Young Writers Society

Harry let out a yawn as he looked out onto the view before them. It wasn't something that they got a chance to do too often. The last time that they'd had a day off to actually have time to sit back and enjoy the view was almost a century ago. He smiled as memories of that day came flooding into his mind. Today would hopefully live up to that.

He glanced back to check if his friends were going to arrive anytime soon. It had been fifteen minutes since he'd left the three of them behind to go sit by the lake. They'd promised to be there in five minutes but apparently they were not following Omegaverse Standard Time because five minutes was long gone. He let out a sigh and studied the scene in front of him.

A glimmering expanse of blood red liquid spread out in front of him, hissing as the wind blew little waves of it towards the snowy banks colored yellow by the sulfur from the lake. On the other side of the massive lake was a carved footpath heading down from the mountain top that they were currently on. Down below was the Forest of Ricoats, the bright greens and reds of its fauna glowing in the setting sun.

The bright blue of the sun gave lit up the entire area making it look like a scene from some fantasy novel, with the whole place appearing to be permeated in magic. Of course the fact that it was actually infused with several millennia of magic probably added to the effect.

"Yo, what on Earth art thou doing staring at that stupid lake?" came a voice from behind it.

"Exactly what else am I supposed to be looking at?" shot back Harry, turning to see his friend Vankous.

Behind Vankous, Harry could see two others approaching: Stean and James. They were here. Finally.

"Fair point," said Vankous, offering him a bag of chips," Want some?"

"Wait you didn't give us some," said James, sliding in between the two and snatching the bag before it could be handed off. He took off around the lake.

Vankous and Harry exchanged a look.

"Catch..." began Vankous.

"....him" finished Harry, hauling himself to his feet.

"Guys!" said Stean, before the two of them could take off after James.

"What?" they chorused, whirling around to face him.

"Do you really want to waste the morning running after him?"

"Well I mean do you have a better idea?" asked Vankous, shrugging," we are literally jobless right now."

"Exactly," said Harry," also its like the evening right now...wrong planet."

"That's my bad," said Stean sheepishly, " also..right. We actually are jobless although I was thinking more along the lines of walk in the forest down there."

"Hmm...that might actually be fun."

"Provided nothing tries to eat us," said Vankous.

"Dude, that's the best part," said Harry.

"Agreed," said Stean and the two exchanged a hi five.

"Is anyone going to go catch him?" said Vankous pointing at James, who was still running full tilt along the lake.

"Umm...right, we have to get the chips first, those are vital," said Harry.

"Let's see who catches him first," declared Stean, winking, before he launched off at super speed, catching up to James in a heartbeat, causing him to slide to a stop.

"No super speed, that's cheating!" shouted Vankous, shaking his fist at him.

"Dude. No one needs super speed to beat you in a race," said Harry, before he also got to his feet and took off, arriving next to the two of them in seconds. He looked back at Vankous, who had his hands on his hips as he did his best to look like a mom annoyed with her five year old. He gave him a cheery wave.

Vankous vanished in a flash of purple light and reappeared next to them, startling James, who promptly dropped the bag of chips and stumbled back a few steps.

Harry let out a sigh and held out his hand, the bag of chips zooming right into it.

Vankous, also lunged for he chips, several seconds too late and managed to knock himself off balance, landing flat on his face. James, who managed to catch himself before he fell, burst in laughter.

"Really, Vankous. You had to teleport?" asked Harry, also trying very hard not to laugh. Stean was the only one that was maintaining a straight face.

"Dude, you know that I don't run after things, I mean why bother..."

"...when you can teleport," finished the other three, rolling their eyes in unison.

"Yes you have said that like four million times already," said James, offering Vankous a hand after he had managed to stop laughing.

Vankous took his hand and hauled himself to his feet.

"I don't think its four million though, that seems kinda high," Vankous said," hmm I wonder if I could look through the time line and do a count."

"Dude." said Harry.

"Sorry. Where were we again before this chip business happened?" asked Vankous.

"Talking about taking walk," supplied Stean.

"In the woods?" asked James.

"No in the bathroom," said Harry.

"Really?" asked Vankous,"ohhh you did not mean that literally."

Harry facepalmed.

"Let's just go," said Stean, gesturing towards the path.

"But the chips?" asked James.

"I will hold the chips," declared Harry, giving them a salute.

"Why do you get to hold the chips?" asked James," I can hold it too."

"There be monsters in there, and y'all need both hands to fight."

"I don't," said Vankous, crossing his arms and frowning.

"Me neither," said Stean," only James actually has to use his hands."

"But I am the least likely to drop it," argued Harry.

"Fair point," agreed Vankous, dropping the frown and letting his arms fall to his side.

"Fine. Can we just go already?" said Stean, turning to leave before stopping at the edge of the lake," oh wait who wants to do the honors and freeze the lake."

"Furakra!" announced Vankous. Glowing purple letters in Alpheek appeared on the surface of the pond before it began to freeze the sulfur changing color from red to yellow as it turned solid.

"Hmm...into the woods we go I guess," said Harry, before cringing," wow that sounded stupid."

The others laughed and the four of them began their walk across the lake.