“If you’ll all follow me, I can take you to where you’ll stay for now.”

The five of us follow Soveliss as he walks towards one of the staircases. I stay by Amai’s side as we walk down a hall. I’m sure the information we were given on her sister’s whereabouts were not easy for her to hear. She cares so much about her sister, but Soveliss is right. We need to work on ourselves too.

And I really want to figure out how this whole Written thing applies to me. Maybe Soveliss can help me with that.

As we walk, I notice that Ikimono, Nova, and Saisho are each touching their Charms. They stare at each other. All I can guess is they’re most likely conversing with each other telepathically.

Oh well.

“Alright. Here we are.”

As we enter the darkened room, I hear a small tap on the floor. The room lights up a little, and we’re met with a large open space. Some beds begin to appear with little stands next to each one. There are plenty of windows, but every single one is covered with drapes at this time.

“You’ll sleep here. These are my guest quarters, so I apologize if it’s messy.” Soveliss laughs a little. “No one’s really used it in a while. But you can use it for as long as you need to stay here.”

“It’s alright,” Ikimono says. “Thank you for letting us use it.”

“Thank you!” Nova and Saisho chime in.

Soveliss nods. “Of course. Make sure you all get some rest, alright? I’m sure it was quite the journey between the Normal and here. You’ll want to be ready when tomorrow comes. Written training is not easy in any sense.”

“Ah, yes…” Saisho laughs nervously. “Oh, one question.”

“Yes?”

“Will there be any place for me to cook breakfast for us tomorrow morning?” Saisho asks. “Just so we’re all fueled and ready to go.”

The elven man smirks a little. “You cook? Oh, I’m sure Allisa would love the help. She normally cooks for us in the morning.”

“Allisa? Who’s that?” Nova asks.

“Just one of my friends. She and two other pals come over quite often. I’m sure you’ll meet them tomorrow.”

“Well, I’d be happy to help her.” Saisho smiles.

Soveliss gives a nod. “I’ll let her know you intend to do so. For now, I must retire to my own quarters. Tracking down somebody in Destiny is not going to be simple. You all rest up now, okay?”

I smile. “We’ll do that. Thank you so much.”

As Soveliss leaves, all of us walk farther into the room. Amai and I quickly take two beds next to each other. Nova takes one on the other side near Ikimono, and Saisho claims the last bed for himself.

“Alright,” Ikimono speaks up. As she snaps her fingers, her Written Form fades away. She flicks her wrist a few times to transform into some black pajamas. “Listen up guys. Soveliss said he’s going to help all of us grow stronger. That means you need to listen to him and his friends. Whatever they say, you gotta retain the information. This isn’t my first rodeo with Written training.”

Nova snaps her fingers too, and her outfit fades away. “Sounds like it’ll be fun! Now, how do I make myself pajamas like you did?” She bounces still, eyes wide.

Ikimono gives a giggle. “Oh Nova… here, let me help.”

As she flicks her wrist again, Nova gets a pair of pajamas in her arms. The girl bounces even more upon seeing this, and she giggles as Saisho, Amai, and I each receive a pair too. She’s so excited to see Ikimono summon these from basically thin air.

Saisho’s transformation fades as he takes the pajamas off his bed. “Thank you Ikimono.”

I also grin. “Thanks!”

Ikimono nods.

“Now, get some rest. You’re all going to need it.”

Despite being told to get rest, I’m having trouble finding some. Instead, as I lay in bed, I stare up at the ceiling. It’s not that the beds aren’t comfortable, I know that much.

This is strange. While it feels like I’m just having a sleepover with Amai, I know there’s more to this. We’re not alone. Our friends are here with us. We’re in another world, far different from our own. Everyone has questions. Amai’s sister is still missing. It may be awhile until we can even go home.

I just want to sleep. Not overthink my life.

As I turn to my side, I see Amai watching the ceiling as well. In the dark, I can see her finger tracing a shape of sorts into the pillow.

“Amai.” I whisper out to her.

The girl looks over to me. I see her smile a tad. “Can’t sleep?” She asks quietly.

I shake my head a little. “I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

Amai sits up in bed. She gestures for me to follow her. After I sit up and get out of bed, the two of us go to leave the room. We quietly walk down the stairs, back into Soveliss’s library. We sit at a table, and I finally sigh.

“Everything is changing so rapidly.” I rest my chin in my hands. “I mean, when we were having our sleepover on Friday, I wasn’t thinking any of this would happen.”

“I don’t think either of us were really expecting this, ’Kasu.”

I purse my lips. “Well, you remember when I asked to speak to your mom alone on Friday. Right?”

“Of course.”

“Amai, I talked to her about my Charm. She told me what it was, what being Written means. I went to her because my parents weren’t going to be any help. However, there was something really peculiar about what she said during our conversation. That there are always going to be challenges with being Written. But I guess it’s supposed to help us grow. I just didn’t think the first challenge would be immediately after the fact.”

I see Amai’s eyes widen a little as she listens to me.

“So that’s why you asked to talk to Momma alone? I guess that makes sense now. And yeah, I get what you mean. I don’t think anyone saw this coming. But we’ll figure it out eventually.”

I nod. “Yeah. Something tells me there’s more to this than just a rescue mission. I don’t know… there’s just a lot on my mind. It’s been like this for quite a while actually, since I even received my Charm.” I rub my temples. “I wish this were easier.”

“Me too…” Amai sighs.

Just then, we hear movement. Both of us look over to see Soveliss coming out from the same staircase we came from. His auburn hair is completely loose from its previous ponytail, now just resting against his back. His eyes watch us for a moment before he begins to descend the stairs.

“You two are up late.” He says. “Are you alright?”

“Sakasu has a lot on her mind. Same for me too.” Amai answers. “We came out here so we wouldn’t wake up anyone else. Sorry if we disturbed you.”

“It’s alright, really. I hadn’t gone to sleep yet.” The elven man comes over to our table. He pulls up a chair and sits down. “It’s understandable that you’re both confused. I’m sure with everything changing, you haven’t had a minute to breathe and think. This is quite normal. Not my favorite thing about being Written, but everyone goes through this period in their journey.”

I look at the man. “Soveliss. Can I ask you a few questions?”

“Of course.”

“How old are you? And when did you find out you were Written?”

He smiles. “I just turned nineteen a while ago. So I’m slightly older than Ikimono, probably by a few months to a year. However, I found out I was Written…” He gives a small laugh. “Oh gosh, pardon me. I’ve forgotten how many years it’s been. I’d have to say I was maybe twelve? Thirteen? My parents told me about this long ago, and I’ve been training ever since.”

“How did you find us?” I ask. “Since you had to jump between Destiny and our world in order to give us the Charms.”

“Oh! That!” Soveliss’s eyes light up with excitement. “Yes, that’s an interesting one. See, sometimes the Charms just… appear here. See, my parents gave me the observatory, along with everything in it. We all love to study. But there’s one device in particular that’s really fantastic; the Charm Maker. It’s in the laboratory part of this place. I don’t know what makes it work, but every so often, a Charm appears in it. I just use my tracking devices and abilities to find its holders. Simple as that.”

I nod. “That makes sense.”

“Have you unlocked your Written Form, Sakasu?” He then asks. “No offense, Amai, but you’ve only just received yours. I wouldn’t expect you to have transformed within less than a day.”

I look at Amai. She raises an eyebrow. I look back at Soveliss and I put my hands in my lap.

“Not yet. I don’t exactly know how. My parents aren’t Destinian, nor do they believe in Destiny. So, I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about it. I only recently figured out what my choker was thanks to her mom.” I gesture to Amai.

Soveliss nods. “Interesting… I’ll have to have Naomi work with us then so we can tap into that unique energy of yours.”

Naomi? Tap into my energy? What about it is making it unique? This is only making me develop more questions!

“I’d like to figure out what I can do,” I say. “So I appreciate the help.”

Soveliss smiles again. “Like I said, I’m here to help you. And I mean all of you. Whatever you need, I’ll be happy to provide as much as I can. But I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of times that this isn’t going to be easy.”

I can’t help but smile. “Thank you Soveliss.” I stand as I smile at both him and Amai. “I’m going to try and get some rest.”

Soveliss grins. “That’s quite alright.” He then looks to Amai. “Will you be joining her?”

Amai nods in answer. “Yeah.” She gives a yawn. “Gotta be ready for tomorrow, right?”

The guy nods. “Indeed. Both of you get some quality rest. You’ll need it.”

“Thanks Soveliss.” We both say before going back up the stairs.

Maybe now I can get some sleep.