Eternal Chronicle

 

 

A

 

 

Kataren’s Tale

 

 

of

 

 

the Old Age

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Amadeus X. Write

 

 

 

 

Prefix

 

 

 

 

 

            When reading this, the first thing you might notice is that there are no Humans at all. My story developed like this because at the time of first creation, which was like 15 or 16 I thought that Humans, all of them, weren’t honorable at the time, so I made a new race. The Katarens, pronounced Ka-tar-en, were made fox-like because of the guessable reason that foxes are my favorite animal and had a sense of honor to them, even the bad guys. Sense that isn’t a very good answer for  the general public, I came up with the answer that all the Human stories of the past had already been told.

 

 

            One last thing, there may be some discrepancy about age: Kid refers to about 4-12 years of age; young boy/girl refers to 13-16 years of age; boy/girl refers to 17-21 years of age; and male/female is 22 or older. This will come in handy because there is a lot of this kind of use.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s all that was needed to say so with no further a due I give you the original story A Kataren’s Tale of the Old Age.

 

 

Prologue

 

 

 

 

 

            The weather was harsh and the Kataren steering the flying ship was having trouble keeping the ship on course. He was tired and weak from the long arduous journey that he had already gone through, but he strived on to finish what he was doing. Suddenly a massive wave struck the ship and threw him from it.

 

 

 

 

 

            An Elvin boy was walking along the shore of a beach on an island when he noticed a man on the beach. The Elvin ran up to him, the mans’ clothes were soaked with sea water. He moaned.

            “Are you all right?” the Elvin boy asked.

            The Kataren coughed and said, “Where am I?”

            “You’re on the Archipelago Islands.”

            “Good.” The man coughed some more.

            “Here let’s get you inside,” the Elvin said and helped the man to his feet.

            They walked to the Elvin’s house up the beach a little. They went inside and the Elvin laid the Kataren on his couch. The Kataren coughed again.

            “Let me get some medicine for you,” the Elvin said.

            “No,” the Kataren replied quickly, “I will not last anyways, but I will ask a favor of you.”

            “Yes.”

            “Hide this,” the man said handing a crystal to the Elvin, “and if you could protect it. No one must find it,” and the man said his words weakening.

            “I will,” the Elvin said.

            And the man gave his last breath, reassured that his task would be completed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 years later

 

 

           

 

 

Unwelcome Visit

 

 

 

 

 

            A teenager was lying on the couch staring at the ceiling, his feet hanging off the edge. He was well built and about average height for a Kataren which was about six one. Katarens were a race that looked like the Elvin but had fox like ears and tail, but they also had telekinetic abilities which the Elvin didn’t have. The Kataren boy was 19 years of age, pure white hair, and green eyes. His hair looked like he had just got out of bed. The room he was in was small and had the couch he was lying on, a chair perpendicular to the couch by his feet, and a fireplace by his head. The mantle of the fireplace had a sword that was once his father’s with eight jewels, all different colors, on a display. The house was on the edge of the Kataren Empire which was on a floating piece of land called the Floating Continent. The continent was shaped like an upside down Y with a short tail on it, and the house was on the south western tip.

            There was a knock on the door which brought the boy out of his daze. He got up and answered it. He saw two Katarens: one was a man mid-thirties, a little taller than he was, and albino; the other a teenage girl of 17, smaller than he, orange hair, and green eyes. The bangs of the girl covered her left eye while the rest was cut short.

 “Hello Shadow, how are you and your sisters today?” the man asked.

            “What do you want Bearox?” Shadow said. Bearox was the king of the Kataren Empire since the death of the former king.

            “Why, is that any way to talk to a friend?” Bearox asked.

            “You’re no friend.”

            “Well can I ask if Falcon and I could come in?”

            “You can, but she waits outside.”

“You okay with that Falcon?”

She looked away with her arms crossed and said sullenly, “Yeah, whatever.”

            Bearox came in closing the door behind himself.

“Now, what do you want?” Shadow asked.

            “Well you see,” Bearox began when a young girl came from one of the rooms in the back of the house. She was about the same height as Falcon and had pure white hair, and green eyes, “Oh, hello Dagger.” Dagger was Shadow’s youngest sister.

            “Hey Bearox,” she said then turning to Shadow, “I found the pruning clippers so once you’re done talking…?”

            “Yeah I’ll help out,” Shadow replied. Then Dagger turned around and went out a door leading to the back.

            Shadow sat on the couch while Bearox sat in the chair and said, “Anyway as I was saying, Cypress told me of some gems that contain powers of the elements and also that they where all in a single sword,”

            There was a brief pause, “My fathers’ sword,” Shadow replied.

            “Yes, and I was wondering if I could borrow it.”

            “No.”

            “But why.”

            “Like I would trust it to you.”

            “That’s no reason…”

            “It’s plenty of reason.” There was an awkward pause in the discussion.

            “This is what I get for asking nicely.” Bearox stood up and pointed his hand, palm open towards Shadow. Shadow realized what Bearox was doing but before he could react he felt his body being thrown through the air and then through the front wall. Falcon, who was leaning back against the wall on the other side of the door, jumped when Shadow came crashing through the wall. Bearox came out the front door closing it behind him.

Falcon asked, “Didn’t go as planned?”

            “You could say that,” Bearox replied. Shadow got up and charged towards Bearox punching at him several times, all of which Bearox either dodged or blocked, then Shadow spun and kicked. Bearox grabbed his leg, blocking the kick and threw Shadow away from the house. Shadow was getting back up when he saw that Bearox had walked away from the house to fight him with falcon close behind. “That all you got?” Bearox asked and again Shadow felt his body fly up into the air. Then Bearox jumped up and bicycle-kicked Shadow to the ground. When Shadow hit the ground he fell unconscious as his body skidded off the edge of the continent. Bearox walked to the edge, looked back and said, “Falcon, retrieve the sword while I take care of him.” Then Bearox jumped off the edge of the continent after the falling Shadow.

            Falcon started walking toward the house when a girl jumped in front of her, arms spread, and said, “You aren’t getting that sword.” She was 18, a little taller than Falcon, and had pure white hair and green eyes. It was Shadows other sister, Blade, who heard the sound of Shadows body breaking through the wall of the house and had come to see what happened.

            Falcon smiled cynically, “You actually think you can stop me. You know well that I’m stronger than you.”

            “Only telekinetically are you stronger,” Blade said then charged at Falcon to attack, but Falcon just held her hand palm out towards Blade and picked her up off the ground.

            “Who needs physical strength,” Falcon said then throwing Blade back into the side of the house, “when you can do that,” and continued to walk towards the house.

 

 

            Shadow regained consciousness and noticed that he was falling, and stopped him self just before hitting a tree. He wondered what had happened and looked up to see Bearox, just as he punched him into the tree. Shadow’s vision blurred as he looked up and saw that Bearox had flown back to the Floating Continent. In the distance he heard someone calling out for another, “Raine, come help me, someone just fell…” and then Shadow fell into darckness again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanted

 

 

 

 

 

“Ugh,” Shadow moaned. He opened his eyes.

            “So you’re finally awake are you,” a voice said.

He looked around the room and saw a girl sitting at a desk against the opposite wall. She was about his age, with brown hair, and brown eyes. Shadow found her beautiful but then noticed something different about her, her ears were different. He looked down her body and realized she had no tail, she was an Elvin! Shadow had never actually seen an Elvin before and started to get up, but he felt a sharp pain in his chest and fell back into the bed before he could sit up fully.

            “Don’t get up!” she said rushing to him, “You were hurt pretty bad in that fall.”

            “Fall?” Shadow asked.

            “Yeah you fell into one of our trees in the orchard.”

            She must have not seen Bearox, he though to himself and then asked, “Our trees?”

            “Yeah, my two brothers and I own this orchard.”

            Shadow remembered her voice calling for someone, “Raine is one of your brothers?”

            “How did you know?”

            “I heard you calling for him just before I fell unconscious.” He looked down at his right leg which was also in pain.

            She noticed this and said, “You broke two ribs and your leg was broken in several places too.”

            Just then a boy came in, he was Elvin too, “Sky, how is Shadow doing?” he asked then seeing Shadow with his eyes open, “Oh, so he’s awake. Good to see your okay. You were out for almost two days.” He was about 16, brown hair, brown eyes, and obviously one of Sky’s brothers.

            “Have my sisters come by looking for me?” Shadow asked.

            Sky replied, “Yes, a girl came by a little after you fell. She said she was your sister. I told her what had happened, and she asked if we could take care of you for a while because it would have been hard to move you with so many broken bones.”

            “Well I have to go help out Cloud so I won’t be back until later,” Raine said and started out the door.

            “Bye,” Sky called after.

            Shadow sat up slowly and asked, “Where are we exactly?”

            “17 kilometers from the northern border in the Southern Territory of the Elvin Empire,” Sky answered. The Elvin Empire was on the Island Continent which was shaped like a crescent.

Sky heard Shadows stomach growl, “Are you hungry?” she asked.

            “Starved.”

 

 

 

            A morning sun shown through the window as Sky was making breakfast. The planet had three suns orbiting it so it never became fully dark unless there was an eclipse by the moon. Each day had 22 hours, consisting of two day and evening times. It was early in the morning and Shadow was eating with Cloud and Raine. It was a couple of weeks later and Shadows ribs and leg were almost healed, but he still used a crutch. It had became harvest season so Sky and her brothers were out most of the day leaving Shadow home alone watching the house since he was still injured.

            “Here you go,” Sky said handing some pancakes on a plate to Shadow.

            “Thank you,” he replied.

            “Well, it’s about time we got to work today.” Cloud said.

            “Ok, but are you sure I can’t help you out in anyway?” Shadow asked.

            “Yeah, we’re fine, any ways you’re still injured a little,” Cloud explained, “We don’t want you to break anything else.”

            “All right.”

            And so they went out leaving Shadow at the house till they got home later that day. Shadow finished his breakfast and got up, using his crutch, and put the plate in the sink. The kitchen was small and had the table at which Shadow had eaten breakfast, five chairs, a sink, a stove, and a small indoor pantry.

            After putting his plate in the sink he went into the living room. It wasn’t much bigger than the kitchen and had a couch, a fireplace on the opposite side of the room, and a bookcase against the wall to his right next to the front door. He walked over to the bookcase and looked for a book he had not yet read. Disappointed that the only book he hadn’t read yet was a book called Elvin Inventions, but he took it out anyway and sat down on the couch to read it. Shadow started reading and noticing that the book didn’t have a lot of inventions, just extremely long explanations, but Shadow read it anyway to pass the time.

            It was just after midday and Shadow was getting hungry again, so he put the book down, grabbed his crutch, and hobbled into the kitchen. He glanced into the pantry and saw some bread, sun dried apples, and cooking supplies like flour and sugar which had nothing different than what would usually be found. Then he heard some footsteps in the other room, but it couldn’t be Cloud, Raine or Sky, he thought. He walked very carefully to make sure he made no noise to alert the intruder. Shadow went into the living room but no one was there, and then he heard the footsteps again this time coming from Sky’s room on the far side of the living room. Again Shadow walked silently, across the livingroom, to the doorway that entered into Skys’ room. There he saw a stranger. He was facing away at a shelf next to the bed which meant that Shadow had snuck up on him. The intruder was an Elvin with white hair, which was highly unusual, about the same height as himself, and had brown scarf tied at the back which hung to his ankles, and also a large sword, almost two meters long with a handle in the middle of the blade, slung on his back.

            “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Shadow demanded.

            Surprised by Shadow’s voice the intruder turned around, but when he saw Shadow on his crutch, looked less threatened.

            “What am I doing here?” the intruder said, “That’s a funny question coming from you, a Kataren, in an Elvin house.” He crossed his arms over his chest and Shadow saw his piercing blue eyes, which Shadow was glad to see was natural for an Elvin.

With no answer coming from shadow the intruder said, “Well, hate to grab and run but it’s not good for business if I get caught, you know?” and jumped into the windowsill.

“Stop!” Shadow said holding his palm out at the thief.

The thief struggled to pull his body though the window and then said “Let go!” pointing his own palm at Shadow. Shadow felt a force push him backwards making him lose grasp of the thief with his telekinetic ability. When Shadow looked up the thief was gone. He got up and went to the window to look for the thief, but all he saw was the seemingly endless rows of trees. Shadow looked around the room, nothing seemed to be missing. His stomach growled reminding him that he was hungry and seeing that everything was fine when back into the kitchen to eat.

 

 

 

The evening came pretty quick after the thief left and Cloud and the others just got back finding Shadow with the invention book.

            “How is it,” Cloud asked.

            “Almost fell a sleep a few times,” Shadow said jokingly.

“Other than the book, how was you day?” Cloud said chuckling.

“A thief dropped in.”

“A thief?” Sky said startled, “Are you all right?”

“Ya, I’m fine,” Shadow replied

“Did he take anything?” Cloud Asked.

“No, I found him before he could,” Shadow answered.

“hmm…A report was sent out about a week or so ago that talked about a thief that was in the area, but I paid no attention to it. It did say that if any one had information about him to report it immediately though,” Cloud said thoughtfully.

“I did get a pretty good look at him,” Shadow replied, “He was Elvin and had white hair, blue eyes, a long scarf, and a large sword that was of Kataren make.”

“An Elvin with white hair and a Kataren sword?” Cloud said, “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard of. Not to say otherwise, but are you sure?”

Shadow nodded.

“We have to report it though,” Raine quickly said. There was a moment of silence.

“Alright, Raine when you wake up tomorrow take your horse to South Rock to get another horse for Shadow,” Cloud said, “You have to come because the king might want to ask you some questions, alright?”

“Ok,” answered Shadow.

 

 

 

The next morning Raine set off to South Rock on his horse, while Cloud and Sky worked in the orchard to get some more done before they left. South Rock was a ranching town to the south known for the reliable horses that are sold there.

Shadow had slept in. Never having to work before he usually trained rigorously with his sword when he was awake or helping his sisters with their tasks that they do, so he normally slept in and today was no exception. The morning was calm and Raine got back about an hour later with a horse for Shadow to ride on. Raine tied up the horses and went to get Shadow.

He saw that Shadow was still asleep so he shook him and said, “Come on Shadow wake up.” Shadows’ ears twitched a couple times and then sat up. “Come on Shadow we’re going to leave soon,” Raine said.

Shadow yawned, “All right I’ll be out in a moment.”

Raine left the room and Shadow got up and put on a shirt. Afterwards he grabbed a brush and brushed his tail. Shadow stood up and looked at his crutch for a second against the dresser before turning away to go outside.

 

 

 

Cloud and Sky were working in the orchard picking apples. Sky looked up at some storm clouds that had started to come in, but also saw two small objects that were moving slightly. She continued to stare at them till she realized that they were getting bigger and that they were people. She still continued to look at them until she recognized that one of them was Blade who usually visited every week or so.

“Cloud, Blade is here,” Sky said.

“Really?” Cloud replied.

Sky jumped of her ladder and called out waving one of her arms, “Hey, Blade. Down here.” She saw Blade look down at her then look at the person she was with. Cloud walked up beside Sky as Blade and company started coming down.

“Who’s that?” Cloud asked.

“It must be Dagger,” Sky answered.

They landed in front of Sky and Cloud.

“Hey, nice to see you again,” Blade said smiling.

“It’s nice to see you too Blade,” Sky replied with a smile, “And who is this that came with you?”

“This is Dagger, my sister,” Blade answered.

Then Raine came riding over on his horse. “Cloud, all of the horses are ready,” Raine said then looking at Blade, “Hey, how are you today Blade?”

“I’m fine,” she replied.

“Let’s go to the house and talk there,” Cloud said. Shadow was outside brushing his horse when everyone came from the orchard.

“What are the horses for?” Blade asked.

“We have to report a thief that came by yesterday,” Cloud was explained, “Shadow saw the thief so he has to come also.” Cloud gave a brief description of the thief to Blade and Dagger.

“I’ll join you then,” Blade said, “I’ll ride on Shadow’s horse.”

“You want to come?” Cloud replied, “Okay, I guess there’s no harm in it.”

“Can I come too?” Dagger asked.

“This trip will take too long. You’ll have to watch the house while we’re gone,” Blade answered. Dagger gave a sigh as Shadow noticed the group coming towards him.

“Hey Blade, have you come to visit?” Shadow asked.

“Actually she has asked to come along,” Cloud answered.

“And I have to stay home,” Dagger sighed. Shadow looked at Dagger.

“Oh, don’t be too upset we are just going to report about the thief,” Shadow said trying to make Dagger feel better, “We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Alright,” She said with another sigh.

“Well we had better get going,” Cloud said.

So Shadow, Blade, Cloud, Raine, and Sky got on the horses and started riding off. Dagger stood there and watched them go till they were out of sight, then turned and started flying home.

The air was brisk and some clouds had moved in. Dagger began flying through one and just after coming out of it she heard a voice. She turned around and saw a person there, and recognized him as the thief that had been explained to her by Cloud.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here,” the thief said.

“What do you want?” Dagger asked.

“I see you know who I am,” the thief started, “That boy. He is your brother isn’t he?”

“What if he is?”

“What is his name?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because I am asking.” And the thief flew up and grabbed Dagger by the neck. Dagger grabbed his arm and tried to pull it away. “Now, I’ll ask one more time. Who is he?”

“Shadow. He’s Shadow,” Dagger said struggling.

“Shadow! I thought Bearox said he took care of him,” the thief said, “Dammit all!” Then the thief let go of Dagger and flew off in the direction of the Kataren Capitol. Dagger trying to put things together she decided to go after Shadow and the others to tell them that she saw the thief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Elvin King

 

 

 

 

 

            It was the middle of dusk when they got to the Elvin capitol. They entered the city and stopped by an inn with a place to tie the horses. The horses were then tied up and they headed for the palace.

            “Shouldn’t we wait till morning?” Shadow asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cloud said, “The news we’re bringing should be enough to get him out of bed.”

“Alright,” Shadow said doubtfully.

The city was by a cliff with the palace at the edge of the cliff. It was pretty quiet with only a few houses that were lit and the only lights that were outside were at intersections. They got to the palace and started walking up the steps when they heard someone running behind them and they turned around. It was Dagger. She was running towards them as fast as she could.

“What are you doing here?” Blade said, agitated, with her hands on her hips, “Your supposed to be at home in case Bearox came by.”

“I… ran into… that thief,” Dagger replied trying to catch her breath.

“What?” Cloud said.

“Yeah, when I was flying home I ran into him,” Dagger explained.

“What? How?” Cloud said surprised.

“So he does have telekinetic abilities,” Shadow commented.

“Huh!? You didn’t mention that before,” Cloud said.

“I wasn’t sure of it.”

“Then this changes things.”

“Yeah, it might cause some ruckus if the King found out,” Raine replied, “You know, a crossbreed and all.”

“Alright then,” Cloud said, “not a word of this to the King.”

All of them nodded and started up the steps again. They came upon two massive doors at the top of the steps. Cloud pushed one of them open and they walked in. Immediately a guard came up to them.

“What is your purpose here?” the guard asked glaring at them.

“We are here to see the King,” Cloud answered, “We have news of the thief that a report was sent out on.”

The guard looked past Cloud and saw Shadow, Blade, and Dagger. “What of these…Kataren?” he asked.

“One of them is he who saw the thief and has come in case the King were to have questions, and the others are his siblings.”

“What is your name?”

“Cloud Orchard of the Southern Territory Orchards.”

“Stay here and I’ll make your inquiry to the King.” And the guard turned around and went off. A few minutes later he came back. “The King will see you. Follow me.”

They followed the guard down a hallway which split several times before they got to two large doors. The guard opened the doors and walked inside announcing their arrival, “Sire, Cloud Orchard of the Southern Territory Orchards and company of five others.”

“Let them in,” the King said, and they were let in. The King was sitting on a throne in the middle of the room. “The guard told me you bring news about the thief that has been plaguing us.”

“Yes sire,” Cloud said bowing, “I have a description.”

“Continue.”

“He is Elvin with white hair and blue eyes, he wears a scarf that covers his lower face and hangs to his ankles, and has a single edge broad sword with a handle half way up the blade.”

“Odd, an Elvin with white hair? Are you sure it was white?”

“I am not the one who actually saw him. It was Shadow, the male Kataren behind me who saw him, but he is a friend of mine so he is trustworthy.”

“Alright, but the sword sounds of Kataren make.”

“It is sire, but Shadow has not a clue as to where he obtained the sword.” There was a brief pause.

“It is late, alright then, I’ll have the description out by morning. Now leave.”

“Yes sire.”

They were escorted out of the palace.

They were walking through the streets back towards were the horses were tied up when shadow asked, “Where are we going to stay till morning?”

“At the inn where we tied up the horses,” Cloud replied.

They got to the inn and walked in. It was dark but there was enough light coming through the windows at the front to see the check-in desk. Cloud walked up to the desk with the others right behind him and he tapped on the bell. A light was shed through a doorway behind the counter. The light got brighter as whoever was holding it came closer. Finally a middle age Elvin came through the doorway. He held the light up to the visitors.

“Well if it isn’t Cloud. How are ‘ya?” the man said.

“I’m fine, Tauros,” Cloud replied.

“So what brings ‘ya here this time of year?” Tauros asked, “Harvest season isn’t over yet is it?”

“No, we had some information for the King about the thief.”

“I see, so you’ll be need’n a room?”

“Two if you would.”

“Huh?” Tauros said then looking past Cloud, “Ah, I see, you have some friends with ya, and Kataren none the less. Alright, sign in and I’ll grab the keys to the rooms.” Cloud signed in the large book that was on the desk near the bell. “Alright then, here you are,” and Tauros handed the keys to Cloud.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

So they went up some stairs to the right of the desk and found their rooms. Cloud, Raine, and Shadow went in one and Sky, Blade, and Dagger in the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Visit from a Raven

 

 

 

 

 

The thief just arrived at the Kataren Capitol and headed straight for the palace. He went in a back way so as not to be noticed. He entered the throne room. Bearox was there sitting on the throne.

“I thought you said you would take care of him so I could hit that house,” the thief said.

“Yes, I did say that. I just…haven’t yet,” Bearox replied.

The thief clenched his teeth and jump in the air towards Bearox taking his sword off his back and raising it Above his head. Bearox quickly stood up grabbing his sword, the Prayer Blade which had been leaning against the throne, and blocked the thief’s attack. The Prayer Blade was a single edge broad sword about the same length as the thief’s sword shaped with an outward curve coming from the handle to the blade and another outward curve going from the back into the end of the blade.

“Calm down, Raven,” Bearox said, “It’s not like it’s going to kill you.”

Raven put his sword away, crossed his arms, and looked off to the side scowling fiercly. “Easy for you to say,” Raven said, “You don’t have a bounty on your head.”

Bearox shrugged. Then Falcon came in and handed some papers to Bearox.

“That’s the information you wanted from Cypress,” she said.

“Good! Now it’s time to see what the King’s Sword can really do,” Bearox said then looked at Raven, “They’re going to be headed here. If you want you can go and stop them.”

“Fine,” Raven said angrily and stormed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dekian Tree

 

 

 

 

 

It was early in the morning of the following day cycle. They had decided the head for the Kataren capitol so that Shadow could get his father’s sword back. Cloud, Sky, and Raine had asked to come along because Shadow helped them with the thief and wanted to return the favor. Blade, Cloud, Raine, and Dagger were sitting at a table in the lobby area of the inn which was also used as a dining area. In the lobby area there were three other tables, two of which had people at them. The first one had three Elvin at it, two dark skinned or as they were called Dark Elvin and the other was an Elvin that was referred to as Blue Elvin because of their blue colored hair. Dark Elvin were a muscular type of Elvin, while the Blue Elvin were thin, almost anorexic looking, and very quick and agile. They looked like they were traders merely passing though town. The other table had a Kataren at it. He had jet black hair and sharp grey eyes. It was obvious that he was a bounty hunter because he had a weapon with him. Usually weapons weren’t carried around unless you were traveling, but bounty hunters wore them everywhere just in case their target arrived unannounced.

Cloud stood up and asked, “Blade can you get your brother while I get breakfast?”

“Sure,” Blade replied and Cloud went to the front desk.

Blade stood up and walked up the stairs to the room. She entered the room Shadow was staying in. Shadow was sleeping in one of the beds, curled up under the blankets. Blade picked up one side of the sheets and yanked them off. The rush of cool air woke Shadow instantly.

“Time to wake up sleepy head,” Blade said with a smirk.

“Ah! Was that really necessary?” Shadow asked.

“Heheh,” Blade smiled, “Now come on, Cloud’s getting breakfast.”

“Alright, alright.” And Blade left the room.

Shadow got dressed and came out to the lobby. The hunter gave him a quick glance and went back to his food. His breakfast was already on the table so he sat down and started eating. Sky came in from outside.

“Alright, all of our supplies are loaded,” Sky said.

“Good we’ll be leaving soon,” Cloud said.

“Too bad the only way to get to the Floating Continent is going up the Dekian Tree,” Raine complained, “What will we do with the horses once we get there? They can’t go up the tree.”

“I’ve asked Tauros to come with us and bring the horses back once we reach the tree.”

“What about you guys?” Raine said looking at shadow and his sisters, “you guys fly up and down from the continent all the time,”

“Our ability to do that is fairly limited,” Blade retorted, “Though we have the ability to carry a little more than twice our weight, it’s very taxing on us. Kind of like lifting weights, you can lift fairly heavy weights but only for a very short period of time.”

“Yes,” Cloud agreed, “That’s why we decided to hike up instead.”

 

 

 

They finished eating and went outside where Tauros was waiting for them. And so they headed for the Dekian Tree. The Dekian Tree was a massive tree that reached some 400 meters up and is the single force holding the Floating Continent in place. They reached the tree around mid-day. They all looked at the tree following it up higher and higher till it reached the Floating Continent. The tree look like it was made of hundreds of thick vines intertwining to the top. All but Tauros got off their horse and unpacked their supplies, putting the packs on their own backs to carry up the tree. Cloud walked over to Tauros and shook his hand.

“Thanks for everything,” Cloud said.

“No problem,” said Tauros and he turned his horse around and rode off with all of the other horses tied to each other following behind him.

“Well let’s go. It’s a one half-day cycle walk to get to the top,” Cloud said and they started walking onto one of the vines that came out of the ground at a shallow angle. It had small fences on either side showing that it was the trail and so that no one fell off. It started to get steeper and the path turned off the vine onto a bridge. As they walked they noticed that most of the trail was bridges that were sloped upwards and wrapped around the vines that were vertical. They walked for 12 hours before they got to the first rest stop. The rest stop was a small house-like building that was on a deck hanging off a vertical vine. They rested for a while, sleeping, eating and talking.

“Dagger, you never told us what happened to the thief after your encounter with him,” Shadow said.

“Ohh, that’s right,” Dagger replied, “He asked for your name and when I told him he said something about Bearox and flew towards the capitol.”

“So Bearox, the Kataren King, has something to do with the thief,” Cloud was thought out loud.

“He probably knows we’re coming,” Shadow said.

“The thief?” Cloud asked.

“Most likely not the thief, there’s a Kataren called Cypress,” Shadow explained, “He doesn’t have any telekinetic ability, instead he’s telepathic, and he can search out peoples thoughts if they’re not guarded at all. He also just happens to be an advisor that Bearox chose when he became king. Of course if Bearox told the thief…” Shadow’s voice drifted off.

“A telepathic Kataren?” Raine said.

“Yeah, it’s rare though,” Shadow replied.

After the conversation they headed out again, climbing the monstrous Dekian Tree. They walked for several more hours before getting to the second rest stop and slept for a while before they headed off again. The climb was tough and they were starting to run out of water, but they were almost to the top, for they could see the leaves of the tree. The bridge ran onto a horizontal vine. There was someone with their back turned to them on the vine in front of them.

“About time you got here,” said the person, “You know how long I’ve been waiting?” He turned around. It was the thief!

“What are you doing here?” Shadow asked.

“Just wanting a little revenge.” He threw a sword on the ground in front of Shadow. “You and me, one on one.”

Shadow picked up the sword. “Alright,” Shadow said, “Time to finish this.” And Shadow walked forward.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Blade asked.

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine,” Shadow replied.

Shadow took his fighting position, of which he held his sword in his left hand. The thief took his sword off his back and went into a fighting stance too with his left hand on the handle and his right on the blade handle. Shadow ran towards him slashing, but the thief was able to block all of the hits easily. Shadow jumped back and went into a defensive stance. The thief let go of the blade handle and put both hands on the bottom handle. He charged forwards and swung his sword. It knocked Shadow’s sword off to the side and then the thief lunged, but Shadow dodged it. The thief jumped back.

“Heheheh, you’re not bad,” he said.

“Neither are you,” Shadow replied and charged forwards again. The thief grabbed the blade handle again and blocked all of Shadows attacks again. Then thief prepared to attack again when a child’s laugh seemingly echoed around them.

“A raven fighting his shadow?” it said, “No, that’s not right. It’s a stone tring to rid himself of the gem he was made to copy.” Then a vine came down and there was a little Kataren girl of apparently only twelve years of age sitting upon it. She jumped onto the vine that they were on. Shadow figured that the thief’s name was Raven from the little girls riddle, but that was it.

“How dare you interrupt our fight?” Raven said, outraged.

“Now who here is Blade?” she asked. Blade stepped forward.

“Are you listening to me?” Raven asked.

“I am Sequoia, Caster of Nature, and I challenge you,” She said.

“Me?” Blade asked.

“WHATEVER,” Raven said, giving up on trying to get the girl’s attention.

“Yes, because I like you the most,” Sequoia said.

 “Why do you want to fight?” Blade asked.

“To see if you’re worthy,” Sequoia answered.

“I guess I accept, but are you sure?”

“Positive.” She acted like she was older than she looked.

“Alright then. Shadow, toss me your sword.” Shadow did so and Blade caught it and walked forwards swinging it around a bit to refresh her skills. Shadow and Raven walked over to the others to give Blade and Sequoia some room. Sequoia went into her fighting stance.

“Aren’t you going to use a weapon?” Blade asked.

“Don’t need one.”

“Alright.” And Blade went into her fighting stance.

Blade attacked first but everytime she swung the sword Sequoia hit the flat of it, knocking it off to the side. Blade jumped back and went defensive.

“Alright, my turn.”

Sequoia raised her arms and hundreds of small vines shot up intertwining, shaping like a body and two arms. Blade immediately noticed the golem Sequoia created move in tune with her. Sequoia started punching; the golem followed. Blade jumped around dodging the golem’s huge arms. Finally Blade saw an opening and jumped off one of the golem’s arms towards Sequoia with her sword raised above her head. Sequoia quickly did a kick which made a vine shoot straight at Blade. Blade was hit and she fell to the ground. She started to get back up and saw Sequoia’s attack a second too late. One of the golem’s massive arms came strait down on Blade seemingly squashing her flat.

“That was too easy,” Sequoia remarked, but then several slashes were made from the inside of the golem’s arm. Blade jumped out and slashed through Sequoia before she could react. The line through her stomach was plainly visible but Sequoia didn’t fall down. Instead the line through her gradually disappeared.

“Wow, I didn’t see that one coming! Using your telekinetic ability to form a barrier around yourself like that. I thought I had you!” Sequoia exclaimed. Blade just stood there with an unbelieving look on her face. “Since you beat me you can have this.” And Sequoia closed her hands together, and when she opened them there was a greenish gem that she handed to Blade. Blade looked down at it.

“Well, got to go, bye.” And Sequoia jumped from vine to vine into the tree till she disappeared.

“What did she give you?” Shadow asked.

Blade turned around and held it out, “Some kind of gem.”

“Let me see.” Shadow walked up to Blade to get a better look at the gem. “This looks like one of the gems on our father’s sword.”

“Now that you say that, it does, doesn’t it?”

Raven interrupted, “Well, that does it. We’ll go at it another time, later.” He jumped up and flew towards the Kataren Capitol.

“I think we should get going again, too,” Cloud suggested.

“Agreed,” Shadow said.

Blade was wearing a necklace that was designed for putting one the gems from her father’s sword in it, and since the gem looked the same that’s where she kept it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kataren Capital

 

 

 

 

 

They finally reached the top of the tree. They walked off the bridge on to a deck similar to the rest stop except it was hanging off the cliff wall of the Floating Continent underneath the Kataren Capitol. The deck was fairly large coming out of the cliff wall some ten meters and went along the wall till it was out of site.

“What is this place?” Cloud asked.

“It’s a gathering place for the Heavens Day celebration,” Shadow answered. Heavens Day was a gift exchanging holiday.

They started walking to the left towards were the exit was. They weren’t walking long before they ran into someone. It was Kataren girl that was about 17 with orange hair and green eyes. Her hair tied into a large ponytail. Both Shadow and Blade recognized her face but couldn’t remember where from.

“I am Phoenix, Captain of the City Guards,” she said, “I was told to escort you to the palace.”

“By Bearox?” Shadow asked.

“The orders were passed down from Falcon from him. Now, if you would follow me.”

Shadow whispered to Blade, “Speaking of Falcon, she almost acts like her doesn’t she.”

“Yeah, I know,” Blade whispered back.

They all followed Phoenix to the exit, up the stairs, and into the city. It looked similar to the Elvin Capitol with its design. And so they came up on the palace. It was huge, with the entrance hall made of smooth marble stones, behind it the Royal Living Quarters made of the same marble up on the mountain, to the left of that the military living quarters and the Sky Yard, and to the right the Griffin Fields. They entered the entrance hall. At the end of the hall there was another Kataren girl that looked the same as Phoenix except she didn’t have her hair tied up. Then Shadow realized that they were not only sisters of Falcon, they were triplets!

“Those are Falcons sisters,” Shadow whisper to Blade.

Blade nodded.

“Hey sis,” the girl said.

“Fox,” Phoenix said, “These are the ones that Bearox wants to see.”

“Alright, I’ll bring them to him.” Then Phoenix left. “Okay follow me.”

“She seems more care free,” Shadow said.

“That might be an understatement,” Blade replied.

They were led down a hall that split once in three directions, one to go to the Sky Yard and the other to the Griffin Fields, before they got to the throne room.

They went in and Fox said, “Here they are, Falcon.”

“Thanks Fox,” Falcon said and Fox left.

Bearox was sitting on the throne with Falcon to his left, “Well, look who came to see me. Shadow how are you?”

Shadow ignored the remark, “Are you done with the sword yet?”

“Not quite, but if you want to run an errand for me I’ll be done with it then.”

“Errand?” Shadow said suspiciously.

“Yeah, just to pick something up on the Archipelago Islands.”

“Fine.” Shadow said disapprovingly, “But also I want to ask what relation you have to Raven.”

Then Raven himself walked out from behind the throne on Bearox’s right side.

“Just a friend that helps me out sometimes.”

“Just give me a ship,” Shadow said angrily.

“I’ll come with you,” Blade said.

“Me too,” Dagger said.

“As will we,” Cloud said.

“But what about your orchard?” Shadow asked.

“We can have Tauros find some workers to finish this harvest. Anyway, you might need our help.”

“Alright then let’s go.”

“Falcon will bring you to your ship,” said Bearox.

 

 

 

Falcon led them through the hallway to the Sky Yard and to a ship. It was a Royal Transport ship that could hold a maximum of ten people with supplies. The bridge and half of the deck below was covered by a blue canopy that was connected to the sides of the bridge. On the back there was a large metallic ring standing vertical at the moment. The ring pushes the ground away from the flat parts, so to make the ship go forward, the ring was tilted back to push away from the ground. Also underneath it there were two blue wing-like structures that were used to steer. The airships floated by having Arren Ore, a natural ore that was found all over the planet, attached to the bottom which repelled the ship from the ground.

“Here you go,” Falcon said and started walking away.

“Thanks,” Shadow said, but she just waved her hand back at them.

As they were leaving on the ship Raven showed up, “Bearox told me to go along to watch over you.”

“Then hurry up and get on board,” Shadow said.

Raven jumped the five meter gap between the dock and the ship on to the deck.

“Show off,” Shadow said and pushed the lever to tilt the ring fully.

The ship left the docks and turned for the Elvin Capitol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparations

 

 

 

 

 

They flew towards the Elvin Capitol First because it was the closest. Shadow spun a wheel on the left to lower the ship under the Floating Continent. The wheel slid cover plates under the Arren Ore to lower the ship. The ship went five times faster than any horse could go, so they arrived in no time. Shadow anchored the ship just outside of town. Cloud left to go Talk to Tauros. A little while later he came back and they were off again heading for Cloud, Sky, and Raines’ house. Shadow again dropped anchor and let them get off to collect what they needed.

Before Sky went inside Blade called down to her, “Sky, do you have a bathing suit?”

“Yeah, why?” Sky asked.

“We could get a tan while on the ship,” Blade said with a grin.

“Alright!” And Sky went inside to pack.

A couple moments later Raine and Cloud came out with a bag of clothes and a sword each and another small bag with a hair brush their tooth brushes.

“What are the weapons for?” Shadow asked.

“I heard from Tauros that there are stories of fierce creatures on the Archipelago Islands,” Cloud answered, “So I thought better be safe than sorry.”

“Agreed.”

It took Sky a little longer but then she came out with a bag of clothes, a bag with a brush and her tooth brush, a quiver of arrows, but more impressively a mechanical bow. It had a handle like a normal bow would but it also had mechanical hinges.

Sky got on and they head almost straight up towards Shadow, Blade, and Dagger’s house. They dropped anchor and went in their house. Shadow came out first with his two bags and a sword. The girls took longer but they eventually came out with their bags and swords, but Dagger also had a bag of herbs from her garden and a bottle of tanning oil.

And so the preparations were complete and they headed west toward the Archipelago Islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journey Through the Skies

 

 

 

 

 

It would take two full days to get to the islands but just as the Floating and Island Continent went out of view Shadow remembered something.

“Damn,” Shadow said.

Raven was beside him, “What’s the matter?”

“I forgot to ask Bearox what we had to get.”

“Don’t worry, I know what it is.”

Shadow nodded, “Alright then.”

The trip was long and the boys started to get bored so they took turns piloting while two of them practiced fighting on the deck, and as would be expected Raven and Shadow’s fights against each other was always pretty fierce.

It was becoming dusk on the second day cycle since they left. Raine and Cloud were talking in the boy’s cabin. Shadow came in while Raine and Cloud were laughing on their beds.

“What’s so funny?” Shadow asked.

“We were just talking about you and Sky,” Cloud said.

“What about me and Sky?”

“Don’t play innocent,” Raine said, “We have seen how you two act when you’re around each other.”

“Yeah, you like her, our sister,” Cloud said and Raine and him fell on their beds laughing again. It was almost unheard of for a Kataren to like an Elvin and vise versa and some how Cloud and Raine had found amusement in it.

Shadow smiled, “Same can be said about you two too.” Cloud and Raine stopped laughing, sat up and, looked at Shadow then each other. Then they all started laughing at each other.

The next morning the girls decided to sunbathe. They were laying on the front of the deck so the canopy wouldn’t block their sun.

“This is great,” Sky said.

“Yeah, the wind in your face and the sun on your body,” Blade said.

“You said it,” Dagger agreed.

Then the wind picked up a little and sounded like a whisper. They sat up and looked at each other. Then a person fell from they sky and landed on the deck in front of them. It was a female Kataren.

“Who are you?” Sky asked while she stood up.

“I am Gale, Caster of the Winds.” She said.

“Another caster?” Blade wondered.

“I am here to challenge Sky of the Iron Bow,” Gale said.

“Me?” Sky asked, “Who are you?”

“I believe I’ve introduced myself already.”

“That’s not what I meant, but alright I accept your challenge. Just let me get dressed and grab my bow.”

Sky came back a few moments later with her normal clothes on, her arrows on her back, and bow in her hand.

“This will be a challenge of skill rather than strength,” Gale said her bow appearing in her left hand, “I shall shoot an arrow and you have to shoot it. Then you’ll do the same, agreed.”

Sky was relieved that she didn’t have to fight because she was horrible at it, but she was an excellent shot. “Agreed.”

Gale and Sky stepped to the front of the ship and raised their bows. An arrow appeared in Gale’s bow and she strung it back. Sky took an arrow and strung it back. Gale shot and the arrow went whizzing though the sky, but Sky’s arrow quickly caught up and snapped it in half.

“Excellent,” Gale complimented.

Sky grabbed another arrow and shot it. Another arrow appeared in Gale’s bow and she shot her arrow after Sky’s. Gale’s arrow chased Sky’s for a moment then broke it.

“Let’s make things a little tougher,” Gale said and raised one of her arms. The wind picked up. “Ready?”

Sky nodded.

Gale had another arrow appear and shot. Her arrow wobbled a bit but flew straight. Sky shot another of her arrows after Gales’ and again hit it flawlessly. Then Sky shot another arrow with Gale shooting right after, and Gale’s arrow broke Sky’s. Gale made the wind get rougher and began the next round. Gale shot with Sky shooting right after. The arrows went off path but Sky’s still chased Gale’s arrow down and hit it just barely. Sky shot another arrow for Gale. Gale shot her arrow and it went straight for Sky’s’. The arrows collided and the contest was over. The wind stopped.

“Your skill has earned my respect and as a token of it,” Gale said clasping her right hand, “You can have this,” and she handed a yellowish gem to Sky. “Now if you would excuse me.” Gale bowed and back flipped off the boat. Sky went over to the edge and looked down but Gale had disappeared.

“She gave you a gem right?” Blade asked.

“Yeah,” Sky answered.

“Then if I’m right we’ll see a couple more casters before we’re done.”

The rest off the trip went smoothly and at the end of the second day several islands appeared. Raven was piloting so he called everyone up. There were three islands; the one they were heading towards first had a mountain on it. They had made it to the Archipelago Islands.

Shadow took the helm and Raven walked to the bow of the ship and he looked around. He remembered something he once forgotten. He was 13 when he was found by the Kataren City Guards by a strange metallic object in the Dekian Tree with amnesia. But now he remembered his childhood again. He looked around at the primitive technology around him then back out towards the islands. “I am home once more,” he said to himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mountain of Fire

 

 

 

 

 

Shadow anchored the ship by the shore of the island with the mountain. The island looked scorched and there weren’t any plants at all. They spent the night on the boat and the next morning got off the ship onto the ash covered ground. Overhead there were birds of a gold color flying around.

“What we’re searching for is near the top of the mountain in a cave,” Raven said

“Alright,” Shadow replied, “Everyone ready?” Everyone nodded, “Then let’s go.”

They started walking up the side of the mountain towards where Raven said the cave was, but it was a difficult climb because the ash was loose and they kept slipping backwards. Finally they got to the cave. The entrance was large and there was a lot of heat coming out from inside. They went inside. The cave got bigger till it open to the sky at the top of the mountain and in the center there was a large pool of lava. They walked closer to the pool of lava.

“Up there,” Raven said pointing above the pool, “There it is.”

Raven was pointing to a clear crystal that was floating high above the pool of lava, but then the ground started to shake. The middle of the lava pool started to rise slowly. “This is it,” Raven thought to himself. Then the rising lava exploded and in its place there was a massive metallic object. It started to move, unwrapping itself into a creature that looked like a cobra with crab like claws.

“Sky, I’ll distract it and you shoot the point on its head between the eyes where there’s a gem okay?” Raven said.

“Why?” Sky asked.

“Just do it.”

“Alright,” Sky said doubtfully.

Raven flew up to the creature taking his sword off his back and slashing its claw. Its claw was three times bigger than Raven so he did very little damage. The creature looked at Raven with glowing blue eyes and started to attack, but because it was so big it moved to slow to hit Raven. Raven flew up towards the creature’s head and stopped a good distance away from it. The creature struck like a snake at Raven exposing the gem on its forehead to Sky. Raven dodged the attack and Sky shot an arrow. The arrow hit its target. The creature lifted its head shaking it around. Its eyes went dark and it fell into the lava it came from.

“How did you know about the weakness it had?” Blade asked.

“In time,” Raven answered, “Right now we have to get the Royal Key or basically that crystal above the lava pool and two others.”

“Alright,” Shadow said and got the crystal above the lava pool.

They turned around to go outside, but there was a Kataren boy blocking the exit.

“That was too easy,” he said, “The raven fighting his fathers creation would know its weakness.”

“Your father?” Blade asked looking a Raven.

“Doc is not my father,” Raven said.

“Heheheheh, now you’re denying half of what you are,” the Kataren said, “But anyways I’m here to challenge Cloud.”

“Another caster,” Blade said looking back towards the Kataren boy.

“You’re a sharp one aren’t you,” he said, “I’m Pyro, Castor of fire. Now which one is Cloud?”

Cloud stepped forwards, “If it’s the only way to get past you alright. I accept your challenge.”

“Then prepare yourself.” A blade appeared in Pyro’s hand and he and Cloud charged at each other. They were moving at incredible speed with their sword clashing almost constantly. Then their swords clashed and stopped against each other.

“You’re not bad, though you’re not good either,” said Pyro.

Pyro pushed forwards throwing Cloud back. Then they charged at each other again. With the same speed as before they fought. The constant ringing of the clashing swords was almost deafening in the cave. Again the blades stopped against each other.

“I’ll show you my true ability,” Cloud replied.

Cloud pushed forwards throwing Pyro back this time and yet again they charged at each other. This time it was decided in one swing as they passed each other. A cut from Cloud’s right elbow to his shoulder started to bleed. Pyro seemed unharmed.

“It seems I was wrong,” Pyro said turning around.

“You got me a little though,” Cloud replied turning around also.

“Here,” Pyro said tossing a reddish gem to Cloud.

“Thanks.”

“No prob. See ya.” And Pyro started swinging his blade around himself. Suddenly a fire burst around him till he wasn’t seen anymore. When the flames died he was gone.

Raven walked by Cloud towards the exit, “You should have that looked at.”

Cloud remembered his injury. It stung extremely bad. “Yeah I’ll do that,” Cloud replied.

Back at the ship, Dagger patched up Cloud’s arm with some of the herbs she brought and Blade wrapped it up in some bandages and hugged him, glad that he was not badly hurt. They took off and headed for the next island which was covered in trees.

Raven was thinking to himself, “Hope that got your attention, Doc, or we’re not going to do to well.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Menacing Forest

 

 

 

 

 

Shadow anchored the ship at the shore again and they got off. They stood on a beach with the forest in front of them.

“No one enter yet,” Raven said.

“Why?” Shadow asked.

“He knows something we don’t,” Blade replied.

Raven picked up a seashell by his foot and threw it into the forest. Something passed quickly by the shell. The shell fell in two pieces. Apparently there was something in the forest. Raven picked up three more shells and tossed them at three different points of the forest. Each of them was passed by a different one of what ever got the first one. All of the shells fell in two pieces.

“How strong are each of your telekinetic abilities?” Raven asked.

“457,” said Shadow.

“438,” said Blade.

“435,” said Dagger.

“Plus me makes…1542,” Raven said, “It’s not enough. We can’t protect ourselves in the forest.”

“How strong do we need to be?” Blade asked.

“At least 1750, but…I think there is an entrance where we can get in. Follow me.”

They followed Raven to almost the other side of the island on the beach when they came upon several metallic creatures that looked almost like armored Elvin or Kataren. They were six feet tall, each had two swords that hooked back at the end, and they had something like wings on their back. They surrounded a tunnel in the ground.

“What are those?!” Raine asked.

“They’re insects for the most part,” Raven explained, “They won’t attack unless something invades their territory. Sky, do you think you can hit the gem on one of their chests?”

“Yeah,” Sky said and took aim.

“Get ready to fight!”

They all had their sword out and were in their fighting stance. Sky fired and the arrow struck one of the creatures in the chest. It fell with a thud to the ground. Almost immediately the other five that were there turned and attacked. Also four jumped out of the forest and attacked. Sky already had another arrow ready and took out another of them while Raven slashed at one, his sword going through the creatures’ swords and then its body. The others though were having a tough time just keeping from getting hit with Shadow taking on two at once and Sky only able to block with her bow at close range. Raven helped out Shadow first and then Cloud while Shadow went to help Sky. Soon all of the creature had been taken out, but just as they finished five more came from the forest and two more from the tunnel.

“We can’t fight them like this,” Raven quickly said, “We have to take out the queen.”

Cloud slashed through one of the new attackers, “Then let’s move it.”

They fought off the creatures again and went into the tunnel. Immediately they were met by three more creatures and two jumped in from behind them. They fought them off and went deeper into the tunnel. They ran into seven more going down the tunnel plus two more behind them and again they fought them off.

“Is there no end to them?!” Shadow asked.

They came to an intersection but Raven told them to keep heading down. They ran into eight more and four more behind them. It was becoming difficult to get farther in the tunnel but they fought the creatures off once more and headed farther in. They kept fighting the creatures all the way down passing several more intersections, but finally they reached the bottom and entered a cavern. There waiting for them were twelve creatures with three more coming up behind them. Behind the twelve in front of them was a much larger one of them except it had two tails with stingers on them too. “Doc, where are you?!” Raven thought to himself then jumped forwards swinging his sword and cutting through three of them. Dagger and Blade took care of the three behind them, Sky shot two, Shadow got two of them, and Cloud and Raine each got one.

There were three left plus the queen. Raven started to fight the queen while the others took out the remaining three. Cloud and Shadow joined Raven fighting the queen. Sky, Raine, Dagger, and Blade held off the reinforcements. The queen was extremely quick and was blocking all of their hits. The queens’ swords were stronger than the drones so Raven wasn’t able to cut though them and Cloud and Shadow were having difficulties trying to get past the stingers. Shadow and Cloud jumped in front of the queen, when Raven was thrown back, passing each other and distracting the queen long enough for Raven to jump forwards and make a fatal blow. The queen fell to its knees then to the ground. All of the drones stopped attacking.

Raven looked up at the ceiling, “There’s the crystal.”

Shadow looked at him then up and saw it, “I got it,” and went up and grabbed it.

There was a clapping coming from the tunnel. Then a voice said, “I thought you would have been defeated but here I am mistaken.” A male Kataren appeared from the tunnel.

“How many Casters are there?” Blade asked.

“Enough of us,” the Caster answered, “Now Shadow, you are going to be, Granite Caster of stones opponent this time.”

“Alright if that is what you wish,” Shadow said.

The others backed up a few steps to give Granite and Shadow room. Granite had a large hammer appear in his hands. Shadow went into his stance and attacked. Granite had a wall of stone rise in front of him. Shadow slashed through the stone wall and was going to slash again at Granite once the wall fell but instead Granite’s hammer came through the wall and hit Shadow. Shadow was thrown back a couple meters but managed to land on his feet.

“Come on! Show me what you got!” Granite said.

Shadow ran up to Granite, who swung, but Shadow dodged it by spinning to the right, the hammer hitting the ground, and Shadow slashed at Granite again. Granite though had moved around his hammer and lifted it to block the attack. Granite lifted his hammer at Shadow. He jumped back to avoid the hammer. Then Shadow charged at Granite again and Granite again swung the hammer down, but shadow slid under the hammer grabbing it, putting one of his feet into Granites’ stomach, and threw him with his foot over his body. Granite hit the wall and slid down the ground with a thud. Shadow got back up with his sword in one hand and Granites’ hammer in the other. Granite got up.

“Not bad,” Granite said after getting back up and charged at Shadow. Shadow swung Granite’s hammer sideways because he couldn’t pick it up all the way. Granite stopped the hammer with one hand and punched. Shadow let go of the hammer, spun to the right away from the punch and around the hammer, and slashed Granite. The sword hit Granite’s side but it didn’t go into his body at all.

“Heheh, you’re not bad kid,” Granite said, “Here have this for giving me a fight worthwhile,” and he gave Shadow a brownish gem, “Till we meet again.” And he walked into the tunnel and disappeared in the darkness. Shadow winced and doubled over in pain. Sky ran to his side.

“Are you alright?” Sky asked.

“Yeah… that hammer just… hurts a lot,” Shadow said giving a smile and got back up slowly.

“We need to get going,” Raven said.

“Okay let’s go,” Shadow said.

They left the tunnels and headed back for the ship. “Darn it Doc, where are you?” Raven thought. They boarded the ship, raised the anchor, and left for the final island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tranquil Lake

 

 

 

 

 

They were flying to the next island and to what they could see there wasn’t much of an island. It was a large ring of land with a lake in the middle of it.

“Land the ship on the lake shore,” Raven said.

“Alright,” Shadow replied.

Before they passed over the island they saw what looked like a Kataren ship, but it was rotted beyond recognition. They anchored the ship on the lakes’ shore. It was getting late the sun was setting so they decided to rest and head off in the morning.

When morning came everyone was awakened by a gentle singing. Shadow checked to see if it was one of the girls, but when they said it wasn’t them, he went up on the deck and looked around. Raven, Cloud, and Raine soon joined Shadow, and the girls came a little after that. The singing faded.

“It’s gone, what ever it is,” Dagger said.

“Yeah,” Blade agreed.

“I wonder where it came from.”

“Well, when you guys are ready I’ll be on the other side of the lake,” Raven said and he left.

The girls got ready while the boys waited for them and when they were ready they left to where Raven said he would be.

Raven was leaning against the wall of the entrance to a tunnel.

“More tunnels,” Raine sighed.

“Yeah but this crystal should be unprotected,” Raven said.

“Good,” Sky replied, “I was barely able to help in the tunnels of the other island.”

“Let’s get going,” Raven said.

They walked into the tunnel. It lead towards the lake as it went deeper. They finally reached the bottom and entered a cavern. The crystal was in the middle of the room on a pedestal and two large metallic objects were against the walls. Raven leaned against the entrance to the cavern.

“Raven, I thought you said that it should be unprotected!” Cloud exclaimed.

“The creatures will shut off a little after they’re activated,” Raven replied.

“Huh?”

And Raven threw a rock which bounced off one of the creatures. Almost immediately two glowing blue eyes turned on in each of them and got they up. They had two legs, back hinged, with crab like bodies and claws. The creatures started walking towards them, and then suddenly stopped. The creatures returned to where they got up and their eyes faded. Raven was right; the creatures did stop shortly after turning on. Shadow didn’t ask any questions about it and walked up to the crystal. Suddenly a door shut and the tunnel was inaccessible. They were trapped. A bright light turned on, high against the opposite wall. It was large, square, and shining very bight. Then a person appeared in the square. He was huge several times bigger than any of them, an Elvin, blue eyes, and brown hair. He looked at them and spotted Shadow.

“Raven!” he said, “It was you causing all the ruckus.”

Then Raven interrupted, “ahem.” And walked into the light.

“What, but I thought, huh?” He said very confused.

“Yeah, I was surprised too, but I have to admit your work is pretty good.”

“Oh, then this must be Prince Diamond, and behind him are his sisters the Princesses Ruby and Sapphire?”

“They don’t go by that because of Bearox. He is the King of the Katarens.”

“I see.”

“Wait a moment,” Shadow said, “What are you exactly saying?”

“To put it plainly, you are the rightful ruler of the Katarens, but it seems that Bearox has hid this from you and the rest of the Empire,” Doc answered.

“How is that possible?”

“Well, long ago the Kataren Empire was at war with the Albino Katarens of the north. The Kataren King had no queen as of yet and the Albino Queen had no king. So as it went the Empire’s King fell in love with the Albinos’ Queen and they married putting an end to the war. All of the heirs to the Empire that point on had white hair and green eyes as you do.

“Several generations later the war began again because of a leader named Genosis of the Albinos. Genosis sent an assassin to kill the current Kataren King and all of his heirs. The assassin was successful at killing the King, but the King’s son, your father, who was 19 and was soon to be married, fought the assassin off. Several years later the assassin came back. You would have been about three at the time. Your father again fought him off, but the assassin swore to take the gems of the King’s Sword and use their powers to defeat him and then he would kill his family. In fear for his family your father locked the secret on how to use the power of the gems in a vault which only three crystals in the shape of the Kataren crest could open. He brought the crystals here, but the weather became bad and he was thrown from his ship and washed up on shore.

“I found him and he told me his story and asked for my help because he was dieing. The storm had almost drowned him and his body had become deathly ill from all of the salt water. I agreed and hid the crystals for him.

“Back at the Empire news of his disappearance spread quickly and the assassin came back. He killed your mother and kidnapped you and your sisters. Later he came back as a new leader for the Empire. Even though he was Albino, the Empire welcomed him because it would stop the war.”

Shadow couldn’t believe that Bearox had killed his mother and, in a way, his father also. Dagger had tears in her eyes but didn’t cry. Blade held Dagger close to her.

“He still wants the crystals,” Shadow said, “Why?”

“That answer would fit in with the Casters.”

Blade looked up quickly, “The Casters?”

“Yes, I saw you fighting them,” Doc explained, “Long ago, before the Elvin appeared and before the Katarens’ wars, everyone lived in peace but soon they didn’t know what they were living for. A prophet came, and said that there is a god and that he was told to spread his good word. Everyone who heard it flocked to join the religion. In return for so much faith in him, God gave the Katarens eight gems to control the elements so that they would prosper. Also these gems could call on angels to find new keepers of the gems. These angels came to be known as Casters because of their ability to cast the power of the gem they look after. Also if the gems are combined they call upon God himself and they are aloud one gift from his grace.

“Bearox is probably after this grace, but something has happened that not even I know of that doesn’t allow the gems to combine. He needs the key to get into the vault and to find out what it is he needs.”

The story was remarkable, they knew about the religion because they followed it, but the story about the gems they had never been heard before.

“So I have to stop him,” Shadow said.

“If you can, yes.”

“Alright then.”

“Doc?” Raven asked, “What about my love?”

“Hmm, oh that right, Runa,” Doc said, “Soon after you left she started to lose control of her advanced ability and agreed to be put in a stasis pod till you came back. Speaking of which what took you so long?”

“The craft crashed and I got knocked on my head.”

“I see. Well I’ll send her to the surface and you can revive her yourself.”

“Thanks Doc,” Raven said turning to the others, “Alright let’s go.”

They walked up the tunnel and got outside.

“I’m sorry for your parents,” Cloud said, “Our parents have died too,” looking back at his siblings.

“There’s nothing you could have done about it,” Shadow replied.

“I know. I just wanted to say.”

They walked back to the ship. The singing they heard that morning started again. It was coming from the middle of the lake.

“The water Caster,” Blade said.

Then the water picked up into a tornado and went on shore in front of them. The water dropped and standing there was a Kataren girl.

“Right you are,” she said, “I am Tsunami, Caster of water.”

“Who are you here to challenge?”

“Dagger.”

Dagger stepped forwards, away from Raine who was trying to comfort her, and went in to her fighting stance. She held her sword upside down. Dagger was still a little upset and thought to use the fight to calm her down. Tsunami had her blade appear in her hand.

“Are you ready Dagger?” Tsunami asked.

Dagger smiled, “Whenever you are.”

They charged at each other. Tsunami swung her blade down and Dagger blocked it. Then Dagger spun to the right and kicked which Tsunami blocked with her hand, and Dagger spun the other way striking with her sword. Tsunami used her sword to knock it way but it still came close to her head. Dagger jumped back. Some of Tsunamis’ hair fell to the ground. Tsunami charged at Dagger and swung from her left. Dagger blocked it and spun to the left to stab Tsunami. Tsunami stepped forward so the blade went behind her and swung down with her sword. Dagger went beside Tsunami to dodge it, her arm across Tsunamis’ stomach holding onto her sword that was behind Tsunami. Dagger put her right foot behind Tsunami then Dagger pulled her arm backward to trip Tsunami. Tsunami fell and Dagger backed away. Tsunami got back up rubbing her bottom.

“I’ve had enough,” Tsunami said, “You’re skilled enough. I give up.”

“You’re not bad yourself,” Dagger replied.

“Thanks. Here, you earned this,” and Tsunami handed Dagger a bluish gem, “Bye,” Tsunami said, then walked back into the water and disappeared.

“Let’s go,” Dagger said.

They got on the ship and left. Raven was piloting towards the middle of the islands. In the distance they could see something floating. As they got closer they saw a pod with floating devices on it. Inside the pod was a girl. She was Elvin, about 15 years of age, and had blue hair that reached to her ankles. She was thin like a blue Elvin would be. Raven guided the front of the ship under the pod. The pod came down onto the deck. Raven walked up to a control panel on the pod and started to tap the keys. A second later Raven stepped back and the pod lifted with out the base. The girl stood as the pod lifted. Then when the pod was completely away she fell with Raven catching her in his arms. She opened her eyes and blinked a couple times, then her eyes focused, and she saw Raven. She smiled and hugged him while still in his arms.

“You’re back,” she said.

“Yes and I’ll never leave you again,” Raven replied then looked back over his shoulder at Dagger, “Dagger do you think you can get some clothes for Runa?”

Dagger nodded and went below deck to get the clothing. Raven brought her down below deck after Dagger. Dagger gave Runa some clothing and she put them on while Dagger and Raven went back up on deck. Runa came back up on deck, and Raven introduced everyone to her.

After the introductions were done Shadow got behind the wheel of the ship, “Alright, here we go,” and they started back for the Floating Continent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Across the Sea

 

 

 

 

 

A day went by and they were halfway back home. The skies were getting dark with clouds and it started to rain. Lightning was striking all around the ship. Cloud was piloting and Raven, Runa, and Raine were up on deck while the others slept below deck. Suddenly a lightning bolt hit the deck in front of every one. The flash made them look away for a second and when they looked back a Kataren boy was standing there with one of his hands on his hip. They looked at him knowing he was a Caster.

“Terrible weather isn’t it?” he said looking up at the clouds.

Cloud said at the helm, “Certainly makes it difficult to pilot this ship.”

The Caster look back at the group, “I’m Strike, Caster of lightning, and I’m hear to challenge Raine.”

Raine stepped forwards, “Okay then, let’s get this started,” and he pulled out his sword.

“As you wish,” Strike said and what looked like Kataren claws appeared on his fists. Kartaren Claws were basically hand guards with blades coming out the front.

Raine attacked swinging his sword. Strike stopped it with his left claw and struck with the other. Raine grabbed Strikes arm to stop it. Strike pushed Raine back, came up, and upper cut with his right hand. Raine back up a little to dodge it and then lunged. Strike stepped to his left and punched with his left. Raine grabbed and raised Strike’s arm and swung his sword. Strike brought his other arm between their bodies and blocked Raines attack. Strike smiled and jumped back.

“You’re not that bad,” Strike said.

“You’re not bad either,” Raine replied.

They both lunged at each other. Their weapons clashed and they held them still together. Strike brought his left hand up to attack. Raine grabbed Strikes’ arm and pulled it under his other arm then lifted it braking their stalemate. Raine brought his sword down quickly and lunged before Strike could react. Raine pulled the sword back.

“Better than I am,” Strike said with a smile, “And for beating me, have this.” Strike handed a purplish gem to Raine. “See ya,” and with a flash of lightning he was gone.

The rest of the trip there weren’t any problems and finally the Island and Floating Continent came into view. They were back and ready for almost anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Confrontation

 

 

 

 

 

They got to the Kataren Capitol around midday. Shadow guided the ship into the Sky Yard, and waiting for them was Falcon. The ship was docked and gang plank extended. They got off the ship.

“Did you get the objects?” Falcon asked.

“Yeah,” Raven answered handing the three crystals to her.

“Good. Let’s go. Bearox wants to see you all.”

They were led into the throne room. Bearox, as expected, was sitting on the throne, but there were also a lot of guards by the door. Bearox was also wearing his sword on his back.

“Good to see all of you got back. Especially you, Shadow,” Bearox said in a sinister voice. Falcon walked up to Bearox and handed him the crystals.

“Ah yes, the Royal Key,” Bearox said standing up, “You’ve done wonderfully. Now, guards, SEIZE THEM!”

The guards in the room came up and apprehended them, even Raven.

“Let me go,” Raven yelled at the guards, “Bearox!”

“Sorry but you were becoming…troublesome.”

“WHAT?!” and Raven gave off a burst of his telekinetic power, throwing the guards off him, and charged at Bearox while taking his sword off his back. Raven raised his sword and swung at Bearox. Bearox moved to the side evading the attack and pulled out his sword hitting Raven in the back of the head with the butt of the sword then slashed at him. Raven fell, his scarf, cut in the back, fell away.

The others were carried off and brought to the prison by the Soldiers Quarters. They were put in separate cells. Raven was brought down a second later unconscious. His head was hanging in the shadows so his face wasn’t seen. The guards took some time putting Raven in his cell then left.

Shadow tried to separate the bars with his telekinetic ability but he wasn’t strong enough to do so, after all it was a Kataren prison. Shadow sat on the bed in his cell and started to recall what Doc had told him. He thought and tried to remember living in the palace, but he couldn’t remember anything. Then he remembered what Raven asked Doc at the end of the conversation. “That’s right!” he thought to himself and got up and went to the door of his cell.

“Runa,” Shadow called.

“Yes?” Runa answered.

“You have telekinetic ability too, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Even more powerful than a normal Kataren?”

“To what Doc has told me, yes.”

“Try to bend the bars apart with it.”

“Okay.”

Runa got off the bed in her cell and faced the bars of the cell. She put both hands in front of her, palm out, and separated them. The bars split just the same. She got out of the cell. She split the bars on every ones cell one at a time, but with incredible speed. Everyone got out of their cells except Raven. They walked over to Raven’s cell. His head was in the shadow of the cell but they could tell he looked up at them. His feet and arms were cuffed to the wall. Runa gasped and immediately broke his bonds. Raven fell to the ground, his face still unseen. He stood and everyone except Runa was shocked at what they saw, but most of all Shadow. Ravens’ face looked exactly like Shadow’s. There were a few small differences but other than that they looked like twins. Ravens face was younger though. Raven was 16. Blade realized what's going on but didn’t think it was possible.

“Raven, were you created?” Blade asked.

“Yes, Runa and I were,” Raven answered.

“Half from Doc and half from our father right?”

“Yes. He took his own genes and combined them with your father’s to make me.”

This was an even larger shock to every one than Raven’s appearance because genes had only just been discovered.

“How is that possible?” Shadow asked, “There isn’t any technology that advanced yet.”

“To put it as short as possible,” Raven Explained, “In the future, Kataren develop the ability to sort and combine the genes of different people. They shared this technology with the Elvin. Shortly after that Elvin develop the technology to go back in time. You see Elvin originally weren’t part of this world. They came back in time and created themselves in a sense, but almost all of them lost their memories because of a flaw in the transfer through time. The Katarens helped the Elvin and they became part of this world, but the Elvin that still had their memories saw what had happened so instead of interfering they went to the Archipelago Islands and continued their civilization there.”

“This is all confusing, but I think I see what you’re saying,” Shadow replied.

“Okay then. Now if you hadn’t forgotten, we have to stop Bearox.”

“Alright let’s go.”

They left the prison and snuck to the armory which wasn’t easy for the eight of them, but they got there and knocked out the guards. They went into the armory and picked out their weapons of choice. Runa was the only awkward looking one because she equipped eight swords on herself. Two slung over each shoulder and two on each side of her hips.

They left the armory and tried to sneak over to the throne room, but they were spotted. It took almost no time for the alarm to be sounded. Soldiers all over were blocking off the exits. The quickest path was to exit the soldiers quarters, heading though the Sky Yard, and through the halls.

They ran into three soldiers exiting the quarters. Cloud, Raine, and Sky went fighting them. Shadow grabbed Sky’s arm.

“Me and my brothers will hold them off so you can get to Bearox,” Sky said looking at him.”

“I know. Just…be careful,” Shadow said and giving her a quick kiss as he let go of her arm. Sky brought her hand to her lips and looked at him, then went to help her brothers.

The others entered the Sky Yard. They past through the Giant’s Hanger first which housed two massive airships. One of them was a carrier and held around 150 fighter craft, while the other had four twin cannon turrets on each side. They then entered the Dwarf’s Hanger which house 30 personnel transport carriers. After that they entered the Royal Hanger where the royal transports are. At the other end they saw several soldiers knocked out on the ground. They ran towards the soldiers but before they got there the room turned dark, even though the hanger openings allowed plenty of light, and then it became so bright that they closed their eyes. When the light faded there was a Kataren boy floating in front of them.

“Another Caster!” Blade exclaimed.

“Isn’t that obvious,” the boy said in a voice that made them shudder, “I am Wake,” then he spun and against his back was a Kataren girl.

“And I am Dawn,” she said, her voice as soft as a light breeze.

Then together they said, “We are the Casters of light and dark, and are challenging.”

Wake, “Raven.”

 “And Runa,” Dawn said right after.

Raven and Runa stepped forwards. Runa used her telekinetic ability and brought out six of the sword while pulling out the other two with her hands, and Raven took his sword off his back.

“Go ahead,” Raven said.

“We’ll be fine,” Runa continued.

“Okay,” Shadow said nodding and headed off with his sisters.

They went down the Sky Yard hallway towards the intersection. When they arrived Phoenix and Fox were waiting.

“We can’t let you pass,” Phoenix said.

“Sorry, but it’s true,” added Fox. Phoenix gave a look at Fox.

“Shadow, go ahead, we can take these two,” Blade said.

“Yeah, you need to stop Bearox,” Dagger agreed.

“Thanks,” Shadow said then went down the hallway towards the throne room.

The hallway seemed longer than when he was there the last time. He came up on the throne room at last though and entered. As usual Bearox was sitting on the throne with Falcon at his side.

“BEAROX!” Shadow yelled.

“My, you’re more like Raven than just in looks aren’t you?” Bearox said, “but your fight with me hasn’t arrived. Falcon?”

Falcon looked at Bearox and nodded, “Yes.”

Falcon walked forwards. As she did took her weapons, Kataren claws, off her hips and put them on her hands.

“Falcon, you know what he has done, don’t you?” Shadow asked.

“Yes he told me about it.”

“And you’re still going to protect him?”

“I have my reasons.”

“There is no reason good enough to protect him.’

“There is to me. Now get ready or I’ll cut you down where you stand.”

“Falcon,” Shadow pleaded.

Falcon charged at Shadow, lunging her right arm forward. Shadow knocked it to the side with his sword. Falcon brought her other hand immediately forward to strike. Shadow spun to his right, parrying around second attack and hit Falcon in the face with the butt of his sword. Falcon was knocked away and fell to the ground. She got back up and lifted her head. Her cheek was red from the hit but to Shadow’s amazement Falcon was crying.

“I won’t let you kill him,” She said with tears running down the sides of her face, “because, because, I LOVE HIM.” A sudden shock wave came from Falcon. Her hair was waving around like there wasn’t any gravity and her eyes looked as if they could pierce solid stone.

Suddenly she came at Shadow full force. She lunged with her right hand again. Shadow blocked it with his sword but struggled. It seemed as if her strength had doubled. She brought her other hand forwards to strike again. This time Shadow moved to the left and threw Falcons right fist to the side, dodging the left fist, and swung. It seemed that her speed was quicker too because she brought her right hand back up to block and her left hand back and struck Shadow in his right shoulder. Shadow backed up onto his knee, his shoulder bleeding, and Falcon stuck again with her left hand. Shadow blocked it with his sword but Falcon’s other arm came in and hit the side of his stomach. Immediately he stood kneeing Falcon in the stomach and hitting the back of her head with the butt of his sword. Falcon fell unconscious onto the floor.

Shadow walked back in front of Bearox and faced him.

“Well done, well done,” Bearox said clapping, “You did exceptionally well. Most almost got killed when they faced Falcon, but you, you got away with a few scratches.”

“Shut up,” Shadow said, “Using her like that. Do you even love her back?”

Bearox stood up, his face turned serious, “My fate binds me to not love anyone because I could not be with them,” Bearox pulled out his sword and walked forwards, “Now fulfill my fate as well as yours with this fight,” and Bearox charged at Shadow lifting his blade.

Shadow charged at Bearox. Their swords came to each other, clashed, and separated. They continued fighting. The clashing of swords echoed throughout the room making the one fight sound like two opposing armies locked in combat. Shadow swung down hitting Bearox’s sword. Bearox threw Shadow back. The echoes stopped and they charged at each other for the last time. Shadow’s sword was cut in half and blood dripped constantly from his right shoulder. Falcon woke up and saw the two, backs towards each other.

“Well done,” Bearox said quietly, then he fell.

Falcon got up and ran over to Bearox, “Bearox!” She was crying again.

There was a pool of blood around Bearoxs’ stomach. Falcon turned him over and saw the other half of Shadows’ sword in his stomach.

“No,” Falcon cried hugging him.

Bearox opened his eyes, “I love you, too,” Bearox said quietly, “I’m sorry I didn’t…tell you sooner,” then turn his eyes towards Shadow who was walking up to him, “Do me one thing…Shadow or should I say… Diamond. Win the upcoming war… and stop… Genosis.” Bearox gave out his final breath.

“No, no, no,” Falcon was crying, “Why, why did you have fight? Why?”

Shadow laid his left hand on Falcons’ shoulder. She grabbed onto his arm and started hitting it.

“Why?” she continued to cry, “Why? Why? Why?”

“Come on,” Shadow said gently, “Let’s stop this fighting once and for all.”

Falcon stopped hitting Shadow’s arm and looked up at him. She nodded and grabbed the sword and the blood stained sheath off of Bearox, and put them on herself. She stood up still weeping a little and they left to stop the fighting.

They headed into the hallway towards the intersection, but several people were already heading towards them. It was Phoenix, Fox, Blade and Dagger.

“Weren’t you fighting each other?” Shadow asked.

“We realize there wasn’t any reason to fight,” said Phoenix.

“So we stopped fighting and were coming to see you and Bearox,” Blade said.

“Bearox is dead,” Falcon said in a weak voice looking at the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Phoenix said putting a hand on her shoulder then hugging her.

“I’ll be fine. There are still others that are fighting.”

“Alright leave it to us. Come on Fox.” Fox nodded and they left. The others followed at a slower pace so Blade and Dagger could patch shadows arm.

Phoenix and Fox entered the hanger and saw Raven and Runa. Raven was kneeling, balancing himself with his sword. Runa was kneeling over him.

“Raven, are you okay?” Phoenix asked.

Raven looked up, “What’s it to you?”

“We’re on your side.”

“Okay then, I’m fine but the others are at the soldiers quarters. They need more help than me.”

“Alright.” Phoenix and Fox headed on.

When they got to the soldiers quarters there was no one there. They went towards the prisons to see if Cloud, Raine, and Sky had been captured again. Sure enough they had.

“Are you all right?” Phoenix asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Cloud said.

“Where is every one?”

“Probably in the medical bay,” Cloud smiled, “We did go down without a fight. Of course we made sure not to hurt them too bad.”

“Okay let me get you out.”

Phoenix went to the medical bay and got the keys from the cell guards. She explained to them what had happened then left. She got back to the cell and unlocked them. Everyone met up in the hanger. All of the fighting was finished and everyone was okay. And for the first time in a long time everything was as it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

 

 

 

Bearox was buried two days later. Falcon, Phoenix, Fox, and Shadow attended the funeral.

The years passed and the war that Bearox talked about never came. Word was that shortly after his death there was an uprising and Genosis was overthrown.

Shadow became a great ruler but disliked his new responsibility as king and often left the palace to go see Sky.

And Raven and Runa returned to their home at the Archipelago Islands.

 

 

 

Three years after their adventure there were three weddings for Shadow and Sky, Cloud and Blade, and Raine and Dagger. Their love had grown over the years and all of them were ready for the commitment. It was held on one of the royal transports. Skiffs were used to transport the guests to ship. Skiffs were small crafts that could hold three plus the pilot. Falcon and her new boyfriend, a griffin knight, was there along with Phoenix and her boyfriend, the captain of the carrier in the Giant’s Hanger, and Fox and her boyfriend, one of the lieutenants under her command. Also Tauros was there and even the Elvin King was there for a bit. But right before the wedding the most unexpected company arrived. Raven, Runa, and Doc came. After the marriage they talked to them. Doc had come to offer a home in the Archipelago Islands. They all agreed, for their lives had become uneventful since their adventure and were hoping for a change in scenery.

There was a ceremony the next day to pass the Empire to a new leader. Shadow had chosen Cypress to be the new king. Shadow knew that Cypress would be an excellent leader because he was very knowledgeable.

After the ceremony Shadow, Cloud, Raine, and their new brides left and were never heard of again, but it is said they lived happily ever after.