Bobby entered the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He was not one to have breakfast, although he admired his mother’s special breakfasts during the holidays, those being a platter of fried eggs, toast, baked beans, roast tomatoes, and sausages. Just then, Bobby’s mother, Natasha, entered the room. She looked a lot like her son, and her hair was rather messy due to the fact she’d just woken up.

“Hi Mum, I’m going to HighQ LowC today,” announced Bobby. “Okay,” replied Natasha. “What are you going to buy? “Oh, I’m not going to buy anything,” explained Bobby. “I’m going to the Trooth Booth.” Natasha was surprised by her son’s response. “Bobby, you know the Trooth Booth is a silly place, why would you go there?” Bobby explained the situation to his mother. “My friends and I found something interesting yesterday, but we don’t know what it is.” “What did you find?” Nastasha asked, intrigued to hear more. “Some weird black gauntlet with a yellow blade,” answered Bobby. Natasha had no idea what Bobby was talking about, but she allowed him to fulfil his plans for the day. “Alright sweetie, have fun, and make sure to stay safe,” replied Natasha. She hadn’t witnessed the attack on Fluvaria first hand, but she’d heard about it on the news, so she was more concerned about her son’s safety than usual. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” insisted Bobby.

He quickly brushed his teeth and then went to his room to get changed. As he was tying his scarf, Bobby heard his mother call something to him. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Bobby responded. “Yeah, I hope so.” Bobby left the house and embarked on the journey to HighQ LowC. It only takes ten minutes to drive from Bobby’s house to HighQ LowC, but Bobby was walking so the journey took significantly longer. He knew that his plans were scheduled for 10 am, so he walked slower than usual, knowing that he would arrive at HighQ LowC on time. Despite his efforts, Bobby still arrived at HighQ LowC long before ten o’clock. In fact, the mall had only just opened when he arrived. Bobby found this mildly annoying. But he thought that if he was going to spend roughly under an hour waiting for his friends, he would make the most out of his time.

HighQ LowC had many amazing shops and places to look at, so Bobby ventured around many of them, in order to occupy his waiting time. He saw various paintings in the artwork store, some cool hats in the clothing store, and if he had brought his wallet, he definitely would have bought something from the mini cafe. As a sweet tooth, Bobby felt pain at the sight of cream donuts and anything to do with chocolate, if he wasn’t able to eat them. Bobby enjoyed his tiki tour around HighQ LowC, but not to the point where he forgot about the Trooth Booth mission. In fact, he constantly checked the foyer of HighQ LowC to see if his friends had arrived.

It was 9.42 am. Narvy had just arrived at HighQ LowC. Within the next twenty minutes, Edward, Rita, and Elsa all showed up at different times. All of the Braw Agents were now present at their meeting place, and they were ready to discover the meaning of the mysterious object; except for the one who had the resources. “Do you know where Hannah is?” asked Bobby. “Nope,” answered Narvy. None of the other Braw Agents knew Hannah’s whereabouts, so they didn’t bother to reply. At 10.09 am, Hannah arrived at HighQ LowC. “Sorry I’m late, my cat was being a nuisance and it interfered with my morning,” explained Hannah. “It’s okay,” replied Bobby. “You aren’t even that late.” Before going into the Trooth Booth, Narvy asked Hannah, “Do you have your phone and the image?” Hannah confirmed that she had kept the photo since the previous day, and that she had her phone on her. Without any further setbacks, the Braw Agents entered the Trooth Booth.

Many of the shops in HighQ LowC either had automatic sliding doors or open gateways, but the Trooth Booth was different. In order to get in, the Braw Agents had to walk through a curtain of strings threaded with colourful beads. Once they got inside, they were greeted with an unusual sight. The ceiling, walls and floor were all completely black, however, the room wasn’t dark. The Braw Agents could easily see each other, as well as the odd furniture pieces on the floor. They ranged from ottomans to couches to bean bags, all of which were in various bright colours. Nobody knew what was going on, but they all decided to get comfy regardless. Bobby sat on a teal ottoman, Narvy and Hannah shared a bright orange couch, Rita used a neon green ottoman as her seat, and Edward and Elsa relaxed themselves on bean bags. Elsa’s was bright red while Edward’s was neon yellow.

Seconds after they got comfy, the Braw Agents heard an unfamiliar voice. “Hello, welcome to the Trooth Booth.” This message came from a man who had just entered the room from the staff door. He appeared to be in his late thirties and had short, wavy blond hair. He was also wearing a white button-up shirt, brown jeans, and brown shoes. “I am Donald, and I will be your provider of information today,” he announced, as he walked to one of the chairs. He sat on the black couch facing the Braw Agents. There was also something that seemed like a brown leather jacket hanging on one of the arm rests.

“Before we begin, may I offer you some food?” asked Donald. “I’ve got fruitcake.” The Braw Agents were quick to turn down the offer. Not only because they had other things to do at the Trooth Booth, but also because it was fruitcake they were being offered. “That’s fine, you don’t have to eat. Why did you come here anyway?” asked Donald.

“Well, you know about what happened yesterday?” explained Bobby. “We tried to stop the threat from destroying Fluvaria, but it didn’t go too well.” Bobby went on to further explain their situation. “The reason we came here is because we found an unusual artefact while trying to stop the threat.” “Yeah, some goblin dude stole it from a weird building,” claimed Hannah. Donald became intrigued upon hearing this. “What’s this artefact you’re talking about?” asked Donald, with great interest. “Let me show you,” announced Hannah, as she grabbed her phone. She went straight to her photo gallery and clicked on the blurry photo taken the previous day. Hannah showed the image to Donald.

“This is bad. This is really bad,” murmured Donald, with visible fear in his eyes. “What’s bad?” asked Hannah. “Is the artefact dangerous or something?” “Yes, that thing is a Maioura Blade,” replied Donald. “I’m not going to lie, that’s a pretty cool name for a dagger,” commented Elsa. None of the Braw Agents knew what a Maioura Blade was, so Hannah spoke up and asked Donald what it was. “The Maioura Blades are a collection of three daggers,” explained Donald. “All three of them are basically paperweights, but when a ritual is performed, they can be magically forged into the Avere Maioure.” The Braw Agents appreciated the information Donald gave them. However, while it did answer some questions, it left others untouched and even added an avalanche of new questions.

“Why was one of the Maioura Blades being kept in a building?” asked Bobby. “What building? Are you talking about the Department of Valuable Artefacts?” asked Donald. “Yeah, it must be,” answered Bobby. “The building with the long hallway and many doors.” Donald was now on the same page as Bobby. “The Maioura Blades are valuable items, they must not be left in the wrong hands,” he explained. “Wait a minute, earlier you said that the three Maioura Blades can be forged into one,” commented Narvy. “What does that mean, and why is it a big deal?” Donald went on to tell Narvy a short story.

“The Avere Maioure was a powerful weapon that could turn living things into stone. It had the opposite power of the Maioura Crystals, which could turn stone into living things.” “Alright, go on,” replied Narvy. “The risk was too great to keep the Avere Maioure intact,” explained Donald. “So, with the power of the Ricon Ritual, the Avere Maioure was split into three powerless entities and dispersed around the country.” Narvy’s question was answered to near completion, but he had one more thing to ask. “Is the ritual that split the Avere Maioure the same one that restores it.” “Yes,” answered Donald. “Thought so,” replied Narvy.

“What do the other two Maioura Blades look like?” asked Edward. “They look just like the one you found,” explained Donald. “Except the colour of the blade and the gem is different on each. One has a blue blade and gem while the other has those features in green.” “Where can we find them?” asked Rita. “The blue Maioura Blade is located in Halmarn Museum, and the green Maioura Blade is believed to be in the Kitayi Forest, but it’s exact location is unknown,” answered Donald.

“Alright, I think we got everything we came here for, let’s go,” announced Bobby, as he raised himself from his ottoman. The Braw Agents were about to walk through the beaded curtain, but Hannah had one last question to ask. “Who was the goblin that stole the Maioura Blade?He was made of stone and had glowing red parts on his body.” Donald tried to answer the question to the best of his knowledge. “That creature you found is a Maioura, a stone statue that has been brought to life by the power of the Maioura Crystals, but I don’t know who the goblin is specifically.” Hannah wished she had discovered the identity of the goblin, but she was glad to learn what a Maioura was.

The Braw Agents left the Trooth Booth and returned to HighQ LowC’s hallway. As they did so, the colour palette in their vision changed from dark with neon colours to light with neutral colours. The exit to HighQ LowC was a short walking distance away from the Trooth Booth, but before the Braw Agents made it that far, they heard a voice, but only Bobby was familiar with it.

“Hello, Bobby,” called a warm, elderly voice. Bobby turned around and saw it was Beth. She was an old lady with short curly hair the colour of a silver ingot. She wore an emerald-green strapless dress with some black boots underneath. Her arms were like coat hangers for her grocery bags. One bag contained fruit and vegetables, one contained frozen meat, one contained milk and one contained sweet delicacies for tea.

“Hi, Beth,” replied Bobby. “You know her?” asked Narvy. “Yeah, she’s very good friends with my mum,” replied Bobby. “Has your day been good?” asked Beth. “Yeah, my friends and I just went to the Trooth Booth,” answered Bobby. “Very cool. Why did you go there?” asked Beth, with intrigue in her eyes. “It’s a long story, do you have time for me to explain?” asked Bobby. “Yes, I do,” answered Beth, “but not here, I can’t leave the meat and milk out of a cold place for too long.” “So, should we come to your house, and we can talk about the situation there?” asked Bobby. “Exactly,” answered Beth. The Braw Agents left HighQ LowC with Beth and embarked on a journey to her house.