"I still don't understand. Arres, you didn't say anything about yourself."

In the living room of this log cabin, Niff was hanging out with John and Arres. The other kids were fast asleep because the clock was striking midnight—and John had told them not to sleep past ten at night.

Silence. Arres, having been treated with both medicine and the spell of John's Agyss ball for the gunshot wound, couldn't say a word. He reluctantly looked at John who demanded an explanation through his sharp and curious eyes.

Niff watched John and Arres in turn. Just like Arres, there was nothing Niff could do.

Why did John look a little hideous when he stood up, put his hands on his hips, and looked at Arres in annoyance?

"Arres," John called again.

The middle-aged man whose hair was mostly white approached Arres. He stood next to the sofa, then slightly bent his body and watched Arres's face closely.

"Did you start feeling the symptoms of your transformation long ago?" John asked Arres.

Arres looked at John doubtfully. Even without saying anything, Niff caught the man hiding something.

Arres's eyes flashed with anxiety, but he seemed to be trying to stay calm.

"You shouldn't be hiding anything," John said.

Unable to look into John's sharp eyes for long, Arres immediately looked away. However he tried to stay calm, Niff could clearly read that Arres wasn't really calm.

"I don't mean to cover up," Arres answered finally, after a long silence. "But, whether I deny the symptoms on my body or there really are no symptoms at all, I don't understand. After I sent Niff away, I intended to burn the two wolves using the hunting tactics you taught me, John.

Unfortunately in the middle of the fight, I started to feel something uneasy in my body. There was a strange and foreign vibe, even my blood flow felt different. Moreover, the color of my Agyss ball suddenly glowed and changed color."

John moved his gaze to Arres's Agyss orb. The thing had been placed on the the table earlier and just stood there without being touched at all.

"Your Agyss ball is turning blue," John said as he straightened up again.

"What is going on?" Niff, who was already provoked by curiosity, spoke.

Silence. John and Arres both fell silent.

"Don't you know? You have an Agyss ball," Arres replied while shaking his chin pointing at Niff's Agyss ball.

With an innocent face, Niff shook her head.

"No, I don't understand."

"You didn't learn Agyss's orb comprehension?" This time it was John who spoke.

Niff shook his head again. It's a shame, he really doesn't understand anything. Even he still has not found the answer why he woke up in the middle of the river flow.

In between wincing in pain from the wound on one of his legs, Arres sighed softly.

"Why do you have the Agyss orb but don't know anything about your Agyss?" Arres sarcastically to the point.

Niff was not offended. But his lips automatically pouted.

'Shit. He's mocking me,' Niff thought, who was already very annoyed with Arres.

"Agyss' orbs come in different colors according to power level." John's voice was heard explaining, stealing the attention of Zevana and Arres. "There are seven colors of Agyss balls that are used differently. Doctors and magicians use Agyss balls of different colors, the power level can be higher or lower."

"Why could it be higher or lower?" asked Niff.

"According to the power level of the owner of Agyss," said Arres. His gaze fell on the bloodstains on the cloth covering his right leg.

Niff silently grimaced at the thought of the pain of the gunshot wound.

'Besides, why did he have to sacrifice himself to save me? Even if he has turned into a wolf, does he feel strong enough to fight two wolves?' thought Niff when occasionally his eyes caught Arres's gesture in pain.

"That's right. If the owner has studied the level of power, then the power of the Agyss ball will follow," John continued explaining.

Niff nodded in understanding after listening to John's explanation.

He looked at Agyss of Arres. "Then what's the problem if your Agyss ball changes color, Arres?"

Arres, who had his eyes closed as he leaned back against the back of the sofa, opened his eyes again. His eyebrows were raised between surprise and disbelief that Niff would say that question.

"You really don't understand?" asked Arres.

"No. Does the color change of your Agyss orb relate to your power level?"

“To be precise, my shapeshifting,” Arres replied. He didn't look as irritated as he had a moment ago.

Niff frowned.

"Since I've turned into a werewolf, then my Agyss orb will turn into Agyss orb for werewolves."

When he said that sentence, Niff realized Arres' expression that looked troubled. Arres seemed to think of something, and it was clearly formed from a frown.

"Do you feel uncomfortable?" Niff immediately asked questions to the point.

Arres snapped out of his thoughts. He lifted his face, saw Niff who was watching him curiously.

"Uncomfortable?" Ares was confused. "I... don't know. Of course it's uncomfortable. You think, when your body turns into an animal and has four legs, you feel comfortable?"

Instantly Niff's expression of pity turned into an expression of annoyance. Though Niff intends to ask carefully and have a heart to heart conversation. But the werewolf creature—oh, Niff has a new name for Arres—in front of him is really annoying.

"You can't answer properly?" quipped Niff, and at the same time reprimanded.

Arres just smiled crookedly, small and very briefly. He had no intention of answering Niff's insinuation.

"Arres." Suddenly a voice called from John.

Not only Arres who looked, but Niff too. Both of them frowned at the same time when they saw John carrying a pocket book, the size of a grown man's palm.

The cover was dark brown and looked dull—ah, almost covered in dust if you looked closely. There's a symbol somewhere. Niff and Arres didn't know what the crest was, nor did it find it familiar at all.

The book John gave to Arres.

"What's this?" asked Arres.

John answered as he sat on the one-person couch, "That book your parents left when they dropped you off at this cottage twelve years ago."

When Arres was looking at the rather small size of the book, Niff watched in confusion.

"What actually happened?" Niff asked. "Wait. Arres' parents put Arres in this cottage?"

For a few seconds John did nothing. The atmosphere between the three of them became silent. For some reason, John seemed confused about how to explain.

"John?" Arres called out to John who was almost lost in reverie.

"I waited for you at twenty-one to explain this, Arres. It's possible that this explanation has something to do with the Agyss power orb that both of you possess."

Niff frowned, and so did Arres.

"There is a world called the Country of Amaphera that ordinary humans would not be able to reach. A world that humans would not believe in, which had always been considered a myth.

The inhabitants of the Country of Amaphera are werewolves, witches, gods, and all kinds of creatures that are always introduced in the human world as 'fantasy' creatures. They all live side by side under different kingdoms and preside over the five regions within the Country of Amaphera.

The people of the Country of Amaphera have different levels of power, and that power comes from Agyss' power orbs."

Niff and Arres fell silent after listening to John's explanation. No reaction. Both of them were stunned without being able to answer anything, because their own minds were busy digesting the world that John described.

"Are you kidding?" Ares laughed.

he shook his head. "No. If I'm kidding, you saw Agyss' orb that you've been holding." Then John's eyes turned to Niff. "You also have that Agyss, right?"

Still confused, Niff nodded. "Yes, I have the Agyss orb, but I'm not a resident of the Amaphera Country. Is the Agyss orb only owned by the residents of the Amaphera Country?"

"Unfortunately, yes." John chuckled. "When Arres's parents left Arres in this hut, his mother gave his Agyss orb to me. The Agyss orb was exclusively a healer, because your mother was a female healer in the werewolf kingdom, Arres."

"Wait, wait..." Arres stretched out both palms to John, signaling a stop. "That's impossible. Then, where are my mother and father? Can the inhabitants of the Country of Amaphera cross into the world of ordinary people?"

John nodded. "Yes. Every residents of the Country of Amaphera can cross, while ordinary humans cannot go to the Country of Amaphera. Even if they could, they would have a limited time of survival there. Also, magic spells from the Country of Amaphera can also be used in the Human World. That's why power ball magic Agyss can be used to heal wounds here.

"And your parents, at the time when an unfortunate incident occurred in the Country of Amaphera, entrusted you to me because you are a descendant of a half-human, Arres. He crossed from the Country of Amaphera to this forest, the forest on the border of the Country of Amaphera and the City of Humans, to protect you from the great massacre." that happened twelve years ago in the Land of Amaphera.

Now I don't know where or how your parents are, Arres."

Arres and Niff both thought then. John's explanation was too preposterous for them. However, after hearing the explanation about the crossing, Niff suddenly remembered the incident of a group of soldiers chasing him and Arres.

'Those warriors shouting a witch's cry, are they from the Country of Amaphera?' Niff thought.

"That's why I wonder why Niff has the Agyss orb. You... aren't someone who crossed from the Country of Amaphera to the Human world, right?" he asked.

Niff gasped. The question had not occurred to him.

"Me?" Confused. Niff doesn't even remember who he is. "How can I become a resident of Amaphera Country? I was unconscious, I suddenly woke up in a drifting position in the river."

John chuckled. "Don't you remember what happened before you were washed away in the river?"

Neff shook his head. "No, not in the least," he answered firmly. "Or maybe I brought an Agyss orb belonging a resident of the Country of Amaphera that crossed to Human World?"

"Coincided with you being washed away in the river?" John chuckled even more.

Having only guessed, Niff shrugged his shoulders.

"Then who are you, John?" Arres threw a question at John, chimed in. "You said that only the people of the Country of Amaphera have the Agyss orb, but why do you also have one? And, how come my parents, the people of the Country of Amaphera, know you?"

There was a pause for a few seconds for John who seemed to be contemplating something. Niff surmised, John was considering whether or not he should explain. Because worry is clearly formed from John's frown and facial gestures.

"I..."

"John?" Arres' gaze looked urgent to John. "Answer my question."

John seemed reluctant to explain. But because Arres and Niff urged through their serious gazes, John finally spoke.

"I am the royal physician of Amaphera Country who fled twenty-five years ago, during the great war that almost destroyed all the inhabitants there."