Taking a deep breath, he put his hood on before entering the tavern and trying hard not to gasp in disbelief inside he was greeted by creatures you could only see in fairytales. Pixies and fairies flying around, dwarves drinking deeply from their tankards, and to his surprise a kind looking centaur that had short black hair and blue eyes serving what looked like more beer to a Aqrabuamelu that had long blonde hair.

“Hello there little one.” The centaur said upon seeing Apollo, “What can I get for ya?”

Apollo stumbled on his words before something removed his hood making every creature in the tavern gasp.

“Wait a second.” One of the fairies said before flying closer to Apollo’s face, “I feel like I’ve sensed your aura before but at the same time I feel like I haven’t.”

“I-I think I’ll just be going.” Apollo stuttered turning to open the door before an axe nearly cut his hand off as he tried to open it.

“I’d stay where you are young fellow.” The centaur said glaring at him before the fairy gasp.

“You’re Jodan Zhen’s son, aren’t you!?” The fairy exclaimed.

Every creature either gasped or widened their eyes before they all looked at Apollo who had his eyes wide open and wasn’t moving much.

Apollo gulped before looking at the centaur, “You knew my father?”

“Sonny if it weren’t for your father then we’d all be in chains or dead.” The centaur said before walking up to him, his hooves making the only sound in the now silent tavern, “He told me to tell you that if he could come back home to you and your mother, he would in a heartbeat.”

Apollo could once again feel tears coming out of his eyes and before he knew it, he buried his face into the centaur’s chest as he felt him wrap his arms around Apollo’s rectangular figure. A few moments after Apollo calmed down the centaur whose name was Arcus gave him a tankard of some mildly sweet drink.

“Your father was a good man Apollo.” Arcus said gently as Apollo took a swig of the drink, “Tell me, is your grandfather well?”

Apollo stopped mid gulp before placing his tankard on the bar counter before wiping away the tears that were threatening to back out again.

“He was murdered.” Apollo said quietly.

Arcus gave an apologetic smile before his eyes landed on the guitar on Apollo’s back, “Seems like you inherited both your father’s and grandfather’s interest in music.”

Apollo smiled before one of the dwarves shouted, “Sonny why don’t you play us a song!?”

“I don’t know.” Apollo said quietly.

“Now what would your mother be saying if she heard you say that?” A fairy asked with her hands on her hips.

“Thank you, Apollo, you finally learned to keep your head low and forget about that idiotic noise you call music.” Apollo said repeating the very words his mother would always tell him whenever he would pass the opportunity to play his guitar in a school contest, “You’re finally learning to just give up.”

“That doesn’t sound close to the Adeline that Jodan always speaks so highly about.” An old looking Brownie said as he folded his arms.

“Apollo this is Fisar Teamith an old friend of your father’s.” Arcus said smiling as Apollo gave Fisar a look of wonder.

“You knew my father?” Apollo asked as Arcus chuckled before walking away to assist on of the pixie’s who seemed to have gotten trapped in the wall clock.

“Jodan and I were as thick as thieves back then.” Fisar said smiling, “When Benigno first brought Jodan here I was the first one that ever got him to smile and was the first person Jodan ever came to if he ever needed help with his music or when he just needed someone to listen to it.”

“What happened to him?” Apollo asked resting his hands on the counter.

“Hmm.” Fisar hummed before glancing at the empty stage, “How about a little deal.”

It was then Apollo’s turn to hum with a spark of curiosity in his eyes as a smile tugged on his light pink lips.

“How about if you play a little song for the tavern, I tell you anything you want to the best of my abilities.”

“I don’t know Fisar my mother would- “

“Tell me Apollo have you ever played your music for anybody?”

“Just my grandfather.”

“And what would he say if he saw you backing down on an opportunity to share your music with the world?”

“That I should ignore my mother’s words and do what I love to do.”

“And that is?”

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“Playing my guitar.”

Fisar gave a quiet laugh, “Your father always told me that, ‘There is no failure except in no longer trying.’ so why don’t you get up on that stage and show every creature here that you have your father’s skill.”

Apollo gave the brownie a reluctant look before draining ever last drop of his drink before exclaiming, “Alright Fisar you win! I’ll go sing in front them if that’s what you want!”

At these words everyone cheered before Apollo went on stage and readied himself. Taking one last look at the audience and a deep breath before he started playing an old lullaby his grandfather used to play for him. Once he started to sing, he could feel himself relax a little bit more before willing, himself to open his eyes only to be greeted by everyone smiling at him with some of the pixies swaying side to side. Apollo felt himself smile at them and before he knew it, he reached the end of the song only to have every creature in the tavern applaud him. Giving a quiet laugh Apollo bowed before making his way back to his seat at the bar with Fisar jumping happily up and down and Arcus refilling his tankard with more of the sweet liquid.

“I told you, you could do it!’ Fisar exclaimed as Apollo sat down.

“I’ll admit it was amazing.” Apollo said smiling before taking another sip of his drink, “Hey Arcus what is this stuff anyway?”

“Light Beer Heaven.” Arcus said, “There’s barely any alcohol in it so I doubt that you would get drunk.”

“Unlike some dwarves.” Fisar said as the three of them all looked to see a table of dwarves laughing obnoxiously loud while banging their tankards on the table.

A few hours later Apollo noticed that his phone’s battery had already died out.

“It’s been great but I think I have to go home.” Apollo said as he saw that it was already getting dark, “My mother will kill me if I get home late.”

“Very well then young musician.” Arcus said before he and Fisar bowed to him before Arcus added, “You and your music are always welcome here but whatever you do you must never tell anyone about Lumene.”

“Why?” Apollo asked confused.

The two mythical beings looked at each other before Fisar said very cautiously, “Let’s just say that the last time we had unwanted human visitors it didn’t end so well.”

“Can we trust you with keeping our secret young musician?” Arcus asked.

“Of course, you can.” Apollo reassured smiling.

“Thank you.” Arcus and Fisar said the both of them giving the teenager thankful smiles.

Apollo smiled before he ran back to the portal before playing a quick song and going through.

‘It’s only sunset?’ Apollo thought his eyes widening, ‘How is that even possible?’

After catching a bus back to somewhere near his and his grandfather’s secret garden he gently laid his guitar down on the floor before extracting his grandfather’s journal from his pocket and started to read it.

‘Upon further trips through the portal and back I’ve come to realize that time moves faster in Lumene than it does on Earth.’ Apollo read, ‘If I’d known that then I wouldn’t have left so early.’

Sighing at his carelessness at not reading the journal more thoroughly after he gently placed it into his backpack and shouldered it. As Apollo walked back home, he smiled at the slight adventure he just had a few minutes prior and that smile stuck to his face as he was greeted by Orion in the kitchen as all ways.

“Cleared your mind?” Orion asked smiling.

“You could say that.” Apollo said as he grabbed an apple from the fridge before adding in a quiet voice, “I even saw an old friend of Father’s.”

“Apollo you know you don’t have to be so hesitant when you’re talking about your birth father with me.” Orion said gently accompanied by a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, sorry it just always feels weird talking about my birth father with my stepfather.” Apollo said quietly, “It’s just something I’ve come to develop over the years.”

Orion smiled at his stepson before sighing, “You have a rare spark of light Apollo no matter what happens or what this world throws at you don’t ever lose it.”

“Thanks,” Apollo said before considering something in his head before smiling at the person in the who actually spared time to talk to him without trying to threaten him, “Dad.”

He chuckled before going to his room and leaving Orion standing there dumbfounded and in awe at his stepson.

Apollo gave a quiet laugh as he remembered the look on Orion’s face after he called him “Dad”. Smiling to himself as he sat on his bed, he pulled his grandfather’s journal out of his bag before he began reading it starting at the first page his grandfather devoted to Lumene.

‘No way did Father just confess to a princess when he was fifteen.’ Apollo thought fighting back his laughter as he read page after page before quickly hiding it at the bottom of his mattress as he heard his mother enter the house.

“Apollo it’s time for dinner!” Orion exclaimed.

“Coming Dad!” Apollo exclaimed with a cheerful smile on his face as he entered the kitchen where Adeline and Orion were already seated.

“Already calling Orion ‘Dad’ I see.” Adeline said giving Apollo that sickly sweet smile that he had come to fear over the years.

“Yeah, I guess after thirteen years I should start moving on.” Apollo said picking his food, ‘Though you only took about three months before going from missing Father nearly every day to putting all your anger out on me that always seems to end with me having to drag myself to the bathroom and disinfect all my new bruises.’

Dinner that night was unusually talkative to Apollo and ended with him quickly excusing himself from the dinner table after eating his helping of pudding before bolting to his room and locking the door.

‘That was the most terrifying dinner I have ever sat down in.’ Apollo thought laying down on his bed after retrieving his grandfather’s book, ‘Though I would like to know what happened to Father after he confessed.’

After finding out that his father had exchanged his captivity in the dungeons for a special song specifically written for the royal family Apollo fell asleep with a smile of laughter clear on his face as he dreamed of all the adventures his grandfather and father had went on in Lumene and hoped that he as well could participate in such wonderful journeys. Waking up earlier than usual Apollo got dressed in his usual attire and gently put the journal into his bag after grabbing it bag and writing a quick note to Orion before running to the secret garden. Putting his bag down on the floor Apollo shouldered his guitar with his grandfather’s journal safely in his hoodie’s inner pocket before he went back to the center The Mastbos again before silently preforming a simple song before the portal appeared right in front of him.

As Apollo was about to enter, he heard his phone ring. Sighing as he let the portal evaporate into thin air, he saw that the caller was none other than Orion.

“Dad?” Apollo asked answering the call only to hear deep breaths, “Orion? Are you okay?”

“Apollo you have to run.” He heard Orion say panting heavily.