The doorbell rang, and Demund looked up from the book he had been reading. Putting aside his thoughts on his life, he quickly equipped his prosthetic and got up from his seat. His parents weren’t home like always. The time was past noon. Who could it be?

The mailman? With some anticipation, Demund peeked out the window. No, it wasn’t the mailman. It was a young girl with golden, tied-back hair that gleamed in the sun. With a slightly nervous look on her face, she stood in front of the house, her hands clutching a package. She was leaning to the side and was waiting for anyone to come out. Her bicycle was parked next to her.

It was Alina, Jothan’s younger sister.

Without further ado, Demund went to the door and opened it, he noticed Alina straighten her back and peek at him between the sunlight.

“Hey, Alina. What’s up?”

They weren’t complete strangers. While they didn’t interact much, Demund had spent countless hours of his childhood with Jothan’s family. It was natural that he was close to the other members of the Harken house.

Somewhat.

“Hey Demund,” replied Alina while glancing at his leg. She had visited once with her parents and her little sister while Demund had been at the hospital. They hadn’t spoken much then.

“I’ll keep it short,” she stated. She held up the package in her hand and approached Demund.

“What is that?”

“Something from Jothan. It was addressed to you, so my dad told me to give it to you.”

From Jothan? While tilting his head, Demund received the package from Alina, and she crossed her arms, satisfied with her delivery.

“The Islands are pretty strict. We can’t send Jothan stuff, and he can send us things only once a year. Weird right? And looking through the letters, there was a lot of things he said he couldn’t talk about too.”

She sighed. “Well…that’s about it.”

This was a surprise. “Thanks, Alina,” said Demund.

She looked away and nervously fidgeted her fingers.

“Hmm? What is it?” asked Demund.

“Well…you see, I graduated middle school.”

Well, she was one year younger than Jothan. “That’s great!” said Demund. “Are you going to the Islands?”

“Well, about that…”

She meekly smiled and fumbled her hands. “It turns out I’m C class, and my abilities haven’t manifested yet. But the letter Jothan sent me told me not to come to the Islands. Like, seriously.”

Demund raised an eyebrow.

“There’s also been some news related to the Islands. Well, there always has been, but Jothan told me not to come, and my parents agreed.”

“I see.” Why would Jothan say that? “Then where are you planning to go?”

She let out a weak laugh and peeked at Demund. “Same place as you,” she admitted.

“TISE High? You’re really coming here?”

She nervously waved her hand in front of herself. “I want to. I need to take the examination test, and since you go there…”

Demund caught her drift quickly. “You need some help.”

“Exactly!”

“Sure. Will do,” he replied without hesitation.

“Yes! Please, my parents are so—wait, really? That easily?”

Demund shrugged. “Why not? I always ate snacks when I went to your house. I can help with this much.”

Alina face beamed and she let out a genuine smile. “For free?”

“Yes, for free.”

She clapped her hands. “Thanks! I’ll send you a message later!”

Then hopping onto her bike, she drove off and disappeared between the streets like a gust of wind. Demund scratched his head and observed the package in his hands. By the looks of it, it seemed to contain a lot of pages. Jothan probably had a lot to say.

With a collection of memories between his arm and his chest, he returned to his house and closed the door behind him.

〄 〄 〄

“Wassup, dude,” began the first sentence.

Demund let out a small chuckle at his friend’s usual attitude. He continued.

“First, I gotta, hmm…start. My old, never separating, true, energetic regards. There are so many things I want to talk about, but according to the rules here, I need to write what is acceptable or else they’ll remove it from the letter. As a small test, is the sentence below this erased?

If you’re reading this right after, then it probably was. I wrote something unacceptable. Honestly, I think the whole world should know about this. But they keep on saying that only the responsible ones should know.”

There was an unnatural blank space after the sentence, and Demund guessed that it had contained something that was not allowed to be written.

“Something that’s really stupid is that they won’t allow us to include names. I can’t even write my own name! Or your name, but you probably know who I am.”

Of course he did. The way of speaking was too familiar.

“Anyways, it’s like a game here. We study a lot, surf sometimes, but most of all, learn to develop and control our abilities. You will not believe the things I had to go through, but now, I can say that I’m pretty overpowered. Kind of. I mean, I’m kinda popular among some people, so it’s great, right?

Yeah, the training’s super intense.”

Again, an unnatural space after the sentence.

“So anyways…”

The letter continued to talk about Jothan’s everyday life at the Islands. He lived on an individual Island filled with students, along with professors who instructed them. According to the letter, they had no internet there, so all the information was provided by the school. He also mentioned having to catch their own food, growing numerous plants, hiking, and swimming, but the passages were filled with blank spots that ruined the immersion. Seriously, what the heck was, “We caught a fish [] and ate it.”

Demund wondered why the Islands were so secretive. Everyone was bound to come outside after four years.

Demund was slightly jealous when he read that his best friend was paired with a girl throughout the whole year. They trained with each other, covered for each other’s weaknesses, and cooked food together. There were some interesting things that hadn’t been deleted, like how the girl’s hair was pink and how she was from the Islands itself.

Then again, he too had been paired with Enariss in a way. He smiled.

He flipped through the pages, eyes absorbing his friend’s letter. Again, more redacted parts and lots of information on cooking. Like using leaves to spice up the food. He was glad that Jothan seemed to be having fun. His letter was filled with happy memories and hanging out with the other students.

The training didn’t sound that bad. Some running and swimming. Then again, lots of parts were filled with spaces.

It confused Demund. For what reason?

One thing that caught Demund’s attention was the fact that almost all of the residents of the Islands were C class and above. In fact, non-ability users were a tiny minority there. It made sense, but something didn’t click.

Jothan’s way of writing didn’t seem free. It felt repressed. Usually, he’d go into detail about what he felt and saw; he was always very expressive. But this letter—felt chained up.

“Anyways, that’s it. I’ll send you more next year.

P.S. Sentient philosophy.

Demund wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. Sentient philosophy.

Wait.

A memory tickled his mind. He knew what this was. Something they had created before entering middle school. To make fun of other people while not getting caught.

Sentient philosophy.

The s from sentient, the p from philosophy, and y from philosophy. It was a simple game they had created:

SPY.

Used to deliver secret messages between each other within chatrooms. Once it began, you’d have to look out for secret messages within each other’s text.

Demund went over to the first page. Since the SPY was at the end, he’d have to start from the beginning.

He discovered a simple message.

“We fight monsters.”

〄 〄 〄

And what the heck did that mean? Demund had gone over the whole letter, but that was the only phrase he could discover.

Fighting monsters?

With a burst of realization, Demund went over the letter again. As he had suspected, anything that described the physical features of the wildlife at the Islands was removed, except for how tasty and tender the flesh of the fish was.

Why would they do that? Unless…

They really were fighting monsters.

Jothan wasn’t the type to lie in a letter. But why would there be monsters at the Islands?

…………………….

Demund rolled his head.

After some pondering, he went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water. Then he returned to his seat and looked at the letter again.

…………………………

Well, it would be fine. Like Jothan had said, everyone there was class C and above. Honestly, the information didn’t seem that big of a deal. When he thought about it, why shouldn’t animals have super abilities when humans did?

Wait.

Super abilities?

It reminded him of Shidey. And that nasty rat he had seen. They could both turn invisible.

He had learned that a high concentration of mana altered organisms.

His other world was real, and by theory, SAP was the same thing as mana.

Then…!

“The Islands are rich with SAP?”

It made sense. Why all the residents were high-tiers, why only certain people were allowed to enter it. He, himself had caused the concentration of monsters to go up in Danark. Which meant that the Islands would be teeming with them.

Why the Islands particularly? He hadn’t seen any news on monsters. Only villains who misused their powers. Why weren’t there monsters around him?

It hurt his head. Well, it didn’t matter that much.

He remembered seeing the poster of a missing child some months back.

Jothan was probably safe, right? After all, he had sent the letter to him.

But if monsters really roamed the world…

The superheroes would take care of it.

〄 〄 〄

He read over the letter again. Despite all of the deleted words, Jothan really seemed to be having fun.

Now that his initial excitement had died down, he felt bored. Lifeless. Empty.

He wished he could visit other Zones too. He wished that he could travel the world someday and experience the different foods and sights that existed.

He felt the same way for both worlds. But in Demund’s reality, where he literally had nothing else to do, he yearned for it more. He couldn’t help but compare himself to his friends.

He’d have to wait a long time again for school to begin. It reminded him of the time when he first met Jothan, many years ago. When he was in first grade.

His mind blankly wandered off into the horizon, and he was sucked back into the past.

〄 〄 〄

First day of 1st grade. Demund’s first day in elementary school.

He silently looked over the classroom with sullen eyes. Everyone was so loud, so obnoxious. He wanted to go under his desk and close his eyes, shutting himself off from all of the commotion. The teacher was instructing the place with her sharp voice, and Demund wished she would never look at him.

It would be bothersome. He hated being bothersome.

“Wait for us here, okay?” his mother had told him.

Left alone in this foreign environment without anyone he was familiar with, he had sat in his chair unsure of what to do. Kids had cried, some were being annoyingly loud, but he had been seated in silence. He observed the room again.

But his ears were someplace far away. A kid’s video he had seen was currently replaying itself within his mind, and he smiled at the memory.

On the first crazy day of class, Demund had no friends.

〄 〄 〄

At the end of the day, Demund watched as all of the children drove away on their cars. He didn’t particularly focus on anyone. There was a small playground to the side of the parking lot next to the school, so Demund swung on a swing, his small legs pushing against the ground every few seconds.

Kids were greeted by their parents. They called to them to enter the car, and one by one, they all left. Demund, however, remained on the swing.

Soon, when around four children remained, a young teacher came out of the school and approached Demund after talking to the others.

“Would you like to come inside? Your parents called and said they would be late.”

Demund shook his head. He would wait outside. The teacher nodded and returned back into the school, and Demund continued to swing in a rhythmic motion. His mind now wandered off into the land of penguins, waddling and fishing…

He went forwards. He went backwards. He was on a ship now, sailing the seven seas as a pirate, discovering treasure and battling sea creatures.

The teacher returned a few times to lure him back in. But he didn’t follow her. He shook his head every time. No, his parents would come soon.

And come they did, when the sun was casting orange streaks in the sky.

“Did you wait long?”

Demund shook his head. “Not really.”

He was good at waiting. He took pride in that. Soon, they drove to the front of their small house and went inside. After dinner and some small talk with his parents, Demund went to his picture books and read over his favorite ones.

He dreamed of adventure that night.

〄 〄 〄

“Hey.”

Demund blankly stared at the front of the class, unaware of the voice that called out to him.

“Hello!”

Demund, startled, almost slipped on his arm and bashed his head on the table. He glanced around, trying to find the source of the sudden noise.

“Hey! Over here,” said the voice. Demund looked to his right and saw a boy staring at him. If he recalled correctly, the seat had been empty previously.

“What?” asked Demund.

“I saw you yesterday,” said the blonde-haired boy.

“Uh-huh, really?” replied Demund sarcastically.

The boy nodded. “You live nearby my house. I saw you walk out of your car.”

The boy piqued Demund’s curiosity. “We live close to each other?”

“Yeah. That’s why we should become friends.”

His logic was sound and good. Demund nodded. He had always wanted a friend. “Sure.”

“That’s great! So, what’s your name? My name is Jothan.”

“I’m Demund.”

“Nice to meet you Demund.”

“Nice to meet you too, Jothan.”

“Want to go over there and play with some toys during break?”

“Yes.”

〄 〄 〄

“Mom! I told you! This is Demund. He goes to the same school as me.”

Jothan enthusiastically introduced his first friend to his mother, who smiled at his son with kind eyes.

“Did you become friends?”

“Yep! He’s my best friend now.”

Demund didn’t recall becoming best friends, but he guessed it made sense. They were the first to become friends, so it was natural they would be besties also. Anyways, that’s how some of his picture books portrayed it.

“What’s your name, little boy?” asked Jothan’s mother.

Demund nervously answered. “I’m Demund. Nice to…meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too! I’m glad you became friends with Jothan. Come over sometime, will you?”

Demund nodded, and the lady smiled.

“Alright, Jothan, let’s go home now.”

“Okay.”

After waving goodbye, Jothan left with his mother and drove away in his car. Demund stared at the fading vehicle and felt something inside of him.

A friend. That sounded nice.

〄 〄 〄

“How come you return so late all the time?” asked Jothan. They were currently on the playground, playing inside the sandbox while building crude structures.

“My parents come late,” answered Demund. He was vigorously working on perfecting his hole that would create a tunnel the size of his arm. “They have lots of work to do.”

“Then you have to wait here? That’s boring.”

Demund shrugged. “It’s not that bad.”

“You should come home with me then.”

Demund paused his work and looked at his friend. A new possibility he hadn’t accounted for. “Can I do that?”

“Yep! My parents are nice people.”

〄 〄 〄

“…yes. Yes, 132/45. It’s just a few houses away. Oh, it’s nothing. Our son is happy to have a friend. Mhmm. By five? I understand. Yes, goodbye.”

Mrs. Harken clicked off her phone and smiled. “Your parents agreed. Looks like we do live nearby each other.”

Jothan let out a shout of joy. “I can show you my toys!”

Mrs. Harken nodded. “Your parents will be home by five, and I received permission from them to stay at our house. Would you like to do that?”

Demund nodded. Talking with Jothan was so much fun. Something he had always yearned for. Someone to talk to who he wouldn’t burden.

Thus began his daily routine of spending his time with Jothan’s family, away from his own.

〄 〄 〄

“Visit sometimes, okay?”

Melsei worriedly smoothed Shaden’s hair. Melany was grabbing onto her dress, one thumb in her mouth. Rother looked at him with crossed arms, a face that showed some discontentment and frustration. His father’s face was the worst. It wasn’t outright bad, but he looked worried, and the wrinkles on his forehead stood out under the light.

“Of course, Mom.” Shaden gave his family a reassuring smile and hugged them one by one. Lastly, he hugged Melany, who looked like she would become sad.

“It’s okay,” Shaden reassured. “I’ll visit at least once every few months.”

They didn’t look very happy about that, but it was what his grandfather had promised him. Speaking of the old man, he was looming in the shadows beyond the door, waiting for Shaden to bid farewell to his family.

Now that he knew that everything was real…he didn’t want to leave as much. He noticed the concern within his parents’ eyes—and felt slightly guilty.

But he had to go. His grandfather’s home…was too much fun. Learning also progressed much faster than at the Academy, and overall, it was better for him, or so he believed. It wasn’t like they would be separated forever.

Until his tenth birthday. That was the time that his grandfather had stated he would take care of him. Some sort of agreement with his father that Shaden didn’t know about. After that, he could choose to leave the castle or continue to train within it.

His father placed a solid hand on Shaden’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. “Shaden. Remember. Always remember the things you cherish the most. Don’t lose sight of what you love. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Promise me.”

“…I promise.”

Shaden heard a small exhale of dissatisfied breath come from the back, which was a little funny. But his father was correct. His foundation was solid.

“I’ll be back.”

With that, Shaden turned around, walked out of the door, and shut it behind himself.