Chapter 3- Mysterious Friend

“I can’t sleep,” whispered Opal as she sat up.  It was about six thirty in the morning and she had only gotten about 7 hours of sleep.  “I need to talk to the Oracles.”  She got up, got her things, and then tiptoed to the door.  As she snuck out, Sento woke up and saw, so he got up and went after her. 

Opal had gone outside and was walking down the street to the lake when she saw one of the shops was open.  She went over.  After all, she thought shopping could get her mind off of the whole friends dieing thing.  She kept thinking about the dark shadow and she kept on wondering who “he” was.  Opal walked up to the door of the shop and looked in. 

“Oh, please come in,” said a little girl.  She looked like she was probably about six or seven.  She wore a snow-white silk dress with spaghetti straps.  She had a thin gold chain around her head with a silver flower hanging from the center and all around the chain were silver leaves and small gold thorns " it went really well with her dark brown, almost black, hair.  She didn’t have any shoes on, but around both her ankles she had gold chains like the one on her head except these small ones didn’t have a flower.  “Hi,” she said with a smile on her face. 

“Hi,” said Opal back with a smile on her face, as she started to look around. 

Opal had been looking around for awhile when the girl said, “Oh, hi, please come in and look around.” 

Opal looked to the door and there was standing Sento.  He looked at her and then came in.  As he went over to her, he said, “Hi.” 

Opal looked at him and then said, “Hey.” 

“So what are you doing up so early?” asked Sento as he started to look at some things over by Opal. 

“Couldn’t sleep.  Thought a walk and then some shopping would help,” said Opal.  Then she added, “And you?” 

“I saw you get up and I was wondering if anything was wrong,” said Sento.  He picked up a sword with a gold handle and silver blade.  In the handle was a rough dioptase.  The stone was a deep greenish blue and looked like the deep sea. 

“Have you ever handled a sword?” asked Opal as she looked at it. 

“No, but I can see you have,” said Sento as he looked down at Opal’s sword. 

“If you want, I can show you,” said Opal. 

Sento looked at her and then said happily, “Okay.”

“Okay, that will be 1982 ( is pronounced Thotlas; they are equal to 90 dollars) in total,” said the girl as she looked at the items that they had got. 

“Let’s see,” said Opal.  She took out a black velvet bag, found 1982, and handed it to the girl.  Opal had gotten just one thing:  a small silver necklace that said Hope{&|Peace.

It turned out that Sento’s sword could turn into a gold ring with a dioptase in it.  All he had to do was push in on the stone and the sword would appear.  He put it on the pointer finger on his left hand.  He also had gotten a mirror that could show any place at any time (he got that so he could see Earth).  Sento asked as they walked out of the store, “Wow, that money looks weird.  Can I see a piece?”

“Sure,” said Opal as she took a piece out. 

Then Sento took out a dollar and compared the two.  “What’s that?” asked Opal. 

“Oh, it’s the money from my world,” said Sento.  Then he added, “You want one?”

“Sure,” said Opal as Sento handed her a dollar.  “So anyway, what is your world like?” asked Opal.  Then she added as they continued to walk down the street, “Is it at all like Thiethittis?” 

“No, not really.  We don’t have any Children or Animals of Light, and we don’t have Experimenters or those people who are trying to help you guys,” said Sento. 

“Is there anything wrong with your planet?” asked Opal. 

“Well, in my time " the year 2090 " we have wars, global warming, lots and lots of pollution, and lots of diseases,” said Sento. 

“Oh, I think I prefer here,” said Opal.

“Yeah, I know I do,” said Sento, as he looked at Opal. 

“Why were you trying to travel through time?” asked Opal. 

“Well, I wanted to see if I could get humans to stop polluting so my time and my family wouldn’t be such a mess,” said Sento. 

As they talked, Sento got to know Opal just a little bit, and Opal got to know Sento a lot.  By now it was about 7 a.m. or so.  Lots of the shops were opening.  “I guess we should get back,” said Opal. 

“Yeah,” said Sento. 

As they were going back, one shop caught Opal’s eye.  It was called Talismans and Trinkets.  “Before we go back, why don’t we take a look in there,” said Opal. 

“Okay,” said Sento.             

When they got in, they saw all sorts of things.  There was one thing that caught Opal’s eye.  It was a small mirror with a silver frame and ancient writing on it. 

“Can I help you?” asked a boy.  He wore a dark cloak.  His face was under a hood so that you couldn’t really see it and the cloak was draped down so that you couldn’t see any of his cloths. 

At first Opal hesitated, then she said, “This item, what does it do?”  At the moment, Sento was busy looking at the shields. 

“Ah, you have a good eye.  This particular item allows you to see and talk to the Oracles,” said the boy.  All you could see was his smile.  The hood covered the rest of his face.  One thing Opal saw was this piece of black cloth around his neck.  It had something written on it in the Ancient language.  Since Opal hadn’t read the Ancient language for so long, she secretly wrote it down on her hand while she said, “If that is truly what it does, then I’ll take it.” 

“I do not lie; what I say is the truth and for you it is only 50,” said the boy with the same smile. 

Opal looked at him and then said slowly, “I’ll take it.”  So Opal bought it.

Then she went over to Sento and he said, “Opal look at this.  Isn’t it cool?”  Sento was pointing to a shield that was made from an impenetrable danburite.  It was in a glass case and on top it told the price.  It was 4000. 

“Yeah, it is nice, but kind of expensive,” said Opal. 

Then a girl came in and said, “Oh, hi, sorry to keep you waiting.  Can I help?” 

“Yes… um… how come this is so expensive?” asked Opal, as she looked around for the boy. 

“Oh, that particular item was found in the Ancient City of Dark,” said the girl.  “It is said to be able to withstand the attack of shadows as well as the attack of light and of the legendary Dragon of Light and Dark.  But it’s only what I heard,” finished the girl. 

“Wow, look at that one,” said Sento as he went over and looked at another shield. 

“So this shield, do you know who made it or if it changes into anything smaller?” asked Opal. 

“I’m not a hundred percent sure who made it but I heard that it was made by the Oracles, and it changes into a bracelet that fits its owner’s wrist perfectly,” said the girl. 

“Well, it might be a bit much, but okay.  I’ll get it,” said Opal. 

So they got that and a few other things.  When Opal got the shield, she changed it into the bracelet.  She put it on her left wrist.  It was a very thin silver strand with two dragons going all the way around it.  One dragon was gold and the other one was light silver.  They were facing each other and between them was a small crystal.  Sento got a shield that could change into a gold bracelet.  Opal and Sento both got shields for everyone.  They all changed into either silver or gold bracelets. 

“Okay, so where do you guys want to eat?” asked Sthy. 

“Why don’t we just start?  After all, I do have that pack that can have any kind of food or drink in it,” said Sheeshy. 

“Okay,” said Sthy.