So,

This is my story...

My plot is close to Terry Brooks books,(the heritage of shannara) but I wasn't sure if I should categorize it as that...

& i didnt want to use his characters, so i used my own!

my sister says i constantly switch from past-present, but i dont know what i can do about it...I'm just starting high school, so I'll learn about it, right? After I learn about it, I guess I'll edit it and stuff.

But for now...

Please enjoy.

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

Chapter One

Like A Thief in the Night

Esther stepped under a low tree branch, dead leaves crackling under her boots. She was a girl only of fourteen with wavy, short, brown hair, her bangs swept to the side into to flower clips. Her face had deep-set brown eyes and a beauty that couldn't really be seen when she wore her glasses. She wore a purple and white dress with purple leggings and white boots. A long, green cape hung from her shoulders with a hood. A belt hung about her waist, which also held a sword. She carried a bow and arrows at her back, to shoot down any unwanted predators in the sky, which is just what could happen in the Raakshal Forest.

She came from a small, poor village called Lamden. Her grandmother had gotten very sick, she was the only one in her family that was fit enough to go to the thronging city of Maruk to get the medicine her grandmother needed. Her town doesn't have the medicine because the Nepec Federation has taken everything away from the land. Esther, along with everyone else, loathes the Nepec Federation; the Federation murdered her grandpa when she was five. The Nepec Federation has been around as long as she can remember, causing chaos among the villages and setting unfair laws. More than a century ago, during the time of the Dwarf War, a rebel group formed and started to attack King Raetof's castle. The king was a good man, wanted his people to live in peace, but the rebels wanted the power, the glory, and the riches. Eventually the chief of the rebels, Jaruul Nepec, led a surprise attack on the king's castle. Of course, with King Raetof's greatest fighters going at it with the dwarves, his army wasn't there to stop any attacks on the castle, not even the king's greatest men could defeat them. King Raetof was killed, still fighting for his life and his people; then, the new king gave him and his rebels the name 'The Nepec Federation' Jaruul Nepec took the throne and now his sons rule the land, just as evil, horrid, and monstrous as their father. Not only that, Jaruul Nepec hates majyck, it is said because an elf or faerie did something horrible to him, tricked him out of something, used their magyck on him, he has hated majyck ever since. Before he died, he left a will.

"Majyck is truly work of the demons, may all who are majyck, may all who wield majyck, may them all burn in the fiery depths of Hades."

Ever since the will, Federation soldiers seek out any sign of majyck and kill whoever it is. The faeries and elves fled, disappeared, vanished. No one knows where they went. It is very dangerous for people who learn or teach majyck ever since, barely any one tries to learn it anymore for fear of their lives. There are still some people though, who still have hope that if they get enough people to learn majyck, they can defeat the Nepec Federation.

Now she had gotten the medicine at a nice price with a few souvenirs for her family and was on her way back home. She had actually planned on leaving much earlier than she had, but overslept. Now it was getting dark and she was very afraid that she would have to spend a night in Raakshal Forest all alone. Esther didn't like Raakshal Forest; it was dim during the day, not much light penetrated through the thick canopy of leaves. You always felt as if you're being watched, every move you make someone or something sees it. At night it's completely dark, well, except for a few lamp-like lights in the far distance that come from Rinduls. Rinduls are creatures with sharp teeth, always out at night hunting for food. There eyes are what make the bright lights. They usually prey on other inhabitants of the forest, but they also like lost travelers, hypnotized by the lights from the Rinduls, thinking it's a light from a cottage or village. Travelers, who aren't lost however, don't fall for the Rinduls trap as easily, but if they look at the light for too long, it will lead them astray from they're path. That's just one of the many dangers in Raakshal Forest.

"I need to get out of this forest at least", Esther thought, "It's much too dangerous to sleep here, who knows what's watching me in this cursed place, just waiting to pounce on me when I let my guard down!" Esther shuddered and ducked another low-lying branch.

"I wonder what time it is, it's so hard to tell when you're in here", Esther said to herself. She looked for a tall tree and scrambled up. Leaves and branches slapped her face, but she merely pushed them away. When she got to the top, she took a deep breath, and then looked around her. She could see the silhouette of the Rankun Mountains in the distance and also thought she could see a plume of smoke that always rises from her village's watchtower.

"I must be at least five or six miles from Lamden..." The sun was already very low in the sky, washing it with a blue and pink color, like cotton candy. "Its probably around seven in the evening, I'll have to spend the night here…" she thought grimly. She climbed back down the tree and got started on making a fire to spend the night by.

By the time she got a fire going, it was already dusk and she could hear the nocturnal creatures stirring. It was mid-September, so it was starting to get chilly at night. She put her hands up against the fire to warm them and looked around her, "already I'm getting the icky feeling of being watched..." she took her bow and arrow from her back and set them on the ground. She took her sword and held onto it tightly, then wrapped herself in her cape and leaned her head against a tree. Suddenly the entire day washed over her, her feet ached so much, she was so sleepy, and her eyelids felt heavy and began to droop. Esther let her eyes close in relief, oblivious to the dangers around her.

Esther's eyes snapped open and she immediately stood up, unsheathing her sword. Something was coming, she could feel it. She looked at the fire, it had been reduced to nothing but ashes, and the only thing burning was tiny embers now. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. She stared into the darkness trying to find whatever it was, but nothing revealed itself.

Then behind her she heard something. A shuffling, something big shuffling, she thought. Her hand tightened her grip on her sword. Then it attacked. A big, hairy beast, standing on its back legs like a man, snarling and foaming at its mouth with razor-sharp teeth, obviously, those teeth wanted her.

A werewolf, she thought, terrified. At that moment she remembered it was a full moon and she should have known better. With a yell, she threw up her sword, hoping to hurt the werewolf, but it just jumped over her and landed on the other side of the dead fire, growling at her. Esther racked her brains to remember what she had learned at school about werewolves.

Stab the heart, she remembered. Stab the heart and it will instantly kill them, she thought as she kept her eyes on the beast. Don't let it bite you either or you will turn into a werewolf yourself, then the beast attacked again. Esther did a side sweep of her sword, trying to get under its arm, to its heart, but the werewolf knocked it away, like it was paper. Esther barely managed to get away from the werewolf.

Confusion, I need to confuse it! She thought panicky. There was a local majyck school in her village (Secret from the Federation, of course.), she was really good already, but she knew she doesn't know enough to be able to kill a full-grown werewolf, but she did know how to create a confusion spell.

"Mother Earth, Father Moon, Trickster prince, and Wise princess, make thy beast of night see not me as one, but me as three in thine eyes of a fool!."

She knew what the beast was seeing; it would be seeing three Esther's! Only one of them would be real though, it would get confused which is the real one and give her an opening. It may have been a human once, but when it becomes a werewolf, it will just be as dumb as any other beast.

That was just what was happening now; the werewolf was looking from one Esther to the next with a baffled look. The real Esther took the chance and stabbed the animal right in the back, she couldn't risk trying to get to its heart again, she had to weaken it first.

The werewolf howled in pain and started running everywhere like a madman. Its arms flailed everywhere and it foamed even more from its mouth. Esther took a chance and tried to stab its heart, but the werewolf, aware of it, knocked the sword away and tackled her to the ground. Esther struggled, trying to get free of the werewolf.

Esther shut her eyes, "This is it! I'm dead! Grandma won't get this medicine either and die!!!" she waited for the jagged fangs to tear into her, but it never came. The werewolf's wild howling had stopped too. Esther opened her eyes a peep. The werewolf was lying on the ground next to her, dead. There were three star-shaped knives, shurikens, poking out of its chest, where its heart was, blood pouring out of the wounds.

"What the heck…" Esther said, most puzzled about what just happened, and looked around cautiously…

"Hey! Are you alright?"

A girl with black hair, tied in a small ponytail, appeared out of the shadows. Her age appeared to be the same as Esther's and was about five feet tall, she had fearsome-looking, but cheerful, chocolate-brown eyes; she wore a black kimono, lined with purple, reached about six inches from her knee with dark-purple shorts underneath. A big, purple bow was tied around her waist, which carried a sword. She donned black boots with fishnet hose underneath them. She was giving Esther a friendly, but suspicious grin. A boy, with the same kind of clothes, was running right behind her.

"Uh…yeah…" Esther stared at the sword on the girl's waist. "That's a katana," she stated warily, then, looking at the girl, "You're…from Haiden Kaiden"

"That we are," the boy said, coming to stand beside the girl.

This boy seemed quite tall for his age (Which she assumed is fourteen.). He had moss green eyes and straight, brown hair with the bangs swept slightly to the side. He dressed in a black kimono top with white lining; and his belt is striking white against his black pants and boots.

They're both from Haiden Kaiden…Esther thought, appalled, this is new.

Haiden Kaiden was a big town that thrives on the edge of Raakshal Forest, the people are said to be very dangerous. (In fact, it is said that every citizen is trained how to defend themselves since they are able to walk, they are just called samurais.) They supposedly have an army of special soldiers called shinobi, which is called 'The League of Shadows.' The Nepec Federation has tried to overtake Haiden Kaiden, but because the town is actually hidden in the trees, overgrown brush, and scrub, it was very hard to find the place, not to mention how a soldier suddenly would 'drop dead.' (You would also find shuriken, kunai, or deep cuts or stabs from a sword in the victims.) The Federation eventually abandoned the idea and even went through the trouble of removing Haiden Kaiden from the map. No one has ever seen a shinobi, they never venture out of their town, except on missions. It is even said that even in town you don't see them too often. Even the people don't leave the town unless on business or for food.

"You got to have all the fun, eh?

Esther jumped and another boy came running from behind the ninjas.

"It's not our fault our instincts alerted us of danger first, Robert" the girl, Nicole, replied

The boy called Robert had a head of brown hair that was so wavy; it looked nothing, but a curly mess. He also looked the same age as Esther. He wore a navy blue kimono top with black pants and combat boots. He also carried a katana.

"This is Robert, my fellow shinobi." Nicole said nodding towards Robert.

Robert gave a small, aggravated sigh and bowed sloppily, it seemed he didn't like these felicitous introductions.

"Robert Tymmesl," he said hurriedly then gave Nicole an urgent glance.

The second boy came up to Esther and bowed impressively low then said rather slow, "I am Zachary Netein, son of Gil and Liz Netein; I also have two elder brethren.

Zachary gave Robert a goofy grin; Robert only looked at him with reproach, he did not seem to like Zachary's slow-like introduction.

The shinobi girl helped Esther to her feet, "Thank you," she said, "Who are you?"

The ninja gave her a grin and said with a little bow, "My name is Nicole Gabriel Cruz Ferindl, daughter of Ignatius and Florinda Ferindl, I am kin to two elder sisters." Esther looked at Nicole suspiciously for a second and introduced herself, "I am …Esther…Rochelle…Senya…I have two elder…err…brethren…and…I…hail from Lamden..." she stammered, She had never had the need to introduce herself the prim and proper way, it was usually just her name.

Esther looked at them all, "Why do you tell even your names, how do you know you can trust me?"

"The Federation can do nothing with names if they don't even know how to get to the people who own the names," Zachary replied.

"Nicole said nothing, just looked at her as though trying to read her thoughts.

"Ok, are we done? We need to get out of here!" Robert said, interrupting and impatient, "more could come!"

Esther froze, "M-m-more…werewolves…?"

"No, just…anything!"

"Yeah, we need to move, we caused a lot of ruckus with that werewolf, I can already feel the danger," Zachary said ominously, and then turned to Esther, "There are greater dangers in here than a werewolf." Esther knew that very well already.

"We can't just leave her here, you know," Nicole said to Robert, he had been looking at her suspiciously for quite some time.

"How do we know she's not an agent of the Federation?!" Robert demanded.

At that moment, her anger against the Nepec Federation raged inside her, she stomped over to Robert and before he could react, she gave him a nice, hard slap! She looked hard at him with such rage; he only stared back, speechless, aghast, and taken aback, with his mouth agape.

"Does that answer your question Robert?" Nicole asked slyly.

Robert said nothing, just put his hand on his cheek and pouted.

"Alright, let's get going," Zachary said.

"Like Nicole said, we can't just leave her here; that would be pretty mean…" Zachary said.

"Blindfold her then, so she can't tell where we're going," Robert suggested.

Zachary thought for a minute and turned to Esther, "Is that alright with you…?"

Esther hesitated, and then nodded; she understood them, wanting to keep their town safe.

Esther took her bow and arrow and put it on her back again. Then Nicole took a black cloth out of the deep abyss of her sleeve and tied it around Esther's eyes. Then Esther felt someone tightly grip her am and started leading her.

"Don't worry," said a voice that Esther recognized as Nicole's, "I won't make you ram into a tree or anything. I won't let you trip either."

Esther thought it was strange, but she felt reassured and safe, so she began to relax a little. It felt like they were walking for two hours, when it had only been twenty minutes. At times, Nicole would tell her to walk with a little more haste, and then Esther would get edgy again. At another time, she heard them whispering urgently and felt herself get picked up by someone, bridal style. "It's most likely one of the guys," Esther thought embarrassed a bit and felt a blush creep up her neck. She felt her carrier take a giant leap and she knew he had actually jumped onto a branch of a tall tree, and then she could feel him jumping from branch to branch, tree to tree. She felt like a puppet, even though her hands weren't tied, she didn't feel in control, but nevertheless, she trusted them.

After what seemed forever, her carrier put her down and her blindfold was taken off. She blinked, but didn't have to do it a lot because there wasn't much light in the forest in the first place. In front of them, was a small pond, perfectly circular. It was big enough for four adults to swim in it at the same time. Behind the pond were just a bunch of trees, not just trees, giant trees. Huge trees. Gigantic. She knew nothing could get past those bushes, trees, and thick vines. She wondered where they were going.

The trees must be over two centuries old! Esther thought in awe.

"This is it! Come on," Zachary said, he had a small, jade-green sack with him and Nicole and Robert put their swords in it, along with other items. Esther looked at them, bewildered, the sack was way too small to fit two katanas plus other things they had put in there, "How did you do that?" she asked, aghast.

Zachary chuckled and replied, "Majyck, its majyck! Every person in Haiden Kaiden owns one of these! They're old things from the elves, you can put anything in here when you don't want something to get wet, completely waterproof!" Then he offered the sack to Esther. Esther looked at it reluctantly, took her sword from her belt and slid it into the sack. It fit. Then, a bit more eagerly, she took her bow and arrows from her back and dumped it in the tiny sack, and last took a small pouch, attached to her belt, and placed it in the sack.

"Is that everything?" Nicole asked cheerily, Esther nodded, "Can you swim?" Esther nodded again. "Then let's go!" Robert announced, grinning. It was the first time Esther had seen him smile, it seemed he was at unease in the forest, away from his home.

Robert dove in the small pond first and disappeared under the dark water, Nicole dived in after him. Esther felt Zachary give her a small nudge and then she hesitantly went in after Nicole, Zachary right after her.

They swam past huge tree roots and she saw little fish and got frightened when she thought she saw a water troll under a large tree. Right when she thought she couldn't hold her breath any longer, they resurfaced. She gasped, catching her breath and shivering, feeling the cold seeping through her wet clothes. After she finally caught her breath, she looked around.

They were in the middle of a large pond. Houses, huts, and cottages surrounded them. The walls of the town were not made of stone, but the monstrous trees that they had seen earlier. The bushes and vines even grew all over the town; the roots of the trees embedded themselves in some of the houses. The entire village was lit with lamps on the sidewalks.

"Welcome to Haiden Kaiden," Nicole said, clapping her on the shoulder.

"Come on," Zachary said, swimming to the shore,"You must be tired."

Esther swam after them, when they got on dry land; they squeezed the water from their clothes as much as they could and started to walk. A few people waved at them as they passed by, gave little 'hellos'. Everyone had a suspicious and guarded look for Esther. The citizens of Haiden Kaiden wore clothes that weren't very popular anymore. Garments called kimonos. They were long robe-like things, with long bell-shaped sleeves that would sometimes cover your hands. The colors on them ranged from vibrant blue to midnight purple, it would have intricate designs, flowers, dragons, and many other things. A big sash called an obi was tied around the waist.

"Where are we going?" Esther asked Zachary, tentatively.

"The shinobi temple," Nicole answered for him, "that's where you'll be staying the next few days."

Esther's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean next few days? I can only stay tonight and then I need to get home!"

Nicole glanced at her apologetically, "You'll see, at tomorrow's trial."

"Trial? What trial?!?!?" Esther thought, flustered, "why do I have to go to a trial?"

"If a stranger enters Haiden Kaiden, they must endure a trial, it is the rule, otherwise, how will we know we can trust you? You know where the entrance to Haiden Kaiden is."

"And besides," Nicole said, "You've brought some trouble with you without realizing it."

Esther was just confused and wondered what she meant, she sighed, they were right about one thing though; she was very tired and hungry! So she followed them, disregarding what might await her.

After a few minutes, they came to a big, red temple with a black roof. "The Shinobi Temple?" Esther guessed.

"Correct," Zachary replied.

They went inside. The walls were painted a sky blue and a grand, silver staircase led to the upper stories. A brilliant jade-green carpet was rolled out from the entrance of the building to the staircase. A huge chandelier lit up the entire room. It looked like a ballroom.

"Nicole!"

They all jumped, & looked up. A girl, around the age of nineteen or twenty was standing at the top of the staircase staring down at them.

"Who's your new friend?" she said, inquiringly.

"This is Esther; ummm…we saved her from a werewolf!" Nicole replied, edginess in her voice.

Strange, Esther thought, Nicole seems nervous around this person; I wonder why…, she looked back up at the girl on the stairs.

This person that put Nicole on edge did indeed look a fearsome warrior, but also looked a like a rebel. She had long black hair that reached down to her back, with blond streaks coloring her bangs and barely visible violet streaks all throughout her hair. On her ears, many hoops and shiny earrings gleamed from their holes. She wore a sleeveless hoodie that was black and had red splatters on it that looked like real blood, a black mini-skirt with little red shorts under it and red fishnet hose covered her lower body. Thigh-high, black boots covered the rest of her legs. Black fingerless gloves covered her hand, all the way to her upper arm. Of course, like every person she had seen in the village, she carried a katana. But what she was wearing or her hair or her piercings wasn't what was intimidating about her, it was her eyes. Her eyes seemed like they could see right through you, smoky gray daggers piercing your heart, going through your mind, sifting the thoughts that could be of vital importance and throwing away the ones that are useless.

"Hey Laverne!" Zachary said with a grin.

Robert waved casually to the girl called Laverne.

It seems Nicole is the only one who doesn't like her presence, Esther thought, puzzled, and decided to ask who exactly Laverne was.

"Laverne…." Nicole hesitated.

Esther stared at her in anticipation.

"…is my older sister." She finished.

Esther stared at her in disbelief for a second, then looked up at Laverne.

It did make sense; they did look alike in many ways...

Esther giggled to herself. Yes, yes, it made perfect sense now; younger siblings are always a slightly afraid of their older siblings. No matter how skilled at fighting you might be, your older sibling would always be better. Always. That's how it was with her brothers too. She had two elder brothers, Josh and Caleb would always pick on her because, at times, she was a slight wimp, but that's also how she got stronger. She always wanted to show her brothers that she could do it.

Josh, her eldest brother, would always take care of her and Caleb when her parents were at work. He was quite the neat-freak too and very responsible. He could always make her laugh. Now, Caleb, on the other hand, he was always the bad one, always getting into a lot of trouble, he's even been arrested a few times He's actually a good person despite the trouble he causes and very smart even though he doesn't always show it.

Esther looked up again and was surprised to find two girls had appeared beside Laverne out of nowhere.

"Ninjas, indeed…" Esther mumbled.

One girl had short, brown hair just like her, but less wavy, a shade darker, and her bangs were longer, but wore no clips. The other had jet-black hair, like a raven, it was shoulder-length and her skin was like ivory. The two girls waved to them, they waved back.

"That's Alyssa Agenanin, Aly for short," Nicole said, pointing to the girl with brown hair, "and that's Rachel Brinnen, Rei for short," pointing to the other.

"Remember, you need to pay lots of respect to them, they're higher ranked shinobi," Zach warned, and then thinking for a second and grinned," of course, you need to give us respect too!"

"You'll be having a trial first thing in the morning," Zachary told her, "eat, rest well, and wake up at six tomorrow.

She didn't need to be told to go to sleep, "What time is it?" she said, stifling a yawn.

"Two forty-seven," Robert replied, he looked quite sure of himself even though there wasn't a clock in sight.

Good, Esther thought, sleepily, I still have a few hours to sleep.

"I'll show you to your room," Nicole said, guiding her up the stairs," are you hungry?"

"No, not really, I just want to sleep" she replied, letting out a yawn finally.

Nicole chuckled, but then said seriously, "Federation Soldiers have been following you."

"What!?" Esther exclaimed.

"Yeah, about twenty of them, I guess they think you're from Haiden Kaiden or something, we spotted them about a mile behind you, I think they've been following you since you came back from Maruk, we've also seen them sending messages using a War Shryke…"

A War Shryke! Esther thought aghast; they must be communing with home base.

"….that's why we saved you from the werewolf; we needed to see if you're a Federation Spy, the trial tomorrow is going to be tough on you," she warned, "and I don't just mean we're going to interrogate you."

"But I'm not any part of the Federation!" Esther cried, "I hate them!"

Nicole stopped in front of a blue door and faced her.

"I know that, it's the others you need to convince. Go to sleep now, I'll come to make sure you've woken up in the morning. There are dry clothes in the dresser by the bed." She started to walk away, the stopped and turned back around with a warm smile, "you know what? I have a strange feeling you and I will become good friends."

With that said, she went back the way they had come. Strange enough, Esther felt the same way too. Esther fumbled with the doorknob and entered her room. She didn't even bother to look around, she just took off her heavy cloak, her bow and arrows and her sword, changed her clothes and collapsed on the twin bed.

"What a day," she sighed.

It was nice and warm; she curled up into a little ball under the covers and thought what might await her in the morning, in seconds she was fast asleep.