Three hours were spent getting to the village the laid at the base of the mountain. The village was called Ever-Cold. Very inventive name. Anyways, by the time we got there it was the middle of the day, and everyone in the village was working. So Leah and Mika decided it was a good time to go and get lunch.

  The spot we stopped at for lunch served traditional food from the region. I ordered a harty stew, one with goat as the protein. It tasted very nice, full of bold flavors. Enrique ordered the same thing, but with rabbit instead of the goat.

  Everyone had a good time telling stories. I learned the Mika and Leah met during Leah’s adventuring days. Leah raided Mika’s treasure horde. Which lead to the two fighting, Leah said it was a drawl, but Mika claimed otherwise.

  After a while, Leah told us to go get supplies. She handed us the coin, “Now get going, I don’t want to see you guys for the next half hour.”

  “You go get the supplies, I will find entertainment.” Enrique said as I got up, distracting me from where I was getting up into. This oversight of mine made me get up and bump into a passing woman who was holding a tea pot.

  “Oh, I am sorry.” I said grabbing a hand towel from the table and getting on my knees to clean up the tea I spilt. The towel I grabbed quickly soaked up the tea, so I pulled another one from the table, that one soaked up the rest of the tea.

  The lady looked down at me while I cleaned, “It’s fine, it is my fault for walking to close to your table.” she said in a kind tone. I looked up at her, and I was surprised at her appearence. He eyes were a pale blue, her hair was white as snow and ears pointy like an elfs. She wore an uniform of sorts, like a school uniform you see at certain schools.

  “No, it is my fault for falling onto you, I was not paying attention and I stood up into you.” I stood up and took out the 10 silver coins that Leah gave me, “Please let me pay for it.” I put my hand out to give the coin over to the woman.

  She denied me, “Don’t worry, the tea wasn’t expensive. And they offer free refills for accidents here.” she tried to comfort me.

  Hearing her words I put the money back into my pocket and lowered my head again to say sorry, but I heard the voice of Leah speak up, “Get out of here already, I said I didn’t want to see you for another half an hour. You are wasting your time with women!” she said as she chucked siver coin at my head.

  I looked back to the woman, who is giving me a soft and gentle smile. I smiled back and I picked up the coin and began to leave the place, but before I left the door I waved goodbye to the white haired woman.

  After that, I spent most of my time and money at a general store, where I bought myself a backpack and some supplies. Then I bumped into Enrique in the market where he was looking at a hat vender.

  “So you are telling me that this hat is only 5 silver coin?” he asked the vender.

  “Yes sir. It is the most expensive hat we have to offer. It is cold resistant and is infusted with magic thread that adjusts to your head on its own.” the vender explained.

  “Good, I’ll take 2 of them for me and my friend.” he handed over 10 silver coins.

  “Sorry, we only have one in this style, we have another similar one in a breton style.” the vender turned around and grabed the hat he was talking about, “It’s only 4 silver compared to the one we were just looking at.”

  “Deal!” Enrique cut the vender off and slapped down the 9 silver coins on the venders counter. He would then grab both of the hats and turned around, coming face to face with me.

  “Who are you buying a hat for?” I asked him

  “Who else but my girlfriend?” He gave out a good laugh before handing me the breton hat, “I just spent all of my money on them.” he said proudly.

  “That’s stupid. You should have bought supplies.” I said, taking the hat and putting it on. The hat adjusted itself to fit my head perfectly.

  “So? I thought you would be smart and buy supplies.” he replied in a knowing voice.

  “You are right, I did. I spent 4 silver coins on a magic backpack and 7 on supplies.”

  “Predicted.” He stuck out his hand to dap me up. Our dap was heard through out the market, causing some people to look at us.

  “You guys look like good friends.” The vender said, “How about I give you guys a gift. A gift of friendship.”

  Enrique spins around, “A gift? Like, as in free?” he asked.

  “I’ll give you a gifts discount, one silver coin for them.” He said pulling out a box from under the counter. He opened the box to show amulets to us.

  “They’re locator stones. They will guide you to eachother whenever you guys get lost and need to find eachother. It will activate on its own when ever the use’s mana spikes into a panic.” The vender explained.

  Enrique’s eyes widened, “Thanks a lot mister.” He handed me one of the amulates. Enrique placed the silver coin onto the counter of the vender’s stall.

  I put on the amulet. The old man turned around and shouted to someone in the back of the stall, “Layla, come here sweety, I would like for you to meet these young boys. Maybe you could marry one of them!” the jolly old man yelled.

  A woman quickly came out from the back of the stall. I quickly recognised that it was the same lady from the spot we ate lunch at, but this time her face was glowing red, “Grampa, stop! You can’t keep offering me to random old men you find!” she lectured the vender before looking over at me and Enrique.

  She blushed harder, her ears glowing more than her face then she made her way to the back of the stall. The vender laughed hard, “Thank you guys for coming to my shop, I hope to see you guys again soon.”

  After that me and Enrique decided to call it and head back to the lunch spot. Where we found Leah and the others preparing to leave. “Good, you guys are on time.” She said, handing back the coat I left at the table.

  We left shortly, following the path that lead to the top of the mountain.

  The wind is freezing. It strikes at my face like cold hard razors. We’ve been hiking up the mountain for 2 hours already and the wind is getting worse and worse the higher we get. The snow is foot deep and it’s hard to walk on.

  Through the sound of harsh wind, I hear Leah shout, “We’re are getting close, just a few more minutes!”

  Mika and Nia had already made it there, they were waiting for us. Enrique has been behind me since we started the hike, I’ve been making sure to check up to him every now and then, to make sure he hasn’t disapeared into the white abyss.

  After just 5 minutes, I see Leah’s ears perk up, “We’re here.”. She would cast a quick spell to dispell the snowy-fog around us for just a moment to spot the shrine. It looks ancient, older than anything else I’ve seen so far.

  The shrine is a stone temple, with ancient runes all over it. We quickly make our way into it, seeking shelter from the snow. The entrance we found ourselves in was already lit by Nia and Mika.

  Enrique dusts the snow off of himself, “This place smells like mold.” he says as he fixed the hat he had gotten from the vender.

  Leah didn’t pay attention to what Enrique said, “The next room is where Nia and Mika are waiting for us in. That is where the mana reader is.” she explained as she looked around.

  “What do we do to activate the reader?” I asked Leah.

  “It requires blood. I or Mika will cut your hand and you will bleed onto the stone. How much it glows and the color is how much potential you posess. I will use the light to calculate it in a understandable form for you guys later.” she explained.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Great, now we have to spill blood.” Enrique pouts.

  Leah finds the door to the next room and opens it, to see Mika and Nia inspecting the large rocky machine. Mika turns around to greet Leah, “You finally made it. We shouldn’t spend a lot of time here, so hurry it up.”

  Leah waves me and Enrique in. When we get in she asked us, “Who wants to go first?”, which Enrique raises his hand, “Better to get it done and over with quickly.” he said.

  Leah nods and jesturs for him to go over to Mika. He does so. Mika grabs his left hand and transforms a finger into a dragon clawn, using the claw to cut open his palm. The blood quicky rushed out and poured all over the stone.

  The stone soaks in the blood for a moment, before absorbing the blood and glowing a bright yellow light. Enrique walks away. Nia goes over to him to use magic to heal his wound.

  “Alright, twerp. Your up.” She pats me on the back when I walk up to Mika.

  Mika grabs my left hand and studies it for a moment, Then she cuts my palm, my blood drips onto the stone. The pain from the cut made my pulse quicken. The blood leaving my hand mixed with the cold air, making me shiver. The stone soaked up my blood like a spounge.

  It took a moment, nothing happened. I looked over to Mika who is watching the stone intently, “Did something go wrong?” I asked.

  “No, just wait, I heard it could take a little bit.” Leah says from behind me.

  After a little bit more time, the stone shatters. This suprises everyone but Enrique. “That’s new.” Leah said.

  “HA! Dumbass broke it!” Enrique shouted. I gave a look to Enrique.

  Mika lifts my hand towards her face and studies my palm and my wound. She looks to be in deep thought while looking at my palm. She looks to be forming many different ideas, shaking off ones that don’t add up, until she seems to had came up with a conclution.

  She let my hand down and pondered her thoughts for a moment, “I believe you may be a null, Shrugs.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “He can’t be one, he’s just a human!” Leah butts in from behind us.

  “Untrue.” Nia replies for Mika.

  Mika turns around to look at Leah, giving a nod to Nia while doing so, “A null is someone who has negetive mana, they are able to absorbe and steal mana from their surroundings. It’s very rare someone is born a null, but it isn’t uncommon to meet a gate four mana user who knows a little bit of negetive mana.” she explained. Then she turned back to me and grabbed onto my hand.

  Mika brings my hand up to her mouth, she pressed her soft lips onto my hand. This was unexpected. While her lips were making contact, I felt something tingle on my skin. She looks up at me, making eye contact, but not breaking the kiss. She watches how I react. My heart fluttered for a moment, distracting me from the strange tingle.

  It took a moment for her to stop kissing my hand. She broke the kiss and whipped her lips, “He’s a null.” she said as she turned around to pick up the broken peices of the stone.

  “How do you know?” Leah asked.

  “I brought mana to my lips and sensed if it was absorbed. This shows he is infact a null.” Replied Mika.

  Leah sighed and looked over at me, “Well damn. I didn’t expect this. I thought all transported were blessed by the spirit Allem.”

  “If it’s true you are a null. That means you have the ability to nutralize mana anywhere near you. That also means you will have a greater time learning magic, since if you will first need to learn to control your ability. And honestly, I don’t know if I can teach you that.” she exlpained.

  Mika chimed in, “I know a professor in the local college. He can teach the boy without question.”

  Leah turned her head over to Mika, “And put him in danger of being caught by the state? I don’t think so.” she asked.

  Mika tossed her cape over her shoulder, “You think I would of all people would choose to risk something so valuable? You take me as a fool, Leah.” Mika takes a moment to get her thoughts together, “The college I spoke of has no connections to the state. It is indipendent from the state ran education department.”

  “Is it really nessesary for us to go to college?” Asked Enrique.

  “Yes, yes it is.” Said the noble Mika. She walked over to me and Enrique and smiled at us, “You guys are going back to school. I have decided that for you.”

  “I would object if I didn’t know what college you were talking about, but I thnk I know what and who specifically you are talking about.” Leah goes with Mika’s reasoning.

  “Then it’s a plan. I will enroll them into the collge through my connection, and you will give them a place to stay!” Mika said as she walked over to the doorway that lead back to the entrence.

  “So we don’t have a say in this?” asked Enrique.

  “No. You guys are going back to school.” Leah says as she walked over to Enrique and patted his shoulder, “I got a feeling you guys were bums in the other world, but here you will be heros.” she smirked.

  “What if I don’t want to be a a hero?” He whinned.

  “I kick you out of the house.” her smirk is whipped away by her own words, trying to make sure Enrique agrees with the plan.

  “I think i’d rather be kicked out than to go back to school.” Enrique disagrees.

  Leah turns her head to look at me, “Are you fine with this?” she asked.

  I nodded as I held my hand to stop the bleeding.

  She sighed “Great” and straightened her back, “We should head out now, I don’t want to be trapped on this mountain by a storm.”

  “Great idea.” Mika says as she walked into the other room to open the main door. She opened the door to be met with a 7 foot high snow block. “I think the storm is here already” she shouts to us from the other room.

  We all go to check it out, seeing the block. “Well shit.” Leah says.

  Enrique throws his hat to the ground and falls to his knees in defeat.

  “What do we do now?” I Asked, walkng up to Mika who stands at the door.

  “The storm is already here, so it’d be better if we slept here for the night. That or we dig out way out of here.” Mika explains.

  “I don’t think Enrique is willing to dig.” I point to the defeated Enrique.

  “Well I didn’t bring camping gear, I was planning for us to be back in the village by now.” Leah comments.

  “I guess you guys will be sleeping on rocks tonight.” Says Mika

  “Don’t you mean we?” asked Enrique.

  “Nope. I am going to be laying my royal head on the lap of my caring servent Nia.” Says the arrogant Mika, who is approaching the now flustered Nia.

  “Great. I guess it’s beats dying out in this storm.” Enrique says as he searched around for a some what suitable place to sit down.

  I followed him. After a while, everyone settled down. Leah was able to form a small fire from what twigs she could find in the temple. It wasn’t much, but it kept us from freezing to death. To keep heat, we all slept close to one another aside from Nia and Mika, who slept on the other side of the room.

  The winter outfits that me and Enrique wore kept us somewhat warm enough to fall asleep. I think the time we fell asleep at was around 9:00 PM, off of what little of the sky we could see from the cracks in the temple’s walls.

  The sleep was rough and near unbearable. The temple’s flooring was wet and cold and the smell of ancient rocks and mold was still seeping into my nostrils.

  I woke up in the middle of my sleep with a pounding headache. I assume it was from the floor, but it could be a plethora of other things. I sat up from the group, making sure to not wake Enrique and Leah whom were closest to me.

  The fire was out at this point, only embers sat in its place. I rubbed my eyes, noticing it wasn’t just my head that was hurting, but my neck was aching as well. I yawned and glanced around the room, trying to find a crack in the temple’s walls so that I may attempt to gage the time of day.

  My search for the crack was not fruitful, but I did spot something, or someone. I adjusted my eyes to see Mika staring through a crack in the wall, watching the outside.

  She looked like she hasn’t slept, her outfit was different than it was when we went to bed, she was missing her coat. I looked over towards where Nia was sleeping, and I saw where her coat was. The coat was placed on Nia’s sleeping body, keeping the servent warm.

  This wasn’t something I expected from the arrogant Mika, it seemed out of character for someone like her. I decided that I would stand up and walk and join her, since it was likely I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep any time soon.

  My body crackled and popped as I stood up, this make Mika look over at me, “You are awake too?” she asked in a relaxed tone.

  I nodded and approached her, “I can’t fall back asleep, do you mind if I sit with you?” I asked.

  Mika didn’t speak, she just moved aside and made room for me. I sat down next to her and looked out the same crack she was looking out of. The stars filled the sky. Everything was so clear at this altitude, I could see planets that looked so close yet where so out of reach.

  “The stars are pretty up here, aren’t they?” Mika asked, not taking her eyes off the sky.

  I nodded in return, letting the moment remain quiet.

  “It makes me wonder if I am actually important in the grant scheme of things. Makes me think about my legacy, if I will leave a permenant mark on this world.” she gracefully explains.

  “All relationships doomed to be forgotten with time.” She finishes.

  “It isn’t about what the world remembers, it’s about what you expierenced.” I put in my thoughts.

  We watched the stars for a few minutes. Then I looked over to her. Her golden were fixed on the stars, filled with a dulled sense of wonder and a bit of sorrow.

  “Have you ever had a lover?” she askes, breaking the silence.

  I thought for a moment, reflecting on all the relationships I had in the other world. Many different kinds of relationships came across my mind, but only one I could sort of call a romantic relationship, “I guess. But I think it was fairly one sided.” I gave her the best awnser I could.

  “Go ahead and explain it to me, Shrugs…” she said in a soft voice as she looked over, glancing into my eyes.

  “In freshman year, I met this girl. She was just like me; same humor, same music taste, the works. We shared a lot of our classes together, we became really good friends. We used to stay up real late into the night talking over a phone call. It was the first relationship I really felt like the other person understood me fully.” I took a moment to breath and reflect.

  “Over that year I fell hard for her. But I didn’t want to ruin our relationship so I kept it to myself. Then late into the year she told me she was moving to another town. I wanted to confess so badly, but I didn’t have the guts to tell her. Then one day, someone I considered a friend told her I was gay behind my back, further decreasing my chances of confessing. It’s been almost 4 years, and I still think about the what ifs and the life I could be living if I just manned up and asked her out.” Memories of my former relationship flood my mind, reminding me of all the good times and bad times I had with her. The thoughts stung.

  “I’m sorry.” Mika said, attempting to comfort me.

  “It’s history. There is nothing to be sorry for.” I explained, not wanting any pitty. “Have you ever had someone you loved?” I asked in return.

  “No, I grew up the heir to the throne. My mother and father were never around, and the care givers never really cared for me on a deeper level. The only person who I ever really connected with was Nia, who was my assigned servent. She’s been with me since I was 2 years old. Her family has been serving my family for ages now.”

  “So she is like your best friend?”

  “Yes, she has been with me through thick and thin, and will be with me until one of our deaths.”

  I chuckled, “I feel the same way with my friends. After freshman year, I was lost. But I found a new relationship with Enrique, and he’s been there for me ever since. Even if it ruined our high school career.”

  “Why would you give up something so valuable like education for a relationship?” Mika asked, clearly not knowing.

  “Well being young and stupid makes people do some wild things. Me and Enrique didn’t realise we needed to actually do something with ourselves until senior year.”

  The conversation reached a natural end, and we just sat together, looking out at the sky. Mika stood up and went to go lay back down with Nia, I did the same, but laid with Enrique and Leah. I fell asleep, feeling a bit better now.

  Much later I awoke to Leah shouting, “The snow is clear enough for us to leave.” in a blur of sleepyness I got up and began to march out with Enrique, leaving the temple behind and making our way back down to the village.

  The way back was cold, but not as cold as it was before. The winds are calm. This made the journey back to the village so much easier. I actually was able to see the forest that surrounded the mountain, unlike the adventure up.

  We return to the village in no time. We spent our time eating breakfast there before we left. Before we left I bumped into the same white-haired girl again, having a quick chat about the hat’s we had on. It ended as quickly as it started, as Leah wanted us to get home as soon as we posible, so that we may register for the college before admissions closes.

  It took us a few hours to get back to the cabin, but before that we seperated ways from Mika and Nia, who were going to go and talk with the professor to get us in.

  By the time we finally got back, the sun was already setting and Frank was waiting for us on the porch. He was sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket, he was watching the critters in the forest go about their day.

  As soon as he noticed us approaching he bolted out of the blanket and rushed towards Leah, “Lady Leah! You are finally back!” he shouts as he latches onto Leah for a hug, panting his face firmly into her.

  “Jeez, calm down kiddo, we were only gone for a day.” she says attempting to remove the latched Frank.

  I greeted Frank as Enrique quickly made his way into the cabin, clearly not wanting anything to do with us for the rest of the night.

  I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Frank in the living room, he taught me a lot of the history of dragons. After that we played some games like hide and seek and cards. Frank is really good at cards, I only won one of the 20 games we played and that win was given to me by Frank out of pity.

  After a long evening hanging out, I went bed. Before I slept I watched out the window and thought about the conversation that me and Mika had in the temple. My eyes fell heavy while I thought, I decided it was time for me to sleep. I quickly fell asleep in the bed, it was way better then the floor of the temple.