After a while Nychibi had finally stopped crying, and when she separated from Enora her face was lit ablaze. “Please don’t tell anyone that happened.”

“I would never spill my friends secrets.”

“L-like I said…Sure.”

“Still, I am a bit curious about that reaction.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my own problem…”

I didn’t press the issue. If she was going to keep whatever it was to herself, I would honor that.

“Well, besides that, you two were both successful at pushing mana out of your body.”

Enora was right! I beamed, jumped and hugged her, pulling her head into my chest.

“Mghhh…can’t breathe…”

I released her cute suffocating head.

“I wouldn’t mind suffocating in those,” Enora said.

“Will you two stop!?” Nychibi yelled, her face bright red.

“Fine. You two should get some rest. We can figure out your affinities in the morning.”

“Thank you again, Enora. A-and you too Melle.”

“Who are you? And what did you do with the chibi?” Enora quipped at the green bird who had gotten comfy.

“Shut up!”

“Piri!” I awoke to a divine fluffy pillow pressed against the back of my head.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

“You are one to talk, Miss Princess.” The sun had just started to rise in the sky, turning it orange.

Enora already had her parasol out as she sat next to me. I rubbed my hand along her thigh before kissing her cheek. Waking up next to such a woman was my greatest joy in life right now. Before I could get any more lip action, Ethora had woken up.

“Can you two wake up, miss Nychibi? I will get the stuff for breakfast.”

We were off again after eating the same dinner we had the night before. Enora pulled out her grimoire when we reached a steady pace."Like I promised. Today we will see both of your affinities."

"I can't wait!" What was I going to get? Was it going to be fire as strong as the flames of my love for Enora? Was it going to be a flow of water, just like Enora had streamed her way into my heart? Was it going to be—"Ow! Don't pinch me you vixen!"

"You were thinking something silly again."

"Seriously… You two…" Nychibi trailed off.

"Right. First we will start with a blue page, water." She passed a blue page from the book to each of us. "Simply pass mana into the paper."

Nychibi did as she said first. I felt a small burst of mana coming from her claw, but to her disappointment nothing happened.

"Don't worry chibi. Everyone will have an affinity."

Enora reassured her as I passed my own mana down my arm. The prickly sensation was still there, but it had become less intense. When the mana finally hit the blue paper it reacted. The paper became drenched, and it shriveled up.

"It seems you have a strong water affinity, Melle Melle."

"Not as strong as my love for you!"

“Awe, you always know what to say lately.”

"The next one, please!" Nychibi yelled.

“Fine, this one is wind.”

I pushed my mana in first this time without getting a response.

When Nychibi did the same, hers shredded into millions of tiny pieces. She grinned like a child. "I did it! I have a wind affinity!"

"Good job, friend." As I clapped for her, she became red, but she didn't say anything before we were handed a red paper. Neither of us had a fire affinity. The red papers did nothing.

The next paper we were handed was brown for earth. I pushed my mana in, and it crumbled into a ball.

"You also have a strong earth affinity!"

Nychibi wasn't as lucky. Hers didn't react. We went through a bunch more colors: yellow for light, black for shadow, Purple for enchanting. We kept going through colors, but none of us had anymore until the last one.

That final paper confirmed she only had one affinity, wind; however, when I pushed my own mana into it, the paper origamid itself. Right before my eyes it turned into a swan.

"You have a strong taming affinity!"

"Whoa! I have three affinities! Earth, Water, and Taming! With this I will tame everything!" I grinned. When I looked at Nychibi, I expected her to be deflated, but instead, she seemed happy, excited even.

"I have a wind affinity! I will master this, and then I will get my revenge…"

"Revenge?"

"It's nothing! Don't worry about it!"

"Nychibi,” I said.

"What?"

"I don't know what happened, but…"

"Don't tell me…You can't stop me. I already made up my mind. I will get revenge no matter the cost."

"I won't say you shouldn't get revenge for whatever happened, and I won't say I know how you feel. I just think that…"

"What!?" I couldn't finish whatever I was going to say. The words were stuck.

"If you need a friend… I am here, and Enora is here too."

"Thank you, but I don't need any help. I don't want any help. This is something I have to see through on my own." She turned her head towards the window again as she clenched her teeth.

“So…This place is called Fallen Kingdom, right? Is there a reason for that?” I tried to break the awkward silence that remained after a while.

“I have no idea,” Enora said.

“Neither of you two know?” Nychibi looked at us incredulously. “This place is called the Fallen Kingdom because long ago it was said that a giant rock fell from the sky. It created a large crater as well as the surrounding mountains. That is why Kalameet’s domain is called The Fallen Rock Mountains.”

Was it a meteorite? I didn’t know, and Nychibi didn’t say anything else as she looked out the window. Soon the carriage came to a stop again when Ethora opened the shutter. “Break time.”

With those two words spoken, we all hopped out of the carriage. We helped Ethora get the crate of ingredients and food for the Piris, but I was conflicted while looking at the same food.

“We really don’t have anything else?” I wasn’t a picky eater, but I didn’t want the same food again. “I want meat.”

“I agree.” Nychibi looked over the food with a dissatisfied expression.

“Something is coming.” Enora said, peering through the undergrowth.

A large grizzly bear tore through. The only difference was that this bear had a beak and had large brown wings coming from its back. Nychibi smirked while looking at the intruder. “An owlbear. The meat has come to us.”

Nychibi didn’t hesitate. As the owlbear began to flap its large wings, growling at us, Nychibi moved. “Oh no you don’t.”

She took off from the ground like a bolt of lightning before the owlbear could take to the air.

“Nychibi watch out!”

The creature that was neither owl nor bear swiped it’s paw at her. Nychibi twisted midair, avoiding it with ease. She twisted around its massive head, digging her clawed talons into it.

“CRAWWWW!” The owlbear let out a shrill shriek as it tried to swipe its paws at the green harpy who dug into the back of its neck. A crunch resounded as she twisted its neck, severing the life from the poor thing. I turned my head away from the now lifeless monster as it landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

Nychibi cheered with blood-stained talons. “Lunch is served!”

Enora grabbed my hand. “Are you alright?”

“I think I need a breather.” The world spun as I walked away from the scene to the other side of the carriage. Enora held onto my hand, and then I flopped onto the grass, releasing a breath I was holding in.

“Just breathe.” Enora said as she ran a hand on my back.

I did as she said, taking deep breaths to calm myself. I had never seen an animal die right before my eyes. Even if this was a monster, it felt terrible to watch the eyes of the owlbear becoming lifeless.

“Just breathe…”

“Dear, we really can’t accept this…”

I smiled as my mother tried to hand me back the 50 dollars I had given her. “It's fine! You both are always doing so much for me that I wanted to pay you back, so go enjoy yourselves!”

“But this is too much…” My mother frowned.

“Hey, aren’t you always telling me it is rude to not accept gifts?”

“But…”

“Shouldn’t we just accept it? Melle is becoming a full adult. I am sure she worked hard to save this up.” My father ruffled up my hair.

“Hey! I am not a kid anymore, you know? You are messing up my hair!”

“Haha! You will always be a kid to me. Even if you become gray and old you will still be my kid.”

My face went red as a tomato. My father was just too much. “Shut up and go already!”

“She really is cute! Even at this age…” My mother said, joining my father in embarrassing me.

“I hate you both…”

““We love you too!””

I grabbed the front door for them and tried to usher them out. “Just go already! Or you will be late…”

“Alright, make sure you finish your school work,” Mom said and grabbed her coat from the rack.

“She always does,” Father said, grabbing his trusty hat.

“We will be back in a few hours. Goodbye, Melle, we love you.” She kissed my cheek before walking out the front door.

“Make sure to tell me all about the movie!”

My father was already in the driver seat, but my mother waved back at me. “We will!”

After they pulled away, I shut the door to the house. I made sure to lock it before going to my room. The only assignment I had left was math. I wasn’t the brightest, but I made sure to work hard. My sleeping giant delusions wouldn’t stop me from making good grades, so I made sure to read the textbook carefully. An hour later the assignment was finished, so I texted my parents on my small flip phone.

“I hope you are enjoying the movie! My assignments are done.”

1 hour later….

I looked over at my bedside alarm clock that read 9:43 PM. I opened my flip phone again, making sure I didn’t receive any texts.

There weren’t any. The only reason I had a phone in the first place was so I could talk to my parents. It was kind of lame, but I didn’t have any friends at school. At least, there were none that I was close enough to have their number. I sat down at the edge of my bed, pulling one of the small stuffed animals into my lap. Of course, it was a cute brown teddy bear.

“I hope you enjoyed the movie. I am going to sleep soon, but tomorrow I want to hear all about it.”

With that out of the way, I changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and laid in bed. The alarm clock read 9:57 PM. It was normal for me to be asleep by 10:00 PM, but for some reason on this night I found sleep impossible.

10:47PM

“What is taking you both so long? Did you also stop somewhere else?”

I was beginning to worry. The movie should have been finished, but there was no text from them. And they had yet to show up. It wasn’t like them to not respond to my text.

11:26PM

“Okay. Now I’m worried. Where are you?”

“Seriously, what is taking you both so long?” I closed my eyes again trying to get some sleep. Eventually I was able to fall asleep, despite my own worry.

03:13AM

My eyes shot open to the big red numbers on the alarm clock. The first thing I did was open my phone, but there were no texts. The anxiety I felt made my brain forget I was tired as I ran out the door to my room. “Mom, Dad!”

I called out as I ran across the hallway and opened their door. Even with the lights off, I could tell their bed was empty. I flipped the switch, bathing the room in light to make sure, but there were no lumps in the bed. It sat there cleanly made, like they always had it. I ran out of their room, and turned on the lights of the stairway.

“Mom! Dad!”

Nobody called out to me from the dark living room below, so I ran down. Before long all the lights in the house were on, and when I looked out of the window next to the front door, there were no headlights. No car. I flipped my phone open again.

03:22AM

“I am seriously worried! Where are you two? Did you get lost on the way home?”

I flopped onto the couch waiting for a response.

09:51AM

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

My eyes shot open to a loud knock on the door. Despite being in my pajamas, I ran and opened it. “Mo…”

I expected to see my mother or father. It was possible they had forgotten their keys, but instead, standing there was a police officer in his black uniform.

“Are you Melle Garnsey?”

“Y-yes, sir. What’s wrong? Am I in trouble?” I knew that wasn’t the answer. I had never done anything to be in trouble with the law, and his eyes looked forlorn.

“Ma’am, there has been an accident…”

“An accident?”

“Your parents, Miss Emily Garnsey and Mister Johnathon Garnsey, were in a car accident. Neither of them survived the impact…”

“Huh? Huh? No. No…” I shook my head as a lump caught in my throat. Neither of them survived the impact. It was a lie right? They were alive right?

“I am terribly sorry, but it is true.”

“No…NO!...” I fell to my knees with my flowing tears. “It's a lie right!? You’re lying right!? They wouldn’t! They can’t! It isn’t nice to lie to people! You are an officer right?” I looked up into his eyes, but he shook his head.

“I am terribly sorry…”

The dam broke as I broke. Holding in the emotion was impossible. As I wailed, the officer bent down and hugged me.