Later that night, I turned my key and stepped into my quiet Tower apartment. It was not even that late, but I felt totally exhausted. I sat Colt onto a coffee table, then dropped onto my couch. I kicked off my shoes and dragged a cover over me. I heard a thud beside me. "Whoa... Who turned off the gravity?..." Colt asked. I looked up to see my ghost still sitting on my coffee table, but staring at the ceiling. I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow over my head. I woke up early the next morning to the sound of vomiting. I sat up and looked around the apartment; I assumed it was still five or six in the morning based on the still dark world outside my window. Once again, I heard the sound of someone, or something, throwing up. I threw my cover to the side and walked to the bathroom. "Colt?" I asked as I trudged down the hallway. I pushed open the bathroom door to see my ghost floating over the toilet. Pieces of his shell drooped lower than usual, and his core light was very dim, making it difficult to see. "What is going on?" "I'm trying to run some sober algorithms, but the coding keeps getting rejected..." Colt replied as he drifted slightly onto the sink top. I nodded slightly as I looked away, but I soon looked back with laser focus. "What happened last night?" "What do you mean?" Colt asked while covering his eye from the lights above. "You know exactly what I mean," I replied sternly. "...Oh... You mean with Stop Sign?" Colt asked again. "Stop Sign?" I repeated. "Yeah. Stop signs are red, and Drake was... Never mind... We all had a few chips, but all I did was make a joke. I flew over to Kelly and said she should put a shell on..." "She had a shell," I replied. "But it was camouflaged! Was Monica the only one that caught that joke?..." Colt covered his eye more. I reached over and flipped the light-switch so it would not hurt him. "So, it was a misunderstanding?" I asked. "Yeah..." "Well, thanks to you idiots, I'm banned from my favorite restaurant now..." I said as I started to walk away. "Oh boohoo. It's not like you can't make your own ramen noodles..." Colt said sarcastically. "It doesn't taste the same..." I tried getting more sleep, but resorting to watching tv to tune out Colt. There was nothing interesting on, so I went ahead and checked if the morning news was on. It was, and it was relatively interesting. [i]"Let's check with Ross down in the City," said a woman before the video switched over to a man in a blazer, a titaness in blue armor, and a warlock with a forest green overcoat. "Hello and good morning. Today, I have the 'Guardian Angel' and 'Silajir the Sorcerer' with me." Ross turned to the Guardians beside him. "The City has enjoyed these past couple of weeks. There have been no recent attacks, and Guardians have been talking about a surge of Light they have never experienced before. As 'the Protectors' of the City, how do you feel about the Age of Triumph?" "That's just it, Ross, we are protectors," the titaness started. The warlock stood silently beside her. "We do what we do to make sure that everyone is safe, not to perform stunt shows. And since there's been no recent attacks, we like to see it as we've done our job, or it's been done for us." "Thank you, Angel--I can call you Angel, right?" Ross said before waving the mic to the titaness. "Sure. It is shorter than 'Guardian Angel'." Silajir shifted awkwardly after the statement. "Okay," Ross said with an artificial laugh. "Now, Silajir, you adopted the title of sorcerer and claim to have abilities not widely known, correct?" "That is correct," Silajir replied while leaning towards the microphone. "Why is that?" "Well, not everyone has a ghost that believes he is from the 13th Century of the Pre-Golden Age Earth..." "So your ghost has inspired your unique name?" Ross asked. "Yes," Silajir replied. "I would also like to point out that some believe that your name, 'Silajir the Sorcerer', can be associated with dark powers and evil. What are your thoughts about this? Will you change your alias?" "Well, a name is just a name, it's up to the people to fear it or not. As stated before, it seemed fitting because I do, indeed, practice abilities that even other warlocks might consider unholy. But the only people who should truly fear it, are those that deserve to; those that have malicious intent towards this City." Ross gawked momentarily, speechless. "Well, everyone. I am Ross with 'the Protectors', the heroes of the City."[/i] "Huh..." I grunted. "'Ooh, I can use the Void. I'm awesome'." I said to myself mockingly. "Well, I can use all three forms of Light! That's something only a few Guardians can do, but no one's interviewing me..." "Whoa..." Colt exclaimed while flying out of the bathroom. "I don't know how many of those chips I used, but... I think it worked." "Good, because we're going down to the City," I replied. "Why?" "To visit Mom and Dad, that's why," I replied. "Isn't it a bit early for that?" Colt asked. "Yeah... But I'm hungry, and it's Sunday. Mom makes amazing chocolate gravy biscuits on Sundays..." "You're going over there to get free food..." "It's not the only reason," I rebuked. "I've trained you well, young one..." Colt said with a chuckle. "Just because I'm nineteen, doesn't mean you can call me 'young one'..." I said back. "Nineteen of three hundred... You're practically a newborn..." Colt replied. "Shut up..."