“You want to hold it like this with your thumb like so and put your pinky near your lips” She showed me how to use it and, in a moment, I heard the voice of my dad in my ear “Dad, Dad it’s me Ozie!” I heard the biggest sigh of relief from the other side “Ozie I´m glad you are okay son so what happened?” I told him everything that I had learned and how I agreed to go with Higen to the human realm, he wasn’t very sure about the last part “We are going to miss you Ozie, but, if this is what you want I will never stop any of you to follow your own path, we´ll bring your things tomorrow and find a place to stay until you go on that journey of yours” “thanks dad, I´ll see you all tomorrow, Love you” “love you too Ozie”

I noticed Higen was standing behind me while I called my dad, he was already wearing his sleeping clothing, his hair was still wet from the shower he took, and he looked kind of melancholic at his food, “was that your dad Ozwald?” he asked me and sat on the table, “yeah Ekaterina let me use her stone to call home, he wasn’t a big fan of me leaving home indefinitely but he won’t stop me either” he took a bite of his food “must be nice that your family cares so much for you” I started to eat too “what do you mean? I thought the queen said this was an honor, who would be mad at you for that?” I asked, he sighed and continued eating “My mother disliked the idea of not having control over my life, she sees me as something that can further an agenda not exactly as a person.”

I took a sip of water “Well she sounds lovely, but if you ask me she is missing out” he looked at me “Well yeah it wasn’t the most normal meeting I had but so far you are a great person, you were really concerned about me in the bathroom and put my well been above all else and you barely know me” he blushed hard and looked away and I also realized what I just said and did the same “but… but you are also a little bit of an airhead and very straight forward which I find funny” I shoved a chicken leg into my mouth to stop talking.

“you have to be kidding me” Higen showed me a small black mirror, it had the shape of a square, he got it from his grandfather a few years back, “I´m not lying, knight word” After we finished dinner we stayed up a little longer, he asked me mostly about me and my family, and when I asked about the human realm he told me “this is one of the most powerful objects of the human realm, it contain all written books, plays, and other means of entertainment of the human realm, it’s called a cellular phone” he let me touch it, it felt cold to the touch my eyes were lost in the dark reflection of the front “how does it work? Do we have to make a sacrifice or pay it something?”

“You feed it, but unfortunately its food is not available to us here” I got all concerned “It’s alive?!?” I asked, “Some say it is but don’t worry it can’t harm us or charm us while it's sleeping” I took a step back “Why do you have something so dangerous?” “My grandfather told me I was going to need it for my journey and that I should respect its power so he gave me this one, even though we´ll be getting our own” he placed it gently on its box and closed it “the human realm sounds wild,” I said very intrigued “people letting themselves be eaten by a gigantic worm made of metal for transportation, objects capable of charming you if you look into them, stairs that move by themselves it sounds crazy”

“And yet we will be seeing them in two days, I can’t wait to be free!!!” Higen spined in place “Hey it’s not a vacation we are going to fight things there, how come the humans don’t know about the Titans?” I asked as he stopped spinning “You see titans are made from a place in between the realms, considering they have a connection to this side they have some magical properties, and since the human realm lacks strong magic it is an easy target” “he lowered the light of the room and picked up a candle “they make a labyrinth that suits them” he got a little closer to me “and lure in unsuspected people” he took another step, I held myself he was very good at storytelling “and eat the victims to grow stronger” he bite the air near my face and a horrible sound send me running for the hills.

I coiled my arms and legs around his torso “wha… what the hell was that sound?!?” another one of those crackling sounds was heard nearby, I burry my face in his chest trying to hide, but he was very still like a stone I couldn’t see his expression “It´s okey that is just a thunder, it happens when it rains” like the sun I had read about them but I didn’t expect to be that loud, at the underground we don’t ever hear them “Elysium is high up so lightning strikes often, that is why the queen asked you to stay it would have been a bumpy road” I let go of his torso, “sorry… is just there are a lot of things I haven’t seen and seeing them in them live is overwhelming” he laughed “is understandable I bet that if the things were reversed I would have culture shock too, but hey, I’m here, if you need a hand I gladly give you mine” I might just have met this guy but I was right he is a good person.

“… be honest Ozwald” We were waiting for my family at the entrance of the palace, and after the thunders, we went to sleep, Ekaterina let us know the time of arrival of my family, Higen was nervous the whole morning “How mad do you think your family is going to be?” “well… if you ask me, my dad is not very mad, the twins probably think you are cool” he started to regain some confidence “Excuse me now one second please” The smile on his face didn’t last “Talo will probably try to fight you but bring him a girl or two and some booze, he will let you off the hook, however, Malika will probably try to murder you on sight” “but, but, she was the quietest one at the table!” I nodded “She was probably in shock about you rejecting her and picking me.”

Soon after the carriage arrived and two tiny spots of red came running our way, “Ozie!” the twins ran out of the carriage and hugged me “Louren, Kelvin, I missed you two!” Dad stepped down next he was wearing more formal wear he extended his hand to Higen “It is nice to see you keep my boy safe from the nobles, thank you Higen” he took his hand and gave it a firm shake “It was no problem, he did fine on his own, he did threatened the head maid and a few butlers” my dad laughed loudly “that’s my boy!”  Talo rushed out of the door and put his weight into it “Guys…” the door was punched from the inside “I know this is a sweet moment for everyone but...” “Let me out, I’m going to kill him!!!” the fist of Malika punched through the door, “this door won’t hold her for much longer.”

“All alright, Higen stay behind me,” I told him “Ozwald I am a knight I think I can handle...” With a guttural roar Malika grabbed the face of Talo and slammed him against the door, he fell to the ground from the impact and she kicked the door open, Higen moved behind me “well you know it would be unproper to attack your sister, so I will let you handle her” she made eye contact with him “YOU!!!” she ran at us full speed, reared her fist back ready to destroy Higen´s face.

I didn’t blink nor did I break eye contact she stopped her fist inches from my face when she realized I was not going to move “Ozie move!” she demanded “Sis you can´t pulverize his face” “give me a good reason not to!” I took a big breath “One, we are fully surrounded by guards and knights, two, he didn’t do anything wrong, three, what would mom say?” she ground her teeth and lowered her fist, “alright, alright, gees I hate when you force me to be better… but you the knight, you better explain and make it a very good explanation or I will be crushing the family jewels if you know what I mean” I heard Higen swallowed hard behind me.

With the situation diffuse for now, Malika used her rage to pull the luggage off the carriage, while we were walking I held the hands of the twins as they were asking questions about everything, a few guys and girls reached Talo and Malika for small talk, a few of the knights asked my father for his autograph and tips on keeping their weapons, we arrived at the east hall so we could finally talk, Higen explained the ceremony and how he was going to the human realm, afterwords I explained what the queen told me and how I had made up my mind about going.

“And that about covers it” The table became really quiet, “so you are really leaving Ozie?” Louren asked in a worried tone “Is it because we misbehave? We promise to be better!” Kelvin said and hugged me “What? No, kids is not like that you guys didn’t do anything bad” Malika uncrossed her arms and patted the heads of the twins “Listen guys, Ozie wants to help people that can’t defend themselves and that’s admirable” she calmed them, their eyes shined for a moment “so is he going to be a hero?” they asked at the same time “yeah, like the ones in the fairy tales, and… he is going to make sure he comes back home, Right… Higen” she was coming around about Higen.

“I’m still against this” Talo said, “are we really letting Mister Goodie Two Shoes take our little Ozie?” “Is not like that, I’m not taking anyone away, nor am I forcing him to go, if he declined, I would have personally returned him home” Talo slammed his elbow on the table and offered his hand to Higen “then prove how strong you are!” Higen griped Talo´s hand and looked very seriously at him “Let´s finish what we started at your house” “… are you guys seriously competing for me like I’m some kind of price???” they grouted as they were engaged in their arm wrestling “you wouldn’t get it Ozie is a pride thing also a gorilla thing” my father said, in the end, Higen won the match barely “okay, you are strong I can admit my defeated, but if you let anything happen to my little brother you are dead meat!”

After the match Malika asked Ozwald and his family to wait outside for a moment, she needed to talk to me in private, “I promise I won’t try to kill him just 5 minutes please” Ozwald tried to argue but I told him it was fine, once they exited the room she started “listen to it is very obvious I don’t like you, whoever, for some reason Ozie does and I’m willing to let him go with you but I have a very important thing to ask you” I nodded “my brother had a very rough upbringing, people making fun of him, been horrible to him, he deserves only the best and to be happy, so are you a good person or just a selfish noble?”

Her question was blunt but to the point, she wasn’t playing around, in reality, I don’t know the answer to her question, I don’t know if I wanted him to go for my own selfish desire to have a close friend or do I wanted something more but the thing I was sure was “I´m just a man, I’m not going to claim I have some kind of moral ground, what I know is that I care for Ozwald he saw through my title as a noble or knight and treat me like a person when push comes to shove I will make sure he is always safe, from titans or humans” I hit my chest with my closed hand “that is the only thing I know for real and my oath to you, I Higen Banna will keep Ozwald safe then you can decide if I’m a good person or not”

“Very well I will hold you accountable for those words” She stood up and walked to the door, “you coming or what?” as she opened the door the twins, Ozwald, and even Talo fell to the ground, they were trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, “… I understood the twins but you two?” Malika asked them, Talo quickly pointed a finger at Ozwald “Not my fault Ozie convinced me” “Why you… you started to do it first, Talo you are the worst!” they started to fight on the floor, and the twins were cheering to see who would win, Malika sighed and their father was trying to separate them, I wonder if this is how a loving family looks like, I remember how my father use to take me for fishing trips but when he passed I was handed my script and didn’t have time for thing like that.