I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, feeling like absolute garbage. It wasn't just that they had said hurtful things to me, it was the fact that they were right! I was a freak who should even exist, and with my luck I was going to get them all killed. After all, Lilith was only injured because of me, no matter how much Viktor had to do with it, it was my fault she was injured.

Just as I was about to walk back to my cabin and hide in my room, Viktor came out of the guild hall. I looked up at him, tear stained face looking worse than ever before. He looked down at me with a very sympathetic gaze, taking a seat right next to me. He looked down at the ground underneath me and took note of the dark spots formed by my tears.

He sighed, disappointed "Now what are you sitting out here doing, your food is going to get cold..." His voice was cautious, as it should be.

I wiped the tears out of my eyes and looked over at him "They're right, you know, I shouldn't exist..." I croaked out, my voice scratchy and sore.

"Don't you ever say that!" Viktor shouted at me, tears welling up in his eyes "Who cares if your dad broke some stupid pact?! Just because he screwed up doesn't mean you deserve to be hated by everyone!"

I looked down at the ground "It doesn't matter that I didn't do anything, I'm still at fault, they don't hate me, they're afraid of what I could do and what I mean to this world. I'm the forbidden child, I shouldn't exist..."

Viktor placed his hand on my shoulder causing my head to shoot up and look at him, he was crying. "Avien, I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to let you. You can pretend like this is all your fault and that everyone is justified, but they aren't, none of this was your fault"

I could feel my body growing hot from Viktor's touch "Oh yeah?! How do you know what I'm thinking?!" I shouted, not truly angry, just frustrated at him.

He gave me a very stern and somewhat somber look "Because I've been where you are right now..."

My eyes widened in shock, I couldn't think of what to say. Viktor leaned up against one of the columns of the hall and looked up, wistfully, at the stars.

"I didn't exactly grow up in the greatest home..." He began to say, his voice a bit shaky. "I was born to a family of highly skilled apprentices. Sure, we weren't the highest tier, but we were extremely skilled at magic. When I was born, I was expected to follow that legacy and be the next great Terranova apprentice of earth, but I didn't exactly live up to their expectations..." He stopped briefly, removing his bandana and wiping his eyes, his frizzy hair going everywhere.

He tied his bandana back up and continued his story "I was scrawny, weak and I couldn't even make a proper magic seal, to them I was garbage, they wished I hadn't been born. One day, to try and teach me some discipline the trapped me inside of a stone cage. I spent the entire night trying to break out, after several hours I finally did. My first thought was to simply head inside to my family, but then I realized that if they didn't want me, then they wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. I ran away from home. After a while wandering around in the woods I stumbled across this camp, and they accepted me with open arms, made me feel like I actually belonged somewhere..."

I just sat there, looking at Viktor as he took off his bandana to wipe off his face once again. I had no idea that he had dealt with such horrific things in his life. It made sense why he had been so nice to me, despite knowing what I was, he had been in the exact same position before, he truly knew what it was like. All I could do was lean over and tightly hug him, wrapping my arms around him as I began to sob uncontrollably.

I could feel him pat me on the back, comforting me "Avien, don't worry, no matter how many people try to hurt you, I will always be here to protect you, because we are friends, now and forever..."

I tried my best, but all I could manage was "Thank you..."

Several minutes passed as we sat there, thinking and contemplating, I had no idea what I could say. Viktor had just told me the nicest thing I had ever heard, no one had ever put themselves before me, I felt honored. I had just met Viktor and he was already prepared to fight for me, not knowing almost anything about me other than the fact that I had a psychopath living in my head. I couldn't even comprehend feeling that way towards anyone at this point.

Then I thought of something "Wait, you said that you came here from a home, does that mean there are towns and such outside of the camps?"

He looked over at me, putting on a brave smile "Of course there are, not everyone lives at camps, there are hundreds of small towns dotted around our world, and even a few large cities. In fact, most of the camps are located within cities where the Masters reside."

I shot up, much more interested now "Wait, so the Masters just live amongst us apprentices?"

Viktor laughed "Well, most don't exactly live with us, but they do stay near their respective camp as somewhat of a guardian. Although, I've heard stories that Camp III, the one for descendants of your dad, is very frequently visited by him."

My eyes widened, realization dawning on me "My mom... she said that she met my dad at a camp retreat... do you think she was an apprentice at Camp III?!"

Viktor gave me and odd look, pondering the question "That's possible, but you grew up in the realm of mortals, which I guess would make sense if Strataros knew what you being born would mean to this world and he wanted to hide you."

I nodded, that made a lot of sense, if he knew that my birth could totally turn this world on its head he would most likely want to keep me as hidden as possible and hope that I would never be found.

"So... uh... where exactly is your mom then?" Viktor asked.

"Oh, about that, she um...." I stopped, unable to say it.

Viktor placed a hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eyes "It's okay dude, I understand, you don't have to continue..."

I gave him a weak smile "Thanks..."

We went back to sitting against the guild hall as the sounds of dinner and revelry continued inside its walls. The smells from inside wafted out causing me to remember how hungry I was. I looked down at my sushi and salmon and realized that I didn't have anything to eat them with.

I looked over at Viktor, remembering how he had created the stretcher out of wood earlier "Hey... would you be able to make chopsticks, like you did with the stretcher, earlier?"

He smiled, cracking his knuckles and placing his palm over the ground "I certainly can!" He said as another seal formed and two wooden sticks began to sprout from the ground and form into the shape of chopsticks. I watched in amazement, excited to eventually learn how do my own magic, assuming anyone would be willing to teach me.

Viktor plucked the chopsticks from the ground and held them out in his hand "Here you go!" I took them, admiring how smooth they were.

I placed the chopsticks in between my fingers and picked up one of the rolls of sushi, placing it in my mouth and chewing it. I was amazed by how good it tasted, I hadn't had sushi in so long and I wasn't quite sure if I would still like it. It brought back so many happy memories of spending time with my mom and when my life was much simpler.

"What exactly is that?" Viktor said, pointing to the sushi.

I laughed, quite surprised by the question "You've never had sushi before?" I said, holding a piece between the chopsticks.

"No, I've never even heard of it..."

I held the plate up to him, offering him some "Go ahead, take a piece, it's really good, I'm sure you'll like it, assuming you like fish..."

Viktor cautiously picked up a piece, briefly observing the foreign orange and green roll before plopping it in his mouth and chewing. His face went through a mix of shock, confusion, and then disgust before he quickly spit out the sushi.

"Ighck! What in Sengario's name was that?!"

I chuckled, amused by his dramatic reaction to the cuisine "It's avocado, wrapped in rice, wrapped in seaweed, wrapped in shrimp. I find it absolutely delicious, although, given the whole Ninx thing, it may make a lot more sense now..." I said, happily chewing down on another piece of sushi.

He gave me a very confused and bizarre glance as I finished off the last roll "That, my friend, is truly a product of Zeraph himself"

I smiled, picking up the salmon and swallowing it whole "Well the, I dare say that Zeraph is quite the masterful chef!"

We turned and looked at each other, before bursting out laughing hysterically. It felt good to laugh, it always makes you forget about any problems you could potentially be having or bring light to someone's otherwise terrible day. Once we had finished our fit of joy we laid down and looked up at the stars, they were so clear at bright here in camp.

"Hey, you know what we might want to do?" Viktor said, finally breaking the silence.

I turned to him, cocking my head sideways "What's that?"

"We should go see if Lilith is awake yet" he responded, his voice a bit distant.

I frowned "Do you really think she'll want to see me right now, I am the one who got her hurt after all..."

Viktor jumped to his feet and chuckled "Nah, I'm sure she'll be totally fin, she's not really one to hold grudges..."

I stood up as well "Somehow I doubt that, very much... but, sure let's go see her"

We began walking towards the infirmary, guided by the lanterns as the noise from the guild hall faded behind us. The training grounds were completely empty now, which felt very odd, considering every time we had seen them they had been bustling with activity. The whole camp was eerily quiet, save for the distant noise of the guild hall and the crackling of lantern fires.

As we neared the infirmary we noticed there was a light on in the infirmary, even though there were no nurses there right now.

"I guess that means Lilith is awake?" I said, cautiously eyeing the door to the infirmary.

"That, or one of the other patients, the lanterns inside are set to ignite whenever any of the patients wake up.

I nodded, pushing the door open and walking inside, there was only one lantern lit in the entire infirmary. In the bed underneath it was the darkened form of a girl, she was reading a book and she had something on her back. As I got closer, I realized that the thing on her back was a pair of wings, it was definitely Lilith.

She turned over to us and said "Hey guys, how was dinner?"