Chapter 4

“This is amazing!!! I’ve never tasted something so sweet but also earthy. What is this stuff called again Drako?”

“It’s called “iced coffee.” Some people like it hot, but I can't drink any more boiling water for the rest of eternity.”

The three friends are walking through the streets of Toronto at a hellish pace lugging hockey bags over their shoulders and iced coffees in their hands. Ifer’s coffee is about double the size of the other two and he is devouring some kind of danish. As they turn the final corner before their destination, a beautiful ice megaplex residing in the heart of Toronto, the bustle of the city grows in intensity. Hanging from the iceplex are huge promo banners for the SMJHL entry draft containing the faces of the last six first overall picks. All around the front of the rink are different booths with different kinds of attractions for kids. There are teenage boys constantly shuffling in and out of the rink with their families.

“Hey, do you think we should get war paint for practice?” Ifer asks, pointing at a booth set up for face painting.

“Actually I already made that mistake the first day I came down here. Apparently in this realm face painting is for children and not usually worn by ice hockey players even during regular games.” Drakocarr thinks back to the first day they arrived in Toronto. After getting a beautiful majestic butterfly painted on his face he skated onto the ice to warm up to a roar of laughter. Now the other players in the draft keep referring to him as “butterfly”.

“What? How do they know what team each other is on?” Ifer scratches his head, visibly confused.

“In this realm they wear matching clothing.” Drakocarr shrugs.

“Huh, earthlings are weird.”

The three friends now find themselves in the locker rooms. They have a small cubby of lockers to themselves and Drakocarr is helping Antigor into his gear. Meanwhile, Ifer is sitting in the middle of the bench holding his shoulder pads in the air and staring at them with a confused look on his face.

“Is this some kind of torture device?” Ifer asks, giving the shoulder pads a little shake.

“No, it's like hockey armor to keep you from getting hurt while playing ice hockey. Ifer don’t rip it I will help you put it on in a second.”

Ifer sets down the set of pads and lays back on the bench.

“I don’t know if I would lay down on a locker room bench man” Drakocarr laughs, but it doesn’t faze Ifer, instead he rolls a towel up behind his head and rolls over on his side grabbing his stomach.

“I think I might have drank too much iced coffee, I have to go to the bathroom!” Suddenly Ifer propels himself off the bench and onto his feet and goes sprinting for a stall.

Drakocarr finishes tying Antigor’s skate and pats him on the knee, “You okay babe? You’ve been really quiet since you woke up. How are you feeling?”

Antigor places his hand over Drakocarr’s and flashes a weak smile “It’s just a lot all at once. Our families are gone, we’re in a new realm forever, and we kind of have no idea what were doing. Like how could playing a silly game help anything?”

“The way Lord Stanley described it to me is, we are doing this to spread the joy of hockey. I’m not really sure why he picked me still, I feel like he is withholding information from me, but what choice do we have? We are surely dead anywhere else we go.” Drakocarr is looking at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with Antigor.

Antigor grabs him by the chin and tilts his face upwards until they are making eye contact. “You’re right and we might as well make the best out of it. So uh how do I hold this stick again?”

Drakocarr smiles and begins to lean in to Antigor, “I can show you how to hold a stick . . .”

“AHEM” Ifer is standing at the top of the cubby with his arms crossed tapping his foot. “Are you guys ready to play some hockey?”

The three friends leave the locker room and walk across the rink to a man sitting at a booth with a sign that says “Registration”.

“Player name and number.” The man demands as we approach the booth.

“Drakocarr Sunazzo 66, and these are my two training mates” Drakocarr gestures to Ifer and Antigor.

The man eyes the three Tieflings in disguise up and down while simultaneously filling out a bib for each of them. “Have fun, you have 3 days until the draft the scouting combine is tomorrow only Drakocarr will be allowed to attend.” He hands Drakocarr all three bibs.

They find a rink in the back of the iceplex that isn’t being used currently with a net set up on it. Drakocarr leads them onto the ice and starts warming up. After a few minutes on the ice, Antigor decides to sit on the bench and watch Ifer and Drakocarr practice. They practice for about 4 hours switching between offense and defense and going over strategy. As the day winds down, Drakocarr hits the gym one last time before the scouting combine tomorrow. When Drakocarr returns to the room both Ifer and Antigor are passed out in their respective beds. Drakocarr crawls into bed with Antigor and within seconds falls asleep.