“BOO!”

Leo tumbled backwards, nearly submerging his entire head under the water. In front of Trenton, there was a younger looking girl with lighter blue skin and swirling purple tattoos. Her hair looked similar to a waterfall, a long following mass of water taking the shape of hair follicles, her lower half seeming to meld with the water as if she were a part of it. Was she made of water? She was fully clothed, thankfully, but it was odd that she was even in the bathhouse with Trenton and Leo. Had she been there the whole time? Trenton looked at her cooly, his eyebrows arched upwards. She started to pout, clearly upset that she didn’t scare Trenton at all

“Aw, you’re no fun. Sour sport,” she said.

“Who are you? And, why are you here? Don’t you know it’s rude to peep?” Trenton asked, still glaring at her.

“I’m Millie!” the girl said, throwing her arms up and starting to fall backwards into the water. But, when her back hit the surface, instead of submerging, her whole body turned into crystalline water, which blended perfectly with the rest of the water. After a second, some of the water off to their left began to turn, rolling over itself as she rose out of it, this time fully corporeal. She swam towards Trenton, now settling a couple feet in front of them where she just seemed to float. “Do you know what I am? Guess guess guess guess guess guess guess guess guess guess guess guess ,” Millie said, doing a little dance in place while looking between them excitedly.

“A water spirit? What are you doing here? Don’t all the spirits live in the dwelling out east?” Trenton asked, his cool expression loosening to a more amiable one.

“Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllll, kinda. Most of the spirits live in the dwelling, but some live in the homeland. And, I live here!” Millie exclaimed, throwing her arms up again and transitioning into a backstroke, “I help Rema all the time. She’s super busy, so I take care of the house chores the servants can’t see to.”

“Homeland?” Leo asked, confused, sidling back into his original position.

Millie gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth, “Shoot. That’s a secret. Nope. Nuh uh. I can’t talk about it,” she paused, looking up at them with a roguish grin, “do you want to hear about it?”

“Yes,” Trenton said, sitting forward.

“Ok! The spirit homeland is a rumored place where the queen of the spirits lives. I came from the dwelling, so I don’t know where the homeland is, but it’s said that it’s the place where all spirits originated from. That’s what mom always told me, but maybe she was lying. She did that a lot,” Millie responded, never quite sitting still.

“You’re a long way from home. How did you end up here?” Trenton asked, looking at her with wonder and confusion.

“I ran away,” her face soured, her voice heavily pitching down, “but then Rema found me, and she took me here! It’s wonderful here! Have you tried the food?” Millie asked, staring at them intensely. Trenton and Leo looked in unison to the plate of uneaten food sitting by the doorway, almost assuredly cold and stiff by now.

“Yeah, for sure. Foods incredible,” Trenton said, sideying Leo.

“Best I’ve had in ages,” Leo said.

Millie started to swim around, switching between her corporeal form and water form like it were no more difficult than blinking. Water spirits were supposed to be water, so it wasn’t too far-fetched to think it was like instinct to her. Leo leaned over to Trenton, whispering into his ear, “I’m no spirit expert, but doesn’t she look a little young? I’m surprised she was able to escape the dwelling. I thought spirits weren’t allowed to leave.”

Trenton twisted his head, whispering to Leo while keeping an eye on Millie swimming around, “I thought spirits just hated humans. Racism and what not. But, maybe she didn’t have enough time to learn to hate. The nature versus nurture debate.”

“Huh. Maybe,” Leo sat back down into his normal position.

“How old are you, Millie?” Trenton asked.

“12 and a half,” she responded, not bothering to stop swimming.

12? And a half? How did she make it out of the dwelling? She wasn’t even a teenager. It was possible that spirits aged differently to humans, kind of like elves, but just looking at her, definitely not. Trenton and Leo sat quietly for a minute, watching as Millie jovially swam about.

So, what exactly are you doing here, then, Millie? The baths I mean,” Trenton asked.

“I like the water! It reminds me of home,” Millie said wistfully. “Oh, and I wanted to meet you two. We haven't had a visitor in ages! Well, except for that weird guy a couple days ago, but he looked scary,” Millie said, shivering from the thought.

Leo thought about asking her why she left her home, especially since she seemed to have fond memories of it, but he didn’t want to be rude. Maybe it was a sore subject. Kids didn’t exactly leave their homes for no good reason. Leo looked over at Trenton, who was watching Millie with a doleful expression.

“Trenton, we ought to head to bed. We can keep talking in our room,” Leo said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Right. Millie, could you step outside for a minute?” Trenton asked, putting on a more pleasant expression.

Millie looked at them for a second, her face scrunched up and her mouth slightly open, “Oh yeah! I forgot. Human stuff,” she said, quickly stepping out of the pool and through the door.

Just like how they’d gotten in, each boy gave the other privacy as they stepped out and toweled themselves. When they were both ready and dressed, Trenton grabbed the stone ball by the door, and Leo grabbed the plate of cold food. Just outside the door, Millie stood waiting, fidgeting with a little ball she must have grabbed from an adjacent room. Leo hadn’t really taken note of it before, but she was really short, about a foot or so shorter than Trenton and Leo. It shouldn’t have been too surprising given how young she was, and how tall they were, but even still. It was a stark contrast.

“Have you nowhere to be? I assume you have your own room,” Trenton said, forlornly looking down at the girl.

“Yeah but…it’s so lonely. Rema’s always so busy, and the servants can’t talk,” Millie replied, sulking.

Trenton sighed, “That’s fine. You can room with us,” he looked around. “Do you know where our rooms even are?”

“Of course!” Millie said, suddenly excited.

She waltzed over to the elevator, pushing the button and taking them up a couple floors. When they stopped, Millie led them through a door, which opened up into an open floored room, several large beds spaced out evenly against the right wall filling the space. The whole room was finely decorated, impressive drapes and intricate light holders adorning the space. At the far end, there was a glass door leading to a spacious porch, the door currently sitting wide open, a gentle cool breeze fluttering through the room. It wasn’t quite home, but it was close enough.

Millie jumped across the ground barefoot, diving headfirst into the first plush bed she could reach while Trenton and Leo slipped off their travel worn shoes. Trenton settled on the second bed, and Leo took the third. With so much room, they would each have plenty of space to themselves for whatever they needed to do, not a bad arrangement for a guest bedroom. When they were all settled in, their various belongings stowed away, Trenton moved to a table by the left wall. He spent a couple minutes reforming his warhammer back into its approximate shape. It wasn’t perfect, but it would serve if they got into a fight. Once that was finished, he pulled out a simple map he got from Walibeld a couple weeks ago and began to study it, making various markings across it. Typically marking maps would be a great crime, maps being quite expensive and hard to come across, but apparently Era had a way to copy and distribute them, so Walibeld had copies in excess. Of course, the copied maps were all really simplistic, monochrome and rugged. They were nothing like the main map Walibeld used. That one was incredibly detailed, colored, and well labeled. It was finer than any map Leo had ever seen before.

“Trenton, do you know where Walibeld got that fancy map he uses from?” Leo asked, rearranging the covers on his bed to be a bit more comfortable to lay on.

Trenton looked up from his map, “You mean the colored one? I think he drew it himself. I used to see him studying it every now and then. You’d have to ask him yourself if you want any more than that, though,” he said, falling back into his studies.

For the next hour or so, Trenton, Leo, and Millie chatted, Trenton and Leo splitting the cold meal to fill their stomachs before lights out. It was a fine meal, but it was clear that it would’ve tasted a lot better an hour ago. When everyone started to slow down, Trenton made the executive call for everyone to go to bed. It wouldn’t do to have their sleep schedule disturbed after all. Leo and Trenton only had a couple of days to rest, before they returned to the plains. Millie flipped a switch on the wall, all the lights snuffing themselves, their power source having been presumably cut. Trenton walked to the open balcony door, grabbing the handle to shut and lock it. They wouldn’t need to have watch shifts as the tower was supposed to have automatic defenses all around the perimeter, but Trenton’s instincts told him to play it safe. Leo felt the same urge, the both of them having been tempered to be extremely cautious. However, just as Trenton grabbed the handle of the door, he paused, staring out the doorway with an intense glare. He quickly backstepped, summoning his warhammer to his hand and holding it in front of himself.

Leo jumped out of bed, drawing his simple steel longsword he had leaning against the bed. It was actually the same one that Walibeld had given him the day they fought the crawlers. Walibeld had told him that he needed it far more, so Leo held onto the blade, his only protection beyond his pyromancy. On the balcony, crouching precariously on the railing, was a man in a hooded black cloak, the hood drawn back to reveal his face. He was a black haired human with a couple large scars on his face, his expression somewhere around boredom. He was unarmed, his forearms resting on his knees, so he didn’t look too threatening. But, he could very easily be hiding weapons within his cloak, best to play it safe. From within the folds of his cloak, he pulled a plain piece of paper, looking back and forth between it and the two boys.

“Short brown hair, muscular build, broad face and shoulders, about 6 feet, stone warhammer,” the man looked up at Trenton, “Trenton Boulreguard,” the man looked back down at the paper, “Short red hair, red eyes, lanky, smaller bestial scars, about 6 foot, steel longsword,” he looked up at Leo, “Leo Fairfelt,” his eyes scanned around the room, lingering on Millie for a moment before moving on. “Where’s Walibeld?” the man asked, stowing the piece of paper back into his cloak.

“Who are you, and why are you here?” Trenton asked, still poised to fight, now creeping onto the balcony to talk, Leo just behind him.

“Fine. I can find him on my own. I assume he’s somewhere in the tower, anyway. I'm not going to tell you my name. It’s important. As for why I’m here,” he reached into his cloak again, pulling out two wax sealed letters. “I come on behalf of the demon of the east. He wanted me to deliver these messages to you two. And, since he assumed you wouldn’t trust me, for whatever reason, he gave me this as a token of his goodwill,” the man said, pulling out a large pouch, which jingled as it moved.

He tossed it at Trenton’s feet, the pouch landing heavily on the stone ground. Trenton picked it up, inspecting the contents of the bag while keeping his eyes on the man. Inside, there appeared to be thousands of gold coins, all twinkling in the light of the moon. They could be counterfeit, but someone like the demon of the east would have no reason to give them fake coins. He should have a massive fortune himself. Trenton handed the pouch to Leo and approached the man still holding out two letters for them to take. On the front of one of the letters, Trenton’s name was printed in big bold letters, Leo’s on the other. The demon of the east was clearly prepared.

“That’s all I’ve been assigned to do, deliver the messages, so I’ll be leaving now. goodbye,” the man said, listing backwards off of the ledge, disappearing from view.

Only once they were all back inside, the door was closed and locked, and the shutters were drawn did Leo finally untense his body. If that man had been looking for a fight, there was no guarantee that they would've been able to win. After all, the man managed to sneak through the defense system unnoticed. He was clearly someone of incredible caliber, and if what he said was true, and he was an emissary of the demon of the east, then he was absolutely someone they didn’t want to mess with. Leo looked down at his letter, staring at his name printed in big black ink. The four demons, each one representing one of the kingdoms, the Watcher’s territory in the far north being the only exception, were beings of immense strength. As Leo had always been told, they ruled over the underworld in each of the kingdoms, controlling much of the organized crime within their jurisdiction. However, he’d never actually heard much about what exactly they do, or how they interact with the other demons. They were something of a mystery to the rest of the world, or at least to Leo. This specific demon, the demon of the east, Leo had never even heard about. Intuitively, Leo understood that his territory was probably the kingdom of Elteran, everything east of the Thalian, but that wasn’t exactly helpful. He should have had no reason to be interested in affairs all the way across the country, right? Slowly, with a shaking hand, Leo opened his letter, pulling out the fine piece of parchment inside and reading his message.