Káel sat on his bed, the evening light pouring through his window in a washed pool of icy blue. Truvius disappeared again after supper, and Káel had been contemplating telling Vera about the strange room all the way to the boy's dorm. She was still unpredictable though, so he settled on saving the reveal for a time that felt right, if it ever came.
Phantom had walked through the window to the outdoors, and Puff was sitting on the pillow beside him, licking the dirt and cobwebs out of his paws with his barbed, purple tongue. He'd gone back to being a fluffy dragon, rather than the scaled one he'd witnessed in the room, and Káel was too tired to think about how the dragon had done it.
With a sigh of crushing boredom, he looked at the white envelope on his nightstand and grabbed it. He hadn't fully inspected its contents and was curious as to how it had gained its weight, relieved when the first thing he pulled out was a map of the entire building. After pouring out the pin and pen, it got significantly lighter, and just had the package of papers with the waiver form.
He flipped to the back of the booklet, and looked at the empty signature line, a string of fine print catching his eyes.
If under the age of 20, a parental signature is required.
He chuckled at the line and grabbed his pen. "Good luck."
Bracing the page against his knee he scrawled his signature across the strange feeling paper, and the moment he lifted his pen the paper vanished in a shimmery light, causing the pen to slip away in his surprise. He still had another five years to tack on before he turned twenty, dragging his thoughts to linger on if that counted as fraud or not.
Puff stopped his beauty bath and jumped down to attack the pen, snatching it up between his teeth and throwing it in the air. As it dented the floor with a messy landing, the pen rolled under the bed, causing Puff to flop onto his side trying to reach his fluffy paws under the frame. Káel watched emotionlessly as the dragon failed to shove its cuffed arm under the bed, then turned its attention to the metal restriction, gnawing at it ferociously.
His fangs were getting dangerously close to his actual arm, forcing Káel to intervene and push his scrunched snout away from the metal. Puff bit at his sleeve in protest, latching onto his arm with a soft growl as he repeatedly missed kicking Káel's wrist.
"Hey..." Káel said softly, his voice spiking as Puff stuffed his hand in his mouth. "Hey!"
The dragon flinched, his slitted eyes widening as he gave Káel's glare a muffled warble.
"Let me look at that, ok?" He knelt down beside, sliding his slimy hand out of Puff's deceivingly large mouth so he could grab the cuff.
Puff warbled questionably as Káel inspected every side of the contraption. It was shabby, caked in scrapes and rust, with a small yet prominent keyhole.
With something small enough I can get in there, Káel thought.
For once he wished he was back at school so he could grab a bobby pin from one of the girls and test out a tempting stereotype.
"What are you doing?" Phantom snapped, a sufficient amount of shock lacing his voice as Káel jumped in surprise.
"Christ!" Káel's wide eyes squeezed to a squint with a bitter frown as he stared at Phantom, his head was sticking out of the wall in a way that would freak anyone out. "Could you stop sneaking up on me?"
"Oh, your majesty," Phantom gasped with a breathless and staged whisper, holding his chest like a confounded aristocrat. "I'm terribly sorry! If only I could creak a floorboard so you wouldn't be so distraught by the casual thrum of my divine voice!"
Káel's eyes rolled involuntarily as he went back to the cuff, attempting to jam the thin tip of his necklace into the narrow hole.
"So what are you doing?" Phantom pressed, his head still the only thing poking out of the wall as he tilted it.
"Got anything small and pointy?" Káel asked, looking at Phantom for a couple seconds before it dawned on him. "Never mind..."
"Breaking the magical lock enchantment on that would be a complex process. Also, considering your pitiful lumience control, lack of a key, and the fact that you can't even levitate a pebble-"
"Alright!" Káel snapped, quickly cutting off Phantoms speech as he dropped the necklace with a frustrated sigh. "But it can be done without a key?"
"Well sure, but there are better ways to commit suicide than being a dragon's breakfast."
Káel sighed, his head drooping in defeat as he watched Puff lick at the exact spot he'd held him.
Like his essence was simply dirt.
"There's a cliff somewhere around here..." Phantom continued, his helpful behaviour on the subject driving a stake of caution between them.
Káel shot him a tired glare, blowing a wispy bang off his forehead.
"Kidding! Suffering an eternity of following Mudbrain around instead of you isn't high on my list of fancies."
"It's not that..." Káel muttered, leaning against the foot of his bed with his arms lazily sprawled to the sides, cranking his head up to smile emptily at Phantom. "I feel sorry for him. He's had this on for a long time, maybe his whole life." His smile gained a little bit of life when Puff grabbed his shoe, gnawing at the thick leather like a jaw breaker. "It's like growing up in a prison thinking the four walls around you are freedom."
Phantom rested his elbow on an invisible surface, cradling his cheek in his gloved hand. "I still think he's gonna eat you."
Puff scowled at Phantom, exchanging a couple growling warbles with him. But if you were to harness the capabilities of speaking a dragon's tongue, it would have come out as he's too bony, but I'd eat you.
"I'd love to see you try fuzz bucket," Phantom retorted.
Káel looked at the two in passive confusion, dropping his head back to cradle it on the edge of the bed as he gently closed his eyes, contemplating a method in which he could free the 'ferocious' dragon, whilst ensuring his safety. "If he was my Guardian, he wouldn't hurt me, right?"
"Well no, but dragons aren't exactly the type to go around making pacts with Lumers, it's even rare for a Garaean to have one, although I've been stuck in a rock for who knows how long, so that might've changed a bit..." Phantom snapped his fingers as he hit a moment of realisation. "By the way, do you happen to know the date?"
"I just got here, I'll ask Truvius or something." Káel gave the dragon a warm smile. "Hey Puff, let's make a deal..."
Puff looked up at him and narrowed his eyes.
"If you'll be my guardian until Ray gets me back to Earth, I'll get that chain off you."
Puff got to his feet and looked at Káel with intrigue, it was a deal without a downside to either of them, so what sort of dragon was he to refuse? A faint, silvery aura enveloped Puff, as his fur flattened down and hardened into lustrous metallic white scales. When the aura diminished, Puff reached his head over to the arm of his good wing and pulled a scale out with his teeth.
Káel paused in confusion when the dragon dropped the scale in front of him, an expecting look taking up the dragon's face.
"I guess that's as good an offering as it gets," Phantom cut in. "Only a dragon can pull out its own scales, unless it's dead of course."
"Offering?" Káel questioned, picking the scale off the ground.
"Yeah, he accepted your deal, now you give him an offering, and he'll be your Guardian."
Káel went through a mental list of anything he could give the dragon. His necklace was out of the question, and so was his cellphone, but he lacked any other small and giveable things. His gaze slowly traced his person, settling heavily on his shoe. It was a slightly inconvenient gift to give, but he could get a new one. Bending down, he unlaced his shoe, and dropped the leathery black string in front of Puff.
Puff grabbed the shoelace with a satisfied grunt, the long string trailing from his fangs as he hopped over to a corner, quickly re-commencing his epic duel with his newfound nemesis.
"Can't wait until your roommate hears about this," Phantom sighed. "Now there's the issue of getting that cuff off. My aren't you going to have fun. Whatever dragon hunters had him before really knew what they were doing, that cuff has some heavy enchantments on it."
"I'll figure something out," Káel grumbled.
There was an excited tingle to the air as Phantom looked down at Káel, the delicate bush of a feather wagging along with his bouncing feet.
The angle was unnerving. Káel couldn't tear away from searching the narrowed eyeholes of his mask for a glint of eyes hiding in the veil of black. But there was nothing.
Nothing but the swirling black.
"Hey how about I teach you?!" Phantom burst with an uncomfortable amount of enthusiasm, ripping Káel's trance with the familiar jolt of fear that always followed an unexpected dose of his voice.
He quickly collected himself, lazily pulling himself off the edge of the bed so he could sit with his legs crossed. "Pardon?"
"We can go to that room once in awhile, so nobody thinks you're crazy, and I'll make you champion material in no time!"
Káel grimaced at Phantom's constant desire to go to the room. "I can just do it here."
"Yeah, if you wanna blow up the place, sure," Phantom scoffed.
"I want to get the cuff off, not cause mass hysteria."
Phantom drooped his shoulders in despair at Káel's bland goals. "Aw come on, you're no fun."
Káel sighed and pulled out his cellphone, surprised at how long he'd left it untouched. It had been three days since he was kidnapped, the days painfully carved into the soft walls of his mind as a haunting reminder, a countdown clock ticking too slow for his liking.
Just three days had been an eternity and a half.
To his relief, his phone couldn't share in his suffering and still had a good amount of power, sitting snug at thirty six percent. He turned it off again, weakly rising to his feet as the cloak of Iridis, and every homely memory he'd ignorantly spent, dragging his shoulders into a curled slouch, his eyes barely open as its cold hood sang a headache to life.
He'd gone through more traumatizing situations in those three days than the entire list from sitting in his empty house on Earth. To him, getting off the planet had topped winning the lottery ten times over and adopting a tiger cub.
Ray had been reluctant in discussing Káel's return trip, which gave him a cause to worry about entrusting his return to the person that brought him to Lumi in the first place.
The cloak grew heavier, a thousand weights woven into its delicate strands.
Káel sighed.
Thinking about his future at this point was more pointless than French class. He didn't have the power to take it by the reigns, and likely never would. His only hope in finding a brighter path was focusing on the present. That meant getting Puff's chain off and blending in with the school at all costs. Which fell to following the rules, and not going back to the room.
But that didn't mean he couldn't take some simple tutoring lessons from Phantom.
Káel lifted his head with a soft smile as his mind threw the heavy thoughts of his future out the window. Being the incompetent idiot he currently was made him stick out like a sore thumb, and Phantom seemed knowledgeable, ignoring his attraction to explosions.
"Just teach me enough to blend in and break the enchantments, you can show me a couple destructive things, but nothing too flashy, alright?"
"Yes!" Phantom cheered, before regaining his composure and turning to Káel. "Alright."
"I hope these rooms are soundproof," Káel muttered, his fingers brushing the small white rock when he stashed his phone in his pocket. "Also, I forgot to ask you, what's Whitecrown?"
"Oh yes! That." Phantom bounced his fingers against eachother with an entertained chuckle. "Well I'm not sure how long it's been, but this place was a castle last time I checked. Whitecrown was the name of the royal family, and one of their kin was a dear friend of mine. The rest of them were just unsalvageable skat mounds of stupidity. Long story short, they're the Mixel brained sons of lady jumpers that put me in that bloody rock," He continued, his voice dipping with a dash of sadistic amusement. "Seeing their reign has ended brings me unimaginable amounts of joy."
Káel popped his eyebrows up with a soft nod. "Sounds fun.".
"How about we switch it around and I ask a question?" Phantom clapped his hands together. "That Blondie we were with, what is he?"
"Oh, that's Ray." Káel shrugged. "I don't know a lot about him, he's just the guy who came to Earth and kidnapped me."
"No no, what is he?" Phantom repeated, suddenly lacking his playful tone.
Káel stared at Phantom in worried confusion, but when he thought about it, Ray was kind of odd.
Really odd.
Everyone in the school seemed to know him, but not well, besides a select few like Mariel and maybe Draven. Káel's eyebrows scrunched, his lips tugged into a frown. "I think he's a Lumer? Just a really weird one."
"He can't be, unless they can talk to Ceptrum's without one of their own now. Which I find highly unlikely, seeing as even I can't do that with magic."
He was right. Even Káel knew that. Alestra had needed a Ceptrum, and so did Mrs. Vienta, so why was Ray an exception? Was he hiding one in his pocket? Káel's thoughts fell to a single question, its answer crucial to deciphering the enigma he'd drowned in.
Who was he?
To go to a specific location on a different planet.
To kidnap him specifically.
It made no sense at all.
Ray didn't seem like the type for an upfront answer though. Whatever secrets he was hoarding would be placed under a vault and a half of security if Káel was to confront him about it, so he'd have to look for more creative methods.
Káel went through a list of his acquaintances, trying to think up someone that could help him out.
He wasn't going to risk Mariel, and didn't need any more doses of Draven's company.
Vera?
She was Mariel's sister after all, and didn't seem like the type to go telling Ray.
He made up his mind with a sharp nod. He'd ask Vera, and if that didn't work, underhanded methods would have to do.
—————
Káel awoke, feeling victorious that he beat the dragon clock in performing it's sadistic wake up call. Even Truvius was staring at him drowsily as he jumped out of bed and got ready. Phantom had taught him a couple tricks before he turned in for the night, including an impossible-to-screw-up spell the Lumers used to clean their teeth, which he was in desperate need of after being separated from his trusty toothbrush.
As soon as he got to breakfast he quickly tracked down Vera, eager to interrogate her. She, of course, greeted him with the same cold look she gave everyone, but Talli made up for her lack of greeting skills.
Káel didn't even grace them with a good morning, and cut straight to the point when they found seats. "Do you know who Ray is?"
Vera narrowed her eyes at the abrupt question. "Yeah, he's the blondie who kidnapped you."
"No, but do you know anything else?" Káel pressed, his smile fading with the sheer lack of amusement she carried
"Why are you asking me about him?"
Káel chuckled nervously. "Your sister is friends with him, right?"
"Yeah, so why don't you ask her?" She replied coldly. "Or better yet, ask Ray."
Káel sighed.
This is going smoothly.
His thoughts searched the dismally empty crevices of his mind, on the hunt for something that could make her squeal some information. She certainly knew something about his mysterious captor, and judging by the immediate defense her tone had solidified to, it wasn't exactly public information.
Káel couldn't hide an evil grin as he remembered his only trump card.
"I found out some more stuff about the room," he said with a grin.
Vera's cold face melted with a warm breeze of curiosity. "Really? What'd you find out?"
Truvius and Talli exchanged glances of ignorant confusion upon the mention of said room, and joined Vera as she looked to Káel expectantly. "I don't feel like continuing." Káel imitated Vera's cold tone. "I mean, it's not like it matters anyways."
"Yes it does!" Vera insisted with a harsh whisper, her wide eyes still holding glittering flickers of excitement. "You can whisper it." She leaned across the table to sit half a foot from Káel, causing even more confusion for Talli and Truvius towards the conversation thread.
Káel leaned back in his chair with a triumphant sigh. "Even if it does matter to you, what's in it for me?"
Vera narrowed her eyes. "We're friends, there shouldn't be anything in it for you."
"We're acquaintances, how about we make a trade?"
The last of Vera's friendly front withered, her mouth hanging slightly as she straightened up with a fiery glare. Káel kept an innocent smile plastered to his face as he twirled a spoon under his finger, scanning her flabbergasted features that implied she was used to getting everything she asked for, and this simple exchanged had offended her entire existence.
Káel attempted to lighten the tense and tingling air when Vera discretely grabbed the jagged knife nestled next to her plate for a slab of meat, his hands barely touching the table in nervous anticipation. "It's not like the question's gonna kill you."
"Ask Ray," she said, the jagged ice in her voice clustering to create a thick barrier between the two. "I don't share secrets with acquaintances." She dropped the knife on her plate, pushing her chair out with a scraping moan as she quietly stacked the dishes onto her unfinished plate, got up, and swiftly left.
When Káel broke his gaze from the scene, he was greeted with Truvius and Talli, the surprised disappointment poking through their rigid smiles. "What?"
The two quickly averted their attention to the plates of food in front of them, silently continuing their meals and leaving Káel simmering with irritation at their lack of a response.
"My aren't you the textbook example of a true ladies man," Phantom cooed sarcastically, slowly clapping his hands as he lingered over Káel's shoulder. "You're so good she'll be speechless every time you come near her now! If you can manage to get within six feet of her."
Káel pulled the brown rock out of his pocket and placed it on the bench-like seat beside him, silently collecting his own unfinished food and walking away.
"Hey you left me behind!" Phantom's grinding voice cut through the air behind him, drawing an amused smirk.
"Oh don't I wish."
Sorry for the late update!
This chapter was an honest to god mess (and it probably still is)
Don't forget to:
COMMENT/CRITIQUE/(VOTE IF YOU WANT)
Next update:
5/29/2018
Cobs is gonna be updated at least every five days now~
This will give me a better chance to actually toss you some decently written updates.