DERORA

The sun had began to show its irritating rays when she woke up, darathos flew low and scraped the trees,

"Derora, awake are we?" He said through the link,

"Yes, shouldn't have taken long to get to the village on air" derora replied while staring at the forests,

The trees were getting thinner and she saw signs of smoke in front, the veratus moved quietly through the forests while passing the rays of sunlight, they neither flinched nor burn, whatever she did to them made them stronger.

"We passed the village, no one was there, I traced their scent this way, two scents actually, the stronger went this way" darathos said,

If what he said was right, then it had to be the scent of the prince and his friends, but they were three,

"What does it smell like?" she asked,

"A male and a female, the male is stronger" he said,

It had to be the prince and the girl, where was the fey prince?,

"Do you smell any other being, stronger one at the village?" she asked,

"No, why?" he said,

"An accomplice of mine was there" derora replied as her thoughts wandered away,

Where could the fey prince be?, a thought went through her head, could he had taken the girl?, no, darathos said he sensed the girl, he might had escaped when she disappeared, anyhow, she would find him.

The village got into view, it looked like a lazy town to derora,

"Your orders derora" a veratu said,

"Raze the town, find the creatures" she replied giving them a mental image of the Prince and his friends,

They moved in, her veratus, immune to the rays of aethers light, sworn to derora alone,

"Shall we?" Darathos said, burning with the need to kill,

she smiled and sat upright, her sword stretching its dark wisps in anticipation of a massacre,

"Yes we shall" she replied as darathos overshadowed the town and rained down flames, derora sat, waiting for her prey....

TERRENA

The night was cold, wolves howling in the distance, jason laid on the ground, floating on a pool of blood, his blood, daren stared in shock,

"How could you?!" He whispered,

terra stared at him in confusion, she wanted to talk but couldn't, in the distance stood a figure she remembered well,

Derora......

Jason grabbed her, his eyes emitting pain,

Terra stared at her hands,

They were covered in blood,

Jasons blood .......

"I'm sorry!" she whispered,

her voice was strange, it sounded like a shattered pack of glass,

"You did this" jason croaked,

"Jason I'm sorry!!" she repeated, only louder,

"You're free terra, I broke the bond" she heard,

At her back was derora, a smile of triumph on her face, terra paled,

"Isn't that what you wanted?, to be free" she sneered,

"How?" terra asked, she had no idea why she asked that, terra just did,

"I only helped, you did" derora said pointing at her bloodied hands,

"No!, I'll never do that!" terra screamed, she had sworn loyalty to jason and the elixtu family, she would die three times over before breaking it,

Derora laughed heartily, the air resonated it, like the world was void, that's when terra noticed it, the sky was dark, the air cold, no light, no warmth, the world was void, it was in...chaos,

"But you did, when you accused him you did, when you sent him away you did, when you watched him walk away you did, thanks to you the bloody line of the elixtus is gone, and with it the gods of the light!, only darkness!" She said beaming as thunder rolled above,

terrena saw a knife on the ground, gleaming at her, she gripped it, vengeance in her heart as lunged at derora in anger, it impaled itself in her, she stared at me in amusement,

"Only an elixtu can kill me child, and with your help they are gone!, I will spare you the pleasures of death, instead you will walk this cursed lands, no one to help, no one to rely on, only you" she said as she disappeared,

terra stared in sorrow, she did all this, she caused all this, she failed to notice the obvious, she and jason, there was a reason they were together, it was so obvious now, but it was too late, no more chances, terrena rectir knelt and faced the sky she screamed, releasing the very essence her being,

"TERRENA!" she heard,

And terra woke up.....

†††††††††††††

she was drenched in sweat as her eyes shot open and she shot up on the wet bed screaming, she was fully alive, shaking from head to toe, afraid of resting her head back on the bed.

It was then terra noticed a pair of arms holding her, daren rocked her back and forth slowly, whispering to her. He was real, flesh and blood, not dying slowly like ....

Terra shot out of the bed frantically, jason, she knew something bad was going to happen,

"Terra what is it?" Daren asked,

"Jason" it was all she could whisper,

The bond mark shone and stung a little, terra could feel peace and calmness, he was alright, she could feel him, her heart began to slow down.

terra slid to the floor, daren held her,

"We'll find him" he whispered,

" he died daren, I caused it" terra replied as she chocked on the words,

"Its just a dream terrena, a dream, he's fine" he replied,

After a while terra agreed to go take a bath, she needed to find him, she was going apart,

DAREN

She was starting to lose it, though she wouldn't accept it, without jason she was falling apart. Daren had to act fast,

He left the room to give her privacy and went down to the bar, people chatted about, even though it was still early a pint of beer wouldn't hurt. Daren sat at the table and stared at the tattoo on his hand, two staffs intercrossing, a mark of the house of tejel, the guardians of the elixtus from the beginning of the kingdom.

Daren wondered what his father would be saying if he saw him now, he would lament and shout on how he had failed his charge, of course that's how he died, protecting the king kelin till he died.

he moved to the counter and saw a girl serving drinks, her movement were graceful, flowing like water she served the men who grunted in approval. She caught his stare and gave a brief smile before returning back to her work, soon the counter was empty, he caught a cup of gin she sent his way,

"I guess you're passing through da?" She said,

"Interesting, the Russian lady had a daughter" daren thought,

"Yes, just the night, I would be gone by noon" he replied,

She seemed quiet, with her dark hair and straight face, she wasn't one you could flirt with and escape with your body complete. Daren noticed a tattoo on her arm,

"Nice tattoo" he said,

"And yours" she replied,

Hers seemed familiar, two swords pointing left and right, a serpent in the middle, daren stared at it till it clicked,

"Sigil of house horak" he thought,

"Strange, I know that tattoo" daren said staring at her, her face changed and at once it went back to her curious look, she definitely knew,

"Sigil of house horak, thought to be wiped out in the war with marxis" daren whispered,

She sat up and sat on her chair looking at daren squarely in the eye, gripping her napkin harder,

"Who are you?!" Her voice relayed releasing agitation,

Daren raised my hands in peace,

"A comrade, I'm surprised you don't recognise my tattoo" he said,

"I did, I just chose to believe ze tejels were gone" she said looking squarely at him,

"Same here also" daren replied,

"How you managed to stay under ze radar of the tyrant marxis surprises me" she said,

"You won't believe half of what I say"

"Try me" she replied,

"Can we go somewhere safe?" daren asked,

She turned to her mum who was arguing with what looked liked the wine supplier, a fast talk and she took daren to the backroom, her mother entered, she stared at him hard,

"So, my daughter said you're a tejel" she said,

"Yes I am" daren replied,

"Till ze shades of black are bright and ze touch of death is life" she said waiting for daren to finish it,

Daren smiled, his father had beaten the words into him, literally,

"I devote to the realm my soul, the rays of light I shall uphold"he finished,

It was the oath taught to only the first born of the five families that withstood chaos at the infancy of Aratia,

"How are you alive?" She asked,

"Its not necessary, all that matters is the prince is alive" daren said,

"And you're his guardian, then where is he?" She asked,

"He-he went missing, but I know where he heads" daren muttered,

"And you found us how?" she asked,

"By mere coincidence, although I doubt aether thought that way" daren said,

"I agree, by oath we're sworn to protect the crown, and we shall" she said looking at her daughter who nodded and moved to their quarters,

"And the girl is a rectir, the last of her blood" I said,

"So, Marxis was able to eradicate our bloodlines to a last seed" she said,

"Are you-"

"No, her father was horak not me, still I consider myself one" she said getting his question,

"Also, derora the dark demon of the abyss chases us" I said,

She stopped packing and turned,

"So the rumors are true?, marxis stupily released her" she said,

Daren nodded as she sighed,

"No matter, my daughter will stand by her oath" she said,

He raised an eyebrow,

"Aren't you coming?" daren said,

"Of course not!, I'm too old, besides-"

BOOM!!!

An explosion resonated around and threw them to the ground, he coughed and got his bearings as he stood slowly,

"Ma!" daren shouted with the ringing in his ears,

"I'm fine!," she replied somewhere around the room, dust coveted everywhere,

A door broke as a figure entered coughing,

"Mother!" It screamed,

It was the girl, daren saw them hold together,

"Zarae, what was that?!" Her mother shouted,

She said it do loud daren was momentarily shocked,

"Veratus!" She screamed,

His mind went reeling,

"They had found us" he thought,

"Terra!"

Nothing mattered any longer as daren dashed through the door screaming terra at the top of my voice....

JASON

He flinched as the rays of light affected his eyes, it was morning. Jason got up and stretched his frame, he looked around, the bones of the rabbit, was it a rabbit?, laid on the ground, they had feasted on it, speaking of a feast, where was sorrena?,

Jason stood up and looked around, she was nowhere to be seen, a gentle splash at the river bank directed his gaze there. She came out of the river as jason turned, my face a pure colour red,

"Good morning ikir" she said brushing past him already in clothing,

She giggled when she saw his face,

"Did I disturb you?" She asked,

Jason mumbled something in reply as she packed her little bag and he washed his face, the water was extremely cold this morning,

Up ahead were a bunch of what looked like men with blue skins on a kind of net boat, it looked strong enough to withhold them,

"Where to now, we find the rest?" She said,

"If they're following, we'll meet at my destination, if not we'll have to go find them later," jason replied,

Jason didn't know why, he just felt they would follow, at least that was what they said.

The men paid no notice to them as they got closer, all of a sudden sorrena pulled him behind a rock, jason looked at her,

"Piseras, born of the unions of a mortal and a kitera, flesh eaters" she said,

"What's a kitera?" I asked,

"Fish man" she replied,

Jason nodded in ignorance,

"Just asking, how many kinds of creatures are in Aratia?" he asked,

"More than a hundred, a problem ikir?" She said,

"No, no problem at all" jason replied,

Its just I've just arrived and everything is trying to kill me he thought,

"So what do we do?"

"Nothing," she said,

Jason raised an eyebrow, seems like he was getting used to that now, she pointed to the distance as he saw fins, no legs, fin-legs if that were possible coming, they'd seen us....