"You have arrived at your destination," the female voice on Zorita's phone stated as she and Zael stared at the phone. The duo looked around at the dense collection of trees which made up the forest they were currently lost in.

"Sure doesn't feel like it, now does it?" Zael remarked cheekily as he gave Zorita a wink before he placed her on the ground.

"Wait here a sec.". Zael turned to his right before lightly jogging away as Zorita yawned loudly. A few seconds later, Zael returned from the opposite direction he left in.

"Figure there was some sort of ability stopping us from getting through," Zael stated as he picked Zorita up and placed her on his back underneath his fur jacket.

"I think Marichia said the academy had some barrier thingy to stop intruders when she visited me that one time," Zorita mentioned.

"We see. She seems to know a lot about this place.".

"Well, she did go on about wanting to attend for ages.".

"Did she happen to mention how to get in?". Zorita shrugged and checked her phone before quickly showing Zael the map on it. Zael looked at the map and saw the Zalkurophe Academy Checkpoint icon on the nearby road.

"Ok our, not including you Zorita, bad. We probably should've stayed close to the road," Zael mentioned as he looked at the large number of fields between the checkpoint and the main premises of the academy.

"But why do they need so much land?" Zael whined as he began walking towards the checkpoint.

Later at the checkpoint, Zael stood on the side of the road by the checkpoint building and glared at the long line of coach buses on the road waiting to go through. Zael ruffled his hair and groaned as some leaves and twigs fell out of his hair.

"Hey you, the guy with the dryad cosplay," a gruff male voice said, causing Zael to raise his head to the coach bus at the front of the bus line. Zael saw a tanned adult human male in his thirties with grey hair and eyes standing in the coach's open door.

"Good to see your ears still work with dirt in them. So, are you Zael or not?" the coach driver with the name tag Micue asked.

"Yeah?" Zael said nervously. Micue rolled his eyes and walked back into the coach.

"Then get on there's a free seat in the front," Micue said as he sat down in the driver's seat. Zael quickly brushed the last of the shrubs out of his and Zorita's hair before he entered the bus. The sounds of the teens' relieved cheering emanated from the coach as the checkpoint's divider lowered and allowed the coaches to pass. Zael sat down in the free seat and placed Zorita on his lap before she looked back at Zael.

"Yeah?" Zael said.

"How'd he know your name?".

"To be honest, we were on another coach earlier but we got a little ansty from being couped up, we're sure you understand?" Zael whispered.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Yeah...," Zorita whispered sombrely.

"So would you like to join in on our conversation?" Zael asked. He looked to his side at the teen girl in glasses sitting next to him as she was staring straight at him. The girl jumped back in shock and needed to correct her large round reading glasses. (the teen's a half-goblin/half-dwarf. She has super pointy ears, fluffy curly maroon hair with glowing pink underhair/highlights, pink eyes with black scleras, and pale maroon skin)(she's wearing a black knitted wool sweater with a cat-eared hood, fluffy pink and maroon striped wool leggings, black crocks, and large bronze reading glasses with the arms of it being two bronze Keys of Heaven [a grade five (five glowing red rings on the key's stem) bronze key which has a cauldron-shaped handle with a white diamond-shaped crystal in it, and a grade four bronze key which has an eagle feather-shaped handle with a black spade-shaped crystal in it])

"S-sorry for staring, I promise I didn't even know you were talking, honest," the goblin dwarf said worriedly as she did jazz hands.

"Then what about us caught your attention if you weren't listening?". The goblin dwarf tripped over her words as her face turned from maroon to red from being put on the spot out of nowhere.

"I- erm... just found it interesting for a human to have a black sclera is all... honest... mostly," the goblin dwarf mumbled as she locked her fingers together. Zael amusedly smirked as he offered a hand to the goblin dwarf.

"Yeah, it is pretty odd now isn't it? Name's Zael.".

"Meona," Meona said as she crept her hand to Zael's before shaking it. The two continued to shake hands; however, after a few seconds, Meona's face soured when she felt her younger sister, who was sitting on the same seat as Meona, glaring at the back of her head. (Meona's younger sister is a slightly shorter pale maroon with a hint of pink half-goblin/half-dwarf with super pointy ears; she has pink freckles, long fluffy curly maroon hair with glowing green tips tied behind her head with one of her Key of Heaven to look like six butterfly wings [a bronze key which has a crossed hammer and mallet-shaped handle with a black spade-shaped crystal in it], a white and pale pink striped knitted wool sweater with a dog eared hood, fluffy black wool leggings, black crocks, and green shark tooth necklace with a bronze Key of Heaven on it [a bronze key which has a witch hat-shaped handle with a white heart-shaped crystal in it])

"Is something wrong, Luona?" Meona asked as she turned back to look at Luona, only to see Luona glaring at her in her sleep. Zael amusedly smirked as he and Meona released each other's hands, causing Luona's glare to soften. Meona sighed before returning her gaze to Zael.

"Sorry about my sister.".

"Don't sweat it, the amusement she gave us by being able to detect things in her sleep more than makes up for it," Zael replied as a sleepy Zorita rested her head on Zael's chest and drifted to sleep.

In a world constructed from coloured-chalk streaks, Zorita sat in the middle of a forest as a large pure white moon and a large pitch-black moon loomed high in the starry night sky. The singing of the owls and nocturnal birds filled the air as a set of grass-crunching footsteps pierced through the singing.

"Fancy meeting you here. I figured I would've met you on the outside," an individual with a similar sounding voice to Zael remarked as he stopped next to Zorita and crouched down to her eye level. Zorita stared perplexedly at the Zael look-alike and realised he had a slightly different appearance. (black hair with faint green ends, a dark silver left eye with a slightly wobbly pupil and a cyan right eye with the right eye having a pitch golden sclera)

"Mr... Zael?".

"Avett actually," Avett stated.

"Oh.".

"Oh indeed.". Avett snapped his fingers, conjuring a pair of seats and a table with a chess board etched into all made of rainbow-coloured hymn energy.

"Care to join me for a game of chess?" Avett asked as transparent chess pieces (aside from the king pieces) fell onto the board. Avett looked back at the chess board and sighed in frustration at seeing the state of the chess pieces.

"Or maybe not," Avett uttered begrudgingly.