It wasn't very long before I had realized as to what was happening. My thought immediately turned to what was going on back home, my mom.... She would be worried sick for me, literally. I heard the sound of a throat clearing, and I shifted my gaze to what was in front of me. I needed to be focused on the now, what was here at the present and tangible. "Oh right," I began to move myself to catch up with the new man, "Where exactly are we going?"

"Quick with questions aren't you?" came Creation Cavalier's reply. His voice was stark, and it seemed to have a familiar ring to it, but at the same time it was dismissive and cold.

My head hung low, and I slowed to a halt. "Sorry..." my voice lurked low to the ground.

"Don't be... It just reminded me of an old Mendigo saying actually..."

"Really?" I raised my head, and my voice had a glimmer of cheerfulness to it, "Which one?"

He thought for a moment, "Curiosity killed the cat, but..." he looked up at the sky as he had said so.

"But satisfaction brought it back." I finished the saying for him, and he nodded.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking."

"Who taught you that?"

"A young girl from long ago... You remind me of her a bit..." He then shook his head, as if he was trying to forget the thought.

"Oh, sorry... Did I..."

"No, it's no problem," he quickly cheered up, to my surprise, "We need to get to camp before dark, so we can you know..." he trailed off.

I nodded my head. "Where at?"

"You wouldn't know where we'd be going, sorry..."

"Okay." That let my spirits down as we continued to walk.

It took about three hours before we passed by a village. The run-down houses lined the dirt path, filled with gravel, and trash littered the streets.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"The poor people here..." Creation ignored my question, "I wonder how long it takes before they realize the damage done to the people..."

I stopped, and gazed around me. Sure enough, there were people who were dirty, dressed in baggy torn clothes, of all shapes and sizes. They were all looking at the same thing.

They were staring at me. "Why are they staring?" I asked him.

"That's right... Your appearance isn't proper, we need to fix that. Follow me." He walked off towards a house near the center of town.

Nervous and self-conscious of my appearance, I hesitantly followed him. When I had reached the place that he had chosen, Creation handed me a set of clothing. "Put these on." He ordered, and I stared at him.

"I, uh...." were the only words that slipped from my lips. I didn't quite like where this appeared to be going.

Creation appeared to notice my nervousness, and he immediately looked away. "S-Sorry! I won't look! I promise!" He claimed, and held out his hand, "Put Trevor here, and change... We'll be out here."

I tilted my head in agreement as I took the clothes. I then handed Trevor over to Creation. I then walked inside the building, and closed all open gaps to provide a sense of privacy.

I looked at the clothes, and noted their odd appearance. A pale brown shirt and pants, with silver buttons near the sides. The material was smooth and somewhat familiar to that of an athletic shirt. They had a pair of plain brown boots, made from a leather-like material. The gloves ere darker and they had a strange yellow writing near the end. A belt accompanied the outfit, and like the rest of the outfit, it fit the monochromatic color scheme.

After putting on the outfit, I found that it was very tight fitting, to my dismay. I walked out, my dirty clothes in hand, and Creation was staring out into the distance, where children were playing what appeared to be soccer and badminton in one game.

"I, uh... I'm back." I tapped his shoulder.

He seemed to cut back from his thoughts, and he grunted in agreement.

"What are they playing?" Curiosity leaked out.

"Oh, a children's game called Kurioban." he responded.

"Really? What's-"

"I see you're ready."

"Oh, yeah."

"Hand them over." His arms were held out, and I obliged.

"Trevor." He handed me the still slumbering fairy.

"Oh, you haven't taken off..." He used a hand and waved around his eyes.

"Oh, these?" I tapped my glasses, and Creation nodded. "I can't."

"Why?" His voice seemed to be hiding an underlying tone, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"These help me see. I can't see without them."

He made an oh expression on his face, and put my clothes in his bag. "You're wearing the belt wrong by the way." he responded as he said so, a bit of humor in his tone.

"What do you mean?" Confusion spread on my face. I looked down at the belt, which hung snugly on my waist.

"You are."

"But you are wearing it the same way!" came my protests, and I gestured towards his belt.

"In Mendwall, male citizens wear the belts like this, and female a bit higher... It's a form of discerning genders between species." He raised the belt until it was halfway in my torso, which didn't make me feel any less self-conscious. If anything, it made me even more self-conscious. My face had lit up in embarrassment as he had done so.

"Okay! I get it." I held my arms up in defense, careful to keep Trevor in my grasp, and Creation just tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Okay..." was all he said, a tone of confusion and disappointment readily available in the edge of his voice.

Why? Why did his voice seem so familiar to me? I've never been to Mendwall, so I shouldn't know anybody here... Right?

"Hey!" Creation's voice cut off my thoughts, and I looked at him. He was far ahead of me, and I realized that we needed to move. "Are you coming?"

"I'm coming!" I called after him, and turned to go after him, when I felt something grab my gloved wrist.

I turned around to see a little child staring up into my eyes. Their grip was taut, and their jet black hair fell halfway down the neck, knotted and messy. They appeared to look like a red Grimer from Pokemon, but they were so... Sad. Their bright blue eyes stared deep into my own.

"Oh, hello there." I greeted the child, and I heard a pair of footsteps come rushing up to me, to which I assumed were Creation's.

"Are... You a messenger?" they answered back. The footsteps stopped behind me.

Messenger? I thought on that for a bit, a bit perplexed. "Possibly..." I knelt down to this child, and gave them a tender smile.

"Can you send my Papa a message then?" their eyes began to sparkle at me.

I had to hold back tear as I replied. "Yes," was all I could do, "Yes I can..."

Their eyes widened as they squealed. "Thank you! Thank you!" And with that, they pulled me into a hug.

"Yeah, What's the message?" I wrapped my arms nervously around the child after setting Trevor down, their skin slightly slimy where my arms were bare.

"Tell my Papa that I miss him!" they stared into my eyes once again as they continued, "I hope he comes home soon! I love him, and Mama misses him!"

"Where is he?" I asked, afraid of where this child's father was.

"Near Eidenstchaflin! His name is Carden!"

"Okay..." My voice gave out as a tear fell...

This child... This child was filled with so much hope...

And it was infectious, as I found myself smiling. "Yes," I wiped my face, "I'll tell your Papa."

"Many thanks!" they gave me a bow.

"What's your name? So I can tell your Papa who sent the message."

"Sylvan!"

"Alright Sylvan, I'll tell your Papa. But I need to go..."

"Okay. Goodbye Messenger!" Sylvan scooted off to go tho their mother, who just smiled at me, to which I returned.

I grabbed Trevor once again, stood up, and dusted off the outfit I wore. "Why didn't you say anything?" I asked Creation.

"You seemed to be in control." was his only reply.

"Anyways," I turned around and walked past him, and I sighed heavily "Where to now?"

"Luckily for you, Eidenstchaflin is on the way... We'll be there by early next week. You sure you want to do this?"

"I have to... For Sylvan's sake..."

"You are too nice, you know that?"

I nodded my head slowly.

"We need to go now." I followed Creation as he walked off.

We made it to the designated camp grounds within the course of three hours. I set Trevor down and sat down.

I looked around, and noticed a large lake there, and I felt my heart ache.

After a few minutes of staring at the lake, I hesitantly walked over to it. I picked up a small, flat rock that laid on the shore and stared at it. I sat down on the shore.

I remembered how Ollie and I used to go to the pond near my house and skip rocks, mainly him at first, but he taught me once I asked him how to. Eventually we'd use our time at the pond to tell each other stories, confess secrets to one another, and just skip stones.

I clutched the rock tighter, and brought my arm back, and I threw the stone towards the lake, making sure to flick my wrist. The rock flew towards the lake, and I managed to skip the rock about fifteen times before I heard the familiar plop sound. The rock had sunk. And with it, my mood. I began to tear up, the thought that I'd never see anybody I knew ever again in the front lines of the battle of my mind.

"What was that?" I heard creation's voice from behind me, and his footsteps came with.

"That?" I turned my head to look at him. He nodded, although a worried expression was on his face.

"What was it? Never seen that in my life." as he said so, he turned his face away with he made a face.

One that appeared to be of guilt.

"It's nothing, it's just me skipping rocks."

"Is crying involved in it?" He gestured to my face, and I realized that I was crying.

"No."

"They why the tears?"

He never knew when to let up, did he? I decided to answer him though.

"I'm crying..." I started, and he looked at me, as if he was asking me if he could sit, and I nodded as I continued, "Because it reminds me of my best friend."

"How so?"

"He'd take me to the nearby pond, ever since we were young, and he'd skip tones as I watched him. One day, I asked if he could teach me, and he agreed. It took a bit of time, but I eventually got the hang of kipping rocks, and we'd use our time there to skip rocks and chat for no apparent reasons. Our conversations were about nothing."

"He sounds like a nice friend."

"It was the most precious time I had outside of my family. And he was in fact, the greatest friend that I had..."

"Then why the long face? Shouldn't you be happy then?"

"I made things awkward between us."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Why's that?"

I paused for a moment, contemplating as to why I was telling him everything. Should I tell him?

"I went to a party once with him."

"How is that awkward?"

"It was recently, and I was sort of dragged there by another friend, and she wouldn't let me leave, so I stuck around." I clenched a fist on my shirt, where my heart lied.

"I... Played a game, a dangerous one at that, depending who, where, and when you play it..."

"What was the game called?"

"Truth or Dare. It's-"

"We have that game here, so continue."

"Anyways, I was the one who had to pick truth or dare, and I decided 'Why the heck not? I've been choosing truth the entire time,' so I mixed it up and chose dare. I regret that. I was dared to 'Flirt with my best friend,' and I had to do so right then and there." My face heated up, for fear began to well up inside me, and I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them close "I kind of... Uh..."

"Yes?"

"I took it too far, let's just leave it at that!" I turned away and rested my face in my arms, hiding my hot face from him.

"Oh okay... What's bad about that?"

"It'd be fine if it was anybody else..."

"How so?"

"There was a tiny problem with that... Not only was he my friend, but this was around the time that..." I trailed off.

"That..." Creation continued my dragged on statement.

"I," I sighed, and swallowed my fear, "It was near the beginning of when I had a crush on him."

"What's a 'crush'?"

Was this guy serious? I couldn't blame him. "I began to have feelings for him. And it made it awkward, well, for me at least. It just makes me sad that there's the possibility that I'll never see him again."

"I'm sorry. We'll get you home."

"Thanks for listening, I don't know why I told you all of that."

"I've been told that I'm an easy person to talk to. Come on, lets get camp set up."

And for the first time since I reached Mendwall, I smiled with happiness, and my mind was at ease.