Vanagloria hopped out of the trunk, following Martyr.
Spectre had parked next to the big fountain in the center of the roundabout.
The other three in the truck quickly jumped out, full of energy.
"We're here!" Blair was jumping up in excitement.
"Ugh. I can't wait to pass out on one of those couches." Spectre said, looking at the house.
"Yes please." Martyr reached back into the truck.
"Now quickly, everybody grab one of their bags so we can get in."
Blair started to lead them over to the house, spry with energy.
They decided that they would take the house in the back, aligned with the dirt road leading to it. They probably should've checked the insides of the houses before picking but from looking at them through the windows, they didn't seem to be very different from each other.
Vanagloria wades her hand through the fountain as she walks by. The water is extremely clear. Compared to the water outside in the forest, this looked like holy water.
The fountain was made out of pure marble, it looked straight out of a light palace. The waterspout itself was modeled after the Lochness monster, a dragon-like plesiosaur that only lives in the ocean of Niflheim, the water region. The population of them are extremely low and rumored to only be in the single digits.
Vanagloria had always been fascinated with the mythical creatures on the island, and when it came to them she was extremely educated on them. Those science classes had been the one of the only classes she passed with good grades along with her combat classes obviously. Seeing one of her favorite marine creatures here was very cool. There were also others she loved, like the legendary Kraken or the many insane species of leviathans.
"You know we might end up seeing one of those." Samsara said to Vanagloria as if reading her mind.
"If we're heading to Atlantis for a trail, we're probably gonna see all sorts of crazy sea creatures."
"Oh I sure hope so. I already saw a crap ton of weird creatures in the forest that I have never seen before."
"Yeah, if the forest trail is anything like the previous ones, we're most likely gonna be exploring Alfheim and we'll get to see even more crazy forest creatures as well."
"Alfhiem does have the most amount of discovered species out of any other elemental region." Vanagloria stepped onto the rocky walkway to the house. "Hopefully we'll get to explore Alfheim, it is Artemis's first year as a champion, so who knows."
Blair walks up to the front door and carefully twists the golden handle. The broad wooden door creaks open revealing the welcoming room inside.
"Oh wow." Martyr says walking in behind Blair.
"Isn't this amazing?" Blair had her arms wide open, presenting the house.
Vanagloria walks into the smell of a new car and the lights of a chandelier above her. The first and central room of the house was one massive living room, full with fluffy couches and cushioned rocking chairs surrounding a television on a wall to her left. To her right was a staircase up to the second floor and past that is what looked to be a decently sized kitchen.
On each side of the wall with the television were two hallways, the one closest to Vanagloria led to what looked like a spiral staircase going both up and down. The back wall, similar to the front wall also was riddled with windows showing off the track and stone wall behind them. Each window in the house had angelic white curtains, all of them open at the moment.
Vanagloria was extremely impressed by what the house was offering but the one thing that stook out the most to her…
"We get our own TV?!"
Vanagloria was amazed by the house but by far what amazed her the most was the television. The orphanage had an old dusty one that barely hung off the wall and generally was Vanagloria's number one source of entertainment when she was young.
Before Vanagloria started getting into track, basketball and her music heavily, her and Blair would sit down and watch whatever random show or movie was put on for hours. A vast majority of the free time they got on the weekends and after school was spent in their sleeping bags, watching TV.
The only problem was that they never got to choose what to watch. Whoever was taking care of the orphanage that day had full control. Most people in Umberville couldn't afford a television so the number one place to go for one was the movie theater which they had to pay for. So when the opportunity arrived to watch it on a low quality dusty TV for free, they took full advantage of it. It got so bad that after the knowledge had spread that the orphanage had a free TV, people started to come prepared with a DVD of their own.
"I know right!" Blair was jumping up and down in excitement.
"Screw sleeping. Blair, you wanna have a watch party?"
"I would be honored."
Martyr immediately jumped onto the biggest couch and sank in the massive cushions. He took up the entire thing, not leaving any room for anyone else. "Ahhhhhhhh..."
"Hey, shitass. I wanted to sit there." Samsara threw a pillow at Martyr, hitting him square in the face. Normally It would've probably hurt a lot but he took the hit without even flinching.
"Fuck you."
"Okay then. You have fun with that." Samsara turned her head away and made a little wave with attitude at him as she claimed the second biggest couch.
Blair made her way over to a row of shelves next to the TV that had a ton of DVD cases.
Vanagloria took a spot on a light cyan sofa with a million pillows that was next to Martyr's couch.
Vanagloria put her backpack down in front of her next to the giant pile of bags Blair made. She opened up the back pocket and pulled out her massive yellow blanket she had gotten herself a few years back to make her sleeping bag at the orphanage comfier.
She made sure to also grab Blair's bag and pull out her massive galactic/star themed ultra fuzzy blanket.
Blair's blanket was way more than enough for both of them to use. Even with the size of the couch, it still would've covered the entire thing and then some. It made Vanagloria wonder how Blair was able to pack it.
Vanagloria looks at the massive galactic blanket and then back at Martyr who was already dead asleep with no blanket.
Vanagloria stands up holding her little yellow blanket and carefully lays it over him, very proud of her little act of kindness.
Sitting back down she looks over at him, barely covered by the blanket.
It's weird to think how close she's gotten to him in the past few days. Normally she wouldn't trust some random guy she met just a few days ago with her blanket. But she had just gotten so used to his company and constantly being around her that it felt normal. A lot of the guys she knew back in her school or at Umberville, she wouldn't feel this comfortable around.
Now that she thought of it she had also started to feel used to the other two as well. They all felt like good friends she had known for a while.
Blair plops down next to her. She had a remote in her hand, raising the volume to the show she already put on that had a guy walking around a conscience store.
Vanagloria pulls the heavy blanket over her and starts to settle in.
The atmosphere is so pleasant.
Vanagloria's not trying to sleep in the back of a moving truck or on the dusty floor of an orphanage, but instead on a comfy couch, inside a cozy home with friends she genuinely likes.
There's no concerning noises coming from outside of the house.
There's no worries about having to get up early in the morning.
It was just peaceful.
…
And before Vanagloria knew it she was waking up to the same room, hours later.
After peeling her head off of her pillow and sitting up, she immediately noticed how quiet it was.
The only noise she heard was snoring coming from both sides of her and the TV. On the overly bright screen it showed a large army fighting against a flying white whale.
After stretching her back and arms out, she carefully got off the couch.
Looking around at all of her teammates she confirmed that they were all fully asleep.
She must've gotten up super early.
Samsara and Spectre were cuddling on their couch, passed out on each other.
Blair was completely covered by her blanket with only her hair poking out. The blanket was faintly glowing underneath, just enough to be noticeable to Vanagloria.
Martyr had a dumb smile, still wearing Vanagloria's blanket. The sight of him made her happy with her little deed.
"What time is it even?"
There seemed to be no clock around the room to tell the time either.
Although it was still dark outside. Vanagloria didn't know how the crystal light worked in the cave or if it would even light up in the morning.
Vanagloria didn't really know what to do. She didn't really feel like going back to sleep, surprisingly she felt great.
"I guess I might as well explore the house." She thought to herself.
She didn't really get much of a chance to do so when she got there so why not?
Although only after a few seconds tip-toeing her way over to the kitchen, her fear of the dark started to kick in.
The kitchen itself wasn't very scary. The small light of the living room still trickled into the kitchen making enough light to see around, but the end of the kitchen seemed to have some sort of room at the end that was completely dark.
Was it a bathroom? A closet? Vanagloria didn't really want to get close so she decided to just avoid it for now.
The quietness of the house was starting to get to her. If it weren't for the snoring reassuring she wasn't alone, she wouldn't have continued to explore the kitchen.
It had everything anyone would ever need from one. There was a stove, multiple sinks, a dishwasher, a coffee maker, a toaster, a giant stainless steel fridge and a million different cabinets along the wall and counters.
Opening up one of the top cabinets with a very small eerie creak she finds a shelf full of packaged food she can't really make out in the dark of the room.
"Wait…"
"I have light powers now."
Looking down at her hands she remembers her powers. Air, Fire, but most importantly Light.
She didn't know how to activate just her light powers rather than her lightning but she had seen people with multiple elements do it before so it was definitely possible.
"Oh god, this is a bad idea."
Vanagloria walked to the middle of the kitchen and held out her palm to the end of the hall concentrating a very small amount of energy to it.
She had seen Blair use her hands as flashlights before but she never really had thought to ask how Blair did it. She really could have used the advice now.
Vanagloria sees her hand glow faintly with a yellow light, definitely not the color she wanted.
She tries to concentrate on imagining the color changing to white but the electricity gathering in her hand only grows bigger.
Vanagloria starts to panic, not knowing where to point this weapon of mass destruction.
Eventually she finds an open area of the floor to point her hand.
Her heart races as she very carefully drains the energy in her hand back down her arm back into whatever place it comes from.
'Knock knock'
'BOOOOOOM'
A small bolt of lightning shoots across the room, lighting up the room for a split second only to abruptly come back to darkness as Vanagloria strikes the middle of the tiled floor.
Vanagloria covers her mouth at the small 'eek' she let out after getting the bejesus scared out of her.
Still panicked, she rushes over to the front door in fear of being late to open it.
Vanagloria feels horrible as she runs back into the living room of her friends all rising up like zombies.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" She says as she flies over to the door.
Not considering who could be on the other end she opens the door to see three guys standing outside with spears and full silver body armor.
The one on the right with brown hair coming out of his helmet, hesitantly cleared his throat.
"We are air knights of Styrmir and have come to speak to Vanagloria."