Ryu and company slowly trudged eastward; living off the supplies they had
been given by the kindly old sage, Josef. After a few days, desert started
to give way to grass, and grass gave way to grass with flowers and tall,
immense trees. Nina was starting to get excited, both Ryu and Kray could
tell by the way she was constantly looking around admiring the view. It
wasn't long afterward that they reached the mouth of what started the Great
Forest, a deep forest full of animals, plants…and monsters. Nina gaped
when she saw all the trees and looked up exclaiming, "wow! These are tall!"
Ryu chuckled and shook his head, laughing, "What's the matter Nina? Never
seen a tree before?" Nina looked at Ryu with annoyance and said, "No it's
not that at all! You see most of the trees in Wyndia are only imported from
other lands, and because we're such a major city of the westward part of
the world, they don't grow to massive proportions like this!" Then she
sighed and looked down, "and…dad never really took me anywhere anyways, so
I didn't get out much…I had to watch the world from afar, in that stuffy
castle!" Kray frowned, "Sorry to hear that Nina…" Nina smiled again and
looked back up the sadness vanishing from her face, "that doesn't matter
anymore though! What matters is we're here and one step closer to our
goal!" Kray grinned and nodded, "right, that's all that matters for now,
we'll deal with problems as they come one step at a time, right Ryu?" Ryu
nodded then said, "hey there's a spring nearby, I'm going to refill our
water before the trip through, we used a lot just in getting out of that
God-forsaken desert!" Kray nodded, "ok, but don't be long, the longer we
delay the more the chances that the Imperials will deploy after us some of
their elite squads, I mean, we've taken out the equivalent of like two
Squadrons already…" Ryu grinned and took the water from both Nina and Kray
saying, "well, let them try, the more they throw at us the less Imperials
there are in the world, which is a VERY good thing if you ask me." With
that he left, Kray shaking his head and muttering to Nina, "Overconfident,
seen it before, this could get very tricky very fast." Nina only nodded.
Unbeknownst to the travelers, a hooded figure watched them from the trees and as Ryu made his way toward the spring, the figure quickly darted to another tree to get out of his line of sight. It watched quietly as Ryu filled the water holders, arms folded. Suddenly Ryu's head jerked up and the figure, startled, started to slip in its effort to get away. There was a snap as the figure fell. Ryu hearing the commotion immediately ran toward where the sound had come from. When he got there, he looked around, hand on his katana's hilt. Nobody was there. Frowning a bit, he looked around again, and then relaxed his grip. "Must've been a wild bird or something," he muttered, "seemed that way…" turning he went back to where the water containers lay, picked them up and went to rejoin his friends. As he left the figure remerged from the shadows of the tree on the branch that had been right atop where Ryu had stood. Noticing its hood had fallen of the figure pulled it back over its head again, concealing the black hair that had been revealed momentarily. Jumping down from the branch the figure started walking away from the tree, and then vanished in a flash of black light.
Ryu returned with the water and Kray nodded saying, "Good, I guess this means we can head into the forest right?" Ryu nodded a bit, but said nothing. Kray cocked his head and asked, "What's the matter bro?" Ryu sighed and shook his head, "For a minute I felt like we were being followed, then the next moment, the feeling just…left." Kray smiled replying, "you're probably just a tad bit nervous or something, it happens, especially when you're on the run." Ryu shrugged, "well I guess it doesn't matter anymore, what matters right now is that we get into the forest, if we ARE being followed we'll have an easier time loosing our pursuers, if any." Kray nodded then yelled over to Nina who was off picking flowers, "hey Nina, c'mon we're going!" Nina looked up from the flowers, smiled and said, "alright, coming!" With that she enthusiastically scampered over to the two and grinned. "My first trek through the forest! This is going TO be fun!" Then she looked at Ryu and smiled, saying, "here, I got this for you!" With that she handed him a small, delicate daisy flower. Ryu looked at it thoughtfully, and then a small smile crept to his lips. Looking at Nina his smile broadened and he replied, "thank you Nina…" Nina smiled back saying, "you're welcome! Now c'mon!" Before Ryu knew what was happening she had grabbed him by the collar and was dragging him toward the forest entrance. Kray folded his arms, smiled with a chuckle and followed behind the two.
The forest was quiet as they walked into it, and although the occasional bird chirped, not very many other sounds came forth. Ryu frowned a bit, and looked around uneasily. He hated the silence as it made him edgy. Kray gave him a supporting shove and said, "c'mon Ryu, we have got to do this, otherwise we'll never make it through!" Ryu grimaced a bit, but relaxed and nodded, "alright, its just it seem too quiet for my likes, you never know what could happen in this place, be on your guard…" Nina and Kray nodded and they started forth, Ryu leading, Nina in the middle and Kray guarding the rear, his Woren senses allowing him to detect if the party was threatened in the back. They walked on tirelessly, passing by great trees that seemed to go up endlessly into another world, dead tress, lying fallen, broken and twisted, and young saprolings, a new life waiting to begin among the dense forest. As the sounds of twittering and cawing, shuffling and grunting came to their ears; the three travelers began to relax as they allowed for the forest to become like a temporary home. Even Ryu, who seemed the most high-strung seemed to calm down.
The group pressed onward, suddenly Nina's eyes went wide and she went, "Shhhhhhh!" Kray and Ryu looked at her quizzically as she stood there listening. Then she grinned saying, "you hear what I hear?" Kray's ears began twitching and he suddenly realized what she heard and nodded, "yes, I hear it too!" Ryu blinked at the two as if they had gone mad, then asked inquisitively, with a tad bit of annoyance in his voice, "what? what is it?" Nina walked up to him and held his mouth shut and looked him in the eyes. "Listen to the world around you…" she said quietly, "push away all your thoughts and fears, just for a moment, and listen…please…" Ryu nodded and just listened his other senses seemingly shutting down and going into a forced "hibernation." He heard birds chirp clearly, and then the more distant sound of trees rustling in the light breeze, and then after that even quieter there was a roar, a roar of a waterfall. Suddenly his mind seemed to travel up and away from his body and soar quickly through the trees to the site and he watched as the water cascaded down into the pond below, and as the pond below trickled off into a small river. He watched as birds fed in the water and as droplets sparkled off into a rainbow. He gasped; it was absolutely brilliant and stunning sight. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him, "beautiful isn't it?" Ryu blinked and turned. It was Nina. Cocking his head to the side he looked at her inquisitively, "how, how did you get here?" he stammered. Nina smiled, "we're in each others thoughts, projected images of our physical forms…" Ryu stammered, "B…But how?" Nina smiled, "This is happening because you opened your mind to the world around you Ryu, for once you are taking the entire world in, not just your own thoughts, desires and wants." Ryu turned to watch the waterfall some more, then said, "I guess, in my desire to obtain my revenge I have, closed my mind to others…shutting them off…yet it feels natural to me, like something I was meant to do…" Nina shook her head and looped her arm through Ryu's, looking him in the eye again. "Ryu, is that what you want? To be a husk of your true self, only showing bitterness and hatred to others when there is so much more of you?" Ryu's jaw twitched and he unlinked his arm and walked over to look at some ferns, then said, "I'm not sure what I want Nina…not anymore…" he paused then continued, "after what happened five years ago, I'm still hurting inside…I feel trapped and alone, its cold Nina…so cold…this existence of mine. I don't want you getting involved, please, don't get involved!" Calmly Nina walked up to him and drew him into a hug murmuring, "Its OK, Ryu, we're here for you, Kray and I. You see, we're already involved, we saw the way you killed that man back in Farhain, and we saw the look of pain and hurt within you as you hacked away at him, we only want to help, please, stop pushing us away…stop pushing ME away…" Suddenly Nina felt a cold droplet hit her shoulder, then another followed, and another. She looked up and saw he was crying. Hugging him tighter she replied, "don't worry Ryu, you can cry…here nobody can see you cry…" and he did, as he buried his head into her hair, Ryu, Dragon loner, cried.
They made camp that evening in a small clearing in the center of the forest. Nina and Ryu had spoken little since what had happened on their mind-trip, and Kray who had been totally perplexed when she and Ryu had seemingly zoned out, decided it was best not to ask any questions on the matter. Now all three were around the fire eating quietly. Kray finally decided to break the silence and said, after finishing his meal. "After we exit the woods, we can make a stop at Arundel, it's a town mostly populated by Humans, so don't get annoyed if they look at us funny, I hear they've not had much contact with the outside world." Ryu nodded, and replied, "I, I guess that would be fine, and seeing as though they communicate little I don't think the Empire's really bothered with them…" Kray nodded, "My thoughts exactly, we can replenish our supplies there and get out with little trouble, though we must be prepared to fight IF they do maintain contact with Imperials, not all towns are as anti-Imperialistic as Farhain was." It was then that Nina stood and stretched her small frame saying, "I'm going to go get some sleep boys ok? Good night!" and with that she gave each of them a kiss on the head, ignoring the fact that Ryu frowned a bit and quickly went into the tent. Kray chuckled and Ryu looked at him inquisitively asking, "what? What is it?" Kray shook his head, "its nothing, honestly!" Ryu frowned then looked at his friend squarely in the eye, "you were always a rotten liar, tell me what is it? Or do I have to beat you to a pulp again?" Kray laughed and said, "Fine, fine you win! I was thinking about how much Nina reminded me of Kira, so cheerful, calm, collected, not to mention crazy over you…" Ryu's jaw twitched, then he heaved a sigh saying, "yeah well she's not Kira…" then he looked down and away, "Kray…I miss her so much…" Kray nodded and patted his friend on the back saying, "I understand how much Kira meant to you Ryu…hey, perhaps she DID survive the fire! Perhaps she's out there somewhere, looking for you, searching…" Ryu shook his head, "I looked, I called her name, I got no answer except the roar of those flames…" with that he turned to look at the fire. As he stared into the depths of the orange white flame his features changed to that of rage and grief and he suddenly snapped, "Kray she's DEAD OK?! D-E-A-D! I don't want to hear about her ever again! Just please! Leave me alone now!" With that he got up quickly and retreated to the tent where Nina was sleeping peacefully, got into his bag and lay there quietly, staring at the side of the tent. Kray sighed and shook his head murmuring, "Sorry Ryu, I didn't mean to offend you…" with that he got up, extinguished the fire and got comfortable on the log to watch over his friends.
Later that night, Ryu awoke to some strange sounds. Looking over at Nina he noticed she was still sleeping peacefully, so he crawled out of his bag quietly as not to disturb her. As he walked outside, carefully avoiding a sleeping Kray, something came over him. The sound, it was singing! Shaking his head, he started trailing off toward the direction of the song, his thoughts starting to fog over and become cloudy. A few minutes later Nina woke up. She had been having trouble sleeping and had hoped that something in their packs would help her sleep better. When she looked over at Ryu's bag, however, it was empty. Frowning she went out of the tent. Kray was still asleep. Nina gently nudged Kray and he awoke with a start, his knives out in a flash, "Hunh? Wha? Who goes there!" He croaked. Nina replied quietly, "Its just me Kray, have you seen Ryu at all?" Kray blinked, a look of surprise on his face, "what, he's not sleeping in the tent?" Nina shook her head, "no, and what's weirder, he left his weapon! He never goes out without it!" Kray nodded and got up saying, "alrighty then looks like we better go search for him, and it's a bad idea for him to be out at night unarmed." Nina nodded a worried look on her face. Kray smiled, "don't worry we'll find him! C'mon!" With that the two dashed off to find their lost comrade.
Meanwhile, Ryu drew closer to the singings source, his mind clouding over even more with each step he took. He felt weightless and free, as if all cares had been lifted from his shoulders. He reveled in the sensations his mind was being bombarded with and ignored the branches that whipped and stung at him as he walked. All that mattered was that voice and its user. Suddenly he was there, a in a beautiful water garden. Flowers adorned the small clearing and a small, clean, and enchanting stream flowed through it. As he walked into the small garden a voice addressed him. "Brave Ryu, come to me my love come to me and forget your journey. Cast aside your earthly fears and love me so tenderly like you always did…" Turning Ryu looked at the person who spoke, and as he looked he saw what he had wanted most. Kira. The young woman opened her arms and Ryu literally flung himself into them. Smiling Kira stroked his hair lovingly and whispered as the vines that made up the entrance closed, "You are mine, my young Brood, mine…forever…" with that the vines closed, and Ryu did not see the small, but evil smirk in the corner of her mouth.
As these events transpired, Kray and Nina were hot on the trail of the young Brood. Kray had been using his Woren sense of smell and sight to help them. Nina was very worried and it showed on her face as she said, "I hope he's alright, I would never forgive myself if something happened to him…" Kray folded his arms and sighed, "relax, he'll be ok, the kids resourceful, if he gets into a jam, he'll probably be able to get out of it." Nina nodded, "I hope you're right." Kray started to look around again, then frowned, "something's up with these vines, they're growing in irregular patterns…" Nina looked over to where Kray was looking and looked harder. Kray was right they were too distorted looking. Looking at Kray she said, "Stay back, I'm going to blast it." Kray nodded and stepped away as Nina began muttering. The air suddenly seemed to heat up as Nina muttered, "Fire Blaze!" Instantly fire seemed to leap from her hands and collide with the vines. They burned instantly, vaporized by the intense heat. Immediately after the vines were burned away a archway appeared before them and Nina nodded, "right, I guess we go in then…" Kray nodded and followed after her as they entered the archway. Sure enough as they cleared some more foliage away from them and came into the clearing, there was Ryu, lying on a bed of flowers. Nina started toward him crying, "Ryu!" but then Kray grabbed her arm. Nina looked at him incredulously asking, "what? What's the matter?" Kray sniffed the air and looked at her again, "something's not right, we're not the only ones here…" Nina turned to look again. He was right. As Ryu began to stir, a woman materialized beside him. She was about five foot four, slender and had pale green skin, however she was human, that could be told by her form. Smiling rather wickedly at both Kray and Nina the woman hissed, "Welcome to my domain, I knew you two would be coming after your Dragon friend here…" Nina immediately lost her cool and yelled, "What have you done to him!" The green skinned woman hissed back, "Nothing much, just drained a good portion of his energy away, I was just about to finish him off when you annoying brats showed up, early…I DO hate punctual people, no matter, I guess that means even more food for me!" Immediately Kray's knives and Nina's staff were taken out, and Nina narrowed her eyes at the sorceress, "Not on my watch you won't!" Immediately she brought he staff forward in a sideways arc then raised it above her head yelling, "Lightning!" right away lightning split the sky and crashed down through the canopy. The sorceress was faster, however, and dodged out of the way. "Vine slash!" she hissed. Vines shot from every angle at Nina. Ducking and weaving Nina dodged most of them, but the last one got her. Nina screamed as a vine slashed her shoulder, leaving a deep, bleeding gash. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder Nina sneered, "you bitch!" then countered with a water spell. There was a rumbling and suddenly the stream seemed to turn into a raging tornado of water. In it came, crashing down on the sorceress. The sorceress shrieked as the water tossed her about. As the spell subsided the sorceress was spit out and slammed into some of the vines. Snarling she turned on Nina. "You're going to pay little birdie!" With a flick of her wrist shards of earth separated from the ground and shot at Nina. This time Nina was ready. Holding out her hands she muttered, "Barrier" A bubble formed around her and as the earth shards hit it they disintegrated, splintering off into harmless shards. As the spell dissipated and the barrier dropped Nina came roaring out, a look of extreme fury all over her face, "nobody calls me BIRDIE! Volcanic Fire!" as she raised her wand the ground began to rumble under the sorceress. The sorceress looked at Nina, wide eyed, screaming, "No!" As she fumbled at a protection scroll the ground began to crack even more. Suddenly without warning a huge jet of flame roared to life under the sorceress. The sorceress screamed in pain as the fire engulfed her and instantly vaporized her. Kray blinked and lowered his knives as he watched muttering, "damn, remind me to never make her angry…" After watching for a second or two Nina waved her hand and the fire died. Grinning triumphantly she said, "Well, that takes care of that…" Kray nodded and chuckled, "yes it does, but after we get back, be sure to wash up…" Nina blinked at him, then conjured a mirror and made a face. "Oh my god, you're right…" she moaned, "I'm a mess!" And she was. Her normally straight blonde hair was tussled all around her dirt-smudged face. Her dress was torn in numerous places and her other shoulder still bled freely. Sighing she winced, it only dawned to her now how much it hurt. Looking back at the flowerbed she spotted Ryu again and breathed a sigh of relief, he seemed unhurt. Walking over to him, she nudged him gently saying softly, "hey sleepyhead, time to wake up…" groaning, Ryu's eyes opened and upon seeing Nina croaked, "Kira? Where…are you? Kira…come…back…" With that his eyes closed again as he fell back into a rather deep sleep. Kray picked up his friend saying, "It's natural for this to happen when ones been drained of energy, c'mon lets get him back to camp and get that shoulder of yours fixed up." Nina nodded and as they left the clearing, the sun began to rise behind them. It would be the beginning of another long day soon…
Unbeknownst to the travelers, a hooded figure watched them from the trees and as Ryu made his way toward the spring, the figure quickly darted to another tree to get out of his line of sight. It watched quietly as Ryu filled the water holders, arms folded. Suddenly Ryu's head jerked up and the figure, startled, started to slip in its effort to get away. There was a snap as the figure fell. Ryu hearing the commotion immediately ran toward where the sound had come from. When he got there, he looked around, hand on his katana's hilt. Nobody was there. Frowning a bit, he looked around again, and then relaxed his grip. "Must've been a wild bird or something," he muttered, "seemed that way…" turning he went back to where the water containers lay, picked them up and went to rejoin his friends. As he left the figure remerged from the shadows of the tree on the branch that had been right atop where Ryu had stood. Noticing its hood had fallen of the figure pulled it back over its head again, concealing the black hair that had been revealed momentarily. Jumping down from the branch the figure started walking away from the tree, and then vanished in a flash of black light.
Ryu returned with the water and Kray nodded saying, "Good, I guess this means we can head into the forest right?" Ryu nodded a bit, but said nothing. Kray cocked his head and asked, "What's the matter bro?" Ryu sighed and shook his head, "For a minute I felt like we were being followed, then the next moment, the feeling just…left." Kray smiled replying, "you're probably just a tad bit nervous or something, it happens, especially when you're on the run." Ryu shrugged, "well I guess it doesn't matter anymore, what matters right now is that we get into the forest, if we ARE being followed we'll have an easier time loosing our pursuers, if any." Kray nodded then yelled over to Nina who was off picking flowers, "hey Nina, c'mon we're going!" Nina looked up from the flowers, smiled and said, "alright, coming!" With that she enthusiastically scampered over to the two and grinned. "My first trek through the forest! This is going TO be fun!" Then she looked at Ryu and smiled, saying, "here, I got this for you!" With that she handed him a small, delicate daisy flower. Ryu looked at it thoughtfully, and then a small smile crept to his lips. Looking at Nina his smile broadened and he replied, "thank you Nina…" Nina smiled back saying, "you're welcome! Now c'mon!" Before Ryu knew what was happening she had grabbed him by the collar and was dragging him toward the forest entrance. Kray folded his arms, smiled with a chuckle and followed behind the two.
The forest was quiet as they walked into it, and although the occasional bird chirped, not very many other sounds came forth. Ryu frowned a bit, and looked around uneasily. He hated the silence as it made him edgy. Kray gave him a supporting shove and said, "c'mon Ryu, we have got to do this, otherwise we'll never make it through!" Ryu grimaced a bit, but relaxed and nodded, "alright, its just it seem too quiet for my likes, you never know what could happen in this place, be on your guard…" Nina and Kray nodded and they started forth, Ryu leading, Nina in the middle and Kray guarding the rear, his Woren senses allowing him to detect if the party was threatened in the back. They walked on tirelessly, passing by great trees that seemed to go up endlessly into another world, dead tress, lying fallen, broken and twisted, and young saprolings, a new life waiting to begin among the dense forest. As the sounds of twittering and cawing, shuffling and grunting came to their ears; the three travelers began to relax as they allowed for the forest to become like a temporary home. Even Ryu, who seemed the most high-strung seemed to calm down.
The group pressed onward, suddenly Nina's eyes went wide and she went, "Shhhhhhh!" Kray and Ryu looked at her quizzically as she stood there listening. Then she grinned saying, "you hear what I hear?" Kray's ears began twitching and he suddenly realized what she heard and nodded, "yes, I hear it too!" Ryu blinked at the two as if they had gone mad, then asked inquisitively, with a tad bit of annoyance in his voice, "what? what is it?" Nina walked up to him and held his mouth shut and looked him in the eyes. "Listen to the world around you…" she said quietly, "push away all your thoughts and fears, just for a moment, and listen…please…" Ryu nodded and just listened his other senses seemingly shutting down and going into a forced "hibernation." He heard birds chirp clearly, and then the more distant sound of trees rustling in the light breeze, and then after that even quieter there was a roar, a roar of a waterfall. Suddenly his mind seemed to travel up and away from his body and soar quickly through the trees to the site and he watched as the water cascaded down into the pond below, and as the pond below trickled off into a small river. He watched as birds fed in the water and as droplets sparkled off into a rainbow. He gasped; it was absolutely brilliant and stunning sight. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him, "beautiful isn't it?" Ryu blinked and turned. It was Nina. Cocking his head to the side he looked at her inquisitively, "how, how did you get here?" he stammered. Nina smiled, "we're in each others thoughts, projected images of our physical forms…" Ryu stammered, "B…But how?" Nina smiled, "This is happening because you opened your mind to the world around you Ryu, for once you are taking the entire world in, not just your own thoughts, desires and wants." Ryu turned to watch the waterfall some more, then said, "I guess, in my desire to obtain my revenge I have, closed my mind to others…shutting them off…yet it feels natural to me, like something I was meant to do…" Nina shook her head and looped her arm through Ryu's, looking him in the eye again. "Ryu, is that what you want? To be a husk of your true self, only showing bitterness and hatred to others when there is so much more of you?" Ryu's jaw twitched and he unlinked his arm and walked over to look at some ferns, then said, "I'm not sure what I want Nina…not anymore…" he paused then continued, "after what happened five years ago, I'm still hurting inside…I feel trapped and alone, its cold Nina…so cold…this existence of mine. I don't want you getting involved, please, don't get involved!" Calmly Nina walked up to him and drew him into a hug murmuring, "Its OK, Ryu, we're here for you, Kray and I. You see, we're already involved, we saw the way you killed that man back in Farhain, and we saw the look of pain and hurt within you as you hacked away at him, we only want to help, please, stop pushing us away…stop pushing ME away…" Suddenly Nina felt a cold droplet hit her shoulder, then another followed, and another. She looked up and saw he was crying. Hugging him tighter she replied, "don't worry Ryu, you can cry…here nobody can see you cry…" and he did, as he buried his head into her hair, Ryu, Dragon loner, cried.
They made camp that evening in a small clearing in the center of the forest. Nina and Ryu had spoken little since what had happened on their mind-trip, and Kray who had been totally perplexed when she and Ryu had seemingly zoned out, decided it was best not to ask any questions on the matter. Now all three were around the fire eating quietly. Kray finally decided to break the silence and said, after finishing his meal. "After we exit the woods, we can make a stop at Arundel, it's a town mostly populated by Humans, so don't get annoyed if they look at us funny, I hear they've not had much contact with the outside world." Ryu nodded, and replied, "I, I guess that would be fine, and seeing as though they communicate little I don't think the Empire's really bothered with them…" Kray nodded, "My thoughts exactly, we can replenish our supplies there and get out with little trouble, though we must be prepared to fight IF they do maintain contact with Imperials, not all towns are as anti-Imperialistic as Farhain was." It was then that Nina stood and stretched her small frame saying, "I'm going to go get some sleep boys ok? Good night!" and with that she gave each of them a kiss on the head, ignoring the fact that Ryu frowned a bit and quickly went into the tent. Kray chuckled and Ryu looked at him inquisitively asking, "what? What is it?" Kray shook his head, "its nothing, honestly!" Ryu frowned then looked at his friend squarely in the eye, "you were always a rotten liar, tell me what is it? Or do I have to beat you to a pulp again?" Kray laughed and said, "Fine, fine you win! I was thinking about how much Nina reminded me of Kira, so cheerful, calm, collected, not to mention crazy over you…" Ryu's jaw twitched, then he heaved a sigh saying, "yeah well she's not Kira…" then he looked down and away, "Kray…I miss her so much…" Kray nodded and patted his friend on the back saying, "I understand how much Kira meant to you Ryu…hey, perhaps she DID survive the fire! Perhaps she's out there somewhere, looking for you, searching…" Ryu shook his head, "I looked, I called her name, I got no answer except the roar of those flames…" with that he turned to look at the fire. As he stared into the depths of the orange white flame his features changed to that of rage and grief and he suddenly snapped, "Kray she's DEAD OK?! D-E-A-D! I don't want to hear about her ever again! Just please! Leave me alone now!" With that he got up quickly and retreated to the tent where Nina was sleeping peacefully, got into his bag and lay there quietly, staring at the side of the tent. Kray sighed and shook his head murmuring, "Sorry Ryu, I didn't mean to offend you…" with that he got up, extinguished the fire and got comfortable on the log to watch over his friends.
Later that night, Ryu awoke to some strange sounds. Looking over at Nina he noticed she was still sleeping peacefully, so he crawled out of his bag quietly as not to disturb her. As he walked outside, carefully avoiding a sleeping Kray, something came over him. The sound, it was singing! Shaking his head, he started trailing off toward the direction of the song, his thoughts starting to fog over and become cloudy. A few minutes later Nina woke up. She had been having trouble sleeping and had hoped that something in their packs would help her sleep better. When she looked over at Ryu's bag, however, it was empty. Frowning she went out of the tent. Kray was still asleep. Nina gently nudged Kray and he awoke with a start, his knives out in a flash, "Hunh? Wha? Who goes there!" He croaked. Nina replied quietly, "Its just me Kray, have you seen Ryu at all?" Kray blinked, a look of surprise on his face, "what, he's not sleeping in the tent?" Nina shook her head, "no, and what's weirder, he left his weapon! He never goes out without it!" Kray nodded and got up saying, "alrighty then looks like we better go search for him, and it's a bad idea for him to be out at night unarmed." Nina nodded a worried look on her face. Kray smiled, "don't worry we'll find him! C'mon!" With that the two dashed off to find their lost comrade.
Meanwhile, Ryu drew closer to the singings source, his mind clouding over even more with each step he took. He felt weightless and free, as if all cares had been lifted from his shoulders. He reveled in the sensations his mind was being bombarded with and ignored the branches that whipped and stung at him as he walked. All that mattered was that voice and its user. Suddenly he was there, a in a beautiful water garden. Flowers adorned the small clearing and a small, clean, and enchanting stream flowed through it. As he walked into the small garden a voice addressed him. "Brave Ryu, come to me my love come to me and forget your journey. Cast aside your earthly fears and love me so tenderly like you always did…" Turning Ryu looked at the person who spoke, and as he looked he saw what he had wanted most. Kira. The young woman opened her arms and Ryu literally flung himself into them. Smiling Kira stroked his hair lovingly and whispered as the vines that made up the entrance closed, "You are mine, my young Brood, mine…forever…" with that the vines closed, and Ryu did not see the small, but evil smirk in the corner of her mouth.
As these events transpired, Kray and Nina were hot on the trail of the young Brood. Kray had been using his Woren sense of smell and sight to help them. Nina was very worried and it showed on her face as she said, "I hope he's alright, I would never forgive myself if something happened to him…" Kray folded his arms and sighed, "relax, he'll be ok, the kids resourceful, if he gets into a jam, he'll probably be able to get out of it." Nina nodded, "I hope you're right." Kray started to look around again, then frowned, "something's up with these vines, they're growing in irregular patterns…" Nina looked over to where Kray was looking and looked harder. Kray was right they were too distorted looking. Looking at Kray she said, "Stay back, I'm going to blast it." Kray nodded and stepped away as Nina began muttering. The air suddenly seemed to heat up as Nina muttered, "Fire Blaze!" Instantly fire seemed to leap from her hands and collide with the vines. They burned instantly, vaporized by the intense heat. Immediately after the vines were burned away a archway appeared before them and Nina nodded, "right, I guess we go in then…" Kray nodded and followed after her as they entered the archway. Sure enough as they cleared some more foliage away from them and came into the clearing, there was Ryu, lying on a bed of flowers. Nina started toward him crying, "Ryu!" but then Kray grabbed her arm. Nina looked at him incredulously asking, "what? What's the matter?" Kray sniffed the air and looked at her again, "something's not right, we're not the only ones here…" Nina turned to look again. He was right. As Ryu began to stir, a woman materialized beside him. She was about five foot four, slender and had pale green skin, however she was human, that could be told by her form. Smiling rather wickedly at both Kray and Nina the woman hissed, "Welcome to my domain, I knew you two would be coming after your Dragon friend here…" Nina immediately lost her cool and yelled, "What have you done to him!" The green skinned woman hissed back, "Nothing much, just drained a good portion of his energy away, I was just about to finish him off when you annoying brats showed up, early…I DO hate punctual people, no matter, I guess that means even more food for me!" Immediately Kray's knives and Nina's staff were taken out, and Nina narrowed her eyes at the sorceress, "Not on my watch you won't!" Immediately she brought he staff forward in a sideways arc then raised it above her head yelling, "Lightning!" right away lightning split the sky and crashed down through the canopy. The sorceress was faster, however, and dodged out of the way. "Vine slash!" she hissed. Vines shot from every angle at Nina. Ducking and weaving Nina dodged most of them, but the last one got her. Nina screamed as a vine slashed her shoulder, leaving a deep, bleeding gash. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder Nina sneered, "you bitch!" then countered with a water spell. There was a rumbling and suddenly the stream seemed to turn into a raging tornado of water. In it came, crashing down on the sorceress. The sorceress shrieked as the water tossed her about. As the spell subsided the sorceress was spit out and slammed into some of the vines. Snarling she turned on Nina. "You're going to pay little birdie!" With a flick of her wrist shards of earth separated from the ground and shot at Nina. This time Nina was ready. Holding out her hands she muttered, "Barrier" A bubble formed around her and as the earth shards hit it they disintegrated, splintering off into harmless shards. As the spell dissipated and the barrier dropped Nina came roaring out, a look of extreme fury all over her face, "nobody calls me BIRDIE! Volcanic Fire!" as she raised her wand the ground began to rumble under the sorceress. The sorceress looked at Nina, wide eyed, screaming, "No!" As she fumbled at a protection scroll the ground began to crack even more. Suddenly without warning a huge jet of flame roared to life under the sorceress. The sorceress screamed in pain as the fire engulfed her and instantly vaporized her. Kray blinked and lowered his knives as he watched muttering, "damn, remind me to never make her angry…" After watching for a second or two Nina waved her hand and the fire died. Grinning triumphantly she said, "Well, that takes care of that…" Kray nodded and chuckled, "yes it does, but after we get back, be sure to wash up…" Nina blinked at him, then conjured a mirror and made a face. "Oh my god, you're right…" she moaned, "I'm a mess!" And she was. Her normally straight blonde hair was tussled all around her dirt-smudged face. Her dress was torn in numerous places and her other shoulder still bled freely. Sighing she winced, it only dawned to her now how much it hurt. Looking back at the flowerbed she spotted Ryu again and breathed a sigh of relief, he seemed unhurt. Walking over to him, she nudged him gently saying softly, "hey sleepyhead, time to wake up…" groaning, Ryu's eyes opened and upon seeing Nina croaked, "Kira? Where…are you? Kira…come…back…" With that his eyes closed again as he fell back into a rather deep sleep. Kray picked up his friend saying, "It's natural for this to happen when ones been drained of energy, c'mon lets get him back to camp and get that shoulder of yours fixed up." Nina nodded and as they left the clearing, the sun began to rise behind them. It would be the beginning of another long day soon…