Young Writers Society

"I packed everything, so..." Jason shrugged. "I'm ready."

"Same here." Livvie said. "Um, what way exactly is the portal, Luna?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, curiously. "The 'portal'," - Livvie made quotation marks - "randomly appeared. I'm pretty sure I didn't lure it." she chuckled.

"I guess we can head out now." Luna rubbed her hands together, a grin coming to her face, as she put her helmet over her face only the tips of her hair now visible, and her eyes now encased in shadows.

"Lead the way!" Livvie smiled broadly, gesturing Luna and Kartiel out of the living room.

Luna nodded her head. "Well we'll first head done to the forest were we first met, then I'll lead the way from there." She began opening the door of Livvie's house.

He surveyed the group with a certain look to his eyes.

"I think I know a way that we can get there faster," he said. "It would involve some magic, but it can be the preview to what Luna wants to show Jason."

Jason shifted uncomfortably. "I have to go the easy way." he said defiantly. "And... I'm not carrying the food." he dropped the bag of food on the coffee table.

Livvie sighed.

A strand of darkness popped out of the ground, wrapping around the bag of food and pulling it closer to Kartiel.

"I'll take care of it, then," he said. He glanced over at Luna. "Do you mind taking a shortcut?"

Luna shook her head, "Oh not at all. I'm used to transportation. You going to drop us in the forest right?" she asked, her voice muffled under her mask.

Kartiel smiled.

"Great," he said. He was already standing near Luna, so he solved the problem of being too far away from Livvie and Jason by jerking them close with a strand or two of darkness. Without even giving them a chance to react, he tapped into his magic.

One moment, they were standing in Livvie's house.

The next, they were standing in the middle of the forest again, little purples particles falling to the ground as the darkness holding Livvie and Jason disappeared.

Livvie's jaw dropped as Jason staggered. "Oh my gosh, that was so exciting! Can we do that again!?" she shrieked.

"N-no..." Jason trailed off, glancing at Kartiel cautioisly but still in awe. He regained his posture. "No."

Livvie rolled her eyes and grinned at Kartiel, and mouthed, awesome at him.

Luna stood next to Kartiel unfazed from what just happened. "That was quick." She said looking over at him. She shrugged and looked at Jason, then Livvie. "Well just follow me and we will be where we need to be shortly." She began to walk through the trees not stopping once, as she waved a hand over her shoulder to tell the others to follow.

Kartiel started to follow after Luna, but paused mid-step and turned back to look at Livvie.

"We could do it more later," he said, grinning. He liked using his magic for fun, and it seemed like Livvie and him were kindred spirits when it came to how it could be used.

Livvie bobbed her head, and followed Luna, dragging Jason behind her.

Luna couldn't help but laugh when she looked back at Livvie and saw her reaction to Kartiel's question. "Well that was unexpected."

Suddenly a small whizzing sound could be heard coming towards them.

Quickly spinning around Luna flicked her hand towards Jason and Livvie a black mass surrounding them as a clanging sound could be head.

"All of you stop were you are!" A teenage boy stepped out of the woods a bow and arrow in his hands, his face was hidden from sight as his black scaled mask covered it, his body to was made of the same scales.

Kartiel looked between the three and the newcomer, a certain glint to his eyes as they flickered between green and purple.

Two could play at that game.

Black scales raced up his arms and his fingernails became more like claws. The scales appeared on his face, too, as his hair grew longer. The change didn't take long this time around, but it still did happen: Kartiel had tapped into the side of him that had never really gone away, even after he died.

He barely gave the boy time to react before he teleported right beside him, grabbing the bow in a burst of purple particles before yanking it out of his hands and teleporting back to his friends.

"Missing something?" he asked, holding up the bow and looking at it. He suddenly glanced up at the boy who had tried attacking them - a shocked expression flickering across his face. "Sorry. You said to stop where I am, didn't you? Don't worry. It's a me thing - I have a problem with authority and people telling me what to do."