Book release date: November 7, 2022, at 3:18pm

When the book was finished: Jan 13, 2023, 1:24pm

When the book was being written: October 18, 2022:)

Prologue:

Hi, my name is Ceder. Actually, people just call, and know me as Ceder. But my actual name is Twilight. I’m a fourteen year old  wood  elf. I will explain my story.

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I looked around the streets, next to a small campfire. Watching the rain, as it dropped from the sky, and listening as it fell onto the ground. My stomach was rumbling with hunger. My best friend, who is an animal, snuggled close to me. His name was Orlando. He was a polar bear dog…I put my hand on his head. When I heard a sound. I quickly whipped my head around. And saw a girl. She had pretty long hazelnut colored hair. She had sat down a few inches from me. She turned her head, and once she saw me, she smiled. She had a dark navy blue cloak on, and she had baby-blue eyes. 

    “Hi,” The girl said. I just stayed silent, unsure what to do. 

    “Do you want this?” She continued to talk. As she was talking, she put

her hand  in her cloak, and took it out a moment later and  what was in her hand was an apple. She held it out towards me. I took it carefully, and took a bite. 

    “My name is Innara, nice to meet you. What’s your name?” I kept quiet for a moment, then answered, 

“My name is Twilight.” I replied with a quiet voice. 

    “Well, nice to meet you, Twilight.” Innara said, giving a warm smile.

Chapter one. 

The start

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I paused, looking at the page that I just wrote. I looked up, and I sat there in the corner, looking around the wagon, with my hood down. I turned my head back towards my book, hearing the soft voices of people talking behind me. 

    “And you, miss? Do you do this often?” I heard someone say. I held the handle of one of my daggers, ready to attack, surprised by the voice. Then I noticed someone was talking to me. I looked up, and saw a half ogre, by the look of it. 

    “What do you mean?” I asked carefully. 

“Are you usually a bodyguard?” 

    “No.” I shook my head. “Oh, okay.” He walked off without another word. Now that's over with, I can get back to my book. I decided to put down my book, and I picked up a different book, and started to read from where I left off last time. It was a book about how to use my daggers better. Well, I’m pretty good, but I need to get better. My thoughts trailed away. Alright, we’re heading to the next city…so, I can get equipment after I finish this job, then I can ask around if they’ve…There was a loud sound, sounded like an alarm call. I whipped my head up, and saw goblins in the train. I jumped up, and pulled out my two daggers. A goblin came running towards me, yelling. I ducked, and stabbed him in the stomach as he jumped across me. He lay on the ground, still and limp. I knew he was dead. I turned around. I saw another goblin, and it was advancing on a guy called Bernard, from behind. I quickly strode over, and stabbed him in the back before he could hit Bernard, then the shoulder, he died. I ran up to Bernard, and saw he was fighting a hobgoblin. He tried to hit Bernard, but he dodged. I jumped, and sliced

him. I got safely back on the ground. The Hobgoblin turned around and hit me, knocking me into the ground. I jumped up, seeing Bernard slicing the Hobgoblin, and dodging all his attacks. Finally, it fell to the floor. I took a deep breath. I looked around, and saw Bernard running towards his sister, Luna Turkey. I followed him. He stopped. And sat down. Luna Turkey was next to a woman. She had blood coming out of her side. I looked around me, and I surveyed the area. No more goblins…good. But! Two carts are gone! I got angry at myself. The goblins must've gotten away. I should have gotten them! I turned on the two people and the woman, and pulled out a map. I opened it, and looked at it. Okay, so if they were here, they'd be heading this way…which is the way to…there they are! I can just tell–

    “We’ll await you in the city. I wish you luck on your journey.” One guy was saying. 

    “Are you going with us?” Bernard asked. I turned around to see Bernard Turkey, and Luna Turkey. “What?” I asked.

    “Are you coming with us to save the people?” He repeated. I thought

for a moment. Me? Go with you guys? Well, I guess I haven't got paid…

    “Well, I guess I have too. Not just to save the people though.” I replied. “Good enough. I’ll go ask Lucas then.” Luna strode away.

“In the meantime, how about you guys go rest?” I nodded, and I went back to the corner, and sat down where my books were. I grabbed a book, and my quill, and started to write;

    “Come on Twilight, you can do it.” Innara prompted. 

    “You sure?” I asked. 

    “Yes. Do you want the food, or not? Then, you need to go and get it.” 

    “Fine. Watch Orlando for me.” 

    I took a deep breath, and stepped out of my shelter and into the rain. I walked up to the stand carefully, making sure I wasn’t being watched. I stalked up right next to the stand, and I reached my hand over to the abbles, and took three. I put them in the cloak, and swiftly made my way back to Innara and Orlando. I gave an apple to Innara, and I threw one towards Orlando, and he jumped up and caught it in his mouth.

    “That was pretty good, Twilight…but you could have gone faster.” 

    “Really? Show me then.”

     I uncliped the thing that was keeping the cloak on me, and I gave Innara her cloak back. She nodded, seeming to accept the challenge. She put on her blue cloak, and dashed away, toward the stand, which was hidden in the shadows. Once she got there, she quickly took three more apples, and raced back, unseen. I watch her, amazed at her speed. Once she reached us, she gave a smile. She gave an apple to me, and let Orlando eat one out of her hand, and she patted his head. 

    “That was so cool! I’ll work on my speed, I promise.” 

    “Good.” Innara started to eat her apple. I bit into my second one…

    I put down the book, leaving the quill inside. I layed down, and fell asleep. 

    When I woke, the wagon had stopped. I got to my feet, and looked around to see what was happening. I saw Bernard and Luna Turkey talking. I walked up to them. 

    “Oh, you’re awake! Sleep well?” Luna asked, once she saw me. I shrugged my shoulders. 

    “Okay…We just arrived. So I guess we’ll have to go out.” Bernard said. 

    “I want to come with you guys.” A guy went on Bernard's side, a crossbow in his hands.

    “Who are you?” I asked. 

    “I’m Lucas. But I want to go with you guys.” He said. I shook my head. 

    “No, no, don’t come with us.” I protested. 

    “Why not?” Luna asked. 

    “Because, if he comes with us–and there are monsters to mention–he could get hurt! And I expect you guys don’t want him to get hurt, right?” “I’ll stay far away, okay?” “Everyone raise their hand if they want Lucas to come!” Luna exclaimed, then raised her hand immediately. Bernard, too, raised his hand. 

    “Great, two against one. We can go, no?” “Fine. He can come. But it’s not my fault, nor I will worry for him if he does get hurt. If he gets hurt, that's on him for choosing to go than rather stay in here,” I said darkly, as

I walked out of the wagon. 

    Once I got out, I saw a bush. I hid behind the bush, looking around. I saw hobgoblins and goblins. A goblin on a watchout tower, and another on a different tower. I heard a noise behind me. I looked behind me and saw a goat. 

    “What’s the goat doing here?” “He’s not the goat, his name is, “Arbor”, and he’ll appreciate it if you call him by his name.” Bernard objected. 

    “I’ll ask again. What is the goat doing here?”

    “He’s helping out,” Luna answered, the goat bleated. I did not answer back, I just gave a sigh. Bernard turned to a wolf. 

    “I’ll go after that goblin in the tower.” He said. He then ran away towards the closest tower. I stealthily walked around, keeping an eye on things. I saw the stolen cart with the hobgoblin next to it. There it is. Though, I saw the horse that was attached to the cart, was now in the firepit burning away. I went behind the hobgoblin, and stalked up to him. I then stabbed him in the back, he fell to the ground. He got up a moment later, and turned around to face me. As he raised his club to hit

me, I was ready to dodge. When suddenly, Luna came over my head and hit him, knocking him into the fire pit. He landed on the dead horse. She cast some kind of spell, and he started laughing really hard. 

    “That should hold him for a bit,” Luna said, looking at me. I just stayed silent, giving a slight nod of thanks. A goblin came from behind, about to hit  Luna in the back with his club. But I quickly ran behind her, and stabbed him in the side behind him before he could do anything. He hit me in the head. I quickly reacted automatically by doing a small backflip. I rested my hand on my head, it stung for a moment. Luna took her crossbow and shot the goblin in the head. He touched the arrow, and he fell to the ground with a thump and stayed still. I gave a little sigh of relief. I then saw Banard trying to jump on the watchtower in his wolf form. Great, that means one more watchtower to go. I made my way to the bush, next to the wagon. And I saw Lucas behind the bush, aiming his crossbow. I went over to him, and tapped his shoulder. 

    “Hey, buddy.” “Lucas!” He shook his head, and turned his head. 

    “I need your crossbow. If you give it to me, I can shoot that goblin

that's in the watchtower.” I said. Lucas thought for a moment. Then

He handed his bow over grudgingly to me, his face filled with uncertainty. I crouched down, peeking out of the bush and carefully set the bow, and aimed it towards the tower and the goblin deliberately. I then shot the crossbow, shooting the arrow out of it. The arrow flew high, and landed perfectly in the goblins head, knocking him down, and killing him. I loaded it back up again, and shot another towards a group of three goblins next to the fire pit. After killing the three, the Hobgoblin who was in the firepit got out. I quickly shot him, knocking him in again and he did not get back out. I handed the bow back to Lucas, and got to my feet. It seemed like the others did not get hurt, and it seemed that Bernard had killed the goblin in the other tower. I ran up to the other two who were next to a cave entrance by the looks of it, followed by Lucas.  

    “I found this entrance, a goblin tried to come in here. I’m guessing he was trying to warn his other friends,” Bernard told them.

    “Should we go in?” 

    “We have too. We still haven’t found Grotus” 

    “I think it’s going to be best if I stay out here. I’ll come with you guys, if you want. But I don’t think I’ll be much help, so instead, I’ll stay outside to keep watch for you guys,” Lucas offered. Arbor made some sort of sound.

    “Okay then. Arbor said he’ll stay out here with you. Good luck.” Bernard patted the top of his goat’s head. I walked inside the entrance, followed by the other two. The inside was a tunnel with water in it. There were doorways. 

    “Can we go in that one?” Luna asked, pointing at the doorway on our left. 

    “Why?” I asked. 

    “Because we still need to find Grutos, he might be in there.” Luna pointed out. 

    “Oh, yeah. I guess I must have forgotten.” I said sarcastically.

    “Well, now you know…let’s go.” Bernard said, walking to the doorway. I followed, shaking my head a bit. When we got in, the room was small. There were a couple of barrels who were piled together, and a goblin. The other two pulled out their weapons, and started to attack it. I swiftly

looked around, and I got an idea. I started to climb the barrels. Once I got to the top, I took out two of my daggers. I aimed it, and threw it towards the goblins head. It fell to the ground. I jumped off, and took my daggers back, and slid them in their sheaths. After, we went to the other room. Inside there were three goblins in beds that appeared to be sleeping. 

    “I got an idea,” I whispered. 

    “How about we go attack each of them at the same time?” 

    “That’s a good idea.” Luna agreed quietly. Her brother nodded in agreement. I went to the one in the very back. And I hit him with one of my daggers, and another one. Once the room was cleared out, I found a grappling hook. So, we continued to check the rooms. We went out of the place with the beds, and stared around. 

    “There's only three more rooms. Grutos must be in one of them,” Bernard thought for a moment, while Luna was walking around. After a few moments of waiting, I gave a yawn. 

    “Can we please get going?” I asked. 

    “Wait…Guys, I think I may have found something,” Luna said. 

    “What is it? Is it going to slow our mission down on saving this guy? Because I want to leave.” This place is creeping me out. I gave a small shiver. 

    “We’ll check it out after we check this room, okay?” 

    “No, we have to go now! I’m going to forget otherwise.” 

    “Fine, where is this place?” Bernard asked. Luna led us a little farther down the tunnel. She touched the wall, and began pushing it. 

    “Ta-da! Secret doorway.” She pushed the wall like a door, and it opened! Once we got inside, I glanced around.

    “Wow,” I said under my breath. The room that we were in was filled with gold. We had decided to gather up all of the gold, and split it. They each got a hundred gold. 

    “Guys! Come over here!” Bernard called. I strode over to him, curious. 

    “I heard of this. It’s a poison blade.” He said, holding up a normal looking dagger.

    “I don’t want either of these, who wants one?” “Can I have this one?” Luna asked, pointing at a dagger that was orange, and glowing a bit. 

    “Can I have it?” I asked. Well, I might try to ask…

    “No! I asked first. So I should get it,” Luna pointed out. 

    “Do you even know how to use daggers? Do you even have one?” 

    “In fact, I do.” Luna gave a nod of her head, and crossed her arms.

    I gave a heavy sigh, then said hesentitly, “Fine, I’ll pay my hundred gold for it.” 

    “And, Luna? What’s your price?” “Fifty gold coins.”

    “That's lower. So you can have the dagger.” Bernard said, handing me the glowing dagger. 

    “I found a sheath for it!” Luna said. I took the sheath from her, and put it on my side, and slipped the blade inside. Luna took the poison dagger. I gave my gold to Luna. 

    “Onward! Here we come, Grutus!” Luna marched out of the room, with her brother following behind her. I followed more slowly. The next room disgusted me. It had tables lined up, and a kitchen in the back. But what disgusted me was there was squishy stuff on the table, with flies swarming around it, and it looked moldy. There were three slimes on the

table, coming over to us slowly. 

    “Oh, I know what these are! These are called Creels. You use fire on them and they should die, but don’t use poison or acid.” Luna explained, and she took a fire torch from the wall, and whacked it on top of the three Creels and they melted. There were a few more Creel, but they got rid of them quickly.

    “Woah!” Luna raced up to something that seemed like an iceberg or something. 

    “There’s a mother Creel in here! We’re lucky that it’s in here because we would be dead, maybe.” Luna explained thoughtfully.

    “There’s something behind it!” Bernard announced. He walked towards it, and reached his hand through the crack. Next thing I knew was that the ice fell, and cracked, and it opened up!

    “Bernard! You cracked it!” Luna exclaimed loudly and angrily. Her brother seemed not to hear, only shocked because the big Creel was out. Bernard took his shortsword out, and hit the Creel. And Luna took her crossbow and shot the Creel. Bernard slashed the monster, and kept

hitting but eventually he got sucked inside of them. I thought for a moment. They're weakened by fire, eh? I took the sheath cover off, and took the dagger out. I looked down at it, and embers were flowing around it. I took it, and ran forward and hit the Creel with the fiery dagger. Luna produced a fire spell and hit it. It fell, melting away. Luna ran up to her brother, and looked at him. 

    “Good you’re safe. Come on.” “Wait! Hold on!” Bernard went inside the part with the kitchen in it. He came out a moment later, and he was wearing something. 

    “A freezing necklace! This will come in handy!” He grinned. 

    “Good for you. Can we please go now?” I asked impatiently. 

    The siblings nodded. I walked outside the door. We walked down the tunnel with the stream of water. Finally we reached the last two doors.

    “I’m going this way!” Luna pointed at the doorway on the left. 

    “Fine by me,” I said, while walking with my hands behind my head and yawning, heading to the door on the right. Bernard came to my side. 

    “What are you doing here? Aren’t you going with your sister, or

whatever?” “No. She wanted to go alone, saying that she wanted to do this “adventure” all alone, or something…or maybe that's my imagination. But on the bright side, I can keep you company!” He smiled as I stayed silent, unsure how to answer. When we walked inside, it looked like a water shrine. In the middle was an old lady holding something shiny. Bernard walked towards her. I surveyed the area carefully. Something is not right…I noticed the walls. There were people hanging up in chains, with a guy dead. And Grutus was hanging up too. I walked forward quickly, and took Bernard's wrist.

    “Bernard. Something is very wrong here.” I whispered. Bernard looked back at me. 

    “I’m warning you now, don’t go over there.” “Listen, you can’t tell me what to do. And you can’t make the decisions of what I do.” He jerked his wrist out of my hand. I’m trying to protect you, you knucklehead! Bernard went over, and looked. The old woman reached out swiftly, and grabbed his wrist. That’s not an old woman, that’s a Hag! 

    “Ooo! You’ll be perfect for my meal tonight!” It spoke in a gleeful voice.

I took one of my normal daggers and threw it at her face.

    “Oh? And a young wood elf? You shall be mine!” Berned hit her with his knife, which turned the water around them to ice. I casted a growing spell, and the roots made it way over to the hag, but she broke free.

    “You really think that you could cast those things on me?” It hissed, and cackled. She cast something, and the water spreaded and turned to goop. I started to breathe heavily a bit. This is poisonous water!? I took a dagger, and threw it. The Hag let go of Bernard’s wrist, howling in pain. I tried to move over, but the water was too hard to move in. I had to wade in the dirty water over to Bernard. I quickly reached over and took my two blades back, and hit the Hag with it. I took my fiery blade out, and hit the hag. She was casting spells that were making me weak, but I kept on hitting the monster. My vision was going blurry, I could barely see anything…Bernard looked damaged, his face had cuts and bruises on his face. He looked close to death. Come on, Twilight! You gotta beat them, and protect him! My vision had almost gone black, I felt very feverish and delirious as I tried to stay up on my feet. Bernard held his deep aqua

colored necklace and closed his eyes. He murmured something, and the whole room turned to ice. I couldn’t do it anymore, I fell on the ground, passing out and shutting my eyes closed. Before I did, I saw the Hag frozen in ice, and Bernard taking out his sickle and slammed it down, breaking the Hag into tiny pieces. He also fell down, and passed out…

Chapter two

Gnome & an old friend

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I opened my eyes. My head felt a little dizzy, but not as bad. I sat up. I saw Bernard sitting up, and looking around. 

    “I see you two are awake,” I turned my head, and saw Grutus talking. Luna came bashing through the door, and inside the wagon, as Bernard got to his feet. She gasped.

    “You’re awake!” Luna exclaimed, running towards her brother, and

bashing into him giving him a giant hug. 

    “I thought you would have died!” She cried. As the two were talking, I went up to Grutus. 

    “What happened?” I asked. 

    “Well, after you two passed out and defeated that Hag. Luna and I pulled you two back to the cart. We’re glad to see you alive,” He gave a big grin, putting his hand on my shoulder. I moved it as a reaction.

    “And good timing too. Because we reached Latheriom.” “Good! We can go!” Luna helped Bernard out of the cart, I followed. When we got into town, I stretched my arms over my head. Finally! 

    “Thank you for your bravery. And for you, I have the money for you guys as I promised.” Grutus said, he handed us each a hundred coins. I sighed. Now I can go. 

    “The fountain is over there. And there are carts, they travel in and out all the time. Uh, oh and the show is in five days.” I looked around, and I saw a random cart. I strode over there, Luna followed behind me. When we got there, the owner came to the front. 

    “How may I help you? Would you like to sell? Buy? I have potions, gems, and weapons.” He said.

    “I would like to sell these gems.” I said, taking gems that I got from the cave and I put them on the counter. 

    “And where did you get these?” 

    “You don’t need to know that,” I said firmly. 

    “Fair, fair, I don’t need to know everything about my customers.” He gave a crooked smile. 

    “I’ll give you twenty gold for all of them.” He offered. I looked at his face carefully. He’s not lying. I nodded. He gave me the gold. Behind his cart, I saw a man in a hood go behind a woman, and stab her in the back. And she wailed in pain. At this, there were a bunch of goblins who came out. The man in the hood ran away. I went behind the cart, and chased him. There was a wolf who ran past me and grabbed his leg and pulled him down. The man tried to get away, and he kicked the wolf in the nose, having it let go and dart away. I continued to run, and I took out a knife and threw it. I missed, and the man disappeared. After I took my knife

back, I headed back to town. Holding my knife, I threw it to the back of a goblin’s head who was attacking a person. I went to the old womens cart. I saw something in the fountain. It cast a spell, and I went half blind. I attacked the goblin who was next to me. When the spell wore off, I shook my head. As people were fighting, I went to a cart and took the jewels which were in there, and stuffed them in my bag. 

    “Halt!” A voice said a moment later. A guy in armor was holding a spear to me. Next moment I felt my hands being tied tight behind me. I got pushed to the ground. I looked behind me to see a person holding me down, and a rope in their hands. It looked like a gnome. A wolf growled at me.

    “What’s going on?” I asked. 

    “You just stole that woman's jewels!” The knight said.

    “No I didn’t! This is mine!” I lied. Just let me go! I thought as I tried to struggle out of the ropes.

    “Yes, yes. She was here protecting me!” The old woman said. 

    “Oh–well I’m terribly sorry miss.” The knight said. 

    “Let her go,” The knight said to the person who was holding me down. 

    “But–She’s a thief!” they said. 

    “Let her go.” The person untied me. I stood up. The person crossed her arms.

    “Did you steal the jewels?” The guard eyed the gnome. The gnome’s mouth fell open in shock, but closed it a moment later.

    “No! No, I didn’t! Why are you turning on me?”

    “Hold it! Hold it everybody!” A guy came by, he looked like a halfling.

    “And who might you be?” One of the guards asked.

    “Name’s Melrick. And I know for sure that Satara here wouldn’t steal!” Melrick said, gesturing towards the gnome.

    “And you’re Satara?” The knight asked the gnome. 

    “Yes.” 

    “Alright, I’ll let you guys go.” The knight said. “So. What happened? Tell us what occurred here. You, what happened?” He asked Satara. Satara explained her story. 

    “And you?” The knight asked me, when Satara was finished.

    “As she was saying, I was trying to catch the guy who was running away with the thing that he was carrying, to give it back to her–”

    “Actually! I’ve got something to say!” Bernard raised his hand. 

    “This is Arbor–” He gestured towards his goat.

    “I can understand him. And he says that she was lying and stealing the jewels,” Bernard pointed at me. I was kind of surprised that he just said that without hesitation. The guards looked confused. 

    “No, this miss is innocent.” One of them said, 

    “But if we catch you stealing, you’re going to jail,” The guy looked at me, I briefly nodded.

    “As for the rest. Aren’t you the traveling group that was supposed to perform here?” “Yes we are!” Luna exclaimed excitedly. 

    “Hmm. you’re just what we needed. I need you guys to stay in town for a couple days.” 

    “What?” I asked. 

    “We’ll be sending the captain to talk to you guys.” “Okay,” Satara nodded her head.

    “I can do that.” “Great. There is a place called The Dancing Rat, where you can stay for now. We’ll pay for meals, and two rooms. So you guys can talk amongst each other to figure out who will bunk together.” The guards left. Satara crossed her arms, and looked like she was pondering. 

    “I’ll go in with anybody…Just don’t put me in with the thief,” She quickly flashed me a disgusted look. 

    “That’s fine, because I didn’t want to go with you at all, gnome.” I hissed coldly.

    “Well, sorry Ceder, but I can’t go with you either, because Arbor doesn’t like you–” 

    “I’ll go with Satara! If it’s okay with you,” Luna decided, Interrupting Bernard.

    “Okay, that’s fine.” Satara gave a small smile.

    “I’ll take a different room.” I grunted.

    “Now that’s decided, let’s go!” We started to head towards The Dancing Rat. When we arrived inside, I saw a person up in front at the counter. We walked over there.

    “Ahoy there! M’ name’s Mouse. What can I do for you today? Would you like rooms?” A halfling asked. He was so short that he barely reached over the counter.

    “Ah. Yes, some guards are paying for two rooms for us.” Satara said.

    “Yes, yes of course.”

    “Actually, not for all of us. I’d rather have my own room,” I gave a quick look at the others. 

    “Ah, okay, you want your own bit of privacy, right? Well, let me see here.” He jumped off the stool that he appeared to be standing on, and had gone for a couple minutes, then came back. 

    “Well, there seems to be a room in the attic you could use.”

    “That’ll be fine, then.” I agreed. 

    “That’ll be one gold coin.” I gave a single gold coin to him. After we were all done eating, I went outside the tavern, and climbed the roof. I then sat down, and looked at the night sky. The pale moon was glowing brightly up ahead in the clear sky. I then opened my cloak and took out an ink bottle that was in one pocket, and I opened the lid. And set it

down, and took my book. And I took the quill that was resting inside, and dipped it inside the bottle, and started to write on the soft white paper. 

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The next morning, I woke up to the bustling of talking that came from downstairs. I moved the blankets off me, and got out of bed. I was in the small attic, there wasn't much there, except a desk with a chair, and a bed. I walked to the door, and down the stairs. I saw Bernard, Luna, and Satara at the counter, eating food. I didn’t feel too hungry, so I tried to go outside, but I got stopped by someone.

    “Excuse me. But you can’t go out there. I’ve been told to keep you and your friends in until the general arrives.” 

    “Those guys? Those guys aren’t my friends.” I said, looking back at them. 

    “You can’t go out he–hey!” He exclaimed, when I unexpectedly pushed through him, getting through the front door. 

    “You’re not supposed to be out here!”

    “And why not?” 

    “Because–I literally just said! You–Oh, they're here!” The guy stopped their ranting when a horse came through, with a person on top. The white horse walked until they reached close to me. 

    “Hey, wait up for us!” Luna yelled, and came running up to me, until she was by my side. Bernard and Satara were right behind her.

    “Oooo! You look important!” Luna said excitedly. The person got off the horse, and walked up. She put her hands up on her helmet that she was wearing, and took it off and held it. 

    “My name is Helai fortbreaker. I’m the captain Nice to meet you all,” The captain said. She had hair that went a bit past her shoulders, she also had hard amber eyes. 

    “Hello. Um, why did you want to see us?” Satara asked curiously.

    “I have a preposition for you four,” Helai said. 

    “And, what is it?”

    “As you have seen, yesterday there was an ambush. People have tried to attack, and even kill Mrs. Annie. And we think they might be from the Ishmaul cult.” She explained.

    “How’s that our problem?” I asked. The captain looked at me with an unamused look, then looked at everybody else. 

    “It’s your problem, because–The Ishmaul cult is very dangerous. So I’ll be willing to give you five thousand gold if you’ll find any evidence of them around.”

    “What kind of evidence do you need?” Luna asked.

    “Just something to prove that they left the town completely. I need you to bring the evidence here in seven days before the harvest festival, starting today. So what do you think?” Once she finished, everybody thought for a moment. Five thousand gold? Hmm. could be a trick.

    “Sure, I could do it.” I said. Everybody nodded in agreement.

    “Are we in agreement then?” 

    “Yes!” 

    “Spectacular. I’ll be back in seven days to check up on you.” The captain smiled, then put back on her helmet and got on her horse.

    “Farewell.” She rode her horse out of town. 

    “I think I remember seeing something that might help.” Satara said.

    ‘I’m going to check it.”

    “I’ll go with you!” Luna and Bernard followed behind Satara. 

I heard a sound. It sounded familiar…Could it be? I quickly walked over to the wall where I had heard the sound. And saw a bunch of people that had ropes in their hands. They were struggling to hold a polar bear. It is! Orlando! I then felt anger. They’re holding him down? How dare they. I marched up to the person who looked in charge of the people, and tapped him hard on the shoulder. He turned around. 

    “You’re holding down my polar bear!” I said firmly. 

    “Your polar bear? This is not your polar bear.” The guy looked like a dwarf. 

    “Yes he is. You don’t think I wouldn’t recognize him? He is too mine! His name is Orlando! And he doesn’t like what you are doing to him!” I yelled. Orlando seemed to hear me, because he tried to struggle out of the ropes and move towards me, but it was no use, the people pulled down and he fell to the floor. Without saying more to the dwarf, I ran up to my

polar bear and tried to cut the ropes with my knife. 

    “What are you doing? Are you insane?” Orlando tried to push out, and hit the ropes, he scratched me on the arm. I ignored it. 

    “Orlando, it’s me, you got to calm down,” I said in a soothing voice. Orlando stopped thrashing, and seemed to notice me, and calmed down and made a happy calm sound in his throat. 

    “Huh, I guess he’s yours then, sorry miss. You guys can let him go!” The dwarf yelled to the other guys, they let the ropes down and let Orlando free. 

    “Well, seeing you around,” I watched as they left. I turned back on Orlando. You’re not hurt. You’re safe, I’m so glad, I thought as I hugged him tightly. 

     I was about to head over to the tavern, when I heard a whistle, And it sounded like it belonged to Bernard. Orlando started to walk towards the noise. 

    “Wait up!” I followed behind him quickly. I followed him until he stopped by the fountain near the entrance out of town.

“Hey! It actually worked!” Bernard said. I walked up to them. 

    “Ummm–Ceder? Behind you,” Luna said, and slowly pulled out her weapon. 

    “What?”

    “There’s a polar bear behind you,” Satara whispered. I looked behind me.

    “That’s Orlando, my polar bear,” I explained.

    “That’s your polar bear? You can’t keep a polar bear, that’s just insane,” Satara objected, shaking her head.

    “And why not? I had him all my life, and he hasn’t done anything wrong.” 

    “First of all, It’s a polar bear, one of the most dangerous bears–”

    “That’s perfect, then,” I interrupted.

    “Second, his kind is known to be killer animals,” Satara continued talking.

     “Well, he isn’t! He hasn’t harmed anyone at all! And what about your wolf that you always have with you? That’s a killer right there.”

    “His name is Kiba, and he’s been trained–” Satara was interrupted by Luna.

    “Stop fighting!” Luna stood between them, with her arms stretched out. 

    “Listen, you have your wolf, and Ceder has her polar bear, which has not harmed anyone. So stop fighting. But one question, can I please pet him?” 

    “If he’ll let you, I guess.”

    “Guys. I think you guys forgot why we called her over here.” Bernard said. 

    “Yeah, I’m listening. You’re so soft,” Luna squeaked, while petting Orlando. Satara sighed. 

    “We found this hole under the fountain,” She said. I walked over to the edge of the fountain, and there was no water in it except for a hole with a ladder. 

    “We’re going down here.”

    “I’ll come too. Orlando, you can stay here and keep watch.” After

everyone was set, I said goodbye to Orlando and went into the fountain and down the ladder. When I got to the bottom, it seemed like we were all in a sewer. We started to follow the tributary.  

    “I love your polar bear, Ceder! He’s so sweet and cuddly!” Luna squealed.

    “I guess he likes you. He doesn’t like most people.” Kiba gave a growl.

    “Hey, I meant to ask yesterday, what’s that?” Satara asked, pointing at the sheath that was on my hip. 

    “It’s my dagger. It glows though, and I don’t know why,” I said thoughtfully. 

    “It glows?” 

    “Yeah,” I took the orange dagger out of the sheath, and examined it closely. Satara gasped.

    “You got a Blade Of Burning, it’s rare, I think maybe it’s rare,” She explained in an amazed voice. 

    “Hmm…” 

    “Umm, guys? What’s that?” Bernard pointed ahead. I looked to where

he was pointing, and saw a swarm of rats coming. They came, and swept us aside. I took one of my normal daggers, and sweeped it across the rats knocking them away and killing them. I saw Luna using a spell, and Bernard was trying to do something I didn't really understand. Satara tried to shoot the rats with her arrows and bow, while her wolf Kiba tried to bite them. I was so distracted that another swarm of rats ran up to me and knocked me into the water, where I couldn’t get out of. They were pushing me under the water so I couldn’t get up. I could barely hold my breath, I was drowning! The rats ran away from me. I just was able to manage to pull myself above the water. I coughed. My hair was plastered to my face. I waded across the dirty water, and pulled myself to the side, and layed down. I coughed again. That was a close one, I thought.

    “Hey, get up!” I looked up and saw Satara, who was looking down at me. 

    “It’s time to get up, we still need to go down. Are you too tired from getting beaten by little rats?” She said in a challenging voice.  

    “I am not tired. And I did not get beaten!” I replied firmly, as I got

unsteadily up to my feet. My arm was bleeding a bit. I must have cut it, I thought. I held my arm with my hand, and looked around. 

    “Hey guys! He has agreed to take us where he has seen other humans!” Bernard called.

    “And who might be this ‘he?’” Satara asked. 

    “Big rat,” Bernard answered, showing them a large rat.

    “Big rat? Who on earth decided on that name?” I asked. Bernard thought for a moment. 

    “He did.” I decided to reply to that, instead I gave a sigh. We started to walk a little further in the sewer. Eventually we reached a big door. Satara went forward, and tried to open the door, but it didn’t budge. 

    “It’s locked.”

    “Hold on, I have something that might help,” I crouched next to the door and took out something, and put it on the door. I started to pick lock the door. And soon I felt the lock unclick and then I pushed the doors open afterwards.

    “It’s opened! Way to go Ceder,” Bernard praised, passing me. 

    “Yeah! That was cool, I didn’t know you could pick locks,” Luna smiled, following behind her brother. Satara just followed them without a word, Kiba followed.

    “Your welcome,” I said under my breath, As I got up on my feet and walked through the door. Inside was a table and paper on it, chests, shelves with potions on it, and the whole room was lit by candle torches that were on the wall. There were also people around, but they seemed not to notice us. Satara crouched down and picked up the sand that appeared to be on the ground, and then looked at it and tilted her hand so it would fall back onto the ground. 

    “They must have just gotten here a little bit ago,” She whispered. 

    “Why does that matter? We just need to catch these guys. I’m going for that guy,” I pointed at the guy who was closest to me. 

    “Okay, in that case, I’ll go for that guy,” Satara said uneasily, but I had no idea who she was pointing at because I’ve already left. I was close to the ground, stalking up using the stuff around me to keep me hidden. When I reached the guy, I took my fire dagger and hit him with it. At that

attack, two more people came with their weapons in their hands. I got surrounded! An arrow came flying and almost hit me, but I dodged and it striked one of the people who got hit in the face. Two more arrows quickly flew by and hit the person, and he fell and didn’t get up. Kiba came up, and bit one of the people. I helped him, and slashed them with my knife. He fell. I saw two more people by the table who were trying to get away. One person was in a cloak, and one in armor. I ran to catch up to them, but when I got there they had already left through the hole that was in the wall, and it had been blocked up. No! Next thing I knew, there was a huge explosion. I had fallen to the ground. My body had been hurting. I opened my eyes a couple of seconds later, and the room was destroyed. The shelves with the potions on it were all broken. All the chests were destroyed. I got up. My head was dizzy, and my arm that was bleeding from before was bleeding even more. My face had a few cuts on it. I still was next to the blocked up room. I took out my daggers, and slashed the rock but it didn’t do anything. No, no. It can’t be blocked up! I let them go? I heard a sound. I turned around, and saw Kiba on the

ground. He seemed to be breathing hard, and his body had blood on it. Luna was next to him, using her healing spell. I walked up to the table that was in the room, and surprisingly the papers from before weren’t destroyed. I picked up the papers, and looked at them. 

    “Did you find something?” Satara bounded over. 

    “Yeah. I found these papers, they weren’t destroyed. The other two people escaped, though. But these paper’s seem like a list of stuff they bought. Here,” I handed the papers to Satara, and I watched as her eyes scanned through them. 

    “It says that they bought them from all around town, and a person named ‘piscesfish’ bought them–” Satara was saying, but looked at a different page and gasped. She just handed them back to me, and I looked. On the paper was a map of the town, and in places were crossed out in a marker. 

    “These must be places where they attacked already…Because they attacked Mrs. Annie here…” Satara said thoughtfully. 

    “This could be evidence,” I said.

    “We need to get out of here. Hey guys, we need to go,” Satara called to the others. 

    “Okay!” Luna called. 

    “But look what I found! A book! I’ll study it later,” Luna was holding a brown book. When they left, and up the ladder they had arrived to see a couple of guards. 

    “Is everything alright? We heard an exploding sound,” One asked. 

    “Yeah we’re alright,” Satara assured them. 

    “Is that a book that you’re holding? Would you mind if we keep a hold of it for later?” One of them asked. Luna looked unsure, and thought for a second. She then flashed me a fast look like she was saying; Don’t let him have this! I came up with an idea.

    “This book that she’s holding is an enchanted book, and Luna is the only one who can read it.” I lied. 

    “That makes sense,” The other guards nodded in agreement. 

    “If you wish.” Orlando came behind me, and nudged me a bit. I patted him on the head, and gave a small smile to see that he was okay. 

    “I’m going to check up on Mrs. Annie,” Satara announced. 

    “I might as well go too,” I nodded. 

    “Don’t forget about me!” Luna said happily. I followed behind the two, keeping watch. When we reached Mrs. Annie’s house, we found a guard at the house. 

    “Excuse me, but we would like to see Mrs. Annie,” Satara said politely. 

    “Mrs. Annie is not taking any visitors,” The guard said.

    “We just wanted to ask her a few questions.” 

    “Okay, fine. But if you're lying you will be sorry,’ The guard said, then walked in the house, and walked back out, saying that it was okay if we headed in. Mrs. Annie was standing there. 

    “Oh! You must be the ones who have saved me, nice to see you again,” Mrs. Annie greeted. She looked terrible, pale, and frail,

    “But I must ask, why would you want to see an old woman like me?” 

    “Well, we wanted to ask you a few questions. First of all, I heard that a necklace got taken away from you? Where did you get the necklace? Was it important?” Satara asked. 

    “The necklace was important to me, because it was from my mother who gave it to me.”

    “Alright. Did you know why the people tried to take it away? Did it have any…Magical properties on it, perhaps?” 

    “I don’t know why the people tried to take it away from me. It didn’t have any magic of what I knew.”

    “And you said it belonged to your mother?” Satara kept asking in a sweet and gentle voice.

    “Yes, it did, it was given by my father,'' the old woman replied. 

    “Ah, did your father have any enemies, maybe?” 

    “Not that I know of.”

    “Umm…If you don’t mind me asking, how did he die? How about your mother’s enemies?”

    “My father had died in a battle. My mother had died a long time ago, but no one disliked her.”

    “How did she die?” 

    “We didn’t know how she died, but we did find a little slit in her neck

when we found her body,” I thought for a moment. Little slit? What weapon could have made that? 

    “What shape was this slit? Did it look like a weapon who made it?” I asked. The woman's face looked angry. 

    “Look, I'm sorry that I was unable to help, and I have no idea why you want to know so much about my mothers death. But I’ll appreciate it if you would go,” Mrs. Annie said. 

    “But–” Satara was going to say something, but got interrupted.

    “You heard her. Out, out!” The guard said, and kicked us outside. 

    “I think we may have found something,” I said, Satara nodded in agreement. The sky was getting dark, so we headed to The Dancing Rat. I grabbed some food, and went outside, and fed half of it to Orlando. And I layed down next to him, and closed my eyes, and I soon fell asleep. 

Chapter three

The Warehouse

—----------------------------------------------------------------------

“We only have six days left. And I think we should go here, at the priest’s place like I said.” Satara mentioned, pointing at the map. 

    “I want to go to a magic shop and get something. Besides, they’re not open,” Bernard pointed out. 

    “In that case. Let’s go to the magic shop,” Satara said with a sigh. Luna gave a small clap with her hands. I followed behind as they started walking, with Orlando beside me. Eventually we reached the magic shop, It looked as big as an alleyway, and it was between two other houses. We walked in. Inside, It looked a lot bigger. We all walked to the counter. Satara hit a small bell that was on the counter, a moment later a little gnome popped up.

    “Hello, welcome. Can I get you anything?” She asked.

    “Uh, yes. Do you by any chance have a Bag Of Holding?” Bernard asked politely. 

“You’re a lucky one, because we do! Those are very rare, indeed,” The gnome said, as she disappeared behind the counter, and came back out. 

She held a purple bag with green strings hanging off of it. 

    “Is this what you're looking for?”

    “Yes, exactly,” Bernard agreed with a smile on his face.

    “Fifty gold for this one.” Bernard gave her the money. 

    “Anything else, dears?” I moved closer to the counter, and thought for a moment. 

    “Do you have a Cloak Of Holding? A black one preferably?” If I am correct, the Cloak Of Holding will have pockets inside of it…If I could get a black one though…

    “Does this suit your liking?” The gnome brought out a pure black cloak, having the inside a very dark blue interior. 

    “That’s perfect.”

    “It’s five hundred gold.” I don’t have that much though! Aha, I've got an idea.

    “Okay I don’t have that much, but thanks anyway. Oh, I really like your

bell, it’s very little,” I said, and smiled. Please believe me.

    “Why, you're very kind, dear. My great Grandfather gave me this bell,” The gnome smiled back.

    “What was his name?”

    “Hmm…His name was Azymondias, he died a few years back, but he was one of the very good ones.” I tilted my head, trying to keep the smile on my face. 

    “I was mistaken…This is two fifty gold. You know what, everything in this store is half off for you and all of your friends here.” The gnome said. 

    “Sadly, I don’t still don’t have enough for the cloak. But it’s very lovely, I’m sure it’ll sell soon,” I said, as I gave a sigh to myself in my head. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head, and saw that Satara was the one who tapped me. 

    “What do you want?” 

    “I’ll help you buy it, if you want,” She offered.

    “Really?” I did not believe her. 

    “For one condition…If you let Kiba bite you once, I'll lend you the

money,” She said. I sighed. Of course this would come for a price. I nodded in agreement, and a moment later, Kiba bit me in the leg, I gave it a quick rub after. Satara handed me the money, and I bought the cloak. 

    “Anything else?”

    “We’ll take a look around the store, if you don’t mind,” Luna replied. 

    “Well hurry up, I’m going to be moving my store.”

    “What do you mean by that exactly?” Bernard tilted his head to the side a bit, looking confused. 

    “I move my store from time to time. And you’re wasting time,” She said. While everybody browsed around the store, I stayed behind. I took off my black cloak, having my hair fall to my shoulders, the light was bouncing off of it. I quickly folded it, and put it in the crook of my arm as I took the pure black one and unwrapped it, and put it over my shoulders and the hood on. I looked down at my other cloak, and saw that it had faded into a dusty black as I've worn it for years. I noticed I'd have stared down at it for minutes, rubbing the side of it slowly, now noticing what I was doing I had stopped and looked up. I saw that the other people have done their

shopping, and are now buying them. Bernard seemed to get a spoon, Luna got a Cloak Of Holding too, and Satara got some black gloves by the looks of it. The gnome shooed us out of the store. Orlando greeted me happily when I got outside the door. 

    “The store disappeared!” Luna exclaimed. Confused on what she meant, I turned behind me. She was right, the store had disappeared, and now it looked like a normal alleyway between two houses.

    “Huh, that’s what she meant,” Satara said, Luna smiled. 

    “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to the Warehouse, and I bet they are going to be open,” Satara announced. 

    “I’ll go!”

    “Count me in,” Bernard looked at me, “Are you coming too?”

    “Why not? I’ve got nothing better else to do.”

    “Great, lead the way.” The others started walking, I got on Orlando and he followed them. After a while, we reached the place, or I could just see it in view. I saw a guy up front, and he was grabbing a guy by the shirt.

    “Tell me right now!” He was saying to the guy.

    “I promise you that I don’t know! Just please let me go,” The other guy pleaded desperately. The guy seemed to notice we were watching him, and he threw the guy to the side, and marched up to us. 

    “You guys must be the group that got assigned to find the people who are part of the Ishmaul group.” The guy seemed like a fighter. He had swords on his side in sheaths.

    “Uh, yes, we’re called The Mice, and who might you be?” Satara asked. 

    “I happen to be from the champions,” The fighter replied.

    “Who are they?” She continued to ask. 

    “They are the most capable group in this town, I don’t even know why they hired you in the first place.” 

    “Huh, really? And do you have a lead?” Satara asked in a pointedly voice. 

    “Yes, we do.” Satara tilted her head.

    “Are you absolutely sure? Because it doesn’t look like you know much,” She pointed out. After she said that, the fighter guy punched her in the face. I was surprised, I kind of expected her to cower back or something,

but instead she stood still with her head high. There was a glint in her eyes, like she figured out something. 

    “Soo what you’re saying is that you could win this competition, right? Okay then, answer this, how much do you know about the cult, then?” Oh, I get it! I thought. Trying to bait him in telling us. Smart. 

    “Well, we do know that they might be holding hostages in this Warehouse,, But I’ll never tell you that!” He exclaimed. Satara raised an eyebrow, and gave a small smile. Well, you’re a dummy, I thought. 

    A person came from behind the fighter, and hit him hard from the back of the head. They came up on the side. 

    “I’m ever so sorry for my companion here for bothering you. He won’t be anymore. And, who are you?” She asked. 

    “We’re the mice. And I suppose you’re part of the companions group?” 

    “Yes I am. I’m Ophilea, but we better get going and back home. But, I am warning you now, back out of this mission, it’s the champions who are winning this thing,” Ophilia said darkly. But she changed it to a light soft tone, and said, “Well bye-bye.” And she walked away, followed by the

fighter guy. Orlando gave a quiet growl.

    “Well, now we know that,” Luna said, as I watched the other two walk away. 

    “But, there’s guard up front, to the warehouse,” Bernard announced.

    “Any ideas on how to pass him?” He asked. 

    “Ooo, me! I’ll distract him with my juggling, or cartwheeling!” Luna suggested, as she raised her hand into the air. 

    “That won’t work. How about I knock him out from behind?” I asked thoughtfully.

    “We want to pass him without him noticing us, not knock him out or kill him, Ceder! We want to do something like go up the fence or something,” Satara explained. 

    “Okay, just an idea,” I muttered angrily under my breath.

    “I think he may have noticed us though,” Bernard said. I looked where he was pointing, and saw the guard coming up to us. 

    “What are you guys doing over here?” He asked firmly. 

    “Oh–um, we were just admiring your armor, and we were just talking

about coming and asking you where you got it from,” Satara lied. Are you serious? He’s not going to believe that! The guard stared at all of us with a weary look on his face, after a minute or two he gave a grin.

    “Why, thank you! I got it from this guy named Melrick,” He explained.

    “Melrick? Oh hey, I know that guy!” Satara nodded.

    “You do? Oh, you must be that person who sells him the rabbit pelts. But, yeah, he’s a great guy!” The guard went back to his post a minute later. 

    “Oh, I got it. We’ll sneak past him.” I suggested. 

    “We should wait until later in the evening, though,” Bernard said.

    “Good thinking, back to The Dancing Rat then,” Luna said. I got on top of Orlando and we both headed back to the tavern. When we got there, everyone started to head in, as I got off Orlando 

    “Are you coming?” Luna asked, while she stood right out of the doorway. 

    “No,” I said briefly, taking my hood off, shaking my head. Luna then walked inside. Orlando layed down near the entrance, and I sat down

with him, I gave him a quick pet on the head. I took my book from my cloak, and the ink bottle. I opened the lid to the bottle, opened the book and took the quill. I then dipped the quill in the ink bottle, lifted it, and the end was covered in black. I wrote on the paper;

    Orlando’s head was resting on my lap, as we sat in the shadows. 

    “Twilight!” I heard Innara say. 

    “Hmm?” 

    “I’ve finished your surprise, stand up real quick,” She said. Orlando lifted his head up, looking tired. I got up on my feet. I turned around and saw Innara, she was in her navy blue cloak with her hood down. Her blue eyes were showing excitement, while her hair looked kind of messy. 

    “What surprise?” I asked curiously, feeling confused. Innara looked at me like I was crazy.

    “You seriously forgot? You know, the surprise I’ve been working on for ages?” I thought for a moment. 

    “Oh yeah! I remember now! You wouldn’t tell me what it was…What is it though?”

    “Okay, I’ve been searching for the perfect one and I think you’re going to like it, hopefully…Ta-da!” Innara had pulled a black cloak that looked like hers, it had the clip thingy too, and on the bottom it had dark purple stitching that overlapped making it look like waves kind of. I cupped my hands over my mouth, surprised. 

    “Is that really going to be mine?” I squeaked.

    “Yup! Since you’re with me now, I thought you could use your own, and not have to keep borrowing mine,” Innara said. 

    “Thank you! “ She handed me the cloak, and I put it on

    “How do I look?” I asked shyly. 

    “Perfect! It looks like it fits you perfectly! I’ve been searching for a while, for a very nice one too. You like it?” 

        “I love it so much!” Innara laughed, I laughed with her. She beamed at me.

I looked down at the page and read what I’ve written. Some tears filled my eyes, and came running down my cheek. I wiped them away. No, don’t feel bad, don’t you feel bad for that…Traitor! She betrayed you, she doesn’t deserve your pity, I thought as my hands started to tremble a bit, feeling resentment, and anger that I was feeling this way. I got the tears out of my eyes and off of my face, and I slammed the book close, and put it into my cloak along with my ink bottle. I got up and put my hood on, and went inside the tavern, and saw the others. I sat on a stool.

    “Hi Ceder, long time no see,” Bernard greeted. I just raised my hand up slightly for an acknowledgment, and put it back down. I got some food, and started eating. 

After it was evening, we made our way to the Warehouse again.

    “Okay, Orlando, I want you to go hide, I’ll get you when it’s all over,” I said to my polar bear, as I slid off of him. He gave a slight nod, and left. 

    “Are we distracting the guard with juggling and cartwheeling, if we see

him?” Luna asked. 

    “No, we’re sneaking, not doing tricks, remember?” I told her. 

    “Good idea, but the juggling or the cartwheeling thing could have worked, too” Luna said as she turned herself invisible.

    “Luna, don’t do that! Well, I guess we’ll go with it,” Bernard said. We tried to sneak past the guard, and luckily, it worked. We reached the entrance to the Warehouse. Luna turned herself visible, and peeked inside the Warehouse. 

    “Looks like the champions are inside, fighting some monsters,” She reported. 

    “Alright, do we want to go in, just in case there are hostages in here? Just raise your hand if you do,” Satara asked. Both Luna and Bernard raised their hands in agreement, I left mine down. Everyone started to sneak inside, while I stayed outside. I saw Satara go behind some stairs, I lost track of where Luna and Bernard went. I peeked around the corner, and saw lines of barrels. I then saw the person from earlier that day, named Ophelia, getting surrounded by monsters. I took one of my

normal daggers and threw it and it landed in its head. I snuck in, getting behind the line of barrels. I heard something moving from upstairs, I quickly took one of my normal daggers, and threw it at the other monster that was about to attack Ophilia. I looked at the other side of the Warehouse, and saw people fighting the monsters, some getting bruised and damaged. Okay. Time to go! I thought to myself. I quickly strode to the entrance at the back of the building, unseen, and went through the door. Satara came out a moment later, and she seemed to notice me.

    “What are you doing out here?” She asked.

    “I am not going to get caught if there is a raid. What are you doing out here?” I returned the question firmly. 

    “I have a Hunter’s Mark, I got to follow this before it runs out, so I’m going to go,” She explained.

    “I’ll come with you.” Satara started to run one way, I followed close behind. Satara stopped, I stopped and stood behind her. I saw a guy up ahead with other people, he stared at us for a moment then gave a creepy smile. He disappeared along with his group. And they were

standing in a red circle that had symbols also. It started to raise up into the air, and it glowed dark red.

Chapter four

Evidence destroyed

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I stared up at the circle, thinking. What could that be? I thought. Then I figured it out. I shook Satara’s shoulder briefly. 

    “That’s a summoning circle, it’s going to summon something,” I explained quickly. Satara thought for a moment, then turned around and ran. 

    “Wha–Hey! Don’t you leave me behind!” I yelled, I followed her. She ran all the way back to the warehouse. As I was running, I got my notebook out really quickly, and wrote down the symbols swiftly. It’s messy, but it’ll do, I thought. When we got there, it had gotten darker. We went inside the building. Inside, Bernard seemed to be arguing with some guy, I didn’t know where Luna was.

    “I’ll be right back,” Satara said, and left. I saw the fighter guy that I saw 

earlier. Maybe I can talk to him and try to get information out of him…He seems like a huge halfwit. I walked up to him. 

    “Hey you, what’s your name?” I asked bluntly. The fighter guy looked really angry once I asked that. 

    “What? You don’t know my name? But I’m part of the champions! My name Primus, and you will remember my name, got it?” He replied.

    “Okay, I promise,” I lied, nodding my head. I promise not to remember. 

    “So, the Champions is the group you belong to?” I asked. Primus nodded his head.

    “And, who’s the leader of your group, Ophilia?” 

    “I’m the leader of the group,” Primus said confidently. I tilted my head. 

    “Oh, sure! You’re the leader,” I said sarcastically. 

    “I am, though!” He said.

    “Sure, whatever you say. Who hired you then?” I asked.

    “It so happens to be Lord Armu, himself–!” He was saying, and that was when Ophilia came up and smacked him in the back of his head, and pulled his ear. 

    “I said already, don’t give any information to other teams, you idiot,” I heard Ophilia whisper in his ear. 

    “I’m very sorry about my companion, again,” She said to me. 

    “That’s okay. Who is the leader of your group? Is it him?” I asked, pointing at Primus. 

    “By unfortunate choices, yes, he is technically our leader, he was the one who brought us here,” Ophilia answered.

    “Hmm, okay. What–” I started, but got interrupted.

    “Oh, well, look at the time, we really should be going,” Ophilia said quickly. 

    “But–”

    “Ta-da!” Ophilia left, still holding Primus’s ear. Okay…Well, at least I know something. After a bit, we decided to leave. 

    “What are you going to be doing again?” Satara asked.

    “I’m going to stay behind here, and look around, see if we missed anything,” Luna explained.

    “Okay, just stay safe,” Bernard said. We all left, leaving Luna behind. We

arrived at The Dancing Rat, and we were eating food. After a while, Luna came through the door. She looked terrible; Her hair was kind of burnt, and she was all wet. 

    “You okay, Luna?” Bernard asked his sister, anxiety in his voice. 

    “I’m fine, but there’s something that happened at the warehouse. It’s gone,” She said. 

    “What? What do you mean that it’s gone?” Satara asked. 

    “After you guys left, I was looking around, and there was a guy who came. So I hid in one of the barrels, and he opened his cloak that he was wearing, and he said something strange, like; “Too bad this one will be gone too, can’t keep them all.” Or something similar to that. And he opened his cloak, and these fire things came out, they looked like serpents. And they came out and set the warehouse on fire! I ran upstairs, and I took some bottles of water that I found, and jumped out of the window that was up there. I mean, you should have seen me, I performed the flip perfectly, And rolled onto the ground flawlessly, but that’s not the point. I barely escaped, and the warehouse is gone, burnt

to the ground,” She explained. Bernard looked relieved. 

    “Well, at least you didn’t get hurt,” He smiled.

    “Hmm, this person could be a lead,” Satara said thoughtfully. 

    “Well, while you guy’s are figuring that out, I’m going to go to sleep,” I announced. 

    “Okay, night,” Satara said thoughtfully, not really paying any attention. I went upstairs to the attic, and opened the door. I went on the bed and layed down, and closed my eyes, and I fell into a fast sleep. 

Chapter five

The shadows of the void

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When I woke up, I went downstairs to see everyone, they were talking. I looked out the windows, and the outside was covered with thick, white fog. I stared at it closely. That isn’t natural…I realized where we were. We’re in a different plane! I saw people try to walk out of the entrance but returned through a different entrance. I saw people panicking, quickly picking up their stuff. I turned back around to face the others. I then saw someone come through the door, who looked familiar.

    “Oh, goody, you’re back,” I said sarcastically under my breath. It was Helai Fortbreaker. 

    “What are you doing here? And how did you get here?”

    “I walked. But, as you can notice the fog outside, it’s not normal. When people try to get out they always come back in. So no one can leave,” The captain started to explain.