"Why did you do that?!" Ata's tears dropped onto her skin.

"My blood is not as precious as yours." she smiled.

"That's not true." he sighed, tears still falling. "You know that's not."

Through blurry eyes, Ata looked around. Everyone around them seemed to be, frozen. Everything was still. The pained expression on the king of Sindria's face was prominent, seeming to sadden with every second that passed.

"What the -" Ata rubbed tears from his eyes and stood. There was a sort of denseness in the air now, almost suffocating.

"Ata...do you see that?" Mari's faint voice called out. Ata whipped around and stumbled back towards her.

"See what?"

"The black Rukh." Mari's fingers reach up into the air, but there was nothing. "It's so beautiful."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look there." she pointed again. He knew there would be nothing there but he looked anyway.

"You know, I don't see them." he mumbled.

"You're nothing special." A voice said.

Ata whipped around but saw no one no matter how many times he looked.

"But she is special." Black swirled around them both. Out of instinct, Ata covered Mari as much as he could.

"You could say I've developed a sort of respect for her." There stood a tall man adorned in gold and black material. A red jewel was present as well.

"Oh it's you." Mari seemed to know this man. "I was wonder...your black Rukh was flying all over the place a second ago."

The man stepped forward, but Ata seemed a bit defensive and covered her body with his.

"Who are you." he glared.

"You're so protective of her, yet you could do nothing to save her."

"I..." Ata shook with hurt.

"Leave him be. I had my reasons and there was nothing he could do to stop me."

"You're no fun." The man pouted.

"It seems that you're in need of assistance."

"Quite."

"If your..." he looked at Ata before continuing "...guardian is alright with it, I'd like to help you with that awful wound."

Mari took a look at Ata and then a look at the man.

"I would like that very much." she smiled. The man took her into his arm, despite Ata's silent protest, and covered her with a black cloth.

"Well are you coming or not?" He held a hand out for Ata to take. His skin is pale. He thought.

Ata took his hand and before he realized it they were ten feet from the ground. Ata scrambled as far as he could and secured himself to the man. His fingers dug into the thick cloth that the man wore.

"I won't let you fall ya know."

Ata looked up. The mans red eyes were looking straight ahead, but still there was an odd feeling around him.

"She seems to care for you a lot."

Ata let his eyes fall to Mari, whose eyes were closed. He paused for a moment breathing in and calming himself before any bad thoughts of her death washed over him.

"Are you going to hurt her?" Ata tightened his grip around the man's shoulders.

"I understand it may seem that way." he scoffed. "A stranger coming out of nowhere and taking your love away."

"Sh-she's not my...love!" Ata sputtered. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks.

"But..." the man continued. "I want to help her as much as you do. She'd been so nice to me. It makes me sick." he gagged.

The drifted through the city in silence for a while longer.

"Who are you?" Ata finally spoke up.

"My name...is Judar."

I'm sorry the chapter is so short. I haven't been able to upload in forever. I'll be getting on with the story soon! I'm sorry.