Kris Strife was thirteen years old. His work as a mercenary was doing just fine. The young feline furre stretched slightly as he stood up from his campsite. He had somewhat new orange and blue clothing in addition to loose multi-shade red robes that he tended to wear in cold weather. He picked up his sword, the legendary Ki-Blade from the ground, where it had been with in easy reach of his hand while he slept. He noticed he was low on funds and realized he needed to get more work soon. He walked into a near by town.

"Geez, this place looks run down, and not even a peaceful run down. Well guess I better head to the inn and see what's going on," he said to himself.

Suddenly he heard a commotion.

"NO! I don't want to leave!" he heard a young female's voice say.

"Emperor Iansra has requested you." A gruffer voice said.

"Please, don't take her. He took our other daughter last week," came the voice of an older female.

Kris rushed over and saw some guards attempting to carry off a girl who couldn't have been more than sixteen.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Kris asked, loosening his sword in its sheath.

"Stay out of this outsider. It's none of your business."

"I quite disagree. You seem to be bothering that girl and I'm a wandering hero. It seems that this is exactly my business."

"Fine, the five of you, fight him off. The rest of you, help me drag this wench off," said the one who seemed to be in charge.

Kris pulled the sword from its sheath and charged into the group. He was rather amazed at how fiercely these soldiers fought. By the time he defeated them, the others had escaped. He walked over to the woman who was now weeping against a full grown male furre.

"Excuse me, but what's wrong?" he asked concerned.

"That was our youngest daughter," replied the male. "Toliran's guards carried her off to the castle. The fate that awaits her there is worth than death."

"Who is Toliran?"

"He's a tyrant who's been ruling this land for ten thousand years. He found a way to make himself immortal by stealing the souls of young girls."

"That's not good. What does he do?"

"Well, the thing about souls is that rape doesn't affect them. If you're a virgin and you're raped, your soul is still that of a virgin."

"That makes sense."

"Yes, but rape does loosen your soul's grip. If you are raped repeatedly it can cost you your soul."

"Let me guess, this guy takes young girls, rapes them and then uses their souls to make himself immortal?"

"Basically."

"Alright, that is NOT cool. Look my name is Kris Strife. I'm a mercenary and I'd like to help. Is there any force fighting this guy?"

"No. but you seem to be a good fighter. Perhaps we could enlist your help in another area."

"Hmm?"

That night Kris was sitting at a meeting of all the members of the town.

"So let me get this straight," he said sitting up. "You want me to get into the castle, find this guys room, then assasinate him."

"Yes. We'd be happy to pay you," responded the town leader, Ondain.

"Well, I'll need to do a scouting mission and see if there is anyone in there worth saving. I'll be back in a week with my answer and my price."

"But my daughter may not have a week," said the male from earlier.

"Don't worry. I found a poison that has a negative affect on a guys love life. He won't be able to do anything to any one for ten days."

Kris walked up to the castle where some guards were sitting around a fire. He had used an illusion spell to make himself appear young than he was.

"I wonder what happened to those guys who stayed back to fight that kid," one of them, a canine, growled.

"Maybe the kid injured them and they're off licking their wounds," said a lapine soldier.

"Excuse me sirs, but I'm thinking about joining this group," said Kris politely. "Can you tell me what sort of initiation is required?"

"Sure," said the canine from earlier. "To join, the first thing you have to do is kill all of your male relatives in front of witnesses, then you give any virgin female relatives to Toliran, then you have to rape and kill all of your non-virgin female relatives. So, think you're up to it?"

"I don't think I can join. I'm an orphan."

"Hmm... That is difficult. Well, it's a moot point right now, you're too young. Come back in about ten years."

"Alright sir."

Kris walked off, completely aghast at what he had heard.

"Alright, not only will I take the attack, I'll do it for free," Kris said standing in front of the group. "I'll make sure every one in that fortress is dead!"

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Just don't tell anyone who did it."

Kris snuck into the castle. He headed over to the barracks. He knew he had to hurry, so he wasn't going to hold back, the poison he slipped into the water would wear off in a few hours. He slashed open the barracks door and burst in.

"None of you will not live to see the dawn!" he cried. "I am the bringer of your deaths!"

The whole room burst into violence, Kris seeming to be in several places at once, slashing, stabbing, punching, kicking, biting, clawing and unleashing bursts of energies. It seemed that every guard and soldier in the group was entering in so it took quite a while for the number of combatants to devcrease noticably. After a few hours, Kris waded out of the room, drenched in blood and gore.

"Hmm, I'd make a vampire quite pleased right now. Plenty of food with out the mess of getting through fur and skin."

He located the last two remaining life forces in the castle and headed to them, knowing he needed to hurry.

"Well my dear, it seems that what ever affliciton I had is gone," said Toliran a black feathered Gryffe. "It's our special night."

"No, please let me go. You took my sister right before me," said the female furre, a feline, who was chained to the bed.

"Yes, and she was so, shall we say, pleasant, I wanted to see if her sister was as good."

Suddenly the door was torn off its hinges and collided with the door on the other side. Kris was standing there completely covered in blood.

"Toliet, or what ever your name is, its time for you to die. Don't bother calling your guards. None of them are still alive," Kris said, pointing the tip of his blood stained blade at the tyrant. "I promised to take you down and save that girl."

Toliran snapped his fingers and armor appeared on him from nowhere. He barely had time to remove his sword from its sheath before Kris was on him.

The young fighter was slashing away, his first swing having severed Toliran's arm at the elbow. He continued his attack against the pleading tyrant till he made no more sounds. He then moved over to a shelf covered with bottles of a similar shape, all of which were filled with a glowing light, the light of souls, and smashed them open. Standing there drenched in blood and gore, some of it his own, and surrounded by broken glass with glowing points of light moving away from him he made a figure both frightening and noble.

"Excuse me miss, but can you get up?" he asked the feline furre in the bed.

"No. I... I'm chained to it," she replied.

"Hold on I'll get you out."

He walked over to the bed, frightening the girl. She thought that he might attack her next. He hefted his sword and swung it downward. The girl flinched and closed her eyes until she heard the chink of metal on stone. She looked and saw that the chain had been neatly severed. Kris moved to the other and made three more strikes before wiping his sword on the floor and sheathing it.

"You might want to get some clothes on. It's kind of cold out," he told the young furre. "I'll take you back to your village. Come on."

She got up and found some clothes that fit and followed him out of the castle.

After dropping the girl off at her house, Kris got about ten steps before he fell exhausted in the street. He lay there, coated in blood the whole night. The next morning he was gently moved to the meeting hall where he was washed and slept for the next three days.

He woke up much refreshed, though quite hungry and needing to use certain facilities. After taking care of the latter, he sought to fix the former. He walked outside, not overly concerned with how he got inside, or why he was clean and still had his fur. He had been convinced that the two would be mutually exclusive.

"Oh good, you're awake," came a femanine voice to his left. "I wanted to thank you."

"Hmm? Oh, its you," Kris said seeing the girl he had saved.

"You know, you might want to but some clothes on, its kind of cold."

"Hmm? Oops. I hadn't noticed. Speaking of which, where are my clothes?"

"Those things? They were ruined, we thought your fur was too."

"Darn, those were new."

"Well, we made you some new ones. They look just like the ones you had earlier, only these are a bit tougher. Its one of the things our village was none for. Really strong, but light fabrics."

"Thank you!"

Kris took the new clothing and put it on.

"They fit great. But, umm can I get something to eat? I'm pretty hungry."

"Sure, follow me."

After several sandwiches, Kris was full and decided to leave.

"I'd like to stay, but there's a lot of things left for me to do," he said smiling.

"Well, feel free to come back if you get a chance, we all owe a great debt to you," said the female he had saved as she curtsied.

"It's nothing. All I needed was some traveling food. I'll be fine."

"Alright. But remember, if you ever need help, we're here."

"Thank you."

Kris moved off down the path, wondering what awaited him next.