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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 10:42 AM ·Spoilers

  any japanese from the old man. San? What's that mean? "Kuboe-sama, so nice to see you again, it's been ages!" said Aunt Gillian from behind Noel. Sama? Noel thought it would be better to take her Great Uncle's advice here, and just pretend that nothing strange was happening, just a friendly conversation with the neighbors. That was all. "Yes it has," said Mr. Kuboe with a flash of his teeth,

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 10:51 AM ·Spoilers

  some of which were missing, "What's it been, six months? It's a good thing you came back now, any longer and one of us might've died before we could give you your keys back, Ms. Gill." Noel turned back to her Aunt, who didn't seemed concerned at all, more amused. "Of course, the responsibility of house-sitting was probably too much for such an old man to take, wasn't it Mr. Kuboe?" Aunt Gill

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 10:58 AM ·Spoilers

  retorted, maybe this was some kind of banter they often had with each other, Noel thought. She hoped to god that they weren't flirting with each other, especially with Mrs. Kuboe standing right next her husband. But Mrs. Kuboe didn't seem to mind, in fact she didn't seem to be paying attention to the exchange at all, because she was staring right at Noel. Mrs. Kuboe smiled when Noel looked at

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:06 AM ·Spoilers

  her, which made Noel's face turn bright red, looking down at her feet, she clutched at her dress, absent-mindedly hiding a hole that had formed with age at the hem. "You must be Ms. Gill's neice, yes?" Mrs. Kuboe asked. Her voice was soft and sweet which gave Noel enough courage to look back up at the old woman. "U-um yes..." Noel stutterd, then she remembered something her Aunt had told her to

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:13 AM ·Spoilers

  do when greeting an elder. She bowed deeply, words spilling out of her mouth as fast as she could say them: "My name is Noel Miller, we'll be staying with our Aunt from now on, it's very nice to meet you!" She looked back up to see both Kuboe smiling down at her. "Oh! And this is my brother, Danny," she added, gesturing down to Danny, who had been holding on to her leg since they got out of the

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:23 AM ·Spoilers

  taxi. "Such formal language," the old man said, "you taught her well, Gill-san, I'm impressed." "Th-that... I-I-- she..." was all Aunt Gillian managed to sputter out, flabbergasted beyond belief. "You speak very well, Noel," said Mrs. Kuboe "It's almost like Japanese is your first language." "Right, thank you." muttered Noel her eyes shifting around, trying not to look at anything in

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:31 AM ·Spoilers

  particular. "And what about you, little man?" asked Mr. Kuboe, Noel could swear she could hear the old man creak as he crouched down to look Danny in the eye. "Are you a good talker too?" Danny hid his face in his sister's dress. The old man chuckled as he stood up. "Cute kid," he closed one eye and looked down at Noel with the other, "But not as cute as this one, how old are you, Noel?"

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:39 AM ·Spoilers

  Noel was about to answer him, when Mrs. Kuboe moved. Her hand shot out, lightning fast, her expression unchanged. Mrs. Kuboe's long, boney fingers closed around her husband's ear before he even realized what was happening. "All right, that's enough of that, dear." she said, too brightly, "It's time to give Ms. Gill her keys back so she can rest, it's been a long trip hasn't it Ms. Gill?"

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:47 AM ·Spoilers

  Noel was wrong, there was something different about Mrs. Kuboe's expression, it seemed somehow... tighter than before. Noel didn't know what was going on, but it would probably be better if she didn't ask. Just ignore it, like Great uncle Clef had said. Aunt Gill noticed the change in atmosphere as well, "Oh, of course, Mrs. Kuboe, such a looong trip," she said with a nervous smile. She accepted

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 11:54 AM ·Spoilers

  the proffered keys and watched as Mrs. Kuboe began to drag her husband, by his ear, back to their house. "Say goodbye, Koshi." Mr. Kuboe gave a sheepish grin, and waved as he was slowly pulled away. The three of them just stood there watching as they disappeared behind their front door, which closed with a slam." Noel had no idea what had just happened. Japan was weird. **********************

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:01 PM ·Spoilers

  Having flown to the statue, Azrath had no idea what he should do. The crack was somewhere here, but how to find it. Urzuran's sword was tucked under his arm, he had brought it with him, just in case. He never knew, it could be useful. Thinking of the old woodcutter's story, he had also brought, a few lightly enchanted tools from his workshop to help him locate the invisible crack. He pulled out

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:09 PM ·Spoilers

  a carving knife, forged with the word for "sharp edge," and began to slowly wave it all around in the air, moving one step at a time. He walked around the room twice, nothing happened. Undaunted, he pulled out a sewing needle, with the words "Forever straight" meticulously carved along one side. This time something did happen. The needle slipped between his fingers as he neared the back left

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:16 PM ·Spoilers

  corner of the statue's plinth. Here. His fingers trembled as he reached forward, inching closer, ever closer. They touched the corner of the plinth without any resistance. His brows knitted in frustration, so close, he thought. It's right here, and yet it seemed so far away. Struck with inspiration, he pulled the sword from under his arm, and waved it around to see if anything happened.

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:23 PM ·Spoilers

  Nothing. Next he filled himself with the magic of the sword and cut at the spot that he was sure the crack was. Still nothing, just a large gash in the base of the statue. He'd have to fix that later. Out of desperation, he waved the sword wildly around, strokes so powerful that they cut the air around them. He stopped, another stroke of genius cut through him. He pointed the sword forward,

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:30 PM ·Spoilers

  and carefully, he wrote the four words of the written language of enchantment in the air, over the crack: "Ozu tobas ad inivoto," "Open thou unto me." A light began to shine from the spot he wrote on, glowing brighter and brighter. Azrath shielded his eyes from the intense light, but he forced himself to look. Then he saw it, a long streak of darkness within the light itself, jagged and ugly.

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:35 PM ·Spoilers

  Hastily, he again pulled the carving knife from his pocket, and held it in front of the darkness. The blade slipped from his fingers, pulled towards the gaping void in front of him, then it vanished. Azrath couldn't help himself, he jumped up, whooping and cheering to himself. His lone voice travelled far, and if anyone were there to hear it, they would have heard him for miles. He had done it.

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  Shawn

  09/04/2016 12:35 PM ·Spoilers

  End of chapter 2

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