When he came to his senses, the world was wobbling. Blinking to wake up, he realized that he fell asleep while sitting. Wait. When did he do that? He was pretty sure he was sleeping on his Scarabia room's bed last night. Not only that, his room shouldn't smell like this. The scent of roasted vegetables and spices. Wait... He knows this smell... This is his favorite soup. But how-

"The boy will be under your care. Captain's order!"

Lifting his head, he finally looked around his surroundings. Now he was pretty sure he wasn't in his room. Instead, he was sitting behind one of a long table in some sort of a dining area connected to a small open-kitchen. A big rocky figure walked past him, walking up the stairs out of the room.

"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain."

Looking at the kitchen, he noticed there were other people in the room. One was a boy with brown hair and blue eyes, sitting on one of the counters, playing with the fruit in his hand. The other person wasn't really a human. It was half-man half-bear with a cyborg's hand.

"Yeah. You know, just before I left, I met this old salamander who was looking for a cyborg buddy. His name is... Billy Bones?"

At the boy's word, the man just chuckled, glancing at him a bit before going back to his cooking.

"Bones? Doesn't ring any bell. Must've been a different cyborg. Now, go watch the launch, lad. There will be plenty of work waiting for you afterward."

The boy gave the cyborg a suspicious look as he shoved his hands into his overly big coat's pocket but still turned around, passing Jonah's table without even acknowledging him. Well, it wasn't a surprise.

It seemed like the boy's gut was right. Just a few seconds later after he reached the deck, the cyborg stopped cooking as glanced at the stairs.

"We better keep a sharp eye on this one. We wouldn't want him straying into things he shouldn't."

As the pot of soup let out its wonderful steam, white flooded his vision until everything faded out. When he opened his eyes (again?), he found himself laying on his back, staring at the dark white ceiling above him and the familiar sound of a snoring cat beside him. He's back?

He sat up, staring at his lap. What was that? Was it the same as those strange visions with the Great Seven? But he wasn't holding the orb. How could he get those? And why? Who were those? And... His hand reached for his trebling prosthetic arm. That cyborg... He had never seen him before and yet felt close for some reason. And the boy... He vaguely remembers seeing him... Somewhere...

"Jonah?"

Someone was nudging on his side. Looking down the cat was staring at him worriedly with his ears down. "Sorry." He smiled picking up the cat and placed him in his lap. "Did I wake you up?"

"Did you have a nightmare?" the cat asked.

He opened his mouth but closed it again, not really knowing the right answer. "Just a strange dream. Let's sleep again." He laid down again as the cat curled up on his chest. He absentmindedly patted the cat as he stared at the ceiling.

What with these dreams anyway? So bizarre...

-----

"Jonah? Earth to Jonah..."

"Huh?"

Looking up, he found Asim snapping his fingers in front of his face. "You've been spacing off a lot today. You're not feeling so good?"

Jonah quickly shook his head. "Oh, nothing wrong. Just..." Looking down at his alchemy homework, he realized that he barely finished the first page. He bit his lip. "Had a lot of thoughts in my head."

"Hmm..." Asim tapped his chin, thinking for a second before his face brighten up and snapped his fingers. "I know just the thing.!" Looking past the balcony, the sky had turned orange. "And we're closing in dinner too. Yosh!"

Jonah raised an eyebrow at him, but Asim didn't notice. He stood up and clapped his hand gaining everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone! Study time is over!" There were collectives sigh and cheer between the students, knowing that this was the last day of training camp and they could go home tomorrow. "Take a break for a while before dinner. Can't wait for today's team feast!"

Asim turned to Jonah and Grim who closed their books. "Jonah, Grim. Come with me for a while?"

The boy and the cat glanced at each other with the cat shrugging. Jonah turned back to Kalim. "I guess we don't mind."

Asim beamed and pulled them to the side, passing Viper who paused from calling them, probably about leaving their stuff in the lounge, but he just sighed and facepalmed, letting Asim do what he wanted.

Asim pulled him down the hall with Grim sitting on top of his head. He wasn't running anymore but he was still holding his hand. "So. How does it feel to join this training camp?" Asim asked, turning his head toward him.

Jonah chuckled. "It was really fun. Thank you for having us, Senior Asim. I think we have some of our homework done. At least a quarter way." He glanced up to the cat on top of his head. "Right, Grim?"

Grim smirked, switching to a sitting position. "Heh. The Great Grim has no problem breezing through this tiny job!" His paws were on his hips and he puffed out his chest proudly. "With great food, we can finish this job in no time!"

Asim laughed. "I'm happy you enjoyed it, even just for two days. You'll be going home as well, after this?"

Jonah nodded. "We'll be calling the headmaster to pick us up. He said he wanted to take us for a family vacation."

"Heeh~ How gracious of him."

"Well..." Jonah shrugged. "It's the headmaster."

"You're right!" Asim laughed again. "You should come to visit my hometown in the Land of Hot Sands, too! I'll welcome you gladly!"

"Are you a prince or something?" Grim asked. "You kinda seem like one."

Asim puffed his cheeks, thinking for a second before shaking his head lightly. "The Asim Family isn't technically a royal household, so I'm not a prince. Though I have a lot of relatives that are royalty."

"Asim...?" Grim tilted his head to the side. "But isn't your full name Al-Asim?"

Asim giggled. "The 'Al' in my name means 'son' according to our country's olden language. And then, going back to my ancestor's names... All of the male family members born into our lineage add 'Al' to refer to themselves to indicate us as 'son of' our ancestors." Letting go of Jonah's hand, he stepped a few steps forward, spinning around and walking backward, still facing the Ramshackle Duo as if presenting himself. "In my case, our ancestor's last name is Asim, so adding 'Al' to that makes me 'Kalim Al-Asim', which basically means, 'Kalim, a son of the Asim Family' got it?"

"Heeh..." Jonah said. "I've never even thought of names' origins before at all..."

"Was it a bit difficult to understand since it's foreign?" Asim scratched behind his head. "Welp, you can just call me Kalim! I've told you this before, right?"

"Yeah, you did." Jonah laughed. "You're very nice, Senior Kalim."

Kalim smiled brightly. "Really? You're nice too, Jonah." He suddenly stopped in front of a double door. "We're here."

The prefect opened the doors and Jonah was sure his eyes were about to pop out of their socket. If the Scarabia dorm weren't golden enough, this room was filled with gold and jewels and treasure of all kinds, scattering everywhere, from the floor to the walls, piles almost reached the ceiling. With this amount the treasure he could buy the whole Night Raven College!

"Wha–!? What's this place!?" Grim shouted flying everywhere, trying to see every treasure in the room. "There're so many sparkling treasures!"

"All of these are things that Dad made me bring when I left home," Kalim said, stepping, followed by Jonah who was still amazed by the glitters. "But, they can't fit in my dorm room, so I borrowed this storage~"

Grim stared at the prefect dumbfounded. "This is not storage. It's practically a treasure vault!"

"Oh! You know such big words, Grim! Good for you~!" Kalim laughed, patting Grim on the head. "And the one I love most among this pile of treasures is..." He paused when he was about pointed at a pile of treasure. "Huh, where'd it go? That guy just moves around on its own, you know..." He started to look around ahead. "Hey, where'd you go~?"

Jonah stared at Kalim. Maybe he should help him. But what could he have lost in a treasure vault? Looking at Grim he was picking a golden cup. "There's a lot, so maybe stealing one or two won't be..." he snickered.

"Oi." Jonah smacked him at the back of his head playfully. "I know we're poor, but let's stay away from stealing, okay?"

"He won't even notice." He started to fill the cup with gold coins. "With these, I can buy a lifetime supply of tuna cans!" Jonah rolled his eyes before walking away, trying to push the thought of at least taking a handful of those colorful jewels. Kalim was still looking for something, but he mentioned something about moving. Does moving treasure even exist?

"Oi. Don't poke me."

Wait. Who was Grim talking to?

"Stop it—AH!"

Jonah ran back to Grim as Kalim popped his head from behind a hill of gold. "Grim?! What's wrong?"

Hovering above Grim was a multicolored carpet, mostly of red, black, and gold with a distinctive pattern depicting a tiger in all four corners and flames along the top and bottom and a gold pattern in the center that appears to consist of four swords and eight small genie lamps. "Th-the carpet is moving on its own! It's a cursed carpet!"

"Oh! So that's where you were." Kalim ran to the gang. The carpet seemed to recognize him as it perked up and flew to Kalim, twirling around him like it was hugging him. "You're getting better at hiding, buddy!"

"A... Magic carpet?" Jonah said, amazed. Grim flew behind him to hide but Jonah instead stepped closer to the other pair.

"Yep." Kalim laughed. The carpet flew next to Grim, bending his top part so like it was tilting its head. "This is the legendary Magic Carpet from the Land of Hot Sands! My dad said that it's a replica of the Magic Carpet that the Sultan the Sorcerer of the Desert served used to fly in the sky. It's an heirloom passed on in our family."

Jonah reached for one of the carpet's tassels, shaking it like a hand. "It's quite lovely," Jonah said and the carpet 'kissed' the back of his hand as a response.

"How about we go for a night walk?" Kalim nudged the carpet with his elbow, winking at it. It nodded and flew between them in a laydown position. Kalim easily climbed onto it, standing on his two feet. "After this long tiring training camp, maybe a little escapee is all we need."

Jonah looked at Grim behind him. He didn't look scared, just a little wary. He looked at the carpet who looked back at him. "Is it safe?"

"Sure. Do you trust me?"

Jonah paused. He looked back up at Kalim. "What?"

Kalim smiled warmly, stretching his hand toward him. "Do you trust me?"

It must've been Kalim's charm because for some reason Jonah's heart was beating faster in his chest. He felt so different than the others he had to interact with. So sincere and bright. Like the sun. There was no way this is the same troublesome boy Senior Viper described. Jonah's lips curled into a smile as Grim clutched his jacket. "Yes." He grabbed Kalim's hand and the Scarabia prefect pulled them to the carpet. Without any announcement, the carpet took off, forcing them to sit down to balance themselves.

Up they soared, and over the Scarabia dorm, past the clouds, into the beautiful night sky as the aurora light shone above them. Soaring, tumbling, and freewheeling through the endless diamond sky. Jonah, even after months in flying class, had never seen something as beautiful as this night.

"Whoa!" Grim peered down, no longer afraid. "The dorm's looking small already."

"How is it?" Kalim asked. "Being up on the clouds feels like we're in a different world, right?"

"This is amazing. It's like a whole new world," Jonah breathed out, looking at the rainbow-colored light.

Kalim laughed. "I know, right? Being able to fly freely in the sky is good, huh?" He sighed as he leaned back to his elbow. "It makes me forget even the smallest of troubles." He paused for a second. His smile slipped off a bit. "Though Jamil tells me that I'm worrying too much sometimes. I wish that he'd take it a little bit easy, too, you know..."

Jonah stared at him. Viper talked like Kalim didn't care at all, which was contradicting with what he said just now. "You really care about Senior Viper, huh?"

Kalim let out a soft chuckle. He was looking ahead, reminiscing of the past. "Jamil had been there since I was a kid. His family serves me for a very long time. And he... Well, he was just there. All the time."

Kalim always remembers every instance of Jamil's rare smile. The way he helped him with his homework, always smarter than him. At that time he finally felt relieved when Jamil finally woke up from his coma from food poisoning. Every night after Kalim slipped into Jamil's room after his kidnapping incident, wanting the warmth of Jamil's hug.

"I know he's just doing his duty but I... I just couldn't help it."

"Help with what?" Jonah asked again.

Kalim traced the pattern of the carpet. "Every time Jamil is near me, everything seems brighter and warmer. It's like everything can be better as long as I'm with him."

It was then they passed the bright full moon. As Kalim lifted his head toward Jonah, the captain's eye widened. "I guess, you can see that..."

Kalim's face looked somewhat more angelic from the shining light as the wind blew his hair softly. He was blushing a bit, ruby eyes shone in twinkle that Jonah couldn't recognize. It wasn't from cunningness or from getting an idea. But... Something else. Something warm. Something good.

And then, Kalim gave out the answer.

"I'm in love with him."