4

Erick sat on his bed, pondering this pile of news that could possibly be true. His mother...the original leader? Murdered by her youngest sister because she could very well take the crown from her? It didn't make any sense to Erick. Matrix stood at the table, still staring at all of the table.

Erick stood up and started walking out. Right as he reached the door, Matrix spoke. "Just so you know," he said, not even turning to look at him. "you look ghostly woke, are sweaty terribly, and are shaking. Going out where your father and Farrow can see you isn't a good idea."

"I'll just say I have a bit of a, uh, chill?"

"That'll get em'!" Matrix aid sarcastically.

Erick sighed, then walked out. As he made his way through the walkway, when someone grabbed his shoulder. Erick turned around. Farrow stood there, his face full of worry. "Erick, are you...okay?"

Erick nodded, though he obviously didn't know it. "I'm...I'm...uh..."

Farrow sighed. "Erick, tell me what's wrong...please."

Erick sighed, the. Turned Farrow around. "Where are you taking me?" Farrow asked as Erick started pushing him into his room. When they came to the door, Erick knocked on it. Matrix opened the door. When he saw Farrow, his face became guarded. "Why's he here?" He demanded.

Erick sighed. "Matrix, stop being a annoyance and let him in. He's one of us, technically speaking."

"What are you talking about? This guy is clearly not an elf Erick. Is he the guy you shot! He's a werewolf Erick!"

Erick pushed Farrow inside and sat him down. He clearly didn't want to be in here until he saw the table. "Hey...my dad told me about a table like this..."

Erick nodded. "This is the exact table form the meeting hall, and as you can see, it is glowing and has these teenagers on it."

Farrow nodded. "I see..."

Matrix touched one of them. Farrow's face instantly came up. "Hey...is that...me?"

Erick nodded. He then walked over and touched another one. Matrix came up. He let that sink in, and then touched himself. Farrow's face was formed in excitement. "That's us! We must be awesome, right?"

Matrix sighed. "Fairies are so energetic."

Farrow stuck his bottom lip out. "Is that a compliment, wolf boy?"

Matrix's yellow eyes screwed up in anger. "You deserve to rot in hell butterfly boy!"

Farrow's face displayed shock, and then anger. "You deserve to rot in hell for an eternity wolf boy!"

Matrix and Farrow continued throwing insults at each other. Erick turned to the table. He watched he crack the spread thought the wolf and fairy kingdom's deepen. Erick realized what was happening. He turned to them. He quickly decided the best way to quote them down. "Stop!" Erick cried. His room shook a little from the amount of sound that came from him.

Matrix and Farrow looked at him, both of their faces in complete shock. Erick cleared his throat. "Stop, pease. You're only making the relations between our nations worse! Look at the crack between your home countries. Notice how it's deeper? The crack represents the relationships of the kingdoms. The surface cracks are the same as they have been since the last meeting. The deeper cracks are relationships that have gone south, and the ones that have cleared are the healed ones, where kingdoms gave begun to heal their old rivalries. The reason part of this crack is healed is because I helped Matrix when I injured him, which helped us trust one another. The crack has begun to seal. The reason this crack has gone deeper is because you guys are fighting!"

Matrix turned his head to it. He traced is finger along the deep crack separating the fairy and wolf kingdoms. He winced and pulled up his finger. A drop of crimson blood rolled down form a splinter wound. Matrix pulled the splinter out and yelp when more drops poured out. He quickly out his finger in his mouth. Farrow looked concerned. "What type of wood is the top again?"

"Mahogany."

Farrow walked over to it. "Im no magic user, but I can identify the certain spells on any type of nature creation, wood, plants, dirt, water-"

"Water can only be identified by a water creature."

"Yes, well, so can wood and dirt only by mountain dwelling and wooden creatures. That's beyond the pint. My father likes to teach me certain things."

"You know, we know your a hybrid. Don't worry, so are we."

Farrow nodded, probably not even have heard him. He then started mumbling something. Erick walked over to Matrix and pulled his finger out of his mouth. He waved s hand and the first aid kit floated over to him. A cloth levitated out if it and wrapped around his finger. The blood started seeping through the thin cloth. Erick felt his heart rate increase. It was just a splinter, right?

Erick waved a frantic hand and s potions shelf opened up. A soft shimmery blue one levitated out and into Erick's hand. Erick poured some of it onto the wound, then quickly levitated a coil of bandages out of it and started wrapping it around his finger.

Farrow stood up and turned around. He watched Erick levitate the objects over to himself and use potions that should on,y belong in the magic kingdom. "Erick? Your a magics user?"

Erick moved back from Matrix, a messy, bloody, potion filled bundle of cloth and bandages wrapped around his index finger. Farrow raised an eyebrow. "You clearly aren't a healer."

Erick sighed. "I can only splint broken bones and remove arrows. I'm not that good with magical wounds."

"I can see that. The mahogany is enchanted to cause anybody who traces a finger across a deep crack to get a splinter, no matter what. However, it's supposed to only bleed a little, not as much as it is. But, I found a spell that includes a prophecy in it. Um, I think it goes like this 'Hybrids walk the earth, poisoning the future youth. Deep within our blood we shall find, the path to end their long and worthless trek.'"

"Anything else that would bring us down?"

"No, but one that would help us, I guess. It went like this, I think...'Hybrids cover the earth so far, carrying us with their superiority. Some will try to eliminate them, enemies shall become friends, and others shall remain enemies for eternity. But, they all share a common goal...stop the tyrant known as Drea."

Erick rubbed his chin. "Who's Drea?"

"I'd assume she's the magic leader, she's a tyrant." Matrix said.

Farrow shook his head. "She's a wonderful lady."

"No, she's not." Erick said, pausing only a second to see if Farrow would counteract that. "She had my mother murdered."

Farrow's face fell. "She wouldn't do that...no..."

"She murdered my mother because she was her older sister, Lilian."

"Lilian...Lilian died in a bombing by the enemies, she was not murdered."

"The magical leader bombed my house...my mother was Lilian."

"No, it was blamed on the enemies...not there."

"Magic caused the explosion Farrow."

Farrow shook his head. "She was like a mother to me..."

Erick sighed. That's when he noticed a black crow sitting on the windowsill. The crow had a little note attached to it. Erick walked over, ignoring Matrix's attempts to make him not come over.

"'Spy bird?' Matrix, do you know what this is?"

"It's some ghost possessing this poor crow. Zenix probably wanted to recruit the eleven leader as well."

The crow shook violently. Suddenly, an extremely pale boy came out of it. His voice was whispery and ghostly.

"Zenix would like to inform the eleven leader that he must join them in war."

"No. My father shall not."

The boy sighed. "Well, my fath-Er, Zenix, says he must. It would help the war end quicker."

Matrix sighed. "Vladimir, I already tried. At the moment, the fairies are aiding them because Wix's son is here."

The ghost who's name was Vladimir jumped. "Matrix?" He said, turning toward him. "What are you doing hanging out with creatures of happiness? I know your mad at your mother and father, but that's a little crazy..."

Matrix smiled slightly. "Erick, Tarven's son, is my 'friend'. He's nice and helped remove and arrow from my thigh and is letting me stay here. Besides...come look at this."

Vladimir gave one glance at Erick and Farrow before following his friend. He stooped over the table, and reached a somewhat translucent hand to touch someone. Instantly, his face appeared. He cocked his head to the side. "What am I doing on here Matrix? What is this table?"

"This table is the same table that our parent sat around to discuss important matters concerning the kingdoms."

Vladimir rubbed his hand along the deceased region. "Incredible..."

"Don't touch the deep cracks, you'll bleed like crazy." Erick said, watching the pale hand glide across the table.

Vladimir looked at him, an almost choked expression on his face. Was he not expecting Erick to help him? Erick sighed. He felt like an outsider in his own room.

Matrix gave a lopsided grin. "Yeah, if you can't see the mess of a bandaid Erick tried to make, the. I'd recommend not touching them. It was pretty painful and bloody."

Vladimir nodded. "Okay Matrix."

Farrow's face grew annoyed. "Erick's the one that told you Vladimir."

Vladimir looked at Farrow. His face was full of dislike and annoyance. He must really hate 'happy' creatures? Was that he had called them?

Vladimir looked at Matrix. "Why does this Elf have it?"

Matrix shrugged. "Ask him yourself."

Vladimir hesitated. He turned toward Erick. "Uh, why do you have the actual meeting table?"

Erick sighed. He was getting tired of relaying the memory in his mind.

The sun was hot on Erick's skin. It was a peaceful day, and he was sitting on a stone wall, feeling the warm summer breeze blowing against his face. Suddenly, he heard the wheels of a cart moving along the cobbled pathway

Erick opened his eyes. A merchants wagon was rolling toward him. The man who was coaching the horses looked at him, then pulled on the reigns. "Hey there sonny boy! May I interest you in a cheap table?"

Erick felt his curiosity spread. Table? He had been wanting a table for his room. "As long as it's not in bad shape, I guess so."

"Well then, it's not in terrible condition. Just a little cracked, nothing major. I believe it used to belong to a scholar, since the map of our world is on it."

Erick's curiosity almost exploded. A map of their world? There was a chance...perhaps...

"Alright, let me see it."

The merchant smiled. His teeth were crooked and some were missing. Clearly he wasn't wealthy. The merchant jumped off of the wagon and ran to the back of the wagon. "Ya' know, I tried to sell this table in the human land, where I am from. But, Maxwell shut me down, saying that wares like mine couldn't be sold. So, I came to the eleven kingdom. Much prettier and less noisy, must you know. I mean, the human kingdom is a bit sooty because of all the fires people use for light and warmth. Also, it's kind of dirty. I swear, few people even know what they are doing to the streets, but, who cares? I mean-"

"Sir, please just show me the table." Erick said, a bit fed up with the he mans ranting.

The merchant frowned, then pulled out a small sack. He handed it to Erick. "Here's the table."

Erick raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sir? This is a sack."

"Yes yes, I know that. The table is inside of it."

"You said it just had a surface crack...this sack could only hold it if it was burned!"

The merchant sighed. "Do you elves have no trades with the magic kingdom? Basically, this sack can hold anything. It can only hold the first item placed in it. The table is perfectly fine inside of it. Just carry it home."

"What money do you need for it?"

"Money? No...Maxwell said I have to sell it for nothing."

Erick nodded. "Okay then..."

Erick grabbed the neck of the sack and slung it over his shoulder. He then waved to the merchant and jumped over the cobbled fence, running off. If Erick had turned around, he would have seen the merchant cackle to himself before turning into some sort of demon.

Erick sighed. "A merchant sold it to me."

Vladimir nodded. He started staring at Erick. Erick felt himself being opened up like a book, as if someone as trying to read him. Erick cleared his throat. "Anyways, we need to find all of these people. They won't all come to us, so we need to go find them ourselves. Hmm..."

Vladimir frowned. "An elf issuing an adventure? Only creatures with powers are brave enough to do something like that...are you sure your an elf?"

Erick raised an eyebrow. "I love archery, I have pointy ears, I enjoy helping others, I love fixing things, I basically fit every elf stereotype you creatures have put on us. But, elves don't live in trees."

Vladimir nodded. "I got that. You hate that stereotype, don't you?"

Erick gulped. "How did you know that..."

"I can see people's dislikes. Why do you hate the magical leader? That is a very big burning hatred. If any magic creatures where to find that out, the elf kingdom would be enemies with them."

Erick felt his face go red. "Suit up, we are heading off to this girl first." He said, pointing to the girl with dark hair and almost translucent skin.

Matrix nodded. "Sure, let's go. If anyone else wants to come, then get your things."

Farrow grinned and then started picking up medical supplies. He leaned in to Erick's ear. "Open the potion shelf, please?"

Erick nodded then wiggled us fingers behind his back. The shelf opened up, with Farrow standing up in front of it. He pulled all the potions out and put them in his sack. Erick walked over to that table.

"Hey," Matrix said, standing behind him. "Vladimir is just a stickler for people who aren't monsters. If you haven't noticed, he's technically dead and hate all thing livings that aren't monsters."

"Matrix, you aren't a monster. At least, you don't act like monsters in the children's books."

Matrix chuckled. "Erick, I am not your average werewolf or vampire, right?"

"Right, but that doesn't make you a monster. What makes you a monster is the influence, the actions, and the thoughts you think or do. Just because someone looks like a monster or has monster in them somewhere, doesn't mean they are one. Remember that Matrix."

Erick walked away. He was considering taking the table with them, in case they needed to convince someone that they were needed. Needed for what though? Erick didn't know...he'd have to find out.

Erick sighed. When he turned around, he realized he was the only one left in the room. He quick,y pulled out the sack he merchant had left him and lifted the table up a bit. He placed the leg of the table into the sack, and the whole thing turned into nothing, but the sack grew heavier. Erick smiled.

After Erick had finished packing, he met with the others downstairs, who where standing at the door with their things. Farrow was the only one who held a larger sack, presumably with medical supplies. Matrix had a smaller bag that seemed to have weapons and clothing in it. The only thing Vladimir carried was a bag of clothing. Erick sighed, then walked into the kitchen. The wooden kitchen was made out of a hollowed wood log, and was cozy. He quickly opened the refrigerator and pulled out some food. He then grabbed some water cups and placed them into his sack as well.

Once Erick finished, he walked back out to the entrance hall. He pulled out a note he had written to his father, and placed it on the small table by the door.

Erick nodded to his fellow comrades and walked out, leading the way.