Kapitel 2: Chapter 2
Brandon's body shut down at the sight of the man who had killed his mother. He instinctively wanted to rip him limb from limb and burn his carcass after holding it above the ground, just like he did his mother. He wanted to smile maniacally as he gasped for air and begged for mercy. "Calm down." Apollo suddenly said, "And here I thought you were smart." What was he talking about? "Do I have to spell it out for you? Why would he be here unless he's up to something?"
Apollo was right. Why was he here? Had Michael and Celestia tricked them and led him to Julian and Kiara? How could've Brandon been so stupid? He should've shot the both of them the second they showed up. He shouldn't have listened to Rebecca. Ugh! You think he would've learned considering all the fights she dragged him into, but no.
Brandon drew his bow and aimed his sunlight yellow arrow right for Mustollini's head. "Now, now. You shouldn't play with such sharp objects." he said mockingly as Brandon realised his vision was getting blurrier and blurrier by the second as the indigo glow in Richard's eyes dimmed. He closed his eyes hoping to get his bearings and identify the magic being used, but when he opened them, he was in a field with himself and … mama?
"Bran Bran." M-mama? Was that really you? "Yes, baby. Come here." Brandon couldn't believe his eyes as he walked closer and closer to his mama. She was supposed to be gone forever, but Brandon didn't seem to remember that as he willingly inched closer and closer to her, dropping his guard as he did. He just wanted one hug. That was all. Just one embrace, he thought as he ignored his Magi's warnings and got closer and closer to his mama.
"Brandon!" The sound of Michael's voice shattered the field in front of Brandon's eyes and revealed the truth behind Mustollini's power. However, there wasn't time to think about his power as Richard swung a knife at Brandon's face. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes and Michael's immediate lightning filled counterattack, Brandon wouldn't have made it. Michael helped Brandon to his feet, but just as they were about to alert the others about Richard, the smoke from the blast cleared.
Mustollini stood in the smoke, unharmed and peeved, shocking and terrifying the two boys. "Wow." he said, mildly amused, "You guys are a lot more annoying than I thought, but you know what mama always said, do it yourself." Richard flicked his hand towards the vortex with indigo eyes, and Michaelangelo went flying into the vortex, where he started ascending upwards towards the portal after the dragon.
Brandon's body reacted immediately as he jumped to grab onto him, but the vortex was too strong. He felt himself getting sucked in as well, but luckily, Rebecca heard Mustollini and noticed the two of them in time to grab Brandon's foot and plant herself into the ground using her magic. "Brit! Hall!" she called, and the other two dashed over to help secure her anchor further into the floor, but it still wasn't enough.
The void was pulling a dragon, so naturally, five teenagers were no match for the power of the Creators' magicians. The girls were soon off the ground and they all fell into the vortex and began their ascension into the hole in the sky. Brandon's brain went into overdrive as he tried to figure out a way out, but he couldn't think of anything as he felt someone tug at his entire body.
He looked around, but everyone else was relatively far and out of reach for the 16 year old, so what was tugging on his back? He turned, twisted, and contorted his body every which way until his Magi appeared to him and simply pointed at the ground. Brandon looked down and saw Awan desperately trying to pull on shadows as Celestia got dangerously close to the vortex. What were they doing? Connecting the shadows would only drag them in!
By the time anyone realised this, it was too late. The seven of them were stuck in a vortex made by the two Creators' magicians. There was no getting out. There was no hope- "Kiara!" Rebecca screamed, but there was no way she was going to be able to hear them from inside the portal-
Brandon's thoughts cut themselves short as he felt the suspended animation around him resume and drop him back to Wisteria.
What was going on? Brandon flailed around in the air looking for a reason for the sudden drop until his eyes landed on Kiara flying towards them against Celestia's wishes. "No!" she yelled," Close the portal! We'll be okay!" The portal? Brandon looked back up as Kiara suspended him and everyone else in the air and noticed the tear in the sky was getting bigger and bigger, and the Earth Dragon was also experiencing its share of gravity.
"I'm not losing you again." Kiara declared firmly as she placed them all safely on the ground, but now wasn't the time to be sentimental. They had to close the portal for good! Brandon thought if Kiara and Julian could freeze the dragons with some sort of spell, they would have enough time to calmly send each of them back. Sadly, Rebecca's plan of connecting Kiara's and Julian's flows of magic together and reopening the portal got out first.
Forcing the flow wasn't going to work if Kiara was in the vortex zone with everybody else. How were they supposed to close the portal before momentum threw them in too? Did no one think of these things? Geez. Brandon had to do everything himself, he thought as he waited for the perfect moment to give Awan the signal to stop. Just a little further he eyed as the Earth Dragon's tail slowly entered the portal.
Almost there- "My child." Huh? "Have you returned my child?" Brandon looked round and round until he realised the deep, mellow voice was coming from the portal. Was there someone on the other side? Were they calling out to him? Brandon found himself reaching out to the portal just before Celestia's yell brought him back to the real world, or rather what was left of it as they all fell into the portal and out of Wisteria.
Brandon wondered what had happened to make him lose concentration like that as they all stayed in an empty black space for a while. Where were they anyway? "The land between worlds. The bridges that connect all." It wasn't like anything Brandon thought it would be like. He imagined a strong force of some sort pushing them through the portal at high speeds. "To be honest," Halley admitted, "I was expecting some sort of strong force to push us through quickly."
She seriously needed to stop reading his mind and saying the dumbed down version of his thoughts. "Huh?" Halley asked her older brother rather rudely, "If I want to read your mind, I'll go to the porn section of any book store." What was that supposed to mean? "Now, now." Rebecca said, standing between the two siblings, "It really isn't the time to be fighting-"
What was that? A sudden gust of wind? No. Something was coming.
They tried to make a run for it, but they all soon realised they couldn't move in the strange darkness as Halley and Brandon's predicted wave appeared and flushed them down the darkness at incredible speed. Brandon tried to grab onto someone, anyone as the darkness of the landscape turned to endless white as they were dragged farther and farther by the wind. Where was it even coming from?
Brandon could only wonder as the stream from behind him made it virtually impossible for him to move his body in any sort of way. All he could do was wonder where the wind was coming from, and how long it would be until they finally reached Mytherra. As he thought about it more and more, Brandon started to question why the opening and closing of a portal to Mytherra needed both Creators' magicians. One should've been sufficient, so why did Julian need Kiara?
Things were starting to not add up as Brandon noticed his surroundings begin to change for a third time as the endless white turned into the night sky all around them. He couldn't believe his eyes as the twinkling, shining lights which always stood above him were glistening right next to him. It finally hit him. He was really travelling through space, and Brandon the space geek jumped out and took over.
He tried to pass the time of the quick trip by identifying some of the stars he passed by or finding constellations, but he couldn't. Brandon didn't recognize a single star in front of his face. Was he in a different galaxy still unknown to the science world? Perhaps! The possibility of Brandon having "discovered" a new galaxy sent the little adorable nerd into a frenzy of awe, excitement, and pride as he felt himself getting lost in the lull of the stars.
"You're almost home!" That voice again! "Yes! Come back to me, my child!" Their child? Who did this voice think Brandon was? He wasn't their child, but their voice did seem awfully familiar to a part of him he didn't know he had until he heard the voice. Who was it? What did they want? Was Brandon really their child? What about Halley?
Brandon's questions went unanswered as he appeared over a planet he had never seen in any book before. A planet that seemed much bigger than Wisteria, but Brandon wondered how he was looking at it from this view as Awan and Britney reappeared beside him, followed by everyone else. "Where have you guys been?" Rebecca asked. Travelling through space. What about her? "Same." she replied equally sarcastically as Awan pointed to the planet in front of him and asked, "Is that Mytherra?"
However, before Kiara could answer him, another vortex appeared as soon as the wind came to a stop and sucked them all down into the planet's atmosphere. Brandon couldn't comprehend how they were moving so fast as Rebecca placed barriers around everyone, turning them into mini meteors all headed for the green land below them. The thought alone seems fun until Brandon realized they could burn up before they hit the ground.
He needed a way to stop the momentum of gravity yanking them down to the planet's surface. He turned to Celestia, confident the sudden vortex was nothing more than a slingshot and its effects were short term. "What do you want me to do?" she yelled as fire formed around her barrier. She needed her to catch them in mid air and pull them upwards, against the pull of gravity. He was sure someone of her power level would be able to pull it off as he turned to Rebecca, Britney, Awan, and Halley.
He needed Rebecca to shrink all the barriers to form around everyone's heads as soon as they had slowed down enough to not be crushed by the G force, and for Awan to connect Britney's and Halley's flows of magic as soon as the barriers dropped. Brandon knew Celestia's power alone wouldn't be enough to save them from certain doom as they fell, so he wanted Britney and Halley to act as rocket boosters and completely stop their fall.
"What about us?" Michelangelo asked as Celestia's eyes began to glow cloud white. Michael and Kiara would have the second part of the job: protecting everyone from the dragon's arrival. Brandon bet the dragon would take longer than them to arrive simply because of its size, but that didn't stop the fact it was going to arrive sooner or later. Michaelangelo nodded at Brandon after receiving his orders and then turned to Kiara and to the stars above them.
Britney and Halley were doing just fine as they started the thrusters, and Brandon felt himself slowing down as he conjured up his bow and 4 arrows. He shot all of them towards the trees in four different, but wide locations, weaving a safety net for them to land on safely as they were all in a comfortable free fall, waiting for the Earth Dragon to appear. Unlike them, it didn't seem to be intelligent enough to stop itself from falling. At least, that's what Brandon thought.
Regardless of intelligence, the Earth Dragon didn't appear to care for its own safety as it charged at the kids in front of it. Michael dealt the first blow as his eyes turned to a thundercloud gray as he blasted the beast in the face with all he had. The blast sent the dragon's head backwards, and essentially flipped the beast as it continued to fall to the planet, slowly gaining on the kids. The plan was supposed to be for Kiara to deliver the finishing blow, but adrenaline and fear had other plans.
Before Kiara could even change the darkness of her eyes, the dragon must've sensed her power, or something because it didn't swing its tail at Michael for fun. Brandon and Britney both went to save him, but they got knocked towards the ground and away from the safety net. However, Brandon didn't have time to be in pain as he conjured up only 3 more sunlight yellow arrows and made a net for the three of them, before they could hurt themselves badly.
Though the net stopped them from hitting the trees, nothing stopped gravity from pulling an exhausted Brandon down to the floor of the forest. Damn it. Why did the Earth Dragon do that out of nowhere? Brandon's plan would've worked perfectly if it wasn't so scared. Why was it scared anyway? It didn't bat a scale until Michael's spell physically hit it. Was a petite princess really that scary to such a monumentally large beast?
"Apparently so." Michael said as he stretched out his hand to help Brandon to his feet. He was grateful. For the helping hand and when he saved his life with Mustollini. "What happened with him?" Britney asked as she eyed the area. Brandon assumed Mustollini had used some sort of illusion-inducing, brainwashing spell on him to make him drop his guard and walk himself into his own grave.
"Was that how they got you, Michaelangelo?" she suddenly asked, making the young magician fall quiet, before replying with uncertainty in his voice. "I don't think it was the same, since he asked me for my middle name before everything went black." He didn't remember anything? Michael quietly shook his head as Brandon took the signal and commented how beautiful the forest around them was.
"Yeah, it really is." Michael added, before Britney cautiously said, "It's too quiet. We need to find the others." She was right the more Brandon thought about it. He hadn't heard so much as a scurry or rustle among the trees the entire time they had been talking. Brandon considered sending a telepathic message to Kiara, but they weren't linked, so that plan went out the window. How about he used one of his arrows as a flare?
"Wouldn't the Earth Dragon see it too?" Michael asked. Oh, yeah. Brandon had temporarily forgotten about it. "What if we split up and scour the woods?" Michael suggested, but Britney reminded him, "We have no means of communication in the first place. Splitting up is just a recipe for disaster. We just need to-"
The loud echoing earthquake magnitude thud the Earth Dragon made as it landed on the planet, cut Britney off and shook the ground.
Maybe it had somehow shrunk a bit as it was falling through the atmosphere? The piercing roar which followed Brandon's outlandish question shattered any hopes of the statement being true, along with their eardrums. It definitely, 100%, without a doubt, pissed off. "Nevermind," Britney said as the roar ended, "I wish we at least saw where they had landed as we were falling." That would've made their lives a whole lot easier-
Rustle.
Hmm? The three of them turned to the sound of something rustling in the trees as their eyes all turned their respective colours. It was the first live thing they had encountered since they had landed, so it made sense for Michael and Britney to be on such high alert, but it didn't sound dangerous to Brandon. Then again, snakes and spiders don't sound dangerous until they're about to attack either.
Michael and Brandon spread out to either side of Britney as they stood in front of the tree in question. Britney nodded at Brandon before charging at the tree and kicking the giant plant with a considerable amount of power, causing something to fall into Brandon's net, whose handle was one of Michael's lightning bolts. Brandon high-fived Britney, in secret to look professional, as Michael examined their new prisoner.
Brandon had never seen anything like it before. It was a young boy around the same colour as a northern deer. Why am I using a deer for the comparison? Simply because the boy had little, fur covered deer ears and two small deer horns on top of his head. Who was he? Rather, what was he? "I-i-i-i-i-i'm sorry." he squeeked, before they recognized him as harmless and let him out of the lightning net. Who was he?
"M-m-my name is Chayse. I'm a-a-an Earzulian. Thank you for not killing me!" A what now? What's an Earzulian? Brandon looked to Britney and Michael, but they were just as clueless as he was. "Chayse, was it?" Britney continued as he vigorously nodded his head, "Do you know where we are?" The little deer boy's head dropped to the side as his expression questioned her question. "Where else would we be, but Earzul? Are you sky people lost?"
Sky people? Michael and Brandon shared the same expression of confusion at their new titles as the Earth Dragon let out another ferocious roar, this time shaking the ground along with it. Brandon, afraid it would split the ground again, remained close to Chayse, in case he would have to jump out of the way with him, but the chance never came as they held their ears, blocking their eardrums from certain doom.
At last the roar ceased as the heavy footsteps of the dragon began to recede farther and farther away from them. Relieved, Brandon turned to check on Britney and Michael, who were (of course) holding each other in their arms. Ugh. Gross. "You sound jealous." the Magi sneered, but what did Brandon need to feel jealous about? Huh? Nothing. "Geez, I feel bad for Daisy." Put a sock in it.
"Um," Brandon looked down at Chayse, who was finally getting off the ground after burying his head in the ground. Was he really a deer? Since did deer bury their heads when scared? Do some ostriches have horns? Brandon wondered about what the little creature was as he fiddled around with his horns and ears. "Please don't eat me! I swear I don't taste good at all!" he blurted out, causing Brandon to burst out laughing.
He really thought Brandon was going to cook him alive? The more he thought about it, the harder the twin laughed as Michael and Britney approached the deer boy. "Don't mind him." Britney said, as Brandon's uncontrollable laughter got to Michael, causing him to giggle at the plea as well. "I personally eat deer," Britney continued, "but those two seem to have more fat on them than us. If worst comes to worst, you'll be fine."
Britney! Jokes about cannibalism aren't funny! "Neither is laughing that much while we're in the middle of a dire situation like this one." Not going to lie, she got him there. Well, dinner plans aside, Brandon didn't know where to start with his interrogation. What was Chayse? Where were they exactly? What's an Earzulian? Where were the others? Why was Chayse the only thing they had found, aside from the dragon, in the forest?
"You called us 'sky people', right?" Michael asked before continuing after Chayse's meek little nod, "Why do you think we're from the sky?" That was also bugging Brandon. He just hadn't gotten to it in the list he made in his mind. "Well, you guys just appeared out of nowhere. Like the sky had just given birth to you." Wait a minute. He saw all of them fall out of the sky? "Apparently." Britney confirmed as Brandon grabbed Chayse by the shoulders and asked him if he saw where the others fell.
Luckily for them, Chayse did see where the others fell, but he couldn't show them the way because he was "not allowed to enter the town?", Michael questioned. Brandon's mind automatically jumped to the worst case scenario and asked him, in a rather terrified manner, whether or not he was a criminal of some sort.
"N-no! Of course not!" Chayse quickly defended himself. "Why can't you go then?" Britney asked calmly as Chayse lowered his head in shame and answered, "They said I can't go because I don't have parents, so I'm weird and can't go." What? Who said that? How could they say that? All he had to do was point the way and Brandon was ready to bury anybody and everybody who told Chayse those lies 6 feet under!
"Can you lead us to the outskirts of the town?" Michael compromised, "We need to get back to our friends, but you don't need to enter the town if it's uncomfortable for you." Chayse stayed quiet as he stared at the three of them in disbelief, but was it really that shocking to him? If he didn't like the arrangement, he could just say no. They could just figure out another way to get to the town- "I'll do it!" he declared, "I'll take you to your friends, sky people."
They weren't sky people! They were from another world. "Another world?" the deer boy questioned as he turned to lead the way. "That's right." Michael explained, "We got sucked into a portal that brought us here along with the Earth Dragon." "What's an Earth Dragon?" Huh? Chayse didn't recognize the giant magical lizard who almost ripped the ground apart a few minutes ago? "I could've sworn someone told me the slayers had killed the last dragon."
That couldn't have been the case considering what had just happened to them! Britney placed her hand on Brandon's shoulder to calm him down as she took over the investigation. "We heard about 6 dragons who rule over this world. Is this not the case?" she asked carefully as Chayse tripped over a root and fell face first into the ground. "I've never heard of 6 dragons ruling, but I do remember someone telling me about the 6 spirits of the lands."
Six spirits? Chayse nodded as he wiped the dirt off his clothes to the best of his ability, "They protect the lands, but I wouldn't know since I've never met them nor left Earzul." Brandon started to piece their information together with Chayse as he realized the Earth Dragon was the guardian spirit of the land they were in, Earzul. Instead of ruling different aspects of reality, they instead probably protected different sections of the planet itself.
Some things still didn't make much sense, like why Chayse was the only living thing they had encountered the entire time, how the dragons got to Wisteria in the first place, and why these guardian spirits were giant, angry reptiles. Wait. Didn't Chayse see the dragons leaving? "Huh?" he asked, confused, "I was following a lizard up a tree when I suddenly heard a loud screech followed by a horn. When I heard the horn, I got scared and hid, so I didn't see any dragons."
A screech then a horn? "By the way," Michael asked, "We call your world Mytherra, but what do you guys call your world?"
Brandon was also curious to know, but his curiosity became rage at the way Chayse was making fun of them. "I'm not making fun. I promise." he cried as he hid behind Britney while Michael held Brandon back. That wasn't a word! That wasn't even a proper sound! How could that be the world's name? "I'm not lying~."
Chayse started to cry as Brandon threw more and more threats his way until Britney raised her hand and lightly, but painfully karate chopped the twin's head. "Leave him alone. Don't get annoyed because you can't pronounce it." There was no way she actually believed him, right? That wasn't a name. He was obviously making fun of them! "Regardless," she said while wiping the short deer boy's tears away, "You have to be nice to our guide, or else you'll be dinner tonight."
Tsk! Cannibalism isn't a joke, you know. Besides, how much longer was it going to be until they arrived anyway? Brandon was hungry~ "We're here!" Chayse said as he ran up to a cloth tied around a tree. "I guess this is where we part ways." he said, rather sadly, but Brandon wasn't going to let a perfectly good guide go. All Chayse had to do was wait in that exact spot for them to return with the others.
The little boy jumped at Brandon, knocking him over as he hugged the twin with all the excitement in the world. "Thank you, sky person!" His name was not "sky person", it was Brandon! He was Michael and she was Britney, don't forget. The little deer nodded excitedly as Brandon patted his head and walked towards the town. "You're definitely not as mean as you paint yourself to be, Brandon." Michael randomly, and rather stupidly commented because Brandon never tried to be mean.
It came naturally- "Shh." Britney suddenly said, putting both of them on guard as Michael asked, "What's wrong?" She remained silent for a minute before saying, "Listen." It was quiet. Too quiet. It was as if the entire town was empty. Why would Chayse lead them to a deserted town? "You don't think he led us into a trap, do you?" "It's possible, but we need to head to the town center."
Oh sure! That was smart! Heading straight into what could've been a trap? Genius- What the Abyssus? "Nothing's moving." Michael said as they stared at the marketplace stuck in time. An apple had been knocked off the stand, and it was just lying in the air, waiting to hit the ground. What was going on-
Brandon suddenly face planted to the ground as a small elephant lay on his back. "That's mean!" My bad, a medium sized elephant. Ow! Halley smacked the back of her twin brother's head before getting up, and regretting "ever being excited to see you." No one asked her to be, though. Luckily for Brandon, Britney hugged Halley away from him before she could actually punch him in the face, not that her tiny fist could ever land a hit.
Brandon looked around to see Rebecca and Celestia walking towards them as well as Awan and Kiara behind them. He knew Chayse could never just lead them into a trap. He didn't seem like that kind of deer person thingy? "Don't call people thingies." Rebecca said as he lovingly planted her fist in the center of Brandon's scalp. It was great to see her too. "You guys met someone here?" Awan asked concerningly.
"Yeah," Michael replied, "We're not sure what he is exactly, but he said he's from around here, why?" Awan turned to Kiara before turning to face Brandon, Michael and Britney. What were they being so serious about anyway? "Prin- Kiara and I believe the Time Dragon has something to do with everything being like this." It would make sense it would be responsible, but it didn't make sense according to what Chayse had told him-
Wait a minute. If the Time Dragon had frozen time in the entire area they had been, then how was Chayse just roaming around? "Maybe he wasn't in the affected area when the dragon froze everything?" Michael suggested, which would also make sense. Ugh! There were so many possibilities to the situation, but Brandon genuinely believed Chayse had nothing to do with it. He couldn't explain why. He just trusted him.
"Well there's not much we can do," Kiara declared, "but go question him ourselves. We need to know why and how he's immune to the Time Dragon's curse, and how to get back to Wisteria." Brandon hadn't really noticed between getting sucked into a black hole and transported to another world and crashing landing after getting smacked by a dinosaur's tail, but Kiara was different. She didn't seem as cold-hearted as she was before, but she wasn't exactly back to her jolly self.
"Speaking of curses," Celestia said as they were walking out of town to Chayse's spot, "How are you back to normal, sis?" Oh yeah~ The Fountain Water curse broke. How did that happen? "I'm not sure. I just woke up, I guess." the older princess replied, unsure of her own answer. "Maybe it's something to do with the Fire Dragon." Awan suggested. What? Did it's hot breath melt the curse away?
"Maybe," he agreed to Brandon's sarcastic comment, "Fire and Water are natural opposites. The dragon's power may have outpowered the water's hold on Prin- Kiara's consciousness." That could've been the case, but Brandon was just glad the spell was finally broken. After all, Kiara was quite clingy as her four year old self. Brandon sighed dramatically as he recalled how she almost cried when they had to go home.
They all giggled a bit at the memory, but he was mostly relieved at seeing a smile on Kiara's face, no matter how badly suppressed it was. As jovial as that moment was, the atmosphere quickly turned hostile around Brandon as they returned to see a worried Chayse pacing around in circles, mumbling to himself. However, as soon as he saw them, his face lit up as he ran to embrace them.
Brandon tried to yell for him to stay back as Rebecca's eyes turned their tangerine orange. He knew she was going to subdue him with magic, but he wasn't dangerous for such extremes. Awan seemed to have agreed as he stood between Rebecca and Chayse. "We don't need to use magic to ask him questions." Rebecca eyed his defensive stance and Chayse's tight grip on his shirt before dropping her hands and declaring, "If he gets away, you guys are going to catch him."
"Catch me?" Chayse asked with a voice crack, "Why do you guys need to catch me? Are you really going to eat me?" No, they weren't! What's with this kid's obsession with people eating him anyway? "We don't want to hurt you," Halley said as she slowly inched forward with her hands in front of her, "We just need your help. That's all." Chayse cowered a bit more behind Awan's back before slowly creeping over and sniffing Halley's hands with his little deer nose.
"You're really good with animals, Halley!" Celestia exclaimed, but something didn't seem to sit right with the thought of the magician of the goddess of the hunt being good at making animals lower their defenses so easily. "You're a goddess?" Chayse asked, breaking Brandon and Halley's glaring contest. "No, she's not a goddess," Rebecca began, "She's a-"
A recognisably terrifying roar filled the air as Brandon realised it was getting dark.
"We should find shelter before the sun sets," Michael suggested before Chayse asked, "Are you guys homeless?" Yes, the princesses of the South and prince of the West were all homeless along with their buddy ole pals, Brandon replied sarcastically, but they were technically homeless the more he thought about it. "You can stay at my place if you'd like. It's not far." Chayse offered, and Brandon immediately accepted the idea of killing two birds with one stone.
Everyone else seemed to agree as Chayse turned to lead the way once more. Brandon wondered what his place would look like, but he suddenly stopped to see what was taking the mini elephant so long. "I thought I heard something," Halley said, absent-mindedly while staring into the trees, "Must've been the wind." she said before snapping back to reality and following the rest of the group, but there was something pissing Brandon off.
"What?" Michael asked. Why was everyone except him and Rebecca a Class X? The rest all turned to look at him, confused as to his question. They must've thought he was insane, but the same way Halley was good with animals, Brandon could tell a power rank with just a glance. He swore Britney and Halley were Class SSS before he passed out during the fight, so why did he sense Class X power emanating off of them when he woke up?
"Maybe we tapped into our true potential or something." Halley said half-jokingly, but she and Britney genuinely didn't know or understand how or why they were suddenly Class X magicians. "I don't know about the rest of you," Awan said, "But we royals tend to all be Class SSS and higher, with Prince William being the weakest among the magicians." William was one of the weakest? You're joking, right? "It's true." Kiara said, confirming Brandon's fear for the monarchies.
Well if Chayse, Brandon, and Rebecca were excluded from the question, Britney and Halley weren't sure, and it was normal for the royals, then when did Michael suddenly become a Class X? Everyone turned to face the young magician as he tried to think long and hard about the question. "The last thing I remember is Richard saying something about his sister's doll before I woke up in front of Julian and he told Celestia and I to go save King Cheyton and Queen Chenoa."
He didn't remember anything that happened the entire time he was hypnotized? "Apparently not." Britney commented as they arrived at the sight of a camp … of sorts. Brandon wasn't one to complain about accommodations he wasn't paying for, anyway. They were all grateful for Chayse giving them a place to stay, but he was still on the top of their suspect list. Why wasn't he affected by the Time curse?
"Time curse?" he repeated, confused at the question before Kiara sat down next to the campfire before lighting it up. "Why don't you start from the beginning?" she suggested as she signalled for the rest of them to sit around the fire as well. Chayse was the last to sit down as Celestia encouraged him, saying, "You've heard a lot about us, but all we know is your name. Won't you tell us more about you?"
"About me?" the deer boy questioned as he sat down between Brandon and Awan. The wind gently blew on their hair as Chayse built up the courage to tell them, "Um, it's not as interesting as your stories, but I don't have parents, so I had to go to a big building with other kids who didn't have parents either. They would always tell us how we would get new parents if we were good children, so I did my best whenever I could."
"I always did my best, but I don't think anyone there actually liked me. It almost felt like they were scared of me with the way they would constantly avoid me. I still tried my best, even when I saw the other kids get new parents while I grew older and older. One night, I went to tell the headmaster about my worries, and that's when I overheard him say I had a curse. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just wanted to help you guys."
Brandon's mind paid little attention to the latter part of the story as he imagined a smaller version of the already little Chayse sitting all alone, eating in an empty lunch hall. The image hurt his heart as he mirrored it to a memory he had of himself. He went to hug the little deer boy to ease his worry, but Awan beat him to it, and left Halley to comfort her brother, ever so slightly. "About this curse-"
Rebecca was suddenly cut off by the sound of trees rustling behind them. Everyone sprung to their feet, and got ready to attack as their eyes glowed, but Britney and Rebecca were the first ones off after the rustling sound, leaving the rest of them behind. Brandon wondered what they could've been chasing as he made his way through the trees, which seemed to get thicker and thicker with every passing branch, but Brandon disregarded it as they made their way out of the trees and to a cliff.
"Where is it?" Michael asked his girlfriend, but she remained silent as she scanned the area before deciding, "We lost it." What was this "it" anyway, and why was it spying on them?
No one had an answer to Brandon's answer as they turned to make their way back to the woods only to hear Chayse screaming while barreling towards them. He showed no sign of slowing down either, so Brandon planned to plant his feet with magic and stop him.
Key word: planned. Brandon didn't take into consideration Chayse's sudden stop, followed by a massive gust of wind sending the eight of them off the cliff and towards ridges below.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein