Chapter Four

Mia rubbed her eyes wearily before returning her line of vision to the glowing computer screen before her. To her side lay a book with yellowed pages and a time worn cover. There was a layer of must coating it that no level of cleaning could remove. The inked words in neat script were bleary with age but still decipherable. Mia sighed and turned the page of the book. Two hours of researching had left her with little clues to Anglarana's people or history. Mia wasn't exactly the all-knowing psychic, but her instincts were sending off a full alarm that this person was not as she seemed. However, Mia didn't feel as though she was in danger. In fact, she felt the opposite. It seemed as though Anglarana gave off an acute feeling of warm security and of quiet strength.

Mia shook her head ruefully. 'I must be getting senile. Why do I always feel that there is more to a situation then what I see? It would be nice to just accept things the way they are. But still... there is just something extraordinary about Anglarana. I haven't gone wrong yet by listening to the legends.'

Mia sighed and started cross-referencing the passages from the book to her pre-existing computer files. She frowned slightly as the computer screen brought up an old painting with a poem-like inscription. The painting was that of a sun-dappled lush jungle surrounding a bright blue lake. There were various birds and animals in the scene, but the creature that immediately took the eye was the shadow of some kind of horse or deer hiding in the foliage of the background. The shadow had one front leg raised as if pausing in its casual trip; as though something had suddenly caught its attention. Its head was turned toward the lake and its luminous eyes sparkled in the sun. The caption below it read:

Here resides the immortal plane, Bringer of life and death. Here awaits your salvation, Else the stern hand of fate. When once again the fair one rises, And the earth is cursed with bane. Hence she comes to awaken, And the ground shivers with anticipation and pain. By the hand of the elemental warriors, Else by none shall the living world be saved. Beware the coming of the darkness and of the light of the world to come.

A sharp knock on the door caused Mia to nearly fall out of her chair. She quickly shut off the computer and answered the door. Ryo grinned at her as the sounds of clanging and yelling could be heard from downstairs. There was a loud thudding sound accompanied by Cye exclaiming, "I've told you a thousand times, Kento, it's NOT READY!"

Mia raised her eyebrows; Cye rarely used a loud voice, especially to Kento. Ryo's grin broadened. "I think Cye could use your assistance. We're all too busy body guarding the kitchen to help with any of the cooking. Kento's about ready to tear down a wall down there." Mia sighed emphatically and followed Ryo downstairs. They were greeted by quite a sight; Rowen was doing his best to wipe off Kento's face with a dishrag. A large, plastic bowl was residing on Kento's head and a thick, porridge-looking substance was running down his face and covering his clothes. Sage was trying to pacify Cye who was muttering something about his dinner being ruined while sporadically waving about a wooden spoon for emphasis. Anglarana was sitting on the couch, barely containing her laughter causing Kento to scowl fiercely.

Mia checked a quick chuckle and raced over to the chaotic scene. "All right, everyone... guys..." The feuding group was so noisy that they didn't even hear her. "...GUYS!" Everyone looked at Mia in shocked silence, Cye grinned sheepishly. Mia took in a deep breath, "Okay; Kento, go upstairs and clean up. Cye, go back in the kitchen; I'll be there shortly to help fix things up. Rowen, go with Kento to make sure that he doesn't do anything evil to Cye's half of the room." She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Don't let him come down again until dinner is ready, okay?" Rowen, with a relieved smile, nodded and grabbed Kento by the sleeve.

"Okay, buddy lets get this goop off of 'ya." After Rowen and Kento were upstairs and Cye was safely in the kitchen piecing together the remains of the meal, Mia sat Sage and Ryo down.

"Okay, now what happened that four full-grown men couldn't take care of?"

Sage and Ryo exchanged amused expressions. "Well... Kento was playing a video game and making a lot of noise out here and Cye was making a soufflé in the kitchen." Sage began rubbing the back of his neck. "Cye ended up coming out here several times to get Kento to shut up so his soufflé wouldn't fall. But Kento just got too excited and was getting hungry from all of the fun with the game." Sage paused uncomfortably and glanced at Ryo for support, who, in turn, held up his hands refusing to have anything to do with the telling of the story. Sage sighed and continued with his monologue. "We then made the mistake of leaving Kento alone in the room."

"What? You left him alone when he was hungry?!" Mia interrupted, incredulous.

"Yea, Whiteblaze was acting funny. We were worried about him."

"What was wrong with Whiteblaze?" Sage blushed,

"Hairball, as it turns out," he mumbled. Mia hid her smile with her hand and nodded for Sage to continue. "I don't know what exactly happened next, we just heard some yelling. By the time we reached the kitchen, Cye was dumping a bowl of cake mix on Kento's head. It turned out that Kento had made so much noise that the soufflé fell."

"Well, that explains it," Mia stood. "Now, for your penance for leaving Kento alone is to clean the goop off the carpet and then to help Rowen keep Kento away until dinner is ready and Cye regains his cool. Okay?" The guys nodded and went off in search of the cleaning products.

Mia was about to go into the kitchen when she remembered Anglarana sitting on the couch. Mia turned and noticed that her eyes were resting thoughtfully upon her. "Yes?" Mia asked.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. By the way, what is your last name?"

"It's Koji, why?" Anglarana nodded as if something were finally made clear to her, then looked up at Mia. "No reason, I like to know people's last names." Anglarana smiled affectionately at Mia. 'Now I know what it is about you, Mia, that stands out so much even amongst such powers as the Ronin Warriors', Anglarana thought to herself.

Mia was about to question her further, but a soft groan coming from the kitchen stopped her. Cye was going to have to come first; Mia had never seen anyone so obsessed with cooking in all her life.

The planned attack was just hours away. Justin staved off a wave of fatigue as he reviewed his plans. Crynis was becoming more and more difficult to control as the taste of destruction heightened his power and will. 'Just a bit longer.' He cajoled himself. He only needed to keep the mindless beast to his will for just a little longer and then he could release it and focus on more important things. Justin murmured a word to the black, crystal wall and the wall opened to reveal a large inner chamber filled to capacity with concentrically arranged liquid filled tubes. Justin would need to reenergize for his plan to work. An attack of this proportion required a lot of strength.

He walked along the rows of tubes, the blue liquid gave off an eerie glow. The tubes on the fringes of the room contained humans and the demon soldiers from the Dynasty. The more powerful creatures resisted closer to the heart of the room in order of strength. Justin moved confidently to the inner most row of tubes. Within these tubes were powerful warlords such as Sabre Strike and Badamon.

Justin stopped in front of the tube that contained a man with long mahogany hair. Justin never could understand why this man contained such power and strength. He smiled to himself in memory. Justin had found him floating in a moat in the Nether Realm just after the fall of Talpa. He hadn't planned on taking the young man, but just then he needed all the energy he could get. He placed a hand on the tube and prepared himself for the jolt of energy he was about to receive.

Oops, what's this?! Am I bringing back an old friend? I likey; you likey? Well whatever you think, send it to me. I'm an awfully lonely little imp. I know I'm really killing the cliché of Cye being the cook and Kento being perpetually hungry but please be gentle with the flames. This was written back when I was in high school and had just gotten into RW so my writing skills were not refined. Admit it though, it's still fun to play with clichés!!!!