"What the heck is going on!" I asked Trevor as he flew over to where I was. I gestured to my unconscious friend.

"What do you mean by- Oh boy, this isn't good." he sputtered as he saw who I was referring to.

"Trevor..." I began, my voice beginning to feel dry, my wrists were burning, "What's going on."

"Your 'friend' should be the least of your worries."

"Don't change the subject! I need answers." I felt tears building up in my eyes, still ignoring the burning sensation in my wrists as it began to shoot up my arms and hands slowly.

"It's super relevant to youer situation!" Trevor yelled.

I felt myself beginning to calm down a bit as I nodded. "Did you realize what you have done?"

"No," I shook my head, "What did I do?"

"Well, for starters, take a look at your wrists."

I raised my arms, and brought my head down to look at them. And sure enough, what I had seen had amazed and scared me at the same time.

There was glowing. Like A LOT of glowing, a sky blue aura had engulfed my arms, but it was rapidly fainting. My veins were outlined by a glowing green light, and I could tell where they had gone to, stretching from the end of my wrist where it met my hands to about a quarter way up my upper arm. I gaped at the intricate detail of it. "What happened?" I asked him.

"You tell me, I don't recognize those patterns..." he replied.

"All I wanted was to help him! Help Creation, I mean Ollie, I mean... ARGH!" I felt that my brain was being overloaded, I needed help. "It doesn't make any sense."

"What happened?" Trevor repeated, a serious tone laced into his words.

"I... We were under some rubble, and then we were out here..." I looked at my unconscious friend on the ground.

"You did it."

"Excuse me?" I blinked several times, and Trevor smiled.

"Youer Mendigo power! It's been revealed... But..." he seemed forlorn.

"'But...'" I repeated.

Suddenly, there was a groan, and Trevor and I both looked down on the ground. Oliver sat up. "Stop yelling, you're both making my head hurt."

"Creation!" Trevor exclaimed, and I glared at him.

"Anyways, Sky, he's saying 'but' because of what that means." he seemed calm for someone whose best friend found out their secret identity.

"And what does it mean?" I asked him.

"It means that you're the Keeper of legend."

"Me? A hero destined to kill the King? That's absurd. There has to be others who have the same power as me." I argued. I looked over to Trevor to see if he'd agree with me, but he too was looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry Skylar, but youer friend here is correct. Mendigo abilities are unique to each person."

"What'll happen to me then?" I clenched my fists.

"We did agree to tell Geist when youer powers would arrive..." Trevor began.

"Why do I feel that there's a 'but' in there?" I asked.

"There is, and for good reason too," Oliver responded, "Geist may be liberating Mendwall from the King, but he won't stop at nothing to do so."

"And?"

"He'll even harm the innocent."

"Then why do you work for him?" I asked Ollie angrily.

"You think that I intended to help him?" he asked back, "He'll figure out a way to keep you rooted here, helping him out as he treads closer to finding the Keeper. And WHEN he finds out that it's you... Who knows what he'll do to keep you rooted here."

"So I'm a slave now huh, is that it?"

They looked at each other. Trevor shook his head, "Not if we take you home." Trevor replied.

I looked over to my brunette friend, "What did he do to you?" I asked after I looked away.

"He..." he lowered his head, "He-"

"You know what... I don't care at all really. Just take me home..."

-=+=-

And I was helpless to watch my best friend walk away.

"He," I began, "He found out who I care about... And I made him promise to keep you out of it... But this changes things now..."

The last thing that I ever expected to ever happen to me was to see her in this world- and how that went was obvious.

She was mad. I could tell because she wouldn't even make eye contact.

'Stupid' I thought to myself, 'I've put our friendship in jeopardy... Again.' I walked over to Trevor.

When some people remember him as Skylar's dog, and they were indeed rihr, he is in fact, originally a fairy from here.

Where is here exactly? Mendwall, land of the Afterlife, a place where all the dead comune to. It's an alternate reality that may appear in a child's greatest fantasies.

Mendwall isn't perfect though. It too has it's flaws.

And since she showed up, I've been trying to hide my identity.

How great that went. I walked over to her. "I'm sorry," I began, "I should've just told you about this place."

She huffed, ignoring my question, and she paused for a moment. She stood still for a moment before she began to walk away.

"Sky, don't ignore me please, talk to me, tell me what you want."

"'What I want?'" Skylar huffed, and she yurned her head to me, "I wanted somebody I could trust, to be able to tell me everything." I could hear the hurt in her voice, and she continued, "I thought that was you Ollie," she sighed softly, "But I guess I was wrong. I'm not mad that you've been here, it's that I was dumb enough to not notice."

I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn't say anything.

She continued, "I should've known as soon as they told me portals existed. I should've noticed from three summers ago."

Three summers ago. That struck me like a brick. Humans from Mendwall referred to people like me and Sky as Mendigo, or the closest beings to the gods, bestowed as a final gift before they ascended to their heavens.

"Trevor told me how it works. One visit," she held up one finger, "One step is all it takes for Mendigo to unlock the gene for their ability. And now, I finally found it. And I absolutely no clue on how to work it at all. I've referred to myself as a ticking time bomb before now but now it's worse. Why..." she turned to face me, "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, a forlorn expression on her face.

My eyes widened. "You wouldn't have believed me if I told you anyway." I replied.

She turned around. "Lead the way." She held an arm out.

"Right. Well, the next village over has a rift to home..." I trailed off, dread filling my voice.

"I feel that there's a but in that."

I nodded, "But one problem- It's heavily guarded, so we need to be careful."

"Then let's get started then."

Skylar then turned away from me and walked off.

"Hold up!" I called after her after a moment of silence.

She stopped in her tracks. "What is it?"

"Before we continue, Sky, I feel that I need to explain some things first. "

"Then you can elaborate once we're home," she replied, "I'm beginning to not feel right."

I nodded, and I ran to the front, leading the three of us to our next destination.

In all of my experiences so far, one experience scares me more than the rest- I stopped walking, standing in place, my gaze on the ground.

I was ashamed of myself, I put our friendship in jeopardy, and all for what? Skylar was right, I should've told her. I heard her footsteps cease, and I could tell that she stopped walking.

"You alright?" she asked, her tone still distant.

I offered nothing in response, and I bit my lip slightly.

Skylar glanced me over closely, "Oliver," she began, "What is it?"

She hadn't called me by my actual name unless she was really upset at me.

"Skylar, you're right," I admitted, and I looked back at her, her mouth pressed into a firm line as I continued, "You are totally right. You are my best friend, and you deserve to know."

She folded her arms across her chest, her expression beginning to soften.

"You said three summers ago? Yeah, that has a lot to do with it. In fact, it has everything to do with this," I waved my arms out as I mentioned the world around us, "I was camping with some friends, our annual scout camp... I don't recall if it was the fourth or fifth day,  all I remember was that it was one of the last few days of that camp..."

I felt my fists clench a bit, and I lowered my arms, and Skylar looked around, "Is now really the best time to say all of this? We're kind of out in the  open at the moment."

I looked around, and I saw a run down shack, and I nodded, "How about over there?" I replied, and I glanced over at Trevor.

"What're you looking at me fer kid?" Trevor responded.

"Can you check the shack please?" I requested politely.

He let out a loud, exaggerated sigh, "Fine. But if I get caught, I'm blaming all of you." Trevor flew off into the shack, and Skylar and I stood in awkeard silence.

Trevor came back after a minute, and he nodded, "Yeah, this shack of youers is completely empty."

"Good. Let's go." Skylar cut in, her tone sharp as she headed over for the shack. She was still mad at me.

I followed behind her closely, and we reach the inside of the shack in a single, slow moving, minute. During this time, I gingerly rubbed my forehead, letting out a hiss a hiss of pain. Yep, I was going to feel that tomorrow.

I think that I was more hurt then I surmised, as that I immediately sat down on the ground once I was inside, and I felt myself relax against the cool, hardwood wall behind me. I didn't even realize that I was tense, but I guess that adrenaline flow was beginning to slow down, as I felt extremely tired.

I closed my eyes, as all the pain that I had built up was catching up with me. I hadn't realized how much pain I was in.

My body was beginning to feel sore, my chest hurt when I breathed, which told me that I had either broken or fractured a few ribs. My head was filled with a mind splitting flare up of pain. My body was beginning to become sore.

I couldn't recall where Skylar was, but  I was sure she was inside. "How bad?" I heard her call out. Her voice was right in front of me, telling me that she most likely crouched down, a hand was on my right shoulder.

"A few broken bones and a concussion, nothing I can't handle." I replied.

She sighed, "You are so stubborn." she replied, and I felt her hand leave my shoulder. "Luck for you," she began, and I heard her move around, "I brought some supplies just in case." Her footsteps sounded frantic.

"Great," I began, "How can I help?" I attempted to stand up.

I heard her rush over to me, and she pushed me back down, "No! You're going to wait right here Oliver, as you're in no condition to walk... Now, I'm going to need you take off the top." Skylar explained.

I was able to open my eyes at this point, and I saw that she was looking away, her cheeks slightly dusted pink. In her hands were some bandages and what appeared to be a solution or cream of some kind. "Why can't I just leave it on?" I asked.

"You want to keep all the dirt and bacteria in with those cuts and wounds?" she argued back, and I offered nothing in response, "Look, I promise to not look. Just take it off so I can treat you."

Man, this was going to be awkward.