The girls woke up to Levi sleeping. What they saw was concerning. Floating above Levi was a black entity that was hard to focus on. The black entity had an ominous aura about it, but it seemed to be calm. Piper looked at Anna, who shrugged. Knowing Levi this was probably another familiar that he had gotten. Piper got up and stretched a bit; they were going to have a long day of travel, so she wanted to make sure she was ready. Her stretching routine was a part of her meditation training. Now that she could use magic more effectively, she added some different elements to her routine. This made it more difficult but also deepened her understanding of her body.

Anna practiced her own form of meditation. She would sit cross-legged and use some sort of magic to lift her off the ground. She would take deep breaths with her eyes closed, concentrating. Both women were in full meditation when Levi woke up. He opened his eyes to see that they were meditating and decided to join in. He sat next to where Anna was levitating and did the same type of meditation. He was not able to levitate as high, but he was off the ground.

After some time, Anna opened her eyes and lightly landed on the ground; Levi and Piper had done the same, and Piper had joined them once she had finished stretching.

“Who’s our new friend?” Piper asked.

“This is Dameion,” Levi said as Dameion flew over to them. “He’s an avatar of the Void.”

“He’s hard to look at,” Anna said. “My eyes want to focus on the singularity of the black hole but can’t for some reason.”

“He is gorgeous though,” Piper said absently.

“Yes,” Anna said. “He really is. How did you get a black hole as a familiar?”

“I don’t know if he is actually a black hole or if he’s an entity that looks is inside the black hole. I have a deep connection with him, but it doesn’t tell me everything.”

“Avatars,” Vapor said. “Are entities that represent something. Since Dameion is an Avatar of the Void, he is an entity that represents the Void; in this case an aspect of the Void is a black hole.”

“What’s the Void?” Levi asked.

“A cosmic being, akin to a god but on a much larger scale. It governs the gaps between realms, realities, and universes.” Vapor responded.

“Whoa,” Levi said. He turned to Dameion, “Well aren’t you sick.”

“I do not believe avatars can grow ill,” Vapor said.

“Not what I meant,” Levi said. “I don’t feel like walking back to Arcross, we can all ride Anza and team Ember? That’ll be much faster travel.”

“I would like to do that,” Anna said. “Objections?”

“Not from me,” Piper said.

Anza grew to her normal alpha size, and two drones appeared out of Levi. The trio packed up camp and made their way back to Arcross. At the current speed they were traveling, they would reach the other side of the ice valley by the end of the day. That was, of course, if there were no monsters to fight. Levi hoped that there wasn’t he was not in a fighting mood. He wanted to get back to his room, away from the bad vibes he was getting from his time in Arvendon.

Piper looked nervously at Levi, then at Anna. Levi was uncharacteristically quiet the entire ride. They were about an hour from the edge of the ice valley, and he had not said much all day. She wondered if he had lost trust in her after what happened with her father and brother. She hoped not, but she couldn’t help but wonder. They reached the edge of the ice valley and called it a good day of travel. Night was starting to fall, and they were tired.

“Are you upset with us?” Piper finally mustering up the courage, asked Levi.

“What? No,” Levi said. “I was distracted there huh?” Levi said awkwardly.

“Yes,” Piper said softly. “You barely spoke to us the entire ride back…”

“I’m sorry,” Levi said. “I was caught in thought about everything that happened. I was replaying all the moments and I guess got lost in them. I’m back now,” he said, giving a reassuring smile.

“Is there anything you’d want to talk about?” Piper asked, hopeful.

“Yes,” Levi said. “But not about your home.” He walked up and gave her a kiss. “How are you liking your new class?”

She smiled, and Anna joined after they kissed.

“I’m curious about that too,” Anna said. She gave a friendly smile to Levi, and he smiled back with a gentle nod. Anna wasn’t as concerned about how Levi acted on the ride back. He had essentially been called evil and was treated like a bad guy for three days straight. That would piss anyone off. She was worried that he wouldn’t trust them as much, and she couldn’t exactly blame him for that either.

Something about the whole situation seemed off to her, though. Anna loved her dad, loved her fully, but he was acting very differently. She had never known her father to be that friendly and that accommodating. It was almost like he was putting on a show. She had been thinking a lot about that on the ride back, which, in part, is why she didn’t notice Levi wasn’t talking much.

“I’ve been able to work on incorporating some trap rituals easier! I also learned that there are some rituals that help with stealth and hiding my breathing, heartbeat, or anything bodily noises I may make.” Piper said with an excited look. Her stress melted away once Levi kissed her. She had to trust him and that was what she was going to do.

“Nice, how’d you learn that?” Levi asked.

“Anna showed me some magic skill books,” Piper said.

“It was my gift for her evolution,” Anna said.

“I think trap rituals will only be so helpful. That takes a certain amount of preparation that most of the time I don’t have.” Piper said. “But being able to add runes to my gear will be very helpful.”

“Absolutely,” Levi said. “Trap rituals will be perfect for dungeons, not so much fighting. I saw a book in my library that had more enhancement rituals. I’ll grab that for you.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Piper said. “It’ll take a lot of practice, but I truly think this will be the best class for me. I’ll be much more versatile.”

“Versatility is great,” Anna said. “We have three mana users now, that might be an issue.”

“Not anymore,” Levi said. “Dameion can drain and redistribute mana. Plus, my aura passively increases mana regeneration.”

“That’s handy for a summoner,” Anna said.

“And now its handy for all of us,” Levi said. “Oh, Piper. Dameion was very appreciative of how you asked, ‘who our new friend was,’ not just mine. It made him feel welcomed. Anna, he said he liked your aura and is excited to fight with you.”

“He can talk?” Anna asked.

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“Yeah, but not directly towards me, Vapor can communicate with him, though. He’s pretty reserved but when he wants to speak he will.”

“You’re welcome,” both women said to Dameion.

“Levi,” Piper said. “I’m sorry for how my family treated you. It was wrong on so many levels. I am so angry with them. It’s like they were trying to paint you more evil to make me not want to be with you.”

“That’s exactly what they were doing,” Levi said.

“But why?” Piper asked.

“Probably because of the prophecy,” Levi said.

“I think my dad was being dishonest with his feelings about you,” Anna blurted out.

“Anna?” Piper said. “Really??”

Levi didn’t respond, just raised his eyebrows and listened. “Yes, my dad is laid back, sure. Much more than mother. But he is not accommodating. He does not go that far out of his way for guests; that’s literally what dukes and the other houses are for.”

“Anna, do you think?” Piper said slowly.

“Yes,” Anna responded.

“Wanna fill me in on the secret friend language?” Levi prodded.

“Sorry,” Anna said. “I think my father is trying to save face with me because he wants to keep the family close. By not doing what uncle did and instead encouraging me to pursue the friendship, I won’t have any resentment toward the family.”

“I see,” Levi said.

“Which means both our families think you’re evil,” Anna said. “They just didn’t talk about their own plans.”

“That would make a lot of sense,” Piper said. “My family was acting really strange.”

“You’re being quiet what?” Anna said to Levi.

“I am just happy,” Levi said. “Vapor and I were talking last night. Neither of us trust your families and especially not the king.”

“Why?” Anna asked.

“He really wanted to meet me but was expecting that we would leave early, that doesn’t make any sense. I’ve dealt with a lot of fake people on the other world and that felt just like it.” Levi said.

“But you still trust us?” Piper asked.

“Yes,” Levi said.

“Why?” Anna said.

“Why doesn't matter,” Levi responded. “I have my reasonings and you have yours.”

“That’s fair,” Anna conceded. “So, what’s next?”

“Figure out what the hell this damned prophecy is,” Levi said.

“Chaos and Light will fight for order. If one wins, then the world will end. If the other wins magic will be changed forever,” Anna said.

“Who told you that?” Levi asked.

“My father, who heard it from his father, who heard it from his father, who heard it from an unknown wizard,” Anna replied.

“Four different people, through how many years?”

“Several hundred,” Anna stated.

“Yeah, first thing we need to do is find the original prophecy,” Levi said.

“You think my father lied to me?”

“No,” Levi said. “I think that it got messed up each time someone passed it along.”

“Why do you say that?” Piper asked.

“I went to high school,” Levi said.

“I have no idea what a high school is,” Piper said. “Or how that s relevant to our conversation.”

“Imagine a guild but for learning general knowledge and you put thirteen- to eighteen-year-olds all enrolled together.”

“That sounds like a recipe for disaster,” Piper said.

“Exactly,” Levi responded. “In high school, rumors form and can get diabolical quickly. There was someone at my school who said I found some gum in the bathroom stall. Well by the end of the day, our school was on lockdown because a teacher heard that they found a gun go off in the south campus hall.”

“What is a gun?” Anna asked.

“What is gum?” Piper asked.

“Gum is a piece of, let’s call it food for the sake of understanding, that you only chew and do not swallow. It is made of powerful mint aromatics to help make your breath smell better or help a bad habit. Very innocent, not dangerous. A gun is like a bow and arrow, except using explosion magic to send a small metal object at super-fast speeds. Very dangerous, not innocent.”

“Oh,” Piper said. “That is a very big difference.”

“Exactly, so it went from a cool discovery to potential death. All because people were passing it along with speaking and word of mouth messes things up. So no, I don’t think your fathers or grandfathers, or people in your city are wrong to believe that prophecy, I just am not going to because I know what happens when things get spread without it being written down.”

“Your logic has merit especially from your perspective,” Anna said. “I appreciate your perspective on our families as well. You manage to talk about your disdain without being insulting or rude. Thank you.” Anna said sincerely.

“You’re very good at that,” Piper said. “You did that very well with my grandpa, how?”

“I know what it is like to lose my cool on folks who did nothing wrong to me but those they cared about,” he looked at the fire sadly. “Once you lose a friend because you were too disrespectful in one moment of misjudgment, you learn quickly to hold your tongue.”

“Oh,” Piper said. “Did that friend forgive you after you apologized?”

“I don’t know,” Levi said. “I never heard from them, I sent message after message, and I never heard anything again. But even if they had, forgiving someone doesn’t mean that they would be letting me back in their life.” he paused. “I had to accept my role in my mistake and that I lost a friend. An unfortunate lesson that I kept failing to learn.”

“It doesn’t seem like you failed,” Piper said.

“I did,” Levi said sadly. “After I lost that friend, I lost my cool, I told myself that I would be better. That I wouldn’t act on emotions and act like a fool. That lasted about a year, then something happened, and boom I lost my cool again. This time it wasn’t one person, one friend, it was my family. My two sisters, their husbands, their kids, my relationship with my mom was messed up but fine, my cousins, aunts/uncles, all of them. I messed up a relationship with all of them. I thought I’d learn my damn lesson.” Levi paused to rub a hand across his face. He sighed deeply. Anna and Piper waited patiently for him to continue speaking. He didn’t.

“You don’t really think they are that upset with you till this day?” Anna asked.

“I do. We don’t live as long there… Well, I guess they don’t. It’s easier to hold onto grudges when your life is 75% shorter than here. But ya know sometimes I wonder if people think I’m dead or if I’m missing? I honestly wonder if anyone would have cared. I made a major mess of things.”

“I can promise you,” Piper said. “No matter how much you messed up, someone cared enough for you. We’re never too far gone that people won’t miss us when we’re gone.”

“How can you make that promise?” Levi’s voice a whisper, eyes wet with tears.

“Because family may piss us off, but they will constantly look out for us. Friends too. Especially if you had people who would check in on you regularly. I am willing to bet your family was eagerly waiting for you to see how you treated them and come home.”

“The prodigal son,” Levi said.

“The what?” Piper asked.

“It’s an old religious story, a father gives one of his two sons a share of his property. The younger son took the money and used it poorly, spent it all and was then living with farm animals, eating like them too. He saw the errors in his ways returned home. His father threw a big party for him, for he was happy that his son was not dead but alive and came home.”

“That’s beautiful,” Piper said.

“You know that story and still believe no one is waiting for you?” Anna said.

“Yes,” Levi said. “The father was waiting for him. My father is dead. I know they weren’t waiting for me… Doesn’t matter how beautiful the story is; they won’t be excited for my return if ever. They’d probably already forgotten about my existence already.”

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to get home but I am grateful that you are here now.” Anna said.

“That’s no longer my home,” Levi said. “I just have family there. I ain’t even sure I want to go back; I’m hella grateful to be here.”

“Well, whether you do or don’t,” Piper said. “You’ll have a party there waiting for as the prodigal son returns. Until that day… we figure out the real prophecy and we get stronger. Cause that letter you had warned of danger, I like to take warnings seriously. Especially one that was only seen because of your affinity to chaos magic.”

“Then we finish our time at the guild, get as strong as we can, and figure out what we must!” Anna said. “And you, Levi. It’s time you start recognizing the growth that you had. It seems like you finally reacted logically instead of emotionally. Might not have been the way you planned but its progress.”

“I’m with it,” Levi said. He paused. “Thanks, y’all, honestly it means a lot that you would be so kind and hear me out. I love y’all.”

“You know I love you,” Piper said.

“I love you too,” Anna said. “Now, shall we eat some dinner then get some sleep?”