[img]http://i.imgur.com/J8VStXo.png[/img] Sunlight streamed through his window, he probably forgot to close the curtains. Lucien opened his eyes, only to realize he had fallen asleep on his desk. Books were strewn across his room and the little cat he found by the junkyard was curled up on one of his pillows. Odd, hadn't he been with--? He drew up blanks and winced. Perhaps, it had all been a strange dream. "For the hundredth time, he has disobeyed me and has made a fool out of our family!" It was his father's voice and it was seething with rage. Why was he at home? He ran away from this boring place long ago, didn't he? "Why can't he be more like Boris?" His mother asked, disappointed, sad, and angry. The summoner tiptoed towards his bedroom door and pressed his ear against it. They were whispering angrily about him, something about the scary prank he had pulled on one of the vendors. He laughed a little, all he had done was dug up the bones of a dead bird and hide it in one of the vendor's bags. It wasn't anything major, but wait, he had pulled that prank ages ago, back when he was thirteen and he sure as hell wasn't a teen now. He rushed towards the mirror on the other side of the room and let out a relieved sigh when he noticed he was still the same. The door was shoved open and his parents walked in with red faces and creased eyebrows. "Son, you will be punished for what you have done! I want you to think about what you've done and first thing tomorrow, you will go back and apologize." He blinked slowly, as if caught in a daze. He couldn't remember ever going home. "Uh, long time no see?" Before he could say anything else, his parents grabbed him by the arms and began leading him towards a closet. He struggled, but their grip, it was stone-like, inhuman. He was pushed in and there was nothing but darkness, even the door disappeared behind him. "Bad boys must be punished." His hand shot up into the air as if he were a puppet and someone else the player. A cut appeared on his finger and the blood dripped onto one of his summoning cards. The lights on the far end of the dark room flickered to life and he saw his friends. The puzzle pieces began sliding into place. He had been with them in Thaum, but why were they here? There was a puff of smoke and suddenly he had summoned a lion. Lucien yelled at them to run, but they didn't. They were talking to each other and they couldn't hear him--they couldn't even hear the lion roar. --- [img]http://i.imgur.com/ZEQcnsM.png[/img] The sun was high in the sky and the birds were singing, the day was perfect. Xan strolled lazily through the forest, eyes locked on the cotton candy clouds above. Tonight, she and her parents would be watching a play in the town's square, but that was hours away and she had the entire afternoon to herself. What was she going to do? There were so many possibilities. Maybe she could go fishing by the creek and catch a nice, fat trout for dinner, or maybe she could read a book on one of the trees' branches? The girl grinned, she could always stop by Mrs. Lancer's place and help the old lady pick apples. Oh, well, for now she'd explore. "Xandra? Is that you? I need a little help with the cart. Your mom and I got these from the garden, going to sell them tonight." Xan swiveled around to see her dad, he was pushing a cart full of fruits and vegetables and had a huge grin stuck to his face. "I'm coming!" She hopped forward and made her way towards the cart, she was just about to pull a basket of apples out when the cart vanished into thin air. What had once been a basket handle was now nothing but thin air. The girl recoiled and turned to look at her father, but he wasn't there. In the man's place was a grizzly bear, twice her size. The girl focused on its knife-like teeth and froze.