Merlok's Nephew

Feeling Lonely

Sorry for the long wait. I've had writer's block and school/marching band has kept me busy. New chapter away!

For the past few months, it was the same routine for Clay. During the day, he would hide in his small cave and practice his magic. At night, he would sneak into the village, steal food, blankets, and other necessities for himself. Clay knew that stealing was wrong, his mother even told him so but he had no choice. People were afraid of him for some reason and he didn't know why.

He would only sleep for a few hours a day since he always felt that he was in danger at every moment since he saw those monsters. All he wanted to do was go home with his mommy and be in her loving embrace and nothing more. He shook his head. 'I have to survive. I have to keep myself safe for mommy.' Clay looked at his stone hands. 'Maybe... I can cure myself now. I've been practicing my magic for months now and I think can do it.'

Clay concentrated as hard as he could to get rid of his stone curse. Clay started to sweat as he was concentrating. It took him about 10 minutes or so but he finally cured himself. He was overjoyed. Clay wanted to scream in utter bliss but chose not to since he didn't want to be captured by anyone. Just because he was cured, it doesn't mean that he trusted anyone. After the incident with that strange wizard that battled his mother and the couple that ran away screaming from him, he didn't know who to trust anymore.

After doing that spell, all Clay wanted to do was sleep. He got up from his usual spot where he trained himself in magic and walked over to the edge of his small cave that was full of trash, discarded food, raggedy clothes, even small blanket with holes in them. It wasn't much but for Clay, it was his temporary home. Some days were more successful than others. Some days, he is able to get enough food to feed himself for the whole day, maybe more. Other times, he wasn't able to eat for several days. Water from the nearby lake was his only source of water.

Clay laid down on the ground on his makeshift pillow and tried to get himself as comfortable as possible. Once he got comfortable, he fell into a dreamless sleep. 'I want my mommy.'

Several months later

Merlok was worried. It had been about six months since the defeat of the Colossus and nearly a year since his sister was brought back to life but no sign of Clay. His nephew has been missing for almost a year and he feared the worst. Clay was killed when his sister came back or he was evil and was training to destroy all of Knighton. Either one worried him and he still needed to tell the other knights, along with Ava and Robin that Ruina was his sister.

A beeping sound took Merlok out of his thoughts. "Ava, my child, what is that blasted beeping sound?!" Merlok asked a bit annoyed. "Since the defeat of Monstrox and the Colossus, Knighton has been peaceful but as usual there are still problems. In the village of Dnullib, there have been reports of robberies at night. It's mostly food, clothes, and other material things. It wasn't a problem at first but now, these robberies are happening every night and it's driving the villagers crazy since no matter what they do, they can't seem to catch the thief.

"Hmm. This is troubling. Perhaps we should send Macy and Aaron to see what the problem is," Merlok suggested. Sometime later, Merlok contacted both Aaron and Macy to see if they could deal with the thief or see if they could calm the villagers.

"I'm glad Merlok asked us to help out the villagers of Dnullib. My father's been trying to turn me into the perfect princess since there are no more dangerous monsters attacking Knighton." Aaron nodded. "I hear ya. Principal Brickland wants me to help lead future knights as a teacher at the academy since I'm the leader of the NEXO knights."

"Yeah, guess we all are getting tasks we are comfortable with yet. Who knows maybe this "thief" in Dnullib will be the next start of our adventure as Nexo Knights." Aaron and Macy laughed. (Before anyone asks, there will be no romance between Macy and Aaron. I am not good with romance stories or romance in general since I'm not a huge fan of them. Sorry)

After another hour or so, Aaron and Macy arrived in Dnullib and went to speak with the mayor. "Thank goodness, you're here Nexo Knights." Aaron held out his hand to shake. "Are you certain that there is a thief in your village?" Aaron asked making sure that this wasn't a prank to meet them since that has happened in the past. The mayor nodded his head. "Yes, it happened sometime after the queen was saved from Monstrox. At first, it wasn't a problem since it was dirty clothes and blankets but now it has escalated from stealing from food carts and inside of homes," He told them clearly upset. "Are you sure it isn't a prank by some kids? Or someone needing help?" Macy asked. "We're sure. I know everyone in this town and someone would have noticed someone needing help and the kids and teenagers here know to never pull pranks like this." Macy and Aaron could tell that the mayor was serious about this.

"Can you tell who the thief is?" The mayor shook his head. "No. One night, when it got really bad, we set a trap to catch the thief. Many of us sat waiting for him/her to grab the food but we got distracted for a minute by a sound in another alley. Granted, one of us should have stayed to watch the food, but we were gone for a minute, maybe less than that, and not only was our trap disabled, but the pile of blankets, clothes, and food vanished into thin air." This caught their attention.

"Maybe, you're dealing with more the one thief?" Aaron asked. "We don't know and the villagers are getting worried that our thief might escalate to more than clothes and food." Aaron and Macy nodded. "Okay, we'll help," Macy told him. "Thank you, NEXO Knights." Aaron and Macy nodded and left the mayor's office to contact Ava and Merlok.

"Merlok, they do have a thief and they seem pretty desperate to get rid of him/her," Aaron told Merlok. "Were either of you able to get any information about them?" Merlok asked. "No, they did say that when they set a trap for their thief one night, they heard a sound and left a pile of food, blankets, and clothes alone for a minute, maybe less, and it suddenly disappeared and their trap was also disabled."

"Oh, dear. This may be worse than we originally thought. I'll contact Axl, Lance, and Jestro to help you. You must be cautious. I fear that we may be dealing something far worse then we realize." Aaron and Macy looked at each other worried.

Back in the small cave, Clay was living in, he woke up from his nap and assessed what he would need. 'Food more than anything.' Clay sighed as he felt his stomach growl. 'I wish mommy was here. I wish I didn't have to hide from anyone... I wish I had a friend.'

Poor Clay. :'(. I can't promise the next chapter won't take as long as this one did and I'm still working on the next chapter of Ruina's New Plan. Thanks for reading. See Y'all next time!