As Things Were 2

[T3h_SyN]

Kitone here, returning after my almost 4 month hiatus with my new story. As it's name implies this is a direct sequel to the first As Things Were, which if you haven't read can be found here (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214392).

Just as with my last story, if you wish to see your character/s in here just pm me or post in the thread the following information:

Name:
Class:
Preferred Weapon:
Personality:
Alignment(Good/Bad/Neutral):
Do you have a problem with your character Dying?:
Background (optional):
Screenshot of your character:

As with the original story, your character won't be limited to the weapons found in the Fiesta universe, if it isn't to far fetched for my liking I'll probably use it. If you can't come up with a bit of background or back-story for your character leave it blank and I'll give you one as I see fit. Granted I may not use your character in the story with exactly the background/personality/weapon or even use you at all, I'll try to leave them as close to how you want them to be made in as possible.

As to update times... I'm not sure, I'll still try to be weekly, but I might end up updating bi-weekly. Who am I kidding, that totally isn't gonna happen.

Without further ado, I present As Things Were 2

[T3h_SyN]

Table Of Contents

Prologue (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3340937&postcount=3)
Book One - Hearts And Blades
Chapter One - Part One (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3340938&postcount=4) Part Two (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3340940&postcount=5) Part Three (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3340946&postcount=6)
Chapter Two - Part One (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3416732&postcount=19) Part Two (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3416734&postcount=20)
Chapter Three - Part One (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3469515&postcount=23) Part Two (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3469517&postcount=24)
Chapter Four - Part One (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3565842&postcount=27) Part Two (http://www.outspark.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3565844&postcount=28)

[T3h_SyN]

Prologue

"Please Shutian, I'm begging you to do this for me... Think of it as the reward for stopping her." Kitone said looking at Gaurd Captain Shutian pleadingly.

"I don't know Kitone, this is a big thing you're asking of me. Even though the Senate is no more I can't just up and say 'this one isn't a criminal anymore', it won't fly well with the general populus." He said, breaking his eyes free from her gaze.

"Please Shutian , this is the only way I can hope to have a normal life again. I... I'm just tired of all this, I just want to be able to relax like a normal person would. I think I've earned it, wouldn't you agree?" Kitone asked.

"That I do Kitone, anyone who knows about what actually happened would agree with you. But that's the problem, not many of us know. The number of people who know about it is vastly outnumbered by the amount of people who'd gladly cut you down for the bounty on your head." Shutian said, almost apologeically.

"There must be SOMETHING you can do, you're one of the people who're in charge now aren't you?" Kitone said angrily.

"There is one thing..." Shutian said, lowering his voice to an almost whisper, "But it's a bit drastic."

"Anything is better than nothing..." Kitone said.

"I can remove you from the bounty lists, it'll be like you were pardoned but there won't be any official proclamations. The only time something like that happens is when..." Shutian began.

"They've died..." Kitone finished.

"Exactly. If you lay low, disappear for a few months, you can be reintroduced into the system and no one would know any better. You'd have to start from the bottom, redo all your basic training and exams. A small price to pay to be able to start a new life if you ask me. The best part is bounty hunters are a fickle group, they'd forget about you in a heartbeat if you don't have a bounty." Shutian said. Kitone sat silently, considering the deal Shutian laid down before her. She stood slowly and leaned across the small table and extended her hand, Shutian taking it and returning a quick handshake.

"Thanks Shutian, I really appreciate your help. I'll leave you to your work. I'll give it six months, then I'll return, and this time I'll be staying out of trouble. You have my word." Kitone said, taking her cloak and putting it on with a flourish. Her bright smile and happy face were hidden behind the leather hood as she stepped out the door into the busy streets of Elderine.


*~*~*~*

Kitone opened her eyes, her ears filling with the sounds of early morning Roumen. She practically jumped out of her bed, eager to start the day. This morning was important to her, it marked the start of her new life, her normal, non-criminal one. She had counted down the days, no, the hours to this morning. In a flash she was out of her sleeping clothes and started to put on the beginner gear for fighters. It had been quite a while since she had put on the red top and skirt but she was happy to don them again if it meant she was free. She had gotten them from Remi yesterday.

"So Kitone, have you decided which class you want to be?" Remi had said, a mischievious grin on her face. To Remi, this was all just a wonderful gesture to someone who deserved a bit of freedom. Remi was the one who, as procedure dictated, removed Kitone's name from the list of people under the Henneath Alliance when she was declared 'dead'. And now there she was, standing in front of her as alive as the day she first came to see her all those years back.

"Yes I have Miss Remi," Kitone said with a smile of her own, "I've decided to be a fighter."

"Again?" Remi added jokingly as she noted her name down on a scroll, resulting in both of them giggling. "Well," she said, stepping off her crate, opening the lid, "I'm sure you're familiar with these." With that she handed Kitone the fighter's clothes.

"Very much so." Kitone said with a bit of a curtsey, "Thanks Remi."

"Aren't you going to try them on?" Remi had asked.

"Nah, you've always had a knack for choosing the right sizes. I'll see you later Remi." Kitone said as she headed back to her home in Roumen.

Kitone pulled the skirt up and it fit perfectly. "See Remi, like I said, you have a knack for this." Kitone turned to admire herself in the mirror. She couldn't help but smile at the prospect of going outside without having to hide from the gaurds and bounty hunters. She grabbed her iron sword from beside her dresser and headed downstairs to get something to eat before she headed out.

As she stepped off the staircase she glanced into the sitting room and saw the two swords sitting on an ornate sword stand on the mantle above the fireplace. She stopped and stared at them solemnly before walking towards them, a pang of emotional pain stabbed into her with each step. Those two swords were the only things that really remained of her criminal past. "Pyrae. Aphonia." She muttered to herself as she drew the two blades from their sheaths, "Thank you for all you've done..." The two blades were ghosts of their former selves. Their last battle, the fight with Sylvia, had completely changed them. Pyrae was nothing more than a hilt, it's blade destroyed in its final attack. Aphonia fared no better, in the final battle with Sylvia it lost its own magical ability, reducing it to nothing more than a broken sword. Even though they were useless as weapons Kitone couldn't bring herself to dispose of them. To her they were like a pair of friends that always stuck beside her, right to the very end. She sheathed the swords and headed into the kitchen, her eyes filled with tears.


*~*~*~*

Claire stood at her stall in the harbor marketplace, watching the waves crash against the harbour's edge, sending a spray of mist into the air. Her raven hair swayed gently in the sweeping morning breeze. "Hey Claire!" a familiar voice shouted out. Claire turned and saw Kitone walking towards her, waving furiously. Her face immediatly scowled.

"Kitone! What the heck are you doing?!" She asked in a hushed tone.

"I'm saying hello before I leave to do some training in Forest of Tides" Kitone said with a serious face.

"What?" Claire asked, her face reflecting only a fraction of the confusion she was in.

"After all that happened I decided that I wanted to return to having a normal life, you know, one where I'm not being hunted. So I pulled a few strings and 'died' and then I reintroduced myself back into the alliance. Since they don't check for this sort of thing it's like I never was a criminal." Kitone said with a smile.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain that get-up." Claire said, crossing her arms.

"This. This is the downside of my method of gaining freedom. I'm forced to 'start over', do it all again. Really, I'm actually grateful for this chance."

Claire laughed, "You sure have a positive outlook on all this."

"Yea, I mean what's the worst that could happen? Someone kills me?" Kitone said with a laugh.

How right she was.


*~*~*~*

His name was Rennas, he was an ex-Iysan Hunter that chose to return to adventuring instead of being assigned to one of the town guards. Kitone met him shortly after she started training in the Forest of Mist. He was an archer, a good one at that. She was a swordswoman, a good one too. They hit it off fairly quickly. At first Kitone was wary of trusting him, he was an ex-Hunter after all, the only group who knew who she was and was allowed to hunt her, but as time passed she found herself falling in love with him.

They were always together; cuddling in each other's arms and whispering sweet nothings to each other when they weren't training, fighting right alongside each other when they were. They were a great team, each complimenting the other's weaknesses. The rose quickly together, becoming known as a powerful couple. Until that day.

They were in Abysmal Cave, doing their usual training, Kitone fending off the few idiots who dared to challenge them. They fought the monsters until Kitone heard a group of footsteps behing them. Turning she saw a female fighter, armed with an enhanced two-handed sword, to her sides were a pair of clerics and mage. Kitone eyed the two-hander carefully, she herself hadn't completed the test to be able to weild them, that's why she was was training with Rennas. He had completed the quest easily and had pushed Kitone to take it herself, but she had a nagging feeling that she wasn't ready for it yet.

"What do you want?" Kitone asked, gripping her sword nervously, no matter the answer the woman and her party gave she was ready to defend Rennas. The loud click from behind her told her that Rennas was ready to fight as well. And then she felt the tip of his crossbow against her back.

"Drop your sword Kitone." He said in a tone she had never heard before.

"What?" Kitone said, afraid to look behind her and take her attention off the woman who was slowly closing the gap between them.

"I said drop it!" Rennas said angrily, pushing the crossbow roughly into her back. Kitone dropped her sword, holding her hands above her head, unsure of what was going on.

"D-darling... What's going on?" She asked, her voice wavered with fear.

"Kitone, it's time to stop playing games..." Rennas said, "I never loved you."

"What?!" Kitone cried out, tears welling up in her eyes.

"That's right you stupid girl. I never did love you. How could I love a criminal like you? I am an Isyan Hunter after all..." Rennas said in a sinister tone. Kitone stood silently, tears streaming down her face. "I'd explain it all you you but I don't think scum like you could understand it, isn't that right Babe?"

"That's right Renren..." The other fighter said, stopping just out of Kitone's reach.

"Why..." Kitone said, her tone a mixture of dispair and anger, "Why would you do this? I don't even have a bounty on my head anymore."

"Does it really matter? Scum like you don't deserve to live anyway so I'm doing the world a favor, bounty or no bounty." Rennas said.

"And when we're done we'll return to town and I'll be the one to sleep with the man you love." The other fighter said teasingly. That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Kitone cried out angrily and balled her fist. She stepped to strike her and reeled forward when Rennas's arrow embedded itself into her back. She fell forward into the other fighter's slash, which cut through her armor as if it wasn't there. Kitone stumbled back, falling to her knees and cried out in pain.

Through deep and ragged breathes she said weakly, "I'll kill you... Every. Last. One."

"What's that? I can't hear you at all, you'll have to speak up bit--..." the fighter said mockingly, taunting her. Kitone jumped to her feet, powered only by her blind rage. Her movements were slow and predicatble, the other fighter countered her sloppy punch with one of her own. The blow struck Kitone across her face, sending her spiraling to the ground onto her stomach.

Rennas laughed at her, only a few paces away. "This is the 'mighy Kitone'. The one that all the Hunters were afraid of." he said with another hearty laugh. Kitone slowly dragged herself towards him, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. "What's this? The beast still has some fight in her." he said, looking down at her. She muttered something barely audibly. "What?" He said stooping closer to her.

"I said," Kitone said, pausing to cough up a little blood, "Your still going to die like the monster you really are!" With that she pushed up of the ground and span, delivering a wicked uppercut to his chin before flopping onto her back, causing the arrow in her back to be pushed through her. She coughed blood as Rennas reeled back.

"Rennas!" one of the clerics shouted, rushing toward him to cast a healing spell.

Rennas held his hand out, motioning for him to stop. "It's alright, just a minor wound." He said as he spat blood onto the floor. He walked back to Kitone, who's breathing had started to slow and her eyes had started to close, and pushed his crossbow into the wound on her chest. "Oh no you don't, don't die yet.." He said as she screamed out in pain.

It took all of Kitone's energy just to breathe, through her barely open eyes she could see Rennas talking, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He pushed the tip of the crossbow into her wound again, she opened her mouth to cry out but no sound came. All she could feel was pain. Pain and a feeling of fatigue. She looked up at him again, her vision blurred by the tears. She blinked to clear her eyes but found it hard to open them again. There was another sharp pang of pain as he shot another arrow into her chest, but she had no energy left to even react to it. The pain didn't stay long, fading away till all she felt was the fatigue. "Maybe..." she thought as she closed her eyes the final time, letting the sensation of sleep slowly envelop her, "Maybe I'll just take a litle nap..." As the feeling of blackness washed over her she heard someone call her name.

"Kitone!" a familiar feminine voice called out. She barely hear another female voice saying something but couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Kitone..." the voice called out again, as if fading away into the distance.

"KITONE!" The voice called out, ringing loudly in her ears. Kitone sat up quickly, wide awake, the sharp pain from her abdomen immediatly made her regret doing that. She let herself fall backwards, landing on the soft of a bed. She looked around the dark room, feeling the bandages on her chest and stomach. She pressed at the bandages, wincing in pain. She was alive, and as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness of the room she realized where she was. She lay in one of the wards in Healer Avon's office in Elderine. She looked about the room and could make out the shapes of a boquet of flowers. "Wh-What am I doing here?" she asked herself softly. Her memory was hazy, she remembered being in the Abyss and then getting in a fight. She strained hard, trying to remember what had happened. Suddenly the silence of the room was broken by the words, 'I never loved you.' As if the floodgates were opened, her memories came flying back. She could do nothing to fight the tears back as she remembered every second. The wounds she had burned as she remembered getting them. She remembered when Rennas stood over her and aimed his crossbow down at her. She covered her face with her hands and cried out. She cried out with every fibre of her being, the cry was a sound that could only be described as the sound of someone's soul being torn asunder. The haunting cry echoed through the halls of the building. By the time Avon had gotten to her room Kitone was sobbing loudly, unable to be consoled.

This is where Kitone's second tale truely begins...

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter One: The More Things Change…

“…and the one in ward three, have you given her dose of sedatives?” Avon said to an aide. She simply nodded as she walked down the hall to other side of the ward. The door to his office opened, causing the bell above it to ring. Avon turned and looked past the counter at the two who entered. Standing in the doorway was an archer and a cleric, the archer carried a small bouquet of flowers and the cleric was donned in a slime mask. “Ah, Cap and Cons, how are you doing today? Visiting someone?” Avon asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer.

“We’re here to visit..” Cap said in a solemn tone, Cons’s slime head nodded in agreement.

“She’s still in ward three.” Avon said, waving them down the hall.

The made their way down the hall to the room at the end and pushed the door open silently. In the bed lay Kitone, her red hair hung wildly about her shoulders. She stared out the window a the bustling city, completely oblivious at the entrance the two women had made. “Kitone?” Cons said, approaching the bed slowly.

“Hmm?” Kitone sighed, not turning her attention away from the window.

“Are you feeling okay?” Cap asked hesitantly, placing the flowers on a nearby table.

“Heh, I’m not really feeling anything right now…” Kitone said as she feebly pointed to the needle that was inserted into a IV bag. “It’s a mild sedative called Prock’s Dew. Right now I just feel serenely calm. I heard the aide say they’ve been lowering my dosage, so I’ll probably be out of her soon.” The silence that followed was awkward to everyone in the room. Kitone was the first to break the silence, “I… I heard it was you two who found me…”

“Yea, we did.” Cons said, turning her head to look outside as if trying to avoid Kitone’s sedated gaze.

“We weren’t exactly looking for you. It’s just that Rennas is… was my apprentice, and I was just coming to check up on him. Cons was at home and decided to tag along, and it’s a good thing she did because when we rounded that corner we saw them standing over your body, Rennas still shooting bolts into you…”

“I guess I owe you two my life then.” Kitone said, half-jokingly. There was another pause as the two visitors tried to decide whether that was intended as a joke or not. Suddenly Kitone’s gaze became a bit more serious. “Rennas… Where is he?”

Cons turned to Cap silently, both of them wondering if they should answer her. “I don’t know.” Cap finally replied, “When we found them they ran and left you for dead, and because you were so close to dying we didn’t give chase. The next day I got an official notice that he had forsaken his apprenticeship. From what I’ve heard he formed a guild… and he’s walking with a clean sheet because he attacked you in the abyss, and the laws against combat don’t apply there.”

“Hmph… So he ran…” Kitone grunted angrily, clenching the sheets on the bed in her fists.

“Kit… I know he betrayed you but its best if-“ Cap began.

“Betrayed? Betrayed?! You don’t know betrayal!” Kitone said angrily in a hushed voice so as to not attract the attention of the staff of the small hospital. “You don’t know what it’s like to have your entire world be torn asunder like that! To say he betrayed me is an understatement! Come and talk to me when life has taught you ‘betrayal’…”

"Betrayal, huh..." Cap leaned back, eyes narrowing, taking Kitone's attitude sourly for but a moment. The archer leaned forward, balancing her elbows on the chair. "For me, betrayal's name was Piper. He gave me confidence, friendship, and love. In return, I gave him myself. Every fiber of my being, physical and emotional, belonged to him. I knew nothing else... NOTHING. Unlike you, I never KNEW life before this. And then, he started hanging out with those idiots in the abyss. I saw his degeneration as an adventurer... as a PERSON." Cap straightened up, her eyes misting over and holding a hand over her mouth, the next words difficult. "Eventually... he dumped me, and for the most superficial and selfish of reasons. I was so devastated, so lost and warped and full of nothing but sorrow and hatred..." Cap looked off in a random direction, continuing very matter-of-factly, "that I killed him right there without a second thought. To this day, I can claim to regret doing so, but know that I'll never sincerely regret it." After a few moments of letting that sink in, Cap leaned in to Kitone again. "So... you told me to talk to you when I knew betrayal. I do know betrayal, I HAVE known betrayal, and have been engulfed in betrayal for a horrific short period of time. I'm talking to you, and I am being here for you but since you’re not ready for anyone to be here for you, you can come find me when you’re ready to talk like civilized people." With that, Cap stood and left the small ward.
“Wait! Cap!” Cons said after the leaving archer, jumping out of her seat. Cons ran to the doorway, Cap’s crying could be heard from down the hall. “Kit…” Cons said, looking at the fuming fighter from the doorway, “Of all the people who could talk to you about betrayal, you just scared off one of the most informed…”

With that Cons ran out of the room, calling after Cap. Her shouts were suddenly silenced as the door creaked shut, leaving Kitone alone with her thoughts again. She gave a lighthearted chuckle and said to herself, “What have I become…”


*~*~*~*

It was three more days before Kitone was well enough to leave the small hospital, and it was a week before she herself felt like leaving her bed. The morning sun caught her sitting in her favorite chair in her living room, sipping a steaming cup of tea. She stared into the flames in the fireplace, trying to organize her thoughts. Her mind was a hurricane of thoughts and she was barely weathering the storm.

“Maybe I should go questing today… He doesn’t love you, he never did… You are one messed up person you know that… Can I truly do the promotion test again… How could you snap at them like that…” Each thought felt like it pushed a pin deep into her heart. Kitone cast her glance upwards at the mantle, Pyrae and Aphonia stared down at her with a solemn silence.

“I know… I know…” Kitone said, looking back down at her tea, “Sitting her and doing nothing isn’t going to make this any better. But what would you suggest I do?” She sat in the silence, waiting for a reply. Then she spoke again with a sad sigh, “Yea, I guess that’s the best place to start. Thanks guys, I really needed that.” With that Kitone got up and left the room, leaving the two swords to the sounds of the wood crackling in the fire.


*~*~*~*

The streets of Roumen were fairly busy when Kitone stepped out the door of her house, barefoot and dressed in her pajamas, cup of tea in hand. She turned many heads as she strolled across the harbor, her feet making light patters against the stones. Kitone was completely unaware of all the attention she was getting as she was focused solely on getting to the door of the house on the other side of the harbor. She stepped onto the small porch of the house and knocked on the door. She paused to listen and when she was satisfied that she hadn’t been heard she knocked again, with a bit more force this time.

From deep within the house Kitone heard someone shout out, “Coming! Coming!” That, however, didn’t stop Kitone from rapping continuously on the door. She turned her head to the side and kept knocking as she sipped her cup of tea. The door swung open as the green-haired mage that lived there walked straight into a series of firm knocks.

“Owowowowow!” Cora cried out in surprise, getting Kitone’s attention.

Kitone peered at her out of the side of her eyes, her cup still to her lips, as she delivered one final knock to the mage girls forehead. “Morning Cora,” Kitone said, letting her hand fall to her side, “Is Cap here?”

“No. She’s been out for a few days now. She said she needed some time alone and took off by herself. She does this every so often so we’re never really worried she’ll get into trouble.” Cora said, rubbing her forehead tenderly.

“Ah, how about Cons then?” Kitone said as she stepped past Cora into the small hallway.

“She’s out questing or something, she left earlier this morning. Hey! Where are you going?” Cora asked when Kitone nudged past her.

Kitone held up her now empty cup. “Coffee. I needs it. Your kitchen has it, if I’m not mistaken.” Was all she said as she disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Cora standing silently for a while before she started laughing to herself.


*~*~*~*

Far down the beach in Sand Beach is a little cove, the water is too shallow for ships to come and go easily, a wrecked pirate ship attests to that fact. The secluded nature of the cove was precisely the reason that Cap set up a sort of base there. It was just a large tent, one she had gotten from a raid on a Mara Pirate camp in Sea of Greed. Its location was known only to a few people, those who had stumbled upon it while exploring the beach and those who knew it wasn’t just another Mara tent. Kitone fell into the latter group.

Kitone walked along the path through the forest, the hard dirt of the well-worn path slowly gave way to the soft sand of the beach that gave this place it’s name. Along the way she passed a party of rookie adventurers gathering to take down King Crab. “Morning,” she called out as she passed, “getting King Crab?” The confused adventurers looked at the red-head, her hair a tussled mess as she stood in front of them in her pajamas and simply nodded. “Well then be careful, he’s a tough one.” Kitone said as she walked down the beach. “Oh, and attack where the plates of his shell meet, that’s their weak spot.”


*~*~*~*

It was a few minutes walk down the beach before Kitone came upon the cove that had the tent, and even from the mouth of the cove she could see the small fire in front of the tent. Kitone smiled to herself, Cap was exactly where she had guessed she’d be. When Kitone got to the tent she found Cap sleeping in a hammock in the shade of the palm trees. Silently she stood above the sleeping archer, drinking her coffee down slowly. Just as silently she made her way over to the nearby beach and collected some of the cold sea water in her cup. She returned to the archer’s side and with an evil smile woke her up.

Cap sputtered awake as the cold water hit her, thrashing wildly and eventually falling out of the hammock, much to Kitone’s amusement. “Hahaha,” Kitone laughed as Cap glared at her, “Morning Miss Gammer, how was the water this morning?”

“Cold.” Cap replied, wiping the salt water off her face. “What are you doing out here Kitone? You know I come out here to be alone…” Cap’s glare could burn a hole through the thickest of leathers, but Kitone shrugged it off. She knew most of it came from the fact that she was angry for having been awoken so rudely.

“Well…” Kitone said, pausing to gather her thoughts before she continued, “I just want to apologize, When you came to visit me in the hospital I was… less than friendly in my response. I was just overwhelmed by what had happened, I’m really sorry I snapped at you and Cons. If you can find it in yourself to forgive me, I’d like to take you up on that offer to talk. Civilized person to civilized person.”

Cap got up off the floor and sat on the edge of the hammock. She looked at Kitone silently for a while, opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, turning to stare at the pristine blue waves that crashed gently on the shore. With a sliver of a smile Cap patted beside her in the hammock. “I guess I should keep up my end of that offer then. Where shall we start then? Kitone smiled widely as she sat beside the archer, pulling her robe tighter to stop the cool morning breeze from entering. As the minutes passed and the two spoke more casually, their friendship was quickly rekindled.


*~*~*~*

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter One continued

“You’re kidding me!” Cap said loudly as she relaxed into the hammock.

“Not at all,” Kitone said with a laugh, “being the daughter of a wealthy merchant does have some perks. I’ve been wearing these things from I was a girl. How else would you explain my amber eyes when both of my parents have red ones?”

“But Sienna’s are such a brilliant shade of green! Are those…” Cap began.

“No, hers are natural, a bit of a dominant elven gene I suppose.” Kitone interrupted.

“So… Can I see them?” Cap asked.

“See what?” Kitone answered in response.

“Your eyes silly fighter,” Cap said, giggling heartily, “your real ones that is.”

“Fine, I don’t see what’s so special about them anyway…” Kitone said, blinking a few times. After the last blink her eyes were no longer their usual amber color but instead were a brilliant, almost ruby shade of red. Cap stared into Kitone’s eyes for a few seconds with a look that made Kitone blush. “C’mon Cap, they’re just eyes. No need to study them so hard.”

“I’m sorry Kit, but I’m just not used to seeing them like that.” Cap said, turning her attention away from Kitone’s eyes. “Honestly I don’t see why you’d hide those beautiful eyes behind magical contacts like that.”

Kitone stared down at the sand beneath her feet, watching a small hermit crab burrow it’s way into the soil. “I doesn’t really matter anymore…” Kitone said, an air of melancholy in her voice. “Hey Cap…”

“Yea Kit?” Cap said.

“Did anyone ever dig up the chest?” Kitone said with a smirk.

Cap smiled widely, hopping off the hammock, causing Kitone to lose her balance and fall to the ground. “You know Kit, I don’t think anyone did. C’mon, lets go check.” Kitone quickly scrambled to her feet and followed the archer up the beach further into the little cove. Just past the the edge of the beach, right where the sand meets the grass of the forest’s edge, grew a patch of red and white lilies. These lilies grew all over the grasslands of Isya, but these lilies were special. They were arranged in such a way that if you stood at just the right angle, at just the right height, they lined up to crudely spell out ‘dig here’ in an elven script. Cap and Kitone ran over and kneeled among the blossoms and Cap quickly drew her hunting knife and dug into the soft earth. After a few scoops of earth had been removed her knife hit something with a dull thud and the two of them smiled eagerly as they quickly dug it out with her hands.

When they pulled the chest out of the shallow hole Kitone quickly undid the lock with a little work from Cap’s knife and opened the lid. Inside lay a set of old armor, a relic from Kitone’s past. When Kitone had joined the Isyan Hunters she had taken the armor she was wearing and locked it in this chest, burying it in the countryside as a joke. It was Cap’s idea to plant the flowers on it to see if anyone would notice them and thereby get a free set of armor.

“I can’t believe they’re still here.” Cap said in amazement, “What’re you gonna do with them Kit?”

Kitone reached in and picked up the clothes, which smelled a little musty from being locked in that chest for so long, and looked them over. “I was figuring I’d go do that promotion test, and I was hoping to have something resembling armor to wear…”


*~*~*~*

The next morning Kitone was up with the sun, stepping out into an empty Roumen. Or rather, an almost empty one. Seated on the railing of her front porch was Cap Gammer, crossbow slung over her shoulder and a small package in her hands. “Morning Kit, ready for the test.” She asked.

“I guess, I mean, I’ve already done it once before, how bad can it be a second time.” Kitone said, trying to hide her anxiousness in humor.

“Well, if you’re so ready I guess I can keep these then.” Cap said, holding out the small bag for Kit to see.

“It depends, what’s in the bag?” Kitone asked, reaching for it.

“Just a few things Cora and Cons made last night. I told them you were going to try to do the test today and Cons insisted on making you a few things to help, and then Cora joined in and well… they sorta went a bit overboard.” Cap said, handing Kitone the bag. Kitone undid the ribbon that held the bag closed and was amazed at the amount of potions that were in the bag.
“Oh my… This many potions must have taken ages to make! And they made these last night?!” Kitone said, surprised by exactly how much potions were in the bag.

“They wanted to come to wish you good luck this morning but they worked themselves to a frazzle, I couldn’t wake them up no matter what I tried.” Cap said with a laugh.

“Heh,” Kitone said, slinging the bag over her shoulder and stepping down the stairs to the street, “You wanna follow me to Sean then? I was gonna get it over with as early as possible.”

“Ah… Uh, about that… well… um… I sorta… Have some… umm… business, yea, some urgent business to attend to! Don’t worry I’ll catch you later Kit!” Cap said nervously before running off down the street in the opposite direction from the gate. Kitone watched as the archer hurried off into the forest without giving her a second thought. Cap was a member of a hunting guild so it wasn’t uncommon for her to be out on a hunt in the early morning, so without anything else to distract her Kitone took one last glance around the town before stepping into the portal to the Forest of Mist.


*~*~*~*

Kitone stepped out of the portal’s swirling vortex into the thin mist that covered the forest’s floor this early in the morning. She looked around at the nearby guards who had become temporary merchants for the area, a few of them issuing quests to the eager adventurers who rose with the morning sun. The far one however seemed to be arguing with the nearby Greenky, Phino and the unfortunate pair of adventures that happened to be in his direct line of sight. Kitone laughed to herself and made her way across towards the older man who stood by a nearby lake, watching the ducks feeding on the surface. “Good morning Grand Master Sean.” She said as she approached.

Without turning he replied, “Good morning to you too Kitone, Captain Shutian told me to expect you but I didn’t expect you so soon.”

“Well when you’ve done the basics once before, it becomes easy to get to go through them again.” Kitone said with a smile.

“Hmm… Point well made.” Sean said, his deep voice attracting the attention of the ducks in the pond. “Here,” he continued, tossing Kitone a simple key on a loop of string, “I’m sure you know how to enter the Shadow Dungeon.

Kitone looked at Sean in shock. “You’re giving me the key?!” She asked.

“Yes… They changed the rules a while back, it was deemed unfair to have the rookie adventurers hunt for a key to enter a dungeon where they must fight against even harder enemies and so I have to just give them the key now.” Sean said, looking only slightly dejected.

“Well… As much as I think it takes the fun out of the test, I guess I can’t really complain seeing as I’ll be done in no time now.” Kitone said, heading toward the concealed entrance to the dungeon.

“Good luck young adventurer!” Sean said to her jokingly as she walked off.


*~*~*~*

Kitone unlocked the thick wooden doors and stepped into the Shadow Dungeon, a dark tomb that was illuminated only by the light that flowed in from the doorway. As her eyes slowly got accustomed to the darkness the door behind her slammed shut. “Some things never change…” Kitone said as she watched the door slowly disappear, leaving the stone wall of the dungeon and completing her warp into it. Just as suddenly the torches in the room lit up, bathing the room in a bright light. Kitone shielded her eyes from the sudden glare but her eyes adjusted in time to see the her shadow lengthening in front of her. Kitone watched as from her shadow rose a being of pure darkness, a being that was her mirror image.

When it had taken form the dark surface of the being disappeared as if it were a cloud of smoke, leaving Kitone staring at herself. Her shadow was dressed in the same armor as her, and it bore a sword and shield that matched hers exactly. “I am my own greatest enemy, if I can overcome myself there is no end to what I can achieve…” Kitone muttered to herself, an old Isyan saying, the saying that this whole test was built on.

“Who am I?” The shade said, as if reciting from a script. “I am who you think I am.” The shadow then pointed its sword at Kitone, “This world doesn’t need incompetent people like you. I will eliminate you and become the true hope of th-“ Kitone jumped in surprise when her shadow suddenly dropped it’s weapons and grabbed its head. “Wh-What is happening?!” it said in obvious pain. Kitone stood at the ready, her sword and shield raised, unsure of what to do. Her shadow walked towards her unsteadily, crying out in pain and releasing one final scream and falling to her knees, slumped over backwards. Kitone walked over to her, the shade’s eyes had rolled back into it’s head as it slumped over unconscious.

“Well… I guess I should just end this test then.” Kitone said, raising her sword to skewer her shadow’s chest. With a cry Kitone drove the sword home, only to be stopped just shy of its mark. Kitone stared down in horror into the cold, emotionless eyes of her shadow. It caught her blade with her bare hand, the tip of the sword barely pressing against the skin. Kitone could only look on as the blood trickled from between the shadow’s fingers and with a grunt it clenched its fist, shattering the blade in its grasp. “What the…” Kitone began to exclaim, only to be silenced by a punch to her gut that knocked her off balance.

“How weak you are… Kitone Wolf, you truly are an incompetent human.” Her shadow said, getting to her feet slowly. Kitone stood unsteadily, gasping for air as she held her shield defensively. “I will take great pleasure in destroying your weakness…” It said as it approached her.

“I’d… I’d sooner marry a Ratman!” Kitone said as she rushed in and swiped at her shadow with her shield. Her shadow only smirked as it stopped the attack with its bare hand, its fingers penetrating the shield and gripping Kitone’s hand firmly. “Let. Me. GO!” Kitone cried out as she slashed at her shadow’s neck with what remained of her sword. As the blade made contact with the shadow it shattered as if it were made of glass. Kitone’s eyes opened wide in shock as she watched the sword break.

“Much too weak Kitone, too weak to even harm me.” The shadow said as it balled a fist with her free hand. The punch she threw connected with Kitone’s cheek, sending her reeling backwards only to be yanked back by the hand that held her arm through the shield. The shock of the whiplash was quickly replaced by the sharp pain of another blow connecting with her side. The shadow continued this flurry of attacks, ending with a swift and powerful kick to Kitone’s gut, which sent her careening through the air. Kitone crashed into a torch, sending it’s glowing embers tumbling to the ground.

With a pained cry Kitone reached into her pocket and crushed a red stone in her palm, the healing energies it released managed to patch up most of her wounds and a quick drink from one of the potions Cap had given her healed her wounds completely. “Alright. You wanna play rough? I can play rough.” Kitone said, tossing her broken shield and shattered sword aside. Kitone clenched her fists and rushed in throwing a punch to her shadow’s face.

“You call this rough?” The shadow said, deftly stopping the punch with an outstretched hand.

“No, I call that a feint.” Kitone said grabbing the shadow’s forearm and twisting her body. With her quick spiral she flipped her shadow onto the ground, slamming it on its back. Kitone quickly turned and punched at her shadow’s face again, only to hit the floor of the dungeon when it rolled to safety. “Damn!” Kitone cursed to herself as she watched her shadow quickly get to its feet. She shook her fist out to relieve the sting that came with her punch being stopped so suddenly.

“Do you want to know why this test is so hard for you? Do you want to know why you can’t defeat me now?” The shadow said as it approached her, a dark aura emanating from its body. “You doubt yourself, you question your own abilities. Your doubt is my strength.”

“What the heck are you talking about?!” Kitone said, glaring angrily at her shade.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” The shadow said, slowly increasing her speed towards Kitone. “Ever since that day in the abyss, your one shining moment of weakness. You put your trust in someone and they betrayed you. I’m talking about him. I’m talking about Re-“

“Don’t you say his freakin’ name!” Kitone shouted in rage, blindly charging at her shadow. She threw a flurry of punches, her shadow dodging them as if Kitone was punching in slow motion. With a soft thud the shadow caught one of Kitone’s fists and with a quick spin had it pinned behind Kitone’s shoulder.

Kitone winced in pain as the shadow pulled harder. The shadow brought its head right beside Kitone’s and whispered in her ear, “Yes, Rennas. You put all your trust in him and he betrayed you, in fact he ‘killed’ you didn’t he? Ever since that day you’ve been wary of everyone around you. You’ve become paranoid and weak, you’ve lost all your strength…” With a swift kick, she sent Kitone sprawling to the floor.

Kitone lay on the floor of the dungeon, her gaze fixated on the flickering flame of a nearby torch. Her shadow was slowly making its way over to her, spouting more taunts and teasing her about her “weakness” but Kitone ignored her. Instead she stared at the flame, a flame that would burn for all eternity thanks to the magic that acted on the torch, how it flickered till it was almost completely gone and then it suddenly flared back to life. Watching the flame flicker seemed to throw Kitone back in time to when she was a young girl learning the ways of the sword from her father. “Kitone,” He said as they sat in their garden, watching the campfire burn in the night, “There are three things that make a good fighter. A good weapon; a blade that a fighter can trust to guide him through any and all battles. Great skill; power without control leads to destruction, control without power leads to failure, you must find the balance my child. The last thing a good fighter needs is a strong resolve. When you decide that you can do something, only you can stop you from achieving that goal. Regardless of what anyone says is or isn’t possible you follow your own path.”

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter One continued


Kitone rolled slowly, pushing herself to her feet. She stood firm and glared angrily at her shadow. “You can still stand girl? No matter I was getting tired of playing with you anyway…” With a loud cry her shadow punched at Kitone, who made no attempt to dodge. The punch connected squarely with Kitone’s face but she didn’t even shift slightly. “Wh-What!?” the shadow exclaimed as it hopped back in fear.

Kitone worked the kinks out of her neck and shoulders and said, “I’ve decided… You aren’t winning anymore. I refuse to let my past hold me down anymore, not after I worked so hard to get back to where I am now. I let my resolve waiver for a while there, but as I was taught, a good fighter should have a strong resolve.” Kitone pause, and then with a smirk said, “And I’m a great fighter.”

Kitone’s shadow paused for a moment before balling her fists again, waiting for Kitone to take the first move. Kitone rushed in and threw a punch at the shadows face, but it reacted swiftly enough to raise it’s guard in time to deflect Kitone’s fist to the side of its head. Kitone followed through swiftly by bringing her knee up into the shadow’s solar plexus. Her shadow coughed and buckled forward as it valiantly fought to catch her breath. Kitone however wasn’t done with her assault. She quickly grabbed her shadow’s ponytail and yanked her back into a standing position. The shadow looked through its hazy vision, focusing in time to catch Kitone’s fist speeding towards her face. The punch connected with a fleshy thud punctuated by the snap of a breaking nose. The shadow reeled back against the dungeon wall, clutching it’s nose and crying out in pain. “Where is my weakness now?! Who can’t defeat you?!You’ll eat those words! I’ll show you NO mercy!” Kitone shouted as she closed the gap between them once again. Her punches flew one after the other in a seamless frenzy. With every punch she made her shadow impact the wall harder, pushing dust from the mortar between the bricks of the wall. Kitone’s flurry of punches left her shadow standing unsteadily, most of it’s weight was supported by the wall behind it. Kitone stepped back, her mind clouded by rage. All she wanted to do now is defeat the one threat that stood in her way. With another shout she reached forward and grabbed the side of her shadow’s head. With an angry grunt she dragged her face along the stone wall, leaving a bloody smear in its wake before Kitone threw her to the ground. The shadow lay there, bloody and beaten at Kitone’s feet, scarcely able to find the energy to suck another breath of air into her lungs. Kitone slowly made her way over to the shadow, her boots footfall seemed to have an ominous tone to it. With a short kick she flipped the shadow onto it’s back. Kitone placed the tip of her boot on the shadow’s forehead and spoke solemnly, “You’ve shown me something today. You opened my eyes to the weakness within myself. Never again will I fall prey to my own doubts.” With a slight push she turned the shadow’s head to the side, her foot pressing against the shadow’s temple. “Never again will I be the thing stopping me from moving forward.” Kitone began to slowly press her weight against the shadow’s head causing it to move feebly in an attempt to get its head out from under Kitone’s foot. “Never again will I allow myself to be placed in such a position. For that, I thank you.” With that Kitone pressed all her weight onto her foot.

There was no crunch underfoot, no blood splayed about the floor. As the shadow’s head began to cave in under the force of Kitone’s stomp it dissipated into a thick cloud of black smoke, accompanied by a faint gasp. Kitone watched as the dark swirls of smoke that were once her shadow danced in the air around her. Slowly it swirled around her, glowing an eerie purplish glow. The clouds swirled about her left arm bathing it in the haunting glow. As the dungeon began to fade to darkness around her she heard a voice, faintly at first but it got louder as more of the dungeon disappeared. “Congratulations…” it repeated almost endlessly. Suddenly a sharp pain shot up her left arm. Kitone clenched her hand at the wrist, it felt as if someone was taking a red hot iron and drawing something on the back of her hand. Kitone tried to focus on her hand but it was almost completely blocked by the swirling smoke around her hand, the glow it cast was now an almost blinding light. The pain clouded her senses, slowly pushing her to the edge of her consciousness. Before she finally blacked out she heard the faint voice repeating something different. As Kitone drifted out of consciousness she finally heard what the voice was saying.

The voice faintly repeated, “A gift, a gift for you from the darkness within…”

[Orchids_Mantis]

nice beginning

[john99944]

What happens next???

[T3h_SyN]

You wait till chapter two comes out. Might be next week, might not, depends on when I finish writing it.

[john99944]

This is taking too slow...

[T3h_SyN]

I really apologize for the increasingly large delay between chapters. This is mostly for two reasons:

1) I decided to change some fairly major details of the story, so I'm reworking the main arc to fit it in.
2) School work. Lots of projects worth double digit parts of my final grade... So a lot of times I wanted to write I've had to put it on the back burner.

[jadienne]

I read 'As Things Were' the other day... and its so awesome! :o
... Really can't wait to read more ! >.<

[john99944]

I really apologize for the increasingly large delay between chapters. This is mostly for two reasons:

1) I decided to change some fairly major details of the story, so I'm reworking the main arc to fit it in.
2) School work. Lots of projects worth double digit parts of my final grade... So a lot of times I wanted to write I've had to put it on the back burner.

It's ok...

WAIT A MINUTE! ITS THE HOLIDAYS AND YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE SCHOOL WORK? What's wrong, woman? Doing a research on the beach of Chicago?

[T3h_SyN]

It's ok...

WAIT A MINUTE! ITS THE HOLIDAYS AND YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE SCHOOL WORK? What's wrong, woman? Doing a research on the beach of Chicago?

Here's a healthy dose of reality for you, not everyone lives in America and thus not all of us have a Thanksgiving break. Last Thursday was just a regular day for me, I had school and stuff...

[john99944]

FWI, I don't live in America. I live in Asia and the holidays are here now.(The holidays were here 10days ago :P)

[john99944]

its been 1 month and no response from Kit...

[T3h_SyN]

Just a bit over a month actually. I had a bit of a creative block ^_\\

[john99944]

Then here's a lightsaber to hack at it.

[XXXXO[]llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll)

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter Two: A Part Of Me

“Kit…” A voice said, penetrating through the layers of sleep, rousing Kitone slightly, “Kitone… Kitone!” Suddenly Kitone was jarred awake when Sean dunked her into the nearby pond. Kitone flailed and gasped for air, much to the amusement of the Grand Master. Kitone sat up in the shallow pond, the look on her face a mix of confusion and anger. As she made her way out of the quagmire Sean could hardly contain his laughter. “Bwahahaha!” Sean began, “Con-congratulations Kitone! You passed the test.”

Kitone rubbed her left arm, the once sharp pain nothing more than a numbing feeling that pulsed up her arm. “Any particular reason why I ended up in the pond?”

“Ah… About that,” Sean said between laughs, “You came out unconscious, it happens sometimes when people have a particularly tough fight with their shadow. Sometimes people pass out during the warp back. You weren’t responding to my attempts to stir you so I decided to toss you into the pond, like I-“

“Like you always do?” Kitone interrupted.

“Exactly.” Sean said, giving Kitone a moment to pour the water out of her boots and squeeze it out of her hair. “Since you passed, you get a pick of the weapons that are available to you as a Clever Fighter.” With that he spread his cloak, revealing a trio of weapons: a one-handed sword, a two-handed sword and a battle axe. Kitone picked up the one-handed sword, giving it a few practice swings before handing it back to Sean and taking the two-handed one for a trial.

“This one… I like it, it feels balanced enough. And I’m not ready to go back to using one-handed swords just yet.” Kitone said, her face showing the sadness her words didn’t carry.

“Are you sure?” Sean asked, offering her the axe, “You should try the axe, it’s really popular among fighters now.”

Kitone scoffed at that comment. “Maybe… but I’m hunting monsters, not wood. I’ll come back when I need to stock my fireplace.” Kitone said as she slung the two-handed blade over her shoulders and headed to Elderine.


*~*~*~*

The crackling of the fireplace seemed to make the evening more relaxing as Kitone sat in her living room chair, books of all shapes and sizes strewn about the floor. “Nope, nothing in here that could help me at all.” Kitone said as she slammed another book shut and tossed it onto the ever growing pile of books and grimoire that lay strewn around the chair. Slumping into her chair Kitone looked at the back of her hand, a strange black mark stared back at her. She was made aware of it in Elderine.

Having purchased her new armor from Karl, Kitone turned her attention to the dress that had caught her eye in the window of Kenton’s shop. As much as she, and most of Isya, despised Kenton’s attitude she had to admit that he made beautiful clothes. Kitone entered the store and to her great pleasure Kenton was busy in the back of the shop crafting his newest masterpiece and a novice tailor attended to her. The young elf moved deftly and confidently, taking Kitone’s measurements in a whirlwind of motions. While she was measuring the length of Kitone’s arm she said, “That’s a neat tattoo, I’ve never seen one like it before.” And just like that Kitone found out about the mark.

The mark seemed to glisten, as if it were ink freshly painted onto her skin. The mark was a sword with a split blade that spiraled about the center of the sword. It had a pair of wings appearing to come from the hilt of the sword and above it was a halo.

Kitone balled her fist, the pain she had felt on her hand earlier only a distant memory. “A gift…” Kitone said, remembering the words she heard before she blacked out in the shadow dungeon, “From the darkness within?” Kitone stared into the fireplace as she tried to gather her thoughts. “Argh…” she grunted in frustration, “I give up, I need some help…” Kitone stood up, and with a hop over the scattered books she was out the front door.

The evening breeze carried the scent of the sea wafting through Roumen as Kitone made her way over to the marketplace. She headed over to Claire’s stall, catching Claire’s enquiring gaze. “It’s a bit late to be buying fish Kitone…” The mage said, “Or, maybe there’s something else bothering you?”

Kitone looked around and slowly removed the leather glove off her hand and showed Claire the mark. “I was wondering if you’ve ever seen anything like this before?” Claire took her hand and looked carefully at her hand, her gaze quickly becoming very serious.

“Kitone… Where did you get this?” Claire asked, the worry evident in her tone. Kitone quickly told her tale about her second battle with her shadow in the dungeon and told her that this mark was part of the outcome. “Kitone, this mark is a cursed seal. It’s the mark of the Blade of Shadows, a weapon that is born from the darkness of the blackest depths. Its said to be a linking point between the realm of the Shadows and ours.”

“Really?” Kitone asked, looking at the mark on her hand, “So… what will happen to me now?”

“I can’t say for sure… It may just be a mark, it may be a powerful curse that completely destroys you. Right now however, it isn’t even releasing the faintest magical energy. In fact…” Claire said, pausing to close her eyes and focus intently on the swirls of magic in the air. “In fact, it’s actually so void of magic that it’s absorbing a very faint amount of ambient magic from the world.”

“So for now it’s a wait and see deal eh?” Kitone said, opening and closing her fist a few times. “Actually… I kinda like it.” With that she threw a furry of punches, finishing with a powerful thrust with her marked hand. “Mine is the blade that will pierce the heavens.” She said softly to herself.

“What was that?” Claire asked.

“Hmm? Oh, that saying? I heard it somewhere once…” Kitone said putting her gloves back on, having cut out the back of the gloves with Claire’s paring knife so the mark could be seen. With a wave Kitone was off, on her way back to her house.


*~*~*~*

Kitone stood on the balcony of her house, watching the first rays of the sun crest over the green hills to the east of Roumen, sipping at her cup of coffee. She stayed up into the wee hours of the morning sharpening her new sword. With a long yawn she placed the cup on the railing and went back inside, pulling the sliding door shut behind her. In the dim light she made her way slowly to her bed, falling into a deep sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

A few hours later she was awoken by the sounds of birds feeding from the birdfeeder on the balcony. She slowly sat up in the bed, her body ached with fatigue but now that she was awake the hustle and bustle of the harbor slowly made itself aware to her, stifling any chances of going back to sleep. Kitone pulled herself out of bed and got dressed, donning her new armor. She stepped onto the balcony and retrieved the cup from the railing. “Hmm… What shall we do today Kitone?” She asked herself. Looking down into the crowds of passer-bys Kitone spotted a familiar pair.

The slime head bobbed and weaved amongst the crowd, chasing an equally agile green haired individual. Kitone shouted down to the street below, “Cons! Cora!” The pair stopped in their tracks, looking for the voice that called them. With a whistle Kitone said, “Up here you two.”

“Hey Kit.” Cora said, while Cons simply waved at Kitone.

“Where are you two headed in such a hurry?” Kitone asked, leaning over the railing.

“We’re headed to the Abyss and try and grab some materials to make potions and scrolls.” Cora said, “Usually around this time the place is pretty empty.”

“Ah, gotcha. You two be careful in there though, try and stay out of trouble.” Kitone added waving the duo off. As they disappeared into the warp Kitone came to a decision. “Shopping, definitely shopping.” With that Kitone wandered into the house to gather her purse and drop the cup in the sink before leaving for Elderine.


*~*~*~*

After a quick stop for breakfast at a café in Elderine, Kitone headed over to Kenton’s shop to pick up her dress and then made her way over to Nina’s to get some food, her pantry was running a bit low on supplies. As she approached she noticed the crowd gathering to the back of the shop, and then she heard the cries for help.

“Please, I just need someone to go to the abyss and see if my sister is okay! We were attacked by PK’rs and she bought me some time to escape but she hasn’t come out since!” the girl shouted to the crowd.

“Poor girl,” Kitone said as she walked over, “I really hope her sis is okay.”

“Please, someone help Cons!” the girl shouted over the din of the passing crowds.

“What?!” Kitone shouted to herself, charging over to the girl, pushing the crowd aside. At the center of the crowd stood Cora Gammer, she looked like she had just come through a small scuffle, as the loser no less. “Cora! What the heck happened?!” Kitone asked as she scuffled through her pockets for one of the few potions she always kept on herself.

“Cons and I were ambushed in the abyss by a group of PK’rs, there were too many for us to handle so she told me to run and she’d buy me some time and meet me outside, but that was five minutes ago! Please Kit, you gotta help me!” Cora said before quickly drinking down the potion.

Kitone furrowed her brow, she hadn’t brought her sword with her because she didn’t expect to do anything but the shopping today but now wasn’t the time to worry about such things. “I’m gonna need you to do two things for me. Firstly hold this,” Kitone said, handing the mage her shopping bag, “Secondly I need you to get someone you can trust to come here. If you can trust them so can I, and I’m going to need back up.” Before Cora could reply Kit was rushing towards the abyss.


*~*~*~*

“Damn it. How hard can it be to hold her steady? There’s ten of us and one of her…” said the green haired fighter as he watched the others try in vain to hold Cons still. He stood with his axe, running a whetstone along the blade. “C’mon you damn runts… You’re making me think twice about making any of you join my guild.”

“They’re all failures if you ask me.” Came a female voice from behind him. The fighter twirled around and looked directly into Kitone’s eyes. “Yo.” She said with a slight smile on her face.

“Who the heck are you?” he asked, pausing to look her over. “Heh, got a nice body there girl. Ever thought about settling down with a nice strong man?”

“I have, you wouldn’t happen to know any single guys would you?” Kitone said mockingly.
“Kit…” Cons said between breaths as she stuggled against the fighters trying to restrain her, “A little help here?”

“Sure thing Cons, lemme just deal with this punk first.” Kitone said.

“Punk? You got a lot of lip for some broad with no weapon.” The fighter said, “And judging from your armor, you’re only level twenty. A noob like you shouldn’t be picking fights with someone like me.”

“Lemme guess, you’re one of those types that get to the last level that’s allowed in the abyss and then you act like you own the place? Here’s a tip: Numbers don’t mean crap.”

“Issat so? We’ll see what you think when they’re stitching you back together in Avon’s place!” The fighter shouted. He made to raise his axe above his head but was surprised to find that it didn’t even budge. “What the fu-“ he said as he looked down to see Kitone’s hand gripped firmly around the shaft of the axe.

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter Two continued.

“Like I said… They don’t. Mean. Crap!” Kitone said as she introduced her fist to his face, sending him tumbling to the floor, knocking over a few of the other fighters. She held his axe in her hand, by right she wasn’t supposed to be able to wield it. “Why do you PK’r types like axes so much? They’re so… stupid.” Kitone said, embedding the blade of the axe into the dirt floor of the abyss. “I mean, they don’t have balanced weight and they’re slow and unwieldy. In my opinion, they’re good for one thing, cutting down trees.” With that Kitone placed her foot right on the point where the axe’s head was attached to the shaft and with a quick kick and jerk broke the shaft free of the axe blade. “Look at that, such an improvement.” She said as she twirled the shaft around her.

“That… That freaking boar broke my +9. Forget the damn cleric! Get that stupid broad!” The fighter said, drawing a one-handed sword from his waist.

Kitone watched as six of the fighters, including the green haired one, charged at her with weapons drawn. “One thing I’ve always wondered about Isyan weapons training is why we rarely train with spears.” Kitone said as she struck a fighting stance, holding the staff like a spear. “Spears are such good weapons in my opinion. They have range over other melee weapons, like one-handed swords.” With a sharp thrust she pierced the guard of a nearby fighter, hitting him square in the chest and sending him sprawling to the floor. “Their shape and length gives them certain leverage against attackers too.” A nearby axe fighter swung his weapon, only to be blocked by the staff. A single twist of the staff sent the axe flying into the air over her shoulder, another swing of the staff brought it hard against the fighter’s ribs causing him to join his friend on the ground. The other fighters slowed their attack, some of them hesitating completely. Kitone twirled the staff around her a few times, biding time to take a proper look around the room. About a dozen feet to her left lay Cons’s hammer, if she could just get to it she could return it to Cons and Kitone was sure that Cons would enjoy inflicting some trauma onto these fighters. “C’mon guys, don’t be shy.” Kitone said, her eyes darting back and forth between the crowd of fighters and the hammer on the round, “I know it seems impossible but if you all attack at once I’m sure you can pose a tiny threat.”

The green haired fighter folded his arms, a sly smile spreading across his face. “Lux, will you stop playing around and stop this broad please?”

“Lux? That sounds like a mage name… But there aren’t any mages in this gro-“ Kitone thought to herself, cut short when a voice behind her spoke.

“Fine… I’ll stop messing around boss…” said the man behind Kit. Kitone spun to attack the man but wasn’t fast enough to counter him. He placed her hand on her side and sent an arc of lightning through her body. Kitone cried out as she fell to her knees, the world around her slowly turning black.

Between her lengthening blinks she faded in and out of consciousness. She felt her head being pulled up. “Hold her there Lux. I wanna make sure she can see me kill her friend.” said the green haired fighter as he slapped her in the face to rouse her a bit. “Wake up girl… I want you to see what happens when you **** me off…” Kitone could only watch as he turned and slowly made his way over to Cons. Kitone wanted to shout, but the powerful shock had her more or less paralyzed. She tried to move her arms, to get up and do something, anything to save Cons from her imminent death but her body refused to listen to her.

“No!” she practically screamed in her head, tears streaming down her face, “No, no, nononoNOOO!” She closed her eyes to clear the tears from her eyes and found it hard to open them again. She had been too confident and didn’t notice the mage at all and now that stupid mistake was going to end up with her friend dead. She could feel herself drifting into the realm of unconsciousness and she fought to stave it off but it was a futile battle, the shock had taken more out of her than she realized.

As she passed out Kitone swore she heard a faint voice whisper in her ear, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”


*~*~*~*

The dim light of the fire cast a faint glow into the mouth of the cave. A lone fighter stood in the light of the fire, looking into the cave. A man slowly walked out of the cave, his tattered robes blew in the wind that coursed through the valley. His face was hidden in the shadows of the robe’s hood.

“She’s still alive…” he said, taking a seat by the fire across from the fighter.

“I’m aware of that sir.” The fighter said, crossing her arms behind her back.

“If she’s still alive then you have failed me. I do not condone failure, I cannot have any part of this plan failing, no matter how trivial a part it is.” He said, anger evident in his tone.

“I know sir.” The fighter said, her resolve unwavering.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!”

“Because, sir, the resources you’ve expended to recruit me would cause you to reconsider doing something so brash. Also my existence plays a more integral part in this play than her removal.”

The man snickered.

“If I may interject sir, She’s in no condition to interfere with you plans right now anyway. She’s emotionally broken and also ill-prepared to fight against us. If everything goes according to plan it will be too late for her to stop us by time she catches wind of our plan.”

The man paused for a moment to consider the fighter’s words. “Fine,” he said as he waved her off, “you may proceed as planned. And girl… Just because I say you are important doesn’t mean you aren’t expendable to me, understood?”

“Yes sir.” She replied with a curt bow before taking a warp scroll out of her pocket, tearing it and disappearing in a flash.


*~*~*~*

A soft prodding stirred Kitone back to consciousness, the gentle pokes were followed by a very faint, “Is she dead?”

“No… At least, I don’t think so,” another voice said, “if you look closely you can se her breathing.”

“You sure? She looks pretty dead to me.” A third voiced, a female’s, chimed in. “I mean, look, she isn’t even reacting to anything.” Kitone felt a foot push against her side with enough force to shake her body but delivered in such a way that it didn’t feel like a kick.

“Ow..” Kitone grunted causing the female to gasp, which was quickly followed by the shuffling of feet as the trio stepped away from her. Kitone opened her eyes slowly and sat up. Most of her body ached with pains from being shocked by the mage but that minor throbbing was almost completely drowned out by the splitting headache she had. “Oh, by Teva’s grace… what the heck happened?” she thought as she rubbed her head. She looked around blinking a few times as she tried to clear through the mental fog her headache was causing. Behind her stood the owners of the three voices; a cleric, a mage and an archer, all of which wore the insignia of the academy. Kitone pointed to the cleric, “You.”
“Y-yes ma-am?” He answered unsure of how to approach the situation.

“Would it be too much trouble to ask for a bit of healing?” Kitone said as she rose to her feet unsteadily.

“Not at all.” he said. He raised his hammer above his head, and with a quick prayer Kitone was bathed in a golden light, her pains lessened substantially.

“Thanks.” She said, looking around the room properly now that she could focus. There were pools and streaks of blood all over the floor of the room. On the nearby wall was a large bloodstain. Fear engulfed Kitone as she took it all in. There were no bodies anywhere to be seen, just blood. Kitone whirled around and faced the three adventurers, who had been looking around the room themselves. “You three, did you see what happened here? Was there anyone else here?” Kitone asked frantically.

The three of them shook their head no. “It was only you in here when we came in here. You probably know more about what happened here than we do. I mean we practically found you in the middle of it.” The mage said as he walked over to the wall.

“Oh no…” Kitone muttered as she ran past the three towards the entrance to the abyss. As she ran she pulled her chatstone from her pocket. “Cons!” she practically shouted in her head, the stone picking up the message telepathically. “Cons, please answer! Cons!” The ensuing silence from the stone only made her even more fearful for the safety of her friend. “Cons!” she shouted one last time before slowing to a stop and leaning against a nearby wall. If she was in normal condition Kitone could’ve been halfway to Uruga by now but her emotions were wreaking havoc on her. She clenched the chatstone tightly in her hand. “Cap… Please Teva, let her answer… Cap?” Kitone thought. Had she spoken those words they would have been a barely audible whisper.

“Kit? Kit is that you?” came the reply. Suddenly there was a shard of hope for Kitone to latch onto.

“Thank Teva! Cap, listen, I’m in the abysss, Cons was attacked and I came to rescue her and then I was ambu-“ Kitone began, only to be interrupted by Cap’s calm voice.

“Kit. Kit, relax. Cons is fine. She’s in Avon’s ward, she has a few minor injuries and he wants to keep her overnight to make sure they aren’t anything serious, but she’ll be fine.”

“That’s great!” Kitone said, completely overjoyed, “I’ll go over to pay her a visit right now!”

“No! Kitone, stop!” Cap said abruptly. “Kitone…”

“Yes…” Kitone replied, a bit confused.

“Kit, you can’t go to see Cons. Not just yet.” Came Cap’s reply. The silence that followed stirred Cap to continue. “Kit, do you remember what happened in the abyss?”

“N-no…” Kitone said, completely confused now, “I blacked out midway through it.”

There was a slight pause as Cap thought about how to word her next response. “Kit… Cons told me…” Another pause. “She said…” The silence was deafening. “Kit…”

“Y-yea?”

“I need to tell you what happened face-to-face. It’s just… You need to get over to my tent as soon as you can, and whatever you do, don’t go to see Cons. Promise me that you’ll come straight to me.”

Kitone swallowed hard before replying to Cap. “Yea, I’ll come to you right now.”

[Orchids_Mantis]

there should be rules against waiting so long for a chapter that ends like that....(hopefully the next chapter that answers the questions raised will be out soon)

anyways, nice chapter, Kit

[john99944]

*slips in and drops an app*

Name: DavidsonSam
Class: Fighter
Preferred Weapon(s): Two Handed Sword, One Handed Sword and Shield
Personality: As a fighter, DavidsonSam is hard-headed and easily irritated, but under that he is actually kind and caring. He is a very skilled fighter and loves tanking and PKKing. He is a helpful and generous friend and if you need him, he will almost always be there. Just make sure he isn't in the heat of a PvP battle!
Aligment: Good
Yes, I have a problem with dying.

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter Three: Real Monsters

The last sliver of the sun had dipped over the horizon as Kitone rounded the corner to Cap’s tent. The beach had just begun to be bathed in the darkness of night, giving the campfire outside of the tent a brilliant glow. Kitone could make out Cap sitting in her hammock, watching the flames dance in front of her. Kitone walked up and sat by the fire.

“Cap.” Kitone said solemnly as she looked into the flames, trying desperately to avoid eye contact. Cap simply nodded in acknowledgement. The silence on that beach was only punctuated by the breaking of the waves on the shore and the crackling of the embers in the fire.

“Kit… Before I tell you what Cons told me happened, I want you to tell me what happened or, rather, what you remember.” Cap said, not taking her gaze from the flames.

“Well… After I met Cora outside the Abyss and she told me what had happened I rushed in with just the armor on my back. I had more or less planned to get in, get her and get out. There were some fighter’s harassing her when I got there but they were all gutter trash, I could’ve handled them all easily by myself. I didn’t even see the mage. He ambushed me and hit me hard with a lightning spell… I blacked out for a few seconds when that hit me but the leader of the fighter’s made sure to rouse me for long enough to see him make his way over to Cons. That’s when I blacked out for real. I don’t even know how long I was out for, but when I came too I was surrounded in by blood and none of the fighters were anywhere to be seen.” Kitone said, lying back in the cool sand and staring at the cloudless sky. “The rest of the story you know…”

“I see…” Cap said, finally looking at Kitone. “Well then, let me tell you what I know. I was busy dealing with a crab problem I was having earlier today, some rookie somehow managed to tick off King Crab more than most people normally do and he brought the entire crab population of this beach with him, straight to my front door. Because of that problem I didn’t even realize that Cora was trying to get to me by chatstone, but she did get run here from Elderine to get me. When she got here she practically collapsed into my arms, poor girl had overexerted herself and by time she had recovered enough to relay her message the whole ordeal was over and Cons had gotten to Avon’s ward.” Cap paused briefly to toss another log onto the fire to keep it burning, sending a cloud of embers into the air, flickering out like dying stars in the sky. “Naturally we rushed over there as soon as we could. Avon’s ward was pretty packed with injured people and Cons, who had so few actual injuries, seemed so out of place there… That was when Cora took a quick look around the ward and then asked about you…”

“What did she say?” Kitone asked, moving a little closer to the fire to keep warm in the cold night air.

“Kit… She told us ‘I left her in the Abyss. That’s where monsters like her belong.’ Kit, she spoke in a tone that was so rife with anger and hatred it sent a shiver down my spine, it was as if she was talking about something lower than a ratman’s droppings. Of course, Cora and I were both extremely confused by her remark. At least, until she told us what had happened…”


*~*~*~*

“Now… Where was I?” The green-haired fighter asked aloud. “Ah, yes… I was saying to you idiots that she’s just one freaking cleric. It shouldn’t take ten of you so long to put her down for the count, isn’t that right Lux?”

“Sure thing bo-“ Lux began, only to be silenced by a very fleshy thud.

“What the fu-“ said the green-haired fighter, turning to face his partner. Lux lay on the ground, unconscious, while Kitone was pushing herself to her feet. “Well I’ll be damned… This girl’s got quite a bit of fortitude on her. Take a good look at her boys, she’s the type of fighter y’all should try to be. At least, don’t follow her completely, she still k’oed Lux and that deserves punishment.” The entire group nodded in agreement.

“T-that’s impossible!” Cons muttered to herself, “No one should be getting up so quickly after being shocked like that.”

With a whistle the green-haired fighter recaptured everyone’s attention. “You, rookie with the shades on, you should be able to deal with her. I’m sure she’s barely up now, Lux is a strong mage.”

“Gotcha.” The fighter said, slinging his axe across his shoulders and walking over to Kitone. As he closed the distance between them Kitone stood unmoving and when he got close she didn’t even react to his presence. He waved his hand in front of her face and upon leaning in a bit closer realized her eyes were closed. “Hey, it looks like she’s knocked out on her fe-ugh!” he said, as Kitone delivered a powerful punch to his ribs resulting in an audible crunch. With a gasp he bent sharply and coughed up blood. He looked through his shades between painful gasps for air and saw Kitone’s rising knee and felt her hands on the back of his head guiding his face towards it. There was a sickening crunch as her knee found its mark, followed by a dull thud as the fighter’s limp body fell to the floor in a slump.

The green haired fighter snickered. “Interesting…” he remarked. “You two, you’re up.” The pair charged with their weapons drawn while Kitone slowly continued to make her way over to Cons. The two fighters slashed at Kitone and with a clang found their blows deflected aside. That was when everyone noticed the sword she held. It was a two-handed sword, yet she wielded it with one hand. It was a horrific looking blade, it looked like it was a collection of jagged blades merged together haphazardly.

“Where did she get that sword Brother?” said one fighter to the other.

“It matters not Brother, we’ll destroy her with our combination attack.” Said the second, charging in a second time, delivering a powerful slash to Kitone’s legs. The firs followed with a thrust at her face. Normally, attempting to block or dodge one attack cause the other one to not only hit, but be more effective. Kitone stood firm, simply watching their attacks but then suddenly she swung the sword upwards. Her blade destroyed the second brother’s sword, the jagged ‘teeth’ of the sword penetrated into his armor. The first brother didn’t fare well either, the far end of the sword caught the unguarded area under his arm, trapping it just short of stabbing Kitone.

With a grunt Kitone placed her other hand on the handle of the sword and slowly swung it overhead with the two fighters held firmly in place. With a pair of pained cries the sword hit the ground, embedding itself dangerously into the men. Kitone lifted the sword and held it just above the ground, letting gravity pull the men off her weapon. They landed in a heap, a large pool of blood. As Kitone turned and made her way towards the remaining group Cons struggled against the hold of the green-haired fighter.

“Please let me go! They need medical attention right now! I’m a cleric, I can heal them!” she shouted to the fighter. He promptly responded by pulling her arm further up her back, causing her to wince in pain.

“Listen… They couldn’t handle her and so they’ll die. Stuff like that happens every day.” He said in a monotonous tone. “Well gentlemen… do I have to tell you to gang her or will you realize that on your own?” With that they all charged. Cons turned her head away, she just couldn’t bear to watch these fighters throw their lives away so foolishly. Fortunately for her she didn’t have to wait long for it to be all over.

The sounds of battle were fast and curt, the echoes off the walls of the chamber they were in were haunting. The sounds of metal clashing was quickly followed by a cry of pain. One after the other the fighters were tossed aside like ragdolls in the fiercest tempest. Suddenly Cons was pushed roughly aside. As she stumbled she turned to face the fighter, and as she fell to the ground she saw Kitone plunge her sword into the fighter’s midsection, his shield unable to deflect her attack. Cons watched as his armor buckled, letting the blood-coated steel penetrate his flesh. She saw the momentary pause as the tip of the sword met bone. She grimaced as the sword bore through him and out his back, blood quickly trickling down his body and pooling on the floor. Even though she had fully impaled him Kitone kept pushing on him until the tip of the sword embedded into the wall. Cons turned and looked back at them and watched in horror as Kitone slowly began twisting the blade.

“KIT!” she shouted as she jumped to her feet and ran over trying to stop her from turning the sword anymore, “KITONE, YOU’RE KILLING HIM!” Kitone ignored her cries, and continued turning the blade ever so slowly. Cons tried to get the sword out of Kitone’s hand but her grip was too strong for her. She looked at the man who had long since slumped over on the sword, barely alive. If Cons didn’t stop Kitone soon he would die, along with the others. As much as she thought they deserved at least some of the beating they got she was a cleric and if she ever wanted to become they cleric she aspired to be she had to get these idiots to a Healer as soon as possible. She quickly looked around the chamber and saw her hammer laying just shy of the mage. Cons ran over and scooped it up and turned to Kitone and said calmly, “Kit, I’m going to ask you to release your weapon and let me take that man to Avon’s. Please Kit… I don’t want to have to hurt you.” When Kitone showed no sign of responding Cons tightened her grip on the hammer. Her slime mask hid her crying eyes as she stepped in and swung at the back of Kitone’s head.


*~*~*~*

[T3h_SyN]

chapter three continued

“…and she said she healed those whose injuries she could handle and she took the few that were too injured for her to deal with to Avon on Knite’s back. He was exhausted when he got there, he’s practically comatose beside her bed.” Cap said, referring to the earth dragon they shared. “You’re lucky she only knocked you out and didn’t cave your head in…” Kitone could only stare in disbelief. “Kit, to say Cons is pissed at you would be an understatement, the understatement that would be used to judge all understatements to come and all that have passed.”

“Cap, you know I wouldn’t do something like that!” Kit said, a bit shocked by what she heard. “I know I tend to be a bit brash, stubborn and rude but I’m no cold-blooded pk’er!”

“I know Kit, but whatever happened today can’t just be forgotten. I’d advise you to avoid Cons for a while, let her cool off a bit.” Cap said as she got up from the hammock and made her way to the tent. “She’ll come find you when she’s ready to move on. As for you, I’d advise you to look into that incident because who know if it won’t happen again...” There was a short pause before Cap pulled the flap to the tent open and left Kitone sitting by the dying fire with a curt “Good Night.”


*~*~*~*

The next morning found Kitone in a mix of moods, she hadn’t been so confused since the first time she tried to decipher Elunic texts. She walked across the center of Elderine’s marketplace past all the shops and up the stairs to the fountain. There she found who she came to see, Paladin Master Keast. Keast stood among the crowd of apprentice clerics, lecturing them on proper morals. “As a cleric protecting the sanctity of life is of utmost importance. Regardless of the situation you should ensure that those under your watch are kept in good health at all times.” Kitone stood on the periphery of the group, waiting for the lesson to be finished before she approached Keast.

“Good morning Master Keast.” Kitone said with a slight curtsey.

“Kitone.” She replied with a nod, “I’ve been expecting you.” This comment caught Kitone off guard.

“Umm… Excuse me ma’am?” Kitone said perplexedly.

“Early this morning one of my clerics came to see me in the Temple, one Cons Gammer, she said she was worried about you. She also told me about the incident in the Abyss yesterday and I think it’s a clear cut example of a possession. Kitone have you been in contact with any ghosts recently.

Kitone paused for a second to think. “No, can’t say I have Master Keast.”

“Even so, I’d like to arrange for an exorcism, just to be safe. It should take about a week to make the preparations an-“ Keast began.

“Whoa whoa whoa…” Kitone interjected. “Exorcism? Aren’t we jumping to conclusions here?”

“Kitone, with all due respect, you went berserk and summoned a weapon from nothingness. A weapon, might I add, that disappeared when Cons knocked you unconscious.” Keast said, her brow furrowing. “One week Kitone, I’ll meet you at the Temple gates. If you don’t come I’ll simply assume you’ve been fully possessed and tell the alliance to treat you as they would any other monster out there.”

“I’m not opposing it Keast, I’m just saying that we aren’t even sure what happened yet and we’re jumping to such drastic conclusions. I simply want extra time to research what happened.” Kitone said, standing firm.

“In that case Kitone you have six days to do all the research you want. On the seventh day there will be an exorcism regardless. If you really aren’t possessed then you’ll be fine and if you are… thenyou’ll be fine afterwards. Understand?” Keast retorted. Kitone couldn’t argue with the old paladin anymore, Keast had thrown her entire argument aside.

“Yes, I understand.” Kitone said before nodding and turning to leave. As she made her way towards the stairs that lead back down to the marketplace Kitone heard someone call her name. When she turned to face her caller it turned out to be Warrior Master Marty.

“Hey Marty,” Kitone said as she walked over to him, “what’s up?”

“Ah, same old routine, teaching the rookies how to use a sword- HEY! KEEP THAT SHIELD UP ROOKIE!” Marty replied, shouting at a nearby fighter who was practicing their stance with a one-handed sword and shield. Kitone couldn’t help but chuckle when the fighter jumped in surprise and dropped both the sword and the shield. “Heh… See what they have me dealing with?” Marty joked.

“Heh, I’m sure you were like that at some point.” Kitone teased playfully.

“Me? Heavens no! I WAS BORN TO BE A FIGHTER!” Marty shouted jokingly.

“That’s not what Ruby tells me.” Kitone said, a sly smile forming on her lips.

“Ooh… Low blow Ms. Wolf, low blow.” Marty said with a chuckle. “Anyway I just saw you talking with Keast and you looked a little stressed so I thought I’d extend to you the kind of offer only a real fighter would enjoy.”

“An offer you say?” Kitone asked.

“Yes young ma’am, an offer of offers if I may call it that. I know, for a fact, the best way to relieve some stress is to whack something a few times over.”

“Can’t disagree with you there Marty.” Kitone said.

“Exactly! You and me see eye to eye Kitone. EYE TO EYE! But back on track, I’m offering you a chance to spar-“ Marty began.

“Marty. You know full well that after the last time we sparred Ruby made me ‘promise’ never to spar with you again.” Kitone said.

“Ah, yes but-“ Marty continued.

“But nothing! Marty, I STILL HAVE THE SCARS FROM THAT DAY!” Kitone shouted, clearly agitated.

“Kitone, you can relax, you won’t be sparring with me. Ruby also made me ‘promise’ never to do that again.” Marty said with a slight shudder. “Ferocious woman… Anyway, I have a new assistant who may be able to give you a run for your money.”

“That sounds fishy. The great Marty getting an assistant?” Kitone said.

“I’m afraid my hands were tied on this matter. Her placement was ordered by the higher powers here, not much I could do about it myself. Thankfully she’s good at teaching the younger ones.” Marty said.

“Is that so? Just who is this magical assistant of yours?” Kitone said, folding her arms.

“You should know her,” Marty began saying before being distracted by someone behind Kitone, “Ah, there she goes now!” Marty placed a pair of fingers into his mouth and whistled sharply. Every head in Elderine turned to face the Warrior Master and it wasn’t until Kitone saw who turned to come over did she realize how mush she knew his new assistant.

“Synna?! My older sister is your assistant?!” Kitone exclaimed in disbelief.

“Hey sis,” Synna said, ruffling her younger sister’s hair, “what’s all the ruckus about Marty?”

“You are.” Marty said plainly, “Kitone here doesn’t believe you’re my assistant.”

“What’s not to believe Kitty?” Synna asked he sister jokingly.

“How do you et a job like that? Aren’t you like the number one criminal ever?” Kitone asked.

“Nope.” Synna replied.

“Nope?” Kitone asked.

“Exactly. I was pardoned for my crimes.” Synna said.

“WHAT?!” Kitone exclaimed, turning to glare at Shutian, who had turned to see what caused that exclamation, saw the two Wolf sisters and with a look of guilt rapidly forming on his face quickly looked away. “How in Teva’s name did you get pardoned?”

“I walked into Elbama’s office and asked for a meeting to discuss the terms of my surrender.” Synna said.

“The terms of your surrender?” Kitone asked confusedly.

“Yes, I was getting tired of the rogue life. I decided that it was time to return to something resembling a normal life. Shutian offered me the same condition as you, but I ‘gracefully declined’. I offered my own terms instead.” Synna said.

“Which were?” Kitone asked.

“I insisted that I keep my current achievements and get full pardon for all my criminal actions, in turn I will do some work for the greater benefit of Isyan society. Elbama was insistent on sending me to jail to do my time but-“ Synna started.

“Shutian reminded him that you could cut your way out of Elderine if you wanted to, and given the fact that the Isyan Hunters are no more it would fall on the town guards to defend the city?” Kitone finished.

“Exactly.” Synna said. “He then agreed to my terms. In return I have two conditions imposed upon me. Firstly, I am to assist Marty in the daily training of the fighters in the academy for the next year and a half. Secondly, I can’t draw my sword, or any other bladed weapon for that matter in any situation unless I can get majority clearance from Marty, Shutian or Elbama.”

“Majority clearance?” Kitone asked.

“It means that she needs two of us to agree with her using her sword.” Marty whispered into her ear. “SO!” Marty shouted, almost deafening Kitone in the process, “Will you take up my offer?”

“Well, if it isn’t you I’m fighting I guess I can take up your offer, but…” Kitone said, grabbing Marty before he could turn and clear the training grounds for the match, “we’ll have to do it tomorrow morning, I have some rather urgent business to attend to.

“Pertaining to what Keast said to you?” Marty asked.

“Yea, you could say that…” Kitone responded before turning and disappearing into the crowd in the square.

[Orchids_Mantis]

i had actually stopped checkign these forums to see if anyone is updating their stories (somewhat given up on hope). Glad I checked today, this one was pretty good.

[nikmon]

After reading chapter 3, i am hooked. The new story is amazing and in my opinion, going to be better than the first. The whole possession-ish aspect was so cool. lol im now going to be checking this thread much more often!

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter Four : Second Opinion

Kitone walked quickly into a nearby shop, a jewelry store, and walked up to the counter. The store was empty; the only people in it were Kitone and the burly shopkeeper. He was a giant of a man who looked out of place compared to the small girly trinkets that lined the display cases and shelves of the store. He sat on a stool and leaned against the counter, reading a book that lay open on the counter. “Excuse me,” Kitone said, shutting the door behind her, “I’d like to speak with the person in charge here.”

“You’re lookin’ at ‘im…” The man said gruffly, without taking his attention from the book.

“No, you misunderstand. I want to speak to the lady in charge.” Kitone said, placing her hands on the counter.

“Here you go.” He said, handing her a black warp scroll, the gold text on it shimmering in the light that filtered in through the windows, all the while he continued to read the book. Kitone took the warp scroll and after a quick look around the store to make sure no one was watching she tore it. The world around her seemed to lose focus as shapes blurred and rearranged themselves into other shapes until she stood in the warp chamber of the Shadow’s Shadow hideout. A nearby pair of guards raised their weapons momentarily before recognizing the person who had warped in.

“Good afternoon, Lady Wolf.” They said in unison, opening the doors to the hallway.

“Is the Mistress in?” she asked.

“She arrived not too long ago, she should be in her chamber.” They replied in perfect unison. Kitone nodded and made her way down the hall. She quickly made her way through the stairways and hallways of the hideout and to the door of Claire’s personal chamber. She rapped lightly on the door.

“Come in.” Claire said. “Ah, Kitone. What brings you here?” Claire said when Kitone entered, motioning for her to sit in the chair in front of her large desk. As Kitone sat she couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Claire’s desk was covered in various books and notes, as it usually was, but something just didn’t feel right.

“Actually Claire…” Kitone began, “I’m having a bit of a problem, and it has to do with this stupid mark. Something happened recently and I think it’s the curse manifesting itself.” Kitone held out her hand for Claire to look at. To say the mage was meticulous in looking at her hand was an understatement. As it began to creep Kitone out Claire released her hand. “Well?” Kitone asked.

“Well what?” Claire said.

“What about this mark? What do you think is happening?” Kitone said, getting a bit angry.

“I’m not sure.” Claire said plainly.

“What?!” Kitone exclaimed.

“I’m not sure what to tell you, I don’t know much about this sort of thing yet.” Claire said embarrassedly.

“WHAT?!” Kitone shouted, “What do you mean you don’t know much about this sort of thing?!”

“She’s telling the truth Kitone.” came a voice from behind them, Claire’s specifically. Kitone whirled around and was stunned to see a second raven-haired mage standing in the doorway.

“What the heck is going on here?” Kitone asked, extremely confused.

“I’m the real Claire. The person you’ve been talking to is my newest daughter, Genevieve. She’s the newest member of my information gathering team.” Claire said, closing the door behind her.

“Newest daughter?” Kitone asked, still just as confused.

“Yes, contrary to my appearance, I’m her youngest and only blood relation.” Came an answer from a female voice behind Kitone, a voice that could only be described as being like liquid silk. When she turned around instead of coming face-to-face with the other Claire she saw a slender young woman who could easily pass for a younger Claire. Her hair hung was cut short and feathered about her face. Like Claire’s hair the majority of the woman’s hair was black but it had streaks of pink spread about in it. “Mama, I’m hungry. Would it be alright if I got something to eat?”

“Of course dear, just don’t eat too much. Remember you have more studies to do later.” Claire said, ushering the woman out the small office. Claire sat down at her desk and was met by Kitone’s confused gaze.

“Claire… Explain.” Kitone said.

“Well…” Claire began with a laugh. “Firstly, she isn’t my actual child…”

“But she said…” Kitone interrupted, a sharp glare from Claire silencing her immediately.

“Kitone, tell me… How much do you know about summoning?”

“Not much, I’m clearly not trained as a mage.” Kitone answered bluntly.
“Well, basically, a summon is a magically created being. Typical summons are simple creatures, like a skeleton or a flamewalker because summoning requires an intimate knowledge of the creature being summoned.”

“Skeletons and flamewalkers are simple creatures?” Kitone asked.

“Basically a skeleton is just a pile of animated bones, simple enough a feat for a well trained mage. A flamewalker is basically just a ball of magic energy that is given a dash of intelligence. Both summons are temporary because they use the magical energy that created them to move about and attack, similar to how we use the energy we get from eating food. Since they have a finite amount of energy they die very quickly.”

“What’s the point of this discussion Claire?” Kitone asked, reclining into the chair.

“Patience Kitone, we’ll get there eventually…” Claire said. “Now tell me, as a researcher, have you heard of the Nivi tribe?”

“Yes I have. They were known for being the best summoners in all of Isyan history.” Kitone said.

“Do you know why?” Claire asked, not pausing for Kitone to answer. “It was how they summoned their creatures. Nivian summoning is different from traditional Isyan summoning. You won’t find any mages learning about it in their schooling because it is considered a dark art and as such…”

“Is forbidden.” Kitone said, finishing her statement.

“Exactly. It is forbidden because it requires not one but two blood offerings to summon a creature. One of the summoner; this, along with the magical energy they provide to create it, imprints the fact that they are the creature’s master. The other is the blood of the creature you are summoning; this is what gives the creature its form. The blood of the creature is what provides the structural and genetic blueprints to create a complex creature. It also gives them the ability to renew and sustain themselves off life energy and not magic energy.”

“And this relates to her how?” Kitone asked again.

“Nivian summoning requires the summoner’s blood; she did tell you she’s my only blood relation. It really should be clearer for you Kitone.” Claire said with a mischievous smile.

The realization hit Kitone like a sack of bricks. “She’s a summon?!” Kitone exclaimed. “But… what was the creature that you took blood from?”

“It was a hard choice. Firstly the creature had to have a longevity matching my own, which narrowed it down quite a bit, I enjoy being a mother figure, but outliving your own children is a bit… painful. Secondly, the creature had to be humanoid enough to pass for a normal person. That left only one feasible candidate. They were matched my criteria enough to be worth getting blood from to create Genevieve.”

“Genevieve?” Kitone asked.

“That’s what I’ve named all of my daughters.” Claire said. “This Genevieve is as immortal as I am, but isn’t as invulnerable. Like you she can die if she’s wounded too badly in combat but unlike you she’ll be here in five thousand years.”

“Wow… Her blood donor must have been one powerful creature.” Kitone said in awe.

“Well, Karen would rank as one of the most powerful creatures in Isya…” Claire said.

“Wait… KAREN IS HER OTHER DONOR?!” Kitone exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

“Yes, she is. She and I actually know each other quite well. Remember Kitone, I’ve been around for a very long time.” Claire said plainly. Kitone sat back in her chair quietly, pondering who else Claire knew well.

“Ah!” Kitone said, remembering why she had come in the first place, “Claire, I have a question for you…”


*~*~*~*

“I see… They want to have you exorcised?” Claire said after Kitone told her the story of what happened in the abyss and her meeting with Keast. “We can’t let that happen Kitone.”

“Why not? It’s not like anything bad could happen.” Kitone said.

“That’s exactly why you can’t be exorcised.” Claire said, walking over to a nearby bookshelf. She pulled down a box and tenderly removed a pile of old papers, bound between two leather covers with what appeared to be rope. She placed the book on the desk and turned to about the middle of the book and passed it to Kitone. Kitone stared at the page and recognized the characters, a practically ancient Isyan script, but the words made no sense.

“Claire, I can’t understand any of this.” Kitone said, trying to find some way to read the book.

“Ah, sorry. It’s been so long since I’ve let anyone see his notes… The key is the numeric difference between the first and last letters in each line. Not very complex but it’s enough to dissuade most people.” Claire said, leaning against a nearby wall.

“His notes?” Kitone asked as she mentally deciphered the book.

“Those notes belong to the man who bound me to this world all those years ago. Aside from the marks on my back these are all that remain of his presence on this world.” Claire said in a somber tone.

“I see…” Said Kitone almost apologetically, before silently becoming drawn into the notes before her. As she read she learnt about the true nature of the Shadow Dungeon that the promotion test took place in. The first thing she learnt was something that she had always wondered about, that the enemy you fight in the dungeon is not your shadow but a magical clone of yourself. What you fought was no more than a shell that resembled you and had some of your personality imprinted on it. When you defeated it you simply destroyed the body, leaving the magical presence behind in the dungeon. This led to the second point she learnt about the dungeon, that to keep the accumulation of the defeated ‘shadows’ contained and not left to roam Isya and add to the collection of malevolent forces in the world the dungeon was constructed to be like a box within a box. The inner box was the dungeon itself, entry and exit allowed only to those who have a special item, the Shadow Key. The outer box was a containment area of sorts. When a ‘shadow’ is defeated the remnants of the magical energy that was the personality of the shadow is siphoned into the outer box to prevent it from becoming a wraith, a type of ghost formed from evil magic. “How… How did he know this about the Shadow Dungeon, I’ve never seen such detailed writings even in the Isyan libraries.” Kitone asked Claire.

“Because his father was the mage that came up with the test.” Claire replied, turning ahead a few pages before pointing to a specific paragraph.

“I’m sure Father doesn’t understand the possible ramifications of the system he’s engineered. He’s blind to the fact that he has created a powder keg of magical energy. He refuses to accept that the Outer Sanctum will eventually be filled with a magical entity with a deep hatred for the Isyans that attacked it and imprisoned it forever. I do not know if I am right but I’m sure Father is too proud to admit that his glorious test has a flaw. My personal research into the magic puppets has shown that if a person has a second puppet made the energies that animated the first puppet will also animate the second, and let’s just say dying will make a man very vengeful… I will tell father of my findings and advise him to add a note to the rules he has set, to prevent anyone from doing the test twice.” Kitone read aloud, turning to face Claire, “So you knew that doing the test a second time might end up like this?”

“Well… Not like this exactly but I knew it would be harder to beat the shadow the second time.” Claire replied, “But you’re a capable fighter, so I figured you could handle the increased challenge. What is happening now though… Even Tezzert couldn’t have foreseen himself. It would seem that you left the room with a bit more than just a good story. I think you might have taken some of that magical energy out with you, enough to manifest itself by using your body. There’s no way to confirm what exorcising that from within you might cause but I highly doubt that it’d be something we want to learn about.”

“Well, unless you have a plan we’ll be finding out in a week…” Kitone said dryly as she carefully closed the book and handed it back to Claire.

“Hmm… I may have a solution but…” Claire began.

“But?” Kitone asked hesitantly.

“It’ll take six days to prepare, and w-” Claire said.

“That’s fine if it works.” Kitone interrupted, receiving a sharp glare from Claire, “Sorry… You were saying?”

“It’ll take six days to prepare and we’ll need a cleric to help me with the rites.” Claire said, putting the book back on the shelf.

“That’s not a problem, Force can help.” Kitone said.

“I said I needed a cleric…” Claire said, shaking her head. “Force has fallen from that path for far too long for it to work. You’ll need to bring a Cleric you can trust.”

“Hmm… I see.” Kitone said, “I’ll have to get back to you on that then… but I’ll definitely find one so you can begin your preparations. I, however, have training to do.”

“Training?” Claire asked.

“Yea, big fight tomorrow.” Kitone said.

“Really?” Claire said surprised. “I haven’t heard about anything that would be a cause for trouble.”

“Yea, I guess, it’s probably because she isn’t your sister…” Kitone said, walking out into the hallway.


*~*~*~*

[T3h_SyN]

chapter four continued

The next morning found Kitone in the Fighter’s Training Hall in Elderine, the sun still low in the sky, casting the long shadow of the high city walls onto the raised platform that made the arena that many a fighter had practice matches in during their time in the academy. Kitone stepped onto the platform, stretching a few times before taking a wooden practice sword and shield from Marty.

“Here you go Kitone,” He said, “Your sister has opted to forgo the use of a shield.”

“Heh, showoff.” Kitone said softly.
“Well, she clearly has mastered her art, she’s quite capable with just the sword. I actually think this fight will go to her, no contest.” Marty said with a smirk.

“Heh, I guess I’ll just have to prove you wrong then geezer.” Kitone said before stepping to the center of the ring, taking a few practice slashes before the fight began.

“I’m no geezer!” Marty said, crossing his arms. “I tell ya, youngsters these days.” Marty said to himself. “ANYWAY!” He shouted, getting the attention of all the fighters that were seated around the platform, “This isn’t just some exhibition fight for your entertainment! You guys have to PAY ATTENTION! Today we’ll have my assistant Synna sparring with her younger sister Kitone! Both of them are very capable fighters, and I w-“

“She doesn’t look so special…” one fighter shouted to Marty, garnering a few laughs from his surrounding friends.

“WELL! If you wanna come up here and have her smack the stupid right outta you, you’re free to try…” Marty said, pointing his sword at the young swordsman. “And if you EVER interrupt me again, you’ll be running from here to Roumen and back with the heaviest training weights I can find in this place, do I make myself clear?” The fighter managed to mutter a sheepish “yes’ir” before Marty continued speaking to the crowd. “RIGHT, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I want you guys to learn from this fight. As soon as Synna gets here we can begin…”

“Well, then I guess I should hurry and get in the ring then.” Synna said, making her way through the seated crowd, amid a flurry of ‘Hello’s and ‘Good Morning’s. She hopped onto the platform and looked around. “Oh dear,” She began, “I forgot to take a training sword from the rack, would someone be so kind as to get one for me?” The ensuing scramble as most of the male trainees ran for the weapons rack was on the scale of a small riot. As the cries and shouts of the young fighters rang out in the training hall Marty cleared his throat, which resonated loudly in the hall, getting everyone’s attention instantly.

“GENTLEMEN! CONTAIN YOURSELVES!” He shouted. “You, Colonel,” he said, pointing to a nearby female fighter, “Go fetch a sword for Synna.” With a nod, Colonel ran towards the rack to retrieve a weapon. “The rest of you BUFFOONS will be watching the match while you practice your attacks on the training dummies and if I SO MUCH AS GLIMPSE ONE OF YOU SLACKING OFF you’ll be weeding all of Moonlight Tomb and Vine Tomb WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.” As the crowd of fighters headed over to the wooden dummies Marty sighed. “I swear… We’ll never get the fight started at this rate.” He clapped his hands together, “OKAY, the rules of this match are simple. A fighter will score a point if they disarm their opponent, knock their opponent out of the ring, or score a clean blow to the midsection or a controlled blow to the head of the opponent. First to three points wins, understood?”

“Yes sir” Synna said, taking her sword from Colonel with a soft whisper of ‘Thank you’.

“Let’s get this show on the road already.” Kitone said, doing one last final stretch before taking a fighting stance.

“I see you’re eager as always.” Synna said to Kitone with a smirk.

“I’ve been ready to put you in your place since yesterday sis,” Kitone said.

“Well then…” Synna said, holding the sword at the ready. “Why don’t we really see how good you’ve gotten.”

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter Five: Sibling Rivalry

Marty looked at the sisters, both of them waiting for him to start the fight. “Fighter’s at the ready…” He said, with a slight pause, “Go!”

An awkward silence fell in the hall when neither side started moving. To the younger, less experienced fighters it seemed as if neither side had heard that the fight had started, but to the more experienced ones the mental battle between the two had already begun. Kitone stared down her sister, looking for some flaw in her stance, some minute opening she could exploit but much like her own stance there was very little room for error. Synna turned much like a fencer would, putting her entire body behind her sword and waited for Kitone to lower her guard. A slight shift in weight spurred Kitone into motion, closing the gap between them in a flash. The two swords connected with a loud crack, resulting in a gasp from the crowd.

“Impetuous as ever Kitone.” Synna said, pushing Kitone and retaliating with a few slashes of her own. When it came to power behind each blow Kitone was the clear cut winner but in a battle of speed, Synna was the supreme champion. Synna’s barrage of slashes connected with Kitone’s sword and shield with the lightest of taps but they came at such a blinding pace that Kitone couldn’t muster a counter-attack.

“Well, I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t.” Kitone said, thrusting her shield forward to repel Synna before she could attack again. The shield thrust caught Synna mid-attack and knocked her off balance. “And here comes the first point!” Kitone said, thrusting at Synna. As she leaned into the thrust she realized it was a trap. She could only glimpse Synna’s sly smirk before she twisted her body under the thrust of her sword. Synna was moving with the grace of a feline in the hunt. Kitone tried to pull the thrust back, tried to twist her own body to dodge the strike, anything to not concede the first point but Synna was simply moving too fast for her to escape.

The blow connected just below Kitone’s ribs with a deep thud. “Point!” Marty exclaimed, stepping between the two women. “The score is one to nil in Synna’s favor.” A round of applause came from the spectators.

“Look at that, you were right little sis.” Synna said mockingly.

“Fighters at the ready…” Marty said, waiting for the two of them to retake their fighting stances. “Begi-!” This time it was Synna who made the first move, rushing in with a lightning fast thrust before Marty could even finish starting the fight. Kitone reacted just as quickly barely managing to put her shield between the sword and her, the force of the blow slid her back a couple of inches.

“Oh? We’re playing rough now?” Kitone said as she watched her sister pulled back for another large strike.

“Well, unlike you I have students to teach when this is done. So if you don’t mind I want to end this as soon as possible.” Synna said, swinging at Kitone.

Kitone met her sister’s attack with one of her own, the two swords coming to a dead stop in the clash. “If that’s the case you shouldn’t have tried to beat me in strength!” With that Kitone pulled back and swung again, connecting with Synna’s sword and sending it reeling from the force of the blow.

“What?!” Synna exclaimed as she tried to control her sword.

“I’m not the same lil Kitone you used to overpower!” Kitone said. She swung over and over, each time Synna barely managed to control the recoil of her sword. “And if you think I’ll let you do that to me again, you’re horribly mistaken!” Kitone shouted, her sword connecting with Synna’s. Synna’s sword spiraled out of her hand, the top half of the blade parting ways with the lower half as the sword clattered to the ground just beyond the crowd.

Murmurs and whispers came from the crowd as Marty announced, “Point! The score is one all… and Miss Wolf, you will be paying for that sword.”

“Actually…” Kitone said sheepishly as she held up her sword which had a series of large cracks throughout the blade.

“Can someone fetch me another pair of swords, and Kitone please control your strength…” Marty said with a sigh. When the two fighters had been rearmed Marty started the third round. Both of the sisters charged as he gave the go meeting in the middle of the ring, exchanging blows at a frantic pace.

“You’ve gotten better Kitone.” Synna said while sidestepping a vertical slash before counterattacking with a slash of her own. “Maybe I should step things up a bit.”

Kitone raised her shield to block the slash and thrust her sword again. “You’re all talk. Like a scared dog, all bark and no bite. Hardly befitting of our family name.”

“Fine.” Synna said, parrying the thrust aside, “Let me speed things up then.” Synna stepped in short bursts, her movements restricted by the tight hold of the kimono but she still managed to close the gap faster than Kitone could react. Even Marty himself gasped at the sudden increase of speed. Synna held her head beside her sister’s and whispered into her ear, “Now I’ll show you who the true alpha Wolf is.” Her lightning fast slash connected squarely with Kitone’s shield, a second slash pushed her sword aside before another second had passed, leaving her gut exposed. Kitone reacted in time to pivot her body, reducing the final thrust to a barely glancing blow. Both Wolf sisters glanced towards Marty, his shaking head telling them that it didn’t count as a point. Kitone used the slight pause in the fight to put some space between Synna and herself, space that Synna quickly closed. “Don’t run Kitone, that’s not befitting of a Wolf.”

“I’m.. not running…” Kitone said between breaths, focused intently on dodging her sister’s blows. “I’m.. biding… time for… a certain… moment.”

“Oh really?” Synna said, continuing her assault. “What moment would that be?”

“This one!” Kitone exclaimed, suddenly parrying Synna’s sword skyward and charging her with her shoulder. Synna let the charge connect, it put Kitone in a disadvantageous position, her back was exposed and there was no way she could escape an attack from this position. Synna stepped back once, twice and on the third step she realized Kitone’s plan. Her back foot was precariously perched on the edge of the arena.

“Don’t worry sis, it’s only a three foot drop.” Kitone taunted, planting her front foot firmly and taking another step forward, sending Synna falling out of the ring. The crowd erupted in applause as Synna hit the ground.

“Point! The score’s two to one in favor of Kitone.” Marty said.

Synna climbed into the ring once again. “Alright Kitone, I’m through playing around. Your chances of winning have shrunk to zero.”

“Ha, what sort of rubbish are you spewing now?” Kitone said mockingly. “You shouldn’t be such a sore loser sis.”

“To be a sore loser, one would have to lose. I am simply stating that I’m finished handicapping myself for the entertainment of my students.” Synna replied bluntly.

“Handicapping yourself?” Kitone asked; a soft murmur could be heard in the crowd.

“Yes Kitone. I’ve been restraining myself all this time. Do you think I would be an undefeated fighter if I fought like this?” Synna asked rhetorically, removing her personal sword from the sash at her side. “This kimono is made of a special fabric and is fitted in such a way that it restricts my movements.” With a flourish she pulled it off, much to the delight of most of the male students, revealing her armor underneath. The cuirass was like a corset of metal, leaving her shoulders exposed, the plackart and faulds doing little more than protecting her dignity. “In addition to that, do you think I’d fight seriously with these weights on?” Synna asked, removing a pair of metal anklets and bracelets, previously hidden by the kimono. She tossed them out of the ring where they hit the ground with a series of large thunks. “Just face it Kitone, you’re outclassed and outmatched now…” she said, placing her sword into a small leather loop at he hip.

“Like I’d do that.” Kitone said, gritting her teeth.

A whistle from Marty caught everyone’s attention as he looked Synna over. “Soooo, that’s what’s been hiding under there eh?”

“Don’t stare too hard,” Synna said with a laugh, “We wouldn’t want Ruby killing both of us.”

“Valid point.” Marty said, regaining his composure. “Fighters at the ready! Go!” Kitone watched her sister carefully, unsure of how to approach her. Synna stood straight, her sword hanging limply at her side and with her free hand she taunted Kitone to attack her. Kitone complied with her sisters mocking and attacked, her sword a blur as she threw slash after slash but something had changed. Synna was hardly exerting herself and she was blocking and parrying her attacks with the greatest of ease. “Wow…” Marty said to himself, “She is fast!” There was a murmur from the crowd, most of them couldn’t see Synna’s hand moving, it was just a blur; a blur that was preventing Kitone from landing a strike.

“Do you see it now sister? You can’t beat me!” Synna shouted.

“I refuse to admit that!” Kitone said swinging at Synna, her sword passing harmlessly through her midsection. “What?!” Kitone exclaimed, looking on in shock as her sister began to fade away. The entire crowd, even Marty himself, was silent having witnessed such an impossibility.

“You couldn’t hope to beat me Kitone, Not in a million years. I am the fastest swordsman that ever existed! And I… I will show you the error of your ways.” Synna said before fading away completely. A gust of wind from behind Kitone heralded the firm prod of Synna’s sword against the back of her head.

“P-point!” Marty exclaimed, almost forgetting he was refereeing the fight. “The score is two all, next point wins.” Kitone twirled around and was met with an empty ring, a second gust of wind and her sister’s voice coming from behind her told her she had already moved back to her spot in the center of the ring.

“How… How are you so fast?!” Kitone exclaimed, shivering slightly from the fact that if this was a real fight she would have died without even realizing it.

“At it’s core it’s rather simple. Our parents.”

“What?” Kitone asked perplexedly.

“It’s the fact that we’re half Elf, half Human. Our muscles are different from both humans and elves. The raw strength and power of human musculature,” Synna said, clenching her free hand into a fist, “combined with the grace and agility of elven muscles! It’s what gives you your greater than average brute strength and is the basis for my speed. But it’s the difference in our training that separates us.” Kitone simply stared. “You know what prevents most humans from using magic? The human spirit has a harder time manipulating the flow of magic, think of it as nature’s way of balancing out their physical prowess… But,” Synna said, unfurling her hand, a small fireball flared up in it before fizzling out almost instantly, “some half-breeds can tap into that magical realm.” The crowd instantly began shouting wildly in complete disbelief of what just happened. “Relax kids, I don’t have the magic potential to throw fireballs or summon pillars of ice. My abilities are too weak for that. They however are strong enough for this!” Synna said, clenching her fist, small arcs of electricity bounded about the tensed muscles on her arm. “Simple biology, minute sparks of electricity move muscles and with a bit of controlled magic…” Synna’s arm became a blur once again, “and my speed becomes unrivaled.”

“What!” Kitone exclaimed, “Marty she’s using magic! This can’t be fair!”

“She hasn’t hit you with a single spell yet, she’s been beating you with her sword this entire time.” Marty said.

“C’mon Kitone, don’t start whining now. Here’s what I’ll do for you, I’ll give you one last chance to leave with your dignity intact…” Synna said with a smirk. “But if you decide to stay I will humiliate you in this ring Kitone, and you know I will…”

Kitone paused for a moment, considering her sisters offer. She was more than outmatched now, Synna was fighting on a level she couldn’t hope to reach. As much as she wanted to stay and fight she knew she’d only lose. That’s when it spoke, like a dark sultry whisper from within the recesses of her own mind. “Do it. You can beat her… with my power.” The voice said. Kitone wanted to turn and leave but she couldn’t fight as her body assumed her fighting stance.

“So, this is your choice? Fine, this will end swiftly.” Synna said, taking her fighting stance.

“Final round, Go!” Marty said, quickly stepping out of the fray.

“Heh.” Synna said, disappearing in a flash. “Now Kitone…” her voice said, coming from her left side. “Kneel before the Queen of the Endless Slash!” Synna’s voice finished, this time from her right side. The pair of swings that connected with the back of her knees instantly brought her falling onto them. Kitone managed to keep her grip on the sword but she let the shield clatter to her side so she could steady herself when she landed. When she looked up she stared directly into the tip of Synna’s wooden sword.

“Poi-“ Marty began, silenced by Synna’s suddenly pointing finger.

“No… She’s not quite broken yet. That would have been too quickly for her to have learnt anything.” Synna said, placing the wooden sword under Kitone’s chin and guiding her to her feet.

“Pitiful.” The voice in Kitone’s head said. The crowd was silent as Kitone got to her feet.

“Good girl,” Synna said, stepping back a bit, “Are you sure you don’t want to give up?”

[T3h_SyN]

Chapter five continued

“You’ll have to do better than that…” The voice inside Kitone’s head replied.

“Come now little sister. You really do need to fix your stance, it is far too open without your shield. Here let me fix that for you.” Synna said, walking towards Kitone. Kitone cried out angrily and slashed at her, the sword passing trough her harmlessly. A quick swat on her right arm told her where she had disappeared to. “How rude, I’m just trying to help you!” Synna said, delivering another sharp blow to the back of her knee. Kitone fell hard, using the sword as a cane to stabilize herself.

“Is this really your limit?” The voice inside her head mocked.

“Hmph,” Synna said, “If this is all you can muster then I guess I should stop toying with you and end this farce now…” With that she raised her sword to strike.

“Fool. You shouldn’t brag so much if you haven’t won!” Kitone shouted in a voice that wasn’t her own. She jumped into Synna, throwing a fist with her free hand. Synna caught the glint of light reflecting off metal and countered swiftly. A cloud of black smoke was spreading from Kitone’s fist, taking the shape of a evil-looking sword. Synna drew her sword and brought it down through Kitone’s fist, pinning it to the ground. This happened so fast that the young fighters in the crowd simply saw the end result, Kitone’s hand pinned to the ring with a small cloud of black smoke emanating from it. Synna glanced over to Marty who simply nodded having seen the sword that was forming in Kitone’s hand.

“W-what the heck just happened?!” A very surprised fighter yelled from the crowd, quickly followed by similar questions.

“You didn’t SEE what happened?” Marty yelled, trying to deflect attention as Synna removed the sword from the ring, careful to keep it through Kitone’s hand. “Maybe if you trained a bit harder you would have been able to keep up with what was going on!”

“C’mon, Kit. Lets get you to Avon’s.” Synna said, leading her sister out of the ring as Marty lectured the students on how to keep track of fast moving objects.


*~*~*~*

“Care to tell me what in Legel’s name happened earlier?” Synna asked, concern deep in her voice, “I know I was whipping you like an old racehorse but you were summoning a sword to attack me with!” Kitone clenched her fist a few times; Avon’s healers worked well, hardly leaving a scar. “Kitone. Stop ignoring me, you aren’t a child anymore, that won’t work.”

The two of them stood in the back of the alleyway between Avon’s clinic and the blacksmith, the constant sounds of the blacksmith’s hammer hitting the anvil and the loud hiss of red hot metal being quenched in cool water ensured the privacy of their conversation. Kitone said, “It’s a long story…”

“I have time...”


*~*~*~*

Kitone walked through the streets of Roumen, making her way through the midday crowd as she headed towards the market. She needed a cleric she could trust and given her current state of affairs, that list was rather small. “She should be buying stuff for dinner.” Was what the young mage told her when she went to the home of the first cleric on the list. Kitone’s gaze scanned the crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of her quarry. Kitone paused at the top of the staircase near Ruby, surveying the plaza below. “There she is.” Kitone said to herself, spotting the cleric crossing the bridge.

After a bit of quick maneuvering through the crowd Kitone caught up to the cleric and the archer who was accompanying her shopping. “Are you really suggesting fish again?” The cleric said disappointedly.

“Well, unless you want to go to Elderine and pay those prices for the meat there feel free. Just remember that Roumen’s fish is pretty much guaranteed to be fresh… and cheap.” The archer said, leading the way to a black-haired merchant.

“Yea… I guess given our budget fish is a good choice.” The cleric said, looking at the many fish in the merchant’s stall. She was a bit indecisive with the large selection of fish in front of her. “Hmm, which should I get?”

“Try these,” a friendly sounding voice said as a hand came into her view, pointing at a nearby pile of fishes. “These make a good soup with some vegetables and a bit of pepper.”

“Ah, thanks for the ti-oh… It’s you…” Cons said as she turned to face Kitone.

Kitone waved politely at Cap, who had a very confused look on her face. “Yea, it’s me.” Kitone said calmly, passing a furtive glance at Claire who herself was trying to remain composed. “Look, Cons-“

“Don’t ‘Look, Cons’ me. You know exactly how I’m feeling about you right now! Didn’t you talk to Cap? Didn’t she tell you that I’m not exactly IN THE MOOD TO SEE YOU LET ALONE TALK TO YOU!” Cons shouted, her tone becoming startlingly angry.

“Cons, I’m well aware how ticked off you are. In case you’ve forgotten, YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!” Kitone shouted back at Cons, pausing momentarily to regain her composure. “Putting that aside, I need your help Cons.”

“My help? You need MY help?!” Cons said startled. “You already got MY help! Or did you FORGET you have an exorcism to attend in a few days!”

“That’s exactly why I’m asking for your help!” Kitone said, “You have no idea what has happened to me! I’m surprised you even did what you did, maybe there’s hope you’ll become a good cleric some d-“ Kitone’s words were cut short as Cons delivered a swift slap across her face, sending her falling to the floor. Kitone sat up on the cobblestone of the harbor. “Seems I hit a nerve there.” Kitone said as stood up again, spitting a little blood to the floor. “You… You feel guilty about leaving me there don’t you? That was you trying to apologize for doing that wasn’t it? You want to be helpful? Let me finish talking then!” Kitone’s cheek was engulfed in a throbbing pain, getting a slap from a hand wearing full armor wasn’t exactly soft.

“Who, pray tell… Who EXACTLY do you think you are?!” Cons said.

“Who do I think I am?” Kitone repeated, “I KNOW I am someone who’s in a very bad place and is coming to someone I TRUST to ask for help. If that PERSON wasn’t to BLINDED by their own INSECURITIES then maybe THEY’D realize what I’m trying to do!” Cons stood silent, shuddering in rage.

“INSECURITIES! I’LL SHOW YOU INSECURITY!” Cons shouted at Kitone as she raised her hand again. Kitone closed her eyes and waited for the slap but when one never came she peeked and saw Cap holding Cons’ hand in the air.

“Cons. You need to calm down before you end up doing something you regret… Trust me on this one, okay?” Cap said, releasing Cons’ hand.

“You’re really siding with her?” Cons asked, her tone a mix of anger and confusion.

“I’m not siding with anyone. I’m simply saying that you’re getting a little out of hand and, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re beginning to attract a crowd.” Cap said.

Cons looked around and sure enough a few faces were watching the trio. “Fine.” Cons said, “Since I have to go cool off, I’ll go cool off… You finish getting the stuff for dinner, I’m going home. Now.” With that she pushed her way through the crowd and headed to the Gammer home.

“As for you Kitone…” Cap said, turning to the stall and picking out a few fish, “would it kill you to restrain your harsh commentary till later down the line? If you were to put aside your massive pride for a few minutes and being civil might have helped, don’t you think?”

“Maybe…” Kitone said, feeling a bit stupid now. “But she did start shouting at me first!”

“Barking at a dog makes you one as well.” Cap said plainly as she paid Claire. “I’ll talk to Cons later, when she’s a bit calmer but I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.” With that Cap turned and disappeared into the crowded marketplace.

“Well, that turned out only slightly less than stellar.” Claire teased.
“Shut up Claire.” Kitone said dryly as she headed home. The sun was dipping low in the sky and her own dinner was still uncooked. “Tomorrow is a new day, I’ll have a new plan by then.” Kitone said as she walked off.

[Orchids_Mantis]

Very nice, the fight with Claire was quite entertaining.