My head felt like a brick as I rested it on my hand. I had been reading books all night looking for something connected to my dream. I looked in The Big Book of Legends, I looked in every flower book I could find and fables. Yet I still found nothing. Why is my life so miserable? I slammed my head on the book lying on the table. "Priestess, you have been up all night. You should get some rest." Minamoto told me in the same mono-tone, business-like voice.

"Yes Michelle-sama, you shouldn't overwork yourself. Especially in times like these. The surrounding villages are getting attacked one by one and more refuges are coming to the palace grounds for safety. We can't take care of them all, we need to do something. You need to make a decision." Shimon calmly told me.

"It is hard to explain how the oni got past the barriers without being detected. Someone must have let them in from the inside." Fujiwara said.

As all of the guardians were discussing a plan of action, my head was still flat against the book. It could have been seen as me possibly trying to absorb the knowledge, but of course I wasn't. In fact, I wasn't even listening to the conversation. How could things get so bad so fast? I mean about a week and a half ago I was sitting around wondering what I was supposed to do with my life. And now this, I can't deal with this. I should have never accepted this job.

"We have drawn a map of cities attacked and cities left. My guess is that they will strike here, here or here." Motomasa said pointing to three different places on the map. "I say we split into three different teams and wait at each village. This way we will be ready no matter where they decide to strike." I looked up with my chin resting on the book now. It must have been depressing that the person whom they were protecting had basically given up, if I was the Priestess of the Dragon God.

"I want to go to the mountains." I said having no relevancy to the topic at hand. The guardians just looked at me surprised that I had spoken and confused as to why I would want to go there.

"But Michelle-sama you need to stay here so you can be saf…" Tenma started to say and before he could finish I cut him off.

"Blah blah blah, as if I haven't heard that a thousand times. You can say that all you want but the fact of the matter is that I am not the priestess and I am tired of being locked here like some kind of prisoner. If you actually thought of me as the priestess we would go to that mountain and do something about this guardian and priestess style. But clearly that doesn't matter to you so why should it matter to me?"

I did not receive a response, that was typical now-a-days. It is hard to believe that with just a dream could have started all of this. So, because I did not receive a response I walked out of the door and left. This was it; I had to do take of things my way. So first I need to find out who or what the cause of the evil aura the mountain was omitting.

My horse trotted up the rigid mountain path. This was a rather bright and easy-going looking forest for one where the demons lived. It probably only looked bright because the sun was the highest in the sky and when night struck all of that could have changed. It was a long, rough journey but I couldn't give up. At dusk I made it to a small cave that overlooked the palace and the whole town perfectly. It was such a nice view disregarding the fact that oni possibly lived here.

Walking down the cave the walls were damp. After walking several feet I saw the glow of torches and a wooden door. I was not afraid as I grabbed the door handle but it was opening the door that sent my heart racing. All the possible things that could go wrong flashed before my eyes. Next thing I see is darkness.

I wake up fine, minus a major headache. It is hard to believe that I was in such a nicely decorated room. It almost looked like a room out of the palace, except this furniture was more to my liking. It was brightly lit a very comfortable room. A man opened the sliding door on the other side of the room. I knew exactly who it was, "what kind of story do you have for me now?" He sat down and when I got a good look at him I asked him, "Is this how you really look, or just another clever disguise?"

He chuckled to himself, "how did you guess?"

"Your eyes," I answered quickly then continued, "I have seen a lot of people and no one has eyes like yours. Your eyes shine bright and sparkle even in the darkest shadows, your eyes will shine."

A silence fell between us but it was not like any other silence. There was nothing awkward about this. This silence felt perfectly natural. "Why did you come here?"

"Because you are here," I paused a moment before I started again, "I need you. I am drawn to you by something I cannot explain. There is something about you that brought me here and will continue to do so unless I know the whole truth. I feel that you know it. So I beg of you, please tell me your name."

"Akuram."