The Five Realms

“Thommy, are you okay?” Savyn worriedly asked her brother as she pulled outside the garage of a large warehouse. “You’ve been quiet all this time. What with mom and dad dying, and you having to move all the way from Florida. You haven’t said anything at all or cried…”

“I’m fine.” Was the reply she got. It was hard to know what her little brother was feeling because he was looking out the window with a wooden expression on his face.

“Okay….” Savyn gave him another worried look but didn’t quiz him any further. She pulled out a remote from her pocket and pressed the switch. The garage door slid up and she parked the car inside.

Thom was feeling numb, but it couldn’t stop him from being curious. A lot of questions were popping inside his head as they got out of the car. he was still picturing the 2 bedroom apartment his sister was suppose to have, not a warehouse in the outskirts of the city. What was an assistant publisher from a well known publishing group doing in here?... and what is this place?!

He stopped walking and really looked. His eyes were darting from one corner of the building to the other. The warehouse was overwhelmingly huge. There were rooms in the northern and southern part, but the middle was bare except for his sister’s car and a few racing bikes. There were some weird machinery, bodybuilding equipment, a whiteboard and a long table with chairs but there was still a lot of unoccupied space. There was no second floor so the ceiling was really high. He was even more surprised that there were other people inside. A group of men were huddled near a big piece of machinery. They were busy and didn’t quite notice until Savyn was standing just a few feet away from them.

“Oh Hey Savyn!” The nearest guy who was a bit effeminate said as Thom’s sister tapped his shoulder. “Nathan is in the office.”

“Thanks Mel…. That’s my brother, Thommy…could you keep him occupied? I need to talk to Nathan first. ” Savyn pointed to Thom who was checking out the bikes.

“Ooooh! A little cutie!” Mel exclaimed, wagging his eyebrows as he saw Thom.

“Don’t scare him Mel. He’s kind of off lately, especially with all that has happened…and I haven’t told him yet...” Savyn lowered her voice and gave Mel a look full of meaning. Mel caught that look and nodded as he watched Savyn run off to find Nathan.


XX


Seating on his chair with his crossed legs up and his boots placed atop his desk, the handsome silver haired man was reading a report when he heard the knock on his door and a blonde female rushed in and started speaking.

“Nathan, I don’t know how to tell him…and I don’t think it’s the right time.”

“Calm down woman…”

“He’s too young…”

“Calm down, Sav.”

“My poor baby bro…I don’t want to burden him more…”

“I said, calm down!” Nathan shouted as he threw the folder he was reading and hefted his boots from the desk. He rolled his eyes as the woman jumped in surprise and squeaked an apology.

“You know, you may be single, but you sure as hell act like a mother hen sometimes.” Nathan smirked as he stood up. “Don’t worry. Just tell him about yourself and your job and leave out his part in it. I’ll be the one to explain everything to him when the time is right. Just get him ready before his 18th birthday.”

Savyn heaved a sigh of relief. She still had 4 more years to give Thom time to adjust and whip him into shape.

“Now let’s go and introduce me to our little prince…” Nathan gave her a push towards the door and followed her as she all but run out.


XX

“Hey cutie, I’m Mel, Savyn’s friend.” Mel approached the teen and offered his hand to shake.

“Thom.” Thom answered but did not take his hand. He just gave him a blank look.

“So…how old are you?”

Thom looked at him quizzically and replied. “14.”

“Do you like cars?”

“No.”

“How about motorcycles?”

“No.”

“Sports?”

“No.”

“Girls?”

“No.”

“Boys?” Mel gave him a knowing glance.

“No.”

Mel was perplexed. He was getting nowhere with this conversation. He gave the kid another appraising look as if to measure him up.

“Hmmm…how about…music? What kind of music do you like?” He triumphantly asked.

Thom just gave another quizzical stare as if to say ‘Why is he asking me these questions?’ and did not reply.

After a few minutes of waiting and still no answer, Mel repeated the question.

Thom sighed with resignation. “None.”

“Uhmmm…” Mel narrowed his eyes at him and then as if a light bulb turn on in his head, he exclaimed. “Books!”

“You like books! Don’t you?”

Thom was saved from giving a response when his sister came running towards him, but not before Mel saw how his eyes lit up.

Mel gave a small smile and congratulated himself silently. At least, he now knew something about the boy. He promised himself that he would crack Thom’s hard shell and bring out the boy’s real self. After all, he was going to be one of Thom’s guardians until he turns 18.

Savyn fondly ruffled Thom’s hair when she reached him.

“Sorry about leaving you with my crazy friend Mel. My boss wants to meet you.” She stated as a handsome young man in his 20’s came striding after her. “This is Nathaniel Xiuh, my boss. He looks so young but he’s actually older than me by a lot of years.” She jokingly added.

Thom raised his hand and gave a little wave as if to acknowledge the introduction but remained silent. He was busy perusing this new acquaintance. The man was striking and looked like one of the heroes in his fantasy books, or how he pictured them to be. It was the first time he has ever seen silver hair on a young man, and eyes that were red. ‘They must be fake.’ He thought. ’The combination was really startling though. Maybe this guy liked to cosplay like those anime obsessed kids in school who loved dressing up as their favorite anime characters.’

Nathan gave a nod in response to Thom’s wave. He stared at Thom, thinking that the boy’s picture didn’t give him justice. The kid was thin and short, but his features were beautiful. Given a few more years, a little fattening up plus muscles and minus the horrible glasses that made his face look disproportioned, the boy would be quite stunning. Giving much thought, he looked a lot like a male version of his mother, who was one of the most beautiful women to grace their realm.

Savyn broke their thoughts as she took Thom’s hand and drag him with her.

“I’m taking him to his room so he can acclimatize as soon as possible. And I also need to tell him about a few truths I’ve been keeping from him. Can you two do me a favor and take the luggage out of the car and put it outside Thom’s room? We’ll take care if it once we finish our talk.” She dug out the car keys from her pocket and threw it to Nathan. “Here. You’re in charge of the keys. I don’t trust Mel with my precious baby. He might take it for a spin and damage it as well as hit some poor unsuspecting guy.”

Mel grinned evilly and pretended to grab the keys from Nathan. Nathan just gave his usual smirk as Savyn made a face and turned towards the direction of the room assigned to Thom, with her brother all the while clipped to her side.

Thom surveyed the room that was now his. It was small but not too narrow, with built in cabinets. A small bed was situated on the middle and a desk and chair was placed on the lower right corner of the room. Propped on the desk was a vase with a bunch of flowers and a little flag that read, “WELCOME.”

“Thommy, you must be wondering why we’re here and who those people are...” Savyn started when they were finally seated on his bed. “Well, this might be a bit hard to believe….but do you remember the hardbound books I gave you about the 5 Realms?”

Thom nodded his head, puzzled by what she said.

“Well, Thommy…Those weren’t fiction at all…They’re real.” She paused to let him assimilate what she said. “Mom and Dad came from the Realm of Mystic. Remember their business trips? Those weren’t for business at all. They were actually in the Mystic Realm consulting with the elders. They were guardians, you see…”

Thom’s eyes grew big. “Huh?”

“Yes Thommy…I know what I’m telling you is unbelievable, but it’s true. I’d like to tell you the whole history of the five Realms and how we came to be here, but It would consume a lot of time...and I think you already know some of it if you have read the 5 books I sent you. To make a long story short, the royal family was assassinated 13 years ago, but the youngest prince survived due to his brave nanny who took him from his crib and escaped. He was brought to the human realm and 4 guardians were appointed to look after him. Mom and Dad were the first 2 guardians. And I,” She indicated herself. “I became one too when the 3rd guardian died.”

Thom felt surreal. ‘Maybe I’m asleep and dreaming.’ He tried pinching himself hard but he still didn’t wake up.

‘This must be real…’ He thought as he inspected the spot on his arm that had turn red from his pinches. He watched his sister’s face, looking for a sign that would show she was making fun of him, but there was none. He stood up and turned around the room, examining the vents and corners if there were any hidden cameras that would say this was a prank, but no, there weren’t any. He sat down again, feeling stunned.

"I’m not kidding, Thom…I’ll prove it to you.”

Savyn walked to the desk and took out the flowers. She poured the water from the vase onto the floor. Then, raising both arms forward with the palms facing the wet floor, she concentrated her mind on her hands, willing the water towards it. After a few seconds, water started floating towards her palm until not a drop was left on the floor. She made a circular gesture of her hands and the water became a whirling ball, still suspended on air.

“My element is water, so I can manipulate it into whatever I want.”

Thom couldn’t believe his eyes. There was such things as magic, and maybe magical realms and stuff fairytales were made of. Never in his young life would he have believed it if he didn’t see the evidence right there in front of him. He didn’t know if he should be happy since his fantasies were coming true, or to be shocked to death.

Savyn looked at her brother with concern. Thom’s normally stolid face was now full of emotion. Shock, delight and curiosity were intermixed as he faced his sister. After willing the water back to the vase, she waved her hands in front of his face to see if he was alright. She was relieved when she finally heard a sound from him.

“This is all real?” He whispered.

“Yes it is.”

“Really?”

Yes…Really.” Savyn said firmly.

Thom was quiet for a few minutes as if he was thinking hard about something. Then he frowned and asked worriedly.

“So what about me? Won’t my living with you here affect your job?”

Savyn readily assured him that he wasn’t a bother and that everything had been arranged so that he won’t get in the way. “Besides, it would be a great way for you to learn about the magic, history and stuff of our Realm.”

A huge grin broke from Thom’s face. This was the first time Savyn has seen her brother smile ever since she left for college. 6 years was a long time to see that smile again. She silently gave a prayer of thanks to the Gods for that little miracle that came to be, however weird the circumstance, and for her brother’s easy acceptance of a situation that would have been much harder to swallow.