Darius walked at Hexside alongside his best friends, Alador and Odalia. He was just talking to Alador about the last Abomination lesson and their teacher who hadn't realized that the two of them had created things, out of the purple goo, that weren't the assignment. They both laughed happily at least until Odalia joined in and hooked her arm into Alador's.

"Oh, that's boring, isn't it?" She looked at Alador with her dangerous blue eyes and the brown-haired nodded immediately and fell silent even more. Darius looked at her not exactly pleased. He had noticed for a long time that she tried to wrap Alador around her finger, but every time he asked Alador about it, he said that it wasn't as bad as Darius described it....but Darius had a different opinion.

As they walked through the corridors, they passed Eda and Raine, who were talking together. They stopped to wave at Darius and the other two. Darius waved back with a smile and Alador wanted to do the same, but Odalia pushed his hand down and walked on without looking at the other two.

Darius stopped and looked after her and Alador, who was following her, a bit dejected, before saying goodbye to Eda and Raine and hurrying after his buddy. He couldn't let him feel no more joy. "Hey, Alador! I'm going to the Emperor's Castle later, would you like to come with me? Golden Guard doesn't have anything about additional visitors.", he smiled happily, but he immediately saw Odalia's dismissive look.

But since Alador was already facing him, he knew he didn't see her gaze. "Oh...actually I'd like to...but I've already made plans with Odalia...maybe sometime else?" Darius didn't miss Odalia's victorious grin as he nodded. "Oh, okay, then sometime else." Since she had decided to click into their friendship two months ago, the two boys started doing less and less together.

Darius wasn't sure why Odalia was the way she was, but she wanted Alador for herself... It didn't bother him that the brown-haired had other friends, but this green-haired witch tried to break him and his best friend up. Since she became better acquainted with Alador, he himself felt like becoming the third wheel of this friendship...Alador didn't even notice when he stopped to go in a different direction...

After school, he went to the Emperor's Castle where he met with Golden Guard, his mentor. "Well," he greeted him when he arrived at the training ground. "Had trouble again today?" He tilted his head and in the reflection of the golden mask, Darius could see his own face that looked a bit depressed.

He finally nodded slightly and looked down a bit. Golden Guard took off his mask and smiled at him softly with concern. He then stepped closer and ruffled his black hair a bit. "Hey!", Darius complained and finally wore a small smile on his lips.

"I wanted to see that! But hey, I made sure that you're not alone with me boring man anymore, at least here." "You're not a boring man... but what do you mean...?" Darius asked confused and looked up at the older one. The light blond stretched out his arms to the side and Darius watched as a small orange-brown demon came running. He made delighted noises and to Darius' surprise, he could understand each of them.

"Eberwolf...Nice to meet you. I'm Darius!" He introduced himself and shook the demon's small hand. "Eberwolf is a student of St. Epiderm, but he has decided to come here occasionally. I will remain your mentor, but he will train with us sometimes." Darius nodded happily and watched as the little demon jumped up and down happily.

They then began the training session, during which Golden Guard had the mask back on. Today's training session consisted of races, among other things. "Wait...I'm not that fast!", Darius called out after a while. Golden Guard came to a halt in front of him. "Sorry, but you've gotten a lot faster."

The younger one heard the joy in his voice, which also brought a smile to his lips. Now after what was going on with Alador in Hexside, this was a pleasant change of pace. An animal noise next to him reminded him that Eberwolf was still here too, and he was happy about this. Maybe they would become good friends too.

"Well it's getting late, you two better get back before you get in trouble with your parents and me with Belos." The two children nodded before saying goodbye and walking home in different directions...

(So the people that come from "The best and the pest" already know some stuff of this chapter xD but it will not always be like this don't worry)