“Hand it over.” said the mysterious voice.
“Hand over what?” replied the elder of Decipia
“You know what I’m talking about.” replied the voice.
“Oh… so you know about that, well I’m not going to tell you unless you beat me in a fair one on one fight.” replied the elder.
“That is the last mistake you will make. All my fights are to the death.” was the reply.

“So there was a mysterious person who killed the ghost chasing you?” questioned Jett.
“Yes, and it looked exactly like my brother!” said the ghost, crying. “But he’s dead as well… so how could he save me?”
“Well don’t worry at all. It probably was your brother, coming to save you and be with you, but he had to go save other ghosts from the same fate. He’ll be back for you, I’m sure of it” replied Jett in his gruff, but sympathetic tone. “How about I stay with you until he comes back?”
“Oh you would do that for me? Thank you so much!” replied the ghost. She then went up and hugged Jett
“Okay, okay enough with the hugs. So didn’t you say your name was Sarah?” asked Jett
“Well…. Yes, yes I did, but that was a while ago. Do you have that great of a memory? That’s so cool! I couldn’t even remember my left from my right for two years!” exclaimed Sarah.
“Well that’s odd.” said Jett standing. Flowing down the nearby river was a forehead protector. The ones used by the shadow gear elders.
“Not for my family, we’re known for bad memories.” said Sarah, giggling.
“I’m not talking about your memory problems.” replied Jett “I’m talking about that forehead protector. It looks like the one from Toruca. And the one next to that looks like it’s from the Freelands.” said Jett.
“Wait my father is the shadow gear protector of Decipia! He could be in danger!” yelled Sarah.
“There, there Sarah. It could just be the Ceremony of Transfer that all shadow gear elders must do. No one lives forever. I mean it’s not like those elders are young, the Freelands’ elder especially.” said Jett trying to calm down Sarah. “I’m pretty sure a killer couldn’t defeat the elders in their special games anyway.”
“That’s not true! It’s all a lie! Those games are so simple, even a commoner could beat the elders.” said Sarah pacing (as close to pacing as a ghost could come to) “I mean, I even beat my father and his game is the hardest…Combat!”
At that moment the great volcano Afgresdan erupted. All of nature had fallen quite and even the clouds had stopped moving to see what would come next.
“SEE! DID YOU SEE THAT JETT! THAT MARKS THE START OF MY FATHER’S GAME! I ORDER YOU TO BRING ME THERE RIGHT NOW!” screamed Sarah.
“Okay, I’ll take you to Decipia, but in return you have to tell me the whole truth about what just took place, got that?” said Jett calmly, but at the same time serious.
Gasping “How’d you know it wasn’t the whole truth?” replied the shocked Sarah.
“Eyes are the key to peoples’ emotions and thoughts. Even a commoner like me could learn this lesson, but unless you have sharp eyes and can look into someone, no matter what they look like, you can’t learn to actually harness this skill.” said Jett “Now let’s agree and get moving. The days aren’t getting any shorter!”
“Okay, but if we don’t get there in time then I’m not going to tell you anything more about what happened. Remember that well Jett.”
“Well then if the stakes are higher I’ll add another addition. If I get you there in time then you owe me your knowledge on shadow gears too.”
“B-B-B-But I can’t give you that information. Only my father can.” said Sarah shakily.
“All the more reason to get there quickly.” replied Jett in a now cheerful voice.
Jett then jumped into the river and grabbed the forehead protectors. Then, shaking water out of his hair, started hiking across the harsh, mountainous terrain of Bulgedia.

At Toruca, Claire was watching the sunset across the meadows. “Sure is beautiful, right Cloe. After all that commotion of Afgresdan erupting, this sure soothes my mind.” Cloe, a cat, then started scratching her back against a nearby tree.
“Well that may be, but it is a big deal that it erupted anyway.” said a mysterious voice.
“Oh my, you scared me Quinn, you shouldn’t sneak up on me!” said Claire, shocked.
“Sorry” replied Quinn sarcastically “But I’ve never been able to sneak up on you before.”
“That’s true…. But I wasn’t paying attention… see I was looking at that burning tree… OH MY GOD THERE’S A BURNING TREE QUINN!” screamed Claire.
“Yeah, yeah it's a fake fire.” was the reply “It was to see if you were telling the truth about what you were paying attention to.”
All of a sudden there was a flash of lightning and then and gigantic earthquake followed. All fell silent except for a soft voice that sounded like ‘with’. Then it happened again and in an even softer voice was the word ‘forever’ and a third time, but there were no more words to be spoken.
“What was that?” questioned Claire “Tell me you planned that too Quinn.”
“That wasn’t me” said the scared Quinn “but I’m pretty sure we don’t want to find out what the actual cause was. Let’s get out of here!”
“Okay then, Cloe we’re going!” said Claire.
In the shadows of the tree Cloe was just scratching her back on was a ghost. He was saying an incantation. “Claire and Quinn shall switch souls with each other in 6 months and 16 days. And if they accept the change for one week they will stay like that forever.” and the incantation was at an end.

On the other side of the world, a child named Tony was playing a game in his backyard. His parents were talking about something very serious with the elder.
“And what of our son? What will happen to him? You won’t send him out of the Freelands will you?” said Tony’s parents.
“I’m afraid if you want him to live we have to send him with the other children to Decipia. He will be safe there, I promise. However you will have to stay here and fight, so when your son returns there will be a Freelands to come back to.” replied the elder “I’m sorry but it’s for the best.”
“But you’ve surely heard that kids would get kidnapped in Decipia if they’re found alone in the streets! You can’t possibly think they can all survive there.” Tony then raced into the room screaming “Mommy, Daddy don’t leave me! I don’t wanna leave to Decipia! I’ll… I’ll stay and fight with you! So please don’t leave me behind.” Tony then started crying.
“Tony we weren’t thinking of leaving you” was the parents’ reply. “We were just saying that we wouldn’t let you go. However you’re the big boy of the village. You need to take care of all the other children who don’t have families or friends so that they, too, can live in the Freelands after this. So please, we need you to lead them because you’re the only one who can.”
“Well if you put it that way… I- I will do my very best and make you proud mommy and daddy! Don’t worry about anyone.” said Tony in a more cheerful tone. “Just make sure you don’t die in this war or I won’t know who to kill to avenge your death!”
“Now now Tony, revenge isn’t necessarily a good thing, it leads to corruption and…” The voices started to fade and Tony heard a faint buzzing sound. It sounded like… “Be sure you capture all the children before they get to Decipia. We don’t want anyone getting the news of war there.” And then the world turned back to normal and the lecture was just ending with “… so make sure you never hold a grudge on anyone, okay Tony?”
“Did you hear that mommy? Daddy? Did you?” asked Tony
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Tony. Hear what?” All of a sudden there was a loud scream and then a gunshot. Everyone rushed into the open to find that a recent mother had just been shot dead and that the killer was nowhere in sight. Everyone had questions of “what happened?” Or “where’s that damn murderer? I’ll kill him!” but no one actually did any action until another scream happened a few minutes later.
“Why’s that man laughing mommy?” asked Tony
“What man? Where?” replied the mother not really paying attention.
“That man next to the elder. What’s in his hand?” and then all of a sudden a large blast of a shotgun could be heard. The elder then let out a screech and dropped dead seconds later.
Everyone turned to the mysterious man and ran at him, but right as they all got to him, he disappeared. They all ran off in different directions in groups of two or three, but Tony went to the elder and saw a little butterfly on his nose. When Tony tried to get closer the butterfly left and then Tony was all alone with the dead elder wondering why did you have to die elder? You were so kind to us all. And right before the big war started, who would do such a thing?
But what no one saw, not even Tony, was that the elder’s forehead protector wasn’t on his head.

Chapter 2

“Come on Sarah, we don’t have all day now.”
Jett and Sarah had been hiking across Bulgedia for 3 days now and had finally reached Decipia, the land of farming.
“But you’re moving too fast Jett, aren’t you tired?” said Sarah in a weary voice
“No, and how does a ghost get tired? Shouldn’t they never get tired?” Jett asked.
“Well… No. They we can get tired because if we couldn’t then I wouldn’t be tired right now, would I?” argued Sarah
“Hehehe I guess you’re right” replied Jett “but hurry up! We’re almost at the temple.”
They walked up the steps only to find the temple doors imploded, the roof destroyed, and the windows shattered all over the place.
“What happened here” asked Jett to himself “It looks like a mess. A very BIG mess.”
“Well what do you think happened here? My father got attacked, that’s what happened!” said Sarah weeping.
They traveled farther into the temple only to find more mess. Then they came to a spot where the temple was split in half and the other side of where they were was melted.
“I guess this is what happens if Afgresdan erupts.” said Jett in a slightly shocked tone. “I wonder if anyone’s alive back there.”
“Well why don’t you find out?” asked Sarah
“Well... I don’t really want to get burned alive right now. Some of the lava still isn’t gone.” replied Jett. “Why don’t you just float your butt over there and check yourself?”
“Ehem, I am the child of the elder of Decipia and you expect me to go over there and check by myself! Why don’t you just go throw yourself into a pit and die before saying that to me again” said Sarah like a spoiled brat.
“Fine but if you want to know if your father is alive I suggest you look for him.”
So at that comment Sarah started to float over to where the destruction of the temple happened. For an hour Sarah searched on that side while Jett searched on the other and they didn’t come up with anything.
“Well this is pointless” said Jett “No one is here so let’s just leave”
“NEVER! I will not give up on my father that easily!” Sarah yelled to Jett “I would rather die again than let my father be lost forever!”
“Well cya then Sarah, I see no point in continuing to look for you father.” And so Jett walked out of the temple leaving Sarah all alone to look for her father herself.
“Fine then, go and leave me alone I’ll just check by myself!” called Sarah. For another few hours Sarah searched but only found a dusty old box with a lock but no key, but surprisingly enough she could pick it up! “Well this shows Jett… I’ll show him it wasn’t worthless”
Sarah then put the box down in a safe place and started to look some more for her father’s body in the lava blocked section of the temple. Then a gang walked in trying to loot the palace for anything expensive they could sell. They came upon the box and took it with them out of the temple saying “I’m sure there are some jewels or something in here! We’ll be rich!”
† † †
“Well look what we have here. A lost little commoner who isn’t even strong enough to lift himself up!” said the gang who had just walked out of the temple and came to the only restaurant in town. “It looks like some kid from the land of outcasts, Bulgedia.” The whole gang laughed heartedly at their leader’s remark, but their target, a little girl, just kept on eating her dinner. “Hey, girl, look at me when I’m speaking to you. Or do you have a death wish?” the leader demanded.
“I don’t have time to play with pathetic circus freaks when I’m eating the most enjoyable meal I’ve ever had.” replied the little girl. “How about you just leave now before you get a boo-boo”
“Why you little…” The leader then threw a punch at the girl from her blind side.
“Now now, you don’t punish someone who’s done the right thing do you?” said a voice out of nowhere. Then as quick as light a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the gang leader’s wrist.
“Who dares touch me?” said the gang leader calmly. He then looked down at the teen that had stopped his blow. “I don’t think I gave you permission to do that.”
“And who cares if you did or didn’t. I’m not the one who got owned by a little girl, now am I?” said the teen. “Now why don’t you just walk away before things get too rough for you?”
“Hahahahaha, like you could ever beat my whole gang and Me.” said the gang leader as he rounded up for another punch. “You couldn’t even kill an ant.”
At that the whole place started shouting and laughing like no other. Some even jumped on tables and started to dance while the bartenders shouted “Free drinks for all!” Some even said “Well we know who’s gonna have the best crops this year at the blood harvest” and the whole place erupted again, laughing.
“Well aren’t you a rowdy bunch.” said the teen walking up to the bar. “Don’t I get a free drink too?”
The place fell quiet again until someone shouted “Look! Gregory and his gang are passed out and hardly breathing!” Then another eruption, only this time of anger and surprise.
“Yes I think you deserve your fair share of drinking tonight bud, but aren’t you a bit under aged?” said the bartender to the teen.
“Why yes, I am underage to drink alcohol, but did I ever say I wanted alcohol?” said the boy. “Though I’m sure some sake wouldn’t be too bad at the moment…” said the boy staring off into space.
“If you don’t mind me asking… what’s your name kid?” asked the bartender.
“Well I’m not surprised you don’t know me. I’m from Bulgedia and my name is Jett” said Jett. As he walked over to the gang’s terribly injured bodies. “Now why don’t you clean up this mess while I decide on what to drink? I’ll be by the girl when you’re finished.”
“So what’s your name?” asked Jett as he walked up to the girl. “And where are you from?”
“I’m not talking unless you answer my questions first.” replied the girl. “And the gang leader dropped something while you were beating him up.”
“Hmmm, I wonder what it could be?” said Jett looking at the bodies. He saw a small box and picked it up. “It looks like it needs a key to open it. What a mess. And don’t you know how to keep secrets… Hmmm, how about this, we both answer one question at a time and you can ask the first question.”
“I’ll agree to that deal. I want to know your full name.” said the girl
“I don’t have a last name. I’ve always just been known as Jett. Now for my question, what’s your full name?”
“My name is Victoria Juliana Racer. So what are you here for?” Victoria replied
“I’m here because a ghost ‘friend’ of mine wanted to see if her father, the elder, was still alive after Afgresdan erupted, but we didn’t find anything. So where are you from?” asked Jett
“I’m from the hidden world of magik. And that other question in your head, I’m here to save this world from my world.”

Chapter 3

Claire and Quinn ran all the way back to their village of Regallage trying to keep cover from the mysterious storm that just appeared.
“I guess we’d better get back to our houses.” said Quinn reluctantly when the storm turned from rain to hail.
“Well I hope we get to go out tomorrow because my house is sooooo boring without anyone there.” said Claire.

† † †
That night Claire was pacing her room when a loud rumbling sound came from the basement. Then an earthquake happened and her whole house started to crumble from the sheer power of it.
“Nuh uh. I’m not going down to the basement even if I die. Not with that rumbling sound still down there.” So Claire jumped outside only to find the night sky lit up orange and the whole town screaming.
Quinn raced up to Claire calling “What’s going on Claire? The whole town just started to burn!”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” replied Claire. “I may be the herbalist in this village but I don’t know how flames just burst out of nowhere!”
“HELP! HELP MY CHILDREN ARE STILL IN MY HOUSE!” screamed a woman who looked like she was about to pass out.
“Quinn you start helping the families.” ordered Claire “I’ll treat to the injured.”
“Will do” said Quinn jumping into the burning building. A minute later he jumped out with 3 children in his arms and two more clinging to his neck. “I’ll go check the other buildings too!” he shouted to Claire as he raced past her.
“Wait Quinn!” Claire shouted back “Get me medical supplies from my house! And don’t go into the basement whatever you do!”
“Why not the basement?” muttered Quinn to himself as he raced into Claire’s house. “Okay we need Aelo Vera for burns and she might want some Cat’s Claw and some Purple Coneflower for any diseases and infections. Maybe some Poppy for pain relief and sleep and some Thyme for shock.” Quinn started racing for the door when he remembered “Oh! Claire might need some honey… Now where is it… maybe in the basement? I didn’t see it up here anyway.”
So Quinn went down to the basement and right as he was about to open the door he heard a banging on the door so he raced to it and opened it up.
“You were taking so long I thought you had gone and eaten some nightshade! Now get those herbs to the priest.” Claire demanded
“But won’t you need honey?” Quinn asked.
“Where do you think I’m going now?” Claire replied as she rushed up the stairs to her room. “I didn’t want anyone taking a snack out of what precious honey we have left.”
So Quinn rushed outside, gave the herbs to the priest and ran into another blazing building to help the old folk out of their home. Meanwhile Claire was just racing outside with the honey only to trip and fall making the jar of honey crack a little.
“Oh no… Oh no this can’t be happening right now.” said Claire as she tried to cover up the chip as good as she could.
“What happened?” called the priest “Hurry up with that honey! Some people can’t breathe right now!”
“Coming!” yelled Claire as she closed the gap with her finger. When Claire got to the priest she said to use the hole to pour the honey out of and to get her if she needed more honey. Then she ran to go find Quinn to treat the people who he was getting out of the burning buildings.
“Quinn after this house I want you to get a hose and blow this fire out, okay?” called Claire as she bent down to apply some Aelo Vera on the burns.
“Roger that!” came a reply. “Quinn, stay there! You’re better at not getting burned then I am!”
“Charlie! You came back from your adventure just in time!” called Claire. “You put out this fire then and cut it off at Diana’s House. Then just keep making it smaller and don’t let it loose again!” Then turning to Quinn “Quinn you keep helping those who aren’t able to escape from their houses and bring them to the prie-”
“I need more honey Claire!” called the priest “and don’t waste a moments time getting it!”
“Never mind” said Claire turning back to Quinn. “You and me go to my basement and fight our way to my honey store.”
“… Fight!?” yelled Quinn. “Just what the hell is in your basement!?”
“I’m not quite sure yet but I do know that it’s not friendly and you’ll need you sword to fend it off.” replied Claire, surprisingly calm. “Now we don’t ha-”
“Yeah, yeah, we don’t have all day and all that crap. I’ll be there in one minute!” said Quinn running to his house.
† † †
“Charlie’s got the fire under control.” Quinn informed as he walked into Claire’s house. “It’s not going to kill anyone else.”
“That’s good and all, but we need that honey in my basement to actually save some people who can’t breathe. Now you charge in and cover me while I get the honey into this jar.” said Claire.
Claire then opened the door and Quinn jumped through swinging his sword left and right at anything that moved. Then Claire jumped through and ran to the table in the back to pour the honey into the new jar. When it was full she ran back to the door only to see it blocked by a massive, shadowed creature.
“Quinn! Didn’t you kill anything!” screamed Claire as she tried to run away from the monster.
“I’m kind of busy with his minions right now… They seem like they’re some sort of slime.” replied Quinn. “But if you like I can come over and take on the big guy for you.”
“No, I’m okay. You go ahead and fend those guys off. I’ll try and lead this guy away from the door so we can escape this place!” Claire then jumped and ran off to the other side of the room provoking the beast the whole way over there. However the beast didn’t move from the door.
“We have a bit of a problem Quinn.” said Claire. “He won’t move an inch.”
Then a voice spoke in a gruff, scratchy kind of tone. “You shall not leave my abode. If you try then my sons will rip you apart.”
“Then how are we supposed to save the village!” shouted Quinn to the beast. “We need to leave now!”
Then the voice changed to a soft, but powerful voice. “If it is for others, you may leave, but for your own good never come back! However for the kindness in both your hearts I will give you each a gift.”
“Then would you mind telling your sons to step back and not eat me!” shouted Quinn who was still fending off the monsters.
“Yes. Sons you may stop attacking.” The monsters then fled down a deep hole in the back of the room. “Now for your gift. The girl will step in either the green or purple light. The boy will step in either the red or blue light. Know that you may only step in one light and if you try and choose a color that I have not given you, you will die.” The beast then started to walk to the hole.
After it had left four lights appeared in the room. “Hey Quinn, you know what light your picking?” asked Claire. “If not choose quickly because we need to get out of here.”
“Yeah sure, I’ll choose the blue one.” Then Quinn stepped into the blue light. “Okay I’ll meet you outside after you choose, just give me the honey!”
So Quinn left the house with the honey and the blue and red lights both disappeared. “Well this is a little suspicious but if it gets me out of here…” Claire said to herself. She then started to go towards the green light. When she stepped within a foot of it, the light moved away from her. “Don’t play chase with me.” Claire said to the light. “Or you won’t get chosen.”
Claire ran after the green light, but it kept going away from her. She then tried the purple light but that also ran away from her. “Well I give up.” Claire muttered to herself after a minute. “I’ve got to get back up to the patients.”
She then started to move towards the stairs when she noticed the lights coming together. When they combined the light shot towards her and enveloped her. She tried to run away but the door seemed to disappear. After another minute the light died down and she raced up the stairs muttering to herself “I’m going to blow up this house soon.”