My names Raleith (Ral-ee-ith), and I'm a Draken, or a half-dragon for those of you illiterate to the proper names of reptilian Furries. I came to this realm in 1988 which yes is the year of the dragon, and i let you do the math for how long ive been here. I like playing video games and watching movies and anime(that's how I spend most of my time) i own every system ever made so feel free to add me if you wanna play something sometime, i mostly play rpgs tho, if i am on a multiplayer game its usually a sandbox game of some kind, (minecraft, the forest, etc) i dont play shooters, as they require no effort and i loose interest how ever i do like crossout on ps4, which is kinda a sandbox shooter lol, anyway I also draw, not so much in recent years but i think i still got it, and write a bit, my story is posted below, (that ive been writing and revising since i was like 10) and I have both quotes and writs all down the right side of my profile. Most of what you find here is in fact my own original with very few exceptions. Clicking some of them them will take you to my Photobucket account where you may view my collection if you like, tho I haven't been on there in nearly a decade. I like doing pretty much anything and everything with friends, I'm also incapable of feeling anger or sadness and the only thing that gets me going is when someone trys to deny the validity of anothers opinion, so don't worry about annoying me because you probably cant...if anyone has an issue with anything please dont hesitate to ask me about it I like to share my experience and wisdom with others and believe me its extensive. Trust me no matter how complicated you think your problem is i promise its not the first time its happened to someone and Im good at making things simpler then they seem. I've been there and done it, no matter how 'unique' you might think the situation might be everyone goes through everything at some point, I was just unfortunate enough to face reality really early on. Im an omnitheiest, meaning I believe in everything, people arnt very creative beings and cant really make anything up on their own so theres no such thing as not real, everything we think of comes from something we've either seen or heard and then exaggerated for effect. If you wanna know anything else just ask, I'm a rather open person and nothing is too personal.

Havnt really though of a title yet, that ussually happens when its finished anyway, feel free to pm any ideas thoughts or correction that may need to be made about any part of the story, i also have a DnD version in the works which is why it hasnt been updated recently

It was about 19:30 on a Thursday night, and I was walking down the road to the Quick Stop after work to get a few things we were running low on. The Quick Stop is a little convenient store that carried almost everything you could need. The shop owner was a very knowledgeable old man who always seemed to know everything. I knew him well as I used the store regularly and because it was on the way home I’d stop in even if I wasn’t buying anything just to hear one of the stories of his younger days. Back then it was common for young people to go adventuring and exploring for new places. Now-a-days there wasn’t much left to explore or find and so his stories are the closest I get to adventure.

I was talking with him at the register while he rang up what I was to purchase. As I was walking out of the store with enough food to stock the cupboards for the week I was knocked to the ground, I wasn’t quite sure what had happened so I collected myself and looked around. With the food I had just bought rolling around everywhere, I looked to see if the person who I now knew to be the cause of my lack in elevation, was alright.

Instead of a person she was well, not. She kind of looked like any other women I guess... except her skin was a dark silver color and wore no clothing. She had claws, wings, and a tail, and her face was reptilian as well... I guess you could say she almost looked dragon like. She didn’t look all that frightening though, in fact she seemed like she was the one being frightened. “

I’m sorry, I should have been paying more attention, are you alright?” I asked standing up and presenting my hand to help her up, but instead of taking it she got up and ran around the corner into an ally. As she ran her wings and tail trailed behind as if unable to keep up with her should they not be attached.

I proceeded to pick up the goods I had dropped when two men came running around from the corner of the store I assumed the girl had just come from. They had identical work suits on except that one was white with a longer overcoat and the other was dark blue like a business suit. They stopped and looked around a moment, I ignored them to begin with, but then the man in blue started picking up some of the food that was still scattered across the sidewalk and said,

“Here, lemme give you a hand with that.”

“You haven’t seen anything strange tonight have you?” He asked setting a paper bag containing the fruit he had just picked up on the side walk.

“Hmmm..? Nothing I would call strange..” I replied faking an interested look.

“What do you mean by strange?” I asked.

He looked at me cockeyed as the man in white handed me a bag of groceries he had collected and I thanked him, but I doubt he heard me as the two of them had already continued to run down the road. As I watched them run off I noticed something silver twitch in the ally and looked just in time to see her tail pull behind a car. Smiling, I picked up the rest of the food and continued on my way.

About three blocks south of the Quick Stop was a dirt road that led up into a forest at the base of a mountain and about half a mile up that, was my house. The dragon girl was following me trying not to be noticed, but I could tell that she never shadowed anyone before because she made a lot of noise and wasn’t hiding very well.

When I got to my house, I went around back and entered through the kitchen door, leaving it open as it was a warm late summer night and the breeze felt nice . It was nice to let the wind blow through the house on nights like this because it gave the air a chance to circulate and the wind always brought with it the pleasant smells of the forest that covered the mountain that towered over my back yard like a colossal guardian. I say this because from my yard you can see the side of a cliff that looks like a face.

I put the food away and then I left some different things on a large plate and set it on the table. I then leaned out the back door and I could tell where she was, but I played along and spoke as if to the emptiness,

“I know you’re out there somewhere you don’t need to be scared of me,” I waited a moment, but there was no answer and she made no attempt to come out.

“I’ll leave the door open and some food out for you if you want to come in and eat.”

With that I went back inside and closed the door slightly leaving a small crack so she could just push it open if she decided to come in. I went to my room that was at the end of the hall and changed into a pair of sweat shorts and went to sleep.

As the night grew chilled she slowly crept up to the door and pushed it open. Coming in and closing the door all the way behind her she saw the food on the table and quickly helped herself to everything. She would later tell me that she hadn’t eaten in days and would have probably eaten almost anything.

My friend Kai, who had lived with me since we got the place four years earlier walked into the kitchen for a drink of water and stopped when he saw her. She stared at him frozen like a deer in the headlights of a car. He looked back at her with a glazed expression as if it was totally normal to have a dragon girl standing naked in the kitchen with an arm full of random food stuffs.

He proceeded to get a glass from the cabinet and poured himself some water from the filter we kept in the fridge without another thought toward her. He drank his drink and went back to bed.

She watched him the whole time and was a little shocked at first, but then she used the same glass Kai had left on the counter and got herself a drink the same way. She ate everything I had left out and then laying on the floor between the couch and the large wooden coffee table in the living room she fell comfortably asleep, probably for the first time in a good long while.

The next morning, I woke up, and went into the living room. I noticed the girl sleeping on the floor and it looked like she was trying to hide between the couch and coffee table. I watched her for a while and tried to think of why those two would be chasing her. Then I went into the kitchen to make breakfast.

I put a pan on the stove and then got out the bacon and eggs. I tore the bacon up small and let the little pieces cook a couple minutes before cracking and dumped the eggs into the pan. I scrambled it together with some left over diced veggies and made three omelets.

Then as I was setting the table I noticed that she was watching over the back of the couch, but trying to stay hidden so I just smiled to myself and finished cooking. I put the food on the table and went into the bathroom for a shower.

When I got out I went to my room and got dressed. When I went back into the living room I saw her in the kitchen looking at the omelets like she had never seen one before.

“Good morning“ I said calmly.

Startled, she jumped and spun around. She looked at me as if waiting for me to do something and then her gaze drifted to the bottom left corners of her eyes.

“Th-thank you for, letting me stay, I-I’ll be going now.”

As she tried to leave I asked,

“Why not stay for breakfast, I made enough for you.”

Her stomach growled as if it where its own being and was siding with me so she agreed to stay a little while and as we ate she told me her story.

She had escaped from a lab that studied Half-breeds. (Half-breed is a derogatory term used to describe an Anthro, short for Anthropomorphic, which is the proper term for those that are half human and half animal, psychologically there no different from anyone else, but they look intimidating to most and so have been treated as animals.) She said that her father was a silver dragon that lived on a mountain range in a cave overlooking farm land that he often fed on. The people of the village that used the farm land got tired of him eating their crops and livestock, so they offered him a female virgin sacrifice. Now of course that wouldn’t work for real, but there were stories of how that was the way to be rid of a dragon and they were desperate. Food was thinning and each year brought an even colder winter then before so they couldn’t survive letting him have his fill. However, instead of killing or eating her, the dragon was captivated by her beauty and kept her, almost like a pet you could say. He took care of her needs, protected her, and eventually befriended her. He finally decided that he didn’t want her feeling trapped and told her she could go back to her village, but she refused, she had fallen in love with him for talking such good care of her. She argued that the village had sacrificed her to him because they didn’t want her and would likely not let her return to the village even if she wanted to. She stayed in the cave with him and he often carried her atop his back as he flew, but he always reminded her she was free to leave should she choose it and she would always remind him in return that she was choosing to stay. After about a year together she confessed her feelings to the dragon and they had a child. They had a little girl that took on more of her father’s looks then her mothers, she was all silver and although human shaped had mostly dragonic features. Sadly, when the young girl was in her fifth year of life the villagers all stormed the cave and killed the dragon for continuing to feed off their farm land. Seeing the girl they had sacrificed still alive, now a woman and with a dragonic child they became furious, they tried to kill her as well, but her mother grabbed her up and though sustaining many mortal injuries escaped to a neighboring city. There, sitting in an ally, the mother died of her wounds still clutching her daughter. The child wandered the streets aimlessly till she was run out of town where a the last thing she remembered was a flash of light and then a man in a blue suit found her in the woods and took her for the first time to the lab she would grow to hate and was raised in a cruel world of experiments ruled by the ‘Men in White’ as she called them. Every day they did tests and experiments on her. Trying to find out how strong or tough she was, giving her different “medicine” as they called it to test her immune system, and she always got really sick afterwards. They gave her a basic education to try and learn what she was capable of learning. One day they were moving her to a new room for observation and she saw an open door down one of the halls. So when they took the chain off her arm to put her in her new room she managed to push past the guards and ran out the door, shortly after she ran into me at the store.

After hearing the whole story I felt sorry for her and felt like it was up to me to show her the other side of the world, the happy side where you can live with no worries.

“You can stay here, with me, as long as you want.” I told her smiling, how could I not offer her a place after what she went through.

“N-no I have to get farther from the lab, they might find me here and I don’t want to go back“ She said desperately.

“They won’t find you here and I will keep you safe if they do” I replied humbly.

“Thanks,” she said

“But still…” and at that, I interrupted her

“Well if you weren’t going to stay, why follow me all the way here?” she gasped and then thought for a moment.

“I guess I wanted to know why you didn’t tell them you saw me run into the alley.”

“Well, I was helping someone in need” I answered.

She gasped ’bigger’ this time and even jumped a little.

“What!? Is something wrong?” I asked

“N-no, it’s just, no one ever called me someone before, I’ve always been referred to as something or it.” She said looking a bit depressed.

“Oh, well that must have been difficult for you” I said sympathetically.

“Well, th-thanks for breakfast, I’ll be going now.” She said.

She got up to leave and as she started out the door I told her she was always welcome. She smiled and then ran into the forest behind my house. I lived just outside the town and the whole place was surrounded by woods save for a single valley to the East that we used for festivals.

I decided I should be getting to work as it was already 8:30 and although I didn’t have a mandatory start time I liked to be there early enough to have the place open and running by the time my boss got there at 10:00.

I cleaned up the kitchen and then headed on down the dirt road into town. I had a bike that I used when it was too hot or cold outside, but in the spring and autumn I would walk.

From the bottom of the dirt road which turns into 3rd ave. as you enter town, I walked the mile to the book store where I work selling manga in the teen’s department. It’s literally a strait walk from my door to work making it pretty convenient. The Quick Stop is also on the same route at the first intersection coming into town so it’s not out of the way at all to stop and get something when I need it on the way home.

Work is usually slow, not too many people are into manga, but we do have a few regulars. I don’t mind it too much though because I enjoy reading the manga myself and there’s a lot of interesting stories about the weirdest things and they always keep me interested.

While at work I didn’t get much reading done however. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, then I realized I never got her name… I felt dumb for not asking. I was thinking about where she could have gone, because not many people accepted people like her. Several labs have tried domesticating them like pets, but they think and feel the way we do and are self-conscious, making them feel more like slaves, and so they rebel and end up getting killed by their “owners”. A lot of people fear them and try to kill them in the belief that they are demons or abominations.

Right after my lunch break two men came in to talk to me. It was the same man in blue as the previous night and the other was another man in white, but not the same one I met before.

“Tell me everything you saw last night.” the man in blue demanded, but I kept quiet.

“It would be wise to just answer us.” He said threateningly, while leaning in over my desk.

I looked him right in the eye with a calm, blank stare, “And if I don’t..?”

The man’s face got red with anger and he stood up.

“I told him,” nodding my head at the man in blue, “that I didn’t see anything that night that I thought was strange.”

I acted as though trying to remember, “I was buying food at Quick Stop and then on the way out of the store I guess my shoe lace got caught in the sliding door or something and I tripped, that’s when he showed up asking me questions.” I looked right at him without flinching and I could see on his face that he wasn’t believing me.

“I see,” he said mildly sarcastic, “well take my card and call me if you see her…” His word trailed off,

“So you’re looking for someone then.” I kept a straight face and played off like I had no clue as to what he meant.

Then the man in white jumped, “Who said we were looking for someone…you do know something don’t you? Spit it out”

I stayed calm and replied,

“He just said ‘if you see her‘, and her, usually means someone doesn‘t it? Besides, you wouldn’t be here asking me these questions if you weren‘t, right…”

He looked at me suspiciously and told me they’d be back if they find out anything that they thought I didn’t tell them, and that I would regret it. After they left I started wondering how she was doing. The world shunned her and I felt sorry for her because she just wants a place to call home and is likely never to find it. I then felt myself wanting to see her again and wondered if I ever would. I thought a lot about the whole thing on my way home that night and then decided that there was nothing I could do about it now. She was gone and was likely not coming back so I thought best to forget and move on.

I had started making dinner when Kai came home. He’s always up on the mountain doing some kind of physical training or another. I told him about the situation and he just said,

“Oh, I see” as if it was just another common problem.

As I was eating I heard a sound like someone running on the gravel of the rock garden on the side of the house. I went outside to see what it was and the man in white I met the first time ran into me just as I rounded the corner.

“Are you all right” he asked “I’m so sorry, you didn’t happen to see anything just now did you?”

I truthfully told him no, but I knew he had to have been chasing that girl again. I showed him a game trail that led through the woods and said it would be the most likely path for anything to escape on and he took off up it. When I turned around to head back in I saw the dragon girl come out from around the opposite side of the house as the man that was running was on and she had watched the whole thing.

“Um- th-thank you” She half whispered.

“I thought you were going to get farther away” I asked.

She replied in a rather disappointed tone, “I tried, but I was discovered and had to hide, then I found myself being chased around and ended up here, I‘m not really sure why. S-sorry, I keep bothering you.”

“N-no it’s no bother at all, you’re welcome here any time you want.” I said trying to cheer her up.

“Come in for dinner and stay the night, you look exhausted, I don’t have to work tomorrow so I’ll be able to help you out of town if you want.” I asked her.

She agreed and we went inside. Kai had gone to his room without eating for some reason so I let her eat his portion and she told me a bit more about herself.

Her name is Kinira, she told me her birth date and I was shocked to find out that it wasn’t just close to mine, but was in fact the same day, we were both 24 years old. While talking, Kai came out and got himself a drink and didn’t react at all when he saw Kinira, it was as if he just expected her to be there. He never seemed surprised or questioning of anything. He just went back to his room like always.

After we ate I set up a blanket on the couch for her to sleep on and then went to my room. I started playing one of my video games like I always did before bed and Kinira came in attracted to the noises. I showed her what it was and let her try to play. Although she had never done that kind of thing before, she was surprisingly really good at it. 22:00 rolled around and I shut the game off to go to bed, Kinira stayed a little while talking me to sleep, but I remember her leaving so I must not have been all the way asleep.

In the morning when I got up she was laying at the foot of the other side of my king sized bed almost like a dog or cat would. I figured she just got scared or lonely or something. I got up carefully and folded the blanket I was under over backwards to cover her. Then went into the kitchen to make breakfast, and as I was getting some sausage out of the fridge to put in a breakfast style stir fry I closed the fridge door and she was standing right there which startled me a bit. I wasn’t so much scared as I was surprised I didn’t notice her approach.

She asked if she could help out to pay me back for my kindness and I told her to go get dressed first. (She had been naked this whole time and it was starting to get to me.) She came back wearing one of my white t-shirts and a pair of blue jeans I had in my closet that I haven’t been able to wear since in was 16, but they looked good on her. I had to cut a hole in the back of them for her tail so she could pull them up though.

I let her scramble some eggs while I put the sausage in a pan with bacon, mushrooms, onions, peppers and cheese and fried it all together. When it was all finished the eggs were a little over done, but not quite burnt and the rest of the meal covered it up so it wasn’t that noticeable. As we started eating Kai came out and made himself a bowl of cereal despite the fact there was plenty of food for him to have. I laughed to myself because that was just how Kai is. After we were as done eating I cleaned up the kitchen and went out back to train.

I was fond of martial arts and especially liked the art of swordsmanship, something about it just felt self-empowering. I started back in middle school when I first met Kai, he had insisted I be his sparring partner because no one else would ever talked to him and he said it would be good for me. He had always kept to himself (still does most the time)and it seemed to me people where afraid of him for being different. He was the kid everyone thought would eventually bring a weapon to school and kill everyone. When we started our first match I was a little scared of getting hurt, but after a while I realized that it wasn’t really that painful unless it was meant to be and it was actually kind of fun so I kept at it.

I’ve used the same big oak tree in the back yard since we moved here so the tree was bare of all its bark from about 4 ft. to about 6 ft. off the ground and was a lot thinner there then the rest of the tree from me punching it, kicking it, or hitting it with my bouken, (a wooden practice sword). Kinira was watching train and was very interested in it because it was the first time she had seen that sort of thing. After about a half an hour or so Kai came out.

“Hey, let’s have a match” he said.

I turned around and he had his bouken with him so I agreed. Our matches’ now-a-days usually last hours and it always ends with us getting too tired to continue or something more important stops us. We had both gotten good enough to either block or dodge everything that came at us so there’s no way to really tell who’s better. As far as power goes he has the upper hand, he’ll beat me arm wrestling any day, and more energy and stamina, he never seems to tire and just keeps on going. But I’m the faster of the two of us as well as having a sturdier frame, so I can take a beating and just keep getting back up.

After a few hours we stopped to have lunch at around 11:00. As we ate someone knocked on the door and when I answered it no one was there. Then as I was returning to the back porch I heard a gunshot and saw Kai chasing someone though the back yard. I ran out the front to cut them off, but came out just in time to see a man in blue running toward a black SUV with Kinira unconscious and over his left shoulder. He was shooting at Kai with his other hand, who chased him unwaveringly.

The man made it to his car and drove off with Kinira, when I caught up to Kai he said that the man had shot Kinira with a dart that made her pass out instantly and then grabbed her before he could do anything. The way the guy was running though, was as if Kinira weighed nothing at all…like he had no more than a pillow on his shoulder, it was obvious he was incredibly strong to have done that.

I took off after them on his bicycle and Kai started asking around for info on any nearby Labs …I knew that’s where they would take her…I was plenty fast enough on a bike to kept up with the SUV, but it was a struggle non-the-less.

After a couple hours Kai called me on his cell and told me he had found out about a Lab near the other edge of the city. I told him to meet me there as I had already arrived. I got there around 14:00 and watched for about an hour to see what the security was like and then when Kai showed up we proceeded to enter through a side door I noticed wasn’t being used.

After checking for an alarm, we went in quietly and immediately checked for cameras and guards. The door I came in was the back end of a hall and there was one camera spanning back and forth at the other end of the hall where it T-ed off left or right and that was it, the rest of the building was just room after room of lab gear, we carefully searched the place looking for Kinira while trying not to get noticed.

We worked out a plan where Kai would start making little distractions here and there. I went and searched everything while all the guards where off chasing Kai, I hacked into a computer and found a file that had a list of every “patient” that was in the Lab with where they were and why. I found out that they wanted to do a mental scan of the escapee…obviously Kinira, and was supposed to be in the scanning room now. I following signs hanging from the ceiling I found my way to the exam room with little effort thanks to Kai. There was a door that had “Re-evaluate” written on a slide so I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t go.

I heard footsteps coming down one of the halls so I hid around the corner, waiting to see who it was…as it got closer I realized the sound was from behind where I hid so I thought I had been found out. Spinning around to face whoever was at my back, I was relieved to see Kai with a set of Keys he beat out of a guard.

Kinira wasn’t in the scan room so we continued checking room after room leaving them open as we went so we would know what we had and hadn’t checked, we came to an steel cage like door that looked like it came right out of a middle ages dungeon, blocking off some stairs leading down into what I at first thought would in fact be a dungeon.

We unlocked the door and headed slowly down the stairs. I expected some kind of torture gear for holding their victims in, or maybe a row of prison cells. I was surprised to find however, a long white hallway that seemed to go on forever with a doorway every 6 ft.…there were no doors on them though and each room was about 5 by 9 ft. give or take and most of them had something or someone in it…not just half-breads, but regular people and animals too.

I found a middle aged male half-tiger in one of the cells that wasn’t too drugged up to communicate and he explained that he had been there for about 30 years, and that he knew most of what went on, he told me that they all had collars on that caused crippling pain if they tried to cross the doorway so no one could leave and that a remote device was used by the guards to turn off the collars when they wanted to move them. I told him we were going to try and get him and everyone out and he told me all the controls where at the end of the hall.

After passing about 30 or 40 more of these identical rooms, we came to the end of the hall way and there was a large cork board behind a desk coved with hooks that had key chains on them. Each keychain had what looked like a car alarm remote on it and I figured these must be the cage controls. The man at the desk looked up from a computer screen and asked,

“Can I help you?”

I replied by knocking him unconscious with my bouken and proceeded to turn all the remotes off. Still, Kinira wasn’t here, so after showing everyone out we continued to look for her, but this time less discreetly. We wandered casually through the facility looking for any sign of her and finally came to a room that said “Scanner” on the door, but there was no key whole. I noticed a key pad to the left of the door and Kai started pushing random buttons until finally setting off an alarm. We waited around for a someone to show up and I was going to not so gently coax the code out of him, but when one finally showed up he looked at me and said,

“2146...I never wanted this job, but I had no choice. I needed the money for my family”

Without any more he left and then Kai entered the code into the key pad, the door slide open and we saw Kinira lying strapped to what looked like a cat scanner. She was unconscious so I carried her on my back till we got outside. We were met by several men from the lab so I set Kinira down leaning her on the wall and then Kai and I began handling the situation. A couple of them had guns, but it was of little concern because we took them out before they could use them. More and more arrived and we were starting to get tired when a black SUV came around from the side of the building and stopped in front of us. It was the guy that had given us the code,

“Get in, hurry” he yelled and we jumped into the vehicle before he even finished his words.

He took us back my house and then drove off . We went inside and I put Kinira on the couch and then put some food and water on the coffee table in case she woke in the middle of the night and then went to bed.

In the morning I made some oatmeal with applesauce in it and sat in the reclining chair that was next to the couch. Kinira hadn’t moved at all and must have still been under the effect of the drugs they shot her with. Kai got up around 9:00 and went to work. I started cleaning up the house a bit and when Kinira finally woke up I made her something to eat. When she was finished I asked,

“How are you feeling?”

“I-I’m okay…” she said softly, probably still a bit loose from the drugs.

“I gotta go to work soon, I’m already late, but if you want, you can come with me” I told her.

She agreed and I gave her something to where since the lab people think that Anthros are just animals that don’t need clothes, and then we set off down the road. At work I showed her what my job was and she helped me open boxes while I stocked the shelves with the week’s new releases. Then I took the register so my boss could go on lunch. He didn’t mind me having Kinira there, but he was uneasy around her because she was, well, her, and he wasn’t used to seeing a half dragon.

I asked if she could read and she said yes so I told her she could read whatever she found as long as she put it back where she got it and she started looking through the rows for something interesting. She picked out a manga that was the first of a rather long series I had read before and she sat at the customer help desk to read it. Not a lot of people ever came to the store and so they didn’t know we had a help desk and always just came to the front for assistance. By the end of the day Kinira had read all 33 books in the series and seemed to enjoy it. She read them all in just a few hours, but it took me 3 days to read. She went to work with me every day from then on. She liked reading and looking at the manga and I liked having someone to talk to while working.

Kinira was with us for about a month and had become part of the family. She was still timid most the time, but then that was just her nature. My boss slowly, but surly got used to having her around and even started paying her to help at the store. He was a friend of mine and it was good to see him accepting her like a normal person. Even if it was only 1 or 2 it was better than no one accepting her at all.

On our way home each evening we go to different places for dinner as a means to give Kinira an idea of where everything in town was at and even though people still stared when we went by they were getting used to her slowly. We were looking for a place in a part of the town I hadn’t even been yet when we came to a rich party in the park so we decided to crash it. We were there about an hour and Kinira went surprisingly unnoticed for the most part. I guess they thought she was my pet or something, a lot of the upper class would buy Anthros as pets for showing off.

A commotion broke out in the middle of the party so I moved to see what was going on. A man in a leather jacket, jeans, and a ski mask was holding a woman hostage with a gun and demanding money from people. I told Kinira to go home so she wouldn’t get hurt and approached the man calmly.

“Get back right now!” he said pointing the gun at me.

I backed up a bit and asked,

“OK, calm down what is it you want?”

He pointed the gun at a red Honda by the road

“I want all the money and valuables that everyone has, put in the back of my car!”

I watched him a minute and he kept the gun on me.

“Well that’s not going to happen, I can’t let you rob these people” I said still calmly.

He got angry and yelled

“How you gonna stop me if I shoot you?”

I responded simply “How can you shoot me when your gun still has safety on?”

Looking at the gun a moment he found and flipped the safety switch to fire and said

“Now what do you have to say, smart guy?”

“Now you need to load your gun if you wanna shoot me.” I said.

I could see into his magazine well and he didn’t have one in. He looked at his gun a minute and then he threw it at me let go of the woman and ran toward his car. I chased after him and got into his passenger seat before he could get into the driver’s seat and he didn’t seem to notice until I asked him,

“Why you gonna risk jail, robbing that party with no idea how to use a gun?”

He jumped and looked at me a minute and the started crying.

“I’m so sorry, I just needed the money really bad, someone kidnapped my wife who claims to know the couple that are hosting that party and he said if I didn’t rob them and give him the money he would kill her…”

“Well then let me help you get her back.” I told him.

After arguing a good long while about it he finally agreed. He drove us up a mountain road to where he was supposed to bring the money and there was a blue Sedan waiting at the top of a hill. I had him stop a ways back so they wouldn’t notice me and told him to say he had the money, but wanted to see his wife. He got out and yelled up to the other car.

“Let me see my wife, I got your money please don’t hurt her!”

A reply came from the car, but was high pitched like he had inhaled helium or something,

“Bring it up and you can have your wife.”

The car was parked sideways so I could get out the passenger side without being noticed and told him to keep going till he brought his wife out of the car. I snuck into the wood line and made my way up to where the Sedan was to see what the situation was like. He finally agreed to let the man’s wife out of the car and I saw that it was just the one guy, but he had a gun to the woman’s head, who was now kneeling on the ground. He was yelling about the money and my new friend was running out of ideas, so I made a move and jumped from a tall rock behind the man landing on top of him.

He lost his gun and it slid under the car. I held him down the best I could, but he was stronger than me so it didn’t take long for him to get loose. The woman had already run to her husband and I yelled for them to leave. Without a second thought he spun his car around and sped down the road. The man I had jumped on got into his car to chase them.

As he drove off however, I grabbed his gun off the ground and fired off the whole magazine, even after both his driver side tires blew and he crashed into a tree I kept shooting till it was empty. When the gun stopped I went up to the car to see if he was still alive. I walked slowly up to the driver door, but he was lying on the hood of the car, he had gone through the windshield and cracked his head on the tree.

The man was dead. I put the gun on the hood next to him and called the police. They came and investigated the scene. I showed them where his car was on the hill and they took my prints to verify I had indeed used the weapon. Then after an interrogation they told me I could go home. I gave them my cell and work numbers and left while they cleaned up. Most the cops in town were used to me doing their job, so they don’t question much anymore and just let me be.

My house is about a mile down the mountain side from the incident, so I decided to walk through the forest. There wasn’t a lot of underbrush so it was an easy enough walk. The air was cool and comforting, and you could tell the fall was coming. It was a new moon so the sky was black, but the forest a rare bio-luminescent moss that grew only on the bark of the roots of the pine trees here. The soil of this mountain had a rare mineral that the moss needed to grow, so it couldn’t survive anywhere else. It made the forest glow with a pale blue light. It was more beautiful than all the stars in the sky on the clearest of nights. The moss also produced a soothing herbal smell that was indescribable. It made you feel good all over and you never really get used to it, so it’s amazing all over again every time you experience it.

I had about a quarter mile to go before I got home when I realized I was being hunted and stopped to asses my surroundings. By my count I had at least 12 wolves trying to surround me and I was alone. I knew that if the whole pack were to attack I would be finished. I knew a lot about animals and their behavior so I knew how to handle the situation.

I got down on their level, my hands and knees, and watched them carefully. They all started moving in closer, still attempting stealth, but I think, they knew, I knew, they were there. I needed to figure out which one was the alpha and challenge her one-on-one if I was to live through this. I knew the alpha because while the pack was surrounding me she would be the one off in the back circling and studying me.

When I found her I made deliberate eye contact and then, still on all fours, squared myself off toward her direction. Making eye contact with the alpha of any group animal is an act of defiance, and then squaring off with her meant I wasn’t afraid of her, which hinders her authority, so she had to accept the challenge or the pack would think her afraid and probably turn on her.

She moved forward cautiously, maintaining eye contact meaning she had accepted the challenge. I could now focus only on her as the others would not step in if she was defending her right to lead. She circled me a few times, studying me and looking for an opening to attack. I just kept my face to her and slowly backed in a smaller circle so she couldn’t get at my back or sides.

I deliberately leaned to the left to give her an opening that I knew she would try to exploit. Lunging forward she pawed at my feet to get me off balance and then snapped at my neck. I turned my right hand sideways and with a chopping motion pushed it all the way to the back of her mouth and then grabbed her bottom jaw so she couldn’t bite down. Then, with my left hand, grabbed her left leg from under what would be her right armpit then pulled her leg out from under her, flipping her onto her left side, not hard enough to hurt her, but just enough to put her on the ground. Then by wrapping the fingers of my left hand around her windpipe as if my hand was the jaw of another wolf, not enough that she couldn’t breathe, but enough that she knew I could, and pinning her to the ground at the same time I had won the confrontation. I took my hand out of her mouth as I only needed the one hand to hold her down, because she wouldn’t risk hurting herself by trying wriggle free. I put my face right up next to hers and made a growling/hissing noise to intimidate her into complete submission.

The whole thing lasted all of maybe 3 seconds and as I looked around I saw some of the wolves either lay down to accept me as the new pack leader for beating their current one, or to leave, probably to head back to their den. I let her up and she immediately rolled over but stayed down in front of me eyes looking at the ground to show obediance. At this point, still on all fours I laid down in front of her and made eye contact with her again, but this time it was because I was being submissive toward her indicating that I didn’t want control of the pack and put her back in charge. She got up and shook the dirt and debris off. Then as she turned to lead the rest of her pack back into the forest she wisped her tail across my face, which told me I was accepted as a member of the pack, which meant that I could come and go at any time and the pack would not bother me.

When I could no longer see any of them I continued home and Kinira came to greet me at the door. Kai and Kinira were watching TV, there was a news report on about the incident I was in with the police and they had a picture of me on the screen so I explained what had happened to them as I made dinner. After we all ate I took a shower and then we all sat down to watch TV for a while to unwind before bed.

In the morning I got up and got dressed for work when my boss called me and said he wouldn’t need me to come in because he was training a new guy to handle the store on his own. This way I would get more days off. I started to make breakfast, scrambled eggs with applesauce over them, Kinira, still sleeping on the couch due to lack of space, woke to the smell and helped by setting the table, sure enough as soon as everything was done Kai came out of his room and we all started eating.

As I was picking up the dishes the doorbell rang. I opened it and a kid about 16 or 17 said his dad is the one I had helped the night before. He explained that their family honor obligated him to pay back the debt. I invited him in for some breakfast and as soon as he stepped in he froze. I looked at him a moment and then realized he was staring at Kinira. I told him to relax and he moved to the far side of the couch away from her and I brought him what was left of breakfast. When he finished I started to do the dishes and the boy came in and asked me to let him do it. I went and sat on the couch while he finished cleaning the kitchen. When he finished he came into the living room and stood in the far corner, looking at Kinira like she was going to eat him or something. I told him to sit down and he did, but still looked nervously at Kinira. I could see this was making her uncomfortable so I started talking to him to distract his gaze.

“So I still don’t know your name..” I asked.

Looking over at me he said

“My names Camorto and I live on the far side of town in the old mill house.”

“Well then Camorto” I said “I need to get some things from the store, since you’re working for me do you want to paint the house while I’m gone…?”

“Well that’s why I’m here…” He replied.

I showed him where the paint and stuff was and he got started in the back. I went down to the Quick Stop and got some supplies we were running low on. Upon my return about an hour later not only was the house finished, but the fence was painted and the yard was picked up and he was coming out of the house with three big bags of trash. I asked him why he did so much and he said Kai was keeping him busy. I went inside to talk to Kai and asked,

“Wow you’re really taking advantage of that kid huh?”

Kai looked up at me “Well we got him, I say use him”

I called him lazy and went outside to give Camorto a hand, but didn’t see him anywhere. I went around back and he was trimming the dead stuff of the tree line in the back. I told him to put what he had already cut in the firewood pile and then we went to the hardware store to get supplies to build an extra room for Kinira.

We barrowed a wagon from the Quick Stop and Camorto insisted on hulling all the supplies back, himself. We built it off the right side of the house so that it would open to the living room and it didn’t take all that long. He didn’t really seem used to Kinira yet, but he did what she asked, which wasn’t much, and mostly tried to keep his distance. We built the room to Kinira's likings and then painted it to match the house.

We finished it just before dinner so I ordered pizza and Camorto said he had to stay with me till the debt was paid off. I asked him how long that was going to be and he told me that he had to work off the value of the life of his mother, because I had saved her. I told him he had done enough and he said his father would not accept that so I set him up to sleep on a couch now that Kinira had a room and then we all went to bed.

After breakfast the next morning which consisted of oatmeal and toast, we used what was left to of the building supplies to build a shed in the right back corner of the yard for Camorto to live in while he was here and then I had planned to use it for storage once he had left. It was a quick job and we finished around lunch time, so we went into town for takeout and I stopped in at work to meet the new guy.

My boss was at the counter when I walked in and when I asked about the new worker he said that he had to fire him because he was trying to steal from the register. I asked if he needed help for the day and he told me that he could handle it.

We walked down to a moving sale that wasn’t too far from there and bought some furniture for Kinira’s and Camorto’s rooms. The man’s wife gave us a ride back with all the stuff in her truck and after we had everything moved in all of us went out back to relax and unwind.

I started training with Kai while Kinira sat on the porch and watched like always. Not sure what he should be doing Camorto sat down in the grass and watched us spar for a while, I asked Camorto if he was interested. He was a bit nervous at first but eventually admitted that he would like to learn.

“Let’s go inside, I’m going to make dinner, I’ll start teaching you after work tomorrow.” I told him.

He agreed and then after dinner we played some videogames till about 8 or 9 and then went to bed.

In the morning I didn’t really feel like cooking so I just got out a box of cereal and then as everyone else got up I noticed Kinira hadn’t come out of her room. It was now almost time for us to go to work so I knocked on her door and answered with silence. I announced myself and opened the door slowly, but still heard nothing and when I finally looked in she wasn’t there.

I went to work thinking what might have happened to her and hoped I would see her there later, but she never came. When I got home I asked Kai and Camorto if either of them had seen her, but neither of them claimed to have seen her since she went to bed the night before.

It was getting late and I started to think that maybe the Lab guys had come in sometime in the night and took her again. Then I heard a scratching on the back door and so I moved to investigate. When I looked out the window I saw nothing, so I opened the door and the wolf that I had wrestled with a few days before jumped away from the door and then turned to look at me. I watched and then she took a few steps and turned to look at me again. Kai was watching now and said

“This may sound kinda dumb, but that thing is acting like one of the creatures in an anime that wants someone to follow them.”

I looked at him a minute, and then back to the wolf,

“You know, I think your right…”

Camorto came out and saw the wolf and got nervous,

“So do you always deal with dangerous animals like this?” He asked.

I asked him what he had meant and he said,

“Well you live with something like Kinira and now there’s a wolf in the back yard.”

“Kinira’s not a something, she’s someone, with feeling and life and personality, no different than you, or me, or anyone else, and shes certainly not dangerous in anyway, shes shyer than a mouse, and wolves are only dangerous when stupid people do stupid stuff on their land, just like people” I said in a slightly raised voice.

I have a rather tempered emotional set, until then I was never able to feel anger or hate or sadness and I never took anything seriously, but for some reason hearing him call Kinira a dangerous creature made me feel less then comfortable, and I couldn’t contain that.

He just looked at me a moment and then I started off toward the wolf. She walked a little ways and then stopped at the wood line to see if I was still coming. It was stop and go like that for a couple miles and after a while I noticed that we were following a sort of trail in the under growth as opposed to just trekking through the brush. I lost sight of the wolf for a second, but I figured she would stop and if I keep walking straight I’d see her again and then she’ll keep going.

I suddenly felt like I had to go a different direction and I noticed myself start to follow those instincts as if I was no linger controlling my body, eventually I came to a clearing in front of a cliff about 30 feet high with a cave that led into the mountain.

The clearing was small, about 15 feet across. I looked around a moment and saw my companion looking down on me from atop the cliff so I entered the cave thinking it would lead me up there and then we would continue.

I walked slowly and the cave became a long dark tunnel that after about 15 or 20 minutes of following the wall with my hand because it was too dark to see, it opened into a chamber with a dimly glowing crystal structure hanging from the ceiling. It gave off a light blue aura that made your whole body feel the way your foot does when it tries to wake up after falling asleep. I looked around and saw Kinira leaning on a stalagmite near the back of the cave.

As I walked over to her I started to feel light headed and then a quick flash of light from the crystal blotted out my vision for a moment and then I fell over. I heard a voice that sounded like my own from everywhere at once.

“Raleith, you have waited so long to know yourself and longed to have true friends, but only in the blackest darkness can the smallest light shine, fear not change and accept your destiny…”

As the voice trailed off and I felt as if I was waking up. It was all like a dream and then I realized I was still in the cave. I got up and looked around. The tingle in my body was gone and the crystal was black now, no light came from it and I saw Kai and Camorto lying on the ground by the exit of the cave.

Then I realized the tunnel I came in through was gone, I walked outside and immediately felt misplaced. There was no forest and we were no longer on a mountain. There was a huge meadow with a tree line extending from the edges of this caves cliff side all the way around it, this cliff however was only about 10 feet high and the cave was nothing more than a whole in the side of a small hill.

About 20 yards ahead of me was a pond. I looked back at the other two and then walked over to the water and saw Kinira sitting on a small rock at the edge of the pond.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She turned around and said,

“Yah but where are we?”

I looked around and replied,

“I don’t know.”

While we talked about what happened the others came over to us, looked around and then Kai asked,

“So what‘d I miss?” Still as if this was somehow normal.

I explained everything Kinira and myself had come to understand. We concluded that the crystal's light was a rift in space and time and we had been moved to an alternate world.

“Oh.” He relied as if it was a normal occurrence that happened daily.

Then he started walking around the pond. I’m yet to see Kai get surprised about anything.

I stared at the water and as if on its own a single ripple pulsated across the water from the center. Wondering what could have caused it I looked up to see a fairy about the size of my forearm fly down and as it approached the shore it said,

We tried to think of something to do when Kai noticed small files of smoke rising off in the distance. We decided that it would be best to find people as we needed information and didn’t have any and the smoke was most likely from the fires of a village of some kind so that’s the direction we went.

I thought Kinira might stand out a bit, but when we arrived there were as many Anthros as not. Looking at a cart of food and realizing I was starving and a young girl that had foxes ears, whiskers and tail, came out of a tent behind it and said,

“Greetings, I’m Karin, is there anything I can get for you?”

I explained our situation and she looked exited and startled at the same time,

“Let’s go inside for a moment” she said looking around as if making sure no one saw us.

Once inside she said that she knew of only one time such a thing was mentioned. In a story from her childhood she told us like this,

“Long ago, a shadow of evil in the form of demons came over the mountains and tried to destroy our world. As our last warrior lie dead, a single man came from the cave lit with a blue aura, the cave had long been thought cursed and no one dared go near, in his hand a shining sword, using that sword he slayed every monster and demon that came his way and drove the evil back over the mountains, his sword was named, Oracle, and placed in a shrine at the base of those mountains to forever keep the darkness from returning, he himself then traveled over that mountain and was never seen again.”

After hearing her story I noticed it was getting late, so I asked if there was an inn or tavern that would allow us to work for a room being as we had no money. She told us we could stay with her as long as we were in the village so I offered help with anything I could, but she insisted that it wasn’t necessary.

After she closed the shop for the night we followed her to her house and she made us dinner. It was some kind of soup that had meat that tasted not much unlike rabbit and vegetables I had never seen before. While we ate she made some extra beds along the wall with palm leaves and then put a fur of some kind over each one. The house was a small two room hut with a fur hanging to separate the two rooms. The front room was where everything seemed to take place and the other was the sleeping room.

About a block down the road was a public facility that had restrooms and a bath house for the whole village to use. I initially thought it a little strange, but then I just accepted that it was the way things are here. The only light came from a torch outside so when the sun set we went to sleep.

In the morning Karin said she would take us to the village elder for advice. She led us to a large building on the far side of the village that looked like a church of some kind and once inside a human came from somewhere in the back and Karin introduced him as the elder, but he couldn’t have been older than 25 or 30. He asked us what seemed about 100 questions or so and we answered to the best of our ability. After the interrogation he told us to head to Mikite, a city across the north mountain range.

He asked if we had any weapons to protect ourselves with and I asked

“From what?” rather confused.

He said that monsters prowled everywhere and that they don’t bother settlement because of the guardian stones that protected them. He showed me the stone and it looked like a large garnet. It also gave off a hostile feeling somehow it was hard to explain.

I told him we had no weapons and he gave me a letter of currency. He said it would be good till the sun rose tomorrow and that we could get anything we wanted with no charge. There was a limit of one weapon for each member of our party and any items we could need. I took an iron sword from the armory and so did Kai, Kinira took a bladed staff, because she wanted to learn some magic and the shop keeper also gave me a bow and a few arrows in a quiver for hunting, Camorto took a set of twin daggers as everything else was too heavy for him.

Then as we were leaving Karin came running up to us with a short sword and a small round shield on her back and asked to join us.

“What about your store?” I asked.

“The store doesn’t bring in that much anyway.” She said comically.

“Well, I can’t physically stop you from following us, so it’s your choice.” I told her.

We followed a path that led out of the village and through the forest toward the mountains. Sure enough we fought off many strange creatures as we went and when we finally reached the mountain range the path stopped so we took a rest right there at the end of the path under a cliff face. After a short while Kinira noticed a rather large insect of some kind fly through some vines into the mountain so we climbed up to check it out.

The vines covered a cave that we investigated and found a long tunnel that wound into the mountain. We followed it down and it wasn’t so dark as we couldn’t see, but still dark enough that we had to move slowly in order to navigate the cavern. It went on for a while, then finally the tunnel led to a chamber and another tunnel from there led to yet another chamber. Always just one way to go so it wasn’t like we could get lost, but still the dark made it all seem dreary. Several strange creatures that looked like some kind of bird dog, they were basically dogs with wings covered with feathers and only had 2 legs, they would attack us here and there, but they were small and rather easy to fight off.

We finally reached the end of this one routed maze and could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but before we could exit from the cavern and find out where we were a giant of these bird dog creatures flew down from one of the stalagmites, picked up Karin and carried her back into the cave. We followed as quickly as we could and a few chambers back into the tunnel we found her on the ground trying to fight of a lot of the smaller ones.

We all rushed over and fought them off of her with some difficulty, but they eventually flew into the top of the room where the giant one was hanging on the ceiling. It dropped down and lunged forward at me. I stepped to the right side of it and swung my sword at it, but it reared back and I missed.

Karin and Kinira fought off the small ones, killing them one at a time, but there just seemed to be no end. Kai and I focused on the big one which was now blocking the exit. I ran up close to it and it lunged forward, Kai came from the other side and put a rather large cut in the left side of the creature’s neck, but it didn’t seem to notice, because it still focused on trying to eat me and for the most part ignored Kai all together.

The beast flung its head forward at us both and we had to move back. Kai ran up and tried to catch its attention and when it tried to bite him he put his sword sideways and by putting it on the creatures lower jaw, he forced its head to the ground. I took this opportunity and jumped off his shoulder and I impaled the beast through the top of its skull and it fell to its side.

We left the cave and started down the mountain. When we reached the bottom we set up camp for the night. One thing I noticed then was that there were three moons in the sky. They were over lapped the biggest was a dark pink almost red color. Then the other two looked the same size and lay on either side of the big one. A yellow one behind it and sticking out from the top left of the red moon and then a blue almost purple colored moon hung in front to the lower right of the big moon. They were so amazing that I couldn’t help, but stare.

I finally noticed the stars and it was like a kid had dumped way to much glitter onto a canvas. The stars also moved around the sky as if they were alive like fire flies over a lake. We slept rather peacefully that night and in the morning continued to the city.

We reached the gates about two hours later, but they were closed and too heavy to open ourselves. I knocked on them hoping for a response, but none came, so I knocked again a little loader this time, but still nothing. I called over the wall,

“Hello, we are travelers, can you open the gates?”

But there was still no answer. I climbed to the top of the wall and looked around inside, there were buildings in rows like a small city would expectantly look like and carts everywhere with signs to mark them, like a trading circle just inside the gate. It seemed as if the place was as busy as could be not ten minutes ago, but there was no one to be seen, not even a stray animal could be seen anywhere. I climbed down the other side and used the winch to open the gate for everyone.

We looked around and started wandering through the streets. We eventually came upon a castle near the center of the city. Just as we came into view of the castle doors I saw a feint movement as if they had just closed right before we got there. I told everyone to stay alert and to wait for me while I checked out the inside of the castle entrance. Opening the doors slowly I looked around, but it seemed as deserted as the rest of town.

I could somehow feel that I was being watched. It was a feeling so much stronger than you would think, as if I could almost see the people in the shadows. I called out

“We mean no harm, we merely seek information.”

There was no answer, but I expected it this time, these people seemed to be afraid to make contact with us.

“I know you’re here, someone come out and talk to us, at least give reason to your discourtesy?”

Again I was replied to with silence. I went back outside to meet up with everyone and we decided to leave the city via the gates on the other side and continue traveling in the same direction. As we neared the gates and still, with no sign of anyone, I suddenly noticed a young boy maybe four or five years old wave at us to come into his house and then he closed the window cover. With no other lead to go on we entered the small house.

Inside it was one room with three mats lined up in the corner for beds and a fire pit in the center that an elderly couple sat around. The boy took a seat between them and the man invited us to sit. He asked us

“Why are you here?”

I told him the situation as best I could and the three of them looked puzzled, as would be expected. He told us that the king may be able to help, but that no one has seen him in several months except a rare few and they all have left town without a word and have yet to return. I asked how I would go about seeing the king when the entire town was nowhere to be found and the man explained that we should enter the castle and say that we would like to offer our service to the master of this city. I thanked him we returned to the castle.

After entering the foyer again I said rather loudly,

“I would like to offer my service to the master of this city.”

After a moment of silence a man came from the dark and motioned for us to follow. We followed him through the dark, there was little light and not much to be seen if there were.

After a while we were told to kneel and then we heard a voice,

“Let light fill my eyes.”

A single torch was lit and as we watched it, it was placed in oil and as the oil caught fire it ran all the way around the room. The king and queen sat not ten feet in front of us and he demanded our names. I introduced the party to him and he asked why I had come to him, I explained the situation and asked if he could give us information on the subject. He agreed to answer any questions I had if I could complete a simple task. I agreed to try anything he would have me do and he told us this,

“For 500 years ago a master thief stole the heirloom of the royal family. The thief had amassed a great trove of riches he kept secret in an abandoned temple in the forest. A beast moved in after the thief had died and now guards the place. I have sent many brave men to their deaths trying retrieve the artifact, but none have returned. If you could kill the beast and bring back the item then my gratitude would grant you anything and everything you could desire upon return. In addition you can keep the remainder of the trove for yourselves.”

I told him I would give it a try and asked what it was exactly I was to find. He explained that he himself did not know for the object had been missing for generations. I told him we would need supplies to complete the mission and he wrote us a ‘bill of currency’ stating that because he as king owned anything within the borders of the city that I could take what I needed free of charge, of course with some limitations.

I started by taking my sword to the smithy and got it re-forged, as did Kai, Kinira went to the mage guild to see if she could learn any magic and Karin gathered medical supplies. I traded my bow for a stronger lighter one and the shop keeper minded not as the one I had was a collectors piece, even though it was too frail to use.

We all met at the gate when we were finished and the king himself was waiting to see us off with a map of the surrounding land and the beasts lair marked. He wished us luck and then we departed.

We headed for the forest west of the city. It was surrounded by a mountain range save for a small pass that connected it to the fields around the city.

When we got there we had to fight off many monsters that lived in the forest but made sure not to kill them unless we absolutely had to as this was their home and we were the intruders.

Finally we came to a temple at the far end of the forest at the base of the mountain range. As we entered a man named Darius approached us from the side of the temple and explained he was sent by the king three days ago and was training to fight the beast before entering.

He joined us and we proceeded into the temple. Many monsters filled the halls of this place and gave us quite a struggle, however Darius was beyond us. He was striking down the creatures with a single blow and nothing they did seemed to faze him. After we chased the creatures from the main hall, we proceeded to search the various rooms.

The first to the left had many tiles across the floor with different animals on them. Karin boldly strolled forward only to activate a trap of fire, blasting down from the ceiling. She only just made it back to us by the singe on her tail.

After careful study of the tiles we noticed that the creatures on them were all things we fought inside the temple hall, except for one, which was in fact something we fought out in the forest. Karin this time proceeded only on the tiles of this creature and the fire was not triggered.

At the end of the room was a switch on the wall. Karin flipped it and we heard a mechanism in the walls begin to move. After the noise subsided we looked around and didn’t see anything noticeable, so we left his room and then cross the main hall to the room to the right.

I immediately notice another switch on the far wall just as in the previous room. However this rooms floor was tiled but the tiles were blank. I stepped forward expecting something to happen. When it didn’t, I began forward slowly. Making it all the way to the switch with no reaction I began to think this room might not be trapped.

I flipped the switch and again a mechanism in the wall began to move, and again when it had finally stopped nothing seemed to be different.

I moved toward the door to return to my friends and the floor began to fall. With great haste I ran for the out stretched hands of Kinira and Kai, who grabbed hold of mine, just as the floor at my feet collapsed and I would have drop into the abyss.

Back in the main hall again there was only the door opposite the entrance to try only now it was open. I surmised that the two switches in fact were needed to open this door. We went into the next room carefully watching for any more traps.

The room was filled with statues that looked ever more real and they all seemed to be in a defensive position. As I turned to leave a chimera fell from the ceiling and whipped its tail across the room. Darius caught the beast’s tail which was a snake and swung his sword to remove the leg the creature tried to crush him with. The eyes of the snake glowed yellow and a beam of light hit Darius turning him to stone.

The leg grew back and another beam shot out for Karin, she dodged to the side and we maintained our distance studying its movements till Kinira found an opening to use some fire magic that she had learn in the city.

With the beast distracted I lunged forward to strike but the creature’s tail fired its beam at me. I rolled to one side in hopes of the creature petrifying itself, but the laser had no effect.

Kinira continued her magic assault and I took a knee at which point Kai jumped from my shoulder into the air above the chimera and drove his sword through its spine. The creature reared up and I placed my own blade firmly in its chest.

The tails eyes fixed on Kai who still clung to the creatures back and as the beam fired toward him he jumped back words toward me and the yellow light stuck the chimera where Kai had pierced it causing the monstrous beast to turn itself to stone.

I then sought Darius to see what could be done for the man but it was futile. I claimed his sword, Masamune, and then we began searching for anything that could be an artifact. Around the beasts neck hung a medallion, and with nothing else to found in our searching we left the temple and returned to the city.

Upon returning to Mikite we were greeted with a celebration and the king himself came to the gates in welcome.

“It is good to see finally a party return from this quest tell me is the beast dead, do you have the crowns hairloom?”

I told him the tail and he seemed not at all concerned or dismayed at the loss of Darius, his only interest was in the medallion. I showed it to him but before he could take it I asked,

“So now you’ll tell us what you know about our situation won’t you?”

The king looked at us intently and then told us he knew nothing and demanded the amulet. I refused him and said that wasn’t our agreement and he then ordered us killed on sight.

All the guards seemed reluctant to attack but followed there kings orders. We fought them off without killing any of them and the king grew ever angrier the longer we held out. Suddenly in a burst of dark purple light the king revealed himself to be some kind of demon and again demanded the artifact, but I again refused.

The demon gathered energy into spheres and threw them at us. Kai was hit and thrown into a cart of fish and left unconscious. Kinira used her fire magic but it hit some kind of barrier that surrounded the king and repelled any attack we tried.

He threw more energy balls at us and we dodged as best we could. After a long struggle it seemed as if we were getting nowhere when the demon stopped attacking and said,

“You fight well for none have yet lasted so long, surrender and give me the medallion and I will let you live as my servants.”

I replied with a threat of my own,

“give us what we want or ill destroy the medallion.”

He laughed

“As if a mortal could, I’ll kill you before you get the chance.”

I asked what made it so important and he told me that the medallion had an enhancing power, and that if one had them all, that one would be near invincible.

He explained he already had two of the medallions, lightning and darkness. The medallion I held was of earth and completely useless at the moment but I knew there was no way I could let him have it.

I looked over and saw that Kai was coming to so I made an all-out assault of attacks which of course hit the barrier but I kept it up. As long as I was attacking the barrier he couldn’t attack us. Kinira kept using here fire and Karin was guiding us from a distance to make sure we didn’t take too much damage.

The demon didn’t notice Kai slowly moving his way around to get behind him and when he was in place I put all my force into a single swing which even though it hit the barrier it sent the king stumbling back at which point Kai attacked his blind spot.

Thrusting his sword up through the demons neck he twisted and the king’s head popped off like a cork in a champagne bottle. The demons body fell to the ground and the towns people all came out of hiding and rejoiced at the site of the beaten demon. I took the amulets from him as well as a ring I gave to Kinira and a bag of coins.

We were offered anything we needed to continue our journey, and then suddenly, my vision went white and I heard that voice again,

“You follow a path selflessly helping anyone who asks, and thus stray from the destiny fate has handed you. However your choices make your destiny and so your path is now your own. But there is a path you must take that at the sacrifice of many will lead to the salvation of many more. Go now to the east, travel to the ocean and meet with the people of the sea. They are in need of you. We will meet in your near future….”

I came to standing just as I was as if it had never happened. I began asking around for information about this world and the ocean I was now eager to set out for.

We stayed at the inn to rest and that night one of the maids came to my room and asked if I had met with a chimera in the temple, after telling her what had happened she explained that the demon had turned the old king into the chimera for not giving him the medallion and then transformed into him.

The temple was what was left of the castle that once overlooked the city and he castle the demon lived in as the king was once the church for the city. After hearing this I apologized for what we had done but she shook her head and said it was for the best.

Later that night around the time one would normally awake to relieve one's self, a knock on the door drew my attention. It was Kinira and she was unsettled about something. I asked her what the problem was and she asked me to come and talk with her.

I followed her down the hall and she opened the window at the far end. She flew out and onto the roof signaling me to follow so I climbed out and up to meet her. I asked why she wanted to meet with me on the roof and she just lied down and looked up at the stars, I laid down next to her and she told me that she knew where we were.

I asked what she meant and she told me about how everywhere we went was familiar to her as if she was here once before. We talked about it for a bit and I told her not to worry. Eventually we fell asleep looking at the stars.

I awoke to find Kinira clinging to my right arm. I just laid there for a while to not disturb her and watched as the sun rose over us. The light woke Kinira and she apologized for laying on me.

I looked at her smiling and told her not to worry about it and then we went back in through the window. We went to our rooms to gather our things and then went down to the inns lobby where the inn keepers had made a big feast type breakfast for all the costumers currently staying at the inn.

Kai asked how we were to get to work as if it were as simple as that. I looked back at him with a sarcastic grin and he just smiled at me like it was all just a game.

After we all had eaten we gathered outside and made sure we had everything. As soon as we turned to set out all the people of the city were celebrating and we were given two horses to pull a cargo wagon that was also presented to us. I thanked them and we set out eastward, hopefully to find an ocean.

As we traveled we came across many interesting monsters but were easily fought off. At about noon we came to a forest that was supposed to have a vast beach line and the ocean on the other side. We stopped at a large rock that looked like it could have been a sleeping bear for a break and to eat, but set out again as soon as we were finished.

It is never smart to stay put in a forest for too long. We traveled slowly to maintain our direction but Karin and Kai both mentioned us passing the same rock formation we took a break at earlier.

Kinira also said we had passed it once before our break as well. I marked the rock with my sword and we kept going, after about 20 minutes or so we came to it again and sure enough it had the scar from my blade. Knowing I had never been lost before and that we were going in a straight line we concluded an outside force was making us go in circles.

We set out several more times but instead of strait we turned right or left and even going back the way we came the first time but it was no good. We stopped and made camp under the edge of the rock and contemplated how we could get out of this situation.

Kai suggested destroying the rock but I said we would probably still end up coming back to the pile of rubble over and over. We made camp for the night but stayed on guard as we expected whatever force was keeping us here had a plan for us.

As the sun set we became aware of several people watching us so I called out into the dark

“I know you’re there come out...”

A young man stepped forward and could only be described as an elf. He had an unseen aura that captivated us. He asked us why we had invaded the forest so I explained that we were headed for the ocean, and he told us that his clan could not allow us to pass.

I asked his reason and he replied with

“I’m not required to answer that, if you’d like I can show you out but I can’t let you through without permission from our clan leader.”

I asked him if we could meet with his clan leader and he agreed to take us to the Elvin village but our weapons were not allowed. Two more elves came from the darkness and told us to turn over all of our weapons to them to be stored till we left. We placed our weapons in the wagon and one of the elves led the horses away.

The elves led us through the forest for a short while, still passing the same rock over again but each time from different angles. I asked why we were going in circles and he said that the forest had a spell on it and that you had to walk in a specific pattern to pass into the village, and I assumed there different pattern to reach the ocean.

We finally came to a large tree that had a strange moss growing all over it. The elf turned and introduced himself,

“You’ll have to forgive my earlier rudeness but one can’t always tell who he can trust, my name is Keilik.”

I accepted his apology and told him our names. Then he pulled the moss, which was actually a drape of sorts, to the side and revealed the inside of the tree was hollow and had a wood elevator inside it.

It had to be hand cranked so when we all were inside Keilik began pulling the rope to raise us into the canopy.

beyond this point the story continues...very sloppily and mostly in short hand, full of spelling errors and plot holes, read on at you own risk...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

At the top we got off onto a wooden platform that circled the tree and had wood rope bridges extending to other platforms that were attached to other trees. There were one or two small buildings attached to each of the platforms and I guessed they were houses. Then I noticed a pattern to it. The platforms made a large circle around a free flouting platform supported only by the bridges that connected it to the others. On this platform was a large building that covered the whole thing save for a path around its edge. We were told their leader resided there and we were instructed to go inside. As we entered I noticed that it was well decorated and seemed rather like a palace. There was a young Elvin girl that looked no older than 15 sitting in a wood chair with flowers growing on it. “Have a seat.” she said with a tone of that although innocent and soothing, let you know she was in charge without question. We sat on pre-laid pads that made a half circle around the chair and she introduced herself “I am Serillia, princess and current ruler of this clan. Why have you come here?” I explained the situation and then she spoke to Keilik in elvish for a bit. He left and then returned with several others that brought in food and drink. As we ate a man came in but this man had light blue skin and ears that looked like fins, his hands were webbed and he had some kind of fin coming from his elbow as well that flicked every few seconds like a cats tail does. He spoke with a rasp and it was a little hard to understand him. “I am Demiscreese, an emissary of the water tribe, just as you heard a voice telling you to come I heard a voice as well, I will take you to the water tribe and a new emissary will be sent back to the elves.” Serillia told Keilik to go with us and he agreed. In fact he was a little exited because he had never been to the water tribe before. We finished our meal and then returned to the forest floor, looking up the village could not be seen and Keilik explained that when the village was built a goddess shrouded the village so it could only be seen from within. We waited for our wagon and then Keilik led us through the forest again and after a short while came to a break in the tree line. As our eyes readjusted to the light we saw the ocean. I had never seen one even back home so I was utterly amazed. Water stretching on forever, the sound and scent were one-of-a-kind. Demiscreese told us to wait on the beach while he took care of something and then dove into and vanished beneath the waves. We sat down and enjoyed the ocean, the smells the sounds the sights. Demiscreese came back about 20 minutes later with another of the sea people and this new man explained that one of the other tribes had declared war on them and they needed help to defend themselves being they are a peaceful nonviolent clan. I asked how we would go about helping them when none of us could breathe under water. He gave Kinira a small blue orb that she put into a hole on her staff at which point I noticed a red one in one of the other holes. I guess this was what made her magic worked. He was showed her some water magic and she learned to use a spell that made a bubble in the water that we could stand in but it only lasted a short while and she would have to recast it before it ran out, you could tell because it kept getting smaller and smaller till it was gone or reformed. We would have to be extremely careful while under water. We followed the two sea-men down into the water and under a reef. While in the water there were several strange creatures that seemed to think we would be a good snack but we easily took care of them.

Deep into the reef we arrived at a city that for some reason the water formed a shear around it and the city remained dry. However tubes of water went all over the place and they explained that the dome was made with a more powerful version of the spell Kinira used to make our bubble. The tubes of water were in fact a means of transport around the city, all we needed to do was make a bubble and get in and then the current would take us down the line till we wanted off. We were led to an inn and given rooms free of charge. The receptionist said dinner would be ready in an hour or so, so we went to our rooms to rest a bit. Kinira came and got me for dinner but when we headed down Kai mentioned that Karin was not there. For Kai to say something is a wonder in itself because he normally wouldn’t care if anyone was missing. I went up to check her room and she wasn’t there so we all set out around the city to find her. After getting lost and almost memorizing the city almost I found her on a catwalk near the water’s edge looking at the creatures swim by. “What’s going on?” I asked calmly, a little relieved to see her ok. “I never dreamed any of this was possible” she said softly “I knew going with you guys would be quite an adventure but to go through all we have and now to be on the bottom of the ocean, it’s all a little much to take in.” I looked at her a moment and then told her to come back for dinner. We got back and everyone else was already back waiting to see if I had in fact found her. We eat and then went to bed but on the way to my room I saw Kai coming out of Karin’s room and I thought that was strange as he never socializes with anyone. I waited for him to go into his room before knocking on Karin’s and when she answer she had this surprised look like she had just seen a ghost or something. I asked her what they talked about and she didn’t want to say but as I turned to go back to my room she said that he told her not to go off alone and to always count on him to protect her. I smiled a bit but not because it was funny but because Kai had never been attached to anyone before. I went to my room and went to bed early for in the morning we were going to get briefed about the situation and determine our plan of action. I watched the creatures swimming by outside the window and it was peaceful to see them just drifting by as if that’s all there was to life. Sleep came easy and I woke feeling well rested. In the morning we were told about the war and how a group called the imperials was trying to take over the world by force and that he recruited soldiers by filling their souls with hate. We were taken to a battlefield on the back of a giant manta and when we arrived I noticed it was easy to tell who we were against because the enemy even though they looked the same as the blue sea people they were a red-ish color. The driver of the manta said that they were blue once but they had so much hate in their hearts that their very skin burned with it. We fought them off and when about half of their force was defeated they retreated and we returned to the city. When we got back we were taking about the battle results when the red people suddenly started pouring into the city and attacking people. Somehow they had beaten all the guards before an alarm could be sent and we were caught off guard but we split into teams of two and fought the red people off as best we could. We met back up in the city square after clearing out all the invaders we could find. Suddenly a giant monster of some kind that looked rather a lot like on octopus but with more tentacles came in through the top of the dome and more red people came with it. The creature had several eyes at the end of shorter tentacles that seemed to each be independent of each other so it could see everything at once. We fought it the best we could, focusing on the red people that came with it which was kind of easy because the big monster killed just as many of them as we did. Kinira’s magic had no effect and out weapons did little if any damage. Finally, Kai managed to cut one of the eyes off and the beast reared back flailing its arms around wildly for a moment before resuming its rampage with even more ferocity. One by one we cut off all its eyes and with it blind Karin stuck her sword through it head and it melted into a puddle of pure water that dissipated almost immediately till it was as if nothing was ever there. The city people celebrated and the leader of them gave me an arm band as a reword that had the cities crest on it. I handed it to Keilik because he wanted to examine the symbol on it and then he threw it on the ground. It broke into a few pieces but the crest came out and I recognized it as one of the medallions that we already had three of. This was the water medal and now I began to wonder how many there were. I asked the leader of the sea people if he had any advice to give me and he suggested going to the city of El-Shi-Kashin, largest known city in their world and also the most dangerous. Most the world’s criminals all gather there which also made it the best place to get information. Demiscreese gave us a map and told us that he would be accompanying us for the rest of our journey to see how things play out and Keilik decided he would go with us as well. We traveled back up to the surface and through the forest again. After reaching the Mikite valley we headed for a mountain range to the North West where we would take an underground pass through the mountain. When we reach the tunnel pass we notice the road forks right away. With no one knowing which way was correct we headed left and continues through a maze of caverns. Finally finding no exit anywhere we came to the farthest room and in the back was a stone tablet that had some writing on it but most of it was faded and the whole tablet had vines growing all over it. As if by some magic however the words begin to glow a red-orange color and lift off the tablet and though I had never see the language before I somehow was able to read it. “As the warrior followed the path he was given he collected 7 amulets in which he defeated the evil ruling the land so long ago, sealing the spirit of the darkness within the talismans the beast was separated and scattered. The warrior then vanished from this world never again to return, the wielder of these amulets has control of a portion of the evils power and if all 7 were to be returned to its body the darkness could be resurrected and the entire world will meet its doom!” That is what was written. Looking around the room I noticed that everyone else was looking at the statues of monster that sat in crevices around the room. I asked if anyone else knew what the story had meant and they all looked confused. It appeared as though I was the only one who saw the writing glow. As we left the chamber the statues came alive and attacked us. The battle was rather difficult as our weapons had little effect against the stone beasts but Kinira’s magic ended them one by one till they were all nothing more than pile of rubble and dust. The stone tablet suddenly spun around slowly and inside a crevice on the back of it was a wooden box. I opened the box to find it full of sand, after shifting through the sand I found a round disk with a strange design on it. After thoroughly checking the rest of the box and finding nothing we went back up to the fork and went the other way. After another maze of rooms and tunnels we came to a door that of course was locked. It had an indent in the front of it the same shape as the disk I found so I put it in and turned it. The door swung open and we continued to explore as we went deeper into the mountain. Finally reaching the other side of the pass we were attacked as soon as we exited by a pack of wolf like creatures, but they had horns on either side of their head that pointed forward and they could generate electricity from them. We fought them off until it was down to just one left, this one was bigger than the others and a silvery white color. It jumped forward at me and I blocked its horns with my sword. After jumping back the beast didn’t attack again like I thought it would instead it looked around at all its injured comrades and then laid down in a submissive gesture. I told everyone to stop fighting and tried to approach the wolf. It made no attempt to even growl at me so I had Karin help me treat their injuries and then a large white one almost as big as I was came from around a rock face and all the others ran over to greet it. I at first thought it would attack in defense of its friends but instead it bowed to me. I hesitated a moment and then bowed back. The big one turned to leave and the rest followed, except for the silver one who watched us for a moment then ran over to the big white one. He stopped and looked up at it then the white one turned around to look at me then back down at the silver one and continued to walk away. The silver one, however, came running back, but had a rather playful look on its face rather than that of an attacker. It seemed as if it was going to follow us for a while so I named Feinir and made him a member of our party. He was a good asset in battle and he was rather fond of me I guess for helping treat the wounds I caused his friends. We set up camp a little ways from the mountain and got ready for the night. We set up guard shifts and went to bed. The next morning we headed to the Durian Gate. Basically the gate was a bridge guarded by a small town to kind of control who did or didn’t cross the river. They had plenty of shops and thing to do so I took mine and Kai’s swords to get re-tempered. Kinira bought a white stone for her staff and spent most her time in the little church learning healing magic. Karin got a new sword altogether and Keilik turned in his and my bow’s for an Oak bow that was better for him to use then either of the other two. Feinir scared most the adults he passed but all the children liked playing with him. Demiscreese got his lance re-tipped and then went to go see about getting us through the gate because it was the only way across the river unless we wanted to swim. However the current was so strong it would take us several miles down before we could cross. Demiscreese told us that the gate closed by order of the duke. Apparently this town was just an outpost of a bigger town. We got directions to the duke’s mansion and headed there to see if we could get permission to use the bridge. His mansion was in the dead end of a gorge that ran dry, sometime before it was built. We went in and found the place completely deserted. After searching the main floor we split into two groups, went up and the other down, after navigating the basement rooms we came to another staircase back up that when we reached the top the other group was coming down a staircase on the other side. We had come to a large room with pillars lining the walls and I big door at the other end. It was well decorated and big enough for an elephant to walk through. It suddenly opened and a man came out that was so well clothed it was obvious he was the duke. He asked why we defiled his house and when I told him the situation he said “Ill now destroy you as an example to all others that would interfere.” He attacked me and I ended up dueling him one on one. After a bit of a struggle I hit him in the side of the head with the flat of my sword and he fell unconscious. He woke right away, but was like a different person, he looked confused and then asked who we were and how he got there. I told him about our situation and about the fight we just had and he didn’t remember. He explained how he went across the bridge with an army to kill a demon terrorizing people on a crossroads on the other side of the river when for some reason his men started killing each other and then he saw the demon. An evil chill ran down his spin like nothing else and then he woke up here. I asked him if he could give us permission to pass the gate and he said that he would let us pass but to keep his people safe it would be closed behind us and we wouldn’t be able to get back till the demon was gone or beaten. I agreed as I didn’t think we would need to come back over and we returned to the bridge with a written order to pass. The guards dropped the gate and we crossed, immediately after we got off the end of the bridge they hulled it back up and I asked Keilik which way to go. He had a power that made a 3D image of the map above the paper to show us a more accurate view of the land and pointed us toward El Shi-Kashia. We followed the road till we came to a marsh that wasn’t on the map, there was grass waste high and it was full of monsters that were easy enough to fight off. We came to a small clearing in the grass around a pond and in the middle of the pond was an island with a mine shaft on it. We crossed the small wooden bridge to the island and there was a map next to the entrance. On the left side of the board the map was on was a list of things that could be found inside and their estimated value. The place looked rather old and probably forgotten so the items I question may be more or less valuable now. To the left of the entrance was what looked like a service desk with mining tools hanging behind it. As I approached it a ghost appeared in the chair behind the desk and introduced himself as Irwin. He said for that we could use the mine all we wanted as long as we gave him all the soul ore we found. He explained that the soul ore could bring him back to life if he had enough. He also said we could use his tools and keep anything else we found. We agreed to his proposal and mined for a while. We collected a few pieces of soul ore as defined by the Irwin “a black stone with a green glow” along with a lot of other valuable items. Feinir was a lot better at finding were stuff was buried and helped dig it out. He started digging in kind of wet spot that I though was from the pond the wall collapsed and water came rushing in. When the commotion had stopped Irwin appeared and said the when a new tunnel is discovered the possibility for new things to find is exponential. We looked around the new area a bit and Irwin vanished, back to the desk I assumed. I noticed a few rusty weapons lying in the mud so we collected them and then the mine. We gave the soul ore to Irwin and then continued on to the city. When we got there were no guards at the gate. We split up and explored a bit to gather information. We went up at an inn and told each other what we learned. Kinira went with Karin to gather supplies while Kai and I entered a combat tournament. The first round was kind of an entrance test. It was a free for all but half of the fighters had red ribbons and the other half had blue. In all there were about 50 of us. At the end of 30 minutes only the people with both ribbons could stay in the tournament. I started with a blue ribbon and got my red one in my fist conflict. I looked over at Kai to gloat but he had his already too. We stood off to the side and watched the rest of the fight. A few warriors thought to attack us but we kept our ribbons and at the end of it there were 23 left with both ribbons. Five large circles appeared and then rose about a foot off the ground to form combat zones. A tournament style pyramid appeared on the far wall and we went to our respective fights. My first fight was with a guy who looked really strong and had a huge axe. He swung it down at me but was really slow and easy to dodge. I rolled right and jumped upward chopping the head off his axe and landing behind him with my sword pointed at the back of his neck. He gave up and I moved up a spot. My next fight was against a young kid who also used a sword. At the sound to fight he vanished and appeared right in front of me swinging upward. It was as if he moved so fast I couldn’t see it. I blocked his attack but only just. I asked how he did that and he called it the flash step. He did it again and again and always I would barely make the block. I watched carefully and finally he stopped. He said “No man’s eye can track the flash step, yet you’ve blocked all my attempts to strike you, how is that?” I looked at him a moment and then replied, “It’s not all that great of a technique, it’s just a matter speed, knowing when and how to move so your body reaches its maximum speed, and you seem to vanish, however I can not only track your movements but mimic them as well” I performed the flash step but not as effectively as he did and stopped my assault just before removing the kids head. He looked down at the blade and gave up. “How can you possibly have copied that, it takes years to master and there’s no way you could see me?” He muttered, I told him that when he moved he pushed off to hard and left a dust trail in the wind which let me know which way he was going. One by one Kai and I both moved up through the ranks. It came down to three of us do to someone stepping down so the audience voted out one of us. Kai and I were to be the final match. It had been awhile but I felt confident. The bell sounded for the match to start and we walked to the middle and I held up my sword and Kai did the same. Our weapons made a cross shape and back home this was where we determined rules for our match, this time I just told Kai that we should put on a good show and he shrugged it off in agreement. We jumped back from each other and Kai threw the first attack that I easily countered but he blocked it and we paused a moment before really going at it almost playing hit for hit back and forth. The crowd was roaring with excitement and it wasn’t till about 30 seconds in that we started getting fancy. I did a side flip as Kai moved to attack so that I was right above him but I was upside down and our swords clashed over and over. The sheer force of each blow kept me in the air above him as if I was flying. I slashed to the side as a distraction and came down beside him in sword lock. We were both going full force and it was the best match either of us had had yet. We forced each other back and took defensive stances. We both rushed forward and our blades collided several times before we separated again. I swung horizontally and Kai put his foot on the flat of it after stepping back to dodge and the jumped off it into a front spin flip to come down behind me with a downward swing. With my sword already down I just had to bring it up. When our swords collided this time you could almost see the energy of our blows radiate off the swords. After a pause to catch our breaths we went at it again. With one final swing that we both put all our force behind, our swords shattered, the match was deemed a tie as neither of us could continue. We were each given 10000 as prize money. We first bought some high quality swords from the smithy and then got a few supplies I thought we might need later. After that Kai left to go train with his new sword and I headed over to meet Keilik at the auction house where I saw his bow sell for a little over 20000. I asked why he had sold it and he told me that he could make a better one from scratch and that the money he just got was for the materials. We gathered everyone up and started sharing the information we collected and we were about to leave when I realized Kai hadn’t come back yet. Everyone started asking around and collecting more info about the medallions while I left the city and searched the nearby areas for him. I found him sitting at a crossroads in the shade of a large rock. As I approached he got up and looked at me. I immediately knew something wasn’t right with him. As I looked into his eyes I saw a stranger looking back and then he spoke. “Why do you interfere mortal?” ”I don’t understand…” I replied hesitantly staying my distance as to not put either of us in a bad situation. “I am but a shadow of my former self I was once the master of all evil and ruler of all…very soon now I will resurrect onto the world and you shall not stop me” The shadow said. “I’m not trying to stop you I’m just trying to get my friends and I back home” I told him earnestly. The he turned to walk away and said “I will send a man to room 13 of the lost hotel…be there at midnight and give this man all the medallions you possess, if not then I will keep this one as my vassal and kill the rest of you, taking the medallions by force.” then as he walked away he vanished into nothing. I headed back to the city and met up with everyone at the gate. After explaining the situation to them and learning what all they had found out. We went to the lost hotel, which happened to be one of the inns in the city and we got a room for the night. We talked about what we had learned from the city folk. The story was similar to that which we had several time before, an evil demon ruled over the land till a hero came and sealed it within several medallions, and then vanished without a trace. Though we got more from this tail, it said that the demons powers were divided into the medallions, each with a different one and that the one holding its soul was sealed away a guarded so that no one could get their hands on it. One of the demons powers was to take control of human bodies and use them to his will. Also several people had been going missing for a short while, they would return later and gather up strange things and when they could put no more on their horse or cart they would leave never to be seen again. “It sounds like someone found the medallion with this power to control people and is trying to resurrect the demon” I said rather bluntly. We went to sleep a bit early so we could be ready for the midnight meeting. Midnight soon came around and I got up and took the medallions over to room 13. Kinira came with me into the room and we waited for about 10 minutes before a man in a black, hooded cloak appeared in the corner as if from nothing, or maybe he had been there from the start and we just hadn’t noticed him. He stepped forward and in that same empty voice the man spoke, “The medallions if you please…” Where is Kai,” I demanded. “Give me the medallions and you‘ll find him safe” the man said holding out his hand. I demanded that he let me see Kai first and the man took off his hood. This man was in fact Kai, “Now give me the medallions or this will be the last time you‘ll ever see him again.” He said sounding a little flustered. I handed the medallions to him and they vanished as soon as they hit his hand. Then I demanded that he let Kai go but the voice said something to the contrary, “I think I have a better plan, you seem like you might be of use to me later on and besides, I rather like this one, so I think I’ll keep him for a while.” Then he jumped from the window and ran off across the field to the north-east. We gathered all our things and followed after him. The trail ended at a cave where what looked like a massive dog with horns and wings landed in front of the cave. After a short fight I soon realized we could not win so we ran to a nearby farm to formulate a plan to get past it. We slept in the barn that night and in the morning we talked about the situation now that our heads were clear. As we were discussing how we would get past it a young boy came and saw us there. He asked why we were there and I told him our situation. He didn’t mind us staying the night and told us he was an orphan that ran this farm on his own so we helped him with the daily chore in exchange for breakfast. We continued talking about what we could do to get past the creature and the boy overheard us and told us about the beast. “It’s a rather stupid creature and easily distracted by small fast moving objects, like a cat chasing a mouse,” he said. Then he showed us a machine he was working on, it looked like a 3 wheeled push cart but it ran on remote control. He said it was for taking good to town and was really fast. It actually only went about 25 mile an hour but to the people in this world that would seem fast. He said that he had outrun the creature several times with it on his way to town and offered to be a decoy so we could enter the cave. He took off before I could even say no. We gathered own things and followed him. As we approached the cave he was already being chased and sure enough he was faster than the beast so it was chasing him in all kinds of circles and zigzags. He saw us coming and led the creature away so we could get in the cave. The last thing we saw was him riding over a hill and the beast still following. We looked around and the cave was a dead end. We were in a single room with no other exit. We searched carefully for any clues when I noticed a single stalactite on the ceiling. I noticed it because it was swaying back and forth and then I realized it was made of flesh. It fell but before it hit the ground a huge butterfly came from it and flew from the cave. We gave the place one more look over before heading outside again. We came out to see the beast ravaging a tree and Keilik noticed the cart the kid was riding was busted up not far from it. I looked carefully and saw him in the tree and realized that we had to fight the thing to save him so we surrounded it and attacked all at once. After a while it just got annoyed and flew off over the mountain. The boy climbed down and thanked us saying that he turned to hard and the cart flipped over and as he was running the creature stepped on it. He told us not to worry and that he was going to make a better one. He said one day he want to make a vehicle that could go anywhere, land, sea and sky. We wished him luck and then headed back toward town to see if we couldn’t get any leads on how to find Kai. No sooner do we reach it then Kai himself steps out of an ally and points over the ocean to the north. Meet me in the Jeda region of the northern continent in three days or Kai is mine forever. Then as quickly as he came he was gone again. Contemplating how we could get across Demiscreese told us how we could use Leviathan. He said in times of trouble the sea dragon would come to those who possessed a dragons pearl. I asked him where we could get one. Demiscreese said that a dragons pearl was given to one as proof of a pact, in other words we had to convince a dragon to make a pact with one of us, then use the pearl to call Leviathan, get across the ocean, and then figure out where Kai was is only 3 days. Time was against us and we still had no idea how to find a dragon or how to convince it to make a pact with one of us. We went back into town to gather information. A young half-dragon (which seemed to be a rare sight even in this world) told us that a dragon will only make a pact with someone if it somehow feels indebted to them. The only time it ever occurred in the past was when several knights helped a dragon clan claim a forest back from a gang of thugs and forbid any human from ever stepping there again. After the final battle with the reigning king it was proven most of the knights were out for themselves and tried to steal the dragons treasure, however four of the knights remained true to their word and forced the traitors out. Each of the four knights where then recognized by dragons who agreed to make a pact with them and they became known as the Riders. The four dragon knights then set out on their dragons to bring peace to all by doing what they could as they traveled their separate ways. A classic legend from the past, but no one knows if the riders still or ever existed. I asked where we might be able to find any dragons and he said that there used to be a clan living in the mountains above the haunted mine. We knew what he had meant so we gathered supplies and headed out for the marsh. As we arrived we could hear lots of load noises from inside and Irwin appeared at the desk telling us the commotion had been going on for a while. We followed the noise until we could reach no further. Feinir was sniffing at a wall but it was made of rock ad he couldn’t dig through it so Keilik went back to the desk and got a pickax to take it down with. As the wall fell several pieces of soul ore came from it as well as a dark brown crystal that fit into Kinira’s staff letting her use some earth magic. We wandered through the tunnels and rooms behind the wall and after getting so lost we may as well be caught in the elves spell again we heard more of the noises and now it sounded like roaring in the distance. We fallowed it and eventually came to a room with two dragons standing in front of a cave at the other end and there was light coming from a tunnel on the right side of the room. I looked at the dragons and they looked back, one was red and had black spikes all over the other was all black and had rather smooth looking skin. As I approached the red one got up and said “None other than our own may pass here, how did you find this place?” “We came through the mine, why can’t we pass?” I replied. This time the black one rose and said “Our queen is currently dealing with a demon that has been causing problems and only with her permission will a non-clan member step through this tunnel.” I offered my help and the two dragons said in unison “Our queen needs no help from the likes of you human!” I apologized, but then the back one said that she had in fact been gone longer then intended so he asked us to go look for her. The red one said that we were just checking her progress with the demon to put the clan at ease weren’t sent to help. I laughed in my head a little because they wanted to believe their queen was invincible and yet they still worried. I agreed to go and they pointed us out the rightward exit and said to follow the trail up the mountain and in a cave on the other end of the ridge was where the demon lived and where their queen said she was going. We followed the trail along the ridge for about 2 or 3 miles before finding the cave. Inside was a long tunnel that led to a single room where a bloody corpse of a white dragon was lying just inside the room. I thought it dead but as I approached it moved a little and then I a terrifying yet smothered voice it spoke, “Stop there human, I need no help from the likes of you, you aren’t even worthy enough to approach me.” I looked at her a moment and then stepped forward, “Worthy or not I can’t leave the injured to die,” “I’ll kill you if you touch me” she replied “Can you? In that condition I mean, it looks as though you can barely talk let alone anything else.” I said “Why would you help me, even when I would do you harm” she asked me seriously this time and I replied “Because no harm you could do to me would outweigh the guilt of leaving you to die” She looked at me a moment as if stunned by my answer. “Humans only serve themselves, you would not be so kind where there nothing in it for you.” “Your right…” I said “I’d get the satisfaction of knowing I did all I could to help you, and if you kill me after as you say you would, then so be it” She looked away from me and said “Do what you will human, but I will not thank you for it” I nodded to Karin and we treated her wounds carefully. After closing and bandaging her Kinira used some healing magic to speed up the recovery process and the dragon, now able to move, got up and slowly walked to the side of the room. She told us about the demon and that it was in the form of a human dressed in a cloak. I thought of Kai and sure enough, my old friend made himself known. “Why are you here, I thought you were going to wait for us across the ocean” I asked, and he replied, “No, No, my friend, I said to meet me there I never said I would wait, but I have changed my mind, when I heard you were looking for a dragons pearl I just couldn’t let you have one could I.” At this the dragon looked at me with malice in her eyes, “So that is what you sought by helping me, I knew your words where false” I replied, “Believe what you will but my words where truly spoken, By my coming here I was simply going to ask for any help you might give me, I wasn’t going to ask for the pact unless I thought it my only chance, this demon took the body of my friend and I will go to Oblivion and back and then again if that’s what it took to save him.” “Enough talk, now I will end you,” said the demon from within Kai as he sped forward he hit us all with a purple light that made all our equipment feel heavy. It took all I had just to keep him back as he attacked over and over, fully intending to kill. I finally got some distance and Demiscreese trapped him in a bubble of water so he couldn’t move, then Kinira reinforced it with her own magic but he just grinned and then vanished as if he was never there. I approached the dragon and asked how she was but she just looked at me with disgust, “How could I come to believe you, you are no different from that demon, be gone.” “May I at least see you back to your lair, I would like to know your safely home, then we will leave without another word” I said earnestly. She looked at me a moment and then agreed. “You may see me home if that is your wish as reward for your help but don’t expect any kind of welcome.” We all went slowly back to the dragon guarded cavern and the black dragon immediately took her onto his shoulder and walked her inside, the red one remained at his post and as we started back toward the exit he turned and said that the queen has granted us entrance. Looking at each other we turned around and went in. It seems relatively small and there were less than 50 dragons to be seen but the cavern they made a home of was amazing. Several smaller caves lined the walls with a wide road that spiraled up to each. Everything, the walls the road the ceiling, all of it was encrusted with a rainbow of gems and crystals, and it wasn’t what you would expect in a cave, it was full of foliage, there were plants and trees all over as if put there decoratively, and a spring in the middle of the main room had a pillar of water that rose to the top of the cavern and it had little trails of water that crossed the ceiling and ran down the walls back to the spring in the middle. We saw the black dragon helping the white one into one of the chambers and then as we admired everything a green dragon came from the same room and told us we were to be taken care of. We were escorted up a few levels and into a room and told to wait, after a little while we were brought some smoldering meat and to eat and relax till called. I asked about our limits as so not to be rude to anyone and she said we were free to do as we pleased and that no one would complain so Kinira and Karin went for a walk and to talk to some of the dragons while the rest of us ate and rested, I still felt weak from whatever the demon within Kai had cast on us so I took a short nap only to be awakened by the green dragon. There was also a yellow dragon and they told us to follow them. We went back down to the bottom floor and in the middle room that was strait back from the entrance we saw the white dragon again, the other two bowed and introduced her, “This is our queen, we owe you a great debt for returning her to us but it is on her to decide your reward.” “I am Flagra, and as you probably knew before even coming here I am the Queen.” “Please, no reword is necessary, I have seen you here safely and true to my word we‘ll be on our way unless there is something you wish of us?” I said humbly “although you had ulterior motives for helping me I see now that they were not selfish and that even without a need of us, had you found me elsewhere you still may have helped me, And although I nor any of my underlings will pact with you I do grant you this whistle. You won’t hear anything but any dragon that hears that will know you are a vassal to me and come to your aid” “Thank you most kindly this is more than I could have asked for.” “Also, I grant you entrance to any of the dragon lairs, seek them should you need rest” she continued. Then the green one stepped forward from a line of dragons sitting along the wall and said, “It shall be done” then she ran from the room and we saw her take flight up into the cavern where there must have been another exit for the to fly from. “You may stay as long as you need to recover.” Flagra said, then she looked to the yellow one, “See to their comfort.” “Of course.” he responded and then he showed us around and after taking us back to the room we waited inside and he lied down just inside the entrance way of the room and said that should we need anything at all we need only ask. We stayed the night and rested well. The next morning we woke to a fine meal brought to us by a green dragon and after eating we went to see Flagra again. I asked if she had any way for us to cross the ocean but none of the dragons could fly that far. So after she wished us luck we left back down toward the city to find some way to cross the ocean. After we checked around for anyone that had information about how we could cross it still came down to using Leviathan, but we had no way of getting him to come help us so Demiscreese told us that there was one other way to meet the sea god but it would mean going to him. I asked how we could do that and he said the sea dragon’s lair was in a cavern system on the bottom of the ocean underneath an endless whirlpool. It seemed impossible at first but then he continued and told us that we could get there from under water but it would be a long journey and we should get lots of supplies and train our water magic for it. We went back through the mine and stayed with the dragons a little over a week training Kinira and Demiscreese to use the water breathing spell better so we would be able to make it all the way there and the rest of us trained as well. We constantly fought each other and sometimes the dragons would let us fight against them to help us train and that helped a great deal. When our training was done we went to the city for one final re-supply and then Demiscreese led us into depths of the oceans abyss. We reached the whirlpool in a rather short amount of time but getting through it to the cavern was the hard part. The water was moving so fast that we couldn’t go through it unless we went with the current and moved toward to middle slowly. We had gone all the way around several times before finally reaching the eye of the whirlpool where the water wasn’t churning. We soon realized there was no water we were in some kind of air bubble that seemed to be kept there by the whirlpool. Coral and the like were growing everywhere and the cavern Demiscreese told us about seemed to be more accurately described as a coral forest. We entered cautiously and found that it was not empty of life but rather full of strange creatures that seemed harmless enough. Most left us alone as we past and the few that attacked were nothing we couldn’t handle so we pressed on. The coral was amazingly beautiful and aside from the occasional encounter the creatures were rather friendly. We followed the maze like network of caves through the coral and finally came to a room that at first seemed like a dead end but then we could hear something above us and we I looked I saw that there was an opening that that went up and around and into the coral. The noise was getting loader and soon we felt the need to step back a bit and as we did so a creature resembling a large snake with the head and wings of a dragon came out and fell into a coil on the floor. I reared up like a cobra and spread its wings out. The end of its tail which we now saw rising from the middle of its coil had a rather long, sword like barb that looked rather intimidating. Demiscreese said that this was in fact leviathan. He then bowed to it and told us that he was a trusting god to those showing respect and so the rest of us bowed as well. “Rise and speak mortals, why do you disturb my lair?” It spoke in a most dominating voice that it would make some feel as though they were helpless. I stood up and explained the situation as best I could and leviathan looked at me in a manner that made me feel foolish. “Why should I help you, you are not even from this world what could you possibly offer me?” and I told him right out “I have nothing I can currently offer in return for your assistance but should the need ever arise that you would need the help of a mortal for any reason, I will return the favor even at the cost of life.” and after I bowed again to show sincerity. The creature looked at me and said “I will help you human but in return you will allow me to accompany you to your world.” I paused a moment and looked up at him “You would not be too welcome, most the people of my world are not accustomed to anything much larger then they and will likely attack out of fear if you were to make yourself known, but if that is indeed you wish you may accompany me” “I will come, and keep myself secret, if you feel it needed I merely wish to see you world I have no intention of staying or interfering with it.” At this he lowered himself and told us all to get onto his back. We did so and then his wings folded up around us and he shot up through the hole in the roof that he had come down from. We came out of the top of the coral and into the ocean water but the shear speed of leviathan made an air pocket that followed us to the surface. As soon as we came back into the open air we saw that we were just a little ways off the coast of the continent we had just been on and could still see the city. Leviathan turned around and as he crossed the ocean it was amazing how fast he could go but then again he was a god after all. As we approached the shore of the other continent a large creature resembling a kraken of Greek mythology attacked us. I started telling the other to get ready when leviathan told us not to worry and o hold on. Then as if the water was part of leviathans body it moved to his will and wave after wave smashed into the kraken tossing it around but that didn’t seem to do much, so leviathan reared up and his wings began to glow with blue and purple and then a beam of light shot forward from a jewel on his head that looked like an aurora-borealis that hit the kraken but it didn’t even flinch. When the mist that had come from the exploding light the creature was fine and it then spoke in a rather choked voice “No attack can harm me nor can anything survive mine” and then before we even saw it move everything went black. When I awoke we were in a cavern of some kind and everyone was knocked out. Leviathan was lying with his top half on land and the rest of him in a pool on the far end of the cavern, also unconscious. Karin and Demiscreese were missing so I tried to get everyone up but leviathan wouldn’t wake up so the rest of us started exploring. After a short while we found an exit but I didn’t want to leave our friends behind so we went back in to find them. We made our way back to where leviathan was and Karin was trying to wake him up and Demiscreese was sitting next to them. We tried everything to get him to come around but nothing worked so we made up camp in the cave and Karin brought me some plants that she had collected from outside to make dinner with. It may have been the smell of the food cooking on the fire but leviathan rose and asked how we had gotten there. I told him about the creature and he was ashamed that he could be beaten like that. He lay back down and was resting when the kraken came crashing threw one of the walls and leviathan was in no condition to fight so we had to hold our own. It lashed out at us with two tentacles and we fought back the best we could but nothing seemed to work but then we noticed that he always kept one of his tentacles covering his chest and I figured it was as good a place as any to target so Karin attacked one side of him and as he struck Keilik attacked the other side forcing it to retaliate with its other tactical. Feinir shot a blast of electricity from the horns on his head and hit a small gem imbedded in the beast's chest. The force caused it to crack and then I ran up and thrust my sword through the gem.

It broke into pieces and then the beast was as mortal as anything else. Leviathan had awoke at this point and fired his aurora at the kraken again but this time the monster reared back in pain then leviathans tail came up from the ground and he plunged the sword on the end of it into the krakens chest where the gem had been and it lolled over dead. Then leviathan said to me almost as if his final words. “You have proven yourself strong, allow me to make you stronger still, I grant you my power. Onto you I shall grant this pact, I shall serve your every need, all you need do is say my name and I will appear, in return you will take me with you when you go home…Agreed?” I looked at him and almost without thinking I repeated the word “Agreed.” At that I felt myself lift into the air by an unseen force and my chest felt as if I had just had the wind knocked out of me, I looked down to see that my chest looked as if it was liquefied and I could feel as if something was pulling my insides. Then my own heart encased inside what looked like a glass ball floated from my chest and the pain was gone and my chest felt completely back to normal. I looked up at leviathan and a similar thing had happened to him, his heart encased in the same glasslike material was floating outside him chest, then the two of them floated toward each other and when they collided they seemed to force themselves together and I felt a heavy weight that seemed to crush my whole body and at the same time a relief like nothing else, it was as if every bone in my body was broken not a moment ago and then they all were healed all at once. It such a surreal feeling I almost wish it could have lasted forever. The two orbs containing our hearts fused together and formed a bluish silver orb with a pearlescent glow to it. Leviathan’s body then faded like he was nothing more than a ghost and in a whisper said “All my power is now yours…forever…” Demiscreese tried to pick up the orb but his hands passed through it like it was an illusion or something. He told me that this was in fact a dragon orb and that only the pack maker would be able to touch its physical form. I picked it up, it was about the size of a basketball but suddenly it began to shrink to the size of a golf ball and then it flew out of my hand and circled me a few times before imbedding itself into the back of my left hand. There was no pain but it was sure a surprise. I lead everyone back through the cave and when we reached the exit we assessed our surroundings outside. We were on an island about a half mile or so of shore of this new continent. Crossing to the main land was easy enough as the tide was out and there was a kind of land bridge that we used to get to the main land. We notice a town in the distance and decide it was as good a place as any to start looking for information. We headed into town and gathered supplies we would need and of course tended to our equipment as well. As we shopped we asked everyone for any information on the Jeda region but nobody had seemed to have heard of it. We had no luck so we decided to head out and check the next town, but as we were leaving a young boy called to us from an ally and said his grandpa could help us so we followed him to his house on the edge of town by the gate which was convenient as we would be able to leave right away when we were done. His grandpa explained over dinner that the Jeda region only exists in the mind at the exact moment your mind is lost to sleep and can only be gotten to by experienced monks. He told us he knew a monk who could take us there and that he would fetch her while we finished eating. About an hour after he had left he returned with a young girl who couldn’t be more than 17 or 18. He introduced her as Shadel, she said that she would help us if we agreed she could come with us when we left. She said it was necessary for her to travel in order to finish her training and I agreed that she could come. She told us to all lie down and to just go to sleep. We did and it was hard at first because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do but then it was almost uncontrollable that my mind drifted from reality into sleep. I suddenly found myself standing next to everyone in what seemed like a cave full of crystals. I looked closely and could see the images of people on the side of the crystals as if they were all tiny televisions. Shadel told us that the crystals contained the dreams of everyone in universe. Keilik accidentally broke one and then we saw in the image as the dream became a nightmare and Shadel told us to be more careful breaking the crystals meant that the dreams of their owner would be bad ones until the crystal grew back. We carefully followed the only path we could take through the cave like place and finally I saw it. A tower stretching up ward and vanishing into the ceiling but it wasn’t actually in the ceiling it was like the tower was more or less part of the cavern itself. We went inside and the tower seemed to be built like an old temple. We headed up searching each floor carefully for any signs of Kai or otherwise. After about the 3rd or 4th floor we started seeing very strange life forms that weren’t too hard to fight off but none the less made it that much more difficult. After what seemed like we’d been claiming forever we came to the top of a staircase that opened into a large circular room an there didn’t seem to be another way in or out of the room. We looked around carefully and just as I was about to give up and have us all leave, we heard that same evil voice” I aloud for you to find this place, but this is the end for you, you have become a nuisance to me and I will tolerate it no more” Kai stepped from the shadow of the doorway holding a sword I didn’t recognize. There was a rather wide gap in the base of the blade that had a black stone supported by mettle spokes, the hilt seemed to have eyes on it. I drew my own sword and then suddenly there was a black light that filled the room and all my friends stopped moving as if paralyzed, or more like it was if time itself had stopped around them. I was still able to move and I demanded he freed them. “Why are you not frozen with the rest of them, no matter, I’ll just have to kill you the fun way.” He came at me and I defended myself while refusing to fight back for fear of hurting Kai. We went back and forth like that for a couple rounds before I noticed the light that stopped my friends was coming from the stone on his sword. I also noticed every time he attacked that the light would flicker a bit and almost seem to fade a little before brightening again. I waited for the next attack at which point I stepped forward shouldering his chest and using the gap in his blade to my advantage, I stuck my own sword down through it and pinned it to the ground so that when I made contact with my shoulder he reeled back and was forced to let go. He stumbled back and the sword fell to the ground I then pulled my sword out of the ground and dropped hard crushing the black stone with the hilt of my blade and then as if it were alive the light flooded out almost like a bellow and then faded away. My friends where unfrozen and Kai fell to the ground unconscious the moment the stone shattered. I claimed the sword and then rushed over to help Kai. Kinira used some magic to help revive him and when he came to he was himself again. I asked him how he felt and he said he didn’t know what was going on. He asked how he got here and I told him everything that happened since he first disappeared and he told me that he couldn’t remember any of it. I showed him the sword to see if it would help and he said a man on the road challenged him and was using that sword and that the last thing he remembered was beating the guy. I figured that the sword had been possessed by the demon and could control its wielder and it chose Kai do to him beating the swords owner. I noticed the stone wasn’t broke anymore the pieces and turned clear and as I gathered them up an unseen force pulled them to each other and it became whole again. I place the now clear stone in the blade again and gave it to Kai. I asked Shadel how we were to get out of this world and she said that we had to find a way to wake ourselves before sunrise or else the world would collapse on itself and our bodies in the real world would die. I thought hard about how we could wake ourselves and then I had an idea, I asked Shadel about the crystals again, “If these crystals shows everyone’s dreams would we find one that showed us dreaming this right now?” She thought a moment and replied that that was exactly right and so I asked what would happen if we broke our own crystals and she said that because this was a created world and not an actual dream that it could in fact wake us up but it could also do any number of other things to us as well, It might even be fatal. I thought for a moment and then we finally agreed that we may as well at least try to find the crystals the contained our dream as we had no other leads to go on so we headed down the stairs and it was as if all the floors we had claimed vanish for less than 10 or 15 steps down was the exit door. We searched each crystal carefully and finally we found Karin’s crystal. We decided to locate the other crystals before doing anything and it took some time but we finally found them all, we placed them in a neat pile and then talked about what we should do. We finally decided we would break the crystals and hope for the best because we had no other ideas. We each took our own crystal and on my cue crushed them under our feet. Then the world we were in vanished as if it were never there and a bright light engulfed us. I found myself waking up in the old man’s house and then I realized that even thou we had saved Kai that his body was somewhere else and we would have to find him all over again. The other woke one after another and I explained the situation and we began talking about what to do next. We decided we would head back to El-Shi-Kashin and see if we could find out any info on the demon or if anyone had seen Kai around there at all. We headed for the shore again and I called leviathan to take us south back to the city and as we came up the road leading from the ocean to the city a man was running from it say that everyone in the city had lost it and where destroying everything. We rushed into find the place in utter chaos. Any and every one attacked us and we were forced to fight back, but didn’t kill anyone. We split up and tried to find out what was going on meeting up in front of the church. We went inside to discuss a plan and then we saw an angel above the alter. We asked her to help and she said to leave an offering. I asked her what we could offer and she said to offer a confession of our sins and to repent our evil ways. I said there was nothing to confess and then she grew angry. Her voice changed and she said, "you dare claim there’s nothing to confess after ruining my planes over and over.” And then as her voice deepened it became all too familiar. I knew it was the same demon that took Kai. We backed off a bit and I demanded to know where Kai was. The alter then broke open and Kai was sitting inside a glass box of some kind unconscious. The demon told me that he was done playing. The angel wings turned black and his form began to change, he turned into a large gargoyle and swung at us with his claws. We dodged and then spread out through the room to keep him from taking us all out at once. I tried to reach Kai but it was no good, the demon swung its tail at me and I was forced back again. Kinira tried using magic on the demon but he was totally unaffected. It was like trying to make the wind stop by blowing the opposite way. Demiscreese and Keilik were staying back and studying his movements trying to figure out a weak point but to no avail. I finally saw an opening to attack, I ran up the demons tail and when I reached its back I drove my sword into his flesh and drug the sword all the way up his spine like I had seen done in so many cheesy anime shows in my world. At first I didn’t think it would be that easy, but then, as I jumped down from his shoulder and turned to see if I had beat him it was as if it never happened. There was no wound, no blood, and no indication I ever even made contact with him. Then I noticed something on the floor. The whole thing had a painting of the demon on it but in the painting you could see a scar on its back from where I had just cut him. I thought for a moment and then realized that the demon we could see wasn’t really there. I told Kinira to focus on the creatures shadow with her magic and as she lit the floor ablaze with her fire the creature roared and began to burn even though none had touched him. Smoke rolled from his body and then he faded away, like a ghost fading into mist. I rushed over to where Kai was and broke him from the prison he had been contained in. He came to, slowly and the sword I had seen him with in the dream world was clutched in his hand. I figured the demon had him here all along. Making us go through the trouble of going to the northern continent to try and separate us. He got up as always played it off like it was all part of some plan, or something. We headed out but before we reached the door the floor shook and the painting on the floor started to rise and take shape. The demon wasn’t dead just yet and we knew we had to fix that. I rushed in and tried to end it in one blow but was knocked back buy his arm. Kai came around from the other side and tried to attack its blind spot but its tail seemed to have a mind of its own and blocked him without the demon ever looking back at him. Keilik shot several arrows at it but they bounced off as if they were mere straws. Finally I started to think defensively and then I drew him to the far left of the room and as he attacked me I got him to take out the pillars around the room 1 by 1 until the building came down on top of us. We had all taken cover under a barrier Kinira put up and the demon rose out of the rubble looking like, well he looked like a building just fell on him. He moved a lot slower and we managed a few hits here and there but we still were at a big disadvantage. He swung at me with his arm and I stepped to the side and cleaved it from his elbow. He let out a shriek of pain and then struck out with the other arm. This time Kai came in over my shoulder and with an almost godlike speed shredded the beasts arm up to the shoulder, into pieces no longer recognizable as flesh. Now Kinira and Demiscreese both used their magic to attack his body knocking him to the ground at which point Kai Karin Keilik and myself all jumped up and our blades pined his head to the ground. Now normally when something get 4 blades stuck through its skull it dies, but the demon just smiled as its body deteriorated into nothing in it place was a pile of various things including some weapons bits of armor and the 4 medallions I had given Kai back in the hotel room before. His voice echoed over us, “We will meet again..!” We looked around and the people where returning to normal. We help them clean up the city and asked around for information as we went. We decided it best we continued looking for the medallions. We also determined it best to head back to the northern continent because we had seen most of the southern and it was unlikely to find anything more here at this time. I called leviathan and we crossed the ocean again. We returned to Shadel’s house to rest for the night and gather information about the medallions. No one knew what we meant but some of the towns folk told us that the markings on them was similar to that of the markings on the temple to the east of the village so we made that our destination and enjoyed a nice meal a good sleep before setting out the next morning. At first light we traveled east and for 3 days we saw nothing but the road and open fields. There was the occasional tree but not many, under a tree near the side of the road we were on was an elderly man who looked like he had been there awhile. We asked if he needed any assistance and told us that he was waiting for someone. I asked him about the temple we were looking for and he told us, “ At the end of a canyon that delves deep into the mountainside another day’s journey to the east is some old ruins that might be what we were looking for.” I asked if he knew anything about them and he said that only the dragon knights, have ever gone in and lived to come out. We headed east again and finally came to a rather high cliff side but no sign of a canyon. We set up camp for the night between some boulders for security and decided that we would split up and search the side of the cliffs tomorrow. In the morning we noticed that the creatures in the area where a lot stronger than that of elsewhere and we had difficulty fighting them off but still we managed. We search the mountainside for most of the day and finally found the canyon entrance behind some rubble that looked like a wall. We followed it in and the creatures kept getting larger and stronger. We handled them with a bit of effort and pushed forward. The ruins of the temple were smaller than I thought but then I noticed it was built into the side of the cliff. I emblem above the door had fallen forward and collapsed so it was easy to get at, but the medallion wasn’t there, we could tell it used to be by the indent on the stone. We found a way through the rubble and inside. It was still mostly intact and looked a lot like an old cathedral and may have been at one time. We looked around and tried to avoid most of the beasts as they were rather formidable. We finally came to a staircase that took us up and into the mountain. We came out into a courtyard that seemed well kept for being in the back of ruins. As we looked around I heard a voice in my head, “the Masamune has returned in shame and must be cleansed of the darkness to regain its power.” I looked around and saw no one. Then I noticed a fountain that had no water in it but there was a sheath made of silver sticking out of the middle as if it was meant to be the spout. I thought about the voice and then slid Masamune into the sheath, nothing happened. I tried to draw it back out but couldn’t. The sword was stuck firm. We all looked around for anything else in the courtyard that might tell us more of the sword or the medallion. We noticed writing on the wall behind the fountain but it was covered in vines so we pulled them all down but I couldn’t read the text. Keilik said that he recognized it as an ancient form of scripting that has been lost and no one could read it anymore but then Kinira stepped forward and said, “the waters of this fountain flow from the tree of life, the mother to all, it can cure the sick and mend the broken, it purifies evil even in its most tainted form, this is a holy spring. That’s what it says…” not knowing how she could read it I thought about the fountain of youth legend from our world and laughed. Then I noticed a path that led down behind the scripted wall but the wall was in the way, we looked over it carefully for any hint of a switch or leaver but found none. The we tried pushing one way then the other and still no luck, we decided to look around the rest of the courtyard again and after a while the wall just, wasn’t there, it was as if it had never been. We looked at each other shrugged and follow the now open tunnel down into a cave that was lit by a strange blue glow. In the center of the cave was a tree that had blue leaves and fireflies dancing all around it. A few crystals grew from the walls and seemed to be the source of the light. I noticed several place on the tree where water seeped out from it and I thought that this must be the tree mentioned in the text on the wall, that isn’t there, around the base of the tree was what looked like a kind of moat that the water collected in. off to the left of the entrance was a machine of some kind that was probably a pump meant to run water to the fountain above us, but it wasn’t working. It was missing a gear and so the water wheel turned in the moat but the pump wasn’t working so we looked around for something we could use instead. As we search a bird flew out of the tree, picked at the moss in the moat and then flew back up into the tree. I got closer and noticed a rather large hive like nest near the upper middle of the trunk. Several of the birds flew in and out collecting the moss which seemed to be the main of the nest. I climbed the tree to see the inside and found the gear lodged in under the nest for support. Not wanting the nest to fall when I took it I had Kai throw me up some sticks that I slowly worked into the nest one by one till I could pull out the gear without anything moving. I took the gear down to the pump but before I could put it in the birds started making a ruckus and they started attacking us. We fended them off some but they were rather strong by themselves not to mention that there were about 30 of them. Demiscreese and Kinira put up a barrier with magic to keep them at bay and I fixed the pump. Water started flowing again and the birds all calmed down and when back to their nest. We headed back outside and the fountain had water in it again slowly filling and the sword had water running up the sides and evaporating into steam as soon as it touched the sheath. I reached for it reluctantly but somehow I felt like I could touch it. The sheath pulled loose and I drew the sword. It looked as good as new and radiated with a glow of beauty. We all took a drink of the water and suddenly all of our injuries healed, I felt lighter and more aware of myself. It was as if I suddenly learned a new way to use my body more efficiently than before, as strange as it sounds that the only way I could describe it. Even the scars of old injuries began to slowly vanish and it was as if every movement was easier. I looked up and noticed a dragon fly into a cave up on the mountain side the south of but more so noticed the man riding it. I took the sword and we left the temple and the canyon and headed south along the wall to find a way into where that dragon had gone. We finally reach the southern coast and found a cave that led back into the mountain, the cave went from being natural to manmade, almost like someone had built a secret getaway in the mountain, after a while it opened up and there were several rooms and corridors leading all over like a maze. Room by room we search and found no sign of anything but then we could hear the noises of dragons farther in and we fallowed it to a chamber that had 4 dragons that all seemed to be rather agitated. I asked what was wrong and the red one told me, “this is the secret meeting place of the dragon knights, you should leave immediately.” I how I could become a dragon knight and the yellow on said I had to make a pact with a dragon. I asked if leviathan counted and the black one said it was impossible to have made a pact with the god of the ocean and then the green one asked to see the proof. I showed them the dragon pearl and they all seemed stunned. They asked how it had come to be and I told my whole story, from the crystal cave, as I have now come to call it till now. 4 men came from a back room and the dragons took turns trying to tell them about me so of course I had to fix a few pieces of the story but in the end they decided I could be trusted. They introduced themselves as Glen, rider of the red dragon Flangiel, Kain, rider of the green dragon Sevek, Zane, rider of the black dragon Urreall, and the elf Torin rider of the yellow dragon Minair. He, Glen and Zane had errands to run but Kain had nothing important to do so he stayed and I asked him if he knew anything about the medallions. I showed him one and then he pulled one from his pocket that he had gotten from the temple and gave it to me. It had the wind symbol on it and he told me he knew where another one was but that it was impossible to reach. I asked why and he told me that it was on a floating island he had found once and it never stays in one place for long and he hasn’t been able to find it since. He told me that the island was where the temple of light stands and above the alter in the temple hangs the medallion of light. He agreed to help us look, but again said that the chance was minimal. He led us north around the mountains to the town of Badail, him home. At his house he gave Kinira a green stone for her staff and she was pointed toward a mages house that could teach her wind magic. He said to stay as long as we wanted and we started to look around town for supplies and an old man noticed Masamune on my back and asked me about it. I told him about Darius and he told us that Darius was originally from Badail and that his son should know what happened. The old man showed me to Darius’ house and I went inside and a middle aged woman and young man where talking. I gave the sword to the boy and told them what happened to Darius. The woman went into the back room crying, the boy took the sword and went to talk to his mother. I left feeling sorry for them but I had to move on. With our own problems in mind, collecting the medallions and ultimately getting home, I headed back to kin’s house to find everyone eating, without me, and Kain told me that he might know of a way to find the floating island but it would mean a long journey. Having come this far already we decided we might as well. We got the supplies we needed and prepared to leave the following morning. When we awoke we began getting our things ready to leave and as we were heading out of town Darius’s son came running down the path with Masamune in hand and when he caught up he said, “I thank you for bringing the news of my father to us, we can move on now, as proper thanks for this and for returning the Masamune to me, I pledge its use to your cause until your purpose is complete, or my death is assured.” I looked at him a moment and knew that nothing I could say would change his mind. We headed out and Kain lead us to a city to the North West and reached Kain’s contacts house to find that he had gone out and was yet to return. His wife told us that he had taken a band of men to fight the ogres that were terrorizing the city. We left our stuff at her house and headed to the trench line that the ogres always disappeared to. We expected to see a battle field but found nothing. We followed the trench line until we found 3 men hiding in a hole in the wall. They said that Cecil, (the guy we were looking for) went farther in and that the ogres were too strong, that nothing could beat them. We told them the way was clear and that they could go home so they left, and in a hurry. We continued till we came to a cave at the end of the trench line and we could hear the sounds of combat from inside. We rushed in to see a man fighting two of the ogres alone. Kain said that this was Cecil and we rushed in to help. There was a green one, and a blue one, I attacked the blue one with Cecil, Kai, and Kain while the others fought the green one. I managed to put a good sized gash in the blues leg but he just kept swinging his club as if nothing happened. I dodged swing after swing and noticed that the others had the same problems. No matter how much we hit them, and we hit em a lot, they just kept going. I rolled left to dodge the greens spiked club and then as soon as I got out of the way the blues club came down on top of me. I rolled forward threw its legs and cut both his ankles from behind but still no effect. Then as I was about to strike again I was beaten to it by Danar. He stuck his sword threw the blues ribs from left to right and then on threw the greens back. He lost his grip and the ogres didn’t seem to mind being stuck together like that but now they couldn’t move so we all attacked with everything we had and only after shredding them to pieces did they finally stopped fighting back. Kinira healed the wounded and we headed back to Cecil’ s house in the city. Kain talked to Cecil about the island for a while and then Cecil said that he knew of some dark magic that can get you anything you want at the cost of something equaling in value. To gain knowledge of the islands location then knowledge of something else must be lost. We thought about what we would give up for the sacrifice when Karin offered her childhood memories. I told her that it was not necessary for her to give something like that but she insisted that the islands location was more important. After a long while we agreed and Cecil prepared the ritual. While he got ready for the ritual Karin told us all about her child hood that she could remember so that we could hopefully tell her about it and she could get her memory back after the ritual. Cecil said he was ready and told Karin to sit in a circle he had drawn on the floor. He gave her a vial of black liquid to drink and then told her what to say. Karin drank the substance and then spoke the words as instructed. “I offer my memories of youth to gain the knowledge of the location of the floating island.” Blue and purple smoke came out of various points of the circle and then it swirled around her as if it were becoming a tornado. When we could no longer see Karin through the smoke it began to turn white, then black, and then it dissipated into the air. Karin looked confused for a moment and then asked, “Who are you?” I told her my name and explained what had happened and she couldn’t remember. Then as she thought a moment she came to the realization that she had forgotten everything and not just her child hood. However she said she knew exactly how to get to the flying island and that she would take us there. We tried several time to help her remember her past. We told her all the stories she told us before the ritual, we told her all about our adventure but no matter what we said or did it was as if the memories never existed in the first place. Karin said not to worry about it and that we should hurry to the elf forest. I asked what for and she said that’s where the island is. Kain called his dragon and we flew in the direction Karin told us. Soon we were above a massive forest with a low cloud cover that almost touched the trees, making it very dangerous to be flying right then. It wasn’t long before Karin said we had past the island so we turned around and went slower this time, but the clouds were thick and it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. We soon saw stalagmites that seem to hang from nothing so we flew higher and found that we were under the island. Flying out and around we got above it and surveyed the land. A mountain rose from the center and there was a small lake to the south. We could see what looked like a settlement of some kind to the east of the mountain and so we headed there seeking information. The locals were huminoidic birds that resembled harpies. As we entered the village we were greeted and welcomed. They had a blunt nature that would almost seem rude to someone that didn’t know better. We resupplied and got a few things we hadn’t seen before from some of the vendors that looked like they were worth trying. After we had become acclimated to the area Kain showed us to the shrine that he said had the medallion. The shrine was located at the base of the mountain and it was in fact I small box shrine that one would make wishes at back home. Inside the medallion sat on a metal stand displayed so that one could see the engraved symbol on the face of it. As I took it from the shrine a young male harpy flew down and demanded to know what we intended to do. I explained the whole situation and he told us about a legend. The mountain was in fact a volcano and the home to Phoenix, a large bird that was covered in flames. He said the Phoenix ravaged the island and burnt all it came across. A hero came wielding the medallion and sealed the bird inside the volcano and so long as no living thing set foot upon the mountain or remove the medallion from its shrine the creature could not return. I looked at the medallion in my hand and then back up at the young harpy and said “So then this is a bad thing..?” No sooner had the words left my mouth the ground began shaking and fire fell from the sky like red and black snow. Then a massive explosion followed by a shriek came from the mountain peak and from it what could only be Phoenix flew down to us leaving a scorched and smoking trail. In a dominating tone, a feminine voice came as a shriek from the bird. “Who has freed me from my prison?” I stepped forward and held out the medallion “That would be me.” “Then I thank you, but for what reason, have you released me?” I explained why we needed the medallions and the creature told us to meet with it atop the mountain. We began to ascend the path to the summit but the harpy said that he would not go because trespassing on the mountain was considered a sin. We arrived at the summit to find the surface of the lava pool crusted over and cool enough to walk on. It gave the mountain a kind of table top. The phoenix flew up from the side of the mountain and perched on a large dead tree that was charred and looked like could fall to ash any second. She spoke more calmly then before but still had an intimidating tone, “Why do you seek the medallions?” I explained the whole story in detail and then she said “I can grant you passage home if you desire, this volcano contain one of the crystal gates you spoke of, would you like me to show you how to use it?” I thought for a moment and then turned to my comrades, first to the two that came with me to this world and then to the many new friends I had made since arriving. I asked them collectively “What do you guys think, do we wanna go home?” Kai was the first to respond “Don’t really matter to me I’m just following my whims” then Karin spoke up, “I’m sticking with you even if it means going back to your world, I’ve left my shop to family and there’d be nothing here for me if you all went without me so I’ve decided to follow you here or there.” Kinira replied, “I don’t really remember why but I feel like I belong here so I’ll follow you even if it mean to another world.” Keilik stepped forward, “”You do what you’re gonna do, even if I’m the only one still fighting ill make sure your hard work wasn’t for nothing, so if you wanna go home then by all means, you can trust me to continue here. Just make sure you came back and visit occasionally.” Danar agreed and said, “Go home, we got things covered here, no worries. It’s what your whole journey here was for right?” Demiscreese also made comment, “Don‘t worry about things here, your meant to be in your own world. I will make sure your story is never forgotten.” Cecil made no comment but his expression told me everything. I could see they would all miss us. Kain put his hand on my shoulder, “this may be your only chance to go back, go home, the people whose lives you’ve shaped since your arrival and the Dragon Knights will forever fight for honor and courage. You risked everything for a world you stumbled upon by chance and for that it would be rude if any one asked you to stay. Don’t stay here for our sakes, do what you think is best for yours.” Feinir came up to me and sat on my right side and looked up at me with loyal eyes and a wagging tail. “You wanna come home with me?” I asked playfully and his tail began to wag ever faster.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

There is no use regretting any of your past decisions. Move on, and happiness will be much easier.

We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.

What ever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill

You cannot love anyone else until you learn to love yourself. Take some time today to reflect on yourself. Compliment the things you love and make a plan to change the things you don’t.

To understand everything is to forgive everything

Never define reality based on anything other then your own expirience

Never give in to your fears,
For if you do,
You'll never find true light,
And be lost to the darkness forever

Those who know me, love me
Those who don't know me, hate me
Those who hate me, wont try to know me

You havn't lost till you've given up

Hurt people, Hurt people

I died a death, but still alive
in phantom's likeness I survive
Alive, yet dead, I walk alone
in rooms with walls as cold as stone

I lived a life, and dreamed a dream
and loved the life you lived with me
as you slowly took your final breath
You left and then, I died a death

Only fools fear great failure for its the small losses that break a man down

We travel forward, seeking the end of infinity

Everyone is so busy trying to "think outside the box"
that they have forgotten what was inside the box in the first place

As night becomes day and day becomes night the shifting thoughts of the mind begin to fade into darkness...

Only those who attempt the absurd will ever accomplish the impossible...

Those who seek out what they want are likely to find everything their not looking for...

You must sit through the rain to see the Rainbow

Never let those around you change who you really are....

In war there is no winning or losing, right or wrong, there is only chaos, there is only death

I can because I did,
I did because I wanted to,
I wanted to because you said I couldn’t.

Only the dead have seen the end of war....

A friend is someone who knows all your deepest secrets, and loves you for every one

Everyone is waiting for someone else to give them the answer and show them the way, but what humanity needs to realize is that they must give themselves their own answer and make the way their own

Winning in war does not determine who is right, only who is left

Where are these imaginary landscapes? Do you picture them as real places with back stories, inhabitants, and climates, or does everything begin and end with what we see?

You and all the world are cought up in a mighty current you can not see or feel...i simply...swim against it...nothing more

Only the lost can find their way

As the sky darkens, the warmth of my soul shines its light upon the people I love...

To rely only on ones self is to never have any friends...

When the concurer is concurred, all will be at peace....

The elderly mistakes of yesterday are to be
repeated in the youth of tomorrow...

The beginning of the end is still the beginning and so there is no end...

Only those who have lost everything are free to do anything

Very few have the courage to test themselves...
and even fewer succeed

Not even the never ending flow of time will keep me from you should you so choose my presence

As long as you never dout your own resolve you can live a life with no regrets

The sun shining through thick storm clouds is a good omen...
but when those rays finally reach the scorched battlefield below, and reveal that everything we thought we knew about what was or wasn't worth fighting for...
Was all wrong...it will be too late...
For the battle is already fought and the victor is not humanity...
it is the human

Let the sky's darken
and the sun go away

Let the rain beat down
upon today

Let the oceans rise
and mountains crumble

Let the wind pick up
and blow it all away

The world itself could end...

As long as I'm with you

Hate, anger, frustration,
How does one survive?
Confusion, distraught, depression.
Why even be alive?

Screaming, running, sobbing,
Nothing seems that fair
Yelling, crying, dying.
Does anyone really care?

I sit alone now, by myself
Waiting for, someone to help.
People come and people go
And once again i'm left alone.

I'm only thought of if theres no-one else.
Should I not just end myself?

I sit alone, again and try,
For a friend who wont say "good bye"

It hurts in the end,
As we all know,
but after that,
where can we go?

Deep Dark thoughts in which I fear
Often wishing to disappear,
Problems I cant bear to solve,
Wishing I was not involved.

I wish I could fly, far away,
From these painful times I face each day,
Or curl up, tightly on the floor,
To cry out all the hurt, once more.

Life is hardly ever fair,
And your hurt, only hurts who care,
I often think that life would be,
A whole lot better without me.

I always say the wrong thing,
always at the wrong time.
I am hated for, me, myself,
not knowing how to be someone else.

I should be nothing, nothing at all.

Why don't they care for me
My inside, they didn't see,
My heart cries, my body is sore,
Chilling me to my innermost core,
The anger inside, the false outside.
The frustration, the misery, the pain,
Driving me crazy...turning me insane,
Can I really just run away,
or is it for you, that I must stay
Do I have what it takes,
or am I doomed to my mistakes,
And finally I accept the truth,
I must live and live for you.

What can fill that empty space
That seems a hollow pit.
When something there is missing
And nothing seems to fit.

How do you fill the emptiness
And satisfy the pain
When all in life has left you
and you feel your time go down the drain

Outside yourself, you start to look
But still there stands the void.
The little things you used to love,
No longer are enjoyed.

Tomorrow, I'll go searching,
and tell you what I find
But if my search should prove in vain;
It will not satisfy my mind.

Though dead I live, I cannot part
From love that lives within my heart
Within my sorrow I must strive
To keep my hope and faith alive

For all the love that I would give
I surely would prefer to live
To be content, not to survive
But feel my spirit come alive

To know you'll be there in the end,
I'm sorry that you died my friend

To be alone is a life in darkness,
No matter if you play as fearless,
In this quiet, never-ending night.
You just cant win in this fight

For lonliness will spark your fears
And unlike other nightmares
awakening will not vanish it;
you can only fall to tears

It turns memories to dreams
and dreams to ghosts.
Too vague to remember
Too important to forget.

Girl-Do I ever
cross your mind

Boy-No

Girl-Do you like me?

Boy-Not really

Girl-Do you want me?

Boy-No

Girl-Would you cry if I left?

Boy-Probably not

Girl-Would you hurt a boyfriend for me?

Boy-No

Girl-Would you stand
behind me?

Boy-Of course not

Girl-Would you live
for me?

Boy-No

Girl-Would you do anything for me?

Boy-Nope.

Girl-Choose--Me or your life

Boy-My life.



The girls runs away in tears

The boy runs after her
and when he catches up…

Boy-The reason you never cross my mind is because you're ALWAYS on my mind.

The reason why I don't like you is because I LOVE you.

The reason I don't want you is because I NEED you.

The reason I wouldn't cry if you left is because I would DIE if you left.

The reason I wouldn't hurt a boyfriend for you is because I would KILL him for you.

The reason I wouldn't stand behind you is because I would stand BESIDE you.

The reason I wouldn't live for you is because I would DIE for you.

The reason why I'm not willing to do anything for you is because I would do EVERYTHING for you.

The reason I chose my life is because you ARE my life