Masters

Chapter 1

"Nick! Wake up! You'll be late!"

Nicholas Xed groaned and threw the covers off his bed. He opened his eyes and took one last look at his room. The walls, covered in posters of pictures taken from faraway places in the universe, also had shelves lined with trophies he took from the monsters he hunted in the woods.

He got up and walked to his mirror on the wall. His bedhead made his wild red hair even more flamboyant. He could barely keep his blue eyes open because of how groggy he was. His galaxy-patterned pajamas covered most of his tan brown skin. He rubbed the crust out of his eyes and yawned.

"Nick! Come on! You have to be ready in time for the ship!" yelled Nick's Mom from downstairs. Nick groaned loudly and yelled, "I'm coming, Mom! Just let me shower and change!"

After cleaning himself, Nick was finally awake enough to appreciate the magnitude of the day. This is it! I'm finally going to go to Master School, just like you Dad!

After changing into a dark green canvas jacket above a black t-shirt and beige cargo pants in his room, Nick walked down the hallway to the stairs. The walls were brown and lined with pictures of him growing up and his parents on the trips they went on. Nick made it to the dining room/kitchen/living room at the bottom of their house with his mother glaring at him. She had dark skin and red hair like his, but her eyes were brown. She was one head and a half taller than he was and very muscular.

"So, you finally decided to get out of bed, did you? And here I thought you were going to sleep in until the ship was gone and I'd have to take care of and provide for you for another year!" Nick groaned and said, "Mom I-" But Nick's Mom held up her hand and said, "Save it! Just eat, get your bag, and leave!"

Nick rolled his eyes, sat down at the table, and marveled at what he saw. There were piles of waffles covered in syrup and whipped cream, sausages heaped together and dripping with juice, a huge omelet with cheese folded in, speckled with pepper and a tang-tomato sauce drizzle, and a pitcher of his favorite aurora fruit juice swirling with colors.

Nick gaped at his mother and said, "What's... the occasion?" Nick's mother rolled her eyes and said, "Well, since the Master Academy is basically a military school, I assume the food they serve is slop. So, your last decent meal for a few years might as well be memorable."

Nick was a little confused because he knew it was general knowledge that the Master academy served the finest food gathered from all over the universe and was quite far from a military school, but he decided not to back-talk his mother and have his breakfast privileges revoked... again.

After finishing what was no doubt one of the best meals Nick had ever eaten, he got his bag which he packed the previous night and walked along the cobblestone path to the main road with his mother nagging him all the way. In place of a lawn, they had a huge garden full of the rare plants and herbs his mother cultivated for a living, all grown from seeds his father brought back when he visited from his journeys. Each flowering plant had spritelings, small feminine creatures of many shapes and colors small enough to fit into Nick's hand, floating between them; only proving that the garden was one of the most well taken care of in all Iaso, Nick's home dimension.

"Did you pack all the clothes I laid out?" "Yes." "Your toothbrush?" "Yes." "Deodorant?" "Yes." "Soap?" "Yes." "Mr. Critter?" "Mom! I'm almost twenty!" But yes. "Are you sure you didn't miss anything?" "Yes! For Almighty's sake yes! You know Mom, the next time you see me, I'll be a full-fledged adult, so you better get used to the idea of treating me like an equa- Urk!"

To Nick's utter astonishment, his mother had pulled him into a crushing hug and was shaking with sobs. "Whatever happens, no matter what trials you face, no matter what monster stalks you in the night, no matter what horror you witness, promise me, promise me, you'll come back alive!"

Nick was completely speechless. He had only ever seen his mother this vulnerable very few times in his life. First when her pet liger, whom she raised from a cub, had died. Second when Nick had come back bruised and bloodied after his first monster ambush. And third when the people came to their house saying that his father had died on one of his journeys.

"I... I promise Mom." After a few moments more, Nick's mother released him and wiped her eyes. Nick's mom replied in a shaky voice, "I'll... just be in the house." Nick's Mom raced back to the front door and disappeared behind it. Nick took one last good look at the place he grew up at. It was a simple house, two stories tall and not terribly big. The four brick walls held up a slanted tiled roof. Nick was pretty sure his mother was looking back at him from the bottom-floor window. Nick turned around and walked past the entryway in the chest-high wall encompassing the garden and began his trek along the gravel road leading to the central town, his heart full of equal parts excitement and longing.

The fields of the prairies were mostly featureless with the occasional patch of the flowers. Occasionally, there were patches of plants that Nick recognized to be edible herbs and grains. Far off in the distance were the woods that few people in his home dimension dared to tread for fear of the local species of monsters. As Nick was walking along, he heard a shrill shouting coming from down the road that steadily grew louder.

"Help! Someone, please help!" A little girl in blond pigtails and a yellow dress came running towards Nick and stopped to catch her breath in front of him. "Please... please help me."

Nick bent down to face her and said, "Calm down. What seems to be the matter?" The little girl looked into his eyes and said, "M... M... Monsters took my puppy!" "Monsters? Describe them to me." The little girl paused for a moment and said, "They were green and scaly, could walk upright and had weird eyes that were pointed and could look in different directions."

Sounds like a pack of chameleo drakens thought Nick. Chameleo drakens are D rank reptile beasts. Not the strongest monsters in Iaso, but dangerous in groups, especially if they got the drop on you with their camouflage ability. They were also voracious carnivores that didn't care about snatching prey much smaller than themselves.

"Don't worry, I know where those monsters live, and I'll be happy to get your puppy back." The little girl wiped her eyes and said, "Thank you, I'll be waiting right here." Nick turned away from the path and began his trek to the woods.