I opened the door of my mom’s house once more and stepped inside once again. My mother saw us and walked over.
“So, did you work everything out?” She asked.
“Not exactly.” I admitted.
She crept inside and sat down at the table. I sat beside her and watched her calmly.
“So… first question,” Jennifer started, “Where am I? And give as much detail as possible.”
I paused and thought about it for a bit.
“Well, the name of our planet is Avaryx. We’re in the Northwest Region, this district is the Priemery district, which you already know, and we are in district code 2553.” I answered as best as I could. Jennifer thought deeply about what I told her and asked the next question.
“So… this isn’t Earth?” she asked quietly.
“Is that where you’re from?” I ask
“Yeah.” She answered.
“Well… No, this isn’t Aerth.” I say,
“Earth.” She said sharply
“That’s what I said.” I replied in confusion.
There was a long silence as Jennifer took in the information. I guess she had to realize that she wasn’t familiar with the things around her anymore. She murmured a few things to herself, and I only heard bits and pieces.
“Avaryx?... planet with life… impossible… What happened to Gwen?... This is insane…” she whispered
After a very long silence, I decided that I could probably ask my question now.
“Okay, my turn… How did you get here- if you remember.” I ask
“Oh, I remember alright,” she says. “So, the power had gone out in my house and I was gonna see what the problem was. That’s when my sister, Gwen, decided to startle me. She was just joking around, but I honestly didn’t enjoy the joke. Anyway, we both made it downstairs and I grabbed a fuse for the fuse box-”
“What’s a fuse bo-” I questioned
“Lemme finish first, So we walk into the garage-” she started
“What’s a gara-” I asked.
“Dude. Save your questions for the end.” She says, “I walked into the garage and while we were looking for the fuse box, I noticed something in the dark. I grabbed my sister and hid behind my dad's work bench. I decided to take a look at what was there and it was some sort of strange creature. I tried to tell my sister, Gwen, about it, but when she looked, it had already gone. So, she got up with the fuse and walked over to the fuse box, but before she could do anything else, something moved really fast and she disappeared. I was looking all over the house for her when I finally found her door, which was now a portal and I walked through. Then all of a sudden, I’m in a cave. I walked out, and that’s when I met you.”
I looked at her and she looked at me.
“I know it’s a lot.” she said.
“... What’s a fuse box?” I ask again.
“Is that seriously the only part of the story you were worried about?” She asks.
“No! Of course not,” I say, “I also want to know what a garage is.”
She blinked twice and glared at me.
“Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood…” I say “So, what did the creature look like?”
“Alright, it didn’t have ears, it had black skin, and a big white x on it’s back. Also, some purple spines and like, 4 eyes. I know that doesn’t sound believable but I swear that’s what it looked like.”
This time, I blinked twice and looked at her.
“There was a Null in your house?!” I ask, worriedly. “Um, okay don’t freak out but your sister could be in trouble.”
“What?” Jennifer exclaims. “What’s a Null?!”
“Oh y’know, nothing crazy, just one of the most dangerous creatures in Avaryx…”
Jennifer stared right into my soul.
“Are you telling me that my sister is possibly with the most dangerous creature on this planet? Even more dangerous than that thing we fought earlier?”
“What thing?” my mom chimed in.
Wow, I totally forgot she was standing, like, four feet away.
“You two got into a fight? With who?”
I look at my mother and think of how to sugar coat this correctly. Fighting an Ecraz is a pretty big deal and… yeah forget it, she’s not gonna take this well.
“Oh you know, wefoughtanecraz...” I mumbled quickly
“What was that?” she pressed
“We fought an Ecraz.” I said again, more clearly. The look on her face was just… wow, like whatever you’re imagining right now, it was probably 10 times worse.
“You what!” She exclaimed. Jennifer leaned over and whispered in my ear,
“Are we not supposed to fight Ecrazies or something?”
“Technically, Ecrazes are considered a life threat to rank 5 Psyix users, I’m rank 2, and you don’t use any Psyix so…” I whisper back
“Do you two have any idea how dangerous that was!” she shouted.
My mother was livid, there was steam coming out of her ears. No, seriously! Actual steam! (That happens when Aqua Psyix users get mad) I was genuinely concerned for my safety.
“Okay! Yes! But we beat him! And look, not a scratch.” I reassure her
She glared at me so hard, I had to check my pulse to make sure she didn’t kill me with her eyes. But, she eventually just sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, at least you two are alright…” she mumbled.
Jennifer tilted her head a bit.
“Was that actual steam?” she whispered. Then, she shook her head.
“Wait! What about my sister?”
“Oh, she… she’ll be fine.” My mom says slowly.
I looked up at her, she looked back at me and nodded slowly. I looked back at Jennifer. I punched my fist to my palm and said,
“We better get looking then!”
Jennifer nodded and smiled then it disappeared as she looked down.
“Uhh…” she said, gesturing towards her pajamas. My mom handed me some Quartz
“Go buy her some adventuring gear.” she suggested. I nodded and we headed out the door. Before I did though, my mom stopped me.
“Zeke… I need you to promise me something.” she started quietly.
I gave her a questioning look. She put her hand on my cheek.
“Promise me you’ll be careful. If you can, avoid the Null at all costs. This girl needs her sister back, but there’s a reason a lot of people don’t come back from a Null abduction.”
I smiled and placed my hand on hers.
“I promise.” I said.
She took a deep breath and stepped back. I reached for the door.
“Zeke?” she spoke out to me.
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, mom.”
And I stepped out of the door.
Our house was about one thousa from Vix’s shop. So we could walk. We headed out the door and started on the path to the clothing shop, monsters not included.
As we walked, Jennifer kept looking around. Her eyes danced with thought.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah… I guess this stuff is all pretty new to me. It’s… it’s just a lot. All I gotta do is buy adventurers gear so I can go find my lost sister and retrieve her from what might be the most dangerous creature on the planet I’ve never been to, no pressure, and then I gotta make sure I don’t die before I do. Because based on what I’ve seen, Avaryx is nothing but volatile and-” she stopped herself and sighed, holding herself again.
“...I’ll be fine. I’m gonna be okay.” she reassured herself.
We walked quietly for a while. Almost the whole way, Jennifer’s eyes glanced around at me and the sky and the grass and everything else around us. I wondered what rapid thoughts she was having, because it was obvious she was having them.
Then, she glanced at me.
“How did you do all that magic earlier?” she asked curiously
“Mah...jick?” I replied. I’ve never heard of ma-jick, but it sounds interesting.
“Yeah, when you turned into light and you made that wind come out of your hands.” She made a faint pushing gesture, similar to the one I made earlier
“Oh, you mean Psyix?” I made a tiny, cutesy spiral of wind in my hand.
“Yeah, that.” She confirmed. I let the mini-twister fade and looked up, trying to think of a way to explain it.
“Well, I don’t completely understand it all myself, I mean, I’m only rank 2,” I began, “but, the best way to explain it is, there are 8 Affinities, Pyro, Aqua, Gaia, Gale, Shade, Shock, Vital, and Astral. Affinities are the different types of Psyix that a person can use. For example, I have the… Gale affinity, which is why I use air and wind type Psyix-”
“Like Pokemon!” Jennifer blurted.
“What? What’s that?” I asked
“Oh well-, you know what, nevermind. Please, continue.”
“Well, Affinities are chosen based on Heartstone reactions, and they stay like that for viennas”
“Viennas?” She interrupted.
“Yeah, you know, like 385 days?
“385?”
“Yeah… 385.”
She just looked at me.
“This planet is sooo weird.” She groaned.
“I- wha- says the girl with weird dots on her face!” I remarked. It was a brash reaction but I guess I took more pride in my planet than I thought.
She put her hands over her cheeks and blushed.
“Don’t make fun of my freckles!” She grumbled
“Freckles? That’s the weirdest word I’ve ever pronounced,” I murmured. We both continued to walk. I looked away from her and silently watched the tall, wide Cicette trees. The pinkish- white Cicette flowers were blooming and their petals floated in the wind. The blue grass shimmered with light as the clouds let Solight through. I like my planet, maybe it is weird, but I like it. I turned back to see Jennifer looking at me. She quickly turned her head away. She scratched her head and sighed.
“I’m sorry I called your planet weird,” she began, “It actually seems like a really cool place.”
“No, I get it, it’s probably super strange for you, you are on a different planet after all… Sorry I called your dots weird.” I said.
She just turned away.
We continued to walk, the wind guided my scarf through the air behind me and it made me feel tranquil. I looked back at Jennifer and she was looking up. There was definitely something going through her head. Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up and she gasped.
“Oh, so you guys’ days are longer than the ones on Earth?” she asked.
“It’s shorter on Aerth?” I asked.
“Earth,” She said once more, “But, yes! Rennas must be hours, and viennas are years!”
“I’m not entirely sure what that means but if you get it then, great!” I replied.
“Wait, what about weeks and months?” She asked. Before I could ask what that meant, I realized that we were at the clothing shop.129Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwqjDvih4C
