Discovering Reality
by RikugouStandard Disclaimer: No part of this story may be reproduced anywhere else but here. The characters, plot, language, names and spells belong to the author. This is an original story people. All of the characters are MINE!
Notes: Thanks for some of the 'spells' Kit!
Chapter 1Terry sighed as he walked down the street to his high school. He lived in a neighborhood where there were houses situated at a maximum of six on a block. Most of them were three level houses. The only thing different was the fact that everybody seemed to be very superstitious. Sometimes, he felt as if he was living in a more modern day New Salem. His family had moved when he was around a year old with one of their old friends who lived several blocks down. At his side was his best friend since first grade, Jasen. Same old boring day, same old boring neighborhood. He looked up at the bright blue sky and sighed even louder. He wished that something interesting would happen.
"What's wrong with you?" his friend asked.
"It's just so boring around here. I mean, everyone has the same weekly schedule planned for every holiday free week, Jase. It's starting to get on my nerves," Terry said.
"Maybe the Fendricks will find that Elf they saw at the edge of the forest," Jasen stated.
"Hn, that's just stupid. Elves DO NOT exist!" Terry said, waving the tip of his long braid in Jasen's face. The blonde batted it away.
"I know they are. I've seen one myself," he said matter-of-factly, his face darkening.
"Whatever. We better run or we'll be late. It's all your fault! If you didn't convince me in watching that all night fright fest, we would have woken up earlier," Terry said, beginning to run.
"My fault? You're the one who wanted to see who could stay up the latest," Jasen said, running after his nimble friend.
"Come on slowpoke. Pick it up! I've never been late yet and I'm not about to start now!" Terry yelled back at him.
"Stand still and fight like a man, shortie!" Jasen said, laughing all the way.
The pair disappeared within the walls of the private school as the sun shone down happily upon the building.
***
The redhead held up his chin while he absently took notes. Chemistry was such a bother. When was he going to have to know about the bonding of atoms or the oxidation numbers of elements? What was he thinking of when he put advanced placement chemistry as one of the classes he wanted to take? He was going to be a computer engineer for Ashia's sake! Hey, where did that come from? he idly thought.
"Mr. Aildeus, would you please pay attention please?" the teacher said to his face. Terry jumped a foot into the air. He smiled at her and copied the notes that he had missed during his daydreaming. The teacher turned and walked back to the board. The redhead stuck his tongue out and pulled the bottom of his eyelid down when she turned. Jasen, who was next to him, elbowed him as he was trying to stifle his laughter.
The chime signaling the end of the day of school chose that moment to ring. Terry quickly gathered his books and dragged Jasen out before the chemistry teacher could comment about his lack of participation in class. Luckily, he was able to succeed.
"Hey, let go will you? You almost pulled my arm out of its socket," Jasen said, rubbing his wrist.
"Heh, sorry," the green eyed boy said.
"That's okay. I'm used to it," Jasen said, yanking on his braid.
"Hands off the braid, buster," Terry said, snatching his hair away.
"What's with this protectiveness toward your hair? If I were you, I would just cut the entire thing off. You already have hair longer than all the girls in the school! It's bad enough that you're a guy. It's even worse when you have those big green eyes and a face of a female!" the blonde said.
"Hmph. I like it this way. I would look like a girl anyway with short hair. The two things that separates me from them are boy school uniforms and lack of a chest," Terry said, clutching his braid protectively.
"Okay, okay. Then again, I don't think I ever remember you with short hair before. You've had at least a short braid ever since we met in first grade," Jasen wondered.
"Those were the good old days, eh, Jasen?"
"Yea, all the guys picked on you because you looked so much like a girl."
"It's not my fault that I take after my mother," Terry pouted.
"Yeah, it's also not your fault that you look like your mother, right down to the long hair, big green eyes and height. The only thing you seem to have inherited from your father are your eyes. Or so my mother says," Jasen pondered.
"I wouldn't remember," Terry said flatly.
"He didn't go home last night again?"
"Hn, it's not like he comes home often. On average, I see him once a month. Now, it's even worse. If I'm lucky, I'll catch him but I haven't been able to do so as of yet. He comes home early in the morning and then leaves five minutes later. Mother comes and goes with him. Their bed hasn't been touched in months! Do they enjoy sleeping in hotels so much that they would rather live in one?! Is their business so important that they would leave their only son to take care of himself?" the redhead practically shouted. Tears gathered in his eyes as he stared coldly in front of him.
"You could always stay at my place. You know how much my parents love you. You're practically their son. Sometimes, I swear they like you more than me!" Jasen said, trying to cheer his friend up. You don't look right without a smile, he thought to himself. Terry sighed and his shoulders slumped.
"I'm all right. Thanks though. You're a good friend, Jase. It's just that...sometimes I wish we were still together like when I was a child. I was so happy then," he said softly. He kicked at a rock and noticed that he reached his best friend's house already.
"Do you want to come in? You're always welcome to do so," Jasen said, pointing a thumb towards the large three level house.
"Just for a little while. I think I need to go someplace where there are people rather than an empty house," he sighed.
Jasen's mother, a tall blonde woman with light green eyes greeted them with a smile. "Hello, Terry. It's nice of you to come visit. Would you like to have some of my cookies? I just baked them," she said cheerfully.
"How 'bout me?" Jasen said in a near-whine.
"You live here, buster. Besides you should let guests get first pick," she admonished lightly.
"See? I told you she liked you better," Jasen whispered to Terry, just loud enough for his mother to pick up.
"I'm just kidding, Jase. Well, here you guys go. Eat up," she said, placing a plate full of oatmeal raisin cookies and two glasses of milk in front of them.
"Thank you, Mrs. Maritt," Terry said politely.
"Why can't you be as polite as your friend here?" Jasen's mother sighed. The blonde rolled his eyes and grabbed a cookie. Terry giggled and nibbled delicately on the cookie. He chose not to comment about the peculiar taste and finished it in no time. Gulping down the glass of milk, he stood up.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Maritt but I have fencing class in an hour. I need to get my gear before I'm late," Terry said, giving his friend and his mother a smile before grabbing his bag. They said their good-byes.
Terry waved at them from the doorway before turning to walk farther down the block to a similar sized house surrounded by a white waist height brick wall. The entire outside of the house was a dark green, blending into the tall trees around it. The tall trees covered most of it, only letting small circles of sunlight to pass through, enough to see the path leading to the front door. His parents had a love for plants that few could compare. They seemed to have an affinity to make plants grow, something he had as well, which was why the plants that his mother had stopped taking care of still bloomed, even more luxuriant than before.
He loved the style of the house, how it seemed to be so mysterious looking. His house had the biggest front and back yard on the whole block. The entire backyard was decorated to resemble a forest. Terry often got lost in the greenery when he was feeling lonely. The flowers seemed to talk to him as he walked past, nodding to an invisible wind.
Digging for his key in his pocket, he opened the front door. Inside was just as grand as the tall trees on either side of his house. Soft black leather chairs surrounded a glass coffee table, stretching from wall to wall. The large screen television sitting two yards away from it. In the next room, mahogany chairs with plush seats were arranged artfully around a marble dining table, able to seat a maximum of eight. In the room next to it was the cheery kitchen. The entire room was sunny with tones of yellow splashed on the walls living in harmony with the white of the kitchen appliances.
The following room was designated the rec room. A ping pong table was situated in the middle of the room. At the sidelines were pool tables and even an antiquated pinball machine. In another corner was a TV complete with a Playstation console, four controllers and an entire rack of games. He long ago finished all of them in his boredom. The second floor contained the master bedroom with an adjoining bath. Next to that was his old room, now a guest room. There were also two other rooms of which one was used as a guest room while the other housed all the junk he had removed from the attic.
Terry ignored all this and walked to the staircase located just in front of the main entrance. He walked up two flights of stairs to the attic that he had changed to his bedroom. It was airy in the summer and warm in the winter with the two fireplaces situated at either end of the room. It was decorated in shades of green. His queen sized bed was several feet away from the fireplace. Across from it was his desk and fastest computer money could buy. It also had more memory than most machines had.
The rest of the floor was used as his training room. Mirrors lined the two sides of the wall on either side of the fireplace along with one of his father's ornate swords. It didn't feel right to remove it somehow. He took a moment to observe his room in its entirety. It was nice to have an entire floor made out as your room.
Besides, nobody noticed. His parents were usually off on some business trip or another and more often than not, he was put in the hands of their friends since he was six. As he grew up, he became independent to the point of being able to cook fairly complex meals his mother would be proud of since he was nine years of age. By that time, he was by himself a lot and didn't even bother to look to anyone else to do things for him. He could wash his clothes by himself, buy food that was relatively nutritious with the money left for him on the counter, clean and pick up after himself after being alone for so long. He never minded anymore anyway. Even though he was forced to grow up faster than normal children.
The only thing he really enjoyed in his constant aura of work were the fencing lessons. His father used to practice with him when he was younger, but that was history. His parents left enough money with him to continue his lessons and then some.
Terry dropped his books in a corner and walked to his duffel bag in the corner that contained his fencing gear. He took his belt sheath and strapped the sword to his waist with its scabbard. He changed into a set of lighter and more comfortable clothes and hefted the bag onto one shoulder before running back downstairs. He was out the door in less than five minutes, walking to one of the house a few blocks down.
His teacher was a man in his mid-40s but he could still take down a person half his age and then some. His parents were very good friends with him. They had told him that when he was young, he had won several championships and had retired undefeated at the age of 28. He was one of the best. Terry was already an aspiring fencing champion. His name was well-known in certain circles even at his young age. At the rate he was going, he was to become an even greater swordsman than his teacher.
He stopped at a house and walked in through the gate. Ringing the bell, he waited patiently for Mr. McHenry to open the door for him. A man with shoulder length forest green hair falling over one amber colored eye and a genial smile opened it. "Terry, I have been waiting for you!"
"What are we going to do today?" Terry asked in an excited voice. Mr. McHenry was a rather tall man, well compared to him and he didn't look anything like the age he said he was. He looked more like a thirty-year-old than a middle aged man. His hair only had sprinklings of gray and his face only had a couple of wrinkles. His teacher took on a more serious facial expression.
"Terry, you've been under my tutelage for over 10 years now, very soon, I will not have anything to teach you. You will have to learn on your own. You can still come to me to spar a bit and get advice for competitions, but I can not teach you much else. You have exceeded my wishes for you. The one thing every teacher wants their students to do is to aspire past their expectancies and you have done that, my boy. I still have connections to the major championships that might interest you so I can contact you when I learn of them. Do you understand what I am trying to say?" Mr. McHenry asked.
"I guess so. I can't always be your student. I knew that it would happen sooner or later but I was thinking it was more of the latter than the former," he sighed.
"Let us not dabble overmuch in such somber topics. Put on your gear and meet me in the salle. We wouldn't want you to go soft now would we," he asked.
"Yes sir!" Terry chirped.
***
An hour later, the redhead was panting on one of the wooden benches in the large training room. His teacher--no, friend--was right beside him, a bit breathless although he looked better than he did. "You almost unhanded me this time. Sooner or later, you will be able to. It was by chance that I was able to knock your sword out of your grasp today. You are growing to be a very good swordsman, Terry," Mr. McHenry complimented.
"Thank you, Mr. McHenry. I think that that's enough for today. I'm going to go home and collapse for the rest of the day. I don't think I could do anything further than that," Terry panted. "Are you sure that you're really 40 years old?"
Mr. McHenry merely smiled. "You go on home now. I have some business to tend to. And do not forget that you can come to me for anything. Even if it's not about fencing."
"Okay. I'll see you, maybe tomorrow?" Terry asked expectantly, taking off his protective gear and neatly arranging them into his duffel bag.
"Sure."
"Bye Mr. McHenry!" Terry said, waving and running out of the room.
The green haired man stared sadly off after him. "May Ashia protect you always."
***
Terry, still running on adrenaline high from his fight, ran all the way home. He somehow managed to open the door and get enough energy to collapse onto a couch in the living room. After relaxing for five minutes, he decided to take a cold shower to get the sweat and grime off of his body. He ran up the two flights of stairs to grab a change of clothes and a hair clip to keep his long braid from getting wet. He walked to the large bathroom on the second floor. Like all the rooms, it was furnished elegantly.
The bathroom was decorated in the light blue colors of the sky. It was rather large. With a bathtub big enough to fit at least three people and a full shower. On one wall was a tall full body mirror. Standing in front of it, Terry began peeling off the sweat-soaked clothes. He observed his mirror image after he stood before it clad in nothing but a short cotton towel. Terry had wide leaf green eyes tipped with long russet tipped lashes and long red hair. His hair was what attracted most of the girls in his school. When unfettered from its usual black hair tie, it went all the way to his knees and a few inches more. He had no idea why he kept it so long. His father, from what he remembered of him, had hair that was often tied back in a ponytail at his nape that went mid-back. He never looked like a girl though like he did.
His eyes traveled farther down. He had a lithe build with compact muscles that most boys envied. It was all achieved by his strenuous fencing lessons and martial arts lessons he had stopped two years ago. His hips were wider than a normal male, making his silhouette resemble a chestless girl's. It didn't make it any better that he was so short. Most of the girls in the school were even taller than him. His best friend, Jasen, was already more than a head taller than him and they were the same age! Terry sighed and shed the towel as he adjusted the water's temperature. He wrapped his braid around his head like a crown and pinned it up. Grabbing a shower cap, he pulled it over his hair and stepped under the warm spray.
Tense muscles relaxed under the pressure as he soaped up his body. Ten minutes later, he stepped out, vigorously toweling his body dry. Slipping into his fresh clothes, walked back downstairs to retrieve his duffel bag. It wouldn't do to leave things lying around. He didn't want it to become a habit.
Before it could do so, someone rang his bell furiously. Frowning, he walked to it and saw a panting Jasen. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"The Fendricks found the Elf! They caught it!" he shouted.
"You're kidding me right?" he said, seriously surprised.
"NO! Come and see! It looks dangerous!" Jasen said anxiously, grabbing his wrist. Terry yanked his hand out of his grasp and put on his sneakers before following him with a heavy sigh. In the middle of the street a block down, groups of people were surrounding a metal cage with a teenage boy Terry had never seen before. When he was close enough, he could see that what he saw was clearly not a human boy.
Chapter 2