Alviary looks at the boy furiously. Never in a million years did he expect that a mere human could touch his face. He did help the boy to understand their kind but never touch them. Stephen gape like fish. The boy looks really scared to Alviary. The latter does not know what to say to the living god. Heck, he does not even know what is wrong with touching Alviary. Uran and Laryo never mention that he cannot touch Alviary.
"Is it a sin to touch you?" Stephen asks as he tries to yank his arm away. Alviary lets go of him and stares at the boy's eyes. He looks really scared. Alviary snaps out of his own anger then hold Stephen's hand. "Pardon me and my childish anger," Alviary said. "I am not used to getting touched," he added. Stephen blushes a little bit then nods at the spirit. "I-It's okay," Stephen stutters. Alviary just smiles and pats the boy's head. "You did great today, want to go home now?" Alviary asks him. Stephen nods and stands up. Alviary stands up then closes his eyes before muttering words.
Out of nowhere, a dash of white smoke surrounds Stephen then Alviary asks to close his eyes. The latter obliged and closes his eyes. Moments later, Stephen felt tingles in his arm. He opens his eyes and looks around. He is back in the hills and his clothes are fully done. Alviary is standing beside them and asks Stephen to try and fit them. The boy stands up and nods. He tries fitting the clothes and once fitted, he looks like a traveler who is about to go on a longer expedition. The clothes gave the boy much confusion as to how far the Phantom Island is.
It took them two hours to get down from the hills. Uran and Laryo approach the kid and hugs him. "We miss you, kid," Uran exclaims. "How is training?" Laryo asks with excitement in his voice. Stephen was about to answer when he felt like something pushed him. Alviary acted fast to catch the kid with soft smoke to prevent him from falling to the rocky ground. "You damn wolf. You almost killed him. Be careful," Laryo exclaims to Triton. Triton just looks at them then growls at Stephen. "What is happening?" Uran asks then looked at Alviary for an answer. Alviary sighs and helps Stephen to stand up.
"It's his clothes. They were filled with protection magic and my enchantments," Alviary explains. "Oh, no wonder the wolf doesn't recognize it. Shouldn't you put him to sleep?" Uran said as he eyes Stephen's well-made clothes. "No, why would I?" Alviary said and drags the kid back to the hut while Triton looks at the hills and find Stephen's scent since he missed him already. "Triton, let's go," Laryo said and forces the wolf to climb down and go back to the hut. When they reach the hut, Triton tries to jerk Stephen to the ground but was stopped by Alviary. "Are you crazy, you dumb dog?" Alviary exclaims with furry in his eyes. "If he dies just because you can't recognize his scent, we all die," he said as he looks at Triton's eyes.
Triton looks very shock when he saw the fuel in Alviary's eyes. He is certainly scared of the living god. Triton backs up and whines as he bows down to the ground as if asking for forgiveness. "I forgive you but if you do this once again, I won't hesitate to punish you," Alviary said in a stern voice that even Uran and Laryo shivers.
Stephen looks at the living god and asking why does he look very intimidating and furious. He almost killed him earlier yet he does look very intimidating. "Alviary, why are you furious?" Stephen said as he tries to hold his arm. Alviary flinches and almost hitting the kid but instead, he turns around. "You, continue your training with Uran and Laryo," he said while pointing at Stephen. "The two of you properly train this kid," Alviary said and vanishes away.
Stephen blinks like an owl then hears Uran chuckles. "I've never seen Alviary so flustered before," Uran said then asks for Stephen to take a bath first before his training with him and Laryo. Stephen nodded and after his bath, he went straight to Laryo for his very special training. "Ready, kid?" Laryo asks. Stephen nods and follows the old man to an open field not far from the hut. "I am not really good with combat but I could manage to teach the basics to you," Laryo started. Stephen nods at the old man then position himself into a fighting one. Laryo smirks and launches at Stephen. The boy steps back trying to dodge every blow that Laryo throws at him.
Their training lasts for the whole day and by the time they went back to the hut, Stephen is already exhausted and just wants to lie down on the bed. But Uran stops him then asks Laryo to heal his aching muscles before going to sleep. Laryo did what he was told then nods at Stephen to go sit on the couch as he heals his aching muscles. Laryo forms an inverted triangle and positions itself near his abdomen. He inhales before his eyes transform into a dark shade of green then a small mist forms in between his hands. Stephen looks so amazed by what is happening around him that he tries to reach out but Uran slaps his hand. "He will lose his concentration, behave please," Uran warns the kid. Stephen frowns then sat back properly.
Moments later, the boy felt as if something kept on crawling on his skin. He looks on his skin but he saw nothing. Then all of a sudden, his aching muscles are gone. Stephen looks at Laryo as he transforms back to his normal look. "How is it?" Laryo asks. "What do you feel?" Uran asks. Stephen smiles at both of them. "I feel great and my muscles don't ache anymore," Stephen said as he stands up and bids the two old men goodbye before going straight to bed. Stephen threw himself on the bed and snores away.
~0~0~0~
It has been a week since his training with Laryo. His training with Uran already starts after relaxing for two days but after that nothing special happened except that Triton warms up to him once again. The wolf starts to get used to Stephen wearing the magical clothes that Alviary asks him to sew. Stephen woke up with something heavy in his chest area. He groans and looks down where he feels the heaviness. He saw Triton leaning his head on his chest. The boy chuckles lightly and ruffles Triton's fur. Triton looks back to Stephen when he felt his hand on his fur and smiles baring his front teeth.
"Did you have a good night's sleep?" the boy asks the giant dog. Triton leans forward and boops his wet nose on Stephen's cheek then nods. "Good morning to you, too," Stephen said to the wolf. Then, the latter stood up from his bed and went straight outside the hut to see if the two old men are there. Surprisingly, both of them are not there. It was just him and Triton and also Alviary who comes to visit once in a while. Stephen sat down near a big tree and Triton sat beside him. Hours had passed and they were still sitting down near the big tree when they saw the two old men walking up to the hut with someone trailing them.
Stephen and Triton look at each other and then look back to the person behind them. In Stephen's mind, the man does not look like any mystical creatures like Triton, Uran, and Laryo. But his aura speaks king and powerful.