Something crazy happened, and my chapter 12 got also loaded into the chapter 1 slot. Not good. Anyways, for anyone who missed, or misses, it. here's the prologue....

Prologue

Sasha was by all means a normal girl. She lived in the world of Arithria, a large and pleasant strip of land surrounded on one side by raging sea and on the other by towering mountains. Her home was located in the middle of the valley-beach, but she lived near the edge, where the mountains, valley, and sea all met. See, she was attending one of the mandatory schools of artistry, which dealt with the art of fighting, art of defense, art of magic, and the art of using your body to deal drastically vicious moves of damage, also knows as the martial arts.

This school that she attended was called "Talon". It was a large, menacing building with twisting spires and deep dungeons, and was surrounded by forests and swamps full of the kind of creatures that you would find living around a dark and menacing tower. There weren't many students, but those who were there were exceptionally good at everything that they could be good at, including tea serving and crocheting.

Now, a little about Sasha. Sasha was a typical 15 year old Arithrian. She had light tan skin and sparkling, honey colored eyes. Her hair hung down to mid-back, and was a very deep auburn, with the red natural highlights only showing up when the light hit them just right. She stood just shy of 5'3", and looked a little younger than her fifteen years. Also, she had brilliant, black and silver feathered wings, a kind that hadn't been seen in ages on Arithria. They glittered and shone and when she got very angry sparkled with the lightning power that was inherent to her.

Today she woke up, taking a long time about since she stayed up late the night before, and blinked her eyes sleepily. Her alarm clock hadn't gone off, which meant that today must be a free day. With a sigh she got out of bed and started picking out her clothes. A pair of black cargo pants... sure; what kind of shirt? She pushed around the hangars, a little viciously, knowing that there was a reason for her to get up but not quite remembering what it was. She finally pulled out a dark blue baby-doll t-shirt. She headed to the bathroom to change, then stopped with a groan.

The falls! Now she remembered. There weren't any classes today because of the training session at the falls. She didn't want to miss that, and she quickly glanced around her room to find her clock. 7:30. Good, she had a half hour before she had to be at the falls. Quickly grabbing her red and black two-piece swimsuit, she dashed into the bathroom.

A half hour later she was at the falls, cargo pants and shirt over her swimsuit, her self-designed battle-axe strapped to her back. She fluttered her wings and looked up at the falls. Their true name was "Azure Depths", which suited their sudden dipping at the bottom of the falls that caused so much trouble with the newbies.

Sasha was not a newbie, though. She had braved the waters more times than she could count, and came out victor each time. She made her way to the top of the falls, climbing up the slippery walls with practiced grace. She could have flown up, but she preferred the climb, it gave her the chance to work out her muscles and improve her balance. Reaching the top, she hopped over and turned to look for the Master.

He stood in the water, facing the edge of the falls. Anyone else would have been swept away by the current, over the edge into the depths below, but Master was different. He controlled the element of water, and it flowed smoothly and quietly around him, welcoming his presence. Sasha relaxed into a loose ready-stance, her eyes flickering over the rest of the students lined up on the shore. Master stood there for a long moment, waiting, his eyes closed in thought. Suddenly, his wings drooped, his head lowered, and the cadets standing around gave a collective gasp as they watched the water of the falls rush forward and trickle away, the river bed drying up, the loud roar silencing.

"This is the end..." Master's voice could barely be heard, and maybe they sensed it more than heard it. As soon as he spoke, he broke apart, broke into millions of tiny pieces that floated in the air, then shot away, away, into the sky and the earth. Sasha took a step away from the riverbed, sensing something. She didn't like this; this was definitely not a training exercise. Others had rushed forward to where Master had stood, searching frantically for any sign of him.

Suddenly they screamed, and Sasha gasped to see darkness growing around them. Little creatures flowed out of the ground, their eyes glowing bright yellow. They leapt and lunged at the cadets, who took out their weapons, swinging them with little effect at these creatures of darkness. Sasha was about to rush forward, until she realized that the weapons were having no effect. It was as if the little creatures were made of nothing but shadow; the weapons passed through them without sound.

One of the little creatures turned and saw her, and dashed forward, chattering incoherently. Sasha, her mind slowed from shock, barely managed to dodge its body. She fell to the side, but its claws caught her arm slightly, leaving three shallow streaks of red. Instantly, cold gripped that part of her arm, and she whimpered slightly as she fell to the ground. Rolling away, she steadied her mind and without looking took off into the air. In less than a few seconds she was hovering ten feet in the air, the little creature that had attacked her jumping up and down in an effort to reach her.

She took the moments respite to look around, and wished she hadn't. The little creatures were already overtaking many cadets, and more than one had entirely disappeared. Sasha had half a notion to fly to Talon for help, but the idea quickly vanished when she looked in its direction. The towers were toppling, the gates were melting, and darkness was consuming it. In fact, darkness was consuming the entire land and sea. As far as she looked, darkness lay.

By the time she turned back to the battle site, darkness was crawling over the ground and streaking into the air. She took off halfheartedly, beating her wings furiously in an effort to get away. Then something touched her, and she was falling. Falling? No, she was rising. Or both. Or none, maybe. One thing was certain.

Darkness overcame her.