Ray awoke with a start, sitting up quickly and breathing rapidly. His heart was beating so hard and fast in his chest that he felt like he was going to be sick. He was petrified by what he just saw, to make matters worse he didn’t know why he felt so afraid. Eyes wide with terror, it took him a few minutes to calm down to realise that he had fallen asleep on a couch in the Twilight Heart library and that the events he had just witnesses were nothing but a bad dream. However, no matter how many times he told himself that it was just a dream, Ray couldn’t help but feel that it was too realistic to be called a simple nightmare. He had been having a lot of bad dreams of late, and he used to have all the time when Aleron took care of him. However, normally when he woke up, he forgot everything that happened, so it was the first time he had woken up and remembered. Just the thought of it made Ray feel extremely uneasy.
“Ray, you’ve been up here for a while now,” Pennie claimed as she walked through the library doors. “Why don’t you take a…”
Pennie stopped talking when her eyes met with Ray’s. When her eyes filled with concern, Ray guessed that she must have seen the frightened expression on his face.
“Are you alright?” she asked. “You seem a little pale and shaken.”
“Nah, I’m fine,” Ray shook his head, attempting to forget about everything. “I just fell asleep and had a bad dream is all.”
He got to his feet and began to pick up all the books he had gathered for research. He walked over the shelves he had gotten them from and put them all in the correct spaces.
“What are you doing up here anyway?” Pennie asked, walking closer to talk to him. “You’ve been spending a lot of time in the top floor of this library of late.”
“Well, I have been banned from leaving Asteria without permission and there hasn’t been much for me to do,” Ray sighed. “So, I’m devoting my time to researching. With everything that’s happened, I think I need to know more about the history of Le Alba, the Eighty-Year War and about Darkyn too.”
“I’m guessing you are hoping to find what your connection is, right?” Pennie asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“I suppose, but I haven’t found anything particularly useful,” Ray claimed, as he began to search for a new book to read. “I reckon I’ve read at least a hundred books these last few months, but the only interesting thing I found is about the foundation of the MLC. Did you know that it was originally only a small group of people formed to protect the leader’s family? I couldn’t find out his name, but apparently, people were so amazed by his heroics the joined forces with him, and the CSOG became so afraid of them they declared war.”
“I didn’t know that,” Pennie said in surprise. “I thought the two groups had been at each other’s throats before the war began.”
“That’s what I would have…” Ray began before a certain book caught his eye.
He was surprised he managed to find a book with the title ‘Annotating the Dark Oviri’ in the collection of books. It was exactly what he had been looking so hard for. After the dream he had, he was even more curious to read it and grabbed the book without hesitation. He immediately opened it and started to read as he walked to one of the desks.
“Find something interesting?” Pennie asked, walking to stand beside him.
“Maybe,” Ray replied.
Most of the book only contained incidents of mass death and had little to no information on the Dark Oviri. Ray ended up flipping through the pages in an attempt to find something remotely detailed.
“Listen to this,” Ray said to Pennie when he found something worth reading. “Nearly thirty-five years into the Eighty Year War, strange movements began that didn’t belong to either the CSOG or MLC. One man seemed to be behind every incident. No one knew his name or what he looked like, but everyone across the nation feared his presence. After causing mass destruction in several cities including the birthplace of the founder of the MLC, he became known to the people of Le Alba as ‘The Dark Oviri’. Many feared that he could have possibly been a resurrected Dark Shadow, however many experts stimulate that his power level does not resemble the cursed dictator. To our knowledge, the Dark Oviri is either a Phoenix or a Dragon class Analyser and Enchanter Oviri, or either perhaps a Dark Elemental.”
“What’s a Dark Elemental?” Pennie asked.
“I’m assuming they are referring to the ancient Estella Elemental magic,” Ray explained. “It combines darkness and light, but for some reason, people refer to it as Dark Elemental now.”
“Do you think that was what Darkyn used to attack me?” Pennie asked.
“Don’t know, maybe there’s more about it in here,” Ray stated, returning his attention back to the book. “Forty-two years later, a mysterious source gave the name of this wicked man to both the CSOG and MLC. Although all but a select few have forgotten his last name, his name was believed to be Darkyn. Darkyn, the Dark Oviri, continued to wreak havoc across Le Alba. The three-way war continued to devastate the nation but one year later Rank One Night Owl along with Rank Four Deimos of the newly formed Starlight Knights, created the Stellatrium weapon to destroy the Dark Oviri. The two Oviri were able to trick the Dark Oviri into being at the right place and time for the MLC to launch their attack. Everything had gone to plan, and Stellatrium was fired directly on the evil abomination. Although the scheme was a success, the body of Darkyn was never found. The battle cost the lives of many of the Starlight Knight’s including one of the creators of Stellatrium, whose seat has been left empty as respect for their accomplishments in the war. After the Dark Oviri’s death, Occultist continued his work until the end of the war.”
Ray leaned back in his chair, attempting to comprehend what he had just read, but it still confused him.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he sighed.
It just didn’t add up. He didn’t see how it was possible for the Dark Oviri to go unnamed for over forty years, to then suddenly be revealed out of the blue. It also made the nightmare he had even more confusing. If Darkyn had really been around for that long, why was it that Ray was able to see a younger version of him. He had to guess it was probably because the information within the book was incorrect. Which explained the corrections someone had written while reading the book. The beautiful handwriting in blue pen filled the entire book, crossing out inaccurate statements and writing in new information.
“I really don’t get it,” Pennie muttered looking as confused as Ray was. “If Darkyn is that old, how is he so young, and why does he know you?”
“I don’t know,” Ray sighed again. “There are many things that come to mind, but I have no clue. Besides there are so many corrections in this book that I think whoever wrote it was an idiot without proper information.”
“So, it’s another dead end?” Pennie asked.
“Yep,” Ray growled as he closed the book and throwing it on the desk.
At that moment Pennie’s phone began to ring like it always did at the most bothersome moments. Noticing his annoyed glare, Pennie walked away to answer the phone. Ray grabbed the book he had just read and put it away with extremely disappointment. He had really hoped for some kind of clue about Darkyn, since he was the whole reason Ray was no longer allowed to take missions unless they were given to him by the MLC. Between his restrictions, recurring headaches, nightmares and the other members of Twilight Heart being annoyingly excited about the MLC competition, the last four months had been aggravating to say the least. If he wanted more answers, he could read the Book of Twilight that was locked away in one of his draws at home, but he was afraid of what exactly he would find in it.
“Honestly, is it too much to ask for something to go right for once?” Ray asked with another sigh as he looked down at his left hand.
Despite his wrist being completely healed and the swelling on his hand had disappeared, he still had to keep it wrapped in bandages. The scars were a funny near-black colour and more marks seemed to appear on a regular basis, so as a precaution he kept them covered, even going as far as to wrap the bandage around his fingers. He didn’t know what was happening with his hand and until he did Ray didn’t want anyone to see it.
“Hey Ray, we have to head downstairs,” Pennie called as she walked back into view.
“What? Why?” Ray groaned with irritation.
“Master Isaac just called,” she stated. “He has something he needs to discuss with us.”
“Now that everyone’s here I can begin.” Master Isaac stated.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgzfcwlImR
Pennie looked around the nearly empty room. Unlike the usual Twilight Heart meetings, only a handful of members had attended. Besides her and Ray, only Dimetrios, Lynx and Kaela were present. Of course, as soon as Ray made contact with Lynx, his mood turned sour, and he became even more annoyed than before. Despite it nearly being five months since their argument in May, they still weren’t talking to each other. Lynx had attempted multiple times to fix things by acting nice and pretending that nothing was wrong between them, but it seemed to make things worse. It was clear that Ray was still upset over what Lynx had said and Lynx’s lack of sympathy towards his feelings never failed to anger him. Most days Ray avoided being same room as him but when he had no choice but to be around Lynx it made everyone very uncomfortable from the unbelievable tension.
“Ummm, where is everyone else?” Pennie asked.
“Actually, it’s only you five I need.” Master Isaac explained. “I have some good news for all of you.”
“Good news? What kind?” Ray asked, very curious as to why he was being called. “If you’re going to tell us we’re the ones participating in that MLC competition, I’m still not going to do it.”
“No, that has yet to be decided, although I’d really wish you’d reconsider Brayden,” Master Isaac sighed. “What I’ve got to say is much more exciting than that anyway.”
“What is it?” Pennie asked.
“Brayden, Dimetrios and Kaela, I have decided that after everything you’ve done this past year, I am promoting you,” Master Isaac claimed. “As of today, the three of you are now part of Twilight Heart’s ‘Protectors of Earth’s Tomorrow’.”
“Thank you!” Kaela got to her feet and bowed. “It is an honour I will dignify for the rest of my life.”
“Congratulations guys,” Pennie smiled.
“What about me?!” Lynx complained. “Why am I not included in this?!”
“Did anyone hear that?” Dimetrios asked, pretending to be shocked. “I could have sworn someone was talkin’ right now.”
Pennie sighed again. Dimetrios had recently found out what Lynx had said to Ray and even he was appalled. He then made the discussion to stop talking to him as well. In his own Dimetrios’s kind of fashion, this meant pretending Lynx didn’t exist or that he was a spirit no one could see. Ray didn’t say anything about Dimetrios taking his side, but he seemed kind of happy that he was backing him up. Ever since Enlil, they had been getting along surprisingly well. Ever since Dimetrios stared calling Ray by his first name, they no longer argued and competed against each other to train, always chatting and joking about who was better. It was as if they had completely forgotten that they were once enemies and there were even times that Dimetrios treated Ray like a younger brother.
“This is not fair!” Lynx continued to complain, disrupting Pennie’s thoughts. “I’ve be part of Twilight Heart longer than anyone here! I should be a POET too!”
“Sorry Lynx but you aren’t ready yet,” Master Isaac explained. “You do not have the maturity and battle sense the others have. I will consider you perhaps in a year or two.”
Pennie understood why Lynx was frustrated. She had known that both he and Ray had wanted to become POETs since she met them. However, when she turned to Ray, she noticed that he wasn’t as excited as she’d thought he’d be.
“What’s the matter Ray?” Pennie asked. “I thought you wanted to be a POET.”
“I do, but is there really any point promoting me right now?” Ray stated, sinking into his chair. “It’s not like I can go anywhere and complete any missions right now.”
“Right, I forgot you were on strict instructions not to leave Asteria,” Kaela claimed, sitting back down and crossing her legs. “How much longer is this ban for anyway?”
“Who knows,” Ray shrugged. “They said it could be a couple of weeks, but since those ‘weeks’ has turned into months, I think it may be indefinitely.”
“Just break the rules for once Brayden,” Dimetrios encouraged. “What’s so hard about that?”
“I would, but I don’t want to deal with the consequences,” Ray sighed.
“Come on, what could be worse than this?” Dimetrios claimed. “Surely you’re bored out of your mind by now.”
“I am, but I can think of worse things,” Ray muttered.
“If that’s all you wanted, why are Pennie and I here?!” Lynx yelled, still complaining about unfair it was. “What’s this got to do with us?”
“Actually, I have a mission that I need all five of you for,” Master Isaac stated. “It’s so important I have permission from the MLC that Brayden is allowed to go.”
“Wait, I have a mission?!” Ray exclaimed with excitement. “Finally, I was going crazy just hanging around here every day.”
“Well, this mission is very important, so they believe your help is necessary,” Master Isaac explained.
“What must we do Master Isaac?” Kaela asked.
“You’ve all heard about that massive prison break a few months ago,” Master Isaac said. “One of the prisoners has been located near the Whispering Willows Forest. I want the POETs to head in and deal with the situation as soon as possible.”
“Pennie and I aren’t POETs though,” Lynx snarled. “Why are we even in this conversation?”
“Well, three people won’t be enough. Blaze is still in Aria with the Earl if you recall. As for Liella, well let’s just say she’s not here either,” Master Isaac claimed. “I want you two to accompany them to replace the two missing POETs.”
“What kind of enemy are we looking at?” Ray asked, seeming eager to go on his first mission in months. “Do we know which prisoner has been discovered?”
“Yes, it’s an ex-CSOG soldier, and he is a dangerous one,” Master Isaac explained. “His name is Zachariah Hoon and is a serial killer famous for luring his victims into a maze made by his magic. He is so dangerous even the CSOG want him dealt with, you may even have to fight them to bring our man to justice.”
“Oh, I know that guy!” Dimetrios exclaimed. “It was me who captured him when I was still part of Regal Night. I was meant to recruit him, but he was annoyin’, so I shipped him off the MLC.”
“In that case, Dimetrios will take the lead on this mission, any objections?” Master Isaac asked. Everyone shook their heads, which made a massive grin appear on Dimetrios’s face.
“You hear that? I’m in charge,” Dimetrios smirked. “And this time it won’t end it disaster like our previous missions.”
“Oh, here we go again,” Lynx rolled his eyes. “He’s so obnoxious, isn’t he Brayden?”
“So Dimetrios, what do you think we should do?” Ray asked, blatantly ignoring Lynx. “I’m ready for any plan you throw at me.”
“Good, but I haven’t got one yet,” Dimetrios nodded. “How about we take the next hour to get all the stuff we need and meet back here. I should have an idea of what to do by then.”
“Then it’s settled,” Kaela stated as she stood up. “We’ll see set off in an hour.”581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssLoY3BOSX
