THE APPRENTICE II

12

"So do you have a name?" She inquired in an effort to distract herself from her hunger. The bread and apple basically just passed by her stomach and left her hungry after staying for minutes.

"No,"

"What? Seriously" She almost stopped in her tracks. Mist started to form from the top of the maze indicating the start of the nighttime. "Right, none of you have names back in Egnaar, right? And you are a male...right?,"

"Not us, only our rulers have names," He confirmed with a slight nod. He turned his head slightly to her direction "And I assume you would like me to ask you for yours?,"

"Hazel, my name's Hazel," She answered "I'll give you a name- what about Aslan?,"

"No,"

"Simba? Mufasa?,"

"No!," He was clearly offended by her word choice "I would be better off without one- what are you doing?"

Hazel knelt down to the smooth ground to meet his beastly eyes. "Look at me." She ordered and the two stayed silent for a few seconds. Her eyes squinted and her throat hummed. "You look like...a Thor. I don't think he'd mind me using that,"

"Thor?,"

"Thor, the god of thunder- great guy, really fun." She reminisced with a sentimental smile ghosting her face. "It's that or Leon, and I think you'd wanna go with Thor,"

"I'm no god,"

"But It's fitting for the king of the jungle, right? We call your kind the king of the jungle, back home. We call you lions and you guys don't have wings over there." She observed his mouth pull down and his eyebrows droop. "Did I hit a spot for you?,"

"I want to go home." He whimpered and started to drag himself. "I shouldn't be in this wretched prison!" His voice mimicked the thundering roars of the beasts on earth, causing her to let her guard up.

"Why are you here, anyways?,"

"It was a mistake." He immediately defended and she nodded to let him continue. "I was in Egnaar, hunting with my brothers and sisters. We had just gotten into a fight, my brother and I, he was the eldest and always loved to pick on me,"

"How many siblings do you have?,"

"4," He responded. "My brother was the strongest, my one sister the fastest, the other one the most agile, my other brother the biggest; my eldest one always made it clear that I had no place in the family, but I didn't believe him. I always had the strongest wings, I could fly faster and higher than any of them."

Hazel put her apple down in complete interest and slowed down her walking.

"I found an unknown creature flying in our skies and I wanted to prove my worth to them. You should have seen it: it had big wings and a fleshy body, it was unlike any bird I've seen. I thought that by catching it first, it would silence them,"

"But the creature was from Havoc." She cringed by gritting her teeth and he confirmed it. "How in the hell did you get away with something like that? Shouldn't you be-,"

"-Sentenced to death? No," He denied. "Egnaar is my territory and no outsiders cannot enter its premises without-,"

"-having been invited or given permission. They broke the law before you did." She finished for him and scoffed resentfully. "You shouldn't be here, you're innocent,"

"Not in Havoc." He concluded and sped up their pace. "And you're innocent. Everyone who enters the puzzle is, I presume,"

"One of them literally tried to kill me!" She vented off to him with a dry laugh and threw her hands up. "He was manipulated by one of my enemies and so he tried to kill me, but obviously, I won. I killed one but only because it was an act of self defense. I shouldn't have stopped with one, if you ask me,"

"You must be important for having enemies,"

"What I did was important, but not me: I'm a sorcerer, I protect the world and to an extent, the universe from any mystical threats," She looked up at the sky as though the citizens of Havoc were watching them. "I've saved their asses more times than they can count. They're ungrateful, that's what they are,"

"And here we are: you, injured and unable and me, a wingless limp." He gestured to his paw that was limped and lines appeared on her forehead- how has she never seen that before? She pressed her lips into a line and sighed.

"Icarus." She smiled in delight "That's the perfect name for you,"

"Icarus?,"

"It's a story about a father and his son, Icarus. The father worked for a king who had a beast for a sun, so he instructed a man to build a cage for him- ironically enough, a labyrinth. The king locked the man and his family up to keep the beast secret, but the man thought of a way to escape," She explained "He made wings out of feathers and wax for him and his son, Icarus. He told his son not to fly too high or the sun'll melt the wax or too low, or the sea'll weigh him down. He didn't listen, he was too fascinated by the heavens and flew too close to the sun. His wings melted. and...well, he died,"

"Icarus." The beast repeated and stared at her. "I like it,"

"See? I'm a genius,"

"Not a humble one." He returned, making her frown. "You're still named Human to me, Human."