Page #24

“What do you mean by that?” Kota said chasing after Morten, but Morten just kept walking placing his glass at the bar and walking out of the tavern. Kota followed suit setting his glass down as well then chasing Morten out into the street. “What do you mean by making it through typhoon season? My family has always had plenty to live off of during the wet season.” Kota screamed after Morten. Morten turned a scowl on his face then walked back to Kota. “Yes until you left for your fancy school didn’t you know? I mean you must have realized your father and mother sold half of their farms earnings to that Professor your studying with. That’s the reason he came all the way from Mirage City. Not because you scored above average on some apprentice exam.” Morten said matter of factly. Kota doubled over he felt like someone had sucker punched him in the chest he could barely catch his breath as he thought of all the letters from home, some of which had been addressed to Professor Faulk. Kota stood up and lunged forward throwing his fist into Morten’s jaw. He connected hard like striking a stone with your bare hand. Morten fell over and lay completely still. “Morten … Morten are you okay?” Kota leaned down and put his ear to Morten’s chest. As he listened he heard the big lug breathing, so he picked up his friend and half dragged and half carried him back to his forge.

Walking back to his home Kota absent mindedly kicked at the stones along the road. Looking at his home he felt challenged to even walk through the door. Kota put his reservations aside and snuck inside without waking a single soul in the house. The next morning Kota awoke to Scotty shaking him. “Kota wake you lazy butt up, Mom is making breakfast and she wants the whole family eating together.” Kota opened his eyes a bit shocked when he realized he could see Scotty’s blood flowing through his body. Kota put his hands up to eyes and felt the goggles on his face. “Okay Scotty I’ll be downstairs here in a minute.” Kota said giggling a bit. As Scotty walked out the room Kota swung his legs out of bed to put on his boots. Out of his peripheral vision Kota sees a shadow move. Turning to look Kota is horrified to see a something not quite human standing in a three piece suit staring at him. Instead of hands the creature had solid gold claws sticking out from his sleeves. His skin was almost transparent it was so white. The creature’s teeth were straight but they were elongated and sharper than any Kota had ever seen. His hair was black as midnight and pulled back into a ponytail, and to Kota’s shock a white tail with a sharp arrow like point whipped back and forth behind him. The most unsettling thing was his eyes blood red eyes that were looking straight at Kota.