Chapter 30.1: Black Dragon's Keep

Along a well-traveled dirt road, a bright red ponytail, and the white ribbon that kept it tied, both whipped backward due to a powerful wind created by the motion of a speeding girl. Shara, rather the Crimson Sharde or just Sharde for short, wore nothing more than a thin piece of wrap around material that was even more vividly red in color that her hair. A white silk belt kept the material from falling loose, but the sway of her heavenly feminine architecture seemed to remain intact by no means visible other than sheer willpower. Between the clear view of her rib cage on either side of her body, and the excessively plunging neckline, any onlooker might wonder why she had bothered to put on any clothing at all.

The swiftly moving red and white blur continued on her steady course toward her rendezvous with Scott and Sonja. Her swift movements drained her vitality at a steady pace, but she had developed the ability to rapidly regenerate that through meditation a few days before the world had gone to hell. As such, she could easily traverse the thousand or so miles left within the time frame that she had quoted. In fact, she could be there in far less time than that. However, there was something that she needed to do first.

Sharde leapt up and over a fallen long in the road then narrowly avoided an arrow shot by a surprised bandit. She continued on her way and completely disregarded his existence. Normally, she would have stopped and dealt with him but she was sure that she was near her first destination.

A half hour later she slid to a stop then stared out over the mirror-like surface of a beautiful lake. At the center of that lake stood a crumbling castle. Its ancient walls had once protected a lively and industrious people renowned for their music and art.

“Hmm, so it was here after all. Good.” Sharde flashed a bright smile then looked around briefly. She saw no bridge or boat. “Guess there’s no helping it.”

Sharde lifted her right hand and then turned it sideways so that her palm faced toward the left. She drew it toward her maidenly bosom then began to breathe in and out in a slow, deep, rhythmic manner.

Soon, her eyes began to glow with an eerie blue light and tiny similarly blue motes of flame began to gently flow around her in the air. Those tiny flames were rapidly replaced by a much stronger flame that began to rise up from her body. It was not a true fire at all, but the effect of her training in this reality’s version of ninjitsu.

A thought echoed through her mind. Quicker than a thunderbolt striking the earth, more agile than moth that would survive the kiss of the flame.

Sharde’s entire skill set revolved around precision attacks and incredible agility. Beyond that, speed was life. In the next moment she unleashed the greatest of her speed boosting skills, Dance of the Lightning Moth.

The burning flame that was the visual representation of her inner spirit, her very life, blazed around her. Tiny arcing electrical currents skittered outward behind her as she raced forward. Before she had been like a red and white blur, now she was more akin to a streaking comet as she raced across the surface of the water. For a limited time she would be able to use her body’s true power to run.

She tried to maintain her concentration for the entire distance, but near the end, her vitality started to dip dangerously low and she was forced to make a leap toward shore. Her durability was not even remotely high enough to risk allowing that skill to continue if her concentration failed due to running out of usable vitality.

Sharde lept into the air, her right knee shot forward and her left leg was sent thrusting completely back. Near the end of her leap she performed a flawless mid-air somersault and landed solidly on the lakeshore.

She did not waste the time that it would take to sigh, despite how much vitality she had lost. She had a job to do and did not want to waste much of her time in doing it. Sharde placed two fingers between her eye brows and began to concentrate once more. Her aura reappeared, though this time it was bright red just like her ensemble.

Within her mind she heard the words of power and focus echo. Through the eyes of the king of the skies, I gaze at the unwary prey.

Her bright red aura flared brightly. Tiny red flames rose upward and broke off from her fiery aura before they streamed to a single point high above her heard. A hawk made of flame coalesced from her mastery of ninpo, ninja concentration techniques.

Sharde closed her eyes, and the fiery hawk-like mental projection opened its eyes. She took a look at the area nearby then willed the hawk to fly up higher into the air. It took a great deal of concentration, but she was able to maintain the effect long enough to peak over the edge of the crumbling castle wall.

She saw nothing in the immediate area. Quickly, she allowed the projection to dissipate. Sharde sighed deeply then slowly jogged over to a nearby hill. She would need to eat, rest, and perhaps meditate before she continued onward with her plan. This castle would belong to the potential Blackthorne Faction. It would make the perfect little hideaway as long as she could lay claim to it.

***

The cool night air caressed her skin softly as Ashton gazed outward at the surrounding forest. Guard duty was a lonely proposition, and one she was not used to performing. The golden haired fox sighed lightly then turned her head toward to moon above.

Alone in the night she could not help but listen to the questions that had begun to plague her constantly of late. The most notable one was, of course, the same one that she chose to voice aloud. “What am I even doing here?”

Her ears twitched lightly and then she looked down at the rooftop. Other than a general enjoyment of Scott and how he smelled, she had no real purpose in this place. Certainly she was stuck here for now due to the way life had gone, but the way that things were currently going she could easily leave in the future. The people of this world would not be able to maintain their old ways of doing things.

“Should I leave?” she asked softly. She had no desire to do so at the moment, while everyone was asleep, but if they did end up making a connection to the dream world that could be traveled at will, what would keep her here?

Ashton thought of her family, and of how she had not heard from them in weeks even before the dream world became a worldwide event. She thought of the people here and how she was almost like a tag-along.

After some time passed she slowly shook her head. “No, no what I need is to find a way to stake my claim.”

She was not certain about Scott, and whatever actual feelings that she had for him, but she did know that she had goals.

She had dreams of her own. If she was going to be part of a group like this then she would have to assert herself and focus on her real skills. She smiled slightly then said, “Time for this fox to get down to business.”

Ashton tilted her head to the side not long after and said, “But what would that even be?”

It was a good point as far as she was concerned. What sort of business should she attempt to undertake?