-Chapter One-

The battle had finally ended; Lord Eliwood had killed the red beast, finally the peace was to be restored. Geitz looked around at the others in the army, they all looked so tired, that battle almost certainly been their hardest one. The warrior smiled to himself, that battle was defiantly the most fun he'd had in a long time.

"Ey Geitz! You really threw your self into that battle didn't ya?" Dart was approaching Geitz with a large grin on his face.

" Yeah..it felt amazing!" he laughed as he put his heavy axe away.

They walked with the rest of the group out of The Dragons Gate, waiting for them were the others of the army. Everyone outside looked as though they had been holding their breathe the whole time they were in there, it was good to finally see everyone was alive and reasonably well, there had been some causality that battle but luckily no one had suffered anything fatal.

"Ey Geitz. You ready to board our ship then?" Dart had such a strange accent that many didn't actually understand, it always made Geitz smile.

"Sure am Dart! I won't give up, this is what I'm meant to do" Geitz tried to say this with confidence to Dart; fortunately the pirate was too tired to notice the hesitation in his voice. He was going to make sure this was a fresh start for him, he couldn't give up on this.

Karel analysed the army who had just defeated the fire dragon, many of them were strong but they were all exhausted so he knew there was no point in engaging any of them in battle. He was in his own little world when all of a sudden he saw a young green haired boy stood in front of him.

" M-master Karel!" the young boy spoke quickly to the formidable swordmaster, "Remember in a years time, we will fight! I will improve..I will be greater than you."

Karel looked down at the boy and smiled wickedly " Very well Guy.I look forward to meeting you again..your blood better not disappoint my blade." With that he turned and walked away from the crowd of people he had to find new opponents now, ones which were strong and their blood was worthy to him.

"Brother! Brother please wait!" shouted a voice from behind him.

Karel turned to see his younger sister Karla running after him, her long black hair trailing behind her.

"Brother! You..didn't come to say goodbye to me.." she looked up at her older brother who stared back at her coldy with his cold golden eyes.

" There is no point saying goodbye Karla…we shall not fight..so I have no use for you" the words Karel uttered to her cut through her heart like a sword.

"Br-brother.I spent so long trying to find you.." she whispered to him, moving closer. "Please..I want you back with me."

"Karla..you are foolish. This is the only thing I can live with." He had his hands on the top of his sword, touching it in a loving way, "I will not live without killing..don't try and find me again."

"Very well brother" Karla held back her tears, she missed her older brother so much, "I will wait for the day you return..you may have changed..but I know in my heart one day I will have my big brother back..so I'll wait for you."

Karel looked into his sisters dark eyes, they had so much emotion in them, emotion he hadn't seen anyone have in such a long time. He knew there was nothing else to say, with not another word he walked off, leaving his younger sister staring after him.

-One year later-

The sword cut through the man's flesh, Karel smiled as he heard it tear, the blood then followed. The group of mercenaries were all dead, it hadn't taken the Sword Demon long but at least it had finally satisfied his lust for blood. They had all fallen one by one to his blade, unfortunately they hadn't put up the type of fight he had hoped for. No one seemed to fully satisfy his hunger for blood, they were all so weak compared to him.

The lean swordmaster looked at the dead on the floor, they would be found in the morning he thought to himself, it would be best to move onto a new place now with more people to kill. Travelling around the continent killing, this was Karel's idea of paradise; this is all he ever needed in his life. As he continued to walk along the dark path he heard footsteps behind him, he smiled to himself. This person was trying to sneak up behind him, truly a bad idea. As the person came closer Karel stopped in his path, waiting for the person to come closer.

" I-I knew you would be around here Master," said a nervous young voice.

Karel knew exactly who this was now, the young Sacae boy who he had helped with his sword during his time in Lord Eliwood's army.

" Has it already been a year boy?" Karel smiled to himself from the shadows. "So you kept your word..I'm glad."

"We Sacraens go back on a promise, tonight Master I will defeat you. I will prove to you that I am worthy..no I will prove to you that I am better than you Sword Demon"

Karel walked out of the shaded area he stood in, the smile hadn't faded from his face; he approached the young boy scanning him over. He looked as though he had grown over the past year, he was taller and looked more like a man. "Good" thought Karel.

"You've grown Guy..you look more like a man now," Karel talked sharply to him,

"At least that means I wont be cutting down a little child anymore..Now draw your blade"

As the words left his mouth, Karel got his Wo Dao ready, this would be the most fun he had had in a long time. Finally a opponent who seemed as though they were worth his time.

Guy looked at the man he had once called Master, his long brown hair was hiding half of his crazed grin, but he continued to get himself ready to attack the man he idolised.

"Come on boy..I pray you won't disappoint me" with those words gone, Guy lunged at the Swordmaster, ready to kill him. As he got closer he saw Karel laugh, by the time Guy was in front of the dark haired swordsman he had gone. Guy jumped at the site of the insane man behind him. Best keep his guard up he thought; there would be no mercy in this fight.

Guy continued to attack Karel, but he missed everytime he got close enough to strike. He was so quick..almost inhuman.

"Is this some game to you?" Guy shouted at Karel "Your not even fighting back, stop running away!"

"Boy..you think I'm running away from you?" Karel laughed back at him " Your have yet to impress me, I don't have any urge to waste my energy on someone so pathetic"

The words said by Karel angered Guy so much that he screamed as he ran at the tall, dark haired man. Finally Guy's sword contacted with Karel's, the metal blades clashed loudly as they hit, he was face to face with his master.

"Good..good, there is the boy I taught to fight" grinned Karel at Guy. " Now you remember everything I said to you. What's your next action?"

Guy looked at Karel, he saw a crazed looking man who was sadistically grinning at the next person he wanted to kill. His life was on the line and he had to beat this man, he was no longer his master but instead just another foe.

The green haired youth quickly brought his sword away from Karel's and with one swift moment he slashed the arm of the older man. A look of slight confusion crossed Karel's face but it was quickly replaced with a hard expression when he realised that he was bleeding slightly.

"You have drawn my blood? Very well boy, get ready to die" and at the Karel swiftly brought his sword crashing into the chest of Guy. He wasn't quick enough to evade the attack from the insane swordmaster. The fight was over; all that Guy had worked for was for nothing.

"Master Karel…I guess I was foolish..I-I wont ever be as good as you" it was agony for Guy say these words to the man who he had idolised.

Karel merely stared at the young boy that his sword was stuck into..he stared at the pain in the young boys eyes. Something didn't feel right.

" Th-thank you for..training me..I just.." before Guy could say another word, death took away his last breath.

Karel continued to stare at the body of the young boy..had he really killed him? Only a year ago he hadn't been able to cut him down and yet now he was stood over his dead body. He had killed the one person who had idolised him, the one person who had actually wanted to be like Karel.

"No…I didn't.." Karel whispered to the dead body, "Your..dead..why..". Mixed emotions ran through Karel's mind, was he regretting killing the boy? Why did this death feel so different to any of the other people he had killed? He had cut down young challengers before but he hadn't felt any remorse to them. Karel knelt by the side of the boy, he pulled his Wo Dao out the blood soaked corpse, the dead boy looked beautiful..covered in the blood he yearned for but as he tried to touch the blood he flinched. He examined the corpse closer, the boy died with a expression on his face, the look of sadness, he hadn't wanted to die..he only wanted to challenge the man he called master.

After a few minutes Karel finally got up, he left the body where he had cut it down though as a sign of respect he had laid the killing edge next to the boy. He had dedicated his life to fighting so he should die a fighter. Karel continued to walk down the lonely track, the sun was rising across the mountains, it would soon be dawn. The swordmaster felt something familiar on his arm, it was blood..though it was his blood which was from the wound that Guy had given his right arm. He examined the wound, it defiantly wasn't fatal but it could have done some damage if it was deeper. "If it was deeper…" Karel muttered to himself. All he could think about was the look on Guy's face when he had killed him..he shouldn't have killed him. The boy could have grown up into a fine swordsman, he could have had a good life helping people with his talent of the sword. He stroked the wound the boy had left..the wound itself didn't hurt but something else did. Karel felt a sudden feeling of sickness come over him, he felt weaker than before, he tried to ignore it as he continued to walk towards the mountains of Bern, there he would find more challengers to fall to his blade.

He finally reached a small gathering of trees, for some reason he was struggling to breathe now, the pain was worse than before. Karel looked at his arm, the blood was still running from it. "This wound..should be deeper.." Karel thought to himself. With that he grabbed his sword and impaled it into his right arm, he felt the metal enter the wound. He sighed as he felt the pain over come him, finally he thought.
Eventually he pulled the sword out of his arm..everything felt so good to him right now. Karel sank to his knees, the pain was what he deserved, he shouldn't have got such an injury from that boy..but he shouldn't have killed him either. He struggled to get his breathe again..this was what he wanted. He fell to the forest floor, stained in blood.

"Oi Geitz!" one of Fargus's crew yelled his name. "Are you that stupid you don't know where to put the rotten fish? Come on you've been on this ship for over a year now"

Geitz pushed his straggly purple hair out of his face, he felt like he hadn't washed in weeks. Stood on the deck with him was Dart and another pirate named Bren, who was one of the tougher ones on-board, he wasn't going to take any excuses from Geitz just being lazy. Bren marched over to Geitz, though he towered over the stocky pirate Geitz still felt uneasy with him approaching.

"Are ya thick? Don't ya listen to anythin' we tell ya?" Bren yelled in Geitz face.

"Eh..well..I guess I just forgot" Geitz used the first excuse that came into his head; it defiantly wasn't the best one.

"Forgot? Your just a slacker. Get outa my sight, before I push ya' overboard"

Geitz looked down at the stumpy grey haired man, he laughed inside his head as noticed the height difference of them both.

"Why are ya' still standing here you idle fool!" Bren bellowed at Geitz. Realising that he better get going before the insensitive pirate thumped him, he turned swiftly and went back inside the ship. Inside the cabin there were quite a few other crew members

sat around the table eating and drinking. They all fell silent and watched Geitz as he took a seat on his own at the table, none of the crew had particularly warmed to him, not even Dart who he had thought was his friend wanted to spend much time with Geitz. To them he was the spoilt kid of the rich merchant, they either completely ignored him or mocked him.

"Ey, rich boy. Av' some of this drink!" a younger looking man with scars all over his face spoke to Geitz.

"No..I'm fine" he didn't dare take the drink from them, the amount of times they had put sea water and other obscene things in his drink meant that he never took anything from them. He was sure they were trying to kill him.

The pirates laughed at Geitz, he looked so awkward sat with them all.

"Aw..come on Geitz!" the group continued to laugh at him, "I'm sure ya'd love it!" another one of the crew shouted at him. Geitz sighed and was just getting up as Dart entered, his "friend" looked at him and half smiled, Geitz wasn't sure if he was actually being nice or just mocking him. He grabbed some bread and meat from the table ready to take it to where he slept, atleast at this time in the day it was quiet there.

"Oi you! Don't go stealing all our food. We need to eat aswell ya' know" as one of the pirates said this to him, the rest started laughing again including Dart.

"I'm only taking some bread and meat..you've got plently there" Geitz stated to them

"Yeah…well..we wanted that bread! And your meat! Go buy your own food at the next port rich boy"

Geitz sighed, the next port wasn't for a few days, guess that meant at least three days without any food. Feeling annoyed he threw the food back on the table and walked out the cabin, hearing once again the laughter of the crew.

When he reached the slab of wood he called his bed Geitz threw off his filthy boots and crashed flat out on the "bed".

Geitz closed his eyes, this wasn't how it was meant to be, and he hated being on this ship. Maybe he'd just leave at the next port, this was getting boring anyway, these pirates shouldn't treat him as their slave.
"Oi! Geitz you ere'?"
"Dart? That you?" Geitz questioned the person
"Yeah yeah it's me. Why you ere and not helping outside?"
"Um...I'm tired...I don't want to help" he couldn't tell Dart it was actually because he was told he was useless
" Your such a lazy sod" Dart sounded annoyed, "Thought ya said you'd give this your all?"
"Well..I don't feel up to it today. But there any chance you could get some food for me?" Geitz didn't want to help today but he knew he defiantly wanted something to eat.
"Grr...I did bring ya some food, you don't deserve it though" Dart threw the food at the idle man before stomping out back onto the deck.

Geitz looked at the door for a second...he was unsure of whether to go speak to Fargus or not. He quickly ate the food Dart had given him and wanderer out of the cabin.
He approached the captains quarters of the ship and knocked on the door
" Come in" he heard a gruff voice shout
"Um...hey Fargus...can I ask you something?"
"Yar, what's up kid?" the old pirate had a rough voice; one that sounded like he'd smokes pipes and shouting all his life.
"Er...well you know the next port? Is there any chance I could...leave when we get there? Geitz felt nervous asking such a scary man this.
"Had enough? Sure ya can leave at the next port. We don't want quitters on board anyway" Fargus looked back down at the map on his desk, this meant the conversation was over.
Geitz quickly walked out of Fargus' cabin, all he could think about now was when he was finally going to be on dry land again though he wasn't sure how he'd break the news to Dart.

Karel awoke with a painful jolt. At first he felt dazed and confused with what had happened, why was he in a house. As he started to come around he also realised he was for some reason shirtless. He scanned the room for his clothes even though he had no idea whose room he was in or how he'd even got there. Finally he spotted his clothes on a chair that was near the fireplace in the small room. Getting up he felt weird; he still felt disorientated and confused by everything. He grabbed his two long coats and quickly threw them on. As he was tying the purple cloth around his waist he heard someone fiddling with the door, Karel stared at the door not knowing what to expect. An older looking woman walked in carrying some cloth and a bowl, she had long dark green hair that was all tied back except from a few pieces that framed her slightly aged face. She jumped nearly dropping the things she held when she saw Karel staring at her from next to the fireplace.
"Oh! Your up now, how are you feeling?" she smiled at him
" Who are you?" Karel coldly questioned her even though he didn't care.
"Sorry I completely forgot, I'm Kaylee your Karel aren't you?"
Karel felt puzzled at how she knew his name, how long had he even been here for.
"Wait there Karel! My husband really wants to talk to you" Kaylee quickly shuffled out the room, leaving the door wide open.
Karel studied his arm, it had bandages around the wound he had inflicted on himself. As he was lost in his confusion, a harsh looking man entered the room; he was probably just a bit shorter than Karel though he was built massively. His face was covered in scars, many of them looked as though he'd had them for years.
"So our unexpected guest has finally risen. Come with me" the man had a commanding power to him. Still feeling lost Karel followed him out of the small room like a zombie. They didn't have to walk far till they reached a bigger room, though by the time Karel reached it, he felt like he was going to collapse.
"Sit there" the big man pointed to a small seat at the side of the room. Karel sat down, once again feeling violently sick.
" Karel the Sword Demon, famed for being a merciless killer. Now here is someone I never expected to see in my house," he spoke in a way that made Karel's blood start to boil again. This man looked strong, if only he could slice him down Karel thought.
" The wound on your right arm. It was deep, how did you get that then?"
Karel suddenly remembered that night he'd killed Guy, it couldn't have been too long ago since the wound was still swollen.
"No answer? Very well, it wasn't fatal obviously but it has done a lot of damage to your sword arm. You won't be able to fight to your full extent for some weeks." Karel heard the words "won't be able to fight" and glared at the man, if he couldn't fight then what was the point of even living. He lived by his sword, without it he was nothing.

Karel looked around the room feeling uneasy, when he spotted something resting against the wall. It was his sword, his beautiful Wo Dao, it had been cleaned which made it more appealing to him then ever. He had to bathe it in blood again.
"Give me my sword" he whispered darkly.
"What? You can't wield it now, your too weak"
"Give me...my sword" he whispered again, starting to sound desperate.
" No Karel, you need to rest. Get your strength back up" the man walked towards his precious sword.
Karel jumped up from his seat, everything ached, he walked towards the man and sword.
"Give me my sword" he said for the third time, he looked possessed.
"You really want this piece of metal so badly?" he looked into Karel's eyes, "Take it, and carry on with your journey. But in the state you are you won't last long"
Karel quickly snatched the sword from the man's hands like it was his child, it felt good to be united with his friend again. He prepared to walk out without another word.
"Go on. Go kill more people. Your arm will hinder your performance but still why not try? What's there to loose but your head"
Karel turned sharply back at the man, " My sword is my life. Without it I am nothing."
" Then I feel sorry for you. That thing you love will be the end of you."
Karel ignored the words and left the house as quickly as he could. Time for his blade to feast, he smiled to himself.
"Azra? Where's Karel gone?" Kaylee entered the room that here husband was standing in.
" He has decided to carry on with his little journey. Truly foolish. He won't last long" Azra was slightly annoyed at what Karel had just done.
"Oh...but his arm" Kaylee remembered how horrific the wound had looked when she had cleaned and bandaged it for him, it had soaked through both the jackets he wore, she was certain a wound that deep would eventually leave a permanent reminder of what had happened.
"It will most likely slow him but it won't stop him. But there's only so much a demon can do before its slain". The green haired lady merely nodded to her husband, she thought about the young man who had just left them, he was insane.