Hey, everyone. I'm all moved back in to college now after break. I'm excited, I can't wait till everyone else gets here too so I can see them all. I missed them a lot and I'm ready to start this semester. I know, it's weird to want to get back to school, but I love it in college. Anyway, sorry for the late update once again. I'm really really sorry this took a lot longer to get around to than I thought, way too much work already. Hopefully, the email alerts will work this chapter, but we'll see. Enjoy the next chapter.


Chapter 7: Archers

Thalion opened his eyes slowly before squinting them soon after as the bright morning sunlight shone through the window. He placed his elbows beside him to prepare to sit up, knowing that his wound would hurt when he tried to move. He braced himself as he lifted up, but he didn't feel any pain whatsoever. He looked down and removed the bandage from his side. He couldn't believe what he saw when he did so. His wound was gone, no trace of it ever being there was left. He wondered how he had managed to heal so fast and so well. It was something that completely stumped him, and he had nothing to even begin an assumption of what it could be. For now he would keep it in the back of his mind, he would hopefully find out some sort of explanation soon.

He got completely out of the bed as he got himself dressed and placed his sword in its sheath before heading out of the room to greet everyone. As soon as he entered the next room everyone looked at him in surprise at his movements. The only person without a shocked expression was his grandfather who only glanced up at him, but that was a common reaction from him and Thalion thought nothing of it.

"Why is everyone looking at me strangely?" he asked, knowing full well why they were shocked, but wanting to hear them say it themselves.

Aria was the first to speak as she stood up and walked over towards him. "Doesn't your wound still hurt, you've hardly had any time to heal," she asked him as she walked closer and placed her hand close to where his wound had once been. Just before she touched it she realized how close she was getting to him and pulled her hand away quickly. She took a step back and looked at him, awaiting some sort of answer.

"Well, I thought that I would need more time to heal as well, but its completely gone and I really don't know how," he said as he lifted his shirt up a little to show where his wound was, but there was nothing there, not even a scar.

Kratos looked at his grandson for a moment, glad that his healing had worked on him as well as he had wanted. He could help but feel the stare that Sutra was giving him from the other side of the room. He looked over to her and saw her motioning for him to go over to Thalion. Kratos sighed as he got up from his seat and walked over to Thalion.

"I suppose that now you are well, you would like to continue after Anna?" he asked him, He looked back at Sutra who didn't seem to be satisfied with what he said. Kratos knew she wanted him to explain how the wound had healed so quickly, but he wasn't going to tell him about his unique powers just yet. He figured Thalion had enough running through his mind already, and he didn't want to add anything else at the moment.

"Yeah, we can't let her get away with everything she's done, everything she's doing. These poor people are out there suffering because of her and there's nothing they can do. I think that there's something that we can do to stop her, and I'm going to find out how," Thalion said determinedly.

"Yeah? And what exactly do you think you're going to do first?" Aria said as she glanced at him before turning her back to him, awaiting an answer. She was a little concerned that Thalion was all talk and no action. She didn't really think he had what it took to bring down someone like Anna. Actually, from what she'd already seen, he didn't have what it took to take down an average man.

"Well, I say that we head towards Meltokio. That's where she's at right? It will take awhile to get there, and by the time we do, I'm sure I will have thought of something," Thalion said confidently.

Aria, Kratos, and Sutra couldn't believe what they were hearing as they hung their heads and sighed at the boy's answer. Thalion didn't really notice their reaction and smiled proudly at his plan.

Sutra, noticing the feelings running through the room decided to speak up first. "Well, I suppose that we'd better get going soon then since it will be a long trip anyway," she said as she stood up and headed out of the room to begin gathering supplies.

"I guess I'm in," Aria said as she shrugged her shoulders and headed outside to get Noishe ready to go.

Kratos was the only one left in the room as he walked over to his grandson. He placed a hand on his shoulder before sighing. "I know that you want to defeat Anna, but please be careful all right? Sometimes I think that you're too reckless," he told him as he followed where Sutra had gone to get some supplies as well.

"Reckless?" Thalion asked out loud as soon as Kratos had left. Thalion wondered what Kratos meant by this. Did he think that he was a hassle? Did he think that he would easily get hurt in this journey? Thalion knew that he had messed up once, but he'd be more cautious the next time. He wouldn't mess up anymore and he was sure of it.

Soon, everyone was outside and ready to get going. Aria was sitting on the ground with her elbows on her lap and her head in her hands as she waited impatiently for everyone to get going. Kratos, Sutra, and Thalion were making sure they had all of the supplies they needed, and they were taking awhile to do so. She sighed loudly, hoping that everyone could hear so she could get her point across. Noishe whined a little at her when she did so, nudging her with his nose at the same time.

"We hear you over there, and we're moving as fast as we can. Can't you be just a little more patient?" Sutra asked, her voice past the point of hinting her irritation.

"I thought we were going to leave as soon as possible. I've been ready, how about the rest of you, what are you taking with that's causing you to take so long to get ready?" Aria asked as she lifted her head from her hands.

"We're making sure we have enough supplies to last until the next town, wherever that may be," Sutra told her trying to keep her cool, she didn't really like exploding in anger, but she was having a difficult time keeping her composure.

"Whatever...if you run out you can still survive, believe me," Aria asked as she leaned back so she was lying on her back on the grass, her arms under her head.

"Just relax and we will get there," Kratos stepped into the conversation, ending it at that as Sutra and Aria exchanged glances once more before continuing with what they were doing.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Aria, the group was on the road. They headed towards Triet at first where they planned to restock and figure out their destination from there. They only hoped that their group wouldn't draw any attention to Anna and her forces, or to anyone who was still out looking for the Regeneration group members since both Kratos and Sutra looked the same as they had when Anna took over. They didn't have to element of aging to disguise them.

When they set up camp for the night, Sutra began to cook their dinner over the campfire. She pulled out some food from her pack and looked over at Aria. She saw that Aria only carried a small, worn down bag that didn't seem very full.

"So, Miss 'I'm too impatient to pack my own bag' what are you planning on eating for dinner since you didn't want to help pack what I have here?" Sutra asked, expecting her to cave in and apologize for her actions when she realized that she had no food.

Aria didn't reply to her as she grabbed her bow and quiver. She stood up and slung the quiver over her shoulder as she went deeper into the forest. Sutra cocked her head at her in curiosity. She couldn't help herself as she got up to follow the young girl and see what she was up to.

Sutra lost sight of Aria altogether as she wandered around the forest searching for where she went. Finally, she saw her up ahead as she stopped in her tracks to watch the girl. Aria had stopped and was crouched down on one knee on the forest floor. She had her eyes locked on something and Sutra looked over to see what she staring down. About 100 feet from her was a large bird that looked similar to a turkey. It was very preoccupied with whatever it was eating on the floor as it pecked away, unaware of its silent stalker.

Sutra then focused her gaze back to Aria who pulled an arrow carefully from her quiver and placed it in the bow before bringing it back to take aim. She pointed it carefully at the bird and waited for just the right moment. Right as the bird stopped moving for a mere second, Aria launched the arrow, piercing it right in what could have very well been its heart. It fell over, completely still as Aria walked over to it and grabbed it by the leg and began to drag it back to camp.

Sutra couldn't believe what she had seen and didn't realize what a good archer she already was. She wondered if she was able to use her elven powers with her archery at all. She then began to wonder if she even had discovered her elven powers yet. She kept it in her mind and decided to watch her the next time they were in some sort of fight to see what she was able to do. Maybe she could show Aria some of her moves as well, and hopefully spark the girl's interest in the elven magic. Soon, she realized that she needed to get back to camp before Aria realized that she had followed her at all.

Once she was back to camp it wasn't long until Aria arrived as well, still dragging the large bird behind her. Thalion and Kratos looked amazed and Sutra smirked at her.

"So, you are good with that bow and arrow after all," she said as she continued to cook what she had.

Aria began to prepare her bird and didn't really look up to Sutra or the others at first, but soon she lifted her gaze momentarily and smiled at her. She realized that Sutra must have seen her make her kill and finally realized her skill. She wondered what Sutra could do with her bow and arrow as well. There was definitely some interest between the two archers beginning to spark.


"One of your assassins has been killed recently milady," a Desian said as he bowed before a woman sitting on a throne. He seemed somewhat threatened by her presence and seemed a little nervous at being around her at all.

"Did you get a report of who the killer was?" she asked, her irritation with him rising already.

"N...Not exactly. Reports indicate that there was a male and female, one half elf, one human. The half elf appeared to have been killed, but the human ran off alive," the man said, still very nervous. The look he was getting from the woman wasn't really helping him either.

"It wasn't the two troublemakers from earlier was it?" she asked him, in a tone that let him know that what she was speaking of was the only thing of importance.

"N...no, these two were younger, they were different," he said. Before he had a chance to say anything else though there was a hand wrapped around his throat as he was brought closer to the woman.

"I don't care what goes on with some little kids causing trouble. The only thing that I care about are the two troublemakers. You know that, and you'd better remember it too," she growled at him before she pushed him back a few feet, left gasping for air.

"Yes...milady," the man coughed out before he bowed and left the room quickly.

"I have to find those two, they have to be the only reason I can't gain the control I need, there is no other explanation," she said as she sat back on her throne.


Well, that's it for that chapter. I know, a little confusing at the end, but at some point in the story you are bound to understand who and what she is talking about. Don't worry about that. Like I said the story goes slow so don't freak out if it takes quite a few chapters to get everything together. Anyway, sorry for the late update once again. Sorry, and thanks for the reviews for last chapters and please review this chapter as well. Thanks!