Chapter 2: Fight or Flight?

After a day or so one of the messengers reached the small village know as Seles. The messengers horse breathed heavily as it strode across the dry dirt path which lead them into the village and past the short grey stone wall. The pale stone buildings, which were built perfectly side by side, were surrounded by beautiful flowers and some well to do trees with bright leaves. Rose vines seemed to climb the walls of the houses as if to grab more sunlight as the sun continued to rises in the distance.

The messenger all most lost his wind to the scene of the village and couldn't believe how breath taking the village had become after it was attacked a long time ago. The messenger was suddenly taken out of his fantasies when a drop a water, which had fallen from the tree next to him, fell on to his hand and left a small cold touch on his skin. He then remembered he had a message to deliver and thus had no time to waste since he still needed to find the person it was to be delivered to. The messenger chided his horse on and it whined as it began to strode much faster for its master. Finally the messenger spotted someone, the only person who was out at the time. He rode up to the very healthy looking blond haired man as he swung his sword about, it is then that the messenger spoke.

"Good morrow! Are you perhaps Sir Dart of the village of Seles?"

The man sheathed his sword quickly and turned around to face the messenger and looked at him with a light expression and nodded his head. Dart tugged at his red muscle shirt which started to absorb the sweat off his chest and dusted off his brown pants. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair and then gave the messenger his full attention.

"Yes, my name is Dart. What brings you here?"

Dart asked the messenger as his horse whined and then shook its head as if it were tired of standing in the same spot.

"I was sent here from Bale to deliver this letter which King Albert himself wrote. He asked if you could come to castle a soon as you can."

The messenger handed Dart an envelope and turned his horse around quickly.

"I must be off and inform King Albert that my deed has been completed. Have a good day Sir Dart."

With that the messenger quickly rode out of Seles not even giving Dart a chance to ask a quick question that was now bothering him. He shrugged and headed back to his house, a two story build but looked no different from the rest of the houses in the village. Dart stuffed the envelope into his pocket and then proceeded to take his shoes off until the door was swung open. Dart jumped quickly away and saw it was his son leaving the house. The young blond haired boy looked to his father with his soft blue eyes and displayed a small smile.

"I'm sorry father. I didn't know you were there."

With that he left as Dart watched him walk off and wander towards the plains outside of the village. Dart scratched the back of his head and then continued to take his shoes off and entered the house. The inside of the house was a nice egg shell white color with a dark brown wooden floor. On the walls there were a few baskets with flowers hanging out of them to give the house more color and then some stair that lead to top floor of the house. Dart walked by the kitchen and sat at the table in the dining room and took in a deep breath and then breathed out. Dart had pulled out the envelope from his pocket and began to open it as a dark haired brunette entered the room with a small skip. She stood a few feet away from Dart and smiled happily as her brown colored eyes shined brightly. She whipped her hands on her skirt and fixed her white shirt as walked over to Dart to hug him. Dart smiled a put one arm around her hip as she had her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She smiled and then kissed him and then let go of him once she realized he was covered in sweat and backed up a bit.

"You know I love getting you messy and smelly Shana, just like me."

Shana laughed at what Dart said and playfully shoved him and then sat in the chair next to his.

"By the way Shana, what's Leon up to?"

Shana sat up straight in her chair and leaned her head a bit to the right.

"You know Leon, always practicing until he comes home with a puddle underneath him. It seems since Millia died he's been training a bit more harder, I wish he wouldn't push himself so hard."

"Ooh, that's right, well don't worry, I'll try to talk to him about that when he gets home."

Dart said with a reassuring smile. He then sighed as he closed his eyes to think wondering what to say to his son Leon without Leon thinking his father had gone nuts. The Shana spoke up knocking Dart out of thinking.

"What's that?"

She said pointed to the envelope in Darts hand.

"Albert sent it. I have a feeling it's not like his usual letters...Well, let's see what it is."

Dart broke the seal on the back of the envelope and pulled out the letter and began to read it. As he did so his eyes paced more quickly across the paper and he held his jaw. He placed the letter calmly down on the table unable to think clearly of the words he so desperately seeked. Shana placed her hand on his and questions him with a worried face. Dart looked up to her and shook his head slowly.

"They are gone. All of them...Stolen!"

Dart at first spoke softly but then yelled, he couldn't believe what he just read. Shana got out of her chair and took hold of Darts shoulders with her hands.

"What's gone?"

Dart looked at the table and then put his hands over his face to calm down a bit. He looked up, away from his hands, and then sighed.

"The spirits...the Dragoon Spirits. They're gone..."

"They're gone!"

Both Dart and Shana turned to see their son standing at the door looked more stunned than his mother and father.

"They can't be! You hid them in the Mountain of the Mortal Dragon, in the tower, with guards! How could they be gone!"

Leon shouted as he closed the door behind him. Leon walked quickly over to the table picking up the letter and skimmed over it. He shook his head, and then looked to Dart.

"What does this mean father...?"

"I...don't know Leon. All I know is that I'm leaving this afternoon. I'm going to Bale to speak to Albert, I don't know when I'll be back."

Shana nodded confirming that she understood that Dart had to leave one way or another.

"I'll go a make something for you before you go."

Shana said as she headed for the kitchen and began to prepare some refreshments for Darts trip. Leon looked at the floor as his father spoke to him some more.

"Leon, your going to have to protect and watch over Seles while I'm gone."

"But father! I'm not capable of doing that. I can't protect a whole village yet, what makes you think I can protect Seles if I couldn't protect Millia?"

"Leon!"

Dart snapped at his son silencing Leon instantly. Leon knew when he was pushing his limits and now was one of those times.

"Leon, that wasn't your fault. Sometimes things like that happen and you can't do anything to stop it. It's not you fault she died. Besides, your a man now. You can do this, I know you can because your my son and I taught you everything you need to know about fighting."

Leon nodded his head and then looked up to Dart with a fake smile on his face. Leon thought this was to much and to soon but he knew his father wouldn't let him win.

"I'll try father. But..."

Dart quickly places his hands on his sons shoulders and gave him a calm smile.

"As long as you tired that's all that matters. Besides, you can protect Seles with one arm tided behind your back."

Dart said chuckling a bit as he ruffled Leon's hair with his hand. Then turned to go up the stairs and went into one of the rooms that appeared to be a weapons room. It held everything within it, swords, armor, etc. The room was a beige color and had two windows that allowed you to look at all of Seles from a one point view. Dart put his armor back on straped on a few extra things like a dagger and such. As he finished he looked at the adjacent wall and smiled. He was looking at a drawing which hung on the wall. The drawing was of a man, a strong healthy looking man who held a look of honor is his eyes but he also had a soft look about him. Below the picture was a brown wooden stool and on it was a glass. It seemed that at one point there was liquid in it, but since then it had disappeared and left a line along the inside of the glass.

"Well old friend, looks like we have another job to attend to...Thanks for watching over us this whole time Lavitz."

Dart then saluted the picture of his dear friend Lavitz in respect and then left room to get ready to leave. When he came back down Shana had a little nap sack made up for him and had placed it on the table while she waited for him. Dart walked up to her and bear hugged her. Shana hugged him back before Dart let go of her and then picked up the little bag and looked at her and smiled.

"I'll come back as soon as I can, okay? Don't miss me to much."

Dart said in a laughing manner as he walked out of the house with Shana following behind him. Dart noticed in the corner of his eye there stood his son leaning against a post watching with a straight face. Dart waved and then jumped on to his horse as his son walked over to him.

"Remember, your in charge of watching Seles while I'm gone. If anyone comes, give'em hell."

Leon smirked and nodded. Dart always made him feel better about himself when he felt he couldn't do anything. Then again Leon didn't have many friends besides Bowen, King Albert's son. Besides Bowen, Leon didn't know any of the other children of Darts friends since he never really saw them either. It was hard for them to all get together at once but since this was important he knew they would all show up and again he would met none of them.

Dart said good-bye to Shana and Leon before riding off to Bale. Shana leaned on her son while placing her hands softly on his shoulders and smiled.

"Leon, what would you like for dinner?"

Leon looked at his mother confused, she never asked Dart nor himself what they would like to eat since Shana made it clear that it's her kitchen, she's the one cooking, so she decides. Leon thought for a moment now unable to think about what he wanted. He shrugged as Shana rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Men are so indecisive."

"What!"

Leon said laughing knowing his mother was picking on him a bit. He then followed his mother who walked into the house and got ready to cook dinner for the two of them that night.

The next morning Leon woke up just as the sun was rising and decided to get a breath of fresh air from outside. It was cool outside and a bit misty yet the sky looked odd to him. There was a strange looking black cloud looming in the distance, the cloud was huge and the only one in the sky which was odd. Also, Leon didn't hear any morning bird or even saw any insects. The dogs of Seles hid under the houses and whined and no cats were to be seen. Leon went back into the house and grabbed his sword just in case anything were to happen as he came back outside and

continued to look at the cloud in the distance.

"What is going on?"

Leon questioned himself when a sudden gust of wind violently pulled at his cloths and was all most sent flying when the ground suddenly shook underneath him. He placed an arm over his face to keep the fly debre and dirt from getting into his eyes. When the wind stopped kicked dirt into the air Leon finally put his arm down to see what it was that made such a strong gale and his eyes widened when saw 5 red circles within the dusty air. Two giant arms were lifted into the air and then came down quickly on top of Leon bound to crush him where he stood but he quickly dodged it's attack. The monster walked slowly out of the veil of dust and walked decrepitly towards him. He had never seen such a monster like this in his life and it was the biggest thing he had ever laid eyes on. It's white colored skin and red eyes made his skin crawl as is lifted its gigantic claw like arms again and shrilled ludly. It got ready to slam it's fists down on Leon again when an arrow had struck it from the side.

There Shana stood with her bow in hand and he quiver on her back. She took aim again and shot the monster in one of it's eyes sending it into a fury.

"Leon! Get away for the Virage!"

Shana yelled to Leon as he looked stunned at the creature his father always told him about, Leon couldn't believe this was a Virage, one of the vary monsters his father and mother had both fought before. It was bigger than he ever imagined it to be. In his fascination Leon became unable to move as the Virage went to strike at him again.

"LEON!"

Shana yelled as she rushed out to protect her son with her body. But the Virages fists never reached them as it stumbled backwards screeching and slinging it's arms about trying to get big cat like animal off of its face. The animal kept biting into the Virage's eyes until it was ruffly slapped off and hit the ground with a thud only to bounce back on to its feet. After realizing what was going to happen and what did Leon finally forced his body to move.

"Mother, are you okay?"

Shana smiled lightly and nodded her head. Leon quickly picked her up and placed her on the porch and then hugged her before running back out to see the cat creature attacking the Virage once again. He pulled out his sword but not quick enough as the Virage flailed it's arms about ready to strike at him again. Before Leon really realized it and shadow quickly raced in front of him and sliced the Virage's arm clean off before the shadow bounced of the walls of the building and then quickly landed on top of one of the house. He looked up at the figure which he now noticed was wearing a black cloak and had all but the bottom jaw covered. The figure placed their Claymore along their shoulder and looked back down at him.

"Well, are you going to just stand there and look like an idiot or are your going to help me kill this Virage."

Leon nodded as he watched the Virages severed arm turn into sand and looked confused a bit before he lifted his sword and charged at the Virage more than ready to slice it in half.