On the way to the man’s cottage, Lin, Liza, and Azure all introduced themselves, but the woman remained silent. The golden man introduced himself as Lau. “So are you a human like us?” Liza asked. Lau laughed and the woman paled. “Sir Liza, honored Lau is an elf. His kind are revered across Kitch for their grand wisdom.” Lau laughed again at the woman. “See you are a human from Kitch then. Tell, what is your name.” The woman curtsied. “I am princess Anith Kitchonia.” Lau nodded. “A good name. But, am not an elf. An elf is one who has no element. Am a Kupua of the woods.” “What do you mean elves don’t have an element?” Lin asked. “Elves can’t do this!” Lau stepped forward with a mighty stomp. As his foot slammed the ground, branches of all kinds spread from under. “Kupua all practice an element for life. Elves have decided to abandon this path in search of another. Practice in the element of wood.” Lin and Liza looked in wonder at the wonderous trees that grew out from under Lau. Azure was amazed for a different reason. Lau had instinctively cast a wood growth spell by stomping the ground! Azure only knew how to cast a spell by writing out the Deities language. Could he also learn how to cast spells instinctively? “That’s so cool, can you teach me that?” Liza practically begged the tall man. “Only Kupua are able.” Lau responded plainly. “Damn.” Said Liza. And like that, Azure’s questions were answered. The group spent a few more minutes making small talk as they approached Lau’s home. It was larger than expected, but it made sense that a seven-foot man would need more space. The design of the cottage was cylindrical, with walls that looked to be living trees. The walls sloped into a gradual dome roof, making the house look like an observatory. Lau spoke as he brought everyone inside. “Sit if you are tired. Can prepare food as well.” Lau then walked into another room, coming back with a pair of sturdy trousers that were too big at the waist and went all the way up to Azure’s chest. But it was clothes and Azure was tired of the looks he got from Lin and Liza. After receiving a belt from Lau and rolling up the legs, Azure now had a sturdy pair of pants. He felt like a mountain man. After that, Lau brought out dried meats and berries for everyone to eat. Azure had forgotten how hungry he was and did his best not to shove food down his mouth. It was amazing how much more he could eat now. He actually felt his stomach bulge outward at the end. “Now that food is eaten, tell how you came to be in the forest,” Lau said. Liza immediately started retelling everything that had happened to them. Lin chimed in when Liza missed details, and Anith tried to blame everything on Azure. She still gave him looks but seemed cowed by the Kupua. Azure let himself rest for the first time since his merging. He looked around the cottage, noticing the various furs on the ground. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers through a short and fuzzy fur next to him. In a few minutes, Liza had recounted everything and Lin made sure to fill in any gaps. Anith just sat there, angrily clenching her fists. When Liza finished, Lau turned to Anith and spoke. “Did the elves help with this summoning?” “They worked towards finishing the spell the most. Their enclaves were some of the first to get attacked. The heroes were supposed to be our saviors. And then you had to show up and ruin everything!” Anith said to Azure. Tears were flowing down her face, the drops soaking into her dress as they fell. Azure realized that this woman was similar to an old boss. The man would try to control everything, criticizing even the smallest mistake. Everyone hated him, Azure did as well. But then one day Azure saw him in the break room crying. His superiors fired him because he held everyone to the same standards, criticizing them when they made mistakes. It was pitiable, in trying to control everything he lost it. Azure could see now why the woman reacted with such hate. He knelt next to the crying woman. “It’s not your fault.” He said softly. She looked up at him. “Of course not. I did everything right! I performed all the ceremonies needed to be high priestess. Father had finally commended me, saying I was going to save our country. Nothing could go wrong! And then you showed up! You ruined everything!” Anith’s breaths grew ragged in anger. “No,” Azure responded. “Who gave you that medallion? Who said it would banish any demon? Think about it, if that medallion worked correctly I’d be gone and everything would have been perfect.” “Agree.” Lau said. “The fault was not yours but whoever made that artifact.” Anith’s face curled in confusion. One of the respected elves was listening to Azure. She knew the elves couldn’t be corrupted, it was why their enclaves were the first ones attacked. “It was the grand elf herself,” Anith answered. “She said that if any demon were to come close the medallion would banish them from all of Kitch. Are… Are you saying that she gave me a sabotaged medallion?” Azure placed a hand onto the princess’ shoulder. She flinched but didn’t move away. “It might not have been her. Someone could have switched out medallions, or whoever created it made a mistake. Either way, everything that’s happened is not your fault.” Anith hiccuped, the motion shaking more tears out of her eyes. “Look at me, getting comforted by a demon of all things.” “I keep telling you--” “Yes yes,” She interrupted. “I know what you say. And if Lau will vouch for you then I might believe it.” “Do not think he is a demon. Demons have horns and Azure does not. The tail is also wrong, too thick.” Lau answered. “Well then, Azure.” Anith stood up, drying her tears. Composing herself, she bowed to him, hands cupped together. “Please accept my apologies for everything. I know words will not resolve everything I have done but I hope they will be enough for now. When we get back to Kitch I will be sure to apologize properly.” “The words are enough. And I don’t think I will be going to your kingdom for a while.” Azure answered. “If it is because of my behavior I--” “No, it’s not that,” Azure interrupted. “I want to know why I am like this. I want to know why I can see the Deities language and use it. I want to see if I can get back home.” He also wanted to know who that voice was when he was in the other place. He also needed to learn who he was. Azure wasn’t Arnold or Zach anymore, the two of them were him. But he didn’t know what that meant. Parts of himself still fought with each other. He felt like breathing despite having no lungs, he wanted to go home despite not having one, and he wanted to bend his fingers both ways which really creeped him out. “In that case, as part of my apology let me go with you,” Anith said. “What?” Said both Lin and Liza. “I must atone for the way I treated Sir Azure. Since he is a stranger to these lands I will accompany him to make sure he learns what he needs to.” “Then I’m going too,” Liza said. “Same.” Said Lin. “Thanks for that everyone, but I don’t even know where to start. I don’t want to keep you from everything else you have to do.” Azure was hesitant to accept help. He wasn’t used to having people follow him, he normally did the following. “No way! You saved our lives and know all these totally cool magics! You gotta teach me that stuff.” Liza begged. “I’d like to learn how you did it as well,” Lin said. “I can show you. But the Deities language is just that, a language. It would require memorization and study to remember the symbols needed to cast magics,” Azure answered. At this news, Liza’s face soured while Lin’s lit up. “Ugh I get summoned to another world and if I want to learn the cool shit I gotta study? Why can’t I just get to do it?” Liza complained. “Sir Liza, that is somewhat how your divine self works,” Anith spoke. “If you perform certain actions many times your divine self takes that and turns it into a part of you.” “You mean if I try and pick stuff up with my mind I can learn to use the force?” Liza’s eyes shone. In her head, she could already see herself using a force throw on that monster from earlier. “I’m not sure what the force is, but your divine self is based on intent and the difficulty required to perform the task. As I don’t think anyone can use their mind to lift objects. It would be impossible.” Anith said. Liza wasn’t listening anymore, she had bolted outside and was staring hard at a rock on the ground. “That’s the longest I’ve seen her stay still,” Lin commented. Azure laughed. “I guess she’s always that energetic.” “Yeah. She’s on like three different sports teams. But she’s only really good at softball. I don’t know much else about her, we were only classmates in one period and she always slept through it.” Lin was fidgeting slightly as he spoke. “I’m guessing you want to learn the Deities language now?” Azure asked. “Um, if it’s not too much trouble,” Lin replied. “Not at all. Though I need something to write on.” Azure said. He walked over to Lau, who was cleaning up the leftover food and drink. “Lau do you have anything I can use to write on? Also, something to write with.” Azure asked. “Hmm. Have some bark and charcoal if that works. Don’t often need to write down anything.” Lau answered. “How come you don’t use pronouns?” Lin asked. He had followed Azure over and the weird speech of the Kupua was bothering him. “What is a pronoun?” Lau asked. “Words like I, or me, or myself. They refer to you personally.” Lin clarified. Lau chuckled. “Trees do not think in this manner. The woods have no sense of self. Trees do not think of I or me, trees are. Am the same.” “Weird,” Lin said. He handed over some bark and charcoal to Azure who nodded in thanks. “Lau is practicing intent, Sir Lin,” Anith said. “It is the reason he can grow trees and bushes from a single stomp.” “Intent is important for learning the Deities language as well. Because the language is not the symbols I carved into those cards.” Azure grabbed a stick from the ground as he lectured Lin. “I don’t get it,” Lin said. “Here,” Azure handed Lin the stick. “Draw air on the ground.” Lin grabbed the stick and bent down. He took a minute but eventually, he drew three lines that curled at the end. “Now is that symbol actually air?” Azure asked. “No of course not,” Lin replied, rolling his eyes. “The same is true for the Deities language. The symbols are there to guide someone, but the actual language is different. For example, what else does that symbol mean?” Azure pointed back at the ground. “Well it could be wind blowing, or someone breathing out,” Lin said. “But when you drew it you meant for it to be air,” Azure stated. “Well yeah,” Lin said. “So what actually mattered was that you intended for the symbol to mean air. The Deities language works the same, it is based on intent.” Azure wrote out ‘cast fireball’ in English onto a piece of bark. “Use this to cast a fireball spell,” He said, handing it over. Lin read the words on the bark. “Wait I can just write out whatever I want and I could cast it?” “Try it.” Azure pushed. Lin held the bark in his hands and pointed at a tree. He shouted, “Cast fireball!” But nothing happened, not even a puff of smoke. He tried shaking the bark, then making a motion. “It’s not working.” He huffed. “Because to you, the words cast fireball do not actually mean that. The words are just words.” Azure wrote out another group of symbols and turned the bark over so Lin couldn’t see the words. “Use this now, imagine a candle flame. If it helps to say candle or light do so. Don’t look at the symbols until after you cast it.” Lin grabbed the new piece of bark. He held it out towards the tree and spoke, “Candle.” A small flame appeared on a tree branch, flickering in the evening before going out. “I did it!” Lin cheered. “Now look at the symbols,” Azure said. Lin turned over the bark and saw an odd symbol surrounded by triangles. “Wait how did this cast a candle flame?” “The symbol in the middle represents a body, any body.” Azure pointed at the drawing. The symbol in the middle was an 8 with horns on top and a plus sign in the bottom circle. “If we added this,” Azure drew an arrow in the top circle. “The symbol now represents a person. This is because this symbol is made of three others, one meaning mind, one body, and one soul. The mind sits on the body and the soul lives in the mind. The triangles represent the symbol for fire. When you cast the spell you basically said create fire on that body. Since I told you only to make a candle, you intended for there to be a small flame. If you had wanted a fireball you would need to intend that.” “So all that matters is the intent?” Lin asked. “That and you have to use a symbol you associate with. Do these triangles mean fire?” Azure asked. “No not to me, they’re just triangles. Or maybe the Delta sign.” Lin answered. “Then you would need another symbol for fire, one that you know means fire.” Said Azure. “Okay so Intent and symbols that match my intent,” Lin said. “You catch on quick. There’s one more rule to cast spells. A spell must be powered in some way. The fireball spell is simple, just take the heat out of the air around you and use it to make fire. If you wanted a fire larger than the amount of heat you have you would need to use something else.” Azure finished by writing out the figure-eight symbol that meant person. He then surrounded it with an inverted triangle, which meant water. On the edge of the bark, he drew a picture of a berry and grabbed one from Lau. Placing the berry onto the bark he pointed at Lin. A small stream of water, barely more than spit, shot out at the teen and splashed him. “Hey!” He sputtered. “The amount of power put into the spell limits how strong it can be. You could have the most powerful spell but it’s useless if you can’t power it. I intended for that to be a wave of water but a berry can only do so much.” Azure said. “You didn’t have to spray me to prove it.” Lin grumped. “I don’t know I thought it was pretty fun,” Azure smirked. “Now that you know the basics, you have to come up with the symbols on your own.” He handed the charcoal and the rest of the bark over. “It might be best to write out the symbols you can think of first.” Lin eagerly grabbed everything out of Azure’s hands. Soon he too was lost in his own world as he thought of symbols and spells. The day grew darker and Azure could finally feel the need to sleep coming on. He hoped tomorrow would be less eventful.