I woke up after the dream and started to get up. I figured that Dalyva wouldn’t want to get up yet after that dream, and so I went over to Shankhe, who was fast asleep. Did I mention before that Shankhe sleepwalks? Well, he does. Not that much, but often you can find him wrapped in his doona on the floor in a pile. I grin as I see one such pile, shaking my head at him. You see, luckily when we were in the tents he didn’t do it as much in his sleep, since we were in sleeping bags, but you would find his unconscious self halfway out the sleeping bag, clearly having had a huge struggle to get out of the bag. Poor him.

  I go closer to Shankhe and his pile of comfort, before shaking him. Lightly, of course. “Houuuuu.” (H-oh-ww sort of like how but think of it in a Chinese way. Not trying to be mean, just explaining a language.) He whines as he wakes up, though not fully awake. “Duo maaa…..” (d-oh-ww m-ah) He protests. I raise an eyebrow at him. “You know I don't know how to speak Shafkan?” I say. “I can only speak common, Tingaren and a bit of the ancient runic language.” He whines, huffs, then finally inches to his feet as he rubs his eyes sleepily. “Kauuu.” (k-oh-w) I huff. “Translation? From the last sentence preferably.” He rolls his eyes playfully. “No. Stop it. Mean.” I rolled my eyes at what he said.

  You see, every place has its own language from ancient times. Although it's more common for people to speak common, they do speak their own languages as well. But the most used ancient language is definitely the ancient runic language. Or ARL as people call it when they can't be bothered. ARL is more common because it was spread by the Vuxeadine after the Era of Gods, but eventually it changed in every region to make different languages. The Vuxeadine split into two groups eventually, as some people had drifted from the ‘Vuxeadine’ ways. One group was still the Vuxeadine, who spoke ARL, but the other half are known as the Tingaren people, who speak, well, Tingaren. I’m from the Tingaren part of Tingari, so I speak Tingaren and not ARL when I visit the desert.

  You see, every language was different. For example, Shafkan has a lot of words with the sounds oh-w, but Tingaren doesn't. It has more the sounds of k, and q. More ck sounds and harsher tones then o and all its softer noises. I shake my head out of language mode when i see Shankhe getting up, and we head down together to breakfast. Once we get down, I see Fora cooking as always, and grimace a little, but erase it as soon as she looks up. We really need to contribute a bit more, we can't just have this. Eventually I shake my head and then we sit down on the carpet, waiting for breakfast.

  We kneel, and not long after a sleepy headed golden girl walks out, rubbing her eyes and looking as if the world has offended her simply by existing. “Dalyva!” I say happily. “How nice of you to join us in the world of the living.” I tease. I knew it was hard on her seeing Reika, and then having her disappear, but I could do all I can to make her smile. She rolls her eyes playfully, and I think I see a hint of a smile grace her lips. “Shut it, Golden Desert.” She hits me right where it hurts, and I recoil, a hand to my heart. “Surely not! You use that name against me?!”

  Shankhe jumps in front of me. “Yeah, that's mean Dalyva.” He defends me, and I hide behind him smiling. “Two against one, two against one~~!” I happily sing, and she replies with a cold. “If it's two brain cells against one brain, which it is, I still win, idiots.” Me and Shankhe look over to each other, aghast. “Surely not!” I say, looking at him. “Never!” He agrees. “She called us idiots!”

  We turn to her with accusatory glares. “How come you’re the smart one?” We ask, and she chuckles, crossing her arms. “Tell me, what does Taea (t-i as in tie-y-ah) muris (m-uh-r-i as in igloo -s) mean to you?” I wrack my brain, I’ve heard it before, I’m sure of it. Shankhe also looks confused, and she just shakes her head at us disappointedly. “I love you. It means I love you in the Ancient Runic Language, surely you haven’t forgotten.” She turns to me. “I understand you not knowing partly, but you Shankhe?” She looks at him with an accusatory glare. “You literally had mandatory education. This is the first word we learn.” He looks at me, before her as he looks innocently. “I-I didn’t pay attention?” It comes out more as a question, and Dalyva rolls her eyes.

  “Let’s just sit down and eat.” Fora says, interrupting our squabble as she comes in with the best smelling food and sets it down in front of us. “Here, some porridge. It’s nothing much, but it's something. I also have honey from Yurin bees, and some cinnamon as well.” I look at her. Yurin bees? That’s impressive. You see, Yurin bees are carnivorous meat bees that live in the high mountains and snowy areas. They hate anywhere warm due to their adaptations to living in the cold, and are very tough to control if they don’t know you, especially being literal carnivorous bees.

  I just sigh happily as I see the porridge in front of me that I forget about everything else as I dig in after getting some honey. Damn is it good after a while. Contented and relaxed sighs come from all three of us as we take a minute to appreciate the flavour of the porridge, before gulping it down in mere seconds out of hunger. Really, bland food sucks, and if I have to ever go back to it I may just die.

  We eat up, and then Khaliff enters the room soon after fully dressed and clearly ready for the day. “You guys want to explore the town more?” He offers, and we nod as we finish up, handing our dishes to Fora and head to get dressed.

  I grab a normal shirt and shorts, mine, definitely not theirs, as I don't want to be reliant on them too much, after all who knows how much we can trust people. I know its sad, but it's true. Even if people are kind one second, they can be cruel the next, you just have to be cautious that it doesn't happen to you. One we are dressed and head back down, Khaliff walks us into the town.

  We enter the town square that's in a ruckus as we see a boy fiddling with some mana strings. People are yelling at him, saying things like ‘what do you know about mana strings, stop fiddling’ or ‘it’ll explode, you can't make a construct!’ I just stared, impressed that the boy knew how to weave at all. You see, I know it's dangerous, I know that mana strings can backfire and explode, but he looks so focused, like he’s done this a million times before, and is comfortable doing it again.

  It’s not quite obvious at first, but as I look closer I realise what the boy is. He’s a halfling, half human half some other race, which I assume to be dwarf with his slightly shorter frame and pointed ears, although he’s tall for a dwarf. Considering I’m 170 thereabouts, maybe 180, though I don't think so, whereas he’s about 160. He is covered in soot and oil, and has a pair of goggles on his head, currently covering his eyes as he weaves. I try to look at his features, but all I can see underneath the soot is possibly black hair and I can't quite see his eyes.

  Shankhe walks up to him as he messes with strings, some people yelling at the boy to at least do it somewhere out of the way, away from here. “Hey, what’re you doing?” Shankhe asks the boy, grinning as he looks down at him in a friendly way. “Huh, me? I’m reconfiguring mana into a dog, but like a bubble dog of mana.” He replies as he looks up, but his fingers don't stop moving and placing strings. “After all, it's Jiri, we should enjoy it with fun things.”

  Shankhe laughs. “I’m Shankhe, nice to meet you.” He sits down next to the boy as me and Dalyva approach behind him. “This is my twin, Taegan, and our companion Dalyva.” The boy wiggles his eyebrows. “Nothing’s going on there? You sure?” Shankhe rolls his eyes with a smirk. “She has a lover back on Jesva.” The boy sighs. “Māzigon va, daor hēnkiri?” He huffs, the language fluid as he said it. I look at him surprised and confused. Of course, being with dwarves for two years, I know what they sound like, and what their language is, which isn’t that. “I didn’t know dwarfs spoke that?” And the boy shook his head. “I was brought up on the spine of Jesva, with the beastfolk. My names Leonidas, by the way, but you can just call me Leo.” Shankhe looks confused for a second, and so am I, before realising what beastfolk was.

  You see, most people call them hybrids, and they dont mind most of the time, but if you were one of their own or someone who lived along those parts, it is considered disrespectful to call them hybrids, therefore they are beastfolk. I do notice though, as he introduces himself, his fingers seem to slow down, as if he’s finishing the weaving.

  Just as we talk, bubbles pop up around us, some big, some small, all bending and moving as they transform into the looks of all sorts of dogs. Some are hellhounds or wolves, others are small like Fluran’s or Duren’s. (Puppy sized cute fluffy dogs and ankle biting demons.) Some are just medium, like huskies and border collies. I see Shankhe approach one of these such bubbles, a Fluran and then look cautiously back at Leo as he extends his finger out. “You think my creations are that weak that they will break from a simple touch?” Asks Leo in astonishment. “The amazing Leo, greatest mana weaver of all time?!”

  He’s good, I’ll admit that with his vanity, and he’s also good with mana. Shankhe pokes at the bubble experimentally, and it doesn’t pop. I see a younger kid, maybe 15 or 16 jumping onto the bubble, but to no effect as it doesn't break. My eyes widen, and i turn to Leo impressed by his making. Most people cant weave mana, but to be able to make it resilient like that? Even harder. “These are really good!” I comment, and he smirks triumphantly. “Course I know that, tell me something I don't. I’m mana weaver of the century babyyyyy!” He throws a fist up in celebration, and I chuckle.

  Shankhe approaches us as a Fluran bubble is held in his arms. Leo looks surprised, and holds his hands out as if wanting the Fluran. Shankhe pouts, but reluctantly, key word, hands over the puppy. Leo looks over his construction in confusion, before gesturing to me. “Hey, hold this.” He dumps the Fluran in my arms, only for it seconds later to disappear into sparkles glitter and shards of mana. “So it works, but why not with him?” I hear Leo mutter under his breath, before I hear a sad voice say.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Y-you killed it….” Shankhe stares at the spot where the Fluran was. Leo stares at Shankhe, and his sad face I reckon could generate tears in seconds, before sighing and sitting down. Shankhe leaned over, resting his hands on Leo’s shoulders as he stared down and watched what the other boy was doing. This time, Leo doesn't put on the goggles, and leaves them off. The sparkles and glittery mana shards that had fallen when the mana construct disappeared were now in the hands of Leo, getting stretched out into strands as he weaved something. Shankhe watched intently, but I left to find Dalyva. “Found a friend quickly.” A familiar voice said behind me, and I rolled my eyes. “Shankhe, not me.” Dalyva nods her head, and we simply stand together as we watch the bubbles. I see Dalyva is smiling happily, and is happy that she’s happy, considering how hard it seems to make her happy these days.

  “What's Leo’s eye colour anyways?” I frown, confused as i stare at Dalyva, and i realise something as i stare at her face. She seems… older, wiser, and like she’s seen a lot in the world. That look quickly fades, but it scares me. Well, not really, more like I don't want her to look like that, but I pull myself out of my head and ask. “What do you mean?” She points to where they are sitting, Leo’s eyes glowing a foresty green, the same as the glow around all the constructs, and as he continued to weave mana, his eyes kept on glowing, never dimming.

  Once he was done weaving, a Fluran the same as before, except this time it had a green tip on the tail. Leo picked it up, and handed it to Shankhe. Shankhe hugged the Fluran tight as he’s handed it, and it doesn't dissolve, and I noticed that Leo’s eyes are brown, nowhere close to the colour of his eyes when he was constructing the Fluran.

  Shankhe by this time is sitting down across from Leo, and looks a lot happier when he has the Fluran in his arms, and grins up at Leo, who is on his knees and therefore taller than Shankhe at this moment. Leo shakes his head at Shankhe, before they get up. Leo looks around to all the bubbles, and holds his hand up, in a snapping position. Shankhe glares at him, and I have no clue how Shankhe knows what the boy is going to do, but he does what Shankhe clearly doesn’t want to happen anyways.

  He snaps his fingers as the bubble creations float up, and then break, falling down in glittering mana shards sparkling like snow. Dalyva lets out a gasp of delight, and a smile breaks onto her face happily. Many other people also gasp, and the youngest of us run around in the sparkling mana. I grin as I see it. “It’s beautiful Leo.” I comment, and he smiles back at us. “I’m glad, otherwise all my practice would be a waste.” Shankhe looks down at his Fluran, which is now a green sphere, and holds the sphere close, looking at it then Leo. “I think you already knew that it’d succeed before you did it.” Leo smirks. “How’d you know?” I walk up. “The expertise of how you did it was a bit obvious.” He just waved me off, but I can tell that his smile isn’t for nothing.

  A woman suddenly runs up, bending down as she pangas, clearly having run around. “Oh, you’re here. The directors were getting worried.” She seems worried. Leo sighed, staring at her with clear distaste, then turned to us with a curious look. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you guys at the training ground, how old are you?” We look confused, but answer. “Well.” I say. “Me and Shankhe are 17, and Dalyva’s sixteen. Why?” I added the question out of curiosity. His eyes widened. “17?! You should be at the training ground?” He looks confused for the most part, but also slightly shocked, as if he suspected us to be older.

  The girl laughs, although it wasn't a nice laugh, it was an insulting sort of mocking laugh. “There, at the desert boy’s hip.” She points to where my two guild cards hang at my waist, put there for easy access since we’re in town and not fighting. Leo’s expression withers, and he looks down in disappointment.

  “Oh.” Is all he can think to say before the girl starts to drag him off. “C’mon. I swear, if the directors see we’re late, I’m not standing by your butt if you have to do extra training.” Leo looks as if he’s resigned himself to what she’s doing, before Shankhe grabs his other arm, the one held limply by his side in defeat. “Leo, what's this about?” Asks Shankhe, and for once he isn't playing around, his voice tight, and I can tell he’s annoyed. Leo looks up at us shocked. “Everyone’s been here for years, how would you not know? You’re not new, that's for sure as otherwise we would’ve had a newbie party.” He frowned. “Did you forget, memory loss?” The new information is shocking to process. What he was implying was even worse. Khaliff and Fora are hiding us, or are hiding things from us, but somehow I doubt the latter.

  Khaliff, who was just standing there, suddenly jumped into our conversation. “Yes, they unfortunately hit their heads when fighting a monster. They’re from another city and were taken here as the people of their original city were overwhelming them, trying to get them to remember.” He explains, and we stand to the side, not sure whether to nod, even if we know it's not true. We’re going to have to ask later. Leo and the girl nod with understanding, although I think I see a hint of skepticism in Leo’s eyes. I would say I was happy that he could spot the lie, but I wasn’t. Shankhe was, and I got it. He finally has a friend in this hellhole, now has to lie apparently, but his friend is smart and can figure out the lie. And yes, I’m happy, it just means that lies get found out much quicker, something possibly detrimental to us later.

  “Well, the place we’re mentioning is called the training facility. It’s where kids go before they can get their guild card. Speaking of which, did you get it registered in this city?” We all nod, and his eyes sparkle, as if with enthusiasm and interest. “How was the trial to get it registered? Hard?” I tilt my head in confusion, and as expected Khaliff seconds later butts in before I could reply. “They don’t like to talk about it, besides, I suspect you should go before you get in trouble for being late.”

  They both nod, although Leo’s definitely reluctant, and start to head off, as I notice Shankhe gripping the green sphere of mana from the mana Fluran in his hand. Shankhe’s face converts into a genuinely sad face for a second, before resuming his neutral face. I stare at him and Dalyva. We’re clearly something, we just need to figure out what. We watch as Leo and the girl leave, Shankhe clearly hurt by Khaliff’s lies. He stares at Khaliff angrily, and as soon as Leo and the girl round a corner I turn to Khaliff.

  “You better have a good explanation for this.” I say with a glare. “You’ve not only hurt my twin, not explained anything to us even while you’re using us, lied to people who we were just getting to know but also not once said anything about any of your plans.” I stare at the red headed leprechaun, waiting for his response as he looks wise eyed. But not in something like shock at my words, no more in my actions that I would say it here, point it out where everyone could hear. He sighs, before leading us back to the house, which is nearby.

  As Khaliff entered the house, Fira greeted him with a smile that quickly morphed into concern as she saw his grim face followed by all of our pissed off faces. “You didn’t explain it to them.” She guessed gently, and he nodded. “I thought you said you were going to show them just then?” He sighed, and then said. “Well, I was going to the square tunnel.” She nods as if he hadn’t said some completely obscure thing. Square tunnel? I thought tunnels were rectangular, but I could be wrong. “It's as we got into the town square, a boy was weaving mana.” Shankhe interrupts. “Leo.” He says in annoyance. Khaliff nods in acknowledgement. “Yes, Leo. Well, Taegan decided to approach the boy, and so I let them chat for a while, until a girl came, starting to say they would be late for the director’s training…..” He trailed off, and Fora just shook her head. “So all in all, you stuffed up.” Khaliff hung his head in disappointment and guilt, before Fora gestured for us to follow her.

  Y’know, I felt kinda betrayed, just a little when Khalifa lied to Leo, and maybe that’s why now I don’t feel 100% trusting and willing to follow Fora at this moment, but, as I look at Dalyva I knew two thins almost instantly. One was that she thought me as a leader, and if I didn’t follow Fora, she wouldn’t either, no matter how much she herself trusted Fira she trusted my judgement more, and two that she really, REALLY wanted to trust Fora. After all, as I guessed she would say, Fora wasn’t the one to lie to us, so we can trust her until she gives us reason not to.

  So, reluctantly, we follow her slowly. She leads us to an unsuspicious room in the house, and cautioned us away from a certain bit of the floor. We all avoid it as she proceeds to unlatch something, and lift the floor. Fucking gods that is cool! No one would ever suspect that! A hidden door behind a painting? Done before by hundreds. A hold in the floor somewhere under a piece of furniture, commonly a throne or chair that fully touches the floor like a couch? Also done before. However this?! Makes me wonder what’s their spesh are. I mentally shrug as Fora disappears into the inky darkness, and I follow not-so-hesitantly-but-hesitantly because who other than freaking scary murderers have basements this well hidden? Huh? ‘Anarchists and rebels.’ Whispers the clearly fun ruining sensible part of my mind.

  Shut up. I reply to it grumpily. Really knows how to crush ones dreams, your sensibility, it really does. And no one needs to know why I have dreams of being a murderer's basement. It is strictly for…. ‘It’s because they’re cool, interesting and most intensely spooky.’ A voice whispers. Research purposes. That’s it. Research purposes only. I huff at my other voice before focusing on the darkness. Was it always this dark? I then focus back to Fora as Shankhe and Dalyva descend, me having descended while lost in thought before. She grabs an unlit lantern on a table, lighting it in the streams of light coming from the opening into her house, before as she finishes the opening closes. Fuck, maybe she is a murderer, going to kill us in her basement in the lantern light. ‘No she's not.’ Says Mr Sensible over here. Shush, you, we don't need you running this wonderful moment for me. It's just like a creep story now…. I look back to Fora as she starts to speak.

  “Now, before you do anything.” She starts, and I only just realise that I have my grip on my weapons, Shankhe’s sword drawn, and Dalyva cowering behind me in her weapon-less state, though I reckon she could throw a couple mean punches even without a weapon.

  Fora puts her hands up, surrendering as the lantern near her illuminates her face and features. Her red hair is lit up by the lantern, and I can see her face is one hundred percent honest.

  You would think after this I trust her, but I’m not stupid. People can fake genuineness as much as ingenuity, and no one would be one the wiser. Preferably I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I really can't, especially when she’s given no reason to trust her facial looks. “Trust me not to do anything. I am going to lead you to a special room, one that poses no threat to you, so you do not need your weapons drawn.”

  Yeah, like telling us we don't need our weapons drawn is going to do anything. If anything, it’ll make me more likely to draw my weapons if I feel like I’m going to be cut in half or hurt. Now, if i was in her shoes I would’ve started explaining a long time ago, but you know. I internally shrug, before focusing back on where we are walking. The tunnel is arched at the top, 2 metres tall at the highest point, so thankfully tall enough for us, but when it gets low we don't struggle much, it's just the feeling that we are going to hit our heads, even though we aren’t.

  Well, Fora is the only one who has it easy, probably as she's about up to my chin in height, compared to Dalyva being up to my eyes, maybe a bit higher. Once we get to a door, I’m grumpy, but I dont show it, however Shankhe is frowning and grumbling in-presumably-Shafkan, something definitely related to Leo, and probably a dog or Fluran, given by how much he’s staring at the orb in his hands. Dalyva is somewhere in between, frowning a little but otherwise staying quiet, although I can tell she's annoyed by the lies and secrets and silence. I agree, it's annoying, but I’m waiting till they explain. Well, if they don't have an explanation I am sure all three of us are on the same page for what’ll happen.

  The door is ridiculously low as we spy it in the tunnel, and even Dalyva has to bend down a bit as she goes through the door. Of course, the door is tailored to Fora’s height, not ours. We duck in, and are greeted by a simple room, one with not many items in it. One the door side is a three person couch, in the middle a normal rectangular tea table (a coffee table here) with another three person couch on the other side.