventually destroy each other or just fall apart, after all, we thought putting a bunch of rotten eggs together would just end up a spoiled bunch -- erh, I'm not the best at metaphors. Anyway, they survived and instead of growing weak, they built a strong city. Eventually, they waged war on everything and everyone that would get in their way. Meons included. Because Nikolaus was still so young, he wasn’t there to bring these issues to the light and Zennan never intervened, letting us become enslaved and tortured.”

Some of the kids from Dominus looked a bit awkward once Professor Gargan began explaining the horrors their city had done. Unfortunately, most of them had grins plastered across their faces and I could hear the sizzling of their whispers as they commented between each other. I knew a bit of this story because one of our teachers in Zennan was a fan of Provectus, so I knew the meons had been enslaved. This was exactly the reason why I still to this day couldn’t believe they’d allow Dominus to enter the gates of their city. Though, if I was Dominus, I suppose I’d be a bit insulted they’d be so confident they’d welcome me into the heart of their people. Professor Gargan must’ve been so used to Dominus kids whispering during these lessons that he didn’t even flinch, continuing on with what he was saying.

“Things went on this way for a few years and we were powerless to stop it. However, during one of their many battles with Zennan, Dominus was gravely affected, its soldiers were exhausted and wounded, the city had been cut off from some supplies from Zennan's ally, Tessarion, and so came the day: The Great Meon War. Our families had been practicing and readying for months for something like this to happen, and as soon as it did, meons took charge and revolted against Dominus, stealing weapons and power to counter attack. It was all thanks, mostly, to this one warrior who everyone would know as Provectus. He was nicknamed this because--" He stopped for a moment, the entire class was absolutely silent listening eagerly, "Have you already learned about stances? The tank, mender, ---" Most of the class nodded their heads letting him know, "Okay, well Provectus was a master of all of them. He could change stance within seconds and mastered a fearsome range of weapons. Using his fire opal Provectus took out many of the Dominus soldiers. It was because of his and others’ bravery that we meons were free to go and built this city for our own. This and the continents will be what we will study throughout most of this year. I don’t know about you all, but this is one of my favorite subjects. Now, open your books to page 115 and we'll continue from there."

We read a bit more about Provectus and how, when Dominus was losing the fight, they cheated and cast a curse on him making it impossible for him to continue fighting. The curse they used made it so that whenever Provectus would fight his body would slowly turn to stone. They say that he still fought for a few more battles and really helped the meons get ahead, but thanks to that he had paid dearly by losing one of his limbs. The meons still won the war because they already had the upper hand. Professor Gargan refused to tell us how they had managed to put such an awful curse on him, he said that it was all up to Professor Okon to explain to us in due time. The only thing that had slipped him was that it had something to do with a guy name Remin.. Or Eldar. Something like that. Once the class finished, we all headed out. Well, except for one of the kids who stayed back and cleaned hydra poop off his desk.

"Man, can you imagine? Such a little thing like a meon kicking a bunch of Dominus butt?" Said Khadar, his hand extended down to hold the golem's hand, "I think I'm going to suggest a character in his honor to Makari."

"It's pretty messed up that someone would enslave a whole species like that.” I still couldn’t imagine a bunch of horrible wizards hurting meons and making them work as slaves to whatever their wishes were. I was sure it wasn’t nearly touching the surface to imagine them washing their dirty laundry and sweeping the streets.

"You know how the world goes, Daran," Said Kae, bouncing the little meon in her arms, "It reminded me a lot about human history and the poor black people. They treated their own kind like lesser beings just because of their skin color! Do you even understand how ridiculous that is? And then again with the poor jews. Humans are just horrible. But at least it seems as if they’ve finally stopped.”

"Maybe or maybe it’s cause, you know, most of them are dead anyway. I mean, with only one or two towns worth of them, what could they possibly do?" Said Khadar dryly,

Kae interrupted with a loud gasp,

"What, what?" Said Khadar

“I forgot I had to meet up with Azara! I’ll catch you guys later.” And with that, her and her ball of fur ran upstairs to the dorm rooms.

"Oh God, I hope it's nothing too crazy."

"Aren't you gonna go play with the orb?" I asked, surprised Khadar wasn't taking whatever minutes of freedom to play before the party,

"Are you insane? I have the chance to take care of this little buddy golem, no way I'm gonna play. Unless I can find a way to let the golem play with me without risking it breaking the crystal by tapping it," he rubbed his head lost in thought before looking at my Kraken, who hadn't taken his eyes off me. "I sometimes wonder if he's actually just hungry."

"Speaking of Kraken being hungry, I have to find some raw fish to feed it..." I muttered, looking at it. All its tentacles wiggled as soon as our eyes met, "I'll go ask at the kitchen."

"Okay, I'll come with you," said Khadar, walking beside me before looking back at Golem, "Anything to see this little guy run behind me."

"Have you found out what your talent is?"

"No, I mean, just like Kae I've always been pretty good at drawing. Maybe because we used to sit together and draw for hours when we were kids. What about you?"

"I can't think of a single talent that I've got,"

“I’m pretty sure we don’t all have to have one though, right? There’s plenty of great wizards who just use their same plain old jewels. I bet you that Provectus guy didn’t have a flute or a pencil or anything like that either. Just imagine: Provectus, the badass who no one can match up to playing the bagpipe to make spells.”

I chuckled and so did he, before pretending to play the bagpipe.

We finally arrived to the kitchen. Last time we’d been here there had been a few meons here and there, cleaning up the place and flipping through a gigantic book of recipes and spells to create food. But this time the kitchen was crawling with meons dressed up with aprons and hats. Even their tails had nets so that they wouldn't drop hairs on the food, and the really furry ones had an aura around them which I supposed was probably a barrier to keep their hairs to themselves, which would pile up at the bottom of their feet.

"Hello," Said one of the smallest meons I'd ever seen. His fur was black but his tummy was white and on his forehead there was a huge oval of white fur "What are you doing here? Are you lost? Very lost?” I had to stop and think of his sentence in my head for a moment because of how quickly he talked.

"Hey. Sorry to interrupt. I was just wondering if maybe you had any raw fish? My homework's hungry," I said, pointing back at The Kraken.

"I see, I see." he said, jumping up on some boxes before fetching me a few from the freezer, "Professor Okon's work? You’re lucky. We just got shipped in some fish earlier today, so we got some stuff in the freezer. I can spare you a few. I don’t think there’d be a problem. Nope. No problem at all.”

"Yup, Professor Okon. And thank you, I don’t want to get an F so early into the year." I took the box that he had put the fish in before looking around. I had always assumed that food would cook itself since everything else was magical, but it made sense that they had people working in the kitchen to not waste so much resource in preparing magical food.

"Is it always so hectic in here?" Asked Khadar, who was standing beside me watching them run around preparing meals.

"No, we're just trying to make the best food we can for tonight's party. Yes, tonight’s party." He said, looking back at his meon comrades, "Saraphe is really hoping this will work out the way she planned." And then I heard him whisper quietly, “Yes. Very well planned.” I then glanced at Khadar to see if he had heard the small weird whispering the meon was making.

"Makes sense," said Khadar, “Are all the meal prepared by hand though?”

“No. We usually have a certain amount of food prepared for each course of the day, usually enough to feed one plate to each kid. However, when things get crazy like the first breakfast after all the new orphans arrive, we’ve got spells to back us up for the fast ordering.” The lil guy was a bit fidgety now, looking back at the clock every now and then but not saying anything.

“That’s pretty cool. The food’s great here so… Keep up the good work.” Said Khadar, before gesturing at me that we should go.

"Well, thank you for the fish. Just know you've made a baby Kraken a happy Kraken."

The meon quickly returned back to work along with the others after nodding at us dutifully. I hadn't ever thought about what happened behind the scenes when delicious meals were given to me, not here and not in the Zennan's orphanage. It really made me think about all the effort people put into things you take for granted, how much of themselves goes into their projects.

“Maybe we should go get some lunch?” Said Khadar, interrupting my moment before pointing at the watch. The time for the party was closing in on us and as it did, the halls became more and more empty.

Khadar and I went off to the dining room, Golem and Kraken loyally following behind. The room was mostly empty except for the teachers and some kids, I could only assume that the others were out buying their own dresses or finding a good hiding place for tonight.

Golem sat down beside Khadar and Kraken floated nearby me while we waited for our food. Now, usually they serve us plates that are full on capacity of food, and whether you eat the whole thing or not is up to you, but tonight things were different. The meal was simple: A sandwich, an apple and juice.

“The finest chefs in all of Kazegan, ladies and gentlemen,” Said Khadar with an awkward french accent as he picked up the apple.

“It’s probably so that we don’t get too full tonight. You think they’ll have a big banquette or something?”

“I sure hope so,” He licked his lips like a child thinking of cake, suddenly talking with the ugly french accent again “Lots of food will make up for the fact that I have to go to a dumb party with a bunch of psychopaths and booger-eating-dumb-face-poop-smelling---”

I heard a laugh from nearby and looked around. Gargan was passing by us with a full plate of food. I had no idea where he’d gotten all the food but he had mashed potatoes, rice, a steak and a piece of cheesecake all on a single plate.

“Very PG, Mr. Wiske.” Said Gargan before snorting, “I had never heard of such genius insults.”

Khadar’s face got a little redder, “Moments like these are exactly the reason why I don’t use cuss words. You never know when a caretaker’s lurking by.”

Gargan let out a guffaw as he walked by, his fat, fluffy orange tail wagging as he picked up speed towards the teachers table.

“... Poop-smelling d*****s.” Finished Khadar. French accent included.

We ate our pathetic excuse for lunch and went out to the common room to play some video games for a while. Now that I was getting the grip of steering the fancy race cars in the game and kept kicking his a*s, Khadar decided he no longer was interested in that particular game and we broadened our horizons.

Time shot through like an arrow, and before we know it there was no sunlight coming from the windows anymore. Kraken whimpered hungrily and Golem snored between us on the couch.

"I think we should head upstairs and get dressed," Said Khadar, pausing the game and picking up Golem.

Upstairs, in our room, we found tuxedos on our beds, complete with shoes and either a bow tie or a normal tie. Before getting dressed, I threw a fish at Kraken and watched him devour it rather viciously, making him go from mildly cute creature to tiny ferocious psycho in seconds. I placed two more on top of the box and left it beside my bed in case he got hungry.

"You should probably put some ice in the box," said Khadar, looking at Kraken and then me, "You don't want that fish spoiling and then getting an F for poisoning your companion in your first day. Or us getting kicked out because of the stench."

"True.” I made an ice cube around the box and put the fish on top before washing my hands thoroughly from fish stink. I looked at my pocket and saw my jewel glowing brightly to the magic I had just done. I was still excited and new to the whole concept of being able to do almost anything with just a thought. In fact, I’d often find myself forgetting I could even do things with magic and instead going through the process in a nearly human pace. Khadar was quite the opposite. He was so lazy he’d even use magic to brush his teeth in the morning, which he’d gotten better at the more he practiced. The first few times he had nearly swallowed his tooth brush, and in one occasion, he’d gone downstairs not noticing there were drops of mint and drool all over his shirt.

"You think people are excited about this party? I can't imagine coming out with a bunch of friends just cause I talked to them as an anonymous." Asked Khadar,

"It would make things a lot less awkward if us and the Dominus would break the ice a bit though, specially for the teachers. But as far as becoming friends... I'm not sure an hour of talking could accomplish it."

A quiet knock sounded at our door and Kae asked if she could come in. I quickly tucked my shirt inside the pants. Her head poked out from behind the door once we gave her permission.

"Ready, guys?"

"For what?" Asked Khadar, raising his eyebrow,

Kae stepped out from behind the door. I had expected she wanted us to see her dress, but what she was showing us was her baby meon in a miniature tuxedo. Even Khadar had aw’d.

"Isn't he adorable?" She said, holding him in her arms, swaying him as if it was her own child, "I almost don't wanna go to the party. I wish I could stay with him." A long nostalgic sigh escaped her before she looked at us and shook her head, "Haven't either of you ever worn a tie?"

The baby meon was placed on Khadar's bed, a few pillows around him so he wouldn't end up falling off. Kae then marched up to Khadar and made his tie for him. She was wearing a black dress that went down a few inches above her knees, slightly wide at the bottom, the sleeves were white and puffed out. At the neck of her dress was a bow, and in the heart of the bow was her jewel glowing brightly against the dress’ black cloth.

"I bought something for you.”  she said to Khadar before kneeling down in front of Golem and putting, with a little difficulty, a tiny tuxedo on him too. Kraken blew a bubble beside me and I glanced at it,

"I think he's jealous," but Kae couldn't hear me over the fangirl squeal that Khadar had let out. I shrugged at Kraken and watched him sulk away to his fish again before I sighed and snapped my fingers. What I had been going for was a tiny top hat and a small black bow, but he’d gotten a normal sized top hat that covered most of him and an ugly green colored bow. Doing magic was a lot harder than the adults had made it look. They’d told us we had to picture the image as clearly as we could in our head, and it was mostly easy when it was a single item. But when you want to make a big change, it takes a lot of concentration and parts of what you had imagined come out wrong because they’re blurred in your own imagination. Still, he looked happy enough with it.

"Azara and me spend a while making them today, they're really easy to make. Maybe if companions end up being a thing, we could make a business out of it!"

“I’m not going to lie, I wouldn’t mind dressing up this little guy more often.” Said Khadar, who had put his golem on the bed to get a good look at him.

The bells began ringing letting us know it was time to go. I wasn't sure who was harder to drag away from the room: Kae or Khadar.

Chapter Eleven: Khadar: Masquerade Night

The three of us headed towards the dining room, my sister was fuzzing around with her dress and tapping her boots on the ground. After the billionth time she fixed her bow and asked us if she looked good, I almost heat visioned her into dust.

I had imagined all this time that we’d walk into the dining room and the entire party would’ve been set up, with magical stuff happening all around the place and people looking for their friends so they don’t have to hang out with others like Saraphe wants us to. But I was wrong. The dining room was closed off and there was a line to get in. There was only a small crack between us and the dining room where people were being let in one by one inside by Professor Gargan.

"It feels like we're going to a VIP club or doing a line to meet one of those human celebrities," I said before looking back to see all the people that had began arriving after us. “It’s even funnier when you realize that none of us want to go inside.”

Kae seemed preoccupied with other people's outfits, her eyes darting from person to person. I assumed she was probably looking for Azara. Daran, on the other hand, was spacing out like he would half the time. I had a feeling he still wanted to talk things out with that annoying kid from Dominus. I was pretty used to them ignoring me at times, specially when something was going on around them that was new. I already missed my golem and it hadn’t even been 10 minutes.

Everyone else was whispering and muttering, exchanging opinions on what we might see inside or how it'll be like. Some girls were just giggling and fantasizing about finding their true love hiding behind the mask. My eyes already hurt from how hard I had rolled them to the stupid Romeo stories.

The whiff of delicious buttered bread caught my attention. My eyes immediately darted towards where people were being let inside. I couldn’t see a single thing from where we were, but I had my fingers crossed that they would have some pizza or spaghetti or an all-you-can-eat buffet. Hmm, maybe some cake, too.

“Look!” Screamed Kae in my ear with no regard for me while her hand clawed at me and Daran, shaking us a bit before pointing to the front.

I looked quick enough to see a group of meons with orchestral instruments and another one that looked like a DJ. It was very comical because he even had the headphones and the “cool” DJ outfit.

“Oh God, I swear if they make me dance to waltz music I’ll set myself on fire.” I said, Kae looking dreamy about the idea.

My eyes darted from Daran to her then back before I felt a smirk crack across my face without my consent, “But I wouldn’t intervene if you both wanted to have a little dance tonight.” I wiggled my eyebrows and elbowed them both.

“What?” Said Daran, staring at me genuinely confused. I continued to wiggle my eyebrows until he got it and, along with Kae, rolled his eyes.

“What are you, 10?” Said Kae, locking herself around Daran’s arm, “We aren’t children. Daran and I can dance without making things awkward!”

“Yeah, okay.” I said, stifling a snort.

As if they had rehearsed, both of them turned around giving me their backs and talking about me as if I wasn’t there.

“Oh, real funny and mature guys-”

The line finally sprung to life again after a while of being in complete stop, us being the next up to enter. Kae bounced in excitement and went ahead of Daran, me being the last one to go inside out of the three of us. Since we could only go one by one, and took a moment per person, Daran, Kae and I got separated.

"Have fun!" Said the professor before letting me pass once I was finally up next.

The inside wasn’t really the inside. I was in a small transition room with Saraphe and Orin, and even though I could hear the music and people from the party, we were surrounded by black curtains that kept us from seeing what was happening yet.

"Hello Mr. Wiske!" Said Orin before looking at me, his paw gesturing for me to step closer. I felt awkward and nearly claustrophobic with how small the space was,

"Am I in trouble?”

"No, no, we just need you to come here for a moment, dear." Saraphe's paws stretched out to me and she pulled me closer, fixing my tuxedo a bit. Her and Orin were standing on a table to be as tall as my chest, "You look wonderful! What do you think will go well with him?" She asked Orin and he hummed thoughtfully.

"Were we supposed to bring our own masks?" I asked, looking around to see if there had been any others around, "Because I----" suddenly I heard my voice deepen a LOT and when I looked down at them, they were even tinier than they were before. "Wait, what's going on? Why are you shrinking and why am I rushing through puberty?!"

Orin chuckled before snapping his fingers, making me appear in a corner of the party. I wasn't sure if to scream and run or drop and pretend to be dead, but there were all kinds of species: meons, minotaurs, golems, fairies, centaurs, just everything. I quickly enchanted one of the windows to become a mirror and be able to see myself. The mirror was floppy and wrongly made, kind of like the ones you’d see in movies about circuses, but it was clear enough to show me what I was -- I was a minotaur in a very tight tuxedo. Thanks to the curves of the disfigured mirror, I also had a gigantic head, a tiny neck and an abnormally shaped belly.

People began approaching me to see themselves in the mirror too until I was pushed away from it by the thick crowd. I decided I'd look for my sister and Daran, but I wasn't even sure how because there were so many different species that I'd have a hard time telling who I had approached. Thankfully though, I knew what we were supposed to ask each other.

"Hello," I said to two people that were standing beside each other. One of them was a meon and the other a fairy, "Wanna do the woo to the hoo?"

They both looked at each other and then glared at me. I figured they hadn’t understood it was a reference to one of the games Kae had been obsessed with when she was a kid. She used to play it all the time on the computer the humans had gifted our Zennan orphanage in a thank you because of Nikolaus’ kindness to them. The fairy had gotten so mad that she chased me around the room with her drink for a while before I was able to escape between the crowd, which wasn't an easy task being a gigantic minotaur and all.

"Jesus, people seriously need to learn how to take a joke," I muttered to myself, looking around for more pairs I could ask.

"Hello, do you wanna do the woo to the hoo?" I tried again, attempting to sound just as excited and cartoonish as I had the other times but the werewolf I had approached just looked at me. Neither of them even bothered in answering until it got awkward and I walked away.

I asked about three more times before I gave up. I was just going to have to call their names out and ruin the fun. It had been a lot funnier to say the code word but I had a nasty feeling that the only people I had approached were Dominus. Or maybe Zennan kids who thought I was a Dominus guy insulting them in a weird code language. But then,

"Excuse me," I turned around to look at a female Centaur that was standing behind me. Her lower half was a white, muscled horse, and the top was a girl with ripped up leaf shirt. She didn’t look anything like Kae, in fact, she didn’t look anything like anyone I had seen in the orphanage. Her hair was a deep green, messily cascading down her shoulders with a few small braids decorated with beans and knots. "Are you Khadar?”

I burst out laughing in relief, "Finally! Where's Daran?"

She looked around, "I've no idea, I have only found you. What species are you, a minotaur?"

"Yeah..." I muttered, looking down at my furry body, "I wish they'd given me a golem. But I guess it's still better than a meon,"

"Yeah, I stepped on one earlier and I can almost swear I heard something crack," She then pulled me with herself, walking through the crowd, "Let's go, it's too crowded here."

"How are we gonna find Daran though?" I stretched my head as much as I could to see, but it was no use. He might be a tiny little fairy man for all we knew.

"Don't worry, we'll probably find him. And if not, well, it's just for an hour. Punch?" She held the cup up to me,

"Uh, sure. Have you seen the food though? It smells delicious but I can't see any yet."

"Saraphe said we'd be having it once everyone was inside and since the line's slow it might take a while."

I nodded and drank a bit of the punch, "Man, if I eat too much, my body might not fit in this tuxedo anymore."

"The punch is good enough for now though," she said, before looking down at her legs, "But here's my question to you: How am I supposed to sit down while I have four legs?"

"Looks like you won't be able to dance tonight," I answered, looking at her weird legs now too, "Who'd you even want to dance with anyway? This place is full of… Well, furries.”

She shrugged, "Not all knights are handsome, not all kings are visually appealing."

I had no idea what the hell that meant. I imagined she had been spending too much time with Azara, "Well, if you want to dance maybe we should be making more of an effort to look for Daran. Maybe you can get him to dance with you tonight."

"Sure, I could dance with Daran. Anyway," she said, and I raised my eyebrow at her, "How's your game? Any ideas on what to call it?"

"Kae, did Daran do something wrong?"

"No. Why would you say that?"

"Because you totally keep avoiding to look for him. I'm pretty sure if he offended you he didn't mean to--"

"No, no, everything's okay. I just... It's been a while since we've been able to talk alone. We're always hanging out with him."

I realized my sister was right, she and I had spent our entire lives together. We were inseparable. And it wasn't because we were twins and had some "weird connection" or anything because not all twin siblings got along. We were just compatible in personality and temper. Specially because we both liked similar things. Even as we grew older and our likes were different, we'd still find a way to get to an agreement and spend time together. But lately I was too invested in my game and she was too busy with her designs. Besides, I don’t think either of us ever wanted to make Daran feel like the third wheel since he’d complained so much about it at the beginning of our friendship with him. I nodded, feeling a little guilty that I hadn't realized we had been spending so much time with our own things we hadn't even taken a moment to talk about how the new orphanage felt, or how much we liked spending time with Daran or even how we felt about him or the Dominus kids.

"Okay, you're right. I just feel a little bad since it's so crowded and there are so many people. Are you sure you wanna talk about my game though? You didn't seem very interested in it."

"No, it's amazing! I saw a little about it some days ago. Someone bought one and has been playing it."

"Who? Maybe I can play with them because most of my characters are level 15 now. I also have been redecorating the castle though I don't really have money to buy new cards but I have enough for now. I also want new armor for them because only Zorgent's good right now, the rest have pretty bad magic resist and armor."

"Maybe you should find other people that have the game too? You could all form a club and play or make tournaments between each other. Kind of like how humans have done with those weird games of theirs, the marbles and the card games. How can they not get bored with just their imagination?"

"I know, right?! At least I can have conversations with Zorgent when we're on missions. Some days ago, I tried to invade a castle and him and I talked about all kinds of things. Though it's kind of weird considering he's just a game character..."

"It's not, I mean, you're not really sure how Makari made the game, right? Maybe they really have a mind and heart of their own."

"Speaking of the game though, I really can't come up with a name but I really want to be the one to help him name it. It'd be pretty cool if I could have a say in it."

She hummed quietly before drinking from her cup a few times, "What about Heroes?"

"It's taken by a human game."

"Sphere world?"

"Too boring." We both stayed quiet for a moment while we thought it through, "How about Orb Life?"

"Too weird."

I voiced another opinion but the music completely drowned me out. Everyone was finally inside of the room and the teachers were coming in now too. The orchestra had set up on one side and the DJ in the other. I thought it was weird. Even if I wasn’t too excited about the whole classical music, I would much rather we stick to a single genre than be hopping around.

“Excuse me, move. Everyone spread out.” Called Marrak, who I could barely see through the crowd of werewolves, minotaurs and cyclopes. I stepped to the side and right between us all passed a spell. At first it looked like a wall but it slowly disappeared and I couldn’t feel a thing when I put my hand through it.

I knew what they were doing -- we were going to have two parties in one. I could see some people switching sides. Girls who were much more elegantly dressed (even if they were unfortunate enough to be one eyed monsters or gorgons) went to the side of the orchestra. There I could see all the classical music nerds asking each other to dance and standing around talking.

On this side it was a little more hectic. The DJ meon was cheering us on through a mic and at first most of the crowd just stared at him awkwardly letting him make a fool out of himself. But soon enough he began dropping the beat on us and before we knew it, everyone was dancing around and partying wildly.

I wasn’t quite sure which side was worse, so I stood in the middle to see what would happen. My head felt strange, like there was a dense energy between my eyes and forehead, but I could hear everything like if I had two separate earphones on. I snickered and turned around to tell Kae, but she was gone.

“Kae?”

I caught the sight of her almost galloping between people as she approached me with two full plates of food. I took the plate immediately and took a deep breath, letting my lungs fill with the warm steam coming off the steak.

“Oh man, I think this might just be a pretty good night,” I said. I meant it, really. But I also kind of missed Daran.

Given that she couldn't sit down, we stood at one of the corners of the room and ate while we continued talking about the orphanage and what had been our favorite part of the experience so far. I felt like it had been forever since her and I actually sat down and talked about our feelings and experiences, we had grown up together for so long that we already knew things by looking at each other's expression or hearing the tone of voice. But since she was a centaur and I was a minotaur, it felt different. I felt like we were kids again, discussing what toy was the better one or what we were going to be when we grew up.

"You know, I imagined tonight in many ways. I pictured us trying to figure out who was who from away along with Daran, I pictured that maybe we'd spend the hour eating and whining about how crowded and boring the party is... I even imagined us sneaking out. But I didn't think we would end up being weird creatures and that Daran would be lost in the sea of furballs and weirdos and you and I would end up talking and eating like we used to in Zennan. I hadn't even realized how much we didn't talk anymore."

"It's been amazing. I've had a lot of fun. It had been a long time since I laughed so much, too."

"I think maybe we should do this more often, talk about things even if they're--"

At that moment, all of us in a sudden snap, turned into ourselves again. The tuxedo that once fit me perfectly was sagging over my body and there was a large amount of fairy dust around the room. I heard her gasp and by the time the dust had vanished, there was no one in front of me but a bunch of confused orphans. I looked around, standing as tall as I could to see if maybe she was being covered by one of the taller and older kids but there was no one there. Not my sister and not Daran.

It took a while for everyone to leave the room, people were standing around talking to each other still. Some of them looked shocked but pleased to see who it was they were actually talking to, others seemed disgusted.

"Hey!" I turned around hearing Kae call me. She was waving at me, Daran was beside her, moving people aside so they could walk through, "Where have you been? We looked everywhere for you!"

I looked at both of them for a moment before narrowing my eyes suspiciously, "How dumb do you guys think I am?"

"Wait, what?" Daran's face quickly turned puzzled, looking at Kae to see if she knew what I meant,

"I talked to you this entire time!" I said pointing at my sister, who pointed at herself goofily,

"To me? But I was with Daran looking for you!"

"For the first few minutes at least," Said Daran, "Before we gave up and decided to wait for the food."

"We also danced a little." Said Kae,

"What species were you?" Asked Daran.

"No, seriously, guys. It's not funny. Neither of you was with me?"

"No." They both said.

"Are you okay, Khadar?" Asked Kae, touching my forehead with her hand. I pushed it away gently,

"I just spent this entire party talking to this girl and she never even corrected me and I thought it was you all along."

"Wow, you'd think that after almost 16 years of growing up together you'd know how to differentiate me and some other girl." Said Kae. She wasn't taking me serious at all.

"Kae, I mean it. Now I really wanna know who it was. She knew about my game and sounded genuinely interested in it, too…”

I just stood there like a moron while they talked. To them it didn't seem more than a prank but I really wanted to know who it was because she hadn't just talked to me for the entire party, she was interested in everything I liked. Even the game. I’m not an idiot to think girls don’t like games but I had yet to meet one that liked it as much as I do.

"Please don't tell me you feel like this is some sort of Romeo and Juliet thing?" Said Kae, looking at me dumbfounded, "You mocked girls all day about that."

“Pffffffffffft”I said nearly gagging, "No, it's not. I was just a little curious. It was probably a prank anyway."

"Well, did you at least have fun?" Said Daran,

"Yeah, I guess I did have a lot of fun tonight. What about you guys?”

"Well we ate until we were so full we couldn't dance anymore. We also had a lot of punch so I've really got to pee." Whined Kae, pressing her legs together before looking around for the bathroom. That's when Saraphe cleared her throat through the gigantic megaphone to get our attention.

Saraphe gave a little speech about how she hoped we now understood the importance of getting to know people and how what's on the outside and where you come from or what species you are is what least should matter, and then she let us know we all had to go back to the dormitories because it was late and she wanted the day to sink into our brains. Okon was sealing off the small pouches of fairy dust that had been left while Orin was sweeping some off the ground. But that was it, whoever had been talking to me for all that time was gone and I wasn't sure I'd be able to find out any time soon.

Chapter Twelve: The Legend Of Eldar

The next day, Kae woke us up at almost noon.

"I know it's weekend but come onnnnn!" She said while shaking me awake and then running over to Khadar to do the same, "I wanted to go to the Meon District today. Maybe even to Red Granger!" She was wearing the dress she had been working on all week, with the witch hat that she had gotten from Makari. The dress went about an inch or two above her knee, it had short sleeves and the collar was white with a huge brown bow on it, unlike the dress which was such a dark shade of purple that it looked black at times.

I could hear Khadar grumble slightly before forcing his eyes open. I was already sitting up.

"Have you two even fed your pets?" Golem and Kraken had both been sleeping along with us till that point. Kraken was slowly rising up along with me.

We all got ready and dressed but didn't eat breakfast so we could eat out. Kae had dressed up her baby meon, this time the outfit was a dress and big sunglasses. It look like it might be going on a trip to Hawaii to surf.

"Isn't it a boy?" Asked Khadar, looking down at it while closing the door to our dormitory. Kae put the baby in the carriage before looking up at her brother,

"You're kidding me, right? Are you going to give me trouble for dressing my baby boy meon in a dress now? Besides, years ago, boys AND girls dressed up like this till they were like five. People just got a whole lot more complicated and picky as time went by. And the dress is fabulous."

"I guess I can't argue with that last statement." Said Khadar, looking at me. I was still half asleep and not exactly ready to go out, but nonetheless, I wanted to explore the District a little more.

We waved goodbye at Marrak as we left the orphanage and out onto the towny streets of Kazegan. Kae was proudly pushing the meon through the streets while Khadar had his golem's hand held like it was a three year old child. Kraken was floating behind me, looking around at the shops and people when suddenly I heard a pop beside us and when I turned, Kraken had attacked a balloon that was decorating the streets.

"Weird," said Khadar, looking around, "I feel like I'm at a kids party or just entered some creepy clown town."

"There's even confetti on the ground," said Kae while she unknotted a balloon from one of the light posts and gave it to the baby meon, tying it lightly to his hand.

"Maybe there's a sale going on in The District?" I made a water orb appear and put Kraken inside again before I attached a leash onto it so I could pull him with myself to make sure there was no more accidents.

Once we arrived at the district, most of the shops were closed for a break and the ones that weren't were closing.

"What the-- but it's only 2pm? Isn't lunch time already over?" Said Khadar who was longingly looking at a shop of sunglasses, "Man, I wish we'd come faster. I have enough money to buy these tiny ones, and they fit Golem."

"Maybe you can leave your money there?" Said Kae, looking around,

"What if he gets in trouble?" I said while scanning the place for actual big golems. I wasn't sure exactly how much you had to break the law before one of them picked you up and dragged you away.

One of the meons was hurrying beside us. Kae managed to catch him quickly,

"Sir! I have a question, can we put the money for these glasses here? It's just that everything seems to be closed and--" Suddenly the meon was tugging at Kae to walk while she talked. I took the carriage and followed along, Khadar right behind us while Golem rocked his new glasses.

"Hurry, hurry! We're going to be late!"

"Late for what?" Asked Khadar, picking up his speed when the meon dragged his sister away quicker. That's when we saw the crowd of people, all kinds of species. They were gathered at the very center of the Trade District, and on a small stage there was a tall, thin, skinny looking old wizard man. His beard was so long that it went down to the ground and an old, flimsy hat kind of like Kae's decorated his head. Except his seemed to have gone through more years of life than the old man himself. The cake had more candles than I cared to count and there were a lot of banners around wishing him a happy birthday.

"Who is he?" Said Kae, stopping just outside the crowd, but the meon had disappeared between the people.

"He," said a deep voice who I recognized as Simon, "Is Remin. Also known as Eldar's only living best friend." Simon was standing outside of the crowd like us. He didn't even look at Kae, his eyes were glued to the old man.

"And who is Eldar?" Asked Khadar, who managed to irritate Simon enough to make him glare down at us,

"Seriously? Are all of you kids from Zennan this ignorant or is it just the three of you?" He spat, before looking back at Remin, “If you think that I’m going to explain what is happening and who he is, you’re even stupider than I thought. It’s none of my concern if you’re a bunch of brainless ignoramus morons. Now get lost before I sew your mouths shut.”

Kae immediately began pulling on Khadar, covering his mouth quickly. Without caretakers around there wasn’t much to stop them both from going head to head in a fist fight, or worse, in a magic fight. I didn’t know much about Simon’s style or what his jewel was but I was pretty sure he would some day end up like one of the deformed experiments from Dominus we had seen in pictures. I walked off too, leaving him behind. He didn’t even flinch when Khadar had attempted to fight back and that had intimidated me even more.

“Why’d you pull me like that?” Snapped Khadar, roughly snatching his arms and body away from Kae, “You gotta stop interfering in my battles, Kae! I can take care of myself.”

Her hands dropped over her waist and she narrowed her eyes up at her brother, “Hmph, well you got a bad habit of choosing really stupid battles. So what if he thinks we’re stupid? He’s a freak from Dominus!”

“You just don’t get it.” He said through gritted teeth before I pat him on the back, making him turn around to Remin instead,

“Are neither of you curious about what is going on here? Look at them.” It was getting harder to talk now because all the meons had began singing a song. It was a soft one, unlike the usual upbeat and happy birthday songs, and it was in a whole other language. The old man just stood there behind his cake, his heavy eyes blinking slowly before he opened them again, looking through his droopy eyelids towards the people of Kazegan. He was almost expressionless, as if the fact that everyone had gathered to wish him a happy birthday was nothing to him. I wondered if it was because how old he was, if maybe just being up there, standing for everyone to see was more a chore than it was an honor. The old man looked exhausted, even sad, but no one else seemed to notice.

Everyone continued singing happily and after a while they all snapped their fingers or clapped their hands and confetti popped out all around the crowd. As if that had been his cue, the old man closed his eyes and a tunnel of wind passed from behind him, blowing out all the candles and just like that, he disappeared. The only thing left was the quiet chit chat of the townsfolk as they began lining up to get a piece of the cake. No one seemed concerned or surprise with the old man’s attitude.

“Daraaaaan! Are you deaf or something?” Kae gripped onto my wrist, bringing me back to reality,

“Wait, what happened?”

“I said I’m starving. Shouldn’t we head to the Red Granger now?”

“You guys should go ahead and be saving us up a table. I think I finally found something I want to use the money I’ve saved up on.”

“Alright.” Said Khadar, “I’ll order a lasagna for you--”

I passed him Kraken’s leash and he stared at it for a moment before giving out a big sigh, “And I guess I’ll be watching over your kid, too. Hurry up though, I’m not gonna wait long before I start digging in.”

“I know. Thanks. I’ll see you guys soon.”

Kae nodded and turned the carriage around, walking off with Khadar, who held both Kraken and his golem. They were both talking as they went off towards the restaurant. For the rest of the people around, some of the meons had left to reopen their shops, others were hanging around eating a bit of cake. I made my way through them, heading towards the oldest district of Kazegan and possibly my favorite part of the city.

The city was well kept. The streets were nice and clean, the roads were smooth, there were no rats or raccoons or anything at all walking around the streets unwanted. But this was why I loved the old district the most. The streets weren’t so smooth, you could see all the carriages had begun to wear the pavement out, some of the rocky sidewalks were cracked and the shops and houses looked a lot older, with mossy stone and old wooden doors with gigantic knobs. I just loved feeling like I was walking over so much history, specially now that I knew a bit more about the meon war and their liberation.

Everything I took for granted, the ground, the houses, the shops, this had all just been a dream that a meon had years ago, while scrubbing floors or cooking dinner. It made me feel weird to know there was so much history in each stone that made up Kazegan. As if my mind just couldn’t comprehend the emotions and stories that happened to so many people during that era. From the suffering to the triumph, it was unreal, like something you’d hear in a story but couldn’t possibly imagine living through. It was something similar of what I’d felt when we first began learning about the holocaust. At any moment, in any second, when we least expect it, life can take both an ugly or beautiful turn that will change who you are and what you know as normal forever, and that scared me more than anything else could ever.

My thoughts quieted down as I approached the big, old looking building. It was a library I had caught a glimpse of when we were heading towards The Vaults. I knew that back in the orphanage they probably had no books about Eldar or Remin because Gargan had made it sound so mysterious and forbidden. But this old library had nothing to hide.

Inside the place looked just as old as on the outside. The floor woods would croaked on every step, the shelves where the books were stored looked cracked and chipped from the sides. Even the books looked old and mishandled and I loved the smell of wood and books, it felt like I was walking into the coziest time machine ever.

The library looked a bit like the orphanage in the sense that there was a staircase, a skinny, metallic one, at the end of the room. It went up in circles and then it split into a whole other room, which had even more books on the walls. I was looking upwards at the massive amount of books all around me when I heard a quiet voice. I turned to look and it was a wizard. I felt almost out of place seeing a wizard behind the counter and not a meon like I was used to by now.

“Hey there. Sorry to snap you out of your thoughts. I was just wondering if you were looking for something specific? It doesn’t seem you’d ever been here before. This library doesn’t really have any of the recent books yet, but we will start having them shipped in about a month.”

I walked closer towards the counter. On the surface was a small pamphlet with a bunch of promotions and commercials for the upcoming renovations from the library. I picked one up idly before looking up at the girl again. She had red hair tied up in a loose ponytail and big brown eyes, her white skin riddled with freckles.

“I’m looking for a book about Eldar and Remin. Do you think I could find it here?”

“Oh, definitely! All books about history, whether they’re myths or legends, are up on the second floor. This first floor has mostly things to do with spells and potions and the DIY kind of style.”

I nodded at her before showing her the pamphlet, “Can I keep it?” The girl chuckled,

“Yeah, you can keep it. They’re there for you to take. If you need anything else, don’t doubt in asking me.”

The library was different from the one I had visited in Zennan. There you’d go up to the counter and you could ask for a specific book and the man or woman in charge would make it appear from one of the many, many books around. But here in Kazegan I could see people walking around on their own, browsing through the countless choices and I’d caught one lady who had whispered something quietly seconds before one of the books came rushing downstairs through the big gap on the ceiling.

I made my way towards the second floor and once I was there, I could see the thousands and thousands of books all around me. There were more books on history than there were in the genre-combined bottom session. I walked around for a while, looking through the titles of the books I could reach. There was history from all kinds of places, from the stories of human history, to Zennan, and even some about Dominus. There were dozens upon dozens of titles but none that involved Eldar. I had a feeling that the one I was looking for was at one of the highest points of the shelves and to look through all of them was going to take a while.

I had the habit of playing with my fire opal idly whenever I was anxious or nervous. It had become a thing I’d do, just stuff my hand into my jacket pocket and begin to twirl it from finger to finger. But I had gotten so distracted looking up at the books that I had left it still between my fingers and I could barely feel its weight. As I took out my hand to begin my search for the book, the jewel popped out and dropped onto the ground, making a loud clank noise and startling me. I looked down and quickly caught it, not letting it roll away from me. Even though I knew the jewel couldn’t be smashed or broken, I still had to look around to see if it was scratched or chipped. That’s when it occurred to me - my jewel was the way I was going to find the book. I was going to have to use magic unless I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon stuck, looking one by one like a human.

My fire opal was glowing brightly as I began thinking about it. A deep red aura began surrounding it. I held onto it, wrapping my fingers around it while trying to make it bring the book down.

Please bring me a book about Eldar or Remin. I thought, before looking up waiting for the books to move even an inch. After a few seconds, I tried again. I’d like to find a book about Eldar, please. Nothing. Not even a breeze. I sighed and tried it a few more times with different words and sounding more and more commanding each time but nothing was working. The pamphlet said that the jewel was thought to be part of your soul, but what did that mean? How could I use my soul to bring me a book? Was my soul a separate being? I glanced down at the jewel again, trying to think of how I’d like to be asked if I was a jewel before I continued to try and command it through words, like a spell. Finally, I gave up and just stared at one of the books from the top shelves. I kept my eyes on it, concentrating on how it would feel between my fingers, how it would be to bring it out from between the other two books and then, like if the book had hiccups, it lightly moved. It didn’t completely pull out because I had been a bit startled and got distracted, but it had been pulled out enough for gravity to do the trick.

The book dropped from the very top onto the ground as if someone had pushed it off, making a loud splat sound on the ground as it fell with all its pages against the ground. Some people looked towards me, including the clerk behind the counter who looked mildly disappointment at the way I treated the books. I apologized with awkward body language before running to the book and picking it up. It wasn’t about Eldar, in fact, it didn’t have anything to do with Kazegan. It was a book about the evolution of armor in the Zenian army.

I tried putting the book back to the spot it belonged by using magic again but it was too wobbly to even reach the top, so I put it down on a nearby table. I was even sweating from how awkward I’d gotten, how embarrassing it was that everyone’s eyes were now on me, as if I was a helpless, moronic teenager who just wanted to thrash their precious history books.

Come on, freaking work with me here, jewel. I know I haven’t used you nearly enough but I like doing things on my own. I don’t know if you’re an actual energy being or just a simple old stone, but if you can hear me, help me.

I looked up looking for a book about Eldar. I couldn’t read from how far away I was and I was about to just give up and go to the restaurant with the twins.I decided to give it a last shot. I sat down on one of the tables and closed my eyes, hidden away from the people below so I wouldn’t embarrass myself again. I pictured myself standing in a pitch black room and in front of me a shelf full of books. I slowly imagined the books turning black and becoming blurry, unimportant, invisible and left only a single one. I could see it’s dark green cover color, torn and folded pages making it look messy and ruined and big, golden letters reading Eldar. I imagined my hand raising, grabbing onto the book as I had done earlier. I could feel the clothy texture of the book, as I gripped it between my fingers and slowly began pulling it out.

Here’s the funny thing, it felt very similar to when I was a kid and I’d play pretend. I’d imagine I have a tail and I could almost feel it wagging against my bone. The only way I could describe it would be a tingling feeling, as if there’s an energy build up where you’re imagining the tail or the pretend blast or whatever it was you would play as a child. My fingers were feeling numb and tingly the same exact way and then, finally, I pulled it out. The book dropped onto my lap causing me to jump startled. It looked exactly like it had in my imagination, as if I’d been seeing it through all the books around me. It was a large, green book, the cover felt rough like cloth and it had big golden letters, “Eldar, the father of magic”.

My jewel was shining even brighter now, as if had been recharged by my use of magic. I placed it inside my pockets and tapped it safe there before I got up and checked out with the book. Three days I’d have it and it had costed me 20 novas.

Finally I headed back to the restaurant where the twins were waiting for me. Khadar and Kae had finished their meals because they were already eating their dessert.

“Finally,” Said Khadar, shaking his head, “You took a whole hour, dude. What were you doing? I ordered your lasagna but it got cold and the old granny ended up taking it back to the kitchen instead.”

“We were about to go look for you.” Said Kae, who was moving the baby carriage in a gentle back and forth motion using her leg. Kraken and Golem were seated in baby seats, stuffing their faces.

“Sorry. The library here requires you use magic to bring down books if they’re too far away and, well, I had to practice a bit.”

Khadar raised his eyebrow, “You’re still struggling with making things levitate? You should really practice a little more. You’re faaaar behind in your jewel training… Unlike me.” Gloated Khadar,

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, dropping the book on the table, “I have it for three days. Apparently it has all of Eldar’s history in it.”

“That’s what you used your money on?” Asked Kae, flipping through the pages, “It looks… Old and boring.”

“Who even is Eldar?”

I shrugged, “That’s exactly what I’m going to find out. It’s been itching in the back of my head ever since Gargan awkwardly avoided telling us about it.” I sat down beside Khadar, pulling the book towards me once Kae was done snooping. “Besides, I hate the way Simon spoke to us.”

The old meon lady came and left a freshly heated lasagna for me.I opened the book and dove nose first into the history of Eldar. The twins didn’t seem all that interested in what had happened or who the old man was, but I still read it aloud for them to hear, stopping only to stuff my mouth with food and then continuing with my reading.

It wasn’t until we got to the creepy part of the book that both of them began to really ask questions and pay attention. It turns out that years ago wizards used to use wands to power up their magic. Wands had the ability to concentrate all of your power at the tip, making it easier for you to manipulate and control your own energy. However, there was a man who had been experimenting on something better -- jewels. He wanted to be able to make magic without having to carry his wand around with him all the time, he wanted to do magic with his own mind or just reciting the words in his head.

Things took a dark twist when he realized he couldn't make the jewels on his own and decided to experiment with more brutal ideas, like using actual souls to create a mother jewel and then bring out others from it. He identified twelve different personality types and tried to understand them to a deeper level, going into self discovery and what made a person who they are. Then, he found a talented person of each of the twelve personalities and turned them all into jewels.

The spell had been so powerful that he had died during the process of yanking out the souls of people and then turning them into concentrated stones of power. However, his best friend,  Remin, who was just as into dark magics as Eldar, had managed to save him by turning him into a mythical creature: A dragon. And so, him and Remin completed the spell causing everyone with magical powers to lose their energy. It had been turned into mana and everyone in Nobrelac had been forced to abide to the idea.

At first everyone found it horrifying that they were using souls to do their magic, but eventually as years went by people got used to the idea and now-a-days not everyone really even knows what a jewel is. A few chapters in more and they explained how Eldar had become the most powerful being because he kept the mother jewels, as they called them, and had been able to grant wishes. But like we had learned from him from the previous idea of making jewels out of souls and death, he was greedy and crazy, so in order to have a wish you'd have to sacrifice something.

"Oh my God," Said Khadar, "That's how they were able to beat Provectus. This is why Gargan didn't wanna tell us about it, because who knows what Dominus kids would do if they learned about Eldar."

"But why do they celebrate Remin's birthday then? They treat him like a hero when he's actually evil. I mean, he helped create these... These horrible things." Said Kae, holding her emerald necklace with a lot more disgust now,

"I guess they're just grateful they don't need wands anymore." I said, looking down at the book. There was a sketch of a wand and the explanation of how it would work as an amplifier, "It's been so long since the jewels happened that they're detached from the horror and all they see is just the fact that now they can accessorize their mana and power. It even says so in the book, that after a few years people were willingly throwing away and breaking their wands. All the wand shops went into bankruptcy. The only way to get your powers now is through the oracles."

Kae closed the book and shook her head, “How about you read a little more after you’re done with your food? This is giving me the creeps and I want to enjoy my chocolate and vanilla mountain swirl.”

I chuckled, “Fine. We can finish eating first.”

Once I was done with my lunch and them with their dessert, we decided to go back to the orphanage since The District would be closed along with most of the shops anyway.

"Man, what a weird story. I never thought jewels would have such a ... Dark past." Said Khadar, looking down at his ring.

"Do you think that every jewel that comes out of the first one is like a part of the person's body? Like, from one of the guys he turned into the jewels?" Said Kae, shuddering.

"Maybe it's just their soul or essence. Either way, I still have a lot more to read--"

"Hello, kids."

We all turned around to find Makari's wandering shop right in front of us. He had a pointy party hat on and his yak was bathed in confetti.

"Were you at the party?" He asked, wiping some glitter off his face.

"No," said Khadar, brushing some confetti off the yak, "We were here to enjoy the district when we saw how empty it was. Are you open today?"

"Yes sir. Though I’ll be closing very soon. A lot of buyers today." Said Makari, leaning in to look at us. A big grin adorned his face, "I see you three have been enjoying your gifts! This makes me happy. I'm glad."

"Makari, I wanted to thank you for the lovely hat," Began Kae, pulling at the ends of her dress to make it puff out a bit, "As you can see, it has inspired me to make more designs."

Makari's fluffy, huge ears waved as he nodded his head, "I'm guessing you've made the dress? It's very pretty indeed--"

"And look!" Said Khadar, taking out the orb from his pocket before showing it to him, interrupting Kae’s show of her dress, who puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

"See? They're all above level 15. I haven't had much time these last two days but I'm planning on getting a job and buying some more cards. I've also came up with a list of names," He took out a bunch of small papers and passed them to Makari, who opened them and put on gigantic glasses,

"Hmmrgh.. Uhuh, uhuh... I will definitely take these under consideration and as soon as I've chosen a name, you will be notified." He put the notes away in a drawer he had behind his counter before looking at me, "And what about you?"

"He named his poe Dusk!" Said Kae, elbowing me lightly,

"Yeah, she's been helping me read--"

"She, huh?" He said, taking his glasses off and neatly setting them down, "I'm glad that Dusk found a nice new home and that you're all happy with your gifts. I'll be stocking up on new things tomorrow and so will most of the shops in case you'd like to try and explore again. Unfortunately I'm in a bit of a hurry right now."

A small weird animal came out from the shop, it had a long serpent dragon body and huge white bird wings, the scales on its body shifted through colors. He spat out a small ball of fire which it caught in a lantern and held up with its only two paws before beginning to swiftly fly around the yak shop.

"What's that?" Asked Khadar, pointing at it,

"His name is Ruffus." Said Makari before looking up at it, "He's a companion that appears at night to light your way home. It's letting me know that night is approaching." He looked back down at us before closing the shop, he got out from the side and dropped on the yak's head and we watched the squared little shop turn into a big comfortable seat for him to settle on, "I must be heading home now, Robert is getting tired. We came early so we could sell before the party. But perhaps I'll see you tomorrow?"

The three of us nodded before he tapped Robert and they began walking away down a path, Ruffus lighting it for them. Once he was considerably far from us I heard the weird instrument play again, like the first time we had seen him. This time Kazegan didn’t follow though.

"He looks so peaceful. If I had to choose between being like Remin and Makari, I'd said Makari. He looks so used to his life, so comfortable with it, you know? I mean, getting up and riding his yak around The District, selling things and then heading home to rest." Khadar picked up the golem from the ground who seemed to be walking slower and yawning a lot, the baby meon, on the other hand, was clinging onto Kae who was carrying it. Kraken bumped into me affectionately.

"Poor guy though, he seemed so old and tired. I wonder if he even manages to enjoy these parties. They're loud and for what it looks like, really long as well." I said as we headed home. I couldn’t wait to crack the book open again for the next three days.

Once we got back, we all went to feed our companions and put them to rest before meeting each other downstairs again. Kae was still pulling the confetti out of her hair.

“So, what do you guys want to do? We still have a while before we’re sent to our dorms.” I said,

“I’m actually going to go to Saraphe and talk about chores. I asked her some days ago and she said she’d think about it. I really need to have a bit more novas if I want to buy any more cards. I’ll catch you later though?” He said, Kae and I nodded and he went off.

After that, we headed to the common room to wait for Khadar, both of us sat down on one of the big couches.

"I can't believe that there's a place to make wishes at. I wonder how many things have happened that were wishes. I mean, if this is common knowledge, you'd think that people would use it more often?"

"I guess," I said before thinking about what I'd wish. But anything I could think of was immediately scratched out by the idea of having to pay the equal price, "I suppose people are just not willing to lose something they have just to get something they might not be sure of? I mean, sure, you might end up being a billionaire but who's to say that would really be worth whatever Eldar decides to take? Only someone who is desperate would ever use it."

“Poor Provectus. I wonder how much they had to sacrifice in order to create such a horrible curse. I also wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t stopped him.”

Kae and I ended up watching a movie together. She hadn’t felt like talking about Eldar anymore and I couldn’t get it out of my head, so we had settled for watching something instead. The movie wasn’t bad, but I still skimmed through the book meanwhile.

Judging by how old this book was and how little knowledge the general population seemed to have about Eldar I figured that they had stopped releasing books and information about what had happened. Kind of like when we look at the pyramids in Egypt and don’t think about how slaves had built it -- and I know that they weren’t slaves, but that’s what most people believe anyway.

We were more than halfway into the movie when Khadar appeared. He seemed in a great mood. Kae and I made way and he dropped right between us, pausing the movie before looking at my book.

“You’re still reading that old thing? Don’t you know enough about it already?”

I closed it and dropped it on my lap, “I have a feeling that Simon wasn’t there to celebrate, and if Simon is investigating it, I want to know all about it.”

“Alright…” He said reluctantly before looking at the book lost in thought, “Do you think it would be inappropriate to suggest Eldar as a character in the game? Cause he would be o to the p.” Kae smacked his arm almost immediately,

"It's not something to joke about, Khadar! This guy killed a lot of people and I'm never going to look at jewels the same way. Besides, who knows what horrible things have and could happen because of those wishes."

"I'm sure he's in some mysterious forest where he can't be reached or a floating cloud or some deep, dark cave somewhere. I mean, it can't be that easy to find or we'd see a lot of morons walking around limbless but with a lot of money or deaf but Brad Pitt-looking. I don't know, if you ask me, he can't be that easy to reach or else they would try to keep him a secret."

"True, I don't think Eldar wanted to be used as some sort of wishing well either." I said and Khadar nodded,

"I still think it's terrible to joke about it. I don't even want to talk about this anymore, I'll deal with it whenever Professor Okon decides to teach everyone else. Now, on a lighter note, does anyone know their talents yet?"

Khadar and I both shrugged,

"I don't know." He said before his face lit up in excitement, "What I do know is that I'll be getting a bunch of jobs and getting paid for 'em! I'll have the full collection of the game soon enough. They said they'd pay me in novas. I also found out that there are other kids who've been playing it. I met them earlier, that's why I took so long. There's three of them and I might start meeting up with them to play against other people cause Makari made it so that we can connect across continents and all!"

Kae rolled her eyes, "I'm going to bed. I need to go and check up on my meon anyway. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved at us lazily before walking off, leaving me and Khadar being the only ones in the common room.

"What crawled up her butt and died?" Said Khadar murmuring. "Anyway, so one of them is this really blonde kid from one of the towns from around here. I know cause he has a weird accent. Apparently he likes to, uh, 'troll' in games. Which is basically just clown around and have fun though breaking the rules and annoying other people. Then there's this other one that's been teaching others about the game, he's that dark skinned boy that has his dormitory like three doors from ours. The one with glasses that's always nice and funny? Yeah, and the last one's a total spaz. He's also from one of the towns though his accent is a little thicker. They sound like a lot of fun to play with, so I might be taking it up as a hobby soon. Maybe you should try it too sometime?"

"Maybe." I said, not quite being able to imagine myself playing the game though it really wouldn’t hurt to try. Either way, my mind was on the jewels and what I’d just read. Part of me wanted to go back to reading the book but at the same time I was pretty exhausted from my petty attempts at magic,  "I'm sorry, I know you're excited and happy about your game. I'm just really tired. Besides the whole Eldar story gives me the creeps."

"It's okay," He said, getting up and offering to help me up too, "Maybe it'd be best if we go to bed? It's getting late anyway."

"Yeah, let's do that. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow with the whole talent thing anyway. Hopefully we will have time to go to The District."

Dusk appeared in front of us, holding her lantern before guiding our path. All the rooms turned the lights off as soon as she lit her lantern, as if the entire orphanage had eyes and ears of its own.

I opened the door to find Kraken with a half eaten fish in his mouth, Golem was bouncing on Khadar's bed and there was a box in front of it.

"What's that?" I asked.

Khadar closed the door and hurried to it before pulling Golem down to sit him, "Be carefully, buddy. What if you break?" He put some snacks in front of him to eat before looking at the box, "Uh, I'm not sure. It doesn't have a name or a tag or anything."

I got closer and urged him to open it up, though it didn't even look like a gift because it was a simple cardboard box.

Inside of it was a new pack of cards from the game and a paper with a username written on it with capital letters in very simple handwriting.

"Galactic Traveler" Said Khadar, "Is that their name in game? Are they asking me to invite them?" He looked up at me, "They even got me some cards for the game. Dude, what if it's the girl I was talking to that night at the party? Remember I told you?"

"I honestly thought you were kidding about that." I said, picking up the note.

“Is the thought of a girl talking to me that alien that you think I’d lie?” Khadar got up from the bed and locked his arm around my shoulders, “I think you’re just jealous I have a secret admirer.”

I stared at him and scoffed, “Secret admirer. This could be a prank from Dominus.”

He let out a loud and exaggerated laugh, “As if! This chick is totally for real. I’m gonna find her in game and then I’ll show you ‘prank’.”

I chuckled, handing over the paper to him again. “We’ll see about that, buddy.”

Khadar immediately went into the game. He didn’t even bother changing into more comfortable clothes before he looked for Galactic Traveler. I stuck around for a while waiting for her to come online.

"Hey, you know, I've been thinking a ton about your chest. Do you think that maybe you and Bastion are related? Have you considered the possibility of Nikolaus or Duke being your dad?"

"I have but I just don't understand how that would be possible anyway. That was long ago. They can't be my grandparents either because neither of them had children so I don't get why me and Bastion would be the owners of the chest. I just really hope that whatever's inside will be worth all the trouble of hunting the keys."

Khadar nodded and tucked Golem in beside himself, Kraken tucking himself in with me too, "I'm sure it'll be worth cause I'd rather open the chest and it be nothing than me never open it and die wondering what it might've been." Said Khadar.

"I guess me too," I said, trying hard to keep my eyes open. Tonight I was actually tired.

“Have you found anything on the keys? How do you find something when you don’t even know where to look?”

I had honestly been hoping that the Eldar thing might’ve been a clue. Simon could be on the trail of something, specially because I had seen he was the owner of an amethyst and if there was a jewel I trusted to find me my keys was a brainiac.

“I think I might have to rent out Nikolaus and Duke books now. Maybe Eldar was a dead end. Besides, the more I learn about Eldar the more I can see why Simon might’ve been looking into it for his own gain and not to help Bastion. I don’t regret learning about it though and now more than ever I don’t trust Simon.”

“No kidding,” scoffed Khadar, “That creep looks like the kind to sacrifice something to an almighty evil.”

Khadar and I moved on to talk about his game for a while before I decided that Galactic Traveler wasn’t worth my hours of beauty sleep.

Chapter Thirteen: I become a blacksmith.

The next day we didn't get a chance to go to The District because we spent almost the entire day thinking of what our talents could be. Kae was drawing beside us in the library while me and Khadar read up on what talents wizards had shown throughout the years as powers. But it was very general, it seemed like almost anything could be used as a skill if you tried hard enough. Even singing, which me and Khadar laughed at for a while, thinking about the human opera singers.  

By the end of the day though, we were far from laughing after so much research and reading. Kae had finished up a bunch of drawings, both for her designs and for Professor Morus. Khadar and me, on the other hand, were kind of let down by the lack of talents.

We took a small break from research at lunch and then finally gave up before our last meal of the day. We stuffed our faces and went to hang out in the common room instead so our day didn’t feel like it had gone by in complete boredom. We didn’t exactly have fun, but we did learn something very important: Never let Khadar choose the movie.

"Meh, who cares," He said as we entered our room, dropping on his bed exhausted. His eyes had bags from his constant late gaming sessions.

"Well, I wouldn't worry. Maybe tomorrow Professor Morus will have something to expose our talents or maybe they're not even all that necessary. I don't think I've met many wizard that have one anyway, most of them are just normal." I waited for a moment but Khadar wasn't answering. When I turned around expecting him to be setting up his game, I found him on his bed, face down asleep instead. Golem was comfortably using Khadar's legs like some sort of bed, so I gave him a few rocks and put a blanket on Khadar before I headed to my own bed. I fed Kraken a few fish before he began doing tricks and stunts. I reckoned he'd felt a bit lonely, so I played with him for a while using the water before I too headed off to dreamland.

The next morning we were all heading to jewels class. Professor Okon had warned us not to take our companions to Morus' class, so we had left them behind in our rooms for them to play together instead. The door to the classroom was closed and on it was a piece of paper,

"Meet me at the garden. -- Morus"

The garden was located at the very back of the school zone and it was easily one of the biggest places of the orphanage. Some kids would plant things on it but there was still enough space for a big empty spot of just grass, where Professor Morus was waiting for us. In front of him were a bunch of dummies.

"For today's class we will split you all into two groups: Talented and talentless. Those who found a talent go to the right, the talentless to the left."

The class wasn't evenly split, which made Khadar and I feel better. Our lack of talents didn't make us completely useless. Kae stood in front of us, waving and smirking. I looked at the ones on the other side and recognized a few people from Zennan, and also Raia. She stood between two tall, angry looking Dominus kids which made her look even smaller. Her hair was fiery red, her honey colored eyes scanning our group. I got the awkward feeling that she was from Dominus from how little she seemed to care for the two guys at her side and it was a strange thing to process. When you think Dominus, you see a messed up city, lots of creepy experiments and crazy people. You don't think of porcelain skinned, small girls who look like they're descendants of Artemis.

Professor Morus eyed both teams and didn't seem surprised that we heavily out numbered them. Instead he pointed at the talent group, "Go over there and take out whatever instruments you will use. You shall learn to intertwine your magic with your skills, and if you cannot get the grip of it then you will learn to use your weapons." He shoo'd them off before turning to us, "And you. Come with me."

He limped towards the dummies I had seen earlier and we all followed. It was a bright, hot and sunny day, so I was glad our area was underneath the shadow cast from the humongous tree.

"Seeing as you have no talents you will have to rely only on yourself, your body and your jewel. There are two ways to go about this. You either use crafted weapons or magical made." He kicked over a crate, a bunch of wooden weapons spread across the ground. They didn't discriminate: I could see javelins, spears, swords, knuckles, katanas, kunais and others I had seen but couldn't really name properly.

"There isn't much of a difference. It doesn't matter whether you have talents, use crafted weapons or magic. The only thing that will make you a good warrior is practice, ambition and discipline. For this reason I suggest that you experiment with everything you can."

One of the kids raised his hand and Professor Morus jerked his head, pointing at him with his snout, "You. What do you want?"

The kid stepped forward a bit, "I was just wondering what you mean by magic. Does it come down to spell-casters vs people who wield weapons?"

The professor stared at him in thought for a moment before limping towards us, "Good question. You can also have no weapon and just concentrate on spell casting. I will still teach you all how to at least master one from the whole armory. It doesn't matter if you only learn how to whack people across the head with a rod, you are still one step ahead from those who only know spellcasting. Now, in order to use your magic weapon, you just need to think hard on what you want your jewel to give you and connect yourself to your magic. I'd like for you all to first try making your own weapon, and once you do, smack the dummies around until I return." And with that, Professor Morus walked off to the other side where he assembled the talented kids.

To my relief no one really just snapped their fingers and got a weapon instantly. Everyone was struggling and concentrating, even Khadar.

I decided to sit down beside the weapons in a nice, windy and cool spot. It seemed like I wasn't doing anything but chilling there, except I was attempting to save myself some embarrassment by vividly imagining myself with each of the different weapons.

Now, the hammer was too heavy. Even the wooden one felt awkward when I picked it up. I would have to use both arms and that sounded like way too much work. I dropped it to the side and picked up a staff. It looked like the one Wukong is usually depicted as wielding, and although I love the fighting style I also couldn't even bare the idea of having to go to classes and become... Physically fit. Even just thinking about it made me lazy and sleepy.

I went through a few more like kunais, which was an instant no because I had worse aim than a blind man, and katanas which was also a big no because I'm just not cool enough for that. In the end I decided to just go with a simple sword. It was easy enough that I wouldn't need to enroll into extra classes and common enough so that I wouldn't look like an embarrassment.

I closed my eyes trying to figure out what type of sword I wanted. Deep inside I just really wanted to wield something that looked badass and I had a few ideas now thanks to Khadar and his fighting video games.

But now came the hard part: Concentrating and making it happen. Not only was it a pain to remember all the details of the sword, but it was hard to keep my mind on a single idea when Professor Morus was fighting and arguing with kids from the other group. The two tall Dominus dudes were giving him and me a headache with their back talking. I closed my eyes again and tried to concentrate, doing my best to ignore Professor Morus' angry yapping and threats.

I knew how to do it. I had done it at the library. So I closed my eyes and pictured I was in a room, a dark, empty room except for a single thing: A pedestal and a sword on top. At first I couldn't tell how it looked, I could just see the light shining off the metal. But as I walked closer I did my best to concentrate on it and slowly it came to life. The sword was fancier than I would've expected. Gold and silver clashed and danced around each other at the hilt mostly, but it extended towards the blade as they continued to interlope with each other to the very end.

I ran my fingers over it and I could almost feel the cold of the steel as I carefully made my way to the handle, letting my hand get a good grip on it. In real life I could almost feel its weigh as it slowly became part of my reality, my fingers twitching and curling slowly. I raised my hand with the sword and just as I did a gentle slash at the air, it appeared in my hand and I opened my eyes to see the exact replica from my imagination.

Most of the others' swords could fit into two categories: A very simple steel sword with a bit of decoration on the hilt or something extreme and fantastical like what you'd see in games. Mine was, I felt, a mix of both. But it wasn't because I had chosen it to be so, the sword had made itself and presented to me almost as a gift.

I turned my attention to my hand again. It was heavy, way heavier than I had originally thought a sword should be because of the ease some people flail theirs around. But I could still manage it with only my right hand.

Everyone else was still struggling with their swords and those who weren’t just had deformed and ugly ones. Things that looked like they came out of children’s drawing. It felt good to succeed in something before an entire class, so I reveled in the feeling, swiping and hitting at the dummies for a while as my classmates struggled.

"Hey!" Said Khadar, tapping my shoulder. I turned around and his eyes widened, "Holy cow, that sword is -- it's so golden!" He dropped his own weapon, a large staff, onto my chest before snatching my sword from me.

"A staff?" I asked while eyeing it out. It was a black and long staff, but unlike the typical one it had two different axe heads at each end, both looking at an opposite side.

"Yeah, cool, right? I wanted something less complicated but it pretty much just popped into my head without me having much choice." Khadar swung my sword around at the air, "Man, but I didn't think you'd be a fancy sword kind of guy!"

"I'm not," I said, also trying out his weapon. It felt awkward because it wasn't light and agile as a staff should be. It felt heavy and strong, almost unbalanced to me. "I didn't think you'd have a.. Uhm.. What even is this?"

"I have no idea." Khadar passed my sword back to me and my hand felt like it was returning home. I immediately gripped onto it again, letting its weight balance against my palm.

"It just appeared. I mean, I'm not complaining. It's awesome! I just... I just don't even want to think about the training I'll have to go through to master this thing."

As he stabbed his weapon onto the grass, Professor Morus approached us.

"I see most of you have managed to bring up a weapon." His eyes scanned us and our weapons, those who hadn't managed looking a little flustered and embarrassed. "Good. Now we will split into even more groups. Those who could not bring up a weapon and those who could." His cane moved us away from each other and he pointed to the weaponless kids, "Don't look so mopey. It's not the end of the world. You'll wield a crafted blade and continue to work on your magic."

Once he turned to us, we were ordered to stand in a lined formation. Professor Morus began to explain to us the parts that made a blade: The guard, the handle, the pommel and the blade.

"This is not a hilt." He said, showing off the handle, "this is the hilt. The entirety of it. From the pommel to the guard. In order to have a good balance and better swinging, you need to find the right pommel. And I know, you're not blacksmiths. But keep imagining and reimagining until you can find the right one. Consider maybe visiting the armory and basing off your swords from those. Now you..."

Professor Morus continued on to explain to the hammer wielders and battle axe owners their own set of rules and examples.

Once he had explained it all to us, from the hammer to the kunais to the ones I had never even heard of, he proceeded to rate our weapons, from the balance to what they were made out of.

For the few days we knew him, he had never ever shown any sort of positive feedback to us. And even now, watching Khadar's strange weapon, he did not seem all that impressed. Instead, Professor Morus wrote down on Khadar's arm the number of a meon who was expert at martial arts and taught kids who had harder to master weapons on how to deal with them. And my sword? He barely batted an eye. He only told me that I had found the right balance and that it was sturdy and strong.

"We don't have much time left, so you might as well just start training. I want you to feel your weapons, harmonize with them and get to know how they feel. Just don't practice too much outside of class until I teach you how to properly wield and attack. I don't want to start seeing bad and dumb habits form."

With that, Professor Morus walked off to the others again. Their powers were way cooler, which left me a bit disappointed. While we held normal ol' weapons, they were bringing out their own creatures through their drawings and making golems out of tree trunks with their sculpting skills.

Khadar and I did as Professor Morus had said and smacked some dummies around. Both of us looked awkward, clumsy and overall not so cool as we practiced. It felt like we were two wannabe warriors nerding around after spending all their money on expensive weapons.

I got to see some of the others working with their weapons, too. Out of all the people on our side of the garden I was only interested in my current enemies.

Bastion also had a sword, but his was long, thick bladed and heavy. He had to use both hands to lift it and the damage he was doing to the dummies was monstrous. Simon was on the other side with Kae and Raia and I couldn’t exactly tell what his great talent was. Steffan was the only one who seemed to be struggling. He hadn’t been able to bring out his own weapon and wielding the ones Professor Morus had brought made him look even more awkward and clumsy than Khadar and I looked.

The class went by very quickly from there on, and part of me was glad because I was a wimp and my arms were feeling heavy. I was about to ask Professor Morus what to do with my sword when it disappeared from my hand as if it knew it was time to rest.

"That was so fun!" Said Kae, who jogged across towards us, bouncing around. "Using my pencil to bring out animals and weapons is so awesome! I really thought this class was gonna be a bummer but I think it might just be my favorite so far."

"Well duh," Grumbled Khadar, rubbing his palms which were red from holding and balancing the awkward weapon, "You can do cool things with your drawings while we have to sweat like pigs."

"Aww, it couldn't have been that bad. You can't tell me you didn't like that huge staff of yours. I'm no fool, you were enjoying yourself. Admit it." She elbowed him and then turned and elbowed me too.

"I kind of had fun," I admitted, "I don't see why I would ever need to have a weapon in these times but it was still pretty cool."

Khadar finally let out a sigh and muttered, "I suppose it was pretty awesome… My cool staff and my movements…”

“Okay there, Mr. Kung Fu.” Mused Kae, chuckling a bit.

We headed off to the dining room. Most of the ones in our class were talking about their weapons or their talents. The three of us weren’t any different, babbling on about how our weapons felt and how Kae was jealous she hadn’t been able to use hers yet.

"Are you guys going to give your weapons a name?” Asked Kae as the three of us took our seats at the table.

“I hadn’t thought about that. Are you gonna?” It seemed strange to me to imagine Kae with a weapon, and even weirder with a named weapon.

“Yeah! I’m going to name mine Heartstriker.”

“Heartstriker?” Echoed Khadar while he poured some gravy, “That is the cheesiest and saddest name I’ve ever heard. It’s supposed to be something cool and fitting like… Like… Ragnarok the destroyer of gods or persuasion the mind changer. You know? Not freakin’... Heartstriker.”

I chuckled. Even though I had known them for years now, everything felt the same. They still argued over dumb subjects and had the weirdest and most interesting of debates. I took the gravy from Khadar and began spreading it out over my mashed potatoes.

“What about you, Daran?” Asked Kae, “What is your swords name? It looked beautiful. I got to see it before the class ended.”

“Hmm…” I gave it a thought for a good few minutes. So much so that Kae and Khadar eventually moved on to other subjects while we ate. I continued to ponder what kind of name would fit my sword.

“Tyr.” I finally said.

“Tear?” Asked Kae,

“No, Tyr. The Norse god.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Asked Khadar, who was about to put a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

I realized just then that the conversation had been done long ago and I just looked slow and crazy.

“I mean… My sword’s name. I want it to be Tyr, like the god.”

Kae stared at me for a while waiting for me to explain but Khadar jumped in,

“Oh, I know this. Tyr’s the god that put his hand inside of Fenrir’s mouth. He chewed it off. I don’t know who would be stupid enough to do that though. It’s not like Fenrir was a nice puppy.”

“He let Fenrir chew his hand off?” Asked Kae, “Why would you ever want to name your sword after that guy?”

“Because,” I said, cleaning out the last bit of mashed potatoes I had left, “He stands for honor and justice. Not just war.”

We all sat down for our next class, history. Professor Gargan arrived a few minutes late, carrying a whole bunch of papers and putting them on his desk.

"Good afternoon, kids" He said, and as always, we echoed back. "Does anyone remember what we left off in the previous class?" A bunch of hands raised. He chose Kae.

"We were talking about The Meon War."

"Yes, yes, right. Well, today we're going to learn about Nikolaus and Duke.”

Professor Gargan went up to the board and snapped his fingers making two pictures appear side by side. One of them was Duke with his jet black hair and his dark serious eyes, and the other one was Nikolaus with his blonde hair and calm blue eyes.

“Now, did you know that they were both from the same place, Nobrelac? Between them there was no competition, they were just two students from the same class, much like all of you. You see though, Nikolaus was a fire opal, and as you all must know, that means strong will and stubborn temperament. Duke, on the other hand, was an amethyst, an undying thirst of knowledge that very few manage to quench. Unfortunately, his thirst was for dark arts and what they had to offer, so naturally, when Demenes gave the opportunity to go and create Dominus, Duke left and Nikolaus stayed. It wasn't until they were both a lot older that their paths truly crossed, when Dominus took over us meons and slaved us.”

The pictures changed to one of Nikolaus and a bunch of human refugees. “Nikolaus was absolutely against the idea of one species enslaving others. So much so that he had been supplying help to the humans against the vampires. As soon as the news traveled to him that Dominus had us in their control, Nikolaus began breaking out wars against Dominus in attempts to free us and because of this was that we were able to take the opportunity in our hands and free ourselves. No one really knows what happened after we fled Dominus because shortly after both Duke and Nikolaus disappeared for good. But to us Nikolaus will always remain a hero. Anyway," Professor Gargan sat on his desk, "Things changed after they disappeared. Kazegan was built and humans almost went extinct. So, for today's assignment I'd like you to write an essay on what you think would've been different if Nobrelac hadn't ever been split and whether or not you agree with Dominus being able to take control of their own city. I’m sorry that this was such a quick and boring class but I had forgotten I had to grade my last pop quiz!" With that Professor Gargan began grading the papers he had brought in with himself earlier.

Zennan kids groaned lazily, but Dominus looked just about ready to cut Professor Gargan into tiny pieces and stuff him into a box. I would’ve probably been annoyed too if he had questioned whether the home I come from should be ‘allowed’ to exist.

The rest of the class went on in silence while we all wrote for the remaining time of it. Once we were done, my wrist was stiff and pained. I had a lot to say about the separation because to me it was insane that they had even allowed Dominus to exist, instead of taking them down immediately. Now a days Dominus is well populated and had so many different kinds of new styles of magic and limitless amount of mutated animals and people that they were too strong for us, who followed the law and wouldn't ever dare to be as unfair as to win a war using rabid animals. A battle to bring it down would cost a lot.

Kae, on the other hand, seemed drained by the assignment when we left the class. To her it was a waste of energy to come up with what you would've done when things are already in the past.

On our way to lunch we heard the announcement of the free week we'd be having next week. Most of the kids went to the common room to celebrate the freedom we'd have. All I could think about was how much time I'd spend outside of the orphanage, eating and exploring without having to worry about homework or assignments.

Chapter Fourteen: Bastion: Dominus Needed A Break

I missed my other orphanage. Specially now that we were on vacation. Instead of being able to be outside like others, me, Steffan and Simon had to stay in our rooms unless we wanted to talk about boring things or censor ourselves. Teachers, specially, gave us weird looks whenever we'd talk about dark magic as if the only reason we would ever was because we wanted to take over the orphanage and enslave the meons again. Or kill people. More often than not Gargan and Morus would misinterpret our conversations, twisting them in their minds, and then give us dirty looks of disapproval.

Today it was no different, we spent most of the day locked up in mine and Simon's dormitory.

"Being realistic, the chances of being adopted at this age, especially coming from Dominus, are very slim. So, what are you both planning on doing when we turn 18? Are you going back to Dominus?" Asked Simon, who was currently lying on his back on his bed, playing around with a candle.

"Yeah. I can't stand Kazegan. Specially how hypocritical the meons are, claiming that they're neutral and anyone can come to their city, then making you feel like the lowest type of scum whenever you're being yourself around them." Steffan nodded in agreement with me.

"I'm not even sure what the point is to bring the Dominus kids to this city. It's pretty obvious that only people from Dominus would adopt any of us. The rest see us like psychos. And that's putting it nicely." Said Steffan, who got up from the chair he had been slumped on, "I think it's stupid we cook ourselves up here in the bedroom just to not get uncomfortable looks from teachers and others. We might as well just go explore Kazegan or at least find a quiet spot to talk outside near the woods?"

"No." Said Simon quickly, "Those aren't just any woods, Steffan. That's the Zenope Forest and no one's allowed inside. Apparently it's maze like and there hasn't been a case of anyone coming back once they've entered."

"Steffan's right though. It's our vacation week. Are we going to spend it here?" I said, looking at Simon who sat up lazily,

"I guess not." He muttered irritably, "What do you want to do then?"

I sighed, shrugging. There really wasn't much to do unless we wanted to go out to The District, and even so, we had spent most of the money the orphanage had given us this month. Simon had bought a book companion that would absorb knowledge from around itself and turn it into reading material, Steffan had gotten himself an egg that would supposedly hatch into a chimera and I was saving up mine. The three of us were quiet for a while thinking about what to do, and that's when it occurred to me -- if Kazegan and its people were what was keeping us from enjoying the city and freedom, we might as well wait until they'd gone to bed. And so we did.

Once night had fallen, the three of us carefully sneaked out of the orphanage. The night was cold and breezy and the entire city was in absolute silence. Maybe in any other situation, I would've found the emptiness unsettling. But this was the very first time I'd felt free ever since we arrived at Kazegan.

The three of us were coated up, wearing scarves and long garments to keep ourselves warm. Steffan rubbed his hands excitedly, breathing out to see the steam of his breath,

"This is nice." Said Simon before taking two steps forward and turning to us, "Well, where would you like to explore first?"

"We should check out how empty The District looks. Do you think the meons leave their shops up and open at night?" Said Steffan as we all began walking.

"I doubt it. Not with all these creepy, meddling Dominus kids around." I said sarcastically.

"Did you know there's a town where it's empty during the day and at night it becomes populated by ghosts? People tried living in it because it's such a nice small community place, but the ghosts were so loud and obnoxious at night that they all had to move out." Shared Simon, who seemed to be in a better mood than he had been earlier.

"Why are there only ghosts? Kind of makes you wonder if the entire town died at once or if ghosts just began appearing and being all, 'Hey, check out this town' and it just slowly populated." Said Steffan,

"More importantly, why do ghosts even need a town? What do they even do?" I added, walking between both of them. You could only see empty streets, empty  shops and dark, quiet houses. Only the street lights were on at this hour.

"I believe that they live like if they were alive," said Simon, "I'm not sure. I would definitely like to visit one day and ask them myself."

"Ahh, it's so nice to be able to walk around and just talk. I wonder what Morus and Gargan would've done if they'd heard us talk about a ghost town. Probably theorized with their incredible IQ that we were planning on bombing the city and making Kazegan a ghost town." Said Steffan with a grimace,

"Oh well, nothing can be done anyway." Said Simon as he opened the gate to the District. Indeed all the shops were empty, just the signs were up. We all looked around for a moment. It was mildly disappointing how uneventful it was. Maybe somewhere deep inside, the three of us were hoping a ghost would pop up here or there.

"There's a park somewhere around here," I said, finding nowhere comfortable to sit. The only places that actually had tables and chairs at The District were the food shops and those were shut down, all the chairs put away God knows where. So we all headed there, watching the golems walk around guarding the city. Some of them would look at us for a while, confused and slightly paranoid, before seeing we were doing nothing but walk around, then they'd go back to guarding. I sometimes wondered if they even understood the concept of Dominus and Zennan, or even what species were.

When we arrived at the park, all we could hear were crickets and owls. The night noises were a comfort in comparison to the chit chat of the orphanage or the constant blabber on the streets.

We took our places on a swingset, Steffan swinging on his while me and Simon stayed still.

"I saw Daran and his friends some days ago," Spurted Simon, "They were at the birthday party, but they didn't even know what it was." He didn't say anything else and just stared at me for a moment.

"What are you getting to?"

"I mean, they're idiots, Bastion. They don't know anything. They just wander around aimlessly, without a care in the world. I've yet to hear them have an intellectual conversation, and you know what? That's endlessly annoying to me. That chest should just belong to you. We're the only ones who seemed to have done research on it or even tried to find the keys, while him and his buddies just sit on their asses all day doing nothing but taking up space."

"Isn't that good anyway?" Said Steffan, who had stopped swinging now, "I mean, we're gonna be the ones to end up taking the chest. If we find the keys, they really have no reason to be owners of anything in that chest. Right?"

"I could claim that Daran's done nothing but wait for me to find the answer and that since I did all the work he doesn't get whatever's inside. Maybe I'll be kind enough to let him have the keys and chest once I've taken all the rest." I said before pulling my body back a bit with my feet, releasing it so the swing would keep a steady back and forth rhythm.

"We don't even know what's inside of that chest." Said Simon irritably again. This wasn't the first time that he'd gotten worked up over the chest, and it happened often. He was impatient to find out what was in it, why it was in my possession and why it was even locked so tightly. "It's stupid to think Nikolaus is stuck in there. And even if he is, where's Duke then? Did he just die? The entire story sounds like utter crap to me." A sudden exasperated sigh escaped him, "I'm going to lose my mind if I don't get out of this orphanage soon. This city. This cage."

"I think we all will." I added before stopping myself from swinging anymore. Simon suddenly narrowed his eyes at me angrily,

"Why is it that that chest isn't even mine and I'm worried but you're just... Sitting there?"

I chuckled and shrugged, "I'm not worried because like you said, Daran's a moron. The only difference between him and an animal is that he happens to know how to speak. He's not a threat, so why would I spend so much time worrying?"

"Why?" Said Simon, "Why? How would you feel if a year from now it turns out the kid finds a way to open that chest and takes everything and somehow ends up winning? People would see you as an idiot. YOU'D be the moron. Sometimes I wish that he would actually find something and get that chest before you do, so you'd finally listen to me for once."

I was getting slightly annoyed now, but before I could open my mouth to argue back, Steffan pushed my swing and made me slam into Simon's, nearly pushing me off and sending Simon right onto the wet grass.

"Are you two stupid? All you do is bicker and argue lately. We're finally outside of our dormitories, breathing in the fresh air and not having to worry about classes or annoying homework that can bite you and you decide to spend it whining about some stupid chest? Give me a break." He pulled back from the swing, "If you wanna sit there and get mad about it, go ahead. I'll be enjoying the city."

Simon was nearly twitching by how much he was holding back from jumping at Steffan. He got up, cleaning off from the grass before walking off,

"Whatever. I'm heading back."

I stood there for a moment before following Steffan, letting Simon storm out and cool off.

"He won't believe me that the chest will happen when it's supposed to happen," Murmured Steffan, shaking his head, "There's a reason my jewel's obsidian. I know things, I can feel them. But my jewel's only important for whenever he wants to be an a*s and call me three eyes."

I chuckled and crossed my arms to stay a bit more warm, feeling like my fingertips were freezing off. Summer was definitely over now and I could feel the chill of autumn settling in. "Simon's a handful lately. I sometimes think that this has nothing to do with the chest or you or me. Something's eating him up inside and he's just taking it out on us."

"I guess he just misses Dominus. I don't. I mean, at least not as much as he does. Sure, it sucks being looked at like the thief or the killer but this is a lot nicer. At least we get sunlight here, right?"

"Right." I said, enjoying the silent tapping of our boots on the street as we walked through Kazegan. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket to keep them warm as the night brought down the temperature.

I almost bumped into Steffan when he stopped abruptly. He was looking up at one of the bigger houses before he gave a big leap and impulsed himself with magic to catch onto the edge of the ceiling. His eyes darted back at me and he snickered like a kid who was about to stuff his face with sweets when his parents aren't around.

"What are you even doing?"

"If they want to see us like criminals, we might as well own up to the reputation, no?"

All I could see was his boots disappear when he climbed on completely. A few seconds went by and he poked his head out to look at me,

"Bas, are you coming or what?"

I sighed and looked around mildly paranoid about the golems before I began climbing too. I coated my hands with a sticking spell and taking my gloves off so I could go up the wall spider style.

When I climbed up on top, I saw that Steffan had opened up a hatch door and went inside of it. Beside me was a big sign that read "Granny's Red Granger". Eventually curiosity killed me and I went down inside, too, to find him cooking up something.

I had been to this restaurant before and it felt like you were visiting a grandma from kids stories. It gave me the chills how nice most meons were, like if they were all fake or on something. Granny, or whatever, was the freakiest one. But now when it was night time and everything was covered and turned up it was just downright creepy and empty. It somewhat felt like what you'd see if you were in the zombie apocalypse and breaking into a place to gather supplies.

"Hot cocoa anyone?" I heard him say, bringing up two big mugs with steamy chocolate. He jerked his head upwards telling me to climb out again so I did.

Once I was outside I received the two cocoas from him and saw him go inside into the restaurant again before hearing plates clanking. I was getting even more restless now that he was making noise.

"Steffan, how about we drink it inside instead--"

Suddenly his face popped out and he was holding a plate of cookies, "Take them so I can get out" he whispered.

Steffan scrambled up to the roof with me, dropping on his a*s before rubbing his hands together excited, “I caught that old meon red handed. She sometimes just heats up these cookies. There’s a whole lot more inside, hidden away in a cabinet.”

There we were, two Dominus kids eating cookies and hot cocoa on top of a restaurant owned by some granny meon. It was probably one of the lamest and most embarrassing crimes ever committed by any Dominus kid. It didn’t help that Steffan had left an anonymous tip because “It’s just a poor old and ugly meon lady, dude. Why you gotta be so mean?”

"Let's never tell Simon about our pathetic attempt to be bad guys" I said, mouth half full of cookies while I kept my hands warm against the mug,

"You gotta start from somewhere." Was his big, witty reply.

Me and Steffan spent the next two hours walking around the city, enjoying the cold night with our full stomachs, exploring everything we hadn't been able to explore. We had been here for some time now and it wasn't until this very night that we'd felt like we finally knew the city, like we were a step closer to not being lost between idiots and monkeys.

When we got back to the orphanage it was almost 5:30AM. I found Simon fast asleep on his bed with Dr Book, his companion, spread open under his cheek. Around him were a few enchanted instruments playing a quiet tune. I silenced them  before changing out of my coat and scarf, sliding inside of my covers and falling asleep almost immediately. I was exhausted but in the nice sort of way. And for the first time ever since we had gotten to this place I was able to sleep without a care in the world.

For the rest of the vacations, we made it a thing to sneak out at night and enjoy the city. Nothing ever changed, it was always dead quiet, nearly north pole kind of cold and empty. But the more we did it, the less angry Simon was and the easier it was to deal with people the next day.

It was specially interesting when we convinced Simon to break and enter into Granny's restaurant again and found that she had left us cookies and hot cocoa done. This time she left a letter for us,

"Please put the dishes in the sink before you leave and maybe consider visiting during the day some time. - Love, Granny" Read Steffan aloud and the two of us stared at each other dumbfounded. Looked like Granny Meon had taken warmth to our petty attempt at robbery after all.

"We really need to find a way to do this during school days," Said Steffan, dropping onto the grass of one of the hills on the park while patting his full stomach, "I feel almost nostalgic right now imagining I won't be able to do this until who knows when."

"We could always skip breakfast." I suggested and both me and Steffan looked at Simon, whose eyes were on the stars.

"Sure. I think this is healthy for my mood." He muttered and both me and Steffan agreed with him more than ever.

Chapter Fifteen: War Of Antares

Professor Morus had told us not to practice with our weapons until our classes were in session and it wasn’t too hard for me to do as he said because I was such a lazy a*s. For Khadar, though, it was a challenge. Mostly because he seemed to be incapable of thinking about anything but practicing, specially ever since Professor Okon had made our companions go away. We had almost gotten the hang of how it all worked in our last class, though every time we tried to use it together and put some teamwork into it, it became messy and clumsy and just wrong. I had nearly lost a toe to Khadar’s heavy axes, and since then we had taken it a lot easier.

The week of vacation had done us good though. We spent most of our evenings at the Red Granger even if we didn't eat anything, we just sat there talking about the stances and the chest. Then Khadar would usually disappear for a while to play with his three friends and Kae would go with Azara. I'd take the moment to catch up on some reading.

On our last day of vacation, we decided to go have a big meal at The Red Granger. I ordered a big plate of spaghetti like I did the first time we were there, Kae decided to follow my lead but Khadar went with his usual hamburger.

"You have an unhealthy obsession with that game,” Said Kae after Khadar had been rambling about new characters he wanted to suggest to Makari. He even had been using the last pages of a notebook to make sketches and add in ideas for their abilities. All I could see were a bunch of scratched out options, and the abilities always followed the same pattern: Q, W, E and R.

“It’s not an unhealthy obsession. I just think Makari might need someone to help him with it and, well,” He smirked a bit, “If I give him enough help I might just become the co-creator of the game.” He wiggled his eyebrows shamelessly, “That way I wouldn’t have to rake the leaves outside the orphanage to barely scrape up enough money to buy the cards.”

“Or maybe you should invest in healthy hobbies.” Mumbled Kae like a naggy mom.

Khadar rolled his eyes,”Yeah, ‘cause designing ugly dresses no one is gonna wear is gonna get you anywhere.”

"Okay.” I immediately interrupted when I saw Kae’s face flare up in rage, “Let’s not. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the mysterious username. Who was it?" I asked Khadar, taking a sip of the juice trying to not drink it all before my meal arrived.

"What mysterious username?" Asked Kae, her eyes on Khadar,

"Thanks a lot, Daran," He murmured, "I got a gift with a username on a paper some days ago. I didn't tell you cause I know how stupid you get--"

"Is it the girl from the party?" Asked Kae eagerly,

"Have you even talked to this person?" I added,

"Well... I mean, we've been playing for most of these two weeks. We've also had really nice long conversations about a ton of subjects but they refuse to let me know who they are." He said, looking rather uncomfortable about the subject.

"What kind of things do you talk about?" Asked Kae,

"Mostly game related and sometimes subjects about life. You know, the whole 'what's the meaning of life' and stuff. Though we did also talk about vampires once." He shrugged, occupying himself with the salt and pepper.

“The meaning of life?” Asked Kae, snorting a bit, “Since when are you so deep and intelligent, Plato? And how come you hadn’t told me about this mysterious person?” Kae naggingly crossed her arms at him, "I tell you everything!"

"I didn't want you to make it sound stupid. Besides, I can already tell you think this is some cheesy love story. It's not. It's just me and some person from the orphanage that share an interest."

"Well I think it's that girl you were with at the party and if I'm right, she's probably into you!"

Khadar seemed even more uncomfortable now, shifting position in his chair a bit more often and throwing glances at me. I wasn't sure if he kept looking at me because he officially wanted to murder me or because he was asking for me to save him from his nosey sister.

"We won't mock you unless you keep hiding things from us. Then we might just think you've got a crush," I said, Kae giggled childishly beside me.

"I'll let you know when this becomes 'interesting'" Said Khadar, making sure we understood the subject was over.

Our meals finally arrived and we dug in while reminiscing over the nice vacation. It wasn't even officially over and I was already hoping we'd get another one.

Once we were done, Khadar headed out to give Makari his design and ideas and me and Kae headed back to the orphanage. Since we would have an exam in each class soon, she went off to the library. I decided to go back to my bedroom instead.

It felt empty without Kraken and Golem in it though, they'd usually be playing around when we'd enter and out of everything I hadn't ever thought I'd grow attached to that tentacly monster. I dropped onto the bed lazily and kicked off my shoes before I opened up the book I had taken from the library. It was the latest edition on a very popular series in Drannor about two brothers and their quest to protect the human world from monsters. It was funny to know that to humans, all of us were monsters and weirdos and freaks.

I didn't get to get far into the book before my drowsy eyes won the battle and I fell asleep with it on my stomach. But not even an hour later something woke me up, something strange... It was my own voice calling for Khadar but it wasn't me. It was outside. I got up and looked out the window, doing my best to focus my eyes through the sunny day and I spotted Khadar walking around looking for me.

"Daran? Where are you?"

I was going to tell him it wasn't me but I decided to rush downstairs instead and hide near him, following my own voice.

It was a while before me and Khadar located where the voice was coming from. It was outside, at the farthest place in the garden. I followed right behind, being as quiet as possible and close enough so that I could hear and jump behind to save him if anything.

"Uh, hey. Have you seen my friend? He's about an inch taller than me, brown eyes, dirty blon--"

"Yeah, I saw him." Said a familiar voice but I couldn't pinpoint who it belonged to, "Is this it?"

"Khadar!!!!" I heard my voice clearly just a few steps away, so I moved to the opposite side of the tree from where Khadar was standing and peeked out a bit. Raia, the girl from The Vaults, was standing right in front of him with a little bug in her hand. Every time it would flail its wings, it would imitate my voice perfectly.

I tried to look at Khadar's expression, but I could only see he had gotten a bit more stiff since from where I stood all I saw was the back of his head.

"Is this some prank?" Said Khadar and I could tell he was between irritated and paranoid, "I'm not even sure who you are."

That's when I saw Raia's expression change from playful to stern. Her freckled face was usually always smiley but when Khadar'd said he didn't even know her, I noticed a hint of hurt.

"I just thought it was about time we met." She said, in a slightly colder tone now, "I'm Galactic Traveler."

I knew, since I was a kid, that I wasn't the most adept at being social. I sometimes didn't understand hints and I had been called out on sounding like a jerk a lot because I missed important social cues or broke the ‘social rules’. I was pretty sure Khadar's long, long silence had broken one or two of them.

"Wait, what? I mean -- I get it. But..." Khadar's head tilted a bit looking around before he shook his head, "Look, if this is a joke, it's been fun and all but it's getting really old and stupid now. So what is it?"

"I was planning on talking to you a little more through War of Antares."

"Wait, huh?"

"It's the game. I got the letter today from Makari, he chose a name. One of the ones I offered. Anyway, I just overheard when you were getting annoyed by my anonymity so I thought maybe I should tell you." There was a pause and she waited for Khadar to talk, “I was having a lot of fun with it. It was nice to get to know you without having to go through the prejudice and awkwardness.”

"So basically you're my stalker?" Said Khadar and just like Raia, I couldn't quite tell if he was joking or being a jerk.

"Look, Khadar. You're obviously kind of slow," She chuckled before letting the bug go out towards the forest, "So I'm just gonna go ahead and say this as straight out as I can: I really like you but I was too shy to approach. But now I feel a little better, I know you more and you know me."

I suppose that she thought if she said that quick enough she wouldn't have time to deal with the embarrassment because her face turned almost as red as her hair seconds after saying so.

"I mean, I'm not asking you to be my boyfriend or anything -- we can be friends. I just wanted to be able to hangout with you and Spaz, Sky and Felix."

Now I felt like I might be intruding and considered leaving. But then I remembered Khadar sucks at talking about these things with me and Kae and I decided, what the hell, I'll stick around. We're best friends anyway.

"It depends." Said Khadar,

"On what?"

"On why you chose War of Antares as a name."

"Because Antares is literally anti-Ares in greek. I thought it would be cool if instead of going for a typical "War of Ares" or anything cliche like that we could see his enemy's side of the story. Besides, it's in the constellation of Scorpius and just about my favorite star. Not to mention the 15th brightest constellation--" Raia shut herself up, probably noticing she was rambling and geeking out.

"Well, since it's not a really lame reason, I GUESS we can be friends..."  Said Khadar jokingly. Raia smirked, looking a little more at home before she spread her arm out and offered her hand at Khadar. He awkwardly shook it and I felt like it was just about enough embarrassing nerd flirting for a day.

I decided to give them some space though I could hear as they began to nerd out about War of Antares as I left. Out of all the people in the orphanage, I hadn't expected Raia to be the person to send things to him. She didn't exactly look like a gamer type AND she was from Dominus. I understood what she meant about the prejudice. In fact, even now I couldn’t help but to be a little suspicious about a Dominus girl wanting to hang out with one of us.

I left to look for Kae and told her all about the creepy moment when I heard my own voice and how I followed Khadar closely to make sure he'd be okay and how the little red girl had been his fan-stalker all along.

"Whaaaaaaaaaat? Khadar has a girlfriend?!" Said Kae, slumping into her chair, "Ugh, I thought that between him and I, I'd be the first one to settle. What if she's really annoying?"

"I don't think so, she was pretty nice when we were at The Vaults. She had gotten a jewel from her parents. I think she really likes Khadar. Come to think of it, I didn't see the ring on her finger. I wonder if she sold it to get the game that Khadar was playing."

Kae sat up a bit, "I'm glad. I hadn't ever seen him so surrounded by friends. His three gaming buddies and Raia." She shrugged a bit, "I mean, I'm his sister so I can't be replaced... But if I were his best friend..." She coughed loudly before bursting out laughing, "I'm kidding, he adores you"

"Okay, don't make me be the awkward one now," I said, chuckling a bit.

We went to eat dinner after a while and then headed to the common room to hang out. Orin was playing a movie and had a few pillows and covers on the ground, the furniture had been all moved aside. Everyone was sitting down to watch it while the hands were floating in from the kitchen holding bowls of popcorn and some soda. Kae and I sat down too when Orin gestured at us to sit beside him. Once it was finished it was almost 11PM. All of us headed out to our dormitories, most of us yawning. I was glad the movie had ended, though, because I wasn't big on romance movies.

"That was interesting," Said Kae walking beside me, "I like watching movies from Drannor. Those humans sure have a lot of ideas to offer."

"And they're obsessed with very specific things," I said, "Like dogs."

"I know right? What's with the hate on the cats?"

I bumped my elbow onto her arm lightly, "Are you sure that's not just your meon obsession talking?"

She smirked up at me and shrugged, "Can you blame me though?"

I chuckled and stopped at the stairs when I felt Dusk come out and turn her lantern on to guide me to the room. She had obviously gotten attached to Kae cause she hugged her tightly in a hello and goodbye. Kae then hugged me tightly, too, and bounced off me and onto her stairs, running up them before looking back at me and waving. I waved back before getting tugged to the room by my ghostly friend.

Chapter Sixteen: One, Two, Three, Nightmare's Coming For Me

Khadar wasn't there and neither was his orb, so I went off to bed not having the attention span to read after watching a two hour movie about two people that fell in love and could've been together a thousand times faster if they had known how to word themselves properly. Thankfully though, I fell asleep quickly enough.

The next day we headed to our usual classes. Professor Okon continued to avoid talking about Eldar and had also stopped mentioning the chest almost completely. We only talked about myths now. He'd make us draw and write about them and sometimes even create our own to inspire whatever writers we had in the orphanage. Professor Gargan was talking about the Meon War and Dominus for most of his classes, sometimes talking about Provectus and this had caused Khadar to be even more determined to get him into War of Antares. Meanwhile, Professor Morus began teaching us all special techniques with the weapon we had. I had learn upper cut and how to parry. Khadar had learned the “Axe Windmill” as he liked calling it.

These classes continued on for the week and, after them, Khadar would usually disappear for a few hours to spend time with his buddies in War of Antares. Kae also took on gardening with Lyric, so I had most of the afternoon to myself. I didn’t really mind though, I'd spend it sleeping or reading. There wasn't much to do and I sometimes wish I also had an interactive hobby too but it wasn't too bad whenever I had a good book to read. That was until I began having those nightmares again, about two days later.

This time I was in front of a huge portal and it was beginning to suck everything in and I could hear someone's voice. It was yelling at me. "You're gonna kill us all" ... "You're going to kill us all!" ... "YOU'RE KILLING US!" and I woke up, sitting up, soaked in sweat again. It was so realistic that I could've sworn it might've been a memory. Dusk was out and she was staring at me, hovering nearby with her lantern on. I had somehow slept throughout the afternoon and evening, I wasn't even sure what time it was. I looked over and Khadar wasn't in bed but his sheets were messy like he’d been sleeping. I assumed he might just be in the bathroom, so I decided to try and sleep again. Usually it wasn't easy but Dusk keeping her lantern on had helped me calm down, specially because I could concentrate on the sound of her quiet hovering beside my bed.

"Why are you two going to bed so late?" Said Kae the next day at breakfast, "Your eyes are super baggy!"

"I was busy," Said Khadar, "And I've just been having weird nights over all."

"Me too," I said. I felt like lying down and dying for a while from how tired I was and I could tell I wasn't the only one.

The rest of the day, me and Khadar spent it trying to stay awake in class. Morus had nagged both of us for being slow and not paying attention, he punished us by making us do a few jumping jacks to wake us up.

I had assumed that Khadar would go to our dormitory and take a nap too from how exhausted he had looked today, but he didn't appear. He was nowhere to be seen all evening. I decided not to sleep either and read a bit until it was 8PM so that I would be too tired to be waking up at night.

However, I was wrong. Sleep ended up winning the fight and I passed out somewhere between pages 130-157 because I couldn’t remember what the hell had happened in them. That night I didn't have nightmares but I still woke up over and over. I felt there was something in the room, it was taking up my air. But the sight of Dusk being beside my bed calmed me down each time, even if I felt like a kid whenever I'd be lulled to sleep by her but it was the only thing keeping me sane and giving me some rest at night through the nightmares and constant waking up.

After a while of waking up, the room became brighter as the sun was rising. One of the times I woke up was because Khadar was coming into the room and stumbling like a drunk, making all sorts of noise. I growled and grumbled bitchily at him hoping he’d get the hint to shut the hell up. War of Antares was probably tucked away in his pocket because he didn't have it in his arms but his hair was messy and he had a long, distressed face. I supposed it was from the lack of proper sleep. I envied that he was tired just because he was too busy having fun and not because he'd be woken up every single night by something in his imagination. But that just made it ten times more annoying when he’d wake me up with all the racket.

The next morning I decided to skip class. I was too tired to put up with Professor Okon's cheery personality or Professor Morus' annoying punishments. I guess I couldn't blame him, I'd think I was tired because 'ugh, another teenager staying up too late'.

Dusk didn't disappear, even during the day. I wondered if she even ever slept. She stayed there beside me as I read as many books as I could and got up to take a walk around the orphanage every now and then to make sure I'd stay awake. I had been spending so much more time with Dusk than with my friends that I had began talking to her as I would with them. I would tell her about my nightmares sometimes when I would have a little more trouble falling asleep. I'd also try to tell her about positive things like good things about the books I was reading but the more tired I felt the harder it was for me to think of 'positive' things to tell her about.

I wasn't sure where Kae and Khadar were that afternoon but neither of them appeared for lunch, so I sneaked it out of the dining room and fled upstairs to my room. Dusk didn't seem to happy about it because I kept hearing eerie ghost sounds, but she calmed down as I closed the door of my bedroom so no one could see me.

The bed creaked as I settled down into a warm spot on the mattress and left enough space so that Dusk could sit down beside me. She just sat there, blankly staring around the room so I decided to start reading out loud for once so that she wouldn't be bored accompanying me. She seemed a lot happier when I did even though I wasn't even sure if she could understand what I was saying.

As night fell, I got too tired to read. My eyes were getting heavy and the letters were getting blurry. Dusk took the book away from me and placed it on the night table instead before hovering on my lap. I took this as her commanding me to sleep. I figured at this point she knew best.

I sighed loudly at her before I dropped onto my side and closed my eyes, sinking my face into the pillow. I felt a sudden refreshing feeling over my body as if it was thanking me that I was finally going to shut it down for a while. Ironically though, my brain was too active and too awake to let me fall asleep. I turned and tossed for a while, opening my eyes every now and then to make sure Dusk's light was still lighting up the room a bit. Eventually I began to fall asleep until I heard something clearly, so clearly that I could've sworn it was inside of my brain -- It said: "Don't let the past catch up to you, boy."

I sat up quickly and looked around to see if anyone was in the room with me. It was just me and Dusk. Not even Khadar was there with me. But I could still hear it echo in my head, as if someone had just said it. And the weirder thing was that I could recognize that voice. I was almost sure it was Makari's.

After a moment, I tried to sleep again though I kept over thinking it even if I didn't want to. My past? What did that mean? What was going to catch up to me? Was it a dream or was it a warning? I just really wanted to sleep. That's all I wanted to do. I didn’t have the brain to care about anything anymore.

Unfortunately, I wasn't going to get what I wanted. The nightmares began again, this time there was a man in front of me, his hair was white and his eyes light blue. I had never seen him in my life but he looked very familiar to me, strangely familiar. His entire body was painted as a skeleton, dark coloring around his eyes, and you could see the bones in his hands, too.

He was standing in front of me for what felt was an eternity, a big, twisted grin on his face.

Fire began surrounding both of us in a circle but I couldn't feel the warmth of it. Soon they both turned two different colors, red and blue, connecting at our sides as a single one. The long, dark cape he was wearing was moving with the flickering of the flames.

"What do you want?" I said finally but he didn't answer. Instead, the grin faded and he began glaring at me.

"Why aren't you doing anything?"

"What do you mean?"

He took a step closer and I took a step back,

"Why aren't you stopping it?"

"Stopping what?!"

"WHY ARE YOU SO USELESS?!"

The fire burned higher now, wrapping around his arms. His deranged eyes were locked on mine and I couldn't move -- he was going to burn me and all I could do was hope it was a dream.

I didn't wake up on my own this time, Dusk was shaking my arm rather harshly and just in time to stop the man. But I could still hear the echo of the his angry voice and my heart felt like it was going to explode. She took a big glass of water that was on the nightstand and handed it to me before floating around my bed with her lantern, illuminating the room for me. That's when Khadar opened the door suddenly, in a burst, and both me and Dusk gave a slight jump by the startling entrance. He was mildly sweating and his breathing was a bit agitated.

"Khadar? I thought you were sleeping," I managed to say, my heart was pounding harshly against my throat making it hard for me to breathe, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said, entering calmer before shutting the door behind himself, "I was just a little hurried to come to bed, it's almost 4AM and I don't want Professor Morus to hate me tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Now shh let's go to bed, I'm tired."

I looked at Dusk and she stood between both of our beds, holding the lantern up lighting most of the room. Khadar wrapped himself in his blankets and curled up comfortably before turning his back to us, so I did too. I took a long time to fall asleep this time because I couldn’t shake off the look on the guy's face. It kept flashing in my mind causing my skin to raise in goosebumps. I knew who he was, somewhere deep inside. I just wasn't sure I wanted to remember.

By the time I'd gone down to breakfast the next morning, Kae was already downstairs eating.

"Daran! Where have you been?" She asked, putting down a fork that had a big piece of pancake on it.

"I didn't feel okay yesterday. I was a little sick so I decided to stay in bed." I looked back used to Dusk's presence but she wasn't around. Kae raised her eyebrow when she noticed my mind wasn't exactly there at the moment.

"Are you sure you're alright? You and Khadar are acting really weird lately. Especially with the baggy eyes and the random paranoid scanning of rooms. I'm your friend too, you know." Said Kae, getting up.

I sat down beside her, pulling her to sit down beside me again by her wrist and nodded, "Yeah, I know you're my friend too. It's just that this whole nightmare stuff isn't really new."

"Nightmare stuff?" She repeated, sitting in a way in which she was facing me directly, "What do you mean? What kind of nightmares?"

"All kinds of nightmares. It's nothing to worry about though, I don't think they really make sense. It just gets creepy sometimes, you know?"

She nodded quietly and didn't ask anymore. I reckoned she understood I didn't want to talk about them at the moment so she immediately turned herself back towards her food, "So, do you know where my brother is?"

"I don't know, I thought he'd be downstairs by the time I got here. Maybe he's going to be a little late, he got to our room at 4AM last night."

"What? Why is he staying up so late?" She said, mumbling quietly, "Oh sure when it comes to Orb World he has all the time in the world,"

"War of Antares." I said,

"Whatever, it's still a stupid game!"

He never showed up for breakfast. He also didn't come to any of the classes, and as soon as we were on our lunch break, I went upstairs to look for him. Khadar wasn't in our dormitory and he wasn't in the nurse's office and he wasn't where him and his friends would hang out at. I got a little anxious now, so I went to Kae.

"Maybe we should tell the teachers?" She said nervously, "I'm going to tell Marrak."

Marrak had made all the golems start looking for him, even asked the ones in the city. Me, Kae, Saraphe, Lyric and Orin were all looking for him throughout the orphanage. We looked in the library, the common room, the bathrooms, the dining room, the music room -- and then Orin came down running towards me and Kae.

"I found him, he's in the girl's dormitory," He said, sounding both relieved and a little disturbed, "Apparently he's been asleep all morning there."

Kae rushed upstairs with me and Orin tailing her. There he was. The room had been sealed off in the windows so it was dark and there were a few crickets inside making it feel like it was night time.

"Bugs..." I said, "Orin is this Raia's dormitory?"

"The girl who likes him?" Said Kae raising her eyebrow,

"Yes." Said Orin, "Why?"

"Because she's a friend of his--"

"Are you saying they're..." Said Orin before clearing his throat, "They're doing something... Bad?"

"No, no -- I just -- I don't know. Maybe? I need to talk to Raia. Could you maybe not tell Saraphe where you found him yet? I just think something's fishy."

"I'm not sure..." Said Orin before thinking about it for a while. After a moment, he gave out a big sigh and nodded, "Fine, but make it quick!" he headed downstairs to call off the search and look for her.

"Ugh," Said Kae, stepping back towards the door, "I'm not sure what's giving me the creeps more, the crickets or my brother being on her bed."

"I don't think that he's here because it's her though, Kae. I think something's going on and he's been going to her for help." I muttered, trying not to wake him up. "I should've known something was wrong last night when he came in so different."

"Why the hell her though? I'm his sister!"

"It's not that" Said Raia behind us, "It's not because he trusts me more or anything, Kae. He just didn't want to scare either of you yet."

"Scare?" Said Kae, whose voice had gone so low and irritated that I could've confused her with Azara,

"Something's been... Happening. Khadar's been waking up in strange places for some nights now." Said Raia, "I put an enchantment on him, the crickets will keep him sound asleep. I was hoping that maybe if I made him fall asleep during the day, he'd start sleepwalking again and I could follow him. But so far nothing's happened."

"What kind of strange places?" I asked,

"Khadar said the first night he woke up right in front of the stairs, at the bottom. The second night he was just standing outside of the orphanage in the middle of the night. That's when he came to me, he said he was scared of what would happen next, of where he'd appear."

"Why didn't you come to us for help?" Snapped Kae, stepping up at Raia, "You don't even know him!"

"I know, I'm sorry." She murmured, "But he very specifically asked me not to. He said that Daran looked troubled and that he didn't want to tell you in case Daran would notice. We're --- he's not even sure it's anything dangerous."

"Well thank you for your help, Raia. But I think we'll take it from here." Said Kae bitterly. I felt like just taking Khadar and sneaking away from both of them.

Raia stepped in Kae's way before she could walk though, "I don't think so. No. I'm sorry, Kae, but I'm better equipped to handle this. This is something that I might be able to--"

"For all we know, it's something YOU did to him! You're from Dominus, aren't you?"

Raia's face hardened and she glared at Kae for a moment.

"What's with all the racket?"

I turned around and Steffan was right at the doorway, looking at us.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but to hear something about Dominus?" He said, looking at Kae.

"Nothing, we were just talking. It's about our friend." I said.

"Yeah, go away." Snapped Kae,

"I don't think so, girly. You're both ganging up on someone from my hometown." Steffan stepped in, "How would you feel if I called Simon and Bastion over and yelled in your face like an a*s?" He said in a hollow voice,

"Look, we're not looking for any trouble, Steffan. Kae's just a little scared for her brother, that's all." I said, making sure to stay alert in case he went psycho.

"It's okay," Said Raia, "He's telling the truth."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he stared at Raia and then Kae for a while before scanning the room, "I'm going to be nearby," He said, backing off from us, "Just saying."

The second Steffan left the room, I heard Kae snap again,

"See? You're a bunch of psychos." But she kept her voice down this time before walking over to Khadar, shooing the crickets and waking him up. Rather aggressively, too.

"Wake up. I said wake up. WAKE UP, KHADAR!" She shook him roughly until he snapped his eyes open and I could see Raia tense up in annoyance,

"Are you kidding me? I told you he was under a spell. Give him some time to get back--"

"Shut up." Said Kae, pulling her brother off the bed, "Are you going to help or what?" She snapped at me now. I helped her with Khadar, nodding at Raia hoping she'd understand. She acknowledged it but didn't reply anything back, just stood there in her room, crossing her arms.

Kae dropped Khadar on his bed, glaring down at him.

"So it just takes a girl to like you for you to spill all your secrets to her, huh?" She said.

"Kae, please" Said Khadar, rubbing his head sleepily, "Not right now I just woke up--"

"And you know what I just did? I RAN AROUND THE ORPHANAGE SCARED TO DEATH! I thought something had happened to you! But no, no, no. You were sleeping safely in Raia's dormitory." Kae's face was red with rage. Khadar gave me a subtle look and I nodded, walking out.

"I'll leave you two alone for now."

Out through the door I could hear Kae yelling at Khadar about how worried she was and how insulting it was that she had to find out about his sleepwalking through someone he barely knew. She yelled about how little they talked now and how she felt she couldn't trust him anymore. Khadar kept telling her to calm down, that it was okay. He tried to explain his reasoning behind it but Kae wouldn't let him finish and after a moment I heard him snap and tell her to get out. I hadn't ever felt as awkward as I did at that moment, especially when Kae opened the door and ran out of our bedroom. I looked inside the room and Khadar was rubbing his face,

"What an idiot, what an idiot... I'm just so tired, man..." He said, looking towards me, "I just want to sleep."

Kae disappeared for the rest of the day, she wasn't around in the orphanage and at night, when Khadar went to her dormitory, Azara told us to leave in a way that most adults would gasp at. To say the least, it was indecent.

"I'm sure she'll be okay tomorrow," I said as I closed our dormitory room, "Don't worry about it, siblings fight. Besides, if you let it get to you, you're not going to be able to sleep at all and you'll be in an even worse mood tomorrow."

Khadar sat down on his bed and sighed loudly, "I feel really bad. But I still think she's overreacting. I have the right to have privacy, right? Besides, Raia’s become a good friend of mine. She said she knew how to help.”

"Right." I said, pushing him down so he'd drop on his bed, "Just sleep, okay? I'll try to keep an eye out for you. Everything's gonna be fine. You're so tired you're probably just going to pass out."

"Alright..." Murmured Khadar, dropping on his bed. It took him almost an hour to fall asleep, I could tell because he kept twisting and turning until he finally snored lightly. I tried to stay awake for a while to watch over him but eventually I fell asleep too.

I was in a dark room, so dark I couldn't tell where the walls were or where I even was. I took a careful step forward and then another and another until it felt like I had walked through a football field and there wasn't a single wall.

"Hello?" I said, hearing nothing back. "HELLO?"

"Hello." Replied a familiar voice.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Find me." It whispered.

"How? I can't see."

"Find me." It repeated eagerly.

I looked around for a while before I noticed a small light glowing far from where I was. I began running towards it and the closer I got the brighter it became until I was able to make out the outline -- it was a chest. It was my chest.

"Hello." It suddenly said,

"Hello?" I said back, kneeling down in front of it, "What's going on?"

"Find me." It whispered before I heard the three locks click and watched it open.

I leaned in and suddenly a thin and black hand came out and gripped onto my arm, pulling me towards the inside of the chest. I pulled back, putting my feet on it to keep myself away,

"Let me go!" I shouted, feeling like my shoulder was doing its best to keep my arm attached to me, "LET ME GO!"

The hand clawed through my shirt and began shaking me roughly, making my head ache with the aggressive shoving and pulling.

"YOU'RE KILLING US, YOU'RE KILLING US, YOU'RE KILLING US, YOU'RE KILLING US... YOU'RE KILLING THEM!"

It finally let me go and I dropped on my a*s, pulling myself as quickly as I could away from the chest. I covered my ears and closed my eyes but I could still hear it screaming it over and over, the voice becoming more distorted as I realized that I was in another nightmare.

I yelled as I woke up and sat up, drenched in sweat again, the covers gripped in my hands. This time it took me a while to catch my breath and I desperately began tapping the necklace for Dusk when I realized I had fallen asleep guarding Khadar. As soon as I got myself together I looked to see if Khadar was still there but the bed was empty. I quickly scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping when I heard it again, my voice calling for Khadar. I ran towards the window and looked outside and there he was, he was walking slowly towards the woods.

"KHADAR, NO!" I yelled, looking towards him. He stopped right in front of the Zenope forest and he didn't move a single step more. He just stood there.

I took this as my cue and I began running towards him before I bumped into someone.. I nearly fell back.

"What the--"

"Daran!" It was Raia and she gripped onto my arms tightly and I felt an intense sting causing me to flinch and pull my arm back. Raia had grabbed me where the hand from the chest had taken a grip and I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, "Khadar! He--"

"I know, I know, he's downstairs, come on." I pulled her with myself, going down the stairs as fast as my legs would let me.

"I tried to stop him but he won't wake up!"

I heard one of the doors open and Kae stepped out,

"What? What's happening?"

"Your brother-" Said Raia and I let her go. I left them behind explain because I didn't have time to waste. I could hear Raia lament over the bug. She felt it was her fault that Khadar was hearing my voice and walking towards the woods. I was also guilty because I had fallen asleep when I was supposed to protect him but I didn’t have much to think about it now as I raced downstairs trying not to slip.

My thoughts were interrupted when a door opened and a harsh pain slashed across my face. Simon was standing above me as I hit the ground, his fist was clenched,

"What did you do to him?" He asked me in a low voice, nearly a growl from how tight his teeth were clenched, "Where is he?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I said, gripping onto the cheek he had assaulted with his fist,

"Steffan! He told me about his moment with you and your friends today. What did you do to him?" He took a step forward and Bastion also came out of the room though he looked sleepy and irritated,

"Why are you all screaming, do you have no brains to tell what time it is?"

"He did something to Steffan." Said Simon, "I went to his room and he's not there."

"What?" Said Bastion looking down towards me,

"He didn't!" Said Raia quickly before pointing outside. All of us looked and saw Steffan and Khadar shoulder-to-shoulder right outside Zenope woods.

It took only a split second for the three of us, Simon, Bastion and me, to begin running outside to them. But right as we were approaching when the three of us were sent flying back on our asses. They were gone by the time we sat up.

"NO!" Said Simon loudly, getting up quickly, "Steffan!" He began calling for his friend outside of the woods. Me and Bastion just stood there looking. They were both gone and they weren't coming back.

Kae burst out of the orphanage, about to run behind Khadar when Raia grabbed onto her tightly. Everything felt like it was going too fast and too slow all at once. I needed time to think it through. I felt as if my body wanted to run inside behind Khadar but I knew, rationally, that it was a lost cause. Bastion didn't give me time to think though because he did start running and then, without my permission, so did my body.

I caught up to him and entered the woods too, looking around through the trees.

"STEFFAN!"

"KHADAR!"

"STEFFAN!"

"KHADAR!"

There was no reply. Nothing. In fact, I couldn't even see Bastion anymore from how thick the woods were getting, and when I looked back, I couldn't see the others either.

Chapter Seventeen: Kae: Despair

"LET ME GO!" I yelled, pushing Raia away, but she pounced on me again,

"No, Kae! If you go in there you'll just make it harder for all of us. What if your brother comes back?"

"He's not coming back, don't be an idiot." Said Simon, glaring towards the forest. "Moron. IDIOT." I wasn't sure if he was yelling at Raia, Steffan, Bastion or me anymore, and honestly, I didn't care.

"Look, look!" Said Raia, holding a small thin thread in her hand, it was glowing and changing color from silver to gold, "I wrapped this around your brother when he was sleeping in my bedroom. It's a technique I learned not long ago. What I did was tie it to his soul so I can keep track of where he is. Menders would use it during war to keep tabs on their main warriors." She gulped and looked towards the forest, "Maybe I could find him and come back?"

"No. If Steffan and Bastion won't be coming back, neither will Daran and Khadar." Said Simon with a grimace, turning to look at us.

"What will you do, hit us?!" I snapped, feeling like jumping at him and clawing at his face.

"What, you think I'm scared to do it?" He spat back bitterly though he didn't moved a single step.

I felt like our glares locked together for an hour when suddenly Raia jumped towards him. As an impulse, I jumped in too and clung onto Simon tightly, making him lose balance. Raia disappeared into the forest and Simon pushed me off,

"You IDIOT!" He yelled at me, glaring back at the forest, "What a moron, now she'll die there too."

But then I felt something weird, a tingling sensation inside of me. A small flickering caught my attention and that's when I realized -- Raia had done it to me too, she had a thread locked to my soul so she'd find her way back. I looked at Simon and decided not to irritate him more. The less he looked at me, the less likely he'd notice the thread. But he was just stiffly standing there, looking towards the forest. I had a feeling he was probably realizing what had happened to his friends and mourning them.

Suddenly my eyes began watering and I was having a harder time catching my breath the more time went on, as if someone was shoving my head underwater. I tried hard to not make any sound, I didn't want Simon to look at me, I didn't want him to realize I had the thread because it was the only tiny window of hope that I had to get my brother back. But my body was rebelling -- it was mourning before I was even ready to. I couldn't picture my life without Khadar, I felt lost and I felt alone, I felt misunderstood. I couldn't no matter how much I tried to match my body to my mind because it felt unreal, it couldn't be true. At any moment he would appear through the woods and everything would be okay because it didn't feel like this could happen to me, it just couldn't. These horrible stories and things only happened to other people, people I didn't know. But to my brother? To me? No.

I gripped tightly onto my chest trying to calm down, trying to stop the panic attack but it was too late -- I gave a loud gasp before I broke into tears and sobbing. I felt small and pathetic, I felt useless and defenseless and none of it was helping. Even though I felt like screaming I couldn't, it wouldn't come out. I couldn't even open my eyes anymore, or talk, or even move. All I could do was concentrate on trying to breathe and not letting go of the thread I was gripping onto because I was scared that if I did let go, it would untie from whatever tiny bit of my soul I would have left without Khadar. He was my family, my only family.

I'm not sure if Simon stayed quiet and didn't look back at me out of respect or out of lack of interest, but he never moved. He continued to gaze towards the forest all through my crisis, while I gasped and sobbed and cried. All I could do, all I did, was hope.

Chapter Eighteen: The Phantom Light

Not only were the woods getting thicker and darker, but the air was so musty I felt every breath heavily draw down my throat. Now that I was inside it slowly dawned on me that I may never see the light of the day again, I may never find my way back and that would just be the end of me. The end of the four of us. I wondered then how many people had felt this before me, how many people had gotten lost and starved to death or got killed or whatever it was these woods did to them to never let them go.

My heart was pounding hard and I felt lost just like I had in my nightmares except that this time it was real, this time I wasn't going to wake up and things weren't going to be okay. I considered going back, I considered destroying the trees around me and I felt worse the more I thought of it. Either way, I had been running into the forest for a while now, if there even was ever a chance to go back it was gone and there was nothing else for me to do than to look for Khadar and so I did.

"Khadar?" I said, clearing my throat hoping to stop my voice from trembling because it only made me feel weaker, "KHADAR!"

But there was no sign of him. What there was, though, were marks on the trees. Several all around the trunk as if people were counting their days down, maybe their hours or with this thick air, their breaths.

A weird shiver ran up my stomach and I felt sick, but I continued walking, forcing my eyes as much as I could to see in front of me, to see more inside of the woods. And I did. I saw skeletons, a lot of them, a lot of marks on the trees and a rotten, putrid smell invaded my nostrils making me gag. I wondered how long some of these skeletons were here and how many more had been decomposing.

I decided to start running while screaming for him but there was nothing, not even the echo of my voice, like if I was in a void that was filled with trees. I also couldn't understand how, no matter how much I seemed to run, I wouldn't get to the other side of the woods. How far was I in and how far more was there left? It was as if the woods sent me back to the beginning over and over. Maybe the forest was endless but my stamina wasn't. My chest and calves were burning from the running and yelling.

After a while I finally heard something back and I stopped and listened. It was a moaning and grunting sound. I began following it, stepping quietly trying to follow the sound as best as I could and it got louder and louder. A weird wheezing sound began accompanying the grunting and moaning that made my throat knot up, specially to the smell of putrid flesh again.

Thick fog began surrounding the woods as I went closer to the sound which was hard to lose now that it was so loud, almost all around me -- and then I saw it. It was something on the ground, it was moving. I ran towards and screamed for Khadar again when it yelled back at me, the silhouette began twitching. Once I arrived to it, I stopped cold. It wasn't Khadar, it was a deformed left over of what was once a human body. I was terrified but I couldn't peel my eyes away from it, I couldn't stop scanning it. The person -- the creature was trembling, its skinny arm was stretching towards me. It seemed as if though it had been skinned, its jaw was open so widely it looked unnatural. Its eyes were misty as if maybe it was blind, but it wasn't the worst, no. It was when I looked at its bloated, heaving belly that I truly felt panic strike me. It trembled and expanded, more and more, synchronizing with how loud its moaning and screaming was.

Finally, I regained control of my legs and I ran and ran and ran. My stomach was twirling inside to the flashbacks of the creature, it was replaying the disturbing sounds, the wheezing, it was flashing the images of its stomach and its wide open mouth. My body simply collapsed after a moment and I had to drop down and throw up, gripping tightly onto the tree. I wasn't  sure what I'd seen, I wasn't even sure if it had even been real, I was just sure that all my nightmares seemed like nothing compared to it.

When I could finally compose myself, I got up and walked towards another direction. This time I wasn't so eagerly exploring the woods and instead was walking as fast as I could through them because I had the sickening feeling that you died according to where you were and I wanted to be as far away from the creature as I possibly could.

I called out for Khadar again, my throat and mouth feeling dry from the adrenaline and the running. There was no answer but I continued trying again and again for minutes on end. Finally, exhausted, I dropped against one of the trees, seeing on the ground different parts of a skeleton spread around. I supposed it meant that I would die exploded or maybe mangled to death by some huge beast. Out of all the possibilities I could think of that seemed like the best way out. I just didn't want to become a… Whatever that was. I didn't want to die like that. In the back of my head the guilt was tugging at my conscious, how could I just give up on my friend? On myself? How could I just sit there, pathetically waiting for death? But I was too tired, I was too exhausted to care. Maybe death wasn't so bad, maybe death would be mercy. Maybe Khadar had given up too.

I closed my eyes tightly and rested back against a tree, concentrating on my heart beat trying to make sure I couldn't hear or feel death when it came, but I couldn't. My mind was actively listening and feeling everything around me, I was expecting the pain, the horror. Any moment now I would be destroyed savagely murdered. And that's when I felt it, a strange cold hand on my arm. I closed my eyes even tighter and clenched onto my knees. Please be fast, please be fast, please be--

A ghostly voice surrounded me. I couldn't understand what it said, it was distorted and echoey, but I immediately recognized it. My eyes snapped open and Dusk was floating in front of me. Her cloak had turned black and her lantern was glowing differently, it wasn't just a light, it was an essence inside of it.

"Dusk?"

That's when I had realized what Makari had said, poes were there to guide you, to protect you. It knew -- she knew that I would need her to find my way back from my nightmares, she knew I needed her to find my path to life in these woods if I ever wanted to survive them. How? I wasn’t sure. Maybe I was fated to be lost here and if that was the case, maybe I was also destined to find Khadar and leave.

Dusk floated away and I got up, following her. She seemed alert, as if there was something else stalking us or walking with us, as if she could see things that I couldn't. She took many turns and twists and I followed her. I felt safer, even if it was just a tiny little spirit, even if she didn't look equipped to fight with whatever had destroyed all those skeletons. But she was my friend and she had been there for my nightmares and even if I died at least I wouldn't die completely lost.

After what felt like about an hour of following her I could see a light through the woods. She picked up speed and so did I, rushing past all the trees and onto a small clearing where I could see two people. I quickly recognized them as Raia and Khadar, except that they were both on the ground, unmoving.

I immediately began running and the closer I got the more into focus something began appearing, right above them, it was their souls. Raia's body was holding onto an ocarina but her soul was gripping onto Khadar's, whose spirit seemed stiff and lifeless, staring at one spot as if it was no longer him or as if he was too busy hearing something or someone else calling for him to even bother paying attention to us.

"Khadar! Raia!" I approached quicker and Raia looked at me,

"Daran" She said, her voice coming from all around me, "Something's happening. Khadar is dying and I can't do anything about it. The forest is sacrificing him -- it's sacrificing us."

I looked around desperately, there was absolutely nothing I could kill or do to stop it. Dusk had stopped, she was standing right beside me looking up at Raia and Khadar.

"What do I do?!" I finally yelled, noticing Raia seemed to go into sudden trances where she'd almost let go of Khadar,

"Daran ... My soul ... It's connected to Kae's. You're going to have to follow the thread and try to get us out. Do it quickly, Daran, I'm losing my strength."

I ran towards them but I couldn't carry both no matter what I did. They were too much for me, I was too tired. If I took Khadar we would be lost but if I took Raia... How could I just leave Khadar behind? What would I tell Kae? I could feel my energy was low, my jewel was barely shining at all. But I was still going to try when a huge dog appeared from the woods and grabbed onto Khadar's leg tightly. It growled and snarled before shaking its head aggressively, blood splattering around. I didn't even have time to think before I lept over Khadar and slashed at the dog with a long sword, the same one that had appeared during class. This time it was engulfed in flames and it wasn't nearly as heavy as I remembered it. The dog backed off a bit when he saw the fire but quickly tried to pounce at me again, so I slashed the sword, catching him only with the tip.

My heart had made its way up to my throat, it seemed, because I could hear the pounding inside my skull. The dog growled and howled. The tip of the sword had been enough to open up a gash on the side of his neck and it took all my willpower not to look at the wound. I didn’t want to see more gore, and much less did I want to hurt a dog.

Still, it wasn’t satisfied. The dog licked his lips, cleaning his fangs from the blood before it snapped his jaws at me trying to nip at my legs.

“Stop!” I yelled, whacking him hard with the flat of the sword. The dog continued to nip and growl, moving to my sides trying to find the right way to pounce at me.

I was so tired. All the sleepless nights, all the nightmares and now this. I wasn’t even sure what this was. I grit my teeth hard. He wasn’t going to stop and I was scared he’d bring more with his howling and whimpering.

My fingers gripped onto the handle of my sword hard, my body tingling like if I had electricity going through me. The fire opal suddenly burst with energy and fire, engulfing my arms and sword. I raised it, looked away and slashed down as hard as I possibly could.

I heard a whimper and then a thump. My stomach twisted and turned again, I felt like I was gonna hurl. My hands were splattered with blood and I felt almost hyper aware of the warmth of each drop.

Consciously I knew it wasn’t a dog -- it was probably four times the size of a normal dog and its fur seemed hard and thick, almost like an armor. Not to mention that he wanted to eat my best friend and me as a delicacy.

Still, I had never ever in my life killed another living being.

My eyes were stuck to the forest, I couldn’t stop staring at the emptiness between each trunk and the eery feeling that other things were watching. I was scared something else would pop up, I was terrified. Dusk pulled at my shirt snapping me out of it, and I looked down at her bringing myself back to the moment before looking back at Raia and Khadar. The sword disappeared from my hands.

I turned around quickly to make sure Khadar and Raia were okay, lifting them up with whatever energy I had left. A barrier appeared around them and I began following the thread that glowed on the ground, becoming weaker and weaker as time went by, making it harder for me to follow it.

As Raia and Khadar inched closer to death, more beasts tried to attack us. Dogs, werewolves, chimeras, all kinds of hungry things were appearing around us, which were the animals I assumed had left the bone-filled forest behind. They were all the same: void, empty, black. The more I pulled them along, the harder I fought, the dizzier I'd get, but Dusk kept following the thread and talking to me whenever I'd try to pass out.

The thread was lifting slightly and I assumed we were getting closer to Kae. I picked up my speed, almost running behind Dusk when something jumped at me from one of the branches. All I was able to see was a ball of darkness and then claws and fangs everywhere. I could feel the slashes on my chest, my arms, my face. I was screaming now, I couldn't believe that I was going to die just a few steps away from finding my exit. I couldn't believe that this was the end. I looked at the beast, its paws had my body pinned before it lifted one of them and slashed down. I nearly passed out, blood was pooling my vision, but I was able to see a sudden burst of fire and the sound of glass breaking and all I could think about was this ended too quickly.

Suddenly, something rammed the beast away from me and gripped me from my ankles, pulling me outside. I couldn't see much except for two faint lights, both bright and white, pure. I knew one of them was Dusk but I couldn’t make out the other one. All I knew was that I was being dragged and pulled out of the forest. Then, I heard it... I heard it... I heard the forest die when we escaped it, I heard all its trees shiver and whither, I heard all the souls burst out screaming, wailing in despair and then at the very end, a very deep, dying voice gave one last welp before everything exploded out from the forest leaving it empty and desolated. From deep inside the now disenchanted woods I caught a glimpse of Bastion. He seemed to be coated with bear energy. I had seen him do that in class, he called upon spirits of animals to give him strength and right now a bear was watching over him, fighting off an animal that disintegrated along with the trees. That's all I could witness before passing out.

I woke up, my head was hurting like never before. I could feel the left side of my face was sticky, bandaged and different. I didn't try to move though, I just opened my eye to see where I was and I found myself in a very familiar environment. I was at the Lyric's end of the orphanage. Around me were wisps floating and I could hear a low humming which I assumed was them healing me. I desperately tried to retrace my steps but my memory always ended in the same place, the voice echoing in my head. After a moment, I tried calling for someone but I couldn't even get myself to properly move yet, so all I could do was wait and wait until finally, Kae entered the room followed by some footsteps.

"One more time," I heard Marrak say, "What exactly happened?"

"How many times do you want us to tell you?" Said Simon from the other side of the room,

"I need to know, Simon. People are going to ask. Now, please, with detail."

Simon grunted in annoyance.

"Simon and I were both standing outside. Raia, Khadar, Steffan, Bastion and Daran had all entered the forest--"

"Why in the world did they enter?" Asked Marrak, interrupting her.

"Because -- I don't know. Steffan and Khadar seemed possessed when they were standing outside of the forest. Remember how Khadar had gotten lost? He was having nightmares and then this all just happened really fast and they were all gone and--"

I could hear a tapping sound and I assumed Marrak was calming Kae down,

"And then what happened, child?"

"Raia bonded our souls and she ran inside without a warning. I waited outside with Simon and nothing was happening, except that the thread  was getting weaker and weaker. Then, we heard a loud growl and something caught on fire because I could see the smoke. Makari's yak came bursting out from the forest with Dusk, Raia, Khadar and Daran just in time. The forest -- it just died and when it did, Raia came into her body and held Khadar's soul inside just enough for us to call Lyric and keep Daran stable. I didn't think that anyone else would come out but Bastion burst shortly after dragging Steffan. He had taken a real beating, he was all bruised up and bleeding but Steffan was still alive, just passed out. And then it happened... the key it just... It kind of tore itself out from Bastion as he put Steffan down. He dropped beside him, the key in his hand firmly."

"Mhm, mhm..." Marrak must've looked at Simon for approval because I heard him growl under breath that he agreed with Kae's side of the story. Finally, Simon said,

"Also, I think Daran's awake."

I looked towards him and within a second Kae and Marrak were standing in front of me, covering Simon from my view.

I tried to speak but Kae shut me up,

"No shhh, shh, Daran, everything's okay. All of you are alive, you all made it out."

I was going to speak again,

"Dusk is fine and the others are still healing and in recuperation. You've all been out for about two weeks, but Lyric says she can bring you all back!"

"Errr," Said Marrak before pointing at my face. Kae's expression turned slightly bitter,

"Oh... Well... She can bring almost all of you back."

My heart began racing again. Was my face disfigured? Had the animal mangled the left side of my face off?

"You want him to have a heart attack or something, you unintelligent little..." Said Simon.

"What the hell else am I supposed to say?!" Snapped Kae,

"You say it how it is." I heard him stand up and his head appeared above her shoulder. He was glaring straight at me, "You're going to be half blind for the rest of your life because your eyeball fell out of your skull."

Kae gasped and pushed him back harshly, yelling at him before he began screaming back at her that she was an idiot. My heart felt like it had stopped dry and I kept imagining my face in many, many ways. No eye? No vision? What was I going to do now? What if I had no eye and no cheekbone or no hair on my left side? I clenched onto my covers and heard as my breathing became near panting. Lyric immediately shoo'd everyone out saying they were disrupting the healing process the wisps were offering.

"Don't worry, Mr. Likimas," She whispered kindly, placing her tiny furry paw on my clenched fist, "You will recover from this and you will be fine. You have a lot of people who care about you and you managed to survive through Zenope, you'll survive through this. It's just a ... It's something you'll have to learn from zero. But you should sleep, please, this isn't helping your recovery."

A bright light appeared from my chest and Dusk floated above me, looking down towards me. Her lantern was different now, it wasn't the same one which I assumed was because she'd probably set the beast on fire throwing her old one at it. She hummed quietly, her ghostly voice echoing in my head while the lights went out leaving just the dim glow of her lantern embracing both her and me. After a while I managed to fall asleep.

Two days later Lyric unbandaged me and I was now able to talk and sit up. Khadar had also finally woken up along with Raia and the others. Khadar and Steffan's soul were almost broken, according to Lyric. So physically they looked fine but at times they'd enter into weird hypnotized state in which they wouldn't talk and wouldn't move shortly before having a seizure. It was scary to say the least, but Raia made sure to take care of them whenever Lyric wasn't around. She recuperated fast, she had gone pretty much unharmed throughout most of the entire process and Kae seemed to have warmed up to her a lot because of everything. Bastion looked like he had been dropped in an arena and mangled by several animals.

I couldn’t shake the idea off that he had been the one that went in first. I felt like if Bastion hadn’t taken the first step and disappeared into the woods, I wouldn’t have. I glanced towards Khadar and felt like a traitor. If Steffan hadn’t gotten lost there too maybe Khadar would’ve died there because I wouldn’t have ever built up the courage to go into the Zenope forest. I would’ve thought it was a lost cause.

"Okay, so I know this isn't going to bring your eye back or anything," I heard Kae say, breaking me away from my whirlpool of thoughts and self loathing, "But I did my best and I think it looks pretty cool." She took out a small box from behind herself and handed it to me, "Go ahead," she said, "Open it!"

Inside the box was an eye patch. It was the typical black color but there were bits and pieces of something that looked like a jewel, a fire opal, specifically. It seemed as if the bits were burning inside, decorating the plain black eyepatch.

"Fire opal.." I murmured,

"Yeah! It's not a real one though, but it'll continue shining and burning. As long as the pieces don't get ripped off from the eye patch, they'll remain the same. But don't worry, I can make you different designs if you'd like!"

I wanted to be able to thank her as she had earned it but she had made me realize how little the fire opal even fit me. I wanted to give up in that forest and I was now wondering if the jewel system was even all that accurate.

"Daran, stop moping," Said Kae, taking a mirror from out of the bag she had across her shoulder and handed it to me, "Come on, put it on. I promise you'll feel better."

I lifted the mirror and saw myself in it for the first time since everything had happened. I looked tired, more than ever and my face was bruised up from the slashes and hits. My left eye was shut tightly, a nasty scar crossing through it, going from just a bit above my eyebrow to almost the beginning of my cheekbone. I looked weird, I didn't look like myself. Kae snatched the eyepatch out of my hand and put it on for me, looking at me again once it was on to see my expression.

"See? Do you like it? I could make something else if you'd like?"

The eyepatch covered up most of the scar, leaving only a tiny bit of it showing and I looked a lot less ... Different. Just a little more miserable than before. I put the mirror down and smirked at her, keeping my mind on the warm feeling that was forming in my stomach, "I do like it, Kae. It does actually make things different. Thank you--"

She threw her arms around me and burst into tears and sobbing and I was absolutely confused but still managed to put my hand on her back,

"Did I say something wrong?"

“No, I’m sorry. I’ve been trying hard to not cry. I know… I know that you and Khadar are the ones in pain and I shouldn’t be whining and crying. But I can’t shake off the fear yet, Daran. And I owe you my life.” She gripped onto me, sinking her face into my neck. “If it weren’t for you, I’d have no one left in my life. Thank you so much for saving my brother. Thank you so, so much.”

She sobbed quietly into my neck and her hands clenched onto my shirt. Simon and Bastion were staring at us awkwardly before Steffan pulled the curtain of their sector of the room closed rather annoyed by the display of emotion.

I hadn't noticed that Khadar was awake until his voice interrupted Kae's moment,

"Kae, stop doing that, you're going to make him uncomfortable. You're making me uncomfortable." He sounded weak but nonetheless more himself than before.

I chuckled and shook my head, rubbing Kae's back, "No, I don't feel uncomfortable. I just -- I'm not sure how to react right now. You're welcome though, I mean, you two are the closest thing I've got to family anyway."  I cleared my throat and she calmed down from her sobbing, pulling back and immediately cleaning her face, hiding her pouting with her hands.

"Okay, yeah, Khadar's right. I have to control myself again." She sniffled and looked at me again, her eyes puffy and red, "Thank you though, thank you for everything. We love you, Daran, we really do."

Khadar grunted irritably in the background. I had a feeling his pissy attitude came from the idea of the Dominus gang being just a few steps away and hearing everything. I understood though, I didn't need or want his gratitude because I hadn't saved him only for him or for Kae. I had saved him because I knew it wasn't ever going to be the same without him around.

Kae hung around for a while more, telling us about all the things we had missed in class and how Professor Okon had been here to visit us several times along with Professor Gargan, Orin and Marrak. She said she had been catching our notebooks up with the classes and doing our homework. Saraphe and some of the teachers had left us all a bunch of flowers and sweets to eat, they were all piled up in our individual nightstands. Most of Steffan's were gone though.

“So Makari saved us? How’d he even know?” I asked. In that same moment it also occured to me that he had technically only saved me because Bastion was nearly out from the woods by what I had gotten to see.

“It wasn’t Makari.” Kae sat down on my bed, opening up one of the candies she’d taken from Khadar’s nightstand, “I thought so at first but once the yak got close we got to see it was actually Okon. He said that he had woken up from everyone’s screaming and managed to see Steffan and Khadar go in. Apparently he didn’t even know you and Bastion were inside because he’d run off to get Makari’s yak.”

“Why’d he go in? I mean, didn’t he know what Zenope forest does?” I asked.

“Didn’t you?” Professor Okon’s voice came from the side near the entrance of the room. I turned around and he was walking towards us with a bag full of papers and exams. I assumed he had just graded them.

“Professor Okon!” I said, sitting up as much as I could. “Kae was just telling us about how you saved us.”

His hair fluffed up a bit, “Yes, well… I couldn’t let my students go into dangerous forest and not do anything about it.”

“Oh and also,” Said Kae, glancing back at Professor Okon, “It turns out he’s a cubic zirconia.”

“Seriously?” I glanced to him again, “How come you never have your jewel out?”

Professor Okon rubbed his ear awkwardly, “I don’t like flaunting my jewel around. Some people might take it as bragging.”

“I think you have a lot to brag about,” said Khadar, who was also unwrapping some candies, “You dragged us all back from the grips of hell. I’d wear it stuck to my forehead if I were you.”

Professor Okon chuckled, pulling out the necklace from under his usual wizardly garments. I could see the bright, pure and white jewel.

“Can I see it?” I asked, extending out my hand. Professor Okon passed it to me. It was a lot like Dusk’s light and now, I could remember the two faint and pure lights I saw before getting saved. I assumed it had been Dusk and him now.

“Thanks a lot, Professor.” I said, handing it back to him, “I don’t think we’d be here if it weren’t for you.”

Professor Okon smiled gently at me, his eyes scanning my eyepatch silently, almost guilty. Then we heard some grumbling and gagging from behind the curtain where the Dominus kids were, and Khadar, Kae and I rolled our eyes at them.

“Kae.”

“Hmm?”

“You mentioned a key?” I asked, “Where is it?”

Kae jerked her head towards the curtain, “Bastion had held it ever since.”

I glanced towards where they were and narrowed my eye a bit.

“Bastion.”

The curtain opened and Bastion raised his eyebrow at me, “What?”

“We need to put that key somewhere safe.”

“It’s safe where it is.” Snapped Simon, narrowing his eyes, “Besides, so far, no one but him can hold it.”

“What do you mean?”

Simon smirked rather cockily, “Anyone that tries to touch it burns. Only Bastion can get his hands on it.”

I glanced at Kae and she nodded, “He’s unfortunately not lying.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing back at Bastion, “but I still don’t feel safe with it in your hands. I say we put it away somewhere.”

"Alright, I’ll humor you. Where do you suppose?" He asked.

"How about The Vaults?" Said Steffan, "You both need to be there to open them. It's only fair."

"Fine with you?" Asked Bastion,

"Fine with me." I said.

A few days later Lyric let all of us go. Khadar and Steffan were told to be accompanied by someone as much as they could because of their seizures, but otherwise, we were all healthy enough.

People gave us a lot of weird looks on the street because me and Bastion were bruised and cut, I was missing an eye and both Steffan and Khadar had parts of their limbs bandaged from the wolf attacks. In total, with Raia included, we were a big pack of seven parentless kids.

We had to wait at The Vaults for a while in the line which was awkward, specially cause half of us hated the other half.

"Can't believe you're still hanging out with them after how they treated you." Said Steffan, his eyes almost piercing through Raia.

"Khadar's my friend though." She replied patiently,

"Mighty friend letting his sister harass you." Butted in Simon,

"What's it to you, you weren't even there!" Said Kae hotly,

"Ignore him, he's just mad you got his hug virginity." Said Khadar.

Simon was nearly on Khadar when the old man appeared and guided us to our vault, Bastion gave them all a glare so they'd behave or stay outside. They all shut up being curious about our vault.

"This is it?" Said Khadar, "This tiny little thing?"

All of them cramped up inside of the vault to look and poke at the chest. Me and Bastion stayed outside, mostly because it hurt to even breathe too hard. Just looking at the chest had given me a strange gut wrenching feeling, as if I could almost hear that voice from my dreams asking me to find it.

"You should put it right here," Said Raia, pointing at the top of the chest and snapping me out of my trans, "And then once you've got the three keys, you can come together and open it."

Bastion nodded and put the key on top of the chest and we all stood outside of the vault hungrily staring at it. Maybe soon enough we'd know what was inside of it. Just hopefully there'll be enough of ourselves left when we could.

"At least," Said Steffan breaking the silence, "We know that you can collect the keys."

"Yeah," Said Khadar, "I mean, they're just inside of you."

The vault made a loud noise before slamming shut and locking tight.

Author's Note

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my work. I truly hope you've enjoyed it and I look forward to constructive criticism.