It was 8:40 when Nik arrived at school, he walked down the hallway to his history class as he handed Ms. Sphinx the late pass and took his seat; after 40 minutes Ms. Sphinx’s lecture came to a brief end.

She looked at the clock. “Five minutes left, that’s a shame. Make sure to study Cowboys and Bandits in the West on page 690 for homework”.

“Nik, how come you were late?” asked Bailey.

Nik smiled. “Saw the new superhero movie last night”.

Jet sat on his desk. “Your lying. Were suppose to see it”.

“Sorry. It kinda slipped out when my parents found the drawing I did”, Nik scratched his head. “Who wants me to ruin it?”

Devon plugged his ears. “La-la-la, can’t hear you!” The bell rang as everyone ran out the classroom.

Nik looked over at his teacher. “You okay, Ms. Sphinx?”

She rubbed her eyes. “I’m fine but more importantly how are you, have you seen any shapeshifters lately?”

“No. Maybe the went away?”

She shook her head. “If only it was that simple Mr. Thompson but they won’t stop until their mission is complete”.

“Their after you”

She leaned back in her chain. “Don’t worry about that”.

Nik got up from his desk and walked over to Ms. Sphinx. “Hold out your hand”.   He placed a small black, red and green object in her palm. “You gave me two but, I think you should have one to keep you safe”.

She closed her hand. “Thank you”.

Nik gathered his stuff, quietly leaving a piece of paper on the desk and walked towards the door. “Bye, Ms. Sphinx”.

“Have a nice day”, she looked up at the empty classroom, then she noticed a piece of paper on Nik’s desk and sighed. “Must be another drawing”. She rose from her desk and picked up the paper, it was an auction flyer, she crumpled it and threw it in the trash bin.

At the Wilkin House, a beautiful golden necklace with a purple jewel in the middle was on display with two guards protecting it; Nik was with his parents as they talked with a man and woman in suits.

The woman snorted. “It’s simply marvelous all this exposure your getting”.

“Well, it was just fate and this little guy here”, Nik’s mom smiled.

The plump man laughed. “He’s quite the little miner isn’t he? Tell us son, how ye wind up there?”

Nik put his hands in his pockets. “I was exploring and fell through a tunnel”.

“Aye. Be more careful champ cause we love you”, Nik’s dad messed up his hair.

Nik went up to the stage to get a better look at the necklace and that’s when he spotted Devon behind the curtains with his mom. “Hey!”

Devon waved. “Whats up Nik? I was hoping to run into you”.

“Yea? I wasn’t expecting to see you here”.

Devon put his hand on his neck. “Yea, I didn’t want to come but my mom is the organizer and dad is at work, so my sister and I had to be here”.

“Hi!” said a voice. Nik turned to see Bailey with her mom and dad.

Bailey pointed and started to chant. “Promise break, promise break, you lie, lie, lie, your not real, your a faker!”

Devon and Nik both had blank stares. “Huh?”

Bailey put her hands on her hips. “My mom’s book”.

Nik looked down at his sneakers. “I’m sorry Bailey, I’ll give it back at school”. His stomach began to grumble. “Man, I’m hungry”.

Bailey grabbed Nik’s hand. “I think I saw a snack table when I came in, come on”. They went into the crowded hallway where they found the food table and ate as Nik grabbed something from his small Napsack.

“Bailey, heads up!” said Nik as he threw the football.

Bailey zig-zagged through the crowd, catching the ball in her arms. “Devon look alive!”.

Devon sprinted and jumped, catching the ball in the air. “Touchdown!”

“Hey!” said a booming voice. It was an average, lengthy security guard, she had chocolate skin, hazel eyes, and short black hair. “You kids shouldn’t be throwing stuff indoors”.

“Sorry”, we said in unison.

Devon gave a sneaky smirk and threw the football. “Nik, think fast!”              Nik jumped but missed as the ball rolled under the food table.

Devon jogged over. “Sorry dude”. Just then an announcement echoed for everyone to report to the auction hall.

Nik held up a hand. “It's cool, you guys go on ahead” He watched them leave as he went under the table to retrieve his ball, the door of the Wilkin house opened as Nik got up and two figures walked in.

“Hey kid” said a raspy male voice.

Nik turned. “Shapeshifters? I thought you ran away.”

The other man scoffed. “Were too skilled for a petty defense”.

Nik shrugged. “Your funeral. I’m a wielder and I kicked your butts last time”.

The shapeshifter growled before shifting into a black panther, Nik got out a Darkmatter Beast from his pocket and tossed it to the ground, it came to life as he climbed on it’s back and dashed away. A woman in a red dress shirt and black dress pants opened the Wilkin house door just as the Panther lunged at Nik chasing him down the corridor, the other shapeshifter glared at Dark Swan before disappearing down the hall.

Ms. Sphinx was confused. “Their not after me? Their after Nik!”

The DarkMatter Beast skidded through the Wilkin House, claws hitting the marble floor. “Their chasing me cause they want Ms. Sphinx, then again I did make them mad”. Nik looked back to see shapeshifters right behind as he grabbed the DarkMatter Beast by the horns. “Go Left!”.  The creature galloped into a huge meeting room as the shapeshifters circled around. 

“Now, that’s enough!” she spat, backflipping into the room. “I understand”.

Nik rolled off the DarkMatter Beast and pulled out his dagger as it glowed.“   If your looking for a fight, you got one.” The shapeshifters could feel the tension in the air as they opened a red portal and disappeared.

( Distant moment torn from time )

King Mitus sat on his throne as two shapershifters staggered in with wounds. “Your alive, what’s your report?”

The shapeshifters signaled to one another. “The boy is a wielder, he was able to activate the dagger and surprised us”.

The King’s voice boomed. “Dark Swan thinks she can lower her guard just because the boy is a wielder, but this time go after the boy and Dark Swan will follow. If you feel threatened or sense you’ll be killed, retreat, regroup, and wait for my orders we have too much information to miss”.