Chapter One: The Crashing Halt! Curse of Zoros Medavion

Valkara Yur walked silently down the beaten forest path. She didn't really know where she was going. The light brown bag she was carrying felt heavy and she really wished she would come by a village soon so that she could rest her feet and maybe get a quick bite to eat. Her stomach chose that time to grumble and remind her just how hungry she was. She still had a piece of bread in her pocket from the last town. When had that last been? Two days ago? She couldn't remember.

Looking up, she could barely make out the sky, splashes of clear blue against the dark green tree tops. It was a wonderful day... too bad she felt rotten.

Up ahead on the trail, a small animal scurried into the brush, and she swiveled her pointed ears in that direction. Was it just her, or did she hear something lumbering through the brush? No small animal could make that much noise.

She stopped short, squinting her eyes into the thick brush that was on either side of the path. Overhead, a group of birds scattered from their perches and swooped off, cackling noisily against the relative quiet of the forest....

After a few moments of listening in silence, Valkara decided her ears had just been mistaken. "Probably a stupid deer," she muttered to herself.

She continued down the trail, thinking. *I wish I could meet someone and have them as a friend. That would be so nice.* Sighing heavily, she looked down and concentrated on her walking feet. *It gets so lonely sometimes, just me and my bag. Maybe I'll meet someone at the next town.*

Finally, after four more hours of walking, when Valkara thought she was wearing holes in the soles of her boots, she crested a hill and saw a town lying nestled into the surrounding valley.

The sun was beginning to set as she reached the first buildings, and she headed for the first tavern she saw.

The morning sun woke Valkara from her peaceful night's sleep. With a sigh, she sat up in bed and stretched. For a little ol' tavern, this place was pretty nice. It beat the heck out of sleeping on the ground.

Silently she slipped out of bed and walked over to the mirror that was hanging above a drawer set. "Eep!" She squeaked when she saw her reflection. Ruffled clothes, seafoam green hair sticking every which way, and a huge crease down the side of her face from the pillow.

After a change of clothes and a quick breakfast, Valkara paid the tavern owner for her stay and started out again.

Ninoa quickly parried a blow from the gigantic Mazoku with a simple spell. She smiled mischievously at the Mazoku as it became even more enraged.

"Oh, poor baby's pride hurt?" she taunted the Mazoku as she started to gather magic into one hand. "Don't worry, I'll purge your evil spirit clean by wiping you from the earth like one would wipe a nose."

The Mazoku became angrier at her taunt, but was more distressed at the fact that she had slowly starved it of the food of Mazoku with her happy disposition. The battle had went on for three days, and Ninoa was still energetic and healthy. She had prevented the Mazoku's escape by casting a spell of containment that kept the two of them bound to the battlefield until one of them fell. The Mazoku was also losing strength as Ninoa's happiness drained it at a steady rate over the three days they had fought.

The Mazoku decided to finally resort to using its powers over darkness to influence the match. Big mistake. As it did so, Ninoa froze and started a mad frenzy in fright of the dark. Though this helped the Mazoku some, the wounds it faced from Ninoa's Holy Magic Spells were insurmountable. It collapsed on the ground with a thud as Ninoa tried regaining her composure as she descended in front of the beast.

"Why'd you have to do that?" Ninoa scolded looking at the fallen Mazoku. She felt some remorse and pity for it, but not enough to heal or console it.

The Mazoku coughed and hacked as it looked into Ninoa's eyes, eyes of purity and kindness. But not of naiveness or total innocence. The Mazoku regained a human form and looked menacingly at Ninoa. "I curse you, a curse that shall not be broken," the Mazoku spoke in its dying breath. "You will never be accepted for long, by any group. You shall live as an outcast for the rest of your days... AS MY FINAL WISH! I CURSE YOU WITH MY NAME...."

"Miss?" spoke a voice as Ninoa awoke with a start. "Are you finished eating?" It was the waitress.

Ninoa apologized and paid the waitress with thirty gold pieces. She then went back to her thoughts. It had been four hundred years since that curse from the Mazoku. But why couldn't she remember its name? What blocked it?

Looking around, she sighed as through all her years as a Mazoku raised by light, she didn't remember anyone who truly accepted her for who she really was. Even her foster father priest rejected her for a time, up until his deathbed. No person really accepted her, and she felt the curse only cemented that she would never be accepted. But she didn't want to lose hope; that was the one thing taught by her foster father that stood most vividly in her mind, "Don't lose hope, or evil can conquer the soul."

Ninoa sighed as her mind went back to her foster father. How she missed him....

Valkara sighed to herself in the dim half-light of the tavern. Some town this was. She had spent three nights here and it was definitely time to move on.

*Yeah, to another town smaller and crummier than this one -- or maybe not even a town, maybe I'll end up sleeping in the forest... again.*

Where was the excitement that she had been told was out in the world? Monsters and demons and magic. *That's what you get for listening to the village idiot,* her little voice reminded her.

Absently she looked around the tavern at the other patrons. Mostly farmers, freeloaders, and....

Her eyes caught a woman sitting at a table at the other end of the room. *She looks like she's seen some excitement,* she thought to herself. *Maybe she'll let me tag along with her!*

As Ninoa sat in her depression, she looked across the tavern. Her spirits were low after killing a band of Mazoku, probably the last of the year to attack her; but the attacks were so erratic that she wasn't quite sure of their frequency.

Ninoa laughed at her situation. "The only things I can attract are Mazoku, and they only want to kill me." Her dark sense of humor did little to raise her spirits.

She then realized that someone was hovering over her. She looked up and saw a woman looming over her. Caught by surprise, Ninoa stumbled over in her chair and fell onto the floor with a thud. Rubbing her posterior, she blew her dark blue bangs back and looked at the woman.

"Sumimasen," Ninoa apologized with a sweat drop down the back of her head in childishness. "We Mazokus don't usually get surprised like that...."

Suddenly, Ninoa realized it again. She had blabbed too long and revealed her nature to everyone. "How stupid!" she thought to herself. "It's either because of that damn curse, or I'm just a damn moron!"

She then realized that only the woman had heard her, and no one else. Eyeing her cautiously, Ninoa watched for the woman's response as she clutched the tail of her stuffed tiger, Moshi.

Valkara took a step backwards. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you... but I saw you sitting here and I thought you looked like you've seen a lot of excitement, and I was wondering...." Valkara realized she was making a huge run-on sentance. "...if you wouldn't mind a traveling companion...."

She smiled brightly and offered her hand to the other woman to help her off the floor. "By the way, my name's Valkara."

Refocusing, Ninoa looked surprised. She had not met too many elves in the past, but they were usually nice people to hang around. They were one of the few people who had accepted her... until a band of Mazoku wiped them out. To find another one offering a hand shocked her.

Another thing that bothered her was the fact that Valkara didn't seem taken aback by Ninoa revealing her nature. This seemed odd, but Ninoa didn't take elves to be all that NORMAL to begin with.

"Hi!" Ninoa started childishly as she pulled herself up and arranged the chair once more. "I'm Ninoa, Holy Sage at your service... or someone's service... What do you need?"

Ninoa brought her stuffed Tiger Moshi onto the table and looked at Valkara whose eyes and hair looked beautiful upon an elf. She had admired the race for so long, and to be talking with one now of all times.... Well, she felt awkward.

"Oh!" yelped Ninoa, "Please, sit down!" Her thoughts went toward how clumsy she looked as the elf took a seat.

"Thank you," Valkara said as she took a seat at the table. Maybe finally she was going to meet a real friend. Even if this Ninoa seemed a little... strange. But then again, strange was good, and it was much better than boring.

"Uhm, I was sitting at the bar, looking around, and I noticed you sitting here by yourself and I wondered if you needed someone to talk to. You looked kinda... sad."

Frowning slightly, she brushed a lock of hair out of her face and watched the woman across from her through the slight haze of smoke and dust. She was pretty, Valkara noticed, but had rather odd coloring. *Definitely not a boring person,* she thought to herself. This should be interesting!

"Well, yeah." Ninoa kinda smiled. "Well, umm, gee, what do I say?"

Ninoa was at a loss for words at the moment, something that didn't happen often. Valkara had just gone up to her and said hello. Ninoa convinced herself that there was nothing suspicious about Valkara, besides, people always walked up to one another. How was this different?

*Well, for starters, it's me that's involved,* Ninoa thought to herself. She looked at the elf and noticed that she had been waiting for Ninoa to respond. Ninoa then decided to take the initiative.

With a childish smile and large sparkling eyes, Ninoa started, "And let me introduce you to Moshi!"

She then brought her stuffed tiger in front of her and Valkara. Then she realized that she'd blown it again, this time with her childish nature. The person opposite her must have thought her a complete wacko. And it would be correct to say that Ninoa hadn't practiced her interpersonal skills much, as they were a complete flop just now. She hoped that the elf would not be too distressed at the recent occurence as Ninoa watched for Valkara's response.

Valkara looked at the stuffed tiger with suprise, then at Ninoa. Truly, this was a very unique person sitting in front of her. *Mazoku Priestess,* that little, very anoying voice reminded her.

She tried to remove some of the suprise from her face by covering it up with a smile.

"Oh! He's very cute. Where did you, er... acquire him?"

Peeking one eye open to look at the other patron... *PRIESTESS*... Priestess, her eye wandered down and took a closer look at the toy tiger. Faintly, a little spark stirred in the back of her memory. Intrigued, she tried coaxing the memory out, and she could feel it slowly beginning to surface.... SLAM!

She jerked and blinked as a mental barricade slammed shut, stopping her from going down that path. *You don't want to go there anyway,* that voice piped up. *you wouldn't like it. It's safer if you don't remember....*

Ninoa peered at the elf in curiosity.

"Is everything alright?" she began to ask; the elf looked troubled at the moment. Ninoa wondered if she had done anything to depress Valkara. She started to look sad herself.

"Is something wrong with the food?" a waiter asked as the two customers sat with saddened expressions; to a casual observer, it appeared as though they might be sick, and something like that was bad for business....

"Oh, no," Ninoa quickly responded. "We're just having a sad moment between us. No need to worry."

"Well, it's drawing attention," the waiter said rudely, "so, either stop looking sad or leave."

"Is... that a restriction?" Ninoa sharply asked, changing from sad to pissed in a moment, "I don't respond well to RESTRICTIONS. Especially if they're on a being's natural RIGHTS to express themselves."

"Hey! We don't tolerate little @$#%#% like you!" the waiter then added, only shoving the final nail into his coffin.

"Oh! A @$#%#% am I?!" Ninoa then protested with an even angrier look on her face. "You wanna see what a @$#%#% can do?"

Before the waiter (who was on the verge of soiling his pants) could respond, Ninoa rose an arm and shouted, "EXPLOSION ARRAY!"

Surely enough, the waiter was propelled through the ceiling, wailing his head off as he became a twinkle in the sky. The other patrons of the tavern applauded Ninoa, for they had also been mistreated by the waiter.

Ninoa looked back at Valkara and asked, "How's that for entertainment?"

The ruckus between Ninoa and the waiter finally snapped Valkara out of her momentary daze. She watched with amazement as Ninoa beat the crap outta him, and literally blasted him into next Tuesday.

When it was all over, Valkara looked at Ninoa with wide eyes. "Wow. I know now not to ever get on _your_ bad side." She smiled. "That was pretty impressive. Where'd you learn all of your magic?"

"Ummm," hesitated Ninoa with a saddened look as if the question had poked a nerve. "I don't want to go over it right now."

Her expression then changed into happiness. "But that being my bad side? Gee, you really haven't seen anything yet. Just a word of caution, I tend to fly off the handle if Moshi even gets a scratch, so just be aware or I may go berserk over an accident."

Ninoa then looked around as she saw that the hole in the roof would probably be paid out of her own pocket if she didn't hightail it out of there.

"So what do you say?" she started to ask Valkara. "Wanna go on an adventure?"

So excited and worked up was Ninoa, she started out the door before Valkara could answer. Moments later, she backpeddled back through the doorway and asked, "Uh, any ideas where to find one?"

Before Valkara could facefault, Ninoa then smacked her right fist into her left palm and surmised, "I know! I heard that there's this super cool artifact that amplifies power... oh wait, that was destroyed... Oh! There was this Sword that killed the beast Zanna... oh wait, that'd be too hard to pin down... Oh! Now I know this is the treasure! I know this really powerful staff that's said to be in tip top shape that was used by Rei Magnus, the legendary mage. No one currently owns it and it's kept in ruins to the north! Let's GO!"

Before Valkara could respond, Ninoa bolted out the door holding Valkara by the wrist and left a trail of dust in her wake. One would have to wonder if it was her thirst for adventure or the fact that she would have to pay for the roofing that made Ninoa run so quickly.

The two girls sat by a campfire as Ninoa looked a map over in excitement.

"I suppose you're wondering why I was so gung-ho to go on this little adventure," Ninoa started with a smile, "I felt so good that someone actually wanted to partner up with me... you know, with my shortcomings and all. Anyhow, I just wanted to whisk us away before one of us changed their mind."

Ninoa continued to chart their course and found out that they were just a little below Gyria in the kingdom of Dils. She then spoke again, "Oh, and don't worry too much about how I came across this lead; if you live as long as I do, you find quite a few things out. Besides, when we get to the Kataart Mountain Range, we'll find plenty of action."

"The.... uhm, K-Kataart Mountains?" Valkara stuttered over the words. She had only heard of that place before and also knew of all kinds of evil things that resided there. "Isn't that where the Demon King of the North lives?"

Valkara wondered if it was so wise to get herself involved in this. But she had gone looking for an adventure, hadn't she? *Don't be such a baby. And besides, this Demon King can't be all THAT bad, right? I mean, guys like that are always overrated!*

"Well," she began, not intending to cut off Ninoa before she could respond, "even if it is, I'll go along. So, what's our next move from here?"

"Hmm, our next move...," thought Ninoa for a moment. "Well, we can probably make it to Gyria by nightfall tomorrow. After that, we pack supplies for the Kataart Mountains. But in the meantime, let's get some sleep."

Ninoa then turned around and thought quietly to herself, maybe the curse had ended. No, that probably wouldn't be, but what about this elf? Ninoa didn't feel like figuring things out, it was somewhat complicating trying to pick out friends from foes, and Valkara didn't seem like a villain. She just seemed like an elf, odd at that seeing how elves were used for magic experiments by humans. It didn't make much sense to Ninoa, but at least she'd be close to someone who enjoyed her company, or at least she thought or wanted to believe.

"Aw hell," thought Ninoa, "I'm just being paranoid, nothing is wrong, Valkara's fine, nothing's wrong with her... so stop being suspicious."

Something wasn't right in the air. Ninoa could smell it. She searched above as the light penetrated the leaves of the forest. A chill curled up her spine. She didn't feel anything like this normally; it was totally alien to her.

"Who's there?" Ninoa asked with authority. "Reveal yourself!"

No one answered her command. A cold wind blew as she turned her attention to where Valkara was. She was still asleep. That was good. There was no need for anyone else to get involved too deeply in her struggles. Ninoa believed that dragging others into your problems was not a good thing to do. She stood her ground and made her blood run faster to ready her magic.

"Paranoid, aren't you, old friend?" called a familiar voice that came from many different directions at once. It seemed to echo about her in a strange fashion.

"Who are you?" Ninoa called out, starting to fear what was coming from this unknown yet familiar entity.

"I'm surprised that you don't remember a friend such as I, Zoros?" snickered the entity, wherever it was.

The name sparked Ninoa's memory. "YOU! You're the one who cursed me! Zoros Medavion!"

"Couldn't you come up with a better line than that?" Zoros said from his hiding place.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Ninoa proudly stated. "Your curse doesn't work anymore! You see, I've made a friend."

"REALLY?" Zoros laughed, mocking Ninoa. "Tell me, how long before you kill her?"

Ninoa grew angry at this. "SHUT UP!"

"Are you going to stab her in the back after she opens the door to the treasure room only elves can open?" Zoros continued, "That's the only reason you made friends with her. Isn't it? Just for your measly gains in power, isn't that right? You only care about yourself, but hey, that's alright. All Mazoku do that; why should you be any different?"

"SHUT UP!" cried out Ninoa in her fury as she gathered energy into her hands. "HOLY BRAND!" Light flew in shards around Ninoa as they destroyed trees and rocks and whatnot.

"Ooooh, what a temper," Zoros taunted. "And you even managed to kill your so-called friend in the process."

Ninoa looked over to see Valkara's remains, bloody and broken.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Ninoa as she sat up quickly. She was drenched with sweat as she looked to her side. Valkara was still there, sleeping comfortably and not harmed at all (except maybe by some bug bites for all Ninoa knew).

Ninoa breathed a sigh of relief as she went back to her thoughts. "What if Zoros is right... no, I made a friend, and I won't turn on her... I won't."

She breathed heavily for a while as she tried to go back to sleep in the forests that sheltered them. A figure in the distance watched them as they lay on the dirt ground.

"Sweet dreams, Ninoa," the figure said before disappearing into the night's darkness.

Valkara awoke with a yawn the next morning and rubbed her eyes. "What a peaceful night's rest," she sighed. She looked around her and noticed that Ninoa was nowhere to be found.

"Ninoa?" Her ears seemed to slightly twitch in concern.

She waited a few moments for a reply. When there was none in return other than a frog and a few crickets she crawled out of her bag. "Hello?" she called again, a little louder this time.

But it was no use. Ninoa was gone, and Valkara would never see her again....