Chapter 7: Fire, Rock, and Metal (Part 1)
Marco woke up with a loud groan, he scratched his brown hair, it was messy and a bit of greasy, he sighed at his hair's messiness, on his nightstand was the Mask of Avem, the mask's eyes glowed red as it waited for its user to wear him once more, with a soft smile Marco grabbed Avem first as he prepared for school, Avem was remarkably quiet, something that Marco quickly noticed for Avem was a bit of a talker despite being only a mask that doesn't even have a mouth. Marco took a shower as he placed the Red Mask of Avem on the bathroom counter, the Mask's colors of black and red greatly contrasting the bright colors of the bathroom.
Nevertheless, Marco quickly got up and got dressed, dressing himself in one of his various red hoodies and black pants, he sighed as he did his usual morning rituals before setting off to the kitchen so he make himself and Star some breakfast, placing the Dark Red Mask on the kitchen dining table, Avem finally spoke as he did.
"Did you sleep well?...Mask user?" Avem asked, his voice was the usual, dark, mysterious, yet strangely trusting, Marco nodded as he opened the fridge, pulling out a carton of eggs out of the fridge, he placed a pan on the stove and turned the heat on.
"Hey, Marco!" Star said as she entered the kitchen, quickly batting a somewhat untrustworthy eye at the Dark Red Mask known as Avem.
"Hey Star, are you ready for another day at school?" Marco asked the Princess, she smiled and nodded but not before speaking once more.
"Of course I am! But not without breakfast!" She said happily, Avem was relatively silent, not even responding to Star's kind but loud words.
Echo Creek Academy...
Janna looked at the iron mask of Ferrum with a strong form of intrigue, she didn't wear the mask yet, Sky said it himself that you should only wear the mask when their's danger lurking, Janna isn't one of those people that follow the rules however, Janna wanted to show Marco that he wasn't the only person who has a mask that grants armor onto the wearer.
Janna wondered how Sky's uncle even got a mask like this one, its design was very much exotic looking and almost out of this world, not looking like any other masks that Janna had seen before.
the Iron Mask of Ferrum was silent, a stark contrast to the Dark Mask of Avem who was talkative and was quick to say their thoughts on the current situation at hand, Janna knew that this mask has to be related to Avem some other way or other, it's a great coincidence that Marco just so happens to have a talking magical mask named Avem and Janna found a mask that so happens to be named somewhat similar to Avem, Their both latin words, Avem meaning Bird and Ferrum meaning iron respective, some buyer's remorse started to course through the girl, she sighed loudly before speaking aloud.
"if this thing was all just a fluke, at least I got it for free..." Janna said as her eyes gazed at the metal mask.
"I'm not a fluke...Little Girl..." Janna quickly heard the voice was deep and metallic, similar to a cold, calculating snake...That so happens to be entirely out of metal. Janna eyes slightly widen from the sudden voice before immediately accusing the Iron Mask of Ferrum.
"Was that you?" Janna asked the Iron Mask of Ferrum, the Iron Mask scoffed before answering.
"Of course not...It's all in your head...That's why no one talks to need an extra voice to fill in that void..." The Iron Mask of Ferrum said bluntly, Janna frowned at Ferrum unintentionally harsh words.
"You don't have to burst my bubble that hard, Sheesh!" Janna said pointing a scolding finger at the Iron Mask of Ferrum, Ferrum scoffed loudly in response, his attitude being a lot different when your comparing him to Avem.
"I couldn't burst your bubble...That'll mean I'll be popping your head..." Ferrum quickly responded before scoffing loudly once more.
"What!? What does that even mean?" Janna questioned the Magical Mask of metal.
"That you're an Airhead...Anyone and their grandmother could understand that remark...Why couldn't you?" Ferrum snarked with a mean scoff.
"Well, that's not very nice!" Janna exclaimed, The Iron Mask of Ferrum groaned loudly in response.
"I just answered your question, You want me to sugarcoat everything I say?" Ferrum said in a hardened and mean tone, Janna frowned even more so, the sheer harshness of Ferrum's words can falter even the most durable pollyannas.
"You're the new mask user...Child...Wear me with pride and in return I will give you three metaphorical wishes...Unless you want to put me back in that window display for another five years and be only be worn twelve times a year by an idiot Explorer and his morally ambiguous Nephew..." Ferrum said bluntly, before humbly asking Janna.
"Please...For the love of all things innocent and just...Don't pick the second choice..." Janna suddenly gained a rather devious look on her face, wanting to get some revenge due to Ferrum's loud and shrewd rudeness.
"I don't know...The second choice is very tempting!" She said, this finally got the Iron Mask of Ferrum to actually lose his cool.
"It Isn't...Mask User..." Ferrum said semi-quietly, Janna snickered loudly, at least Ferrum was an actual Magical Mask like Avem so at least she wasn't ripped off, the bad part, however, Ferrum is rude, mean, and in some cases just down-right annoying.
"Besides, I know you won't abandon me...The call for power is greater than any other desire..." Ferrum said Janna yawned loudly just so she can tick the Iron Mask off.
"What is your name?...Mask User..." Ferrum asked in a polite tone, surprising the girl of how Ferrum is capable of being semi-polite.
"It's Janna...Janna Meyers..." She responded Ferrum scoffed approvingly before speaking once more.
"Janna eh? Beautiful name..." The Iron Mask said quietly, Janna raised an eyebrow at Ferrum's random remark, Ferrum only scoffed once more, not even explaining why he even cared about her name or why he thought Janna's name was beautiful.
"So Janna...Besides the promises of power, strength, and general badassery...Why did you decide to take me as one of your possessions?" The Iron Mask asked the girl, she smiled softly before answering.
"Well, their's some boy, and I kind of...Like him..." Janna started to blush softly, Ferrum quickly took note, Janna had to admit, she had a bit of a crush on the Safe Kid, also known as Marco Diaz, he was everything she wanted in a guy, he's attractive, he's brave, he's sweet, he's a complete dork. She loves all those things, too bad Marco is completely oblivious to this attraction.
"Awww...That's sweet...You want me to tell you some courting advice or something?" Ferrum said before laughing loudly, Janna actually dropped Ferrum, causing the Mask to yelp in surprise.
"He has a Mask that's like you!" Janna said angrily as she picked the Iron Mask, Ferrum grumbled loudly before quickly realizing what Janna was saying.
"You mean...One of my Old Friend's...Is here? Please tell me you're telling the truth Janna..." Ferrum asked with a serious tone.
"If one of your old friend's is a red mask that can make hot boys even hotter then yeah!" Janna responded as she chuckled at her own remark.
"Wait a second...So you need me...So that you can impress your courter?" Ferrum concluded, Janna nodded.
"He's here! He's here!" Janna quickly said, before Ferrum could speak once more, Janna quickly stuffed the Iron Mask into her backpack, Marco was walking with a crutch-using Star, in Marco's hand was the Dark Mask of Avem, Janna quickly smiled as she quickly walked up to Marco.
"Hey Marco! Hey Star! How was your morning?" Janna asked, Marco was a bit surprised at Janna's straightforward greeting, he was quite taken aback by how direct Janna was, nevertheless he and Star answered to the Girl's greeting.
"It was alright, it was the usual, get up, take a shower, get dress and make breakfast." Marco answered nonchalantly with a light shrug, Star on the other hand was a bit more ecstatic.
"It was an amazing breakfast! To bad Marco had to hog the shower!" She said with a giggle, Marco comically missed the point.
"I was only in there for like five minutes, come on Star, don't scapegoat like that." Star giggled even more in response.
"Speaking of talking Masks..." Janna quickly eyed her backpack before speaking.
