It is now Saturday afternoon and I invited Lee over to try and somehow tell her that I'm leaving Solace for good. I have planned out every word I'm going to say to her and played out every way the conversation could go but I'm still nervous. I know she'll understand but if I were in her shoes I would feel betrayed, maybe it's just my abandonment issues speaking. As I am sitting at the dinner table, deep in my thoughts I hear a knock on the door. I can suddenly hear my heartbeat in my ears and feel every muscle in my body move, as I get up I start regretting my decision, but there's no going back now. I open the door and I see Lee standing in front of me.

"Hi!" I say as normally as I can.

"Hi?" She says chuckling.

"What's up? You're acting weird" She steps inside and looks around "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, no everything's fine" I say leaning on the table "So" I take a pause "How are you?" I say with my arms crossed.

"I'm" She gives me a weird look "Fine? I guess" She puts her bag on the table "What's going on? You're scaring me" She says

I feel a knot starting to form in my throat and suddenly I have the urge to cry.

"Well, you remember that uncle I told you about?" I say

"The one in Elsher?" She asks "Has something happened?" she says with a concerned look.

"Well, not exactly... It's just that yesterday when I got back from your house I found a letter on the table that came from them." I respond "Lee, they want me to come and live with them in Elsher" I finally blurt it out.

Lee's face is neutral, I can't tell if she's mad at me or sad. I immediately feel the guilt coming on.

"And you're going?" She asks

"I think so, yes. But if you need me here and if you don't want me to leave just say it and I'll stay" I grab her hands "Lee, you're my best friend and you're way more important than going to balls or having a bigger house"

"I'd never hold you back from getting exactly what you deserve" She says "Let, they're your family, you belong with them. I'm not saying I won't miss you, I'll miss you more than anything but this is your opportunity to escape all of this" She says looking right into my eyes. "Also, you'll need to get a good education and a good job if we ever want to travel the mortal world" We start tearing up.

"I love you so much" I say hugging her as tight as I can.

"And don't forget to write me about all those ridiculous parties you'll have to go to" Lee says laughing.

Lee and I talk for about thirty more minutes then we say our goodbyes. It's 6:55 PM when I look at the clock. She just has enough time to make it home. I quickly lock the front door, double-check it, then go around checking if all the windows are locked and if the blinds are properly closed. The bells ring at exactly 7 PM. They let the people of Solace know that It's time to hide out for the rest of the day.

Solace is dangerous on Its own, but after the sun goes down It's a completely other type of hell. Remember what I said about Solace and how the lowest of the lowest live here? Back in the 1900s, there was a woman in Solace who was born with a weird genetic mutation that didn't show up until she was about thirty years old. This genetic mutation caused her to have a disease that made her body store excess fluids in her lungs. This eventually caused her to drown in her own bodily fluids, but after she drowned she came back as something completely different than what she was before. As I said before, people who are from Solace all have some portion of mortal blood, this disease somehow made her lose her mortal self, she basically became a rabid animal. When the leaders in other parts of the otherworld discovered this they wanted to apply it to more Spades to test if they could create an army of these monsters, so they did. They killed about 10.000 Spades and eventually other creatures from all around the otherworld this way. Then, when they realized that what they created was so much worse than what they had thought, they dumped all of them back into Solace. How nice right?

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We call them the drowned. They only come around at night because they are body snatchers. They have their own physical form, but it would be a dead giveaway if they showed up like that so they murder someone, then steal their body until it becomes unusable. The drowned feed off our souls, they use magic to make you feel drunk and then they suck the life out of you. Lee's father died this way when she was just five months old.

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It is now Sunday at 4 AM and the sun is rising on the horizon, so It's safe to go outside. The carriage is scheduled to leave in about 15 minutes and I have to admit I've probably never been more nervous in my life. Solace is my home and even though I know that in the end I'll benefit so much from living in Elsher and going to an actual school, I still can't help but recall that very night we had to leave. I keep thinking of my mother's words "Bad people are after us", what if those 'bad people are still there? In the last 12 years, Solace has shaped me in a way that I won't ever be able to lose, I don't fit into Elsher anymore.

These thoughts almost make me want to cancel the whole move and just go inside and lay in my bed, but it's too late, the carriage has arrived. It's a beautiful silver, shiny carriage and my aunt's initials are on it "R.R., Ramona Roswell" I read quietly. I guess there are privileges to being the commander.

I get into the carriage the magic that is enchanted into it helps me place my bags inside as well. The doors shut, and we start to move. As the carriage flies over Solace I quietly mourn the last 12 years and try to mentally prepare myself for my new life.

The scenery changes from smokey and firey streets to beautiful meadows, sunshine appearing on the horizon, and lots of animals, we are in Corter. I look out the window and I'm instantly in awe by the beauty of their land. Everyone seems happy, children running, people dancing, sometimes I think about why I could never have that, I guess life is just unfair like that. As we fly deeper into the realm I spot a city, divided by a river, full of trees and other plants. The houses are built in a baroque style. Their city is gorgeous.

About an hour passes before I decide to look out the window again. We are now flying over a snowy mountain range, I've never seen snow in my life before, at least from what I can remember. Not shortly after I spot a valley. Blacksmiths, tents, and fighting ranges are mostly all I can see. We're in Averill. As we progress into the realm I sight the city. A beautiful sanctuary stands tall in the middle of it. The sun rose, so I get to see more of the city. There are lots of Edwardian-style townhouses and shops from what I can see. It's again, nothing like Solace. How come they get to live like this and I ended up in a shithole.

The carriage speeds up again and I know It's going to take a long time from Averill to my uncle's house, Elsher is huge. I try to pass the time by reading books but it doesn't seem to work too well until I spot something in one of my books.

A paper folded in half slips onto my lap. It was hidden in a book about the occult history of the realms. I close the book and place it down beside me, then I unfold the paper. It appears to be a page ripped out of another book, but It's in a language I have no understanding of. However, there is a drawn picture in the lower left corner of the page. It's a little damaged and half of it is missing but I can see some of it. It almost looks like the branches of a tree.I tried to figure out what language could be on the page but I had no luck. At least I wasted enough time with it and now we are only 10 minutes away from arriving. I can't help but feel anxious, I think I'm only realizing now that this is happening, I'm moving to Elsher.