I have had a few of you ask me for a little background on Lithuana, well, your requests have not gone unheeded. I love the feedback I have gotten from TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne. Thank you. The feedback has been really helpful. To my other followers, thanks so much for following the story. I hope I do not disapoint with this chapter. And, without further ado, Lithuana.

The Burning Darkness

Lithuana

Chapter 28

357 years prior to current events…

A young girl ran through a dense forest. She held her prize closely as the voices grew closer. Angry voices caused the animals to run away or hide deep in their burrows. The birds took to the sky as they fled the danger. The girl kept running, never losing her footing for a moment. She didn't understand what was going on and why these men were chasing her, but it didn't matter. Her master needed the medicine she had, and she would not fail. When she thought she had finally lost the men she turned down a trail only to be cut off by a solid wall of angered muscle. She bounced off the man and crashed hard into the ground.

"Ay, girlie. You oughtta not steal from my town. Now give back the medicine and maybe the judge won't be too harsh on ya." He reached down and grabbed her arm and painfully jerked her to her feet. She only tightened her grip on the medicine.

"What do you mean steal? I asked for medicine and the man in the building gave it to me."

"Well, lookie ere boys, we got us a little savage. Don't know what it means to pay for what it took. I bet the pastor will love to meet a little heathen like you. He'll straighten you out, e will." As the large man spoke three other men caught up to them panting hard. They all seemed really mad and didn't look too friendly.

"Please, I have to help my master. She is sick and needs this medicine. Please let me go." She pulled and struggled against the man's grip, but got nowhere. All she accomplished was to hurt herself and amuse the men surrounding her who began laughing.

"You're master aye? Well it's about time you and your little band of savages were taught to respect your betters. Where are they?" He jerked her towards him and slapped her across the face. She felt tears begin pouring out of her face. She had never been struck like that before. She was terrified and about to panic when a voice rang out through the woods.

"Let the girl go." A man in a dark cloak walked out of the forest. He was tall, taller than the men surrounding her and his face was hidden in shadow. Only his feet showed and they were covered in strange boots that were dark as night. His movements disturbed not a leaf and were as silent as the darkness that covered him. She felt repulsed by his mere presence. He was wrong. He didn't belong in this world. He was like the monsters her master would tell her about. He moved until his upper body was covered in the shadow of a tree and repeated himself.

"Let the girl go. This will be your last warning."

"Bugger off. This little beast stole from our town and will pay for it. Now back off fore me and the boys make you." The big man tightened his grip and puffed himself up. His companions took a step forward brandishing fists and laughing to themselves.

The cloaked man walked until he was in the middle of the group and in a flash his fist lashed out and the man holding her was dangling in the air with the cloaked man's fingers tight around his throat. His companions rushed in to aid him. With a flick of his wrist the cloaked man snapped the leaders neck and dropped the body. Before the body could hit the ground three knives flew out and found themselves buried deep in the necks of the would be assailants. Before the child could pick herself off the ground the cloaked man turned and began walking into the forest.

The girl got up quickly and ran over to the retreating man. Even at a walk she had to run fast to keep up. Once she caught up to him she grabbed his cloak. She wanted to thank him. He stopped and partially turned to her without revealing his face.

"Run on back to your home little one. Those men won't be hurting you or anyone else ever again." He began to turn away again when she spoke out.

"Please help me. I have lost my way. When I was running from those mean men I got lost. I don't know how to get home. My master needs this medicine or she will die. Please help me. Please."

The man stopped. He seemed conflicted. After a few moments of thought he turned to her and reached out and took her hand. He kneeled down and his eyes shown through the darkness.

"Where is your village?"

"It is by the river before the water falls. It is deep in the forest and I don't know where the trail starts." She was no longer scared of this man. It may have been the fact that he had saved her, it may have been the fact that he was so nice to her. What really made her change her mind was none of those things, it was his eyes. Monsters don't show that much pain in their eyes. Only a good man knows what pain is. He must be good.

"I know where that is. Come child. I will show you the way." He stood and began walking with her hand in his.

They walked for a long distance without speaking. She kept up with him as he walked much slower than he had before. She had a question she had to ask him.

"Why did you save me? I don't know you and you don't know me. Why would you help me?"

"I can't stand by and allow an innocent to suffer. Someone very dear to me once taught me that turning a blind eye to suffering is sometimes worse than the ones causing the suffering." He said the last part with great regret.

"What is your name child?" He said with a much kinder, gentler tone than before.

"My name is Kitrania. I am the daughter of Katho and Tunaria. My master is the tribe priestess. She was hurt recently when some strange men in dark cloaks attacked. She fought them off with the power of the spirit but got hurt really bad by one of them as they ran away."

"I wear a dark cloak. Why do you not suspect I am one of them?"

"Those men were different. They came and attacked without a word. They were silent. They had killed most of my tribe and only left after my master killed some of them. When they died they turned to smoke and there was nothing left but ash. You aren't like them. You only hurt mean people and you didn't kill them until they threatened you. Those men just killed for no reason." She felt tears well up in her eyes at the memory of her lost kin. Before she could begin weeping anew the man knelt down and gently turned her to face him.

"Do not weep little one. After I return you to your village, I will seek out those bad men and make them pay for what they did." He reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. His hand was warm and his voice made her feel safe. She felt angry at the last part of what he said though.

"Master says revenge is not ok. That seeking to destroy others who have hurt us would only cause more pain. We must not look to hurt others without being made to. Don't hurt anyone just for revenge please." She looked hard into his eyes and saw them harden.

"Sometimes, vengeance is all there is child. I will speak to your master when we arrive. I will at last stay long enough to ensure your village is safe, after that, I make no promises." He stood up and began walking again.

Many hours later they arrived back at the outskirts of her village. She grabbed his hand and walked back into the village.

"When I first saw you, you felt wrong. Like you aren't supposed to be real, but I see the good in you. My people will be fearful of you. Hold my hand so they are not scared. Master Lithuana will see that you are good, I know it." She spoke with such conviction that she surprised the man. He had never seen such a child as this. She was truly something special. It was no surprise, he supposed, that she was the apprentice of the village priestess.

As they walked through the village spears and bows followed them closely. When they reached, what he assumed was, the priestess' home, they were surrounded by fearful and angry looking villagers. He was no stranger to this and ignored it. Kitrania let go of his hand and turned to him.

"I will go speak to my master, wait here." She scampered inside and the man sat down into a lotus position. He waited silently and without moving for a while. The villagers surrounding him kept their weapons trained on him as one would keep a weapon trained on snake, waiting for a strike that may never come. When the tense situation seemed about to break an old woman with Kitrania in tow stepped out of the home and looked at the man. She examined him deeply before speaking to him.

"My ward tells me you saved her and brought her home. Come in so we may speak Narshani." She held the flap open and the man got up and walked in.

Once inside they all took seats around the fire. The man noticed that the old woman was unharmed except for a small limp in her right leg. The medicine bottle was empty and bandage was around her upper thigh.

"Your ward made your wounds seem much more severe than they are. Was she merely exaggerating or are you a much more powerful healer than you let on?"

"My wound was much more severe. I used the power of the spirit to heal most of the damage, but the medicine was to fight of infection. You are quite observant Narshani. That would be expected of one of your kind I suppose." She kept studying him with both curiousity and controlled disdain.

"You keep calling me Narshani. That is not my name. I am known as Goryo. What does that word, Narshani, mean?" He was genuinely curious. He had never encountered a tribe like this before and thought that his coming here was no chance happening.

"You do not know what you are? That is surprising. All Narshani know what they are and are always proud of it. Narshani means, "one who destroys the life shard." You are made up of broken and stolen pieces of the life shard. You should not exist on this plane of existence. Your kind are only supposed to exist in the in between. You are to judge the wicked and good alike in the afterlife. Damn the evil to having their souls torn asunder, and lead the righteous to the next path. When a Narshani is brought to this plain they are only done so for evil reasons. Yet, I sense no evil in you. You are something else entirely. Whatever brought you here?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"I do not know. Several centuries I woke up in a spell circle of some kind, the likes of which I have not seen since. I have no memory before that. I spent over a hundred years wandering a vast dessert alone until I came across what I now know is Egypt. I have been travelling and fighting ever since."

Lithuana eyed him carefully. She was about to speak when a shriek of pain rang out and the clash of swords against flesh was heard. Before Lithuana or Kitrania could react Goryo was up and his twin blades were out as he erupted out of the door. They ran out of the hut to see the cloaked me slaughtering their people. Blood flowed from the bodies of the fallen and the few that were still alive were fatally wounded. Goryo ran forward fast and hard and immediately decapitated two of the figures. In a flash he was surrounded and over a dozen swords were drawn. Goryo immediately tore off his cloak and entered pitched battle against the men. Four of the men were ash in moments and three others were engaging him. He easily kept them at bay but couldn't get past them.

Lithuana pushed Kitrania back into the hut and turned towards the battle. Her body slowly changed to the shape of an enourmous grizzly and she then tackled to of the men to the ground and tore them to shreds. The battle became chaos at this point. Goryo and Lithuana fought with fury at the senseless destruction, and the men were wordless as they were cut down one by one. Eventually, only one remained.

He was missing an arm and his cloak was shredded. He kneeled before Goryo. Goryo picked him up by his throat and Goryo roared at him.

"Why did you attack this village! What was there to gain!" He slammed the man down onto the ground with enough force to create a small crater. The man coughed out blood as he spoke.

"The shifter must die, by decree of the Lord of the Damned." With that he turned to ash.

As Goryo stood back up a cry of agony echoed through the village. He turned to see Lithuana with a blade sticking out of her chest. The last of the cloaked men had been hiding in wait for an opportunity. Goryo responded by throwing his right hand sword through the body of the man, who immediately became ash. Lithuana dropped to the ground and was joined by Goryo and Kitrania. She pulled out a medallion and handed it to Kitrania.

"Kitrania, I give you my final gift. I taught you all you need. You are the only remaining protector of the path. I leave you my powers. You are no longer Kitrania, from this day on, you are Lithuana. Protect the path as I had for so long." When the words left her lips, the priestess glowed with a bright blow light and slowly evaporated. Her body was no more. Goryo turned to see Lithuana was no longer a child. A bright light surrounded her and she was now a beautiful woman. She stood quietly and handed the medallion to Goryo.

"I owe you my life. Those men would have killed me as well as my master. If you had not intervened the path of the spirit would be lost. When you have need of me, return the medallion and I will do whatever it takes to repay you. Now, please leave me." She then became a majestic white eagle and flew off into the sky.

The present….

"And that is how I met Lithuana. She has changed much. She told me that seeking revenge and lashing out against others for my pain would never help. Only moving forward would. She would never approve of your treatment of Raven. You two used to be best friends. You know that she would never leave anyone to Deathstroke. Let alone someone as important as the one you love. Please try to stop this behavior."

Changeling was silent. His eyese became resolute. He stood up and ran to the door leading inside. Goryo smiled to himself, and followed, albeit much slower. When he got inside he saw Raven and Changeling hugging with him crying into her shoulder. Raven had tears in her eyes as she looked up at Goryo. He nodded and walked past them without a word. He had helped restore a great friendship. That was all that mattered to him.