Aerin stepped back, her heart pounding. "Dream? You dream?" Although the fact had presented itself earlier, Aerin still was unaccepting of it. "You are merely human� you aren't one of us..."
        Kayla smiled. "And you are merely humanoid. You have two arms, two legs, a torso, a neck, and a head. You have two eyes, two ears, a mouth, and a nose. Can it really be so impossible? We were one in that dream. You felt it. You saw me and I saw you. The world around us was oblivious. It was no mere figment of imagination."
        "I know that." Aerin said bitterly. Her hand went nervously to Tiw, her hands stroking his feathers. "Kyri and I... were the last... How could that, that which we had, our talent, be yours as well? Humans dream of deception� pleasant deception." Kayla laughed. "Think not that I don't dream of deception. I dream of deception all the time. However, it's never pleasant, and it's all too real."
        Aerin shivered. "You're right, you do dream� you dream as well as I, or my sister� and it is dangerous to travel alone..."
        Kayla looked to the trees. "Are you going back to them? Back to your brigade? Or to your sister?"
        Aerin pursed her lips. "Kyri... will make it out before we reach them. To the headquarters then, I suppose. That is, of course, if they don't kill themselves first."
        Kayla nodded in agreement. "Blood will indeed be spilt... but whose? Let's continue Aerin. I have no patience for such idle time. Kayla Trysita Draysina will not tolerate more blood spilt than is necessary."

        Elbee walked along the marble tile in the courtyard of his castle, grinning. His castle. A beautiful phrase. The laughter bubbled up. "Damn Yuzra..." He muttered, looking a cluster of flowers she had planted in the edge. His hatred of her, he supposed, would just blind him further. With something somewhat less than rage, he uprooted the whole plant. Crushing the blue bobbling heads, he grinned. He flung it across the entire length of the courtyard, hitting the stone wall.
        The framing went along perfect. The idiotic masses would not understand enough to see through it. Like putty in his hands.
        Would it be worth it? To destroy this all� for a mere laugh. No... no... no... There was more. Total domination? Genocide? The lure of massacre and death made him lightheaded. But that seemed useless. Find some Promised Land? Create a perfect race? Build a fantastic tower? Become immortal?
        It's all been done before... And every time it failed. Once the resistance was abolished, and Yuzra killed, his rage would be quenched. But hatred... no, that would last far longer. What to do... what to do... Endless possibilities... tempting him with the salty crimson taste of blood.
        A war. That would bide time until he found a more soothing goal, wouldn't it? Crienit, Ginian, Selesaire... all names of neighboring towns... Ahh... but Ginian... that would have to wait. For Rolfe Malbrough, King of that blasted valley land, between Ymir and Yitka Mountains... was doing the same damned thing. A worthy adversary in time, perhaps.
        But now... His own land was the battleground. Yuzra and her resistance fraction would pay for such insolent behavior. Only when he had pacified the people, could he continue... but what alliance it held for him... Power. What a fickle thing, that power. But as hard as he tried to keep up with his damned pleasant ruler fa�ade, it would be too hard to keep up with soon enough. Maybe when they struck again, ... he would be ready to unleash the power he maintained so subtly.
        He looked to the willowy young lady, standing in the open courtyard, her rose-gold hair shining as she appeared into view.
        Her touch to the ground turned it to ice, killing the flowers astrewn on the path. Her crimson red eyes focused on Elbee, blinking softly. A small song from her lips sent the bird above her crashing to the ground.
        "There you are Arinishka. I thought perhaps you wouldn't show." Elbee laughed, bowing to her. Power comes to me in many, varied ways, doesn't it Father? Wouldn't you be envious...? I have the power to call even nymphs from the sea.

        They were walking through the trees, pushing them aside. A path, Aerin noted, was merely a mile away, where it crossed through Ginian to Maconner. So started their journey.
        Kayla turned to Aerin. "I envy you. I truly do."
        Aerin's eyebrows raised. "Why?"
        Kayla closed her eyes and laughed. "You still have your sister. That's what you witnessed, you know, in the Dream you had. You saw my final goodbye to her, although I'm afraid you only saw the end... the end which made me sick inside..."
        Kayla looked at Aerin. "Dreaming didn't save my family from death, although I saw the images of their demise. That was my failure... You at least have your sister... You at least had someone to share the pain with... You at least, weren't alone..." Kayla clenched her teeth and hands tightly. "Your sister doesn't haunt your Dreams." A cold shiver ran down Kayla's spine. "Kristi..."

        Kayla looked out against the dark sky. She walked to the edge of the cliff that she stood on, and looked down. It was a clear drop nearly two hundred feet, before leveling out to an expanse of jagged rocks that lead right up to the beach. "If I jumped, I could join you Kristi..." Kayla bent down, picking up a small piece of quartz. She straightened up, and dropped the stone. It fell fast, before crashing on a large piece of limestone. "But I can't. You know it, and I know it. You were the last one to ever take a place in my heart sister, and now it sits empty, save for the piece that did, and forever will, hold your memory. It needs a purpose, don't you understand? My heart needs a purpose and a person... Because you're not here anymore Kristi. Sometimes, it's hard for me to wake up, going on this way."
        The moonlight hit Kayla's face as tears fell. Her hands failed to wipe them away. "I feel if I'm only an empty shell. Can I go on? People just look at me, they don't see me. They don't try to know me. But, I guess this is my fault. If I go and avoid people, hoping for another person like you, I'll be waiting until I'm old and gray. This is not the person I wanted to be. This is not me. I hate myself Kristi... even though you were childlike in acts and appearances; you were always the wiser sister. You knew exactly what to say. You knew how to love. I wondered how your heart could hold so much. Now I'm left without you... and I have no family, no friends, no purpose."
        Kayla pulled her cape around her, struggling for warmth. "I'm reduced to the role of the aimless traveler, trying to rid evil out of the world, armed with a sword, and for good measure, with a troubled past." She laughed emptily. "I guess this is the premise of the standard Good- vs. -Evil story." She took one more look off the cliff. "And the heroine can't jump off her cliff because the book needs a happily ever after story book ending. Sometimes, I wonder, if that ending would be so bad, if I did for once, have my happily ever after." Kayla looked to the ground. "Until then Kristi, I bid you farewell. If I could only be with you... once more..."
        Kayla quickly released the grip on her cape, letting it flutter behind her. She shuddered as she turned and walked away from the cliff. Not today, she thought. I'll give this desolate life of mine one more chance. That is all I can do... for now.
        Her steps made a shuffled noise as she walked into the darkness.
        The darkness was her only home.

        Kayla shivered from the memory.
        "Dreams are seldom pleasant Kayla. We Dreamers have to accept that." Aerin said, mindlessly stroking Tiw's body.
        Kayla started to cry. "Kristi... was as close to me as you and Tiw. We were never apart� I felt her pain, and she mine. She was half of me, and I, half of her. When she died, my loving side was gone; it took all the energy in me just to smile. I became hollow inside, just as if I died with her. It's an awful ache to bear Aerin... What would you do if he were gone?"
        Aerin looked at Tiw, his eyes imploring. "I..." The question held the memory of an often played Dream. // That often tread path. They found that merlin there� Her companion shoots a quizzical glance in her direction. She sighs. "Yes...but will he always be here, do you wonder?"//
        Kayla closed her eyes. "Pray that you never have to know. That day... of all my family, all my cousins, aunts, uncles, mom and dad, Kristi... Our highly esteemed family... and I was the only one to survive, by a sick twist of fate." She fell to her knees on the moss. "They haunt me in my dreams... they won't let me go until they drag me to the Nothingness with them. Sometimes, Aerin, I want to go."
        Aerin eyes widened. "But that's a hell like no other! No existence! That is one of the most lamentable fates to ever..." Aerin sighed. This girl was strange, and certainly more emotional that she would've guessed on first guess. But her mentioning of the Nothingness... Was that why she Dreamed of this Kayla? To save her? She certainly would have to try, for her sake. But she shook her head, doubting the possibility of doing it on her own. Kyri would have to help... How does this girl know? How does she know that she's heading for it?
        Kayla tired and sweating closed her eyes and began to enter the world of Dreaming. She had no choice in that decision... it always liked to do it when she was wounded and down. Her dreams were coaxing her� convincing her to join her sister once and for all.

/It was a dark bar... my father frequented there/

"What the hell?" Her father yelled, drunk. He was dizzy, and leaned up against the wall. He started throwing up the beers he downed in an earlier contest.

/The sword entered him from behind, crushing his bones and drawing blood. /

"What a fate..." The man whispered, as he was drawing the sword out. "You shouldn't have married that witch. You shouldn't have adopted that abandoned elf-child. You shouldn't have let your daughters continue their psychic powers... You shouldn't have let the elder Dream. Our society doesn't allow it, Mr. Draysina."

/The man slit my father's throat, and he fell/

Her father was staining the pine floor a dark red... mixed with the wine from his shattered glass, lying in the thrown up beer that had muddled his senses so... Envied for his happiness... they killed him.

/The people in the bar were too drunk to notice... They sipped their beers and laughed/

/They didn't kill my mother right away/

Lyai looked around her, the iron chains around her arms rusting over with the blood from her slit wrists. She was hung twenty feet off the floor. A witch� what was so wrong to have status? What was wrong with a witch not being a strange poor woman wandering the streets? All she had done� she tried to convince them she was a lady in every way. They weren't happy with it... she should have known, fool that she was for thinking she might've actually succeeded. Now, it's all gone...

/They slipped the rope around her, and undid the handchains. /
/Her mother looked still beautiful to me now/
/She was strong, she didn't cry, of course... she was already gone/

/My elven brother.../

Duirin looked at the sky and smiled. The family had been so kind� he knew kindness with them. It was a wonderful five years, wasn't it? Now I'm sentenced to burning at the stake. How could they get away with this? At least Lyai wasn't brought to this. The only mother he'd known. His hatred bubbled over for these followers of the Nigh dynasty. They were too above it, to be kind, to let in someone who might look different.

/He reached into his pockets/

Only one was watching him. He would be brave for the family he knew and loved.

/He lit his own fire.../

/Not this one... Not this one again.../

Kristi was spinning in the garden carefree, thinking of her sister. Lunch was soon. And just as she thought of it, a maid came into the garden, setting down a tray, and a goblet of fruit juice.

/I would kill that maid for giving her wine instead/

Kristi thanked the lady and took a sip from her goblet. But it was bitter, not sweet. Kristi downed it anyway, as it was probably medicine for her sickness. As she finished it, she saw the crushed leaves of belladonna and henbane... They must've taken it from mother's study... but that was poison. Kristi began to scream...

/Why didn't I learn to teleport sooner? WHY WASN'T I WITH HER? /

"Kayla! Sister... I don't know the antidote... I'm gonna die... And you're not here! You promised... you promised you wouldn't let me die! Kayla! I don't want to leave you! SISTER! The only time you're gone... and that's when this happens... I'm sorry... now you're going to go through this pain... and I'm not going to be here anymore... I failed on my promise... Because I'm leaving you and I said I wouldn't... Is twelve years old too young to die? Mom and Dad and Duirin are gone... they're gone... Kayla don't come back. They want you. You can Dream. You're more valuable..." Kristi began coughing up blood, staining her light blue dress. She collapsed, crying, jerking, and shivering�

/A new part? I thought that's where it ends.../

Kristi's face took on a note of acceptance, staring at the broken glass of the goblet. "Sister... I know you loved me... but now you're gonna have to find someone else. Otherwise, you're going to fall into Nothingness. Find someone else to love. The Nothingness is gonna take me and tear me up. If you don't do this, you'll follow me. I gave myself to the Nothingness to save you! I knew this might happen... so I made it so you wouldn't. You have a higher purpose. Half of you will be with me, and half of me will be with you. That's how it always will be. Because you're my sister... and I loved you too much to let you go."

/Bitter silence/
/A new scene... it was dark/

        The man adjusted his cape. "There's much left to be done. They can't save her."
        A young woman was with him. "Yes, but how do you plan on doing it yourself?"
        The man laughed. "I'll have to find her, of course. She will be able to be found easily. She gives off such an aura, it's hard not to sense her... besides having my crystal ball here..." He pointed to it, looking at the girl in it. "Lovely, isn't she? And those girls trying to save her..."
        The woman laughed. "You're just the same. Once you find something, you never let go. But why her?"
        The man settled back in his chair. "Let's just say I owe her the favor." He picked up his sword. It was distinctive, a sword of beautiful style... but attached to it was a small skull, dangling from a small chain. "Besides, I can't let her die. That would be a mark against my soul."

/that scene... why do I have such I strange feeling when I see it? And why does it look like he staring right at me? /

        Kayla awoke, Aerin looking at her. "Dreaming again Kayla?" Aerin asked. Tiw was still perched on her shoulder.
        Kayla nodded. "Did... you come with me this time?"
        Aerin smiled slightly and shuddered. "Yes. It was disturbing... But tell me, who was Duirin?"
        Kayla closed her eyes. "Mom and Dad found him when they went on a vacation... his family died in a fire... And they adopted him because that seemed the logical thing to do. He was two years older than I was when he died... seventeen." Kayla's hand traced the ground. "Isn't it a pity that what took away his family would be the same cause of demise for himself?"
        Aerin nodded. "Get up Kayla. We still have a lot to travel before we reach Maconner." Aerin held out her hand, and Kayla took it, steadying herself as she got up. They looked to the miserable path they were taking, and started once again.
        Kayla was kicking rocks as she walked along. "Aerin, you hate humans, right?"
        Aerin turned and looked at her. "Yes, I thought that was a given."
        Kayla smiled. "That's another thing we have in common then." Kayla skewed her face in thought. "But on the inside, I really want someone to prove me wrong."
        Aerin laughed emptily. "Dare say, prove what wrong?"
        "That not all humans are as careless, evil, sadistic, and racist as they seem to be. You look different Aerin, silver hair, purple eyes, and pointed ears� but that doesn't make you less than anyone else."
        "That's not what humans think."
        "Well, I'm a human and I think you're just as good as everyone else." Kayla looked at Aerin. "Would that be an insult?"
        Aerin looked at her, slightly surprised. "Maybe."
        Kayla looked at Tiw, soaring up in the sky. "Aerin, this the beginning of something horrible. I can taste it on the wind."
        Aerin kept her focus on Tiw. Tiw... do you think our world will ever learn? Tiw squawked a high pitched melody, and swooped down, landing on her shoulder. Funny, Aerin thought, looking at him. That's what I thought too.

        Rolfe paced the hallways of the castle. Karin was supposed to bring back news of the capturing of a small coal-mining town. The coal business would be beneficial, especially when the deep cold settled in. Such things would be needed by the bustling city of Maconner, and he would be able to make the profit needed to maintain all he controlled, plus a hefty sum to pay back the debt. His parents died in debt, and now he was the one to have to pay it back. He had captured a small town next to Ginian, and that helped pay a small dent of it. Now, if there was a war... Rolfe smiled evilly with the thought; my troubles wouldn't number so many.
        He pushed open a heavy gilded door. He wanted to laugh for once, but the gray skies of Ginian and Maconner did little to help that desire. He had little to do but look at the crystal ball in this room. It was his obsession. Once he found something that was of interest, he very rarely let it go. That was why he distanced himself from everyone but his cousin. She was a widow at the age of 27, poor girl, raising her twin daughters by herself. So she came to him for assistance.
        She didn't mind his obsessive ways, and he let her stay in his castle as long as she desired. She became like an assistant to Rolfe, doing a lot of the work that didn't interest him. He was deliberating whether or not to send her to find Kayla Draysina. He rationalized that he might as well find her himself, but that would have to wait. Either way was fine.
        Am I just kidding myself? He wondered, his hand tracing the crystal ball. Will I be able to save her? Why doesn't Karin understand why I have to do this? It is the lowly path I travel, becoming the enigma to myself. This is a mystery, I know, that I would care at all... but I know she is that destiny... haunting my Dreams as she does. The Destiny I have followed all my life without question... To answer the questions that my Dreams raise. I am only half of what I could be... Only half of what I know... Aerin and Kyri Teiwaz... They cannot, for they have not the empathy of a human to save her... Rolfe shook his head. It's too deep to delve into now...
        "Rolfe!" "Rolfe!" He heard, and turned around. There stood the bright-eyed twins of Karin's. They were identical, save for the color of their eyes. One had gray, like himself, and one had blue, like Karin.
        The gray eyed one looked at Rolfe. "We found a wounded bird outside Rolfe. Its wing is broken."
        The blue eyed one frowned. "Can you save it?"
        Rolfe smiled, threw a wayward glance at his crystal ball, and sighed. "Anna, Reana, what a silly question. Of course I can. Then you'll have to stay inside until your mother comes home."
        Anna was moved to tears, and grabbed his hand. "I'll bring you to the bird!" Reana followed suit, her gray eyes following him with admiration.

        Rolfe looked outside. The bird they had so pitied flew away once it realized it could fly again, breaking Anna and Reana's hearts. But that was the case of it. In this world, one gathers not thanks for their hard work, but rather left behind in desolation. They had much to gather from the world yet, he realized. Karin brought good news for him though. The town was now in his possession. The funny thing was that not a life was spent trying to capture it. Rather, they succumbed quite easily. It was as if they were waiting for someone to lead them. He knew he would be that someone.
        Rolfe walked out there to a balcony connected to his bedroom. It was sculpted of marble, and beautifully designed. He leaned on the rail. The wind blew his hair, even though it was pulled back into a ponytail. The sun shone on his face. It was the rare day that Ginian saw, when it was like this.
        The courtyard was in bloom, the wind was gentle, and he heard the giggles of Anna and Reana, and the gentle scolding of Karin. Such beauty. Surely the local papers would find it amusing to know he found such pleasure in simple things. He, who everyone believed to be evil, twisted, and corrupt? No, they would surely find it hard to believe. I wonder if that girl notices this kind of beauty? He laughed. Patience was a virtue. Rolfe started to turn, walking back into the castle. He would wait. It was the one virtue he could handle.
        Laughing maniacally, he doubled over. "It was a wonderful plan. However, they will soon see how capable of evil I truly am... I am waiting for that day� I am waiting for the moment... that the Nigh dynasty and the rebels fall, fought to the death because both sides are too stupid to realize what it is that they're doing wrong..."

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