"Wake up!"

"Ughh, no. I'm so tired." It wasn't a surprise when Rory felt like dying the next morning; because she hadn't slept since she came to Erakylon. Everything was going so fast and she had a hunch that her family wasn't the best at organizing their time to show guests around. While touring Volaris with Lexi was fun, spending the whole day in heels wasn't. She could feel her muscles aching when she tried to move them and the pained moan she let out reflected her mood perfectly. She wanted to stay in bed the entire day.

"Dear sister, you do not want to miss this, believe me."

"Jack?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with a tired arm. "What are you doing in here?" She then forced herself to sit up, head still extremely heavy. When her eyes opened slowly, she was met with her brother's pearly white smile and a playful look in his brown eyes. "Today I'm all yours. I'll show you around the palace...and the best paths to get out."

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Out?"

"The best thing about this enormous palace is the fact that you can sneak out a lot easier than you would in any other place," her older brother said cheerfully, sending a wink her way. "Why would I want to sneak out? I'm sure the security system here isn't so easy to beat."

"That's where you're wrong. With a little bit of magic, everything is possible."

"If you say so," Rory shrugged, pulling herself up in a more comfortable position, and then stretched her arms out, shuddering at the sensation. That's when his words finally began to sink in.

She didn't have any magic.

To remind her of that felt cruel.

"Come on, it's already 9. What do you say to breakfast in bed?" Jack asked, putting his arms on his waist when he saw disappointment written all over her face. A smile showed up on the redhead's face at the mention of food. She was starving. She only hoped there wouldn't be any more jellyfish anytime soon. "I say bring it."

"You heard the princess! In with the food!" Jack clapped his hands, an even wider smile pulling itself on his lips as the maids opened the door, and brought a trolley of delicious-looking foods right next to the bed.

"Alright, where to start? Is there anything you'd like to see first?" Her brother asked as they strolled along the hallway, making their way to the staircase of the left wing. Rory thought about it for a while, eyes going from the paintings on the walls to the windows on the right. Like her brother, she didn't know where to start. The place was massive, there was no way they'd finish the tour today anyway.

Then, she thought of one place she wanted to see. Her eyes shined with excitement and her heart fluttered at the thought.

"How about the library?"

That made her brother chuckle. He would never understand why the first place she thought of would be a dusty, boring setting with flying books and grumpy librarian pixies scolding him 80% of the time. "Of all the things in the palace, you want to see the library? Are you sure?"

Rory shrugged casually."Well, what else is there?"

"I don't know, griffins, dragons, unicorns, bird towers, training grounds, game room, tech room, wishing room, other people...?"

"I'm not a people person."

Jack sighed. "I figured. You're like Ethan."

"I'm nothing like him." She snapped, not wanting to be associated with her oldest brother who was rather insensitive at times. Ethan was the only one who never visited her on Earth, keeping their contact limited. Occasionally he'd send a letter, telling her about some book he'd read on Earth's history or culture and then criticize it, calling it primeval. She'd then respond and they'd fight over the paper until someone stopped first. Usually, it was Ethan since he was so busy with his studies and training, but he never actually admitted that he lost the imagination to reply to Rory's compound insults without repeating himself. But other than that, they didn't talk at all. Much less see each other in the past 10 years. Just like her mother. The only difference was that he didn't send checks to her grandparents to keep her alive.

"Oh, you're exactly like Ethan, little sister," Jack assured her with a soft smile and a nudge to the ribs. The redhead rolled her eyes and continued her way down the hallway, getting a bit impatient.

She wanted to see where Ethan sent all his letters from.

Where he read all that about Earth.

If she confronted him about the matter, he'd definitely deny it, but sometimes Rory liked to think that he missed her and read about her home to feel closer to her. Call it wishful thinking, but she missed him as well. They never got along as children, and she didn't have many memories from Eraklyon anyway, but what she could never forget was that when she got hurt, Ethan was there to comfort her.

"Here we are!" She snapped out of her thoughts, as they suddenly stood in front of a giant door, much bigger than the rest she had seen up till now. With a flick of Jack's hand, it opened, and suddenly it felt as if they had entered another dimension. A smile drew itself on Rory's face when she saw tons of books just a blink from her reach.

The architecture of the place was no more glamorous than the rest of the palace, but she immediately knew she's going to like this place best out of any room in the castle. Tilting her head upwards, the sheer size of the bookshelves caught her eye; one couldn't possibly see the end from the first floor. She wasn't even sure if she was looking at the glass ceiling or the sky itself. It was as though Rory was looking at multiple skyscrapers, reaching for the sky, composing an endless labyrinth of nothing but knowledge and magic. Once again, there were countless worker pixies, fairies, and some witches in special green uniforms putting the books back into their right place. Other than that, it was filled with explorers, philosophers, scientists, and magicians, who apparently roamed around for days before even leaving. Luckily, there were bathrooms every few corners just to keep the place clean.

Jack took her closer to the main reception desk, where a model of the entire Magic dimension floated above it. Each planet had its symbolic color, and she could see Eraklyon's was emerald green. The color of Solaria was yellow, the planet of Melody was coated in red, Andros was painted deep blue, Lynphea soaked in baby pink, Zenith shone in dark purple. She knew of the main planets, but then also discovered so many more of them. Jack took his time and showed her each planet of the floating construction. Callisto, Dolona, Espero, Isis, Hoggar, Gavino, Barlotta, Whisperia, Ohm, Oppositus, Orez, Fallat, Rot, she had a bit of trouble with following him.

"What's this Galaxy called? Are we still in the Milky way?"

Jack turned around with a confused look on his face. "Milky Way? Hasn't anyone told you? Haven't you seen leaving the galaxy yourself?"

"I think I might've passed out for a few hours there. It might shock you but I don't travel to space that often."

"Right, I apologize then. Let me start all over. We are located in the eastern part of the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest one to Milky Way if I recall correctly. Our Solar System is called The Magic Dimension, or simply Magix, which is also what the biggest planet in the system is called. It was the first dimension created by the Great Dragon, who was the embodiment of the purest and first source of magic ever known. It has been passed down from generation to generation of the royal family of domino. And now, it is our mother that is the bearer of this power. It will be passed down to Ethan at some point."

"So that means his ego will grow even more?"

"Likely."

The two siblings laughed it off, the image of their oldest brother popping into their heads. Something about the way his face looked so serious all the time made them explode into loud cackles. When they had calmed down, they continued their way around the library, where Jack took her to the interesting part of the library. Where she could clearly see where the knowledge was at. The paintings.

Not just any paintings though. The living paintings of people who fought in countless battles; lived in different times, laughed, and suffered just like any other man, woman, fairy, witch, hero, elf, mage, scientist, or any other intelligent creature that could talk. Of course, he left out the important detail that they could interact with the material world. Which meant they could touch others.

The pair walked through the hall quietly, Rory a few steps behind Jack as she admired the portraits of countless royals, counts and countesses, and other nobles. She passed a normal size painting of a blonde princess, paying it no mind since had to keep reminding herself to keep herself glued to her brother if she didn't want to get lost.

"A newbie in the castle?" The late blonde princess teased, stretching out her hand and let Rory's long red locks flow through her fingers.

"Eeek!" The redhead jumped away, gluing herself to her brother's side, and looked at the blonde woman in a big, puffy what-Rory-assumed-was-a-wedding-dress with terror and confusion in her eyes. Jack almost fell into laughter once again but managed to control himself and let out merely a cough.

"I heard she's got your name," another brunette woman in a red coat from the painting said. She looked at the blonde, who kept her eyes on Rory, studying her. "Is that so?"

Was this Hogwarts?

"Princess Aurelia, it is a pleasure to see you again today. You look ravishing as always."

"No need to flatter me, Jack. I've been dead for 250 years," the young woman teased and set her eyes on the redhead once again. "What's your name?"

"U-Uh...Rory."

"I mean your full name."

"This is Princess Rory Aurelia Daphne of Eraklyon. My youngest sister. She'll be staying at the castle till the new school year starts. Then, she'll start her first year at Alfea." the young prince explained proudly. The people locked behind golden frames gasped in awe, while some clicked their youngest and shook their heads in disapproval. "Oh, Alfea! How absolutely wonderful! I remember my first day like it was yesterday. A wonderful school. You'll have the absolute best time there. I can guarantee you that."

But was the assurance of a woman who's been dead for 250 years enough to calm her nerves?

Absolutely not.

Once their tour of the inside was complete, the pair decided to take a stroll in the gardens. If Rory hadn't been absolutely astounded before, she was now. Most of the fauna she couldn't recognize, but she had some faint memories of playing there with her siblings as a child. It was all so vivid though. The real thing, however, was completely different. Numerous sweet aromas filled her nostrils, and the clash of bright colors made it a bit hard for her to distinguish one plant from another. But it didn't matter to her. What was important was that she was slapped in the face with innocent, happy memories from before. Before she was sent away like she had the plague.

Without even realizing it, hot tears streamed down her face.

She only came back to reality when Jack placed his hand on her shoulder."Hey, are you okay?" He asked with a sympathetic look in his eyes."Uh, God. I think I'm allergic to half of these plants. This probably won't be my reading place." Rory wiped the tears and itched the skin around her eyes to make her lie more convincible. Luckily for her, none of her family members seemed to be that good at understanding human emotions. She wasn't surprised when her brother shrugged it off and motioned her to follow him.

They reached the training grounds where her father, Ethan, and Lexi were suiting up in black uniforms, preparing to engage in a battle. The youngest two stopped at a bush next to two of the guards where it would be safe to watch without getting hit. "Alright, father! Be prepared to lose!" Lexi announced confidently, a smile on her face, while Ethan just rolled his eyes. "You lose miserably every single time you spar with him. Where does that confidence come from?"

"So do you, Ethasaurous. At least I enter every battle with a desire to win."

"You think I don't? There's no need to parade that desire like an emerald peahawk." The eldest replied, pulling out his sword that had a neon orange glow to it. It reminded Rory of what she saw in the old movie called Star Wars. They looked just like that, except maybe they looked sharper and actually dangerous. Lexi had the same one, just thinner and in bright green.

"That's enough you two, it's go time," Sky announced when his personal guard used a potion to numb his right hand. Rory raised her eyebrows when Jack told her about the conditions of their training. Apparently, the King was so strong he needed a handicap to make the battle between him and his two children at least somewhat equal. "No way he'll win." Jack chuckled at her disbelief.

"If I were you, I'd watch very closely."

A second passed before Lexi and Ethan lunged themselves at the unarmed and handicapped King. He dodged their coordinated attacks gracefully and moved back to gain some distance.

Not only 5 minutes into the battle Lexi was sent flying back, hit a stone pillar with her back, then fell on her hands and knees. Ethan fought about a minute more before his father found a loophole in his stance, tripped him, stole his sword, and pointed it right under his chin. "17 seconds longer than last week. I see you've practiced."

"Not enough apparently."

"You'll have plenty of time to practice till next week." Sky helped him on his feet before going up to Lexi, wanting to check if she was hurt. "I'm good," she reassured him, took his hand, and stood up. That was when she noticed her other two siblings watching from afar, smiled, and waved. "Jackie! Rory! Come over here!"

Jack immediately ran over to his siblings and bumped their fists, then greeted his father as well. Rory however, stood glued to her spot, anxious to approach them. She didn't know how to act around them. They were her family, but it didn't feel like it at all. They had a certain routine in their lives, she didn't want to mess it up. She felt out of place, it was like they were strangers forced to live together.

She hesitantly walked towards them, not wanting to make a fool out of herself. Just as she took about five steps forward, her father ran towards her, engulfing her in a tight hug. He stayed like this for a while, and she felt him shaking a bit, as well as wet tears on her shoulder.

"I've missed you, baby."

His words reached the pit of her stomach, filling it with a warm, fuzzy feeling. All the anxiety she felt before disappeared into nothing and was replaced with crocodile tears and desperate sobs. Her bony arms eventually snaked up his back, returning the tight hug.

"I-I've missed you too, Dad."