About five or six days passed since Adair’s return and he still hasn’t woken up. Many of us think that he never will. I try to tell them to be optimistic. He’s going to wake up eventually, I hope. Hametsu is barely able to walk with crutches. I can tell he's still in a lot of pain. He tells us everything he knows about Raiden. Apparently Raiden is the king of the Dark Fairies and is indeed planning on freeing his people and making them the dominant people of Fae, reducing the rest of us to slaves. To do that he needs the power of the dragonfly pendant. I always have that thing on me. I take it out of my pocket and look at the black crystal pendant. It indeed harbors a sinister power, I can feel it. I shove it back into my pocket.

Father’s condition isn’t improving. His breathing is hoarse and he groans in pain, a lot. If anything, his condition has gotten worse and won’t improve no matter how hard we try. I even tried my healing magic numerous times, hoping that the poison left his system, but it never works. The poison is too potent and strong and from what I’ve been told, there is no antidote.

Lilly is very worried for him. Hametsu is too, but he won't admit it. He doesn’t have to voice it, I see it in his eyes. Kage is holding Hametsu, as he lays his head on Kage’s shoulder.

“I hope Adair wakes up soon,” Lilly says. “Oberon doesn’t have much time left.”

“How do you know?” I ask.

“Hametsu told me,” she replies. “He can see the lifespan of others. He never told me the exact date. But he said it’s soon.”

I nod solemnly.

She walked into Adair’s room.

I went to visit my father.

“Is he okay?” I ask. I feel like slapping myself for asking that question. OF COURSE he’s not okay!! He’s dying. I literally just found this out like two seconds ago. I guess I just want some miraculous good news which I know will never happen.

“Unfortunately, it seems like he doesn’t have much time left,” one of his attendants informes. She’s a Death Fairy with burgundy hair and red crescent shaped wings that escaped from Raiden not too long ago. I learned from her that all Death Fairies have crescent shaped wings, possibly to mimic the blade of a scythe. “He’s going to die today.”

Father begins to speak, startling us.

“Is...Adair awake yet?” He gasps.

“No,” I shake my head. “I don’t think he will wake up anytime soon.”

I’m proven wrong when Lilly exclaims excitedly from his room.

“ADAIR!!! YOU’RE AWAKE!!!”

Father smiles weakly.

“Go get my family.” He tells me.

I nod and rush out of the room, looking for Aidan and mother.

“MOTHER!!!” I shout once I find her in the castle garden, “Adair is awake, and father wants our presence.”

At the news of Adair's awakening, mother rushes off to him. I beat her to him. Lilly wasn't in the room anymore. She most likely went to her brother.

“Adair!” I shout once I see him.

“Kallan?” He says. He begins crying. He’s trying to hide the fact that he doesn’t have his wings anymore, which is impossible. I run up to him and hug him gently.

“We were so worried about you!” I tell him.

He cries some more.

“I was so stupid! I should’ve left as soon as I found out! He ripped my wings off!” he says in between tears. “I shouldn’t have left Avalon.”

Aidan and our mom come in and hug him carefully.

“Where’s father?” Adair asks. “Is he okay?”

“Actually,” I start. “He wants to see us.”

Aidan and I help him up. Adair winces in pain. We carry him to Father. I look across the way into Hametsu’s room. The door is closed but I can faintly hear Lilly crying. I can barely hear Hametsu consoling her. They really do have a strong relationship.

When we arrive, Adair is absolutely shocked at the state of our father.

“Father…” he whispers.

Father looks in his direction.

“Adair, welcome back.” Father says.

We help Adair get closer to father.

“I’m so sorry.” Adair begins crying again.

Father reaches up and touches Adair’s face and wipes a tear away.

“Adair, my son,” Father gasps, “don’t cry. All that matters to me is that you’re home and safe.”

“But, I’m a traitor...” Adair lets his voice trail off before he continues to cry some more.

Father wipes away more of Adair’s tears.

“All is forgiven, my boy.” he says. “Don’t worry about it anymore.”

Aidan and I go up to him.

“Aidan, my little flame,” Father starts, “Be strong. Fight for good. Be a warrior for the Mother Goddess. Lead the Light Fairies to victory.” Father coughs and gasps for air.

“Kallan, my little warrior,” Father starts, “the day you were born, was the happiest day of the Kingdom of the Light Fairies, not to mention that I was a very happy father. I won’t even mention how happy your brothers were, they were literally screaming for joy.”

I smile a bit. Aidan and Adair are blushing quite a lot.

“Kallan, lead with kindness, love, and mercy. Don’t be afraid to fight for your kingdom.”

I nod. A tear escapes from my eye. I quickly wipe it away.

“Adair, don’t let the past cripple you and prevent you from being the best you can be. Let bygones be bygones,” Father says again. “Be as strong as the oak tree you were named after” He coughs.

Mother steps forward and kneels down to him. Father moves some of her hair out of her face. He smiles at her.

“Titania, my beautiful queen,” he says, “I have always loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Your beauty and kindness is what made me fall in love with you.” Father gasps for air and coughs. “I must speak to Kallan alone.”

Everyone walks out of the room. I stand alone with my dying father. He’s struggling to gain his breath.

“Kallan,” he starts.

“Yeah?” I reply, choking a bit.

“Don’t become like Raiden. Don’t stoop down to his level. It will only add fuel to this raging fire of war.” he says sternly.

“I won’t, father.” I promise.

“I know that you can be reckless and stubborn, but do not let that interfere with your judgment. Be rational and open minded. It will surely help you. Don’t be impulsive and never give in to anxiety or depression. Let your brothers guide you, specifically Aidan.”

“But, why specifically Aidan?”

“Despite his carefree attitude, he has plenty of experience and is surprisingly wise. He will help you. Adair will help with your healing magic and help you make wise choices that will benefit the kingdom.” father says. I nod.

“A good king isn’t afraid to make sacrifices for the benefit of his kingdom,” I say. He told me that at least twice a day, up until this point.

“Go get the rest of the family, my time is near.” he orders.

I go over to the entrance of the room and open the door. I tell them to come back in.

We all walk over to father. His breaths are coming less and less frequent.

“Take my hands, please.” he requests.

We all hold one of his hands. Mother and Adair on his right, Aidan and I on his left.

“I love all of you,” he says. He holds our hands, closes his eyes, and breathes his last.

Aidan starts sobbing. I’m trying to force back my tears, with no success. Adair is crying silently. Mother is also sobbing.

The attendants at hand lower their heads and also start sobbing.

I’ve only known him for a few months and I know that he treats everyone like equals, as if they were a part of his family. Everyone loves him. He’s going to be sorely missed.

The news about my father’s death spreads quickly throughout the city of Avalon and the rest of the kingdom. Everyone mournes him. Roxy comes over as soon as she hears the news.

“I’m so sorry about your loss Kal,” Roxy says, hugging me. “Oberon was a great person.”

Adair is so physically and emotionally exhausted, he goes back into his room and falls asleep.

It’s around nine o’clock at night when my father passes away.

His funeral happens a few days later. Everyone in the city of Avalon is there and even the Elemental Guardian Fairies. Adair practically cries the whole time while the speaker talks about our father’s life. Terra comforts him.

The speaker explains and talks about how he defeated Romeo and ended the Dark Ages and stopped the Black Death. She talks about his various great accomplishments and his character as a person.

“He treated us all like family,” she speaks, “the great Oberon cared for us and took the time to get to know us as people. He would spend time with us and help us with even the smallest of problems.”

Hearing her say all of that makes me wonder if I’m ever going to be as good as he was. I begin to have anxiety again.

I remember what father said to me before passing:

“Never give in to anxiety or depression. Let your brothers guide you.”

I take deep breaths and manage to temporarily get rid of my anxiety.

The speaker continues to speak about my father and his family, specifically us. She calls us “living pieces of the great Oberon”.

I look at Aidan, he shrugs. I look over at Adair. I can tell he’s about to pass out again. He’s emotionally and physically drained. He’s wearing his green cloak, despite it being mid April.

Time passes differently in Fae, as I’ve learned. Fae is only a few months behind. In the human world, I arrived in March. In Fae, it was January. The Time God fixed whatever temporal thing was happening as soon as I arrived in Fae.

Anyway, Adair is still cold. He doesn’t have hypothermia anymore, but he got cold easily for a while. He is standing next to Aidan trying to stay out of sight, but he isn't very successful. Aidan silently tells him to stop, and he does, but he still clings on to Aidan. Adair can be very clingy.

There is a moment of silence. Even the birds are silent.

“Long live King Kallan.” someone says, loudly. Another person says it, then another. Eventually, people kneel and say it in unison, even the Elemental Guardians and Lilly, whose face is all red from crying so much. Hametsu is too injured to even try to kneel, but he did bow his head in respect. Adair is still in too much pain to kneel on his own. Enlil tries to help him, but I wave him away.

“He doesn’t need to kneel if he’s unable too.” I say. I see him sigh in relief a little bit. Eventually everyone stands up.

Aidan motions for me to take the podium and speak.

Great. Public speaking. My FAVORITE. NOT!!!! I hate it. I’m not good at public speaking at all.

I take a few deep breaths before I go up there to speak. I am completely unprepared. No one told me that I have to make a speech!!

I have no choice but to wing it.

“I, Kallan Foster Aelfdene, swear to put a stop to this endless war and bring peace once again. I am honored to accept my role as your next king. I promise you, by the will of my father, Oberon the Great, that I will rule with the same passion, same grace, same kindness and love as he did. I promise to defeat Raiden, and end this war!!” I shout. I am pleasantly surprised at the short speech. Who knew I had it in me?

The crowd raises such a shout, it almost shakes the ground. The people begin chanting “long live the king”.

After the depressing funeral, Adair nearly collapses from exhaustion. He groggily goes into his room, with some help from a guard, and falls asleep. Terra goes to watch over him.

Lilly comes up to me. I’m holding a sobbing Roxy.

“It’s okay to use your healing magic on him now. His wounds finally settled enough.” she tells me.

I nod.

“I’ll do it later,” I reply, “right now, I want to wait for things to settle down. It’s getting too depressing.” I manage to calm Roxy down.

Lilly nods.

“King Oberon accepted me with open arms, even though he couldn’t leave his bed. But he spoke with me a few times. He told me that he was proud that I was his niece,” she says.

“I would be too,” I say with a small smile.

Ryan walks up to us.

“H-hey Lilly.” he greets her.

“Hey Ryan.” Lilly replies. She holds his hand and gives a small smile. Ryan returns the smile.

“I take it your first date went well?” I ask. They nod in response.

“We’re going out again right now. We’re just going to take a walk to clear our heads of everything that happened...” Lilly says. “See you later.”

“Have fun,” I tell them. Roxy gives them a nod.

“Woah woah woah woah woah woah, wait WHAT?! Excuse me when did this happen?” Hametsu says, getting very, very defensive of Lilly. He hobbles over to them and pulls Lilly away, hugging her protectively. “I did not approve of this!” he says with an angry frown.

Lilly frees herself from Hametsu.

“Now really isn’t the time for arguing Hametsu. We’re just taking a walk. We need to clear our heads.”

“We all do, to be honest. I’m coming with you, and I’m not taking no for an answer.” Hametsu says stubbornly.

Lilly is about to say something but Ryan stops her.

“Just let him come Lilly,” he says gently. “It looks like he wants to be with you.”

Hametsu looked away and blushed, trying to act tough. But now we all know the truth. He just wants to be with his rock.

I walk away with Roxy. We go into the garden and walk around there, talking about the future, specifically, how I’m going to rule.

“Kal, I know you’ll do great. Just do whatever your father told you to do,” she advises. I nod.

“I’m just nervous,” I admit.

“It’s okay to be nervous. Just don’t give in to anxiety.”

“That’s exactly what he said to me before he passed,” I tell her. I sigh. Everything is so sad now that father is gone.

It isn’t long before my adopted parents, Elise and Manny, show up and embrace me.

“Oh Kallan,” Elise says, “We’re so sorry.”

“It’s okay mo- uh, Elise.” I say. I have to get used to that.

“Kal,” Manny starts, “We will also help you while you are young. If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask us.”

I nod, choking up.

“Even though we’re not your real parents, we still love you like you are our own child,” Elise says.

“Thank you, both of you,” I say. I start crying again and they comfort me, just like they used to before any of this happened. It feels so good. The nostalgia makes me cry even more.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a regular human that goes to school and has to face homework and worry about college and all that. Don’t get me wrong, I like my life as a prince and want to uphold my duties as their new king and their savior. It sometimes gets overwhelming and often a bit too much for me to handle.

Aidan then comes and joins the hug fest. Roxy joins me too.

“It’s okay little bro. It’s okay. We’ll manage. I know you can be a great king, just like our father.” he says.

I eventually calm down and stop crying. They let go of me.

“I’m going to go heal Adair,” I say. They give me silent nods of approval and step away a bit for me to leave. I fly to Adair’s room.

Terra isn’t in the room. Adair is sound asleep when I enter, still exhausted from everything that has happened. It’s obvious he’s still in pain due to the expression of absolute discomfort on his face. I walk up to him as silently as possible, careful not to wake him. I reach out my hand, which begins glowing in green energy. Slowly, Adair’s bruises fade away completely, and his cuts are gone. His broken limbs heal properly, and, to my astonishment, his emerald wings grow back. His facial expression relaxes instantly and he is able to sleep peacefully.

Not a single scar remains on his body. It’s like nothing happened.

I smile, seeing my older brother relax for the first time since he came back and I fly away.

Terra’s on her way back to see Adair when I leave the room. She’s carrying a bunch of flowers.

“How’s he doing?” she asks.

“I just healed him,” I reply. “He's fine now.”

Her face lights up instantly and she hugs me after dropping the flowers.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” she exclaims. She hugs me harder.

“You’re welcome,” I say, “now can you let me go? You’re crushing my wings.”

“Oops.” she stops hugging me and puts me down. She laughs nervously and blushes.

I nod and leave.

I find Roxy talking with Aidan. I walk up behind her and cover her eyes.

“Guess who,” I say.

“Kallan?” she guesses as she moves my hands away from her eyes. She looks up and smiles. I smile back. We kiss.

“Feeling better?” I ask her.

“A little. Aidan helped me while you were healing Adair.”

“That's good.” I kiss her again.

I can't imagine my life without Roxy. I love her so much, it almost hurts. When I'm with her, it feels as if everything in my life is in order. I hug her and continue kissing her.

“Please don't leave me.” I whisper in her ear. She looks up at me.

“I won't.” she says.

We hug each other closely.

I’m so lucky to have a girl like Roxy as my fiancé. She’s smart, caring, pretty, kind, and overall awesome. I will do anything to protect her and keep her safe.

I keep thinking about Adair and Terra being together. It will not leave my mind, no matter how hard I try. They would be such a cute couple. But Adair is sort of awkward when it comes to talking to people, especially girls. He’s not exactly a social person and likes to be alone sometimes. Mother and Father had to kick him out a few times just so he could socialize with people. Every time he was kicked out, he would go to Terra. I found out about that because I read part of his diary when he was with Raiden.

I didn’t know who Terra was at first. Now that I know who she is, I can’t stop thinking about the two of them being together. It’s so hard for me. Just like before I found out that I was a prince, I couldn’t stop thinking about me and Roxy being together and getting married.

Roxy and I sit down and talk about our wedding as a way to distract ourselves from the current situation. I propose a giant cake, and she bursts out laughing.

“What is it with you and food?” she asks when she stops laughing.

I shrug.

“I just like food,” I say simply. I smile. She smiles back.

We continue talking about the decorations. We both want it to be in a large outdoor park, surrounded by trees and flowers. We want as many people as possible to come. I know for a fact that the entire city of Avalon will be in attendance. I mean, their new king will be getting married within a year, hopefully. It might be a little later depending on how long the war will last. I want the war to end as soon as possible, but Raiden is persistent and refuses to give up.

We have managed to gain some territory back since Adair’s return and the inhabitants there were freed from their chains, literally. Raiden had them in chains, working non stop on monuments to the Spirit of Darkness

After freeing those towns and cities from Raiden’s grip and destroying the monuments, I went into the archives to do a little bit of research on the Dark Fairies.

Their homeland is past the Season’s Peak Mountains, a 1000 mile long, very dangerous mountain range. The Peaks are known for avalanches and rockfalls and sudden storms that can kill a person if they’re not careful, not to mention there are lots of deadly predators that can maul you in an instant if given the chance. The slopes are also extremely unstable and can randomly give way to mudslides or lava streams or can collapse under your feet. It’s nearly impossible to fly up there unless you have a wind fairy with you to generate a breeze to allow flight through the Peaks. They are the only mountain range in Fae that prevents flight because of the lack of wind.

Past the Peaks, there is the largest desert in Fae, the aptly named Death Sands Desert. The desert is named that because there is a lot of dry quicksand in random places and it’s scorchingly hot, getting up to over 115 degrees fahrenheit. Many people die from the heat more than the quicksand because there is no water for miles in the desert.

After the desert, there's a forest full of poisonous plants. The forest is the Death Fairy Forest, the former home of the Death Fairies. The Death Fairies eat poisonous fruit. Their capital city is Camelot. They were driven out of their homeland about a thousand years ago by my grandfather after a chaotic war, however his name wasn’t mentioned which sort of disappointed me. They were exiled into the Barren Lands.

The Barren Lands are aptly named. Nothing grows there. That's where the Pixy Kingdom and Elven Empire once flourished as it was once a beautiful and lush field of flowers and a thriving jungle.

Past the Death Fairy Forest, is a forest plagued by eternal darkness. It’s called Otyra, also known as the Dark Forest. That’s the home of the Dark Fairies and where they are currently sealed. Raiden must’ve somehow escaped the seal and remained hidden for hundreds of years, planning out everything that led up to this moment, including the banishing of the Death Fairies to the Barren Lands with nothing but food, clothes, and water. My grandfather is an idiot.

How did the Death fairies survive the Barren Lands anyway?

The answer is that their food lasts for thousands of years before it starts to rot and they brought a lot of it, enough for a lifetime supply for everyone in their society.

However, after Romeo’s death, and Hametsu and Lilly being taken to a different world, greedy officials took the food for themselves, leaving little for the rest of the population and now they are in a famine. Using his magic, Raiden disguised himself as Hametsu and began leading the Death Fairies, restarting the war in an effort to free the Dark Fairies and cause strife between the Death Fairies and us Life Fairies to bring the Spirit of Darkness back to destroy Fae. He manipulated them into believing that he would expand their home forest. Then he set his sights on earth and planned to conquer it.

Raiden wants to dominate over Fae and destroy everything so he can free the Spirit of Darkness and usher in an era of fear and darkness. But why does he want Earth? Mercilessly torturing and ruling the human race is probably just pure bloodlust on his part.

I can’t believe I didn’t know that Hametsu’s people are in a famine. I know they’re suffering but I didn’t expect this.

Then I remember back to the time when I first found out that Hametsu was the Death King. At that time, I didn’t know it was Raiden pretending to be Hametsu, but he fed me a lie about recreating the Death Fairy habitat that I believed.

“Once you’re gone NOTHING will stop me from conquering both Fae and the Human Realm and recreating the habitat in which my people will live!!”

I can’t believe I believed that blatant lie. Hametsu’s people are suffering because of Raiden and Hametsu is doing everything he can to free his people from oppression and bring them back to their homeland.

“I get what I want and my people get what they want.”

Now I know what Raiden means by that, he gets to rule over Fae and Earth and release the Spirit of Darkness, and his people get to be free from their seal becoming the dominant race in both worlds.

I’m probably the biggest idiot to have ever walked the face of the universe for just now figuring this out.

“Wow, I’m an idiot.” I say silently to myself.

“Pardon?” Roxy asks.

“What? Oh. nothing. Just remembering something that happened a while ago that’s all,” I say.

Roxy nods in understanding. We keep talking until she has to leave.

A while later I go to find Aidan to discuss my coronation ceremony.

“Well, for starters, Kallan,” he starts. “We need to teach you how to perform the ceremony.”

“I have to learn how to do it?”

Aidan nods.

“They don't just put the crown on your head,” he explains. “It comes with a certain grace that must be learned.”

“Okay...” I say, raising my eyebrow in confusion.

“There is a proper way of walking up to the crown bearer and a way of kneeling while he or she puts the crown on your head,” he continues, “a proper way of holding your neck so the crown doesn't fall off your head-”

“What does the crown look like?”

“A wreath of golden olive leaves and the twigs they are on are silver.” Aidan explains.

I nod in understanding. It must look really beautiful.

We discuss this topic for many hours. Apparently there's a festival after the ceremony. We discuss what sort of games and food there will be. We even debate on having fireworks. I think it will be too much, since I’m not really a fan of fireworks because of how loud they are. Aidan thinks it would be awesome. He won that debate.

We don't even hear Adair walk up to us.

“Hey guys,” he says, glumly.

“Look who joined us!” Aidan exclaims. “We’re trying to figure out what to do for the festival after Kal’s coronation ceremony in a few months. Wanna join?”

“Maybe some other time,” he says. “Hey, Kal, did you heal me?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “I couldn't stand to see you in so much pain. So I used my magic to heal you.”

“Whoa, your wings are back!!” Aidan shouts.

“You just noticed?” Adair asks, rather annoyed.

Aidan blushes.

Adair sighs. I'm guessing he still feels awful about what he did.

“No one is going to forgive me...” he groans.

“Adair, they already did. Everyone is glad that you're back.” I reassure him.

And of course, the waterworks come out again. I love my brother, but his constant crying is starting to get a tiny bit annoying. I understand that he's depressed and feels horrible about his actions and the fact that our father just died and has the right to let it all out, but, sitting around and crying isn't going to help him.

Aidan hugs him and comforts him until he calms down.

“I've got some things to do,” Adair finally says, most likely wanting to avoid us. We don’t let that happen.

“Ohhh no,” Aidan says. “You are not going back into your room.”

Adair smiles mischievously.

“You gotta catch me first,” he jokes. He runs towards his room. Aidan quickly catches up with him and carries him back to us. I suppress my laughter.

“PUT ME DOWN AIDAN!!!” Adair demands, trying to escape our brother’s strong grip.

“Not a chance bro!” Aidan laughs.

I start laughing. So did Aidan and Adair.

I suddenly stop when one thought hits me very hard.

Why am I the crown prince? Why not my older brothers? That feeling has been bugging me for weeks. I mean, I know it’s in the prophecy and all but, I’m still very inexperienced and young. It just doesn’t seem right.

“Why am I the one being crowned king and not either of you?” I ask them.

They stop laughing.

“Usually the oldest son gets crowned king.” Aidan starts, “but because of the prophecy, you have to be king.”

“That makes absolutely NO sense,” I retort. It doesn’t. Aidan is the oldest, he should be king. He knows what he’s doing and he has way better leadership skills than I do.

“You are supposed to be king, Kallan,” Adair says, “and Aidan, put me down.”

Aidan put him down. Adair brushes himself off and begins speaking.

“Aidan and I already have predestined roles. He’s the Guardian of Fire. I’m going to be one of the greatest healers Fae has ever seen, and the Mother Goddess even came to us through her priestess and said that you are the next king.”

That doesn’t help my confusion. I have major anxiety at random times. Not to mention Raiden is extremely cunning and manipulative. From the information we gathered about him, he does a slow steady process of torturing his victims until they either commit suicide or he kills them. It's usually the latter. He kills them as sacrifices to the Spirit of Darkness in an effort to help him regain strength.

“But I have anxiety issues,” I retort, “I'm not cut out for it!!”

“Bruh, listen to me,” Aidan says, grabbing my shoulders. “You can do this. You're the most qualified. Adair can't stand politics. He hates politics with a passion.”

“It's not my fault that it's boring,” Adair grumbles.

“Anyway, I already have my role as Fire Guardian, therefore I can't be king.”

“But-”

“Na-uh. I'm not going to hear it. The prophecy even states that the youngest will lead the people to harmony, peace, and prosperity.”

Aidan is right. As the youngest son of Oberon and Titania, and the savior of Fae, and apparently the next king, I'm supposed to lead the people into an era of greatness, as I will summarize it.

But Raiden is right though. When I was reading his letters to Adair, he called me a naïve little boy, and that's basically what I am. A naïve, inexperienced child. I'm only 17 years old. Everyone else is older and more experienced.

But I have a feeling inside of me, telling me that I can do it.

“I'm still not sure if-”

“Oh enough with the pessimism!” Adair grouches. “You're going to be king, and that is that.”

“You're not our mom,” I say to him playfully.

“But I am your older brother, therefore I can sorta tell you what to, and I'm telling you to be king so HAH!!” Adair jokes with me.

Aidan shakes his head and pulls us both in a side hug with this huge grin on his face. Adair and I smile.

But I am still worried about what is going to happen in the near future. Will I be able to end this war? I mean, Raiden is extremely powerful and has lived far longer than I have. Plus he has more fighting experience than I do. Then there's the very real possibility of facing an actual GOD. I’m going to be beyond dead.

I have a better chance of winning the lottery a hundred times than defeating them.

Sensing my worries, Aidan grabs me and we fly off to the temple.

“Why are we here?” I question when we arrive.

“Enlil and I arranged for you to be trained by both of us.” he says. “Be prepared for a lot of bickering. Enlil and I don't get along very well.”

“Yeah I kind of figured from last time,” I state. “What am I training on today?”

“Agility, and hand to hand combat!” he states, a bit too excited.

I grow nervous. From what I've learned over the past few months is that whenever Aidan gets excited about combat training, it's usually very hard.

Enlil arrives shortly after.

“We were waiting for you Enlil,” Aidan jokes.

Enlil scowles at him, completely unamused.

“Aidan, now is not the time for joking around.” Enlil scolds, rather harshly.

“Ugh, so serious,” Aidan grouches, even though he knows Enlil is right. He was just trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Enlil ignores him and turns his attention to me.

“I’m not sure if your dim-witted brother told you, but we will be training you on agility and speed.”

“Dim wit- Dude, I swear one of these days, I‘m gonna beat your ass,” Aidan retorts, very offended.

Enlil rolls his eyes.

Aiden glares at him. If looks could kill, Enlil would be dead a thousand times over.

“Yeah, he told me.” I reply, attempting to stop the fighting. It works and they focus their attention on me.

Aidan and Enlil begin training me. Enlil teaches me how to manipulate the air currents to my advantage, allowing me to speed up or slow down, and be able to manipulate the air currents around another person to immobilize them and prevent them from moving.

I have a lot of fun with that, but I got a bit carried away and used it on Aidan a lot, making Enlil laugh unreasonably hard.

Then Aidan begins training me on more aerial combat stuff.

“Aidan, let me handle his combat training.” Enlil offers, kinda rudely.

“Nope. Sorry,” Aidan replies with a smug grin.

Enlil growls.

We continue training for hours upon hours. We literally stop at midnight, even though Aidan wants to stop earlier, stating that I need to rest because I’m a “growing boy”.

“I’m seventeen!!” I protest.

“You’re going to be king. You need your rest.”

I groan.

“Midnight,” Enlil states firmly. “I’ll stop at midnight.”

Then it’s Aidan’s turn to groan.

Before we get home, Aidan and I decide to take a quick dip in the river to wash off all of the sweat. Our clothes are soaked, but Aidan dries them off quickly with his fire magic. He’s very careful not to burn them. We continue home after all that is done. Once we arrive home, I go straight to my room and change into some pajamas.

I instantly fall asleep once I get under my covers.

When I wake up, it’s mid morning, almost noon. I am facing my giant window. I turn over to see Adair standing next to me and staring at my face. I get so startled, I scream a bit and end up kicking his gut, knocking the air out of him.

“OW!!!” he exclaims, doubling over in pain. He begins coughing.

“Oops, sorry.” I say, smiling nervously.

“Aidan trained you too much,” he wheezes. He stands up straight and takes really deep breaths.

“You overslept.” he finally says, after he regains his breath.

“I did?”

He nods.

“You missed the fun part of the morning.”

“What would that be?”

Adair smiles mischievously.

“I pulled a prank on Aidan.”

I start laughing like a hyena. Adair pulling a prank on Aidan? I'll believe it when I see it.

“You don't believe me do you?” he asks, as if he’s reading my mind.

“It's just really hard to imagine you pulling a prank on Aidan.” I manage to say in between laughs.

Serious, introverted Adair, pulling a prank on our older brother. That is extremely hard to believe.

Adair keeps glowering at me while I laugh.

“What did you do?” I ask once I stop laughing.

“I switched his usual blueberry pancakes that he eats when we have pancakes, with violet berry. He can't see the difference since both berries look the same.”

I fall into fits of laughter again.

Everyone knows that violet berries stain your teeth after eating them. Plus everyone knows that Aidan eats blueberry pancakes like a ravenous wolf.

I can only imagine what his teeth look like now.

Adair starts laughing with me.

Our laughter is ruined when Aidan comes storming in with the scariest angry face I have ever seen.

“Adair,” he starts in a low angry voice. He is beyond furious “You are going to reverse this now. Do you hear me?”

Adair nods and tosses a medium sized vial of some sort of white liquid to Aidan. It's one of his concoctions again.

“Swish it around your mouth. It will get rid of the stains.”

Aidan storms off.

“What does that stuff do?” I ask.

“Cleans your mouth. It's like a fairy mouthwash. It also removes stains from your teeth. I use it everyday!” Adair states proudly, smiling and showing off his pearly whites.

“No wonder your teeth are so white.” I joke. He has the whitest teeth I have ever seen. We laugh a bit.

“Get ready Kal, you have a busy day with Terra.” Adair says, with some slight jealousy in his voice. He mumbles something about wanting to be with Terra the whole day. But for his sake, I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

“Okay,”I say. I leap off of the bed and quickly get dressed. I zoom to the dining room to eat some food.

There is a fresh platter of regular pancakes, eggs with cheese and bacon. My favorite.

Adair comes out and sits down next to me.

“Well little bro,” he starts, putting his arm around me, “I can't believe you get to spend the entire day with Terra.”

Somebody's jealous.

“I know you have a crush on her,” I say. His eyes grow wide and he’s red from embarrassment.

“Aidan!!” he growls. He’s obviously very annoyed at Aidan for telling me. He sighs. He moves his arm away from my shoulder and steals half a piece of my bacon.

“Hey!!” I exclaim, “that's mine!!”

“Relax, I'm only taking a little bit.” he assures, taking a bite.

I begin eating the rest of my bacon before he takes the rest of it. It's my food. No one can take my food.

I scarf down my breakfast and bolt to my room to get ready. Once that was said and done, I bolt out to the temple where I see Ryan and Lilly kissing. Thank the Mother Goddess that Hametsu isn't there. He would have a massive fit and start screaming at Ryan.

I quickly fly away.

I know Hametsu really cares for his sister, but seriously man, let them have some alone time geez. I quickly stopped thinking about that and started thinking about Roxy.

Every time I think about her, I think about how awesome and beautiful she is. She's going to make one awesome queen once I marry her. People already love her because she's so kind and pretty and nice.

I fly back to the castle after my training, still deep in thought about Roxy.

I decide that I will go over to where she lives and visit her for a while. I need a change of scenery anyway and the only place I’ve really ever been to was the temple, and it’s not even that far. It’s only a two minute flight.

I look over and see Aidan, bored out of his wits and obviously thinking about Lamia.

“Yo Aidan!” I call.

He faces my direction. His teeth are now normal and no longer deep purple.

“Yeah? What’s up?” he asks.

“I wanna go visit Roxy,” I tell him.

“Right now?”

“No, in thirty years.” I reply sarcastically.

“Don’t need to be so sarcastic,” he says. I laugh a bit. He calls Ryan over, who came back shortly after I did, and tells him that we're heading out to Roxy’s island archipelago. Aidan also gets a small escort of guards.

“In case we run into him,” Aidan says. He’s referring to Raiden, as if this is going to stop him.

We head out. Thanks to Ryan’s wind magic, we got there in about half an hour.

Once we arrive, we are horrified by what we see.