The celebration was sweet, short, and tangy. Zek didn't choose to stick around and to watch their happiness, he wanted to figure out the truth—his lies. He was always like this; a person who'd stop at nothing until they would find out the truth behind a spindle of lies. Yet, it seemed to have dragged on further than he could anticipate; it would be a tough case for him to crack.

He sat alone in his dark house that was about two houses down from Brice's. They were having a small hangout that would be filled with fun and games, Zek was invited of course but he was a no show. He held the glowing black creeper faced amulet in his hand, examining it. There wasn't much to it, but what stunned him the most was that Seto and the Sorcerer both had it. The only difference were the colors.

Maybe he was just losing his mind over these past few days? It was Thursday after all, nearly one week since Seto Kaji had arrived at the School of Creation. He was strange, almost like he illuminated with mystery and lies. Zek wanted to find the full truth behind those lies.

The raven haired male stood up, stretching. He checked the time, 18:01 (6:01), and decided it would be a proper time to leave the house. Yesterday seemed as if to be too perfect, the brunet and his companion found the Sorcerer's direct location a bit too abruptly. It should have taken a whole day to find the Sorcerer within the depths of the Ashe Forest, but for them it only took about three minutes. Was it a possible lucky guess? That'd be impossible.

He grabbed his leather jacket, his headphones, and his phone. He put on his four wristbands; two on his left wrist and two on his right. He put on his mismatching converse shoes that were red and blue and finally left the house. The sun rested on the horizon, almost about to set. The shop that Zek planned to go to would be open by now, but it would be a hassle to get there from his location. He sighed, shoving his deeply into his pockets and began to walk.

'Maybe I'm just imagining things.' Zek thought to himself, taking out the amulet from his pocket again. It illuminated brightly within the darkness, it stung Zek's eyes. He shoved it back into his pocket.

Everything he was questioning seemed to never add up to a Sorcerer's purpose of going to the School of Creation. If Seto was /hypothetically/ a Sorcerer, wouldn't he be after Brice? Seto seems to have no interest in the blond at all, despite knowing the fact that he is the Prince of Hybrids.

Scratch that off the list.

Was he learning about the Hybrid's behaviors? It seems plausible, but Sorcerers would already know that, they just seem too logical. Besides, they seemed to be more technologically advanced than Hybrids, so the point would be useless—they would win the war with ease and exterminate all Hybrids. The thought of a whole race being erased seemed to send shivers down his spine.

Maybe Seto was a rogue Sorcerer; wanting to get away from the pressuring of being a Sorcerer. It would be the best explanation for all of this, for as he did kill his own kind. If he would be rogue, though, that would mean he would be of high rank, which would explain a Sorcerer coming to the Golden City and specifically attaching him. Maybe Kyle was some kind of friend of Seto and they're posing as siblings just to escape.

All the possibilities made Zek's head pound.

He managed to leave the grounds of the School of Creation and head towards the direction of the shop. Ten minutes elapsed and he was already there, standing in front of a huge elixir shop owned by one of his close friends. He pushed the glass door open and stepped inside. The usual smell of chemicals flooded his nose and made his eyes water.

"Hey Zek!" Zach had greeted, falling out of his chair while waving.

"Hey." Zek simply replied, strolling to the counter and giving a high-five to the other. He was dressed in his usual attire; a black V-Neck, two black wristbands, a black belt with a gray buckle, black jeans, and sunglasses that rested on the bridge of his nose.
(If you can't tell; it's AviatorGaming)

"So, back at it again with being lazy and not making your own elixirs?" Zach teased.

"Shut it, I just need you do look at something do me. Also, I need a couple of glass bottles and materials." Zek reached into his pocket and took out the black creeper faced amulet and slid it across the glass counter. Zach managed to catch it. Taking off his sunglasses, he put them aside and examined it with his gray eyes.

"Materials are in the back, also with the glass bottles." Zach replied, putting the amulet up the the light. It continued to shine brightly.

Zek nodded, strolling to the back of the shop and grabbing a couple of items. He managed to put them all into his arms without dropping them as he made his way back to the counter. He set it down with a loud clunk! Zach looked up, setting the amulet down. He spoke, "So, what's up with this thing?"

"It belonged to a Sorcerer," Zek simply replied, "or I think it did. I'm not sure."

"You think someone's a Sorcerer at your school again, don't you?" Zach blandly said, "Look, I'm the adult here at twenty-two years old. I graduated last year, and I was there during the time when there was some type of Sorcerer trying to invade the School of Creation."

"Your point being?" Zek sighed, bored.

"If you really think that the other kid's a Sorcerer, get one of their belongings or something. Like, if they have an amulet. I can test it to see if there's something that's Sorcerer material and if they both have that in common then they're a Sorcerer." Zach explained, bagging all of Zek's chosen items to buy. "Also, it's on the house, take the stuff."

"I'm entrusting you with that amulet, you better not break it." Zek warned, grabbed the bags in which his elixir materials sat in.

"I promise." Zach replied.

***

'Steal Seto's amulet?' Zek thought to himself as he laid in bed, kicking off his shoes. The bag of materials laid in the corner of the room next to the dresser. 'That's impossible! Seto's gonna slit my throat if I do that!'

He groaned out loud and flipped on his bed, burying his face into his pillow. All the scenarios that Zek could have thought of ended up with either death or some kind of terrible ending. Although he was interested in Seto's true identity, he didn't want to go through those lengths. Yet, curiosity always had seemed to kill the cat, and that's what would happen to Zek—certain death.

Though appealing as it sounded, Zek did not want to die.

Yet.

He sat up, grabbing his phone that was on his nightstand and entered in his passcode. Deciding to cal Brice, he dialed the blond's number and picked up.

"Hey Zek!" The familiar Australian voice greeted. There was a blasting of music and laughing in the background, followed by Adam's screaming voice that seemed to topple backwards into something.

"Hey Brice." Zek greeted, solemn. "I was wondering—where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at my house. We're having a hangout like I told you earlier." Brice replied, going into another quiet room.

"Who's there with you?" Zek continued to ask, hoping that the brunet would be there.

"Me, Adam, Ty, Quentin, Ian, Bodil, Mitch, Jerome, Simon, Sub, Taylor, Jordan, Kyle, Tyler, and Seto." Brice listed, "it's a pretty big mess though but it's one of our usual hangouts. You should come, Bodil is here as you heard. You both would be pretty good friends considering your personalities."

"Fine, I'll be there in two minutes." Zek replied, hanging up the phone. He tossed it aside.

***

He stood outside the door, hands stuffed into his pockets and eyes shifting around frantically. Though being an illusion user, darkness set him off. There was something about it that wasn't welcoming, and he couldn't point his finger on it. In the end, it was a really stupid fear of his.

Who knows, maybe a clown could have just jumped him right there!

"Hey Zek!" Brice greeted as the door swung open. "Come—"

Zek already stepped inside when Brice had barely finished his sentence, "...in."

Brice turned to the stiff raven haired male, patting his shoulder, "Something wrong?"

"No." Zek managed to reply without stuttering. His eyes shifted around the room.

Ty, Mitch, and Bodil seemed to be playing on Brice's ybox, a zombie survival game perhaps. Tyler, Kyle, Adam, Jerome, Sub, and Simon seemed to be hovering over them, watching with intent. Jordan, Ian, Quentin, and Taylor were playing a card game; war or slapjack perhaps? Seto sat on the couch, fiddling with his thumbs; a red solo cup sat in front of him on the coffee table.

"I'm gonna go talk with Seto, you can just join the others or something." Brice shrugged, strolling off. Zek's eyes watched as he sat down next to the /slightly uncomfortable/ brunet, casually putting his arm around his shoulder and talking with him. What amused Zek the most is that Seto was actually laughing, and was okay with Brice's contact.

'What games are you playing now, Sorcerer.' Zek thought to himself, scrunching his nose. Sub looked towards his direction, glaring.

The future protector sighed to himself, taking a short stride towards the others on the floor that had been either watching or playing video games. He sat towards the back near the front of the coffee table, pretending to be watching with intent but in reality just eavesdropping on their conversations. It was difficult to hear, for as the screaming of the other guys' drowned out their voices. He could only make out a few incoherent words.

Sub began to take notice of this behavior, resisting the urge to battle. He moved back away from the group, taking his wipe board and marker with him. The emerald eyed male sat next to Zek, causing him to lose focus of the conversation. He began to write on the board, swiftly and efficiently, trying his best to distract Zek from doing anything too 'drastic.'

"You've came late." Sub wrote, the black erasable marker smudging a bit. "Why?"

"I was er—" Zek began to think of a fake lie on the spot, "busy."

"Busy? Doing what?" Sub scribbled under the previous words.

"S-Studying...?" What he said sounded more as a question.

"Right. I see you've taken interest in Seto and Brice, may I care to ask why?"

Zek gulped, "I just need to know if uh—Seto's a good influence on Brice, that's all."

"You're really worrying about Seto being a bad influence when Brice was the one who punched him in the first place?"

"You were there?" Zek said in shock.

Sub rolled his eyes, "Of course I was there! I go to your school after all. You've never noticed?"

"Not really." Zek shrugged.

Instead of writing in proper English, Sub began scribbling some words on the board; words that Zek couldn't read.

"Huh?" Zek had blinked, gazing at the other. Sub quickly erased it.

"I like to doodle." He wrote, a cheeky smile on his face. "I'm gonna go now, I seem to be bothering you."

Zek nodded as Sub went back into the crowd. The raven haired male went to turn around, but saw no one sitting on that couch; Brice and Seto were gone.