The gray mist split by something too fast for me to see. Nali however, was more than able to see and react.

A metallic sound came, and by the time I realized her hand had left mine, she had magically poufed out a sword, blocking whatever was heading our way, wind waves spreading by her strike. Mud and tiny rocks flew everywhere, and I had to put my hands in front of my face to protect it. And all of that was from behind her strike, the safest place to be. In front, where the actual target was, I gasped.The fog looked no different that a sponge, only instead of circular holes, deep scars were everywhere in a wide area, however, that wasn’t the reason I gasped. Though the closing cuts, I saw it.

For a second, I froze and felt it all; my heart thumping, my breath shaking, and my ears filling with the surrounding wind. Then, the fog hid what I saw, and the second passed. All the feelings came out together in the biggest-loudest scream I ever made.I

t was quiet after that. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t feel anything. I could see but not understand what was happening. Cain was panicking and screaming. Nali was also looking very worried, touching my forehead and putting her ear in my heart.

Something reached from the mist again, probably the same thing as before but Nali didn’t use her blade to stop it this time. She must have done something else though, because the attack never reached us. A pretty grey color surrounded her and her hair danced prettily in the air, but…

‘Why is she turning smaller?’

For some reason, Nali was turning smaller and hazier while the giant shadow behind her was becoming bigger and darker.

My head was spinning. I could feel it turning around and around as if it was wrong for it to be part of my body. I tried reaching it with both hands but only one held it in place. The other one couldn’t for some reason. Looking down, I saw my feet.

‘I’m... walking? Running?’Holding my head in place, I finally saw my other arm. The reason it wasn’t holding my head was because Cain held it tightly and wouldn’t let go.

Looking back at Nali, I could barely see her anymore, and behind her were the six black dots I had seen before. I gasped and jumped out of fear, but thanks to that, I was able to snap back to my senses.

My head started working, putting the pieces together like a puzzle. Shocked, I screamed back at Nali, realizing what was happening.

“No! Nali! Come with us!”

I couldn’t see her or the beast’s eyes anymore. Only the fog raging, trying to close the gaps created by Nali’s and the beast’s fight.

There was no response, but just as I was about to scream again, her voice came like she was next to my ear. It was soft, caring, and just as sweet as the frist time I heard it. “Don’t worry Theodore. Remember, this thing is why I’m here after all.”

“B-but...” I tried to speak, but couldn’t find the right words.

“Do me a favor and tell the old man I’ll be visiting soon.” She laughed prettily. “I’ll be seeing you soon, okay?”

***

“...with Theodore in that state, we were in a rush, but she said she would be visiting in a few weeks when she was done with whatever she was doing.” Cain finished his explanation to Papa and Mr. Orion.

I remained silent in Papa’s lap the whole time. I was tired, sleepy, and had many emotions I couldn’t name.

‘I really need to learn more words.’

When we returned, Papa and Mr. Orion were waiting for us at the gate. The sun was going down, so they were very worried. Papa took us both in a big hag and also scolded us about the way we returned full of badages.

Cain wanted to explain everything the moment we returned, and he even held the flower before we got to them, showing that we found it, but Papa didn’t care about it. He wouldn’t let Cain explain anything before Mr. Orion checked on us.

Of course, we were fine, and it was then that Papa relaxed and allowed Cain to talk.

Cain explained everything from the first day to the last. Both Papa and Mr. Orion looked shocked about the fog, but when Cain mentioned Nali, Papa acted weird. His hands trembled a little, and he looked like he was in pain, but that was for a small moment. The next he was back to normal.

“By the moon, you’ve been through so much in such little time.” Mr Orion said. “I’m so sorry, if I knew that such a thing was at Aurilon I wouldn’t have sent you there.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s okay, Mr. Orion, you couldn’t have known. Besides, we got the flower and we’re fine.” Cain waved his hand, trying to play cool.

‘Yeah, let’s not say the part where you were punching the stone thingy and your hands became black because of it.’

Nali’s cream was amazing. By the time we were back home, my leg was fine and Cain’s hands were also fine. They only had a blue color.

Yawn

Their voices were becoming more and more soft. It was becoming harder to stay awake. Even my thoughts were slowing down.

‘Nali...’

“Papa,” I said sleepily, “could you tell us more about Nali?”

“Enough about her.” Cain butted in before Papa could say anything, making me frown. “I’ve had enough of Nali for a single day. Besides, you should be thinking of Father’s condition.”

‘Aw... too sleepy to....say something back...’

I looked at him, already forgetting the reason I was angry at him. He ignored me and turned to Mr. Orion.

“What will it be, Mr. Orion? Will you be able to help Papa with it?”

“Cain, you shouldn’t...” I couldn’t hear Papa’s voice after that. It was too warm, too soft, and I fell asleep.

***

Yawn

Usually, when I wake up I want to stay in my bed for at least ten minutes, however, as the days passed, I was getting more and more excited, so I ended up jumping out of bed immediately.

‘Two more. Only two more! Or was it three?’

Not too sure, I run down the stares into the calendar to check.

“Yes, it’s only two more, I knew it!” I jumped and screamed in excitement.

Two weeks and five days have passed since we returned from the mountain, and Mr. Orion said that Papa would be back with us after three weeks! One week is seven days, so a genius like myself knew that three weeks was twenty-one days. And we were now in day nineteen!

Crossing today’s date, there was only tomorrow to cross, and the big day was coming!

“November 21,” I whispered to myself, already feeling the day closer.

In my excitement, I accidentally let out a low weird-funny sound. My hands flew to my mouth, only to end up laughing instead.

I forgot that I was alone in the house, so no one could hear that sound. Lyon kept leaving early and coming back late. He kept doing the same thing, whatever that was, in the forest outside the village. I sometimes followed behind him, just to make sure, and always ended up stopping before the forest.

Cain had a different reason. After what happened with the Stonehedge, Papa started training him, if that’s what sitting weirdly for many hours and punching the air is called. Sometimes I didn’t understand Papa at all.

With Lyon and Cain doing their thing, I was left with too much free time for myself. I wanted to play with Lyon again, or even Cain, but then I sat down and thought. I had so much free time, and I wanted to learn more words. Eventually, Cain and Lyon would be back to normal BUT I, on the other hand, with so much time would become smarter than both of them!

Then we’d see who corrected who!

‘Just you wait!’

AND, unlike them, since I was a genius, I went to a fellow genius for help. So, most of my time was spent with Papa and Mr. Orion learning new things. One could say, I was a whole different Theodore from the Theodore of two weeks and five days ago. That Theodore was an average genius. I was above and beyond haha!

After changing my pajamas, I made my way to Mr. Orion’s house. Today we would be learning about the numbers above one hundred.

‘So exciting!’

As I ran, wanting to begin the lesson as fast as possible, I first looked at the village gate for Nali. She said she would be coming soon, but she didn’t say when. So, I always checked the gate before and after my lessons.

‘Pickles!’ Once again, no one was coming.

After a minute or two, just when I was about to turn around, a sudden, very loud bam came from the forest.

‘That... That was from Lyon’s direction.’

Looking at the forest, it looked scary like... like the fog and... and... and...

‘No.’ My palms turned into tight fists. ‘There is no fog here. No beast is here. No beast is here.’ I repeated to myself as I walked slowly into the forest, my feet trembling with each step. I was going in alone this time. No Papa, no Nali to save me.

‘I can’t leave Lyon alone.’

The path was weirdly easy to walk through. No rocks to slip over and no weeds to hurt my legs. The tree branches let small lights pass through. It would have been a nice walk if it weren’t for the noises that were getting closer the deeper I went.

Suddenly, another loud noise came, this one very close to me, right behind the big leaf in front of me. I gulped down my fear and swept the leaf away.

My mouth dropped.

It was in front of me, but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A few meters away from me, it looked as if the forest had been bent deep into the ground, with no touch of grass; only a few trees were here and there, half of them bent, the other half ripped out. On the other side of this… hole, someone I knew very well stood.

He was covered in dirt, and his clothes were torn apart, having many slashes. However, most shocking of all, was the red color mixed in his deep black hair.

He looked terrifying, even more so than the beast fixed on the base of a tree. A beast no smaller than the Emberfang we faced in the volcano.

“W-Wha...” My voice trembled. “L-Lyon?”

He ran his hand over his face before turning around, smiling in a way I hadn’t seen in three weeks.

“I did it Theodore. I am an Elemancer.”