A New Leaf

I waited for it to come, yet it never did. I was in the familiar forest but the panther was nowhere to be seen. I walked around aimlessly trying to make light of the situation. I was conscious, just like every other night. I knew I was asleep yet it didn't come.

I was now in a lucid dream of sorts, though, the way my mind worked caused me to be able to do it on my own so it wasn't interesting. Seeing the boredom of being in the middle of nowhere, I choose to try and enter my mind.

It was a simple process, it was like closing your eyes and focusing on your imagination, but the moment you did you were in your mind, the imagination coming after. I could also do it with my eyes open, it became a habit of sorts.

Though when I followed the steps I was in my mind with no view of the outside. I had questions though, was time moving the same speed or was there a dilation due to my perception in my sleep.

I tested out this theory by going back into the forest, but this time I brought the time book. When I opened it the seconds were moving incomprehensibly fast, the minutes barely readable as they flew past, the hours ticking away like seconds. It was strange, I could wake up any moment since I didn't know the exact time, and while yes the total time spent was there, I wasn't going to count and deduce the time.

I watched six more hours tic past like seconds and then finally I awoke. Though earlier than usual due to my flight.

It was then the day of my departure. I did my usual routine of having a shower and breakfast though this time the clothes I wore were different. There was even a new set of boots and gloves on the mannequin.

The boots looked like chelsea boots that were up to my calf, black leather with a small heel. The gloves looked like bicker gloves with small upright silver nubs in-between my knuckles and the same silver layer on my finger tips going up to my nails.

I was in the clothes Mrs. Rose had made for me, they were surprisingly comfortable. I looked like a detective from an old movie, though instead of a gun on my waste I had the S.C. While I was sitting at the counter Rose came along.

"Well you look slick." She said yawning her words.

"Thank you." I said whilst inserting my throwing knives and other oddities.

"Will you be okay on your own?" She asked leaning her head on me as she reached the counter.

"I'll be fine."

She then proceeded to eat breakfast, fighting back sleep. She got up way earlier than usual, six o' clock was pretty early compared to ten.

Soon mister and missus Theia descended the stairs.

"Ready are we, well the jet's waiting for you, it's a two day flight after all, best to get an early start." Mrs. Rose said yawning as well, her husband close behind her slouching, a black box in her hand.

It seemed that because the jet was autonomous, I would be going alone.

"No time like the present I guess." I said standing up and walking towards the door.

"We'll walk you there." Mr. Rockwell said as they all crept their way over.

They walked me all the way to the jet that was indeed there and ready to go. The walk wasn't without conversation though.

"So how's the suit, you like it?" Mrs. Rose said scanning me with her eyes.

"It is comfortable and stylish, I like it."

"Well, isn't that flattery to a designer. You'll make me blush if you keep going."

"How do you like the boots and gloves, I worked hard on those." Mr. Rockwell said with a smile.

"They're ok." I said looking down at them.

"Ok... I guess... squeeze your palm. Then tell me if they're just, "ok"." He said with a sadistic tone.

Squeezing my palms, in an instant the silver nubs at my knuckles turned into inch long blades.

"Hmph... now, flick your fingers outward." He said with a smile.

As I flicked my fingers out, the silver tips became claws, three millimeters in length. As I relaxed my hand the glove went back to normal. I took it off and turned it inside out, and there it was his branding.

"I guess it's above average."

"Now your just being mean." He said with a chuckle. "Stomp with your toes and then drop your heel."

As I did as was told a small blade shot out and stopped an inch in length.

"I guess this is amazing." I said admiring the shoes, as I did it again the blades receded.

"Now that's a compliment, get it right next time." He said rubbing his chin with a smile.

As we got to the jet Mrs. Rose gave me a nudge.

"You think this is for me?" She said with a smile, stretching the box towards me.

As I took the small black box, I opened it and strangely, there were masks. A solid black mask with no holes just the contours of the face and another like the maids' having a golden band and a dangling piece of black cloth that would stretch the entirety of my face and a bit more.

"Covering your face is a bit wise since you're a hated and a new noble." She said with a small frown.

"I'd wear them anyways since you made them." I said closing the box.

"Awww, you really can give a compliment." She said smiling.

"So its favoritism huh. Well anyway take this and memorize and activate the spell in your mind." He said as a message came in on my phone.

"Thank you." I said with a small bow.

"It's the least we could do." Rose said with a smile.

Walking up the stairs, I turned around and gave them one last wave. Entering the jet, the door closed on its own, and as I sat down it soon took off. I could see them standing at the landing pad, and gradually they got smaller until they disappeared. I was then officially on my own.

It would be forty-eight hours so I decided to spend some time reading and memorizing the spell. I took out my phone and immediately I almost dropped it from opening the message. At the top the word count would be displayed for the message. The app he used was like email. The word count was eighty thousand, and I had to get it all in my head.

I got to work and four hours later I got through it all, it was like reading code. Though tired from all the reading I soon fell asleep. In the usual forest I decided to try and control the time dilation.

I thought about the numbers going up even faster in the book but it didn't work. I thought about controlling the environment to make it seem as if time was moving faster, and it still didn't work.

In the end I just sat there and waited for forty-three hours to pass until waking myself up. I looked at my phone and it was indeed the sixth of Jes or rather January.

I also had a number of unanswered messages from Rose. It would be a good idea in the future to give a heads up before I did something as the like. I answered the messages and got a cussing before she sent me a suspicious message.

"Keep your mental expanse a secret if you want to live." This was the last message she sent me. I didn't reply.

I had woken up just a few minutes and I was already flying over a small busy town, though it was too small for me to make out any specific thing or landmark.

Then a small complex came into view. It had a large center square building six stories high and what seemed like an apartment building a good ways behind it, three stories but long. There was also a small stadium to the left and a small warehouse a ways to the right. The main building was brick while the others looked like city buildings from earth.

In front of the complex was a large open field, and soon the purpose would become apparent as I landed in a sea of jets. It was time, there was no going back, even if I wanted to.

The jet landed and the door soon opened. Though before I got off I put on the jet black mask with the contours. I was then ready to leave the jet, and as soon as I did it took off. As the jet flew away, a woman approched me, it was the woman that I had seen in Ms. Francis' house. She greeted me with a smile and then took out an I.D that had my name and relative info on it. As she looked at it, she looked up at me and paused before speaking.

"Hello Psychí." She said with a smile.

***End Of Arc 2 A New Noble***