“Soveliss!”

We finally made it to the observatory. Just in time too. The sun was starting to set, and I was getting worried that we’d be out when it’s dangerous. Although Ikimono seems to know what to do, I’m more worried for Nova and Saisho, who have never been here before. Not to mention, Sakasu and I have never even thought of coming here.

The observatory is large from the outside. Its walls are pure white, but the dome and telescope are pitch black. The setting sun makes the dome shimmer a little bit, as if there are little stars littering the surface.

I bet it’s bigger inside.

Ikimono knocks on the door of the observatory, sighing. “Soveliss Taruna! Come on, man. Open up!”

“Just a second!” An accented masculine voice calls.

On the other side of the entrance, we all hear movement. There’s a laugh as things continue to move. Nova bounces with excitement in front of us. I hear Saisho shuffling his feet a little behind us. I purse my lips as I hear the door unlock.

As the entrance opens, I see a young elven man with long auburn hair tied into a low ponytail. His ears twitch a little as his piercing blue eyes fall on Ikimono. A grin appears on his face as he tugs on a dark blue scarf, complimenting his earth-toned clothes. On the lobe of one ear, there’s a small, sky blue feather earring.

“Ikimono! It’s great to see you again!” The guy says. He then looks at us. “Ah. And you brought friends?”

“Yes,” Ikimono nods. She gestures to us. “I think you’ve briefly met each of them. We can explain more as to why we’re here if you’ll let us inside.”

The man nods. “Of course. Come on in!”

As he steps to the side, the five of us walk in. My intuition was correct; the observatory is huge on the inside. We’re on the first floor, where there are shelves of books lining the place. Tables are organized in a fashion to make it seem like a library, but there are also magic items scattered here and there. There are multiple staircases leading to other areas of the observatory.

“This place is beautiful,” Saisho whispers as he comes to stand by my right side.

Nova nods. She still stands before me. “Yeah. This place is much bigger than the library at our school!”

The man raises an eyebrow. “School?”

“Yeah, we all go to the same school. The same one I’ve told you about in our past meetings.” Ikimono looks at the man.

“Ah yes. I forgot you live in the Normal world. My apologies.”

“You also seem to have a habit of not introducing yourself, my friend.” Ikimono laughs. “The rest of my friends only briefly saw you when they received their Charms. You didn’t exactly tell them what they were when they all first saw you.”

The man’s eyes widen at her statement. He looks at each of us, then nervously laughs.

“Ah! How rude of me. I’m a busy scholar, but that doesn’t excuse my horrible manners. The name’s Soveliss Taruna. I’m sure you know now from when we last met, but I’m Written, just like each of you.” He smiles as he walks towards Nova. “And you are?”

“Nova Haruwiki,” The blue-haired girl grins with glee as she puts her hand out. “Also known as the Masked Starling! It’s great to meet you finally!”

Soveliss grins at Nova. “Ah, you’re Nova! Ikimono has spoken about you before. I’m glad we’re meeting for the first time.” He shakes her hand before looking at Saisho. “You?”

“I’m Saisho Tarako.” He grins. He gives a small bow. “Or, if we’re speaking in Written Form, Azure Riptide.”

“Azure Riptide… interesting name for a Written form. I like that, Saisho.” Soveliss shakes his hand too after walking over. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”

Now he walks over to me and Sakasu. He tilts his head a little, his ears twitching just a bit with curiosity.

“Untapped potential… and neither of you are in Written Form. Interesting.” He reaches out to gesture towards Sakasu’s choker. “I remember this one. You were fairly recent. Sakasu Konton, was it?”

Sakasu’s eyes widen a little in surprise. “That’s me.”

“I knew I could sense that unique and wild energy of yours.” He smiles. “It’s good to see you again.” He takes her hand and gives it a shake. As my best friend smiles at him, he chuckles a bit.

Then, he looks at me. Soveliss narrows his eyes a bit, a small smile on his face. As he studies me, looking up and down, he gives a small hum. He puts his hand out to me.

“I saw you earlier today. A few hours ago if I’m being completely honest here. Amai Winter? Is that right?”

“Correct.” I nod a little. “You gave me and my sister quite the scare earlier when we were leaving school.”

“Sister… ah yes, that’s right. I remember now. There was a second girl with you when I gave you that Charm of yours. Is she not with the five of you?” Soveliss asks. He tilts his head a little, and some of the strands loose from his ponytail follow. He raises an eyebrow gently. “I swear there were two of you…”

“Actually, that’s why we’re here.” Ikimono speaks up.

Soveliss looks over. “Oh?”

I take a deep breath. I’m going to have to tell him, whether I want to or not. I have to do this.

“My sister, her name’s Violet. After my mother explained to us what the Charms were and how we’re both Written with our heritages, she got really angry with her. My sister ran away using a portal to come here. We don’t know where she is or how to track her down.” I explain.

Soveliss’s eyes widen. The smile on his face fades away, and he brings a hand up to his chin. “I’m truly sorry. I didn’t expect something such as this to occur. This is most definitely out of the ordinary.”

Nova looks at Soveliss. “Can you track her?”

Soveliss hums in answer. As he lifts his hand, a wooden staff with a bright blue orb appears. He grips onto it, looking into the sphere. His eyes start to glow as he concentrates. Something inside the orb seems to move around.

Sakasu looks at Ikimono. “What’s he doing?”

“Checking for her energy.” Ikimono says. “He does this whenever he needs to keep an eye on people in this world.”

Saisho’s eyes widen. “He can do that?!”

“Well, only to a certain extent. That staff only allows him to do so much, so we’ll see what he gets.”

Suddenly, Soveliss lifts his head up. The staff disappears, and his eyes stop glowing. He frowns.

“I have some sort of answer for you. But I’m not sure you’ll like it.”

Immediately, I feel Sakasu take my hand. She squeezes it gently before I look at her. She nods, and I nod back to her. I look at the elven man once again.

“Tell me.”

“Your sister is here. Her energy is present within this world. However, it is outside of my abilities, in or out of Written Form with my staff, to pinpoint her location. I’ll need to use my other devices around the observatory if you want to track her down.”

I sigh. “Well, at least we know she’s here.” I look to the others. Some tears start welling in my eyes as I think about my sister being alone. “Should we start searching?”

Ikimono and Soveliss both shake their heads.

“Too dangerous to do so right now.” Ikimono speaks. She gestures to a window in the library. “Sun’s already set.”

“Your friend is right,” Soveliss rubs his temples. “While I have several years of experience in being Written, I don’t even like being outside at night with that damned Corruption around. And each of you… while Ikimono has the most experience out of all of you, you’re all still underdeveloped. Some more than others. In my right mind, I cannot allow any of you to go out right now.”

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Nova asks.

Soveliss grins. “Lucky for you, I have plenty of space here in my observatory for you to stay. And I have a few friends who visit every day, one of which is also Written. I think between me, those friends, and Ikimono, we can help you all discover your abilities. Your strength is of the utmost importance if you wish to be safe in Destiny.”

Saisho smiles. “That would be helpful! Thank you, Soveliss.”

Soveliss looks at me and Sakasu once again. He smiles, putting a hand out to me. I take his hand with my free one, and he nods.

“Amai. You have good friends with you here. I can promise you that we will find your sister at all costs. But you must also worry about yourself in this instance. Together, we’re going to make sure you are at the best of your ability to help bring your sister home. You can trust me, alright?” He assures me.

Sakasu squeezes my other hand. “We’re right here. Okay?”

I look at them both.

“Okay. I’m trusting you.”