Rev joins Rebecca and Lilly for the rest of their readying class. Rev checks out the two books he had gotten. Rev once again waves good bye to Lilly as they go their separate ways. Rev returns to his room with his two books in hand. He coats the door knob in source and opens the door. He steps inside and gives the door a little kick close. He let the books down as they hit the ground and cause all the dust to take air. Rev wind blasts the dust away and out the window. He sits with the books, trying to read the words he knows. Once night falls, Rev closes his window and crawls into bed. “Who made up all these stupid words” Rev thinks to himself.

-Day 5 of the mountain palace

-2 days until second encounter

The morning bells ring and echoes throughly the many halls of the palace. Rev is awoken by the now familiar sound. He gets ready and heads out the door.

“Sleep well?” Shane asks.

“Slept fine…” Rev responds.

They make it to the courtyard.

“LINE UP!” Bron calls out.

“No time to waste. Pine today, you will be the target.” Bron says.

“Yes, sir,” Pine responds.

They begin the warmup. Pine creates a wooden cocoon around him. Rev sits on top of it. He is watching the other's movements. Seeing how they cast. Shane makes a mad dash behind Bron. Bron sees him and charges forward at Bane. Bane gets low and ramps his wide should into Brons chest. Bron defends by catching it and sweeping Banes legs from under him. Shane is still behind Bron, waiting to strike. Rev watches as Shun creates water orbs. He has seen Ein do the same thing, but smaller than Shun. Rev watches the hand sign and flow of source. He sees as the art forms right in front of him. Rev tries and mange’s to only get a drop of water. Bron is coming his way. “What do you have planned you trick-” Bron thinks to himself before he crashes head face first into a stone wall Rev created. Rev might not of understood the fire art book, but he did understand most of the stone one. The book was on stone cones. It had caught Rev's eyes for potential uses of the art. Rev hood down from the wooden cuckoo and goes through some hand signs. He cast the art on the ground. Suddenly, a quarter of the courtyard ground is covered in cone spikes. He had meant to make them bigger, but he’s still learning the art. Either way, the ground is not safe to step on around Rev and Pine. Rev smirks and goes back on top of the wooden cocoon. Bron looks around him. He spots Shane behind him. Rev wind blast up before Bron could think of doing it himself. Bron sees Rev now above him. Bane gets up and tries to step closer. Then noticed the spikes on the ground.

“What happened?” Bane asks.

“Rev did it to trap Bron,” Shane tells Bane.

Bron thinks over how he might escape. Rev then coats the wall and starts to pull it closer. Forcing Bron closer to the spikes. Bron does not worry, as he simply gets on top of the wall. Noticing this, Rev quickly brings down the wall, but Bron had already used it to wind-blast himself toward Pine. What he didn’t know is he was also wind blasting right into Shuns water orb attacks. He is going too fast to switch directions. Shun lands the attacks on Bron and quickly freezes the water covering Bron.

“Come quick, it won’t hold him for long!” Shun says.

Rev quickly clears a path through the spikes, coating them and shoving them out of the way. Shane bolts through the path. The ice is starting to crack.

“Hurry!” Shun yells out.

He tries to create more water orbs to freeze him, but it’s too late. In one strong burst, the ice around Bron comes flying off. Shane dashes towards him. Bron catches him and sends him straight to the ground. Shun is stunned, not knowing what to do. Pine hears the commotion and prepares a vine rope. Rev takes a breath as he dashes toward them at top speed and appears in front of Bron. He pays him no attention as he coats the wooden cocoon and blasts it straight up into the sky. Bron is caught off guard by this. Rev wind blast up to follow after it. He then lunches it toward. He dashes after it. He pulls it towards him as he does to soften the crash. It works and as it hits the ground; it stays in tack.

“Are you ok in there?” Rev asks.

“…a little dizzy, but other than that am fine…I think” Pine responds.

“If you say so,” Rev says.

As this is happening, Bane finally makes it to Bron. He grabs shun and Shane and runs back toward Rev. Bron, chases after them. Rev goes through some hand signs before placing his hand on the ground. Rev coats the ground around him and channels the art. Growing the art in scale as he does. Rev feels uneasy and stops. The source required would be too much. He pulls back the source. “What do I do now” Rev thinks. Rev is running out of time. Bane is looking at Rev for some sense of hope.

Rev sighs, “I give up,” he says.

Everyone freezes. "What did you say?” Bron asks.

Rev gives Bane a look. He turns around and throws Shun and Shane at Bron. He instinctively catches them. Bron then holds Bron and Rev comes dashing.

“I said…tag” Rev tells Bron as he presses his hand against him.

Bron sees what has just happened. “Your a trickster indeed. deception might be your strongest weapon.” Bron says with a sigh.

“Pine, you can come out now,” Bane says.

“…well, to be honest. I can’t get out of here on my own. I was hoping Rev could get me out.” Pine responds.

Bron laughs. "What faith you must have,” he says.

Rev walks over and coats the wooden cocoon. He stares to rip it apart. It’s not like stone witch will crumble with one strong pull. The wood fibers are densely packed. Rev simply flows the source through the fibers and deeper into the wood. He then rips it from the center. This way a clean break is made. “Much easier than the stone,” Rev thinks.

“Enough playing around. It's time for an out run. Be sure to save some energy. We will be doing a second round of this today.

They begin their run with Rev leading like usual. Shane was only a 3ft behind him. Bane is 10ft behind Shane. Shun and Pine are 12ft behind Bane. The three laps finish with Shane falling behind on the last lap. Bane keeping a steady past throughout it comes in third once more. The others then finish up and it straight to source control. After that, it’s another round of tag.

“Shun, you are the target,” Bron says.

They begin. Rev takes his usual position. Bron is out to win this time. Rev looks at him from above. He sees Bron is charging up a wind blast. He quickly goes down to Pine.

“Put Shun in the wood cage.” Rev tells Pine.

Pine nods his head and starts casting the art. Rev creates a stone wall in front of them. Bron starts to run to the side in order to get a clear shot at Shun. The second he sees him, Bron shoots the wind blast to his feet and goes bolting towards Shun. Shane sees this and grabs Shun, pulling him to the ground. Pine finally finishes casting the art and creates the wooden Cocoon around both Shun and Shane. Rev sees this and sighs “how are we so to all tag Bron if Shane is trapped” he thinks.

He has no choice. He rips it open, takes Shane of it. Bron comes for another’s attack. Rev turns and looks at the coming attack in annoyance. He creates a stone pillar in the path of Brons' attack. Bron goes crashing into it. He then creates spikes all around him slightly larger than before. Then wind blast above him and creates a stone spear. Bron, in the current situation, can not hope to dodge it without further trapping himself.

“Just give up” Rev tells Bron.

With Rev dashing around the air, Bron can’t even land a counter attack. With Revs eyes on him, there’s no way to cast an art that Rev won’t see coming. He sees no way out that won’t end up in him taking unnecessary damage.

“Ok, I give up once again. Well done, Rev. I have talked with the art of casting teacher. She has told me that her student will be using are left over rumble as source coat training. Along with other things. With that said, class is over go and eat.” Bron says.

A sigh of relief is released from the others. They head towards the dining hall.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“We have mushroom soup today Rev. I remember how much you liked it before.” Clare says.

“Yes, I would,” Rev respond.

Clare hand him the bowl “thanks you” Rev says.

“Your very welcome,” Clare responds.

Rev sits down at the table, and the others sit around him like usual.

“Thank you twin god for the meal. We will not let any go to waste. We would also like to that you for bringing Rev into our life’s.” Shane prays .

The others nod in agreement. Rev isn’t to amused by the comment. He doesn’t speak out; he keeps all thoughts to himself. They go on to talk about training and what they're going to do after they eat. Rev sits there. I silent trying to eat his food as fast as he can do he can leave. Rev finishes and returns his bowl. He leaves right after. The guys wave him goodbye. He gives a pathetic wave back. “Everyone, the twin gods, has brought me close to end up dying. It’s best to keep my distance,” Rev thinks to himself. He doesn’t return to his room be instead goes to the library. He gets a little lost along the way, but finds the giant door, eventually. He knocks on it and says.

“Am here to see Rebecca?”

The smaller door opens and the librarian from yesterday leads him to her.

“REV!” Lilly yells as she runs to him.

“Please keep your voice down, young one,” the librarian says.

“Sorry about that,” Rebecca says

She gets up and walks over. “Glad you could make it.”

Rev gives a slight blush. “Lilly, let me go,” he says.

He looks down at her and then up at Rebecca. “Are they going to die to…should I even be here…” Rev thinks. Rebecca sees the unsure look on his face. One of innocence that she has seen many times before. “He really is just a kid at heart.” She thinks.

“Let’s Rev go Lilly, we have work to do.” Rebecca says with a smile.

Lilly pouts and lets go of Rev. They sit down and begin class. Rebecca gives them a book to read.

“When you get to a word you don’t know, just ask me for help and we can’t figure it out together.” Rebecca tells them.

They both nod in agreement. Class usually last no more than an hour, but Rev was adamant to keep going. Lilly saw this and decided to try a little harder. Rebecca could never get Lilly to go past an hour. “What a pleasant surprise,” she thought. They continued through and got halfway through the book. Rev had recognized some of the new words he learned where also in the art books he had checked out. Rev is not yet satisfied, but it will do for today.

“Thank you,” Rev says as he gets up to leave.

Rebecca smile “No, thank you Rev.” She says.

Rev looks back, confused. No one has ever responded like that.

“Your…welcome?” He says, unsure if it’s the proper response.

Rebecca chuckles. “Take the compliment and leave with it.”

Rev turns with a slight blush that’s quickly fades. He heads for the door. He then goes through the maze of the palace once more and, in time, finds his way to his room. He is completely spent for the day he lays in bed with his book in hand and gives it another read. He doesn’t make it halfway through before he falls asleep.

-A cold wind approaches

-Day 6 of the Mountain Palace

-1 day until Second encounter.

Rev is woken up by the sound of the bells. Another Peaceful day has arrived. Rev heard the morning prayers of the others like many days before. He rolls his eyes and gets sour of bed. He sees the book on his bed. He gives it one more try before heading out. Rev focus’s and increases the temp of his breath. He watches’s as the source flow. He feels a burst of heat, but in an instant it’s gone.

“I felt it,” Rev mutters to himself.

His eyes light up as he tries it again and again. The flame doesn’t last long enough for Rev to even see it, but he can see the Incomplete art he is casting.

A knock on his door interrupts him. “Rev, we have to go or we will be late fore class.” Shane says.

Rev puts the book away and hurries out the door. Him and Shane run through the halls, weaving through the crowd of people. They finally make it to the courtyard where the others are waiting.

“Any reason you were late Rev?” Bron asks.

“I was practicing casting a new art,” Rev plainly says.

The other's head turns. Bron laughs. “Of course you were. Get in line and for today you Rev will be the target.” Bron says.

Rev sigh and gets ready for the chase. They begin soon after and Rev, wasting no time, blasts up to the sky and starts to create his stone panels. He lunches them at Bron as he dash’s off of them. The others take a more forward approach and circle him. Bron blast up to the sky with much more force than Rev did. But the higher is the same. Rev attends a Vine rope cast, but it fails. Rev goes to the ground and starts to cast pillars. He coats them and launches them at Bron. The others huddle together and think of a plan.

“It’s basic, but it worked before.” Shane says.

They attempt the vine rope move where Shane runs with it around Bron to try to trap him. Bron isn’t going easy on them anymore with Rev as the target. Bron coats the vine and attracts Shane’s source, which he pulls to his hand. Shane like a magnet snaps right into Brons' hand. He then cast a stone trap around Shane’s torso, which also traps his hands. He then uses the vine rope once more to try to snag Rev out of the air, but he is much too fast and his repelling of source is much too strong. Even if Bron could land the vine on him, he would have no hope of pulling Rev to him. Pine starts to cast a wooden cocoon. He then lunges at Bron and cast it around him. Bane then goes and tries to free Shane. Rev quickly comes down and frees Shane.

“Thank-“

Bron burst through the wooden cocoon and lunges at Rev at full speed. Rev dodges the first attack but is caught by the vine rope. At this close range, Bron can use his physical strength to his advantage. No source needs just a simple stronger tug that pulls Rev in.

“Tag!” Bron yells out.

The other look in shock as they barely even saw what had just happened. Rev lets out a sigh.

“Why did I come and help” he whispers under his breath.

The others look at him. “Sorry Rev, it was my fault for getting trapped in the first place,” Shane admits.

“It’s fine…” Rev reluctantly responds.

“You did well Rev. Even tho you where the target you where caught saving another. There is no shame in that.” Bron yells at him.

The others nod in agreement. “Sorry to weigh you down, but thanks for the save,” Shane says.

Rev doesn’t let this list get to him. He runs extra fast on the laps. In the extend source training Rev holds nothing back in his game of tug of war with the others student. He ends up beating them all.

“What do you think the others did wrong? Was there any way for them to win Rev?” Bron asks.

“The only did they did wrong was not ask for help. Four of them were never going to be enough.” Rev says.

The others look slightly offend, but can’t disagree with what he said.

“Ok, that’s it for today. Feel free to go eat,” Bron says.

They head out towards the dining hall. Rev sprints past them and once he gets his bowl, he doesn’t sit down. Instead, he eats the food right then and there at the front of the line and gives the bowl back to Clare.

“Thank you” Rev says.

And he is off before Clare can respond. He rushes to the Library to meet with Lilly and Rebecca.

“Your an eager one, aren’t you?” Rebecca says.

They go for another long, readying day. Rev gets caught up on some words, but with Rebecca’s help, he eventually understands it. Lilly falls slightly behind, but is motivated by Rev to keep going. Rebecca is pleasantly surprised once more.

“Thanks for coming Rev, hope to see you again tomorrow,” Rebecca says.

“Yeah! See your tomorrow!” Lilly says as she waves goodbye.

Rev waves back and rushes through halls back to his room. His window has been forced open and a cold wind has taken his room. He quickly closes it and gets in bed with his blankets wrapped around him. He starts to read his book with more entertaining left over than before, as his adrenaline is still on high alert. It soon runs out, but that doesn’t stop Rev. He reads and reads. Using a new technique that Rebecca taught him today. She said to use context clues. Rev uses the word he knows around the work he doesn’t know and gives it an “educated guess“ as Rebecca called it. As he is ready, he still feels uneasy about getting close to Lilly and Rebecca. He thinks back to what had happened today and if the same thing would happen in a real encounter. Would he really put his life in danger to save the others? “No…I didn’t think I was putting my life in danger. It wasn’t my intention to take that risk.” Rev thinks to himself. The cold wind blast through his window once more. It is now the well into the night. He looks out his window to and sees the outline of a man.

“Who is that” Rev whispers.

He leaves his room to follow the man. All the Windows are open as a familiar chilling wind is forced into the palace halls. Rev continues to follow the man. “The source i him is a different color…” Rev thinks it’s like the flowers he has seen not red, but at darker purple. It’s so concentrated. All the sudden the palace start to shake.

“That beast could make a silent entrance if I tried,” the man says.

Rev hears the voice of the man. Oddly familiar, but he can’t put a face to the name. The shaking wakes everyone up. People start to flood out and look through the windows.

“What are you looking at, kid?” They ask.

“Theres someone there I can see there source” Rev responds.

Paul calls out to Rev “Rev where are you?”

“Am here” Rev says.

The palace shakes once more.

“We are under attack Rev. I need to know what you are seeing right away. I have already called the warriors to get ready to defend.” Paul tells Rev.

“I see someone there and…” Rev stops. His heart starts to race. The palace shakes once more and as the giant doors of the entrance are forced open.

“DRAGON! THERE'S A DRAGON HERE!” Rev yells.

Pauls eye widen as everyone around him starts to freak and falls to their knees in prayer.

“Have the twin god forsaken us?” some of the people call out.

“Do not let such things leave your mouth,” Paul says.

“You follow the wrong gods!” The man calls out.

Paul is frozen in place at the sound of the voice that caries such volume. There are few who heard it and lived.

“Loka”. Paul whispers.

He falls to his knees. “Twin gods….give me strength and your people's mercy,” Paul prays.

“Loka?…that's the name of…-”

“LOKA! your life is mine to take,” Ash says.

“I believe that's the same thing your brothers told me. You should ask him how that went. Wait, you can’t, can you?” Loka taunts Ash.

Ash lets out a roar that shakes the people of the palace to their core. Loka stands in front of him with a smirk on his face.

“Do not fear. Your god is here to save you.” Loka calls out.

He looks straight into the dragon's eyes. flashes through what has to be hundred hand signs. Rev can’t keep up with the moments. Ash fire breaths Loka, but he disappears. “Where did he go?” Rev thinks. He can’t seem to find him. “Loka…” He thinks once more, the name echoing through his head. “Man turned monster,” Ein had told him. “had committed an unforgivable sin,” Rev remembers. “Loka…the man the dragon wanted to…he had through. He was in Morton…If the dragon had never been chasing Loka, then Ein would still be alive.” Rev thinks. “Loka, Loka, Loka” He had been told not to even say his name. Rev finally sees the art forming. Its scale covers the sky in size.

WHOOOSH!

A thundering wind engulfs the palace. Rev watches as ice shards start to form. His heart stops. “Loka…Loka….Its…Loka”. Rev takes a breath and his lungs are full of the bone chilling air.

“Loka…it was you….” Rev looks out to the courtyard. Seeing Loka in the center of the icy blizzard and the Ash across from him. Rev's eyes start to boil over. The cries of the people around him start to amplify. Rev can’t take it anymore. “Loka….Loka…Loka..the monster…Loka….the reason Ein died. the reason his family died…the reason Rudy, and the others died…The reason he spent all those years at the farm….”

“Its all your fault….LOKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Rev yells out at the top of his frozen over lungs.