The final days of September were passing in haste. Wander could not help noticing that the smoke on his mentor's body had almost vanished. Finally, 33 days after his encounter with Nito, Wander witnessed the human form of the Exsomnis.

            There was nothing particular about his mentor. Nito had shaggy hair, waxen face and bags under his eyes. His appearance immediately let Wander know that he had been through hell and suffered sleepless nights.  Even though he told Wander he was young enough to be his brother, Nito looked like he was past 30.

            " Disappointed?" Nito asked, smiling.

            " I have no expectation for your appearance. Now I just want to know when we will leave this city."

            " In two hours."

            " What?" Wander nearly yelled." I haven't even said goodbye to my friends yet. Can we move it to tomorrow?"

            " No. My plan is already one month behind. We cannot afford to lose more time. My brother will not loiter in one place waiting for us to come. Your training must continue too, and there are lots of things I cannot teach you if we stay in this city."

            " But...just one day!"

            " Wander, do you want to come or not?" Nito sternly stared at Wander.

            Wander opened his mouth but no word came out. He cleared his throat; a frown took over his face. He inhaled deeply then nodded.

            " Okay then. Do I need to bring anything with me?"

            " Clothes, money, small weapons. One book at most. That's all. Go home and prepare your stuffs. Then come back here and we will leave."

            Wander showed Nito his pleading eyes in hope that he would change his mind. In return, Nito took out the medal and showed it to Wander.

            " Drop your blood on it."

            " I did it before right?" Wander frowned.

            " That was before you became an Exsomnis. This thing needs your new blood to synchronize you with ... the others."

            " I don't get it."

            " I will explain later. Just do it."

            Wander bit his fingertip and dropped his blood on the medal. Nothing happened.

            " Does it work?"

            Nito frowned at the metal piece. After a few seconds, he glanced at Wander.

            " This will do. Go home and pack your stuffs. I'll be waiting here."

            Wander nodded. He left the ruins and headed for his home. He ran and ran, mind void of thoughts. His heart sank, realizing how frightening the idea of leaving New York had become.

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            Arriving at home, Wander ran straight to his room and locked himself in. He hyperventilated, sweated profusely, heart jumping out of chest. The panic, the fear had their grips on him again, forcing the most uncomfortable thought into his brain. He tried to take a step forward, only to stumble to the ground.

            Wander lied still for nearly 10 minutes. It took all of his mental strength to stand up and drag himself to his wardrobe. He stared at his clothes, mouth half-opened, hands carelessly throwing some random hoodies and pants on his bed.

            The two-hour limit Nito set for Wander was mostly squandered on getting his act together and remembering where he put his things. After packing his clothes and weapons, Wander decided to leave a note for his parents and his two best friends. He intended to conceive a long tear-jerking letter but ended up with a curtly one resembling a Christmas card, minus the happy and merry part. He carefully placed the letter on the table; his fingers briefly lingered on it. Taking a deep breath, he jumped out of the window.

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            Wander walked the same path back to the ruin, the path he had taken so many times. He kept looking back en route, at the city he was leaving behind, the city in which his friends were. Suprisingly, he realized they would not be the only people he would miss. As he got closer to the ruin, his anxiety intensified. He told himself that it would be okay, that defeating Samundo would allow him to return to the city one day, full of pride.

            " Nito?" Wander called out as he entered the ruin.

            The ruin turned eerily darker compared to just 2 hour ago. The light from outside seemed to have drowned in the unexpected silence. Wander's voice failed to breath any life into the place. Instead it amplified the air of abandonment that have pervaded the atmosphere. Wander sensed an invisible ice-cold hand creeping up on his back. The lack of response made his skin crawl.

            " I'm here, Nito!" He shouted.

            His second attempt was met with another hair-raising silence. His mind immediately spawned hundreds of dark scenarios, all involving killing, jail, interrogation, contempt, torture and a man with a white wig.

            Wander stared at the now empty ruins. He took several steps forward, then stopped and sat down with his legs crossed, his fingers interwoven. He waited in the withering hope  that Nito would appear and tell him " let's go".  It took him an hour to finally accept that the Exsomnis had abandoned him, leaving him with his demonized body ready to be discovered at any given moment.

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            There was no anger, no fear, no confusion. Nothingness overwhelmed Wander, temporarily sucking his soul of his body, leaving behind an empty shell lying on the stony ground. He imagined himself blending with the surrounding, forever remaining in Mirilad forgotten by everyone. He thought it would be better.

            "And to think I was so afraid of leaving New York."

            Wander laughed at how silly he was, at how meaningless his anxiety turned out to be. He understood now why Nito made him stick to sword training. The Exsomnis ( he wondered if that name was even real) must have planned to not teach him anything worthwhile from the beginning. He was hiding things from Wander.

            "Maybe I should leave this city on my own."

            Wander sighed. He wanted to give up.

            " Take me away," he whispered.

            The whole place was abruptly swallowed by darkness. Wander heard a huge clash; then light streamed into the ruin with its ceiling broken into hundreds of pieces. An unknown creature spread its wings wide, casting a gigantic shadow on the ground before turning the wings invisible. It swooped down on Wander like an arrow and he barely invaded its charge. He pulled out his knife but it was faster, piercing his shoulder with one of its feather. It proceeded to pin him to the ground, its claws attached to his body. Wander screamed out in pain, shaking off its grip in vain. The creature took off and charged at the sky at a frightening speed.

            It was a feeling Wander hated the most: being in the air, without nothing to hold on to. Mirilad looked like a sea of colors from above, a sea of green, orange, red and brown, a hideous chaos . Wander prefered looking at it with his feet on something firm.

            "I need to get back to the ground. I can break free. But if I fall from this height, it can catch me again."

            Wander knew victory would be certain once he brought the battlefield off the air. He scribed his runes all over Mirilad, and he perfectly memorized their locations. Recently he had doubts about his memory, but he knew he remembered enough to defeat the beast. He just had to land on the ground, and the rest would be done.

            "It could have killed me. It did not." Wander looked up at the beast.

            Wander activated his Demon Form.. His body flared up, and he knew the amount of oxygen his body needed to keep functioning just went up- the price that came with enhanced physical prowess. As the creature flew higher, the lack of oxygen struck Wander, and he began to gasp for breath, his demon form phasing in and out. The creature noticed, and began to descend. Wander feigned being unconscious, and just as he wanted, the grip of the beast loosened.

            Wander wasted no time, freeing his arm from its grip, piercing the beast's body with all the force he could muster. He  rummaged its inside, crushed an unidentifiable organ, causing it to completely let go of him. He fell, facing upwards, blood of the beast on his hand.

            "Now, " Wander used his fingers to scribed runes on his hand." Push!"

            The runes propelled his body towards the ground. Wander screamed "push" repeatedly, causing the runes to burn into his hand. The beast, after seconds of self-pity, returned to the chase, charging at him, shrieking like there was no tomorrow. Wander got hold of a branch, swung forward, sunk his claws into a trunk, dropped to the ground, then ran northward. He could only hoped that no hunter felt his Demex. He felt relieved that he was in Mirilad, where no one was.

            " Let's see if you can win in my territory.' Wander said.

            The creature's oversized body rendered it unable to move as swiftly as before with all the trees blocking its vision. Still, its body was disgustingly flexible, slithering in a manner of a snake through barriers of redwoods and pines. Wander knew it would catch up to him in no time. He turned to face it with a smirk, taunting the creature. It accelerated, eyes glaring.

            "Push!" Wander shouted as loud as possible.

            An array of spike burst through the ground and impaled the creature from head to tail. The attack was quick and decisive, leaving the creature no time to even realize what hit it. Wander watched as his enemy trembled then dropped dead in seconds.

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            Wander had no intention of staying and gazing at the carcass of the monstrosity. He failed to deactivate his demon form and had no choice but to venture deeper into the forest. He wondered what would happen to him now. He considered leaving New York on his own. He had $ 103 with him and that could help him stay fed at most a month. He recalled the article about how to make a hut out of card boxes and smiled. At that moment, his eyes met Hiatus'.

            Wander had never acted so much by instinct as he did at that exact moment. He immediately turned away from his best friend and ran as fast as possible away from him. The fear he experienced was even greater than when the mysterious beast chased him. The surroundings became fuzzy and he could not hear anything but the approaching steps of Hiatus behind him. He wondered how his friends could catch up to him at this speed.

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            Wander could hear a whoosh. He knew Hiatus had taken his weapon out and was going to attack him. He looked back and realized it was not only Hiatus. The beast, having made a complete recovery, was charging in his direction.

            "Hiatus!" Wander yelled.

            No coherent sound was coming out of his mouth, only a roar that sounded like a threat. The sound pushed Hiatus back, staggering him a bit. Wander intended to approach his friend to save him but realized how it would look like in the eyes of Hiatus. He decided that he could only run, letting Hiatus follow him and with luck he could turn his attention to the beast.

            " Please, look back, look back, Hiatus"- the thought overflowed his mind. He heard another whoosh, and  his shoulder was pierced by a knife. The force was such that the wound seemed to cause his shoulder to explode. The scenery blurred as Wander tripped, falling to the ground. He could feel his blood flowing out of the wound. He could hear footsteps. Then it all faded.

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            "Wake up, Wander."

            Wander opened his eyes. The blue sky was the first thing he saw. He tried to move his body; the grass rustled under him. Wander realized his back functioned just fine. He had expected to be incapable of moving after being hit by Hiatus's devastating attack. He looked around and noticed Maria sitting a few steps away from him, reading a book.

            " Maria." Wander called out.

            The girl looked up from the book. She stood up, walking towards him with a nonchalant expression.

            " Can you stand up on your own?" asked she.

            Wander nodded. He effortlessly rose on his feet.

            " Are we still in Mirilad?" Wander observed the surroundings" Oh, this is where we met."

            " Yes. Do you need some ice?

            " No no, I'm good" Wander instinctively denied.

             Wander recalled what happened earlier. He remember the beast chasing him and Hiatus.

            " Hiatus!"He panicked."Where is he?""

            " The boy chasing you? He's okay. I saw hunters and summoners take him out of the forest."

            " I see," Wander sighed in relief" I was worried the beast got to him. You saved us both. Thank you."

            Wander realized that Maria must have seen his blood. She must have discovered that he was a demon for sure. He feared her composure.

            " So you know?" he asked, scratching his neck.

            " Know what?" Maria raised her eyebrows.

            " Well, you know, about me" Wander avoided her stare

            " Oh, your blood. Of course I know. I treated your wound. That is an abnormal case of blood infection."

            " No, that is not blood infection! I am...a demon." Wander knew he should not talk about Exsomnis.

            "A demon?" Maria frowned. "You are not. Your blood does not react to my thermal type-3 spell. You know, the spell used in protection layer to keep out demons? Yours is immune to it. Mostly."

            Wander once more was surprised by Maria. Normally people would have drawn the falsely obvious conclusion the moment they saw green blood.

            " So at first did you think I was one?"

            " Of course. Your blood is as green as it can gets. I'm not buying that story about drinking too much Pepco making your blood change color."

            " Thank you for not killing me immediately then. A hunter would have decapitated me the moment they saw the blood. Still, how could you be so calm? You were not afraid that I might wake up and hurt you while you tested my blood?"

            " I knew you would not do that." Maria smiled." You are a nice guy. Well, to me at least. Besides, it's not like you are able to hurt me in any way."

            " Yeah, you have all that water spear thingy."

            A breeze made the trees and grasses rustle. The sound reminded Wander of the mysterious monster he encountered a few hours ago.

            " The beast. Did you see it?" Wander asked.

            " I did. It was closing in on you and Hiatus. That thing is monstrous. Did you see its body? All those elongated limbs."

            " What happened to it?"

            " Well, I tried to knock it out with a spell. It escaped, though. Ah, say sorry to Hiatus for me, I might have caught him in the spell too."

            " Thank god it did not turn on you. That thing is unbelievably powerful."

            " Enough of that. I want to ask more about your blood infection. How did you get it?"

            Wander swallowed hard. "My Demex, did you feel it? I'm sure that was not a blood infection."

            " Your Demex? Oh, yeah, um, I felt it. Sure." Maria frowned.

            " Then you must know it's not a blood infection."

            " Why are you convincing me it's not an infection? No, why are you convincing me that you are a demon? Normally shouldn't it be the opposite? Or demonization is the new thing now?"

            Wander's heartbeat accelerated. He had the impression that he should be careful around Maria than around any demon. The impression perhaps came too late.

            " I just want you to be careful around me. The demon within me may rise and hurt you, you know?" He shrugged.

            Maria burst out laughing.

            " Are you trying to be heroic now? You're not that type. Poor little Jonathan may agree with me."

            Wander frowned." It happened 6 years ago. I was just a child back then. Children do stupid things."

            " Boy, what you did back then was by no means stupid. It was clever, or should I say manipulative. I had the honor of hearing it from your victim."

            " You talked to Jonathan?" Wander's eyes widened.

            " Yes. Do you want me to tell you what you did back then?" Maria smiled.

            " No. I don't think I want to know. Not now."

            " Too bad." Maria shrugged." The amount of trash talk behind your back is overwhelming. It makes me wonder if I have been talking to the true Wander."

            Wander's face twisted into a grimace. He clenched his fists.

            " You believe the trash talk, then?"

            " You did admit you did something to Jonathan. There is no reason for me to not believe the stories of others."

            " Well, I can't blame you." Wander turned away from Maria. "Anyhow, thank you, again. I'm going home."

            " Are you being angry with me?"

            " No. I just need to be alone. Too many things happened today." Wander was too tired to being angry with anyone.

            " See you later then."

            Wander waved at Maria without looking back. He wanted to leave Mirilad as quickly as possible.

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            Wander climbed into his room through the window. Nothing changed. The room had been left undisturbed since his failed escape 3 hours ago. He did not know what to make of it. He did not know whether he should be sad or happy.

            He lied down on his bed, wondering if his blood had been discovered yet. Only now did he realize Maria had wiped all the blood off his body, and even his clothing.

            " Maybe tonight the Council will charge into my room and put an end to me."

            Wander smiled at the scenario. To him, it did not sound so bad. He had ruined his every chance of thriving in this world by turning into a demon. The hunters would not believe in the story of Exsomnis. They would just treat him like a monster and put him down the moment they saw his blood. He thought of Maria- the only one until now that treated him the same despite her knowledge of his blood.

            " She still thinks it's just a blood infection, though. I wonder if she will buy that Exsomnis story. Anyways, she can be considered an ally."

            He thought of Nito, the one who set him down this path. He wondered if Nito abandoned him, or he was eaten by the beast. He did not know which possibility to root for.

            " Maybe all this Exsomnis things are just a farce."

            Wander got up and sat down at the desk. He stared at the letter he left behind. It seemed so out-of-place and ridiculous now. He folded it in half and put it in his pocket. He opened one of his note book. He looked at his bed and asked himself whether he should go back there and cried himself to sleep. It would certainly feel nice.

            With a bitter smile, he put pen to paper and wrote. It was time for another future plan.