The Solar Empire

Chapter 4: A Warning

I had a hard time sleeping that night because all of the things Sync said just stuck in my head. All the yelling and how I honestly did almost agree with what he said. I just sighed and turned my head over to look where he was sleeping. I could tell he was sound asleep from his slightly loud snoring. Once I knew he was asleep I sat up and started at the sky, lost in thought. 

'What's wrong with me? The stuff he said should all be an over exaggeration...but it wasn't.' I thought darkly. 

While I didn't hate wizards like myself or hate mortals, or anyone for the matter, I did at one point just start ignoring and blocking out all the things I heard. I was so tired of constantly hearing that another wizard died and that more mortals were beginning to speak violently about us because they ran into a wizard who dared fight for his life. I didn't want to hear about the state the world was in because I didn't want to constantly be afraid of every mortal I saw. But..everything he said was still right. I'm basically ignoring the innocent people. I blinked away a tear and looked towards the moon and Sync.

As much as I understood why he said those things, I still didn't want live my life and become the same as the other wizards. Constantly worried...angry..fearful of their lives....I didn't want that for myself and I especially wouldn't wish it on anyone else.

Finally, I looked at Sync and sighed.

'That yelling wasn't just about me...it was more...and I don't want him become some jaded, violent wizard towards mortals. I want to make him have hope. I want to give hope to everyone around me...even if it's a little hard to see hope in times like this......That will be my mission.' I told myself as I gave Sync's sleeping figure a sad smile and turned back over to sleep.

~~~

The morning was pretty rough considering Sync kept giving me death glares, but I kept with my usual happy attitude as I always kept in mind my promise from last night. After all, there's no use in always being miserable!  That won't get anything solved. So, with a skip in my step, me and Sync grabbed out bags, stored them away, and followed the path on the map. Thankfully, with me reading it, we were following the right path to Greenleaf!

"So what are you gonna do in Greenleaf? Just visiting?" I asked as kind as possible, though I quickly saw that saying it as kind as I did wasn't a good thing as he simply glared and grunted. I stared at my feet for a second and thought.

'I don't want him to hate me! But any talking I do only makes him madder...ugh, this is like talking talking to my sister...EVERYTHING seems to be the source of their anger.' I thought momentarily. I kept thinking about how I could possibly get him to, at the least not hating me when I realized that he had stopped walking. I looked at him in confusion. 

"What's wrong?" I asked and he simply glared at something behind me. I turned to see what he was looking at and felt the chill of fear creep up on me as I walked back towards him more.

In the distance I could see four figures, and while that in itself isn't the scariest thing, anyone could tell these weren't nice strangers. Though it was hard to make out details I could quickly see that one of the figures was a large spider while the other was am ever bigger and taller snake. Through the clouds I saw the shadow of some sort of bird. There was a fourth smaller figure, but I couldn't make out any details until they had gotten closer, by which point I could sense Sync was becoming tense. 

Me and Sync simply stayed put until the group was a little less than a few feet away. I prayed and hoped that they would walk by because now I could see my worst fear confirmed, but they didn't walk by us, they stopped in front of us. The shortest one of the group, a guy who I could now see was a green lizard smiled as he spoke.

"Why hello fellow travelers." He sneered in a condescending voice. I would have replied, but my brain had shut off from fear. But to my surprise, Sync took over for me. 

"Greetings, not to seem rude, but you're in the middle of the path and I'd like to pass with my...friend ." He practically forced the last part out, but kept a calm tone. The lizard didn't like that.

"Aww well gee, are you saying I can't just strike up a conversation with two fellow wizards." He slightly growled the last part and I almost let out an audible gasp.  

I had never seen a wizard like him before. Because he, looked like many of the mortals who fight against wizards. His left arm and right leg, as well as his tail...were made of metal. 

Machine, mechanically, completely robotic. For that was the one thing a wizard could not fight against. The metal mortals used was completely unaffected by any magic. And this...wizard as he said he was, looked just like the rest of the group. The large brown snake had thick metal rings around his body with spikes coming from the sides. The bird has metal talons that could seeming slice through anything. The only one with no metal parts was the dark blue spider.

My attention went back to Sync as he responded to the lizard.

"Not when we're in a hurry. You see my friend's mother is gravely ill. We fear she may not make it, so we must to get to...Rosemary soon." He replied. I was about to question why he said Rosemary instead of Greenleaf, but I remembered who we were talking to and simply nodded along. But the lizard narrowed his eyes and smirked.

"You think you're so clever? Well I don't like being lied to, and I ESPECIALLY don't like wizards smart mouthing me. So, consider this a warning if we ever meet again. Because soon enough, you're whole kind will regret it." He growled as he motioned for his group to simply walk around us. As they passed, each one of them gave us a death glare. Once they had gone far enough, I sighed.

"That was scary...I've never seen a wizard...act like those mortals.." I sadly commented.

"For once you're right. I never thought that even a wizard would agree with their foolish belief that us wizards must pay for being evil. When in reality, it's them that kill innocent bystanders." Synce replied, staring off towards where they were walking.

"But that's so hypocritical! He said he was a wizard then basically insulted his own kind!" I stated feeling very confused as to the encounter. Sync simply looked back at me.

"I think for once I feel the same way as you." He simply stated and I just looked at him like he said he wanted to be friends. But before he or I could say anything else he simply cleared his throat.

"Anyways, we should get a move on. GreenLeaf is only a few hours away." He explained as he began to walk. As I followed him, I smiled.

'Maybe we do have a chance of being friends!'