Book 1: Chapter Two

**This page is part of the storyline.**Do not edit it in any way.

**1 week later**

Arlo Aetherstone *hated* being old enough to remember. He remembered everything. All about his injuries, and how Ioae fell, and then Shadowbrook too. He wished he had been too young to remember any of it. Losing his mother most of all. He remembered how his father used to laugh and joke, and now he tried to be the same way, and put on a brave face, but there was a hollowness in his eyes that simply hadn’t been there before. *Stop feeling sorry for yourself,* Arlo thought. *Most of the dusk elves have a tragic backstory too*. But he thought he had it out the worst, and he probably was right.

It was very hard for him. He had been eight years old when he lost his legs, and he had been ten when he lost his mother. He was a little older now, and he wished there was a way to forget all of it on purpose. Both of the terrible pains he had endured: physical, when he lost the use of his legs during training, and the emotional pain when his mother died in the battle of Ioae. Recently, though he had found happiness and distraction. He met FORMULA0 and Alya. They were one of the first people he’d ever actually made friends with. He had met them in the capital on the first day he was in the academy, after his first lesson. *The academy.* He had made it in, because he had studied and trained, studied and trained. But his body was broken. He had pushed himself too hard. He rode in a wheelchair now.

He wished he hadn’t traveled home for the holidays. Even though Villagetown was where many of the dusk elves lived, it did not feel like his home. He knew no one here, everyone he knew was in the academy. However, he came here not because he wanted to, but because his mother would want him to do it—

His thoughts were interrupted by someone busting through the door directly onto his balcony.

“I did it!” said a young villager girl, carrying some sort of iron & redstone machine bundled in her arms “They should work this time!” This was Alicia, one of this town’s most creative redstone engineers, although she could be a little annoying sometimes. “Look!” she showed him what she was carrying. She had needed a project to work on as a school assignment, and she also had wanted to help someone in the process. She was trying to make what was known as a ‘prosthetic’ limb, so that he could walk again. It was a sweet gesture, but it normally didn’t work out. Arlo looked intensely at the apparatus. It had miniature sticky pistons, hooked onto sturdy-looking iron supports. He accepted the small machines, and then slid them on. He had already tried this three times, and all three times had ended with him splayed on the floor. He timidly stood up, wincing. It seemed to work, until he tried to bend his ankle. He didn’t understand too much about redstone but he was pretty sure something was wrong, seeing as he was running without control, until he accidentally flipped over the balcony, and onto the ground below. He had taken 3 points of fall damage.

Alica rushed to the balcony edge, and yelled:

“Oh no! I am so, so so sorry. Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, I just... Ow.” Arlo rubbed his back. “Can you just make my wheelchair move or something next time? That would be a lot easier.” Alica was already out his front door and helped him back up to his feet, and then brought him back up to his seat on the balcony. Then, blushing, she ran out the door without another word. *That’s the last time I am doing that.* But then he looked up over his balcony railing and over the village and saw a sight he was certainly not expecting. It was Trixx, Alya’s dog, along with some other horse. Alya and Formula were back! *This means I can get rid of this dog.* FORMULA0 had left his dog, Sparky, back here with him. He heard a bark, and saw a crazily panting head and wagging tail pop up and spot his owner. Sparky barked at the figures on the plain.

“Yeah, I’m excited to see them too, Sparky ”

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