Chapter 1 - Good Ole Happy DayZ

The sea's vast embrace took the world from a young boy's point of view. “What was beyond? What exactly was further past this never-ending body of water we call the ocean?” he said, thinking to himself hypnotized watching the flow of water become a pattern of light and elegance. The ocean's motion calmed him in ways he couldn’t describe.

“Aze!” A voice came from below sounding worried. “Aze, the sun is about to set!”

He snapped out of the trance he was in seeing his little brother, Noel, underneath the tree he hung onto. It seems he had forgotten that he and his brother snuck out to see the ocean. Noel begged to take him along or else he would tell their mother where he had been going and so late as the cherry on top. Aze conceded to his brother’s demands and there they were on an island far away from home.

He dropped from the tree at such altitudes that the beach he landed upon sprayed sand everywhere covering his brother’s face.

“Thanks.” Noel said sarcastically.

“There’s no time to mess around, Noel!” He grabbed his younger brother by his shoulders shaking the rest of the sand off his face. "Why didn’t you call me sooner?” He cried, “Do you know what will happen if we’re late? DO YOU! I don’t want extra wizardry studies. Do you know how many times I've read the magical constable?” Aze recites a part of the constable while whining like a child. “All magicians are stones. We must be a wall for all. Magic is sacred to those alone who know, and alone are acolytes."

Noel whips his hand across his brother's face, stopping the chant.

“First of all, I've been calling your name for 30 minutes. You’ve been ignoring me on purpose. Don’t even act like you haven’t!”

“So what?” Aze scrunched his eyebrows, leaving his mouth ajar. Offended by the slap he held the right side of his cheek, “Ouch. That really hurts, you know. And stop yelling at me.”

Noel rolled his eyes and explained, "Second of all, we still have time.” Aze nodded his head up and down acknowledging him, yet he did not understand what Noel was talking about in the slightest. Noel sighed, saying. “Summon Abdul, and stop being stupid! We can still make it home. Before curfew and before mom notices.”

Noel, although two years younger than his brother was in charge and for good reason. He was the one who got the two out of the stickiest of situations. Noel in a way was the brains behind Aze’s brawn. Despite being siblings, the two couldn’t be more opposed both in personality and appearance.

Aze had a combover; his silver and black hair created a reversible style depending on the side he combed over. One side of his head could be silver with a dash of black. Brushing it to the other side it would be black with hints of silver, like salt and pepper. Noel on the other hand had short, curly, bright blond hair. Noel is calm, conserving himself most of the time until his interests peak like today. Aze was excessive to say the least. Outspoken, disobedient and stubborn, most believed him to be, but he was much more than what people thought. He was fearless, compassionate, selfless and adventurous.

Even the duo’s eye colors differed. Noel had bright blue eyes, and Aze had soft hazel eyes. Aze’s complexion was tan, while Noel's was pale white. Their noses were completely different. Small was Aze’s, Noel’s was his definitive feature and large.

Aze toyed with Noel’s suggestion for a while saying, “Abdul and I aren’t on the best of terms right now.”

Noel shook his head in shame. He asked, “What happened now?"

“He ate my hat, so I didn’t give him his chocolate treats.”

Aze’s response killed Noel on the inside. Noel grabbed at his chest as if he were having a heart attack. “I can’t believe we’re related,” he said, his heart broken, “So, let me get this straight. You would rather be grounded for all eternity than call your familiar! I would, but I don’t have one yet.”

Aze let out a huff. “Okay, okay, just stop yelling at me already, will you?"

He pulled his satchel from around his back to the front. He then opened the bag, rummaging through the satchel. He pulled from the satchel a tree branch. The branch shouldn't have been able to fit within the container, but there it was.

“How the hell did this get in here?” Aze questioned himself, shaking his head and throwing the branch over his shoulder. He reached back into his bag, shoving his entire arm into the sack.

Clattering of dish plates, metal objects, glass shattering, and shelves falling on the ground could be heard as he rummaged.

A voice spoke from within the bag.

“You have those papers done, Jonah?”

There was a slight echo like the voice was in a long corridor.

A second voice replied back to the first, “No, I didn’t get any listings. Why?"

He looked at older brother with a questionable look on his face and one eyebrow raised. His shoulders were also raised and pointed at the bag. He asked him, “Are people in your satchel?”

Aze paused. Arm deep in the luggage, eye to eye with his brother, he said. “It’s Jonah and Luca. Ms. Molly's two apprentices?"

“What? Why are they in your bag?”

“Don't look at it like that. They like their workspace quiet, and they give me 20 gold coins a month.”

Aze took his arm out of the satchel, widening the openings of the bag and talking to the two inside.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Hey, Jonah. What’s up, Luca?" Aze greeted the two.

“Who said that?!” Luca said he was scared, not knowing who the voice was or where it was coming from. "God?"

Jonah said to Luca. “It’s Aze, you numbskull. Remember, we're in his purse.”

Well, it’s not a purse, Jonah.”

“It’s not?” Jonah explains, “A purse is a bag used to carry daily essentials. Purses often feature a long strap or handle that you can rest on your shoulder or hold in your hand. In your case, you have a cross-body purse. It’s a purse where the extended strap goes over your shoulder and across your body, hence the name.”

Aze nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you said that last time too. And the time before that, but it’s a man bag.”

Noel spoke up, “Didn’t mom.”

Noel was cut off.

Aze put his index finger on his lips. “Shush!” Looking back into the bag, he asked, “Did you happen to find a calling horn anywhere?"

The two in the interior could be heard talking amongst themselves, whispering. The hollowness carried their voices just enough for Noel and Aze to hear their private conversation.

“Calling Horn? A horn that calls, isn’t that just a horn?” Luca inquired. “Why not say horn?”

Jonah replied. “I’m just as confused as you are, but I think he’s looking for his link to his familiar.” Jonah yelled out for Aze, “Is your calling horn..." he stopped, snickering along with Luca.

Luca said all this while laughing hysterically. “Ha-ha! Calling horn, who calls it that?!”

Johan: “Be quiet, I think they can hear us."

An arm came out of the bag unexpectedly, forcing Aze to move his head out of the direction of the appendage. In his hand held a metallic ebony horn.

Luca said, “Here. We were using it as a pencil holder, sorry.”

Aze grabbed the object out of his hand. “Thank you," he said.

The hand slithered back in like a snake.

Luca yelled back to Aze. “Now zip the purse close!”

Aze repeated what he said, just in case they didn’t hear him. “Thank you,"

Luca overlapped with the mannerism, calling out. “Zip. The purse. Aze!”

Aze complied and he fastened the satchel securing it back around his shoulders.

Noel told his brother, “Those guys are a**holes,”

"Agreed. Major ones." Aze put his lips onto the horn. He puffed up his cheeks full of air blowing out. No noise came out of the instrument.

The two stood in front of each other with nothing to say for about two minutes. Aze began to kick the sand on the ground, playing with the seashore, wiping his feet side to side on the sand out of pure boredom.

Noel asked, “Umm... isn’t something supposed to take place?”

“Sometimes he takes a second."

A second later, a pearlescent portal appeared in the sky. He came shooting out of the rift, a four-legged beast. A green lynx, no smaller than 6 feet in height and 9 feet long, short-tailed compared to the wide-body animal he was. Tufts of white hair were at the tips of his ears, and he had enormous, padded paws—he was a beast. Some called the familiar a monster. The feline’s stripes along its back were purple and orange colored.

The assorted mismatch of a creature came running down, gliding on air with every gallop. Multicolored sparks from the gateway rained down upon two siblings. The youngest put his hands above himself, opening his palm, trying to catch the magical dust. “It's so beautiful, Aze,” he said. “Is it always like this?”

“No.” Aze deeply inhaled, exhaling. He said, “It’s just an introduction.”

Abdul landed on the ground greeting the younger one.

“Noel, how are you?”

The beast didn’t move his jaw to communicate. Instead, he used a direct connection to their minds. Abdul had a deep tone to his voice, matching his physical appearance.

"Great! Now that you’re here, we can make it back home on time!”

Adul spotted Aze addressing him in an irritated way, “Oh, you’re here?”

He crossed his arms, looking away. “Of course. I was hoping for a formal apology. Why else would I call you?”

Adul scuffed, “Why would I?” Aze cranked his neck, looking at Abdul with crazy eyes.

“It was my favorite hat, and do you know how much coin it cost for those stupid wizard caps?"

"Okay, you two. Before there's a fight, maybe tell him what's happening. Aze.”

Noel thrust his head towards Abdul, moving his eyes back and forth to him and back at his brother. Signaling that the matter at hand was urgent. Aze appeared angry, his stubborn side did not want to apologize before his familiar did. It took Aze’s entire being to reach into his pocket and pull out a chocolate candy bar. He said, “I was going to save this for later, but you can have it.” He tossed the chocolate into the air and Abdul snatched it with a satisfied look on his face, showing his massive teeth.

The beast acknowledged his kind gesture, slightly bobbing his head.

Abdul said. “I know that wasn't easy for you, Aze.” The beast walked over to his partner in crime, brushing his head against his body. “My apologies, partner.”

Aze giggled, opening his arms and telling Abdul, “It’s alright, I’ve already stolen Noel’s hat anyway.”

Noel, in the moments of Abdul and Aze reconciling, was smiling happily for the two, but he immediately changed his expression to a surprised one by the looks of it. He then hurried them on, “Alright, time to go, you two.”

He had dismissed the entire situation to his familiar, jumping on partners back and then reached out for his brother pulling on.

“Take us home!” Aze looked back at the skyline, seeing that the sun was nearly gone to the horizon. "We only have five minutes to get back home before mom notices.” Aze patted the feline's head, “I’ll tell you everything later, promise.” He turned to his scary cat brother, “You might want to hold on."