Author's Note:

People kept asking for more chapters and I just finished writing the first volume so to celebrate that I'm releasing three chapters this week instead of two. Hope you like it

****

The melody continued day and night disappearing for a few short hours only to reappear again. With every day it grew more delicate and enchanting while the party was trying to resist it with all their might.

"Why can't we just ask him where the damn cave is?" huffed the priestess in annoyance. "We'll never find it ourselves!"

"Yes we will" growled Monthu angrily but now even his voice lacked conviction.

They had spent another week walking around the forest with no luck. If not the flutist's words that the dungeon really existed, they would have given up long time ago.

"I don't think so" quietly said the ranger. "If I walked by it and didn't notice this many times, nothing will change if I'll walk a dozen times more."

The fruitless search put a toll on the whole party's morale.

"But we can't trust him!" refuted Monthu with his usual stubbornness.

"He's our only chance" fought the priestess. "If we don't use him, we might as well quit the quest. We've already wasted two valuable weeks for nothing. I'm sick and tired of this fog, trees and even more trees. I haven't had a good meal since forever and all my robes are grey if not black. One could mistake me for a believer of Beelzebub. Yet you still continue with this nonsense. So choose now we're going home or to ask the flutist directions. I'm not wondering around in this god forsaken land a minute more."

Hawk and Paradox stood at Aurora's sides looking at their friend with sunken eyes and drooping shoulders waiting for an answer. Monthu looked at them and felt a pang of guilt. If he could walk around for a month without losing resolve or getting tired, it didn't mean others could. They were not monsters.

"Fine" he nodded in resignation and walked towards the flutist's place.

Just like always the kid was sitting calmly his fingers nimbly running over the delicate buttons and producing sweet sounds. They waited for him to finish and then approached.

"Welcome back, my friends. Have you come to say goodbye?" such polite talk and sophisticated insult didn't go well with his childish look but Ace was a bit tired himself. He's been using magic to strengthen the melody and the concentration required to keep the [Flare], play, use magic and keep aware of one's surroundings was immense.

"Would you like to join us?" asked Reaper without beating around the bush and extending his hand. Ace tilted his head but after a few moments took the outstretched hand.

"Sure"

*You've joined a party.*

Without any more words exchanged he walked to the right. There were a lot of small bushes and deep cavities but nothing resembling a cave. Sliding down inside one Ace looked for a sign and found the cross shaped stone he had left. Standing up he muttered.

"Visions of old that were placed to hide the truth from strangers and ignorant ones show me your true colours, Revelation!"

At first nothing seemed to happen but then the air in front of Ace started to shimmer and one side of the hollow turned into a small entrance. It was around 50-70 centimeters tall which allowed only for crawling.

"Are you sure this is the one?" asked Aurora apprehensively. She didn't feel like destroying her last dress for good.

"Well, this is the only one I know of" answered Ace shrugging.

"No surprise I couldn't find it" sighted Hawk in relief "It was hidden by magic".

"So you're a mage?" speculated Reaper.

Ace just smiled and lowered himself on all fours and entered the small space. It was very rocky and sharp scrapping the soft skin of his palm. Ignoring the slight pain he went ahead and after a while emerged into a wide cavern. It was extremely dark so he raised the little flame up and took a better look.

DUNGEON: You are the very first players to discover Levin's Hideout

Reward: Fame +200.

For a week from this moment you’ll receive double experience and your chance to get rare items will be tripled. After the week, you will receive only double chance for rare items as the founders.

'As expected the cave was unexplored and still preserved its many treasures.’ The route ahead was split into five different paths. Each of them had a gemstone over the entrance ruby, sapphire, jade, crystal and diamond respectively. The party emerged with awed expressions.

"What is this place?" asked Aurora looking around.

"This is amazing" agreed Hawk.

'You've been kicked out of the group'

Ace raised his eyebrow but decided to stay calm. They'll need him again soon enough and then he'll make them pay a price. For now he'll just follow and watch pretending to be content. He should be higher level than them so it shouldn't make a big difference later on.

His killings in the city had given more than plenty of experience to level up.

The Reaper chose jade cave and cautiously walked in. Feeling like having a little petty revenge, Ace controlled his [Flare] to hide in his cowl. Blackness fell over the group.

"Why did you do that?" shouted Aurora with annoyance and what could be mistaken for a fear in her voice.

"I'm tired. I need to preserve my energy" was the given answer.

"Do you ever stop lying? You hid it, not released" hissed Monthu.

"What are you saying? Why would I do that?" shouted Ace with outrage while hardly keeping himself from laughing. He was lying and he knew that they knew it too but couldn't do a thing about it. 'You get what you deserve.'

Monthu could swear he saw the bastard smiling even in this pitch black darkness. 'He probably thinks we'll come begging, well, he has another thing coming.'

"Paradox summon the fire elemental"

"Sure, brother" answered the red robed mage and started to chant with his eyes closed.

"Fires that burn within everyone, flames that punish the unworthy, light that shows the way strengthen the bond and create a soul to fight for your servant to show the world the truth, Summon Fire Elemental!"

A blinding light flashed once and in its place a body made solely of fire appeared. It lightened the surroundings and Monthu threw a Cheshire cat smile towards the flutist but the guy didn't even acknowledge it. He was rummaging through his backpack and then took something out with a satisfied smile. Before a moment's pass the kid was holding a stick with something akin to marshmallow on it towards the flaming beast. The elemental looked shocked out of its wits.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Roasting a marshmallow, what else?" was the simple answer, Ace didn't even lift his head for that. He was smiling slightly to annoy the Reaper even more. It was fun to throw him off his high horse. 'Not everyone will always do what you expect. Some people just want to have some fun.' Rotating the stick he made sure that all sides were similarly light brown before happily munching on it.

"So are we going to explore it? Or are we taking a break?"

Monthu glared but knowing better than to try getting rid of him he went to the jade cave. Paradox sent his elemental ahead with his brother and went last. Ace decided to join him. The better access you have to your enemy's weakness the better. If he could make the kid his friend, it would even be possible to join the group for real.

"So have you been to many adventures?"

"Like three or four. Why?" asked Paradox suspiciously, his brother made him promise not to trust the flutist but never gave a real reason why. His natural curiosity was fighting against his duty to fulfil the promise.

"Well, I've just left the city. It's my first time out!" whispered the kid whose name he had forgotten.

"Really?" that was shocking. Nobody stayed in the city for long. The slowest ones took a month to get accustomed before curiosity made them leave the safety of the city walls.

"Yeah... The second day I met an old man and he asked me for help. Of course, I agreed" Par nodded. 'A real knight couldn't act any differently.' He started to respect the stranger. "But his orders never ended! Once I did something he thought of something new! I was stuck in the eternal cycle! Only after half a year did I finally manage to think of a way out and save myself."

"And how did you do that?" asked Par interested in the story.

"Believe it or not but all I had to do was refuse his reward saying I wasn't worth it and am not good enough to work for him. The evil old man wholeheartedly agreed to me before realizing what he had said. Then I was free of the curse and left the city. I walked around for a while and stumbled upon this forest. It was so quiet that I decided to rest and learn to play a flute. My father played it and I can't let him down!" explained Ace.

"But that counts as an adventure! You escaped the clutches of an evil mage without anyone's help!" argued Par raising his voice a bit.

"Do you... really think it's worth being called an adventure?" the kid's eyes were cast down but his voice quivered a little with hope constricting his throat.

Par nodded vigorously.

"Of course!"

"Thanks!" a small smile brightened the kid's face. "Will you tell me about your travels? Have you seen a dragon?"

"No, but we...." Paradox started his first tale and Ace listened to him attentively while also keeping an eye on the front of the group.

Monthu was walking along the elemental and was getting more agitated with each step. They had already walked a mile or two without meeting anything or anyone. That was simply unnatural to a dungeon. Then a loud female chuckle came from around the bend. That helped to relax Monthu a little. He was used to fighting not looking for traps and playing mind games. Without a second thought he jumped and hit the first thing he saw.

It was a flower the size of the human. She and two of her comrades used their leafs as hands and had faces in their blooms.

"Who are you?!" they shouted in synchrony while summoning vines to trap his body but the fire elemental made short work of them.

Free once again Monthu used his war scythe to cut the flowers' leafs but they just grew them again after a bit of screaming and cursing. A vine appeared before him but he managed to dodge at the last second and used the momentum to cut one of the flowers’ stem. It shrieked but didn't die. Changing his grip Monthu tried to stab the flower but sharp pain enveloped his arm. Swiftly turning around he saw the third flower with her leaf that had become as sharp as a dagger in his shoulder. With a hiss he jumped away and quickly assessed the fight. The elemental and Hawk were trying to hit one of the flowers but she was very thin and evaded many of the attacks. She had no chance to counter-attack but it still was taking them a lot of time to kill her. The almost dead flower was crawling away while vines blocked the path after her. The last flower, the one that had sneaked up on him, was licking the blood off her leaf/hand/blade. Then a red aura surrounded her. 'That can't be good'

"Hawk shoot the running one! I'll take care of the agile one!" With that he dashed off towards the flower. He ducked to evade the arrows and jumped bringing his scythe down with force on the flower. The blade now stuck in its head kept it in place while two fireballs exploded in her face making the flower disappear in a grey flash.

"Healing hand!" A white light descended on his shoulder but Monthu ignored it. There was now a wholly red flower with a malicious grin on her face looking straight at him. Seeing him tense and grip his weapon more tightly she smiled even wider and created a war scythe from vines. It was red too. With a maniacal laugh she jumped forth and started to swing her weapon. Monthu blocked it with his own and kept on doing that. The flower's speed was unparalleled her thrusts and swings hardly caught by naked eye. It was all he could do to defend and not suffer fatal damage. Hawk was shooting his arrows with lightning speed but the red flower didn't seem to mind. She even disregarded the fireballs thrown by the elemental. It was as if she only saw him.

In ten more minutes the arrows and fire finally put it down. Monthu felt so tired that he more like fell to the ground than sitting. His lungs were screaming for air and his muscles didn't want to be used ever again.

Ace, on the other hand, was still listening to Paradox. The kid didn't acknowledge the fight as if it didn't concern him at all which made Ace think if maybe it was really the case. He watched from the sidelines as Monthu engaged and fought with careless abandon. And he was pretty much the only one fighting. Hawk was shooting arrows and the elemental was throwing fireballs here and there but in reality everything was done by Monthu. They were just assets to make his life easier.

Once the fight was over Paradox called up his elemental healed him, restored its mana, sent him back to the front and continued with his second adventure. 'It's really sad' thought Ace and looked to where the big brother was resting at the moment. His breathing was returning to normal at a fast pace and he was already standing up.

"Well, that was a good fight" he said and collected the loot.

'Why do they put up with him?' wondered Ace. 'He made his brother believe that being an elemental mage and summoning creatures was cool but Aurora and Hawk weren't kids. They couldn't be fooled that easily. So why were they following him? Pretending to be a team when in reality they were nothing else but his lapdogs?' It was a mystery and Ace felt like being a detective for a while. It's not like he had anything better to do.

The fights continued the same till the end of the day. Monthu played while others assisted him and Ace talked to Paradox. The kid was pretty smart; it was sorrowful that he was stuck in the back doing nothing. From his talks Ace gathered that it was always like that and he was bored most of the time. 'That's why he was so eager for my company'.

When Monthu decided it was time to rest, the elemental lighted the logs they had carried from the forest and vanished. Aurora showed up to be the traditionalist and cooked. The steaks were nothing spectacular but it won against barley bread, he’d bought as it was cheap and took forever to go bad, any time of the day. The priestess even served him with a smile which made Ace wonder what was going in her head.

A week passed like that and the party got used to Ace tagging along even though he wasn't getting any xp or loot. They'd given up on figuring out his purpose and were simply thankful for keeping Paradox occupied and happy. It might have gone on forever but Ace and jade cave had other plans.

Once again everyone returned from real life and prepared to battle. Well, everyone beside Ace. He had arrived much earlier than others and was playing the flute. It was his usual and with magic's help he managed to become quite proficient with it. He had to use less and less of it to sound well.

They set out and marched ahead in the same formation Monthu in front with elemental while everyone else followed them loosely.

"How was your sleep?" asked Paradox.

"Pretty uneventful" laughed Ace while his eyes sharpened on something in the front and he shouted out. "I wouldn't step on that if I were you..."

"What?" asked Monthu surprised. The kid had never interfered with his hunting before.

"Look closely a few steps ahead, your knee level."

Not sure what to expect he squatted down. At first he didn't notice anything but then as the elemental moved a bit the light caught on something. A silver thread?

"It's a trap!"

"Well, du'h" said Ace rolling his eyes.

"How did you notice it from so far away?" wondered Monthu not fully able to hide the amazement in his voice. He might be a brute but he knew well what happened to those who unsuspectingly walked into a trap.

"Trap mastery" answered Ace shrugging. "What else could it be?"

"But aren't you a mage? And then you've lied to my brother. It's not your first time out"

At that Par's eyes widened and he looked at his new friend waiting for assurance that it was not. Ace didn't make him wait.

"I spent half a year in a city. Don't you think I would have learnt a trick or two in that time? Did you really believe playing a flute is all I'm capable of?" Seeing everyone's eyes widen, the kid burst out laughing. "You actually did, didn't you?" he shook his head still chuckling. "Just as well, I'll show you something. I was getting bored here anyway".

With that he jogged to the front jumping over the silver line and disappeared over a bend. The party looked at each other but no one had any ideas what the kid was up to so they followed.

Behind the bend was a sandy coloured tiled floor. There was no questioning if it was a trap but the kid seemed to not have gotten the meme. He ran straight in jumping from one to another without a care or so it looked.

In reality, Ace was quickly scanning the room and making decisions based on that. It was dangerous because a simple mistake would cost his life but it was a time to show off and he couldn't do it half-assedly.

"Wait there!" he shouted to the group and ran ahead looking for some enemies, just jumping through traps wasn't going to cut it. To be let in he not only had to earn their trust, prove useful but most importantly impress them. So he ran and ran until a group of cavemen entered his sight.

Then he started to sneak and reached their camp unnoticed, but instead of attacking he struck the gong signalling for reinforcements to come. That of course removed his [Shadow Veil]. Monsters didn't show his courtesy and attacked the moment they noticed him but Ace was expecting that and dodged their attacks. He played for a while evading until the enforcement group came. Then he slipped through their ranks and ran off at top speed.

He was panting by the time he reached the trapped tiles but it was not the end yet. There were ten enraged cavemen on his tail.

"Don't interfere" he shouted to the ranger, who had already picked up his weapon, and stopped in the middle of tiles. By the time enemies caught up he had caught his breath and was ready for battle. In a fair fight he would have had no chance against eleven full health cavemen but he wasn't one to play by the rules. He waited for the monsters to reach first steps and jumped up gluing himself to the ceiling.

Swiiish!

A barrage of arrows shot from all sides embedding themselves into the cavemen's soft flesh. They screamed in agony but didn't hurry to die. Once the onslaught of arrows was finished Ace fell down on one of the cavemen's shoulders using [Cut-throat] and [Heart-seeker].

Before the guy could fade into grey mist he jumped onto another but this one was prepared and tried to grab him. Ace produced a pair of knifes at the heels of his boots and jabbed at the reaching fingers with one foot while using [Cut-throat] with the other.

He jumped up evading a spear thrown his way and threw an invisible spell towards the group. Then with a spin kick he cut two cavemen and threw a poisoned knife towards a third one. Landing on the side of a wall he pushed himself away with a force and jumped back into the fray. Monsters tried to catch him with bare hands or skewer with weapons but his agility and evasion was just too great, hardly anything touched him.

He was bathing in blood of his enemies and sometimes his own. Trap was reactivated from time to time when a previously left alone tile was stepped on and even more blood was shed. A stray arrow hit Ace's shoulder but received no acknowledgement. He was too busy jumping back and forth in every direction, slashing and stabbing whenever an opening appeared.

"Heart-seeker" Ace muttered killing a cavemen warrior and looking around where to jump next. But there was no one around. Only the crimson coloured walls met his searching gaze.

He closed his eyes for a moment and then turned around still breathing heavily and in a fighting stance.

The sight could have been comical if he had had any energy to look for it. Aurora was staring wide eyed through the spaces between her fingers covering her face while Monthu and Hawk looked unable to say anything. There was neither horror or admiration in their faces but some kind of a mix of two. Like if you saw your little innocent brother suddenly take up a dagger and go out slashing and stabbing every monster in sight and bathing in their blood. It was simply impossible to get your head around.

A slight smile manifested upon Ace's face and in his crimson soaked appearance it looked even more devious.

"So what do you think? I'm still only good at playing a flute?"

"Paradox" suddenly shouted Monthu in horror. How could he have allowed his brother to see this?! He was only a kid!

"What brother?" asked Par glancing around in alarm. To Monthu's surprise he had been looking at a bare wall like it was something spectacular.

"Why were you looking at that wall?" asked Aurora in a shaky voice.

"Can't you see WolfMan going there? I haven't seen this episode before!" answered Par with a happy smile and turned back.

Cautiously Monthu walked closer. When he was a few feet away, he felt the air shimmer and a crudely made screen appeared before his eyes. Some kind of animation was going there but it lacked the refinement of a true one. Leaving the illusion he turned towards the tired kid still standing ready for battle.

"It's your doing, isn't it?" asked Monthu sullenly.

The kid just nodded which made the guy even more annoyed. How could he have forgotten his own brother while a stranger did not? "It's very crude. If that's the best you can do, I'm not sure why you even learnt it."

Ace looked at Monthu's eyes trying to decipher the meaning of his words and then he did a loud laugh escaped his mouth. Still chuckling he answered the accusation.

"Sorry for not being able to fully concentrate on it while being attacked by a horde of monsters."

Then he sat down against the wall cross-legged and closed his eyes.

A soft wind brushed past the group and surprised they looked around. A gasp of surprise escaped Aurora's lips. They were standing on a road in a thick forest. The wind was slightly moving leafs while insects played their songs. A loud howl could be heard from somewhere afar.

"Where are we?" she whispered. "Weren't we in a cave? Did we trigger some kind of teleportation spell?"

"It's only an illusion" said Monthu but even he had a hard time believing that. Every little sound was accurate. Deciding to prove himself and others that it was fake he tried to get past the thick trees where the wall was supposed to be. To his utter surprise instead of the hard rock he touched the trees bark and with a force even managed to get it off a tree.

"What is going on here?" he exclaimed.

At that moment Par started to point at something in the blue sky. Two white quickly growing dots were coming their way. Once they came close enough it was easy to see that they were human shaped but had huge feathered wings. It was a woman in her early forties with light brown shoulder length hair and delicate features and a kid that resembled someone very closely. He was the same age as Par but had short curly golden hair and large blue eyes. They both wore white robes. When they were overhead the kid shouted.

"Look Mom! I told you he was here!"

Then he descended before the group, his mother following. An aura of gentleness and simple goodness surrounded them.

"How have you been Par?" asked the kid.

"Amazing! But why aren't you calling by my real name, Alex?" asked the red robed mage with a wounded look.

It was hard to say whose expression portrayed bigger surprise the groups grown-ups’ or the angel child. He looked like he was caught unguarded, unsure how to react to such a statement. 'I have no idea how you did this but you're done for' guessed Monthu with a slight smile. Even he had forgotten that his little brother still kept his imaginary friend and never told anyone how he looked. But instead of trying to mitigate the damage done the little angel became angry.

"You can't call me that here! I'm Rafael the great Archangel! Like you're Paradox! Why would you give me away like that?"

"I.. I.. didn..."

"Raf don't be so harsh with him. Besides you came here for a reason, remember?" said mother gently, calming her son. It worked instantly and the kid’s face lightened up with a smile once again.

"Oh right! I brought something for you! It's something very important to me and I hope you'll treasure it well" with that said he took a bracelet made of white feathers from his mother's hands and gave it to his friend proudly.

"Thannk.. you.." stammered out Par. "But what for?"

"It's a parting gift" explained Alex, a shadow passing his face. "I have to go back to my place. They're waiting for me and I can't disappoint them."

"But I'll see you again, right?" cried Par desperately clutching his friends hand.

The angel shook his head.

"No. But I'll be waiting you on the other side. So promise me you'll become a great person and have so many amazing stories to tell that even a lifetime wouldn't be enough! Promise me!" shouted Alex emotions colouring his voice.

"I promise!" agreed Par solemnly with tears in his eyes. The angel smiled happily and hugged his friend.

"Come on Raf. We can't stay here long"

"Yes, mother" answered the angel kid and releasing Par jumped back into the air, wings flapping. "Goodbye!" he screamed flying up while waving wildly at the same time. Tears were streaming his cheeks but he didn't wipe them. They fell down on earth and in places they landed forget-me-nots blossomed.

Soon he was out of everyone's sight.

A hiccup broke the silence. Par was crying while clutching the feather bracelet.

"Hey Trist are you okay?" asked Monthu awkwardly.

"He's gone" cried Par and rammed into his brother. Not sure what to do Monthu picked his brother up and let him cry into his shoulder. He tousled his hair a bit imagining it had some kind of calming effect. "What will I do without him? I'll be all alone!" Par's crying only intensified.

"What are you talking about kiddo? Aren't you friends with Ace?" asked Monthu grabbing for straws.

"Uhmm... Yeah... But didn't you say you were getting rid of him the moment we leave the cave?" sniffled the kid.

"I won't do anything of the like if he's your friend, I promise" seeing a light of hope shining in his brother’s eyes he went even further. "If he agrees, he can also become one of us."

It took everything not to grimace at that though but it was his only choice. Besides that Ace kid wasn't totally useless either. To think the truth, he wouldn't want to meet him alone at night.

A feeling of air being sucked out of their lungs distracted everyone from their thoughts but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. Once they stopped shaking and assessed their surroundings, they were already back in the cave with Ace sitting alone, a sour look on his face.

/Pass this to Monthu. Next time warn me if your brother has some strange tendencies. I don't know, like having an imaginary friend that looks exactly like me for starters?!/

Aurora blinked at the received message. /Was it really only an illusion?/ /What else could it have been? An imaginary friend coming to life in a game? How old are you? Four?/ Pink colour tinged Aurora's cheeks and she didn't say anything else just forwarded the first message.

Monthu's eyes grew a bit at the notice but his brother didn't see that.

"Why don't you go and let Aurora see what kind of item your friend gave you? I'll ask Ace if he wants to join?"

"Okay" Par answered and after disentangling himself walked over to the priestess with a very serious expression. He didn't let the bracelet out of his hands allowing her only to touch it.

In the meantime Monthu came over to the sitting kid and lowered himself down.

"What the hell were you planning to do?"

"Fool around a bit?" asked Ace shrugging and sticking his tongue out. He looked so adorable that Monthu couldn't stay angry at him for pulling that stunt even if he wanted. So he sighted and asked something else while making himself more comfortable and leaning against the wall.

"So how did you manage to pull it off and what did you give him?"

"Once he identified my random creation as his imaginary friend I didn't really have many options and saying goodbye seemed like the most obvious action. And about the item..." his expression became perplexed "I really don't know... Someone accidentally dropped it and I've been carrying it since, even though without identification skill I never found out what it actually does."

"You've killed him, didn't you?" asked Monthu his face clearly showing distaste.

"People have to live off of something but they make different choices about what that is."

It wasn't a confirmation but there was no disagreement either. Monthu wanted to ask him what he actually came to do when an outcry from Aurora took his attention.

"What is it?" he shouted in her direction.

"This item... You must come see it!"

Noting urgency in her voice he jumped up and hurried to them.

Feathered bracelet

All religions differ on who is god but they all agree on one thing that whoever he or she was, before humans, elves, dwarfs or any other race it created angels. They resembled humans but had elves’ intelligence and dwarfs' power yet their most prominent feature was large white wings sprouting from their backs.

They were perfect in every way but that only brought a perfect betrayal. One archangel disagreed with what was going on and rebelled taking many with him almost destroying everything The God had created. Angry God cursed them and created three great races out of them now known as humans, elves and dwarfs and many lesser ones.

No one knows what kind of curse was put on angels but nobody has ever seen them since. This bracelet was made from the feathers of a great archangel whose name has been lost. It contains his power and love for truth and knowledge. It's characteristics changes depending on the needs of the master.

Restrictions: An angel must give it to you of his own free will. Once equipped it can never be removed, forcefully or not.

Warning! Those who aren't given it will be burnt by Fires of Dark Light.

"Have you seen anything like this before?" asked Monthu but Aurora just shook her head in wonder.

"I heard rumours about items made by angels which no one could use and they burnt anyone who tried to touch them” Hawk murmured. "But they sell for a lot anyway. Some believe they contain hidden quests that will be revealed once the curse gets lifted".

"How can Par hold it then?" asked Monthu puzzled, saying what was on everyone's mind.

"Because my friend was an angel and he gave it to me!" explained Par with a wide smile on his face.

"He's right. It was given with an intention of a gift not to gain its power and emotions felt were real. Nothing was pretended or fake so the bracelet accepted him as its master" said Ace explaining it more logically.

"Of course" agreed Par wholeheartedly a smile on his face as he put the bracelet on his hand. The feathers lit for a moment with an otherworldly light but calmed down in an instant and looked just like before.

"Item information Feathered Bracelet"

Made from the feathers of a high ranked Archangel whose name is now forgotten it contains remnants of his power. It can bind only to one person it was gifted to and his name is Paradox. Stats are managed depending on his needs.

+ 200 Intelligence

+ 160 Wisdom

+ 20% resistance to all elements

+ 10% more easier to summon elementals

All churches see you as a friend.

It was an unparalleled item. One of its kind.

"Don't you feel jealous you gave such an item away?" whispered Monthu so Par wouldn’t overhear him.

"Nope. I had no use for it and if he made it work, I'm all for it" answered Ace.

"I don't get you all" murmured Monthu shaking his head in exasperation. "I think we should have a break now. It's been an eventful day and we're all tired" he said deciding it was right time for everyone to log off and have a good thinking about who the hell that Ace kid was.

Par nodded excitedly and logged off that very moment, eager to tell his parents of everything that had transpired. Others followed him suit.

Only Ace was left standing alone. He picked the items dropped by cavemen and sat down to play. There was no reason for him to leave. They'll come back soon enough.

***

Aiden walked out of his capsule and went towards the dining room. It was still early evening so their parents should be having dinner right about now. A loud chattering voice came from there.

Entering a well decorated room, he saw Trist sitting in mother's lap while telling her how the angel kid who showed up to be his imaginary friend appeared.

Aiden picked a plate and sat down to eat. His interrogation will begin soon enough. He might as well start it with a full stomach.

Just as expected once Trist got tired and went to his room parents' attention shifted to him.

"What he told us, was it truth?"

"In a way. There was that angel thing but it was an illusion created to annoy me."

"Explain" came a stern reply.

"Remember the fake kid I told you about that was tagging along? Well he decided today was a day of revelations. He made us stand back and lured a bunch of mobs on a trap. It was a massacre. I haven't seen such a brutal fight for a long time; he just slashed and stabbed everywhere.

“At the end of fight I remembered Trist and looked at him but he was facing a wall. It showed up that Ace had cast an illusion to distract him. I said something about it being crude and the guy took it as a challenge. He created a typical pair of angels but then Trist identified one as his friend. In the end the guy decided to proceed and went along with it going as far as giving Trist a legendary item."

"So you want to say that a random guy cured Trist of imaginary friends without even knowing it while we couldn't manage it for the last few years?"

"Yes"

"Did you make him leave?"

"I couldn't. Trist wouldn't stop crying if I didn't promise he could have Ace as a friend and travel around with him."

"We can't have anyone having so much influence on him" stated father in a firm voice. He was a middle aged man with bald head and sharp eyes.

"Explain it to your child then."

"Better we'll explain it to that Ace kid. Meet us when finished with the quest. Where you are now?"

"Forest of Mist, a hidden dungeon there."

"We'll have a very enlightening talk then."