“Where are we,” asked Belinda. Cal was about to reply when he realized that he didn’t know either. He then realized that they all still didn’t know that they were a part of the trials, so no matter how he answered they probably wouldn’t understand.

While cal was trying to come up with a good answer, he felt a flare from his bond with kaze. Cal spun around towards the direction that he had felt kaze but there was a wall in the way. Before cal could try to find a way out he heard a shout from above him. He looked up to see a guard looking down from a previously unseen balcony. The guard had on a helmet with a nose guard and had a glorious mustache above his lip.

“State your names and reasons for using the teleportation circle.” the guard said with a bit of an accent.

“I am Calaeris windlab and…” cal started then stopped he wasn’t sure what reason to give but after a second, he decided to tell the truth, “I was part of a teleportation accident a year ago and have only now been able to return.”

the guard seemed surprised but didn’t do anything. “And the rest of y’all,” he drawled.

Arisu glanced over at Belinda who took the lead. “I am Belinda, servant of the house of windlab.”

arisu then copied Belinda’s answer in a shy voice with a bit of a stutter. “I am a-a-arisu, I am also a servant o-of the house of windlab.”

cal looked over at the boy to see what he would do, but to cal’s surprise, he followed suit and answered in a similar manner. “I am Lenny, a servant of lord calaeris.”

From where the guard was there was the sound of a quill on parchment then some quick footsteps. The guard then poked his head back over the balcony and called down to them “we’re havin one of our boys run down to verify your identities. it shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.” the guard, after saying his piece, once again ducked down out of sight.

After the guard had left, Cal looked over at his three companions. This was his first chance to get a good look at them and he looked over each of them in turn. Cal first looked over Belinda, she was about 5’6 more than a foot taller than cal was. she was now wearing a grey shirt with brown pants which was much more inconspicuous than her assassin’s outfit. She didn’t have her head wrap on and, for the first time, cal saw her long black hair.

He then looked over arisu and realized something was very different. She was still the same girl that he had saved from the vampires, but she looked very different. now she looked a few years older and much less like a child. she had also grown about 6 inches making her more than half a foot taller than cal.

Lastly, he looked over at the boy who called himself Lenny. this was cal’s first chance to get a good look at the boy, he seemed to be about 18 years old and had bulging muscles along his arms. he wore a sleeveless grey tunic and black pants with a white apron over the whole thing. he appeared to be human and was a head taller than Belinda.

“Umm, about your question from when we first arrived.” cal started slightly awkwardly. “I think it would be safe to start with that we are on an entirely different world, or something like that.” cal stopped to gauge their reactions.

To his confusion, none of them were surprised. Cal‘s confusion must have shown on his face and Belinda answered his unasked question. “A man in a red suit appeared about half an hour after you left to beat the prince. he explained the situation and gave me the choice of disappearing forever or becoming your bondservant and, almost immediately after, I was teleported here.”

cal paused for a second then asked in a curious voice “so for you it’s been less than an hour since you tried to kill me.” Belinda seemed a bit sheepish but Lenny’s reaction surprised everyone.

“WHAT” Lenny shouted “you would dare try to harm my lord.” he took a threatening step towards belinda. upon seeing lenny’s anger Belinda pulled a pair of knives from somewhere.

“Don’t fight you two” cal said as the two prepared to fight.

They both instantly froze and cal was reminded of the fact that he had control over them. when he had ordered the two of them he had felt two connections in his mind, they were both small and faint compared to the one he had with kaze but they were still there. The idea of controlling someone like this felt wrong to cal, but they had already become his bondservants and there was nothing that he could do.

After cal had calmed the situation he asked arisu and Lenny. “Did you guys have a similar experience as Belinda when you became my bondservants.” they both said that they had not.

Cal then asked what had been different for them and Lenny, in a show of chivalry, allowed arisu to answer first. “Well umm, it started out similarly. After you saved me from the vampire prince, the man in the red suit appeared and gave me the same choice and I also answered yes but then he said that I would have to wait until I awakened, and then I was teleported into a hospital where I learned to treat wounds for six years. Once I awakened I continued to train for a few months before I was teleported here.”

cal nodded in understanding, “So that is why you look older.” after cal said that Lenny seemed to wince slightly and arisu looked embarrassed.

“You don’t say stuff like that to a girl especially when you don’t look older than 10 yourself.” Belinda reprimanded cal, “and Arisu you look amazing.”

cal was slightly ashamed of what he said, but he was also indignant that she said that he looked like a ten year old. “I am actually thirteen,” cal said as he glared at Belinda who just rolled her eyes, “but your right, sorry Arisu.” arisu nodded at the apology and cal looked over to Lenny. “so what are the differences for you.”

“I’m not sure my lord I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like what they described.” Lenny answered.

“Then how did you get here.” cal asked

“my lord do you not remember, you pushed me into the portal.” Lenny’s eyes widened as if he remembered something and he suddenly looked very depressed. “Of course how could I forget” Lenny cried, “one of the last things you told me before you pushed me into the portal was that you may not remember anything from before.”

cal was confused by his words and tried to correct him, “I remember my entire life until now and I have never once met you.”

Lenny just seemed even more depressed and said in a resigned voice. “Of course not my lord, you also told me that it was likely that you would remember a false past.” cal continued to try to explain to Lenny that they had never met but Lenny was adamant in his refusal.

Belinda seemed to get fed up with the argument and shouted, “enough.” When the two boys stopped arguing she continued, “I think cal might remember if you were to tell him about your guy’s relationship.”

“Of course,” Lenny exclaimed with hope filling his voice. “the lord and I grew up together and when I was seven I was hired on as a servant and I worked as hard as I could to please the Lord. Then one day my lord asked me to be his bondservant and I, of course, accepted.” once he finished Lenny smiled hopefully at cal but cal just shook his head.

After that there was silence for a while. then, arisu and Belinda started up a conversation and after a while, Lenny joined in. cal remained silent over the course of their conversation. At times he wanted to put in a word or even join the conversation but he didn’t know how. As he thought about why he was having trouble joining the conversation, he realized that he had only ever had what he would consider small talk with his grandpa. every other conversation he had had was about serious matters. Even during the year that cal spent training with Alucard and Gabriel he had only ever asked them about training.

While cal sat there contemplating the intricacies of conversation the guard poked his head out over the balcony. “Our runner came back,” he shouted down to them, “he said that the record keeper needed to go ask the king something.”

“that’s odd,” commented Belinda, “normally there would be no need to consult the king.”

the group sat there quietly for a second then arisu asked, “what would we do if they attacked us.”

they sat there quietly for another second then cal answered, “I’m not sure, I doubt that I will be very useful in battle I’m only level 2.”

the whole group was silent for a second then Belinda burst out laughing, “level 2, how in the world did you beat me when your only level two.”

cal looked at her defensively. “I don’t know, my fight with you was supposedly scaled to a level one so that might explain it, but even still you can’t be that much higher than me.”

Belinda just rolled her eyes and said. “I’m level 246, so yes I am much higher than you.”

cal was quiet for a second then he looked over to arisu and Lenny. “What level are you guys,” cal asked in a shaky voice. At first, the two of them didn’t want to answer, but after some coaxing cal learned that arisu was level 10 and Lenny was level 26.

Cal let out a sigh then said, “if we get into a fight I will be a liability so our formation will have to be something like Belinda in the front with arisu healing her. Sorry Lenny but you will likely be in the same role as me, in the back just trying to survive.”

it seemed like Lenny was about to object when the iron door opened and a tall elf with long red hair and broad shoulders strode in. he was wearing extremely nice clothes with a crown on his head, and cal immediately knew that this was the king. Two more people walked in behind the king, one was an elf with curly blonde hair, cal guessed that this was the queen, and behind the queen was princess Natalie who cal had met in the forest.

Upon seeing three members of the royal family walk in the room cal dropped to one knee and spoke in as polite a voice as he could. “This humble traveler greets his highness the king, as well as her highness the queen and her ladyship princess Natalie.” When cal was younger he had hated his grandpa’s lessons about court manners but now he was finding them quite useful. the three who were with cal were shocked by his actions and quickly followed suit.

After seeing all four people kneeling the king asked in a voice full of nobility and authority. “Which one of you claims to be a member of the house of windlab.”

cal who remained bowing with his head down answered. “I do your highness my name is calaeris windlab.”

the king walked over to cal, he was now standing only a foot away. “What is your relation to the goblin threynar windlab.”

cal answered in a shaky voice “he was my adoptive grandfather.”

the king paused for a second then he asked, “do you have any proof.”

cal thought that he heard the faintest hint of emotion in the king’s voice, but it was so faint that cal thought that he might have imagined it. He was distracted from the sadness that he might have heard when he realized that he did not have any proof. when his grandpa had teleported him away, it had been almost without warning and there had been no time to prepare anything.

Cal thought for a moment and realized he had the necklace, hoping that his hunch was right, cal reached up to pull his necklace out from under his shirt when the king gasped and grabbed his wrist. The king pulled cal’s hand towards his face pulling cal to his feet in the same motion.

“He gave you Anne’s ring.” the king exclaimed in surprise. cal looked at his hand and saw that he was in fact wearing his grandpa’s wedding ring on that hand. “When did he give you this.” the king asked.

cal felt a lump catch in his throat at the question and he had to force out the answer while holding back tears “a few minutes before he died.” cal realized that it had been over a year since his grandfather had died, but with the constant struggle to get stronger and survive he had almost no time to grieve and all the pent up emotions started bubbling to the surface. Cal wanted to curl up on the ground right there and let his tears flow but he couldn’t do that in front of the king.

So Cal stood there holding back tears as the king continued to examine his ring. Suddenly the king grabbed cal in a fierce embrace. Cal stood there stiffly for a while before he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the king. Just as suddenly as the king had hugged him cal was released and the king stepped back blushing slightly. “I’m sorry calaeris, just, threynar was once a good friend of mine, and his passing is difficult for me to handle.”

cal stood there dumbly trying to think of an answer when he felt a sudden flash from his bond with kaze, cal could feel a bit of distress in the flash but it was faint. he whipped his head around towards where he could feel kaze but cal was still in the room and was just staring at the wall.

“What is it calaeris.” asked the king.

“I’m sorry your highness, but I felt my familiar in that direction. I think something is happening to him.” cal answered distractedly.

before the king could reply Natalie stepped forward and asked. “Might I ask what your familiar is?”

“of course princess Natalie, I believe you met him, but he is a light blue wolf pup with wings”

once cal had started describing kaze Natalie began to nod and then asked. “So you are the same calaeris I met in the forest of kaar.”

cal nodded and answered “yes, but as you may remember I was part of a failed teleportation and have only now returned.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow and asked “how did you learn common so quickly. last I remember you were unable to speak common.”

cal shrugged and answered, “a lot happened over the course of the last year.” Natalie seemed discontent with Cal’s answer and was about to ask again when cal felt another flash from his bond, this time it felt almost urgent.

Cal realized that he didn’t have time to wait and shouted as he started sprinting. “Sorry, your majesties but something is happening to my familiar.” cal sprinted down the hallway, it was long and winding, but he eventually made it to a branch in the hallway and had to decide which way to go.

After a moment the king seemed to appear next to cal. He pointed down one of the hallways and said. “Natalie told me where there keeping your familiar I’ll lead you there.” cal nodded and the king started off.

To cal it looked like the king was just walking but he was moving so fast that cal was struggling to keep up while at a full sprint. Soon they exited the building they were in and the king stopped. Cal was out of breath from running so far but was impatient to get there as he could still sense that kaze was fairly far away.

“I’m sorry calaeris but to get there at the speed we were going would take a few hours. I will carry you the rest of the way if you’re ok with that.” cal nodded his head and before he knew what was happening they were racing down the streets of an unfamiliar city.

They were moving so fast that cal could only see a blur of colors. Cal felt bile rising in his throat but he swallowed it back down. After about ten minutes they slowly came to a stop and cal was put unsteadily back on his feet. Cal had to close his eyes from the nausea and dizziness from moving so fast, but he quickly felt the distress and fear coming from the bond.

He forced his eyes open and ran on unsteady feet towards where he could sense kaze. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, but he did vaguely see a massive white building with a dark forest on one side of it. Soon after he started running cal entered a small building by the side of the large white one. The building cal entered smelled of animals and cal had to run down multiple hallways until he entered the room where kaze was.

When cal entered, the first thing he saw was kaze tied up on the ground with an odd circle drawn on the ground around him. Second, he saw a person holding an intricately crafted silver collar. The person holding the collar was chanting something and cal quickly summoned both of his swords.

Cal snuck up behind the person and stuck one of his swords at the back of his neck. “Release kaze or I will kill you.” cal said in as steady of a voice as he could manage.

The person stiffened then relaxed slightly as he asked without turning. “Would you really risk angering archduke Pailen over some random wolf?”

cal pressed his blade forward slightly, causing a small line of blood to trickle down from the back of the boy’s neck. “I nearly killed the last person who tried to mess with kaze. The only reason he survived was that Mr. talon was close enough to save him.”

the boy just laughed as he spun away quicker than cal could react. The boy then pulled out his own sword. “Who are you to interfere with the doings of the heir of the Pailen dukedom.” the boy asked in a sny tone. suddenly there was an odd pressure in the room, It felt as if the air itself had gotten heavier.

Soon the king stepped into the room. He looked over at the boy and answered his question, “that is calaeris windlab, duke of the region of the forest of kaar, grandson of the hero threynar the cursed, and my personnal ward.”

the king then threateningly narrowed his eyes and said, “the question should be who are you, Jordan Pailen, to be messing with his familiar.”

the boy, who’s name appeared to be Jordan, paled slightly and took a step back. “I had no idea that this wolf was bonded to such an important person. should I have known I…” the boy kept talking but cal stopped listening.

He walked over to kaze and cut loose his bindings. Kaze jumped up and started licking cal’s face. It was then that cal realized kaze had grown quite a bit. He was now about twice as big as he was before and his wings had grown double that amount. His fur had also changed slightly, now there was more white towards his belly and purple rings had formed around his eyes.

As cal looked at his familiar the world began to rotate and he slowly fell sideways. As he was falling he felt distress from his bond with kaze and, for the first time, he also heard words. Cal help, need, I get now. With that slightly confusing sentence still ringing in his head cal passed out.