THIS HAS BEEN REWRITEN 

PLEASE READ THIS EVEN IF YOU'VE ALREADY READ, THE CHAPTER HAS CHANGED... ISH

LOST

Chapter 1

3 years ago, he left. 3 years ago, he vanished leaving a single, hastily written note lying on his bed. No one has seen him; no one has heard from him, it’s as if there is a big blank in the story. Like why did he leave, is he still out there, why didn’t he tell us more? Why, why, why! So many questions but no answers can be drawn.

Truthfully, the balloon is about to pop. Today is the last day, supposedly, we’ll ever have to worry about him. Today is his funeral, Seto’s funeral. Yes, everyone says he dead, that there is no way he’d leave us with no answers for this long, that the only explanation is he’s dead. But I know they’re wrong! I’ve known Seto for the longest, I know there is always a reason to why he would do something, he’s still alive I would tell them , but they refuse to listen. It’s the stress and discomfort building up inside them that tell them this should be the end.

The end of their worrying and their sadness, but the truth is, this is the start of their lies. The lies they are willing to tell themselves so they won’t have to suffer. For me it’s the start of a whole to goal, if they aren’t willing to find the answers, then I will, but first…

I stood inches from the door, the door to Seto’s room. His room has been untouched all this time since finding his letter. After the funeral, everyone but me has decided they would clear out his room. Get rid of the evidence this was ever his, they’re all so willing to erase him from their lives.

Before I can even begin to look for answers, I thought I should at least look at his room again. Maybe some answers can still be found. However, truthfully I’m more worried about the memories that may come up.

I mustered up the courage to open the door and braced myself for the memories. I looked around his room, staring at the clutter on his desk where books were messily stacked. Seto’s enchantment table was tucked neatly in the far right corner, and his bed sat collecting dust, the note still sitting there, resting on his pillow.

I chuckled quietly to myself and walked further into the room, the room still smelled of books and magic. Seto would stay cooped in here for days, he'd forget to eat and it would be up to the guys and I to bring him food. We tried getting him to come out of his room more often be he would refuse  and say he was working on something important, funny things is we wouldn't even tell me what it was.

I guess I should've realized something was going on with him, maybe I could've stopped him, saved him.

I felt a stinging pain in both my cheeks, I had slapped myself, "No Ty, get it together. Seto is still alive, you'll find him, don't go acting like he's already dead," I muttered to myself. It's just like what Seto used to tell me, Never believe someone is dead if there is no body present.

Seto is right; he always has been so wise. Even when I first met him after he fell from the sky. When I was still a lonely, shy boy Seto was wise then and helped me find courage in myself. So there is no reason to doubt his words now.

I beamed to myself and nodded with my fists clenched in determination, it has taken me so long to realize that to find Seto, you have to be like Seto. I’ve known him since we were little, and he loved puzzles. When he had the chance, he would make problems and the answers would always be in the form of puzzles, I know Seto would leave some sort of clue. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before, but now that I know this I have to figure out what Seto wants found.

For example, is it a puzzle that needs magic? I only know a little bit of magic from what Seto taught me. Yes, I know magic; I’m definetly not as good as him. You see I took an interest in magic; it was a secret from the others, but Seto taught me some basics. I still have the books he had given me to study from; I know only small things though. For example, I’m really good at creating light and ok at making smoke. So maybe I should start with getting better at magic first, that way I may be able to figure this out.I won’t give up until I have proof.

"Ty, where are you? Ty?" I heard Adam’s voice outside the room; I jumped at the sound of his voice and leaped towards the door. I forgot to close the door all the way, so it was left slightly ajar. Before I could even make a move to close it I heard Adam’s voice from the other side, “This door is open, Ty must be in Seto’s room,” the door swung open to fast for me to even say a word.

I felt the impact of the sturdy oak wood on my face and yelped in pain, clutching my face as tears formed in my eyes. I stumbled backwards and tripped falling flat on my butt muttering in quick short bursts, “Ow, ow, ow…!”

Adam’s head appeared from the other side of the door, his eyes were wide in panic, “Oh my Notch Ty! I’m so sorry!” He rushed to my side and pulled my hands away from my face, peering into my eyes with a worried expression, “Say something next time,” he sighed exasperatedly as he sat back being content with his search.

I chuckled lightly, “Well maybe you should knock first,” I retorted back calmly. Adam laughed and stood up and gave me his hand. I took it and hoisted myself up.

“I guess we should go, it’s uh… time.”

I shifted my gaze and murmured a quick OK. I took one last glance back at Seto’s room before Adam closed the door, and sighed, “I’m sorry Ty, I know you don’t want to believe he’s dead, but he is. He has to be, he’s never said anything in the time he’s been gone, and we can’t wait forever…”

I bit my lip, hissing under my breath as I held back what I wanted to say, “Let’s just hurry up and get this stupid thing over with,” I growled in response a little bit harsher than I meant. Adam just nodded and walked ahead, I slowly trudged behind.

It’s definite, I have to study more, for Seto’s sake, because apparently I’m the only who still has faith in him. I’ll find him, even if it means leaving to do so. After the funeral I will start, I’ll make sure they can’t get into Seto’s room while I’m there and when I’m not.

In just about 3 minutes, Adam and I had walked through half of the complex and made our way outside to the back garden. Our home wasn’t that big really, it was actually a small base where we, as we call ourselves TeamCrafted, lived. We’re just a group of friends having fun and protecting people in the world. We’re only fairly well known though.

Everyone was waiting in the back garden where a deep grave was dug out, and an empty black wooden coffin sat, it was smoothed to the point of shining, engraved with purple lettering was Seto’s name, and surrounding each corner was an intricate design of swirls giving it a magical illusion. I felt in the deeps of my heart anger rise up.

“So, let’s get started,” Ian proposed quickly after a long period of silence, his shades were tucked neatly on the fold of his pocket, just like Adam had taken off his. Everyone here was wearing black attire, including Jason. Actually since Seto left Jason hasn’t worn his suit, Jason is a whiz when it came to fancy technology like that and enjoyed constantly tinkering with his suit and giving them upgrades. Seto knew where to get the supplies that Jason needed and even though Seto had shown him where, Jason hasn’t touched his suit in years. It sits in a glass container in Jason’s room collecting dust. It’s hard to get used to Jason without it, he’s a vulnerable fighter without it.

“We are gathered today to mourn the loss of our friend and teammate, Seto Sorcerer. We may never know the reason for him leaving, but we will trust he had his reasons,” Ian mournfully added, the others were hanging their heads at the huddled around the coffin. I hung back a little bit but it bothered me Ian would go on about trusting in Seto’s reasons, if he, and all of them for that matter, aren’t willing to believe Seto has reasons for not sending us any messages. To stop me from interrupting I clenched my fist tightly as I held back my comments.

Quentin was the first to speak up, “When I had joined this group it was during my travels looking for a place I could truly feel at home. Seto welcomed me here with open arms and helped me fit in and adjust. He encouraged me and gave me confidence in myself to be more open. Without him I wouldn’t have been able to accept joining the group that has given me so much happiness.” Tears were streaming down Quentin’s cheek and I felt obliged to hug him since he was right next to me, but I held back.

Mitch spoke next with Jerome right by him, Mitch looked ready to burst, “Seto saved me and Jerome from a group of rogues when we were camping out. We owe him our life but now we can’t return the favor…. It’s thanks to him we met everyone here, it’s thanks to him we have more friends than just the two of us. We miss Seto terribly and hope he is watching over us.” Mitch began to shake and Jerome patted him on the back as his breathing stuttered. Everyone else began to say their final words to Seto one after the other, except me. I was the last person remain who hadn’t said a word, and I was the farest person from the coffin.

“Do you… Do you want to say any last words?” Ian asked, I shook my head no.

Adam burst into a rage and glared at me, “Why Ty! Why do you refuse to at least grant Seto a nice funeral! I know you miss him but he wouldn’t want you being this horrible on his funeral—”

“No, of course not! But I won’t accept this, how can you all,” I waved my hands motioning to everyone present, “just blindly say that Seto is dead. You guys talk about trusting in his reason for leaving yet you don’t trust in the fact that maybe Seto had reason for not speaking a word to us—”

“Of course we trust his reasons! But what reason would he have to give us the silent treatment for 3 years! Seto made me leader, you guys agreed, and as a leader I have to think of the group’s well-being as a whole not one man. But all you do is bicker at us and keep yourself shut-away, ” Adam screamed back at me, by now everyone was just watching with a sense of fright, no one was willing to step in.

“Well than maybe Seto chose wrong...” I hissed at Adam, his eyes widened at me as he took a step back. I turned my back and started to walk off, my fists were balled up and I could feel all my rage spew out.

Jason approached me from my left and put a hand on my shoulder, “Come on Ty, you don’t—”

I shrugged off his hand and swiveled to face him, “Get away from me! You’re all too scared to think of what could’ve happened to Seto then actually look for him” With that I turn and ran off, back inside the base, back inside Seto’s room and back to the only place where I knew I could get answers.

This time I would look for answers, I would think like Seto, use all my skills and knowledge, and put them to the test. I will prove to them that I’m right and Seto is alive.

Please tell me what you think; do you like it so far? It’s this idea that sprung into my head that I got from reading other stories. Tell me your ideas, what do you think I should do and what should I fix/improve on!

Thank you for all your support so far and comment, vote, and follow! :D

Stay tuned for Chapter 2!

P.S. I’m trying to do shorter chapters this time lol XD I thought, if I do shorter chapters and longer chapters combined then it would be a better combination of variety.

ALSO when we reach 300 reads I have an ALREADY completed surprise

~WrittenDarkness