Young Writers Society

BILLIE JOHNSON:

Billie whirled around, noticing Mage's absence. She turned to Sadiq. "Mage is gone." She said.

Sadiq looked around, eyes widening. "He is! We should find him."

Billie hesitated. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We could get lost! I know this will sound weird, but I literally woke up on Amy's front lawn. I have no clue where I am."

@AnarchyWolf, please let me know if I got Sadiq out of character.

"I'm sure we won't get too lost," Sadiq said. He didn't want to tell them about the whole beamed-down-from-space issue - at least, not yet. He hadn't even considered the idea of life beyond the atmosphere before the incident, and he didn't want to come across any crazier than he already was doing.

"Besides, Mage could be lost or needing help."

Shun/Shaun

I had been anticipating all sorts of possibilities for a vision of this stranger, but what I saw certainly wasn't what I was expecting.

Before me, in real life, "Arthur" was politely returning my greeting, but I only heard and saw him in the back of my mind.

Colors and incoherent voices go by in a blur, as though years are passing. Small snippets flash before my eyes, as though they are being played in backward succession.

I don't even dare to blink.

My mind's eye forces through the dizzying whirlwind and focuses surprisingly clearly in a room full of strange mechanical contraptions. This seems to have been from the past, though only a blink in the life of a sprite.

My vision shifts over to a girl with a messy brown ponytail, wearing stained clothing and a really scuffed pair of work boots. Her back is to me, and she leans over a notebook, poring through its pages. Confusion swims through my--Arthur's--mind, and I wonder where I am.

But then I look down. Terror and disbelief heighten my senses in my physical body.

I gagged, tears pricking at my eyes.

"Shaun, are you alright?" said Arthur, undoubtedly seeing a change of expression on my face.

It took all of my willpower to gasp out, "I need to sit down." Dimly, I heard pounding on the door and Amy's voice shouting from the other side of it, and felt Arthur helping me carefully into a chair by the table, but all I could see were metal parts, and more metal parts, all the way up my arms--No, my arms were metal.

My heart went out to him. But I couldn't bear to experience his life any longer.

I snatched my hand from Arthur, leaning back as the image disappeared abruptly from before my eyes and all that was left was the armored creature standing nervously beside me. I let out a long breath and blinked rapidly. The vision had seemed to have lasted for a few minutes, but it had really been only a couple of seconds in time.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, rubbing the wetness away from my eyes, but for what I was sorry for I would never say unless he himself mentioned it. He deserved that much, as far as I could tell.

It was one of the things I both loved and feared the most about the Dream Tribe's ability to see visions through time. How interesting or sometimes painful it was to understand what it was like to be someone else.

Magestorrow Rian:

He had been sitting on the side of the strange path that he had awoken by for who knows how long, trying to figure out someway that he could return to Alium and to hopefully Soul. He dismally pulled his legs close to his chest as the sky began to darken; it was as if it was trying to mirror his mood.

Doubt started to cloud his mind. What if he couldn't go back? What if he was stuck here, unable to return to his home?

A pathetic sob left him. His grip on his pants tightened; he hadn't had a true home in years. He faintly remembered Kiera saying that home was where the heart was; if that was the case, his home was with Soul.

Who was possibly injured or unconscious back on Alium, if he wasn't wrong about the body he had caught a glimpse of before arriving on Earth.

He got to his feet and wiped his tears away. Soul had done so much for him. It was only right for him to repay that kindness. And if repaying the debt he knew he would always owe meant finding a way back home and rescuing him from Janos, then there was no doubting what course of action he would have to take was. The only thing that he was sure of in this foreign situation was that it was his duty to save Soul from whatever fate he was facing.

Because that's what friends were for.

Arcanus Invaderat:

He tore his gaze away from Shaun. For some reason, she had pity in her brown eyes as she stared at him. Brown eyes that strangely shown like his did. Or had once did. He hadn't truly gotten to see what he looked like now. All that he had seen was a shock of blond hair and strange golden eyes when he tried using his armor as a mirror. He wondered if they were still the same as before; Zogin used to be terrified of his blue eyes peering out from the darkness when she awoke from nightmares of what once was.

Zogin... The thought of his best friend made the heart he now possessed twist and turn. Now that he had become what she had sworn to forever hate, how could their friendship ever continue?

Something wet slid down his cheeks. Having avoided water for so long, it was a strange and foreign sensation. It was only after several more moments that he realized what he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

He was crying.

There was a knocking at the door. He gave a startled yelp and almost tripped over his own two feet - he was still getting used to how big the armor was on him now - but managed to catch himself before he did.

Kentaro, seemingly startled by the sudden knocking, didn't make a move to open it.

"Kentaro? You ok in there?" someone called from the other side. It was a woman. "I swear if you're hurt or something I'm gonna beat the snot out of that guy!"

The human teenager paled. "Oh Hell Queen," he muttered.

"Hell Queen?" Arcanus questioned in confusion, his tears forgotten.

Kentaro completely ignored him as he rushed to the door and threw it open. "Hi Amy," he said. "Uh, everything's okay now."

Curious as to what was going on, he made his way over to the open door. The woman - though she was more of an older teenager - stared at him with shock and confusion, but he didn't care.

There was a person across the street, dressed in an outfit somewhat similar to Kentaro's. There was an all too familiar scar on his left hand, and, though he tried to hide it, a few long locks of scarlet hair escaped his hood as he walked farther and farther away from the house.

"Excuse me!" he suddenly yelled. He pushed past both the startled Kentaro and the woman on the doorsteps as he ran out into daylight.

He nearly fell several times. He nearly was run over by a strange mechanical wagon with no horses, which strangely beeped rather loudly as it continued on its way down the equally strange path.

The sound of his clanking armor alerted the person he had never been so relieved to see to his presence.

The demon turned and stared at him, bewilderment and disbelief clear in his black eyes.

"Mage," he simply said.

Seres Renatus:

The room had been abandoned but a short time ago. Nothing within it seemed to be dust-covered, and the thrown open closet door and evident signs of human occupation (many of which Seres did not recognize, though they clearly belonged to someone and did not look neglected) confirmed that people did indeed live in it. Likely whoever had written the brief message that was now falling rather ungracefully towards the ground, slightly tattered from strong claws. Seres wished that he knew what it meant, but the script was not entirely something he was familiar with, or at least the handwriting wasn't. Yet, whoever or whatever that message had been for had either replied or was simply not available, and the results had moved themselves from this room.

Good; given the presence of the bed, this was some kind of a bedroom. In the week he'd spent on this strange, yet eerily familiar planet, this was usually where the money or valuable items were kept. Sometimes in secret locations, or easier to find. And he could buy food with that money. Assuming the occupants didn't have some food already. Either way, he'd managed thus far and had eluded all attempts at being captured, and he saw no reason to how this would be any different.

Squawking and screeching noises emanated from the window as a large shape pecked and clawed at the window hatch, trying to capture a good foothold on it while balancing precariously over the windowsill. After a minute or two of such a struggle, the hatch finally unlocked with a click, and the figure lifted the window upwards, shoving the screen behind it so that it fell into the room. And then, so did the figure.

Who quickly shifted into a man.

Seres ducked before he hit the ceiling with his head, placing a hand over his ruffled brown hair. This room was, by all means, not particularly large - then again, he'd always been a tall individual. He grimaced as he looked about him. There wasn't much of interest, beyond the heavy impression of something else have been there in front of the closet. Now that was peculiar. Wary and a little concerned as to who else might be in the house now - which perhaps that message earlier had some correlation to - Seres decided he was better safe than sorry. Striding over the door, Seres was careful to lock it, as he'd learned to do early on. He almost hit the fan in the process, but was fortunate enough to duck under that as well.

Well, now there was one form of defense. If that didn't work, he did have the broadsword in a scabbard slung across his back. Honestly, he wasn't sure how that would be of much use; if he used it here, he was bound to leave the sword ripping across half of the room's walls and end up stuck in one of them. But it did make him feel a little more confident. And, of course, if that failed to be a suitable distraction, he could just as easily fly away. He'd done it before, getting away from people and their strange and loud contraptions.

Seres crashed on the bed, which was a little too small for him, and sighed. This had indeed not been a fun week. Not that it had been any worse than the rest of his life. Yet, at least now he could relax on somewhere else other than the ground. Yet, though weariness poked at him heavily, he didn't want to sleep. That would simply be reckless, especially if there were still people in this house. He simply chose to stare up at the ceiling and plot his next move. Where would he look first? What did he already have? What was he going to need?

How long could he stay alive in such an unfamiliar, though relatively docile, environment?

Amy

Everything was ok? Now?

Amy looked back at the strange armored fellow who ran out of Kentaro's house with wide eyes, before turning back to Kentaro.

"Seems all the interesting people dropped in the neighborhood today. And they're all almost getting run over by cars, too." She cringed as the guy was almost pummeled by a car. "Three lost people dropped by my house today. All of them super confused. Asking where they were and stuff -"

Her voice cut off and she stopped, hearing noises coming from upstairs in Kentaro's house. She gave him a double glance, between the hall and him. "... Was that not the crazy guy you were talking about? Or is there someone else in your house?"

Kentaro's expression posed just as much a question as hers did. She leaned to the side, peeking in and seeing Shaun sitting down, but she wasn't making any noise. And she wasn't upstairs. Despite having let strangers into her house that day, if she heard a noise in her house that she knew didn't come from her or anyone else, she wasn't about to be welcoming to an intruder. Heck, she'd call the police or something. Should I call the police? Maybe they should check it out first.

Pushing past Kentaro, she headed upstairs, half expecting him to follow and half expecting him to (possibly) stay to watch what said 'crazy' guy was doing. She peeked into all of the open rooms, not seeing anyone. She questioningly looked at Kentaro's bedroom door, which was shut. She took a mental note of her army knife that she always carried in her pocket, before she opened the door.

Or rather, tried to. Alarms went off in her head as she did the math that that meant someone was in his room, and had locked the door so no one could get in. It was either a friend of Kentaro's who he was hiding or something - or maybe it was the crazy guy he was talking about, and that dude in the armor was... not the crazy one. She looked behind her, seeing Kentaro looking down at her as he peeked out from the staircase.

"Someone's in your room." She whispered, honestly, unsure of what to do next.

Kentaro Hinamori:

"There's someone in my room?" he whispered back in disbelief. He was torn between rushing upstairs and confronting whoever it was and going after Arcanus, who had gone running out into the street and now seemed to be talking to someone.

Amy nodded. It felt weird interacting with her; they hadn't really talked in years and when they did, it had been short and simple conversations. It had never been about someone having broken into his room. "The door's locked."

Then realization hit him. He was still logged onto Seraphinity. Whoever was in the room could mess with his account. Worse, he had countless special edition replicas and items from the game itself scattered throughout his room.

"Oh Hell Queen," he said for what certainly wasn't going to be the last time today. Like before, the response was met with confusion from the occupants of the room. It was one of the most popular phrases associated with Seraphinity; the Queen of Hell was the game's infamous ghost, much as Minecraft had Herobrine. After you played it for awhile, you were bound to both run into her and pick up the phrase.

He rushed upstairs. "The door's locked!" Amy reminded him.

He silently withdrew his lock-picking kit from his jacket's pocket. It was a skill he had mastered when he was younger. Back when he had friends, they had thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

The memory made him falter for a second as he crouched in front of the door. But then he was brought back to the present by the sound of someone moving about in the room, and he began to pick the lock.

It took a good minute before he was done.

If he had been listening to the more intelligent part of his brain, he would slowly opened it or gotten someone to come in with him. But the only part of his life that he liked was on the line right now; impulsiveness took over.

He threw open the door.

Magestorrow Rian:

The voice that came from the depths of the all too familiar armor was only somewhat recognizable. Whoever was inside was trying to lower his voice to match Soul's; that much he understood.

But it was obvious that Soul wasn't inside. He had seen Soul's unmoving body before ending up here, and the eyes that watched him were gold and not blue. There was a cloth covering his back as well. All together, the ensemble looked completely ridiculous.

Then he turned ever so slightly, and Mage realized why the cloth was there.

He was hiding a pair of wings.

Mage's felt his legs go weak underneath him. He wanted to run from what could only be an angel, but he was frozen with fear. This was the same type of creature that had killed Zogin's teacher.

And this was the same kind of monster that had killed Kiera.

Was this how his life was supposed to end? Faced with the same threat she had faced in her final moments, unable to change how the all too noticeable fate that was about to play out? He didn't want to die. He was young; he had so much more to live for! How could he change the world if he died now?!

"Mage?" The worry to his voice was just a ruse. It had to be. The angel before him was adopting how Soul would act, pretending to be just as kind and as concerned as Soul would be. "Are you alright?"

He managed to nod.

"That's a relief," the angel said with a sigh. He looked at the various houses and at the strange path next to them before his gaze returned to Mage. "This place is really weird...Well, I'm not alone anymore, so I guess that's a good thing. We can find a way back and then we can meet up with Zogin-"

"Stop it."

"Huh?"

From underneath his hood, he glared up at the angel. "Stop trying to act like him. You're not Soul; your voice is wrong and I know you're hiding wings underneath that cloak."

Realizing Mage had caught on, his shoulders lowered - almost as if his comment had depressed him. "But I am," was the weak protest. His voice was barely more than a whisper. "Janos did something to me. I went unconscious, and when I woke up I wasn't in my body...Mage, please believe me. I'll answer anything you want me to answer. Just let me prove to you that it's me."

The desperate tone to his voice made what would have been an immediate no to the questions die before it could leave Mage's lips. It couldn't hurt to ask him a question, right? It would prove that the angel was a liar, prove that Mage was right all along for not believing him.

"If you are Soul, what made you trust me? Why did you put your faith in me even though I had acted cruel and heartless towards you?"

There was hope in the strangely bright golden eyes. "Because when I acted like I had joined Lucrum's side, you got upset and gave me the silent treatment."

There was a pause.

"Y-You are Soul," Mage managed to get out.

Shun/Shaun

Things had almost gone too fast after the vision. Before I could even fully recover, "Arthur" had run out the door and Kentaro and Amy had gone upstairs to investigate some loud noises that had started almost instantly after Arthur's departure.

This left me alone downstairs, sitting in the chair. Ha. How lonely.

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to run after Arthur or go help the two upstairs. I definitely could smell another human up there, but with a stranger, more suspicious smell than most.

When I was just about to bang my head on the table in frustration, I felt my dream-stone pendant grow warm and start to pulse. Seeing as there was no one else around, I pulled it out from under my shirt and wrapped my hand around it.

Yes?

Shun, where are you? Min Ru's irritation seemed to encompass the entire room and trap me within it. I hope you aren't looking for humans to play with.

I hesitated. Of course not, Your Majesty.

Then hurry up and come to the Council Hall, Min Ru said. Your presence is needed.

And then he was gone.

I looked around. I couldn't just leave without telling anyone. Spying a scrap of paper and a pen nearby, I wrote in English, 'I have to go home because of an emergency. I'll try to come back another time.'

Then I walked out the door, closing it behind me. It wouldn't do if some stranger believed they could just come in without Kentaro knowing.

Seres Renatus:

He hadn't expected that he would have to get on his feet so quickly. Of course, it probably hadn't been the best idea for him to sound like an elephant, but the room was small, he was tired, and he had been fairly sure that he would be perfectly fine where he was. Nevertheless, when he heard the sound of somebody attempting to open the locked door, and a hushed voice saying, "Someone's in your room," he knew that he was bound to be in some trouble. Seres stood up, once again avoiding the ceiling, and made his way towards the window, all the while focusing on the door. In the best case scenario, they wouldn't be able to break into the room; in either case, he was probably going to have call upon his abilities for a speedy exit. Find another location, be a little more resourceful and quieter, hopefully get away with anything of value.

Whatever to survive.

However, when he heard footsteps heading towards the room, and the sounds and movements of a lock beginning to be loosened, he instinctively pulled out his sword. It left a slight impression on the ceiling, but he kept it close to him and held it out in front of him, facing the door. Now, that probably wasn't the nicest thing to do, but they clearly had a lockpicker on hand - he wasn't exactly used to that. So, what else did they have? Strange weapons, like the last few? At least this would distract them or keep them from threatening him, or provide a distraction. No, he did never think of himself as paranoid or overtly prepared - he came from a world where constantly planning your strategy kept you alive, and that mentality worked well enough here. Thus, he kept himself from being tense, and tried to remain as calm as possible; being irrational wouldn't do any good. Seres devoted himself to focusing on the lock and preparing for when it would inevitably be picked and the door would be opened, so that each party might see what was on the other side.

Within a minute, that's exactly what happened. The door was flung open, and Seres found himself facing two...kids? Teenagers? Completely unarmed, and definitely not happy to see a sword pointed at them. The man's eyes widened in surprise, as did theirs. What in the world was he doing? His conscious harassed in those brief, few tense seconds when everyone froze. Why was he threatening children? Had he really stooped that low? He had finally reached that level of panic, even though he wouldn't admit it?

Well, he certainly wasn't staying here any longer.

In a quick set of movements, Seres yanked his sword back into the scabbard, punching a hole in the ceiling in the process. Swearing under his breath, he turned and made for the window, where he leaped out with a quickly spoken, "Farewell!"

And then he remembered he was falling head first from the second story of a house.

Figures.

Amy

"Oh my god!" Amy stared wide-eyed as the tall man jumped. out. the window. She gawked, gesturing at the window, then to Kentaro, then to the window again. But the gawking didn't last long before she ran to look out the window, seeing the man lying on the ground at the bottom. Turning on her heels, she ran back down the stairs repeating to herself, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." She ran out the front door, closing it behind her habitually, and slid around the corner of the house and rushed up to the guy.

Was he dead? Could he be dead? Did she just witness someone die? Just a moment ago, she thought he'd be a burglar - and maybe he was - but a dead burglar was a bigger problem. What if he landed on his neck and broke it? WHAT IF HE WAS NOW A PARALYTIC?

She flipped the on his back (rather effortlessly actually) and scanned for broken bones. But was surprised to find that he was clearly alive.

"ShHHhhh I i i...p." She found herself beginning to self censor herself. "Who the hhhECK are you and whY were you in my friend's room?!??!"

She realized it would be silly to pull out her knife in contrast to his massive sword, but she was still tempted to do so. She however, didn't, since she figured threatening a burglar probably wasn't the best idea.

Seres Renatus:

If it wasn't for the ridiculous amount of training that he'd subjected himself to the past decade or two, that might've actually hurt. At least, his neck was a little sore, but his chest had taken the majority of the blows as he struck the grassy lawn hard. Bellyflopping into water was not comfortable, but this? This was worse.

He grumbled and groaned a little bit, but silenced himself when he heard footsteps from inside the house. Seres wouldn't likely be quick enough to make his escape just yet, particularly without drawing the attention of those he'd just run from, but, if he pretended he was dead, he'd have room to make a surprise move and escape. However, in either case, he resolved this to be the end of it. If he was threatening children, he'd lost his control over his situation and was now becoming a paranoid mess. Seres would have to come up with a new act or strategy to get food, but he was done with stealing. Frankly, he just wanted out of here. To go back to getting into conflicts with a countryside while leading an errant and not-very-bright king through a rebellion, running away from the burning city he'd administered for much of his life. That was almost easier to deal with. There, the threats were recognizable.

The person coming towards him - the girl, it sounded like - was frantic. He remained as stoic and as stiff as possible as, to his surprise, the girl picked up and flipped him on his back. Evidently, she had a lot of strength to be able to do that, and Seres was impressed. Thankfully, he'd managed to return his sword to his scabbard, so he hadn't had to worry about accidentally falling on that. Regardless, he tried to keep his ruse intact as much as possible...

...until she figured out he was alive. And started asking questions.

Well, that wouldn't do.

After a few seconds of silence, Seres dramatically opened his eyes and stood up to his full height. He faced the girl, bowed slightly, and said "thank you."

And then he jumped swiftly over a fence onto the neighbor's property. So much for subtle, but at least that likely surprised her into not reacting. Hopefully for long enough for him to get enough distance so as to fly away unnoticed.

Amy

"What?!?" Amy exclaimed as the fellow jumped up. No. He wasn't about to just get away like that. He thought he could just jump in her backyard? He thought he could just bust into Kentaro's room like nobody's business? Who the heck jumps out of windows willy nilly?

"THAT'S MY YARD, YOU CHICKEN FRY." She yelled at him, sprinting after him and scaling the fence with a leap, rolling onto her grassy yard. I knew doing those box jumps would come in handy someday! Served her mom right, thinking that she shouldn't put on so much muscle so she'd look more feminine or something.

She landed on the grass and rolled once before hopping to her feet and running after the guy again, still yelling at him.

"Explain yourself like a normal person gosh dangit!" She said with a shake of her fist, although clearly, he wasn't normal. The guy basically landed on his head and he got up seemingly just fine. He also had a GIANT SWORD.

Speaking of which, she really should call someone to help at this point. She knew she couldn't take this guy on if he really was a criminal or whatever. She could call the police, but she had no idea what she'd even tell them. She could call her parents, but she really really didn't want to. Or... there was Bo. He might still be around town.

"JUST STOP! UGHHH!" She groaned loudly in frustration, slowing to a stop in her pursuit of the guy. "This is so frustrating! I'm just TRYING to have a normal day, and help people or something, because that's what good people do! I'm not equipped to deal with this! UGH, I just want things to make SENSE."

Soul Error Arwitch:

Mage believed him.

Mage actually believed him! It was hard to tell when his friend was lying - he was incredibly good at it from years of practice - but he just knew from the shocked tone and the wide eyes that Mage believed his every word. If he wasn't wearing his armor, he would have thrown his arms around the older of the two.

I wonder what it feels like to hug someone now...I don't need to worry about hurting them, do I? Focusing on the good things made this whole situation much easier to face.

His friend suddenly pulled his hood farther down and hid behind Soul. "What are you doing?" he questioned, bewildered.

"There was someone who found me after I ended up here," Mage whispered. "And then she found those two people coming our way. I wasn't wearing these clothes, but they still might recognize me and I think they would at least know my voice."

Soul nodded. "Alright." His gaze shifted to the other side of the road. His golden eyes widened in shock. "Mage, you have to look at the house I was in! Someone just jumped out of a window!"

"What?!" The demon, all plans of hiding forgotten, walked out from behind him and stared at the strange sight before him. "Now he's getting up, and someone just came running outside and seems to be yelling at him-Is that Amy?!"

"Amy?"

"The person who found me." Then he turned to stare at Soul. At first the angel found himself uncomfortable at the thought of being the center of attention, but then the same realization hit him that had hit Mage seconds before.

Grinning underneath his helmet, he said, "We were in the houses right next to each other, weren't we?"

A nod in response. "We should go and see if we can do anything to help," the older of the two suggested. "I mean, Amy did help me..."

"And it looks like the boy who helped me is racing after here, so I should go and help too."

The two rushed across the strange path and somehow managed to avoid the equally strange mechanical vehicles.