Ring! Ring! Ring! Eric woke up to the alarm.

  He swiped his finger across his smart bracelet to stop the alarm. Stretching and yawning, he rubbed the drowsiness out of his face, he swears that he felt as if he only slept for an hour, not the six he had. Looking at Kevin who had ignored the noise his face showed a wicked grin.

  Kevin was having a dream. He was in a lovely land filled with vibrant colors and fluffy clouds everywhere. This land was occupied by short people, somehow each having the same face. The midgets happily sang and danced round him, their movements causing rainbows to form. They took his hands and led him down an emerald paved path. At the end of the path, on a huge table filled with several dishes and at the center, the main dish was still covered.

  He was led to a seat, the midgets diligently serving him. A bell rung, a weird sound for a bell but whatever, it signaled that he could now eat. The midgets stood on business and unveiled the main dish, a rabbit. That was a huge roasted rabbit, bigger than him, the aroma from it making his tummy rumble and his mouth water even more. The rabbit had been cooked to a crusty deep brown color, golden oil leaking from its skin.

  The first cut from the creature was presented at his table, it was the rabbit’s thigh. Throwing aside the knives and fork that had been handed to him, he picked up the thigh. He was about to take a deep bite when an unpleasant smell wafted into his nose. He quickly pinched his nose, looking around to see what happened. The midgets were confused seeing him like this. Releasing his nose he noticed the smell again, he slowly sniffed, searching for the direction it came. It came from the rabbit, holding the thigh close to his nose, he sniffed had.

  Bleugh, Kevin awoke gagging as he flung, the dirty socks that was on his face.

  “Oh you awoke.” Eric said non-committal seeing Kevin getting up, he was already putting on his clothes.

  “It was you.” Kevin angrily shouted pointing his finger at Eric. “You ruined my dream.”

  “What are you talking about.” Eric faced away from him, his face contorted into a grimace as he tried had to hold his laugh.

  Seeing Eric's shoulders shaking Kevin had no doubt that he was the culprit.

  “Don’t let me wake up before you next time.” He warned harshly.

  The two got out of their tent. The sky was colored a vibrant orange and the wispy clouds high up looked like orange flames slowly drifting amidst the wind. The sun was just setting and was below the stormy veil that surrounded the kingdom, just a few hours before night was welcomed in.

  Most of the people had woken up and were busy grooming themselves, brushing their teeth and washing their faces at the bushy edges of the compound. Both the boys followed suit taking part in the daily morning grooming.

  After finishing they went to the training square that had been set up at the center of the campsite. Most of the tents and rooms were made of inflated fabrics, forming building structurally similar to concrete buildings. The arena though was square was just a place they padded down and demarcated. The two had thought of coming to practice early in the morning but it seems all the other warriors had the same thought. Looking at the crowded arena, probably half of the warriors were here, the other half were scattered in the campsite waiting to get a spot in the square.

  “We can go to the field next to our campsite.” Kevin spoke.

  “There’s a field close to our campsite?” Eric asked surprised.

  “You need to walk more,” Kevin responded, “There are plenty of fields like the one we are using, I heard that they use them to graze some animals, circling through the fields.”

  “I see.” Eric nodded taking note of this.

  The two made it to the empty field, like the field that had been given to them. This was an open land, slightly arid and surrounded by trees. The two went close to the edges of the field, close to the trees where there were still patches of purple carpet covering the ground. The wind was calm and the creatures attuned to the dark had begun waking up, their calls filling the air.

  “Have you already mastered the meditation method master gave you?” Eric asked.

  “No, that thing is so complicated than the normal one we were taught.” Kevin complained, “As soon as I stop staring at the paper, it seems to leave my mind. It is really hard.”

  Eric stayed quiet, sitting comfortably on the ground. He unstrapped his mask, setting it between his laps, the dim evening golden painting his face. Adjusting him breath, he started meditating, wisps of invisible martial energy entering his blood and very soon his body began emanating heat. His veins, visible under his skin slowly turned purple then blue, gradually becoming brighter and brighter till it was practically glowing. A blue haze formed around him, steadily jetting upwards like steam from hot water.

  As Eric was meditating Kevin begun practicing. He went to the center of the field, took out his blade and begun honing his swordsmanship. The golden light glinted from his blade as it whistled, cutting through the air. He performed his moves moving faster and faster, the dust rising up and forming a little cloud from his actions.

  After 30 minutes Eric had finished meditating, the blue color he had slowly fading away. Looking by his side, Kevin was already seated waiting for him. With tacit understanding the two clasped hands and the blue haze that had just disappeared formed again, rising higher than before. Eric mobilized his energy and transferred it to Kevin, this had been the way Kevin had gotten his energy for four years. Even though Eric usually gets a fraction of the energy he has, somehow he advanced quicker than him. His master said that Kevin was more attuned to martial energy, one wisp of energy to him was equivalent to a hundred wisps to others.

  Within a few minutes Eric cut off the connection, the blue haze around them dissipating shortly after. After collecting the martial energy, they needed to forge their bodies making them stronger. This was basically the way warriors in the apprentice level gained strength. Right now they were at the peak of the apprentice level but their bodies still could get stronger.

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  How did they strengthen their body you may ask, oh well with normal exercises of course. The two didn’t have the formal equipment they had to do with body weight exercises. They began with pushups, after a few hundred reps the energy within their blood would infuse into their muscle cells. A warm feeling would wash over their muscles, their toughness and strength increasing with each infusion. After a while they changed into doing other exercises, each time doing a ridiculous number of reps.

  Just as the two of them were continuing their exercises, they had a soft voice calling to them. They looked towards the entrance and saw Rhee, the little Ingan child they had met earlier in the morning. The two stopped doing their exercises, adjusting their breaths and steading their heartbeats. At this time their clothes soaked by sweat begun steaming, their sweat quickly drying out and a citrus scent flowing out of their body. This was due to a magical enchantment within their clothes.

  Seeing Eric and Kevin's attention shift to her, she happily ran towards them, throwing herself into Eric's arms. She noticed Eric was not wearing his mask and was surprised.

  “Do I look bad?” Eric asked.

  After understanding what Eric meant, she shook her head, “You don’t look bad at all, and you smell really nice.”

  Hahaha – Eric let out a chuckle after he knew what the girl said.

  But finally overtaken by curiosity, Rhee asked, “What’s is your face like that?”

  Eric laughed, “This is a scar,” he said as he run his fingers through the scar, the touch bringing a slight burning sensation, “When we heal from a wound, a scar is left behind.” He remembered that the Ingans’ wounds heal without leaving scars.

  “Is it painful?” The girl asked.

  “No not at all.” Eric smiled.

  At this time Rhee remembered what she came to do. She pulled out of Eric's embrace, her face becoming solemn as she seriously spoke. “Magician Eric, Rhee has come here to seek your help.”

  …

  Eric and Kevin sat upright in Rhee’s home, her mom and father sat opposite them with the girl herself between them.

  The boys had listened to Rhee’s plea, it turns out her father had been having trouble due to some work and she thought they could help her. Seeing her this way there was no way he could say no to her, so that’s how they ended up in their current situation.

  The home was primarily made of dark wood and was modestly decorated with brilliantly colored tapestry and paintings were hung on various points on the walls. The room they were in had a cabinet pushed to the side. On top of this cabinet were three flower vases and a miniature statue of Rhee. All around the room were various pots colored with vivid drawings.

  Rhee’s mother spoke up introducing herself and her partner, “Nice to see you again, I am Rhee’s mother Rhea and this here,” she gestured to the man beside her, “is my husband, Roy.”

  The family turned quiet looking at Kevin who had directly translated the sentence from Rhea.

  “Ahem,” Eric cleared his throat, “Thanks for having us, I am Eric.”

  Kevin translated, this time saying it properly and finished saying, “and I am Kevin.”

  With the introductions over the conversations soon became freer.

  …

  “So you actually come from another world.” The father, Roy, said in amazement, “And the days there are equivalent to half a day here.” Roy had wondered why they needed to sleep during midday, he didn’t imagine the answer would be this mind blowing. ‘Wait if the days there were that short, would he live longer there,’ he thought.

  At this time Rhee’s mother, Rhea, brought some light snacks onto the table. They were golden crusty chips from baked slices of orange tubers and some smoothie juice made from a blended fruit served in big ceramic mugs.

  Placing the plate on the table she invited the guests to dig in. Kevin immediately grabbed handful of the chips, stuffing his mouth with it. “These are super delicious.” Kevin said with his eyes squinted in joy. “Come on, try some.” He said gesturing to Eric.

  Eric reluctantly took off his mask, taking a piece and placing it in his mouth. The chip crunched between his teeth its rich earthy flavor burst in his mouth. He then took a sip of the smoothie, the sweet and sour taste lingering in his mouth. The Ingan family were wide eyed, surprised to see the scars on Eric’s face.

  At this moment a certain furry creature entered into the room. Eric’s attention instantly turned to the little furry pet, “What is that?”

  Little Rhee run up and picked the pet, her face disappearing in the furry creature half her size.

  “This is big Ryej.” She said as she sat down and lay the pet onto her lap, her hands constantly rubbing Ryej golden fur. The creature had extreme luscious fur and had deep dark beady eyes that seemed to pull all who gazed into it into a trance.

  “Rhee, what did I say about touching the pet when foods on the table?” Rhea looked at Rhee with her eyes squinted and a chilling smile.

  Rhee seemed to be struck by fear and she obediently let the pet go. Tom’s figure flashed in Eric's mind and he admitted he sort of missed the cat. The atmosphere turned silent as they focused on the snacks and within no time the table was cleared. Kevin had eaten more than half of the given chips, truly embarrassment shied away from this guy.

  “So, what’s with all the pots?” Eric asked looking at the colorful pottery around the room.

  “These are actually my work,” Rhea said as she proudly picked a vase from the floor, proudly displaying her work.

  The boys got to properly admire the beautiful pierces of porcelain. The art of the sides showed various Ingans doing various tasks around the kingdom. There were ones showing the Ingans marriage ceremony, some showing them harvesting crops and others just showing a family looking happy together.

  Getting a little serious Eric asked, “So what was the problem you needed help with.”

  “What, what so you mean?” Roy asked confused.

  “Your daughter said that you had some problem that we could help with.” Kevin said.

  Roy turned to look at Rhee who immediately said, “Dad, didn’t you come home saying that something was wrong at work.”

  Hearing this Roy smiled bitterly. He was an architect and an engineer. Due to the resent earth quakes he had been responsible for fixing most of the broken buildings. Due to the appearance of outside visitors, the kingdom had decided to hold a grand welcome celebration. They felt like they should done before the next day, and since the stadium was relatively easy to set up as the stage, it was the place chosen.

  However the stadium had one glaring problem. It was located just below the mountain and after one particularly long earth quake, a crack had opened up at its center. He was among the three people chosen to oversee the restructuring of the stadium. He had adamantly opposed the use of the stadium, stating how dangerous it was but they dismissed him. Angrily he returned home, that was when his daughter asked him why he was angry. He had smiled that time saying that something was wrong at work. He thought it nothing of it, after all she was just a child and she couldn’t change anything.

  Looking at the two people in front of him, he remembered hearing that they had magical powers. Perhaps they really could solve the problem, he wouldn’t know without asking. Thinking of this Roy finally spoke out, “I indeed have some problem back at work. I just don’t know if you can help me.”

  He continued, “We were planning to host a welcome ceremony for your people, but we have some trouble.”

  “What trouble?” Eric asked, he was thinking trying to think of the types of problems would trouble Roy. Although he was very much knowledgeable, he didn’t think he could help with designing or building something that stumped the very guy who job was doing that.

  “The place the ceremony has a large hole at the center.” Roy said.

  “Uh” Eric was silent for a while, his expectations were subverted. He thought that if it was only a hole on the ground, he can indeed easily close it. Looking at little Rhee who was expectantly looking at him. He nodded and said to Roy, “I think this is something I can fix.”

  Roy smiled after hearing this, he stood up saying, “Well, let’s not waste time and quickly go.”