Utinni42: Hey readers! This is my very first fanfic, with help from my not-quite-as-green partner Virgo- Virgo: Thanks for the complement! ^-^ Utinni42: You're welcome. We hope you like it. Eragon and Murtagh are walking in the home of the Riders, which was one HUGE stone castle dominated the landscape and towered above the neighboring trees. It had hundreds upon hundreds of rooms and dozens of towers. The landscape around the castle They were on their way to breakfast. "Man, I'm hungry." Murtagh complained. "Me too." Eragon replied. "I'm really excited for later today. Will you please tell me where exactly your secret training fortress is?" "Nope, that's my little secret. Well, I guess you'll figure out as soon as we get there." "Why can't you just tell me now?" "I want to preserve at least some sort of mystery." "Can you at least tell me how long it will take to get there?" -2 Hours Later- "Take your blindfold off." Murtagh instructed Eragon. "I'm sorry, Eragon," Saphira says apologetically, "Thorn and Murtagh didn't let me tell you where we were going." "Welcome to my secret fortress." Murtagh says grandly with a flourish. Eragon takes off his blindfold and sees a wide, large stone tower about 11 stories tall. It's on an island with about 20-30 feet of beach in the front. There's a small balcony about 10 floors up that goes out over the deep water below. The tower has no visible doorways. Murtagh tosses Eragon's sword, Brisingr, to him and runs at a differently colored part of the tower's outer wall. "Nice place, Murtagh!" Eragon then noticed Murtagh running. "Be careful, Murtagh," he warned, "You're going to run into the wall!" Murtagh runs straight through the wall. He pokes his head out. "It's just an illusion to deter intruders." He explains. "Come on in!" Eragon walks in. He hears a yell from above. "I'm up here! 10th floor!" Murtagh shouts. Eragon walks up the stairs. When he gets to the indicated floor, Murtagh draws Zar'roc and starts to spar with Eragon. The battle rages fiercely until Eragon tires out Murtagh with his elven stamina. "Can we take a break?" Murtagh asks, panting. "Sure." Eragon replies, shrugging. They move out onto the balcony on the tenth floor. It is around 2 in the afternoon, and fairly warm out. "You know," Eragon says, "you really should put a railing on this thing. Someone could fall off." "You mean like this?" Murtagh replies, shoving Eragon off the side and catching his arm at the last second and pulling him up. "Don't DO that!" Eragon shrieked. "Do you want to spar again?" Murtagh asks, changing the subject. "I'll beat you this time." "You're wrong. I could beat you any day." "Then prove it." Murtagh challenged. "Bring it!" Eragon challenged back. They draw Brisingr and Zar'roc and walk back through the illusion wall inside. The clang of metal on metal resounds throughout the tower's rooms as Murtagh fights back with new intensity. He swings his sword hard and lands a few blows. "You've got to be bleeding pretty heavily now." Murtagh assumes. "Waíse heill!" "Nothing to heal." Eragon says grins cockily. "I just barely got out of the way. You tore up my shirt, though. Wanna go swimming? After all, there is a lake down there." "Sure. But first..." Murtagh starts before shoving Eragon hard and sending him flying toward the wall. Eragon goes right through the wall illusion and over the edge of the balcony. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...!" Eragon screams as he falls towards the lake surface below. Murtagh looks over the edge. "Maybe I should put a railing in..." Murtagh starts. SMACK! "OWWWWWW!" Was Eragon's cry of pain. Murtagh dashes down the stairs and runs out onto the beach, where a fuming Eragon is waiting, the entire front side of his body cherry red. "Eragon?" Murtagh shouts. "Are you okay?" "Am I okay?" Eragon nearly screams. "NO! I AM NOT OKAY! YOU SHOVED ME TEN STORIES DOWN AND MADE ME DO A BELLYFLOP!" "I-it was an accident..." Murtagh whimpered in a small voice. "ACCIDENT OR NO, YOU DESERVE THIS!" Eragon punches Murtagh in the face and tackles him. He starts to beat Murtagh up and there is a look of pure anger on his face. Saphira and Thorn fly in to break up the fight. "Eragon!" Thorn interjects. "Don't kill Murtagh!" "Didn't you hear him?" Saphira added. "It was an ACCIDENT." "She's right." Murtagh said, his voice hoarse. "Come on, you two." Thorn says. The dragons scoop up their riders in their claws and start to fly back to the home of the Riders. When they get back an hour later, they are dropped on the ground and are greeted by Arya. A handful of Shur'tugal apprentices are looking on. "Eragon? Murtagh? What happened to you guys?" Arya asks because the boys are both covered in injuries. Eragon's shirt is in shreds and underneath you can see that the front of his body is a bright cherry red while Murtagh is covered in purple bruises. "I'll say it again: What happened to you guys?" Arya continues. Murtagh and Eragon both state simultaneously, "Him." both said pointing and glaring at each other, contempt evident in their voices. A few Rider apprentices start to giggle. "Can you explain in detail?" Arya asks. "We were sparring when I-" Murtagh starts to explain, getting interrupted by Eragon. "-when he pushed me off the tower-" "Accidentally!" Murtagh butts in. "-and made me do a bellyflop from 100 feet up!" Eragon finished. "Then I came down to see if he was ok, and he yelled at me and started to beat me up!" "I had a right to!" "Boys!" Arya interrupts their fighting. "Be quiet!" Everyone giggles as she makes a fairth to remember the look of them and asks an apprentice to put it in her room. "Now go and get your various injuries healed up and get ready for dinner!" Later, at dinner, Murtagh walks in without a trace of purple. Eragon follows behind, all red gone. "I do not want to get wet again for a while." Eragon says. "Oh really?" Murtagh asks in return. He grabs a glass of water and drenches Eragon. "MURTAGH! If you keep doing this, you're gonna have to start liking the color purple." Eragon threatened. He throws more water onto Eragon. "Food fight?" He asks mischievously. Eragon grabs a handful of food and throws it at him. Murtagh does the same, and soon everyone is throwing food every which way. Blödhgarm walks in and gets food in his face immediately. He yells and brings order back to the room. Later that night, Murtagh comes into Eragon's room to apologize. "Hey, Eragon?" He asks, fiddling with a pencil. "I'm sorry about the bellyflop earlier... And the food fight." "It's ok." He replies. "It was funny. I do have to break into Arya's room to destroy that fairth she made of us, though." "THAT WAS A FAIRTH?!" Murtagh shouts. The next day, Eragon wakes up to find Arya in his face. "Agh!" He yells, startled. "I'm up! I'm up!" "Do you remember what we were supposed to do today?" Arya asks. "No," he replies, "what?" "We're going to investigate those reports of a shade. But people will believe anything, so I'm reluctant to believe it. Just because someone has red hair doesn't make them a shade." -3 hours later- "That is the strangest shade I have ever seen!" Arya exclaims, in front of the Shade they were supposed to find. "Does it ever shut up?" Murtagh asks. "I don't think so." Eragon replied. "Hey!" The Shade protested. "We have names, you know!" "Did it just say we?" Arya asks, a bit surprised. "I think it did." Murtagh replies, also a bit confused. "I'm Aydin..." The Shade says. "... And I'm Kaiven." The shade says again, the voice and attitude a bit different. "Do you have multiple personalities or something?" Eragon asks, not entirely serious. "Yes." The personality named Aydin says. "Kaiven is the invading spirit." "And he's the goody two shoes." Kaiven says. "Kaiven's the bad boy whom I am desperately trying to restrain." "And although Aydin doesn't know it, every so often Caraxi taxes over." "Enough with your 'Caraxi the destroyer' nonsense! He is NOT going to 'destroy us all'!" "He's real alright." "I hate to say this," Arya says, stopping their incessant talking for a minute, "but, Kaiven's right. Have any of you heard of the legend of Caraxi the Destroyer?" "Brom told me about it," Eragon put up, "but I thought it was a nonsense story, as Shades and spirits were a pretty far fetched concept at the time." "Brom told you the legend?" Arya asks. "Yes." "Wow. That takes daring. He's lucky he's dead already." "Why?" Murtagh asks. "Because the legend goes that anyone who tells the story is Caraxi's next target." Arya replies. "Don't tell the story, just don't!" Kaiven pleads. "I won't." Arya assures. "It's just too dangerous, what with Caraxi standing right there." "Quit making all this up!" Aydin shouts. "I'm not," Kaiven says, "you will just have to trust me." "I won't trust you," Aydin protests, "but I think the elves look trustable." "I'm not an elf." Eragon protests. "Arya is the only elf here." "Oh really?" Kaiven counters. The Shade starts arguing with itself and trying to beat itself up in a fight neither of them can win. Eragon and Murtagh are cracking up and Arya is rolling her eyes. This goes on for a few minutes, until all of a sudden, a girl comes crashing through the trees and tackles the shade. "Aw, come on!" Murtagh complains. "That was funny!" "Not you again!" Kaiven exclaims, recognizing the girl. "Yes, me again." The girl responds. "Get used to it." "Hey, do you think you can finally help me with this wacko Kaiven?" Aydin asks. "Nope," The girl replies, "Caraxi's my first priority." "She has a point." Kaiden points out. "Who are you?" Eragon asks. "And why have you tackled him- I mean them?" The girl stood up and looked over at the three riders. She looks at their faces, but focuses on one in particular. "Murtagh?" She asks in disbelief. He recognizes her. "Andra!" They run to each other and embrace. Eragon is not believing what he is seeing. He stands there, his mouth agape. "Wha- What is going on here?" Murtagh is seemingly close to tears. "I thought you were dead!" "I'll tell you the story later. I thought you were dead too!" The girl named Andra said. "Why were you tracking this guy?" Eragon asks. "It's my job to make sure that Caraxi there doesn't annihilate all of Alagaësia." "How?" Murtagh asks, curious. Andra zaps him with lightning. A shocked expression crosses his face and his hair stands on end. "Like that," Andra explains, as if she didn't just electrocute someone, "except for he can be shocked for up to 2 hours before he admits defeat. It's really funny because his hair looks like yours does now." "What does my hair look like?" Murtagh asks. Andra makes a fairth and shows it to him. Murtagh freaks out and tries to smash it, but she tosses it to Eragon, who transports it to the Rider's house with magic before he can get to it. "I didn't get to see it!" Arya complains. "I'll show it to you later." Eragon says. In the commotion, no one notices that Aydin and Kaiven have snuck away. "Hey, wait, where did they go?" Arya asks, just noticing that they're gone. "Who?" Eragon asks. "Aydin and Kaiven!" "They snuck away?! That's a miracle!" Andra says with an expression of wonder on her face. "What do you mean?" Murtagh asks, forgetting momentarily about his hair. "Aydin would not want to leave, but Kaiven would. So when Kaiven started to sneak away, Aydin would make a lot of noise to make us notice them. It's a miracle that Kaiven was able to control Aydin enough to sneak away." "Hey Arya, can you tell us the legend of Caraxi?" Murtagh asks. "You've heard it?" Andra asks. "Yes," Arya replies, "and I'm going to tell it now." Everyone there leans forward. Eragon starts a fire using "Istalrí!" Andra looks at him questioningly. "What?" Eragon asks. "Every creepy story is better told around a fire." Arya clears her throat and begins. "Once upon a time, about 6,000 years ago, there was a man whose name we don't know walking in the woods. He stumbled upon a spirit and was fascinated. But the spirit was looking for this very opportunity, and possessed the man. Thus was the first shade created. The spirit's name was Caraxi. However bad all the next shades were, however atrocious their deeds were, Caraxi was the worst. He was insane, bent on obliterating the universe. And he nearly did, if it was not for a young rider who stabbed him through the heart 500 years after the shade's creation. "But Caraxi was not gone. Over the next 5,500 years, he took new bodies again and again, and kept getting killed. But one day about 5 years ago, he made a crippling mistake. He made an alliance with a arrogant young spirit named Kaiven. Together, they went and created a new shade. But the host fought back, and Kaiven betrayed Caraxi. The host, who we now know is the boy named Aydin, and Kaiven tried to suppress Caraxi, and succeed most of the time. But every so often, Caraxi gains control-" "- and resumes his crusade." Andra says, interrupting. "But the job fell to a girl named Andra to keep him at bay. And this is where the legend ends, but the story goes on. Whenever Kaiven slips, I come and shock him into submission. Soon I will be able to rid the world of Caraxi forever. But, not yet. Everyone was so busy listening to the tale that they didn't notice the figure standing in the shadows. They had met him, but had not met him. "You're going to regret that." Said a dark, evil voice that could only possibly belong to Caraxi.