Kirara's Journey

Chapter One - The Den Of Evil

It was raining. Kirara had always liked the rain. She was so used to dancing in it letting it soak her to her skin. Sometimes she even danced naked, but in those cases she made sure she wouldn't be seen as much as possible. Nature was her friend and water was a vital part of it. Water had always fascinated her. It had many shapes from the still water of the lakes to the fast running of rivers to the pitpattering of the rain. The wind carried the falling droplets of water in it's embarce cooling Kirara's body and making her shiver just a little. She remembered the times when she had danced naked and smiled. She had always felt so free, so liberated as she danced without the hindarance of clothes. She looked down at herself. She was wearing light green and yellow garments which were sticking to her wet skin. For a moment she considered stripping them off and walking naked and giggled at the thought, but she was too modest to actually do it.

It had been a long journey and Kirara decided she needed to rest somewhere. Considering her options she thought she could either set up camp around here or go on a little further until she reached the Rogue Encampment she could see in the distance. She again heard the low growls of the demons that she knew lurked around this area and decided to head to the safety of the Rogue Encampment hoping they would be hospitable to a soaking wet Sorceress in the rain. Stopping for a few moments and resting on her staff, which she used to channel her magical powers she watched the rain itself as it seemed to dance in the wind, tempting her to dance in the rain again herself. She started to try her movements slow to start with and moving more readily as she remembered how much fun it was. She soon stopped because she was so tired from all the walking she had donw already, but her dance had lifted her spirits and motivated her to walk all the way to the encampment.

The camp itself was a small wooden fort. No more than a wooden palisade, logs driven deep into the earth thier ends cut to sharp points to discourage anyone who would think of trying to climb the walls.There was no gate, but just a space a few yards wide which served as the entrance to the fort although there was another wall a few yards behind the space as high as the first forcing any invaders to go either right or left before being able to charge directly into the camp. The palisade had been built next to a river which acted as a natural barrier on one side. Even on that side were the walls built securely. It was a well built fort, a testament to the Rogue's abilities.

She wondered if her belongings was as soaked as she was and looked in her backpack, which had quite surprisingly kept them pretty much dry. She looked through them briefly to remind herself of what she had brought. A few minor healing potions just in case and all the essentials for camping mainly a small tent and a few blankets to sleep in as well as some food she could eat if she needed to. Hunting wasn't her specialty and she didn't really know which berries were poisonous and which were safe so she was glad to find the Roigue Encampment and a little worried that they might not accept her since she wasn't a Rogue. She was cautious avoiding the demon scouting parties she had encountered and making sure she camped as far from them as possible. By all accounts she had been lucky to not have been found by any of them while she was asleep.

One close call was when she was packing up the tent back into her backpack a group of fallen had come pretty close, but the foliage and trees in the forest provided enough cover for her to hide from them. Given the choice she wouldn't be fighting any of them, but she was prepared just in case they did attack. Although now her fatigue would give her a big dasadvantage, which was why she wanted to get to the encampment as soon as possible. For added protection she walked close to the riverback and watched the droplets of rain falling into the water of the river forming patterns as the circular ripples caused by the droplets overlapped each other. Shaking her head to get some of the water out of her hair she watched as some of the droplets fell into the water adding their own ripples to the everchanging pattern. 'Change.' Kirara thought, 'is beautiful.'

She remembered her sisters words. "There is so much beauty in a painting. It never changes. It's perfect!" Katalya said looking at a painting their mother had made. Their mother smiled

Kirara smiled. "The painting is beautiful, but change brings about it's own beauty. Forever changing, no two moments are the same, and each moment is as special as any other." This made Kirandor, their father smnile.

"No it isn't! A painting is beautiful because it never changes!" Katalya said angrily.

"Children," Kirandor said, "Calm down. Both a painting and the changing forms of a fire are beautiful in their own different ways."

"But a fire burns out and dies!"

"I know." Kirandor said. "A painting is beuatiful because it's permanant."

"Exactly!" Katalya said smiling.

Kirara smiled at the memory. She and Katalya were sisters, but they were so different from one another and yet Kirra was certain that they were both loved equally by their parents, although she had always been close to her father and Katalya had been closer to their mother. Looking back Kirara found she was missing Katalya even though they only ever seemed to fight when they were together. 'I guess i do love her as a sister.' she thought smiling.

It was evening when Kirara reached the Rogue encampment and the rain had stopped. She almost missed the dance of water that the rain had presented, but it had given her clothes a chance to dry off a little. She could see two female warriors each wearing leather armour which left their arms and legs uncovered simalar in fashion to leotards. They also wore long leather boots which gave their legs some protection as well. In their hands they carried long bows arrows notched and pointing at her.

"Halt!" one of them said, "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Kirara of the Zann Esu and I need somewhere to rest after my long journey."

"Very well. You may enter." the rogue said watching her warily.

Entering the encampment and aware she was being watched by the Rogue guards, Kirara looked around. A large campfire was burning in the centre and the smell of roasting meat permeated the air. Sitting by the fire were two other women in the same attire as the guards were conversing and eating some meat. Kirara decided to approach them watching the fire as she walked. Just like the rain dancing in the wind the fire seemed to have a dance of its own. Again no two moments were the same and Kirara kne what her father had meant when he compared the painting to a fire. It was beautiful, everchanging, even hypnotic if you stared into it long enough.

"Surely we cannot just allow the demons to roam our lands!" the younger woman, a girl of about 17 said.

"Even if we did attack them they outnumber us and we don't have the resources to fight a war of attrition.

"You can't honestly be suggesting that we simply wait until the demons finally overrun us!"

"We have little choice but to wait for reinforcements and to conserve our strength here. On open ground the demons have the advantage and if we attacked them it might only bring the wrath of Andariel down upon us."

The younger one was about to reply when Kirara came into their field of vision. "Hi, I'm Kirara," she said.

"Would you like some of our food?" the older one offered, while the younger one just glared at her obviously annoyed at her for interrupting her argument.

"Yes, thankyou," Kirara said reaching taking her pouch of gold coins out. "How much do you want for it?"

"Don't worry about gold." the older woman said kindly motioning for her to sit with them offering her some water and meat.

The younger woman tried to restart the conversation while Kirara was eating, but the older one silenced her with a wave of her hand. "Not in front of strangers."

"Hmmph!" the younger Rogue exclaimed crossing her arms and turning her head away to the side in annoyance.

"Perhaps i should introduce myself." the older Rogue said. "I am Paige and this is Liene."

"Are you two warriors here to defend the camp?" Kirara asked.

"Yes." Liene replied uncrossing her arms and smiling "We're Rogue warriors and this is our land. We're protecting it from the evil that has come here recently." For the first time Kirara looked closely at Liene. She had jade green eyes and they twinkled with cheekiness and her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Who are you?" Liene asked looking over her features. Kirara was nicely tanned and had long black hair, which flowed around her like a river and sparkling blue eyes. In her hand she carried a staff, but she carried it like a scepter.

"I am one of the Zann Esu, travelling these parts for the experience and excitement of the unknown." she said.

"Wow!" I've never seen a sorceress before!" Liene said.

"You'll probably have to stay here in this camp for a while," Paige said, "The wilderness is too dangerous for travelers at the moment. You should talk to our leader, Akara. You'll find her over there." she said pointing to a modest tent in the southeastern area of the camp.

Kirara nodded and stood up. "Thankyou for your help." she said politely.

She decided to head to Akaras tent now and explore the camp later, but she did look around. In the northeast corner of the camp was a blacksmiths stall crudely built with the resources availiable in the wilderness. Should she need anything repaired that would be where she would go. In the northwest corner was a merchants wagon which was set up like another stall with several items layed out obviously for sale. Curiously there was a stone slab in the eastern area of the camp which seemed to have circular carvings on it a large rune set into the centre of the circle with many smaller runes set on the circles edges. As she was looking around Kirara could feel the eyes of another woman who was standing near the centre of the camp dressed in chainmail armour which mirrored the leather armour the other rogues wore in its design. She also wore think black leather boots unlike the plain brown leather that the other rogues wore. This woman, Kirara guessed, was the leader of the rogue warriors. A little afraid of this woman Kirara walked briskly towards Akara's tent.

"Hi, I'm Kirara of the Zann Esu." Kirara said as she entered Akara's tent.Akara was the oldest woman in the camp and right now with lines across her face caused by worrying she looked every say of her fifty years. It was clear even in the dim light that events had not been kind to her. The contents of the tent told their own story as Kirara looked around. Their were just two stools cut out of oak wood along with a single table which was strewn with maps and troops reports. In one corner of the tent there were a few meager magical weapons that Akara could perhaps sell and a small number of magical potion bottles containing multicoloured liquids. These too could be sold or used to aid anyone who had need of them.

"Greetings, young sorceress. It is good to see more of your kind at work in the world these dark days. In my opinion, the world needs more women to fight against the great shadow, but I am forgetting my manners." Akara said. "I am Akara, High priestess of the sisterhood of the sightless eye. I welcome you, taveler, to our camp, but I'm afraid i can offer you but poor shelter within these rickety walls. You see, our sisterhood has fallen under a strange curse. The mighty citadel from which we have guarded the gates to the east has been curropted by the demoness, Andariel. I still can't believe it, but she turned many our sister Rogues against us and drove us from our ancestoral home. Now the last defenders of the sisterhood are either dead or scattered throughout the wilderness. I implore you, stranger. Find a way to lift this terrible curse and we will pledge our loyalty to you for all time." The sadness was evident on her face as she spoke.

"I will do what i can." Kirara said determination flooding through her.

"I hate to ask this of you, but there is a place of great evil in the wilderness. Kashya's Rogue scouts have imformed me that a cave nearby is filled with shadowy creatures and horrors from beyond the grave. I fear that these creatures are massing for an attack against our encampment. If you are sincere about helping us find the dark labrinth and destroy the foul beasts. May the great eye watch over you." Akara said. "I should add that many Rogues have died in that horrible place. We cannot afford to lose any more. If you choose to go into that Den Of Evil you must do so alone."

Kirara nodded to show that she understood what she was being asked to do. "I will try to do what you ask, but for now i need rest."

Akara nodded. "Rest here for tonight. You may begin your quest tommorow."

Kirara left the tent and decided now was a good time to explore the camp. She saw that Liene and Paige were still by the campfire resting. The blacksmith caught her eye as she had flaming ornage hair and was quite robust reminding Kirara of her mother. As Kirara approached her she looked up from her forging. "Hi there, I'm Charsi, the blacksmith here in camp. It'ds good to see some strong adventurers around here. I'll be glad to help if you need to repair any items or purchase some. Don't expect too many items to be here, though. Most of my equipment is still in the Monastary so i can't craft as many items as i usually could. Do come by often though. I might have just the thing you need or want."

"Thanks, i will come here, but i am a sorceress so i need magical items more than weapons and armour."

"Then you should go to Akara, our preistess. She usually has some magical items for sale." Charsi said smiling. "I hope you can find exactly what you're looking for."

"Thanks." Kirara said smiling. "See you."

Next Kirara walked over to the merchants wagon in the northwest oif the camp where she met a man who was wearing an expensive fur coat and looked like he was pretty overweight too. She looked briefly at the items he had for sale.

"Good day to you partner!" the man said. "I'm Gheed and i can already tell that I'll be your best friend in this forsaken camp. A spare weapon, some gold, a small gem, is all i ask in exchange for the equipment you'll need on whatever quests you might undertake. Now, now, don't be shy. All my items are garenteed for life and come with a two day warranty!"

"There's nothing i want right now." Kirara said politely and turned to leave.

"You can also gamble on some of my items. Just give me a certain amount of gold and you'll be in with a chance of getting a really rare unique item!" Gheed said grinning.

"No thanks." Kirara said.

She returned to the campfire where Liene and Paige were. "Is it okay if you escort me to a tent? I have my own, but it's small and I'm a little too tired to set it up at the moment."

"Of course!" Liene said smiling and standing up. "Come this way." She led Kirara to a vacant tent. "Can you tell me what it's like to be a sorceress tommorow?"

"Okay," Kirara said smiling as she entered the tent and lay down ready to go to sleep. Her long journey had exhausted her so she didn't want to do anything else. She drew the blanket over herself for warmth and comfort and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she was sleeping soundly.

The rising sun shone brightly creating pools of sunlight scattered across the wildrerness. Most places were overshadowed by the heavy cloud cover that seemed to hang in the sky casting great shadows accross the land. The shadows and the pools of sunlight combined to create a tapestry of light and darkness that was beautiful in it's own right. A single beam of sunlight had found it's way into Kirara's tent awakening her from her slumber. She woke slowly, opening one eye then the other. Next she streched a little and sat up. She had slept deeply last night and was now ready to take on the task she had been asked to do.

She left her tent and felt the brisk morning breeze against her skin. It was cool and refreshing and helped to wake her up more fully. She surveyed the scene in the Rogue encampment and saw that the campfire was burning and several Rogues were sitting around it eating meals. Seeing this made Kirara feel hungry so she walked towards the fire.

"Good morning," one of the Rogues said.

"Good morning." Kirara replied.

"Hey, Kirara!" Liene said. "Here's some food for you."

"Thanks." Kirara said gratefully.

"You said you'd tell me what it's like being a sorceress yesterday?"

"Okay," Kirara said, "I can only tell you about my personal experiences and what my father has told me. Sorceresses seak to learn and master the elemental magics above all others. Magic can be difficult to control because you're always using spiritual energy and giving it form. Sometimes it requires intense focus so i often saw my father, who is a mage himself meditating, a practise he said gave him greater energy and ability in controlling the spiritual energy which is the focus of all magic. Spritual energy is also known as mana and all humans and perhaps all creatures have some of it."

"Wow!" Liene said.

Kirara finished her meal and stood up to leave on her quest.

"Wait. I have a favour to ask." Liene said looking a little sad "My sister was killed while she was scouting that cave. Please can you find her bow for me?" Liene said tears in her eyes. "It looks alot like my own." she said taking her bow from her back and holding it out so Kirara could see it. "Our bows were like sisters to one another just like us and it will mean so much to me if you could retrieve it for me."

Kirara studied Liene' bow before nodding. "I will try." she said.

"Thankyou, I pray that the great eye will watch over you and see your safe return to the camp."

Kirara turned and walked out into the wilderness pausing at the gate to the camp to look around. There were a number of red skinned creatures wandering around fairly close by though not close enough for the archers guarding the camp to hit them with their arrows.These creatures had black hair and carried knives which seemed like they would be short swords to the demons. Some led small dog like creatures, which sported backs full of spines like a hedgehog. Further away Kirara could see a few Zombies wandering around aimlessly. Venturing out of the camp Kirara walked cautiously careful to make as little noise as possible.so as to not be seen by the demons or the zombies.

Further beyond the zombies Kirara saw a cave entrance, which must have been the cave Akara had mentioned. Being careful as she approached the cave she searched for any cover she could use to hide behind and saw there were a few boulders around. She quietly walked to the first boulder, which was still a distance away from the zombies and moved from each one to the next getting closer to the cave. Soon she was close to the Zombies and the next boulder qould take her a little distance away from them and towards the cave. Cautiously she walked around the area where the zombies were keeping as much distance between herself and the them as she walked towards the next piece of cover.

Suddenly one of the zombies saw her and started shuffling towards her, which made Kirara tremble in fear and run the rest of the way to the cave glad that no demons or zombies were guarding it directly. She was already beginning to doubt that she could achieve the quest she had set out to do. She was facing demons and undead and she was no strong warrior excelling in melee combat. In that regard she was aware of her weakness and wished for a moment that she had had the melee ability Katalya had. 'No matter how difficult the curcumstances do not let fear get in your way.' Kirara thought quoting her father during one of their training exercises and growing more determined to prove herself to the Rogues she walked deeper into the cave.

She followed the obvious path deeper into the cave and found a clearing perhaps 20 yeards in. From the clearing three of the red skinned demons came charging at her knives at the ready. This was what Kirara had feared most. I the clearing were also a couple of Zombies and a larger red skinned demon carrying some kind of banner. Before she could react the three demons were on her swinging their blades. It was only luck that kept Kirara from getting hit as she fell backwards in fear narrowly avoiding the demons attacks. She turned and ran to the entrance of the cave where she stopped herself from running anymore. "I've gotta fight. I've gotta help the rogues," she said to herself. She turned to face the demons and swung the staff she carried at one of them hitting it squarely in the head killing it. The other two were on her in the time it had taken to swing her weapon and she barely had time to block the first attack as it came and dodge the second. Kirara knew she was lucky. She swing again killing the second demon which made the third turn and run in fear fiving her a much needed reprieve.

Now it was some distance away Kirara had the advantage as she cast a bolt of fire targeted at the little demon. The firebolt quickly met its target burning the demon horribly. The small battle had lasted only a few seconds, but it had shown Kirara the reality of what she was facing. The sound of the last demon screaming in pain had alerted the larger one and suddenly the little demon Kirara had just slain with her firebolt stood back up. "How?" thought Kirara as she stared in disbelief.

This time she attacked the demon with her staff keeping as far away from the creature as possible. A blazing glove of fire came at her from the clearing and she dove down to the ground just in time to dodge most of the blast. On the ground Kirara rolled and picked herself up facing the author oif the fire bolt tht had almost killed her the larger red skinned demon. 'A shaman?' Kirara thought. It had also raised the smaller demon earlier, she was sure. Quickly she summoned her spiritual energy again to cast another firebolt directly at the shaman. The demon was hit full on and fell back dead to the ground.

Already Kirara wished she hadn't accepted this task. She was no true warrior. The zombies had started to shamble their way towards her the rotting flesh falling away from their bony fingers as they approached. "These creatures were once been living humans," she thought. "I can't kill them!" But she knew she had to. She again cast a firebolt which hit one of the Zombies full on the chest burning it badly, but it still came towards her its undead nature meaning it would be harder to kill than the demons. She fired two more firebolts which finished it, but the second zombie was almost on her now. She had time to cast one more firebolt then the zombie attacled her with its skeletal fingers trying to scratch her Kirara having barely enough time to block the attack with her staff turning the zombies fist up and away from her body. She struck the zombie as hard as she could with her staff knocking it down. "Is it dead?" she thought. Fortunutly the zomvie didn't move again and Kirara breathed a sigh of relief.

She had been lucky. Too lucky. Again her thoughts turned to her desire to just get out of here, to help the rogues in other ways but another part of her was focused, determined. "I'll take as many of these things with me as i can." "No i dont want to die." "Better to die bravely than to die a coward." The argument between the two sides of her mind continued for a while as she stood in the clearing surrounded by the creatures she had just killed. Eventually she decided she would go on and do what she could and if it got too much to handle she would return to the camp having done all she could. As she fought more battles in that cave she learned to target the shamans first with her firebolts and kill the smaller demons who often ran at the sight of one of their own dying after. For the zombies she'd run away from them as soon as they got too close and continue her barrage of firebolts.

This was already far beyond anything Kirara had ever faced before and the darkness of the cave made her fearful in itself. She could never be sure what it hid or when another demon or zombie would appear. Again she considered turning back and running from this. But she remembered her promise to Liene. She had given her word that she would try to get her sisters bow for her and she hadn't yet found it. She didn't want to disappoint the young Rogue so she continued on. Her foot hit something in the darkness and Kirara stopped fearing the worst.

Bending down to investigate what her foot had accidentally kicked she saw that it was a dead Rogue scout, which made her gasp in surprise. 'Is this Liene's sister?' she thought turning the body over to examine the bow the Rogue had. Discovering that the bow was broken didn't help matters, but after a few moments of considering Kirara was fairly certain it wasn't Liene's sisters bow. Breathing a sigh of relief since she hoped that the bow she was looking for would be in good repair she stood up and offered a sign of respect for the fallen warrior before continuing on her quest.

Soon she had reached the final chamber within the cave her confidence growing with each battle won she saw a zombie group where they had only been in groups of two at most there was six here. She stepped foward and attacked the closest one with her firebolts as she had with the others. "Well done little one, for getting this far." one of the zombies said facing her. "But now you face Corpsefire!" The zombie who had spoken rallied the remaining four of of his minions and sent them all to attack her. Kirara could feel her spiritual energy or mana drainging from her as she cast firebolt after firebolt to kill these minions. They had gotten close to her but her hit and run tactic that she had developed served her well.

Corpsefire walked much faster than the others had and hit her side with his fists before she could recover from her fatigue after fighting his minions. The blow opened a serious wound in her side leaving her bleeding there on the floor in front of her toughest enemy. She rolled awat from the powerful zombie and released a barrage of firebolts against him the slow corspefire being hit by every single one. The force of the firey blasts made even Corspefire stumble backwards giving Kirara a little space. That had to have killed him for she didn't know if she could do anymore. When the blinding light from the firebolts faded Corpsefire was still standing if only barely, burning flesh hanging from his body..Corspefire started to walk again towards Kirara who knew that her hit and tun tactic wouldn't work now she was wounded her wound slowing her too much too run fast enough to escape the deadly corpsefire. She also knew she couldn't afford to get hit again.

"It's over." Corpsefire said as he made the last few steps to reach the prone Kirara who was still weak from her previous wound while he hadn't even been slowed by his wounds which were far more severe. His burned flesh was hanging off his body such wounds would have killed any living creature. Kirara had just one chance. She summoned her powers to release a small blast of cold, a difficult feat for a wounded sorceress whopse speciality was fire. She prayed for the power to cast this one last spell. Her prayers were answered and she targetted the zombie once more. The ice bolt struck corpsefire shrouding him in chilling cold slowing his movements. He attacked Kirara once more with his fists, but the attack had already been slowed by the chilling effects of kiraras magic. The blow struck the cold earth plowing it up, a testament to Corspefires power. In a second he was ready to strike again, but Kirara swung her staff blindly striking his head decapitating him. With that Corspefire fell dead to the ground.

Kirara exhausted by the battle reached into her belt to find a small vial of red liquid. A healing elixer. She bit off the cork that prevented the contents from spilling and quickly drank the potion immediately feeling a searing pain on her side where she had been hit by Corspefire. She looked at the wound and saw that the fast action of the potion was closing the wound completely. She just lay there for a while resting, recuperating when she remembered Liene's request. She searched the chamber and found another corpse lying in the darkness. Hoping that this was Liene's sister so she could get out of this cave Kirara investigated the bow the Rogue had. This time Kirara was certain that the bow belonged to Liene's sister remembering the distinct markings that she had seen. They were repeated on this bow, which made her sure. Smiling widely she picked the bow up and prayed for Liene's sister. Then she turned back towards the entrance to the cave and made her way out, relieved to have completed her quest successfully and still be safe.

When she was out of the cave she noticed the zomvies she had escaped earlier still roaming around and felt a knot form in her stomach. The battle with corpsefire had depleted her reserves of mana and although she was slowly regaining her energy she wasn't sure she could fight them off even if she needed to. She decided to try to do what she had done before. Using the boulders as cover she managed to run past the zombies without them noticing this time much to her relief. Now the way to the camp was clear and she walked towards it glad to finally be safe again.

She walked in the gate past the guards to the campfire and looked around the camp, but she couldn't see Liene anywhere. 'She must be in her tent.' Kirara thought turning to walk towards Akara's tent to tell the news of her victory.

"Thank the sightless God you have have returned child." Akara said as Kirara entered her tent. "Tell me what happened out there."

"I found the cave you spoke of without much difficulty and it was just as you had feared. There was a small army holed up in there led by a Zombie who called himself Corpsefire. I managed to defeat him,"

"Thank you. For now our camp is safe." Akara said smiling. "Let us celebrate this victory tonight."

The campfire in the centre of the camp was burning twice as large as it had before and drinks were flowing freely that night. The first thing Kirara did was to give Liene the bow she had retrieved when she found her amongst the celebrating Rogues. In fact she hadn;'t been hard to find since she was lecturing everyone else about how they should attack the demons.

"We should all attack the demonic forces that have foced us out here." she said loudly. "We can't just allow others to save us!"

Kirara approached siletly with the bow in her hands. "Here." she said. "is the bow you asked me to retrieve for you."

Liene's eyes went misty, but she quickly clinked away the tears. "Thankyou, thankyou so much for doing this for me. You don't know how much this means to me." she said and gave her a long hug which was when Liene started crying. Releasing Kirara and rubbing her eyes Liene managed to give Kirara a smile. "Now I owe you a debt of gratitude."

Kirara smiled, "Don't worry about paying me back. I have my own sister so i can understand how important this was to you."

"Thanks again." Liene said smiling. "Come this is your victory. Celebrate with us."

The celebration was a special occasion for both the Rogues and Kirara herself since she was at the centre of attention for alot of the time. She smiled glad that she had earned the trust of these people and wanting to do whatever she could to help them in the future. For now however, she was content to enjoy herself. Even with her happiness there was an element of regret. She wished that her family could share in this victory with her, but her mother and sister were at home way too far away to share this experience with her and her father. She didn't know where he was.

The dancing campfire blazing stronger than it had the other day reminded her of his words. ""Calm down. Both a painting and the changing forms of a fire are beautiful in their own different ways." Kirara gazed into the campfire and thought she saw her fathers face within the flames. It was only for an instant before the dance of the flames changed their shape again, but she was certain he had been smiling. The thought made Kirara's face brighten up into a huge smile. She felt like he was there with her celebrating her voctory. Her first voictory for the Rogues.

Eventually the celebration began to die down and the Rogues started heading back to their tents tired after a night of celebration. Liene found Kirara sitting by the fire looking into it as it began its final dance of the night.

"What are you thinking?" Liene said noting Kirara's thoughtful expression.

"Just about my father." Kirara said still staring into the fire.

"What was he like?"

"He was the best father in the world." Kirara said smiling and turned to look at Liene,. "He was patient and kind, never expecting me to do any more than my best as he trained me in the magical arts. He taught me first how to use magic generally, how to focus my mind and draw from my own spiritual energy and to increase that energy. Then he taught me about the elements and how to use them. Fire, lightning and cold could all be used to great effect if you knew how to use them. When he went off to fight against this great evil he explained that it was something he just had to do and that he would be back when he had accomplished his task. I just knew he would succeed so i waited patiently for his return, but he didn't come back no matter how long i waited." A tear formed in Kirara's eyeand she blinked it away.

"Wow. He sounds cool." Liene said smiling."I hope he's okay."

"Me too." Kirara said sadly as the fire slowly died. "We should sleep now. We'll be refreshed when we wake in the morning. Good night"

"Good night."

Kirara walked slowly back to her tent seeking out her bed. She lay down and closed her eyes and soon she was sound asleep.

Liene lay in her bed awake thinking about what had transpired already. How she had trained with her sister with the bow.

"Is this how you do it?"

"Yeah, you've got it, sis." Liene said happily. "Now aim at that target over there and see if you can hit it."

"Okay."

The arrow flew towards its target but missed by about 4 inches.

"Not bad." Liene said smiling "You're improving every day."

"But you're way better at this than I am!"

"That's because I've trained for longer. I was worse than you when i was first training." Liene laughed.

"Really?"

"Yep, really."

A tear formed in Liene's eyes as she looked again at the bow her sister had used. 'Why did it have to be you who died in that cave?' she thought, 'I should have gone in there. Not you!' Liene's tears couldn't be stopped and ran down her face as she remembered her sisters face as she went out to do her scouting duties in the cave for Kashya. 'Why didn't you send me instead of her, Kashya?' Liene thought angrily. She knew it wasn't Kashya, leader of the Rogue warriors in battle that was to blame, but she couldn't help feeling angry at her regardless.

Then she remembered Kashya had had to face her own loss. That of Raven the former leader of the Rogue warriors and a much stronger kinder woman than Kashya herself. She remembered when Kashya had first heared of the news that Raven had most likely fallen to the demons. Liene knew that Kashya had always regretted leaving her behind even though it had been a direct order. Raven had done what she could to stop the tide of evil from overwhelming everyone and it was due to her efforts that the Rogues had survived even though their numbers had been severely depleted.

Soon Liene closed her eyes and slept, more soundly than she had been able to for many nights. Liene wasn't the only one. Everyone was able to rest easier than they had for many nights.