Wednesday, January 20, 2016

The Son of Light Book 2: The MBS Guild


About the Book
Title: The Son of Light Book 2: The M.B.S. Guild
Author: Chris Parker
Genre: Fantasy
Despite having the worst birthday in his life, sixteen year old Joshua Suzuki finally gets his birthday wish—to get out of his house in Porter Ranch, California, which he had spent a decade locked up in. But his wish would be an unusual one because he soon finds himself in an underground college, which belonged to secret organization, called the M.B.S. (Mind, Body, and Soul) Guild. This blows Josh’s mind. And what shocks him even more is that his twenty-six year old foster brother, Nickolas Suzuki, is the leader of the M.B.S. Guild.

Nick wastes no time in telling Josh the horrible truth to why they’ve been in hiding for ten years — The Demon Lord, Hexen, has returned. Nick puts Josh in the protection of his crazy college friends to train him in the art of energy, as Nick travels around the world for clues about Lord Hexen’s origins.

But after being lured out of the guild, Josh find himself in the outside world again, a world far more dangerous than the last time. Now, Josh has to find his way back to the guild while dealing with violent bandits, crazed zombie-like people, and worst of all, Lord Hexen. Can Josh survive?

The Son of Light Book 2: The M.B.S. Guild is an adult fantasy novel that features fast-paced action, and side-splitting comedy. If you like the Harry Potter and A Game of Thrones novels, then you like The Son of Light book 2.

Author Bio
Chris Parker started writing during his community college years until he transferred to a film school, Columbia College Hollywood, after losing his house in 2008. There he came up with many stories such as, The Son of Light. However, he went to school to become an editor. After earning his BA, Chris went back to his first love, writing.


Links


Book Excerpts

The Book of Rinascita E Morte
Josh
Josh, a very thin boy of sixteen, with light brown hair, and deep turquoise eyes, sat in his room in Porter Ranch, California. He was playing on his guitar letting his mother’s heavenly voice fill his ears as she sang his favorite lullaby. Then he fell to the ground covering his ears. His mother had stopped singing, her voice turning to a scream. Then the floor under him vanished and he fell into darkness.
On and on he fell until—splash!—he fell into a large lake. It felt more like he had fallen into a large pile of white-hot needles. He splashed around frantically as dead bodies began to float to the surface around him. More and more bodies appeared, starting in the hundreds, then thousands, then millions. He screamed as he pushed their rotting faces away.
The lake suddenly changed from a dirty gray to a glowing pink. The bodies sizzled and melted into the lake. He heard someone laughing, a high pitched and cold laugh. He continued to splash around until his eyes landed on a figure in a blood red, long-sleeved cloak, their face hidden in shadow.
A large area of the lake began to boil behind him. He jerked his head around and to his horror saw a very large figure forming from the lake before his very eyes. It had the body of a flayed human and a skull for a face with large horns protruding from its temples. The titan roared and grabbed him. He screamed as it bit down onto his head making a loud crunch.
Josh’s eyes popped open and he jerked into a sitting position, his body bathed in a cold sweat. What the hell was that? He found himself in a silver-blue room. His eyes fell upon many familiar things: pictures of him and his brother when they were younger with their mother sat on a big white desk below a large window. The apple cinnamon scent and the extreme messiness of clothes and books everywhere along with unfinished food on the nightstand next to him filled his vision. There was even the same painting of the cherry blossom tree with mountains in the background, the one his mother liked. This was his brother’s room. How the heck did I get here? Where is Nick? And that dream…
He glanced again at the white desk and peered at the calendar near it. April 28th, 2018.
The 28th of April? Now things were becoming a bit clear. This was still the same month of his birthday, but his birthday was on the fourth. So what had happened? And why was Nick’s room so different? Or maybe this was his room and Nick had just moved in? Everything was a blur, but then a slight ache came from his right arm and his insides felt like they were burning. Every muscle ached. Not to mention his head was ringing.
Whatever was going on, he needed to look for his brother. He stepped out of bed and found himself completely naked. Oh lovely. I’m naked…why am I naked? Before he could move, however, the door swung open and a young man walked in holding a towel and soap. He was wearing a light gray sleeveless hoodie with a dolphin outlined in lime green, blue shorts, a belt with the UK flag, and a silver badge with the words: Sea Shore Division, Lieutenant Governor, Mew Evans. Josh saw him freeze, his blue eyes wide and body trembling.
Then a tomboyish young girl with long, mousey brown hair approached. Josh watched her stand there like the young man, and moments later faint. Then Nick came in. His face brightened.
“You’re awake!” he coughed.
Josh was speechless as Nick faced the young man.
“Alright. Show’s over.”
Josh felt his brother’s cold hands push him towards the bathroom.
“Finally glad that you can wash yourself now,” Nick mumbled to Josh.
This was so horrible. How could Nick act so nonchalant? He was naked in front of three people! Well, Nick didn’t count, but those other two certainly did. Nick took the clean towels and soap from the young man who was now blushing furiously and handed them to Josh. Then the door shut. What the hell was going on? Josh wondered. He could hear Nick speaking to the young man.
“But what about her, sir?”
“Oh yes.”
Josh heard something being dragged out the room. Then footsteps approached the door.
“Sorry about that, mate.”
Josh cracked opened the door.
“Where’d he go? What’s going on--?”
“Easy, mate. Just take a shower and all will be good. Sorry. I didn’t mean to walk in on ya.”
There was a brief pause as Josh looked around at the very nice bathroom he was in. Then he heard the young man speak again.
“For the record, you’ve got a nice willie. So there’s no reason to be embarrassed, just sayin’. And I don’t mean it that way,” said Mew quickly. “My granddad goes swimming in the nude sometimes. He claims that he feels closer to nature that way, though both my mums think it’s disturbing. Whatever makes him happy, right?”
Josh blushed and locked the door. Mew continued to talk more about his grandfather’s nude swimming days. After a few minutes he was in the shower, his mind racing. He didn’t know what to think, or even how to feel. On one hand this was the first time Nick had brought someone to their house, which was nice, but on the other who was he? Who was that girl? And why was Nick acting like nothing was wrong? Could he still be dreaming?
Five minutes later, he came out wrapped in a towel and stared at Mew awkwardly. There was a pair of blue jeans and a baby blue shirt and a pink wristband laid out for him.
“He said this was your favorite outfit,” smiled Mew.
He turned. Josh grabbed the clothes and took them back into the bathroom to get dressed. He came out and the young man faced him again. He handed Josh a plastic box of blueberries. Josh snatched them and began to eat them, excitedly.
“Thank you!”
“Sorry again,” said Mew. “I see you got that wrist band from Baby Bear’s Dream Kingdom. I have one too.” Mew held up his left arm and showed Josh his rainbow bracelet with a Koloa bear on it. Then he was off, on and on he stood there explaining how much he loved Baby Bear’s Dream Kingdom.
Baby Bear’s Dream Kingdom was an amusement park created by Morris Parker near Disneyland. Mew went on about the characters from the park—the four angel sisters modeled after Morris’s daughters, Tin and Alaura, the queen and king of Dragainea (Drag-gain-knee-a), their two children, Prince Lien and Princess Tina, and the six dragon girls, the D fighters and their enemies, mistress venom (an evil spider), and of course Baby Bear himself (a cuddle gray Koloa bear). On and he went and as much as Josh loved hearing about all the cartoons and rides, he really wanted Mew to stop.
“Uh…excuse me,” he said timidly. Mew finally paused. “Can you tell me who you are?”
“Mew Evans! Lieutenant governor of The Seashore Division, mate,” Mew showed his silver badge to Josh. “Holy shit! I’m the first one to speak to The Son of Light! Love to see Troy’s face after he hears this.”
“Okay, Mew. Where am I?”
“Sorry, mate. Nick gave me strict orders. We’ve got to meet him in his office down the hall.”
“Oh. Okay,” Josh said indecisively. There was someone else at the door looking very serious.
“What?” asked Mew puzzled.
Mew turned and was startled by the sight of an another young man standing at the door.
“Shit, man! Don’t scare me like that, yeah? Shouldn’t you be with Nick?”
Josh surveyed him carefully. He was dressed in a white dress shirt under a crimson vest and a sky blue tie and blue-grey jeans held up by a brown belt. On his head were koala ears and, like Mew, he had a badge — only his was gold and had Baby Bear’s face on it. It read: Dream Kingdom Lieutenant Governor, Ryan Tran.
“You’re the Son of Light aren’t ya?” hissed Rebel, pointing at Josh.
Josh just stood there, not sure what to make of the situation.
“I don’t see nothin’ special about you! Let’s go!”
Josh saw him get into a fighting stance. In a flash, his hand glowed and a fiery ball appeared. Josh panicked.
“Whoa what you are doing?” panicked Mew.
Rebel didn’t answer. He aimed a hand at Josh. Then Mew tackled him.
“Run!” shouted Mew to Josh.
Josh dashed out of the room like a scared cat and crashed into a chubby young man holding a folder filled with papers. The papers flew everywhere as both Josh and the chubby young man hit the floor. The badge on the young man read: Head Treasurer, Maxxie Tung.
“What the hell!?” cried Maxxie.
Josh looked around in complete confusion. He had no idea where he was. It looked like he was in a massive building with five office rooms on each side of a very wide and long hall. The room at the end of it had small waterfalls on each side with statues that resembled his mother, Kaldea Suzuki. There were also more unfamiliar faces walking up and down the hall, all dressed in funny outfits, talking casually.
“GET BACK HERE!” roared Rebel’s voice behind him.
Josh turned and saw Rebel speeding towards him. What the hell is this guy’s problem? Josh jumped to his feet and dashed to the end of the hall. Maybe that’s the way out!
After crashing and bumping into random people he was halfway through the hall. Then he felt himself being pulled back. He jerked around and saw Rebel pulling on his shirt. A moment later, he was thrown back onto his butt. Rebel towered over him, purposely blocking his path. He glared down at Josh with a stone gaze, and then his face went very sour.
“I see nothing special about you,” he spat.
Mew came running onto the scene throwing himself in between them.
“Rebel! Have you gone mental?”
“Move aside, rainbow ninja!” said Rebel, narrowing his eyes.
As Mew continued to shout at Rebel, Josh jerked his around hoping to find a way out. His eyes meet a room similar to the one behind Rebel. He scrambled to his feet and dashed again towards it. As soon as his hand touched the doorknob, he wrenched it open. He turned his head for a second to see Rebel stampeding at him with Mew at his heels, shouting and yelling. As soon he got through the door, he slammed it shut. To his surprise he was in a room with the same color scheme as his brother’s room. Then Josh noticed that there were more people in the room and…
“Nick?”
Nick was sitting at a large desk with nine other people around him. Nick looked relaxed, almost bored. The office was messy, like Nick’s room. All over the wall were pictures of Nick with people Josh couldn’t recognize. There were bookshelves on the left and right side of the office. Only the floor was junk free. Nick’s eyes feel onto Josh.
“There you are!” Nick said.
“There’s a crazy man after me!” shouted Josh.
“Crazy man?”
Moments later, Rebel entered the office with Mew at his heels.
“Gottcha now!” bellowed Rebel.
“Stop him! He’s gone mental!” shouted Mew.
Swiftly, Tyshawn grabbed him.
“Ya’ll quit playing around!” he said.
“Let me go!” demanded Rebel.
“That’s enough, Rebel!” ordered Nick.
Rebel was immediately tamed and pushed Tyshawn off him.
“Nick who is this guy? Where am I? What’s going on?” screeched Josh, looking from Rebel to Nick.
Nick walked over to Josh, pulled him over to his big chair, and sat him down.
“Allow me to introduce you to the M.B.S. guild.”
“The what?”
“The M.B.S. guild,” repeated Nick. “That stands for: Mind, Body, and Soul. We are also known as The students of the art of energy. We are a large organization whose goal is to help the world.”
Josh sat dumfounded.
“We are divided into nine divisions. The people you see here are Lieutenant Governors of their respective divisions. We call them LTG’s. Technically, it should be LG, but mom wanted to be different,” laughed Nick.
He pointed to a young man moving as if he was listening to a music beat. He was wearing red army cargo pants; on his cerulean shirt was a sliver badge just like Mew’s only his said: Capital Division Lieutenant Governor, Dante Parker. Like Mew he had fair skin. Around his neck, a yellow and admiral-blue scarf. On his grey beanie was a drawing of a cartoon baby panda bear.
“This is Dante.”
Dante lunged at Josh.
“This is your boy Dante coming at you from Capital. Check it out, dude! Head spin.” Dante dropped to the floor and performing an impressive head spin.
Josh just stared at him. Okay…
“I’m sure you already know Mew here,” said Nick placing a hand on Mew’s shoulder.
Mew’s face turned pink and began to tremble again. He smiled looking from Nick to Josh.
“Thinks he’s a ninja,” Nick whispered to Josh.
“I am a ninja!” said Mew turning scarlet.
Then Nick directed Josh’s attention to a very tall and muscular African American man. His outfit was simpler. He wore an orchid purple tank top and stylized black sweats. His badge was gold.
“The big guy over there is, Tyshawn Jackson, Lieutenant Governor of Desert Oasis.”
“Sup!” said Tyshawn happily.
“What’s your animal?” asked Josh.
“Animal?”
“He means your theme,” said Nick.
“Oh!”
Tyshawn turned his back to them and Josh saw a big drawing of a smiling sun wearing shades.
“Oh.” said Josh.
He turned and suddenly a woman in shorts and a gray shirt with a phoenix on it appeared, which made him jump. She wasn’t standing there before, Josh thought. She had a sword on her back and looked very serious. Her badge was gold, too. Josh backed up a bit, bumping into his brother.
“This is, Zelda Shi, Lieutenant Governor of the Phoenix Division.”
“How do you do?” she said politely.
Josh didn’t know if he wanted to run or say hello back. He just smiled nervously and put his brother between them. There was something familiar about her though.
“She’s also known as the phoenix ninja.”
“Lovely,” said Josh nervously.
Josh looked for an excuse to take his eyes off Zelda’s terrifying glare and saw another guy approaching him. His hair was long and pointed upwards. He wore a black shirt with an orange tie. On it was a black horse. Holding up his orange pants—a red, sky blue, yellow, and green striped belt. His badge was silver.
“Ya rad vstretit' tebya,” he said in Russian.
“Huh?” said Josh.
Leonardo spoke again, this time in Chinese. Josh stood there dumfounded.
“Leonardo , ele só sabe espanhol e alguns japonês,” said Nick in Portuguese.
Josh looked at him, begging to understand. Nick faced him again.
“This is, Leonardo Ferrira aka Kou, Lieutenant Governor of Diamond Gate division. He speaks nearly every language, besides English. He’s trying to say hello, but I told him that you only know Spanish and Japanese.”
“Oh. Okay. Uh — Hola,” said Josh.
Nick turned to the door and saw Rebel standing there looking just as serious as Zelda. Josh noticed the same thing, too, and had a feeling that Rebel had a devious intension behind those cold eyes. Nick let out another hard cough.
“That’s Reb — uh — Ryan Tran. Lieutenant Governor of Dream Kingdom.”
Josh quickly looked away, feeling the intense heat Rebel’s glare was giving off.
“The well-dressed man over there is, Raymond Velasquez, LTG of the Metropolis Division or Metro for short.”
Nick pointed over to Raymond on the couch. He wore a blue tuxedo over a black dress shirt. On his belt buckle was the face of a cartoon monkey.
“Howdy,” Raymond said cheerfully.
“The one on the other couch is, Christopher Azhar, LTG, of Paradise Division.”
Chris was wearing a burgundy red shirt with a gold drawing of a dragon and gold jeans. On the left side of his chest, a gold badge. He waved at Josh and Josh waved back.
“And finally, the guy all the way back there is, Mr. James Park.”
Nick pointed to James who was all the way at the back of the room.
He wore a bright sapphire polo shirt, cargo shorts, and a yellow beanie with the picture of a terrifying salmon. For some reason, Josh couldn’t take his eyes off of him.
“He’s the LTG of the Sunset Mountain Division,” said Nick.
James smiled and Josh felt butterflies in his stomach.
“Everyone this is my baby brother, Josh. Let’s give him some love!”
Nick and the other, besides Rebel, all rounded Josh and hugged him all at once.
“Ah!”
“More love!”
“Ah!”
“MORE LOVE!”
“AH!”
Josh couldn’t help but smile, even though this was all very strange and new.
“Gosh. So they’re all living with us? We don’t have enough rooms, Nick. I’m mean, I don’t mind sharing my room, but eleven people in one house?”
“We’re not at home. We’re underground,” laughed Nick.
“Oh, that makes—UNDERGROUND?” said Josh thunderstruck.
Nick nodded. Josh paused. This wasn’t making sense. Why would he have a house underground?
“So you moved the house underground?”
Nick laughed again.
“No. no. This is our secret base. I’ll give you a tour later on, but first things first.”
Nick pulled up a chair and sat next to him. The others took a seat on the sofas. Nick’s expression became a bit more serious. He coughed before finally speaking.
“What can you remember?”
“Remember about what?” asked Josh.
“Your birthday.”
Josh thought hard back to that day. He remembered waiting for Nick and then falling asleep. The only thing that came to his mind after that was the dream he had.
“I remember you flying around and me chasing you. Then I saw all these crazy people and then you smacked me and turned into a guy with glowing eyes. And then I found you again and eventually I woke up in your room.”
Nick sat silent looking at the lieutenant governors.
“You don’t remember anything else?” asked Nick slowly.
“Didn’t we get into a fight? The night before?”
“So you don’t remember anything else?”
“No.”
Josh looked around and saw Zelda and Tyshawn looking as serious as Nick was. Where was he going at? Nick leaned over to a drawer in his desk, opened it, and pulled something out. It was an old and sky blue book, covered in diamonds. Its edges were pure gold and scratched. Some parts of it were even burned, but it mostly looked in good shape.
“This is the book of Rinascita E Motre, which means Rebirth and Death,” said Nick, coughing again. “It belonged to our great grandfather and was passed down through our family. He mastered the art of energy with his eight students. We call them, the original nine.”
Book of Rinascita E Morte? The original nine?
“They lived in a huge fortress in New Zealand,” continued Nick, “and thought they could rule the world. After thirty years, most of them became drunk with power. Then one day a demon lord named, Hexen appeared and attacked their fortress.”
A demon lord named, Hexen? Fortress?
“Only two people survived the attack. Now, Lord Hexen has returned and he wants to kill you.”
Josh watched him open the book and turn to a page labeled Darkness. Josh saw a figure in a blood red cloak with glowing red eyes.
“This is Lord Hexen. Do you remember him?”
Josh stared at it hard, and remembered seeing someone similar in his dreams. But he thought the image of Hexen looked like a new character from Baby Bear’s Dream Kingdom. Nonetheless, he played along.
“Sure,” he said, not taking his brother seriously.
Nick turned to another page and read aloud.
“And curse him, the evil one who murdered our savior. Curse him, for he has destroyed our land and our children. Curse him, the enemy, The Demon Lord, Hexen, murderer of the Son of Light.”
Josh remained silent, surveying his brother, failing to keep a straight face.
“This is not a joke, Josh. On your birthday I was abducted by this demon you see here. He used me to lure you into a trap and tried to kill you. He is the reason why I had to keep you in our house for years. He murdered the last Son of Light and now he’s after you.”
Josh continued to stare at his brother, unblinkingly. Then he glanced at the lieutenant governors. After a long pause, he suddenly burst out into laughter. He looked back at his brother expecting to see him laugh, too, but Nick didn’t. He just stared at Josh. Josh continued to laugh wiping the tears from his eyes.
Mew started to giggle, but then Zelda gave him a threatening glare. He stopped immediately. James was covering his mouth trying to hide his smile. Everyone besides Zelda and Rebel were either smirking or trying hard not to laugh, too. Josh finally composed himself.
“Whew! Oh my god! That was awesome!”
Josh crossed his arms and stared at his brother, smirking.
“Go on.”
“I know it might be strange to you, but this is the truth. Your memory is a bit hazy.”
Nick stood up and created a ball of fiery energy in his hand. Josh backed away.
“What the—how did you?”
“I have powers and so do you, but your powers are different. You are the Son of Light.”
Josh looked around confused then smirked again.
“Oh I see, a magic trick. You almost had me,” he laughed.
“I assure you. This is not magic,” said Nick calmly, shrinking the ball of energy until it was gone. “All of us here have powers and you are the Son of Light.” Nick coughed.
“Right. So you can create fire and I can control lamps?” Josh laughed.
“I suppose you could if you wanted,” said Nick patiently.
Josh burst into laughter again, this time falling to the floor. It’s official! My brother has lost his mind. There was no way Nick could be serious. Nick just stood there waiting for him to finish. Rebel let out a loud groan.
“Josh,” said Nick calmly.
Josh got back into the chair. He wanted to hear more of this hilarious story from his brother. He stared at his brother for a few moments and then burst out in laughter again. This was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. Nick frowned and the lieutenant governors began to mummer in low voices.
“Funny, is it?” coughed Nick.
“Yeah. You’ve never been good at jokes, but this — this is actually good.”
“This is serious, Josh,” said Nick forcefully. “How do you explain that scar on the back of your head? What about that scarring on your right hand?”
Josh looked at his right hand and was taken by surprise. He hadn’t noticed the faint triangular outline.
“I probably cut myself somehow. Or you probably drew it on me when I was asleep.”
“Our mom died to save you because of that,” Nick pointed at Josh’s right hand.
Josh felt a jolt of lightning run through his body. He stood up from his seat clenching his fists. Nick was starting to cross the line.
“How dare you! Bringing our mom into this ridiculous story! You’re crazy! All of this is outrageous!”
“Calm down,” said Nick, lightly pushing Josh back into the big chair.
But Josh forced himself away from Nick and stood up again. He moved away from the desk to a window to his left. Zelda leapt to her feet, along with Tyshawn and Mew.
“Try to take it easy, mate,” said Mew.
Josh saw Rebel moved to the door and stood in front of it, arms crossed and stoned faced.
“Nick. You’ve finally flipped. You’re all cra —”
Before he could finish, Josh looked out the window and saw dozens of people of all ages roaming around a beautiful campus. On one side he could see a group of people cheering. On the other he saw a group of students forming balls of energy just like Nick did before being scolded by another student in a blue silky cape. Then he heard Nick speak again.
“Our mom sacrificed her life to save us. She knew you were the Son of Light. Look at me, Josh,” asked Nick calmly.
And Josh did so with a mix expression of irritation and disbelief.
“I’d never lie to you,” coughed Nick.
Josh still didn’t want to believe it, but as he looked at Nick and the others, he could tell they believed it. Maybe they were all crazy. Or maybe he was still dreaming. Lord Hexen, the original nine, a fortress, The Son of Light; this was no doubt something from a cartoon show. And so what if he’d seen the same figure in red in his dreams? He’d had nightmares before and had told Nick about them and never got a ridiculous story like the one he just heard. What could be Nick’s true plan here?
“I still don’t believe you,” said Josh, “If I am the light or whatever, then why are you telling me this now? And where is your proof? Doing some light trick doesn’t impress me.”
Nick took out his phone and checked the time. “Good timing,” he said. He turned to the others and nodded. “Come on.”
Nick headed to the door. The lieutenant governors all followed him and Josh out of the office. Josh had no idea what was happening now. Were they about to show him another magic trick?
“Mew, could you please get the cart ready? And the rest of you can return to your normal duties until Mew has contacted you,” said Nick. “We will follow everything as planned.”
Why is he smiling so much? Josh kept wondering. Nick was about to prank him, to get him back for all those times he pranked him when they were younger. The lieutenant governors exited the building.
“I know what you’re up to,” said Josh suspiciously.
“Do you?”
“And it won’t work,” Josh crossed his arms. “I’m amazed, though. You’d go this far to prank me? You have too much time on your hands.”
At that moment the doors opened and at first Josh thought it was Mew, but it was someone else. It was a very old man, moving as slow as a turtle. His bald head reflected the building lights in Josh’s eyes. Josh knew immediately that he was from the Phoenix Division because he was wearing a similar color scheme to Zelda’s. The old man fixed his pale eyes on him and smiled.
“You must be him,” he said with great delight.
Josh stood there for a moment, examining the many wrinkles on the man’s face. He had never seen someone so old.
“Josh this is, old man José, the first LTG of the Phoenix Division,” said Nick dully.
Josh continued to examine the old man’s wrinkles.
“Oh…” said Jose stepping very close to Josh, their faces only a few inches from each other. “It’s an honor. You have no idea how happy I am to finally meet you, dear boy.”
“Uh…yeah. Same here.”
Damn, his breath. But I have to keep a straight face.
“Word travels fast here at the guild, but no one ever told me about your eyes. Such gems.”
“Thank you. Your eyes…are…nice…too,” Josh said slowly. Yeah right, he thought.
“Your mother had beautiful eyes, too.” José added.
At that moment, Nick let out an impatient sigh, which the old man didn’t seem to notice.
“She was a gorgeous woman — silky black hair, glowing skin, and her curves!” José licked his lips. “I could see why your father married her.”
Awkward! Josh thought over and over. Plus, Jose’s breath smelled like the old man hadn’t brushed for days. He glanced over to his brother, hoping for support. But Nick looked very annoyed, as if he was holding himself back from speaking. As the old man went on about how beautiful their mother was, Mew finally stepped through the doors. Nick let out a sigh of relief and Josh felt him pull him away from Jose.
“Well, we don’t mean to be rude, but we have a lot of things to do, José. Excuse us,” said Nick very quickly.
Josh stumbled over his feet a few times as Nick continued to pull him out the door. He didn’t even get to look back at the old man. Even Mew looked concerned.
“What?” started Mew then he saw old man Jose walking slowly towards him. “Oh,” he chuckled. He opened the door wider and waited for the old man to walk through. The old man was still murmuring to himself about Kaldea and how happy he was to meet Josh.
Nick led Josh to a golf cart at the foot of the building’s steps. He took a seat next to his brother. Moments later, Mew jumped in the back seat and the cart drove off.
As the golf cart drove smoothly away from the main building, Josh sat in awe looking back at the crystal blue lake surrounded the building and in the distance, the dozens of people playing, studying, and laughing.
“Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times during the tour,” said Nick humorously. “There in front of the bridge are the pod terminals.” He pointed towards an area beyond the bridge with two shell-like structures resting opposite of each other.
Josh could see a few people working on what seemed like large golf balls with windows.
“Pod terminals?” asked Josh slowly.
“Yes,” said Nick. “We use those to travel underground to our safe houses around the world.”
Josh looked at his brother skeptically. They look more like oversized golf balls.
“Travelling underground in golf balls?” chuckled Josh. “And how do they work?”
Nick ignored Josh’s skeptical tone and went on.
“Rather ingenious, really. When this place was made by the original nine, they already had a few tunnels to travel through, but they used cars in those days,” said Nick. “When mom found this place she came up with the idea of using pods.”
Josh was doing a horrible job hiding his smile. This all sounded too strange.
“You place two points of energy poles,” continued Nick, “based on where you want to go. The main power core under the guild powers the terminals. We can control the direction of the pods from inside. We just pick which pole we want to go to and off we go. Of course, if you want a more detailed description about the pods or how our tunnels were made, you can find all of that in our library or take a class on them.”
“Those pods are our smaller ones, though. We have larger ones,” said Mew cheerfully. “They’re just like how subway systems work. Probably should have said that first, Nick,” chuckled Mew.
“He doesn’t know what a subway is,” laughed Nick.
“Oh.”
“What happens if the poles break down or your magic battery is damaged?” asked Josh.
“Pods can be self-powered. But it’s a lot of work. Right, Mew?”
Mew went scarlet looking at Nick very affectionately.
“I’m glad Zelda showed up,” said Nick.
Mew’s face abruptly went sour.
“Right. You have magic and a golf ball system, too. Got it,” smirked Josh.
The golf cart drove up to the east side of the campus. He saw a row of large buildings littered with students laughing and joking with each other. Nick began to cough again before clearing his throat to speak again.
“Here are the dorms. These three are for Capital, Sea Shore, and Desert Oasis. Those dorms to the far west are for Phoenix, Diamond Gate, and Dream Kingdom. The Metro and Paradise dorms are in the back near the stadium, to the far north.”
The cart then headed north towards a huge garden.
“To the left is the library and straight ahead is the garden,” coughed Nick, again and this time there was a gloomy expression on his face.
This was beyond cool to Josh. He’d never seen so many buildings and so much open space. He thought after the tour was done, he’d run around until he got tired. Plus, there were more people who were all waving at him as they walked around chatting with each other and laughing. But Nick’s coughing bugged him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Nick smiled.
Josh paused for a moment, surveying his brother carefully before speaking again.
“Let’s say I believe you. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Mom planned on telling you, but Hexen attacked us at one of our homes in the mountains one day before she could.”
Josh remembered hearing the sounds of his mother shouting and seeing fire, but that was probably part of another nightmare he’d had. Then he thought of that Rebel fellow chasing him. Did Nick really let someone like that watch him?
“If I’m so important why did you leave me alone with that maniac?”
“Ryan? Oh no! That’s just how he is. He wouldn’t hurt you. And I didn’t leave you with him,” said Nick. “While you slept I had to feed you, bathe you, and keep you safe. Sometimes, Mew here, or Zelda, or Tyshawn would watch you if I needed to leave the guild. Do you understand why?”
“No.”
“This is our family, Josh, and now we finally have a chance.”
“Family?” said Josh. “I don’t even know these people. And what about that one crazy guy? Rebel, you call him?”
“Went complete mental he did, head governor,” said Mew.
“Oh, he was just playing with you. But lately he’s been upset about his home division,” sighed Nick. “He’s going through a lot right. Try to understand.”
Didn’t seem like it to me, thought Josh. The cart passed between the Metro and Paradise dorms, went down a long path, and then stopped at small opening with a staircase that went underground. Josh still didn’t believe it. For all he knew, they knocked him out and brought him here as a joke. Josh looked up and saw another young man heading their way. He had short golden hair, green eyes, and was very thin. Nick got out and brought the young man towards him.
“This is Seth, your second brother,” said Nick.
Second brother? Josh thought.
“Well, not literally. More like my best friend,” laughed Nick.
Seth smiled and stretched out his hand. Josh shook it, taking notice of Seth’s green eyes. Now he knew how people felt when they looked at his eyes.
“Hi, Josh!” said Seth, happily.
“Nice to meet you,” said Josh, surveying Seth. He swore to himself that he’d heard that voice before.
“He is the second head governor of the guild,” said Nick. “He helps me manage the guild.”
“Everything is ready,” said Seth, turning to Nick.
“Excellent!”
Nick faced Josh and Mew again looking triumphant.
“Okay, Mew, you know what to do.”
“Yep! Come on, Josh,” said Mew gesturing to Josh to get into the golf cart.
“Wait. What’s going on? Where are you going?”
“I have some business to attend to. The lieutenant governors will take care of you until I get back. Oh, here!”
Nick reached in his pocket, took out a silver phone, and handed it to Josh.
“This is officially your first cell phone. It has my number, Seth’s, and everyone else’s number in it. Call me after your done with Mew okay? And don’t lose it.”
Josh suddenly felt scared. Even though he thought this was a big joke, he didn’t want to be left in this place with people he’d never seen. He was looking back from Mew to Nick with sense of dread.
“Josh. You’ll be okay,” said Nick, placing his hands on Josh’s shoulders. “Now I want you to be humble. You might be the Son of Light, but that doesn’t make you a king or a god. Treat everyone as you would me - with respect and kindness,” he beamed into Josh’s eyes.
Oh, Nick. You’ve finally lost it. And now you’re leaving me here?
Josh remained silent. He just couldn’t understand his brother. But for whatever reason, he nodded his head. Nick smiled and joined up with Seth. Mew jumped into the driver street. Josh kept his eyes locked on his brother, as Nick got smaller and smaller. Don’t leave me here, he thought. He wanted to shout it, but for some reason, he didn’t.
He just sat there next to Mew, his eyes still fixed on his brother. There’s something wrong with him, aside from his wacky stories. Josh turned to Mew. He might know.
“Why was he coughing so much? Is he sick?”
Mew paused for a long time. Josh waited for him respond.
“Mew. I know you know something. Tell me,” said Josh more aggressively.
“Now, don’t freak out,” said Mew slowly.


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