Lexy held Jackson and her father’s knife for dear life as they rode on a tiger horse’s back. Lexy desperately just wanted to go home at this point. Her teeth were beginning to hurt for some reason and so was her head. Lexy closed her eyes and suddenly she crashed into a tree and opened her eyes to find herself back in the forest.

Lexy looked at the sun to see it was almost down and despite the pain from crashing into a tree, she dashed to the mansion. Lexy quickly pulled the front doors open,

“Thokath! I got lost in the woods and I'm sorry I really tried to get back here as soon as I could.”

Thokath quickly ran from one of the side rooms, rushed up to Lexy, knelt, and brought her into a hug. Thokath embraced her tightly while tears began to fall down Lexy’s face when she nuzzled into Thokath’s shoulder.

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”

Thokath rubbed circles into her back,

“It’s ok, what matters now is that you're here.”

Thokath’s hug was warm and so soft Lexy couldn't help but fall asleep

***

Lexy woke up with a groan. She got up and went over to her dresser. Lexy pulled out one of her blue hoodies along with a grey shirt and black cargo pants.

Lexy slipped into the cargo pants and pulled the grey shirt on. She pulled the hoodie on and zipped it up. Lexy looked at the dresser and her father's knife. She grabbed the blade and put it in her hoodie pocket.

Lexy grabbed her sneakers and put them on. She then grabbed her medicine, opened the bottle, and took out one pill. Lexy swiftly swallowed the pill, closed the bottle, and put it in one of the cupboards. Lexy walked out of her room and closed the door behind her. She grits her teeth when her head had begun to ache while her stomach growled.

Lexy walked through the halls and made her way to the dining room. To see Thokath sitting at the dining table with his siblings.

Thokath looked at her and gave a gentle smile when he gestured to an empty chair by Carin. Lexy sighed and walked over to the chair and sat down.

Carin looked to her and raised a brow,

“Are you feeling ok?”

Lexy groaned,

“Am I in pain from a stupid headache? Yes, yes I am but id says compared to the other things that I've seen so far in life that this is a cakewalk.”

Carin blinked,

“Well then, we have pain meds for headaches.”

Lexy smiled,

“That would be nice.”

Lexy fell silent and fell into her thoughts as the food was served. Lexy however was brought out of her thoughts’ by Thokath asking a question,

“hey, Lexy have you ever played chess”?

Lexy looked to Thokath,

“no, never had anyone to play it with.”

Thokath smiled,

“well, I can teach you if you would like”.

Lexy gave a strained smile while she moved her legs back and forth,

“Sure, it wouldn't hurt but can we do it in the afternoon? I was hoping to go exploring this morning.”

Thokath frowned,

“Alright, just be careful please don't go too far again ok?”

Lexy nodded,

“understood.”

Lexy ate quickly and stood up. She looked to Thokath,

“Thank you for the food.”

Thokath smiled,

“you're welcome.”

Lexy waved and walked out of the room. She rushed upstairs and grabbed the book Callum had given her. Lexy then swiftly walked out of her room and dashed to the front doors of the mansion to head outside.

The sun’s warm gentle rays fell on her when she walked into the woods. Lexy walked along her chalked trail and then continued past it. Until she reached the clearing she and Callum had fought the warden in.

Lexy opened the book Callum had given her to see the lens. Picking it up she turned the page in the book to see an index. The words rearranged themselves and Lexy read it out loud.

“History, page five through one hundred. Bestiary, page one hundred one through five hundred. Enchantment’s five hundred one through seven hundred sixteen.”

Lexy turned to page five to see an illustration of a battle between humans, wizards, dragons, and all sorts of mythical creatures.

She read the title,

“The war of fire.”

Lexy continued to read the text below the illustration,

“Long ago, there was no need to hide, all truths were told. The world was fresh, clean, and full of harmony. Peace abounded during this golden age.

Seven great tribes coexisted upon the land in tolerance of each other. There were the dragon-blooded, beast-blooded, Mystics, Wizards, Elves, humans, and witches.”

Lexy paused and looked at the illustrations under the text. The dragon blooded looked like Jackson. While the beast-blooded illustration showed a man with fox ears that was transforming into a bipedal fox.

The mystic’s illustration showed spirits and a giant worm draconic creature. Lexy didn't bother too much with the last four and continued to read.

“The volatile, ill-tempered dragon-blooded revered and respected all the tribes. They had gargoyle-like forms but could morph into dragons at will! The magnitude of their dragon forms ranged from the size of a small pony to an enormous mountain! The dragons of the highest caliber could create a storm with a single flap of their wing.

beast-blooded held human forms with animal tails and ears. They were able to morph into a larger bipedal form of that animal.

Mystics were pure magical creatures that held equal intelligence to that of a human or lower.

Elves were crafty masters of crime. Similar to the wizards they could wield magic. However, unlike the wizards, they must obtain and carry a magic item to use it. An elf is limited to one type of magic.

Wizards are unique. They can create magic potions. Enchantments on weapons of all kinds were just a few of their specialties. They are limited in their magical abilities though.

Humans held no magic except the ability of immortality.

Witches, or the shunned, to do magic, had to sacrifice magical creatures to use their twisted version of magic. The cursed beings failed a coup d'état. Their attempt to overthrow the tribes decimated their numbers by a third. Even though they lost the coup, they had successfully cast fear into the hearts of the humans.

Humans retaliated with witch hunts and burned them alive at the stake. This was the human’s downfall. They were trapped in the witch’s web. Fear coursed through the humans, they began to condemn all magic, and soon after the witches, they deemed the wizards equally as evil.

Wizards and the other tribes tried to come to a compromise with the humans but the humans were too narrow visioned to see the consequences of their sins. The wizards saw value in the humans and tried one last time to reason a compromise with them.

However, humans continued their retaliation out of fear. They irrationally burned the tribal wizard's family's two youngest children. Ceremoniously they burned them alive at the stake.”

Lexy stopped,

“Well, that got dark fast. Then again when is any history roses and sunshine?”

Lexy then continued to read,

“Overcome with rage and grief the wizards lashed out violently at the humans. Nothing short of annihilation, they marched in the middle of the night setting fire to cropland. Unmerciful, they ravaged whatever human villages they came across.

Human lands were ablaze with fire so bright it looked like the rising sun. In the aftermath of the first attack, the wizards burned a fourth of the human domain and persecuted the tribal family and their supporters.

Soon after the war of fire began. It spread across the land like a plague. The ground of what was left from the war looked like the underworld. The Wizards knew that they couldn't kill the humans. So the most powerful wizards that served the king came together and created a magical spell called the veil with the goddess.”

Lexy stopped reading there and frowned,

“Ok that is enough history, let’s try enchantments.”

Lexy then turned back to the index and turned the pages to find the beginning of enchantments. Lexy started flipping through the pages for anything that would help. Lexy landed on the page of runes and their meanings. She looked at her father’s knife to look at the rune on it and looked back to the book. Lexy looked through the runes until she found one that matched the one engraved into her father’s blade.

“Loyalty.”

Lexy sighed, closed the book, and made her way back to the mansion. Lexy entered the building, went to her room, and put the book back. Lexy then rushed back out of the mansion and went back into the forest.

Lexy went to the place Jackson left her last time and looked at her father's knife. Lexy focused on it and the rune glimmered softly for a moment a dark purple. Lexy thought back to the moment she was sent flying into the tree and hummed.

Lexy closed her eyes and focused on reality. With all of the sand storms, the rebels, and Callum. Lexy thought long and hard about Callum’s library. She felt a warm sanded breeze go against her skin. Lexy snapped her eyes open to see a vibrant purple glow coming from her father's knife and she looked around to see she was in front of Callum’s library entrance.

Lexy saw light emitting from inside of the cave and rushed in expecting to see Callum. But no, they're sitting by the bookshelves was Niph with a tear-stained face.

Lexy walked up to Niph who looked at her with hope and desperation in her eyes.

“Is he with you? Lexy, where is my little brother?”

Lexy’s eyes widened,

“What do you mean Callum wasn't with me in the camps.”

Niph’s once hopeful expression went to one of despair,

“Oh, I see. Well if you came for a book. Enjoy, I'm not going to stop you.”

Lexy frowned and narrowed her eyes,

“Where was the last place you saw him?”

Niiph sighed and brought her knees to her chest,

“That’s just it, I saw him go into a shadow right as you left and he hasn't come back.”

Lexy frowned,

“I promise I won't return until I've found him. “

Niph shook her head,

“Don't make promises you can't keep.”

Lexy turned to the entrance of the cave,

“I know but this is one I plan on keeping.”

Lexy held her father's knife tight and focused on meeting up with Jackson while she closed her eyes. She opened her eyes and let out a strangled cough as pain racked through her. Lexy coughed and watched with wide eyes when blood fell from her lips and into the sand. She looked up to see she was out in the desert and there was sand and a random door in front of her.

Lexy turned around to see Jackson and another person staring at her with wide eyes.

This person looked to be a bipedal mouse with kangaroo legs, tail and has long mouse ears. They were female and had a white blouse with a gene blue vest on top. They had baggy pants on their legs. She also had two quivers with four crossbows.

This woman looked to Lexy and frowned,

“Are you going to be ok?”

Lexy wiped the blood from her mouth,

“as long as I don't do that again for a bit. I think so.”

Jackson raised a brow,

“Right, next question: how did you get here? We're not even at the meeting spot.”

Lexy took another glance around,

“Well, I thought about this place, closed my eyes and opened them and I was here. While on horseback I had accidentally done this only instead I thought of home. I'm still figuring this out.”

Jackson looked to his friend,

“Well, since we're already here this saves us a lot of time. Should we just head through the door Fendres?”

Fendres shrugged,

“I don't see why not. I mean we can just move it. It is a door in a desert.”

Jackson nodded,

“Alright then.”

Jackson looked to Lexy,

“Alright, just head through the door.”

Lexy looked at the door and back to Jackson. Lexy was going to say something when she spotted movement on top of a dune on the horizon. Lexy furrowed her brows and focused on what was moving. To see lines of sand moving. Lexy tilted her head,

“What is that?”

Jackson and Fendres stopped and turned around to see what Lexy was talking about and their faces changed to absolute horror. Jackson quickly grabbed Lexy and rushed to the door with Fendres. Jackson kicked the door open and ran through. Lexy watched as Fendres ran behind them. Lexy looked in awe as they went through the door where their whole surroundings changed to a medieval stone-built town with rows of trees along the streets. However just like on the other side there was a door here too.

Fendres was quickly behind Jackson and Lexy when Fendres spun on a dime while she swiftly unclipped two crossbows and fired them through the doorway. The arrows flew through and landed into one of the large bumps moving through the sand.

Feral growling and clicking were heard as a monster rose from the sand. It had a human-structured torso and head. With white and greyscales and sharp spikes going down from the top of its head, all the way down its back to the tip of its tail. Its eyes were a haunting orange and there were black marks around its eyes.

Its body reminded Lexy tales of a centaur. Only instead of horse legs, the front legs were that of a bird and the back legs were that of a centaur while the arms were the front legs of a lion while the rest of its body was reptilic.

The arrow Fendres had shot was embedded in one of the creature's spines and with how it had its eyes narrowed and was growling. Lexy could tell the creature did not appreciate that. It let out an angry roar and went to go through the door only to be shocked by an invisible wall in the door.

Jackson set Lexy down and looked to Fendres with a frown,

“Why did you have to piss it off when you knew they couldn't get through?”

Fendres looked at the monster and the other that was the same. Fendres shrugged,

“Because I wanted to.”

Jackson groaned,

“See, this is why we can't have nice things.”

Fendres raised a brow,

“But we do have nice things.”

Jackson stared at her for a long moment and then huffed. Small plumes of smoke came from his nostrils,

“That is not what I meant and you know it. Besides, we'll have to deal with them later when she has to go home.”

Fendres smirks,

“exactly.”

Jackson shook his head,

“Sometimes I hate you.”

Fendres only smiled,

“You know you'll be thanking me when I have to fight again. It will be all like ``oh thank you Fendress so much.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and looked to Lexy,

“Alright, follow me and ignore her,” he said, gesturing to Fendres who only smiled while her left ear flicked a bit.

Jackson began to guide Lexy to one of the taller buildings as they did. The three pass a huge stadium. Lexy looked to Jackson,

“What’s that?”

Fendres began to speak before Jackson could,

“That is the Gershon stadium, here if you have a problem with somebody or a dispute, or just want to fight you go there. Then beyond there, you'll just find housing and then endless green flat fields. Oh and craters from all of Leo’s crazy inventions.”

Jackson smirked,

“Hey, give him at least some credit. They're quite fun to smash.”

Fendress nodded,

“There is something we can agree on.”

Jackson led Lexy to the entrance of a tall building of stone brick and dark wood. The trio entered the building and Lexy looked in awe when she saw all sorts of creatures in a large cafeteria area. However, one thing Lexy noticed was how despite what these people are they all have a vest, some dark green others, yellow, red, black, and blue.

Jackson continued to lead Lexy past the cafeteria and into a set of hallways past it and eventually to a door. Jackson knocked on the door.

“Come in.” came Alcore’s voice from the other side.

Jackson opened the door and Lexy walked in while Fendres and Jackson walked in after her. Lexy looked at Alcore and an unusual white dog.

Alcore approached Lexy. He towered over her, looking down, his violet eyes met with her storm blue. “How did you manage magic, you're human?”

Lexy crossed her arms,

“well, the anawrath soldier's inspectors said I do have magic. I just have barely any they said. To what activated it I focused on heading home and suddenly I was near home. ”

Alcore eyed her skeptically, getting lost in his thoughts.

“hmmm,” his chest vibrates.

“I think maybe not all is as it seems.”

Lexy raised a brow,

“I have no idea what you're smoking, but I was just thinking of home. Earlier today I thought of Charter then I thought of here and I started coughing blood.”

Alcore interrupted her, "Charter?! How in Tethys’s name did you end up there?” He demands. “Are you really trying to tell me you just thought of here?"

“Yes, you nitwit”, Lexy pointedly attacks. “If you were listening to me, that is exactly what I said.”

Lexy crossed her arms. Fendres and Jackson could be heard in the background chuckling. Fendres wrinkles her nose, “what’s he smoking? I’ll be inquiring about that later. Fire? What fire? I smell no fire.”

“Nitwit? What is Tethys's name? Did you just call me a child?”

Alcore shook his head. He had no idea what the hell a nitwit is. He decided to let it go as Lexy chose not to answer him. She just glared at him fiercely. And continued.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted”, Lexy looked at Alcore pointedly. “While I was moving around and had glanced into Charter. The Anawrath soldiers were collecting taxes from people as an excuse to take kids away. I gave myself up for some other family so they had time to getaway. But those people looked to be suffering from malnutrition and lack of medical supplies. You will allow me to help save these people. I will do it with or with your help. Someone has to step in and stop the madness I saw from spreading.”

Alcore heard this little spitfire going off on him as if she had some real teeth to her. He knew, however, the road in front of them was treacherous. He was unsure if he should allow her to join them. Hesitantly he asked her, “are you meaning to tell me, that you would attempt to fight the soldiers yourself?”

Alcore watched the little girl in front of him swell with anger, determination, and righteous indignation as she responded to him.

“Damn right, I will not allow those children to be taken. They do not deserve to live so poorly.” He watched in awe at the fire she spit out for being so small.

He concluded that he would rather add her to his numbers than allow her to go off halfcocked and get herself killed.

Alcore breathed out a long sigh and he looked at the strange white dog and back to Lexy “alright let’s say I do consider what could a little thing as you do for me?”

Lexy smirked, “I may not be the best for fighting but I could bring supplies and if the need comes for fighting I am skilled at archery.”

Alcore shrugged, “you will bring food, are we talking real food or fake toys?”

Lexy puffed her chest and snarled, “You will find judging me by my size is a horrible mistake and if you give me the chance, I will bring you food that’s well worth eating.”

Alcore shook his head

“I’d have agreed that it is worth considering. What else though, because I am not sure that is worth the danger you will be in? This is not a game little one. The dangers are real. You're putting your life on the line for people you have barely met. Is that worth a little food to you?”

Lexy felt rage erupt from every fiber of her being when she blasted back at Alcore as she remembered Callum, “We have to fight for today, to protect the young. They cannot defend themselves. I know I can help. The odds may be stacked against us but if we don’t fight who will? You will not stop me from helping. It’s a matter of question. Do you want my help or not? If not I won't pester you again but it doesn't mean I won't do things on my own.” she seethed at him.

Alcore took a step back as he felt like his body was being hit by waves of fire, he watched in shock as the entire countenance of this little girl shifted. Power emanated from her, a power he cannot control.

The magical aurora rolled off Lexy in tidal waves brings everyone but Alcore to their knees. A shock went through Jackson, Fendres as they were forced to their knees and this made the strange dog look at Lexy.

Lexy looked behind her to see Fendres and Jackson kneeling, it caused her to lose focus. Surprise overtakes Lexy,

“What the hell? What on earth is wrong with everyone?”

Alcore, now able to recover from the negative effects her magical aurora was having on him, stepped forward,

“You have convinced me, I will allow you to assist us.” He turns to Jackson, and mumbles under his breath,

“Keep an eye on her, she is not what she thinks she is.”

Alcore looked back to Lexy,

“Tomorrow you can bring the food but first meet Varikin. He will be your bodyguard since you don’t know how to fight against the enemy yet and don’t worry about how he will look to other humans. He will just look like a normal dog to everyone once you’re around someone else. ”

Lexy watched as the strange dog stood up and walked up to her. It was once that she was focused on this creature she made the swift realization this was not a dog. This was a white wolf. Varikin held his head high as walked over to Lexy and just stared at her,

“um h, I Varikin I am Lexy” Varikin gave no response.

“It’s ok he’s shy at first”

Alcore kneeled and petted Varikin.

Lexy petted the wolf who kept a stoic expression while she gently patted his soft white fur. Lexy scrunched her nose slightly in confusion “so is this permanent or is this just until I can prove I can defend myself?”

Alcore shrugged,

“Well see if you do well with him or not. But if you do. You’ll find the bond you have with him will lead to something a bit magical.”

Lexynoddedd“I won’t let you down, ok Varikin let’s go,” she says slightly unsure

Alcore nodded and watched the small blond and Varikin leave. “I wonder what type of solder she will grow to be”

Jackson walked up to Alcore,

“So if she does well with Varikin does that mean the canine unit gets a new member? Just asking” Alcore turns to Jackson “of course and your captain of the canine unit I would have been surprised if you didn’t ask.”