Slowly, he began to take shape again. His reforming body grew heavier and the bright gold color, which had seemed to fill every part of his brain, began to clear. Deadlox could see the blurry outlines of three people, one of whom was currently fainting into another's arms.

  A sudden lightning bolt of pain ripped through his head, and Deadlox gasped around, clutching his head with both hands. It faded as quickly as it came, and he found that he could once again move. Fury took the place of pain, and the demon let out a snarl and leaped forward at the group, claws flashing. Beard moved to protect Tiny, who was struggling to hold the limp form of Blondie up; it turned out to not be necessary, as he once again froze, stuck in an awkward but fearsome-looking position. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Sky was looking up, a pained expression on his face and his uninjured arm moving from his head to his wound.

  "I must ask that you calm down, sir," a calm voice spoke from behind. "I can't have you hurting my men—and my friends. I'd really prefer not to hurt you, honestly."

  Another boy, possibly just a little bit older than Deadlox, came into view. Curious brown eyes scanned him over quickly. He had thick brown hair that was mostly hidden under the hood of a royal purple cloak that sat over a loose black tunic, which was also trimmed with the same purple color. The red features of a creeper were embroidered above his heart, and a simple silver crown adorned the top of his head. Deadlox saw him glance worriedly at Blondie before speaking to him.

  "This is not the welcome we normally give to guests of Spruce City, so I apologize." He smiled kindly, glancing back and forth between Deadlox and Sky. "My name is Seto. I am the leader of this city-state and the general of our forces, but I'd appreciate it if you simply skipped the formal titles and just called me 'Seto.'" He raised his hands, looking directly at Deadlox. "I'm going to release you now. Please try to remain calm, like your...companion."

  Seto waved his hand slightly and Deadlox collapsed onto the wooden floor, freed from whatever had kept him frozen. He noticed that Sky instantly knelt beside him, helping him back to his feet, where the demon fixed Seto with a fierce glare.

  "What do you want?" he growled.

  Seto blinked. "Excuse me?"

  "Every time we've been taken somewhere, we've been attacked, imprisoned, or both. I'm prepared to fight you."

  "I don't think you'll have to," Seto replied, but Deadlox saw him move slightly in front of Tiny and the blonde boy. "You're obviously...different." He gestured to Deadlox's wings and tail, then to Sky's face. "So while you may be rejected and killed in other places and cities, we welcome anyone who possesses powers or abnormalities. In fact, our sort of people make up around a quarter of the population here."

  Shock rocketed through him, and he shook his wings uncomfortably. "Our? There are more like us?"

  Seto nodded, standing up a little taller. "I, myself, am a sorcerer." He stepped aside to allow the full view of Tiny and Blondie. "This is Sub. He is telekinetic. The unconscious one is Brice, my..." He seemed to struggle with his words for a moment. "...apprentice. And partner, you could say. And this is Dan, who has no powers but is incredibly well trained in the art of combat."

  Deadlox said nothing, but Sky stepped forward so that he was right next to his friend.

  "My name is Sky," he said. Deadlox heard the uncertainty in his voice and understood his hesitation to trust. "This is Deadlox. I'm a...brine, I think I'm called, and he's a demon. End demon, specifically."

  Seto's eyes widened, just for a moment, before the look of surprise disappeared and his calm look of authority returned. "It is a pleasure to meet you both. I would love to get acquainted a bit more, then I will show you both the wonderful city-state that you've appeared in." The general turned to Sub. "Please take Brice to the infirmary," he said softly. "He just needs a little rest; he overused his powers." Sub nodded, struggling to carry Brice until Dan scooped the blonde boy from the the brunette's arms. They disappeared down a hallway to the left.

  Seto turned back to the two boys. "Since you haven't attacked again, I think I can trust you to follow me to my office." He turned and swept down a corridor to the right, cloak billowing out behind him as he walked at a swift pace. Deadlox glanced at Sky before following, tucking his wings in.

  The architecture of even the hallways was magnificent. The roof was tall, and every few feet or so a stone column would stretch up in an arch and down the other side of the hall. Signs pointed the way to rooms such as 'conference room 3' and 'infirmary.' There was a sense of order that made Deadlox feel a lot better about this place.

  Finally, they came to a solid-looking spruce door. Intricate designs made from iron creeped inwards from the edges of the door. Seto pushed it open and held it so that Deadlox and Sky could enter first. The room that they walked into was simple. It had a stone floor and walls similar to those of the halls. A large desk sat in front of a fireplace, and, in front of the desk, an elegant purple carpet with silver designs. On the other side of the room was a small, circular table with five stools tucked underneath. The walls had a couple of paintings, an iron sword that pulsed with purple light on a shelf, and a single banner over the fireplace that bore the logo of the same creeper face that was embroidered onto Seto's tunic.

  As the door closed behind them, the sorcerer waved his hand at the table. "Please, have a-" Seto was interrupted by someone slamming the door open. Deadlox recognized Brice, his blonde hair now a mess. He was panting hard, trying to catch his breath. Seto's eyes flashed with concern, then annoyance. "Brice, what-"

  "No...time..." Brice wheezed. "Kaon...here..."

  Seto lurched backward, as if slapped. "Right now?"

  Brice nodded, and Seto swept out of the room without another word, sprinting out of sight.

-

  Sky had absolutely no clue what was going on.

  The blonde boy, Brice, seemed uncertain whether or not he should follow Seto or stay with the two possibly hostile immortals that he had caused to be here. Sky guessed that he decided that it was too late to follow Seto, because he smiled nervously at the two.

  "Sorry. About the whole immobilizing you and teleporting you thing." Brice glanced back and forth between the two. "Did the teleporting hurt at all?"

  "Yeah," Sky said quietly. "My head hurt really badly right after."

  Brice cursed. "I'm so sorry about that. I'm still learning how to control my powers. I'm doing pretty well at spells and stuff, but I haven't mastered them." He gave a little smile. "Seto's teaching me."

  There was totally something going on between those two.

  "Where are we?" Deadlox asked, and Brice opened his mouth to answer when Deadlox added "I know we're in some place called Spruce City."

  Brice thought for a moment. "You're in a pretty isolated city-state on this huge island. Almost nobody on the mainland knows about this place—except the leader of our allies. This place is basically home to rejects and people who need a new life. Some of them washed up here, some of them were travelers trying to flee from the mainland. A lot of the people here, though, are like us. They're immortals or have powers or are spawns or whatever."

  "But any book with information on immortals says that they're incredibly rare," Deadlox protested. "There are supposed to be centuries in between spawns!"

  Brice let out a laugh. "And how credible do you think those books are? They're probably decades old."

  Sky held in a snicker, watching as Deadlox's face transformed into a mask of confusion.

  "Anyway, as you've probably heard or guessed, I'm a sorcerer in training. It's a gift I didn't discover until I was fifteen." He held up his hand, muttering something under his breath. Light blossomed in his palm, casting a golden glow onto the boy's face. Sky watched in awe as it spiraled up, wishing that he could do that with the powers that he couldn't control.

  Brice clenched his fist, and the light went away just as Seto reentered the room. He hurried over to his desk, rummaged through some things, and picked up a scroll of parchment. Before leaving the room once more, he stopped before Brice.

  "I think I've managed to buy us a week at the most," Seto said seriously. Then he hurried out of the office.

  "What does that mean?" Sky asked, unable to hold in his curiosity. Brice cleared his throat uncomfortably.

  "Well, um...I forgot to mention. Spruce City—we...might be about to go to war?"