November, 2011

  The cafeteria was loud as Collin and Rafhael carried a shopping bag filled with toys. He had on bck pid pants, a white church shirt with his school crest, Converse sneakers, a purple tie, wristbands, and an anime neckchain. So much was going on that Collin almost forgot about the toy drive at school.

  He already scarfed down his lunch as orange headphones hung around his neck, the song pying was Gangster Paradise by Coolio. 3 days ago, Collin had to wrestle a dead goose outta Idris's jaws and washing away the blood trail was a nightmare. This caider wasn't trained properly and Casper said Idris was abandoned.

  Mythical pets like to hunt for fun, but Collin has to teach Idris not to kill on sight. After that he visited the Wild Hunt Emporium to get animal supplies. With the pet food and squeaky toys there shouldn't be any more bones at his house. However, Collin had to keep several skulls as souvenirs because of Idris. After dropping the toys in the donation box a teacher wrote his name down.

  2 hours and 30 minutes ter, Collin was in calculus css taking a test. All these equations made his head hurt. He should've skipped today and studied more because he wasn't ready. Being a knight and football star was kicking his butt. There was also his social life, family, and love life. Collin had to keep his grades up if he wanted to stay on the team and go to the championship game.

  When school ended he went to Xenovia because Casper had a mission for him. Helena was studying Collin, but he avoided her gaze and took the scroll.

  "This mission is a little dangerous and that's why 4 guards will be with you," Casper expined as Otto coiled around his waist. "You'll need to harvest a dozen Rainbow Lotuses from various burial grounds. This flower is unique and only blossoms in death, you'll need to be wary of ghouls."

  "Got it," Collin answered.

  Helena ran over and hugged him and that made his team very jealous. "Be careful."

  15 minutes ter, they drove through the streets of Xenovia as the guards adjusted their armor. He gazed at the glowing runes on his sword and touched the gold pendant around his neck. Ghouls were flesh-eating monsters that look simir to zombies. But zombies needed a master to control them while ghouls didn't.

  From the sky the city looked peaceful as Collin used his new technique to search for local graveyards. This skill is mostly used for reconnaissance and stealth. But to activate his Shadow Eye he needs to pose, so he chose praying hands as his symbol.

  Captain Irving wasn't on this mission and Collin felt like Casper did that on purpose. Maybe because he leveled up? Was level C good enough for this? Rex dude, think of this like a football game. He can use his stats as a pybook and give his teammates simple commands to follow.

  "I found the burial ground and theres 3 ghouls wandering," Collin suddenly spoke with confidence.

  A few minutes ter everybody got out the carriage. They were in a poor area of the kingdom as Collin tip-toed near the graveyard and peeked from behind a bush. Sparky and the rest of the guards copied his movements as he signaled for them to proceed with the pn.

  He was about to use Dash Ssh when a pop-up screen appeared. [ Objective: Decapitate two ghouls to earn 10 training points ]

  This made Collin frown as he whispered to the nearby guards. "Change of pns, I'm gonna kill the ghouls instead."

  Outta the 4 guards Sparky was the closest as he jogged over to Collin and whispered. "Let's go."

  He gnced at the elf. "No, you stick with the pn and collect the Lotus flowers."

  "3 is too much and you need me," Sparky didn't sneer when he spoke. "This isn't up for debate. If you get hurt the princess will be very upset and I need to redeem myself."

  Collin didn't wanna get cold feet as he started walking. "Whatever, dude."

  This graveyard was overgrown with weeds as they passed wooden crosses. He wanted to use his abilities, but didn't wanna leave Sparky behind. Everything smelled like rotten eggs and skunk as a silhouette lurched up ahead. Collin heard withered groaning and crouched in the weeds.

  Next to him, the elf nudged his shoulder and pointed. Sticking out like a sore thumb was a Rainbow Lotus as the ghoul sniffed the air. Without thinking Collin used Dash Ssh to appear behind the ghoul and sshed it's knees.

  Bck blood oozed onto the ground as the monster stumbled, but within seconds it's limbs grew back. The ghoul twisted on all fours and lunged at him with jagged teeth. He flipped outta the way and in one swift motion he used Shadow Wolf Blitz to chop off the ghoul's head. Even though he decapitated the monster it was still moving around. Collin summoned his telekinesis and crushed the ghoul's head into mush as the body fell.

  There was commotion nearby as Sparky fought a different ghoul and yanked his sword outta the monster's chest. Then the elf stabbed the ghoul in the throat and sliced it's head off, after scanning the graveyard they saw no more flowers.

  "Good work," Collin told Sparky. "Let's regroup, there ain't many here."

  Later that night, Collin sat with his family and friends as they watched his dad's film. The Social Butterfly Effect and it was beautifully animated. Sub sandwiches and drinks were in the kitchen as he took a bit of his food. He was starving after everything that's happened. They had to visit three burial grounds to collect 12 Rainbow Lotuses. When they returned to the castle Collin was surprised by his team's praise for him.

  Sitting nearby was Helena and Rafhael as they talked. After he told his boyfriend the situation Rafhael was over the moon, but he didn't wanna look too eager. Collin sat between his best friends Grace and Lucan as whimsical music pyed. It did sound familiar? When the film was over everybody had something to say and his dad was happy to answer.

  It was 8:21 at night when they left his house and got into Lucan's car, they all wanted to hang out longer. While driving out the neighborhood Collin felt the car suddenly jerk left and right as his friends screamed. After getting the car under control Lucan stopped at an intersection and cursed loudly. He and Helena both had serious looks on their faces because they recognized it.

  "What the heck was that?" Grace shouted.

  Lucan leaned on the wheel. "I don't know."