Chapter One – Speechless

The long blades of dry, sparse grass ripples as the wind gently swept its colourless tendrils between the stalks, and it crackled lightly beneath our feet. I watched as our twin shadows stretched far beyond us, like dark paths of which we could never reach the end.

I looked over at Kaze. Her short, feathery, white-blonde hair appeared streaked with the orange of the sunset, and the slightly longer layers of vivid purple underneath were not unlike the clouds that had gathered on the western horizon. Her petite, wiry frame was tensed; her pale, fur-covered ears lay flat against the top of her head.

Running my eyes along the flat line where golden land met golden sky, I murmured, "So this is where we'll see…if the rumours are true."

The rays of the fading sun flashed off the lenses of Kaze's wire-rimmed glasses, and the six piercings that she wore in each of her human ears, as she turned to look at me.

"I think the Academy had established this as more than 'rumours'," she replied, her tone precise and businesslike. "We are their elite team; they wouldn't send us to investigate something that likely wasn't true."

"I should have said 'accurate' instead," I amended. "A lone Fighter Unit with this supposed amount of strength is unheard of, and yet – "

"The possibility of such a thing existed seems to have increased since Ritsu-sensei saw fit to send us out here," Kaze finished.

"Exactly."

"And yet –" she faltered, running her hand through her towheaded pixie cut, "it hardly seems possible to be without a Sacrifice and still be so powerful. For me, without you, Jinsei, I don't think I would be anywhere near as strong."

"Nor I without you," I replied. "We complete each other, Kaze. That's the nature of a partnership's bond."

We were silent, then, and the wind started again, ruffling the hem of Kaze's skirt, and tossing pieces of my unruly burgundy hair into my eyes. And we waited.

Suddenly, Kaze's tail twitched, and her ears shot up for a moment before flattening again. "Someone's coming," she hissed.

I raised my own ears and reached out with my senses. Internally, I recoiled at the amount of strength present. But there was something in the power, too, something alien, something I had never before encountered in my ten-years-and-counting of training.

"They're close," I replied. "And they're alone."

Our two pairs of eyes, brilliant green and dark brown, scanned the landscape, on the lookout for our opponent.

"Were you waiting for someone?" The voice behind us bore no hint of amusement, yet it seemed to be mocking us all the same. Kaze and I whirled on the spot, but the newcomer placed one hand on either of our shoulders, vaulting cleanly over us and landing on her feet. There was an odd tingling sensation left behind on the place where her hand had been.

We turned again, and saw our opponent for the first time. She was tall and slender; piercing blue eyes stared out from behind a curtain of blue-black hair that swung just above her shoulders. Her long legs were encased in black pants and knee-high black boots, and her gauzy, wide-sleeved white shirt fluttered in the wind. Her long tail flicked back and forth as she regarded us with a gaze that was neither fearful nor hostile, simply curious. A blue diamond glittered in one of her pointed black ears.

Both Kaze and I could sense the power that seemed to radiate from her. I was surprised that she had been able to cloak her presence so effectively.

Kaze rolled up the sleeves of her hooded cargo jacket, and I pushed mine back as well. On Kaze's right wrist, above a dozen bracelets of braided string, was our name. It was in the same place, on my opposite hand. Crossing our forearms and clenching our fists, we thus revealed out name.

"We are Limitless," Kaze intoned. "We are not restricted by any boundaries, including the expectations of others."

Accepting this information with a nod, the stranger replied, "My name is Shadowless. I walk alone; no one with my abilities should be capable of existing in a physical manifestation." Her voice had a chilling, resonating quality, and the smile at the end of her statement possessed a combination of bitterness and pride that made my ears prickle.

"Which of you," she said suddenly, "is the Sacrifice?"

"He is," said Kaze, gesturing at me. Shadowless' gaze settled on me, a relentless stare, unblinking and unnerving.

"I thought so," she replied, without taking her eyes off of me. Even when Kaze started speaking again, they lingered a long moment before sliding back over.

"We represent the Seven Voices Academy," Kaze was saying.

Shadowless' face darkened. "I've heard of them."

"You have two choices now," said Kaze. "Our sensei cannot allow a rogue Fighter to remain outside of his control. You can either come with us now –"

Shadowless stiffened, and it occurred to me that she couldn't be any older than me or Kaze.

"—or we will battle you, and you will be coming with us anyway."

The outsider's expression remained impassive. "I doubt it."

"You will not come willingly?" demanded Kaze.

Now Kaze was fixed with that immobile gaze. "No," Shadowless answered, and the word rang out like a bell across the plain.

"So be it." Kaze reached for my hand at the same instant I reached for hers. We raised our arms, twining fingers.

"We declare a battle by wordspell," stated Kaze.

"I accept," said Shadowless, eyes flashing.

"Engage systems!" cried Kaze, and we dropped our hands; Kaze sprang forward, and I fell back a half-step.

"Engage," Shadowless quietly intoned, lowering her head.

"Prepare for anything," I whispered to Kaze. "Ready a deflection spell."

"Got it," she replied, without looking back at me.

Shadowless raised her hands, palms facing outward. But when she opened her mouth, we were far from prepared as to what came out of it.

She was – singing.

"Hear me red flames; answer my cries

Now, in my song, I command you to rise

Flare and flicker; unleash your wrath

Obliterate all that lies in your path."

It was the most captivating thing I had ever heard. Her voice started out low and echoing, then soared into a piercing soprano by the end, the last note held, long and quavering.

So many syllables…and the rhyming…!

Even after she ceased to sing, remnants of her voice seemed to hang in the air, echoing…

Shadowless turned her palms outward. A wind stirred, whipping her hair into her face. And the heat…

I snapped out of my trance then. "Kaze!" I cried. "Deflect! Now!"

But, already, two bolt of scarlet flame shot toward us, one on either side of Shadowless' outstretched palms.

Kaze, still a little dazed, called out, "You are light; I am the mirror; scatter and defle—"

It was too late; the flames crashed into Kaze in a molten wave. I felt her pain almost before impact.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" I cried, falling to my knees. I couldn't help myself. We'd been trained never to show our pain, but this was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Every part of me burned with white-hot agony.

"Jinsei!" cried Kaze, running to my side. "Jinsei, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I gasped. "I'll be fine." The pain was already receding, except for bands around my wrists, ankles, and throat, where thick restrictions had appeared. I pulled myself to my feet, and the chains jangled.

"You'll pay for that," Kaze promised.

"I don't want this any more than you do," Shadowless replied. "Just let me go."

"Never!"

Shadowless narrowed her eyes. "Very well, then."

Kaze turned to me. "Are you ready, Jinsei?"

I nodded. "Attack."

"Forces of gravity, divide!" yelled Kaze. "Let your separate pulls rip, rive, rend!"

Almost lazily, Shadowless sang a single, high-pitched chord: "Shield." A ball of blue-white energy formed around her. Kaze's attack pulled it into a misshapen ellipsoid, but the defense held firm.

"Compress the atmosphere!" Kaze cried. "Compact, crush!"

Shadowless' words could not be heard from within her shield, but the sphere started to expand, pressing against Kaze's spell.

I could only watch, whispering encouragement, as Kaze struggled to maintain the pressure surrounding our adversary. With a gasp, her strength gave out, and she stumbled. A strap appeared, encircling my upper arms, crushing my ribcage like a vise.

With nothing to contain it, Shadowless' shield swelled drastically, then burst with a small explosion, sending the raven-haired girl sprawling. When she stood up again, there were restrictions around her ankles, but they were only string, and she reached down and snapped them easily.

Kaze looked back at me, helplessly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I pushed myself too far."

"Don't apologize," I ordered. "Just focus. Keep attacking. Try a new strategy – try to reduce her strength in increments, instead of all at once."

Kaze nodded. "Ice! Freeze around joints! Inhibit! Weaken!"

Shadowless simply sang herself another barrier.

"What are you doing?" Kaze hollered. "Why aren't you fighting back?"

"I don't want to cause any more damage than necessary." She was staring at me again. "Can't you see your plight is futile? You cannot hope to defeat me in wordspell."

"That's what you think," Kaze hissed. "Earth! Crack and shatter; shiver; a roiling sea of stone!"

It appeared to me that Shadowless was almost reluctant to retaliate, but she was more reluctant to be captured…

"Preserve and protect,

Diverge and deflect."

The cracks that had appeared in the earth ceased their spread towards Shadowless, and instead curved around her and back at Kaze, too fast for her to react. A jagged section of rock burst up at her feet, sending her flying backwards. She landed on her side, striking her head.

"Kaze!" I yelled, even through my own pain. My legs were now completely bound, in a tangle of straps and chains. With a groan, Kaze picked herself up off the ground. My stomach lurched – she had a chain around her neck, too.

Shadowless started, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather --?"

"Shut – up!" choked Kaze. "I am – going – to finish you! Blades of wind!" she screamed. "Swirl and surround; spin and slice! Scratch! Sever! ATTACK!!" She whipped her arms out in front of her, loosing a blast of energy, pouring all her reserves of power into it. I reached out across our bond with my mind, lending what remained of my own strength.

Shadowless raised her hands, a defensive song on her lips, but Kaze's ingenious use of alliteration had increased the velocity of our attack, and it proved too fast for her. Shadowless cried out as hundreds of unseen knives bit into her skin.

Our strength ran out, and we watched as Shadowless crouched in the dirt, on all fours, gasping for breath. Slowly, she rose, and it was obvious she was in pain. Her flowing white shirt had been shredded, and it was marred with widening streaks of red. Her hands had taken the worst of it, but her face and neck had their share of thin scratches as well. Red droplets beaded along a slash across her cheekbone. But, most importantly –

-- she was restricted; strong leather cuffs were clamped around her wrists.

"Yes!" breathed Kaze. To Shadowless, she called, "I told you – we are not giving up. It takes more than a few flames and a rock to keep us down!"

Shaking her head, Shadowless wiped to blood off her face. "You don't get it, do you? I will do whatever it takes to not have anything to do with your Academy – after I finish with you, that is."

"You're going to have a bit of a hard time," Kaze pointed out. "Those restrictions are hurting you five times more than they should be, because you don't have a Sacrifice to take the damage."

"I don't need a Sacrifice to be able to stay away from you and your people," Shadowless spat, showing a hint of anger for the first time. Then abruptly, she calmed, and a mysterious smile took hold of her face.

"I'll explain it to you, then, shall I? Whenever light is present, no matter where you are – downtown, in your bedroom – or on a grassy plain – there are always shadows. Light and dark, co-existing, but on separate planes. The border between the two is so easy to discern; they are clearly still two separate entities. But, what if you were to have light and dark, living side by side in that they share every particle? There would be no room for shadows, would there? You would have something –" her smile widened – "shadowless. It is my job – to keep the world shadowless."

She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in. Then she began to sing, her voice a rapid-fire of words; I strained to hear what she was saying.

Her voice was truly beautiful. Could there only be one person singing? Each syllable contained three notes: one that resonated in mid-alto range, one a clear soprano tone, and the third a trilling descant, so high it was almost inaudible.

"Light, connect now with your twin;

Darkness, join you brethren.

Finish what we have begun,

Combine; let two now become one.

Form the impossible darkness of light;

Sear the senses, destroy the sight!"

"Shield, Kaze!" I commanded. But, even as the words left my mouth, I knew it was too late.

Kaze doubled over, moaning; an instant later, I was hit, too.

It is impossible to describe the sensation of unfiltered light and pure darkness assailing your senses simultaneously. This attack was a quandary: the rarest, most difficult, and most powerful of all wordspells.

The overwhelming shock to my senses was too much. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh," I gasped, trying not to yell again.

Then it was over. But I could not move. I could not so much as twitch a finger.

I was fully restricted.

Limitless had – lost.

I heard Shadowless whisper, "Systems off." The restrictions vanished, but the aching and exhaustion did not.

I didn't remember falling, but the sharp, dry grass now prickled my face. Lifting my head weakly, I saw Kaze lying a few feet away, unconscious. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and I knew I would soon succumb as well.

There were footsteps near me, and I looked up to see Shadowless. She crouched down by my side.

"You fought well," she said, smiling. "I'm so happy to have finally met you…Jinsei." Then she reached over, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. Her fingertips brushed my cheek; again, there was that odd, but not unpleasant tingling sensation where she touched me, like an electric current.

She stood up then.

"Wait –" I rasped.

She winked. "Give your sensei my regrets."

Before I lost consciousness, I watched as Shadowless disappeared into the deepening blue of the night.

A/N: Disclaimer: I do not, repeat, do not own: Loveless, The Seven Voices Academy, Ritsu-sensei, or the wordspell battles. However, I do own: Shadowless, Jinsei, Kaze, "songspells", and the rules that I have added to the wordspell battles (alliteration and quandaries). They are mine! Please don't steal them…

This is my fourth fanfic, but my first one for "Loveless". Let me know what you think!

~Raye Lynne