First Visitor Part 3

"Hello mother, father!" Indux said. "This is Daegus Knox and Lana Knox."

"It is good to meet you, Daegus. I take it you don't mind my son being a noble, right?" Algra said, offering his handshake.

"No, I didn't mind." Daegus replied and shook his hand. As soon he touched Algra's hand, his blood ran cold. What he imagined is that Algra became a towering, shadowy figure with glowing steel eyes looming over him, ready to devour him. Where in Algra's perspective, Daegus is a small flicker of flame that could be extinguished at any moment. Daegus let go of his hand and trembled momentarily.

"Daegus, what's wrong?" Indux said.

"Your dad...is SO COOL! What is his class!? Veteran!? Master!?" Daegus exclaimed with his eyes brighter than before.

"Dragon class." Indux said.

"Wow...he must be stronger than any teacher in our school combined." Daegus said.

"Hey, let's come to my room, I have so much to show you." Indux said. The three children began walking upstairs to Indux's room and closed the door behind them.

"Greetings, my name is--" the father said, but was interrupted by Algra.

"Kaiser Knox, who is known as the Ignition and you must be Fynia Knox who is known as the Red Lily." Algra answered. Both Kaiser and Fynia are surprised at his knowledge of their names and their titles.

"Wow...you knew our names?" Kaiser said, astonished. "I never thought someone can remember our titles either."

"Of course I knew. You two were promising adventurers back then who fended off a bandit invasion while Teraxa was in the midst of recovering an economic recession." Algra said. "Where are my manners? I am Algra Onyxthorn and this is my wife Zenna Onyxthorn." Kaiser became speechless from his last name.

"O-Onyxthorn!? Then were you close to the mayor in Teraxa? The current mayor?" Kaiser said.

"Of course. Though I didn't mean to brag, but if it weren't for me, Teraxa would be financially crippled if not ruined." Algra said. "Come, we have much to talk about." Algra guides Kaiser and Fynia to the gazebo to talk more to each other. Meanwhile, Daegus, Lana, and Indux are in the room where Indux sleeps where it had wooden shelves, a bed, a window where it looks out to most of Teraxa. Daegus and Lana looked around in awe of the sight of his room where it is completely different to his own.

"This is bigger than my room. No, bigger than our house." Daegus said.

"Day-Day, Look." Lana said, peeking out the window. Daegus came to where Lana and peeked out to see the beautiful sunset view of Teraxa below the hill.

"Wow...what a view..."

"Want to play a card game?" Indux said.

"I'm in! Wanna play too, Lana?" Daegus said. Lana shook her head yes and walked with Daegus. Indux took out a small box from the brown wooden cabinet and set it on the table. Indux then opens the box to see eight stacks of cards separated by color.

"This is a card game called 'Chrome'. These colors are like elements. Red is Fire, blue is Water, green is Wind, brown is Earth, yellow is Lightning, bright blue is Ice, white is Light, and purple is Darkness." Indux said. "To play, we have to match the color or number of the card. If you don't have the color or number, take a card and lose your turn. Those who removes all the cards, wins." Indux said, explaining all of the rules. "Wanna start with ten?"

"Okay." Daegus said. Indux grabbed all the cards, shuffled them for a short minute and passed them out one card at a time. After they have 10 cards, Indux put the rest in a pile. Indux then flipped one card over, showing a brown 4.

"Daegus, you're first." Indux said, gesturing him to go first. Daegus looked at his deck to see he has no brown cards, but a green 4. He remembers that he can either match the color or number, so he places a green 4.

"You're next, Lana." Daegus said. Lana looked at her deck where four cards are green. She then picked up a green 7 and placed it on the pile. Indux then placed a green 8. Back to Daegus, he placed a green 3. To Lana, she placed a green 5. Indux looked at his own deck to see he has no green cards left, but luckily he has a blue 5. Indux places a blue 5 on the pile, changing it to blue.

{Meanwhile...}

Meanwhile, the four adults are in the wooden gazebo in the backyard of the Onyxthorn estate talking about their lives, their past, their current situations and the like.

"You're an owner of a gymnasium?" Algra said.

"Yeah, I was able to get a good business due to my popularity as an adventurer. Plus, more people will be able to defend themselves when invaders happen to attack without being away from home for long. In the end, I feel like I'm doing everyone a good service as an owner." Kaiser said.

"How noble of you that you think about others. Unlike the rich, they think about gathering money and living lavishly." Zenna said.

"That's not the only reason why I married him, right?" Fynia said with allure as she traces her slender finger on Kaisers' chest. Kaiser blushed slightly from her sweet tone, then Zenna giggled. Algra had to fake cough in order to break the awkwardness. Kaiser snapped out of it.

"Anyway, what are you doing today? I bet you owned a massive commerce business expanding far beyond Teraxa." Kaiser said.

"You can say that. Right now, I plan to help a mayor who governs Lyse where he was hit with unreasonable demands from Iveria." Algra said. But the truth was that Iveria is making their move to Lyse so they can attack Teraxa to draw out Algra. If he told them, they probably panic.

"Iveria is harassing Lyse? Man, those Iverian guys...they're just throwing their weight around. I hope they don't come here." Kaiser sighed.

"Worry not, if anything goes wrong, go to any of the three locations: Eirach, Servano, and Millund. If you do have a location other than the three, that is fine, but I can best protect you in any of these three locations." Algra said.

"Do we have to join your business?" Fynia said, cautious of Algra since she is assuming that in order to get protection, there is a catch for such a favor.

"No, it's not a requirement. However, if you want to join, it'll have to wait, because I have to help Lyse get out of their predicament." Algra replied. "Anyways, would you like to have something to eat?"

"Sure, but we want a light meal. Like sandwiches." Kaiser said.

"Florence, ask the children if they're hungry too." Algra said to Florence.

"Yes sir." Florence said as he bowed and walked back inside the mansion.

{Meanwhile...at Indux's bedroom.}

The three children just finished with their card game where Lana became the winner which surprised the two boys.

"Are you sure this her first time playing a card game?" Indux said.

"Yeah, she played dolls until now." Daegus replied. Indux walked to the wooden chest to pull out a large book called "Element Diagram".

"Want to read this together?" Indux said.

"You have that? But that looks harder than the books we saw in the library." Daegus said nervously from the sight of the size and weight of the book that Indux is holding with both of his arms. Indux placed the book on the table with a loud thump, shaking the smaller, lighter items including the card game they neatly stacked away. A knock on the door was heard and a voice came out.

"Young master Indux, are you and your friends hungry for sandwiches?" Florence said.

"Are you two hungry?" Indux said as he turned to them to see that both Daegus and Lana were drooling.

"Make sure it's enough for three of us." Indux said.

"As you wish." Florence said and walked away until his footsteps cannot be heard.

"Let's start with Fire element." Indux said. Indux opened the book and reached the section where it talks about the Fire element. "Lana, what's your element?"

"Fire." Lana said.

"Here's what fire can do. It says that the difference between magical fire and natural fire is that natural fire has smoke where the other does not." Indux said pointing at a piece of information. "Also, those who have it have a resistance towards heat."

"Wow...when our mom makes dinner, it's steaming hot and we eat it." Daegus said. Lana nodded as well.

"You mean, right after it's cooked? Won't that burn you?" Indux said with visible concern.

"It wasn't that hot." Daegus said.

"Then it must be the resistance." Indux deduced, then he continued reading along to see the weaknesses. "The weaknesses is that it cannot be used underwater and is weak to cold temperatures."

A knock on the door was heard and Florence opened the door with sandwiches on a silver platter in his hand. "Lunch is served, enjoy." Florence said as he places the sandwiches on the wooden table and bowed before he left and walked away to close the door behind him. The three took one each and bit the sandwiches which has turkey, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and cheese. Daegus and Lana were delighted by the soft bread and the crunchy lettuce. They continued to eat the sandwiches until there were none left.

"Go to Darkness magic." Daegus said.

Indux quickly skimmed through the pages to find the Darkness section that Indux has.

"It says that those who wield Darkness element can see the dark more easily and use their not only their shadows, but others' as well to attack or defend." Daegus eyes lit up. "It also gets stronger when it is nighttime."

"That's so cool! You can do that!?" Daegus said excitedly.

"I think." Indux said. Indux puts his hand forth and a black aura came from his hand. A black tendril came out of Indux's shadow. The tendril was shorter than the wooden table and round. Daegus tried to touch it, but he felt nothing, the tendril's touch was that of smoke.

"Woah, it's like smoke. Try touching it, Lana." Daegus said. Lana cautiously reaches forward to touch the tendril and retracted it before she even touched it.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt. It didn't hurt Daegus, right?" Indux said.

"Really?" Lana said timidly. Indux nodded with certainty. Lana slowly touches the black tendril and the tendril became smoke, she didn't feel heat nor cold.

"See? It didn't hurt, right?" Daegus said. Lana shook her head. They continued to have fun with the book and other activities until the sun began to set. It was getting late.

"Kids, it's time to head back!" Kaiser said, calling to the two children. Daegus, Lana, and Indux began walking downstairs together to meet the adults.

"It was nice meeting you, Algra." Kaiser said, shaking Algra's hand.

"Likewise. Indux, they're about to leave soon since the sun is setting." Algra said.

"See you tomorrow at school?" Daegus said.

"Tomorrow is the weekend." Indux said.

"Oh, next week then?"

"Sure." Indux said. "Mother, remember the time where you summoned butterflies with your magic?"

"You want to see them again?" Zenna said.

"Yeah, for Lana." Indux said.

Zenna puts her hands together and began emitting a black aura from her slender hands. Moments later she separated them and plenty of butterflies came forth from her hands. All of them were black, but have different colors where some were blue, green, purple, yellow, white, pink and red. The faces of Daegus and Lana brightened up from the beautiful sight of the butterflies fluttering gracefully. Lana noticed a pink butterfly flying close by and gave it a place to land. As soon she touches it, it doesn't disappear like Indux's magic.

"Pretty isn't it?" Zenna said, leaning over to Lana.

"Yeah." Lana said.

"It's not so scary, right?" Indux said.

"No, it's pretty." Lana said. The pink butterfly flew off her hand and as Zenna snapped her fingers, the butterflies exploded into puffs of smoke varying color. It's like fireworks, but it was colored smoke. The three were impressed with the vibrant colors.

"Okay kids, say goodbye to Indux." Fynia said.

"Do you need a ride back?" Algra said.

"No, it's not that far from here. Thanks anyways." Kaiser said.

"Bye!" Daegus said waving and Lana waved as well. Indux waved to them as well. Florence sees them off to the gate and closes the gate. Then he closes the front door behind him as well.

"Did you have fun inviting your friends?" Zenna said to Indux.

"I did. I can't wait to invite them again." Indux said. Indux went upstairs to put away the book and the card game to the rightful place. Aside with other butlers and maids, it was a little disappointing that they have to go.

{Hours later...}

Indux finally falls asleep in his room. Algra is in the balcony to see the citizens below the hill sipping his wine. Florence came to the balcony to inform him.

"Master Algra, a letter has arrived. It is from Vega and Terzo." Florence said, placing the envelope on the table. Algra opens the letter and it shows as follows.

"Good, tomorrow will be the time we lure him in and strike him down." Algra said as he gulps down the wine glass. "Florence, wake me up early."

"Yes master."