A few men start cheering as Zona takes off her robe laying it down on the ground. She slowly walks over to Jake.

“When’s the last time we fought Jake?” Jake frowns as I start to feel a cold chill go down the back of my spine.

“About two years ago.” The men feel something similar and back up away from where they are going to fight. Jake disappears and reappears behind Zona. He brings his fake sword down quickly as flames rise up blocking the attack. Zona turns around bringing a wave of fire roaring after Jake. Jake jumps out of the way throwing dirt into Zona’s eyes. The flames go out for a second as Jake rushes her. Jake lashes out hitting her in the stomach. Something changes in the air as it grows hot. Flames burst from Zona hitting Jake. Jake flies into the air landing on his feet. Zona looks to still be blind, but fire is slowly building up around her. She disappears in a fire vortex causing the ground around her to slightly blacken.

Jake seems to be studying his next attack as a fire bold hits his arm causing him to drop his sword. For a brief second, confusion comes over his face. He rolls to his side picking up his sword and rushes toward the swirling vortex. At the last second, he stabs the air causing the fire vortex to stop. His fake sword is close to Zona’s neck and Zona has her hand directly on his chest. Everyone in the area stops to see who would strike first. I go to get up to stop this, but Zona removes her hand.

“Looks like it’s a tie.” He frowns putting his sword away.

“Agreed.” I hear a few men groan and a few others cheer happily. Zona walks back over putting back on her robe. She looks at me.

“Good luck.” She leaves the area going to her tent. I gulp as I watch him clean up slightly. He looks at everyone and frowns.

“Everyone back to their positions.” The men pause and instantly leave. He smirks slightly at me which causing me to pause. I don’t think I have ever seen him even attempt a smile. “Ready Ashley?” I gulp nodding.

“I am just going to say this is dumb.” He starts to slightly laugh, and I become seriously concerned.

“I promise I won’t hurt you. Unless you want me too.” I feel my cheats warm up because of the way he said that. HE rushes me. He swings his sword like he has done before and I barely dodge his attack. He seems to be toying with me as he slowly attacks me with predictable moves. I frown angrily punching in the stomach. My eyes tear up as my hand crunches against his skin. He stops shocked that I hit him. A slight look of worry fills his eyes to which I sweep him off his feet. He falls to the ground with a thud. A mix of emotions run through me as he stares up at me from the ground. I feel joy for beating him, anger for him playing with me, slightly fearful, and in pain because my hand is most likely broken. He stands up instantly storming off away from me. I am left alone holding my broken hand. I storm off to the medic in the group. He tells me that I didn’t break my head. I huff as he wraps it. I head back to my tent. The sky has gotten dark with the stars coming out. I notice certain patterns in the stars causing my head to get fuzzy. I grumble to myself slightly hating my magic. Ever since I had my first version, I have started seeing things everywhere. It is beyond annoying. I get up heading to my tent. I pause seeing Zona inside her tent. She is curled up in a ball holding her necklace. A barely hear soft whimpering coming from her. I must find a way to help Zona. I slip into my tent getting relaxed soon falling asleep.

I wake up in the morning stretching out slightly. I get up to see everyone packing up. I pack up my tent and meet up with Zona. Zona doesn’t acknowledge me climbing into the wagon. I sit there digging out my notebook looking around for Jake. I see him fully dressed in his armor. He rides pass us as we start to move. I frown realizing that he is ignoring me. We spend the next couple of days traveling North. Jake barely talks to me only talking when orders are given. We set up to go to bed one night in the middle of a field. I head straight to bed angry at Jake. Zona doesn’t notice me because of the little drinking game they have started.

I am awoken to a tug at my leg. I sit up to see one of the Jake’s soldiers. He seems older and rough compared to other soldiers. He has a grayish beard that looks more like stubble. His brown eyes stares daggers into me. “The Captain has left again.” I get up from my tent noticing two other soldiers with him.

“I don’t know where he went?” He frowns looking angrily at me.

“He was fine until you trained with him. Go find him.” I slowly get angry looking him up and down.

“Oh yea? Who decided you were in charge?” He frowns as the two men behind him slightly laugh. He gets close to me looking down at me. He was a good foot taller than me.

“Officer Blake. As long as the Captain is gone, I am in command. Now go find him.” I want to protest but I figure that it won’t take long. I take off in a direction hopefully finding him soon.

I make my way through the forest in the dead of night. The moon shines in the distance through the tree branches. A rub my arms trying to shake off the night’s cold. The farther we head up north, the colder it gets. The trees have started to change and prepare for the coldness from the mountains. Some part of me is excited to see the mountains. The stories back home had the being almost not real. From what I understand, we are about two days from them. I pause hearing a snap of a branch. “Jake?” A man wearing black robes appears around a tree. He is pausing removing his hood.

“Oh hello. I am sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was out here.” I frown slightly not trusting the man. He holds his hand out to me. “My name is Nash.” He looks to be in his late fifties. He looks to be a monk with his shaven head. I slowly let my guard down shaking his hand.

“Ashley. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?” He smiles slightly looking up at the moon.

“I am enjoying the Blood Moon. It only happens once every hundred years.” I look confused never hearing about the Blood Moon. “A better question is what are you doing out here?” I pause slightly.

“Um... looking for a friend.” He pauses for a second.

“Well I can help you look for them until the event is supposed to happen.”

“Thank you.” We start searching for Jake as we make conversation “So... What is the Blood Moon?” He doesn’t seem phased by the question.

“I figured you never heard of it. See once the Church and the military took over, they made sure a few things were never known. The Blood Moon is magic itself becomes unstable. Magic users are heavily influenced under the it. People claim that it can bring back the dead, grant wishes, and everything in between.” I pause slightly shock never coming upon it in my research.

“Wow. It sounds powerful.” He laughs slightly shaking his head no.

“It’s all in the mind of the magic user. The reasons things like that happen because the user wills it. Only strong magic users are really affected by this event.” I frown slowly hoping Zona and Jake will be okay. Nash pauses looking up in the sky. “It looks like it is starting.” I look up to see the moon slowly turning red. The sky itself slowly blends with the moon.

My vision goes black for a second seeing Grant killing people in a town. I grip my stomach trying to calm down. A walled off barrier prevents people from running as black tendrils consume them. Grant wipes his mouth pulling out a little book. He checks off on a list of town names. Wealdstone, Castlerock, Charleston have already checked off. The next towns look like to be Creek Valley, Logansport, and the Game trail. The last version is of him looking up at the blood moon disappearing into the shadows. I fall to the ground trying to catch my breath. Nash helps me up looking worried. “Are you okay Ashley?” I nod trying to stop my head from spinning.

“I have to find…” I look up to see Jake looking at me and Nash. “Jake.” I pull away from Nash’s grip going to him. “Jake. Grant is killing towns. We need to stop him.” Jake looks down at me cocking his head slightly. “Jake.”

“Something is wrong with me Ashley.” His voice is cold, angry, full of hate. I frown slowly stepping away from him.

“What are you talking about?” He draws his blade pointing it toward me.

“I can’t control my actions. You need to run now!” He slowly advances toward me as I keep backing up. He looks to be fighting his movements with every step. Nash steps between me and him.

“Run Ashley. I will hold him off.” I watch as Jake runs his sword through Nash’s chest. Blood drips from the sword coming from his back.

“NO! Ashley. Please run!” A small noise comes from my throat as I cover my mouth. Jake pulls the sword from Nash’s body causing Nash to fall to the ground in a heap. I talk off running back to the camp. As I approach the camp, I see the camp mostly destroyed. Small fires surround the outside of the camp.

I try not to panic hoping everyone is okay. I see fire being thrown in the distance. I make my way over there, but I am hit with another vision. This time I see Anna sitting in a small church. Snow falls from a few holes in the roof. She holds a black rose in her hand as a figure places a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay Anna. He will be coming for you soon.” The voice is distorted and angry. “There is a reason I brought him back.” I drop to my knees as the vision fades. Zona walks through the camp looking at me confused.

Ashley! Have you seen…” She stops as she looks at Jake who stumbles out of the forest. Zona looks at Jake frowning. “You took her, didn’t you?” Before I can move out of the way, Zona sends flames toward Jake. A briefly see red strings coming off them. Jake rushes toward Zona with blinding speed causing the ground to quake under each of his steps. Zona takes off blasting the ground creating a wall of fire. Jake disappears before reaching the wall and reappears behind Zona. He slashes her down her back and flames erupt from her burning off much of Jake’s armor. Jake flies into a nearby tree. Zona stomps toward him but soldiers rush from the nearby forest going after her. Zona turns her sights on the men as I run toward Jake.

I get to Jake first seeing almost all of his armor is missing. He has the same glossy look in his eyes as Zona. However, I notice most of the damage he has taken hasn’t heal like normally. I touch his face staring into his eyes. I feel a rush of visions trying to overtake me. I barely push the away concentrating on his face.

“Come on Jake. Fight it. Please.” For a brief second, I seem to connect with him as he relaxes and the red tint in his eye’s leaves. Dark clouds form overhead as he looks at me. I pull him out of the tree as the red lines surrounding his body leaves.

“Snap her out of it before she escapes.” I nod turning toward Zona. Zona blasts some flames toward the men as one throws a net over her. The net has dampening stones are tied to the base of the stone. I run over to Zona trying to grab a hold of her face. She struggles looking at me pleading.

“Ashley! Please. I have to find her! Why are you trying to capture me?” As I touch her, I get floored with the overwhelming wave of visions trying to enter my mind. I was somewhat prepared for Jake since I’ve been working with him for the past few weeks. Zona was another beast. I fight as hard as I can trying to push back the wave. “Where’s Lupa!” I start to feel myself get swept away with the visions. I close my eyes focusing hard on the current situation.

“Zona. Please come back to us. Lupa’s not here.” I feel something strange grab ahold of within in her head. I open my eyes to see her staring at me. The red tint in her eyes slowly changes to a burning orange. The net slowly burns away as each dampening stone breaks. I let go of her face feeling my hands start to burn. She slowly raises her hand towards me with a sadistic smile spreading across her face. Jake appears behind her hitting her with the hilt of his sword in the back of the head. She falls to the ground sideways with a thud.

“She needs to be tied up.”