“Hey Drenar, pick three superpowers, and I'll tell you what mythical creature you'd be.” The words come through the staticky headset and an athletic teenager sits straighter as he contemplates his response. He gazes at the screen with deep green eyes and taps his lip. She could be going anywhere with this one this time.

“Any superpowers?” He asks. He and his friend are up late. On a school night. With a first-period teacher who’s developed an ear-killing habit of singing out to sleepy teens on a recurring basis.

“Yes, any one of them! I have a book here that'll give me your secret magical creature identity!” the higher-pitched female voice beckons him to answer. “C’mon Drenar, I know you wanna answer!”

“Give me a minute,” he pushes back lightly. He really has to give this one some thought.

“Superpowers, still waiting on you!” she reminds him. On webcam, it’s clear that he’s distracted: he’s stretching out before their last battle of the night.

“Alright, alright. First power…flight.”

“An oldie, but a goodie. What else?” she asks while he grabs a small nectarine and chews loudly. “Are you eating again? Do you ever stop?”

“It’s not eating if it’s healthy,” he retorts. “Okay, the second one, I’d have a utility elemental ability. Like moving objects over a distance. Oh, like a gravity gun!”

“Okay, good thinking! What's the last one?”

“Um…highly adaptive armored skin.”

“Perfect! You're a dragon!” He furrows his brow, in contrast to her delight. “Look, you asked for wings, some super elemental ability, and adaptive skin, which in my creative world, equals armor scales!”

“Julia, dragons don’t have telekinetics. Or feathers.”

“They do now!” she cackles.

“Why feathers?” he asks, deciding to indulge in her zaniness.

“Why not? Dinosaurs had feathers! Isn't a dragon just a super overpowered dinosaur? They're birds, but only a few links down the evolutionary chain!”

“You make a fair point.” He nods thoughtfully at this. ”I suppose it would make sense they'd have feathers, instead of bat-like wings. Feathers are technically more durable.” He has a wayward thought and spins in his chair before answering again.

“Alright, my turn. I’ll guess…you're a magical fox girl,” Drenar grins.

“What.” Julia's tone instantly turns to confusion. He takes a swig from his water bottle. “Drenar, don’t leave me hanging on that, that’s such a downgrade!”

“Fox girls are, to a tee, athletic, and have superhuman springy legs. And they're almost always charmers with a shining personality. They're very bold and flirtatious, like you. And, cause mischief.” She growls in response. “You know it’s truuuee,” he sings.

“Man, I wanted to be a Raijin!” she protests. “That would also fit!”

“So you wanted to be a Pokémon?”

“You dunce, it's from Japanese mythology! A god of thunder shaped like a wolf! I know you know this!” she accuses. He can picture her tapping at her desk, glaring at the screen as if she could metaphysically bore a hole through him. “But fine, fox girl works.”

“Magical fox girl,” he corrects. Julia laughs uproariously at this. “Charm, athletics and wile, all rolled into one!”

“Fates Drenar, don't ever change. You are as adorkable as they come.” He swivels in his seat and smiles.

“Guilty as charged. Are we ready?”

“Hell yes! Let's get in there and man-fight some monsters!” she says in eagerness. He leans forward, ready for this epic fight.

Fifteen minutes later, he and Julia groan in ignoble defeat. Julia leads the post carnage with a sigh. “Well, we won’t be man-fighting spiders for a while. That was bad. I think I’ll take point next time, fearless leader.”

“Yeah, a new strategy is needed. Guess we'll take your lead next time, Julia.”

There’s a pause, and a contented, hidden smile that he pictures on her end. “You know something Drenar, imagine a game world like this, but in real life. Dragons, monsters, sinister companies trying to take over the world. If I had to pick anyone to fix that kind of mess, I’d want it to be you."

“Careful what you wish for,” he grins. “You know I’d be there if things went full-tilt crazy in the world. There’s no way I wouldn’t be there alongside ya.”

“If you stopped flexing and trying to be normal, and stop eating like health matters, sure, you could tag along!” Even her taunts are disarming. “Plus, we’d need Angela and James. I’d hate for them to feel left out.”

There’s a slight gasp on her end. “Ah, crap, it's almost one AM,” she groans. “I’m gonna peace out, I’ll see you tomorrow, baka-san!”

“Heh, you too.” Julia leaves the chat client with a zinger, and he lets out a breath of contentment before resting the headset against his neck.

Drenar spends a minute reflecting on life as he lazily stretches his arms. He's a seventeen-year-old kid living in Opechea Falls, Colorado. A town of utter mediocrity that he calls home. He slouches in his beaten-up chair, before taking his glasses off, and rubs the bridge of his nose in a moment of silent reflection. Everything is lining up. Almost.

“Late night?” Drenar spins the chair to see his adoptive brother Evan leaning on the doorframe. His verdant eyes gleam in the dim glow of his monitor. He’s a shade taller than Drenar, even though he is younger by a year and a half. While Drenar has a small group of close friends and interests in many physical sports, his brother is reserved, and quiet-spoken.

Even though they aren’t related by blood, it always feels odd to him that they almost seem like two random jigsaw pieces that somehow match together.

“My eternal bad influence was keeping me up late,” Drenar explains to him. Evan smirks.

“Gods Drenar, just marry her already! You two bicker like an old pair,” he says with a soft chuckle. Drenar responds by throwing a crumpled draft of an old application letter at his head, and he lazily dodges. “Weak.”

“Evan, I’m ninety-five percent sure I would not survive five minutes on a first date with Julia. She doesn't date anyone, actually! Which probably has more to do with her appearance as a goth chick built like a Viking, than any lacking personality."

Evan sighs and looks at Drenar like he's made a bold statement. "Yeah, she's got you, she's all set, at least in her mind. Everyone else is lacking in durability. And a willpower to resist her crazier ideas."

"Evan, give it a rest. We are like, hetero life friends category. So, why are you up this late?"

"Can't sleep. Figured I'd walk around for a bit." Evan shrugs lightly before stretching gently, his knuckles grazing the ceiling. "No really, why wouldn’t you marry her?”

“Skip dating and marry my best friend? That would be weird. Plus marriage is like a forever thing, you know?” Drenar scowls at him, hoping he’ll drop the subject.

“Dude, you don’t need more boring in your life. Boring is what you do, if we leave you to your own devices. You’d continue to be an utter square, watching crappy old anime and looking up houses you could never afford. You'd never take risks, or allow yourself to have fun! You need life in your life. And Julia brings that, in bountiful quantities!”

“Oh come on, this again?” Drenar sighs while tapping the chair arm impatiently. “Look, me and Julia will always be friends in that kind of…life-long buddies kind of way?”

Evan gets fed up and just scowls at him, his posture tense. "Drenar, just listen for a spell? Life isn't a fixed thing, it's not formulaic. Things can change rapidly for no reason whatsoever, you know? Don't let opportunities slide by. Because you might not get another chance to say the right thing to the right person when it matters,” he states quietly. Drenar doesn't respond, what is up with Evan right now? "You never know when the next life disruption could be right around the corner."

That sets him off, and he rubs at his wristwatch while glaring at his adopted brother. "We've already had one, thanks, Evan. I think I've had my life quota on disruptive things, and I would hope you felt the same way." Evan doesn't flinch at that reminder.

"Just keep it in mind?" The fact that he's peering at him contemptuously is killing his good mood from only a couple of minutes earlier.

“Fine. Night, Evan.” He doesn't dwell on the comment, and hops into bed a couple of minutes later after Evan leaves. he doesn't know what he did to set his brother off like this. Eventually he lets his comments slide to the wayside, in favor of sleep.

Sleep doesn’t come easily for him after he retreats to bed a moment later. But eventually, he closes his eyes, drifting off to thoughts of the future. Is this what it’s like to have a normal life again? After six years? Is it…okay to be okay?

Be a light to guide the way...

He still remembers that day. Those words. It still comes back to him, every night. No matter how exhausted he is, he can still hear her, immortalized in her mind, along with the last few things she said. It makes sleep tough some nights. Back then...sleep was nonexistent.

The air around him feels chilly. Damp. Sleep shouldn't be this uncomforting. He feels himself turning in bed. But the bed isn't comforting, either. It's hard. Unyielding. Damp, too. Why is he unable to just fall asleep?

A dribble of something cold hits him in the face. One, then two, then ten icy pinpricks. Dampness. A steady thrum of drips of something hitting the bed, all around him.

Is it…raining in the house?!

The jarring thought breaches through his mindscape, and a split second later he feels the shock of cold water snap him awake, and he gasps. His eyes peel open to drops of water blurring his vision. He wipes his eyes and looks around, trying to figure out where he is. There is a dampness to the air, and the feel of wet earth and grass below him. He examines his surroundings and determines he is very far from home, in the middle of a rain-swept forest.

The bed is gone. His room with nerdy posters of Magic and New Retro bands is gone. His wristwatch is gone. That last one is particularly incensing.

Nothing even remotely familiar is nearby, and the sky is shrouded in dark gray clouds. Gnarled oaks, towering pines, and conifers surrounded him. Rain patters down steadily. He looked around for landmarks–anything he can recognize. But the forest is dense, the skyline obscured by vegetation. This is an unknown place. There’s just something not right with it.

He is very far from home, at the very least. This rain feels too cold, and miserable, to be something of a figment of his imagination, when he feels the icy cold drops slowly soaking into his clothes. Then, he hears it.

Is someone there?

A soft whisper that comes from seemingly nowhere.