New Generation

Questions Left Unanswered

((Max's POV))

        "What's dad doing? Who's that?" I point to one of my dad's through the window. He's talking with someone I've never seen before. They have white hair and red eyes, and are dressed in black robes. Maybe a sorcerer friend of dad's? 

        "I... I'm sure it's fine. That's a friend of Seto and I, I wonder why he's here..." Dad closes his sketchbook- something I'm not allowed to touch- and goes over to the window with me. He looks worried, and a little confused. A few minutes later, the person dad was talking to leaves, and dad comes back inside. 

        "Who was that? I've never seen them before. Are they a sorcerer like you?" I ask. We rarely have visiters, so I'm interested. I doubt someone would come all this way to say "happy birthday" to dad and leave minutes later. Seto (I think I'll just call them by their names, even though I wouldn't dare to out loud) locks the door, then runs over to where he keeps his alchemy stuff and starts looking for something. 

        "Seto, what's going on? What's Ethan doing here? If he came all the way here from the castle, it must be serious. What's going on?" Brice asks. I'm suprised by the lack of humor in his voice. He's always trying to lighten the mood if something's gone wrong, but now he sounds serious. Scary. 

        Seto finds what he's looking for and runs back over to us. It's a box, locked on all four sides of the lid. He uses a key, not magic, to undo the locks and takes out a dusty leather bound book. It looks old. To my suprises, he hands it to me. 

        "Max, listen. I may not be able to help you with training for a while, so take this. It's my spell book. You remember my lession on spell books a few months ago?" I nod, thinking back to it. Spell books are often used when someone is teaching themself magic. The books themselves have magic in them, making it actually possible to learn from them. 

        "Seto, what's going on? You swore you'd never use that again unless-" Brice stops, as if something just hit him. Seto pushes the book into my hands, then goes over to Brice. 

        "Ethan came to warn us. It's happening, worse than last time. We aren't ready, not this time. He's going to try to track down Sky now, he's just hoping he isn't to late...." I am compleatly lost as to what the Neather is going on, but Brice seems to understand. 

        "Max, you need to get out of here. Maybe... There's a place in the forest you can run to, maybe twenty miles from here. Just follow the stream until you reach it. If you look in the trees, you'll know when you get there." Seto shakes his head. 

        "Brice! That could be a death sentance for him! You know I don't have the best relationship with them. We can't send him off on his own!" Ok, dad having enemies? What have my parents been hiding from me?! 

        "Can you please tell me what's going on?! Who's Ethan? What's he warning us about? What's happening? Who would want to kill me? I deserve to know!" I yell. I stomp my foot hard, and I hear floorboards creek when I do. My parents go silent. Brice looks like he's about to say something, when something hits the door, hard. 

        "Already? No no no no. Brice, get Max out. I'll try to hold them off of you." Seto's hands light up with dark purple flames, making me jump back in suprise. I've onlhy ever seen him do healing and fixing spells before, nothing defencive in the least. I feel like I'm looking at a compleatly different person. 

        "I'm coming back for you the second I get him to the treeline, got that? Don't get yourself killed." Brice mutters. Seto nods, and flashes him a smile. The next thing I know, I'm running with dad to the back of the house. He takes us to the library, and pulls a book. The bookshelf moves , and I feel the cold air from outside. 

        "Come on, we need to be fast." Brice whispers. I'm compleatly lost as to what's going on, but I nod, holding the old book Seto gave me tight. I feel like I'm going to need it. 

        "Okay, I don't see anything..." I say unsertantly. Brice nods, and we sprint across the clearing to the treeline. Normally, the run would seem short, but now that there is some unknown danger after us, it takes an eternity. Once we reach the trees, there is a breaking sound in the house. 

        "Listen, I need to go back now. Run for the camp, follow the stream. Don't tell anyone you are related to Seto, alright? He's not very popular there. We'll meet you there." He looks back at the house. I can faintly hear dad's voice yelling something in runic. 

        "Promise I'll see you?" I ask. I feel like a little kid, asking for my dad to promise my something. He sighs, gives me a quick hug, and sprints back to the house. Not the must reasuring responce. My parents are trying to save me from... something. I might as well do as they say. I turn around and sprint for the stream. I know where it it, because when I was learning pottery, Brice had me collect clay there. I remember showing Seto the clay cat my ten year old hands had managed to make, and him showing me how to animate it, so it could walk around and play like a real cat. I still have it, somewhere in my room. 

        "Twenty miles... that's at least a day trip. This will take forever." I mutter. I keep running, and keep wanting to look back. I have a feeling stoping even for a second would be a bad idea though. I keep running until I'm out of breath and to tired to take another step. When I look back, I can't see my house anymore.