• Is that what I heard? Did Lenschi just say that Daishaw wants us? Maybe that was why he gave Lenschi a look before he disappeared on the podium.
    The dark door was surprisingly close. We got here pretty quickly. Lenschi seemed to be speeding up every time a second flies by. I didn’t do anything but stare and let my mind explode with the possibility that I could be killed. Daishaw doesn’t like me anyway, I imagined his old bony body being crushed under a boulder that fell from the heavens. When that day happens, I’ll be thanking god for the wonderful gift he sent.
    Lenschi stopped in front of the door, breathing heavily, taking the occasional deep gulps. Sweat dripped down the side of his face, it made me wonder if I was heavy. That or he was thinking hard—nervous, or even afraid. Before he reached for the knob, the door opened. Inside was a big room. It was almost as big as the lunchroom. This one had soft red carpet and small square tables with wooden chairs. There was a check out desk; a person sat behind it. Books covered every space on the wall, from floor to the ceiling. It was two stories high.
    What a cool library— “Whoa, hey!” I shout, my thought unfinished.
    Lenschi trudged on up the stairs and walked all the way to the back of the room. We stopped at the white wall. “Hold on” Lenschi says, putting my down for a bit. He lifted up his bangs to show his bare forehead. I stared because there was some sort of a symbol on his skin, just like a scar. It was shaped like a crescent—well; it looked more like a sun to me. Yea, that’s right; it was a sun but a crescent sun. Lenschi pressed his forehead on the wall and a light outlined a box around his symbol. Then the light disappeared and a chunk of the wall disappeared.
    “I’ve had enough of this hocus pocus” I said once Lenschi carried me again, going through the door-like hole. I turned to look back and see the wall reappearing. While that happened, the light went on. I took a good look at the surrounding. We were in a small hallway that was short. It only took five steps to go to a door.
    Lenschi opened that very door and walked inside. When the door slammed shut, he knelt on one knee with me still in his arms, and said something very foreign. It was such a strange language that it sounded magical to me. I noticed that his head was bowed and his eyes were shut. When he finished talking, he didn’t move.
    “Up” it was Daishaw. I turned and see him sitting behind a long desk that spread from one side of the wall to the other. There were four other chairs. All occupied with a different magician looking person.
    Lenschi stood slowly. He was treating these old people like they were kings! I rolled my eyes in annoyance. When we came here, I expected to see scary buff guys with tattoos, not these.
    “This is she?” an old lady says. She was to the right of Daishaw. When Lenschi nodded, she said, “Why does she not move?”
    Daishaw shifted in his seat, looking uneasy. “Her body was paralyzed on the transfer here” Lenschi says smoothly. He didn’t have the cheery voice I was used to hearing. Right now he sounded serious—all business, no messing around.
    “Why haven’t shohn healers healed her?” an old man with curly hair asks.
    I expected Lenschi to hesitate on this question but he doesn’t. “Daishaw gave us orders to not heal her”
    The four wizards turned to Daishaw with angry eyes. He coughs and doesn’t say a word.
    “Lenschi—who are these people?” I asked as quietly as I could. The lady heard me though.
    “We, if you are so curious, are the elders”
    No duh, I can see how old you guys are.
    “She speaks ill of us!” the old man with the shortest beard shouts. It was like he read my mind. “Who raised you, child?” his voice was full of fiery. Very short tempered.
    “None of your business” I growled at him.
    “She does not answer” says the lady, calmly.
    I was going to shout at short-beardy again but Lenschi interrupts before I could make out a peep. “Forgive me”
    “What—Lenschi, what are you saying? Don’t apologize to these people! Why are—”
    He gets back on one knee and repeats, “Forgive me”
    Oh god, he’s going crazy. Why is he acting this way? I shook my head.
    “Raise your head” says another man, brown haired.
    Lenschi does as he’s told. I glare at my new opponent, ready to attack once he opens his mouth to say something bad about me.
    “Bring the child here” his voice was kind and soft. His eyes sparkled green, it reminded me of Ellisia’s eyes.
    Lenschi brought me closer so that I was an arms reach away. The man put his hands in mine. He traced my skin, going up to my shoulders, down my stomach, and all the way to the tips of my toes. I should’ve felt grossed out by it but instead I felt an odd calmness.
    “Put her down”
    “Yes” Lenschi put me on my feet. And I stood. Even when he wasn’t touching me, I stood.
    “I can stand!” I jump and raise my hand in the air—pause. “I can move!” I spun in circles. A grin spread to Lenschi’s lips. I turned back to the brown haired man and shook his hand. “Thank you, mister” I felt like I’ve just been reborn.
    He laughs and old laugh, almost like Santa Claus.
    “What’s your name?”
    He smiles and says, “I don’t have one” he made it seem normal to say that.
    “What? But—mister—”
    “Please, be quiet!” short beard grumbles.
    I stuck my tongue out at him. “Make me”
    “A feisty one” the curly old man says. “Please, sit down”
    Two chairs magically appeared. Lenschi took a seat, but I didn’t. I just stood next to Lenschi.
    “I’ve spent a very long time sitting, so I think I would stand, thank you” I said.
    “Very well” he waves a hand and the extra chair vanishes. “Now, let’s get to business” the atmosphere got all tense once he looked at me. “Child, where do you come from? Tell us now so we can bring you back to your home”
    “I…come from Oklahoma in the United States of America, but people say I look Japanese…” I stop, they don’t want to hear about that.
    They all had blank expressions on their faces. “What? Child, what is your home planet?”
    “E—Earth”
    There was silence in the air.
    Lenschi broke it by asking, “What’s wrong, elders?”
    The lady sighs. “She isn’t from this…this…”
    “World” brown haired says.
    “I don’t understand” Lenschi was confused, I could tell by his expression.
    “You’re still young and don’t know very much yet. Even so, a very large percentage of people don’t know most planets in this world. In total, there are six. Four of those six don’t know and aren’t shohns and weirs. That’s why you’re only able to partner up with the people on Ore”
    “But—we’ve known that there are other planets because some of us accidentally summoned people there. People that do that are called ‘fallen’, and lose all their powers. Daishaw is the one that sends the summoned person back to their original planet”
    “That’s true” brown haired agrees. “But she’s not from here, is she?” he looks at me. “Child, are you lying to us?”
    “Of course not!” my voice was loud.
    “She speaks the truth” short beard says.
    This time the lady speaks up. “Lenschi, how did you get in here?”
    “I opened it like always” he lifts his bangs and points to the symbol carved there.
    “That can’t be right” Daishaw finally speaks. “When you summon someone not from Ore, you’re suppose to lose your powers. So how…?”
    “I wonder the same thing” the lady says.
    Lenschi just sat there, appalled. “I’ve never noticed…when I summoned her and I knew she wasn’t from Ore, I paid no attention to my power. I just kept thinking about the ceremony…” he was looking down, like he was talking to himself. “No one even mentioned it to me…”
    “Because they didn’t want to hurt your feelings” short beard says. His voice seems to always sound raspy and mean.
    Daishaw closed his eyes and sighed deeply. His thumb pressed against his temple. “Two hundred years ago…two hundred years ago…” he mumbled.
    “Two hundred years ago?” that reminded me of his speech. Two hundred years ago was when a war started.
    He ignored me. “It’s happening again…”
    part 9