Hey Readers, I nearly forgot all about this story I had. And truth be told, I really REALLY underestimated how hard it would be to write. And I like I said before, none of this in related to the ingame information, just stuff I made up to make it seem more highlander/valkyria chronicles like. So don't take any of this info about Valkyria as real, just made up. I think this story has more holes than swiss cheese in it, but I'll try and continue it. It's just REALLY hard, harder than any of my other fanfics to write.

Chapter 5- A friend in the desert

Isara was having another dream, but this time it was a pleasant one, or for the moment it was. She was back at home, inside of the bakery, rolling a mound of dough with a rolling pin. Nearby, the sun was shining into the backroom through a window, two white birds were sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, seemingly looking into the bakery and watching Isara as she whistled happily as she rolled the dough flat.

The backdoor opened up and Alicia came walking into the backroom, "Oh my sweetie, where's your headscarf?" she asked after seeing Isara's own long head of head bobbing back and forth from her pigtails that were draped over each shoulder.

"Oh, sorry mother, I couldn't find it and was running behind…truthfully I had hoped to get this batch rolled out before you got back…didn't want to fall too far behind." confessed Isara.

"Oh dear…we can't have hair falling into the customers orders now can we." said Alicia. She then smiled and reached up and began to untie her own trademark red headscarf. Once it was undone she shook her head briskly then looked down and smiled at Isara. "Ok sweetie, look forward and hold real still for me."

Isara smiled, she rather enjoyed wearing her mothers' warm red headscarf whenever she got the chance, it had seen her through many hardships in the war and Isara liked to feel that warm, secure feeling she must of felt when she had it on her head whenever she went into battle during the last Great War.

Isara stopped rolling the dough and waited for Alicia to finish tying the headscarf into place, so that she could continue to roll out the dough. Alicia placed her headscarf onto Isara's head as she looked forward, smiling as her mother then tightened it up for her. But this time she wasn't as gentle when she pulled the knot tight around the back of Isara's head, she even winced a little in pain.

"Oh I'm sorry child…was that too tight…hehehe." said a rather cold, almost evil sounding voice. Isara froze in fear and slowly began to turn around, and now instead of seeing the familiar sight of her mothers long brown pigtails flowing down to her waist, she saw only long strands of silver hair and as she slowly looked up…there she was, her mothers' killer. The Evil Valkyria known as Sabella, her eyes were glowing bright red, and the blue flame aura was beginning to circle around her body, quickly growing into a full blown blaze that lit the walls of the background into a bright blue color.

Isara tried to scream, but Sabellas hand flew out from under her black cloak and wrapped around Isara's own throat and with greatest of ease she lifted Isara off of the ground and brought Isaras' face close to her own.

"You're weak child…that's why you lost your mother and your father. And that is why you shall never have your revenge, for you will never be as strong as I have become… and this world has no need for two Valkyria, there can be only one!" screamed Sabella, her glowing blue sword appearing in her other hand and taking a swing at Isara.

Isara then shot upright in bed, screaming her lungs out. Cold sweat was on her face as she stopped screaming and began panting heavily. She then looked at her surroundings as things can back into focus. Once the familiar sights of her room within the Valkyrian Sanctuary came into focus she breathed a long, deep sigh of relief, her heart still pounded in her chest though.

She saw that she was back in her room given to her by the Mother Valkyrur. Isara's head dropped forward and she let out another sigh of relief, wiping the back of her forehead with the sleeve of her white nightgown. From outside her doorway she heard thumping footsteps, fast approaching

Alexis then came bursting through Isara's bedroom door, dressed in a white nightgown, hair let down and a small glowing blue dagger in her right hand. "Isara! What happened! Are you alright?" She asked, quickly scanning the room for any possible intruders or other threats.

Isara just waved from her bed, "Sorry…another nightmare" said Isara, still breathing quite heavily.

"I see…understandable, you've been through so much in the last few days I guess it's to be expected." said Alexis, putting her dagger back into it's sheath around her waist. "Well try and get back to sleep, we've got a long day of travelling ahead of us tomorrow."

"Travel? Where are we going?" inquired Isara

"To the west, to see a very old friend of mine." said Alexis, "She's very old and very wise and she has much to tell you tomorrow, so try and go back to sleep for a few more hours."

Isara nodded, though sleep was probably impossible now, she had to at least try; it was still a few hours until morning. Alexis then bid Isara goodnight and slowly closed her chamber door shut. Isara lay back in her bed and placed her head against her pillow; she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, thinking of her mother and father.

Next she reached under her pillow and retrieved her mother's red, headscarf and looked down at it, "Mom…Dad…I'm so sorry my powers didn't emerge before all of this happened. Maybe if they did, I could have helped you fight that evil woman." thought Isara, sadly. She then gave it a firm squeeze and held onto it in both of her hands, closing her eyes and exhaling through her nose. She continued to hold onto the precious headscarf until she fell asleep once more.

Early the next morning, Isara, Alexis and another Valkyrian woman were outside of the Sanctuary entrance, getting into a horse drawn wagon. Alexis and the other woman were dressed in very fancy, white silk tunics, pants and knee high white boots, complete with white cloaks that had large hoods with wide cowls that hid most of their face. While Isara wore a light blue tunic, black belt, black pants and knee high black boots, complete with a dark blue cloak with a large hood and cowl that hid most of her face and blocked out the burning badlands sun.

No words were spoken as the wagon began to take off and head west through the Barious badlands and about 4 hours later the wagon was beginning to pull up to a very large, very tall single rock formation that stuck out of the ground like a sore thumb in the barren wasteland, it was riddled with holes and had a small cave like entrance at the bottom.

"We're here." said Alexis as she got out of the wagon, the other Valkyrian woman following right behind her. Isara was still looking up at the rock formation; she could see some circular holes in the side of it. The circular holes didn't look natural, they were too round, too perfect to have been created by nature. The place looked to be extremely old given by how much wear by nature seemed to have been chipping away at it.

Just then Isara felt someone grab her from behind and drag her out the back of the wagon, Isara let out a scream of surprise.

"Isara!" cried Alexis, she quickly retrieved her lance and shield from under her cloak, which quickly extended out fully once she touched both items and gave off a glow.

Isara was still being held from behind and could not see her attacker, but she did see an arm that was engulfed in a blue flame…the flame of a Valkyria. And immediately her heart froze…was it Sabella? Had she snuck up on her and now had she in her clutches?

"Oh…it's just you Alexis." said a female voice from behind Isara, once she saw Alexis come around the front of the wagon to where Isara and her captor were. Alexis still took a combat ready stance, shield held up and lance pointed forward, the other Valkyrian woman leapt onto the wagon and was holding a glowing blue ragnite trident and shield combo fighting style.

Alexis let out a sigh of relief and the flame around her body died down and her lance and shield quickly shrunk down to their compacted state. "Oh…Sabra…you scared me." said Alexis

"Yes, long time no see…perhaps too long, I haven not been expecting too many visitors these days you know. So I got to be extra cautious." said Sabra, still maintaining a tight grip around Isara.

Isara coughed loudly to get both girls attention, "Oh sorry about that child." said Sabra, letting go of Isara, who quickly ran back to Alexis' side, coughing and holding her throat.

"Didn't you recognize us from our cloaks?" asked Alexis

"Yeah right, cloak colors don't mean much these days." said Sabra, she wore a tattered looking silver cloak, one that must have been very old, but still resembled Alexis's cloak from her order. "One too many times have I been tricked into thinking a friend was approaching, only to find a rouge Valkyria disguised in a slain sister's valkyria's cloak, trying to claim my power for her own."

"I see, sorry, but I've brought someone here to meet you." said Alexis, gesturing to Isara who now removed her large hood and glared slightly at Sabra. "The mother Valkyrur of our order wishes you to teach her everything you know."

"I'm no longer a member of your order, you know that." said Sabra, removing her large, silver hood. The thing that took Isara by surprise was how young she looked, for being described as being 'very old and very wise', when in fact she couldn't have looked any older than a girl in her very early 20's. The Mother Valkyrur was the same, looking no older then 25 years old. How this was possible, she didn't know yet.

Sabras' hair was extremely short compared to most of the other Valkyrian women's hair she had seen. It only reached to the back of her ears and was just slightly longer in the front in two bangs. But her hair was indeed silver and her eyes were red just like any other Valkyrian woman's features that Isara had seen thus far.

"Yes, but the mother Valkyrur…wishes it." said Alexis, trying to sound as polite as she could, "This young girl is the newest recruit we've had and I know that you haven't had any new pupils to teach in many, many years."

"Interesting, she does not look like one of us. But I do indeed sense the valkyrian blood that flows through her veins; guess they weren't myths after all. And I see that she wears the cloak of an apprentice Valkyria…very interesting indeed"

Isara was quite surprised; here she was thinking that other than her mother, that the Valkyria were an all but extinct race. But here she was, among so many other Valkyrian woman that no other human probably knew existed.

Sabra breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly

"Very well, let's go inside and talk some more." said Sabra, and as she slowly began to walk past Isara, who was still looking up at her, Sabra smiled and ruffled the top of her head with her hand. "Sorry for being so rough with ya, just looking out for myself, ya know."

"Yeah, sure…" replied Isara, quickly fixing her hair with her hands as she began to follow Sabra, Alexis and her escort inside the rock formation that was Sabra's home. Inside it was a lot nicer and had a fair amount of stone and wooden furniture that included cupboards, tables, chairs, dresser and a large bed. Though it still looked pretty lived in, which Sabra probably didn't mind, she seemed to be a live alone type.

"Well, feel free to make yourselves at home." said Sabra, taking off her cloak and setting it on a chair nearby and sitting in the said chair. Alexis removed her cloak as well and sat across from Sabra. While the escorting Valkyria just remained standing in the corner of the room, hood still up, arms crossed across her chest. Isara nervously took off her cloak and sat next to Alexis, who smiled down at her and then looked to Sabra.

"I'd like you to explain to Isara just what's been going on with our race and why she's so important to us." said Alexis.

Sabra leaned back in her chain, placing her hands in her lap and sighing. "Very well, where to start… Guess I'll start by telling you that we, the Valkyria are indeed an ancient race. We've roamed these lands for the last 2000 years. But our numbers have been steadily declining during that time. The saddest part is… it's our own fault; we Valkyria are slowly killing each other out. We are a warring species, you know.

Not long after we conquered the Darcsen race, we began to fight amongst ourselves, seeking even more power. Some discovered that when one Valkyria kills another, she is able to absorb her flame of the Valkyrur, her power, her life source, adding it to her own. This in turn increases her own power, making her stronger, faster, and even more deadly. Sabella is the oldest and strongest of the rouge Valkyria."

"Rouge Valkyria?" asked Isara, looking at Alexis for an answer, but Alexis gestured with her head over to Sabra.

"I think I was the one telling the story." said Sabra, slightly offended by Isara's interruption just now.

"Sorry, Rouge Valkyria?" asked Isara once again.

"As you know, Alexis belongs to an ancient order of the Valkyria. They have what is called a Mother Valkyrur, an extremely ancient Valkyria, and the first of the order when it was formed…nearly 2000 years ago.

But that was when there were 4 separate orders with 4 separate Mother Valkyrurs in charge of them. Alexis's is the last surviving order of our own war, the war of the Valkyrian orders. At the start of the war, one order, the largest and deadliest set out to destroy the other 3 orders. Their order above all others, desired power, even at the cost of slaying other Valkyrian sisters for it.

The Barious desert was once home to a number of Valkyrian cities, 4 major cities to be exact, one for each order. The wars ravaged the lands, destroyed our cities and drove the few of us who are left into the mountains, underground or into the wilds to hide."

"2000 years… how is that possible?" Isara asked

Sabra just chuckled, "Perhaps I forgot to mention, we, Valkyria are immortal beings. Age does not affect us like it does the other races of this land. Alexis is over 1,500 years old, I am 1,800 years old and the mother Valkyrur is over 2,000 years old."

Isara's mouth dropped open, "Unbelievable…"

"We may never really age as you know it, and we are extremely powerful. But we can still be killed, and once we die, like other races, that's it for us." Sabra continued.

Isara nodded, looking over at Alexis, who nodded to Sabra's information she was telling.

"But the strangest thing is this." Sabra continued, "We heard stories about certain individuals, who are able to pass for human, but we're born from a Valkyrian mother and thus able to hide their own traits. But by doing so, they lose their immortality and age as humans do. It's said that there was only one race that we Valkyria were able to successfully breed with and make such offspring, and those were Darcsen men."

"But those were only legends, stories from hundreds of years back. None have ever been proven." Alexis added

"Until now…" Sabra said, leaning back in her chair, staring at Isara.

"Are you saying that I'm one of them?" Isara asked.

Sabra nodded, "One of the Valkyrian orders, desperate to save their race, came up with a way to breed Valkyria that would be able to blend in with the human race, but still retain their power and call upon it when needed. They must have succeeded, but their order was destroyed by Sabellas order hundreds of years ago. So who knows how many more are really out there, who are unaware that their blood carries the essence and power of the Valkyrian race."

"Like I said, it was never proven and all of this I have told you were just myths, legends. All unproven," Sabra said, "But, during the last human was that ravaged this land. There was 1 woman who proved the myths and legends to be true. Her name… was Alicia Melchiott."

"Had we only gotten to Alicia Melchiott first, we would be able to track the other hidden Valkyria, as they're now known as, like Sabella is doing right now." Alexis said, looking down at the table top in despair.

"My Mother?" Isara asked, "What did you want with my mother?"

Neither Alexis nor Sabra answered, but the way they looked at each other kind of sadly pretty much said it all. And Isara stood up, sliding the chair away from her in the process.

"You were going to kill her… weren't you?" Isara asked in horror.

Sabra sighed, "It would have been for a far greater cause than what Sabella did it for. Had one of us absorbed her power, we could have tracked other hidden Valkyria for many miles from our location."

"We can all sense each other's presence, but only within our immediate proximity. But Sabella is different now. After absorbing the power of Alicia, a powerful hidden Valkyria, she can now sense other Valkyria and hidden Valkyria in much more strongly and in greater distances than we ever could. I only sensed you had Valkyrian blood in you because you were so close to me, Isara." Alexis said

"Had we taken Alicia's powers from her, we could have found out who had Valkyrian blood within them and then be brought to our order in secret. To be trained and given the power that was theirs from the day they were born, but were unaware of." Sabra said.

"Our order would have prospered; Gallia and Europa would once again be populated with our kind, Valkyria." Alexis added.

"But now… since it was Sabella who killed your mother, she can now feel their hidden power some women are born with much more strongly than anyone of us can. So now… she can hunt them all down with ease, taking their power for her own." Sabra explained.

"And unlike us, whom she had to fight hard against to get that power from, these hidden Valkyria are helpless, unarmed and untrained in the ways of our combat. She can take their power without a fight now, increasing her own power that much faster. She's already begun doing so and soon… she'll be stronger than our Mother Valkyrur. Once she becomes that strong, none of us will be able to defeat her, not with all our weapons and powers combined."

Isara still had her back turned, shocked and appalled that these women would have killed her mother, had they reached her first that terrible day in Bruhl, when Sabella attacked.

"Is that why I'm still alive, do you hope to kill me so you can track other hidden Valkyria?" Isara asked, actually scared to hear the answer.

"No, you now a sister and a soldier of our order," Alexis said "but should the time come, you'll have to learn how to defend yourself and not become easy prey for Sabella like the other hidden Valkyria out there currently are."

"You should not turn away their help Isara, for if you renounce their order, you'll surely be hunted down by Sabella one day and killed, just as your mother was. Alone, you won't survive long against her." Sabra said.

Isara sighed, "Though I'm shocked to hear that you would have killed my mother, had you the chance. In the end, you didn't. Sabella did. So I will stay with your order and train to become a full fledged Valkyrian warrior."

"Excellent, I am glad to hear it." Alexis said, she then looked out one of the small rock openings and saw that the light outside was fading as evening was approaching. "We should return to the sanctuary, it is not safe to be outside at night."

"Alright, I think I've taken in enough new information as I can today." Isara said, standing up and stretching and yawning.

The three then began to leave Sabra's dwelling, but Isara turned to her just as she was about to leave. "Are you not coming, you said yourself that it was dangerous to be alone." Isara said.

Sabra shook her head, "No, you go on ahead child," Sabra said with a smile, "I gave up that order long ago and chose a solitary life. I've seen enough fighting and war to last me 10 human lifetimes."

Alexis reappeared from outside, but had heard the conversation clearly enough, "Sabra is a vagabond valkyria. She'll be gone from this place soon enough I'm sure, it's her way of staying safe from other rouge Valkyria. Travels light, never stays in one place for very long and keeps to herself."

"Alright, just try and stay safe." Isara pleaded with almost sad looking eyes, though the two didn't know each other for very long, she still felt worried for a sister Valkyria now.

"You're sweet child; I'm glad that we got the chance to meet." Sabra said with a bright smile, "Now off with you, best get back while there's still some light left."

Isara then left, and got into the horse drawn wagon with Alexis and her bodyguard Valkyria. And as the wagon began to pull away, Isara looked back at Sabra's dwelling and spotted her walk out and wave good-bye to the three.

A few hour's later, Sabra was inside her dwelling, stirring a pot of simple soup she was cooking and as she brought the wooden spoon out and tapped it against the side of the pot, she felt a pain in her chest, followed by a most ominous feeling.

Sabra dropped her head forward and sighed, "I knew this day would come…" she said softly, she then rushed over to the corner of the room and grabbed her ragnite bow and quiver of long, fine, ragnite crystal arrows and closed her eyes. Her body was engulfed in a blue flame, her eyes glowing bright red upon opening them. And with the aid of her powers, she jumped upwards, and leapt from rock to rock as she proceeded up her rock tower home, to the very top. This acted as a lookout tower, from which she could see for miles and miles across the desert.

And as she scanned the horizons, she saw a single, glowing blue light in the distance and she didn't even have to guess who it was. "Sabella…" Sabra said, for even as far away as she was, she could feel her dark presence and evilness.

The distant blue flaming light from Sabella then began to speed towards her tower fortress at great speed, coming to claim her power for her own.

But Sabra's folded up bow seemed to magically extend, and she quickly nocked an arrow into her bow string and drew it back, aiming along the shaft of the ragnite arrow at the approaching blue flame in the distance. But as she aimed, a spinning, brightly glowing blue/white light began to circle around her ragnite arrow. And once she released the arrow, it flew at incredible speed, screeching, spinning and glowing as it sliced through the night air. The arrow then impacted the ground near Sabella, but she moved out of the way with ease as it exploded far to her right.

And now Sabra was nocking and firing arrows at speeds faster than any human archer could ever hope to achieve. But Sabella's powers were far greater than Sabra's were and she dodged all of the incoming, exploding arrows easily. With Sabra's now solitary life, came less time dedicated to training and practice with her weapon than when she was a sister and soldier of her renounced Valkyrian order.

And now that she was close enough, Sabella drew her long sword made out of ragnite crystals and drew it back, charging it up with spinning, shrieking energy. Once it was fully charged, she drew her sword back and sliced it through the air, releasing a wide, massive crescent shaped beam of light that flew towards Sabra's home. And once it struck her home, the entire bottom half of the rock tower exploded in thousands of tiny fragments, the top half leaning and falling to the ground with Sabra jumping from the top and crashing hard into the sand with the rest of her home.

Sabra then lay coughing amongst the sand and debris that was floating in the air, her flame still burning brightly, giving some light in the darkness and floating dust from the collapsed rocks. She slowly pushed herself up and looked around, but could not find Sabella anywhere. But she knew she was there, for an eerie, otherworldly voice was calling her name.

"Sabra~" echoed the voice, and Sabra turned, but still couldn't see anyone or anything.

"Sabra~!" said the voice a little louder and closer, but this time it was all around her.

And from behind her, Sabra finally heard the rapid of approach of footsteps, amongst the sand. She turned, just in time to see Sabella charging at her with her sword pointed forward, like a lancer charging its target.

The tip then pierced Sabra's chest and drove her backwards, all the way to the piles of fallen rocks and slamming her back into them. Sabra coughed blood as she grabbed a hold of Sabella's blade with her right hand. And once she looked up weakly, she saw Sabella smiling and laughing at her.

"Your greatest weakness was the inability to fight in close quarters combat!" she teased, "Sabra, the great Valkyrian Archer. But you always relied on a nearby ally to take care of enemies who got too close to you. That is why you shouldn't have chosen to live alone."

And though Sabra was in a great deal of pain and could hardly breathe, she managed to smile and chuckle.

"Your greatest weakness was your lust for power," she said weakly, blood coming out the sides of her mouth, "You destroyed all your closest friends for it and betrayed our race for it."

Sabella growled and twisted her blade to the side, tearing flesh and cloth at the same time, Sabra emitting a shriek of pain.

"This world has no need for more than 1 Valkyria, and I will be the one!" Sabella said.

Sabra just smiled as her eyelids began to feel heavy, darkness taking her, "Such arrogance and pride… it will be the end of you dear sister Valkyrur…"

Sabra's head then fell forward, and she passed away, yet another victim in Sabella's quest for greater power.

Sabella just scoffed and pulled her sword out from Sabra, "Humph, That's one less of you to worry about."

She then took her sword with both hands and closed her eyes, her blue flame covering her body as she began breathing deeply, preparing for what was to come next. And just as before, Sabra's blue flame of the Valkyrur reappeared all around her body, burning and flashing brightly as her body began to levitate a few feet off the ground. And as the two flames began to merge, Sabella threw her head back and screamed loudly at the dark, starry night sky.

Moments later, the blue flame around Sabra's body began to die down, all of her strength and power was gone, now Sabella's. And once she felt the power of an ancient Valkyria become hers, she threw back her head and began to laugh out loud. For absorbing an ancient Valkyria's power was far greater than 10 lesser, hidden Valkyria's power.

"It won't be long now, before I can storm the Mother Valkyrur's sanctuary and take her power for my own. Then no one in the world will be able to stop me!" she screamed, her evil maniacal laughter echoing across the desert and nearby rock formations.