While the head of the reds had seemed rather unimpressive, Soral quickly realized that the rest lived up to Oasis’s earlier description of dangerous talents, including the man who arrived with him. Since they were fellow newbies in a similar situation, the man introduced himself.
“I’m Howler,” he said, “Don’t know what talent he sees in me but he clearly thinks I am more dangerous than I do.”
“I’m Soral,” he replied, “And… uh, I don’t know what’s with all these colors here other than maybe knowing this Black Wolf guy by association.”
“You don’t know who the Black Wolf is?” Howler asked with a hint of surprise, “Where did Gero drag you from? A mine snake den?”
“I avoided people a lot,” Soral defended.
“I suppose you lived in small areas far from Altea,” Howler decided, coming to his own conclusion from Soral’s answer, “The Black Wolf is the Keeper of Prophecy. Even the worst of criminals hang on his every word.”
That sounded like the obnoxious benefactor Soral knew. Prophecy this, fate that. “Yep. That’s him alright. I don’t like him.”
“I don’t either,” Howler agreed immediately, “but he has a powerful sway no matter what we say about it. Which path to freedom are you planning on taking?”
“None of them. It’s all ridiculous,” Soral replied, “I don’t have to follow this guy’s rules. I just need to figure out a way to make sure Ruena doesn’t get dragged into things first.”
Howler nodded in agreement. “If I can help, I will, but I want in on whatever plan you spring.”
The guy didn’t seem to be the most trustworthy fellow, but Soral needed allies, so he agreed. Their rooms were right next to each other which would make plotting easier. Still, weren’t adults usually all full of themselves? This guy wasn’t trying to take charge or anything. At least not yet.
Soral spent about two full minutes in his room before going stir crazy. It wasn’t even close to night, and the last thing he wanted was unneeded exposure to nightmares. She shot out of the chair he had settled in and decided to give himself the tour of the red building. He was going to invite Howler but he could hear the man snoring from his room so he left it alone. Maybe his danger level was because of his horrendously loud snoring.
After walking down some hallways that seemed far too windy to fit in the space it should have, Soral found a large room with some furniture dotted here and there and a couple tables. It was neither a cafeteria or a living room. Instead, this common area seemed to serve both functions. It was being used for both, anyway.
The variety of people inside was also a bit of a surprise. On one side was an older man silently resting on the couch. It almost looked as if the guy was dead if his chest wasn’t rising and falling. Perched right next to the man was an adorable little girl in a tank top and shorts. Both of their bands had red mixed with black.
Sitting at one of the tables was a silver haired young man playing some kind of board game with a girl with extremely catlike features. Including ears and tail that wiggled with impatience. A boy and girl of a similar age to himself were arm wrestling nearby. They almost looked like twins, but the boy had wings shaped like a monarch butterfly that almost looked like they were made of fire. A fire fairy maybe?
Each person he saw made Soral painfully aware of how isolated he had been. All of them were incredibly unique, and the only one who paid any attention to Soral’s arrival at all was the little girl, who was probably just bored.
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She bounced over. “Hey! Are you new? You look new. You look fun too. I’m Lala.”
Not giving him a second to answer, let alone ask any questions, she dragged him over to where she had been sitting. The sleeping old man did not stir in the slightest.
“This is Sloth. He’s my grandpa. He’s really nice so you have to be nice too, kay?”
Soral felt oddly threatened by the Lala’s cheerful ‘kay’ and just sort of nodded. Judging by the looks everyone was giving him, he was right to feel threatened. After all, the little girl did have a red band. With black, whatever that meant.
“How did you get here?” Soral asked.
Lala seemed to have expected the question. Most people probably did when they were new. “Sloth got expelled and sold, so I came with him.”
That sounded like something Soral did not want the rest of the details of, so he gave his own instead. “I was captured during a magic festival. Cornered myself in a tower.”
“Towers are a pain,” Lala agreed, “I heard a rumor.”
“What kind of rumor?” Soral asked.
“Can you really break collars?” she asked.
Soral looked at the collar on her neck, then at her finger. He noticed a distinct lack of control ring. “I did once, but I don’t know how I did it.”
“You can practice on me. Even if you miss, I won’t get hurt,” she promised.
This was most definitely not a good idea, but Soral agreed anyway. Perhaps it was out of rebellion, or maybe curiosity. Either way, breaking the girl out of her collar seemed like a fun distraction for the time being. It would probably be fine, right? After all, he also had red in his band.
Lala dragged him along to a large reinforced room she called the ‘fun room’ where it was safe to do most things that were fun. Soral correctly translated fun to mean combat or other dangerous things. It was probably completely unnecessary, though.
Soral did have one concern. He had only been able to charge things when he touched them, and grabbing a little girl’s neck seemed wrong no matter how suspicious she was.
“I think I might have to hold the collar to do it,” Soral explained to her, but Lala offered her neck to him without question.
It still felt incredibly wrong, but Soral went ahead and poked the collar. Since magic was no longer barred with him in control of his restrictions he felt no pain channeling some into the collar. Since he was doing it consciously this time, it went above and beyond and the collar exploded.
“Wow,” Lala said, “That kinda hurt. You should be careful doing that to other people. They might get injured or die.”
Lala herself was fine, but her tank top’s shoulders were a bit charred. The collar had exploded so violently it left debris all the way across the room.
“Yeah,” Soral agreed, “I didn’t know that would happen.”
“I know! We can get all my friends together so you can practice! You’ll be good at it soon.” Lala began dragging him around again. Was it his imagination or was her pull even stronger now?
==========
Ruena had returned to Evergreen with the assurance that Sibel Toll would help as best he could. She had contacted her benefactor as well, but he had only said he would get to the bottom of things and get back to her.
With her major worries about Soral being taken care of by others, and her totally out of the loop, she suddenly began to notice something else. Where was Jazz? The kidnappers didn’t have him. Not from what she heard when escaping the tower. Soral must have helped the mystical cat escape somehow.
As she thought through the possibilities, her eyes landed on the vest Soral had thrown right before he had been taken. She hadn’t let go of it since. Had Jazz been put inside the pocket? Ruena desperately tried to remember how to use it.
Soral had said something about it needing to be worn, right? Ruena slid what remained of the vest on, hoping its torn state wouldn’t make too much of a difference. Then she needed to know exactly what she wanted to retrieve or where it was. The where it was was impossible. The kitten probably didn’t stay put. But she knew what she wanted.
She reached into the pocket and miraculously felt her fingers touch soft fur. His head popped out before she did any pulling and he began to clamber out on his own. Thank goodness he was alright.
Ruena didn’t have long to feel relieved, though. Her wolf charm began to glow. She quickly turned the tooth, unleashing Densooth’s voice. “I found him, and he is safe,” he assured.
“Where is he? When will we rescue him? What do you need me to do?” Ruena demanded, shooting off questions in a way she normally would not have done in front of her benefactor, much less to him.
“He is with my second apprentice, Oasis,” Densooth replied, “And he will be staying there to further expand his talents.”
“Staying?” Ruena asked in disbelief. After everything she had gone through to find him, it was like he had been stolen from her. An apprentice? It wasn’t fair! Hadn’t Densooth chosen her specifically because of the prophecies?
“Don’t worry. You will still be able to contact him,” Densooth told her, “Drop by the Gray Tower tomorrow and I will give you a new communication charm. Oasis will be setting things up on his end.”
Ruena was flooded with relief. It wasn’t the best, but anything was better than nothing. She had to know for herself how Soral was, and what had happened to him.