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Nick was still staring at the pen in Matthew's hand when he said, "Hey, are you ok? You've got this really weird look on your face," he said while waving his free hand back and forth. That snapped Nick out of his delusional state and brought him back down to reality.

"Uh... sorry," Nick said in response. "It's just... I didn't think..."

"You didn't think that anyone else had a pen like your's, did you?" Matthew asked while stepping forewards a bit. "First of all, I'm surprised that an ordinary kid like yourself even knows the significance of the pen you have. And second, why would you think that you would be the only one to have one? Hmm?"

After hearing that remark, Nick got a little frustrated with Matthew again and replied, "Well I just figured that since I've never even heard about this kind of thing in any of the stories that I've read, it would be one-of-a-kind. But as you so bluntly put it, I was mistaken." Adding to Nick's anger was the dragon's snarls again.

"Would you mind calming down a bit?" Matthew asked Nick. "In case you hadn't noticed, your creation there is linked to you magically. If your angry, then it's angry," he explained as he backed away slightly, not wanting to get bitten. And though Nick continued glaring at Matthew, which caused the dragon to continue snarling, after a few seconds Nick decided to ease up a bit. "Thank you. Now maybe I can explain a few things to you without getting my head chewed on."

"Well, I have a quick question that I want you to answer me," Nick said before Matthew could begin talking again.

Matthew just sighed and said, "Very well then. What is it you want to ask me?"

"What did you mean earlier when you said you were a 'painter'?"

At that question, Matthew just looked up, smiled, and said, "That will take a little while to explain. So please, take a seat." Matthew motioned him to sit down in mid-air. But when Nick turned to question if he meant on the ground, Matthew had a sketch book of his own in his hand and the cap of his pen was off. He quickly made a motion on the surface of the page, and before Nick could say anything, a table with chairs had materialized right in front of them. "Please, sit," Matthew said as he turned his attention to Nick again. Nick just nodded and sat down in the chair across from Matthew. After they were both sitting down, Matthew said, "Now, you want to know what a painter is exactly, correct?" Nick just nodded again, as he was still slightly stunned at what had just happened. "Very well. In the old days, painters were people who created beautiful peices of artwork that showed their passion for whatever was their subject."

"I already knew that," Nick said in a slightly annoyed tone, which caused his dragon, who was sitting next to him, to growl a little.

"Hold on a minute," Matthew said. "I wasn't finished. You see, that's what they were like to the public. But in private, they were something else entierly." Upon hearing this, Nick's intrest has slightly risen and was now paying more attention than he was at school. "You see, the painters of the old days didn't always create beautiful portraits filled with breathtaking landscapes and dazzeling images of people in their everyday lives. They also made pictures of creatures and objects. And what did they do once they made these pictures you ask? They brought them to life."

That sentence alone had sent Nick into a state of disbelief. "Bring them to life? There's no way-" he began to say, but was cut short when Matthew raised his hand.

"You don't believe that the painters of years past could bring to life their artwork, and yet you yourself have brought a creature of imagination to life useing only your talents with a pencil and paper?" Matthew asked. This made Nick think for a moment and look at his dragon friend.

"How did they do it?" Nick asked as he turned his attention back to Matthew.

"They used a special kind of ink that they discovered," he explained as he folded his hands and rested his chin on them. "It had an interesting affect on thier works of art... It brought them to life. And as time went on, they discovered that they didn't need to make their entier drawings with the ink to do so. Just simply sign their names. But as time went on, a few of the artists got the idea that their power made them superior to everyone else, and declared themselves Gods of creation. But fortunately, there were a few who were able to stop those rouge artists and send the power of the ink to another realm."

"But... if the power of this so called ink was sent to another realm, then how come you and I have it?" Nick asked as he pulled out his own pen and looked at it.

"Because, there are some who give off such a passion for art, that the ink feels that it is necessary to give them the ability to experience what their abilities can actually do," Matthew said as he got up. "And it also feels that you don't belong here in this world."

Matthew's last statement threw Nick's mind into complete confusion. "What does that mean?" Nick asked, not know whether to be scared or confused.

"It means," Matthew said, "that it's time you left this world behind and came to the realm of the painters."