(STORY FORMAT)

Warsing

by Max Stein

Stage 3- Welcome to Warsing

Last Time

Amed GonCharger, a Familiar Knight from the dimensional world called Warsing. His mission- find the reincarnation of the Grand Magic Knight and get him or her to accompany him back to warsing and defeat an evil dark wizard named Mirro. His search ends when he finds a young girl named Hikaru Minuzaki. Upon explaining his story Hikaru agreed to help and Misaki, her friend came with them disregarding the fact that she cant use magic. Our story resumes where they left off...

Last Time

The portal opens to Warsing in Hikaru's dimension and the three step into it. They are surrounded by a bluish light and carried to the world of Warsing. The portal is then closed in Hikaru's dimension. The portal opens in Warsing and drops them in a forest. They land softly and take a look around. Hikaru and Misaki are amazed by the landscape and how peaceful the land seems.

"Whew, what a trip." said Hikaru "So, this is Warsing huh? Looks pretty peaceful..."

Amed nods,"It is peaceful but Mirro isn't going to start to take over until he is sure he is going to win. He isn't stupid."

Misaki scratches her head, "Well, where are we? Which way do we go now?"she asked.

Amed strokes his chin, "I think I recognize this area. We should be near my secret weapons stash. It would be a good idea to stock up on some armor and weapons while we are here." Hikaru and Misaki nod in agreement, Amed then leads them to a mountain and stops.

"Well? What are we doing here? Aren't we supposed to be getting weapons?" Hikaru asked. Amed put his hand on the mountain. Slowly the wall started to vanish in to thin air like some sort of mirage. A large cave is revealed.

"Wow! That's really neat!" Misaki shouted in excitement.

Amed quickly silenced her, "SHHHH! You don't want to attract monsters here do you?" They walk inside, and into the darkness.

Amed turns a switch and a lantern lights up, he then turns around and says, "So, which one do y'all want?"there were many caverns inside this main tunnel and off to the side were some weapons. "I got a Claymore, 2 Katanas, a Tulwar, a Bow and Arrow, and some others."he said. Hikaru and Misaki look around for a suitable weapon.

"I think I will use both of the Katanas."says Hikaru

Amed asks, "Why cant you just use 1?"

Hikaru walks over and picks them up, " I used to practice swordplay with my older brother. He liked the Bo-Staff and I liked using 2 wooden swords, So I will go with the 2 swords." said Hikaru.

Misaki walks over to the Bow and Arrows, "I am on the archery team at school so I can use a bow and arrow well enough."

Amed then says, "Are you sure you don't want a weapon for close combat? What if your opponent gets too close and you cant react fast enough?"

Misaki smiles at Amed, "Don't worry Amed it will be ok. I got you and Hikaru to watch my back!"

Amed rubs his nose, "Yeah I guess you are right, but my weapon of choice is the Tulwar. Being a Familiar Knight means I am "Familiar" with many types of weapons. My favorite is this one. Oh yeah... I don't think I can recall how many times this baby saved my bacon." Hikaru and Misaki giggle.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, and an even more fantastic journey" says Misaki.

Meanwhile, at Mirro's hideout...

"Sir, we have word from our spies that the familiar knight has returned from the other dimension. What is your order?" says a minion of Mirro.

Without turning around Mirro says, "Leave them be for now. We have more urgent matters to attend to." In front of him lies a wall with a gigantic fossil of a dragon in it. "We must prepare for the future..." says Mirro grinning an evil grin.

AAAAAAAAAAAH HA HA HA HA!

AAAAAAAAAAAH HA HA HA HA!

They exit the cave and the mountain seals it self up again. Amed stops abruptly, "Quick question. Do you two want to practice with your weapons a little, you know, before you have to fight? Or do you think you are ready?"

Hikaru looks surprised, "You know, now that you bring it up, I haven't used a sword in a while, but I already feel like I used em' just yesterday." She turns to Misaki, "How about you Misaki? Do you feel the same way?"

Misaki nods, "Yeah, I do. I am not the best on the team so I just picked the best weapon that I felt would be the most effective." Misaki began, "But now I feel like I actually can use it well. Very strange..."

Amed walks over and takes out his sword, " In warsing there is a special pulse in the gravity that affects weapons. I am a Familiar Knight, we are no longer bound by this rule when we are knighted because it allows us to become strong and protect our King and Queen. The pulse allows a person to use his or her weapon of choice not so much better, so it is like a handicap. Until you two can use them better it will remain there. You will know when it goes away because you will see a yellow aura around you start to fade, it will disappear and you will have much more room to improve." He steps back, "I have a feeling that it wont take you two long before you are good enough. You are special."

They resume walking until Amed skips ahead of them and turns around, still walking, " I almost forgot that you need to know about the 5 kingdoms."

"What? There is more than one?" Misaki asked.

Amed began but a little more serious, "Ya see, Warsing is divided into 5 kingdoms that have equal territory and a neutral zone in the middle called the Dark Zone. It is where monsters are created by an evil miasma. This miasma has no effect on humans but no one has the courage to go there because of the vast amounts of monsters. Every now and then some monsters step into our territory and it is the job of the militants of that nation to take up arms against them."

Misaki looks at Amed seriously, "You're guessing that's where Mirro is right?"

Amed nods, "Most likely, he'd pick a place that no one would even attempt to go, therefore he wouldn't have anyone except the GMK, but we all thought he was dead, never to return. Nor did we think we would end up having to search for a reincarnation that we thought didn't even exist."

Hikaru scratches her head, "Man how can there be that many things wrong? This place looks as peaceful as my grandma's vegetable garden. I mean we haven't run into a monster yet so..."

Misaki asks, "What are the kingdoms called?"

Amed takes a deep breath, "The 5 kingdoms are Calbum (cal-bum), Toris (tor-is), Xelina (z-el-e-na), Markese (mar-k-ese), and Grandardo (grand-dar-do). I hail from Toris, which we are near, our king is Hanayoseph (han-a-yo-sef) II and queen Tolma. Xelina is ruled by Duke Nyankratz (ni-an-krat-z), Calbum is ruled by his Highness, Lord Shoju, who is a master of many ninjitsu techniques Markese is governed by a 5 leader council, Ray, Zey, May, Bay, and Kay. Who are all members of the same family. Grandardo is ruled by King Desfonz XI (des-fon-z) and Queen Meirana (may-ra-na). All have very good relations with the other lands except for Xelina and Calbum. The ancient race called the Opergers waged war against the ancient Xelinian people, but something unexplained happened. Only those 2 nations have what little they have passed down from that generation, but it seems to be enough for them to still hold a grudge."

(Amed is very tired from saying all of that) (--);;

Hikaru crosses her arms and asks, "Boy... this is a lot to take in at once, but do you know which way are we headed? Do we even know how to get the rest of the powers for me?"

"There is a saying here in warsing, it is said 'the guards hold the keys to the dormant powers that lie' I think it is talking about the 5 corner guards that reside at various parts of warsing. I know one of them is near here and that means we are on the eastern side of Warsing. The Corner Guards reside in what we have come to call Corner Shrines. These can be on land, at sea, in the air, even on the top of a mountain."

"So...one of them is in each kingdom?" said Hikaru.

Amed then says, "not exactly, Xelina isn't home to a corner shrine. Calbum has 2, it is in the south and one is in the south east, on the top of Chambers Mountain."

As they are talking Misaki hears a rustling in the trees behind them, she motions for the others to settle down and listen, "I hear something coming from over here." said Misaki in a whisper. Suddenly a shadow leaps from behind the trees and into the air. All three look up to see a monster descending.

All three jump out of the way quickly. The monster roars at them and charges for Hikaru, she draws her swords and braces her self for impact. The monster swipes its claw at Hikaru who dodges to the side and takes a good stab at its chest."Hikaru!" screams the frightened Misaki. Amed draws his sword and runs full speed at the beast, he then jumps high in the air and is about to slash the monster, but the monster swats him away with a backwards swing of his arm.

Amed falls to the ground and somewhat stunned, "Cough...Cough, damn im getting sloppy at this." Hikaru is running towards Amed when the monster snatches her up.

"Ah! Hikaru!" shouts Misaki. Misaki readies her bow and knocks and arrow. "Please hit..." she wishes, she lets the arrow fly and goes right through the monsters mouth and out the back. The monster lets go of Hikaru and falls over, but as it does it disintegrates into nothing. Misaki runs over to Hikaru, "Hikaru! Hikaru are you all right?"

"Yeah im fine but what about Amed?" Hikaru brushes herself off They both run over to Amed who is sprawled out on the ground. "Amed! Amed! Are you alright?" Hikaru asks.

"Yeah, ill be fine, its just a scratch." he winces and grabs his stomach.

"You are most certainly NOT ok! You have go get to a doctor." says Misaki.Amed reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little vile of green fluid, "This will help me regain my strength really fast." Amed drinks it, both Hikaru and Misaki back off and Amed gets to his feet, "See? Nothin to it. I picked that up while we were getting our weapons." Both Hikaru and Misaki smile and they continue walking east.

Another monster jumps out in front of them but this time it doesnt charge at them. It just splits in two and disintegrates. A looming black figure holding a very large sword appears, then steps into the light.

"Still as hopeless as ever I see, I still cant believe you are a familiar knight." said the figure.

Amed squints to try to see, "Rage? Is that you?"

A large male in a suit of armor carrying a big sword is revealed, "Long time no see Amed. And hello? Who are you two?"

Hikaru steps up, " My name is Hikaru Minuzaki, but you can call me Hikaru."

Misaki steps up very slowly, "M-My name is Misaki Rotoshinda, nice to meet you."

Rage squats down to their level, " my name is Rage Carten, but you can call me Crusade."

Amed taps him on the shoulder, "Soo, Rage what brings you here?" he asks.

Crusade stands up, "you know, just taking my usual walk."

Amed chuckles, "yeah, I remember you do that. Hikaru, Misaki, Rage and I are both familiar knights. He and I like to go on walks when its not too busy around town. Most of the time it is to visit his wife. What was her name again?"

Crusade answers, "Aikona, but sadly she disappeared a few weeks ago. We havent seen her since."

"Did you love her?" asks Hikaru.

Crusade says very sentimental,"Yes I did, very much, but being a knight I was always on duty to protect the king and queen. So I only got to see her at night and most times it was very late when I saw her. So I sometimes snuck out when it wasnt a very eventful day and went home to see her, just to spend time with her was worth it."

Amed says very astute, " You know im sure if you asked the Guard Marshall if you could get off earlier some days, he would let you."

Crusade turns to Amed, "It doesn't matter anymore, she is gone, we have looked everywhere. But on a lighter note where are you headed? I doubt these young ladies are your girl friends."

Hikaru says, " we are headed to the East Corner Shrine to beat the corner guard! I am the reincarnation of this guy called the Grand Magic Knight."

Crusade jumps, "Amed is she serious?"

Amed nods, "yes, as hard to believe as it is she has 3 of the abilities of the Grand Magic Knight. Flight, Strength, and Invisibility."

Crusade crosses his arms, "so...its finally begun."

Misaki jumps up, "Hey do you think you could help us out? You seem really strong with that big sword on your back!"

Amed nods in agreement, "yeah, that would give you and me a chance to catch up on some things." "I guess I could come with you until you are strong enough to hold your own." says Crusade holding his hands in the 'I don't know position'

Hikaru holds her fist over her head and says, "LETS GO! EAST CORNER GUARD HERE WE COME!"

END OF CHAPTER 3! (STORY FORMAT)