Chapter 4

The Memento

Dart couldn't sleep that night for obvious reasons. He was used to being uncomfortable and hungry, but the fact that Shana was kidnapped kept him from dozing off. In fact, most people were still lively awake tending the injured scavenging for what was left, trying to find their loved ones, burying the dead and trying not to have a mental breakdown.

The young warrior often went to the stars for help when things like this happened. But, the smoke was thick, and Dart could barely see the tops of trees. He turned over and noticed his younger brother sitting Indian style a few feet away from him. His body was still and his face showed no emotion. His eyes were pale and it looked as if he was trying to hold himself back from crying.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked me what happened on my trip." Dart said under his breath. Kylos turned to him in response, still with the emotionless face. "Well, my mind has been occupied with other matters lately." Kylos answered bitterly.

This left Dart in some disappointment. He was actually looking forward to telling his brother about his five year adventure, and he was surprised that he showed no interest. Usually, Kylos was always itching to hear stories about knights, kings, and even the occasional dragon.

Dart stopped in thought when he said the word "dragon" in his mind. He had totally forgotten about the incident earlier today. It was probably the most danger he had faced in his whole journey, and it was a few miles right outside of Seles. Dragons were long thought to be endangered in Endiness. Dart remembered seeing a flyer a few years back about a dragon being slain by a Serdian knight named Greham. It was thought to be the last dragon in existence, but apparently not. What even bewildered Dart more was the woman that happened to be there at the right time. Why would a young woman like herself be in the middle of a forest, and happen to run into him? She seemed to of known a lot about the dragon. She even knew it's name.

"Then again you might as well tell me."

Dart turned back over to his brother with a little reinsurance. "So you changed your mind?"

"Not really, it's just that you creep me out when you're such in deep thought like you were right now, so uhh why don't you tell me."

Dart cleared his voice and got ready to speak but he then hesitated thinking of where to start.

"Well?" Kylos spoke with irritation.

"I'm thinking of where to begin."

"Hell with it, just say the whole damn thing!"

"Alright, alright, don't interrupt me though. After I left here I headed for Bale. It was a little out of the way, but I thought I could get more information about the Black Monster there, since I heard about a good library they had. I did research for about a week staying at a local inn right next to the library. I found only a few things about the bastard, mostly everything else I already knew.

One thing was that the Black Monster is in search of this creature called the Moon Child. Every 108 years the Moon Child is born, the Black Monster appears and is set out to kill it. For some reason Neet had something to do with the child, so the Black Monster attacked the village."

"Can I just ask you a question? I swear I'll shut up and won't talk again."

Dart, with an aggravated look, let out a deep breath. And with a very deep tone he asked him "What?"

"Why does the Black Monster go after the Moon Child anyway?"

"I have no clue, or at least I'm not 100 sure. I remember reading something about the 108th fruit from the Divine Tree, but it was too complicated to understand. But I have no clue why the Black Monster would go after it."

Dart felt more eyes than just his brother watching him, he turned around and his mother was a few feet behind him, looking very interested. His father, was listening as well.

"Apparently I wasn't the only survivor of the attack, that was the second thing I found out. Another girl was able to live and she ended up becoming one of the sacred sisters of Mille Seseau."

"Do you know which sacred sister?" his mother asked. There's four in total. The queen adopted them all. I believe they are orphans, like you."

"Not sure, I don't think it mentioned her name but it said that she was only 5 years-old, the same age as I was, but I don't remember ever seeing children in Neet. I thought I was the only one."

His mother shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh. "What a coincidence how you found me." Dart added.

His mother's eyes became somewhat brighter. "What makes you think that it was a coincidence, Dart?

"I was alone in the wilderness, in the woods. And you found me half dead didn't you? At least that's what you told me. I don't remember. The only thing that I really do recall is seeing my mother for the last time. She said 'I can fight too', and then she went running after my father. The next morning I went into the town hoping I could find them, but I couldn't. Only thing I found was my Father's memento. He always kept it inside his pocket and he'd bring it out and let me touch it. I liked the way it felt, warm, smooth and glossy."

Dart reached into his own pocket and pulled out the very same stone. He held it up in front of his face. The stone was clear and rays of light glistened on his face and on the ground from the reflection of the fire off the stone. "You never told me about the stone." Kylos said.

"I never really liked telling anyone, it's all that's left I have of my Father. I was afraid if I told someone they'd try to take it. I've never seen such a stone before."

Kylos tenderly took the strange stone from Dart's palm. "It's a perfect sphere. It looks like it was man-made."

"I'm not sure, whenever I hold it though, I feel a warmth coming from it."

Kylos enclosed his palms around the stone. "I don't feel anything." After a few minutes of bewilderment, Kylos finally handed the memento back to Dart, and he placed it safely in his right pocket.

"I don't think one night had went by on my journey, that I didn't pull out that stone and look at it."

Kylos rolled his eyes and lay back down while looking up at the sky. "It's just a rock, nothing really special."

"Maybe if you'd experience what I've gone through, you'd appreciate the little things more." Dart said sternly as he rose and walked off.

"Hey, you never told me the story!" Kylos yelled back.

Dart didn't answer, but kept walking. He didn't realize where he was walking to until he spotted them in the distance, both with a sign of grief on their faces.

The young warrior sat down next to the man who was approximately the same age as his step-father. "It's me, Dart. I heard what happened about Shana."

"Dart? It's been 5 years hasn't it?" the man replied.

"Yes, I promise that I'll get your daughter back. I'm leaving first thing in the morning."

The parents remained speechless. The woman had tears running down her face. "Do you know why they took her?"

"No, and I don't know why they would. Shana is too pure to have done anything wrong.

"Shana missed you so much. Everyday she would mention your name, and she was always worried about you."

Dart felt anger rage within himself. He grinded his teeth and clutched his fists. So many horrible things has happened in his life. His hometown being destroyed, his parents murdered, and now his new hometown was decimated and his childhood friend was kidnapped.

"Why?"

Dart felt as if he was soon going to explode in anger. He quickly walked off into the dark. "Why, why, why?" he yelled. "Why does this always have to happen to me! It can't be just a coincidence, everything had to happen on purpose."

"Someone must really hate you up there."

Dart turned around and saw his younger brother standing a few feet away from him with his arms crossed. "You know, I could hear you shouting from where I was sitting. You better shut up because your scaring everyone, including me."

"Just leave me alone. I thought you would of gotten over me leaving already."

"Of course not, it's called sibling rivalry isn't it?

"I'm not even your real brother." Dart scolded back.

"Just because we don't have the same blood doesn't mean that we're not brothers."

Dart paused repeating the words over and over again. It wasn't like Kylos to say something sophisticated like that. He turned around expecting to see his brother, but no one was there.

To be continued...

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate it. I wasn't even expecting one review like in my other story.

Dislcaimer: I don't own Lod.