"How does that happen to you?" Summer asked in shock.

"I honestly don't know," I replied.

"Whatever it is, Bryan must've jinxed it."

"I agree," Keiza said while combing her hair. "Let's ask him." At this point in time, it was the next morning after I talked to my caped friend. I decided to tell my trusty companions Keiza and Summer. When I told them of what happened, they were as shocked as I was the previous night. We then decided to go find Bryan and see if he really did use his jinxing powers, this indeed took the longest time because when we tried asking everyone where he was, nobody knew. We checked everywhere within the floating arena. We even checked places where we didn't think he would be in. Finally we gave up the task and went to get something to eat. On the way, we found Kenichi and Hiroki arguing.

"I wanna try!" Kenichi yelled. "Why can't I?"

"Revenge will never solve a problem," Hiroki advised.

"It's not revenge!"

"Then why fight..."

"Hey," Summer interrupted intentionally. "What'cha guys up to?"

"Not much," Hiroki replied. "My brother wants to duel with you, Miss Belle."

"Really?" I asked. "What makes you want to duel?"

"I want to see how strong you really are," Kenichi said bluntly.

"Does it have anything to do with last week?"

"Of course not!" I didn't believe him at first but then I realized he wanted to avenge his sister and the  humiliation of his brother. But something in his eyes proved to be a little different. It showed willingness and curiosity, with a hint of selfishness. He wanted to see it and his determination let no one else get in his way. Stubbornness? Yes, but also perseverance.

"Are you sure you want to see my full potential?" I asked, hinting a little warning. "It may be a little too much for someone like you."

"No way!" Kenichi persisted. "I can totally take it!" I thought about this for a little while and considered that it would be good practice for him.

"You are quite a crazy boy," I chuckled. "However, I'll give you what you ask. Let's duel."

"Are you serious?!" Kenichi exclaimed with shock.

"Yeah. Just tell me when it's gonna take place. I have to leave in a few days."

"Really?" Hiroki finally spoke. "Where are you going?"

"Just somewhere out of the arena," I answered.

"I see - Kenichi, be wise on when to have your fight."

"Okay," his brother replied confidently.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" Keiza suggested. "It will give you more time to prepare yourselves."

"Good idea!" Hiroki answered. "What do you two think?"

"Sure," Kenichi and I replied with enthusiasm. Although I was excited for the fight, I wasn't sure how to go about it. My opponent wants to see all that I've got and battle hard. The problem was the same as when I fought Hiroki. I'm afraid to show my true potential because it might scare them, like those days in the army. I don't usually tell people of those times but when I'm reminded of it, it tells me that I should be more careful at how I fight. I felt very conflicted inside of my heart after I had that conversation. 

"What's up, Liz?" Summer asked, noticing that I was a little down.

"Well..." I replied. "I'm not sure how far is too far when it comes to battling. I know I need more control but Kenichi wants to see all my power."

"I'm pretty sure he won't know if you go a little easy."

"But I feel guilty if I don't give my all! What should I do?"

"Let's consult with the rest of the group," Keiza replied. "Maybe they will give better advice."

"Since when were you the wise guru?" Summer questioned.

"I don't know! I thought I might help Lizzy."

"I still remember the time when we convinced you that gullible wasn't in the dictionary," I noted.

"That was hilarious!" Summer laughed.

"Wow guys, really?" Keiza pouted. Summer and I laughed harder as we were reminded of that particular memory. As we walked around the arena, we ran into the rest of our friends.

"Hey!" Bryan exclaimed. "What's up, buddies?"

"Not much," I answered. "What are you all doing?"

"Just relaxing," Jarod replied.

"I don't believe it," Keiza declared. "You're in a circle. It's very suspicious."

"Okay, okay," James admitted. "We were telling Mina to back off of Jewel." 

"Our little Jewel?!" I said shockingly.

"Unfortunately. She showed her powers to the other kid brawlers and Mina didn't like that. She and her friends began to tease Jewel,the other kids tried to help but they soon became victims as well."

"Where are they?" Summer asked with concern.

"They're in the cafe," Jarod replied.

"Let's go!" We immediately went over to the cafe and saw all kids gathered in a circle. One of the children, whose name was Lucas, was crying and the others were trying to comfort him.

"Don't cry, Lucas!" one of the kids exclaimed. "We can't let them get to us."

"But what if they're right?" Lucas sobbed. "Will we amount to anything at all?"

"Cheer up!" Jewel smiled. "They may make fun of us but we have something they don't know."

"What's that?"

"Our weird humor!" I interrupted with a shout without realizing what I had said. I brought out a silly smile to make them happy and they started to laugh. 

"That  probably sounded better in her head." I heard Summer whisper to Keira. 

"But in all seriousness," I continued, "we have each other and that's what matters most."

"That's right!" Jarod proclaimed. "We'll all get through this together. What do you say?"

"Yeah!" everyone else cheered. In a little while, everyone dispersed except for me, Summer, and Keiza. I noticed that Keiza gave a shy wave at James, who returned her gesture with a wink.

"Ooo..." I uttered as soon as he left. "I sense a little romance going on."

"What?" Keiza responded with a little blush. "You saw that?"

"Oh please, I see everything! How long has it been going steady?"

"Wait, what?" Summer questioned, who wasn't paying attention.

"There's nothing steady going on, Lizzy!" Keiza blurted out.

"Then what was the wink and the wave thing?" I asked with a smile.

"Nothing!"

"What's going on?" Summer wondered, unknown of the situation.

"I'm just asking if-" I began but was interrupted by Keiza saying,

"No, Lizzy! There is NOTHING!" Summer and I glared at Keiza, even though the former had no idea what we were talking about. Keiza then sighed nervously and said, "Fine...there's only one thing. But it's not a relationship!"

"That escalated quickly," Summer commented.

"It's not going to escalate at all!"

"I'm sorry I asked," I apologized. "I just wanted to see if anything was up."

"No, there isn't," Keiza replied. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go somewhere else for now." She then left the room, leaving Summer and I really confused.

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" I told my companion.

"What?" Summer questioned.

"Help Keiza with her love problem while I'm gone."

"Why? You know I don't like or even know much about that sort of thing."

"But it's Keiza and she's your older sister."

"Do I have to or could I ask other people to help?"

"You have- wait. That's not a bad idea. You should totally do it!"

"Okay, will do captain," she said mockingly.

*************************************

"Doesn't that feel wrong to you?" the boy clad in black wondered.

"Wait, what?" I replied after telling him the plan.

"You can't just create some wild scheme to get James and Keiza together. That just makes no sense to me!"

"Sure you can! Just like that one play where a family and friends worked together to cause some romance."

"I don't read plays, Lizzy. I read books."

"So do I!" At that point, I grabbed a book from a little backpack I brought to the gaming world. "I bring books with me all the time," I explained. "It's this weird habit of mine-" I immediately stopped myself from continuing the conversation. In that definitive second, I realized I forgot something of great significance that should have been answered the first time I met him. 

"What's wrong?" my friend asked.

"I just...forgot to ask your name. You knew mine after our first conversation. But I never had yours."

"Oh! That might help you a little. Okay then - my name is Forest."

"Forest?" I repeated. "That's a very unique name!" Before he could respond, I saw a shooting star at the corner of my eye. I stood up from where we were sitting, and turned my head towards the deep night sky. It was gone before I had a chance to see its beauty. "Missed it," I sighed sadly. Forest decided to stand and look up as well. It seemed that he wanted to keep me company in every way or it was the sky that took his attention. The stars were in position of brilliance as they lit up the dark night. You could even see them in specific pairs with other stars to imitate water flowing. Every night beforehand was the same, but this was a sight I never saw before.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Forest spoke after many minutes. "It only comes out a few times each year."

"Why?" I asked with intense curiosity.

"It's to remind this world what happened a few years ago. People officially call this The Lament of the Lightria."

"Who's Lightria?"

"They were an ancient tribe that guarded the balance of dark and light. They tried not to associate themselves with the people they protected, but a compassionate king turned it around. However, the ruler died years ago and left his only child to rule the realm. But she passed as well. Now all light weeps for their beloved guardians, and so does the world." Forest grew silent after he said those words while I remained quiet. It was a sad story indeed, but only this world mourns. Earth never told us about a clan of light, not even a slight idea of it. I usually ask more questions to further the subject except when it needs to be set aside. This was one of those occasions, so I dropped the subject entirely.

"Do you like how each star is different?" I asked Forest.

"How are they different?"

"They have different colors and brightness. It might be another world out there!"

"Some stars seem to be by themselves at times. They must enjoy their solitude."

"But don't you think that stars 'mingle' with each other?"

"If they did, how horrible it would be if one star is left by itself because it was different."

"They're not all like that."

"How do you know?" By impulse, I gave him the book I clutched in my hands. The literature was plain blue with a few tears on its rigid pages. At the top of the book, it said Astronomy in bright bold letters.

"Read it and find out!" I exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"You have a book for every occasion." Forest noted as he received the book.

"Pretty much. I read all kinds of books. Don't you?"

"I do. It's that I'm not a crazy bookworm like you." I laughed at being called 'the Crazy Bookworm'. I've had an obsession with books ever since I was young, or at least I think so. I honestly can't remember my past or anything else about me. They have a word for someone that has my condition: amnesiac. I shiver when people say that term because it scares me to think of the unknown. All I know is the present, that I am Lizzy Belle and a powerful swordsman with a group of friends. Someday, I'll figure it all out and get back to being myself. 

"By the way," my friend began, "I won't be around tomorrow."

"Really?" I said. "Where are you going?"

"There's something I have to take care of. You understand, right?"

"Of course. Just read that book for me, okay?" He nodded and I decided to leave for my room. I began to walk away when he suddenly mumbled,

"It's not real." I stopped to look back at him. He wasn't looking at me, though. His eyes were staring at the sky and I wondered in that moment if he referred to me.

"What isn't real?" I pondered to myself. It's strange to think of another's word like that. But these words were peculiar and didn't make sense. Did something happen to reality?