

Rogue Light

Destined Legends

Bryan Nyaude

All rights Reserved. The characters, events, and settings of the story are all a work of fiction and a product of the writer's imagination. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Bryan Nyaude

ISBN-13: 9781311449498

LCCN: 2014920990

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Cover Design by Shutterstock.com

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family and friends who supported me and believed in my dreams. Thank you for your patience and loving support, you are the inspiration and the motivation that keeps me writing.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Prologue

The castle lay in ruins, torn asunder by the might of my allies. In every direction, our enemies fell, lying helplessly in the debris of the fallen towers. We had finally done the impossible; however, the worst was soon upon us.

"Hold your ground," I yelled to them, trying to keep them from falling apart in spirit. "Do not let her escape us."

The sky roared above us, thundering with rage of oblivion. We looked up and finally saw it, our looming demise. An army of monstrous beasts accompanied by a swarm of serpents was descending down towards us from the heavens themselves.

"This is the end," one of my allies cried, falling to his knees.

"No, it's not," I assured them, raising my sword into the air. "It is over when we can no longer lift our weapons."

The very earth beneath our feet shook violently as a shriek echoed above us.

"No, it is the end," a voice spoke, hidden within the clouds.

This voice, I knew it too well. Looking up, my heart shattered, jolted with unspeakable fear. How could this be? The creature lingered a bit in the clouds before descending down towards us too, behind the other creatures. It was just as I feared, this was her true form beneath the cloak.

1

"It's here, guys," Paul whispered with excitement and uncontrolled joy.

One of the merchant caravans we had been waiting for had finally appeared from the city. We were hiding in one of the tall trees surrounding the great city of Yogo, completely out of sight, waiting to ambush. I wasn't too sure it was the smart thing we were about to do in broad daylight. Even though we had planned it all out weeks before, it still didn't feel right.

"Come on, Rid," Tye growled at me as he unsheathed his sword slowly. His eyes widened with suppressed anger as he glared at me. "There is no backing out of this one."

We were going to rob one of the Rainku's merchant caravans and escape to a neighboring country. Everyone in the world feared the Rainku. They were monsters with extraordinary fighting skills and weapons of great powers that were unrivaled by anything. Their presence in our world had only brought pain and destruction. None of them had a sense of humanity or mercy within their hearts. So many great heroes and kings all over the world had fallen because of them. Due to this, most the world fell into turmoil and calamity. Even the most powerful warriors left dared not raise a finger against them. What were we thinking? Robbing monstrous humans was a thing only a stupid idiot would do, and that clearly put us in that category.

"Are you sure about this, guys?" I asked them in a trembling voice. "We really don't have to do this."

"Why not?" Tye replied me rudely. "We've been through this several times already. It's just one merchant caravan, and after that, we will flee Yogo and leave this business for good. Don't you think it's time we finally found happiness and start living like everyone else? Now get it together, Rid, the merchant caravan is getting close. "

He was right; we did deserve to be happy all three of us, but the price of this happiness was something that could come at a heavy price. I had a gut feeling that told me to run, but I couldn't. Tye's words had got the best of me and I was also tired of eating from the dumpsters every day. I had known happiness once, and it seemed like it was only yesterday. It's hard to believe that I had once been the proud and arrogant prince of Rogue. However, my cunning stepbrother bested me and I was framed for a crime I didn't commit. Because of that, I was banished far away from Rogue to ever wonder the world as an outcast. It was terrible and sometimes I cried being all alone so far away from home. If only they had given me a fair trial, I would have been able to prove my innocence. Well, I could've tried somehow. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. The kingdom of Rogue didn't have too many bright people to begin with. We were easy to anger and the only thing we understood more than eating was fighting. Somehow, I had escaped my country's curse, but in exchange, I had been made into more of a coward. Along my solo traveling, I met Tye and Paul, who ambushed me and tried to rob me. Mysteriously, we became friends after a serious fight and they were the ones who introduced me to stealing. They taught me every secret to the business, and even taught me the most secret code of thieves.

It went something like this: "You only steal what you can get away with. If you get caught, you never turn your partners in crime in under any circumstances. Failure to follow the code will result in death─yada yada yada!"

I really hated this way of life, but it was the only way to survive in the harsh and cruel world.

"Now," Tye said, jumping from the tree onto the caravan.

Paul did the same and hell broke loose. It was too late to stop them and I just couldn't abandon my friends at such a critical time. I jumped onto the caravan too only to trip and fall hard to the ground below. I was clumsy at times or rather it just a bad habit of misfortunes that haunted me? Looking up, all I saw was chaos as people were in the midst of a fight. There were about a dozen soldiers who came quickly out of the caravan fighting my two friends. Fortunately, Paul and Tye were experienced fighters. They thrived well in the heat of violence even against many adversaries. I heard the frenzy cry of metal as swords clashed followed by yelping screams. It was an all out brawl to the death, which seemed to put my two friends at a big disadvantage. I stood up slowly, patting the sore spot on my head. No one seemed to be aware of my presence which I found rather peculiar. My objective was not to join the fight, but to infiltrate the caravan and steal the valuable contents. I stealthy made my way towards the horses and hid behind them, untying them free. I did this to buy time for us to escape, once the ambush was done. The horses let out a mild noise while remaining stationary. Luckily, the soldiers were too distracted to notice me, a blunder I gladly welcomed to sneak into their caravan quickly.

Was this a trap? Not even one guard seemed to be guarding the caravan, a rather strange and yet bold tactic. It was unusual to find this many soldiers travelling with one caravan outside Yogo in broad daylight. That only meant one thing—the contents inside had to be priceless and very valuable.

It was very dark inside and quite spacious. There was a strong smell of cinnamon chocolate inside that made my stomach growl. My mouth shivered as I licked my dry lips firmly. It had been two days since I last ate real food, so I was really starving. I hadn't come for a quick meal, however, the strong smell of food was just too much to resist. Quickly, I searched through their belongings and found some food which I stashed in my pockets.

"Is this really it?"

There wasn't much treasure except for some pair of silver gloves, a shiny steel shield, and a golden arm gauntlet. They all looked pretty useless to me, but I took them anyway and sneaked out of the caravan unnoticed. Boy, Tye and Paul were not going to be happy with these trinkets. The sun reflected brightly, blinding me for a bit. I could hear battle cries and the sheer clash of raw steel piercing through flesh roughly. I gazed and noticed Paul and Tye slowly backing away at their limits. The plan had gone off smoothly, a little too smoothly, but who cared as long as it worked. After making sure Paul and Tye were okay, I ran a distance and stopped, when I was a good bit far away from the caravan. With my body hidden behind a tree, I signaled Tye and Paul using our secret bird call and waited. There was a long ominous silence for some minutes, and then I heard footsteps and screams heading in my direction. Cautiously, I peeped out to see who was approaching. It was Tye and Paul and they were running very fast. Excited, I ran towards them to tell them the good news, but they didn't stop. Wondering why, I stopped, only to see them. It was the creatures of fierce aggression and brutality. The Rainku treasure dogs were on our tail.

"They could have at least given me some warning before they ran past me," I yelped, turning around to flee.

Running normally wasn't going to elude these dogs as they were bred to chase and feed on treasure thieves. I dashed quickly as fast as my legs could extend without looking back. Wished I had listened to my gut feeling the first time, but I didn't. My legs felt numb as my arms tensed strongly, trying to revoke anymore movements. It felt like my head was going to explode with all the blood rushing to my brains. Within seconds, I had caught up to Paul and Tye as they were slowing down.

"Something isn't right," Tye panted, looking us both in the eye, his hands flailing like a rogue flag.

"What gave it away, genius?" I rattled in anger. "I bet it's those giant dogs chasing after us."

"Quit it, Rid," Paul interrupted us completely. He barely looked like he broke a sweat at all. "Tye is right. I think we fell into a trap."

"Obviously and I don't think we can outrun them," I concluded, taking a glance back at creatures quickly before looking straight ahead.

"It doesn't make sense. Are they after us or something else?" Paul asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"It doesn't matter now, okay?" Tye roared, gaining a few more steps ahead of us. "Just keep running and don't stop."

There was a long silence for a minute; all we could do at the moment was continue running without any sense of where we were going.

"We have to split up," Tye said, finally breaking off the silence.

"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled at him. "No! Let's stick together."

That was crazy talk. In the back of my mind, I knew he was absolutely right. There were only two treasure dogs hunting the three of us. One of us had a chance of making out of this alive. "Darn! Okay, you win," I finally spoke, agreeing with Tye. "This was all I could grab from the caravan that seemed of value."

"Seriously! This junk looks worthless, "Paul shrieked, shaking his head. He looked rather disappointed with me.

"Well, my good sir, if it's not good enough, you can always go back and get some more," I commented sarcastically.

I handed Tye the shield and gave Paul the gloves. It was a tough decision, but necessary nonetheless.

"See you guys in Okaya," Paul said, giving us the nod, vanishing in a different direction.

Tye hated saying good-bye, but before he left, he mumbled: "don't die."

I smiled as I kept running. I knew this wasn't the end and we would all meet soon in Okaya.

I ran a good bit far, headed in the north-east direction without a moment's spare. It was then I heard the cry of large dogs and looked back. The two treasure dogs from before were still chasing me viciously. Why me? I thought. It seemed they had been attracted to the sweet smell of meat and chocolate that I had in my pants. Either they had a sweet tooth, or it was the gauntlet they were truly after.

I grew weary from exhaustion, and my body alarmed me that I had pushed it pasts its normal limits. My only problem at the moment was the dogs. I had to lose these beasts some way, but how? Not in a million years had I thought I would ever leave Rogue. And yet here I was, running for my life far away from home. The dogs drew closer, their barks echoing tremendously through the thicket. Extremely fatigue made my legs feel numb, and my head ached terribly. I wanted to rest so badly—it made me wish I had taken the gloves or left the food back in the caravan.

"Leave me alone, you stupid mutts," I growled at them with words of utter distaste.

I think they understood me because they started to run even faster.

"Yikes,' I yelped and proceeded to run even more aggressively without a clear direction. Despite my panic, I felt uneasy about something. If the dogs wanted to, they could have caught and killed me minutes ago. Yet all they did was pursue me while keeping a slight distance.

Oh well! I thought. It was good fortune that I was still alive and saw no use in thinking about it anymore. The forest surrounding Yogo was so thick and dense that I could barely see where I was going at that time. An ominous presence lingered deep in the forest, like something else was stalking from the shadows. It made the pit of my stomach tighten and the hairs on my neck stand.

Nothing was going according to our original plan. If we had known that treasure dogs were guarding the merchant caravan from the shadows, we would have reconsidered and fled the scene. I looked around, whilst running, through the treacherous dark forest. Aside from the barking dogs, all was quiet and almost ominous for dear comfort. Honestly, it seemed like I had been running for hours. Sheer desperation and absolute fear was the only thinking keeping me on my feet. I caught a glimpse of the sun as it was setting beyond the horizon amazingly. Would I survive this day? I was definitely in a troublesome situation.

For some reason, I looked back and saw the dogs no more than a few feet from me, catching up fast. I admired their persistence, although rather annoying.

Up ahead was a dangerous river named after Dohn Claf. He was an infamous murderer and thief who did a lot of terrible stuff when he was still alive. His body was thrown into the river after he was executed, and some say it still haunted the waters to this day. But the river itself had gained its reputation because it had also claimed so many lives of men, women, and children in the past and present, long before Dohn Claf. What made this river worrisome was what lay beneath it. A series of uncontrolled tidal bores, long, sharp stones, and of course the infamous sand piranhas. Such was my fate, to be trapped in oblivion with only one path ahead. In my eyes, the only choice I had was to cross the river. It was the only way to lose the dogs. There was no other option in the matter. Two other slight problems to add: I despised water and disliked piranhas more than anything else. And now I was going to jump into such a dangerous river. What luck!

The chances of me crossing safely were very slim and the chances of me getting eaten by the dogs or piranhas were very high. Clearly, fortune was not in my favor. However, there was nothing I could do about it, but try. I felt my body tense as I got closer towards the bank of the river. Without delay, I slowed down and discarded the red meat in my pockets. Throwing it further away from my reach, I had no use for such uncooked meat. It only served to attract the sand piranha towards me the moment I got into the river. Soldiers eating half cooked meat—it just didn't make sense, but didn't matter at the moment. To my surprise, the dogs stopped in their tracks and walked towards the red meat. They sniffed it for a second before proceeding to eat it. They were well mannered and took their time to eat it as they watched me curiously. Their eyes were dark and gloomy, showing no signs of compassion in them. And fur raised and dark as the pure abyss. I shivered at the thought of them attacking without warning. Oddly enough, all they did was watch me as they ate their spoils. In their mind I was cornered. Clearly they didn't think I had the guts to cross old Dohn at such a time as this.

The more I thought about it, the more it looked like a bad idea. The rapid waves were surging strongly that it looked impossible to cross even with a boat. In those few minutes the dogs had stopped to chow down, I had rested and caught my breath a little. Although, not enough for what I was about to do next. Crossing this river was going to be the toughest thing I had ever attempted. A great fit worthy of legend, if I survived of course. I felt a sense of danger arising as the dogs were finishing the last of the half-cooked meat. Desperately, I ate the cinnamon chocolate to replenish my strength and backed away slowly. The gauntlet was a problem, not going to be easy to cross the river with it in my hands. I came up with a witty idea and wore the gauntlet onto my right arm. "What in the world."

The gauntlet sunk deep into my hand, completely merging with my flesh. I was spooked out by this new discovery as my eyes almost popped out. The dogs began to gnarl as they were done eating, moving closer to me with each step. I took my mind off the gauntlet and looked towards the threat. There was no way I could fend off these dogs in my current state. I had no weapon on me. My only option was to jump into the river and swim to the other side. If possible, I wanted to avoid this option at all cost. Turning around, I rushed into the river and began my attempt to swim roughly through it. The dogs didn't even move. I could have sworn they were laughing at me struggle to swim this impossible river. Strangely, I didn't feel tired or weary at all, as if some of my strength had been rekindled back into me.

Regardless of admirable attempts, the rapid waves were infuriating as they seemed to keep pushing me back. Still, I didn't give up. Something was pushing me ahead, more than my willpower. To be exact, more like someone else. Whenever difficult situation emerged, the person I thought of the most was Daphne. Seeing her fair face in my mind was the only thing that kept me going through all the hardships and struggles. I yearned to see her more than anything else in this world. There was nothing I wasn't willing to do to bring that reality to pass. She was the one person I missed most when I got banished from Rogue, aside from my mother and father of course. All the times we had spent together meant more to me than the treasures and jewels of this world. Would I ever see her again? I had to, there was no way I was going to leave things as they were or be an outcast for the rest of my life. With that motivation in my heart, I forced my body past the pain and swum hard in attempt to get to the other side. Yes, I caught a glimpse of the other river bank and it was getting closer. I was doing the impossible; my once futile attempt was finally paying off. I heard the dogs start to bark as my feet touched the ground beneath the shallow water. I had done it—I had crossed the river.

"Serves them right," I snickered, looking up in the sky as I got out of the river, my whole body wet and cold.

The air was freezing cold and windy, as the sun was almost gone from the sky. I shivered for a second as I tried to warm up. Honestly, what I had just done was impressive. Not a lot of people could cross this deadly river and come out unscathed. If only someone had been here to witness this fit of worthy of being written in legends. Although, a little too amazing even for my taste. I sensed another presence helping me, although it was just me being paranoid as usual. But why had I not hit any rocks or encountered piranhas while crossing old Dohn? It was indeed unusual for me to be this lucky this many times.

I coughed out some water as I sat down to really rest my body. The dogs ran west to the shallow end of old Dohn which gave me a few hours head start. By the time they got here, I would be long gone or so I thought. Somehow they weren't like normal dogs; their intelligence was beyond me and that was a bad thing. Three to six hours at best wasn't enough for me to rest and find a safe place to hide from the dogs. I felt a slight tingle in my right arm and raised it up for a closer look. Indeed, the gauntlet had really merged with my body. Was this a good or bad thing? Something about this object made me feel uneasy. What the! I looked on other side of my arm and saw something surprising.

"When did I get tattoo markings?"

It was freaking me out more than the fact that two very big, vicious dogs were after me. The tattoos resembled two flintlocks and I didn't remember ever getting them at all which was the crazy part. Maybe I had gotten the tattoo, but I don't think I would have forgotten unless I was drunk. True enough, I had been a slobbering drunk in the past. I wasn't going to deny that. But I think I would have definitely remembered something as important as a tattoo.

The sound of water hitting the shore distracted me from my misfortune. I closed my eyes and faintly slept by a bark of a hidden tree.

2

The screeching noise of the night creatures woke me violently. I got up to my feet quickly and realized I had slept past the night. How could I have been so careless? With a duo of treasure dogs on my tail, I had to keep moving. The only problem is that I was lost. I scratched my head a little bit, confused and tired like a slave. My body had not yet fully recovered from my recent encounter. I felt my muscles stiffen up whenever I moved my legs. Every part of my body was screaming in agonizing pain. I pried my mind away from it and focused on my surroundings. Where was I to be precise? At night, even the most experienced huntsmen could get lost through the deep forests of Yogo. But it was dawn now, so it wasn't as bad to see what was around me. Dragging my feet, I began to move East in the opposite direction at a slow steady pace. My head felt like a watermelon and it throbbed very hard frequently. I wanted to stop and rest; however, I couldn't. As long as the dogs were after me, I couldn't afford to relax and sleep. By now, Paul and Tye were halfway to Okaya, waiting for me somewhere along the way. I smiled at the thought of us reunited and saying stupid jokes to each other. Thinking back, I really wished I had voiced my opinion and stopped them from going forward with their plan to rob the caravan. No doubt, our actions were going to change our future in a good or bad way. I halted and looked up in every direction. Was I going east or north? I was definitely lost and possibly going in circles.

The trees all looked the same in every direction I looked. Nonetheless, I had to keep moving until I reached Okaya and met up with my friends. Finally, I came to the end of the dark forest and gazed further along the road. A band of caravans were approaching steadily across the road headed in the east direction. What great fortune!

Limping and dizzy, I proceeded towards them only to fall down before I could reach them. There were so close and yet so far. I had to yell in order to get their attention. Oddly enough, they weren't normal nomads I was accustomed to. More like soldiers and merchants guarding something very priceless and valuable. What could it be? What were they guarding? There were quite a few dozen of them and all heavily armed with swords, crossbows, and long spears. In my current condition, I couldn't afford to ambush them since I needed their aid.

"Help," I screamed at the top of my voice from the ground

They noticed me and stopped. At first they were reluctant to approach me because to them a possibility it was a trap were great. Very smart, in my opinion!

I gazed up at them and smiled, hoping to prove to them that I wasn't a threat. There was no response to my gesture for a few seconds. It was then, one is them approached and poked me with a spear. Ow! That really hurt more than the fatigue that I was feeling. What kind of response was this? Didn't they consider me a human or did they think I was just playing dead?

"He is still alive," the man with the spear yelled to the others.

"Of course I am, you fool!" I snapped at him.

How else could I have called out to them like I had? There was a lot of commotion between the men as they were deciding my fate.

"Please someone save me from these idiots," I whispered silently.

They were well organized and armed, but certainly looked like imbeciles to me. I got a frightening chill at the thought of putting my life into their hands. What was to become of me?

"Put him with the others," one of the men said. He looked like the boss or man in charge. For some reason, he had a whip in his hands and he was sitting on a chair with four people carrying the end of it. Wait a minute!

"A whip, people chained down, and multiple guards!"

It took me a short second to put the pieces together and figure out exactly who these people were. As soon as I did, I tried to make a run for it, but my body was too weak to move anymore. These people were not nomads, but slave traders coming from a country called Danku. They captured people and sold them for labor, entertainment and even food. How could I have been so stupid? I had to leave somehow before I became one of their thousands of victims. Beyond a doubt, an impossible task to accomplish at the moment. It was through sheer will-power that I could keep my eyes open at all. Every part of my body had gone numb and stiff from pain. Two men approached me and raised me up roughly, dragging me towards their caravan. They opened a huge caged caravan barred with steel and iron and threw me inside, without any mercy or remorse, and closed it shut tight. There was hardly any room inside, but that all didn't matter to me. In that moment they put me down, I instantly fell asleep. It was uncomfortable and yet peaceful.

(6 years ago) ****

"Riyo come quickly at once," my mother said.

She was faintly smiling like usual as she grabbed my curtains and opened them to let the light in.

Groaning out loud, I got out of the sheets, my eyes still half open. I followed behind my mother, in my gold and silver sleeping garments.

"Your father wishes to see you at once," she muttered, fixing my clothes.

What was this all about, early in the morning, that demanded my presence? I was arrogant and didn't do anything unless I was asked to by either my father or mother. They were the only people I listened to. Everyone else was just amusement for my pleasure. I sighed out loud and put on my shoes slowly. For father to call me, it must have been really serious. Quickly, I moved through the castle headed outside to meet my father. So early in the morning, everything around me was barely visible. There was an ominous fog surrounding the castle, limiting my gaze beyond what was in front of me. I yawned out loud as I thought of just retreating back to my bed and pretending like my mother had not informed me. Wait, something was hidden in the mist. It was a feeling I had in my stomach. I tensed my body down and looked in every direction, in sheer anticipation. All of sudden, a short combat blade appeared out of nowhere coming towards me from the left side. Someone had thrown it, aiming for my chest. Thanks to my harsh training, I barely managed to avoid a fatal hit as I ducked and rolled out of its way. I couldn't see who had thrown it and why so early in the morning.

"You call yourself the future King of Rogue?" a voice spoke from within the mist.

It was one person I disliked the most who would do such a thing against me. I could recognize this voice even from miles away, literally speaking of course.

"Hello, James," I replied, sounding calm as I brushed dirt off my chest. "Yes, I am the future king of Rogue, something that you will never be, not in a million years."

"Well, Riyo, I will let you in on a secret. The future is unpredictable. You might become the king or you might not. If I were you, I would watch my every step from now on carefully."

"Is that a threat, James?"

"No, Riyo, just a bit of brotherly advice. Take it any way you see fit."

A boy with black hair and red sidelines came out of the shadow. As usual, he had a mean face that would scare most people. To my father, he was the ideal figure for a Rogue king. There was something sinister about my stepbrother I noticed since we had become siblings. My father had married again and had two wives, my mother and his. Even though we had stayed together for a decade, we had never gotten along not even once. However, there was one thing we both shared in common and that was to win Daphne's affection. James tried to kill me not once, but numerous times when he saw me walking with Daphne. She was the daughter of the chief of arms in Rogue and the only girl our age allowed in the palace. The servant girls were too old for us and a bit boring if you would ask me. Daphne was different. I enjoyed being in her company even though half the time I didn't know what she was talking about. She would sometimes zone out and just stare into the sky, whenever you were in a middle of a conversation. And like the rest of Rogue, she had an anger management problem. When she snapped, no one was safe.

"Riyo, what were you doing?" my father spoke to me from inside the fog. "You can't allow yourself to be caught off guard by anyone, not even in the comfort of your own dwelling."

So early in the morning I didn't feel like using any part of my brain to do anything mentally challenging and definitely physically straining.

"Come on, father, it's too early in the morning and I don't feel like working up a sweat," I whined out loud, yawning at the same time. "Can we do the charade another day?"

Suddenly, I felt a rage build up from within the fog. Father seemed angry with me, I could tell without having to see his face. It was followed by a loud growl that almost shook the sky apart. I moved away, sensing the impending danger slowly. My father was the most dangerous man in Rogue when angered. His wrath brought forth destruction of catastrophic proportions and it seemed I had seriously angered him.

"The next time I wish for a son, someone please give me a sword instead," my father yelled at the top of his lungs.

Okay! That really hurt. I think everyone in Rogue heard that remark. James was laughing in tears which really bothered me. As the fog cleared up, I could now see my father's face clearly. His eyes were glowing red with anger like he had finally lost his sanity. In Rogue when people snapped, it was best to just run and avoid death at all cost. My father pulled out his short sword and came out after me. He moved in fast with his sword raised up high. My eyes almost popped out in shock. I quickly turned around and started to flee. Father chased me all over the palace and into the inner-city. It was nice to be finally outside the palace walls, but what soiled my joyful nature was my father's intent to kill and him also calling me an ungrateful son in public.

****

"Wake up," someone growled, shaking me violently.

The voice belonged to one of the slave traders. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still in the crowded caravan and I had been shackled. My neck and muscles felt stiff like I hadn't moved in days, while my stomach growled painfully. Just how long had I been asleep? It now seemed my past life was beginning to resurface in forms of dreams, whenever I closed my eyes to sleep. Almost every night for the past few weeks, I relived every part of my past life, detail for detail, and it tormented me deeply. Maybe I really did miss home. I truly wished there was a way I could turn back time and make everything right. Yes! If there was a way I would find it, I was not about to give up, despite the obstacles that lay ahead of me. Putting my thoughts aside, I turned my head sideways and looked around at my new surroundings. The sun on my left side was about to set beyond the horizon as it lit a colorful pattern throughout the sky.

"Where are we?" I asked one of the slaves who were next to me. I rubbed my left wrist constantly to ease the itching pain, my eyes dotting in every direction.

The cold chains were so tight they were peeling our skins off. The slave next to me was an old man. He was in his ripe old age and he looked like he was suffering from a bad case of malnutrition. Not just him, but almost all of them. I could see the shape of their bones; there was hardly any meat on them. It seemed like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"This is Rigudaya, the city next to Okaya," the old man said.

He started panting heavily after saying that. Clearly he didn't even have a lot of energy left to even speak. What horrible monsters these slave traders were. Why was such an atrocity left unchecked and allowed to continue? The bad things that happened in Danku were among some of the other heinous things to happen after the appearance of the Rainku. The world was descending into turmoil and those monsters were to blame for all of this. I could only hope one day someone powerful enough would rise up and stop those fiends before it was too late. A noise distracted me and I turned my head back to look behind. Rigudaya seemed to be a very busy city from what I could see. Merchants and traders from all over the world were gathered to buy, sell, and trade stuff. There was also a horrible stench in the air all over Rigudaya. I tried to close my nose, but the smell was just too strong. I overheard one of the merchants say that there was a terrible accident that had befallen the city mine a day before we had arrived. A lot of people had died and some had claimed to have gotten strange powers while others claimed mental hallucinations. According to another miner who claimed he was down there, the Rainku had opened the white water mist in effort to attain great power. However, things had not gone according to their plan. Which might explain this terrible stench engulfing the city and spreading fast everywhere. They were fools, in my eyes. My whole world was filled with them. There were even instructions from ancient times warning people not to temper with the mist and yet they had ignored them. I noticed some of the merchants leaving as the strong smell of the mist began to thicken heavily everywhere. This was not good for any of us at all. It seemed to also contain a poison too inside because a few of the captives alongside me were collapsing from being exposed to it. I was affected too, but fortunately I didn't collapse like the others.

"Everyone, try to hold your breath," the old man next to me whispered to the other captives. What! Those words seemed pretty vain to me. It was futile to hold our breath because there was no telling when the mist would disappear.

"Trust me on this," he reassured us.

I still didn't listen to him. In my mind, I had already given up hope and realized that I was going to die here. All of sudden, a wormhole, or black abyss as we called it, opened right close to our position in the center of the city. It was the size of a small pond and growing in size and power slowly. I had never seen one up so close, only in books and stories. It swallowed down everything around it and we seemed to be on its next list of fatalities. I doubted that this wormhole was on a strict diet so that meant we had to act fast to save ourselves. The guards who were stationed near the door of the caravan fled, giving us a chance to get out of the crowded caravan. Some of the captives who could still move grabbed the ones who had fallen unconsciousness and dragged them out of the caravan, to seek refuge away from the strong winds. What on earth was going on? Something like this was very unusual and just downright creepy. Without warning, I felt my eyes become itchy and painful, a kind of sensation that deserved my utmost attention. One problem, my mobility was limited due to my shackles binding me. I wanted to rub them, but couldn't, not unless I could somehow break these chains that bound me like a slave. I could barely see now as it seemed something was affecting my sight. Although, there was one good thing happening in our favor—the strange mist. It was weakening due to the effects of the dangerous wormhole close to our location. Still, our situation did not changed one bit. We were in trouble because the wormhole kept getting bigger and stronger. Its destructive power unrivaled, none of us could do anything but hold on tightly for dear life. It was embarrassing enough that I had managed to get myself caught by slave traders without putting up a fight, but now I had regained my strength and still I wasn't putting up a fight. The thought of it all only further angered me into remorse. A whirl of a scream swooshed my left ear, and I looked up to see who it belonged to. It was then I noticed some of the slave traders being swept away into the dark abyss. It was a frightening sight that I looked away. Were we going to survive this?

"Everyone, keep holding on and don't let go," the old man yelled.

I felt sorry for him. He must have been fatigued from all that yelling. His strength was failing him and yet he did not stop caring for his fellow captives, even though we all barely knew each other. I had to trust in him; I didn't see any option other than do what he said. We kept hanging on for more than half an hour. A few objects came our way like swords, shields, guards and even house windows and somehow we all managed to evade them, thanks to the old man's instructions. I think he could see into the future or something like that and I was really sure of it. On second thought, if he could see into the future, how in his right mind had he gotten himself caught by these Danku slave traders?

Suddenly, I felt the strong winds start to disappear into the air slowly. It appeared as if the wormhole was losing its power and vanishing. I could not explain what just had happened and asking others about this seemed somewhat stupid. I mean, who could explain any of this? Not me, that's for sure!

To be honest, I don't think I wanted to know the truth in the matter—it seemed rather knotty. Finally, I released my grasp from the poll I had held onto for dear life and stood straight up. The others followed suit, gathering what they could from the wreckage. The city looked deserted now. Not a plain merchant or citizen in sight. The remainders were slaves and guards who had failed to escape in time. I walked closer to the guards and noticed that they were in terrible condition. Their wounds looked deep, requiring immediate attention as soon as possible.

"Yes, there is justice in this world," I whispered to myself not wanting anyone to hear.

I did feel some sympathy for the fools, but not a lot. They deserved their fate because trading and selling humans was a sin and just pure evil. With my limited vision, I managed to spot a key next to one of the slave guards' sword sheath. I limped towards him and extended my arm to grab a hold of it. Using my left hand, I took his key and yanked it away roughly. In that instant, he woke up and tried to stop me by grabbing my hand. But I managed to break free and hit him with my elbow on the head, rendering him unconscious. I quickly freed myself and threw the key to the other captives. With this deed, my debt to the old man had been repaid. I owed him debt of gratitude for helping me during the bizarre wormhole incident. That being said, I had never seen anything like it before. What could have caused it? Was it an illusion or a work of magic or some other unnatural force? Seeing those flying swords, shields, and windows almost made me pee my pants. Well, that nightmare was over, best not to linger in the past. I reckon, it was time to head for Okaya and rejoin my companions. I sat down for a little bit and relaxed my arms and legs. The road to Okaya was rough and I was going to need all my strength if I was to make it there.

3

Two hours passed after the incident with the spooky wormhole. I had rested enough to finally start making my long journey to the neighboring country. Bearing the slight pain, I stood up, looking refreshed, and stretched my legs. Everyone around me looked cheerful for their renowned freedom from slavery. They were dancing and talking optimistically with each other around a large bon-fire. I took one glance at them and turned around to walk away.

"Where are you going, friend?" the old man spoke to me.

I hated being asked questions when I was in the middle of thinking; however, I felt that it was rude not to answer.

"Okaya," I replied.

I felt him jump back like a scared cat. There was a look of terror on his face, his eyes a bit teary.

"Okaya," he yelled "Have you lost your mind, boy?"

Boy! Now I was really irritated; those breathing techniques to control my anger were not really working in this situation. Maybe there was a reason why this old timer would snap and insult me after mentioning the country of Okaya. I felt obligated to hear his reason and why Okaya seemed to be a bad place to him. Bad decision, on my part!

He started to explain his reason and it seemed like an eternity. He reminded me of my grandfather and his long lectures. Oh the humanity—those were the worst days of my early childhood summers. My focus returned back and I turned my gaze towards the old man. Thinking back, it would have been easier just to punch him when he insulted me the first time. Irritated, I did nothing, but listen and nod, waiting for him to finish his futile reasoning. His words were not going to persuade me otherwise, since my mind was already set on Okaya. Regardless of what he said or did, I was going there.

"Okay, so Okaya is not paradise and maybe it might have a whole lot of bad people, but I still have to go," I mumbled rudely.

He looked at me straight in the eye after breathing heavily for a few seconds. It was a stare down and I wasn't going to yield and lose. I hated losing as much as I hated piranhas and water.

"You don't get it, do you?" he howled sarcastically. "Somehow, I saw your future and it's not going to be pretty in the end."

I didn't really believe in destiny or all that other stuff. I believed in free will and choices.

"Sorry, old man, but I'm going to Okaya regardless," I responded with a confident voice.

I won the stare down and he yielded. He moved back and went to one of the guards lying on the floor unconscious. He picked up something and handed it to me.

"When the time comes, you will know what to do," he said going back to the others. "In the meantime, stay with us over night and celebrate our freedom with a feast."

He handed me a smoke canister and I put it my pocket. I trusted his words and I don't know why though. That night we feasted hard and pretty much ate all the food left by the fleeing merchants. Strangely, the remaining mist did not seem to affect us at all. There was a lot of food left after the wormhole had destroyed most of the city. I don't know how, but a majority of us captives had survived, a true wonder. The guards, on the other hand, not so lucky; only a few of them remained. It honestly did not make any sense. What could have summoned such a deadly force of nature? The old man knew something about it and I figured it was time to ask him.

"Hey, old man," I said, shaking him. He didn't reply as he was busy eating. He wore no shirt, showing all of his frail and thin muscles. His scruffy white hair reached the back of his neck, his torn pants revealing his shoeless feet.

He had no manners at all. And the way he ate made most of us lose our appetite. He went through eight bowls of artilos rice in a matter of seconds. I could've sworn he was choking, but I was wrong it was just small burps. Thankfully, I had filled up my stomach a minute ago, but just seeing him eat almost made me puke it out.

"Okay that's enough, Ken," one of the men said going towards him. "You are going to make us throw up if you keep eating like that."

I couldn't have said it better myself. But I'm glad I didn't because of what happened next. As the man was going to take the chunk of meat away from the old man's hand, he was lashed out by a strong fast wind and fell unconscious on the ground. Everyone fell silent, but then started laughing. I was confused about what had just happened, but it seemed like the old man had just kicked him. I was almost certain of that.

"He was a new guy," a woman spoke. "He didn't know that you should never get between Ken and his food."

They were laughing hard, and I found this case hardly worth amusing. Their sense of humor was degrading. It seemed I had mixed up with another bunch of fools. Why was my luck so bad? They acted just like my father's friends at an eating banquet. Eating with Rogueans was like being in a war zone. A simple thing like taking extra meat roast could upset the entire hall and create uncontrolled riots. It's still a mystery how Rogue was still standing after everything that went on inside the country. After all the food was finished, the older man or Ken as they called him finally relaxed and looked around. His belly looked like a balloon and to my amazement he could stand. He walked right over to the man he had kicked and apologized, I seriously doubted the man heard it though.

"So you had a question for me?" Ken asked, picking up the unconscious man and putting him next to the warm fire. I was frightened to ask stupid questions because it seemed he was one of those people with a very short fuse of a temper so that meant I had to pick my word wisely.

"Yes, just one in particular. How did you know about that wormhole's appearance?" I responded, moving back a little away from him.

This man was unpredictable. He could hit me too if I wasn't too careful. But he didn't act hostile towards my question. I guess he was just a maniac when it came towards food. Perhaps spending too much time without eating could do that to a man. Ken sat down next to the fire and tempered with it a bit.

"I just knew—you could call it a hunch," he responded.

Hunch! I doubted that if it was hunch. Then how come I couldn't do it too?

"My one guess is that it was Katarina Fox," he continued, looking me in the eye. "That evil woman is up to no good again. Something tells me she is in Okaya."

Katarina Fox! I didn't like the sound of that. As a member of the Rainku, rumors said she was the most ruthless and sinister. Her trident could control time and space, a truly frightening power indeed. With a power like that, the world was in grave danger of being destroyed if she felt like it. Okaya now seemed like a very bad idea. I knew that going there would spell grave danger for me; however, I had to go. Clearly, there was something wrong with Tye's head. Why did he pick Okaya of all countries in the world?

"Take a deep breath, Rid" I inhaled slowly, trying to control my wild thoughts.

I had to overcome my cowardice for the sake of my friends and meet them in Okaya. Pondering about the uncertainty wasn't going to get me anywhere. I heard the night creatures screech and realized it was quite dark. It was time to sleep. Okaya was a two days travel by foot and I had to get some rest. I said good night to everyone and fell asleep. It felt good to close my eyes finally because they had been irritating me all day.

*****

4

"Riyo," a whispering voice called from within the shadows. I found myself in darkness with nothing to see.

"Great gold! What is that?"

Something started to glow up in front of me. It was a well with water pouring inside. I was bedazzled at first, but then I walked towards it. Honestly, I was scared to say the least since I had no idea what I was going to find. I peeked inside the well, and to my amazement, there was a golden sphere inside the water. Extending my right arm inside, I tried to reach for it; however, it was too far inside the well. Somehow, I was pulled in by an unknown force and fell deep into the well. I held my breath for a couple of seconds, but then realized I could breathe inside by accident. Another weird dream; I was really getting tired of them. It was rather very spacious and the water ever warm. My ideal type of bathing water, if I ever decided to take a bath. As a child, I had a traumatic experience with water and piranhas and it was something I didn't like to talk about. Trust me!

The glowing sphere got closer the more I sunk deep into the well. Looking closely, it was engraved in with diamonds and was somehow smaller up close. I reached my hand and grabbed to examining it closely. There were words engraved near the middle.

It read: "courage is power."

Not exactly what I was expecting and I didn't understand what that all meant. After all, I was never good at deciphering hidden messages. The glowing sphere moved out of my hand on its own and entered my right hand containing the gauntlet. My eyes widened as I panicked a little. I didn't expect this to happen again, but why not. It was probably not the last bizarre thing to happen to me for another month, let alone a day. That being said, I felt different somehow. Like my body had been given new life and strength. The feeling was exciting and at the same time scary. I slowly raised my arm up as I felt a tingle from where the gauntlet had sunk. The two tattoos of flintlocks moved away from each other and a black circle appeared in the middle. Seriously! If I gained more tattoos on my hand, I was going to chop it off with any hesitation.

"Now what," I sighed as I felt something move in the water.

Strange, the well became cloudy and dark. I quickly swum out of it while I could still see the light above me and got out. Oddly enough, my clothes were not wet. Normally, I would panic, but not this time. This time I was calmer for some reason. Supernatural events were happening around me, and if I tried to explain them, my mind would shatter definitely. Everything faded suddenly and I woke up.

It wasn't real as I had suspected—just another dream. All the captives had left and there were no remaining people except for me. It was dawn in the morning and the citizens of Rigudaya were approaching from ten miles away. I don't know how I saw that, but I did. I could not remain here when they came. Slaves had no rights when they were captured and thankfully for me I had not been branded yet. Right next to me was a black horse. It had been saddled and tied well to a broken post. I had to thank Ken and others one day if I ever saw them. They had saved me two days' worth of walking. Quickly I got on and rode the horse out of Rigudaya, making haste for Okaya. The horse sped through vast forest along the eastern road, without any delay.

The sky was blue and the sun shined ever brighter. I kept thinking about what I had seen in my previous dream.

"Courage is power?"

What did that mean at all? It seemed it was no ordinary dream. And what was the golden sphere that had appeared from that mysterious well? All this meant something, but what exactly? Something in my gut told me I had stumbled upon a power far much greater than myself. I couldn't take it off as it had sunk on my hand permanently. My body seemed happier by this as it seemed to resonate with new a life force. The horse which I named "Tom" to help me through my loneliness seemed to be spooking out a lot. Naming horses? I was really a forlorn man. Suddenly, I was feeling something too crawling within the shadows. I never got vibes this bad before; it felt like I could sense everything around me. I looked around and saw nothing following me. People avoided using this route in or out of the country because of its many great legends. They used to say anyone who went to Okaya through this road was never found again. It was true but to what extent? I could feel a killing intent in the air as I rode my horse to Okaya. Something or someone was following us. I had felt this strange presence since I left Rigudaya. Looking back, I was surprised. Two treasure dogs from before were right on my tail. They moved stealthy in the dark without making much of a sound in their wake. I thought I had lost them, but apparently I was wrong. Their presence masked the aura of whatever had been following us. It was good to see that they had not lost interest; however, their efforts would be futile because I was on a horse. Kicking Tom made him go faster, his speed was incredible, and we were covering a lot of distance. But strangely the distance between me and the dogs seemed to dwindle. They were running even faster than before. Were they holding back their speed before? I felt inferior and down that even mutts didn't feel like taking me seriously. That was enough! I grew tiresome of the relentless aggravation. A surge of anger burst inside me as I looked back and growled. They were becoming a nuisance indeed. Irrationally, I stopped Tom from running and got off his back. There was a sword near the saddle which I quickly unsheathed. It was long and thin. The blade was sharp and shiny, clearly a perfect weapon for striking down prey. Tom didn't wait for me—he had sensed them coming and took off ahead.

"Come on, companion," I yelled to my horse. "You can't' leave me please."

He stopped and looked at me once. I couldn't read his thoughts but the expression on his face seemed to say: "so long buddy, I'm not staying to be dog chow."

With that one look, he turned around and ran at a menacing speed forward. I hoped I would meet him up ahead, but for now, I had unfinished business to attend to. The dogs finally stopped and started circling around me. It seemed they had picked up another buddy who surprised me from the back. It was another treasure dog most likely from Rigudaya. Its size was massive and the teeth ever menacing and long. The dogs seemed to be checking or sizing me out. I don't know what kind training they had been given, but I could tell that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. My legs felt sleepy and my back hurt from riding on the saddle all day. I knew this wasn't the time to whine, but take action and strike. Grabbing the sword firmly, I readied myself for their attack. These weren't normal dogs. The first dog attacked me while his pals waited not making a move. It seemed they were studying my movements before they could join in. Tilting on my heels, I swerved out of the way and placed all my weight into my left leg. The jaws of the first dog narrowly missed my neck by an inch. It wasn't going to be easy for them to kill me. I had been trained as a child and knew all the six techniques accustomed to the warriors of Rogue. Father had prepared me well in case a situation beyond my control ever arose. I guess this was it. My defense still needed work, but against these mutts it was enough. After carefully circling around me one more time, they all attacked. Their speed was far beyond that of a normal canine, and their eyes showed the intent to kill. Even if I gave them the gauntlet, I doubted they would just take it and leave. My flesh seemed to be their next meal from the looks of it. They were one of the reasons why no one ever stole from the Rainku. Again, I felt another presence nearby and it vanished instantly. It was the same feeling I had felt before the treasure dogs had appeared. I was so eager to know who or what it was. Since my departure from Rigudaya, I had somehow acquired great sight and ability to sense things nearby. I could not explain how, it just happened instinctively. My one guess, it had something to do with that strange mist we had encountered before. In the nick of time, I spaced back to reality and realized I was still in a pickle. The dogs were acting odd and bizarre. They were also glowing a strange dark aura of blue in color. This had to be the work of a Rainku weapon. Without warning, one of the dogs grabbed a hold of my foot and didn't let go. It was painful and my leg was going numb. In agony, I jabbed the dog in the head as hard as I can with the sword. There was no blood that appeared on it. Instead, it shined brightly and vanished. The other two dogs managed to grab hold of my arms and were pulling me in opposite direction. That was some team work, I congratulated them for finding a weakness in my stance, but this wasn't good for me. They had me pinned good. My muscles were being stressed as they kept pulling as hard as they could.

"This is not good," I said to myself.

I had a good run; it looked like this was the end. There was no way to get free. My life looked like it was being pulled away from me. I struggled to get free, but my arms wouldn't budge. The presence I was feeling started to get closer and closer. I only saw a shadow in an instant and it vanished. One of the treasure dogs let go and vanished into blue light. With that opportunity, I used my free hand to strike down the other dog on its back.

As I took a breath of air, I thought to myself, "what just happened?"

I had been helped by someone, someone very powerful. It seemed that someone had been following me and I owed them my life. My leg felt numb, but at least the treasure dogs had completely gone for now.

With this as an act of war? The Rainku would not take the matter lightly. I had to go into hiding and what was a better place than Okaya.

"Ken told me you might need some help, but I didn't think you would be this pathetic," a voice said from the back. "Your defense is too weak."

4

I looked right quickly and noticed a person standing close by me. It was a man roughly my age dressed in a dark coat and with a three bladed sword on his back. The serious look in his eyes was enough to fog up the tension in the atmosphere. I instantly recognized him, although we didn't talk when we were both slaves in Rigudaya. His presence had been the one that had been following me since Rigudaya, and he was probably the person who had rescued me from the treasure dogs. He was light on his feet, that much I'm certain, and extremely fast. Strangely, I could not tell when he had gotten behind me. This man was someone not to underestimate at all costs.

"Thanks for the assistance," I grinned, extending a hand of gratitude. "Where is Ken headed?"

He did not answer as he took his sword out and checked its sharp blades.

He took one glimpse of my arm and said, "nice tattoo."

I wasn't sure to thank him or be disgusted. I hated body art because it tarnished the body. Father always said, "a warrior must remain clean in mind and body, otherwise he would fall into misfortune."

I wonder what would happen if he saw it. Probably his anger would rise past its peek, causing him to disown me completely as his son. I mean if he hadn't already done that.

"So you are here to help me get to Okaya?" I asked him, stretching my numb leg.

He looked pretty occupied with the sky. It was as if he was expecting something. Could I honestly trust him? If Ken sent him, then it meant my future was intertwined with his. Meaning what exactly?

"I owe Ken my life," he responded without looking at me. "And for that, I will accompany you to Okaya. Don't get the wrong idea—I am only doing to repay my debt to him."

That was great! It seemed I had gained a new traveling buddy and companion. At this point in my life, I couldn't afford to be picky in who I made allies with.

"So what is your name?" I asked first. "My name is Riyo. But everyone calls me Rid."

I told him a little about myself, although he didn't look interested at all. Okay! It seemed this was the beginning of the worst friendship ever. We walked beside each other for a half a mile and none of us said a thing. Those were the worst few moments of my life. My runaway horse seemed like great company compared to him. He couldn't talk, but at least he grunted to my bad jokes as if he understood. We kept going for a while without saying a thing. Suddenly a strange loud noise broke our silence and pace. I became a little scared and also curious to what was making that noise.

As the saying goes: "curiosity killed the cat."

I wondered if it was true. I had been fortunate all along, but now I wondered how long my luck would last. Up ahead, an animal came galloping out of the thicket. It was my horse Tom. He had abandoned me and run ahead and yet now he was coming to apologize. I clearly thought that was the case; however, he was about to run past me when I stopped him by yanking the rope around his mouth. He was panicking and in a state of shock. Something had freaked him out and I wondered what it was?

"We are not alone," I whispered to my new companion.

It seemed he had already noticed too. "Do you always mention the obvious?" he hissed at me. "Wake up, fool, this is the road to Okaya, so of course we are not alone."

This guy was such a bunion. I would rather have been traveling with my horse or by myself. Unfortunately, it seemed that was out of the option. Typical bunion dilemma! Bunion, I thought, a fine name for him, considering how rude and difficult he was to be around.

"Calm your horse or he will draw attention," Bunion hissed, taking out his sword from its sheath. I hardly felt any presence around us, but up ahead there was definitely something.

"Just let him go already, we are almost to Okaya," the bunion hissed with eyes full of content.

Although I didn't want to part with my horse, it seemed this was the most suitable option. Letting go off his rope was the hardest decision I had ever made. Tom was like a best friend I had ever had although we had known each other for half a day. Watching him run off the opposite direction made my heart splatter. People and animals were going to come and go and there was nothing I could do about that. That was the last lesson I felt he taught me before his shadow vanished going towards Rigudaya. The only things in my possession now were a sack with food and water, and some kind of cotton cloak. I didn't like the cloak, but I figured I might need it, in case Okaya was a cold area.

"Let's go already," bunion said, running cautiously ahead of me.

I didn't know his name so I figured calling him "bunion" would fit well with his personality. As I followed behind, I felt a presence unlike anything I had ever felt before. It felt like an abyss, very dark and empty inside. I could not explain the feeling. It was an infuriating feeling of loneliness and sadness combined. What sort of madness was this? I stopped moving as I noticed something ahead. From the looks of things, it could see me too.

"What do you see?" the bunion nudged me quickly. "There is something ahead, isn't there?"

I nodded not blinking. It was like the stare off competition all over again. Whatever it was, it was huge and massive and its frightening green eyes looked sinister.

"Let's keep going," bunion pushed me forward.

I think it was just a coincidence that our eyes met because it kept looking at that very same spot way after I left.

"Do we really have to go to Okaya this way?" I asked him, trembling in my boots, my heart beating faster.

He nodded and kept moving. Not very much of a talker was he? I could respect that. There was nothing to be gained by helping me reach Okaya. I wondered what he was really after. Was it possible he knew I had the gauntlet? I couldn't possibly come out and ask him because the chances of him telling me the truth were possibly zero. We were nearing the location of the thing I saw, and there were bones scattered all over the place. Somehow I figured it was its doing. There was also a foul stench of rotten flesh in the air. I could barely breathe as it was almost suffocating. The forest trees surrounding this place had been cut off, and the ground was completely smooth and dusty. We saw it finally, a creature of such magnitude. It was a tree giant. I thought they were extinct and yet here I was seeing it for the first time. The whole body was human; however, the hairs on its body were made from branches and tree. I had never thought of them as meat loving monsters, but then again, I had been wrong on a lot of stuff.

"Let's attack it now while its guard is still down," bunion echoed, creeping forward silently.

There was no cover for a long or short distance attack so it had to be done fast and straight for a vital organ. Wait! Something was not right. The ground beneath us was shaking a little. I could feel presence of creatures below our feet. It had been the giant's presence I was concentrating on that I had ignored everything else in my surrounding.

"Stop," I yelled to him, leaping away from the smooth ground.

We had walked into a trap. I doubted it was intended for us to begin with. It was too late—I had yelled a little too late for comfort. The trap was in motion and we were now the prey. Strange creatures dug out of the smooth ground; they were averaged height creatures and roughly dressed in ragged shorts. There was something strange about the energy they were emitting that had me concerned. Their appearance was very intimidating and they barely looked human. Their ears were pointed, eyes with no emotion in them, and they also had tails on them with spikes on the end. A fight broke out and I could barely see what was going on from where I was hiding. Speed for speed, they were neck to neck with that insensitive Bunion. There was just too many of them and he was barely holding them off. I had to help him, but what could I do? If I tried to help him, I would only get in the way. Clearly my fighting skills were a joke and my weapon was barely sharp enough to cut a slice of bread.

In my dilemma, the only thing that came to mind was these words: "Courage is power."

I didn't know why at such a moment, but they meant something. One of the creatures spotted me and so did a few. They came for me and I started running. At least my evading skills seemed to have been perfected from all the fleeing I had done in the past. As I ran for my life, I had a sudden flashback from my past. It was for an instant second, but I saw my family and then Daphne' face. They looked at me with utter distaste of my cowardice. Why was I such a coward? Why didn't I have the guts to fight? I stopped caring that a horde of monsters were behind me. An emotion I had held back for so long resurfaced. It was my anger. I had buried it down for so long that it was about to explode. The banishment, the tattoo, and all those bad things that had occurred to me only made it stronger. One of the creatures grabbed onto me. In that moment, I yanked it off and turned around quickly lashing out a kick so powerful, it split the creature in half. Everything stopped moving in my eyes as I began my offensive attack. It felt good to release all my anger at once onto them. I went into a daze where everything around was at my mercy and mine to destroy.

My speed seemed to have increased tenfold and so did my strength. Such power was beyond dreams and it was the reason why many people feared Rogue. The creatures didn't stand a chance and I was going to make sure they tasted my wrath to its full extent.

"Stop," bunion said, holding my hands. "You got them all."

I felt like lashing out at him too, but something stopped me. It was my deep sense of gratitude I owed him for saving my life once. Every surge of anger inside me seemed to fade into nothing. The creatures were all lying on the ground and some of them were turning into blue light and vanishing. It was almost the same as what happened when we destroyed the treasure dogs. What did it all mean? What had I done? My hands had done this atrocity. I could not forgive myself as I looked away. Clearly I was the same as my nation, or perhaps I was worse than them. I had let my emotion go out of control like that and that was nothing worth being happy about.

"Are you from Rogue?" he asked me, stepping back a little, his sword half raised.

At first, I was hesitant to answer, but I realized I had no choice, but to tell him. I nodded and he just snapped out of control.

"Are you kidding me?" he boomed, looking in the sky. "Why a Roguean, for crying out loud?"

Much like everyone else in the world, he shared a deep hate for my country. Nevertheless, this reaction was rather normal considering our history. One time our ambassador was called to a meeting for the world peace foundation and it didn't turn out well. He snapped because the servant had served him the wrong beverage and he beat up everyone in the room very badly. There were many more events involving Roguean warriors attacking people for no reasons, which only made people despise Rogue and stayed away from it. We were not crazy, but it was because the food we ate in our certain region. It had been a part of our culture since ancient time and the elders had seen no reason to take it out of our food.

"Since I know about you, I might as well tell you about myself," he muttered, marching towards one of the fallen creatures and delivering the final blow.

He was not the type to take chances or turn his back to the enemy due to some unknown reasons. I was eager to know more about him; his history intrigued my curiosity and I just had to know who he was. There was a long silence as I waited, seconds went by and even minutes as I waited.

"Anytime today would do," I said impatiently.

I wondered what was going on in his head. He was hiding something and I wondered what though. I doubted he would tell me.

"Just call me Dashe and I'm from Iyenka," he said.

5

No way, this was not really happening.

"You are joking, right?" I asked, clenching my fists, my eyes wide open. How would this scenario play out?

"I never joke around, you idiot. I really am from Iyenka." bunion looked away.

Just hearing that country name made me step back a little. They were our sworn enemies since ancient times. We were gruesome rivals who fought constantly over anything and everything. No one knew how this feud started, but it was never going to end between our two countries.

"Under difference circumstances, I would have killed you instantly," he added, sighing, and paused for a minute. "However, I no longer owe my allegiance to my country so I have no reason to draw arms with you."

"Is that so?" I chuckled, shaking my head. "I guess this is one thing we can both agree on. I too have no reason to fight you, Iyenkan, since I am no longer a citizen of Rogue."

My father would kill me if he heard I was travelling with a man from Iyenka. It was unheard of for two enemies to travel together and fight alongside each other like we had. I didn't trust him as much as he didn't trust me, but somehow we didn't say anything bad to each other. In those few moments, he explained to me what had happened to him and how he had wound up a slave with me and Ken. We were so different and yet somehow the same. Both of us were outcasts to our country for crimes we never committed. I no longer thought it was just coincidence that was linking us together. But a mysterious force was at work here. Dashe's attitude changed a bit afterwards. Perhaps all he needed was for someone to listen. We had remained stationary in the same place for a while and I figured it was time we headed out for Okaya. The tree giant growled in pain. Why I had not noticed the heavy chains on its neck and arms? Its legs had been restricted by something and it seemed stuck unable to move. This was a cruel thing to do to other beings and I felt obligated to help it.

"I know what you are thinking, but don't do it," Dashe said.

His arrogant and rude way of speaking seemed to have disappeared. Still, I thought it rather strange for a Roguean as myself and Iyenkan to work together. In the end we were all the same, color or our country did not matter when we died. We breathed the same air and spoke the same languages and yet why was it so hard for us to get along? Perhaps, a truce between our countries would soon be possible through us. Suddenly, I was startled as I heard the giant cry out again from the pain. It was bleeding because the chains were small and tight. In a bizarre way, I felt its pain. Now, it was clear to me what I had to do. I ignored Dashe's warning and headed towards it. The giant beast was still violently trying to break free.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," I said gently as I got close. "I am here to help you so don't kill me."

Dashe had released his sword and that seemed to provoke it even more. I told him to put it back. We argued for a while, but he then listened and did it in the end. Something was different about this tree giant aside from its small size. It was roughly about ten feet tall and I had heard that tree giants ranged from twenty feet to thirty feet. Seeing one that was ten feet was certainly strange, but then again who was I to judge?

"What is your name, friend?" I asked. moving even closer to it, my hands up in a non-violent way.

It didn't move or stop staring at me. Within its eyes, I saw the loneliness I had once felt when I had first realized that my banishment was real and not a joke. The feeling of being alone and miserable—I knew that feeling all too well. With my sword, I swung down on the chains as hard as I could. There was blood oozing out from my wrists, but I just couldn't stop. I kept hacking and hacking till my hands started bleeding hard.

"Please don't," the tree giant spoke. "That's enough. You don't have to hurt yourself for my sake"

I didn't listen as I kept hitting the chains with everything I had. Finally after a long hour, the chains broke off and the giant was free. We were expecting a little more violent thank you, but it did the opposite.

"Thank you," it said. "I am in your debt."

"Well, you are welcome."

I never expected much from a tree giant, but frankly I was surprised. This world was full of amazing and wonderful things. Maybe just maybe, I was a little glad I got banished from Rogue. The mysteries of life were only experienced through our own eyes. If I had stayed in Rogue, I doubt I would have seen all this. My world had been nothing, but a shadow before but now I could see the truth and I felt free to do the right thing. Although my hands were bleeding heavily, I felt like I had accomplished much with that one deed. Since this was the only other road to Okaya, I figured that Paul and Tye had passed through here.

"I have a question" I asked it politely, as I bandaged my hands with pieces of cloth. "Did two men come through here a day or two ago?"

I gave it some description of what Tye and Paul looked like and what they may have been wearing at that time.

"Actually, I saw them a day and half ago," it replied in a low tone, gazing down. "They were brave and put up a strong fight, but they weren't strong enough to go against Katarina Fox. She brutally beat and captured them."

What! They had faced a Rainku already? What had I done to them? If I hadn't given them those stupid objects, then none of this would have happened. I couldn't just leave them to be subjects of Katarina's horrific tortures. It was most likely that she was looking for me too and it was only a matter of time before she caught me. The gauntlet was important to them or was it so dangerous that they were going to go to extreme extents to get it? As I sat down in distress, I couldn't figure out what to do next. I wanted the three of us to meet in Okaya, as rich men, not as prisoners for the Rainku.

"We need to get moving," Ogana said. "By the way, my name is Ogana, my kind sirs."

"Whoa! Are you sure you want him to come with us?" Dashe asked, stepping back in disbelief. "He is dangerous for crying out loud."

"I could say the same thing about you, besides his brute strength and power could come in handy later down the road," I replied Dashe quickly.

"Fair enough!" he responded, scoffing, folding his arms.

"Welcome to our group, Ogana," I smiled, giving him a nod of approval. "Let's get going, guys, we have a lot of ground to cover."

Within few brief moments, we were gone and far away from that dreaded place. It was a long way to Okaya so we decided to rest up a bit and head into one of the nearest cities in the morning. Talking to Ogana was not so bad. He has so many interesting stories to tell. Unlike Dashe, he was polite and good company to be around. Just talking to him helped me control my anger and shock over what had happened to my friends.

"You know," Ogana began gently taping his belly. "Your friend had some strange objects with them of great power."

Was he talking about the gloves and the shield? I didn't know what they did, but all I knew was that they were valuable to the Rainku.

"The one you described as Paul fought bravely using strange powers flowing out of his hands. It was incredible although, sadly, short lived. I had never seen anyone who could fight like that since the time of the old wizard." Ogana said, resting his giant body by a tree.

He had agreed to come with us because he felt like he owed me. But clearly I didn't mind helping a fellow being in need. Besides his brute strength and size was going to prove useful in the oncoming battles with the enemy. What he said at that moment intrigued me though. I had somehow known there was something weird with those three objects from the time I picked them up in that Caravan. Ogana recollected all the events that unfolded as the battle between my friends and Katarina took place. It sort of made sense now. The three objects we had taken had some great power within them and that's why the Rainku had desperately sent the treasure hounds after us. But why had the dogs chased solely after me? Still, I knew I wasn't safe and so was everyone around me.

"You know, you don't have to come with us to Okaya," I mumbled to him.

Ogana chuckled as he ate the last piece of dried fruit we had.

"I owe you guys for helping me get free," he said slowly as he crunched the fruit. "Besides, I owe Katarina and her minions a beating for what they did to me."

What he said was not my main concern. I was angry at the fact that he had eaten the last of the dried fruit. I had been saving to eat for a time later and now it was gone. Another fact that bothered and puzzled me a little was the fact about why we found him tied up. I made up my mind and decided to ask him some more personal questions. At first he was resilient to answer, but something told him that he could trust me.

"My brother was kidnapped while we were in Okaya visiting," he began with a sad face. "I didn't find him until it was too late. Katarina Fox's soldiers chased me and I barely escaped Okaya. Unfortunately I was caught after I ate some very bad food and you know the rest."

He started crying after that. I didn't want to ask him what happened to his brother, but I got the bigger picture of what might have transpired. There were things even some men never wanted to talk about and I totally understood how he felt. We had camped outside for the night and talked for a few hours as the moon shined brightly above us.

"Why are you sacrificing so much for your friends against a powerful villain like Katarina Fox?" Ogana asked curiously. "You can escape and save yourself, far away from the Rainku."

He was right, I could, but I wouldn't.

"That's a good question, Ogana," I answered, rubbing my tired eyes with my painful hands. "I am scared to tell you the truth. I know she is powerful, but I have to try. Tye and Paul are my friends and there is no way I will abandon them. I know they would probably do the same for me."

"I hate to ruin your sad bonding time, but don't' you people know when it's time to sleep?" Dashe rattled, stretching his back to get comfortable against the tree he was lying on. "Night time is for sleeping, you know?"

He was right. The fire was slowly fading and I knew I had to get some sleep. I could see the dim lights resonating from one of the cities in Okaya.

"This was where I would find my friends."

Saying that to myself reassured me why I had come all this way for. It was hard to fall asleep as I kept thinking about what might have also happened to them. If there still even a faint light of hope they were still alive, I would gladly take it. I sat on my back for a while, thinking. The fire faded and everything was silent except for Dashe. Though he was asleep, he was making a loud ruckus with his snoring. It was irritating as he sounded like a roaring lion. The rogue nation was famously known for anger issues and the Iyenkan were well known widely for snoring the loudest. They were mostly rude, however their snoring by far topped everything else. I guess there were some things that no matter how far we were from home stuck with us permanently. Ogana fell asleep shortly after Dashe spoke and his snoring wasn't as loud as Dashe's, fortunately. I managed to finally clear my mind and close my eyes to sleep. It was difficult at first, but by some miracle, I overcame Dashe's loud snoring.

6

"Get up, Riyo," my mother screamed in a disgusted way. "What have you done?"

I didn't know what she was talking about. I was puzzled with what I was seeing. My clothes were covered in blood and it was not mine. I had been lying in the horse stable near the palace. My arm was badly hurt and my back was cramped. Something was wrong and things were not looking too good for me. The sun was about to come out as it was already dawn in the morning. Near my mother, there were servants and guards protecting her.

"Hey you," I yelled to one of the guards, seeing that my mother was crying to pay me any attention. I figured she wouldn't answer any of my questions. "I demand an explanation for this atrocity."

He didn't answer as he stepped back and pointed his spear at me. The other guards followed suit as the servants moved away from me. Was this mutiny? Fear rushed through my head faster than I could blink. Something had happened and I was the main culprit seeing as that my hands were covered in blood.

"What should we do with him, your highness," one of the guards asked my mother.

She wiped her tears away slowly.

Without looking at me she said, "take him to his quarters and put chains on his arms and legs." She didn't look back as she walked away, no matter how many times I called her to stop she didn't. The palace guards put chains on me; the strong one reserved for dangerous criminals and hauled me to my room. What's going on? I was freaking out as my life was being turned upside down in front of me. Someone walked in and it was James. He had a menacing grin on his face. The kind I had never seen before. He looked different and he kept laughing menacingly, wobbling towards me.

"Well. Well, brother" he grinned. "Looks like you bit the big one this time."

I never did like the way he talked; most of the times he spoke metaphorically.

"What now, James?" I roared at him rudely. "I don't have time to argue with you. Just get father." He got angry and slapped the taste out of my mouth. In Rogue, a slap was the worst insult anyone could ever get. I couldn't do anything about it, my chains were so tight and heavy I could barely budge. There was blood coming out of my mouth. It felt like I had been hit by a rock in my jaw. His strength was monstrous, truly not to be underestimated. I knew that provoking him would only worsen my pain so I didn't say anything, no matter how many bad things he said about me afterwards. Just in the nick of time, my father walked in alone. He was very angry, that much I could tell. "James, out now," he yelled, pointing him to the door.

James grunted and left slamming the door behind him. I hoped I could clear my name if I reasoned with father.

"Don't bother, please," he interrupted staring at me with an angry face. "I don't think I want to hear your stupid excuses."

I lay there on the ground where the guards had left me, wondering what he was going to say next. He paced left to right around my room in a steady pace for half an hour, shaking his head and mumbling beneath his breath. He finally stopped just as I was about to start talking, his eyes were filled with rage.

"Okay, why did you kill the servant girl?" he yelled in my face violently. "It better be good, son." What the! So this was what it was all about?

"I don't know what you are talking about," I replied in a confused manner.

It was all true. All I knew was that I had partied all night long with a few noble friends and got drunk. I had passed out on my way back to the palace, after I had left the party. Okay, maybe I had drank too much, but that didn't mean I had killed anyone.

"We found the girl's body next to the horse stable dead," he said in a harsh manner. "And we found you in the stable covered in her blood."

He whistled and a guard came in my room holding a sword in his hands. It was covered in dried up blood and the sword belonged to me. I felt a chill go down my spine and hair stand up on my neck. My body felt a rush of cold air as I examined all the clues and facts before me. All the evidence pointed to me. I realized that there was no way this was to going to end well for me, even if my father was the king. In Rogue, murdering an innocent person without cause was treason and punished by death. Even though we were a powerful fighting nation, we never killed our comrades and fellow citizens. That was an absolute law laid out since ancient times.

"But I didn't do anything," I cried out, but he wasn't listening.

His eyes were no longer upon me but somewhere else. I could not tell what he was thinking or what was going on in the back of his mind.

"I will summon the counsel and we will decide what to do with you," my father finished and left my chambers.

I did not meet him until I was called to stand up in front of the counsel and my family. My father was sitting at the main sit next to my mother, his second wife, and James. All the time, I kept looking at them to try to find some comfort in their expression. My father did not even take one glance at me and so did my mother. James' mother seemed to be concerned for me; however, James looked happier than normal. I wondered why though. The atmosphere in the room was intense and cold. I felt as if I was among predators. The counsel room was filled with tan and wrinkled old men who were way past their prime, and in dire need of retirement. Some of them looked liked they didn't even know where they were to begin with. I barely knew some of them. No matter what the situation was, I knew I wasn't just going to get away with just a slap on the wrist.

"Okay, let's begin," my father said, standing up with glamour to address the counsel.

He began to speak about me in way that even I would hate myself too. The counsel elders looked horrified at what they were hearing. Their facial expressions changed as my father spoke. The whole time I had been standing, my back was cramping up badly and I had an itch on my leg that distracted me from listening any further. I really wanted to sit down and scratch it hard, but I couldn't. The guards had added extra chains and weights to keep me from attacking my family and the elders when judgment was passed on me and I didn't like it. It was probably to keep my uncontrollable rage from going berserk.

"Hang him," some of the bellowed and others said, "he might be innocent."

They argued for a while, deciding what to do with me, I felt like a buffalo among hyenas. I mean they were not going to eat me, but in the back of my mind, it felt like it. I caught a glimpse of my mother and saw tears in her eyes. There was nothing that I could say that would comfort her. Her only son, standing trial for murder; I couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. I had put her in a difficult position and I wish I could take back what had happened; however, I couldn't.

"Excuse me," I interrupted, politely raising my head. "Can I say something?"

They were outraged by this action.

"How dare you? A criminal address the counsel with an excuse me," one of them said, aiming to spit on me.

Unfortunately for him, he spat on himself and fell silent. I laughed silently; it had been the funniest thing I had seen the whole day, and by the way I was feeling right then, I needed that laugh. It went on forever as they kept arguing, unable to come up with a decision. Couldn't they examine the facts and evidence first? All that tied me to the murder was the blood on my clothes and sword. Weren't there any witnesses in the stand to testify? I couldn't believe my fate lay in their hands. In that messed up state, no one had even asked for me to testify my side of the story. It was my fate they were deciding and yet my opinion didn't matter.

Unable to contain his anger, my father snapped, "Enough, you old buffoons. Clearly, if this goes on, we will be here all night."

He gently stepped down from his chair and walked around the room twice.

"I will make the final decision in this matter, so your opinions don't matter anymore," he yelled, slamming his fist on one the tables.

The table cracked apart and the room fell into silence. I could see the sweat coming down from the old geezers. This kind of violence was bad for their health. He began pacing again back and forth around the room. No that again! I would have rather continued to listen to the council members argue back and forth than watch him pace back and forth. Standing and waiting was just a waste of time. Knowing father, it would probably be several minutes before he came to a decision. Surprisingly he was done thinking. That was too fast, I thought. Had he already made his decision? An offense like murder would get me locked up in prison in Rogue if I was lucky. Hopefully he would decide to lock me up in the dungeons of the palace. My father looked at me one last time and then on the floor. He went and sat back on his chair silently thinking. His facial expression had changed and everyone including me eagerly awaited his final decision.

"Banishment," he bellowed out loud, and mother screamed out at what he said.

My head felt heavy and I felt cramps from all over my body.

"Your Majesty, isn't that a bit extreme, considering the circumstances?" one of the council members said sincerely. "He is your son after all. Sending him out there into the world would mean death for a Roguean."

The other members agreed with each other

"Silence, you fools!" father yelled at them. "My decision is final and I don't care who he is." Banishment was the worst kind of punishment one could ever get in Rogue. Being an outcast certainly meant death to the people of Rogue. The whole world hated us for what we had done in the ancient wars. In their eyes, we were ruthless monsters with emotional problems and needed to be wiped out. In fact, they had tried to do that after the war was over, but we proved to be great adversaries, and we overcame all their forces combined.

"Please, father, I'm innocent," I screamed out loud with tears. "I didn't kill her. You have to believe me."

It was too late; the decision had been made and I had to accept my fate. Banished! It was hard to acknowledge what had happened. Was it really real or just some bad joke? I felt tired and sweaty all over. Suddenly I became dizzy and fell to the ground hardly breathing. James was the first to approach me. He knelt down beside me and roughly gripped onto me.

"He is fine," he reassured everyone. "He is just a little tired and shaken."

James looked right back at me smiling menacingly as he held me tight and came closer to my ear. He whispered quietly, "I killed her with your sword and you are going to take all the blame for it."

What? I couldn't believe what I was hearing from him. So I was innocent after all which was a relief to hear. But my strength had gone along with my voice. I was very tired and in a state of shock from everything that had happened to me. My eyes were closing slowly as I lost consciousness. It seemed all that stress was too much for my mind and body to handle. I wanted to tell my father what I had found out, but I couldn't. I tried as possible to reach out to him, only to find myself falling deep into the dark abyss.

7

"Wake up, Rid, it's time to head out," Dashe said, waking me up violently.

I got hit by a ray of sunlight and closed my eyes while covering them with my left hand. Nowadays my dreams seemed to be nothing more than flashbacks from my dark past. No matter how strong I became and how much I tried to forget, the same dreams kept coming back to haunt me. But this particular dream was one I truly dreaded the most because it marked the day my world collapsed all together. Still, why did the past keep haunting me for so long? In my dreams, I relived every single horrible event like it was happening right in front of me again? Was this part of my penance? If only I could go back through time, I would fix it and make it right again.

"Were you having a nightmare?" Ogana asked, packing his clothes into the sack. "You were calling out to your father and mother in your dream."

I didn't want to answer that question. It felt uncomfortable for me to reply to it. My clothes were wet—it seemed every time I had this nightmare I always woke up covered in sweat. The dream was like a reminder, a scar that would never go away until the truth was revealed and my name cleared. Coincidentally, that was all I could remember prior to me collapsing from anxiety and stress. The only thing I remember after that was waking up in a desert near an Oasis with nothing, but the clothes I was wearing and my sword. They had cleaned all the dried blood off, but I dared not to ever use that weapon again. I discarded it in the next town and got a brand new one.

"Let's take the less traveled road," Ogana said, pointing to a small dusty road traveled only by foot.

It was hidden among trees barely visible to the normal eyes. The trees in these woods echoed with sad memories even I couldn't comprehend. Everything within me told me to stay away, but since Ogana was a trustworthy companion, I felt obligated to follow his lead.

"Why?" Dashe growled, looking towards a dusty old road. "There is only one good road to Okaya and this is it."

He was pointing in the more obvious road traveled by most people to Okaya. I was caught up in a crossroad as they wanted me to decide which road to take because they were clearly at a standoff. Ogana knew this road well and was familiar with the surroundings while Dashe did make a point. Traveling in commonly used roads was a lot safer than using unmarked roads. I mean who knew what creatures hid on that small road? I hated such critical choices; they all looked good although I had to choose one. Time was off the essence and I was quickly wasting valuable time. Every second I wasted meant certain doom for my friends. Ogana and Dashe were looking at me eagerly waiting for my answer.

"Any day now," Dashe said, tapping his fingers impatiently "I hope you can decide sometime this century."

Okay I was wrong. Dashe was still a bunion and it looked like this was going to be one long trip and hopefully a short friendship.

"We'll let fate decide," I said, taking out a coin and tossing it into the air.

It fell into my hand and I closed it with the other hand. They chose sides each and Ogana won that round. He didn't stop bragging about his skills with luck all the way. It made me wish I had let Dashe win in the first place. But then again, maybe not. It might have turned out a lot worse than I imagined too. In less than an hour, we were now seeing the outskirts of a city. For some unknown reason, it was getting colder and windy.

"This is Saza," Ogana said. "It is the city in the outskirt of Okaya. It's a perfect place to get information."

Information, I thought. What did he mean by that? I was confused. Just how big was Okaya to have a city in the outskirts? The small road led us to an open pathway. I could feel another strong presence surrounding us. It wasn't just one, but a whole bunch of them. There was some sort of bar or inn just two hundred meters ahead of us. The bar was made from brick with a wood layout on the top. It looked rather small from the outside, but there was more to it than I perceived. Ogana started to smile menacingly, and we backed away from him.

"I smell perfume," he said and ran off ahead. "Ladies, I'm back."

On no!

"Please tell me he is not a pervert," I said silently.

Now I knew why he wanted us to take this road. How had he ever found this place? That was truly one mystery I doubted I would ever solve.

"You sure know how to pick them," Dashe spoke sarcastically.

I found it hardly amusing although he had a point. First it was thieves, followed by an Iyenkan and then a tree giant. All my friends were nothing, but bad influences. It seemed to be a curse of mine. As we followed behind him, I noticed something strange. The ground looked like it had been dug up, like there was something hidden beneath the ground. I just couldn't tell what it was, but I knew it was bad.

"I don't like this place," Dashe commented, drawing out his sword.

For once I agreed with him—there was something not right about this little place. Maybe going this way had been a bad idea after all.

"Come on in, guys, the booze is good," Ogana yelled, poking his head from the bar.

My eyes were blind to what was inside. The walls were very thick and hard. It also felt as if something vile was blocking my eyes from seeing through. Going from what I felt, there were about twenty people inside and a few of them seemed very strong.

"Are you going inside?" I asked Dashe quietly.

He didn't answer as he was already walking inside. I honestly didn't hear him move or when he left. Dashe was considerably fast that much was for sure. I also went inside moments after Dashe had gone in. It seemed this place was really bigger than what it appeared to be. Was this some sort of magic or illusion? In the left middle corner, Ogana was sitting with some ladies, laughing out loudly like there was no tomorrow. Dashe had sat on one of the tables and he was drinking a barrel of booze. The place was filled with mostly ladies; they were the waiters serving customers all over the bar. The customers were mostly older males who seemed to take a liking to the booze and the ladies. The air smelled of scented candles and the light inside was a bit dim. I sat down next to Dashe on a round, wooden table, observing the place. The energy generating inside was a lot stronger than what I had felt outside.

"Try some," Dashe said, handing me a cup full of booze. "It's really good."

I refused his offer. My vow to never ever drink would remain unchanged as long as I was still breathing. Ever since that fateful night that changed my world, I had made a promise to never ever touch booze again, no matter how bad I wanted to drink some. It looked good and smelled nice, but I had to resist drinking. Although, it was difficult for me to see Dashe drink his heart out. My lips quivered to get some even a taste, but my mind said no. The truth is I had been a heavy alcoholic in Rogue. There was no party with booze I had ever missed out. My father used to scold me about that but I never listened. My addiction to alcohol came easy to me as taking a breath of fresh air.

"Can I get you something?" one of the waiters said.

Whoa! I thought

She was really stunning and she reminded me of Daphne so much. Her appearance down to her figure bore a striking resemblance to her. I couldn't think what to say when she asked me again. "What's wrong with you?" Dashe laughed out loudly. "You never saw a woman before?"

That was really embarrassing and not true. In that moment, all my memories of Daphne seemed to flood back to me like a sea.

"Okay," she said, feeling awkward. "I will come back later. Just let me know when you are ready."

I watched walk her away for a second, wishing I had said something to her. Dashe laughed as he finished the barrel and ordered another one. Thanks to her distraction, I had overcome the craving for booze I was feeling. If she hadn't been there at that moment, I would have taken the cup of booze Dashe had offered me within a heartbeat. Looking around, I would say the same thing for all these women; they were all pretty. Now I saw why Ogana had been so determined to come this way. What could he possibly be after in a place like this? Shortly afterwards, he asked us for some money. At first we were both reluctant, but we gave in after seeing what little choices we had.

He called it "information money—aka—bribe money."

But all he seemed to do was spend it buying drinks for him and the ladies. I don't know what we were doing in a place like this when Okaya was so close to us. The sun was still shining bright in the morning and yet this place was so cold like the winter. No one except me seemed to feel the cold and I don't know why that was. I remembered that Ken had given me a cotton cloak and I still had it in my sack. I quickly took it out and wore it. It was warm and comforting. Everyone stopped as if they saw a ghost. They were all looking at me, shocked.

"Yeah, I know," I said myself. "This cloak is extremely comforting and breathtaking."

Actually it was the opposite; they all burst out laughing and it was loud and annoying. I highly doubted that they were laughing from jealousy.

"Where did you get that cloak?" Dashe said, laughing his tears out.

If he laughed any higher his lungs would explode.

"It seemed Ken pulled a fast prank on you," he finished and took another gulp of the booze.

I was offended by their laughter, and thankfully I managed to keep my anger in check. Embarrassed, I stood up amidst the laughter, heading for the bathroom. The rabid laughter kept going on, but I ignored it. I had never felt such humiliation before. On my way to the bathroom, I took off the cloak and packed it back into my sack. I felt cold again, but I would have to hold out until I leave this place. Suddenly, something caught my attention to my left. It was a dim, marble door with a glowing object inside. I stopped in my tracks and peered through the small crack in the door. My arm was tingling and glowing brightly the same color. Odd indeed!

No one seemed to be in the room so I snuck in quietly and closed the door behind me. It looked like a storage room or sort. So many weapons and objects I hardly knew. I felt no other presence inside with me, meaning I could relax and moved around easily. The glowing object was behind some junk I had never seen before. Just what was this room anyway? It felt creepy and gloomy, everything inside resonated with unknown energy. Slowly but surely, I walked until I came close to the glowing object. I removed some of the junk in the way to have a better look at the strange object that seemed to be calling out to me. I must admit, I was a bit scared of what I might find, but at the same time I was curious. What could it be? I was thinking to myself as I reached in and took the glowing object into my hands. It split into two objects before my eyes. The light was so bright I could hardly make out the objects. And before I could even see what they were, the objects sunk into my flesh just like with the gauntlet. Okay this was getting old pretty fast. Why couldn't I just take stuff without them getting into my skin? While pondering on this bizarre find, I heard a scream, coming from one of the rooms. I ran out of the room quickly to see what was going on. There were some strange men in the place. They wore armor and didn't look friendly. Dashe and Ogana were too drunk to know what was going on as they just stumbled all over the place. Their eyes turned towards me without warning.

"You there!" one of them said, pointing to me. "Come with us, right now."

How they found me was truly a mystery as I had been hiding and masking my presence under a table. Rats, I had been found out, so I got up to my feet, sensing no reason to remain hidden anymore. My presence was stirring up some commotion among the waiters and customers. I had to somehow lure these dangerous men outside without involving any of them.

"What is going on?" Dashe asked after he puked all over the floor.

He shortly lost consciousness afterwards. Ogana was watching what was going quietly as he stumbled all over the place. He was too drunk to walk towards me and aid me as he kept falling down on the floor. My heart was racing fast. I looked closely at them, searching for any opening I could use to flee like a coward I was.

"What do I do now? I can't beat these guys at all. They all appear strong."

I was backing away slowly and yet they didn't move an inch. They were confident in their skills and I wasn't in mine. At this rate, they were going to capture me for sure. It was either fight or go with them and I didn't like any of those choices.

"What's going on here?" a woman said, coming out of the shadows. No joke, she physically emerged from the shadow of the wall, something I had never seen before.

At that very moment, I think I fell in love. She was beautiful like a diamond in the rough, like an Oasis in the desert. Oh, what am I thinking?

"Why are you trash bothering my customers?" she asked, clinching her right fist, standing gently like a silent shadow. "If you are not buying anything in here, then get out."

I liked the way she spoke, though it was rude; to me, it was like an angel's voice.

"Come on focus," I slapped myself to concentrate on the current situation.

The men barely moved nor blinked. None of them made unnecessary movements in their position. Such arrogance was admirable in my eyes. One of them suddenly stepped forward. His armor was different from the rest. Instead of being silver like the others, it was gold. He chuckled and then said. "You know we can't do that, Suzanne, orders are orders after all. Besides you know what would happen to this place if you went against Katarina Fox."

Katarina! So she knew where I was already? These men must have been her minions or soldiers. But how did she find me so soon? Who could have told her? We had taken this road to avoid her or anyone for that matter and yet it wasn't enough.

The woman laughed out loud and then said "get out now! I don't care about your orders. If you start any trouble, I will beat you to a bloody pulp."

For some reason, she reminded me of Daphne—their attitude and style of dressing were the same. There was a long silence after that, the tension in the room was high. I could feel their blood lust rise along with their intent to kill. The soldier in the golden armor moved first. He vanished into the wind in astounding speed to attack her straight up. I could barely see his movements and I doubted the lady did. She was in the same position the whole time as I dashed to help her. But it seemed my help was not needed after all. Somehow she easily evaded his first attack and went on the offense within that second. She punched him and he flew backwards, breaking the wall behind him with his body. The other soldiers attacked too and that's when the other waiters joined in the fight. They made short work of the armored men and within seconds they were glowing blue and strangely vanishing into the wind.

Amazing! I was surprised with what I saw. These women were truly strong. It seemed to me that I was the damsel in distress and they were the knights in shiny armor that had saved me. I was so mad at myself for letting others help me. I had the power to defeat them and yet I had been too scared to act in the first place. The woman one of the men had called "Suzanne" walked right to me.

"Are you here to cause trouble?" she asked, grabbing my collar with her right hand. Her strength was incredible. I felt it as she swept me off my feet.

"You smell good," I replied. I don't know why I said it.

She blushed and threw me in wall behind her. She looked back and I heard her mumble. "Just another fool."

The pain felt good like torturous sting of a ray-bee. I wanted her throw me again against another wall in the back of my mind. Although I doubted she would do it upon my request. Seeing as my travel companions were out cold, I got up and sat on my back filled with questions I had no answer to. How had she found me? Was she coming for me next? What will I do? Until Ogana and Dashe had sobered up, I was going to wait and think of my next move.

8

Two hours later, Ogana finally sobered up and sat on a table next to the wall I had smashed with my back.

"I know where your friends are being held," he said, clearing the sweat on his face with his huge shirt.

I was surprised; he had not crashed the chair with his humongous weight.

"What! Why didn't you tell me before?" I said, getting up, a feeling of dread taking over.

This was great news. There was a chance they were still alive. Ogana hesitated for a while to answer afterwards. I stared at him completely silent with anticipation. I didn't like the waiting as I needed not know more about my friend's location.

"Come on tell me," I yelled to him.

He was resilient to tell me about what he had found out.

"Okay, Rid, calm down," he said, while clearing his throat with a small cough. "This won't be easy to say, but you might as well forget about your friends."

What! What was he saying? The reason I was going to Okaya was to find my friends in the first place and now he was telling me to forget them.

"Why are you saying this?" I asked him quickly without hesitation. "I'm going no matter what you say."

He looked distant and was acting strange. The whole time, he never looked me in the eye as he spoke.

"Your friends are now prisoners in Katarina's castle," Suzanne interfered from behind. "Her castle is in Danyen, the heart of Okaya."

No! They were in trouble. I had heard of the terrible rumors of Danyen. They said people who entered Danyen never left that place again. It was like committing suicide just going there. Things were getting complicated and more serious than ever. My head felt like a watermelon, and I was sweating again from the heavy thinking I was doing.

"Wait a go, Suzanne," Ogana said, snapping at her. "I knew he wouldn't be able to handle all that in one time."

He was right! I didn't know what to do or say. I had been determined to search for my friends only in a few cities of Okaya. But going all the way to the heart of Okaya was just insane. There were indeed some cities in Okaya that were paradise for thieves, but not Danyen.

"Well I'm sorry, Ogana. I didn't know your friend was such a delicate flower," Suzanne teased. "Anyway I don't think he has the guts to go there."

I closed my eyes, and in my mind, I saw Tye and Paul smiling in the background. I remembered the first day we met, they tried to rob me off my sword and we got into a fight. I remembered chasing them all over Yogo and them beating me up to a bloody pulp. Through all that commotion and fighting, we became great friends. If it wasn't for them, I would have died a long time ago. They had saved me countless times and I had not returned the favor yet. Deep down, I wanted to give up on them, but something else told me to have courage and go. The lives of Tye and Paul lay in Katarina's hands if I didn't save them.

"But to be sent to her palace must mean those guys were great rebels," Ogana commented, readjusting his sit. "I mean you must have done something big to anger the Rainku, right?"

Thinking back, it seemed like an eternity. Everything that had happened till now was pretty hard to swallow. All of this mess had happened to us because we had taken a few useless things from one Caravan in Yogo.

"So talk," Suzanne said, grabbing my neck again to intimidate me. "What did you pipsqueaks do?"

I had never stared into such clear hazel blue eyes before. It was like staring into a vast blue ocean. I couldn't answer her; I was mesmerized beyond help by her eyes. She let go off me seeing as that anything she said wouldn't get answered. As I sat up on the floor, I showed them my right hand with the tattoos. Their reactions changed as if they had seen something terrifying. "We only took three things from a small caravan in Yogo, that's all," I said with my eyes still closed.

I explained everything to them. At that moment, there was no longer need to keep secrets from any of them. I had no choice, but to trust them and ask for their help.

"Those marking symbols, this is incredible," Ogana began, "I heard that a caravan carrying the ultimate treasures had been robbed by an army of rebels. Who would have thought it were you guys who did it?"

The ultimate treasures! I had never heard anything about them and I highly doubt that I wanted to know. Clearly we had hit the jackpot this time, but at a price too high to pay. The Rainku wanted their treasures back and our heads on a platter.

"How did you guys do it?" Suzanne asked, looking interested at my right arm. "There were ten caravans sent by the Rainku. Nine of them were decoys to fool thieves and one of them was the real one carrying the true treasures. How did you guys know?"

Yes! I had done something finally to get her attention so all I needed to do was keep it going. It seemed I was love struck or something along those lines, because my behavior had changed.

"Nothing is impossible for a great rebel like me," I replied, knowing that it was a lie.

Now that was a stupid answer. Why didn't I come up with something better? I had to keep her interested or else she would think I was just another loser who got lucky. The truth was we didn't know that the caravan we were about to rob contained the ultimate treasures. If we had known that, we would have backed away and fled the scene.

"You rebels are incredible," one of the waiters commented with shining eyes of curiosity. "To steal from the Rainku, in broad daylight like that, is impressive."

I was getting popular of all a sudden. Not too long ago they had been the ones laughing at me when I wore that cloak. I guess things were beginning to look bright for me, although I didn't know how long I would manage to keep this charade going. Sooner or later, I would be exposed. But for now, all I could do was enjoy my popularity while it lasted.

"Well, I'm impressed," Suzanne said, smiling gently. "For a minute there, I thought you were just a loser who got lucky and robbed the right caravan."

I laughed out loud scratching my head awkwardly the whole time she said it. In the back of my mind saying: "you have no idea how right you are."

Now it all made sense; it explained why my friends had been taken captives. Still, I couldn't explain why she had not killed them. Maybe the other two treasures—the gloves and the shield—had merged with Tye and Paul's skin like the gauntlet did with me.

"Just what are these ultimate treasures?" I asked them curiously.

It was always a bad thing to steal things that were unknown to you because they could be dangerous not only to me, but everyone around me. Everyone was stunned with my question. It seemed I was the only one who didn't know about these legendary treasures.

"Goodness, I'm surprised that you knew which caravan to steal from and yet you had no idea what you were stealing," Ogana said, taking another sip of booze.

He had finally sobered up and now he was drinking again?

"A while ago, before the Rainku began their rampage, there was a wizard who lived in the outskirts of Yogo," Ogana said, gulping a barrel of booze and then burping.

His lack of manners annoyed me, but I ignored that trying to listen to what he had to say.

"This wizard by the name of Ebi was very powerful and feared in the world and do you know why?" he asked.

Of course not, you moron, was what came to mind. I didn't say it out loud though I wanted to. The only thing I did was shake my head to say no. Everyone in the room was quiet, trying to pay attention as Ogana spoke. For a few seconds, he didn't finish the story as he was busy courting one of the waiters who had brought him some more booze. Dashe was still asleep in his own puke. No one had tried to move him and so he lay on the floor, face flat, deep asleep. Fortunately he wasn't snoring which was rather a big surprise to my account.

"So where was I?" Ogana belched, looking half drunk.

Had he forgotten already? I thought. What a drunk fool.

"At Ebi was very powerful and do you know why," I reminded him in a rude sarcastic tone.

He scratched his belly, looking across the room and then said, "oh yeah, I remember now."

He sipped another mouthful and then continued with the story, "Ebi was very powerful because he was in possession of the ultimate treasure weapons, a pair of golden gloves, a golden shield, and the gauntlet of destiny. Although no one knew what they really did or powers they possessed, all people knew was that they possessed incredible spiritual or magical powers."

Unbelievable, I thought. It wasn't much of an impressive story as I had hoped and anticipated it would be. But it did reveal what I needed to know, explaining why I was in this predicament.

"The Rainku finally made a move against the world when they acquired great weapons from another dimension." Ogana mumbled. "The world didn't stand a chance against that menacing power. In their destruction and taking over of the world, there came a time when they faced Ebi. It took all they had and then some dirty tricks to bring down the wizard Ebi. No one knows whether he was killed or captured, but rumors said he just vanished on that battle. The Rainku took hold of the ultimate treasures and killed anyone who stood in their way. A few days ago, a rumor began that the ultimate treasures had been stolen by an army of dangerous rebels."

He stretched up his arms and yawned as he fell asleep.

I knew it! I shouldn't have asked to know the history of this accursed object that now clung to my hand. It was just too much for me to handle. A feeling of fear mixed up with excitement stirred up inside me. What was I to do next now? I was stuck with it since cutting off my arm was out of the option. Even if I did, I doubted they would just take it and leave. They wanted my head and every little secret I knew. The thought of losing my head made my stomach swirl deeply. With all that thinking, I had forgotten how cold the area was. I looked around and noticed that I was the only one affected. Why was that the case for only me?

"Why is this place so cold?" I dared to ask.

Suzanne was puzzled by my sudden question. She sat next to me, examining my arm with curious fascination. Her eyes pierced deep into my soul; the kind of good pierce, if I may add. She replied, "Cold, really? I don't think it's cold at all. We are in summer here. Are you all right?"

Good question! I had felt cold ever since I came near Okaya. It seemed there was something affecting me that I could not explain yet.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I answered and fell silent.

I didn't feel like pursuing the subject anymore. At any rate, we had to leave this place before more guards or Katarina herself decided to pay us a visit, after what we had done to her minions. Before I could say it, Suzanne stopped me, placing her finger on my mouth to stop me from saying anything.

"You don't have to say it," she said, smiling. "I already knew and have been preparing."

Great! This would make things easier then. It was definitely another thing I liked about her—her mind. She whistled to the backroom and two girls ran in carrying two trays of food.

"I knew you wanted to try some of our home cooked cooking," she said, glowing and looking all happy.

Okay! This is not what I wanted to say, but I didn't mind having a meal before I left. The food looked great and appetizing, the smell was weird, but who cared right? I took a spoon full, expecting it to be delicious, but I was wrong. It was actually the opposite. These girls were great fighters, but unfortunately cooking food was one thing they were not good at. My mind boggled out from the distaste in my mouth. I wanted to throw it up right away and puke, however, I couldn't. One look at Suzanne made me change my mind. They had spent a lot of efforts to prepare this meal and saved me from the armored soldiers. If I threw up this horrible meal, it would be like spitting in their faces and tarnishing the popularity I had built as a great rebel.

"So, how does it taste?" Suzanne asked, eagerly waiting for an answer.

Ignoring my taste buds, I took more spoonfuls of that horrible food until it was finished.

"It was great, just the best," I said, smiling with fake joy. In my mind, I was stabbing myself in my stomach with an imaginary sword.

Her smiled warmed up my heart like a bright ray of sunlight. She looked so warm and happy, something I did not want to shatter by revealing how bad her cooking was. I had gotten used to her rude other self and not this other happy, glowing side.

"I will get you more food," she said, running towards the kitchen.

My stomach growled terribly. I felt nauseous and dizzy from what I had eaten. This was simply the worst food ever. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! The aftertaste was even more unbearable to say the least.

"You fool," Ogana said, smacking me in the head quietly. "What have you done to us all?"

There was rage in his eyes and his breathing was heavy and menacing. His huge hands were shaking uncontrollably like he was frightened.

I didn't understand what he was talking about, but something told me it had to do with the food.

"What was I supposed to say?" I replied him in a whisper. "You wanted me to be like hey your cooking sucks? She saved my life, you know?"

He smacked me in the head again, but lightly. I think he enjoyed hitting me in the head.

"You could have faked sleeping like I did and saved us the trouble, buddy," he whispered back.

"Oh I am sorry, Your Highness, you could have told me this earlier before you came in here, but you didn't. As far as I am concerned, this is also your fault."

Suzanne strolled in with elegance in her steps, holding even more food that looked worse than the last plates. My stomach trembled loudly.

"Oh, Ogana, you are awake. I got food for you too and you can't refuse. It's on the house so eat up before you leave." she said, handing us a plate each.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ogana give me the mean eye. If felt like he wanted to strangle me at that very moment. Suzanne woke up Dashe and gave him a plate. He looked hungry from what I could tell. Little did he know that he would soon regret it. I felt like warning him, but I didn't. I just wanted to see the expression on his face when he ate it and his reaction. Dashe got back to his feet and sat on the chair right across me. The look on his eyes was that of a disoriented and confused man. He looked at the food and paid no heed to the smell. He started munching down on the foods, but seconds later puked all over himself again.

"What is this junk, woman?" he yelled at her. "You call this food? Are you trying to kill me?" Suzanne looked like she was about to cry; she slapped him on the right cheek with all her strength and he hit the ground quickly with his head. I looked down in utter surprise.

Hehehehe!

It was priceless. I couldn't find greater comedy like this anywhere. Dashe wasn't badly hurt, just knocked out cold from what I could see. I knew at that point that commenting about her cooking badly would put me in the same boat as him. But at the same time, I couldn't keep munching down this terrible meal. I was waiting for a miracle, something to save me from eating this horrible food, but nothing happened.

"You guys like my cooking, right?" she asked, walking towards us, massaging her palm. Her anger had subsided, but that was not a sign to take comfort and reveal the truth. Honestly, there was no amount of love or money in the world that would make me eat this.

"Oh absolutely, Ogana said it was to die for."

Ogana and I nodded, fearing that she might turn on us next. Ogana kicked my toe from underneath the table and I took the pain without screaming out. Just as we were about to eat, one of the waiters walked in. She whispered something to Suzanne. Her facial expression changed quickly; it looked like bad news to me.

"Sorry, guys, food will have to wait for later," she said, giving out orders to her waiters. "It seems Katarina and her hordes of soldiers are on their way here."

1

0

9

Yes, good fortune had saved us for the time being, but now another problem had appeared in our way. Could we escape unnoticed? It was obvious Katarina knew how we were moving. Most likely she had a treasure dog with her.

"Is there a way into the next city in Okaya, beside this small road?" I asked her, waking up Dashe roughly.

That stubborn bunion wasn't budging a bit, but snoring hard. The cold chill I had been feeling was getting a lot stronger for some unknown reason. It felt like I was wearing nothing in bare snow and I didn't like it one bit. I quickly grabbed my sack and took out the cotton cloak. I didn't care if people laughed at me or not. It was too cold and I didn't want to freeze to death.

"So you didn't throw that rag away after all," Dashe laughed, he was barely awake, although that was good enough for me.

I told him the situation and helped him back on his feet. The whole time he was giving Suzanne the mean eye. I guess he was still mad at her over the food and for slapping him. I felt his body tense as his fist clench. Most likely, he wanted payback. She wasn't bothered by his glares at all much less paid any attention to him. She paced around her bar, peering through the windows cautiously.

"There is a back door at the end of the storage room. You should be able to see it if you leave now," Suzanne said with a little smile.

"Thanks! You have our gratitude."

I couldn't thank her enough for what she had done for us; however, I wouldn't thank her for the food. Now that was a nightmare I didn't want to go through ever again. I got up on my feet and tensed my body steadily to the ground, trying to shake away the fear.

"Here," Suzanne said, handing me some paper written in a language unknown to me. "Take this paper with you to Saza. Go find a place called Jafounds and find a man called Sam. He will help you if you have made your mind to go to Danyen. Hurry and go, we'll hold them off for as long as we can and don't worry—we'll meet again soon."

With that, she turned around and vanished like a shadow. Her presence completely vanished into utter nothing like an abyss. The rest of the girls followed suit, quickly exiting through hidden doors all through the inn. Surprisingly, the customers had already gone too, leaving the place looking like a deserted inn. It was all quiet now with nothing, but the wind howling through the open windows.

"Phew, we dodged a bullet there," Ogana spoke, wiping away some sweat from his head. "The last time I came here, they made me it that junk and I felt sick to my stomach when I left. That's how I was caught by those creatures you fought. I love Suzanne and the waiters; they are all good friends of mine, but cooking is not one of their greatest strengths. If you hadn't come when you did, those creatures would have eaten me for dinner."

"I can believe that."

Now I understood why we found him in chains in the first place. It was impossible after all for a tree giant to be caught so easily like that without putting much of a fight.

"Let's go now!" Dashe interrupted out loudly.

Dashe was already half way downstairs, heading for the storage room. We all realized there was no time waste and hastened our pace. Quickly, we followed him to the storage room and closed the door behind us. In an instant, Dashe stopped moving and started looking aimlessly around the room. Just like I had the first time I saw this wonderful place.

"Whoa," Dashe said in amazement. "What is this place? There are so many unique weapons in here. I could just get lost in this room checking each and every one of them."

Agreed!

Oddly, my cold shivers seemed to get worse with time. It felt as if my own body was getting numb. I took the cotton cloak and put in on to feel some warmth. Trembling for a minute, but then I didn't feel it again. I felt ridiculous and stupid, but there was nothing I could do except burden myself with the humiliation. It was either get warm or feel the wrath of the cold. Not a hard choice, if I may add. I heard a rattle of metal and turned my attention towards it. Dashe grabbed some weapons as much as he could carry and Ogana followed suit. It was stealing and I felt bad to do it to Suzanne. But I was also a thief and not likely to start judging others for their crimes. I didn't say anything to them as I quickly looked around the room to find the backdoor Suzanne mentioned. It wasn't really a backdoor, more like an entrance to a cave underground. I walked by it and examined its structure carefully. Rather remarkable craftsmanship was put into its construction. It blended well with the walls, almost making it hard to notice on first glance.

"That's the backdoor?" Dashe said sarcastically. He moved closer and stopped at the mouth of the door observing it coldly. "It looks more like secret passage to me, much to my disappointment."

Typical Iyenkan man! Never a good thing ever came out of his mouth. Would it kill him to say something positive for once? Oh well, whatever it was that didn't matter. We needed to get out before Katarina came. As we were about to open the door, I noticed something appealingly interesting. I could not see it but I felt it somehow like it was calling out to me. It was under some mysterious tools inside a wooden box. I pried the boxes away carefully and opened the mystery box quickly. There was a piece of string barely arm length in length curled up inside. It didn't look useful at all. However, something made me grab it and put it in my sack as I ran moved towards the others.

"We need to work together on this," Ogana said with sweat dropping out of his forehead. "This door is a bit harder to move than I assumed."

He was right; it was going to take all our combined strength and more to budge open this secret door. We struggled for what seemed like a long hour and barely managed to open it enough for us to slip past it. Beyond it were stairs leading down somewhere. We had no choice, but to follow the passage straight to wherever it led us. Without wooden torches to use for light, we had to rely on the few candles mounted along the walls. The light they deemed was low, but the path was not hard to follow.

"How long is this cave?" Dashe asked, complaining again. "We've been running for several minutes and I can't see the exit."

His attitude and rudeness was even frustrating me too though he was right. We had been running for a long time and yet there was no sign of the exit. Even with the enhanced eyesight scouting ahead, I only saw nothing, but darkness. All we heard from behind us were what sounded like earthquakes and tremors.

"Now that you mention, it does feel strange though," Ogana mumbled, drinking some booze from a bottle he had.

To my astonishment, I had not seen when he had taken it while we were still in that bar or place. It was amazing to see how much he could drink. I wondered if all tree giants drank and acted like him.

"Well, let's just keep moving," I said, taking the lead and running even faster. "There is no point thinking about it now that we've come this far."

I trusted Suzanne completely and I knew she wouldn't betray us. Deep down, I knew it was my deranged and one-sided affection towards her that kept me from rationally thinking through the situation. Dashe looked at me funny; he wanted to say something, but he decided to keep it himself. After that, we continued to run in silence, following the one staircase down that seemed to stretch into infinity

*****

Hours went by before we saw the exit. We stopped and took a rest as we could now see the city clearly within a few miles. Saza looked much more crowded than Rigudaya and Yogo. There was a whole lot more things going on than my eyes could see. Merchants and traders covered the roads with vast array of goods and weaponry. There were hordes of people coming in and out of the city periodically in broad daylight.

"We've rested enough," Ogana spoke, readjusting his new garments and a long spear. He walked towards the mouth of the cave to peer through the city cautiously. "It's already noon, so let's be on our way."

We all rechecked our inventory to see if anything was missing before heading out from the cave towards the city.

"That can't be good," Dashe commented, pointing towards the peak of the mountain above us.

I paused in my steps and turned my attention towards the smoke rising up from the top of the mountain. I strained my eyes a little to get a better look at it. I was shocked completely beyond belief. The smoke was coming from Suzanne's place. Her presence had completely vanished along with her inn. All I felt was a huge sinister feeling that felt cold and hollow. This dreadful feeling was maddening and frightening enough to sent chills down my waist. My throat dried up at the thought of what this feeling was, or who it might belong to.

No way!

There was no mistake about it. It had to be Katarina Fox and no one else. The impurity and magnitude of this energy was beyond my comprehension. Had she finally come for me? Facing her now only meant certain doom.

"Don't worry," Ogana sighed, looking towards the smoke. He turned around and began walking towards the city slowly. "Those girls can take care of themselves, and we'll meet them again soon. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they interfered so don't wallow in the past."

His words were reassuring, but they still didn't bring peace to my turmoil. The chances of them escaping her were certainly not that great. For now, all I could do was keep moving forward and not waste their sacrifice to buy us time. I knew what I had to do now, but the odds were not in my favor. I was scared and fearful for my own life. Getting myself killed by those terrifying villains was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I wanted to survive long enough to return back to Rogue and prove my innocence. Thinking upon it now, that was an impossible dream to aspire for. My only option was to get stronger and face them without fear after I mastered my new power. Oh, what am I thinking? It would take ions to acquire enough power and courage to face those dreadful monsters on equal footing and time was one thing against me.

Although....!

Could I really master the gauntlet and rescue my friends? All these questions puzzled me into an unbearable agony. Suddenly, I found myself entering the city and my mind fell into wonder. The city was even more astonishing and great, far much more than I had perceived. Saza was full of life, the people looked happy and there was a lot of activity going on. Aside from being controlled by Katarina Fox, a vicious tyrant, these people were managing and getting by so well.

"I never get tired of seeing this city," Ogana smiled, looking around the city like an excited child. "It is amazing beyond belief, isn't it?"

"Yes, that we can both agree on," I snorted and walked a little faster to catch up to him.

"So where to now, Rid?" Dashe asked, observing the citizens without drawing any unwanted attention. He now wore iron-plated armor on top of his garment, and new leather boots.

He still had that mean look on his face, but his tone had changed a little. Far a little pleasant even for him, but that was much as anyone could expect from him.

I just hoped his rude attitude could change too: one could only hope after all, I thought.

"Suzanne told me to look for a man named Sam."

I showed them a piece of paper she had handed me before she left. "She said he would be at a place called Jafounds."

"Are you kidding me? Look around you, Rid! We won't be able to find that place without some sort of miracle. If I were you, I would have asked Suzanne for a map or directions before we left," Dashe rattled, grinding his teeth in an irritated manner.

"You are probably right, but it's too late for that now."

The city was so big we didn't know where to start. Just looking around was a waste of precious time, so we tried to ask around. Some of the people didn't even answer us as they fled quickly, whenever we approached them. Their faces were cold and dark, and they shunned us when we tried to have words with them. Not even one person among them pointed us in the right direction. I had an unnerving realization of impending doom in my gut. I think Saza was just a front to attract people to visit. Deep within the city, I could feel something foul and terrifying. I was frightened when my eyes wandered towards the ground. What was this place? Just what were we getting ourselves into? Gigantic metal gears and machinery grinded beneath the city. I was fearful and yet fascinated by this discover, very strange. The sheer power and sophistication of the machinery was way beyond our time era; it was far too advanced.

"Hey, Rid," Dashe said in a low cautious voice. He cautiously looked around our surrounding, unsheathing one of his sword silently not to attract any attention. "Do you notice anything strange about the people and this town?"

I did actually; I couldn't feel the presence of half the city for some unknown reasons. It was as if they were masking it, or for some unknown reason my new senses were being blocked. I was getting bad chills from just being there. It felt like something was stalking us from the shadows. I looked around and all I saw was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Don't draw attention," Ogana nudged Dashe who looked uneasy and ready to strike. "Even Saza can become a very dangerous place if you start trouble. Remember that we are in the enemy's territory now, and the last thing you want to do is attract unwanted attention."

Dashe looked mad as he took his hand off his weapon and followed behind. I still didn't know what his motive was to come with me when he learned I was from Rogue. Maybe he felt obligated to help me after something that Ken had done for him. That had to be it because a Roguean and Iyenkan working together was as rare as finding a diamond beneath the depths of the ocean. My uneasiness when he was around me did not dissipate; however I certainly couldn't afford to be picky when it came to travelling companions. We walked quietly through the city crossing a few streets and observing a few signs along the way.

"Is that the place?" Dashe pointed to a huge store next to a zoo.

It was certainly not hard to miss no matter where you came from. There was a sign that said, "Welcome to Jafounds" in big bold letters.

Odd enough, it certainly drew a lot of attention because everyone on that street couldn't resist looking up at it as they passed by. This definitely looked like the place we were looking for.

"Only one way to find out," I replied, leading the way.

The door was a mystery to me because it opened by itself. I jumped back quickly while observing what sort of trickery was enchanted upon it. It was unheard of for doors to open by themselves. The door had to be charmed or something, so I wasn't going to drop my guard down at all.

"You idiot," Dashe laughed out loudly and walked through the door. "If the door wanted to kill you, I am sure it would have done that."

I followed them, shaking my head in disbelief and shock. My fast beating heart slowed down, but the sweat didn't stop pouring down my forehead.

Saza was becoming more and more fascinating each minute. My curiosity seemed to take a jump as I wanted to know more about how Saza worked and what secrets it hid. As we kept walking, we were astounded by what we saw inside. Everything was made from plastic and metal or ran by some sort of mechanical energy. There were devices I had never seen before in my life. So many people—this place was certainly busy. Now I knew why Tye wanted to come to Okaya. Robbing this place certainly meant great fortune for us. No more eating out of the trash or sleeping on the open streets. Although I wished they had been here with me to see this marvelous city. I mean the mechanism in this place was far superior to any craftsmanship of Rogue or Iyenka. What sort of sorcery could conjure this type of illusion? My eyes could just not stop looking at everything in the store. I wanted to touch everything and examine it firsthand to see how it all worked.

"So what's next?" Dashe folded his arms, letting out a slow sigh. He was obviously bored and wanted to do something else with his time.

"Well don't look at me," Ogana waved him away.

I certainly didn't know too. I had figured Jafounds was a lot smaller, but this is just beyond my comprehension. Where do we even begin to look? There were sections on sections that housed inventions in the millions. Looking for Sam certainly wasn't going to be easy as making pie.

10

For a half an hour, we wandered aimlessly in the large building looking for Sam. We had no idea what he looked like or where to find him.

"This is hopeless. I will ask one of the store servants," Ogana finally spoke, heading to one of them.

Now that was a great idea! Why didn't I think of it myself? I certainly felt stupid to be outsmarted by a drunken tree giant for that matter. I had nothing against him. It's just that my new pride wanted me to be always first to think of something and not be a follower anymore. As we waited while Ogana talked to a clerk, it felt weird being around Dashe. We had nothing in common at all, and we clearly got along like a lion and a hyena. Our ancestors were mortal, sworn enemies and it seemed that it was a feud that had also been passed down from generation to generation. And yet here we were—two enemies joined forces for a greater purpose. Although at the moment, I had no clue what that purpose was. That being said, I looked at Dashe curiously. He glanced back at me and looked away, sulking. Deep down, I hated the look in his eyes. I think, it's a bloodline thing sort of hatred. If the circumstances were different, we would have fought and probably killed each other by now.

"Okay, gentlemen, follow me. I know where to find him," Ogana said, breaking the silence.

"Simply amazing, Ogana," I commented with a smile.

"Any fool could have done that," Dashe snarled, glancing away without saying anything else.

Having Ogana around was really great. He certainly broke the tension building up between us and always knew what to do. In my opinion, he was the oldest and wisest amongst the three of us. We quietly followed behind Ogana, observing the people dawdle around the aisles. It certainly was busy during the day.

"Where are we going by the way?" I asked, pacing a little faster to catch up to him.

He laughed and didn't answer for a few seconds and suddenly he pointed towards a sign that said: "Department of Flight."

"That's where we are going, and that is where we will find Sam," he groaned, stopping in his tracks. He pointed up and what we saw surprised us beyond utter words. It was incredible. This department had mechanical objects that could be used to fly although the prices were ridiculous. There weren't too many people in this department because there was no way anyone could afford these objects. It was just too crazy. We walked some more and I quickly noticed a peculiar store servant near the reception table. He looked an awfully a bit like Suzanne in a weird way. This had to be him. I walked past Dashe and Ogana as I took the lead, placing the note carefully into my hand.

I approached him and said in a whisper, "I'm looking for Sam."

There was no reaction in his expression; he just looked at me and continued counting the money in the register. It appeared as if he was ignoring me on purpose.

"You found him, so what do you want?" he rudely asked without looking at me. "I don't have all day unless you are buying something."

That rude manner and attitude—I knew by then that he was somehow related to Suzanne. I handed him the piece of paper Suzanne had given me and he was startled in a small way. No one noticed it, but Ogana and I. Dashe looked occupied by something else as he was blanking out more frequently.

"Interesting, lads, follow me," he grinned, escorting us to a backroom reserved for important guests. The room was dark and chilly even though I was wearing a cloak. No one besides the four of us was in that room, meaning we could talk more secretly. Dashe looked agitated as he looked at Sam with an expression of distrust.

"It seems you met my older twin sister?" he asked us, turning on one of the mounted lamps, "In this letter, it says you guys want to go to Danyen, right? A bunch of fools, that's what you are."

I had been called worse before, but I certainly was not offended unlike Dashe, who responded in a rude manner.

"Speak for yourself, idiot, the only fool I'm seeing is you," Dashe snapped, his face turning blue. That was another characteristic of an Iyenkan, a rude attitude and whenever they let their emotions cloud them, their face changed colors. Within a fraction of seconds, Dashe was punched in the stomach and he fell hard against the wall behind him. It was like Déjà vu all over again. First it was Suzanne and now her younger brother.

"I dare you to call me a fool one more time," Sam snapped, taking his servant verse off and popping his fists.

Would Dashe ever learn? Evidently, he had problems and was easily provoked. Dashe got up with an angry look, his energy was rising fast with his mixed up emotions. He was getting ready to attack Sam. I extended my legs firmly, ready to jump in and stop him in case he decided to attack Sam which seemed likely.

"Please, we didn't come to fight," Ogana moved in quickly and held Dashe down with everything he had.

"Yeah, please calm down, both of you. We are all friends here." I said, supporting Ogana's words. Attracting attention and causing trouble would only bring Katarina Fox here and I wasn't ready to face her just yet. I'm sure someone might have heard the loud bang Dashe had made when he hit the wall. It was now just a matter of time till someone came to check it out. We reasoned with Sam until he calmed down, while Ogana was still holding Dashe down. I was now certain that the white water mists had also affected Dashe in some way too. But how exactly? His anger now had caused his life-force energy to skyrocket up. If Ogana had not stopped him, he probably would have killed Sam.

"Okay," Sam cleared his throat. "So you want to get to Danyen, right?"

I had not made up my mind just yet. It was a fool's errand to go to such a horrible place. But I had no intention of abandoning my friends at all, and yet I didn't want to go to my death. What a terrible dilemma, I thought. I took some time to think before I answered him. Ogana and Dashe watched me silently, waiting for my answer. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into, however, one thing was clear to me.

"Yes I do."

He laughed hysterically and paced around the room. Sam pressed something and a hidden door opened; he waved us to follow him as he went right through it. Just what was Saza? Something told me that all this mechanical illusions and sorcery had something to do with Katarina Fox. There was definitely a possibility that this city had been taken from the future or from another dimension. Her trident was very powerful. Aside from creating worm holes, I had a feeling it could take out things from the past and future. It was an assumption which I had to consider when I faced her, in the battle yet to come. Ogana, Dashe, and I followed suspiciously behind Sam; blindly going to a place unknown to us with nothing but trust in Suzanne. Hoping she wouldn't betray us. I tweaked my neck as my eyes wandered towards the bottom, down beneath our feet. There was a bright red light underneath us, at least a thousand feet. Next to it were humans tied up in chains, surrounded by what looked like men of metal. Just what was this atrocity? Where was Sam taking us? My eyes kept locked onto the bright red object as I had no idea what it could be. Just what on earth was going on? The fact that Sam was leading us straight down towards it made my heart uneasy and shaken. For the moment, I couldn't let Sam know I had an ability to perceive things hidden even behind walls. I had to keep him thinking that we were some unsuspecting people just touring the cities in Okaya.

"Who invented all this?" I asked Sam, walking between him and Ogana. "It is simply astonishing and amazing."

It was the only question I could think of. He kept walking at his normal pace and didn't reply my question for some unknown reason. Okay! I guess some people didn't like to talk very much. He definitely would get along with Dashe very well, if they didn't beat each other to a pulp first. Dashe silently snuck up on me and nudged me to slow down a little. His eyes were cold and calculating, constantly looking around with unease.

"Do you sense something strange about this place?" he whispered, not wanting Sam to hear.

"Yes, I am afraid so." I mumbled to myself, but only gave Dashe a quick node.

After seeing all those humans down there, how could I be at ease? There was something dreadful happening in this city. I felt my hands tremble a little as fear latched onto me. To make things even direr, we seemed to be drawing close to the red glowing object. The floor seemed to be slanting down and yet we had not noticed it.

"Stop, where are you taking us?" I asked Sam, halting in my steps.

This was beginning to look suspicious now. He was acting strange too—it was like he was a different person now. His eyes wandered around and his neck made much popping noises like rusted metal. I took silent steps away from him and observed him carefully, not missing a single shred of movement he made. Dashe clutched firmly onto his two swords as he positioned his body for a frontal assault.

"Something is not right," Ogana yelled, taking his spear from his back. "I think we have fallen into a trap."

Seemed like it, but Suzanne wouldn't betray us, would she? I didn't want to believe it. However, all the evidence led towards that conclusion. A loud noise went off and the floor began to disappear behind us. Sam's eyes were glowing, his presence felt clouded by darkness. It wasn't his energy I felt, but something else. Something unearthly and completely impure to our feeble minds.

"What now?" Dashe yelled at me.

"Don't ask me," I responded, backing away quickly from Sam as I could. "You can't possibly think I saw this coming, do you?"

I really didn't need that kind of pressure at the moment. It was already hard enough to think with the floor beneath us disappearing. There was a never ending bottomless pit below the disappearing floor, not good.

"That's an obvious answer," Ogana panicked, dashing ahead of us, heading downwards. "We go forward now or forfeit our lives."

It looked like the only option left to us. Dashe and I followed behind him, running quickly. Sam didn't budge at all. It was very creepy and strange. I doubt this was Sam we were looking for, but possibly an impostor. I couldn't explain it; my intuition seemed to think I was right.

"Sam, you will die if you stay there." I yelled out to him, glancing back for a mere second.

It was too late. The floor beneath his feet vanished and yet he did not fall. Okay, that was startling how he was doing that. Could this Sam imposter fly? I stood there for a second, impressed by his great display of a trick. He definitely had to show me how he was doing that later. All of a sudden, his skin turned metal and his face took on another shape. His body got larger and bulkier without warning. He looked similar to the metal men I had seen when I looked down. Either this was not Sam or I was a monkey's uncle.

"Run faster, guys," I yelled out to Ogana and Dashe and turned to run past them.

Nothing had prepared us for this shocking outcome. With the floor disappearing, all we could was run for our lives. The Sam impostor started to chase us from the air, shooting what looked like red energy from his eyes. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I felt no human presence coming from him at all. Just what was he? He persued us relentlessly halfway across the remaining floor without any mercy.

The impostor shot a energy light that burned Ogana's bottle. The gourd broke into small pieces, sending a drench of liquid down. I heard a terrible scream followed by a huge clunk. Ogana had been provoked and he attacked the Sam impostor with his spear. His spear thrust the imposter directly in the chest deeply. "What in the?"

There was no blood; instead, he exploded it into blue light and vanished into nothing. I had never seen Ogana so angry. There were tears in his eyes like he had lost something valuable.

"Why the booze? I can't go on," Ogana cried, looking at the broken bottle. "My life is over."

If this was some sort of joke, then it was clearly not a funny one from my perspective. Ogana had stopped running. Without time to think, I grabbed Ogana by the arm and dragged him across the floor. Was booze really the only thing he cared about? Whilst dragging him, Ogana didn't seem to care and fortunately he didn't struggle to go free because there was nothing behind him. The floor had already vanished behind him as we came to another opened door. We kept moving until we came to another section beneath the surface. It was hard to believe we had survived all that.

"This has been the worst week of my life," Dashe commented, hitting his fist into the wall. He looked agitated and restless as he kept pacing back and forth with his hand firmly on his sword. "Thanks, Ken, for telling me to go with him."

That felt cold—I didn't force him to come and yet it sounded like all that happened to us was my fault. We couldn't go back since none of us knew how to fly and it was the only way to the surface we knew. Ogana's spirit seemed down and Dashe was complaining, so all the thinking was going to be done by me. Looking around floor, I noticed doors leading to many rooms. It looked like an inn floor, but it wasn't. We had to be careful since we were now on enemy territory. Sam had attacked us so I could only assume the other metal men were hostile too. What was I to do now? Saza was turning out to be more than I had bargained for. I mean, who could have predicted a situation like this happening? There was a big secret hidden beneath this magnificent city and the truth behind it was slightly in my grasp. By now, I was certain the enemy knew of our presence. But did they know who we were?

Under my cotton clock, I looked different and ridiculous. However, rumors spread fast among these small cities meaning... No, perhaps, I was thinking too much on nothing. Anyway, we needed to barricade the floor and secure our ground for the time being, in case they decided to come in after us.

"Check those two," I signaled Dashe to two doors on the right, while I opened the others on the left.

Ogana was out of it. Asking him to help seemed to be a waste of time. He seemed like one of those alcohol addicts my father used to warn me about. Alcohol had become a major part of his life that it was impossible for him to live without it. But then again, how had he survived when he had been caught by those monsters without alcohol? We left him standing in the middle of the floor as we started investigating the rooms for hidden clues. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the first room, except for a table full of dubious equipment. I didn't make much of it until I came to the second room. There, I spotted two figures inside. I snuck in and hid silently. One seemed to be a child while the other was a metal man that looked like the one I had encountered. The child was tied up good and the metal man was holding a mechanical sword in its hands. Was it about to cut the child's stomach up? I didn't understand the situation, but I had to help him. This wasn't the time for fear although I felt it as I dashed in and grabbed a hold of the metal man's neck. Surprisingly it was incredibly strong as it broke free of the neck hold I had it in. Its skin was hard as steel from what I felt. I could tell that it wasn't going to be easy to defeat it. I tried yelling out for Dashe, but the room seemed to repel sound. No one was going to come help me. I was in real trouble.

"I think I bit more than I could chew," I chuckled to myself, laughing to relieve my anxiety.

There had to be a way out of this mess I had put myself into. One of my fingers broke when I tried to block a frontal attack from it. I felt a jolt of pain rush to my brain instantly. In a contest of strength, it seemed to have the advantage, even though I was faster. The hardened skin was going to be another issue, but one thing at a time. Just what were they? Their eyes glowed red and their teeth were pointed and as sharp as those of a shark.

"Help me please," the child cried out, struggling to get free.

The metal man took its attention from me and went for the crying kid. This wasn't going to be good; whatever it was planning, I had to stop it at all costs. A rush of energy went through me. It felt really great and different. Something within me was different. A feeling of courage was radiating from my whole body. My arms began to glow yellow with energy, and it was coming from the gauntlet itself. I could not understand it, but that wasn't the time to think. The metal man had raised its hand to attack the little boy with its fist.

"No, don't," I roared, raising my hand towards it.

A strange yellow energy surged furiously out from my hand and knocked the metal creature into the wall. This energy was so powerful that when it shot out, it pushed me back a few feet away. Moments later, I saw the creature explode into blue light like the other one and vanish into nothing. The energy I was feeling was immense and strong, far too powerful to control. Was this the power of the gauntlet? I had never felt anything like it. It was rather thrilling.

The power coursing through my veins was just so incredibly pure and raw. I felt like I had unlocked a portion of the gauntlet's power. Only problem was I didn't know how I had done it.

"Can you please untie me?" the child whispered. He seemed tired and pale.

Oh! I had forgotten about him for a second because of the excitement I was feeling over my newfound power. Although, I honestly don't think I would ever get used to how colossal the power was.

"This is strange."

I moved quickly towards him and began to pry off the metal chains strapped all over his tiny body. Strangely, the chains on him were much tighter than normal ones. There seemed to be no hook which I could use to unlock them. It bothered me as to why they would tie up this child like a hardened criminal. Was it a bad idea to let him go without interrogating him first? I had a gut feeling that told me to do so. He seemed harmless enough, but I had to be sure.

"Who are you, child?" I asked him, pretending to try to free him. "Looks like you got yourself into a bit of a bind."

It was funny to me, but he didn't seem to be laughing or getting the metaphor joke. I stopped laughing and looked him straight in the eye. The child was roughly five to seven years old and looked very thin. He looked at me for a second then looked in another direction. I doubted the kid would tell me what was going on. His silence only further urged me to question him even more.

"Look, kid, talk now! If you don't tell me something, I will leave you here." I threatened him, pretending to leave.

Luckily he bought my bluff and said, "Okay. Okay. I'll speak."

Honestly though, it seemed everyone around me had trust issues and wouldn't speak unless forced to.

"My name is Kaya," the child whispered silently. "I came to Okaya from Rigudaya a few days ago to visit with my brother. When we entered Jafounds, we were led to this hidden door as they promised they had a valuable item to show us. Excited, we followed only to find out it's a trap too late. My brother was captured and taken away somewhere in Danyen. They left me here to be turned into one of those creatures. Moreover, I am grateful you showed up and stopped it from turning me. Now can you untie me please, sir?"

"I see!" I replied him and took my eyes away from him.

So that was it, I thought. It explained why I couldn't sense half the city. His story completed what I was guessing and now I was sure. By my assumption, most of the citizens had been turned into those metal things, thus rendering them undetectable to my new ability. Meaning Suzanne's brother had been a victim of whatever was doing this. I could only hope he had been turned into that blue light and transported to a peaceful place. Openly, I didn't want to be the one to tell her the bad news. Just thinking about it made my jaw hurt. I looked down and realized I was getting nowhere fast. Those chains were really not going to budge on my time. It was impossible to break them with my brute strength so I tried a different method. I left the room and came back with Dashe who was thrilled at the idea of testing his new weapons on something.

"Just be careful, Dashe," I warned him and stepped away from the reach of his sword.

"Don't worry, I am an expert," he grinned and swung his new blade with his eyes closed.

My heart skipped a beat as I panicked a little in fear. Was he that skilled or incredibly stupid?

"Are you out your mind?" Kaya cried out loud. "Were you trying to cut me too? If I wasn't tied up, I would so kick your rear right now."

Whoa! That was some bad mouth the kid had, although I would admit that to be a frightening experience. Once he was free, he snapped at Dashe and tried to attack him. I had to hold him down with all I had, pinning his chest away with my arms. Finally, he calmed down a few seconds later, but he wouldn't stop whining. It felt like I was in a room with two versions of Dashe.

"Shut it, kid," Dashe rattled at Kaya, smacking him in the head. "I'm tired of all your whining."

Oh no! It started all over again and this time I didn't interfere. Wasting energy on fools was not in my schedule of the day. I had better things to do with my time. A brawl began and strangely I did nothing to stop it. Amazingly, Kaya and Dashe exchanged punches on equal footing. Kaya was incredibly strong for his age, barely four feet and yet fighting like a master. There was something about him that gave me the chills; his life-force energy was unnaturally high. Yes, I could sense even hidden energy emanating from strangers, one of the advantages of wielding the gauntlet, I guess.

"I have to keep an eye on him the whole time," I thought silently.

I watched for a little while to see how it would all play out. Of course if Kaya had been weaker than Dashe, I would have stopped it, but he wasn't. I wanted to watch this unusual battle a little longer, but time was not on our side. We were not safe in here, even if the metal men were not attacking.

"We need to leave now," I said, jumping between them.

That was a bad idea. Kaya kicked my knees and Dashe punched me in the chest. I felt like I had been hit by two steel plates, and groaned in pain as I fell on one knee.

"I'm sorry," Kaya knelt next to me. "I didn't want to hit you. I was aiming for that meanie." Well, he had aimed great, but at the wrong target. I was waiting for Dashe to apologize. but he didn't.

"Come on, Rid. That was barely half my strength," Dashe commented, forcing me to my feet. "Shake it off, you are alright."

Describe alright? I thought.

I really hoped I would get the chance to kick his ungrateful self before our journey together was over. I felt like he deserved it. The pain still wouldn't go away as it kept throbbing fiercely. Suddenly, I noticed that the yellow energy once flowing from my body had disappeared. Could I ever use it again if a need appeared? How would I summon that power again? I had already forgotten the circumstance that allowed it to manifest from within me. Somehow, I found my eyes wondering down towards the red light again. It was then I noticed a battalion of metal man marching up towards us. There were two floors between us and, so it gave us a few minutes before they arrived.

"We need to go now," I spoke in a low voice, panting radically. My leg still throbbed badly as I put some weight on it. And Dashe's punch had knocked my breath out which was really not good at the moment.

"Okay," Kaya said, holding my hand.

I took a glance at him and smiled faintly. He really was just a small kid and yet he fought and acted way past his age. What bothered me was when he said he was from Rigudaya and he had come here a few days ago. That was the city I awoke up in, after I had been kidnapped by those slave traders.

"Hey, Kaya," I began, "before you came here, did you encounter a strange white mist?"

He looked shocked as if I had uncovered a deep secret of his. Startled, he didn't reply at that moment. I put the matter aside, seeing as it was bringing bad memories to the poor child. With the metal men coming up, we had to move out now and find another refuge on the other floor. Just as we were about to exit the room, I spotted Ogana asleep near the door leading to the next floor. Like being trapped in the enemy's layer wasn't bad enough, now we had to worry about Ogana too?

None of us had the strength to carry a tree giant up and we really needed to get moving.

"I'll wake him up," Dashe smiled, drawing out the sword next to his right shoulder. "This is going to be good."

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," I whispered, knowing well what the idiot was about to attempt.

I wanted to stop him from his reckless act, but I was too weak to move properly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kaya eagerly giggling. Like me, he knew exactly what would happen next instinctively. Dashe crept close and poked Ogana in the butt with his sharp blade.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ogana screamed and swung his right massive hand instinctively at Dashe, knocking him against one of the doors. "What was that?"

He really sent Dashe flying hard into a wall with unrestrained power. For a minute, I thought Dashe was dead, but he moved a little as he was breathing. Bummer, I wanted to do that for a while, but it looked like Ogana beat me to the mark. I laughed silently to myself, unlike Kaya who was laughing out loudly.

"Who is that youngster?" Ogana asked, yawning. "And who did I knock out with my fist?"

I didn't know which to answer first as they were clearly good questions.

"This is Kaya," I said quickly, "and that was Dashe you knocked out." I didn't feel like explaining anymore than I had.

11

"Nice to meet you, Kaya," Ogana said, shaking his head and getting up. He yawned out loud as he stretched his massive hands in the air. Ogana was acting rational again, no longer crying or whining like before. I guess he was back to his normal self unlike Dashe, who had been knocked out cold. First it was Ogana and now Dashe! Our problems didn't seem to end. I walked slowly to where Dashe was lying and examined him, while leaving Ogana and Kaya to their conversation. He was noticeably out cold and miraculously okay. I tried to wake him up, but he didn't budge despite my rough attempts. It puzzled me that no-matter how many people hit him, he always managed to sustain minor injuries. Just what was his body made from?

"You just never learn, do you, idiot?" I laughed out in silence, shaking my head.

The metal men were getting closer with each second. There were two dozen of them to be precise. Kind of looked different from the ones we had seen before. We didn't have enough fighting power to counterattack them and the only way seemed to be right through them.

"Metal men are coming," I yelled towards Ogana and Kaya, alerting them a few seconds before they appeared. They looked puzzled, but understood what I was implying. Quickly, they made a hasty dash and hid next to me beneath a metal walled table. We were definitely in trouble, no way out of this building. The walls were made of metal, meaning we couldn't break them with our brute strength alone. I tensed my body with fear as I grabbed the hilt of my sword firmly.

"This won't fool them," I chuckled, realizing that we weren't exactly hidden out of sight. I extended my arm and lifted Dashe up onto my shoulder. "We might as well fight."

They knew I was right and yet they didn't move from their hiding positions. None of us could come up with a plan that didn't involve sacrifices or risky maneuvers. The walls were quiet as if asleep, silently howling a soft unheard wind.

"Both of you be silent, okay?" Kaya said rudely. "I have a plan."

Well, this was going to be good. A kid making plans...? I just hoped though that whatever he was planning would get us out alive to the surface. What am I saying? I couldn't pin my hopes up on a child's plan. They were almost here and we weren't prepared to face them just yet. If Saza was this frightening, I highly doubted I wanted to know what Danyen was like. Within a few seconds, the metal men bashed in onto the floor. Separating randomly, they moved swiftly through the floor searching through everything loudly for us. In their hands, were these strange weapons that glowed with terrible light. We hid quietly not ushering any sound. Suddenly, I felt Kaya move besides me as he made a few small steps out towards our adversaries. His dark black eyes had a look of determination, the eyes of a truly brave man.

"What the blazes!"

Kaya dismembered his right arm without warning. Were my eyes deceiving me? I could not believe what I was seeing at all. He then proceeded to throw his dismembered arm towards the metal men. The arm made a loud thump noise causing all of the metal men to turn towards it. One by one, they walked towards it and looked down at it. What had Kaya just done? This went beyond anything reckless I thought a child like him could ever do. But he was smiling like this was all part of this mastermind plan. While the metal men observed the arm with their giant red eyes, it exploded violently like a miniature dynamite. All I saw after that were vanishing blue light from where the explosion took place. Tiny particles came back towards him and reformed his right arm. What was this child? What kind of enchantment was this? It was truly a terrible power he had indeed. If he wanted, he could have wiped us all a several minutes ago. Question was why didn't he? Ogana and I were stunned that we barely blinked or made any sudden movements. In our eyes, the kid was like a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

"This is the curse granted to me by the white water mist," Kaya said, getting up with a sad look. "I can make my whole body explode and reform again. For some reason, I couldn't use it when I was tied up by those metal monsters. I received this power just before I left Rigudaya. The strange mist I breathed did this to me, just like it did to you."

He was pointing to me and Dashe. I looked at him completely and utterly surprised. I had a hunch that he had also come in contact with that terrible mist too, but I didn't assume it also granted him powers, too. What was astonishing is how much he knew about us. I hadn't told him a lot about me and yet he already knew this much.

"Wait, what?" Ogana interrupted. "You all came from Rigudaya? And you came in contact with the mist?"

Ogana's eyes widened like he had come in contact with treasure. He walked right towards us and examined us one at a time. It felt uncomfortable, but I didn't argue because I figured he had a reason to do it.

"That explains your unusual pupils and the orange color of your eye," he said, speaking to me. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I didn't know exactly how to answer his question. I hardly felt I needed to tell him to begin with.

"It's complicated," I replied him not staring him in the eye. "I didn't know you very well, so I didn't want to say stuff to a stranger."

He laughed loud and said, "true enough; you are right and I barely know you too. However, do you know anything about the white water mist?"

I didn't, but I doubted he was just going to let this issue go. I felt tempted to ask for a brief history, but some knowledge was not always a good thing to know. Such a power always came with a price. I got back to my feet, observing the debris of Kaya's wrath. The destruction was far much more powerful than what I had thought possible. Everything was completely destroyed, burned down to ash.

"Well, I'll tell you," Ogana added, without hearing my answer. "The white water mist is a natural disaster from nature. There have been fools like the Rainku who sought to control the mists by opening the seal only to fail again and cause problems. You see the white water mists can grant you great power, but at the same, it takes a great portion of your life too. Many succumb to the mists and die after a few short hours and there are some like you who survive only to fall victim later. I'm sorry, guys, but these powers you now all possess are nothing short of a nightmare."

He finished and stood up to scout around the smoke. I really wanted to punch him in the face at that moment. This was the last thing I wanted to know. But it was true after all: no great power came without a cost. I had no idea how much time I had left. Although, I knew what I had to do with the remainder of my life. My friends were waiting for me, I had wasted enough time as it was. Kaya looked frightened after what he heard. He came and sat beside me, crying at the horrible news. I could only imagine that he had family still in Rigudaya who had also fallen victim to the mist.

"We'll get through this somehow," I comforted him, patting him on the back. "Is there a way to cure and stop the mist?"

He laughed and nodded, "just ask Ebi."

I didn't get his humor and so did Kaya. Clearly, this wasn't time for horrible jokes. After all no one knew what happened to that mage. We were stuck in enemy territory and now we had learned some terrible news of our own demise. This truly wasn't our day. I told Kaya and Ogana not to tell Dashe, knowing that he would freak out and go berserk at a critical time as this.

"Let's keep moving," I muttered, seeing as the smoke had cleared up and the path ahead now looked visible.

It was stunning and amazing what a little of Kaya's power had done to the walls. They were once white and now they had been turned pitch black. To make matters worse, we were now traveling with him. Kids his age usually had terrible meltdowns; if he had one, we would probably be blown to bits. However, for now he was calm and had a bit control over his power. Ogana carried Dashe while Kaya and I walked beside them. From what I could see, it was a clear path to the bottom. Soon we would come to contact with whatever was doing all this.

"So did you ever go down there before?" I asked Kaya as we walked beside each other.

He nodded in a frightened way and didn't answer. I felt bad for taking him with us, but there seemed to be no other way except forward for all of us.

12

With each minute, we made haste going towards the bottom of this cave or labyrinth. Honestly, I had no clue as to where we were anymore or how far we were beneath the surface. The enemy was already aware of our presence so there was no point of moving in stealth. I began to see the bottom clearly without relying on the power granted to me by the mist. Strangely, the bare ground wasn't tiled like the floor was. I was right, this was a cave indeed. Once we were close to the other metal men, we all slowed down and moved silently in rhythm at the same time, observing our new surroundings.

"Would you look at that!" Ogana stopped and hid behind a giant marble stone structure. "Never seen anything like it."

We all followed suit and hid with him, but also looking at what he was pointing at. The bright red light was huge and truly frightening. It was indeed the same light I had seen when I was still above on the other floors. Up close, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. My arm tingled as I felt a slight discomfort in my stomach. On this ground floor, a battalion of metal men marched around everywhere, working smoothly on their suspicious task.

"Remain quiet or they will notice us," I whispered to them as I gently crept closer for a better view.

Odd!

They were going about their business as if nothing had happened which made me slightly uncomfortable. Had they not been bothered by the strange explosion or were they just playing along until they trapped us again? From the angle I was, I had a better glimpse of the cave. It was terribly huge with anterior of metals built into the wall to stabilize it. There were people inside the cave shackled and being fed into the red light. I looked away for a second, stunned with rage and disbelief, but at the same time, I could not keep my eyes closed. I felt obligated to help them although that would also mean revealing our position to the enemy. All I could do was watch as innocent people got fed into whatever that thing was.

"Hey, Ogana, let go off me," Dashe yelled as he woke up. "If this is your way of apologizing for hitting me, then forget it, you drunk fool."

"Shut up, you idiot," Kaya screamed at him. "Do you want to get us noticed?"

The metal men stopped what they were doing and at looked at our location. Dashe had blown our cover and there was no more use hiding. The enemy was now aware of our presence, and as such they began to charge on our position. They marched distinctively with their weapons well at hand. Eyes piercing at us deeply like cold steel.

"What do we do now?" Ogana yelled to me, throwing Dashe on the floor.

In my eyes, the only option left was to fight head on or submit to the enemy. I got up and clenched my fists tightly, while adjusting my eyes towards my surrounding foes. I was trembling scared, but the thought of being eaten by that light or being turned into those creatures shook away the fear.
"We fight," I yelled loudly.

I had never said something like that before, and probably was going to regret my words later. That being said, I couldn't stop trembling. I was shaking from kin excitement. The thrill of a difficult battle was giving me a joy unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I think deep down I shared the insatiable blood lust like all my kinsmen had. One could only deny his nature for so long. Something that powerful could only be suppressed for a short while before it erupted into destruction.

"What am I saying?" I took my mind off my thoughts and focused on what lay before me.

The number of metal men down here was enough to form an army of soldiers. To make it worse, they were incredibly strong and used some sort of destructive light which shot out of their eyes.

Against so many, we were at a disadvantage; only four of us fighting an army of them. On top to that, they were coming in heavy numbers at the same time. Their movements were so fluent and coordinated and yet they did not speak or signal each other. I focused my eyes behind them and noticed something peculiar. The red light I had been keeping a close eye on was acting strange. For a minute, it closed and opened again like an eye ball.

"I don't believe this," Ogana moved back a little shaken with fear.

"Maybe we should run," Kaya stuttered, moving behind Ogana quickly.

"I don't think that choice is on the table, gentleman," I chuckled and shifted my legs apart.

Another strange red light similar to the first one appeared a few yards from the other one. We heard a strange noise as if gears were clashing against each other. It was rather irritating to my ears as the noise sounded like someone scratching on a board.

"It's coming," Kaya said sounding scared. "The terrible monster is coming."

Looking closely, the strange lights looked like eyes of something terribly big. The ground was shaking as if an earthquake was occurring. Whatever that red light was, it was certainly the source of it. With an army of strange metal men approaching and a terrible metal creature behind them, could we win?

"What now," Dashe rattled impatiently, moving away frantically.

He unsheathed all his swords one at a time and inhaled a deep breath of air, his mind in a state of focus. Judging by his reaction, it looked like he had much more battle experience compared to the rest of us. Finally I was going to get a chance to see what he was truly capable of and what power the white water mists had given him. I just hoped though it hadn't given him an increase in bad manners and attitude.

Whoa!

The giant red eyes slowly levitated up and gazed upon us instantly. I was stunned and frightened that my legs couldn't stop shaking.

"They are coming," Ogana screamed shocking me out of my thoughts. He firmly gripped his spear and dashed to meet them head on. Moving left and right, he zigzagged between them, planning his counterstrike carefully.

The army of metal men attacked and disaster struck. Outnumbered and out powered, we were at a big disadvantage. Even with Kaya's destructive power, we weren't going to get out of this unharmed. And at such a close distance, Kaya's power would roast all of us into ash so we had to keep it at a physical contact type of battle. Unfortunately, our opponents weren't playing fair. They were shooting strange red lights from their eyes which had such destructive power and speed. Ogana was hit on his left arm by two of the strange beams of light, but kept fighting hard. He was ravaging them all over the ground without any care for his life. No fear! I thought. They need you, Rid. I finally took out my sword which I had got from Tom's saddle and joined in the fight. To my surprise, it wasn't doing any damage. It felt like I was using a thin stick to try and break steel walls. The difference in our power was great and far much more than I had ever imagined. Without my mysterious power, our chances of winning were starting to look slim. To my right side, I saw Kaya fighting and holding his ground—he had dismembered both his arms and blew off some of the metal men. The strange red light eyes were looking down on us silently. I could feel nothing in their presence and yet I felt the biggest blood lust from them.

"I don't have a choice," Dashe sighed and stopped his motion. His face took a serious change the moment he sheathed back all of his swords.

What was he doing? I was too far out of reach to get to him and help him. A horde of strange metal men were surrounding him, ready to attack him at moment's notice.

"I never wanted to use this power, but that's no longer an option now." Dashe continued, closing his eyes.

I felt an immense pressure of energy bloating within him. He was about to do something crazy again. Without thinking, I dashed towards him, but was stopped halfway by another batch of metal men. I paused softly, placing my right leg in front and readied myself for their attack. Darn! There was no way I could reach Dashe with them in the way.

"Everyone stand far away back," Dashe said, raising his right arm up into the air, "I'm going to destroy all of them."

Impossible! This many was too much even for Kaya. It would take a miracle to get us out of this jam we were in. Whatever mischief he was about to unleash would surely destroy us all, by my guess. Dashe's arm glowed blue and then vanished in what looked like a miniature dimension portal. What manner of enchantment was this?

Nothing happened at first as we stopped and stared at him. Had he bluffed us? Suddenly, the roof of the cave began to look like a giant portal rip. No one was safe from whatever he was planning. My gut feeling started to tell me to run, but there was nowhere to run, since I was surrounded by a horde of enemies.

Something was terribly wrong. I felt a shift in the air. It was suffocating and almost nauseating, and something told me Dashe was behind this. Firmly, I grasped my sword and took a few steps back away from the metal men.

"Stop it, Dashe," I yelled to him. "There has to be another way to win."

It was too late, he wasn't listening anymore.

Dashe looked back and said, "Sorry, Rid, this is the only way I see."

This feeling! I looked up towards the portal and my eyes widened. Bowls of molted rocks came out of it. This was like a meteor storm up close.

"Feel my wrath," Dashe yelled and more molted rocks came out of it.

This was bad! An attack as powerful as this was not something that could be avoided. The cave was filled with orange light. The darkness vanished, and I could now see clearly the monster that was behind the metal men. It was some sort of canine with multiple tentacles and the very sharp long fangs. It looked like the combination of a wolf in shape and structure combined with the teeth of a saber tooth tiger. The skin was also made from metal and the ever moving tentacles made it looking very intimidating. I stopped thinking, barely dodging a large hot rock. My leg was burned slightly as I had managed to avoid the lava-like substance in the hot rock. Oh no! More were coming and it seemed there was no end to them. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before one of us was a goner. The majority of the metal men had been melted away and the metal dog seemed to be taking the most damaged because of its size.

"Have you gone insane, Dashe?" I rushed towards him at top speed. "You are going to kill all of us."

He wasn't listening and his energy felt different. It felt like he was a whole different person now. His eyes were blurry and he didn't seem to move his body at all as if he was in another place in his mind. The temperature in the cave was rising, starting to look like the inside of a volcano. More and more molted hot rocks were still coming out from the rip he created. Kaya and Ogana seemed to be holding out as Kaya shot some of his fingers at the rocks, making them explode before coming close.

"They won't last longer," I said to myself. "I have to protect them even if it kills me."

Ignoring my pain and the hot floor, I rushed towards Dashe, barely ducking some of the constantly falling rocks that now seemed to be falling faster and faster progressively.

What the! There were still some innocent people in the cave beneath the giant metal dog's legs. In my opinion, it was trying to protect its next meal from being burnt. Whatever the case maybe, it eased my mind and helped me concentrate on stopping Dashe. The familiar flow of the yellow energy began to surround my body again. It was filling me with power and increasing my speed. I had somehow untapped the power of the gauntlet again without realizing it.

"Now I will stop him," I thought out loud, moving at even astonishing speed.

As I got close, I raised my leg high and kicked him in the face, sending him flying into a cave wall. I felt better for some unknown reason. I had wanted to hit him for a long time and now I had done it. The portal in his arm and the one high above us vanished. I had injured Dashe severely and he was barely conscious. Strangely, enough the molted rocks on the ground also disappeared; however, the damage everywhere did not.

"What was that for?" he coughed slowly, his eyes upon me. "You fool!"

With those few words, he closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

13

Finally the meteor storm nightmare was over, but there was still one more problem within our path. It was the metal dog. Although it had taken some damage, it was still standing ever menacingly. I felt a jolt of fear climb up my spine as I looked into its eyes. They were getting bigger and redder than usual. Instinctively I knew what was going to happen next.

"Kaya. Ogana." I yelled to them. "Find cover, now. This monster is about to attack."

The giant metal dog was getting ready to fire those familiar energy lights from its eyes. Judging from the great, big eyeballs, I could tell that taking those beams of light head on would be fatal even for me. It let out a terrible growl and shot out a terrible flash of red light from its eye. Luckily, I was on the move as it barely missed me by the hairs on my neck.

It looked at Dashe next and growled, "this is the end for you, human."

Oh no! Dashe was in trouble and I wasn't close enough to help him. He was not moving an inch, but his breathing was subtle. Dashe was vulnerable and in a lot of danger. Angling my body forward, I slithered past a few broken metal men and stopped halfway, looking up at the monster. It really wasn't trying to bluff us. The monster wanted to erase Dashe at that very moment. I dashed towards him with everything I had, but I still was too far. Within seconds of its next energy beam making contact with Dashe, a figure appeared in front of Dashe. It was Ogana. I don't know how he did it, but there he was and ready to protect Dashe. The strange red light hit Ogana, engulfing his massive body completely. I winced my eyes as I saw the flash of light carry Ogana away into a cave wall. His body hit the wall hard, creating a huge dent into the metal.

"Nooo, Ogaanaaa!" I yelled, reaching my hand, but I was still too far to get to him.

Ogana wasn't moving a muscle and his wound on the chest looked severe. Another blast like that and he would be a goner. My emotions were running wild as I saw two of my companions in critical condition. It was my entire fault they were this way. Just like it was my fault Paul and Tye had been kidnapped. "If only I had been there quicker, if only I had done something. Anything."

My anger began to swirl uncontrollably; I felt a sudden change in my own energy and another unfamiliar presence. The bloodlust inside me was incredibly overwhelming. I wanted to take my fury on something, anything would do. My body tensed as I looked up at the metal dog, my first victim. No, control yourself!

I couldn't let my anger take over again, otherwise I would lose myself again.

"Rats! I held back too much," the metal dog growled, now attacking with its tentacles. "This time I will get them all."

"What now?" I stopped moving completely.

My body was frozen stiff for some unknown reason. It wouldn't respond to my commands. In that moment, I felt a strange object grab my waist so tight. It was a long metal tentacle belonging to the metal dog. In mere moments, the creature had all of us in each tentacle. The tentacles lifted us up closer towards the giant menacing creature.

"Ogana, are you okay?" I yelled, turning my head with difficulty towards him.

He was barely alive and covered in blood. Dashe was in the same condition although his injuries weren't as bad. I struggled to get loose; however, its grasp on me was tight and strong.

"I'm sorry, but I can't use my power up close," Kaya cried, "I would destroy you all."

"Whatever happens, don't use it, "I agreed with him in a loud growl. "I will get us out of this pickle, somehow."

I felt bad for putting them all in this condition, and I had to make it right again. My anger was still swirling wildly, building up at an astonishing speed. I could barely hold it as it felt like it was about to erupt. Budging hard, I couldn't get free from the tentacle as I rattled left and right. Perhaps, I was more injured than I had presumed. Only thing I could do was buy some time by making this creature talk.

"So what are you?" I asked it.

Its eyes looked at me with such an evil intent as it swizzed hard on me more. It laughed and drew me in closer with its tentacle, "I am your worst nightmare."

That wasn't good enough. I had to stall for more time to let my anger drop and regain mobility of my body.

"I heard from people you are Katarina Fox's personal pet," I lied, hoping it would work. "And I also heard she got you from the future."

The metal dog growled loudly, almost ripping my ear drums. For a few seconds, all I could hear was strange ringing in my ear.

"Your sources are wrong." it snapped. "What I have with Katarina Fox is a mutual agreement. She brought me to this world from another dimension and made a pact with me."

It took one of the innocent people beneath its feet with its tentacle and swallowed him whole into its mouth. I felt my anger spike up again after I had done so much to suppress it.

"In this world, I have a supply of humans as many as I can eat," it continued. "In return for this wonderful meal, I give her some of my power and technology to use for her cities. I make weapons and soldiers for her and I all I require are humans to eat. I would say that's a pretty great trade, right?"

I had heard enough. I wanted to destroy it using every remainder of my strength. What was this unbearable feeling? This incredible wrath that swelled deep within me, threatening to consume me whole. I tried hard to suppress it, but it wouldn't subside at all.

"Now you are next," it growled, bringing me close to its mouth with its tentacle.

I felt an ominous blood lust in the air. Frighteningly enough, it was coming from me.

All of a sudden, I began to laugh like a maniac. I was staring death in the face and yet I felt alive. Something was taking over my body and I couldn't do anything to stop it. In fact, it felt like I didn't want to stop it. This rage, this insatiable bloodlust felt like the real me.

"That's fine with me," I said in a voice not my own. "But I'm a meal that likes to fight back."

My mind felt warped and my body felt stiff and different. I could feel a terrible killing intent brewing strongly from within me. Everything around was becoming clouded, I had let my anger take over and this was the price I was paying for it. Seconds before I lost consciousness, I noticed my tattoo glow and two flintlocks appear in my hands. They were black in color; not too light and not too heavy, but just right. This was the second time I had seen these fine piece of artillery, since the time I was still in Rogue. My father' s friend Lai Leing had brought these weapons over as royal gifts for my father, but he had thrown them away after his friend left. I remembered his saying: "a warrior doesn't need useless trinkets to fight in a real battle."

Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled into darkness while something vile took control of my body. My anger was going wild and I had no way to stop it. I kept falling into what looked like a pool of darkness. The light above me seemed to be getting farther and farther away. I couldn't control what was going through me, it felt like I was being pulled into oblivion. I was right! A yellow energy seemed to be surrounding my body as if I was entering a hole filled with it. Fortunately, I could now move my body as I saw where I was headed. I was kind of freaking out because this sort of thing had never happened to me before. There appeared to be land beneath what I thought was a well. It still felt like I was in water though when I landed on the ground.

"Finally you've come," a voice spoke to me.

****

15

Where was I? I looked behind and saw a dark tanned older man sitting on a rock with a flute in his hands. He wore long robe made of sapphire blue, covered around by a long, thin sash going across his torso. There were leather woven scandals covering her feet along with a hidden dagger close to his left Achilles' tendon.

"I never imagined it would be a Roguean; however, destiny is unpredictable. Sit down, child, and let's talk!"

I didn't like the way he said "a Roguean" it sounded he had something against me because of my country. I tried to look for another way out because I didn't feel like hearing what he had to say.

"I said sit please," he said again, sounding impatiently. "We really need to talk."

I ignored him of course, but then suddenly he swiftly moved towards me and knocked me down with his flute. For an old timer, he was incredibly fast and skilled. Such power could only mean he was truly a grandmaster of the arts.

"Okay," I responded, getting back to my feet and sitting on the ground next to the rock. "What do you want?"

He looked at me and then closed his eyes, taking a breath of fresh air. "You young-folks don't learn unless you get a spanking. You clearly have no respect for your elders, do you?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't interrupt, fearing he might hit me again with his flute. And for some reason, the pain wouldn't go away as I continuously rubbed my head to ease it. I think his flute might have been made of diamond or some kind of hard material because it hurt really badly.

"Now are you ready to talk?" he asked me again, returning back to his sit on top of the rock.

I nodded quickly and kept very quiet the whole time. He chuckled to himself and started playing his flute. He played greatly, but I didn't like it. In my opinion, the flute was the most annoying music based instrument. In fact whenever father had a banquet, I would skip out whenever the music started playing and come back after. I just truly hated it.

"Life is full is mysteries," he sighed, putting his flute down on his lap. "I would never have guessed that my gauntlet of destiny would end up in the hand of a Roguean outcast."

His gauntlet! To me it sounded like he was saying that he was the wizard Ebi. This had to be a dream and I really wished it would end soon. I wrestled with doubt on whether to believe him or not. Although, his physical appearance and mental prowess were definitely wizard-like.

"It seems you left your anger stored up inside, causing it to manifest a personality of its own." He continued, folding his arms tightly.

"You stupid fool! My gauntlet is being misused for the wrong purpose and to make things worse by a Roguean."

Okay, I could live with him insulting me, but insulting my kinsmen was another thing.

"Shut up," I yelled at him rudely. "If you want your stupid gauntlet, you can take it. It has brought me nothing, but trouble and you are not really real. The wizard Ebi died a long time ago."

Something told me I had gone too far and would regret it. The old man looked really pissed off as I could see his skin turn red

"I am Ebi! You ungrateful child."

For the next few minutes, he hit me with his flute all over. There was barely any part of my body that was not swollen and hurting. I had trouble blinking because of a swollen eyelid. What an abusive man.

"Now let's talk more," he said with a serious face. "I have something I need to tell you and it's very important."

"What if I don't want to listen?"

It seemed the more we talked, the more things went badly for me. I kept quiet, fearing another beating. I don't know how much my body would take because of the intense pain.

"There is a reason you are here now," he continued, "by now, you should have discovered the first level of the gauntlet's power. The first level is the First Blast Attack. Yes, naming your attacks sound like a terrible idea, but it helps your mind focus completely on your attack, allowing you to use it perfectly. This attack is the jolt of yellow energy you conjured and used to fight those metal men with. And it is the first level out of an infinite amount of power each responding to your emotion of courage. Why do you think the Rainku tried to get it back so hard? Because its power surpasses theirs, making you a threat to their empire. However, you don't have the time to master such an immense power which is a problem."

All of what he said sounded complicated. I was really beginning to hate knowing the truth and origins of pretty much anything, but what he said made the gauntlet sound pleasant indeed.

"Hey, old man," I began, "if it's so powerful, then why didn't you defeat the Rainku yourself and saved me the trouble?"

He blushed and hit me again in the head a few more times and said, "I was tricked. Just as I was about to unleash my full power, Katarina and another female Rainku used a very powerful combination and caught me off guard. One of them then sealed a portion of my soul into this gauntlet and that's how I'm here right now."

A victim, yeah right!

"It sounded like you were a pervert," I laughed, ignoring the pain. "Wow, what a lecherous wizard, you surprise me."

He snapped and hit me more times with his flute, telling me to take back what I had said. "Beware! Katarina Fox is a very dangerous woman," he mumbled, eating something strange from his pocket. "It's not just seduction she is good at. Her trident gave me quite the trouble when we were fighting."

I was glad certain secrets were being revealed, but still it wouldn't help me when I faced her in Danyen. I needed more than knowledge if I ever stood a chance of winning.

"When you come back next time, I will teach you everything," he finished and disappeared with everything else.

"What now," I looked around as I was pulled out of the yellowish world.

At that moment, I was awake again, and had two guns in my hands. I seemed to be getting ready to finish off the metal dog. I didn't understand the situation, although it looked like my new split personality was about to win the duel. Quickly, I took over, suppressing my anger, letting go off the triggers. The metal dog looked very badly injured. One of its legs had been ripped off and I think it was by my own doing. It was hard to even believe I had manifested a split personality by storing up all my pent up anger.

"What are you waiting for? Finish me already, you worthless human," it growled, rage consuming the beast.

Even though it had done terrible things to so many, I just couldn't pull the trigger and do it. I didn't have any more anger to brutally slaughter it.

"No, I won't do it," I replied it, backing away as the two guns I had faded from my hands.

They seemed to be connected to my gauntlet somehow and yet I couldn't use them unlike my other personality. The whole area was in tatters. It looked like a great battle had taken place inside this cave. There was a small cough which made my eyes turn to my left. A few yards from me, Kaya was kneeling next to Dashe and Ogana. Thank goodness, I thought. The others were not hurt during my rampage. It must have been frightening for someone his age to witness me in that state. On that moment, I vowed never to use my anger to hurt others close to me again. I just hoped though I could keep that promise because there were so many people that annoyed me like Dashe, who constantly irritated me with his rude personality and remarks.

"What happened to you? Please stay away," Kaya whispered. He sounded scared, when I approached him and so did all the other remaining people.

From the destruction I saw around and the bruises on his arm, it looked like Kaya had protected everyone, using his power against me and the metal dog.

I couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on his mind at that moment and all I said was, "I'm sorry."

Dashe and Ogana were alive, but unconscious. It seemed some of the people we had helped had treated some of their wounds and probably saved their lives. I wanted to thank them, but I didn't. The look in their eyes showed me fear, fear towards me.

"Darn you," the metal dog monster got up. "You think it's over? I have devoured more humans than you could imagine and killed foes larger than yourself, so don't think you can just turn your back to me and walk away."

It began to charge at me on three legs with everything it had. Everyone was startled, but not me. I barely flinched, and strangely my heart did not falter. Instinctively, I lifted up my arm and fired a yellow jolt of energy at it directly, aiming for its head. I was not surprised; I knew it would work. I watched it crash backwards and growl in pain. This time the blast knocked me back a whole lot more. The ferocity of power in the attack was stronger than the one I had fired before against one of the metal men. Finally, it was over. The metal dog went down permanently and exploded. Like the rest, it turned into blue light and vanished before our very own eyes. Things were all starting to come together now. It seemed that anything brought to our world by the trident of time and space, if destroyed, would turn into blue light and vanish. It was still just an assumption and I had a feeling I was going to test it out sooner than I expected. I heard loud rambling noises and I looked up. The roof of the cave was about to collapse on us. We had to get out quickly before we were crushed completely. Only problem was that there was no way to escape this cave. Every entrance had been sealed off and the roof up was being blocked off by the falling rocks and metal.

"Everyone, listen," I yelled to, alerting them to our prior situation. "We have to take refuge somewhere now."

I tensed slowly as I had no idea what to do next. After all, I was never good at thinking under pressure.

"Rid, throw me up," Kaya said, "I will destroy every falling thing into dust."

That actually sounded like a good idea; the only problem was that it was a double-edged plan. The chances of his power destroying the roof of the cave were high along with the chances of us being caught in the aftermath. Could we take this chance? Darn! The unstable debris of the falling cave began to fall even faster than before like they were possessed. What on earth was this? I had never seen anything like it before—my mouth opened as I lost all words.

"It's now or never," Kaya pulled my shirt as the chunks of rocks were halfway towards us.

We were a thousand feet beneath the surface so the chances of us surviving all those falling rock were slightly less than zero. I did what Kaya told me and threw him in the air with everything I had. I watched as he came in contact with the falling rocks and exploded viciously.

"Everyone, duck now." I yelled at the people next to me, "and don't let go of those two."

I ordered them, pointing to Dashe and Ogana. The explosion was so massive that it filled the whole cave with rock dust. Outside light filled the cave as we began to see the a little more clearly. The sun had already set as the moon was beginning to appear. Time seemed to have flown by fast up there. Cautiously, I got back to my feet and coughed up some dirt, stretching my arms slowly. It was still too dusty to see anything inside the cave.

"Kaya," I yelled out into the dust. "Where are you?"

He was nowhere to be seen. Out of the nowhere, small particles began to emerge, taking on a physical form. I could see a tiny body come together and seconds later, Kaya's body was dropping down towards us. With my slightly injured body, I rushed towards him and caught him before his body hit the ground.

"I don't want to do that again," he whispered to me before his eyes closed. "It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be."

I smiled as I put him down and said, "It's a promise."

Phew! Our nightmare was over, but this entire explosion was going to attract attention soon. I couldn't believe we had survived all of that in one piece. My body felt tired and my feet had been burned off by Dashe's last attack. The trembling in my arms wouldn't stop, I had pushed myself beyond my limits. Whatever had occurred, when I was asleep or in the other world, was now affecting me physically in the real world. Every muscle in my body hurt. I couldn't move an inch without pain.

"Katarina isn't going to like this at all," I chuckled, trying to stay awake.

With all my strength, I struggled to stay up before she appeared, but I couldn't. Someone appeared from the shadows. I felt their presence lingering towards me as I knew somehow who it was. It was Suzanne and she had her arms folded the whole time. What was she doing here? Had she been here the whole time? I couldn't look her in the eye and tell her the bad news about her brother. But did she already know? Was she working with Katarina Fox?

"You guys made quite a mess didn't you?" she muttered, smiling gently. "For a moment, I thought the world was coming to an end, but it turned out to be you morons."

"I'm sorry, Suzanne, but Sam is dead," I said, cutting her off. I wanted to get over with before it was too late.

But to my surprise, she started laughing. "You fool, I don't have a brother named Sam. That paper was something I just wrote down and gave to you. I sent you to them because I wanted to test out your strength and conviction, to see if you had what it takes to face Katarina."

What! It didn't make sense, but to be truthful, I was relieved in hearing that and at the same time angry with her. We had almost lost our lives countless times just for her amusement. I couldn't stand just the thought of it, but I didn't lash out at her. I was too tired and completely worn out to get into an argument with anyone.

"Oh! I see," I said in a sincere way and closed my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

14

"Oh, so you are back," Ebi said, hiding a strange mirror he had in his hands. "I didn't realize you would come back so soon."

It appeared I was back in that place that I once thought was the inside of a well. Truly my dreams were getting weirder and weirder each time. How could such a world exist? This went beyond my wildest imagination of what I thought possible. The old man had been startled by my return; he was covering something behind him and I wanted to know what kind of mirror it was.

"What is that behind you?" I spoke in a curious manner going towards him. "Come on, you can show me. There is no one besides me and you here."

He blushed and moved back, his hands hidden behind his back. It was looking suspicious and arousing my curiosity even more. I walked slowly towards him with my eyes opening wider in intense interest.

"It's nothing, child. Why don't you just uh warm up and I will get back to you," he said, waving me away with his right hand.

I wasn't going to just give up. I moved swiftly and grabbed the mirror before he could hide it behind the rock. The mirror showed the real world and it looked like he was looking at some maidens near an ocean. I laughed out loud at him and I could hardly believe that this was what he did with all his spare time.

"You really are a dirty old man," I teased him, waving it in his face.

He got irritated by my actions and moved in quickly, dropping me flat using the hinge end of his flute. The look in his eye showed me resenting fury. I gave it back instantly, fearing he might hit me again with his powerful music instrument.

"No more games. Now that you are here, I can explain a few things," he coughed, while stashing his flute into his upper robes. "As I said before, the gauntlet is a powerful weapon of unimaginable power. However, with no exceptions, it takes time and patients to master it. And one other exception—you must have a heart that is not tainted completely by darkness. The Rainku could not use this gauntlet or my other two treasures because their hearts were soiled and filled with evil."

Not tainted by evil? I wasn't' sure I fit that description. My heart was far from pure. I had done a lot of terrible things in the past. Nothing I could do now would change all of that. I would also say the same for Paul and Tye. We weren't exactly free from darkness. But, perhaps, we had been given a chance to redeem ourselves and change our future.

"But wait a minute!" I thought of something. "What will happen to my friends Tye and Paul? Katarina might just kill them soon or they are already....."

"Calm down," he stopped me and paused for a second. "They are not dead. I can feel their energy right now because part of my soul is attached to the other treasures. They are barely alive; their life force is weak, although clinging on strongly."

What good fortunes! My friends were still alive. I kept believing and hoping that all of my actions weren't in vain. That being said, it felt too good to be true. I meaning sensing people that far away seemed almost unfeasible. Was he really the legendary Ebi?

"Don't doubt, you fool," he hit me in the head with his flute. "Trust me, I can feel them."

Could he read my mind? Hopefully not—at that moment, I was thinking a hundred ways to destroy his flute. Thinking that way helped me pass time as I continued to hear the old man blabber about his stupid gauntlet.

"Imbecile say what," he said and I replied, "what?"

He got so angry and hit me in the face with his flute. It felt worse than a slap and more painful than a punch. I clearly had to get that flute away from him and destroy it before it destroyed my head.

"Will you pay attention now?" he asked this time raising his annoying flute at me.

I nodded, trying to not get hit again. Having realized that my pain would only increase if I kept resisting, I decided to give him my full attention to avoid any more pain.

"This is important," he began, "I know that even if I told you to flee Okaya, you wouldn't do it. You are not strong enough to face Katarina Fox and remember she also has a great power she received from the white water mists and trust me it's a dirty trick and deadly. You need to stay here with me for at least ten years before you can face the Rainku."

Ten years! That was too much even for me. By the time I was done, Tye and Paul would be dead. I refused his offer and told him that I would save them my own way even it meant sacrificing my life. Although I thought what I said was noble, he still snapped and hit me in the head with his fist this time. Clearly, he had some anger management issues and he seemed to be taking them out on me. I'd imagine being stuck in the world inside this gauntlet would make him less hostile, but I was wrong. It had actually made him more primitive and senile than I feared. I just hoped though he could help me somehow unlock a secret power that would help me defeat the Katarina Fox without staying here that long.

"It's futile," I said, holding the swollen half of my left cheek. "I'm going no matter what you say. So tell me something useful like a powerful attack or enchantment."

Due to the previous events, I had managed to gain a bit of courage to face my problems and I must say it felt good. He started to laugh as he looked up; there was nothing up there and yet he found joy in that. I couldn't tell what he was thinking and planning. My heart was in a calamity of confusion the more I thought of my friends, Tye and Paul. How were they? What were they doing right now? I needed to get to them fast and release them from the clutches of those powerful monsters. This meant swallowing my pride and asking desperately for help, even from someone I didn't really like.

"Help me please," I begged him, getting on my knees. "Just help me rescue my friends soon and I will do whatever it takes."

It was probably not the best choice of words. Used carefully, my words would be turned against me by this old man.

"You have a great heart," he said, smiling. "But are you sure you will do whatever it takes, even if it means destroying all the members of the Rainku around the world?"

"Whoa! Whoa! I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet if I were you."

See! I was right. All I wanted to do was have him help me take out one member if possible, but now he demanded I take out all of them. If he couldn't beat them, when he was said to be a very powerful wizard, then what chance did I have? I couldn't agree with his words. I thought it through for a while as I decided what action to take. My friends were more important, but going against the Rainku was just clear stupidity.

"Well," he asked as he was getting impatient. "Will you do it or not?"

He demanded an answer right away and I wasn't ready to give him one yet. Now more than ever, I wanted to just wake up and see what was going on in the real world.

"I'll decide later," I replied with a long sigh. "Right now, I need to wake up and check on my injured friends."

Slowly and painfully, I slapped myself very hard on my left cheek, and only felt an intense throb rush into my head. But that wasn't enough; I was still trapped in this forsaken world. I tried almost everything painfully possible and yet it didn't work.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," he laughed. "This world is one created by the gauntlet, so you can't leave unless it's time to."

Well, that was convenient. Only if I had known sooner, I wouldn't have busted my knuckles on the ground like that. It felt like the old man was enjoying my humiliation and self realized stupidity, though what he said clearly bothered me.

"What do you mean when it's time?" I asked him, putting pressure on my bruised knuckles. "And what do you mean the world created by the gauntlet?"

He kept laughing as if I had said something funny. "If you had asked me in the first place, I would have told you. The more I look at you, the more I realize that you are a fool."

He was right, to my horror. I had felt that this creepy yellow place felt rather weird and abnormal. I could feel an intensified burst of pain whenever I was in this world unlike in my normal dreams. To be precise, I would say that this world was almost real. Not some imaginary enchanted illusion. But if it was an illusion, then it was a really good one.

"Child, if you complete the first five levels of your training, then you may leave," he said, leaping off the rock he was sitting at and looking through his mirror, giggling. "If only I was still a young lad and free." He sighed as he looked widely through his strange mirror.

So I was stuck with him till I was ready? That truly sounded like a horrible nightmare. What he said before tormented my mind constantly. Ten years of training could make me stronger, but it was way too long. I had another critical question to ask him and hopefully he had the answer to it.

"Hey, old man," I began after readjusting my weight to sit properly. "I fought a creature off with a burst of intense energy far stronger than the yellow energy. Not me to be exact, but the other me or my anger. I don't know how this works. Can you explain what that was?"

He didn't answer as he kept on looking through his mirror, giggling like a true pervert. By then I knew that asking him was a waste of time. He was far too occupied to help me.

"I see," he finally spoke, startling me completely. "You subconsciously released your rage and it gave you more power. That's to be expected from a Roguean, although, a few of you can manage to bottle up your anger this long without destroying everything. But thanks to that, your anger has taken a new personality that could destroy you and everyone else you care for."

Okay, that bothered me. I always thought I was exceptionally different from my country. I thought being good at suppressing my anger was actually helping me in that long run. I guess I was wrong. Not only was my anger monstrous, it consumed me completely whenever I let my emotions control me. And to make things worse, my anger had two guns.

Speaking of which, I had to ask him why I couldn't summon those weapons unless I was completely enraged. I believed those weapons were vital in my next battles as I wrestled my way into Danyen.

"So what about the guns? Why can't I summon them unless I am angry?"

That finally caught his attention and he put away his mirror, and looked at me in a puzzled manner and laughed to himself. My body tensed as I felt a slight aggression to get up and punch him. I think he deserved it.

"I have a flute—it was my weapon and you have two flintlocks," he said, holding his flute proudly.

"The gauntlet chooses weapons suitable for us to use in battle. I would say anger is the key to bringing them out so you need to face your anger and hatred if you want to control your power."

Oh, that made things a whole lot easier. Fighting my other personality for his guns seemed like suicide to me and I didn't think he would be someone I could defeat. What am I saying? I was talking about myself, actually fearing myself.

"Are you sure?" I replied, frightened at the idea. "Can't I just borrow them or steal them from him without fighting him?"

Ebi looked upset as he stood up and smacked me in the head with his flute lightly. "You are such a coward and fear is not going to save your friends from certain doom. The only way to succeed in life is to face what you dread the most and overcome it, Riyo."

After saying that to me, I felt an ominous presence start to rise. The once yellow sky was now in a state of blend between orange and yellow. At first, a mist-like form emerged, but then it took shape and a visible nature. What was this feeling? I felt a presence consumed in rage and fury. Something very terrible and vile was coming, emerging out of the mist.

"You truly are pathetic and don't deserve the power you have been given," a voice hissed from within, and somehow I was struck from behind by a wave of pure light energy.

In an instant, I caught a glimpse of my attacker and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Whoa, that guy really is me," I whispered in pain at the sudden epiphany.

The energy of the blast was so intense and painful that I couldn't regain my posture as I fell a good distance away. I couldn't believe my other self was a dirty fighter. He hadn't even given me a chance to prepare at all as he kept attacking relentlessly. But then again he was me, and this is what I truly was like on the inside. This was what I was capable of when I was angry, truly frightening. His rage and madness blinded him to anything else, even logic. To my surprise, I managed to evade some of his attacks by maneuvering out of his arm's span. With that opportunity, I summoned all of the yellow energy from the gauntlet in time to counterattack. It was like looking in a mirror, except at a shabbier and psychotic version of myself. His hair was red with black lashes like mine except some of it was up. He wore the same clothes as me and the cotton cloak to shield the cold. "I see why they were laughing."

I started laughing out loud, finally realizing why everyone was making fun of me before. It was terribly ridiculous and I truly couldn't believe I had been dressed like that the whole time.

"Stop laughing," my other self boomed, firing beams of light from two guns that had suddenly appeared in his hands. "Everything that has happened to you was because of your own weakness. Father was right about you. You are nothing, but a waste of pure royal blood."

"Just shut up already," I screamed in despair, my feelings hurt a little bit.

I knew deep down he was right. In the depths of my heart, I truly felt this way about myself.

"You can't even fight for yourself despite all the power you have gained," he rattled and shot a massive amount of energy bullets all, one after another. "Just drop down and die. You would be doing all of us a favor in the end."

The energy emitted was intense and scattered everywhere making it impossible to evade by any means. The sky changed to pitch black as numerous red energy bullets descended upon me. Even with the yellow energy covering my body, I was going to suffer massive damage if those blasts managed to make contact. From the back of my eye, I noticed that he had already vanished into the air to make another offensive attack at me. With no other choice left, I took a gamble and summoned all the yellow energy into one hand before throwing it in the direction of the incoming blasts. Instantly, I was thrown backwards as I watched the opposite lights collide and illuminate the sky.

"Where are you looking at?" my other self whispered from behind me. Somehow he had managed to slip by me and had his guns pointed at my back. "Your sympathy and kindness blinds you and makes you fragile and vulnerable. Goodbye, weakling."

A sudden burst of pain emerged as I was shot upwards into the sky. This fight seemed over for me. He was clearly superior in speed and power, and all my hope of victory seemed to go down the drain. I gritted my teeth as I tried hard not to lose myself to the pain.

"Just die already," he hissed, appearing in front of me. "Your pitiful existence makes me sick."

How was he doing that? It felt like he could fly. Perhaps in this world, one could do more than he dreamed possible. With my hands shielding my head and chest, I waited carefully waiting for my chance.

He ruthlessly attacked me all over the sky with all his might, doing more harm to me than good. Was he trying to kill me? What a fiend! Clearly if I lost then it was going to be over for all my friends and possibly for me. What made it worse was that he didn't give me a chance to rest or get up. He really wanted me out of the way. Breathing heavily, I caught a glimpse or vision of Tye and Paul in a room being beaten to death. I blinked unknowingly.

What! Was this really happening? I could no longer tell the difference between illusions, visions from reality. Everything was all jumbled up in my mind, thanks to this stupid gauntlet. My face was smashed into the ground by the other evil me and I coughed up blood. Filled with anger, I caught the heel of his foot and threw him as hard as I could. I watched him fall a few yards across into some rubble. He didn't bother getting up for a few seconds as I punted out loud. Just what was that vision? I couldn't take it any longer. All my bottled up feelings were starting to emerge after what I had seen. Pure raw anger exploded within me and my breathing changed rapidly with each second. I was angry; however, in control of myself.

"What is this?"

The yellow energy merged with the orange energy and two flintlocks appeared in each of my hand. They looked different from the ones the other me had. The guns were connected by white sashes that swerved rapidly behind me. They resonated with my emotions, converting them into energy my guns absorbed. I now understood what was happening at that moment. I had been given a chance to fight back and I wasn't going to waste it.

"You got a little power and now you think you can take me on, huh, Rid?" my other self whispered from behind.

"Don't you ever get tired of the dirty tactics?" I asked.

Rather infuriating, it seemed that's all he could do against me. He shot me with two bullets of rage, knocking me off my feet forward. How odd! For some reason, they didn't hurt as I would have imagined. Before he could attack again, I instinctively ducked and rolled back a few inches before shooting two jolts of lights at the fiend. He didn't take it too kindly as I could feel his intense anger leap a few times up. It seemed the more I dragged this long, the stronger his rage got. His anger surpassed my own and so did his firepower. I was clearly in deep trouble.

"He is a manifestation of your own anger, Rid. Don't lose to yourself or you won't be able to save your dear friends," Ebi yelled, running for his life from a blast that was coming for him.

"Easier said than done!"

In my mind, I knew that there was no way Ebi could dodge that attack. So I dashed at full power and intercepted the attack using my own body before it hit him. The energy filled bullet him me dead center in the chest, causing me falter back. Tired and injured, my life force seemed to be dwindling, holding barely on a whim. A few more seconds of that kind of abuse and I would be a goner. Although, I could still win this. Both of our powers were very steadily dropping down which meant the next few seconds would decide it all. Like my own, his guns also sipped the life energy out of him too, meaning one last final move. He was me, so that was what he was thinking too.

"You are mine," he said firing two of the hugest bullets of rage. He grinned meanly already celebrating his impending victory.

"I guess it can't be helped."

I was prepared to sacrifice all my life energy if it came down to it. Slowly, I focused my aim by closing one eye, adjusting my breathing. Seconds later, I fired two giant blasts of energy bullets towards him without any hesitation. It depleted more energy than I thought and sent my body tattering backwards. Before I realized it, I hit the ground, knees trembling terribly. My skull felt cracked and heavy. I raised my head and saw the four massive blasts intercept, resulting in a huge explosion. My energy bullets overcame his and hit him almost wiping everything out. I felt overjoyed and began to have faith that I could do anything if I believed. I had grown stronger and reached a new level; on top of that, I had managed to destroy the other me. As I was getting ready to close my eyes I caught a glimpse of him. He was still alive and kicking although badly hurt.

"I will not lose to the like of you," he growled out loudly, getting up and charging directly towards me.

No! I was in trouble, I thought. With no strength left, I couldn't escape or move as I saw him vanish in the air in quick speed towards me. Instantly he was right on top of me, getting ready to deliver the final blow when the strangest thing happened. The gauntlet glowed on my arm and repelled him backwards into the air. He didn't drop down—in fact, he turned into orange light, fading away slowly.

"You haven't won yet, Rid," he grinned menacingly with a dark stare. "Eventually the anger will take over and you will destroy everything you love dearly. That is your destiny, the destiny of all Rogueans."

"No I won't," I whispered towards him as I panted heavily.

"You say that now, but wait till you know the truth. We shall meet again next time for I am you."

15

The battle with myself was finally over. I looked into the sky as I sighed a breath of relief. There was one thing that still bothered me more than anything. It was the last thing my other personality said before he disappeared. What did he mean by that? What truth was he talking about? Something about his words sent chills down my spine.

"Phew I'm glad that nightmare is over," Ebi said, standing next to me with his mirror in his hands. "For a second there, I thought you were a goner."

Yeah right!

I so wanted to stand up and kick him in the head badly, but I couldn't even stand. Every muscle in my body responded to any movement I made with agonizing, sinking pain. To my amazement, my new weapons didn't disappear until I thought it. They were indeed powerful and yet dangerous to wield. If I wasn't careful enough, I would shoot away my normal life force, resulting in death. Definitely, an odd dilemma to be in considering my dire situation.

"I evaluated your style of battle, stamina and your potential will power. To be honest, I am not impressed," Ebi chuckled, folding his hands, looking at the distant plains.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I smiled sarcastically, massaging my sore left palm.

"Now we can get to the basics," he continued as he adjusted his posture. "There is one thing you have to do before I teach you everything. Promise me that you will defeat all the Rainku, and all my wisdom and power will be passed down to you."

Goodness, no. That sounded like suicide.

He was playing dirty again. I didn't want to face all those monsters at all. It was bad luck that had intertwined our fates with the Rainku and I didn't want to make it worse by charging at them. True enough, they had taken over most of the world except for a few major countries like Rogue and Iyenka, who had enough monstrous power to fight back. Nevertheless, the Rainku were ruthless monsters that needed to be stopped. And I definitely wasn't the right man stupid enough to attack them head-on. But Ebi had faith in me. He believed that I had the potential and strength for such a task. He was indeed a fool to think that; however, I needed his help to rescue Paul and Tye. I thought to myself for a second as this was a difficult decision. The look in Ebi's eyes told me that he wasn't someone I could fool. At my current level, I was no match for her, I could barely take on a few of her minions, let alone her army. It was now excruciatingly clear what my options in the matter were. With that in my mind, I quickly agreed to his deal under the condition that my training would be short as time was all that held Tye and Paul's lives.

"Okay," he agreed and smiled. "In this world, the rules of reality don't apply. This world exists outside the laws of time and space. As long as I am in this world, I can use my power to stop time, making a decade here one day in the real world. So don't worry!"

"Okay, he is insane," I thought out loud. Something like that wasn't possible at all and yet he was serious about it. "You are joking, right?"

He didn't look like he was joking at all as he quickly shook his head. He mumbled something in an ancient language and raised his pinky. I was shocked as I got back to my feet, moving closer for a better look. Suddenly, it glowed and green energy chains shot out and surrounded the place quickly, stopping everything. The lazy looking clouds in sky stopped in place as all went quiet, silent to the core. Wait! Was that it? Did he really think I would buy that? I wasn't a mere fool and it was going to take more than his words and this illusion to convince me otherwise.

Everything in this world seemed dead and completely still as if frozen. His trick was rather convincing, if I was a child that is. This place had to be some sort of illusion my eyes were playing on me. That being said, I still couldn't get out of it even if I wanted to.

"Now let's begin," he exhaled, taking out his flute. "Time is not on our side, Rid."

Was he about to play me a tune? I seriously hope not; it was the last thing I wanted to hear at the moment. As I dreaded, he indeed started playing a strange tune, moving slightly towards me.

It emitted a strange noise which somehow jolted my body peculiarly. I began to feel different as my body was rejuvenated miraculously. What was this feeling? I no longer felt the dreadful sensation of pain and fatigue.

Without a word, he attacked and I barely dodged, "What was that for?"

I took a few steps back and aligned my body in a defensive position. Ebi had gone senile, not good. In two quick steps to the right, he charged towards me without warning, raising his flute like a weapon. What was he trying to accomplish by attacking me? I mean I didn't want to hurt him, but at the same time I didn't want him to do otherwise. Within a second of getting a fractured skull, I managed to block his flute with the hilt of my new weapons. They had instinctively appeared in my hands, ready to do my biding. Ebi was strong. He was powerful enough to overcome me even without the aid of any of the ultimate treasures, not accounting his age of course.

"Don't hesitate or I will truly kill you," he growled, chanting something unknown to me. His whole body became like a lightning rod, channeling energy of lightning through his fingers towards me. "If you can't beat me, then you might as well give up on your friends."

"Never," I growled, panting hard.

It was truly difficult, much tougher than my recent battle with my other self by far. The difference in power and strength between us was like heaven and earth. Ebi was truly a man worthy of his legendary status. We battled for what seemed like an eternity, neither of us willing to give up. I knew what lay in my path, so I had to give it my all in this training. However, I couldn't keep up with him, my stamina was dwindling the longer the guns stayed in my hands. Realizing my fatal weakness, I waltzed back and gave myself sometime to rest. Ebi seized this opportunity and moved in close into my blind spot. With one quick swoop, he moved behind me and hit the back of my knees violently. I yelped as I fell to the ground in pain. Who knew a blow to the back of the knees could hurt so much?

"Are you giving up, Rid?" Ebi asked, standing right in front of me, his right hand clutching his flute.

"Not yet," I replied, standing up slowly. My knees were weak; all that held me up was my will.

"Good then let us continue. I want to build up more on your stamina and endurance."

The next few hours went by so slow while I did nothing, but dodge his incantations and flute. His movements were hard to predict and his speed and agility were impressive for an older man that is. Ebi only allowed me to rest when I dropped unconscious, only to wake me up rudely. It was like that every day, the madness never ended. What had I agreed to? I wanted to be trained and taught ways to defeat Katarina Fox, although not like this. This world was unbearable. There was no food, animals or other people to talk to except for him. I was going insane just thinking about it. Few weeks passed by and to me it seemed like one big giant blur. There was some light to this situation though, my evading skills got better—can't say the same for my offense power. Ebi's was like a closed book. He left no openings for me to take advantage of.

"Come on, old man, give me a break," I complained everyday and yet he did not stop.

For some reason, he seemed determined to push me beyond my endurance limits. After a while, I began to see a pattern in his attacks. I couldn't believe it had taken me ages to see it. Whenever he used his flute to incapacitate me, he would follow it up with a swift kick or punch to the chest or knee. As long as I could avoid his first flute attack, I was safe from hard pain. My eyes finally adjusted to his movement much unlike my body shortly after. Even with all that, I still couldn't even graze him at all.

"Stop complaining, this is for your own good" he yelled. "Focus, you moron. Those monsters won't give you time to recuperate your energy and neither will I."

He was right; all the lessons he taught me were for my own good. I just wished his attitude would lessen up a little. I guess his time alone in this place hadn't done him much good. Instead it looked like it had made him cranky and unaware that humans were fragile against his sort of violence. We barely took breaks or ate anything as we kept training constantly in this never ending nightmare. However, through all that, I learned a few useful tricks, while increasing my own fighting strength. I trained every day, counting the days like my life depended on it. Oh wait, my life did depended on it. You tend to forget that part when you are trapped in another world. Years flew faster by after a while, as I began to crave my training. It was as if another part of myself was stirred from all the dangerous loony stuff Ebi had me do. I couldn't wait to be done with it and go back to the real world to rescue my friends. The memories of Paul and Tye haunting my dreams were what kept my mind from shattering.

"Yes, finally," I screamed with joy.

Ten whole years were up and done with. I noticed the green chains dropping from all over the place. Everything that was once frozen still seemed to slowly wither back to life. I sat down with a smile near a rock and sighed quietly. I had gotten stronger far than I had hoped. I brimmed with confidence and renewed excitement. With this much power surging through me, I could only hope it was enough to stop Katarina Fox.

"Hey, Ebi," I said, flexing my muscles wildly. "What was the power that Katarina Fox had besides the trident of time and space?"

He looked away and blushed as he giggled like a dirty old pervert. From what I could guess, I didn't want to know what he was thinking and what her power was. All I could do was wait until the time came to battle her.

"Be wary of the power she acquired from the effects of the white water mist. You must be strong and do what I taught over these last few years. I can sense that the time has finally come for you to leave this place. You have done well over these past few years and now I leave everything to you."

I was proud to hear him say that because of the respect I had for him aside from being a dirty old wizard. He reminded me of my grandfather except without the raging anger problems. I hated to admit it, but over the last years together here, I had grown fond of him. He now was like someone I could talk to if I ever needed advice. Just hoped his dirty ways had not rubbed off onto me.

"Thank you," I politely replied, bowing my head. "I won't let you down."

Although, I didn't know if I could keep such a promise. That being said, I had faith in my new abilities and that's all I needed to win. In a short few seconds his figure and presence vanished and I was in the dark again. Yes, I was finally waking up to the real world.

16

"Do you think he will ever wake up," Kaya's voice spoke close to my right ear. "He's been sleeping for ten days now."

"He is probably just exhausted," Ogana belched out loud. "I do hope he wakes up soon though; don't want to resort to extreme measures to wake him up."

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around. Kaya, Dashe, Ogana, and Suzanne were all around me. We appeared to be moving in some sort of big caravan pulled by horses. It was about midnight outside. I couldn't believe I was back in the real world again. I was glad to see someone else and also other colors other than yellow.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked them, getting half up and stretching my stiff neck counter-clockwise.

"Ten days," Kaya replied quickly.

They were all puzzled by my sudden deep voice and new depth of my eye color. It appeared my hair had changed to and gotten a bit longer. It felt so good to see all my friends after a decade in that empty yellow world. Even in this world, I felt a lot different. Stronger, perceptive, and more assure of myself and my ability. "Ten days really?"

So, Ebi's attempt to stop time had somewhat adverse effects. I looked around smiling as I was finally free. I never wanted to return to that place, it was a terrible place to be in.

"Here eat some," Susanne said. "I made it especially for you."

I was a bit hungry, but not enough to try her terrible food. I didn't want to eat it so I had to make up a great excuse before it was too late.

"You!" I snapped at her. "You tricked us into going to Saza in the first place when you didn't have a brother there."

She laughed nervously and said, "at least you got to save people and you got Kaya."

True! Her comeback was smart and well thought of. Kaya's power had saved us a lot and if we hadn't met him, we would have never made it back alive.

"It was still wrong and it made me so upset that I'm not hungry," I yelled, frowning at her like a little child.

I wasn't sure she bought my acting and I had my fingers crossed the whole time. Fortunately, she bought it and stored the food away in another cabin. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, nevertheless my stomach couldn't take that kind of abuse—I meant food.

"So where are we?" I asked Ogana who was now in much better condition than before.

His wounds were still bandaged, but his face showed signs of life and health. I could say the same thing for Dashe, although I had no idea why he looked irritated right now.

He showed me a map and said, "We are near Dura, the city next to Danyen. We will be in Danyen in two days time. More importantly what is up with you? You are somehow different."

"I am glad you noticed," I grinned.

I took my time and told them everything that had happened to me from Ebi, to my split personality and lastly to the extreme tremendous training. They could hardly believe everything I was saying. True enough, if I was in their shoes I would be the same.

"Show us something," Dashe said rudely, cutting me off. "Everything you are saying right now sounds like a bunch of made up crap."

"Ah, Dashe! You sure know how to piss off people."

I had forgotten about his terrible attitude. After spending so much time with Ebi, it seemed like nothing to me when someone insulted me. Without saying a word, I made my guns appear in my hands and waved them around on their sashes. My inner energy was visible to them as I glowed red and yellow in color, sort of orange.

"That is amazing," Suzanne gasped, getting closer to look at my guns. "I have only seen those flintlock weapons once. Where are your gunpowder and the bullets?"

"I don't need them," I replied, letting her examine them up close. "They use my life energy as bullets."

"That is impressive," Ogana sipped another cup of booze smiling vividly. "You really are something, Rid."

"Come on, Rid! Show us something better because I'm not impressed," Dashe smirked rudely.

After saying that, I knew exactly what to show him. I had not tried it out on a real person yet so it was going to be fun, or at least I hoped it would be. Such a powerful incantation was beyond my novice ability yet.

"Dashe" I whispered and he looked me in the eye. After a short few seconds, he fell unconscious instantly. It was a new trick I had learned and it seemed to have worked marvelously.

"Wow, what did you do?" Kaya asked in amazement. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

I nodded and said, "It's called mind slipper and Ebi taught it to me. It is not easy to master, but once you get the hang of it, it can be pretty useful."

The mind slipper was a move Ebi had perfected himself. It allowed a person to enter another's mind, forcing their thoughts and will into them. It had taken me a whole year to get the grasp of it as it was a difficult technique and required a lot of focus and determination. Only downside was that it didn't work on stronger willed opponents who could shield their minds instantly.

"You guys are something else," Ogana laughed. "You are a Roguean and Dashe is an Iyenkan. Two mortal enemies working together! It's completely unheard of."

"How do you know I am a Roguean?" I asked not remembering ever mentioning it to any of them except for Dashe.

Oh, that blabber mouth must have run his mouth again while I was sleeping. But did I laugh too at the thought of it. We never got along at all. In fact, there were times when I almost thought of beating Dashe up for no reason. I guess it was in our blood to never get along. Rogueans were nice, but short tempered and Iyenkans were rude, but well controlled. When put in the same room, a fight would be the outcome. Somehow Dashe and I had managed to put our different backgrounds aside and work together all thanks to Ken. But the next time I saw him, I would make him eat his ridiculous cloak even if I had to force feed it to him.

"Don't worry," Ogana spoke calmly. "Your secret is safe with us."

"Thanks, I guess," I said, scratching my head a little, my eyes turned towards Dashe.

There was one thing that bothered me above everything else. It was his mist power which had the ability to summon those huge flaming meteors. A truly destructive power befitting of a madman like him. One problem, it was a double edge sword that attacked both ally and foe without prejudice. I doubted that idiot had the ability to truly control it. If nothing else, the white water mist was a curse that threatened our very existence. Just how many people had been affected by these mists? Well, except for Ogana, everyone in this carriage had been granted power by the white water mist. Not exactly the normal friends my mother wanted me to get.

"Hey, Ogana," I spoke in low voice, "Was Dashe acting weird or strange after he woke up? That power of his could spell trouble if he turned on us. I mean did you see how his hand disappeared and opened something into another dimension?"

There was silence in the carriage as they all thought about it. All we could hear were the hoofs of the horses and the midnight wolves howling under the moon. There was nothing around us except for a forest covered in the pitch of darkness.

"Well," Suzanne finally broke the silence. "I know one clear thing for sure—it's not only meteors he can bring forth, but other more frightening forces of nature when you think about it."

Her words echoed in my mind and made me doubt Dashe even more than I already did. Although, when he used his mist acquired power, he had saved our lives from all those metal men and injured the metal dog. Suddenly, I felt a loud thump outside. It distracted me from my thoughts as I looked out to see what it was. Without even noticing it, the carriage had been stopped by two guards. They were standing in front of the road with their spears raised at the horses. Why had I not sensed them? It was strange indeed, considering how well I had advanced my mist acquired power in the past decade.

"What is in the carriage?" one of them asked the driver.

The other guard walked around to the back, examining the carriage carefully. Odd, I couldn't sense their life force at all as if they didn't exist. The other guard I had been tracking with my eyes walked to the back carriage door like he was about to open it and examine it. Not good!

We were in trouble if they found us out. Quietly, we remained without making any sudden noises. It worked as the other guard stopped halfway and began to walk back to the driver. Without the slightest warning, Dashe made a soft move that made the floor squeak a little, fortunately they didn't hear it.

"Don't you do it," I whispered to Dashe silently as he began to snore.

It only got louder and louder with each second and they noticed it and came back. Was that idiot doing it on purpose? Why did he always do unnecessary stuff at the wrong time? They both looked back and quickly realized there was something or someone in the back.

"Open the Caravan," one of the guards yelled to the driver.

Again Dashe had blown our cover and revealed our position. I was starting to believe he was trying to sabotage our mission. I was almost sure of it.

"There is nothing, but goods in there," the driver said, sincerely trying to fool them.

They pushed him out of the way violently and took his keys as they proceeded to open the caravan door. I gently sighed without worrying despite the impending danger.

"I guess we have no choice, but to fight," Ogana said, holding his spear firmly in one hand.

In that moment, I stopped him before it was too late. There was a better way than that. Carefully, I focused my energy fiercely into my center and looked at the door. As they opened the door, I looked into their eyes and forced my thoughts onto them using my mind slipper. They were enchanted by my gaze and paused in their boots. Fortunately, these guards were weak willed so controlling their minds was easy.

"There is nothing in here so be on your way," one of the guards yelled at the driver, kicking him up. "I'm bored let's mess with the next merchant caravan that comes again because this was fun."

They left and went to hide again, waiting for the next convoy that would come their way next. I rubbed my forehead for a while, trying to ease the tingling sensation in my head. It was not an easy technique a novice like me could do multiple times. I looked outside again and saw no signs of other people present in the vicinity. Had to admit, my mist power came in handy in desperate time as this. We finally began to move after our scary encounter with the guards had left us paranoid and more aware of the dangers ahead of us. My head was aching madly, although it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. As long as I stayed in Okaya, my chances of running into more danger were great. But it truly was a paradise for thieves, murderers, and all kinds of bad people. I had a funny feeling that Jura was going to be even crazier than Saza.

"Um, Suzanne," I whispered, looking at her. "How did Katarina Fox take the news that we wrecked Jafounds and destroyed her metal dog?"

She laughed as if I had said something funny and said in a serious manner, "she was furious and she is going to kill you. Right now, her minions are looking for you all over Okaya. There is a bounty on your head. That is why we are travelling in stealth, under the cover of darkness."

That wasn't really the answer I wanted to hear, nevertheless, I had suspected it was something along those lines. I could imagine it in my mind, seeing her search all around Okaya for me only to come up empty handed. Worry not, our time of battle was coming sooner than expected, and I was sure she knew it too. With my new found powers, my chance of coming out of this alive and being victorious were favorable. Due to my training with Ebi, I had come to master some very dangerous and destructive powers that at best were to be never used.

"I will win no matter what," I whispered to myself and zoned out into sleep.

17

1

Dawn approached as we began to see the giant walls of Jura. It was a massive fortress city built to withstand almost anything.

"We are stopping in Jura to gather information and stuff," Ogana said, blushing and drooling all over the place.

I could only imagine what he was thinking and it wasn't something pure. Clearly, I could have said no and kept going, but I didn't. Something about Jura caught my attention. It was a city built to keep people out or to keep something valuable in. I had an urging feeling to explore the city and find out what they were hiding. Perhaps there was some kind of monster hidden beneath the burrows of the city like in Saza. Now that was a nightmare I didn't want to relive again.

"Let's get out," Suzanne warned us as she moved towards the door of the carriage. She beckoned all of us to follow her outside as we neared the outer portions of giant city. "They search all the caravans before entering the city so let's go and blend in with the crowd."

Following closely behind her, we managed to slip out undetected into the crowd. I was forced to carry Dashe since I had been the one who knocked him out. I tried everything to wake him up, but it didn't work. Perhaps I had gone too far when I used the mind slipper on him.

"Get next to the wall and hold onto me,' Suzanne said looking around to spot any guards.

In my heart, I was the happiest man alive. I quickly moved forward and embraced her with all my might.

"What are you doing, Rid?" she asked, looking at me in a strange manner.

Kaya walked up to me and said. "I believe she meant hold her hand and not embrace her."

I blushed as I let go, it was truly humiliating for me to look them in the eye again. Clearly I had taken the message the wrong way and as such I had also acted in an inappropriate manner.

"Hurry up and hold onto my hand, we don't have all day to wait for you," she whispered waving me towards her.

This time I got the message clearly and held her hand. It was a warm feeling that got cold and shadowy. It felt as if I was getting engulfed by my own shadow as she did something. Within a second, we were on the other side of the wall inside Jura. My body felt weird and out of place for a second. I really didn't want to do that again if I had a choice.

"Whoa! What did you do?" Kaya screamed at her. "That felt scary."

She attempted to apologize to him, but all the little kid could do was yell and scream at her some more. It did surprise me that he was coming with us to Danyen. I'd have thought he would have gone back to Rigudaya to his family or stayed in Saza, awaiting the return of his brother. Sadly to say, he had decided to go with us to Danyen, against my better judgment. Danyen was no place for a child; that horrible city could scar him for the rest of his life.

"Hey, Suzanne," I said still feeling cold and empty. "What did you do right now and how did we end up here?"

She looked at me and showed me half her hand which had turned into what looked like a dark smoke. "I can become or create shadows which allow me to go anywhere I please except through water."

I was impressed; her power was useful unlike that of Dashe and Kaya which put us all at risk. I now knew I could always count on her whenever things went bad. Although, her methods were sketchy and risky, they were still useful when it counted the most. It was only one thing that bothered me and it was about Sam. Something about that incident was feeling out of place. That metal man knew Suzanne all too well like they were indeed siblings.

As we started to walk inside Jura, I randomly said, "why did that metal man know you and look an awfully lot like you?"

Perhaps it wasn't the right time to ask, but it was also too late to take back the question.

She stopped and looked at me. "I know he did—he used to be my brother a long time ago. He was turned into those shiny pain in the butt and that's all there is to it."

With that, she turned around and proceeded to walk elegantly ahead of us. I could feel her pain when she said that. She wasn't the type of girl who would drown in her sorrows or ever let her troubles get in her way, which was one thing I also liked about her. Ogana nudged me and gave me a signal not to ask her anymore questions. I guess some things were better left in the past and unknown. We all had our own agendas for going to Danyen, except for Dashe. I still had no idea why he was still coming with us. He was sort of a rude closed book, very mysterious and devious.

"Hey, Rid," Kaya spoke, stretching his little arms. "Why do you ask so many personal questions?"

Now that I didn't see coming at all. My mouth opened, unable to say reply him. Indeed, my curiosity to knowledge would come off to others as annoying or irritating so I stopped.

"Halt," Suzanne spoke, raising her hand.

A few drunken guards walked past us into some building. My muscles tensed as I anticipated an indirect confrontation with them was impending. Not that I was afraid or anything.

"I'll be back shortly," Suzanne finished, "and when I give you the signal, come."

After saying that, she took off and vanished, using her shadow power into the building where the drunken guards had gone into. I saw it all. She snuck up on them and knocked them out easily. Within a fraction, they were all out cold and completely tied up under what looked like a cellar. She waved her hand in that building like she knew I was watching. As if she knew I could see through the walls.

"Let's go," I said to Ogana and Kaya. "She gave the signal."

Quickly we ran and entered the building. Suzanne had already changed into a guard uniform and was waiting on us. The armors looked small, but somehow Ogana and I managed to fit into them.

"I don't want to do this," I mumbled slowly. I didn't want to put the armor on Dashe's body and yet everyone wanted me to.

"We don't have all day, you know?" Suzanne said as she kicked Dashe, trying to wake him up. "This is somehow your fault for using your mind slipper on him so you have to do it."

She was right again and I hated that. Since I didn't have the guts to do it, I only saw one choice in the matter. I had to use the mind slipper technique on him again to wake him up. Using it three times in a day was going to leave a huge strain on my head and dull my focus roughly.

"Hold him steady," I told Ogana, instructing him on what to do with Dashe's body as I prepared to do a reverse mind slipper.

In my weakened state, my mind could easily be taken over by Dashe' thoughts if I wasn't too careful. However, it was a risk I was willing to take. The thought of changing another man's clothes was too repulsive for me to even think of. My only option was waking him up the hard way. Focusing intensely, I activated the technique and forced my will into Dashe's mind. His inner thoughts were shadowed by his past and felt sad and horrible. They were quickly corrupting my thoughts and driving my will out, trying to force me into submission. I clearly understood why Ebi had warned me never to try something like that in the first place. My mind had weakened to a point if felt like it would shatter; however, in the yellow world it hadn't been this bad. Suddenly I started to see it all, his past, his rage, and his quest for vengeance.

"Father, no, I didn't do it," young Dashe said, speaking to his father. "I didn't steal the minister's son's sword. You have to believe me."

From inside his mind, I saw everything he went through as an Iyenkan child. You know what—he and I were not so different after all from each other. He went through the same thing I had gone through, well in a way. We were both forced into exile on crimes we never committed. Only difference was that it had been the minister's son who had tricked Dashe into taking possession of his golden sword. He had taken it, thinking that they were friends only to find out he had set it up that way in order to frame him and have him executed for stealing. Young Dashe fled Iyenka with nothing, but his clothes and shoes before he could be arrested and trialed, forever to wonder the world as an outcast. Abruptly, I could no longer see what happened next as Dashe somehow woke up, shielded his mind and forced my will out at the same time.

"That was a dirty trick," he sneered with blood lust filled eyes. "You filthy Roguean, you had no right to snoop inside my mind like that."

"Sorry," I replied, sincerely looking down.

I could now understand why he was so rude. He felt like the world was against him, like it was trying to destroy him. There was a time after my banishment I thought that way too. I had incredible rage and insanity, threatening everything around me. If Paul and Tye hadn't found me I would have been killed or worse killed someone else. Perhaps Ken told Dashe to come with me in order for us to help change each other. That made a lot of sense when I thought about it. I took my mind off the matter and moved around a bit. The building was silent, all we could hear were caravans from merchants coming into the city. The large fortress city housed over a thousand buildings all surrounding a palace or castle. There was strange talk of rebels on the loose headed for Danyen among the merchants close by. I think they were talking about us. Dashe was looking at me coldly, his fist clenched, but controlled.

"I'm sorry, Dashe, I didn't mean to," I pleaded, trying to apologize again and end the awkward silence that now housed the building.

"Save it, Rid," he interrupted loudly. "Stop apologizing, it's over already."

That had gone much better than I expected. What surprised me was how Dashe had force me out of his mind. Only a few people had the willpower to do that once the mind slipper had been placed on them, and I mean only a few.

"So what was that all about?" Kaya asked, almost trying to laugh hysterically. "It looked like you guys were an old married couple."

I resented his comment and didn't say anything bad to him, since he was still just a small kid with a smart mouth and a dangerous explosive power.

"What's all this?" a guard walked into the building. The new guard was taller than most of us, and wore a silver and gold armor around his body. His face was hidden beneath a metal helmet, leaving his icy black eyes exposed. The man strode into the building and stopped in the center of us, looking at all of us strictly. Luckily enough, Dashe had already changed into his armor.

"Why are you gathered here instead of patrolling the city?"

None of us could come up with a good answer for his question. We all fell into a deep silence and just stood there. The man had caught us unprepared and with no solid story to explain ourselves.

"They were helping me find my brother who got kidnapped by robbers," Kaya said, crying.

Had to admit, his acting was flawless. It could have fooled me and I wasn't one so easy to impress. We could now only hope he bought the story which seemed to have a lot of holes in it. At first, he was silent as looked at Kaya intensely. Kaya began to cry even more, a little too much if you ask me.

"Okay, carry on, but you with the freaky eyes come with me," he said, pointing to me.

Freaky eyes! That really bothered me a lot than the fact that I was about to go with him somewhere unknown. I hesitated at first not sure of what to do. It was easier just to knock him out; however, that would only rouse suspicion. As everyone stayed motionless, I followed him a few steps behind, my heart beating mercilessly. This was definitely going to put a kink into our plans.

Suzanne gave me a nod to go and whispered silently "we'll find you."

It was not too comforting even when it was coming from her lips. I took one last glance at them before walking out of the building with the guard. Just where was he taking me? The air outside had changed completely for some reason. It was thick and scented with the essence of burning wood and rubbish. Something was off. I couldn't sense the presence of anyone around me. It was like everyone around me was invisible or something. My ability to sense others around me had stopped the moment I put on that armor. "Wait! It couldn't be?"

But it explained everything. I mean, like not being able to sense those guards who stopped us along the way. Maybe the armor was enchanted to suppress the presence of anyone who wore it.

That just had to be the explanation.

"So what was a royal guard like you doing with those lowlife guards in that building?" He asked, looking at me while we walked through the crowded streets.

What bad luck! I thought.

It seemed I had taken the most important guard's armor from that building. My misfortune seemed to be laughing in my face again as it clanged onto me.

I couldn't come up with an original answer so I randomly said, "I was helping them do a good job finding that boy's brother because they seemed to be misdirected."

It hadn't come out the way I wanted, although it was the only thing I could come up with under pressure. I was rather taken back with the busy streets all over the fortress city. Everyone around here looked peaceful and happy, like this place was paradise.

"Ah, I see! Soldier, you are an example to us all," he chuckled, patting me in the back. "Now head towards the princess, it's your turn to help her with her war training."

War training!

My neck cracked slightly as I shrugged a little. I didn't like the sound of that; it felt like I had put myself into boiling water.

"Training, sir?" I pleaded. "But I have to help that young boy find his brother first, sir, or those...."

"No, you don't," he cut me off. "Those fools can manage on their own and your duty is to attend to the princess, so go now to the palace."

I couldn't argue anymore when he said that. I realized arguing with him would only reveal my true identity. He headed in a different direction as he left me at the steps of the palace by myself. The palace was grand and an amazing sight to behold. It was constructed with tilivan, marble brick and a thick roof of silver gold. However, it was awfully quiet. There were no citizens in sight, all too spooky. Two guards with the same uniform as me stood guard at the gate. Carefully, I used my eyes' power to my advantage to look for the princess while walking towards the palace gates. There were way too many suspicious characters inside and unfortunately I couldn't sense their presence and detect their energy because of the armor I had on.

"The answer lay inside," I said to myself, as the guards opened the gates to let me in.

It was rather suspicious though, I had blended in like it was nothing and infiltrated the palace so easily. Did they already know who I was? It certainly looked that way and the other mystery was why there was a princess in this Jura? It didn't make sense since this city was a part of Okaya and a part of Katarina Fox's domain. After a minute of searching through the palace, I spotted a young lady in a large kitchen alone. She was eating a four day meal by herself. She was beautiful and yet such a gluttony. Judging by the golden crown on her hair, she was the princess.

She managed to finish her meal before I entered the kitchen. "I was afraid you weren't going to show up, guard. So explain to me what took you so long?"

Her way with words reminded me of how I was when I was still in Rogue. I had the same exact arrogant manner and attitude towards the palace helpers and guards. Thinking back, I truly regretted the way I acted, and if I could, I would go back in time and change my past.

"Well, talk," she asked again, standing up with right her arm on her waist. "I'm waiting, guard, I order you to speak."

There was something about women with bad attitudes that I seemed to attract me towards them. It was this magical attraction to them I just couldn't explain.

"I, uh, was held up with this kid who was looking for his kidnapped brother," I said, finally breaking the charm her eyes had put on me. "I'm sorry, You Highness, it won't happen again."

I bowed my head as a sign to beg her forgiveness. It was ironical how it was the other way around when I was in Rogue, and now the tables had turned.

"Fine, then," she said and turned her back towards me. "Follow me to the training grounds."

Her hair was black and very long. It truly puzzled me how she thought she could fight with all that hair. I also noticed her colorful outfit; it had golden emeralds and rubies attached to a very weighted armor on her full chest. She was truly strong and I didn't need to feel her presence or energy to tell that. We took the back stairs that led to small balcony and headed down a few more steps. The training grounds looked amazing. The grass was green and perfectly cut. There was training equipment all over the place as well as a few horses. It was truly the ideal place for some great exercise accustomed to royalty.

"Take off your helmet, soldier, and wear the more protected one over there if you want," she ordered, pointing me towards a table with helmets. "I would advise it, trust me."

The princess looked at me with a small grin as she flexed her shoulders smoothly for a warm up. Darn! I couldn't take off my helmet at all cost as it protected my identity and so I humbly refused her offer. She took off some portions of her armor and started kicking her legs frequently in the air, displaying her physique. Her body was truly toned and yet agile, meaning she was definitely fast and powerful. From then, I knew I was in serious trouble and had to be careful when sparring with her during training. Plus, it was also in my custom not to hold back against anyone.

"Don't hold anything back," she spoke in a soft maniacal voice, assuming an offensive pose. "For I won't hold back either when I pummel you into the ground."

That didn't sound good. I couldn't fight her at full power without revealing myself, and yet at the same time if I didn't, I would surely be severely injured.

"Here I come," she yelled to me, grabbing an axe and jumping high into the air ferociously.

2

I was rather impressed and bedazzled. I felt like I was watching an angel come down towards me, only with an axe and intent to kill. Wait, what am I thinking? Quickly, I ducked away by taking a few steps back out of her reach. The moment her feet touched the ground, she jolted again attacking relentlessly. I motioned back as I took a glance of my surrounding, memorizing everything around me. There was a variety of swords, shields, and crossbows all over the field. Meaning disarming her was a waste of time on my part. With each of her strike, I learned her attack patterns which were somewhat predictable, but vicious. She suddenly stopped, straightening up her posture, with eyes filled with excitement. I lowered my hands as I watched her carefully. Something about her had changed.

"Very good, guard," she commented, taking the weight restrictors off on her legs and arms. "It has been long since I have found someone worthy of my true strength. Finally I can go all out."

Seemed my gut feeling had been right all along. She had been holding back all along. I took a few steps back to distance myself from her, anticipating the worst. Now that her weight restrictors were off, this was going to get messy. In one blink, I lost track of her. She maneuvered swiftly behind me, striking out over my head with a horizontal kick. Whoa! Her strength and speed were greater than I expected. It was just as mother used to say. "Never underestimate your opponent because of their gender, size, or strength."

As I dodged down, I rotated my body with my hands in front of my head in a defensive position. This was not the outcome I had predicted when I agreed to come here. I took a deep long sigh as I weighed in all my options. The princess went on the attack, moving speedily and attacking wildly.

"If I don't do something soon, I am a goner," I warned myself, running out of her way.

She left me no choice. I took a gamble and summoned my first blast. The yellowish glow didn't slip out because of the armor I was wearing. As the energy engulfed me, I clenched my fist ready to go on the offense. It was clear to me now, the princess was insane, and she enjoyed this. She was attacking me with an aggression to kill.

"This is the best," she sighed, smiling, her hands now resonating with black energy. "Mother never lets me have this much fun."

I had a gut feeling in my stomach telling me to run, but I was too curious to see what she about to do. Somehow her madness seemed to draw me closer to her.

"Dodge this if you can," she screamed in happiness as she shot a fierce burst of black energy from both her hands.

"Another white water mist power," I sighed slowly.

It was so fast and unlike anything I had ever encountered. It came at a straight trajectory, but my body wasn't fast enough to evade it. All I could do was watch as it hit me hard in the chest. My body felt hot as if I was being engulfed with fierce flames. The pain was unbearable and incredibly maddening. But it was nothing compared to what I went through training with Ebi. It seemed more and more people around the world were gaining these destructive powers, thanks to the Rainku tempering with the mists. I panted for a minute, trying to make sense of what had just hit me. That black energy was somehow dark and impure. The force behind the attack knocked me off my feet towards the ground. Half the armor was turned to dust, causing me to quickly suppress all my energy in since the armor no longer shielded it. I lay still, pretending to sleep, making her think she won. I could not defeat her unless I was using my full strength. This was not good!

"Get up," she rattled. "One more round and we call it quits."

That sounded terrible. She clearly wasn't buying my sleeping routine or she was truly a monster who enjoyed tormenting her opponent. Either way, I was in trouble; another blast like that spelled serious pain for sure. Seemed, that other guard had lied to me. This wasn't training; it was more like trying to survive from the princess.

I didn't get up, because in that moment, I thought of something and said, "My apologies, princess, I can't get up. I'm seriously injured."

She looked disgusted as she focused her power and blasted me away off the field into the air. I couldn't explain it, but I was somehow sent flying up into the air and not horizontally. Fortunately, it wasn't fatal as I absorbed some of the force in her mist acquired power into myself. Yep, another one of the many powers of the gauntlet.

This particular ability; however, allowed me to absorb or steal energy from my opponents or allies and use it for myself. Which is how I was able to survive all of her brutal attacks. I fell face first into the ground and moaned in pain. That really hurt a lot, but I had managed to hide my identity a little longer.

"This is boring," she complained, messing with her hair a little. "I'm going back inside the palace. Get yourself fixed by the palace doctor and be back here tomorrow for another session." What! No way! I thought

I wasn't coming back here, definitely. As soon as I could get some new guard armor, I was going to slip out of the palace and rejoin my companions. Everything ached. I examined myself thoroughly while trying to get up. She had really done a number on me with her powerful attacks. I could fill my bones tweaking uncontrollably. The energy I had absorbed from her felt dark and gloomy. It felt like there was a floating empty space inside my stomach. However, it was finally over. Looking up, the sun stood brightly across the middle of the skies. I could hardly believe what had just happened to me through the morning. I wanted to get out of this palace so bad, although not easy in my current condition. I needed a new disguise, a new guard's full body armor to protect my identity. I looked around and smiled. This place had everything I needed. After a quick glance around, I took one of the extra body uniforms and put in on, discarding the old one away. Once I was done, I moved slowly away from the training grounds, retracing my steps back to the palace gates. I couldn't believe how large the palace was from the inside. It was so great that it even had a hidden underground layer below ground. Suddenly, I noticed a room centered deep below and built on what looked like solid gold.

"That looks interesting."

I couldn't keep my eyes away from it. There was something hidden inside of priceless value. From then, I knew I had to get to it no matter what. One problem—there was no direct route from here to it. I had to go through the hidden corridors of the palace and then through.....!

The entrance towards it was linked to a great room built for someone of royal descent, the princess no doubt. I had hoped I would avoid seeing her again, but apparently that wasn't for me to decide. With my mind determined, I went further inside the palace, a little nervous and also frightened to the core. I had no idea what I was walking into, so my reaction was to be expected. Dressed as a royal guard, I managed to fool a lot of people. It was too easy, but then again, I looked and acted the part nicely. Another guard approached me like he wanted to talk to me. He was in a different armor and walked like he was superior to everyone else. His outfit consisted of a large crimson red cape and a large axe on his back.

"Ah, Jisembo, I heard the princess requested you for training again," the strange guard murmured, patting me on the back. "I would've have never thought you would last three seconds with her. You are usually the first one to run off with your buddies on duty and get drunk. Why the sudden change?"

Jisembo! His mother must have run out of names to call him. I could now explain why he was hanging with the other drunken guards in that building. He must have really hated that name, I know I would. It also seemed this Jisembo character was a lazy, drunk idiot royal guard and I had not been playing his part well.

"I stopped drinking, sir, and made a promise to fulfill my duty." I said in a goofy manner. "Only this once, sir, and consider it my gift to the palace."

"That's my boy," the man said with a loud chuckle. "You are finally learning something for a change. Keep this up and you'll be promoted to head guard for sure."

With that said, he left and headed outside. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't at the moment. I had to go investigate what was in the golden room first before going to look for my friends. With no one else to get in my way, I headed downstairs towards the princess' room. She didn't appear to be there, so I felt at ease. The walls towards her room utterly disgusted me out dearly. They seemed to be moving and breathing. I couldn't help, but shake this uneasy feeling that the palace was alive or something was inside the walls. They even echoed slightly as a gush of wind blew up. What lied ahead seemed to be my first task. It was the princess's room, slightly tilted to the left and yet perfectly designed on a larger grand scale. Staring at it made my stomach turn. I looked and noticed that the door was open. I could tell that no one dared to go in there except her. As I kept walking, I noticed the light inside getting dimmer with each second. A growling sound stirred up the whole room, it seemed like I was alone, but I really wasn't. Surprisingly, her room looked bigger than I had originally imagined. The amount of space inside didn't match with the palace design. There were creepy leafless trees all over the room. To be truthful, the design of the whole room made me truly less attracted to her. I mean, I would seriously run away from her if she designed our palace like this. Marrying someone with such a horrible creepy taste in design was a no-no for me. Well, it was all in my head and less likely to happen. However, it wasn't bad to dream about something, right?

"So you couldn't wait for round two?" a cold voice spoke, coming from all over the room. "I like men like that."

That voice was all too familiar with me now. I turned my head around and saw the princess. Frightened by her sudden appearance, I didn't answer. I had hoped not to see her again, but unfortunately our paths had been intertwined. She was way beyond freaky—she was on another level beyond creepy and weird.

"I came to apologize. I can't train tomorrow because my ribs are broken," I replied instinctively, like lying was my second nature. I wasn't proud of it, although it was the best I could do. But her facial expression informed that she wasn't buying it at all or just didn't care.

"Silence, guard," she stopped me. "Don't speak. Let's continue where we left off."

She completely ignored my words and picked up a spear from somewhere beneath the floor. I watched utterly shocked at the lengths at which she was willing to sink to satisfy her fighting urges. Her first moves were predictable as usual, but due to my damaged body, I could barely avoid most of them. I weaved my body left and right, ducking the most fatal of her spear thrusts.

"Please, princess! Have mercy," I pleaded with her, bowing on the floor.

That was a mistake on my part. The heel of her shoe connected with my helmet and sent me crashing head first into the black swamp like floor. She screamed and laughed like a maniac as she swung her spear down towards my head. I sensed the danger and sprung loose from her foot, getting up quickly. A tinge of sweat dropped down into my eyes. I wiped it away alongside the dirty water, trying to stay calm. I knew I couldn't fight her without attracting attention of the other guards in the palace. My best chance lay in taking her out with a surprise move, my mind slipper. Forth time's the charm, right? I had no idea what would come about if I used it again, considering what had happened when I used it on Dashe.

"Come on, foot soldier," she bellowed, signaling me to come close. Her breath smelled like a whole buffet of food. "This training is to help me become a leader. Who will miss a single guard like you, if I kill you right now?"

She was right, not a whole lot of people would as it stands. The look in her eyes changed completely. She was looking at me with a serious intent to kill. I felt my heart beat rise with each passing second. One wrong move on my part and it was over. For a moment, she stood still looking at me with her green mesmerizing eyes, enchanting me deeply. If I had a wish before I die, it would be to drown in her vast green sea-like eyes and forget all my distant troubles. I had no idea why I was thinking that; I just couldn't control my wild imagination any longer.

"Oh what am I thinking?"

I took control over my thoughts and put my mind onto something more useful like evading the princess. In the midst of agonizing struggle, I noticed a secret door beneath the floor I doubted she even knew was there. It was the way down and I had found it in such difficult position, which was pretty impressive even for me. Now all that was left was to get rid of her, and I was finding it not easy to do. I swerved out of the way as a spear attacks intensified, coming at me without a pattern. I quickly weighed down my remaining options while ducking away from the thrust of her spear. No doubt, the longer this continued, the more likely it was for me to be fatally wounded. Out of the blue, her movements began to diminish as the look in her eyes became less apparent. I think she was getting bored completely, a good sign for me. The princess adjusted her long hair to one side and while clenching her spear tightly. She looked at me dashingly like a vibrant angel of doom, sent to destroy me.

"I am getting bored stiff, get serious already," she spoke, tilting her spear horizontally. "I know Jisembo and he would never last a second with me. That idiot would never volunteer to train with me. So talk! Who are you?"

Oh! She had found me out at last. I just didn't think it would take that long to do so. There was no longer any use in hiding my identity. I really would have wanted to play the part a little longer, nevertheless it couldn't be help. Silently, I watched her carefully while sighing slowly from relief and frustration. At this point, there was no longer any need to hold back against someone of her caliber. She took off another set of weighted plates on her arms, legs, and waist which I had not noticed. You know what, she kind of reminded me of Suzanne a little except without the craziness. It was that craziness of hers that seemed to attract me even more to her.

"We haven't gone out on a first date so don't be pushy," I said, playing around, my mind out of it. Yes, I had a tendency of letting my imagination get the best of me.

"What!" she growled. "What are you talking about, you impostor?"

My mind tricks seemed to be getting the best of her, as she started to let her anger control her. That was a mistake on my part. With her anger flared, she blitzed and attacked harder and fiercer than ever. I could now explain the saying: "awakening a sleeping dragon."

"Why are you so angry?" I asked, backing away instantly from one of her brutal slash.

The princess bore a face filled with pure rage and madness against me which shook me up a bit.

She stopped for a minute and thought about it. This was the perfect chance to escape.

"Well," she finally spoke, fidgeting with her fingers. "Because you haven't asked me out yet, Jiyembo."

My jaw dropped. I thought she said I was an impostor. Was she really serious right now? This was bad, she had mistaken me for Jiyembo—the guy we had tied in the building next to the outer city walls. As it seemed, Jisembo and her had something going on and I just happened to be caught in the middle. Just what was her end game? Not too long ago, she was about to kill me and now this?

"It's that girl, isn't it, Jisembo," she yelled in a rude way. "I have been stalking you while you walked with her. Jisembo! When I'm done with you, she is next."

I was stuck in a love triangle of some sort. The princess had lost her mind, it seemed. Without warning, she shot a black vile of energy with her right hand, almost destroying my substitute armor. Fortunately, I ducked in time to watch her stand, gazing curiously in amazement.

"You are not Jisembo, are you?" she said biting her lip.

Now what! I thought. What on earth was she thinking now? I had wasted enough time messing around with her. Clearly it was time to end this charade permanently. I took a huge gamble and fired energy bullets at her with one of my guns. She intentionally stayed still and smacked my energy shots with her free hand like it was nothing.

"What incredible power!"

Even though it was a second level attack, I was surprised by how well she deflected them like they were leaves. The princess was an astounding warrior and it seemed she had been just playing around too with me. Her power and strength amazed me completely. On the other hand, it frightened me to the very core. If she was this powerful, I honestly did not want to know how strong her mother was. At least, my head had settled down a little from all the constant throbbing it had been doing all day, allowing me to focus rationally. My next attempt at the mind slipper technique was not a guaranteed gamble. I had to distract her somehow before trying to use it because she seemed like the type who could shield her mind involuntarily.

"Are you done or do you want to see my real power?" she boasted, hitting her chest several times. "I'm the most powerful person in Jura, aside from my mother, of course."

Indeed she was, but she also had a weakness which was distraction. I had noticed it when I asked her why she was attacking me. Her lack of complete focus was her only weakness, and definitely an advantage I would surely take. Time to start lying, I thought. One of my greatest gifts.

"I'm Jisembo's cousin," I began my plan. "I'm just covering for Jisembo. He journeyed outside the city, to Rigudaya, to finding you an engagement ring. He is going to propose tomorrow, but don't tell anyone—it's a secret."

As I said those words, I felt sorry for Jisembo. If he did ever managed to break free and come back, it was going to be a nightmare for him definitely. The princess gripped her spear firmly, staring me in the eye with a blank expression, blushing lightly. I could tell that my lie had worked its wonders.

She giggled and said, "really this is so exciting, tell me all the details?"

In that moment she was distracted, I activated the mind slipper and easily penetrated her mind, forcing her to sleep. The princess fell gently backwards and closed her eyes to sleep. She may have been extremely powerful, but everyone had a weakness. My body ached badly as my head began to throb again. Forcing a powerful technique like the mind slipper the fourth time had dire consequences. It was good fortune that I had not lost consciousness because of it. With the princess asleep, I took the spear she was holding and used it to carve out the floor above the secret door. It wasn't difficult to open the secret door, though it was an extremely complex combination of locks that took me a few minutes to figure out. The floor beneath the door was illuminated with wax candles that seemed as if they had been lit a minute before I got there. The passage beneath was so dim and gloomy, even my eyes could barely see anything at the bottom. What was I doing? Was any treasure worth this? Conquering all my fears, I climbed down the stairs and headed down towards the secret golden room.

18

After a few minutes of walking down, I reached the second floor. An unusually stone marbled floor with a lot of candles and knight armored statues around. Nothing echoed like it was vacant. I glanced around and noticed that it wasn't even locked. I couldn't feel any presence since the armor was suppressing that power. A wind blew past me as I looked back, scared to the bone. Something wasn't right. The moment I turned my head back, the whole floor had change completely. The ground, the candles, the statues, everything had disappeared without warning. I think I was now outside from the looks of things. How could this be? What sort of enchantment was this? Were my eyes playing tricks on me?

This place, it was peaceful and calm like the Spring Mountains. It was then I saw a little boy herding sheep by himself. He looked happy as 2 dozen sheep flocked his every side. I looked up and saw the sun shining brightly and yet I was way below ground. Just what was happening? I knew I was below the palace and yet....

I decided to walk closer and study the area; perhaps, I could figure my way out. Next to the young child and his sheep, there was a wooden hut the size of the princess' bedroom. Did he live here below the palace? Just who was he? I stopped and looking around, trying to find the door to the next floor. I found nothing of such sort except for a cave about three hundred meters in front of me, well hid in plain sight. Ignoring the child and his sheep, I headed towards the cave slowly.

"Where are you going?" the little boy appeared mysteriously next to me, looking me straight in the eye. "A guard of your statue shouldn't be down here at all."

I couldn't come up with a great answer, so I disregarded the little boy as I kept moving.

"Please, tell me where you are going?" he spoke again, now in front of me.

Bizarrely, I had not sensed him come at all thanks to this armor. One thing was for sure, he was fast—I think even faster than Dashe. I glared at him for a minute and decided he wasn't that much of a threat to me. With my body bruised badly, I wasn't in any position to fight another person.

"I'm going down below," I said politely. "Child, stand aside and I will be on my way."

He didn't listen to what I said as he kept standing still in my way.

"No one is allowed here." He hissed, raising his little arms up in opposite directions. "Especially stupid dressed up looking guards like you."

I wanted to smack him on the head, but he disappeared; his speed was far much greater than my own. I couldn't tell where he was now as I looked left and right. Not even a trace of him flickered anywhere within range. He was just gone into the wind.

"Try and find me," a voice echoed from all over the sky.

I didn't have enough energy to focus and find him, as I had used the mind slipper again, completely draining me.

"Sorry, kid, but I can't play with you right now." I yelled up and took off, running towards the cave.

I heard a thunderous scream echoing throughout the sky. The screech of his voice seemed to mess with my head, causing me to lose focus and balance. It felt like I had been drugged. My mind was going blank and my feet seemed heavy and numb. His shriek seemed to be doing something to me. If I had to guess, I would say it was a mist acquired power. With each person, the mist granted them a different power that complemented their different characteristics. Just how many people had been affected by these strange vapors? I heard a loud shriek again and looked up in the sky. Every inner parts of my ears were about to burst when I shut them with my fingers. A swift breeze of wind violently passed by me, and for an instant, I saw the kid as he swooshed past me, flying in the opposite way.

"You are not passing." he screamed in my face, sending me back with the power of his voice.

There was truly something down there, I was certain now. Why else would it be difficult to go down there? This child was the only thing standing between me and my prize, of all the luck in the world.

"Let me pass, child," I shouted in the air, since I couldn't see where he was. "I need to retrieve it for the princess. She sent me down here and you can ask her if you want."

It was all a lie and I wanted to test out how gullible he really was.

"A great and rare armor is down there," the kid said, finally stopping, and manifesting into my line of sight. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? I've been waiting for the princess, the chosen one to come get it."

Finally! I didn't want to fight a kid, especially one as powerful as him in a confined place like this. It wasn't fear that held me back from unleashing my full power, just a sense of pride and an obligation to my friends. I wanted to help Paul and Tye, set them free without having to resort to violence. Suddenly, I was kicked in the stomach hard and sent flying in an opposite direction near the little hut. My abdomen flinched and hurt so bad I felt like throwing up.

"You can't trick me," the kid bellowed. "I am no fool, you are not the princess and you can't go any further."

Well, it had been worth a shot. My lie did not work and now I had to think of something else. It was too late to turn back now; the only way I saw was to keep going ahead. I had not come this far for nothing and I was certainly not going to back off because of some little child.

"Don't do this, child," I warned him, raising my fists up as a warning. "If you don't let me pass, then I will force myself to go right through you."

I changed my posture to scare him as I got ready to make a run for it, I had no intention of hurting a child. The tension in the air change, it felt like the wind was burning hot. I saw the child one second and the other he was gone again. There was definitely no sign of fear written all over his face. To make things worse, the terrain around me played to his advantage due to the nature of his mist ability.

"Bring it and I will give it back tenfold," he boasted, waving his little hand towards me.

The level of his confidence certainly matched his tenacity and speed, but in terms of power, that was another story. This was no ordinary child I was dealing with. To pass by him, I had to use a bit of excessive force. I hunkered my shoulders down and closed my eyes just for a minute to completely concentrate.

"Why would the princess, the daughter of Katarina, send you here when she can come herself? Something doesn't add up. Tell me who you are?"

Amazing!

I was truly impressed by his logic skills. He had already deducted that I was an impostor when I had managed to fool so many in the castle. I thought to myself of some sort of strategy, but before I realized it, I felt a kick coming to left portion of my head. "Whoa, that was close."

I backed away, searching the surrounding for any movement. Nothing lingered except for the sheep feeding off the tall green grass. Without using my gauntlet, I stood no chance against him. My only remaining option was making a run for it, using the first blast energy. Instantly, I felt the familiar flow of yellow energy as the power of the gauntlet surrounded me. The child reappeared in front of me, aiming at my chest. I stopped him and threw him of his balance by grabbing his right arm. He bounced back instantly and attacked again tenaciously. We traded blows and counters untimely as if we were equally matched rivals. What was I doing? I was stuck below the enemy's castle unable to proceed because a child was in my way? Before I could grab both of his hands, the kid flew up into the sky. "Wait, seriously?"

It was amazing how he was doing that. I had never seen a human who could fly except for Sam, the impostor metal man. But he was a different story, I mean he wasn't human after all.

The child was relentless; he was even better at combat than Kaya. Not to say, I couldn't take him out at any time I wanted. For some reason, I was curious about him and felt like dragging this charade a little longer. Tilting to the left, I easily evaded all of his attacks and wore him out after a half an hour. Sweat bore down his forehead as I saw anger brew on his face. He suddenly smiled as he extended his arm towards me, fingers spread apart.

"You won't survive this." He smiled slowly. "Nobody has ever survived this attack and lived to tell about it."

True to his words, I felt something powerful forming inside his hand. I think he was concentrating all of his energy into single point before expelling towards me. The distance between us was not too great, unlikely that I could evade his last attack easily. It seemed I had underestimated him, a mistake that might have haunted me. Quickly, I followed suit, gathering all of my energy into my right hand. It was either him or me who would bite the dust. I didn't want to fight a kid in the first place, nevertheless, it was the only way. Just as we were about to expel all of our built up energy, I felt some ominous presence approaching. What was this sinister feeling? I stopped halfway, releasing away the energy I had concentrated into my hand. Something or someone incredibly powerful was approaching us. I had never felt anything like it. It felt out of this world inconceivable. But nothing seemed out of the weird ordinary. What now? It was getting cold again for no reason. The ground beneath our feet began to collapse into a bottomless pit as massive winds blew into it. "Of all the luck in the world."

A wormhole had appeared out of nowhere, threatening to swallow both of us in it. My heart skipped a bit as I jumped up out of the way. It was now clear—Katarina knew where I was and trying to get to. If she was trying to stop me, then it meant whatever was down there was very important.

"What is this, Mistress?" the kid screamed. "Please not me too. I have served you for nine years on the promise that you would release my parents from your prison castle in Danyen."

"So that's his story," I thought to myself, finally aware of the motive behind his attacks.

Although, I doubted that Katarina was listening to the little boy's cries. I guess there were more victims who had fallen prey to Katarina Fox than I had imagined. The powerful winds were forcing us both into the abyss. There was nowhere to escape. I looked up into the sky, thinking I would catch a glimpse of her. To my disappointment, she wasn't anywhere in sight. Her powerful presence lingered in the sky above, alerting me that she was well hidden, but here.

"No, please stop, Mistress," the little boy screamed, trying to run towards his sheep. A chunk of his sheep were sucked away, disappearing into the bottomless abyss. I looked away, trying to hide my emotions of sadness. Such an atrocity was unforgivable.

Looking down, I noticed most of the ground crumbling away, leaving no more room to place our feet on. At this rate, we were both going to fall into it. The boy stopped just as he was about to reach his hut, unable to continue because of the wormhole. He cried out loud as he yelled out to his sheep. As my left side of the ground disappeared, I rushed out of my towards the little boy, grabbing him up by the waist. Fortunately, he had stopped trying to kill me and faintly let himself go into my arms. Once I had him, I blitzed towards the remaining pieces of land that had not yet disappeared below and stood there. This was nothing compared to what Ebi had put me through. Thinking through all of that calmed my heart, making me think clearly again.

"Hey, it will be alright!" I slapped his little face lightly. "But we need to go down there and get out of here, before we too are sucked down. Tell me how to get out of here?"

His face was blank and lifeless like his soul had already left his body. Had the boy lost his mind? The horror of betrayal and watching his precious sheep get sucked into oblivion was just too much for him. Perhaps, I should have done that in the beginning. If I had held hostage one of his sheep, then maybe I would have gotten by him a little easier.

Oh no! What was I thinking? That was truly a bad thing to do to the child. I took my eyes off the kid and looked down towards our certain impending doom. Vibrating lightly, I felt small tremors coming from beneath me, alerting me that the ground was about to give in. I jumped up high far into the sky, taking advantage of the wild air currents blowing savagely in all directions. Thanks to my training, I could control my body enough to float like a feather in the air for a few seconds. Within moments, the whole land had disappeared completely into the dark abyss, leaving me no room to land at all.

"What a pinch!"

I had to do something, but what exactly? From up here, it looked hopeless. Everything below me, even the passage to the golden room, had been sucked away and I was next. Just what she trying to hide from me? It must have been something important if she going through all that trouble to stop me from going towards the hidden room. In that moment, I saw an opening crying out to me. I could clearly see the golden room from up here since there was no longer any passages blocking it. One tiny problem, it was dead center in the middle of the wormhole.

"But this is my chance," I whispered excitedly.

Was it really worth it? I felt a tinge of fear rush through me at the thought of jumping down below. I could really die by doing something that stupid. Rattled, I bit my lip in utter confusion at the choice I had to make. Yes, there was no other way. I had to go towards it. This was my final test, the trial of my conviction. We were beginning to descend into the mouth of the worm hole slowly. Things didn't look good for us at all. Instinctively, I reached into my sack and took the string I had taken when I was still at Suzanne's old place. I didn't know why I did it, but I took it out and threw it across the sky. Shockingly, the string stretched out long, extending up into the sky. It somehow latched tightly onto a floating cloud passing by, stopping us both from our doom descent. My jaw dropped in utter disbelief. Was this really happening? I must have been losing my mind or something. I held on tightly with my left hand while my grip stayed strongly on the child on my right.

A half an hour went by, however, the wormhole remained, taunting me deeply. For some reason that golden room remained in the middle as if Katarina was baiting me to go towards it. I wasn't so stupid as to be baited by such a petty trick; however, I couldn't stay here any longer. The worm was growing wider and bigger. The air was hot and thick, getting harder and harder to breath with each second. I looked at the little boy who had remained quiet and motionless for quite some time. I couldn't help, but wonder what was going on in his little brain at the moment. The sky ached with thunder and lightning, revealing Katarina Fox's rage towards me. Her wrath towards me was showing in more ways than I could have wanted. After the trouble I had caused her, I really wouldn't blame her. Judging from the storm in sky, it was moments before she made her unwanted entrance. I had not come down here aching for a fight. It was then I realized what I had to do at that exact moment. Quickly, I strapped the boy onto the string securely by his waist, before jumping down into the eye of the wormhole. As another safety precaution, I also discarded the training armor I had on, leaving only the clothes I had before.

As expected, my ability to sense people returned to me instantly. I could feel two massive and monstrous energies above me of epic and legendary proportions. It must have been Katarina and her daughter, the princess of Saza. Certainly it had to be them, judging by the dark and sinister energy I felt. Without the armor on, I felt the weight of their power exponentially, twice what I had felt before.

"This is not the time to show fear!" I said to myself with a slap on the cheek.

Since I had been discovered, there was no longer a point in hiding my power anymore. I summoned the orange energy which was my second most powerful technique by igniting my anger. Two guns appeared in my hands along with the white sashes, swerving rapidly from side to side. Something was wrong. A mist of grey clouds were forming and descending towards me. The clouds felt odd and dangerous, like a bad premonition. Without thinking, I rotated my body in the air and shot two bullets of rage towards the grey clouds in the sky. At first nothing happened, but then a sudden burst of orange bright light engulfed the skies. I shielded my eyes, sensing for danger around me. I knew I was still in danger. That amount of power was not enough to defeat monsters of their caliber. I looked down and realized that the wormhole had vanished, only leaving a large black hole behind. Maybe, I had done more damage to her than I had imagined, causing her to lose focus in the process. Taking advantage of the situation, I landed on top of the gold plated room with my feet. The gold covering the room looked even more priceless than the contents inside. But finally, it was within my grasp. I couldn't help, but wonder what was inside it. Why was Katarina fixated on keeping me away from it? Maybe it was her one and only weakness or something. Strangely, the whole room began to glow brightly as I got closer to the door. I jumped down, landing on a small patch of dirt beside it. There was an opening on the door which looked like the key opening. I had never seen one that big before. Perhaps something else was supposed to be placed inside it for it to open. However, I had no clue or idea of what exactly. I got a little frustrated as my voyage here seemed to have come to an brief and disappointing end. I didn't have the key so there was no point to stay down here unless I wanted to get caught by Katarina Fox. Facing her would've sounded like a great idea, but I still wasn't powerful enough to make a bruise on her skin. My right arm was glowed, almost the same color as the door.

"Whoa!"

Somehow, I wasn't surprised by the new chain of events. I pondered my mind for a while, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe my gauntlet itself was the key to opening the golden door. It certainly looked that way to me, like I was the chosen to open the door. Oh, what am I saying? I didn't believe in destiny or other stuff like that.

Without even knowing it, I felt my hand reach into the door and pull an unknown switch. It felt like I had done this before which was weird even for me. There was a loud click followed by a rumbling noise, coming from the door itself. A chilly, uneasy feeling crept behind me, upsetting my stomach terribly. It was like I was unleashing terror onto the world as the door opened. The whole room inside was also solid gold. If only I could carry it all, I would be the richest man on the planet. With this much gold, I could retire for life from the stealing business and none of my friends would have to suffer from hunger again. It all sounded good to me, but there was a problem and it was Katarina Fox. Why was there always a kink in all my plans? I doubted it would be easy to get past her. I cast my thoughts aside and focused my mind on my true objective. I stepped inside the golden room and saw only a silver coat, with brand marks of gold and bronze encryptions. Seriously, had I gone through all that trouble just for some stupid looking coat? I thought. But I had to admit, it looked better than the cotton cloak I had on. The ground suddenly shacked and I heard a thunderous roar coming from inside the clouds. Without wasting much time, I took the coat from the room and ran out as quickly as my feet could carry me. From the corner of my eye I witnessed the golden room collapse and the gold tarnish and rust.

"No! No! Not the gold!"

I couldn't help, but shed a tear for the fortune that had been almost mine. No trace of the gold remained. It was all gone. My feet touched a small patch of dirt as I looked up into the sky.

"Oh no, the little boy." I spotted him, dangling from the string I had left him.

Somehow he had survived my blasts and he was still hanging by the thread. Okay, had to admit, that was funny, metaphorically. The cotton coat offered limited mobility, so I removed it and tried the silver coat, a perfect fit. It felt lighter and oddly warmer. Rather hard to believe this was what Katarina wanted to keep away from me. The weather in the sky took a turn for the waste as lightning echoed everywhere around me. After what I had done to her and her daughter, I couldn't help but imagine how angry she must be. We had to leave this place soon—bad things were about to happen. I bent my legs and jumped high up as the wind could take me, rising into the air. In an instant, I felt their presences again, shadowed in the sky. The very air around me reeked of blood lust and sinister thoughts. Their intent to kill was so great it felt like my body was being stabbed frequently from different directions. I knew that I had to get away now or forfeit my life. But there was no escape except through them. Quickly, I managed to jump my way towards the child, freeing him before letting the string loose from the cloud. Instead of falling, I began to float up further into the sky. At first, I couldn't control it, but with each second l got the hang of it. Whoa, I was really flying and it was amazing. How was I even doing it? I think it was the power of this new coat, it had to be.

"Is there another way down?" I shook the kid up.

He seemed out of it and didn't look like he was going to be much help. As I held him tightly, I looked up for another way out. A brilliant idea popped into my head; it was to blast away another exit in the sky. This underground chamber or whatever this place is was linked somehow to the palace and the outside. As I was about to use my guns, two giant beasts broke through the sky barrier, catching me off guard. They looked like treasure dogs except only one hundred times bigger and nastier. They bore spiky black fur and had large bushy tails the size of two trees in length. Growling ferociously, they descended towards us at frightening speeds. My jaw opened as I felt fear grip me. This was indeed an unexpected development. Instinctively, they attacked us ruthlessly and didn't even give me a chance to counterattack. Without the slightest thought, I used our combined weight to free fall towards the bottom, shooting a barrage of bullets at both of them. The bullets did not do much harm to the gigantic creatures at all. Their sheer size and tough skin was enough to protect them from my attacks without the slightest effort. Katarina was definitely close, this attack was merely a distraction or amusement for her. The dogs gave me no room to breathe; they attacked one after the other violently. I stopped attacking the dogs to conserve my strength, and used my eyes to search around for another way out. Hidden beneath the ruins, there was another unknown passage. This was my way out. I double-timed my speed and headed towards it desperately. Still unaware of how the coat worked, I flew towards the passage, shooting away the rubble and debris. The giant dogs pursued behind me, jaws wide open and showing their teeth which were sharper than a blade. Little by little, they gained more distance, drawing closer for comfort. On impulse, my body twisted, allowing me to face them while still descending down into the dark pit. I fired two powerful bullets of rage at each of them with both of my guns, causing me to increase my plunge. "Not good."

Instead of the result I wanted, my actions caused the walls around me to collapsing behind me. The dogs stopped following me, fleeing towards the surface like cowards. I had no choice, but to keep going further down. There was nothing, but darkness in front of me, like my future. All I had was my will to survive as my guide. Even my eyesight was powerless against this raging darkness that went on forever. What could I do? I was getting frustrated by with this silent darkness. I couldn't tell how far I was beneath the surface. The dogs growled and sounded pretty upset with what I had done especially Katarina Fox. I had stolen from her and managed to get away with it too, a fit worthy of legends, one might say.

My shoulder hit something hard, causing me to wince a little. I had no idea of where I was or what was in front of me. I only knew that I was going downwards somewhere, guided by my instincts. Wouldn't be surprised if I ended up at the center of the world.

Something stirred ahead of me. I turned my heads towards it and saw a faint small light, the only thing I could see and nothing else. Was this the way out? There was no way to be certain except by going towards it. Odd enough, the walls around me started to get wider the more I flew towards the bottom. The light began to glow even brighter the closer I came towards it. I felt myself slow down and approach it carefully. My heart told my mind it was okay, everything was going to be okay. A whisper of good hope lingered silently in my ears, assuring me of what was in front of me. I reached out into the light and grabbed something spherical in nature. It was smooth and glowed vividly. A large flow of light coming from the sphere surrounded me and the child completely. I felt a warm radiance as I closed my eyes softly. It was a short, but felt like an eternity, all in one time. What was this feeling?

A soft wind blew into my ears. I opened my eyes with my hand shielding them, expecting to see horror, but to my surprise, I was out of that dark place and outside. Not an illusion, but the real outside.

19

2

The night was clear and the sun was nowhere in sight. I was somewhere within the great walls of Jura. I couldn't understand what had happened; however, I was glad to be out. Echoes of screaming merchants were coming from every direction. The once dark shafts of alleys were covered with the thick bright light from scented candles. As I got up, I noticed that I still had the little boy within my arm. He was now asleep. I tried to leave him behind and go, but my conscious refused as it was cruel and heartless thing to do. For a few minutes, I debated with myself on what to do with him. Finally I decided to bring him with me after my conscience had overcome my stupid and careful portion of the brain. The night was definitely still young. I walked in the city, brimming like a newly reborn man. Everywhere I walked people stopped and stared at my silver coat. Had to admit, it was rather marvelous fabric. However, its bright silver color was attracting way too much attention. Before I even realized it, it morphed into a black coat with yellow shoulder stripes. I stopped in my tracks, amazed completely.

"This is definitely new!"

This coat was indeed special and a lot more valuable than I perceived. Was it enchanted or magical? Such a fine piece of clothing was hardly common in my era. Maybe it served another purpose which is why Katarina desperately wanted to keep me away from it. I took my mind away from it and started wondering where Suzanne and the others were. They had said they would find me. Well in this large fortress of a city, it was going to be to take a while. I looked up at the magnificent brick buildings, admiring the marvels around me. The streets were busy with young men and women my age, chatting and dancing around the streets. For a moment, it reminded me of my time in Rogue. My breath grew cold as I was reminded of the situation I was in. Katarina Fox was in Jura along with the princess, looking for me. I had to leave the city soon or she would find me. Looking left and right, I ran across the busy alleys, hiding away when I spotted city guards. I still couldn't believe I had gone through that difficult task all for this shiny coat. Just what was it that made it so important?

The little boy had said it was powerful and very precious, reserved for the princess. Only thing I had seen it do for me was flight and color change, not that much impressive. After crossing past a few streets, I managed to make my way to a small district with smaller buildings with fewer lamps lit. There were neither any young adults in this area nor guards present. It was quiet and peaceful. I proceeded carefully into the small district, controlling my body to prevent loud steps. There was an ominous howl of a wolf in the wind. I looked up into the air and realized who it belonged to. Those giant dogs, I doubted it was the last time I ever saw them again. Their scent corrupted the air, making my nostrils burn. To be fair, I had held back some of the gauntlet's other power. Not because I couldn't use it, but because..... Let's just say I wanted it to be a surprise for Katarina when we finally met in clutches of battle.

"Hey, you." Someone yelled to me. "Come here and make it fast!"

Someone was calling out to me from behind a tall stack of trees. It was a guard roughly my height, carrying a long, spiked spear. He hollered again, signaling me to come closer. Out of options, I did as he asked and approached him. I could have taken him out, but I didn't want to draw any attention to myself.

"Have you seen this man?" the guard asked, showing me a picture of a familiar face. "This is the princess' fiancé and he is lost, so have you seen him?"

It was a portrait of Jisembo! The guy Suzanne had beat up along with his buddies. Plus, the guy I had impersonated to get into the palace. Fiancé! I thought

It appeared, the princess had believed what I had said and took it to heart. I was really getting good at lying. Although, I really felt bad for Jisembo; apart from being beat up and tied, I had made his life more miserable by telling the princess that he was bringing her an engagement ring.

"I'm sorry, sir," I replied, bowing my head in a polite way, "I have not seen this man at all, but I will alert the officials if I see him."

I sighed after saying that. I doubted he believed me because he kept staring at my coat and the little boy. He was onto something and whatever it was only spelled trouble for me.

"Are you wearing the designer coat from Luche's place?" he spoke in a different way now. "It has to be, look at the design, the color and the texture of this coat, magnificent."

Oh joy!

The guard was a fashion freak who just wouldn't stop talking about designed clothing. He kept talking for what seemed like an eternity. It was all about Luche's next designer shorts and coats for men. It sounded pretty tormenting to me because I hated designer clothing with a passion, and hearing about it annoyed me to death. If I did ever meet Luche, I was going to punch him in the stomach for making me go through all that.

"Please, sir," I finally cut him off, unable to bear it anymore. "I have to take my son to the doctor because he is not well as you can see."

For some couple of seconds, he examined the boy before he let me go quietly.

"Well, see you at Luche's place tomorrow," he yelled towards me as I was leaving. "He is holding a fashion festival at his mansion."

"In your dreams." I whispered to myself, trying to ignore him.

No way, I thought. This was hopefully the last time he and I ever talk again. After all, I was going to take down the structure of power in Okaya permanently. So no more Katarina Fox, her daughter, and definitely all her minions. A brief moment after I left him, I stopped halfway, looking into the sky and soaking in a moment of relief. The moon was shining bright as a cool steady wind blew past me. I heard street bums chanting in the nearby alleys and lit streets. Besides being under the reign of the Rainku, Okaya was really a thieves' paradise. There were so many hidden places and inns to steal from, delightful. Although, Jura was a lot nicer than I expected. I thought it would be a nightmare far worse than Saza, glad to see I was wrong. Or perhaps it was just another ruse, to cover up a city with a dark secret past. There was something about Okaya that Katarina didn't want us to find. But in all honesty, a lot of things made absolutely no sense at all. I mean where did the Rainku come from? How had they acquired their insane skills and powers? How was it possible that they took over so many powerful countries in such a short period of time? They were well disciplined and organized like there was someone or something powerful above them, a very powerful force not to be trifled with. I heard another ferocious howling within the distant night and shifted my gaze up. I felt a brush of fear slide past my spine. Something bad had been unleashed into the city.

"Get inside, all of you," a man yelled from what looked like a beer inn, hollering to all of us outside. "The black wolves are about to be released out."

Wolves! That explained the familiar presence of animal blood lust I felt in the air. The drunken bums and even the thieves in the alleys fled the scene to find cover somewhere. I joined them and bolted towards the tavern. It was the only thing open at that time. I held the little boy firmly in one hand and slithered inside. Once inside, I sighed and paced slowly towards a vacant table adjacent to the window. Most of the men inside were half asleep, drunk out of their minds. The bartender spotted me and walked right towards me. He looked at me warmly. "You ain't from around here, are you, boy? Young men like you should know better than walk outside at this time, when it is harvest time."

Harvest time! I didn't like the sound of that so I asked, "what is that, sir?"

They all laughed at me like I had said something funny. I felt awkward and stupid among these drunks. It's ironic that I had been once one of them. Seeing them drinking their heads off, brought back bad memories. Needless to say, I felt a growing sadness hidden beneath their hysterical laughter. One of the men stopped laughing, holding his mug tightly while his other hand clenched into a fist. Abruptly, the walls of the alehouse rattled from all corners, dust falling to the floor.

"Now what," I peered through the closed window.

We heard loud howling creatures, coming from all sides around the inn. I carried the child up and moved away from the window quickly. The air reeked with the scent of blood thirsty wolves. It wasn't just the inn alone—I felt their presence all over the city. What sort of madness was this? My stomach coiled at the thought of all the people outside when these creatures were unleashed.

"That's harvest time, boy!" the bartender chuckled as he served a beer to one of the drunks.

Terrible screams were everywhere, from what I could see outside. The wolves were attacking everyone without prejudice. My heart was tearing up in two as I wanted to go out and help them. Even if I did go out, there was nothing I could do against such a horde of those savages.

"Katarina must be looking for the intruders who destroyed Saza and her pet monster. I heard a rumor they might have come this way." one of the drunks spoke, pounding his cup on the table. "Just hope my boy wasn't out there when the wolves were summoned."

I was right! There wasn't any safe place in Okaya, no matter where you were. The citizens were in much terrible danger as I was. I had brought this upon them. I could only hope when the time was came, I would redeem myself by destroying Katarina and her Trident from this world. It all sounded easy, but could I do it? Was I truly the one to bring the Rainku down? The more I doubted myself the more my heart became clouded. Everyone in the room felt the same as me. From their expressions, they also hated what was going on and wished to stop it. The screams outside didn't decrease, but only got louder and sounded close each time. I heard the left wall rattle, alarming everyone around me. It seemed the wolves were still hungry and were starting to infiltrate people's homes and local meeting places.

"Put the piano against the door," the bartender yelled. "They are going to strike here next in a matter of seconds."

He was right! They were just across the next building and seemed to have their eyes set on our building next. Although heavily drunk, the men got up and helped each other carry the piano and leaned it against the door which was the only way in. There was a loud thump as if something hard hit the door followed by a terrible howl which echoed through the thick walls of the bar. "Cover the chimney," I warned them as one of the wolves was about to come inside through the chimney.

Two men heeded my warning and placed a large table against the chimney opening, supporting it with their backs. The whole city was in a loud ruckus, there wasn't any place where I could not hear people screaming. It was absolutely terrible. What was she thinking? Clearly it was a good idea to flush us out by doing this; however, these people didn't deserve this type of cruelty for what I had done. Everyone inside were helping out only to buy time. I had to do something to stop this madness. My teeth gritted as I felt my anger burn out wildly. Before I knew it, I had both hands on my flintlocks, ready to go out and fight off the wolves. Someone stopped me before I could leave, appearing out of nowhere like a shadow.

"I told you we'd find you." Suzanne said, taking my hand firmly away from the doorknob. "We need to leave this city now! Something tells me you had something to do with the mess outside."

She was always right! I smirked at her lightly as I moved away from the door. Even the angelic look of hers did nothing to diminish the turmoil in my heart. I felt guilty beyond a doubt for what was happening. I had caused this terrible mess because I went snooping around in places forbidden in the city. It was my fault things had turned out this way, and somehow I had to stop this ridiculous onslaught from happening any further.

"Who is that?" she asked, pointing to the little kid who was still in my arm.

Funny! I had forgotten that he was still in my hands all this time. The child was still sound asleep, breathing lightly. To where we were headed, I couldn't afford to take him with me. He was more of a burden to me and the sooner I got rid of him the better.

"He is trouble," I replied her, taking him to the bartender. "Here can you please take care of him? I will pay you back for all his utilities and everything when I come back within a week from now."

Provided I lived that long anyway. I gave him a few gold coins that were still in my sack as I bowed my head in respect. For a minute, he didn't move as he looked at the child and then directly at me. His eyes pierced the very depths of my soul, looking for signs of deception and mischief.

"Hey, boy, better come on now and return in a week, ya hear?" he muttered as he ducked from flying window pieces. He took the boy from my hands and hid him behind the side turned table gently. "Or I will throw this boy on the street."

"I sure will."

That was if I survived my encounter with Katarina Fox. The terrible loud howls decreased slowly and harshly. It was all quiet outside now, a little too quiet. I felt the wolves retreat like they were full or being called back. They scurried along the rooftops of the houses, running back in the same direction. In an instant, I saw them disappear into a very large colorful sphere in the sky. Wait, I saw something else next to them. A dark hooded and terrible figure suspended in the air effortlessly, looking in my direction.

There was no doubt about it, it was Katarina Fox. I could recognize the foul presence even from a city away. Her terrible dark presence masked the city in unending obscurity. Somehow she knew I wasn't dead and she was determined to bring me out of hiding. I squinted my eyes carefully, but could not see her face. She was wearing some sort of mask over her face—all I could see were glowing purple eyes. In her hand, there was a long, thin-tipped trident that discharged great power. My heart faltered for a second. I mean what was I thinking? How could I possibly defeat such a person? Ebi was really incredible to have even stood a chance against them by himself. Katarina suddenly raised her trident in the air with her right hand. It glowed strongly as a huge sphere appeared.

"We need to leave now," Suzanne grabbed my hand strongly. "Something terrible is about to happen."

Katarina was persistent and relentless which were rather annoying traits for me. Had she used her trident to seek me out? If so, that explained everything. Storm-like clouds suddenly appeared in the sky followed by lighting. Strangely enough, the weather went back to normal quickly after that within a few seconds. What follow after was a horde of giant dogs, coming out of thin air. Their eyes glowed bright, reflecting light from the moon. They landed on the buildings practically destroying them to rubble. Like the other two from before, their fur was dark and raised, and yet ever so fierce. One of them raised its head and growled terribly, sending sound shockwaves in the air.

"For once I agree with you. We seriously need to leave now," I replied her without taking my eyes away from them. "Large beasts are coming this way and they know where we are."

"Calm down," she cut me off. "Hold onto my hand and relax we'll be out of here in no time."

That was if we had time; they were dashing in our direction at such menacing speed and with such great agility. I felt sorry for the bartender and the drunks inside. Somehow, I hoped they would hold out until the nightmare was over. The strange feeling as if my shadow was engulfing me came back stronger. Suzanne was using her power as we traveled in the shadows out of the city. Fortunately there was no trouble leaving the city as the rest of the guards had gone into hiding, fearing that they would be caught in crossfire while Katarina was in her destructive rampage. We managed to get out of city, dashing for the nearby woodlands that led for Danyen. I took one look back at the fortress city of Jura with my fist raised. "I promise I will end her reign of terror."

20

"Where is everyone?" I panted as I followed Suzanne, running slightly a few feet behind. "I figured you guys would stick together all the way."

She laughed hysterically as her hair ran wild like a loose horse in the glistering moonlight.

"They are just up ahead of us. We found some new recruit willing to risk their lives for our cause. I think you'll be pleased with who joined us."

Well that was good news. More crazy people throwing their lives away against a monster like Katarina Fox. I meant that metaphorically by the way. The thought of all these people risking their lives to aid me sent turmoil in my heart. The woods were dark and creepy, covered completely with tall thick trees. I doubt Katarina would easily find us in here.

"So where'd you find these lunatics?" I laughed to myself hoping she would join in. "They have to be crazy to challenge Katarina Fox."

She didn't laugh as she stopped moving and looked down. I felt like I had said a bad joke at the wrong time, truly awkward. I stopped and looked at her, waiting for any kind of response. Her shoulders dropped as she sighed softly.

"You want to rescue your friends, right?" she looked back into my eyes. "Like you, we have our own personal reasons for going so it's not something to laugh about. The Rainku are evil tyrants who might eventually destroy the world and they need to be stopped. Your arrival was a sign meant to tell us to take arms and pull ourselves out of this madness. I lost my brother due to her brutality and I want to avenge him. For that, I am willing take a gamble and risk my life for my conviction and so will the others."

Oh! She had said a mouthful and made me feel stupid at the same time. I gazed down into the dirt, finally realizing what was at stake. Everything she had said was true. At first, I had only come to Okaya in order to take my friends from Katarina Fox. But now, I was more determined to see the Rainku brought down to justice. That being said, it was still crazy talk to face those savage people. No man in their right mind would dare take such a task. So why was I?

Suzanne turned around and began to run in silence. I followed behind after watching her, pondering to the last things she said to me. I heard loud growls in the air, coming from the city a few miles away. The night was filtered with screams and destruction as Jura was being turned upside down by the giant treasure dogs. Were we safe? Even by a thousand of miles, I had a hunch that they would find me regardless. Just up ahead, I spotted a small camp fire lit on bare ground. There were quite a few people around it, talking carelessly to each other, unaware of the dangers behind us.

"It's about time you two showed up," Kaya commented as we came into view. "We've been waiting for ages."

Even now, it was always nice to hear his smart remarks, although I doubted I would ever get used to Dashe's. They were sitting next to a fire in plain sight, enjoying meat from a boar that had been recently killed. It smelled good and amazing. I walked up to them and noticed a few new people. The new strangers glared at me for a second before talking amongst themselves. From my perspective, they looked like street bums and regular thieves.

"So these are the serious help?" I asked Suzanne in a blank expression.

If they were, then we were in serious trouble. At first, I had seriously thought she had recruited at least a dozen good soldiers to aid us. But this was not what I was expecting.

She placed her arms on her waist and said, "yeah, they are and don't judge a book by its cover, Rid. They are loyal and a lot stronger than you can imagine. This boy in the ragged black and red attire is Dien, but he prefers to be called "Blaze." That one over the there in the strapped shirt and short is Showe, the genius. Lastly, but not least, the two cousins in the corner are Masonku of the spades and Glazer the swift."

Their names sounded valiant and great compared to mine. Nevertheless, they still looked like ordinary bums and thieves to me. I had spent time among thieves, so I knew what I was talking about. Glazer definitely was or used to be a thief. He had the eyes of a master thief, constantly looking around, curiously aware of everything around him. Just what had Suzanne promised them?

Treasure! Gold! Silver! Emeralds! Probably one of those if I had to guess. I thought.

"How about we finish this conversation later," Dashe rudely interrupted, pointing towards the direction of Jura. He stood up quickly and unsheathed all of his swords. "It seems we might have company soon."

I turned my head towards the direction of Jura and saw the giant dogs climb up the giant walls. How did they always know where to look? I think they had caught onto my scent somehow. Clearly, in dire need of a bath after this was over. The last time water had touched my skin was when I swum through that sand piranha infested river.

"Pack everything up on this side," Ogana yelled orders. "I will make sure the booze is packed and safe in the caravan."

What a fool! Was booze the only thing he cared about? The caravan was fast, but I doubted it could outrun these giant dogs at all. This was not going to end well. My fist clenched as I anticipated the worst case scenario in my mind. I thought of flying out towards them and fighting them head on, giving the others a chance to escape safely.

"Everyone, get in and leave this to me and Masonku," Dien spoke with a confident voice. He took two steps forwards and raised his fists carelessly. "We will get rid of the animal problem."

I hunkered down, looking at him in a surprised manner. Could they really do something about those animals? I mean those giant dogs were no easy push over. Suzanne leaned in close and grabbed my hand. "Leave it to them. Trust in their power."

I looked into her eyes and nodded. If she trusted them that much, the least I could do was the same. Within seconds, we were all inside the back of the caravan awaiting Dien and Masonku. They stood perfectly still without showing any slight sense of fear.

"This will teach them," Masonku said sinking his left hand into the ground. "Giant earth spikes trap killing dogs."

Seriously! Maybe naming your attacks was not as great as Ebi made it seem. That was like the worst name for an attack I had ever heard. Nothing happened as all was motionless around us. I heard small tremors that suddenly got louder and louder with each moment. The ground behind us was carved down and molded strongly, bringing forth mud spikes from beneath the surface. The giant pointy spikes shot up high into the air, standing firmly and strong. The name of the attack was indeed terrible; however, the attack itself was amazing. If I had to guess, I would say he also acquired his cursed power from the mists too. Dien extended his arms up, turning his whole body into a large intense flame. He swung his right hand across the trees sending the forest ablaze. The flames quickly broadened and within seconds were directly beneath the wall of Jura. With the spiky canyon surrounding the city outside and fire everywhere, I felt confident that we could escape safely. The giant treasure dogs stopped halfway, looking in our direction with intense anger. They growled out loud for a while before returning to their mistress's side.

"We should probably get going—that fire will not last for long," Dien said as he and Masonku jumped inside the caravan quickly. "Katarina must have seen this, and if we are not careful, we might just be caught in a wormhole."

Yeah! How could I forget? Those nasty wormholes had almost got me twice and I didn't feel like taking another chance. The driver whipped the horses at full speed, heading in the direction of Danyen. In a short time, we were far from Jura and travelling safely under the covers of the forest. I sat on the right side of Ogana, thinking carefully as to what I would do once I got to Danyen. I had gotten stronger, but it felt like it wasn't enough. Katarina Fox's power was far much greater than I had expected. Ogana's sudden rude belches startled me, causing me to look around. I looked at each and every one of my new comrades and smiled. I wasn't alone anymore. I would face her with the aid of my allies. Nothing was greater than the power of friendship.

"Paul and Tye, wait for me, guys," I whispered to myself as I fell asleep, "I will be there for you soon. Just be patient a little longer."

I was tired and exhausted since morning and it felt good to finally sleep.

21

(*12 years ago) ********

"Come on, you pompous fool," James smacked me in the arm. "Daphne is waiting outside for us. Honestly, I have no idea why she always insists you tag along with us."

Daphne! I quickly got up ignoring the splinter I had gotten on my leg the day before that hurt really badly. The morning sun bathed my room with soft warm light.

"I'm coming, guys, wait for me," I yelled to them, changing my robes.

We had agreed the day before that today we would play hide and seek. The palace walls were huge and offered a lot of hiding places.

"This time it's your turn to count," Daphne said, poking me in the stomach. "We are going to hide and you are going to count to twenty slowly."

Yeah sure! When was it never my turn? Of all the times we played this game, I always ended up counting and it was really not fair.

"Why can't James do it?" I whined, kicking the ground softly. "He never gets to counts, not even once."

They didn't listen to me; they always took me for granted and this time wasn't any better. I rushed to one of the trees near me and started counting. I heard their dashing footsteps from the corner of my ears. When I finished counting, I opened my eyes looking around. This was going to be a long day. Since we had said nothing was off limits, I had to search every place inside the palace from bottom up. Two hours went by so fast and I still hadn't found anyone. It was starting to get annoying and tiring. The servants were everywhere, working in kitchen and around the courtyards. It was a busy day and all I was doing was getting in their way. Suddenly, I noticed the shelf slowly shift and open a little apart. There was something or someone inside it. I got excited. After spending more than two hours searching, I was finally going to find someone. Quickly, I took a chair and climbed up the shelf. Carefully I opened the shelf door and I found Daphne. I was so happy that I didn't care about how much time of the day I had spent looking for them. I didn't care much about finding James; for all I knew, it would be another two or three hours before I found him. So who cared if he stayed there and I never found him? Not me.

"How did you find me?" she asked with a puzzled look. "Wow did the sun already set?"

I didn't know what she was talking about, but finally it was just me and her. No meddlesome stepbrother of mine in sight.

"No, it hasn't set yet it's still morning, Daphne," I replied, smiling vividly.

"Don't be a smart mouth, Riyo," she growled, smacking me in back knob of my head. "I was just playing around."

Wow! I kept forgetting about her anger tantrums which went off anytime of the day. I had to be careful around her otherwise she would break my skull one day.

"Let's go find James," I said, tricking her into walking with me. "We have to find him, otherwise, we won't be able to play again."

I walked with her across the palace for half an hour. This feeling, I wanted this feeling of being around her to just last forever. She held my hand in hers and stopped walking, looking me straight in the eye. My small heart skipped a beat for a second.

"If anything ever happened to me, would you forget about me?" she asked me in a sincere and yet serious manner.

Ok! Where was this going? Not clearly what I was expecting at all. How could I ever forget about her? I mean I was ten, but I doubted there was anything that would ever make me forget her. I would have to be insane or something for that to happen.

"No, I won't and that's a promise," I responded gently, squeezing her hand, smiling brightly. "And would you ever forget about me?"

She took some time to think about it. That really hurt me because a question like that deserved a short simple answer. Like maybe a yes would suffice for me.

"No, because we'll always be friends no matter where we end up." she replied, leaping in the air as the wind blew by. She let go off my hand and ran into the garden, looking gaudily at the red and blue petal flowers. "Promise me that if anything ever happened, you would always find your way back."

Well, it wasn't exactly the words I wanted to hear, but the way she said made everything alright.

I held her hand and nodded, sealing our promise with our pinkies. Shortly after, we sat by the edge of the garden looking down at the inner city. I felt something hit me in the back of the head violently, causing me to yelp in pain. I turned my head and saw James, standing on top of the ledge and looking down upon me. His eyes were red with anger, his fist clenched and riled up.

"You got some nerve, Riyo," he bellowed and stepped down onto the ground. "I was hiding the whole time in plain sight for more than three hours and you are sitting here talking to Daphne? Don't you know she is my future bride?"

Bride! Not if I could help it. If we were to end up battling for her hand in marriage, so be it.

"Oh, James, I found you, "I said sarcastically, rubbing the sore spot on my head. "I knew where you were the whole time."

He didn't take it too kindly as he shacked hard with raging anger. In a flash of the moment, he swung his sword and hit me with the hilt of his sword on my cheek. An unnerving sense of pain jolted through my body as I jumped up and away from him. It was getting dangerous and I didn't want Daphne to be hurt by this rampaging mad boy. James growled like a monster and side turned, moving roughly towards me. Would he kill me for Daphne? To be honest, I think he would. James wildly swung his miniature short sword at me and I barely ducked and ran for my life. My head hit something hard and I opened my eyes, feeling a throbbing ache on my forehead.

It was dark and crowded; all I could feel were the wheels turning hard beneath me. Everyone was asleep except for me and the driver. I tilted my head and looked down into my lap. That dream, it had happened in my past when I was still just a child. To think I would relive it again in form of a dream was truly torture. For the past weeks, it felt like I was reliving my entire childhood memories all over again. The scary part was I felt like it was really happening: every touch, smell, and sound was almost real. I remembered the promise I made to Daphne clearly. If only I could see her just one time, although that was impossible at the moment. I felt my stomach growl as I smelled something tasty. The source of this lovely scent was coming from the fresh fried meat near the canister Ogana was laying on. Silently, I reached out to the pot without waking anyone and grabbed a chunk of meat inside. I gobbled it like a wild man without hesitation or a moment's thought. It was so good that I took another chunk from the pot and ate it all quickly. After I was done, I burped quietly and sighed in peace. My body felt well rested and fully recovered, even my head felt peaceful and calm. The woods around us were dark and void of life. The four horses made whiny-like noises as they ran constantly through the rigid terrain of the forest. No city was in sight. I could clearly see the outskirts of nearby mountains thanks to my enhanced vision. By now, Katarina had probably realized I left the city and had her hounds searching for me in the forest. But why had she tried so hard to keep me away from this coat? What made it so special to her? Maybe it had another use unknown to me, far much greater than I could grasp my feeble mind on. That being mentioned, I did enjoy its other abilities like flight and color morphing. I had a powerful gauntlet as well as a mystical coat and yet I was still afraid. But why was I afraid of Katarina Fox? Her mere presence sent shivers down my spine, I couldn't phantom this unending feeling. And yet I had been granted amazing powers that rivaled hers in order to save my friends. But why was I still fearful? How could I be such a coward?

"Stop thinking like that!" I whispered to myself, trying not to fall victim to my own negative doubts.

Danyen was just far up ahead, maybe a good two days ride by horse. I could no longer afford to keep doubt in my heart. My greatest adversary was going to be waiting for me there along with my kidnapped friends. If I was to stand a chance, I had to get rid of all doubt and face my oblivion with courage and valor. I shifted to my right side, leaning my back against the wall. My stomach felt full and satisfied that I could finally fall asleep peacefully again.

"A good night sleep is all I need," I whispered to myself, falling slowly to sleep for the second time.

****

"Wake up," someone rattled me wildly up.

I had just barely fallen asleep without having any weird flashback dreams, so I really woke up irritated. I opened my eyes slowly and got hit a by ray of outside light. Next to me, I saw Kaya, shaking and trembling like was scared. He was pale and his freckles were blood red.

"What, Kaya?" I whispered with my eyes half open. "Can't I just sleep peacefully just this once?"

That didn't come up right because I didn't know what the situation so I had been rude in my words. I leaned half up on my back and looked into his eyes.

"Now is not the time to sleep." Kaya whispered as he sat on his knees. "We have trouble on our hands."

Trouble was the word I now resented the most. So close to Danyen, it seemed that was all we were going to get. Just once, I wished for things to go smoothly. Infiltrate and rescue without being seen; however, that was unlikely to happen. There was no one in the caravan except for me and Kaya. I felt something out of the ordinary lingering outside. In the air, a disturbingly foul odor that reeked of mayhem and chaos. It was so horrible it made my nose hurt.

"What's going on, Kaya?" I asked him, nudging him a little. "Why have we stopped?"

He didn't answer. He looked frightened as if he had seen something horrible. With his little finger, he pointed outside, shacking like a wet dog in the winter. This can't be good. Of the little time I had known him, I had never seen him this scared before. Something had spooked the little boy. Slowly, I put my coat back and leaped out of the caravan cautiously. My nerves were still like iron from fear and crazed anticipation. The ground was covered in bones; some were human and some belonged to something else. There was almost no space without bones and dirt, truly a frightening sight to behold. What on earth happened here? I had never seen anything this nerve wrecking before. It was a little too terrifying even for me.

"This is the path to Danyen," Suzanne sobbed quietly, wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. "Are you sure you want to go there? Now is the time to decide, Rid."

After seeing this, I wasn't so sure anymore. A piece of me wanted to turn back and run away as far as I could, away from this madness. Were Paul and Tye still alive? How could a human do this to another human? The stench only got worse as some of the bodies looked a month old. I could now tell why Kaya had been so frightened. This was truly a suicide quest—we would surely and possibly lose our lives if we continued down this path. Needless to say, I felt my heart burn with hope like something was pushing me forward. I could not explain it, but it felt warm and comforting. I had felt this presence inside me for a while. It came and went without my approval most of the time. There was no turning back now, I had to face my future like a man.

"Yes, I do," I responded, smiling, looking at each of them. "We must keep pushing through to the end for the sake of everyone who lost their lives. This time we are going to take a stand. This madness shall not stop us from what must be done."

"Well, you all heard the man," Ogana said, raising his right arm towards Danyen. "We are going no matter what."

"Yeah," Masonku and his pose screamed and now seemed livelier than ever. "This time we take the fight to them."

That was truly amazing. My words had actually motivated someone which had been something I had never done before. I truly sounded like a leader, a man befitting of the future crown of Rogue, unlike James. Now I was ready to march my unified band of misfits against the powerful tyrant. I put my courage face on and looked really brave for the others. They now looked up to me so running away was out of the option. Suddenly, Dashe fell onto a skeleton and freaked out, punching in every direction like a deranged man. Coincidentally, his actions caused the skeleton to hug him tightly. Everyone including me laughed—we needed that laugh after all the horror we had just witnessed.

"Can one of you idiots help me?" Dashe yelped as it looked like the skeleton was strangling him. "It's choking the life out of me."

Wait, I looked closely at this unlikely bond. Something was terribly wrong. I felt a residual aura out of all the skeletons on the ground. To my horror, there were somehow coming back to life, well skeleton life that is. I quickly dashed towards Dashe and grabbed the skeleton from the other side, trying to release its tight hold on him. I broke its grasp free from him only to see a horde of skeletons getting up from the ground. They snarled and started to move towards us. Pulling Dashe up, we both moved back and regrouped with the others. This was like a nightmare brought forth to life, almost similar to one of my uncle's late night stories. I never imagined that one of them would be real and yet here they were.

"This is the infamous Skeletal Road," Suzanne said, knocking over one of the skeletal that had leaped toward her. She bolted towards them, using her shadow's power and knocked a few of them off their feet quickly.

Couldn't they have picked a better road to Okaya? I shook my head carelessly and took my battle stance.

"This is important information you could have told me before using this road," I yelled at her as I soared up in the sky and pulled out my flintlocks.

I fired a series of bullets at them, hoping to end it as soon as I could. Even when we knocked them down, they got back up and kept coming. Some of them went as far as to merge with other skeletons to make an even worthy adversaries.

"Is there a way to beat them?" Dashe spun backwards, unleashing a series of fierce sword slashes at half a dozen skeletons at the same time. "We can't keep this up much longer and there seems to be no end to them."

Masonku and Glazer worked together and released a sequence of brutal attacks with their flintlock rifles and swords combo. Showe and Dien also seemed to be holding their ground, but not so much with Ogana. He was dizzy from all the drinking he had been doing and all he seemed to be doing was get in the way. Hardly what I would call useful. Perhaps Dashe had been right; we should have left Ogana back in Saza. He was too much of a loose cannon to depend on.

"This is an army of cursed souls," Suzanne yelled, moving back towards Dein and the others. "It must be the power of one of the Rainku so there is truly no way to beat them. We have to get inside the caravan and get out of here."

And she tells us now? If there was one thing I didn't like about her, it had to be her imperfect timing. I looked down and realized how useless our actions were. This sort of power of was not something that could be so easy to defeat. Meaning escape was our only choice at hand.

"Okay," I yelled out to all of them. "Get in the caravan, I will cover the driver as he steers us out of here. Can someone also help Ogana before he gets himself killed?"

It was truly not the right time for him to be playing around with booze. Hard to think anyone would drink this heavily during broad day, but apparently he could. After shooting away a horde of skeleton behind us, I descended slowly next to the driver. This was just insane; they just kept coming and coming.

"Now what?" the driver screamed, looking at me in a blank frightened way. "The path ahead is blocked with these creatures. The horses are spooked out to move. What should I do?"

Without hesitation, I shot away the skeletons in front of us with my bullets of rage, making a clear path in the process.

"Now go, they won't stay down forever." I yelled at him, clearing another pose of skeletons coming from all sides. It was so frustrating; I had never faced such relentless adversaries like these before. They never seemed to feel pain or fear, all they knew was fighting.

Our driver whipped the horses hard and they galloped quickly through the opened path. Some skeletons had somehow managed to get on top of the caravan, becoming very annoying. The wind was raging fast against us in the different direction. A few of the skeletons were knocked out and some were blasted off by my energy bullets. Danyen truly did not like us. I had been truly wrong to think that I could live here happily. This country was truly a nightmare. It was nothing like Tye had described earlier before all this happened. I guess each country had its dark secrets, although I never imagined it to be this ghastly and sinister. As we sped past the horde of multiple skeletons, I noticed the air around us get colder again as if something was approaching. I had sensed this cold chill air whenever Katarina was close within my range. Could she? I got scared at the thought of it. No wait! This feeling was different from before. It wasn't as terribly cold as before and it felt like it was all around me in the ground and trees.

22

"We are a few hours away from Danyen," Suzanne said, putting a bandage on her bruised arm. She sat next to me on the far right side of the caravan. "As you can see, there is no turning back now."

She was right as usual. We couldn't turn back now. The path behind us had been blocked off by the army of skeletons, leaving only one way for all of us. I sighed slowly trying to control myself from panicking. Looking slightly up, the sky was blue and clear and the sun blazed our skin warmly. The cold feeling I had felt seemed to have vanished unnaturally. Still something bothered me about what Suzanne said. I felt like asking her since she was already next to me and the driver.

"Are there any more surprises I should know about now before we reach Danyen?" I asked politely, staring at her in a non creepy way. "Skeletons that fight and don't die is definitely something I would have wanted to know ahead of time."

She didn't answer as she watched the surrounding while her hair ran wild with the wind. Her eyes looked like a vast blue ocean as they reflected the light from the sun. I wanted to touch her smooth black hair, but chose not at the last second.

"Danyen is just that," she replied without looking at me. "There is no way to describe it. It used to be paradise until Katarina took over fifteen years ago. Now it is just a place where monsters and creatures from beyond this world dwell. I remember a time I used to go there with my brother and parents, but that is now all just a memory. Nevertheless, I believe in you though. I know you were meant to end this madness—the gauntlet of destiny chose you."

Again that wasn't the answer I wanted to hear. Her words rained down on me like large boulders, putting even more weight on my shoulders. Suzanne's faith in me was one sided; I didn't feel the same way about myself. Believe me, I would do anything to make her happy, but this was way beyond me. I was a banished prince of Rogue, an outcast and a thief. What did I know about saving people? I had caused more tears than joy in my whole lifetime. What was I supposed to do? It was mere coincidence that bound this gauntlet to my arm, and I never wanted this power. In a frantic attempt to acquire more power and save my friends, I made a promise to Ebi that I would vanquish these monsters out of this world. Thinking back on it now, I was sort of regretting that decision. Who was I kidding? I was no match for those villains and everyone else knew it. But I was their only hope, their lives rested in my ability to lead and defeat the Rainku. I wrestled with my thoughts, unsure of what I was supposed to do for what seemed like a long time.

"You are not alone," Suzanne held my hand gently. Her hand was so warm and so soft it distracted me for a second from all my worries. "We all came here with you and we shall stand along you to the very end."

Her words soothed my soul deeply. I looked directly into her eyes and smiled. My companions were here with me, I was not alone in my struggles. If the end was to come, they would stand by my side till the very last moment. With that in mind, my entire qualms disappeared. The road was rough and it seemed we had been moving for an eternity. It was all dusty with no trees and grass for miles, almost dry like a desert. The stench of rotten flesh clouded our sense of smell, lingering in the air like a thick fog. Danyen was truly going to be my worst nightmare brought to life, from the looks of things. Up ahead, I noticed a few trees come into sight. They almost resembled the ones I saw in the princess' room. Speaking of which, I wondered if they had found Jisembo yet. I sort of felt sorry for him, but oh well.

Just a little up ahead, we suddenly came across a swamp. It appeared out of nowhere and felt rather out of place. The dusty road ended in the disgusting water, meaning we had to cross through it to get to the other side. It was so vast. The thought of going around it was out of the option. Oddly enough, I felt some sort of presence in the swamp, a very unfamiliar and powerful force lay hidden inside it. This strange water spelled trouble. Whatever was down there was dangerous and best to avoid if possible. I wanted to save our energy for our final fight with Katarina Fox, and not waste it on her petty minions.

"Stop, there is something down there," I warned the driver quickly.

He stopped the horses in their tracks as I jumped off quickly with my guns now in my hands. This was the path to Danyen—I had to be prepared for anything. I walked carefully to the shallow end of the swamp and bent down for a closer look. The water was not too deep to sink the Caravan, much less to drown someone like Kaya. "Wait, a minute."

For some reason, I could now see the dirty and eroded walls of the great city of Danyen. I could see them as clearly as day like my eye's power had increased. We would reach the city before sunset if we were fortunate. All that stood between us and the city was this swamp. Needless to say, that was not going to be an easy task. Whatever lurked inside these waters was something none of us had probably ever encountered before. So it would not be wise to waltz in carelessly

"So what's down there, old wise leader?" Dien joked, patting me on the shoulder. "I will take care of it with one hand."

"Don't be so reckless," I warned him, straightening up again.

I still didn't like the way he talked to me. However, his great confidence was most admirable. The others got out of the caravan and stood next to us silently. None of us brilliant gentlemen could come up with a safe way across that didn't involve noise or violence. Dien suddenly moved in front of us, sinking his feet half into the water. The water simmered as he turned into fire and began to burn it away. Instead of stopping him, I watched carefully, sensing how the presence I had felt in the water would react. Steam rose into the sky and yet no monster sprang out. I was a bit disappointed and a little happy. Perhaps, we would cross safely this time without trouble finding us. Wait, I spoke too soon. Something wasn't right; the presence I felt in the water stirred a little around. Massive surging and uncontrolled waves of water erupted everywhere in the swamp. We all backed away and took refuge next to the horses. Oh no, I thought. Not again.

I had been wrong all along. There was no monster in the swamp. The swamp was the monster. It was embarrassing to think that I had just figured it now at such a critical time as this.

"Stay away from the water," I warned everyone quickly. "The water is the monster."

Once everyone was at a safe distance, I took a quick run and jumped into the air, soaring up high for a better look. It was incredible, I really did enjoy this ability to fly like a bird. It was freedom, the kind you want to last forever feeling. I felt the wind hit against my face as I dive bombed down towards the swamp. With my flintlocks facing down, I shot two bullets of rage into the swamp, sending massive water splashing everywhere. A howling noise disrupted me before I could pull the triggers again. It was coming from inside the swamp itself.

"Stop, you are wasting your time?" Dashe yelled harshly towards me. "Your weapons and life-force energy won't work on this type of monster."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." I said, feeling stupid.

I felt like I should have known that. To make things even more humiliating, it had been Dashe who had pointed that out to me. Unexpectedly, the water began to come together, taking on a smaller form. It took on a humanoid structure as the massive pile of water lumped together on it.

"Oh great," I panicked a little.

Fighting a massive pile of water was a lot easier than a condensed humanoid form of it. There was no face or flesh on it which made it look even more sinister and frightening. Within a blink of an eye, I was instantly slammed with a neck breaker, surging me up uncontrollably into the air. For a whole second, I blacked out completely unsure of what had just happened. The soreness in the neck revived me back to reality as I regained my posture in the air. It was hard to breathe; I gulped each breath like it was my last. The water creature was nowhere in sight. It had vanished again with such astounding speed. I couldn't read it's movements at all or pinpoint its exact location. This was starting to become a huge problem. If I wasn't careful, I would die. With my fist up and guarding my face, I raised my power a bit more in order to counter this new foe. As I was about to make my move, Dien intervened, moving in front of me. He looked at me before turning his back towards me. What on earth was he thinking?

Half of his body had been turned into a massive and destructive ray of bright fire. I could feel the scorching fire intensely oozing out of his body. This was no ordinary trick; it was the curse of the white water mist. Dien was no longer his usual overconfident self, his facial expression was serious and determined.

"You shouldn't waste your time here, Rid. Leave this to me," he growled at me and pushed me out of the way. "I will hold this creature off for as much as I can. We can't all stay here or we'll be picked off one by one."

The confidence in his voice seemed a lot weaker now. He looked at me and for an instance and chuckled, "Suzanne believes in your strength and so will I. I can't help, but feel like you were destined to change the chaos the world is in right now. I believe if you cannot stop this madness then no one can"

No way! What was he saying? There was no way I was going to leave my new comrade behind to face such a deadly opponent as this water creature. Nonetheless, he was absolutely right. We would surely all perish if we all stayed here.

"No, I can't do that, Dien," I replied and moved in closer. "We are comrades, and no one is going to get left behind."

"Stop it," he cut me off and grabbed me with his dark tanned arm that wasn't blazed in fire. "You are too naïve, Riyo. Being a great leader is all about making the necessary sacrifices to accomplish set goals. Truth is, some or all of us will not make it out of Danyen alive."

I felt a pinch of pain in my heart. He had revealed my deepest fear, the one thing I dreaded the most. The risk of losing all of my new companions at the hands of Katarina Fox was an almost certain. Dien was absolutely right; there were going to be sacrifices regardless of how strong we were. Overwhelmed with anger, I clenched my fists unable to comprehend the weight of his decision.

"Don't worry," Dien said, he raising his arm up to his waving me off. "I will catch up with you guys later, in this world or the next. Take care of the others, Riyo."

With that said, he soared across the sky at full force towards the water creature. I could finally see it again. The creature was hunched down slightly in the air without a clear shape. Dien, fully turned into a flame humanoid, attacked viciously at the creature with his fire balls. Shockingly, Dien seemed more formidable that I had imagined. If I was a gambling man, I would put my money on him. Dien and the creature traded blow for blow across the entire sky violently. The whole sky rattled completely from the combination of fire and water. Their elemental powers were almost on par, although it seemed Dien had the advantage. Not to be biased, the creature had better agility and speed, although it could go either way.

"What are you waiting for?" Dien screamed, looking at me for a flash of a second. He fired an intense array of heat balls directly at the creature to prevent it from coming towards me. "Don't waste my efforts okay? Go now to Danyen, I can't keep this up much longer."

Engulfed by intense emotions, I descended down quickly towards the ground and rejoined the others. They were outside the caravan watching the battle in the sky. I warned myself not to look as I relayed Dien's message to them. After a slight argument, we all boarded the caravan filled with guilt and left Dien to fight off the creature. The swamp was gone, leaving a clear, wet muddy road straight to Danyen. The caravan began to speed off as our driver hit the horses hard with a whip.

"We can't just leave him to face that monster by himself," Suzanne bellowed at me with a look of worry. "He'll die."

I felt the same way too, but we had to respect his wishes and keep going. To go back and rescue him would only diminish his quality as a man. He had made this choice so that none of us would have to. Truly worthy of honor! I thought.

"Don't worry, Suzanne." Showe muttered, his fists clenched. "Dien is stronger than he looks. It will take more than that level of power to bring him down."

In some way, he was right. I felt his strength and it was indeed massive, almost close to mine when I used the third level technique. Although, I still doubted he would be powerful enough to defeat a creature of that magnitude. No, I needed to believe in him, believe in the power of his devotion. Everyone looked nervous from hearing the loud clashes in the sky above us.

"Don't stop for anything," I yelled to the driver through the window, hitting my fist against one of the walls of the caravan. "We have to respect his wishes."

Beyond a doubt, I wanted to go back for him. Being a leader was one of the hardest positions for anyone to have. The weight of making a difficult decision was horrendous.

"Don't die, Dien," I said in a whisper. "We'll all be waiting for you in Danyen."

From the brink of massive attacks, he somehow smiled and nodded like he could hear me. Only I saw it because of my eye power. I forced myself to smile back as I looked back for the last time.

23

The sound of the horses' hooves digging into the ground drowned the noise of the battle in the sky. We had traveled for merely half an hour after leaving Dien to his fate. My teeth gritted every time I thought of Dien putting his life at risk for us. He was still a stranger to me, but it felt like we had become comrades in a short time. Ties like that needed no words to describe them and they lasted forever among kinsmen. My heart ached baldy. This was just the first sacrifice among the few more to come. But I had to be strong for the sake of the others. They needed me to put on a brave face for them and reassure them that it will be alright. Susanne was crying lightly to herself, unable to control her swirled up emotions. She had known Dien and the others since they were young kids so it was pretty hard on her than on the rest of us.

"He will be alright," I comforted her, patting her on the back. "He is strong and he decided to stay and fight for a reason."

Whoa! My petty lie was almost convincing. Truth is, I didn't have the slightest idea why Dien really did it. He was a mystery to me since I had only met the man. However, to Suzanne, those simple words from my lips caused her to stop crying as she smiled at me slowly. I smiled back and turned my gaze away, unable to think of something more amazing to say next.

"Thanks, Rid," she said, hugging me tightly. "I will put my faith into that belief."

Her embrace sent great shivers into my chest like a bottle of fine ale. It was then I realized something.

"This isn't good," I thought to myself.

In the midst of trying to comfort her, I might have said something almost halfheartedly to happen. I mean Dien was strong, but this could end either way, not good. If something bad happened to Dien, I doubted Suzanne would ever talk to me ever again or worse hate me.

Even from this distance, we could still hear the clashes of the battle still going on. This was clearly a battle for all ages. I dared not to look back in fear that I might turn back and go help him. I was tempted so much to do it as I sensed his energy dwindling. He was clearly being reckless with his mist power. It was not a power any mere human could ever hope to control. If Dien continued to drain his energy, the white water mist would tap into his life force, resulting in his demise. I hoped not for his sake.

But thanks to him, we reached the outskirts great walls of Danyen before sunset. The large walls were dark grey in color and twice the length of those that housed Jura. Outside, there was no one at all except for us. The whole city was quiet and ominous. Nothing except for a lingering wind was heard from inside the city. I felt a cold shiver of fear grip me. I had never felt such a dark presence coming from one city before. Danyen looked like a deserted city consumed in darkness. The driver stopped the horses a few yards away from one of the walls to the left. On this side, there was a large dented hole inside the upper portion of the wall possibly from a past battle.

"What happened here?" I asked Suzanne since she had more knowledge of Okaya than any of us.

"This is the aftermath of the battle between the previous king of Okaya and Katarina Fox," she replied instantly, getting out of the caravan. "It was a battle that took place about fifteen years ago when the Rainku started taking over the world. The king of Okaya was powerful, but even he was weak against Katarina Fox' trident. She overpowered him and destroyed him along with half this city. Shortly after that, she took over the king's capital palace and made Danyen her priced fortress. It was once the greatest city in Okaya, and if you look at it now, it has become nothing, but a pile of stones and dust."

Amazing, it was indeed an unbelievable story to hear. Slowly, I began realizing how much tragedy the Rainku were causing around the world. They were not going to stop until the whole world was covered in ash. I looked at Danyen and sighed. The meaning, "only fools go to Danyen" began to make sense. Truly the rumors were not just myths to scare young folks. I moved forward, realizing I could not afford to turn back anymore. We were on the enemy's front door and I doubted they would let us go. I touched the great wall in front of me and began to feel cold unexpectedly. All inside the city, I felt large foul energies of human and non-human creatures alike. The air inside Danyen was intensified and clouded by blood lust. Kaya looked scared as he stood behind me, looking at the great and menacing walls. It had been a mistake to bring with us and now I was regretting it.

"Kaya, you must stay behind with the driver," I urged him, pushing him back. "This is no place for children and I can't protect you and everyone else at the same time."

He clutched onto my black coat a little longer not letting go even for one bit. There was mixture of fear and courage in his eyes.

"My brother is here," he said with sad eyes. "The metal men didn't kill him or change him for some unknown reason. He was taken here two days before you found me to this city. I'm going to find him regardless of what you say."

Now it made sense; I had been puzzled why he didn't stay behind in Saza and looked for his brother there. Who would've guessed that his brother would be in Danyen and possibly still alive? I understood him better than anyone among us. I felt the same way when I heard my friends had been captured by Katarina Fox on their way to Okaya. I didn't know what to do as I was actually considering bringing him along into the city of Danyen.

"Just bring him with us," Dashe intervened, brushing away dirt from his dark hooded cloak. "We need everyone's power, if we are to come out of this alive."

Everyone sort of agreed with him and so did I in the end. I still thought it was a terrible idea, but majority rules.

"Gentlemen, let's get going," Ogana finally spoke, a little bit sober. He straightened up as he placed a gourd of red maze ale behind his back. "The enemy knows we are here so let's not disappoint them by not showing up."

True enough, the enemy knew that we were here and were probably waiting for us. I glimpsed even further into the city and saw a castle in the center. Majority of the terrible energy I felt was coming from that direction. Safe to say, that was Katarina's castle. The castle was large and encrusted with grey marble metal walls. In the entire city, it was the only building that showed no signs of damage or decay.

"What now?" Showe asked, moving closer to observe the outer wall in front of us. He touched the large wall slightly while his eyes peered around it for a secret entrance in. "I can't see a way into the city. I mean there has to be one somewhere, right?"

"Perhaps," I replied, searching around, too.

I saw a glimmer of where a large gate used to be. It was completely covered in large rubble and debris, possibly caused by the fight that took place fifteen years ago. The city looked completely impossible to get into from the outside. But there had to be a secret way in, I just hadn't found it yet.

"We might have to destroy our way in," Masonku finally spoke, reaching into his mystery bag slowly. He looked up at everyone as he revealed to us what looked like black ash in a small bag.

"Are you out of your mind?" Dashe yelled at him and grabbed his neck. "Do you want the enemy to know our exact location?"

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Masonku argued back, pushing Dashe away from him. He placed the small bag on black ash into his clothes and sighed slowly.

Seriously, it seemed Dashe never learned. Always picking up fights and being rude to people, although it was not as bad as when I met him. He seemed to get a little quieter as our journey together progressed.

"Masonku," Kaya spoke, pulling his shirt to get his attention. "Why don't you just use your power and dig a tunnel beneath the wall? That way we can sneak in without causing a commotion."

You know what, that actually was a great idea. It was brilliant and ingenious at the same time. Honestly sort of embarrassing to say that Kaya outsmarted me. He definitely had a bright future ahead of him provided he lived long enough to grow up into an adult. Out of the blue, the rumbling noise I had been keeping track of stopped completely. The battle between Dien and the water creature was over. All I could see from that direction was grey and white mist in the sky. From this range, I couldn't tell who had won or lost the battle. I felt an urgent sense to go back, but I fought it off quickly.

"Can you do it, Masonku?" I asked him, looking away with my fists clenched. "Can you dig beneath the wall and get us to the other side using your mist power?"

He was puzzled at my request. I could tell that even he was worried about Dien as much as I was. Masonku knew the risks we all took to get this far and was unlikely to turn and go back. Masonku didn't reply—instead, he walked past me and bent towards the ground. He looked up and gave us a small nod before burying his right hand into the ground. There was a small rumbling quake beneath our feet followed by a large opening in the ground. He removed his hand once he was done and moved out of the way with his head down. None of us moved, battling our pride and feelings against respecting Dien's wishes. What were we supposed to do now? I never imagined a scenario like this to happen to us at all. A cold howling wind blew from his direction, and it carried a slight trace of his energy within. Deep down, I had a feeling he was alive. It was small, but I felt his life force. There was another presence I also felt from that direction. It was the water creature. I was almost sure of it, although, its life force was weak like his. What did this mean? Was this battle over or what? The sense of not knowing was agony indeed.

"Let's go right now," I yelled to them and jumped first into the tunnel. Kaya followed next, landing a few feet from me. "Let's all honor his wishes no matter how much we don't want to."

Ogana and Dashe blitzed in after us and then Masonku, Showe and Glazer. Suzanne stayed next to the entrance, barely moving. Her eyes glued in the direction of Dien. She clenched her fist tightly to her chest and sighed in slowly after a few seconds.

"You guys go on ahead," Suzanne yelled and turned her back towards us. "I'm going to find Dien and bring him back with me."

She vanished into the shadow before I could even stop her. Somewhere deep down, I wanted her to go help him. I was actually glad in the end that I hadn't stopped her because I too was worried about him. Suzanne was strong, having her go there put less weight on me. In fact, I was glad that she wasn't coming with us. If anything were to happen to her in Danyen, I wouldn't forgive myself.

"You all heard her, guys," I said confidentially with less guilt on my mind. "Let's infiltrate Danyen and take down Katarina Fox."

I did sound confident, but deep down I was scared in my boots. This was no city for novice warriors like us. The looming sensations of oblivion I felt from this city were downright worrisome. Out of all the life forces I felt in the city, there was one I feared the most. It was by far the biggest and most sinister of them all. I had never felt anything like it before. Most likely, I was finally sensing Katarina Fox's true power. Fear started to take over as I felt my heart raging with intense fire. I had never felt this way about any of my foes before.

"Are you alright?" Kaya asked, shaking my arm. "You are sweating and look frightened."

"It's alright," I lied to him, trying not worry him. "It's the air around here, it just messes with me."

I didn't want the others to be discouraged or think that I was a coward. In some way I was a coward. I had all this great power and yet I still feared and doubted myself. Maybe James was right. Someone like me didn't deserve the power of Rogue or much less lead anyone. Had I truly changed? What was I even doing here? Why did the gauntlet choose me? Could I truly defeat Katarina Fox?

I had so many questions and doubt, it all threw me into the deep abyss of my inner turmoil. We moved quickly, guided by a torch Masonku had somehow taken out of his clothes. Undeniably, my first impressions of him being a master thief were starting to stick. With each step we took, I felt my fear grow even stronger inside me, threatening to completely consume me.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Dashe slapped me senselessly on the right cheek. "We can all tell that you are scared and so are we. Man up or you won't be able to rescue your friends in that cowardly state. Fear makes us human, but it doesn't determine our future."

"Okay, sorry. I will." I said, nodding out of surprise. I really couldn't believe Dashe actually slapped me in the face. Wiping away the sweat from my forehead, I sighed and relaxed my mind. "Thank you, Dashe."

I really needed that pep talk, although I would never have thought it would be from Dashe. I guess people could change once in a while for the better and Dashe was a special case. Iyenkans weren't known for being nice and helpful towards outsiders. In some way, they were almost like Rogueans and that's why our two countries never got along. We both had powerful militias and our countries had been constantly fighting for more than three hundred years. A feud that was unlikely to end any time soon. Finally, we reached the other side of the tunnel and got out inside Danyen. We found ourselves in an alley between two worn down structures, a few feet from a city used road. Something was terribly wrong with this city. I felt nothing at all, no warmth or coldness in the air.

"Let's keep ourselves hidden and mingle with these people," Ogana moved first, going towards the city road.

We followed suit and managed to mingle into the new crowd of strangers. I saw no signs of emotions on their faces. They looked so skinny and hopeless. Every exposed part of their body was covered in blisters and sores, almost repulsive. This was no city—it was a torture prison. What sort of monster was Katarina? I felt my anger surge slowly within me every time I looked at them. But how come I had not noticed these people until Ogana pointed them out to me? Maybe, it was because their life force was too weak and was being masked by Katarina's insane and massive power. At closer look, I realized that most of them were not human at all. They were something else, but I hadn't the faintest clue as to that answer. We walked with them on a paved road, crossing buildings without a clear sense of direction.

"This is cruel," I said, looking away. I couldn't take it anymore. Katarina Fox was abusing human life and this madness had to stop. These were truly terrible crimes against humanity, and for the first time in a long time, I was feeling anger with a purpose.

"What do you guys make of that?" Glazer pointed towards the buildings in front of us. "Something doesn't look right."

I looked towards the direction he was pointing his hand to and noticed that some of the buildings inside the city were odd and strange. They were larger and looked more sophisticated and colorful. I don't think they were from our era. It seemed there was no limit to the power of Katarina's trident. She could bring anyone or anything she wanted from the past or the future at moment's thought. Not to rule out all options, they could still be a mere illusion. A very good one at that, considering they were solid and had a few people inside them.

"Her trident is troublesome indeed," Ogana said and reached for a sip of his ale. "I once heard she could bring anything from any dimension or timeline into our era with the slightest of ease. Such power should be impossible and yet here it is before our own eyes."

Seriously, I wished he would stop drinking. He was much more useful when he was sober than drunk. But Ogana's words had confirmed my thoughts. The trident was the source of her power. Such a weapon could rip our world apart if she so desired it. If I was to win, I had to destroy it first.

"Should we wait for Suzanne?" Ogana asked me, turning his head back for a second. "She ought to be back soon."

That's right, Suzanne had gone back to retrieve Dien a short while ago. Somehow, I felt that she was a lot safer there than here. After what I bore witness to in this city, I would have rather not wanted any of my comrades to come along with me.

"No, we keep going," I replied him. "Let her take care of Dien, she is a lot safer there than we are in this city."

24

After following the strange citizens for quite a while, we stopped and rested for a few minutes. The city was so big, there was no direct route to the castle. It would have been easier to fly there, but we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves yet. I glared around and caught no sights of any guards in the city. Despite having people, this city looked almost lifeless. It was quiet and crowded and yet nothing was sort of ordinary. What did she do to these people to make them this way? Facing a Rainku was definitely going to be the most difficult task I ever faced. Their power and cruelty was on another level, almost inhuman. Truth be told, no one really knew how they acquired these terrible weapons. Each of them held a unique and dominant weapon, as powerful as the trident. But right now my enemy was Katarina. I had to focus on her first before anyone or anything else. She was no ordinary lady that much was for sure. She possessed a powerful trident plus another power Ebi was rather reluctant to tell. I suspect, it was what led to his undoing.

"Where to now, Rid?" Dashe asked rudely like always. "I mean you know where to go, right? Or do you even have a plan that doesn't involve getting us caught or killed?"

I stared at him, thinking for a second. Nope, I hadn't thought that far ahead. All the time we had Suzanne to guide us through, but now that she wasn't here. Now, they were all looking at me to make the decision and direction to take. Did I mention that I was bad with directions? I looked at them, unsure of what to say. I mean, I knew where to go, but not the route to get there. The roads all zigzagged and led to different directions like a maze all over the city. Whoever designed this city definitely did not like me. My stomach growled at the thought of it all. The fact was that we were in trouble if we continued on without caution. The foul stench around us only made me feel even worse. There was no fresh air in this city. Trying to breathe normally was an extremely uncomforting experience. I truly couldn't have picked a better scenario to battle one of the planet's most deadly tyrants.

"Let's find some food and lodging first," I said, scratching my head. "There is no use fighting on an empty stomach and besides we need to gather information."

"Are you serious?" Dashe bellowed at me with wide eyes. "We might as well let them catch us without a fight. They know we are here so we need go ahead and fight them now."

Typical imbecile, he did not realize what he was suggesting to all of us. Everyone was worn out and tired from the long day. This was no way to go into battle. It would surely mean defeat if we charged in on the enemy in our current condition.

"Let it go, Dashe," Ogana stopped him. "Rid is right, take a look at everyone around you. They are clearly exhausted from our encounters with that skeleton army and that foul water creature. Do not be so reckless to rush to your doom."

I am glad Ogana got my hidden message and supported my decision. However, it wasn't truly my first intention to let everyone rest and recover before battle. I had only suggested we stop for a while because my whole body itched insanely after our encounter with the swamp creature. It would literally kill me if I didn't do something about it now. I just had to take a bath no matter what. Otherwise, it would spell trouble for me when I encountered Katarina Fox which was likely sooner than I thought. We walked through the city and were fortunate to find an isolated small inn close to the east wall. It was a little bit run and in a less populated area. To me, it was a great place to hide out for the night. There were people quibbling normally and loudly inside the small building. Even in this terrible city, it sort of made me happy that some people were still barely holding onto their sanity. If it was me, I would have lost my mind a long time ago. This city was too brutal and horrible for words to describe. It was loitered and full of reverting objects I had never seen before. Danyen was proving out to be more than I bargained for. Although, I would have thought there would be more screaming and terror everywhere. But the city was nothing like that. It was too quiet and almost peaceful, in a freaky way sort of way. Nevertheless, I wasn't buying the act. Deep down, I knew that this had to be an act or illusion to try to catch us off guard.

"Over there," I said, pointing towards the inn. "We can stop there for the night before we head for the castle."

So close to her castle, this looked like a very bad idea. If anything, this place was too exposed and could play to our disadvantage if they ambushed us. The others didn't argue at all, they followed behind me slowly towards the small inn. In the corner of my eye, I saw Dashe roll his head in disapproval. Under normal circumstances, I would have agreed with him, but right now all I cared about was taking a bath. My mind was in a state of scramble from the unbearable itching pain. No matter how much I despised water, today I would make an exception and jump in carelessly. We all stood outside the inn and memorized our surrounding in case we needed to make a swift retreat from our enemies. I sensed the uneasiness in everyone, they didn't like this place at all. This was indeed a bold move to make on our part. Resting on the enemy's doorstep was definitely a fool's undoing. Even I had to admit, I felt jittery and also uneasy just being inside this dark city. Looking up, I could've sworn the sun had set by now and yet I saw it in the sky. It was a strange shaded grey color, surrounded by portentous clouds in the sky. I would have never believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. To my right, I caught a glimpse of four outlandish moons rising into the sky. The weird wonders in this city never ceased to amaze me. Was there no limit to the power of her trident?

A few strangers walked past us into the inn and yet none came out. It wasn't that strange so I put the matter aside and sighed out loudly.

"Clean up this mess, you lazy bum," a voice inside yelled.

"I'm not moving, this is my inn and I do what I want," another voice yelled back.

There seemed to be an argument going on inside. We could hear clashing sounds of small and large objects hitting the floor.

"Do we go inside?" Ogana asked, trying to peep inside from the small opening near the door.

"Good question," I scratched my head.

Even I was not sure going inside was a good idea. Whatever was going on, I didn't want any part of it. I looked around and realized that this was probably the only place open to strangers at this time. The sun was almost over the horizon so we had no choice, but to proceed in. I bravely took the first steps and walked towards the door. The others paused over, watching me silently. I felt a bit of fear and anxiety crawl down my spine from all that commotion inside. Slowly, I opened the door and instinctively dodged a pot which nearly hit me on the forehead. That was a close call. There was an older man and woman throwing staff at each other near the reception table. After one quick look at me, they proceeded back to throwing stuff at each other haphazardly in every direction. They didn't seem to care about my presence which I found relatively rude.

"Who are you, stranger?" the old man stopped throwing furniture, starring me in the eye. "Don't try anything funny or I will show you horror."

His words didn't scare me at all. Instead, they made me laugh on the inside at his threat. Somehow I had a feeling he wasn't joking as he kept looking at me straight in the eye, with a serious face. I sensed his energy and stopped laughing. Apparently, he wasn't all talk.

"Oh no, sir," I said, raising my hands up in front. "I didn't come to fight you at all. I just need to get some rooms for my associates and I for the night."

The expression on his face was truly solid. Something told me he didn't trust me at all. I took my eyes off him and looked around the inn for a moment. It was made of wood from top to bottom, separated by hidden corridors that led upstairs and down to the basement.

"I don't like you," he gulped, walking towards the reception table in a limping manner. Something was wrong with his legs; I dared not asked him because he seemed to be the type with a short temper. "But since you are a customer, I can't refuse. As long as you have money, we have no problem."

Phew, I was glad that I had avoided an unnecessary fight with the old man. The older lady stared politely at me with a warm light smile.

"How many of you are lodging in?" the old woman finally spoke to me, picking up the utensils that were scattered all over the floor.

"About nine or ten people," I replied counting Suzanne and Dien who were not here the moment. "Give us two rooms please, we will manage for the night."

Deep down, it bothered me that Suzanne hadn't shown up yet. I mean, I was glad she was not here in city, however not knowing where she was worried me even more. Maybe, Dien's injuries were far worse than I had imagined. The driver was still outside the city with the carriage, possibly they had taken him with the carriage to Jura for medical treatment hopefully.

"Are your friends going to come in?" the old lady asked, looking through the window. "It's getting cold and it's almost night time."

Oh yeah, the others were still outside waiting. I hunched down and scratched my head and face as hard as I could. The itching pain all over my body was maddening. Unhurriedly, I opened the door and signaled the others to come inside. They walked in, looking disgusted by the mess on the floor from the broken furniture.

"What is this disgusting mess?" Dashe commented, wiping fluids off his boots with the slit end of his cloak. "It looks like the circus stopped by."

Oh no, Dashe had done it again. He had opened his rude mouth and quite possibly angered the old man. My heart raced slightly as I looked at the old man's reaction to Dashe's remarks. Seriously, Dashe's mouth would lead to his undoing one day, provided if not today.

"Do you have a problem, boy?" the old man lashed back, his veins almost popping out of his neck. "This is our mess and has nothing to do with you. What a rude child. Didn't your father ever teach you any manners?"

His eyes were blood red and his breathing was hard and intense. I could clearly feel the intensity of his killing instinct. He truly was angry now.

"What did you say, old man?" Dashe roared and moved in closer. He took pulled down the hood off his cloak and smiled menacingly. "I was simply trying to point out that this place needed some work."

"Dashe, please shut up," I said to myself. "You are going to get us killed."

My skin felt rough and irritating. It was either from the massive pressure rising in the room or from the dried up swamp water stuck on my skin. I would bet my gold on the later.

"Then what do you suggest we do, boy?" The older man asked him, moving away from the reception table. He never took his eyes off Dashe the whole time. "I'm open to ideas, but the wrong opinion could be your...."

"Since you asked," Dashe replied quickly, not allowing him to finish his sentence. He reached for one of his swords and unsheathed it halfway. "I suggest you clean up."

Darn! I had hoped he wouldn't say those exact words, but unfortunately he did. The older man smiled and then laughed, looking at each of us. We all stared at him, confused by his reaction. Suddenly, I felt a sinister presence in the air, erupting out of him. It was truly evil energy the likes of which I felt from that metal dog in Saza. Who was this man?

It was safe to assume that he might possibly be an ally of our enemy. He shifted his stance and clenched his fist, preparing himself to attack Dashe. This was not the time; I took off and moved in closer to them. By any means necessary, I was going to stop them before they made a scene and drew unwanted attention towards us. Dashe stepped in closer, growling at the old man with one sword unsheathed. He somehow conjured up even greater energy than before into his body, channeling it into his palms calmly. Dashe had gotten stronger—he was now in control of his mist powers. Oh man, this was not good at all. If those two fought, I wasn't sure I would be able to stop them both at the same time.

"Dashe, please stop this," I pleaded with him. "Put your sword back. We didn't come to fight in here remember?"

They weren't listening to me at all as they stared each other down. It felt like my words were not getting to them at all.

"Wrong answer," the old man bellowed out loud. "And it's your last."

He clenched his fist and limped quickly towards Dashe with amazing speed. He moved faster than my eyes could see, almost like a raging wind.

"Ow, my back," he unexpectedly screaming as his spinal cord let out a small crack.

It seemed he hadn't done any type of exercise in a while and it had played to his disadvantage in the end. I sighed out loud, hoping it would be the end of it.

"Why the sudden crack?" Dashe laughed, mocking the old man who had fallen on the floor with his right arm on his back.

Dashe was pushing it; he had gotten lucky before and now he was rubbing it against the owner of the inn, truly a bad idea. How anyone could be so dense and stupid was clearly beyond me.

"Watch this," the old man whispered and got back to his feet. His posture was misaligned like a hook, but he was smiling. I heard popping noises from his back as he corrected the problem in the most bizarre way. Some of the moves he did made me crunch in pain from disbelief. If I tried that, my back would surely break. How was he was even doing that? Maybe, he was triple jointed or something. Dashe stopped laughing, finally realizing the danger he had put himself in. A little too late if might say.

"Here please," Ogana spoke quickly, handing the old lady some money. "We don't want any trouble. We just want to stay here for the night. Please forgive our rude friend; he is just a little tired from our journey."

"Brilliantly done, Ogana," I thought to myself, looking in his direction.

This was what I should have done in the first place instead of waiting for this situation in front of us to perspire. The old man's dark energy rose even higher to almost epic proportions, intensified by his fury. No doubt, he had been granted the powers of the white water mist by Katarina Fox. Fortunately for us, he didn't seem to know that we were fugitives of his master. Had he know, this outcome might have played out a whole lot different than it was now. I felt sweat building on my forehead, pouring down out of me from sheer anticipation. It was too intense. The force to two strong fighters grappled the air around us powerfully. Kaya was shivering scared and I truly didn't blame him considering the circumstances that were about to unfold.

"That's enough, Jerad," the old lady mumbled, counting the money Ogana had given her. "These are paying customers after all. Give them the keys to the two rooms in the back."

Nothing happened at first as the old man and Dashe were in a stare down, ready to pounce on each other like two savage beasts. Without any warning, they attacked each other. I had only blinked once before I had realized what had happened. Left and right, they moved swiftly through the confined space, making short work of each other. The walls cracked and trembled from their sheer force alone, enough to make us all move back for cover. They were just so fast, I couldn't tell who had the upper hand. Dashe unsheathed two of his swords and swung them both horizontally at the old man, aiming for his chest. Amazing, I had never seen Dashe attack so violently; it was like he was a whole new person. The old man jumped out of the way quickly and landed on the tip of the reception table. Smirking lightly, he bounced back and went on the offensive, coming at Dashe with a high dive kick.

"I said that's enough, Jerad," the old lady yelled in a high voice that echoed the whole inn.

I felt a tremendous jolt of fear, her voice was not normal. I think she was even scarier and more powerful than her husband. I felt it for a second, a drastic rise and drop of her energy when she yelled. She was no ordinary person too. Just who were they? Using her voice alone, she had stopped those two idiots from ripping each other apart.

"Fine, just this once" the old man said, halting in his steps. "But if he says something smart, I will rip his head off."

Trust me, his threat looked very real. He was definitely counting on Dashe to say something smart, to get an excuse to beat the living lights out of him. Oh no, Dashe was certainly going to say something to provoke him like he did with everyone.

"You old......" Dashe said; however, Glazer moved in quickly and put his right hand on his mouth, shutting him up.

Glazer the swift, it made sense now. To be able to move like that without even alerting anyone of his presence or invoking noise was certainly impressive. He held Dashe's mouth tightly and dragged him back to the other side of the inn. As much as he struggled, Dashe could not get free from Glazer's grip. I was somewhat impressed. Glazer was now not only fast, but also incredibly strong too, far much more reliable than Ogana and Dashe. I was just happy he got there just in time to stop Dashe from saying something stupid and rude.

"What was that boy?" the old man blabbered as he got closer to hear him speak again.

"He said nothing," I interfered quickly. "Please show us to our rooms. We are very tired from our long trip."

He took his glare off Dashe and stared at me with such piercing eyes for several seconds. It felt like he was staring into my soul and could tell what I was thinking at that time.

"Okay then," the old man lightened up and began to move towards the left corridor. "Follow me, gentlemen, right this way."

25

It was now all too familiar with me. That creepy feeling you get when you feel like something is not right. This inn had me in a nerve wrecking state of panic. I just couldn't explain this gut feeling in my stomach, telling us to get out of this place. We followed the old man through a series of mind riddling floor towards our appointed rooms. My eyes wandered left and right, trying to memorize the passages we had gone through, but it was impossible. Every floor zigzagged in different floors, some going up and others going down. Was this really an inn? For a second, I thought I saw one of the walls move slightly. Dashe grabbed for his sword again only to be stopped by Glazer. Glazer gripped his hand tightly and looked at him with a sign of disapproval. Finally, the idiot got the message and withdrew his hand off his weapons. I could tell that everyone was uncomfortable with this surprise twist. No longer were any of us sure that this was an inn or some sort of labyrinth trap. Just who were these people? Were they leading us into a trap?

Despite their human appearance, their energies felt like those of monsters. Another strange thing to add, we saw no one on any of the floors like the place had been vacant for a while. Surely enough, I had seen people come in and none leave after us. You might think me paranoid, but I know when something is not quite right when I see it. I shivered as I felt something follow us through the walls. Seriously, this place was giving me some unpleasant vibes all over. It was powerful enough to make me ignore the terrible aching itch all over my body.

"These are your rooms," he pointed to two rooms on opposite side from each other.

The doors of these rooms were brand new as if they had never been used before. He handed us a pair of keys after he had opened the two doors. I took one of the key from his hand and Masonku took the other. The rooms were a bit dim with a few candles lit inside.

"Dinner will be in a while." He smiled maniacally, looking straight into my eyes. "The bathroom is right outside, if you go this way straight ahead. And the dining room is next to the reception table on the left."

After saying that, he quickly limped away and vanished onto next floor. The tiny presence I had felt earlier didn't leave. It was emitting a small trace of energy all through the inn. My whole body quivered as I felt uneasy. I didn't like the look the old man gave me before he left us. It felt like he was plotting to do something terrible to us when we least expected it. At the moment, it wasn't my most concerning thought to deal with.

"I'm going out to the bath-house." I muttered, running slowly towards the door that led outside. "I will be back in a few minutes."

I waltzed right through the door, slamming it open with my left shoulder. To my surprise, I found myself looking at a series of corridors going in different direction. If I wandered off and got lost, I wouldn't find my way back so easily even with these eyes of mine. And yes, I could not see through the walls of this place like before. Should have probably mentioned it when I first entered the inn; however, I didn't want to dissuade the others. The possibility that this was all an illusion dawned on me. I brushed all thoughts away as the itching became less bearable. For now, taking a bath took priority over everything else. Looking straight ahead in the middle floor, I found the door leading outside and ran towards it. The large metal door was bolted on, the only thing standing in my way. Prying and pulling hard, the metal door wouldn't budge an inch. I summoned one of my flintlocks without thinking and blasted the door hinge apart. Note to self, apologize to the old couple when you see them. The door let out a small creak as it opened up slowly. Without waiting for it to open fully, I forced my way out and got outside. I looked back at door surprised for a while. I had never seen such a dense metallic door before. What was it for? This door only opened from the outside which was rather strange. I think it was meant to keep people in and not out. Little by little, my suspicion about this inn began to manifest. It was more than it appeared to be. The lush wave of the wind blowing past me drowned everything out. It felt like I had been released from a prison. The sun was almost beyond the horizon, leaving an incredible spectacle color over the whole sky. In front of me, a grand and stone marbled tub stood, flooded with clean water. It was surrounded by three large wooden walls, separating the inn from the outside city. Quickly, I removed my coat and jumped in while still wearing my shirt, pants, and shoes. The water felt refreshing and warm, washing away gently all the dirt of the day from my skin. I sighed slowly, feeling the much better and blank minded.

"How is the water?" Kaya said and jumped into the tub too.

What the! Why hadn't I sensed him approach? Had he followed me? Well so much for a nice bath alone. I watched him practice his swimming strokes near of edge of the tub a few feet away from me.

"This water is great," he said, playing in the water. "I was feeling itchy all day long, and I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be a burden to you all. I am glad you decided to stop at this place."

Well at least I wasn't the only one having the itch trouble to begin with. I sighed out loud, closing my eyes to relax my whole body. Had to admit it, this water was really amazing.

"This is nice," Ogana jumped into the bathe. "It's been a while since I took one."

"Oh come on," I said to myself disappointed. I just wanted one single bath to myself, but that was impossible. The moment Ogana got into the tub, the water rose and turned a little bit brown in color. It was safe to assume Ogana hadn't taken a bath in a very long, long time. He sat by the corner of the tub, on the far left side, sipping his ale peacefully. I really couldn't believe he even drank while taking a bath.

"So what are you losers doing now?" Dashe slipped in quickly without being noticed.

Oh great, the bunion decided to join us. Apparently it just wasn't my day. On the bright side, Dashe was keeping his mouth shut. The tub was really big, we all fit inside without having our feet touch one another. The gentle water brushed all my thoughts away, leaving me in a trance of repose. I leaned my head against the edge of the tub, looking straight up. The light of the four moons in the sky left a glistened reflection upon the surface of the water.

"Where are Masonku, Glazer, and Showe?" I asked, revealing half my body out of the water.

"They decided to stay in their room, polishing their weapons and inventory for the battle to come." Ogana replied, taking a huge sip with his booze.

Seeing him drink made me wonder if there was ever an hour he went by without drinking. For a normal man, that much drinking could've killed him. But since Ogana was a tree giant, I guess his body system was different. Back in Rogue, I used to be like him. Drowning all my frustrations and regrets on booze at every party I went to. It consumed me to a point that I couldn't think straight or do anything without drinking a gallon of booze every half a day. Openly, I had been tempted on so many occasions to ask him for a drink, even a sip. At the last second, the horrific memory from my past flashed back into me, stopping my urges completely. My drinking habits had caused someone to lose their life, a mistake I could never forgive myself for.

"Do you guys feel like something is off?" Dashe suddenly interrupted my thinking. "There is something wrong with this inn. I feel like we are being watched right now."

For once, I didn't feel like shoving something down his throat as he spoke. There was a lot of concern on my part too about this creepy inn. Dashe was a bunion, but his intuitions were excellent. I felt it too, like something or someone was watching us from the shadows. Taking everyone's strength into account, I felt no reason to worry ourselves with it. We had to conserve our strength for the final battle to come, instead of fighting every small worm that crossed our path.

"I feel your concern," Ogana scruffed his leafy beard. "But don't go poking holes into everything, Dashe. We are only here to rest until morning, and not to start fights."

Ogana was absolutely right—hiding out inside our enemy's domain required precise restraint and vigilance. To put it into simpler words for Dashe, no fighting unless provoked.

"Has anyone noticed that there are no other customers besides us?" Kaya popped his head out of the water, looking at each of us with blurry eyes. "I mean it seems it's just us and the owners."

Kaya's words stirred heavily in my heart, bringing further questions into my mind. Everything about this inn felt out of place. I mean we saw customers come in and yet there were no people inside. The whole place felt like a dark labyrinth, almost like a trap for us. Perhaps it had been a mistake to stop here in the first place. What am I saying? This water was too wonderful, an experience felt once in a lifetime. I sighed out loud, feeling rather relaxed and calm. Dashe twitched silently, sitting at the corner on the right, his eyes closed completely. Ogana and Dashe were definitely two interesting individuals. I wanted to know more about them. Well since we were sort of bonding, I felt constrained to learn more about them. As allies, getting to know one another was great for team work and communication.

"So, Ogana," I began, looking straight at him. "I always heard that tree giant were much taller and ranged up to twenty feet in height. Why are you so different?"

He laughed hard as he scratched his belly. "Alright, I guess I can tell you since you are my friend. Tree giants do grow up to twenty feet or more and some of us are even violent. I am different because I drink a lot. Booze is bad for tree giants because it shrinks our bodies greatly. I wasn't always this small, you know? I was nineteen feet, had a wife, a good occupation, and a nice house. But it didn't work out between my wife and I..... You can say we sort of grew apart. Shortly after, I started drinking and been doing it since then, travelling with my brother till recently in Okaya. The booze helps make all my bad memories go away, I would drown in regret if I didn't have it."

"But why can't you go back to your wife," I asked with some concern in my voice. "I am sure she misses you deeply. If you love her then you should fight for her and do whatever it takes to win her heart."

"Rid, listen," he looked at me calmly. "Letting someone go is also to love someone; it is a reality we all have to face. I hope you never have to make the same decision in your future."

"To let them go is also a form of love," I thought to myself.

Ogana's story sounded sad that I almost shed a tear. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea to ask him at all. It now explained why he went crazy whenever he saw women around in bars. It was his way of trying to fill his empty void.

"You are not going to ask me too, are you?" Dashe asked, attempting to leave the water-bath. "Well too bad. I'm getting out of the water and going back to the room. Look at all this dirt Ogana put in the water, disgusting."

I yelped out loud as I looked at the water. It was almost light brown in color. My word, this was more disgusting than the swamp monster. I almost lost it when Kaya emerged out from the deep water, slurping in some of the water into his mouth. Dashe stood at the edge of the tub, putting back on his armor and cloak. Truth be told, I had no intention of asking Dashe about his past. I had seen some of it and did not want to know the rest. I heard creatures of the night coming out of hiding, making rhythmic noises in the glitter of the moons. We had been in the tub for more than half an hour, enjoying ourselves in peace. I still couldn't believe we were in Danyen, the city engulfed in darkness. It all felt surreal as I couldn't even believe it myself. After a while, I finally got out of the water, feeling groggy and heavy like a sponge. For some unknown reason, I felt tired and worn out. On the plus side, the itching pain had receded. The night brought a cold and refreshing breeze of air that swept around my red wet hair wildly.

"What was that?" Dashe jumped, landing in the bath water, two swords unsheathed. "I felt something move in the ground."

This was no mere coincidence because I felt it too. Something was beneath us, lurking underneath the surface. I almost shrieked when I saw the tub and the ground move up and down slowly. This was not normal, I was sure now that we were not alone. But who or where was it?

"Get ready," I warned them all, eyeing to make a dash for the door. "Looks like trouble found us."

26

"Ouch!" Ogana screamed out, dragging his whole body out of the water. "The water just suddenly got hot."

Instantly, I jumped out too after feeling the surging heat waist down. Looking down, I noticed large vapors of steam erupting from the water. The ground was trembling slowly, moving up and down untimely. This had trouble written all over it.

"What's happening, Rid?" Kaya yelled with both hands clamped on the metal door. "The door just closed too."

It looked like we had been set up. No doubt, by those two old couple who managed this inn. Dashe looked at me and shook his head. Yes, I had made a bad decision, but it was too late for regrets now. The water stirred as if disturbed by something within. I looked down and suddenly saw a weird, long grey tongue. It whipped out and moved rowdily in every direction. To my amazement, it knocked Ogana easily on his face before continuing towards Dashe and Kaya.

"What is that thing?" Dashe screamed, blocking the tongue like object with both his swords.

"Trouble," I replied quickly putting on my coat. "Stand back, Kaya, I'm going to blast this door open now."

Kaya nodded and moved out of the way, giving me enough room to shoot the door ajar. No, something was terribly wrong. My flintlocks were not appearing in my hands as easily as they did before. I looked at my hands, confused, unsure of what was happening. I felt weak and sluggish like all my energy had left me.

"I feel so dizzy and tired," Ogana mumbled, trying to get up on his feet.

Unfortunately, he was knocked back down again by the tongue-like object. It was then I noticed it. We had all somehow lost our strength and power, like it had been sucked right out of us. I banged my body on the door and only felt pain in return. What was happening to us? Kaya fell to his knees next to me, completely drained out.

"Take this," Dashe thrust his sword into its flesh. "How do you like that?"

Fool! His actions caused the tremors in the ground to worsen. A strange growling noise screeched out from beneath us. Ashamed to admit it, but we were in direr trouble. Rolling left, I moved out of the way just in time to see the tongue smash the ground I had been kneeling on. It had become faster and more aggressive all thanks to Dashe stabbing it. And another thing, that small lingering presence I felt before was now around us, growing immensely powerful and formidable with each passing second. There was definitely something gigantic beneath this so called inn and I think the tub had been its mouth.

What a disgusting thought! I couldn't believe this whole time we had been bathing inside a monster's mouth.

Somewhere outside, we heard the familiar howling sounds, jolting the whole city in bloodlust and madness. Beneath us, the ground trembled hard and began to morph right before our very eyes. It was too dark to make out what was happening; however, it wasn't good. Even the air reeked of chaos and despair. It was obvious to everyone, a very dark power had descended upon the whole city, sending it into further pandemonium. Trembling slowly, I struggled to stay on my feet while hitting my body against the door. Despite my hard efforts, the door wasn't budging an inch. I had never felt so weak—it felt like my body weighed a ton. How had this happened? Was it the water? Every single one of us who had entered this tub had been affected, leading me to believe the water had something to do with our strength being depleted.

"This is your fault, Rid," Dashe rattled at me, making feel even more guity. "If you had listened to me, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Bite me, Dashe." I mumbled without looking at him. "You could have stayed outside if you wanted. I didn't force you to come here okay?"

"Stop it, guys," Ogana intervened finally on his feet. He held his ale tightly and shifted his attention away from both of us. "We can't afford to fight amongst ourselves; the worst is now upon us."

I turned around to see where he was looking at, only to be clutched by fear. The building was coming to life, rising from the ground. It sprouted feet and a large growl erupted from it. Well, it was safe to say I had finally seen it all. Not in my entire lifetime had I thought I would see a walking monster inn. My jaw opened wide, but no words came out. How could anyone explain all of this? We were trapped on top of this creature with nowhere to escape except inside it.

"We need to get in now," I yelled, waving everyone towards me. "If we stay out here, we won't last till morning."

My eyes wandered around, looking desperately for anything that could get the door open. To my disappointment, I found no such thing. We were all so exhausted beyond comfort, trapped next to a monster's mouth. Focusing completely, I tried to draw out the power of the gauntlet and got nothing out of it. The monster's tongue stopped swerving wildly and began searching around for anything to pull into the monster's mouth.

"Don't move," I warned everyone, trying not antagonize this creature even further. "I don't think it can see or sense us unless we move."

"I'm scared, Rid." Kaya whispered, tugging my coat from behind me.

Looking down, I placed my hand on top of his head and whispered. "It will be alright, we will make it out somehow."

No matter how dire this situation was, I wasn't going to give up. We had not come all this way only to be eaten by this monster. Dashe looked at me and nodded, raising his two swords into the air. His eyes burned with the fierce passion of a warrior. If this was the end, he wanted us to go out fighting or so I thought. Before he could swing his blades, the door suddenly opened.

"What are you doing outside at this time?" the old lady asked us as she opened the door even wider. "You are all not supposed to be outside after nightfall, strangers. Danyen can be a very dangerous place after dark."

"You don't say," Dashe responded not completely rude.

I smiled at her, happily glad to see her face. I brushed away all my suspicion about her, thinking about the safety of my companions first. It was way too dangerous to stay outside given our current conditions. She was right about one thing though—Danyen was truly a frightening place to be stuck in. Just what sort of monster was this inn? And was it connected to the other howling noises I was hearing elsewhere throughout the city?

Cautiously, Kaya and Dashe got inside the inn, leaving Ogana and I outside. I growled loudly as I observed Ogana fall backwards towards the ground. He was wise and brave, but certainly a liability when drunk.

"Can someone help me up?" Ogana groaned before letting out a large burp.

"Maybe if you stop drinking, you wouldn't be in that situation," I thought out loud to myself.

Since Dashe and Kaya were already inside, it was up to me to help him, which at the moment was not an easy task. There was no way I could lift someone of his size. Even if I got to him, it was going to be tricky to get past the creature's tongue.

"I can do this," I slapped myself twice on the cheek. "Ogana is my friend and he needs my help right now. I will not leave him behind."

Fully motivated, I sprang forward towards him, jumping over the creature's tongue. Every fiber in my body screamed at me with pain and soreness. Dodging wildly, I grabbed Ogana and started pulling him out of harm's way. Truly, he was much heavier than I had imagined. Without my full strength, there was no way I could carry him up toward the inn. So instead, I grabbed his foot rigid and pulled him as hard as I could. The tongue grabbed Ogana by the hand and started pulling him from the other side.

"Oh come on," I shrieked in frustration.

A tug of war sort started. We were both pulling him in opposite direction. And due to my lack of energy, I was losing ground and Ogana at the same time. To make this situation worse, Ogana wasn't fending off the creature's tongue at all. He was completely drunk wasted like usual, almost half asleep.

"Ogana, wake up," I yelled to him.

This was not good. The tub was changing; several long sharp teeth sprang out from all of its side. The tongue began to pull more powerfully than before, almost overpowering us both. Just as I was about to lose my grip on him, Dashe appeared next to me, one sword raised up.

Dashe struck the creature's tongue with his sword, cogently releasing its grasp away from him. We took advantage of this opening and dragged Ogana quickly into the inn before locking the door behind us. My body felt groggy and painful. I mean I had been through some intense training with Ebi, but never had I felt so depleted. Ogana was really starting to become a bigger eyesore than Dashe. I seriously had to do something about his drinking because it was starting to get bothersome. Without warning, we were rattled off our feet onto the floor.

"What now," Dashe unsheathed his second sword. "How much more of this do we have to endure?"

We all struggled back to my feet, assuming a circular defensive position from our unknown enemy. Looking in all direction, I sensed no one. It was then I noticed something strange on the walls. They were starting to look like the innards of a monster.

It sort of looked like we were in a stomach of a monster. That old lady had not rescued us, she had lured us further into their trap. How could I have been so stupid? Hated to admit it, but I wished I had listened to Dashe. Stopping by this inn had been the worst decision I had made as a leader.

"I think we were far off better outside than inside," I laughed sarcastically.

"You know, you have never said a joke since I started travelling with you," Dashe snarled at me. "And now you decide to make one and at the inappropriate time. What an idiot!"

Okay, that was uncalled for. To be called an idiot by Dashe was truly humiliating. I mean he was like the king of all idiots, so imagine my surprise. Plus, it was not a joke, I was merely just pointing out the obvious facts. I shifted my weight left to right to keep myself balanced on the rocking floor. It smelled terrible inside and all of the floors I had seen before had all just vanished, meaning we couldn't pinpoint our way back to the others. Speaking of which, I hoped Masonku and the others were doing fairly better than we were.

"Ouch," Ogana woke up with a sudden jump, holding one of his legs in his hands.

I looked at Dashe just to make sure he had not done something stupid again like poking Ogana with his blade. Thankfully, that wasn't the case for his sake. This was something else and I really wasn't the least curious to find out what it was. Ogana had left his shoes next to the tub; he was the only one among us who had bare feet. I took a closer look at his foot and noticed red sores forming on all sides of it. The floor was secreting some sort of acidic substance, melting away all of our shoes. Just this once, I really wished I had listened to Dashe. Of course, I wouldn't tell him that because of my pride. We heard an oozing noise followed by a formation of a toxic mist in the air. Could it get any worse?

"Run, guys," I yelled, grabbing Kaya and putting him on my back.

We all blitzed forward, trying to find an escape route. The toxic and foul mist was making it more and more difficult to breathe. I covered my nose and focused my eyes, trying to find a hidden passage. Oh yeah, I couldn't see through flesh. How did I keep forgetting that? This whole inn was covered in flesh from top to bottom, playing further to our disadvantage.

"Keep going, guys, and don't stop," I coughed out my lungs, unable to grasp my bearings.

"You can't escape us," a voice spooked me. "Eventually you will collapse and end up like the rest of them."

That voice, I recognized it from earlier. It belonged to the old man, the caretaker of this inn. Shifting my gaze, I slowed down to get the direction of his voice. It felt like he was everywhere, hidden somewhere inside the walls of flesh. And what did he mean by the rest of them? Had he already got to Masonku and the others? No, I had faith in them, and I believed in their strength and will. Obviously, the old man was trying to deceive us for some reason. I felt pain in my feet and realized my shoes were almost melted off at the bottom. Putting that aside, I almost threw up from the smell and from looking the grotesque insides of the monster. Clearly, not the best places to be in if you have a weak stomach.

"Do you know where we are going?" Ogana asked in pain. "I don't know how much longer I can continue to run for."

"No, I don't," I replied, shaking my head. "It's still better than standing back there and waiting for our demise."

I felt sorry for Ogana, his feet were beginning to bleed slowly. Ogana was sweating at alarming rate than normal, meaning we had to hurry and find a way out soon.

"Just hold on, Ogana," I reassured him. "We will make it out, I promise."

Even after saying that, I felt my hope slip away. Time was running out and we had not found an escape route yet. My vision was starting to get blurry as I was almost out of breath. At the very least, we had about a minute or so before we lost consciousness. In the corner of my eye, something caught my attention causing me to turn my head. Was this a miracle? There was a door untouched by the flesh and the fumes. This was probably our way out if I am not mistaken. We were a few yards away from it, not good. We were not going to make it at the rate we were going. Out of options, I summoned all the strength in my body and focused for a slight few seconds.

"Hey, Dashe and Ogana, grab a hold of my hands," I yelled back at them. "And do it quickly please, we don't have a lot of time to spare."

Ogana listened and did it; however, Dashe still hesitated thinking I was about to do something weird. He pretended not to hear me, running a few steps behind me.

"Now, Dashe," I yelled in his ear loudly.

"Alright, already," he replied instantly, tossing his hand at me in such a disrespectful manner. With both of their hands tightly in my grasp, I jumped in the air to give myself a little thrust before soaring off. My feet landed right back down due to lack of energy on my part. I was attempting an impossible task, nevertheless I wasn't going to give up.

"Stop them," the old man's voice hissed panic into me. "Don't let him get to that door."

After hearing him yell those words, I was now more motivated to get to it than before. Balls of flesh from the floor and walls shot out at us, catching us off guard. Thanks to Dashe's expert swordsmanship, none of us were harmed. He really was reliable when he wanted to be. Assuming, he wasn't off running his mouth, provoking people and creating new problems.

"Good job, Rid?" Dashe commented being a sardonic bunion as usual. "What do you plan on doing now? There is no way you can fly us there given our current condition."

Hated to admit it yet again, but Dashe was right. I really couldn't believe it, I was actually agreeing with that rude idiot. Grasping both their hands tightly, I tried the second time, jumping harder into the air. I focused deeply and dug deep into myself, looking for any tiny bits of strength to aid me. To my surprise, my feet did not touch the ground, I was actually starting to hover up slowly. Just as I pulled everyone up, the floor beneath us collapse into a large pit. Deep inside it, there were slimy amounts of the acidic liquid, enough to fill a tub.

"I hope this nightmare ends soon," Kaya said, holding tightly on my back.

"That much we can both agree on," Dashe replied him.

I began to fly slowly towards the door, a few feet off the ground. It was difficult carrying Kaya, Ogana, and Dashe at the same time.

"Hurry, Rid," Dashe pulled my hand, pointing at the left wall with his blade.

The walls of flesh were starting to move towards us, closing down the free space between us and them. Up above us, an acidic liquid substance dripped down, falling constantly over our heads. Instantly, I sensed the danger and increased my flight speed. Could things get any worse? Yep, they could. A large wall of flesh began to build in front of us. There was no way stop at the speed I was going. We all hit the flesh wall hard with our heads and kept going. Yuck, there were pieces of stinky flesh stuck on my face, making my nose hurt. I ignored them and focused my energy on our destination. It was almost within reach, just a few more inches. Oh no, I couldn't slow myself down due to the combined weight of everyone I was carrying. My forehead hit the doorknob, forcing the door open. We somehow made it inside, falling separately on the floor like ragdolls.

"Ow. Ow," I rubbed my head.

A tremendous jolt of pain vibrated throughout my head and then all over my body. For a whole second, I felt dizzy and disoriented. On the bright side, we had made it out of harm's way for now. My body felt completely drained out; I could barely lift a finger. I saw the walls of flesh draw closer; however, they dared not to come in after us. Instead, they lingered outside, moving bit by bit like a slow twist. Ogana grunted and sat up with his back against the wall. His feet were badly burned, completely swollen and blistered red. Everyone looked okay aside from a few scrapes, bruises, and total loss of their physical energy. Certainly not the best conditions to be in when you are at your enemy's doorsteps, if I may add. There was indeed something strange about this room. It looked like an ordinary room on the inside except for one small, but important detail. It was covered in a web of energy, connecting it to every part of the inn. A vast amount of rich energy was circulating in this room, being transferred elsewhere. Only I could see it. To everyone else, it was just another weird room without any fleshy part coming out of it.

"What is this room?" Ogana poked some of the walls. "Call me crazy, but I am willing to bet this is the center of the inn."

Good guess, I was also thinking the same thing. Definitely not the exit we were looking for, but we could improvise. I followed the strings of energy and found the main stream of circulation. It was in the middle of the wall behind me, slightly up and to the left. That being the case, I knew what I had to do to get us out of this situation. One of the gauntlet's powers I had used in Jura was the ability to steal energy from others around me through touch. All I had to do now was touch the wall behind me and steal the energy into myself, easy enough to comprehend. However, there was one little tiny problem with my brilliant plan. I had no strength left to move anymore. In my weakened state, all I could do was move my head around. I had completely depleted all my remaining energy only to prolong the inevitable. So this was what it felt to be a reckless hero. Dashe suddenly stood back up, looking unfazed or hurt at all. He looked mysterious and unpredictable with his cloak on. I couldn't tell what was going on in his stupid mind. He walked over towards the door, two swords drawn in both hands tightly.

In the moment, the toxic gas began to enter the room in small amounts. Being in our critical condition, we were helpless to defend ourselves or hold our breath to avoid the miasma. I had one chance for my plan to work and it involved Dashe. Yes Dashe, the rude man who swings his blades around like a brain dead maniac.

Swallowing every bit of my pride I yelled, "Dashe, I need your help now. Please drag me close to the wall behind me."

As predicted, my words fell on deaf ears. He knowingly pretended not to hear me and kept fending off the thin mist with his swords like a true idiot. Although, I was rather impressed by his high level endurance. Despite being completely drained powerless, Dashe stood and acted as if he was the only one not affected. Sad to say, all our hope depended on me being able to reason with this fool.

"Dashe, you idiot, do what I say just this once please," I screamed overtaken with sudden anger. Finally, I managed to get through his thick Iyenkan skull. Dashe stopped his wasteful effort to fend off the thin miasma and looked at me with his piercing black eyes. He was furious for some unknown reason. Oops, I had called him an idiot out of anger, although he deserved it. The veins in his neck were popping out of him like he was being suffocated.

"Why should I?" he rattled back at me. "What will you do that will change anything? Our only chance is to stand our ground and hold out rather than die without doing anything."

As I expected, there was no reasoning with an idiot of his caliber. For the first time, I felt like I understood him completely. He was thick headed brute who found violence as his way to end his conflicts. Not the type of man to roll over and wait for miracles before he met his end. Truly valiant pride; however this was not the time for such people.

"Dashe, listen," I whispered, trying to conserve every precious breath of air. "I have a plan that is guaranteed to work. If you do what I say, I will get us out of here I promise."

"Dashe, stop being so arrogant and just do it already," Kaya backed me up from the corner he was lying on.

Dashe didn't reply at all. His posture had changed from offense to an emotionally still fixed position. My one guess was that he was battling with his conscience on what was the right thing to do in this situation. Shocker, I didn't really picture him as a thinking man.

"Okay, fine," he mumbled beneath his breath, moving back towards me. "I'll help but just this once, Roguean."

I smiled faintly; this was more than anyone could ask from him. Dashe stood over me, reaching down to grab my right hand strongly. I felt one of my wrist bones pop loudly from his rough grip.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked with a curious face. "I don't have enough energy left to do something ridiculous, so whatever you have to say better be worth it."

I felt stupid when I heard him say that. My mouth almost dropped to the ground literally. Was he dense and also deaf? Many times, I had yelled out to him to get me to wall behind me and yet it felt like I had been talking to a brick wall.

"Just drag me to the wall behind me," I sighed and closed my eyes.

Without warning, he just tossed me with all his might into the wall behind me before falling to the ground. My back hit the wall and I yelped in pain. Note to self, punch Dashe in the mouth when this is over. The pain was intense and all I could do was bear it. Struggling hard, I managed to turn my face towards the wall and placed my left hand on it. I felt it all, the energy swelling all over the inn. Not just the inn, it was circulating all over the whole city like a giant web. Somehow, they were stealing life and physical energy from people all over the inn and transferring to the castle in the middle for a heinous purpose, no doubt. How did I know this? Because I felt my energy, Ogana, Kaya, and Dashe's inside the energy pool of the wall. Now it began to make sense. It explained why all the citizens in this city looked lifeless and blank minded. With each new insight I learned, I stole a portion of energy from the inn into myself like a sponge. A surge of power sprang into me, rekindling my strength and physical energy. Oh no, I noticed, the mist was starting to thicken and suffocate us slowly.

"Are you done yet?" Dashe coughed, struggling to get back up, his right arm covering his nose and mouth. "I'm not so sure I can still hold them down."

His efforts were admirable, but usefulness against a foe with no physical shape. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Kaya and Ogana who had fallen unconscious next to each other. They were still alive, only for another few minutes. I couldn't help thinking it was my entire fault. If only I had listened to Dashe, then none of this would have happened. Dashe coughed me back to reality as he fell unconscious too. The mist had already spread through the room, utterly making it hard to see anything around me. I wanted to absorb more energy; however time had run out. Quickly, I summoned my right flintlock into my arm and shot out through the wall to my right. The wall blew off completely, letting some of the toxic miasma into the air outside. I took a fresh breath of air and stood back up to my feet. I could clearly see the outside through the large hole in the wall. From somewhere, I heard a terrible growl that eroded my ears all of a sudden. Not just somewhere, it was coming from the inn itself. What was happening now? Was it more trouble? Just to be safe, I fired another round into the ceiling to make another opening for the toxic mist to get outside. The mist thinned out, spewing into the outside air slowly in two directions. My muscles ached and I felt a bit woozy. Definitely, that had been a close call for comfort although this was to be expected in Danyen. The others were still fast asleep and less likely to awaken anytime soon. Skipping over them, I walked towards one of the walls I had not destroyed and placed my hands on it. More and more power flowed through into me, far much more greater than before. I needed this extra energy if I was to revive my allies at the full peak of their strength which at the moment was not now.

27

Several minutes passed after without any signs of trouble. After absorbing a large amount of pure energy, I went and evenly distributed it among my fallen comrades. Not easy as it sounds—I had to touch their chests and force the physical energy into their bodies. I looked up after feeling a small amount of tremors all inside the inn. It seemed I had upset the balance of energy when I stole some out of it. I wouldn't exactly call it stealing; it was more like taking back what had been stolen from us. Tilting my body back, I sat on my knees and took a small break to relax. The worst had yet to come, this was only the beginning. No doubt, our enemies were quite aware of our intrusion into the city. Unexpectedly, I felt off balance as the floor began to cave in on us. The whole inn was falling apart, splitting apart from all sides and falling to the ground. When was this nightmarish situation going to end? It was then I realized it was time to leave. We had certainly overstayed our welcome. There was one slight problem, I was still unsure of Masonku, Glazer, and Showe's whereabouts. It was possible that they were still in here somewhere, trapped inside some horrible room by those old evil couple. Ignoring the jolting pain, I quickly got up and began looking for a safe way out. In a matter of minutes, this whole place was going collapse on us unless I found some way to get everyone out. Surrounded by fleshy walls outside, our only way up was through the roof. My fist popped and felt stiff, brimming with new found energy. I mean I felt stronger and different at the same time. It was strange indeed, it felt like I was in someone else's body. Oh well, at the moment that sensation was of no further distress. The most concerning thing right now was this new threat I was beginning to feel around me. It was an enemy, a very powerful one at that. To battle this new foe, I was going to have to step it up to the next level, the third blast. The name of this technique was not great, but do not be mistaken. It was truly fearsome and one of my most deadly attacks. I had avoided using it because it required large amounts of concentration and stamina too difficult to control. Ebi had warned me to never try and use against anyone other than Katarina Fox, but it looked like I was going to break that promise.

"Why you conniving fool," the old man bellowed, emerging halfway out of one of the walls outside. "How dare you do this to my precious inn?"

My word, this was truly a disgusting sight to behold. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't due to my curiosity. His body had merged with the flesh of the walls. Watching them come apart only made it even grotesque. For a couple of crucial seconds, I gagged out loud, sick to my stomach. This had to the most repulsive thing I had ever seen firsthand, probably would never forget it for the rest of my life. After a few violent empty hurls, I finally managed to block everything out and put my mind into a state of pure focus. It was not easy to merge the first blast and my second blast energy into one powerful attack. The old man took a few steps and got into the room. He kept his eyes on me, his fists clenched tightly above his waist. Not good, mixing my rage and my courage required a lot of time, which was something he was not going to give me. No, the others were depending on me, I wasn't going to run, not this time. My life was no longer my first priority anymore.

I smiled, thinking back through my past life. It further made me realize how much I had truly changed in such a small time. Hard to believe, I had once been arrogant, prideful, and lazy prince a few years ago. But I now had friends, people who liked me for me and not because they had to or because I was rich. It felt like the world was giving me a second chance to redeem myself again for all the wrong I had done. A chance I was seriously not willing to let slip by. Given what I just said, I wasn't exactly sure how I would do it. Every part of my body ached terribly, far too painful to ignore. The old man moved a bit, taking an offensive stance to intimidate me. Before he could attack, a large burst of energy flawed out of me, glowing red and yellow. He stopped in his tracks and jumped away from me, his eyes watching me carefully. This was it, the third blast technique. As I expected, it was far too powerful to control in my current novice state. My other gun instantly appeared in my other hand, strapped tightly at the hilts with two large and long sashes. Based on my training with Ebi, I had about a minute or so to use it which was not much. Meaning, I had to finish it quickly before he could attack.

"I won't let you do whatever you are planning," the old man growled and dashed madly into my bullet range.

Without thinking, I raised both guns at him and followed his movements with my eyes. I saw it all. He swerved left and right, aiming to attack my head with a right kick. I ducked out of the way and waited for the right moment to take my shots. The sashes swerved rapidly behind me, absorbing my inner energy to form my bullets. Relentlessly, he began attacking me with a barrage of fists, aiming for my chest and stomach. I ducked away, moving effortlessly out of his reach. At last, I felt my flintlocks grow a bit heavy from the condensed energy. The moment he moved in closer to my face, I pointed my gun into his cheeks. Quickly, he impressively managed to move out of the way and back towards the broken left wall. I looked towards his feet and noticed that his limping had stopped completely.

Had he been faking it the whole time? Running out of time, I raised one of my flintlocks at his head and fired. To my surprised, I missed at point blank. He moved so fast it felt like he was the wind. I felt him all around me, circling me without a precise direction. He was definitely still in the room, just out of sight. I felt the floor cave in slowly with each step I took. My comrades were still unconscious on the ground, not good. Quickly, I stomped my right foot into the ground and jumped up high a few feet above the ground. The moment I felt traces of his energy, I fired two massive bullets in that direction, destroying everything on that side of the inn. A spoof of strong winds followed as the after effects, instantly jerking my body backwards a few inches towards Dashe's unconscious body.

I had destroyed the inn completely—so much for our good night sleep. I floated down and landed softly on the unstable floor. Shockingly, the floor was still holding even after that much destruction. Fire began to rise up in the air, consuming what was left of the inn into ash. Oh no, Masonku and the others were still inside somewhere. All I could do was hope they had escaped somehow or I had missed them by chance. Just as I was about to wake up the others, I felt his presence still linger in the air. It seemed I had failed to defeat him.

"Show yourself, you wretched villain," I yelled everywhere, pointing my guns towards the sky. "I know that you are still alive."

He undeniably was still alive. His very physical energy swirled around me, growing vigorously with each second. It was ripping the air and I felt like I was being chocked. Perhaps, I had held back too much power when I fired at him, a mistake I was certainly not going to repeat.

"Heh heh," he laughed loudly, mocking me for what seemed like a long minute. "I just played along to see what you say or do next."

His words struck a nerve. I seriously wanted to pummel him right now.

"How did you avoid it?" I asked him, trying to buy time and prepare myself for another attack. "I know that you couldn't have survived a direct hit of that massive energy without a scratch or something."

I could feel his energy and yet I couldn't tell exactly where he was. The wind howled greatly from where the ceiling once stood, echoing through my ears. It was such a clear night and at the same time a nightmare for all of us. Because the rumbling had stopped, I knew I had destroyed the inn and also something else inside. Most likely, the inn had been a monster in disguise taken from another world by the trident. I fell to one knee, fatigued beyond a doubt, side effects of the third blast. A few minutes had passed since I had summoned the technique, making the strain on my body gruesome. To make things worse, my fight was still not over. My enemy was still alive and waiting for me to let my guard down or strike in my blind spot.

"Tell me one thing, old man," I sighed heavily, struggling to stay on my feet. "Why do these walls crawl with the flesh of monsters? In fact, this whole city reeks of monsters and all the buildings here seem to come to life?"

In a small instant fraction of a second, I noticed a disturbance in the air. I don't know how he was doing it, but somehow he had turned his whole body into air. One guess came to mind—the white water mist power. I followed the disturbance in the air, trying to see if my assumption was right. I felt small fragments of his energy whenever I followed the sudden air anomalies. Not yet, I couldn't let him know that I knew where he was as I looked away in a different direction. He didn't reply my question, all I felt was a chilling wind in the back of my neck.

"What is going on?" Dashe spoke up completely startling me. "Hey, Rid, what happened? Is it finally over?"

On no, Dashe's habit of waking up at the wrong time was a signal of trouble. I looked at him and shook my head out of disbelief.

"Be quiet for a second," I whispered to him, moving backwards to guard him, Ogana and Kaya,

This situation could take a turn for the worse if the old man decided to use them as hostages. With Dashe awake, it was going to be difficult to fight and focus while still looking after him. All I could hope for was that he would keep his rude comments to himself. The inn began to growl just when I thought things couldn't get any more difficult. All of the energy the inn had been emitting began to disappear without warning. Now I only felt two evil presences, the old man and his wife. She was just as powerful as I feared, perhaps even more sinister. I felt a jolt of fear when I felt her energy mixed up with Masonku, Glazer and Showe's. Certainly great that they were still alive, but unlikely guaranteed to last. The rumbling inside the inn had stopped, buying us more time towards our impending doom.

"Your perceptive abilities are impressive," the old man's voice whispered around me. "Not many people have ever noticed this strange phenomenon ever since Katarina took over this country. Since you are about to be destroyed by yours truly, there is no harm in telling you a little secret. All the buildings here are an illusion created by the trident's power and the sun's rays. In fact they are actually Monga Beasts which revert to their old selves when the sun goes down and devour on the citizens and prisoners of Danyen and turn their inner physical energy into raw power for the castle troops. I am the keeper of this inn alongside my wife and like this creature, we were invited here and promised great wealth and power if we served her. So far, I'm pleased with the results and awards."

How cruel! I thought.

I wish I hadn't asked. Such evil was beyond belief and reason. Why would fellow humans do this to their fellow creatures? I felt a brief moment of intensified anger rising from within me.

"What awards are you talking about?" I asked furiously with both guns tightly gripped. The pain had receded away only to be replace by intense resentment.

Danyen was indeed a city where darkness dwelled, far too evil to ignore anymore. And this was only just the beginning of the worst to come.

"My wife and I are cannibals," he chuckled as a swift wind rustled by. "What do you think we eat? Haven't you ever wondered what happened to the people you saw enter our inn and why no one has ever left?"

Another mystery uncovered, although I wished I didn't know. Some truths were just too horrible to be revealed and this was one of them. Overtaken by anger, I couldn't suppress it anymore, this pure raw emotion waiting to erupt out of me. I really hoped he was done speaking, otherwise I was going to lose it, physically and emotionally.

"In this city we can do whatever we want," he continued and his voice ever calm. "Katarina is such a great master, she lets us do whatever we want and there is no limit to how many humans we eat. Your friends are going to be dinner, but first I have to capture you all quickly and strip you of all your power before we eat your flesh."

That's it, anyone associated with the Rainku was going to feel my wrath. I would not show them any mercy. I looked up and began to search for his exact location by looking at the patterns of disturbance in the air. As long as he kept hiding in the air, it was going to be difficult to defeat him. Nonetheless, it had to be done. I felt a brush of wind to my right and instantly moved away to my left. Another firm brush of wind passed towards my back, causing me to roll over to the left.

"Oh no. Not now."

The third blast time limit had passed, and the fusion was beginning to separate into the yellow and orange energy. I was so consumed by anger that I had accidently diffused the bonded energy. This furthermore caused an internal collapse of balance between my courage and anger. In other words, I was in trouble unless I could somehow get my anger under control. The last thing I wanted was to have my split personality come back and take over. While struggling to control my anger, I kept myself busy by dodging out of the way in every direction. Every time the air felt disturbed, I moved a few steps in the opposite direction, staying a step ahead of him. Seems, I didn't need to see him physically to know what he was about to do next.

Just how many people had been affected by the white water mist vapors? I think it was possible the mists could travel long distances or the Rainku had opened other mist portals all over the world. Truly our world was in trouble if we let these mists spread unchecked. What were those tyrant monsters thinking by unleashing such a disaster upon us? Ebi had warned me of this and he had said I would know what to do when the times comes. Begging me to doubt that even he knew what was going on. The white water mist was an ancient power, not something people should temper with.

"You rotten child," the old man yelled, pulling me back from my thoughts. "Why don't you give up already? You are dealing with something beyond your tiny human comprehension."

From the way his voice screeched, I could tell he was getting irritated and annoyed. His attacks had been flawless before, now they were wild and uncontrolled as they typically destroyed everything within their range. At this rate, the inn was going to be tattered and trashed. Hovering up into the air, I floated stiffly, waiting for the perfect chance to attack him. Now how would we counter such a foe? It was no mere task to fight against opponent who could mimic the wind. Could I really defeat wind with physical blasts of energy? Looking into my book of gauntlet powers and super powerful enchantments, I came up absolutely empty. What am I doing? I wasn't a thinker, I was a man who did things on the spare of the moment. Somehow, I had a feeling I would find away to conquer this impossible foe.

Loud and powerful roars ringed into my ear as I felt more monsters approach on our location. These weren't just ordinary sized ones. The ground shacked every second as they got closer. Their energy was as massive as the old man's and even more evil. Staying here was putting us all at risk, meaning it was time I ended this. My heart kept beating hard, this nightmarish situation was never going to end. Half a day in this city and I was already wanting to leave. For some reason, I felt out of breath and dizzy.

"This is my greatest ability," the old man annoyingly whispered into my ear. "I will suck up the air around you in one swoop."

I hunkered down and got on one knee, unable to breathe. It was then a sudden a strong wind picked up from beneath my feet. Swerved up into air, I felt like I was inside a tornado. I guess he hadn't been bluffing after all. I thought. What a remarkable attack technique.

"Focus, don't let him out of your gaze" I calmed myself, trying not to hurl from the spinning I was doing.

His bizarre attack was pushing me up past the ceiling into the outside air. The more I tried to get control, the stronger the winds ravaged me. I tried closing my eyes to stop myself from getting even dizzier, but it didn't work. To make things even more unbearable, the air was far too thin to breathe normally. Was this how it ended for me? Nope, tiny shark-like objects emerged in the wind and began to attack me without mercy.

"What now?" I wrestled with turmoil, unable to break this despicable bind I was in.

No matter how many times I shrugged them away, they just kept coming back and biting me everywhere. It had been a fool's bet to think I could jest the wind and win, but now I wasn't so sure of anything anymore. The coat protected most of my body from the tiny sharks while my exposed parts were bitten mercilessly. After finally calming down, I summoned up my courage and activated my first blast technique. Within a second, my body was covered in yellow energy, thus rendering the small tiny sharks harmless. One problem solved; however, I was still spinning out of control without direction. It was somewhat surprising that I had not yet hurled my stomach silly by now. Truth be told, this was by far the worst humiliating way to die. Definitely not how I envisioned it.

"Now this is the end," a voice in the wind hissed.

I winced, feeling awkwardly dizzy and confused. My chances of victory were getting slimmer with each second. There was one other move I had yet to try. It was a risky move, but with such devastating effects that could work to my advantage. One tiny problem remained before I could use it. It was Dashe, Ogana, and Kaya. They were inside my blast radius—not good.

Think! Think! Think!

I had to find some way to divert the wind up into the sky before counterattacking it.

"Hey, old man," I shouted out into the wind to draw his attention towards me. "I have one last request and that is for you to take me into the sky and finish me off there, because I don't want anything to happen to my friends."

The wind still howled loudly as I was getting desperate, any second now could become my last. I wasn't sure if he was buying my acting at all, considering the maddening silence in the air.

"Very well," the wind howled in response. "And you are right; we wouldn't want anything to happen to your precious friends. After all the castle troops will take every ounce of their energy before we eat them."

No way, I wasn't going to let that happen, even if I had to risk my life to save them. These were people who had become my friends. I still knew little about them, but it was enough for me call them my companions. With great ease, his mist power pushed me up further into the sky, playing directly into my hands. One the bright side, the wind had stopped spinning me apart. My eyes could not comprehend where I was, all I saw were things in two places at the same time as if I had become cross eyed.

"Go to your oblivion screaming," he howled into my ears loudly, sending massive winds all around me.

This was it, the moment I had waited for. I was way out of range to do any certain harm to any of my companions. Closing my eyes, I positioned my body carefully and focused all of my inner energy into my center. There was no room for mistake, it had to be precise and controlled.

"Ultimate first blast sphere," I screamed my lungs out of my body.

To be frank, the idea of naming your attacks was somewhat arrogant and childish, but it did help me maintain focus. A large amount of yellow energy I had built inside of me burst to the surface, erupting in every direction far and wide. Burning wildly, a sphere of energy formed around me, engulfing anything within five hundred yards of my radius. Everything was completely incinerated including some of the Monga Beasts that had closed in on us. Large and powerful winds rose from the ground, sweeping everything beneath my gaze. As I had feared, this powerful technique was too destructive.

Still feeling dizzy, I began to descend down slowly in the direction of the inn. I looked down towards the building, still feeling the after-effects of using the blast sphere. Clearly one of these days, my good fortune was going to run out. It had been a miracle that I had been able to stand at all, let alone fight. But now I felt weak and fragile. Almost all of the energy I had absorbed from the wall of the other Monga Beast had been used up. Specks of wind began to gather across a falling object. At first, they appeared normal; however, they began to take to come together into some sort of humanoid. I felt it, the old man's presence from those small specks of air. His whole body became visible again, descending aimlessly through the heavens.

He was unconscious and falling at an alarming rate. Testing my fate, I proceeded towards him, planning to save him. No matter how bad a person he was, he didn't deserve to die like that. Why was I feeling sorry for this terrible person? Using all of my remaining strength, I got to him and managed to grab him just in the nick of time. The wind was strong; it was working its way against me, plotting to consume us whole. I fought my way through it while holding him with my left hand. As I got close to the ground, I straightened my legs downwards and hit the ground hard. The wind pushed past me and knocked me down on my face, truly embarrassing.

"Great face landing, Riyo," Dashe commented, walking towards me. "Somehow you managed to ruin the whole city by yourself. That last attack, what were you thinking? I mean you just alerted more enemies of our position and now they know how powerful we are and mostly who you are."

"Trust me, I know that," I replied, gazing towards the dark palace

28

A soft chilly gush of wind blew past my hair, sending it dancing up high. Dashe stood next to me, examining the old man on the ground, his sword half drawn. Surprisingly, he looked somewhat like his old usual self, revived and annoying. I smiled faintly, knowing that everyone was okay. Upon using the power of the first blast sphere, I had held back a little, fearing for my friends, although it all worked out somehow. Strange, Dashe was moving effortlessly and his life inner energy was glowing faintly, unquestionably not my doing.

"How are you even walking, Dashe?" I turned my head towards him. "I am rather surprised by your newfound recovery."

Considering what we went through, I deserved to know that much from him. Dashe stretched his arms and massaged his neck in a calm and unsaddled manner. He looked at me for a second and then returned to ignoring me again like I wasn't there.

"Spill it out," I growled at him.

He then laughed his brains off like a maniac. "I was just faking it before. I just wanted to see how long you could last without my help."

Seriously, I truly hoped he didn't mean that. If this was true then I so wanted to punch him. However, the unchanged expression on his face told me he wasn't joking. Gritting my teeth from brute anger, I looked at him for a couple of seconds. What was wrong with him?

"No, I am just joking," he laughed again, almost shedding tears. "From the look on your face, you bought it. Anyways a little boy helped us, the same kid Susanne told us you left at a bar in Jura."

No way, I did not expect him to follow me. What was he doing here? I had told the bartender I would come get him in a week and it hadn't been more than a week yet. How had he even found us in the first place?

"He didn't come alone," Dashe smiled as he helped me get back on my feet. "He brought reinforcements along with him."

Great, it sounded like he was saying more crazy people were going to throw away their lives on our suicide mission. I sighed deeply at thought of it all. This was going to be one battle none of us would easily walk away from. By now, the enemies were aware of what had happened here and were probably on their way here as we speak.

"Ken taught me one thing," Dashe spoke, looking in the sky with eyes filled with questions. "When opportunity comes along, we grab it and never let go. You might be thinking that it's suicide for people to go up against a monstrous tyrant, but look at it from their perspectives. A strange and yet fearful warrior comes along and walks into enemy territory despite his fear and cowardice. Fighting monsters to help his kidnapped friends, even I would be ashamed if I didn't accompany him or you to be precise. To make things interesting, you are a Roguean. And none of us have known you brutes to be so ever helpful."

In a strange way, it made sense. I don't know why, but it just did. Dashe's words were starting to influence me which was truly disturbing. Taking advice from an idiot must obviously mean I was one too, not a good thought. But perhaps people could change even if they were the still rude and annoying. I thought hard about my companions, each and every one of them. They had something to lose and it was the reason why they were willing to risk their lives alongside me. So who was I to deny them a chance to fight for their freedom and future?

"Rid, that attack was something else," Ogana suddenly appeared behind us, speaking in a sober manner. His eyes were blood shot red and the stench of booze on his breath was less revolting. "You really gave us quite the scare to make even Kaya wet his pants."

"I did not," Kaya cried, trying to justify himself. "I was just sweaty, that's all."

"Wait!" I gulped, "Masonku and the others are still in danger."

There wasn't much time, judging by what the old man had said. I could barely feel their energy meaning they were in some kind of trouble. Walking slowly, I proceeded towards the direction of their energy until I felt Dashe's hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about them," Dashe said with a faint smile. "The old lady has been taken care of and the others are safe."

"Seriously, by who?" I asked, rather surprised.

"Trust in your friends," Ogana smiled and walked a few steps towards me. "We might not look like it, but we are strong."

Phew! It was a relief to hear. Rest assured, the nightmare was still not over. Dawn was approaching as the sky started to become light and slightly cloudy. An ominous fog was approaching from the west, and in it, I saw about a few hundred huge treasure dogs. I warned the others of the approaching danger, signaling them to follow me. We dashed quickly and rejoined the new group of people who had come to our aid, making our stand together as one

"This is it, guys," I said, clenching my left fist, my heart pacing out of control. "Can you all still fight?"

"You know it," Kaya said, standing behind Ogana.

"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't" Dashe sniffed in leisurely, unsheathing two swords simultaneously.

"Let's get this over with while I am still sober," Ogana grunted, moving towards the front.

Excellent, this was comforting feeling. As long as we were together, no army was too big to conquer. Wait, something was still not right. Someone was missing from our group. I looked right and left and did not see a tiny glimpse of my angel.

"Has anyone seen or heard from Suzanne?" I asked, still trying to stay on my feet.

It was bad enough a horde of monsters were approaching, but now I had a grudgingly tired body to deal with first. I put my pain aside and focused all my attention on finding Suzanne. "Someone among these people must have seen her when she was heading for Jura or along their way here."

No one answered and it clearly bothered me a lot. Had something happened to her and Dien? Could it be that she ran into Katarina Fox? What was going on?

"She is safe for now." A feminine voice spoke from behind a mob of people. It was soft and yet gently comforting. "My husband took her and her friend to our house in the outskirts of Jura. For now, she will be safe there while we focus on vanquishing our greatest enemy."

Hearing her words sent a comforting feeling throughout my body. This had been the best news I had heard in a while. With that in mind, I felt a sense of ease on my shoulders. I looked back at the oncoming beasts ready to pounce on them greatly. Even with this army of thirty people, victory was not guaranteed. I felt great power in some of them, nevertheless it wasn't going to be enough against a foe like Katarina Fox. The beasts raged on towards us, gaining steady speed on us. Before I could dash towards them, someone stopped me by grabbing my hand.

"Leave these creatures to us and go on ahead to the castle, Riyo," the little boy I had saved in Jura said. "Your chances of victory are great against her if you fight her before the sun comes up. Time is not on your side, my friend."

Wait what? Before the sun came up? What was he trying to tell me? I was truly lost by what he said. It was obvious to me that this boy knew something important about her. Something probably related to the other power Ebi didn't want to tell me. Maybe the trident's power increased or something. I bent down to one knee and looked at him in the eye.

"What happens if I can't defeat her by then?" I asked him curiously.

His smile vanished as he said, "then your journey will be over. She will become invincible once the sun comes out and you and your friends will suffer."

Just hearing that sent shivers down my spine. There was roughly two hours left before the sun came out which wasn't much. I got back on my feet filled with a bit of clutching anxiety.

"I believe in you though," the little boy gave me a thumps up. "I mean, I really want to believe in you because you care despite being a Roguean. You saved me from a terrible demise and cared for me like I was a comrade. I want to thank you for freeing me and showing me the path of my errors. I will no longer serve her. And now right here, I will make my stand and fight alongside you. I will free my family by fighting hard for them. Now who is with me?"

Everyone yelled, "WE ARE" raising their weapons as a symbol of unity.

My word, I was lost out of language. This child was far much more mature than any of us were especially that idiot Dashe. I mean his short words of wisdom were powerful enough to inspire this horde of rebels deeply. If he survived this battle, he would surely grow up into the next legendary king or general.

"I suggest you go," the little boy said with a sudden change in tone. "Time means everything now. I'm putting all my faith into you because I want to see my family when this is all over."

"Wait a second," the woman from before stopped me. She took out something out of her dress pockets and handed it to me. "Take this with you. It will help you ease your pain and fatigue."

I took a vial with herbal supplements from her and observed the contents within. Without hesitating, I lowered my head as a sign of gesture, "thank you."

She raised my head up with her hand and said. "It is you we are supposed to thank. Not a lot of people would have stood up to fight, if it weren't for your brave actions."

They all agreed with her and it made me feel special. Honestly on my part, my actions weren't that of a brave and daring man, more along the lines of flukes. Everything that had happened recently had been more frightening than exciting. That being said, I felt somewhat different to the person I had been before when I was still in Rogue. There was compassion and love inside my heart, things I had never shown to others before. I was truly changing inside without even realizing it. Quickly, I said farewell to everyone and took off with Dashe and the others. We ran past the inn and entered an alley, heading towards the castle.

"I'm counting on you," I yelled to my new companions before vanishing amongst tall strange buildings.

29

After passing along a few buildings, we came upon a strange sort terrain. It was almost like we had come across a desert. This was so bizarre. I could not put my mind around it. Just where or when were we? It was safe to say, this city was build along a magical time stream or something close to that. We skipped past a few large rocks and made a hasty run towards the castle in front of us. Thankfully, they were no more buildings blocking the path towards the castle.

"Something is not right," Ogana halted, making us all completely stop. "Has anyone noticed that we've been running for a while and we don't seem to be getting close?"

Truth to his words, I noticed it too. The castle seemed as further as it did when we began running in this dusty desert. This was obviously some sort of illusion, and a good one at that. I looked away from the others, feeling sort of embarrassed to have fallen for such trickery.

"You should have noticed it first, Rid," Dashe laughed being rude as usual. "Or are your eyes just for decoration only?"

One of these days, I was really going to knock him into the moon. I just could never get used to his sarcasms. Every time he spoke, I just felt like I had to punch him badly. Enough about him, what was in front of us was important. I looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. What sort of enchantment was this?

"Time is critical," I yelled quickly out of frustration. "We need to get out of whatever is causing this to us."

I could still see the castle ahead, brimming wildly to its former glory. But suddenly, everything became blurry like a mirage. Tilting my head in every direction, I looked for the caster; however, came up empty. This was indeed a mist acquired power and a very powerful one at that. Taking that into account, I felt a cold chill in the back of my neck.

My greatest fear had everything to do with what that little boy told me about Katarina becoming invincible when the sun came out. Did I truly have what it took to defeat such a powerful opponent? The fate of Paul and Tye rested on my shoulders, but could I truly defeat her? Many people had fallen to her and they had been incredible and gifted warriors like Ebi and the Okaya King. That leaves me, a banished Roguean and a lowlife thief, not great qualities worthy of valor.

"What wrong with you?" Dashe slapped some sense back into me. He pushed me to the side and walked directly in front of me. "If you start to fall apart on us, then what are we supposed to do? Your friends' lives are in your hands. If you back out now, you will never see them again."

"Yeah, I know!" I replied instantly, wiping the sweat off my forehead with my shaking hands.

I took a small pill from the bottle I had been given and crunched it down. It helped fend off some of the pain and fatigue, but it wasn't enough to properly restore me to my original strength.

"What do we do now?" Ogana asked, his spear raised, waiting for me to answer.

He was truly sober for once which was rather surprising. I guess he had sensed that the situation had become critical and we all needed to be on high alert for once. But in this situation, what could we do? I really hated these mist powers that rendered physical confrontations obsolete. Was there even a way out of this fog of illusions? To make things even worse, it was possible we had been running in circles this whole time. In fact, this desert could or was an illusion too. It was then we saw it, a faint glimmer of light was starting to dilute the dark night. The sun was about to come out from beyond the horizon.

"We need to get out of this illusion now." I said, trying to find a way out fog that now surrounded us from all sides. The castle was no longer visible even to my eyes.

I had to give them credit; this was a good illusion. Clenching my fist hard, I felt frustrated by this new development. This was definitely the last thing I wanted to deal with right before I faced one of the world's greatest enemies. Looking up into the sky, it was vividly clear and free from the fog.

"Everyone, grab on to my hands now," I commanded, spreading my arms in each directions for them.

Sweat kept pouring down my face, all from the deep anxiety I felt. I focused deeply and prepared myself for a proper lift off. The sky was our only hope for a proper retreat, no sense in fighting every mere foe that came our way. I had a faint feeling our enemy wouldn't allow us to escape. Still, there was no harm in trying.

"Do it now," I yelled again as I began to ascend up in the air.

Finally, they listened and grabbed hold of my arms as I quickly took for the skies. Despite my efforts to outrun it, the fog chased after us without mercy. The tenacity of this ominous fog was astounding. It was following me everywhere like it was being controlled.

"What now?" Dashe screamed. "We can't outrun it, can we?"

"True," I replied, looking at him, Kaya, and Dashe.

We couldn't outrun it, but there was a chance we could divert it somehow. The only way to do that was to find the person manipulating the fog quickly and knock him out physically if possible. Within the pursuing fog, I felt the enemy's presence finally. More of less, I think he or she was the fog. Such control and expansion was just not possible even if the person had acquired the power from the white water mist. For that to happen, the person controlling the mist had to be physically powerful before or possibly a monster. Slowly, I stopped and hovered around the air briefly, observing the mist spreading from beneath us.

"At last, you stopped," it whispered, expanding and circling us inside. "I was starting to enjoy this game of cat and mouse. I love what you did with that creepy Jerad and his wife because I never like them at all. In fact, I was going to get rid of them, but thanks for taking care of it for me."

"Shut up already," Dashe cut him off, closing his ears with his index finger. "You keep blabbering on and on about you. Why can't you just keep your mouth shut and be on your way; we are on a tight schedule."

Instantly, I nudged him with my leg, signaling him to keep his mouth shut. Seriously this was not the time to be angering our enemies. All his mouth ever seemed to do was get us into more trouble. The fog began to move up our chests until it had completely enshrouded us.

"I like that kind of attitude, boy." The voice within the fog spoke. "I'm going to enjoy suffocating the air out of your bodies slowly except for you, Rid. Katarina has told me to capture you alive. She has horrifying plans waiting for you."

Whoa! The fog was speaking to me. What did Katarina have in store for me? I got scared at the thought of it. Maybe, it was going to be a something much horrific beyond my wildest imagination. Suddenly, I felt out of breath like before with that inn keeper. The air was thinning as we were slowly suffocating and losing consciousness. With all my strength, I slammed my shoulder into the fog and was immediately repulsed back hard.

"Sleep slowly," the voice within the fog laughed. "Soon it will be all over."

After hearing his whisper, I found myself starting to lose my grip on the others. The more I tried to fight it, the more I lost my strength. Just as it started looking hopeless, we felt a violent rattle coming from beneath us. The fog dissipated out of the way, leaving us to fall out of the sky untimely. We all gulped in a huge breath of air, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Someone had helped us but whom exactly?

It took me a few grasps of air to finally comprehend the situation I was in. I had let go off all my three companions, putting them into the clutch of oblivion. I extended my hand outwards, trying to grab for them, but there were too far down. Ogana was falling even faster down due to his heavy size. At such an alarming height, none of us were going to make a graceful landing. Down below, the huge walls of Danyen began to look closer and closer to us, not good.

"Now would be a good time to start flying, Rid," Kaya screamed loudly, finally conscious

I straightened my body and took a deep descent towards Kaya first who seemed the closest to me.

"Kaya, give me your arm," I screamed out loudly once he was within my reach. "We are getting out of here."

In the corner of my eye, I noticed the fog coming back relentlessly towards us. Not now, I thought. I didn't want to duel this opponent again. Kaya grabbed onto my arm and I quickly soared greatly down towards Dashe. I grabbed him without too much trouble on his part, before going double speeding for Ogana.

"Ogana, wake up." I screamed to him.

He was unconscious and barely moving. Ogana kept falling rapidly just a few yards out of my grasp. No, I wasn't going to lose him too, not now. Digging deep into myself, I found the power to go even faster towards him. The coat's power was indeed amazing; it responded and acted to my thoughts. With it in my possession, I felt better about my chances of victory.

At the last moment, I grabbed him and pulled up hard before the worst scenario could occur. I spoke too soon because it happened just as I had grabbed onto him. While focusing everything on Ogana, I had lost track of how far down we had gone. My head smashed into the ground first, sending us all into a spiraling tumble. The pain was intense, but for some unknown reason it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. Aside from an aching head, everything on me seemed to be still working normally.

"Phew! We saved you guys just in time," a familiar said, causing me to turn.

There was a bed of soft rock beneath our bodies. Next to it, I saw my allies Masonku, Glazer, and Showe. They were somewhat healthy and in good spirits.

"Glad you all could join the party," I smiled, rubbing my hand against a sore spot on my head. "If you guys had come earlier, it sure would have helped."

Masonku laughed loudly, beating his chest with his bare hands. "Then that would have ruined our great entrance."

Well that didn't make sense to me, but as long as we were all alive, that was good enough for me. I got back to my feet and looked up. The fog was upon us, coming again from all directions. It lingered ominously around us, blinding us to everything else.

"More lambs for the slaughter," a voice in the fog screamed insanely.

Not this again; I knew exactly what was about to happen and I had to stop this foul fog. We had almost succumbed to its power before, almost falling to our deaths. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice then I am probably stupid as Dashe. Things would get very bad indeed if it stole all the air from us again. But how do we counter such an opponent?

"Leave this to me," Masonku stepped up, pushing me back with his right hand. His physical energy skyrocketed up, almost enough to rival Dien's. He waved us away without looking back. "I can handle the fog by myself."

What! Was he crazy? It was bad enough Dien had done the same thing, but him too? I clenched my fists unable to think my way out of it. Most likely, he was the only one among us who could counter this fog intruder. Somehow, his power to control the earth was what was keeping this creature at bay. I could never understand how the white water mists gave us each a unique power—it was more troublesome than helpful. Although, something like invincibility or invulnerable skin would have been a power I wished to have. What good was incredible eye sight if you can't use it in battle?

I felt my breath weaken before I realized what was happening. As before in the sky, it started getting harder to breathe again. We were all being suffocated to death again by this terrible mist, not good. Tensing slowly, I stopped moving to preserve my energy.

"Your attacks are useless against me," Masonku yelled, punching the air with his fist. There was a small tremor beneath our feet. What followed after was a swarm of rocks in every direction. They pierced the fog madly and forcefully, releasing its bind on us. "Do you remember what that child said to us? Once the sun comes out, it's all over. So go now, Rid."

Oh no. I had completely forgotten about that. Dawn was on the horizon, meaning time was critical. The castle was still a good bit far from us, standing firmly under the shade of darkness. Even with all that, the thought of leaving Masonku too was far too heartbreaking of a choice to make.

"Looks like you have more fight in you." The voice in the fog hissed out loudly. "I'm going to enjoy playing with you till you break."

"Is that so," Masonku instantly replied as his body started turning into rock. "I'd like to see you try."

Everyone backed away, including me, as we could feel the rise blood lust in the air. This battle was going to be one for the legends. Shame though that I would not stay long enough to see it through. Masonku was clearly stronger than I had expected. It made me feel a little bit at ease to leave the fog to him and head for the castle. Before I could turn around, the fog stopped and began to gather in one place, assuming a physical shape. Now what? Kaya moved behind me, peeking halfway out. This fog creature, it was taking form almost the same as that swamp creature.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the fog humanoid spoke gently, taking a bow. "I am Anrio, the son of King Colosta the third. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintances in this form."

Well, it was unexpected—an enemy with polite manners. Wait a minute, I knew that name. "Anrio, the son of Colosta," I said to myself, trying to jog my memory.

I had heard that name before in a book written about one hundred years ago. Was this even possible? Anrio was the son of the Colosta Diger, a very mad king who once tried to take over half the world. With the aid of his loyal and vast army, he almost succeeded; however, he met his end at the hands Rogue and Iyenka forces. Nope, our countries did not work together, just happened to be coincidence on their part. King Colosta's mistake was that he split his army into two and made them to attack the two countries at the same time which played to his disadvantage. After the fall of King Colosta, his son Anrio went psychotic and killed over three thousand soldiers before being defeated by my ancestor great grandfather. He managed to barely escape Rogue and met his death at the hands of an Iyenkan warrior. And now before my eyes was standing a man of fog claiming the same name and title, so bizarre. Was he telling the truth? In all honesty, nothing in Danyen surprised me anymore. I just wanted to leave this crazy city.

"Go now, I will make a way for you," Masonku rattled me out of my thoughts. He stomped his foot hard into the ground, almost knocking us all off balance. Large tremors trembled from beneath the surface, persisting for what seemed like a minute.

"Go through this tunnel," Masonku pointed us to a dark tunnel next to his right foot. "It leads straight to the castle. I will hold him off for as long as possible and whatever you do don't turn back."

Incredible, to create a path leading all the way to the castle was no novice task. Even with the aid of the white water mist power, the toll on the body physically was great. Masonku was breathing heavily, falling to one knee out of fatigue. Sensing the price of his efforts, I made a hard choice and took advantage of the opportunity he had given us. I signaled the others behind me and made a hasty run towards the small tunnel.

"We'll leave it to you," I replied, facing the ground, about to jump into the mouth of the tunnel.

No, I stopped and looked back at him. I wasn't going to make the same mistake I did with Dien again. Being was leader was not always about making necessary sacrifice. "We'll go only if Glazer stays with you. I will not lose anymore of my friends. Either he stays or will all do, so pick one."

His excessive breathing kept him from answering right away. The look in his eyes had changed, no longer calculating and mischievous as before. Whatever Suzanne promised him was probably worth a diamond mine in value. Honestly, I couldn't tell if he was being noble or doing it for the money and treasure.

"Alright fine," he finally replied, struggling up to his feet. "He can stay while the rest of you go. If we all stay here then all of our efforts would have been for nothing."

Nodding quickly, I jumped into the tunnel and landed softly on the dirt below. The tunnel was well made, not too narrow and not too small. "You heard him, guys, let's go."

Just as the others were about to follow, the man of fog stopped in front of them. I could see everything even from inside the tunnel—good eyesight after all.

"My humblest apologies but I can't let you go," he howled with such an evil grin. "Katarina Fox specifically told me to do what I want with all of you, except for you, the ring leader. And you with the four swords—where did you get that purple one?"

The mist hissed, pointing at one of Dashe's new swords. I never noticed his strange blade till now. But when did he acquire another sword? I seriously could never understand that idiot's obsession with weapons. That last sword was strange. It glowed with strange powerful energy, the likes of which I had never encountered before. How a weapon could harbor such foul power was beyond me.

"That is the sword I lost a century ago when I fought the Rogueans. Where did you get it?" The fog man asked politely.

Dashe laughed loudly slowly unsheathing two swords. He took an offensive stance, spreading his legs apart for wider swings. No doubt, he was not one to take his opponents lightly especially this one. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

His rude first policy was a bit worrisome. How many calamities could he have avoided if could learn to be nice to people? Unlikely to happen, but one could hope. And now it appeared he was about to anger this psychotic fog. If this was really Anrio, then this was not going to end well. Instead of waiting for something to happen, I jumped back out and grabbed Dashe quickly before making a swift move past the fog. Ogana and the others followed untimely, leaving only Glazer and Masonku above ground.

"You are not going anywhere," the fog man screamed out, coming behind us. "I want my sword back."

Fortunately for us, Masonku found his inner strength and managed to kick the fog man away from the tunnel. Instantly after, the opening closed completely, sealing us in the dark.

"Will you let go off me?" Dashe yelled, trying to get my arm off his neck wildly.

"Gladly," I pushed him off me.

I yelped as someone accidentally stepped on my toe. It had to be Ogana, judging by the weight. Everyone was silently whispering to each other, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with this new development. I really wish Masonku had also thrown in some gas lamps before he sealed us in, that could have helped a lot.

"What do we do now?" Kaya asked, making sudden noises against the walls. "I doubt that even you, Rid, can see in this darkness."

Sadly that was true, I didn't want to admit it. I couldn't see anything except for small rays of energy my companions emitted naturally from their bodies. I extended my arms outwards to get a feel of the tunnel. The wind was howling from somewhere in front of me. We would make it as long as we kept going forward.

"Does anyone have anything that can light up?" Ogana asked, plodding behind, the ale sloshing behind his back.

It was utterly chaos, none of could tell the exact position of the others around. We were wasting precious time trying to get our bearings straight, unsure of which way to go. Up above, I felt Masonku's power start to weaken in strength. Oddly enough, I could not feel Glazer's energy at all. His presence was still there and yet there was no energy. It felt like trying to feel a dark void of emptiness, certainly disturbing.

"Hey, Rid, why don't you try and use your yellow energy or first blast thingy?" Dashe said in a cold tone. "Your gauntlet's power is certainly useful as a candle light, wouldn't you agree?"

"One of these days, Dashe, I will..." I stopped, realizing it wasn't entirely a terrible idea.

Despite his imbecile like nature, Dashe was smart at times. Not something I was happy to admit, nevertheless true.

"Now would be good" Dashe howled at me. "You realize there is not much time left, right?"

"I know okay?" I replied and focused.

The yellow energy surrounded my body with visible light, turning me into a walking light.

Flickering bit by bit, the energy around me was a lot weaker. My body had still not yet completely recovered from using the first blast sphere. I took the lead and began to walk quickly.

"Let's go."

30

I led my companions through the dark passage, unaware of what lay ahead. We all felt it, the shattering sensation of the abyss awaiting us. The moment we got to the castle, war was going to break loose. Everything we had endured had been leading us to that moment. I was surprised, Kaya and Ogana hadn't said anything for a while. Not to be ungrateful, but this tunnel was starting to annoy me. It was so narrow and so long, almost like it stretched into infinity. All we had to rely on was our faith in Masonku's word. Something tumbled behind me. Slowly, I stopped and looked back only to see Kaya on the ground. He looked tired and worn out. We had been running for a while without really getting a good night worth of sleep. In fact, we were all tired and hungry. But Kaya was the youngest and there truly no telling how much of this he could endure.

"I'm okay, Rid." he spoke with anxiety within his voice. "I can handle a lot more than this."

Little fool! He was just acting tough to impress us in my opinion. His burning love and desire to rescue his brother was commendable. I felt that same passion too; I wanted to rescue my friends no matter what. As long as I was alive, I was going to help him find his brother. But with the Rainku involved, there was just no telling how it would end. Kneeling on one knee, I gently grabbed Kaya and put him on my back.

"Stop it, I will carry you through the tunnel," I said, grabbing him quickly despite his retaliation. "We can no longer waste anymore time here. You know what's at stake right?"

After I said that, he stopped struggling completely and held on to my neck with all his might. I got back to my feet and started running with the others.

"Come on you two," Dashe said with a grin on his face.

I wanted to ask him about his sword, although I chose not to at the end. The last thing I wanted was to get into a fight with him. On the other hand, Ogana had stopped drinking. He was too quiet and drawn to himself. You know, it also appeared like he got taller and bigger. Showe was even quieter, never saying anything to anyone.

The moment I put Kaya on my back, I felt heavier and tired. It felt like Kaya was a giant boulder. He was so heavy I could barely run normally. Had he eaten a 3 horned elephant?

"Kaya, you are too heavy." I said, starting to feel signs of fatigue reach onto me. "It feels like I'm carrying two buffalos on my back."

He didn't answer, but from the sudden gestures he made frequently, I could only assume he was blushing or embarrassed.

"I ate some of Suzanne's cooking a while ago," he replied. "A lady brought me some food Suzanne had cooked for us and I ate it all before we came here."

Suzanne's cooking! That didn't sound good at all from all points of view. Was there even anyone who could handle her cooking? Perhaps Kaya lacked any sense of taste because no normal person would eat that. That alone still didn't explain why he felt so heavy and I highly doubted even he knew the answer. I ignored the fatigue and kept on running to keep up with the others a few steps in front of me.

"You are a strange and yet brave kid, Kaya?" I shook my head and smirked. "You should never eat anything Suzanne cooks, it's terrible."

I spoke out of experience. I had once eaten her food and it had been the worst thing I had ever eaten in my life. Don't get me wrong, I adored her greatly, not so much her cooking skills.

"But it was so good," he replied, whispering near my ear. "It was the best food I ever ate in the world."

"You are joking right?" I chuckled out of disbelief.

Clearly, he had banged his head somewhere when I was not looking. By adjusting his weight towards my legs, I got used to Kaya's massive weight. It reminded me of what Ebi had made me do during our training in the yellow world of the gauntlet. He had tied huge stones to my legs and made me jump for a few hours up in the air. It had taken me more than three months to even start to get some leverage in the air and another four months to start jumping in the air freely despite the massive weight on my legs. Training with Ebi had been the most intense rigorous thing I had ever done in my life. It had pushed me to the extreme, the likes of which I had never seen before. Not to say, it hadn't come with a steep price.

"What is that?" Dashe pointed up ahead to an open hole in the ground.

It looked like we had reached the end of the tunnel Masonku had created. There was no telling what we would come across the moment we crawled out. I took over the lead and began gazing over the surrounding. As I feared, the place was crawling with a large scale presence of numerous enemies. They were diverting from every corner of our location. Had we already entered the castle? No, I think we were still outside, next to its walls. The only way to be certain was to go up, something I dreaded doing.

"Conceal your energy, Rid," Ogana finally spoke to me. "We are now in enemy territory, so it is best we don't alert them of our presence at all cost."

The expression on his face was intimidating and yet respectful. He was acting rather odd, far less than his usual self. He had not touched his ale for a very long time. It felt like he was now a different person. I was not imagining it, Ogana had somehow changed for the better.

"Ogana, call me crazy, but you seem kind of taller than usual," I said in a confused manner, trying to understand this new development.

"I am a tree giant after all, Rid," he replied, stretching one of arms as if warming up for battle. "I never lost my height. My excessive drinking only made me shrink a little, resulting in my strength decreasing."

"Yeah, sure that makes sense," I sighed in disbelief, his explanation was out of my comprehension.

Was this even possible? Perhaps, it would have been wise not to ask because his answer left me even more confused than before. Obviously enough, I knew little about tree giants; most of them were not the kindest of folks. To think that booze shrank tree giants was something unheard of to me. How much more secret abilities was he hiding? I hunkered down and began to peer carefully through the opening. We had lost a lot of precious time, our only option was to charge head on.

"I guess we should go then!" I said slowly, suppressing my first blast energy into my body, completely stopping the glowing yellow energy.

The tunnel became dark again with nothing, but the light of the four moons shining through the exit. Outside, we heard terrible growls from large and small creatures alike. Their very screams rattled all through the air, making me feel a slight sensation of fear. There were things above us of unknown origin, probably guarding the castle from intruders.

"This is no time to falter, Rid," Dashe said and took out two swords. One of which was his new purple sword.

Upon it being unsheathed, the sword began to release a substantial amount of terrible aura. This weapon was too dangerous especially in the hands of an idiot like Dashe. I kept my mouth shut for now until I was really sure of the sword's true nature. It would be have been foolish of me to tell Dashe to discard the weapon, knowing how much he was unlikely to cooperate.

"Let us go," Ogana said, jumping swiftly up, barely making any sound with his feet.

I had expected him to be the rational one but it looked like I was again wrong. Dashe and Showe followed him quickly while I lagged behind, trying to get some leverage with Kaya on my back. I hovered up slowly using the power of the coat and landed loudly on the ground above. Phew! No one seemed to notice which was truly surprising. Indeed, we had made it to the castle walls just as Masonku said. But why did it look so empty? Where were the creatures I had been sensing?

"Keep it down, will you?" Dashe yelled from the other side. "We don't want anyone to notice we are here."

Idiot! They had to notice his yelling. Sadly they did, I felt the creatures' presences again, converging on our position. Their power was even greater than that of those Monga beasts I had destroyed. I saw the shadow of the first creature, coming out of the darkness of the castle's wall. It had eyes glowing from the light of the moon and with a body of colossal proportions. Walking slowly towards us, its feet made the very ground shake softly. Oh my!

It was a wild manned lion, a very big and powerful one at that. This was my first time seeing it with my eyes. The creature snarled as it stopped in front of us, looking down upon us with blood lust.

"What is that?" Kaya trembled as tears fell down his cheek.

For a slight second, my body jolted from fear. I had not accounted for Katarina to have such a beast within her ranks. Just then, more wild manned lions came out of the hiding. Some were small and the others big, completely outnumbering us. The first one roared making the air stiff and wild. A powerful gust of wind shot out of its mouth, almost knocking us off our feet. The other lions followed suit and roared loudly too. Everything went crazy, wild winds were blowing in every direction. I put my left foot back and waited out the winds to pass. Darn!

Time was running out and we were still nowhere within the castle. The creatures surrounded every passage into the castle, making it impossible to run in. I peered through the castle walls directly into the creepy walls. Behind it, another large battalion of armed soldiers awaited us, ready to strike the moment we made it through. This was not going to be easy. Even if we somehow got through her pets, we had those soldiers to deal with too. Growling softly, a small manned lion leaped up toward me. I swerved out of its way and punched it hard it the stomach. Ow, its skin was tougher than I expected. Another trio dashed for me briefly after in the same predictable pattern, aiming for my neck. With three of them at once, there was no way I could use the same technique again. I looked around and noticed the small creatures also attack each and every one of my companions in the manner. The bigger ones were not attacking us for the moment which was good. All they did was create winds with their powerful roars at us. Sensing the impending danger, I spun on my axis and dodged through on opening between two of the creatures. They narrowly missed my head by a whim. I felt their musty breath and intent to kill, a tremendously awful feeling. Since my feet were no longer in the ground due to the last attack, the winds above swept me further into the castle wall. Kaya and I hit the wall hard and stayed there for second. The third small lion sprinted into the perfect position to attack, claws extended out forward. With Kaya on my back, it was not going to be easy to fend it off. The large lions' wind roars had us pinned down. My arms and legs could barely twitch at all. To be honest, I could easily get out using the power of the gauntlet, but I wanted to conserve all of my energy for my battle with Katarina. In the nick of time, Ogana appeared in front of us, grabbing the third lion violently with his bare hands. He ripped it by the jaws and threw it violently on the ground. Phew! Another close call—any second later and it would have been too late.

"Thanks, Ogana," I stuttered, trying to get a better grip of myself again. I had to admit, but I had gotten scared when I saw the lion nick my neck with its teeth."Kaya, are you okay?"

He kept shacking heavily, startled from the recent events. I couldn't blame him, I would be in the same state if I was his age.

"Get up, there are more coming," Ogana roared fiercely, adjusting his spear and shifting his weight to his left leg. "Put him down gently and let's take care of these savage beasts. The sun will be up soon so we need to finish this quickly and be discreet as possible."

Somehow I doubted discreet was still possible. With all the roaring these beasts were doing, it was possible that someone inside the castle had already noticed. I gently put Kaya on the ground, leaving him on next to a pile of rubble without speaking to him. The heavily shacking he was doing was truly frightening. Had his mind been traumatized? Now of all times, the huge lions began to move on us.

"This is going to take while," I chuckled at them and charged forward.

Upon taking Kaya off my back, I felt lighter and much stronger than before. One of the large manned lions smashed in the ground where I had left Kaya sitting.

"Kaya," I screamed.

The lion destroyed everything behind me. Kaya was nowhere in sight, and I felt scared at the thought of losing him.

"Kaya," I shouted at the top of my voice, ducking from the menacing winds coming out of the lions' mouth.

I could not see him or Ogana, everything had begun to fall apart on us. At this rate, the sun was going to come out way before we even entered the castle. I wanted to save my friends, but this was just too much. A small part of my heart was glad of these developments. Deep down, I was still a coward and wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible. Who was I truly to think I had a chance to face such adversaries? It looked like I wasn't going to keep my promise to Ebi after all. I was trembling in my boots, unable to bear apart this madness. I had lost Kaya and Ogana to these savage beasts.

"Worry not, Rid," Ogana yelled from the east side of my position with Kaya in his hands. "I have him with me, just take care of these beasts."

Yes, I looked towards his direction and felt relieved. My friends were still alive, well for the most part. There was no longer any need to hold back anymore. To make it into the castle, I had pull out all the stops. Jumping greatly, I blitzed towards the lions aiming to attack them first from the air. "Have at thee, vile beasts, you shall taste cold steel today."

31

From up here, I could see everything clearly. The castle was far much larger than it looked outside. The thought of just heading straight in without my allies did occur to me; however, I brushed it away. It was then, I noticed one of the large lions drop down completely defeated by an unknown enemy. But who could have done it?

Dashe and Ogana were far off on opposite sides to have done this.

"You are wasting time here, Riyo," a deep voice commented from behind me.

I shrugged off completely caught by surprise. Showe was right behind me, floating effortlessly with a large long sword in his hands. I was surprised by the fact that he even spoke to me. I was deeply even more astounded by the fact that I had not sensed him approach me at all. If he was my enemy, I would have been defeated.

"Where have you been?" I asked, demanding an answer right away. "The good question is how did you get up here?"

He smiled with a weird grin as he hovered closer to me. Yes, somehow Showe could fly and I am guessing it was white water mist related. I had so many questions, but I doubted he was willing to answer all of them right away. Without ushering a word, Showe adjusted the hilt on his sword and tightened his grip greatly. He gaze turned to the other large manned lions, soaring quickly down towards them. Silent man, just exactly how I imagined him to be. The lions howled ferociously and began to move quickly through the ground. I think seeing one of their own fall made them angrier and wilder.

"We'll talk later," he yelled back to me before turning his head back towards the creatures.

Amazing, I had never seen someone fly so elegantly and yet so fierce fully into battle before. It was almost worthy of praise. Showe calmly moved amongst the beasts, cutting and slicing any of the smaller lions that got in his way with unrelenting mercy. The remaining wild manned lions became more aggressive as they began to move around him at the same time. These creatures were tough and resilient; the legends about them all seemed true now. They were a rare breed in my world and were only found in the most dangerous places. In terms of being deadly, they were ranked amongst the top three, between wigra snakes and the fire bears. Their fierce power and strength in combat were truly worthy of their legend. I had once heard that it took more than a hundred warriors to bring down one of the infamous and greatest of these beasts. To think that Katarina Fox had so many of these animals at her disposal was truly a frightful thought.

"Watch out, Riyo," Showe screamed to me as one of the huge lions had sneaked out on me from behind in a powerful jump.

Quickly I ducked, but it was too late. With its mouth open and so close to me, it roared out to me loudly and as powerfully as it could. A gust of massive winds sprouted out and consumed me up into the air. The force of the winds pulled me further up, not giving me any chance to escape. I could still see everything happening down below, but I could not do much for myself. The lion that did this to me landed on the ground and began to watch me curiously. Stupid beast, I was going to make it pay for this before this night was over. In the horizon, I caught a glimpse of light from the sun. It was just a matter of time now before the light from it touched the ground. How would I get myself out of this situation?

I needed to dispel this wind by using something even more powerful. Without wasting any more time, I tensed my body and closed my eyes. Doing so, I was able to summon my second blast technique by channeling all my thoughts into pure anger. To my surprise, it did not happen as I expected it to. My right arm was glowing in red and almost orange in color. This had never happened before. It was sort of new and yet not that much surprising. My two flintlocks appeared in both of my hands, cloaked on the hilt each by a long white sash. Looking left and right, I turned my body around and found my opening out. Time was critical—every second wasted only brought me further into the clutches of oblivion. I rotated my body side to side, putting a huge strain on my back, trying everything possible to keep myself balanced. Incredible as it seemed, the winds did not lose their strength even after hurling me up for what seemed like a while. I got desperate and shot quickly with both flintlocks in the opposite direction. It worked, the force of my second blast bullets collided with the powerful winds, stopping me halfway far up in the sky. I felt dizzy and disoriented for a second as I rested a little. I was finally free, now I could go back and rejoin the others. We had wasted enough time as it is; Katarina was probably enjoying herself by watching us suffer at the hands of her beasts. Descending down slowly, I took a glimpse of my surroundings beneath me, coming up with a perfect plan. Unless we could take out those lions, we were not going to make it into the castle before the sun came out. What was I going to do? Had I been by myself, I would have been inside the castle by now. My friends were still down there waiting for me. Even though there was barely enough time left, I went back to help them fight off the large lions. With my head down in the air, I made a hasty free fall and approached the castle walls hastily.

I wasn't going to use the power of the coat to get down. All my energy was going completely to my guns. The sashes got longer and swerved rapidly, following the wind. It seemed the more my anger increased, the longer and wilder they got. I took advantage of the air and used it to increase my speed further as I got closer to the ground. Just as I was about to pass over the first castle wall, I caught a glimpse of people inside the castle. They were not soldiers, more like normal hopeless captives of this citadel. It was so terrible; their vital life forces were weakening. Were they the prisoners? They had to be or what else were they?

Finally, I managed to get close enough to slow down and hover a few feet from the ground. I caught a glimpse of Dashe near the tunnel. He had collapsed and barely looked conscious. One of the large lions saw him and was approaching his position in a dangerous way. I had to help him, although at this range I didn't know if I could make it in time.

"Dashe, wake up," I screamed as loud as I could while remaining stationary.

He wasn't moving at all—something was disrupting his energy. It was that purple sword, it just had to be. He had been holding it in his hands while he fought off the lions. His life force was being consumed by it little by little. The large beast stopped on top of him, gazing down at him silently. It opened its large mouth widely, ready to roar at him. Fairly odd, all these creatures did was roar winds at people. I mean I expected them to use their teeth and claws too, but I wasn't one to complain. Raising my left gun up, I fired a bullet of rage at the creature, hitting it in the back. The large lion fell backwards, crashing hard against the wall. As I feared, I had only bought Dashe a few minutes of life. He was still danger. That sinister sword in his hands was stealing even more of his life force than before. Within seconds, the lion was back to its feet, charging again at Dashe. Truly irritating, their toughness was getting us nowhere fast. In most cases, it was best just to avoid these ruthless beasts; however, this wasn't a normal case. I fired another bullet of rage directly into its spine, knocking it into the ground forcefully. To my surprise, it got up again for more.

"What a persistent and annoying creature."

What did it take to get rid of these beasts? I inhaled deeply and shifted my weight to the left, letting my feet touch the ground. I jolted hard through the terrain surrounding the castle, trying to make my way towards Dashe. Like the lion, the sword was also trying to kill him.

"Dashe, wake up, you idiot," I screamed, groaning in pain. I still hadn't fully recovered yet. My feet felt heavy and as if I had stepped on tiny needles.

The wild manned lion leaped above him, ready to roar again at Dashe again. This creature was too persistent. By a fraction of a second, I somehow got to him and grabbed him before the lion could stomp on him. The lion smashed into the ground and charged at us relentlessly. Dashe kept losing even more of his life force. Even now, he was still holding onto that sinister sword. I shrugged at him to throw at it away; however, he didn't. I flew into the air, firing three bullets of rage at the lion's head. The large lion let out a large howl, releasing massive winds from its mouth uncontrollably. Ogana, Showe, and Kaya were at the other end to my east, fending off a combined force of smaller and larger lions. At this rate, we were not going to survive, much less make it inside. Just to be safe, I fired again at the large lion, hitting it on the head. It fell greatly to the ground and did not get up finally. Sort of strange, it felt like my second blast power had got stronger. With this power, our chances of survival grew greater. That being said, it was still frustrating that I was having this much trouble getting rid of her pet guards. On the bright side, I had managed to take down one lion, leaving only fifteen more of them. This was certainly proving how weak I still was.

"This is going to take a while, isn't it?" Showe asked, landing beside me like a shadow in the wind. "We all can't stay here or this might go on forever. There is about seven of these huge lions left and at least fifteen small ones among them. You know what I'm about to say next right?"

Unfortunately I did know exactly what he was about to say next. I didn't want to admit it, but it looked like our only option left. Slowly I shifted my weight, holding Dashe tightly in my right hand. The purple sword on his hand was glowing lightly. Only I knew what was going on and possibly the only one who could get it away from him. I yanked away the blade and gripped into my left hand.

Whoa! The energy I felt from it was immense. It was glowing even more strongly than before, consuming portions of my energy. The sword felt like a storm, vibrating softly in arm. If this truly was Anrio's sword, then it explained how he was able to take down so many warriors by himself. Such a weapon could have only come from one man and him only, the legendary sword smith, Fen. Only he could create such a powerful sword like this. But why would he hand it over to a psychopath like Anrio?

"Give me my sword," Dashe rattled, stretching his hand to get back the sword that was in my possession. "It's my sword, Rid, I found it first."

No way, this weapon was far too dangerous. I couldn't let him have it at all cost, such a terrifying sword only spelled trouble later. Releasing him from my grasp, I backed away from him and held the sword even more firmly.

"Riyo, there's too many of them," Showe yelled, dodging two huge lions by soaring out of the way. "We have to retreat for now and try again another day."

No! Yes! What should I do? We were so close and yet so far away. The thought of retreating back was too maddening to think of.

His words were truly causing turmoil inside me. I battled with myself to find the right decision take. Nevertheless, Showe was right. There was no way we were going to make it inside before the sun came out. It would be foolish indeed to continue going. In that instant, I had a vision of Paul and Tye. Faintly real, they smiled at me and nodded to my unknown decision. Yes, I was done hiding like a coward. It was then, I vowed I would never wanted to run away again. My choice was clear now.

"You are right, Showe," I replied, starting to levitate a few inches off the ground.

"Take Ogana, Dashe, and Kaya with you. I will hold them off for as long as my body can, and join you later. No arguments, Showe, do it now!"

I lied to him. I wasn't going to leave at all. Alone, I had a better chance of infiltrating the castle. Paul and Tye were on the other side of this wall and I wasn't willing to just leave. For some reason, I felt stronger and more determined. I grabbed Dashe and marched quickly towards the tunnel. The smaller lions attacked us, leaping from every direction. I ducked down out of the way and kept on running. I felt a tremendous amount of energy in the castle, reinforcements obviously.

"Ogana, take Kaya and Dashe and use the tunnel to escape." I yelled at him once I was close to his position. "Destroy your way out of the tunnel once you are far from here."

Ogana looked confused; however, he didn't question my motive. He followed my order and took Dashe and Kaya. A legion of lions encircled us. It looked like they weren't going to allow anyone to leave at all. Bending on one knee slightly, I dropped my left shoulder a little and raised my right arm up. I couldn't believe I was about to try again—my third blast attack. It was the only thing that could wipe them all out in a single instant. As always, time was the problem. The amount of time and concentration it took to fuse the energy together was something I didn't have. Well, at least one thing was going according to plan. The others were safe and sound in the tunnel.

Suddenly, one of the small lions galloped towards the tunnel, moving swiftly with its jaw open. I moved in front of it and cut it down, using the purple sword. Amazing, it cut apart the creature effortlessly into two while taking away its life force. The sword glowed even brighter after that, whirling strongly in the air. This power, it was incredible. I wanted to see more of its power. Growling menacingly, I saw the other larger lions rampage their way towards me in great leaps. Everything became complete chaos once the lions began to go out of control. I rolled out of the way, shooting one bullet to seal off the tunnel.

"Great job, Rid," I shook my head in disbelief. "Hope you know what you doing."

32

Moving greatly amongst the beasts, I soared out of the way towards the castle's entrance gate. It was crazy, the lions just kept coming one after another. Four lions leaped in the air, taking advantage of the winds they were releasing from their mouths. Colossal gusts of winds in every direction kept me further away from the castle gate, drawing me closer to the lions' jaws. One of the smaller lions grabbed my foot, biting hard on it. I kicked its head and released its grasp away from me. As the second approached from behind me, I soared sideways in the nick of time to avoid its powerful fang. Strange hallowing winds ringed my ears loudly, coming from two other lions in front of me. Now what!

I was losing my strength in my body. One of my guns disappeared, leaving the sword as my only weapon.

Upon realizing this fact, it was far too late. Most of my life force had been consumed by the purple sword. Okay, the price of its power was far too great to contemplate. I had to get rid of it quickly. However, right now it was my only defense. So I was going to get rid of it once the lions were taken care of. Jaws wide open, the two lions in front of me roared fiercely, pushing me back with the power of their winds. Up above me, another large lion had leaped quietly and roared too at me. Darn it, this situation was slowly getting out of control.

I was swept back and down towards the ground, falling with my back first. Behind me, another larger lion stood gazing down at me. Its eyes dark as the night and fur as long as ravish grass. It opened its mouth, widening hard for another assault. This was going to hurt badly. Unconsciously, I forced my will into it using my mind slipper. Taking over its hollow blank mind and bending it to my control. This creature was hollow, with no thoughts and no memory. Truly, a beast of pure instinct!

"I order you to stop and attack the others." I commanded it, enforcing my willpower upon it.

There was no way I could defeat these creatures in my current state. Every portion of my body seemed sore and I could barely move my arms anymore. Justly, I was in a dire situation with no way out. Perhaps, it would have been best if I had gone with the others. I felt angry, the red energy from the gauntlet was starting to glow out of me. Figuring it out was time I didn't have on my hands.

"Attack them now," I ordered it.

The lion looked at me and then went completely berserk on the others. I felt it, the light from the sun hitting behind my neck. By now, all my chances of victory had disappeared. Katarina was far more powerful now than before thanks to the sun. I moved out of the way, staying far back from the rampaging lion I was controlling. Sad to say, I wasn't in complete control of the vile beast. It was attacking everything without discrimination with roars of winds so powerful they were destroying the castle gate walls. I struggled back to my feet and took advantage of this new opening. While the lions were distracted, the path towards the castle gate was clear. I could have gone inside through the sky, but I didn't have the energy for it. I was dizzy, hungry, and grouchy, not the best things to have when trying to infiltrate an enemy base. Another troubling thing was happening, the lion under my control was coming after me too. Ebi had warned me that this sort of thing would happen if I ever tried to control an animal. Thinking back, I should have heeded his warning instead of thinking he was some senile old pervert.

"For crying out loud, go away?"

The lion sort of listened and took its eyes off me. My legs trembled coldly, locking uncontrollably. Indeed, I was in trouble. Accounting the lack of sleep and the loss of my energy, this was not going to end well for me. Even if I was able to make it inside, I doubt I would get past her soldiers easily. It felt like someone was jabbing needles into me every time I tried to get back to my feet. I ignored the pain and looked up towards the castle.

"Paul! Tye! I'm coming."

The aching pain I was feeling at the moment was a sheer reminder of everything I had endured to get here. All the endless sacrifices my allies had done were not going to be in vain. "Wait for me, I will not leave you in this nightmare to rot."

As I said that, I felt a bit of courage rekindle me with strength again. Wait a minute, I still had the bottle with the herbal pills, staked somewhere in my clothes. They had the power to revive my stolen energy, but only for brief amount of time. I quickly searched my clothes, trying to take them while I still had the chance. I found them in left shirt pocket and put one into my mouth. As before, it was nasty and tasted almost as bad as Suzanne's cooking. I felt better again within seconds of ingestion, getting back on my feet to continue. The sensation to save my beloved friends was what kept me going through these dark times. Whoa! My enchanted lion was out of going out of control. The land lay in ruins thanks to its destructive power. By a stroke of luck, its claw missed my head by several inches. My gaze slowly shifted, and I cast my eyes upon the castle gate, searching for guards or other creatures nearby. The castle entrance was made of thick strong metal, not easy to get through by sheer force. As fate would have it, the gate began to open down slowly. Behind it, a battalion of soldiers stood stiffly, waiting on command to move out. The soldiers marched out towards me with serrated long spears. Call me crazy, but I felt some of my own energy within their armors. Trust me, I knew my own energy. All of the energy that inn—monga beast—took from us must have been somehow given to these soldiers who charged towards me.

"Have at thee savages," I shouted, raising the purple sword in the air.

The infuriating gusts of wind and stomping tremors of the huge lions distracted the soldiers enough for me to slip by them. I did have to cut down a few of them to get through them, which I was not proud of. Even at half my strength, these minions posed no greater threat to me than I had imagined. I think having the bottle with pills with me gave me hope and produced a sense of carelessness in me. None of the soldiers could even touch or keep up with me. However, they always seemed to get up no matter how many times I knocked them down.

"Come on," I yelled as it seemed like I was getting nowhere really fast. "Why can't you just stay down?"

It was their armors, they were special in a way. Meaning physical attacks had no powerful effects against them. They had me completely surrounded and cornered against a wall. I felt numb aching pain in my arm. It was my left hand, it had gone completely numb. One guess, the purple sword. Every second I held onto it spelled terrible danger for me. Without any hesitation, I discarded it and rolled out of the way. One of the soldiers moved towards me and swung his spear at my head. I grabbed his hand and proceeded to throw him down using the force of his weight. Looking down at the purple sword, I was rather surprised by the amount of life force it had stolen from me. I mean I could do it too, just not on the same scale as that sinister sword. How Dashe ever came into possession of such a weapon was an answer I doubted I wanted to ever know. But why was it acting up now? Was it reacting to its former master Anrio's presence? If I hadn't removed it from Dashe at that moment, it would have taken away his whole life force. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I saw the sun finally out. It blazed the sand beneath my feet, soaking away every drop of darkness from the previous night. Oh my, all my efforts seemed to be in vain. There was no way I would stop that monstrous tyrant let alone escape her minions. No! No!

Every person had a weakness, even the strongest like her. I had to keep going if I ever wanted to see my two dear friends alive. One slight problem with that—she was now aware of my presence and was probably on her way towards me. In her eyes, I was nothing more than a nuisance she could easily have gotten rid of already. That being said, it bewildered me completely why I hadn't seen her at all. Certainly, I had caused a lot of trouble throughout Danyen for her not to notice. Could it be that she wanted to lure me further into her castle? The answer to my questions was ahead of me and I was determined to force my way into the castle to get it. What lay ahead of me was a path enshrouded by darkness with possibly no way back. I jumped into the air and soared towards the open gate. The castle soldiers followed from the ground, matching me speed for speed. Darn, another platoon showed up near the gate. They were not going to make it easy for me to get through. Knowing all that, I kept pushing ahead towards the gate without any sense of safety. Some of the soldiers took their flintlock rifles and fired upon me while others used bows and arrows, attacking at random. I saw their attacks and avoided them easily thanks to Ebi's training.

"It looks like we have you now," one of the soldiers threw a small axe up into my direction, finishing off his perfect attack with horizontal swing with his large sword. It was impressive, his combat skills were lethal. I dodged the axe by dropping lower towards the ground, completely in front of his blade. He had me in a tight corner with no way to easily dodge it. Swerving left, I grabbed the hallow edge of his blade and pushed it away. The soldier moved in closer to me, taking out a smaller blade from his armor. Just as he swung it down, I rolled out of the way and landed on the ground hard. Unlike the others, this soldier was strong and skilled. A small horde of soldiers came towards us, surrounding me in a corner with their projectile weapons. Among them, it appeared the stronger soldiers were mixed in with the weaker ones. How could I have missed that?

The soldiers opened fire and I soared up out of the way. Their arrows narrowly missed me by a whim. Daringly, I swerved to my left and surged down towards them. Kicking the strong soldier first, I dropped him down into the ground before flying past the soldiers swiftly. To my disarray, the soldiers followed behind me, firing upon me at the same time. As persistent as they were, there was no way I could keep this up forever. Eventually I was going to make a fatal mistake and it would be all over. The sun blinded me; I could barely see my way through it. This was one of those days I regretted having enhanced vision. I squinted and flew even greater, ignoring all of my enemies behind and in front of me. More and more soldiers came out of the castle towards me. The new soldiers fired their projectile bullets, making me dodge in a zigzag manner. It seemed my chances of eluding them were far greater in the air than on the ground. The others ones behind me did not lose ground, they matched my speed even from the ground. I felt pain in my back and dropped down a few feet to the ground. Huge massive winds suddenly erupted in my path, sending the soldiers all around me flying in the air. It was followed by a terrible roar of wild manned lions. These beasts were raging out of control, caught up in a great struggle of survival. Strong winds spiraled the air in every imaginable direction. Perhaps it had not been a wisest decision to take over the mind of such a beast. The large lion was wreaking the most havoc, stomping and biting anything it could latch its claws and fangs on. Somehow, I managed to stay in the air without hitting my body against anything. Yes, the path towards the castle gate was clear—all the pesky soldiers had been swept away in the wind currents. Quickly, I soared towards it, taking advantage of this great chance I had been given.

"Don't let him in," one of the soldiers rattled towards the soldiers behind the castle gate. "Capture him at all cost if necessary. Our mistress wants him alive."

Alive! I doubted that completely. Slowly, the huge giant gate began to close up. They were trying to stop me from getting inside the castle. This was not good, I was still a great bit far from them.

"No, you won't," I shouted with everything I heard, pointing my gun at one of the soldiers near the gate controller. I instantly fired a bullet of rage, sending him flying away from the gate. Tilting to the left, I angled myself and flew down closer to the ground. I was going to make it, but it was going to be really close.

"Please, let me make it," I whispered to myself while summoning even more power than before. The closer I got towards the gate, the smaller the opening got. I reached even greater speeds, pulling myself in through the small opening. By a fraction of second, I made it in before it closed completely. But unfortunately, my speed did not decrease at all. I kept flying uncontrollably through the dark sections of the enormous fortress.

The power of the coat was still new to me. I had not yet learned how to stop at will, let alone its other powers. Looking around, I saw the soldiers gazing at me in utter surprise. Yes, I was truly worthy of legend, provided I lived long enough to tell it. My speed did not decrease as I flew through an opening between two building towers. This was not going to end well. Before I knew it, my head smacked into a building in front of me, sending me spinning rapidly in the air. I fell into a stack of thick hay and did not get up at all. All of my limbs were aching badly. I had finally made it into the castle after a long and hard struggle. A deep sensation of pain was rushing through my body, making it hard to get up. Trapped in enemy territory, this was not how I imagined it to play out. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was an idiot. I had waltzed straight into the enemy's hands without anyone to support and help me in times of need. Conceivably, it would have been best if I had listened to Showe and retreated to fight another day. As it was too late, I saw no way, but to keep going until I found Tye and Paul. While trying to get up, my body trembled with a sudden jolt of pain. Completely sending me down to the ground on my knees and hands. Great! Could it get any worse?

It seemed I had done it again, dashing in without thinking and ending up in a helpless state. Everything that could go wrong was actually going wrong. All of my efforts to get here seemed to be in vain now.

"Where is he?" one of the castle soldiers screamed out to his companions as they searched for me. "He should be around here somewhere."

Their footsteps were getting closer with each minute. I struggled helplessly, trying to get back up on my feet. The soldiers were coming towards me from the other side, barely a few sections of castle towers away. It wouldn't be long before they found me. I took one knee up first and got myself up somehow.

"Come on body, please," I rattled, forcing my hand into my clothes, trying to reach for the bottles with the pills.

This was just too much; my body couldn't handle it anymore. Given that I had not slept yet, every movement I made felt like swords were being plunged into me. Still, I just couldn't give up. I was so close and yet so far away from my kidnapped friends. I looked up further towards the main tower, hoping to catch a glimpse of hope. I just knew it somehow, they were definitely here somewhere and hopefully alive. Slowly and painfully, I opened the bottle and took one pill from the few that were left before ingesting wholly into my mouth. The taste was terrible as usual, not something I could ever get used to.

"You three, search that area," one of the guards ordered a trio of soldiers from his battalion and dispatched them into my direction.

Oh no! My strength did not revive back as it did before. I felt better, although still fatigued beyond belief. Just how much damage had I done to my body? Tilting my back against the building, I kept track of the soldiers who were coming towards me. They did not appear strong; however, appearance could be deceiving. Their footsteps got closer, causing me to lower my breathing. No I was right, these trio of soldiers dispatched my way were certainly weak infantry. I felt their energy despite the armor they had on. My eye strength finally returned, I could now see through the walls of the buildings between us. Whoa, these three soldiers were idiots. They looked somewhat drunk as they moved dizzily with bottles of ales in their hands. Their armor was very thin and their swords looked blunt and brittle. Even Kaya could take them out without breaking a sweat.

"Focus, don't act recklessly," I warned myself, staying still to avoid rushing again into an unnecessary battle, only to end up in the same state later.

Hiding and staying in stealth was the best way to move around in this castle for now. But how would I do that? I thought through my situation and suddenly realized that my coat had the ability to transform into anything on my mind at that time. I had witnessed this strange phenomenon when I was trying to escape from Jura. For those who forgot, this had happened an hour after escaping from the secret layer beneath the princess's castle.

"Look at that," one of the guards pointed towards the mashed up roof I had hit with my head. "I think he came this way."

The three soldiers turned their heads towards the roof before examining the surrounding area. I hid out of sight a few feet away from them without making a sound. Intensely focusing my eyes to memorize all the details of the soldiers' uniform. Only thing I could not imagine was the helmets on their heads.

"Please work," I whispered, grabbing the coat firmly with my right hand.

A nub of fresh air blew in my face. It seemed the tides in the wind were changing hurriedly, a signal of something to come. The coat got tighter and rougher than before, constricting my body completely. What was happening?

"Hey!" someone shacked me roughly, forcing me back to my feet. "What are you doing sleeping at a time like this?"

I opened my eyes slowly, avoiding the intense power of the sun. It was one of the three soldiers who had been sent to look for me. He sounded furious for some unknown reason and he held his sword firmly in an unfamiliar pattern.

"There is a dangerous enemy on the loose," he babbled, holding me by the neck with his right hand. "What rank are you, soldier? Do you know what Katarina Fox does to people like you? You can't afford to be on the ground sleeping at a time like this."

From the tone of his voice, I could tell my coat had morphed into one of their armor and now he thought I was one of them. Phew!

That had been too close for comfort. However, I now had to think of another lie to get myself out of this situation. Not good, the men were beginning to look suspicious of me. I was a good liar, but not that good at thinking under pressure. There was nothing in my arsenal of lies that could help me out of this situation.

"Well, sir," I said, placing my feet into the ground firmly. "I got attacked by the enemy while I was on patrol and he injured me heavily before he disappeared heading west."

To my surprise, I was an even greater liar when I wasn't thinking about it. Who knew?

The three men stared each other and then at me. I couldn't tell if they had bought it or not since their faces were covered in helmets and face masks which only made them look more intimidating. One of them started to pace around me, observing me in a creepy and weird sort of way. He didn't say much, but he only chuckled and laughed to himself.

"He called you, sir," he laughed, hinting something to the other two in unknown gestures only known to them. "Might be a sign of the promotion you talk about coming soon, Oba."

The other two were whispering something to each other and I couldn't tell what they were saying at all.

"Where is your helmet, soldier?" one of the two who had been whispering asked. "Every soldier in this castle was issued a helmet and I don't see yours."

Their movement suddenly shifted, becoming slightly more defensive and cautious. Crap! I hadn't thought about that at all. It was really surprising how the soldiers inside this castle were all so organized and ranked. Just what was that villain up to? Nothing in this country made sense at all especially Danyen. For someone with her crazy evil nature, it was hard for to imagine her with a softer and disciplined side.

"I said where is your helmet?" One of them screamed, raising his spear at me. "Don't make me repeat myself again, you hear?"

As I feared, they weren't buying my story at all. If I kept talking, it was only going to arouse suspicion and further delay me from my destination. How unfortunate for them to be here right now. Without delay, I grabbed the spear from one of them and lashed at him fiercely with a punch on the chest. The other two reacted raising both of their weapons in the air. Fortunately they were so weak that I only hit them both with one kick without disarming them first.

"My deepest apologies," I said sincerely, stealing a helmet and mask from the first soldier I attacked. "You left me no choice."

They didn't reply as they were all unconscious on the ground. After hiding them out of sight, I made a hasty dash in the opposite direction, far away from the other soldiers.

33

Several minutes went by without any progress. So, yes, it seemed I was lost. The treacherous castle caved into different alleys that seemed to fork in almost every direction. From the inside, this castle was far much bigger than it looked. I bet it was half the size of Saza and that was saying something. Searching randomly for Tye and Paul was not going to be easy. Aside from the castle guards everywhere, I had to worry about the traps and illusions possibly set all over the whole castle. While resting against a wall, I felt the soldiers draw closer towards my position. They were persistent and organized, two traits I hated the most right now. As long as I stayed in this uniform, I would be safe for a while. The light from the sun shined brightly down, guiding me and warding off the darkness that haunted this stronghold. I heard footsteps from my north and east, all from the soldiers looking for me. There was nowhere safe to run from them. Given that I knew little about this castle, I was in a terrible bind.

"Now what," I sighed not knowing what to do.

The building towers around me all looked the same, filled with so many mind bending turns that stretched randomly in all corners of the citadel. It was almost like a labyrinth, designed to fool intruders like me. What was I going to do? Had all of my actions be in vain?

A clanking noise distracted me, causing me to look up to my left. There was someone there, a citizen perhaps. Out of options, I ran towards that direction with my fists raised cautiously. In the corner of a large dump, I found a man sitting in dirt with a face of hopelessness. He wasn't a soldier nor did he have any hostile energy within him. He wore clothes that were ragged and the sores on his feet were full of blisters. He didn't look healthy at all; his ribs were showing and his mouth was dry with crust on his lips. Looking back and forth, I ran towards him cautiously and bent down to talk to him.

"Please have mercy," the man cried, dropping down to his knees with tears in his eyes. "Please, sir, haven't I suffered enough already?"

What the! His word uttered sadness into my very being as I felt sympathy for him. What horrors had this man been put through? In his eyes, I looked like one of them because of what I had on. I looked in every direction to make sure there was no one close by before grabbing his arm tightly. I pulled him into a dark alley, letting his hand go gently. The look on his face was filled with horror and sadness.

"Please don't punish me," he whimpered, falling to his knees. "I will do..."

"Shh be quiet," I placed my finger on his mouth, completely silencing him. "I am not one of them, but I need your help."

Cautiously, I turned my head again in all directions, trying to sense the presence of any soldiers or anyone with a massive energy near us. Even in this dark alley, safety wasn't always guaranteed. My only hope was to get as much information as I could from this tortured soul.

"I'm looking for two people." I began giving him a vivid description of Paul and Tye and what they were wearing the last time I saw them.

"I have not seen them so please don't hurt me," he cried, slowly raising his hands to cover his face. "Any people claimed dangerous are sent down into Pitto, the layer of the fire dragons."

"Pitto!" I replied, confused.

That truly didn't sound good at all. Anything related to fire dragons was never great news for anyone. I really hated this part, the part where I make a stupid decision to go down there and search through the layer. I looked into his eyes and realized he was telling the truth. The man coughed out loud, falling down to his knees. I think he was losing consciousness due to his seriously weakened body. No, I had to help him since I needed his help to find the others. Getting on one knee, I supported him with my hands, letting his back rest on my knee. I took the bottle of pills and placed one into his mouth slowly. There were only three more pills left inside, but I didn't care since I wanted to save this man with all of my heart. Enough suffering had been done in this city; it was time for this obscurity to end for good.

"This will ease your pain a bit" I said sincerely, laying his head to the ground.

The man crunched on the pill and swallowed it without hesitation. His heavy breathing started to fade slowly as he started to get some of the color back on his skin. Taking out my small hidden bag, I also offered him what little water and food I had left. Without delay, he graciously accepted it and ate everything like a wild animal.

"Thank you, stranger," he smiled, struggling back to his feet with weak legs, barely able to keep himself up. "Why are you here? Don't you know that once a person is trapped in this castle they will never leave?"

My jaw opened; however, nothing came out. I was still unclear of what I was doing. I had been merely acting out of impulse and worry, driving myself beyond pain and fear to this very point. Now faced with his question, I had no solid response to give. Nevertheless, I still knew what I had to do; my choices had already been made for me. For the sake of my two dear friends, I would go even to the edge of the world. Thinking back before all of this, made me laugh a little to myself. The old me would have heed this warning and left. I wouldn't have gone this far for anyone else. I used to treat others like they were disposable, inferior beings whose life meant nothing to me. And now, it was different. I was a changed man, a man with something precious to protect. Something I couldn't leave without, something very deep and dear to me. I paused on my thoughts and took a really long sigh, looking straight into the eyes of the man in front of me. There were important questions I needed answers while I still had the chance.

"Where are the prisoners?" I asked, stepping a little back from him to watch for any soldiers nearby. "You are the first prisoner I have seen at all."

He didn't answer at all. The facial expression on his face had changed quickly, looking almost fearful and sad. Tilting my head down, I watched him carefully without rushing him. I think the memories were far too gruesome for him to speak of. For a while, he kept his eyes peeled on the floor, avoiding any eye contact. It looked like I wasn't going to get a lot out of him, meaning I had to take a bit of extreme measures to get my answer. The soldiers were not far off from us, they were eventually going to stumble upon our location in the next few minutes. Without warning him, I used my mind slipper technique, invading his mind for answers. My word, it was truly terrible and awful. The memories in this man's mind haunted my very being to the core. I had never seen anything like this before. I felt my anger rise as I saw what that vile tyrant and her minions had done to this man and his family. All of their land lay in ruins, covered in smoke and darkness. In my opinion, this must have happened after she defeated the Okaya King. This man's family—Katarina destroyed them all without mercy. Only keeping him alive to torment him and remind him of what he once had and loved. It didn't end there; this man was put through severe torture chambers for a long period like the other survivors, only to somehow escape miraculously and run into me. That's enough! I thought.

I didn't want to see anymore of his thoughts and memories. I had gotten all the information I needed from him and it was time to leave. Looking down at him, I felt his drive for revenge strongly than before. Although in his weakened body condition, he wasn't even going to get anywhere near her. I sympathized with him, sharing his loathe for that despicable woman and her evil ways. Someone had to end her reign. This atrocity had gone too long unpunished. Before leaving, I left the man in one of the abandoned buildings and placed him under a sleep command, using me will control, just for a few hours. I didn't want him going after Katarina alone and in that fragile state.

"I will get you the justice you deserve," I made him a promise, looking at his motionless body. I made a hasty glance around the towers, looking vigilantly for my pursuers. Everything was too quiet, not even a slight pest lingered anywhere within my sight. I left the building where I had the citizen prisoner and proceeded to move towards my new destination, Pitto. The thought of going into a layer of dragons was sending mad shivers down my spine.

I ran through the shifty alleys, fully aware of where I was going thanks to my mind slipper. The coast was clear ahead, I only felt the guards from far behind to my south. Had to say, running into that citizen prisoner had been a stroke of fortune for me. Without his memories, I would have been lost in this maze of a castle. That being said, I was not out of harm's way just yet. This castle was guarded by monsters and beasts beyond my wildest imagination at all four towers of each corner. If I could stay hidden enough, there was almost a chance I could get past them with ease. Further to my advantage, there were hidden passages unknown to most people below the castle that went through the castle to the entire city of Danyen. It seemed this man had been once a royal servant for the previous king and that's why he had managed to escape and possibly the reason why Katarina Fox had tortured him so badly for his insight. I wasn't entirely sure, but I think there was something of great value hidden beneath this castle, like that golden room in Jura. After one quick look across the other section of the castle, I made a quick dash through the concrete road, planning to make it to the other side unseen. All of a sudden, I felt great tremendous energies above me in the air. Bloodlust, I felt it too. I was being followed by a platoon of soldiers, powerful ones at that. Pausing for a second, I looked for them with my eyes in every direction. I saw nothing, not even a slight disturbance in the air or on the ground. I ran quickly and hid behind an open building, bending halfheartedly to my knees and listening. They were getting close. As long as they didn't see me, I would be okay.

The heat from sun was starting to burn intensely. This location wasn't hidden enough, so I moved stealthy to another section of staked buildings, hoping to stay out of sight. At this point, I was starting to wish I had retreated back to safety with the others. It had been more than an hour or more since I had separated from the others. I wondered if they made it out of the tunnel alive. I could only hope they did, otherwise I had sent them to their deaths when I told them to go back.

"Search this way, you two," a loud voice with power rattled as the ground shook greatly. "Don't let him get past you."

I quickly stopped and placed my back against a wall, starting to panic slowly. In all honesty, I thought I had lost them on the other side of the castle and now I knew I was wrong. I heard more footsteps to my left and then to my right, coming from both sides of the small alley. The two groups were closing in on my position faster than I had anticipated. I was a trapped, stuck in the middle of a closely guarded passageway. And to make it worse, the men coming from both sides were very powerful. I felt their immense raw power even from here. No doubt, they were probably the elite guards of Katarina's army. Truly not a force to be reckoned with.

Without blinking, I adjusted the helmet and mask I had taken from the trio from before and made sure everything was in order.

"Sir, I spotted a soldier here," one of them hissed, pointing at me to alarm the others to my location.

A horde of soldiers suddenly surrounded me, observing me with evil eyes. I did not see them coming. It felt like they appeared out of thin air. Just where did she get these people? Upon closer look, I realized they were not normal soldiers at all. My word, I had finally seen it all now. This whole platoon was made up of monsters. Some of them had large scaled tails while others had menacing sharp fangs and claws. The black robed uniforms were the only thing similar on each of them. From the prisoner's memories, I recognized them as the: "Brutal Annihilation Squad." A battalion made up of the most ruthless and heartless of all humans and monsters, only answering directly to their mistress. For me, this was not good.

Out of the horde, a tall, broad armored man or beast stepped up to me. His metal uniform armor and helmet were gold, covered with magnificent glimmer and design. His eyes looked like that of a beast, and his mask was far much more menacing than the others. I trembled down to my knees for a slight second, realizing my depressing situation.

"Soldier, have you seen the intruder?" he growled slowly in such a fierce voice that could send weaker enemies running. "I am assuming yes, since you are way out of your assigned location. You must have seen him or you have a good excuse for invading in our jurisdiction."

Shifting uncomfortably, my eyes wandered around, trying to come up with a good lie. But fear had grabbed a hold of me. There was something about his voice, something that was frightening me in a strange way. It felt like he was constricting me, completely controlling my mind. I could not comprehend what was happening to me or why I wasn't saying anything back. Wait..! Could it be? Was this a mind slipper technique or something similar? Yes, I think he was somehow trying to invade my mind with a power similar to my mind slipper technique. In that case, I took the liberty of blocking all my thoughts, letting the lie come out of me naturally.

"I saw him go that way," I said quickly without even thinking. "He was using the roofs of the buildings to evade us completely. I followed him all the way here until I was stopped by this soldier."

I pointed to the soldier who had alarmed the others of my position when I had my back against the wall. The soldier was startled, looking at me and then to his superior in a fearful way.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know," the soldier panicked. "I only wanted to..."

Before he could even finish speaking, the tall man beast in the golden armor moved swiftly up to him and slapped him senselessly in the face. The ground trembled beneath my feet as we heard a almost thunderous noise. I watched the soldier fly back hard into the building wall, practically destroying it with his tattered body. How ruthless!

A cloud of dust rose up into the air, completely camouflaging everything within sight. I coughed out loud, choking off the debris in my nose and mouth. It was then, I saw the dust start to disappear, being sucked up all in one location. The dust was all being sucked in by a soldier into his mouth quickly. By my guess, that was his power granted to him by the white water mist. It was a safe bet at that point to say that practically each and every one of them had these unique abilities of mist origin. Not good!

Within seconds, all the dust had vanished, leaving nothing but clear air and rubble. I looked back at the tall man beast in front of me, ready to anticipate the worst. He looked at me for a second before looking away at his platoon.

"What did I tell you, men?" he roared at them, unsheathing a very long thin sword from his waist.

"You never interfere with another soldier who is doing an important job at all. Is that understood?"

"Yes, commander," they all replied together.

He then turned to me. "My deepest apologies, young soldier, continue with your search and when you find him, alarm us with the castle code, okay? And I shall inform Jolias, your superior officer, of your important job."

With that said, he turned around and signaled his men to go in the direction I had told him the intruder, which was me, had gone. As before, they vanished just like they appeared in thin air. So fast, I never even blinked. In terms of pure speed, they were faster than Ken and Dashe combined. I sighed out loudly, unable to get everything I had witnessed out of my mind. How could he do that? That man or beast in the golden armor had knocked away his underling like he was nothing at all. Like his underling's life had not mattered at all. Would I have turned out like that if I had never been banished from Rogue? I looked at the fallen soldier and felt a bit of pity for him. Even though he had been my enemy, it was because of my lie he was in that state right now. Realizing that I had wasted too much time, I took one last glance behind me before taking off towards Pitto.

34

Like the saying goes: "time flies when you are deep behind enemy lines." I mean seriously deep behind enemy lines. It had been at least 3 hours since I had infiltrated the castle. Looking up, I saw the sun burning brightly, almost in the middle of the sky. Everywhere around me, soldiers marched quickly and loudly, still looking for the intruder. Me of course!

I had kept myself out of harm's way by blending in as one of them. It had fooled most of them, but it wasn't going to last. Eventually, I was going to be found out, and well you know the rest. I stopped for a second, attempting to get my bearings straight. I was in the eastern section, close to underground secret tunnel. Two lefts behind this alley and I would be there. For a slight second, I felt a chilling presence around me. There was a very dark presence stalking me, or so I thought. And just like that, it vanished again, only leaving me anxious.

"Keep moving," I said to myself, beginning to run towards the secret passage. While running, I took a quick glance behind me and saw a faint shadow behind me. It disappeared instantly as I blinked. Okay I was right, someone or something was definitely following me. Did they know who I was? So close, only one more building stood between me and the secret passage. Whoever was behind was not someone to take lightly. But as long as they stayed hidden, I had nothing to worry about for now. Thinking two hours back, I was thankful for running into that prisoner citizen. From his thoughts, I had come to learn more about the castle and Katarina Fox. Her battle with the Okaya King had been a difficult one, she barely won that fight with the king of Okaya because of the sun. I don't how it happened—the man's memories of it ended there. Another scary thing I learned, she had many allies who were as powerful as her all over the world. Why did I do it? Why couldn't I have picked something else? If only I had left those three objects in the caravan. Deep inside, I blamed myself for letting them get captured and perhaps that was the reason why I was trying so hard to free them. Just in front of me, I saw the entrance to the secret passage. It was hidden beneath two small houses a few yards away from me. Oh no, I felt it strongly again, the presence of the person or thing following me. A loud thump ringed in the air, and I leaped back a little.

"Why are you so jumpy, soldier?" a voice from behind whispered. "Did I scare you?"

Jumping away even further, I turned around to see who was behind me. Nothing angered me more than being crept on from behind; it was just disturbing and rude in my opinion. Unexpectedly, I felt a hand reach out and grabbed my shoulder slightly. It was cold and downright unpleasant. I shrugged and moved out of reach, still looking for this new enemy.

"Your fear is exhilarating," the voice continued as a shadowed figure came into view up above me. It circled me slowly, making the hair on my neck stand firmly. Never had I felt such a dark presence from anyone aside from Katarina Fox of course. The shadowed figure stopped, looking at me with piercing glowing eyes. Completely covered in a dark hooded cloak, I couldn't exactly tell if it was a man or woman. Although, I think it was a woman because of the voice. Then it suddenly came to me. Among the castle soldiers, a circle of hooded figures also protected the castle. My knowledge about all this came from the prisoner's memories. Despite their appearances, these hooded figures were not people to be trifled with. They were terribly strong and ruthless as I feared. But wasn't everyone in this castle?

"I'm on a mission man to recover the intruder," I stuttered, trying not to look intimidated. "My superior, Jolias, can vouch for me."

From my west, a strong wind blew past me, removing the hood off her head in the process. Should I say angel? She was truly a sight for sore eyes. Who was she? I couldn't think straight for a couple of crucial seconds. I was lost in her beauty and radiance, and nothing mattered. What am I thinking? I shook off her charm on me and looked away, trying not to gaze at her again. For someone like Ebi, it was now understandable how he could lose. The three things every man could not overcome easily: "power, revenge, and lust." If I wasn't careful, I was going to meet the same demise as him.

I thought back to what he told me when I was stuck in the yellowish world. Ebi boasted that he had Rainku on the ropes, about finish them off for good. It was then two of them removed their hoods revealing their faces and figures to him. Knowing Ebi, I don't have to tell you how that scenario played out. I bet that lecherous old fool couldn't keep his mind from thinking impure thoughts which resulted in his defeat. The two who removed their hoods had been Katarina and another female Rainku of great power, and the rest was history. He never explained how it happened out of shame, but I could tell that it was something truly embarrassing.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" she spoke suddenly bringing me back to reality. "Let the other guards find the intruder."

As tempting as it sounded, I just couldn't do it all. Like a simple minded fool, I looked up into her eyes. Captivated by her completely that I lost sight of what I was supposed to be doing. The color of her eyes were a shady brown color which reminded me of an Ocuno tree and her black hair shined like so brightly I could've have sworn it was made of glass. The green dress she wore was absolutely perfect in any occasion of the day, truly magnificent on her. I fought hard against the temptation in my heart, unable to truly break the bind she had on me.

"Remember, Rid," I said to myself. "She is an evil person who works for Katarina Fox. Do not get lured into her snare."

How would I get myself out of this one? She scrunched her nose lightly, placing her arms around her waist. Oh no, I think I was starting to like her or so I thought. She levitated down to the ground, standing in front of me with eyes filled with awe.

"Why do you resist me?" she asked with such innocent eyes that for once actually fooled me. "No one can resist me. Not this close."

Too true, I was mesmerized by her beyond a doubt. Even my strong will was crumbling in front of her. I moved in closer to her and smiled, raising my hand towards her extended right hand.

"You are absolutely right!" I drooled. "I guess I will stay here with you and let the others find me. No, I mean the intruder."

She smiled back in menacing grin that would have scared me before, but at that moment it looked perfect on her. I didn't care anymore about anything as long as I could stay here with her. Forever standing by her side till the world ended. Just as was about to take off my helmet, I heard a loud bang to the east of our location. The ground rattled as if an earthquake had stirred. At the time, my senses came back to me. It felt like I had been free from a powerful mind enchantment. I shook my head and retracted my hand away from her. This lady in front of me was no ordinary opponent. She had ensnared my mind to a point that I had lost all thoughts and focus. Had it not been for that terrible explosion, I would have been done for.

"Stay here," she commanded me as she flew up towards the origin of the huge tremor. "I will be back to continue from where we left of okay?"

Yeah right! By the time she came back, I would be long gone from this place. I thought. I didn't want to stick around to fall for the same ruse twice. The hooded lady disappeared to the east and didn't come back. As soon as I could no longer feel her presence, I walked away quickly to the small houses in front of me. But seriously, what had she done to me? It felt like I had lost my individuality and sense of reason. Was she some sort of succubus or siren? Something told me she was going to eat me or worse. Well, whatever the case maybe, I was glad I didn't stay long enough to get my answer solved. Another question came into mind. What was that explosion? It was powerful enough to make the ground vibrate for a couple of seconds loudly. Turning back, I glanced towards the direction of the explosion and saw nothing, but smoke rising heavily into the sky. Surrounding it, there were battalions among battalions of soldiers, all trying to put the fire out. One of the soldiers amongst them was the tall man beast I had lied to on my way here. I think this time it was safe to say I had fallen into very deep waters. My demise was certain if I was caught for sure. Up in front, I stopped at the door of the abandoned house, looking cautiously around for another enemy. It was all clear, every soldier was at the location of the explosion. I opened the door quickly and got in without making too much noise. The small house echoed with a faint wind. I smelled dew in the air, meaning this house had been vacant for a while. According to the man's memory, there was a hidden staircase beneath the floor that led that to the dungeon floor. Looking down slightly, I found it secretly hidden beneath a wooden kitchen table. It was so well hidden in plain sight under a dusty old rug, making it almost impossible to notice to the visible eye. I took a few steps and stopped in front of a old moldy shelf with picture of a man and his wife and children. They looked happy and cheerful. Just looking at it reminded me of home. Was I ever going to see my family or Rogue again? I was certainly banned for life, and if I ever somehow returned, it would spell trouble for me. Nevertheless, I would do anything to see them all again except James, I hated him. Getting on one knee, I proceeded to remove the table and the rug gently and cautiously. After that, I saw a wooden door carved into the ground. To my surprise, there was no handle on it which made it rather difficult to open without knowing the secret technique. Now what?

I was certainly stuck and clueless as to my next action. Perhaps, I should have brought that prisoner with me and he would have shown me how to open it. It was too late now; there was no way I could go back now without rousing too much suspicion.

"Think," I whispered to myself, trying to remember anything helpful from the prisoner's memories.

Thanks to my mind slipper, all of his memories had also become a part of my own. Well, not exactly all of them; I had only taken a full memory from a week ago and bits and pieces from years back. Trust me, it is not as easy as it sounds. Taking the full life memory of another person could have dramatic consequences to your personality and thinking. You could end up thinking you are that person or you could end up doing something you will regret for the rest of your life. Wait, something from his memory came to me. I finally knew how to open the door. From memory alone, it was rather tricky and not easy to do without practicing first. But time was not my ally. All the soldiers from before were starting to come back along with the green dress lady towards my location. Without further delay, I dug my hands into the wooden door and surprisingly it wasn't painful. I felt some control knobs inside the door with the palm of my hands and quickly turned them in different directions. Clicking slowly, I heard the locks start to unbolt the latches that kept the door closed. The sound of marching footsteps made it very hard and distracting to fully focus.

"Search that way," the lady in the green growled, commanding a great battalion of soldiers behind her. "He can't have gone far, I can't believe I got fooled by such an insolent dupe. Katarina is not going to be happy about this."

"Phew!" I sighed a breath of relief.

It seemed, they didn't know where I was at the moment. Not that it gave me much time to relax and take a nap of course. Finally, the wooded door opened up slowly, but wide enough for me to get in quickly. I pried my hands away from it and looked down. It was too dark to see anything. Certainly, not the first thing you expect to see when you are about to embark into a secret passage. Where were the stairs I saw in his memories? And a moment later, I saw the wooden door just disappear without any warning. My eyes widened to a point that I never thought possible. I wasn't sure to freak out or freak out even more. Where had the door gone? Certainly I had not destroyed it by chance, had I? Was this supposed to happen? More steps rattled a few yards away from me as the soldiers began to search building by building.

"Oh well," I sighed, jumping feet first into the dark passage of the door.

I looked up one last time and saw the entrance seal up involuntarily, causing me to seriously lose my mind. This was not how I envisioned my demise at all. Latching onto my beliefs, I descended down into this abyss without any regrets or turmoil. The passage down was almost a resemblance of the darkness in my heart.

"I am coming for you, guys," I whispered and clenched my fists in anger.

35

I will be honest, it was the anticipation that was killing me. I had been falling through the passage for what seemed like a half hour or more, unaware of what was in front of me or behind me. The tunnel walls were flat out smooth, I could barely latch onto anything. If that prisoner had come through this way then how had he climbed all the way up? Trying to make sense of the things I had seen through Okaya made my head ache. Really, I had seen my fair share of weird stuff in many countries; however, Okaya by far topped them all in terms of creepiness. Before I knew, my legs hit the ground roughly, sending an eerie jolt of pain throughout my whole body. I think I was standing on solid ground. Looking briefly around, faint light came into view, revealing everything around me. One by one, candles lit up all the way through this new underground passage. Confused, I lowered my shoulders down and took a small break. Out of nowhere, I heard screams coming from every direction, followed by horrible laughter. What was this madness? I began to sweat a little as fear and anxiety began to take its toll on me. This place was really starting to get to me in a very bad way.

"Must keep going," I thought to myself barely able to walk as my knees trembled. "Tye and Paul are here somewhere."

I felt them clearly—enormous and terrible energies from very strong enemies. This sensation sent massive chills down my spine, I could barely stand it. Combine that with the heat in this place and you get one scared and confused Rid. Even my sweat was burning, turning into gas before it fell down my neck. Who could live in such conditions?

"What are you doing here, soldier?" a terrible voice came from behind me, making me jump away. "Bahaha, you have never been down here, have you? That woman keeps on recruiting amateurs each year and it truly is annoying me. You rookies can't handle the madness and seem to die young."

Why was it that every bad person I met always snuck up on me from behind? It was truly an irritating trait they all shared. I glared back and caught sight of monstrous human who was almost the size of Ogana and carried a huge club in his hands. It was bloody and he reeked of rotten flesh and onions. But why onions? I mean, I could understand rotten flesh; however, not onions—completely not what I was expecting. He walked closer to me and smiled lightly like we were friends. There was something about his red eyes that sent cold chills into my heart. This person! No, I don't think he was even human at all, and I didn't mean it literally.

"Well, speak," he rattled, raising his club and adjusting his weight.

This fiend was truly the definition of frightening on all levels of that word.

"I was... I was sent to look for a prisoner," I stuttered, trying to keep my composure away from panicking. "His name is Paul."

He looked at me weirdly like I had said something funny before laughing at me in a mocking manner. All my fears slowly vanished at the thought of him laughing at me when I mentioned Paul's name. This monster was in need of a fierce beating, even more so than Dashe.

"Oh that guy," he burst out laughing again with tears falling out of his eyes. "He is down on the last level of the floor to your right. You should have been hear when I pummeled him and his friend before Katarina took her turn. Those were truly the good times. Ahh, I see so your superior told you to come down to practice your torturing skills on our mute prisoner. Have fun, soldier, and don't hold back. He is a tough one to crack."

What? I couldn't believe everything that came out of his mouth. Shaking slowly, I felt a surge of fury rush through my body the moment I heard him talk about beating up my two friends. My rage was followed by tears, realizing my friends were suffering tremendously and I wasn't there beside them. It had been my fault that they were captured. If only I had never taken those objects. If only I could go back in time and right my wrong. After a few moments of regretting deeply, I lowered my fists and took over my emotions. I did not attack the huge man for what he had done even though he deserved it and even more. Revenge was no way to save them and besides if I attacked him, I would only alert the guards to my position.

"I'm going to end this madness." I whispered to myself, plodding away from the giant man, heading towards the hall leading to the floors beneath.

Everything in this country was all wrong. So many people had suffered without anyone standing up to do anything about it. Ebi's words were finally starting to make sense, the Rainku needed to be stopped now. For too long, these savage monsters had preyed upon us uncontrolled and unrelentingly. Whether by my hand or someone else, they had to be defeated and sent back into the abyss. I came to the end of the floor and stopped. There were brown concrete stairs leading down to the next floor. Something suddenly caught my attention quickly. Further down, there appeared to be a small and faint glimmer of light, coming from inside a thick walled room. Even with my enhanced vision, I could not penetrate the walls completely to see what was inside. Oh well, it wasn't important so there was no need to concern myself with such a petty find. What lay ahead of me now was my main and only concern. My friends were down there, waiting for me. Inside the mouth of the beast, there was definitely no way to turn back. I followed the stairs down until I came towards a fork in the middle. One went left and the other went right. They all led to different sections of the underground layer of the castle. According to the huge man I had met moments ago, Paul and Tye were at the last floor on the right. So all I had to do was go right. This was so intense, I mean I was so anxious and excited at the same time. I was about to see my friends who at the least hoped were still alive and well. Without hesitation, I climbed down the stairs to the right, watching my every step carefully. The last thing I wanted to do was to drop my guard down inside the layer of my greatest enemy. Briefly, I felt the air shift around me and became heavier and toxic. Disgusting! What a truly horrible smell. Wait, I stopped in my tracks, sensing a powerful presence below me. Just like the other monstrous humans in this place, it felt so dark and sinister. No, I think this presence was far much darker and powerful. I could take one guess. It had to be her or who else could it be? But what was Katarina Fox doing down here?

"So much for my surprise attack," I snickered in a comment in a whisper.

Yes, I felt a rush of fear creep in slowly. My knees buckled on me, making it hard to keep moving. Truth be told, I wanted to get away as far from this place as soon as possible. Just then, her energy disappeared without warning into nothingness. Was that really her? Had I imagined it out of fear or was it truly real? A drop of sweat fell on my eyelid and I quickly wiped it away with the palm of my hand before continuing down the stairs. There was no longer any point in hiding since the soldiers knew I was still inside somewhere and they had possibly alerted their master. At this point, it was probably best to think that I was walking into a trap, not that I could help it anyway. Sooner or later, our paths were going to cross. If possible, I wanted it to be after I had freed my friends from her clutches. Placing my back against the wall, I descended down on the last step quickly, observing my surroundings. The smell down here only got worse and it was constricting my lungs and making me a bit dizzy.

"Please let there be no people down here," I whispered calmly, holding my breath, walking through the new corridor.

I was finally here, getting closer to my friends with each step I took. Despite all the hard obstacles, I felt happy and calm for some unknown reason. Don't celebrate just yet, I thought. This was just the beginning of the end. Heat brimmed down from everywhere on this floor. It was hot, I mean really hot. You could literally cook dinner by placing a pot on the floor hot. Call me crazy, but I think this was Pitto, the layer of the fire dragons. To my right and then left, I saw metal doors, the kind used in a dungeon. Sadly, I think prisoners lived here. So where were the dragons? It certainly was a hot enough to assume there was here. Deep down, I was curious to see them. I had heard rumors about them and wanted to see a real one for myself. Strangely, there were no guards around on this floor. Perhaps, they couldn't handle the heat. I know I couldn't. Watching my steps, I tiptoed to one of the doors close to me and peeped inside curiously. There was a man lying on the floor barely breathing and sweating heavily. How was he even alive? Could anyone survive down here? I looked through the other doors and noticed the same thing. So this was the place where the vilest of her adversaries were kept. How could she do this? I had to help them but how? The doors were jammed inside and only the true guards knew how to open them. I tried putting all my weight on the door in front of me and it didn't work.
Ow! Hot! The door handle scorched the palms of my hands badly. How these people were surviving down here was truly a mystery. They had less than a week or so to live judging by how weak their life force was. Realizing there was nothing I could do, I turned around and walked away in regret.

"I'll come back and set you all free," I yelled to all of them though I doubted they heard me. "I promise."

Could I truly keep that promise? Needless to say, my chances of walking away victorious were grim to none. She was just too powerful. To make things worse, she had another unknown power which Ebi failed to mention on several occasions. If it worked on him, then what were the chances it wouldn't work on me? At the end of the floor, I felt another presence. It was small and barely noticeable to anyone, but me. My eyes widened as my heart began to race. It felt familiar; however, I couldn't tell exactly who it was. It had to be either Paul or Tye. But why was I sensing only one of them instead of two? Had something happened? Anticipating the worst, I picked up the pace and started running carelessly, ignoring the dangers around me. I stopped completely, in front of this hard and impenetrable door. At last, the only thing standing between me and my companions. There was a knob on the door which I quickly gripped and forced open. The large door screeched as it opened wide apart.

"Hey, wait your turn," a voice said coming inside. "I'm not done beating him up yet so come back after a little while."

Inside, I saw a man strapped from chains all around his hands and feet. Next to him, a guard stood holding a long whip in his right hand. Slowly, I got in and I closed the door behind me. Upon closer look, I realized who the shirtless dangling man was. It was Paul. Despite his worn down appearance, I knew it was him. I had finally found him at last.

"Well if you are staying, grab a whip and help me make him talk," the guard said in distasteful voice. "Maybe we can be the ones that make him talk."

Talk! What did that mean? Paul had been the most active and talkative person in our group of three. What was wrong with his voice? What had they done to him? And where was Tye? I looked around and saw empty blooded hand chains next to Paul. Someone had been there next to him, I am guessing Tye. The guard laughed and lashed Paul on the back with a whip twice before wiping his forehead. Anger stirred right out of me, almost making me lose my mind. Driven mad by rage, I sprinted swiftly towards him and kicked him in the head. He didn't fall, surprisingly, but my leg was ricocheted back with twice the speed. How could this be? That kick was one of my best close combat finishing moves. It should have knocked him out permanently; however, it didn't.

"What's the meaning of this?" he roared at me with intense rage. "Explain now, soldier?"

What was his head made of? It felt like I had hit a dense solid object. My entire left leg echoed throughout my body with unbearable pain. I straightened my back, feeling the numbing pain in my leg slightly. At this point, there was no longer any need to hide my true identity. Out of anger, I had attacked him, revealing myself as the enemy. I took a few steps back and peered through the glass opening in the large door. There were no other guards close by, meaning this was going to be a one on one battle. Even saying that, I knew this was not going to be a walk in the park. This soldier was truly strong, far much stronger than the others I had faced outside. Paul suddenly looked down with an express of concern on his face. It felt like he knew it was me somehow. He smiled and dropped his head to the ground without saying anything verbally. He had been through a lot and I wasn't going to leave this place without him or Tye. I took a few steps forward and stopped, removing my helmet and mask. Focusing instantly, I activated my mind slipper technique and tried to enter the soldier's mind while his guard was down. To my surprise, he didn't try to move at all or block it at all. In fact he stood rather confident. He dispelled the technique somehow without even doing a thing.

"I see," he chucked, placing his hands on his helmet before vanishing into the wind. "So you are the intruder who has been making this ruckus. Now it all makes sense; this gentleman must be your friend."

"What the!" I looked in all directions.

The soldier had vanished like the air, lingering out of my sight. I could still feel his presence all around me, like he became the air itself. Sensing danger behind, I jumped up barely dodging an attack that destroyed a wall behind me. I don't know how, but I felt it before it came.

Okay, where was he now? He had completely vanished again into the thin air. I was at a disadvantage, the heat was getting to me and my enemy was extremely fast. I could not see him despite his massive body that weighed more than a ton of rock. Taking refuge in a corner, I watched carefully for anything out of the ordinary. It was then, small fist size chunks of hard crystals began to emerge fast towards my position. Because of their speed, they were barely visible, almost transparent. I only saw them because of the power of my eyesight. Instinctively I dug my feet into the ground and then jumped up as high as I could. More crystal rocks followed them, coming into the air too. I barely dodged a few of them before falling down to the ground. My arm hurt, it had been struck by one of the small crystals. Thanks to the coat, the wound was not that deep.

"What now?" I thought to myself, looking around out of sheer frustration. I removed the pieces of tiny crystals stuck on my coat and rolled up.

My enemy was too powerful. Using regular tactics was not going to heel him over. To my left, tinier crystals emerged, going in every direction I could ever think of dodging. It was now or never to act and I chose now. Within a split of a second, I summoned my yellow energy, concentrating it to the limits before releasing it in form of a small sphere around my body. It wasn't as big as the one I had used on the old man, but it was effective enough to destroy all of the crystals within my radius.

"Very good, nicely done" the soldier commented, becoming visible again to me. I could see his sinister eyes staring down at me through his helmet mask "Why don't we try this again?"

No, I didn't want to drag this fight any longer and risk the chance of getting Paul caught in the cross fire. It had to end now. Upon using the first blast sphere, I had made a loud ruckus throughout the whole underground basement. It wouldn't be long before reinforcements arrived to back him up. I hoped to be gone by then. I took my eyes off him for a second and focused, extending my arms out while raising my energy as much as I could. The orange energy appeared along with my two guns. Following it, a brush of yellow energy came all over my body immensely. The two powers blended together, balancing each other's weakness whilst giving me a large burst of strength.

"This will end it," I replied him, raising my guns.

I fired quickly at him without allowing him a chance to vanish again into the air. To my disappointment, I missed. He had scurried out of harm's way like a rat way before the bullets were even fired. My bullets hit the wall hard, breaking the steel plating off them to the other side.

He might have disappeared; however, I was ready for him this time. I could feel his lingering shadow in the air around me. Dashing to my right, I saw through his crystal attacks easier than before, getting out of harm's way before things could get dicey. My sense of perception had increased greatly. That aside, I was still unable to keep up with his speed because of my painful body and also the large amount of strain I was under upon summoning my third blast.

"So you are the fool who sneaked into the castle, huh?" he asked me while attacking me relentlessly with his massive crystal fist. "What were you thinking? You don't really think you stand a chance now, do you?"

Good question! Even now, I regretted coming alone. Even more so, it was guilt that drove me greatly towards this suicide quest. It was my fault my friends had been captured and tortured. I could not bear the thought of abandoning them and fleeing like a coward again.

"You are absolutely right," I said to him, looking down for a second. "But truth is, I have sacrificed a lot to make it this far. It would be a shame to just turn tails and run back. Katarina will find me regardless of where I am so I won't run, not without my friends."

I heard him laugh out loudly like he was mocking me greatly. He suddenly ricocheted his entire weight at me and landed a massive blow to my chest. I heard something snap inside followed by uncontrolled pain. I squinted a little, trying to ignore the pain. His weight was pressing hard on my shoulders as he tried to overpower me. Before I knew it, my head hit the ground hard. The soldier placed all his weight into his right hand, trying to press hard against my head. Unable to bear the pain, I grabbed his arm and pushed it away from me. Getting back to my feet just in the nick of time to avoid a fatal shoulder spear. I grabbed both his arms and began to push back, starting our final tug of war. He was tough and as strong as I expected. But I did not give up, knowing full well what would happen if I did. My legs were on their last stand, about to give out at any given moment. Was this as far as I was meant to go? Had I changed or was I still that weak coward my father hated so much? But then it hit me—the reason why I was going through all this pain in the beginning. It was not revenge that pushed me forward but the brotherhood love and friendship I had formed. Unlike my stepbrother, James, I hated, Paul and Tye were more like family to me. They were people who meant something to me, something I could never leave without. When I learned of their kidnapping, I was devastated. It felt like my heart had been ripped open and left for the world to see. I looked at Paul slowly and finally found my resolution and will to fight and live on. I could not afford to die here. Everyone had placed their hopes in me because I had been chosen by the gauntlet. I had done the impossible and went against the Rainku. For the sake of my fallen comrades, I would struggle on. Sturdily, I began to push him back towards the other wall. I was so caught up by my determination that I did not realize I had lifted him up in the air and sent him flying into the wind. The soldier smashed into a wall fiercely and did not get up. Whilst, I just stood there panting heavily in pain.

"I once had nothing to fight for, lost in the dark, but then I found something greater to protect." I replied him, beaming with even greater power than before. "You will never understand because you fight for yourself. I may look like a fool now, but if it's to save my friends then I will proudly call myself one."

For some strange reason, I felt lighter than usual. I couldn't feel the strain and pain from using my third blast fusion anymore. I lowered my shoulders and looked down at the fallen soldier. By chance, I hoped he would stay that way. It would be bad if he got up and came for some more because I was tired, completely worn out. To my disappointment, he did just that. I watched the soldier get back to his feet, wiping off the debris from his mask.

He laughed. "Do you think you have what it takes to bring Katarina Fox down? You might be stronger than me, but she is far more powerful than anyone you have ever faced before."

True, I was inclined to agree. She was strong; however, strength wasn't always everything. Nothing was always certain in life. As long as I still had breath left in my body, I would fight on till my body and soul crumbled. Even if my life ended here, it would be worth it.

"You know something?" I snickered in a comment to cut the silence. "Even the strong have to fall someday, nothing lasts forever. Katarina's reign shall end at our hands."

"Interesting words, my young friend, but the truth is you shall fall by my hands," the soldier laughed as he crystallized his entire body along with the walls behind him.

Finally, he was becoming serious and it was something I had eagerly waited for. It gave me a chance to test out my true power and see I how much I had improved. Again, his presence completely vanished, only to appear in front of me with his hand in my stomach. I grunted slowly as he had knocked my breath with a punch to my stomach.

"See what did I tell you?" he spoke, trying to free his hand away from my grip. "Your words are nothing but words. Someone as weak as you can never take down Katarina Fox. You are too weak and you care for others which only make you even weaker and pathetic."

At the last fraction of a second before his attack connected, I had managed to grab a hold of his hand and decreased the impact of the attack to my chest. Holding tightly to his hand, I rested my body for a couple of seconds.

"You who fights for himself and for the fun of seeing others in misery will never beat me," I responded him, throwing his body into another wall.

Whoa! I could not believe how strong I had become. It seemed the power of the gauntlet increased when my emotions were strong and solid. At this rate, there was no telling how strong I would become. Looking around, I was clearly running out of walls to throw him into. I looked down at him and no longer saw him as a threat anymore. His mist power had been bothersome, but not anymore. It was time; I had to end it now before other guards showed up. Seconds ago, I had felt large energies converge towards our location. By my guess, his reinforcements and trouble for me.

"I have to go so I will end it quickly, if you don't mind," I warned him as I raised my guns up and fired point blank at him.

I had no intention of killing him, but just knock him out for as long as possible. Without anywhere for him to run to, I saw the bullets hit him and engulf him completely into the last metal wall standing. There was a loud bang followed by a rattle in the ground. Thankfully, he didn't get up or move at all. It was finally over.

"Like I said, even the strong will fall one day."

36

Everything was silent again. A gentle breeze from the outside blew past me softly. Even in this hot place, I felt a bit calm. I had gotten stronger, drawing new strength from each battle I fought. Within the rubble and the dirt, I saw the soldier unconscious and barely breathing. Had to admit, there were times when I felt like I was going to lose to him. He had been tough; however, not invincible. If anything, this battle had taught me to believe in myself, believe in the strength of courage. I took my eyes away from him and proceeded to walk back towards my friend Paul. It was unbearable; he was badly beaten and not moving. Reaching for his head, I gently lifted his torso and laid his head next to my knee. Paul looked at me for a second and smiled faintly.

"Paul, it's me," I said in a whisper. "Don't worry, chum, I will get you out of here."

His whole body trembled badly when I tried to pick him up. I saw small traces of his blood on my hands, causing me to jolt back a bit. Paul was in a horrible shape, he needed immediate medical treatment. I doubted he could even stand. Angrily, I smashed away the chains binding him and freed him. Shortly after, he made sudden gestures as if he was trying to tell me something before sighing heavily. His back was deeply wounded from his frequent torture, far gruesome for me to look at. Had I come any day later, he would have surely died.

"What happened to your voice?" I asked, showing signs of concern and fear. Why had she done this to him? Surely it wasn't to get to me, was it? If only I had never picked up the gauntlet, if only I could turn back time. I was so consumed by regret and guilt that I couldn't think straight. Without further delay, I took out the bottle with the pills and fed one of them to Paul. I had to force it down his throat because he was unresponsive to my voice. The pills didn't heal injuries or anything, but they helped kill the pain and agonizing strain. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked at me, trying to force on a smile.

"I knew you would come, Rid," Paul spoke softly. "You should have fled instead of coming here for us."

"I could have," I replied instantly, "but it wouldn't be right, I would feel too guilty. Remember, we said we would all meet up in Okaya as free rich men and I intend to see that through."

He laughed and slowly closed his eyes. "Typical of you, always trying to prove your worth by doing something drastic and reckless. So where is your army of warriors?"

Now how was I going to tell him this? He was expecting to hear about my massive army, but I really didn't have one. I scratched my head and looked away for a while. The heat in this place was really starting to get to me. Compared to what Paul had endured, this was nothing though. I looked into Paul's eyes and noticed that he was still expecting to hear my answer.

"Well, I came alone." I mumbled, hoping he would miss it.

Unexpectedly his eyes opened greatly. "Alone! Are you insane, Rid? Surely you don't expect to get away just like that, do you? This is the most insane thing you have ever done, I cannot believe it."

"You know for almost dead man you sure have a lot of energy," I laughed, trying to ease the tension.

"Your friend Paul is right, surely you don't plan to escape that easy, do you?" An icy voice spoke from somewhere.

It was then, a strong gush of wind raged, blowing in every direction possible. I covered my eyes and moved closer to Paul, to protect him from this new threat. There was an ominous presence all around us, lingering deeply like a dark abyss. Without warning, I felt the air get colder and nerve wrecking. It was frightening, I had only felt this sensation twice. In Jura and lastly when I was coming down the stairs. My heart skipped a beat upon realizing who it was. I knew we were bound to meet; however, I hoped it wouldn't be this soon. My greatest enemy was finally here at last. In front of us, a strange light appeared and glowed brightly. Behind it, I caught a faint glimpse of a dark hooded figure with a long, thin silver-black trident. My word, I had never felt such pure raw and powerful energy like this before. Fear gripped me, sending my mind in a state of turmoil. I got to my feet and looked at her, trembling slightly in my boots. Because of her hood and mask, I couldn't see her face, just her eyes. In the core of her dark cloak, I saw dark chains that came from every direction and connected in the middle. I was sure of it, this was Katarina Fox standing right before us.

"You fiend monster," I screamed, shooting instantly one massive bullet of rage at her. "I am glad you showed yourself finally—saves me the trouble and energy of finding you."

Taken over by rage, I attacked first without thinking. However, it did not go as I hoped it would. I saw my bullet go right through her like she was an apparition. There was no wound on her. The bullet went right through her and hit the dented wall on the other side. What the! What had just happened? I could not explain it at all, so I shot two more rounds using both of my flintlocks. Like before, they went right through her without even touching her. She ignored me for a second and turned her attention towards Paul.

"I see! You finally got my mute prisoner to speak," she giggled as she started to descend down towards us. "I suppose I should thank you but I won't. You have caused me much great trouble and destroyed most of my minions and cities terribly. That said, I'm glad I found you here. Because now, I can to make you pay dearly for this. So how do you like my castle?"

You know something, I really hated people who couldn't stay on the same subject. Ignoring her last question about the castle, I moved between her and Paul, gripping my guns tightly. There was no telling what that vile tyrant would do next, she was cunning as she was deadly. All the rumors about her seemed to be true, meaning we were in trouble. Furthermore, Paul was in no condition to fight, so I was alone. About to face my greatest enemy in a battle that was surely looking like my demise.

"Mother, this is Jisembo's cousin. I met him in Jura at my palace." a familiar voice abruptly spoke from behind Katarina. "I recognize his orange eyes."

It was the princess, Katarina Fox's crazy daughter. What was she doing here?

"He is the one who told me Jisembo was going to marry me and all of a sudden disappeared," she finished and came out from behind her mother's back.

Wow, she wasn't that bright, was she? I had only seen one person as dense as her, Dashe. I bet those two would get along provided they didn't kill each other first.

"Idiot! He was obviously deceiving you," Katarina responded to her daughter while keeping her eyes at me. "He is a wretched liar and fool. Worry not, daughter, he will pay for everything he has done"

Katarina sounded really angry and agitated with me. I took Paul and jumped back further, trying to distance myself from them. This tyrant was not going to be push over. My chances of survival lay greatly in evading away from her reach and retaliating from a distance.

"Mother, let me take him out," the princess demanded as she took stance for battle. "I want to make him pay for deceiving me."

"No, daughter," Katarina Fox chuckled. "Don't you know who this young man is? I have a better idea so stay out of this. If you want, you can take care of his friend besides him. But don't kill him just yet."

Whatever she was planning, I wasn't going to buy it at all. What sort of trickery did she have up her sleeves? She was as slick as a fox so I had to expect her to come at me with some sort of devious ruse. Quickly, I took a defensive stance cautiously watching her every step with all the power in my eyes. She raised her trident up slowly with her right hand and something started to appear beside her. It looked like a spherical portal of some sort, glowing brightly green and ember. She suddenly snickered in a faint laugh. "I want you to take a look inside, Riyo, there is something I want to show you."

Looking away, I tried not to listen to anything she said. Despite my attempts to block her out, I heard her voice inside my head, whispering gently to my deepest desire. But how did she know my name? I didn't ever recall ever telling it to anyone who was not a close ally of my true identity. I had only used my first three initials that spelled "RID" to keep my identity name a secret. And yet she knew it somehow.

"Don't you want the nightmares to end?" she asked coldly, moving even closer to me. "They will never stop haunting you. But I can change this if you listen to me."

"How do you know about that," I rattled at her, finally paying close attention to her every word.

"What do you know, villain?"

"I am the one who caused them," she laughed hysterically, folding her arms in the process.

"No, no, you are lying," I looked away, trying not to listen anymore. "You are trying to trick me."

"You stupid fool," Katarina finally took a serious tone. "I have been sending your mind back into the past, making you relive every horrible detail from your childhood. Haven't you wondered why your dreams felt so real? Like it was happening right then and there?"

No, it was all lies and yet... No it had to be a trick, she was trying to toy with my mind. But at the same time, there was truth to her words. When I had the dreams, I felt everything. Every touch, scent, feeling like it was actually happening. How could she do that to me? To me, those dreams were more than a nightmare, not worth ever going through again. Now it was making sense. I didn't have to be here for her to torture me—she had been mentally doing it in my dreams on almost every fourth night. But my dreams started way before I got the gauntlet. What did this all mean?

"I will answer your question," she spoke into my head. "I was simply bored and I decided to play a little game. I had known of your existence and the crime you did in Rogue. Simply, I thought it would be fun to make you go through all that again at my leisure."

"Please shut up," I growled, unable to bear it anymore.

She was a vile fiend indeed. Clenching my guns tightly, I looked at her with intent to kill. My blood was boiling hot, trying to consume me into a state of pure raw anger.

"Please look," she smiled. "I have something I want you see."

Cautiously, I took my eyes off her and gazed directly into the portal to see what she wanted to show me. What the! I started to see my country Rogue. It stood magnificently in all its glory, a beckon of hope to the lost world. It was then I saw Daphne. She had grown into quite an astonishing woman since the last time I saw her. Her hair was darker and longer, almost glistering in the light. She looked like a beautiful angel. Wait, she was wearing a white dress, a wedding dress to be exact. It was some kind of ceremony and my parents were there. Someone was besides her, standing near the alter. To my greatest fears, Daphne was getting married. I felt pain in my heart, terrible aching pain.

"No, this isn't real," I screamed, trying to reach her as I ran forward. "You can't, Daphne."

She was about to marry James, my stepbrother. Why was this happening? First, he framed me and now he was marrying the girl I loved. How much more could he take from me? How much more suffering did I have to endure? A deep surge of anger erupted from me, jolting me to the core. It was painful, almost like a needle had placed into my heart. All the anger and resentment I held back since my banishment began to unfold out into the opening. I wanted to strangle James with all my might and beat him up to a pulp. Out of jealousy and hatred, he had robbed me of everything dear thing to me. Dropping to my knees, I saw Katarina smiling, enjoying my torment and anger to her fullest. But what if I was being deceived by Katarina? I mean what if it was an illusion? It certainly was a possibility and I had just fallen right into her trap. My emotions were now in turmoil and I couldn't think straight.

"I'll make you a deal of a lifetime," Katarina said, ascending into the air.

She hovered above us, whispering senselessly into my dark desires. Her words were not clear, but I understood what she was trying to say.

She stopped above me. "If you cut off your right hand and leave and gauntlet, I will send you back home in time to stop the wedding. I will do you one better and even spare the lives of your friends."

What! Could she do that really? What would she gain by doing that? Nevertheless, I had to stop this wedding at all cost, even if it killed me. Letting the girl I love marry a villain like James was a mistake I would regret for the rest of my life. With my mind made up, I knew what I had to do.

"Rid, it's okay," Paul said barely conscious with tears in his eyes. "If you go back home now, I wouldn't blame you. Leave me behind and go back to the place where you belong; you still have a chance to be truly happy."

"Paul," I whispered, looking into his eyes.

His words were sincere and genuine. Paul was really willing to sacrifice his freedom to for my happiness. My intense maddening anger suddenly began faded away, being suppressed away by the emotion I felt when I looked down at Paul. He was also shivering as if cold, even though this place was really hot. Could it be? Was he also able to feel the coldness like I did? With my will power, I forced the armor to revert back into the black coat as before. Taking it off, I put it over Paul's injured body gently.

"Mother, it's the axion armor," the princess screamed with excitement, pointing at the coat I placed on Paul. "So that's how he managed to evade your powerful attack in Jura."

Axion armor! I thought. Is that what they called my coat? I looked up at them, expecting them to explain some more about this marvelous coat I had stole from them. Not exactly stole, but more like borrow with the intent to return. After all, I was a thief with a sense of honor, for your information.

"A powerful gauntlet and the axion armor." Katarina hissed at me with scary eyes. "You clearly have no idea what kind of power you have, do you?"

No and I didn't care about her runts at all. All I desired from her was the chance to go and stop the wedding. But how had this happened? Could James have manipulated her into giving in to him? Did he have some sort of enchantment on her? Running out of time, I moved forward toward her.

"Okay, fine, I'll do it." I replied her with my head down. I felt shameful for the decision I was about to make. Everyone had sacrificed so much to get here and I was about to throw it all away for my own desire. "I'll give you my arm and in exchange you will take me back to the night when all this madness started. The day when the servant girl was killed—I know you have the power so do it or no deal. Plus you will also keep your promise and spare everyone here."

I wanted it to be like it was before, and then none of this would have happened. At least this way, no one would suffer because I would have never left Rogue. Had that night been different, I would be the one marrying her and not James. I had our future all planned out in my head with James not in the picture.

"You drive a pretty hard bargain," Katarina said in a cold voice and firmly placed her trident into both hands. "I will do as you want; however, you must leave those objects in my possession or I will break our contract."

I nodded in agreement without delay. A giant portal opened, revealing a path that led to the palace in Rogue. Finally, I was going home and I would never have to fight again. This was all I truly wanted deep down. Out of my pocket, I took a small blade and got ready to cut off my hand with the gauntlet. Had to be honest, I wasn't going to miss this power. It had cost me so much pain and misery, was happy to just get rid of it. Just as I was about to cut it off, I saw something that shocked me deeply. Daphne looked very happy, her lovely smile was not something she was forcing on. I hadn't seen her this happy in a very long time. Why could it mean? Did she really love James? Was even going back a good idea? I didn't want to do anything to make her sad; all I wanted was her happiness. What am I saying? I mean I was considering letting the woman I love marry someone like James. But she was really happy and that's all that mattered, even if it pained me greatly. I was confused and so lost in doubt. So many years had passed since my banishment and perhaps James had changed. Was there anything truly left for me in Rogue? I didn't have a single true friend in Rogue who liked me for me, so why did I want to go back? Perhaps it was me who didn't fit into the picture at all and not James. James and Daphne had always been in sync with each other since we were kids. Deep down, I had known this was bound to happen although I tried to deny it.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Katarina yelled, sensing the change in my emotions. "I don't have all day you know?"

Yeah, she was right about that—she didn't have all day. Right now, all I wanted to do was use every bit of my power to end her and her reign of madness. I just couldn't go back to Rogue, it would be too painful to see her again.

"Change of plans, Katarina," I said with a serious tone to intimidate her. "I'm not going anywhere anymore. I am needed here more than I am needed back home. Also I will be the one to end your reign of terror, you can count on that."

I could not see her face well because of her hood, but her eyes showed signs of angry madness. Oh no! What had I done? She rattled in fury as she extended her trident to her right side. Her inner energy took a sudden spike up, growing powerful enough to be visible to everyone else. Clearly, I had angered a powerful maniac and I was going to pay for it heavily. To make things worse, my surrounding were playing to my disadvantage as there was no open space to fly or jump. And to make things even much more troublesome, there were two opponents against me. I had fought the princess before and her dark energy was nothing to underestimate at all. What was I going to do? While searching for an answer, I noticed it again. The faint small light inside a dark golden room, further down below. What was it? And why was I being distracted into thinking about something else instead of my enemies in front of me? Looking back, I saw Katarina vanish into the air. She was just gone, leaving her daughter standing behind. Don't get relieved—she was still there, hidden in the shadow of the air.

"On no," I said, dodging nothing as I rolled back towards Paul.

He was my only weakness and I needed to protect him at all cost. Quickly, I took out the cotton coat Ken had given me and replaced it with the axion armor I had put on Paul to keep him warm. My cheek was bleeding for some unknown reason and yet I had been hit by nothing at all. The princess hadn't moved from her position, so it had to be Katarina Fox. I couldn't think straight at all. My heart ached terribly, even though nothing had hit me there. What was happening to me? Thinking back, I remembered what Ogana had once said to me. "To love someone is also to let them go."

Was this what was causing me pain? Letting Daphne go had been the most difficult decision I had ever made. My heart felt broken, almost as if it had been ripped in two. Each and every day, I had thought of her, wishing I was still back in Rogue next to her. And now, I had to learn to live without her.

After putting it back on, the axion armor returned back to its black and yellow color form which I didn't really mind. The air felt chilly again, signaling danger to come. Jumping up swiftly, I grabbed Paul up and maneuvered a few yards away. The ground we were on before was completely obliterated by something unknown. What was going on? Was this Katarina Fox's doing or what? Her presence was all around me and yet I couldn't see her at all or feel her energy? Truly she was ridiculously powerful. Why did I think I had a chance against her at all? I was outclassed in more ways than one, that much I was sure of.

"Rid, put me down. That's enough," Paul cough, slowly losing consciousness. "I will only slow you down if you keep on holding onto me. You have a chance of escaping if you leave me behind. You came for us and that already proves you are a good friend. You can't win against her, she is too powerful."

After saying those saddening words, Paul lost consciousness and dangled in my left arm. True enough, he was slowing me down and I could probably escape if I left him behind, but I wasn't going to. I had come all this way and went through too much to just quit and run. The time to feel fear and cowardice had long gone only to be replaced by the fear of oblivion. If I was to die during this battle, I wanted to go out as a true warrior and certainly not like a coward.

"You have great reflexes, Riyo," a voice whispered as I felt pain in my left shoulder. "But it's not good enough."

It was Katarina and I think she had stabbed me with her trident in the shoulder. I yelped in pain, rolling out of the way to my left. Looking back, I saw nothing except the air. She was by far the fastest person I had even encountered, making Dashe and Ken look like tortoises in comparison. Deep in my mind, one thing bothered me more than anything else. Why did Katarina Fox know so much about me? It was as she knew me since my childhood like she had been watching me grow the whole time. And how did she know Daphne was getting married today and right at this moment? It was too much to be a coincidence. Perhaps there was someone in Rogue giving her information on us but who? It had to be someone I knew or who knew me before.

"Katarina, tell me this, how do you know so much about me?" I asked her, attempting to find out the truth behind this mystery. "There is no way you could have been from Rogue, but by my guess, that trident gives you the power to see through time, don't it?"

There was a long cold silence in the air followed by a maniac loud laughter that ringed in my ears. Ugh! Truly annoying as it was, I had to bear it just until she told me the truth.

"So you are not all brawns and no brain, huh, Riyo? You are half correct—this trident gives me the power to peer through time. But if I want, I can also walk and travel through any time and space. There is more to it than that; however, I am not going to telling you. Honestly, you should have taken that deal because now I won't be as lenient as before."

The way she kept saying my name annoyed me more than anything else. It's like she knew how to push me over the edge. And it also seemed she wasn't going to reveal any more secrets about her powers, putting me at a slight disadvantage.

"What now!" I had a bleeding shoulder, an unconscious man in my hand, and an enemy who could conceal her entire being.

Things were looking grim for me and almost hopeless if I might add. If only I could get out of this room, then things would play out a little different. One problem with that, the princess was guarding the door from me. The only thing working to my advantage was that when Katarina was about to attack, the air would get cold around me.

"Just answer me!" I screamed as I was quickly getting agitated. "How do you know so much about me?"

She didn't answer back, all I felt was a rustle in the wind followed by a faint chilling cold. Instinctively, I moved away, gliding the air to my side for safety. As before, I saw nothing, but a flash of wind destroy the ground I once stood. Holding tightly, I moved Paul's body and placed it on my shoulder to free the space between my legs. Katarina's powers were far too much for me; I stood no chance of victory inside this constricted room. The whole time the princess barely moved her body except for her eyes. She didn't even try to help her mother. It was like she knew her mother would win without even trying.

"I'm getting serious, Katarina," I bluffed her, putting Paul gently in a corner of the room that had not yet been completely destroyed. "Prepare yourself. I am coming at you with everything I have"

After saying that, I stood up straight and raised my flintlocks. I had warned her and now it was time to see if I could back up my claim. Closing my eyes completely, I focused and summoned my third blast level power into my body. For some unknown reason, it had become lighter and didn't strain me at all. Perhaps my previous fight with her minion soldier had brought something good out of me than I thought it did. But not yet, it still wasn't enough. To be able to handle someone of her caliber, I had to gather even more strength and summon the forth level power of the gauntlet. With that kind of power, my chances of survival were slightly favorable. However, there was one more technique I had yet to master, the fifth blast. It was without a doubt my most destructive and the most dominant of all powers of the gauntlet. In my current mental state, I wasn't able to use it. For the last two years, in that yellow world, I had tried to master it without any success. Something deep in my mind was stopping me from unlocking it and I had no clue what that was at all. Oh well, I put the matter aside and gathered my mind to summoning the forth blast. The princess looked at me curiously, like she wanted to know what I was about to do next. I still felt Katarina's presence around me, but she wasn't attacking me at all. Taking all of that in consideration, I desperately put all my focus and energy into the summoning the forth blast. Great powerful sashes appeared in my arms, swerving rapidly in the air behind me. If you think the third blast was difficult to control then you haven't felt the power of the forth blast. Gushes of wind spiraled around me, converging on me as the center. The whole room trembled slowly from the power raging inside of me. My palms were sweaty and my shoulder throbbed badly. Every part of my body ached, unable to bear the dense power of the forth blast. But not yet, I had to keep going. Admitting defeat was not an option. If I went down, then all our actions would have been for nothing. Under great strain, I stood on the ground, raising my flintlocks up into the air. I wanted to finish it quickly before my body was overtaken by the pain. Looking up, I searched for that vile tyrant in every direction, trying to find her first before she found me. She was well hidden from my gaze, lingering in the air like an apparition. Clearly, I was way in over my head and there were only two of those pills left. One of them, I had saved it for my other friend Tye who was not here. Oh that reminded where was he? I had been so hooked up into my current situation that I had forgotten about him. Truly what kind of friend was I? Where had they taken him? No matter what, I was going to find him; however, I had to vanquish this sinister threat first.

"Come on mind, think."

There had to be a way to turn the tide around. I could not lose hope just yet. So many had put their hopes into me, therefore there was no way I could afford to lose. All of sudden, I began to lose control of my forth blast energy. In my right arm, red energy gathered, overcoming me with frustration and hidden anger. The fury of losing Daphne to my stepbrother came first to mind, followed by being framed and banned into the outside world. And finally hearing of my friends being captured and tortured sent me over the edge completely. My anger raged deep, succumbing me into a state of insanity and agony. My whole body was glowing red with energy. It felt like the same energy father used to give off when he got angry with me over anything. What was happening to me? To my horror, my entire body was being taken over by pure fury.

"Katarina, you monster," I growled with a loud huge voice, sending massive shocks of air in every direction. "I will make you feel my wrath."

Without thinking, I sprinted forward and jumped up into the air. Overtaken by rage, I felt nothing but pure hatred and a need for blood. I fired one bullet of rage upon another in every direction, hoping to hit anyone in my path. One of them barely missed Paul's body, causing me to stop briefly. But the fury was not going away—I felt it more within all corners of my heart.

"Katarina, you fiend." I released all the energy of anger I had inside of me with uncontrolled precision. "Feel my fury and disappear forever."

A huge amount of energy erupted out of my body, forming a massive sphere of pure energy. It completely devastated the entire underground part of the castle, reducing roughly everything to ash. As all the anger inside me slowly vanished, I began to regain a sense of myself again. The aftermath debris was horrible, the whole room and the underground passage up were all gone. What had I done? This hadn't been me at all or the work of my other personality. It had been something else entirely different from any of my other abilities. No, I couldn't find my friend Paul at all. What had I done?

"Darn it, Rid! Not this mess again?" Paul whispered from under the rubble. "Have you gone mad again?"

"Are you okay, Paul," I asked exhausted, but relieved.

I honestly had no idea how he could had survived that, given his current body condition. Whatever the case maybe, it was finally over or at least I hoped. Both mother and daughter's presence were gone, even their bodies were nowhere in sight.

"Yeah, I will live," he responded, removing a huge rock next to his right leg. "Honestly, I could never get used to your Roguean anger tantrums."

"Paul! This wasn't like before; it was the first time I had ever felt this type of energy before. The other time I went out of control was when we were about to get killed, but you know the rest," I said, looking at him in the eye.

"Oh yeah! How could we possibly forget that scene?" Paul chuckled.

Yeah! How could we? The first time it happened was when we tried to rob a merchant ship which turned out to be a trap for us. We were forced into a corner and heavily outnumbered. Just when they were about to deliver the final blow, I somehow snapped and went out of control with massive rage. I attacked everyone even my friends with unrelenting force and power and drove our enemies away in the process. The rest is still a blur, even to this day, about what happened that day. I did once ask them what happened, but they vowed to never talk about it ever, even to me. So what was this red energy? It was powerful, scary, and had completely drained me of all my strength. Descending back to the ground, I looked in every direction for any signs of that mad woman. Relieved briefly, everything around me was quiet. They weren't there anymore and it looked like it was finally over. But was it really? I mean she was one of the Rainku after all, so I doubted I had seen the last of her. There weren't any remains of them which meant I had completely obliterated them or they had escaped. So which was it?

"Is it over," Paul asked while getting back to his feet. "I can't sense their energy at all."

What! Could Paul sense energy like me? Ebi had said that his soul had been divided between the three ultimate treasures, meaning another part of Ebi might have taught Paul how to sense people's presence during his time here in the dungeons. That made a lot of sense in a weird way. The powers of these objects were still unknown to me, meaning it was possible that the two of us had a few of the same powers. For now, it didn't matter. My main concern was now to find Tye and leave this accursed castle.

"That was impressive, Rid, but not good enough," a scary voice growled.

Before I could back away, I was struck down by a black ball of energy the size of my body and hit the ground terribly. My body shook greatly, sending jolting pain all the way to my head. How could this be? How had they survived that? Completely drained out, I lost the strength to get up let alone move.

Come on body! Move, get up!

A blue portal formed in front of me, revealing two figures within it. It finally made sense now; they had somehow escaped by teleporting out of way. Katarina Fox and her daughter came out and they weren't even harmed at all, not even a bruised or a scratched at all.

"Did you really think you could harm us with a petty attack?" the princess laughed as she stood next to her mother.

"No, not now!" I muttered. My eyes began to slowly close as I lost consciousness.

37

"Been a while, Riyo," a familiar voice said in a soft manner. "You have grown in more ways than one, since you left here."

I opened my eyes and saw the old pervert sitting on a rock with his flute in his end. Everything around me was yellow again, nothing but yellow. No! No! Why was I back in this place? Spending a decade with Ebi in this yellow world was the most intense thing I had ever done. The first years I went practically insane from boredom and frustration. Nothing made sense at all—it felt like I was trapped in a spinning bottle of madness. I still could not understand how Ebi managed to live here for so long without losing himself. Although he did have his enchanted mirror which let him view anywhere in the outside world. With that perverted mind of his, I could guess what he was looking at.

"Why am I here?" I asked him, trying to understand my situation. "I am pretty sure I was fighting Katarina Fox in the real world. Tell me already! If I don't hurry up and leave this place, Katarina could capture or kill me."

I quickly stood up and wiped some sweat from my face with my right hand. Ebi did not answer or appear fazed at all. His stance was perfectly still like he was in a trance or something. What was going on inside his mind that he wasn't willing to tell me already? Time was critical to be keeping secrets. At any moment, Katarina could capture me or destroy my body. But to my surprise, he didn't look worried at all and he barely made any sudden gestures. I watched him leap off the rock and move swiftly towards me. Without warning, he raised his right hand and smacked me in the back of the head with his annoying flute.

Ow! The pain was intense as usual, not something anyone could get used to. It was a miracle that I had not destroyed it in the decade I spent here. I really hated that thing with a burning passion. But why did he hit me? I eased the pain by gently rubbing my hand on it while looking at him straight in the eye, filled with frustration.

"Your irrational decisions to rush into enemy territory will get not only you, but every one of your friends killed. Honestly, I didn't expect you to make it that far, Riyo," Ebi commented, looking me at with disappointment. "Why didn't you leave with Showe and the others? A weak person like you can only do nothing, but become a burden on others. You put yourself in harm's way because of your own selfish ambition."

Senile old man, he could have just told me that instead of hitting me like he did. His brutality to me was something I should report to authorities, not saying that anyone would believe me. Even now, my friends hardly believed he was real, living inside this world made by the gauntlet.

"But I am quite impressed you managed to dispel all your anger and negative energy in form of that red blast sphere. That is good because it means you still have a chance to win." Ebi continued with a smile on his face.

What? I didn't even know what how he was talking about. Somewhat annoying, Ebi had a tendency of speaking in riddles, nevertheless his words were important.

"Are you for real?" my curiosity peaked after hearing his words. "If it is possible, please tell me how I can."

Just one tiny kink, I had no idea how I did it. I mean, it just happened; I was just consumed by my anger that I barely knew what was happening. However, I remembered the sudden impulse, the urges, and the gruesome frustration I felt at the thought of losing my motivation in life. Now that I had let Daphne go, I felt empty and alone. She had been the most important thing driving me forward through all the hardships. And now I was lost. Ebi suddenly coughed to draw my attention and I gazed at him.

"The technique you used is called Rujor and it is the reason why the Rogueans are a feared bunch. But you already know that, don't you, Riyo?"

"No. Not really." I shook my head and looked back at him.

"Is that so? In time, I will reveal it to you and teach you how to use it. As you are now, using this technique again would only reduce and eventually consume all your life force."

He stopped talking and sat down next to me without looking me in the eye. The expression on his face had changed dramatically, it was almost poetic. I mean I had never seen him look so caring and so kind.

"Riyo, listen to me," Ebi spoke softly which was something he had never done before.

He put his flute down, surprisingly, and looked up into the yellow sky. "You might not believe it yet, but you have the potential to end this reign of the Rainku. I have seen your growth and strength over the past years we spent together here. I taught you almost everything I know, and I know you are far from ready. But there is still a chance you can survive this mess you are in. Just be wary of Katarina Fox' true power once the sun touches her skin."

True Power! I was pretty sure I had been facing her at her full strength or had she been playing me the whole time? And just what happened once the sun hit her skin? Tilting my back, I looked back at him filled with curiosity.

"Ebi, what is Katarina Fox's true power," I asked him. He had to tell me at least one clue.

Ebi giggled and blushed weirdly before laughing out much louder. Convinced, I looked away fully aware of his one true weakness. Ebi's was powerful, but he was a lecherous man at the same time, meaning I had found a clue as to what her power might be. I looked up and saw the yellow clouds that constantly floated up in the sky, wondering what my next plan was. She had already defeated me once and it was unlikely I would get another chance. Hated to admit it but, the fourth blast was not powerful enough to stop Katarina. My only chance lay in unlocking the power hidden in the fifth blast. I still had a few incantations left, but I doubted they would be very helpful in the end.

"I might have failed to stop them in the past, due to my own flaws, but you can and will succeed where I failed," Ebi reassured me with a gentle pat on the back. "You unlocked the fifth blast technique when you dispelled all your anger and hatred away. You could never do it before because your heart held onto your past hatred and regrets."

Well in a way, it made sense or sort of did. Even with that kind of power, Katarina was not going to be someone easy to defeat. To make it further difficult, she was not alone. She had her daughter and a battalion of minions to aid her.

"Ebi, I don't think I can do this alone," I said, looking him in the eye like a lost child. "Are you sure you picked the right person for the task? I'm just a banished prince and an outcast thief and not a hero or anything."

"You sound pathetic, Riyo," Ebi laughed, making me feel even more vulnerable.

Leave it to Ebi to know how to put me down. Honestly, I was expecting him to say something inspiring and heartfelt, instead of calling me pathetic.

"You are the right person because the gauntlet chose you as my successor. Life is unpredictable, I would have never thought there was a Roguean in existence with the mental power to control their rage like you can. Remember, youngster, you are not alone. There was always someone with you the whole time, all you have to do is listen. Look towards your friends and they will never leave you in your darkest hour. Fight with the power of courage and faith and you will never lose. Riyo, remember this! It's not the choices we make that determine who we are, but the reasons behind each choice. Besides if you lose, the gauntlet will consume your soul and leave you in this place until another gauntlet bearer comes along."

"What seriously," I asked.

That was something I feel like he should have mentioned in the beginning. Definitely, I could not afford to lose no matter what. Being stuck with Ebi was far much worse than being in the same room with a wild manned lion. He snored in his sleep like Dashe and had a severe sleep disorder that made him attack everything in his sleep. The last six years of training with him had been truly a nightmare both at night and during the day. No way, defeat was unacceptable. With that motivation in mind, I felt a need for victory. It was a burning sensation within me, a great need to defeat and vanquish this evil that had haunted me for far too long. Something suddenly came to mind and it was the most important question I could ask.

"Ebi, I have a question." I began after a long hard thought on it. "If Katarina can see through to the future, then doesn't she already know what will happen and the outcome of our battle?"

"Good question," Ebi chuckled and adjusted his weight to seat more balanced. "She can't, not while you are wearing the gauntlet of destiny. Every choice you make will alter your destiny which means there more than a million possible alternative endings, far too much for her to see foresee and fight at the same time. All you need to do is believe in the thought of winning and you will conquer."

I felt the ground vibrate a little followed by a faint static movement in the sky and ground.

"It's time, Riyo," Ebi whispered and hugged me which sort of spooked me a bit.

I would have never thought in a million years he would ever show me any human compassion and yet here it was. Tilting slightly, I placed my arm on his back faintly, hugging him in return.

"You cannot lose, trust in the power of the axion armor and the gauntlet. They are two great powers that will assist you dearly. Go now, child, and show Katarina Fox your light."

Upon hearing those words, I saw the yellow world start to disappear all around me. Ebi let me go and smiled, disappearing into the fragment of the world I hated dearly. My mind was being returned back to the normal real world, well sort of normal for me.

Wait a minute, I thought.

What did he mean that there was someone always there with me? Did he mean himself? Since he was already gone, that question was going to go unanswered for a while. I smelled rusting metal and opened my eyes. There were chains on my hands and legs, binding me to a wall. Yeah, I could only take one guess. After my defeat, Katarina had taken me and shackled my body in this dungeon room. To my left, I felt the bright rays of the sun penetrate through a small window above me. It seemed I was no longer below ground, but somewhere in the castle, trapped in a dark room. Fortunately, I still had all the parts on my body intact. And even more surprising, I was still wearing the silver coat or the axion armor as they called it. But why hadn't she taken it if she was after it? She could have also have taken the gauntlet by cutting off my arm and yet hadn't.

"Hey, Rid," Paul moved from the other side of the small room. "I had really hoped you wouldn't do something as stupid as what you did. This has got to be by far the worst idea you have ever come up with, I mean, who goes and infiltrates a castle all by himself? Now look, we are both her captives in this castle. She will probably come back and torture us till we cry like babies. Don't get me wrong, Rid, you were right about one thing. We should have listened to you and turned back away before we robbed that Rainku caravan. Tye said the same thing too before he was taken away."

For a second, I jolted back when I heard him speak. I had been under the impression that I was alone in this room. It was strange that I had not sensed Paul inside here with me. I mean he was a few feet away from me and yet it felt like he was not there. I shrugged in my chains before realizing that I wasn't going to break them. As I had feared, Tye was no longer here. Could things get any more complicated? Lying on my back, I bit my lip and closed my eyes in anger.

"Where is he?" I asked Paul in a demanding voice. "Where did they take him? I came all this way to free you guys from this castle."

Paul suddenly looked down with tears in his eyes. "He was taken by another Rainku member, and I don't know whether it was a he or her because they had a long hood on. So, he is not in Okaya anymore. I was left here in order to lure you into this castle, Rid. I'm sorry things turned out this way."

"Me too, Paul." I replied him instantly looking towards the sun. "All we ever wanted to do was to leave Yogo and spend the rest of our lives doing whatever we want. You know, I even dreamed of having two kids one day when I returned to Rogue. But the girl of my dreams is now possibly married to my stepbrother James."

Paul chucked, "Oh man that's harsh, Rid. I want to say there are plenty of fish in the sea, but, honestly, I can't. Actually, I have never seen any Roguean girls ever in my life and I am pretty sure you won't find them anywhere around. You are going to have to accommodate your tastes, my friend, otherwise you will die alone."

"Paul, I seriously can't believe you just said that. However, you might be right. I do have to move on with my life if we do manage to survive this mess."

"But, anyway what's our next plan?" Paul asked, putting his back against the wall, his eyes drawn towards the light from the sun outside. "I hope your plan doesn't involve doing something stupid and reckless as usual."

"Good question," I replied him, unsure of what to do.

The whole time we were talking, I had been trying to gather up my energy to activate my forth blast. But in doing so, I only made the chain cuffs' bind me much tighter and harder. I think these chains were magical and enchanted, unlikely to break so easily. I looked up, noticing everything inside the room. It was not very big, no doors, and only one window up by the left, facing the sun. There was nothing else inside besides us and a very well polished floor.

"We are getting out of here, Paul," I said, getting up to my feet to try and break them again.

To my further surprise, I could still control my strength and energy completely. Given all of that, nothing I was doing was working. In fact, the more I struggled, the heavier and painful they got. Was there anywhere to get out of this?

"Goodness, this might take more time than I thought," I said to Paul in a nervous laugh.

But still, why would they take Tye elsewhere? What did they want with him? And who had taken him?

"Paul, what happened? How did you guys get caught by Katarina?" I asked him, finally giving up and sitting down next to him.

Constantly straining my muscles to break free was very tiresome. It seemed there was no way to get out of the chains without outside help. Sighing out loudly, I placed my back against the wall and closed my eyes.

"Well," Paul began, adjusting his back carelessly while being bathed by the light from the sun. "I somehow met Tye on the road to Okaya. We slowed down a little to give you a chance to catch up, but things didn't go according to plan. The sky turned dark and it got really cold. Above us, a hooded figure showed up and attacked us. We battled her; however, we never stood a chance—she was just too powerful. The objects you gave us resonated and bond themselves to us without our consent. I mean it was incredible; the power they offered us was short-lived. And the rest is history from there on. Somewhat glad you didn't catch up to us because you would have ended up in the same situation. Hey, I have something to show you."

As always, Paul had a tendency of staying off subject. He just couldn't stay on one thing at a time which sort of annoyed; however, I never told him that. Upon finishing his sentence, he raised his hands and they transformed into the color that resembled the chains he was bonded to. Both of his arms changed like that of a chameleon, completely imitating the shackles down to the last detail.

My word, it was incredible. But what kind of power was it? What sort of power did the gloves of Hoken grant him? These objects were amazing. How could that old geezer have lost when he had the power of all three objects? Looking at Paul, one question bothered me above anything else.

"Paul, why did you stay in this place? You could have easily escaped if you wanted to, right?"

Why was he keeping himself here when he had the power to escape? What was he hiding from me? Paul bit his lip and looked down for a while in a fazed manner. He didn't reply, instead his hands reverted back to their normal tan color as he looked down in sorrow. Perhaps there was a good reason he hadn't, and maybe it had been not a good idea to ask him.

"I had faith, Rid. I believed and knew you were coming, so I waited in silence." He finally replied without taking his eyes from the floor. "If I went alone to find Tye, the same thing would happen again. Thanks to the power of these gloves, I managed to harden my body for as long as I could without giving her any information about any of us. Trust me, I underwent days of torture, but I never gave into any of her deals. But now that you are here, we must escape while we can. I don't sense her energy or presence nearby."

"So you can sense people's presence and power, too?" I asked a bit confused.

"Yeah, I can. The power of the gloves of Hoken gives me the ability to absorb the power of anything I come into contact with. I learned how to use it the first time Tye and I first faced Katarina Fox. All my time here, I kept practicing to control its power, waiting for the day when you would show up. Remember, when you found me in that room, I accidentally absorbed some of your power which is how I can see and sense things now."

"Oh ok. Why didn't you say so in the beginning?" I laughed out loudly to ease some tension.

"You seriously have a messed up sense of humor, you know that right?" Paul growled and kicked me in a playful manner. "Now let's get out of this place while we can."

That was easier said than done. These chains on our bodies were much tougher than I could have imagined. Still, I was glad Paul was in good spirits. He had gone through severe tortures that I couldn't possibly have imagined and somehow managed to survive it with his spirit intact. On top of that, he had stayed in those hot fiery dungeons below on purpose, waiting for me to arrive. I truly had found good friends that I could depend on. In the end Ebi had been right; with people like him on my side, no power was too great to conquer.

"But how are we going to escape?" I whispered, looking for any signs of the enemy. "Any moment soon, Katarina Fox will come back and we will most likely suffer. Do you have a plan or something?"

Paul smiled maniacally and broke the chains easily. He got back to his feet, rubbing both hands slowly. How did he do that? I had no idea he was even that strong and powerful. Turning towards me, Paul walked up to me and bent down on one knee. Grabbing both my shackles and breaking them apart before getting up and walking towards the window. What was he truly up to? He was obviously a different person, far much stronger than me in terms of brute strength. On his left arm, I saw two tattoos which almost resembled mine.

"Get up, Rid," Paul whispered, beckoning me towards him. "It's time we got out of here. Look over there, I think I found our way out."

As I stood up, my arms and legs tingled irritably, feeling like I hadn't used them in a while. I walked across the floor and stopped next to Paul, peering through the window in the direction of his finger. We were very high up in a tower, in the tallest building of the castle. Below the tower, there was an opening hardly visible to the normal eye except to my own and possibly Paul's. Okay this was getting a little weird. How much of my power had Paul absorbed and how would it affect me? Not that it was important anyway since we were both about to escape. No, my thoughts collided. I couldn't leave this castle, not without defeating Katarina Fox or at least trying. I had promised Ebi to try as well as the people in the dungeons.

"How are we getting out of this room, Paul?"

There seemed to be no way out of the room as it was enclosed in walls. The window was too small for us to fit through, given our body size of course.

"We destroy the walls," he immediately replied, switching his hardened metallic hands into what looked like lava fire. "I've been saving this up for a while. Stand back, Rid, this might get a little melty."

Melty! I don't think that was even a word. I thought. Clearly, his time in silence down in the dungeons hadn't helped him come up with better puns. I could only hope his jokes had gotten better. One other thing also bothered me more than anything else. This had been bothering me for a while since I woke up in this room.

"Paul, can I ask you a question? Why didn't Katarina take the axion armor and the gauntlet from me when I was unconscious? I mean, I was out cold for a while and she could have taken it in that time period without any trouble. And why are moving much well than you were before?"

Paul laughed and looked me back in the eye. "Rid, you haven't changed at all. As usual, you always ask too many questions."

Paul placed his burning hands on one of the wall and melted the wall easily. The air rushed in through the opening, followed by light from the sun. Shielding my eyes, I took a few steps back and sighed in slowly. Freedom was within my grasp. But first, we had to get out and fight our way through the soldiers below. I looked at Paul and smiled. As long as we had each other, no army would be too great to conquer.

Paul looked at me. "She couldn't take that coat off and I don't know why. There was a strange color resonating from your body that deflected their hands whenever they tried to remove it from you. So instead she had guards tie us up and lock us up here since you destroyed the dungeon. After that, she left saying she was going to get something that would help her retrieve the ultimate treasures from us."

He paused and smiled lightly.

"Oh ok," I said truly unsure of what to think.

"You've grown a lot stronger, Rid, and your hair is crazy long. The first time I saw you I couldn't even recognize you. And sorry I took the last pills from the bottle I found while I was searching in your clothes and that's why I feel better."

"Both pills?"

Oh yeah, Paul had moments when he was a complete glutton. Nevertheless, I was glad he was back to his former self. And also pleased he had answered all of my questions quite wonderfully. Looking slightly down, the tower was way up high. I could barely make up the people below us.

"Okay, Rid, it's time you used that mysterious power of yours and get us out of here," Paul said, standing out of the way.

I nodded and took the lead, jumping out of the tower with my feet down. Paul followed suit, leaping right behind me. As soon as he was next to me, I grabbed his left hand and closed my eyes. I thought of flying and hoped the axion armor would respond to my request. To be honest, I still had no idea how it worked. It usually just happened without me really doing anything about it except when I lacked energy. How strange!

Something wasn't right. I couldn't get enough leverage or focus enough to fly. We were still falling, descending down towards the castle grounds. Tilting to my right, I swerved to my side, hoping to slow myself somehow.

"What's wrong, Rid?" Paul screamed at me, nudging me relentlessly. "I hope this isn't one of your prank jokes because if it is, I'm not laughing."

Sadly, I wish it was. But unfortunately this was the real thing happening to us. Why was this happening? Why was my axion armor not responding? And why were there no walls besides this tower? On second thought, it wasn't a tower, more like a room floating in the sky. Okay Paul was right. I had so many questions and it seemed more piled up on top of others.

"What now?" Paul hissed, grabbing my arm even tighter. "I didn't break out of our prison just to die a pathetic death okay?"

Me too! But what could I do about it? Focusing harder, I tried once more to force myself to fly; however, it didn't work. It was like my energy was being blocked, as if something was stopping the connection from going though.

"Brace for impact, Paul," I warned him as I quickly closed my eyes not to see what would unfold next.

Wait! There was still a way I could stop our fall. Reaching into my pockets, I took out the weird string and pointed up towards the clouds. The string stretched up into the sky and latched onto the one of the floating clouds. We stopped falling, dangling up in the sky on a mere string. The expression on Paul's face changed extremely like he had seen a ghost or something out of this world.

"Do I even have to ask?" he commented as he stared at the string. "I thought you were weird before, but you've gone beyond super weird now. How are you doing that?"

Good question; even I had no idea how I was doing it. All I had done was aim it towards a cloud and wished for something to happen. In my opinion, it was best not to ask, just be thankful.

"Right now, that not important," I replied him, grabbing his hand tightly while looking down.

Beneath us, the castle looked quiet and spooky. I spotted a few soldiers walking around through the tower alleys; however, they didn't seem to notice us. We were within range to jump down and land on one of the building beneath us.

"Paul, I want you to do me a favor," I spoke, looking further up. "We can now jump and land from here. I have to try and stop Katarina Fox. But I want you to go and free the other prisoners in this place. Even if we escape, Katarina will track us down and find us no matter how far we are. Honestly the best choice is to make a stand right here and right now."

"Are you insane, Rid?" Paul screamed at me, twisting my hand with brute power. It felt like he was going to yank my hand off any second. "You tried once and you lost so let's escape and regroup."

No! There was no turning back from what I had to do. I could not run away from destiny—the only choice I had was to face and change it.

"Listen to me, Paul," I roared to him with a menacing voice. "Trust me please, this time I know what I am doing, so please go."

He didn't reply, but only looked at me with a concerned expression. I truly hoped he wasn't thinking I had gone insane or something although I did sound it. Now what? Beyond the castle, I felt a familiar presence converging to our location. The sky was turning dark, feeling up with thunder and lightning. It felt like something was about to descend from the skies. This feeling, I knew it all too well. It was Dashe's white water mist power. That idiot!

What was he doing here? The last time he had used this power, we had all almost been killed.

"I feel energies outside the castle," Paul mumbled as he looked towards the castle walls. "Are they your friends or new castle reinforcements?"

"Unfortunately they are my new allies," I sighed, pulling the string away from the cloud. "Paul, let's get down now. Something dangerous is about to drop down from the sky."

38

Swinging my weight to the left, I unlatched the string and jumped down. Too late for comfort, we saw them fall from the sky. Thousands of large molted rocks, the size of caravan carts, were raining down on the whole castle. Compared to the last time, these ones were faster and numerous. What was that idiot thinking?

"What is this? Is the world coming to an end?" Paul screamed when he landed on the ground with his hands covering his face.

It was chaos, the ground beneath us was being destroyed by these rocks from the sky. Further to our misfortune, the molted rocks oozed of terrible stinky gases into the very air around us. Tucking down, we ran past the first building and took shelter in a closed roof alley. It was hard to move around and dodge the rocks at the same time.

"Don't worry, Paul," I reassured him. "This is just the work of an irresponsible fool who can't control his powers."

There was turmoil on the ground. The castle soldiers were running around, trying to escape away from the burning comets. Just further to my left, I felt them. Ogana, Kaya, Dashe, Masonku, Dien, and Showe were here in this citadel. Wait, there was one more here, but not among them, Suzanne. She was here somewhere within this castle, hiding her presence like a shadow. Why had they returned? Now I was truly worried about all of them. My friends had somehow infiltrated the castle under the cover of Dashe's final storm, causing a ruckus throughout the castle. Straightening my back, I cleared my thoughts and focused on locating Katarina's energy amongst them. There!

I felt it; she was below the castle near the dungeons I had destroyed.

"Paul, help the others escape," I pointed towards the other side, next to the dungeons of Pitto. "Trust me, Paul, I know what I am doing this time."

But did I truly? In a small way, I wasn't afraid of her. Needless to say, I didn't really think I could defeat her so easily. I bit my lip, thinking of a way to assure my victory. Ebi had said I had unlocked my fifth blast technique upon dispelling all of my negative energy. But would it be enough? No, I shrugged away every feeling of doubt in my heart.

"Paul, I'm leaving and good luck, mate," I waved my hand and turned around, dashing towards the dungeons below.

"Alright! Just don't die, Rid," he waved back and disappeared in the opposite direction.

"I don't intend to," I whispered in one glare.

With my thoughts clear and unsheltered, I began to gather massive amounts of energy from the gauntlet as I could. I knew that I had to step it into high gear if I ever wanted to live to tell about it in the future. To my surprise, my power to fly came back. Hovering up slowly, I took off into the sky and hastily flew toward the dungeons. Flying fast, I made it to the other side of the castle, dropping carelessly through the hole below me, into Pitto. Everything below was silent, only the wind stirred from a distance. Katarina was here somewhere, out of the reach of my gaze. Silently, I landed down feet first, looking cautiously in every possible direction. Last thing I wanted was to be ambushed again.

"It's about time you showed up here, Riyo," a hooded figure stepped out of the shadows with a trident in her right arm. "I didn't kill you or your friend for this exact reason. I need you to do something for me."

As I had suspected, she knew I would come. The trident in her arm gave her the ability of insight, meaning I had walked directly into her trap. Moving back, I placed my left foot back and prepared my body for anything she could throw at me. Instead of attacking me, she stared at me and let out a small quick laugh. Just what did she want from me?

"I have something that might interest you." she giggled, holding the trident more firmly with the three tips pointing at me.

What was she up to? I doubted there was anything she had that would interest me at all. The air around me suddenly got cold again, resonating to the trident's power. A blue light appeared in front of it, revealing someone tied up inside, next to the princess.

"No, not her," I clenched my fist, unable to comprehend what was about to unfold. Apparently, this villain was willing to stoop to any level to get what she wanted. "Katarina, you disgusting monster, you are not playing fair."

"When did I ever say I would play fair?" she laughed diabolically, moving closer to me. "You are not a child anymore, wake up! Life is not fair. You can't go through life being naïve, Riyo. Your enemies will always find your weakness and exploit it."

Of course how could I forget? She was a villain after all and everyone knew they never played fair. She had somehow captured Suzanne and I was now at her mercy. I had lost Daphne so there was no way I was willing to lose Suzanne too. If anything were to happen to her, I would not be able to go on with living. For now, I had to do whatever that fiend wanted.

"Okay, what do you want from me, Katarina?" I asked her without showing signs of hostility.

I lowered my arms to show that I had no ill intentions in me. I had to do whatever it took to make sure nothing happened to Suzanne, even if it cost me my life. Katarina hissed at me like a snake while her daughter laughed like a maniac, firmly holding on to Suzanne. Raising her free hand, Katarina pointed towards a room that had appeared out of nowhere. Wait a minute, it was the same room I had seen when I was descending down onto the last floor of Pitto.

"Open it now!" she commanded, looking straight at me with intense eyes. "Do it now or else this girl will suffer horribly."

It was another golden room like the one in Jura, but this one was somehow different. It was a bit bigger and the gold encrusted on it was a whole lot thicker and more valuable. Walking up to it, I examined it and found no visible door on it. "I don't know how to open it."

"Don't lie to me, just do it now." She screamed at me, pointing her trident at Suzanne's neck.

Without delay, I looked again, desperate to find the opening to place my hand in. Suzanne was in terrible danger. Unless I could find a way to open it, Katarina would surely hurt her.

"Rid, don't do it," Suzanne whispered, trying to stop me. "It's my fault I got captured—don't do what she wants for my sake. Just vanquish her already."

I didn't listen to her. I kept looking until I found an opening in the room on the left edge, slightly below my waist. Bending down, I gently placed my right hand inside and turned the knob inside sideways. The whole room glowed, resonating with my gauntlet before opening out. For some reason, my gauntlet could open these doors, like it was a key of some sort. Curiously, I peered into the room, trying to see what lay inside.

"Now step aside," Katarina said, appearing next to me and pushing me away. "Excellent I have found the other key."

"Key to what," I asked, a bit curious.

She walked inside and came moments later holding what looked like a useless piece of mask. To my disappointment, the whole room of gold crumbled to dust and disappeared into nothing.

"Let her go," she commanded the princess with a harsh voice. "I have no more use for her. Now all I need to do is kill you, retrieve the axion armor and the gauntlet."

Katarina's stance changed completely, becoming more rigid and frightening. I glanced back and saw the princess push Suzanne away from her roughly. Suzanne fell to the ground a few yards away from me, barely moving at all. I didn't regret my decision at all, I would do it again for any of my friends.

"As promised, this girl will suffer first," she hissed as she pointed her trident at Suzanne.

"No, what are you doing?" I turned and ran towards Suzanne.

Was Katarina about to break our arrangement just like that? I had done what she had said in order to spare Suzanne, but now she was about to kill her. Katarina raised her trident in the air and the weather drastically changed for the worst without notice. A small wormhole formed beneath Suzanne's feet. It wasn't as huge as the other two; however, dangerous nonetheless. Slowly, Suzanne was sinking, being dragged down into the dark abyss.

"Fight on, Rid," she said calmly with tears in her eyes. "Don't let my death be in vain. Defeat Katarina and her minions and avenge everyone who fell to the Rainku."

No, I clenched my fists, running as fast as I could. My heart felt heavy, like it was about to drop out of me. I could not lose her too, not like this. Her words echoed deeply in my heart like a burning wind. I definitely felt something for her, but I just couldn't truly explain what it was yet.

"No, I won't let you die, Suzanne," I screamed, extending my left hand towards her.

Far too late, her body was now inside the abyss of darkness before I got to her. I looked down into the small wormhole unsure of what to do. It was dark inside, almost feeling like I was staring into the eye of oblivion.

"It's too late for that girl now," the princess commented with her hands folded. "No one has ever escaped from mother's wormhole."

Without hesitation, I jumped in carelessly, going after her with all my might. To rational folks, my choice was reckless, but I had to do it. Anything at this point was better than living on knowing that I let her die. Once inside, I could not see anything. The entire place was just pure darkness. Where was she? I looked everywhere trying to find any faint glimmer of light or energy, but nothing came up. Up above me, the entrance was slowly closing down on me. Unless I found her quickly, we would surely be both trapped in here forever. If only she had stayed away from Danyen and left everything to me. Darn!

"Where is she?"

I looked in every direction, focusing hard to sense her presence if possible. I flew down further, arms spread apart for more reach. This lingering darkness was far too much infuriating for me to tolerate.

"Suzanne," I yelled frequently into the unknown. "Answer me if you can hear me?"

There was no reply and I got a little worried. She was probably unconscious or she was... No, I refused to believe it. She was still alive somewhere in this dark place. What the!

From within me, I felt a sudden rush of energy. It was immense and very powerful, like it was feeding off the emotion I was feeling at the moment. Green light glowed all over my body, forming a small sphere around me. This was definitely my forth blast power if I wasn't mistaken. How had this happened? I hadn't summoned it or anything like that and yet it just appeared. Not that I was complaining since it was producing light. I took advantage of its power and started looking again for her with my superior perception.

Just faintly down and to my right, I felt Suzanne's energy. It was weak, but definitely her. Time was running out, the entrance above us was almost gone. I quickly changed directions and headed towards her as fast as I could. Upon reaching her, I grabbed her waist and turned around, heading straight up towards the faint light glimmer of light above me.

"Hang on, Suzanne," I whispered to her, steadily increasing my speed. "I won't let you die here, not like this."

The worm hole was closing fast and we were still far from it to make it in time. It closed right in front of my face, trapping us both into this unending blackness.

"So, I was too late," I sighed to myself, unable to grasp the severity of my current situation. "Someone, help us please."

Not to self: don't jump into a wormhole without a plan. Out of options, I lowered my head and placed Suzanne into both of my arms. Looking into her closed eyes, I felt helpless and lost. The only exit out of this place had been sealed off; we were not going anywhere anytime soon. And to make things more difficult, the air around us was thinning out. It looked like this was a far as I was meant to go.

Just when I was about to give up hope, I felt something familiar and odd. My right arm twitched and glowed in a golden color. As I looked down, I noticed a small sphere come out of my hand. Wait a minute! This had happened before in Jura. It was how I had escaped from the tunnels of the secret layer. Without hesitating for a bit, I touched it quickly and a bright light erupted. The light was so bright, I had to close my eyes to shield away its intensity. For a whole second, it felt like my body was being jolted apart in a way I found rather strange. Once the feeling was gone, I felt warm light and small brush of wind hit my hair.

"Please let us be outside," I begged with my hand right next to my heart.

Upon opening my eyes, I saw the sun and the walls of the castle. It seemed we were outside again, in the chaos that was now befalling this kingdom.

"Rid," a familiar voice called out to me. "Where did you come from?"

I looked back and saw Ogana, Kaya and the others standing behind me. The terrain was completely different from before thanks to Dashe's power. It smelled like molted lava and ash as the ground was covered in fragments of meteor rocks. The whole castle lay in ruins, tower after tower were falling over into rubble and dirt. Was this real or just my imagination? I was certain we had been trapped forever in the abyss of the wormhole.

"I'm sure glad to see you, Rid," Kaya smiled before hugging me.

I too was glad to see them here, but there was one person I didn't see. Where was Dashe? His mist power was still causing chaos in every direction. Almost amazing that he could keep causing that kind of destruction for what seemed like an hour without tiring down. I doubted Katarina Fox was happy, not that I cared or anything.

"Ogana, please look after Suzanne," I spoke, handing Suzanne over to him. "I'm going after Katarina Fox alone."

"No, you are not," Paul cut me off quickly as he approached with a horde of prisoners behind him. "I'm coming with you—you can't do this alone, Rid. Tye is also my friend and so are you. I am going with you regardless of what you say."

I felt like crying, but no tear dropped. So this was what Ebi meant when he told me to rely on my friends. He was right, I could not do this alone after all.

"I guess you are right, Paul, I really can't do this without you." I smiled.

Before I could walk towards him, I felt a strange shift in the air alerting me to danger. To my left, a mob of soldiers came out of hiding and ambushed us blindly. Oddly, I had not felt them approach us at all. I ducked out of the way, swerving away from them.

"Everyone, fend off these soldiers," I yelled, pointing at the soldiers. "Paul and I are going after Katarina Fox and the princess."

They nodded quickly, rushing off towards the oncoming soldiers while I gathered up my strength for battle. The more I thought about it, the more I realized Paul was right. I needed him to distract the princess because there was honestly no way I could fight the both of them at once. Strangely, he seemed like the right man for this job. I mean Paul was a very complicated man, and he had an obsession with older women which I sort of found disturbing and yet useful against the princess. I mean you would think someone his age would be attracted to women his age, but I wasn't one to judge. Every person was different, I guess.

"Let's go, Paul," I yelled towards him. "Time is everything."

Paul finished off the soldier he was fighting with a kick and dashed towards me. As he got close to me, I grabbed his arm and took off for the skies quickly. This time I was able to fly without any problem like before.

"You know one these days you are going to take someone's arm off, if you keep yanking our arms like that," he commented.

"Hahaha. Perhaps, Paul" I laughed at what seemed to be the last joke I would hear.

39

In every direction, I saw hordes among hordes of new allies fight against her army. The castle was falling fast, being taken down into the ground. We flew further up high until I felt Katarina Fox's presence. She was still down in the broken dungeons of Pitto, probably waiting for us.

"Paul, get ready," I whispered to him as I stopped flying, free falling into the dungeons through the hole I had destroyed before.

"Impossible, how did you escape?" the princess looked up and screamed in shock. "No one has ever escaped from my mother's worm hole."

"It is one of the powers of the gauntlet," Katarina commented, coming out of the shadows. "I expected no less from those who wield the two ultimate treasures."

Seriously! What was with her and the shadows? This was almost like the second or third time I had seen her emerge without notice from the shadows. In a strange way, she sort of reminded me of Suzanne because she also liked to stay in the comfort of the shadows too.

"Round three, Katarina," I hissed at her, my heart burning with anger. "This time I won't hold back at all."

As I finished talking, I called upon the power of the forth blast, dashing first towards her. No longer could I take any chances with her—she was too devious to underestimate. In both my hands, two guns appeared; however, different in two ways. The hilt had broadened in size while the body of the guns had gotten longer and smoother. Behind me, two white sashes appeared, coiled and fused together. The power raging inside me was incredible; it was so dense and a bit hard to control.

"Rid, is that really you?" Paul asked in amazement. "How and when did you get this strong?"

"Of course, it's me," I replied in an immodest manner while flexing my arm muscles a bit. "I will explain later. Right now, I want you to keep the princess busy. Can you do that, buddy?"

On no, he was smiling diabolically again like every time he came up with a stupid idea. It was somewhat bad to leave him alone when he was like that.

"Yes, I can," he chuckled, looking towards the princess with uncertain eyes. "It's time I paid you back for all those times you tortured us."

What was he thinking? Paul moved closer to her, changing the color of his whole body. It was amazing, he turned into a dense metal humanoid right before my eyes. The princess smiled like a maniac and sprinted forth to meet him head on. Trading blow for blow, it looked like their strengths were almost on par with each other. I moved further away from them and turned my attention towards my true enemy, Katarina Fox. Stomping my legs quickly, I dashed towards her with my guns extended in front. She didn't move at all from her position which was fine with me. I sprinted beyond my normal pace and leaped up at her, aiming for a quick blow to the head. She looked up at me and chuckled, not even trying to duck away from me. What was she doing? I hesitated for a bit at the sudden realization that this could be a trap. Too late to withdraw, I felt her breathe gently on my forehead and raised both my guns to fire.

"I'll show you not to look down on me," I yelled at her face, grabbing the middle part of her trident firmly.

As expected, she was rather strong too. I tried to shake off the weapon from her grasp, but it didn't even budge at all.

"Is this it? How boring," she sighed, lashing me in the stomach with a powerful kick.

I bent over in pain, feeling as if my stomach organs had been rearranged into one direction. I felt like I was going to puke my guts out. Never had I felt such a painful blow to the gut. However, I didn't let go off the trident as I reinforced my grip on it and whispered a few incantations beneath my breath.

"Are you giving up already?" Katarina giggled, placing her left down on the ground. "That was barely even worthy of a warm up."

True indeed—this was not considered a warm-up for someone of her caliber. Her energy was so gigantic it masked everyone else's completely from me.

"Chains of time," I whispered with a smile, looking up into her cold heartless eyes. "I knew you would drop your guard down eventually. That kick was free, but from now onwards things will play out differently."

Two chains emerged from thin air on the trident, sealing its power to control time. Once I saw them, I let go of it and moved back. So far, everything had gone according to plan, although I had not anticipated that she would kick me this hard.

"This enchantment—it couldn't be!" she rattled while observing the chains on her weapon. "Where did you learn this?"

I looked at her while massaging my throbbing stomach and snickered, "my mentor taught it to me in anticipation of this encounter with you. I'm sure you know him. You've fought him before."

The confident expression she had before completely vanished as a dark, hallow, and menacing look took over her eyes. Oh no, this was not good. Perhaps, I shouldn't have told her that. I had a feeling she now knew who I was talking about now. Tilting down, I bent my back whilst massaging my stomach slowly.

"How is that old pervert still alive?" she asked while unbuttoning her cloak off.

The chains on her robs fell off and then suddenly disappeared into thin air. The wind cried out loudly in every direction. What was going on now? The weather began to change drastically for the worse, like falling rocks wasn't enough to worry about. Katarina's inner energy was rising up to epic proportions. It was far stronger than anything I had ever felt before. How could she control such power? What kind of mist power was this? Was she even human?

Beneath me, the ground was trembling slowly, being suffocated by her power alone. I sensed her body movements get tenser, she was about to get really serious. Apparently she knew my mentor Ebi too well if she referred to him as a pervert too.

"I was going to toy with you until you were dead, but now I'm not going to hold back since you are Ebi's disciple." She finished while removing her hood from her entire body.

Whoa, I wasn't expecting this at all as I looked at her. I took back everything I said about calling her a disgusting monster. For an old lady, she was rather stunning and pretty. If Paul saw her, he was going to flip on me. In a different life, I really think I would seriously fall for her. And I don't know why, but she appeared to be half naked as portions of her legs and arms were exposed to the outside elements. Her hair was longer than mine and the color of her eyes was mesmerizing. The amount of energy she was emitting now was a hundred times stronger than before and that was a lot. Upon seeing her true face, I finally understood why my mentor Ebi lost. Like any man, he had his weaknesses and I think now I knew how he was defeated. I had spent a decade with him in the yellow world enough to know every one of his strengths and weaknesses. I moved away, guns gripped tightly in each arm. Katarina smiled slowly, starting to move closer to me. She moved away from the shade of the dungeons and began to move closer towards the light of the sun.

"The sun is perfect, don't you agree?" She asked me, looking up into the sky while taking a deep breath. "Prepare for your demise, Riyo, son of Rogue."

Darn it! I didn't know whether to attack or drool all over her. No, I shook away all my dirty thoughts and focused my mind on defeating her. Tilting my body to my side, I stomped one foot into the ground and raised both flintlocks at her.

Looking around, I noticed that my surroundings played against me. There wasn't much room to latch on or even fly fast through. I heard a loud clash of weapons and looked back. Behind me, Paul and the princess were fighting to their heart's content, causing much unwanted destruction everywhere. In a second, Paul stopped and turned towards Katarina, almost freezing in his steps. Oh no, I had forgotten that Paul had a disturbing obsession for older women. Paul looked like a statue, almost like he had been enchanted in a living stone. What was the idiot doing? The princess smiled, raising a large ball of dark energy into the air.

"Paul, duck now," I yelled, running towards him.

Grabbing his neck, I pulled him down to the ground, nearly avoiding what looked like a fatal attack. I looked down at him and saw that he was still in the trance or hypnosis, not responding at all. At first, I yelled at him, shaking him up wildly. At least, he was still breathing, just not blinking or responding at all. Out of desperation, I slapped him hard on his left cheek twice, bringing him back to reality somehow. Paul coughed up loud, rolling his eyes in every direction. It was obvious Katarina had done something to him when he looked up at her. But what exactly?

"What happened?" Paul asked as sweat dropped down from his face. "I looked at Katarina's arm and the light from the sun reflected from it into my eyes. After that, l lost all control of my body, like it had turned to stone."

I see, it was finally starting to make sense. Looking slightly back, I was now aware of what her second mist power might be. It seemed she had the ability to stun her opponents if they looked at her sunbathed skin. If I looked at her too, in the sun, it was over. I helped Paul up to his feet and looked back, watching everywhere the light from the sun came through. There were many parts inside the dungeon still shaded from its reach which I could use to my advantage. This was not going to be easy as I had expected.

"That old pervert never had a chance," I laughed to myself, thinking about Ebi.

Katarina was fast, strong, and agile and while I was... Well, what was I? Compared to her, I was as harmless as an insect. How could I think I had a chance of defeating her?

"What are you lowlifes rumbling about?" the princess shrugged as she threw a huge ball of black energy at us without a moment's spare.

Quickly turning around, I deflected her attack with a bullet of rage, causing a small air tremor in the process. Paul and I both moved back, hiding behind the shade of a large pile of rubble.

"Paul, avoid looking at Katarina at all costs," I whispered gently, nudging him up. "I don't know exactly what kind of power she has, but we shouldn't look at her directly."

"I will try, but she is simply too stunning," he replied in a joking manner.

"Okay, that was a good pun, Paul," I laughed.

He might have looked like he was just playing, but I think that idiot was serious and would probably stare at her again. Knowing that, I was starting to have doubt about my decision of bringing him with me as my backup. "Paul, trust me don't. I might not be able to bail you out again next time."

"Alright already, don't have to tell me twice." Paul looked away.

So, how was I going to do it? I couldn't look at her at all too. My eyesight was my greatest power and now it was my greatest weakness, sort of ironic if I might add. I moved back towards her with my eyes half closed. With my arms extended in front, I stopped, realizing something Ebi had said. Thinking back, it was all a blur to me. I remember him saying something along these lines. "Use all your senses to fight. Feel your enemies' presence and energy. Yadayada."

If only I had listened to that old pervert, I thought. It was too late now to ask him. I sighed out loud, clearing my mind of all thoughts. Everything was silent, almost resonating to the darkness. Excluding my eyes, all of my others senses seemed fully purposeful. Oh what am I doing? This was useless, I just couldn't do it. Opening my eyes again, I placed one hand in front of my face to avoid her gaze.

"Are you two done fighting?" Katarina whispered in my ear, placing her arm in front of my face, trying to grab my neck.

Paul backed away from her without gazing in her direction, barely missing a frontal kick from the princess. It was too late for me—one of my eyes had been open when she placed her arm around me. Rolling out of the way, I got away from her, landing on one knee. To my surprise, half of my body had been frozen. I couldn't move the left side of my body. Even with the sphere of the fourth blast protecting my body, she had still found some way to get past it, attacking without me even noticing it. What was I going to do now? I was hungry, injured, confused, and to make things worse outclassed in power.

"Don't give up," a voice whispered to me, followed by a swift brush of clean air.

Who was that? I didn't recognize the voice at all or where it came from. It wasn't Paul or anyone I knew. Nonetheless, they were right, giving up meant my demise. I struggled slowly until I got up, barely shaking in my knees. The sphere of the forth blast was still covering my body although it seemed to be getting weaker. I didn't have much time until I ran out of energy and it looked like Katarina Fox was still barely even trying. I felt slight fear inside my heart, and a tingling strange sensation of doubt and regret. In the face of my greatest enemy, everything started to come together like a puzzle. Ebi must have faced her in her true form, probably being stunned by this bothersome power of hers. If that was the case, then it explained how he lost the battle. Still can't explain how his soul was sucked into the gauntlet. Was it the gauntlet's doing or another one of the Rainku's power?

"I hate to ruin your parade, but I have a schedule to keep," Katarina giggled manically, raising her trident up in the air. "This time it's over."

Yet again, there was a shift in the weather, beyond anything she had displayed thus far. The wind burned, howling like a small storm was about to erupt. Something bad was about to happen, I could feel it in every fiber in my body. Realizing my impending demise, I moved away from her, trying to evade anything she could throw at me, but something went wrong

A terrible numbness on left side stopped me from moving. Panicking softly, I sat on my right knee unsure of what to do. In an instant, Katarina was right on top of me. Looking up at her, I was surprised at the fact that I didn't freeze completely. Probably, her power only worked whenever sun light hit her skin, and her frontal side wasn't facing the sun.

Yes, that had to be it. Katarina descended down again, placing her free arm on her waist while her other arm was raised up. The trident in her right arm was glowing with vibrant blue energy. Shrieking loudly, a rip in the air formed. Out of it, two wild beasts rattled out, moving towards me slowly. Growling hard, they looked terribly powerful and fierce. Just what were they? They looked like a mixture between a hard skinned fox and a swift wolf. I gripped my arm tightly, sensing the growing danger. I jumped up into the air to give myself an advantage. For some reason, the numbness in my arm and leg had receded, allowing me to maneuver at little bit better.

"Where are you going Riyo?" Katarina appeared in front of me barely missing my face with her trident. "The fun's just getting started."

Whoa! I didn't sense her or see her move from her previous position. She was just so fast and stronger, almost scary. By far, she was the most powerful opponent I had ever faced. Just what was she? As I ducked and fell to the ground my right eye accidentally looked at her shoulder, causing my right side of the body to freeze too.

"No! No! This is not happening," I said, biting my lip.

Was this really happening? How could I win against her if I couldn't even look at her? One of the two beasts jumped onto my back and was quickly repulsed back by my forth blast sphere. I rolled back and made my stand at the dark corner of the dungeons. My chances of coming out of this alive were slipping by faster than I could grasp. She was definitely tough, but even the strongest opponent had to fall at some point. To my right, I felt a sensation of bloodlust in the air. The other monster Katarina had summoned was right on top of me, jaws out and claws extended out. Instead of being pushed back, it broke through my sphere barrier slightly, scratching on my arm hard. Such power and agility was beyond belief. My word, I never thought it was possible for any animal to push me back this far when I was using most of my power and yet this one had. How could this be?

"These beasts are not of this world," Katarina said, descending from the air in an untimely fashion. "Your power is merely nothing when compared with my creatures."

"So it seems," I chuckled and readjusted my body, putting most of my weight into my left leg. "They are indeed powerful; however, power isn't always everything against someone with agility and speed."

Having said that, I knew I had to back up my words with sheer brute effort or face utmost defeat. Longer this fight dragged on, the more likely it was for me to fall to her. I took my eyes off her and looked up. The meteors were still falling above, destroying everything within the castle. Just what was that bunion thinking? And to my right, the monsters were getting ready to strike again. It would have been favorable to fly up towards the surface; however, that only increased Katarina's second power too, making it far too difficult to face her. Around me, I felt the sphere barrier start to flicker slowly. It seemed my forth blast's power was about to run out. In that instant, the savage beasts sensed my desperation and attacked me relentlessly, aiming for my neck and chest. Out of hope, I took heed Ebi's words and closed my eyes.

"Ebi, you better be right about this," I said to myself, focusing as hard as I could.

To my surprise, it worked. Everywhere around me, I sensed movements from the creatures and from the people above the surface. I had only tried this particular power twice back when I was still to the yellow world. Since, I thought it was a stupid thing to master, I stopped practicing it. However, I wish I had mastered it now.

There! I began to see without really using my eyes. Dodging to my left and then to the back, I sensed it all. Every one of their movements was clear as day. I felt one of them lunge for my neck and I kicked it away, jumping upon a dented stone. How was I doing this? It felt weird, having to feel them and attacking without using my eyes. Well whatever I was doing, I hoped I could keep it up for a while. Above me, I sensed the meteor storm stopping. It was growing quiet on the surface, like the battle had been decided. What was going on? There was no way Dashe could stop this attack by himself. Something must have happened to him but what? I started to worry about the others as I kept evading the two monster animals. Without thoroughly thinking, I took off for the skies, firing bullets rapidly into the creatures beneath me. Using both guns, I finished them off with my two of my most powerful green bullets, destroying the ground underneath them at the same time. Oh no, Paul was still down there. I opened my eyes slowly, only to see the dungeon fall to rubble. A cloud of dust was rising up from below, covering anything down under from my sight. I descended down onto the surface ground, trying to sense their presence. Shockingly, Katarina Fox's large energy had just vanished, along with Paul and the princess's. Had I pulverized them, too? No, that would have been too easy. After all, she was one of the Rainku and not someone easy to annihilate. Instinctively lowering my head, I rolled out of the way at the first feeling of coldness above me.

"You truly are Ebi's student," a dark voice hissed, coming from above me. "But it looks like you didn't inherit your mentor's perverted ways too."

I looked up and saw her dark lingering shadow. For a second, I felt a dread of fear clutch further onto my heart. Despite all my attempts, it appeared I could not vanquish this evil. I had tried almost everything and nothing seemed to be working. She was just too powerful and I was no match.

"Enough! This has gone too far," Katarina screamed, breaking the chains of time from her trident easily. "I am tired of playing around with you—clearly this is the peak of your power so there is no point in wasting any more of my time."

Impossible, Ebi had said that the chains of time could not be broken by mere hands and yet she had done it with ease. That old geezer had misinformed me again. With all her powers back, did I stand a chance anymore? My body ached and my inner energy was weakening and yet she seemed to be getting stronger and powerful, far beyond my comprehension. It was now obvious—if she wanted, she could have finished me off a long time ago, but she hadn't. Why was she taunting me so deeply? Darn it! I moved out her of path, covering my eyes from looking at her. All above me, I felt her dark energy, like a large storm was swarming above me. Such a foul presence was beyond my wildest imagination. I clearly doubted she was even human at this point. Up above me, I felt her energy shift like she was moving. Moving to my left, I ran out of harm's way as soon as I felt a chill in the air. Katarina's shadow grazed behind me, forcing me to turn my back around. I fired two green bullets into blank air, opening one eye to look around. Somehow, she dodged and kicked my ankle hard. I fell to the ground, feeling an unimaginable pain rush into my leg.

It felt like she had broken a bone in my left leg. Again she lingered up above, causing me to roll over on one knee without looking up. It was difficult to fight her without looking her in the eye. Getting back up on one knee, I limped off to the side and looked all over the castle. Her citadel was in ruins, destroyed down into the ground by the combined force of my friends and their allies. Screams echoed in every direction, the fight was still going on. The tide of the battle had been changing in our favor; however, with Katarina joining the battle, nothing was certain anymore.

"Why do you still get up?" Katarina asked me as she landed a few yards away from me. "Don't you realize you can't win? We the Rainku are the ultimate rulers and our power is unchallenged. Having courage and determination is no substitute for true power. Mere weaklings like you should just give up and die right now."

Deep down, she was right. Power did make a huge difference in the outcome of any battle. Nevertheless, nothing was certain in life. Things had a crazy way of turning for the worst or for the better, even if something was carefully thought through or planned.

"Just because you are powerful it doesn't make your life more important than anyone else. Tyrants like you will never understand, but I will soon make you see the error of your ways," I yelled, dashing towards her in a profound manner.

She smirked softly, moving in closer to me with her trident up above, aiming it towards my head. Taking two steps back, I moved out of her way and fired two more green bullets at her, hoping to land at least one good shot before my forth blast ran out. To my surprise, I finally landed a hit on her, throwing her off course in the opposite direction. I heard her gasp before falling into a crater of rubble on the other side. Without hesitation, I fired a few more good shots in her direction, taking advantage of the opening I had created. Storms of dust erupted from her direction followed by small tremors in the ground. Falling to my knees, I sighed heavily, firmly holding my leg which ached terribly. That last combination attack had taken every ounce of power and focus I had. A cloud of debris blinded me from seeing her. She was still much alive, but I could tell that I had wounded her a little.

"You are definitely starting to become an eyesore, Riyo," she panted, holding my shoulder from behind. "Now I will show you the true power of the white water mist."

I felt a cold chill behind me and slowly looked back. On her belly, I saw a red marked bruise probably caused by my last attack. Something was strange here; I did not freeze upon look. And I think I knew why. The sky had turned grey, roaring with thunder and lightning. She was no longer invincible because the sun had been hidden behind the grey clouds or so I thought. Before I could free myself from her clutch, Katarina Fox grabbed my neck and threw me into the ground with all her might. My head scrambled apart, feeling painfully numb. It seemed over now finally for me. Despite the pain, I grunted out loud as I looked at her. Katarina laughed terribly and even louder than before. The evolution of her laughter echoed throughout my body, causing massive pain throughout my head to toe. Her energy felt raw, raging further out of control. My word, I could not believe what my eyes were seeing. She was morphing, growing bigger, and furrier than before. How could it be? Just what was she? In her arms, I bore witness to her weapon disappear after glowing blue in color. The marking on her trident suddenly appeared all over her arms and legs. Slowly, I got to my feet and looked up, filled with fear and anxiety. All my hopes of victory seemed in vain now.

"Well, this was new," I chuckled to myself, looking towards her. "So this is what my demise looks like?"

40

The sky raged with howling gusts of winds and flashes of lightning. I was bearing witness to a power out of my darkest nightmare. Katarina Fox had transformed into what looked like a huge golden-brown furred fox, dwarfing her castle completely. It made sense now—she was not human at all. At least now I knew why her last name was "Fox."

"The taste of your fear is sweet," the fox growled, drooling corrosive saliva on the ground.

"What is that?" I looked at the tail and noticed that it was her trident.

Her main weapon had been transformed into her tail, glowing effortlessly in every direction. Safe to say, this was her true form.

How could I fight such a monster? It was wise to run, but I couldn't. My whole body ached badly, demanding me to stop and rest. The fox looked down on me and roared out loudly.

"See if you can survive this," it hissed before opening its jaws up widely.

Something was happening inside its mouth. Everything below me began to get sucked inside, being drawn upwards by the massive winds sprouting out of its mouth. I ran for cover and took refuge behind a concrete pile of rubble. In every direction, I watched my comrades run for their lives, taking shelter outsider her gaze. This was no longer a fight for victory, but for survival.

"Die, you scum," the fox growled, lowering its head to make the effects of the wormhole even stronger.

Looking up slightly, I thought of something interesting which could work to my advantage. "Katarina," I screamed towards her with all my might, barely holding onto a piece of wall from one of the buildings. "If you suck me into the wormhole, you will destroy the axion armor and the gauntlet along with me."

She closed her mouth and growled at me. "You are right; I still need those two items, and I can take them from your burnt body."

"Burnt body," I whispered out of confusion.

To be honest, I had no idea what she meant by that. I guess she wasn't that bright when she was transformed. However, I took her words in careful consideration and jumped up into the sky, drawing her away from the others. Oh no, she jumped too, flying after me with relenting speed. Seriously how was it doing that? For something her size, it should be hard to move around quickly, let alone fly.

"Rid, where are you going?" Paul screamed, digging himself out of the dungeon debris.

I took one glance at him and turned away, trying to keep myself focused. For now, it was best to keep everyone away from this rampaging beast.

"Paul, stay there," I rolled to my right, avoiding the jaws of the creature from ripping me to pieces. "I am going to lure this giant monster away from everyone."

Flying faster, I soared further into the sky, past the clouds, trying everything to lose this creature that pursued me. But no matter how fast I flew, I could not lose her or it. Without warning, it vanished behind me, hiding into the depths of the clouds. Pausing briefly, I stopped moving and began to look for her or it. It was confusing so I will just call it a vixen witch. How could a fox that massive disappear like that? It didn't make sense at all. As I was busy pondering for an answer, I felt the air around me suddenly change, getting hot and dry. My skin felt dry like it was going to wither. Was this the sun? No, it couldn't be! I thought.

I looked up and that's when I noticed it. The vixen witch was on top of me with its mouth open again. Something was brewing inside its mouth, something very hot. A giant sphere of fire descended out its mouth, dropping down faster than I could evade away from. My word, I could not believe it. Behind her, there appeared to be two more suns far above the sky.

"What is going on here?" I panicked, flinching a little bit. "It couldn't be could it?"

She was about to destroy me and everything below, using a small sun of all things. What a tragedy indeed. Turning around, I fled down towards the others, hoping to warn them ahead of time. Getting closer to the ground, I stopped and turned my gaze up at the small sun.

"Rid," Kaya yelled from below me on the ground.

"Darn it, this is just perfect."

Above us, the giant ball was picking up faster, coming down directly in our position. It was too big—there was no way to avoid it.

"Get out of the way, Rid." Ogana screamed, grabbing Kaya and Suzunne and running out of the way.

No, it was too late for that. None of us could evade this ball of fire in time. Upon impact, it would engulf everything in sight into burning ash. I looked down and realized that my options were limited. The only way to stop this thing was to deflect it out of the way using the power of the gauntlet. Two problems—this sphere was moving too fast, and far too heavy to be stopped at this height. Inside it, I felt an immense amount of pure and condensed energy, too unstable to be absorbed into my body. And if I let this sphere hit the ground, the entire city would be pulverized completely. All my friends were down there, hiding out of sight.

"I won't let you destroy everything," I screamed and soared towards it.

Within range of it, I stopped in plain air and raised my hands to stop it. Touching it with my bare hands, I took a gamble and started to absorb all of the energy into my body. A rain of sweat dropped hastily on my face, making me squint constantly. I had never felt such a great amount of heat before. Behind it, I felt my grasp on it slipping, being pushed further back into the ground. Ignoring the burning pain, I absorbed most of the energy out of it and used its power in me to deflect it away from the city, towards the outskirt desert.

"This is the end, Riyo," the vixen witch growled, sending another sun towards us. "Your life will end here. Not even you can stop the power of the suns."

Another one! There was absolutely no way I could deflect them away much less survive. I gazed at where the second sun in the sky was before and noticed that it had disappeared too, leaving only one sun in the sky. Looking up, I dropped to my knees, lost out my mind. It had taken everything out of me just to deflect the other sun out of the city and now I was faced with another one. To add to my misfortune, the forth blast's power had disappeared, completely gone out of my body.

"Riyo, what are you doing?" Dashe yelled, getting up from his sit. "Is that all the power you have?"

"Just shut up," I whispered out of frustration.

"You wield the sacred gauntlet and yet you fight like a weakling, so pathetic," Dashe finished, shaking his head carelessly.

Ugh! I really didn't want to hear Dashe's voice at a time like this. He was definitely annoying at times; however, he was right. Even without the forth and the fifth blast's power, I could still fight. Just barely above me, the second sun was descending down fast, almost within range to cause epic destruction. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Suzanne, still unconscious in Ogana's right hand.

"That horrible fiend," I rattled in anger.

This was all Katarina Fox's fault. She had almost killed Suzanne and I wasn't going to let her get away with it, even if it cost me my life. Slowly, my body began to transform, filled with the power of the small sun I had absorbed. So powerful, it was turning my flesh into raw light. I didn't know how I was doing this, but I didn't fight it. For the sake of my friends, I didn't care if I lived or died as long as I vanquished the evil above us. Power was emanating from all over my body, giving me strength to get up again and face my enemy once more. I jumped up into the air and attacked the second sun without any hesitation. Pouring every ounce of the first sun's energy directly into my arms and legs, I pushed against it hard. The sun yielded as I sent it hard back into the direction of the fox above me. I fired a new golden bullet into the small sun, exploding it in the vixen witch's face. The giant fox roared, ascending into the skies, covered by a chariot of fire. Everything went ablaze above me as I fell down towards ground.

"I guess this is as far as I was meant to go."

I could no longer get up—my body twitched continuously as it felt like a million blades were jabbing me at the same time. At least everything had become quiet for once. For now, the nightmare was over.

"Rid, are you okay?" Kaya whispered as he came and kneeled beside me.

I looked at him before looking up in the sky.

"Yeah, I will live," I said, closing my eyes.

Finally it felt good to no longer worry and let go for a while.

41

"Rid, wake up." Someone yelled, shacking me roughly with unending resilience.

What now? It had been barely a few moments since I closed my eyes or was it? Every part of my body ached, sending shivers down my spine. To my left, I felt someone, but I didn't bother to open my eyes at all.

"Wake me later," I mumbled beneath my breath, turning the other way to get comfortable. "Whatever it is it can wait."

"No, it can't," a familiar voice instantly replied.

I opened my eyes and noticed the sun start to go down slowly. Just how long had I been asleep for? In the air, we heard a loud ruckus echoing throughout the sky. It was then, I felt Katarina's presence again, well as a vixen witch that is. She lingered within the clouds, plotting vengeance upon me.

"Finally you are awake," Kaya coughed loudly. He appeared hurt as he kept his right hand filmy on his left elbow. "I have been trying to wake you up for awhile without response."

"What's going on?" I asked him, supporting my weight using both of my hands.

My legs trembled, unable to support my body. I saw my friends along with their allies, standing within the ruins of the castle. They had defeated her minions, leaving her as the only adversary left.

"Riyo, how dare you!" she growled loudly, sending small tremors in the ground beneath me.

I look upwards and noticed Katarina Fox still in her true form, as a large fox. She looked more ridiculous and less menacing than before. Half her fur had been burnt off from her body. I wasn't sure whether to laugh at her or take her seriously. This was bad; I could no longer fight her. I had used everything I had to deflect her suns away from the others and now I was in trouble. Upon closer look, Katarina was acting more out of control than usual. Her trident-tail was ripping apart the wind in every direction like a tycoon. I had to give it to her, she was truly one tough old fox. Even after giving it everything I had plus more it still didn't stop her at all. But how had she survived that attack? Of course, it was the trident's power to control time and space. It just had to be. But on the bright side, I had inflicted damage towards her.

"Don't worry, Rid," Kaya chuckled, moving in front of me with his arms raised, full of courage. "I will protect you."

"No, she is too powerful," I replied instantly without thinking. "You must hurry and go before it's too late. Find your brother, Kaya, and leave this place immediately. I will buy you some time."

"No, not this time," Kaya shook his head as he took a defensive stance in front of me. "You helped me get all the way here. I won't leave you to die; it would be against my pride and everything I believe in."

Pride! A child like him knew about pride? I was surprised as well as relieved by his words. Now I truly understood why it was worth fighting all the Rainku. It was for people like him whose value towards others I felt I needed to fight for. Even though I had been convicted as a criminal and labeled an outcast, I felt happy that someone found value in my existence.

"Riyo," the fox roared fiercely before sending a small sphere of fire towards Kaya and me.

No, it was too much. Neither Kaya nor I had the power to stop it.

"Kaya, run," I yelled to him from the top of my voice. "You can't stop that."

Kaya looked at me from the corner of his eye and smiled before running towards it. He leaped in the air with great power, and just before contact, he exploded his entire body and stopped it slowly from hitting me too.

"No, Kaya," I screamed towards him, helpless, watching from the ground.

I had promised him that I would protect him so that he wouldn't use that power, and now I had broken that promise. The two forces cancelled each other out, after what appeared to be a great and long draw.

"Kaya, you stupid idiot," I yelled, raising my hand despite the pain towards him. "Please don't be dead."

This was my entire fault—if only I hadn't made him come along. Gritting my teeth, I tried hard to look away, but I couldn't. I wanted to know if Kaya was okay. A few yards away from me, I saw his body on the ground. He was still alive fortunately, although not moving. Tears started to drop from my eyes as I watched him lay helplessly on the ground, motionless. First, it was Suzanne and now Kaya too. It was too much to bear and think about. They had put their lives on the line to fight for what they believed in. Why couldn't I do the same? Why was I letting my pain stop me?

"Surround her," Ogana yelled from somewhere in the sky. "Don't let her out of your sight." Everyone from earlier were there including Dien and Glazer. Roughly about a hundred people were fighting her now and giving her a hard time. I could not tell who was winning, but from the looks of things, it appeared the vixen version of Katarina had the advantage.

"Enough of this," the fox growled, stomping the air rapidly with its trident tail. "It is time I ended this."

The vixen witch opened its mouth and this time it wasn't huge fire balls that came out, but a horde of monstrous soldiers. They were bathed in the vapors of the mist, and moved fast like the wind. It couldn't be! Had she placed these reserve soldiers near the mist to power them up for a time like this? It certainly appeared to be the case and this wasn't good. The tides began to tip rapidly against my companions as they began to fall out of the sky, one after the other. Paul was there too and seemed to be holding out thanks to the power of the gloves of Hoken. Our forces were being dwindled down, falling apart to her might. I wanted to get up, get up and help them. I rattled from the ground unable to do anything to help them at all.

"Riyo," a strange voice called out to me.

I looked around and I saw no one. Ignoring it, I concentrated my entire mind on the events that were unfolding right above me. I witnessed the mayhem in tears as everyone I knew was being beaten mercilessly by her monstrous army. If only I had been stronger and more powerful, I could have helped in some way. Everything that was happening was my fault, my guilt to bear forever. And now, I was far more vulnerable than I had ever been before. Soon, she would set her gaze on me and I would be next. And like that, Katarina descended to the ground towards me with a gruesome smile on her monster face. She paced herself and stopped on top of me, with her front paws around me. This was the end indeed. I was staring oblivion in the face and I was scared, to be honest.

"You are the first person who has dealt this much pain to me," the fox snared. "You should feel honored to be killed by me personally."

"Well, the feeling is not mutual," I chuckled, trying to keep myself from falling in spirit. "I like your new fur. It looks good on you."

The moment I spoke, the fox jabbed me hard in the stomach with its left paw sideways, sending me flying into the opposite side of the city. Before I had a chance to crash into the ground, she caught me in the air and struck me in the back with the trident. I felt it, but did not pierce through me. Somehow, the axion armor had responded to my will and hardened in the back, just in the nick of time.

"Magnificent," the fox giggled with uncontrolled joy. "Yes, this is the power I have been looking for. It is going to give me great pleasure to strip it from your flesh."

Yeah, pleasure for her, but not for me! I twitched from discomfort for a minute, unable to think of anything. The pain was maddening and much more horrific than anything I had ever felt before. I just wanted to let her finish me off quickly; however, something told she was going to slowly torture me before killing me.

"I knew letting you live for a while would benefit me later," the fox continued as it looked up towards the soldiers still fighting a few of my companion in the sky. "You didn't really think I didn't know where you were, did you?"

"What are you talking about, you monster?" I rattled at her.

There was something about her words that aroused my interest. All this time, I knew she was toying with me, playing with my future in the palms of her hands.

"I knew it would be the three of you who would find the caravan, and merely sent my weakest minions to face you." She began and grinned menacingly, showing off her big sharp teeth. "Everything went according to my plans and you three were just pawns in my little game."

"You lie," I roared in disbelief. "You can't have predicted what we would do. The paths we choose in life are not written in stone—we make them through the choices we make."

"Is that so? Do you really believe that?" she laughed loudly, looking me straight into the eye.

"Your path had already been chosen, and I merely sped up the process. Do you really think the treasure dogs' appearance was just a mere coincidence? Did you ever wonder why they didn't try to kill you in the first place?"

"You seriously expect me to believe that nonsense?" I spat at her. Deep down, I knew it was true. "What would you benefit from all this?"

"The secrets I was looking for," she hissed and placed her paw on my legs. "The ultimate treasures cannot be used by just anyone, only by those who have been deemed worthy."

"You had us cornered, so why didn't you just capture us then before we became a threat?"

"Where is the fun in that?" she laughed and pressed her paw even harder on my legs. "If I did that, I wouldn't have been able to gather enough knowledge on how each weapon worked especially the gauntlet of destiny. I truly wanted to see depths of the gauntlet's hidden potential and how it picked its bearers out. Although it is strange, I would never have imagined you would make it this far and get so strong in such a small time. I did everything within my power to push you here so that you could unlock the axion armor and sucano mask for me, since I could not use the power of the gauntlet. I can honestly say these turn of events were not the outcome I predicted to occur. But now, I don't need you anymore since I have learned important secrets to unlocking the rest of the other hidden treasures. I will slowly and painfully take the axion armor and the gauntlet away from you now."

Disgusting! She truly was a sadistic cunning fox to plan everything to play out this far. She was just so brilliant and I couldn't help, but admire her intellect. I had been played for a fool and I felt like a true idiot. Was anything I had experienced been real? Were my friends even really my friends at all? Did I even have a choice in my life? Nothing felt authentic anymore to me. All I wanted to do now was just die, and just forget everything.

"You let your guard down, Katarina," someone interrupted us with a rough voice. "I always thought you were smarter than that."

I looked towards the fox and noticed Showe and Glazer standing on each side of her. Glazer had his flintlock rifle in his right arm and his left hand placed on his sword's sheath. Fools, there was no way they could take someone of her caliber on. What were they thinking?

"What do you vermin want?" the fox rattled, looking at them like they were pests. "Wait your turn if you want to die so badly."

Showe chuckled, showing no signs of fear or remorse in his eyes. He looked absolutely confident in his boast and I wondered why? Glazer suddenly moved towards the fox and touched the bare skin with both hands.

"What are you.....?" the fox rattled, unable to move its enormous body. "What have you done to me?"

Whoa! It looked like whatever they were doing had rendered the fox immobile. Indeed Showe was truly brave; I could only hope now that whatever he had in mind next would finish her off.

"I have rendered your body useless," Glazer smiled while holding onto the fox with his hands. "You are pretty powerful to be resisting me this much, Katarina."

As Glazer talked, I saw sweat drop down his face like he was holding onto something heavy. "Showe, now is the time to do it," Glazer yelled from the top of his voice suddenly. "I can't hold her back any longer."

"Right!" Showe nodded, unsheathing his sword quickly in a profound manner. "I will make this quick and as painful as possible Katarina."

Just as he finished speaking, he jumped onto the ground and dashed towards the fox with much power in his feet, his sword aimed for her heart. It was hard to say whether it was anger or fear that was written on his face as he leaped into the air for her chest. His bravery and actions were amazing. I wanted to have that kind of power, the strength to revoke fear and jump into oblivion without any regrets and remorse.

Wait! Something was wrong. I felt another person approach quickly. I had felt it before when we were coming to the castle, but who did it belong to? As I looked back, I saw a fog suddenly clash with Showe's sword, stopping it completely in its tracks.

"Anrio," I whispered silently, trying to ignore the pain all over my body.

I should have known it was going to take more than two people to stop a lunatic like him.

"Sorry, mistress, I took so long," he bowed his head after pushing Showe backwards. "I was gone on a treasure hunt."

In his hands, he held the purple sword I had disposed of earlier. How could he have found it? I had thrown it far away and made sure no one knew which direction I had thrown it and yet... I couldn't even finish that sentence as I grinded my teeth with loath.

"You again," Showe hissed, with heavy anxiety in his words. "I thought we got rid of you earlier. Why are you still alive?"

Showe's sword broke from the sheer might of the purple sword, causing him to fall back. Anrio took advantage of this and moved in quickly to deliver the final blow. It was then, Dashe appeared and blocked him off with two swords. Anrio moved back, fighting off the combined force of Dashe and Showe. To my right, I saw Glazer struggling hard to hold her off. His grip was slipping off her.

"I'm sorry, Showe," Glazer cried, letting go off the fox from his grasp.

Suddenly the fox went wild as it roared and stomped the ground with frightening power. Oh no, I had never seen her pissed before and I doubted if that was a good thing.

"Worthless fools," the vixen witch spat with eyes so golden it was horrifying. "I will now show you the true wrath of the Rainku. Anrio, take care of those fools and leave these two to me."

"Glazer, get up and run," I said instantly as I sensed the danger rapidly growing.

He looked back with sweat dropping on his face and smiled gently, "it's too late, Rid."

Just as he finished speaking, the vixen witch slammed him into the ground with her right paw many times, kicking him finally to the other side of the castle.

"No, Glazer," I yelled as I lay defenselessly on the ground with my eyes towards his floating body.

The fox grinned greatly as it looked back at me, "sorry for the sudden interruption. Shall we continue where we left off?"

I ignored it as tears fell down rapidly on my face. Indeed I had led them to their deaths and I regretted every bit of my decision. Without warning, the vixen witch leaped into the air high and readied itself for its next attack. What now? What was she plotting to do? Struggling to get up, I realized that I couldn't get out of the way in time. This was the end.

By impulse, I hardened the axion armor, using my willpower, trying to protect myself from the inevitable. Deep down, I knew I wouldn't survive it; however, I had to try. The vixen witch lingered above me, looking down at me with a menacing smile. The sheer anticipation of trying to predict her next move was killing me. Was she going to suck me into another wormhole? Or was it going to be another ball of fire? Oh, wait, maybe she was going to summon a huge treasure dog. All these attacks truly sounded bad. The more I thought about it, the more my body throbbed. Surprisingly the fox didn't do any of that—instead it started to freefall down towards me with its heels together in its center. On no, she was going to stomp me down flat using the force in her heels. In an instant, her whole weight fell onto me, crashing deep into the earth. I truly felt like I had been run over by the entire world as I screamed in agony. This was it—I had lost. In the end, it had been all a fool's dream to think I had a chance at all. Without fight it, I closed my eyes and accepted oblivion, smiling faintly.

42

"Riyo," a voice called out to me.

Who was calling out to me? I didn't recognize the voice at all. As I opened my eyes, I saw darkness surrounding me, and a bright golden light in front of me. Why was it so dark around me? Oh! It appeared I was dead seeing as that there was a light in front of me. Had to say, this was not what I expected. I expected a little more than what I was seeing right now. Was this limbo? Looking straight ahead, I heard silent whispers within the light.

"Hello," I replied, trying to be friendly. "Do I know you? And is this the next world?"

Strangely, I could no longer feel pain or anything. I was perfectly okay, neither hungry nor in pain.

"You can finally hear me," the voice within the light spoke gently. "I have been with you and I have calling out to you. The time has finally come for you to shine the light into your dark world."

What is this? Suddenly, I felt fear mixed with anxiety. I had never felt such a great presence before in my life. The energy was pure, warm, and greatly powerful. Whatever this light was, it wasn't human at all. This presence was so great it made Katarina look like a puppy.

"What are you please, if I may ask?" I spoke, attempting to be as friendly and polite as possible.

The light was truly bright and intense. From it, I felt a sense of peace and warmth, stirring softly into my heart.

"I am a messenger sent guide you," the voice replied me as it appeared to be coming closer.

A messenger sent to guide me? I didn't understand at all what the light was saying. Was it wiser to keep asking more questions?

"Who sent you?" I asked curiously with my eyes widened.

Suddenly I felt like I was hugged by the light. I could feel what looked like hands around me and for an instance I thought I saw wings. Just what was this light? I had never felt anything like it before. The embrace felt gentle, warm, and full of love. Tears slowly dropped down my cheeks as I remembered something. This feeling had been what I had desired all along. It felt like my mother was hugging me. My whole life, I had misbehaved because I had craved attention from my parents. It was not my fault that I was different from the other Rogueans. I lacked the rage and drive which my stepbrother had. Nor was I motivated into my duties as royalty like my other cousins.

"I was sent from above to guide you, Riyo, your heart is still lost and in doubt. This darkness around us is the turmoil inside you." the voice replied. "You already know the answer to your next question."

No way, I looked up a bit confused. Could this light read thoughts? In a way, I did know the answer to my next question, so I didn't bother asking. Not that I will tell you what I wanted to ask.

"You must go back, Riyo, finish what you started and protect those close to you and the future," the voice continued as it gently backed away from me.

Go back? But I couldn't, seeing as that I was already dead and all. Once someone was dead, I doubted it would be an easy task to return them to the world of the living.

"I can't," I replied back, staring away into the darkness. "I am dead, as you can see. And as you know, I have lost twice to her. I am a coward and no match for her."

Something that looked like a hand raised my head up high. "You are not dead yet, Riyo. Do not give up when the odds are against you. It is not power that accounts for victory, but the heart that fears and cares for others. Courage and strength is not the absence of fear but power to protect and fight for what you think is precious and dear to you"

Yeah right, I doubted that in my case. I was not like the other Rogueans, I did not share their rage and urge to fight. Most likely, it was the reason why I appeared like a coward to others. My father had tried his best to make me like the others, but he had failed on several occasions. In the end, he gave up on me and completely ignored me to focus his attention on the son he wished he had, which was James. It was the reason why I drank heavily and caused mayhem around the whole country back in the day. I did everything I could so that I could perhaps get him to notice me and perhaps scorn me like a good parent would. To think now, I had changed and became stronger enough to face the Rainku was truly something of a joke.

"You are strong why can't you beat her?" I asked the light in a serious manner.

There was no response at first, but then it whispered deeply, "that is something that has always been left to you. I cannot interfere with your fate, Riyo, but I can guide you out of the darkness." I didn't reply, seeing as that I didn't have a proper question or answer to respond to it at all. Again with this destiny stuff—it was like all my choices had been made for me. How much of my life was mine to control?

"You say that now," I spoke gently, breathing slowly. "But do you know anything about me? I am a liar, a thief, a banished Roguean, and truly the worst scum of this world. How can you say that I can save all those people? Why me and not someone else like Ogana or Suzanne?"

"It's because you see what others don't," the light instantly replied me back. "You kept going even when it was hopeless. The moment you made the choice to stay and fight Katarina Fox, you became a beacon of light for the others. They came back because they had faith in you. Believe in yourself a little more and you can do anything your mind is set on."

Truth be told, I wanted to go back and fight her one more time. My friends would surely suffer if she wasn't defeated. I owed it to all of them to try my best till the end.

"Alright," I continued, sighing slowly beneath my breath. "What should I do?"

The light brightened a bit and out of it appeared the golden sphere. I was bit shocked, although not surprised by the sudden turn of events. After all, the golden sphere always emerged whenever I was in trouble and I owed it my life twice.

"Follow your heart and keep doing your best. I give this unto you—my power," the light responded as it placed the golden sphere into my hands. "It will always guide you from darkness in times of need."

"I see," I replied, observing the sphere in my left hand.

The golden sphere was just like the gauntlet, an object that did not belong in this world. I had felt it radiate with amazing power and now I knew why. Clutching it firmly, I felt it vibrate slowly in my left arm, glowing faintly like the light in front of me.

"Go back and save your friends, Riyo. Only you alone can accomplish this task."

"But how? I am nothing and Katarina is so strong, she is invulnerable" I responded quickly without thinking for a second. "I have tried everything and nothing has worked. How can I win against her?"

The light started to fade slowly, moving far away from me.

"Repent and atone," the voice kept whispering over and over again until the light vanished.

"Seriously! Is that all you are going to tell me?" I yelled into nothing.

Wait! I thought back on those exact it. Ebi had kept saying "repentance" and "atonement" over and over again while we trained. I had thought he was just a troubled old geezer, but now I understood. As I firmly grasped the golden sphere, I smiled to myself, realizing I had unlocked the secret of the fifth blast. A great bright light appeared from the golden sphere and quickly I closed my eyes again with the smile still on my face. Moments later, I opened my eyes again and I was outside in the crater made by Katarina's heels. Strangely I expected pain, but there wasn't any at all. Everything seemed to be working perfectly, like I had been reborn.

"Impossible! How are you still alive?" the Fox growled at me, looking even angrier than before. "But how? I killed you."

I smiled looking at her with no sign of hatred in my eyes. Every negative feeling I had felt towards her had suddenly disappeared from my heart. For some reason, I felt calm, unhindered by any of my past troubles.

"You could say I have been enlightened," I responded as I moved towards her. "Katarina, I no longer hate you for every terrible thing you did to my friends. I was once like you; I never cared for anyone except for myself, but I changed and so can you. I no longer fear you, but pity you with all my heart. Repent and atone for your sins. There is still time to save your soul."

The vixen witch looked at me and giggled manically. "Repent! What sort of nonsense are you talking about? I am Katarina Fox, one of the Rainku. The only thing I will repent is not killing you earlier."

As I had anticipated, she wasn't going to listen to me at all. Well at least I had tried and now it was time I finished this fight between us once and for all. This time, I knew I could win.

"I tried to warn you, Katarina, and you didn't listen," I finished speaking and closed my eyes.

I now believed the fifth blast was energy that had always been there with me the whole time. It was energy I couldn't use before because my heart was in a state of darkness. All the regrets and sadness I held in my heart kept it from being summoned out of me. Looking down, I raised my hands with a new look on life.

"Attack him, Anrio," the fox commanded loudly. "All of you, soldiers, follow suit."

I felt them approach me and I didn't move at all. Despite their formidable power, I kept closing my eyes, completely confident of my new abilities. I finally understood the power of this gauntlet. It was neither a weapon for good nor for evil. It did not make heroes or villains. This object had been created to help someone like me change his destiny and forge a new path in life or so I thought. From within me, immense energy flowed out, giving much desired strength I desperately needed. Was this really me? It certainly didn't feel like it at all. As Anrio got closer, he turned into a fog and circled rapidly around me, trying to suck air away from me.

"What are you going to do now?" he laughed from everywhere in the fog. "No one is going to save you like the last time."

Faintly smiling, I was calm even when the air around me was getting thin. The purple sword lashed out of the mist at me, coming very fast in every direction. Without opening my eyes, I grabbed it with my right hand and completely stopped him. I held it tightly and did not let go from my bare hand.

"Impossible," he commented as he solidified his body again. "No one should be able to grab the Denken sword with their bare hands."

"Anrio, I'm not everyone," I replied and shattered the sword with both hands.

Immense energy poured out of it as it turned into blue light and disappeared into nothing.

"No, you will pay for this," Anrio growled, lashing furious kicks at me.

With great ease, I dodged every one of them and grabbed the heels of his feet firmly. I jumped into the air and threw him into the ground terribly, making a huge crater in the process. The other guards saw what had happened and jumped in to attack me all at once.

"Sorry, Rid, do you mind if we step in?" Ogana spoke with a mob of angry people behind him. "You can take care of Katarina Fox. We'll handle these insects."

My allies! Their numbers had decreased; however, their fighting spirit was very much still alive. To my right, I spotted Kaya and Glazer asleep beneath a concrete cradle of dirt. I had never felt so happy in my life. As one force, we were going to face the inevitable and either win or lose together.

"Are you crying, Rid?" Dashe said, stepping towards to observe my face. "Everyone, I think he is crying, come see this."

What a fool! It was unnecessary thing to say, but then again he was an Iyenkan after all.

"Go towards her," everyone encouraged me with cheers and smiles.

Looking slightly up, I soared in the air towards Katarina Fox. I had finally found my courage and inspiration, in all of them.

"I leave it up to you, my friends."

Finally, the moment to settle our score was now upon us. Everything I had endured had been leading me to this moment. Once I was close to her, I stopped and descended down onto rubble that was once a tower.

"Such insolence enthusiasm," the fox mumbled in an angry manner. "I should have killed them when I had the chance."

"Katarina Fox, this s it."

"You said that a few times already. It will not be different from the last time I defeated you."

"You are absolutely wrong—this time it will be different. I will show you what I mean right now."

43

The sky echoed, trembling to the might of our power. Katarina and I were about to do our last bout for survival. The conditions were perfect—this weather symbolized the turmoil inside our hearts. Rushing swiftly, I took the first move and jumped in the air, disappearing out of sight into the wind. Everything was a blur, I was moving so fast that I had no idea where I was. I stopped briefly and realized I was right next to the vixen witch's (Katarina) left side, close to her stomach. Pulling my arm back, I moved in closer and punched her hard in her animal ribs, sending her flying towards the great wall of the castle. The large vixen fox hit the wall of the castle hard and fell into a pile of debris and dust. As expected, I had unlocked the fifth blast's power, making me more or less a match for her. Looking towards her position, I heard the vixen fox growl, getting back up to attack again. She launched a counterattack, leaping at me with her jaws open and claws out. Flying up, I dodged her first attack, ascending further up out of her reach. Katarina, in her beast state, went on a rampage and flew up after me, attacking me wrathfully without mercy. Left and then right, I evaded her as much as I could. True enough, I had gotten strong; however, she seemed a bit stronger and more determined.

"I got you now," she growled as she opened her mouth in my face.

She had me—I was trapped. Instinctively, I made a grey sphere cover my whole body, retracting away her teeth from me. I pushed her further away by increasing the size of the sphere tenfold.

Her eyes popped wide as rage flashed over all her beast face. To be truthful, it was somewhat tiring to call her Katarina and vixen witch, I mean, I wished she could pick one form and stick to it like everyone else, instead of transforming when she wanted.

"Enough," she growled heavily in the air. "This has gone too far and it should end right now."

The vixen witch opened its mouth greatly as the trident tail began to glow vividly blue. Now what?

Jaws wide apart, I saw a strange portal start to form around its mouth. And within the doorway, there was an unusual city, very grand and almost ancient. I blinked twice and noticed the buildings turn to ruins and begin to rain down from its mouth.

"Are you serious?" I mumbled, shaken, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Unusual and big piles of rocks fell towards me, descending faster than Dashe's meteor storm. I sighed a breath of relief when I noticed that they were vacant of people and animals. Honestly, there was nothing Katarina was not willing to do for victory. Quickly, I flew up towards the setting sun, dodging building rubbles being shot out of her mouth. It seemed like there was no end to them, these ruin stones were all over the sky. Below me, I noticed that the whole area was completely covered with building rubble, and luckily no one was hurt.

"Do you want to see something interesting?" the fox giggled, taking out a face mask from somewhere under its fur. "I will show you the power of the sucano mask."

To my amazement, the mask had gotten bigger just like her. Well at least the buildings had stopped coming from her mouth. I stopped moving, floating effortlessly with my eyes at her. By some strange chance, she managed to put on the mask on her face with her left paw. How did she even do that? Staring at her for a moment, I burst out laughing in tears. I had never seen anything so ridiculous before in my life except for its missing fur.

"What are you supposed to be? A raccoon in a mask?"

"I dare you to laugh now, Riyo," the fox giggled as it disappeared.

What the! Now I was definitely not laughing at all. This wasn't speed or dimensional travelling at all. She had just vanished without any explanation. Looking around, I didn't see her or even sense her at all.

"The sucano mask gives its user the power of invisibility to anything," the vixen fox boasted.

Not good! As long as she had that mask on, she had the advantage. Descending down, I placed my feet down to the ground, waiting for her to make her move. The air stirred slowly, whistling with the uncertainty. Up above me, huge spheres of flames, alongside piles of metal wreckage, fell from the heavens like rain. I had never seen anything like it before. Her attack was wide, covering every possible direction I could run too. She was moving too fast, hidden up in plain sight. Running quickly, I took hid beneath a large curved wall, waiting out her attack. Sadly, that didn't work. The metal piles broke through the wall, falling towards me. Rolling left, I made another grey sphere all over my body, deflecting the metal debris away from me. How could she have that much mist power? The white water mist was not a power without price; it had fatal consequences for each user. Although, I was not entirely sure how and what would happen if too much of it was absorbed into the body. For now, all I could do was dodge and hope an opening would appear for me to attack her. It was then, I felt the air get cold, signaling me that she was very close. Knowing that, I took off into the air, out of range to think of another way to combat her. Behind me, there was destruction, not something caused by the piles of metal or the flame spheres, but by her personally. Indeed she truly was tough. Were all the Rainku this dangerous? If they were, then I was truly in trouble. Further to my inconvenience, the fifth blast's power was still too great for me to control. At the very moment, I was only using half of its power poorly, if I might add. Hated to say it, but I was in trouble and I only saw one way out of it.

"Don't have a choice," I said to myself, taking a stance. "I guess it now or never."

My desperation had forced me to reveal and use my final attack against her. Taking a deep sigh, I closed my eyes for a bit to concentrate.

"What's wrong, Riyo?" The vixen witch laughed from everywhere in the sky. "Are you giving up already? The fun is just getting started."

Giving up was far from it. I figured it was time I showed her something new and exciting. I had never used it before so it was going to take time to prepare. I needed a distraction, but what? Hastily, I thought of something and looked up.

"Katarina," I began and posed for a moment to think of the right words. "I was just wondering about something. What did you mean by saying this is the true power of the white water mist, when you transformed?"

"I know what you are doing," the fox growled from somewhere in the sky. "You are trying to buy time, but I will indulge you. The white water mist is not something natural and from this world."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really believe a power that great comes without a cost? The white water mist is a supernatural vapor that grants its user the power to go after what he or she craves or lust after the most. Unfortunately the price for this power is your body and soul."

Whoa! Some things were starting to add up. I had a feeling things were about to take a turn for the worst.

"But why would you release this dangerous vapor onto world," I asked her as I took a slow breathe. "I mean if what you say is true, then wouldn't that create a kink into your plans for world domination? I mean think about—if everyone in the world had powers to go after what they want the most, they can start a revolution and overthrow you all. In my opinion, it doesn't seem like a smart idea to me.

"You are not seeing the big picture," it laughed, making the sky shake heavily. "What do you think will happen? Come on, Riyo, think!"

What was she trying to say? I thought for a moment, and then it suddenly started to make sense. Everything was now adding up—it was simple and so fiendish. So this was what they were up to?

"You want to watch the whole world burn to the ground, don't you?" I asked, clenching my teeth in anger.

"Exactly, Riyo," it giggled in the wind. "Total anarchy and mayhem—imagine a world where everyone does whatever they want. No rules, no morals, and the world thrown into chaos beyond repair."

"You monsters," I hissed, barely containing my anger. "We won't let you have your way with the world."

"It's already too late, Riyo, the white water mists have already spread across the entire world, so there is no stopping it now."

These savage beasts had gone too far. They were not bent on taking over the world, but destroy it. Wait! I thought of something crucial and important I had to ask. In my opinion, it was either now or never to ask her.

"I have one last question," I spoke and took a defensive stance. "What happens if you rely on the power of white water mist too much?"

"You lose your soul completely, turning into a beast like me," it snickered in a comment.

"You are lying," I responded, gripped with fear.

"If I wanted to lie, I could have done that from the beginning, but I didn't, did I?" She finished, her voice coming from somewhere to my west.

She was right and I hated to admit it. She could have lied to me from the beginning and yet she hadn't for some unknown reason. I paused for a moment, in shock, at the thought of all my friends turning into beasts like the Rainku. Was that really true? Was that what would happen to everyone affected by the mists?

"Enough talk, Riyo, I have indulged you long enough," the fox roared, burping out a fierce fire sphere, the size of a small city. "I will put a stop to this now."

"What now," I asked myself, repeatedly trying to remember anything that would help.

Wait! I still had another incantation I had yet to try. I had not used it because it took time to prepare, not accounting for the amount of energy it consumed. I looked left and right and saw that I was the only person here. Chanting out loud, I said a few incantations and touched the ground. The ground beneath me softened up to on top and hardened down at the bottom, good enough to trap the sphere and stop it. I also remembered that Ken had given a smoke canister and said when the time comes I would know what to do. In my opinion, this was the time. As the huge ball of flames hurled down, I waited for the right moment to make my move. Powerful, soaring winds blossomed in every direction, awakened by the force of the sphere. Just barely before it touched the ground, I threw the smoke canister into the ground and watched as smoke spread everywhere. I made my way out of harm's way and hid behind stone slab, concealed inside the smoke. The huge ball of fire crashed into the ground, sending massive chunks of fire flying in all direction. Everything on the ground was blown apart into bits as the earth rattled wildly. I hung onto the slab for dear life, waiting it out until it was safe to get up. While still hidden, I panted heavily and closed my eyes, channeling all my power into my heart. To use the fifth blast final bullet, I needed a focused and pure regret-free heart. In my case, that was a huge problem. For someone like me, repentance was not something I could just do, not that I ever tried. I didn't know if I even had it within me to confess or much less forgive myself. I had done a lot of terrible things that sometimes I could barely look at the man I had become. But for the sake of everyone who stood by me, I was willing to try. Within me, I felt the energy gather at my center, becoming more and more visible. Swirling softly, it was almost gold and grey in color. I kept holding onto the slab, while my feet were swept up and down by the uncaring winds. The winds finally stopped, but the destruction had been done. How could she?

Nothing remained, not even rubble. All I saw was black ash around me for miles. In my right hand, a smaller and heavier flintlock appeared, instead of my regular twin duo. How could this be? Had something gone wrong? What could I do with such a small weapon? Fortunately, the smoke was still covering me from her, giving me a slight advantage. I tried again to sense her presence, but came up empty. Her mask shielded her from all of my powers, making this very difficult. The gun got even heavier when a long sash appeared on its hilt, completely rendering my arm immobile. No, this was an unexpected turn of events. How would I win if I couldn't even lift my hand to fire the bullet? As I sat there wondering what I would do next, the smoke started to clear up slowly. Soon she was going to be able to see me since I was hiding in an open area. I stood up, supporting all my weight into my left leg and grinded my teeth with anticipation. I had not predicted this outcome. I made the fifth blast sphere appear all over my body and looked up into the setting sun, thinking.

"Why was I still willing to fight?"

A sense of wonder and hopelessness crept into me for a second. It just didn't make sense to me, since I wasn't strong enough to defeat Katarina Fox. No matter how hard I tried, I kept failing which made me wonder if there was any sense in trying. Realizing my impending demise, I took a gamble and decided to put my life on the line on my final move. Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my jaws and sucked in the grey and gold sphere energy covering my body into myself, condensing it heavily as I could. To my surprise, I wasn't getting stronger, but heavy and slower. I felt like I had eaten an entire buffalo which wasn't a good thing. Why was this happening? I looked deep into my own self and saw the reason why all this was happening to me. It was because my heart was still corrupted by my own regrets and past mistakes. Suppressed down within me, there was darkness, corruptions, and so much regret I could barely stand it. I wondered how Dashe felt if he looked inside himself. With all the people he had insulted and beaten up, I doubted he would be happy at all.

"Alright," I said to myself, finally ready to face my past. "Here goes nothing."

"Oh, there you are," the fox growled from somewhere within the sky. "I am still warming up—I wouldn't want you to die so suddenly."

Really! I doubted that very much. After all she had done to me, I would say she wanted me dead quickly.

"Father and mother, I am truly sorry for everything I put you through" I yelled and I truly meant it from the bottom of my heart. "I know I have done a lot of things that humiliated you and for that I am truly sorry."

Sigh! I felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from my shoulders. I had never confessed my feelings before so it felt odd and weird.

"To everyone else who I hurt in my past," I continued and stared down for a second. "I am truly sorry—I apologize and regret my mistakes. I know you can't hear me, but I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me one day."

Everything dark within me was slowly coming to the surface. I had way so much turmoil and regrets that it was way too much to remember. Although all of it was true to say the least. My mother used to cry a lot when I didn't make it home and people found me lying outside, sleeping on the roads, drunk out of my mind.

"What nonsense are you blabbering about?" the fox spat out loud. "Have you lost your mind, scum?"

As she spoke to me, I felt the weight of my dark past start to grow a little bearable. Yes, it was working. Nevertheless, it was a little too embarrassing to continue. I still had a lot to confess over and so little time to do it. Massive bolts of lightning started to fall down from somewhere in the air. Was she getting desperate or was she still toying with me the whole time? The lightning was fast and powerful and it was everywhere. As I deflected it away, I felt it barely nick my hair a little. My hair caught on fire and I quickly patted it rapidly to put it out.

"I'm deeply sorry to all the castle servants and soldiers. You put up with me daily despite all the terrible things I did. I am really a terrible person, but I will change if I can."

I screamed out again as I got up, ran, and ducked. They were just a few of many people I had hurt in the past. It was probably safe to say the list of bad things I had done was endless. During my time in Rogue, I used to abuse my power and got everyone in trouble just to pass time or entertain myself.

"I'm sorry, Daphne, for breaking our promise. I might never come back to Rogue, but we'll always be friends forever."

Now that was something I truly meant from the bottom of my heart. She was better off with someone like James and not me, in the end. I hated to admit it to myself, but there were some things in life that were beyond any of our control. Even though it hurt, we had to learn to move on with our lives and endure through like Ogana was. Well sort of, without the heavy drinking.

"She just won't give up, will she?"

I looked up again—it began to rain fire from the sky. With haste, I took off for the sky to avoid the heavy heat. Where was she getting all these different powers from? Her trident was truly potent and incredible to be able to summon such terrible calamities simultaneously.

No! Why was the fifth blast energy still too dense? Perhaps, I still had more regrets inside me or something else was still holding me back.

"Oh man! I am in serious trouble now."

This time, it rained huge poisonous snakes from somewhere in the east towards me. The sky literally went black as they engulfed any signs of light. Truly, I saw no way to evade them as they left me no room to maneuver through. Taking my small dagger out, I slashed my way through them, flying in the between the opening. The creatures loomed over me in massive piles, trying to spit and bite at me with poison. Quickly, I repelled them away with my fifth blast sphere, wiping most of them into nothing. How could she control all these dreadful beasts and where did she even find them? Clearly she had way too much time on her hands. All my hopes lay on getting my heart clean of all regrets and anger. It was all I could bet on, right at the moment.

"I'm sorry, my new friends, it's because of me you got injured and almost killed. You put so much faith in me, and I let you down on so many accounts. I can't say I am what you expected me to become, but I won't give up without trying"

So many responsibilities and duties lay on my lap. I wasn't sure I could do everything I said I would. There was a loud laugh as I could tell she was enjoying this. Was she laughing at my confessions or the fact that I was running away from snakes? This axion armor really did come in handy.

"It's because I am lying, cheating, and weak man that I couldn't protect you, I know that now." I muttered in shame, lowering my head. "I never wanted you involved and I regret every choice I have made."

Seeing Kaya, Suzanne, Dien, and the others fall to protect me had been one of my biggest regret. I was supposed to protect them and not the other way around. It was I who had led them here and if anyone deserved to sacrifice their life for the others it was me. After saying that, I no longer felt the burden of the fifth level power. Well, most of it anyways. Looking up, I finally raised my right hand us with ease, extending the small gun in front of me. "Okay!"

Even though Katarina was invisible, there was one thing she couldn't hide away from me. It took me a while to realize it, but whenever she moved, she left fragments of disturbed air behind her. Thanks to my eyes, I was the only person who could see this and possibly find her.

There, I saw it across a blurry cloud. Not sure yet, but it appeared that she had stopped moving, about to do something suspicious possibly. The sky was thundering, completely dark grey and with no sun anywhere in sight. There was a highly unusual amount of air disturbance in one point, above me. Best bet, this was her final attack too, and one for the records. Floating lifelessly, I stopped moving, holding my gun tightly. This was it, the moment that counted. Our battle was finally coming to an end. Deep within my heart, I looked for the last time and saw what I truly regretted the most. The one thing in my entire existence I dreaded above anything else. In Rogue, fighting a fellow comrade was not a terrible offense; however, killing a fellow citizen was a punishment far much worse than any crime ever committed. Even though I hadn't committed the crime, it still was my fault. After all, James had killed her to frame me. It was my sword he had used to commit the crime, and that was why they had thought I had done it. If only I had been responsible and lived up to my parents' expectation then none of this would have happened. Sweat dropped down my neck, and I wiped it away and closed my eyes. Focusing on all my sadness, I placed more power into my gun, making the sash behind me longer than it had ever been before.

"What I truly repent and regret the most is the death of the servant girl by my blade," I yelled out loudly without thinking too much. "Your death was my entire fault, I am deeply sorry and I won't let it go unpunished. That is my promise."

It had always been a suppressed memory, but I felt glad the moment I yelled it out to the world. However, I did hope that no one heard me, especially Dashe. He would use this against me for the rest of my life, knowing him, which I did. The weight in my heart that once enshrouded me in darkness and despair unexpectedly faded away and as I truly felt free. Amazing, I felt at ease, like peace had finally settled into my heart. So this is what it felt like to repent? The gauntlet's unrestrained power swirled heavily inside of me, building up even greater into my last bullet.

"Why do you fight me, Riyo, when you know you can't win?" the fox boasted as a giant massive sphere of fire formed. "Do you know how many warriors far greater than you fell to us? The Rainku will rule and destroy this world and there is nothing you can do about it. Soon even the powerful kingdoms like Rogue and Iyenka will fall beneath our feet."

So I was right; their next target was going to be Rogue and Iyenka. If those two countries fell, then there would a less countries strong enough to fend off the Rainku. I couldn't let that happen at any cost.

"I won't let you, Katarina," I responded back. "Even if I fall, someone else will rise and defeat you all. There will always be hope as long as there is light in our path."

That much was certain. I wasn't going to let them harm my family and everyone else. It was all clear to me now. I was going to lead the rebellion that would revolt against the Rainku and wipe them off the planet. With my mind finally focused, I looked back into the sky at the oncoming danger. This sphere was by far the biggest I had even seen. It was like the real sun, growing hotter and even more powerful as I speak.

How could she do that? Was it even real? At this rate, the whole country of Okaya was going to be engulfed into flames. If this sphere hit the ground, nothing was going to survive even me.

"No, Katarina," I yelled towards her. "Stop or you will destroy everything."

"That is the point," the fox growled loudly. "This is the end, Riyo. Now die along with your so called friends."

44

My heartbeat was fast, almost nerve wrecking. Up above me, the biggest sphere I had even seen was falling down towards me. It was too big—there was no way I could stop it like with the other two. To even try was meaningless; all I could do was watch and do nothing. This was the real face of oblivion, and it looked like it was over for me this time. Three wins for her and zero for me, but who is counting, right?

"Believe," a voice whispered to me. "Believe in your own strength, Riyo."

I knew this voice; it came from the light I had seen before in that dark place. What did it want now? Had it coming to help me?

"I can try, but how will that help me?" I responded, looking everywhere for the light.

"Good-bye, Riyo," the vixen witch growled, causing me to look up.

I felt the blistering heat from the sphere as it got even closer to me. Shutting my eyes, I tried to avoid looking at it directly because it was too bright. My mind scrambled all over the place, trying to think of anything to help me stop it.

"If you want to help me, now will be the good time," I said to the strange voice in a panicking manner.

"Go through it, Riyo," the light whispered in my ear gently.

"Through it! Are you serious?" I panicked even more upon hearing that ridiculous answer from the light. "That sounds a bit extreme, don't you think?"

The light didn't answer back to me and I freaked a little, not knowing what to do. Going through something that big sounded a bit insane to me, I would surely die.

"Have faith and go through it," it said again, whispering deep in my head.

"I hope you are right," I replied instantly and jumped towards it.

I had to stop it or wait for my demise. There was no other way around it. Straightening my body, I soared directly into the sphere with a slight sense of fear. I mean, what was I doing? I was about to fly into a sphere because of some voice in my head? I mean, really?

"You can do it, Rid," a familiar voice screamed out to me.

I glanced quickly back and saw Kaya and Suzanne looking up towards me. How had they got here? What were they even doing here? Suzanne! She looked up to me and smiled, her eyes glowing like fireflies. I was glad to see that she was okay and Kaya too. If anything happened to them, I'm not sure I would be able to live myself. Now that I saw them, I had to do whatever it took to stop this blazing inferno. Putting my hands in front, I flew faster and punched with both arms into the sphere. Heat seared me, sending hot pain throughout my body. My heart faltered from hesitation, causing me to slow down a little. It was then a small light appeared in front of me, guiding me through the sphere. Pushing harder into it, I soared up further into the massive inferno, trying to reach the center. I knew exactly where Katarina Fox was and I bet she was not expecting me to come towards her through her sphere. Whoa! It was getting extremely hotter the closer I came to its center. No, this wasn't her power at all. It was far too raw and pure to be her energy. She had to have summoned this sun from somewhere else on the planet, not sure where though. Sweat poured down rapidly and yet I did not stop. I knew exactly what would happen if I did. Kaya and the others would be killed and that was something I wasn't willing to have on my consciousness. Upon reaching the center, I stopped in my tracks and released the remaining energy into a blast sphere. I pulled out everything I had into my sphere, making it larger enough to destroy Katarina's small sun. Clenching my gun firmly, I saw her small sun stop, blowing apart from the inside from my sheer might. In every direction below, small fragments from the sphere dropped to the bottom, setting everything ablaze.

"The next time you do something like that, give us a little warning at least," Paul yelled, hovering a bit below me. He was moving in quickly, absorbing as much of the fire as his body could. Beneath him, the others were doing fairly well, dodging the fragments from the small sun with careless ease.

"Sorry," I responded and took my eyes off him as I searched for the fox.

I knew where it was, but I didn't want it to know I did.

"Impossible," the fox commented. "How did you do that?"

Good question! Even I didn't know how I doing it too. I was being helped by something and that was very clear to me.

"I eat healthy and run several times in a row," I said sarcastically with a smile. "Perhaps, you should try it too."

She growled loudly, sending wind tremors towards me from the east of my direction. As soon as she did, I found her location and charged towards her quickly. She was losing it from what I could tell and that was a good thing for me. The more aggravated she was, the more likely for her to make a mistake. By some chance, I got towards her location and grabbed a portion of her invisible fur tightly. Forcefully, I held on and did not let go at all.

"Get off me," the fox yelled, trying to shake me off.

"Way to go, Rid, you really are hanging on to her," Dashe yelled out loud to me. "He is so done for, guys."

"You are so insensitive," Suzanne screamed at him. "Don't say that out loud. He might hear you. Give him a chance I'm sure he has a plan, or at least I hope he does."

"I can still hear you, guys," I whispered although I doubted they heard me.

Yes, I could hear them. After getting my mist power, my other four senses all increased, although not as fast as my eyesight did. My mist power had been growing stronger the longer I fought and relied on it, I noticed. The vixen witch was going wild, trying to shake me off her fur. Releasing my right hand, I held my gun and positioned myself to fire at her. One problem with that—she was moving too hard, making it impossible to aim accurately at her.

"Hope this works," I sighed and began chanting an animation charm on my sash, bringing it forth to life. The sash swerved to my side, wrapping itself tight all around her. She stopped moving and began to struggle to get herself free off my enchantment.

"What are you doing to me?" she screamed to me. "Unhand me, you scum."

No! That was something I wasn't going to do, I thought. Once the sash was steadily tightened around her invisible body, I let go off her and ricocheted my body away from her. I had her and this was my chance. I realized, I only had a few minutes at the least before she broke free, so I had to finish this quickly.

"Katarina," I began after I took a deep sigh. "You asked me why I fought, right? I don't fight because I want to, but because I have to. You are a ruthless tyrant who seeks to destroy this once peaceful country. You can crash our hopes and dreams, but you can't crash our fighting spirit. Your one mistake was that you kidnapped my friends and took what was valuable to me. Oh! What am I saying? I hate this long speech stuff about righteousness. I clear don't like you at all and I want you to pay for what you did. But since I want to stay on the good path of life, I will give you one last chance to atone for your crimes and give up. What do you say?"

There was a long silence from her as all I felt were her struggles to free herself.

"Never," she roared towards me. "I will never atone or surrender to a scum like you."

"It can't be helped then," I said to her, lowering my head, while pointing my flintlock towards her. "I'm sorry it has come to this. I really didn't want to destroy you, Katarina. I hope you can forgive me when you see the era of your ways in the next world."

My gun glowed with a white and golden color as all the energy in my heart transferred towards the barrel of the small gun. Placing my gun in front, I readied my body to fire my gun at her.

"This is it, Katarina, you leave me no choice. I can't allow you to go on doing what you want freely anymore. Many people have suffered because of your actions." I screamed at the fox with eyes for of remorse.

I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger: "Repenter's bullet."

Vibrating softly, a huge bullet of golden and grey energy shot out of the small gun with great concentration, accelerating towards her. It was so massive and great that it jerked me back terribly a few yards away. Upon contact, the fox screamed and I saw the Sucano mask fall off its face, making the body visible again. The power of the fifth blast bullet engulfed her whole, causing the vixen fox to cry out loud in pain. Since the fifth blast was pure energy made from repenting, it was terribly agonizing for someone as evil as Katarina Fox. Falling down towards the ground, I breathed in heavily while my eyes kept watching over her. Hopefully, this time I had done it or at least hoped I did.

"Did you really mean it," a voice spoke from behind me, Katarina's voice of course. "Were you really willing to let me live if I repented from my crimes?"

"Yes, I was," I replied without looking back at her. "Anyone can be forgiven, if they are willing to repent and atone. I wanted to give you the same chance I was given to look at life anew."

"I see now," Katarina suddenly appeared in front of me in her human form now. "The users of the gauntlet are people not corrupted by the evil of this world. Your heart tells me so, in the end. It's strange—I never expected this to be the outcome."

How was she still alive after that? Was there no end to her power?

"You fiend," I spat out loudly completely worn-out. "Where is Tye? Where is my friend?"

"My colleague took him," she replied with a smile. "He is barely alive, in the hands one of the most terrifying men alive."

"Enough! Where is he?" I growled this time. "Tell me now?"

"You will have to find him yourself, if you dare," she commented with a menacing grin. "Make no mistake though; things will get worse from here on. I will be seeing you soon in the afterlife." The moment she finished speaking, her trident broke into small pieces and she began to turn into blue light. Shocked completely, I saw the mists powers of hers start to overcome her, consuming her body whole. In every direction, the broken trident sucked up everything including her soldiers and the majority of the castle into what looked like a huge wind vacuum. In the wind, I also saw the huge Monga beasts being swept up into the direction of the center, where the winds met. What was going on? Why was I not being affected? Perhaps, everything that didn't belong in this world was being sent back to where they came from. That was the only explanation I could think of at that time.

"No," the princess screamed as she was sucked up into the blue worm hole too. "What is going on, mother? How could you lose to him?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Katarina Fox laugh manically before vanishing into blue light alongside her daughter. The majority of Danyen was completely gone and I couldn't feel anymore strong signs of sinister energy around me. A few moments later after she disappeared, there was a huge blue explosion that erupted in the sky. It was so powerful and terrible that it sent immense tremors throughout the ground for a couple of seconds. Massive winds followed and blew everywhere, sending me falling faster to the ground. Was it over finally? Just before my head hit the ground, someone rescued me from the fall and landed gently on the ground with me.

"You did it, Riyo," a soft voice said.

Holding onto me was Suzanne, and I was sure glad to see her. Her smile was warm and friendly. To be honest, this was the first time I had ever seen her smile with happiness.

"Yeah, I guess did," I commented, staring her straight in her eyes. "Suzanne, there is something I want to tell you."

"Save it," she responded quickly. "Thank you for saving me from that dark abyss and I know what you want to say next."

Oh, I felt relieved that she knew what I was about to say, so I blushed not knowing what to say next. Now, what would I say first?

"Kaya, bring me the batch of my cooking in the caravan. Rid is starving and he wants to eat now." she screamed.

Oh no, she had misinterpreted my words, just like the last time at her place. At that moment, I felt my stomach tremble and growl terribly. My body was already in a lot of stress and pain. I definitely did not feel like adding stomach aches to that horrible list.

"Suzanne, wait," I grabbed her arm gently. "That's not what I meant."

She looked back at me curiously with anticipation. "Then what did you mean?"

This is it! I thought. This is the perfect chance for me to move on with my life. Finally I was going to tell her how I felt about her. As I thought about it for a minute, I hesitated. I realized it was too soon for me to say those words to her. After all, I had just let go of my attachment to Daphne—the hardest thing I had ever done. I was not really over her yet and not sure I wanted to.

"It's nothing," I replied. "Forget I even brought it up. Anyway, I will eat later; I'm too tired to even stand up, let alone eat."

As she stared into my eyes for a second, I wondered what was going on in her mind.

She gazed up slowly and said, "I also want to thank you for stopping Sam. He really once was my brother, but I just couldn't bring myself to killing the last member of my family. You liberated him from that dreadful fateful, so once again I am in your debt."

"Oh," I commented, not knowing how to respond.

Truthfully, it was Ogana who had delivered the fatal blow, but I saw no reason to bring it up and ruin this great moment.

"You are welcome," I patted her soft hand gently and closed my eyes in her warm embrace. "I also owe you for everything you guys have done for me—really means a lot to me. Please stay with me for a little while until I fall asleep."

"I will stay by you forever, if that's what you want." I heard her whisper before I faded into slumber.

45

I thought that after my greatest enemy had been vanquished, I would finally fall asleep peacefully, but I was mistaken. To my disappointment, I found myself back in the yellow world. A world I hated so dearly with a passion. All around me, it was nothing but yellow clouds, yellow stones, yellow everything.

"I am impressed," Ebi smiled at me, sitting on his usual rock. "I knew you would defeat her, although I had my doubts."

I stared at him and chuckled to myself. Did he ever leave that rock? Well, it was the only rock in this entire world, so I didn't blame him.

"Can't you just let me dream in peace this once?" I mumbled, trying to get some leniency out of the old geezer.

"You can, but it was your own desire to come here," he replied as he adjusted the angle of his legs.

His eyes sparkled with joy and were as bright as the sun. Had he been crying? He got off the rock and stood next to me with a puzzled look on his face.

"Just how did you manage to unlock the secret of the fifth blast?" Ebi asked in a gentle voice. "I would never have guessed an idiot like you could unlock such a power by yourself."

Hurtful, but true, all in all, I thought.

The old geezer was right; I had received help from someone far much stronger than Ebi and I.

"A strange light spoke to me," I replied, staring into the distant plains. "Would you believe me if I told you that it might have been a real angel? Call me crazy, but for a moment I think I saw wings on it."

"Oh," Ebi was startled back a little. "You finally heard the voice within the dark. You are not crazy, Riyo, I believe you. I think it is time I told you the real truth behind our world."

"No, not now," I cut him off quickly.

I hated knowing the truth because it only made things more complicated than ever. I mean, I wanted to know, but no at that moment. All I wanted to do was rest and reflect on everything that had happened to me.

"I see," Ebi responded with a sigh. "I will respect your wishes for now, but you can't hide from the truth forever, Riyo."

Yeah! That much I knew already without him telling me that. Katarina was gone and Tye was still nowhere to be found. What was I going to do next? There were more than eight Rainku left scattered all over the world. Did that mean I had to go through every country searching for him? It certainly appeared to be the case and I dreaded that idea.

"What's next after this, Ebi?" I asked him, sighing heavily in anticipation to his straight forward answer. "I mean, it's not going to go easy after this, you know. The Rainku won't take this matter lightly—they are probably angry with what happened to Katarina Fox."

"I know, Riyo," Ebi replied instantly without as much a moving. "Your next journey will probably be to Anzad, the country of dreams. The domain of Zarza Ginger-Dragon,"

"No, don't say that name," I cut him off quickly, realizing who his was talking about. Why did it have to be Anzad? And why was it Zarza that I had to face next? My day was now completely ruined just at the thought of his name. Why did to have to be him next? He was a legendary villain warrior who mastered all the six primary Galohan kicks all in a year. It usually took others more than ten years to achieve. Zarza was truly a monster compared to Katarina and that saying something. But why had he joined those monstrous Rainku? This changed everything.

"You probably need to start training to ascend to the next levels, if you are to stand a chance," Ebi finished and took out his enchanted mirror to see what was going on in the real world. "Just to let you know—he is probably coming for you as we speak, because he was actually Katarina's former lover."

"What are you serious?" I asked quickly. "That is something you should have told me first before anything."

"Well, now I did," he responded in one quick glare at me. "I think it's time I taught you how to use the kaizer force."

"What's that?" I asked, sitting next to him on the rock.

"It is the only thing that can defeat a dragon of Rainku caliber," he said and took out his mirror. "But tell me though, why did you choose to stay, instead of going home? You finally had the opportunity you longed for and yet you chose not to take it."

I had hoped he wouldn't ask that question. Deep down, I wished I had taken that deal. But as I thought of my friends and what they had done and sacrificed, I realized the true value of courage and sacrifice. Besides, what was I going to do when I saw her? She was now married to James after all, with me out of the picture. She had moved on so why couldn't I do the same?

"I have my reasons," I replied, tilting my head up to look at the sky. "I made my choice and I will stick by it."

"You are a brave soul, Riyo. Not a lot of people could've resisted that arrangement."

In my heart, I didn't regret my choice at all. It was the first sacrifice I had truly made without being forced. I gave up on what I loved to be where I was needed the most. Seriously, what was I thinking? The path I had chosen was going to be difficult and filled with great obstacles. I knew that everything I had done up till now was real. I was in control of my own future. The best part was I wasn't alone. I had my friends beside me and the help of someone from above to guide me through the darkness. I wasn't still sure who had sent the light to help me, but something told me I would soon. To be honest, I was looking forward to it.
