THE APPRENTICE II

46

"Hazel, I'm back! Come down here!" Strange shut the portal from a colorful planet that had a rainbow sky and red soil. He panted and wiped his brow as the girl jogged down the staircase. There was an adrenalized smile on his face as the cloak suppressed a ruffling sound from behind him.

"Hey, what's up?" She placed her phone in her pocket.

"I have something for you." He unraveled the cloak and revealed a small, red dragon that was about the size of a small dog. He held it in his palm and presented it to her. "Aaaand I'm the best!,"

"What's this? Why did you do this?" Her eyes doubled in size and her mouth fell open. She inches closer to it and the man held it by the back of the neck to keep it still.

"You don't like him?" He raised a brow and groaned at her still stunned expression. "You said you wanted something from Noman!,"

"Yeah, like a cool rock or something, not a fucking dragon!," She debated. "How are we even gonna keep that? It's gonna eat Fluffy,"

"I don't know, I thought maybe you could put it in another dimension or something." He shrugged. He scratched the back of his head and gave an eye roll. "Do you know how hard it is to catch a baby dragon?,"

"You just took it? You might damage the ecosystem or something!,"

"No, dragons are an abundance— like the kangaroos in Australia. They're almost a pest,"

"Why do you keep doing this?! You always do too much!,"

"I'm sorry I'm an excellent gift giver?" He scoffed to himself with pomp. His grip on the creature loosened and it escaped from his grasp.

The dragon began to fly around the Sanctum, the sound of shattering glass echoing from a distance. There was a moment of silence as they gazed at one another, dumbfounded.

"Great." He complained and a net appeared in his hand. He began to follow the sound of the dragon and coordinate with his cloak in an attempt to catch it. She slapped her forehead with a palm and snorted.

Behind her, a blue portal on the floor appeared. Prince Heskit crawled out of it and reached back into it, bringing out two rather large, golden boxes. He placed them on the floor with a thud and she turned at the sound.

"Hey, I thought you said you didn't wanna train today."

Both of their training days got less and less frequent and got much shorter. The two were advancing quickly in their respective areas of study. Quite frankly, Hazel doesn't think he even needs to be training anymore— he has mastered magical combat a few weeks ago, and the majority of training time was spent on self-studying for both parties.

"I know, but I still wanted to hang out." He dusted himself off and lifted the boxes up from the ground with a grunt. "I brought you something,"

"What are they? They look heavy." She observed and took one of them, then walked over to the coffee table.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Stephen's muffled voice followed by clanking noises were audible from a few rooms away. Heskit gave her a questioning look and she shook her head.

"Gemstones." He took off the golden case off of one box and revealed different colored gems. Some glimmered, some glowed, and the others were slightly reflective. The bottom of the container had a layer of grass on it and he took a blueish gem in his hands. "This one glows in the dark,"

"Woah, that's amazing!" She gasped and placed it closer to her eye. Strangely enough, it smelled a little bit like basil.

"Since you won't be coming to Pentadilune, I'm going to bring it to you." He squatted down to the table and she did the same. He brought an orange and red swirling gem to the light, its interior almost lava like.