Children stories involving gruffalos. 

These books were created by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

There are also audio books available.

I own nothing. These are just stories I liked and want to share.

I wake up the next morning and I am hungry so I try to call my mother, but all I can do is cry. 
10 minutes later I am fed and happy and left on my own for now. 
My dad came by and said that he got to go to work. He is working as a hit wizard, which should be identical to a special agent. Mom is a Healer but she stays at home with my grandparents for now.

I try to meditate and it takes two minutes to get into my library. I want to have the ideal growth for my magic and body so I search for books that describe the best way and age to start working on my magic. God was generous and put a search function on my library, which means I just have to think about a subject area or a title or an author and a shelf with books to it appears. Very handy. 

First I search for books about magic for children at a young age. After reading for some days I found that most books say that children shouldn't be using magic before the age of three because my body and magic are still harmonizing here and it´s complete to 100% on my third birthday. Some children need more time some less but that is uncommon. When I read this I was a bit disappointed because I still couldn't practice magic for three years now.

So I did a little digging and reading in my library. After one and a half years I found an interesting idea, if I let my body flow with magic on my birthdays exactly at my birth time, this should help with magic without a magic wand and make me some Immun to magic, it should be forgotten because if not everybody would be doing this. Unfortunately, this is only possible five times and only on the third, seventh, eleventh, thirteenth and seventeenth birthdays, after that my body should conduct magic better, like some metals conduct electricity better than others. The protection from spells will unfortunately not become thick, because only weak spells can be fended off and/or resisted. So this will only be used to look cool. I am also looking into rituals but most of them are for my eleventh birthday and after. 

So my parents are miraculously still alive and working. Although they don't have to do so, as I could deduce from our environment, we have more than enough money, so they probably do for contact with other people and to build connections. I have decided to ask my parents about my time of birth, but this is difficult because I cannot talk perfectly yet. But since most toddlers with 2.5 to 3 can already halfway communicate their thoughts, I think that with my previous experience I will have this body a little further. I am also studying magic and how to use it because the first time I have to use it will be on my third birthday and I can´t use it before. 

The rest of my time I try to be a normal baby but that doesn´t prove to be difficult because I am curious about everything around me like every other toddler. Last week my parents went to Lyall Lupin and Hope Howells wedding, at first, I was surprised that my parents would go to their wedding but apparently, they were classmates. Nothing big happened the rest of the year except for the birth of Sirius on November third. 

Time flys by and more Characters from Harry Potter were born including Snape, Lilly, Lupin, and James. But that isn´t interesting to me for now. 

The last days before my 3rd birthday I was together with my gran Josi as I´ve come to call her, she gives me everything I want and I always have something to eat because being in the library takes a toll on my young body. I could weasel my birthtime out of my grandmother, I was born 8 pm, with that I was set. 
We take a walk through our villa. My grandparents live with us in this huge villa. We have 2 ley lines under our property, 2 less than under Hogwarts, but only five of us live here. We still have hundreds of bedrooms and dozens of work areas, my family has always been busy with runes and potions. Our library is huge, but I will probably only visit it as a cover since I own my own complete library. 

It´s my third birthday and my parents have invited some political friends who have kids themself from all sides dark, light, grey and Albus Dumbledore is there as well, maybe he´s trying to get some families on the light side or just looking at potential students who know what he is thinking. Armando Dippet is there as well, not much was said about him in the books but he looks kind but stern and powerful. I think there are only 5 years till he gives up the headship of Hogwarts in favor of Dumbles.

Enough political mingling of toddlers, it's 8 pm and I'm just using my magic for the first time, it feels a little warm throughout my body and I light up slightly. Nothing else happens but I think that I have come now more in tune with the world.
 I try to use my magic now so I hold out my finger and whisper Lumos, my finger lights up but I can tell that it costs me a lot of ´magical power´ I can only cast it three times. I like to think, that me using my magic at exactly my birthtime has helped me feel my magic better and having started to turn my body in a wand(even if it won´t be as quick and powerful). 
 But reading so many books about magic I know that magic is like a muscle you work it and it grows, even in old age, but the more magic you have the slower it grows and the harder it is to empty it out. After emptying my magic out I fall asleep.

A rich middle aged man who is experiments with everything he gets his hands on. One experiment fails and he dies. He meets God and chooses to be reborn in the Harry Potter world. A new life with a million more experiments an a new force to master. With some advantages he starts his next adventure.

After stumbling around for a while, Meng finally found herself in front of the royal library. Her eyes lit up when saw it and a small spark of hope started in her heart. 

The reason why Feng Wi turned bad had to be because she didn't know how to raise kids right. Therefore, as long she learned, wouldn't she be able to fix this mess easily? 

 Meng's steps were hesitant as she walked into the library. 'Please let this one last thing turn out right for me.'  

Cultivation books were easy to find as they were plentiful in numbers. However, when it came to books on raising children, it was most likely limited to around at most ten. 

Her heart felt helpless as she stared at the legion of books in front of her. Her lazy nature fought with her need to protect Feng Qi, creating chaos in her mind. Inhaling a breath, Meng forced her first foot toward the endless sea of books. 

Soon came the second, third, and forth step as she accepted her fate and walked up to a book shelf. 

Seeing that the one book shelf out of a hundred, already had approximately two thousand books, Meng felt miserable inside. 

For the first time ever, she felt like a stranger among books. Then again, she never had to search for a needle in a hay stack before either. Actually, it was more accurate to say the past her would have never even tried to find a needle in a hay stack. 

Yet, thinking of Feng Qi's resilience in 'Defying Moonlight', she hardened her heart and picked up a random book. 

Flipping through the first few pages, Meng put back the book and picked up another one, repeating the task.  


'Not it.... Nope...Nothing here...hmm Tigress Creates a Dragon? ... Nope that's smut... All done with this shelf,' 


At the moment that Meng's sore hands traveled to the next book shelf to grab another book a noise sounded out from behind her.


[Cough, Cough]  


The sound broke through her focus causing Meng to turn her head as she raised an eyebrow in confusion. Behind her was the little old man who claimed to be Rong You. 

His wrinkled face was filled with dissatisfaction as her glared at her with accusing eyes. His foot tapped on the ground in aggravation, but the entire time this intense glare was happening he didn't say anything. 


"Are you ok R-master?" Meng looked at him in utter bewilderment. Why did he look like she killed his puppy when she wasn't even paying attention to him? Could is be his psychosis acting up?  


"Humph. After being gone for five days you dare come in here and not even acknowledge this old man!?" He turns his head away as if dismissing her presence. 


Meng's eyes grew wide with horror as she processed this information. She was asleep for five days? Who knew how many things had changed during that time! 

The emperor was probably still waiting for her to explain why the maid ripped of their own arm and to fix the situation. Feng Qi's problem probably got worse without treatment.... 

A crease formed in the middle of Meng's eyebrows as her face was covered with worry. Seeing his disciple like this Rong You felt pleased and decided that he wouldn't hold a grudge this time. Bai Yao Ling seemed to have accepted that she was in the wrong, therefore how could he be petty?

Meng Yin, a shut in, dies of a broken heart when the author of a novel kills off her favorite character. She wakes up as a mob character of that very same novel called Ru Gu Meng. 

Realizing that she had transmigrated in the same novel of the character who gave life to her horrible world, she swears to make sure that this time he won’t be the one that dies. Reborn as a princess of a lowly kingdom, Meng has to dig herself up through political turmoil and murderous sect’s to protect the only light she has left. 

Follow Ru Gu Meng into a mystical world of cultivation, demons, and magic. Where she uses her intellect, power, and instinct to carve a way for the person she will always protect. 

No matter the cost, those who harm the one’s she protects will die!

———————————————————————

*Main character is not sane at all at the first part of the story due to extreme child abuse. Therefore while reading the story please keep that in mind if she accidentally or meaningfully murders some people or acts wildly.

*The main character does not start out smart as she is literally a shut in who has only been outside a few times in her entire life. 

*Release: Book is being edited.

*Picture does not belong to me.

*Tags:

[Femaleprotagonist] [Reincarnation] [Yandere] [AntiHero]

Prima Planet (Millions of times bigger than Earth  
Huxia continent capital of Wind empire Bluewind city one of the four big clans Wang clan 
A boy around 6 years is reading a book. His name is Wang Yong. He loves reading books because in books he can know many things about the World. His family is a loving family his father, mother loves him very much. He has 2 little siblings (sister and brother) they are both very cute.
Aside from reading books he spends most of his time playing with his siblings.
Today is the day he needs to attend talent awakening ceremony. In Prima planet humans needs to awaken their talent at 6 years of age. Most of them awaken their dormant talent for sensing elements. To cultivate one needs to absorb elements and to absorb one need to sense the elements. Only after awakening their talents can a child cultivate.
Very few awaken innate abilities (like many times enhanced talent for one or more elements from 10 elements or their sub elements ice, lava, blizzard etc.There are also abilities like photographic memory, divine strength, regeneration, healing, telekinesis and there are also trash abilities like weight gain, hunger intensified or some whose use people do not know)
Wang Yong's father Wang Kun is a righteous man. He even treats his servants as equal give them their due respects. BUT don't take him for a saint who lets people walk over his head. Those who try to bring harm to those he wants to protect will have an ending worse than death. 
When Wang Yong was busy reading his book he suddenly heard footsteps behind him he turns around only to see his little brother running towards him. He gets up and say "Wow slow Wei don't run so fast or you might slip"
His little brother slows down near him and tell him "Brother what are you doing here father is asking for you to go to Main hall" Wang Yong replies "oh! Sorry I forgot about time while I was immersed in the books lets go"
While going to main hall Wei asks Yong "Brother why do you love reading books so much" Yong replies with a smile "Because in the books I can learn of things I can't learn from other people. I can learn about things outside our empire. Our world is so big that our empire is just a tiny dot on it. Can you imagine Wei our city being equal to one of your hair on your head? So when I grow up I want to explore this world of ours and see phoenixes, dragons and all kinds of beautiful and dangerous things I read about in books up close in this world" Then Yong asks " Wei do you want to be able to help father when we grow up " 
Wei just nods his head repeatedly. Yong seeing this smiles "Then grow up and become strong so that we can help father and explore this world together" Wei excitedly replies "I will grow strong then help father and explore this world with brother"
Yong and Wei see the man hall in front of them and both hurriedly go in to the main hall. There are already many people there some are children of his age there, most of these children come from orphanage his father opened other are children of those who work for his father. And in the middle of the hall there is a platform built temporarily.
As his father sees him he asks "Where were you come sit here." He motions him to sit on the seat on his side. Yong nods and sits there with his brother. His father motions for ceremony to start then Uncle Fu one of the elders go on top of the platform.
Father turns to the children with a smile and says "Go and stand in the middle of the platform one by one" children's nod and one of boy goes on the platform then Uncle Fu gives him a medicinal drink and the boy gulps it down in one go after some time the result is out and uncle Fu announces that the boy has talent for wood element. After the boy everyone goes on platform one by one and they awaken their talents and elements.
To awaken a person's talent one must stimulate a person's bloodline and this can be done using different ways but most common is drinking medicinal paste made by alchemist association.
As humans stimulate their bloodline for the first time they awaken different kinds of abilities and talents. Till now all the children have completed their awakening while none awakening abilities only awakening talent for elements.
Now it was my turn I am kind of nervous thinking will I be able to awaken some good ability or talents? I have to if a want to help Father and live my dreams. I nervously go on the platform and stand in the middle afterwards Father's friend Uncle Fu came forward and said "Don't be nervous son just relax and it will be fine" after that he gives me the drink and I gulp it down in one go after sometime my blood starts to boil and I feel little pain as though I am burning from inside but it's not much after sometime it goes away and I wait to see what I awakened but nothing happened I just felt like something inside me awakened from deep slumber but after that nothing happened.
Now I was starting to get panicked why I not awakened any abilities not even a talent which they say that most humans have at least a little bit of affinity with one of the 10 elements.
Now there were tears in my eyes and whole hall was filled with pin drop silence. My Father saw tears in my eyes and came to my side I became afraid that by Father would be angry but my Father just looked at me and smiled and said "Son it's fine Father is here don't worry Father still loves you" and my Father picks me up and motions the ceremony to end and goes with me and my brother out of the hall.
After coming out of the hall I ask "*sob*Father why do I not have awaken*sob* anything can I still become strong enough to help father and*sob* go in the outside world to see all kinds of legendry beings" Father smiled and said "Well why not but it will be very hard but father will find something which can help in you becoming cultivator but son you have to promise father that no matter what happens never lose hope and become impatient. Cause your father and mother will always love you no matter what so don't cry or your mother will be angry with me" Yong heavily nods "Son will listen to father and remember fathers advice" after that father brings us brothers to our house.
Just as we go inside house mother asks father about ceremony and after knowing about me she embraces me and tells me "Son it's alright don't be down it's alright father will protect us and we will always love you no matter what. After all you are our cute and eldest son." Although father and mother are not worried about all of this and they still feel sad all the children are playing with their ability and talents after awakening. I am the only one who can't so of course I am jealous and hate it that I am not like them.  
It's been half month since ceremony now. Its morning time now. I was reading a book in my room and mother calls me "Son come eat breakfast" Yong "Coming mother" after that I go in the hall and see my father and siblings are also there.
And they were eating there food mother was feeding my baby sister who after seeing a book in my hand asks in her cute voice "Blothel wat wele u leading (Brother what were you reading)" I smile at my baby sister and pinch her cheeks then feed her some food and say "Nothing just about cultivators and our continent" after that I also start eating and as we eat my sister asks me many questions like always and I just smile and answer some of her questions.
After breakfast my father says "Son come I will bring you somewhere you would like" and goes in his library I follow after him and ask "Father why are we going in your library?" Father just smiles and goes on. After going into the library in one of the wall he pushes a book after which some shelves of books part to reveal a door behind it my father goes in front of the door and puts his hand on top of a transparent crystal which does something my father says that its checking whether he is someone else.
After checking a voice comes "Greetings master" which shocks me so much I jumped on my father in shock. My father just smiles and says "Don't be afraid it's an artefact spirit which keeps check on library and if someone other than me and your mother tries to barge in it will alarm me today I will also add you in the list and you can come here to read the books. There are books about everything from pill concocting, weapon crafting and talismans to books about history of this world and beyond not just this continent. But always remember son never to bring these books out of here and never tell anyone a word of what you read here even to your siblings. When time comes I will tell them myself."
I nodded in all seriousness. Seeing this my father smiles and continues "let me first tell you some basics about this world. Our World is very vast it's one of a kind. This world is filled with dangers but so is filled with riches. All kinds of creature live here including humans, devils(shaitan), elementals , elves, sea creatures, dwarfs, beasts and many more in their own kingdoms but I would like to remind you there are good and bad people in every species except devils who always wishes we humans fall from our creator's grace by doing deeds they themselves deem worst. And our war
Now back to the topic there are many continents on our planet our Huxia continent is just one of them and the sea is 100s of time bigger than land. There are some places which are elemental energy rich there your cultivation speed will increase.
There are sacred lands for cultivation where they have better resources like better cultivation methods, land abundant with elemental energy, better skills and many other things.
There are 10 realms in mortal cultivation they are Martial (DISCIPLE << PRACTITIONER << MASTER << GRAND MASTER << KING << EMPEROR << MONARCH << ANCESTOR << VENERATE << SAINT). Each realm is divided in 9 stages and 1 evolution stage where after accumulating energy in first nine stages we use that energy to temper our body and spirit to the maximum.
There 10 elements which are Water, Earth, Wood, Fire, Wind, Spirit, Light, Darkness, Lightning and Space these nine main elements made our universe and all elements like ice, lava and other come from mixture of these 10 elements. And more elements a person's body can absorb the better the energy grade (Energy Grade = Talent Grade). 
Talent Grade are from lowest to highest F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. A grade is legendry in mortal plane S grade is mythical very rarely seen. But SS grade is mythical even in all the universe. SSS Grade is never before seen in the universe. Talent grade affects a person's cultivation speed (2 times faster than previous grade) and their strength doubles every grade up." After talking father looks at me seeing me listening intently he smiles and "Son you can come here from tomorrow and there are many things about this world you can learn in this library but let me warn you again never tell anyone what you learn here or it might harm our Family."
After that father goes out of the library leaving me alone in the library.

A boy who after being trash for all his youth transcends life and death and after that lived by
Why should I be ruled by others when I can rule them,
Why should I follow the rules of others when I can make my own,
Why should I kill for smallest grievances, when I have absolute power and
Why should I be afraid of ants seeking revenge on me.
Follow him on his journey as he lives his life by his own rules while enjoying life to the fullest with his family not going around taking revenge for them, 
What are cultivators trying to achieve by gaining almost limitless life live alone and in regrets? But hell i will NEVER make my MC like this! read to know more

Lilia´s POV: 

"So why does an arch demon say that you´re his master?" I asked Clair. 

Here I am, in a luxurious kitchen with an ex-slave, an enigmatic being and an arch demon. 
Why am I in such a situation? 

Oh, right the answer is, because on a whim of the enigmatic being. 

Not even two months ago, everything was alright, I was a normal teacher at Turon Academy and my daily life consisted teaching and reading my books. 
I don't have a boyfriend, because most men are either too stupid or ugly. The good looking ones are muscle brains and the intelligent ones, would break like a stick if I hug them with a little strength. 

And then at the last day of the entrance exam I´ve met her. 
A young pretty elf girl, looking cute and fragile. I couldn´t have been more wrong. 

I was a little stunned as she said that she´s able to cast magic without chants, but other elfs in my home town can do the same. They are not as young as this girl but still able to do it. 
She then asked me, if I could write a spell for her. I seriously thought she is mocking me. 
But she said she don´t know any spells. So I gave her a Tier 5 spell, not expecting her to cast it. 

Against my expectations, she was able to cast it and came in my class, one of the highest ranked classes within the whole school. 

The first school week was a little noisy, as expected, I got a lot of comments about an elf girl with silver white hair. 
They said she´s a genius or something like this. I was happy, a new fighting power in our school tournament. But then she came to my house. 

Asking me if I want to be a magic tutor for an elf girl and life with them in her mansion. I was not against it, but I used this opportunity to get a few questions answered by her. 

But the following... I did not expect that. 
She told me that all of her skills are on LV 10, 10! the rank of gods. 

The next thing happening, was me fainting, how embarrassing. 

I woke up, in my own bed with a smoking hot elf guy right next to me. I panicked and began to conjure an attack spell, but my mana suddenly dispersed. 

And that the hot guy changed into Clair,... he transformed. 


Clair showed me her status, I looked over it, not believing, what I saw, when I looked once more, I still couldn't believe it. It took me five minutes to accept everything, except the attributes, they are just too high. 

She gave me a rune which stops me from telling something about her and answered my questions. 

And if it´s true what she said, then this is a great opportunity, to gain new pieces of information about a lot of things. 

I agreed to her terms, I´ll teach the girl magic and live with them in Clairs new house. 
And in return, get a lot of new books and a chance to learn new things. 

I think I was still stunned, but I did not think over the coming events and simply went to sleep after that. 

The days after that were... impressive, Clair was able to bring the headmaster to teach her magic up to the tenth Tier, build a whole mansion out of nothing and her cooking is godlike, if there weren't so much chicken. 

She eats it almost every dinner. 


This elf girl, Ilza is her name, was rescued by Clair, she´s an ex-slave. 
She has good manners but worships Clair almost as a god. Okay, I also begin to think about her more as a god like being then a girl or man or whatever she is. 
Clair has done something with Ilza and she´s now able to learn much faster than normal. I wanted the same thing, but Clair said I´ll only get it if I come with them after the four years. I think I will. 

She also employed a few maids, a gardener and a sword instructor for Ilza, they get a horrendous payment. 

Gerd, the sword instructor, is an S-Rank adventurer. He´s nice but underestimates Clair a little too much. He thinks she´s a normal young genius magician. But she also acts like one, at least she thinks that. No normal genius magician could build such a mansion. She said it was the work of her "brother" namely Dex, but she´s too good at school. I heard there already are fan clubs about her, many male students want to be her boyfriend and many female students want her as a little sister so that they can pet her. 

If they knew how Clair pets, they would ask to get petted. Seriously how good is she at petting, her maths teacher said she raped her desk neighbour by simply stroking her tail and I had to confirm her skills in the bath, on the hard way. She didn´t allow me to climax, it was a torture. 

She´s is nice to us, a little playful, perverted and likes to tease me with her "Dex" form. Not that I´m against Dex, he´s hot. 

But she also can be childlike, we were once on a walk, buying groceries and Clair spotted a playground. She said she´ll play, changed into a young male version and dashed to the sandpit. 

I could only sigh and sat down at a nearby bench. A few mothers came to me and asked me which child was mine. 

I couldn´t say that I´m only watching the children, so I pointed at "Dex junior" and the mothers began to chat about his cuteness.... 

She noticed my dilemma, smirked and walked over to us. She hugged me and said," Mom, can we go home?" her voice was overflowing with childish cuteness and the women began to scream in kyaa sounds and tried to hug him. 

She played the shy kid and hid behind me. Seriously she would be so perfect without her playfulness and partially brutality against her enemies. But no one is perfect and she doesn´t overdo it. 

And she matches my criteria, she´s strong, beyond believe, and intelligent. Friendly to us and other people in need and ruthless to people who may hurt her friends. She has a vast knowledge about science, biology, crafting techniques and many other things. 

She says that it´s mostly common knowledge in her world. 
I want to visit said world, but Clair says that it´s boring. 
I think a world without monster must be nice. 

I learned a lot about the women's puberty, as she explained it to Ilza, who´ve thought that we have iron and other things in us? 

She´s also rich, not that it is a large criteria, but it´s still good. 
Her female adult form is good looking, even though a little short. And her male adult form is hot, I mean seriously hot. I almost drooled as he walked next to me, as we bought the books. 

She held her promise and bought me books, more than I expected. I thought I´ll get at most 20 books, I mean they are expensive. But she bought over 7.000, a whole library. 
The mansions library is my favourite room, I love the smell of books. I think she built it just for me. 

Her male form is tall, slender but muscular at the same time, has a really, really good looking face, pretty green eyes and a voice... you feel like you´ll melt if you hear his voice. A deep voice with a soothing tone. 

Should I try to get him in my bed? I mean if he´s so good looking with clothes how does he looks without them? °Gulp° 

But it´s a little hard to live with her, she doesn´t have our common sense and almost everything she does is beyond said common sense, I mean Ilza said she built a whole village an afternoon. 

And at the beginning of this week she said she´ll visit the ground of the school dungeon. I´m at the point where I don´t complain anymore, she´s too broken for my normal thoughts. I don´t think of her as normal anymore. Then again was she normal from the begin with? 



A few students told me about the kidnapping attempt today, they met her in the dungeon and were stopped by 30 guys who were looking for her as they came out. 

30 guys are not enough if they want to kidnap her. Gerd thought otherwise. We were arguing as Clair came back, with a man behind her. 


Said man is the reason I recall everything of the last few weeks. 
Seriously, how broken is this girl, I mean an arch demon? One of the strongest beings on this planet? I still get the shivers when I think about it. 

True he doesn´t look like the demons out of the stories, but then again, it´s an arch demon. He must be able to change his form. He looks like a tall human with white hair. He has a good face, a little arrogant, but is polite when he speaks. 

I didn´t think much about it as he came inside with Clair. Standing right behind her, ready to strike at her neck. 

Surely even Clair wouldn´t be able to come out of a fight with an arch demon, at least not without grave injuries. She did say that she has beaten him, but that must have been a surprise attack. 


"Well I kinda freed him from a prison on the 100th floor," Clair said and brought me back to reality. 

"And master beat me to a limbless pulp," Drull said a little downhearted. 

"Ah yes and I beat him to a limbless pulp." She agreed. 

"A pulp?" I asked, not really getting what they mean. 

"Master cut my arms and legs off, left me alone and then came back, with a god in her pocket. All this in a few minutes, but she only took a few seconds for me" Drull explained, still downhearted. 

So she basically almost killed him and then found a god, okay.... 

"WHAT?!" I screamed and Ilza put her hands covering her ears. 
"You´ve beaten an arch demon in a few seconds and found a god?" I still screamed but not as loud as before. 

"Yes, it´s the god of space and void. And I used a skill, which doubles my stats." Clair said like she thinks it´s a normal thing to do. 

"Who is the god of space and void?" I asked, trying to get my posture back. 

"I´m able to conjure things out of nothing, thanks to him. He created the existence and I think the other gods filled it with things." Clair explaind. 

"So you have the god, who´s the reason for our exsistence in your pocket?" I asked. 

"Yes," Clair 

"Then why don´t you release him?" Me 

"Because he was sealed, he tried to destroy the existence and the high elfs sealed him," Drull said. 

"Who are the high elfs?" I asked. I´ve never heard of this race. 

"They are the forefathers of the elfs, they used their power to create the seal and their children became elfs." Drull further explained. 

I sighed, rubbed my temples and asked, " and what do you want to do with him?" 

"I´ll keep him in my inventory, he can´t do anything in there and I don´t want to kill him, risking the destruction of the existence," Clair said. 

"That explains your dungeon adventure but why are you his master?" I asked again. 

"Please let me explain," Drull began, " master fulfilled my conditions for a master-servant relationship. He did me a great favour, which I can´t pay back and has beaten me one-sidedly. 
So following my conditions, I´m now masters servant, as long as he lives or want me at his side." 
and finished with a bow in Clairs direction. 

So she got herself a butler. 

"I think I understand, please don´t do any trouble for us or Clair." I said, resigned.

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

"Why should I answer you?" Shi Bao'er retorted, raising her chin up high. 
"Okay, in that case, I'm not going to put you in a spot, my niece."
"Stop calling me your niece. My uncle has already divorced you. Did you forget that?" 
"Okay, I'll wait for you yourself to acknowledge that I'm your aunt, then." 
"Acknowledge you myself? Dream on!" Shi Bao'er barked, after which her hands were put into handcuffs. 
An Xiaoning glared at her condescendingly and said, "I'm looking forward to see if I'm dreaming or not." She opened the door and said to the butler, "She's a very disobedient child. Take her to the place where I had arranged. Call me again once she's learned her lesson." 
"Alright." 
Shi Bao'er was once again dragged away by No. 5 and No. 8, who followed the butler's lead.
An Xiaoning stood by the entrance and stared at the sky above. The air on Mount Heyuan is so fresh. What a brilliant place for watching the sunrise. 
Soon, she heard the subtle sounds of Shi Bao'er shrieking and screaming in horror. Her voice seemed to be trembling, and she sounded extremely agonized. No. 5 returned and said to An Xiaoning, "Everything has been settled. The kid's starting to beg for mercy."
"It's been less than two minutes and she's already succumbed? It's still early. Let's continue testing her patience and tenacity. I shall see how bad of a temper she really has and how brave she really is," An Xiaoning said while taking a look at the time on her mobile phone.
"Sis, won't this backfire? Won't she become even more rebellious and vicious from now on?"
"Children like her must be dealt with the hard way. I know my limits." She handed him her car keys and continued, "Let's stay here for a few days. Go bring the things inside the trunk of the car to the house." 
"Okay." 
No. 5 took out the suitcases before carrying another bag of items, which were wrapped in bedsheets, toward An Xiaoning. 
An Xiaoning grabbed the bag and untied the bedsheets to reveal a stack of books, which were all about ways and solutions to deal with rebellious children using psychology. 
Not only did she require a clear strategy and relentlessness to deal with children like Shi Bao'er, she also needed a great ton of patience. 
An Xiaoning thought that she would feel a great sense of accomplishment after completing the task. 
No. 5 entered with two cartons of bottled mineral water, as well as two cartons of ready-made fast food, which he then placed inside the refrigerator in the room. 
No. 5 sat down on the bed and asked, "Sis, do you plan to finish reading all these books?"
"Of course. There are only a few of them anyway. I can finish reading all of them in a few days."
No. 5 remarked in disbelief, "A few days? Sis, each book is so thick. You won't be able to read all of them, even if you finish one book in two days." 
"I don't need two days for a book. I can finish two books in a day." 
"Sis, that's an incredible reading speed," said No. 5, who was awestruck.
"It once took me a short amount of time to memorize a book that was of a sizable thickness. Reading is a piece of cake. This is my forte," she said confidently.
"Impressive." 
"I'll seek her out again after finishing this book," said An Xiaoning, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed while reading attentively.
——
Fang Erlan was jolted awake by the pain. The effects of the anesthetic had already worn off long ago. However, the pain would still be bearable as long as she remained still. 
She was greeted with the sight of Xiao Chenyang the moment she opened her eyes. 
She subconsciously got the shivers upon recalling the scenario last night. She grabbed his shirt and said worriedly, "You are to bring me along everywhere you go from now on."
"Okay." 
"You can't leave me alone, not even for a minute."
"Okay." 
"You'll have to accompany me, even if I'm going to the washroom."
"Okay." 
Feeling much more secure after hearing his answers, Fang Erlan asked, "What happened to the man who stabbed me?"
"He's dead." 
"Did you ask him why he wanted to kill me, then?"
Xiao Chenyang moved her hand away and stood up to grab a document from the table, on which there was a colored photograph. He explained, "He said that this woman instigated him to kill you. Do you… know her? The information shows that she's from the same village as you." 
Fang Erlan squinted to take a look and said, "She does look very familiar…"
"Her name is Fang Ruzhen."
"Fang Ruzhen?" A sudden memory from her past popped up in her head. She took a closer look at the photo, after which she turned as pale as a sheet and was at a sudden loss for words. 
"Erlan, what's the matter?"
Tears welled up in Fang Erlan's eyes, and her vision began to get blurry. "Ruzhen… Fang Ruzhen…"
Noticing that she was behaving unusually, Xiao Chenyang asked, "Do you really know her?"
Fang Erlan nodded with tears in her eyes and said, "I do, but she's been missing for more than a decade. Why would she… suddenly want to kill me… I don't have a feud with her."
"Are you sure that you didn't have any conflict with her that made her bear a grudge against you?"
After going through her memories carefully, Fang Erlan answered, "No, we're childhood friends and we used to play together when we were children. Later on, her mother killed her father cruelly and Ruzhen went missing afterward. Her grandparents, uncle, and aunt tried to search for her everywhere but did not manage to find her even after a long time. I never saw her again ever since."
After some thought, Xiao Chenyang said, "It'd be impossible for her to try and kill you without any reason. Perhaps you did offend her but you're just unaware of it. But you haven't seen each other for so many years. Children probably wouldn't bear grudges for so long. It doesn't make any sense at all."
"Are you sure that she was the one who had instigated the man to do it?"
"Yes, there's a voice recording. Listen to it." Xiao Chenyang replayed the voice recording and said, "I've already verified that the voice belongs to her. I've also found her address and contact number. Would you like to contact her and ask her about it yourself?"
"Yes. Give it to me, I'll call her now to ask her just why she wanted to kill me," Fang Erlan urged agitatedly.
"Okay, don't get too worked up and impatient." He then dialed Fang Ruzhen's mobile number.
After a melodious dial tone, a woman answered coldly, "Hello, who's speaking?"
"Are you Ms. Fang Ruzhen?" Xiao Chenyang asked.
"Yes. You are?"
"I'm Ms. Fang Erlan's bodyguard. She has something to say to you," Xiao Chenyang answered before handing the phone to Fang Erlan.
Fang Erlan held the mobile phone with trembling hands and asked straightaway, "Ruzhen, it really is you. Why did you do that?"
"Why… did I do what?" Fang Ruzhen had yet to recover from the shock of receiving a sudden call from her. She was completely caught off guard and was at a momentary loss for an answer.


After discovering about her wealthy husband's affair, she humiliates the adulterous pair on the streets and divorces him the very next morning. Just as everyone anticipates her downfall, she goes on to marry the most brilliant bachelor in the nation whom her unfaithful former husband cannot hold a candle to!

"Aren't your mother's legs always hurting? It hasn't gotten any better despite seeking help from various doctors."
"How did you know that?"
"Not only do I know why her legs hurt, I can also treat her condition."
"As long as you can treat my mother, I'll give you anything you want."
"I want money."

After An Xiaoning uses her psychic powers to break the curse of a poltergeist, she earns herself a fortune as well as a perfect man of her dreams.  

Don't be daunted by her psychic powers, for this book isn't terrifying at all!

Ahoy boatswains!

If you know me well enough by now, you would have heard the L-word a few times. My secret cove is in the building with the most number of books - The Library. The school doesn't give the most silent place a huge budget so it isn't very big or grand. Besides, it is only silent when there are no computer classes going on concurrently with the group reading session programs. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to put computers in the sacred place of paperbacks but it wasn't my decision to make.

Of the many people I've introduced in this blog, I noticed that I haven't introduced to you one of the most important figures in this school who actually knows my true identity. We have a secret club that consists of three members - Librarian Ninja 1, Librarian Ninja 2 and yours truly.

In today's journal entry I shall be introducing L-Nin 1 and L-Nin 2. L-Nin 1 is a grandmother who runs marathons when she isn't glaring at noisy children in my secret cove. As a sixty-odd-year-old lady, she volunteers at the school to pass the time. Her third grandchild just graduated this school last year so she's now taken to adopting me as her fourth grandchild.

L-Nin 2 is a sweet young lady who recently graduated University and is working her while job hunting for something in counselling. She acts more like a big sister around the noisy rascals and is very likeable among the library campers. Sometimes, I think that her heart of gold and overly soft approach towards dealing with troublemaking kids might not be a good match for her ideal job.

L-Nin 1 and L-Nin 2 often recommend me books at the check-out for borrowing books and unlike other kids, I never have a borrowing limit. The normal limit is four books but I usually walk out of the library with twelve. Nobody could pin it against me with my powerful guardians death-glaring them down. Besides, it's not as if anyone will be missing these books. None of the kids was interested in archaeology or history or thick novels. Heck, I would even borrow 1001 fun facts when I had nothing else to read so that I could pop quiz my general knowledge.

I'm not a very picky reader although I might be a little fussy over food. That's the main reason why the Library Lurkers love me so much. I would give the unread books some love and it isn't uncommon to find my name at the top row of almost every new book. I'll be the first and probably the last student to check them out.

So I noticed a little something strange about the behaviours of Nin 1 and 2 over the last week. L-Nin 1 was seen seated at the counter more frequently and L-Nin 2 was seen climbing the stools and sorting through the returned books more frequently. On a regular day, L-Nin 1 would be prowling about sorting through the shelves and sweeping over the territory with an eagle's eye.

Out of concern after the third day of this odd behaviour, I decided to ask L-Nin 2 what was wrong with L-Nin 1. She seemed surprised at first but then giggled and told me that L-Nin 1 was just undergoing some of the happiest and shocking phases of her life. After giving me that interesting bit of information, L-Nin 2 simply wouldn't say any more.

As a curious creature, I couldn't resist the urge and pounced on L-Nin 1 when the opportunity presented itself. L-Nin was hesitant to spill the beans at first but with some emotional blackmail, she disclosed what was bothering her.

"I'm pregnant."

Shiver me timbers... a mother at sixty-odd? I've read several books explaining to me about how one gets pregnant from the medical perspective and I am very sure becoming a mother at sixty-odd isn't a common thing. While it was slightly odd, I still congratulated her. Children were always a bundle of joy, weren't they? Unless they aren't yours...

L-Nin 1 didn't appreciate my snarkiness as much today and lightly flicked my forehead as a warning. Seeing that the old lady wasn't feeling her best, I decided to hold it back a little and moderate my awesomeness. L-Nin 1 then shared with me a little of her concerns about becoming a mother when she had grandchildren older than her unborn child.

I spent a whopping four hours listening to L-Nin 1 go through memory lane and learnt that sometimes, I could learn more by interacting with people compared to siphoning off books. There was something different about this method of information collection and I saw a whole new spectrum of what there was to this old lady. It went deeper than her odd love for books and children. I started seeing her as a regular human who struggled through with her insecurities despite her maturity.

For the first time in my short ten years of life, I was beginning to see what made an adult. Being an adult was merely a wrapping paper to signify the number of years you'd lived. Even at the age of over sixty, L-Nin 1 was still gushing over similar concerns L-Nin 2 had. Both library lurkers were concerned about how other people would perceive them and that got me thinking...

How do other people perceive me? Do I actually exist in their field of vision?

Now, I would have to experiment a little to create the ideal personality and decoy. I shall return to my cabin and commence plotting at once!

Till then, stay out of trouble!
Pirate S.

At age 10, Scarlet Liu Xiu Wen was tested with a Mensa IQ of 156.

By age 12, she was publishing books with the pen name Permanent Frost. By age 14, she was a successful vocalist-composer in the band called Britannia. By age 16 Scarlet had a successful career as a model and actress going by the stage name of Liu Xiu Wen.

However, there was a secret that the world didn't know. Away from the limelight, Scarlet took on yet another persona online as Pirate S - the eccentric half-genius. Everyone who lurked in the forums knew her name. Known for her unusual takes on life and mostly popularly for her "Human Observation Diary" blog, Scarlet enjoys the nerd life in secret.

Human Observation Diary has always kept to a very standard format but one day, a reader pointed out that the blog has recently been differing from its usual format. Intrigued by the trigger, Scarlet investigates her latest human observation - an online NEET by the name of Jedd77.

From further interactions, Scarlet finds herself helplessly drawn to him. As their friendship develops into something more, Scarlet has to make a choice.

To give up her secrecy and allow Jedd77 to be a part of her life? Or continue the game of cat and mouse even after the face reveal.

***

Special chapter release on other milestones, check out my discord and patreon for more details, thank you for the support!

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Discord: https://discord.gg/UrtDMXn

Aethas and Valeera continued to wander around the abandoned sanctum that had fallen ruined to the ages, looking for any possible clues for treasures and hidden knowledge, based on Aethas knowledge about Ancient arcane sanctum that was recorded down in books and many other literature, Aethas can somewhat reference these structures to a type of ancient "nuclear" power plant and Thermal Energy plant back on Earth if there was any similarity, these structures had one purpose, and that one purpose only- that is to generate as much power as possible under a certain period of time, of course the energy has to be under controlled, else it would just be a disaster.

 Just like all power plants back on Earth, the Arcane Sanctum also needed a place to store their excess powers, along with a key component that generate those powers in the first place, and that is what Aethas was looking for, the "Keystone" of the Arcane sanctum, along with any possible crystallized mana that were left untouched when the population abandoned the region to escape back to Eversong and Silvermoon.

 "Aethas! Look at this!" Valeera quickly went to where Aethas was while holding a small piece of purple crystal that is radiating with ancient mana from the leyline, this is no doubt what Aethas was looking for! [Ancient Mana]- based on it description from the wiki, Ancient mana is basically crystallized mana from the Leyline beneath the Ancient City of Suramar- but in the end, it is just crystallized mana from the Leyline, and where does all Arcane Sanctum were built on? You guessed it! Leyline.

 "Great work! Where did you find this?" Aethas asked her, with this clue- it showed they were on the right track, or at least close to where the source is- Valeera then pointed at a pile of broken shelf full of worn out books where their words are barely visible anymore in fortunate case, but most of it were completely rotten for being exposed to the elements.

 Seeing that their path is blocked by such obstacle, Aethas cracked his knuckles while looking at the pile of debris, one can guess that he is ready for a spell incantation.
"Valeera, you might want to move away, I'm going to put what professor Sunreach taught me to good use." hearing that, Valeera quickly moved behind him and stare with curiosity.

 After knowing professor Sunreach for years back in Eversong, if there's one thing Aethas could confidently tell ANYONE about the old elf, is that he is the master of fire magic! Or in many cases, anything that is related to the art of setting things on fire, enchanting and disenchanting is only secondary to him, and as for magic theories and researching into arcane knowledge, that is just a hobby.

 By now Aethas has successfully managed to gather a percentage of mana from himself and weaved it into a small infernal between the palm of his hands- this is the spell that Aethas had successfully mastered under the tutelage of his teacher.
"[Incinerate]!" he called out the name of the spell, which is one of the basic spells of the Destruction specialization of the Warlock class.
 Maybe it was due to the amount of mana that Aethas had built for himself over the years, but just 2% of that amount put into the spell is enough to completely vaporized the debris that was in front of him, leaving a charred scar radiating an intense amount of heat and revealing a pathway before them, after which Aethas couldn't help but let out a long high pitched whistle, seeing the amount of destruction he can cause with just one spell.

 "Just love the smell of burning books in the morning huh- wait no! Wrong! Books are precious! Those who burn books kill knowledge! But whatever, these books are no longer readable anyways." Aethas shrugged, it wasn't much of a loss to him anyway, if they left such tome lying about in the public area- he doubt they would worth much.

 What really juicy are hidden deeper within the sanctum and locked away to keep the public from ever laying eyes on them- those are the real treasures! To which might hidden ahead of them- with that said they venture deeper into the maw of darkness itself, on the path that is littered with crystallized mana, either on the ceiling, the wall or the very ground they walked on, it was saturated with magic- even the air they breathe in cannot escape the mana radiation as it too, was filled to the brim with mana.

 "Can you feel it Valeera? Of what's ahead, I there's a huge condensed power just up ahead." his eyes glowed brightly as the pressure from the passage ahead of them seeped into his skin, causing his hair to stand right up, they were very close.

 When the two children reached the end of the ancient passageway- where a massive door stood, being children and curiosity overwhelmed them they push it open, what greeted them was just awe, perhaps mixed with a portion of sheer terror as they laid their eyes to what's in front of them, a mass of unstable arcane energy concentrated in an area deep underground.

 Part 2

 "Isn't it beautiful, Valeera?" Aethas asked the girl, witnessing such a mass of power, left untouched for so long caused one to be baffled at such a phenomenon, there are many questions Aethas wished to ask after seeing such a scene, such as "why the Scourge didn't make use of this power?" or "why does no one seem to pick up on this at all?", only to turn around and found that Valeera is frozen in fear just from the pure pressure giving off from the arcane anomaly. 

 Unfortunately, his question is soon to be answer as the mass of power began to give off pulse of arcane waves that radiated it surrounding and energized them to an extreme state.
"Oh crap… we need to get out! Now!" noticing that something is wrong, Aethas quickly pushed Valeera down- as soon as he pushed her down, an even stronger wave of power blast out, followed by a deep furious howl.

 "FREEDOM!!!!" from the arcane anomaly, borne an aberration made from purely of Arcane energy take form into the physical world- if one could describe the children situation, it would be extremely bad, they need to get out of the sanctum immediately! Screw the Keystone and ancient knowledge! There's no point in that if they can't live to use it! Plus they quickly need to warn the local militia!

 However, it doesn't look like it was possible as the creature shot out a beam of energy and collapse their only escape route and trapping the children inside the chamber.
"Shit, we are so dead…" Aethas last shred of hope of escaping alive vanished the moment the tunnel collapsed, "Aethas… are we going to die?" Valeera asked in a shaky voice, finally understanding their current situation.

 "Well my beautiful secretary, that might be the case if we don't find a way to escape." that is hopeless to begin with, after quickly looking around, Aethas can't seem to find any possible escape route, this chamber is like a prison if there's a better word to describe it.

 "DIE MORTAL!!! I SHALL NEVER BE IMPRISON AGAIN!!!" the creature quickly turn hostile toward the innocent children below and began to amass mana, ready to launch an attack to obliterate them from the world of the living.

 Seeing imminent death, Aethas steeled his nerve, he too himself ready to launch the first attack before the monster, he turned back to Valeera, who surprising already knocking her bow and shot a couple of arrows at the creature. "Well, at least we're doing something." Aethas thought as he smiled. "Time to go all out! [INCINERATE]!" Aethas launch a blazing streak of infernal at the Mana elemental, blasting a chunk out of the monster and interrupting it casting ability. 

 "PUNY MORTAL!!! HOW DARE YOU!!!" the Mana elemental is enraged after being interrupted by an insignificant ants that it dwarf over in both size and power! Seeing that it spell was interrupted, the creature began conjuring up mana elemental to attack.

 "You think that you're the only one who can summon minion! Valeera! Buy me some time, it's time to show this monster that we're weakling and just wait to be slaughtered!" with the air of a commander around him, Aethas order the girl- whom quickly rain down arrows upon the numberless Mana Surges that wanted to rip them apart.

 Aethas himself utilized this chance and immediately call forth another skill that the Warlock class gained infamy from in this Universe- the art of conjuring forth demons! Although this might be a bad idea as conjuring demons and controlling them had to be done through laborious effort, such as subduing the creature and force it into the Warlock service through the domination of will or master and servant contract, else the creature will just be a menace to all. 

 But that is just what Aethas needed right now! [Summon: Imp]! A magic circle radiated and a small sprite engulfed in fel flame appeared and shooting fireball like it was fireworks! However Aethas doesn't stop there, he continued to put in even more of his mana to call forth more horror from the twisting nether and Aethas doubt that he lacked anything but mana itself here! It wasn't all for naught and soon a terrifying creature heard of his summon, but it seems like Aethas got more than he had bargained the moment he laid his eyes on the creature that step forth from the portal.

 "WHO DARE SUMMON ME! THE GREAT ANNIHALASH!" roared the giant creature that looks like a massive lizard with 6 limbs with a humanoid torso with tusk and wings with flames blazing, this creature is without a doubt, a species of Annihilan, better known as the Pit Lords!
*BANG! The Arcane anomaly shot a ball of concentrated arcane energy at the face of the Pit Lord and broke off a tusk.

 "Okay, this might work…" that all Aethas could muster out in words after witnessing the stupid action of the Arcane elemental.

Xiao Yu, a regular college nerd, orphan at a young age, he loves nothing else but to study( and playing World of Warcraft), get good grades in school- as a matter of fact, he has been the top of his class since the day he started school, up until the current present of his college life- it was abruptly ended when he tried to save a kid from being run over by a train, but unfortunately he didn’t make it out in time.
	
	Xiao Yu last wish before his death was for a family in his next life, if there is any “Next life” to speak of.
------------------------------------------
A World of Warcraft-ish Fanfiction, defined by yours truly, following canon? Fuck that! 
Update will be irregular, I don't do this for a living anymore, thus who give a damn.

I will also post on Royalroad under the name Bicorn

Dodgers been at school for a couple months now and he hasn't shown signs of friendship with the other children. Ava, his teacher sent him home yesterday with a note requesting that we talk about Dodgers behavior.  

I sat on an old wooden bench, lined up against the wall in the school's hallway, waiting. A dainty ring inside the room marked the end of the school day. Children scuffled around inside, the stools screeching against the wooden floor, and the muffled noise of large books slammed shut followed by a burst of children from the classroom door. They kept pouring from the room, seeming as an endless stream. The crowd lessened, and I was left in the hallway with Dodger. He greeted me with a faint smile.  

"Mrs. Ember, can I please have a word with you alone?" Ava stood halfway into the doorway to her classroom beckoning for me to come in with a wave of her hand. 

I commanded Dodger to stay as I would a dog. 

Inside the classroom I searched for an adult sized chair but the room was without. I grabbed a child's sized seat and sat down. The chair groaned underneath me. This was ridiculous, how was I to be taken seriously when my focus was on balancing my body on the balls of my feet? I feared the wooden legs would snap in half if I put all my weight on it. The teacher has seen many adults place their weight on this poor child-sized seat, she should have at least one adult chair. 

"I have to talk to you about Dodgers conduct towards the other children. He doesn't seem to act as a normal child should..." The chair creaked at the hinges, I placed less weight on it. This was more taxing than standing. "…He tends to awkwardly push them away at times with these weird stories..." I shifted again to relieve my aching muscles and the chair bent to my weight. "Mrs. Ember, Dodger is scaring the other children with his stories about 'the other people.'" 

I stopped caring about the little chair and focused on her. 

"Other people?" I hoped I heard incorrectly. 

"He scared the children into believing that there is a monster in the bathroom. He is very detailed about this creature." 

"How?" 

"They are... colorful, and disturbing. He says, 'It's a hunchback monster with long bloodied claws and a sideways mouth waiting in a dark corner for its prey.'" She winced as she quoted Dodger.  
I was in shock, I couldn't speak. What could I say: 'Yes, I've known all along?'  

What am I even doing to help Dodger through this? I was hoping the apparitions, hallucinations, or whatever it was, had calmed down a bit. After the night when the cadaverous form in the bedroom appeared Dodger hasn't brought it up again, and I haven't seen anything either. I've read books, hundreds upon hundreds of books. Nothing comes close to describing what we were seeing. How could I seek help when this has never happened to anyone? 

"Children are inspired by their role models. Is there something in your house that imprints his mind with these ideas and images?" She said with judgement. 

"Are you accusing me of telling Dodger horror stories?" She held up her hands in protest although it was clear it was her allegation. 

"Mrs. Ember I didn't say that, I'm concerned. Something is scaring him and he's taking it out on the other children. Maybe talking it over with him, figure out where he's getting these disturbing images from. It will help solve this dilemma." 

You're a teacher of mathematics and history, not a teacher for parenting, keep your profession to yourself and I'll be the mom. I prevailed in biting my tongue, she didn't receive my harsh words. What she heard was: 

"I'll have a talk with him." 

I exited the room without a friendly goodbye. 

Our walk home was dreary. Dodger hadn't spoken, and he didn't skip as he walked. I should be talking to him, it's now or never. It was best to bring this up without Daniel or my mother trying to interfere. 

"Dodger." The ole 'call out their name sensitively to catch their attention' tone. He faced my direction with the 'oh damn, we're about to have a talk' expression. 

"Do you know why the teacher wanted to speak with me today?" He hung his head. I believe that clarified it. 

"Dodger, the people you see. Others can't see them." 

"You see them?" I knew this was going to come back and haunt me. His hand slipped out of mine as he stopped walking. His head hung lower casting a grim shadow over his face. 

"I have seen them, but I'm the only one who has. You promised me you wouldn't talk about them with other people." Dodgers fist made small circles around his eyes, he sniffled and tears made a little puddle before his toes. 

"Why are you crying?" I said softly. My heart ached for him. 

"I got you in trouble with the teacher." I was moved by his tenderness, he cared about me and that meant the world to me. I squeezed him into my body and chuckled at the thought of how cute he was. 

"I'm not in trouble and neither are you." We obstructed the street, but we paid no mind to the people pushing by. We hugged it out until Dodger stopped sobbing and smiled his bright saw-toothed grin.  

 With his hand snuggled in my own we headed to the safety of our home, but safe is far from what I felt. 

"Why didn't you tell me that you saw them at school?" I continued our conversation. 

"Can't you see them all?" He asked. His head tilted to the side as he moved his ear in my direction.
 
"Them all?" My question caused Dodger to frown. 

"I thought you could see all of them. Mae, they're everywhere." I didn't feel comforted, I wish I never asked. A sensation tingled in my spine and my neck couldn't stop cranking around to look behind me. 

Home was no more comforting than the jam-packed streets of dirty homeless men trying to rub against me just to get their jollies. Home felt threatening to me, something watched with beady eyes from the corners of the apartment, it pried into my personal life. Dodger could see the unseen, but are they real or a figment of his imagination? And why would I be seeing portions of his imagination? I must know the answers or else the darkness will haunt me forever. 

~~ 

I woke bright and early before the Alpha sun. I left Dodger in my mother's care knowing Daniel wasn't home, he's probably passed out at a hotel from drinking and gambling again. I headed back to the cathedral's library shivering with horrid anxiety. I craved Ade'cer's guidance. 

"Ade'cer!" I called out his name to a big pile of books thinking he would pop up like a weasel. 

"Who calls my name?" I turned, Ade'cer seemed out of place amongst sorted out books cleanly placed on shelfs. "Oh, miss Ember!" 

"Please, call me Mae." I smiled not because I was happy to see him, but happy to know that questions would be answered. 

"Can we speak in private, please?" He nodded, I followed his silent footsteps to the back of the library. As we progressed down the narrow alley of bookshelves candelabras became the source of light instead of chandeliers. The light dimmed, and dust covered more layers of dust adding a daunting appearance to the cathedral. I was hoping we could have gone somewhere more pleasant.  

He sat me down in an area fenced off by shelves. There were three old forgotten chairs with maroon cushioning that had a gray blanket of dust covering it. Ade'er sat on a chair opposite of my own, he plopped into his seat and a cloud of dust burst from the fabric. I sneezed to relieve a tickle nose. The dust was disturbed again and swirled even higher in the air. 

"I apologize, I'm usually the only one that cleans the back areas. The library is too large for one monk." 

"Dust doesn't bother you?" I rubbed my nose, then sneezed again. He hasn't sneezed at all. 

"I guess I've become immune to it." He smiled. "Now, this isn't about your demon friend, is it?" He joked with a snort in his snicker. I chuckled nervously to lighten the dreary mood. 

"Actually, it's not about the same demon per se... I'm curious, main symptoms of a possession are well known, but are seeing things like apparitions a symptom?" I decided to stand and paced as I talked. I didn't want to disrupt any more dust. 

"If it is a symptom it's news to me." He said while fiddling with his glasses. 

"What would cause a ghost to appear?" calling it a ghost made it sounds less threatening. Saying "ghosts" sparked my imagination to think of white billowy sheets that go 'OOooooOOHhhHHH' in the night, a mere children's story. I avoided using 'hallucination' and 'apparition' so it doesn't sound like I went into a forest and ate odd shaped mushrooms and now I'm seeing funny shapes. 

"Mental illness." He said with bluntness. 

"Excuse me? I don't fully understand." 

"You were a priestess, correct?"  

For a second I had forgotten my lie from last visit. I nodded, I had no idea where he was taking this conversation. 

 "The god and goddess created the underworld to keep the dead, dead and separated from the living. This includes ghosts, ghouls, zombies, whatever people can think of that involves the reanimation of souls and spirits or walking rotting bodies. Maybe necromancy could explain the apparitions or ghosts, but the promise of the god and goddess is that they cut off that magical connection to the underworld so our souls can rest in peace and move on without being meddled with. The only explanation to seeing ghosts," He hyphenates 'ghosts' with his fingers. "or apparitions is by being mentally unstable, seeing things that aren't there. Or, necromancy but the last necromancer was Saryn Vail and his books disappeared when he was demonized." He shrugged his shoulders a couple times and waved his hands around in unison with his words to express emotion, almost as if the motions themselves said 'It's as simple as pie' better than his words. It was almost insulting. "Ghosts, ghouls, etc. are what? They are the untreated souls of the god and goddesses' children. To see a ghost or a ghoul is blasphemy against their promise to take care of our souls after death." 

"So that's it? Mentally unstable, there isn't another explanation like the dead have found a way to live amongst us?" I sounded very silly, I couldn't think of a better explanation but I highly doubted that what Dodger and I both saw were hallucinations caused by a mental illness. It wasn't just a sight, when they were near I could feel them deep inside my soul. 

"You doubt the Godius and Goddessas promise?" He interrogated me with squinty eyes. 

"That's not what I said," I said in defense, he was twisting my words. "Has there been any other case when someone claimed to see the dead?" 

"Dead? You said ghosts." 

"I don't know what it was, whether it was an apparition or a ghost or something dead." 

"You saw it?" He said whilst holding up his hand to 'hush' me. I let my guard down. 

"I didn't say that." He squinted at me in denial. I needed to change the subject without straying from the actual point. If his answer to the question is mental illness than making him believe I'm insane could get me locked up in the asylum. "Has there ever been any sightings of the living dead?" 

"No, there has not been. Only the rantings and ravings of lunatics." 

"Thank you, Ade'cer. That's all I needed to know." Just as last time, as I began to walk away Ade'cer spoke. 

"If you ever need any more information let me know. I'm an open book." I smiled in his direction hoping I could convince him that 'all was well'. 

Before I left the Cathedral, I considered the bulletin board hoping to find any news or leads I could follow. The Cathedrals bulletin board wasn't as big as the town squares and the hot topics were all religious. I scanned the entire board twice then three times until a small piece of paper containing pictures of a mansion with barred windows peeked my interest. The bottom portion of this paper was covered by an event calendar that held priority over it. I unpinned the calendar and covered something of less interest to me. 

"Help needed for the Marnettie Mental Institute." 

The only explanation to seeing ghosts or apparitions is by being mentally unstable, so Ade'cer claimed. This is where they house the victims to insanity. My best option for answers is through this institution. I read further into the article and something else caught my attention. 

"Twenty-three silver coins a week." That'll leave Daniel and I with enough money towards other necessities and giving us hope to living debt free again. 

The institution was less than a mile away from the cathedral in the opposite direction of town. I needed to make this stop today or else I wouldn't have the opportunity for another week. I grabbed the paper hoping they still needed help and headed down the road with my dark green cloak wrapped around my shoulders. 

I was determined to find answers without being further insulted.

Mae Ember has the perfect husband and a newly adopted son, Dodger. But an evil shadow has latched himself to Dodger and seems hellbent on turning him against Mae. Searching for answers Mae stumbled upon a job in an asylum. With her kind and empathetic heart Mae finds it difficult to find the answers she needs and appease her cruel and suspicious boss.

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