I looked at the small native town outside the mountain. Lights were few and small between. It made sense as it was probably somewhere near 10 or 11 in the night. The small native town probably had around 200 people in the village. I saw the girl. The girl had beautiful silky dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Ever since I got to the mountain the girl caught my attention. The girl is around 17. I am around the age of 18 though I look 12. The reason I never aged was because I was the caretaker of a mountain guardian. My guardian was asleep so I could talk to not only the village but the girl too. I decided to finally stop being a coward and go over to the village. I took a deep breath in. A tap on my shoulder scared me.

"Ah," I yelled. Cyrus started laughing. Cyrus was a light-haired boy with brown eyes. His hair was usually tangled and dirty. My hair probably looked the same but curlier. "That's not funny." I told Cyrus. "Oh, come on, also what are you even doing here?" Cyrus asked. "I'm looking at a beautiful girl." I responded. Cyrus looked at the girl. "She's pretty, but you look twelve and you're supposed to stay secret." Cyrus stated. I obviously knew that. "It's just for this one person." I argued. "Still," Cyrus responded, "Let's go wash our clothes." Cyrus started walking to the nearby river.

I followed him. I looked back one last time. We walked to the lake. When we reached the lake Cyrus took off his dress length shirt and boxers. They were both made of his old clothes. The shirt was made out of his dark blue hoodie and light blue shirt. I know, Cyrus really liked blue. Cyrus' boxers were his old jeans. Apparently, Cyrus had two pairs of boxers, the boxers he became a guardian with and these jean boxers. I've seen Cyrus naked a lot of times because we often wash our clothes together. I took off my clothes too. The first object of clothing that took off was the cape I wore. The cape was made out of my old hoodie. It was the color of turquoise with mud. I then took off my pink shirt and black pants. I didn't wear underwear but often cleaned my plants. I started cleaning my cape.

"Where's the sponge?" I asked. "One sec," Cyrus remarked. He cleaned his shirt and then handed me the second sponge. I started cleaning my hoodie. After some time, I finished. It was still dirty but it was as clean as I needed to be. I then cleaned my shirt. "Hey," Cyrus started, "Why are you in love with her? You barely know her yet here you are willing to risk your guardian for her." "She's special," I answered, "I know she is." "How?" he asked. "I don't know I feel it though." I responded. "For how long?" he questioned. "Since the second day." I answered. Cyrus looked down.

I continued washing my clothes. Cyrus and I heard footsteps. We looked at each other. We knew who was walking nearby. It was Isaac. We had never had a full conversation with Isaac. He was quiet and stuck by his mountain guardian. Isaac had dark brown hair and blue eyes. His hair covered one of his eyes. Isaac was the only of them that daily brushed their hair. "Hey," I yelled. Isaac either didn't hear me or ignored me. "That piece of-," I started. "Give him a break, he's only been here for a year." Cyrus commanded. It was true. Isaac is younger than me by about seventeen but looks older by four years. After some time, I finished washing the clothes. Then I realized that I forgot to wash my slippers. I put my clothes to dry on a tree.

I washed my slippers and then put them to dry. I decided to wash myself for a while. It was always uncomfortable bathing myself in front of Cyrus. I bathed myself and grabbed my clothes. I started walking to a cave on the mountain. The breeze blew through my naked body. I finally reached the cave. I went into the dark cave. In the cave there were bright blue stones. I took one of the stones and hit it with a small rock four times. As soon as the rock hit a fourth time a bright blue light was unleashed onto the cave. I closed my eyes. When the light disappeared, five doors appeared. On three doors there were three colored diagonal right lines. The middle door had a huge pink line on it. The door on the far right there was a light blue line. The door on the far left had the smallest line which was dark purple.

I went to the door in the middle. When I opened the door, I saw a pink coyote near a tent and a cane. I went inside the room and closed the door behind me. I climbed into the tent. The tent had a pillow and blanket. I covered myself with a blanket and tried to sleep. After some time, I started sleeping. In his dream, Ryan aged to his mental age. Ryan's skinny face grew fuller and he became handsome rather than cute. His chin got more defined and his eyes grew.

Ryan saw the girl and ran to her. Then a giant wall stopped him. Ryan tried to climb it. After failing to do so, Ryan smashed his face into the wall. Once he did, he fell and saw his parents. Ryan had skinnier features than both of them. His nose matched his father's in how big and sharp it was. The only feature Ryan had in common with his mom was his heart shaped lips. Ryan's parents shook their heads and disappeared.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I wish my parents were here. I wish I knew where they are. I tried to sleep again then Wilsk, my coyote, cuddled up to me. I wrapped my arm around him. If I left, who would I go to? Can I leave? What will happen to Wilsk if I leave? I started to sleep. Later on, Wilsk woke me up. I sighed and realized and knew why. I left the tent and the room. The door opened to a cave shining in golden sunlight. I closed my eyes and went to the door on the nearby right. I opened the door to a bunch of bookshelves. The books were lined up from small to big. I looked for a medium sized book. Everyday, I struggled to find the book due to all the books blending in. All of the covers were brown. The only way to find a book is remembering where the placement of the book is.

There are only two bookshelves but it is a pain to find the books. I finally found the book after digging in the same general area at the bottom of the first shelf. This part has the smallest books. Usually around 100 to 150 pages. To compensate for their small size the books are really long. Longer than all the other books, probably around a foot long. I opened the book to a recipe. This recipe is for stamina. It takes a lot of herbs and plants that you mix into a stew. I got out of the room and out of the cave. Then I remember I forgot my cane. I went back and got my cane. I also found my belt. I put on my belt. My belt has multiple pouches. It has pouches for ingredients, invisible potion, and my dagger. I got my cane and went out.

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I got some berries. These weren't necessarily part of the recipe but I don't want Wilsk to eat some dry crap. It was like medicine except less artificial and more plant based. After I picked the berries, I went to get the plants. It took most of the morning to get the plants. I got a small bucket of my belt and got some water. I got back to the room to mix the plants. I got to the room and took out the plants. I started a fire and put the small bucket on top. I mixed the plants in a small bowl. After the mixture of the plants, I mixed the berries. I was done mixing everything and put the mixture in the bucket of water. With a spoon, every few minutes I mixed the stew.

After twenty minutes, I was done. I let it cool down and then scratched Wilsk ears. Wilsk started to pay attention. "It's done," I stated, "Just wait a minute." Time passed and I started feeding him. Considering he ate this every day he probably didn't think it was gross. Eventually, he finished. He stated, "That's nice. Are we ready to go?" "Wilsk you know that it takes some time for you to digest it." I told him. This conversation always happens. That's the thing that annoys me the most, how he just seems to say or do the same thing again and again. We waited some time and then drank the invisible potion. The only way to feed him to it is for me to put drops in my hand and for him to drink it. Then I opened the door and mounted Wilsk.

I got on him and signaled him to start. He started walking. He ran when we started going downhill. I held on to Wilsk by the neck. We reached the middle of the mountain. I looked at the native town. It had no need for lights or bonfires as the sun brightened the town. I looked for the girl. Wilsk ran down the mountain before I could find her. Wilsk was no faster than a bike. Usually if I wanted for Wilsk to slow down I would scratch his ear. I only did that a few times. I wanted to show Wilsk that I could handle it. We reached down the mountain to see the hikers. We always did this. Wilsk didn't trust the hikers. I never asked why. If he didn't trust them, I didn't trust them. As I got off Wilsk, I saw his pink fur ruffled. With my hand, I brushed it to align it.

I looked at the hikers. There was one man and two girls. The man was wearing a heavy coat over a sweatshirt, jeans, and short boots. He seemed to have brown hair and hazel eyes. One woman was dressed correctly for hiking with boots, sweatpants, and a jacket. The other one who seemed younger and had a skirt with sweatshirt on top who had dark blue hair. The girl with the dark blue hair looked the age I look and was bored. The man and the woman looked flirty. I decided to go up to meet them. Most hikers took the Pineapple Sage Trail. No one really wanted to take the Ghost Trail for obvious reasons. Honestly, the Ghost Trail was a hoax that Wilsk and the other mountain guardians came up with so people would leave them again. I always came back to when Wilsk told me that. I chuckled a little. I often came back to my first meeting.

I have no idea why he chose me. A year later Cyrus came then five years later Isaac came. Cyrus was kinder than me, he opened Isaac with open arms while when Cyrus came, I kept my distance. Weirdly enough Cyrus is the youngest, he is only sixteen. He looks eleven though. Cyrus is the second most important person in my life as a caretaker of a mountain guardian right after Wilsk. I would die for either of them. We took off to the middle of the mountain, air flowing through my hair. I hid in a bush. It took some time but they finally came. The girl and the woman looked exhausted. The man looked excited. The invisible potion wore off. Luckily, I stayed in the bush. The woman and man started walking again. The girl stayed back. I didn't see that fact so I got out of the bush.

"Who are you?" she asked. "I'm Ryan, I'm playing a IRL fantasy game my friends and I made." I responded. "Why were you in the bush?" she questioned. "I was hiding. We're playing like tag because we can't kill each other." I responded. "Oh, okay," she said. "Are you single?" she asked. I didn't know what to respond to since I was coming up with excuses. Where was she going with this? This was such a weird question. I decided to tell the truth since I wanted to see what would happen. "Yes?" I said I was confused. She came close to me. I was at most an inch taller than her. She moved in and kissed. I kissed back. We kissed for at most thirty seconds and then she moved away. She turned around and took out a pen and a piece of paper. When she finished, she turned to me and grabbed my hand. She put the paper in my hand and then said, "Text only." She started hiking to meet up with the others. I looked over at Wilsk who was still in the bush.

"What happened?" he asked. "She was enamored with my charm." I responded smugly. Wilsk looked at me for a second. "Come on," I said, "Let's go, they seem trustworthy." I guided Wilsk to our room. He ran as fast he could. When he wanted Wilsk could go as fast as a car. We returned to the room and I went to the hidden compartment. "Wilsk, get some rest." I commanded him. I dusted off some dirt and found the door. There was a little hole to opened the door. I took it off and saw the vials of invisible potion. The vials had foggy glowing liquid. There were only five vials left. I took one and made a mental note to make some more. I stood there for a second. I kept thinking of the kiss. I didn't feel anything. Maybe I would feel something else if the girl kissed me.

I looked around and decided to make myself a meal. I usually only had one meal per day. Maybe that's why I was so skinny. Maybe Wilsk noticed that over the years I've gotten skinnier and skinnier. Cyrus nor Isaac are as skinny as I am. I wonder why. Anyway, I opened another cabinet on the floor. It was full of eggs and spices. Over the years, they became really boring. I got a pan from another cabinet from the floor. I got some wood from outside and laid them down. I grabbed two stones and started a fire. The fire started and I put the pan on top. I cracked two bird eggs on the pan. I rubbed some spices and put it on the eggs. I circled the pan around the fire for some time. Then my eggs were done. With my dirty fingers I ate the eggs from the pan. I know I shouldn't do it but ever since being here I've never gotten sick or seriously injured. I know I shouldn't push it but, I don't care.

I finished my eggs and then woke up Wilsk. "Hey, come on, let's get on the road again," I said. Wilsk got up and we went outside. "Are you tired?" Wilsk asked. This is the first time he's asked me anything like that. "I don't know." I remarked. "When will you know?" he questioned. "I don't know." I stated. I got on him and he started walking. I drank a little of the invisible potion and then gave a little to Wilsk. We could drink the whole bottle and last a whole week with it but, I didn't want to do that. We walked a little more and then saw Isaac on one of the peaks of the mountain. The sun was setting. Our day usually ended at dusk. It was close to ending. "Go to the lake," I told Wilsk. Wilsk went to the lake. I looked around. No one was here. Wilsk went into the lake.

I started washing him. Wilsk was hard to bathe due to him being impatient. I continued trying. Finally, I did the best I could and finished. We went back to the cave for Wilsk to start sleeping. I went to find the girl. I took a lot of time but found her. When she was alone, I struck up a conversation, "I'm sorry, I like someone else and I barely know you." I handed her the piece of paper and ran off. I found myself at the peak to look at the native village. Then the cycle continued.