A New Journey

"Finally you have arrived." Kyle said the moment he saw the group appearing back again to the makeshift trainings ground. Walking forward, his eyes met the girl, who was holding firmly to the hand of Otto. "And you must be Mira? Welcome, my name is Kyle." There was a warm smile that was protruding from him.

Initially taken aback, Mira tightened her grip. Feeling his hand getting tightened, Otto looked over at the girl. There was an uncertainty coming from her. Forming a small smile, Otto decided to lead the way, hoping it would ease up the tensity of the girl.

Standing in front of Kyle, Mira finally spoke. However her voice was soft and distant, "H… helo, I am Mia." Those were the only words the girl said, before disappearing behind Otto.

'Did she get overwhelmed by the large group of men that surround us?' Otto wondered. Normally, Mira isn't a person that would be shy. However, now her behavior was unlike her.

"I think that she is a bit shy and overwhelmed." Otto said, trying to back her up.

"You don't have to worry. We won't bite." Kyle said jokingly.

Mike also stepped in, "They might look scary, but they are all good men."

At that point, the surrounding men all tried to ease up and smile towards Mira, trying to calm her down.

"I think that she will get used to it in due time." Otto said after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yes, we still have a long time to get to know each other." Kyle clapped his hands, as he replied with a smile.

At that moment, Otto felt a tuck on his hand that was holding Mira's hand. Looking over to the girl, her eyes were fixed to him. "Boter… h… how egg doin?" she asked with a soft voice. It was as she was almost whispering these words, not wanting to let the others hear her.

"Egg…? Oh, you mean that one. It is in the shack, follow me." With that Otto lead Mira towards the shack. Even Kyle got intrigued by the conversation and started to follow them.

Inside of the shack, Otto walked to one of the corners. "It should be somewhere here." Looking around, however, he was not able to find it. "Where is it?" his expression started to become more serious. As fear started to get to him he shouted, "Where is it!" Throwing tools around, it seemed as if a storm struck the shack.

"What is it that you're looking for? Kyle asked.

"Egg! There was an egg here. Where is it?!"

Kyle was taken aback by the way Otto was reacting. "I have no idea… What egg?"

"It was here!" Otto kept on flipping items around. Even Mira was scared by the way Otto acted as she started to take a few steps back. At this point, tears started to build up in the fire-stricken eyes of Otto. "The Egg! It has various colors. Where is it?"

"I don't kno… Wait, I think that I saw such an e…"

"Where?!" Otto stopped what he was doing and looked directly into the eyes of Kyle. His teary eyes had a clear murderous intent in them.

Pointing towards the outside, to a group of men, he spoke in a shocked voice, "I think that Daniel walked around with such an egg, when you gu…"

Again, Otto did not wait for Kyle to finish his sentence. Kyle looked a bit irritated by this, however seeing the extreme situation that Otto was just in, he understood the situation and let it slide. In the end, his home got invaded and something from him was taken.

The blood boiling to his head, Otto was stamping his feet, as he was making his way towards the person that Kyle pointed at. The tears in his eyes kept on falling down, as he lost control of his body. Getting closer to the group of men, he started to shout form top of his long, "You bastard! Where!? Where is it!?"

Behind him, Kyle and Mira quickly followed. They were scared to get close to him, however, did not want to leave him alone. There was a clear worry in their faces.

"What happened?"

"What is going on?"

"Where is what?"

There was a clear confusion between the men.

"Why did you take the egg!? Where have you put it?"

"What is going on?" Mike entered the confrontation, trying to clear this out. "Kid, calm down and explain what has happened."

"My egg has been taken!" Looking angrily at Daniel, he pointed his finger and continued, "That man took it away." It was as if a fire was spewing out from his teary eyes.

"Daniel? Is that true?" Mike asked.

"Uhm… Sir… I indeed found an egg in the shack… I thought that maybe…"

"You thought what?!" Otto did not allow him to finish what he was saying. His anger increased with every word being spoken. If there was not a clear difference in height, he would have already walked towards Daniel.

"Calm down, kid. I still have the egg here." Daniel said as he took out the egg from his satchel.

Seeing the egg, the fire in his eyes dimed down a bit. Not waiting for a moment, Otto lunged his hand out, to grab the egg firmly. The moment his hands met the egg, he pulled with all of his might, trying to get a hold of it. "Why did you take it? Why did you steal my egg?" Otto's anger dimmed down a bit, however, he was still furious towards Daniel.

"Is it true that you stole that kid's egg?" Mike asked surprised. There was a certain displeasure in his voice as he asked it.

"I… Sir I just wanted…"

"Did you steal it… or not?" Noticing that Daniel was trying to avoid the question, Mike's voice started to become louder and firmer.

"I took it without asking." Daniel was totally shocked by the turn of events. 'How could taking an egg result in something like this?'

"When we get back, you will see what happens to thieves!" Mike was rather angered by the way one of his men behaved.

"Sir?" Daniel was confused about the whole situation.

Even some mummers were going around between the surrounding men. Some were confused about the way Mike behaved towards one of his men. However, there were also talks that what Daniel did wasn't right, and that he deserved to be punished.

"What a beautiful egg. Where did you find it?" Kyle was the one that broke the tense situation. There was an awkward smile on his face as he spoke those words.

Otto ignored what Kyle said as he was caressing the egg. "I am sorry for leaving you. I will not leave you alone anymore." Otto's anger slowly started to dim down, as he spoke those words. Feeling the cold shell of the egg, he spoke with a worried voice, "I see that you're hungry. I am sorry, I will feed you a bit."

With that, Otto started to concentrate on his powers and draw out his flame. As the essence started to enter his palms, they were directly being sucked up by the egg. "Woe there, little one. You sure are hungry!"

"Wow, look at the egg consuming the fire." Kyle closed in slowly as he spoke in amazement. "Why is the egg doing that?"

"I don't know, it likes the heat I think."

"Boter! Egg look preti." Mira spoke up with a cute voice, as she slowly appeared. Her eyes big and sparkly she was looking closely at the egg.

"Do you want to hold it, Mira?" Otto asked as he saw her behavior.

The moment he asked it, Mira's already sparkling eyes, were even more excited. Frantically nodding, Mira slowly stretched her arms out.

After making sure that the egg was not sucking more of the magical essence, he slowly passed over the egg to Mira.

As Mira was petting the egg, Kyle walked over to Otto, "Where did you find such a beautiful egg?"

"And for it to be magical… Interesting" Mike joined in the conversation.

"Mira found it. A few weeks ago, we saw two gigantic beasts fighting in the skies." Otto told the story about the fight that they saw a few weeks ago and what happened afterwards. He also mentioned that he felt the warmth of the egg decreasing with every day, and decided to use some magic to warm it up. After which he discovered that it liked magical essence.

"Hmm… Rumors had been going around about two unknown beasts flying in the skies of our kingdom. I take it that they were true… and to be it a dragon and a phoenix."

"Dragon? Phoenix? What are those?" Otto asked.

"They are mystical beasts!" Kyle was the one who replied. "There are stories about them in the castle! You can read about them when we get there." There was excitement in his voice. "We should leave now! I cannot wait to show you around!"

"Let me pack up some things quickly." Otto said hearing these words. Turning to Mira, he asked, "Do you want to come along Mira? Or wait here for a bit?"

Not replying, Mira directly went to the side of Otto. As she walked, she kept on petting the egg. Inside, Otto quickly picked up several items. These included the documents and items of Iarra and his father's axe. Outside of this, he had his short bow with him with a quiver filled with arrows and his axe.

Before exiting the shack, he looked back to the inside. From the previous search, many of the items were all over the place. Giving off a small smile, he turned around and walked outside and spoke up, "I am ready to leave."

"Let's not delay any longer." Mike said as he heard the words of Otto. Turning around a loud order rang through the area, "Men! Mount up, we are heading out!"

Otto did not notice before that Kyle and his group brought over horses to the area. He was too distracted by the missing egg, that he did not really have the opportunity to look around in detail.

At the order, everyone mounted their horse. Even Kyle was sitting on top of a horse ready to head out.

Noticing that the two were on foot, Mike dismounted and walked over to them. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Noticing that Otto shook his head, he continued, "I will put you on top of the horse. Hold on tightly to this thing." Mike pointed at the front of the saddle. Turning over to Mira, he spoke with a gentle voice, as a smile formed upon his face, "As for you, little girl. Don't let go of your brother, understood?"

After both Otto and Mira nodded, he put them on the horse one by one.

"Woah! It's so huge!" Otto said with a surprised reaction.

Even Mira could not hide her excitement anymore as she got onto the horse herself. "Waah! Boter! We hih up!" Saying those words, Mira hugged Otto from behind, tightly locking her arms.

"If you hold on tightly, nothing will happen." Mike repeated what he said previously. "Just don't be scared. I will lead the way, so you don't have to do anything." He added on. "Let's do a trial run." With that, he led the horse around a bit. This was in order to make sure that the children would get familiar with riding on a horse and won't get scared.

As the horse was slowly walking, Otto felt as he was jumping up and down with every step that the horse made. Initially, he was rather stiff, not knowing what would happen. "Don't be that stiff. Relax a bit. Even the girl behind you is more relaxed." Mike said with a smile on his face.

Trying to relax a bit, the ride on the back of the horse started slowly to become more comfortable. 'This is awesome!' Otto though inwardly.

After making a few rounds, Mike was happy with the situation. Giving the reins over to one of the knights, he took one of the spare horses and mounted it. Receiving the reins back, he slowly pulled on the reign. Starting to lead the way, he turned around to look at the rest and spoke up in a determined tone, "Let's go!"

…