Ch 3: Awakening

"I think they've had enough fun."

"Who said that!"

"Behind you."

"Gahh!"

Blood splashed across the dirt. One of the men clutched his chest as he fell over, a pool of red pouring out of a large hole in the middle of his torso. Standing behind the goon, a tall figure wiped the blood off his blade. "Not bad. Not bad." Another rather tall figure walked up to the first. A large bow rested in his hand; the string was pulled back and an arrow silently awaited to be shot. "I bet I can hit that one guy in the back right between the eyes." "Alright, you're on. 50 gold pieces says you'll miss." The second silhouette nodded, drawing his bow. "I'd run if I were you." Stepping back, one of the thugs farthest away took a deep breath. "Hey! What makes you think you can mess with the Axe Brothers, huh?" The figure with the sword laughed, pointing the tip of his blade to the apparent leader of the group. "The Axe Brothers? What kind of stupid name is that?" The leader's face turning a dark red, he drew his axe."Get 'em!" The remaining thugs drew their weapons and charged towards the figures.

A vibrating Toingg! ran through the air. "Gahh!" The farthest of the group flew back, landing on the hard ground with an arrow in between his eyes. "Huh..Looks like I owe you 50 gold." Snickering, the owner of the bow reached into his quiver. "Yeah, that racks it up to 300 gold pieces." "Don't remind me." The swordsman ran forward, quickly cutting down the opponents in front of him. Each goon fell hard, a single slash cut neatly across their neck. Only the supposed leader was left standing. "W-What the hell! How dare you challenge the Axe Brothers! I-I'll have you know there's mo-Gah!" A clean gash appeared across the leader's neck, a dark red spilling out as he fell over. "I don't really give a damn.." "Always so harsh." Laughing, the two victorious men turned to the girls, who had been in shock since the start of all this. "What, no thank you? Gee, thanks babe." Blinking, Aubrey titled her head. "Babe?"

Tye cracked his neck, taking out a rag to clean his sword. Snickering, Alex slid his bow into the large quiver at his side. "Oh my god!" Running towards them, Aubrey jumped into Tye's arms. "Alex!" Kyrie and Brissa followed Aubrey, both of them running into Alex's open arms. "Where the hell have you three been? We've been looking for you for almost a week!" "A week? We just got here, didn't we?" Looking towards one another, the boys shook their heads. "Nevermind. At least you three are safe." "Hey Tye..Where are we?"

"Selius."

"Ok..And where is that?" Asked Brissa.

Looking at her, Alex sighed. "Ok, me and Tye will explain things from the start. But you probably won't believe us. Go ahead Tye."

"Right..Well basically.."

"Oh man my stomach won't shut up!" Tye and Alex had been walking for several hours, seeing nothing but forests and large hills. They didn't know where they were, or how they had gotten there. "Tye, if I don't get some food soon I might pass out.." "Yeah I know how you feel." Grabbing his stomach, Tye sighed. "I'm starving.." The warm afternoon sun only added to their misfortunes, it's heat dancing through the unknown world. "You think this is some new part of the city?" "I doubt it. We've been walking for who knows how long and haven't seen anything." Finding a small tree, the two boys sat down underneath it's heavy branches. "Where do you think the others are?" "I don't know..But I'm sure they'll be alright." The two sighed and gazed at the endless ocean of grass. "Wherever we are. It sure is beautiful."

"Thank you."

"What the hell?" Looking up, the boys came face to face with a girl. She was wearing a thin light blue dress that fell down to her knees. Her short black hair cut off at her upper back, and she had deep brown eyes. "Finally, something other than a tree." Giggling, the girl jumped down from her hiding place. "Are you lost?" "Very." Giggling again, the girl took a seat next in between them. She examined them both carefully before speaking. "Your clothes look funny. Are you two mercenaries?" "Huh?" "Oh, I know! Your both mages aren't you!" The boys looked at each other, confusion slapped onto their faces. "Um..No we aren't 'mages'. We're Alex and Tye." The girl merely nodded before she stood and ran off. "Hey, wait!" Shouted Alex. "What's her problem?" "I don't know..But maybe she knows where we are. Let's follow her." Standing up, Tye chased after the strange girl. "Wait, what? Hey, Tye!" Alex jumped up, and ran after his friend. "Slow down you asshole!"

"We ended up at a castle. With a King and everything. We explained our problem to him, and he told us where we were. He even gave us these clothes and weapons." For the first time since they had seen the two, the girls quietly looked over the boys' appearances.

Alex was dressed in white pants that tucked into a pair of brown boots. A blue shirt was fitted comfortably over his torso, and the brown quiver at his side hung loosely by his belt buckle. A pair of black and blue gloves covered his hands and stretched up to his wrists. The bow, a dark blue, had been slung over his back. Tye wore a pair of knee high black boots. His dark brown pants hugged his legs, and were tucked into his boots as well. A long fitted black shirt fell down to his thighs and a red sash was tied around his waist. Slightly lower, a silver belt was fitted about his lower waist, his blade's sheath firmly attached. A long-sleeved dark blue trench coat fell over the teen's figure, coming to an end around his ankles.

"So..You've been looking for us since then?" "Pretty much." "I'm still confused..Where are we?" Kyrie turned to Aubrey, giving her a small nod. "Yeah. What happened to home?" "Maybe you should talk to the princess. She can explain things a lot better than we can." "A princess!" Jumping up, Kyrie skipped around the group. "I wanna meet her!" "Hey calm down." She stopped, pouting a little. "Pleasee?" "Alright, I guess we could take you to her." "Yay!" Tye quickly let out a sharp whistle. A pair of horses ran towards them, coming to a halt in front of the boys. "You girls can ride the horses. We'll walk and explain this whole place to you. The princess can explain why we're here." The girls simply nodded and climbed onto the horses.

"Move up! Cut off their route!" Breathing heavily, Seth leaned up against a half destroyed wall. It would most likely be his only time to rest. The knight took in a deep breathe before pushing himself up and running down the narrow side street. Signa had been blasted apart, only a small handful of buildings remained. Seth had a split second to gather his mind; and that was all he needed. Rounding a corner, the end of his sword met the enemy, leaving behind a large hole in the torso. Four more dropped from the ceilings. One of them stepped back and leafed through a book. A large white circle covered the ground around Seth's feet as his opponent chanted the phrases. "Bufera di neve, Bufera di neve!" The ground turned cold. Seth hurriedly rolled away, barely dodging the giant iceberg that had shot up from the ground. Seeing there opportunity, the remaining three charged the knight. Swiftly regaining his balance, Seth awaited the assault and easily cut down his enemies. "Bufera di neve!" "Shit!" Rolling again, Seth could feel the chill of the ice that had sprung where he once stood. I need to kill this mage before I become an ice sculpture. He stood. Taking a deep breathe, Seth closed his eyes. He could feel it. The energy flowing through his blood. The surge of power he had always kept hidden. His eyes shot open, causing the mage to stumble back. Seth's pupils had vanished, and been replaced with white eyes as soft and harsh as snow. "You're an ice mage, correct?" The mage gulped before he slowly nodded. "Then you'll love what I can do!"

"Ice Prison, OPEN!"