"What's up Horatio? You've been giving me that stare for two minutes now." Sylvia Peppingar mused, catching Horatio's eyes. He reeled back in surprise. Sylvia sat across the table from him, waiting with an inquisitive stare.

"Oh, umm..." Horatio's eyes drifted off, roaming the dining room. He took in the browned tiles that were supposed to look like wood but had aged too many years to pass. The off white walls that boxed in the two except for behind Sylvia where there was an opening to the living room, and to Horatio's right was a path upstairs.

"It's nothing...I guess I spaced out." Horatio finally replied with a short laugh. He picked up his full plate and began wolfing down spoonfuls. Sylvia gave him an unconvinced squint.

"I don't remember you ever spacing out kiddo, not even once," she said, looking off to the side as she continued. From her position across from Horatio, she could see the large framed portrait hung on the wall behind him. The picture in the frame was of the entire Peppingar family, Sylvia Horatio and their parents, taken twelve years ago.

"I'm your big sis Horatio, you should tell me if anything's going on."

"Really, it's nothing," Horatio retorted, still stuffing his face with curry. "Just thinking back on the day." He said. Sylvia hesitantly gave him an understanding nod and turned back to her food. Horatio glanced at her, silently cursing himself for lying to Sylvia.

"I think I'll go to bed early today," Horatio informed the second his plate was empty, immediately moving away without a reply. Sylvia chuckled mirthlessly, "Sure, whatever it is you're up to kiddo, I won't ask, just stay out of detention next time." She said as he bounded up the stairs.

Horatio let out a deep breath as soon as he shut his bedroom door. He let his tense self relax as he moved to his bedside. Horatio couldn't hide anything from Sylvia, he turned into a nervous wreck whenever he tried, but this was something he couldn't let her know about.

Horatio's room was quaint and tidy. He took a seat behind his desk and flipped open his laptop's lid. It booted up to its homescreen. The time was six-thirty, early evening. He sighed, there was too much time before he was needed. He shut down the laptop.

Horatio went to bed, pulling the sheets over him. He tried to force sleep but it never came. He lay under the covers, aware that his anxiety was preventing him from falling asleep. He needed to calm down.

'I'm should take a bath.' He decided and threw off the covers.

Horatio believed a warm bath would help calm his nerves. ‘Sylvia was here.’ He noted, seeing a bath had already been drawn. Unwilling to prepare another bath, he used hers.

A refreshing wave permeated his skin as he dipped into the water. The water had been medicated, typical of Sylvia to be meticulous about something like that. He let himself sink into the water, careful not to wet his hair, he made a habit of washing that separately.

Horatio and Sylvia, although siblings were only alike in a few regards. This was due to the fact their relationship was unlike siblings rather akin to that of a parent and a child. Where Sylvia was reasonable, calm, collected and sociable, Horatio was brash, introverted and prone to emotional reactions. Yet, one would find Horatio to be more well-liked amongst their peers, due to his unwavering sense of justice and high intellect and problem-solving skills. Horatio tried to be different from Sylvia because he disliked her babying him. Caught off-guard, he would admit to thinking of her as his mother, being much older than him.

Horatio sighed in relief, the warm water soothing his tense muscles. His mind began to drift easily to Margulis, the strange girl whose first words to him were a question he would rather not have answered. He found it strange, thinking about it now, but he seemed to have an affinity for her crimson hair. It calmed him, took a weight off his mind. They were supposed to be the same yet she couldn’t be more different. He closed his eyes, imagining hers, a fiery crimson against his pearl blue, almost glowing in the dark. He mused, making a mental note of his weakness towards Margulis Toldaap.

As an admittedly childish form of revenge for the embarrassment she put him through, Horatio allowed himself some perversion, thinking, 'What if she was in the tub right now?". He imagined her soaking in soapy water, daintily playing with bubbles. He shook his head, she was too intense in their meeting to be that kind of woman. "She probably showers instead." he corrected. The mental image flipped to a beautiful maiden continually doused by torrents of water, her shapely figure casting a shadow on the shower curtains. She carefully washed her body; her shoulders, arms, hips, and her-

"You're thinking of a girl aren't you?" A sudden voice shook Horatio. He jumped up in surprise, almost slipping on the tub's surface. He threw out his arms to balance him, leaving him leaning against the wall.

"Sylvia!?" He yelled.

"Whoa calm down kiddo," Sylvia laughed "Didn't mean to scare you." She said. Horatio plopped back into the water, his face flushed with colour.

"What are you doing in here? Was the sign not up?" Horatio asked in rapid-fire, slipping deeper into the water. Sylvia shook her head. She wore her white bathrobe, he was right in assuming she had been in the bath not long ago. Horatio peered at her from over the tub walls. She held up her hand, in it was a pink shape.

"I seem to have left this in here, silly me." She said.

"Oh, your phone...I didn't realise," Horatio remarked, he felt his heartbeat returning to a regular pace, the adrenaline from his initial scare leaving his bloodstream.

"So kiddo." Sylvia smirked pushing down the toilet lid, she sat, carefully crossing her legs "Who is she?"

"Who's who?"

"The girl, who else?" Sylvia grinned childishly, Horatio blushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Horatio said, pouting.

"Then who were you talking about when you said 'She probably showers instead.'?" Sylvia questioned. Horatio flinched.

"Ah, that...I was just-"

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine." Sylvia cut him off. "My, my, Horatio has a girlfriend." She said in teasing bewilderment.

"Girlfriend!?" He gasped.

"Yeah, I mean who else would make you, of all people; space out for minutes at a time, not notice an item out of place and forget to put the 'occupied' sign up in the family bathroom?" Sylvia listed off Horatio's unusual activity, still keeping a childish grin. "You're smart Horatio, you should think your sister would have just a bit of that smartness too." She pushed.

"It's not like that, it's, it's just-"

"C'mon kiddo, spill the beans."

Horatio sank lower into the water, the tips of his hair sinking beneath, "She's...she's a senior, from school." Horatio said reluctantly, careful not to make eye contact with his sister. He was embarrassed enough as it was and the situation and nature of the conversation did nothing to help it.

"My, my Horatio, a senior. To think I doubted you." She said with a hoot.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked curiously. Sylvia grinned within, she had him hooked.

"Well, I just think that my little brother is all grown up, way ahead of time too. Perhaps he may not need my help any more." She said, feigning self-pity.

"I do!" Horatio spoke up. "I need your help for tonight." He said and at that moment, tried to cross himself, "No, I mean-"

"Tonight? Please Horatio, what exactly is happening tonight?" She asked. Horatio was silent, he looked away. "Come on Horatio, hiding stuff like this won't help us." She said. He, holed up deeper, his expression steely.

Sylvia sighed. "Fine, how about this." She said. Horatio looked at her, "If you tell me what's happening, I will not stop you. I just want to know Horatio, things like this can be dangerous, especially with someone you just met" She said.

Horatio knew she was right, yet this was Sylvia he was talking to, he could already hear her telling him not to go. "You promise?" He questioned.

"Of course, I'll leave you with my advice, nothing else." She said. Horatio nodded.

"She told me to come to the school this evening at midnight, said she had something important to show me." He said, obviously keeping her questions a secret.

"I see," Sylvia said.

* * *

A faint beeping stirred Horatio from sleep. He lazily tossed his hand, catching the reset button on the alarm clock. His eyes fluttered open, gazing at the neon blue digits timidly lighting up his bedside. He sat up, taking in the barely illuminated room, remembering his important appointment.

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Horatio walked into his bathroom. Unlike the family bathroom, Horatio's was much smaller and had a shower instead of a bathtub.

Horatio studied himself in the wall-mounted mirror. In his sleep, his hair had been pushed into a frizzy heap. He noted that his electric blue eyes also looked tired and weak. He sighed.

After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower Horatio stood before his wardrobe. His hair had been combed, now snaking down towards his neck and the cold water had served to invigorate him, his eyes now shone powerfully.

Horatio thought of Margulis' reasoning. He knew for sure that this was not a meeting to take at face value. Her questions, though strange at first sight, may have been more than just that. 'Perhaps,' He thought that his answers had seen him inducted into a secretive society, perhaps this would help him pursue the secret of his condition.

Horatio picked a set of dark colours; A dull grey tee worn below a darker hoodie and a pair of even darker sweatpants. He wanted to not be seen, if Margulis was not to be trusted he would be able to run away before she spotted him. After all, there were benefits to the condition.

Horatio slid open the bedroom window, chill night air whistled into his stale room. He offered a sidelong glance at the door, remembering Sylvia. She expressed her worry but bound by her promise she did not intervene, In response, Horatio had made his own promise to her, to not let her regret her decision.

He paused for the span of three deep breaths, then out the window he went, hood up over his hair.

Horatio enjoyed the cold of the night, crisp air pricking at his nostrils and the unbothered echoing of his own feet. The motion had set his blood pumping while the thought of a midnight encounter with Margulis gave him dose after dose of adrenaline.

'Margulis' Her name had fixed itself in his mind. Thinking back, it was under a similar mindset that his perception had failed, twice. She intrigued him, an elusive variable in the equation of his life.

The massive two-storey school building 'Next High' was looming into view. Horatio's nerves flared back up, impending doom flashed on his mind. He shook the thought off, trotting up to the school gates. He would like to give Margulis the benefit of the doubt. She most likely wasn't going to kidnap him and harvest his organs.

Horatio stopped short of the black iron gates, about half a block away, within the shadow of a large tree. The gates evenly blended with their surroundings during the day but at night stood imposingly, towering over all around.

He couldn't possibly just walk in could he? He thought that, surveying the premises. There usually was at least two guards at the gate as well as the gate itself being secured with a heavy steel chain and lock. Still, as Horatio thought of these, he realised he couldn't sense the presence of any security guards. Taking a closer look, the chain and lock seemed not to be present.

'Could Margulis have done this?' He questioned himself. Still he continued, cautiously stepping into the premises. His hairs stood on end, a constant stream of adrenaline keeping him alert. A tiny part of him, his logical part, called at him to turn away and run. He ignored it and pressed on. 'Sylvia gave me this chance, I can't just turn tail here.' He thought, despite explicit instructions from her act on the contrary.

Horatio moved into the courtyard, making his way towards academy building B, the one he and Margulis both used. About halfway through he felt the need to reevaluate his options, he could still turn back. He gulped, ready to decide when a determined yell split the silence.

"Stratos Blast!" The unmistakable charm of a female voice rang out, followed by a deep boom and then lashings of strong howling wind, so strong that it picked Horatio off his feet, throwing him onto the ground, the resultant force knocking his hood off.

"Who was that? What, was that?" Horatio asked himself deliberately, his muscles flexing into readiness as he picked himself off the ground. He could see the highest point of his vision was tinged with green, he looked around quickly, debating on covering his head again. Deciding not to, he stood, his hair glowed brightly.

To Horatio, nighttime was no different from daytime, that was the 'side-effect' his condition brought him. Horatio lost no visibility in the sunless dark, none of his senses suffered under the conditions. He was even better at night, his speed, strength and overall physical performance greatly heightened during the period and his hair began to glow softly during the night, its intensity proportional to his physical exertion and the fullness of the moon.

Encouraged, he started towards the disturbance.

"Answer:" A woman's voice came to him, from inside his mind it spoke, an interior analyst, an entity within him which existed as an archive and analyst of knowledge, a secondary benefit of the condition. "The voice belonged to Margulis Toldaap." It said.

'The Analyst' as he called it, never let him forget anything, especially the fact that it was the source of his great perception.

"Calculating...searching, report: There are no archives on the wind"

Horatio pulled to a halt, just before the entrance he froze. The Analyst was Horatio's guide, using all information and knowledge he had to take stock of any situation and combine said knowledge to fill any gaps. With it, he was as good as omniscient, yet here, it had pulled a blank.

A bead of sweat dripped down Horatio's forehead. Whereas before he was full of confidence, now he was frozen in fear. "You don't know about the wind?" He mouthed near-silently. If that was indeed the case then he'd be moving into uncharted territory, untold dangers would await.

"Repeat: There are no archives on the wind." The analyst responded.

Shakily, Horatio eyed the door handles, He still had a chance to run, forget about Margulis and this strange situation. He wouldn't have to see her for at least three months.

"What's Margulis' situation?" He asked, hoping to force bravery throughs selflessness. He felt a tingling within himself and knew immediately he had let out a psionic ping, a bio-locator, something not impossible for humans just highly difficult, and the Analyst breached that difficulty. He knew the ping would run over the entire premises, coming back to him like sonar.

"Margulis has been located centre of the sports field, surrounded by fifteen bipedal organisms of unknown biology. I recommend a path through the school building over one around it.

"Wait what? Unknown biology?" He questioned.

"Report: the organisms located do not exist in our archive." The Analyst informed.

"They're not human?" He asked.

"They are not." It said. Horatio grimaced. 'I suppose we can rule out the kidnapping.' He joked.

Horatio crept through the silent hallways, he himself blending into the silence, using it as a cloak. He could hear faint shouts, reports of an ongoing struggle. He was deathly curious but for once, caution won out, he continued quietly.

Horatio pushed through the cafeteria doors. The voices got louder, he could now hear words in a language he did not understand from hoarse croaking voices. He heard a grunt and then...

"Dark Singularity!" Margulis' voice came out, again in the way that seemed to let it control the environment. The night sky darkened, even to Horatio visibility dropped. A minuscule force tugged at him, he felt his chest pull in and he struggled to breathe as the air was sucked from his lungs. He dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest as a deep yell cut through the night, in it a report of pain.

Just as quickly as the darkness came it receded. "We don't know anything about that either do we?" Horatio huffed, the air finally returning to his lungs.

"Answer: These occurrences have a high probability of originating from Margulis Toldaap, "The Analyst reported.

"Yeah, I could have found that out myself," Horatio said sharply, forcing himself to his feet. The sports field was ahead of him, just beyond the next set of doors. He rested his hands on the handles, took in a deep breath and pushed.

***

"Yaaawn." Sylvia tossed in bed, awakened by a melodic beeping. She blinked groggily, the light from her cellphone flashed against the room. She shut her eyes in protest.

"Hello?" Sylvia spoke into the phone, in other circumstances she would have rejected a call from an unknown number. But half asleep and exhausted from work, coupled with the fact that the caller was relentless, she caved in and hit answer."

"The children of the void shall take what is yours." A male voice came through the speaker, Sylvia mentally cross-checked it against those she knew, the voice was unfamiliar to her.

"What?" She swallowed, clearing her throat. Hearing his words made her feel strange, alien in her skin, yet they made no sense to her. She listened deeper, hoping another sentence would clarify the first. There was only silence.

***

The doors opened without a hitch, placing Horatio on the outskirts of the sports field. In the dark he could see Margulis. She was dressed strangely, much unlike anyone from the island and she moved quickly as well, dashing about at speed that shocked Horatio. He watched closely, enthralled by her until The Analyst directed his attention elsewhere.

In the direction Margulis faced were twelve short bipedal closed in a tight group, the group's average height firmly at five feet. They had warty green skin, the completely bald surface resembling toad-skin. Their ears were sharply pointed, knifing narrowly like fins. In their hands were knives and clubs, their design crude and flimsy, sharp rocks tied to stiff twigs.

Horatio gasped in surprise. Looking over Margulis again he saw her clothes were badly damaged and underneath them, narrow streams of blood spilled from cuts around her arms and legs. Worse still she had no weapon of any kind, she was completely unarmed. 'What is she thinking?' Horatio thought.

"Margulis!" Horatio called out, instantly regretting taking action while his logical parts were still dulled from shock. He cursed himself, his yell had caught the attention of the entire group. They turned quickly, beady yellow eyes staring right at him. He could sense a raving hunger in their gazes, malicious intent bared.

"Analysis complete," Horatio's mind filled with the analyst's voice. "The creatures before you are analogous to goblins of western folklore."

Horatio felt his joints lock in place. 'Goblins?' He questioned himself, only managing to remain at a semblance of calm because they had done nothing more than look at him. He clenched his fist, he did not have enough time to go inside and try to get a weapon, he feared for Margulis' safety. If these were indeed goblins, he knew for sure, they were not the kind to show mercy.

"Now," Margulis Toldaap outstretched her hand, palm aimed at the Goblins, Her crimson eyes flashed, in an unbelievable display they matched a flickering flame. Horatio stared in fixation, his soul danced to the fiery lapping.

"Immolate, from the realm of fire, Ignis Wraith."

In that moment and the ones after, Horatio experienced true shocking surprise. As Margulis spoke, her words seemed to lay waste the very laws of nature, of science, of logic. Her palm began to glow, just like it had been set aflame, but with no flame to speak of. A sigil of white formed in the air before her glowing limb, soon after an identical sigil appeared above the crowd of goblins, save for it being fifty times larger. It depicted a flame, pure and untouched. Horatio was unsure how he knew what it meant, just that he was the only one who could read it.

In just a second, even less, all under the sigil distorted into a fiery explosion, its suddenness second only to its destructive power. The sonic report reverberated through Horatio. When the flames eventually died down there was nothing left, but ash.

Horatio Toppled back, falling on his behind. "D-did you see that?" He asked. While the answer was being processed he stared at Margulis, awe and fear in his eyes.

"Imagine a colour which does not exist, that is what you see." A cryptic response was relayed. Margulis stood beautifully, she smiled at him, he responded with weak nod.