30 minutes has passed and Ipos molded three 30ft tall swamp golems into a pebble.
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“Ugh” Zephyr groans, her arm sling against Isaac who helps keep her standing, “If you’re wondering if he is that powerful then think otherwise.” She calls out for him but he charges straight at her. With a fling of a finger, a torrent of roots stops the brown haired younger whose eyes have completely glow white.
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His voice echoes like that of the sea serpant that Ober and Isaac encountered when they were repairing the border. “It was a beast”, the old man says, “and all beasts imitate the Gods by having these echoic voices. Though they really aren’t as powerful as Gods, their silent cousins are different—those who speak like us, like hemrean with no special voice effects.”
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Zephyr’s voice remains the same even as her eyes glow entirely green in trying to force her plants in containing her brother. “It feels thrilling, exhillirating, and wholly power sating~ Ah~ I shan’t, I shan’t lose myself~” Zephyr bends her entire hand down and the roots drives Ipos into the muddy pools. It detonates by a clasp of her palm and an explosive tempest almost blew Isaac off his footing if not for the mud
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“You don’t have to be that harsh...” Isaac says which Zephyr simply shrugs,
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“depends on who I am up against. Come,” bending the roots to thrust themselves into Ipos’s mouth and behind…a spitroast flora sight as the roots inject balls of twinkling green into Ipos’s body. “This should keep him asleep and slow down the memory fade.” Once more bending the roots, a wooden golem is formed to carry the younger.
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And the group resumes in screaming out the names of “Haures!” and “Real!” The shroading mist gives no other than the growl of the beast that lives here. But who cares about the lochness anymore, Isaac wants out, Mira wants to kill a beast, and the siblings have to find each other and their journals. If the lochness joins in then all absternicus hell breaks loose and Isaac does not want to get caught up in that situation, not at all as he screams so loud that his voice wrings itself.
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“Such immenseness in the voice.” Zephyr commends, motivated as well to scream as loud as she can.
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Ten, twenty, and another thirty minutes pass. Not even the wraiths wish to stop them as they feel the marsh slowly changing. The air spiked with needles and Isaac cannot help but try to keep his hair from standing. “What is happening this time?”
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“Real…” Zephyr swallows, trying to keep her eyes open by binging and biting her tongue. “Don’t mind the great Zephyr boy, let’s find sis. Hurry”
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Two hours and thirty minutes pass of wandering around the marsh and Zephyr is slowly losing herself to madness—one moment she is lovingly talking about her siblings the next she is rattling about her ingredients. “Ugh, you know what” She groans, trying to keep herself together with her hair strands haggardly placed on her sweaty face. “If I were to forget, just call a crazy ingredient addict.”
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“You said you are a florist though…”
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“HAH! I don’t even know where that came from other than that came on the cover of our bloody cowcuck journals. Ugh, what am I even talking about now?”
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They trudge through the swampy mud for thirty more steps and Zephyr notices that Isaac has been panting with his hand wrapped roughly against her side, probably carrying her whole limp weight. And she thinks that this should not be it. She should not be forcing a normal hemrean kid who is like them without anything special. So she tells them to stop.
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“A—are you sure?”
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“Have I never been so sure?” Eyes faintly glowing green, “Never Have I been so sure in my life to stop! Ahaha, what am I to let you carry me like that, Oh dear goodness me”
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“M-Mira, should I trust her…” Asking Mira the bunny who is suffocatingly silent, and which is still, completely ignoring her as if she is a skinned bunny hanging by his vine belt. “Mira…”
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“Talking to that one is useless. Though might be friendly, it is purely a deathbell for you and anyone else~”
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“Mira does not scare anyone though.” Maybe Isaac is slowly losing his mind as well, he usually likes these situations with noise but in front of the children of the marsh, he feels frightened to even open his lips. He feels alone with Mira staying silent and wish that Ober could just be here to quell the situation. But reality is, nobody is here for him. Not Merry and Bell, not Ober, certainly not Mira and never the slowly maddening Children. Is there a choice out of this? No! None! There is no other choice in going out of the marsh lest he finds and ask the lochness, would probably end up headless than escaping.
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“Hey Boy! You listening????”
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“Y-yes! What is it Zephyr?”
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“Camping you or what? Ready us a fire for this bloody cold night. Damn, even mistcorollas aren’t this cold, whatever even happened to the warmcorollas around? Can’t be help cause of that traitor.”
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‘Traitor’ Isaac thinks that Zephyr means to say Haures who most likely turned their entire hut into dust. The boy quickly finds some wood to burn but nothing to start a fire on. “Uhm, I can’t start a fire…” honestly true that his head should be low.
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“Preposterous! But rather true, you cannot start a fire with these cold-hearted stones. Then what about bother someone else! You think I can start a fire? Goodness if plants do that I’d be whoring for it.”
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“Whatever you are talking about sis” Ipos wakes in the grip of the vines, speaking fluently without a stutter or misconfidence, “How pathetic this ground became that not even a warmy campfire can’t be built.”
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“You don’t build a campfire fool!” Zephyr argues, “You make it with the mates around you! You can build its pits and whatnot. But you can never, build campfire without the mates”
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“You’re the one who ordered him to build a campfire”
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“OH what A fooLIsH BrOTHeRRR I have. No, I’ve never said it.”
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“HA! You jest, lying to your own tongue like that.”
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‘She really never did though’, Isaac thinks, stuck inbetween their conversation with cold sticks in hand “Uhm…”
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“My turn” Ipos inhales deeply, making sure his chest is fully protruded before exhaling with whistling lips. The air farthest of him sparks then blazes flames. Burning the sticks Isaac huddled together.
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“Now that’s a fire! Now make us a proper floor”
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Which Ipos easily did so and made a comfortable platform for everyone to sit on. Zephyr releases his brother and Isaac wonder if it is alright but Ipos does not seem to look like he woud run away. Mira, who is now on his lap, continues to remain silent.
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“Hmm, some cottonmallows should be good.” Bending her fingers for white balls to grow out with sticks from the vines. Ipos plucks one and burns the white tips and encouraging Isaac to do so, saying that it is edible. “Hmph! All my bearings are healthy and edible so you know”
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The boy hesitates at first but he takes one for another to grow out from where he plucked. Amazing, at the same time, feeling as if these two aren’t slowly losing their sanity. He glazes his cottonmallow and takes a huffy warm bite. Mmmmn~ a warming embrace that he never felt in a long time hugs him tightly. “It’s sweet and so good!”
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“That’s right, that’s right! Help yourself!” Zephyr makes sure that vibrant leaves and flora surrounds them, easing her chest and so is Ipos’s who now has two cottonmallows in hand. But then there is the bunny, “You won’t be eating child?”
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Mira looks up and finally speaks, “Keep pretending beasts, Mira will not fond around you.”
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“Woahhh woahhhhh That bunny is s-s-s-picyy~”
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“Keep stuttering and the Gods might bless you!” Zephyr also helps herself with a mouthful of cottonmellows. “Isaac, what does that bunny eat? Grass, meat or cannibal?”
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Isaac says, “Ah, I mean cannibal might be a bit too much but I don’t really know what she eats…”
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“Real?”
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The boy nods, affirming to himself as well that she does not know much about Mira. Other than feeling that she must have saved her from the underground district.
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“I—I thought these two are friends sis.”
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Zephyr sighs, “Some things are best believed only with the eyes.”
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Then, 30 minutes passed, at least, 30 minutes should have already past the third hour since they lost their journals. Isaac watches both of them closely which the two feel his stare and ask him not to and assuring the boy that they are still themselves and are they? True that they still act like themselves but, with a lot more stories to tell. Stories about beasts he has never heard off, lands in Kinguin that he never thought about of having special history like villages that were once the lands ‘they’ won victory on, and people whom he has never heard of being heroes. They have lots to share and Isaac finds himself wanting to know specifically about the lord magister, “If you know him of course”
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“Ober Vanderhawk? Of course, we know that mugwort who always shut himself in his room and only going out when it is time for meals.”
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“I even made him a house In the far borders for his rest stops when he made the border. So U-ungrateful of him to say that he never u-uses it.”
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Rest houses along the borders…Isaac recalls, “Bandits lived there.”
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“THE AUDACITy!”
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“Now, now, calm your horses even though you’ve never ridden one. Calm yourself” Zephyr tells him to calm yet she follows up with, “Useless”
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“GAH! MY MAKINGS ARE NEVER USELESS THEY ARE AS GOOD AS THE BEST TOOLS OR SWORDMATES THERE EVER IS IN T-THE LAND!”
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“But that mugwort never used it! Well, how do you even know that boy?”
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“I’m his servant. I follow him around”
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“Ah…a slave”
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“D-don’t mean it a bad way bro, sis just means a good kind of slave.”
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“Why slaves now have order now? Good and Bad slaves? What nonsense. Slaves are slaves. But for real you are a slave to him? I find it hard to imagine someone like him to be asking around.”
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“Well…” Isaac tries to recall for himself, to the very beginning where he woke up in a riverbank and Ober found him. Telling his story to the siblings, as well as Mira who is tilting her bunny ears. “The lord magister found me by the riverbanks of Micelea and he took me in without asking for anything.”
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“He took you in!? Not asking you anything!? Gods, that mugwort would ask an entire castle for him to even get out of his rathole.”
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“S-sis shush”
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Isaac proceeds to tell them a short summary of his tale with Ober, how he manage to serve as a Mair in Kinguin castle and becoming his personal servant, assistant and apprentice.
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“WILD! That rat made progress in socializing.”
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“Uhm, Kinguin, is that a p-place?”
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“Yes,” Isaac unsurely nods, “Why do you ask?”
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“Well for one, we’ve never heard of it really. Second is how is Ober the magister of that unknown kingdom?”
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“Huh? It’s the best and glorious capital of Cyndoryll!”
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“C-Cyndoryll! That I know. I-It’s our mother continent.”
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“Yes, but you two never knew about Kinguin?” Isaac questions which the two naked children of the marsh shake their heads. “Ah—you should! Kinguin is the capital and strongest kingdom of Cyndoryll.”
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“Huh…really? I’ve only known that mugwort living in the purple castle. So he now lives in this Kinguin?”
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“Yes! The lord magister has even been serving there for who knows how long! Many years probably because when I came in, everyone treated him as if he is also a king.”
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“That did happen…”
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“D-did it?”
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“I can’t believe you two do not know the lord magister!”
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“PREPOSTEROUS! We’ve known Ober since Eric and Yenniren have been scheming about their baby names! You know, Ober Vanderhawk is also the name of Eric’s great great great grandfather!”
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“How g-great was he sis?”
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“So great probably”
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“Woahh, you go that far back?”
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“Even farther! Hehe, it’s making me feel uplifting Ipos, strange”
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“M-me too…It’s making me feel p-prideful.”
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“You two are crazy old old!”
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“GAHKK!” And both got knocked down as if a boulder named crazy old old was thrown at them. And Zephyr proposes to them that they should just sleep and carry on next morning. Which Ipos ask, “W-what? What are we going to do next morning?”
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“You guys forgot already?” Isaac still being in the high of earlier, “We’re going to find Real and Haures.”
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And why would they need to find those two? Ask their expressions as they both look at each other and glance down at Is!aac who immediately went to snoring as soon as he laid down his head,
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“He’s a strange boy isn’t he?”
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“I—I feel like we are forgetting something sis…”
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“Like a memory? Isn’t that their fault?”
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“M-maybe that is why this kid is asking us to find elder Real and general Haures.”
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“I commend him though for mentioning their first names easily.”
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“Normal hemreans would have fainted or bit off their tongue trying to. A-and, what’s up with this thick fog?”
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“It’s really not going anywhere huh…”
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Suddenly, both jump up to stand as if they felt a predator behind them. But it is just Mira, the bunny—with a bloody hungry eyes. “You’ve shown yourselves, finally.”
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“What’s wrong with this bunny?”
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“I-is it a sprite?”
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“Unlikely with how we felt just now.”
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“Mind you beasts” Mira starts, “I will slay you all once I regain back my form. And you will all pay for what you did to mother!”
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“D—Did we somehow hunt its burrows?”
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“How preposterous of us to do so. Must be just a kingdom soldier.”
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“Don’t think that others are to blame! Every beast is to blame for Mother’s suffering. Every beast should pay! Her solitude iis Mira’s guilt and Mira will make sure to bring her a performance to look forward to!”
“H-huh…This bunny is hexed.”
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“By whoever must be?”
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“Elder Real”
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“Welllp,” Zephyr leans down to the bunny, “Your revenge might be put on a raincheck until the elder reverts you back.”
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“HUH! I can revert myself in a few hours or so! Just Watch!”
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“F-for real s-sis. This bunny has elder Real’s magic. S-so…if she does, then this two are real. W-we are back!”
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“Yes we are and that is no time for celebration for I’m sure we only need to find those god damn journals to keep ourselves sane.”
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“Oh wait, the c-cure is not yet lifted?”
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“Haven’t felt safe since the moment I woke up. We are still bound Ipos. And maybe it is really best to find Elder Real and General Haures first.”
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Ipos nods before turning to the bunny and then kneeling in front of the bunny.
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“Gods, just sleep already.”
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“I—I wanted to show this bunny who is in charge. I—I don’t want it to hurt Ober’s slave.”
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“Heh, what are you going to do with that tiny dick of yours?”
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BAM the entire mist around them clears for the first time and Mira rolls back, observing Ipos’s eyes glow entirely blue and then, the murky pools are rising into towering waters pointing at the moon which Ipos looks up and utter silent words, a comet passes by it. Not a coincidental one, but hundreds or even thousands of them, gliding across the night sky of Cyndoryll in different sizes and colors. Mira’s eyes are wide open to see how capable the youngest among the children of the marsh is, which only gets her furs stand up and fangs baring.
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Meanwhile, Real is still in the marsh, wondering why she has not already left. Her head aches and her steps stagger as she keeps herself breathinig. “I have to rest…” she tells herself and stops at a rock boulder. She taps the rock, imagining it to turn into a simple house which is does so in less than seconds. She sleeps inside, unknown to her of the monster that follows her. But the girl immediately falls into a dream and the rock boulder suddenly changes into multiple indescribable forms every second. The wolf monster that is chasing her sees the her inside the boulder, sleeping peacefully. Which the hungry wolf leaps towards her but ends up bloody shredded without knowing what happened.
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While Haures is also looking for real. “The others’ notebooks are not in the hut…” He keeps repeating to himself, and hitting himself to stay awake. “The Journals are not in the hut…not in the hut!” Turning ashes to wherever he goes, screaming out loud like the shadowy lochness watching him and ther other children closely.
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