12 Start of the Journey

Furry white ears, just barely visible -like a ghastly accessory floating over Xel's head were commanding attention from Flo, seemingly taking him in a trance.

Flo shook his head as his gaze then marked a lucent tail hanging over Xel's lower back like a wolf's majestic tail, complimenting his elegant features.

"Kara!" Flo shouted, stirring the ambiance of the atmosphere.

"What?"

"It's not him."

Kara gave a confused look, a sort of doubt masking her face, yet once she saw Xel's ears seemingly playing with his blonde hair, her face then relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief.

Is it a summon? Flo has never seen a summon that can mimic its summoner before. On top of Xel's three blessings, he also has Elder magos -the art of summoning. That's scary. No wonder his aura was brimming with power. Flo was very much in awe, but it wasn't the most worrying case. It was Xel, or atleast, the fake Xel that was troubling him.

He was still very much strong.

Knowing this Xel was a fake one won't change anything. It wasn't changing the situation they were in. Even though it isn't him, he's still damn strong enough to not let them make any rash moves. Nothing -absolutely not a thing would change from knowing it wasn't him.

Yet, Kara's relaxed.

"Let's try this again, then." Kara breathed in, tensing her shoulders as she exhaled heavily, seemingly drawing forth the magic within the air.

She then dashed towards Xel in a blur, following with a right hook aimed towards his temple. Xel evaded with a sidestep, however something from below -a tentacle-like fleshy limb, resurfaced from the floor and thrusted towards his back. Xel was caught off guard, however, his instincts overwhelmed him once more, doing a backward somersault -evading the thrust by a strand of the hair.

As Xel was about to land, however, another fleshy limb -not the one from before, darted towards Xel from below, hitting his chest with a thud and sending him rolling across the flesh floor towards Kara. Kara then immediately subdued his two hands -pushing Xel's palms against the ground over his head, like a show of dominance.

A sinister, red light then overwhelmed the narrow alley, and as quickly as it appeared it disappeared, the light show then ending with strands of red light seemingly seeping in through the hands of Xel, like a neverending hole out in the middle of a vast ocean, sucking the water body dry.

"Let's go." Kara said, flapping her wings once more and flew a short distance away, fixing her clothes thereafter -although the question still remains if you can really call those strips of cotton clothing.

"What about-" As Flo's eyes glanced back to Xel, a white cat was laying where he was the moment before. The cat then ran -lightspeed, away from the two and dashed back to the castle in an abandon.

Fast. That one was fast.

.

.

.

As Flo and Kara continued on the run, a shout stopped them in their tracks once more.

"Ya kids, over here!" As Flo turned to a complete stop in surprise of a familiar voice, he then faced to look and was greeted with a familiar figure across the corner. It was a soldier around his middle years, wearing a civil type of clothing emblazoned with copper and brass colors, complementing his aged figure.

"It's the old man." Flo happened to mutter.

"Hey, it's you!" Something flew past Flo, zipping right by him and into the old man's arms, embracing him like a long lost girl finally finding his family.

"It's Gard, Kara." He said, holding Kara's shoulder's firm and strong, giving her a small pat on her head. Flo stared at the man and interjected, "Old man-"

"Me name's Gard." The old man, apparently named Gard, interjected. "And yes, I accept ya thanks for freeing ya."

"Thanks." Flo finished.

.

.

.

Kara's acting different. Again.

She was giddily talking about what had happened previously at the castle, how we had barely escaped the clutches of the humans and got here. From the appearance of the black knights to the battle with Xel, she told of their short adventures till they arrived here. However one thing struck Flo's mind.

The black knights. What happened to them?

"Here, wear this." Gard said, bringing out some human clothing for Flo and Kara. "Ya all will stand out with clothes like that."

Flo then glanced to Kara, his eyes darting from one thing to the other. "Sure she does." He muttered, though this time making sure he couldn't be heard.

As Flo then took from the hands of Gard the brown and brass clothing, he suddenly came to ask, "The black knights." He paused, then continued. "I summoned them?"

"I don't know how," Gard replied, shuffling his shaggy black hair. "But yes, ya did." Flo raised his two arms, palms facing upwards. He stared at them, like a broken record, keeping at it for a while.

"What does it mean?" Flo asked yet again, turning to look back to Gard.

"You're a mage now lad."

As Flo looked upon his hands with wonder, he found himself brimming with a mix feeling of despair and hope, something that feels new to his system. Flo faced the sky, the colossal moon's light raining down above him like a magic shower, seemingly dancing around his bare dark skin.

What was to happen from here on out?

"Don't ya worry boy," Gard said, giving Flo a slight jab as he then wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "I see a strong summoner within ya."

"Now go change ya clothes, we got a long journey ahead of us."