-11-

Milla, Kai and Chan enters the living chamber through it's foreboding doors, as the entrance opens, a burst of cold air rushes through the group which gave an eerie ambience. As the party cautiously enters the room in response the double doors is quickly slammed shut due to the rush of cold air emanating from the room, the chamber itself was so cold that Milla and her companions could see their breath.

In front of them was a youth, the group was disturbed by the scene, the youth was in fact Norah, she had cuts and bruises across her body, some of them had became dried plasma, while some was fresh; she was chained to the floor by the wrists.

The basset hound hurried to the panda's aid, horrified at her condition, "NORAH!" she cries.

Norah began coughing heavily, "Took you guys long enough." she spoke in a raspy and rigid voice, following with hollowed laughter.

When Kai and Chan followed the hound towards the center of the chamber they saw the panda girl's injuries in greater detail. Slashes and claw marks was scattered throughout her body, the bruises centered around her ankles, wrists, neck and face. The bruises on her neck showed signs of strangulation which would explain her raspy voice, her skin was as cold as ice, and pulse was slower than usual however she showed minor signs of hyperthermia.

"How long have you been in this freezer, wearing only that," Chan asks, noticing that Norah only wore a tank-top and capris, in a room that was felt like it was at freezing temperature.

Norah coughs again, "I'd say all night, heh, so they were actually smart enough to remove the crystals from their bracelets" she sniffs.

"Let's go, this place is seriously giving me the creeps." Kai suggests.

"Come on Norah, let me help you up!" Milla urges.

"Give me those crystals first." Norah counters, after Chan hands over the FIRE energy crystals to her, the panda girl summons a swirl of blue fire which surrounds the group as their injuries are healed. Norah is unable to fully heal herself due to the severe injuries she had sustained and lack of focus, however she was at least capable of walking.

"Interesting, that's one nice ability you have there!" Chan muses.

"It's the least I can do, however my injuries are too severe for me to completely heal myself, however I can now walk and my voice sounds better. As for combat, I'm pretty much useless to you guys as of this moment."

"Welcome my esteemed guests!"

The youths quickly turn their attention towards the wyvern who stood in front of the mosaic window which lit up most of the room. Jai was met with an assortment of outraged expressions, which he had expected.

"You know it's rude to not greet your host back"

"You honestly think we're going to offer you any courtesy after what you've done?!" Kai snarls, for the first time expressing full emotions, however of pure anger.

Jai slowly walks down the stairs towards the youths.

"What you've done is a disgrace not to just the scarves but to your kind!" Chan argues

Jai finally reaches the bottom as he looms his eyes directly at the basset hound who stood in the middle of the group standing in front of the injured panda girl, in Norah's defense.

"We'll never forgive you for what you've done!" Milla scowls

As Milla spoke something caught the wyvern's eye, something that he had inherently been expecting, he simply smiles, both pleased by said anomaly and amused by the youth's resolve. So, you also have it flowing through your veins, pumping through your heart, and gleaming through your eyes.

Suddenly, Milla was the first to attack as she swings her sword blindly at the man who scoffed at her, however Jai vanishes. The defending wyvern appears behind the offending hound in an instant, grabbing on to her hair, dragging and tossing her across the room.

"You seem too distracted young basset hound, perhaps you should stay like a good dog. You won't go anywhere by blindly attacking me like that." Jai taunts, then facing towards the husky.

Kai had already aimed his rifle at the wyvern by then and began shooting at him, however like Milla, his attacks proved ineffective.

Jai had already reached melee distance in a blink of an eye, carefully grabbing on to the husky's firearm so that the muzzle of the rifle wasn't aiming towards him, as he then punches Kai's underbelly repeatedly, knocking him down as the dragon holds on to the collar of his jacket and tosses him towards Milla, pinning her to the floor.

"The husky appears to lack cooperation, who's always in conflict with his comrades." Jai muses.

Chan is quick to confront the dragon with several cartographed attacks with his sword. The fox's technique impressed the dragon, however Jai had successfully avoided all of his attacks, it looked almost as though the sword had went through him, like he wasn't a tangible being. The vulpine attempts to summon a gust of wind to subdue the dragon however it didn't phase Jai at all.

The vulpine's shock was the perfect opening for Jai to strike with his ninjato, slashing the fox's injured shoulder and then kicking him in the jaw which knocks him back towards his defeated peers.

"For such wise fox, you're not very bright… you should know that as a wyvern I'm naturally resistant to any wind, wood is my element after all." Jai explains.

Norah simply stood helpless, as she witnesses the defeat of her allies, frustrated at her inability to fight.

"You speak as though you have resolve, however your words holds no weight."

All three youths simply look up at the superior fighter, they were grossly out matched, and there was nothing they could do.

"Don't fret, I have no reason to kill you now, I only needed to subdue you."

"Why would you spare us?" Kai questions, slowly getting up along with Milla and Chan.

"Because I have my reasons."

"Why… Why would you do all of this!" Milla demands, with tears flowing through her eyes, "Why did Lexi have to die?! Why did Norah have to be tortured?! What kind of monster are you?!"

"Heh, those are very good question, however the answer is fairly simple, it's simply to keep things under control."

Milla remains confused, "What do you mean by 'control'?" she asks.

"As you might have noticed either from your interactions with Sash Lilac and Carol Tea, or you confrontations towards Spade, Icarus or Hanna Skarlett, the Red Scarves have always acted as a sort of 'second chance'."

"You've got to be kidding me, so what, the Red Scarves is charity case?" Kai mocks.

"hehehe oh, no. I'm not that naive and I'm not going to keep you ignorant of such matters. That's what a Red Scarf veteran would tell you. In reality the Red Scarves selects anyone who can be given such empty promises, so in a way when a high ranking veteran or in most cases a senior recruits you the first thing they would want to know, is the current situation you're in or your desires, they will always look for those who have shown resentment towards their kingdom and desperation for survival or desire."

"So, they simply look for anyone weak minded enough to actually believe such lies!" Chan argues, he wasn't pleased with what he's hearing.

"Don't get us wrong though, eventually a they would discover the truth but usually by then they would've learned that life isn't always peaches and cream, in other words they wouldn't care. Some scarves might know the truth when they're young, in some cases honesty can prove to be very useful; however some can't accept such truths and would eventually try to leave. Honestly I can forgive Sash only because she's kin, the likes of Carol or Raiku can never be forgiven, especially after what we've done for them."

"What you've done for them?! All you've done is manipulate and corrupt them, I don't blame them for abandoning the scarves at all!" Chan counters.

"So not only have you tricked the scarves into believe what they're doing is right, but you're also biased!" Norah scowls.

"What about Lilac and Carol! What happen with them and the Red Scarves!" Milla demands.

"They simply knew too much at the wrong time, an error on Spade's part." Jai reveals.

"What did you do with Spade!" Norah then demands.

"Nothing, joining the scarves was his own doing, I didn't force him, just like how no one forced anyone into the scarves, unless you're like Danny Brock or Lexi Kyokan where your family is part of the scarves, of course."

"That's a lie!"

"Oh, so why do you think he joined the scarves, because I can easily tell you the answer."

Norah remains silent.

"It's fairly simple: his life, legacy and perspective was a lie. Although to you he's the prince of Shuigang, in reality he's nothing more than a bastard, a peasant doomed to live his life in obscurity. With that said, how could anyone blame him?!"

Norah clutches her teeth hearing mild signs of sarcasm in Jai's distinct voice, then Milla steps up in her defense, "Shut up! You don't have the right to talk about people like that!"

"Don't be so foolish, it's the truth, I never had a reason to lie, however... Spade have gotten reckless and insolent recently."

"So that's why you had Lexi murdered." Chan infers, "Spade was escaping your control, so you had her killed, she made the perfect martyr for the scarves, especially Spade!"

"I had a feeling it wasn't just Spade, you've been treating everyone in the scarves as your puppets." Kai continues, "You tried to have me killed because you knew I was getting on to you, I must admit I'm impressed, you definitely make sure there's no loose ends."

"I'm glad we can agree on something, but 'puppet' would be more appropriate for the leaders, I personally see most of the scarves as my pawns, Spade is my knight, Icarus is my bishop." Jai continues.

"So, this is like a game to you?!" Milla protests, "I don't care what you call them, 'pawns' or 'puppets', it's still wrong."

"It appears Sash have gotten to you, but you must understand that whatever Sash Lilac have told you in the past is hypocrisy on her part, but she will never admit it, her good deeds is nothing more than acts of pity."

Milla began to lose her patience she then clenched the handle of her katana, the blade is imbued with strong psychic energy, which flared sporadically indicating loss of control.

The other youths noticed something strange about the hound, usually she would try to see the good in people however she truly hated Jai, never before have Milla felt so much hatred towards someone. To her friends she was entirely different person.

Charging at the wyvern at full force she thrusts her sword at him, as though she was trying to kill him, however like before the dragon was too fast.

Jai knew that Milla was much more versatile than before, so in response he dragon boosts direct at the hound which results in Milla dropping her sword as she falls down onto the floor, leaving an opening for the dragon to attack with his ninjato, however…

What… I'm still alive…

Milla returns to her senses when she notices a figure between Jai's attack and herself: it was Spade. The wyvern's blade pierces clean through the left side of the cavy's stomach however it was enough to shield the helpless hound.

Spade's action had left everyone petrified and in shock, even Jai wasn't expecting the cavy's interference, "Imbecile…" Jai scalds.

"You're the bastard responsible for Lexi's death, and if you think you can just control me like some chess piece, think again." Spade coughs.

"Fine then, normally I would kill you instantly, however for the sake of being my former prodigy, I'll at least give you chance to survive."

"Damn… I try to do one good thing… and this… is what I get…"

Jai abrasively kicks Spade off of his blade.

The youths are speechless at Jai's treatment of his own student, who currently laid down as he bleeds out, Norah rushes to the cavy's aid, trying her best to heal him, however she is too weak. "Come one! Heal!" Norah cries, "DAMNIT HEAL! HEAL!"

"It's no use, we have to take him to hospital!" Chan reasons.

"Like they'd take a Red Scarf into the hospital."

"Maybe we can ask the Royal Magister, I'm sure I can convince him to help." Milla assured.

"Before you leave, I'd like to give you youths a second chance, I'm looking forward to how you can improve the next time we meet." Jai states, however his accent made it difficult to tell rather he was being sarcastic or not.

"What are you talking about." Kai demands, as his allies tries to keep Spade from bleeding out.

"You see, in about a week, the Annual Avalician Martial Arts Championship will commence, it's pretty much tradition, however traditions change and for the first time, this year's tournament actually accepts all combat methods, that means you can be swordsman, marksman, martial artist, even a mage."

"So you want us to join, why may I ask?" Chan responds.

"You'll soon find out, also there's a couple of other surprises this year from what I've heard, I'll be expecting to see you in the tournament."

"If we refuse?" Kai asks.

"What choice do you have? You should be grateful that I'm giving you this chance, if I was you I would take it."

The youths didn't know how to respond, Norah was still desperately trying to heal the mortally injured rodent despite Milla's effort to detach her away, as Chan tries his best to stop the bleeding with a makeshift bandage. Kai looks around him, he had a mixed feeling of defeat and pity, "We'll think about it…" he states, showing signs of uncertainty.

"Well then, I bid you adieu. Also you can take the secret passage which is located at the east side of this room, say hello to the Royal Magister for me." Jai concludes as he opens the entrance to said passage with a press of a hidden pressure plate.

As the youths carry the unconscious cavy with them back to the location of their trikes, one of the scarves spots them, Chan is quick to use a smoke bomb to aid in their escape.

Kai felt uneasy, because he knew that he was outsmarted, He knew that we were coming, not only that he predicted everything.

He never wanted us imprisoned or dead, he wanted to use us as his scapegoats.

As far as we're concerned, the Red Scarves aren't going to be our allies for a while, or at least until we do something about Jai.


"Brilliant, simply brilliant! Not only did we got rid of that treacherous Spade, but those brats are going to take the blame! Brilliant!" Icarus applauds, however his enthusiasm is cut short with Jai's stoic expression.

"Indeed, everything is going according to plan, however I would like to be left alone." Jai explains.

"Well what do you want me to do about those youths, what exactly is your big plan?"

Jai makes an eerie smile that even made Icarus uneasy, "You'll find out soon enough, but until then, allow them to escape also make sure you check on our new ally."

"I wouldn't exactly say new…"

Jai responds with a sharp look, obviously not interested with the hawk's smart remarks.

Icarus leaves the room, Jai muses to himself.

So everything is going as I've predicted… Of course my main prize won't appear for a while longer.

That's fine though, until then I have some interesting new developments I want to test.