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I woke up to sharp clang on the ground. I was afraid it was my alarm, and I had woken up late in my underground dormitory, but I soon remembered what had really happened. I slowly sat up and looked around. The room was empty, except for my bed and Thomas sleeping on his. There was nothing on the ground, so nothing could've made the noise, I was about to go back to sleep, but I heard a grunt come from a different room. Curious, I got up and searched for the source of the noise.

I wandered aimlessly around the lower corridors of the boat. Every room seemed to be empty. When I got to the end of the hallway, nothing was there. It was just a blank wall, but I observed it anyway. As I looked closer, I noticed a small ripple on the wall. I don't know why, but I placed my hand on the wall. Only, it didn't go on the wall, it went through it. Intrigued, I stepped through it. It was a small room, it wasn't really different than mine except for the objects inside it. Colorful drawings covered the wall, and the floor was covered in a soft cloth, there were strange animal shapes on the ceiling, there was a small table, and a reflective device on the wall. In front of the device, was the colorful robed man. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes, and he seemed to be practicing something.

"We've known each other for a while and…" he stuttered, "I just wanted to ask you." He froze, and hit himself on the face. "Stupid, stupid!" he growled as he dropped a small box on the ground. He quickly picked it up, and kneeled on one knee. "I just wanted to ask….. Will you marry me?"

He pushed his hair back and stood up, obviously exhausted.

"What were you doing?" I finally asked.

"What?!" He gasped as he saw me. "How did you get in here?" He asked.

"I, um, I walked through the wall." I said, confused. "Why wasn't there a door?"

"Oh, that's easy," he said placing the box on his desk, "magic."

"What's magic?"

"Oh," he said, obviously had not been expecting a question like this, "well, it's mystics and art and music and preforming and storytelling," he paused, "do you like doing any of those things?"

"Yes."

"Well, then I think you'll find a nice home in Artime."

"Artime?"

"You'll find out more about it soon."

The conversation paused for a moment, like there was nothing left to say. Soon, though, I repeated my earlier question.

"So, what were you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, I was just, practicing." he stuttered.

"Practicing what?"

"Nothing."

It was clear that he wasn't going to say anything else, so I exited the room. I walked up the stairs to the deck, and immediately felt the cool breeze smack my face. As I looked out to the sea, a large island came into view. The colors on it were so bold, so bright, so special; I couldn't believe my eyes. It was full of lush greens and extravagant blues, there were more, but I didn't know what they were called. In the center of the island, a large building sprouted out of the ground. Groups of people surrounded it, doing things like eating, painting, and socializing. It was very, very different than my first home.

"That's Artime." Said the robed man as he appeared at my side.

"Wow."

"Yes, I guess it is, 'wow'. Now, let's go get your friend and explore."

As we docked on the island and got off, a large group of people started swarming the boat.

"Mr. Alex is back!" shouted a high voice in the crowd.

"Welcome back Alex." Said a woman coming out of the crowd. Her eyes resembled the sunset as she stared into Mr. Alex's.

"Sky." he said as he embraced her in a hug.

"That's Miss Sky to you." she said playfully.

"Alright, Miss Sky." he replied sarcastically.

I stared at them, confused. What were they doing?

This time though, I didn't think it was a good idea to interrupt.

Soon, though, another woman came out of the crowd to stand in front of us.

"Welcome back." she, although a little sarcastically, said.

"Hello, Ms. Hublocky." Mr. Alex replied.

"Don't call me that." She said sternly.

"Okay, Ms. Lani it is." Mr. Alex put his hands up in surrender.

"No mean to interupt, but, where are we?" Thomas asked.

Suddenly every face in the crowd was staring at us. Darn it.

"Oh," Mr. Alex said, as though just remembering we were there," This is Artime." He said as he gestured to the full island.

"Which is?"

"Well," he started, obviously not expecting a question like this.

"A wonderful place to live; that is, if you're intending to stay here." Ms. Lani finished.

Thomas looked questionably at me.

"We don't really have anywhere else to go." I whispered to him.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"No, but I don't think anyone here will hurt us."

"Okay." he sighed after a long pause.

"I guess we are, if that's okay." I replied to Lani.

"That would be wonderful." Mr. Alex replied. "Here, let me show you around."

After he showed us all of the places, except for the long hallway that he seemed intent on hiding, he directed us to where our rooms would be and left us to explore.

As I entered my room, a loud noise erupted from my stomach. I guess I didn't notice how hungry I was until now. I ordered food from the tube, and looked at my interesting room. It kept changing colors, from pink to fiery orange; my new favorite colors. There was a basket of paints and colors with a canvas in one corner, a bunch of books (that Mr. Alex called scripts and poems) in the next, a pile of story books in the other, and a range of instruments in the last. Intrigued, I picked up a strange stringed instrument. Suddenly, a woman appeared on my blackboard.

"That is a guitar." she said.

"A guitar."

"You play it by running your fingers along the strings, like this." she said as a guitar appeared in her arms and she ran her fingers over the strings.

I copied her, and a nice sound erupted from it.

"Good," the woman said, "we'll practice more on that later."

But I didn't want to wait. I found out what strings make what sounds, and started making my own melody, but something was missing. As I looked around the room, I found that the poems fell well with the music, that the stores in the books made good lyrics, and that the colors of the paint and certain movements; highly complimented the music. I was going to try something big.

When I finally finished the details, I started. To sing, play the guitar, paint, tell a story and move around at the same time.
I started a nice slow tune on the guitar.

"Found in darkness,

and saved by light,

now the colors surround me,

oh so bright."

I splattered the canvas with paint and spun around.

"The wind blows through my air,

music escapes my lips,

now here's where I belong,

I know it.

Where the colors are bright,

and the words are clear.

Where the music is loud,

yes that is here.

Nobody will just judge you,

by the way you look,

you can sing out loud,

without confused looks.

Oooh,

I know, I know, I know, I know,

this is where I belong."

I stopped playing, singing, painting, and moving. The whole doom was silent. Those weren't really the words I had planned, but I liked it. It was nice, and it was true.

Goodbye underground home.

Hello Artime.