(They just went to sleep like this yesterday… but they’re all… still asleep it seems… Yesterday must have been really tiring. Let me get some air.) Sufian thought as he left the classroom he was sleeping in and went to the school front yard.

  Startled, "Whoa!! Oh, it’s just Boots… don’t sneak up on me like that!" Sufian jumped out of his place.

  "Saw you standy, so Boblin follow! What you up to?!" Snagglix asked, bouncing excitedly.

  "Nothing special, it’s just that yesterday was pretty intense," Sufian said with a sigh. "We just wanted to go camping, and this green fish creature attacked us."

  "Tonberries!" Snagglix chirped.

  "Yeah, the Tonberries attacked," Sufian replied. "We got away, but this school was a spider creature’s lair! It was all so confusing! I couldn’t keep up with it all."

  "Really-really? Boblin think you did greaty-great!!" Snagglix cheered, clapping his hands.

  "It was touch and go," Sufian admitted. "It was Zayn who helped me save everyone who was captured."

  "Heh~ not monsters, but still gave ‘em a heart-bang! Boblin saw the jump!!" Snagglix laughed, jumping up and down.

  "What could we do? Heck, I was surprised when I met you too," Sufian said, shaking his head. "We were exhausted yesterday, but there’s a lot to think about."

  "Thinky-think? Like what?!" Snagglix asked, his big eyes wide with curiosity.

  "Unless we know what’s happening, we won’t be any help to anyone," Sufian replied with a sigh.

  "Right-right... but what we s’posed to do now?!" Snagglix asked, his tone full of concern.

  "Exactly," Sufian said, looking out at the yard. "I can’t think of anything myself, but if we all put our heads together… we also need to figure out food and shelter while we wait for the professor… hmm…"

  "Sufian? You okay-okay?" Snagglix asked, peering at him.

  Sufian sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I’m not coming up with anything. Let’s ask everyone."

  "You got it, yes-YES! Let’s do that!!" Snagglix shouted excitedly.

  Ali walked into the yard, yawning, his eyes still heavy with sleep.

  "Morning, Ali," Sufian greeted him.

  "Back at you, Sufian," Ali mumbled, stretching his arms.

  "So it wasn’t a dream, huh?" Sufian asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Looks like it," Ali replied, rubbing his eyes.

  (I figured I’d wake up by now…)

  "We slept like babies after everything yesterday," Ali added with a lazy smile.

  "Tell me about it. What a day!" Sufian said, shaking his head.

  "Man, looking around again in the daylight, this place’s definitely seen better days," Ali said, glancing around the yard with a frown.

  "We fought against monsters yesterday!" Sufian pointed out, his voice laced with disbelief.

  "BOOTS TOO!" Snagglix piped up, his voice high-pitched with excitement.

  "Indeed!" Thoren added, stepping forward from where he stood.

  "This is real," Sufian muttered, staring at the mess around them.

  "Good morning, Sufian, Ali," Malak said softly, her voice calm as ever.

  "Hey Malak. Mornin’!" Ali waved lazily.

  "Good morning, Malak. Did you sleep well?" Sufian asked, offering her a warm smile.

  "I did. Still a little tired, but my head has finally cleared," Malak said, her tone gentle but tired.

  "That’s good to hear," Sufian said, nodding.

  "Yeah…" Matt muttered, still looking half asleep.

  "Hey, Matt, you sleepyhead!" Ali teased.

  "Shaddup. How’m I s’posed to sleep? You were all out like lights. How could you even sleep after all this?" Matt snapped, frowning.

  "Well, you were in the classroom that whole time and kept fainting…" Ali said with a smirk.

  "Say that again!" Matt snapped, his face flushed with embarrassment.

  "Now that everyone’s awake, we should put our heads together and think about the next step," Sufian said, trying to redirect the conversation.

  "Yeah, with everything that went on yesterday, we were too tired to do anything but sleep. Hey, wait! Who died and made you the boss, Sufian?!" Ali shot back with a grin.

  "Yeah-yeah! What he said-said!!" Snagglix added, jumping in place.

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Why’re you taking his side, Boots?!" Sufian asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "This sort of thing is better left to the older kids. Malak, Matt, you’re up!" Ali said, pointing at them with a grin.

  "You treat me with respect, now of all times?" Malak said, raising an eyebrow. "I mean… to be honest, I…"

  "It ain’t gonna make any difference, is it?!" Matt grumbled, his arms crossed stubbornly.

  (That’s Matt for you. I guess last night’s events didn’t help…)

  "I ain’t got the time or the inclination to lead you losers around," Matt said with a grunt.

  The Gnath stood there silently, not joining the conversation.

  "Yeah, that sounds about right. Guess that leaves you, Malak," Ali said with a shrug.

  "I’m afraid I also lack what it takes to be a leader," Malak said, looking a little embarrassed.

  "But… but you’re so serious!" Ali protested, not letting up.

  "What does that have to do with anything?" Malak asked, genuinely confused.

  "But Malak! You’re not just serious, you’re also nice! You’d be a great leader!" Pimi said, her voice full of admiration.

  "You overestimate me," Malak said with a sigh. "Even now I’m full of anxiety… seriously, what is going on? Think about it. A group of children went missing overnight… you would expect this to cause a major uproar, and yet…"

  "Ohhh, I get what you’re saying," Ali said, his face lighting up. "You’d expect them to send out a helicopter or something."

  "It’s already morning, but there’s no sign of a search party," Malak pointed out, looking around. "This is just too strange…"

  "We’re not stuck on some mountain or something, we’re in a school!" Matt said with a nervous laugh. "Ain’t it weird there’s nobody else around though? Everyone else has disappeared."

  "You’re not making me feel better…" Malak muttered, biting her lip.

  Matt’s eyes widened as he freaked out. "I’m just telling it like it is, right?! Look, even our phones are out of service! What the heck?! Did the world just end or something?! If that ain’t the case, then stick a fork in us. Cause we’re done!"

  "You think some disaster occurred?" Ali asked, looking grim. "It’d explain why they ain’t looking for lost kids."

  "Stop it, I’m begging you…" Malak said, her voice trembling.

  "I’m just saying, look around!" Ali said, gesturing around them. "We weren’t out that long, and the school’s all messed up. The whole landscape changed, too. Stuff like this doesn’t exactly happen every day! Maybe we ended up in some parallel world? Or like, traveled through time? Or maybe someone fired off some superweapon? That could explain the school and everything. Wait. That can’t be it. This place looks more ‘run down’ than ‘blown up,’ you know? Man, this is all so COOL!!! Don’t ya think?!"

  "…Were you listening at all?" Malak said, staring at him with disbelief.

  "Is your brain broken or something?" Matt asked, looking even more confused.

  (I’m actually agreeing with Matt.)

  "And what were those creatures last night?" Malak asked, her voice laced with dread.

  "I hate to say it, but… they kinda reminded me of these little guys, don’tcha think?" Ali said, his expression serious.

  "Of us?!" Thoren said, surprised.

  "All we can say for sure is that everyone’s gone, and the school building’s in ruins… the area around here’s completely different for some reason… and the fog all around here makes it impossible to figure out what’s going on. The fog is apparently too dangerous to touch," Ali said, his voice full of concern.

  "Not just looky-bad—it’s real DANGER-DANGER!!" Snagglix shouted, looking panicked.

  "So you say," Ali said, still processing the situation. "And to top it all off, all those weird things are crawling around out there."

  "Boblin ain’t weird—Boblin’s limited edition!!" Snagglix said proudly.

  "Well then what are you, exactly?" Ali asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "We’s US! They’s THEM! Big diffy-diff!!" Snagglix said, puffing out his chest.

  "That doesn’t explain anything!" Ali said, exasperated.

  "That’s right!" Snagglix agreed. "Boblin can’t ‘splain a thing—brain go poof!!"

  "Then why are you talking so confidently?!" Sufian asked, raising his hands in disbelief.

  "Thoren, what do you think?" Ali asked, turning toward him.

  "Me?" Thoren asked, clearly lost.

  "Seriously, we’re not getting anywhere over here…" Pimi muttered.

  "Very well," Thoren said slowly. "Let’s see… I can say that we have no doubts about our own existence. Still, it’s clear that our world is separate from the world of you Hyurs… or should I say you guys."

  "So this really is a parallel world?!" Ali asked, excited.

  "I’m not sure what you mean…" Thoren said, shaking his head.

  "I admit that our situation is weird, but we can’t be sure that this is a different world," Malak said, looking thoughtful. "If this is a different world, then where did this human building come from?"

  "Well that’s… hmm… maybe the building got transported, too?" Ali suggested.

  "Then wouldn’t the school be in the same condition, instead of falling apart? It looks like the building where we set up camp, but I think this one is different," Malak said, her brow furrowed.

  "This is a mystery to me, too," Thoren admitted. "The hills and trees, the rocks, ocean, and rivers… unlike these natural formations, the building just suddenly appeared one day. So I heard."

  "Heard? From who? And how?" Ali asked, confused.

  "I’m not sure. Perhaps it was some divine being, or one of my brethren with such power," Thoren said thoughtfully. "I cannot say for sure. The residents of this world possess various powers and forms. Entities of terrible strength, some weak and frail, capable beings, helpless creatures…"

  "So you’re saying one of your kind could have made this? One could’ve built it to resemble a building from our world or transported it from our world." Ali said, thinking it over.

  "I do not know," Thoren said. "All I can say is that there is much variation among those who live here. Some are capable of speech and compromise, others are frenzied and incapable of either. What’s more… Hyurs are considered rare among this land. In truth, you’re the first I’ve ever met. And yet, it has been said… that actual Hyurian children would appear capable of drawing out true power…"

  (So humans are known as Hyurs here…)

  "Oh, that sounds like…" Ali said, his eyes widening.

  (Yeah, the story of Hubal and his servants. Could this be the truth behind those stories?)

  "Maybe an external force—contact with Hyurs—I don’t know?" Malak said, tapping her chin.

  "No clue what’s goin’ on... but WOWY-WOW!!" Snagglix shouted, jumping with excitement.

  "Of course, there may be more to the Aether, and we don’t know how you guys are involved," Thoren said. "Oh, I assume you don’t know what Aether is. Aether is the source of life, it can be found in all living beings, trees, and even rocks. Some people practice to manipulate this Aether to do various effects, like Pimi here, she is a cleric. Others would use this Aether to cause imbalances and—ah, perhaps we should avoid such subjects… For now, this is all I can tell you. I am ashamed I could not provide you with the clear answer you wanted. Ali."

  "Naw, man, that was more than enough!" Ali said, waving him off.

  "Enough? We still have no clue what’s going on! It’s like saying we don’t know anything, so anything’s possible! What a load of crap." Matt grumbled, rubbing his temples.

  "Don’t listen to comments from the peanut gallery, Thoren," Ali said, giving him a reassuring grin.

  "If you say so, Ali," Thoren said with a shrug.

  "And yet, what really happened?" Malak sighed, staring at the ground.

  Sufian took a look at the classroom window from the front yard.

  "Hey, Zayn and Layla are awake," Sufian said, pointing.

  "WHOA!!!" Matt exclaimed.

  "Lookit that chicken, he’s still scared of her!" Ali teased.

  "Come on, now. He’s still technically older," Sufian whispered to Ali.

  "Pfff, technically? That’s harsh, Sufian! Ha ha ha!" Ali laughed.

  "Tch… just shut up already," Matt muttered, walking away.

  "Whoops, there he goes," Ali said, still laughing.

  "Zayn and Layla might know something. Let’s go back to the classroom and decide what to do next. Is that okay with you, Thoren?" Sufian asked.

  "Yes. Understood. I believe we should continue our talk inside the school building, wouldn’t you say?" Thoren replied.

  ?????