Chapter 1 : Arrival

I sighed and wiped my forehead clear of sweat as I finally walked through the large gates of Yehara's Mirage. I had been traveling for so long and my feet were really starting to ache after traversing such a long distance from the Viridian Coastline all the way into the center of the Cinderlands. Once I reached the edge of the Scorching Sands, I knew that I was in for a rough time and I was indeed correct. The blaring Sun bore down on me as I trekked through the dense sand which would periodically kick up from a stray wind and batter my face. Looking down at myself, I recoiled as I saw that my tail was completely covered in the stuff, making the once light pink fur turn into a disgusting shade of light brown. Shaking my tail quickly, I was greeted with a massive cloud of sand which burst from the fur and straight into my face. Coughing violently, I winced as I felt that some sand had found it's way into my eyes and furiously blinked to rid them of the particles.

"Great..." I grumbled, still rubbing my eyes free from the sand, "At this rate, I'll never get to enjoy myself..."

"Alexis!" A high pitched voice called out. My eyes opened wide despite the sand at the sound of that familiar voice and looking towards the direction it was coming from, I had only a second to see a small figure running at me before I was tackled to the ground. Bubbly laughter followed from the both of us as we rolled around on the ground trying to get the upper hand on the other. After a moment, the figure said a short phrase which I couldn't quite make out before an intense feeling of energy surged around me. Not a moment later, the feeling of something large and quite sharp, wrapped itself around my midsection and hoisted myself into the air, making me cry in surprise at the sudden feeling.

Once I was held at least six feet off of the ground in the clutches of whatever was holding onto me, I got to look up at my captor and immediately wished I hadn't. The creature staring back at me was a massive black armored beast with bright blue, fiery energy pulsating inside of the gaps in it's armor. It's face was something out of a horror novel, with a sharp, serpentinian appearance with hollowed out eyes. It's mouth was a completely different piece of the armor with the energy holding it to the rest of the head, giving the creature a fierce-some expression, especially with it's razor sharp looking teeth. Atop of it's head were two antennae, split up into sections and like the rest of it's body, was held together with the otherwordly energy. I was held in it's right hand, around the wrist was a golden leash attached to a broken chain. Looking down at it's hand that was holding onto me, I cringed at how sharp the claws were. It was as if some sort of metallic dragon was holding onto me, with it's curved talons and rigid plates. The tips of the claws were embedded with the blue energy, making it fluctuate around my body. However, after the breastplate, the armor slowly began to taper off into nothing but a broken tasset at the waist area. Glancing back up, it moved closer and let out a ferocious roar, blowing my hair out of my face as well as pushing my ears back.

"That's no fair!" I yelled with a scowl on my face, "No bringing thrall's into this, Waetu!"

An adorable giggle followed from beneath me and glancing down, I saw a short, light purple haired Lyn with adorably rounded ears the size of small dinner plates staring back up at me with a large smile. Wrapped around her was a white, black, and blue coat and over her eye was a similarly blue monocle with blue crystals jutting outwards. Strapped to her shoulder was a short blade surrounded by an exquisitely designed sheath made out of shining silver.

"Well we can't let you win can we?" Waetu giggled some more. With a snap of her fingers, the massive thrall suddenly let go of me, dropping my body to a heap onto the ground.

"Oof!" I groaned as my form made contact with the earth below me. Looking behind me, I saw the thrall go into a corkscrew spin towards the ground, into which it disappeared into a portal of dark energy. Pushing myself up, I stood up straight and shook myself once more of the sand and dirt that the ground left on me. Checking myself once more over, I straightened myself up only to once more flinch away as Waetu rushed at me. However this time, I was met with not an aggressive tackle, but with the warm feeling of her skinny arms wrapping around my body. Sighing, I melted into my best friend's embrace and stood there as we shared a small moment of quiet.

"Where have you been?" She asked sadly into my shoulder, "You were supposed to arrive three days ago...I was getting worried..."

"I uh... got lost... you know how the desert is after all! So much sand, ya know? haah...hah..." I chuckled awkwardly, trying to cover up my lie.

"Lexi, you're not fooling me." Waetu pouted, "Just tell me."

Sighing, I pulled away and brushed myself off, "It wasn't the sand in the slightest. In truth I had gotten side tracked by so many different things..."

"Like what?"

"I met up with that old pervert with the stupid looking glasses who likes to send us random letters just to make us do exercise. I accidentally walked into the middle of a war-zone and got attacked by those red and blue extremists bend on their stupid "cause". Then I had to go save a stupid Jin who had gotten herself into a sticky situation with the Yonkai's. Then I had these horrific nightmares of a whole town attacking me out of revenge, only to wake up and figure out I was sleepwalking and I had attacked them instead. That was quite the problem..." I sighed at how awkwardly long this list was, "Then I got stuck fighting this massive golden giant! You wouldn't believe how massive this thing was! It had this huge hammer and everything!"

She sighed and skipped ahead of me, "Some adventure. Come on, let's head inside the Mirage. You can rest your feet in there."

I froze, "How did you know?"

"Because you're always complaining about your feet!" She chided, "Also, cute outfit by the way."

I smiled as she pointed out what I was wearing. I had finally saved up enough gold to afford buying this amazing and quite expensive outfit. Around my chest was a tight, black leather bra which wrapped itself completely around my torso. Over that was a white, high cut leather jacket, with it's sleeves with golden accents on the ends were rolled up to my elbows and it's collar popped up. The back had an intricate design of a diamond with holes in it's curves, letting the air breathe throughout my body. On both hands were black, finger-less leather gloves with squares cut out in the backs to give my hands breathing room. Around my waist were similarly black leather short shorts. Held on top of those, were two black and gold belts that crossed over one another around my waist creating an X. Hanging from one of the belts, was a blue pendant, with a soft blue green streamer hanging down. Finishing off my outfit were these adorable ankle high, white and gold boots with the ends folded down.

"Thanks!" I said as I cooly followed my friend who was happily skipping her way towards the massive building at the other end of the court yard, "It took me so long to get it!"

Taking some time to actually take a breath, I looked around the massive courtyard, I was surprised to see how it was quite lively, with small buildings lining the outer wall of the Mirage. It was early in the evening and I could still see some figures here and there. I noticed how barren it was of any Lyn. Everywhere else I looked, I could only see the Jin and Gon. I expected how there weren't many Yun around, they weren't too keen on these hot areas.

I rolled my eyes, Leave it to the Yun to be that one race who has to be pampered and live in luxury...

Waetu and I climbed the stone steps and entered through the wide open doors of the Mirage to be greeted with a pleasant aroma of cooked foods. Closing my eyes, I took in the smells all around me and I sighed.

"Smells just like home..."

My best friend walked over to me and slung an arm around my shoulders. She had to stand even more on her toes to be able to since I was significantly taller than her but she managed nevertheless. We had met back when we were first years at school and ten years later, we were still together, stronger than ever. We had been separated because of a small job pertaining to her leaving for the Lycandi Foothills, leaving me back in Jadestone without much to do except take care of infestation problems here and there. But now she had some free time to spend with me so we decided to meet up at the Mirage while she took a much needed vacation from whatever she was doing. Looking around, I pointed out a lone table off to the side and began walking towards it. Upon sitting across from Waetu, I leaned forward and rested my arms on the polished wood.

"So, what have you been up to?"

She nervously scratched the back of her head and awkwardly laughed, "It's a long story."