“I finally found you…” Juuzou thought while staring at Joon and Haeji from the entrance of the infirmary. “Juuzou, it's you!!!” Joon grinned as he quickly paced towards the white haired male. Juuzou smiled and hugged Joon, glaring at Mochi. Juuzou held his pointer to his mouth in a shushing way, “It was supposed to be a surprise Mochi!” The feline laughed. Haeji looked at Juuzou and Joon playing with Mochi and smiled, “It's just like back then…”

[BACKSTORY]

“HAHAHAH SUCKER!!!” An 8-year-old Juuzou laughed, smacking a 10-year-old Joon in the face with a pillow. Joon pulled the dirty pillow out of his face and began chasing Juuzou around the burnt down mansion. 5 -year-old Haeji on top of Joon’s shoulders and pointed towards Juuzou, running for his life, “GO GET THAT PEASANT, SIR JOON!!!” She gave a toothy grin. “Onwards!!!” Joon held Haeji’s legs, making sure she wouldn't fall while he ran. Joon kept running, chasing Juuzou.

[END]

“HAEJI!!!” Juuzou lightly shook her. “Huh?” Haeji snapped out of her trance. Juuzou smiled and hugged Haeji, whispering in her ear, “Don't act worried, we’ll make him worried.” Juuzou gave a tired smile to Haeji. Haeji returned the smile and walked over to Joon's bed, falling backwards onto the mattress. “Man, I’m so tired!” She complained, “that little brat stole some of my money I was saving for boba while I was in the gym and I ended up fighting him. AND GUESS WHAT?” Haeji sat up, “I GOT CALLED A CHILD ABUSER!!!”

“What?” Juuzou gasped.

“AND ALSO, HE TURNED OUT TO ME THE PERSON I'M SUPPOSED TO FIGHT IN THE RR!!!” Haeji held her arms out.

“That's rough buddy.” Juuzou said sarcastically while stealing Haeji’s boba. “Patricia’s about to-” Juuzou was interrupted when Ratu barged in, “YOU'RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS! THERE'S A SHOOTING OF SPELLS!”

“WHAT?” Mochi and Haeji shouted in unison. She quickly got up and headed towards the door until Herring grabbed her wrist, “W-What?”

“Be careful, Haeji!” Joon warned.

“Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her.” Juuzou reassured him before following Haeji out of the infirmary. If she wasn't seeing it with her own eyes, she wouldn't believe. There were wizards, warlocks, and illusionists causing a conundrum around the lounge and through the halls.

The ruckus also reached toward the food court as well. Some of the meat that was being consumed reverted back to life as the animals attacked and rammed the tables, trampled on the silverware and attacked the passerbyers that were within reach.

“What the—” A pig was ready to charge in on Haeji when Mochi jumped over the swine and clawed its face. The pig ran away squealing.

“How did happened? Wait! The spellbook.” Haeji recalled, she got the spellbook back from Breloq. It was sometime before her brother suffered from another medical crisis.

📖

“Time to start the spell!” Hwa Hae Ji closed the book  and uttered the spell in her native tongue to change her appearance. A cool wind carressed her cheeks as her skin changed to a lighter skin tone, her cheeks flushed and her lips turned lightly fuller.

She headed to the ladies' room to see if the spell worked. It did, but she didn't like it. It made her look like a geisha with the make-up that altered her features. She washed her face to get rid of the make-up of the beauty spell.

As the make up ran down her face, she grabbed a paper towel to dry off. There has to be a spell better than this one. Haeji thought she looked at herself in the mirror.

Then she had an idea. A word game. The kind of word games that wizards and spellcasters like Joon partaken in before. Is like practicing casting spells.

And she knew who would be able to play.

Haeji walked up to Ryan and Felin. Felin turned to Hae Ji's direction. The native Elonian noticed hiw the Daoitunian thief came forward.

"H-hey Ryan." Haeji sat beside him. "Uh, wanna play a fun game?" Ryan hesitated a bit, then accepted, "Okay..."

"It's a word game! Just say the words I say ok?" Haeji prompted as she opened the spellbook, Breloq intervened.

He unzipped his jaw, and spoke, "Listen here. If anybody is going to play a game, it is definitely not going to be with you." He crouched down to meet Ryan at eye level. "Do you accept any kind of invitation?"

Ryan stumbled on his words, scared of not knowing what he did wrong. "I... I... She... It is just a game." He shrugged.

"With people you do not know of," Breloq reasoned.

"What harm can a word game be?"

Breloq looks at Ryan in disbelief.

"How ever did you survive that magic massacre? Incantations... invocation and evocations, chants, all that? Did none of that stick in your head? Even runes, which you use, must I remind you, use words..."

Ryan stared back in awe. Breloq rarely speaks and even when he does, he barely speaks. "I'm sorry...?" Ryan turned to HaeJi and apologized, "As you heard, I suppose, you must convince him otherwise."

"Breloq, I asked Ryan. Plus it's just a small game. Also you can play too!" Haeji offered as Breloq's beady button eyes, usually were expressionless. Ryan felt a twinge of mistrust.

"Yes, and chants are small words with great impact," Breloq replies. "If you insist, give a little more insight on it. I'll be the judge of its... safety."

"You can go first if you want," Haeji looked at Breloq, craning her head upwards to look at him, "Breloq." Breloq's smart, I'm worried that he will see through my game. But even so, it's up to Ryan. "Well?"

Breloq's beady eyes squint at her proposal. "Switching targets, I suppose? Even more suspicious then insisting on Ryan."

"Stop it," Ryan said, nudging Breloq in the shin. "She just wants to play a game while we wait for the fight."

Felin sniffed the air between Haeji and Ryan. "I don't smell anything weird."

Breloq flicked her head. "It's not like you ever had the ability to smell magic before it is casted." He let out a grunt. "You know what?" He looked at HaeJi, and accepted her offer. "I'll do it first then... Just to prove to these kids that word games are just as dangerous as signing up for something without reading the terms and conditions."

"That's how we got in here," Felin snapped. "You signed us up without talking to us!"

Breloq waved her off. "Now, let's start this game."

“I'm not sure if Elonian Rune Magic can be shared with people from other worlds,” Ryan spoke. “But-”

“Just tell how to do it,” HaeJi interrupted him. “We’ll know if I can use it after my attempt.”

“Oh, yes, right, okay then,” Ryan stuttered. “Breloq, can you get a rune stylus?”

Breloq inhaled, making a sound of defeat before conjuring a door to leave and fetch a stylus.

“Rune stylus?” HaeJi questioned.

“From what I know, people who do not share the blood of the original rune mages cannot perform Runic Magic by drawing in the air or by using a pen or pencil on some sort of surface,” Ryan explained.

“And you so happened to be a descendant of one?” HaeJi replied.

Ryan chuckled. “Funny story actually. Uh, well, not really, I suppose. Anyway, my dad was a golem created from the blood of a man who was from that lineage. It was a shocker when I discovered that my dad-”

Breloq came back, waving the grey stick in front of HaeJi. She grabbed the stylus. Her eyes examined the ragged stone as she let it roll along her hand. “What is so special about a rock? This might as well be the head of a spear.” Her eyes shifted to Ryan. He was busy thinking about what rune to share.

“Okay. I got one. Copy me,” He said as he drew the rune with his finger. HaeJi slowly followed with her stylus. Since she was facing him, she kept the orientation of the rune in mind. Ryan spoke its name,“Ba.”

“Ba,” HaeJi repeated. Her eyes widened as the rune glowed and faded. In its place, a small droplet of water formed. She tucked the stylus between her thumb and pointer as she placed her hands underneath it, then raising them to cup the droplet. Sadly, it popped and the water splattered onto her palms. “Well,” she cleared her throat, “now we know. I can use your Rune Magic.”

"Your turn", Haeji said as she picked another spell.

Ryan casted a spell that conjured up a stone as the dirt solidified and became stone. I sense elemental magic. Nulekai peered around the perimeter as he felt an energy similar to Ryo's. 

"Haeji, I dare you to cast this spell." Ryan shows the name of the spell.

Ryan traced the rune in front of his other palm. HaeJi mimicked him. “Besos,” she spoke. Lightning discharged from the rune, zapping her palm. “Ah!” She hissed in surprise. The shock was weak, but it was unexpected. She gripped the stylus as she rammed her forearm into Ryan’s neck. Ryan coughed as his throat was squished. “Do anything funny again, and that will be your last,” HaeJi warned him.

Ryan nervously laughed as she backed away. “Understood.”

Breloq shook his head.

Then Haeji grabs the spellbook and flips the pages for a spell that got her attention. The Bondage Breaking Spell. Ryan read the fragment carefully word for word. 

"You picked a hard one." Ryan mentioned before he concentrated on the runic incantation and casted it.

After Ryan had successfully casted the powerful spell he heard the sound of links breaking, the closest one was Haeji's EMCuff. Then Breloq's jaw zipped open by itself, his jaw hanging at disbelief.

"What was that spell?" The sounds emitted from the abyss of Breloq’s mouth. An alarm went off. Breloq and the others stopped talking to look around.

Joon's EMCuff opened along with the other magic users that had the cuff on for safety precautions, including Nulekai's. 

Joon looked at his arm with a confused expression, “What happened?” Joon rubbed his wrist where the cuff used to be. Suddenly men in black suits came in. Joon immediately recognized them as people who work for Patricia. Joon stood up, his white hospital gown falling to his ankles, “What can I do for you, sir?” Joon played dumb. The man walked closer to Joon, thinking he was harmless. “I’m here because Lord Patricia has sent us. She will sabotage the Colosseum in 1 hour. For your safety please come wi-” The man said before Joon punched him, breaking his nose. “Sabotage the Colosseum? Don’t tell me their planning to steal the Life Gem?” Joon thought as he pulled another man's arm forward, bringing him to the ground. “WE NEED BACK UP IN ROOM NUMBER 233; PATIENT IS CONSCIOUS AND FIGHTING. PLEASE BRING SEDATIVE.” Another man yelled into his walkie-talkie while trying to fight back Joon. Joon dodged a man with a needle kicking him in the back. A man suddenly came behind him and rammed him against a wall. Joon grunted as his glasses fell, breaking them instantly. Joon ducked, getting out of the man's grip against his back. Joon swang his foot in a circular motion, swiping the men off their feet. Joon got back up and ran for the door, “I need to find Haeji!!!”  He ran out the door but was stopped by Jian, and a needle. “Just stay still.” Jian sighed as he used his magic to paralyze Joon. “Damnit, If I weren't sick I could've easily broken out of this spell.” Joon gritted his teeth. Jian squatted down to Joon's level and took the cap off the needle. “Hold him still men. He might break out of it.” Jian licked his lips. He inserted the needle into Joon’s upper arm. Joon’s eyelids got heavy, “Hae….sang”, he thought as he fell asleep. “He’s out sir.” The man said to Jian. “Good, make sure you get the EmCuff back on.” Jian said before leaving. 

Within Warlin's pocket dimension, two Venusians were being held prisoner, one of them torturing his tormentor, since he didn't deserve the privilege of being called a father.

Tony waited nearly his whole life for this moment, to make his father pay for all he has done. Starting with the day he killed his mother and the Venusian race along with other extinct alien species upon decades of planet hopping and hiding.

Simon was trapped, despite that the pocket dimension was spacious, nearly unlimited. He felt restrained with a collar around his neck, bound despite that the advanced accessory lacked links nor chains to keep him tied up like an angry guard dog. Though what restrained him was the blockage from using his powers, nullified that not even a snap from his fingers could unlatch the lock that was designed within the hardware of the accessory. That wasn't degrading, what was degrading was being at the mercy of his youngest son.

To be put down like a rabid dog was preferable than to be restrained by an imaginary leash, to be yanked and constricted was punishment. To restrain the oxygen, then return the air to his lungs to repeat the cycle of cutting away the air supply to prolong the torture became unbearable by the minute.

He knelt to the ground, gasping for air as his cheeks flushed in a bluish hue, then coughed as he stuck out his tongue like a dehydrated animal. Tony looked down on Simon seeing that his mouth and tongue turned from depriving him of oxygen in long intervals. Venusians could withstand extreme temperatures despite that they were candescent species. When Simon lowered his head, Tony used his mind to lift his father's head and suffocate him more. His eyes bulged  as his son glared at him, squeezing the life out of him, looks could kill if Tony chose to kill him then and there. Just when he thought he was going to die and pass out, he was healed, only to repeat the cycle.

Asphyxiation, cyanosis, reprieve, repeat.

He would've expected something juvenile, like how long a man could hold his breath underwater? How long can one inhale carbon dioxide without fainting? Or something as simple as puncturing his sternum with one hit to crush his heart with his spinal cord like an iron maiden.

"Kill me." Simon said between gasps.

Tony glanced at his father coldly. "No."

Simon was sprawled on the ground, languishing in the pocket-sized prison. Warlin being the warden, and Tony being the jailer.

Just as Simon passed out, Tony was about to heal him when his phone rang. Seeing that it was Chris calling, he accepted the call.

"Sup bro?" Tony asked as he looked at Simon.

"I tried calling you for a while now, are you alright?" Chris asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Got lost is all." Tony replied.

"María is also worried about you." Chris added.

"Is that so?" Tony joked, "Relax, I'll be at the cabin in a minute. Ok, good luck with your match then." He then hung up and looked at his father once more before he turned away and teleported out.

Alexandra woke up from her dream, the sunlight peeking out her bedroom window. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she turned the bed sheets to the side before her feet touched the floor. She let out a yawn before she got up to start the morning.

Her sister Toni was already in the kitchen pouring orange juice on the glass. As usual, she was one step ahead of her, but she was in a really good mood to care. "Looks like you slept well last night." Toni noticed the semblance on her face, despite that Alexandra's blonde hair was toussled and messy, her green eyes beamed like fresh spring.

"I had a good dream last night." Alexandra started while Toni passed the OJ to Alex while she took a sip, "so it started out like this..."

Alexandra mentioned what had occured in the dream from meeting the other competitors to her victory on her first match.

"Sounds like you had a field day, I barely dreamt a thing last night." Toni ate her strawberry cereal as she scooped the next serving before eating another spoonful.

"It was great for the most part, though I didn't like the urge of going to the bathroom after eating teriyaki. Which is weird though." Alexandra stated.

"Those dreams are actually common, I used to dream about that too, it's usually related to feelings of not being adequate enough, not being accepted by others, or feeling insecure around others." Toni explained.

"I was also bummed out for this Piros guy, his friend set him up to fight and they got into a scuffle." Alexandra recalled how Piros and his friend were close and the next thing she knew they were at each others throats.

"That's a warning, stay away from toxic people." Toni advised her before Alexandra received a notification from one of her friends.

I sent an angel to watch over you last night but they came back. I asked them, "why?" They chuckled, "Angels don't watch over other Angels." As if she hadn't read that one before. Twenty angels are in your world, ten of them are sleeping, nine of them aren't and one is reading this message.

Speaking of friends, one of her new friends she added recently had been sending her chain messages for a while now.

The universe has seen you struggling for some days, but it's over. A blessing is coming your way. Alexandra read the rest of the message. She had to admit that the messages were endearing at first, though it gradually became daunting to say the least.

"Are those one of the new followers that you've been getting?" Toni asked in genuine curiosity.

"Yeah, I'll reply to their message later." Alexandra put down her phone to proceed eating the flapjacks with maple syrup. Then Alexandra's phone received another notification. Just when Alexandra was sbout to reach it, Tony took her phone and put it on airplane mode and put it face down.

As Tony swallowed her cereal, she then said, "it can wait, why ruin breakfast?" Alexandra eyed her phone for a second before they resumed eating their breakfast.

Alexandra was in her room as she opened her sketchpad and flipped the pages from her previous sketches to the most recent. Then she looked at the drawing again. A sullen teenage girl sat curled on the ground, with a lost, forlorn expression on her face. At her back were a pair of wings, but they drooped limply, dragging on the ground.

Alexandra kept it in her sketchpad before she reached the blank pages, her fingers picked up the pencil with new-found inspiration. She sketched what she could recall in her dream.

The architecture, the entryway, the arena, the Raptor Squad, and her fight against Annabell.

Tony looked at how detailed the sketches were; it looked similar to the Colosseum save for the gem above the entryway. The next page she saw was a sketch of Patricia standing next to the reception, and how life like it looked — from the shape of her eyes, cheekbones and jawline, to the slopes of her fringe and ponytail, the curvature of her smile, and the shading of her buttoned up white shirt that made her breasts protrude from the tricolored jacket.

"You really outdid yourself this time." Tony commented as she flipped the page to see sketches of the Raptor Squad. One of Shadow up close with her eyes constrasting the dark skin and feathers, oblong jaw, sharp teeth with a curved sickle claw in view along with her stripe. Another sketch with the Raptor Squad together, three Indoraptors of different shapes and sizes; the smallest one being Ripper. "This one has puppy eyes." Tony cooed while she turned the sketchpad to reveal a sketch of Ripper having Horner's Syndrome. Alexandra simply shrugged her shoulders. Next to Ripper was Blue, the velociraptor that stood apart from the Indoraptors because of her dark beak and white feathers.

The next skecth was the arena from where she stood before her fight and drew the judges. Adrian was the bald dot that stood out like a sore thumb in the middle while the female judges that were next to him were obscured in the sketch.

The following skecth was of Annabell holding her sword. Strands of wavy hair getting on her face.

"That was my opponent during the tournament." Alexandra spoke while Tony looked at the sketch.

"Annabell." Tony said while she flipped the page to see another sketch of the Paradise Phoenix — Phixa.

"Is she another angel?" Tony asked her as she looked at the sketch.

"Not really, she's more of a phoenix." Alexandra commented while Tony looked closely at the sketch. Phixa's skin was shaded into a darker hue with the charcoal of the pencil as it constrasted with the light traced in her eyes. The hair swept down in a similar shade while tips of her hair were lighter. The rest of her body was drawn in a light, feathery dress. The next sketch focused on her eyes, and the next one was of Phixa facing her reflection, or her doppelganger.

"That one was when she fought against Mirror." Alexandra mentioned. "Too bad that she lost."

The last sketch was about two teenage boys. An asian boy with a ponytail had his arms around the slightly muscular redhead.

"The redhead is Piros, the guy next to him was Herring or something." Alexandra said as she pointed her index finger.

"Piros looks cute." Tony commented as she looked at the sketch of two guys acting brotherly.

"If you say so." Alexandra said before she picked up the sketchbook off of Toni's hands. "I just wanna go back to sleep so I can fight my next opponent."

"Are there any other hot guys in your dream?" Toni chided before Alex threw her pillow though she missed as Toni ducked as the pillow flew over her head.

"You wish." Alexandra retorted just as she went back to pick her pillow, even if there were other hot guys in the dream she wasn't gonna give Toni the satisfaction of teasing her again.

"C'mon, I was joking, though it would be nice to dream of a hot sexy bishie." Toni said.

"Go back to dreaming about puppies please." Alexandra requested for her sister to low-key leave.

"Yes, a cute little bichon." Toni squealed at the thought of a white fluffy bichon frise walking around the house wagging its little tail wagging excitedly.

"Goodnight sis." Alexandra said as she plopped down on the bed.

"Goodnight." Toni replied as she turned off the lamp and exited Alexandra's room, closing the door. Alexandra turned to look at the ceiling hoping to dream of being back in the Colosseum again. In the arena awaiting for her next opponent with a grin on her face before her eyelids drooped and the corners of her lips relaxed along with her body as she drifted off into sleep.