The bright Algol sun made Myen instinctively squint to keep from being blinded. Once his pupils adjusted, he could see the lush meadows and forests of the Palman countryside. He could see tall brown mountains off in the distance. And to the left by the ocean he could see a bright glimmer. His mother had taught him enough about the world to know that the glint was the reflection off of a Palman city.

I guess I'll head there. Nothing left for me here anymore.

On his way, he saw a swarm of giant flies and a group of scorpions off in the distance. Myen decided to keep as low of a profile as he could so as not to arouse their ire. As he turned back towards the town, a rustling told him that he was not alone. Suddenly, from behind a small group of trees, four scorpions jumped out at him. Instinctively Myen puffed his fur out, extended his claws, and started emanating a low feline growl.

The first scorpion to reach him lunged out at him with its tail. Myen dodged to the side while swiping at the tail. By chance he caught the tail perfectly in the middle, severing it from its owner. The scorpion gave a weird scream of pain as Myen quickly recovered and jumped on the scorpions back. His musk cat hunting instinct took over as he sunk his claws into precisely the right spot behind the scorpion's head. The lack of movement told him that he had accomplished severing its brain stem.

OUCH! One of the scorpions bit his tail! He turned around while swiping at the new aggressor. His claws connected with the scorpion's eyes. The scorpion screamed and ran away, but the distraction had been set. From behind him the tail of another scorpion stabbed at his left flank. Musk cats are immune to the scorpion's venom, but the pain was intense.

"NOOOO!" Myen screamed as a white light started coming from his body. The pain went away, but his consciousness did as well.

FWPP! FWPP! FWPP! The noise startled him awake again. He quickly looked around, only to see that the remaining scorpions were nothing but charred remains.

"It's a good thing I found you when I did, little fellow."

Myen looked up to see a Palman woman approaching him. She had blue hair with a bandanna tied around her head. She was wearing a pale blue robe and holding an ancient-looking wooden cane in her left hand. Myen inquired.

"Wh-who are you?"

"My name is Lori. I am a trainee esper wizard that came out to this field for some practice... Hey, wait a minute. You can talk?"

"I'm a musk cat! All musk cats can talk." The indignant tone was hard to mask.

"Wait, you are a musk cat? But... you're not yellow? How can this be? Hold on, let me look this up."

Lori rummaged through the knapsack she carried and finally produced a big weathered-looking book. After minutes of page-flipping and Hmmm...-ing, her face brightened.

"Aha! So that's what it is! It says here that there is a one-in-a-million chance of a black musk cat being born. So, that must mean that you are special! This is a great omen for me."

"Well, it's not that great for me. In fact the musk cats kicked me out of the village. They told me that only yellow musk cats are allowed. So I was on my way to the Palman town over there when a group of scorpions surprised me."

"Well, like I said, it's a good thing I found you when I did, er... what was your name?"

"Myen."

"Right... Myen! And that was great how you cast that spell when you did. Otherwise you might have been done for."

"Spell? What are you talking about? I don't know any magic!"

"Don't be silly, Myen! It was obviously a spell. And a healing spell by the looks of you. There's not a scratch on you!"

Myen checked himself over. She was right! He knew that he was struck at least twice, but there was nothing wrong with him at all!. That white light...

"Um, Lori? You might be right after all. I didn't know I could do that! I DON'T know how I did that! Wait, how do you know about magic?"

"Silly! I'm an esper! Magic is what we do. Well, some of us do it better than others. That's why I was out here practicing. It seems I can do offensive magic OK enough, but I just can't get the hang of defensive magic... like YOURS! Say, maybe we could practice together? I could teach you how to control your magic, and you can maybe teach me how you do your defensive magic? Friends?"

OK, yeah! Friends."

Her outstretched hand met his outstretched paw and they shook to close the deal.

"So where do we start?"

The two friends laughed as they heard each others' perfectly-timed musing.

"I'm staying in Avalon. You are welcome to stay with me if you'd like?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. Thank you, Lori! We should probably go now. We've practiced a lot. I think the swarms have gotten wise to us, because I don't see anymore of them."

"Good idea. So Myen... what is your story?"

After telling her about the events that transpired earlier, Myen listened as Lori began to tell her story.

"Well, it all began when I was born, on Dezoris. The Dezorian midwife my mother had was the jovial type. Always cracking bad jokes. Well, she must have received divine inspiration when I was born, because after catching me, she said what was supposedly the funniest joke of all time. From what I heard everybody was busting up laughing, even my mother... which caused the midwife to miss catching me. Supposedly I fell right on my head. The nurse quickly picked me up in a ruffling of sheets so as to not let anyone see what had happened. But everybody knew. That night, my father cursed the Dezorians so that any time they told a joke, it would be a bad one so that nobody would laugh and make a mistake. Oh, and the midwife was fired too. Last I heard she was selling burgers and colas in some really lousy Dezorian outpost."

"Whoa. That's not good. Well, maybe the Dezorians have learned by now, and don't tell any more jokes?"

"Maaaaybe. Anyways when I got older, I was enrolled in esper school. All of the other kids did really well, but for some reason I could only learn offensive spells. Defensive magic just didn't work for me at all. My teachers thought I was just being a pain, but I was really trying. After awhile I got so fed up with everybody looking down on me. So I snuck into the Headmaster's office, uhh... borrowed some of his magic books, and ran away. I hopped on a ship bound for Palma, and decided that I would practice my hardest so that they would all be proud of me. After a couple days, my father found me. He was a master esper after all. I told him what happened and that I couldn't go back yet. He said 'As long as you're happy and safe, my little one, then nothing can stop you.' He rented a room for me to live in here in Avalon, and here I am. Oh, and here we are."

Being an exceptional learner, Myen was able to read the signpost at the entrance of the town. North Avalon. Myen scanned the town to take it all in. To the left there were many small domed buildings. Some were labeled SHOP, while others gave no clue as to their inner-workings. One large building in the middle of the others was larger, and had a more ornate facade. To the right were huge winged things that he assumed were the ships that Lori spoke about. One thing stood out though.

"Hey Lori, where is everybody? There are no people around at all."

"Hey, ya' know... you're right! That is odd. Well, lets get home and check the visiphone for news. Maybe that will tell us."

Indeed it did.

"(A.N.N. - ALGOL NEWS NETWORK) Here is the latest: There was an attack off the coast of Scion earlier today. A fishing vessel reports spotting a huge demon with glowing eyes rising out of the ocean and destroying 4 of its fellow boats. The crew of the sole unharmed vessel reported feeling a strange magic emanating from the demon's body, almost like a dark force of some sort. After destroying the boats, the demon floated up into the sky and disappeared. The demon hasn't been seen since, but locals are keeping a fearful eye to the skies in an around-the-clock watch-*CLICK*"

"That's terrible! All those people killed... by a demon. I have to warn my family! Myen, you should probably warn yours too, even though you don't get along with them."

Myen looked at the floor. "No, they don't ever want to see me again. Maybe I can go with you instead? I've never been to Dezoris! What is it like?"

"Well, let's just say that you are definitely dressed for the occasion."