Prologue

The sun shone brightly upon the land of Weyard as it cast its warming rays upon the shores of the southeastern Angaraian continent beachhead. Not a cloud could be seen in the sky for miles and miles. A cooling breeze blew in from off of the ocean, filling the air with the refreshing smell that could only be associated with the ocean. Waves gently rolled up the shore line and then retreated back into the sea. The sounds of calling seagulls echoed overhead as a small group of the birds glided in the air scouring the land for food. Others were contented to waddle on foot in search of their food.

A lone bird from above spotted something of interest and decided to swoop down and check it out. The creature landed nearby and cocked its head slightly looking for danger. It then ran a few steps, stopped, and cocked its head again. The bird ran a few more steps toward its target and stopped. Peering cautiously at the item, the bird took a few more steps towards it when suddenly, something moved. Behind the bird's target, a large object suddenly rolled over and a small shiny object streaked through the air at the bird. Startled the seagull took off into the air squawking, no doubt cursings, at whatever the larger mass was.

Impaled in the sand where the bird once stood was a small, grayish colored kunai knife. Behind the knife lay a small mat with an open box of food on top of it.

"Stupid birds," the voice cursed. "That one almost had my lunch! How's a girl supposed to sunbathe in peace without having to worry if her food is gonna be stolen!" The girl who'd thrown the knife reached over and pulled it out of the sand and put it back into her bag. She then swiped the sand off of her arms and off of her two piece purple, white polka dotted bathing suit.

"Feizhi! Calm down! They're only doing what's natural: scavenging for food," another voice piped in.

"Well they can go scavenge elsewhere!" Feizhi leaned back down trying to ignore the screeching of the seagulls. "Ugh! Why won't they shut up?"

"Probably 'cause they can see that you have food laying around. Anyways, just try to relax and enjoy your time out here. It's not often that we have time off."

"I know that, Maranda. You don't need to remind me." Feizhi sighed as she felt the cooling ocean wind blow through her violet hair. "Father's kept me so busy at the dojo that I forget sometimes to relax. And I've also been working hard ever since those travelers came through our town a while back."

"Travelers?" Maranda repeated confused.

"Oh right! You weren't here then were you." Feizhi reached behind her head and rested on her hands. She briefly turned to look at the short, slightly heavy-set brunette before looking back up at the sky and continuing. "A group of about four travelers came through town in pursuit of another group that had committed some serious crimes back in a town called Vale. One of the members, Isaac I think, came into the dojo and exhibited some unusual power. I think he called it Psynergy. Anyway, I had a vision of Hsu in danger. And it was thanks to his group that Hsu was rescued from almost certain death."

"Oh yeah! I remember people saying something bout that! I think that happened about a month before I moved here, right?"

"Hmmm… Yeah, sounds about right."

"So this Isaac must have been some guy, huh?" Maranda said with a smile trying to picture him in her mind.

"Yeah…" Feizhi said dreamily. "He sure was. He was a tall blond haired, blue eyed warrior with a kind, compassionate heart. Even though helping Hsu would put his group farther behind, he still took the time to help us. That's a real man."

"Wow! He sounds like a pretty amazing guy!" Maranda simply gazed up into the blue heavens dreaming about finding her "knight-in-shining-armor" someday. "You know, someday, I'm gonna marry a guy who has blond hair and blue eyes."

"Really?" Feizhi said with raised brow.

"I told my mom that too and she was all like 'don't limit yourself to just one type of guy' and 'there are many other good looking guys who don't have blond hair and blue eyes.' But, whatever. I'll show her. I'm gonna find him and we're gonna live together and be hap…"

Loud squawking a few dozens paces down the beachhead interrupted Maranda from finishing what she had to say. "What's going on over there?"

Both girls turned to look at the source of the disturbance. A number of seagulls swooped down from the air and landed on the beach near a larger number of gulls that had gathered around something. A couple of the birds started fighting amongst themselves as the squawking grew even louder.

"Now that, is really annoying!" Maranda admitted as she looked from Feizhi to the birds.

"I know, isn't it?"

A single bird broke away from the pack and started to fly in the air towards the two girls. A couple of other birds gave chase and started to fight the first bird for whatever it had in its mouth. The first bird fought desperately to keep its prize but in the struggle, it dropped something out of its mouth. The object fluttered down towards the girls before landing a few feet from Maranda.

"What is it?" Feizhi asked. A tingle in the back of her neck told her that something wasn't right.

"It's a piece of cloth…" Maranda said confused as she picked it up and examined it. "Weird… It's stained with something… Almost looks like blood…"

Feizhi furrowed her brow and looked around the sand trying to recall why this same situation and this same conversation seemed so familiar. It was like a… a deja vu. "Weird… For some reason, I feel like this has already happened. Like… I've seen this in my dreams or something…"

"Really? That's weird." Maranda said as she continued to study the cloth feeling the soft fabric in her fingers. This is really nice material though… she thought. I wonder where it came from…

Feizhi turned to look over at the squawking birds and stood up.

"What's up?" Maranda asked.

"I… I don't know… For some reason I'm getting a weird feeling like someone is in trouble or something." Feizhi peered over at the birds more closely. She turned her head and motioned, "Come on, Maranda. Let's go check out what the big commotion is all about. If anything, I just want to chase these birds away."

"I hear 'ya!" Maranda agreed.

As soon as Maranda was on her feet, both females ran over to the group of quarreling and screeching birds hoping to scare them away. The tactic worked! The gulls scattered and flew up into the air screeching cursings at the girls.

"It worked!" Maranda said as she looked up at the gulls and sneered. "That'll teach…"

"Look! On the beach! A body!" Feizhi screamed.

Both girls looked and saw the interest of the birds. Indeed, it was a body! It looked like a younger boy in his late teen years. His blond hair was matted and frayed and there were cuts and bruises all over his body. The person's clothes were torn up no doubt from the gulls. His right hand was clenched around something that was partially buried in the sand. Feizhi instantly recognized the object as a sword.

"Is he… dead?" Maranda whispered.

"I… I… I dunno…" Feizhi inched closer as she felt every muscle in her body tense. Sweat began to bead up on her forehead and roll down her face. "He… doesn't look dead… I think…" Tentatively, she reached her hand out to touch the boy. Her hand visibly shook as it got closer to him. Feizhi swallowed hard and gently tapped the boy's arm. It's cold but that could be just from the water.

"Well?" Maranda said as she slowly circled around to get a better look at him. The boy had a healing scar across his cheek but was for the most part pretty good looking.

Feizhi breathed in confidence and exhaled her fears and finally rested her hand on his arm. It was slightly warm. I was right! He is still alive! Let me just find his wrist and… Feizhi felt his wrist and could barely detect the steady pulsing of blood.

"He's still alive. But he needs attention right away."

"Well? Uh… what are we supposed to do?" Maranda asked somewhat frantically.

"Help me get him back to the village. They'll know exactly how to help him."

WK WK WK WK

Light slowly began to flood his vision as his eyes slowly parted. Feeling began to return to his numbed body and he slowly began to become aware of his surroundings. Whatever he was resting on was soft and there was something wrapped around him keeping him warm. He inhaled sharply and barely began to sit up slowly.

"Ohh… you're awake!"

Through squinted eyes, he lazily looked over at the person next to him who had spoken those words. A young, slender lady sat by his bedside with eyes glistening with the color of amethyst and with hair matching the color of her eyes. Her smile was warm and inviting.

"Who…?" he began.

"Shhh…" the girl hushed as he helped him lay back down. "You need your rest. My name is Feizhi and you are in the town of Xian now. My friend and I found you lying on the beach and we had you brought here and had your wounds treated."

"Ohh…" the boy responded briefly looking her over. She's kinda cute. He felt twangs of pain shoot through his back and then subside as if to get his attention back from staring at the girl awkwardly. He moved his hand up to his shoulder and felt the wrappings of bandages where his wounds had been. He moved his hand across his chest and then up to his face. His fingers stopped when they came across an uneven section of his skin. Suddenly, his mind raced back to the exact night, the exact moment when he had gotten this scar on his face. He felt his pulse race faster and his breathing increased.

"Are… you okay?" the girl asked placing her hand on his arm.

The boy felt the smooth caress of the girl's hand on his arm and felt himself calming down. He took a deep breath and tried to shove his previous memories back into the remotest part of his mind hoping to forget about those things that had happened. The boy then looked over at the girl with his blue eyes and replied, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good! I'm glad to hear it!" Feizhi removed her hand from his arm and stretched and yawned.

The boy observed her movements and the subtle messages that she gave off. One thing was immediately clear to him: she looked absolutely exhausted. He figured that she must have been up all night watching over him. He had no idea how far it was from where she had found him and to where he was now; however, the boy figured that the journey must have been very tiring for her.

The door opened up and another female entered the room. She had brown, shoulder length hair and brown eyes to match. This girl, though not as slender as the first, had a very adorable face. For her size, the boy thought, Hmm… She's kinda cute too.

"Ohh! He's awake is he?" the girl stated obviously as she walked over closer to the bed.

"Yeah. Woke up just a few moments ago," Feizhi responded.

"Well my name is Maranda Aker. What's your name?" she asked the boy.

"I…uhh… My name…" he hesitated for a moment. "My name is Knight."

"It's nice to meet you, Knight," Maranda said with a slight bow.

"Well, Knight," Feizhi started, "I don't know how long you'll be here but I've made arrangements for you to stay here as long as you need too. My father owns the dojo next door and has agreed to meet with you later if you're interested."

Knight nodded.

"And—and I'll be here to help you as well!" Maranda said quickly as she felt her face flush with color.

"Well thank you both. I appreciate it."

"I think that you need your rest. We can talk later," Feizhi said as she stood up. "Come on, Maranda, let's give the man his rest."

"All right! See 'ya later, Knight!" Maranda waved and headed out the door.

"Goodbye, sir!" Feizhi said as she too headed out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Knight waved goodbye to both girls. He then placed his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. I finally made it here. He grinned as he thought, I'm beginning to like Xian already.