Hikaru: I apologize for my long hiatus. I'm finished with Glow of the Teriques and now I can fully focus on this story again. I didn't lie when I said I had everything planned. Many of you probably already gave up on this story, but I'm going to finish it ... if only for myself. I debated for a while posting the synopsis and leaving it at that, but I thought I should finish it.

--

Every once in a while each ninja in training would be tested by one of the trainers. Today Orochi had opted to test Leneth and Liath's skills. To help gauge their abilities, Orochi had enlisted the help of the best fighters in the nearby Village of Oracles--Alain and Waltharia, the son and daughter of Colette and Noishe Brunel.

The Iselian siblings were quite able fighters, being the children of the warrior priestess mayor and leader of the militia. Alain, a captain of the militia, was sixteen years old but bore a great mental maturity beyond his years, a great warrior, and had at his command a pack of wolves sired by the ice wolf Fenrir. Alain used a short sword and a bow.

Waltharia was the apprentice of her mother's friend, Genis Sage. In close quarters the fifteen-year-old used a one-handed sword.

Back in the deep Iselian Forest, the old building complex called a "ranch" (which was horrendously overgrown) was the location of the test.

Leneth had his own misgivings. He and Liath were going to be tested separately. Liath was to fight Waltharia (Withi for short), and Leneth Alain in different parts of the massive complex. Where Liath fought Leneth didn't know, but he and Alain were going against one another in the courtyard, with the massive gate.

As Leneth quickly but silently moved about the top of the old gate, using tree branches to keep his balance if he slipped, he thought. Liath's specialty was melee fighting using a variety of projectiles, and knew the spells Kratos taught her. Leneth, on the other hand, was a little of melee and his mother's own seal-fighting style, except the cards were imbued with the power of the Spirits.

Leneth leapt soundlessly on the old wall of the ranch gate. In the shadows afforded by the tree canopy, he looked for his target--Alain. Alain had just walked through the gate, Orochi having released him further down the path. Alain was the best archer anyone would have heard of in the Iselian region. He had superhuman accuracy, and if he spotted his target, the target might not know it.

Careful to stay in the shadows, it wasn't long before Leneth spotted Alain--his short green hair wasn't camouflage enough. Alain had an arrow nocked to his bowstring, but he didn't pull it taut. He was still looking for Leneth.

Leneth pulled out a seal bearing Shadow's power, and murmured over it. He felt the mana wash over him--the darkness would help conceal him from Alain.

As Leneth wound his way down, creeping ever closer to Alain, he had a number of seals at the ready. Alain still had no idea that Leneth stalked him--he kept the arrow loosely at the bowstring, and he kept his gaze forward.

Leneth had a seal in his palm. He crept closer ... closer ... there!

Leneth lunged forward, hand slapping the seal on Alain's back--at will he activated it.

"Pyre Seal!"

The piece of paper exploded, and Alain went flying, floored. Leneth pursued, more seals at hand; Alain quickly leapt to his feet, bow at the ready.

Alain was smiling.

Leneth realized it was too late.

"Thunder Blitz!"

He let the arrow fly. There was so little distance between them that Leneth had no hope of dodging. He saw the arrow--crackling with purplish blue electricity--the split second before it hit.

"Augh!"

Leneth caught the ground, pushing off it and moving his legs to flip back on his feet. How? How had Alain known exactly where he was? He should still be cloaked by Shadow's mana!

By then Leneth realized--Shadow's mana was gone from him. Leneth backed away, mentally debating whether or not to continue using seals or to go with his short katana.

Alain, nocking another arrow to his bow, seemed to read Leneth's mental question.

"Being the son of a warrior priestess has its advantages." Alain said with a smile, rather conversationally.

Leneth cursed; how could he forget? Colette was a warrior priestess of the highest caliber. Of couse she'd pass on her training to her children. Alain must've sensed the dark mana about Leneth and dispelled it. That was the reason Alain let himself be hit.

Leneth smiled. He hoped Liath was doing all right against Waltharia. That girl could perform advanced magic for her age.

Leneth shuffled through his seals, sensing each card's own unique mana and signature trail. To recede into the shadows now would be foolhardy. The time for close quarters was now.

Alain seemed to think the same thing, even if he did take a cheap shot: he nocked multiple arrows and let them fly all at once, each one glimmering with differing elements as they rained down.

Leneth dashed underneath the elemental rain of arrows, dodging some, deflecting others with a Guardian Seal. Alain, lightning-quick, slung his bow over his shoulder, drawing a short sword, the blade engraved with angelic runes.

They pitted sword against sword, Iselian make versus Mizuhon make, sparks flying as they exchanged swings, each never quite managing to do much more to the other than a few slices into one another's clothing. Leneth bided his time with Alain--he wanted a chance to slap another seal on him.

But neither Alain nor Leneth had another chance for more fighting--for when they next swung their blades at one another, some unseen force threw them back, sending them flying across the forest floor. Coughing, Alain stood, shakily using his sword to get to his feet. Leneth wiped a thin stream of blood from his mouth; what was that?

Standing at the very spot where the force field had been was a young woman. She had a burnished bronze skin tone and sleek, black hair swept her upper back. Blue beads for earrings framed the sides of her face, and her dark eyes blank. Despite the many foreign aspects of this woman, there was one thing Leneth recognized about her--she was dressed in a short red and white robe, tied with a short yellow obi--it took Leneth a few moments to register the fact that this woman who had attacked them was dressed in the garb of Mizuho.

"Alain!" Leneth shouted, struggling to his feet, "run!"

Leneth and Liath might only be trainees in their ninja clan, but this woman looked to be a fully trained one, to deliver such an attack right after teleportation.

Alain shook his head, nocking an arrow to his bow, aiming at the woman, who noticed this. She was a reddish yellow blur as she rushed Alain--his bow was ripped from him, and a flurry of quick kicks toppled Alain to the ground. Leneth's heart raced, blood pounding in his ears.

He didn't know why this woman was attacking them, or even who she was, but he did know they had to get out, and fast.

Dammit, where was Orochi? Probably observing Liath and Withi right now, who were a little ways deeper in the forest.

Leneth drew out his deck of seals, flipping through them, deciding which one would help him out the most right now--the woman was looking his way, going right for him--Leneth slapped on a random seal without thinking, unleashing the mana within it.

The woman's eyes were wide in shock, and she fell to the the forest floor, coughing hoarsely. As Leneth dashed to Alain's side, he glimpsed the seal he had used on her--it was a seal to cut off the circulation of metabolized energy from within her body, thus the sudden exhaustion.

Upon reaching Alain, Leneth threw one of his arms over his own shoulders, and used a teleportation seal. The final thing he saw before disappearing was the woman struggling to get up, mumbling something underneath her breath.

--

"--and then she tried to attack me, but I got her with a seal and then we teleported here!" Leneth screeched, shaken and infinitely afraid for Alain, whom had fallen unconscious not long after arriving at the village. Liath, Withi, and Orochi had come back a little while after Leneth returned, and Kratos had demanded an explation while he healed Alain.

Leneth's parents were not in the village. Vice-Chief Tiga and Great-Grandfather Igaguri had explained that Lloyd and Sheena, as the leaders of one region of Sylvarant, had headed off to the Sylvarantian Council held in the water-city Luin, where the other leaders of the cities of Sylvarant--including Alain and Waltharia's parents--had gone as well.

Since each region of Sylvarant had its own leader, it was decided that a country-wide council would be a more suitable way of ruling than choosing a single monarch. Monarchy had proved obsolete for a long while in Sylvarant.

Kratos, after healing Alain to the best of his ability with Healing Stream, had gone deeper into the house, not saying a word after his grandson's explanation. He returned with two sheathed swords, and with a start Leneth recognized the hilts on each one--Kratos threw him the one with a silvery blue hilt.

"D-dad's swords?!" Leneth squeaked, as Kratos handed the other sword to Liath, who was equally speechless.

Lloyd never liked anyone or anything distrubing the rest of these swords. Why did Liath and Leneth's grandfather suddenly find the need to give the swords to them? Leneth began to think that Kratos had gone senile.

But Kratos sat everyone down in the common room of the Chief's house, and he looked sternly at his grandchildren.

"Your parents wanted you two to live normal lives, and didn't want you concerned with happenings outside the village, although I advised them otherwise. But there is trouble outside this village. Sylvarant is a relatively new country, only having recently formed together as one. The other country in this world is Tethe'alla, and is more technologically advanced than Sylvarant. Thusly, Tethe'alla is suffering from a lack of natural resources and good farm land. Your parents and the other leaders of Sylvarant must meet to decide how to counter Tethe'alla--for it has declared war upon Sylvarant."

Leneth and Liath knew of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla--they had studied maps, the geography, the towns, and the social systems of each country under Kratos and Orochi, although they had never actually been outside their village.

Kratos continued.

"Sheena, a summoner, had once formed pacts with all the Spirits of Aselia, this you know. However, since she fulfilled her pacts, the Spirits are no longer bound to her. Other summoners are free to make pacts with the Spirits as they see fit."

So that's why Mom never summoned any Spirits before ...

"Sheena was once connected to each Spirit she had a pact with." Here Kratos seemed uneasy. "She noticed that some of the connections she had with Tethe'allan Spirits are gone. With Tethe'alla at war with us, there is one thing they are most eager to get their hands on, the ultimate weapon of the world, the Eternal Sword. And the three of us hold the key to unlocking it."

Leneth looked at the sword in his hands. Now that he held it, the mana within it seemed to be pulsing, as if with a heart of its own. Liath must be feeling the same thing in the other sword. Leneth wondered what other item there was to unlocking this Eternal Sword, when he saw a seemingly normal silver ring on Kratos's finger. It was a pact ring, which must mean ...

"You have to make a pact with a Spirit to get the sword?" Leneth blurted out.

Kratos nodded. "One must form a pact with Origin, the King of the Spirits, whom has control over time and space. WIth it, Tethe'alla could rid itself of pollution and renew its land. However, one never must possess the Eternal Sword again. Its power once before changed the nature of the world and put it in a twisted form."

Alain, newly conscious, scoffed. "And this King of Spirits allowed this?" Waltharia remained silent beside her brother.

Kratos gave him a sharp look. "Origin was tricked."

Leneth leapt to his feet, eyes frantically wide. "And--that girl that attacked us--she's Tethe'allan? And she's after the Eternal Sword components?"

Kratos nodded. "She is a member of Old Mizuho, the village of Mizuho that existed before this one, in Tethe'alla. Its chief is Azumi Kuchinawa, Orochi's brother."

Leneth stared at Orochi, disbelieving. The Chief of Old Mizuho had deliberately sent that person to attack New Mizuho and steal the parts of the Eternal Sword? Orochi looked apologetic.

"I never imagined that Kuchinawa would do such a thing ... he of all people should know that the Eternal Sword must be kept out of reach!"

Liath stood, too, her hands shaking on her sword. "If that girl came so close to the village ... would more Tethe'allans come here?"

A deafening silence engulfed the common room. Kratos stood.

"We must leave."

--

It was still in the Iselian Forest, but Kratos had insisted they visited Dirk, Leneth and Liath's dwarven grandfather, before leaving New Mizuho for good. The people of Mizuho could take care of themselves, and besides which Orochi was with them. Alain, once fully healed, took Waltharia back to Iselia, although he wanted so much to go with them.

Kratos already changed from his Mizuho garb into a suit of purple with shoulder guards and a swallowtail cloak. However, Leneth and Liath only had their shinobi garb, and wandering outside Mizuho wearing such clothing would be suicide.

So that was the reason behind visiting Dirk--to have Sylvarantian (or dwarven clothing) clothing made for them so as not to be conspicuous outside of Mizuho. Dirk was delighted to be able to make clothing for his grandkids--he designed the clothes with great zeal (of course asking Leneth and Liath if they liked this one or that one). For a human, making an entirely new full set of clothing would take quite a bit of time, even with bolts of the appropriate fabric and patterns in advance, but Dirk was a dwarf, a master of craftsmanship.

Liath had a rich red tunic with a gold embroidered, low collar--but the collar was modest and didn't show much. The tunic was short sleeved, and with it she had a pair of black pants and matching gloves and knee-high boots of a dark brown, like the bark of a tree. Her hair stayed in its braid.

Leneth, on the other hand, had a little more complex outfit (for Dirk would not accept simplicity here). Well, the clothes themselves were rather simple (a dark blue short sleeved shirt and pants of a lighter blue with black gloves), but the sleeveless coat and knee-high boots would have none of it.

The overcoat and boots had designs on them that Leneth liked, but part of the overcoat was a little difficult to button up without practice.

After staying at Dirk's house for a number of days, Leneth had sought out his biological grandfather. Kratos could always be found standing at the grave beside Dirk's house--the grave of Leneth and Liath's grandmother.

"Kratos," Leneth said, for it always bugged him to address him as his grandfather, "I know you said we had to leave ... but where will we go now? If Tethe'alla attacks full on, well, we're not exactly distant from their target, are we?"

Kratos turned to face his grandson.

"Although Tethe'alla has declared war, it's still possible that Old Mizuho is acting on its own. Therefore ... I must go to Old Mizuho and see Kuchinawa about this myself."

Leneth's eyes went wide and he immediately protested animatedly,

"No! If you go alone, what will we do if we are attacked?"

Kratos quirked an eyebrow, and Leneth ducked his head, suddenly ashamed for his outburst.

"Sylvarant already has a vanguard against attack in every major settlement of the country. It was the best to hope for as long as Sylvarant remains formally divided. The Luin Council is meant to unify the people of Sylvarant in order to successfully mount a counterattack on Tethe'alla. You must journey to Luin and rejoin your parents."

Leneth was simultaneously excited and crestfallen. He would get to travel, something he'd always wished for, but the way he would travel ... not so much. He didn't fancy much the idea of throwing off anybody pursuing the fragments of the Eternal Sword. The Vorpal Sword strapped his his back felt such a heavy burden now.

"However," Kratos continued, "You, Liath, and I must travel separately. If any of us are captured by Tethe'alla, they'll have only one part of the key, but I wouldn't underestimate them--they might already have a summoner. Of course, we won't travel alone."

Leneth noticed that Kratos was looking past him, toward the little stream that ran before Dirk's house. Turning around, the shinobi collectively gasped.

"Alain! Withi!"

The Brunel siblings dashed up to him, worry evident in their faces. A few days prior, Alain and Waltharia had been rather unceremoniously dropped off at Iselia without so much a peep as to where Leneth and Liath would be taken. Alain raked a hand through his short hair, and Withi, too, was fidgeting with her braids.

Leneth quirked an eyebrow at the sight--the two Brunels never were ones to fidget.

"Yes," Kratos said, eyeing at the gear the Brunels carried on them--Alain had replaced the bow he'd lost, he still had his sword and quiver of arrows, and Withi, although already a powerful mage, had a one-handed sword belted to her waist. "Loath I am to let you go without any sort of heavier protection, the son and daughter of Colette and Noishe are more than enough. Alain, you will travel with Leneth, and Withi, have you any qualms about going with Liath?"

Withi and Alain simultaneously nodded in response. Of course they'd go--who wouldn't want their childhood friends to go unprotected?

Kratos motioned with a hand, and the teenagers followed him inside Dirk's house. The inside smelled strongly of the forge, and the dwarf was busy forging more weaponry--throwing knives, more swords--for it wouldn't do for Leneth and Liath's weapons betray their place of origin to enemy forces.

They all took seats at a table, and Kratos unrolled a map of Aselia. The continents of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla had mingled, but nonetheless boundaries had been placed between the two countries. The Iselian continent was easy to point out. Kratos with a pen circled the Iselian region in the north.

"This is where we are now. This region is dangerously close to the Tethe'allan military base near Latheon Gorge. We know Tethe'alla cannot get its hands on the Eternal Sword, so we must put as much distance between ourselves as possible."

Kratos drew a line down the Iselian continent, an obvious out of the way path passing through north and then northwest, eventually coming to Luin, the capital of Sylvarant.

"One group must go this route to Luin. Another ..." Obviously the other group was to go by ship, for he drew a line across the Latheon Channel, into the gulf, and landing in a very forested area. "Must journey to Heimdall, the village of the elves. They are neutral in human conflict and understand the importance of the Eternal Sword and the Spirits. And finally I will go to Old Mizuho."

Kratos did not on the map detail the route he would use to go to the old ninja village.

Kratos looked between the two pairs of teenagers--Leneth and Liath, heavily trained though they were, had not yet seen real combat, while Alain and Waltharia, co-leaders of Iselia village's militia to fight off monsters, certainly had. He was a little worried ... but ...

"Leneth, you and Alain will go to Luin and warn Sheena and Lloyd of the danger. Liath, you and Waltharia will go by ship to Heimdall. I trust there are no objections?"

Mute head shakes provided Kratos's answer.

The rest of their short stay at Dirk's house was spent preparing the long journey ahead. Dirk and Kratos procured traveling supplies--food, money, medicine, tents, so and so forth.

Leneth had a hard time getting used to the idea of separating from his sister.

On the eve of their journey's start, the Mizuhon siblings sat together on a bench, watching the sunset above the trees of the woods.

"I didn't think ... we'd ever go outside the village like this." Leneth said, somewhat detached.

Liath gave a noncommittal shrug.

"If Tethe'alla plans to attack the Iselian region first, we'd have to move no matter what. War is approaching. We'll have to hide out for a while ... you, deep in friendly territory, and I in neutral territory. I'm just jealous you get to see Mom and Dad."

"I am nervous ..." Leneth replied, "but I trust Kratos. He told us about the situation when our own parents wouldn't."

Liath giggled. "Yeah, he's got that sort of no-nonsense thing about him. He is Dad's father, he knows what he's doing."

A long silence prevailed as the shinobi twins contemplated the unknowable future set ahead of them. After a time, Leneth spoke up with a question.

"So ... the current king of Tethe'alla ... what's he like, I wonder?"

"King Hugh," Liath said, digging up the name from a lesson they'd had a while ago, "He was formerly the heir to Viscount Lionel of the Gaoracchia lands, but he married into the royal family by his marriage with Princess Hilda. King Tethe'alla the XVIIIth protested the marriage initially, but it went through after his ... untimely death. King Hugh is said to be ruthless in his rule."

Leneth frowned. "Tethe'alla seems to have it all together. Whereas the only form of organization we have is a vanguard in every city, and we're not even a formally united country yet."

"Don't worry," Liath reassured her brother, "Mom and Dad will make sure the Luin Council will go through."

Leneth stood, walking around to the front of Dirk's house. He heard voices inside, Withi and Alain discussing their own views about this journey.

Excited as he was about traveling, Leneth couldn't help but feel apprehensive, couldn't shake a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

And these feelings of his were usually right.