A Second Chance

When I wake up I realize I must have been seeing things or maybe it was a dream, because Zarek is sitting down in the room.

"You awake?" Zarek asks

"Yeah," I look a Lyra, "not sure about her"

"Write a note telling her we'll be back and come with me" Zarek tells me

"Why?" I ask as I grab a piece of paper

"Just do it"

"Ink and thought, as one align, Words take form by will of mine. Let this parchment now reveal, What my mind dares to conceal. Letter " I say casting a writing spell.

"Come now"

Zarek and I leave the room and he guides me to an empty open area in the city.

"Here take this" Zarek says throwing my a wooden sword "I want to see your swordsmanship".

Before I can respond he lunges at me and I barely but poorly block his swing and get thrown onto the ground. As soon as I hit the ground I get back up and attempt to cast a spell but he attacks again before I get the chance.

"No magic" he says as our swords clash with his eyes staring deeply and emotionlessly into mine.

Zarek spins his sword against mine and gets past it and stops it centimeters before my neck. "You're weak"

"Yeah, I know. I didn't get to learn much from my father since I plateau'd"

"What rank was he?" Zarek asks

"He said he was Knight Rank" I answer

"How old are you again?" Zarek questions

"I'm 13" I explain

"13? That makes sense, still growing" he says. "I'm going to teach you, so you can protect Lyra. Let's head back."

"Okay, thank you." I say

"Let's head back before Lyra starts worrying" Zarek says.

We head back to the Inn and find Lyra awake reading the note.

"Good morning sleepyhead" I say

"Oh welcome back, how long were you two out for?" Lyra asks

"Not long" I answer

"How long do you two wish to stay here?" Zarek questions

"I'd like to leave as soon as possible" I answer

"Same here the sooner home, the better" Lyra agrees

"Then I'll be back, I'm going to buy some food and supplies and then we'll be off" Zarek says as he leaves the room to leave Lyra and I alone.

It's a bit of silence for a while then Lyra asks me a question. "What were you two doing?"

"He wanted to test my swordsmanship" I answer

"Did he compliment you?" Lyra asks

I chuckle and say, "not at all, he said I was weak"

"That's not fair! You're decades younger than he is"

"He's not wrong though, I'm much better in magic than swordsmanship." I explain

"Still" Lyra says pouting slightly "he's mean"

"Why would he be nice?" I ask, "he's a demon who has to take care of two bratty teenagers"

"I guess so..." Lyra says.

"Hey, he said he'll teach me the sword until we get home" I say

"Really?" Lyra asks

"Yeah, he's not that mean." I say

Lyra and I talk about random stuff and our. Childhood in Ravendale. Remembering Emma's 5th birthday. After about an hour Zarek shows back up with a bunch of stuff.

"Sort through this stuff and put it in your bags" he says

We spend a small amount of time splitting the stuff equally to strength. We then head out of the city, after a few hours we see a someone walking towards the us.

Once he gets close enough he speaks "Have you seen anyone who may have gotten taken by a purple mist? I'm part of a search party for the town of Linken."

Zarek looks at me waiting for me to say something. "No sir, there may be some in the town, but we're just travelers" I say

As the man acknowledges he leaves us behind then Zarek asks me "Why did you tell him you weren't a victim?"

"I've never heard of a town named Linken, either it's really far away from Ravendale or it's fake and he's trying to kidnap people." I say "The mist didn't move very fast so I don't see why it would be so far gone by now to a town I've never heard of",

"That makes sense" Lyra joins in "You had the suspicion that they weren't good people, and were using the mist as a lure for missing people"

"Exactly that" I say

"You get smarter by the day" Zarek says patting my head.

After that encounter we keep moving again and run into a couple people traveling as well not much happens. Once every few days we may run into a monster but Zarek easily takes care of it. Until one day, when we're in an oasis town. A older lady comes up to us crying, "Please! Please! Help me!"

"What is it ma'am?" Zarek asks

"A bunch of gangsters took my granddaughter!" She says "Me and her we're having a walk and they came up threatening us and then just grabbed her and ran away"

"Which way did they run?" I ask

"Towards the water, I don't know if thats where they were going or not though."

Lyra looks at me and Zarek before running off towards the water

"Lyra!" I yell. "We'll hurry ma'am" I tell her and chase off after Lyra then Zarek runs past me and catches up with Lyra in less than a second. He starts talking to her but I can't hear from where I am, after a few seconds I catch up to them and Zarek is done talking to her. I assume it was him scolding her since she looks a little sad.

"We'll head to the water and look for them there, if they aren't we will check the surrounding area. We aren't leaving this town until we find them. I'll go ahead, meet me there. The water is straight ahead" Zarek orders.

"We'll be there" I say as Zarek shoots off like a bullet in that direction. "Get on my back I'm faster" I say to Lyra as she reluctantly gets on my back and I start sprinting towards the water as well.

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Kaelion - 14 years old

Zarek - 67 years old

Lyra - 13 years old