Author's note: DAY here! First thing's first . . . thanx soooooooo much to all my readers. I have 6 reviews! *squeals* that's more than I've gotten on all my other stories combined! I luv you all! Sorry, one thing you will learn very quickly is that I (as in me, not in my stories) over use the word love. Get used to it. Newayz, onto answers for all your questions . . .

I intend for this to be an involved, and a long, fic, and I've already got an idea for most of the major plot twists etc. which is why there's a lotta development in these first few chappies. A little action, but more character development, so hang with me, k. no, striker, even though this does take place 5,000 years after LOD, it's not gonna be a futuristic fic. I can't write those. My techie stuff always sucks. But think of it this way, how much did technology change between the dragon campaign and LOD? And that was 11,000 years. And as to having a story about Cinella and Ando, I wanted to put this up first and see how it did. Cuz if I didn't have anyone interested in this, then I would get even worse things for cinella and ando's story cuz there wouldn't be any dragoons in it.

Ok, ranting over. Next chappie!



Sonari


Why am I here? Why did I ever agree to come to this blasted Wingly town? Why can't Yani find somewhere else to enquire about those stupid stones? And why, for that matter, is he so bloody interested in them? They're just stones, after all.   Sonari thought.

He wasn't happy. He raked a hand through his unruly sandy brown hair and sighed. They had been traveling for nearly six months now, Yani and himself, and explored all throughout these southern lands, at least this far south. Between his Shotel and Yani's throwing knives and short sword, they had felled every opponent that had dared to oppose them. Yet when Yani had found two unusual stones, perfectly round and smooth, one green and one red, he had insisted that they had run straight to the nearest Winglies town.

"They are far too perfect to be natural, so must be, in some way, magical. You know that Winglies are the only ones in today's world who understand magic fully. Not even you know what these stones might be for." Sonari lowered his voice and mocked his friend, who he had lost in the press of the crowd up in the town. He had wandered to the outskirts of this exclusively Wingly town, Lahrin, it was called, knowing that he wouldn't be able to find Yani up there.

Great. I'm not just lost; I'm lost in a town full of Winglies . . .   He complained to himself.

He sat down on an outcrop of rocks and took out the stone that Yani had entrusted to his care. It was a good sized stone, much larger than any jewel he had ever seen, and gleamed blood red in the sun low on the horizon. The light bounced and twisted inside the stone in impossible ways, and it seemed to be glowing red in his hand. He clasped the stone tight in his fist and turned his hand over. He gazed at the mark on the back of his hand. His father had said that it was a birthmark, and that he had always had it, but Sonari thought that it looked more like a scar than anything. It covered most of the back of his hand and looked like 4 lines, crisscrossing and arranged like an 8 pointed star, was raised slightly above the level of his skin, and slightly pinker than the rest of his skin.

He had never been anywhere this warm before. Once he and Yani had left Deningrad, the heat had become increasingly unbearable, and they had had to strip layer after layer of their clothing. Now they were in this town only about a day's journey south of Donau, but he felt like he was in the Death Frontier, which he had only heard stories about.

He put the stone back in his pocket as a rock rolled down the hill and hit his boot. He glared up in the direction that the rock came from. A young Wingly boy of about 10 years was standing not far away with his hand over his mouth. He came running towards Sonari. Sonari smiled a sadistic little smile and chuckled softly. He could have some fun with this child. He pulled the hood of his long coat, a dark dull yellowish brown, over his head, making sure to hide any trace of his hair or hazel eyes. He took his Shotel out of his belt, and watched the sun's setting light glint along the curved blade. When he placed the bottom of the wooden shaft on the ground, he could have rivaled any Grim Reaper. He certainly looked the part . . .

When the boy got close to Sonari, his eyes widened as if he had seen death itself. "I . . . I . . . I'm awfully sorry, S . . . S . . . Sir," the boy managed to stammer.

"So you should be. Is it often that you hit newcomers to your town with rocks?"

"No . . . no, of course not, but . . . but . . . I don't think we've every had people like you come before . . . ," the boy replied. "Sir," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"So, just because I'm different you're allowed to throw rocks at me?"

"I d . . . didn't mean to hit you, Sir."

"I should bloody well hope not." But a simple apology wasn't enough for Sonari. He decided that he needed to teach a lesson to this idiotic Wingly boy.

With speed and accuracy that only comes with years of training, Sonari took the handle of his Shotel and hooked it behind the boy's knees. With a deft pull, the boy's knees buckled, and he landed on his bottom on the ground. The boy suddenly found the wickedly curved tip of the blade at his neck. He consciously gulped so loud that Sonari could hear it.

"I . . . I . . . won't do it again, Sir. I promise."

"You'd better not." Sonari lifted his Shotel, and the boy was off like a rabbit. Sonari laughed wickedly, then flipped back his hood and shoved his Shotel back in his belt.

I hope he's learned his lesson. Stupid Wingly. The whole town will know what happened by nightfall. At least they'll leave me alone. The Gods know that I wouldn't be caught dead in friendly conversation with a Wingly. Maybe Yani can get his information quickly, and then we can get out of here . . .   Sonari mused to himself. He glanced back up at the town and noticed that the crowd had thinned. He started back towards Lahrin, hoping that he could find his friend now.



Author's note: ok, there's character development on one of the four major characters. I know this chappie wasn't as long as my last one, but filler chappies and development chappies aren't gonna be as long as other ones. Yeah, and with every character I introduce into my story, they might just end up in my (a/n)s. and please read the next chapter, I know Sonari's not the nicest guy in the world, and he can be a bit scary, but the other characters are nicer, I promise.

Sonari: It's not my fault I'm mean. Blame it on Lana. Honestly, that much stress . . .

DAY: *clamps hand over Sonari's mouth* Shut up! They don't find out about Lana until chapter 6 or 7. Just keep your mouth shut will ya? Heh heh. Sorry about that, but hey, now you have a reason to keep reading, right? Don't forget to review, yeah?