AXIUM

CHAPTER 5

She walked out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom. She fully expected to find Verin moping on the bed but instead he was pulling on a black muscle shirt as she walked in.

His brown hair was also a bit longer and hanged in loose locks around his ears. He had also changed into white shorts with cargo pockets along with back jogging shoes. XRenia's eyebrows furled in puzzlement. Where had he got the new clothes?

"I fabricated them using the standard resource catch inside your dimensional inventory."

Wow that was quite the feet. XRenia thought. She had tried her hand at magical fabrication a few times but had never turned out right much less as good as what he had produced. As she looked at the new clothes she realized there was something familiar about them.

Verin blushed and shyly and looked down at the ground. "When our bond formed, I kinda seen your memory of when you put together your fantasy boyfriend."

Her eyes widened, her own face flushed and her breath caught in her chest. He had seen that!? She felt like curling up and hiding inside a dimensional rift. Of all the memories he could've seen, how come he seen that one!

They both stood there looking down at the floor for their umpteenth awkward moment they had shared together since they met. Less than two or three hours ago. She thought.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

She pushed away her embarrassment and looked him over. The clothes looked okay on him but they didn't look quite right. He just didn't have the muscle mass to pull the look off.

His smile faded, "Oh. I'll put back on my cloak."

Blast it, him being able to read her thoughts was making things difficult. "No. Don't! They look good." She feebly lied.

He felt her frustration and stopped.

More awkward silence. XRenia thought in agitation as she let her eyes float across the room. With a start realized that they were actually standing inside her bedroom and she wasn't at all comfortable with him being there. "Ah how about we go for a flight, you know get to know each other better."

She didn't wait for him to answer she just ran to her bedroom's balcony and jumped.

A few seconds later he followed her and she slowed down so he could catch up.

They had just flown out past the Royal grounds when he asked, "What did your family say to you."

The memory of her being forced flat by the intensity of her grandfather's magic flashed in her mind and she quickly push it away as she said, "nothing really."

But it was too late he had perceived the memory and now he really wanted to know what had happened. XRenia felt his presence fully enter her mind. Immediately she tried to push him out but she couldn't and he watched the memory of her grandfather shouting at her then he watched it again and again.

But the worst part of all was that she knew the part that had the most impact on him was the split-second after her grandfather had talked about killing him she had thought "it would fix her mistake."

He grabbed her arm and pulled them to a stop. "He's right, you have your own kingdom to build. You need to fix Thaxium just like your family has fixed this land. And I can't help you with that. I'm not a warrior and have no special abilities. You should kill me."

"What!"

"I don't know much about the world. But I do know that your family has helped millions by fixing the Badlands. You are the only one capable of fixing Thaxium but to do it you need a real bond." XRenia watched Verin's throat bob as he swallowed hard. "Kill me."