With a deep breath the girls left the crater, the only place they felt at home. The sun was still low in the sky, only just breaking the horizon for the day. They quietly left the closet. Both their wolves were in puppy size to make travel easier.

“Where is everyone?” Ciela asked in a hushed tone as they made it to the first floor of the house.

“No idea, perhaps they are asleep still?” Auna shrugged going towards the front door.

“Are we leaving?” Ciela looked a bit worried.

“No, I just want to see the weather here. I want to know if I need to cover my back.” Auna opened the front door taking a look outside. It was the first day of autumn. Usually, she did not need to cover her skin as the sun was blocked by clouds. Today was the same, a cloudy wet day.

“I see Jeff.” Auna said ushering Ciela outside with her. “Hi Jeff!”

“Auna you’re here!” Jeff was excited.

“Yes? Edward said this was the day he needed his answer.” Auna looked around the front of the house. There were two carriages, both with the Bloodwave symbols on them. It was the same symbol on the weapons of the guards. It appeared they had just got here.

“Yes, we all thought we would have to travel to your house though.” Jeff said passing Robert some coins.

“Gambling isn’t very good.” Auna said with her hands on her hips.

“Oh, girls you are here, does that mean you wish to go with us?” Marybeth was smiling as she leaned out of the carriage.

“Yes.” Both girls said together.

“Oh, good that means we don’t have to stop, jump in and we will continue.” Marybeth opened the door wider.

Inside the carriage was Edward and Meredith both sleeping. The girls struggled a bit getting into the carriage, Jeff easily picking them up instead. He also picked up each wolf putting them inside as well. The girls settled on one side of the carriage that had been empty.

“Where are we going?” Ciela asked.

“Oh well, we came from the transportation anchor in Wardite. The territory beside ours. We had been at a function there. We will travel back to that anchor heading to the capital. The test is in a week. We should have more than enough time.” Marybeth as she handed the girls some cookies.

“Transportation anchors are in the larger cities, right?” Auna asked remembering reading about them.

“Yes, each territory has a few that are interconnected, and all are connected to the capital. They have to use physical runes and a team of mages to work it.” Marybeth yawned.

“Why two carriages?” Auna asked ignoring the tired look from lady Bloodwave.

“My parents are in the other one. They were the previous heads of the Bloodwave territory. They were at the function with us and are going along to the capital for the test. They want to cheer on Meredith.” Marybeth leaned backwards shutting her eyes. There would be no more conversation from her.

The girls sat in the carriage watching the sun rise. They were seeing many smaller towns, and villages. The different sights kept their minds occupied for a little while, soon though they became restless. Auna decided to pull out a game, it was checkers. She had created the board from wood, and they stained half the circles blue. They spent the next few hours sitting on the floor of the carriage playing. Auna had a few games she created from memories, teaching Ciela how to play.

“We need to disembark my lord and lady.” Jeff opened the carriage door, it had stopped a few minutes ago. What he saw was the girls’ playing chess, a game that was considered for adults. He also saw the three Bloodwaves watching them.

“Just few minutes they are almost done.” Edward said.

“What is the hold up?” An old woman that looked very similar to Marybeth walked up to the open door.

“One moment mother, the girls are playing.” Marybeth waved at them to quiet down.

The grand Bloodwaves came closer, watching the game unfold as well. It took about twenty more minutes before Auna managed to win the game. Ciela was shaking her head muttering that she would beat her one of these times.

“Oh sorry, we will pack it up down.” Auna spoke putting the toy back in her storage.

“Where did you learn?” The older Bloodwave woman asked.

“Ah, mostly books.” Auna said not lying. She had only learnt the game from reading books in her last lives. She just had more time to understand it than most did.

The older woman eyed her for a moment then walked away following Jeff to the teleportation anchor. A few other guards picked up the luggage and followed as well. Auna and Ciela picked up their pups, Willow being squished beside Mr. Blue Bunny. Everyone walked quietly to the carved circle inside the building. Auna was nervous as there were many people everywhere. She made sure Ciela and herself were standing very close to the Bloodwave family.

“Nothing to worry about girls, this is normal.” Edward said as the circle they had been led to began to glow a deep red once everyone was inside. Still Auna and Ciela involuntarily stepped closer to each other.

“See all done.” Edward said thirty seconds later when the circle stopped glowing. It had been glowing so brightly Auna could not see through the colour. Now she could, she saw different people in a different building.

“Are these circles hard to keep running?” Auna asked as she followed Edward outside.

“They are magic intensive. They take magic of the runic kind to carve the circle, and then dimensional mana to activate it. Once activated they need a team to put in any type of mana each time, they want to use it. It can be difficult to keep running.” Edward ushered the girls to a set of different carriages with the Bloodwave symbol on them.

“I see, why don’t they use skills like mine?” Auna asked as she was picked up by Jeff and placed in the carriage. She had not even bothered trying to get in. Instead, she walked up to Jeff and raised her one arm not holding Theodore. Jeff understood and immediately placed her inside, picking Ciela up next. Auna was short for her age, though Ciela was growing more each day.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is that girl going on about? It is a magical marvel that created quick transportation in this kingdom before any other.” The older woman stared at Auna.

“Mother we talked about this, once we reach our villa here in the capital, she will set up a door. So please just wait before assessing her.” Marybeth was shaking her head “Don’t worry about her Auna. Like many of our people she is stuck in her way.”

“As far as I am aware there are no other skills like yours. The anchors people can use for self-teleportation are close. The circles the kingdom use are permanent but require a lot more resources than yours.” Edward said closing the door.

“We have a villa here in the capital. We figured if you want of course, you could place a door inside. You can also place a door in your dorm if you are careful.” Edward looked out at the city “It should not be too long before we reach the villa.”

“You speak as if we already passed our test.” Ciela said as she fluffed the fur on her blue bunny.

“We are very certain you will pass.” Edward smiled as if he knew something the girls did not.

After about an hour of travel they were at a large mansion. The Bloodwaves kept insisting it was merely a small villa they kept for capital visits. Auna and Ciela were shown a room, that they would share. It was as big as their whole house in the crater. There were two huge beds on the long side of the rectangular room.

Past the beds on the same side were two desks, one for each girl. Behind the desks was an inner wall covered with bookshelves. A bay window seat was beside the desks on the short wall.

The inner wall was the wall for the washroom and walk-in closet. It covered half of the back wall, or short wall of the room. The first door led into the closet, which in turn led to the washroom with a claw foot bath.

In front of the beds before the washroom were three sofas around a low table. There in the corner beside the double doors they used to enter was a tall table. It had two chairs only, it would be used for eating.

“Is this really ours?” Ciela asked as the girls slowly walked around the room. The beds were king sized, much too big for small girls. Auna did not understand why they would go through such trouble; they would be at the school or in their crater house mostly.

“Yes of course it is, we figured you would like to share.” Edward explained going towards the closet. “Place your door inside here, we made sure to leave a space blank for it.”

Walking up to the area without any wardrobe inserts Auna place her hands on the wall. She was very nervous, as the elder Bloodwaves were both watching her intently. She began to sing a favourite lullaby from her old world. It was not in the same language. After a few bars she stopped to focus only on the magic in her hands. She needed to focus more for this door as it was very far away from her home now.

After about two minutes the wall began to glow, a door with peculiar markings appearing. Without a word Auna tested the door as soon as it fully formed. She walked right into their orchard. She hadn’t thought they would return so quickly; they had left out extra feed for the chickens and Ayda watching them. Ayda would be able to refill their water daily by absorbing it into herself.

“Ayda.” Auna called, wishing to bring the slime back with her. While she waited, she added the elder Bloodwaves to the entry list of the orchard door. They would be able to use these two doors. This is how she learned their names, Samantha and Brian, as they tried to walk through.

“This is remarkable.” Brian said in awe as he walked further into the crater.

“Truly I understand now. I thought you were being soft.” Samantha said looking at Marybeth.

“Mother.” Marybeth scolded.

“Soft?” Auna asked looking back.

“Yes, I thought my daughter was being soft. There are a lot of orphaned children in this world, and she would like to save them all. She pays for a few orphanages to run in the territory instead of the towns being responsible. When I heard she would sponsor you, without adopting you I thought she was being soft.” Samantha touched a few leaves from a blue apple tree.

“And now?” Auna said curious.

“Well now I understand. The story was real. I did not think two children would be able to do such things. Look at this though.” Samantha was speaking softly.

“I never agreed to be adopted by you.” Auna spun around looking at Marybeth and Edward. There was a hint of anger in her voice, she felt she had been tricked.

“We know don’t worry about that. An alliance is more than enough.” Edward smiled.

“I agree, please do not worry. Let’s go back to eat, dinner should be served soon.” Marybeth put her hands out to the girls.

“Alright.” Auna grabbed a hand while Ciela grabbed another. Ayda had jumped onto Aunas’ head.

They all left the orchard, Auna removed the elder Bloodwaves from the access list. She did not trust them yet. She had begun to trust Marybeth and Edward though.

They all sat around a very fancy table. With a very fancy meal being present to them. Meredith was using a fork and knife to eat, like everyone else. The girls had only read about table manners in the books given to them. They were at a loss for how to actually use them.

“Eat, you don’t want the food to go cold.” Edward smiled with his mouth full.

“Honey please use your manners.” Marybeth shook her head as Edward nodded.

Auna picked up her fork. It had been a few lifetimes since she had to use one. Slowly she picked up the knife as well. She began to eat; her table manners were not that bad. Ciela however was making a mess. Auna resorted to feeding her instead.

“It really is too big.” Ciela said as she, Auna, Ayda, Willow, and Theodore were lying in a bed. The pups were in in their adult size still, there was room to spare. They had crawled into one of the two beds, feeling a bit nervous about sleeping in their new room. They had agreed though that they would not spend nights in the crater until long holidays.

“I agree, though it is very soft. Want to hear a bedtime story?” Auna asked.

“Of course!” Ciela smiled.

“Long ago there was a creator. He first made a garden for his children. He made the darkness, light, stars and much more. They were all his children, equally loved. There was just one rule, they must not make anything between them. One day he noticed something new in his garden. A child he had not created. Angry he banished the child immediately.

The child cried and cried. Creating huge oceans outside of his garden. This made him angrier. He called all of his children together, upset that his creation was being ruined. His children all gathered up. Flowers, grass, animals, wind, and more would claim they did not create anything as it was forbidden. Soon all that stood was light and darkness.

They pleaded for their creator to spare their child. The children were twins, opposites at that. The creator had planned for them to never be together. Now they had created a child, which was wreaking havoc in his world.

To punish his children, he banished the child to the sky. They would then be known as Moon, the forbidden child. Moon was lonely their tears would be pulled from the world towards them when they raised high in the sky. Darkness was banished into a shadow like existence. They would never hold their child again or touch light.

Light was banished to the far reaches of the sky, turned into a ball of fire. Light would shine onto moon when they were in reach, it would burn Moon lightly. Light would hurt the moon, and the moons light would hurt the shadows.

All was lost, the three were in pain set to live as such endlessly. The creator did not like seeing his children in pain. He could not forgive them though instead he decided ignored it. He continued on his work. He did pity the moon though, as the child did not decide to be created.

One day the moon disappeared, the creator looked for it but could not find it. His twin children cried and mourned the loss of their child. The creator stopped creating, instead he allowed the world grow as it wanted without intervention. He too mourned the loss of his moon. He placed a rock in the sky as a grave marker.” Auna finished the story Ciela looked peaceful.

“Why did the creator hate the moon so much?” Ciela asked.

“Like us the moon was an unwanted child. Only once they were gone did the creator realize it too was precious. Soon our parents will feel the same way.” Auna smiled.

“Where did you hear that story?” Ciela asked Auna.

“I don’t remember, I have lived many lives. I’m sure it was told to me by someone.” Auna shrugged.

“What do you think happened to the moon?” Ciela asked.

“I think the moon ran away.” Auna answered confidently.

The girls fell asleep after that.