*An*

My team, Kun's group (minus Ayawamat), Tahoma's group of white-cloaks, Boukyaku, and Koukyuu had traveled to the capital. I used my hawk-falcon familiar, Yang to take us there, after leaving the kids in the care of the school president of course. It was all Kun's fault that they got involved in this mess. He should've sent them back to their home when he could.

"Father," Boukyaku yelled as soon as Yang landed in the wide plaza in front of the castle. "Thanks for resuming the regnant's duties while I dealt with Mayu and the others."

What had happened here anyway? It was so odd that Yen was with all of those cloaked folk.

"Is something the matter?" Shin'en asked his son as guards quickly surrounded us. "There was a shock wave detected on the school grounds. But we've been unable to get anyone to teleport to check it out. Is it safe to assume it's because the barrier was weakened?

His sister leapt out of Yang's back. "That's correct. Brother, we need the best soldiers we got," Koukyuu said. "Shadows of the Abyss have reappeared."

He shook his head. "I feared as much. Fine. I'll mobilize our forces as quickly as I can." He turned towards a woman with grey hair. "General Fujiwara, gather our best soldiers in the area to be to prepare for combat against unconventional forces. Also, alert all other generals in the country to stand on guard in case anything occurs. Lock down the capital. Only military personnel may be allowed to leave and come in. It's of out-most importance that we stop the darkness from spreading anew."

"Yes sir," General Fujiwara said as she saluted him.

"That woman...is she related to Shiori?" Xue asked, mouth wide open.

Right, Shiori Fujiwara was his full name.

"She's his older sister. The sixth, seventh, and eight branches all have members in high places," Koukyuu said, her arms crossed.

Shin'en tapped his sister's shoulder. "Koukyuu, tell me, what exactly happened on the island?"

"It'll be better if we talk about this inside." She glanced at Shiori's sister. "I rather not have these many people listen in."

"Alright, you four come with us. You must be tired from your flight."

"Good, I could use a nice rest," Hal said, stretching his arms toward the sky.

Sarah stretched her shoulders back. "I never thought that An's familiar was that difficult to deal with, I thought we would fall off."

"I did too," Kun said, ruffling his wavy white hair.

I snickered. "Sorry about that. Seems that I still got a ways to go to completely earn his respect."

Eien's father smiled at us. "I heard this bird was the one that defeated Yuuta and fought Shiori to a virtual draw."

General Fujiwara's ears rose at the mention of her brother. She handed a soldier some papers before walking over to us.

"Sir, I've sent out the orders as commanded," she explained before glancing back at us. "Sir, I don't mean to step out of place, but should you really be inviting these individuals into the castle? I realize that one of them is a princess of Shui, but the others? Shouldn't they at least stay here, where we can watch them?"

Koukyuu shot her a dirty look. "No need to watch them yourself. I'll make sure that they don't leave our side until we've returned here."

"Please do so until they leave the capital, or even the country."

Hal chuckled. "I see it, the family resemblance. You're just like that disgraced brother of yours, aren't you? You better be careful or you might also disgrace your family."

General Fujiwara flashed him an angry smile. "Such an insolent brat. I see why my brother wanted to teach you foreigners a lesson, you are all so unmannered. Please pardon me, Sir. I'll be taking my leave now." She vanished in a vortex of wind.

Hal's smile vanished. "Gods, why must we deal with those guys again?"

"Ignore it," Sarah said. "We have more pressing matters than dealing with some bigots."

"Who are you calling bigots?" a familiar voice ranged out. Wind spiraled around Yang and vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Standing on top of Yang's head were General Fujiwara's brother and a girl with strange eyes that reminded me of a horse's.

"Damn it, now it's the real annoyances," Hal said, summoning his wand. "Why don't you finally learn to leave us alone, huh?"

Yang threw Shiori and his friend unto the ground.

Shiori caught Kohaku and himself with a gust of wind. Wind blades hit Yang but Yang shielded himself with his giant wings.

"Why, you overgrown bird, I'll have you boiled alive one of these days."

"Calm down Shiori," Kohaku ordered.

Shiori took in a deep breath. "Fine. So, I assume you already know about those strange shadows?"

"Yes, my Mayu alerted us on the situation in the frontier the other day," Shin'en responded. "Your sister already left to prepare for battle. Please come inside. I will like to know as to why you two are still alive."

We were taken to a dining hall too big for a family of four. There we were given some light snacks such as carrots and coconut cookies to recharge.

Meanwhile we ate, Koukyuu and Shiori explained what they knew about the darkness, and how Mayu and co. had nearly escaped the boot camp he had sent them to.

"Hmm, I see. So it's all your fault," Shin'en said. He snapped his fingers and guards appeared without warning. "Take these two to the dungeon. Don't alert their families about them being alive. It's better for them to think that they have died."

Shiori glared at the guards as they put chains made out of some strange silver material on their arms. "You can't do this. I'm your nephew-in-law!"

He smiled at his nephew. "What of it? I heard that you tried to hurt your cousin Eien during your attempted purge of the foreigners. Please take these two away. I'll think about what to do with them in the long run after we've dealt with this issue."

Koukyuu took out her phone. "Wait a moment brother. Hello? Ah, Mr. Suzuran, I assume you've finished your mission?" She suddenly bolted up from her seat. "What? Eighty four percent of the shadows are outside of the barrier? What about the sixteen percent? Ah, that's great. Tell Sonata that we appreciate her assistance in all of this."

"What happened? What's this about eighty four percent of the shadows escaping?"

Had Nyima and the others failed in their mission?

"Brother, we might need to mobilize those standby forces too." She glanced up at Shiori and Kohaku. "Put restriction chains on them. These two will redeem themselves by assisting us in fixing the mess cause by the destruction of the tower."

Kohaku's stared down at the milky quartz table. "That's fine with me. It's our fault that the camp was destroyed and now the entire country seems to be in danger."

Shiori grumbled. "Fine, we'll help you."

The guards changed their handcuffs out for some black bracelets, and handed Koukyuu a red version of the bracelet.

"Thanks," she said as she put it on. "Now to tell you about our plans from here...we're going to Serah."

"My country?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. We'll alert your brother and the other regional leaders about what's going on. Let's just hope that they believe us, Lacevia as you know has a bad reputation. However, if we can get your brother to believe us then we'll be able to warn everyone."

"I'll call him right now," Sarah said as she walked out of the dining hall.

"I'll go and tell Yang," I added.

"Wait, kid," Shiori said. "Aren't you tired? I hate to admit it, but your familiar is strong. How can someone like you summon that thing and still be able to stand?"

"I wonder the same thing," Kun said, leaning against the table.

I smiled gently. "I just can. I am gifted with a large prana chamber."

Hal leaned back on his seat. "You're really lucky. I run out of prana if I'm not actively conserving it."

"What are you?" Shiori asked. "I can tell that you Aiefians aren't like other people."

A slight hope bubbled up inside of me. Did he know about my sister? "Wait, you've met other Aiefians?"

"Yeah, several. There was an Aiefian girl with a sword similar to that one that managed to win your country several metals during the Mahoulympics two years ago."

Kun for some odd reason glanced at his white-cloaked friends. Did he know something to?

"What was her name?" I asked, directing my attention back to Shiori.

A smile dotted his face. "Oh, do you know this girl? A relative perhaps?"

I took out my sword. "This sword is part of a set. My sister took one of them while giving me this one. The others are locked up at our martial arts school. Tell me, did her sword have this insignia?"

He got up and pushed me against the wall. "Listen brat, I don't plan to tell you anything, unless if you and your friends permanently leave this country."

I gripped my sword and took in a deep breath. I struck Shiori's arms then his legs, and finally his chest, all in quick succession. Shiori fell to the floor and coughed out blood. No matter how much he tried to move his legs and arms they wouldn't budge.

"What did... you do?" he asked, dumbfounded.

I lifted his head with the tip of my sword and laughed. "You see this sword technique is most effective when the victim is low on prana. Which seems to be the case with all of you eight thus far."

Hal whistled and put an arm around my neck. "Man, how many more tricks are you hiding?"

I smiled. "Only a couple more." I smiled at my victim. "Now speak Shiori, or I won't undue to the spell."

"An," Xue snapped. "Don't do this. I know you want to learn about what happened to your sister in these past four years, but right now we need Shiori's help. Our relationship with him is already bad enough, don't antagonize him anymore."

"He started it," Hal pointed out. "An, let's get you your information."

I nodded. "Speak, weasel."

A blast of electricity hit my sword causing the spell on Shiori to unravel.

"You're reinforcing his ideas about foreigners," a familiar voice said.

"Alto," Xue yelled, gasping.

"To think that we'll run into these two," Arima said as she walked in.

"Alright," Sarah said, walking back in. "We can leave now. Brother said that he will maintain our forces on standby and will alert the other nations, but he also doubts that they'll listen to him. Eh, Arima, Alto. What are you two doing here?"

"Ms. Key teleported us to the outskirts of town. Vermeil and Ulissis are dealing with the remaining shadows back at the island with the help of Yuzuki's dorm-mates, along with the Kyuu Seishinian student body."

"That's awesome," Orion said. "Kind of wish that I had stayed back to help."

"Foreigners and Kyuu Seishinians working together?" Shiori said, shaking his head. "Ridiculous, wait until they hear about your interrogative methods." He rubbed his shoulders. "Agh, you're lucky that we have an even bigger threat to deal with, or I would wipe the floor with all of you."

"Shiori," Koukyuu scolded. She lifted her bracelet. "You must behave yourself or I'll lock your magic completely."

Shiori nodded. "It's fine. I planned to do so from the beginning."

All of us got back on Yang and left the capital. We flew over dense forests which gave way to rice paddy fields on mountainsides, and eventually an entire mountain range.

As we passed the border between Kyuu Seishin and Aief, Yang slowed down.

"Kid, since we're going to what could possibly be a war you should get your war gear," Yang said.

"Good idea," please descend near here.

"Here?" Sarah asked.

"Why here?" Shiori questioned. "Is your village's location a secret?"

I laughed. "No such thing, it's only that there's no place for Yang to land in my village or in many other places in this country for that matter."

Yang landed on the barran side of a mountain on our side of the Laxum mountain range, the range that runs from Mina through Uan, Xian, Aief, and down the middle of Lacevia until it reaches the southern border of that country.

"You can stay here, I won't take long."

"I'll go with you," Sarah said. She looked around.

"Me too," Xue said. "I'll like to see your family's school."

I grinned. "Fine come here, we'll warp there."

"Me too!" Kun yelled, raising his hand like a kid on a field trip.

"Sure," Sarah answered before I could say no.

"Leaving me all alone with the Kyuu Seishinians, white cloaks, and Sefans?" Hal asked.

"Want to come?" I suggested.

"Nah." He squatted down to pick up some blue flowers, a plant we Aiefians call 'Adoring Blues'. They're used to create sleeping medicine for insomnia, as well as anesthetics. "There are some nice herbs here. This is a good time for us to brew some potions."

"Who are you going to put to sleep?" Arima asked. She was gathering some red grass, plant that was rather common in this part of the continent. It allowed for quicker and easier creation of potions.

"Maybe some of us will get insomnia, or perhaps we can use them to put these two to sleep." He pointed at Shiori and Kohaku.

Kohaku glared at him. "Listen here kid, we aren't here because we want to bother you. If it were up to us we would rather be in prison rather having to deal with you."

Hal crushed the flowers in his hands and unleashed a small wave of pollen over her. "Go to sleep."

Kohaku covered her nose with her uniform's tattered sleeve.

I ran over and grabbed Hal. "Come, you're not staying here to make trouble."

"Let me go, I'm not a kid!" he yelled as he kicked up a dust cloud.

"Then act like an adult," Sarah snapped, grabbing his other arm.

"Goddess, you're more immature than me," Kun said, shaking his head.

"You're hopeless," Xue added as she grabbed Hal by the collar of his blazer.

**Solar Note: What did you think of An's actions in this chapter? This is the first of several chapters in this book that will told from An's perspective ^_^**