I sat there, watching a movie on my phone.

We were almost there, and everyone, but me, was dead asleep.

{We are now at the last stop for today.}

“Alright, wake up!”

I flicked everyone and they woke up groggy.

“We’re here.”

The train stopped and the doors opened.

“Come on.”

The group groaned.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They were rubbing their eyes as we got off. Taury let out a yawn.

“Alright, come on. Get down.”

They got off the train and we began walking.

“So, where is your grandfather’s house?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s up there.”

I pointed at the mountain.

They looked at me in shock.

“How do we get up there?!”

“We climb.”

“You say that like it’s easy.”

“Eh, I had to do it every day since I was ten.”

“No wonder you’re strong.”

We walked until we reached the bottom of the climb.

Grace snickered.

“Bye, meet yall at the top.”

Then she walked into the rock and I felt her aura ascending.

“Hey, Wings.”

“Yes?”

“Could you please fly those two up?”

“Sure.”

She turned into her big form and smiled.

“Grab on.”

The duo grabbed on, then she took off. Their screaming faded in the distance.

I breathed.

‘Alright, let’s go.’

I leapt up to the first piece, and I bounded to another, making a smooth swift climb.

Once I got to the top, I saw Brent beginning to sit down. He, and everyone else blinked.

“You… that was fast.”

“Once again. I’ve been climbing that since I was 10. Anyways, just down this path is Gramps’s dojo.”

“Alright…”

We began walking and Taury became her small form before sprawling on my head.

Then I saw it. Home…

“Well, here we are.”

I walked forward and instinctually dodged the kunai that struck right behind my head.

The group immediately snapped and got into a defensive position, but I snickered, flipped the kunai and launched it back at the kunoichi.

She yelped and fell out of the tree line. Her ginger hair getting caught on a branch flipping her back as well. She slammed onto the path with a groan.

“Hello Aoi.”

“William, I can never hit you, can I.”

“You’re an even worse student than I am.”

“Bah.”

I helped her up.

“Well, do you know where Saiyung is? I want to talk to Gramps.”

“As always darling, right behind you.”

The group spun to the new figure who seemed to manifest herself. Her dark hair amplified by the dark suit covering every part of her tightly. A blindfold covering her eyes and a mask covering the rest of her face. She almost looked like a demon. A tall one, as she was a whole foot taller than me.

“Hello, William. It’s been a few weeks since you last contacted us.”

“Sorry, I just got a new phone. The old one… fried.”

“Ah, that is horrible, I see you brought friends.”

“Yes, this is Grace, Amy, and Brent.”

Then Saiyung smiled.

“Don’t forget the friend on your head.”

I looked at her as Aoi gave a confused look. You could almost see the question mark manifest over her head.

“You have magic?!”

“No, my bracelet is simply a powerful relic.”

“Oh, that makes sense. This is Wings.”

“Hm, pleasure to meet you, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a pixie.”

Aoi asked.

“Ma’am, what are you talking about?”

“Goodness child, did you forget your relic again?”

“It doesn’t do anything.”

“It would help you see the person I am talking to.”

“Fine.”

She pulled out the bracelet from her pocket and put it on.

“William, why is there a miniature bird lady on your head?”

“BIRD LADY?!”

Taury snapped up.

“Excuse you, but I am a pixie. There is a large difference.”

“You have bird wings.”

“They aren’t bird wings!”

Taury began pouting as I started chuckling.

“So, William, what do you need to talk about with John?”

“It’s serious… by the way, how did you know to wait for me?”

“John told us to set up a trap. He didn’t say what for. I’d assume this was it.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Oh, by the way, I should introduce you all to these two.”

I turned to my friends.

“This is Saiyung, the last fully fledged kunoichi, and her apprentice, Aoi.”

Grace spoke first, stretching out her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you two.”

“Pleasure to meet you as well, earth golem.”

“You recognized me?”

“I saw how you climbed.”

“Oh…”

“Women popping out of the dirt typically imply earth golems.”

“Fair.”

Then Saiyung began walking.

“If what you need to discuss is serious, I’ll take you to your grandfather.”

“Thanks.”

We walked, then Saiyung was on top of a ledge.

“If you can get to him alive.”

I sighed.

“Of course.”

“Aoi, could you help me?”

“Yes ma’am!”

She hopped tree to tree above to where Saiyung was.

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve learnt in your time away, oh and magic is allowed but no traveling through the earth. The rest of you, just wait.”

I smiled. This was nostalgic.

“Alright Wings. Get off. This will be dangerous.”

“Sure.”

Saiyung threw a kunai to the center of the field, and it opened up.

Several traps emerged.

“Get to the end of it without a single scratch and I’ll take you to John.”

I smiled.

“Well, this will be fun.”

I dashed forward, molding the terrain to allow me to move.

I used fire to block the spinning maces, its heat forced them back.

I did a flip and caught myself with earth magic moving me through the low crawl.

I did another flip and landed on the side of a sword for just a split second and dove over another mace.

Then I came face to face with a gatling gun.

Using magic, I bent the barrel, forcing it towards the two kunoichi controlling it.

I just heard Saiyung.

“Clever boy.”

The gun shot at them and the duo dodged and jumped away from the trap switches allowing me a clear run to the end.

I tapped the flag and turned around to see everyone gaping at me.

“… Bro, what?”

Grace was shocked.

“Goodness, he didn’t even get grazed.”

“It was easier this time.”

Saiyung laughed, it was a pure laughter that she had.

“Of course, boy, you can use magic now. When you couldn’t of course it’d be hard, but even I didn’t expect the gun bending.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, I’ll take you to your grandfather now.”

“Thanks.”

She was right next to me.

Brent looked at her in shock.

“How do you do that?”

Taury sighed.

“It’s not that hard, she’s just fast. I can also move that fast.”

“Yeah, but you’re a pixie, Saiyung is human, it’s a bit more impressive.”

“I suppose.”

We walked up a winding path, then the wind began to blow harder. The trees made a whistle.

Then we came to a stone circle.

Saiyung and Aoi both did a bow to the master.

The others simply looked shocked.

Hanging upside down from a tree, holding himself with merely his big and second toes, was a shirtless old man, covered in muscles. His long hair flowed.

“Hey, Gramps.”

“Wha?!”

He fell and landed on his finger, groggily rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, William, how are you?”

“Pretty good.”

“Ah, and the Monarch of the Pixies. To what do I owe the honor.”

“… You know of that?”

“Of course, boy, you smell of the Dream, and can you honestly not see the glow of sheer power?”

“… no?”

“Blind, as always.”

He righted himself and stood. Then, suddenly only a foot away, he patted my head.

“Well, boy, you’re here with three beauties. What do you need?”

That caught Taury off guard.

“What’s wrong?”

“You… you moved so fast… I didn’t even see it…”

I looked at Gramps with surprise.

“You’re that fast?!”

“Yep, what you thought I was slow like Saiyung?”

“… *sigh* Only you would call her slow.”

“Anyways, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“Um, what do you know of demons?”

“Quite a bit, boy.”

He smiled.

“Gahahaha, I remember when I hunted those fiends for fun. Those were the days.”

“You hunted demons?!”

All of us looked at him in shock.

“Didn’t just hunt them, I was darn good at it too. I’ve even shown you my collection of demon stones.”

“… Your rock collection?”

“Yeah, what, did you think they were just cool rocks?”

“Yes… yes I did.”

There were hundreds of rocks in that dang collection, just who the heck are you Gramps?

“So, what do you want to know about demons?”

“How to handle them when they form up.”

“Ah, who’s the leader this time?”

“The Hunter.”

“The Hunter? Hm… yeah, he could definitely do that. If he’s leading an army then you need help. Tell you what. I’m not gonna answer your question.”

“What?!”

I sighed. I half expected this.

“What strange instructions do I have now?”

“Go to Morgan’s woods, find a tree marked with a starry eye, knock twice and repeat this, ‘Only scum see wit.’”

“And look crazy?”

“GAHAHAHA!!! Boy, just do it, it will help you. Oh, and do it alone, bring not even the Monarch.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see. Welp, have a good day, I’m gonna get back to my meditation.”

He flipped and landed on the tree before falling asleep almost immediately.

…

Amy sighed.

“Well, that was useless.”

I smiled.

“Not at all, he genuinely thinks that this will help. Let’s head back.”

“Wait!”

“Yes, Saiyung?”

“Bring Aoi, she needs to go to college.”

“She’s 16 though.”

“And? You’re never too young to learn. Besides, she needs real world experience, where better than next to the sleeping maw of the earth.”

“Fair.”

Aoi seemed happy.

“Yippee!”

She did a flip and landed on my shoulders.

“Onward to the station, my noble steed!”

“… neigh…”

Taury glared at her then landed on my head.

“Let’s go.”

We walked back to the front of the dojo, where I climbed down with Aoi on my back, as Taury, once again helped Brent and Amy down.

“Alright, to the train.”

We walked back through the town Aoi never leaving my back.

“And we’re here. Aoi, get off my back so you can get on the train.”

Instead, she just coiled around me like a serpent, restricting my arms.

“Or you can do that.”

I found my seat and sat down roughly, causing her to yelp and fall off.

“There we go sit across me.”

Aoi moved to the seat, and Taury took her place on my head and stuck her tongue out at Aoi who pouted.

Aoi actually doesn’t have a crush on me, much unlike what Taury seems to be thinking. She’s just… incredibly… inhumanly clingy. The way I know this is because she crushes on a supermodel sleezeball. And whenever she gushed about him and his muscles, she’d clamber all over me until she passed out or I reminded her that if she was into muscled men, that Gramps was available, to which she gagged and excused herself.

Me and Aoi have known each other since she was six. I’d been with Gramps for two years at that point. She was so tiny, and even now she comes in at only 4’ 6”. She always says that eventually she will get her growth spurt, but she never has.

She is Saiyung’s prize pupil, as her size allows her to sneak where most people can’t. She’s also Saiyung's ward. She has other students, one of which does have a crush on me, but Aoi doesn’t.

The one who does is terrifying… not because she’s ugly or anything, she’s really pretty… but… well, best not think about that right now.

Speaking of Aoi.

“What are you doing?”

I closed my eyes for a bit and opened them to Aoi grappling me. Her legs were half wrapped around my torso; I could feel the lower half of her legs braced on my leg. Her arms were around my neck.

“I’m examining the pixie.”

“Of course you are.”

“Did you hear what Daniel did this week?”

“Let me guess, he released another magazine?”

“Yeah, and he’s doing a concert in Challsville at the college!”

“Oh… great.”

“Think we would be able to go?!”

“Since that’s the college we are currently going to, that’s a hard… maybe.”

“Yes, thank you William, you are the best friend.”

She began shaking then sprawled on my lap.

“Hehe I’ll get to see him in person!”

I sighed and patted her head.

“You are a special type of girl.”

“What if he sees me and is so awestruck by my beauty that he has a heart attack and dies. William, would I be jailed?”

“I doubt they’d be able to track you.”

“But what if I turned myself in? I’d feel such guilt.”

“I don’t think they’d charge you.”

She almost looked like a thought passed through her head.

“Hm. So, have you got any girls yet?”

“Maybe~ Jealous~?”

“Bleck, who?”

“Guess.”

“The Pixie.”

“Uhm- uh. What makes you think that?”

“That reaction for one. But you also kept looking at her when you were talking to the old man.”

“I did?”

“Yep, and when I was piggy backing on you, she seemed almost jealous. Besides, she seems incredibly calm and comfortable right now.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Have you kissed?”

“We got close once.”

“What stopped it?”

“Racist merman.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“That sounds like a joke.”

“It’s shockingly not.”

She sighed.

“Well, it’s another, how long?”

“I could check if your got your butt off my hand.”

“Oh, sorry.”

She maneuvered and I fetched my phone.

“Hm… Three more hours.”

“Alright, I’mma sleep then.”

“Alright.”

Sure enough, she was out before my word finished.

I sighed deeply and shut my eyes.

_

After saying goodbye to Brent, Amy, and Grace, I headed to the store with Aoi and Taury.

“What are we getting?”

“A mattress.”

“Why?”

“Because you need bedding.”

“Then I’ll share yours.”

“WHAT?!”

Taury snapped.

I sighed.

“Aoi, listen, for a lot of people, it’s odd enough we’re living together, even if we’re okay with sharing a mattress, your still underage, so if someone misinterprets our relationship as romantic, as odd as that sounds, I could get in trouble or even get jailed.”

Aoi thought for a moment, and Taury began to slowly realize that we were not the slightest bit interested in each other, we were just close.

“Hm, then what if we buy the mattress and only say I sleep in it when someone comes over.”

“Or we could skip all potential problems and just get you a mattress that you’d use.”

Aoi wrinkled her nose at that idea.

“Nah, that would be lame.”

“How the heck have you lasted for the last month?”

“I stayed in Natsi’s room, but it wasn’t the same. She wouldn’t let me grapple her.”

“Probably because you usually accidentally break bones when you do that with others.”

After bickering with Aoi, we ended up getting poptarts, pork chops, and no mattress.

_

We entered the flat where Aoi instantly leapt off of me, ran across the ceiling, and landed in the bed, sprawled out.

“It’s comfy.”

“It is. Want food?”

“YES!”

She ran to the table where I laid out the leftovers from yesterday.

She ate as quickly as possible. The food that before I thought would last us a whole week, ended that night.

Taury looked at her in a strange awe.

“How are you so skinny if you eat like that?”

I sighed.

“Aoi is one of those people with incredibly quick metabolisms, added on to how active she is, she needs to eat a heck of a lot.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

Aoi finished eating then began grappling me. As usual.

I stood up.

“Alright, I’m gonna shower then head to bed.”

“”I’m coming.””

“No, and no. Taury, you shower on your own time, and Aoi, same problem as the mattress.”

“”Awe…””

I locked the door before either of them could try to break in.

I turned around, half expecting Aoi to be there, luckily it seemed that I actually did close the door in time.

I got in the shower and began to wash when I heard the familiar sound of a lockpick.

“Aoi…”

“… Nothing!”

“Stop picking the door.”

“… Awe…”

“Don’t give up, he can’t sto- WOAH!”

“OW, don’t use earth magic, jerk!”

I snickered.

This could be fun.