He was a man feared for his power

He could split the seas

Crack the Earth

And smother the flame of life

He was the god emperor

Dragon Tears

I: Age of Man

By: OmegaGear

X

~ Consumed In Darkness ~

It was barely morning when the royal welcoming party formed in the main dock of the castle. The Longiness was expected to arrive shortly, and everyone was in a hurry to prepare for the return of the elder prince. Guards hustled about in formation, preparing a standing salute for the prince. The band formed a line down a path that lead from the edge of the dock to the platform near the castle entrance, where I was situated with my family.

I was dressed in my ceremonial gown, a long pure-white dress with no straps to hold it up at the shoulders. Instead, the dress had a capelet that tied around my arms and shoulders rather than draping over them. The top portion of the dress was fit to hug my figure perfectly while the skirt was loose, so it would flow in the wind like the feathers of the great bird. At least, that's what it was supposed to signify. The back of my dress was low cut to reveal my shoulder blades. This allowed my wings to remain out without damaging the gown.

I was standing next to my older sister, Elina, who was wearing a similar dress, although hers was lightly tinted blue. Her dress' color signified serenity, and combined with mine, formed the colors of the Wyndian flag.

My mother, Katrina, stood in the center of the platform, next to my father. Her lavish gown was design in the same image as mine and my sister's, but was far more extravagant. The torso was the same light blue as my sister's gown, with a white capelet that covered her shoulders. The capelet was tied above her bosom by a ribbon and had a neck ruff made of white feathers. The skirt of her dress was made of several layers in several shades of blue and white. It was like the very essence of the sky captured in a single piece of clothing. Her silver crown was simple compared to the kings, but its simple beauty could not be mistaken. Upon closer examination, one would see the legend of the great bird formed by the silver wire. A woman bares the mark of the wing and offers her life to her people. The power of the wing transforms her, and together they rule the sky, becoming Wyndia's greatest jewel. This jewel was symbolized by a giant blue diamond, and was the only gem in the crown.

My father, King Walter Frederick Wyndia, was wearing the royal armor handed down for centuries. It had a chest piece made of silver plated steel with the Wyndian symbol for order extruding from the chest in gold. Atop the armor, he wore a cape that was royal blue, a dark contrast to the dresses worn by the women in the family. This blue was different from any other used in the entire country. It was a shade reserved solely for the king's wardrobe. His golden crown sat atop his head like the shining sun that hangs high in the sky. Light reflected from its intricate designs and illuminated the jewels.

The younger of my two older brothers, Elliot, was standing at my father's left side. He was wearing a more modest outfit. He also wore a royal armor piece, but his was less impressive, having the same general design concepts, but the crest of long life was carved into the silver plating, instead of being drawn onto it with gold. Over his shoulders, he wore a blue circle capelet that was quite a bit longer than mine or the queen's. While ours barely went below the shoulders and look more graceful, his went down to his thighs. The flat-cap on his head hung to one side.

Myn and Yuri were standing in front of the platform where the pathway from the dock ended. They were wearing their normal clothes, but that was okay, since they looked formal enough. Yuri didn't look like he was feeling any effects from the wound inflicted to his chest the night before.

Trumpets sounded as the gates of Wyndia began to open. The giant circular gate hung in the center of the towering wall that encompassed the capitol city of Wyndia, which was formed in the wall of a mountain. Within the circular gate, the crest of Wyndia was carved as a symbol of our rule of the sky. The legend of the great bird could be read around the edge of the circle, even from the castle, the farthest structure from the gate. As the sun rose each day, its light would reflect off of the polished stone, illuminating the writing.

The giant gate opened from its center slowly as each half retreated into the wall. The sunlight coming from behind the castle reflected off of an airship as it traveled through the widening crack. The silvery white ship was another example of Wyndia's elegance and beauty. The airship Longiness was the flagship of the fleet. Its long slender body was plated with the strongest metals mined in the country, giving it an armor that could trade blows with the mightiest warships. The ship, when viewed from above, looked much like the blade of a sword, with its wings forming the hilt and the engines its handle.

As the Longiness flew over the city slowly, I could hear the cheers of the crowd in the street. It was heartwarming to hear everyone so united in the break of a new day.

A man marched out to the front of the soldiers standing in formation. He turned and yelled out commands as the ship approached, directing the groups. When all was said and done, the man returned to his position at the front of the group, facing sideways from where the ship would land. Now, only the sound of the band could be heard as the Longiness began its landing.

The giant ship was larger than the entire dock, meaning it had to dock by allowing the towing claws to grasp its landing struts. It looked a little odd, but it was how the ship always docked at the castle. As it settled down in the docking bay of the castle, a red carpet was laid out from its main doors by two soldiers.

The doors opened and the man that had been ordering the soldiers before yelled for a salute. The two groups on each side of the carpet stomped their feet together and raised a hand to their brow in a salute. A man wearing a long hooded white robe walked down the ramp. I couldn't see his face as he approached, and no one followed him.

When he stopped in front of us, there was a dead silence. I looked around and saw that while everyone was trying to remain at attention, they all made glances towards the empty doors. My father stepped forward and asked, "Why have you come alone, Cassandra?"

Cassandra? She was a woman? I could hardly believe it, but after taking a closer look, I guess the features under the robe were a bit more womanly than I had initially thought.

Cassandra took a knee before my father and bowed her head. "Forgive me, your highness," she begged him. "I was unable to protect your son, and he fell in combat," she said.

Everyone broke down into a clamor when hearing the news. Before things got out of control, the man leading the soldiers yelled for them to return to attention.

"This cannot be," my father said out of denial. "Surely, you jest. My son… Kurtis, where is he?" he asked. He was starting to sound a little hysterical.

I wanted to look over at my father, but I was trying as hard as I could not to cry at hearing that my brother was dead. I could feel my lungs quivering in my chest, yearning to let out the air I was suppressing while fighting back my tears.

Cassandra remained on one knee as six men exited the Longiness carrying a large casket on their shoulders. They brought the casket to the feet of the king and lowered it gently to the ground. "I'm sorry, your highness," said Cassandra. One man opened the top half of the casket to reveal that it was empty except for the royal plate my brother wore and his sword. "We could not find a body," she said.

My father collapsed where he stood, but was caught by my brother and mother. He began crying heavily, and voiced his distress.

My mother was also crying, although not as heavily as my father was. My brother and sister were both standing with tears around the rims of their eyes, but they managed to remain strong, somehow. I wanted to be as strong as them, but I couldn't. Under the stress of fighting my rush of emotions, my shaky knees finally collapsed, and I fell backwards to the ground.

Myn was quick to catch me around the shoulders and helped me remain standing. "Are you alright, princess?" he asked.

"Yeah…" I answered slowly. I wiped my eyes and allowed Myn to hold me up. I didn't think I could stand up on my own strength at the moment. I looked over at the woman kneeling before my father and asked, "Who is she?"

"That is Cassandra," Myn said. He lifted me a bit higher and I rested my head on his shoulder. "She's been around for a long time," he said," protecting the princes of this kingdom."

"She is a Ryong?" I asked. She must have been, if she was the protector of the royal family.

"Yes, although she's never really told me," Myn answered. "She's very quiet."

She's never told him? What was that supposed to mean? "Then how do you know?" I asked.

"When a woman doesn't age for three hundred years, you generally get the idea," Myn said.

My father struggled back onto his own feet and looked down on Cassandra. "How did this happen?" my father asked.

"Your highness…" Cassandra paused. "Perhaps it would be best that such matters are discussed in private," she said.

"Yes, of course," he replied. He began to walk foreword, looking like he could faint at any moment. My brother remained at his side, holding his arm. "We must speak at once…" my father said as he stepped down from the platform. He gazed down into the casket and feel to his knees. He threw himself onto the wooden cover and began to cry harder than ever. My mother ran to him to comfort him, but her own tears prevented her from speaking a word.

I joined in the mourning of my brother's passing, losing myself in the sea of sorrow. My sister hugged me tightly. I returned the hug as best I could, but my strength was dwindling. As I lost all control of my emotions, I let the rest of myself go. My mind no longer thought of my brother. I only knew the pain of loss.

- x -

I was just finishing getting dressed when I heard a commotion going on outside. "What's the occasion?" I asked as I pulled the simple white shirt they provided me with over my head. The clothes they gave me to wear in the castle weren't the best out there, but I'd take it any day over that drafty hospital gown I had been wearing for weeks. Beside the simple shirt, I was also given a pair of blue pants and a pair of shoes. The pants were kind of loose, but a pull string at its waistband allowed me to tighten it enough to stay up. The shoes were almost like slippers. They had very little traction and no means of tying or clipping them tightly.

"Hmm? Oh, the Longiness must be arriving," the doctor said. His back was turned to me while he looked something over on his clipboard. "The elder prince is returning from the battle at the front after nearly two months."

I walked over to the window and watched as a circular hole opened in the wall that surrounded the city. I had never seen anything like it, and the airship that entered through it was equally as magnificent. I heard of the ships Wyndia built. They prized beauty as much as they did power. The ship I saw was proof of that.

I must have been mesmerized by what I saw, because I was taken completely by surprise when Dr. Elya tapped my shoulder.

"Mr. Jenso!" he said firmly.

I flinched when I realized he had been tapping me and took a quick look around. "Sorry," I said. "I guess I let myself go a little there." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"That's quite alright," he assured me. He began walking towards the door and motioned for me to follow him. "Come along, Mr. Jenso," he said. "I'll escort you to your quarters."

I slipped on the shoes he provided me with and followed Elya out of the room where we were joined by the two guards that had been standing watch. We began walking down the stone hall when I was overwhelmed by a strange feeling. I stopped walking and looked out arched window to our side.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Jenso?" the doctor asked.

"I don't know…" I answered. Was it just a chill coming from the windows lining the outer wall that I felt? No, it felt familiar. It felt like anger, and fear. "Look out!" I yelled.

I pushed the doctor against the wall and spun around. The two guards pulled out their weapons. One of them had a sword while the other held a gun. They probably thought I was planning to escape, but before I could explain myself, a woman dropped down on one of them. It was the woman from my dreams, the one wearing the black and orange dress. She was the one that had so much hatred and fear involving me.

The woman punched the other guard as he turned to shoot her. While he stepped backwards the woman stepped off of the guard she was standing on and flipped him up into the air with the heel of her boot. As the guard flipped up into a roll, the woman slammed her fist into his stomach and brought him down to the ground with so much force the solid stone surface cracked.

I saw the other guard regain his balance as this happened and take aim at her head. I tried to make a break for it, but he quickly turned his gun towards me. I froze while I was still bent over, about to spring into a run.

The woman didn't seem to care who he was aiming at. She grabbed the guard's arm by the elbow with one hand and the gun with the other. In one quick motion, she grabbed the gun from her and hand spun him into the air while she spun around. As she finished her spin, the woman brought her leg up and kicked the man out the small window behind him.

I didn't wait any longer. While the man flew out the open window, I ran away as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew it was a lot safer than staying and fighting that woman. After taking a few turns and running down some stairs, I came up to a pair of large doors. I quickly threw one of the doors open and slipped in before slamming the door shut. I leaned against the wooden door and took a moment to catch my breath when I realized where I had stopped.

I looked around the giant mess hall at the uncountable number of guards that had stopped eating their breakfast to turn and look at me. No one had to say anything, because I knew what they were all thinking at that very moment. The prisoner was escaping.

As the some of the guards began to get up and make their way towards me, I felt something explode within me. It felt like I had become awake for the first time, and had an unlimited amount of energy.

I turned to the nearest guard, who pulled out his sword as he began running at me. I slid to my right as he tried to stab me and grabbed the handle of his sword. He tried to push the blade through me while I held onto the handle, but I kept it still. I backhanded the guard in the face and twisted the sword and lifted it up to block another guard that jumped over the first one as he swung.

I traded blows with him a few times before finally nicking him with the tip of my blade. The guard jumped back and reached for the cut on his cheek, giving me a clear shot at him. Instead of killing him, I simply kicked him in the ribs and ran as another dozen guards tried to circle around me.

By now, all the guards in the mess hall had gotten up from their seats and were moving in groups to trap me. Most of them were unarmed, but that didn't matter when they outnumbered me by so much. Before they could corner me by the wall, I flipped over a thin line of men and landed on a table. Two guards jumped up after me, one in front, and the other behind me.

The table shook and rattled when we moved, making it hard to keep our footing. At least the guards on the ground weren't attempting to trip me. They seemed satisfied with letting everyone get a fair shot at taking me down face-to-face.

The guard in front of me took the initiative and attacked me while the one behind me motioned for someone to give him a weapon. I swung and met each of his attacks with equal power, but the guard had the advantage, since his handle was much longer, and allowed him to hold it with both hands. This was a double edged sword, however, because it also required him to turn his body more when making horizontal attacks while I could simply turn my right arm to make a full sweeping motion.

This must have slipped the guard's mind, because he allowed himself to spin into a horizontal sweep, which I ducked under. While the guard was turned around, I swept his legs with the back end of my sword and brought him down onto the table on his stomach.

As I got up and turned around, I saw something sharp coming for at my eyes. I arched my back as much as I could to avoid the reach of the sharp object. When I saw the object retreat and straightened my back, I saw that the other guard had been given a spear. The guard lunged at me again, forcing me to retreat back a step. There wasn't much I could do against a spear with a sword.

The guards surrounding the table began cheering as the man with the spear continued to chase me back. He began to vary his attacks by lunging at my head and sides. I twisted and turned to avoid the spear, but was becoming more and more unbalanced with each step.

As I began to tilt off balance, the guard lunged at my feet. I hopped over the spear's point and spread my feet so they landed around it. Before the guard could pull back and attack me again, I jumped and spin kicked him in the side of the head.

More guards jumped onto the table as their comrade fell off and I quickly jumped across the aisle to the next line of tables. I kicked over bowls and plates at the guards as they crowded around and ran into the middle of the line of tables, away from the edge the spear wielder had chased me to.

This didn't really help much though, because a group of men tipped over the table behind me, putting me near an edge anyways.

With nowhere to run to, I had to take the offensive. I charged at the guard on the table ahead of me and batted his sword aside before elbowing him and kicking sideways off the table. The next man came at me with a short sword and a shield, making him a lot more difficult to deal with. He blocked my attacks no matter how I placed them with his circular shield and retaliated with quick thrusts that chased me back to the edge.

When I got to the edge, another man jumped up onto the table and grabbed me from behind. He locked my arms so I couldn't fight back, leaving me wide open. The man with the shield was intent on taking me in alive, so he pulled his shielded arm back to swing the metal plate at my head.

I struggled to break out of the man's grip, but he was a lot stronger than I was. In desperation, I began to move my body as much as I could all at once, and the back of my head collided with his nose.

The guard immediately let go of me, causing me to fall onto the table out of harm's way. I rolled onto my back and saw the man with the shield smack the other guard in the face again, causing him to go spinning to the ground. I rolled back onto my hands and floor kipped back up under the other guard's extended arm and punched him in the ribs.

I was moving to knock him down for good when someone grabbed me from behind. I grabbed the arm around my neck and heaved the man over me as I bent over and released him into a throw. The man flew into two others that were standing on the table across the aisle from me, who landed on three other guards on the ground.

Among the yelling, I heard something snap. I looked up to see the doors I had come through break off of their hinges and fall onto the guards I had just sent to the ground. Everyone stopped yelling and paying attention to me. We all looked over towards the now open doorway and saw the same woman that had chased me all the way here.

"Shit," I cursed.

The woman walked over the door, causing muffled screams from the men underneath it. Unlike her savage nature I experience before, she was approaching with a much more womanly sway in her hips and a seductive smile.

This certainly caused everyone to be taken off guard. When she reached the soldiers nearest to her, the woman caressed one of their cheeks and neck. He seemed to enjoy it, but not for long. As her fingers ran down his neck, the woman suddenly wrapped her hand around his throat and lifted him off of the ground.

At seeing this assault, everyone broke into a frenzy again. A large group converged on the woman, who discarded the man she had been strangling. The soldiers didn't use weapons against her, and the woman didn't draw her sword from its sheath at her left hip.

One would think that a dozen grown men could take on one woman in hand to hand brawls, but this woman was obviously a lot more dangerous than I previously thought. Her blows were quick and precise. Each blow landed squarely at vital areas, almost always taking the victim out of the fight with one hit. It didn't matter if they took her on alone, or two or three at a time. Her brutal attacks and incredible skill outclassed them.

I didn't get to watch for long, because the men around me started going after me again. I kicked the guard I had been fighting before the interruption and started hopping from table to table. Men hopped after me and reached up to pull me down every time I leapt over an aisle they were occupying, but I managed to remain untouched.

I stopped on the last line of tables and ducked as a man tried to kick me off with the heel of his boot. I quickly stabbed him in the stomach with the tip of my sword and punched him with my free hand. He fell off of the table reaching for his wound while another man went flying over my head.

The guard crashed into the wall, causing noticeable damage to the large grey stone bricks. I turned to look at where the woman was fighting the much larger crowd of guards and saw more of them getting thrown or punched away like pieces of garbage. The broke one's nose with the palm of her hand, elbowed another in the stomach, and then threw them both backwards by crossing her arms and then throwing her fists back.

Now the guards were getting desperate, and ran to the racks of weapons they had put away when eating. They grabbed swords, shields, spears, axes, knives, anything they could get their two hands on. Even the guards that had chased after me joined the bigger group, finding the woman far more dangerous. The rearmed mob formed two circles around the woman and paced around her like a pack of hungry wolves. The woman looked at all of them and then slowly retrieved her sword from its sheath.

As the blade of the sword slid out of the leather sheath, I felt the air in the room become stale. I could feel an aura coming from the sword, as if it were alive. It breathed and pulsed as she twirled it through the air, and when she tightened her grip, it cried for blood.

The first guard made his move. He swung at her with a broad sword in his hands. The short, but powerful, blade collided with hers above her head. The woman stepped aside and let the man fall forwards with the force of his attack and twisted her blade in a circle that grazed the back of his shoulder. Another soldier immediately took his place. He twirled his spear over his head and came at her with quick lunges. The woman easily twisted her body around the spear as it came at her until she grabbed it at the top of its shaft.

They struggled for a moment to try to pull the spear from each other's grasp, but neither seemed to be strong enough. Or rather, the man wasn't strong enough. The woman was simply standing in place making sure to keep her grip on the wooden pole. In one quick snap of her elbow, the woman pulled the spear free and then jabbed him with its blunt end repeatedly. She started by thrusting it into his face, then his shoulders, stomach, and finally, his legs.

The man fell onto his knees from the beating. The woman flipped the spear over, cutting him up the middle of his face, and threw it right through another guard's chest.

With their numbers dwindling, the remaining guards all moved in on the woman at once. I couldn't see anything that was going on, and I didn't want to stick around to see the outcome. I promptly hopped off of the table and slipped out the door on the other end.

As I shut the door I found myself in an empty hallway. I could still hear the battle behind the closed door, and walked away quickly. I looked out a small window and saw that I was on the second floor near a large garden. A quick scan of the area showed several ways into the massive area, and one such way was almost directly under me.

I quickly ran down the hall and rounded down the first set of stairs I found. When I reached the bottom, I found myself face-to-face with more guards. These guards looked a lot more professional than the others, and they weren't being caught off guard while eating. I was lucky enough to catch them while they were looking for trouble like me.

They were better equipped than the men in the mess hall. Their thin plate armor was coated over their loose fitting clothes. They didn't have helmets, but something told me they didn't use them in order to have the full capabilities of their senses. They were armed for better agility and speed than a person that would wear a full armor suit. The guards turned to me and placed their hands on the handles of their sheathed swords. "Where do you think you're going?" one of them asked. They stood in perfect form, like highly trained elite soldiers would.

I didn't answer them. I quickly scanned the room I was in. It was a hallway that stretched down in both directions. Doors lined the wall opposite to me, with a short path leading to some double doors directly ahead. I recalled the path I had taken after seeing the garden and concluded that those doors must lead there.

"Answer me!" the guard demanded. He pulled out his sword, a rather long double edged sword that made a low hum as it sliced through the air. "Speak now, or surrender," the guard said.

Before I could even think of something to say, I crashing sound came from upstairs. I imagined that the woman had finished the guards in the mess hall and was now after me again. I dashed at the guards who reacted by crossing their swords between them, in front of the path towards the double doors. I jumped as high as I could and flipped over as the guards raised their blades to block me, barely avoiding them.

I pushed open the doors as I reached them and found myself exactly where I wanted to get. The giant open area was filled with trees and shrubs that I could hide behind while trying to formulate some peaceful way to surrender while escaping that insane woman.

I heard some people having a conversation nearby and quickly dove behind some bushes. I peeked out to see some guards chatting with two maids. They looked very solemn, like something terrible had happened. I turned my right ear towards the conversation and tried to listen. I couldn't make out everything, but it sounded like something happened with the royal family.

With the small group of people spearing occupied with their conversation, I slipped out of my hiding place and snuck around them. The garden I was in was a lot more like a park. I guess I was in the central courtyard, by the looks of it. Stone walkways lead people through it as quickly as possible from door to door, and the entire area was actually framed by an open hallway with the wall between the grass and the stone being nothing more than a row of arches.

Guards were standing or patrolling everywhere I looked. I was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here after all. I ducked behind a tree as a pair of men passed by and peeked around again. The security pattern was tight, especially for daylight. Pairs of guards were patrolling in such a way that they crossed each other frequently, to leave no space unwatched for too long. It would be impossible for me to remain unseen. Still, I had to try.

As I began to move again, a commotion started not too far from me. I thought I was caught for sure, but the guards were all yelling and running in a direction away from me. I backtracked to the tree I was hiding behind and watched three pairs of guards run back towards the door I had come from. The two guards I ran through must have been alerting everyone to my presence.

I must have been wrong, because the commotion sounded a lot more intense than some guards discussing the whereabouts or an intruder. I heard metal clash, and people yelling. I could only think of that woman finding her way here, and quickly ran away without even looking to verify my theory.

"Hey!" I heard someone shout as I darted down the lawn towards an arrangement of hedges. The hedges seemed to be enclosed around something, and formed what appeared to almost be a maze to me. They were too tall for me to look over, and the branching paths didn't give me a good idea of if I was going in or out.

I heard several other people moving through the maze, obviously after me. I continued at a brisk pace, trying not to rub against the hedges as much as possible. No matter how much I turned or ran, it sounded like the footsteps were catching up to me.

Finally, I found myself in the center of hedge maze. The circular area was about twenty feet in diameter. There were three benches that formed a circle around a rather tall tree where numerous birds were chirping. There were two paths besides the one I used to enter this area.

I was at a complete loss. I knew I couldn't go back the way I came, but the other two paths didn't look very good either. Before I could even decide, the guards that had been chasing me emerged from one of the paths in front of me.

There were three of them in total, all of them using short swords. They spread out as they entered the center, making sure to cover me enough so that I couldn't run out one of the exits.

I had dropped my weapon a while back, so I was at a severe disadvantage. The guards didn't seem to care that I was unarmed, and began closing in on me all at once.

I looked at each of them as they approached, preparing for the first attack. Something didn't feel right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt like someone was watching. I looked around beyond the guards and listened for anyone else approaching, but sensed nothing either way.

As one of the guards passed under the tree in the center, something fell from it and hit him on the head. The guard flinched from the impact and ducked. He looked up at the tree and rubbed his head.

As the guard got up, the branches above him rustled and a strange shadow dropped down behind him without making much of a sound at all. As the darkness landed, it took the form of the woman that was chasing me and grabbed the man by his neck.

The man tried to pry her fingers off with his hands, but couldn't seem to get a grip on them. The woman lifted him off of the ground and ran her sword through his chest. As the man screamed, the other two took notice and stopped approaching me.

The man's body began flinching under the woman's grip, and he was coughing blood. Within seconds, he slowly died, and his body stopped moving.

The woman released the man's neck and let the body slide off of her blade. As the blood ran from its hilt to its tip, I could feel its desire for more crying out. She spread her arms and twirled her sword in the air, letting the blood drip into a circle around her.

The two guards watched this with disgust and attacked at the same time. The woman blocked the one on her right as he attacked and punched him back so that she could turn around to block the other.

The two locked blades several times, going high and low in tight combat. As the other guard got up and approached from behind, the woman ducked under the sword of the one she was fighting.

As she stood up again, the woman punched the man in the chest and then kicked him back. As if she knew where the other guard was, and what position his body was in, the woman spun around and sliced horizontally with so much force, her sword cut his in two. Before the guard could even react to his misfortune, the woman sliced in the other directing and cut him from his right shoulder to his left armpit.

Now I sensed the blade's will more than ever, like it was controlling its own movements. The new blood on its sharp edge was bringing it into a frenzy. The woman sliced horizontally again, cutting open the man's gut, and then upwards to his left shoulder, and finally across, taking his head off. It all took no more than a second.

The decapitated body fell forwards to the ground while the head rolled to the woman's feet. The other guard screamed at losing his comrade and ran at her. The look in his eyes, he had completely lost it.

The woman turned around slowly and had the sickest smile on her face. It wasn't evil, but mocking. Inside her mind, she was laughing at the man. As the man wildly slashed downwards, the woman spun around him, letting him run past her harmlessly. As she completed her spin, she extended her sword and cut the man's back.

The man stumbled at the cold steel cut through him, and collapsed onto his stomach. He continued to struggle, trying to find some way to get up and fight, but his body refused to move beyond his shaky spasms.

The woman walked over him and stopped with her feet surrounding his waist. She stabbed his back between his shoulder blades and twisted the sword until he stopped moving. Once he did, she looked at me and said, "Now it's your turn, Ryu."

- x -

"Cassandra!" Myn yelled as we ran out of the chapel after her. Cassandra had just finished speaking with the king and was now walking briskly away. When we caught up to her we slowed to her pace before Myn continued. "Cassandra, are you sure?"

Cassandra seemed to not hear Myn. I couldn't see anything underneath her hooded robe, and she was very good at remaining rather calm. "Sure about what?" she asked.

"About what happened at that battle," Myn said. "Did you really see what you saw?" he asked.

Cassandra stopped walking suddenly. We were walking so quickly, Myn, Yuri, and I nearly passed her before also stopping. I could now see the bottom of her face underneath the hood. Her skin was very pale, and had a strange blue tint to it. Her lips were also blue, a bit darker than the sky, but brighter than my father's royal garments. "Of course I'm sure," she said.

Yuri spoke before Myn could. "But we didn't feel anything," he said. "Such an act would surely cause the spirit energy of the draconians to resonate."

Draconians? I had never heard of them before. Were they related to the Ryong that Myn and Yuri were vessels for? Before I could ask, Cassandra began to speak.

"I don't know why the draconians didn't resonate," she admitted. "But it was unmistakable. The feeling of death approaching, the sea of darkness descending around me, everyone cried out in more agony than I've heard in over a thousand years. I felt it sucking the lives from those people, as it melted their flesh and bones. The fire that spread wasn't hot, but cold. Its flames consumed the earth, turning it an ashen gray like the very grounds of Hell." Cassandra appeared to be shaking underneath her robe as she described what she saw. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that it was a hex," she said.

Myn and Yuri both dropped their heads. They seemed saddened by what she was saying, and I guess I could understand why. I had heard of hexes before, but never knew they were real. The legend of the Fou Empire of the first age included a weapon possessed by the God Emperor. It was a weapon that used a person's sorrow, hatred, and malice to consume the land in darkness. The legends spoke of unthinkable horror resulting from a hex. People would melt into the ground, being reborn as mindless monsters in the mists left behind. Plants would turn to ash, and water would become a poison. It was a weapon that could only exist in legends, and yet, Cassandra was describing it exactly as it was in the stories.

"Then the empire has been able to rebuild the lost technology," Myn said.

"That's what troubles me," Cassandra said.

"What do you mean?" Yuri asked.

Cassandra began walking again without warning, forcing us to run for a second to catch up to her. We moved through some double doors into the main corridor of the castle before she began talking again. "You both know, as well as I do, that the forbidden arts of the god emperor and Yuna were all destroyed after the second age," she said. "The world was nearly destroyed in the war for them, and since then, there's been only one remaining record," she said.

"Fou himself," Yuri said.

"That's right," Cassandra confirmed.

"Yua…" Myn said darkly. "Yua has revived the hex cannon technology for the empire?"

"It would seem," Cassandra said rather speculatively," that Fou's ambitions still exist, even after ten-thousand years."

"That's ridiculous," Myn said. He began pacing in front of the other two with his hands crossed behind his back. "Fou was the lesser of the two, and was consumed when the joining created Yorae," he said. "His will was lost," he said.

"You know as well as I do that Yorae has separated its parts again," Cassandra said. "As their vessels, we have a portion of their memories, and who are we to say that doesn't include their desires?" she asked. "It is the only way to explain how the hex was used," she said.

"Cassandra is right," Yuri told Myn. "I do not know why she would do it, but there is no other explanation."

"Uh…. Excuse me," I interjected. The three looked at me with a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

Myn let out an audible sigh and said, "What is it, princess?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're talking about," I said.

"You don't need to understand," Myn said.

I was about to protest, but Yuri reacted faster than I could. "Easy, Myn," he said. "Let's not be too hard on her after such a heavy loss. Don't forget who she is," he said.

Although I don't like flaunting my status around, I felt I needed to be a little more firm when dealing with Myn now. "That's right," I said. I put my hands on my hips and stood up straight, demanding respect.

Myn chuckled at my display while turning around. "If only you knew, princess," he said, almost grimly. "There is a time for everything, and it is not yet time for you to learn about Fou," he said.

"I've heard of him before," I said. I was a little snobby when I spoke, but I was getting aggravated. "He is the god emperor in the legends that predate history."

"Fou is no legend," Yuri said. "He was more real than anyone could imagine." Yuri walked a little closer to me as he spoke, making me feel a little intimidated. "Some say the legends are true, but merely an exaggeration, a twisting of natural anomalies and tricks. Some think he was merely a man that was able to use alchemy to perform magical wonders. Others believe the stories to be nothing more than fairy tales, meant to shape the empire as an evil power." Yuri was now standing right in front of me, looking down into my eyes. "But they're all wrong," he said. "The god emperor was exactly as the legends say he was. He was a god."

I could feel my skin crawling under Yuri's gaze. His seriousness and the look in his eyes only magnified what he was saying. The stories of the god emperor spoke of unimaginable power, and the most terrible acts. The most dreadful was that of the hex. If such a man truly existed, and still did today in Yua, there was no telling what could happen.

While I thought about what Yuri told me, Myn seemed a little uneasy. He suddenly looked down the hall with his shoulders noticeably tense. His left hand clenched his sword's sheath while his right hand rested on its handle.

"What is it?" Cassandra asked.

Myn stared down the hall intently for a moment before turning to Cassandra. "Did you just feel something?" he asked.

Cassandra look up like she had heard something and then down the hall, just as Myn had, "Yes…" she said. "I can hear it."

"What is it?" I asked. "What do you hear?"

"The draconians are resonating," Cassandra said. "They're singing for their master."

- x -

The woman that stood before me pulled her sword from the man lying on the ground. She was just as I had dreamed her, fair skin and long black hair which was worn as a long, think braid and two small ones on the sides. Her auburn eyes looked a little redder than in my dream, and gave her a sort of evil appearance, despite her young features that were otherwise cute and innocent.

Her black dress only went halfway down her thighs, except for a long strip down the outside of her left leg that went all the way to the ground. The sleeves barely went past her shoulders, leaving her arms completely bare except for the gloves that went to her elbows. On top of her cloths, she wore thin pieces of armor on her forearms, elbows, and shoulders. A large belt rested on her hips. While belts were commonly worn tightly to hold clothes up, hers was loose, just tight enough to not slip down her hips. It looked like she only wore it to carry around her sword on. Her black boots went a little past her ankles and looked durable and fashionable at the same time. They definitely could last long journeys, but looked a lot more comfortable than military boots.

I would guess that she was no older than twenty-five.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The woman had a pleasant smile on her face, but her eyes didn't mirror that feel. As they gazed at me, they looked amused, like I was insignificant. "My name is Yua," she said.

"Yua," I repeated to myself. "Why are you trying to kill me?" I asked.

"How do you know that I am?" she asked. The way she asked didn't sound like she was surprised. It was more like she was asking me if I was sure.

I was going to give an answer when a thought struck me. How did I know? I tried to think of the reason, but all that came to mind was a scramble of sounds and emotions.

"That's right," Yua said. She began walking towards me as the barrage of images increased in intensity. "You can hear them too, can't you, Ryu?" she asked.

I tried to step back slowly, but discovered that my body did not want to cooperate. My legs felt like they were frozen to the ground while my body felt like stone. Yua was standing in front of my face when she spoke.

"I know, because they resonate more than ever whenever I am near you," she said. "You heard them last night, didn't you?" she asked. "Their voices crying out to you, for mercy, for salvation, for… peace."

I coughed and choked as it became harder to breath. The air was growing stale, just like it had before. Was it her that was causing it? Was Yua what I had felt?

"Or… was it revenge that they cried for, hmm?" Yua asked. She grabbed my shoulders and squeezed them hard. I began to feel cold. Her touch was like ice, and it was spreading through my body like poison in my blood. "Was it vengeance, Ryu? Or perhaps it was chaos?"

I could hear the voices now, clearer than before, although they spoke in a language I did not understand. Bright spots appeared around us like a chorus of angels. Was I hallucinating or were these the source of the voices?

"You can see them… can't you?" Yua asked. She looked into my eyes and smiled. There was something sick behind those lips, a twisted pleasure at torturing me like this.

"What… what are they?" I asked weakly. My body was beginning to feel numb.

"They are your sorrow," she said, "your hatred, and your malice." I felt the sharp pain as Yua squeezed me harder and pulled me closer. She put her mouth to my ear and whispered "they are the darkness that consumes you."

Just as I felt like I was going to lose consciousness, Yua released me. I collapsed onto my hands and knees and coughed up blood. I breathed heavily while the cold fled my body. The ice in my veins slowly flowed into a raging fire. I was overcome by a strange desire.

Yua walked back towards the tree and held her sword in front of her face in both hands. As the blade's aura spread forth, the floating lights vanished. Yua turned around and faced me again with her sword resting at her side. "Get up," she demanded.

I stood up slowly and Yua threw one of the dead guard's swords at my feet. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted. She wanted to fight me. I didn't understand why, but I complied. Something inside me cried out for this. It felt more primal than any instinct I'd felt before. It was like I was born to fight her.

- x -

Author's notes:

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my story so far. I realize things have changed a lot since the first two chapters in terms of writing style. Those were written quite a while ago, and I've had time to polish my skills a bit since then. Please leave any comments and suggestions you'd like to make :)