Theo raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, then joined her in smiling. Both Theo and Mariah shared a knowing gaze while I sat there in the dark.

"Found another what?" I asked in confusion.

"Another Arikan." Mariah's gaze moved from Theo to me. My brows also arched in surprise, and a light smile traced my lips. I couldn't help but feel excited.

"Where are they?" Theo said, beating me to the question. "Are they here? In Almera?"

"Not exactly." Mariah's eyes slid down before popping up again. "It is less of we've found him and more of we've spotted him."

"Him?" I asked. "So it's guy?" Mariah gave me an amused smile.

"Yes, it is a guy."

"Wait, what do you mean by spotted?" Theo said, pulling us back in topic. Mariah's smile faded slightly.

"Well, a colleague of mine spotted him in a tavern in a city by the name of Mendrick. The world he's in is that of Yaris." Theo frowned at her words.

"Yeris?" He asked, not for clarification, but in hopes he was mistaken.

Mariah let out a hefty sigh.

"I'm afraid so." She said. Theo closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What's wrong with Yeris?" I asked, Once again in the dark. Theo opened his eyes again, and caught mine.

"Yeris is one of the worlds Derkon has the biggest grip on. It is crawling with his minions. It's one of the most dangerous places for us to go." He sighed, then let out a laugh that completely lacked humor. "And that happens to be were we're going." Theo caught my still confused gaze, and before I could get the words past my lips, he answered my question. "We are going to be the ones to travel to Yeris, and find the other Arikan." Theo has had enough experience with my ignorance the past month, that he could practically read my mind when it came to obvious questions.

"So where is this other Arikan? Would he still be in Mendrick?" I asked.

"I don't know." Mariah replied. " He could be, but there is the possibility that he has already left the town."

"Then how we going to find him?"

"We'll have track him." Theo answered this time. He then turned his attention to Mariah. "When do you want us to leave?"

"As soon as possible." She replied without hesitation. "We want to get to him, if he's traveling away from the city, before he gets to far. The only thing that I know about him is he has black, white tipped hair, and he goes by the name of Flynn. Now, get together anything you'll need for the trip and head out, just... be careful." She gave us a sad smile before Theo turned, and walked out, and I quickly followed.

We entered the long hall way walking silently. I took this as a golden opportunity to reflect on the conversation that just took place.

The idea of us leaving Almera made my stomach churn slightly. The idea began to become real. I was on the verge of leaving a safe haven in turn for a unknown world that could only be filled with dangers. Over the past month, Almera had become my second home, and I was about to walk out of its protections.

I went from thinking of my second home, and to my first. My real home. A small lump emerged in my throat as I though back, picturing the layout of my old house, and the faint smell of cinnamon that was entangled in its objects. The memory encrusted times I had with my dad over our Friday night take-outs.

Then the image of Jennifer floated into plain sight. She was the person that always knew what I needed, even if I didn't get know for myself. Leaving my dad and her was easily the most difficult shift.

I walked along side Theo lost in heart wrenching thoughts, nearly unaware of my surroundings. I must have been showing some kind of signs of distraught on my face, because I was pulled out of the dangerous caverns of my mind by Theo's voice.

"Are you okay?" He asked. His voice shifted from his usual stiff, unreadable tone, to one hinted with concern. I swallowed the lump in my thoughts and replied, "I'm fine." My voice wavered slightly. He raised an eyebrow a me, then looked on ahead, obviously unconvinced. I caught him occasionally giving me side glances as if to make sure I was still there.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I finally asked.

"Doing what?" He never let his eyes stray from the path in front of him.

"You keep looking at me." I said slightly uncomfortable. The corner of his lips moved up in the smallest movement possible. His eyes still never moved in my direction.

"You're just so quiet, I have to check if you're still there. Don't want you running off right before the fun starts."

"You call running off risking our lives fun?"

"Beats sitting around training all day." I let out a sighed laugh. "Especially when that's all you do." My brows frowned in confusion.

"What do you you mean?" His eyes scanned my face before he turned back to the hall in front of us.

"I don't often leave Almera. Almost all my life I've been here learning about the other worlds, and training in preparation for all this. I guess... I'm just glad for all the training to be over, and for us to get into something real." His words sparked question.

"When did you first come here to Almera?"

"After my mother died when I was four."

"Oh... I'm sorry. How did you lose her?" His eyes seemed to darken, and he didn't speak for a moment.

"She got sick." He finally said. His voice darker. "Here, hold this." He plopped some rope into my arms. I then realized that we had walked into a room that looked like the combination of a supply room and a small armory. after turning his back to me and his attention to packing, he began filling up a satchel with contents I couldn't see. He continued to talk.

"Mariah was a close friend off hers, and after my mom died, Mariah took me in, and brought me here." His hands paused for a moment. "Mariah practically raised me." His voice was  unreadable, keeping his emotions masked.

He flipped close the satchel, and turned to face me before placing it on top of the bundle of rope in my arms. He than turned towards the armory section of the room. His eyes surveyed the lines of weapons before deciding. He grabbed a decent sized sword along with a light crossbow.

He has given me a lesson or two with the crossbow, and I seemed to be decent at it.

Theo sheathed the sword and retrieved a small quiver full of the crossbows bolts. He placed them with the others in my arms, creating a small mound of clutter. I began to feel like a human shelf.

"What about you?" I heard Theo ask as he turned back to the armory section.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"What about your life... before you met me, that is."

"Boring." I said with a stale laugh. The word slipped off my tongue without warning. The careless way I said the word made my old life seem so dull. I strangely felt the need to elaborate, in a way of defending my old life.

"Well... it wasn't  boring per say, it just not nearly as exciting as it is now."

Theo's soft chuckles barely caught my ears because of my super human hearing (that, thankfully, I could now control). He seemed amused at the way I had explained my earlier life.

"I'm glad I've brought so much excitement into your life." He said loading his short swords, that he had the day we met, on to my hill of supplies. He also added a small sheathed dagger as well. The pile was so big that I had to use my chin to hold everything steady.

Theo simply smirked at my struggle before turning away. Oh, how he bugged me. I shot a narrowed glare at his back for not offering to assist me.

"You know you can also carry some of this." I said to him while shifting my arms to a more comfortable position, but stopped when some bolts came dangerously close to sliding out of the quiver, leaving my arms in a even worse position.

"I can't. I'm getting everything. Besides, I'm just trying to give you something to do, make you useful."

"Useful as a human shelf?"

"Well I guess that's one way to look at it." He said while flipping something open on the wall. I came in for a closer look after thinking I saw a keypad.

I shuffled to his side juggling the contents in my arms. One of these moments of standing right beside him reminded me of just how much his height towered over mine. I had barely reached his shoulders.

I looked to see what he was doing and I was right about the keypad. He was punching a code into it, and once he finished, a small drawer popped out. Inside of it, it contained a metal wrist band. To me it looked like a slick silver fitbit. The metal band had a small engraved white circle at the top of it.

The rest of the small drawer was filled in, leaving a perfect grove for the band to fit exact in.

Theo grabbed the band then pressed a finger on the small white circle. He released his finger, and a small hologram of a flat, square surface projected from the circle.

I was surprised to see such technology, here of all places!

Theo looked at it as if the device was normal. My guess is he had used it before. He clicked on the circle again, closing the hologram.

"What did you do?" I asked him, still looking down at the band.

"Checked to see if it was all the way charged." He replied slipping it into his pocket.

"Charged for what? What does it do?"

"I'll tell you later." He grabbed some of the contents in my arms, relieving me from a bit of the weight. "Follow me." He lead me out the door where we came in view of a window.

The sun had already gone down, and it was completely dark out.

Looking out the window, Theo paused, looking into the blackness. He seemed to be debating something in his mind.

"Actually," He finally spoke. "Give me your stuff." I put what was left in my arms into his. I let my tires arms flop to my side gladly. "Go get some sleep, I will finish gathering supplies. We leave early in the morning." Without another word, he walked off.

It took me a while to figure out where my room was, because I wasn't paying attention when we made our way into the supply room. I was glad when I finally spotted familiar halls.

I closed my door behind, and slipped off my dress and slipped into much more comfortable one.

I flipped on to my bed with a sigh. This was a tiring day, and I was ready curl up into a blissful sleep. I pulled the covers up to my waist, and rolled on to my side.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then thirty.

I didn't know why I couldn't go to sleep given the circumstances of how tired I was. It was like my body was saying yes, but for some reason my mind wouldn't agree. I wish it would.

I let out a sigh and began to let my mind wander. I thought about what Theo had said about finally getting into something real. I was out of training. No more blunted swords, but deadly blades. No more falling to the ground knowing I can get up and start again, but having to fight for my life knowing that every mistake threatened it. No more facing Theo knowing I was always safe, but facing a monster that could likely be the death of me.

I was so deep in thought, I didn't realize my body slightly trembling. A chill washed over my body, causing me to pull my covers up to my chin, but it didn't help. I cradled myself under the blankets, and felt a lump, impossible to swallow, rose in my throat.

The thought of the possible brutal things that could come outside of Almera. The haunting thoughts made frightened wet beads drip on to my pillow.

A single thought drifted into my mind that relaxed my tense shoulders, and let a calmness soak my soul.

Theo.

He was going to be with me every step of the way. He would be by my side when it got rough. He wouldn't let anything happen to me. He would protect me.

I kept these thoughts glued in my head, not allowing anything harsh to intrude them.

At one point, I fell asleep with these statements of Theo comforted my mind.

It felt more like minutes than hours when I woke up.

I was half way awake after a jolting shake coming from my super arm. I moved my hand to my arm as if an attempt to hold it still to keep it from shaking, not even allowing my eyes to open first. Instead of griping my arm, like intended, I grabbed on to soft skin.

I had a tight hold on a hand. My sleeping brain shifted around attempting to figure out what hand I was holding.

"Skyler."

The voice made my eyes shoot open in realization.

I was fully awake now.

I slid my hand away from where it had lingered for far too long.

I flipped my head to face him while propping myself up on my elbows.

My eyes met with his usual raised eyebrow gaze, staring at me as if I were something curious.

Looking up at him I noticed he didn't have his usual ears and tail. It was weird seeing him, as some would say, normal. I also noticed his black cloak draped over his shoulders, falling over them like inky waterfalls. He had the dagger he got from the small armory yesterday. I suspected that his two swords were strapped to his back, like the night we ment, only this time covered by his cloak.

I then turned my attention to the window seeing that it was unusually dark. It was before dawn. I know he said that we would be leaving early, but I didn't guess it was this early.

I let out a small groan, lifting myself into the sitting position. I wondered what time I actually drifted off last night, because I felt like a zombie. I lazily slid off the bed, resting my bare feet on the cool surface of the floor.

"Get dressed. We need to get going." He handed me the cloths I had neatly folded in my nightstand. "Knock once you're ready." Theo walked out of the door.

I slipped out of my dress, putting on my cloths, then knocked once on the door. He came in almost instantly, showing that he was impatient to get going. He went and picked up a black bundle from the floor, and set it on top of the bed. Theo turned his head towards me as if remembering something.

"Turn into your human form real quick." Once I understood what he had said, I sped into a small jog, meeting into golden energy. I came out without my tail and usual wolf ears, which felt strange, and also, for some reason, felt weaker.

Theo signaled for me to come to him, and I did so. Once I reached him, he instantly wrapped his arms around me and behind me. I slightly tensed, not sure what he was doing, and was taken back by it. I even jumped a little when I felt something press against my back.

I suddenly relaxed once I realized that he was just strapping a sword to my back.

Theo starred down at my face after I had jumped.

"Are you okay?" He asked me while making sure the blade was secure on my back.

"Yes, I'm fine." He turned back to the bed, and grabbed the short crossbow. He strapped it on to my waist, letting the crossbow hang off my right hip. He then grabbed the quiver, and did it to the opposite hip. I felt a tingle when ever his hands accidentally skimmed my waist. He then placed a black cloak, like his, around my shoulders, and fastened it around my neck. He grabbed his satchel, and slung it over his shoulder.

He reached into his pocket, and retrieved the metal band from yesterday. He slipped it on to his wrist. He pressed down on the white circle. The hologram appeared as it it did the day before. He began clicking on the hologram that appeared to be somehow solid.

"So what does it do?" I asked as I did the previous time I had seen it.

"It's how we travel between worlds." Oh. I had been wondering how we did that, but forgot to ask. "Hold on to me tight. It will be a bit disorienting." He instructed. I held tight on his arm, which seemed to not be enough. He pulled his arm out of my grip, and slid it around my waist, pulling me in tight at his side. A slight blush tingles my cheeks, but I still wrapped an arm around him.

"Oh, you ment this tight." I said to our positioning. He let out a small chuckle at my comment.

"You ready?" Was I ready to become vulnerable in a strange world? I was leaving the protection of Almera, and entering a world of uncertain danger. I was turning off the safety.

I gave him a nod.

After a moment the world around me began to spin and fade away around me. I pulled myself tighter to Theo, and then there was a moment of pure nothingness.

A/N: Please remember to vote, and thanks for reading!