Tales of Pangea

The Beast and the Knight locked stares, neither making a move, and neither looking away. The torches in the room flickered from unfelt wind, dimming and brightening the light in the large room at random, but not distracting Lloyd, or the beast Ifrit. The Knight made the first move, abandoning his questioning thoughts, and gnawing doubts, and giving himself fully to the thrill of the fight.

With a battle cry Lloyd ran at the beast. In an instant Ifrit moved, reaching into the ground and heaving large rocks at the approaching warrior. Darting left and right he approached the beast and leapt up and swinging a heavy two-handed, overhead strike on it, and was surprised when his prized sword dug mere inches into the beast's hide, before coming to a halt with barely a trickle of blood spilling from the creature's body.

Ifrit scoffed and swung at the Knight with a fist, connecting and sending him flying a couple meters to the ground. He rolled with the blow, coming up in a crouch, holding his left side. The blow had almost broken his ribs, despite the armor he wore, he could only imagine what would have happened had the leather barrier not been there. He would have to be more careful with his attacks from now on.

Lloyd stood and whipped his sword in a quick arc to test his arm. The limb had taken no noticeable damage, and the blade was still as sharp as he had thought it to be. The monster's hide was thick indeed, even his broadsword could not cut cleanly into it, the same sword he had used to chop the Hell Hounds in half at the entrance to this cavern. Guess I'll just have to cut harder, the man thought with a wry grin.

"You'll have to do better human," Ifrit spoke hefting a large chunk of rock in one hand, "at this rate you won't even make it within ten feet of the treasure you seek." The beast hefted the rock again, then without warning, punched it while in mid-air, propelling the object in the blink of an eye.

Lloyd rolled out of the way and came up in a run, circling the beast to make himself a harder target and to gain more speed. If he was to hurt the beast, he needed quite a bit of force in his swing. A snatch of green caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he nearly turned his head to see what it was, but at the last moment he felt a hot breeze coming from the opposite direction. He jumped over a wave of fire emanating from Ifrit and came down in a run, maintaining his speed, but just barely. He watched the beast's head continue spewing the fire, and track him as he ran, slowly catching up.

Lloyd knew it was now or never. He narrowed his arc, maintaining his speed, and bringing himself to the Guardian's side in a moment. The Knight brought his blade up from his right side, and dug the sword a foot deep in the Dego's side. This time the hit elicited a loud howl from the beast as the blood fell to the ground in liters. The man couldn't help but smile, Gotcha you bastard!

Ifrit howled, the sound quickly turning from one of pain to one of rage. The monster swung down trying to catch the Knight as he pulled his sword out, but the man was already in motion. Lloyd jumped at the last moment, keeping a hand on his hilt to guid his jump, then dug his left gauntlet into the beast's chest. He got his feet under him and pushed off Ifrit's chest ripping out both his sword and his gauntlet, as well as flesh and blood.

The Knight smiled at his apparent victory as his jump carried him away from the Guardian. A victory that was short lived as Ifrit brought his mighty fist down on the prone man floating away. The blow slammed Lloyd hard into the ground sending waves of pain and nausea through his body as it hit the ground, bounced, then was hit once again, away and into the wall. His field of vision narrowed and he almost blacked out entirely, but willed himself awake and so hovered in a twilight state for several moments, not unconscious, but unable to force his body to act. He knew he was in trouble now, the hits had certainly broken several ribs, and his left arm. He couldn't feel any internal bleeding, but he had no idea what to feel for if he did, all he did know was that his body was in a lot of pain.

Have to push past it, he thought willing his body to move, past a certain point the body can't feel any more pain, get used to that level and you can still move. He pushed himself forward onto his side, his twilight state fading and the full measure of pain hitting him in the face like a sledge hammer. He looked up, forcing his body to get used to the pain, and took notice of the pair of Halflings preparing for battle, one with green pants and cloak, and a brown shirt holding a pair of short swords, the other a pair of brown leggings and a green clock holding a staff with what looked like a sling on the end. A sling the Halflings was swinging around at high speeds, Oh this won't be pretty, he thought pushing himself to stand. He had a duty to protect the people of Lenus, even at the cost of his own life, even if they were in way over their heads against an opponent they couldn't possibly imagine taking on.

Lloyd dug his sword into the ground and used it to push himself up, if he could distract the beast for a few moments maybe the two would understand. *Whack* Too late, the staff wielding Halfling had already thrown the stone he had been winding up and he now had Ifrit's full attention. The beast turned and stared down at the pair, "So two more fools have come to join the first," it tilted it's head, "aren't you two a little young to be fighting?"

"I'll show you little!" The one with the two swords yelled back, running up to the beast and slashing at it's arm. Surprisingly the swords made a deep gash, and the Halfling was well away before Ifrit could turn and swing. The little one smiled and bounced back and forth between legs with both swords held loosely, "Who's the small fry now?"

Ifrit barked in annoyance and swung both fists down to try and catch the sword wielding Halfling, but the man had already backed out of range and all the monster hit was ground. The staff wielding Halfling snuck up behind the beast and thrust his staff into the Dego and getting a surprised yelp in return. The little man pulled the staff out and looped the sling around Ifrit's arm so that when the beast swung with his other, the Halfling would be flung away in a controlled arc.

Lloyd's brows shot up in surprise. The two hadn't done too much damage, but they were easily out-pacing the beast so far. They were far more skilled then he had first given them credit for, but he also knew the two would just as quickly go down if they got hit at all. Unsteadily the Knight got on both feet and stood straight, his body had almost adapted to the pain, but it was still in no condition to fight at the level he needed. As it was he couldn't hope to get enough power into his swing to actually help, but then again the Halflings would only be able to hold out so long.

The Knight looked around for something, anything, to use on the beast, but all there was were torches and the treasure at the center of the room. His gaze lingered on the treasure, a red stone held in place by two dragon shaped legs. He remembered what his King had told him that the treasure held immense power. At first he had just assumed his King meant monetary or political, but now, after fighting so mighty a beast as Ifrit and being cast aside for his attempts, he was beginning to think the stone might have actual power. Power he could use.

Lloyd knew little of magic, he had never bother with such an unreliable art, but it did have it's uses from time to time, and some magic could be very simple indeed. Shape didn't matter, size didn't matter, either for the object or it's user, and if his King believed he could use it, then Lloyd should have no problems. Now he had but to reach it. The Knight glanced back over at the on-going battle. The sword wielding halfling had, at some point, dug both his swords into Ifrit's backside, and was now hanging on for dear life as the beast tried to dislodge him. The staff wielding one was playing a dangerous game, jabbing at the monster and ducking away before he could be hit.

This goes against everything I've ever been taught as a Knight, but it has to be done if any of us hope to leave this place alive, he thought, reluctantly gathering his sword and running away from the battle.

He had made it within fifteen feet of the stone when he was forced to duck an incoming boulder, thrown by Ifrit. The beast still had the Halfling riding his back, but was no ignoring the little man and focusing entirely on Lloyd, "That's far enough himan!"

Lloyd tensed his good arm, holding his sword tightly, but making no move to close the distance. He didn't stand a chance as he was, not unless he could dig his sword into Ifrit's skull as the beast charged, something the monster did not seem inclined to do. A redish yellow glow began building in the Dego's mouth as it stored fire to spew at the injured Knight, but right before it could lauch its attack a rock came sailing in and nailed the beast in the eye.

Ifrit howled and temporarily forgot about his query, instead clutching at his face in pain. The Knight looked over to where the rock had come from and saw the staff wielding Halfling loading another rock. "I don't know what you plan to do," he said spinning the sling, "but you best do it now."

Lloyd nodded and leapt over the boulder, continuing to the stone held on the center platform. He pressed the sword into the sheath and gave up any offensive, dedicating his all to speed. He got closer, ten feet, five, two, then he reached out and grabbed the stone, clutching it in the only working hand he had.

The stone flared red light, filling the room with intense blinding light, and then Lloyd lost all sense of time.....

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There was nothing, no rocks, no trees, no people, no color. Just white, there was no sound, there was no feeling, there was no smell, there was no taste. Then a voice, an indistinguishable voice with no owner, it came from everywhere, nowhere, anywhere. Why do you seek power?

Lloyd could not reply, he had not means, no body and no voice, but all the same there was a reply. I won't tell you I don't seek it, or that my goals are wholly noble and pure. I want power because I wish to succeed. Many times this will be for good reasons, not infrequently it will be for selfish reasons. I will never use it for evil, because power in itself has no allure for me. I am a simple man, I use power only to accomplish a means to and end.

And what are these goals?

To serve my country? No. To protect it? Not how it is now. To restore it, to better it? Yes, I will gladly be hated if I can fulfill my duty.

Your duty is to protect your king.

No my duty is to protect the throne, even if I have to kill the person sitting on it to do so.

There was silence, and again the realm was without sound. A void through which no man can pass. Then after an eternity, and an instant later there was a reply. You may have this power....

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The light died.

The pedastal was gone, as was the stone holding it, in it's place was only a Knight of Lenus. The blue and gold armored man turned and suddenly he was more then a man. Emerging from Lloyd's back were a pair of red translucent wings held together by a frame of intense heat and fire. The boradsword in the man's hand was redish orange, lit by a heat that seemed to come from no where, a heat that even as the Halflings and Dego watch distroted their vision and melted away the rock near it.

"That power is not yours to wield Knight of Lenus," Ifrit spoke, forgetting the two Halflings he had been engaged with moments before, two Halflings that were now realizing that around the beast was not a safe place to be. "Surrender the power to me and I met yet let you live."

"People need me," Lloyd Syuveil replied in a calm voice, "and they need the power I wield." The Knight raised his sword and pointed at the Dego, "I cannot let you take it from me, now move aside."

"I cannot do that human."

"Then I am truly sorry." The wings on the Knight's back flared open and flapped. Lloyd's body leapt forward with astounding speed, propelled by whatever mystic forces drove the wings on his back. In a moment the battle was decided as Ifrit's head toppled from its shoulders, cut by a blade impossibly hot, with power incredibly strong. The beast's head landed on the ground, followed shortly by its limp body.

Lloyd turned to looked at the decapitated Dego, blood pooling around both head and body, still hanging on to some semblence of life even after receiving a fatal blow. Ifrit spoke, "You have bested me human, but this is not something to be proud of. That stone you now hold carries with it immense power, and an immense curse, for you are no longer a Knight of Lenus, you are now it's sole protector, it's Dragoon."

"So be it," Lloyd responded. The Knight turned his back on the fallen Dego, and felt his body weakening by leaps and bounds. He lost grip on his sword, a moment before his knees gave out, then he fall unconcious altogether, his body drained from the power of the stone. His wings faded, and his sword cooled before it even hit the ground leaving the two Halflings with a bit of a problem on their hands.

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Special Ability: Dragoon stone. A gem capable of granting a temporary armor and a limited ability over fire. The amount of armor(chest plate, arm guards, etc.), control, and time of use will only increase with time.

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A fowl wind emitted from the north, followed by a bright light. It pained Kelgori’s eyes, He never liked the light, always saw the room for darkness in anyone. Trekking for days in this abominable wasteland. Nothing apparent for miles. The lone wanderer held a slim figure that appeared like he was in his younger thirties, but nobody knows of his real age. Some rumors say he is as old as time itself. However, like they say, “Part a Warlock from there staff and they will part your soul from your body.” The greased lone look masks deep longing for a way back into the civilization that outcaste the masters of dark sorcery.

Kelgori stumbled as he looked to the source of the light, as always, it was some young kid who thought it would be cool to take a mirror outside and reflect the light at anybody walking by. The kid held the spotlight banging his head like he was at a rock concert, unfortunately he picked the wrong guy to highlight.
The Sorcerer of fell magic held up his hand, and blocked the light from hitting him by encumbering himself in a shroud of darkness. The kid was speechless, realizing what he started he tried to run. To no avail he was rooted in place by the magic of Kelgori.

He took his time walking up to the kid, making him feel the fear, the pain, knowing that he had no hope, that he couldn’t yell no matter how hard he tried, Kelgori just kept walking the walk, rarely stopping to talk the talk. Finally he got up next to the kid.

“Why…..why are…. Ya..ya…you doing this?” The kid asking, crying and stuttering like none other.
“I’m sorry, just next time, be a bit more hospitable to your elders.” Kelgori told the kid as he raised his other hand and shrouded the boy in a purple mist, the fowl smell was the last the kid had to remember before being torn into pieces, and carried away by the mist.

“Serves the fool right, never shine a light at a dark-being, it ends in a death of darkness.” Kelgori began to monologue. “well on the Brightside, since that kid was around I’m almost to a village. They better not be part of those stupid imperials, nothings worse than a Politian, Somebody who’s too scared to fight, to weak to lead, to dumb to learn magic, so they just decide to argue about there stupid laws of which hold no authority in nature or this universe.” Kelgori continued to rant on. Walking at a leisurely pace towards the city of sand, as it was formerly known. Then after many revolutions it became fragments of villages spread out threw the desert, they tolerate each other but will probably never join each other until a great need arises.

Then a pack of carrion deegos were hunting for anything left over, such as a corpse or a human. Sensing the easy tribulation but not wanting to deal with it he sat down and started drawing patterns in the sand, five pillars were being outlined with a ring around them, then on the five pillars a crows wing. Then he got up and stood, waiting for the birds to approach him. As the deegos got to approximately 50 feet away from him, Kelgori slammed him staff into the center of the circle with the drawings. As this happened five pillars shot out from the sand and held the beasts in a iron grip 50 feet in the air as it crushed them into nothing. Kelgori withdrew his staff and the pillars of sand fell flat again carrying the birds with them completely and utterly crushing them all.




BIO:

Name: Kelgori Fellrock.
Hair: Jet black
Eyes: Hazel
Clothing: Shredded purple cowl with a black thread weaving threw it, Purple robes and garment.
Equipment: Ancient staff with a purple on it in the shape of a crow. A blackened dagger and bag of herbs.
Weapons: The minds eye/Devastating spells. Occasionally his dagger.
Special ability: The ability to break material matters by drawing them in sand and force up a small modal out of them, then destroying that modal destroys whatever it represented.
Abilities: Witchcraft, Spell craft, Masterful knowledge of the dark arts, can summon fiends from other worlds to do his bidding.
Job: My will is done. I travel alone.
Pros: Immense knowledge of nature and sorcery without being cut off from reality, Brutal and efficient. Never succumbs to the will but his own, and able to break others wills to follow him, travels alone. Ability to summon abyssal creature at a great cost of stamina and fortitude, often requires many days of rest after summoning a larger creature. Persuasive when needed.
Cons: Outcaste from society, has this terrible habit of destroying just about everything in his path that dares mock him, has the desire to expand his knowledge of the dark arts which he keeps in check, cold personality that doesn’t work well with others, never will ask somebody else for help. Some people call him creator of omens, others destroyer of fate, he sees reality and often cannot or does not desire to change it. Looks at the big picture and has massive mood swings, either spontaneous or deadly serious. Slightly trigger happy. Not Mr. Negotiator, try Mr. Aggressive negotiator.

Frik and Frack eased down the passage and came up short when they saw a human staring at a HUGE wolf looking thing.

Frak looked at the man ‘his sheath is upside down’ he said a bit surprised. How does he keep it in there?’

‘Look’ said Frick ‘I am not sure that we should… hey what is that?’ pointing at the stone in the middle of the room.

’I dunno’ said Frack

There was a roar as the Human ran up to the beast and hit him with his sword. Frick and Frack winced as the deego knocked the man across the cave. ‘Look I want to get a look at that rock.’ Frick said.

‘The human is keeping the thing busy’ Frack said as he drew his swords. And smacked them together ‘you go see and I will cover.’ The man ran past and jumped over a jet of flame that the deego spit at him. Frack ducked behind a rock as the flames licked at his cloak. The creature roared in pain and Frick looked as the creature bounced the man off the floor and then knocked him across the cavern. ‘That guy didn’t seem to smart’ Frack said as he smacked his swords together. That got the beasts attention and it turned its head toward the kinder. Frick let loose with a stone from his staff that bounced harmlessly off the creatures hide.

"So two more fools have come to join the first," it tilted it's head, "aren't you two a little young to be fighting?"

‘I'll show you little!’ Frack said unning toward the deego leaping and striking with both blades producing twin gashes in the arm of the beast. He smiled and bounced back and forth between legs with both swords held loosely, ‘Who's the small fry now?’

The Deego roared in pain and tried again and again to smash the kinder. Frick Ran up behind the creature and thrust the sharp end of his staffing to the creatures back, then caught the things arm with his sling and was thrown clear. Frick flipped in the air and came down on his feet sliding toward the cavern entrance. He bounded up and ran back into the fray seeing his brother leap and bury his swords in to the fleshy part of the thing’s backside.

‘That’s one way to be a pain in the ass’ thought Frick as he loaded his sling for another toss. From the corner of his eye the kinder saw the human trot toward the pedestal with the stone on it. The deego grabbed a rock and threw it at the human which made him stop. The creature took a breath as Frick let the rock go, the stone sailed true and hit the thing in its eye which made it turn again toward the pint sized antagonists.

‘I don't know what you plan to do,’ Frick said spinning the sling, ‘but you best do it now.’
The human nodded and ran and grabbed the stone and time slowed down. There was a flash of read light and the body of the human was suspended above where the pedestal had been the stone in his left hand. His hair floating around his head like a sweat soaked halo and both arms spread wide as if waiting to embrace a long lost son. The beast howled and looked toward the human. Frick grabbed Frack and pulled him toward the cavern entrance but neither could look away. The silence in the cavern was deafening. Even the bats dared not make a sound. Then the humans arms came down to his side and fiery wings seemed to grow from his back. He drew his sword which was also wreathed in flame.

The brothers looked at each other wide eyed.

"People need me," The human replied in a calm voice, "and they need the power I wield." He raised his sword and pointed at the Dego, "I cannot let you take it from me, now move aside."

There was a moment of silence and the man said ‘then I am truly sorry’ The wings flexed and in a moment the head of the beast lay next to its body. The man landed a bit beyond the remains of the beast then sank to his knees and passed out.

‘you see that?’ Frack asked

‘NO’ said Frick sharply ‘ was just standing right here. Hang on’

Frick ran toward the place where the pedestal had been and looked around for a moment. He reached down and picked up an item that had survived the destruction of the pedestal. ‘Hey!’ He said as he looked over at Frack ‘what are you doing?!’

Frack was looking at and, more to the point, messing with the scabbard on the back of the human.

‘I was just looking to see how he did this.’ Frack said quickly. He strained to pick up the sword and carefully put it back in the scabbard watching how it went in seeing the latch almost immediately. ‘There’ he said as though he had just figured out how to create a pick proof lock. it latches on there.’

The kinder strained for a moment to turn the human over. He winced with pain as he rolled across his injured left side. Frick started looking through the many pockets of his cloak and the myriad of pouches attached to his belt.

‘Do you still have that potion that we found in the alchemist shop last week?’ Frick asked as he continued that search.

‘No I didn’t handle it’ Frack replied taking off his swords and trying to fashion a rig similar to the humans. ‘we need to get a fire going’

‘we have one going at the mouth of the cave remember?’ Frick reminded him. ‘Aha! Here it is.’ He announced as he took the stopper out of a small vial.

‘You know what that does?’ Frack asked

‘No but it cannot be much worse than how he is now’ Frick said with a grin.

‘Unless you kill him with it’ Frack pointed out.

Frick hesitated, torn between the desire to see what the potion did and the unwillingness to kill a human. ‘If Shendali made nothing but poisons he would not be a good alchemist now would he?’ Frick asked pouring the potion into the human’s mouth. The effect was almost immediate there were several cracks and pops as ribs righted them selves and popped back into place the man’s arm straightened and he opened his eyes and screamed as the badly broken arm was set and began to heal. The human thrashed around a bit and then was still. His breathing was ragged but evening out. Soon the man had a serene look on his face as though he was asleep.

‘See you killed him!’ Frack said backing toward the mouth of the cavern.

‘No I Did NOT!’ retorted Frick ‘Look he is breathing… and turning blue…’

As the watched the man the pallor of his skin went from a healthy tan to a nice shade of blue.

‘Hope that not permanent’ Frick and Frack said at the same time.

The brothers watched the man for a moment and decided they needed to make sure the man was awake before they took their leave. While Frack once again built a bed for a fire Frick went to the mouth of the cave and retrieved a burning stick and the skillet with their meal in it. Once they had a good fire going and had eaten their meal the both drifted off to sleep.

"Very impressive, very impressing." Came a soothing voice for over the ridge. Something drew Kelgori to follow it, it had a authentic voice of power in it. He saw opportunity and the ridge. He trotted over to the lip and made quick time.

He looked over the lip and saw nothing, even though a voice was coming from right next to him. "I see you are another Warlock such as i am. I see real potential in you. You could even rule the world and do whatever you want to the people who outcasts us. Kill them, maim them, torture th-" He was cut off by a quick and solid response.

"No." He Kelgori was quickly learning he ventured into something far deadlier than himself. He had no doubt the being he was speaking too had that power, but he had to check. "I wont even think about it until i see your face."

"Very well then." Followed by a demonic laugh.

It was easily a two hundred foot drop off overlooking the Desert of arid. Then at the bottom flame was starting to gather, it showed no source as it swelled up creating the shape of a massive figure. When the flame started to reach the tip it turned purple and then he revealed his face. Gold chains were abounding the creation, his face was hidden by no mask, yet decorated by a crown of deceit. Kelgori was taken aback, yet not surprised.

"So, is it a battle you seek? Why do you draw me to your resting place? Oh great Creator of the netherworlds." Kelgori took a knee, and bent his head down. It was the one being he had never wanted to meet again. It was always better to avoid those with unlimited power.

"In a way yes, i don't want to reveal my presence in this world yet, but something occurred that draws me attention and threatens to undue me, you, and any other person who ever has done something as minimal as cast a dark spell once." The great demon wasn't afraid, because he had it under control, but he couldn't do the dirty work yet.

"So, your saying that... the dragon warriors are returning, i thought we killed them?" Kelgori was puzzled. "Nearly 500 years ago i trapped one into the netherworld. The others have been picked off by sorcerers like us for the preceding 100 years." Kelgori had now distinguished the demon as a friend, even recognized him.

"Yes, they were all slain, however, the one in the netherworld i still keep tabs on, he yells in pain pleading for death as i speak. However, the stones, i have his, and it will soon be yours after you complete this task." The demonic figure who stood hundreds of feet tall vanished into the air. "One of the stones has been recovered by a knight of Lenus, its not a short travel from Arid to Lenus by no means, but i am providing my fastest nether drake, recover the stone, i dont care if you kill the knight or not, i want that stone."

"Your will be done." Kelgori flourished his staff and a nether drake came from the sky. "Thankyou master, now the hunt resumes." Kelgori stood at the head of the massive drake as it took off east towards the kingdom of Lenus.

Lloyd's vision swam as he began to regain consciousness. He was dimly aware of muffled cracks and pops going off to his right, and a half whistling howl coming from his left. Had he not felt so at easy he might have shocked himself awake in a frenzy to find the source of the sounds, but something seemed to be blocking his panic instinct. I feel pretty good, he thought to himself with a grin, which is odd since I should be in excrutiating pain.

The world was slowly coming into focus now, enough so that the Knight could probably figure out where he was. He rubbed his eyes and sat up to get a better view of his location. He was still in the large cavern at the end of the cave, with a fire flickering on his right, popping and shifting as the wood heated and expanded. To his left was the mouth of the cave itself, leading back to the entrance of the entire cavern complex. It was impossible to tell what time of the day it was, or even how long he had been asleep, but he could hear the wind whistling down the passage so the storm might still be going on. This was not unexpected with the harvest season coming up soon, the weather in Lenus would be getting much colder and violent.

Lloyd looked back at the fire and notice a half dozen pieces of meat on stick just outside reach of the flames, slowly cooking. That's when he noticed the two forms behind the fire leading deeper into the cave. He hadn't noticed that at first because of the dark colored cloaks they had wrapped themselves in for warmth, but now that he did see them he recognized them as the pair of Halflings that had helped him in the fight. They were asleep, exhausted from the fight, and most likely from treating Lloyd's wounds. Although, he was curious as to how they would do so in such a short amount of time, it would take a powerful spell or potion to do so, but the two didn't see the type to wield magic-

A flash of memory spike in the Knight's mind, a burst of pain coming with the memory. He saw himself standing over the body or Ifrit, the sword in his hand blazing with intense heat. He clutch his head as the pain continued. He could feel the heat enveloping him, not hot, but comforting, an embrace of power, he was unstoppable. Speed, so fast, so easy, power, unlimited, strength, all of it in one little package, then it left him.

The pain subsided as quickly as it had spiked, and the Knight could only sit where he was and breath for a few moments. It was obviously a flashback of the fight, he hadn't even thought about since he's woken, hadn't questioned that he won, but these memories didn't feel like his own either. They were his, he knew that academically, but his psyche still couldn't cope with the sudden power, it was alien to him.

He stood and took a closer look around the chamber. It hadn't been visible before, but now that he standing he could see the fallen body of Ifrit and the head beside it across the chamber. It was astounding to think that he had actually done that, but then again he really hadn't done it at all had he? It was the stone that had done it, he had just directed it's power, But how? My skills with magic are non-existent. How could I use the power this well? He didn't have an answer to that, perhaps the stone didn't even require knowledge. Some items just worked for anyone, and some gave you the knowledge of how to use them when activated. He could only assume this was what had happened.

He heard a rustling behind him and the Knight turned to see the two Halflings beginning to wake. He walked over to the fire and knelt down across from the two, "I suppose I owe my thanks to you two," he said grabbing their attention, "I would know the identities of my improptu allies."

"Huh?" The one in the brown leggings grunted.

"He wants to know what our names are," his partner answered sitting up. The little man rubbed his eyes and looked at Lloyd sleepily, once his eyes focused he yelped in surprise.

The Knight's brows shot up, "What is it?"

The Halfling's friend mimicked his partners expression, right down to the yelp at the end. Adding, "I really thought it would be gone by now...."

"I told you not to use it!"

"How was I supposed to know he sucked that much?"

"Because he didn't even lock his cabinet."

Lloyd watched the back and forth in confused silence. The Knight was experienced in fighting and survival, and decently so in some of the more common languages, but cultural experience was something he had never needed to learn even about his own kind, much less Kender. His knowledge of the species was limited to knowing they were very quick and had incredible hand-eye coordination, essentially what he would need to know if he ever got into a fight with one.

So the Knight was left helpless to stop the argument between the two Halflings, knowing not if this was cultural, circumstantial, or even normal. And he didn't exactly want to offend the people who quite possibly had saved his life, so he just sat and waited for them to ackowledge him again.

While he was waiting he tested his arms and legs, checking that they still retained all the strength and flexibility that they had when the fight began. When he finished this and the two Halflings were still going at it he started to check himself for any scars or bruises that he may need to explain to a passerby, and everything seemed normal until he checked his previously injured left arm. There, specifically on his hand, came quite a surprise, in the form of a bump that, when he turned his hand over to look at it, elicited quite a loud startled yelp.

Stuck in the back of his left hand was a opaque stone two inches in diameter, sunken halfway into his hand, and emiting a soft red glow. The fact that it was there surprised him, but not as much as wondering why he hadn't felt it there before, even looking and trying he couldn't feel the stone in his hand, but this wasn't such an amazing thing when one considered that his hand wasn't thick enough to even house the stone without it sticking out the palm. Magic, I hate magic!

So startled was he by the sudden revelation that he did not notice the two Halflings standing over his shoulder, "Well would you look at that!" The one with the green pants commented, "I was wondering where it went."

"That wasn't there when I turned him over," the other said.

"You wouldn't, you were too busy oogling his sword."

"What? It's a nice sword!"

Lloyd took his chance to jump in, "Before you get started again could you two please tell me your names?"

"Frick," answered the one with the leggings.

"Frack," replied the one in the green pants.

"Ah, well thank you Frick and Frack, I'm glad you-" Lloyd began.

"You should pay more attention you moron!"

"Oi! Who you calling stupid, stupid?"

The Knight fell silent and again waited as the two resumed their argument, Well I did only ask them to stop long enough to give me their names, he thought with a sigh. He half listened as the argument continued back and forth, and managed to learn a few things about the species. They seemed intensely curious about things, so much so that it motivated them to action. They were also remarkably stubborn as he got the feeling that this was by no means the first time the two had argued at length, he only wondered how long it might last if the two got on a serious issue. But in a way he became grateful for the argument, it answered the question of why they had even bothered to help him in the first place.

The first one, Frick, seemed to be a weapons enthusiast, or at least a sword fan, and had been intrigued by the way Lloyd chose to carry his broadsword. He couldn't blame the little man, when he had seen his Knight wear it like this once as a Page he too had been intensely curious about why one would do so, not so much that he would have jumped on top of a twelve foot Deego to find out, but he put that down to their intensely stubborn nature, stubborness and curiousity could easily be mistaken for fearless heroics sometimes. Frack on the other hand had been interested in the stone now embedded in the Knight's hand, and who could blame him, even humans would be curious enough to investigate such an unusual magic treasure.

Lloyd was growing tired of the argument and took a cultural gamble interrupting the pair, "Do you two always talk this much?"

"Who else have we got to talk to?" Frack asked as if it were obvious.

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Well I can't stick around forever I'm sorry to say. So if there's anything I can do to repay the favor, let me know."

"SWORD!" Frick yelled.

Frack reached up and smacked the little man in the back of his head, "Don't go wasting our favor on a toy!"

"It's not a toy!"

Lloyd put his forehead in his hand and sighed, "Listen, I can get you bother something that you want, staff, sword, money, whatever, but I will have to go fetch it, so why don't you two join me until we get back to my castle and you can argue all you want over what to get on the way." The Knight stood and grabbed his cloak, "Deal?"

The two Kender consulted in hushed tones rapidly back and forth. He caught a few snatches of conversation but they were speaking a language he hadn't bothered to learn yet. After a few minutes they seemed to come to an agreement.

"We each get something," Frack stated.

"Anything we want," Frick added.

"If it's within my power," Lloyd state by way of answer. The response seemed to satisfy the two and they began packing their things as Lloyd headed back down the long cavern to the mountain pass.

The great netherdrake flew as if it was part of the sky, and clearly showing no fear. Any other flying creature moved out of its way, even some of the most feared Deego's were more than willing to avoid confrontation with one of the dragons of death. The dragon was instantly bound with Kelgori. The Dragon soared at a perfect height. it was only outside the crown jewel of Arid in the sky, that the duo stopped to rest and test there powers as a pair.

"So, this is the magical capital of the world.. Oh how far have they fallen." Kelgori, thought he said to himself.

"It is true that they neglected so much power, they were afraid of becoming too powerful, and afraid to destroy the power. The magic possessed human race will soon became endangered. They don't realize it, but they are tainting there mind. I'm sure you have also noticed that my friend?" The drake said back to his counterpart.

Kelgori almost fell off of the drake with shock. "You speak in tongues?" He was taken aback, the language wasn't anything distinct it just resonated in your head that you understand it.

"No, my creator gave my the gift of speak. You wont be lonely anymore, you can trust me on that." The drake spoke back, explaining. "I was breaded separate, i was chosen from the moment of my birth to do great things, and be lead by you."

"I cant say I'm surprised. I'm just taken off guard, I didn't expect to be given a drake already so powerful. I take it you already have had some training in magic?" Kelgori began to inquire. He wondered how powerful the being was for him.

"A little, your going to teach me more, i can guarantee, mainly because you want a powerful companion so you don't have to tap into my home world as often." The ethereal being sought to land at a small revolving island around the great city of magic, where they could see almost all of the known world.

"Your right on that, one time i had to pull two internals from your world. Remind me never to do that again..." Kelgori said with a grin. "Also don't piss off the entire sage council at Concord." He jumped off his friend and landed gracefully on the small revolving island floating in the air. "So I'm guessing you were given a name?"

"Drek'Thor. Created under fire and lightning, to be modest and humble i wont brag about my upbringing or how i earned the title drake of power, just call be Drek'Thor. Thor for short." Thor said, with a look of embarrassment on his face, he forgot to introduce himself properly.

"Very well Drek'Thor. I'm glad we get to work together." Kelgori's gaze drifted to the south. "Do you remember the last time we ignited the land in war?" He began to reminisce, he was standing at the peak where he choose to sway the tide of battles, ensure the most destruction and guarantying his victor.

"Very vaguely. It was around 500 years ago, when we pitted the whole world in a massive war, from the instinctive and savage too the complex and imaginative. This was back before arid existed and was split between The Shattered Hand, Darlar, and Lenus. All it took was a crow in somebody's ear urging them to go for a land grab. The word spread across the world, Even the lost Isle and the Sundered island took sides, they were forgot about and they had magic never seen to the mortals before." Thor spoke. They clearly were staging a event like this in the near future. It was a classic way to ignite the passionate soul to killing there neighbor.

"This time we do it right." Kelgori spoke. "We don't allowed mistakes, and this time... Lenus isn't just going to get pushed to the far peninsula, before they were the largest kingdom, controlling almost all of arid, then came the revolutions. Instantly everybody sought opportunity to gain more power and prestige." He was a brilliant strategist and never even commanded his own army, just manipulated armies to fight there neighbor, He never needed more. "This knight that the master spoke of, if there were to be a conflict, i can ensure you he would quickly fly threw the ranks. The question is, who should fight them."

The drake collaborated, "But remember Ament, he screwed it all up. That guy was the only wizard we overlooked with any skill, because common sense said he wouldn't interfere with mainland conflicts, because hes a blasted admiral, Instead that guy had this vision, obviously his hindsight, he knew the war would've never gotten involved if it would not have affected him. He saw that our goal was to obliterate, and he saw the strange activity on the lost isle." Thor sighed, it would be so much easier if there wasn't the one smart guy who always foiled the plan.

"Yes, Ament alerted Darlar of the storm above the lost isle which never ceased, they got suspicious, and it was downhill from there.." Kelgori was in spite of dumbfounded luck. "The Leader of the Revolving Locks managed to save them once by exploring and seeing who the real enemy was, and we had to retreat again. We weren't prepared for a exploration of our works, so we had to destroy them then and there before they were replicated or taken record of." Kelgori was sad that such a human forced a end to the work before, he almost lost his life for his failure. This was his second chance he has been trying to avoid forever.
Kelgori looked down, he saw the land beneath him thousands of feet away. The peaceful land was soon to be corrupted with scars of war soon enough.

"On the bright side, the Halcyon line is ending, one last heir lives, and hes nothing but a simple fishermen. Hes far to young to stop anything we put into motion now. The real problem is finding where to start it." Thor spoke. It was time to take flight again, the floating island had revolved to the spot they wanted to leave from. Kelgori mounted the drake again, and they took flight east again. Both in deep thought as the landmarks passed them by. In one day he went from wanderer back to warlock, Kelgori was in a weird sense proud.

‘You were really going to waste our favor on a sword?’ Frick asked as the Lloyd turned and walked away ‘You have two!’

‘Maybe you are right’ said Frack grabbing the cooling pan from beside the fire. ‘There are better things to ask for’

‘Dang right I’m…’ Frick trailed off ‘WAIT A MINUTE!!’ Frick looked around the camp fire ‘where is my rock?’

Frack looked at Frack then at the ground literally covers with small stones, then back at Frick ‘Rock?’ Frack said picking one up off the ground and tossing it to Frick. ‘here’

Frick caught it ‘No not this one’ it was interesting so he put in his pocket ‘The one I got from the middle over there.’

‘Check you pockets,’ Frack said

Frick patted his pockets as Frack finished stuffing the back packs and closing them and making sure the flaps were tied down securely.

‘Well?’ Asked Frack

Frick grinned and pulled a star shaped stone from his pocket. ‘here it is, I knew I had it’

‘Comon’ Frack said as he shouldered a pack. Frick grabbed the other pack and they followed Lloyd out of the cave and into the morning air.

Lloyd looked out over the path as he walked, down on his home country of Lenus. The sun was just now rising and the sharp cutting wind was starting to die down a bit. It was the beginning of a beautiful day, highlighting a beautiful country. The golden rays of the sun stretching over the vast grasslands to come to a slamming halt again the mountainous terrain that was it's border with Arid.

Lenus was a land of fertile fields and tall mountains, boarded on the North, East, and South by open ocean with the Western edge being the only part of the country that connected with land. Most of Lenus Western border and was against Arid, a barren desert wasteland with very few liveable areas, with Darlar taking up a very minor portion of the border itself. Lenus was a land of bounty both before and after the war, with wise kings and peaceful men. The country wanted for nothing, and out of all the countries had suffered the least strife in the past. It was occupied by men primarily, with various other minor species, mostly Kender and Dwarfs, all living together in relative harmony.

Darlar, on the other hand, was a land of dense rainforests occupied by some of the most dangerous Deegos in Pangea. It was occupied by Shapeshifters primarily, a deceitful and paranoid species versed heavily in illusionary magic, with Sprites and Farries the only others so bold to remain. Not much is known of Darlar beyond it's terrain and paranoid occupants, for few had been foolish enough to venture into the land.

The land of Arid had come about at the end of the last great war five hundred years ago. Being the original territory in question, many battles had been fought there, turning the land into a shadow of it's former self, and by the end of the war, no one was interested in occupying it. But nature has always, and will always abhor a vacuum, and even though the land was of little to no use for any of the many species on the continent of Pangea, it eventually became occupied by the only species that had a chance in such a harsh environment, the Giants. The Giants were a powerful near-human species, much larger then any other intelligent species in Pangea, and so could endure more of the harsh abuse a dessert climate presents. Though, lately, the inhabitants of Arid had been growing restless with their lot in life, they wanted more land, better land, and many countries feared their army might have the power to take that land should war break out. So far trade had been enough to keep the rulers of Arid satisfied, but no one knew how long that fact would remain intact.

Frugel, you couldn't have picked a worse time to kill the beloved King Drek. He was a great military genious, and a skilled diplomat, you cannot hope to maintain what he built. He had many times before contemplated killing the fool in the name of the thrown, but the man had not yet done anything to threaten the soverignty of the country of Lenus. If he tried to overthrow the King, no one would rally to support him, he would simply be imprisoned or killed, with an even worse man taking the place of the idiot.

"Oi! Human!" Lloyd looked down to see Frack standing in front of him, indignantly with his hand on his hips, "I'm talking to you!"

"My apologies," the Knight responded automatically, "I was deep in thought. Did you need something?"

"I wanted to know who forged your sword and sheath."

Lloyd reached behind his back and pulled the trigger release on the scabber. The weight of the weapon dropped into his hand and he yanked away and up, flipping the blade around in his hand to be right side up. The light of the rising sun glistened off the double-edged weapon, making it look as if surrounded by a halo of golden light. "If was a gift from a Concordian Ambassador as thanks for protecting him on his journey back to his home country of Concord." The Knight handed the broadsword to the Kender, "It's made of a special metal, lighter then normal steal," the little man stumbled back a step, but quickly adjusted to the extra weight and was soon swinging it back and forth without too much effort. "Supposedly the metal is able to conduct and block magic, but I've never tested it before. I'm not a man versed in the magic arts."

"But you used that stone back in the cave," Frick replied. "In fact you ran directly towards it."

"Yes, I'm not exactly sure what happened there," Lloyd answered quickly trying to push them to another subject. The thought of using so much power was not something he wanted to get used to, Best it give it to the King and forget I ever came across it. "So have you two decided what you want?"

"One of these would be nice," Frack responded flinging the sword back and forth.

"You can barely stand with that thing!" Frick reprimanded.

"Can too!"

Lloyd tuned the two out again. The back and forth was becoming predictable anymore, and he was starting to learn how to set them off if he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. He didn't expect them to continue falling for it many more times, once, maybe twice more if he was lucky, but he was grateful for the respite when he got it. He really did not want to even acknowledge the stone in his hand, he wouldnt even look at it anymore, he just hoped the Palace Mages could remove the stone without taking off his hand. Not that the Mages of Lenus had been all that helpful before, they could hardly compete with the Mages of Concord or the Elves of Sundered Island.

Concord was, and always had been, the most advanced of all the countries in Pangea with vast bountiful rolling hills, not a natural phenomena, but actually made by the Mages that lived there, an entire species of wizards gifted in the arts of elemental magic. The country was one of three island nations, and one of only two that had remained untouched by the war so many centuries ago. Concord was also the home of the crowning jewel of any city in Pangea, the Triceta, a vast city in the skies above Concord that was home to the most powerful of Mages, the smartest of Elves, and the richet of Men. The city of Triceta had never known war, poverty, or famine, and as such, was a place sought by any interested in a life of luxury.

By comparison, Sundered Island was a poor imitation of Concord, being a modest woodland area with secreted cities hidden by veils of magic. That being said, it was still the second most advanced country in all of Pangea, and the homeland of the Elves, a peaceful, highly intelligent people gifted in the magic arts rivaling the Mages of Concord. But, despite being peaceful, the Elves were a secluded race, having learned all too well the cooruption of Men, and the deceit of Shapeshifters when they did venture off their island. Even with their seclusion, many of the Healing magics had originated from Sundered Island, and many more lay there still, to be gotten by any soul brave and strong enough to venture there.

But despite all this magical knowledge, the one country to play the biggest part in the area of magic during the war had been Shattered Hand, a marsh land occupied by the amphibious Xiphos. Unable to train warriors to fight on the terms of Men, Giants, and Shapeshifters during the war, the Xiphos had been forced to learn attack magics to even the odds in fighting. Despite their disadvantage against land creatures the Xiphos were still able to hold their own in battle with their advanced dark magics. Of all the lands, during the war they lost the least land to the ravages of combat, thanks to their heavy defenses.

Lloyd rounded a corner of the mountain, and the terrain suddenly shifted from a slight decline, to a very steep drop. Beyond this steep drop the path resumed in it's gentle curve around the mountain. This section of the path had apparently given out during the storm and left a huge gap, going so far as to even knock out the section of path beneath it.

"Well that's a bit of a problem," Frack commented, leaning on the broadsword as he looked down over the cliff, "I don't think there's another way down."

"Who are you talking to?" Frick asked, knocking his friend on the back of the head.

"Well to the human obviously!"

"He's a Knight of this country, you really think you know more of the terrain then he does?"

Frack seemed to consider this, "Hmm, good point."

"Well I don't have climbing gear," Lloyd replied, "and it too steep to safely climb without it." He sighed, "Looks like we'll have to call for an escort. I don't think we'll be going anywhere for a while unless one of us grows wings in the next ten seconds."

Suddenly the Knight was overcome with pain coming from his back. The pain was like nothing he had ever experienced before, a red hot burst of agony pressing outward from inside his own body. His flesh felt like it was being slowly ripped apart from the inside out, like a sword right out of the furnace being plunge through his body and out the other side. He gripped his side, hard, bit his cheek, even punched himself to try and get through the pain.

Then he saw them, watched them wrap around him, in a cacoon, responding as if an extra pair of arms that had only just now gotten the signal his brain sent, but these were not arms, or any normal appendage a human could reasonably have. They were a pair of wings, glass like sheets of translucent red material heldi n place by a frame of blazing crimson flame. They were at once familiar, and alien, part of him rejected them as inhuman and unnatural, while the other, more primitive part of his brain said they were perfectly acceptable, most likely the stone injecting instructions to his subconscious. So that's how I knew how to use them.

Slowly he stood and let his arms drop, the wings responded in kind to his mental commands like they had always been a part of him, despite him having no actual experience with them.

"Does this mean we don't have to wait?" Frick asked.

"If he's flying, I'm coming with," Frack interjected, "even if I have to grab his leg as he's taking off."

"You do know that I've never used these before?" Lloyd replied with raised eyebrows, "I don't even know if they work that way."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"They don't work and we all plummet to our deaths."

The little man seemed to consider this, which in and of itself was amazing. The Kender seemed to be more interested in strange things, then keeping themselves alive.

"Flap them," Frick suggested. "You don't have to jump off a cliff to see if they'll give you lift."

It was the obvious solution. It should have been obvious to him, but he had never had to contemplate flying before. The shock of having the option open to him had blinded him to simple logic, which was another reason he didn't like magic. There were some things humans were simply never meant to do, and magic made it possible. Madness, he thought, but he did as instructed and flapped the wings, gently.

The lift he got was shocking, the simple movement sent him almost ten feet off the ground. Instinctively he splayed the wings, creating a glide effect that, impossibly, halted his descent entirely. He had to force himself to remain calm and not panic, lest he loose control, then quickly had to clamp down on the joy as well, in case he became too rash with this new found ability. I can't get used to it, this power is for the King and Lenus, not my own personal pleasure. He folded the wings up and let himself drop gently to the path again, "I think I can use them, but I'm not sure how long they'll stick around. I don't have any control over the transformation."

"But they can fly?" Frack asked with a smile.

Lloyd nodded and quickly found himself with two Kender hanging onto his torso. He picked up the sword Frack had left in the ground beside him and sheathed it before slowly making his way to the edge of the cliff.

With a deep breath the Knight jumped forward into mid-air and flapped his wings to push them farther off. The sudden acceperation surprised all three men and in an instant they found themselves almost a hundred feet away from the mountain. He banked right back towards the mountain again and flapped the wings again, this time getting a much more gentle acceleration that pushed them thirty feet.

He was beginning to get the hang of the fiery limbs, they didn't seem to rely on any sort of winds to propel them forward, as even with a bare movement they were given a large leap in speed and distance. This was most likely a property of the fire element giving them an extra boost. Luckily the directions were easy enough to manipulate. Dip a wing to turn, flap straight down to go up, flap back to gain speed, and flap forward to slow. Splaying the wings seemed to put the user in a hover mode.

With a bit more confidence, the Knight folded the wings back, narrowing the profile and angling them down towards the base of the mountain. They plummeted, quickly loosing altitude, the ground speeding up at them until it filled their vision entirely. Then, at the last moment, Lloyd opened the wings and flapped back, sending them careening forward in a blur of motion.

When he judged that they were well away from the base fo the mountain he brought the wings forward, bringing the entire group to an abrupt stop, a dozen feet off the ground. He splayed the wings and looked about. They were nearly a qurter of a mile from the mountain they had just taken off from, and it had taken them a little under a minute to get here with all but twenty second of the minute being a descent from the mountain top to the base.

I wasn't even trying, he thought stunned, what would happen if I were to go all out? It was best not to consider such things, the temptation to feel just that sensation again was enough to tell him this power was dangerous. He brought the wings up and dropped to the ground. The two Kender let go and began speaking in quick excited voices, that the Knight could not begin to follow, not that he blamed them. The experience was something he would never forget either.

Lloyd concentrated on the wings in his mind, visualizing them folding back inside him and disappearing from view. For a moment nothing happened, then a sharp pain shot up his spine, making him arc back from the level of pain. It was if a hot Iron was being pressed into his back by a Giant with a personal vendetta, the pain searing him, but leaving no mark, no badge of honor for the pain he endured. Then it ended abruptly as the wings fully disappeared, and he was left panting for air. He was more then just tired now, he was exhausted, That power, it's deceptive, you don't know what it's doing to you until you've reverted back.

The two Halflings simply waited for him to catch his breath, then the three continued on their way.

------------------------------

Lloyd and his two companions spotted the massive castle shortly after they landed. The Castle Gaelen rose up out of a large plain like a bump on the land. It spanned thousands of feet across the center of the open plain, with both an outer and inner wall. The outer wall was nothing special, your standard gray affair with watch towers placed every fifty feet and turret at each corner, as well as a large double gate with both a wooden drawbridge and a set of heavy iron doors that could be closed up during an attack. Along the upper part of the outer wall were multiple slits that could be used as archery perches, and the top of the wall was lined with a trough that could be loaded with hot oil should an outsider attempt to scale the wall. All of this was surrounded by a moat thirty feet wide, containing water kept just under boiling by a series of furnaces.

Once inside the Outer wall of the Castle one would find himself in a small town complete with markets, barracks, and houses for the lower noblemen and Knights, as well as those privilaged villagers favored by the King. At the center of the small town would be the Inner wall, a much smaller version of the outer one spanning just a little over five hundred square feet, but without the moat the Outer wall had. Instead the Inner wall was protected by a magic barrier kept in place the the Castle Mages.

Once inside the Inner wall you would find yourself in the Castle courtyard, with the Castle itself towering four hundred feet in the air before you. The Castle itself was a mixture of squared off walls, and towering spires, with the central throne room rising two up in the midst of four spires, plated on top with gold shingles in laid with saphires and rubies. The final ornate attachment had come courtesy of Frugel's excess, an unnecessary and costly add-on that made it obvious to any air-riding magician exactly where the King would be.

As they neared the Outer wall the metal side door inside the main Iron gate opened up and a guard stepped through to greet and inspect them. The man looked them all over, and seemed taken aback by what he saw, but once he saw Lloyd's sword and armor he waved them through with no further hassle, carefully keeping his eyes pointed anywhere but at the Knight. Do I look upset, or is the King just angry with me for being late? The man had given him an impossible mission, which he had succeeded in, and an impossible timetable, which he would miss by only a couple hours.

They entered through the gate to the town surrounding the castle. The buildings were in classic old style with white walls lined with brown supported and a tan, slopped roof. The market was bustling with activity of people trading, bartering, and negotiating prices, and venders advertising their wears to any who would listen, all of which claimed they had everything you could possibly need at prices no one could match.

Lloyd reached forward, almost psychically and grabbed the two Kender to keep them from running out to the shop stalls, "No, not yet, first we need money, then I can get you what you want."

"We were just going to look around," Frack pleaded.

"Uh-huh," Lloyd replied, "and maybe something accidently ends up in your pocket." The Knight wasn't culturally familiar with species, but part of his combat training had also told him that while Kender were dextrous, they would also not hesitate to take your weapon and use it against you. They were gifted pick-pockets, "People in Lenus don't take kindly to stealing."

"We're not thieves you filthy mud-licker," Frick yelled back.

"Just because you're as slow as a Giant after an all-nighter in the pub doesn't mean we're thiefs. You're just jealous!" Frack joined in.

"Don't worry about it Frack, humans are lying bastards, they can't help but see that everywhere they go!"

"Too slow to be any good at it too. You know why humans have children Lloyd? Because they're too slow to get the condom on in time!"

"I take it back, you are faster in one way, you get caught faster."

"You know why humans lie? Because they're too embarassed to admit they forgot!"

The taunting continued for a good ten minutes, during which they managed to insult every possible aspect of human culture, and made up words that made even the jesters blush. "Alright I get it!" Lloyd yelled finally, "I apologize for saying you steal, now will you please stop saying that about my mother?"

The two turned away in a huff, but did stopped taunting. The Knight supposed he was forgiven, however begrudged it was. He had only later remembered what his master had told him when teaching, "They don't call it stealing, they call it Handling." He supposed that meant they had some moral line between the two that humans didn't understand, or just never made the distinction. To a human, motive only mattered so much, to a Kender, it seemed to matter a great deal.

By the time the trio made it to the Inner wall's Iron gate the two Halflings were back to normal, but still not much in the mood for conversing with the Knight.

Lloyd walked up to the gate and wrapped on the small inner door. A slit opened, and a pair of eyes looked out. They seemed to grow wide, then snap back, as if shocked at seeing something, Are they just surprised I actually came back alive? "Knight Lloyd Syuveil to see King Frugel."

The eyes looked him up and down, "Have you got proof?"

Odd question. The Knight reached behind his back and drew his sword, holding the blade up to show the royal emblem embedded in the top of the hilt, "Will this do?"

The eyes focus on the hilt, then disappeared, and the gate opened up, "Pardon me Sir Lloyd, I didn't recognize you."

"Perfectly alright," Lloyd replied sheathing the sword, "these two Halflings will be accompanying me into the Castle, but will not be joining me in the Throne Room. Please send a message to my Page telling him to meet me there."

"Yes my lord," the guard said turning and running up the stairs into the Castle proper.

The Knight waved the two Kender ahead, "I'll need to meet with the King first. My Page will take you to my room, you can have your pick of what's in there, or you can return with my gold and I will try to procure the item you wish to have."

The two nodded, but did not speak, they must still be angry with him for calling them thieves, however indirectly.

They continued walking through the courtyard towards the Castle. The yard was full of green bushes, and colorful flowers arranged around the various statues and paths leading around and into the Castle. The path they were walking was long, with statues interspersed every ten feet, with a massive ornate fountain in the exact center, with the path spliting around it. Flowers surrounded the path with hedged a few feet behind, as well as encircling the fountain.

At the end of the path were stairs leading up to the main entrance. The stairs were cornered so that you would have to make multiple turns to reach the top. This was to stop people from easily storming the entrance and to provide an elevated view of the courtyard.

They pushed through the main entrance and found themselves in one of many antechambers. This one was plain stone gray with a few suits of old and useless armor, and a couple tapestries along the walls and floor to give it color. Standing at the center of this room was the Page Lloyd had sent for a few minutes ago. By all rights the man should have been out of breath, this place was far from his quarters, but he hid his exhaustion well, a characteristic of a good Knight which the man hoped to someday become.

"Hello Laro," Lloyd greeted with a smile, "good to see you looking well."

"Umm, you too my Lord?" The boy replied questioningly.

The Knight had begun to ignore the strange looks. No one seemed interested in telling why so he figured it wasn't anything to worry about. "These are my friends, Frick and Frack," he waved to indicate the two Halflings. "Please take them to my room while I'm consulting the King. They may pick what they like from among my things."

The Page was taken aback, "Are you sure about that my lord?"

"I owe these two my life Laro," Lloyd replied, "you will respect them for that if nothing else."

The boy straightened up, "Yes sir, my apologies."

"Apologize by showing them with the same deference you show me."

The Knight walked off up the stairs leading deeper into the Castle, and into the next antechamber, this one much larger then the first. The room was fully carpeted in rich blue and yellow tones, with dark brown wooden panels lining the walls and the ceiling. At the top of the ceiling was a doom painted with glorious moments in the history of Lenus, and along the walls were portraits hung of the previous kings of the land. At the opposite end of the room were two semi-circular stair cases leading to a raised balcony and a doorway that would open up into the throne room. At the base of each stair case were two fully armored guards in gleaning silver armor, with another pair of Royal Knights in full Plate armor on either side of the entrance to the Throne Room.

Lloyd mounted the stairs without hastle and came to a stop in from of the two guards on the balcony. Here he surrendered his broadsword to one guard and let the other check him for weapons. It was forbidden to enter into the King's presence with weapons of any sort unless a member of the Royal Guard, something Lloyd had never been interested in becoming. Satisfied that he was free of weapons they unbarred the door and let the Knight through. He hadn't bothered to show them his serrated gauntlet, the weapon's blades could be folded in if needed, and unlike previous times, he felt he may indeed need it in this meeting.

He parted the curtail hiding the door from the view of those in the Throne Room and was at once astounded and disgusted with the degree of opulance his new King had seen fit to give himself. Along all the doorways were not silk cloths hung in heavy layers with gold pins holding them in place. The floor was marbled and inlaided with sterling silver to accent the rich royal blue of the pattern already in place. Along the walls were oak panels studded with saphires and diamonds highlighting the gold vases embedded with Emerald gems along the rim and middle. The ceiling now mirrored on the inside what it looked like on the outside with gold plating along the four sides of the pyramid and Jets lining the crevices. At the head of the room was a wooden platform housing a chair made out of gold with silver patterns along the back and sides and gems of Saphire, Ruby, Emerald, Jet, and Diamond studded along the arms and back, with cusions made from velvet.

The King himself was dressed in a dark blue velvet robe, with white lining around the sleeves and hem, most likely from some animal that could easily have killed the lazy man wearing it, given half a chance. Under the robe was a matching set of silver and blue pants and shirt made from sattin, hiding a white undershirt of fine silk. The man himself was a pudgy man, not obese, but certain too large to be anything but a noble suited to a life of luxury. He had a fresh beard, just barely growing in, and his hair was shoulder length and unkept by choice.

As the Knight entered he forced himself to choke down his pride and kneel before the King. It took his all to keep from jumping on the man and killing him where he sat, to Hell with honor, anything should be better then this fool. But he played his part and remained kneeling until Frugel saw fit to acknowledge him.

"Ah my good Knight Lloyd, I assume you have succeeded in acquiring my treasure?" The King asked waving his hand, covered in gold in silver rings holding some gems he didn't even know the names of.

"Yes sire, I have succeeded," he bit down on his cheek, "I apologizing for not getting it to you on time."

"I'll overlook it," he replied as if making some grand generous gesture. "You may stand."

"Thank you sire," he answered standing up and looking at the King.

The man was looking away from his Knight and speaking, "Now show me my- What happened to your face?"

Lloyd was confused, "What do you mean my Lord?"

"It's blue."

A sense of dread and anger began building in the pit of his stomach, "I'm sorry?"

"It's blue!" Frugel waved one of his attendents forward, and presented him with a mirror.

The Knight looked into the mirror and sure enough his face was tinted light blue. His rage began building and he tightened his grip on the mirror, So this is why I kept getting strange looks. You would think someone might mention that little fact! His grip tightened further on the mirror and the glass began trembling in his hand, The Halflings! I'm gonna kill them! Finally the mirror could take no more and shattered in his hand, shards raining down and bouncing off the marble floor.

The King seemed spooked by this and began yelling, "He's possessed! Call the Palace Mages to purify his soul!"

"Sire I assure you I'm fine. It's just a simple-"

"He's trying to trick us! Quickly, begin the exorcism!"

The Mages responded remarkably fast and surrounded him, prayer beads in hand. They began chanting in rhythm, "Demons begone! Leave this sacred place! Pollute not this man's soul!" Over and over again.

Lloyd put his face in his palm. He had always known Frugel was stupid, but this was on another level entirely. He sat down, cross-legged and waited until the idiots were satisfied. When the ceremony didn't end after ten minutes he knew the King would not end this until he looked normal, and if he had been blue this long, it would not fade for some time, if ever. So he began cursing in Elven, "Traako juketteal haaku!"

In hindsight he should have known better. If the King had not learned of magic side-effects what would he know of other languages? Obvious he had known none, as immediately he stood an screamed, "He's casting a spell on his! Purify his tongue!"

The Mages, of course most likely versed in Elven, had no choice but to obey the order, and one began walking forward with a pair of coal plyers intent on Lloyd's loose tongue. "Oi, OI! Get those bloody things away from me!"

-------------------------------------

"You really should not frighten your King like this Lloyd," Frugel reprimanded.

"Eleffe mh, hi ud v f d non," Lloyd responded around a swollen tongue.

"What?"

Lloyd took the potion offered him and gulped it down without bother to taste it, the stuff was rarely tasty. Immediately he felt his tongue shrink back down to normal, "Believe me, I would have it I'd known myself, Sire."

"Oh, well still, warn me next time!"

The Knight considered trying to explain again to him and decided discretion was the better part of valor, "Yes my Lord, my apologize." Note to self: Look in a mirror before coming in here.

"Now where were we?" Frugel walked back up to his throne and flopped down, all the time holding his chin in his hand. "Ah yes, where is my treasure Sir Lloyd?"

The Knight stood and raised his left hand, presenting the back of it to the King, "Here my Lord."

It took a moment for the man to realize what he was seeing, a quality of his dim wit, and matched by and equally idiotic question, "Well how do I get it out?"

He sighed, "If I knew that Sire, I would have removed it myself."

"How did it happen?"

"I was forced to use the stone when confront by it's Guardian, Ifrit," he remembered the vague memory of the fight, his sword slciing through the Deego's neck like so much paper. "I was successful in killing the beast, but passed out soon after. When I awoke the stone was embedded in my hand. It seems to be kept in place by magic, as no amount of pulling and prying has been ableto dislodge it."

"You dared to defile a Royal Jewel by using it on a Deego!" Frugel's voice was quickly rising into a bellow.

"If I had had another option my Lord I would have taken it," Lloyd explained, "I couldn't have brought this back dead, and the Guardian would not stop until one of us was so."

"You should have found another way!"

"What other way was there Sire? You would not give me men to aid in this quest, nor time to prepare to fight what I might encounter. You would not even let me take one of the Moon Weapons in our armory, despite my status as High Knight of Lenus!"

"You have committed a grave error Mister Syuveil...."

The Royal Guardsmen around the chamber leveled their weapons at the Knight. A signal reserved only for the highest degrees of offense a person could give to the King's presence. He was not surprised by this, he had, to a degree, expected this to happen, otherwise he would not have kept his gauntlet hidden from the guards. But it was still a shock to have it actually happen to him.

"Lloyd Syuveil," Frugel began, "I pronounce you guilty of treason against the land of Lenus and the this throne!" Your left hand will be removed and you will be thrown into the lowest dungeon to live out the remainder of your life." He looked down on the man, "Any final words for your King?"

Lloyd balled his hands into fists in anger, causing the serrated edges of the gaunlet to spring out and through the leather of his armor, "No, but I have words for the moron sitting on the throne of a nation he does not deserve to lead. I am the messenger of the Devil himself, in this moment, his message: Welcome to Hell!"

"Thor, to make our plan work, don't we need to go to atleast one other throne before Lenus? I mean, Frugel is stupid, but not that stupid. I think that the shape-shifters will take best to my entrance." Kelgori spoke to his partner, requesting the destination be southwards of where they are.

"On route now. You still able to pull off the old prophet trick, the crow one. Shape-shift to prove your right of passage." Thor's ethereal mouth smiled. A excellent plan.

The duo quickly rose up a steep climb that was readily changing from sand, gravel, and rock to a more fruitful grass and moss. Then as they crossed the border they were instantly above trees, countless numbers everywhere. Kelgori got up and stood on the head of the drake and started to change, he threw his cloak over his shoulder as he started to shrink, slowly at first as feathers seemed to by popping out of the inside of the cloak. In 5 seconds he was as much of a crow as the one passing by.

"Thor, you would be a dead giveaway, you already know this, so just become a Deego for a few days, I know the extent of your ethereal skin, it can be masked to look like a dragon to instill fear in the hearts of many. I need to make this travel alone, also take my staff with you. The crow is a renowned symbol of warlocks and instantly labels us as one, making it a necessity to keep hidden, and its hard to hide something in a throne room, as bulky as that." Kelgori was preparing himself, his staff appeared on the back of his drake, it was miraculous how strong the bond between them were. "This is where we split, the castle is over the ridge. Good hunting." The crow nodded to its strange flock. And was returned by a roar, which was quickly looking as if a dragon made it. The ethereal being landed and started to wonder around aimlessly.

"Good hunting to you also my friend." Thor responded from a distance, the voice fading.

Kelgori turned his head back towards his destination, instantly after he passed the ridge, he saw the animal kingdom; Human-like appearances quickly morphed into a cat or lion, others into a hawk or panther, one even into a strangely large mammal known only as a ravager, the fear and pride of Darlar. The monstrosity stands 20 feet tall and appears to a untrained eye as a lion of nightmare, except it has no mane. The ravager is known for its lightning dexterity and claws sharper than a sword. The beast has a dark verdant skin that allows him to blend in with his rain forest habitat.

Must be one of the kings finest, or one of his guards. Not many wanderers venture this deep, or ever morph into such a deadly beast this close to home. Kelgori thought to himself. He was almost to the inner gate, the outer gate protecting the castle from land, any type of creature or figure, the inner gate held the vital protection from air. The castles magic barrier had a different intent than defending against everything. Its sole purpose was to prevent a demolition caused by devastating wizardry. A type never seen in hundreds of years, but being carious also allows them to use the wizards to defend the castle, instead of channeling a barrier. Darlar has the ability to focus more on the art of shapeshifting and improving it. The royal knights already have the ability to morph and have the shapeshifter stay armored in creature form.

Kelgori flew down to the gate and began his transformation back to human, speaking as he does. "Guards, may i please enter, i have to speak to the king, it is urgent." Kelgori spoke with a voice of authority.

The two guards instantly were on guard, the first one preparing for a fight, taking up a aggressive stance raising his arms, the other one responded: "On who's authority do you request court with the king? Tell us or begone." The first said, they were veterans and knew there way around combat, Kelgori didn't relish the prospect of fighting them.

"I come in peace, and i come to help, i am unarmed and i wouldn't have a chance against the king." The Warlock spoke, his deceptiveness hidden underneath a brown laden robe with eagles feathers across the neck. "I come as a prophet with a message for the king, he needs to hear it." The deceiver pleaded.

"Your not getting in that easy, first; You must make the ascent to the throne as a human, from there the royal guard will have you under close eye, and before you could say oops you would be thrown into the prison." The guard having no clue what was about to happen in the hours to pass.

"Very well, now let me enter." Kelgori said, with a sigh of relief. The gates crested with a panthers head on it opened. He slowly strode threw, making no fast motions, he found himself instantly accompanied with three lions around him, ready to rip his to mere fabric should he try something, "You can relax, I wish no harm, and I can sense war looming in the air, it haunts my dreams. I need to explain it in detail for your king should it ignite all of Pangea which i pray it doesn't." The lions offered no conversation, they knew better than talk to there escort should he be a manipulative sorcerer and have you doing his will in two minutes of conversation. He held a strong pace to rid himself of the beasts as soon as possible, by no meaning was it a comforting feeling.

"This is the gate to his thrown." Said one of the cats, unlike most of the keeps of the kingdoms, Darlar's is outdoors, so it has no need for tapestries it is decorated by deceptive nature which masks the most elite of guards. "There are worse guards than us in there, and they take no prisoners, and the king is a force of reckoning." The leading cat said. throwing a paw at the arch creating by two trees twisting themselves around each other. with a overgrown chamber. It was quite the presence as you entered the throne, it had a calming feel to it, the sunlight turned green underneath the trees. Allowing no pain to Kelgori from the light, he couldn't take his protective robes with him on this quest.

Kelgori bowed beneath the throne, created by the limbs of several large trees native only to the region. The kingdom's king and champion Mordaci motioned for him to rise. "My guards told me that you had something very urgent and interesting to say, I hope for your sake its right. So what is it that calls you here?" Mordaci asked, well built with a solid frame, dressed in purple and green garments. Clearly the proven champion of the region, not given to politics, but authoritative command. He is a respected ruler by all of his kingdom, he acts on the wishes of his people. Even joins them in hunts, or long ago, in battle.

"My visions speak to me of a conflict arising in Lenus, Preempted by a change in leadership, one that is going to happen very soon. Also, you know how the giants of arid grow restless of there wasteland, i fear that they will soon reclaim there promised territory, which is why you need to start preparing for war, when they snap, it wont be just against Lenus, they will be engaged with everyone." Kelgori says all in a few short breaths. He played the role of oracle perfectly, he was afraid of how hard this would be, because he knew that the man across from him was not easily manipulated, hell so much that Kelgori didn't once think of trying. However, Mordaci took the bait.

"Tell me more, and slow down. You don't need to be in a rush, you are safe here. You have plenty of time to tell me everything." His face beaming with interest, his own advisers were telling him something of the same sort about the giants, but like always they were sugar-coating it.

"Very well, call your advisers in here and i will continue, it will spare you having to retell the story."

Damean abruptly woke up. "Damean! Get ready! Today's the day!" Damean was a fisherman. Damean had lived on a little island off of Concord called Insula. That day was the day that he and his father would go on a trip to the Kingdom of Lenus. It would take approximatly a week. He and his father would be the only ones to go. His mother had died when he was very young. He was also an only child. For as long as he could remember, fishing was all there was to his life. There was only ever time for fishing. Fishing and studies. His father had high hopes for him. He had wished for his son to grow up and become someone. A smart man, with all the wealth in the world. The thing is, his father also wanted him to remember his roots. That's why he forced his son to be a fisherman.

Damean dressed and jumped down the stairs. There, at the foot of the stairs, was his father, dressed and packing their equipment. "Ready?" asked his father. "Yes, sir." Both Father and son stepped out of the house. Damean had the feeling he had forgotten something. Something not needed, but that would make his job much easier, and much more pleasant. Then he remembered, the realization hitting him like a stampede of 1000 bulls. Damean let out a sharp whistle, and there, infront of him in less than a few seconds, was his pet dog, Sapphire.

Sapphire was a strange dog. Strange not because of how it acted, but because of what it was made of. Its Father was a hound hound, a canine-like deego with amplifyed strength, speed, and sense. It was much more powerful breed of canine, with the power of fire. His mother was a regular dog; a purebred collie, a dog bred for herding sheep. Hound Hounds are known to be able to control their output of fire. During mating seasons, Hound Hounds completely extinguish their fires, as not to harm their mating partner. It is not a rare thing to have heard of a mix between both species. It was rare to actually aquire one, and to domesticate it. To have one as a pet, it would have to be taken from it's parents as a pup, a feat not at all simple. His father had bought the pup off of a man in a black robe, on one of his many trips to the mainland to sell his catch of the day, when he was only four. deego-dog mixes are known to have a strong bond with their human companion. As such, Sapphire was bonded to Damean. Damean had aquired this dog at a very young age, and at the time, Sapphire was still a pup, both grew up together and it was only natural that both form a bond. It was known that a deego-dog mix with a bond to its human companion would live almost as long as their masters. Deego-dog mixes were reported to live well into their 70's and even in rare cases, their 100's.

"Hey, buddy. Ready to go fishing?" Asked Damean, talking to his Dog. "WOOF!" Sapphire seemed estatic, wagging its tail. After a short walk, they had arrived at the port. There, their fishing ship, Gold Fish was tied to a post. "Good morning Lark" said his father to the port guard. "'Mornin' Mr. Halcyon" replied the guard. "Hey there, Lark. How's it going?" asked Damean. "Oh, not too bad. Y'know." Sapphire had run towards Lark and started to rub up against his leg. The guard had bent down and patted the dog on its back. "I got somethin' for ya, Saph!" "Saph" was the dog's nick name. It was only ever called Sapphire by a person when it was being reprimanded. From his pocket, Lark had pulled out some treats for the dog and then tossed them to it. Sapphire then jumped up into the air and caught them in her mouth. "Good girl" said Lark, rubbing its head.

Damean and his father were setting up for their trip. They ran the pre-sailing checkes, and when they had finished, they had retrevied the anchor and started for the sea. Damean called for Sapphire, and it ran at an incredible speed towards the boat, already a few inches away from the port. The dog took one last leap, and seemed to fly over the side of the boat and land near his friend. Damean started to pet Sapphire , then his father had spoken up. "How are magik studies going, Damean?" "They're going well, Sir. I'm getting better at controling water." "Good." Damean's father always seemed unimpressed. It was hard to impress his father, or so he felt.

A day had gone by since they departed from their home. That whole day was spent fishing and eating, and sleeping and fishing. On the deck, Damean had began to talk to his father. "Father, do you ever think of mother?" "All the time. She was the most important thing in my life." "What was she like?" asked Damean. "Well, she was very beautiful. She was so kind, and caring, and always went out of her way to help people. She was smart, so smart. She was everything I ever hoped for. Why do you ask?" "Well, father, I never knew that much about her." "All you have to do, son, is look in a mirror. You look so much like her. You have her eyes. You behave just like her too." Damean was imagining what his mother would be like. How life could be different with a mother. He missed her, even though he never knew her. Damean's father started to speak after a long pause. "Son, I know I don't say this much, but you make me proud. You are all I ever dreamed for in a son. You're so smart, and one day, one day you will become a powerful man. A man with the elements at his side and with all the riches in the world. I want you to have this." Damean's father had taken the ring off of his finger. This ring was a family heirloom. Passed down to his father, by his father, by his father. "This ring has been in our family for 4 generations. I now pass it onto you."

The ring was beautiful. It was a gold ring, with a sapphire and the letter "H" engraved on it. "Go ahead son, put it on." Damean reached for the ring. In his hands, it felt wet, cold. Yet, it was soothing. "It feels wet, right? That's because it's magical. It increases your affinity with water magik." Damean out the ring on and felt a rush go through him. He felt amazing, like he could do anything. "Feels good right? The ring gets more powerful the closer you get to a large body of water. Go ahead, try something with the water." Damean stook out his hand and visualized the water, visualized it forming into a blob, felt the energies rush through him. He had opened his eyes, and there it was. In front of him, there was a blob of water, just floating there. He moved his hand to the right, and with his gesture, so did the water. He had lifted his hand, and the water floated upwards. It felt so natural. As if he was born with this ability. As if he was born of the water itself. Damean thrusted his hand forward, and the water flew forward, at an incredible speed, until gravity had pulled it down. Damean had once again picked up some more water, and visualized it hardening, solidifing into sharp icles. There, infront of his eyes, the water froze. He was amazed at how easily this came, He threw them forward and they just kept on flying. Flying until he lost track. He had become tired afterwards. Although it was easy for him, it was exhausting. He wasn't used to the power. "Thank you, father." said Damean. He then went off to rest.

The rest of their week was spent fishing, as well as Damean's father tutring him on his new found powers. The morning was perfect for fishing. Damean and his father were up early that day. Damean had cast out a fishing line. Unbeknownst to them, it was the last day they would ever see eachother. Damean had felt a strong tug on his line. He was thrilled he was going to catch a large fish. He had called over his help. Both of them tugged on the rod and out came the ugliest looking fish they had ever seen. Only it wasn't a fish, but a Deego. It was a baby Mareserpens. A sea dweller that grew to enormous sizes – much bigger than the small fishing boat – when fully grown. Neither of the men had known about such a Deego.

The Mareserpens squiggled, trying to get out of its captor's grasp. As a last resort, it let out a high-pitched squel. It hurt their ears. They grabbed their head in pain. The Deego had managed to get back to the sea, while both of the humans were grabbing their ears in pain. While toppled over, trying to recover, they felt a terrible trembling from a thousand leauges under the sea. Out of the deep, calm and serene sea, came a monster easily twice the size of the small fishing boat. The creature was a full grown Mareserpens, coming to protect its young. The beast let out the most horrendous sound both men had ever heard, then crashed down on the boat, obliterating it into smitherines. Damean had opened his eyes just in time to see the deego completely destroy his life. He saw a glimpse of his father flying through the air, the Mareserpens racing ot his fathers unconcious body, then devouring his father whole. His ears had then recovered, He heard barking. Faint at first, but then getting stronger as his ears adjusted, He turned around, and has seen Sapphire racing towards him.

Damean looked around, trying to find something to float on, and found a large peice of wood, and then, climbed on it. After all he had suffered, after his life had just been shattered infront of his eyes, he just toppled over and began the longest sleep of his life.

After countless nights of floating, another fishing ship off the coast of Lenus (his original destination) had found him. They took him and his dog aboard. They offered him food, clothes and a bed to sleep until they had arrived back on Lenus. Days of solitude had passed. Then finally He had arrived in Lenus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Damean Halcyon
Hair: Brown, curly
Eyes: Brown
Clothes: Light leather Armour, used as not to get hurt by flapping fish. Offers some protection against swords and punches.
Job: Fisherman
Weapons: Sapphire ring that enhances his affinity towards water magik.
Abilities: Water-bending. (Can manipulate the different states of matter for water. Although to make it into a gas takes much strength and drains him heavily of power. To make it into a solid is just a little bit more tiring than controlling water, which is considerably less than a gas. After long periods of water-bending, the user gets tired.)
Special Ability: Strong Spirited - will hardly ever give up on a situation.
Pros: Thoughtful, humble, has the will to fight when needed, but knows when to stop.
Cons: Short tempered, inexperienced in fighting, relative newcomer to the world of elemental magik.

‘I owe these two my life Laro,’ Lloyd replied, ‘you will respect them for that if nothing else.’

The boy straightened up, ‘Yes sir, my apologies.’

‘Apologize by showing them with the same deference you show me.’

Laro looked at the kinder and the brothers returned the favor. He felt at his waist for his purse.

Frack said ‘Don’t worry, there is nothing in there that I am interested in’

‘We looked already’ Frick piped up.

The squire held on to the pouch a bit more tightly and turned toward the Knights quarters.

‘What is he thinking’ thought Laro as he opened the door to Lloyd’s quarters.

To their credit the kinder did not run in and start to ransack the place. Through the trip back to the castle the brothers had grown a bit attached to the knight and flying off the mountain had just sealed the deal. The brothers walked in to the room and looked around they were almost surgical in their pursuit of the fulfillment of the promise made. There was not a chest or bag that was not opened. There was not a shelf that was not scrutinized. The Brothers kept an eye on Laro. Even though Lloyd had said to respect them they were not convinced.

To be honest Laro was having a hard time keeping up with the brothers. He saw Frick take several potions and bottles from a shelf and Frack look through several blades that were obviously to big for him. He noticed that a drawing had disappeared from the wall and Frack was holding a shirt up to Frick. Deciding it was too big Frack tossed it on the bed. There were a couple of small trinkets that Laro saw being tucked into a pocket and then Frack Drug a long chest from under the bed.

‘Frick’ he said looking at the lock ‘look at this’

Frick walked over. ‘OOOoooo that is not just a lock,’ he said with appreciation. ‘That is a trap to.’

‘Are you sure?’ Frack asked as he leaned over and looked in the key hole. ‘I see it’

Frick shoved him out of the way ‘I wonder what it does,’ Frick looked at Frack and then they both looked at Laro.

‘Umm… if there is a trap…’ Laro started

Frick had is lock picks out already and was carefully probing the key hole.
‘Maybe you should let it be.’ The squire finished as he backed toward the door to the hallway.

Frack looked at Laro ‘Your boss said anything we wanted’ he said irritated

‘Yes but a lock usually means…’Laro started again as Frick got a big grin on his face.

‘There!’ He said ‘It’s unlocked… WAIT!!’

Frack threw open the box

“The trap…’ Frick said as there was a loud poof and a cloud of smoke began to grow from the sides of the box.

Laro threw open the door and stepped into the hallway creating a breeze that carried the smoke through the room and in to the knights quarters. Soon there were cries of ‘FIRE’ as more smoke emanated from the room in to the corridors of the living areas.

Laro looked into the room and saw the kinder hacking and coughing trying to clear the smoke Frick reached into the box and moved something and the smoke stopped though it did not dissipate. The kinder looked into the box with a bit of disappointment and rustled through the contents. There was the clink of precious metals rubbing against each other and every now and then there was the joy of discovery as a gaudy ring or amulet disappeared into a pocket or pouch.

‘TO ARMS! TO ARMS!’ the cry started in the hall ‘TO ARMS! The King is in danger!’

Laro looked at his charges and looked down the hallway. ‘I think this is another drill’ He said as he stepped into the room and closed the door. The kinder did not even look up from going through what little wealth that his master had been able to accumulate.

‘Look at this’ Frack said holding up a disk that looked like silver. ‘the design is very interesting.’ He put the disk in a pocket.

Suddenly there was a rumble from the direction of the throne room.

‘You have got to be kidding me’ groaned the squire as he threw open the door. ‘It was not a drill.’

Laro and strapped a sword from the corner across his back with the hilt over his right shoulder. Then he ran out the door toward the throne room with the kinder right on his heels.

‘What happened?’ Frack asked ‘You don’t think it is because you turned him blue do you?’

‘NO’ said Frick emphatically ‘there is no way that was it.’

The squire and the kinder round a corner and run into the main hall. They all stopped and stared with surprise at what was happening…

Lloyd dropped down into a defensive stance, gauntleted left arm forward and out stretched across the center of his body, bare right arm held loosely by his side. Arrayed against him were seven of the King's Royal Guard, five spearmen surrounding him, and two swordsman on the stairs leading to the throne itself. The King was sitting leisurely in his seat, content to watch his guard protect him, rather then running. It was a sure measure of his stupidity, any assassin, no matter how inept of out-numbered should never be discounted, running would often save a nobleman from danger much more so then any number of Royal Guardsmen.

"You don't have to do this," Lloyd spoke, hoping he could still manage this without a fight, "let me rid us of this fool!"

"How can you ask this?" One of the swordsmen replied, "You took an oath to protect this throne from attack, and now you attack it yourself."

"I took an oath to protect the throne," Lloyd answered. The conversation was not going as planned, he was going to be forced to fight them, all he could do now was bide time to think of a strategy, "Even if that means protecting it from the orders of imbeciles too full of themselves to run a village, much less a kingdom."

"And you would ask us to break our oath so you can fulfill your own misguided sense of duty?" The swordsman asked incredulously, "Do you hear yourself?"

"If you could see yourself, you would not think my voice mad...."

"Sir Lloyd, this is an affront to your oath, you must see that!" The man pleaded, "There is still time, surrender and perhaps your honor can be salvaged."

"TO ARMS! TO ARMS!" a cry began outside the Throne Room. "TO ARMS! The King is in danger!"

"I apologize comrade," he rushed at the throne, "I must act now!"

The spearman in front of the throne thrust out as Lloyd approached. The Knight had had much practice in fighting all kinds of weapons from the mundane to the exotic, and practiced with many of them as well. He ducked to the right and lifted his left arm, brushing the tip away, then spun, grabbed the handle of the weapon with his right hand and lashed out with the serrated gauntlet at the guard. He aimed for the man's chest, trying to apply only enough power to knock him back, but the man thought otherwise and tried to duck the swing.

Had Lloyd actually been trying to kill him, the duck would have succeeded and he would have missed, but because he had been aiming at the guard's chest, when the man ducked the gauntlet dug into his throat, and tore through, sending up a stream of blood as the man fell dead to the floor. With no time to be surprised or sorrowful, his instincts took over directing his actions.

The Knight crouched down to avoid the thrusts of the two spearmen to either side of him and swung the spear out in a sweep that caught both men unawares and sent them tumbling to their backsides. He pulled the spear in and stood to ascend the stairs. More from instinct then signs he side stepped to avoid the first swordsman's downward swing, reversed the direction of the spear, and used the blunt end as a bludgeon to hit the man on the back of the head. Unconscious, the swordsman fell in a neat heap at the foot of the stairs.

Lloyd swept the spear tip under his arm, locked it in place, then thrust back, the move intended to push the last swordsman backwards off the platform, but failing once again. Instead of the blow knocking the man back, it glanced off the center of the armor and sent the tip through the man's skull as it bounced up. Dammit! He felt sorrow for his fallen comrade, but he couldn't grieve for the man now, all he could do was finish his goal and get the hell out.

The Knight released his grip on the spear, knowing full well it would take a second too long to dislodge it, and pushed off. The dead swordsman's body tumbled off the platform, giving him a clear path at the surprised King. He dove forward and dug the gauntlet into the King's chest above the heart, the serrated edges digging through the rib cage and impaling the man's heart.

Blood slowly began to well from Frugel's chest as the two remained frozen for several moments, along with everyone else still conscious in the room. "You've sealed your fate now Mister Syuveil," the man said around a mouth of full of blood. "You will forever be remembered as a traitor and assassin of Lenus' beloved King Frugel." The corrupt little man smiled, "You will be hated by this kingdom for as long as you both live, your service forgotten, your deeds cast aside." His voice dropped to a whisper, "You can never come back, forever will you be left to wander while being hunted by the Knights of this Kingdom."

"That's fine with me," Lloyd answered back. "Do you know why? Because without you this kingdom will survive. You have no heir or sibling to pass the throne to, so your taint will be removed from Lenus, and a rightful leader will be put in your place. Being branded a traitor is well worth that." His own voice dropped to a whisper, "Their hatred of what I've done this day will unite them, make them stronger, make them re-evaluate every law you've put in place. You may think I've lost Frugel, but in fact, my legacy will outlive yours, as will this land."

The fool's eyes grew large, and Lloyd ripped his weapon free. With the make-shift bandage now gone, the King was bleeding out rapidly, and would be dead before any Palace Mage could arrive. Satisfied with his handiwork, he turned and saw the forces he would have to fight through to make his escape. Standing between him and the door were four spearmen as well as the two Plate Armored Royal Knights, one of while still held the Knight's sword and scabbard in his free hand.

Lloyd grabbed the King's dead body and threw it into the spearmen. The trick worked, unwilling to harm their king, even though dead, the guards dropped their weapons and tried to catch the body, two getting knocked flat for their troubles. Lloyd took this opportunity and ran through the opening the hole in the formation made, bypassing a line of defense altogether and ran straight for the Royal Knights blocking the exit. He would not be able to trick these two, and he wouldn't be able to get past them without a fight, but given the full armor, including helmets this time, wouldn't be harmed by something as mundane as a serrated gauntlet.

The Knight closed the distance and let the pair attack. As expected the one he approached closest, the one still holding his boradsword, initiated the attack. He set himself and took the swords horizontal swing on his gauntlet, managing to stop the swing. The Royal Knight wasn't willing to let that stop him though, and lashed out with a punch that would have connected with Lloyd's chin, had he not expected this. Instead the swing hit only air as the Knight ducked it, grabbed his foe's sword hand with his gauntleted one, and grabbed his stolen scabbard with the other. He brought his feet up into the man's stomach and levered him overhead using his back as a pivot.

The move worked and the Royal Knight went sailing through the air at the two spearmen still standing, bowling them over. In shock the man also released his grip on the unfamiliar broadsword he was holding. Lloyd continued the pivot and rolled back to his feet, careful to keep his body low enough to duck the other Knight's torso level swing. He kept a hand on the strap and rolled it up over his shoulders as he jumped through the doorway out of the Throne room.

Lloyd felt the scabbard settle in it's usual place, the comfort of it's presence a welcome relief, anyone who has experienced battle first hand can attest to. There is nothing quite like having a familiar weapon in hand to quiet the soul when a fight is upon you.

He rolled again, knowing more guards would be waiting outside the entrance, and sure enough the speedy roll was all that kept him being hit by a pair of spearmen. Knowing he could not continue fighting at such a rigorous pace he jumped again, this time over the railing of the stairs, to land on the carpeted floor of the Throne Room's antechamber.

The Knight landed softly on the carpet in front of the four silver armored guardsmen arrayed in front of the stairs, and drew his broadsword in an Iaijutsu swing, immediately accelerating the blade to lethal speeds and ripped into the armor of all four. The armor these wore was for decoration, not combat, and so the sword had no trouble breaching it and spilling the entrails of all four men onto the blue and gold carpet, dying it red.

He looked up and saw half a dozen guards crowding towards the doorway from the main antechamber. He knew he couldn't let them trap him here, and started running for the door himself. He had no plan anymore, he hadn't expect this many of the palace guards to be able to respond so fast. By all rights by the time he finished those guards at the foot of the stairs outside the Throne Room he should have had a clear path outside. You idiot, you're blue! Of course they would be suspicious! He almost had to laugh, they had stationed themselves near in case of a problem, but had done so for all the wrong reasons.

As the Knight ran he felt his hand grow hot and out of the corner of his eye saw the stone begin emitting a bright red light. On a hunch he swept his arm across himself and a nearly invisible wave of heat emerged and expanded at the guards rushing him. It hit and knocked them back to give him a clear path down the stairs, one he promptly skipped, instead just jumping over the railing.

As he had run he had noticed that his sword was beginning to glow red as well. Last time he remembered seeing his sword that color he had been transforming in the cave with Ifrit, so he put two and two together and took a gamble that as he jumped the flaming wings would most likely sprout. He was right, although he wished he hadn't been.

The pain sparked in him again as the transformation begun, a fiery burn in the center of his back that felt worse then any branding imaginable. He had gone through it once that he could remember, and now that he knew what to expect it was far less debilitating. However, he had not expected to feel a similar fiery pain spread across his chest. The pain there was much less intense, but it caught him off-guard and made him miss his landing.

The Knight hit the ground on his side, the wings instinctively covering him from the hard fall, and rolled for nearly a dozen feet, only stopping when he rolled up again on of the many support pillars in the room. He stood and his wings opened up revealing a red scaled chest plate where none had been before, Armor?

Momentarily forgetting his situation he considered the new add on, a crimson sheet of plate armor made out of what looked like small dragon scales in the center of which appeared to be a cyan stone, for what purpose he knew not. When eventually he did look back up the entire room had stopped dead in its tracks with everyone gaping at the traitor's sudden transformation. Among those gaping were the two Halflings, now loaded up with what must have been a third of their weight in items from his room.

The Kinder, as would seem likely, were the first to snap out of their shock and run over to the Knight. "Nice!" Frack yelled, "Can I have that for my favor?"

Frick slapped him on the back of the head, "It's embedded in his palm numb-skull!"

"Ow! Well it never hurts to ask-" the Kinder took notice of the rest of the room. "Oh hey look at all the swords!"

Frick looked back, "Who are they chasing?"

"That would be me," Lloyd answered scratching his head, embarrassed, "I kind of just got done killing the King."

"And people think we're stupid," Frack commented.

Frick just bashed him on the head, "Hey! That makes us look bad too!"

Lloyd thought about that. He really hadn't considered how the Kinder would be treated once he killed Frugel. The two were new additions and came into the Castle not an hour before the King was killed. At best they would be seen as Evil Spirits bringing doom, at worst they would be executed for being cohorts in the Knight's plot. Either way it would not end well for them if he left the two here, Aw Hell! He sheathed his sword and grabbed the two Kinder.

As he turned to the door the guard's shock wore off and yells could be heard screaming, "Traitor! Don't let him get away!"

But it was too late, the moment he was out the door Lloyd took off. He put all his effort into it, sending them soaring high and far, and within moments were out of sight of the Castle Gaelan.

"The days of glorious hunts are over" Mordaci's words rang threw his heads like a bell, "The dawn of war is coming, prepare my friend, for I do not wish to see you go."

So, prepare for the end, or a new beginning as the optimists like to say. Either way, I need not worry the clan yet. First ill see what I'm due for. Snake Razorback thought to himself. The shapeshifter was part of the first line of Darlar's defense, a hand-picked friend of Mordaci's. One of the kings messengers was quick to come alert him, of course, he was the first and never knew if that message was final but it was the most urgent.

"Hey, Needle! wake up!" Snake quietly yelled to his brother. The pair was slender and at first looked harmless, but you think twice when you see a panther and lion skilled in the art of war running at you. Rarely have they worn the enchanted armor given to them, mainly because rarely have they entered a fight that required protection greater than stealth. The times were changing though, so they both quickly grabbed their respective armor and sprinted off to the west going for the shore so they could sneak across the water to begin a long patrol and investigation of their neighbors. Morphing as they ran Snake took the lead in there friendly competitive race. Observing everything with there enhanced vision and perception they didn't miss a spec. The they even knew when the drake flew over, but it would have been easy to tell if he meant harm, clearly it did not when the dragon went down and disguised itself. They both know always walk in with your guns out.

"So, Mordaci said that danger looms in the distance? Could this mean we get to fight with a purpose. Nothing beats the front lines. God I love it!" Needle smiled to his brother as the lion paws quickly caught onto those of the panthers. It didn't matter by then, he had already lost the race to the twisted sycamore. Which was there 'Command post' in this neck of the woods. Everybody in the front lines always reported there, and the brothers clan has the farthest reach. They kept running paw next to claw to the far clan. There own would gather at the sycamore when they woke, that's the routine when leader of the pack isn't around.

"Yes, yes it does, how are your new lions recruits, all I can tell is they are eager to fight for there kingdom." Snake was wondering if his brother would have a seasoned squad by the start of the conflict. Which was inevitably coming. The brothers never wanted to see so much bloodshed.

"They will be ready, even at there first morph a lion is a fearsome opponent for anyone to face. They only get better." Needle smirked with a flash of his razor-sharp teeth.

"The panthers will make it also, granted stealth comes natural, not bravery. They all can kill quietly, and the speed of that kill will come with time. I'm not worried about teaching them how to play foot soldier." Snake grinned. "For two reasons, I never expected to be taking them outside of the forest, and because that's your job." They both openly laughed as Needle let out a roar that only a leader of a pack could.

"ROOAAAR!!" The warning woke up the whole clan on the east side and the leader of the clan quickly came to talk. Needle knew him and didn't need him to shift into his bear form to know what he was. The light leather green garments with the purple and green emblem on his vest required no more. "Wartime" Was the single word spoken between the two as the clan raced to the Sycamore. Telling the rest to stall vigil at there ground to stay undercover and peck them off slowly and dwindle any unfriendly kingdoms battalions so that the inner line could finish them. Most importantly if hope is lost fall back into the heart of the forest and from there no being that has two legs can fight or even maneuver around in.

"So, Reincat man the battlefield on the west coast take your tribe, Lost prophets, with you. Silvernail, you and your clan take the east, I'm requesting Ferocious, I'm only asking because i know you can handle it, to take me and my brothers spot as command of the Razorback clan on the front line. Second line is still Bearclaw's lead by Nuricen. Don't worry, we all know how to dwindle down a army if they try to come in. And if they breach your line, pull back to the heart of the forest. Don't be surprised if you see Mordaci himself next to you fighting, and don't waste your life jumping in front of him for some of you younger recruits, He holds his own like a F'n tank. Start the patrols, Don't bother reporting anything, the Sentinel mages at the heart send out messengers whenever they see anything, so we always will be updated with everything. NOW ARE YOU ALL READY TO RIP SOME HIDEE!!

The resounding Roar could be heard across the land as nearly five hundred shapeshifters roared at the top of there lungs back at Snake and sprinted off to there location dropping down onto all fours. In seconds all that was left in the clearing was Needle and Snake Razorback, and a few other elite panthers and lions to accompany them, along with a runner. Nobody's quite sure of what his morph is, some say the runner was a form of deego canine. It has the dark lustrous purple of a panther but had the black stripes of a tiger with the red tainted paws of a hellhound, some say he was the result of several breeding tests, others say it was a coherent spell. Either way hes fasting being in the known kingdoms.

Any shapeshifter in his own land can do the work of 10, put him outside of his realm of trees and mossy undergrowth and hes in a lot of trouble unless he or she has also been trained to fight outside of cover, something very rare that you request for and prove yourself worthy of. Not many people are comfortable fighting knowing there is no backup.
Few clans are taught to fight like this, and fewer individuals are taught this way. In other words, the king can't teach everybody everywhere.

Needle and Snake looked over there squad, three tigers, two panthers, the runner, two lions. Mordaci wanted to give them a Ravager, they politely declined, saying if it was to come down to this, which they can tell already that it has, that every ravager should be in the second or heart of the forest. The tension of the looming war ruffles the hair on the back of there neck, they feel it coming.

What separated royalty with shapeshifters, is they don't lead from behind, they stand by the newest recruit in a clan and fight by there side. Nothing is more inspiring than in a time of peace seeing Mordaci with two kids hunting a pack of deegos. Nothing. However those times are gone and nobody will be surprised if the war helm comes off the rack and finds itself on the snout of Mordaci. The only nation that leads from the head of the beast is Darlar, and they take pride in it.

"So, you all said goodbyes, this is your last time to chicken out, why do i need to tell you guys this, I've known you all longer than I should. At any rate.." Needle turns around, and says to the hawk that just flew in, "were ready to go. First recon squad going to Lenus, send the king my condolences, and tell him to give no quarter." He ruffled his mane, for a lion the highest honor that can be given. "We are going in peace, and only engaging aggressively if they start it." The hark nodded and flew off into the distance.


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BIO:
Name: Snake Razorback
Race: Shapeshifter (Panther)
Sex: Male
Hair: Purple shoulder length
Eyes:a mix of hazel and green
Clothes: Generals garment with the Emblem of Darlar on the chest and the panthers head on the shoulders, green and purple. Nothing more than a leather jacket.
Job: Co-leader of the Razorback clan and General under Mordaci personally
Weapons: Tooth and claw
Abilities: Use claws and teeth with deadly precision, inspires moral to the beasts around him, strikes fear into the heart of enemies.
Special ability: Morph into panther
Pros: Handpicked by the king of Darlar for training, friend of the king, strong diplomat, thinks actions through before he completes them. Strong and deadly fighter. Trustful and has strong friends. Deadly in the forests or marshes.
Cons: Often finds himself at odds with magic, his hide protects him from most but he has never relished the pain of fighting a magic uses. Often finds his compassion for kin driving him to fight stronger and more reckless, will never sacrifice a beast no matter the circumstances. Finds himself out of place when in combat outside of the forest and cant fight like he can next to a tree.


Name: Needle Razorback
Race: Shapeshifter (Lion)
Sex: Male
Hair: Orange down to his shoulders
Eyes: Orange
Clothes: Green and orange garments with emblem of Darlar on it with a Lions head on the shoulders, denoting him as Pack leader of the lions.
Job: Co-leader of the Razorback clan and aid to his brother
Weapons: Tooth and claw
Abilities: Roar that will silence any squabble amongst friends, and Boost moral among comrades, deadly foot-soldier
Special ability: Morph into lion
Pros: Loves the front lines and Incredibly powerful fighter, Strong fighter even on the planes or sand. Will back up a friend whatever the odds of survival are.
Cons: Reckless and free, loves to enjoy himself and make serious situations light at all the wrong times. Doesn't utilize forest to its best.


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"Thank you for listening, Court of Darlar." Kelgori say with a bow, after briefing them with everything he knew, he wasn't even manipulating them because they wouldn't ever take a heavy offensive when the only region they require they already have, but they would have no problem Taking a step or two outside of it.

"And thank you for the warning, we already have teams set into motion for a defense, nothing will Conquer Darlar while I breath. For the deeds you have done today you may call this place home wanderer, or should I saw Warlock? You didn't fool me, but I don't really care, your on my side and as long as it stays that way your welcome in my court. My sages are now alerting all of the troops that the Nether drake you flew in on is friendly, along with its warlock." Mordaci said, with a smile. The warlock was smart, and cunning, but a friend considering no manipulation was attempted.

"Thank you so much, now do you care if I change into my real garments?" Kelgori was getting sick of the color tan and gray which was what he had been wearing for almost the last twenty four hours.

"Not at all, You may go about your business and contact my sages whenever you need anything or want to know something. I know you serve a darker being, but he intends no harm against my people or me." Mordaci spoke to the Dark sorcerer who just with a twirl of his had was dressed in his purple garments with a drake flying into the throne.

"Thank you. Now I must go and make sure nobody chickens out of this fight, Because if any nation does, then they will hopelessly be lost in the end." Kelgori spoke. "May the shadows hide you in times of hiding, and enhance you in times of need. Kelgori out!"

With that he mounted his Thor and flew off into the night sky towards the Sundered Island.

"You were serious?" Thor was surprised, he did not expect diplomacy from a warlock.

"Yes, I was. They are very hospitable and peaceful until provoked, then its time to run, I wish Mordaci no harm. He will help us greatly." Kelgori spoke as they cleared the Heart of Darlar.

Daethr observed the ground in front of him, where a monstrous creature lay. The Giant was large and hideous, with sharp teeth, a bulbous head, no hair and at least double his height. Alongside it lay a massive staff with a giant orb on top of it.

The Giant Mage had been attempting to force out and discover the realm of Elendea. Daethr was scouting while he saw the massive beast and quickly nocked 3 arrows and sent them to 3 different weak spots of the giants body, effectively blinding him and rendering him sexually incompetent with one blow. As it stumbled around he drew twin scimitars and climbed up its back with elven fluidity, beheading the beast and bounding of its torso in a swift move. The poor thing had been chanting every spell it knew..death spells, trap spells, darkness spells...and was about to attempt a fire storm one when Daethr had had enough. Being a mage, he obviously had protective spells around him, but Daethr's adamantite arrows got through just about every magical ward that existed, while he reserved Mëdruni arrows for those with very potent and dark magics, since those emanated with the light of the elvish race.

Once, he had been a prince of one of the outposts of the Eldar race. However, with time the King, who was not his father since the Elves did not practice the foolish technique known as inheritance...had become stagnant and less interested with the outside world. He was busy making the area more beautiful at times and more hidden, but that did not stop enemy or foreign elements from sneaking through the defenses. In time, the castle became ruined as the King forsook the palace and Daethr was left with a diminished garrison against the toughest enemies. Once the giants found out..the castle was gone. King Elmandùri was soon to abdicate in favor of someone wiser and more suited to the ways of war. While he had indicated a preference for Daethr as a leader, he knew that he would be more useful as a scout in the outer realms with a strong but wise leader at base, even if he was not war worthy.

The Kingdom was well hidden by the powerful magics of the ancient race, and extremely beautiful as well. While the houses were not built into the trees since that would be a sinful intrusion into the power of Nature, they used them as bases and built structures from fallen wood and the magical leaves of the area. A few illusionary and transformation magics turned them into shining houses with many an intricate design, but to an outside it was but an old and wrinkled tree.

Back at the dead giant's location, there was thunderous roar and laughing. Daethr sprung quickly back into the forest at the borders of Darlar and up a tree. 3 Giants came in leading a pack of pretty large wolves, intent on finding his location. Daethr quickly cast a concealment spell that blended him perfectly with the tree and then sat there and observed.

"Where are you hiding puny elf? You will not escape the wolves!!!" followed by laughter. Daethr smiled...this was going to be fun. These wolves had the power to see past most concealment spells and had keen sense of smell and hearing as well. However, Daethr had equally keen senses and had cast a more powerful spell. He did not have amazing stamina but did not need it, concealment and illusionary spells did not require continous energy but a certain amount of it and that was final. There were exceptions of course...like those on castles and other such major defenses.

These wolves were not new to Daethr, being an elf of the wood he had seen just about everything nature had to offer in these parts. As 3 wolves neared him, one of them the alpha male, Daethr made a slight sound so they would come towards him. Rather than howl though, they curiously viewed the area. The elf quickly wove a weak alliance spell alongside using his natural aura and benevolent tactics to win over the wolves. Within a moment the whole pack was his

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Name: Daethr XI
Race: Elf
Location: Unknown Forest at borders of Darlar
Appearance: Dark brown eyes, tanned skin and long black hair. Wears brown/green hood and light armor woven from leaves and vines that have antimagic properties and also deflect most dagger and longsword blows..though not as protective against heavier and more powerful weapons. Excellent camouflage as well.
Profession : Ranger/ Scout
Special Ability: Concealment and Nature spells..can befriend animal and animal deegos with ease.
Pros: Anti magic. Specializes in killing mages of all sorts, light or dark. Resistant to most magic enchantments. Powerful arrows and extremely accurate with a bow. Can hide almost at will
Cons: Weak, low stamina, so cannot cast huge spells, though he rarely needs to. Not a great melee fighter if discovered, though an adept assassin with melee if need be. Can be hurt by aggressive spells, but usually only physically.

Long ago, long before the time of Men and Elves, before the time of great wars and royal lines, there were six nations in the land of Pangea. Of these six, three were continent nations, and three were island nations, this being a time hundreds of years before the formation of Arid, and the Great War between Darlar, Lenus, and Shattered Hand. As a reader you will most likely remember two of the island nations: Sundered Island, home to the Elves, and Concord, home of the Mages, but there is yet one more you have not heard of: The Lost Isle.

The true name of the Lost Isle has long been forgotten in Pangea, as have the names of the inhabitants of the once powerful nation, who have simply been dubbed, the 'Lost'. Though it's name has been forgotten, it's history has not, truly it never could be forgotten, for our entire story begins with the events surrounding the Lost Isle, and it's fall from grace.

When Men, Elves, Giants, Mages, Shapeshifters, and Xiphos were still in their infancy, just beginning to progress into some semblance of society, there were the Lost. The Lost were a race whose appearance has been forgotten by the ravages of history and inconsistency gossip, but not so for their actions, their status. The Lost were the first of all species in Pangea to advance in both the fields of magic and technology. They had an absolute advantage over Pangea, but were not happy with this, for barbarism was wide-spread in many other nations, with many warring factions fighting in each country.

In an attempt to settle the land, save it from the fires of war, the Lost set out to learn about their fellow Pangeans. Finding the species too barbaric to reason with, with so few of their own numbers, the Lost set out to force peace upon them, by finding what each valued most, and taking advantage of the deference the species payed to attribute. To this end the Lost forged a set of five weapons, forged by steel bathed in the light of the Full Moon, sending ambassadors to each nation with one weapon each.

To Sundered Island was sent a Bow imbued with a power over life and death. With but a thought and an arrow the wielder of the weapon could give life, or take it. To Darlar was sent a Staff with the power of illusion of both the physical and mental. A weapon that could be changed to fit the users needs, and cast illusions to baffle the mind. To Shattered Hand was sent a Shield with the ultimate defense, capable of deflecting harm, absorbing it, and even returning it as an attack itself. To Concord were sent a pair of short swords controlling the elements of wind and earth, with which the person could control all their environment. And to Lenus was sent a Claymore of power capable of granting the user incredible speed and strength.

With these 'Moon Weapons' were sent Ambassadors of peace from the Lost Isle. Through the use of these weapons, each ambassador was able to gain godhood in each nation by representing attributes each species was geared towards admiring. And with the ambassadors as gods, peace could reign in the land of Pangea, progress could continue and the people prospered for a hundred years. Truly it was a Golden Age for all.

But as with all progress in a species, the mystical grows less and less divine, more and more controllable. What was once awe-inspiring and mind boggling became understandable, and beatable. Quickly each species discovered that the men they had viewed as gods were in fact, nothing more then mortals wielding powerful magics. Still being mostly barbaric, the nations did not see the goods this false godhood had brought them, and instead became enraged with their believe oppressors.

The people of Pangea rose up against their 'gods' and killed them, taking the Moon Weapons for themselves, their hatred uniting them in a way the Lost had never foreseen. The five nations dedicated themselves to the destruction of the Lost, and their Isle, a union of minds and nations the Lost had wanted all along, but for all the wrong reasons. Ironically the Lost could only accomplish their goals for the nations of Pangea, by ensuring their own demise.

Presenting an unheard of leap in power, the five rose up five Dragons Warriors, each wielding the moon weapon of his respective nation, each controlling a different element. From Lenus rose the warrior of Fire; from Shattered Hand the warrior of Water; from Darlar the warrior of Earth; from Sundered Island the warrior of Wind; from Concord the warrior of Lightning. Together the Dragon Warriors led troops of Men, Elves, Shapeshifters, Mages, and Xiphos against the Lost Isle and the Lost themselves.

With the unexpected rise of the Dragon Warriors, the Lost were caught off-guard and lost many troops, and much ground to the combined assault of the five nations. In time of dire need the Lost themselves learned the art and brought together their own magics to build an incredible three Dragon Warriors in a very short amount of time. With the renewed forces of the Lost lead by the warriors of Light, Dark, and Energy, the people were able to stave off defeat for many months, but it was already too late to turn the tide, and eventually the Lost... lost.

With their oppressors destroyed, the five nations turned on each other for possession of the Lost Isle, and the weapons and magics to be found on it, with a long war ensuing that left almost all the Isle in ruins, and all the technology of the species destroyed. With nothing to be gained from the Lost, the Dragon Warriors turned on themselves, falling victim to their own pettiness one by one until but one remained.

None are quite sure what happened to the last Dragon Warrior, or to the Moon Weapons of each warrior, as when the dust finally did clear from the battle, they were no where to be found. Some believe the weapons destroyed in a final ultimate meeting between the Dragon Warriors, a cataclysmic battle that shattered the magics of the area. Some believe that the Devil himself crushed the men for venturing into the realm of dark magic without paying him heed, Some even believe the warriors still exist, and roam the world heling the weak. But only a few know the truth of it all.

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Laro watched as his master fled the castle, like a coward. He knew others around him were shouting to give chase, but he was frozen in place, shocked still by a series of events he had never even considered his master might be a part of. I was his Squire, how could I be so wrong about him? His hands balled into fists as his rage built, Lloyd had taught him the Knight's code of honor, that there was nothing more important to a Knight of Lenus then protecting the throne, yet he had discarded that same code of honor by killing the very person he had sworn to protect.

"Quickly! Call the Mage Council! We must get a new King before the people riot!" He heard someone bark out a few feet away. The commands threw the room into chaos with guards and messengers running to and fro to complete their assigned tasks, and they all just flowed around Laro as he stood rooted in place.

He was angry, but still reeling, his rage tinted by guilt and chagrin for being tricked so long. He said I would make a truly remarkable Knight some day. Was that a lie? Was he just playing me so I wouldn't question him? His master had also told him that men were liars, and he had yet to be burned by one yet, that he would never be truly ready until he had learned that lesson in pain. He thought he would be ready when the day came, but nothing could have prepared him for that person being the one he trusted most.

But I can't let it paralyze me. That's what separates Knights from the rest, the ability to deal with what they are given. He squared his chin and took notice of the situation. Many were still running around, barking commands and retrieving items needed, the room was in chaos, and he needed to get out of it. He looked up the stairs and saw the area was much less crowded, most likely because it was the center of the fight that had just occurred. They would soon be closing it off so that the Mage Council could meet to decide the next King, he needed to get in there before they did so.

Laro unbuckled his sword and dropped it, pushing his way up the stairs to the next antechamber. If he was unarmed, the guards would be less likely to stop him, assuming he was just a messenger, delivering something to the Throne Room. He approached the doorway and passed through unmolested, getting only cursory glances as he passed into the Throne antechamber. There he saw the four silver armored Royal Guards lying dead on the floor, blood already dried, No, not dry, cauterized, like there was a lot of heat when they were cut.

The dead men were being moved from the room as he watched, no one paying him any mind as they had more important things to do then stop to talk with a Squire. He looked up the stairs to the Throne Room itself, there were no guards at the door, not surprising as there was nothing to guard at the moment, but if the Mages met anywhere, they would do so in the Throne Room itself. He needed to get in there. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he had to. He mounted the stairs, careful not to draw attention to himself, and made his way up and into the Throne Room.

The first thing he noticed when he walked through was how excessive the room was, with all the gems, precious metals, and fine cloth lying everywhere. The second thing he noticed was that he had walked in on nine people in hushed conversation that had now stopped so they could stare at him. He immediately knew five were the Mage Council with their Red robes and gold trim hiding all but their mouths from view. The others gathered were Knights, four of them. Two of them looked to be the Royal Knights that usually stood outside the doorway, but without their helmets on, the other two looked like everyday average Knights, much like his own master had been.

Belatedly he realized the men in the room were still staring at him, the Mages in indignant rage, the Knights with bewildered humor, "My apologies!" he said, bowing deeply. "I did not know you were conversing in here sirs."

"Leave us boy!" One of the Mages began to shout.

"No," one of the Royal Knights interrupted walking forward, "I've seen you before Squire. Who is your Knight?"

"No one my lord," he answered.

"Don't play games with the High Mages boy!" The Mage yelled again.

"He's not," the Royal Knight replied, "I recognize him now. He is, or was, the Squire of Lloyd Syuveil."

"The Squire of that traitor dares show his face to us?!" Another Mage screamed in out-rage.

The Knight turned to the High Mage, "Just because his master was a traitor, it does not make him so." The Knight turned back, "Or am I wrong about that Mister..."

"Lago, my lord, Lago Klein," the Squire supplied, "and no. If I had the opportunity I would rip his throat out myself." He was surprised to hear this come out of his own mouth, words he had not intended to say at all, but no where near as shocking as realizing he meant them will all his heart. His master had betrayed him, he wanted revenge.

"We cannot trust his words," yet another Mage spoke, "he is sworn to Sir Lloyd."

"Then I suppose you cannot trust me either High Mage," the Royal Knight responded, "for I was a fellow Knight alongside Lloyd a few years ago, and you cannot trust half your Council that owes their lives to his abilities."

"There is a difference between knowing him, and being sworn to him."

"Yes, but there's no difference when you both receive the same lie." The Knight waved at Lago, "You want us to have a fifth man to hunt down Lloyd? You'll find there's no better motivator then revenge, and the deeper the connection to the man, the more hatred they will now feel to him for being lied to all this time."

"You would trust your life to a Squire of the man you hunt, one not even proven in combat?"

"You saw Syuveil. He took five Royal Guards out before even getting to the King, and over a dozen more to get out the door. I'll take any loyal Knight that man has trained."

"Knight?"

The Royal Knight unsheathed his broadsword, "Yes. With the King dead it falls to the Royal Knights to decide who will protect the Kingdom. I have the authority to Knight any Squire I see fit," he looked at the Mage as if daring the man to speak, "or do you have a problem with that?"

The High Mage simply turned away, keeping what dignity he could, "If you believe it wise, I have no issue."

The Royal Knight looked to the other Knights gathered with questioning glances, and when he got no argument proceeded to tap Lago's right shoulder with the blunt side of his sword, "By the power of the Royal Knighthood of Lenus, I hereby dub thee a full Knight of Lenus," he continued tapping the other shoulder, and sheathing the blade. "Rise." Lago did as told, and noticed that the Royal Knight had his arm extended in welcome, "Welcome to Knighthood, Lago Klein."

-------------------------------

Laro followed the nine Knights and Mages down a dark winding staircase barely wide enough to fit the fully armored men, and lit only by torches spaced at fifteen feet intervals. The stairs they were climbing down were narrow and steep, with no railing to help keep those walking it from falling. The entire setup was dim and warm enough that it lulled you into a false sense of security. Without conscious effort you could easily find yourself getting lax and sloppy, something fatal in such a hazardous stairway. If one entered the staircase without knowledge of it's layout or someone to guide them, they could easily fall and break their neck.

They had entered the hidden stairway from an entrance behind the throne itself, one hidden and only accessible with the use of the proper spell. The newly Knighted Laro could guess that if someone were to use the wrong spell it would spell disaster for their mission. The Mages and Knights had not yet seen fit to tell him what was hidden here, but he assumed it was of the utmost importance to warrant such high security measures.

The stairs began to level out ahead into a long narrow hall, similar in atmosphere to the stairway, but with the promise of an end to the journey with the faint outline of a door what must have been over a hundred feet away. The High Mage in the lead grabbed one of the torches off the wall as he stepped into the hallway, and quickened his pace.

"Sorry about the lack of conversation," one of the Royal Knights began, the man was directly in front of Laro and speaking over his shoulder, "but you have to be careful on those stairs. Lose your footing and it's a long painful way to the bottom."

"I gathered that," Laro responded.

"My name's Darius by the way," the man supplied, "behind you are Zara and Athrun. You've already met our self-appointed leader, Clide. On behalf of this sloppy group let me welcome you to.... well wherever are."

"Thanks," he replied weakly, "so what's down here? I see it's well protected so whatever is down here must be a very important treasure to the kingdom of Lenus, but why bring me here?"

"Because we're going to be using this treasure against Lloyd Syuveil," Darius answered. It was obvious from the man's tone of voice that he was nothing like the Royal Knight that had Knighted Laro. "You should be honored too young Knight. At any given time there are only eleven people in all of Pangea that know of this place."

"Eleven?!"

From the tone of the Knight's voice he was amused, "Yeah I had that same reaction. Scary isn't it? That of all the people in this nation less then a dozen know it's true secret."

Scary wasn't the word Laro would have used, insane was more like it. To warrant such a high degree of security the item, or items, held here must have had great power. Power that would make Lloyd's stone pale in comparison. To Darius he simply said, "No kidding. So who is privy to this information?"

"Besides the King? The Mage Council, the strongest five of the Palace Wizards, know about it, and hold the spells to unlock the entrances. And the High Knights, the strongest Knights in all Lenus, know the location of the chamber."

"High Knight. I've heard those words from my Master, but he would never tell me what they meant."

"The High Knights are the five charged with the full security of the kingdom. Two of the five are the Royal Knights with the duty to protect to the King, the other three are Knights Errant, those entrusted with the most dangerous of missions. In times of dire circumstances the High Knights have two other duties: To lead the country in war, and to bring the King's assassin to justice."

"Then shouldn't you be out looking for my old master?" You are a Royal Knight aren't you?"

"Yes, but we have to equip ourselves first, which is why we're here. You see, Lloyd demonstrated a rare power, one known as a Dragoon power. He's powerful now, much more so then any normal mortal could deal with, so we need to even the odds."

As they spoke the groups was drawing closer to the door, now they were but a dozen feet away, "Logical, but then, why am I here?"

The Royal Knight's voice saddened, "Because your master was one of the three Knights Errant. My comrade, the other Royal Knight, is taking advantage of your status as Lloyd's Squire to procure all five weapons held down here for just this purpose. You see the High Knights are trained to use these weapons in concert, and if even one is missing, we are much less effective."

Well at least I know why it's eleven people now, Laro thought to himself, both the Mage Council and High Knights are probably trained to use them in concert. The number had nothing to do with trust, quite the opposite, it was because of mistrust. Both the Mages and Knights were more then likely trained with the weapons so that no one group could hold out in an emergency, and with the knowledge of how to access them split between them, neither group would be able to steal the weapons. Misjudging one person was expected, five unlikely, but possible, but misjudging ten would be nearly impossible, and with only five weapons, even if all ten conspired to get them, they would feud over who got final possession. This also answered why the Mages and Knights had been arguing in the Throne Room, the Mages would be trying to exploit the limited numbers to their own advantage, to what end he did not know, but it was obvious to him now. A rivalry a King would encourage to make sure his treasure was never stolen, but it still didn't answer one question.

"If only the High Knights are allowed to use these weapons, then why am I allowed?"

"I thought you would be quicker then this," the man replied disappointed, "but then again Lloyd was never much for politics."

Then the realization struck him, "Wait. I'm a High Knight now? But I just...."

"Any Knight can be a High Knight."

"Then...."

"Yes, congratulations Laro Klein, you've been promoted from Squire to one of the three Knights Errant."

The Knight was dumb-founded, "Aren't there people better suited to it then I?"

"To being a High Knight yes, but this isn't about being one of the five Laro. You haven't been appointed in your master's place because you're best suited to it, but because you have a more powerful motivation then anyone in Lenus to bring him to justice: Revenge."

Laro fell silent, contemplating the implications of what he'd just been told. As he stood there, the Mages performed a long and complicated ritual, ultimately culminating in a loud groan as the doors slid open. They stepped through into a large room twenty feet by twenty, dull brown with a boarder around each wall. The right and left walls depicting scenes from the Great War and Lost War respectively, with the wall directly across from them acting as an armory of sorts for a bow and quill, a claymore, a shield, a staff, and a pair of short swords.

He tilted his head as he looked at the weapons. They looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out where he'd seen them. They didn't seem reminiscent of things he'd actually used himself, but still nagged at him as if he'd seen them on a wall somewhere, or in a book.

Then it hit him, "Are those the Moon Weapons?"

"Took him half the time it took Lloyd to figure it out. He shows some promise Clide," Darius said to his companion.

The other Royal Knight didn't even acknowledge the man's statement, "Yes Laro, these are those self-same weapons created by the Lost milenia ago."

"But I thought they were lost in the aftermath of the war?"

"Weapons this powerful can never be lost. They can be hidden, they can be broken, but they are never lost."

"What Clide is trying to say is that Lenus' army recovered them, and secreted them away after the battle. It was obvious to the King at the time that the weapons would one day be needed to ensure the sovereignty of Lenus, and so he stole them all and hid them away, at great expense to the army of the time." The Royal Knight sighed, "But, as it turns out, humans are great manipulators, better then Shapeshifters when we need to be, so by some miracle Lenus survived, and even came out on top with the addition of the Moon Weapons to our arsenal."

"Did you never wonder how humans remained a dominant powers Laro?" Clide asked, "When we're weaker then Giants, dumber then Elves, less adept at magic then Mages, and less able to conform then Shapeshifters."

In fact he hadn't. It had just been a simple fact of life for all his life. He had simply put it down to spirit and spunky determination, and only now realized how ludicrous that sounded when confronted with the cold hard facts of the weakness of his species. "Sorry," was the only thing he could think to say, "it's just a lot to take in at once."

Three of the Knights moved forward and grabbed their weapons while Clide stayed behind with Laro, "You will be using Lloyd's weapon Sir Klein, the Claymore." The Royal Knight stepped forward and unhitched the four foot long sheathed weapon from the wall and brought it over to Laro. The weight of the weapon surprised the Knight, it was certainly not light, but it wasn't as heavy as he had expected for being so long, it must have been made of a light weight material, something akin to the metal used in Lloyd's broadsword. He slipped it over his back and felt it settle comfortably in place.

"There is one more thing to keep in mind Sir Klein," Clide added, "once we leave this room, we are no longer High Knights of Lenus, we are what is known as the Lunar Brigade, a team of people with no nationality and no home, a team with no identity whatsoever."

"Its to keep Lenus' secret secure," Darius supplied strapping on his own Moon Weapon, a pair of short swords. "We're just legends, people no one can identify that just appear and disappear at random. We get no perks as Knights in our journey, in fact we'll be considered outsiders just about everywhere, but there is an upside. We get some bloody nice armor."

-------------------------

"Go swiftly Lunar Brigade," one of the Mage Council was saying, "and do not return until the traitor is dead."

It was dark out now, and the Knights were astride five black horses. They were sitting just outside the Castle Gaelan's outer wall, making the final preparations for their journey. The five had changed from their traditional armor, with the kingdom's emblem and colors, into a set of anonymous blue and violet armor. Over this armor they wore long black cloaks, furthering the groups animosity. Each was equipped with one of the Moon Weapons, ornate silver and cyan designs embroidered on the hilt in what must have been a meaningful design to the Lost.

"You can count on it," Clide answered the Mage, silver bow and quiver hanging on his right shoulder. The Royal Knight pulled the reigns on his steed and snapped them. The horse took off down the road toward the Northern coast of Lenus, the rest of the Brigade falling in behind.

Laro hesitated casting one last longing gaze back at his home, he would not see it for some time, he wanted one final memory to hang onto for the long journey ahead. With one last look back, he wished the kingdom well, and never looked back again. He snapped the reigns and caught up to the rest of the Brigade, no one reprimanded him, or made fun of him, they all understood too well what the young Knight was feeling.

_______________________
Lunar Brigade.

Name: Laro Klein
Hair: Brown, short.
Eyes: Hazel.
Build: Lean. Muscled, but not powerful.
Clothes: Black Cloak. Leather Armor, mostly dark blue but with violet around the joints.
Job: Former, Squire. Current, Lunar Brigadier.
Weapons: Claymore, one foot hilt, three foot blade.
Abilities: Good knowledge of two-handed sword fighting.
Special Ability: Able to wield the Claymore Moon Weapon. Gives the user increased speed and strength relative to their experience with the weapon.
Pros: Loyal, Dedicated, Quick Learner.
Cons: Short-sighted, Impatient.

Name: Clide Loran
Hair: Black, long.
Eyes: Blue.
Build: Medium, strong and quick.
Clothes: Black Cloak. Plate Armor, mostly dark blue but with violet around the joints.
Job: Former, Royal Knight. Current, Lunar Brigadier Leader.
Weapons: Bow and Arrow.
Abilities: Good knowledge of broadsword, expert archer.
Special Ability: Able to wield the Bow Moon Weapon. Gives the user the ability to drain life-force from an enemy or give life force to an ally.
Pros: Wise, Charismatic.
Cons: Stubborn, Manipulative.

Name: Darius Morland
Hair: Blond.
Eyes: Green.
Build: Lean, small, quick.
Clothes: Black Cloak. Plate Armor, mostly dark blue but with violet around the joints.
Job: Former, Royal Knight. Current, Lunar Brigadier.
Weapons: Pair of Short swords, blade 15 inches, hilt 6 inches.
Abilities: Highly skilled swordsman with both a single large blade ans two short blades.
Special Ability: Able to wield the Short Swords Moon Weapon. Gives the user the ability to control the wind and earth to a limited extent.
Pros: Funny, Light-Hearted.
Cons: Never Serious, Rash.

Name: Zara Gin
Hair: Brown, medium.
Eyes: Blue.
Build: Heavy, powerfully muscled, but slow.
Clothes: Black Cloak. Leather Armor, mostly dark blue but with violet around the joints.
Job: Former, Knight Errant. Current, Lunar Brigadier.
Weapons: Shield, two feet in diameter.
Abilities: Decent spearman, great hand-to-hand combatant.
Special Ability: Able to wield the Shield Moon Weapon. Gives the user the ability to generate barriers resistant to magic and weapons to an extent, as well as able to absorb and redirect some magics.
Pros: Reliable, Disciplined.
Cons: Shy, Paranoid.

Name: Athrun Diakka
Hair: Black, short.
Eyes: Brown.
Build: Medium, acrobatic.
Clothes: Black Cloak. Leather Armor, mostly dark blue but with violet around the joints.
Job: Former, Knight Errant. Current, Lunar Brigadier.
Weapons: Staff.
Abilities: Good spearman, training in Shaolin Bow arts.
Special Ability: Able to wield the Staff Moon Weapon. Gives the user the ability to control its length and shape, as well as casting illusions.
Pros: Calm, Logical.
Cons: Unemotional, Cold.

Daethr walked briskly and purposefully up the tapering wooden steps that any mortal would probably fallen right off if they attempted to climb, assuming they could see it in the first place. The passageway was beautiful without being extravagant, the simple wood was built around a large tree in spirals and was adorned with shining leaves with their gem like flowers. The gaps in the wood made for breathtaking view of the forest as well.

Daethr did not have time to indulge in the pleasantries of nature and quickly made his way up to the kings chambers, the doors which were made of light fabric woven from a special plant called Menthari, grown in the Sundered Island originally and brought from there. He entered the chamber, a spacious room that was not large and imbues in soft light from the glowing leaves and flowers. Vines covered the walls and extended towards the middle. It was an eloquent yet simple design.

King Elmandùri spoke " Yes my child, what information do you bring from the borders of the woods?", Daethr, who was quite young for an Elf, a mere 177 years, replied 'Sir as I was afraid, the Giants have firm conviction in our existence, and I may have been at fault for revealing my existence in my foolishness'. Elmandùri's face was inpassionate and he asked " Are you certain?' 'Yes, but those that held the knowledge had been dispatched..however I fear that more may have returned to report my killing of their 'mage' rather than head into the brush, though we can never count on the stupidity of giants.."
"Lad, this would have occurred with time as it is...the risk we took by choosing an area so close to the borders, however, I doubt it is entirely your fault. Those who destroyed the castle back when you were only 30 moon cycles of age would certainly have passed on the information, and might have retained some idea that Elves were existence, despite of the nasty mind wiping spell we cast on the fortress...though I am quite amused with the fact the Giants' sent a mage"
"Yes, of all the grim news I bear, that is one for humor. I did not even need to take my regular low level mage killing techniques to destroy that one..their race is too stupid and based on brute force to ever form competent magic users"

"Indeed, however, there has been an interesting event that I have learnt through our spies and vision"
"Yes milord?"
"Lenus has had an interesting turn of events, one of their Knights, named Lloyd, appeared and terminated the life of their so called Majesty, before fleeing. He seemed to be wielding a Dragoon weapon that the King originally sought...thank the Eldar Lords that it did not fall into his hand"
"Yes he was exceedingly corrupt, if not for our complete non interference law, I would have ordered his beheading my self, and it would have been completed quite easily"

"Son, there is a reason that we do not interfere, for it is not the place of ours to judge what is right or wrong for others, what we perceive as injustice may be the necessary way of life of another state, or it may be not. But we are no one to bring our judgement on all, even if we possess the power.

As I was saying, Lloyd has fled and is being pursued across the land. I'd rather Lenus not acquire the dragoon weapons, since such events forecast larger events that lead to war..and destruction. While I wish not to bring harm to Lloyd, I believe it necessary we retrieve the weapon and destroy it. You understand we may have to permanently maim Lloyd in order to do so?"
Daethr stated "Would it not be more kind and noble to end his life, and save him from his suffering?"

"No. The Knight can be the only one to make that decision, though if he grants that permission or lays himself down to sacrifice, do not waste the opportunity"

"Thanks my lord, I will set to it within a night's rest. He seems to have fled towards our direction...however, I will let you know that I would find it uncomfortable to join any sort of escape party and help the human..overly social beings as they are. Farewell"

"Farewell dear lad, now time for me to exit and update your Queen about the nature of events. May the light of the Eldar shine on you always"


Daethr was a patriotic young elf, he was willing to do all for this little forest settlement that had become so vital to the elven race. Originally it was meant as an outpost from which to conduct the wars by the Elves, who had come in by stealth from the Sundered Island. With time, they realized that this position was far too valuable to give up, as it let them in on the happenings of the world, so they stayed there, without any knowing of this as their second home. Men, of course had forgot of Elves existence entirely, believing them but a fairy tale. The other races knew of their existence but ceased to care and eventually lost all knowledge about them, but kept them at the back of their head sometimes. The only ones who had believed firmly were the shapeshifters, who, for the most part were passionate and bold in contrast to the elves, but they otherwise adored nature and in times past had grown quite close. Even in the modern courts, unknown to each other, each race sung songs and held the other in high respect, calling for the day when they would reunite and rule Pangea with the wisdom and force that would save them from evils and bring good times. Unfortunately, the idea of this was lost on the young of both races, particularly the shapeshiffters, who saw the differences and scoffed at the dedication and tenderness shown by their elders.

Daethr looked out from the window in his humble Maka'an , and let the relaxing influence of the forest lull him into the Elvish dreamstate, resembling the outsider's version of sleep except the elf did not lose entire consciousness and rather regained vitality by dreaming of the eldar stars and the powers of the elves of old. Any comforting thoughts would do. At the current he cast aside thoughts of sweaty, armor clad men with red orbs on their hands and dwindled away...

‘WOOOHHOOOOOO!!!!’ Frack yelled over the sound of the wind. He looked down and saw the castle shrink into the distance.

Lloyd marveled at the sheer power that he commanded. With the wings sprouting from his back and the breast plate on his chest bearing silent witness.

‘This flying stuff is fun’ Shouted Frick ‘We need to do this MORE!’ the brothers looked back again and the castle was no where to be seen.. Frick looked the way they were going and saw a tan line on the horizon.

‘I think we are going to see the giants!’ Frack yelled frick was thinking the same thing.

‘I do not have a death wish’ Lloyd said as he flared his wings and came to a hover slowly sinking toward the ground. ‘There we are’ he said and angled down toward the side of a hill and to the mouth of a cave. Lloyd flared his wings again and touched down a bit harder than he wanted, dropped the kinder and walked into the cave. The pain of the wings folding back into his shoulders was still present but more easily endured but the pain in his chest caught him by surprise as the breast plate seemed to sink into his chest. Exhausted, Lloyd made it 3 more steps into the cave before he sank to his knees. He fell forward catching himself with his left arm.

‘First it hurts, then it sucks the life out of you’ Lloyd said exhausted.

‘It is fun!’ Frack said as the brothers looked with concern in their eyes.

‘If you killed the king doesn’t that make YOU the king?’ Frick asked

Lloyd looked at the kinder. ‘No’ he said emphatically ‘and I would not want the job it it was offered.’ He rolled on to his back. ‘I am not an administrator, I can fight, I know what it means to command men in combat, but I am no king.’ He paused for a moment.

‘They will be hunting us won’t they?’ Frick asked.

‘That should not be a big deal with the magic of that stone he has in his hand.’ Frack said gathering sticks for a fire.

‘They will draw the Moon Weapons and come after us’ Lloyd said with a look of concern on his face.

‘Moon Weapons?’ Frick scoffed uneasily ‘Those are a myth; we were born at night Lloyd but not LAST night.’

‘Those were lost after the great war.’ Frack said

‘No’ Lloyd shook his head ‘They were captured and hidden in the castle of Lenus, there are 11 men that knew where they are and how to get to them, now there are 10, 9 that are still in the castle’

The Kinder looked at the knight with disbelief on their faces. Lloyd related the history behind how Lenus came into posetion of the weapons and how they are used.

‘I wield the claymore’ The knight said with some pride ‘I was appointed a knight errant, which is why I was sent to retrieve this stone’ he held his left hand us as if you could see the stone through his gauntlet.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


The forest was always a place he could go and get away from everything. The lush forest, the animals, the sights and sounds all made him feel at home. Quiet as a mouse Stockhan or, Stock as his friend, yes there was only one, called him, crept through the forest, careful not to step on a twig to and to make no sound that would alert his prey. Movement up ahead made him freeze. The Deer looked up from the patch of grass he was munching on, and looked in Stock’s eyes. Stock stayed motionless for what seemed like and eternity watching the deer looking for something. It was almost as if it knew that he was being stalked and didn’t want to end up on a dinner table. His mother and father could eat for a month off of this animal. The stalk had taken most of the day. Stock had picked up the trail of the deer at sunrise and now, just past midday, he was going to take the deer. The Rack on the Buck’s head was magnificent and would fetch a good price at the market as well. There were always those that would pay to be able to brag how they brought the big one down.

The Deer went back to its meal and Stock took that as a signal that he was close enough. Stock was an expert with the bow having been shooting since he was old enough to draw an arrow to his ear. That was in his 6th cycle now, 15 cycles later he could drop a deer at 50 yards. Stock slowly drew the arrow back to his ear, sighted down the shaft and let it go. The arrow flew straight and true and struck the deer behind the fore leg. The Buck shuddered and took a few steps and took another bite of grass. Turned and stepped into the brush and out of sight.

Stock carefully crept forward and stooped over the spot where the buck had been standing. The blood on the ground spoke of a good hit. The arrow looked to have gone through one or both lungs so the deer would not be going far. He straightened and turned in the direction the deer had taken and followed the blood trail. The sound of barking took him by surprise; degos were not plentiful in this stretch forest though they were known to rome just a few miles from here. Stock drew his hunting knife, he had made the knife himself so it was not flashy at all. 10 inches from the bone handle to the needle sharp tip made from the best steel he could buy and kept razor sharp and rust free.

Slowly and quietly Stock crept up and saw a pack of 5 or 6 dogs of several different breeds growling and barking at the deer who was not far from it’s demise. Stock sheathed his knife and took his bow from his shoulder. He put 1 arrow in the ground beside him and drew another from his quiver. Carefully he drew the bow and sighted for a moment and let go. The arrow went through 2 of the dogs pinning them together to a tree they were close to. He quickly grabbed the arrow from the ground and fired again into the midst of the confused and now hurting pack of dogs. Stock stepped from the brush yelling and waving his arms. With half their number dead or dying the dogs scattered leaving the deer to fall to its knees and go to sleep. With a last raspy breath the deer lay on its side and was still. Stock took a last look around and went about cleaning and butchering the deer. That process took another few hours and it was beginning to get dark and overcast when he finished packing the meat into the skin of the deer.

There was a flash of lightning as Stock tied up the package containing the meat from the deer. As an apology to the dog pack he ran off he left some meat on the bone. There was a spattering of rain and he wrapped his bow to keep his string dry, then he shouldered the meat in the pelt of the deer and started off through the woods. There was a cave not far that he would bed down in for the night. As he left the clearing he could hear the dogs returning drawn by the irresistible smell of death and blood. The rain started coming down harder as Stock started trudging toward the cave.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Lloyd glanced around the small cave really little more than a place that looked like it was cut from the side of the hill. The entrance of the cave was not exactly hidden but you would not find it if you were not looking. There were several bushes and other shrubbery masking the entrance grom ground level or down the hill the entrance was almost invisible, from above you could see it with relative ease. From the entrance of the cave the opening went back about 4 feet and then angled down to meet the floor of the cave 15 feet or so from the entrance. The entrance of the cave was only about 5 feet wide but it widened from there to 10 feet or so and the ceiling was only about 5 feet high at its tallest point. That meant the kinder had no problem standing but Lloyd was starting to feel like a hunch back. There was not much cover in the cave and they would be at a disadvantage if they were caught inside it.

The kinder had gotten a fire started and, with Lloyd’s help shielded it from the outside. Then, unable to keep his eyes open, Lloyd had all but passed out. The kinder had been left to their own devices for most of the morning and, much to Lloyd’s surprise, they had not gotten into any real trouble. He had been able to impress upon them that they needed to stay out of sight and they seemed to respect that. They had kept the fire going and cooked food for lunch and dinner. He was not sure what kind of meat they had besides some bacon but the flavor was good and there was just enough.

Being daylight the fire would not be visible but as night fell the light from the fire gets harder to hide so, with the evening meal cooked and consumed, they were letting the fire die down, the cave was warm enough and they would be bedding down soon. A peal of thunder surprised Lloyd and made the kinder laugh when he jumped. It seemed nothing really surprised or scared the kinder folk. Lloyd got up and stepped toward the door when the brush around the entrance began to rustle. Lloyd’s broadsword came easily to his hand and the kinder armed themselves as well.

An object hit the floor of the cave with a thud looked like a hide bound package tied with rawhide. Following behind was a backpack that was worn and patched in several places and finally a youth pushed through the brush and stood brushing off his breeches and looked up.

‘Whoa’ he said catching sight of Frick and Frack armed and looking as though they were up to no good. A movement to his right caught is attention as the flat of a broadsword was lain gently across his chest. Stock stood VERY still with his hands palms out about chest high. ‘I mean no harm; I was not expecting anyone to be here. I was just trying to get out of the rain.’ He looked over at Lloyd and recognized the markings on his armor. ‘You are a knight of Lenus, I am a subject and was just out hunting… why are you blue?’

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BIO:
Name: Stockhan
Age: 17 Yrs
Appearance: Tall 6’3” thin Short cropped brown hair Neutral colored cloak dingy white shirt brown leather pants, moccasins.
Weapons: long bow and a hunting knife (Bowie style)
Skills: Expert Stealth, Expert Bow Hunter, Not an Elf or anything but impressive for a human, Skilled with a Knife.

“Hospitable is a understatement, then again. Darlar is the only kingdom not to shoot a warlock on sight left, so it was to be expected. You don’t need to tell me where we are going next. First stop is Sundered Island , after you talk a bit, Lost isle?” Thor already felt connected to his companion. The swelling of blue and purple as a magnificent sight as it became more vibrant in the contrast to the scorched outcrop of Sundered Island. They were heading to a small village where something unrenowned to the kingdom was held.

“Yep, you know the reigns. No rush, I’m just hoping they make it easy and didn’t discover or hide the artifact. Who knows if they found it yet. If they did this is going to be a pain.” Kelgori sighed as he stood to Thor’s head. “That small outcrop right there.” Kelgori pointed to a few outcrops encompassing a village. Which was quickly enlarging as the drake folded up his wings and darted to it. The speed was incredible with the sandstone blurring left or right as Thor expanded his wings and glided undetected threw the outskirt. At once he threw his wings back and with one sudden flux they were at a stand. Kelgori jumping down and smiling. “Never seen anything move like that. And I remember saying no rush?” The drake smirked back, “I wasn’t rushing. Anyway, if your correct, they key lies in one of these rocks. How do we figure out which one?” Thor was a step behind Kelgori.

With a great crack the boulder in front of Kelgori shattered from a shadow imposed blast from the tip of his staff. The crow glowing red as he cut threw the remains until he found what he sought out. “Heads up!” Thor yelled as he dove in front of a unnatural crushing wave from the sea. The drake was instantly slammed into the rocks and incapacitated. The blow was intended to rupture Kelgori before he noticed. “Lucky, so lucky. You think you can grab the key and walk away. Just like that? Not a chance in hell!” A Xipho shouted, Clearly the protector of whatever Kelgori sought. “What makes you think you can stop me? I have this weird feeling about this, it goes something like this!” Out of nowhere 6 small meteors shot out of the sky and shattered the ground in front of Kelgori, created a small river from the great sea around the small outcrops back to the sea. “Nice display? My turn!” The Xipho yelled back. “Ah, if you want.” Kelgori shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Don’t do anything too stupid thought.” A uncontrolled laugh from Kelgori broke out as the six ‘meteors’ rose from the ground. Still ignited the six fiends stood approximately ten feet off the ground and raised their fists of fire at the Xipho, a few pulled out chains of fire and one pulled a battleaxe with fire burning off like a crown. “I take that back, incredibly impressive. And stupid.” The Xipho summoned a squad of his own from the depths of the sea. Six small whirlpools were created in front of the hellions who stood on the shore. “From the depths I came, from hell you came. Lets see the better, old friend!” The Xipho finally revealed himself as he shot out of the water with slick warped dark blue scales and a black trident sparking with blue from the three prongs. “So you guard our hope. You truly want to die, the lost always reclaim.” Kelgori rebuked in a soft tone.

From the whirlpools came out the devilish spawns. Each of them a great amphibious figure which stood at least ten feet tall. The spawns all carried great halberds with, with a dark blue reflection on there scales they were colorless and slimy but deadly agile and muscled with their halberds. All the creatures were myths, figments of the peoples imagination. The never existed in this world. And don’t, but like hell they exist. “Equally entertained. Looks like a brawls going down, So. Do you wish to die or hand over what you foolishly protect?” Kelgori asked, he never liked fighting a friend. But a friend who is against you is a foe. So it must be like this. “I’m protecting you from yourself right now. If you reclaim the artifact, it will do nothing but harm. Let the people of Pangea solve Pangea’s problems. Our intervention is not required yet.” The Xipho did not relish fighting the darkened being. “They wont solve them on their own. They need a little nudge here or there, plus Lenus, like the idiots they are, just deployed the Lunar Brigade to chase down a dragoon…” Kelgori was well informed. “All the dragons could be conquering the world again, that does not give you right to reclaim this power.” The Xipho was adamant, a fight was inevitable.

“Very well then.” Kelgori said as he raised his left hand, which started to glow with darkness, the black swelling around it. He then raised his staff with his main hand. The staff was beginning to form a shield of fire around it. “You want this fight, ill give it.” He then started to levitate above the ground and motioned for the hellions to attack the spawns. “Then lets go!” The Xipho yelled back enraged. Trident in the air with a blue mist sour rending it and other hand with a dark blue aura completely blotching it out. The Xipho then motioned for the Spawns to meet the Hellions with equal. Then he leapt over the small battle engaging beneath him to his foe in the most ancient formal art of dueling.
“ITS GOING DOWN!!!!” Kelgori yelled as he brushed away the Xipho’s trident with his staff and pressed his hand on the slippery scaly chest and shot a blast of shadow directly into the Xipho. Knocking him back a clear ten feet. He regained his balance before he hit the ground and rose to the same altitude again, approximately thirty feet above the active battle beneath them they dueled. Staff meeting fist and fist meeting trident they exchanged blows and blocked bolts of energy and fire, parried fire with water to see it enveloped with darkness. The two danced in the air hands and staves glowing with respective energies as they preformed the elegant Dance Macabre.

Beneath the two the hellions were pushing the spawns back into the water, one of them already vanquished by a agile double team to lock his fists as a third spiked the hellion threw the neck with his halberd, creating a small explosion of fire. Instantly after the spike the Spawn found himself in a shackle of fire and a battleaxe tore his hide to flame and burned him the creature to death. They clashed fist on halberd. Chain to wave and battleaxe to flesh. The Spawns were sorely losing on the solid ground as they fought to block and parry until they could get closer to the water. Above them the two sages withheld no power as they sought to stop the other from claiming the artifact, the Xipho would destroy it, the fate of Kelgori would die before. The Warlock quickly strung his staff to his back and clapped his hands together, Causing one to emit red fire, the other black fire. Then he leapt back at the Xipho who had done the same, with blue and yellow. They made there last charge, both dreadfully exhausted and ending it with this last charge.

“You cant win old friend.” Kelgori spoke as he met his rival. “Keep telling yourself that and hell might not burn as much one day.” Then it all went black as they two met with a clash, first to palm, palm to knuckles. They punched and shot and blocked the elements at each other for almost a minute until Kelgori did a risky move he had not yet mastered and flipped over the Xipho kicking him in the face as he went, then spun and spread both hands to launch a bolt of fire to his foes back. The Xipho quickly spun and went to end the fight with a quick scorch to Kelgori’s face but was met with a elemental blast he had not prepared for. The Xipho flew across the air and landed against a rock, there was a sickening snap as his body fell limp. Beneath him the hellions were whittled to the last two, with axe and chain. Fortunately for them, the last Spawn had given up with launching massive waves of water at the beings of fire, and charged. He quickly launched a splash of water to one to screen his vision for the moment he needed to slash the other, who clashed his axe on the halberd. As this happened the Spawn spun and sent a blast of water at the heart of the hellion, extinguishing and killing it with one blow. Unannounced to him though, the other hellion already freed his vision and the chains were a fraction of a second from his neck as he spun to see his doom for the last time.

Kelgori slowly fell to the ground as he thanked the being from the netherworld for helping him. Then blacked out.


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“Needle, you sure about this?” Snake asked his brother as they were sprinting across arid to one of the few patches of trees in all of arid. “Yea, at worst we start a war a second sooner than normal, but it doesn’t make any difference. Were already expecting it to happen.” Needle spoke back, the lion was at the head of the back with the panther quickly running to his side. They had been at it for half a day with there small squad to try and reach the oasis of arid for shelter and to talk to the Oracle. A old friend of the shape shifters who enjoyed the sole company of the hidden oasis. “We should be there by tonight… At this rate.” Snake said between deep breaths as he pounded the sand with his claws. “We rest then.” They had no conflicts yet, and were well prepared for one.

“Well, nothing else to do till were there. Why not just race?” Needle jested. “Try because if we exhaust ourselves crossing arid in a couple of hours we wont have a chance for the trials there.”

The Brigade rode on in silence for a long while. The wind whipping about in the early morning hours, before even sun rise, the only sound to be heard for miles as the horses trotted on. The road they followed was as flat as it was long, and seemed to stretch on into infinity. It was the downside of the landscape of Lenus, it was completely uniform and utterly monotonous until you got to a border area.

Clide was at the head of the group, leading that way. His long hair bounced as the horse continued on at a comfortable pace. He was completely calm and collected, not one to let his thoughts stray just because of there was no activity to occupy his attention. The man was indeed a good leader, not easily distracted and wise enough to read the mood of his troops. By comparison, Darius was a wreck of hyper activity and impatience, practically bouncing in his seat and constantly searching for something to occupy his time.

Laro was actually grateful for this though, as the Royal Knight's behavior gave him something to focus on, other then their journey and mission. Zara seemed to also be watching the man to preoccupy his time, but it also seemed more out of curiosity, then entertainment to him. Laro knew little of him, or of the other Knight Errant, Athrun. Both seemed extremely quiet, Athrun more so then Zara. But to be honest he couldn't get the slightest read on Athrun. The Knight seemed to be focused on absolutely nothing, and perfectly content to remain that way. He could just as easily have been a statue and there would be nothing different about the man.

"So where are we heading, oh fearless leader?" Darius asked, his fighting finally reaching an unbearable level.

"To the next town," Clide answered simply.

Darius scoffed, "Not much of a plan there."

"We have to start somewhere Dar," Zara spoke up.

"Indeed," Athrun added, speaking for the first time since Laro had heard him say his name, "the most logical course of action is to follow him as closely as possible until we can confront him. He was last seen in this direction, so we find the nearest village or town. If they have seen him they can point us to where he was heading. If they haven't then we know he's between there and the Castle."

"Yeah, but what exactly do we do after that?" Darius asked, "It's a fine start, but plans usually involve more then one step."

"It would be foolish to make further decisions when we know so little Sir Morlan." Athrun responded calmly. The man didn't seem capable of anger, as he didn't not seem annoyed in the least at the slight.

"Isn't that what we brought him for?" Darius asked flipping his thumb back to indicate Laro, "He should be able to give us an insight into Lloyd's actions."

Zara looked at his comrade, "He does have a point Athrun."

"So how about it Laro?" Darius solicited, now turned to face the former Squire, "Any insight for us?"

"Umm," was all Laro could manage. He wasn't used to being put on the spot, at least not intellectually.

Clide seemed to interpret this hesitation as a reluctance to do so without a leader's permission, rather then a stammer to gather thoughts. Not that Laro minded the excuse, "Go ahead Sir Klein. I'm interested in your opinion as well."

Laro looked out on the countryside as he thought. He had never really been asked to predict someone's actions before, but he was Lloyd's Squire and even before that, his page. He knew a good deal about the man, and had often anticipated his requests. "He doesn't think ahead. That's the one thing we can count on. When his sense of duty kicks in he considers only the next second of his actions." He paused, "Usually this makes him unpredictable, like in a fight, but over the long term, anyone who's known him long enough will be able to tell you what he will do." He sighed, "You see, Lloyd isn't very bright, so when he does get around to making a decision, he usually makes the most obvious one possible."

"That would explain why he seemed surprised when the Kinder confronted him," Athrun injected.

Laro nodded, "There's another thing to remember. My master, former master, hates magic with a passion, but he's also practical enough that he'll use it if he needs to."

"Then he would have little to no control over it," Zara commented, "but the guards saw him transform and fly away."

"Yeah, but why do it then?" Darius asked, "Would have made his escape all the easier if he'd done it while in the Throne Room."

"Could he have anticipated the increased guard and the element of shock such a transformation would have on them?" Athrun asked, dead serious.

Laro chuckled, "You give him too much credit. I don't think he ever wanted to transform, most likely he forgot it was even there while he fought. He has no control over magic, but it works both ways, he can't control when it activates either."

"Coincidence then?" Clide suggested.

"No, it's too convenient," Darius replied, "even for him."

"Most likely it responds to emotions like stress and anger," Athrun answered, "possibly even keys in on a desire for power. He first used it when his path was about to be blocked, and it continued on from there." The Knight turned to Clide, "This likely means he can't control how long he can maintain it, or even whether or not it disappears."

"Then the next town should hold some answers for us," Clide didn't even turn back as he replied to the statement. "Now we just need to know the questions."

"That would be your job," Darius added, looking at Laro.

Before the former Squire could respond Athrun chimed in, "Perhaps not. If he wants to keep this power away from the King, and those that could use it against Lenus, then there is but one place he would go."

"Concord," Zara supplied.

Athrun nodded, "In this case, he would head to the coast, and make his way across the ocean to Concord. As well, it has to be considered that he can fly and make much better time then we. His best course of action would be a straight dash."

"You're thinking like yourself Diakka," Darius answered, "Lloyd's not going to think it out that much. If he was, we wouldn't have brought his Squire to think like him."

"My former master hates magic much more then you think," Laro continued off Darius' cue. "As soon as he and Kinder are safely away he'll want to land and undo the changes."

"Given his speed, and altitude, and assuming he wants to be well out of sight," Athrun looked to Laro for confirmation, the Knight nodded confirmation, "then Mister Syuveil would most likely be over or within sight of the town ahead. It would make sense for him to continue going until he found a clear place to set down, by which point he would realize it would be best to just continue forward at best speed."

Laro shook his head this time, "Too risky. Even as impulsive as he is, he still considers from one moment to the next, and he couldn't be sure he would find a safe area to set down near a road with a high degree of traffic." The group passed a pair of travellers on foot right then, as if to illustrate the Knight's point.

"He would head to a place he would be sure is private then," Clide commented.

"The mountains would be my bet," Darius suggested, "hardly anyone out there, so close to our border with Arid."

Laro nodded, "I think he would head that way. Safest place to land, and once he did land and rest up, think about his next move, he would then come to the conclusion that Concord is the safest place to head at this time."

"Then he would head back to the main road," Athrun answered questioningly.

"No," Darius replied, "straddle the border. He would try to be as out of sight as possible, better to limit information about him. Both paths meet at the coast eventually, then he could make a dash."

"That would be my choice," Laro answered.

"Then it's settled," Darius seated himself properly again. "To the mountains."

"No," Clide replied, "we'll keep on heading to the town. He knows we're after him, so he may act exactly opposite of how we think, he thinks, so he may end up following Athrun's directions. Either way, the town will have reports and is on the way to either the mountains or the Northern border."

--------------------------------

After entering the town, the five Brigadiers had split up to find what information they could about Lloyd by quietly engaging the towns people in idle conversation until the topic of strange events could be brought up. Most of the investigating lead to nothing but local folklore and myth, but some provided crucial insights into the mission the men would soon be departing on.

After talking the five had proceeded to procure supplies for their long journey, and lodgings for the day. This might be their last chance in quite some time to grab a good meal, and sleep in a comfortable bed, and they had to take advantage of it while they could. Sadly it was not when they could, as the Brigadiers were mandated to act after dark to avoid drawing undue attention to themselves, and so were forced to spend the afternoon asleep so they could depart under the cover of night.

It was this same sleep Laro was now rubbing out of his eyes as he sat up and accepted a cup of coffee from Darius, "Thanks," he said, offering up a yawn that sounded like a walrus trying to mate with a kanary.

The Royal Knight just chucked, "Get used to it man. We'll be doing this for a while."

Laro just nodded, not quite awake yet. He could see the others arrayed around the room. Clide stood at the center, a pillar of courage and vitality many of the others did not share. The man was already fully suite with his weapon by the door. Darius seemed groggy, but also a bit tense, as if he was trying to make himself look like the rest of them, that or Laro's imagination was still plenty active after the odd dreams. He was partly suited up, but didn't have the main chest plate on yet, he sat on his bed with a thud that made the frame jolt.

The Knight looked over at the window, Athrun was leaning against it, as far away from the light as he could get and still be in the dim room, but at the ready with not only his leather armor strapped on, but the Moon Staff laying beside him. "We're burning moon light," he commented suddenly, "we should get this meeting underway."

"Give the boy some time to wake up," Zara replied. The Knight Errant was sitting on the side of his bed across from Laro strapping his armor on as he spoke, "He's not used to this kind of life yet."

"Then he shouldn't have been selected," Athrun responded coldly, or at least he sounded cold. No matter how hard he tried to peer at the wall on his left side, he could see nothing but vague outline.

"Lighten up," Darius replied, slipping the two short swords he carried onto his waist. The bed he sat on was so close to the left wall that Laro couldn't be sure if they were his Moon Weapons or just normal short swords, "We have horses, Lloyd doesn't. We'll catch up in plenty of time."

"He has wings," Athrun answered as if talking to a five year old Peasant.

"Enough." Clide spoke, his voice carrying such an authority that he needed not raise his voice to get the attention of everyone in the room, "Sir Diakka is correct, we should move out as soon as we're ready." The Knight turned his gaze to Laro, "We'll begin while Sir Klein readies himself."

Darius nodded acceptance, "Well I didn't find much. A couple of teens snuck out of their houses last night to umm," he coughed, "well you can figure it out. They were interrupted part way through by what they described as a 'ball of fire' passing overhead. Nothing more then that as they were far more interested in each other then a flaying ball of fire."

Zara blushed, probably just now figuring out what Darius had meant, "Yes well, luckily they weren't the only ones. A farm hand that had been tending to the horses of his land lord late claimed to have seen a winged red Deego pass overhead late, heading towards the town. He seemed to think the figure was turning at some point, but was too busy settling the startled horses to pay more then cursory attention."

"That could be put down to his head turning to the animals," Athrun commented. "If he was heading to the mountains he would have banked earlier and not risked being spotted by the towns people."

Laro yawned again as he slipped into his boots, "If he passed over the town we would have found more witnesses."

"Not if he took a detour around it to throw us off," Athrun retorted.

"You're over thinking this again Diakka," Darius responded, putting the chest plate on and securing the straps, "he doesn't think that far ahead."

"Doesn't mean he would had to pass directly overhead," Zara answered, "he might have skimmed the outskirts incidentally."

"I believe Darius is correct," Clide added suddenly. "I found only one incident, and it was from a man near the western edge of town. He saw nothing, and was drunk at the time, so no one payed him any heed, but he claims that he heard a whoop and felt a harsh wind wash over him. At the time he was heading into the center of town. This would seem to corroborate more with Sir Klein's theory then yours Athrun."

The Knight shrugged, "Very well. You are the Leader, I will obey your orders, even if I disagree with them."

"So where does that leave us?" Zara asked.

Darius looked around to see if anyone was going to say something. When no one did he spoke, "Obviously we head to the mountains. Other then that, I guess we just follow our intuition."

"Not a preferred method," Clide replied, "but not unprecedented either." The Royal Knight turned to look back a Laro, "Unless Sir Klein has some keen insight he has yet to share with us?"

Laro felt the eyes of the entire room converge on him as he was strapping on his shoulder guards. He was turned away, and couldn't actually say with certainty that they were starring at him, but it certainly felt that way. His mind raced as he tried to think of something to solve the problem, he didn't want to let them down, but he had no idea what terrain Lloyd would find most appealing, and flying left no marks to track....

The idea hit him like a slap in the face, a self reproach for being so stupid, "I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it."

-----------------------------------

Damean flipped a gold coin into the air, the bright metal gleaming even in the dim light of the bar. The coin sailed up and over the table he was sitting up, and the next table, then came to a thud in a cup two tables away. The liquid sloshed gently as the gold settled to the bottom of the mug and blended in perfectly with the brownish-gold contents. A round of disgruntled comments consisting of anger and disbelief went around the table, causing a grin to spread across his face.

"I don't care if you're the best archer there is!" One of the men began, "It's impossible to be that accurate when drunk."

Damean looked up at the man who was now standing, his bald head redder then a pickled beat. Damean leaned his head on a hand, "Maybe for you," he replied with a chuckle. In fact the man was right though, the former Fisherman was much too drunk to actually hit the target, if he had been normal. But in the two months since his father's unfortunate demise on the seas his skills in the art of water magic had sky-rocketed. He was now fully capable with his ability in a fight, and had even developed a sense of how the water could flow through the life around him.

The ability had been what saved him after the accident. No one had wanted to take in a young adult who had been orphaned by a Deego while at see. It was not the fact that the Deego had attacked that had frightened the villagers, but that they had attacked a Water Mage in training. Apparently it was seen as a sign from the gods if a Mage was attacked by a Deego wielding his element of choice, and even worse that his father had died as a result of the attack.

Effectively exiled from society, Damean had been forced to rely on his own abilities, and his only company his companion, Saphire. Without supplies, or a means to make money, he had been forced to live off the land, and his skills had increased simply because he needed them to do so. An unexpected side-effect of all this had been his ability to sense water, and all it's impurities. It made him an excellent healer, and allowed him to forage for food with relative safety. Oh he had gotten rashes occasionally, and done his fair share of polluting the local river, but he had survived.

Perhaps most unexpected of all was that this ability gave him the ability to sense animals, people, even Deegos when they were nearby. And so he had found himself in a profession he never expected, that of a tracker, a man who could be hired to find anyone or anything, so long as he had a sample of their blood. Even in cases where he was left with only hair or cloths, Saphire often proved useful in her ability to sniff out their objective.

But this ability was not just limited to survival and securing a job, it could also be used to say, flip a coin into a mug everyone was too drunk to notice was moving across the table. Which was precisely what he had done when he saw that his flip was going to miss by nearly a foot, and he had nearly gotten away with it. If it weren't for the drunken idiot in front of him, accusing him rightly, but for all the wrong reasons, he would have had another ale in his stomach without a cent payed out of pocket.

His father would have frowned on him for abusing the talent like this, if he had been there. But he's not, Damean thought chugging the ale before the fight broke out, and that's why he died.

The bald man cocked his fist back in what was likely to be a wild punch incapable of hitting the table, much less the Tracker, but it would still stir the entire tavern into a senseless brawl. "Gimme my money back!" He slurred as he began his swing.

Damean tensed, ready to leap out of the way just in case the bald man could hold his liquor better then he thought, but had no need to do so. Not because the man missed, but because an armored hand caught the fist, stopping it with little effort. The drunk looked up to see a Knight with Brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in blue and purple armor that seemed to barely cover his build.

"I wouldn't do that friend," he said letting the bald man struggle for a moment against his grip before letting his hand go.

The drunk tumbled back and into another Knight, this one in matching broad plate armor, with long black hair. For a moment it looked like the bald man would continue fighting, but as he looked up, and up, his face fell and turned pale. He quickly scampered away and disappeared out the door of the tavern.

The two Knights were joined by two others, all standing in a semi-circle around the table in front of him, "Is this him Laro?" A blonde haired one asked over his shoulder.

A young man came around the four, dressed much the same, but much younger, about Damean's age, "Yeah that's him." To the Tracker he said, "Hey Mister Halcyon, sorry for the interruption."

It took Damean a moment to remember the teen, as he had only just met him today and only talked to him for an hour about the area. Now what had the boy's name been? Oh right, "Hello to you too Mister Klein," he raised his empty mug to the Knight, "and I should be thanking you for saving me the needless hassle of a fight."

"There's a way you could show your gratitude," Laro said leaning on the table like the two were co-conspirators on some secret mission to save the kingdom.

Here we go, he thought, disappointed. Laro had seemed like a nice guy, first in a long time that actually wanted to genuinely help people and ask for nothing in return. Turned out the man was like everyone else in the world, only interested in what bettered himself. "I know where this is going," he leaned back in his chair, "what do you want?"

The black long haired man put both hands on the table in a motion that didn't strain the table, but caught his full attention, "Why, we'd like to hire you, Damean Halcyon."

--------------------------------

Damean rode the horse as it trotted along the pathway leading to the mountains, Saphire along side him, and his new employers trailing a few feet behind. Not because they thought it was dangerous they claimed, but so that their scents wouldn't confuse his dog. Warriors, he thought to himself, they may be good at fighting, but when it comes to just about anything else they don't their ass from a hole in the ground. He chuckled at his own joke, and felt his head swim from the movement. The Tracker still hadn't managed to fully sober up after an hour in the local tavern.

He pulled his horse to a stop, "Aight, do your thing Saph," he said reaching for a canister on the side of the horse. The dog barked an acknowledgment and began sniffing the air as Damean unscrewed the silver thermos he had gotten out and started pouring the contents into it's lid. He had insisted on grabbing some coffee before he left with the Knights to find their comrade, or what he assumed was their comrade. They hadn't said anything one way or another about who they were asking him to track.

He put the coffee to his lips and immediately spit it out, "Yuck, cold."

"What do you expect for two bronze pieces?" One of the Knights asked rhetorically coming astride of Damean. The Tracker thought he had said his name was Darius.

"Well rot gut," Damean replied wincing, "but warm rot gut."

The Knight chuckled, "Probably was when we left town half an hour ago."

"Yeah well," Damean rose his hand and began circling it over the mug, "luckily I'm my own heater."

The man looked confused, then noticed steam rising from the mug at which point he seemed even more confused, "Fire Mage?"

He sipped the now hot cup of coffee and felt his head begin to clear, "Water." When the Knight's face didn't straighten out he expanded, "You'd be amazed how versatile water is."

"He's confused as to why a Water Mage would be hiring himself out as a Tracker," another Knight said, coming up on his other side. This one had plate armor like the other, most likely the group's leader Clide.

Damean looked over to his canine companion, still sniffing the air, but wandering less to the sides now. She would be picking up on the scent soon, which meant his short explanation would probably be enough. After all, he doubted these people actually cared about him, they just felt awkward in silence, "Don't have any official training, just what I picked up. Unless you have one of those damned badges on your shoulder no one is interested in hiring you for magic."

Saphire barked back at him, signaling that she'd picked up on the scent, Right on time old girl. He snapped his reigns and began trotting forward, "Saph's got the scent," he called over his shoulder, "we'll follow her now."

"Shouldn't we be doing this on foot?" Yet another of the Knight's asked, Damean couldn't remember this one's name, but he had all the emotion of a rock.

"We'll be lucky if we can keep up on horse back once she gets going," the Tracker replied.

As if on cue, Saphire took off at a terribly fast run. Much faster then any normal dog and much more skilled at scenting because of her Hell Hound blood, she could out pace any human, and most horses. Rain was beginning to fall now, and that would only spur Saphire further. Being part Hell Hound, she hated the rain. Damean thrust the reigns hard and his horse took off after the half breed, just barely matching speed, but gaining no ground in the process. Behind he could hear the Knights urging their own horses forward, momentarily surprised by the speed, but not paralyzed by it.

If he had had any other clients he would have had to goad them into building up speed first before letting Saphire take off, otherwise they would be left behind. But his clients were warriors, which meant the one thing they could do was act quickly to unexpected changes. And he had to get his fun out of this, they weren't paying him that much.

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Lloyd sighed but didn't lower his sword from the intruder. He was really getting tired of being blue, and although the colors was now more of a hint then a shade, it was still quite annoying. "Because it's my favorite color," he replied sarcastically. The boy gave him an odd look, confused. That gave Lloyd enough time to sum the teen up for threats. He was dressed in shabby brown and white leatherish cloths that Lloyd had seen before, but didn't care to learn the name of. He had a bow and quiver strapped to his back, little threat in such a close space, but he also carried himself slightly forward and while skinny, was also quite fit physically.

The Knight looked over to the Halflings, "Frick, search him."

"Why should I?" The Halfling demanded, lowering his staff.

"You can keep anything you find interesting," Lloyd conceded knowing what the conversation would devolve into and getting straight to the point.

The Kinder considered this, then nodded and walked over to the boy. Meanwhile the boy's eyes had grown wide and his face red, "Hey! He can't take my stuff!"

Lloyd lifted an eyebrow, "You can let the man search you and take what he likes, or I can cut off your hands. Either way, I'm making sure you're not a threat."

The teen grew pale, but nodded consent to the search. Frick patted him up and down, throwing things he found to the ground at the boy's feet. To his credit, the youth hardly budged from the invasive search, but he wasn't sure if that was because the boy was calm or just scared stiff. During all this, Frack had been scanning the cave and the bushes outside it for signs of company, whether friend, animal, or Deego.

Both Halflings finished their surveys at the same time, seeming satisfied that they had ensured their safety. Frack sheathed his short swords while Frick stepped back, cradling an oddly colored stone in his hand to show his comrade deeper in. Lloyd spared a glance down to see a few coins, a couple stones of various sizes, some small leather skins, a tin cup, and a hunting knife, along side the bow, arrow and quiver Lloyd had already seen.

The Knight looked back up at the boy, "Quite an odd assortment of things there Mister...."

"Stockhan," he supplied after a moment, "Stock for short."

"Right," he considered the boy another moment, then sheathed his broadsword. Odds were the teen was harmless and doing exactly as he claimed, but even if he wasn't, the youth was neither skilled enough, nor powerful enough to do him any real harm with just a knife. He nodded at the items, "Get your stuff and come inside."

The Knight turned his back and walked back inside the cave to sit by the fire, purposely presenting his backside to see if Stock would attack him. But he sat down unmolested, and saw that the lad was still putting his stuff back, a look of annoyance on his face.

Lloyd picked up the cooked rabbit he had killed earlier for a meal and began digging in as Stock cautiously came forward and sat by the fire. He wasn't close enough to get very warm, but was much closer to the exit then either the Knight or his friends, probably considering the need to run if what he viewed as the crazy Knight and his two minions changed their minds and wanted to slaughter him.

He continued chowing down on his meal until it was nothing but bone before looking up again. When he did he noticed that the Kinder were going over the items they'd gotten from his quarters back at the Castle. The two were mostly ignoring the humans, but still keeping an eye on Stock out of their peripheral vision, probably keeping an ear out too. Stock was just staring at Lloyd though, a mean, hateful glare, meant to convey an extreme dislike to an oppressor.

"If you have something to say," Lloyd spoke, stirring the fire to keep it going, "then say it."

"You're no Knight," he spat out, "Knights of Lenus don't threaten people and hang out with thieving Kinder." Lloyd waved at the Kinder to avoid the outburst. He'd let them taunt the teen later, but he was interested in what the boy would say. Stock didn't seem to notice the interaction at all, "Knights are pillars of chivalry and courage! The most honorable of the King's servants! You stole that armor off one of those honorable people. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you here."

"Other then the fact that you would end up getting yourself killed? I can think of only one reason," Lloyd leaned closer, "you don't know me, and you don't know my story." He sat back and threw his stick into the fire for more fuel, "You should never act without full knowledge of a situation."

"I can't trust a word you say," Stock fired back, "your attitude and your attire conflict more then a Xipho and a Giant!"

Lloyd leaned back, "Well I can't make you listen to me, but I can tell you a story if you'll hear it?"

Stock considered this, "I suppose I have nothing else to do until the rain clears up."

"Then get settled, this may take a while," Lloyd replied with a smile.

Before the Knight could begin his story, there was a rustling from the bushes outside the cave and a second later a large dog was jumping on him. The impact knocked him off the stone he was sitting on and to the ground, the dog still standing over him licking his face. He pushed the animal off and sat up, still a bit surprised that the animal had caught him off-guard. It was almost like the dog had been searching for him.

"Saph!" A call came from outside the cave. It sounded like a kid, or at least a very young adult, and the way he called the name seemed to indicate he was calling for the very same animal that had jumped Lloyd.

The Knight sighed and grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck, "Well aren't you an excited little ball of fur?" He headed towards the entrance figuring he could chase the kid off if he just gave him his dog back, "Come on, let's get you back to your owner." He walked through the pushed, his sight momentarily obscured by the foliage, and came out the other side, fully expecting to find a worried little boy.

So he was more then a little shocked when a voice he had not heard in quite a while greeted him, "Well if it isn't Mister Syuveil."

Frozen in place, the Knight looked up to see six human men standing in front of him. Almost all of which he knew very well, and had trained with for more hours then he could count. He had expected them, knew they would be coming, but he had not expected them to arrive so quickly. In fact it was impossibly quick, they should have not known in the slightest, where he would be, much less the exact cave he had hidden in.

He held up the dog and studied it more closely. It looked like a dog at first glance but on closer inspection, the sharper teeth, eyes with a red tint, and highly muscled body, gave it away as a half breed between a normal dog and a Hell Hound. That would explain how it surprised me. It was tracking me, and it's probably much faster then a normal dog. But it didn't answer how they had even known where to start looking. Lloyd hadn't even known where he would be going, how would they?

That's when he noticed that the Brigade was full, when it should have been one short, which meant they had picked up another, and if he had been Clide he knew exactly who he would choose. "I hope you know what you're doing Laro," Lloyd said, releasing the animal and letting it scamper back to a young man, probably a Tracker. "If you aren't completely certain in your choice, it will get you killed."

One of the men came forward, the slight light of the moon now casting a glow on his face. It was the face of his old Squire, "I know why I'm doing this Lloyd. The only thing I don't know is why you are doing this? Wasn't it you who taught me to be loyal to the throne above all else."

"Yes I was," Lloyd replied, a little sad it had come to this, but irrationally eager to see how his Squire would fare, "and I still hold to that code. Even if it means being branded a traitor. I did it for the good of the kingdom, but I don't expect you to see that, not yet."

Laro drew the Moon Claymore off his back and leveled it at the Knight, the tip just a foot away from his face, "You did what you felt should be done. I'll do what must be done."

Lloyd gripped his hilt and pulled the trigger release, "Fight well, my apprentice!"

Lloyd drew his sword and lunged forward bring his sword up and across in an uppercut aimed at the claymore. Lloyd was trying to knock the sword out of his page’s hand and end the fight as quickly as possible. The blades came into contact and sparks flew as the blade in Lloyd’s hand began to glow. The move apparently surprised the new knight as the claymore was knocked up and out of position. To Lloyd’s surprise the knight executed a quick turn and slashed up from left to right forcing Lloyd to step back or be split open from stick to sternum. He was strangely proud of the improvisation his former student had shown but now was not the time for a protracted fight. A fire in his left hand reminded him of the stone there but he was loathe to use it.

‘The extra armor would be nice’ Lloyd thought and instantly regretted it as pain shot through his chest and back setting his arms on fire. The pain traveled up his neck and seemed to set his head on fire. The pain had forced him to his knees and he felt a sharp blow across his back, like he had been hit with a stick.

Frick and Frack ran from the mouth of the cave and saw the Lloyd wreathed in flame; they looked at each other and looked back at the former knight in awe. The knight stood wearing armor that was red from his waist up the torso was covered in armor that looked like it was small dragon scales with a pair of wings etched in to their surface, red chain mail went down his arms ending in bracers that seemed to made of fire, the impressive part was what was on his head the flame of the chest piece seemed to flow up the knights neck and wrap around his head forming a helmet that looked like it was made from tiny scales with a plume sticking out of the top that was flame..

There was a sound from the left looked that way and saw a brief flash of a tree moving. Frick looked a little harder and could see the faint out line of a man wrapped in the illusion of a tree trying to get behind Lloyd. Frick went left holding his staff at the ready looking around as though he did not notice the man walking toward them. As he passed the man Frick turned and flipped his staff so the spear point was up and followed him as he walked up behind and a bit left of Lloyd. Frick jabbed the end of his spear into the backside of the knight causing him to start and jump forward…

Frack had gone to the right drawing his swords as he went keeping to the shadows

Lloyd rose to his feet and looked at the knight standing in front of him. He watched as Laro’s face went from shock to resolute and flourished the claymore. The way Laro moved the claymore was not as heavy as it looked. At the end of the move, Laro dashed forward attacking from the left to which Lloyd caught on his left bracer, wrapped his arm around catching the blade under his arm and jerked it back and out of Laro’s grasp. There was a crunch of metal rending flesh and bone and a gasp behind him. Lloyd looked over his shoulder and saw Athrun with almost 6 inches of the tip of the Claymore embedded in the middle of his chest, staff in the middle of an overhand swing at Lloyd’s head. Frick was behind Athrun with the spear point of his staff impaling the backside of the knight.

Lloyd released the claymore and Athrun collapsed on to his back clutching at the huge sword protruding from his chest. Frack jumped out of his way trying to remove the point of his Hoopak from the knight’s body. He lost his hold on the Hoopak and the man fell on it. There was a crack as the kinder’s staff was broken beneath the knights weight. The Moon staff bounced off of Lloyd’s shoulder and fell at the feet of the kinder. Frick reached down and picked the staff up and rubbed the smooth wood of the staff it felt old and almost slick.

‘They should have never roped you in to this Laro.’ Lloyd said ‘I am sorry you have to endure this.’ Lloyd lashed out again with his flaming broadsword slicing the straps holding the young knights’s Breast plate on then slices the piece of armor down the middle effectively cleaving the armor and slicing through flesh leaving a cut and burn on Laro’s chest. Laro fell back clutching his chest more in pain than seriously wounded. Lloyd looked behind and saw the kinder with the moon staff and then felt a sudden stab of pain in his leg. He gasped from the pain and went to his knees, he could feel the arrow drain the life from him and knew he would have to get it out quickly or it would kill him. He looked up as Clide drew another arrow and, Lloyd reached down and pulled the arrow from his leg grimacing from the pain. The bottom half of his body was the only part that was not armored, a fact that Clide was sure to exploit. Suddenly from behind him a projectile rocketed out of a sling and struck Clide on the chest exploding on impact. Knocking Clide back in his saddle and sending his arrow wide. Clide sagged in his saddle dazed from the impact of the projectile and the explosion that had come from it.

‘WOW’ said Frick looking at the staff he picked up. It looked just like the one that was broken but white. Lloyd recognized it as the Moon staff. Athrun was not long for this world. Lloyd could hear his breath coming in more ragged and erratic pants.

Lloyd looked to the right where Frack had engaged Darius sparks flying as the magical blades met in strike and defense. He then looked at Clide.

‘You know that imbecile would have destroyed Lenus…’ Lloyd started

‘Your oath was to the crown’ Clide interrupted

‘MY OATH WAS TO PROTECT THE THRONE! AS IS YOURS!’ Lloyd shouted ‘ Or have you forgotten? I still follow my oath to protect the throne from ANY enemy. This time it meant that I had to kill the pompous fool that sat upon it.’

‘You have left Lenus with no leader’ spat Laro as he got up holding his chest ‘no leader and on the brink of war.’

‘Pup you have no idea what an idiot Frugal was…” Lloyd said ‘He sends those he wishes to dispose of on impossible missions under pain of death should they fail or be late returning. He sends impossible demands for tribute to further impoverish these lands why?! So he can guild the roof of the throne room in gold and encrust his walls with Gems. Not for the good of the Kingdom for the good of the crown. He punishes the very leaders that would fight for him to the death for merely SUGGESTING there is another way to look at a battle field that the way he did.’

The sounds of combat ceased from the right as Frack and Darius backed away from each other. It looked like Darius underestimated the kinder as there were small cuts and gashes on his arms and new cuts in his armor. Though it did not look like Frack had come away unscathed either.

‘He is the king’ Clide said impatiently, ‘It is not our place to question his methods.’

‘He killed our KING’ Lloyd pointed out ‘HIS OWN FATHER!! Everyone here knows it but, no one here had the fortitude to point it out. He was irrational and erratic; he turned his back on our allies while trying to make peace with our enemies. He would have destroyed this nation! Given it as a gift to those that would see us destroyed. Some one had to stand up before that happened.’

‘This ends now’ Clide said quickly drawing an arrow. Another projectile sailed from the trees this time on the right and exploded on Clide’s shoulder, knocking him from his horse. Clide hit the ground and lay still. Lloyd performed a feint toward Laro and the new knight shied away from the blades and backed away from the errant knight. Blades clashed from the right again as the battle was rejoined. Then there was a thud like wood hitting bone then the sound of a man collapsing.

‘HEY where did you get that staff?’ Frack asked

‘The human over there broke mine when he fell’ Frick said happily ‘but that’s ok I like this one better.’

‘Looks nicer’ Frack said ignoring Darius lying on the ground between them. HEY it looks like it is changing!’

Darius groned and rolled over trying to push himself up, Frick looked at him and hit him over the head with the staff, knocking him unconscious again.

‘Yeah’ said Frick in an excited voice ‘when I picked it up I thought I was gonna have to carve it but look!’

The staff elongated and appeared as a normal staff, then it changed a sling forming at the top and spear point at the bottom that is a Hoopak like Frick was carrying before. Then it changed again getting longer and a blade sprouting from the end, then back to a Hoopak.

‘Nice’ Frack said, ‘the swords this guy fought with were nice. He jumps around a lot makes, it hard to hit him.’ Frack sheathed his short swords and studied at the design on the blades. They were about as long as what he carried now but the blades seemed to be made of a metal that gleamed white instead of the normal silver color. The cross guards were a bit different looked to be gold with white opals inset. The design on the blades was not the same. On both blades there was an engraving of the full moon in exquisite detail you could see all the holes. Frack looked at Frick and then up at the moon and back at the weapons and spent a moment going between the moon and the swords. One of them had some lines coming from the moon like a wind was blowing from there. The other looked like you were looking at the moon from the ground. There was swell that was etched into the blade that looked like a plowed field…

‘Frick! Frack! Gather their horses’ Lloyd shouted. Frack dropped the swords and the kinder scrambled around gathering the horses of the brigade.’

I can't hear a thing with this damn helmet on Lloyd thought as he watch the Kinder's lips move in acknowledgment of his order, but could not actually hear their words. This is why I never wore one before, it sacrifices senses for more defense. Suddenly he felt a strong heat recede down his head and to the back of his neck, reopening his senses as the helm removed itself, obey the very desire he was thinking of at the time. Well that works, he thought, idly wondering exactly how far the armor would go to fulfill his wishes.

The Knight turned to get a look at the Brigade, or what was left of it. Athrun and Darius were both still down, one obviously not a problem anymore, the other not a problem for the time being, but with the potential to change at a moment's notice. Clide was hanging limply off his horse, head and torso on the ground, the rest caught in the straps of the horse he had ridden in on, his shoulder wrenched at an unnatural angle from where Frick's projectile had hit. The man would probably be unconscious for a day or two, but not much longer. Laro was by his horse, a broadsword held in his hand, and hatred in his eyes, but not moving to engage Lloyd. The boy had enough sense to know he stood no chance without the aide of magic or allies.

Who am I missing? The Knight knew they wouldn't have gone out with only four Brigadiers if they were willing to recruit Laro, but he hadn't been engaged by the fifth member yet. Clide, Darius, Athrun, Laro, who else was there? The Knight turned just in time to catch the shield being swung at him, on his sword, Right, Zara. To the fellow Knight Errant he said, "Back off Sir Gin. Your allies are down, and I have no quarrel with you." He felt the Knight's strength as he pressed down on Lloyd's red hot sword, coming very close to forcing him back, "You can't win against me, not with the strength you have. Let me and my friends leave in peace."

Out of the corner of his eye, the Knight could see the Halflings running towards one of the Brigade's horses, the one farthest from Laro and owned by the fallen Athrun. But, a moment before they could reach the steede, it was mounted by the teen they had met at the cave, Stock. Lloyd silently cursed himself for losing track of the lad, he may very well have cost them their only chance to get away without further casualties with his negligence.

He had his attention brought back to Zara as the Knight gave one last push. The force knocked Lloyd off-balance and sent him to his knee, then a second later, rolling to his side to avoid Zara's mighty punch. He rolled up and swung, two-handed this time, at the man, only to have the swing intercepted by the Errant Knight's Moon Shield. His strike came to a sudden halt against the shield, as the weapon's ability activate and began negating the power given to him by the stone. Of course, he could probably do with even without a Moon Weapon, he thought to himself grimly.

Zara was a powerful man, fully versed in hand-to-hand combat, and strong enough to lay out a Royal Guard in a single blow. He was the least talkative of any Knight Lloyd had met, silent to the point that he was often forgotten in conversation. He not prone to bragging or pointless conversation as plagued most men of his profession and fiercely dedicated to fulfilling his job. He had gained Lloyd's respect over the years, and Lloyd had grown used to having him as an ally and not a foe. Adjusting back to the man's fighting style was now proving difficult.

Lloyd kept pushing, putting all his strength into breaking the man's guard, but getting no where. He would have to trick the man to get out of this without either of them dying. Problem was, Zara tended to be perceptive if you let him concentrate, so if you intended to trick him, you had to keep his attention on other things. Something that would be easy for any normal person, but not so much for someone as direct as Lloyd. "I see you've kept up your training old friend," he commented, speaking about the first thing to pop into his head. The heat in his sword was growing dim as the Moon Shield absorbed the weapons magical and physical power. Soon the Errant would not even need to use both hands to stop the assault. The Knight would have to time his counter carefully if he hoped to finish the battle without issue.

Zara smiled, "And I see you haven't, Lloyd Syuveil." The Errant Knight cocked his free hand back, strong enough now to hold off Lloyd's attack with one hand. He launched his clenched fist at Lloyd's face, an attack with enough strength to daze him, if not put him down out-right should it connect, but it never did. Instead, the punch was caught on a wing the former Knight had brought around to act as a shield. It had been more of a hunch then he was willing to admit, but he hadn't had the time to think about it, and was just thankful it had actually worked.

Zara gaped, stunned by the improvisation. "No," Lloyd said, replying to the Errant's earlier comment, "but I've learned some new tricks." The former Knight used the wing to shrug the punch away, opening the man up to attack, then gestured with his left hand. A glow lit from the stone, a bright red light that cast their surrounding in stark light then the light leapt forward a wave of heat expanding at the Errant, with the glow at it's center. The attack bypassed the Moon Shield, Zara too confused to give the weapon the signal to block the attack and hit the Errant, expanding on impact into a concussive wave. The force of the impact shoved the man to the ground a meter away, where he lay still and unmoving, and giving Lloyd a chance to take off.

Lloyd hovered in the air, surveying hit surroundings. The Halflings were no where in sight, and the only man still conscious in his field of vision was Laro. The boy was still glaring at him with all the righteous fury of a man who has yet to see life for what it truly is. He wished he could explain it to the teen, give him a measure of closure if nothing else, but the boy would not hear him now, or ever. His friends were safely away, and that's all that mattered to the Knight.

Just one last thing. Lloyd leveled his left hand at the group of horses left and released another heat wave, this one large enough to blast a small crater into the ground that sent dust and dirt up in all directions. It was a harmless action that harmed no one, but that was not something a horse's mind could figure out, all the animals knew was that something unknown and potentially dangerous was right in front of them and they needed to get away. He watched as the Brigade's steeds ran off in all directions, Clide even being dragged a few feet before being shook loose from the reigns.

Through all this, Laro was still staring up at him with hate-filled eyes, as if nothing could distract him from his target. Lloyd brought his broadsword up and lowered it in silent salute to the teen, then took off at top speed for the mountains.

---------------------------------

The search for the Halflings did not take long at the speed Lloyd was traveling at, though he did pass them over once before actually seeing the dark shapes for what they were. This was partly because of the darkness and rain blurring his vision, but the fact that the number of people he expected to find was not, in fact what he found, didn't help the matter either. Humans? Why would humans be aiding a pair of Kinder?

He flew low to the ground only a few feet above them, and waved to a cave along the mountain pass, indicating they should stop there. He couldn't see the faces of the two men driving the horses, or the Kinder sitting behind each, but they did seem to understand him as they slowed their pace considerably. Lloyd flew on ahead and landed directly in front of the cavern. It was deep, that was for sure, but the lighting was too dim to see if there was anything waiting for them. He held up his hand and concentrated on the thought of fire, and a moment later a flame flew from his hand, casting a bright light to illuminate the area. There were no animals of Deegos in the cave, and the brief light was only enough to discern that it was a long wide tunnel just barely tall enough to fit the pair of horses with rock outcroppings at random intervals.

The four came up beside him a few moments later and waited until he motioned that it was safe. He let them inside the cave ahead of him. He hoped they would see this as a courtesy and not mistrust, but was unable to tell one way or another as both were wearing hoods. The rain falling in his eyes didn't aid him in this venture either.

The Knight watched as the two Halflings rushed inside to begin a fire, and the two humans guided their steeds in out of the rain and secured them to a large out-cropping, always careful to keep their faces from view. It was probably a bad sign that they seemed so timid, but he had to trust they meant him no harm because he couldn't maintain the Dragoon form much longer. He was beginning to get a feel for the power, enough to know how tired he really was, even with it's ability to boost his endurance. He only hoped the rest of his assumptions would prove true as well, if these were men of less then notable character, then a mistake may prove fatal. Then again, they helped the Halflings, they had no reason to do so if they intended us harm.

Lloyd released the desire for power from his mind, something he was now fairly certain would shut off the power. The fiery pain that then engulfed him from head to torso told him that he was indeed correct about how to shut the power off. But he was prepared this time, and when the fire receded into his body, he kept fully erect and silent. It took all his concentration to show no outward signs of pain or exhaustion, but that would require less and less as he got used to it.

The Knight waited for the last of the heat to fade, then walked into the cave to join the four already there. The fire was going well now, and he could see the faces of his impromptu companions. The two Kinder he recognized instantly, and the one human took just a bit longer for him to realize was Stock, he was surprised to see the human given what their last conversation had ended in. The last human however evaded his mind altogether. He knew he had seen the man's face before, recently even, but he could not place it.

The man, really just a boy about the same age as Laro, seemed to take the stare as scrutiny rather then confusion, as he supplied the information without being asked, "Yeah I know," he said chomping on some jerky like substance, "you're wondering why the man who tracked you to the cave saved your little friends here."

I wasn't until you mentioned it, he thought to himself, but instead said, "Well it is odd to have a Tracker abandon his pay to join the people he was hired to follow."

"Maybe I'm still on the job and just spying on your group," the young man suggested with a cocky grin, taking a seat on an out-cropping near the wall. Lloyd cocked an eyebrow and made a slow deliberate move to his broadsword. The boy's smile remained and the Knight leveled the blade at his face, "Not interested in my story then?"

"Only if you're in the mood to tell it."

The teen pushed the blade aside with a finger, a brazen act for one so young, but Lloyd was not interested in teaching that lesson to someone he may end up killing anyway. "I guess I'll only tell you what you need to know then," the man said, "ancient history comes later...."

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Damean watched the back and forth among the five men and two Kinder with mild amusement, Saphire sitting beside his horse, head bouncing back and forth in time with her owner. She was beginning to whining as well, the Hell Hound blood in her urging her to fight even when there was no point. But she was well trained, and stayed put beside Damean. The Tracker wouldn't bother involving himself in the fight, but he could sympathize with his companion's feelings. The fight unfolding before that was something straight out of myth and legend, with a bit of dark humor mixed in. He could feel his own adrenaline rushing, urging him to join a battle with so many powerful fighters.

Damean grabbed a piece of Deego jerky and sat back to enjoy the fight, his cynical attitude over-powering his baser instincts. At some point without his noticing another teen had approached and was now standing beside the Tracker's horse watching the fight unfold, jaw slack. The teen was about the same age as Damean, but still had that air of innocence and self-righteousness seen in those who have yet to learn a truly harsh lesson in life. Unlike the Tracker, the boy also seemed to be silently rooting for the warriors, rather then the two Halflings and human had been with before the Brigade had arrived.

As they watched, one of the warriors fell to the human, and another was disarmed in the same motion. Not surprising given the man was in, what looked like armor made of dragon scales that had appeared out of no where. But far more interesting to him was that the other warrior, the one with the short swords, had been brought down by a pair of Halflings. It took all his concentration to keep from laughing himself off his horse.

"You find this funny?" The teen beside him asked in indignant rage, "That man is a traitor to Lenus and he is winning!"

"Actually I'm laughing at the Knight that just got his ass kicked by a man half his size," Damean replied, trying to stifle his giggling. "You have to admit, that's hilarious."

"I most certainly do not!" The boy yelled back, "They are evil little men helping a traitor to the crown!"

Damean began a new fit of laughter from the mental image the term 'evil little men' invoked in his mind, but at the same time knew the lad was serious. Guess it's time to break his bubble, he thought with a wry grin. "So it doesn't bother you that you're rooting against a former Knight of Lenus, when you don't even know if he is a former Knight or who is attacking him?"

"Well obviously they mean well, else they would not attack a traitor," the boy replied after a moment.

"And he told you he was a traitor did he?"

"Well no...." he said slowly, "but these men are obviously Knights so they must be men of Lenus chasing him down!"

"They don't wear the colors of any kingdom I know of," Damean responded, "so how do you know where they hail from? You should not judge people so quickly unless you understand the reasons."

"That's what he said too," the teen said slowly.

"Even if your assumption is right," Damean continued, "do you know why they chase him? Is it something mundane or serious?"

"The King would not dispatch so many Knights for a slight offense!"

The Tracker chuckled, "In case you haven't noticed, Frugel is an idiot. I wouldn't even mind if this guy had killed him."

"How can you say such a thing?"

"Because that man has done more harm to this land then any army. Those that do not see this are those that do not wish to do so. But ignoring a problem, does not make it any less real." He sipped his coffee, the fluid now diluted and cold, but still enough to keep him from speaking too negatively of Lenus. If these were Knights of the kingdom, and they won, then they would not take kindly to his words. No need to dig myself a grave after all, he thought to himself, let the kid figure the rest out on his own.

The teen fell silent, still watching the fight as he thought things over. As luck would have it, his decision got a boost from the very combatants he watched.

"You know that imbecile would have destroyed Lenus…" The human Knight started.

"Your oath was to the crown," came a voice to their right, the leader of the group Damean had led here.

"MY OATH WAS TO PROTECT THE THRONE! AS IS YOURS!" the man in red shouted back. "Or have you forgotten? I still follow my oath to protect the throne from ANY enemy. This time it meant that I had to kill the pompous fool that sat upon it."

"You have left Lenus with no leader," the youngest of the bunch spat as he got up holding his chest from a wound inflicted by the man in red, "no leader and on the brink of war."

"Pup you have no idea what an idiot Frugal was…” the Knight said. "He sends those he wishes to dispose of on impossible missions under pain of death should they fail or be late returning. He sends impossible demands for tribute to further impoverish these lands why?! So he can guild the roof of the throne room in gold and encrust his walls with Gems. Not for the good of the Kingdom for the good of the crown. He punishes the very leaders that would fight for him to the death for merely SUGGESTING there is another way to look at a battle field that the way he did."

"He is the king," the leader said impatiently, "it is not our place to question his methods."

"He killed our KING!" The man in red pointed out, "HIS OWN FATHER!! Everyone here knows it but, no one here had the fortitude to point it out. He was irrational and erratic; he turned his back on our allies while trying to make peace with our enemies. He would have destroyed this nation! Given it as a gift to those that would see us destroyed. Some one had to stand up before that happened."

"This ends now," the leader said, unswayed and quickly drawing an arrow to fire again. A second later another projectile sailed from the trees and exploded on the man’s shoulder, knocking him from his horse. He hit the ground hard and lay still.

Damean looked back to where the teen had been standing expecting a mouth even more a gape, and possibly big wide eyes, but instead found nothing by an spot empty. He looked around the area to see if the teen had gone to sit and wait and was shocked to see him running to one of the horses belonging to the warrior that now lay dead on the muddy ground. What in god's name is he doing? He silently asked as he turned his horse to get a better look.

He heard the man in red yell an order to the two Halflings currently standing over the unconscious Knight, something about getting a horse. Evidently the fight was coming to a close, and with three of his employers down and another disarmed, it looked as if it favored the human and Halflings. Odds were he would not get his pay anytime soon, and he most certainly didn't want to be seen in a bad light by the victors, but he could just as easily run and be perfectly fine.

The Tracker looked down at his companion, "Well Saph, what do you think? Should we help them or save our own asses?" The dog looked up at him, big round eyes silently pleading with him. Most would assume this was for a treat or because it wanted to go somewhere, but in Damean's experience, Saphire knew exactly what he meant when he spoke. "That's what I thought," he said with a sigh.

He snapped the reigns of his horse and rocketed towards the two Kinder, intending to save one one or both from the teen's intent. Damean seriously doubted the boy had changed his mind in such a short period of time, so whatever his intentions towards the Kinder, they were most certainly not good. He rode in and grabbed one by the back of the shirt, missing the other by a hair. He sat the little man in the saddle and turned the horse for a second pass, but was too late. The other Halfling was in the teen's hand, doomed to whatever revenge the boy had planned.

But, to his surprise, the teen did not do something horrible, or evil to the Kinder, and instead sat him down behind him, much like the Tracker had done with the other. The boy snapped the reigns of his horse, and took off on the mountain pass heading away from the town and towards the border. Damean cast a glance back at the Knight still struggling against the last of the warrior but still retaining the advantage, then decided fleeing was the best thing he could do and took off after the teen.

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"You know the rest," Damean said, finishing his story.

"Still doesn't explain why you joined us," Lloyd commented. He was now sitting around the fire like the rest of them, sword sheathed. For all the Tracker's attitude, he seemed harmless enough.

"It may not make sense to you," the Tracker replied, working a bit of jerky out from between his teeth with a small rock, "but I'm interested in you and your little friends here. I haven't run across many interesting things since...." he trailed off, his mood growing darker for a brief moment before brightening again, "a while. I'm gonna stick around for a while until I decide on whether or not to actually join you."

"That makes absolutely no sense," Lloyd answered.

"Sure it does!" Frack interjected around a mouthful of some fruit he had packed.

"He's curious," Frick added.

"Curiosity isn't enough to risk your life over," the Knight replied, confused.

"Why do you think we're here?" Frick asked.

"Well because...." Lloyd trailed off as he realized he hadn't ever asked why the two Halflings followed him. He knew they were intensely curious, but ever since meeting them, he hadn't had enough time to consider their motivations for coming along.

Damean just laughed, "They've got you there big guy. Just consider me a giant Kinder and you get why I'm here, and I'm staying whether you like it or not."

The Knight sighed and put his head in his hand as if in pain. He didn't really have a problem with having people along, but he wasn't one for cultural understanding, and putting his brain to use trying was an exercise in futility. He looked over at the final member of the five who had been relatively silent the entire time, "So what's your reason? As I recall, you hate me."

Stock's face scrunched up as he considered the question, "I honestly don't know." He poked the fire as if it would provide him a revelation about himself, "I was following instinct back there. Getting those two out of danger seemed more important then watching you fight."

"You called them thieves before," Lloyd reminded him, "you obviously don't like Kinder, so why help them."

Stock shrugged, "Following my heart I guess. You were mean to me, but you and your friends didn't kill your enemies despite the fact that they were trying to kill you, aside from that accident I mean. I figure you're a good person if you don't kill those doing their duty."

"You heard my talk with Clide," the Knight pressed, "you know I killed the King."

"That's why I'm not promising to follow you," the teen responded, "I will watch you and form my own decision."

Lloyd's brows shot up in surprise, "In the cave you were ready to attack me with your bare fists for nothing. Now you want to give me a chance, knowing I killed the sovereign leader of this country? What changed?"

Stock nodded to Damean, "He showed me how close minded I was being, made me doubt my beliefs. I want to see if he was right."

Sunshine flourished in the sky. The rocky coast lay scorched and soggy, the air was dense and thick, fog encumbered the southern portion of the Sundered Island. The aftermath was draining.

Thor quickly found Kelgori when the fog ceased, the hellion had moved him closer to his goal in this place, and far from the ebbing tide. He rose to great him, then took his staff of his back and twirled it letting it flow through his hands and guide itself, finally it was resisting more and more in holding it in one direction, pointing at a specific rock. The rock seemed every bit normal, rough and ragged, jagged and heavy, nothing made it stand out. "Finally, one step closer to them." Was muttered as a certain rock was shattered. Kelgori strode over to the rubble and picked up a shard.

"Thats it, I feel the bind." Thor spoke to the phasing warlock. "Draw the dagger and complete the circuit." Kelgori did as instructed, not because he needed it, but because he was still in the process of regaining conciseness. Then the tip of the black dagger turned white, and left the streak of white in the air as he drew the pattern. Ritual use was the only purpose of the dagger, ceremonial it may be, but deadly in other forms. The circle engraving with apparently random crescents throughout it was now glowing brighter, however it was not phasing Kelgori. The shard now started to lift from his other hand until it wedged itself in the smallest circle of light. "The key is done." The rock instantaneously formed a white key. "Alright, get on and lets fly." Drek'Thor said, Kelgori jumped onto his back in mid-flight as they speed towards the eastern shore of the Lost Isle.

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"Almost there." Snake spoke, all of the shapeshifters thirst weighed them heavily. The Oasis was within sight, along with the last 50 mirages. But the Oracles presence could be felt, relieving and revitalizing the squad onward. "Everybody hold up at the nearest pond, from there we will meet the Oracle, and worry not, for the ancient is older than any conflict looming and has yet to take a side.

As the party approached he watched, already knowing what they came for, already knowing the trial prepared. The green robe and undergarment along with the slender frame made him blend in with the oasis. The ancient was of wisdom and a fierce fighter, however many who dared challenge him for domain of his oasis. Nobody has challenged him for his small realm in a long time, his power manifested with the oasis. The Oracle was a legend to most, and fear to those who know.

"Pangea is changing. This is but the start." The words carried across the wind to the party entering the oasis. All but two were frightened, fearing some aggressive spellcaster. They wished no fight, but were prepared for one. "We come in peace to speak to the Oracle." Snake said, at a normal level, knowing it would be carried back to the keeper of the grove. "You speak old news to the giver of wisdom, however you wish council and i shall give thee such. COME!" With a roar the oasis... Shifted. Moving trees and foliage showing a clear path to the oracle, meditating in a small clearing 5 feet in diameter at best. The pack instinctively walked towards the Oracle, feeling a comfortable presence.

"Welcome, I hope you have prepared yourselves ignite the phase which will save Pangea." The Oracle said quietly but firmly. "I will give you a series of missions, the fate shall rest on you, report back once a mission is completed to receive the next."

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"Here we are, Dragoons rest." Thor said as Kelgori jumped off and spotted his goal. "The time has come, the dragoon spirits are out of hiding, the moon has turned on its neighbor." He began his monologue to the divine above. "Pangaea shall change, brother will kill a brother for a morsel of food, a friend stab another in the back for answers. Relationships shall shatter, the time has come, that death wont matter." Kelgori was slowly walking to the throne of the dragoon, there were eighty sockets, five for those of Kingdoms, three to those who were lost. Every slot was empty, with moss growing in them. "The moon has found its resting place, the stars are aligned. The Rebirth has started. The moon gave away everything to foolish mankind save their tears." The Throne stood almost thirty feet high, the seat at ten, it was not a monument to sit upon, but a relic to hold greater creations. There was a great slice clean through the backrest. "The three drops of retribution have fallen, i have unlocked the key. One last guardian stands in my way, the creators will have their way!" With a roar Kelgori withdrew the white key from his belt and thrust it into the socket in the center of the throne.

The throne instantly turned white, a shining vibrant white that was not painful to the dark beings eyes. The throne radiated with a presence of fear and strength. The throne suddenly went to its old gray form, sitting as if nothing had ever happened, except three new slots for stones were formed. No. These were not dragoon stones, but the moon tears. The spellpower from sorcery, the premonitions of foresight, and lastly: The Dragoons end. The three orbs were a vibrant silver and clear. They were more than an inch in diameter, but levitated and revolved around the waist. The control felt natural and first touch, the power was locked since the last great war of the dragoons, when three fought against 5, these gave them a fighting chance.

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The spellpower from sorcery gave complete and total control of all elements, also capable of creating a personal barrier nearly impervious to all magic. The power within the stone would corrupt any normal mage instantly, driving them mad and to their own end. The power was nearly limitless, nothing could stop it. It could only be used for one purpose, peace. If anybody tried else wise, there would be nothing left. The only way the original seven could find to defeat it was a suicidal distraction, four would distract, and pray they would hold long enough. The first two were almost instantly annihilated, the other two learned and stayed strictly defense, holding up until one of two things happened; They died, or they won. All four were incapacitated, they could not be killed without removing the dragoon stone, and the goal was never to kill them. But there mission was not in vain.

While they were distracting the dragoon of energy who was had with him the tear of spellpower, the last dragoon went for the throne, of which the dragoon of light sat upon. With the tear of premonition, allowing him to react to something before it happened. He knew that he was to be assaulted, and prepared the last dragoon; The dragoon of darkness, set up for the ambush beneath the trees which surrounding the small clearing where the throne was located, and wreathed himself in a cloak of darkness, and waited. The last day of the dragoons was at hand, the three knew it, the five had no clue.

The Dragoon of light stood on the throne and smiled, the dragoon of fire came alone, and was prepared for the fight, which he would never get. The fight was of awesome proportions and lengthily. At a key point, when the dragoon of light was knocked off the throne and had to rise to his feet. The Dragoon of fire brought the claymore over his head and swung at the throne: causing the great fissure threw the back of it. As he did such the dragoon of darkness unveiled himself. Bringing forth the dragoons end, the orb hovering around his right hand. "You may have won this battle, but you have lost the war. We have won, Pangaea is cleansed now, the dragoons of which have tainted it are no more. You are the last of them, and your fate will be far worse than that of your friends." With that the dragoon of darkness thrust forth his right hand and instantly the dragoon of fire was immobilized.

"You cannot move, do not try." The shadow spoke to the flame. Then with twist of his hand pain shot through all of the dragoon of fire. Then slowly, his armor secreted from his head and feet, all the way to his palm. From his palm left the dragoon stone of fire. "Its over, you have lost." Then with that the dragoon of darkness used the tear to crush the dragoon stone. As he lowered his hand it shattered. "The stone is not gone, physically yes, but like every dragoon and stone alike, it shall have its rebirth." Instantly proceeding that event the three tears ascended to the moon, and embedded themselves into it. Preventing the destruction of Pangaea. The other four dragoons quickly rose to their feet and slaughtered the dragoon of light and energy. They could not find the dragoon of darkness, they claimed they also killed him, but they never could find him. After they vanquished the lost isle they fought each other, the moon claymore is what held the former dragoon of fire to power, but only temporarily. After several years of madness and war they all had a meeting, to decide who should rule what, on the lost isle, this was there first grave mistake, in doing so the dragoon of darkness stalked them through the night. Every dragoon there or former dragoon was at the alter of the dragoons, the ultimate trap. They all decided to put the stones back into there resting place, in doing this they believed once again they could prosper. To do so they used the moon daggers and cut out the stones, it was incredibly painful and gruesome but required. In a way they succeeded, save the fact the stone of fire was not in its socket, or even in a known location, it was still undiscovered. Once all four were entered, the slits sealed, entombing them.

Then the dragoon of darkness made his move, brandishing a stave, cleaving the air as it pounded on the armor-less dragoons, striped of there stones they put up no fight. They fell at the feet of there throne. Four died, the last lived, but was sent to the netherworld and has been tortured by the creator ever since for his foolishness and mockery. The slit remained closed for centuries, the warring kingdoms never ceased, treaties were made and broke throughout the times, the kingdoms appointed new generals and commanders to continue waging war against their neighbor. The dragoons stones of light darkness and energy were sent to the netherworld, that of darkness was reclaimed there. But the other two are a story for a different time.
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The slits remained closed until now.

As they were opened the only slots filled were the three moon tears, which had been removed the second they were there and possessed by Kelgori. "We are ready, my friend. LET US KEEP THE PEACE!"