Chapter 3

When Issac noticed the red-clad turtle he immediately left, but not without leaving a message for Leonardo first. He needs to know the truth, he needs to come back home. Issac stops on the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse. Fortunately, it was close by when he landed, not much, but he knew the habitants of this planet do not act kindly to unknown creatures. Climbing through a broken window, he makes his way to the bottom floor of the building. Where he is greeted by, "Issac! Your back!" strong arms wrap tightly around him. "Veera! Let me go! I can't breathe!" Issac says. Veera is another of his species. Her kind is the sea turtle. Including being Isaac's cousin. She was around 5' 5'' tall and had a shade of lime-green skin. Slim and had beautiful electric-blue eyes. "Oops, sorry about that," She says. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Both turtles look above them to where the voice was heard. Another turtle can be seen leaning on the railing, sharpening its sword. "I didn't think you'd come back, you never know how dangerous a planet could be," said the figure.

"Well, Kalem. If I'd known how useful you'd be, I would've let you tag along," Issac smirked. Kalem then jumps down landing a few feet from Issac and Veera. "As much as I'd love to get out of the building, I'm not about to waste my time looking for some long-lost prince," Kalem jeered at him, as he trod closer till he is face-to-face with Isaac, though Issac was taller. Kalem is 5' 5 tall, mixed species between a turtle and a salamander. His shell is slimmer than most, has a more muscular figure, and a long tail with his shell covering the top of it. His skin is forest-green with dark patches around and some lining under his eyes. And had bright amber eyes.

"That prince is the son of our leaders, the very leaders who assigned this mission to us. Instead of complaining, you should be honored to have been chosen, but I would've begged to differ," Issac snarled. Anger clouded Kalem's eyes and started baring his fangs, but before he could do anything else, Veera got between them. "Enough, you're both acting like children, if it were up to me I wouldn't have taken you two. Kalem, he's right, twenty years they've been searching since the incident and you knew he needs to come home. Our planet depends on it," She pleads, hoping to make him understand. After a few moments, he pulls away. "Good," Veera sighs. "Now, we know he's on this planet, according to our sources, we just need to find him and—"Already found him." Issac cuts in. Kalem and Veera look at him in disbelief. "Wait, seriously?" Veera says. "I already found him. And I've spoken to him," Issac explains. "Are you certain, our sources said there are four turtles on this mudball, it could've been any of them," Kalem claims. "It's because I saw him summon his keeper," Issac tells them. They again look at him in disbelief. "Truly?" Veera questions. Issac nods.

Kalem then grabs the ridges of his nose. "Let me guess, by talking to him, you told him everything right?" Issac looks away embarrassed. "And seeing as he's not here, he didn't take it all that well did he?"

"I talked to him, yes, but I didn't share everything," Issac says.

"What do ya mean?" Kalem asks.

"Well, after becoming acquainted with each other, despitepointinghisweaponatmecoupletimes," Issac ushered. "He what?"

"He told me about a feeling he's been experiencing after touching an altar…" Issac said quickly, not wanting Kalem to get angry again.

"The shrine of the Gods?" Veera asks. Issac nods. "Now we know he's one of us at least. Only our kind could feel that sort of thing, or even get it in the first place."

"Exactly, though, he didn't believe me when I told him he was one of us.," Issac says.

"Did you say anything else?" Kalem asks. "No. Unfortunately, one of the turtles was looking at him. I had to leave," Issac said sadly. "But I left him a message to meet in the same spot, tomorrow at midnight."

"Okay, here's something I don't understand," Kalem starts. "If you found him, talked to him, told him who he was, why didn't you take him with you?"

"You mean kidnapping him! No way!" Issac exclaims. "Why not? You said it yourself, he needs to come back home, if we took him back to our planet, all the answers would've been given to him on a silver platter." Kalem says. "Believe me, I want him to come back home, but I don't want to traumatize him even more, he was already having a hard time believing me, much less trusting me! When I go back tomorrow, I am going to tell him everything but I'm going to make sure he is willing to follow us back." Issac says. Veera looks between the two males before landing her eyes back on Isaac. " I know you're trying to do the right thing, but what if he doesn't comply?" She asks.

"He'll understand when I tell him the truth," Issac says.

"And if it's the opposite? What then?" Kalem questions, locking eyes with Issacs who quickly turns away. Fully knowing what might, what should happen if he didn't and Issac did not want that to be the last resort. "At least give me a chance to talk to him, make him understand." he pleads.

Kalem was reluctant to even try and looks over to Veera who merely just shrugs. With a sigh, he agrees but will still do what is necessary. All Issac can now hope for is that it doesn't come to it.


Next-Day:

Leonardo could not believe himself. At first, he didn't even wanna come back. After what he heard last time, he believed that is all lies, a joke. As leader, he is supposed to trust his team, his family, with anything that's been bothering him, but no, he rather not tell them of what happened on the rooftop, he lied saying he's going on a run.

Now he's here, on the rooftop where he met the turtle, who is a humanoid terrapin from a distant planet and has traveled thousands of miles to find him, and who knows what else.

Leo paces back and forth merely contemplating his life choices and scolding himself for making his family worry. So much for learning his lesson. He looks around, having to arrive a few minutes early, yet it's a few minutes past midnight. And Issac seemed so desperate to tell Leo everything, you'd think that he would've arrived before him. "Issac will be joining us soon, don't worry," a gruff voice calls out. Leo unsheathes a sword, throwing it behind him, only to be caught by the figure on a water tower. Leo then unsheathes his other sword as he says, "Who the shell are you?!"

The figure says nothing but stands and throws it down in front of him, confusing Leo. "All I did was answer your question. No need to throw your weapon at me."

"Don't expect an apology, now what do you want? Come out!"

A few moments of silence and, "As you wish." And with that, the mysterious figure jumps out of the shadows to reveal, "The name's Kalem, a pleasure to finally meet you, Leonardo," he says.

Leo forgot to breathe, he couldn't believe his eyes. Another humanoid turtle, but he never felt an energy signature like Isaacs. "That's because I learned how to tune my energy, make me undetectable by my kind. That includes you," Kalem explains. "Wha-I-I didn't even say anything? Just who the hell are you! Tell me!" Leo ordered.

"Issac already explained to you about how the powers of the shrine worked. I am one of the few chosen ones, but it's not as powerful as the royal bloodline," Kalem points out. "My ability is a mind reader, among other things."

Kalem then walks closer to Leo, which puts him on edge, gripping his weapon till his knuckles go white. "I'm like you Leo," Kalem says. Leo is still on edge, not believing a word. "Then prove it."

"Hmph…you asked for it," Leo didn't have time to react as Kalem kicks him in the gut, slamming him against the wall. "Etaerc!" Kalem says as he brings it down on Leo. Surprising him, he uses his sword to block Kalems. "Now do you believe, basic magic, I doubt you could do it!" He mocks as he uses his strength to know Leo back, who quickly regains composure. "When Issac told me about you, I, of course, didn't believe him. But then he told me what you summoned. I needed to see it for myself. Prove it you're the one!" Kalem says as he attacks Leo again. Sword met sword as they both glared at the other. "I don't even know what you're talking about!" Leo yells.

"Don't play dumb Leonardo! I don't have the patience for it!" Kalem blocks another as Leo swings his sword to his sword. "Sounds like someone I know! Quite the temper!" That ticked off his opponent, the more swings Kalem did, the more mistakes he made. "Hey, have you ever done this before!" Kalem struck with his sword but was blocked by Leo's blade. He swung his tail at the opening he'd just created, but Leo had already twisted out of range. "Oh come on! You call that an attack," Leo mocked. Kalem had more stamina than him, so he could hold his aggressive assault. But that only made him sloppier. "Funny thing about anger. Let it consume you and soon enough…." Leo jumps out of Kalem's view and is nowhere to be seen. "You lose sight of everything." Coming from behind, Kalem turns and Leo gives the final blow to the face. Knocking Kalem to the ground.

"Good night, dark prince," Leo mocks.

"KALEM!" Leo turns to see Issac and another turtle running towards them. "How many of them did he bring!?" Leo thought. "Just us three." Kalem answers. "Ow!" Leo smacks him on the head and he did not care. "What was that for?!"

"Will you get out of my head!"

"Then don't think." Kalem sneers. "But why did you hit me?!"

"That was for attacking me!"

"If you summoned it as I asked you to, I wouldn't have attacked you!"

"I didn't even know what you wanted me to do!"

"He's talking about your keeper, Leo," The female turtle says and introduces herself. "Hi, my name is Veera," Leo was dumbfounded. He had never seen a female turtle before so he was at a loss for words. Veera notices this and asks if he was okay. "O-oh, y-yes I-I'm fine, just…fine," he stuttered.

"Smooth. Very smooth." Kalem teases as Issac helps him up. "Shut up, you're in no position to speak, I can't believe you did that!" Issac exclaims.

"All I wanted was for him to prove he's the one," Kalem says. "So, you didn't believe a word I said to you, then?

"You've been wrong before, I had to find out for myself in case you were wasting our time!."

"Why You!" Issac had enough and pulled out his weapon. "ENOUGH!" Stopping the turtles in their tracks. They look over to see Leo seething. A menacing aura surrounds him. This puts them on edge and lowers their weapons. As they did, Leo suddenly felt overwhelmingly weak and fell forward but Veera managed to catch him. She asks if he is alright but Leo moves away from her. "How…How do you know my name? Who the hell are you people!" Leo exclaims. "You say I'm the one and…I don't even know what that means." Leonardo is tired. Tired of it all. He never should've come here. "You are the lost prince of Murania," Issac says. They all look at him in disbelief, especially Kalem and Veera. Since Issac wanted to take things slow.

"What did you say?" Leo swallows hard, hoping to have heard him wrong.

"It's true. You are one of us, Leo." Issac starts.

"You were born to our rulers, Lady Serana and Lord Kotan, but an accident occurred when your mother visited this planet." Kalem takes over.

"She was attacked and when reinforcements discovered her you were not with her. They could not find you when your mother regained her consciousness. You were not where your she had hidden you." Veera finishes.

"My….mother. Parents?" Leo couldn't say another word. He had so many thoughts, so many questions. His mind became a whirlwind. He felt his brain was going to explode. He didn't know what to believe and what not. All of it was confusing. Unintelligible. Impossible. Everything but fine. Who was he? He doesn't know any of them and yet they knew more about what he did himself. No matter how much he wants to doubt them. Not believe in any of this. Something whispered to him that he wasn't lying. He felt it in his veins. His blood. But in his mind, he just wanted to go home.

"I don't want to." Leo finally says.

Kalem growled. "We didn't come all this way just to leave empty-handed Leonardo."

"Then sorry to disappoint you but I'm not going," Leo snaps and walks away, wanting to get far, far away from them. Kalem follows him. Not letting him go that easily.

"You have to come."

"I don't have to do anything! I don't care what you say! I don't want anything to do with you!" Leo yells.

"You have to. You have to see your home! Your family!"

"Kalem stop!" Issac warns but he doesn't listen.

"This is my home! Here in New York City. On Earth!" Leo shouts. It must be a dream. A lie.

When Leo continues to walk away. Kalem grabs his arm, "Leonardo." His voice turned dark. He knew it would be hard but he didn't expect this stubbornness. "You are our prince! And your parents are waiting for you and they want you home. You are coming with us whether you like it or not!"

Leo had enough of this. "Then I'm sorry. Naidraug!" Kalem is forced to let go as Siran appears between them and Leo. Siran bares his fangs, ready to strike and protect his master. Veera gathers enough courage to walk up but still has the necessary distance. "Leonardo. I know this must be difficult for you. But we have proof. If you come with us to Murania, everything will be revealed. I promise." she pleads. And for a while, Leo says nothing. "Even if you are telling the truth, I can't leave my family behind." With a raised hand. Siran positions himself to strike on command. "Now leave me alone, or Siran will have his first meal." Leo never believed he would threaten someone. But what choice did he have? Veera looks down in disappointment and shame. "Then I'm sorry too," She quickly whistled and Leo barely had time to react as he felt something prick his neck. He gasped. He couldn't move. Having little strength he looks behind to see a large phoenix above him, Siran tries attacking it but was too fast and manages to scratch him, knocking Siran cold and flying over to Veera. "My guardian has the power to paralyze anything with a simple scratch of her talons. Do not be afraid, you will not die Leonardo."

The blue-clad turtle could see the two males take their place next to Veera. They, even Kalem, cowered when Leo looked up at them with wide eyes. They saw fear and betrayal. They didn't want to hurt him. They didn't want to frighten him, but they had no choice. He had to understand the situation. Kalem then places both hands on Leo's shoulders. He tried to break away but was too weak. His body wouldn't move. He felt sleepiness take over him. "You said….you wouldn't…." Slowly his eyes closed and his body leaned against Kalem's chest. "Issac, create the portal. We're going home." Issac nods and takes out a magical pendant, chanting a few words the pendant glows and a portal appears behind them. Kalem carries him bridal style and walks into the portal. Leonardo's t-phone and katanas were left abandoned on the ground.


Sometime later, Leo sat up slowly, not knowing how much time has passed and looked around to see he was in a bedroom. Looks like a cavern of some sort. A mahogany wood table sits at the front of the bed with a platter of fruit, what looked to be pieces of roasted chicken and grilled vegetables. Leo didn't like the situation he was in, but he hadn't eaten either. After finishing his meal, Leo could hear echoes coming from outside the window. What he saw took his breath away, he could see a large marketplace swarming with anthropomorphic animals of all kinds; reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and so much more. All walking during daylight. Is this…

The bedroom door then opens to reveal Kalem. "You!" Leo grimaced. Remembering what they did. Kalem raised his hands to not so much of a threat. "Look, I'm sorry it had to be this way but your stubbornness was getting tiresome. I'm just glad that you're awake. Come on, we need to move." Leo couldn't think of anything to say, he didn't know where he was and didn't have his weapons. He had no choice but to follow Kalem. Once out of the building he could see Issac and Veera across the way, now wearing full clothing. Kalem just had on harem pants with his odachi hung at the side and wore leather armor on his arms. Leo now felt out of place. Sensing Leonardo's discomfort, Kalem hands Leo a cloak large enough to cover his entire being. Leo takes it hesitantly. "Thanks."

Veers walk towards them. "Hey Leo, I…hope you're doing well," she says, clearly feeling guilty about what happened. While Leo still felt betrayed, he decided to not dwell on it anymore, though he never wanted to come here, there was no choice but to comply. He simply assures he is okay and they board a carriage and ride off the kingdom ahead. Leo knew the answer but he had to be sure. Turning to look at Isaac, he asks, "Where am I?"

Issac smiles softly. "Welcome to Murania, Leonardo."