Chapter Four: The Port of Orbita! Icy...

They had been walking around the port for hours as Zelda explained the way things work. They had finally come to a large building that seemed to be used for inventory. She invited them in...

"Please come in!"

The four look at each other and 'Mitrii speaks, "Well, What's the deal? No one ever gets a tour of the Rayfields family things and this place looks like a warehouse..."

"Do you think I'm going to lure you in and burn you alive?"

"No..."

"Relax! I'm not with the Mafia." She turns around, "I just want you to meet someone. His name is Sunil. He's been wanting to meet people like you for a long time."

"All right let's do this," Dmitrii sighs giving in quite easily. He follows Zelda and the other fall in line. He was so good at being a leader.

The are lead into a rather darkly lit chamber. Some candles were hanging from the ceiling and ornately decorated. A very large winged figure was sitting in the shadows looking out the large open roof.

Zelda spins to face the group and gives a sweeping bow, "This, my friends, is the Silver Valley Dragon Sunil."

Sachie stuttered, "Dra-Dra Dragon!"

*Yes, Do you have a problem with that sir?* a thought projects in their heads.

Sacheverell grins, "Of course not. I just didn't think that...that one's with wings came around here. That's all..."

*You never seen a dragon before, have you?*

"I have it was just...Bii can tell you!"

"Thanks a bunch Sachie. I believe that a sea serpent or something attacked Sachie and his aunt. All I know is Sachie has slight problems with boats."

*Well, I'm not a sea serpent and I would like to be formally introduced.*

"Silly me," Zelda remarks dryly. "These are the gifted people we were talking about early today." she named them all and gave a formal greeting to the dragon. "Happy?"

*Yes, very.* The large male dragon flies to come a bit closer. Sunil has large wings, and thin aerodynamic body. He's blue in color and appears to have a rainfall type pattern on his skin. A very elegant dragon. *Now, are you going to save the world, children?*

Oomlaut blinks, "Save the world? I thought we where going to open gates and restore the gates."

"That's what Sunil meant silly!" Zelda makes a laughing sound.

Dmitrii and Bumblebii both roll their eyes and say, "What are you all holding back this time?"

Sachie throws them a look, "That's creepy. knock it off."

Once again together they say, "Sorry!"

"Oh...I give up."

"Well, Sachie dear cheer up!" Oomlaut tackles him from behind, knocking him to the ground.

"Oomlaut! Please!" He whines as he struggles to get her off.

*You people are all nuts! You know that?* Sunil tilts his head to one side with curiosity.

Dmitrii waves his hand, "No, no. Sachie and be are slightly sane."

*And you?*

"Um...I'm a bit sane."

*Uh...huh* the dragon edges away slightly.

Sachie suddenly stopped whining about Oomlaut. For a minute he seemed to have stopped breathing, until Oomlaut pokes him in the back, "What's wrong with you?"

"I thought I saw something..." He blinks a few times and rubs his eyes. "No wait I am seeing something. This is freaking me out!" Sachie struggles to set himself free form Oomlaut and finally succeeds. He gets up, dusts himself off and heads toward the door.

Zelda suddenly grabs him by his belts, "Hold it. What are you seeing?"

"Well, It's hard to describe..."

"Try your best."

"It sort of looks like a dog and a dragon mix. It was reddish with a giant white horn on its head. It looked kind of pissed off..."

"Sounds like a Haken..." Zelda mutters to herself.

"A what it?" Sachie raises an eyebrow.

"Hehe oh--"

"Don't start that again."

"Fine. Have it your way. I said it's a Haken. Happy?"

"So now it is a Haken?"

"Yes...yes it is. Now go away," Zelda let's go of the belts and sends Sachie face flat into the floor.

He pushes himself up with a slight irate sound and makes his way to the door again.

"Sachie?" Bumblebii inquires.

"Yes?" He cranes his neck to look at his friends.

'Mitrii continues for her, "You're not bailing out on this?"

"No, never. I just want to take a walk. Is that a crime?"

Bii huffs, "No, but be careful and stop being jerky."

"Have it your way," He waves with a grin and exits.

*Fascinating boy,* Sunil tilts his head as Sacheverell exits.

Sachie had been walking around the port aimlessly for hours. He couldn't sake the feeling that he was being watched or haunted the whole time. This adventure was going to kill him or drive him nuts, which ever came first. He is sitting on a dock with head in hands and his talking to himself.

"Why me? I always do something stupid or end up in trouble. I am such an idiot..."

"Hardly so!" a male voice comes from behind him.

He jumps in surprise and almost falls into the icy water. "Who are you? What's the big idea!"

The pink haired slightly tanned man with gray eyes pause for a moment, "You can call me A-chan. Do you want some hot chocolate?"

Sachie blinks a few times. A strange man was offering him hot chocolate in the middle of the night. This was a bit...messed up to say the least. "No thank you. I don't really like hot chocolate. I enjoy the cold really."

A-chan shrugs, "Suit yourself! You're missing out!" He takes a swig of the hot chocolate before speaking again. "May I sit down with you?"

"Um..."

"I don't bite, unless you want me to!"

Sacheverell goes wide eyed at this remark, "Eep."

"Calm down! I'm not a killer."

Sachie looks around franticly. Great. Nowhere to go. The man takes a graceful seat next to him. On closer inspection, A-chan is wearing black robes with several different color trimmings. He was also wearing gray dress pants with silver cuffs on a dark blue shirt. He didn't seem to be that much of a murderer. He seemed to be a merchant mage.

"The stars are so clear tonight," A-chan looks up smiling, "Don't you think?"

Sachie looks up, to see the stars shining at an unusual intensity, "Yes...but they shouldn't be so bright."

"Oh?"

"My friend 'Mitrii has study stars all his life and yesterday was supposed to be the brightest night..."

"Maybe he's--"

"He's never wrong. Whatever he says comes true. If he likes it or not..." Sachie puts his hands over his face. Why was he so hot all of a sudden? "Is it just me or is it hot?"

"Are you kidding me! It's below two degrees out here! Hey, you don't look to good..." A-chan leans closer to Sachie.

Sachie just moves away. What was going on? Then he knew when he was hit in the head from behind. "Ow!" He touches the back of his head and quickly retracts it. Dark red-blue blood is on his hand.

"What in the name of all the gods and goddess that ever lived is going on!?" A-chan stands up and looks around to she nothing. But something had to have hit this kid! He takes a few deep breaths before looking at Sachie. Odd. He wasn't panicking. "A-are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sachie gets up form his sitting position. That something earlier could have done this but...it didn't seem very likely. Now more then one thing was around...only if it was a bit colder and he wasn't so hot! "Wait...one second," He looks up at the stars. They seemed to outline something that seemed so far off....

"Hey, Kid you're bleeding pretty bad. I think you should see a healer like now.

"It's a gate."

"Come again?"

"My gate is here. On the edge of the froze water..."

"Uh-huh. Kid you need some help. Let's go," A-chan makes a grabbing motion toward the boy but only grabs thin air. Wait...he just went through..."OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU!?"

Sachie snaps his head to the voice and watches as A-chan almost falls off the pier. Had he used his powers again with out knowing? Yep. "Whoops. I'm a shapeshifter so I do that sometimes. I'll give you a massage if you want one later to make it up to you."

A-chan blinks, "You're a shapeshifter?"

Sacheverell nods.

"Oh...kay. So, you where mimicking something you saw right then? At least is that how some of your powers work?"

Sachie blinks, "Um...yes but how did you know that?"

"I get around. Anyway what could you have seen?"

"I-I don't know."

"What's this gate thingy?"

Sachie gulps down the sudden lump in his throat, "Well, I think they connect different worlds together. Mine from what I remember has something to do with pain and ice..."

"So that's it! You like ice and hate warm climates. I can tell by looking at you. As for the pain part you could...have gone through something that was painful..."

"That sounds about right. Now, how do I open this gate thing...."

"You got me!"

Sachie sighed as he moved toward the edge of the pier. How where they supposed to restore the gates if no one would tell them how to open them. "Maybe I should end it and jump in the water. No wait I'd only get cold...damn." He makes step toward the very edge so he would fall into the water. But he didn't. He put both feet above the water and just stood there over it.

"Oh My God," A-chan managed to squeak before collapsing to the ground.

"The pier is just invisible! So is the gate! Oh this will be so easy!" Sachie claps his hands before he breaks into a run down the invisible pier. He skids to a stop, quite far out, to avoid hitting what he knows is in front of him. "Now, To open this stupid thing." He up to the stars. There light outlines the gate slightly. This thing was a nice amount of stories high. Great. 'How am I supposed to find the key?' As soon as that thought occurs the outline brightens.

Well, the gate slowly appeared form top to bottom. It's a bluish white and appears to be made of ice. Ornate designs of dragons, unicorns, people, and other oddities are carved into it. The pier appears under his feet and down to the starting point. This thing was massive and could be seen from quite far away. "My only question is why haven't ships run into this?" Sachie chocks his head to one side as he goes one of the pillars that hold up the gate.

"This spot of sea is normal forbidden because of unsuspected sinking. Most likely because of this thing," A-chan grins weakly as he walks up.

"I thought you freaked out."

"I did but I'm back. Now what?"

"I don't know. I opened it...at least I think," Sachie taps the column with his knuckle. "This thing is made of ice!"

"Correct. Now you wish to know what to do next?" A female voice seems to come from the air around them.

"Who--"

"I'm the gates keeper and I am now here to give you your Haken egg. No whining you're getting this egg no matter what."

"You mean like that red creepy thing I saw earlier?" Sachie raises an eyebrow while looking around for the owner of the voice.

"That creepy red thing was the Empress of Hakens and this is one of her eggs. Got a problem with that?"

"N-no but will that thing like hot stuff? The mother seemed to be that sort of type of Haken. It was red...ish."

"That's right! You have a 'fear' of heat! I wouldn't think so. Haken's do adopt their surroundings. Now, for the egg." The gate lights up with a bright blue light that could be seen from miles around. A faded figure of a woman in armor steps out from the gate. She briefly smiles and hands a medium sized egg to Sacheverell. The light dissipates along with the woman's figure, "Take good care of the egg, Other wise the Empress will gore you!"

Sachie looks down at the egg at has been placed in his hands. It's sky blue with semi cloud patterns on it. A smile spread across his face, "This is great!"

*What's great young master?* Sunil's voice comes from above. He makes a landing on the pier gracefully with is tail in the water and Zelda on his back.

"I have a Haken egg!"

Dmitrii lands next to Sunil as Bumblebii and a red fox come running from the docks. "You opened the gate!" Bii pants as she makes it to him.

The little red fox turns into Oomlaut, "What happened? I mean the light and--oh! What's that egg!"

"It's a Haken..." Sachie blinks, "Um...What now?"

Zelda clears her throat. "You leave tomorrow. I will have horses for you and Sunil will accompany you on your quest. Aristides," Zelda points to the pink haired man, "will explain the matter to the towns people about the gate. Now, To bed with all of you! You must get rest before you leave tomorrow."

Dmitrii blinks, "Okay...let's go then."

This brings us to the end of chapter four. The first gate has been opened and the next will soon follow. Come around next time to see how far our adventures will go!