We make our way down the mountain quickly. Lupa leads the way making we sure that we don’t run into any of the monsters that are coming from the north. We easily make our way without any monsters finding us. We ride well into the night going past the rows of dead trees. It almost looks like a corruption is sweeping over the green belt. As we finally breach into the familiar green of the Green Belt. I don’t know how long we have been gone but my best guess is a week at most. We keep traveling all night with the chance of monsters being around we have to keep a constant guard. We only rest when we are one hundred percent certain that no monsters are around. We spend the next few days traveling. We have a few close run ends with a few werewolves, one vampire, and some sort of troll. Eventually I notice trees being cleared by some men in the distance. I whistle for Lupa to come to me. Lupa walks over to me as Aleem looks at me, “Why are we stopping?” He has a tone of annoyance in his voice.

“This has never been a wood cutting area before.” He rolls his eyes and nudges his goat forward.

“It is most likely to build a wall.” I pause realizing where we are at.

“We are near Wealdstone..” Lupa growls slightly as I grip my reins tighter. “We need to go somewhere else.” Aleem stops his goat and looks at me.

“This is the closest place I know of that will allow us to get better transportation. I don’t plan on riding goats all the way to the Southern Desert.” I glare at him and huff. I follow Aleem down the road riding past the men cutting down the trees. They all give us weird looks but they all glare at Lupa. I frown feeling a little anger bubble up inside me. I suppress it by the time we make it to town.

The town changed much since we last left it. There is the beginnings of a wooden wall to surround the town. There are dead bodies of monsters on the outside of town. As we ride in, the amount of military within the town has triple. Every square inch of this place is crawling full of guards and each one of them instantly look at us. Aleem doesn’t seem bothered by this but Lupa looks on guard and ready to attack. We pull up to the bar that me and Lupa robbed all those weeks ago. It’s about mid to late day. Aleem hops off his goat and I follow. My legs feel stiff but I have gotten use to all of the riding. I pet Lupa’s head slowly following Aleem. He leads us down the street where more guards look at us. I start to get a feeling this won’t end well when he knocks on a door. The door opens to a young looking man, “What do you… Oh it’s you. Come in.” The man looks to be about twenty-three with brown hair and eyes. He has a few freckles dotting his face and has a good build. He has common clothes but something about them seem off. Aleem follows him inside and I look at Lupa. Lupa gives me a look like not to trust this. I nod and walk in expecting the worst.

As we walk in, we noticed the place look spotless. I haven’t been in many city homes but from what I have been in, they are all the same. A large fireplace in the corner, the living room is connected to the kitchen, and two bedrooms. The man looks at Aleem, “You know that he is still either drunk or asleep.” He looks me and Lupa over and then rolls his eyes. I frown at that. Aleem goes to the kitchen looking around.

“I need him to teach a new student.” The man laughs slightly and closes the door behind us with a wave of his hand. My eyes go wide as Lupa growls at him.

“Please. He can barely teach his only student. How is he suppose to teach two?” He glares at both of us.

“He owes me. He will find a way or else.” The man pauses and looks at Aleem. Aleem seems serious and almost deadly in a way. This sends a chill down the back of my spine. The man sighs and goes to one of the bedrooms. We hear a few words being shouted between two people. The man from before comes out followed an older looking man. He has white hair and gray eyes. He is wearing robes with a weird star on it. He glares at us before looking at Aleem. A smile comes across his face and he goes to Aleem.

“Aleem my old friend. I thought you went back to your little hideout in the Northern Mountains. Alistar go out and buy us drinks.” Alistar glares at Aleem but nods.

“Yes master.” The man walks past us and leaves the house. Aleem and the older man sits down at the kitchen table. I slowly walk over and sit down as Lupa lays down at my feet. Aleem and the old man makes small talk. Both seem to like each other and have a fun time talking to each other. Aleem gets a serious look in his eyes.

“I need you to train someone in the ways of magic.” The old man frowns and looks to me. He gets a serious look in his eyes.

“Hmm… I can’t train someone so broken Aleem.” He looks at him, “If I had her years ago, I could maybe make something out of her. Not now.” Aleem frowns and I glare at the old man. How dare he say that I am broken. I feel anger deep inside of me start to grow. Aleem sighs looking at him.

“Titus. She is the only one that can stop this from happening.” Titus gets up from his chair going to the window.

“So, the last time you were here you said something about the world being in danger. So, it’s true. The world is ending?” Aleem frowns and doesn’t look at me. I glare at him. So, he tells this man but doesn’t warn the rest of the world. The nerve he has to make me feel like the bad guy. I hear Lupa whimper slightly and place her head on my lap. I pause and slowly calm down petting her head. That’s when I notice both of them looking at me. Titus walks over to me and looks me over, “Hmm… I have never seen a flame mage before. Her emotions control her magic.” He looks at Aleem, “I will train her, but that means we are even Aleem.” Aleem sighs relieved and looks at him.

“Yes Titus. We are even.” I stand up unable to contain my anger.

“Don’t I get a say in this? Even if I have magic, you have no right to treat me like some meat.” Lupa starts to paw at my feet and I look down at her. She looks at me and I slowly calm down. I sit down looking annoyed, “It won’t work.” Titus shakes his head and goes to the door.

“This will be hard Aleem. I hope she will be up to the task.” Aleem looks at me.

“I will make sure to have a talk with her to show how important this is.” Titus nods but before he can leave Aleem speaks up. “We, also, need you to travel with us to the Southern Desert.” Titus pauses and sighs. He looks at both of us and smiles.

“Of course you do. I will go get supplies and a few things.” He opens the door as Alistar walks in with bottles of wine. Titus quickly tells Alistar what is going on and what they are doing. Alistar frowns dropping the wine. Titus frowns, “Perfectly good wine gone to waste.” Alistar glares at us then Titus.

“This is beyond stupid. Why would you do this? It makes no…” Titus gets close to Alistar and whispers something in his ear. Alistar eyes narrow for a second. He looks down defeated and moves out of the way, “Yes Master.” Titus smiles leaving as Alistar walks in going to his room. He goes in slamming the door as the front door magically closes. Aleem looks at me with anger in his eyes.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? That man is the only reason you still have a chance at saving the world. If you think…” He stops as some papers on the table start to catch fire. I look up glaring at him.

“What the hell I am doing? What makes you think I want any of this? You go around telling me what to do, treating me like shit, you are acting just like..” Just like that the flames disappear and the anger leaves. I look confused and shake my head slightly, “What happened?” I hear Alistar walk out of his room. I look over and see him holding a stone circle with a string around it. He walks over giving me the necklace. I look at it confused then at him. He looks angry at me but doesn’t sound like it.

“It’s a damping stone. It stops magic from going out of control. It looks like you need it.” I notice that he has a few bags packed. I frown assuming that he will be coming with us. Aleem stands up and looks at me.

“We are not done with this conversation. We are leaving in the morning by first light. Don’t let anyone except for me or Titus. Go get some sleep Zona. You are going to need it.” Aleem makes his way to the door. I frown looking at Alistar.

“Got a spare bed?” I say in a shitty tone. He glares at me and Aleem laughs slightly leaving. I try to give him a dirty look before he can leave. I don’t know if he sees it or not. Alistar goes to his room and opens the door.

“My room is empty now. I won’t be needing it now so you can take it.” He says it in a way that makes me feel beneath him. I stand up heading to the room with Lupa. As we past him, Lupa growls at him causing him to jump. I laugh at him petting Lupa’s head.

“Nice one Lupa.” We go into the small room with a bed made cleanly. I smile seeing an actual bed. I almost practically fall into it but stop myself. I leave the room and grab a bucket of water. I go to the room and see Lupa rolling around in the bed. I smile seeing her looking happy. I take off my clothes and try to clean them the best I can with no cleaning supplies with me. I lay them out for them to dry by the small fireplace. I climb into bed feeling exhausted and Lupa cuddles up against me, “This is crazy isn’t Lupa?” She nuzzles me and whimpers slightly. I slightly understand what she is feeling sad about which kind of freaks me out on the inside. “It’s not your fault you got hurt. We are fine really Lupa. I can’t ask for a better friend.” She sounds happy as I hug her somewhat tight. Her fur feels so soft and warm. I start to think about all the things I have done to her. All the plots, the ideas, the bad things I wanted to do. I feel my eyes start to water as I bury my face into her. I softly cry into her hoping that she doesn’t think any lower of me. I soon cry myself to sleep while hugging my best and only friend.