Young Writers Society

How could someone not know Drenar? He was the king of Laetae, and he made a great show of it--even if Bo was from a neighboring kingdom, he should have at least recognized the name. She mulled over his question for a moment, now that her mind was on the subject of names. She longed to go by her birth name, but to do so around a complete stranger was unwise.

"My name is Ruma," she said. "Ruma Glider."

She watched him, waiting for a response.

Bo smiled warmly and bowed his head. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Ruma. I don't suppose you know where uh... where this is? If it wasn't clear before, I'm pretty lost."

Apparently he really wasn't from this area. If he had been, her name would have garnered some sort of antagonistic reaction; instead, he was treating her as a fellow human being.

Strange.

"We're in the Castle of Blood," she said. "I doubt this will mean anything to you, but we're in the heart of the forest bordering the Kingdom of Laetae."

Bo's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh! Wait! Castle of Blood! That's where Nen is from! Am I in his world now? Or is this another memory of his? Uh - not that uh, well, no... he'd be here if it was a memory, wouldn't he?"

He was a dragon. He wasn't supposed to be a dragon. Dragons weren't even supposed to be real. If he was entirely honest, he wasn't entirely sure what else he could be, since he hadn't exactly encountered this "Tieth." Moreover, it would explain his strange reaction to the scent, the fact he could smell it in the first place, and the numerous past events that had brought him to this point. How it snowed in the middle of summer the night Evelyn died, or how his strength became inhuman when he'd killed the other prisoner.

Slowly, he shook his head in response to the man in front of him. He still looked a bit intimidating but Cornyx was sure he looked no worse than himself - and if Cornyx was still a stuttering mess as a dragon, the person who lived in this castle could very well be friendly despite his appearance. "I-I-I am d-d-definitely not usually a d-d-dragon," he affirmed. "S-s-sincere ap-apologies for the chaos h-here. I, uh, am n-not sure how I did th-this but I d-didn't run into Tieth, and n-n-now I'm n-not exactly sure how to un-do...th-this..."



Kratzer blinked as the man - armour - screamed, tried to retrieve their helmet, failed, and faceplanted. Chestplanted? His face was in a tree, after all. He knelt and picked up the man's head, then took a step forward and offered it to him. An empty suit of armour was certainly strange, but he'd seen similar things, and the Lord knew he'd seen things more bizarre.

"Here, I can't imagine you'd want to lose that," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could," he said with a soft chuckle. "I'm just a bit stuck here. Maybe you can help me figure out how to get home or take me to whoever owns this place?"

Reida opened her eyes, and found herself curled under a hedge. The first thing that she noticed was the sweet perfume of flowers that hung in the air, but- that couldn't have been right, because she had fallen asleep... where had she fallen asleep?

She sat up, and quickly realized that there was a weight pinning her legs. Glancing down, she rolled her eyes.

"Vesper." She hissed. "Get off me."

She brought her knee up and gently kicked the sleeping figure. He muttered incohesively and suddenly darted up. Reida didn't miss the hand the pawed at his side- he was still going through sword withdraws.

"Hmm- Reida?" He cast a groggy, yet alert gaze her way, and she nodded.

"Look around. Nothing... really looks familiar to me. We aren't in Camile, are we?" Before she could receive an answer, something registered to her, and she quickly climbed to her feet. "Oh, God. Where's Landon?"

A voice came from the tall hedge behind them.

"Reida? Vesper? I'm over here! Kinda stuck, though." this was punctuated with a loud rustle.

Reida sighed in relief and steeped back to survey the shrubbery. "Hold on, Landon! We'll find a way to get to you. Just keep talking, okay?"

For a moment, she contemplated raising her knife once more and lunging at Bo. But then the rest of the comment registered, and she relaxed her posture. She gave a simple nod and returned her knife to its sheath at her side. "This is where Nen lives," she confirmed. "You're...the dragon man, aren't you? He's mentioned what you speak of before."


Oh.

This was going to be difficult, then. He looked over the terrified, stammering man-somehow-turned-dragon in front of him, unsure of what he was supposed to suggest as a way of helping him. If Tieth had been responsible, there wouldn't have been much for them to do anyways. But since she wasn't, he had to get creative. How did she change her form?

"It's okay," he reassured him. He thought for another moment. "Maybe you just need to think about turning back to normal? Just focus on what you regularly look like, try not to think of anything else, and then maybe you'll be a human again?"

He would just suggested they go to the library, but he was beginning to doubt that the newly turned dragon was going to be able to fit through the hallways.


Aska took his helmet from the man with shaking hands, nervously plopping it back down on the rest of his armor as he got back to his feet. Tieth wasn't here right now. Which was probably a good thing, if this man did turn out to be a good person--she might have fried him, or, worse, cursed him, too. But he wanted to see who was in charge, and Tieth was the only person who he could think of-

Except for Nen.

"I-I don't know how to get your home," Aska nervously said, "b-but I can take you to s-see the...the..." What was he supposed to say? Was he supposed to call Nendros a prince, just like he really was? Or would Nen want him to use the King Nex of the Castle of Blood thing again, like he had done with Az back when she had still been Ruma?

He fidgeted with his hands.

"You're not...You're not an assassin, are you?" Aska asked, looking the man over. He was wearing strange clothing, though he was armed with a knife. Did that mean he was going to hurt Nen if he found out the truth? "Or-or do you have something to do with-with the Kingdom of Laetae's royalty? With K-King Drenar?"

He slowly dropped back onto his hindquarters, having to rock back and forth a little to fit through the tight corridor. He let out a long breath that was frosty in the air and tried to slow his pounding heart. No one was in danger. Not him, nor this stranger, and all this was doing was making things worse.

Cornyx let out an involuntary yelp as he suddenly changed forms again, landing on his behind in the middle of the hall and flinging out his long arms to catch himself from falling straight on his back.

He scrambled around for his glasses for a moment, then got back to his feet and straightened himself out. His usually pale countenance was pink in embarassment. "I, uh, I-I'm so sorry f-f-f-f-f-" he cut himself off and started again, struggling to get a full sentence out and inwardly cursing himself for it. "I-I'm so sorry f-f-for...that. I was...o-oblivious to that...p-particular...er...ability." He extended his hand to the somewhat draconian man in front of him. "M-my name is C-Cornyx. Cornyx Blackthorne."



"I haven't brought the intent to hurt anyone with me," Kratzer assured him, dodging the direct question about whether or not he was an assassin. "I'm from a completely different world. Earth. I just...woke up here. Somehow." He glanced down at the knives. "These are, uh...well, I...There's a lot of people who want to kill me so these are just kind of self-defense and I guess I inadvertently brought them with me when I appeared."

Nendros promptly shook the extended hand. He was thrown off by the strange clothing the man was wearing and his surprisingly tall height, but the man reminded him greatly of Aska. And if he had learned anything about people like his best friend, it was best to spend as little time as possible looking them over or between sentences.

But now he hesitated, trying to decide what name to give. His clothing reminded him of someone else he had met once--someone from another world, and someone who had known nothing of who he truly was. He decided that being truthful here couldn't hurt; it might even work out better in the long run.

"I'm Nendros," he said. "Nendros Exel Xenon, prince of the kingdom of Laetae."

He gave Cornyx a toothy smile, inadvertently showing his many sharp teeth.

"But most people call me Nendros or Nen." He hesitated again, trying to recall the name of the place that Kratzer had come from. What had it been called again? Earth? "By any chance, are you from a world called Earth?"


Aska could tell the man was trying to avoid the question about him being an assassin, but he didn't question it. He was too busy trying to figure out what the name Earth sounded so familiar. Hadn't Nen mentioned it before? If armor could frown, he certainly would have been. His shaking ceased, and he studied the man before him with two golden pinpricks of light. The more he looked at him, the more he felt like he had mentioned him.

"Are you...Are you Krat...Kratzer?" Aska hesitantly asked. "Or...um...Engel? Nen mentioned you before..."

Cornyx blinked. King...? Oh goodness. What had he stumbled into?

He was exactly sure how to handle that. Should he bow? Should he keep acting normally?

"I, uh...um...Yes, sir," he stammered. "I'm from Earth." His eyes widened with sudden realization. This wasn't Earth.

So then where, exactly, was he?




"Ja, I am he," the vampire affirmed with a gallant bow. "None other than Kratzer, der Silberfuchs, at your service. Say, where have you heard that name? I don't believe I'm known in this reality, and certainly not my real name."

Bo smiled and nodded with a giddy satisfaction at being remembered as the dragon man.

"Yes! That's me."

His eyes widened when Cornyx called him "sir". It had been so long since he had been treated with any degree of formality. Tieth just referred to him as Boy, Aska had always called him either Nen or Nendros, and Az had called him a monster and a variety of other colorful nicknames back when she first arrived.

"You, uh, don't have to call me that," he sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck with a scaly hand. "Just Nendros is fine. I know I'm a prince, but I'm not even in my kingdom anymore, so..."


Aska shifted uncomfortably.

"Nen...Nen told me about you," he explained, fiddling with his hands again. He nervously watched him. He didn't sound like he was upset that he knew, and Nen had said that Kratzer was a decent person, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to be around a stranger. "You might know him better as Prince Nendros...Or Nex, since I think he said that's what he went by first when he met you and the others..."


Now that her suspicions had been confirmed, she decided that the next best course of action was to track down their mutual acquaintance. She doubted her boyfriend would even have the foggiest idea of what to do--honestly, Aska was probably the one with the most knowledge on magical situations--but it would certainly make things easier when Nen was also in the room.

"We should go find Nen," she said. He would have likely gotten out of bed by now; they would have to do a bit of searching. "He should be wandering around the halls somewhere in the castle."

"Oh, uh, sorry, s- um, Mr. Nendros," he said, stumbling over his words. "Uhm...I, uh, must admit, I'm a bit lost...uh...here..."



Nex. That was a name he knew. "Ja, I remember him." He glanced down at himself. "Goodness, he's going to start thinking this is what I usually wear." He paused, then continued. "Do you know where he is?"

"You, uh, don't have to call me mister," Nendros said, continuing to rub the back of his neck. This was awkward. When he had first met Aska, he had been running on adrenaline and fear. Now he just felt incredibly uncomfortable with the way the shy man in front of him was talking with him. "I know I don't look like it, but I think I'm close to your age."

He glanced around the hallway, then back at Cornyx.

"It's okay that you're lost. We're in a place called the Castle of Blood, in the middle of the forests on the edge of Laetae." When he realized how alarming that might have sounded, his tail began to swish behind him as he hurriedly added, "The name comes from a battle that happened centuries ago. I don't know the details, but the nickname is the only thing that remained."


Aska quickly shook his head.

"Nen was in bed with Az earlier," he slowly said. But both of them would have been up by now--Az before Nen, since Nen had always slept in late--and he wasn't sure where they had been planning to go. He felt a pang of jealously in a heart that didn't exist; they were likely together right now, eating breakfast or strolling through the maze in the front of the castle.

"I'm not sure where they are now," he added, gaze dropping down to the ground as he tried to push the dark thought out of his mind. "I-I think e would have to look through the hallways to f-find them..."

Cornyx nodded slowly. "Right, sorry, s- m- uh, Nendros." He wasn't quite sure what to do with all of this. He didn't know where he was, how he got here, or anything about where he was or who he was talking to except for a name. He shifted his weight sheepishly and adjusted his glasses.



Az. That was the name of the girl who'd died, wasn't it? Furthermore, he'd been...were they...together? He blinked, surprised. Strange things happened, but...d***.

"Right then. Uh, I don't suppose you could point me in the direction of where he's most likely to be in said hallways?"