A NEW FRIEND AND SUDDEN WEALTH.

I wake up with a pounding head, my eyes still close, I groan in pain and rub my head.

The ground below me is surprisingly soft and cool.

I open my eyes to find myself on a water-bed and a grinning girl, sitting inches away and smiling widely.

My heart being my heart, almost exploded.

"Who are you?!"

She laughs. "Hi. I'm Aqua." She says as I study her well.

She is putting on a long brown gown. Her eyes are blue, her shoulder length hair; blue, she is average height and tan skinned.

The water-bed below me, disappears slowly, till I find myself on the hard ground again.

"Are you the one that saved me?" I ask.

"Huh?" She looks at me, confused.

I face the black Peacobear and point at it. "Are you the one that burnt it alive?" I ask again, this time in a slower pace.

She looks at it and laughs, before saying, "Well, no. I am a water magic." She looks at me like I'm an idiot and says, "Unless, you use water to roast creatures. Then it isn't me."

"Ok then." I stand up and walk to the Peacobear I killed. I grab it's tail and begin pulling it, passing the girl, who is now standing and looking at me. I stop and drop it at the cave entrance and begin walking towards the other Peacobear. I reach it and begin pulling it till I reach the entrance, and leave it, gasping for air.

'It is surprisingly not too heavy!'

I turn to the girl and smile, before saying, "Thanks for the bed. It was really cool and soft."

"No, it's actually nothing."

"Ok." I grab the two Peacobear's tails and begin walking, but stop. I turn and face the girl, laughing awkwardly, before asking, "Do you know any village or town around here?"

She looks at me in confusion, then beams a smile. "Of course. It's not too far." She walks to my front. "Follow me."

"Lead the way then." I say and she begins walking, with me following her behind.

After some minutes of walking, we finally reach an opening in the forest.

"We have arrived!" She shouts calmly and walks through the opening.

I follow her and I'm greeted by a sharp painful explosion of sunlight to my face. I groan in discomfort.

She turns around. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. It's just the sun."

"Ok." She turns back, front and continues walking, me following her behind and feeling the pain of dragging two Peacobears.

We finally reach and stop at a big open gate, with the words; "WELCOME TO MYSTIC FOREST TOWN." Boldly imprinted on the metal or steel hanging between the two big walls in which the gates are connected to. The walls are very high and are very wide, stretching as far as my eyes can see.

'How big can this town be?!'

She turns and looks at me with worry.

"What?" I ask in confusion.

"Wellll..... You're going to draw a lot of attention. Sooo..... Do you need an advice?"

"Sure."

Her worried face suddenly changes into a smiling face. "You see, as I said before, you're going to really draw a lot of attention. So you have to be a quiet meanie."

The way she said it sounded funny and I couldn't stop myself from laughing hard.

"What is funny in what I said?" She asks and I can sense the little irritation in her voice.

I instantly stop laughing and fake a sorry look. "I'm sorry." I mumble and bend my head, pretending to be sorry.

She huffs out in satisfaction. "No worries."

"Thank you." I say, raising my head up and smiling.

"You have to be a quiet meanie! Answer no one, except they call a noble price!" She says with a hint of command in her tone.

"Ok."

"Let's go." She says and enters.

I follow her behind and God!, is the town marvelous. It's bigger and nicer than the town I lived in before. I begin hearing gasps and murmurs as we advance. And also begin noticing some people looking and pointing at me, then whispering to each other.

"Just ignore them." Aqua says.

"Yeah." I reply.

A man suddenly runs towards me and stops right in front of me.

"How much is for them, sir?!" He asks, a hint of excitement in his voice.

I open my mouth to talk.

"He is not interested sir!" Aqua says calmly and I finally look at her to see her expression is tense, as if saying, "Be a quiet meanie, remember?!"

"No, sir." I say and her face relaxes and changes into a smile.

"Come on! You can't be controlled by a woman during business!" He shouts.

Taking Aqua's advice, I simply say, "I'm not interested." And shove pass him.

Aqua smiles triumphantly and sighs, and we continue our walking.

We haven't move up to ten steps, when people begin gathering me and shouting.

"How much, sir?!" A tall slim woman shouts.

"Yeah. Name your price and we'll bye it!" A fat short man shouts.

"Any amount and it is settled!" A tall muscular man shouts.

And soon there is only a "Name the price!" chanting.

Aqua stands some distance away with a smile on her face.

'Did she set me up?!' I groan in frustration. 'It looks like she is having fun!'

"Sir?!"

"Sir?!"

"Sir?!"

The shouting of sirs from everyone, begins making my head to pound.

Finally getting mad, I begin shoving through the crowd. But it's hopeless, as they keep following me and increasing in numbers.

I finally reach Aqua and her smile falters.

"Why the glare?!" She asks.

"Well, your advice isn't going well!"

"Yeah. I see...!"

The crowds chanting increases and I snap.

Turning around to face them, I shout, "Anyone who touches me or near me or shouts sir. Will join the Peacobears!"

And surprisingly they all keep quiet and shift back.

"Better!" I shout. "God!"

"Wow! You're sooo....!" Aqua says behind me.

" Soo.... What?!"

She opens her mouth to speak.

"How about five million magians for the two Peacobears?!" A voice shouts behind me.

"What?!" I and Aqua shout together.

I turn around to see a man walking through the crowds as they make way for him. He finally reaches me and stops few meters away from me. He is tall, slim, fair, has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He is putting on a very nice fashion suit.

"So?" He asks in a deep voice.

I open my mouth to speak, but Aqua pulls me back.

"This is definitely the time to sell it! Enough of the quiet meanie!" She says, a hint of excitement in her tone. "And always end your statements with sir!"

"Sure." I move front again and smile my best smile. "You were saying sir?"

The man raises his right hand up, palm open and clicks his left fingers. A nice looking wallet appears on his right hand palm.

"What do you think about my magic?!" He asks.

"Oh?! It was nice sir!"

"Great!" He says before handing over the wallet to me.

"Uh... Thanks."

"Sure. That's my special wallet. The five million magians is inside."

"Huh?!" I ask in confusion.

"What a joke!" Aqua shouts behind me.

The man laughs. "I know. I know." He laughs more. "Open it and see."

I open the wallet and surprisingly it's loaded. No! It looks bigger than the outside.

"See?!" He asks.

"Yes. Sir! You can have them!"

Aqua pulls me back and glares at me.

"What?!" I ask.

"You can't sell....!"

I show her the inside of the wallet.

"Oh! Wow!" She says, looking into the wallet in disbelief. "But what if it's an illusion magic?!" She asks, spoiling the mood.

I begin reasoning and finally accept what she is saying. I walk to the man and ask, "Why so much money?"

"That's best known to me!" He replies.

"I aren't selling!" I say, about to hand the wallet back, when Aqua pulls me back.

"On a second thought. What if it's not an illusion magic." She says calmly.

"God are you for real?!" I ask in irritation and she shrugs.

"Yeah. Let's just accept it. This is a one in a million chance."

"You sure?! Cos I feel like, this is greed!"

"Fine. Suit yourself." She says, causing me to blank out.

"You're backing out?!" I ask in confusion.

"Yeah!" She says in a tense tone.

I begin sweating, looking at her, the wallet and the man, and sweating profusely.

Finally making up my mind, I say, "Thank you sir." Before closing the wallet and begin heading back the way I came from.

I pause and say, "Let's go Aqua."

"I can't. I'm heading home."

"Ok." I continue walking.

"We shall meet again! Just keep that in mind!" I hear the rich man shout, but continue walking.

I could hear curses and insults landing on me, with lots of metal-melting glare. But who cares I'm very rich.

I finally exit the town and move to the forest. On reaching the opening, I enter the forest and head for the Peacobear's cave. I enter, planning to nap in it for the night. Who knows what the town's people are going to do to me, if I spend a night there. I'm not in the mood for fighting. There might even be people like Mr Mike there!

The sight of someone sitting in the cave, makes me groan, but I move closer and finally see the person clearly.

"What do you want?!" I ask, feeling awkward.

"You're not sleeping alone, are you?"