Chad did not sleep soundly.

He may have been healed, but the experience had nonetheless taken a toll on him.

In his dreams, he saw torches, floating aimlessly. At times converging and joining, at others so far apart one could hardly see the other. But once they did join, they were beautiful. The flames burning even brighter together, the wood entwining to form the trunk of a tree. Roots spread like wings. Burning, beautiful wings in a dark, beautiful world.

The fiery tree turned around, and from the pyre, a woman stepped out. Her hair was long and chestnut brown, merging with the fire at the ends. Her topaz eyes swept over Chad, swallowing his appearance whole. Taking a step forwards, her stained yellow-orange-ish robe fluttered, even though there was no wind. And yet, despite the whole scene being the most aetherial and beautiful thing Chad had ever seen, his attention was somehow drawn to what the mature-looking woman wore on her head: a beanie.

“Bro, is that a beanie?...” Chad asked, pointing to the baggy piece of clothing on her head. The girl furrowed her brows. Chad helpfully continued pointed to the little piece of equipment, jerking his finger slightly. Sure, the girl was wearing pretty weird clothes over-all, but the beanie was completely unfit. Not that Chad actually had any sense for the aesthetic, but he knew what pieces of clothing fit which cliques. Beanies did not fit aetherial burning dream women.

So this was the guy, then? Same voice, same words.

Mirim carefully removed her beloved Cucullus and pointed to it.

Was this it?

“Yeah, yeah that’s it, man!” the God(?) said in that weird language she couldn’t comprehend. What did he want with her Cucullus?... no, moreover, what did he want with anything?! Who was he, why was she here, had he done this, or did Antenora have some sort of plan when he did this?

“What’s the matter with my Cucu? If you desire it, you’ve got another thing coming!” Mirim immediately threatened, her hands flying up, ready to form spell circles. She had yet to notice the fact that not only was she surrounded by fire, but the flames were actually doing her bidding. Some of the flames bellowed alongside her hands, others licked at her (somehow still) autographed robe.

Chad felt suitably threatened.

“Bro you wanna throw down!?” Chad shouted back, bearing his fists right back. Mirim would have felt more frightened if she wasn’t about ten years older than him and fifteen years more experienced in combat. She still hadn’t understood what the young lad had said, but considering the tone and his stance, he was giving the favour right on back. Screwing her Cucu back on her fiery head, she got ready to trade fists with a possible God. He probably wasn’t, since he didn’t seem too divine, but considering the kind of people they had on the “Good” side, she wouldn’t be too surprised.

Her left hand went to her side and plucked her trusty Grimoire of intermediate spells from her hip. Flipping the thick book open, she thoughtlessly riffled through it. Thankfully, the spells were in alphabetical order, but even so, she kept forgetting the position of a lot of them. But it had allowed her to learn the first and last spells very well so… it wasn’t that bad.

Once she found a good spell, she drew up the spell circle. No mercy.

“Oculi ut globus igneus!” she said, the spell circle in front of her glowing brightly as Magick flowed into it. The Magick soon transformed into the form of a large burning sphere, like a miniature sun. The heat radiating from the stationary spell was almost overwhelming.

And although Chad could hardly say the situation was too familiar, the spell certainly was. The heat was something he’d experienced, but, more importantly… the words she’d spoken.

“Forfeit or I’ll transform your arrogance into crispy Hangers!” Mirim shouted, a final warning of what's to come. She wasn’t exactly new to the game of murder, but even so, he was only a child… then again, he had (probably) said some bad things about her Cucu, and that’s the kind of stuff that just can’t be forgiven. Plus, if he really was the god of this realm, a spell of this order shouldn't even ruffle his hair.

“Bro I’ll fuck you up all you want but what did you just say?!?” Chad shouted back, pointing furiously at his mouth, hoping she’d get the message. She did not.

“Is, is that a forfeit?! Whomever you may be, God or otherwise, I do not understand this language you speak!” Mirim shouted back. The Fireball spell still hung in the air, and Mirim had to feed it Magick every second so it wouldn’t combust on the spot.

“Uh, fuck, uhh… Oculi! Oculi et Globus or something, right?!” Chad said, his arms flailing about. Mirim just looked at him strangely. That had been Demonic, right?... So, then, this buff teen was a sorcerer? Impressive.

“Enough! If you mean to cast your spells and draw your circles, you may do so in whatever afterlife you believe in!” Mirim finally cried, her hands whipping about, setting the flaming ball in motion. It shot at Chad’s face, giving him less than a second to regret his life choices.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

And that moment, he woke up.

It had all been a dream. Phew!

The moment he opened his eyes, he was met with the neutral, dry-eyed face of his very best friend, mere inches from his face.

“Oh, you’re finally awake,” Adam said, the smell of greens and meat hanging heavy in his breath. Chad could feel a blush spread across his cheeks and nose. “hey, you’re turning red again! I’ll bet you’re still running that awful fever. How do you feel?” Adam worried, those evergreen eyes of his trailing across Chad’s face, lingering on his eyes and cheeks.

“Um, yeah I’m cool bro, you, uh… how long you been staring like this?...” Chad wondered, feeling his face heating up even more.

“Huh? Oh, not that long, just an hour or so. You haven’t been out for that long though. Someone knocked on the door about three hours ago, but I didn’t answer and they went away. Oh, I also played, your game a fair bit, was that alright?” Adam said, not actually telling how long “that long” is. Considering that he believed “not that long” was an hour or so, it could be several hours.

“Uh, yeah bro, you can play the game if you want. What’s the time though?” Chad asked, sitting up in his bed. Adam thankfully moved away to allow Chad more breathing space. Adam didn’t really answer about the time, because 1, he didn’t have a watch or phone, and 2, he could not spot a clock on these walls. If there was one, it was probably flame-coloured, thus making it invisible. Chad glanced over at a seemingly empty wall.

“I’ve been out for five hours!? Bro, not cool,” Chad scolded, hopping out of bed fully. Adam seemed offended at being faulted for something, frowning as he stood up as well. But when Chad shot him another gaze, he couldn’t seem to actually do anything with it. So, instead, he puffed out his cheeks. “Well?” Chad asked, perking a brow. Adam looked down and locked his index fingers together.

“I’m not-, I…” Adam pouted, crossing his arms uselessly. It wasn’t his fault, was it? Chad had slept in all on his own! Sure, Adam could have woken him up at any time, but he’d heard somewhere that humans needed a lot of sleep. He didn’t sleep himself, but he knew most of the servants slept in shifts. He didn’t like bothering his servants when they were sleeping, but Ptolomaea and Judecca both kept several servants so they could work in shifts.

Chad actually looked a little mad. Beyond that, he seemed actually a bit panicked. Glancing over at the spot on the wall Chad had looked at, Adam noticed a fire-shaped fire-coloured fire-themed clock. Strangely enough, It only had 12 hours on it. Most normal watches on Lutum had 13 hours, and 26 if they had the whole day-night cycle. Curious. What did it mean? Adam, not versed in the least in any actual science, could only guffaw at the sight. A more clever man would have spent all those years actually researching sciences. But, then again, even if he had tried, the only sources apart from himself would be information from medieval to industrial times. Which isn’t that infallible.

Nevertheless, the clock was showing 19. How many hours had passed since Adam had arrived there he did not know, but it was probably quite a few, since, if he remembered correctly, he left the school at around 15.

So, with that in mind, Chad had been out for 4 hours. Just a little while. Much like tonight, the time had just flown right on by.

A loud knock on the door brought both of their attention to the guest. Chad, who had been pacing back and forth for a while now, pulled it open. Outside, a small, dark-haired girl stood queerly. Her deep blue eyes peered out from behind a veil of straight ebony hair, shifting slowly from Chad and Adam. Her raspberry lips slowly parted.

“Dinner in five,” the little girl mumbled, but before she was able to completely turn around, Chad had her in his arms. Handling her as a professional would a slippery cat, he tossed her through his arms, before she finally found herself on his shoulders. No place to go. “H-, hey! Let me down!” she squealed from atop his broad shoulders.

“Nu-uh! No way you’re coming down ‘til you say hi to Adam!” Chad argued back, holding her twig legs in place. Her first instinct seemed to be battering his head with her small dainty little fists. Sadly, since Chad’s head was made up of mostly bone and hair-gel, there wasn’t much to damage. “Hey, ow, dude, not cool!” Chad complained, but going by his smile, there was no way he was actually any hurt.

“Just-, let-, me-, DOWN!” the little girl commanded, each syllable empowered with a fist to the temple. Chad laughed and turned to Adam. Adam was shocked and had been shocked since Chad had grabbed the girl. No surprise he couldn’t react to the suggestive eyebrow-wiggle Chad was giving him. All he could do was shake his head. Chad sighed exaggeratingly, and still smiling, he deftly removed the girl from his shoulders. One moment she was pounding away at his head, the next, she was suspended two meters in the air, her tiny little legs flailing uselessly. Chad held her like a proud owner might hold their cat: by the armpits.

“Dude, say hi to Lucia!” Chad said, a broad smile showing off his pristine white teeth. The girl, Lucia, in question, was still desperately trying to get out of his powerful grip. However, she was 9, and Chad was 17, and Chad also happened to be somewhat of a muscle-brained Chad. Actually, a lot. She didn’t stand a chance.

“Uh… greetings, Lucia, I am Chad’s friend from the academy, Adam B. Windsley?” Adam pretty much asked. Lucia, who had been kicking and growling all the while, shut up all of a sudden. Her brows squished down on her eyes in confusion and disbelief. Craning her neck, she glanced up at Chad’s face behind her.

“That’s Adam?...” Lucia asked. Chad smiled broadly and nodded. Lucia stared at him for a second. “Well, okay then,” she said and nodded, giving Adam a cunning grin. Stretching out her right arm, she offered a handshake. Adam stared at it, and then back at her.

“Um, sorry, I don’t much like touching humans…” Adam declined, shaking his head politely. Lucia handed down at her hand, squinted, and returned it to its original position: pointed straight out. Chad, behind her, seemed ten times more confused than she was. After all, hadn’t Adam touched Chad just now? Like, when that whole sitting-on-the-bed thing happened?...

Maybe that was just a dream, like that with the fire lady…

“Dinner time!” somebody shouted from down the hall. All three turned to the voice.

“You heard dad, let me down!” Lucia ordered, and Chad reluctantly obeyed. That is, if just dropping her straight down could be considered obeying her command. But although any normal 9-year old girl would have probably hurt their ankle or something at being dropped from that height, she simply did a landing roll, got up on two feel, blew a raspberry at Chad, and hurried out the door.

“...You should totally stay for dinner bruh!” Chad said with a beaming smile and glittering eyes, completely ignoring what had just happened with his sister. “Dad’s a great cook! He usually makes enough for like plus two people too, so, if you eat with us, uhhh… he can just eat at a restaurant tomorrow! Like, for lunch!” Chad said, his fists bouncing up and down like an excited child.

“Sure. Haven’t got anywhere to be, right?” Adam said. But he did have somewhere to be.

Back home, Jessica had finally gotten home but had also had the misfortune of realizing her error. She’d just left Adam at school, hadn’t she? Just went straight on by? Converged with her new girlfriends instead, talked about magic, gotten their numbers… God, she was such a goof!

She didn’t really know much of anything about this “All-new All-different” Adam, but if she was lucky, he might just be as stupid as the old one was. And if that was the case, there was a fifty-fifty chance he was out wandering aimlessly, or with one of his friends. Now, what friends did Adam have… well, there was that Henry kid, and she was pretty sure he once said he was going to hang out with Pete, but the rest were a mystery. He had like fifteen guy friends! But, then again, with all that’s going on, he might just have lost them all.

The trouble lay in actually getting in contact with these people. Sure, she knew what class they went to and she knew two of their first names (Pete was in the same class as Adam, right?), but getting any further than that was impossible. Maybe if Adam had kept a yearbook, of if he’d been on a popular social network, but… nope.

So, she went with the other possibility and hoped it was the right one.

Scrawling up a note to John about the situation and urging him to eat and not head out to look for Adam and her as well.

But the night would hardly end so happily for them.