Chapter One

Legends told of a great hero, the greatest the land had ever seen! He appeared out of nowhere, on an uneventful day and fell from the sky. The evil ruler Baron Praxis captured him and for two years put him through horrible torment, until the day he escaped with his faithful friend. And after he escaped, he joined the underground movement, to throw the evil baron off his throne! And then he found out who the Metal head leader was, and decided to get him too! He was JAK!

The small boy held up his wooden stick valiantly. "And I will-" he began, but he was cut off as he fell face down into the mud.

He sat up and shook his bright blue and green messy hair out of his face. "No fair," he said with disdain. He looked like Christmas had been cancelled as he sat in the mud. "I wannint wedy yet, Charon..."

The other child, wearing nothing but a grey shirt and black baggy pants huffed, standing over his muddy brother, looking at him with as much remorse as a bird would have for a worm. Not much.

The muddy child was beginning to get teary. "MOOOOOOOMM," he wailed.

Charon stomped his foot, "You always ruin the fun..."

"What is it Caedmon, honey? I'm busy at the moment..." came a voice from the kitchen.

"Charon's not being FAIR," Caedmon whined. "He pushed me into the MU-UD!"

A woman appeared at the door and sighed, her long, dark blue hair was tied behind her head in a neat ponytail. "Charon, be nice to your brother."

Charon pouted and gave Caedmon an 'I'm-going-to-kill-you-cuz-you-ruin-everything' look. But he just stuck his tongue out in response, his ears waggling a bit with the motion.

"Mommy when will poppy be here?" asked Caedmon innocently.

The boys' mom just sighed and looked at the clock inside the doorway. "He should be here very soon. And you need a bath now, you're all muddy." She smiled affectionately. "It's time for you to come inside anyway. Come along, you two troublemakers."

Caedmon hiccoughed and his mom came to pick him up, wiping some of the mud off his face. Charon pouted but didn't say anything, he just followed quietly.

It wasn't very often poppy came and visited, he used to come a lot but he had recently been able to travel less and less because of his old age. Happily, though, this time he was staying for a whole month. Luxuries like this were usually unheard of to the youngsters and they were both very happy about him coming, even though Charon didn't like to admit it.

Their mom gave them a bath together, like usual, and after they were clean and dry, let them play in the house for a while... under the watchful eye of Tess, a friend of the family. She was happy enough taking care of the boys, and making some light conversation with their mom while she was cooking.

Caedmon was having fun playing with a few loose batteries, light bulbs and some blutak. He was having fun setting up little light displays on the living room table, whilst his brother was watching the latest Combat Racing updates. The Kras City Championship had started up again, and racing was one of Charon's passions.

His mother didn't show any resistance to this, it just made her a little bit sad, for some reason. He figured it must have been because of his father being a racer...

Caedmon yelped in shock as he accidently knocked his little test over. He quickly cleaned it up and put the stuff away to go and sit on the couch, absentmindedly observing his brother who was randomly, to him, anyway, yelling out 'no's and 'you should have used the turbo there's and maybe a few 'that was sloppy's as well. But he wasn't paying attention, so hey.

Tess had moved on to the talk of rising clothing prices, and how barely anything would fit an ottsel like her when there was a knock at the door.

There was silence and anticipation in the air for several seconds.

The knock came again and Tess said, "I'll get it."

Just as everyone had hoped and expected it was the boys' grandfather.

He entered the room and greeted his daughter before walking into the living room. Caedmon catapulted into him, gently of course, and wrapped his slightly pudgy arms around his grandpa's waist. "Poppy!" shouted the four-year old with pure unadulterated joy.

Charon waited for his brother to release his octopus-grip on their poppy before going and giving him a light hug.

He laughed and ruffled both the boy's hair, both having a slightly different reaction though both positive.

Tess giggled and smiled. "I'd better be going. I'm leaving the city tomorrow, and I haven't even begun to pack yet. See youse later!"

With whole-hearted parting words, Tess left the family of four. Their mom set the table as the males were talking and playing together. She was deep in thought as she quickly finished her work.

"Oh," said their poppy suddenly. "I almost forgot in all the excitement..."

Mom raised her eyebrow suspiciously, as her father brought out a wooden box and set it down in front of the boys. "Happy birthday you two!" he said, opening the lid.

Two small creatures were curled inside. One was grey-black, one was cream. They looked like small cats, with long monkey tails and large back legs, like an ottsel's. The boys looked at them with awe.

"These," explained their poppy, "are monkits. The most loyal and devoted animals you could ever find, intelligent and clever too. They're a very rare endangered species, so I trust you will take care of them?"

The boys nodded vigorously in awed unison.

"Good," he said with a smile. "These two are twins, just like you. Very rare... Go on, take them. Give them a hold!"

The boys both picked out the furry animals gently, giving them a small cuddle and pat. They purred gently but did not open their eyes.

"What do they eat?" asked their mom.

"Anything a person can," her father replied. "And easy to care for too," he added with a wink.

She laughed, "But I still expect you two to eat your veggies!"

"Awww," they moaned together.

Still smiling, she said, "Dinner is served."

They ate dinner with little silence, Caedmon asking his grandpa so many questions and a few words between father and daughter. Charon sat there in almost complete silence, his small monkit (he named her Ambite) curled on his lap, eating the veggies he wasn't so intent on. He managed to do this without his mother seeing though.

Caedmon had little time for eating; he was using his mouth so much. But he soon started to lose his voice and lapsed into silence realising that Amico, his monkit, was eating his soup. "Hey!" he protested, but she just gazed into his amethyst eyes and licked him on the nose, causing him to blush, Charon to stifle a laugh and the older two at the table to chuckle lightly.

"Not funny," he mumbled, asking for another bowl of soup.

The boys had begun to fall asleep before they finished dinner, their small furry companions curled up around their necks, already deep in sleep.

Their mom smiled and tucked them into bed with their newfound friends and turned off the lights.

She walked downstairs to finish off her dinner and talk in private with her father.

"Any new news?" she asked casually, poking a floating vegetable absentmindedly.

Her father sighed, "Not much, but... I did find an interesting artefact the other day."

She raised her eyebrow, "oh?"

With a small shuffling noise, he withdrew a small clock-like orb. The interesting thing to note was it had an interesting insignia on its surface; the symbol of the House of Mar.

She took a sharp breath. "This is exactly what I've been looking for! Where did you find it?"

"In... the mountains," he said conspicuously, passing the artefact to her waiting hand.

She looked slightly downcast. "Oh..."

He nodded whimsically; they didn't like to talk about that place. "But, I knew that you needed it. How far along have you come?"

"Almost finished... but I cannot activate it-"

"Without the help of eco," he finished. "I know."

"And as far as I know... even an eco sage cannot activate it."

"Only the heir of Mar?"

She looked hurtful, and avoided the gaze of her father.

"Yes."

BEWARE!
~A.S.

Yeah, not much to say to this. Please R&R if you have the time, I would really like to hear some feedback!

Thanks~!