Dawn may have descended upon her home town but here, it was dark as dusk and would remain that way for years to come. Such is the nature of the curse that had descended upon the remains of the village. Blessed or cursed by eternal night, one woman had taken it upon herself to cleanse the village from it's curse.

That same woman now looked half beaten to death as she was placed down upon the alleyway eyes half opened but by no means coherant. In a semi-dozing state her fingers twitched upon the hilt of a shattered sword. A shield of greek descent was worn upon her for-arm slightly dented with it's recent potent use. Around her were the corpses of massive hulking titans once holding equally massive hammers or axes. Now the beserkers of Soul Edge were little more than food for the buzzards that circled around the woman waiting hungrily.

It was all for her family Cassandra tried to remind herself. The first coherant thought that entered her mind and yet no matter how much she wished it were otherwise, the words felt hollow. Pride had failed her. Her weapon failed her much sooner. What happened to the Omega Sword? It had simply reacted to the evil energy in the air. Now the great and mighty Omega Sword was little more then a pathetic pile of broken shards resting in the folds of a leather pouch at her hip.

It took everything she had to defend herself from the hordes controlled by soul edge. Having to resort to using a broken divine sword must have been an equally pathetic image. What choice did Cassandra have?

It was as if Haphaestus mocked her. Had the gods abandoned her and her family? It sure seemed that way. Couldn't the gods see her intentions? Weren't they noble? Weren't they just? Thoughts of Patroklos and Pyrrha filled her mind. Cassandra was a mere spectator again watching as Sophitia's children tore at eachother for a silly piece of metal. The same piece of metal she was holding in her hand. She blinked weakly, staring at the glowing shard a top a dirty blood caked hand. It flashed brightly, corresponding to her own heartbeat. Slow... shallow... Soul Edge was laughing. Cassandra didn't care.

She wanted to laugh too.

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Sophitia took a sharp breath. It flashed through her mind so fast, she almost didn't notice it. And even if she could, only the gods had the means to comprehend it for her. Then it found a place inside her mind to beckon and torture her with every passing second. And in that second, an eternity of anxiety that ripples through your entire being. It echoes outward and returns to the origin where it overlaps and spreads anew.

It was at these times that Sophitia hated being the chosen of Haphaestus. Actually, she would have avoided such a fate kicking and screaming had she known where it would lead. Back to the Eurydice Shrine as always where destiny would tear her apart and rip her asunder, leaving the world she'd always known, change a single rule and in turn devestate all.

"Cassandra..." She whispered not sure if she had actually spoken, or it was merely a thought in her mind. That didn't matter. A passing glimps was all it took. Cassandra was hurt. Badly. Sophitia tried to stand but the hours of praying to Haphaestus and the shock of what she'd seen had weighed her down. A second attempt prooved much more successful. She felt a tear run down her face. A second followed. Her throat tightened and her hands began to shake.

She had sought the guidance of the gods. She recieved the cries of her family instead. Soul Edge had threatened her family all because she was chosen to destroy it. The shards had tainted the minds of her children. They fought over the shard Rothion brought home. The fighting became violent. Too violent. It took everything her and Rothion had to break them apart and in desperation, Cassandra grabbed the shard and ran for the life of her. Later, the Omega Sword and Elk shield would become missing. That was almost a year ago. Sophitia hadn't heard from her since. Until now. And it scared her like nothing else.

Why didn't she go after her before? Sophitia had no way to find someone that didn't want to be found. And then it was her children. She was worried for them just as much as her sister. How could she leave them as things stood then? What about now? What if some one came for them in her absence? Rothion was no fighter. He was strong for a blacksmith but he lacked the skill to contend with someone serious enough.

Even now she tried to justify her actions or lack there of. And still the doubt remained as a pit in her heart. A third tear fell from her face. She brushed it away quickly and ran towards the entrance of the Eurydice Shrine. She had to tell Rothion! She had to get to Cassandra fast!

I'm being foolish. I'm being foolish and I don't care.

Nevermind the fact that she didn't have the faintest clue where to search. Nevermind the fact that Cassandra could very well be dead in the span of five minutes from now. Perhaps this was a fleeting glimps of the past. Or perhaps this was little more then a figment of her imagination spurned about by her own fear. Rothion of course would be worried about her. He always worried. Bless him.

"Gods..." Sophitia cried out breathless. "Guide me."

Something shot forth from the sides taking Sophitia by surprise. A circular blade shaped like a hoop came at her at blinding speeds. It was all she could do to stop just in time before the Aiesaline Drossel would cut deep into her bare legs. Sophitia turned to witness a woman in torn green clothing and hair with violet stripe tatoos and eyes.

"Oh I'd just love to cut you to pieces!"

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Link smashed the nearest phantom away from him with his hylian shield. The thing pitched a ghostly scream before disappearing through the thick wood. The second one came from behind and the elf twisted around quickly enough to slice it in half. Odd enough these mutated phantoms could become quite solid. Which was convenient. If his sword just kept passing through these things, it was bound to give him a headache at some point. Link would figure something out though. He always does.

Poes were solid enough in his homeworld so... actually that didn't mean much. He had to stop comparing things to similarities in his home world. If he kept it up he really would get a headache. Another phantom got into striking distance and Link was all too happy to oblige.

Hey if these things want to die so badly, who am I to say anything?

Unlike Link though, Taki had been trained as a capable excorsist. That involved demons, specters, spirits, ghosts, and other unholy entities and the like. Mekki-Maru would prove useless in this fight though her pure sword Rekki-Maru would fair quite well. It just severed off the head of another unwitting phantom with a piercing screech. Nifty. A high flying kick kept another ghost at bay. A third phantom charged straight at her like a blazing banshee. The charge was met with a kodachi in her gut. The impurity fell to the floor in wicked convulsions.

"I'd say this is certainly different." The words of the foreigner sounded off a small distance away from her. It was a blunt attempt for friendly banter however like a moth to the flame, she was snared.

"Indeed." She said switching use of Rekki-Maru to her left hand and slashed apart the approaching ghost. Link tsked, dissappointed with the response. Short of two words, the Hylian had no time to comment as several more ghosts attacked him. The Master Sword had the final say in the matter as it cleaved through three more of the things.

Link laughed instead. "You don't get out much do you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Was the ninja's response. Taki flipped out of harms way kicking two phantoms away in the process. Link impaled a third. How many was that now? Twenty? Thirty? Goddesses knew he couldn't count.

Inspite of how effective the duo seemed to be together, wave after wave of phantoms continued to haunt them down. Link had slain two more coming from behind while a third danced just out of range of his blade. Taki surprisingly had come to the hylians aide as she took down the pesky third with the experience and skill befitting a Fu-ma ninja of her caliber. She made a mental note once more that the Fu-ma clan was chasing her and her association with them was little more now then a memory. The cloaked man had nodded his thanks with an almost childish grin before he cleaved another phantom in two. The motion was powerful and fluid but it struck Taki as odd. You'd think a warrior of his skill would show more reserve to facial expressions. That would have been the sound gesture. An expressionless warrior was an unreadable one. Or at least an almost unreadable one. Link had found her weaknesses and exploited them in their fight. He was better at guessing her moves and knew the perfect counter to them all. Her strength was her speed, but he turned it against her using her own momentum to give him the advantage he needed.

Perhaps there were quite a few more things she could learn.

Or perhaps he was playing her a fool this entire time.

Taki wasn't much of a believer in the gods but she wished at that moment that things would come to her more clearly. She wanted things to make sense again. Nope. You want sense? You get phantoms. Darn.

They weren't making any progress she noticed. For every phantom she slain, two more took it's place and each one of them was just as unrelenting as the one before it. What manner of evil could drive these things to such a madness. A rhetorical question but she found it amusing enough.

Two more phantoms fell. When would this end? Link was no stranger to the practices of a gauntlet run but this was getting rediculous.

"This isn't working!" He called out to the ninja. "We're gonna have to fall back."

Fall back? To where?

"Silence fool!" Taki hissed. Far be it from her to take orders from this hick.

"Oh!" Link mocked. "I didn't know you want to die! My mistake."

Link cut through two more phantoms before Taki spoke.

"And go where? These things have of surrounded." she roared cutting through two ghosts herself.

"Leave that to me."

"Oh? And what can you do?"

"Stuff."

Stuff. Taki held a dead panned look. Which wasn't much better then an annoyed look. Which surprised even her. She wasn't supposed to show emotion to anyone let alone some out of nowhere stranger.

"Just give me a moment."

Link disengaged from the endless hoardes of phantoms bringing his blade out infront of him. His shield was strapped to his back again and he extended a free palm outwards and behind. Fiery energy began circling around his hand. The makings of Dins Fire. A focused facade turned into a smirk while Taki continued to cut away the endless mob.

"Dins Fire!"

A fiery palm was thrust into the ground. An explosion of flames followed. And Taki's world turned white.

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The Soul Edge Eye opened and the battle begins anew.

A/N: Like it so far? I'm having fun with it at the very least. I've gone back and read the first chapter. Gee, what a shock! My Grammar sucks.

Indeed.

I've gone back and corrected what mistakes I found. Other then that. Enjoy.