Okay, I know that the suspense is killing some of you so I'm here to save the day. I hope that you're all enjoying this so far and I hope that this chapter really gets you all in the mood for this story. Well, here you go and enjoy!

Chapter 3: Rise To Power

Storm didn't want to believe what she was seeing in front of her. On top of a partially destroyed building stood a teenage girl, holding onto her daughter as she watched the destruction taking place in the city. Storm wondered what happened to Sheena and the others, but her questions were answered when she saw that they were all extremely outnumbered by Desians, even with Yuan and Zelos helping them. Anna was struggling in the grip of the girl as she attempted to break free.

"Let me go you witch," Anna yelled as she tried to pull herself away from the girl.

"You have no power against me. Now, silence you inferior being," the girl shouted at her as she threw Anna behind her as two Desian soldiers restrained her. The young girl just smiled at the chaos that was happening below her.

"Let her go!" Storm yelled, causing the girl to finally notice that she and Kratos were present.

"Ah, Storm. We've been waiting for you. I was just introducing myself to your daughter. She has quite a mouth on her, doesn't she? I think I'll have to take her back with me and help rid her of that," the girl said casually.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Yuan yelled at the girl.

"Me? My name is Sutra. I believe that we've met before Storm. Remember me? Thirteen years ago my parents were killed because of you, remember seeing me in the town that morning before Zelos and you were attacked?" Sutra asked her.

Storm looked at the girl trying to pull together a memory, she knew what she was talking about but she couldn't remember seeing her. Then again, she would have been a child. Sutra was obviously a half-elf, her pointed ears gave that away immediately. She had long silver hair that was pulled into a ponytail. She had one icy blue eye and one crimson eye. She was wearing a pure white shirt with gold embroidery on it and she had on a pair of loose black pants with crimson embroidery on it. Her hair was held up with a red bow and she also had a bow and arrows with her. She wore only a pair of sandals on her feet which looked as if they were relatively old and worn out. Her eyes triggered a memory for Storm as she remembered the young girl that she had seen that day in the alley. She couldn't believe that the people who had tried to kill her were her parents. They were killed because of what they had done and Sutra would have been left as an orphan.

"I remember you, but they didn't say anything about those people having a child," Storm replied.

"When my parents tried to escape they told me to run away, they were afraid that I would be punished as well. I ran away from Meltokio and joined a group of bandits. I learned how to use a bow and arrow from them, but was always determined to make life for half-elves better ever since that day thirteen years ago. So, after about ten years with the bandits I left to create a new army of Desians. It's pretty large wouldn't you say so? I just can't believe that no one was able to track us down, but I suppose everyone was too caught up in the peace to realize that anything was going on. But now, I will be able to bring about the age of the half-elves that Lord Yggdrassil once envisioned," Sutra explained.

"That's just a twisted dream. It wasn't an Age of Half-Elves, it was an Age of Lifeless Beings," Lloyd yelled at her.

"That's almost what the half-elves have now," Sutra yelled, her voice suddenly losing its calm and collected tone as she snapped at him.

"I don't really care what you're trying to do, just give me back my daughter," Storm yelled at her.

"I'm just going to borrow her for a while. She'll be fine with me. Besides, I have bigger plans for later," Sutra remarked as she turned her head and smiled at Anna.

"Fine, then we'll just have to take her back by force," Kratos told her as he brought out his angel wings again, Yuan and Storm joining him a few seconds later.

The three flew away from the large group of Desians that were surrounding them and made their way towards Sutra on the building. Sutra looked calm as she stood and watched them approach her. Yuan and Kratos held off as Kratos began to concentrate on an attack while Storm went straight at Sutra.

Seeing her enemy approach, Sutra pulled out an arrow and got out her bow. She pulled back the arrow and focused her energy as she said, "Thunder Arrow," calmly before releasing it. The arrow flew straight and hit Storm as it shocked her when it hit her. She fell to the ground, slamming into the pavement.

Kratos tried to continue his incantation as he watched Storm hit the ground hard. Yuan went to her aid as Kratos began to chant his attack. Storm slowly got to her feet as she got ready to try a different approach to attack her enemy. She heard her father casting the spell that could spell the end for Sutra, there was no way she'd make it through it.

"Sacred powers, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupted souls. Beware...," but Kratos was cut off as a painfully high pitch sound came from an unknown source. Storm, Yuan, and Kratos all fell to the ground as they held their ears, the noise causing enough pain that they couldn't focus. A small group of the Desians came over to them while they were on their knees in pain to try and take advantage of their condition. Storm was able to focus her pain into an attack as she released her Outburst attack on the group knocking them back.

Zelos and the others couldn't understand what was wrong with the three of them as they watched them all fall to their knees in pain. They were all holding their ears as if some sort of noise was bothering them. No one else could hear what was bothering them, but when they looked up they saw that Sutra was holding some sort of small device. She finally seemed satisfied as she put the device away. Storm, Yuan, and Kratos all slowly regained their composure as the terrible noise disappeared.

"What's going on?" Sheena asked.

"Angelic hearing is very sensitive. I decided that if I created something that could produce an extremely high pitch noise, I could create an immense amount of pain to them. Of course, I didn't want to suffer at the same time so I created a pitch above the normal hearing range. It's a wonderful little invention of mine if I do say so myself," Sutra explained proudly as a sassy smile covered her face.

"Why do you need Anna?" Storm asked her, some pain still in her voice.

"You'll understand that in time my dear, but I believe I've answered enough questions for today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be on my way. Have a wonderful day," Sutra said as she smiled at them all before slipping away with Anna in the destruction and chaos that had consumed the city.

"No, bring her back," Storm cried as she tried to follow her.

Kratos held her back as he watched Sutra escape. "Storm, she seems too powerful for us, she's ready for whatever we throw at her. We need to think this over before we attack again," he told her.

"Yes, plus we need to find out what it is she's planning exactly," Yuan told her.

"But what about Anna? Something terrible could happen to her," Storm cried.

"Anna has no special powers or anything. She's most likely bait for one of us and she won't hurt her unless she gets what she wants," Kratos told her.

"Fine, if she wants me she can take me. I have to try to get her back, I can't just sit back," Storm decided as she pulled out her wings and attempted to fly away. Kratos grabbed her just in time and had to wrestle her to the ground until Storm finally quit struggling against him. She broke down at the thought of losing her daughter.

"Hey guys, we could use a little help over here," Lloyd called as he called the fact that they were still surrounded by Desians to attention.

"Sorry, we're on our way," Yuan called as he and Kratos immediately went to help them as Storm sat motionless in the street, Sutra too far away now to follow.

Once the group escaped from Meltokio they took refuge in a nearby forested area for the night. They set up camp for the night and decided to look for some of the others in the group in the morning, hoping that someone would know what Sutra's plans were.

"Mommy, what's happening? Are we going to be able to go home?" Martel asked.

"Yeah, and where did that lady take Anna?" Kagerou added.

"I don't think we can go back home, and I don't really know what happened to Anna. Don't worry though, we'll get her back really soon," Sheena answered.

Storm wished she could believe what Sheena said but her heart was still heavy at the thought of her daughter being kidnaped. Zelos was very quiet all night but stayed with Storm the entire night. She could tell that he didn't know how to handle the loss either.

Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope that everyone liked the villain. Remember her? If you don't go back to the last story and you'll find her. I bet no one suspected that. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks!