Young Writers Society

Schadel Kueper:

Sitting down next to Nendros, she watched Magestorrow and Ann talk. "The whole slave thing upsets you, doesn't it?" he asked. When she didn't respond, he corrected himself. "It angers you."

She nodded and continued to watch the two. "Where I'm from, the majority of people are bigots." She couldn't say too much, or Nendros would grow suspicious. Still, there was nothing wrong with giving an edited version of the truth. "They believe we are the highest, most powerful beings, and that anyone who isn't part of our community are beneath us and should be our slaves."

She could see him nod underneath the blanket. "It's the same back home. The royalty believes commoners are worthless." Something about the tone of his voice made her realize that the topic hit closer to home than he was letting on.

Suddenly, a girl entered the cave. Peeking out from behind her golden locks of hair were a pair of pointy ears. Though they looked like Magestorrow's, she seemed more human than demon. Schadel was shocked to realize that she was dragging an unconscious human man with her. She's really strong...

Upon noticing Ann and Magestorrow, the girl unceremoniously let go of the man. She raced over to the two and threw her arms around Ann. The grin on her face was a childish, excited one.

Magestorrow stood awkwardly to the side. He had an uncomfortable expression on his face as he watched the exchange. Schadel stared. There was something about him that was bothering her...

Her lips curled into a cold smile. "We have a little liar on our hands," she informed Nendros.

"What do you mean?"

She pointed at Magestorrow. "See how uncomfortable he is right now? If Ann was truly his slave, he would be in more control. Plus, doesn't he look kind of young to you? Sure, he's tall, but his chin doesn't even have peach fuzz."

"I don't know," he replied. "I can't exactly see too well under here."

She crossed her arms and leaned back. "When they're done talking, we'll confront him. And Ann, since she must have agreed to be called his slave."

Luke heard one of the people call to him, and reluctantly turned around. He was fearing for the worst, which was the fact that he was not dying of thirst, and everything he was seeing was actually real.

"Yes?" Luke dragged out the word. It had a strange noise, like someone who was trying to make these events seem normal.

Ann Fletcher :

Celina's sudden hug sent Ann back a few steps back. "Ann! You're okay, I'm so glad to I could find you!" She screamed with glee.

"Yeah Cel," Ann said with a wide smile as she patted her friend on the back. "I'm super glad to see you too!"

"I found this sleeping man lying on the beach and I thought to bring him along because I thought it'd be fun, but he's really heavy!" Celina said as she let go of Ann. "Also, I think he's injured..."
Ann's eyes widened and she glanced at Mage who looked uneasy for some reason.
What's Mage's problem, why does he look so uncomfortable.... She thought as she looked at the unconscious man lying on the floor.

"Hey!" Celina shouted as she looked at Mage, "You have pointy ears too!"

"Um, Celina, this is Magestorrow, he's my friend," Ann said quickly, but then her face grew white as she saw Schadel was staring at them.
Oh no, did she hear what I said? Maybe Mage looks worried because Schadel is staring at us in a suspicious way...

"I'm Celina Rivers, and I'm a Mythopal! Who are you? Are you an elf?" She singsonged as she levitated a few inches off the ground. "Wait, are you a demon? You have a tail! You gotta be a demon!"

Ann grabbed Celina's hand and pulled her to the ground, "Sorry about that Mage, Celina gets all peppy when she meets new people...I mean I'm sorry Master..."
She blew it! Schadel was already pretty suspicious, but now she must've understood that Mage wasn't actually that mean as he seems.
Mage nodded but he didn't say anything, Ann almost felt sorry for him. She gave Celina a stern look but she didn't seem to mind, "Who are those two?" She asked pointing her finger towards Schadel and Nendros.

Evion Fevalda:

Whether or not he'd previously assumed he was dead, Evion was almost disappointed to see the dimming, post-sunset light filtering through the edges of his vision.

The pain came first. A searing shot of injured nerves traced their signals to his mind, reminding him that he was, in fact, still hurt, his leg bleeding. However, it wasn't as numbing nor disorienting as it was before, though he felt somewhat lightheaded. Obviously, some time left without his senses had helped.

But what had happened?

A few large blurs hovered in his gradually normalizing eyesight, which caught the stony embrace of what was evidently a cave. This wasn't the memory of the beach that taunted him from the corner of his mind, almost overwahelmed by his dazed senses and bleeding leg. He was somewhere else, surrounded by others, and had been brought here to them. Adrenaline began to work its way into his muscles, and the blurs began to fall into focus, while his other senses began to pick up speed.

"Hey there!" called out a cheery, young-sounding voice, seemingly from the distance, but growing closer rapidly. The girl herself started to appear in his eyesight - a blonde-haired, green-eyed, fairly tall person, with ears that were surprisingly pointy. Smiling at him, her back bent and hands on her knees, she continued. "I saw you were sleeping on the beach. It was getting dark, and you didn't look okay, so I thought I could just drag you along with me. You were very heavy!"

Evion blinked. And then shrieked in what was definitely not a low-pitched tone.

As he registered the pain on his back, and the back of his head, he grabbed the helmet from the top of his head and waved it about in a threatening manner. Or, what would be threatening, if it was not for the sudden wave of nausea that struck him. His vision wavered, and all the figures he recognized were around him blurred. So it was more of something resembling a drunken stupor. "Where am I?" he shouted in a tone that was as confused as he was. "What happened to me? Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

Soul Error Arwitch:

"We were wondering what your name is," he explained, but what he wanted to ask about was why he had turned away and was now looking at the three of them like he was crazy.

Soul watched the boy pinch himself.

And then Aska spoke, his voice quiet and hesitant. "Wh-what if he doesn't come from a world with magic?"

Joe and Soul turned and stared at him. "That's crazy," the Mythopal said. "A world without magic?"

"A world without magic can't be real...right?" The three exchanged worried glances. "I mean, we all come from different worlds with various forms of magic. It's how our universes tick, and how some of us even tick."

"It's possible," Aska whispered. To Soul's surprise, he noted that the cursed boy's voice was filled with excitement and awe. "I've read about them before. I don't expect the world to be an exact copy of any of them, but it's possible for them to exist and function." Upon realizing he was the center of attention, Aska took a shy step back and stared down at the sand. "H-he mi-might have en-ended up here as a result of a sh-shipwreck."

Soul took a deep breath. It wasn't necessary, but it did help him somewhat calm down. He turned to face the unnamed boy. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he apologized. "And if Aska's right, I'm sorry for suddenly throwing you into all of this magic stuff. But I can promise you that Joe, Aska, and I are very real. I can also promise you that even though Aska and I are wearing big, bulky armor, neither of us are going to harm you."

Aska frantically nodded in agreement.

Schadel Kueper:

"You're in a cave," Schadel answered from the back of the cave. She was digging through the bag she had meant to bring with her to Adam's grave. Upon finding the two things she was looking for, she walked over to the human man who had just awoken. "My guess is that you came through a portal or read a magic book. That seems to be how the majority of us got here. I think her name is Celina, and I think she brought you here so your unconscious body wouldn't be food for whatever things stalk the beach at night."

"That's surprisingly dark, Schadel," Nendros piped up.

She turned back to face him. "My whole...er...family is dark. It must run in the genes," she said with a smile. "My older brother, for example, sells the belongings of dead people," she bragged.

"He sells antiques," Magestorrow translated.

Her boastful grin turned sheepish. "Yeah. He does." He also reaps souls as a side job, but I can't exactly tell them that. Her attention returned to the unnamed man. "You seem just a bit nauseous." No need to hurt his ego by telling him how weak he is at the moment. "I'm not sure if it's because you're dehydrated, in need of food, or because you're hiding wounds." She held out the two things she had brought with her; a plastic reusable water bottle and a baggie stuffed to the brim with dead bread."I can't help with your wounds, if you have them, but I can help you with your possible hunger and need for water."

When he didn't grab them, she placed them at his feet. Then she turned to Celina. "Hi. My name is Schadel Kueper. I forgot to tell your friend Ann and Magestorrow earlier, but I'll tell you and the man you brought with you." She smiled. "I'm an amateur detective."

Magestorrow and Ann froze.

"You two can drop the act now. I know you aren't his slave, Ann, and I know Magestorrow is younger than he appears."

Magestorrow drew the sword from his side and took a protective step in front of the group at the mouth of the cave. "What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

He gestured at Nendros with his free hand. "He's an angel! I can see the wings underneath that blanket! He would have killed us already if he wasn't sick! And you're his worshipper, aren't you?! You'll kill us in his place!"

"Worshipper?" she questioned, bewildered. "I mean, I believe in God or something like that," I mean, I have to. "but I don't worship whatever deity. And especially not angels!"

Magestorrow looked desperate, scared. "Then explain Nendros' wings!" He brandished his sword and held his free arm out to protect Ann, Celina, and the man.

"What do angels' wings look like?" Nendros questioned from the back of the cave.

"White and made of feathers," Magestorrow replied. "But you know that-" A scream suddenly left his lips. Schadel turned to see that Nendros had dropped the sick act and had removed the blanket.

He walked over to the terrified demon. "I'm not an angel," he replied, his sharp teeth glinting in the sun. "My wings aren't the same as them, see?"

Luke straightened. He had a crazy idea. It was nuts, and it was unlikely to ever work, but Luke worked wonders whenever he was in a tight spot.

"My name," Luke began impressively. "Is Xorthron. I'm the most powerful sorcerer in the seven universes. Using my pinky finger alone," he help up his right pinky finger for effect. "I have wiped out worlds. And if you don't explain to me what is happening right now, I will vaporize you."

To be honest, Luke was extremely surprised about how confident he sounded. If he were crazy, it would fool him, though much to Luke's dismay, these people sounded perfectly sane. He was worried he was going senile. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, he wasn't even sure where those lies came from. He just knew that this was going better than he could have hoped. He froze in anticipation, waiting for them to respond.

Celina Rivers :

"Those are dragon wings!" Celina cooed. " I don't think he's an angel Mage, He's telling the truth!" She flew past Mage and others and stopped right in front of Nendros. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dragon-man...um, what are you exactly?"

"Celina!" Ann muttered as she reached for the dagger hidden in her pocket. "We still don't know who these two really are."


"Schadel's an amateur detective and This man's not an angel, so...I think we can trust them!" Celina said with a wide smile as she landed on the ground right next to Nendros, "You two are just being over-reactive!"


Schadel grinned, "We really don't want to harm any of you."
Nendros nodded.
Ann narrowed her eyes and switched glances with Mage. The man who just woke up looked pretty confused, he didn't seem to understand what was going on.

Ann sighed, "Yeah, maybe we kind of are, Mage..." She said as she took her hand away from her dagger, "I think Celina's right, we have to stop lying." She eyed Schadel and Nendros, "We all have to stop lying, we need to work together."

Celina clapped her hands, "Yay! We're a team! I wish Joe was here, he would be surprised to see you trust other people!"


Ann gave her a fiery stare, "The only reason I'm doing so is to get back the Myth." She clearly didn't want to talk about Joe, it just made her more stressed.

"So, tell us your name sleepy man," Celina said ignoring Ann's statement, "Or we'll just keep on calling you sleepy man or something like that, but please don't fall asleep again, it's really hard to carry you..."
Everyone was staring at her as if she was insane, but Ann laughed and shook her head, "Celina, you can't be serious for one minute now can you?"

Joe Collins :

He didn't know whether Soul and Aska believed this boy, but Joe wasn't buying it at all. "Oh, so your name's Xorthon?" He asked with a grin and folded his arms in front of his chest.
Being a Mythopal, Joe sometimes managed to sense the presence of magic in other beings. He just had to concentrate and search for the invisible magical aura circling around the being who possesses magical powers.
This power was given to him to filter out people from Mythopals. Because both types looked a lot alike and it was really hard to tell them apart.
Joe narrowed his eyes and gave the boy a quick stare, he was right, the boy was hundred percent human.

Joe winked at Soul and Aska to hint that the boy was lying, but he wasn't sure whether they understood what he just did.
"So, Xorthon," Joe said as he reached out his hand towards the sea, "I think you must be pretty thirsty, your voice proves that. Since you're a powerful sorcerer, why don't you just use your magic to filter out some fresh water from the sea or do something magical to heal your throat. Or do you want me to do it for you? I'd be more than glad to help you."
He really wanted the boy to trust him and the other too. But he also wanted to prove that this boy was completely human. While Soul and Aska exchanged confused looks, Joe patiently until the boy decides to let out the truth or not.

Evion Fevalda:

It took him a few seconds to even register that he'd been asked a question. Between the two...whatever they were...on opposite ends of the cave, the evident danger posed by the nighttime environment, and all too typical situation of everyone lying, hiding secrets, or acting somewhat hostile, his already addled brain was fried. Demons? Angels? What were they? Now, dragons was something that he could understand, but that scared him all the more. The diplomats that attended his great-grandfather's court seemed decent enough, but they were powerful, and weren't afraid to show it. The figure formerly hiding in the blankets looked far scarier, and more powerful, than any of them. And he had the distinct impression that the same could be said for many of the people in the cave, even as they reconciled relatively peacefully.

He stifled a scream, and willed the hairs that began to sprout across his face to vanish. The longer that they not know he was human either, the better.

"Uhh..." Evion stammered, the wave of emotions and thoughts overwhelming his memory momentarily. The world slid in and out of focus again, and only then did he remember he had placed his hand right over the injury that was helping to cause it. Resisting the urge to gag, he exposed the wound, which was finally ceasing to bleed. Trying to not focus on his bloody hand while the world snapped back to focus, making clear the seemingly-human appearance of most the people in the cave (and, just as his own, it was fairly convincing), he pulled a name from the front of his mind.

"Ev...Er...Faustus...Faustus Erasmus," he said wearily, nudging the bread and water that had been set next to him, honestly afraid as to whether or not it had been poisoned. Which honestly wouldn't surprise him at this point. Sure, he'd been told that nobody had any intent to hurt each other, and also that it would be foolish to lie, but he was familiar with his uncle's games. He didn't want to be caught in one of his own, thanks to his carelessness. Besides, he'd been telling the same lie for the past two decades. He didn't see any reason to stop now, especially in the midst of trouble like this.

"I...don't know, really...how I got here...but I'm worried I won't be able to come back. And, I have a lot of friends...I can't leave them..." At least that was true.

"While my powers are vast, they won't allow that." Luke lied, though his eyes darted around beforehand, and his voice was a little more tremulous now. "I am not sure if I have reached my powers full potential as of now."

Soul Error Arwitch:

He believed what Joe believed; the boy before them was lying about his magical abilities. He was even more sure of it after the boy had lied about not being able to filter the water. An idea on how to prove this had surfaced not too long after he had given his response, and he was sure it would work if he tried it out.

He wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about his plan. It was something Zogin would definitely do, while he would be trying to drag her back to safety and talk some sense into her. If she ever found out about half of the things he had done without her, she would probably believe he was bluffing.

Because there was no way that Soul would be stupid enough to brag about his abilities in front of a supposed sorcerer who had the power to destroy worlds.

And then challenge him to a fight.

He took a step forward so he was closer to the boy. "It is an honor to meet you, Xorthron," he said with a bow. "I am sorry for acting so informally earlier when I was really in the presence of such a powerful man. My name, as I stated before, is Soul Error Arwitch." He straightened and put a hand on his chest. He put the other one on his hip.

Zogin would kill him if she saw him at the moment. She would instantly know who he was copying - her.

"I am an adventurer who has traveled across the Medium with my companion Zogin Arwitch and defeated many lords and ladies. We have unfortunately become separated, but I am now traveling with a man by the name of Magestorrow Rian."

The man bit was definitely a stretch, but he didn't know what lies Mage was going with if he had been found by another group of people.

"In the world I hail from, we have something called 'Sin' and 'Blessings'. Both are different forms of what you might call magic. The angels use 'Blessings' while the demons and humans use 'Sin'." Both of his hands returned to his sides. "I am quite powerful with the usage of Sin. I have destroyed an entire castle full of competent men and women using a fraction of my power."

Another bluff - that was the most Sin he had ever used in his short life. He looked the boy in the eye, blue meeting blue. "You are quite powerful. Because of this, I challenge you, Xorthron the sorcerer, to a battle to see which one of us is the more powerful..." He paused for dramatic effect, something Zogin excelled at. "And it will be a battle to the death."

Luke's heart stopped in his chest. He had no reason to believe this guy, yet he could tell that he wasn't lying. Luke didn't think he was, anyway. He opened his mouth, then closed it again repeatedly. He resembled a fish out of water. Then, Luke devised a plan. One used by the ancient heroes, both triumphant, and defeated. The last resort
the epitome of cunning. He threw sand into Soul's face, then ran away.

His feet slipped in the sand as he ran, but he didn't care. He was driven by the animalistic instinct to run. To hide. To find any way to get away from these people, because he knew, he would never win a fight against them. The sight would have been fine, if he wasn't screaming like a seven year old girl who had fallen victim to a Halloween prank.

Nendros:

His eyes widened at the sight of Faustus' bloody hand, and the wound on his leg. While the others crowded around him, asking him what had happened and if there was anyway they could help, he was racing out of the cave and into the forest surrounding it. He quickly located a bush.

And then he retched at the memory of the blood staining the sword, at the sight of the dead bodies - the sight of too much blood always made him do that. Still shaking, he returned to the group. Schadel walked over to him. She was observant. He didn't doubt that she saw how pale he was in the areas not covered by scales.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"I just went to get a breath of fresh air," he lied with a forced smile. "The cave is getting a little too crowded for my tastes." The second part wasn't really a lie. After being alone with Aska for almost a year (with occasional visits from Tieth), being around so many people certainly was strange. It was almost too loud for him.

Now that he had gotten over the initial shock of the wound, he was able to look at the injury Faustus had somehow gained.

However, it wasn't like that was helpful. He knew some basic first-aid, but he didn't think his method of using alcohol and bandages would work at the moment - especially since he was lacking both and doubted that Schadel had either in her bag.

A small drop of blood trickled down his chin as he bit his lip. "I can't help you," he informed the human man. "I would if I could, but I don't know where to even begin."

"I don't know first aid," Schadel said. "I'm not skilled in that type of magic."

He turned to stare at her. "You can use magic?" That had never come up in their conversations over the past day (both had ended up there when the sun had just finished rising). It was something incredibly important. If she possessed the right kind of magic, survival until help arrived would be far easier than if she didn't.

Her silver eyes widened. Though he wasn't a detective like she was, he knew that she had let something important slip. "I mean, I'm not really skilled in any type of magic," she tried to lie with a nervous laugh, but Nendros wasn't buying it.

"What's the truth?" he asked.

She sighed and addressed everyone else in the group. "Alright, so Nendros is right. I am lying. I'm not sure how useful this ability will be, but I can see ghosts. I'm skilled at communicating with the dead. That's the extent of my magic. Since we're on the topic of magic, does anyone here possess healing magic? Someone needs to take care of Faustus' wound."

Neither Celina nor Ann had the needed magic. But then Magestorrow, taking a step forward, spoke. "I can somewhat use what you call 'magic'. Where I'm from, we call it Sin, but that's not my point. My magic, as of right now, is fire magic - and that's not because I'm a demon."

Fire magic? That's incredibly useful! We could use that magic to cook meals once we run out of Schadel's dead bread, and to boil water from the ocean so it becomes clean!

"Before I ended up here, I was with my...friend Soul Error Arwitch. I don't know if he survived the battle we were in. And I'm not sure what he would have done if he did...But there's the slight chance he might have lived and found a way here so he could come and get me. He's skilled in electricity Sin, but he can also heal." Magestorrow smiled. "We were trapped in a dungeon together. After breaking every single prisoner out and defeating the people in charge, he went and healed every prisoners' wounds."

Ann asked, "How many were there?"

The smile grew larger. "Forty, counting the two of us."

Soul Error Arwitch:

"S-Soul?"

He turned to face Aska. "Yeah?"

"We-were you r-really g-going to f-fight him?" He paused, as if hesitant to continue. "Are y-you the ty-type of person wh-who beats o-others up?"

He frantically shook his head. "No!" he exclaimed. Though he didn't have any facial expressions, he could tell Aska didn't believe him. "I just was trying to see what his reaction was, like Joe had tried."

He knew he should run after the boy, but it would prove difficult. He was wearing a suit of armor. That made it difficult for most people, but he was used to the extra weight. The problem was that the sand would be hard to run across.

His gaze turned to the setting sun.

"Oh no," he simply said, eyes widening in horror.

"Soul?" Joe questioned. "What's wrong?"

"We're on a place that's most likely deserted! If there's no humans here, then the animals would be a lot more dangerous because they wouldn't know how dangerous we can be! And I don't know about you guys, but I don't think someone without magic or a weapon can last long against a beast like that!"

He started to run across the sand. He stumbled several times, but each time he scrambled back to his feet and kept running. "Come back!" he shouted. He didn't want the boy to die. He wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to him. It was all his fault. If he hadn't tried to bluff, the boy wouldn't have gotten scared and would still be with someone capable of Sin!

"I was bluffing earlier! I don't want to fight! I was trying to see if you were telling the truth or not!" The boy glanced over his shoulder before continuing to run away. "Please come back! There has to be dangerous animals on this place!" He ignored his shouts, ignored his pleas. Soul took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could. "YOU STUPID IDIOT! EVEN IF WE WERE GOING TO HARM YOU, YOU WOULD BE A LOT MORE SAFER WITH US THAN WITH WHATEVER'S LURKING IN THE FOREST!"