KALI'S POV 

There were two bedraggled strangers in his house, and Kali had no reason not to freak out. But Kali's version of "freaking out" was a little different from many others. Instead of screaming, or cursing, or running away, Kali's mind whirled around the many reasons and possibilities on why there were two trespassers that had managed to get passed the main door.

"I said; who are you? You have no right to come into this house!" Kali snapped. The two people were a boy and a girl, both brown haired with green and blue eyes respectively. Kali could tell they weren't related and weren't too comfortable together. Kali narrowed his eyes when they didn't respond.

"Answer me!"

"Okay, okay. We're Aaron and Sophie. We got passed your maid by saying that we were your friends. She seemed to buy it easily enough." The boy, presumably Aaron, said. The girl, Sophie, frowned a bit and made a face at Aaron. "We're sorry we couldn't give you a notice about our visit before we came. It's a little urgent, and we're in a hurry." Sophie added to Aaron's explanation. Kali could tell that they were telling the truth and really meant no harm. 

This did not mean he completely trusted them.

"I can take you to my father if your business is so important," said Kali, "I don't know if he'll listen to you though." He observed Aaron and Sophie intently, trying to figure out why they had come. "Oh! I guess that would be cool." Aaron said hastily. He earned another stare from Sophie as a result. Kali ignored them and turned away, knowing that the two would follow him. 

Kali navigated through the many hallways of his house towards his father's office which was in the center. He heard Aaron mutter something about having complicated houses as a new fashion, but ignored the comment, as well as the sound of a slap courtesy of Sophie. (Dunno if you're supposed to say it like that) He reached the tall oaken doors of Anthony Hydren's private office and knocked on the door.

There was a moment of silence where three teenagers stared at each other awkwardly. The moment ended swiftly when a harsh and cold voice rang through the hall. "Come in Kalios, I know it's you. What do you want?" Kali scowled. He hated his name, which had been his grandfather's name as well. Kali didn't like his grandfather.

Gesturing Aaron and Sophie to stay where they were, Kali went ahead and entered the ginormous office room. The usual bleak white walls greeted him as he entered; there was practically no furniture for such a big room. There was just a large mahogany desk with a chair, a tall bookshelf, a filing cabinet, and a coffee table. Otherwise, it was just white, white, white. No rugs or pictures and a teeny tiny window that hardly let in any light. There was a reason Kali despised the Hydren leaders.

"Well? What is it son?" Kali's father asked. He was sitting ramrod straight in his big leather chair and made Kali wonder why he bothered to put cushions on the untouched back behind him. "While I was going to the library, I came by two teenagers in the hall. They are complete strangers, and they claim to have an urgent business with us." Kali said calmly, pressing away any traces of emotions from his face. Anthony Hydren's eyebrows ascended to the sky and he gave Kali a strange look with his piercing blue eyes behind his spectacles. "Did you let them in? I have gotten no notice of an "urgent business" that I needed to know of." 

"I didn't let them in, Beth did. They did say sorry about the short notice." Mr. Hydren's face gave away not much of what he really felt, but Kali could see that he was a unsettled. "I knew that new maid was untrustworthy. Where are these two strangers? I wish to talk to them." Kali's father snapped. Kali nodded his head to the door and went to open it, masking his disgust at the way his father didn't even know the maid's name.

When Kali stepped out of the office, Aaron and Sophie were having some kind of quarrel between themselves and took a moment to realize Kali was there. Then they shut up and followed Kali into the office.

When Kali came in with Aaron and Sophie, Mr. Hydren glanced at Kali, then pointedly looked at Aaron and Sophie's worn clothes and then back at Kali. "Kalios, this will be a private talk." He said commandingly, and Kali had no choice but to back out of the room. There, he proceeded to scowl and snarl under his breath about the injustice of his fate.

I wish those two came to take me somewhere far away. Then I wouldn't have to stand Father's annoying criticism or my "fate" of becoming the next "successful Hydren", Kali thought. But that would not be a possibility for him, one way or the other. Kali's father would never let him leave home. If only Kali could run away....

~Roughly twenty minutes later~

A few very long minutes later, Kali was called back into the office by the voice of a not-so-happy father. Kali could tell Mr. Hydren was fuming on the inside by the way he tapped his fingers on his desk. Kali always looked out for the twiddling fingers, for they only twitched when Mr. Hydren was very angry.

Aaron and Sophie looked rather tired, and Kali couldn't blame them. Any conversation with his father was tiring in at least one way. "So how was the talk?" Kali asked innocently. Well, not that innocently. Mr. Hydren's fingers played a little jig on the desk. 

"We discussed some, ah, problems that needs fixing in this world," Mr. Hydren said slowly. "It seems like these two are connected with that, and apparently you are as well." Kali quickly glanced at Aaron's wince before replying with a sort "ah."

"It was explained to me that a dark force -unknown at the moment- is threatening to overcome Noxx. And it was explained that this boy  has multiple powers and is the only one who can stop the spreading darkness. He has visioned up a team of four others that will play a crucial part in stopping the evil." Kali could now see why his father was so angry. Anthony Hydren hated being explained to, and hated being kept in the dark, even if the person with the information in the first place knew nothing more then what they told. And if the boy, -who Kali assumed was Aaron- had a "vision", it meant that he would be a deviner. Deviners were few and far between, and also hated by Mr. Hydren.

Although Kali already knew where everything was going, he played dumb and asked what everything was about. This would surely put his father in a better mood, and sure enough, Mr. Hydren's fingers ceased their frantic drumming, and their owner fixed Kali with a sharp stare. "These two travelers say that you are part of their team. You will have to travel around stopping this evil, and you will be put in danger like never before. You may never come back. What do you say?" Kali knew that this question was already answered, and whatever he said would not matter. Nonetheless , Kali's hopes were climbing. 

"I think it proper that saving the world from an evil is right, father. I might not be able to come back, but at least I could have tried. You could never know what would happen in the distant future unless you actually do something, and having the world fall because of an action you decided against because of bad reasoning would be very, very, bad. It's not like I do much work here, and I would be more helpful to his team. I will try to succeed and I CAN make you proud." Kali finished his speech and waited impatiently for the reply. He ignored the stunned looks of Aaron and Sophie and instead stared at his father.

Mr. Hydren sighed and took off his wire-rimmed glasses, cleaning them on a cloth. He had had a tiresome day and didn't want to be bothered with any more children and evil and other irritating things. Kali's speech HAD made sense........

"Alright. You are allowed to go, BUT," Mr. Hydren froze Kali and the other two with his icy glare. "BUT, this is not some kind of childish outing where you are allowed to act reckless. This is dangerous, and foolish, and you have no plan. I expect you, Kalios, to regularly check in with me when you are gone. I wish to know what you are planning to do. If I find so much as one slip that would send you all tumbling, I will not hesitate to tow you lot back here and lock you up. Understand?" Aaron and Sophie nodded after a pause. Kali took a bit longer to decide. He was pretty sure that it wouldn't be good to have someone track them wherever they went. Plus, the threat of being towed back home sounded disastrous. But if Kali wanted to go anywhere, he would have to agree to his father's terms.

"Okay. So we can go now." Kali said to no one in general. Aaron nodded, but Sophie hesitated. "Will we be able to get to the next place before nightfall?" She asked Aaron. He considered this, and nodded again. Mr. Hydren gave a lengthy sigh. "You won't last more then two days if you plan like this. I hope you help them, Kalios. Now get out, all of you, before I change my mind." The trio hurried away at once, but Kali turned back at the last moment. "Thank you father, I won't fail this." 

"I hope not. A Hydren does not fail."

With those words ringing in Kali's head, he followed Aaron and Sophie out of his house and somewhere he had never dreamed of going in his life.

SOPHIE'S POV

The visit to the Hydren household was successful, but very energy draining. Sophie was ready to collapse when they left the mansion of Mr. Hydren. She could literally feel her brain sighing in exhaustion when she started asking herself head aching questions all over again.

Picking a question from the swarm that was taking over her brain, Sophie addressed the Hydren boy. "Your father called you Kalios, but should we all call you that? It's a little too formal...." He nodded in obvious relief. "Just call me Kali. It's better then Kalios."

"So, Kali, your father is really strict. What does he do anyway?" Sophie said, not very casually. "He's a high politician. Just ask me your questions and don't twist them around." Kali said with a scowl. "Okaaay......" Sophie decided that questions would have to wait for the moment. Then a seemingly very  important question popped up and she couldn't stop her mouth in time. "What's your power? I mean, Aaron's got a whole bunch of them, and I'M a telepath, so how about you?"

"I'm a water manipulator. Not a very good one, but I can practice." Kali said, furrowing his brow. "So if you're a telepath, can you read my mind right now?"

"Oh um, I g-guess I could? But I haven't done it since I figured out that I had the power, and that was when I was eight. Now I'm fourteen. So I have no idea if I still have that ability." Sophie stammered, uncomfortable. She had been teased so much when it was anounced that she could read minds. People had been scared, weary, and ticked off by her because of her power, and she had gotten bullied to the extent that her parents had moved the whole family into the rainforest. The power subject was avoided by everyone who knew Sophie.

"Oof. I guess we're gonna have to do some training before we start fighting stuff, huh? We would utterly FAIL if we went to save the day like this." Aaron said lightly. Kali winced a little, but Aaron as usual paid no attention. "Now for the next CHOSEN person! I'm getting a foresty wolfy vibe this time, and I can think of the closest wolf-viby forest from here! TO THE SHADOWGREENS!!" Aaron yelled with enthusiasm, and again, without a warning, he grabbed the other two by the hand and vanished in a swirl of light.

A few seconds after the trio had disappeared, a small black shadow oozed from the stones on the road and slithered over to the closest shadow of an object. Finding a good one underneath a tree, the shadow grinned evilly with dripping red fangs and disappeared after the soon-to-be saviors of the world.

Whoo! I have completed this chapter! I meant to finish this way earlier, but then I was summoned to do a different task and I was distracted. (Won't tell what the task was, hehe) 

I heartily thank whoever came upon entering this and read it. Please give me feedback, and I will listen and improve my writing. Thank you!

~Silverserpent