Tales of an Alternate Reality (standard:adventure, 23195 words)
Author: LCS	Added: Feb 25 2007	Views/Reads: 3282/2044	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This story is about a world where men and women are trained at the academy of TAR to defend the human race against the fierce demons and other powerful nobles. The story follows Zach and his friends, but something hidden is going on that only Zach may kno

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

something?" Kirsten asked. 

"What for?" Zach responded, "If I were I wouldn't be here helping you
two out now would I?" He turned his head around and smiled at them. 

"Well that's true," Kelly said as she smiled back. Even though she knew
he was smiling to show that he wasn't worried about anything. (Despite 
the fact that she was doing the same thing.) They continued to walk for 
a few hours. Or at least they assumed it was since within the dark 
forest it was hard to tell what time of day it was. They're destination 
was the Takenaga Tower, an ancient tower built thousands of years ago 
to the gods of the sky. 

"There have been reports of trouble around the area of this tower," Zach
thinking back to what Tyrone had told them before they left, "farm 
animals have been disturbed by something in the area, and I have a 
hunch what's causing this is in that tower. It shouldn't be too 
difficult for you to accomplish, especially having Zach with you." 

"I sure am good," Zach thought to himself as he continued to walk ahead,
"There wasn't even a demon back there. Just by dashing in the forest 
and coming back they sure were impressed." Zach had a huge grin on his 
face as he continued to look up. Zach often spent far too much time in 
his own world. He'd end up spending the rest of his life lost in 
thought staring at the sky if he hadn't anyone to pull him out of it. 
For those who know him though, it's easy to depict his thoughts by 
slight changes in facial gestures as he thinks. 

"And what are you smiling about?" Kelly said, as she seemed to appear
looking up at him; he was after all about a heads height taller than 
both of them were. 

"Huh?" Zach exclaimed as he nearly leapt from being startled to death. 

"You've been more quiet than usual lately you know." Kelly said, seeming
to disregard her previous question. Zach looked back and noticed that 
Kirsten was staying behind, guessing that Kelly had asked her to. 

"I told you not to worry," Zach answered, "if I get close to having a
nervous breakdown I'll let you know." 

"Uh-huh, sure ya will." Kelly responded. 

"Hey you back there! Lagging behind?" Zach yelled back to Kirsten.
Kirsten then ran up to catch up with the other two. 

"So how much farther is it Kirsten?" Kelly asked to Kirsten who was
walking on the opposite side of Zach. 

"Why do you guys keep asking me how far it is? I'm not even sure
myself!" she nearly yelled back. 

"Uh... well it can't be too much farther can it? We've been walking
awhile," Zach said, trying to ease the situation a bit, "if only we 
could see more through all this darkness." 

"Why don't you make some fire and light up the area?" Kirsten suggested.


"Yeah, and burn the entire forest down, that would be good..." Zach
answered sarcastically. 

"Yeah Kirsten, you trying to burn up the forest?" Kelly said, adding
even more to the embarrassment of having suggested it. 

"Well! It was just a suggestion!" she exclaimed back. 

"We know, just teasing!" Kelly quickly answered. 

"I wasn't teasing," Zach said with a smile. 

"Hey you!" Kelly said hitting Zach in the arm, "you were teasing too and
you know it!" 

"Hey! I see light up ahead, maybe we've finally reached the tower!"
Kirsten yelled in relief. 

"About time," Zach said, "even though once we get there and finish this
job we'll have to walk back." Zach let out a huge sigh knowing this 
fact. 

Well the light could be seen but reaching it was another matter, not to
mention the fact that it never seemed to grow larger. Zach resumed his 
position of folding his arms behind his head and looking up, despite 
the fact that no sky could be seen. Kirsten kept her head halfway down; 
her brow slightly wrinkled, and continued to look away from the other 
two. She would never admit when something is troubling her, or tell 
what it is she was thinking about. Zach glanced at her from the corner 
of his eye from time to time but saw no change in her appearance. 

"She might as well write 'Help Me' on her forehead", he thought to
himself. "If she's gonna go on and be upset does she have to show the 
whole world?" Kelly was continuing to look at Zach, then at Kirsten, 
then look ahead, then back at Zach again. She's probably the only one 
that admits to how much she worries about everyone. Zach noticed that 
she was looking at him and turned his ahead to say something 
"smart-alecky" as he usually does. However he quickly noticed the 
expression on her face and decided to give a grin instead. Kelly smiled 
back then they both looked away, slightly blushing. After strolling a 
short ways Zach suddenly stopped and plotted himself on the ground 
Indian-style. The others both turned to see what was going on, but he 
just waved them away with his hand. This was his way of helping, he 
knew Kirsten needed to talk about something and the Kelly was the right 
one to talk to. They both understood the meaning of his wave and 
continued on. After they got so far ahead he began to walk behind them. 
Not that it mattered all that much since he could hear every word they 
were saying very clearly in this dark and still forest. Though knowing 
it wasn't his place to listen he returned to his own world. 

After what seemed like forever, Zach suddenly felt his breath being
taken away. Though he was highly ranked and highly admired as the 
possibly the best student of the academy, he had always had a disease 
of sorts. Unknown of type, origin, or anything about it, other than the 
fact that he was easily tired. When he began to cough he knew he had to 
stop. The other two heard the cough and came back to accompany him. 

"Seem any closer up there?" Zach said to them, panting rather heavily. 

"Not really" Kirsten replied. 

"I don't think we're ever gonna ge...." Zach was saying until he was
suddenly interrupted by a loud noise. A large hornet suddenly burst 
into the clearing and surveyed the three. Of course this was no 
ordinary hornet. Hornets of this forest ranged in size from one inch to 
several feet. Zach grabbed the hilt of his sword and lunged at the 
beast. He drew the sword and with one quick horizontal slash he slain 
the creature. He then quickly landed from his leap. The hornet was 
sliced in half and the remains burst into flames before hitting the 
ground. Zach, being a master of fire, was able to manipulate his fire 
magic through his sword. Suddenly Kelly sensed something different 
about Zach, something was wrong. He stood and up and yelled, "I am sick 
of this forest!" and began running frantically towards the light. 

II 

Kelly gave chase the second Zach began running. Her worry-nerves
snapped. What was this feeling she felt? What was different about him? 
Why did he suddenly start running shortly after being short of breath? 
Kirsten was still unsure of what exactly what was going on, but shortly 
gave chase as well. 

Through this confusion, Zach was all too confused himself. After slaying
the hornet, he had looked up at that never growing light. That light he 
seemed to never be able to reach. He felt as if the light was mocking 
him, as if the light were laughing at him. He could see this light, but 
could never reach it. He couldn't take it. He couldn't stand it. For 
some reason he had to reach that light. He had to show that he had no 
doubts of himself, he had to prove that he could reach it. Kelly had 
slowly caught up to him but suddenly began falling back. His speed was 
increasing steadily, until shortly he was too far into the darkness to 
be seen. But she kept on running as hard as she could, she had to know 
what was wrong. Her worry made her forget all about Kirsten who had 
fallen far behind. She wasn't the most athletic of the group (after all 
being the bookworm), and had to stop to take a breath from time to 
time. Kelly continued running, no longer hearing any footsteps other 
than her own. Normally by now she would have dropped from exhaustion, 
but she was driven to go on. When she had nearly given up hope of 
reaching him, the light suddenly grew larger extremely quickly. Before 
she knew it, she had reached a large clearing; she had finally reached 
the tower. 

She stood there trying to adjust to the sudden brightness of the sun,
even though it was hidden behind the clouds. She slowly looked up and 
saw him. Zach was standing there, his sword still drawn with the tip 
touching the ground, staring up at the sky. She began to call out to 
him but realized she was too short of breath to even attempt to speak. 
She bent over resting her hands on her knees trying to regain all the 
air she seemed to have lost. How long had she been running? She 
couldn't remember. Zach seemed to her breathing and slowly turned 
around. He dropped his sword and looked down at her. He slowly walked 
closer to her. 

She couldn't quite make out his face until he had gotten a few feet from
her. She was having trouble seeing, though it didn't seem to matter. He 
seemed to be back to normal, she thought to herself, trying to convince 
herself everything was okay now. Zach smiled and said, "Hey, are you 
okay?" 

She smiled as best she could from all the breathing she was doing, and
was able to say, "Yeah, I'm okay...", and then passed out. Zach caught 
her in mid-fall, and gently laid her down in a soft area of grass. He 
sat down next to her on the grass, watching her sleep. He made sure she 
was okay and just sleeping, and then he began to wonder why he hadn't 
grown so tired. Why had he started running anyway? He was just glad to 
reach his destination. He then stood up, still looking at Kelly to be 
sure she was all right, and then he grabbed his sword and took off back 
into the forest. 

2 

Takenaga Tower: When Rifts Collide 

The birds were chirping rather loudly and the sun was far too bright.
Such thoughts were going through Kelly's head as she slowly awoke. What 
had she been doing? Why is she sleeping on the ground? She opened her 
eyes and slowly saw the image of someone. "Hi", the person said lending 
out a hand to her. 

"Hi," she said back rubbing her eyes and accepting the lift to her feet.
She looked inattentively into the person's face to realize it was Zach. 


"Are you awake?", he asked, after noticing her puzzled expression. She
felt rather dizzy, probably from standing up so fast. She couldn't 
quite remember what was really going on. Trying to recollect her 
thoughts she ignored his question. His smile slowly changed to a more 
serious look. "Oh, I'm okay," she quickly replied. He smiled again, and 
gave her a pat on the back to lead her as they began walking. She 
noticed that Kirsten was sitting at the base of the tower. 

"What's she doing?", Kelly asked, still trying to bear what was really
happening. 

"There's a seal on the door to the tower. Remember? Takenaga Tower? Are
you sure you're awake?" he responded; though after saying that he knew 
he shouldn't have. It's not good to ask someone so many questions just 
after waking up, (not to mention not very nice). 

"Oh yeah," she said quickly but still rather unsure, but then suddenly
remembering. "Yeah you!" she said slapping him hard in the arm, "What 
were you thinking! Running off like that! You could barely breathe at 
the time, why did you do that! You could of..." She stopped there 
trying to collect herself. 

"What's the matter?" he responded. 

"What's the matter!" 

"What's wrong?" 

"What's wrong! You you, you could of died! Why did you do that! Why!
Why! Why?" she nearly exclaimed in his face. 

"Don't worry Kelly," he said calmly, "don't worry, I'm okay, all right?"
She just stared into his face then sat herself on the ground, her arms 
wrapped around her legs, her head resting between her knees.  Zach let 
out a long sigh and sat himself next to her. He never knew what to say 
to people when they were worried about him, he tried but nothing would 
come out. Nothing but stupid things like "What?" "Nothing!" "Are you 
okay?" were all he could bring himself to say. 

"I don't understand you," she finally said, with much more calmness in
her voice than before, "I just don't understand." 

"Kelly I told you..." he began to say. He looked at her and she was
looking directly at him, with small tears beginning to run down her 
face. He felt like she was looking straight into him, directly into his 
soul. What was he supposed to say? What should he do? He wasn't sure 
what really happened after all. Perhaps he was overcome with anger from 
being so tired of walking. He remembered his hatred for that light, how 
could he feel such a way? Just for a small light he could not reach? 
Her stare scared him and he looked away. He watched the blades of grass 
blow in the wind, but he could tell she was still looking directly at 
him. 

"I'm sorry, okay?" he finally said, "I'll think next time, okay?" He
knew she wasn't satisfied. What more did she want from him? He 
apologized, that was enough right? What more could he say? Even if he 
could say it, what would it be? A loud sound echoed from behind them, 
Kirsten had broken the seal that held the door shut and it had opened 
with a loud crash. "Come on," Zach said while slowly rising to his 
feet, "Let's get going." She was still looking at him, staring so that 
it made him worry oh too much. He held out a hand to her to help her up 
like before. She declined, and stood up on her own accord. She began 
wiping the small runs of tears from her face as she slowly approached 
the tower entrance. Zach caught back up with her after a few quick 
steps, and whispered in her ear, "I really am sorry, I won't do it 
again, I promise" She did not respond this time but with a smile, and 
continued on towards the tower. 

* 	*	* 

"What are those two always talking about?" Kirsten thought to herself as
she watched the two approach the tower, "Probably talking about me 
behind my back." This is what she thought and yet she knew it wasn't 
true. Kelly looked up and gave a wave to her. She smiled and waved 
back, seeming to forget any grudge she may have held. She looked over 
at Zach; he gave a short wave then stopped to pick up his sword along 
with Kelly's bow and arrows. 

"They do seem to talk alone a lot," she thought continuing her previous
conversation with herself. Then she recalled how Zach had let her and 
Kelly talk earlier. "They have my best interests in mind, they wouldn't 
think ill of me," she thought regaining confidence in her friends. 
Though she tried to ignore it, she rather envied her friends. Zach, he 
was looked up upon the most in the academy. Everyone wanted to be like 
him. "He can shoot fire!" she'd could hear the children saying as 
they'd watch him walk past. He never studied, ever! How could he get 
such praise? Why is he so gifted? "I study for hours on end, and what 
do I get?" she thought to herself. She recalled some small "Good job" 
or "Well done" she may have received for an outstanding test score. She 
had asked Zach to study with her once. She read book after book after 
book, while Zach often got lost in thought looking at some random book 
cover, probably upside down too. "Do you know what this statement is 
really saying here?" she'd ask. He'd take the book, read over the words 
and respond, "I haven't the foggiest. You're better at this stuff than 
me," then he'd grin and hand her the book back. He hadn't the foggiest! 
He would nearly get the same grade as her, and he hadn't the foggiest! 
Honestly! Either he was nothing more than a liar or he just let others 
believe he's just a genius. 

Then there was Kelly, the one who always seemed so stable, so calm, and
so helpful. She knew what to do ever so often, while Kirsten would feel 
so lost and helpless. She's the glue that holds things together she 
would think. Without her we'd all be nothing, the world as we know it 
would just fall apart. Then she began to wonder how Kelly could bear 
such a burden. This made her worry too much and she quickly shunned the 
mere thought of it. 

"Kirsten!" Kelly yelled, running up the slope towards her, "Get the door
open okay?" 

"Ha, 'Get the door open okay?' she says." Kirsten thought, "I've been
trying to break the seal on this door for how long, and she just says 
that?" 

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard," she responded. 

"I wonder what's inside," Kelly asked jumping subjects. 

"Hopefully the cause of everything." 

"Cause of what?" 

"You know, the trouble around here" 

"Oh right," Kelly responded. She had forgotten the mission entirely. 

"Hey!" Zach yelled to them working his way up the hill, "you just gonna
leave me to carry everything or what?" He held out Kelly's bow and 
arrows as if they were a large burden. 

"Oh I'm sorry!" Kelly said quickly with a sheer look on her face that by
itself said "Oops". She quickly grabbed the bow and arrows and said a 
quick "Thank you!" 

"How do things look?" Zach asked averting his gaze to Kirsten. 

"Well I haven't been inside yet," Kirsten responded with a sign of
smart-alecky in her voice. Then she suddenly realized that they 
wouldn't have known if she went inside, they weren't even near her the 
entire time. "I was waiting for you guys," she said trying to ease her 
conscience a little bit. 

"Well lets hope whatever the problem isn't at the very top," he said as
he looked up and really noticed how tall the tower was, "why was this 
tower built anyway? It's in the middle of nowhere!" 

Kirsten let out a huge sigh. She knew she just had to be only one that
really knew. "This tower, Takenaga, was built in ancient times to one 
of the seven entities." 

"Ah, the entities," Zach interrupted, probably trying to remember what
the entities were. 

"Of the seven: Courage, Power, Wisdom, Anger, Despair, Life, and Love,
this tower was built to Courage," she said noticing his perplexity. 

"Well that doesn't really matter now does it?" Zach said while
scratching his head and still looking upward. "We solve the problem, we 
leave, no big deal." Yeah it was no big deal to him! He's been on 
missions ten times worse than this, this was practically nothing to 
him! 

"Yeah, let's go!" Kelly said backing up Zach's fast and easy plan. She
probably didn't want to go into the details either. Oh well, what was 
the point anyway? Zach is gonna run in, slice something in half, then 
it's all over. There was no point of her to be there, why was she here? 
She could only wonder... 

When they entered they saw exactly what was to be expected of such a
large tower, lots and lots of stairs. A large stairwell ran around the 
outside walls for nearly as far as the eye can see. 

"Argh! Of course what was here couldn't be on the bottom floor!" Zach
yelled which echoed off the barren walls. 

"Is it wise to yell?" Kirsten said rubbing her ear from the sudden
loudness. 

"I don't care," Zach replied, "I'm gonna hurry up and finish off
whatever it is that's here." He then whipped out his blade and began 
jumping what seemed like floors at a time. 

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Kelly yelled up to him. But it was too late; he
was already out of sight. Just the patting of his landing feet could be 
heard echoing off the walls. Kelly suddenly darted towards the stairs 
and began running up them as fast as she could. Kirsten again was left 
behind bewildered as to what was really happening. 

"He's just gonna finish it himself!" she yelled to Kelly, "We can just
wait down here for him!" 

"We have to catch up!" Kelly yelled back, already floors up; "We have
to!" Kirsten let out a sigh and began running up the stairs. 

*	*	* 

"How tall is this tower?" Zach thought to himself as he sat down to
rest, "I really need to make better decisions. Jumping up stairs isn't 
the best idea." He looked up and could clearly see the top of the 
tower. He was able to barely hear the pattering of two pairs of feet 
below him. Or wait, was it three? He began to listen more inattentively 
to pick out the different steps. There had to be at least three sets of 
feet coming up those stairs! Why didn't the girls notice? He imagined 
Kelly running up chasing after him, worrying to death. He stood up and 
smacked himself feeling bad for what he knew he'd done to her. Kirsten 
was probably chasing after Kelly like always, unbeknownst to what was 
going on around her. He looked down the stairwell to see if he could 
see them yet. He squinted and was able to pick out Kelly's waving 
blonde hair. He couldn't make out Kirsten but he assumed she wasn't far 
behind. He listened closer to pick out the extra set of footsteps. The 
extra set of steps, being slightly more faint than the girl's steps, 
was about a floor below them he guessed. Then of course without 
thinking, he jumped over the edge of the stairs down the open center. 

He watched the stairs closely as he fell, counting to see how many
floors he should fall before landing. The image of the follower was in 
view, and just then he turned his head quickly around to see Zach. 
Suddenly in mid-fall, Zach's confidence had left him. Fears of falling 
to his doom, missing a ledge, or dying right then swam about his mind. 
This sudden panic overwhelmed his control of his body, as he landed on 
the stairway flat on his stomach. The sudden impact drew his breath 
away. As he slowly tried to prop himself up he began coughing up blood 
from his damaged insides.  When he finally sat up and propped himself 
against the wall, he came back to his senses, hating himself for 
letting the follower get away.  He began to feel the true pain of the 
fall as he clasped his arms around his chest.  Blood was still managing 
to find its way out through his mouth and his right arm, which he had 
apparently injured as well. 

He held his head up against the wall, trying to hold back the coughing.
Aside from the sound of his own hearing he could hear the faint steps 
of the stalker fleeing the tower.  He leaned his head to his left, only 
to see that sad face he hoped he'd never see again. The words "Don't 
cry" were spelled from his lips but no sound came out. Even though 
tears were falling down from his own face. Was it from the pain or from 
seeing her? He couldn't tell.  All he could think about was how this 
was all his fault. He let that person get away, he injured himself on a 
jump he should have normally had landed, he had made Kelly sad again. 
He held out his arm to her as she ran towards him, but couldn't go on 
any longer. His eyes slowly closed as his body began to fall yet again 
to the ground. 

3 

Vital Spirit: The Injured Soul 

"Is it raining again?" Kirsten asked Kelly who was sitting by the
window. The glazed look in her eyes gave the impression that she wasn't 
going to answer. Kirsten knew exactly what was going on. Zach had 
blamed himself for what had happened, letting himself get injured. 
While Kelly was blaming herself for not stopping him, for not being 
there.  Did they both know they blamed themselves? The whole situation 
itself was too mind boggling to even attempt to intervene. She looked 
down at Zach's unconscious body. Even asleep he looked depressed, it 
was sad. She removed the cloth from his head that had gotten cool, and 
replaced it with a warmer one. 

Once they left the tower they began making way back to the academy, but
the weather and Zach's condition changed plans. They were staying in an 
abandoned farmhouse not far from the tower, but farther away from the 
academy.  They had no means of taking Zach other than carrying him, 
which took both of them to do (despite how skinny Zach is he was still 
pretty heavy). His sword had somehow managed to break through its 
sheath and slice open his right arm.  The wound wasn't serious, but it 
wasn't anything you could ignore. 

"What do you think happened back there?" Kirsten asked. 

"I don't know," Kelly answered, finally retreating her gaze from the
window, "I guess we can ask him when he wakes up." 

"I guess so," Kirsten replied while watching Zach's heavy breathing, "by
the way, I wanted to talk to you." Now was as good a time as any she 
thought to herself. 

"Hmm? About what?" Kelly asked back. Kirsten began regretting that she
had brought it up, but she already had, so it would be best if she were 
to just say what she had to say. 

"Well, I've been thinking..." she said still thinking about what she
really was saying. 

"Uh-huh?" Kelly replied allowing her friend to think. 

"Well I'm... I'm going to leave the academy." 

"What?" 

"I've already decided, this is probably my last mission." 

"Why?" 

Finally looking at Kelly's face she realized what sorrow she had
created. She shouldn't have brought it up; she was regretting it 
already. 

"Well see, I'm not cut out for these missions and such, it's just not
what I do. I'm going to find another school, one that requires less 
fighting, less quests, I'm more the book type you know? I've thought 
about it a lot, and I think this is what I want to do. And I'm really 
sorry for waiting so long to tell you, I've just been unsure about it I 
guess." 

"I see," Kelly replied, returning her gaze to Zach's pale face, "so
that's what you wanted to say on the way to the tower?" 

"Yeah..." 

"Well, if you think it's best for you then you should go for it. But
where will you go? Far away?" 

"I don't know yet, but I was planning on leaving tomorrow." 

"Can I go with you? I mean to the new place?" 

"Yeah, that would be nice," Kirsten said forming a grin. Kelly returned
the smile. Silence again found its way into the small farmhouse; 
neither she nor Kelly could find anything to say.  Was that all she 
wanted to say? She didn't feel any better. Maybe she really didn't want 
to leave the academy. Would she miss studying and talking with Kelly 
through the long night hours, and Zach outdo them both the following 
mornings? Would she be able to stay friends with either of them? Of 
course she would, that's crazy talk. Or was it? Would she have to find 
all new friends, new people to trust with her thoughts? Could she? 

"I think he needs another cloth," Kelly said, probably noticing her
thinking too much and trying to bring her back to the real world. 

Kirsten felt the cloth on Zach's head, "No, it still feels warm, it's
okay for now." 

"Oh," Kelly replied and began looking at the floor. "So is that really
why you want to leave?" 

"Well, basically yeah, why?" Kirsten said. 

"It's not because of me is it? Or Zach? Did we do anything..." 

"Oh no, it's not that," Kirsten quickly answered, "I think it just might
be best for me, that's all." 

"Well, if it's what you think is best for yourself, I'm behind you." 

"Thanks." Kirsten said, feeling worse about it than ever. Maybe she
should think about it some more. She looked over at Zach; his condition 
hadn't changed much. She would have a little bit of time to think. 

*	*	* 

So many thoughts were racing through Kelly's head. She wanted to cry,
but she didn't think she could if she even really wanted to. Suddenly, 
her body seemed to gain control over her state of mind, picking her up 
and walking towards the door. 

"Where are you going?" Kirsten said. 

"Just for a walk," Kelly answered, "I'll be back after awhile." She
stepped out the door to find the once clean path now wet and muddy. 

Kelly slowly began walking down the muddy path, listening to the
pitter-patter of rain hitting the puddles. The soft sounds began to 
soothe her senses, slowly regaining her consciousness. 

"It wasn't my fault," she finally said to herself, "I couldn't have done
anything, what could I have done?" She looked up into the sky. To her 
it felt like the clouds were crying for her. "If everything happens for 
reason, why does this have to happen?" she seemed to be asking anyone 
who could answer.  No thought came to mind, but it began raining 
harder.  She hated the feel of her cold wet hair stuck to her neck. She 
pulled it back, and held it there as she continued walking, staring at 
her own two feet. 

Suddenly she began to think about her conversation with Zach before they
entered the tower. The look he had on this face when he was thinking 
always made her smile. She always thought that it looked like a whole 
other world was going on inside of him when he looked like that.  "Just 
like Kirsten" she thought to herself. This made her smile because Zach 
had always said he didn't act like Kirsten, and would usually get a 
little annoyed from her saying such things. 

"Okay Kirsten," she would say to him when he said something Kirsten
would have said. 

"I don't sound like Kirsten," he would always respond. 

"Yes you do," she would say, usually beginning to laugh. Then Zach would
smile at her and return to his own world. 

She began to lean against a tree that provided shelter against the cold
rain.  Why was she out here? She couldn't remember why. Maybe she 
thought that if she got away from their faces she could think about 
something else. But wasn't she thinking about them anyway? She wiped 
the cold wet hair away that had stuck to her forehead.  The rain was 
slowly beginning to soften as the sun began to peek through the clouds. 
 The warm sunlight made her realize how cold she really was.  She 
wrapped her arms around her stomach to possibly hold in what warmth she 
had left.  She walked out from under the tree to absorb more of the 
sun's warm rays.  She looked up into the sky, seeming to wait for the 
answers to her questions to suddenly come to her, but nothing came.  To 
be honest she couldn't really remember them. As if the sun's rays had 
cleansed her of her worries, if only for a little while. What water was 
left on here made her shiver. Then all of a sudden, a feel of warmth 
enveloped her. She looked down to find a blanket had been wrapped 
around her body. 

"Kelly, you're gonna catch a cold walking around in the rain," a voice
from behind her said. She spun quickly around to see who she knew in 
her heart that it was. It was Zach, standing there slightly hunched 
over with his left arm clenching his ribcage.  "Kirsten fell asleep," 
he said as if forgetting that he had been himself. Suddenly all those 
tears that had built up inside her were suddenly released. She leapt 
towards him and braced herself around his cold body. He shrugged 
slightly from the pain, which made Kelly draw back as quickly as she 
had been pulled in. His breathing was still uneasy and he had to plan 
his words carefully to take a breath.  Kelly began shaking her head, 
trying to say something, but nothing came out. 

Zach smiled and said, "Don't cry, don't cry." 

Finally regaining her senses she was able to sputter, "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm... I don't have much feeling in my arm and my chest hurts,
but I'll live," he replied. 

"Zach... what..." was all she was able to say. He withdrew his arm from
around his chest and planted it on Kelly's shoulders, which she quickly 
realized was because he needed support so not to fall. 

"Let's go back," Zach said, "I'll tell you everything that happened at
the tower." 

"Okay," she said as she placed her arm on his opposite shoulder, giving
him the strength to walk back to the farmhouse. 

*	*	* 

"Why'd you come out here?" Zach finally asked after he had explained
what happened at the tower and the figure he had been chasing. 

"I don't know," Kelly answered, "I just needed time to think I guess." 

"I see... Did Kirsten tell you she's leaving?" 

"What? I mean, you knew?" 

"Well," he stuttered trying to find the correct words, "Let's say I had
a gut feeling about it." 

"Oh." 

"Are you okay with that?" 

"With what?" 

"With her leaving? You two are really close. I'm surprised she would
even consider leaving." 

"Well," Kelly said looking at the ground, "If that's what she wants then
I think she should go for it... I mean..." 

"Is that really what you want?" Zach interrupted, "You say it's fine,
but is it?" 

"Of course I'll miss her," Kelly answered, "But don't you go dying on me
okay?" Zach coughed and gave a smile. 

"I don't plan on it," he answered, "can we stop for a minute?" 

"Oh, sure." Kelly quickly responded, scanning the area for a place to
sit. She helped him sit down on a nearby log; she sat herself next to 
him. The log was still damp from the rain, and wasn't exactly 
comfortable. Though it was better than sitting on the muddy earth. The 
pain was getting worse, it was getting harder and harder to breathe.  
He shouldn't have come out here. But he couldn't help it; he was 
worried, (though he'd never admit that).  He looked over at her. She 
was smiling looking up at the sky.  He wondered what it was that she 
was thinking about that made her smile so. Whatever it was it made him 
smile too.  Seeing Kelly smile always gave him a sudden surge of pure 
happiness. Though seeing anybody smile makes him happy at least a 
little bit.  Suddenly she seemed to notice he was looking at her and 
turned her head suddenly.  This made him withdraw his gaze from her and 
look elsewhere. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, still looking at him. 

"I'll be fine," he answered, not letting her know the extent of his
pain. 

"Are you ready to go?" she asked. 

"Just a little longer." 

The words, 'don't go dying on me okay?' lingered in his head. He felt
like he was going to die. Though he just assumed he was overreacting, 
he never did take to pain very well after all.  What would happen if he 
did die? Right here and now? He imagined Kelly's reaction to such an 
event, which made him shake his head to get it off his mind.  Blood 
began seeping from the bandages on his right arm. He had feeling in his 
right arm again, and it was a painful one at that. 

"Kelly, we'd better hurry," Zach said under his breath. As she looked at
him he eyeballed the wound on his right arm. Upon noticing the blood, 
she quickly got up and braced his arm around her neck once again, 
helping him to his feet.  Suddenly, a great force had befallen them. A 
force that nearly made Zach plummet to the ground from the intensity of 
it. He looked into Kelly's face and could tell; she could feel it too. 

"Hmm, so! This is all the great academy hero has to offer?" came a voice
from the distance. But where was it coming from? Normally this would've 
been a piece of cake. Then it came to him, he knew who it was! That 
fear of dying from a second ago wasn't of his own accord, it was this 
person; the person he saw a glimpse of in the tower that made him feel 
the same fear! 

"Kelly, do you have your bow?" Zach whispered softly so only she could
barely hear it. 

"No," she answered back, "I left it back at the farmhouse; who is it?"
He began to answer but suddenly detected something. He shoved Kelly 
away. Just as the two fell in opposite directions a blade shot through 
where they had been standing and stuck in a nearby tree. 

"Oh! You have some fight left in you! Hehehe!" the voice echoed from the
distance. Zach had landed on his right arm, nearly paralyzing his 
entire body from the pain. Kelly scrambled back to her feet, to prevent 
any other flying objects from hitting the wounded Zach. 

"Who are you?" Kelly yelled in a broad direction, still not knowing
where the foe was. 

"Hey, behind you," came a voice. Zach looked up to see a figure leaning
against a tree where the sword had stuck.  The figure walked to the 
front of the tree, pulling out the blade with great ease.  From what 
Zach could tell, it was a man slightly taller than he was, though it 
was hard to tell from the ground.  He had long silver hair, wore dark 
blue clothes, and a dark green cape.  Around his belt were two sheaths, 
and he watched him place the sword from the tree back in the empty 
sheath. 

"I can see it in your eyes, Zach of the fire blade, you're afraid to
die," the man said. 

"Who are you!" Kelly yelled again. The man looked up and placed his gaze
upon Kelly. His eyes flinched slightly, as if seeing something he did 
not expect. 

"Hmm, I am the one who has been following you my dear," he said in a
calm sinister voice that would make any person shiver. He slowly began 
to walk towards them. 

"Who are you!" Kelly yelled a third time. This time the man suddenly
stopped. 

"You may call me Rylan, that was once my name," he finally answered.
Using all of his strength Zach was able to rise to his feet, his arms 
dangling down, completely useless. 

"Don't kid yourself," Rylan said, "you couldn't fight me now even if you
could use your arms, let alone..." he looked back into Kelly's eyes. 

"Shut up!" Zach yelled back, "Now what do you want?" 

"Oh? You fear death and yet you still have the will to speak in such a
manner to me?" he said, slowly drawing both blades. 

"You won't kill me," Zach said, "You don't seem the type." 

"I won't eh? You think I wouldn't kill another man?" 

"I can tell by the look in your eyes, you have no intention to kill
today," Zach replied. With his blades still drawn Rylan bellowed an 
evil laugh. 

"You're lucky you are who you are punk," he finally said. Then with the
blink of an eye the figure was gone.  After a few seconds of both 
staring at the space where the man once stood, Kelly fell to her knees. 
He looked down at her, tears were running down her face. 

"Kelly?" Zach said calmly. 

"I thought... I thought you..." she sputtered. 

"Kelly?" Zach said again. 

"I thought you were going to die, I thought we were..." was all she
could say before she could no longer speak. He walked over to her and 
kneeled down. With all the energy left in him that he could muster, he 
raised his arm and put it around her. 

"It's alright," he said, "It's okay." 

The clouds gathered overhead and began raining on them once again. 

4 

Silent and Deadly: Enter the Ninja 

"Achoo!" came a loud sneeze that echoed through the entire forest. The
sun had begun shining through the clouds once again; nearly blinding 
all whom dared look at it. 

"Stupid sun," a man said; who was sitting lazily on a large tree branch.


"Hey Sam! Can't you be a little more quiet!" another man said. 

"Alright, alright," Sam answered rubbing his index finger under his
nose. This whole thing was pointless he thought to himself. What good 
could come from attacking some school anyway? Why not some rich lord or 
someone of wealth? He looked down from his high view to see the troops 
beginning to assemble. He leaned his head back against the tree and 
watched the clouds moving steadily by. 

"Being a ninja is so bothersome," he thought to himself, "why am I
dreaded to live this life?" He had been a ninja practically since 
birth.  He was raised as a Shami Dragon ninja from the age of three. He 
was told that his family and hometown was burned to the ground, and 
somehow he had been the sole survivor, though he never believed such a 
story.  It sounded too much like something you'd read in a story, far 
too dramatic, too convenient.  Not that it would matter what really 
happened anyway. Had he questioned the Shami headmaster he'd more than 
likely be killed anyway.  The Shami headmaster was such a weak fool.  
He has thousands of ninjas at his command, and no one ever questions 
why. His followers are raised to believe he is their one true "father" 
and to be treated as such. In other words, he was a weak man who could 
be easily overthrown. At least that's how it looked through Sam's eyes. 
 He had plotted hundreds, maybe thousands of ways he could assassinate 
the headmaster and become the new.  But for what purpose? He'd just 
leave them all anyway, and live life as he saw fit.  Freedom would be 
his only call for engaging in such a plan.  But having never tasted 
freedom he had no large desire for it. 

"Hey you! Can't you see the troops are gathering? Get down here!" yelled
a man from below. 

"Right, right," Sam said back. He then hopped off his comfortable branch
and walked at his own pace as others darted past him. 

"The headmaster is probably going to give a long speech on how great we
all are and how we will be victorious, or whatever it is he says to 
boost our morale," he thought to himself. Such a pointless endeavor. 
He'll walk up there and bellow for what seems like hours, then everyone 
cheers and walks away probably forgetting what he had said.  Come to 
think of it why was he with the troops anyway? The headmaster isn't one 
to go out on missions with the troops. "Must be an important cause," he 
thought to himself, "that coward would never risk his life, the old 
fool." 

"The hour of our triumph is at hand!" Sam heard as the headmaster had
apparently started speaking already.  He was still about fifty yards 
away from everyone else, and was pretty far behind. Not like he really 
cared anyway. 

"We shall overthrow these fools, letting them know the true power of the
Shami ninja!" he heard again. He looked up; he could see the headmaster 
standing on his pedestal in front of everyone.  He looked so old even 
from back here. How old was the headmaster anyway?  Sam recalled the 
headmaster's face, from as far back as he could remember it looked just 
as it did now. Being that that event had to have occurred at least 
fifteen years ago the headmaster had to be a man of at least 
sixty-five, or maybe even seventy. And yet his athletic ability had not 
waned from his age.  Such strange things always made Sam wonder about 
this ninja school, and question its very being.  No one else ever did, 
and that's why it still existed. Had others questioned it, as Sam did, 
well, there probably wouldn't be any ninjas anymore. All of these packs 
of lies were from that old man up there. That old man he knew he'd slay 
one day. At least this was how he felt right now, in a few minutes he'd 
forget all about it. 

"Not only does this school threaten our very way of life, but it also
threatens the world! We cannot stand by and let this school train such 
villains!" he continued shouting. Sam had already lost interest, and 
yet he knew his speech wasn't near over.  Suddenly his ears began 
picking up other voices; he stopped and tried to hone in on where they 
were coming from.  They were coming from a base tent just to his right. 
He quietly crept up to the tent and stood just out of the doorway, 
listening in to what was going on. 

"This is the last stand no matter how you look at it sir," one voice
said. 

"Last or not, it has to be done," the other said. Wait he knew that
voice! He inched his head around the edge of the open doorway. He was 
right! That second voice he heard was that of the old man giving a 
speech hundreds of feet away. He looked over above the crowd to confirm 
what was happening. What was happening? Obviously the man yelling out 
false praises to the crowd of ninjas was a fake. Any real ninja 
would've picked up on that. 

"Hmm, are you sure you want to go through with this?" the first man said
again, "have you thought his completely through?" 

"Yes, what must be done must be done," the old man answered, "we can't
go around letting such threats escape our gaze." 

"Even so, what good will it do you? For you to die here, what do these
threats matter?" 

"You just leave that to me, now return to your outpost, watch over for
anyone suspicious." 

"Right like I've been doing all morning sir," the first man said. It was
Sam's time to go. Having ending such an important conversation could 
only mean one thing. They had detected his presence, and were casually 
explaining to each other how to deal with him. Without warning the wall 
of the tent he had been leaning against tore open. A large blade stuck 
out, only missing his neck by a mere few centimeters. He darted off 
into the forest as fast as he could move. What importance could the 
conversation have had? It must have been something very private and 
secret, considering they would attempt to slaughter him in front of the 
others, killing him as one of their own without bothering to cover it 
up.  He jumped up and began leaping from tree branch to tree branch, 
going as fast as his legs would allow.  As he jumped, branches behind 
him were being sliced away. He couldn't see who it was, they were 
moving too fast. Probably trying to conceal they're identity, despite 
the fact he had already been discovered. 

It was time to take the offensive. At this rate he knew he'd eventually
tire and get his head chopped off.  He jumped downward and quickly spun 
himself around upon landing on the ground.  Just as he landed, he felt 
the presence of another behind him. 

"Sneaky ain't we?" a voice whispered in his ear. Sam quickly drew out
his katana and spun around to attempt an attack.  The second he spun 
around his katana was cut in half.  From what he could tell, it was as 
if rays of energy extended the reach of his opponent's blade, slicing 
away at anything near it.  Perhaps this was why he seemed so close to 
him earlier, but now was not the time to think about that.  Death was 
in his face, and the setting sun and nearby shadows were blinding his 
vision of him.  Suddenly the idea dawned on him. He quickly lifted up 
his broken katana, holding it horizontally in front of his face tilting 
it in a certain angle. The light from the sun reflected off of his 
blade and into his opponent's eyes.  This made his pursuer jump back 
quickly rubbing his eye. This was Sam's time to escape, and nearly not 
enough time.  He quickly leapt away and trudged along the ground as 
fast he could get his legs to go. 

After about ten minutes of running he heard no sounds behind him. He
stopped, giving himself a chance to catch his breath.  He looked around 
absorbing his surroundings; other than the occasional call of a bird, 
no sounds were present. He plotted himself on the ground against a 
tree, taking deep breaths trying to catch up with himself.  He wished 
he had heard more of the previous conversation. He knew he had stumbled 
across something of great value.  It probably would've been the perfect 
time to retaliate. 

He looked at his broken katana, still held tightly in his hand. 

"Piece of junk," he said to himself and put the half-gone katana back in
it's sheath.  Suddenly an unnatural sound penetrated the quiet wood, 
making Sam jump. It sounded like the slamming of a door. He got up and 
began walking towards where the sound had originated.  He found himself 
looking at a rundown house, with a man outside, whom appeared to have 
recently fell to his knees. The man was breathing very hard, even 
harder than Sam was now.  He watched the man slowly raise to his feet, 
a blanket clutched in his arm, and slowly walk away.  He could've 
killed him here and now, but he saw no reason to do so. The man 
appeared to be in pain already.  Besides, he had stumbled across an 
opportunity.  He walked into the open to make sure the man was out of 
view, and slowly crept towards the building. He opened the door to 
shockingly find a girl, fast asleep in a chair.  He looked over at the 
bed; it along with other pieces of cloth strung about the room was 
covered in blood. 

"To lose so much blood," Sam thought to himself, "is all this from that
man outside?" He took a step towards the bed but the floor creaked and 
he suddenly stopped. Luckily she hadn't woken up.  To him she looked 
very tired, as if she'd been awake for days.  In the corner he noticed 
a bow and quiver filled with arrows leaning against the wall.  Also in 
the corner was a large blade being held within a torn open sheath.  
From what he could make out the symbols on the sheath seemed to spell 
out T-A-R. Were these guys from the academy? The academy he had 
previously been assigned to attack? This was getting bad. Had whoever 
the owner of these weapons returned he'd be in trouble. He couldn't 
take on skilled fighters on his own. He quickly turned around and made 
his way to the door. 

"Where you going?" said a voice. He spun back around to see the girl,
slowly lifting her head with a grin on her face. He quickly began to 
reach for his katana, suddenly realizing that it was broken and of 
little use. The girl stood up, dusted off her clothing, then looked at 
him right in the eyes. She had a look to her that gave the impression 
she was looking right through you. Luckily he knew of her kind, masters 
of mind trickery, or mind readers, as they were also known. 

"I meant no harm," he slowly began to say, "I was merely looking for a
place to stay for the night when I stumbled across this place." 

"Right, right," the girl said slowly reaching for her small dagger. 

"It's true, is this your cabin? I'll leave." 

"Will you? Or will you wait for the opportune moment to come back and
attack, maybe when I'm really asleep," she responded. This widened 
Sam's eyes. This was exactly what he planned on doing. Despite the fact 
he knew she was probably just predicting his thoughts, it was still 
intense. He let his arms drop to his sides, trying to give the 
impression of ease and peace. 

"Alright then," he began, "what do you plan on doing to me then, kill
me?" 

"Kill you? No probably not," she answered closing her eyes. As she did
so Sam began to feel dizziness about him, he couldn't stand up any 
longer. He fell to his knees, and everything was getting blurred. What 
had she done to him? How could he have missed it? He tried to raise his 
head up to look at her but it caused a great deal of pain throughout 
his entire body. He fell to the floor, at the mercy of this girl whom 
he intended was easy prey. 

5 

Captured, Betrayed, and Forgotten 

The essence of death still lingered within the still atmosphere as the
sun slowly began to set.  It had been nearly ten minutes since that 
man, Rylan, had left. 

"Come on," Zach finally said giving Kelly a gentle pat on the shoulder,
"we should really go back." Kelly slowly rose to her feet, grabbed 
Zach's arm and placed it on her shoulders, and without a word began 
slowly walking back to the farmhouse. 

"Are you okay?" Zach asked. 

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answered, but she knew it wasn't true.  Now she
understood what Zach meant when he said he felt like death was upon 
him.  It had hit her too, hard.  It took everything she had to hold 
herself up, to at least try and protect her injured friend.  Though it 
turned out she didn't prove helpful in the least. It was Zach, whom 
could barely stand, that ended up saving himself; saving her. 

"I don't think I believe you," Zach responded. 

"That's okay, I don't believe you either," Kelly said with a smile. He
smiled back, but she could tell that the feel of worry hadn't left his 
eyes. Zach's thoughts and feelings were like an open book, you just had 
to know how to read him.  It was his eyes that gave him away, just 
looking at them she could get a sense of how he was feeling, or of the 
many worlds that existed within his mind.  She knew right now that he 
was worried, and in great physical pain. 

"It isn't much farther is it?" Kelly asked. 

"I don't think so," Zach answered clutching his chest, "I hope not." 

"Are..." Kelly began to say while looking about, "are we even going the
right way?" Zach looked around, he didn't seem to recognize the 
surroundings either.  Here they stand, lost in a wood neither of them 
knew well at all.  Suddenly Zach's gaze drifted to their left. 

"It's that way," he said confidently. 

"Are you sure?" 

"Look, you can see where I fell there earlier." 

"You fell!" 

"Well, just to my knees, on my way to see you." 

"Why'd you come out here!" 

"I was worried!" 

Silence fell upon them, both looking shocked into each other's eyes to
what had just been said.  That was the first time Kelly ever heard Zach 
tell her that he was worried. In a sense, it almost made her happy. 

"Okay," she said with a smile. They began walking in the direction in
which Zach instructed. 

"It's a good thing you were too," Kelly added, still smiling. 

"You shouldn't have left your equipment behind Kelly," he responded, "if
I hadn't shown up when I did..." 

"I know," she answered. At this moment it seemed her belief that all
things happen for a reason began to fall into play.  It made her feel 
almost free of her worries, if only for a little while. 

"See, there it is." Zach said, looking at the small cabin, which could
barely be seen in the overcast. 

"What is she doing?" Kelly asked looking closer.  In the silence they
could pick out the voice of Kirsten, she could be seen from the window, 
appearing to be talking. 

"Who is she talking to?" Zach asked. 

"Well I guess we'll find out," Kelly responded. 

"I don't know if I want to," Zach said. He seemed to be getting heavier
and heavier to carry around.  It was apparently getting more difficult 
for him to stand. She really wished he hadn't come out here, but she 
was very glad that he did.  She was very grateful to him for that. This 
had been one of those moments that she will never forget. His words 
"Don't cry, don't cry" were echoing through her mind, along with the 
sight of that smile he shown when he looked at her in the sunlight; 
when all of life's worries were put aside, put aside for that single 
moment of happiness. 

They slowly approached the door and enter the dimly lit cabin to find
Kirsten standing there, looking down, and pointing down at a man tied 
in the corner of the room. 

"Kirsten! What are you doing!" Kelly said rather loudly. Kirsten whizzed
around quickly; the tone in Kelly's voice undoubtedly startled her. 

"This guy tried to kill me!" Kirsten yelled back returning her gaze to
the man, "didn't you!" 

"I didn't do anything! I wanted a place to stay woman!" he yelled back.
They had apparently been arguing for awhile judging how riled up the 
two of them were.  Kirsten took out her dagger and jabbed him in the 
forehead with the bunt end. 

"Ouch! Would you stop that! It hurts!" he complained. 

"Hostages shouldn't be so whiney!" Kirsten yelled back. Kelly and Zach
looked at each other and just shook their heads. "That's Kirsten for 
you," was what they were both thinking.  Kelly led Zach over to the bed 
and they both sat down next to each other to watch the rest of the 
argument. 

"You haven't proven anything! I just walked in here!" the man continued.


"You just walked into someone else's house!" 

"I doubt this is your house! You were looking for a place to stay too!"
The man eyeballed Zach. "Probably to heal up weak boy's wounds over 
there." Zach didn't respond. 

"Zach you should probably lie down," Kelly said ignoring the present
argument. Zach began to say, "I'm fine," but was again in too much pain 
to make words.  Kelly began to help him lie down when he passed out, 
his head falling onto Kelly's shoulder. After a few seconds she slowly 
and gently laid him down on the bed, sitting herself near his feet to 
continue watching the ongoing argument. Though when she returned her 
sight to them she found that they were both just staring at her. 

"What?" she asked innocently. 

"What were you two doing?" Kirsten answered with a question. 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kelly asked. 

"Oh never mind," Kirsten said rolling her eyes. Kelly let this slide for
now, she was tired and still a little shaken from earlier. Should she 
tell Kirsten about what happened? If so it had best wait until this 
argument had settled. Talking to her about it now would just make 
matters worse. 

Kelly tried to stay awake, but even despite the yelling she managed to
allow her eyes to close and drift into dream. 

She began to dream about that moment before they entered the tower. 
When she lost control of her feelings and began blaming Zach for things 
that weren't his fault.  She saw Zach sitting in the spot where they 
had talked, except by himself.  She began walking over to him but he 
only seemed to be getting farther away.  The sky suddenly began growing 
dark and the sudden change seemed to cause Zach to stand up. He turned 
around to look at her and smiled.  She smiled back, but shortly saw 
that man from the forest, Rylan, come from behind him.  She tried to 
yell to him, but she couldn't speak, she couldn't move.  A blade went 
into Zach's back and through his heart.  He screamed in pain and fell 
to the ground.  Rylan looked down at the presumably dead Zach. He then 
lifted his head and looked Kelly right in the eyes.  She heard his 
voice in her head, "it's all your fault, it's all your fault." He kept 
repeating it over and over to the point where she felt like she just 
wanted it all to end; wondering if she would ever wake up from this 
nightmare. 

Finally the seemingly endless nightmare had ended, as Kelly awoke to the
sun's light shining in her eyes.  She jumped up suddenly as if ashamed 
she had fallen asleep, but no one was in the room.  She looked over at 
Zach and the small indention in the blanket on top of him where her 
head had laid.  She lifted up the blanket to check his wounds. She 
first looked at his right arm. In her amazement the wound had 
completely vanished.  But then she noticed it. She almost let out a 
scream had she not quickly caught herself by clasping her hands over 
her mouth.  Zach had more wounds, three more slashes around his ribcage 
and one deep one near his heart. She quickly began searching for 
bandage to wrap these new wounds in until she realized that no blood 
was coming from these wounds. Could he be, dead?  She scrambled back on 
the bed and pressed her hand to his heart. She couldn't feel a pulse.  
In panic she put her ear to his chest, praying in her mind, to anyone 
who would listen, that he would be alive.  She was able to hear the 
slight beating of his heart. 

She let out a large breath of air and clenched her own heart. 

"I almost died," she thought to herself, "that was enough of a shock to
give me a heart attack." 

After the panic had subsided she looked around the room. 

"Wait a minute, where's Kirsten?" she thought to herself. She looked in
the corner and saw broken strands of rope where the other man had sat. 
Did he escape? Was he the one that wounded Zach while he slept? Kelly 
made a rush for the door. But suddenly Zach's words popped in her head; 
"you shouldn't leave without your equipment Kelly." She ran over, 
grabbed her bow and put on her quiver, and bolted out the door. Once 
outside, she was suddenly frozen in place. As she looked out, she saw 
Kirsten, sitting against a tree about twenty feet from the farmhouse.  
Kelly quickly ran over to her and was in for another shock.  Kirsten 
was lying against the tree, her eyes half-open, holding onto a blade 
that had been shoved in through her stomach. 

"Kirsten! Can you hear me!" Kelly yelled but got no answer. Kirsten
seemed to make no attempt to respond and her face remained unchanged. 
Quickly and carefully Kelly pulled the blade from her friend's stomach. 
 The blade appeared to be broken in half, so the wound probably wasn't 
as deep as she first thought.  However she soon discovered two more 
cuts in her leg, and holes in her left arm.  She tried her best to 
bring Kirsten into the house, but she was barely able to drag her in 
and lay her on the floor.  Kelly's mind was racing, she didn't know 
what to do, where to go, or anything. She looked at Kirsten then to 
Zach, then Kirsten, and back to Zach.  Zach began breathing heavily 
again. This was a good sign since before he had been barely breathing 
at all. Kelly patched up Kirsten's wounds, then turned to Zach.  Slowly 
blood began to come from his wounds as well.  She wasn't sure what had 
happened earlier. How could there have been no blood? That man was to 
blame; she just knew it.  Suddenly she knew to take action. Every bone 
in her body wanted to stay here with her friends and keep them safe, 
but she couldn't do that. That would do nothing but probably hurt them 
more. She would make her way back to the academy and get help; that was 
the only course of action she could possibly take. 

She gave Zach and Kirsten some water. Zach seemed to take down the water
okay, but not with Kirsten. The water went into her mouth and only came 
back out. 

"I'm not the medical specialist!" Kelly screamed in Kirsten's face, "You
are!" Kirsten's expression remained unchanged. 

"Zach! Wake up and help me!" Kelly yelled looking at Zach's face, "At
least tell me what to do!" 

Again she hesitated, but she knew she had to leave them. She picked up
her equipment once again and made her way for the door.  She ran 
towards the door, and was suddenly stopped. She looked up to see the 
shadowy outline of a large figure standing in the doorway. 

II 

"Well this stinks," Sam thought to himself, "How am I gonna get out of
this one?" He wriggled around on the floor of the cabin. He saw that 
the other three were fast asleep.  Or at least they seemed to be, as he 
had been fooled the last time.  He looked to his left and saw his 
broken katana leaning against the wall.  He made his way towards it. 

"If I can just cut these ropes, I can get out of here," he thought to
himself. He finally made it to his katana. He gave the blade a jab with 
his elbow to knock it over and into his hand. With his fingertips he 
pressed the blade against the rope as best he could, but made little 
headway.  This wasn't going to work. Suddenly the room grew very still. 
The heavy breathing of the man on the bed had provided at least a 
little noise, but it suddenly stopped.  Had he died? He could only 
hope, it would make his escape all the easier.  He looked at the girl 
lying on the bed.  Her head was lying sideways on the man's thigh. He 
noticed tears running down her face. He almost felt sorry for her. She 
looked very unhappy, but he wasn't too worried about those two. It was 
that other girl that got him before; was she really asleep? She was 
sitting in the chair she had been sitting in before when she caught him 
last time.  She looked asleep, and the noise he had made thus far 
hadn't caused her to take any action.  He began sawing the broken edge 
of his katana against the ropes. 

"Yes!" he thought to himself as the ropes had finally given way. He then
undid the knots around his ankles and slowly rose to his feet.  Now was 
when things would get difficult. Would he be able to make his way to 
the door without waking anyone? The girl on the bed suddenly made a 
noise that startled him. 

"She must be dreaming," he thought to himself as he noticed how strongly
she clenched the blankets with her hand. 

He slowly tiptoed his way to the door. The wind had cracked the door
open slightly, just enough that he might be able to squeeze through and 
get out without making a sound.  He arrived at the door, and scanned 
the girl in the chair. She hadn't moved.  He slowly made his way 
through the open door and into the open. He was free. 

As soon as he was a good deal away from the building he gave into a
sprint, he had to continue his investigation on his so-called ninja 
clan.  What were they planning? With all that happened earlier he found 
it hard to recall everything they had said. It didn't really matter 
anyway. All he had to do was find them again and spy on the headmaster 
for awhile.  He could probably take the guy who had been chasing him 
earlier. That is if he had the upper hand and wasn't being chased 
again. 

Suddenly he stopped. He made a grab for his katana. It wasn't there. 

"What! Darn it!" he said to himself all too loudly. He had left his
blade at that stupid house.  What would he do now? He certainly wasn't 
going back there. There's no way he'd risk getting tied up again. His 
wrists were still hurting from the previous resistance. He looked back 
in the direction he had come from, trying to formulate a plan in his 
head. His katana wasn't really a weapon he'd miss; any weapon would 
work. But he had no other weapon, which was it. 

The sun was beginning to rise, deciding for him that it was too late to
get his katana back. 

"It was broken anyway," he said to himself, "but still, what to do now?"
He sat down cross-legged staring at the ground trying to plan his next 
move. He could just run away and forget about the stupid lying ninjas. 
But that wouldn't be any fun. What would he do? Where would he go?  
Then he remembered what it had said on the sheath he saw: T-A-R. Wasn't 
that the school his clan had planned attacking today? The whole thing 
was getting interesting, but far too difficult.  He thought about going 
to tell those people back there about the attack.  He'd probably save 
their lives, but what had they ever done for him? He nearly wore out 
his voice yelling at that girl all night.  But she did give him water 
and food, even though he had rejected it.  He felt his stomach. He 
wished he had accepted it now. 

Suddenly without warning he sensed a presence behind him.  He stood up
and turned around, but it was too late. He was struck in the neck, 
knocking him unconscious. 

6 

Let the Truth be told! 

The tall figure left Kelly in a sudden daze, until she realized who it
was that the figure was. 

"What happened?" the figure said in a sudden and dark tone. The breaking
of silence startled Kelly as she gave a quick salute to the figure. It 
was Tyrone, the captain of the TAR academy. 

"Ok, it's fine. Now tell me what happened here," he said looking around
the room, "who did that to him?" 

"Please come in and I'll explain everything," she said. Captain Tyrone
always made her feel uneasy, despite the fact he was very calm and was 
never one to show off his authority. 

He slowly walked into the room, dragging behind another man. 

"Who's that?" Kelly said with the tone of curiosity comparable to that
of a young girl. 

"I caught this guy wandering about," Tyrone said as if forgetting he had
him, "he was wearing ninja clothes so I figured he was up to no good. 
Guess we'll find out when he comes to." He dragged the man into the 
corner and walked back over to Kelly. 

"Wait, that was the man that was here earlier!" Kelly said a little too
loudly. 

"Huh? He was here?" Tyrone asked. 

"Yeah, Kirsten caught him I think..." Her voice droned off as she
remembered poor Kirsten and her state. Tyrone put his hand on Kelly's 
shoulder and looked down into her watery eyes. 

"Don't worry, you did well," he said, then returned his attention to the
other two. "Did this ninja injure them?" he asked. 

"I think so," Kelly responded, "I mean... I'm not sure. We were asleep
and when I awoke things were as they are." 

"Hmm..." Tyrone mumbled in thought. He then walked steadily over to the
man he had previously thrown in the corner and kicked him in the face. 
"Hey you! Wake up you!" he shouted. The man fell over as he slowly 
began to open his eyes. He sat himself back up and looked around the 
room. 

"Aww! I'm in here again!" he shouted to himself. 

"Hey!" Tyrone shouted drawing the ninja's attention, "Who are you?" The
man looked long at Tyrone until finally giving in. By the look on his 
face you could tell he had given in. 

"I'm Sam, I am... well was a Shami ninja," he answered. 

"Was?" 

"I discovered something I probably shouldn't have, and they tried to
kill me." 

"So you came here?" 

"Yeah." 

"Why'd you injure them?" Tyrone asked forcefully pointing a finger at
Zach. Sam looked over at them slightly confused. 

"What? I didn't do that to them," he responded looking back at Tyrone. 

"Oh!" Kelly exclaimed. She had forgotten about the blade that she found
imbedded within Kirsten. She ran over and grabbed it and handed it to 
Tyrone. He seemed to understand the situation, and Kelly sat herself on 
the bed again. 

"Is this yours?" he asked Sam. 

"Yeah, that's my katana. It broke as I was trying to..." 

"This has their blood on it! How can you say you didn't hurt them!"
Tyrone yelled. Sam looked at the blade closer. He indeed looked shocked 
to see the blood on it. 

"But... I didn't hurt them. All I did was escape. I realized I left my
katana here when you knocked me out." 

Tyrone seemed satisfied with this story. She couldn't believe it really.
With all this evidence against this man, Tyrone had already decided he 
was credible. 

"But if he didn't than who did?" Kelly interrupted.  Tyrone looked over
at her, looked at Zach, then returned his gaze to the ninja. 

"What's your clan doing around here?" he suddenly asked. 

"I know you don't believe my story," Sam said, "but you guys better not
go back to your school place." The look in Tyrone's eyes widened. 

"What do you mean?" 

"The ninjas are going to attack you today! I'm serious! If you go back
there you'll die!" 

"If what you say is true, we must go there now," Tyrone said with utmost
certainty, "if we go and what you say is true, I will believe you did 
not hurt these two without a doubt." 

This made Kelly angry. Someone had to be punished for what had happened
to her friends, and clearly this ninja was to blame! She just knew it! 

"The ninja and I are going on ahead," Tyrone said looking back at Kelly,
"I'm going to take Kirsten with me." 

"Okay, wait why?" Kelly asked. 

"She needs medical attention fast," he said, "whether the academy is
being attacked or not, she can get help there, I guarantee it." The 
look on his face was very reassuring. Kelly nodded in agreement. Tyrone 
walked over to Sam and untied him. 

"Come on you," Tyrone said, "you and I are going back to the academy.
Don't think I totally trust you. If you make one move to get away I'll 
cut your head off." The glare he gave the ninja was deadly, and he 
instantly understood. 

"Bring her with you," Tyrone commanded pointing a finger at Kirsten. 

"What!" the ninja reacted, but Tyrone's glare again changed his mind. He
walked over to Kirsten and picked her up with the utmost care onto his 
back. 

"Let's go," Tyrone ordered, "Kelly, I'll see you when you catch up, and
don't worry." Kelly nodded again and watched as they both dashed out 
the door. 

"Come on, we need to go" came a voice from behind her. She quickly
turned around and saw Zach sitting up, clenching his chest tightly with 
his right arm. 

"Zach! You're awake!" Kelly shouted and ran over to him. 

"Yeah," Zach responded. His heavy breathing had subsided slightly. 

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" 

"Kelly, we need to go," he answered ignoring her question. 

"Zach! Are you alright?" 

"I've been better," Zach answered with a chuckle. 

"It's not funny!" Kelly said, finally releasing the water in her eyes.
Zach noticed her crying and looked away. 

"Why do you always cry when you're around me?" 

"Why? Why do you think? I care about you!" 

The expression on Zach's face saddened and grew more serious. 

"I don't like to see you cry," he said. 

"Zach," Kelly began, "earlier when you were laying here, I thought you
had died. I checked your pulse and felt nothing. I thought you were 
gone. How could I not cry from seeing you sit up and talk to me again? 
I'm happy!" Zach looked back over at her and smiled. 

"I know," he said, "but we should go." 

"But..." Kelly started, but was stopped when Zach suddenly jumped up
from the bed and easily stood on his own two feet. He walked over and 
put on his sword with it's broken sheath. He picked up Kelly's bow and 
quiver and handed it to her with a smile. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked putting on her quiver. 

"I feel a lot better. How long was I asleep? Few days?" 

"Just the night, your wounds from falling were fully healed when I
checked them." 

"Oh, well that's weird," he answered. 

"Why?" 

"Sure felt like I was asleep for a long time." 

"You have some more wounds too," Kelly added. 

"So I felt," Zach answered feeling his chest, "stop stalling. We should
go." 

"Are you sure you're up to this?" 

"Of course." 

"Sure?" 

"I feel much better, and I've felt worse. If I need a break getting
there I'll let you know." This satisfied her enough and they were off. 

They began running for about twenty yards when Kelly asked Zach to stop.


"What is it?" Zach asked. 

"Which way is the academy?" 

"It's..." Zach's voice droned off as he looked around. She could tell by
the look on his face that he didn't have a clue. "Well how would I 
know?" he continued, "I passed out remember? I couldn't even find my 
way to the tower if I wanted." 

"Umm..." Kelly said looking around in an innocent matter, "what if we
got to a high place?" 

"Well yeah," Zach responded, "And this high place would be?" 

"Well I don't know!" she answered. 

They both looked around. It looked like flat forest for as far as they
could see. 

"Well, let's climb a tree and see," he said finally. He then leapt up
and jumped from branch to branch. In a matter of minutes he had already 
reached the top. Kelly thought that he must have really been feeling 
better since the previous day he couldn't walk. After a minute he leapt 
back down right next to Kelly which made her jump. 

"Whoops, sorry. Anyway, the tower is that way," he stated while pointing
behind him, "So if we go that way I should be able to find my way from 
there." 

"Okay," Kelly said, and they were off again. 

*	*	* 

A little under an hour had passed by the time they arrived at the
clearing where the tower was. They stopped here for a break. 

"Let's sit over here," Kelly said plopping herself onto the grass. 

"Why here?" Zach asked in curiosity. 

She looked up at him and gave big grin. "This is where we sat the last
time." 

Zach remembered the last time they were here. He had upset her with his
strange impulse to get through the forest. He remembered it all too 
well. He sat himself next to her and looked into the sky until finally 
falling backwards lying himself on the cool grass. It was breezy in the 
clearing as if it were a large prairie. Zach watched Kelly's hair wave 
in the wind as she drifted into thought looking at the passing clouds. 

"Were you asleep all night?" she suddenly asked. 

"Huh?" Zach asked back. He was too deep in thought and didn't really
hear her. 

"Did you ever wake up during the night?" 

"Don't think so, why?" 

"Just wondering." 

A few minutes went by with no sound but the waving blades of grass. 

"So is Kirsten going to be okay?" Zach finally asked. 

"I don't know," she answered. 

"I mean, all I heard was she really needed medical attention. Is she
okay?" 

"I don't know," she said again. She really must not have wanted to talk
about it. 

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Zach added. 

"Thanks," she responded. 

"You don't have to thank me for that." 

"No I mean, for everything. Just for waking up and being okay. Thanks." 

"Well I doubt I played a role in that." 

Zach sat up again as to be more polite in having a conversation. 

"Did you dream anything while you were asleep?" Kelly asked. 

"Huh? Did I dream?" 

"Yeah." 

"Probably did, but I've forgotten it now." 

"I see." 

"Why, did you dream?" he asked. 

"Oh yeah, I dreamt about things." 

"Things?" 

"Yep," she quickly replied. 

"What kind of things?" 

"I dreamt about us sitting in this clearing like we are now." 

"Oh, well I guess your dream came true." 

"I guess so," she responded. By now Zach finally realized that she
hadn't looked at him once since he sat down. He figured she really must 
have been worried about Kirsten. It was just like before. None of the 
right words were coming to mind, he didn't think he could say anything 
correctly right now. 

"Kelly, look at me," he finally said. She turned her head and looked him
in the eyes. The expression on her face looked as if she had just woken 
up. Zach smiled. 

"Never mind," he said. She looked a little confused, but smiled and
looked back at the sky. 

"I think I did dream something," he said. She retreated her gaze from
the sky and looked at Zach. 

"Oh? What about?" she asked. 

"I don't really remember," Zach answered, "just remember you, and
Kirsten." 

"Oh," she replied, "couldn't have been too bad then." She smiled again. 

"Well we'd better go," Zach said while standing up. He held out his hand
to her, "are you gonna take it this time?" he asked with a smile. 

She looked up and placed her hand in his, "Yeah," she said slowly rising
to her feet. 

"Well I'm pretty sure it's that way," Zach said pointing at a pathway
into the forest. 

"Pretty sure?" Kelly asked in a humorous tone, "only pretty sure?" Zach
gave her a glare that made her laugh. The two of them were off again, 
on their way back to the academy. Not knowing what was in store for 
them. 

7 

The Place Where We First Met 

Smoke began to fill the air around them, and the sight at the end was a
very perilous one. They stood on a high cliff overlooking the academy. 
Though they were still miles from the academy, (and despite the 
destruction that had been done to it) it was still a sight to behold. 
The academy looked very much like a large castle you'd read about in a 
fairy tale. It had high towers, high bordering walls, and a moat.  
Smoke was coming from everywhere around the academy it seemed like. 
Walls had been broken down, a tower or two had fallen, and it was a 
terrible sight for any that had grown fond of the academy. However 
judging from the lack of sound, the fight must have already ended. But 
who had won? Even from that great distance Zach was able to pick out 
men running around and aiding the injured. TAR must have won. 

"I don't think we need to hurry," Zach said to Kelly, "looks as if it's
over." 

"That's okay," Kelly said, "we still need to hurry." She was still
thinking about Kirsten. Hoping that she was all right and that she got 
the medical attention she needed. It's not that she didn't have faith 
in the captain. She was just worried about her, how could she not be? 
She looked like she was practically dead when she found her. She would 
have thought so had she not had a heartbeat. In the back of her mind 
she still wondered who had done that to her friend, but she tried her 
best not to worry about that at least. 

"Are you ready?" Zach asked holding out a hand. 

"Oh, yeah," she responded shaking her head. She climbed onto Zach's back
and he leapt off of the cliff. She had never seen any human with as 
much physical strength as Zach. Not even captain Tyrone could leap from 
a cliff this high and make as simple a landing. Why was Zach able to do 
things no one else could? She never really thought about it, and never 
really questioned it. She had grown so accustomed to seeing it over the 
years training with Zach at the academy. This made her remember when 
her and Zach were first introduced to each other. 

It was a very cold winter and the snow was falling heavily outside.  She
had joined the academy that summer because Kirsten had the previous 
year. 

"It's kind of rough," Kirsten had told her, "only born fighters or
extremely gifted ones are allowed in." Kelly thought nothing of this 
and tried out in the annually held exams in spring. Actually she never 
even tried out. She was the first accepted student of that year and all 
she had done was show up for the exam. Everyone else within the exam 
envied her, but in a less nice way. They would give her glares and talk 
about her behind her back. 

"She's the one who didn't even have to try out," they'd say, "isn't that
weird? What do you think is up with her?" 

She would ignore their commentary and continue to smile. Then she could
only see Kirsten around lunchtime. Kirsten was always busy taking 
classes and studying which Kelly hadn't gotten to know until that 
winter. 

Although this had been her first day at the academy, Kirsten had been
gone for almost a month on a mission; she had been counting the days on 
her calendar. She was sitting in the cafeteria by herself in the corner 
reading a book when she saw him. A man walked into the cafeteria that 
caused an uproar.  People would pat him on the shoulders, congratulate 
him on things Kelly knew nothing about, and say things like "All 
right!" "You are so awesome!" "Can you teach me sometime how to..." was 
heard throughout the room. She heard some people talking about him a 
table or two away. 

"Yeah, that Zach is one amazing guy. You know he'd be the highest ranked
officer in the academy?" someone said. 

"Him? He's just a mercenary isn't he?" said another. 

"Yeah, he stays low in rank but no one knows why. He's failed only one
mission his entire life, has had many offers to be second-in-command to 
Captain Tyrone, but he always turns them down." 

By now she wasn't even reading her book. She was watching this person
make his way through the crowd of people. He wouldn't speak to them, 
but smile and nod occasionally. For some reason this person interested 
her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe because he was 
different from everyone else. When she was amazingly accepted she was 
looked down upon. But here he's so great that everyone knows his name 
and achievements, and yet he practically turns them all away without a 
word said. 

Finally the crowd began to settle back down and Kelly returned to her
book. 

"Do you come here often?" someone had said in her direction. She looked
up from her book to see none other than Zach standing there. 

"Huh?" she managed to stutter out. 

"Do you mind if I sit down?" he asked. 

"Oh, no," she answered. As he sat she looked about the room. Everyone
was looking at them. She felt embarrassed and knew her face had to be 
turning red, but she tried to keep her eyes on the book. 

"You're Kelly right?" he asked. 

"Yes." 

"The one who was first accepted this year?" 

"Yes." Her face just had to be extremely red. She felt so ashamed of
herself. 

"I'm the one that's supposed to show the newer recruits around." 

"Oh?" She was still keeping her face buried in her book. Suddenly he
stood up. 

"Come on," he said, "I'll show you around the place." She looked up from
her book and saw him standing there and holding out a hand to help her 
up. She closed the book and stood up of her own accord. 

"Alright," she said with a smile. He smiled back and led her out of the
cafeteria. 

"Don't worry about them," he suddenly said, "you don't have to be
ashamed about it." 

"About what?" she asked. She was speaking before thinking. 

"I know they think you're weird because you didn't even have to try
out." 

"Oh, I don't really mind." 

"Really?" he said, "that's good." 

They walked a few more minutes until he finally said, "Well I wasn't
being serious about having to show you around. I sort of made it up." 

"Huh? Why?" she asked. 

"Well I came over to talk to you because you looked really lonely, but
when I saw that you noticed everyone looking at us I figured you wanted 
out of there." 

"Oh," was her response. Yes, she really did want out of there, really
badly. Could she really have been that obvious? 

"Well, I guess I'll just see you around then," he said as he began to
walk away. 

"Umm," Kelly began to say. 

"What?" 

"Would you mind showing me around anyway?" she asked in her innocent
way. 

"Sure," he said with a smile. 

"I mean, if it's okay with you. I don't want to bother you or anything."


"It's fine, don't worry about it." 

Zach then led her around the academy. He showed her the training
grounds, and some of the rooms she'd have to know about. Such as where 
her room was, or at least could be moved to, the bathrooms and how to 
get to the cafeteria (she had stumbled across it by accident the first 
time.) He showed her the library, which was packed with books. She 
loved to read but she could tell Zach wasn't too enthused about it, so 
she let him lead on until he eventually walked her back to her room. 

"Well, I'll see you around then," Zach said as he waved and walked away.
Kelly waved goodbye, ran into her room and laid herself on her bed 
looking at the ceiling. She pulled out her calendar from her pocket and 
crossed off another day. 

"I wonder if I'll see him again tomorrow," she thought to herself, "he
seems nice, I wonder if Kirsten knows about him." Then she remembered 
how popular he seemed. Of course she probably knew about him, everyone 
else seems to. Had she really looked that lonely? At first she thought 
these days without Kirsten would be terrible, slow, and boring. Her 
actual classes and training didn't start until the first of next month, 
which was around ten days away. But in a way, she was looking forward 
to tomorrow. Time flies when you have a friend. 

The following day she indeed did see Zach. Slightly before noon he came
to her room and asked if she wanted to have lunch with him. They would 
find something to eat and would sit down in the grass in the courtyard 
to eat. As this went on for the next four days. They would just sit in 
the courtyard, eat their lunch then talk about things. She told him 
about Kirsten and about her 'amazing' acceptance to the academy, her 
reasons for joining, basic things to talk about to help get her mind 
off other things for a short while. Though Zach himself did not talk 
too much he seemed to be a very good listener. That is until the fifth 
day when Zach began to actually open himself to her. 

"People can be annoying sometimes can't they?" he asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Like how they resent you for being accepted, the way they swarm around
me when I enter a room, it's annoying." 

"They can be, but you can't blame them. That's just how people act." 

"Have you heard what they've been talking about lately?" 

"No, I don't think so. What about?" 

"About how you and me have been seeing each other a lot and how close
we're getting to be." "Oh," she responded. It was true; they had been 
around each other a lot and were getting closer. At least she thought 
so. But she knew he meant it in a different manner. 

"But I don't care what people think. They can think what they want. It
doesn't really bother me." 

"Me too" she answered. 

"That's good," he said looking up at the passing clouds, "cause you seem
like a good friend to have to me." 

This may have been the sentence she had been waiting for him to say. She
needed a friend. Not that Kirsten was a bad one, but when she was gone, 
what to do then? 

"I like you too," she said.  "You seem like a quiet person to me," she
added. 

"Oh I probably am," he said, "I don't talk to many people." 

"Whom all do you talk to?" she asked. 

"Oh, let's see," he said seeming to think about it really hard. "Well
there's you, and I occasionally talk to Tyrone around mission time. 
That's it." 

"Really? Why so few?" 

"It's hard to find someone who wants to be my friend for who I am and
not what I've done. I guarantee about everyone in this academy would 
hang around me just for a chance to be with me, or get me to do 
something for them, or something of the sorts. But you don't seem like 
the kind of person to do that to me. I just had a feeling about it, and 
I'm glad I acted on it," he responded. 

"Me too. It's nice to have someone to talk to," she answered. Even
though this wasn't entirely true. There were things she was hiding from 
him. Things she knew she could always talk to Kirsten about. Maybe 
someday she'd be able to tell him such things. Someday if they ever 
felt a close enough bond to one another that she couldn't help but tell 
him such things. 

"You going to get down?" Zach asked. He had landed and Kelly had let
herself drift into thought too far to notice. 

"Oh sorry," she said as she jumped down, "let's go." They both made
their way to the academy, hoping only the best for their friend. 

8 

Read Between the Lines 

In this day and age war wasn't something so uncommon.  In 712 it seemed
like anything to be remembered was war.  Fighting for land, fighting 
for people; it was all the same thing now. Nobody was really fighting 
for anything, just for the sake of fighting. It may have been this 
principle that led to the forming of the TAR Academy. The academy 
itself had been one of the leading causes of the war, but was also a 
major cause in the path to peace.  How long had the war been going now 
anyway? It's been forever, but of course it does to a soldier; a lowly 
mercenary placed in the front lines and leading all the major attack 
runs solo. A lowly mercenary yes, but a very skilled fighter. 

The attack on the castle would happen tomorrow morning. Who could sleep
knowing they and only one another would be entrusted with the task of 
infiltrating the castle, and ending the war? That was a large burden 
for anyone's shoulders to bear. Even Tyrone sympathized for them, but 
who else to accomplish such a feat? Daniel, second in command to 
Tyrone, was the one of the most skilled fighters in the academy. Of 
course he would be chosen. Anyone with any sense at all could have 
imagined it. But Zach? A few months in the academy and he's sent to 
lead a full-scale two-person assault. To him, this was ludicrous. 

"There has to be other more skilled fighters in the academy," he had
said, "I'm just a mercenary! I have no war experience." Daniel had just 
smiled and looked at Tyrone waiting for his response. 

"Maybe so, but you are very skilled. Daniel has told me of your
accomplishments thus far and I find that you are the perfect pair for 
this mission," Tyrone said. 

"But..." Zach began to say. 

"Look," Daniel began, "It'll be alright. We can do this, don't worry.
You and I have done harder missions than this. Trust me. Not to mention 
this way we don't even really have to fight. No real risk of danger, 
doesn't that sound good? I could be saving your life here by keeping 
you from fighting out in the field. Come on." 

Zach looked at Daniel, trying to really understand his words. Who was
he? He had changed in the past months. When they were children he and 
Daniel played together nearly everyday. They had gotten to know each 
other really well and became the best of friends. Perhaps war had 
changed him. That will to fight that every born fighter has. Zach 
didn't have such a thing. At least he didn't think so. He had a born 
talent yes, but the will to fight? He couldn't even understand it, let 
alone have it. 

"Alright," he had answered. 

And here they both lay sleeping (or supposed to be sleeping at least)
getting a full night sleep before their assault tomorrow. Zach dreaded 
tomorrow. He had done missions before, but nothing like this; nothing 
to this scale. This was a world-changing mission. The war could end or 
continue by way of his actions. He laid there for what seemed like 
forever, staring at the stars, praying that tomorrow would be all 
right. 

"Why aren't there any guards?" Zach asked upon breaking inside. The long
hallways lie empty, save for but a few suits of armor and other 
decorations. 

"Probably all out in the field," Daniel answered, "I highly doubt the
dictator is out in the field. Coward that he is." 

"Who is this dictator?" Zach asked, "I mean, I know he's bad and all,
but does he even have a name? We all just call him 'the dictator.'" 

"Hmm," Daniel said while thinking, "come to think of it I don't know his
name either. That's odd." 

"You'd think someone as great and powerful as he would at least have a
known name." 

"He isn't great. He's evil, pure evil. Not a thing about him is good. He
takes the lives of innocents for his own wealth and gain." 

"I know," Zach responded, "I meant just that he's well known, but has no
known name." 

"That is strange," Daniel added as they made their way down the empty
hallway. They searched several rooms but found nothing but walls of 
books and tossed over tables and chairs.  How in the world would they 
pull this off? Surely the dictator had right-hand men beside him. 
Daniel might stand a chance but... 

"Hey, over here," Daniel whispered signaling Zach to come over. They
both put their ear to the door to hear what was being said, but only 
mumbles could be made out. "Stand back," Daniel said. As Zach stood 
back Daniel kicked the door open and leapt into the room. No one was 
there. 

"I'm sure someone was in here," Zach said looking around the room. 

"What's this thing do you suppose?" Daniel asked staring at a peculiar
object in the center of the room. It was strange clouded orb; purple 
and blue clouds could be seen moving about within it. It glowed with a 
strange blue light. It gave Zach a chill and he wanted to do nothing 
but leave the room. Slowly Daniel placed his hand on the orb. Upon 
doing so the room filled with a strange white light. Zach shielded his 
eyes from the light and when he looked again, the orb along with Daniel 
was gone. 

"Hey! Daniel! Hey!" Zach shouted, but got no answer. What was he
supposed to do? His duty was to carry out the mission, but he couldn't 
do that on his own. He didn't have much time to think about it, as the 
entire building began to shake and wall and ceiling began caving in. 
Now he knew he just had to get out, and fast.  He began running down 
the empty corridor, looking for the way he had gotten in. It was 
blocked. He quickly turned around, running about dodging falling stones 
and brick. Suddenly he heard a scream. 

He stopped, trying to pick out the scream amongst the explosions and
cracking of stone. He heard it again and made a dash for it. He opened 
up a door to what appeared to be a library. Next to the fireplace along 
the back wall was a young girl, no more than six years old, sitting 
there with blonde hair covering her face, crying in fear of being 
smashed by falling bookcases and other objects. He ran in and picked up 
the girl. 

"It's all right, I'll get you out," he said to her. She clung to him for
her life, tears running down her cheeks and the occasional whimper from 
trying to hold in her crying. Zach began to run towards the door but 
was stopped by a large piece of rock that blocked it, knocking over 
many bookcases. He was running out of options. He didn't know where to 
go or what to do. He looked up and saw the massive cracks in the 
ceiling. It would give way at any moment. The girl began to cry once 
again. 

"Don't worry, don't worry," was all Zach could say.  He looked around.
He saw no windows, no doors. Nothing. How could he get out? What would 
he do? It seemed as if he and this poor girl would die here. Suddenly 
things grew dark and everything disappeared from sight, the explosions 
ceased, and even the girl's cry grew faint. 

II The sound of chirping birds filled his ears. He opened his eyes to
reveal what appeared to be the middle of a forest. He was leaning up 
against a tree, trying to adjust his eyes to the brightness of the sun. 
He put his hand to his head to try and remember what he had been doing. 
Suddenly he remembered and began to quickly stand up. But injuries he 
had apparently taken stopped him. The girl! What happened to her? He 
looked to his right to see her lying on the grass, fast asleep. He 
slowly rose to his feet and clenched his chest. It was burning as if he 
had a sword thrust through his heart. He began walking to find out 
where he was. After only a few minutes of walking he stumbled across a 
small house. Outside a girl was running about, along with what he 
guessed was the girl's mother hanging clothes. He turned around. He saw 
lots of his own blood leading to the place where he now stood. He made 
his way back to the girl. 

"Hey, wake up," he said shaking the girl. The girl slowly sat up and
rubbed her eyes. She looked at Zach for a few minutes then suddenly a 
terrified expression filled her face. She backed away from Zach as fast 
as she could against a tree. 

"What's wrong? Why are you scared?" Zach asked. He was going to pass out
any minute from blood loss. He had to at least show her to that house 
he had seen. He held out his hand to the girl in a gentle gesture, 
"Come on now, don't be afraid. Come on." The girl slowly made her way 
towards him and put her small hand into his. She quickly withdrew her 
hand from the feel of blood in his. 

"Are you okay?" she said looking up at him. 

"Come on," he said, "let's go." He began walking to the house and the
girl slowly followed from behind. He came close to the house and showed 
it to the girl. He tapped her on the back pushing her into the 
clearing. The other girl saw her. 

"Mommy! Look, a girl!" the girl yelled pointing. The mother looked up,
and walked over to the girl. 

"My, what do we have here? What's your name?" the mother asked. The girl
did not answer. "Come on, let's get you inside, you look hungry," the 
mother said holding out a hand. 

The girl accepted the hand and walked alongside these strangers into the
house. Zach watched the girl slowly go towards the house. For some 
reason he felt that he couldn't go as well. The girl turned back to 
look at him a few times before the house door was shut. To this day he 
can remember the worried expression on that girls face. 

Days later Zach made his way to the TAR grounds where he was finally
found and put into immediate care. Tyrone had asked him numerous times 
what had happened, but Zach said close to nothing. 

"I failed, Daniel is gone," he had said over and over. 

Once his wounds had healed he made his way back to the house where he
had left the girl. He saw her along with the other girl playing happily 
around the house. He was satisfied that she was well taken care of. He 
wasn't quite sure why he made his way back here just to see a girl he 
knew for no more than five minutes, but he did anyhow. He watched her 
for close to an hour before the mother called them in. Before the girl 
went inside she looked into the trees where Zach stood the day he left 
her there. She must have been looking for him, still worried about the 
man that saved her. He did not show himself, but left silently. 

"Hey! Are you okay?" Kelly said loudly. 

"Oh, I'm fine," Zach responded. 

"You sort of zoned out there. You worked yourself a little too hard." 

"Yeah, I overexerted myself I think, but I'm fine now. Let's go, the
academy isn't too far now," he responded. He looked into her face and 
saw that worried expression he knew all too well.  "Are you still 
tired? Need a lift?" 

"Yeah, that would be nice," she said as she hopped onto his back. They
then made their way to the academy grounds. 

9 

The Face of Evil: First Encounter! 

"You're the strongest man I have! You have to lead the attack force!"
Tyrone was shouting. 

"No," Zach answered. 

"We need to track down the ninjas fast and hard, you have to do it!" he
ordered again. 

"No." 

"You don't have to accept a higher position, just lead the attack!" 

"No." 

With a third decline Tyrone backed off, with an almost expression of
fear on his face. Some thought that even the great captain Tyrone 
feared Zach. This could be true considering he always avoided 
confrontation with Zach, sometimes even avoiding eye contact. 

But to her it seemed since they got back that Zach had changed, if only
a little. The unasked for overwhelming kindness he once expressed 
seemed to be slowly diminishing. Not that he wasn't nice anymore, for 
he still showed how he cared for her and his fellow TAR students. It 
was something that was going unnoticed except by those who knew him 
well; namely her. 

Another thing was that even though three days had past, his wounds had
not began to heal. As the days would go on she began to notice his 
clothes becoming soaked with blood, until he would change, then those 
too would eventually turn red. 

"You need to rest," she had told him, "look you're still wounded." 

"It's fine," he said, "resting won't do any good." 

He hadn't slept in days, she could tell. Tyrone had left the day after
they came back. He and his best men, except Zach, left to hunt down the 
ninjas. Zach was left in charge of the academy, and if no word was 
heard from Tyrone in five days he was to lead another attack. She knew 
he didn't want to do this, and was dreading the fact that no word may 
be heard. 

On top of this, she really wanted to see Kirsten. But the medical
specialists would always turn her away. She was barely able to get a 
glimpse of her unchanged expression before they shut the door on her. 

On the third night, Zach had asked her to meet him late at night. Of
course he arrived late and apologized, clenching his chest for he 
must've still been in pain.  He beckoned her to follow him as he made 
his way through the dark corridors of the academy. He stopped in front 
of Kirsten's room and opened the door. There she was, her eyes still 
open, the same face she had days ago. 

"She's in a critical emotional state," Zach whispered, "she's gone
through some sort of shock, and now she's in a state similar to that of 
a coma. Kelly..." His words droned off. She wanted to cry, but she 
looked up into Zach's face. She couldn't remember the last time he 
looked so worried and serious. 

"Kelly," he began again, "they're not sure if she will pull out of it.
There isn't anything we can do but pray that she'll be fine. That and 
her body has been drained of blood, which they also have not been able 
to figure out. She lost some blood from the sword wound, but they're 
not sure what happened to her. I'm really sorry." 

She didn't know how to respond, or what to say even. Though this is when
she noticed something different about Zach.  The old Zach would have 
put his arm around her upon saying "I'm really sorry," to comfort her, 
but he did not. He merely looked into her eyes with a saddened 
expression, and walked away. It felt like her world was falling apart. 
Kirsten was her best friend, and now that she isn't around to talk to, 
Zach also seems to be fading away. She shut the door to Kirsten's room, 
slowly made her way to her own room, laid herself on her bed, looked up 
at the ceiling and finally let herself cry. That ninja, Sam, was placed 
in a room next to hers, guarded twenty-four hours by Zach's orders. She 
wondered if he could hear her, but she didn't care. Her mind eventually 
settled as she slowly drifted to sleep. 

She was abruptly awakened in the dark night. There was a great deal of
commotion going on outside her room. She wiped her face of dried tears 
and opened her door. There was large crowd of people around Sam's room. 


"What's going on?" she asked to anyone who'd answer her, still rubbing
her eyes of tiredness. 

"That ninja escaped," someone said, "or at least it looks like it.
There's a huge hole in the wall to his room." She made her way to the 
front of the doorway as the crowd began to diminish. As she looked into 
the debris filled room she saw a monstrous hole in the wall, at least 
ten feet high and even wider. 

"We can't find Zach!" someone ran up and yelled. 

"What? You can't find him!" someone answered. 

"We found a trail of bloodstains leading to his window, at least we
assume it's his." 

"What? He left!" someone else shouted, as they all left to investigate
the scene. 

He didn't escape Kelly thought to herself. By closer inspection of the
room she realized it. If he had broken out wouldn't the debris from the 
wall be on the outside? Not on the inside as it is. Did someone help 
him escape? 

She remembered him saying, "I'm Sam, I am... well was a Shami ninja. I
discovered something I probably shouldn't have, and they tried to kill 
me." If that were the case, who would have helped him escape? And if no 
one helped him to escape, what really happened? 

Whenever Kelly really needed time to think she'd walk along the forest
trails just outside the academy. She needed to get hold of herself, and 
figure out what was going on. Everyone always counted on Zach to do 
everything that seemed impossible, but now that he's gone what would 
they do? They panicked. As she left the grounds they were still 
frantically running about looking for him. Come to think of it why 
hadn't she wanted to find him as well? She knew him; he's probably 
doing the same thing as her. Getting away, needing time to think. He 
did have a lot on his mind after all. What with Kirsten and being in 
charge of the academy, how could he not? Just as she had gotten out of 
hearing reach of talking and yelling from the academy, she heard a 
different sound. 

As she slowly approached its source, she was able to recognize talking.
She swiftly made her way towards it. Could it be Zach? As she grew 
closer she knew it wasn't. This voice was very deep, and she found it 
very chilling. The voice sounded so angry and evil, it made her skin 
crawl. 

"It's your fault! It's your fault!" she heard the voice screaming. (*)
She peeked around a tree to see it. A sight she'd never be able to 
forget. It was Sam! He was being held down by a figure that would be 
impossible to not see, let alone forget. It looked to be a figure but 
with animal beast-like characteristics. The figure seemed to have some 
sort of red energy flowing from it's body, appearing as if it had 
flames shooting from it's skin. Maybe even extensions of it's body as 
the energy gave the form of animal-like ears and a tail. Because of 
this she wasn't able to really see the figure, only a mere outline of 
it could be picked out. 

Suddenly the figure spun it's head around and looked directly at her.
For that split second she saw it. It's eyes glowed with a bright red, 
it's fangs dripping with blood as well as it's claws. It had to have 
been the most frightening creature she had seen in her life. Upon 
seeing her the creature's eyes flashed and it was gone, leaving Sam 
sitting there against a tree breathless. Kelly ran over to him, he was 
breathing incredibly heavy, his eyes open wide from fear. 

"Are you all right?" she asked. He made no attempt to answer. She gave
him a slap across the face to try and bring him back to his senses. 

"It.... Wasn't my fault..." he managed to say, "It wasn't my fault." 

"It's okay, I'll take you back," she said to him. She picked him up onto
her back and slowly made her way to the academy. 

On her way back she let her mind wander. What was that creature anyway?
Was it a human or beast? Or perhaps both? Then she realized it. That 
creature must have been what broke Sam out of his room. Then again how 
could it have made it's way into the academy grounds unnoticed. At 
least until it burst through the wall. Whatever it was, she knew it 
spoke, and that upon recovery this ninja would be able to give some 
information about it. Then something really hit her; could that 
creature have been the one that attacked Kirsten? It made sense! Just 
being in it's face Sam had been put in total shock, imagine being 
attacked by it! That could have put Kirsten into shock, but what could 
she do about it now? Revenge on the ninjas was the major factor now, 
not some creature that she had seen. Zach would help her, she knew it. 

It seemed that so much was going on lately. Ever sense they were
assigned the simple mission to the tower so much has happened. The man 
that Zach saw in the tower, they're encounter with Rylan in the woods 
later, Kirsten falling ill, and now this. It was almost too much to 
bear. She remembered how happy the three of them were walking to the 
tower, laughing and joking with one another, her and Zach's 
conversations in the cool grass. It all seemed so far away now, or as 
if it all had been just a dream. 

When she had finally returned to the grounds two men rushed to her side
to take Sam. She made sure they knew that he hadn't escaped and that he 
should be taken to the medical station. They understood and took away 
her load. 

"Oh, has Zach been found?" she asked before the second man left. 

"Zach? Yes, he was found a little while ago. He was sleeping in the
courtyard." 

"That sounds like him," she thought to herself. He'd been awake so long
of course he'd need to sleep when everything goes wrong. 

"By the way, did you run across anyone else in the wood?" the man asked.


"Anyone else?" she asked while thinking, "No, no one else. Why?" 

"Well seven men and three women have gone missing since that ninja was
taken," he answered as he left with the other. 

"Ten people had gone missing?" she said to herself. What was going on?
Whatever it may be, she had to talk to Zach and tell him about the 
creature. She hurried off to the courtyard. 

She entered the courtyard, still dimly lit from the moon overhead, and
saw Zach sitting under the large tree in the center. 

"What are you doing sleeping in such a place?" she shouted slowly
approaching him. 

"What are you doing up so late?" he shouted back. He got up and made his
way towards her. When they had gotten close enough to see each other's 
face, she saw a sign of a certain calm happiness in his face. She was 
glad. 

"What all is going on tonight?" she asked. 

"Ten people have gone missing. Apparently it was eleven, but here I am
so I guess that's one found!" he said jokingly. 

"Should you really be joking about such a thing?" she asked trying to
hold back her laughter. 

"Someone has to keep things at peace," he said "if I don't joke at least
a little bit who will? Everyone is too serious." 

"Ten people is serious," she responded. 

"Of course but people running around panicking isn't going to help." 

"Well that's true," she said with a smile. 

"Have they found that ninja yet?" he asked. 

"Oh yeah, I found him!" she said slightly proud of herself. 

"Wow! Good job!" Zach said with a sarcastic tone and patted Kelly on the
head. He was finally back to his old self. 

"I need to tell you about what I saw in the forest though," she said
breaking the happy conversation the two were having. 

"What's that?" he asked seeming interested. 

She explained to him what had happened since she awoke. What she had
noticed from "the ninja's escape", to going out in the woods, but more 
importantly the creature. 

"Are you okay?" he asked after hearing her short tale. 

"Well a little scared," she admitted. 

"You're a lot scared," he said with a smile, "I'm going to walk you back
to your room okay? You need to get to bed." 

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry," she said. 

"Yeah yeah, you say that but you don't mean it. Come on." 

He was right. She really wanted him to walk her back to her room. Not
just because there was some crazy creature on the loose, but just for 
the fact that she could talk to at least one of her friends again. 

"Wait, what are you going to do?" she asked. 

"Well I can't send out men to look for such a thing. I'd be sending them
to their death. You didn't tell anyone else about it did you?" 

"No." 

"Good. Let's not tell anyone about it just yet. I'll have some men look
for the missing in the morning. Until then you need some sleep, we 
leave tomorrow!" 

"Oh okay... wait! What!" she said suddenly surprised. 

"You, me, and the ninja are going to go after Tyrone and them tomorrow.
I've decided." 

"Why?" 

"Well, he'll be able to tell us the ninja's hiding places and what-not.
I'm actually kind of surprised Tyrone didn't take him. But if he's fine 
by tomorrow morning he's coming with us." 

"Yeah but why me?" 

"Why? I don't know. Because I want you to?" 

They walked in silence for a short while until they came closer to her
room. 

"Look, I hate to admit it," Zach began "but you do need to get your mind
off of Kirsten. I understand your position, but moping about it isn't 
going to help any you know? Plus I trust you, we'll be able to find 
Tyrone and them okay? Then once we find them we can just come back 
here. You never know, maybe Kirsten will be fine by then!" 

She stopped in front of her door and looked up into Zach's eyes. 

"Please," she said, "don't give me false hope." She went inside her room
and shut her door. She began to cry again. 

"I'm sorry," she heard him yell from outside, "I'll see you in the
morning, good night!" 

10 

Feelings Left Behind 

"What are you talking about?" Sam exclaimed jumping from his bed. 

"You don't remember anything?" Kelly asked astonished. 

"Remember anything of what?" he asked as he stretched, "what are you
doing in here anyway?" 

"You're coming with me, we're going to go meet Zach at the grounds
exit," she answered, "how can you not remember anything?" 

"I went to bed and woke up... in a different room apparently," he said
suddenly grasping what was going on, "and why do I have to meet this 
'Zach' anyway?" 

"You're going to help us track down your ninja clan," she answered. 

"But I'm not one them now," Sam stated. He was obviously trying to get
out of it. Kelly rolled her eyes and began dragging him out of the room 
by his shirt. 

"Hey what are you doing? Stop it! I can walk!" he yelled trying to get
control over his walking. 

"You need to hurry up, we're late already," she said. 

"Well ya don't have to pull me around everywhere!" he loudly answered. 

"I don't care, you need to stop being you for awhile." 

"Stop being me? What are you talking about woman?" He was twisting and
turning trying to loosen her grip but nothing seemed to be helping. 

"Stop being a lazy ninja and act like a TAR mercenary since you're being
hired aren't you?" 

"Yeah whether I want to or not... wait do I get paid?" he asked suddenly
stopping his strange walking behavior. 

Kelly turned around and smiled at him, "not a dime!" 

"Bah! This is stupid! Let go of me!" he yelled beginning his twisting
and failed pulling attempts once again. 

"Bah! This is stupid! Let go!" she yelled back sassing his behavior,
followed by some giggling from her own amusement. 

"Shut up! Let go!" he yelled again. 

"Well I hear them coming," Zach said to himself waiting near the TAR
gate to the outer world. He could hear his screams from yards and yards 
away. 

"I said I'll go now let me walk!" he heard Sam yelling. They finally
reached Zach and Kelly released Sam's shirt from her grasp. 

"Finally," Sam said, "dude! Look what you did to my shirt!" He pointed
at his shirt that had been stretched so much that the color even 
appeared faded. 

"It's your fault," Kelly said holding in her laughter, "you wouldn't
hurry up." 

"You wouldn't let me, you kept saying stuff like 'that red thing' or
'why don't you remember? You don't remember the monster thing?'" 

"So I take it he doesn't remember?" Zach asked turning to Kelly. 

"Nope, not a bit of it," she responded. 

"Remember what?" Sam asked. 

"It doesn't matter," Zach quickly answered, "if you don't remember than
forget we brought it up." 

"So where are we going?" Sam finally asked. 

"I don't know, where are we going?" Kelly asked looking at Zach. 

"Wherever Mr. Ninja says his ex-pals are at," Zach said in a sarcastic
tone. 

"How should I know?" Sam asked, trying to get out of it yet again. 

"I know you know, or at least have ideas, of where they are and/or
headed. So don't bother lying about it. I know how your clan works," 
Zach said with a smile. 

"Oh fine," Sam said, "I was going to track them down anyway." 

"So, are we walking?" Kelly asked. 

"Well we were supposed to be picked up," Zach said looking down the
forest path, "but it doesn't look that way now." 

"Oh now we have to walk? That's real cool," Sam stated. 

"Oh and would you have done had you gone by yourself?" Zach asked
smiling. Sam just turned away with a smirk look on his face. He had 
gotten Zach's point. 

"So I guess we'll just start walking, we've been doing too much of that
lately" Zach said, "oh Kelly, I almost forgot." 

"Huh?" she responded. 

"I'm allowing use of magic for this one." 

"This what?" Sam asked. 

"Really? Why?" Kelly asked. 

Magic was something that was not allowed for your everyday missions for
the academy. Sure they learned how to use them and their own special 
talents within the confines of the academy, but they were not permitted 
to use such things unless a higher officer gave them permission to do 
so.  Zach has been gifted with the element of fire; he is able to cover 
his blade in flame as he slashes at his foes. Kelly on the other hand 
is adept with the element of wind. She has taught herself to use this 
power to enable her arrows to shoot faster and harder. Had these 
magical powers been used without permission, they would be forever 
banned from the academy, and stripped of their rank. 

"There's only three of us," Zach answered, "I'm not saying that we
should use it at will, but if you need to use it by all means use it." 

"Okay," Kelly answered. 

"So I can too?" Sam asked, attempting to respect an apparently highly
ranked officer of the academy. Or at least he thought so. 

"Can you?" Zach asked wanting to know his fellow group members
abilities. 

"Lightning," he answered, "all the ninjas from my clan are taught to use
that style of magic. Doesn't your academy teach a certain style?" 

"Not really," Kelly answered. 

"They teach us accordingly and by our own talents," Zach said, "we don't
really have a choice in the matter. Kelly has always had high magical 
talent along with skill with a bow. So they decided that she should use 
wind magic to further increase her skills." 

"Yeah yeah I got it," Sam said no longer interested. 

"Just thought you might be interested in joining after this," Zach said
as he turned around to begin their next journey, "remember you stay in 
our sights. If we have to we will kill you. Now walk ahead of us." 

Sam sped up his walking and began to walk a few feet in front of the
other two. 

"Kill him? We will?" Kelly whispered to Zach. 

"You can, I don't want to," Zach said with a smile. 

"Hey! That's not fair!" Kelly said. They both just laughed and continued
on. 

"I really hope that thing doesn't appear," Kelly said after a few
moments. 

"Don't worry, it won't," Zach replied. 

"Really? How do you know?" 

"I don't." 

"Zach! Then why'd you say it won't!" 

"To make you feel better," he said, "just don't worry about it. If it
does show up you have me here this time. Along with the pokey ninja in 
front of us." 

"I can hear you ya know?" Sam shouted back, "This is so troublesome, why
do we have to walk?" 

"Just keep walking," Zach said drawing his sheath and pushing Sam with
it. 

"I already got the TAR lessons in walking from her," he said pointing
back at Kelly. She laughed. 

As they continued walking Zach was running everything through his head.
Making sure he had taken care of every detail at the academy before he 
left. He was in charge after all. Had something gone wrong it would be 
his fault. After every possible thing he could think of went through 
his head he began to think about the past week's events. That Rylan 
person especially. He had had the feeling he was being watched long 
before Kelly and Sam arrived. Another thing he hadn't given much 
thought was what happened the previous night. He couldn't even remember 
going to the courtyard, let alone sleeping there. He was probably lost 
in thought like he is now and not paying attention to his surroundings, 
at least he thought so.  Kelly was looking at him out of the corner of 
her eye. He gave her a little shove and smiled. 

"Hey," she said smiling back. 

"Still worried about that creature thing?" he asked. 

"Well, yeah," she answered. 

It was about mid-afternoon by now, and the pain in Zach chest began to
resurface. Not from any wounds, for they had somehow managed to heal. 
It was a sharp pain deep inside he began to feel around this hour. He 
remembered the time he killed that hornet and began running faster than 
he had ever ran before. How the pain seemed to take over his thoughts 
and feelings. He hated that light he couldn't reach; he wanted it to go 
away. Though once he finally reached the clearing he was fine. This had 
happened other times to, but not quite to the extent of that. Small 
things would begin to annoy him that he normally wouldn't notice, and 
he'd want to stop it by any means necessary. It scared him a little bit 
since this was not his personality, or at least the personality he 
assumed he had. Well maybe everyone is that way; everyone has to let 
out his or her anger from time to time. Just must've been his time. He 
had always thought that and nothing more of it, until his emotions and 
thoughts were completely overrun of course. Though it's probably best 
not to think about it. Despite the fact he was thinking about it now of 
course. He looked up at Sam, he was walking the way Zach had used to, 
folding his arms behind his head and looking up into the sky. Zach 
looked at his belt and noticed two sheaths. One was the one that Kelly 
had supplied him with while the other must had been his original sword. 
But hadn't it broken? Why would he carry it around? 

"Hey, why do you keep that broken sword for?" Zach finally asked. 

"Why not?" he said back not turning his head, "it's been lucky for me so
far." 

"Except the fact that broke," Zach added. 

"Well yeah," Sam responded, "but since then it's been good to me." 

That's when Zach looked over and noticed that Kelly too had a sheath
about her waist. 

"Why do you have a sword?" Zach asked her. 

"I don't know," she answered still looking ahead, "I sort of want to
learn how to use the sword. That is..." her words droned off and she 
looked at Zach and smiled. "That is if you'll teach me." 

"Of course," Zach answered. 

"Okay so why do you have a sword?" Sam asked, "since we're keeping
inventory now." 

"Me? I always use a sword," Zach answered. 

"Is that the same one you've always used?" Kelly asked. 

"Yeah, why?" 

"Look you didn't even fix your broken sheath!" Kelly added. 

"Yeah I know," Zach stated, "this sword has never needed sharpening or
any sorts of repairing for as long as I've had it, goes for the sheath 
too." 

"So you keep yours for luck too huh?" Sam added. 

"I suppose," Zach answered, "it's never done me any wrong." 

A few moments later the air became still and tense. Both Zach and Sam
felt it, and in a way Kelly knew says she could tell Zach sensed 
something. They stopped and looked about them with they're hands merely 
inches away from their blades. 

Then they heard it, screams coming from the road further ahead. Kelly
suddenly grew very afraid, thinking that it must be that creature. The 
sheer image of it in her head made her drop to her knees. She couldn't 
speak and her breathing grew heavier, as had happened during her first 
encounter of it. 

"That's okay. You stay here," Zach told her urgently, "Let's go Sam." 

"Okay," he said as they both ran further down the road. 

They ran about fifty yards when two horses ran past them. 

"That must've been the carriage that was to pick us up," Zach informed
Sam, "something must have happened to it." 

"No! Ya think?" Sam said in a sarcastic tone. 

Finally the place the horses came from became clear, for they saw the
carriage they were once pulling tipped over in the middle of the road. 
The driver of the carriage was at the edge of the clearing hiding 
behind a tree. But what was he hiding from? Both Zach and Sam looked up 
to see a figure standing on top of the sided carriage. The figure was 
standing in the sunlight and could not be seen save but for a rough 
outline. Zach was able to make out two swords the person was holding 
and the waving of their long hair in the wind. 

A shrill and evil laugh filled the air. 


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