3rd chapter : home .

         After crossing the gate unexpectedly, Marco somehow returned home safely and took Sophie with him. On his way he showed her around the city and went home for lunch.

              “I’m back, Arthur are you here?”. 

              Marco said as he saw two shoes that didn't belong to Arthur or him. Marco sighed as he felt furious feelings coming from behind, he looked around.

             “welcome home you little!!!!”.

            A young lady appeared trying to hit him. Suddenly the young lady sees Sophie and calms down from Sophie’s cuteness. 

          "Little!! little!!  How cute!!!”, She held Sophie and hugged her many times, forgetting completely about Marco. Arthur got out of his room wearing a set of headphones completely ignoring the young lady's reaction or the sudden little girl that his brother brought with him.

          “Welcome back, did you bring something to eat? I’m really hungry!!”, Arthur snorted with a bit of a laugh at his brother.

            The reply seemed vigilant to Marco  as if Arthur didn’t notice his disappearance for six months. Right after a small words, Arthur calmly turned to the little girl with a calm smile. 

            “Welcome home”. 

            Arthur spoke with a calm voice as he got Closer to Sophie and patted her head. The smile reassured Sophie as she smiled back happily hugging him with everything she got. 

           “Hana! let her go now, she’s not a toy” Marco addressed the young lady Hana as he didn’t see that Sophie was with Arthur.

            Hana pouted at Marco's scolding. Thus Hana put down Sophie and played with her, she prepared lunch for them. While Marco was taking a bath Hana had already prepared everything. Moments after Marco came to the kitchen, Hana noticed that Marco’s hair was long. 

          “Hey, what are you gonna do about your hair?”, she asked curiously.

          “Well I’m not planning to cut it anytime soon, I feel much more comfortable like this, I guess”. 

          His answer was expected at some point, Hana smiled after seeing him finish quickly to prepare his room for Sophie.

          A week passed after Marco’s returning home. In that week Marco worked hard to pass his exams in high school. He bought for Sophie a lot of things and prepared for her one of the two empty rooms inside the house. He got used to sensing the euro in the world and around him in his daily life. One day, while buying the groceries for dinner, he took the long way home and passed by the beach. He looked aside to see  a fancy blue stall as it was a restaurant. Marco noticed that its name was ‘Red Mermaid’, he instantly remembered Alba’s words to search about this place. Marco was about to enter as he felt a strong pressure coming from the inside. He felt frustrated and even his body moved on instinct, making a run away for it. 

           Marco reached home and sat down in the kitchen. He had a deep thought, not even noticing that Hana and Sophie were flicking his forehead.  

           “What now !?! ”, He yelled.

           Marco was a little flustered because he spaced out. After seeing him in that state Sophie went to her room because she felt sleepy and Hana was about to leave. 

          “Not rare to see you spacing out or getting all alone, though we’re friends, we can talk at any time you want”, she talked not intending to start a conversation.

          “It’s not that important, otherwise, I’d rather have some rest, see you tomorrow ” Marco's reply was quick.

           “ Heeeh? As I said, we are friends, we can talk anytime you want, anyway bye bye !!”. 

           The next day, Marco decided to go to the Red mermaid restaurant. As soon as he arrived he felt that the pressure was quite less than yesterday. Marco was about to go inside as a girl around his age opened the door for him.

           “Welcome, please follow me dear customer, though we haven't opened yet”. The young girl grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside. 

            “My name is Carla, Carla Fullblack, and for you to join us You gotta prove yourself”.

           Carla was grabbing Marco tightly and heading downstairs, Marco noticed that she was fragile yet somehow strong enough to drag him. When they reached the basement, she clicked a switch and the two of them fell inside a gate. Marco didn’t catch anything from what she was doing, he tried to ask but couldn’t because she started talking first.

            “Well, you wanna join the guild red mermaid, then this is a test and those are our training grounds, lucky for you”, Carla was standing a little far from him.

             Marco sighed as he responded tranquilly “did she really think that I can hear here from that place, I Can’t hear a damn thing!!”. 

             Marco shouted his last words and Carla got mad. She sighed then pulled out a white mask. Despite him saying that he couldn’t hear her, she kept talking to herself. Marco felt the euro in the area rising up as Carla made the mask transform into a giant shield. He whistled and stood amazed while letting his guard down. Carla took a breath, and in a second she reached Marco attacking him with that shield. Marco didn’t see that attack coming but had a little amount of time to dodge as he took a step and bent his body to the back then he jumped away. Carla took him by surprise again and attacked him from the other side therefore Marco again avoided her attack by jumping in the air and holding onto the top of the shield, he got back on his feet after pushing himself up. Marco inhaled and exhaled at every time he dodged Carla's attack, and after some time he made it look like a tempo that Carla thought she got the hang of it, in her last attack she doubled her speed and attacked Marco. in the moment she was about to attack, Marco turned to the other side hiding that he was warping the wind around his arm. The two of them were about to clash at each other, and suddenly an arrow shot stopped them as it destroyed the land beneath them.