"Master Zed is home!" "Who is that woman?" "She looks scary mama.."
Crowds of Zed's order and the townsfolk living within the temple surrounded the two as they arrived back at the Temple of Shadows, the place where Zed first obtained the forbidden art. Women, children and members of the order itself all crowded around Zed, asking where he had been, if he was ok, and more obviously;
"Who is this fine young lady, Master?"
Tami reached for Syndra's hand and gently shook it, she was a woman of short stature. Jet black hair, the exact same mask that Zed wore, as well as the same trousers. Except her eyes were not covered, only the lower half of her face.
"An Ally, Tami. Meet Syndra, the Dark Sovereign."
The crowds gasped, and began muttering to each other.
Another woman stepped forward, gently pushing past Tami. she was wearing completely different clothing. Her long, brown hair covered half of her face, and the rest trailed down her back, reaching the top of her bottom. She stood with a strong posture, sticking her chest out, and seductively stepping forward to Syndra. Her clothes were different to anyone else in the order. Instead of long black trousers, this woman wore a short black skirt, which flowed beautifully in the wind. Her breastplate was carved with the same markings as everyone else, the symbol for Shadow, but the different that distinguished her the most, was the lack of blades attached to her arms.
"The Dark Sovereign? THE, Dark Sovereign, master Zed?" Her voice sounded that of a mere child's, a teenager if you will. She was stern when addressing Syndra, but was not intimidated by the fact that was floating 2 feet above her.
"Yes, Hei-An. The Dark Sovereign." Zed already sounded fed up, signalling to Syndra that Hei-An was the irritating student.
"How can we be sure? All's she's doing is floating."
"Hei-An, give it a rest, I left here in a bad mood because of you, and quite frankly, you're putting me the same mood again."
"I challenge her to a Shili Zhan!"
Zed facepalmed himself, followed by many of the other students surrounding the area. The townsfolk surrounding them tutted and sighed with irritation.
"Tami, are the grounds fixed from last time?"
"No.. Master Zed.." He looked down on her, the red eyes in his mask squinting at her.
"We sent the townsfolk and members of the order to search for you instead.." His face lit up upon hearing her answer.
"Oh.. Very well. Now, Syndra.."
She pulled him aside to a nearby tree, her voice sounding like when he first encountered her, like the echo of nightmares.
"Zed.. Why are you acting.. Weird? And what's a Shili Zhan?"
He grabbed her hand, and pulled her back to the center of the temple grounds.
"Order of Shadows, the Shili Zhan will begin in one hour in our usual training grounds!" The people disappeared, moving back to their jobs and homes.
"Come, Syndra. There is much to explain.."
Zed pulled Syndra to the left wing of the temple which was hidden away and exremely secluded. The huge center building of the temple was covered in long, red flags, handing off of the rooftops, and trailing down to the floor, causing Syndra to lose her balance and fall to the floor.
"Ouch!"
Zed laughed.
"It's not funny, that really hurt.."
"Awwhhhh, my poor wittle Syndra!" Zed exlaimed in a very condescending way as he scooped her up into his arms, which Syndra thought was extremely uncharictaristic of him, making her slap him half-heartedly across the face.
"Syndra! Don't make me drop you!" He held her above a small pond filled with Koi. With a smirk on her face, she lifted her arms into the air holding the water directly above them with the fish still swimming around.
"Zed! Don't make me drop it on you!" She looked very smug. Zed rolled his eyes, and put her down.
"You're like a child, Syndra.." He whispered, but of course, she didn't hear him.
She gently placed the water back in, making sure no fish escaped.
"What is your obsession with these fish, Syndra?"
"The ones I have at home are eternal, and represent each stage of my magic ability. The ones you saw on the first day we met were to add to my collection, they too were Eternal Koi, forged by the Ionian elders of the First Civilisation of the Foresworn Era to assist the greatest mages only."
"That was.. Sudden."
"I thought you should know, that's all."
He dismissed it, feeling like she had told him just a tad too much information, but then he realised what situation they were now in. Zed took his mask off and attached it to a hook on his trousers, he stepped forward to Syndra, and lowered himself, readying to pick her up.
"Zed? What are you-" He kissed her softly, the only thing they could now hear was the soft winds blowing against the trees. Zed began walking towards the closed doors, still kissing Syndra.
With one arm still underneath her, he opened the doors and walked through the living room to a separate door; his bedroom.
He gently placed her down on the bed, and continued kissing her. Planting light pecks on her neck and cheek. She was doing the same thing to Zed, until they heard a cough.
"Zed." A man spoke in the room, making both of them jump and search the room frantically.
"Kenshin!" He propped himself up as Syndra followed, floating in the air once more with her terrifying voice.
"You can not be so distracted by pointless relationships now, Master."
"Pointless? I am here to create an alliance!" Syndra retorted.
"I can see that." Both Zed and Syndra blushed at Kenshin's response.
"Anyway.. Why are you here, Kenshin?"
"To welcome you back home, of course. But I see someone already beat me to it."
"You're very.. modest. Aren't you?" Syndra questioned.
"I'll let you be the judge of that. Anyway, my lady, I believe you are the Dark Sovereign?"
"Yes, I am."
"And you have been challenged by Hei-An to a Shili Zhan?"
"Yes, but I'm still confused, wh-" Both Zed an Kenshin held out a hand towards, signalling her to be quiet.
"I am Zed's second best student in the order. I am also his adviser, and his best man. This is not the first time Hei-An has challenged someone to a battle, she was won against every single student in this order, so she is very talented indeed."
"Then how is she not the best?"
"She challenged me." Zed interjected the conversation.
"And lost within 5 seconds. Her footing was terrible, and at this point, she had no control over her shadow, it was telling her what to do, word for word, but she ignored it, doing her own thing, and commanding it to do impossible things; or at least things she could not handle yet."
"I will defeat you Master! I am the best student you will ever have!"
Hei-An threw her shadow at Zed at an extremely fast pace, commanding it to slice his throat, allowing him to pass through it using his own shadow, and to push Hei-An to the floor, pinning her down with a blade to her neck.
They were face to face, and his limbs were pinning hers down to floor in all the places so that she couldn't move a single muscle. Neither of them had a mask on, allowing Zed's monotonous expression to sick into her thought process.
"Foolish child."
She used her shadow to escape from Zed's grasp, or at least tried to, and he had already summoned two shadows to his side, killing Hei-An's shadow instantly.
"You may defeated some of the students here, idiotic child, but remeber one thing."
He pressed the blade even harder, drawing the smallest amount of blood.
"I have the name Master of Shadows for a reason."
And with that his disappeared to where he first moved. His shadow faced Hei-An, almost in pity, before following Zed to the temple opening, and sinking into the floor behind him.
"Since then, she has developed a lot of skill.. Don't you agree, Master?"
"Yes actually, I do agree. Since then, she has developed a structured and peculiar style of battle."
"Which is what?" Syndra questioned.
"Ionian Ribbon Dancing."
"That's.. That's how I learned to summon spheres.. It's what my control is based off of.."
Kenshin removed his back from the wall, heading towards the door, before leaving, he muttered a few last words.
"Then this will be an interesting fight."