No one was saying anything. The Wizards were staring at Sora, Sora was glaring at me and I was petting the Hollinhog. I bet Marakin was just jealous, that’s why she made noise and moved. Now, this whole thing is messed up. 

“So,” 

My words faded away, no one even looked at me.  

“I’m not an theater act!” Sora finally blew up. “I am a human just like you, I’m just a little unique; so stop staring!” 

He stood, showing how large his wings were. The Wizards all turned their heads down while Sora huffed and pouted. I chuckled at his attitude while it seemed like the others had no idea what to do.  

“Are you, an Angel?” 

Sora turned to Ozani, a smug smile on his face. 

“Why yes, sweetheart, an absolute angel according to Mama.” 

I shook my head at his behavior, he was such a child. The wizards didn’t know what to think, they were all flipping from looking at their friends and back at Sora. 

“But, how is this possible? The Angels went extinct years ago, generations back. This is impossible.” 

While Ozani and Aratazz talked, debating on Sora’s whole existence, Arwen remined focused. I watched him as he looked down, his face wasn’t saying anything. Would he turn us in, or would he support us? He was supposed to be with our group, but sometimes that didn’t always work out. 

“Does that matter, he is right in front of us! The dragons will kill us all.” 

“What else are we supposed to do? We should walk away and forget this ever happened at all.” 

“If we don’t report this w-” 

“We have a new task now.” Arwen’s voice was solid as he interrupted Ozani; both females turning towards him.  “An Angel has been found, the rightful ruler of this world. It’s our responsibility to make sure he gets there now that we know about him. With their permission, we should guide these people back to Volar.” 

Well, he was named Devoted, I just didn’t think he would have such devotion to the Angels. This could be beneficial to us, having a wizard with such strong feelings. 

“Are you crazy Arwen? We do that, we get killed. We need to report this, it’s the law.” 

Ozani argued, Aratazz looked helpless. Ozani was right, it was the law to report any Angels you encountered. We had to leave before Ozani ruined this.  

“You know the Dragons aren’t good rulers, you do anything wrong, you go in jail and never come out. You can’t speak out; races are discriminated against. Anyone that spoke out during their revolution was pushed to the slums, the only reason we are allowed to be Wizards are because they want us on their good side. “  

“That could all stop at any moment. The Dragons could make us Ice Giant bait if anyone of us gets too strong for them. The Cat Warriors are in the slums along with the Gnomes and the Naga.  The Elves, Centaurs, have disappeared while the Griffens and Pegasus have been enslaved by the Dragons. Mermaids, Satyrs and Nymphs are in hiding, no one knows where they are anymore. Wizards could be next.” 

“But with Angels on the throne, this would all be fixed. Things would go back to their normal ways and we wouldn’t worry about being pushed of islands to our deaths. This is good for us and all people of Mistros.” 

Arwen was absolutly on our side, nice! 

I didn’t know there were so many people living in Mistros. All I knew about were the Angels, us Fairies, Wizards, Cat Warriors and the Dragons. The world suddenly felt a whole lot bigger than it did yesterday. 

Aratazz and Ozani were both looking at Arwen, Ozani still holding back her emotions while Aratazz was pondering. 

“That sounds great and all, but is it worth getting killed in the process? If not by the Dragons, by the Ogres, Goblins, or the Harpies. This is too risky; life is okay and let's keep it that way.” 

Arwen stood, shoulders stiff and hands clenching his staff as he faced Ozani. “You are okay with the Dragons pushing us around? The threat of being pushed to Brighster at a moment's moment because of the words you say; that’s fine for you? The killing, those in prison, the mistreatments?”  

Ozani’s eyes turned to the ground. I was hoping this would be enough that she would switch to our side and we could go to Volar without any problems. Of course, this is a story and a plot without conflict is boring. 

“Do what you want, Arwen. But I'm not being thrown into jail because of you.” She stood, brushing dirt from her robes. “I’m going back to Volar and will report this all to the Master.” 

No... 

“Zani! Don’t do this, think of the future!” 

If she reported this... 

“I’m thinking about my own life, Arwen!” 

We were ruined, we would never make it to Volar alive or free. 

Thinking quickly, I blew three notes and Marakin leapt into action. Flying high in the air, she landed right in front of Ozani, wings flapping and horn pointed right at her forehead. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do this, Ozani. Either you go with us willingly, or you come with us tied and silenced.” 

She looked back at me, raising her staff; causing Arwen and Aratazz to respond by raising their own. 

“Ozani, just come with us. This will be better in the end.”  

“Please Zani, we don’t want to hurt you.” Aratazz looked like she was going to cry at any minute.  

She was on the defense though, Ozani’s eyes flickering between the two wizards while Marakin stood at her back, she was trapped and she knew it. 

Slowly, the staff fell and her shoulders slumped over. “I just don’t want to die, not for someone that has no idea what he’s facing.” 

Aratazz dropped her staff while Arwen went up to Ozani. After taking her staff, Arwen muttered some words and I watched as grass bent down to wrap themselves around her wrists. He brought her back to the fire, sitting her down.  

“Anyway, we still don’t have your names.” He spoke as if they hadn’t just chained their friend up after she threatened them. 

“I’m Yasmin and I am not a child. This is my brother, Sorata.” 

Their eyebrows raised as they looked between me and him. I had long, curly dark hair, brown eyes with black skin, I also wearing my pink tulip dress. Sora on the other hand, white hair, pale skin, blue eyes and was always wearing some dark colored outfit. We were opposites, but Sora was my brother. 

“Well, you know ours. What was your plan for taking back the throne?” 

“Um, so far, go to Volar.” 

Aratazz let out a laugh, stopping when Arwen glanced over.  

“Sorry, I just thought you were joking. I mean, taking an illegal Angel to the center of the Dragon Nation where they have all their believers? You would get caught before you even reached land, you’d never make it past the bridge between Kirlam and Volar.”  

I, hadn’t thought of that.  

“The Banshees would see Sora and we would have our ears burst before we had the chance to run away. Harpies guard the bridge, flying is impossible. Aratazz is right, we would never make it.” 

“So, we go in, fire off some fire balls, Mina uses her magic and I punch some Harper things. Easy.” Sora crossed his arms as if his words made everything work out.  

Arwen looked from Aratazz back to Sora. “Harpies are winged creatures; they are said to be as fast as lightning with claws that can rip skin from bones. Banshees have enchanted throats, they can scream to burst your head, or sing softly and entice you away from the land to fall to your death.” 

Sora looked down at the dirt, shame growing on his face. 

“From the looks of it, you can’t fly or use your wings at all. Fairies have their limits to magic just like Wizards do. Besides, Aratazz and I aren’t even fully graduated Wizards.” 

Right, I looked down at my hands; copying Sora. I hadn’t thought this out at all. I just threw this all together without thinking about how we would even do this. Fighting an entire race of warriors along with all their fighters, it was impossible. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I plan on living here my whole life; I’m not taking over any kingdom.” 

Silence filled the area as Sora just fell over and curled into some grass; ready for sleep as if he hadn’t just ruined all our plans.  

“What do you mean, you aren’t taking the throne? Even if you aren’t a true prince, the line belongs to the Angels.” 

He waved his arm at Arwen, his back to the fire. 

“If you don’t these injustices will continue, all our lives will be ruined eventually. Who knows when they will invade Kirlam?”  

Sora just shrugged while Arwen stared at the limp white wings. He probably had some idea of what Angels were like and Sora didn’t match. He was arrogant when he fought, stubborn in his opinions and somewhat naïve. Angels were described as perfect, sweet and gentle, ruling with a kind hand. 

“You are just going to let this continue?” 

“Not my world, not my problem.” 

With that, the conversation shut down and Sora fell asleep on Marakin.  

Arwen took the first watch, waking me up after a couple of hours had passed. Aratazz was last and with the sun rising, we all got up. 

The fire was dead as we all ate the food from our bags. I had some berries and the such still while the Wizards had something that was packaged. Sora didn’t even look up as the Wizards kept glancing at him.  

I didn’t know what to do, I hadn’t expected this from Sora. He was always so confident when he fought, he didn’t pull any punches. Sure, he could be naïve and had a baby face, but he didn’t let anyone bully him. That also meant, he wouldn’t let us pressure him into changing his mind.  

“So, should we go Redyr hunting?” They both looked up with wide eyes, I waved my hands around as I corrected my words. “Not actual hunting! Just harvesting!” 

“Yeah, we knew that Yasmin.” Aratazz let out a giggle while Arwen smirked.  

I shook my head at them but smiled. “Well, we can look at nests if they left any behind. I don’t think we will find much, so we may have to check markets. How many do you need?” 

Aratazz pulled a piece of paper from her bag and scanned the words. “Ten antlers, each.” 

They gave Ozani a look but she dodged their eyes. They probably wanted to take some back for her, I didn’t care. As long as we get to Volar safely.  

“Well, we should probably head out then?” 

I stood but Arwen reminded focused on Sora. 

“Not until I hear from the Angel.” 

“I have a name you know.”  

This wasn’t going to be good. 

“How can you turn your back on the people? Rumors of Angels alive would give everyone hopes of a better future, didn’t you hear what I was saying earlier?” 

“Yeah, I heard and I don’t want to get involved, it sounds pretty terrible.” 

Sora turned his back on the Wizards, packing his bag or something. 

“And you don’t want to help? How selfish are you?” 

“Selfish enough to stay alive.” Sora stood, his face set in stone. “I am not a savior; I was never that person. I’ve seen people die, and I don’t plan on following their footsteps. I’ll help you because Mina is, but after that, you go home and I live my own life. Did you ever think of that? What I want?” 

Arwen stood in response, eyes meeting. “Yet you won’t think about anyone else? I lived in poverty my whole life, I had to work every day to get where I am. I know trials, and I want things to be better. Don’t you?” 

“This conversation is over, there is no way you can convince me to join your stupid plan. We just met you for Mista’s sake. I have no trust and no respect for someone that expects so much of me because of my race. I am not an Angel, I am a human trying to avoid trouble, get that in your head.” 

Sora turned away, leading to the west away from Kirlam’s edge. 

“The Redyr are this way, keep up Wizards.”