This was a super massive chapter, and I'm still looking into cutting down any fatty scenes, so don't be afraid to point them out here, or anywhere else~

          Káel had left dinner early again, banking on the liklihood that Truvius wouldn't drop in on his conversation with Phantom while the two stood in the small study room, ignoring Puff as he gnawed on a desk leg.

          "How could he see you?" Káel whispered, holding his phone as the short video played over and over again. Phantom's voice clear as day as he jumped into the frame at the last second.

          Phantom shrugged, tranced by curiosity as he stared at the video. "Why don't you ask your little magic box?"

           "It's an inanimate object."

          "An inanimate object that can see? What a strange invention," Phantom chimed, squatting to stare at the back of Káel's phone. "I'd love to pay your people a visit some time." 

          Káel smiled. "You could, but make sure it's during Halloween." 

          The passive insult flew past Phantom as he grabbed his chin in deep thought, suddenly snapping his fingers to announce his epiphany. "I know! Your magic box lacks a life force, so it may explain its abilities to ignore the curses influence. Curses typically don't see the need to extend their reaches to the unliving, so your magic box was able to see through it and channel what it saw to those who are supposed to be affected."

          "Really?" Káel grinned at his extra useful phone. "Cool."

          "That's a theory, don't go believing everything people throw at you. Especially on this planet." Phantom stretched his arms and sighed. "Now there's the Zodraic Battery issue. You'll have to make it, and good luck because it requires-"

          "Lumience? Yeah, I figured. How do we make it?"

          Phantom raised his finger to silence Káel. "And magic. So we'll have to get your dragons cuff off... Is it just me, or are you intent on drowning yourself in complicated projects?"

          "The faster I get back to Earth, the better." Káel pulled his pen out of his pocket and looked around. 

          He didn't have any paper, in fact he didn't have any of the required school supplies, excluding the stuff the school had provided him with. He'd been mooching stuff off of Truvius and Talli, and looking at their textbooks in an attempt to at least try and look interested during class, but the teachers would undoubtedly catch on sooner or later.

          Káel grabbed his empty envelope that he'd fortunately forgotten to get rid of, and scribbled down the broad list of instructions and supplies Phantom shot at him. By the time he was finally done, the envelope looked more black than white, covered in messy ink.

          He looked at the envelope dejectedly, his hopes like the brilliant spatters of white held down by it's thick net of black. "This is gonna take awhile..."

     —————    

          The next day was rough. 

          The only teacher that didn't try to press Káel for the real answer surrounding his disappearance was Mr. Mudelin. 

          He couldn't care less.

          In fact, he'd refrained from singling Káel out the entire class, and Káel found his lack of fulfilling his expectations oddly unsatisfying. He even gave him a book full of beginners spells and told him to study it in his free time.

          But Mr. Mudelin wasn't the only teacher acting weird, they all were. Giving him side glances, and sometimes specialized treatment that didn't die after the day ended. After several days of the strange shift, Káel assumed the worst. 

          They all knew he was from Earth.

          Through the swarm of homework and being dragged around by a Truvius desperate to get Káel some friends that could keep him from breaking more rules, Káel had managed to update his skeptical phys-ed teacher on Puff's new status as his guardian, while failing to get anywhere with the Zodraic Battery. 

          Before Káel knew it, the extra long Lumi week of eight days had passed, and he was five days through the next one, with the three day weekend at his doorstep. The like of which he designated as time for completing the lengthy errand Ray had bestowed him with, and getting the chain off of Puff. But despite all the mini lessons Phantom managed to give Káel in his room, none of them noticeably improved his skills whatsoever, and his lack of a crucial skillset, and any progress, was becoming more worrisome by the day.

     —————    

          Káel was now standing in the middle of the school's field, surrounded by his fellow classmates and the green-uniformed students they were paired up with. They hadn't gone back to the forest since the first day of school, most likely due to the fact that Mrs. Vienta had gotten her weekly dose of mini heart attacks that day, and didn't want to risk any more.

          In fact, this was the third time they had even gone outside, since they were put through extensive safety protocols for practically everything. Káel soaked in the brunt of the blame, but through the whispers and playful jabs he honestly couldn't tell if his classmates hated him for it or were still laughing and waiting for him to screw up again, like he was doing in all the other classes.

          Mrs. Vienta was giving the class a run down on her idea of a game, with eight menacingly large Molves sitting beside her. These ones seemed bigger, and they didn't have giant openings in their chests anymore. 

          After a quick skim of his peers, it was clear that none of the other students were enthusiastic about the new company either, and Káel finally felt comfortable in the shared hatred. 

          He came to the front of the student cluster where Truvius and Talli were massaging a grassy Mi'karu, his hair tingling as a group of the nearby molves shot a rumbling growl in his direction. Mrs. Vienta quickly shut them up by ordering them to act professional, catching the attention of the class as she held out her arm for a massive silver hawk to land on it.

          With the entrance of her guardian Nim, she quickly jumped into explaining her 'fun little game'.

          It sounded like hide and seek got shoved in a blender with capture the flag, in which upon arriving at the practice ground each team of six she planned on assigning would capture as many specially marked stones as they could. The catch was they were being hunted, by the eight merciless Molves that would stop at nothing short of harming them to get the ribbons they had been ordered to sign and hang out of their pants, and tie around any part of their guardian that was convenient.

          After a ten minute walk through the forest, they came across a large vine-infested ruin, complete with cracked high walls and shattered buildings. Phantom recognized it as part of the old city the castle controlled, and went back to the content attitude he had towards the kingdom's downfall.

          "I'd like you all to grab a buddy with a different coloured uniform again," Mrs. Vienta ordered, standing above the class on a chunk of stone that acted as her stage. "There should be an even number of you, so long as nobody's gone disappearing without warning."

          Alestra walked up to Káel, or rather, she walked up to Puff and scooped the dragon off the ground to snuggle him, making Káel question if she was his partner or not.

          Mrs. Vienta looked around at the pairs and smiled. "Now then, do we have any runners?"

          Even if it was for a split second everyone looked at Káel, then a few hands raised into the air.

          "Good." She grabbed the pairs along with Káel, who hadn't raised his hand, and distributed them in an even line. Despite there being eight pairs already gone, there was still a huddling mass of students Mrs. Vienta slowly broke down, until eight groups of six stood orderly beside one another.

          Káel somehow ended up with Vera in his group. She was paired up with a girl named Janiel who almost looked as cold as her, but this girl was happy to be in Káel's company, only because of the "tactical advantage he presented himself as on the first day of school". 

          The other two were boys who introduced themselves as Xavier and Brim, silver and green respectively, and they were more interested in trying to catch the attention of their friends in the other groups.

          Mrs. Vienta's voice ripped through the chattering students with ease. "Now, as you can probably guess, this is a fun little competition, and like most competitions there's a sweet little prize at the end. Along with not having to do the punishment that will come with being the losing majority, the winning group will receive full points for today's marking." After hearing the words punishment and full points, most of the students had turned their full attention to the teacher, their thirst for glory rising. "But alas, along with you, my lovely students, there will be another team, and you're their points," she continued with an eerie smile, running her fingers along a Molve's snout. "You all took the entrance exam, so you're familiar with my sweet little friends here."

          "I hate false life enchantments," Phantom grumbled. "Nasty little buggers."

          "Your job as a team, is to collect as many marked stones as you can find. I've hidden them throughout the ruins, and only the ruins, so, for the love of Tesirus don't step out of bounds. The Molves' job will be to eliminate you, by taking your ribbons in any un-debilitating way they see fit. For the number of ribbons your team loses, five points will be deducted, and two points will be awarded for each stone you can bring back to me... " She raised her finger with a dark smile. "But there's a little bonus if you dare, every Molve has a medallion around its neck, worth twenty points a pop."

          Mrs. Vienta waved the Molves away, and they split up, each sauntering down their own chosen paths that all the students were keeping track of to avoid.

          Mrs. Vienta clapped twice to grab her student's attention. "If you need any assistance for emergency methods scream for help, don't just scream or I'll assume you're being chased by a Molve. Nim will be patrolling the area, so I'll be able to find you quickly." She motioned to her large silver bird perched on a pillar. "She'll also tell me if any of you decide to cheat against other groups. Now without further delay, on your marks. Get set. Go!"

          The mass of teenagers turned into a stampede, disappearing into their own respective paths. Alestra quickly stopped the group behind a viny fountain and put her finger to her lips. "Molves are attuned to vibrations and sound, if we don't wanna start cutting down on team members really fast we should be stealthy about this."

          Everyone nodded, and Brim spoke up. "What if we get spotted?"

          "We'll need a good distraction, why else do you think Mrs. Vienta split up all the good runners?" Janiel replied, looking to Káel expectantly.

          Káel nodded before he clicked in, quickly widening his eyes. "What? Me?"

          "It would appear so." Phantom snickered. "It's not as if there's any other useful things you can do."

          "It's not like we're gonna sit there laughing while it chases you, we do need you to decoy more than once," Alestra replied.

          "Yeah, we'll try some minor illusions and hope it loses track of you, and if worse comes to wear I'll try and blow it up," Vera said, making Káel unsure as to whether proposing the plan of shooting explosions at something chasing him was her form of comforting him, or if she really didn't care about his safety.

          Xavier nodded. "It's settled, Unicorn Boy will be Molve bait, while the rest of us collect the stones."

          "Good idea," Brim said, greeting Puff with an uncomfortable glance as he discretely shuffled away. "Can the dragon fly? Cause he'd be a good scout."

          Káel looked down at Puff. His wing was still drooped to the side, in the way it had been for several days, and he shook his head.

          "Mine might." Vera reached into her combat suit and gently pulled out Cinder, untangling the yellow ribbon tied to her leg.

          Cinder cooed softly, and tried to burrow back into her little cave, but Vera grabbed her with both her hands, and comforted her guardian with a little head rub.

          "I need your help Cinder, don't worry I won't let you get hurt." She looked at her guardian with a smile so gentle it unnerved Káel. "There's these special stones with marks I want you to find, but make sure you watch out for big stone monsters, because they're trying to get us."

          Cinder looked up to Vera sadly, singing a chirping song as she rubbed her small head against Vera's fingers and turned to fly away, disappearing over the tall walls surrounding them.

          "Alright, we're not splitting up further than our sights, got it? Last thing we need is for someone to run around a corner trying to be goofy, and get jumped by a Molve, while the rest of us are ignorantly walking down another path, because we are not chancing going back to find lost people," Alestra said sternly.

          "What if we unintentionally get split up?" Brim questioned.

          Vera scoffed. "Squawk like a flumigan, and when the Molve comes along dance for it. What do you think? You get lost, you're lost." 

          "Alright," Brim replied, a hint of timid surprise to his voice.

          The group had been exploring the vast ruins for fifteen minutes, and they'd only collected a grand total of two stones. One that Cinder had led them to, and another that Brim's guardian managed to sniff out, which was cruelly hidden under a pile of dead tall grass. They had passed another group with five, which although it was also a small amount, it was still six points more than they had.

          Everyone was on high alert, keeping their eyes peeled for hidden rocks in a place made of them, while trying to avoid yet another kind of rock, with large teeth and a mind of its own. Fortunately enough for Káel, they hadn't crossed paths with a Molve yet, but he couldn't say the same from the other groups, judging by the random screams that would pierce the air. Although unnerving for Káel and his team, Phantom seemed to be unimpressed at the lack of chaos, and how terrible the Molve's were at this game for not ambushing them as soon as they entered the ruins.

          "I'm gonna go tour around, I'll tell you if I find anything," Phantom cooed, waving Káel goodbye as he took a sharp turn through a wall.

          Janiel sighed, looking around at the crumbled scenery. "At this rate, we'll have to take out a Molve to get enough points to win."

          "Good luck on that, these ones don't have any weak points. Unless one of us is strong enough to blow them to smithereens," Xavier replied, his voice pitched to sarcasm. "Has anyone blown up a Molve before?"

          "With a flashlight," Káel replied, frowning as his brain realised its dumb mistake too late again.

          Everyone suddenly stopped and looked at him.

          "You're joking right?" Vera questioned, her face filled with doubt.

          Káel shook his head. "I tried to shoot one with a fireball, and I guess it went to the flashlight instead."

          "You guess it went to the flashlight instead? How big of a fireball were you trying to make?!" Janiel exclaimed, receiving a hint from Alestra to lower her voice. "It's practically impossible to overload those things with minor spells."

          "Hey, the real question is, can you do it again?" Xavier said, smiling at Káel with high expectations.

          Brim chuckled, his face just as unconvinced as Vera's. "Yeah, cause if you can make a big enough fireball to overload a flashlight, then what the heck are we worrying about?" 

          "Well... I'm pretty bad at lumience."

          "What? Explosion lumience?" Janiel replied.

          "No, lumience in general. I think the fireball thing may have been a stroke of luck... Or my cat."

          Xavier patted Káel on the shoulder, as if they were suddenly friends. "How about if we come across a Molve and get spotted, you can try your stroke of luck on it while running for your life."

          Káel grimaced at the thought, it was hauntingly similar towards the action he had taken when being chased by the Queen. "Sure, but it probably won't work."

          "No harm in trying," Brim replied.

          Phantom leapt through the wall, causing Káel to jump at the sudden movement, and setting off all his teammates, who had been calmly viewing their surroundings. He quickly lied that a lizard had scurried in front of him, which had acted as the instigator of his shock, and easily convinced his audience, for once.

          "Follow me, I found something majestic," Phantom said, his entire body bouncing with excitement.

          Káel lagged behind his group, and cautiously glared at Phantom. "Is it a stone?" he whispered, constantly looking ahead of him to ensure his actions went unnoticed.

          Phantom shrugged, and playfully strolled ahead, irritating Káel at his lack of a response. He was a couple paces ahead of everyone, when he stopped at a sharp turn off, and beckoned Káel over with a creepy hand wave.

          Ignoring the overall suspiciousness of Phantom's basic personality, Káel found himself to be oddly trusting towards the strange man, and couldn't help but stop to peer down the path he presented, stopping his group in the process.

          He dropped his voice to a harsh whisper as he squinted to see through the narrow crack. "What's down there?"

          "A surprise," Phantom replied, with an extra dose of singing to his voice.

          Brim leaned into the small pathway. "It's so narrow I didn't even see it, but it looks suspicious."

          "I'd love to see a Molve try and squeeze it's bulky butt through that pathway, if anything it's the safest route we've found so far," Xavier replied, squeezing through the narrow gap first.

          Alestra sighed as their teammate disappeared, giving her shoulders a cautious glance before nodding for everyone else to go ahead.

          The path turned out to be treacherous, concealing boot-snatching deep puddles of sticky mud, and wider areas littered with man sized cracks in the ground, giving light to the basements of the buildings they were squeezing by. Xavier almost fell into one when he stepped on a weak slab of stone, but luckily enough he grabbed a tuft of grass that wasn't about to be uprooted by some teenage boy, and saved himself the trouble of trying to survive a two story fall.

          In a matter of minutes the group squeezed around the last weathered pile of claustrophobia-inducing grey slabs, and a large cathedral of a building rose above the viney walls and muddy trenches. It was eerily sitting in a run down courtyard, the quiet singing of birds acting as the only ambiance, standing tall in a ruined state of ancient melancholy.

          "Surprise!" Phantom yelled, throwing his arms out enthusiastically. "I could look at this desolated town all day."

          Janiel was the first to speak up after the group finished gawking at the structure. "I bet there's dozens of stones in there."

          "We should split up," Vera said. "We'll have higher chances in finding them faster."

          "And more Molves," Alestra retorted, her mouth stretching with a careless yawn. "And we only have one Unicorn Boy if that happens."

          "I can handle myself perfectly fine, and besides, we'll all be in the building where those Molves are at a disadvantage." Vera turned to face her teammates. "How about we have a vote?"

          "If we're splitting up, I call Unicorn Boy," Janiel said, stepping closer to her tactical advantage. "I'm best with ranged attacks."

          "I call Káel as well, cause I don't feel like splitting up," Alestra added, turning away to yawn for the hundredth time.

          "Weren't we voting on this?" Káel muttered, the disappointment washing over him as Vera completely ignored the comment and walked away with the two boys tailing her, the now split group entering the cathedral from different points.

Sorry for the late update!

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Next update:

6/15/2018