It had finally started. After waiting for so many years, the war had finally begun. I was ecstatic. What joy to be able to fight like this. After so long I was finally wielding a weapon again. I cut through anyone who stood in my path, be it friend or foe, I couldn't control my urge to kill. And I went on like this for a long time.

 Finally, there was barely anyone alive left on the battlefield. I stood panting in the middle of the field, fresh blood running down my hand.I had just killed another member of the enemy's party.

that's when I heard a voice"I expected no less of you, so I came prepared." I was shocked.I turned around slowly, all the urge to kill leaving me as I faced the leader of the opposition.

I smiled lazily as I opened my eyes "What a beautiful world" I thought. And indeed it was, for

the sky was a clear blue with cotton puffs scattered over it and the grass was a lush green

carpet with gems sprinkled all over it. I rolled over to find a more comfortable position, shut

my eyes and drifted back to sleep.

CRASH!!! I awoke with a start and instantly hit my

head to a nearby branch. For a minute I was confused, " Where did the branch come from,

wasn't I sleeping in a beautiful meadow?". Then I remembered where I was."That's right, I

wasn't in a meadow. I was sleeping on a tree."

Shaking my head to clear it, I cautiously looked around to see if I could spot the source of the noise. Then, I spotted a tree branch

nearby, that had crashed to the ground and woken me up.Seeing that it posed no threat to

me, I quickly scanned  the perimeter to see if there were any dangers and seeing none, I

climbed down the tree to continue my journey. 

 I had been living in the forest for quite some time now. In fact it had almost been two

months . Two months ago, I had been living with my parents in a cozy little house, but

I had been forced to flee, as I was being targeted by some people. They weren't so bothersome at first.

They would just follow me around. So I thought the problem could be solved by staying at home.

I was wrong, for a few days later, they paid a visit to my house and threatened my parents

to hand me over. That's when I decided that I had to leave. I left that night and left a note

explaining my disappearance to my parents. And so here I was walking though the forest.

I didn't know who my pursuers were or why they were targeting me, all I knew was that I

shouldn't let them catch me. I missed the comfort and security of my home, but I knew

that I was safer here.

I glanced at my watch, it was already 12 in the noon. I decided to break for lunch. I turned

to my bag to take out some food, only to find out to my dismay, that it was empty.

I stopped at a clearing to gather some berries for lunch, and also carry some with me in case

of an emergency. I idly wondered about my dream as I gathered the berries. It had been such a

beautiful dream and it felt so real that it made me wonder if it was a dream or a reality.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts, that I did not notice the rustling of leaves. A twig

suddenly snapped, jerking me out of my thoughts. I whipped around quickly, only

to find myself face-to-face with my pursuer.  

I was shocked and scared and I froze in fear. Not knowing what to do, I blinked, and my

pursuer was gone. I blinked again hoping that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. My

pursuer really wasn't there!!! I checked the area thoroughly  just to make sure, and I didn't

find anyone. It really puzzled me when I thought of the way in which my pursuer had

disappeared.Perhaps I was imagining it. All the same, I knew I had to get out of here

quickly. As I hurried back to the clearing to pick my bag, I got a strange feeling that I was

being followed.  

It was nearing sunset. I had been walking for many hours and I was tired and sleepy. I still

couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being followed, but I desperately needed to sleep. So I

decided to stop, despite the danger. I carried out my usual safety procedures, but I couldn't

find any dangers, or my stalker.

I looked around for a good tree to sleep in, and I finally picked one which had a thick trunk,

and was tall and easy to climb. I chose a spot high up in the tree where the leaves were very

thick, so that I would be well hidden, and settled down to sleep. Still, I had the unshakable

feeling that I was being watched and observed, and it shook me.

I didn't sleep well. I kept waking up frequently and I tossed and turned constantly, trying

to find a comfortable position to sleep in.Finally, I gave up trying to sleep and instead, lay

down on my back and gazed at the patches of sky visible through the leaves.

It was a beautiful night, and a pleasant wind was blowing. The moon cast a silvery glow

. I climbed a little higher, till the forest was spread out below me.I laughed as I

took-off  and soared into the sky. My laugh was high and musical, like the tinkling of

bells.I flew higher and higher. A cold wind was blowing.

Suddenly, I began to fall, and as I

got closer and closer to the ground, it became hotter and hotter. I woke up with a start, 

sweating, to see tongues of flame dancing around me. I panicked.  

FOREST FIRE!!!!! I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't get burnt. I had a quick look

around to see how far the fire had spread and was shocked to find that the whole forest

around me was engulfed in flames. I didn't waste anymore time. I grabbed my bag and

jumped down from the tree.

I landed rather badly and ended up spraining my ankle. Still,I began to run, despite the

pain, for my will to live was strong. I didn't know where I was running, all I knew was that

I had to run.I ran hard for a while, but then, I began to notice that the fire didn't seem to be

decreasing,but was instead increasing and getting wilder. I was running right into the

heart of the fire!

I turned around and began running in the opposite direction. Suddenly, I tripped

over a tree root and crashed hard into the ground.I cried out as my sprained foot was

twisted badly. It felt like my leg was broken and I couldn't move. I lay there, desperately

wondering what to do. Suddenly a burning tree crashed into the ground, and my decision

was made for me. I had to move if I wanted to live.                                 

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I pushed myself up and almost immediately collapsed

again. I picked up a nearby stick, that was miraculously not burnt, and used it to support

myself, when I stood. My hands burnt and stung, my leg throbbed and my eyes watered.

I was finding it difficult to breathe, but still, I managed to drag myself on.

I had been walking for quite sometime, but the fire wasn't reducing. I was lost. But still, I

kept walking. I was breathing heavily by now and the world was spinning.

As I fell, the stick hit my head and the world spiralled into blackness as I tumbled down

a slope.

The moon shone brightly, casting a silvery glow over the night. A pleasant wind was

blowing. I climbed up till the forest was spread out below me. I let out a musical laugh as I

took-off and soared into the sky. I flew higher and higher. A cold wind was blowing.

Suddenly, I began to fall, and as I got closer and closer to the ground, it became hotter and

hotter. I heard a voice scream" NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" ,and saw a figure with silver hair diving

after me with an outstretched arm.

    CHAPTER 8 - BACK TO REALITY

I heard some noise, it was a low sound. It stopped, it started again, stopped, started. Wait,
someone was calling me, " Wake up! Wake up!" I felt someone slapping my face gently. I 
heard the voice again, " Wake up! Are you all right?" The voice was deep and low, and it
sounded familiar. " Where had I heard it before?" I couldn't seem to remember.

Someone sprinkled water on my face, and the gentle slapping continued. 
I moved my fingers and the slapping stopped. My eyes fluttered open and I saw a pair of 
blue eyes which looked very worried and anxious. I blinked a few times to get used to the 
light, and the vision cleared. Instead, I found myself looking into a pair of clear, light green 
eyes filled with the same worry.    
 

 Chapter 9 - The Healer

The emotions disappeared in a flash and I was gently laid back on the bed. He got up and 
walked to the other side of the room, rummaged around a bit, and returned with a small 
tube. He squeezed out some jelly-like substance and made to apply on my ankle  I jerked it away, unsure of what it would do. 

Seeing the fear on my face, he assured me by telling me that it was only a pain-killer. 
Upon hearing this I immediately let him apply it, and it worked wonderfully. My leg stopped 
hurting almost immediately.I heaved a sigh of relief, at least that was taken care of,I could 
move on to other things now, like seeing if I was capable of walking. I tried getting on to my 
feet slowly, but found myself being pushed down almost all at once.I looked up in surprise 
only to see my saviour looking down at me with an irritated expression on his face.
"Uh oh..... it looks like I'll be getting a severe scolding" I thought , but to my surprise he only 
said "Lie down Lisa. You're not fully healed yet. Don't move around too much, especially the 
damaged foot,and don't even try to stand", and with that he walked out of the hut, slamming 
the door behind him.

 Chapter 10 - Realization 

" Well...that was abrupt", I thought. Frankly speaking, I was surprised. I wasn't even
sure if I would survive. The last thing I remember was tumbling down a steep slope, and as I
was slipping into unconsciousness, I remember thinking,"Is this how its going to end?"
I also faintly remember thinking what I would do if I ever survived. Being as badly injured 
as I was then, there was no doubt that I would not be able to move. The last thing I expected 
was to be saved by someone. And yet here I was safe and sound. I thanked my lucky stars
for watching over me. As I thought back to what had happened so far, I suddenly 
remembered a sentence my saviour said to me a short while ago. There was something 
strange about it, but I couldn't put a finger on it. I carefully went through the sentence 
again, and I realized with a shock that he knew my name. I was certain that I hadn't told 
him my name at any point of  time. I was also sure that I had never met him before, so there
was no way he could know my name. As I wondered how he knew my name, I realized that I 
did not know his.I also realized with another jolt that there was only one way he could know 
my name without my knowledge........................

     Chapter 11- Doubts

HE WAS MY PURSUER!!! Oh my god!! I ran away from home just so I could escape from 
them.Instead, here I was, right in the hands of one of them.I had to find a way to escape from 
here.But try as I might, there was just no way I could get myself to move, for though the ointment
 took away the pain it also made my leg feel heavier.Great.Looks like I am about to be killed, and 
the worst part is that I have to wait for the cause of my death to come to me. How depressing.
Then again, thinking back, he did save my life after all, I'm quite sure he wouldn't have done 
that if he wanted me dead.Unless,he wanted me to have a painful death."I began to panic. 
Wait" I told myself ,"it might not be what you think it is".But that feeling of doubt just 
wouldn't go away,  on the bright side it looked nothing would happen to till I was well 
enough.
Finally I decided to act as if I never realized what happened, at least until I was well enough 
to run away. but that nagging feeling just wouldn't go away.
A few hours later he returned, with supplies. As he came to inspect me ,I just couldn't 
hold it in any longer. "Why were you following me?",I blurted out.
  

   chapter 12 - Revelation

He looked shocked. "Well?", I asked. He just continued to stare at my face, shocked. Then, abruptly, 
as  if I hadn't said anything he finished examining my ankle and squeezed out some more of that
 horrid ointment to apply on my ankle. I jerked away my leg sharply, "Oh no, no more of that 
ointment", I said.He looked at me in annoyance and grabbed my leg(OW! that hurt). "Don't be 
stupid, you need to heal your ankle as fast as possible", he said and he proceeded to apply the 
ointment and tie my ankle up before I could protest.
I lost my temper and screamed,"And why should I do that! So that you can kill me slowly later?" 
He turned around suddenly. I admit I was extremely scared when I saw his face then. I was afraid 
that he may change his plans and kill me right then.He looked furious."You think I would be so 
stupid as to go to all that trouble to save you only so I could kill you later?", he demanded. 
I was hugely relieved on hearing this, and it must have shown on my face, for he said"Oh my god ,
you actually believed that I would kill you? I never thought that you were so dumb, though it is 
true that I was following you."

  chapter13- Found!

Well,well looks like my stalker had a conscience, for he was looking  guilty' and none too 
pleased about this revelation."So..?", I asked "what's the reason for that?". He looked at me straight 
in the face and said"To protect you ,of course."That was unexpected."protect me?", I asked,"from whom,and why..?After all you wanted to harm me, right?". "Harm you?" he said, and to my surprise he looked shocked. "What are you shocked for , you made no secret of it when you threatened my  family.""Threaten your family!Oh my god no!That wasn't me.I was trying to protect you from them, not help them get you. In fact I was about to contact you and your family that night, but by then you had left.Seems that they discovered my plan before hand and paid a visit to your family before me." I was shocked!surprised! stupefied! This was not what I had expected at all.Seems  like I had more than one stalker. I heard myself ask"Then how did you  know where I was?"."I overheard your parents discussing the contents of the note you left behind for them.".He said.I managed to pull myself together as I absorbed this new revealation.I sat thinking about it for a while, when a thought struck me"Won't they know my whereabouts as well then?",I asked.He nodded,"That's why you need to heal yourself fast ,so that we can get out of 
here',he said.That's when the door slammed open, and there they stood, the people who had forced 
me to flee my own home,"I'm afraid that's not happening", said the leader.

   chapter14- Escape

"GET THEM!",he screamed."I'm afraid that's not happening",said my protector, and in one fluid 
motion he had scooped me up into his arms and jumped over to the window.'Hold on tight and get 
ready for a long ride", he told me . Then , just as we were about to be caught, he jumped out of the 
window and began to run and ,my ,he ran fast.We soon lost them, but he didn't slow down. Instead,

he continued to run."I guess it's safe to stop now ", I said,for he had been running for over an hour. "No ", he said,

"If we stop now he will soon catch up with us."

It was four hours since our escape and he was still running, it was amazing, he hadn't even slowed 
down, nor did he look tired. I looked at the sky ,it was a beautiful blue, but the afternoon sun was 
blinding,and that's when I had my third vision. 

chapter15 - Protector

"LOOK OUT!" I screamed as an arrow whizzed past my head. I had just saved a girl from being hit
 by an arrow."Your in the middle of a battlefield" I told her as we ran toward safety,"You can't 
afford to run around blindly,or you'll get hit."Just then her mother found us , her face was 
wrought with worry."Where did you go?",she demanded before hugging her daughter tightly.She 
looked up at me and said,"Thank you. You saved my daughter's life. I'm grateful and I'll always 
be glad to be of help to you."Just as I was about to reply, my comrade arrived and began pulling me 
away saying,"There's been an attack in the nearby village, we have to go to rescue them 
immediately."As I was being pulled away I turned for one last look at the girl. Her hair was bright 
blue in colour, and she looked strange, as if she wasn't completely human.

  chapter16- Beginning of A Friendship

Cold. My face felt cold. I opened my eyes to see that my rescuer was sprinkling water on my face.
It seemed to be around dusk."What happened?"I asked him. He seemed kind of worried, which I found
 a little strange, but I decided not to pursue the topic just then."What happened?" I asked again. "
 "I just noticed that you seemed to be unconscious" he said. "It must be due to tiredness.
Afterall, you haven't  eaten for a long time" he said.He was right about that, I was starving. As he
 passed me some fruit, I asked him "So..What's your name?" "........Kieran", He said, and turned 
away.

 chapter17-Twin

My head exploded as another memory surfaced.
 
We were standing on a cliff overlooking the valley. He was standing beside me me. "It's beautiful.
", I said."I know,that's why I brought you here", he continued, " there's something I want to ask you" 
he said. "What?" I asked.  "Will you stay by my side for life?" I whipped around. I was surprised, I 
wasn't expecting this question. Just as I was about to reply, I looked into his eyes .they were the 
same blue eyes I had seen before, and ........... he looked just like Kieran.

I opened my eyes, stunned, Kieran was staring at me worriedly. I couldn't face him after seeing 
that memory."It's alright. I'm just a little tired, I think I'll sleep for  a while" I said as I quickly 
turned away. I was really confused, who was that person and what did he mean by that question.
 Also, him looking like Kieran disturbed me a lot. Was that Kieran himself or someone else? And
 that look, I just couldn't forget it. It was so intense and serious, as if that person's life depended
 on it. I just didn't get it. 

chapter 18-Questions

I lay awake for a long time, thinking about what I had just seen.So many questions circled 
around in my mind. What are these ....."visions" that I have started getting recently? Are they 
memories? I suspect them to be so since they feel so familiar, but I couldn't be sure. Who is Kieran
 and why is trying to save me or who is he trying to protect me from? Who are my pursuers and 
why do they want me? I don't have an answer to any of these questions. I just hope that everything
 will become clearer  as time passes by.
Another thought struck me,we would have to leave this place tomorrow if we are to stay ahead of 
our pursuers. With that thought I quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

chapter19-the beginning of an adventure

It was Kieran who woke me the next morning. I never was any good at getting up early in any 
case, and I was also really tired after yesterday's events. It seemed to be around noon as the sun was 
almost directly over our heads. I assumed that since we had stayed here for so long, it was safe for 
the time being.We could probably stay for another day at most, then we would have to move, but
 for the time being it was good enough.

I wasn't able to get a good look at my surroundings yesterday as it was already dark by the time 
I had regained consciousness. We had stopped at a fairly large clearing and I could hear a stream 
nearby.There were many berry and flower bushes scattered all around the clearing and all in all it
 made a very pretty picture. I went into a hut that was nearby and found Kieran arming himself 
with a bow and arrows. "So you know how to hunt?" I asked him. "Yep" he replied,"We might as well
 stock up on some food while we can", he said."Why?",I asked "We can always get some when we 
want can't we?", I said. "Nope", he answered "I don't think we can stop that long after this. We gotta
 get home you know.", he said."Home?",said I "What do you mean by home. I decided to leave mine
 forever. If I go back I'll only put my parents in danger again",I said."No,we're not going to that
 home", he said "We're going back to our real home", and with that he walked out of the hut.

chapter 20-Disbelief

I was sure I had misheard him.What did he mean by"We're going back to our real home". Was he 
telling me that the home I had just left wasn't my home at all, and what on earth did he say"We " 
for? Did he mean that his home was mine as well? How was that possible, I mean I didn't even 
know him till a day ago, or at least that's what I liked to believe. But I remembered my latest 
vision . The person whom I was with then was so like Kieran, in fact I think he was Kieran,but 
then again how was that possible?It is true that he looked like just like Kieran, but there were a few
 major differences between them that didn't allow me to believe that they were the same person. For 
one, Kieran had green eyes whereas that person had blue ones and the second, Kieran looked human
 whereas that other person, he looked like he wasn't entirely human, just like the girl from my
 previous dream.

chapter21-Scent of Danger

I decided to go ask him what he meant by saying that.When I went out of the hut though, I
 couldn't see him anywhere.As I wondered which direction he could have gone in I became aware of 
the  bubbling sound of the stream. I decided that that's where he would have gone, afte rall its easier
 to find prey near the stream, so I set off towards the stream.

I had almost reached the stream when I suddenly felt the need to check on camp. I felt something 
wasn't right.So I retraced my steps back to camp. Just as I was about to reach camp I suddenly got 
a feeling of being watched and I couldn't explain why, but I felt like my life would be in danger if
 I went there, so I turned and ran.I remembered that Kieran was at the stream. He was probably in 
some danger, what if he needed help?I forced myself to run faster. As I went closer to the stream
 my sense of urgency grew, so I ran as fast as I could and I finally burst through the foliage, onto
 the river bank. 

What I saw stunned me. There was Kieran, surrounded by our pursuers and it looked like he was
 at a huge disadvantage, for he was outnumbered by at least thirty to one. 

chapter22-Caught!

It looked like he had the situation somewhat under control, though, as no one was attacking him.
 They seemed to be negotiating over something, and I was pretty sure what it was. thankfully no
 one had noticed my entrance so I quickly hid behind a tree and waited  to see what would happen.
 I felt that I would only worsen the situation by revealing my presence at the site and it would also
 put Kieran in an even bigger disadvantage , and he was having enough difficulties at the moment
 as it were.

I continued to watch as he talked, but the situation seemed to be deteriorating pretty fast and 
it was not going in Kieran's favour. I would have to step in pretty soon to help. Meanwhile the
 situation beside the river had deteriorated further. They seemed to be threatening him. I waited on
 tenterhooks, waiting to step in at any moment. They continued to shout at each other for a while
 longer, then things seemed to calm down a little,the volumes had reduced. They continued to 
speak like that for a while. I relaxed a little. Perhaps I would not need to step in after all, I would 
only make things more difficult for him if I did so anyway. Suddenly, the negotiator from the
 pursuers' side shouted and drew out his sword. He brandished it at Kieran and was about to attack.

I'd had enough.I couldn't sit by anymore. I didn't care if I worsened the situation or whatever. I 
wasn't going to sit by and watch my saviour be cut up. He had already saved my life twice, the 
least I could do was save his in return. Just as I was about to step into the scene a hand clamped 
over my mouth and I was held tight. 

chapter 23-Trapped

I tried to bite his hand, hoping that I'd at least be able to scream for help. I struggled against his 
hold but I knew it was futile, for I couldn't move an inch. Still, I struggled valiantly."It's futile",
he whispered in my ear.Ugh! I just hated that voice."You can't escape from me", he continued, "this
 is my specialty", he said. He was right about that, it was a pretty good hold, I couldn't even move
 my feet, leave alone my head and arms. 
He started speaking again, "It was so easy to catch you that I never expected it Ophelia .My 
old fool of a master, it seems, had overestimated you - 'You be careful of that girl, she's a
 difficult one'- Hmph! Look at you now. You fell straight into my trap. Still, I admit, you have a 
good intuition, I would have caught you sooner if you had walked into camp, but you didn't, so I 
had to follow you here instead.Nevermind though, now that you have been caught,  
 its time to make sure you keep your appointment. However we still have some time before 
departure, why don't we use it to say goodbye to your dear friend.Afterall this will be the last time
 you will be seeing him.

chapter 24-Confusion

My panic and confusion only increased throughout his long speech.From what I could gather of it,
 I was wanted by somebody else and that somebody had hired this guy to capture me and bring me
 to him and not only that, they wanted Kieran dead as well! Also this guy kept calling me Ophelia
 .I didn't understand why, but for some reason I found that name to be extremely familiar.
Oh, this confusion! How I wished all of this could just be a bad dream!

While I was thus absorbed in my thoughts, he had quickly used the opportunity to bring a knife 
to my throat. The good thing about this was that I was  released from the hold and could move a 
little. Of course, I still couldn't run away from him or make any fast movements as it would be
 a piece of cake for him to slit my throat.

"Don't scream", he told me, "or your friend out there will die".He then proceeded to move his hand 
away from my mouth and I dared not make a sound during the entire process."Good", he said and 
gently nudged me from behind,"Now move".  

chapter 25- Escape 2

I covered the few steps from the tree to the river bank, followed by my captor at a close distance, the 
knife still at my throat."Look at what I found", he said loudly as we came out of the forest cover. 
This effectively caught everyone's attention on the riverbank."I've found a treasure", he continued,
"And it's time to take the treasure home and deliver it to our master", he said. The thugs cheered. 
I searched Kieran's face, he looked worried and I also thought I could detect a slight fear in his eyes,
 for me, not for him."And what do you plan to do after that?", Kieran asked. "Oh, don't worry", my
 captor cheerily replied "We're not going to harm her. We've just got to make sure that she keeps her
 appointment with someone",he said.I continued to look at Kieran.The fear in his eyes were gone. 
Instead it was replaced with a steely look. I guessed that he was planning to do something reckless
 again.
Why? Why was he risking his life for me again and again. I wanted to scream. I was so frustrated 
with myself.I so badly wanted to scream"RUN KIERAN, RUN AND SAVE YOUR LIFE!, but I 
couldn't, so I just stared at him helplessly trying to  tell him all this and apologize to him, 
through my eyes. 
But he wouldn't meet my eyes, instead he looked at my captor."Let her go", he said. "Oh, I'm so
 sorry", said my captor "But I can't do that". He gave me a slight push "Turn around. It's time to 
leave", he told me and forced me to walk forward."I'm warning you, let her go", said Kieran."Says
 who?", asked my captor stopping in his tracks."Says me", replied Kieran."Well I'm 
sorry to disappoint you", said my captor, and resumed walking, forcing me to walk in the process
. There was no reply from Kieran. Afterall what could he do? He was surrounded by atleast thirty
 people who were ready to kill him at any moment.
Suddenly Kieran was right in front of me and in another second he had swiftly knocked the knife
 away from my captor's hand. I was shocked. I had no idea he was such a good fighter!Or that he 
could move so fast! 
Realizing that I was free, I quickly shook myself from the shock I was in and moved away from my captor before he came to his senses. I turned back to look at what had happened to the thugs, and found that all of them had been knocked out. I was amazed! Just as I was about to turn back to Kieran, I noticed that his bow and arrows were lying on the ground. I started to go and retrieve them but was immediately pulled the other way by Kieran "Let's go, we don't have any time to waste", he said. "b-but your bow......", I stuttered."Don't need it", he replied, pulling me along at a faster pace.

chapter 26 - Dream Come True

"Where are we going?", I asked him. "Don't bother about that just yet", he told me, "even I don't know. For now, just concentrate on putting some distance between us"."Are they dangerous?", I asked."nothing I can't handle", came the reply."but most likely a stronger person may come after us"." Who's chasing us?" I asked,"and why??"."It's a long story",he said."I have the time", I said.
"Later.", he replied.
We ran on in silence for another five minutes, then he abruptly stopped."This will do", he said.
"What?",I asked, utterly confused. But when I turned to look at him, I was surprised! Gone was the green-eyed and black haired boy, instead there stood a silver haired male with a pitch-black body, and when he turned towards me I saw to my astonishment that he had the same striking blue eyes as the person in my vision.
I was too stunned to react. suddenly, the world began to spin and my legs gave way under me."Hey are you all right?", he asked, moving towards me."Don't come any closer!!" I warned "who are you?!!", i screamed , afraid to hear the answer. He was taken aback ." Kieran ,of course", he said. And then as if doubting my sanity he asked again"are you really alright?"
"Of  course!!" I screamed. "And don't you act like this is perfectly normal!!", I ranted on " Any other person would have fainted! What happened to you?", I asked.He grinned sheepishly" nothing......and I guess you're right , any other person probably  would have fainted. " he said. " But all your questions will be answered shortly. Now why don't you go through first?"
to my amazement I saw that he had opened a portal, and I proceeded to walk into it (with the help of a few pokes and prods from Kieran.), utterly shocked and wondering if it could get any stranger.

chapter27- Transformation

I vaguely remember walking over to a rock and sitting on it after exiting the portal.I was in a 
complete daze. The only thing I could think of was "How..........?"
I sat in that state for a few more seconds before making an effort to look at my surroundings.
 I was in a forest again and the portal was still open.It looked strange, just hanging suspended 
like that.
 Then Kieran stepped out of the portal. He looked very strange.(now that I took a good look at him) His skin had turned completely
 black. Literally. It was pitch black in colour, much like the depths of a dark endless void. His hair
 was silver ,like mercury. It was a little overgrown and a little messy and it fell all over 
his face. But his eyes were what caught my attention the most, they were that same blue as the ones
 I had seen in my previous visions. A clear, sparkling blue. I just kept staring.

He cleared his throat, and the spell was broken. "So.....",he said "any questions?".I took in a sharp breath.
 That voice matched the voice I had heard in visions and my suspicions were confirmed. I was 
right in thinking that the person in my visions was Kieran. If so, I had a thousand questions to
 ask him.
 He was still waiting for my reply, so I decided not to make him wait any longer."Yes",I replied 
"When can I start?" "Right away", was the reply.

chapter28 - Rapid Fire

I took a deep breath and let it out in a rush "Who are you? What are you? Why did you save me? 
Who are those people who chased us? Why are they chasing me? Why are you helping me and why 
do you keep saving me?" I paused for a breath and continued, "Who was the guy who held me 
hostage? How did they manage to find us? How do you know who I am? What is our relation? And where are we?" . 
I stopped to let him answer .
"Is that all?", he asked. "No", I replied , "but it'll do for a start". 

chapter29 - Answers

"Alright", he said "I'll do my best to answer your questions". "First, allow me to introduce myself to
 you, properly.My name is Kieran Ryder, General, of His Highness of Asteros's Army. As for what I am...... It's not easy to explain...... How do I put it...
We don't really call ourselves by a particular name .Some of us are called angels, pixies or faeries 
by the humans. We have two different forms, one is the form you are currently seeing and the 
other is the human form. 

The people who are chasing us are our enemies and they don't want to kill you, they're just trying 
to capture you. They want you because they need you to win the war, and I keep saving you
 because..." He paused, hesitating .It was like he was wondering if he should tell me or not."Go on", 
I prompted."....Because you're my best friend." He stopped, waiting to see if I would ask any 
questions, but I just waited for him to go on. 

So he continued, "I don't really know who the person who held you hostage is. I'm guessing he's a 
new recruit of the enemy's .As far as the matter of them finding us goes, I think they knew where
 to find us and I find that a little strange. Honestly speaking, they shouldn't have been able to 
find us, but anyway... that's a different issue .And for your next question, I think I have already
 answered it. And.......", he smiled a little, "Welcome home." 

chapter30 - Faerie forest

"Home?" ,I said. "Yep", he replied "don't you recognize this place, or a least find it familiar?" , he 
asked."Uh.............."I looked more closely at my surroundings and I realized that the forest was
 not an ordinary one .It was more beautiful than any forest on earth. The leaves were a deep blue 
colour with flecks of gold in them. The canopy was very thick so the sunlight fell in beams 
through gaps in the leaves, and when it fell on the leaves lying on the forest floor, it caught the 
golden colour beautifully, making it look like you were standing on a golden carpet .And the 
flowers...they were a refreshing white. It was a wonderful sight to see so many of them gently 
swaying back and forth in the gentle breeze. In that moment a wave of warmth, comfort and 
security washed over me and I knew then that he was speaking the truth. I had finally come home.  

chapter32 - Forgotten Identity

I felt so much more at ease. I knew that I was safe for the time being .I still had a few questions  
left though, so I decided to get them over with.  "Who is Ophelia ?",I asked.
All I can say about Kieran's reaction to this question is , he looked shocked .I was taken by surprise  
at this reaction of his. He looked completely stupefied, like he never expected me to utter these  
words and then he burst out laughing .This reaction of his only made me more curious about who she was. So I asked him  
again "Who is she?". No reaction from Kieran."Um...Hello?".Still no reaction .I reached out and  
poked him gently .No response .I was getting impatient .I poked him hard. "Oww!!" .I watched in grim satisfaction he stopped laughing.
"What?" he asked.I sighed and repeated my question again, "Who is Ophelia  ?"

"Well.........", He had a weird look on his face, nevertheless, he didn't stop ,"This may not  
make  sense to you, but I'll tell you anyway, since you asked.......... you".  

WHAT!! It was my turn to be shocked. What was he saying!"How is this possible?!",I exclaimed. 
"How can I be two people at the same time.You know very well that this is not possible.Unless..........",
 I had just realized something,"You said 'we' before......does that mean that I am one of you people?" 
I asked.
He gave a small smile,"Yes", he replied, "you are one of us. Let me tell you again to make it clearer.
You, Lisa Ray, are one of us. You belong to this world. This place, where you are right now, is your
 true home.In this world you go by the name of Ophelia and are much in demand in both 
parties as you are the key to winning the war." 
" What war?",I asked. He sighed,"Its a long story. Why don't I answer your other questions as we 
walk? You won't be able to last very long here in that form of yours",he said."Why?",I asked. 
"I don't know", he replied."Its always been that way.The only reason you've been able to survive this
 long here is because you have the alternate form that's required to live here.Normal beings from
 Earth die almost immediately.You won't last much longer too, Unless we can change you into your true 
form",He said.
"True form?", I asked."The form I'm currently in is called the 'true form' , he said.
"Oh.", was the only reply I could think of."Let's get going then.", he said .And so we set off on a 
new journey. 

"Where are we going?", I asked. "To the palace", he replied."And where's that?", I asked.
"In the kingdom of Astraea", he replied. We walked in silence for a while. Then another question occurred to me."How many of your kind are there?", I asked.
"Well, very few actually. I belong to one of the last surviving tribes of my kind, and so do you." , he replied. That took me by surprise, but atleast I got to know a little bit more about myself. 
I found it strange though, to be told about myself by another person."How come I don't remember any of this?", I asked. "That's a little tough to answer" he said,"I don't know whether this is true or not, but I'm guessing that you didn't really forget. I 'm assuming that you sealed away your memories of  your other form for the better." "But why would I do that?", I asked."Only you can answer that question", he replied.

"Are we there yet?", I asked for the thousandth time. "No", was the reply.As expected.We had been walking for days together now, and I was beginning to feel really tired. I really couldn't understand why though. I had been getting enough sleep and there was no shortage of food and water either.Actually many things had changed over the past few days.For one, I was now beginning to get tired more faster with each passing day. At first I had just thought it was travel fatigue, but now I suspected that its cause was something else. Also, I had begun to have visions that had increased in frequency and sometimes even duration, though they were generally short.And another thing I had noticed was that my hair was beginning to gray because just this morning I had found five gray hairs.I had a theory for this though and now was the time to confirm it.

"Kieran",I called. "Hm." he replied."Can I ask you something",I said. "Sure",he replied.
"Uh....... do- does this place make your human body grow old?",I asked."No, why do you ask?",he said , his curiosity piqued."Uh......we- well....", I was feeling really awkward right now"um..because I-I was just curious",I said in a lame attempt to avoid telling him the actual reason, wishing now that I had never said anything.Obviously he didn't believe me and that was evident from his expression. He had a slight frown on his face."Do not lie to me", he said "If something is bothering you or if you've noticed anything unusual about yourself since coming here, spit it out. It could have serious consequences", he said.
"Um......... well..... I have noticed something about myself."I said.He looked at me expectantly.I took a deep breath and gathered my courage."The thing is I-I- I've been tiring more and more easily since we got here and-why did we stop?", I asked."To conserve your energy", he replied."Go on", he said after two seconds of silence."Huh......?Oh! Yes. And also my hair has begun to gray and my dreams have increased in frequency",I finished , a little breathless. I was surprised.Was talking also too much for me now?

Kieran looked deeply worried."How long have you been this way?". He asked, a deep frown on his face."since week one of our journey here", I said nervously."WHAT!!!?", Kieran exploded. He looked stunned."Only the tiring of my body",I said quickly "The gray hairs began to appear only from day-before-yesterday. And the dreams, they just started getting frequent since last week.I'm sure that nothing is unusual..........right?.......", I said.But the expression on Kieran's face said something else altogether. 

Kieran had gone into shock.He just stood there, frozen. I waited, unsure of what to do. He didn't move a muscle. He didn't even blink. I tried calling his name several times but there was no response.I even tried shaking him, but in vain. He stayed that way for two full minutes, and just as I was thinking of poking him, he suddenly moved.And before I knew it the ground was moving beneath me.
It was so unexpected that I didn't know what was going on. But after a while I realized that he was carrying me again, and was instantly irritated.Why did he keep carrying me around!? Did he think that I couldn't walk on my own!?"Why are you carrying me this time?", I burst out exasperated. " Oy! That's not fair! It's not like I enjoy doing this", he said"But's its not like I have a choice either you know.Not with the condition you are in anyway", he said. "What do you mean by that? Is my situation really that bad?",I asked.Kieran didn't answer and he didn't need to.

Suddenly a bolt of pain shot through my head and I clutched at it instinctively."Owwww!What's going on?!!",I cried out.The pain was intense and only seemed to be growing.After a point it got so intense that I could barely handle it any more "Please!", I cried out "Please make it stop!!!I can't take it anymore!!",I screamed.
Kieran looked at me strangely and anxiety shone in his eyes."Take deep breaths", he instructed me "and concentrate on your present.Think about where you are and what you are doing now. Do not bother about anything else",he said firmly.

I did as was told, desperate to get rid of the headache.Soon, it stopped growing in intensity and sometime after, the pain began to decrease slowly.It was evening by the time the headache had receded enough for me to resume normal activities though.
We had already reached the city by then and currently, we were residing in an inn for the night.Kieran said it was a precautionary measure, incase the headache came back again, otherwise we would have been traveling even now.But then again, we would have still been on the fringes of the forest if it wasn't for the headache.But by now I knew that something was definitely wrong and I resolved to find out what it was.

It was quite dark by now. I was sitting on a bench in the garden waiting for Kieran to return.He had disappeared shortly after dinner saying that he needed to meet someone.
When asked who it was, he refused to tell me anything saying that it didn't concern me.But he looked slightly troubled while saying that, making me conclude that it was something that definitely concerned me, but I didn't feel that it was right to pressurize him just then, so I kept quiet and let the matter go. But now  the belief that something was wrong only grew stronger.Kieran would be returning soon, and now would be the perfect time to question him.I wasn't letting him go without proper answers this time.

As I waited I thought back to two hours ago, just before Kieran had left. I had just entered the room when I saw him pick up his sword."Where are you going?", I asked."Hm?", he looked up."Oh its you. ", he said."where are you going?, i asked again. "Oh. Well nowhere in particular.", he said . well whatever, I had more important things on my mind than what he was hiding from me."If you don't mind, I just  have a question", I said "How do I turn back into my "true form"?", I asked.
And for the first time he looked at me fully in the face."I don't know ", he said "probably when you get your memories back,which is just what I'll try to do after I get back", he said hurrying out the door." Hey!... Wait!... Atleast tell me where you're going!.....Just....In case.....!" , I shouted after him, already breathless."As I said, nowhere in particular, Just reporting that I'm back! " he yelled, disappearing round the door.

I waited with growing impatience for Kieran to return. He was gone for a pretty long time. It was almost nearing midnight.I was still sitting in the garden.I had been there since late evening awaiting his return. I had waited patiently for him to return all this time, spending my time watching the night flowers bloom and counting the stars as they appeared one by one.The garden throbbed and glowed gently all around me as I cast  yet another look at the watch sitting on my wrist.This was not my own watch - which was dysfunctional ever since I had arrived here - it was Kieran's.He had lent it to me when we had arrived at the inn saying he would get another one later.But looking at the watch did me no good as it only served to make me more impatient.I decided that if Kieran did not turn up in another two minutes I would go look for him myself.But of course that was not to be, because two minutes later, just as I was getting up to leave, he appeared.

He was panting, completely out of breath, and he looked like he had just run all the way here."You okay?", I asked him, a little worried at the way he was panting."Yeah",he replied in between breaths "Just ran after a long time",he said and smiled."Whatever you say "I replied, unsure.We sat in silence for awhile, gazing at the stars unsure of what to say. "Why were you sitting out here all alone?", he asked after a length."Waiting for you", I replied, glad that he had started a conversation."Waiting for me?", he asked, surprised "why?". "I had to ask you something", I said coming straight to the point."Ask me something? What?", he asked."What are you keeping from me?",I asked, and judging by the colour his face had taken on, I knew that he wasn't expecting this question. 

Kieran had gone completely pale. "What makes you think that I am keeping something from you?",he asked, trying to act like nothing had happened."Well if I really must tell you...Firstly, you've been acting weirdly ever since I told you about my symptoms.Secondly, you looked really worried after dinner and refused to tell me why.Thirdly, you came running all the way here to check on me and lastly......you've turned really pale after I asked you this question", I said, and seeing the expression on Kieran's face, I knew that I had won this round.Now he had to answer all my questions and there was no way he could wriggle out from this one.

I smiled trumphantly as I repeated my question in my sweetest voice "Now could you please tell me what you are hiding from me?".Kieran gulped"Why don't we go in?", he suggested, completely avoiding my eyes."This may take some time"
I followed Kieran back to the room that we were staying in for the night. Someone had lit the lamp in the evening, and it glowed softly now, giving off a pleasant glow and warmth.Kieran shut the door and went about the room shutting its windows as well, as I settled myself comfortably on the bed. Once he was done he turned his attention to me.
"Is all this really necessary?",I asked him, indicating the door and the windows."Yes", he replied "As some of the things I am about to tell you might be confidential".I was really surprised by his answer as I didn't expect that he would actually trust me this much, nevertheless, I was grateful that he was finally going to stop talking in circles.
"Now, to answer your question...", he said, settling himself opposite to me "Let's start from the beginning............"

"You may be wondering why I am doing so much for you. To you I am a total stranger who just appeared out of the blue and saved your life several times over, risking his own  instead. But the truth is I am no stranger at all, in fact we are quite close" I sat silently digesting this new piece of information, but I decided to wait till he was done before asking him anything.

"We met for the first time when we were very young, around the age of five or six. We met by accident. You were running after a golden squirrel and I was running away from the guards.I had stolen their food.We didn't see each other and we crashed into one another", a small smile graced his lips as he fondly remembered that moment."You were very angry at that time..But it was understandable I guess, afterall you had lost sight of your precious squirrel. But you agreed  to help me on the condition that I give you two apples out of the five that I had stolen. With the fee settled you quietly hid me away till the guards had gone.Of course I had disappeared by then, but you never forgot the apples."
"We met again, two months later, and the first thing you asked me for was the apples.....and that's how our friendship started"

"We began to meet regularly after that and often hung out together.It was not long before you became my partner in crime.Soon, we pretty much spent the entire day in each other's company. We would often spend time in the place where we had met, and even then I used to steal from the guards once in a while. Just to annoy them. One such time you decided to join me. We  quietly untied two of their horses and rode away on them.They gave us a chase, but we soon lost them.I still remember that day clearly", he said. "Because that was when I saw the warrior in you for the first time. We rode all the way till the edge of the mountain and that day for the first time,we gazed on the valley below and determined to go there sometime in the future. It was late night by the time we came back, and we quietly returned the horses to their places and slunk away."
"That night, for the first time we slept under the stars and we fell asleep counting them, but that was one of the last pleasant nights we spent there. Soon we left the place and ran away to the valley below."

"That was where we began our new lives. That was the place that made us who we are today, that was the place where we really became close to each other. So close......that it was almost as if you were a part of me. We became inseparable at that place. And.......", he paused, a sad look passed his face for a fleeting moment before he resumed. As I sat in silent wonder, listening to my own story, I couldn't help but wonder what could have made him that sad. He continued ".....It was also the place where we met our greatest enemy and our best friend..." 
Greatest enemy....? Somehow that didn't sound right, but I remained silent yet again, already impatient for him to continue the story,but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts and did not realize that he had paused for quite sometime now.I could wait no more, so I decided to remind him"And then?" I asked. He came out of his reverie and stared at me for a whole minute before continuing.

"It was hard to survive there. We toiled day and night for a penny and slowly life improved. Yes, we still had to work hard everyday.Still had to look out for jobs, but now atleast we had a roof over our heads. It wasn't much. just a small abandoned mud hut on the very edge of the city. But food was a big problem. There was no vegetation nearby, neither was the soil any good. Many a times we were forced to steal and we often went hungry......It was on one of those rare days when we did get something to eat that we first met him........ "

He stole our food. We chased him all over town to get it back.That was when we were picked up by the then general of the army,Mr Darius.He said he saw potential in us, asked us if we were interested in serving the kingdom and most importantly offered to pay us.Of course we said yes immediately. It was a question of survival for us.But perhaps the biggest blow at that time was that he was picked up too. The three of us were to join the army next week. The first few days were terrible. We constantly fought. We never forgave him for the food stealing, but then one day all that changed, 'cause he did something strange. 

He stole food for us. "Stole food..?" I asked, confused. "Yes.", he replied."Stole food.Though we were now training to be part of the army, they didn't give us any accommodation . Unlike our other batch mates we still had to fend for ourselves everyday. We had to work if we wanted to eat. We did a few  odd jobs  in the army in addition to these lessons but the pay was meager. Not enough to sustain 2 hungry kids. So we often stole to stay alive,and one day we were caught and nearly punished for it. But they let us off with a warning. We hadn't eaten in a week by then and were starving when he stole the food for us.We were inseparable after that.We  never doubted him again .Which was our biggest mistake" 
"But at that time we knew nothing of it...and thought nothing of it.We continued our lives there, the bond between the three of us only growing with time.We led a very happy life there, though it was not always easy. Those few years slipped away rather fast.Soon we were inducted into the army  and quickly rose in rank. But, I must admit, He was a truly clever guy, joining the army like that....It was the perfect cover to check out the kingdom's security systems and defense mechanisms and  their method of functioning....And the best part was that everyone fell straight into his trap.Eveyone thought that he was just another eager trainee who was  interested in the working of the army and gladly told him everything he asked of them...What no one realized was that it was  part of his plan, and  that he was just using the guise of a student to gather information."
"Then, five years ago something strange happened, he disappeared suddenly.No one knew what had happened to him.And now, after all these years...............He has returned.Returned to terrorize this world."

"Terrorize...this..world....?",I said slowly. Somehow that didn't feel right.Perhaps my face mirrored that feeling because he said "I know that you probably don't believe me, and honestly its okay, because I couldn't believe it myself, when I first found out....But now after seeing for myself what he has done I can deny it no longer........I have been forced to accept the fact that the person, who we once thought of as our best friend and considered a part of our family, has betrayed us. He used us ruthlessly and tossed us aside when we had finished our part in his plan....and truly what a  plan it was...and a good one at that...Heh..." I kept quiet, not wanting to hear any of this. Even though I could remember nothing of what he had said I could not help but strongly feel that what he was telling me was horribly wrong.I just didn't want to believe it, but at the same time I also didn't want him to stop so I  opened my mouth, full of uncertainty, and said "Then...?"

"Then...",he continued "Then...we just wouldn't let that go would we....of course not...so we joined the army in the search for the traitor knowing that we would have to face him sooner or later.And now...", he said, a very strange look entering his eyes, like that of a starved wolf that has finally found its prey "And now....the time has finally come.",he said. A slow smile spread over his face. I didn't like it one bit ,but a hundred questions were on my mind, so I opened my mouth to speak "The time has come......What exactly do you mean by that?",I asked full of apprehension, not wanting to hear his reply. "The meaning's clear enough isn't it? It means that we have finally found him. This is what I've been keeping from you,I didn't want to tell you till you got back your memories as you  would understand its full impact only then. And the good news is that  I am in charge of putting a stop to his activities.", he said. "Good news.......?",I said a little annoyed at his happiness.

"What?",he said "Isn't it? After so many years, we finally found him. I know that you don't feel anything on hearing it right now, but that's only because you don't remember anything. The other side of you would have rejoiced on hearing this",he said, and looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to join in his happiness. But instead of feeling happy on hearing this news my irritation only grew and as it turned into anger I couldn't hold it in any longer "Good? How is it good?", I asked through clenched teeth in an effort to calm myself down. But it was hopeless as my anger would not die down. I had to speak no matter what and there was not a thing I could do to stop my words.He looked shocked at this, but I couldn't have cared less and I went on "How is it good? And what do you mean by the 'other me'? There is no other me, there is only one of me. No matter what my form I am one and the same person.And about my memories...it's not as if you really care about them anyway, otherwise you would have done something to help me get them back by now, but instead I see that you are only making excuses each time I ask you how to get them back even though you claim to  know how to retrieve them", I said. My voice had steadily been increasing in volume and pitch, but I did not care and went on ruthlessly "And as for rejoicing, I assure you I wouldn't, even if my memories had returned, I'd never have rejoiced at such news.In case your forgetting, just because I can't remember everything about what you said just now or change into my 'true' form, as you call it, doesn't mean I have forgotten everything. And from what I can remember I know that what you are saying is wrong, really really wrong.The only thing I feel upon hearing you speak like this is disgust, deep disgust for a person like you, who is ready to give up on his friend so easily!!!!", I screamed.My entire body was shaking in anger and I glared at him, panting heavily.

Whatever I said until now were true.I really did feel so disgusted with him and I was wondering how he could have become my friend. I really did not understand what it was that I could have seen in him that made me befriend him. Perhaps his  personality had changed since I last saw him, perhaps the act of losing me once had changed him, I really didn't know. But what I did know was that the man in front of me was not the man who had saved me from my pursuers all those weeks ago, the man in front of me wasn't the man that I had seen in my dreams.the man in front of me wasn't the one that I had known just a few hours ago.That man had vanished, disappeared into thin air....and another had taken his place, wearing the same face. I didn't want to believe in what I was seeing and what I had just witnessed...the transformation of a loved person into a one whom I now disliked intensely. But I couldn't believe that Kieran was actually like this.... that he had changed into such an ugly creature....my heart would not believe it yet my mind could not deny what had just happened.

We stood like that for a while.Kieran staring at me in shock and me glaring at him. then he just snorted at me angrily and turned on his heel and left the room, slamming the door shut after him.The door shook the room as it slammed shut. I sank onto the bed, scared now, wondering what to do and where to go.I had successfully gotten my only known acquaintance in this world to leave me, and there was no chance that he was coming back.I had angered him incredibly and was unsure if I could ever make it up to him.But even then I refused to believe in what he had just said.Thinking of the conversation I could only feel disgust. Strong disgust for what he had just said, and I nearly broke down in tears thinking of how he had behaved. The light in his eyes, it had such a feral quality to it, like he had become an animal, and it scared me a lot, it shook me to the bone, but even so I could not believe what he had told me. Even if I tried my best to do so, my heart just would not co-operate.And what I had told him was not entirely wrong either.True, I didn't remember everything, but that didn't mean that I remembered nothing. During the headache I had experienced in the forest I wasn't just experiencing pain, I had recovered a bit of my memory then. It wasn't very long though, just a  few seconds. At the time when the pain was peaking, a memory had surfaced, one of another man, around the same age as Kieran and me, and  he was singing a song. Just a few lines and for some reason I knew they were much more than the words of a song.

I still could not fathom why he had accused him like this, considering that even he was present when that man was humming that song, for I had felt his presence next to me. Probably something had occurred after my memories had been sealed. My head was still in a mess from what I heard just now and to top it off, it had begun to throb painfully.
I sank on to the bed, still shocked by what had happened just now.My mind was whirling as I thought about everything that he had just said. I wondered if it was really true, but I really couldn't believe him. As I was wondering and debating about the possibility,I experienced a particularly painful throb . As I crashed to the floor my head hit the vase and as I blacked out images began flooding my mind.

Suddenly I was a little girl again.I was laying down on my back staring at the sky.It was a bright, spring day and the sky was a beautiful blue.The clouds rolled by slowly. They looked like giant cotton puffs. The meadow stretched away on all the sides from below me, a lush green carpet.It looked like someone had just watered it for the earth felt a little damp,but I didn't seem to mind, instead I laughed delightedly as I knocked off a few drops of water from a blade of grass.  I wriggled around for a while to find a comfortable position before settling down and closing my eyes. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a woman's voice.
"Ophelia! Ophelia!! Where are you? Come, it is time to leave!!", she called out. I responded to her call by  shouting back "I'm here mamma!!"
 

It was my birthday.I laughed gleefully as I skipped into the kitchen.I spotted a stirring spoon in a bowl and eyed the bowl with mischievous eyes.I looked around to see if there was anyone about.I could see no one so I quickly ran out with the bowl and hid under the table. As I began licking the stirring spoon I heard a swishing sound which meant that my mother was headed towards the kitchen. I continued to lick at the spoon unhurriedly for I knew that she wouldn't find me yet.
Just as I finished licking the spoon I heard the swishing sound near the table and my mother's head appeared under the table.
Shortly after, I was pulled out from under the table and my mother smilingly pulled away the bowl from me."Now now this is for your birthday" she said and then pretending to be stern continued "Now you must help in the preparations as punishment for licking the stirring spoon".I giggled as I gladly followed her into the kitchen.

I was twelve. Ashes rained down around me. My parents were gone....dead....They had just been caught in the explosion.......
I stood there frozen, just staring at where I had just seen them...They were right there in the evacuation vehicle... then suddenly the vehicle exploded and everyone had disappeared...Kieran appeared in the distance and ran towards me....he had miraculously survived the explosions...he reached me and began pulling me away from the village.....I rebelled, wanting to go back and look for survivors....He lost his temper and screamed something at me, I didn't really hear what... but he had mentioned my parents and something about me surviving....I broke down and Kieran forcefully pulled me away from there whilst I was blinded by my tears.....

I was thirteen now. It had been 4 months since the explosions....and we had returned to the village site...there was nothing now but ashes... not a single plant grew  there....but the meadow where me and my mother had spent so many days was untouched. I lay down on the grass and looked at the sky once more remembering all the good times that I spent there. the sky was a clear blue with cotton puffs scattered over it and the grass was a lush green carpet with gems sprinkled all over it.
Kieran came and joined me a short while later.....that was our last day in the hills.....we were leaving for the valley tomorrow....

Note from the Author :

Hey everyone! Sorry for the looong gap in updates. I was really really busy with studies till now.I apologize for the wait.For readers who are continuing to read the story from here I'd like to inform you that I've made a few minor changes in the storyline uptill now. And for those who are reading it for the first time, I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Comments and reviews will be greatly appreciated.

Now back to the story

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was 21. We had just been inducted into the army.It was our first day there and we had been given a task for the selection round. They had hidden certain equipment around and we were to find all of them in the given time....me , Kieran and Xavier(the guy who had stolen our food) had made a team and we were following another person to see if he had found anything when he suddenly disappeared. Surprised we came out of hiding and approached the place where we had last seen him to find him hanging off a branch. That was one steep cliff and he had just managed to hold onto a branch to stop his death.After much effort we pulled him up," Thanks",he said "You just saved my life back there.I will never forget it................Say, can join your team?".We were a little shocked at the proposal but we accepted it. And that was the beginning of another friendship.

Our parting day had arrived.....we were finally parting ways."This is it then....goodbye", and Kieran and I took the left fork whereas Xavier,  took the right fork of the road. We decided to stop by a village for the night before continuing to our final destination, the royal city, Astraea.As we walked we reminiscenced about our time together, wondering if we would have grown closer had we stayed together longer."Of course we would", Kieran had said when I had asked him this question and I knew it was true. After a little over two weeks of traveling we finally reached the royal city. We had just been assigned our duties for the day and were wondering what Xavier would be doing at this time of the day and where he was when we heard somebody call us. We turned around with wide smiles on our faces and there was Xavier, running towards us. 

I was now 24 years. We were in the middle of a battle. I had just saved a girl from the enemy's arrow. Her mother ran towards us. She embraced the girl tightly, praying all the time. Then she looked up and offered help. I was about to ask her to aid in the rescue operation when Kieran appeared out of the blue. He dragged me away before I could say anything, saying something about some attack in the next village. I really didn't care though. I was feeling really dizzy. I turned for one last look at the girl. I had to make sure she was safe. Darkness was eating at the corners of my eyes. Kieran was calling me. I blacked out.

The first thing I remember seeing after waking up was bright blue hair. I quickly looked around. I was behind a rock shelter of sorts. The girl I had just saved and her mother were looking at me. I peeked out from behind the rocks. All was quiet. The village lay in shambles."Where is everyone?", I asked the lady. " The young man with you said they were going to the neighbouring village, bu-" before she could finish her sentence I leapt to my feet and was over the rocks. " But he asked you to STAY HERE!", she yelled after me. But by then I was already halfway across the abandoned battle field and there was no way I was not going.

I flew across the landscape as fast as I could.Thoughts chased themselves around in circles in my head." What if  I was too late? What if no one was left? Was there anyone alive? ...." I forced the negative thoughts out of my head. If I wasn't too late maybe we could catch the leader. It was hardly likely he would sit around waiting for me, but there was a chance that he was still there. A very slim chance. But a chance nonetheless. And as long as there was a chance that he could be caught, no matter how small, I wasn't going to leave it.

I had finally reached the village. There was blood everywhere. It was clear that the leader had been here. By now we knew how much he loved bloodshed. And the amount of blood found here was evidence that he had definitely been here. I ran through the village, searching for survivors. On the outskirts of the other side of the village I found Kieran. He was unconscious. This was bad. The leader must be really strong to be  able to injure him like that because Kieran was one of the best the army had. I didn't want to leave him there but I had no choice because there was still a chance that the leader was around. That meant that it was my duty to catch him first. I ran on praying that Kieran would live.

I wiped the tears from my eyes as I ran. The image of Kieran lying on the ground like that...............looking so helpless .......I couldn't stand it. Anger coursed through me. I ran faster. Soon the borders of the forest was visible.I slowed down looking around to see if there was someone. Cautiously I moved into the shelter of the trees, eyes peeled and ears strained for any sign.There was a sudden movement to my right. I ducked. A knife sailed over my head and lodged itself in the tree behind me.

I quickly turned around to see who had thrown the knife. I was surprised. There 
stood Xavier. " What are you doing here?", I asked. He shifted uncomfortably."I know I'm 
not supposed to be here, but I couldn't stand not knowing what had happened to you both....
.so I hid in the van of the medics and came here." "Kier-",I began."I know.", he said
."He was already like that by the time I reached"."The-", I said, but was cut-off once more.
"I saw him going through here. I'll follow him. You should go back",he said."Take Kieran back to
  camp. They'll treat him there. And hurry.', he turned away and began walking.I turned
 around too. What was the point of staying? 
 I took a step forward when I suddenly  felt something poke my shoulder. I reached  behind and pulled it out , immediately recognizing it the minute my fingers wrapped around it. It was a dart. "Why?" I whispered as I began to lose consciousness."Why did you do this to us?Was it you who injured Kieran too?"
"Yes.",he answered "But I had no choice, he wouldn't listen to me when I asked him to move aside. Trust me, I would never hurt you both if I could avoid it.",he said.
"liar." I whispered ,fighting to stay conscious. He looked pained. "I'm sorry", he whispered "But someday you'll understand." With that he turned around and left. And as I fell into the darkness I heard him humming.....

I woke up in a cold sweat.I noticed at once that I was freezing. I pulled a shawl around my cold shoulders with shaking hands, and slowly sat down on the bed. My memories were now unlocked. They had finally returned. I remembered the confusion I had felt when I had heard his words. So I sat down now and thought about them with a new perspective and understanding, determined to solve it. Just then someone passed by the window. They were talking to another person. I couldn't hear what they were speaking about properly.However as they passed the window I managed to catch a few words which propelled me to my feet. I stood there for one moment, shocked. Then transforming I flew out of the door, heading for the palace.

I ran with all my might. I had to get to the castle as fast as possible and I had to meet the king now. Knowing Kieran, he would have already gone to the king on hearing the news, and for all I knew he had probably already requested the army's assistance. The king would have of course not refused him, which meant that, if I had heard right, then currently Kieran was off to a battle. The problem was, how long ago? He could have teleported there almost immediately after leaving me, and if that was the case, which was highly likely, then it meant that he had no clue what was in store for him. 

The people outside the window were the guards on patrol duty that night at the village. And they had only recently got wind of the fact that  the leader was going to be present in the battle. In fact they weren't sure yet. Kieran had to be warned as fast as possible. For, the last time he had faced the leader, he was left half-dead. An now the leader could have only grown in strength, which meant.......

As I ran I considered the possibility of teleporting. But I wasn't too sure, after all I had only just revived myself a few minutes ago. There was no guarantee that my body would be able to hold together yet. I decided not to take the risk.Kieran needed me right now. But first I had to meet the king and time was very important right now. So I took the next fastest option available to me. I hitched a ride to the capital.

I waited impatiently outside the gates as a guard left to inform the king of my arrival. Shortly an escort arrived to lead me inside, but instead of going to the courtroom he took me to a smaller room elsewhere. He asked me to wait there, saying the king wished to talk to me in private, and that he would be arriving shortly, before departing, closing the door quietly after him.

Since I had to wait a while, I decided to look around the room. Frankly, there wasn't much to see, It was quite a small room, and a bit stifling. There was no window, and the only entrance was the door through which I had come. The floor was covered with an ornate red carpet, and matching drapes covered the entire room. There was a painting on the opposite wall, of a little girl, framed in gold.

After a while I began to feel hot and decided to open the door a bit, but to  my surprise it wouldn't budge. I applied greater force, but remained firm. That was strange. I called out for help. But there was no response. Was the corridor deserted....? That was not possible, the corridor was full of people just now, besides the guards were always there at all times.

So this silence only meant one thing. I was being kept prisoner here.

But why would the king do that?
I remembered Kieran's words " You are the key to winning the war". But why would the king want to lose? Or was I being held here for some other purposes?

At any rate I did not have the time to ponder over that question.I had already wasted enough time here. I began gathering my energy slowly.
Soon enough I had a good amount of it. i carefully took aim at the door as I concentrated the energy in my palm, and sent a blast of blue energy at the door, effectively blasting the doors apart.

 Lo and behold, there stood a dumbfounded guard. I silenced him before he could utter a word by sending another blast of energy at him. No doubt the corridor was filled with guards. Probably one of them had already gone for reinforcements.

I charged out of the room making straight for the nearest window, which

unfortunately happened to be at the end of the corridor.

Nevertheless I ran on, blasting more soldiers out of the way as

I went. But just before I reached the window reinforcements arrived.

They were upon me in a minute , pinning my arms to my side, pushing me

to the ground trying to subdue me. I snarled in frustration, now was not the time for this.I had to get to Kieran.NOW!!.

I roared in rage as a burst of energy engulfed me, finally transforming completely.

The energy released from the complete breaking of the seal effectively cleared a path for me.

I charged straight for the window, making maximum use the situation, before the guards could recover from the shock.

Finally reaching the window, I leapt right out.

Then, I realized that I did not know how to use wind magic yet.

I plummeted to the ground, cursing wildly at my folly. I was certain to meet death now.

Leave alone saving Kieran, I had to find a way to save myself first.

As I thought wildly about what I could do in the next five seconds to stop myself from turning into pulp, my eyes fell on the stables and inspiration struck.

“Flash steps!”, I thought. Afterall, flash steps was one of the most basic magic taught to anyone in the army. And it wasn’t too complicated, thus there was a chance I could pull it off without wasting much of my magic energy.

So, without further ado, I quickly conjured up a series of planes underneath me, which, thankfully helped break my fall. 

I tumbled off the last plane with only a few scratches here and there, but otherwise unharmed, and leapt to my feet. There was no time to waste, I had to make it to the stables.They were my only hope of escape. Everything depended on Iffy. 

As I ran, I wondered where the guards had gone. “Probably to remove the barrier” I thought.

For whatever reason the King did not like the use of magic in the palace, and so a barrier  had been erected around the fort, that allowed only basic magic to be used within its confines, for sake of the safety of the king.

However if they were going to remove it, I was in big trouble. The barrier absorbs any excess magic and releases it when undone, in its elemental state, so that everyone in the area can harness it, and no doubt my transformation and sudden outburst of magical energy had it  up quite a bit.

As for me, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t use advanced or very complicated magic even if I wanted to. Thanks to my memory being sealed for so long, I couldn’t remember everything I had learnt immediately. Instead, I found that my knowledge of magic was returning bit by bit.

“Ah! If only I had the time”, I thought, wistfully.

The stables were finally in sight. Good. Now the only thing was Iffy. Iffy had to be present in the stables and had to recognize me, if my plan was to be successful. Otherwise all this effort would be for naught.

I approached the stables carefully, dressed in the guise of a worker. As I peeked into each stable, I desperately hoped Iffy was still being housed here.

“She has to be. She’s one of the best after all” I thought, fervently praying that I would find her, before the guards found me. This was the only place within the entire fort, where magic could be used unrestrained. It would be easier for them to track me down here. Currently, it would a little hard to detect me thank to my low level of magic, however that advantage would soon disappear, as my body was fast  getting used the environment around it .

I had to find her. And fast.

I searched and searched, for what felt like ages, and finally ,as I poked my head into yet another stall my heart cried out in joy.

I had finally found Iffy!

Now the only thing left for me to do, was see if Iffy remembered me.

Cautiously, I entered the stable. It seemed to be empty.”Strange. I had definitely sensed her energy in here”, I thought.

It was rather small for her. I peered around carefully.

“She always liked corners. Perhaps she is curled up in one” I thought.

And so I carefully took a step forward, when I heard a low growl.

I froze. She was being wary. Perhaps they had ill-treated her. I did not know. But it was imperative that she recognize me.

Slowly, I turned towards the source of the sound. There she was. Curled up into a tight ball in the darkest corner. The only way I knew she was there was due to the glint of her eyes.

She growled again. I exhaled deeply, calming myself.

I moved to the more lighted area of the stall. “Here girl”, I said softly,”I’m back.”

 I reached out to her like I used to.

But, instead of coming towards me, she shrank further back into the shadows and let out another warning growl.

“Uh-oh” I thought. I had to convince her fast or she would kill me soon.

I wracked my head, thinking of a way to try and get her to recognize me. Then, I got it.

Staying very still, I gently closed my eyes and began to sing the song I used to sing to her when she was a little hatchling. Hopefully she would recognize it and believe me.

It was my only hope. If this did not work, it was the end for me.

I continued to sing for the next two minutes. My tension mounting with every second. I knew the guards were definitely searching for me by now, and it was only a matter of time before I was found.

She had to recognize me. But the problem was, she was showing no signs of familiarity.

“Oh please, please recognize me!” I thought “if not, at least accept me, that would be enough.”

I knew that once I was accepted, I could approach her. And once I touch her, that would be more than enough. I knew how I could make her submit to me right away.

But I was despairing right now. So far, she was only staring warily at me.

“Come on!!”, I thought. I didn’t have much time now.

It was quite silent around us so far, except for me singing to her softly, and the occasional snort from  one of the other dragons. Then suddenly, to my horror, there came the clattering of footsteps.

“She’s here!” I heard one of the guards shout. “I can feel her aura. Its quite strong and growing fast too.”

My voice shook slightly as I sang. This was it. It was the end.

I continued to sing as the footsteps grew closer. “Might as well try till the very end” I thought. “At least I have a chance of survival right now. But if I stop, I’ll definitely get killed.”

The doors to the stable burst apart as the guards finally arrived. I had to make a choice now. The dragon or the guards? I decided it was better to be slain by the claws of a dragon, than by the palace guards. And so I stopped singing and instead whirled around to face them.

If, by some chance, the dragon missed me, I would not go down without a fight.

Iffy jumped. But, to my surprise, it was not towards me, but instead the palace guards.

She attacked them furiously, killing a few with her weight when she landed on them, slashing at the others with half-drawn claws, and biting and snapping at anyone else who dared to move.

Having effectively demolished the whole unit of guards who had managed to find us. She then proceeded to wreck the stable, till she managed to make enough space for herself to escape.

Then, grabbing me by the collar, she crawled out through her hole, before taking off

At last, I had finally managed to escape from the clutches of the king. As for Iffy, I simply assumed that she had accepted me. After all, she had protected me then, and she was carrying me now.

But I had to confirm this. If she hadn’t accepted me, it meant that I was her dinner for the night. I fervently hoped that wasn’t the case.

My heart beat madly against my chest as I prepared myself to give her a command. This was it. With this I would know whether I had any control over the situation or not.

“Iffy”, I managed weakly “down girl.”

No response.

“Well, maybe that was too weak”, I thought. I was trying to control a dragon after all.

 Still dangling from her mouth. I inhaled and exhaled deeply several times, mentally preparing

myself for the task. I recalled my first day with her. The day of her submission.

Then inhaling deeply I barked out ”Down girl!”

To my huge relief Iffy tilted downwards, preparing for landing.

My joy knew no bounds. So far, thankfully, everything had worked out. My memories had returned, I had managed to transform on my own and now, I had also escaped from the king and his men.

Ever since Kieran had stomped out through the door, I was afraid that I had lost him, but that was not to be. I still had a chance to stop his madness. Even though I was only temporarily free (for the king would definitely pursue me, no doubt), I now had a battle dragon by my side. And that was more than enough.

I thought about what I would need, as Iffy prepared to take-off once more (This time with me as her rider. Not her passenger). Considering that I was going into battle, the first and foremost thing that came to mind was Weapon. But sadly that was one thing I did not have. The second was my knowledge of magic.

As we flew, I decided to objectively view my position. The two most important things required for a battle were magic and weaponry both of which I did not have, which put me at a huge disadvantage. On the other hand, I had Iffy, a battle dragon.

Well, it isn’t a very favourable position, but on the bright side, things would definitely improve.

For one, Iffy herself would be somewhat like a weapon. True, she could never actually make-up for one, but a battle dragon was a formidable enemy in the hands of a good rider, and as fate would have it, I turned out to be an excellent one. Two, though I didn’t have all my knowledge of magic just yet, my memories were slowly returning and so was my ability to use more and more advanced magic. So, for now, all I could do is to try and hasten my memory return and pray that luck would continue to stay on my side until then.

We were approaching the battlefield. I could feel it in the air. My body had adjusted considerably to the surroundings by now, and the amount of magic I could sense in the air told me that the fight had started quite sometime ago.

I urged Iffy to climb higher, hoping to go unnoticed, atleast for a while.

As we gained height and distance, I could faintly see the enemy lines. They seemed to have a huge army, And, to my relief, there seemed to be no dragons or any other winged creatures in sight.

As I strained my eyes to get a view of the battle taking place below me, I was suddenly thrown to the side as Iffy turned sharply.

Hanging on for dear life, I craned my neck to see the cause. And then I spotted them. The king’s personal guard. So he had sent them after all. This would not be an easy task. These people were the king’s elite force and each and every one of them was an exceptionally talented individual.

I ducked as another energy bolt flew over my head. Definitely not good. I had to get out of here as fast as possible. Plastering myself to Iffy’s back, I urged her to fly faster. We had to lose them before I could venture into battle.

The plan was failing. We had barely managed to put any distance between the battle field and us, and the king’s men were gaining on us. Fast.

We were in a hopeless situation. Soon, the king’s men would catch up, Iffy would be restrained and I would be locked up with no way of escape. I flew on, urging Iffy to go faster. I was determined to try till the very end.

They were pretty close now and Iffy was slowing down. She was tiring.

“Looks like she wasn’t exercised properly”, I thought. Still, I urged her on. They would be upon us any minute now. I prayed for a miracle as we flew. It was the only thing that could save us. And just like that, my prayers were answered. Sort of.

A hail of arrows burst upon us out of nowhere. “Misfired? Doubt it”, I thought. But I had no time to think further about it as Iffy had taken a hit to the wing.

“Great. Just great.” I thought as I plummeted down for the second time that day. “This day just keeps getting worse and worse.” I thought. And I couldn’t even use flash steps this time as Iffy was too big. “Atleast I won’t be alone this time.” I thought as I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to the pull of gravity.

After several seconds, I warily opened my eyes. I was not falling anymore. Above me, the sky stretched out in a dull shade of grey.It hurt all over. Only a single thought ran through my mind.”I survived.”

I tried to move, but fresh jolts of pain shot up all over my body. I fell back almost immediately, taking short gasps of air. My ribs were probably cracked. And it also seemed like my arm was broken.

I lay still for a while, mentally preparing myself. And then, gritting my teeth and ignoring the protests of my body I pushed myself up into sitting position.

 I could feel the magic pulsating in the air. My own aura had strengthened considerably. In fact my aura was almost back to normal and I could remember everything I had learnt. Good news for me. Things were on my side now.

I immediately cast healing magic on myself, and as I healed I looked around me.

Iffy was alive, but in bad shape. With a broken wing and leg she would not be able to move for quite a while. The king’s men however, were all out of action. Each and every one of them was fatally pierced by an arrow. Curious, I went over and pulled out an arrow from one of them. As I ran my hand over it I sensed the traces of a very strong magic on it. Barrier breakers, that’s what these arrows were, and the charm used on them was pretty strong. A high level spell. The enemy was definitely not one to be taken lightly.

I decided to get into action right away. 

Summoning a stave into my hand, I set off towards the site of battle However, before I could reach Kieran, I was interrupted by an enemy soldier. I raised my blade high and let it sink into him, in a hurry to find Kieran. However, as my blade sunk into him, by blood began to sing, and a feeling of mad joy began taking over my mind. Before I realized it, I had ripped into him, and was already chasing after another soldier. I watched in horror as I raised my hand once more, against my own side this time, and swung it down mercilessly into him. Try as I might, I could not stop my hand, and slowly, all rational thought was wiped out as I turned away from the soldier’s body, a wide grin on my face.

It had finally started. After waiting for so many years, the war had finally begun. I was ecstatic. What joy to be able to fight like this. After so long I was finally wielding a weapon again. I cut through anyone who stood in my path, be it friend or foe, I couldn't control my urge to kill. And I went on like this for a long time.

 Finally, there was barely anyone alive left on the battlefield. I stood panting in the middle of the field, fresh blood running down my hand.I had just killed another member of the enemy's party.

That's when I heard a voice "I expected no less of you, so I came prepared." I was shocked. I turned around slowly, all the urge to kill leaving me as I faced the leader of the opposition.

 Right in front of me stood Xavier. After so many years........

My worst fears had been confirmed.Even though I knew all along that this was going to happen, all this while, somewhere deep inside I had hoped that I was wrong, that I had misunderstood, that it was all a hallucination. I didn’t want this.

“Xa-Xavier, thank god you’re safe. What are you doing here? I-I thought you were dead, Thank goodness you’re alive! Let’s get out of-“

”Stop pretending.”,he cut me off.

I closed my mouth at once, and looked away, ashamed of myself. Who was I trying to fool? We both knew that what had happened that day wasn’t a mistake,that it wasn’t a misunderstanding, that it wasn’t unintentional, but still....I didn’t want to believe this.

“I thought I was hallucinating” I muttered weakly.

“Hallucinating! Who are you trying to fool!”,he said, as if reading my mind. “You and I, both, know full well that whatever happened that day wasn’t a hallucination, that the dart was meant to kill.”

“Yes”, I said quickly, ”It was meant to kill, but it didn’t! That means that you didn’t want to harm us, to kill us! I completely understand that you were probably forced to at that time! That your own life was in danger if you did not! But you can stop now, you can stop. Its not too late. Come back to this side, back to us”, I pleaded.

“Ha! Stop trying so hard! Go back to your side? Why would I do that! Why would I support a side that has only given me sorrow-“

“Only given you sorrow?”,I said, ”did you not meet us? Weren’t you happy when you were with us?”

“Happy? Perhaps I was, but it was only temporary. I was a soft-hearted fool at that time.A fool who couldn’t kill you two.................”

He seemed to be reminiscing something, lost in his memories, perhaps there was hope yet. I opened my mouth to say something, but was silenced before I could speak.

“Whatever’s done is done.Now,I will give you one last chance. Join me .Come to my side. ”,he said, looking me dead in the eyes.

I could sense magic trickling out of the ground.

This was it.

I took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye ”No.”

“YOU!”, Kieran screamed as he appeared somewhere behind me and caught sight of Xavier.”You were the one behind all this! I knew it! I knew you couldn’t be trusted! You traitor!”

“Well then, I guess this is where we part.”, he said, completely ignoring Kieran.

“Don’t be silly.”, I said, “You can’t win this war without me.” I was worried now.The magic was slowly  growing stronger.

“Can’t win without you?”,he repeated, still looking me in the eyes,”Maybe that was the case once,but it is not so anymore” he said, finally breaking his stare as he looked beyond me, at the charging figure of Kieran. His magic aura spiked.

“Soon you will wish that you had made a better decision” he said as he turned around and walked away.

I was panicking now. Magic was flowing out of the ground and it was growing stronger by the second. I prayed that it was not what I thought it was.

 As I stood there torn between the desire to chase after him and cut him down and my instinct to start forming a protective barrier, Kieran rushed past me, and before I could stop him he  was upon Xavier bringing his sword down on his head. Xavier turned, sword in hand and a fierce swordfight broke out in front of my eyes.

Meanwhile the magic was only growing stronger and parts of the ground began to glow. I noticed that the opposition was slowly retreating and my worst fears were confirmed. Xavier had set up a magic circle around the entire battlefield.

No doubt there was a barrier somewhere on the other side where the opposition were taking shelter as the circle was activated.

I had to do something. Now.

I looked around me. As far as I could see, those who remained of the opposition were retreating. Our own people were few in number and many of them seemed to realize that something was going on. Those who did not continued to chase after and engage with the opposition. Among those who had sensed the change, many did not know of the threat it posed and of those who knew , theylooked panicked too. Some of them had begun muttering incantations, but I was sure whatever it was it would not work. The magic leaking out of the ground was too strong. Even if I used the strongest magic I knew it would not be enough, there would be no time to finish the incantation. I needed help.

But who do I ask for it. Kieran would have been the perfect match but he was currently engaged in battle and the slightest distraction could end his life. Besides, he was already using too much magic and soon, fatigue would set in.

Think.Think!! I told myself desperately. There had to be some way.