Tales of Harmonin

Tales of Harmonin

By: Leo Hevia and Hector Santiago

Illustrated by: John Tanco-Rahim

Prologue

 

Eons ago, God created the ever expanding universe from an empty dark void. As the bright stars began to fill the heavens, shining magnificently through the abyss, life began to take its shape. In order to develop the young life forms that began to appear, God sprung life into his children, Minor Gods. His children assisted in supervision of the young universe, making sure that life thrived wherever possible; sometimes intervening in the events of history to ensure the survival of the planets and its inhabitants. One of these gods was the Gate Keeper. His job was to ferry the dead to the fiery shores of Hell or the magnificent gates of Heaven. Eventually, as the eons went by, the Gate Keeper grew tired of his tasks and began to secretly hate the other gods. In his hatred, the Gate Keeper began to conspire against them. He devised a grand scheme in which he gathered lost souls, who were afraid to face their unknown judgment to join his army; A horde of endless demons, trolls, ogres, and fallen angels.

 

The Gate Keeper’s malicious horde swept throughout the universe, like locust, bringing armageddon with them. All seemed to fade away into the abyss as the lights in the night sky faded one by one. The dreams of hope and peace within the people, lost to the powers of fear and despair until one planet stood up. Their advanced technology allowed them to fly into the dark void of space and build weapons able to launch pure energy, powerful enough to take down the small fleet that invaded their planet. The name of this planet, found its way to the ears of the Gate Keeper, and as if a whisper had become a furious gust of wind, the name Volupta, would soon become the shining symbol the universe needed. Volupta stood strong in their small victories as they routed their assailants over and over, fighting with guerilla tactics, capturing ships in their victories and growing in strength and experience. The Gate Keeper had no choice but to back away, for now, but like a hungry pack of ravenous wolves, they would be back with larger numbers and ships far more powerful than the ones they had destroyed and captured....

Cataclysm

 

The noon breeze sweeps through the eden fields of Volupta. The tranquility and warmth of the luminous afternoon rays of the sun radiate the small city. The townsfolk, simple but fair merchants and farmers, tend to their work, tooling in the gleam of a peaceful day. The guards, tend to their posts, yawning among the sounds of bellowing cattle, and other farm animals. A lone guard watches the far wall alone as his belly rumbles with hunger. He watches the soft skies along with the reticent horizon. The overhead sun shines off of his glistening armor, covering his body head to toe. The sound of faint foot steps on the wall surprise him and he turns around reaching for his sword. He pauses for a brief moment, only to see that it is his wife who approaches him. He smiles at her beaming beauty and embraces her in his arms. They share a moment in what seems like an era of prosperity.

 

Yet nothing seems right. The lone soldier looks to green fields seeing the song birds begin to fly away. An eerie silence pervades the farm animals, the sounds of a low rumble echoes through the anxious breeze. Out of the oblivion two sleek fighters fly through the clouds above them. Volupta’s skies screech with the sound of the air shredding against a hail of missile and gun fire. The light begins to fade as the leviathan sized starships ascend from the clouds and blot out the sun. The air boils as the sizzle of the energy cannons rain death upon the defenseless people on the ground. Without a moments notice the city’s walls erupts in a violent explosion. The lone soldier and his wife are thrown into the spongy long grass below. Chunks of the stone walls fall around them and all goes dark.

 

The shriek of the innocent and weak engross the air. The once green fields now burn red as the intensity of the flames of invasion ravage the land. The blue skies are dyed with the black smoke of burning bodies and falling debris from the immense starships skirmishing above the clouds. The lone soldier slowly groggles awake, his lower body pinned to the ground by the enormous rocks from the wall. He feels his battered body scream in intense pain, feeling the shattered bones in arms and chest. His neck pinned by his dented helmet, forces him to look at the reality of what has come to Volupta. War is finally here.

 

The once beautiful paradise, transformed into a hellish nightmare. Bodies laid strewn across them as the demons poured out of the fire. The entrails of both the people and farm animals alike seeped into the dark rich soil. The lone soldier manages to muster the strength to turn his neck to the other side away from the gore filled image in his mind. Yet he quickly comes to regret this decision. No longer having the energy he can no longer turn his gaze away from the dark nightmare laid before his eyes.

 

His wife, torn in two lays over the fallen boulders. He meets her cold, glazed stare as blood seeps down her face. Her body moves back and forth as a red, muscular, reptilian demon tears into her chest, ripping out her heart and slowly bringing it to its mouth, razor sharp teeth slowly enclose and tear into the flesh. Another demon resembling a minotaur holds the lower half of her body, ravaging her once precious womb. Tears come to eyes, as the salty water runs down his face stinging the wounds around his neck. He lets out a scream of agony and anger as the only thing that ever mattered to him is desecrated before him. The demons, now aware of his presence quickly turn to their new alive, yet wounded prey. They pounce in a flash of lightning towards him as he closes his eyes waiting for death’s cold embrace, feeling the darkness around him engulf his life force. Suddenly the soldier wakes up with sweat and blood running down his armored body. It was that dream again, no not a dream, but a memory of the life he once led and lost to pointless war. How many lives and dreams have been destroyed because of monsters drunk with power.

 

“Battlefield after battlefield has been ravaged by this long bloody war... My planet is being annihilated right before my very eyes. Fires fall from the sky, disease and poison run through the land and for what? Volupta is gonna fall and there’s nothing I can do. I can only rely on that Dark General that joined us half way through this god forsaken war. To think that he was once the greatest of our enemies. Second only to the Gate Keeper himself. His forces had ravaged worlds and galaxies for thousands of years, and even my own planet, is under the diabolical command of the Gate Keeper. And yet now that same general fights for us in an ironic twist of fate.”

 

A lone soldier, lost among the bloody corpses, holds onto the last of his life; collapsed on a rock, bleeding profusely from his side, manages to stand up and push himself away. He wanders into the red soaked battlefield, seeing the mutilated bodies of his former comrades and enemies alike strewn across. The strong odor of death and blood fill his nose as the sounds of war begin to fill his ear. The horrific sounds of men and demons alike screaming in pain and agony echo deep into the reaches of his mind. He falls to one knee as his stomach empties the blood that has filled his hollow body. Looking up he scans the land looking for survivors of any kind, but sees only the aftermath of a beautiful green luscious world reduced to ashes and blood soaked muck. The skies rain with fire, burning what’s left of the radiant eden blow. Smoke, darker than night, blots out the setting sun, casting a low hollow glow across a grotesque land of sorrow and mallace.

 

Then the sound of metal clashing penetrates his lost consciousness. The soldier looks for the direction of the source and sees two great warriors in the midst of battle. They’re blades colliding and sending sparks around them as they move through the blood soaked land with god like speed. “It seems that The Gate Keeper and The Dark General are having the battle of fates before me.” The lone soldier gets up trying to get away from the battle, he searches for the body of a medic in order to scavenge anything that could treat his wounds. As he stumbled through the muck, his wound flared up, the excruciating pain shot through his body causing him to fall to his knees. He takes a moment to catch his breath and looks back, to see both warriors pierce each other through their chests. One of them collapses to his knees with a smile on his face as his enemy’s blade stays logged into his chest.

 

The lone soldier could only look on in horror as the remaining warrior floated into the sky surrounding himself in a bright aura. He gatheres an enormous amount of energy around his body focusing it into a single sphere of energy the size of a moon. The lone soldier could only stare in horror as the sphere broke apart into countless small beams destroying the planet’s atmosphere, eviscerating the planet anew and killing millions in an instant. The lone soldier fell to his weakening knees as one of the beams headed in his direction sealing his fate with a blinding light. “To think that armageddon could be so beautiful...” The knight had spoken his final words.

 Chapter One: The Awakening, part I

 

On a distant planet during a clear, blue, calm evening, there's a large mountain range, but everything is not as tranquil as it seems. There’s a sound of metal clashing in the distance with great force! Out of the blue two dark blurs appear above the mountain range  moving at great speeds causing the air to ripple with energy!! As the blurs collide, the sound of metal clashing can be heard once again shaking the very foundation of mountains below. The blurs stop in midair only a few feet away from each other.

On closer inspection the blur on the left is a large red dragon flapping its wings in order to stay afloat. The dragon then levels itself revealing a young man riding on top. The cold wind at the high altitudes whipped his long red bandana back and forth before it fell back down to his lower back. His bandana held up his spiky dark brown hair, that swayed in the wind. The mighty dragon shifted along with the constantly changing air currents as he gripped the saddle with his left arm revealing the blood red armor that protected his hand, expanded into his black triangle shaped shoulder pauldron, adorned with two silver studs.

 

The young man tried to calm his dragon by gently patting it with his red and black combat boots, but the young dragon grew restless, making his chest armor shake with excitement. The dragons wings flapped with more ferocity causing his flame designed pants to ruffle in the piercing wind and his bandana to fall onto his right shoulder. He carefully lifted his right arm up to his shoulder pushing the bandana over it with the hand guard of his katana. He dropped his arm back to his side as his black gauntlet brushed his leg, and the black muscle band contracted against his bicep.

The dragon then roared at their opponent, revealing another young man that somehow floats in the trifling air. He brushed off some of the dragon’s drool off his left shoulder pauldron, even though his right one was constricting his movement. He smiled as he flattened out the wrinkles on his long sleeve blue silk shirt, and dark blue silk pants. The wind whipped around him, making the laces on his shoes smack the middle part of his long blade that he held in his left hand. The young men stare at each other for what seems like hours as the hot sun, and cold mountain air berate their skin. The tension in the air thickens with every muscle twitch between the two. Their auras collide almost causing the air to light up with energy. Finally the dragon lets out a loud roar! The two opponents charge at each other and their swords clash with a loud *CLANG!!!* The force is so intense that shock waves of energy shoot in all directions as the clouds disperse; the mountains below them tremble as the sounds of falling boulders echo through the clear skies!

 

They duel in the air circling each other as they increase in altitude, making their circles of death smaller and smaller as one tries to gain the advantage over the other using their speed to make their turns faster than their opponent’s. In this aerial dance of cold steel and certain death, unwavering swords impact as they close in on one another, each embroilment thundering with sparks. Faster than his opponent can keep up, the young man riding the dragon manages to knock his opponent's sword out of his hand by landing a strike near his hand. Surprised the weaponless young man flies to a safe distance, gathers an enormous amount of energy around him, channeling it into his hands and aims at the dragon. Then in an instant the energy absorbs itself into a huge beam of pure dark power which the young man shoots off the palm of his hands at the direction of the dragon.

The young man in red armor sees the attack coming and narrowly dodges the energy blast. He orders his dragon to charge at their opponent, but he soon realizes that was a foolish move because he his opponent's previous blast was only meant to be a distraction. At the last second he notices an even bigger energy blast that he can't dodge. The energy ruptures around him and his dragon as they are enveloped in a ball of raging fire! All is quiet as the smoke clears, the young man in red is seen falling off his dragon plummeting in the air to the void below. Both dragon and rider are knocked out from the explosion, surviving by a miracle.

 

The young man in red begins to plummet faster towards the void below regaining consciousness in the process. He begins to think to himself, "Strange... almost like... a dream..." he begins to plummet faster to the ground diving headfirst! The young man begins talking to himself, "I'm falling? Weird... this wind sure feels real though..." Then a thought of horror crosses his mind as he realizes the reality of his situation. "Dreams can’t be real, but this wind is real so that means..." he notices he is only 50 feet above the ground and lets out a loud yell as he is about to hit the sharp rocks covering the green fields below...

 

Then in an instant, the same young warrior who was dressed in red armor, sits up in his bed, drenched in cold sweat. He begins talking to himself as he rubs the salty water away from his eyes. "Man that was a weird dream..." he looks over at his digital alarm clock, "3 am! Ugh... I need sleep..." He closes his eyes as his head lays on the sweat matted pillow and once again drifts off into a deep sleep.

A couple of hours later the alarm clock starts to ring, breaking the silence in the room. The young man reaches over and turns it off, struggling as he gets out of bed. He walks over to a mirror in his room, avoiding the various clothes strewn over the floor and combs his light brown hair up into messy spikes. He takes in a deep breath and stares at his hazel eyes thinking he noticed something strange with his pupils. He says to himself, "These nightmares are getting more realistic... Just have to ignore them, they’re just dreams." He takes in a deep breath and then begins to examine his muscular features from intense training. "Time for my morning workout."

 

He stretches his body for a moment and stands completely erect measuring at 5 ft 9 inches. He then drops to the floor positioning himself correctly, putting one arm behind his back, and begins doing one handed push-ups with his left arm. He counts under his breath until he reaches 50 and switches arms. He repeats with his right arm until he feels the strain in his body, switching to regular push-ups and counts to himself until he reaches 100.

 

With his arms beginning to strain, the young man then begins to do sit-ups winding the clock alarm for 15 minutes. Afterwards, as his abs burn with accomplishment, he begins to lift light weights until he is covered in sweat yet again. He then walks over to a shelf where he picks up two wooden practice swords. They’re heavy at first, but he practices his swings and foot work until his arms burn with agony. Finally to finish his work out, he begins to punch and kick a punching bag for 15 minutes until he can no longer breathe, as if his lungs were begging for an ounce of fresh air. Talking to himself in between raspy breaths he says,"Not bad for a morning workout... but this afternoon's spar with Hector should finish it up.” He stops briefly to wipe the sweat from his face when he notices the time. “Shit it’s 6:30. Have to hurry up and shower... Don't want to be late for school again."

 

After a quick shower, dressing casual for the day with just a red t-shirt, jeans, and black and white sneakers, he puts on his favorite black hoodie, and walks to the door but stops only for a second to say, "Bye mom... Bye dad.” No reply. “I'll be home soon after school. Hector, Shana, and Monica might come over later." As the young man leaves and locks his door, he stops at the balcony outside his apartment and surveys the city he lives in. Few skyscrapers fill the city, but the bland rooftops of business and other apartment complexes litter the streets. The sound of police sirens can be heard in the distance as the smog from the factories slowly pollute the populace.

 

The sun is barely starting to come over the horizon casting an orange glow over the roofs of the others building, warming up the cold morning. As if he was looking for something the young man scans the entire city looking for an answer to some unanswered question, with only the wind to howl back at him. It is as if he was looking for some excuse to stay home, as the sounds of gang violence and people’s sorrow filled the early misty morning. Deciding it was time to leave he exited the apartment complex he lived in and began his walk to school among the busy streets of both the corrupt and the lawless.

 

Walking at a brisk pace the young man remembers the strange dreams of last night. The thought vanishes when all of a sudden he hears a shout, "Hey Leo!! Wait up man!!" He turns around to see who is calling for him, when he realizes who it is. "Hey Hector what's up, bro?" As Hector catches up, Leo extends his hand to hold onto his shoulder noticing that he's dressed up a bit more than his usual casual self wearing a black dress shirt over his white v-neck. With a cocky grin and a joking manner Hector says, "I see you're running late as usual." Hector catches his breath and stands straight up, being just a couple of inches taller than Leo at 5 ft 11 inches. Leo responds with his own grin as he says, "Yeah... you know I get lazy sometimes." Leo stares into the distance for a moment, letting Hector rest for a bit. "Yeah I know you are because I am too. C'mon bro, we're going to be late because of you." says Hector as they walk together the rest of the way towards school, a daily occurrence between friends.

Hector brushes his short black hair forward with a comb when he remembers something, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Happy 16th Birthday, man! I can't believe it’s May 18 already!" Leo stops walking and looks down at the bleak greyish sidewalk. Hector stops to look back at him, the sun covering his vision as he puts a hand up to his face. He looks at Hector with a painful look on his face and says, "Oh yeah... I forgot today is my birthday..." Hector gives Leo a bewildered look and asks, "How can you forget your own birthday? I’ve got to wait until December 28 before I’m 16... sucks having a late birthday, but oh well right." Hector stares at Leo a bit longer and realizes the gravity of what he said as his face turns into a small frown. Hector begins to think to himself, "God, I'm such an idiot... I'm his best friend, and I forgot! His parents died last year on his 15th birthday..." He walks over to Leo and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, man, sorry... chacho fue que se me olvido un momento, pana perdoname. (Shit I forgot for a moment, Bro, forgive me.)"

 

Leo stares back into Hector's brown eyes and says, "Esta bien, no se preocupe. (It's ok, don't worry about it.) I appreciate it really. How could I forget my own birthday?! C'mon if we stay here any longer we're definitely going to be late." Leo runs ahead of Hector putting on a brave face and a fake smile for his friend. Hector catches up and pushes Leo into the empty street playfully as they walk towards the school again joking and laughing all the way..

Leo arrives with Hector on time, but he decides to skip class until lunch and heads towards the roof. Leo walks through the loud and crowded halls of his high school. He see’s the empty faces of all the students around him, some of them happy, some of them still sleepy, others look blank. The school echos with gossip but as Leo continues his walk he begins to drown out the noise as all becomes quiet in his mind, but his breathe. The dreary white faded colors of the school’s walls blur together with the rusted green lockers. The dirty stained tiles feel beaten beneath his feet as he opens the door to the stairwell taking one last look back at the brainwashed herd of young adolescents. He thinks to himself, “How can they all stand this. How can they all act so content or so stupid.”

 

On the roof Leo sits down against a granite wall leaning against it as his legs slide forward slightly. The sun’s rays begin to gently shine down on him as he feels his cold skin begin to warm up. The chain link fence sways quietly in the breeze as the calm spring morning fills his nose with smell of the cities many bakeries’ chimney smoke. Leo begins to doze off a little as his mind begins to think about his late parents when the door to the roof opens suddenly.

 

Leo looks over and sees it’s Shana. He looks at her for a second noticing she has straightened her medium length brown hair. As she slowly walks around the rooftop looking for him, Leo could almost see up her short blue jean mini skirt thanks to the gentle breeze and the dark blue high heels she wore today. Leo blushed slightly at her sight, his mind beginning to wander as her panty line was almost visible. Shana then turned around, noticed Leo sitting down, and walked over to him with a smile as her heels clacked in the open air. She stopped a few inches in front of him and bends over a little with her hands on her hips and a mad look on her face, but Leo lost focus looking down her hot pink top seeing her breasts before she smacked him over the head!

"Leo! I knew you'd be up here! I've been looking for you! Mira, si tu crees que no vas a ir a tus clases piensalo otra ves! (Look, if you think you're not gonna go to your classes you’d better think again!)" Leo looks at Shana, but then starts to look at the seasoned worn floor. "You know I wouldn't skip unless I had a good reason... I just want to be alone for a bit that's all... I promise I'll be there at lunch." Shana sits next to Leo and starts to hold him gently, putting her head against his shoulder while she wrapped her arm around his and held his hand with her other soft hand.

 

Leo gives Shana a painful look as the memories of his late parents entered his mind while he began to stare into her blue eyes for a second. She stayed silent for a moment hypnotized by his hazel eyes, but manages to start speaking, "I don't want the government to take you away... I'm happy that they're letting you live on your own and taking care of you until you’re 18, but if you keep skipping you'll fail and..." Shana starts to squeeze Leo’s arm and hand tighter. Leo then twists his shoulder and slips his arm around Shana to hug her back and says, "I promise they won't take me away... Remember I'm a special case. As long as I keep my grades up I'll be fine." Leo looks at Shana again and smiles at her.

 

"This is the last time I'll skip, ok. Now get to class before you get in trouble." Shana smiles and gets back up. She starts walking towards the door and turns around when she reaches it. "Oh, before I go, Happy Birthday! You better be there at lunch! I swear if you're not there, I will beat you up!" Shana opens the door and takes one last look at Leo. "I'll see you later, ok. Don't do anything stupid until then, please..." Leo begins to stare at the sky and closes his eyes as the grey morning clouds begin to cover the sun. "Yeah, sure, no problem... I'll see you later ok." Shana then leaves while Leo stares off into space wondering about his feelings for Shana.

Shana

 

“I can’t believe Leo’s up on the roof skipping again,” Thought shana as she walked the busy halls to her first class. “Still he deserves the day to himself. I just wish he’d let me spend it with him. He needs me now more than ever, I’ll just have to be stronger for him.” She kept staring at her feet on her way until she bumped into someone and looked up noticing it was Hector.

Shana: “Oh, hey Hector sorry i was lost in thought.

Hector: “It’s cool, I’m kinda in the same boat.”

“I wonder if Hector could help me out with Leo... maybe not I’ll just stay quiet for now.” “So have you talked to Monica lately she’s been mentioning you a lot at the mall lately, its actually kinda cute, but annoying.”

 

Hector: “Monica? Oh yeah that really shy girl... you know how it is talking to her, always exciting with just us two being quiet and nervous around each other you can feel the chemistry between us... well honestly we’re kinda getting close. I’m really happy and so is she from what you’re telling me.”

“What did he say?! Oh god i spaced out... Crap i was too busy thinking about what cake i was gonna bake for Leo’s birthday party tonight. Oh wait i know what to say!”  “Haha yeah well you know... anyways i should get to class talk to you later bye.”

Hector

 

“Bitch just ignored me! Oh well to hell with it, I got more important shit to worry about.” “Yeah talk to you later.” “I wonder where Leo is skipping today, lucky bastard gets away with a lot in this school. Still I can’t blame him for acting out lately. Oh god here I am in first period English again.” Hector pulls out his beaten up notebook and begins to just doodle random stick figures. “Poor guy has had it tough since we were kids; with his mom always being in the hospital and his dad being a cop. Still not like I’ve had it rough either. Its best I keep my problems to myself as much as possible, baby sister and me have enough to deal with, without him sticking his nose in. The guy means well, but he can over do it. Guess when we spar later today I’ll have a chance to beat some sense into him. Maybe at lunch I’ll start by lecturing him about his attitude lately.”

A few hours later at lunch, the sanitized, yet still greasy cafeteria is full of noise, gossip, and loud music. The young high school students crowd around in the line and tables, each falling into their own groups of “friends”. As Leo and Hector try to talk to each other, practically yelling, another student runs bye screaming over the noise causing the two friends to shake their heads in disapproval. "Leo, when are you going to make a move on Shana? It's obvious that you two like each other. Seriously man... She's been waiting like... forever for you to make a move, and you just keep sitting there!" Leo takes a few sips of his chocolate milk before he answers, trying to stall for time. "I don't know, man. I don't even know if I like her. I see her as a baby sister more than anything else... I think Ima just keep it the way it is." Bewildered by Leo's answer Hector gives him a shocked look. "I'm telling you make a move! She's not going to wait for you forever and don't say you don't like her! I've seen the way you stare at her sometimes. Trust me I don't stare at my little sister like that."

Leo stares at the ceiling for a bit scrunching his face in thought before turning back to his friend. "Yeah, I guess... but what about you huh?" Haven't you had a thing for Monica since like what? The 5th grade... You need to make a move! Every time you talk to her, you freeze up and turn red! It's funny actually when you think about it." Leo flashes Hector a big grin in thinking he has silenced him.

But Hector fires back, "Hey! So not true I've been talking to her a lot lately, and I'm actually going to make a move tomorrow, believe it or not." Proud of this rebuke to Leo, Hector leans back into his chair, crossing his arms, giving him a confident smile back. "Plus man Shana really cares about you. I've never seen anyone care about a guy so much. I'd say she even..." Leo cuts him off in mid-sentence, "Shut up man. They're coming! We'll talk later about this." Leo breathes a sigh of relief as Shana walks up to the table, with a girl following her closely behind. He begins to wonder how the other girl thinks she can hide behind Shana. Shana only stands at 5ft 6 inches, with her heels she’s maybe 5ft 8 inches, which gives you little space to hide behind.

Shana: "Hey guys what's up?"

Leo: "Hey Shana. Nothing much, Just trying to kill some time with Hector."

Shana: "Yeah I know what you mean this day is going by so slow."

 

"Yeah I feel you.” Says Leo shaking his head awkwardly before looking over Shana’s shoulder at the other girl. “So Monica, are you going to come out and say hi?" Shana then reaches behind her and pulled Monica out from behind her. Leo see’s the hypnotized look on his friend’s face and can tell he’s nervous. Leo looked at the object of his friend’s attention and thought “Cute, shy, but cute.” Her shyness wasn't her fault though. Until recently Monica had been home schooled. The only reason she was going to school with them was because Shana somehow managed to convince her parents to let her go to public school with her. A few more students ran by making Monica’s wavy jet black hair flutter, as she closed her eyes and flinched covering brown eyes that matched her dark purple strapless top; which Shana probably had picked it out for her right before school. As she sat down she cuffed in her dark blue mini skirt and Leo thought he could hear it scratching against the black tights she wore underneath it. She scooted her chair in and her dark blue high heels clacked against the floor. She definitely stood out a bit from the other students. Even if she didn't, Monica had Hector's attention.

 

Hector: "Hey, Monica... How's your day been?"

Monica, in a timid voice, says, "Hi, Hector... Um... it's good. You?"

Hector: "Yeah, boring as always until...until..now..hehe."

 

Leo notices Hector starts blushing and leans over to him. "Dude, play it cool, man. You're a tomato right now." Hector gives Leo a pissed off look. "Shut up man!"

Leo: "So Shana, you gonna stand there all day or do you wanna take a seat?"

Shana glares at Leo, as he knows full well how she hates when he commands her like that. She takes a seat and gently kicks him in his shin. Leo teasingly smiles at her cute act. The two girls sit across from Hector and Leo as they begin to talk for a while about their classes, exchanging jokes and notes. As the noise slowly begins to die halfway through the lunch period, Hector and Leo begin to wrap up their meals, Shana gives Leo a beaming smile, to which he could only respond with a bewildered look as he tried to fight back his own redness. “What?” he said as Shana looked at everyone for approval and took a deep breath.

Shana: "So are all of us going to meet up later at your place for your birthday party or what? Cause I'm going to bake your favorite cake and..."

Shana notices that Leo has a painful look on his face as he begins to stare at the table with a darkened expression. His scowl soon turned into sorrow as the tears built up in the corner of his eyes.

Leo: "Yeah, sounds good... I have to go... See you guys later..."

 

As Leo begins to walk away from the table he puts his hood on and turns his back to his friends. Shana realizing what she said, begins to stare down at the table with a depressed look on her face; Monica begins to hug her, gently rubbing her back in small circles trying to comfort her, but Shana eventually loosens herself from Monica’s grasp.

Hector: "What a cunt... Shana... I'm sorry he did that... I'll talk to him about it later."

Shana: "No, its ok. It was my fault... I shouldn't have said that."

 

Monica: "I know he's still grieving over his parents, but still he shouldn't just blow us off like that. Especially you, Shana. He knows how much you care for him."

Hector: "Remind me what you see in him again? I mean I know why, but I just need to be sure cause even though he's my best friend, what he's doing to you isn't fair."

Shana: "It's just... Leo is a good guy really. He stands apart from everyone else and he's so strong, but gentle. Before his parents died, he was full of this light and when you talked to him, he made you want to be his friend and follow him anywhere he went. But after they died, that light just went out and I want to become his new light... I know that sounds selfish but I can’t help it. Leo means... more to me than anything."

Hector: "Girl you need stop watching those tele-novellas! (soap operas) But yeah, I understand you...(not really)"

Monica: "Don't worry Shana I'm sure you two will end up together. I know it."

Shana: "Yeah I hope so too..."

Monica

 

Monica sits in silence listening to her friends talk shit and wonders how Shana can be such a stupid bitch. “Leo doesn’t even give her the attention she deserves. Why does she go after such an asshole. I mean seriously you have guys like Hector who listen and have a sincere side and never succumb to depression for stupid reasons. Even if he is kind of dumb, but who wants a relationship with someone smarter than you? All that leads to is problems and break ups. I mean just look at him grinning like an idiot unaware of how much of a turnoff his idiocy is. Still he is kinda cute. She notices that everyone is getting up and leaving the table and quickly gets up and follows them trailing slightly behind them, walking in between Hector and Shana.

 In the far side of the school, Leo is in the library wandering his way through the shelves trying to find a book that will pique his interest. He searches for what seems like an eternity going through multiple old dark wooden shelves full of dusty old books. Rows of science fiction, fantasy, science, artwork, and yet nothing yields to his taste today. Leo starts to give up hope until he hears a whisper from behind him.It's muffled and barely audible like a whisper being carried by a light wind. He listens closely, trying to figure out what the whisper is saying. "Over here... come here..." Leo begins to follow the whisper until he finds the origin of the voice. He looks at the shelves of endless books until a certain book titled "Tales of Harmonin" catches his eye. He reaches for it, as though drawn by some mysterious force. Leo pulls the book off the shelf and brings it closer to his face. His heart begins pounding, he begins to feel light headed, and as he closes his eyes, the world starts to go black as his knees look like their about to give way to his weight; the laughter from one of the other students in the library brings him back to reality. "I got to remember to get more sleep... I'm starting to hallucinate..." Leo whispers to himself, slowly rubbing the sides of his face..

 

He begins flipping through the book admiring its finely drawn pictures on every other page. He traces his hands through the pictures feeling the details and fine lines. They seem to resonate with power and energy as if they were to jump to life at any moment. With the book interesting him greatly he decides to take it with him. But as he walks away with it, Leo swore he felt a familiar presence engulf his body. A chilling tingle rushes up his spine, shocking his brain stem to its very core. Exiting the library with his book, Leo walks down the emptying hallways thinking about his friends, regretting the way he’s been treating Shana all day, as he nears the exit of the school, he notices a student being picked up violently and shoved against a rusty squeaky locker by a bigger student and his sidekick.

 

Leo quickly recognizes the big student as Brock Mullington. He's a monstrous guy towering around 6 ft 7 inches, his Mohawk adds another inch to his height, and from the size of his muscles he looks like he could be a professional wrestler. Especially with his tattered ripped off sleeves shirt. Brock looks more like he belongs in a juvenile detention center than in a public school. His sidekick, Eddy del Otoro is a short guy around 5 ft, and he’s so emaciated the kid looks like hes never had a meal in his life, pair that with the creepy smile he has and he looks like a ghoul. For some reason he hangs around Brock, but Leo could never figure out why. The kid being bullied is Jose. He's another short guy just around 5 ft 3 inches. Leo knew he shouldn't fight Brock considering what day it was, but he couldn’t just sit by while somebody abuses their power to prey on the weak.

So Leo came up with a plan to get Brock's attention. He put his newly acquired book into his sweater’s inner pocket then zipped it shut and started walking towards Brock. Brock’s brutish voice echoed through the hall threatening to kill Jose. “I’m gonna bash your skull in with my fist if you don’t do my science homework! Leo then walked up to them and bumped Brock with his shoulder acting like it was an accident. Brock, angry that Leo bumped into him for no apparent reason, fills up with rage and begins screaming, "HEY!!! WHY DON'T YOU WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, PUNK!!!?"

Leo stopped dead in his stride, turning his head slightly to face him and said, "Brock... just shut up. You wouldn't last a single round with me." Leo turned away again beginning to take a slow stride, "Plus, only a coward picks on someone weaker than him."

Brock now at his peak of rage, let go of Eddy, began to charge at Leo like a raging bull, pulling his arm back, settling his fingers into a fist, "OH YEAH, PUNK!! WE'LL SEE WHO THE WEAK ONE IS!!" In a single, brutish move Brock threw all of his might into a single swing! His punch, aimed to the back of Leo’s head, whistled through the space where Leo’s head had been an instant before.

Leo had anticipated Brock’s cheap shot and at the last minute. He fluidly sidestepped to the right, easily dodging the punch. "You know you caught me on a bad day right?" Leo gave a devilish smile, happy that he had distracted Brock. Then in a quick graceful movement he elbowed Brock in the stomach followed by an elbow uppercut to his chin. Brock stumbled backwards caught off-guard by the sudden and powerful blows, shaking his head as the world fuzzed around him. Trying to clear his line of sight on the lookout for Leo, but then in a sudden burst of speed and strength, Leo quickly rolls around him, flanking him. He jumps through the air grabbing Brock's head and kneeing him in the back of the skull! Brock, being too slow, can't react to Leo's superior speed and before he could even twitch a muscle, his eyes roll to the back of his mind, saliva falling out of his stunned mouth, as he hits the floor with a loud *Thud!*

Leo lands on his feet basking in the glory of victory for his fallen opponent had gone to hell and back. "Just cause you're the biggest kid in the school doesn't mean you're the strongest. It just means that you're an easier target to take down." Leo stares directly at Eddy, spits in his face, and says, "You're pathetic for even following this piece of garbage around." Brock starts to moan and groan as he crawls to his hands and knees. A large group of students and faculty begin to gather at the scene not wanting to interfere with the fight knowing what kind of damage could happen if one were to accidentally get hurt. The crowd grows as Leo chuckles to himself, cracking his knuckles. The sound of quick and pleasantly surprised voices echoes all around as Brock starts to stand up. "Guess it's time for round two..."

Chapter 2: The Awakening, Part II

Leo put his hands into his jean pockets and began to count how long it took Brock to recover. His muscles twitching with excitement, as his breath slowed down, his rate pumping proudly in his chest. Brock, groans, as the world echoes in his ear. His body unresponsive as he slowly manages to stand on his oafish feet, dazed from the vicious attacks. He turns around to face Leo, his head ringing with a sharp whistle.

Brock: "You got lucky... That last hit was a cheap shot! You talk about being strong, but you're not even man enough to face me!"

 

Leo gave a quick laugh under his breath that broke into a happy sneer. “Brock is ignorant or in denial.” Thought Leo. “Of course maybe I gave him too much credit.” Hector and Leo spar with each other on a daily basis spending countless afternoons testing each other's skills. Their fighting skills have rarely been seen, but every opponent that's ever come their way has lost. There was even a rumor at one point that Hector and Leo had fought off an entire gang called Ghost that specialized in bullying at their school and were even rumored to have raped female students. Leo had also put a few troublesome kids in the hospital for fighting that year. Any normal student would have been expelled by now, but because of his "special case" he was given “second chances”.

 

Leo: "You have no idea really? The weak always talk too much... If you think I'm not "man" enough then the rest of my attacks will be to your face just to prove you wrong cabron (bastard)."

Leo flashes Brock a quick grin, overconfident of his own abilities, while the crowd of students and teachers alike watch the fight, as if it were some free spectacle to 'ooh' and 'aw' at. Leo could care less about their thoughts or their want for a free show, but he didn't want them getting hurt by Brock's blind rampage. He knew he would have to end it as fast as possible. Leo rushed over to Brock stopping half a foot away from him. He then went into his fighting stance, raising his arms in front of his chest. His breathing slowed down as he kept a loose fist, the crowd watched while he lowered his center of gravity bending his knees, he then put his right foot forward and his faced showed focus.

 

Brock was still dazed, but like a mad beast he swung his massive arms horizontally. Leo reacted leaning back jumping off the ground onto his hands did a backwards handspring, letting Brock taste his foot in the process. Brock's head was whipped backwards facing the ceiling as he began to stumble backwards from the blow. His head smashed into the wall with a loud *THWACK!!* And before he could recover Leo was already using his advantage in speed to jump through the air, locked to his location. Brock had no chance of dodging as Leo's fist connected with the right side of his face! Leaving a nasty mark in the process.

 

In another part of the school Shana, Monica, and Hector were wandering in a an aimless effort to find something to do until the end of lunch. They suddenly heard distant chants and cheers echoing around them. It came from down the hall signifying that an event was happening and their good friend Leo was probably in the middle of it. They followed the noises until they reached the source, a large crowd of students was gathered around in a circle with faculty struggling to control them. All three of them looked at each other with a questioning look trying to figure out if they should or shouldn't join the excited mob of people. All of a sudden a few students rushed past them enthusiastically yelling, "Fight! Someone is beating the living shit out of Brock!" Hector looked at Shana with a sarcastic grin.

Hector: "You don't think Leo's the one fighting Brock... righttttt?"

Shana: "I hope not considering what day today is..."

Monica: "Um... guys... Isn't that Leo right there flipping like a monkey through the air?"

Shana and Hector both slowly raised their heads above the mob. At first only the ceiling showed, but in a quick flash Leo was seen doing back,front,side,even double-flips through the air. Without saying a word they slowly walked inside the crowd pushing their way towards the front to see their good friend, and as soon as they reached the inner sanctum they witnessed Brock's face covered in large amounts of sweat and blood as Leo repeatedly jabbed him in the nose causing multiple sickening *CRACKS!*

Hector: "Well looks like Brock is getting his big ass handed to him! (bout time).”

Shana: "Do you think I care?! Leo better have a good excuse as to why he's fighting this piece of garbage! Ugh! Why today of all days..."

Hector: "I know Leo, he wouldn't fight unless Brock did something bad... oh who am I kidding Leo would fight any nigga who looked at him with an attitude..."

Shana: "So?! No me importa! (I don't care!) He shouldn't be fighting! I swear Ima kick his ass when he's done with Brock!"

Monica: "Shana, calmate (calm yourself) or else I’ll- I mean please...”

Shana: "Don't tell me to calm down nena! (girl!) Do you not see what's going on here!?"

Shana points over to Leo to make her painfully obvious point even more fucking obvious. Leo, who has focused all his energy to doing some major ass kicking, hadn’t even noticed that his friends were in the crowd; 2 out of 3 enjoying the spectacle. The world just seemed to disappear to him. Brock on the other hand was throwing a flurry of punches, looking like a distressed gorilla trying to land a single blow on Leo, but Leo’s quick reflexes allowed him to simply keep avoiding his slow attacks.

 

Brock: "JUST STAY STILL SO I CAN HIT YOU!!"

 

Leo enjoyed the moment laughing to his heart’s content and with a slight grin said, "Uh... No." And then proceeded to aim his leg to Brocks forehead swinging it down with such force that it left a dark shoe print on his head. Brock was getting ready to collapse; he had taken an abnormally huge beating and was losing a lot of blood, but he somehow managed to find the superhuman energy of standing on his two legs even though he was at his limit gasping for oxygen. Leo took pity on him thinking he had gone a bit too far on this one.

Leo: "Ok I'll tell you what, Brock. I'll let you hit me once right here." He pointed at the left side of his face, "Give it your best shot." He gave Brock an over confident smile as he slid his hands into his jean pockets.

Brock couldn't believe what Leo was saying! It was a shameful insult, but he couldn't let an opportunity like that slip away either. So he bull charged at Leo, absorbing all of his might and energy into a single right hook. Leo stood his ground unflinching as Brock closed his distance, as soon as Brock was in range, he threw the deadly punch at Leo which hit him across the face with a loud *POW!*

A silence fell over the mob enjoying the fight. Leo faced Brock, not one inch moved since the blow, his left side crimson red from the blow, minimal blood trickling down over his lower lip. He licked some the blood off his lip wiping away the rest with his thumb. "Damn... he made me bite myself." Leo muttered softly under his breath. Brock stared at Leo not believing that he could even still be standing up after that blow!

Leo: My best friend's baby sister could draw more blood than this cabron." (bastard)

Hector burst into laughter at Leo’s insult to Brock. Suddenly a movement caught the  retina of his eye. He noticed Eddy trying to sneak up on Leo from behind. His goal had been set.

Brock: "What are you?! You some kind of freak!"

Leo smiled, but his eyes began to burn. He reached up slowly touching his forehead, as the world around him began to spin. He broke out into a small cold sweat and sensed something wrong. He saw Brocks eyes tracking something or someone from behind. He turned around to see Eddy readying a punch at him, when out of the blue Hector grabbed him by the throat and elbowed his chest! Eddy stumbled to the floor with no strength or oxygen, Hector had successfully done his heroic duty watching his friend’s back.

Hector: "Thought you could use some (clears throat) back-up. After all two on two is a lot fairer well except in our case since we’re both overleveled."

 

Eddy rose slowly behind Hector. Causing the two friends to go back to back facing each other’s opponents.

Hector: "You know security is going to show up soon right? Like with a taser y todo (and everything). So lets set a time limit."

Leo: "A time limit huh? Yeah sounds fun, shall we say 30 seconds?”

Hector: "Bitch please I’Il throw that nigga down in 10."

Leo: "Oh someone’s feeling like a badass, ok 10 seconds it is!"

Hector: "Well I’m not the one fighting the big one, ok lets do this!"

The two best friends proceeded to defeat their opponents swiftly, bringing out their most ruthless moves as the security team showed up to disband the fight. They put Leo in handcuffs, dragging him and Hector away, they looked at each other in disappointment for their fun had ended.

 

A while later, Leo is in the Principal's office sitting in a defiant manner with his hood on, covering most of his face. The principal stood by an open window with his hands behind his back in a formal authoritarian pose. Leo took a look around the old room. As the air kept filling with tension in a long awkward pause, he examined the old musty white walls, along the granite tile floor. The principal’s long mahogany desk filled up the middle of the room, but more importantly it created a barrier between the two. Leo squirmed in his chair knowing all too well, he had fucked up his last “second chance.”

 

Shana’s cute face had formed in his mind; it was the only thing he could think about. The disappointment that it would show; the bitter tears that would come out, it all made his heart sink, the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. The principal turned around, his middle aged features were hard to look at. He looked weary and depressed, his brown hair was slowly desaturating on the sides, and his stomach was as rotund as a circus ball. Leo could tell the principal was stressed out and that he was just adding more oil to the fire. The principle sat in his dark leather chair. It squeaked and ached under his weight as he slowly sighed positioning himself in his desk. He took another long deep breath before looking directly at Leo.

 

Principal: "Leo... what can I do with you? You've been in 6 fights in just the past 3 months..."

 

Leo: "Actually its 9..."

 

Principal: "Brock is the 5th person you've sent to the hospital this year!”

Leo: "Um, I believe he's the 7th actually... yeah 7th. That Raul kid doesn't count..."

Principal: "My point is, I can't protect you anymore! I have to take action! If I don't, the school board is going to come knocking on my door along with the parents of these students to get rid of you! Do you know how many parents have come in here threatening to sue the school system, as well as me for not expelling you?! Do you have any idea the trouble you're not only causing for me, but all the other students in this building!?" He takes a moment to catch his breath and Leo notices how the veins in his forehead are beginning to pop out. "Well I don't know what could happen exactly if I try to keep protecting you, but either way I can't deal with it!"

 

Leo: "You haven't even asked me for my side of the story. My actions were righteous! I was protecting an innocent kid that BROCK was getting ready to pulverize. If I hadn't distracted him that kid would be the one in the hospital! I know for damn sure the school wouldn't have done anything! He would've just been another victim! So go ahead say it! I don't care cause in the end we all do what we have to do..."

 

The principal pressed the heel of his palm into his eyes and began to rub his neck absent mindedly. He and Leo sat in their angry wake, as the tension slowly died for a while. They locked eyes for a moment before the principal decided to break the silence.

Principal: "I'm sorry Leo... I really am, but you leave me no choice. You're expelled. You can stay the rest of the day as long as you don't cause trouble. I know you want to at least say goodbye to your friends, but as soon as school is over I'm calling the superintendent and the mayor to let them know of your status and let them take you away and put you God knows where."

Leo slowly got up and walked to the door with his head hanging low. He gave the principal one last look and left slowly closing the door behind him. Later that day, as Leo and Hector are walking home from school, he is completely silent. The cool afternoon breeze rustled the air around them, the sun hidden behind grey foreboding clouds. He looked at his friends tired face, and back towards the cold, grey cement ground. Leo suspected that today was probably the last day that he would ever see his friends. He figured that child services would be at his home to pick him up the next day. He didn't want to leave, but what other choice did he have.

Leo: "So... How long did you get suspended for?"

 

Hector: "Three fucking days man... My mom is gonna kill me, but that's not gonna stop me from visiting you today. You, Shana, and...what was her name again, Monica? Anyways we still have to celebrate your birthday together you know... Hey...porque estas tan fucking callao? (why are you so fucking quiet?) Usually you can’t shut up around me.”

Leo stops walking, and begins to look for the words he needs to tell his friend. He begins looking at the dreary sky. He wonders how it went from sky blue to dark grey in a few hours. He faces Hector again and takes in a deep breath as the skies continue grow with misery.

Leo: "I got expelled..."

 

Hector: "Bwahahaha your funny man, expelled. Nigga please that was like what you're 6th guy this month, hell I've seen you take down like 20 guys in one week once....granted that happened off school... and I did fight the other 15 guys..."

Leo: "Bro I’m not fucking joking with you!! They seriously expelled my ass from school... and they're going to take me away... (I fucked up)...  it could be tonight... it could be tomorrow either way I don't know, but it's going to be soon and I don't know if I can tell Shana the truth..."

Hector: "Oh....well damn...Shana...she's going to find out eventually you know... She was bitching about you fighting today, but I think she understands why you did it though. You do know you just broke her heart right? She's in love with you there’s no doubting that, you can see it written all over her dumb face even if she hasn't said it, and now that you're going to be taken away... I hope she can recover from it fast...at least in a year or two."

Leo: "Yeah... I don’t need you reminding me of that shit... I feel bad enough as it is. What time are you going to come over with the girls?"

Hector: "What girls? I’m bringing bitches son...man I don't know maybe around seven? Is that cool?"

Leo: "Yeah I know you like to be a dick sometimes, but I’m not in the mood nigga... but yeah seven is fine... I guess."

Leo walked off into the cold concrete city, leaving Hector standing there as a car rushed by. Hector watched as his best friend faded into the distance and wondered what will become of him, he thought to himself shit happens through life, then  he walked home in the cold afternoon. He had decided, however, that he wasn’t going to throw Leo into the wolves before first throwing him the best birthday party of his miserable life.

 

As Leo arrived home and closed the door, he grabbed a small wooden picture frame. He stared at it for a while examining a young happy couple on their wedding day. He rubbed the old worn frame for a bit before he set it down again saying in a soft depressing tone, "Hi mom, Hi dad, school was a mess again... sorry I was misbehaving, but I had no choice this time, I swear. Well, I'm kind of tired so I'm gonna take a nap. Oh and um Shana and Monica, and Hector are coming over around 7 to celebrate my birthday. I promise we won't make a mess ok. Well... talk to you guys later, goodnight."

 

Leo entered his room removing his jacket when he remembered the book; he took it out and threw it on his desk, then walked over to his bed and crawled under the warm blanket. He began to think about his late parents and how much he missed them, how alone he felt in the world, how much he was going to miss his friends; and so his tears of loneliness started to fall down his face and he began to cry quietly to himself until he passed out, entering another deep sleep.

 

"SHANA!" Leo quickly sat up in bed, breathing hard and covered in a cold sweat again. "These damn nightmares..." he uttered to himself. He sat in the lonely darkness for a while, until something flashed dimly in the corner of his eye. He looked up and there in front of him, a mysterious blue light glowed on his desk. Leo got up and walked over slowly to the source of light and with trembling hands began opening the book slowly; the blue light glowing even stronger and brighter! The light crawled up engulfing the entire room and out of the book strange creatures made of the strange blue light started to creep out of it. Leo couldn't believe what was happening in front of him, the only thing he could do was stare in awe, but then he started to feel light headed again.

 

His head began throbbing, feeling as if his temples were gonna burst! His chest began tightening as his heart rate accelerated at an alarming rate, skipping beat after beat! A sickening cracking noise, as if bone was being cracked filled the air. He looked at the mirror, and began to notice that small white horns were growing out of his skull, his teeth growing into fangs, and that the pupils in his eye had become sharp like a demon's eye. He looked down at his nails and noticed that they were growing into long and sharp claws!

 

Then Leo slammed the book shut with a heavy *THUD!!* He started breathing hard and looked in the mirror again. His features were perfectly normal. Not understanding what happened he began to walk back to his bed muttering to himself, "No more sugar and anime before bed..." He crawled back under the covers knowing he had about 30 minutes before his friends would show up. He drifted back into a deep sleep as his head hit the pillow.

As he slept a sudden movement came from Leo's desk. The book Leo had just slammed shut reopened. The strange blue glow began anew, but not as radiant. It projected a small sphere a few feet above the desk.Inside the sphere stood a man in a dark hooded robe. His facial features hidden besides his square jaw that was covered by a thick beard, his long thin nose, and his small but curvy lips. He began to speak in a dark echoing tone, "Ah the portal has been opened... it's been ages... someone with an extremely powerful spirit must be nearby. I must thank him for releasing me from my prison.”

 

“Now that the portal to has been reopened, I can exit this dimension and resume my conquest of the mortal realm! So as a gift of my appreciation I will transport you, this world, and the ones you care about most into this dimension as a means of sparing your lives!" The sphere begins to glow brighter in the room! Leo wakes up turning around to see what is happening, but before he can make a noise or react his body is engulfed by the light, he can feel the pupil of his eyes turn sharp like a demon's eye before being engulfed completely.

 

Shana, Monica and Hector were headed towards Leo's apartment. The clouds still dark, giving off a rumble, threatening to bring rain to the city. Hector, keeping silent knowing the truth about Leo, refused to say anything. He didn't want to upset Shana, even though she would find out sooner or later. Still Hector knew it was not his place to tell her, at least not yet it wasn't. Shana was happy, knowing she was going to go see Leo. She was carrying a box that contained his favorite ice-cream chocolate cake. She had worked on it all afternoon from what Hector understood.

Shana: "Do you think he'll like my cake?”

Monica: "Yeah, I'm sure he will. You're an awesome cook! Kinda..."

Hector: "Sure, Plus if he doesn't eat it I'll kick his ass all over the block!. (But then again who could stand your cooking.)"

Hector pulled out his phone texting everyone he knew to come to Leo’s party around eight. He wanted to give him a surprise visit from the whole school and neighborhood. Shana and Monica had done the same earlier hoping that they’re small get together turned into a block party that no one would forget.

All three of them stopped just half a mile away from Leo's apartment. They noticed the strange blue light coming from the apartment complex.

Hector: "The fuck is that?"

Shana: "I don't know, but it looks like it's coming from Leo's apartment..."

Monica: "I'm sure he's fine Shana, I mean it's just a light after all when have lights ever harmed someone..."

In that instant the blue light burst from Leo's apartment! Rapidly expanding and engulfing everything! Hector, Shana, and Monica had no time to react. Shana managed to utter a "Whoa!" before it swallowed her completely along with Monica and Hector. The blue light traveled faster than anything on Earth, and soon the world was enveloped in the mysterious blue light. In Space all you could see was Earth ensnared in a bright blue blinding light and then in the next second the Earth vanished along with the mysterious blue light. The only thing that remained was the Moon, floating alone in the empty dark void of space....

Chapter 3: A new World

Hours go by before Leo wakes up again. Feeling dazed and confused about his surroundings while feeling a sharp pain all over his body, he sits up slowly. He wipes the tears from his eyes and yawns deeply, stretching his arms away from his body before saying "Man that must have been one hell of a party last night..." He soon comes to realize that he's not in the room that has sheltered and comforted him all his teenage years and freaks out.

Leo: "It's cool... it's cool... Hector probably just pranked the shit out of me... or did the government take me away already?... No, it's definitely Hector."

Leo put his hand over his heart, as he did from time to time to imitate his father's way of thinking as a means to help him think but, as soon as he did he heard a *Clang*. He looked down and realized he's not even wearing his normal clothes. He examined his new outfit and noticed it's the exact same armor and clothing from his dreams! After admiring his outfit multiple times Leo tries to comes to terms with what is going on when he feels something moving on his ear. He reaches for it and finds out his ear had been pierced! He unhooked it and saw it was a silver bead earring. Leo rehooked it and slowly pulled his finger across his left cheek and felt a scar on his left cheek that wasn’t there before.

 

Trying to get a sense of where he is, Leo looks around at his surroundings and a bad feeling develops in the pit of his stomach. Everything looks familiar, but feels different. He reaches down, grabbing the dark green blades of grass rubbing the smooth small hair like texture growing out of them. As his fingers rolled over the strange grass, the hairs on his arm began to stand up, he noticed the rougher texture on the individual blades stirred between the grooves on his exposed fingertips. Leo then grabbed a handful of the meadow's surface, ripping out the roots of the grass to expose the soil. Hesitantly he touched the light black soot, feeling its malleable constitution.

 

Leo then scooped up a handful of the soil and almost instantly, as if by some strange force, it gathered in the center of his palm. He squeezed the soil but it wasn't soft, rather it felt chunky and very moist. A cool breeze sifted through the meadow, carrying the sounds of the birds crooning. Leo looked to the sky and a small group of brightly colored birds flew overhead through the iris colored sky. He had to squint a little into the shimmering sky to see the flock clearly. Their long tail feathers dragged in the wind, giving them an eloquent V shaped body. It was their heads that stood out though. Each bird had a large nodule growing out of their beak. They landed on the treetops near the edge of the meadow’s boundary. Leo slowly walked to the edge of the pasturage, under the cool shade of the canopy.

 

The light brown bark looked as if it was almost glowing, even in bright light. Leo, touched the uneven, cracked, bark with his right hand thinking it felt like no different from any other tree. The rough surface of the tree’s flesh scraped against his glove. Leo looked up into the awning, seeing the abstract, complicated layout of branches. As the the branches grew higher they warped unnaturally, twisting in esoteric ways. The leaves rustled in the wind they seemed to grow upwards, defying the gravity on the planet. The tree felt alive, it had an unnatural yet warm pulse, almost as if the synergy between them grew as one. Leo walked out back to the meadow as if in a hypnotic state, he closed his eyes looking into the sky, feeling the nipping breeze pass through his hair.

 

He took in a deep breath smelling the clean air pass through his nostrils, filling his lungs with renewed energy. He opened his eyes slowly and stared at his feet. "This has to be a dream! I mean there's no other way to explain this strange meadow, the different shade of blue in the sky, this badass outfit, the scar and piercing!" Thought Leo as his eyes shifted around. Satisfied with his answer Leo began thinking he would wake up at any moment from this crazy fantasy nightmare, but he started to worry, "What if this isn't a dream?" He went through all his senses again and could only come to one conclusion.

 

"This isn't a dream and it's definitely not a Hector prank... as clever as he is, he can't change the environment..." Leo knew his only chance of finding answers was to follow the setting sun. He headed deep into the forest, the smell of wood, fresh leaves, and decaying life was all around him. The canopy almost seemed to block out the sun, but the creatures around him seemed to just awaken the deeper he delved into the darkness. Leo walked for what seemed like hours, but the setting sun was no longer in site. He was lost and he knew it. He decided the best plan was to rest for a bit, sitting against a tree. Leo started wondering if he would ever see his friends again as the diminishing temperatures chilled his exposed skin. He drifted off once again his mind going numb as the frore settled in.

 

Hours had gone by, as the sun barely poked through the thick canopy. Leo slept still in the morning dew, until he heard a strange noise in the bushes behind him. Leo woke up instantly panicking and with the senses surging. He looked around for a weapon, only finding a fallen branch but with a good girth and weight. Out of the bushes a humanoid creature moved towards him with aggressive speed. As he neared Leo noticed it was a young man with long hair that covered his face, he was holding a branch twice the size of Leo’s branch. His clothes were tattered and he looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks.  

 

The wild humanoid rushed at Leo swinging the branch horizontally with brute force, but Leo quickly ducked under his first swing and counter-attacked, bringing the stick to his opponent's head, he was trying to knock the wildling out by hitting him in the temple; but Leo’s opponent was skilled. He parried Leo's attack with great speed and swung at his body nearly tearing Leo in half, it took Leo’s gauntlet to block the powerful blow!  Leo used the opening to grab his opponents branch and pull him in close enough to head butt him! As their heads collided Leo got a good look at his opponents face. He jumped back and began thinking to himself, "Why does he look so familiar?" The stranger had begun to reach for his forehead as he started to speak.

Stranger: "No jodas maricon!!" (Don't fuck with me faggot!!)

Leo instantly recognized the voice!

Leo: "Oh my god! Hector it's you!! I'm so glad to see you bro!! It's me Leo! Man, you look like you could use a shower and some uh new threads... no offense, man."

The wild looking Hector paused for a moment, but then let out a vicious yell!

 

Hector: "Shut the fuck up! You're not Leo! You're just a part of my mind playing tricks!! Now DIE!!!"

Leo couldn't understand why his best friend was acting like a maniac, but he had no time to react! Hector had swung to kill, and Leo had to defend himself or Hector would definitely kill him!

 

Chapter 4: Happy Reunions

Leo couldn't understand why his best friend was attacking him, but for whatever reason he had to defend himself, lest he lose his head. He wanted to disarm Hector without hurting him, but he was lost in a wild rage and assaulted Leo with blow after blow! Leo couldn't believe how fast and strong he had become in such a short time! He could still avoid and block the assault, but he didn't remember Hector being this fast! “Maybe it’s the armor weighing me down.” He thought to himself, yet Leo lost all focus in the fight and Hector managed to catch him off guard and sent a powerful blow to his face.

Leo stumbled towards a tree face first. He turned around in time to see Hector trying to whack him again, and in a quick fluid movement, Leo ducked under Hector's arm, kneed him in the stomach, grabbed him by the shoulder and neck, and flipped him onto his back! Hector stared into Leo's eyes, as he layed on the ground and calmed down. He took a second to analyze his face before realizing that he was actually staring at his best friend.

Hector: "LEO!!! Oh man it's good to see you!!"

Leo: "Yeah that's some welcome... How long have you been in these woods? You look terrible, and you could use a shower, bro."

Leo helped Hector to his feet and dusted him off.

Hector: I'm not sure man... maybe three months? Give or take a week or two..."

Leo gave Hector a shocked, unbelieving look, "What?! Three months!? That's impossible! I just woke up awhile ago!" Then Hector gives Leo a "Fuck You" look and says, "Whatever man you expect me to believe that!? Look at you! You're wearing that outfit, looks like you've been eating well too, and yet you expect me to believe that you just woke up this morning like a newborn baby!? Sabes que te puedes ir al carajo cabron!" (You know what, go to hell bastard!)

Leo: "Hey watch the attitude! Estoy diciéndote la verdad! (I'm telling you the truth!) Shit..." Leo can see that by the look on Hector's face he still didn’t believe him, "Hey believe what you want, but I'm telling the truth. It doesn't make any sense to me either... as for this outfit... I don't know why, when or how but when I woke up I was already wearing it..." Leo gave Hector a worried look, and hoped that his friends would believe him.

With a confident and calm tone in his voice, Hector spoke softly "Yeah man I think I've been here for three months more or less, and to tell you the truth I don’t think we’re even on Earth.” Leo looked at Hector like he was the crazy one out of the two of them. “Oh really? How’d you come up with this theory?” Hector points up at the sky and begins to explain, “In case you haven’t noticed the sun sets on the east and rises on the west. I noticed that on my first week in this place. You know how back home when the sun rises, its on your right when you face north, and vice versa when you face south?”

Leo thinks about it for a minute and nods in head in agreement. “Well, here when the sun rises, it rises on my left and it sets on my right. Meaning the sun rises in the west and sets on the east!”

Leo puts Hector’s theory to the test and finds the setting sun through the thick forest canopy. He stands with the sun on his left side, and see’s that Hector is correct. Hector continues his lecture. “This can only mean that either the sun’s gravitational field flipped or Earth began spinning in the opposite direction somehow overnight, which would've been impossible for us to not notice even if we were asleep. Either way that doesn't account for the strange wildlife and vegetation. I don't know what you've seen yet, but I've seen these huge monster gorilla things wandering around similar to the extinct gigantopithecus of Earth, mountain lions that look like buffed up sabertooth tigers like the smilodons but even bigger!!

Plus don't even get me started on how I've figured out what vegetation is safe to eat! There are these huge ass red grape looking berries, get too close to them and they'll release these stun spores that will affect your nervous system for hours. And at night there are these glow in the dark mushrooms and they're real beautiful, but carnivorous man! I've seen these mushrooms take down one of those mountain lion creatures no problem. I've been surviving on scraps from the kills of those beasts and drinking water from inside the trees. I swear its been Hell these past three months... but yeah obviously we're not home anymore. So the question is, "Where are we and how do we get back?"

Hector crossed his arms and gave Leo a cocky lop-sided smile. Leo just shook his head and decided it was best for Hector to have his moment. He then began scanning the land to see if he could find anything useful. "Looks like it's going to get dark in a few hours... I say we head that way." Leo pointed at the sky, "There's smoke so that means there's civilization." With a reassuring smile he looked at Hector, confident he had found the solution to the problem.

Hector: "Yeah or that could be a forest fire or a village of cannibals! But look before you get ahead of yourself there's more to it..."

Leo: "Hector... don't be so negative! C'mon lets head that way. It can't be that far away and it's our best bet at survival!" Leo started marching off to towards the smoke, but Hector didn't move from his spot. "What are you doing man? Let's go!"

Hector stared down at the floor before letting out a long *Sigh*, "Obviously, you don't know... you won't let me explain either... but anyways we're on a mountain man... and this thing is fucking grande! (huge!) And to make things worse the edge of it is like a cliff that comes out, but then goes in again. We're on the peak right now, and trust me there's no way down... I've tried finding a way off, but the cliff face is smooth... we're stuck up here. I’ve seen the town where the smoke is coming from and I’ve walked for days along the edge of the mountain in both direction. There’s no way down."

Leo: "Damn... well let's go anyways. We'll figure something out."

He begins walking towards the source of the smoke. Hector begins to follow Leo reluctantly, but confident in his skills as well. They begin walking through the forest in silence for what seems like hours. Unable to stand it, Hector breaks the silence.

Hector: "So...Shana and Monica..you think they're ok?"

Leo: "I don't know... I hope they are..."

Hector: "You haven't even thought about Shana once since you woke up huh?"

Leo starts blushing a little bit. "Yes, I have! I'm worried about her... I hope I can see her again, but who knows how big this world is..."

Hector: "Yeah, people said that about Earth, but the world is always smaller than you think, man. I'm sure we'll see them again."

They start to reach the edge of the forest and as they exit Leo begins to say, "Yeah man we just have to..." Leo walks to the edge of the cliff looking down to the floor below and sees that he's at least 4 miles in the air, the entire side of mountain they're on looks like it was half hollowed out by some sort of blast, then at the bottom it curves and goes into a large cave. "Chucha..." (Damn) He begins to examine the cliff wall and sees that Hector was right. There was no way down, "Diablo loko... (Shit dude...) I don't know how we're going to get down." Leo looks at Hector and he gives Leo a smirk and shakes his head at him, "Te dije, pero (I told you, but) I'm sure the two of us can figure something out." He began walking to the edge of the cliff where it has two ledges that jut out of it. Each ledge is just thick and wide enough for them to stand on and support their weight. Leo walks onto the other ledge next to Hector and kneels down to examine a vine growing between the ledges. "This vine extends pretty far down, but I doubt it goes all the way down. Plus it probably can't hold our weight anyways. Best if we just move on to a different location."

Hector stared off into the horizon following the trail of smoke scouting the small town below, "Hey, man, there it is. Even if we get off this mountain it's going to be a mission to get way over there homie." Leo looked in the same direction and agreed with a serious face, "We better find a way off then cuz the longer we wait the longer that walk is going to seem... If I were you, I'd get off that ledge cuz you don't know if it'll hold your weight forever."

Hector: "Nigga please! Stop being such a pussay! I'll be fi..."

The cliff face begins to crack! A huge crack appears between the ledge Hector is on and the cliff! The ledge slides down a few centimeters! Hector gives Leo a panicked look, and then in a flash Leo runs onto the same ledge and grabs Hector, throwing him onto the cliff. The ledge falls a few more centimeters and stops. Leo and Hector start laughing nervously to each other. Hector steps on the other ledge stomping his foot on the ground as he calms down,all of a sudden the entire cliff face begins crumbling and cracking! Both ledges have a huge crack separating them from the cliff face! Then both ledges begin to crumble away from the cliff and Leo looks at Hector and says, "Hey I have a confession! I accidentally killed your hamster in the 3rd grade!"

Hector: "YOU WHAT!?!?"

The ledges completely break off! And both Hector and Leo begin to yell at the top of their lungs! They start falling toward the base of the mountain and Leo realizes that the mountain isn’t as steep as it looks. Leo goes to grab the ledge that broke off and puts it under his feet as if it were some kind of surfboard. "Hector! Do the same thing! Trust me!"

Hector: "You're crazy!!! This will never work!!" But he followed his friends directions anyway.

Hector imitated Leo, and as they both got closer to the ground, they gave each other a worried look and braced for impact!

Leo and Hector: "Ai dios!!" (Oh god!!)

They hit the floor with a loud *THUMP!* and the ledges barely held together on impact instead crumbling apart! Leo and Hector begin sliding down the mountain, which is surprisingly smooth. They begin to pick up speed going down, and soon they start swerving left and right avoiding rocks and boulders in their way. As they begin to have fun and show off, Hector then notices the cave coming up, "Yo, up ahead."

Leo: "I see it... I hope there's an exit."

They enter the cave and soon it’s pitch black. Hector raises his hand to his face, but he can't even see it! They keep going deeper into the cave and the only sound is rock sliding against rock echoing off the cave walls. Finally there's a light at the end of the cave. They can finally see each other again and Leo says, "Get ready..." Hector just nods in agreement. Finally they exit the cave flying out at great speeds! But, the only problem is there's no floor! Leo and Hector look down and notice they're at least 20 ft in the air. They look at each other and Hector asks, with an unhappy tone to his voice, "Time to scream?"

Leo: "Time to scream..."

They begin to plummet towards the ground screaming and hit the floor with a heavy *SMACK!* Hector bounces off the ground a few times and hits a tree! Leo bounces off the ground once and ends up on his stomach. He gets up and walks over to Hector helping him up slowly. "Good thing I'm wearing this armor man or..." He notices Hector giving him a "shut up" look, "oh yeah HAHAHAH sorry I forgot you aren't wearing any armor..."

Hector marches off pissed, saying under his breath, "Me dice que se le olvido! No me jodas maricon..." (He tells me that he forgot! Don't fuck with me you fag...) Hector's back cracks in 3 different places and he lets out a loud yell! “MALDITA SEA TU PUTA MADRE!! CABRON! (OH MOTHER OF GOD!! SON OF A BITCH!) This is the last time I do some crazy shit with you!! Let's just get to that town...." Leo begins laughing at his pain. They walk towards the smoke to find the town, barely able to see it above the treetops. They walk for about three miles resting here and there until they reach the road and notice that the sun is beginning to set on the horizon. They look to their left and they can clearly see the town and make a victory dash for it! As they get closer they notice the town's perimeter is a giant wall at least 30 ft tall and several yards long,archers patrol every corner of the wall overlooking the town. Leo and Hector walk up to its immense gates and notice the archers watching them suspiciously as one raises his hand to an arrow in his quiver. Hector just brushes off the notion that hes about to be shot and marches up to the doorstep analyzing it for a way in when an arrow flies by his head and lands next to his foot cutting a few strands of hair.

Hector: “Hey! What the fuck is wrong with you?! Fucking cunt I was just looking at the door!”

Hector glares at the archers and flips them off, and takes a few steps back grumbling to himself when he see’s something and gives a relieved smile saying, "All right we made it to Woodchester!"

Leo: “Yeah we... wait?! How do you know the name of the town, if you've never been off that mountain?!”

Hector: "That sign (dumb-ass)." Hector points at a sign next to the lower left of the gate. It's old and covered in moss, but still legible though.

"Oh...." says Leo feeling stupid. He then knocks on the gate hoping somebody would answer. Then a tiny slot slides open just big enough to see the other person's eyes. In a booming voice he says, "State your business!" Leo is stunned for a minute, not sure on how to answer that question, but then says, "Um... Food and shelter."

The man examines Hector and Leo for a moment then says, "Ok... Just don't cause any trouble!" The slot closes and the gate begins to open slowly. As soon as the doors start to open Hector rushes into the city, past the door guard and up the ramparts to the archer that shot at him and repeatedly starts kicking him! The archer crawls to a fetal position as Leo manages to grab Hector and pull him down the ramparts. The door man, a tall man at least 6 ft, lunges after Hector. Leo pushes his best friend out of the way and gets picked up and slammed into a wall. “If you or your friend makes trouble here again, we’ll make sure the next shot won’t miss.” Leo nods and Hector appears under the door man’s arms with his fingers ready to grab his throat.

Hector: ”I think you should let go of my friend”

Leo gets put back on his feet and walks away with Hector staring at the guards.

Leo: “What the hell were you thinking?!”

Hector: “Hey that fucker deserved that and more no one threatens me”

Leo stared at his friend in disbelief, he had never seen Hector get this angry before and it worried him. “Look I’m not saying that guy wasn’t being a prick, but we can’t just go around picking fights! This isn’t the high school where we can just fight random gang bangers plus he was carrying a bow he could’ve shot you!”

Hector: “Would you quit over-reacting! It’s not like i didn’t have the situation under control! I knew what I was doing, and the next time don’t push me outta the way to save my ass from some guy I can handle!”

Hector and Leo locked eyes, but Hector could only see a certain sad, innocent look to his friends glare. “Hector you were ready to kill that guy weren't you?” Hector smirked at Leo’s naive question and thought, “Of course I was he looked like he was gonna kill you!” “No I wasn’t i was just... protecting... that’s weird...” Leo noticed at his friends bewildered gaze and followed it, seeing the small, dusty town. They could see the other gate on the other side of town about 100 yards down the central road. The main road was full of vendors selling food, items, and weapons. There were a few side roads that lead to what appeared to be houses or small apartment complexes. They were a few people walking around and doing some last minute shopping.

They're all carrying some sort weapon and Leo and Hector notice that the strange part is it's either a sword, a spear, a bow with a quiver, or some kind of hand to hand weapon. The town doesn't seem to be too busy at this hour and everyone looks like they're going to close their shops for the night.

Hector: "Man this place looks like something out of our RPG games back home..."

Leo: "Yeah man... Something isn’t right about this place. It didn’t hit me till now that there were archers guarding the place. Let's just find a place to sleep for the night and we'll figure out what’s going on in the morning."

Hector: "Ok man... Let's go here!"

He begins walking to an Inn.

Leo: "Hey wait! We don't have any money... *Sigh* Que voy a ser con este nene..." (What am i gonna do with this boy.)

Leo chases after Hector trying to get him to stop, but Hector enters the Inn anyways. Leo Enters a second later and a bell hanging above the door rings as the door hits it. They look around and see it has a bar to the right, a few tables for people to eat at the center, a door to the far right that probably leads to the kitchen, and a staircase to the left that leads to the upstairs rooms.

Hector: "Hmmm this place isn't that bad for a dusty little town... I wonder how the food tastes..."

Leo looks at Hector like he's crazy and folds his arms over his chest, "Wait what?! You've been out in the wilderness for 3 months and all you can say is this place is not bad!? This place should look like a castle to you! And the food should taste amazing since you haven't eaten in like what?! A week maybe two! Man I don't know what I'm talking about! We don't even have money! How are we going to pay for this shit any...?" Then two girls come out of the kitchen. They walk up to Leo and Hector and say, "Hello! Welcome to Woodchester Inn! How may we help you tonight?"

Leo begins to rub his eyes with his fingers and says, "Yeah give us one minute I'm trying to explain to my friend here that we don't have any money to spend the night... Then one of the girls stops him in mid-sentence, "Leo?!" Leo looks up at her not believing his eyes! "Shana!?" She quickly runs over to him and starts to hug him tightly! Leo begins to hold her close to his chest feeling the warmth of her body being pushed against his, the smell of her hair fills his nose, and small tears begin to form in his eyes. Shana begins to cry gently, "I... I... I thought I'd never see you again... I'm so happy you're here! I've missed you so much!" Leo closes his eyes holding her even tighter and says, "I know... I've been worried about you too..."

Leo couldn't believe he was holding Shana in his arms again. He was so happy to see her. He didn't want to let go of her, and she didn't want to let go of him. Hector decided to let them have their moment and quietly walked away towards the other girl. He looked at her and noticed it was Monica. He grew a huge smile on his face as he looked at her, "Hey Monica! I'd hug you but... yeah I'm a mess and I probably stink like crazy..." Monica just smiles and walks up to him and gives him a big hug anyway. "I don't care... I'm happy to see you too... I've missed your smile." Hector begins to hold her tightly, happy he could hold the girl he cared about even though he knew he looked horrible.

They all begin to walk to one the tables with Leo and Hector following slightly behind. Leo and Hector notice the girls look a bit different, especially their outfits. Shana cut her wavy hair down to her shoulders while Monica let her’s grown down to her lower back. Their eyes followed the slight curves and contours of their bodies down to their waist where Shana’s blue jean skirt and Monica’s purple mini jean skirt hugged them tightly. Shana’s pink thigh leather high heel boots gripped her legs tightly as they clacked against the floor, where as Monica’s left leg was entirely covered in purple armor that moved smoothly with each quiet step she took in her purple and yellow shoes. They all sat at a table across from each other, Shana and Monica on one side and Leo and Hector on another.

They were all happily smiling at each other, reunited once again. As Leo stared into Shana’s blue eyes he noticed she let her bangs grow over the side of her face complimenting her heart shaped face. In the light of the inn Leo could she has on a little bit of blush and black eyeliner, but thats not what caught his eye as much. He let his eyes wander down the line of her long neck to the pink strap; leading to her tight bright pink top which had has a heart shaped cut out of its chest showing off her cleavage a bit. Hector looked like he hadn't blinked once since he saw Monica. He was doing his best to look into her black eyes, which she had lightly coated with black eyeliner and painted her lips with a light pink lipstick. But Leo could tell Hector wanted to look at her strapless yellow top, that also showed off her cleavage. Leo managed to stop staring at Shana, and began to question them, "So you guys work here?"

Shana: "Yeah, but we also own this place... um used too. We sold it today to some merchant and he gave us till the end of the week to grab our stuff and move out. Monica and I have been planning on going to the planet's capital to figure everything out, but it's like a day's walk from here."

Hector: "How long have you been here?" Cuz I've been here for about 3 months. This guy says he just woke up this morning."

Shana gave Leo a worried look and said, "We've been here for about 3 months too. An old lady named Ingra found us asleep in the woods. She took us in and gave us work at this Inn. She passed away like a month ago and yeah... So Leo are you sure you’re ok?"

Leo: "Yeah I'm fine... I don't understand it either... How could I have been asleep for three months...?"

Monica: "Are you sure? Unless you were in a coma there's no way you'd be asleep for 3 months. Plus where did you get that armor?"

Hector: "Dijo que se levanto (He said he woke up) and he was already wearing it. I think he's just going crazy."

Leo, angry that Hector still didn't believe him, smacked him in the back of the head! "Mira cabron! (look asshole!) I'm telling the truth!"

Shana: "Ok, Leo, calm down. Yo te creo." (I believe you)

Leo smiled at Shana, thankful for her reassurance, "Gracias, nena..." (Thank you girl...)

Shana: "You're welcome, nene." (boy)

Hector could tell they weren't going to get anywhere so he decided to start asking some real questions, "Ok, so what do you two know about this "place?"

Monica: "Ok, well first, this isn't Earth. It's some planet named "Centeria." Shana has tried asking about Earth, but people just give her a weird look. Second it's a good idea to carry around a weapon here because there are all sorts of warriors and mercenaries here who want to start fights for no reason other than to show off their battle prowess. Shana has been learning archery. I've been learning how to fence and use stealth to my advantage."

Leo: "Damn, that's impressive, but sucks about the planet situation. Then I guess we'll just have to find a way off this planet then... If it's possible, that is."

Hector: Yeah... I mean so far all these people we've seen have "primitive" technology... Swords, bows... it's funny how you don't appreciate technology until there's none."

Monica: "Yeah that's the ironic part. They're walking around with medieval era weaponry, but they have some pretty advanced technology as well, like running water, electricity, and the kitchen has everything a kitchen back on Earth had, I would say more truth be told! I believe there's a restriction of sorts that prevents certain technology from being used."

Shana: "Yeah... and because of that restriction or law, we might not see our families again..."

Everyone quickly realized what Shana said and began to look at Leo! He just stared back and said, "What? Is there something on my face?" He began to rub his face, "Did I get it?" Everyone breathes a sigh of relief that he didn't react to her. Leo just leans over and grabs Shana's hands, "Shana, I promise you that if there's the tiniest possibility of us returning to Earth, I'm going to fight for it so that you can see your family again."

Shana smiles back at Leo, knowing that he just made a foolish promise, "Ok, I trust you, but first Hector go upstairs and take a shower in one of the rooms. Monica will bring you a fresh change of clothes in a minute." Hector nodded in agreement and left the table. Monica, blushing, led Hector upstairs. "Leo follow me, I have to give you something." She dragged Leo to the kitchen and stopped at the counter. She reached into a cupboard and pulled out a chocolate cake. "I made this today for tonight's dessert. It's not ice cream cake, but it's still good."

Leo smiled at her and reached for a plate. Shana cut off a few pieces for him and herself. They ate in silence. Shana got close to Leo, put her head on his chest and said, "I'm so glad you're here with me. I thought about you everyday and I was beginning to lose faith that I would never see you again..." Leo gently lifts her chin with his finger and thumb to look at her in the eyes, "Well, guess what I'm here now and that's all that matters. I'm not leaving you alone again..." Leo begins to lean in closer to her face and Shana starts to blush a bit and begins to close her eyes.

Monica: "Shana, we have other customers!" Monica quickly runs into the kitchen and sees Leo and Shana about to kiss. They quickly separate from each other blushing. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! Si yo supiera... ai disculpame!!" (If I knew... ah forgive me!!) She begins to blush and runs out of the kitchen. Shana stares at Leo and says, "Wow... Um... Yea... Hey follow me so I can give you something else." Shana goes outside the kitchen and goes behind the bar kneeling down to open a tiny safe. She pulls out a stack of money and gives it to Leo. "Now you and Hector go into town and find some food, armor for hector, and weapons. Here's 3000 in money, it's called dinari here, so spend it wisely!"

Leo: "Don't worry I promise I will." Leo sees Hector coming down the stairs, wearing clean clothes; a long sleeve cotton shirt and blue jeans, but his hair is still a mess, and he points at the door letting Hector know he'll meet him outside. "Ok, Shana, I'll be back soon!"

 

Chapter 5: Heaven, Hell, and Destiny's Weapon

Leo walks out the door and turns around to see Monica and Shana busy taking orders from the crowd of customers. He joins Hector and they head around town looking for an armory shop, they inquire about how glad they are to see Shana and Monica alive again. They eventually find a secluded old looking store that's open. Leo takes a seat while Hector browses around the store. He selects a few things and goes into the changing room to try them on. Leo sits there for what feels like an eternity! "Hector apurate chico!! Eres peor que una chica mamao!" (Hector hurry up dude!! You're worse than a girl you fag!)

Hector: "Oh shut up, man! This is fucking armor, not clothing! It’s gotta be perfect! Plus I'm about to come out anyways, you impatient bastard!"

Hector steps out of the Changing room wearing a blue-green colored chest armor. "The armor doesn't come with any arm protection, but you know what? I like it" He begins to look in a mirror examining it more closely. The shoulders have tiny white spikes curving slightly towards his chest, the sides are open like a vest allowing his arms to have natural movement, and the chest has a round open silver disk plate added for decoration. "I'm taking this shit man!"

Leo: "It's about time man. C'mon let's get you some food."

They pay 800 dinari for the armor and head further into town. Hector sees a barber shop and walks in.

 

Leo

As Hector is getting his haircut Leo looks out the window and lets his mind wander. “I can’t believe all this! I'm back with Shana and Hector, oh yeah....and Monica too...of course, and the best part is we’re all on another planet! I still can’t believe this isn’t a dream. Still we all have to find a way home to Earth. Maybe we’ll be heroes when we go back with all that advanced space flight technology and they won’t think twice about taking me away from Shana. I wonder how they’re families are doing... Hector’s parents and sister must be going crazy. Shana’s parents never really pay any attention to her anyway, but I wonder how her older brothers are taking it. Monica is an only child so I’m sure her parents are flipping out. Mom and dad... I miss you two... If you two were here with me I bet you’d guys would go crazy. Especially dad since he was a bigger nerd about space than me.” Leo then sees a man in a black hooded robe staring right at him through the window. “Who the hell is this guy?” He starts to grab for his hood with his right hand Why is he looking at me? Ugh... I’m starting to feel light headed again and my eyes are starting to burn...”

Hector touches Leo shoulder making him jump. He turns to look at his friend then quickly back at the window and notices that the hooded man is gone.

Hector: "What are you staring at?"

Leo: “Uh, nothing, just thinking about some stuff.” He turns around to get a better look at Hector's fresh haircut. It's short, combed forward, and spiked on the front, but Leo notices that Hector kept his ridiculously long cowlick. "Hey you missed a spot."

Hector: "What?" He grabs his cow lick from the back of his head and traces it along the curve until he reaches his face, "Hey I like this thing actually *chuckle* I think it's cool. Plus what about you and your spiky hair? I think it's a bit too long, and you definitely need to cut those bangs!"

Leo just shakes his head in disapproval, "Ok, man, you got me. I like the way my hair looks, and I shouldn't judge... But still, man, it's weird looking!"

Hector: "Whatever, let's just go get some food now."

They leave the barber shop and Leo starts looking around for the hooded man inconspicuously. He can't find him and decides to let it go. They start searching for a place to eat. Leo and Hector are worried about what to eat since the food looks like it would give them the worst stomach ache of their lives, but they decide on a medieval ish looking restaurant and look at the menu. "The food doesn't seem much different from Earth," said Leo.

Hector: "Yeah I know... Hmmm let's order the pheasant legs cuz it sounds like chicken."

Leo: "Yuck! You know I hate chicken man!"

Hector: "Yeah, but you like barbecue chicken though and from the description of the sauce I say it's barbecue."

Leo: "Fine, let's get that then."

They order their meals and soon enough it comes out on a huge plate!

Leo: "Damn! That's a lot! This is for like eight people!"

Hector (already eating): "Mmmhmmm.... Tengo hambre man!" (I'm hungry man!)

Leo just laughs at Hector's insatiable appetite and begins to join him. Eventually they work their way down to the last leg. They both reach out for it and grab it at the same time.

Hector: "Um what are you doing? This last one is mine."

Leo: "What are you talking about? You ate like most of the food! Entonce eso significa que es mio!" (So that means that its mine!)

Hector: "You don't even like food that tastes like chicken! So give it up!"

They get into a tug of war over the last pheasant leg and soon they begin to wrestle for it! They hit the ground and a cloud of dust envelopes them! You can hear them punching and kicking each other when a sharp tiny bark interrupts their fight. They look up at the table and see a puppy eating their last leg.

Hector: "What!?! Hey!"

Hector runs up to the table furious at the puppy! He puts his face close to it getting ready to yell at it when the puppy licks his check and barks at him in a squeaky sound. Leo walks up to Hector and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Just let it go, man." Hector glares at the puppy and then turns around and walks away, "Fine! Let's go before I change my mind" They pay for the food and start searching for an open weapon shop. They find one in a dark, dusty alley and walk towards the decrepit door slowly. The worn door, and had a few tiny holes in it, with the paint peeling off at a rapid rate. They looked at each other slightly worried at what they might find inside and slowly entered the hidden venue.

From the top of the buildings surrounding the alley, a man in a black hooded robe spies on Leo and Hector entering the weapon shop. He places his right foot on the ledge of the building and leans forward resting all his weight on it. He reaches for the hilt of his sword resting at his back with his left arm and begins to speak, "Are you sure that's him?" The man looks towards another young man kneeling in front of him. This one dressed in a dark outfit that resembled what a fabled ninja would wear.

Young man: "Yes, sire... He wears the red armor does he not?"

Hooded man: "So? Any man could wear red armor!"

Young man: "Yes, but his mannerism is different from any “simple man”, and he gives off a strange aura. Much like yours, sire."

Hooded man: "Fine I'll just have to take your word on this one... and if you fail me, I will hunt you down and kill you..." He walks over to the young man and hands him a bag of coins.

The young man respectfully bows his head and in a blur of speed, disappears from the rooftop. The hooded man draws his sword, much bigger than many at a first glance. The handles length standing at 12 inches long; the hand guard small and rectangular, 12 inches in width and 2 inches in thickness. The blade stood at an impressive 10 inches wide and 8 ft long! He rests the blunt part of the blade on his shoulder and puts his right arm to his ear, "Jocelyn,157 I have confirmed the target... No we move now. Meet me at the coordinates! As Imperial Knights this mission is of highest priority..."

Meanwhile inside the weapon shop, Leo and Hector examine the small but varied shop. The roof had many holes in it, letting in the moonlight sky. The floor was dirty, covered in grime and muck and looked like it hadn’t been swept in ages. However the walls were covered in all sorts of weapons. To the right it had different blades of all shapes and sizes, to the left were heavy and blunt weapons such as maces and axes, and on the walls behind them, were spears of different lengths and woods. Near the back they could see a small furnace and an anvil with some smith tools on it, but the owner was nowhere to be seen. Hector, being more of a ranged fighter and having a love for spears, lances, and staves, began looking at those sections. Leo on the other hand had been moving around the store trying to find something that stood out to him.

He had picked up a few blades and swords but nothing that interested him. Back on Earth Leo had studied swordsmanship and practiced how to use a sword for fun and exercise, but he preferred to dual wield, the art of fighting with two swords. Hector as his best friend helped him with his studies, but he practiced with a staff instead. They would duel each other often with Leo usually winning, but Hector had kept the score pretty close. Leo kept browsing going through the different types of maces, staves, and even gauntlets with retractable blade attachments. *CRASH!!* He looked over at Hector who somehow managed to make a whole shelf of wooden staffs fall on him.

Hector: "Oops... I was trying to get to that cool looking spear up there!" He pointed to the spear on the top shelf. It was double sided, both ends having a trident shaped blade, but the ends differed from one another. One of the ends had a black dye, mimicking the trident, embedded into it. The other side had the same design but using a white dye instead.

Leo face-palmed himself and said, "You just had to get the one on the top shelf."

Hector: "What? That fucking thing has literally been calling my name." He kept attempting to reach it to no avail.

Leo simply shook his head and resumed his search. He was ready to give up when a katana at the far side of the store on a shelf caught his eye. The katana had an 8 inch black and white pattern cloth covering the metal handle. The hand guard nearly an inch thick and two inches wide; the square corners were rounded and smooth to the touch. The four ft. blade looked as if it almost had a pure white glow to it, in the moonlit room.

Leo: "Wow... Its light, for a long sword... lighter than my practice swords back home!” He swung the blade a few times in the air and sheathed it back in its scarab. He smiled as he attached the katana under the left side of his belt and a feeling of temerity overwhelmed him.

"That blade is called The Blade of Heaven. It's a very old blade. Forged around the time of the Dark Wars. But it is still a reliable and powerful weapon," said an old voice. Your friend over there has a good eye too. He's trying to reach "The Spear of Destiny."

Leo turned around to see an old man with a long beard. He was short; bald on the top of his head, but the back of his head had long white, flowing, wavy, unkempt hair. But Leo couldn’t stop staring at his bushy white eyebrows the fell down the sides of his face and melded in with his long white beard. He limped towards Leo, his white robes trailing on the floor behind him, using a cane to help support his weight; it seemed that his left leg had suffered an old wound that never properly healed. "I can see you two have an eye for weapons, but I'm afraid they aren't for sale."

Leo: "Oh I'm sorry... I was just admiring it." Then out of nowhere a huge gust of wind burst the door open and blew right into Leo! Hector and the old man just simply stared at him. "Ok, anybody besides me find that weird?"

Hector, with The Spear of Destiny, shook his head and started to test out the spear, "Yep..." He began to swing the spear in wide arcs when he noticed a line in the middle of it. He began to examine it closer.

Leo: "Hey careful not to damage anything!!" Leo then noticed a feather on the floor. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was strange. It was large and it was pure white, but it had pure black veins running through it and it pulsed as if it was alive.

The old man simply stared at the feather in amazement. "A white feather with black grooves... This can only mean one thing!! Boy, hold out you're left hand with the palm up!"

Leo: "What!? Why?!"

Old man: "Just do it!"

Leo did as the old sage bid him and held his hand out. The old man held out his cane which made contact with leo’s hand. Then a bright round ball of light appeared in Leo's palm! "Hey old man what's happening!?" The old man began to smile and studied

Leo's hand as the ball of light grew ever radiant, "I knew one day you would return..." The light got even brighter and soon it burst into bright yellow flames and completely engulfed Leo's left hand! "Hey what's going on?! AHHH" Leo gripped his left hand and dropped to his knees on the floor. The flames got brighter and then there was a bright flash of light! Hector ran over to Leo helping his friend up. "Hey are you ok, bro?!"

Leo: "Yea... *Huff* *Huff* I'm fine..." He looked at his left hand and saw that he was holding a broadsword! Its handle a bright yellow, 9 inches long and the end of the pommel circular with the middles hollowed out. The handle was 10 inches wide and one inch thick. The ends pointed and curved inwards slightly. The middle of the handle had a triangle pointing out of it gripping the double-edge sword. The sword was 8 inches wide and 6 ft long, the middle of it colored pure black and ended in a single point an inch away from the point of the sword. Leo raised the sword to his face examining it closer. He searched for the old man but didn’t find him.

Then the disembodied voice of the old sage spoke in a ghostly manner, The Sword of Hell and The Blade of Heaven are the legendary weapons of the past. It is said he who wields them will influence the fate of the mortal realm... But he who wields The Spear of Destiny and The Blades of Fate will shatter the dreams of all who stand next to him. Take care as my body and spirit have moved on to the next world..."

Leo: "Old man, Just who the hell were you..."

Hector: "I want to know too, but hey free weapons nigga!!! Now lets get the hell out of here before some other crazy shit happens." He began to walk to the entrance of the store.

Then the entrance was blasted to oblivion! Hector was blown backwards but he managed to recuperate quickly and landed on his feet sliding backwards next to Leo. Leo stood strong as the cloud of smoke, dust, and debris cleared. He drew out his katana preparing for his coming foe. Up in a hole through the roof he could see the hooded man from the barber shop. The hooded man drew his large blade and pointed it at Leo. "In the name of The Imperial Empire, I will this day end your existence!"

 

Chapter 6: Hector's Battle!

Leo raised a fist to the hooded man and yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you?! We haven’t done shit!" The hooded man relaxed his posture, and lowered his immense sword for a brief second examining Leo’s aggressive stance. Nearly a second later he disappeared in a sudden blur and appeared near Leo’s head swinging his blade in a horizontal motion! Leo nearly missed him appearing out of thin air with inhuman speed, but was just barely fast enough to deflect his flashing assault with his katana! Hector stood there stunned for a few seconds, regaling the spectacle of sword spamming sparks created from the blades; which looked as if they flew through the air like feathers.

He snapped back to his senses and phalanxed charged the hooded figure. He went to pierce the hooded man with a strong and swift lunge. The man saw through his slow motion however, and sidestepped at the last second leaving Hector's lunge hanging in thin air, he then took a few more quick steps back avoiding a horizontal slash incoming from Leo’s broadsword! Leo and Hector tried to keep up with the hooded man assaulting him with waves of piercing and slashing, but the inhuman speed of the man would not let up trancing them with skilfull dodges and deflections. The assault continued until Leo managed to corner him while he dodged one of Hector’s lunges. Leo slashed his robe open in one quick motion as the man jumped out of the corner.

The robe fell as the man landed near the entrance his features coming into view. Hector and Leo locked eyes with the man, his dark brown eyes shining in the moonlight with a dull glaze over them, the eyes of a trained killer. There was a slight wind kicking the bangs he had over his forehead reaching towards his spiky hair, but they noticed the strange colors, as if the hair on the back of his head had been dyed black deliberately in contrast to his brown hair in the front. He moved his neck slightly revealing the tension of muscles in his neck as two small gold hoop earrings, one on each ear, swung back and forth in the wind. Even in the dim moonlight they could see his tan skin, the light reflecting on his light blue armor, shining brightly on his torso, with an insignia of sorts engraved onto the left side of his chest. Just under it a blue sash crossed his chest, reaching under his left oval shaped shoulder pauldron.

He raised his left hand up adjusting his grip on the blade, Leo and Hector twitched a little as the armor covering his upper left arm shifted, along with the white metal gauntlet on his lower left arm. He moved forward slowly taking a step and another as his dark blue combat boots crunched the earth underneath him, he brushed his hair with his right hand, which bore a fingerless black battle glove, yet curiously his right arm had no armor but rather a loose white and blue cloth he wore as an accessory covering his bicep muscle and lower arm. The young man then prepared himself getting into his battle ready stance, holding the handle of his blade with both hands, lifting the broad side of the blade next to his face, while putting his left foot forward letting his slanted black leather belt scratch against his dark blue jeans. After their short clash Leo and Hector realized he was about 5ft 10 inches, but despite his size and looks, he was very powerful, considering he could hold up the huge blade with just one arm and his athletically cut muscles would not strain.

They silently looked upon each other, until a woman's voice broke off the silence, "Hey, you were supposed to wait for me you impatient bastard!" The young man tilted his head around to see the woman who ran into the blown up entrance of the weapon shop, “What am I going to do with you?! If you get hurt on my watch command is gonna have my brain on a spike!" Leo and Hector stood dumbfounded at how gorgeous she was! Her long blond hair flowed naturally in the wind against her snow white skin, gently brushing her red painted lips. She looked over to them with her bright blue eyes dropping her hands onto her wide hips and angling her body revealing her very sexy curvy body with, amazing DD cup breasts. Standing next to the young man Leo could easily see she stood at 5 ft 6 in. She took a few steps towards them, her small red top, brightening up in the moonlight, hugged her big breasts and showed off her flat stomach. Each step was as graceful as a dancers with her small shorts rubbing against each other and her black stilettos barely making the ground crunch beneath her.

Young man: "You were running late and I need to finish this mission quickly! You know he's one of the most wanted men in the sector!"

Woman: "Just cuz you were promoted to Lion Knight at the age of 13 doesn't make you the most talented person in the entire Imperial Kingdom! You don't know what they're capable of!"

Leo and Hector just gulped at each other not knowing what to do. The only exit was blocked and it seemed they were going to have to fight their way out, but Leo wanted answers first. "Hey, just who the fuck are you two?! And what the hell is the Imperial Kingdom?!" The young man and woman gave Leo a dumbstruck look as though he were a complete and utter dumbass.

Young man: "Well since you're going to die anyway I guess there's no harm in telling you our names. I am Joseph Sandoz! Lion Knight of the Imperial Kingdom! And this is my partner, Jocelyn. We are here on a mission to kill you, Lucian."

Leo: "Lucian?! I'm afraid you have the wrong person my name is Leonard, Leonard Hevia."

Hector: "Did you have to give them the whole name? You fucking show off...."

Joseph took a moment to examine Leo, pulling a piece of paper out of his chest armor and unfolding it while licking his lips, he began to read, "Lucian, Description: Approximately 5 ft 8 in, brown hair, green eyes, and wearing red armor.” He gave Leo another, “You’re a fucking retard” look. “You fit the description. You must be him.”

Leo not believing how retarded Joseph could be gave him a “No you’re the fucking retard” look, before responding, "Ok, anybody could fit that description!"

Jocelyn: "No one has ever fully seen Lucian and lived. He leaves no witnesses behind in his aftermath. He is a serial killer, a drug lord, and a spy among other things. The only person who saw him briefly, died shortly afterward from his wounds that Lucian gave him, leaving only this description. We have order's to execute Lucian on the spot and you fit the description! We aren't taking any chances so I'm afraid it's time to die!"

Hector: “So you think a guy who can’t fight for shit and depends on his buddy to do all the work is a serial killer, drug lord, and spy.” Hector raised his hands to his head with a wtf look on his face as he said this.

“Hey! WE did the work back there! And you think I’m the show off? Psh... right...”said Leo as he rolled his eyes and shook his head at Hector before he nodded towards their opponents giving the signal to attack. Hector nodded back in agreement and shifted his feet slightly preparing for another phalanx assault on Joseph.

Leo: "I'll take the guy with the sword! You can fight the girl!" Before Hector could react Leo rushed at Joseph clashing swords with him! Forcing Joseph into the alley!

Hector: "Hey! I thought that nod meant I get to fight him! I can't fight that... bitc... damn him..." He turns to face Jocelyn, "Look no offense, but I don’t fight bitches..."

In that instant that Hector let his guard down, she ran over to him faster than his eye could follow her bouncing luscious tits, and mashed his face through the wall! Hector landed on the floor, bouncing and rolling, ending up near the main street. A crowd of people gathered to watch as he rose to his feet slowly. Feeling a huge amount of pain Hector couldn't believe the strength Jocelyn possessed! He watched her as she walked through the hole in the wall. He quickly picked up his spear to prepare for her next attack, but she was already on top of him with a terrible flurry of punches! To finish her attack, she kicked him in the ribs! Sending Hector flying into another wall causing rubble to fall on top of him!

Jocelyn simply stood in front of the rubble with a smirk and gave a maniacal laugh, "Men are so fucking weak and predictable!" She turned and started to walk away, but then Hector burst out of the pile of rubble. Barely able to stand up. He was bleeding severely from his head and coughed up blood. He walked forward and picked up his spear again. "I’m sorry I took so long I just had to stare at your ass as you walked away, you know theres something really sexy about a woman that can bench press more than me." Jocelyn stared at Hector not believing he had survived that barrage. “So you like to play rough huh mami (baby) well come on baby I’ll show you a good time.” She blushed in anger at his insubordination and reached for a hidden knife she had kept behind her back. "You're such a fucking sick perv!" Hector raised his spear knowing what was coming. He couldn’t wait to get her in the trap.

Jocelyn charged Hector, but he had the advantage, he had reach! and he used his advantage to grab a handful of tit in his hand and lustfully said “Sweet jesus thats good!” She stood there shocked for a minute, her face reddening like an apple. ‘GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME YOU SICK BASTARD” She went haywire at that point with a flurry of assaults, her face never getting its original color back. Hector kept her at bay with quick swings from his spear! Jocelyn easily deflected each attack from Hector, quickly making her way into his reach zone. Hector did his best to keep her at bay, but she ducked under one of his horizontal swings and she swung the blade at his throat! He jumped backwards avoiding the knife narrowly! Jocelyn spun to the right trying to flank Hector, but he saw her coming! Through his reflex and instinct Hector swung his spear deflecting her knife, but the tip of his spear slid across her knife and struck her across her right eye tearing it out!

Hector realizing what he did gasped and dropped his guard! "Fuuuuuck! What did I do I ruined your beautiful face noooooooo! I was going to make you my sex slave!" Jocelyn gave her back to Hector kneeling down holding her hands to where her eye used to be...

Jocelyn: "How dare you..." She stood and slowly turned around to face Hector, "TREAT ME LIKE A SLUT!!"

Hector couldn't believe what he was looking at! The inside of her skull was electronic! He could see the many different wires and microchips used to make her brain! "AHA you're a cyborg!!! Man you get sexier by the minute, the possibilities with all that flexibility..." Jocelyn quickly grabbed Hector's throat and picked him up off the floor! She began to squeeze the life out of him!

Jocelyn: "Yes!! That's right!! You like my hand flexing against your throat!! Does this turn you on!!! I'm Jocelyn model 11357!! And now you're going to die!"

Hector began to lose consciousness as her grip became tighter! He couldn't use his spear from this close and her grip was too strong to break! He was beginning to pass out when he remembered something! He lifted his spear and held it in both hands around the middle.

Jocelyn: "Another one of your pervy tricks?! No matter! You're going to die soon!"

She began to squeeze his neck even harder! Hector could feel his neck getting ready to snap! He quickly twisted his left hand clockwise and his right hand counter-clockwise. He pulled his arms in opposite directions and the spear came apart!! Jocelyn, surprised by the sudden movement, loosened her grip and Hector saw his opportunity! He swung his left arm and stabbed Jocelyn in the head! She dropped him and Hector hit the floor with a small *Thud* Jocelyn staggered backwards and sparks began to fly out of her head. "Error... Error... System shut...down..." She dropped to the floor and "died" Hector gave her ass a small squeeze and satisfied walked over to a wall and leaned against it coughing and exhausted from his ordeal.

Hector: "*Cough* *Cough*.... Man, what the fuck is up with this planet! *Cough*" He held up his right arm holding the other half of his spear with the white dye trident head pointing to the floor, "Good thing I learned this shit could be pulled in half back there..." He started to slide down onto the floor closing his eyes, "I'm just gonna take a quick five minute nap and dream about passionate robotic intercourse..." Hector passed out sitting on the floor as his blood slowly trickled down his face....

Chapter 7: A Moment of Dark Awakening

Leo stared angrily at his opponent, Joseph Sandoz, a "Lion Knight" of the Imperial Kingdom. He didn't know or understood what that meant. He only knew his opponent was skilled in combat wielding an 8 ft blade with unnatural ease. Leo was starting to reach his limit though. He was tired, his face covered in sweat, his muscles aching. They had been dueling for what seemed like an eternity.

Joseph lifted his blade up to his left shoulder, in rebuttal Leo made for a stance with his swords facing each other side by side. The wind kicked up the dirt and the dust beneath them, and a small crowd of people watched from afar, afraid to get close to the combatants or excited to see the outcome. As if a silent signal went off, Leo and Joseph rushed at each other! Their blades collided, causing sparks to ignite from the force and speed of the blades hitting each other! They both swung their weapons each blow being parried or blocked.

Joseph swung his blade downwards, then vertically and Leo jumped to the right dodging the blade and landing a roundhouse kick to Joseph's face! He stumbled back and Leo saw his opening. He ran at Joseph and swung his katana horizontally. But Joseph recovered at the last second and ducked. He quickly did a backwards spin and swung his sword downward! Leo blocked the blade with both of his weapons and they were locked together face to face.

Joseph: "*Huff* *Huff* You know there's no way you're going to beat me kid!"

Leo: "*Huff* *Huff* What you mean kid?! You're not that much older than me!"

They pushed each other away and Leo started to attack Joseph with a flurry of quick attacks! Joseph blocked every blow, repelling the assault and once again locking swords together.

Joseph: "You're pretty good. Whoever taught you must have been a great swordsman."

Leo: "Actually I taught myself! I'm the best swordsman back home!" He gave Joseph a cocky smile, but Leo knew he had to do something quick or else he was going to die!

Joseph, noticing Leo’s lack of focus, quickly kicked him in the ribs, knocking him down on his back! Leo quickly sat up and raised his katana as Joseph swung down to deliver the final blow! As he blocked the attack, Joseph's power from the blow slid down Leo’s blade causing his hand to lose control knocking the katana out of his hand! Leo quickly rolled backwards onto his feet and raised his broadsword to Joseph. They charged at each other again colliding swords! It seemed like another stalemate as neither could gain the advantage in the duel. Leo swung his broadsword horizontally, but Joseph ducked under it and turned his huge blade sideways, using the broad side of his blade, he elbowed Leo causing him to drop his sword and send him flying backwards!

Leo landed on the floor bouncing as he went, ending up on his back. He coughed trying to regain the air that had just been knocked out of him. He quickly looked up to see Joseph running towards him, dragging his blade on the ground! Joseph gained momentum closing the gap between them and Leo did a hand spring to get back on his feet, as soon as he did, Joseph swung his blade upwards missing Leo's back by centimeters! Leo spun around to face his opponent and Joseph immediately formed a relentless assault! He could dodge and avoid every swing by Joseph, but he was starting to go faster and Leo could no longer keep up! Joseph finally cut Leo across his chest leaving a huge gash! He dropped to his knees feeling the blood pouring out of his wound. He looked up at Joseph and realized this is where the fight ended.

Leo: "So are you 100% sure about killing me? What if I’m actually innocent?"

Joseph: "No one is completely innocent, and if you are then you have my regards, just know that your death will help bring some peace to the Imperial Kingdom."

Leo: "Then can I at least get a clean death... a warrior's death?"

Joseph pondered on the idea for a second and decided to give him a quick painless death by stabbing him through the back of his neck. He walked around to Leo's back keeping his blade a few inches away in case he tried anything. Then he turned his blade upside down making the end face the ground below. He raised it above his head and prepared to stab Leo through the base of his neck. But Leo saw his opportunity and quickly dashed forward! Joseph was caught completely off guard!

Leo rolled as he hit the ground and picked up his broadsword! He then turned to face Joseph but he was too slow! He was already on top of him and Leo barely had enough time to deflect the first blow! But the next one knocked his broadsword into the air! Then without a moment's hesitation Joseph slashed Leo across his chest diagonally practically cutting him in half! Leo coughed up blood as he looked at Joseph with watery eyes. As he fell backwards, one tear rolled down his cheek, his last thoughts were of Shana.

Joseph turned around and sheathed his blade behind his back. He began to walk away with eyes closed in deep thought, "Another opponent dies at my blade... But this one was too young..." A dark cold chill went up his spine and he broke out into a cold sweat! "No that's impossible..." Joseph spun around to see Leo rising up! He was looking down towards the ground slouched over like an animal. Smoke was rising from his chest as the wounds burned and sealed themselves. The blood on his mouth and chest evaporated quickly into the air leaving no trace of stains. Then Leo's finger nails began to grow long and sharp into claws, his canine teeth grew longer and turned into fangs, as his head made a sickening cracking noise as pure white, small, pointed horns grew out of it!

Leo let out a small quiet hiss and then stood straight up with his eyes still closed. He opened them slowly and his pupils were thin and pointy and his bright hazel green eyes were now dark green. Leo looked directly at Joseph locking eyes with him. Joseph could feel Leo’s demonic aura fill the streets, striking fear into everyone around him, Joseph himself could feel his nerves going into a frenzy paralyzing him in the process. The townspeople began to flee, fearing what would come next.

Joseph: "What... What the hell's going on?! What is this sensation... Why can’t I move!?"

Joseph could only helplessly stare at Leo as a demonic aura began to emanate from his back, hovering over his head, and took on the shape of a demon’s face. It smiled hungrily at Joseph for a few lingering seconds and then lunged at him swallowing him whole, enveloping him in a world of darkness. He began to panic as his senses began to lose all sense of reality. He stood wide eyed as his eyes darted left and right looking for any source of light, Leo started to glow a faint white aura in the darkness just 2 feet away from Joseph. He looked at Leo in pure fear, not knowing what was going on. Leo touched deep within Joseph’s soul making him relieve all the death that he as encountered in his entire life. Joseph began to scream as he fell deeper into insanity, into his own personal hell, Leo started to rip him apart with his claws.

Each slash dug deeper into his flesh. Joseph’s arms began tearing off as Leo’s razor sharp claws rip through his muscles, tendons, right down to the bones. Leo grabbed the naked bone around the shoulder slowly ripping out whatever was left of his mutilated upper arms, out of their sockets. Joseph screamed, terrified, feeling every ounce of pain, unable to pass out. He could only watch in pure horror as Leo tore open his gut and Joseph saw his own intestines spill onto the floor. Leo only smiled hungrily as he pulled Joseph’s hair back and bit into his neck, sinking his teeth through Joseph’s muscle and main arteries, sucking away what little life he had left. But, Leo left him barely alive, just enough so Joseph could feel his claws dig deep into his chest, breaking Joseph’s ribcage, slicing through his nerves and muscles as he worked his way into his heart inch by inch.

Leo wrapped his hand around Joseph’s heart, lightly holding it as it beat in his palm. He once again touched deep into Joseph’s soul as he squeezed out his heart, ripping it away from arteries that held it in place. He slowly lifted the still beating heart to his mouth and began devouring it right before Joseph’s eyes. Joseph closed his eyes as he finally felt death’s embrace and fell on his knees, but then his arms shot out instinctively catching himself as he hit the floor and began to throw up. He opened his eyes and noticed he was still in the world of darkness. He looked up and felt Leo still standing in front of him arms crossed with no trace of blood on him anywhere. Joseph sat back on his knees but could no longer muster up anymore strength. He sat there with a half glazed look in his eyes before he could no longer withstand the fear that gripped him and began to yell! "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!!"

Finally Leo spoke, but not in his own voice. He spoke in a deep haunting voice, "I am neither alive nor dead. I exist yet I do not. This human only serves me as a vessel. I no longer have the physical means of destroying my enemies, but this human will serve my purpose well. He is rather lucky, I need him to survive or else you would have killed him. *Evil Chuckle* You can stop panicking now you mortal fool. This realm is only an illusion. It is a means of me entering your mind to shatter it with your worst fears and darkest memories! Although I must say you certainly lasted longer than I had anticipated " Joseph could only stare in horror at Leo as he took one step toward him. Leo stood only a foot away from Joseph and raised his arm pointing it straight out at Joseph with the palm of his hand facing him. A ball of dark energy gathered in the palm, "Beware the legend of the Devil... Beware..."

Joseph stayed in silence as Leo shot the energy ball at him! It impacted his chest and created a large explosion that engulfed them both. Joseph and Leo were both passed out on the dirt floor as Hector showed up. He limped over and watched them both. "Looks like I missed all the fun..."

 

Chapter 8: Harmonin...

Leo, stood in a blood soaked clearing covered by fresh corpses. The odor of death filled his nostrils as he watched the landscape in the distance. A heavy downpour of rain covered his tears while he quietly sobbed. With a shaky voice he whispered under his breath "I'm sorry I couldn't save you..." He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was in a blank world. There was absolutely nothing there. It was all white, and his quiet breathing echoed all around him. He was surprised there was a floor for him to stand on, yet when he looked down it was the same empty white void. He somehow felt like he was floating in the air, yet he also felt like there was a solid surface beneath his boots.

Leo took one step forward when his head began to ache! He felt it and fell to his knees in excruciating pain. He screamed as demonic voices entered his mind whispering and yelling in unison, "You can't save all of them, stop denying your true self, give into your rage!" Leo began to grow white horns, his nails slowly growing into claws. "You can't save her, all will be lost, You're death is inevitable!" The voices stopped allowing an angelic tone to enter his head calming his consciousness, "You said you would never leave my side?" Leo opened his eyes and saw Shana standing in front of him with a sweet smile on her lips. She was bleeding from her mouth and from several deep gashes all over her body. Leo couldn’t believe what he saw began to scream at the horror laid before his eyes.

"Shana!!!" Leo sits up in bed breathing hard. He realizes what he saw was just a dream and tries to calm down. He wipes the cold sweat off his forehead and looks down, realizing his armor is gone. But, his flame design pants and boots are still on. He sits on the edge of his bed wondering if the dreams mean anything when all of a sudden a voice breaks the silence, "Having nightmares in the middle of the day is a bad omen you know." Leo looks up and sees Joseph sitting against a wall! He quickly jumps out of bed preparing for a fight! Joseph readies himself as well, breaking into a cold sweat and they both eye each other for a few minutes. Joseph takes in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before lowering his guard.

Joseph: "Hey whoa, whoa, I'm not here to fight man." He walks over to Leo hesitantly, his eyes full of fear as he extends his hand slowly, "I'm sorry about earlier and yeah...The Intel I got was false. I apologize for almost killing you. So let's start over. I'm Joseph Sandoz, Lion Knight of the Imperial Kingdom."

Wary of Joseph, Leo shook his hand anyways, "I'm Leo Hevia. Ummm just a normal guy. Where am I? And where are my friends?"

Joseph: "You're in a clinic. You've been here for three days. That Shana girl refused to leave your side for quite sometime, but I believe Monica managed to convince her to get out and get some air. Hector is being re-examined by the doctor for his head injuries. I've already explained the situation to them. But I have a few questions for you. I do not know what or who you are, I just have to be sure you're not a threat to the Imperial Kingdom."

Leo: "A threat?! What the hell are you talking about? You're the one who attacked me?!"

Joseph: "I realize that, but the doctor at this clinic found that your blood is not Centerian, nor does it relate to any other human species in the galaxy. You do not show up on any Imperial record or in any records as a matter of fact! Then you have this accelerated healing ability! I know for a fact I killed you three nights ago! Yet you don't even have a scratch on you! Not even a scar! Joseph paused for a second holding something in his hand, there's also this." He held up Leo's broadsword and soon it disappeared in a flash of light and ended up in Leo's left hand. "I can't even hold it for five seconds before it does that."

Leo examined the broadsword then held it up to his face. He thought about the sword disappearing and the next second it vanished in the same mysterious light. "I can't explain it either, but I can answer a few questions for you... If you answer mine?" Joseph looks at Leo suspiciously, "Ok, agreed." Leo stood up and rested his body on a wall, leaning against it, and began answering Joseph's questions. "I'm not from this world. My friends and I originate from a planet called Earth..."

Joseph: "What you must be joking?! Earth disappeared from the face of the galaxy 1,000 years ago! There's no way you're from Earth!"

Hector, Shana, and Monica walked in. Hector gave Joseph a defiant look causing his bandages to wrinkle up a bit. "What the fuck is going on here?" Shana not caring about the argument, ran over to Leo and grabbed him around his chest and hugged him tightly. She began to sob quietly as Leo hugged her back. Everyone remained in silence giving them a moment. Shana finally stopped crying long enough to say, "I was so worried about you! Don't you ever scare me like this again! I almost lost you once. I can't lose you again." Leo looked down at her and smiled. He hugged even tighter and then wiped the tears from her face and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen, but I swear to you I'm fine. I feel amazing, actually."

Everyone in the room remained silent for a while, But then Leo looked at Joseph and remembered that he had yet to finish answering his questions. "So everyone listen to me. Joseph doesn't believe we're from Earth. He says it vanished 1,000 years ago.”

Joseph: "I swear it's true. It's even in the Imperial records. I can take you to see them if you wish."

Shana began crying on Leo's chest again as he held her and tried to calm her down again while Monica and Hector brooded over it. Hector turned to Joseph and grabbed his shirt What the fuck is wrong with you?! Don't you have any compassion?! Why the fuck would we lie about being from Earth?!"

Joseph: "Many have claimed to be from Earth, few have even claimed to have seen Earth with their own eyes." He eyed everyone suspiciously, "But so far all of those people ended up being desperate criminals looking for a safe heaven or mad men. Yet, considering the circumstances, I will trust that you come from a faraway planet, not yet discovered by the Galactic Senate."

Leo, not believing his ears, looked at Joseph and his curiosity got the better of him. "Galactic Senate? Wait you mean that this Imperial Kingdom has the technology to travel through space?!"

Joseph stares at Leo in disbelief as if to say, "What are you stupid?" "Yeah, ever since the "Dark Wars." When the malicious forces of the Gate Keeper and the Dark General attacked the Milky Way galaxy. There is a race of humans known as the Avari that used to be more advanced than they are to this day. Their technology was powerful enough to route the evil army and even steal some of their inter-stellar star ships. With their new ships they went around the galaxy fighting off their opponents and discovering new planets, along with other human species.

They united the different species of humans along with other alien species of the Milky Way. With this new found alliance known as Neucenia; the Avari led the alliance against the Gate Keeper. The war lasted for about 54 years, until the final conflict in which the alliance defeated the Gate Keeper, but it came at a heavy cost. The advanced technology the Avari used was destroyed by the Gate Keeper, along with the 70% of the population of Volupta. They've recovered since, but the technology they once wielded is gone... The species of human that remain there are no longer pure blood Avari, but a few children are born with pointed ears every other generation or so. Is any of this ringing a bell?"

Leo stared at the ground trying to absorb all of the information. It was hard to imagine that he had traveled 1,000 years into the future and ended up on an alien planet that had the technology to fly through space! But he quickly started to think about his friends... They were orphans now too. Their families gone... Leo silently hoped that whatever Joseph was saying about Earth disappearing was a lie. He couldn't stand the sight of Shana crying and he wished he could somehow make her pain go away. Leo held her close, rubbing her back trying to comfort her as she cried. Everyone stayed in silence as the girls cried, but Hector could no longer stand it. He slammed Joseph into the wall and lifted him up.

Hector: "You better be telling the fucking truth about Earth! I swear if you're lying about it and you made Shana cry for no fucking reason I'll tear your goddamn tongue out and feed it to the dogs!!" Hector let Joseph go and walked back to Monica.

Joseph (holding his neck): *Cough* "You're a lot stronger than you look... but I have no reason to lie to any of you, except maybe you Leo. But at this point I'm trying to redeem myself for the mistake I made! Lying to all of you would make things worse. I swear to all of you, on my honor, that Earth is gone, that it's been gone."

Leo stared at Joseph and began to ponder on their situation. "I believe you." Everyone gave Leo a surprised look and he nodded to everyone, "He's right, he has no reason to lie to us at this point. Plus there's almost nothing more important than honor to a man, especially if he's a knight." Joseph only smiled back at Leo relieved he finally had someone on his side. "But, this doesn't mean I trust you. You're gonna have to do a lot, if you want to earn my trust."

Joseph: "Fair enough..."

Hector: “You're too naive Leo letting a man who tried to kill you into our group, be careful else this could be the end for you.”

Leo ponders on Hector’s words for a moment and crosses his arms before shaking his head at him saying, “Not like we have much of a choice. Unless you have a way for us to get in and see those records. I'm sure Joseph will let us see some of the restricted files on Earth. Right?”

Hector: Yes, I believe we'd all like to see these Imperial "records.".

Joseph: "Of course, they're located at the planet's capital. If you wish, I can take you there myself and give you unlimited access to certain areas of the Imperial records such as star charts, navigation, history, and other restricted information."

Leo: "That's perfect. Just a few more questions before we go. Ok this one has been killing me! How can we speak the same language if we're from different planets?!"

Joseph puts his arms over his chest and began to recall the history taught to him, "Ok after the Dark Wars it was another 10,000 years, more or less, before the human races decided to unite together as one galactic empire. They Decided to use the same name as the alliance used in the Dark Wars, Neucenia. After the Neucenian Galactic Senate was created, it was decided that the galaxy would have one language, "Harmonian." This is the basic galactic language that all humans speak in the galaxy. It was about 1,487 years after the Neucenian Empire was established that Earth was discovered while charting unexplored space."

Joseph paused to see if everyone was following him so far and everyone nodded. "Well, the scientists who discovered Earth found out that Earth had already been visited by other human species, who had crash landed over the years, and decided to blend into Earth's somewhat primitive societies. A few of these humans had become rulers and they tried to conquer Earth and establish their own native languages on Earth, but a few also knew Earth would be discovered soon and that it needed to be assimilated into the Neucenian empire. So they had called it "English" on Earth. When people on Earth started to transform out of their primitive state the remnants of Neucenia gave them the mission of "revolutionizing" the crude "English" language on Earth into the actual Harmonian language as a means of final "assimilation" into the Neucenian Government.

The scientist went on to finish what many started before them, and from there hundreds of scientist and fighters, and countless other people went to Earth slowly assimilating and changing the language little by little over the years so that when the Neucenian Government was ready to reveal themselves Earth would be able to blend into the galactic culture with little to no problem. The plan was working right up until about 2055 years after the Neucenian Empire was established when it mysteriously disappeared..."

The group took a while to process all of the information. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Shana finally let go of Leo and went to sit down on the bed he had been laying on, "Wow, all this time and we never knew..." Leo leaned against the nearest wall and stared at Joseph, "That would explain a few things, but you keep saying other human species. How many are there?"

Joseph: "There are six species of human, Centerians, Avari, Razini, Argieans, Morroiigi, and Lycans. Erm... well, seven if you count Earthlings..."

Everyone gave Joseph a dirty look, but they let it slide. Monica looks at Joseph and asks, "Can you explain what those are?" Joseph sighted, but then looked at Shana and Monica and gave them puzzling look and says, “Wait if what I’ve gathered is correct, you two should know some of this stuff. Why don’t you?” Monica looked at Shana and said, “Well when we started working at that Inn, we tried asking questions but people just kept looking at us like we were stupid and untrustworthy. In our three months we managed to gather that there's a King who rules Centeria, and he’s benevolent.”

Shana nodded her head and began speaking, “Yeah and the old lady just kept telling us not too worry about such things. She said that even if we forgot who we were our memories would come back to us and if we are who we claimed to be then it would better if we just seeked our own answers.” Joseph accepted their answer and gets ready to prepare for another long explanation, but Leo interrupts him, "I think we've already asked too many questions. Let's just go to the capital and we'll look up the answers ourselves." Everyone agreed and sat in awkward silence for a while.

Joseph: "Ok, well, whenever you guys are ready to go just let me know I'll be waiting outside the northern gates." He leaves the room, and everyone stares at each other with a sad face.

Shana: "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

Leo: "Yeah I really do... and as much as I wish he were lying about it... it's gonna be hard for all of us to accept everyone and everything we knew is gone..."

Hector: "I'm not giving up hope though. Until I see those records for myself... I'm not gonna believe him, but yeah Shana and Monica can you go get Leo's equipment? Please? I need to talk to him alone for a few minutes."

Monica and Shana nodded their heads and left the room looking back with sad faces as they slowly closed the door behind them. Hector walked up to Leo and leaned against the wall with him. "So do you have any interesting theories going on in your head?"

Leo: "Yeah just two. 1. This is all real and we have to accept it; or 2. Now I know this is going to sound crazy but right before I woke up on that mountain top, I was in my room and I had brought home this book from the school library by accident. It started to glow a strange blue light before I passed out and if I'm correct, we're in that book." He looks at Hector, but he stares at him with a straight face.

Hector: "Hmmm well that would explain that mysterious blue light we saw from your apartment."

Leo: "What you saw it, too?!"

Hector: "Yeah... but it was only for a few seconds... so if we're somehow in your book... then that means the only way out is to finish the story? Right? At least I hope that's how it works... We could be stuck in here forever."

Leo: "I don't know... the only question would be; who's the main character and where does the story go. If we can't find the main character then we could be stuck here forever since this book seems to have it's own universe. We could all die in this story if we continue on this path... but even if we did nothing it would have to end sooner or later right?"

Hector stood up and slowly started pacing towards the middle of the room,while talking. "Uh huh...So does this mean you are this “main character” and you put us in this fucking situation so you could escape your fucked up life and drag us along with it huh?!" He stared at Leo with an intense venomous gaze, and Leo’s spine felt an icy chill travel through his body. He couldn’t believe at what his best friend was accusing him of. “Hey! I would never do this to any of you! Especially Shana... How could I in the first place?! Back home did it ever look like I was hiding any kind of magical powers?” Hector took a menacing step forward and clenched his teeth trying to get Leo to crack.

Hector: “Its all looking very suspicious Leo. Besides school and our afternoon sparring matches I never see you outside of your apartment. It’s all a little too convenient, using your parents death as an excuse to do whatever you wanted and getting away with shit you shouldn’t have. Getting into that fight at school and getting expelled, losing Shana all in the same day. Then you wake up three months later and you’re in that armor! Joseph, as much as I hate to admit it, is right to be suspicious of you. I saw what your armor looked after the battle, and there’s no way any normal person could have survived that!”

Leo: “Hector, bro, we’ve been best friends since we were in diapers! I would never put the lives of my friends in danger, EVER!! You’re the one who always decided to watch my back whenever I got myself into a dangerous situation. It was always your choice, I never dragged you along! And you of all people should know I’d never use my late parents as an excuse!! If you insult them again I swear to god Hector...”

Hector stepped in front of Leo and yelled in his face, “What are you gonna do?! Do something! Show me!” Leo grabbed Hector’s arm and began squeezing his wrist, pulling it to the side. “Don’t push me Hector you're my best friend, but I will hurt you if you keep pushing me.” Hector Smiled and with his other hand threw a punch at Leo, but he saw it coming and blocked it. However Leo didn’t see the kick that took him by surprise in his gut leaving Leo gasping for air. He looked up at his best friend not believing the power behind it and using his jump as his momentum, uppercutted Hector and then kicked him across the chest, sending him flying across the room and hitting a wall with a sickening crack as the wall crumbled.

Leo: “Don’t even try I’m better than you.”

Hector: “Better than me... HAHA if only you knew the secret behind our fights!”

Hector got up and rushed Leo and as their fists were about to start swinging again Shana and Monica returned with Leo's equipment and put it on his bed. They notice the indent on the wall and both ask in unison, “What happened?!” Hector smiled at them and said, “Nothing we got a little carried away is all.” Giving Leo a cold stare in the process. He started pulling them towards the door. "Ok, we're just waiting on you now. Hurry up and get dressed so we can leave for the capital!" Leo angrily punched a hole in the wall watching Hector walking away as he started to put on his armor.

As he finishes putting on the armor he looked in the mirror and saw how cool he looked placing his left hand on the hilt of his sheathed Katana. Then a horrible thought comes to his mind... what if Hector is right! He remembers in the book, one of the drawing's of the character's look just like him... "What if I've become the new main character? What if I'm just putting my friends in danger? No that can't be I'm just me." He looks in the mirror one last time and walks away. He joins his friends outside the northern gates. Hector and Leo stare at each other not saying a word, but they both knew that last fight was far from over. Leo stood next to Shana and stood as far away from his best friend as he could.

Joseph: "The capital is a day's walk away since this town doesn't have any land speeders or horses for rent. So I suggest we get walking." He begins to walk away following the path heading north.

They all stare off into the distance but Leo takes one last glance at Hector and he stares back at him. Hector sneers and scoff’s and begins walking faster leading the group on the path north, leaving Leo to wonder what other surprises does this world have in store for him.

 

Chapter 9: A Warriors first step...

Leo and his friends had been walking for half a day now. They were following The Lion Knight, Joseph Sandoz to the planet's capital. They were all tired and exhausted, but Joseph seemed like he could keep going for days. Leo wasn’t really paying attention to where they were going though. His mind kept playing back the fight he just had with Hector. Something didn’t seem right when he had kicked him. Leo knew Hector’s strength or at least he thought he did. He kept himself lost in thought when suddenly Hector’s voice broke the silence on the road.

Hector: "Goddamnit man... I'm bored!!"

Leo: "Ay callate cabron." (Oh shut up asshole)

Hector: "Ey! No es mi fucking culpa (Hey! It's not my fucking fault) that we're walking on this boring path that has nothing but boring trees and your stupid ass!!"

Joseph, sensing the tension, decides to butt in before things got ugly and said "I didn't know you guys spoke Avarish?"

Leo and Hector: "Que?!" (What?!)

Joseph: "Yeah you guys are speaking Avarish... you didn't know that?"

Shana: "Um Joseph... I know you keep forgetting and it's hard to believe especially now that we all know we can speak Avarish, we're from Earth remember? On Earth that's called Spanish."

Joseph: "Oh right... yeah well that language originated from the ancient Avari. Before they were united by the great queen, Kesara, they spoke another language before that... I believe it's called Lazarin. Similar to Earth language Latin... Or I do believe it's one and the same... yeah I think so. Anyways what origins do all of you come from on Earth?"

Shana: "We'll we're all Hispanic actually. Do you know what that is?"

Joseph ponders on it for a moment. "Yeah I think so. Textbook studies were really not my specialty when I was at the academy. I became an Imperial Knight at the age of 10. Its unheard of since in most cases you have to at least be 15 to join the ranks of the squires, and to become a knight takes at least three to four years of studies in the knighthood. I'm not the youngest knight in Imperial history, but I was a special case because of whom my father was... maybe later after we get to the capital I'll tell you my origins. But as you were saying about being Hispanic?"

Shana: "Wow, that's actually pretty cool, but yeah If you can remember certain countries, I'm half Cuban and Puerto Rican, Monica is full Puerto Rican along with Hector, and Leo is half Honduran also half Cuban."

Leo: "What about you, Joseph? What species of human is in your blood?"

Joseph: "Well on my mother's side I'm Avari, on my father's side I'm Argiean. But I was born here on Centeria, In Imperial space. Ever since the alliance formed Neucenia, we don't believe in countries anymore... only home planets. Being from different countries means you have different origins, and sooner or later someone will believe that their country is better than another's. This will cause ideas to conflict and when ideas conflict between nation's they go to war. We are all from the same planet therefore we shouldn't fight, but more importantly we are all human, regardless of what origins we come from, we all bleed the same red blood, so we should cherish that life we all share and learn to live peacefully amongst ourselves. That's something my father used to say a lot."

Monica: That's nothing special. It's kind of like us, how our parents came from different places and cultures, and how we were born somewhere else, what your father said is simple common sense."

Joseph stopped in his tracks and unsheathed his sword! Leo quickly un-sheaths his Katana too and points it at him. Hector, Shana, and Monica quickly draw their weapons as well and point them at Joseph. Leo takes a few steps toward Joseph in order to put himself between him and his friends. "What the hell are you doing?!" Joseph begins to look around. "Shhh we're being watched. There's about seven... maybe nine of them surrounding us." The bush next to Joseph starts to rustle and he jumps back a few feet pointing his large blade at it, "In the name of the Imperial Kingdom I command you to come out!"

Then a cute little animal comes out of the bushes! It resembles a fluffy bunny, but its eyes are located on the front of the head and it's bigger. Leo and Hector burst out laughing at Joseph's "threat.” “Aw! It looks so cute!" Monica and Shana say in unison. Joseph looks at the fluffy creature and whispers to himself, "No way... I know for a fact I sensed people..."

Then out of the tree tops a man with a sword jumps off a branch and swings at Joseph's back! Leo quickly runs right behind Joseph and blocks the attack. He pushes the attacker back and soon a whole gang of bandits come out of the forest!

Leo goes back to back with Joseph as Hector, Monica, and Shana gather in a small circle with their backs to each other. The Bandit Leader comes out and begins to speak, "Hello there, travelers. Don't mind us, we're just humble gentleman trying to make a living. We'll be taking your weapons, armor, and other valuables so that we can sell them and have some money to buy food. As for your women well... we'll be keeping them for ourselves!"

Leo: "Over My dead body!!"

Bandit Leader: "Now you see, boy, that can be arranged... ATTACK!!!"

The bandits quickly surround them and Joseph announces the count. "There's 21 in total..." Leo tenses up preparing for the fight.

Joseph: "Theres alot of them..."

Leo: "Think you can take them?."

Joseph: “It might get ugly if a few more show up.”

Leo: “Then I’ll just have to be the one to take care of them.” He looks back slightly and flashes Joseph an over-confident smile.

Joseph: “Oh? I didn’t know you were gonna be fighting too?”

Leo just smirks at Joseph's remark as they charge at their enemies! Meanwhile Hector is holding off a few bandits at the same time. He deflects one bandit's attack and then kicks another in the face. He ducks under a sword swing and uses the blunt side of his spear to hit his enemies. Then two bandits charge at him at the same time and he pulls his spear apart! He blocks the attack by the bandit on the left with one weapon and attacks the bandit with his right, smacking him across the face. He quickly knees the bandit on the left in the stomach and then hits him on the back of his head. Two more show up and he puts the ends of his blades back together, making his spear once again, "So who's next?"

Shana and Monica are watching each other's back. Shana is carefully picking her targets from afar and shooting her arrows at their clothes, pinning them to trees or to the ground. Monica is doing her best using what she learned from her fencing master. Monica's thin lightweight rapier sliced through the air as she quickly disarmed her opponents with a few quick graceful movements of her wrist. Shana pins the next bandit to cross her sights to the to the floor. But then a bandit sneaks up on Monica and knocks her to the ground! He jumps on top of her and holds a knife to her throat!

He looks her in the eyes and asks, "Are you going to scream for me?" Monica tries to break free from his grip, but he's too strong for her. The bandit begins to laugh ready to slit her throat when Hector hits him on the back of his head as hard as he can with his spear! The bandit, concussed, falls to the ground as Hector helps Monica to her feet. "Monica you ok". Monica nods as he turns around blocking an attack and then swinging his spear knocking out another bandit! Monica picks up her rapier and stands next to Hector.

"Monica don't leave my side... I'll protect you." Monica nods her head again and stands ready as the next wave of bandits come.

Joseph was standing up to his name as a "Lion Knight." He quickly dispatched bandit after bandit. He had to pick up the slack for his teammates though. They weren't killing any enemies and some of them were starting to regain consciousness after being knocked out. "You guys have to start killing these bastards! Knocking them out isn't exactly working!" said Joseph as he cut two bandits in half. He was starting to get pushed back when he bumped into somebody. He turned around and saw it was Leo. Leo quickly turned around to face his opponent. He parried his blow and punched him across the face. "Yeah well Joseph, you gotta remember we haven't killed anyone before! If me and my friends can avoid killing people we will!!" Leo quickly ducked under a spear and kicked another bandit across the chin.

Leo gracefully regained his balanced, but didn't notice the bandit behind him. He turned around, but it was too late! The bandit was already swinging downwards with his broadsword before he had time to react! Then out of nowhere the bandit screamed and dropped his blade. He had an arrow protruding out of his shoulder blade! Leo quickly saw his chance and punched him in the throat, finishing him off with a knee to the face knocking him out. Leo looked at Shana smiling at her knowing she saved his life. She smiled back, but her smile went away when she noticed Leo's frightened look. She turned around and saw a bandit swinging a huge mace at her! Leo began running to her, but he was quickly cut off by two bandits! Shana ducked to avoid the attack, but she dropped her bow. The bandit swung again, but Shana jumped back. She quickly ran up and kicked him in the crotch! The bandit howled in pain and dropped his mace.

Shana turned around to run for safety, but didn’t notice the tree that was behind her, blocking her escape route. The bandit then grabbed her and spun her around pressing her shoulder against the tree so she wouldn't escape. He pulled out a huge serrated knife and pulled his arm back getting ready to stab her! Leo could only watch in horror as Shana was about to lose her life! He tried as hard as he could desperately trying to fight his way through the large number of enemies.

Everything felt as though it went into slow motion as the bandit swung his arm to stab Shana! She gasped as a few drops of blood splattered onto her face. The bandit dropped his knife as he looked down at his chest, seeing a huge blade sticking right out of it. Joseph pulled out his blade from the Bandit and pushed him onto the ground. He handed Shana her bow and turned around to face the other bandits to protect her. He took a few steps towards them and said, "As long as I'm alive, NO ONE WILL KILL MY COMRADES!!" He charged at the remaining bandits with a look of blood lust!

Leo could finally regain his focus seeing that Joseph had saved Shana. His legs felt weak, and he was getting ready to drop to the floor when all of a sudden the bandit leader stabbed Leo through his right shoulder! Leo screamed in pain as he pulled out the sword. He quickly turned around to face him and parried another blow. Leo swung his Katana vertically, but the Leader just blocked it. They started to swing in a flurry of attacks! Each one creating more and more sparks, but then the Bandit Leader jumped back and caused Leo to stumble forward!

The Bandit Leader tripped Leo and then stabbed him through his right shoulder again! Leo quickly got up causing the blade to go deeper into his shoulder! But as he rose up he used the back of his head to head-butt the Bandit Leader breaking his nose. He stumbled backwards pulling out his sword from Leo's shoulder quickly regaining his balance and pointing his sword at Leo, "Let me tell you something boy! Unless you kill me, I'll keep coming back to kill you and take that pretty girl in pink!"

He charged at Leo holding up his blade. Leo couldn't move his right shoulder, he still held his Katana, but his arm wouldn't move up. The Bandit Leader was getting closer and closer and Leo couldn't defend himself! His friends were too far away to save him... He closed his eyes as the bandit leader was in range and swung his sword at an angle! Then in a bright flash of light Leo's broad sword appeared in his hand, and blocked the Bandit Leaders attack! They were both stunned in amazement as Leo's instinct took over raising his left hand and summoned The Sword of Hell! The bandit leader quickly recovered and pulled out a secret knife hidden in the hilt of his blade! He stabbed Leo in his left shoulder causing Leo to drop his broad sword. He kicked Leo in the stomach knocking him onto his back. Leo sat up and stared in horror as The bandit Leader was about to stab him! But he stopped half way through his swing... Leo wondered why and noticed something sticking out of his chest. He quickly realized he had stabbed him with his Katana straight through his heart!

The bandit Leader coughed up blood and then let out one last gasp of breath. Leo quickly got up and looked at his right hand. The bandit Leader's blood had trickled down the blade, over the handle, and onto his hand. Leo looked at him as he lay dead in a deepening pool of his own blood. Joseph looked over at Leo and quickly realized what happened. Leo killed someone for the first time. He had taken his first step as a warrior. Leo stared at his hand and then let out a loud yell that made the birds startle from their nest in their trees...

Chapter 10: A moments rest

Leo was still in shock from the action he had just committed. It was an accident, but he had taken a life, even if it was in self defense. He stared down at his stained hands and a sick feeling started to develop in the pit of his stomach. Joseph knew all too well the look Leo had on his face.

Joseph: "Leo just breath, listen to me and relax."

Leo: "No! Stay away from me!”

Monica: "He's going to throw up..."

Shana: "Leo listen to me, please calm down."

Leo's world started to spin, his vision worsened and his friends were mere blurs in his path. He stumbled backwards before pulling his hands up to his face. "Hey pull yourself together man!" said Hector as he walked towards Leo slowly. Then just as he predicted, Leo threw up and tried to hold it back with his hands, but to no avail. He leaned forward, walking towards his friends but then started falling, passing out from exhaustion, mental shock and loss of blood. Joseph picked Leo up into his arms, "C'mon we need to get him to a clinic! He's lost a lot of blood!"

Hector: "Where the hell do you expect us to go man?! The nearest clinic is probably 5 hours that way and like 16 this way! Don't you know how to give him basic medical attention?!"

Joseph: "I'm bandaging the wound right now, but this wound is serious! Its cut into one of his main arteries and his tendons have been cut! He'll be lucky if he gets to use his arm again!"

Shana quickly rushed over to Leo's side and noticed how pale he was, "Isn't there anything we can do?!" Joseph finished bandaging the wound and lifted Leo up into his arms, "Yeah I know a place nearby we can go." Hector gave Joseph a doubtful look as he walked off into the woods, "Where?! The map says there's nothing nearby!" Joseph looked back at Hector and said, "Trust me, I know a place..." Everyone uneasily followed Joseph, but what choice did they have if they wanted to save Leo's life. They went deeper into the woods as the bloody red sun disappeared below the horizon.

Leo woke up in an unknown room. He was groggy, but aware of his surroundings. He got out of bed, looked down and noticed the bandages around his body. He tugged them off slowly and noticed that he was healed. He slowly got up and walked towards the door on the far side of the room managing to get halfway when Joseph entered, "Hey, I can see you're feeling better. How'd you sleep?" Leo gave Joseph a suspicious look and puts his hands in his pockets, "Fine, I guess... Where am I? Where are my friends?!"

Joseph: "Still with the questions I see... *sigh* you're in my home and you're friends are outside taking a tour of my hidden village."

Leo: "Hidden village?"

Joseph: "Yes, we're a secret village uncharted on any map and concealed  from any kind of satellite. The Imperial Kingdom established this village, and many others like it, in order to protect the capital... we're the last line of defense if the capital were to be attacked. Everyone in this village is a knight in the Imperial kingdom or affiliated with it in some form."

Leo walked back to the bed and planted himself on it. He analyzed his surroundings, his eyes eventually reaching his armor and katana sitting in the corner of the room. A shiver ran down his spine as his mind flashed back to the carnage the day before, "So did I really kill someone? Or did I imagine that?" He looked at Joseph with a worried look in his eyes. Joseph stared back in silence seeing that Leo was looking sick again, "Yeah, you did... You had no other choice though. It was either going to be you or him. Your instincts took over, and you pierced his heart." Leo could only stare at the floor as a knot developed in his stomach. He took in a few breaths and started to speak again, "I can't believe I took that man's life. I know he was bad and he was going to hurt Shana if I didn't do something, but I didn't want to kill him..."

Joseph: "Look, I still remember my first kill... I was only nine at the time. The feeling will never go away and imagine if you're someone like me... I've killed hundreds of people. But you either have to learn to deal with that feeling in your gut, find a way to move past it, or die in

your next battle.”

Leo: "That's easier said than done, but I guess you're right..."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Joseph broke it again, "Can I ask you something?" Leo looked up at Joseph and then back at the floor, "Yeah... sure..." Joseph leaned against the wall maintaining eye contact with Leo, "Do you and your friends really believe you're from Earth?" Leo, angry with the same question Joseph had asked yelled "NO!! We don't believe, we know!! I was born and raised there!!" Joseph remained calm as Leo's voice grew louder, but he wouldn't back down.

Joseph: "I'm sorry it's just hard to believe your claim when you all speak perfect Avarish, you all know how to wield these weapons with skill, and you! You have this accelerated healing ability and this sword that can disappear and reappear at your command. By the time you arrived here, your wounds were healed as if they never happened. Your body has restored the amounts of blood you lost, and you have this armor that is made of dragon leather! The facts are against you... You have so much of our world, how can you be from a lost one?"

Leo: Joseph for the last and final time I'm not from anywhere around here! My friends and I come from Earth! I can't explain these abilities! Or the armor! I know I definitely can't explain the sword thing." Leo paused for a minute trying to calm down his anger. "Look, Joseph... I just want to find a way to get home. Is there anything you remember from history that could explain the disappearance of Earth?"

Joseph could sense the sincerity in his voice. He closed his eyes and thought hard, trying to remember his lessons in history. "Well let's see... Earth disappeared about a thousand years ago. Before Earth's disappearance, there was the second galactic civil war that lasted for 50 years, more or less, and divided the galaxy into four factions, Imperial, Avari, Argiean, and Varcolian space. The civil war found firearms becoming increasingly dangerous and a treaty was formed to ban them. There were a few rebellions in the other factions, mostly in the Argiean governments, but nothing comes to mind. I'm sorry. Nothing I know points to why it disappeared, and I'm positive there's nothing in the Imperial records. It just vanished."

Leo wasn't about to give up hope. He intended to keep his promise to Shana, but first he was going to have to learn the mysteries about this new world he was in. "So you mentioned earlier there are 7 different species of humans... remind me what they are?" Joseph took Leo's question with some humility. He was starting to believe that Leo was from Earth, or at least he believed that Leo believed he was from Earth.

Joseph: "Yes there are seven in total... if you count Earthlings as one..." Leo gave Joseph a dirty look.

"As I was saying each one has been classified and each one has their own abilities. Starting with Earthlings, they're pretty much normal from what our scientist could tell. Although extensive study showed that Earthlings appeared to have a certain D.N.A. combination of all the species put together allowing them to have a greater ability to survive and adapt. Next we have the Centenarians; we are currently on Centeria, the home planet of both the Imperial Empire and the Neucenian government. Originally known as the Magi and still called Mages to this day,Centenarians are humans who learned to use 95% of their brain functions when they were younger as a species. While most species use about 15-20% these humans can use Magic due to their higher brain functions, but any species of human can learn magic with years of proper training."

Leo: "Wait, magic exists?!"

Joseph: "It does but not in the way you probably think it does... umm... I can't really explain it cuz I never studied it, but it has a lot to do with learning to control the electrons around you and shit... at the capitol you can find historians and books that can explain it better than I can."

Leo: "Oh cool... this place keeps getting more interesting. Ok, so I'm sorry, continue please."

Joseph: "Ok, now let's see where was I... Ah yes. So we've talked about Earthlings and Centenarians. Next would be the Argieans. These humans live on a planet called Arigus. That planet has very intense gravity! The humans that developed there are in a way "stronger" than the other humans. Due to the heavy gravity, they have developed strong bone and muscle structures that allow them to pick up objects that an ordinary human couldn't on other planets. Like me, my mother was Avari, but my father was Argiean.”

“Even though I'm a half breed, my muscle and bone structure allows me to be able to wield my huge blade. Although this race is powerful, they are very war-like. The home planet is constantly emerged in some war and governments are ever changing, but they breed like rabbits and due to the heavy gravity we reach puberty faster allowing us to learn how to fight at an earlier age than most humans.

Joseph walks over to the window and opens the curtain to let some sunlight into the room. He seems to be lost in his memory for a while before he begins to talk again. "Ok, next we have the Avari. I believe I told you a bit about them already. Avari originate from the planet Volupta. They are an ancient race of human, probably the first ones to appear from what we can tell. They are a bit smaller than most humans, but in the past millenniums they have been cross breeding with other human species to bring their race back. After the Dark Wars they were down to about 30% of their original population. There was not enough to bring back a pure blood race again. So diversity has spread among them, and they are a prosperous and respectful people. The original Avari had pointy ears and a few children are born with this trait, but it's rare and it is happening less and less every generation.

Leo: "So they're the original elves, then?"

Joseph: "Elves? Oh well yes I believe that name stuck with them right around the time they were recruiting other humans for the Dark Wars. Ok so next we have the Razini. Their home planet is Razine and it is the sister planet of Volupta. The planets are literally so close to each other they're more like each other's moons. Now the Razini are a very, how should I put this, native people. They refuse to have any type of technology on their planet. They say it poisons and kills their planet, which they worship as their all powerful mother. They have allowed a few spaceports, but beyond that they live very humble lives. Only killing and taking what they need."

"Now, originally long before the Dark wars the humans there shared the planet with a race of horned sentient beings known as Ranians. They had a few wars over the years, but soon they came to live in peace and harmony. Eventually they began to mate with one another and the modern Razini was born. Humans with large horns and saliva so acidic it can burn through certain light metals from what I hear. My teachings tell me there are almost no pure blood human or pure blood Ranians existing today. The few pure blood tribes left roam the planet Razine, but soon even they will eventually be gone as well."

Leo was still trying to absorb the information he was being given. This new world had excited him, he wanted to see everything there was to see, but with his friends wanting to go back home he wasn't sure he'd be able to. "Do my friends know all this?" Joseph turned around to look at Leo and saw how the information instigated his curiosity even more. "Well, I've told them most of this stuff. They'd rather read it themselves though." Leo got up from the bed and grabbed his armor. He began to put it on when he noticed Joseph wasn't talking. "Well, are you gonna finish? You got two more species of humans right?" Joseph walked over to the bed and leaned against the post. "Yeah I guess I better finish your history lesson. Ok, so finally we have the Morroiigi and Lycans."

Leo: "Wait Lycan?! As in werewolves?! And the Morroiigi are they vampires?!"

Joseph: "Yeah how did you know?" Joseph gave Leo a suspicious look, but Leo quickly shrugged it off as he finished putting on the last of his armor and checking the repairs.

Leo: "Well on Earth, Lycan is another word for werewolf and Morroii is an ancient word for vampire."

Joseph: "Ah, I see, well I told you before humans from other planets had been crash landing on Earth for years before its official discovery, and even after that more humans willingly migrated there. It would make sense why there are already legends on Earth... But the legends are probably false to a certain degree. You see the Lycans and Morroiigi share a single planet called Varcolacan, meaning both Vampire and Lycan. But, because they share the same planet they are constantly at war with each other. The Lycans habitat the western side of the planet, which is formed up of open plains and very few forests."

"The Morroiigi on the other hand live on the eastern side of the planet which is covered in a very dense forest with trees so tall and big they block out the sun. Now the Lycans were the lucky ones because the western side of the planet has an abundant supply of fresh water to drink, but the eastern side unfortunately doesn't. The huge tree canopies absorb most of the water before it reaches through to the ground and the water in the tree trucks are quickly used up. So in order to survive the ancient Morroiigi began to drink the blood of animals. Blood is made up of 70% water so it would make sense. Slowly over the years they completely adapted to drinking blood only.

Leo: "So why do they drink the blood of other humans? And how do the Lycans transform from human to werewolf? And if one were to bite me would I transform into one of them?"

Joseph: "Well you see the Morroiigi don't drink human blood. Most Morroiigi are against drinking another human's blood due to their belief that a human life is sacred, but there are  many who go rogue and attack other humans because human blood is the tastiest and it has a certain protein in it that makes it very addicting. Once a Morroiigi drinks the blood of another human it's almost impossible to stop. Now Lycans haven't always been Lycans... the Morroiigi and the Lycans were once one and the same people, from what their history books say. But after years of living only in the dense forest before discovering the western hemisphere, the Morroiigi had adapted to only drinking animal blood. There was one specific animal there that resembled a wolf, but it had hands it could use to climb trees."

"The Morroiigi say that once those who drank the blood of this wolf their D.N.A mutated and soon caused them to develop an uncontrollable rage and eventually transform into beasts. Half human, half wolf, a Lycan. They were considered abominations and were hunted down. Those that lived escaped to the western hemisphere out of the trees. As for the species of wolf, the Morroiigi hunted them to extinction out of fear more would become Lycans. Now the Morroiigi have tried to wipe out the Lycans over the years, but they have reproduced to quite a powerful number rivaling the Morroiigi. The Morroiigi don't hunt the Lycans during the daytime because their skin is highly sensitive to ultraviolet rays from their sun since they are accustomed to living in shaded darkness. A Morroiigi could go into the sun, but they will develop a very bad and life threatening sunburn. A few every generation though have learned to live in the sun by trying to live in the western hemisphere from a young age. This way they can be daywalkers as well."

"But, the Morroiigi discovered that attacking a Lycan at night is dangerous because Lycans draw power from the moon. A young Lycan will transform during a full moon against his will, because the moon that orbits their home planet reflects light at a certain wavelength that when a young Lycan sees it, it causes their brains to release hormones that cause them to transform and go on an angry rampage, gaining a tremendous amount of power and speed. As the Lycan grows older, he can control the urge to transform, suppress it and transform at will without the help of the moon.”

“Now on other planets a young Lycan doesn't need to deal with that problem, but if their hormone levels were to spike uncontrollably for some reason then a transformation is inevitable. Now if one were to bite you, I imagine it would hurt like hell. But no you wouldn't transform into a werewolf or a vampire. You would most likely develop a bacterial infection that would kill you. Now I believe I've exhausted my "vast" knowledge of the galaxy for today. I'm afraid if you want to learn more you'll have to read it at the capitol. I didn't exactly pay attention in all my studies at the academy. Now lets go find your friends."

Leo and Joseph exited the house and began to tour the village. Leo noticed how simple and peaceful their life was. Everyone had a job or an assignment and they carried that assignment out to the best of their ability. There didn't seem to be any major advances in technology here. People lived a simple yet happy life, and in a way Leo longed for something like that as he began to think about Shana. Joseph could tell Leo had been lost in thought for some time and so he let him to it. After all a man needs to have some time for meditation. They continued the tour until a woman blocked their path. Her bright green eyes lit up instantly as she recognized them, but Leo had no idea who she was. She walked over to them and her long light brown braided ponytail swayed back and forth around her lower back, bouncing off of her long white dress. Her pink and white high heel boots kicked some of the rocks away from her as began walking over to them. Her long curly bangs bounced with each graceful step following the slight curve of her pointy face, shading her soft white skin from the sun.

She gave Joseph a big kiss and Leo noticed the bright pink choker as she leaned her neck back . "Hey, how's my patient doing?" Joseph grabbed her around her waist, and her belt shifted a little, falling on her side. Leo noticed as she stood next to Joseph she was about 5ft 6 inches. "Why don't you ask him yourself? Leo this is Chizuru, my wife. She's the one who bandaged you up and took care of you." "I really didn't think there was a need though. By the time you got here you looked like you were completely healed. Just the stains of blood over your armor remained. I'm amazed at how fast you can heal." said Chizuru.

Leo: "Oh well thank you, I appreciate... wait, what?! You're his wife?! How old are you two?!"

Joseph: "We're both 18... I know it's crazy, but we do love each other deeply and as a Lion Knight I'm constantly sent on these suicide missions, so we decided that after a year of dating we'd marry."

Chizuru: "Yep, Joseph gets sent away from home a lot, but he's strong and I can always count on him to come back. Which reminds me dear, I'm going to get started on dinner, would you please go find the rest of our guest?"

Joseph: "As you wish, my love not a problem." Joseph kissed Chizuru goodbye and stared at her ass as she walked away.

Leo, still staring at Joseph, couldn’t believe that he was married at such a young age. "Stop staring at me like that! You should think about getting married to Shana you know." Leo quickly turned red as the thought crosses his mind. "What no way!! I can't marry her... I mean I can but... just shut up ok!!." Leo suddenly went quiet clearly embarrassed and looked at the floor for a minute thinking about the moment Joseph saved Shana's life when he couldn't. "I never thanked you properly for saving Shana's life... I really appreciate what you did... and for that you have my trust... to a certain point..." Leo smiled at Joseph and he could see the sincerity in his eyes as he nodded. But then Joseph headlocked Leo and put him in a choke-hold, giving him a hard time. "Oh c'mon don't start going soft on me now, Leo! I still want a rematch!" He pushed Leo behind him and ran off. Leo chased after him and soon they started to playfully shove and pull each other while running around the village looking for Leo's friends.

Joseph

“This Leo kid isn’t so bad. He’s a bit clueless, but a good kid. Still I can’t trust anything about him. This nonsense that he’s from Earth is ridiculous. The evidence is completely against him. Still he has a few things going for him, even if his loused up act of idiocy does confirm that his blood isn’t found in any of the records. I’m still waiting to hear from the hematologist at high command. Those blood doctors are never wrong.” Joseph and Leo run into the others and they all begin talking about the village. “I’d rather not stay near him for as long as possible. Since our fight I haven’t been the same. The nightmares, randomly breaking out into cold sweats, and the paranoia that something is about to kill me everytime I turn off a lightsource. Being this close to him is intoxicating. I’ve got to remember my training is all. They trained me to deal with this kind of psychological problem. So why is it that I can’t relax!?” Joseph starts to lead the group back to the house and makes sure he’s the last one in keeping an eye on Leo. “Well whatever this I just have to follow my orders and soon as I can I’m going to distance myself from this kid and try and forget that living nightmare he put me in.”

Later, as the sun set over the horizon, Leo and his companions gathered around a campfire. Their weapons were nearby leaning against a boulder. They had just finished eating dinner and were getting ready to relax for the night. Leo leaned on his arm as Shana sat next to him; Hector was holding Monica close to his chest keeping her warm, and Joseph and Chizuru were cuddled up together watching the fire burn.

Shana: "Chizuru, I have to admit that was an awesome dinner. You have to teach me the recipe."

Leo: "Shana's an amazing cook. Some of the best meals of my life have been made by her."

Chizuru: "Hahaha You're welcome. I'd love to teach you it someday. How long do you plan on staying around?"

Hector: "We're actually on our way to the Capitol, but we can delay that trip for a few more days, right guys?"

Joseph: "Of course, you guys are welcome in my village for as long as you like. You four are my guests after all."

Everyone relaxed around the campfire in silence, enjoying the rest and peace they didn’t have in the past few days. "A lot seems to have happened already", thought Leo as he stared into the fire. He felt Shana grab his hand and he looked up at her nervously. He could only stare at her hypnotized by her beauty before he decided to sit behind her and hold her close. For once the world felt right to Leo and he could tell he was making Shana very happy, and that was enough for him. Monica eventually broke the silence when her curiosity got the better of her.

Monica: "So Joseph how did you and Chizuru meet?"

Joseph and Chizuru could only smile at each other as they remembered that fateful day, But Joseph's smile completely faded as he started to recall everything from his past. Everyone could see the serious look on his face as he thought deeply about it. He stayed silent but, eventually Joseph began to say what he was thinking. "To understand that story I have to tell you everything from the beginning." As he closed his eyes remembering everyone stared at him and kept silence awaiting his next word. He opened his eyes and began to stare into the fire with intensity. The fire wood began to crackle and pop even louder and the flames looked as if they grew brighter. "It all began one fateful night when I was still only a child..."

Fin