"I refuse." Ezra said sharply, "I didn't come here to fight in your wars, i am an outsider."

Yue sighs, as if she had expected that answer. She turns to him with an apologetic glare, "i am sorry... You're only a child, its wrong of me to force you into battle... And yet, this fight doesn't just concern our futures but the futures of every single person in Archos currently, including you and your friends."

Ezra looks down, as if contemplating something, he looks back at her, "if it's like that... I suppose i have no choice... I'll do what i can to keep my friends and myself safe..."

Yue's face flashes an expression of relief, "thank you..." Ezra smirks slightly, "however... I do have a few conditions that you will have to abide by..."

"And that is?" Yue says, growing increasingly worried.

"First, me, Helena, Johan or Qiang will not fight on the frontlines. Second, you will provide us with training at the moment while we're here, after all, help goes both ways, no?" Yue grits her teeth for a moment at his words but nods, "as you wish..."

She turns to the elders, "dismissed." she waves her hand and everyone starts to leave the room slowly. Ezra follows her to the main building of the estate, walking slowly on the gravel below.

The winds blow harder, it seems as if a storm is starting, Ezra looks over at Yue who has a solemn expression, she faintly mutters the words "Just like him..." but he pays no mind to them, her words are a faint whisper barely able to be heard.

Yue and Ezra enter the house and Helena runs down the spiral staircase, clearly in distress. "Ezra! Johan! Johan dissappeared!" She exclaimed which makes them both upstairs and to the room which Johan was in, the bed is completely empty with only a letter on the sheets.

Ezra takes the letter into his hand and reads, the letter details on why he went and to not search for him. Ezra grips the paper, "bullshit!" He yells.

"I know! He did say he would run away, and now with Qiang running away into hiding... Its only you and me now..." Helena looks annoyed, "well, whatever, once i find Johan again i will give him a beating of a lifetime!" She leaves the room, shutting the door.

Ezra stays, staring at the paper in his hand with a blank look before folding it and setting it aside and leaving the room. He waves at Helena down the hallway, "sis!" He calls out to her and she stops, freezing in place and looks at him in bewilderment.

"What did you just call me...?" Ezra realises quickly and shakes his head, "oh, nevermind, just come here!"

She walks over, trying to brush off what just happened, "what is it?"

"Oh, Yue Jin asked me to join the war effort which included you..."

"Huh?! Don't tell me you accepted!"

"I didn't... Well, i kinda did but we won't be fighting on the frontlines..."

Helena rolls her eyes at that, "well... That's at least a little better..."

Ezra looks outside, a storm seems to be starting and the sun is setting. "Yeah, the situation outside is pretty bad... I haven't seen such bad storms in a while..." Helena sighs, looking worried, "perhaps the work of a Principle..."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"A Principle? Is a Principle close?!" Ezra stares in shock while Helena just shakes her head.

"She doesn't need to be close... He power can alter the weather of a country from a whole diffrent nation."

"Whoa... She must be a high ranking Principle..."

Helena chuckles, "Actually, no, she is only rank eight among the Principles." Ezra stares in further shock as Helena continues, "the Principle of Ignorance, Leviathan. Her ability is called 'Ecokinesis'. She can manipulate nature in all ways, including the weather."

"Remind me why she is rank eight again?"

"Oh, the Principles aren't ranked by just strength, they're ranked by usefulness and inteligence." Ezra sighs at her words, "i'll be in my room for now, call me for dinner."

Ezra walks off, entering the room Yue gave him and locks the door, he lays in bed, and burries his face into a pillow as tears come to his eyes, memories of his older sister flood his mind and completely overload every emotion. He sobs quietly as to not be heard crying as if he had held back every single emotion for years. Crying as if he had never cried before.

The grief and pain he had ignored all returns to him in a single moment, the thought that he will never see her again makes his head feel like it's gonna explode, calling a completely different person "sis" makes his pain even worse. Guilt and regret sets in, every time he told his sister "no" or refused to help her or even caused trouble for her makes him regret his whole existence.

After what seems like hours, a knock is heard on Ezra's door. A female voice, presumably a maid, calls him down for dinner. He gets out of bed, his mind still running with perpetual memories of him and his sister.

He leaves the room and goes downstairs into the dining room, at the table are Yue, Helena, Fa Jin and an unknown fourth individual. A man with a black hair and in a black, armorless robe, a curved, saber-like sword on his hip.

Ezra sits down, Helena takes a look at his face, "are you alright?" She asks worriedly, seeing his eyes red, to which he nods and assures her that he is fine.

She decides to not make any further remarks keeping quiet and begining to eat, the man in the black hair seems to be lost in thought, an empty bowl of dan dan noodles in front of him.

Ezra looks at his own bowl of noodles, some chopsticks next to the bowl. He looks at how Fa Jin uses them and begins to eat with the chopsticks. He takes some noodles into his mouth, swallowing quickly before the spice hits. He begins to cough, Helena chuckles at the sight, eating her noodles calmly wiithout making a face.

"Are you not a fan of spice?" Fa Jin says quietly while he eats, a glass of water at his side just in case.

"I guess not..." He coughs again.

"Well, you better still eat it all or else sister Yue will be angry. You know, she made this food for all of us herself, she rarely ever did that even for me."

"Hey, if you can't eat it you can always give it to me." Helena teased.

"I'd rather die than give anything to you." Ezra chuckled.

"Rude..." She rolls her eyes, "oh and by the way, a new guy just came!" She points to the black haired man.

"Aparently, he is a mercenary hired by Yue to search for Qiang, isn't that nice?!" She said with an excited smile.

"That's nice, i guess..." He continues to eat in pain, "by the way, where is Yue?"

"She went to her room, she is a very anti-social person, so she really spent far too much time around people than she would normally like." Fa Jin says.

Ezra suddenly remembers Yue's tears when he first met her so after dinner ends he walks over to Fa Jin who is trying to leave after finishing his food.

"Hey, i need to tell you something..." He puts a hand on Fa's shoulder.

Fa simply nods and Ezra mentions Yue's tears and what they were doing which makes Fa's eyes widen slightly, looking to be in slight pain.

"Meet me in the garden..." He says and leaves the room.

Ezra follows him to the garden, as he walks the stone path he realises... The garden looks the same as the garden in his realm does? But he doesn't ask questions and continues to walk until the both of them stop in front of a statue of the Grandmaster.

They stand in pouring rain, the sky is cloudy but the storm clearly wasn't as bad as Helena made it out to be. They look at the statue, Fa Jin takes a deep breath and speaks.

"Do you know what realms truly are?"

"Abilities to help you in battle?"

"No, they are instincts... Realms are a survival instinct in our very soul to prevent death..."

Ezra keeps quiet, listening intently.

"They manifest through trauma and get summoned for the first time in accordance to a life threatening situation. This garden is where i unlocked my realm..."

TO BE CONTINUED...