Prologue
The wind chilled to a certain temperature that made the young man clutch his cloak closer to his body, the hood silently covering his facial features. The wind billowed his strands of hair that lay matted out of the cloak's hood, away from his steel eyes, the determination he had instilled in him glaring off a feat. The clouds churned in the distance, lightening flaring up to make the sky seem more eerie than it already was. The young man walked into the cave with a silent glance to the right.
"Only three more months till the demon strikes its bloody hands upon Japan once more...I have no time to squabble and make idle chitchat with you. I must find the Ronin Warriors and in doing so, I need to find the truest warrior to put an end to his tyranny and if is not one of the Ronin Warriors I fear..." he spoke lightly to where he was glaring.
"I know," a slick voice echoed, interrupting him and sending the young man to narrow his eyes. A couple of red eyes formed at the base of the dark corner, "You must not worry, my child, I will sound the alarm to the miko ancient, and to the Seasonals who have given up their evil ways."
"I know that, selfish old crone," The man snapped testily, "Just do what I ask of you and then you will have your reward for disobeying your former master." The young man smiled, the cold wind blowing again, ruffling the hood off and revealing his features. The massive black hair pinned in a ponytail exceeded flowingly as the breeze took hold. His blue eyes narrowed again as he swiftly put the hood back upon his head.
"While you go on a scavenger hunt for the ex-warlords and Lady Kayura, I will exceed to forming a barrier strong enough to at least hold him for the next remaining three months. That's all I need to find the three remaining Phoenix Clan members and to reveal this to the ronins..."
^^^^
The soft breeze made the light green curtains move in a billowing sway. The sun had just set in mid sky and partial clouds were crossing its path. Parched upon a cherry blossom tree, the birds sang as the blossoms motionlessly and silently shaped the outcome of the day. The worn grass began to shimmer with anew as the dampness skewered away. In the mansion, a figure could be seen tossing and turning in his sleep, his beautiful face etching random fear.
In the dream sequence, he stepped lightly as he walked through the forest, making just a light footstep noise. His silver blue hair seemed to ring out and tamper with the odds of the daring blue sky. His face was etched with fear as an encompassing feeling emerged at the pit of his stomach. As he walked further and faster into the serene beauty, he heard footsteps in aloof. He stopped walking altogether, the sounds of rustling stopping along with him. He gasped slightly as he felt warm but yet cold breath lingering upon his neck. He quickly turned around to see the apparition that was following him, his eyes meeting with gray dark pupils of mass murder.
"Who are you?" he finally got a hold of his voice when he jumped back. The creature just laughed, its slime drooling out of its mouth in a disgusting temptation. The creature was an odd looking monster with dry scaly brown skin that seemed to peel. Its hump back made him shorter but he proved to be more agile as he jumped upon him who tried to get away. "Aaaahhhh!"
"The Mortal world will be mine, Strata! And you will be mine along with it all including your friends!" it chuckled as its steamy beady eyes slapped amusement.
"AH!" Rowen forced himself out of his daze and sat straight up in bed, wiping the sweat that was falling around his face. His body was shaking slightly as the memories of his dream seem to slip into pieces and then finally settling down.
Rowen looked at the clock, which read 1:03 a.m. He got out of bed, walked over to the dresser to get some clothes and finally going into the bathroom to take a shower. When he was refreshed and clean, the lingering part of his dream slightly stayed with him until he went downstairs and into the living room where Kento and Cye were fighting over the remote and were changing channels rapidly. Bored, Sage was sitting, reading a book and trying to ignore his friends' incessant bickering.
Rowen silently smiled as he entered the living room, causing the two to stop for a moment to see who entered and then went back to their stupid arguing. Shaking his head, he walked passed Sage who gave another annoying look at Kento and Cye when they finally finished their bickering. He sighed a relief and went back to reading.
Rowen entered the kitchen to find Mia cooking up a batch of pancakes and eggs for the whole household. Outside the window, he could see Yulie playing with White Blaze and Ryo with a soccer ball or actually trying to get the ball from the tiger who was running from the two annoyed looking people.
Rowen laughed as Mia turned around to get an egg from the other side of the kitchen, placing the batter of pancakes aside from the stove. She greeted Rowen with a half smile before pouring some of the pancake batter in the steel pan.
"Hi, Rowen," Mia put the batter down and flipped the pancake before continuing to speak. "Have a nice nap?"
Rowen grinned as he put his hand behind his head, "I guess you can say that, Mia. I really can't say a very peaceful one, though."
Mia looked at him incredulously, "Another nightmare?"
"Yeah,"
"You need to tell Ryo and the others about it, Rowen. If this things gets to become real, then everything will be in jeopardy."
"I know that, Mia. It's just that, ah, I don't know. I guess to say the least I don't want Ryo to get all skeptical about this whole dream and get all prophetic on me like he usually does when he has a nightmare of Talpa." Rowen's eyes reverted back on Ryo who now had the ball that was covered in tiger spit.
"Even though Rowen, he is the leader and has every right to know what your nightmares are about."
Rowen sighed as he shrugged and walked out of the kitchen, muttering something of maybe later he would do it. Mia smiled a little as she turned her back to him and started on the rest of the pancakes.
______
"So, is this broken old home where Strata and his little friends are lying dormant?" a voice asked a figure consumed in utter darkness. The dark swirled an amount of light to jolt awake the presence of the candles to perk into flames. The other figure the voice belonged to was still looking in the swirling mass of clouds that portrayed the young Ronin of Strata walking outside to greet his friends who were playing with a ball with the tiger, White Blaze.
"Yes, my minion," a very dark voice grumbled through the vast shadows, echoing evil all around, "Now, as planned, capture the Strata warrior so that we may lure the ronins to save him, so that we can capture Wildfire to strip him of the white armor."
"As you wish," the minion bowed again before seeping into the dark, an evil glare leaving in its wake.
______
"Hey, Ro!" Ryo greeted as he patted his tiger. "What's up?"
"Ryo, I need to talk to you, man." Rowen looked at Yulie who was smiling towards him, "Alone."
"Okay, um Yulie, could you take White Blaze in so that Mia can give him some milk."
Yulie smiled and nodded, "Sure Ryo!" he walked White Blaze towards the mansion, looking back at the two guys as they watched him go in. He closed the door behind him.
When they knew that Yulie was inside, Ryo smiled towards Rowen, who turned back with a gloomy look on his tired face.
"What's up, Ro? You look like something's wrong?" Ryo asked as he sat down on the green grass. Rowen looked up to the sky and thought about it a while, sinking all the scenery in around him. The sky was blue with only a few puffs of clouds floating among them. The sun gleamed a bright hazy light as though nothing could go wrong. He sighed as he averted his attention back to Ryo when he heard his name again. "Ro? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Ry, but it's just that, ever since Talpa was destroyed a year ago, I'm still thinking there is more evil out there."
"Yeah, it's pretty strange to have normal days like this even though school is out and the dynasty is gone. But what makes you bring this up all of a sudden?"
Rowen sat down next to his friend, looking at the sky once more before answering. "Well, a few days ago, a strange dream occurred."
"What do you mean by that?" Ryo asked, intrigued.
"Well, it started out like this..."
______
As Rowen explained his complicated dream to the ronin leader, Yulie watched them as Mia gave White Blaze some milk in his bowl.
"Mia?"
"Yeah, Yulie?" Mia asked, walking up to him from the back.
"What is wrong with Rowen? He doesn't seem to be himself lately."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, for starters, he's being a little distant than usual and looks really bad from lack of sleep. Do you know what is causing this?"
Mia thought a bit. She knew the answer, but was it fair to tell this small boy the truth. "I have no clue, Yulie, but whatever it is, I'm sure Ryo can help." After that said, Mia went to the cabinets and took out seven plates and started to fill them up with pancakes and eggs, covering the pancakes in rich, deep maple syrup that made Kento fly into the room to help them in a heartbeat.
"Here Mia, let me take those."
"Uh, sure Kento, why not." Mia smiled at her friend as he took some plates from her and started to put them on the dining table. That was when Cye and Sage came into the room and were shocked that Kento was helping without eating the food all up.
"Wow, Kento, I'm impressed. I thought you were more of a glutton than a gentlemen." Cye said with fascination.
"I know Cye, I'm one of a kind." Kento said as he put all the food on the table in their rightful spot. "But that's not the case of being a gentlemen, I'm starving and it takes too long for Mia and Yulie to bring in the food."
Sage and Cye groaned but didn't say anything as they sat down. As Sage sat down, he noticed that two seats were unoccupied.
"Hey, where's Ro and Ryo?" Sage asked.
"Probably Rowen's still sleeping and Ryo's probably out back." Kento said as his eyes gleamed with delight as he stuffed his mouth with three pancakes at a time.
"Ugh, Kento, eat with your mouth closed and don't eat all your food in one gulp. You look like a hyperventilating chipmunk when you try to chew."
"Ah, shove it, Cye."
"You want to start something!"
"Maybe I do," Kento spit in Cye's face.
"Man, Kento! Yuck, you spit some food crumbs on me."
"Well, Mama's boy, why don't you go and get it cleaned!"
"Why don't you just choke on the pancakes for all I care!"
"You know what Cye, I don't even know why we're best friends."
"Because if I wasn't then you wouldn't be passing your schoolwork."
"But Rowen is smart, so I can make better friends with him than a fishy loving guy."
"Guys, just quit it! Geez, now to answer your questions, Sage. Ryo and Rowen are discussing something important outside." Mia said as she banged her fist on the table to quiet the two bickering boys. Sage looked out of the dining room table's window and shrugged. Whatever they were talking about had to be important by the way Ryo's face darkened with every word that came out of Rowen's mouth.
Sage's thoughts were interrupted when Kento bellowed out Rowen and Ryo's names for them to come eat.
_______
"And that's when the evil nasty creature comes and tells me 'The Mortal world will be mine, Strata! And you will be mine along with it all including your friends!' It's strange, isn't it?"
Ryo thought over it abit before speaking on his behalf.
"I really don't think that has to do with anything important." Ryo smiled, "I'm sure it's just bad memories from fighting Talpa that's still getting to you. I wouldn't dwell on it, Ro, it'll pass in no time."
"Yeah, I guess you're..."
"HEY RO! RYO! GET OVER HERE NOW BEFORE I EAT YOUR SHARE OF FOOD!"
Rowen and Ryo jumped when they heard the voice and looked towards the door. There they saw Kento waving for them to go in. "Well? Shall we?" Rowen asked as he got up and helped Ryo in the process.
"Let's." Ryo said, but was lost in thought as they walked in the house. * I can't help but wonder if what I say will help because I fear that it is something that is trying to forge itself in this world again. If there is, there's no way the ronin warriors will lose to it. That's a promise I'll keep. * Ryo thought as he closed the door behind them, never seeing the dark glint of evil that portrayed through the silent swaying trees behind them...