“Blake! Get the heck up already, I’m hungry!” Erin yelled flicking him on the nose. “Just go get food out of the fridge,” he mumbled back. “Not possible doofus, and mystery girl over here won’t let me eat until you are up. So if you aren’t up in the next three seconds, I am going to drag you over there,” she warned. “Do I have to?” he grumbled. “That’s it, get up!” she screeched. With that, she leaned over him, grabbed him by the nose and hefted him up to a sitting position. “OW!!! What the heck! Why couldn’t you just shake me by the shoulders like every other person on earth!” he demanded. “Because we aren’t on Earth, moron.” she replied. Everything came rushing back as he rubbed his bruised nose. The weird conversation, the painting, and even more importantly the fact that they had jumped into it. “If you two are done squabbling, can we eat?” Ivy asked, lifting the skillet she had been using. “What is for breakfast anyway?” he asked. “Wait, how is it already morning? Didn’t we just get out of school?” Blake asked. “Teleporting saps the strength of even the strongest in the realm. You guys have been sleeping since we got here. Although your friend woke a good hour and a half before you. Which is good, we don’t have time to wait any longer,” she explained, shoving plates of food at them. The plates were piled high with their favorite breakfast foods. “Where did you store all the ingredients for this? You don’t even have a bag,” Erin asked. “This is an enchanted skillet,” she said while cleaning it in the nearby stream,” It cooks whatever the user desires, but you can only use it once a day. So don’t eat all of it, cause all I have for later are some apples and a couple pears,” she said. Blake started stuffing his face with food. He then sectioned off some bacon and ham to save for a later meal. “Wait, you still don’t have a place to keep that stuff. Unless it is all in your hood or something.” Erin asked, perplexed. Ivy pulled a small pouch from inside her cloak and placed the skillet in it. “This pouch shrinks anything you put in it. It can only hold up to nine items though,” she demonstrated pulling a battle ax out. “Woah,” Erin exclaimed. “Do we get weapons?” Erin asked, visibly excited. “Only you do, I did not originally plan on you being here, and accordingly only packed one extra weapon. But he can create his own weapon. So no worries.” She pulled out a silver and purple dagger. This is the dagger, itzalezko altzairua. Or, translated, Shadowsteel. It is much older than earth and possesses great power. It will multiply and return to you upon a single command from your thoughts. Use it wisely,” she cautioned. “Now finish eating while I help Blake generate a weapon,” she prompted. Ivy stood and strode over to where Blake had just finished his meal. “ Alright Blake, I want you to repeat after me, and listen very carefully to any accents. Argiaren eta,” she said. “Argiaren eta” he copied. “Iluntasunaren kondenaren,” she continued.

“Iluntasunaren kondenaren.”

“Segurtasuna dela eta.”

“Segurtasuna dela eta.”

“Adineko arma.”

“Adeniko arma.”

“Bat deitzen diot.”

“Bat deitzen diot.”

When they had finished the air in front of them began to shimmer. Rays of light suddenly exploded from the space in front of them. When their eyes had recovered, and they could see again they saw a longbow radiating gold laying on the ground in front of them. It was awe-inspiring, inscribed with ancient runes and beautiful carvings of vines and trees. Blake tentatively picked it up and a quiver appeared strapped to his back. He tried to load an arrow to the bow, but it just fell off and clattered to the ground. He tried again and this time managed to pull the string back, only to let go and have the arrow go a mere foot in front of them. “That is not a good sign,” Erin criticized. “Well I would like to see you do better,” he retorted. “Fine,” she accepted. She pulled the dagger out of her pocket and it suddenly multiplied. There was now a dagger in between all her fingers. She hurled them at a nearby tree, all of them hitting within an inch of each other. In an instant, five more flashed towards the tree and the previous ones returned to her hand. “How is that for better?” she laughed. Blake was speechless, what he had just witnessed shouldn’t be possible. He felt a pang of jealousy, but ignored it. “While your skills are uncanny for a beginner, you still have much to learn,” Ivy stated. “As for you Blake, do not worry. When we reach base camp you have much more time to practice. But for now, we must move.” She picked up her battle ax that had slipped from her fingers when the lights had blinded her, and slung it across her back. “Where to,” Erin asked, returning the dagger to her pocket. “The lapis mountains is where we will join with my comrades.” She picked up a few more things, and helped Blake sling the bow over his shoulder. “Let’s go,” she said. And with that she strode off toward the mountains, looming above them.