Young Writers Society

Bo snapped his fingers and pointed at Rema with two finger guns. "Sweet! Sounds good. It'll be nice to see Nen again without all that wacky dream stuff going on."

"It's okay," he found himself saying for the third time. He hoped his exasperation wasn't seeping into his voice; he knew that would have greatly upset Aska, and this man really did seem to be like his best friend. He looked Cornyx over. Finding Aska was probably the best thing to do now, but he still had no idea where the suit of armor currently was.

He thought for a moment.

Running his clawed fingers through his messy hair, Nendros suggested, "Maybe we should go to the throne room? We always relax in there, so we might be able to find my best friend and girlfriend in there soon." He started to head down the hallway, but then paused and glanced back at the Cornyx. "Just as a little heads up: my girlfriend is a former assassin, and my best friend is a man who was turned into a walking suit of armor. That wouldn't have even been normal for me, so I wanted to give you a warning before you met the two of them."


Aska hesitated. If he was Nen, where would he go? Nen would be out of bed by now. He would have likely had breakfast or be about to get it, depending on how long it took for Az to wake him up. And then after that, he would have tried finding him--but he wouldn't have been in the library like he usually was during this time of day, because he spend the entirety of last night reading through it in an attempt to understand why he had been feeling so weird lately, and why he had been having those flashes.

If he wasn't there or in the gardens right now, then there was only one place left.

"I can bring you to where he is," Aska quietly said, raising his head ever so slightly and looking in the direction of the doors that led into the castle. "He-He should be in the throne room. Az might be in there, too..."


Now that they had decided what the next plan of action was, she had to try putting herself in her boyfriend's shoes. It was easier said than done. Even though they had known each other for years, his habits had changed with his arrival in the castle. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. He couldn't cook. Without her or Aska--who had last been in the garden--he wouldn't be in the kitchen. That ruled out breakfast.

The library could also be out ruled. Nen had mentioned something about Aska spending the night in there, and that he would have to find something else to do the next day because he didn't want to bore his best friend; he would have known not to go there. And if he had gone into the garden and found Aska without his girlfriend, then he would have gone searching for her.

Which left one place.

"He should be in the throne room," she decided. She gave a small nod in the direction of the room in question. "I'll lead you there now."

An assassin and a suit of armor. The words rang in his ears. An assassin. And a...suit of armor.

He blinked, trying to remember with certainty that he really wasn't tripping, because this was beyond bizarre. Dragons, assassins, and...armor? How was armor even animate?

And yet, he knew that he hadn't touched anything that could send him on a trip this wild in a long time. Which meant either that he was dreaming, or that this was real. He wished for the former but he began to feel with a dreadful certainty that it wasn't a mere apparition of his mind.

A part of him wanted to ask how any of this was possible. What this was. What he was, what was going on, how in the world a suit of armor could walk and why there was an assassin walking the halls of a prince's castle. But that would be rude. So, instead of asking, and instead of letting his confusion and inner chaos show, he simply forced a polite smile and dipped his head. "I believe I j-just passed that on the way in, actually."



Kratzer nodded and gave him a warm smile, hoping that if his friendliness persisted the suit of armour might calm down, given time. "Alright, is that just through there, then?" he gestured to the entrance that Aska had looked towards.

"It is," he confirmed, giving a small nod of the head that almost sent his helmet tumbling to the ground again. He frantically readjusted his helmet to make sure it really was secure this time, then approached the building with Kratzer following behind him.


Nendros didn't even get a chance to set foot inside the throne room before he saw Aska and Az; both were coming down the other two hallways that led to the center of the building. A jolt of fear raced through him the moment he saw that each had company. Az was leading a tall, muscular man to the room, while Aska had a shorter man in unfamiliar clothing following behind him.

But once the pairs were close enough, any fear he had left him in an instant.

He immediately perked up.

"Bo! Kratzer!" he exclaimed, hurrying over to the doors of the throne room. A grin began to quickly spread across his face as he waited for the pairs to bridge the small distance remaining between themselves and him. "I can't believe you're here!"

Bo looked over to Kratzer and then Nendros with a wide smile on his face. "Oh my gosh, you're here too?" he laughed. "I can't believe I'm here either!" He hurried up to Nendros and without much warning, wrapped his arms around him and gave him a big hug.

"Good to see ya, man!"

Kratzer grinned as he saw them, revealing his ever-too-sharp canines. "Nendros, it's a pleasure to see you again! And fancy seeing you here, Bo! Goodness, I hadn't expected to see such a fine group." He looked across the room to spot Cornyx, eyes narrowing, though he didn't take any offensive action. Cornyx himself took a step towards the back wall.

Nendros eagerly returned the hug, Aska and Az standing awkwardly off to the side as they watched the reunion unfold before their eyes. Each could easily place the other's traveling buddy--the tall man was Bo, and the one with the blond hair was Kratzer. But it was the third stranger who was a mystery to both; neither could remember Nendros ever telling them about someone who fit his description.

Nendros slipped out of the hug.

"Az, Aska, this is Cornyx!" he said, gesturing at the mystery man with a grin on his face. "Cornyx, this is my girlfriend, Az, and my best friend, Aska! Az is the assassin, and Aska's the suit of armor."

After Reida and Vesper had extracted Landon from the bush, with a bit of difficultly, nonetheless, the little group tackled the maze. Landon had claimed to see a castle of some sort from his position, and so they manuvered their way through the hedges.

Finally, finally, they came to an end and we're disposited directly in front of the castle's enterance. Vesper looked up wearily.

"Where in God's name are we?"

Landon shrugged and casually went up to pound on the door, his inhibitions and fear taking a backseat.

"Hellooo!" He called loudly. "Anyone home?"

Reida winced visibly and took a step back.

The three residents of the question all exchanged nervous looks an unfamiliar voice shouted from the other side of the front door. If the current group was anything to go off of, then there it was likely Reida and Vesper. But the voice hadn't sounded like either one of theirs, and Nendros was terrified that it was going to be a newcomer who wasn't half as understanding of him as Cornyx was.

Still, it was his castle now.

He took a deep breath and walked up to the front doors, Aska lingering behind with the others and Az right behind him with a knife raised. He slowly and carefully opened up the front door.

Bo, though attentive and on guard, eagerly took the moment's pause provided by the people knocking at the door to rush Kratzer and hug him, even so far as to squeeze him and lift him off his feet.

Kratzer grinned and returned the embrace. "Good to see you again, Herr Bo. It's been too long."

Landon took a stumbling step back in surprise at the person who opened the door to the castle- the dragon person, to be more acture. It only took a moment before he recovered, and a broad smile stretched across his face.

"Whoa... no way!" He studied the stranger eagerly, before Reida stepped past him, patting his shoulder on the way as if to tell him to calm down.

"Nen! What a surprise!" She spluttered, "I'm glad to see you- how've you been?"

Vesper's eyebrows raised in surprise at seeing someone he was actually aquainted with. The barest hint of a smile tugged at his mouth, and he hung back, figuring he'd greet Nendros when Reida and Landon were finished.

Landon looked back and forth between the two, his eyes glittering. "Reida, you never told me that you-"

Reida couldn't herself- she let out a laugh at the situation, and the pure wonder Landon had in his reaction.

Nendros tensed when the stranger tensed, but then immediately relaxed when he heard the awe in his voice. He should have been confused by it - no one from his world would have ever had such a calm reaction to seeing someone like him. But Reida and Vesper hadn't been from his world, and he guessed that this stranger was from their world as well.

"I've been doing good," he said, giving Reida a toothy smile as he glanced over in Az's direction. His girlfriend slowly lowered her knife, though she still kept it out as she eyed the stranger of the trio. Aska, meanwhile, had decided to scoot a little bit closer to him and somewhat cower behind him.

Suddenly realizing they were still standing in the doorway, Nendros went to take a step back so they had room to enter - but instead went tumbling to the ground in a tangled heap of his limbs and Aska's. Things grew even more chaotic with Aska's helmet popping off, and his best friend frantically tried to reach for it even though it had rolled out of his grasp.

Bo let go of Kratzer with an “eep” as Nen and the metal man toppled to the ground, and with wide eyes hurried over to grab the guy’s missing helmet... or head.

He held out his free hand to Nen to help him up. “You guys ok?”

Nendros eagerly took Bo's hand, though he mostly got himself up on his feet instead of relying on Bo. He was sure that Bo could handle his weight, but both Az and Aska never really could - he was just used to doing things like that himself.

"We're okay," he confirmed. As he spoke, Aska's hands shot out and hurriedly grabbed onto his helmet. His best friend wasted no time in putting it back on; Nendros was beginning to doubt that his appearance would terrify anyone present, but he knew that would do little to convince Aska.