Icefall Academy
Icefall City
Arktis Skyland
Northern Space

A loud groan of pain filled the hallways as Knox stumbled out of the infirmary. Half of his mind listened to Healer Kura's instructions drifting through the open door, while the other half wandered on his frustrations.

"I almost had him!" he said. Solana inclined her head to the side, examining her nails in the process.

"That's the tenth time you said that," she said, tone dry and bored. "Have you got anything new on your tongue?"

Knox narrowed his eyes at his twin sister. The blonde though, was already immune to his glares so he opted to direct his anger on the cold grey floor.

"Parythian's in the lead because of my loss," he said.

"Finally," Solana said, "for a moment I thought your opponent knocked your head so hard that it only left the words 'I', 'almost', 'had', and 'him' in your vocabulary."

"You're supposed to be comforting me," he mumbled. As always, Solana's powerful hearing caught it.

"When are you going to realize that I am comforting you?"

"I hate you."

"I love you too, big brother."

He blew out a breath and the warm air formed a cloud of mist in front of him due to the cold. Maybe Solana's 'comfort' was helping him. His frustrations over the three-way match lessened, and his usual irritation for Solana's verbal jabs replaced it. As hard as it was to believe, being annoyed by Solana gave him comfort. It was probably a thing between siblings.

With a sigh to calm himself, he trailed behind Solana as they made their way out of the medical wing of Icefall Academy. He watched Dia crawling close to his sister, making him smile. He couldn't wait to see Uby once they leave the building. Icefall Academy also had the same size limit for the Draes inside the building, which is why Uby was forced to wait for him outside.

As they reached the lobby, Knox jerked when Solana let out a startled yelp. He turned to find Professor Linan's hand curled on the hood of Solana's jacket.

"You're coming with me, young lady," their lanky professor said. "I need your assistance with handing the dosage of the cure to the sick Draes."

"May I ask why me, Professor?" Solana asked, trying to get rid of the grumble out of her tone.

"Alec and Areisha have been gone since this morning, Rei and River escaped somewhere, and your brother has just gone through a battle," Linan said. "You're the only one fit for the job as of this moment."

Without further explanations, Professor Linan dragged Solana by her fur-trimmed hood toward the direction of the greenhouse. Knox resisted the urge to laugh at the way his sister's face contorted in restrained complaint.

"In other words I'm your last choice," Knox heard Solana whisper.

He allowed a small chuckle at that comment and waved at their retreating form. "See you later, my dear sister," he said. "Have fun."

Solana growled something out towards him in reply but she was too far away for him to hear. Whatever it was, he was sure that it wasn't pleasant. He spun on his heels and was soon out the door of the academy.

The moment he reached the bottom of the ginormous set of steps, something heavy knocked over his body and pinned him to the snowy ground. Before he could react, the familiar feeling of something wet and warm moving up his cheek invaded his sense of touch.

"Kosmos, Uby," he laughed, "you're going to kill me under your weight one of these days."

The Drae got off and assisted him to stand. As he rubbed the snow off his attire, his eyes couldn't help running over Uby.

Ever since Uby turned one year-old a week ago, rapid growth, which happens to all year-old Draes, finally began. Day by day, he was growing, and his head was currently in level with Knox's waist. In a few weeks' time, Uby would be the size of a full grown Drae. Rapid growth was a defense mechanism of Draes. When the Draelings turn a year-old, their mothers would leave them behind to fend for themselves. To survive, their bodies learned to use Antenier to quicken their development.

He reached out and patted the young Drae's snout. "Sorry to keep you waiting out here in the cold," he said. "I would've taken you with me if I could."

The Drae purred in delight from his touch and he smiled at how adorable he looked. Despite their bodies being close to maturation, most young Draes still acted like babies. He wrapped his arms around Uby's neck and squeezed, before pulling away.

"Come, let's go back to the inn. You must be hungry," he said as he walked. The Drae was happy to oblige.

As he joined the semi-large flood of people heading toward the gates, someone bumped into his side, almost causing him to fall over. Luckily, Uby's head supported his back.

"Sorry," the man said. In that moment, the scar on the right side of his lips caught Knox's attention first. It didn't take long before light green eyes drew Knox's focus from the scar. The man quickly bowed, before rushing off toward the direction Knox came from.

Knox shook his head before deciding to continue on. On his first move however, he stepped on something hard. He looked down and spotted a sheathed dagger digging into the snow due to his weight.

He quickly bent and wrapped his fingers around the brown leather. The material was warm and looked new. The metal studs on the hilt's guard formed an intricate swirl of patterns. He assumed the man he bumped into probably dropped it. He spun and his eyes went searching for the person. But he was nowhere to be seen. He turned to Uby.

"Can you track the man's scent?" he asked the Drae. Uby was quick to place his nose above the blade and sniffed. For a moment, Knox saw the frown on his scaly face, before Uby turned and bounded off. Knox went to follow.

The Drae led him to the large path heading towards the main building of Icefall Academy. However, Uby swerved to another way going towards Ferrin Lake. They passed through the small woodland which served as a wall around the large body of water. The tall bare branches reached up to the sky. The light from the setting sun which fell on them casted eerie shadows down on the Drae and his master. A shiver went up Knox's spine, and he was quite sure that it wasn't due to the cold.

Is this a good idea? He thought.

It would appear Uby had similar thoughts. The pale Drae's pace slowed as they neared the end of the path. It was a few moments later that Uby stopped and shrank back.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

A whimper came from the Drae before it turned and clamped his toothless mouth on the sleeve of his coat. Uby tugged at his arm toward the way they came from.

Before he could ask again, he froze. A man's cry filled the silence of the forest. The hairs on his nape rose. The sound came from not too far away. Uby seemed to have frozen as well, and remained in the same stance. Another different cry from another man snapped him out of his thoughts. Knox pushed Uby's head with a gentle hand and told him to stay where he was.

With careful steps, he trudged through the forest. Using his powerful sight, he saw a group of people from not too far away. He stepped closer and closer until he was near enough to hear their conversation. He hid himself behind the wide trunk of a tree. What the Bloody Blazen am I doing? He thought.

Before he could change his mind, a female voice drifted to his ear.

"You bloody fools!" she said. "Your task was so simple. Kill the family and retrieve the Shcielle! But what did you all do? You let the boy escape with the Shcielle!"

Knox shuddered at the menace in her tone and her words. His mind shouted at him to leave. But fear rooted his feet to the ground. A swoosh filled the following silence before the sound of a blade hitting flesh reached his ears. There was a grunt, before something dropped to the snow.

Knox couldn't move his feet, but he could move his neck. As discreetly as he could, he watched them from the corner of his eye. Due to his Sentiral Power, he had little trouble at the task.

There, he saw three bodies lying on the ground. Blood stained the white snow beneath them. Two more men stood on their knees in front of the unmoving bodies. Their eyes stared wide in fear. Behind each of the kneeling men, were people dressed in dark cloaks. At the same time, they both retrieved daggers from behind them and poised them at the shaking men's necks.

Next his gaze went to two people standing facing the kneeling men. They had their backs towards Knox, but he could still tell that one was a woman wearing a dark blue cloak, and the other, a man donned in brown. The same clothes the man he bumped into was wearing.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had done your jobs properly," the woman said. Hearing it again, he couldn't help but feel that her voice sounded familiar.

When the ones holding the daggers raised the weapons, Knox looked away from the gruesome scene. It was a second later that he heard the cries of pain, followed by the thud of falling bodies on the forest floor.

"My lady, what of the others captured by the Ryders?" he heard one of the men ask.

"Herce will take care of them," the woman replied.

A man's dry voice followed the woman's statement. "As of now, they are under strict custody of the Head Ryder Kreis Hildegen. I won't be able to take care of them unless they are transferred to another holding facility."

"Leave them be for now then," the female said. "But if they try to open their mouths, do everything to get rid of them."

"As you wish, my lady," the man he assumed was named Herce replied. "I will report to His Highness about your progress."

His highness? Knox thought. People nowadays only used those words as teasing remarks to refer to demanding people.

"Dispose of these bodies. Leave no trace," the woman said. Knox heard a collective cry of "yes, my lady" before he heard a few pairs of feet trudging around the snow.

Knox slid down the length of the tree and sat there like a statue despite the cold. He sat there, his clothes blending well on the whiteness surrounding him. He remained there, staring out into the open as night befell Arktis.

Uby's face snapped him out his shock. He yelped. And out of fear, he turned to the spot where the men were killed. To his utter surprise, the area was empty and clean. Not even a trace of footsteps or blood could be seen. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was already dark.

"How long had I been here?" he asked Uby.

The Drae leaned in and rubbed his face with his snout. Whimpering sounds came from the creature's mouth and Knox leaned in to hug his neck.

He and Solana were different in so many ways. But there was one thing they had in common, but was not obvious to many. Their curiosity always led them to trouble or caused trouble.

"Uby," he whispered, "what have I just stumbled in to?"