As the first rays of the morning sunlight began to streak through the curtains of the Sage house, Krystal opened her eyes. It was a few minutes after dawn. She would have to get out of this place quickly. The stranger was waiting for her back at the base. Krys rose from the comfy bed and stretched. Krys dressed in her regular outfit: black corset, black pants, three white belts, and black arm warmers. She placed her knives, bolts, and crossbow on the belts and stared to walk out the door. In the bed next to hers, Presea slept silently, her breathing calm and carefree. She stepped out of the room, and heard the gentle breathing of the Professor from all the way down the hall.

Krys tip-toed through the halls, and out the door. She closed the door as quietly as she could, and began to walk through the village. Since it was dawn, only a few people were awake and walking around the streets. Krys slipped out of the city silently, and into the clearing around the city. She walked a little longer, and then raised her hand to a packet on her shoulder. She touched the packet with her right hand, and waved it down quickly. A purple Rheiard appeared before her. Krys mounted the Rheiard, and placed a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. The Rheiard began to rise, higher into the air by the second.

She began to fly, and soon the green grass faded into the infinite abyss of yellow sand, and the desert city of Triet appeared. Krys veered the Rheiard to the right, and soon the Sylvarant Base appeared. Krys landed her Rheiard, and shrunk it back to its original size. She placed it back in the wing pack, and started the short walk to the base.

When she arrived at the main doors, Krys entered the password, and the doors opened, blasting her with the freshness of cold air. She stepped inside, and walked through the gray hallways to the door of her office.

"Welcome back, Krystal," one of the Renegade's who guarded Krystal's door said. "It is good to see you again."

"You too," Krystal said, typing in the password to her office. The door opened, and Krystal stepped inside. She sat down at her desk, and waited behind the desk for the Stranger to come, and give her the information she wanted, and whatever information he had about her family. She waited for what seemed like hours, but knew were only minutes. Finally, from outside, the door was opened and a Renegade stepped in. His helmet covered his head, and the uniform his body. Krys had no clue if he was truly the stranger. She would only know when he spoke.

"How did you get in here?" Krys asked. "I am the only one here who knows the password!"

"The master knows the password," the Renegade said. It was not the Stranger. His voice was different. Younger, calmer, nicer. "There isn't much he doesn't know,"

"Why didn't he come today?" Krys yelled, angry that this fag had told her to come all the way here, and then decide to not even show up for the meeting that he called!

"My master is very busy," the Renegade replied, shuffling his feet around in fear. "He regrets calling the meeting and not being able to attend. But he gave me all the information he wanted you to know."

"Oh really?" Krys said, raising an eyebrow. "And what stuff do I get to know?"

"Well," the Renegade said, starting to pace around the room. "He wanted me to tell you that you need to leave the Chosen's group behind. He says that it's not for you to interfere with them. The Chosen's group is his business, and leave it at that."

"Ok, that's fine and dandy and all, but what does he have to say about my family?"

The Renegade thought for a few moments. "Family…oh yes. He didn't have much to say about your family." Anger welled up through Krys' body. That bastard. "All he had to say was that someone in the Chosen's group is close to you in unknown ways. That's all. I'm sorry if you wanted more, but I don't know anything besides what he told me to pass on to you."

Krys sighed heavily. "It's fine, I just thought since he lured me here with something like that…I never really knew my family….he would give me more information."

"I'm sorry," the Renegade said. "But I can do nothing." At that moment, the Renegade started to cough frantically. He continued to cough, until the coughing became choking, and Krys could tell this guy was in pain. "This…must be…the Master's work…" the Renegade said. Cuts started appearing all over his body, and blood started to fall from the wounds. There were thousands of them, and more appearing every second. The man screamed, a loud ear piercing scream that wouldn't be letting up for awhile.
"What the hell….?" Krys breathed. This seemed unreal. Why was this…Master, or the Stranger, killing this man? Was it because he found out this kind of information? Or was it just for the hell of it? The man started to squirm, and after a few minutes of spreading blood around the whole room, the man stopped squirming and screaming and lay still on the floor of the office.

The room became eerily silent, and Krys knew this had to be the worker of the Stranger, she was 100 percent sure now. She remembered when she had first met him, back when she had only been a child of about eleven years of age. The unpleasant memories flooded her head, and Krys suddenly wished she would have just avoided this man like she had in the past. It was probably better anyway that she didn't know about her family…even though this information was barely called information.

She was just a young girl living in the House of Salvation close to the desert city of Triet. She was constantly allowed to pass the time there, since it was so nearby. One day, the girl Krystal was standing close to the entrance of the desert city with a few other people who weren't friends, just people to pass the time with when she was bored. Krys had never really had what she would call a "true friend."

She was startled when one of her false friend's mother's came.

"Go somewhere else!" the plump woman hissed. "We have guests coming into the city! Leave, the lot of you!" The children scattered away, but Krystal stayed where she was standing.

"You're not in charge of me," she spat. "I want to see the newcomers." Since Krystal was not her child, the woman just walked away with a sigh and a crossing of arms. A few minutes later, the strangers arrived.

He had blue hair that went down to about his shoulders. His eyes were blue, and kind. He looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He looked around the town, the look in his eyes showed he already knew everything about it. He looked down, and noticed Krystal staring at him with wide eyes.

"Hello," the new stranger said. "What's your name?"

"Krys….Krystal." Krystal replied, starting to shake uncontrollably. There was something about this man that she couldn't trust. Something about his voice that was deceiving and evil.

"Don't worry," the stranger said. "I won't bite." He smiled, but Krystal continued to stare and fear the man.

"Who are you?" she croaked at the strange man.

"I am Matharisis." the man replied. "Do you fight? I'm asking this because your build makes me think you would be an excellent archer, or even a bowman." He smiled, but the smile faded quickly as Krystal shook her head. "Then come with me, Krystal." Matharisis said. "We'll be getting you a crossbow." Krys followed Matharisis through the city of Triet, and to a weapon shop she had been forbidden to enter.

"How can I help you?" the man behind the counter asked.

"We'd like a crossbow." Matharisis said. "And six knives." The man behind the counter nodded, and looked around his tent for the requested items.

A few weeks later

"I have one more thing to show you, Krystal," Matharisis said, panting. They had just finished training, after three vigorous weeks. It had all come down to this day, the final day of the training. "And then you will know completely how to use a crossbow the proper way. Krys nodded to show her understanding. She was too exhausted to speak. Matharisis was a tough trainer.

Matharisis walked closer to Krystal, and handed her a bottle.

"What's this?" Krys asked, in between deep breaths.

"This is poison," Matharisis began to explain. Pour it on the tip of the bolts, and watch what happens." the man paused and brushed a strand of blue hair from his eyes. "That is all I have left to teach you," he said. "You can now use your crossbow." Krys beamed in delight. She could finally fight!

Later that day, Krys walked out of the Triet Inn, where she had been playing with some of her friends. She heard voices from the stable, and snuck into the shadows to listen. Standing in the stable was Matharisis, with another man. They were about the same height, but the new man had red hair.

"…watch on her," That was the man with red hair who said that.

"I can do that," Matharisis replied.

"You do know that this might end up ending her life, right?" the red haired man said. "You might even have to do the killing."

"I can't do that!" Matharisis cried. "This one is different. I won't do that. Not to her."

"Do as you wish," the red haired man whispered. "Just remember her secret…"

"Yes, I know." Matharisis replied. "It's something that someone can't forget." A look of disbelief crossed Krystal's face. Where they talking about her? She shook off the thought. They couldn't be. There was absolutely nothing special about her after all. And she didn't have a secret…did she?

The red haired man opened his mouth to speak again, but then his gaze moved, and met with that of Krystal's. "We are being watched." The red haired man's gaze moved quickly from Matharisis's over to Krystal's. He stared deep in her eyes.

"Hello there," he said, coming to where she was hiding in the stables and grabbing her by the arm roughly. He pulled her out, and faced Matharisis. "Kill her," he said. "I don't care if you know her or any of that kind of crap now. Kill her. She knows too much."

"Understood," Matharisis said. He drew a sword from his belt, and dropped his cloak to the ground. He drew a sword with a large, golden blade. "I'm sorry, Krystal." he said, speaking the truth. "But I cannot lose this job. It's vital to events yet to happen."

"NO!" Krys yelled, feeling betrayed by the man she had trusted like a father. "I trusted you! I trusted you! Leave me alone!" She started to run away, but Matharisis did nothing to stop her.

"Then I shall leave you alone," he said. "But don't go leaking the information out, Krystal. Or else I'll track you down, kill you, and then you'll never know the truth of your parents." She continued to run, out of Triet, into the desert, and into the unknown.

That was how Krys had become a wanderer, and later in life became the new leader of the powerful Renegades. That was one of her most painful memories. She hated Matharisis for what he was going to do. And now…she knew that he was after her again. She knew she couldn't go back with Presea and the others. She couldn't get them involved with this. This was her problem, her enemy. She would face Matharisis on her own, even if it meant killing him in the process.

A/N: Took me awhile to update, not to write. First my beta reader had some issues at home, so she took awhile, and then I was just being lazy. Hehe Anywho, thanks to Dragonwings144, phantom4angel, Uchiha James, Scientific Angel, and SuperUltraMonkey for reviewing! Cheers!