Chapter IV. Written Salamander Day, 100 BM.

It was said that history was forever repeated

Much like Echoes

Throughout the World

Times of Disaster and Darkness

Would often appear

One Thousand years later

            Echoes of Chaos

            Two drakes flew through the air. Both tore at each other regardless of the wounds inflicted. Nothing was sacred to them. Everything was merely another toy.

            "Was no one here in Domina during the past few days?"

            The silence of the room was exhilarating. Several minutes seem to past until Necro spoke up once more.

            "Perhaps we may find the answer in the Mana Tree. We have to go there sooner or later to see what is the floating vortex overlooking it."

            "It is the only option left to us," answered Sierra. "I shall accompany you there".

            "It might be wise to have more than just one warrior to help you. I, too, will follow," said Daena. "Tis only fair after all you have done for me".

            "If it is as deadly as all you have said, let us all go," Necro continued. "Except you two."

            "But . . ."

            "You have to stay home and watch the house".

            "But . . ."

            "Stay".

            "SO MEAN!"

"Hehehe. You might as well as let them come with us. They'll just follow even if you forced them to stay," laughed Niccolo.

The victorious twins sat and grinned, causing both their faces to look like big distorted Springanas.

"We might as well get this over with," sighed Necro.

Within an hour of the meeting, the company gathered supplies and began their journey. However, the path to the Mana Tree was harsh. Getting there alone takes at least two weeks, for it was far from Domina. Occasionally, they were ambushed by Mist monsters (Note: The two pets are also "Mist monsters", just friendlier =) which had also delayed the warriors.

At the moment, the friends were fighting off a swarm of Spiny cones. These odd creatures live in the shadows of large trees. They are usually timid and mind their own business. However, when disturbed, its force is a power to be reckoned with.

Multiple lightning blasts accelerated until a force of energy gathered at the tip of his sword. Waiting . . . Necro jumped, and sent down a vortex of darkness. The attack was too much for the spiny cones and they collapsed under the Mana Technique.

Running, running . . . With the speed of a Poto (Potoes are slow), the twins ran away from the battle. Suddenly stopping, Bud turned.

"WHY YOU STOPPED!?!?" Lisa screamed.

"Ya know, we've been running from everything in our lifes," Bud calmly said.

Lisa looked like she was going to faint.

"There was the Gremlin in the junkyard and also that nasty lil Shadow Zero thingy and not to mention that weird eye ball thing and also . . ." Stopping suddenly, Bud asked, "What's wrong, what you starting at?"

Getting no answer, Bud waved his hand in front of his sister's face. Still getting no answer, Bud turned and looked at what Lisa was staring so long at. Only then did he realize. There seemed to be something watching them. The thick overgrowth of the forest hid the true form of the Thing. The shadows hid it and gave it power. It disappeared.

Bud just stood there and stared. Suddenly feeling nauseous, he sat and fainted, right next to his sister, just as claws caught him.

Firing two more blasts of ice at the Spiny Cones, the sky dragon, Thundaga, swiftly glided after the rest of the party. It joined the company at a small intersection. This appeared to be the only part of the jungle without any trees blocking the moonlight. The hazy atmosphere of the place had only helped in forcing the weariness on the friends.

"We might as well make camp here," Elazul suggested.

"I would volunteer as lookout. We need to switch guards every hour or so into the night," Larc replied.

As the party began making camp, Necro suddenly realized something . . . something was not right. He can't seem to remember. Forcing himself to think, Necro suddenly leapt up.

"WHERE IS FIRA!?!?!?!?"

The whole company turned and looked at Necro. Thundaga began circling the camp in search of his lost friend.

"Perhaps we should split up to search for him," Pearl suggested (Of course she's here! =P )

"That way half of us can go look for Fira while the other half can search for Bud and Lisa," Elle replied.

Hearing this, Necro turned, looked around the camp. Not seeing the twins, Necro calmed himself down and began organizing the group. He was quite calm while he did so, for the twins were fairly good at the art of escaping.

In the end, it was Necro, Larc, Elle and Pearl (AND Thundaga) who was to search for the twins. Sierra, Niccolo (Yes, he's here too), and Elazul will look for the lost pet. In a matter of seconds, the two groups diverged and went on their ways.

"Sis, wake up."

"WAKE UP!!"

Crying, and kneeling, Bud gently stroked his sister's hair.

With her head throbbing, Lisa awakened to her brother's worried face.

"Thank Mana you're alright," Bud cried and promptly hugged his sister.

"Okay, okay, okay . . . umm . . . can you get off me now, there's a monster behind you."

Bud turned his head ever so slowly and stared at the howling Howler. Suddenly, the Howler was tackled by a small yellow bundle of fur. Instantly, the Howler was knocked out, and fell into its underground den.

Panting, and drooling slightly, Fira bounced up to the twins, while they merely stared in confusion at the lil Rabite.

"So . . . umm . . . Why are you here?" Lisa asked.

Her answer was several licks in the face.

Necro's company decided (Actually, Necro decided, everyone else merely listened), that they would search the Spring of the Beasts. It wasn't very far from their current location as well. Meanwhile, Sierra's party wasn't having much luck. Through a vote, they had decided to backtrack back to the entrance. However, that means going back to the Spiny Cone colony.

"I hate this!" cried a very irritated Niccolo while dodging a poison stinger and upper cutting a Spiny Cone. "I'd rather be collecting Tako Buns"

Twisting a curved Dragoon Knife into the shell of another Spiny Cone, Sierra replied with a yet more annoyed voice, "Shut up and work!"

"This isn't work, this is torture," murmured back Niccolo.

Niccolo ducked in time to avoid a thrown Spiny Cone exoskeleton.

Back at Necro's company, they had managed to find Bud's VizelGold Aura Harp. Surprisingly, it was discovered simply by accident. Thundaga was looking for Fira when he mistaken the harp to be his furball friend (How he had done so, the world may never know). However, the finding had not helped at all, for it had only meant that the twins were here before. But when . . .

"Let's move on, we're not getting anywhere," said Necro.

"We've been searching since evening, it's dawn now!" answered Pearl. "We need to rest."

"Knowing the twins, they must have gotten into some sort of trouble. But yet I agree with the Jumi, we need to rest," said Larc.

Everyone turned to Elle the Siren, who had said nothing since the search began.

"What?" She asked rather quietly.

Necro blinked. "What do you think we should do?"

"I will do as the rest of you will."

Thundaga stared.

A few minutes passed before Pearl broke the silence. "Anyways, don't you all think we should make camp now?"

"Yea, sure, right after I get rid of this Marlboro."

At the minute in Sierra's party, they had also decided to take a rest. After sidetracking back to the entrance and finding nothing there, the very annoyed company had just sat down, and immediately fell asleep.

"Where are we?" Cried a saddened Bud.

"This doesn't look like the Jungle anymore. Where are we?" Echoed Lisa.

"Rwehhrwehhh!!"

"There's a clearing up ahead, let's sit and think of our situation."

"Alright."

The twins sat themselves down on a large tree root and as Bud said, began pondering the situation.

"So what exactly happened?" asked Lisa.

"What you mean?"

"When I fainted."

"I dunno."

"What you mean I dunno!?!?"

"I dunno!!"

"Weren't you awake?!?!?"

"Well, yea . . ."

"Then you should know!"

"I mean no! I fainted after you fainted."

Lisa blinked. Fira bounced.

"Alright then . . . What happened before I fainted?"

"You know, you were staring at something while I was talking about all the times we ran away from stuff and then I looked at what you were looking at and then we stared and then somehow you fell and then I fainted and then something grabbed us and . . ."

"STOP!!" interrupted Lisa.

"WHAT!?!?" yelled Bud just as loud.

"Something grabbed us??"

"Yea, something with sharp claws. It still hurts where it poked me!" Bud said pointing to his right arm.

"For a brother that's only a minute younger, you're not very bright."

"SHUDDUP! I thought it was that Howler that took us!"

"Umm . . . Bud . . ."

"What!?"

"How big is the Howler?"

"About up to my knees . . . Oh, I see what you mean."

"Good, then I don't have to explain it to you."

"So where are we!?!?" cried Bud.

Sitting up, Bud turned around and started walking again, eyes to the ground. Lisa hastily followed with Fira happily bouncing along.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- Author's Notes -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

To all you few people that's reading this. Here it is! The Fourth Chapter of "Heart Break", originally "Destinies of the Past". This is my longest chappie yet, calculated to be 1606 words (excluding the author review =P ). Thanx to all those that did review (11 reviews =(  ). Maybe I'll get more in the future, me don't know. Anyways bye now! Lolz.