Storm came after I called for him and I asked if he could take us to Tippleton and back by tomorrow. He looked back and nodded. I patted him on the neck with a smile. He snorted again. We set off to Clementine's and Jax's house, stopping by the towns along the way. We reached their mountains and as we were heading up the mountain, I spotted Jax passing by. I got off Storm and he ran off. I walked over to Jax, he was carrying a dead boar on his shoulder.
"Oh your back already Asher," Jax smiled as he turned towards me.
I nodded.
"I came over to see your father. I need him to work on my swords again. Is he home?" He nodded and his smile faded.
"Hey... we heard about what happened to Keandra. Are you... okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder.
"News are traveling fast these days. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I was able to talk to her for a bit before she died."
We walked back to his house and Rima served me some food. I refused but me and Skylark somehow ended up eating with them. After we finished I followed Axel to his workshop and took out my swords. I placed them on top of the table in the middle of the room. Axel lifted the longsword up before looking back at me and raising his eyebrow.
"Do you think you can improve my swords," I asked as I leaned into the table.
"Well do you have any materials I can use," He said, putting the sword down back on the table while I took out the ones the ores I got from the ceremony.
"Will these do?"
He took one and nodded.
"How long do you think it'll take?" He placed everything back onto the table.
"I don't know, but come by tomorrow in the morning and check on how everything is going,"
Me and Skylark left Alex alone. I let Storm rest, so we made our way to Tippleton on foot. It was sundown when by the time we reached the town. Everyone was tearing down and rebuilding everything that was burned down. I spent a while helping everyone out before I went over Greyson house. I saw Orion, Ari walking out of the house. I talked with them then I walked over to Greyson who was just standing there. He turned around and walked inside of the house. I followed him and I found holding something on each of his hands. In one hand was a red box. In the other was a blue box.
"I'm sorry the ones that you got where destroyed but these are for you. The one in red is from Keandra." I opened the box and the first thing I saw inside was a scarf.
It was a dark blue. Something else was attached to the scarf.
"I know it's hot out right now, but you've been looking at this for a while now. So I decided to get this for you." I smiled and wrapped the scarf around my neck.
There was something else inside Keandra's present. Two pieces of paper there was writing in back. I covered my mouth and tried to stop myself from crying.
"It mother's and father's Arts." Greyson leaned over my shoulder.
"Oh aren't those are the ones that not even you were able to learn." He said with a smile.
"This wasn't supposed to be for me. It was meant for Keandra." I tried to hand over the papers back but Greyson didn't accept.
"If you want my opinion Lina and George would've want you to have it. Keandra's fighting style wouldn't be able to make as much use of this as you will be able to. It would be better for you to hold on to them." He said.
"Speaking of your parents. This present was from them. They told me to give it to you when you were ready. Since there is nothing else I can teach you. I believe you're ready." I wiped my eyes and opened the present.
I picked up the present and opened it slowly. There was a locket and a letter. I opened the letter first. A wrinkled paper was inside and some of the ink was nearly washed off but the words remained readable.
"To my son, I have written to you in advance. Something is coming and it is most likely they are after you. I may not survive this but I will do whatever I can for you to survive. I hope someone finds you and will love you for us in our place. I wish we were able to live our lives normally and I would be the one to watch you grow up and become a fine man but fate is cruel. I know we will be able to see each other once again when the time is right. The locket I have left you is a precious heirloom. Tha ..." The rest of the page was torn.
I folded the paper and placed it in my pocket.
"Hey, was that?" Greyson nodded.
"Yes it was with you when we found you." I took out the locket and opened it.
Inside was a gemstone with an unfamiliar rune carved into it. I closed it and squeezed it in my hands.
"Well enough of this. I thought you were supposed to be at the concert soon. You know how she gets when you and Nolan don't show up." He smiled
"Yeah I know. I am going to make it but I wanted to retrieve any clothes that you know, didn't burn to ashes." Greyson picked up two wooden swords.
"Yeah I have some, but do you plan on leaving afterwards," He asked me.
"Thanks and no I don't. So is it alright if I stay here for the night? I have Alex reworking my swords," I answered.
"Why are you asking? Of course this is your house too you know. By the way would you care for a spar," He said as he tossed one of the wooden swords towards me.
I caught it and smiled. We walked outside and started sparing with one another. I won but it took a while. I walked up to Greyson and pulled him up. I handed the wooden sword back to him. We sat down inside of the house. I quickly cooked some food while Greyson prepared the drinks. I noticed I acciedently cooked for an extra person. I stared at the food until I heard Greyson calling for me. I quickly spread out the extra food evenly between me and Greyson and cleaned the dish before carrying our food out of the kitchen. I explained what happened after I left for the capital after Greyson as me after we began eating.
"So how much will it take to rebuild Tippleton and the other villages as well?" I asked after we finished eating.
"Well about 400,000 gold, but that's should be enough to get a really good start for every town and village that has been destroyed. We have only about 60,000 gold ourselves." I took out four bags of gold and handed it to him.
"Each bag has 100,000 gold." He opened one bag the closed. He rubbed his eyes and opened it again.
"It's all real. The king gave me this to me. I'm guessing he wants me to give this to you all."
"I guess this is what he meant. He's a good guy. Unlike his daughters. They were so nice before, what happened to them," I asked myself.
He gave me a confused look.
"Don't worry it's nothing to worry about," I responded as Greyson got up.
"Well you came here for something else right? You can tell me." He offered his hand and pulled me up.
"Clothes?" I responded.
"You sure?" I sighed.
"I wanted to know if my collection is okay." He shook his head.
"Whelp there goes that. Well how about if you can hand me one of your elixirs. I want to do my own thing for a bit but I need to watch the princesses." He smiled.
"I think I already know what you're asking for," He said as he left the room.
"I am assuming you already know how they work." He handed me three vials after coming back.
"I finished it yesterday so don't lose it. I don't have any others or ingredients to make them." I nodded again.
I placed the vials into my pouch and went off into my room. I layed down in my bed and Skylark climbed on top of me. I stared around my room before closing my eyes and forcing myself to sleep. After waking up I got out of bed, accidently pushing off Skylark from the bed. I apolagized, changed, stretched, and left my room. I found Greyson sitting outside.
"Leaving," He asked, taking a sip from the cup he had in his hand.
"Yes," I responded.
"I left your clothes at the entrence"
"Thank you, Greyson. I'll see you soon again."
Greyson waved and I walked over to the entrance. I picked up my clothes, place them in my pouch and ran off to check on Alex. When I arrived I knocked on the door to his workshop but he didn't respond. I then called for Storm and left with him back off to the castle. When we returned Asurmaru and Aegis were on the ground. They twitched every now and then. Lady Julie peeked her head from the corner then ran up to me.
"Asher thank god your here. They have been like this for a while now," She said.
"Don't worry this was what was going to happen," I sighed while I picked them up.
"Why does Alex have to work so late," I muttered to myself, "Well did you guys at least eat?"
She nodded.
"They'll be fine in the morning. They just have to get over it." I carried them into their rooms and set them down on their beds.
As I left Asurmaru's room. I looked around and saw Julie sitting in a chair looking out the window. She noticed me and she beckoned me over. I walked over and pulled up a chair out next to her.
"You know how monsters came into being. Correct?" I nodded.
"That's bit of a weird question but yeah. When human's desires becomes twisted enough to the point it takes over." She smiled then frowned.
"It seems you understand half of it. Do you know why their desires enable them to become monsters?" I shook my head.
Why does she really know a lot about them? I thought to myself.
"It's not just the human the desires take control of but there Angel or Demon. This caused both to become the monster that represents them." She continued
She doesn't know everything then. Unless she is keeping things to herself like I have been. Although this conversation feels...familiar, I thought to myself.
"That's how monsters have been born in this world," I said.
"So explain something to me. Why did you say the people you killed in the war were both human and monsters? It doesn't make any sense. They were obviously human." I rubbed my hand around my neck.
"I don't really know how to explain it. I don't know too much about them myself. They are monsters but for some reason they can take the form of a human. But their presence has a both monster and human. Although the only thing is that you can't sense the human presence, I can and they don't seem to be either a human or a demon. It's really hard to explain but since they seem to be a human too it'll be bad if they can use spells as well," I explained.
Lady Julie sighed and pulled out the envelope I had given her.
"How did you get your hands on these," She asked.
"You didn't steal them right?" I shook my head.
"You think I would do something like that? I just know someone who gave them to me." She stared at me suspiciously.
"I swear." She continued staring at me.
"Tell me something about the history of this place," She said as she waved the envelope.
Does this really matter? I guess I should just answer her question, so I don't lose her trust.
"Let's see. A concert was part of the old ones culture or event. Like many people have been doing with other things from their time, she wanted to bring back the concert and she did. Is that good enough of an answer?" Lady Julie nodded her head.
"Alright. I am going to get some rest. Night." I got up and put the chair back.
I looked back and Lady Julie looked like she wanted to say something else. I sighed and leaned against the wall.
"Still got something to say Lady Julie? I am all ears."
She sighed, "First, stop calling me 'Lady Julie' okay. Julie is just fine and it's nothing don't worry about it."
I smiled, "Very well. Julie."
I walked to my room and threw myself onto my bed.I immediately though how I was going to handle things tomorrow.
"I should probably deal with the thing at school tomorrow morning." My eye lids began to grow heavy and I felt like something pulling me.
"I guess we are having one now seriously?" They grew heavier until I passed out.
2 figures surrounded by black fog stood in front of me.
"Finally you're here. I hate how your resist the call." The voice was female.
I shrugged.
"Sorry. I was dealing with some thoughts," I responded.
"We've been waiting for you." The voice was male.
"Anyways how long has it been since we gathered like this? 4? 6 years," The female groaned.
"That doesn't matter right now. We have a problem at the moment." I stood up straight as the room's atmosphere changed.
"What is it?" I asked.
"There is a new monster. This one defies our knowledge of other monsters." I immediately thought of the ones back at Evergreen.
I nodded.
"I know of them. I've already fought a few of them." Their attention turned to me.
"Do you know any info or anything on them?" I nodded.
"Not too much other than they carry the presence of both a human and monster. Not only that they can change from a human to monster form. Unlike other monster who carry shapeshifting abilities I can't define whether they are human or monster. On top of that only I think only we can tell the difference. Others seem to only identify them as humans. Now do you two know anything?" I didn't bother mentioning Keandra.
"Well, all I know is that someone creating them." answered the male.
"Then let's start calling them Skabelse for the time being. Besides I am going to get tired of not having a name for them." said the female.
"Why Skabelse?" asked the male.
"I read about it. Skabelse means 'creation' I think," I answered.
"Exactly. Also it was the first thing that came to mind." The female giggled.
The male and I sighed. The sound of an alarm echoed and everything began to fade.