Note: Sorry the last chapter was a little short, but it was just setting up this chapter. This is going to be a pretty lengthy chapter, hope you don't mind. Zeid, Khuma, Semih Lhafihna and any Beastmen are characters from the FFXI world credited to SquareEnix. All other characters were created by Serge or Healerkou.


Bastok

"Get away from me kid, I don't train anyone…" The large Galka clad in dark armor said to the now sixteen-year-old Hume named Kodie.

It had been one year since the day Kodie made his decision to find Zeid. Though finding the Dark Knight was no easy task. The large advanced city made it hard, especially to gather information. For a year, Kodie lived among the Galka. He knew they could possibly be the ones that could tell him, but he had to earn their trust. Kodie befriended a Galka by the name of Toren or as the Humes called him, Power Axe. Finally, Kodie found where he could meet with Zeid.

"I have not forgotten the power you displayed a year ago…I wish to know the ways of the Dark Knight…please you must teach me…" Kodie pleaded to the Galka, looking up at him with his determined eyes, though he was intimidated by the Dark Knight. But then again, who wouldn't be?

"What you did a year ago was stupid, though you did show determination, normally other Adventurers would give up…but you didn't. The path of a Dark Knight will be a harsh one, you must give yourself to the darkness…but at the same time you must not let it consume your soul. Fore once it does, you will be a soulless being just like those undead creatures. For the rest of your life you must make sure of this. I will give you one day to make that decision. If you still think you can handle being a Dark Knight, you will meet me in the Zeruhn mines and you will face your first test…" Zeid then turned away from him and walked off, leaving Kodie alone to think for the day.

Zeruhn Mines

Kodie paced around near the entrance of the mines, he waited at least three hours for the Dark Knight to arrive. The decision was made earlier that day, now all he could do was simply wait.

"So you made it…" A voice said coming out of the caves. It was Zeid, and he was holding a large sword.

"I'm ready for whatever I have to do to prove that I am worthy of being a Dark Knight.." Kodie said, looking up. He had a sword on his side and was carrying a shield, wearing what looked like a brass harness, pants and boots. He looked prepared for some sort of battle.

"Your test is to go into the Zeruhn mines. You will kill one hundred creatures. But not with those weapons you possess, you will use this…" Zeid unsheathed a large dark sword from his back and offered the handle to Kodie. Zeid let go of the sword as soon as Kodie grabbed it, which sent the Hume down to the ground as he didn't expect the blade to be so heavy.

"This…awww man, its too heavy.." Kodie said as he tried to lift the sword up, because the blade was barely hovering over the ground.

"This blade is called Chaosbringer…it is a hard sword to use which is intentional. But it will indicate that you have killed one hundred enemies. The more blood you feed it, the better you will become with it. But if you leave the mines, the sword will revert back to its original self and you will fail the test."

Kodie couldn't imagine how he could fight with such a hard to use weapon, much less kill one hundred enemies. But he knew this task must be done, he wanted nothing more right now then the powers of a Dark Knight. He would do anything for it. The surprised look from carrying the heavy blade turned into a look of fierce determination, as he dragged the large sword into the darkness of the cave.

A week passed and finally the young Hume exited the cave, though he looked much different then before. His face was bloodied, harness ripped apart, pants tattered and torn, scratches all over his body. Some of the blood stained on him was not only from himself but also from the enemies he fought. He used the sword as a crutch as he made his way out of the cave, and the Dark Knight Galka stood and waited. Once Kodie reached him, he dropped down to his knees, sticking the large sword firmly in the ground.

"It's….done…one hundred enemies…" Kodie said as he looked up at the Galka while on his knees.

Zeid didn't respond right away, he simply lifted the sword up to examine the blade, noting that some of the blood and flesh from the creatures was still stained on the blade. He simply nodded as he sheathed the sword to his back. "Very well boy, you have deemed yourself worthy of my training…you will rest and then pack, tomorrow we leave Bastok and start your training."

Kodie nodded as he struggled to stand. "Ok…I will be ready..." he then limped his way towards the Galka residential area.

"Tell me Hume, how did you feel killing those enemies with this blade?"

Kodie stopped for a moment and turned back to Zeid. "It was horrible…dark…every time I took out an enemy, I didn't stop until I was satisfied that it was dead. I was scared at first…" Suddenly a strange yet sadistic smile appeared on his bloodied face. "But after awhile…I was starting to enjoy it..."

9 Years Later

Windurst

Kodie walked back into the gates of Windurst. The Mithra named Arlette ran off, but it didn't matter to him anyways. His task was to make sure she was away from Windurst and he did his part, what happened to her afterwards didn't matter. She wasn't the reason he was there, even though deep down he had a weird feeling that they would cross paths again.

The Dark Knight made his way towards the residential area looking around as young Tarutarus and Mithras played around the area. Groups of various races conversing outside of their houses, it was a typical day in Windurst, though Kodie had not been in his own nation in over a year.

Kodie made his way into one of the houses where there was a blond haired Mithra sitting down fixing what looked like a bow. Her hair was tied back, and she had on a heavy looking brown doublet, and a pair of pants and boots. The pants and boots were unusual for a Mithra to wear especially in this area, as most of them were barefoot and wearing loincloths.

"You know I bet a hoard of Orcs couldn't interrupt you when you're tweaking with your bows."

The Mithra looked up to see who had entered and smiled as she jumped out of her chair and ran to embrace Kodie in a hug.

"KODIE! You made it!" The Mithra said as she pulled away a bit to look at his face, her arms still around his neck.

Kodie smiled back at the Mithra as he returned the hug. "Yeah its' been a while Khuma…good to see you are doing fine"

Kodie considered Khuma like a sister; his mother raised her when she was orphaned, since then the two had been adventuring together. She was a Ranger, and Kodie believed that her marksman skills were top notch.

"What did I tell you about hugging my wife?" A voice said behind Kodie.

The Dark Knight turned around to see an Elvaan male standing at the entrance. He wore a white robe with red designs on it, and with a hood that was hanging on his back, a pair of grey pants and pair of moccasins, strapped to his back looked to have been a staff. For a moment he had a serious look but a smirk appeared on his face as Kodie let go of Khuma and walked over to shake the Elvaan's hand and then gave a quick hug.

"You know Ren, you may be married to her but me and Khuma had been through a hell of a lot more then you." Kodie said with a little chuckle.

"Yeah yeah, but you're too little too late there, besides I could tell you what Khuma and I go through…"

"All right, that's enough you two," Khuma interrupted, not wanting Ren to give out too much information. "By the way Kodie, what happened earlier? I heard that a Dark Knight got involved with saving some Thief's hide."

Kodie just shrugged, "Some Mithra got caught stealing from Nacuun's, they were gonna execute her but I told them she would stay out of Windurst No big deal. But anyways enough of that, what's this quest you guys needed me for?"

Kodie had received a message from Khuma in Jeuno about needing him for a task; she knew that he would come despite the vague message. Khuma walked over to Ren and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek then walked back over to her chair as she went back to working on her bow.

"Things have been weird for the last several weeks. The Beastmen have been getting pretty aggressive as of late." Khuma glanced up at the two as both men sat down on chairs themselves.

"Yeah I've been hearing about that, but it shouldn't be a big deal, the Beastmen tend to get out of hand sometimes," Kodie replied.

"True, but now it's getting worse then normal. More Adventurers are getting killed. The Federation is starting to get a little uneasy about things now, though they haven't gone public. That's why they've hired us to go to Giddeus and investigate what the Yagudo has been up too," Ren said.

"But why would you guys need me for this mission? Both of you guys can handle those Yagudos easily. Why need me?" Kodie asked looking rather confused.

"The Star Sybil herself requested you." Khuma said as he stood up after she finished adjusting her bow. "She's offering twenty thousand gil for this mission."

Kodie tilted his head to the side a bit in question. Why would the Star Sybil request him to be on this task? He then leaned down on his chair and shook his head. "She should know that the group was disbanded a long time ago…but fine I'll help out."

"Great we'll head out tonight!" Khuma said as she walked over to Kodie and patted his shoulder.

The Dark Knight looked up at her as he then stood up from his chair and shook his head yet again. "You know something? My gut is telling me that we should head out there as soon as possible."

"Whoa, during the day? You're kidding right, Kodie? Maybe you just had too many Mithrakabobs or something." Ren said as he stood up as well.

"No, I got a strange feeling about something, like we need to be there now..."

"Well we got everything ready now. So if you want, we can head out."

Kodie nodded to Khuma as he made his way out of the house, followed by her. Ren stood there for the moment and shook his head. "Awwww man, I got a bad feeling about this…"

Giddeus

It had been at least an hour when they arrived at the small canyon area that was full of caves and crevices. This area had become a stronghold for the Yagudo. After the war, The Federation of Windurst was aware of the territory but wanted peace between the two areas, so they would send someone over with a food offering to the Yagudos in Giddeus. But lately even with the food offerings, the Yagudos have been aggressive.

The group of three stopped at least several hundred yards away and hid behind a large boulder. A Yagudo was guarding the entrance. "How the Altana are we going to go in without that guard alerting others?" Ren asked.

"Watch…" A smirk appeared on Khuma's face as she pulled out her bow and then an arrow. She pulled the arrow in the bow tightly keeping her aim right at the Yagudo that was at least two to three hundred yards from the group. With one eye closed and her aiming eye open she let go of the arrow as it quickly it the target on the head killing it instantly. The other two just watched over the boulder.

"Not bad of a shot there, Khuma.." Kodie said.

"Eh…I was actually aiming forrrr the neck. Stupid wind…" She said as she shook her head in disappointment. Khuma had been raised by a Hume and never adopted the Mithran accent, though sometimes it would show up.

The group stood back up as they entered Giddeus, now following the trail inside the canyon area. It was hard to stay hidden since Giddeus was practically shaped like a maze with tall walls. The Yagudo practically carved up the entire area themselves using the open spaces as alters to worship.

They continued their way through the trails, though it seemed a bit too easy. Normally there would be at least a few Yagudos along the trails but for some reason there weren't any, not even within the first cave they entered.

"OK, is this weird that we got into the first cave without any Yags hanging around?" Ren whispered as he held on to his staff getting ready for surprises.

"This is pretty weird…stay close and alert…" Kodie said as he held onto his Scythe and made his way out of the exit of the first cave.

Meanwhile along the cliffside area of Giddeus, the young white haired Mithra finally opened her eyes and shook her head groggily. As she struggled to stand up, she reached to hold her head that was pounding with pain, but realized her hands couldn't reach that high. She looked down and saw that her wrists and ankles were locked in shackled and chained to the ground.

"What the…?" She yelled as she violently tried to pull herself out of the chains, but to no avail. She couldn't free herself, not even a Galka could break the thick chains.

Arlette tried to regain her calm and not let panic take over her. She looked over her surroundings and noticed that there were two cave entrances near by. One several yards in front of her and the other several yards to her left, though it was gated. She looked behind her to notice she was just a couple of feet from the edge of the cliff. Arlette glanced over the cliff to see that she was several hundred feet above the nearby sea and below were hundreds of jagged rocks.

The Mithra Thief turned as she heard footsteps. Most of the Yagudos had exited the cave that was in front of her and stood a few yards away from her. One of the Yagudos stepped out of the group, holding a large staff. He looked slightly older then the rest, he had several more beads on him as well as a head piece. Arlette growled and lunged at the Yagudo, trying to pull the chains off but again to no avail.

"LET ME GO, YOU FEATHERED FREAK!" She screamed as she thrashed at her chains, but the Yagudo simply ignored her and in his language spoke to the others behind him, and they began to chant. The old Yagudo turned towards the left cave gate and ordered the two beastmen that were there to open it.

As the gate was opening, Arlette helplessly watched as the large group suddenly ran towards the center cave, with the old Yagudo following the group as they disappeared into the cave.

The Mithra stood there confused for a moment but then her eyes widened as she hard loud steps coming from the left cave. She tried again to pull the chains off of her, but for the third time it was just a waste of energy. As the loud steps revealed themselves from outside of the cave, a dark figure got closer and loomed over the Mithra. It was a large Black Dragon.

"This hasn't been my day!" She said to herself as she violently thrashed against the chains. As the Dragon began to approach, it bared its teeth to its meal.

Arlette couldn't believe that this was going to be her end. She was angry with herself for being this helpless. But nonetheless she didn't scream for help, not that anyone would hear her, or so she thought. She just closed her eyes and turned away as she felt the breath of the Dragon close by.

Suddenly from the top of the cave, the Dark Knight jumped and landed on top of the Dragon's back as he struck down the with his scythe, the tip of the blade piercing into the Black Dragon's hard skin. It didn't do much damage but it made the Dragon scream in pain and divert its attention to Kodie, who had jumped off of the creature towards the other end.

"Come on lizard…" Kodie said with a smirk as the Dragon now began to charge towards him.

As the Dragon got close to the Dark Knight an arrow hit its eye causing it to howl in pain. Khuma stood on top of the cave as she quickly pulled back her bow that was holding another arrow. "Now, Ren!" She screamed as she jumped down to the ground shooting the second arrow while in the air to hit the Dragon's other eye.

Ren stood on top and began to concentrate with his eyes closed as the area around him begins to glow with a red aura. "I summon you, Ifrit!" The ground in front of him exploded as a large red demonic looking creature stood in front of him, growling towards the Dragon. Ifrit wasn't big enough to stop the dragon, but it would distract him for long enough. The fire creature charged towards the Dragon.

Meanwhile, Kodie made his way towards the chained Mithra. "Stand still..." He said as he used his scythe to break each chain off of her, freeing Arlette. "What the heck are you doing here!"

"Me? Why the hell are you stalking me!" Arlette replied.

"Stalking you! No way, I'm on a mission! Now if you'd excuse me I got a dragon to take out!"

Ifrit did its job by distracting the large creature shooting fireballs and throwing punches at it, as Kodie ran behind the dragon and made his way on top of the back again. But this time he made his way towards the head of the creature. "Ren, get rid of Ifrit….NOW!" He said as Ren quickly made the red beast disappear and Kodie struck his Scythe down to the head, piercing the hard skin and skull as the dark blade went deep, causing it to violently flail around the area.

The tail swung and hit Arlette, causing her to fall over the cliff. But before falling down to her death, she managed to grab a nearby root, which left her hanging on for dear life. However, at the time no one noticed what happened to her as they were too distracted by the now dying dragon.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the creature gave its last ounce of life. Kodie had held onto his scythe firmly the entire time, keeping the blade keep in its head. Once the creature expired, Kodie pulled the scythe out of its head and jumped off the beast.

"Let's go, Kodie!" Khuma called out as herself and Ren were waiting in the cave.

Kodie followed as they went deep into the cave, but he suddenly stopped and looked over towards where they just had the battle. "Wait a minute…where did Arlette go?"

"You mean that other Mithra? Who knows, she probably just ran off. We gotta get moving, I just heard Yags," Ren said.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll meet you in Windurst" Kodie replied, knowing full well that Ren and Khuma could take care of themselves.

"Be careful Kodie!" Khuma said as Kodie made his way back towards the cliff.

Arlette was still hanging by the root; she couldn't grip on to anything, even with her feet as the slipped from the wall. The root was beginning to give way, though she never screamed for help, her pride again getting in the way. But again her calls were not needed as Kodie made his way towards her and reached towards her.

"Give me your hand!" He called out.

Arlette tried to reach towards him and just as her hand touched his, the root snapped causing her to fall towards the rocks below. Kodie quickly grabbed what looked to be a scroll from one of his pouches and drove down towards her. His eyes closed as he began to concentrate, and just as he managed to grab her, they both became engulfed in a black glowing ball, and then suddenly the black ball disappeared taking both of them with it.

Port Windurst

Near the fishing guild area a black ball of light suddenly appeared and out came Kodie and Arlette and they both landed on the ground. Kodie was on the bottom while the Mithra was on top of him, holding onto him for dear life. Arlette's eyes were closed, but suddenly darted open as she realized that she wasn't dead. She pushed away from Kodie and quickly stood up looking around her surrounds.

"Where are we now?" She asked, looking rather confused.

"We're in Windurst…and you're welcome..." Kodie replied as he stood up dusting himself off. "You do realize those Warp Scrolls are pretty damn expensive…"

"HEY YOU!" Someone interrupted the two. When Kodie and Arlette turned around, they found it was the large man who had held Arlette from before. "You said that she was not coming back here! What in Altana is this thief doing back here!"

"Look I can explain everything..." Before he could say anything else the man charged at Arlette.

"No, she's mine now!" The man said as he unsheathed his knife. Arlette was unfortunately unarmed but was in a fighting stance.

Suddenly the man's face was met by Kodie's fist, and with his fist being a dark steel gauntlet, it quickly knocked the fat man out. This then caused a large group to surround the two, putting Arlette and Kodie back to back.

"Great, now I'm in trouble..." Kodie said.

"You didn't have to do that, I can take care of myself!" Arlette glared over at Kodie angrily as the large mob began to approach them.

"ENOUGH!" A voice called out and everyone stopped and glanced over.

It was an armor clad Mithra who had made the command. "All of you disperse and go on with your business. I will take care of these two."

As ordered, the people did begin to turn away, two of them helped out the still unconscious man. The Mithra approached Kodie and Arlette. "Well, well, if it isn't Semih Lhafihna?" Kodie said as she approached.

Semih looked over to the other Mithra and then to Kodie "She was supposed to have been banished earlier today. But, under the circumstances, I guess I will make it so that she is allowed here. But only under your custody."

"WHAT! No way, that's not fair! I don't want to be with this armor clad moron!" Arlette protested quite loudly.

"I'm afraid you have no choice. It's either that, or we lock you up for a long time." Semih replied as Arlette stayed silent, her arms crossed over her chest stewing at the thought that she was now bound to a Hume.

Kodie decided to ignore Arlette's comments. "Where are Ren and Khuma?"

"Ren and Khuma are fine, they used a Warp Scroll as well, and they're at the Heaven's Tower, which is where I will take you two. We have things we need to discuss…"