Rene woke to the odd sensation of having slept in. Since he has been under Master Samson's care, he never got to sleep in; not even when he was sick. He always had to wake up at the crack of dawn, or sometimes before, depending on the Master's mood, to help prepare breakfast, clean up, and do their morning chores before starting their training for the day.

This made Rene's stomach churn up with worry.

He rubbed at his eyes and flopped his feet out from under the covers and over to the side of the bed as he pushed his duvet back.

The cottage was dark and quiet. He could see the faint darker shapes of the dining table, wood stove, and cabinets across from his bed, but he could not hear anything at all but his own breathing.

"Did I wake up at midnight?" he murmured to himself, rising from his bed and walked over to the closest window, and pushed back the curtains Samson's wife sent them last week. The moon was still high and shone its pale light across the land as clouds sailed past to gather in the east.

"Okay, I guess I did wake up too early, but where did they go?" Rene turned to look at his companions' beds in the dim light and saw that he was right and was not imagining things. Their beds were empty. He really had not heard the sounds of their sleeping soundly.

He ran out the front door, not bothering to close it back, and searched the yard where they did their training, around the practice dummies hanging from the trees out back, the vegetable garden off the side of the house, and the compost heap out at the edge of the woods, but still, he could not find a sign at all of his Master and training partner. The outhouse did not hide any clues, and the flower beds Samson's wife planted for them years ago were not disturbed either. So that left the woods behind the cottage.

Rene hurried into the copse of trees and nearly tripped over his Master lying prone on the ground.

"What the—Master Samson!" Rene gasped, taking a step back, eyes wide at what he saw. The Master's eyes were scrunched up, and his face was partially hidden by his long dark brown hair with gray trying to peek through due to his age. A stream of blood ran out of his mouth onto the grass.

Rene dropped to his knees and pulled Samson roughly into his lap and got a whiff of something strong coming from the man's mouth. Smelled like some strange herbs. They did not have anything that smelled like that for dinner. He felt the side of Samson's neck for a pulse.

Nothing.

The man's maroon robes he normally wore looked tattered and dirty, as if he had the snot beaten out of him.

How did Rene not hear any of this happening while he was asleep? Why did he not hear any shouting or a struggle?

"Master, who the hell did this to you?" Rene choked out, nearing tears now. He pulled the man closer into a hug, still not hearing a sound or feeling a muscle stir.

He heard somebody leap down from one of the trees ahead. He looked up and saw his peer, Sheamus.

"Sheamus! Your father—look at what's happened! Who could do this to him?!" Rene cried out.

His peer stepped closer, Rene could now see the smirk on his tanned face. What?

"That old fool had it coming," Sheamus said, bringing his hands up to crack his knuckles. "He didn't even put up much of a fight."

The putrid stench hit Rene's nose again. "You poisoned him!"

Sheamus spat on the ground next to him as he stepped closer, "So what if I did? Mother shouldn't have left that medicinal text in the bookcase. The recipe was pretty easy really."

Rene pushed his Master off his lap and jumped up to his feet, "You bastard! How could you do this to your own father? What will your mother think? How can you ever look her in the eyes again?!" He rushed at Sheamus with his fist aimed at his face and his other arm held up to be ready to block off an attack. His punch landed on Sheamus's jaw with a crack and drove the man backwards.

"You're a damn coward! Poisoning him and then dragging him off to die in the woods!" Rene roared and lurched forwards into another attack. Sheamus picked himself up quickly and jumped to the side, dodging Rene's fists and drove his foot underneath Rene's leg, catching him in the back of the knee and caused him to tumble down. He then jumped high and slammed his other foot down into Rene's stomach before he could roll out of the way. This forced the wind out of him, along with his dinner all over his face and neck.

Sheamus came up and loomed over Rene with a mocking laugh, "You lose again my friend." With that, he spat in Rene's face, "See you never."

Rene heard Sheamus take off into the night as he lay there in the forest with his Master. His head spun, his stomach was killing him, and he could see the stars above blinking down at him indifferently. He needed to get up, wash his face off, and do something with his Master. If only he could force himself to move, but an insufferable heaviness held him down on the leaves and moss. He hadn't felt that way in years.

"Good grief…" Roni let out an exasperated sigh.

"What are the journalists whining about now?" Keylla asked, trotting up to have a look-see at the newspaper in the king's hands.

"That wannabe aristocrat is spreading rumors about my competence. He thinks that I should do more to please the Emperor to protect the kingdom from war," Roni sneered, showing Keylla the article. Gemma quickened her pace to get to Keylla's side so she could read too.

"It looks like they have a lot to say about Gelid too…" Gemma remarked as she skimmed the page along with the thief.

"With the unprecedented attack on the coal mining town of Gelid, many in Vigoreaux are in uproar. Gelid has been neutral for decades, and many are questioning the motives behind the attack. Some citizens believe that there is a plot between King Roni and the Emperor to control the coal trains coming out of the Gelid Mountains. This would impose more taxes on the neighboring provinces if this was to occur.

Other sources who shall remain anonymous believe that the Empire's raid was motivated by curious fossils and precious stones unearthed in the mines.

The question remains: Why would the Empire desire relics of the past?

This assault was, no matter how one looks at it, a blatant use of the Empire's growing power and has caused many citizens to fear for our great kingdom.

Several citizens on the streets believe that Southwest Vigoreaux is the next target for Imperial attack and are hoping that King Roni makes an agreement with Emperor Erthil to prevent such an outrageous event from happening.

Steward of Southwest Vigoreaux believes that King Roni should do more to strengthen the alliance between Vigoreaux and Vector and possibly send volunteer diplomats to visit the Southern Continent to discuss matters with the Emperor and his court before it's too late…" Keylla finished reading out loud with a disgusted look on her face, not bothering to read the last sentence of the article. He folded it in half and shoved it in a pocket on Roni's bag.

"I guess the news that Fload tried to burn down the castle hasn't reached Southwest Vigoreaux yet?" the mage asked, to which Roni gave a nod.

"If Southwest Vigoreaux knew, we wouldn't be able to move an inch without hearing somebody talking about it," Keylla explained while looking up to the blue skies above where birds flew together around the towering mountains.

As the group came to a bend in the yellowing grass covered trail, they encountered a large opening in the rocks. They entered the cave one after another and found that they did not need to light a torch to find their way. There were holes in the ceiling above where stones crumbled away with the weather and wear of many years which created skylights that allowed the sunlight to shine down upon them.

There were huge brown boulders blocking one pathway in the cave and discovering this made Keylla let out a dirty swear under her breath.

"You okay?" Roni asked, looking from his friend to the many carved out passages around them leading who knew where.

Keylla shoved his hands roughly into his jacket pockets and turned from the boulder with a scowl, "Yeah, guess I can't grab the little present Arcell left for me."

"What do you mean?" Gemma asked, giving the boulder a curious look.

"He's another Reigniter. We usually leave stuff in a hiding place back there for each other." He started walking away from the stones and headed to another passage where small rocks littered the way. "We like to help each other out, ya know? We leave things like potions and good weapons for each other that we find when we're out on missions."

"Well I suppose you two will have to find another hiding spot for your stolen treasures, huh?" Roni laughed as he followed along, receiving a nasty glare from the thief.

Gemma giggled quietly at this into her hands, trying to muffle herself. She had seen Keylla casually tuck things into his pockets while they were in Southwest Vigoreaux. She had taken the opportunity to stock up on soaps and candles while they passed a merchant stall in the marketplace when he thought nobody was looking.

They explored the passageways cautiously, now wary of a possible cave-in after finding a blocked off path. One of the trails led out onto a small ledge with just enough room for one person to stand and a wooden box with a lock on it. Gemma offered to retrieve the treasure because she was the lightest of the group and hopefully her weight would not disturb the possibly fragile ground.

She struggled with the lock for a moment, which did not yield and made her hand hurt as it pulled against the metal. She conjured a ball of fire in the palm of her hand and swept the metal apart with a sizzle. The box contained a new magenta tent folded up neatly inside.
Gemma brought the bundle back into the cave to show her friends, smiling when they asked how she undid the lock.

"I'll show you if we find another chest," she smiled wider, feeling pleased with herself. Roni tied the tent to Gemma's bag and fastened it in place with the straps attached.

The rest of the cave had two more treasure chests hidden away. One was behind a stack of large stones with a space big enough for Keylla to squeeze herself inside to get at, and the other chest was resting in a tunnel that led out to a side trail the continued to a dead end.

Once they reached the exit of the cave after their detour, the trail went steeply upwards, leading ever higher into the mountains.

Keylla whipped her head around to the left, but whatever she saw was gone in a flash.

"What's wrong, Keylla?" Roni asked as he came up to his friend and followed his line of sight, seeing nothing among the stones covered in rich, lush plants growing high towards the sun.

"Seeing things again?" he chuckled to himself and shook his head.

The rogue huffed at this, "Look, just because that last thing I saw was just a stupid rabbit doesn't mean that I'm imagining things!" She gave Roni a glare, "I'm telling you, something's not right."

"Well at least we were able to get a nice little meal out of that rabbit," Roni laughed and walked ahead on the grassy trail which grew narrower.

The mountains were windy and blew Gemma's hair into her face constantly. She unwrapped one of the scarves around her waist and used it to tie around her head to hide her curls from the gusts. She looked back and saw that Keylla was still watching the pile of rocks away from the path, muttering to herself.

Apparently, many of the usual trails Keylla used during his trips through these mountains were blocked off. At first, she chalked it up to landslides, but once they worked their way around two paths and came to a third, she said that it was definitely not just bad luck.

"Perhaps the Reigniters are changing things up to deter any unwanted visitors?" The king suggested, to which Keylla said was a possibility. But he seemed to have his doubts. They would have notified him of the plan before he last left the hideout. Aaron tended to plan things like that a couple weeks in advance, so unless he caught wind that something was about to happen, Keylla would have known. One of the Reigniters back in Southwest Vigoreaux would have given her a heads up. But nobody had approached her in town, so she figured that the plan was to continue without any major changes.

Gemma waited for Keylla to come along, and they followed Roni up the steep trail which wound around a jagged wall of brown stone and then down again to a rope bridge going across a gorge. The skies were clear and blue, with a few clouds swirling off to the west and large plum feathered raptors coasted along, riding the wind currents down all around the lower peaks of the mountains, paying no attention to the travelers below.

The bridge swayed in the strong winds, but the ropes looked secure without any fraying of the fibers, and had wide wooden planks woven together to form the walkway. Keylla took the lead here, and showed them that they needed to grasp the ropes in both hands as they crossed, and not to let go for any reason or else they could get easily swept away if a particularly strong breeze blew through the gorge.

Once they all crossed and reached the other end safely, Keylla led them along another winding trail jutting out of the side of the mountain where more broken stones littered the trail and soon, the trio came to another block in the road where massive stones were piled in the way.

"What the hell is going on?" Keylla demanded of the rocks and clenched her fists as if she was about to start hitting them. She stormed over to the nearest one, dropped her bag, and tried jumping up to find a place where her hands could grab hold but failed after several tries.

Roni and Gemma went up to the rocks and watched as Keylla kept trying. Roni rubbed at his temples with one hand, and Gemma hurried over to help Keylla stand back up after she did a running start at the rocks and ended up toppling off the side of one and landed on her back.

"Keylla, my friend, I don't think that's going to work," Roni sighed, "Stop wasting your energy trying to tackle the rocks."

Gemma pulled Keylla up onto her knees, from which she sprang up, "Well there's no other path we can take from here!" She yelled back, exasperated. "We could work around the other roadblocks, but there isn't another way around this one short of outright climbing up the side of the mountain! And that would take too damn long!" Keylla stomped over to her travel pack and put it on his shoulder.

"What do you propose we do, Kingy?"

Roni glared daggers at Keylla at this, "I propose that we rest a moment and think of a solution. There has to be a way to continue onwards." Roni decided to sit down on the ground and pulled a water bottle from his bag and took a nice long drink. He offered it to Gemma, who accepted it and gulped some of the cool water down. Keylla didn't want any for the moment, she was too busy watching Roni while adjusting one of her bandanas that had slipped out of place in her silver hair when she flopped off the rock. One of her beaded earrings got caught painfully upwards under the fabric.

"Hey, about how tall are you, Ron? Six two, three?" Keylla asked while still staring at Roni, particularly at his long legs.

"That sounds about right, why?" he replied, putting the bottle back into a pocket in his bag.

"How about you give me a boost up there?!" the thief exclaimed, excited with her idea.

"No."
"What? Why?"

Roni stood up from the ground and brushed his denims off, "Because, I don't think I could pick you up. You look too heavy."

"OH, COME ON! You won't even try?!" Keylla was practically hopping up and down now. Gemma watched all of this with her eyebrows raised high, unsure whether she should say something or not.

The two argued back and forth for a few minutes with a few insults thrown in before Keylla paused and hwr eyes shot over to Gemma, "Well what about lifting Gemma up there? She's a lot smaller than me!"

"Huh?" the mage backed up a few paces away from them. "I-I don't think that would be a very good idea…"

Keylla and Roni did not hear her protest however, and both agreed on the new plan. Keylla went over and grabbed her travel pack from her shoulder and Roni took her hand and led her over to the lowest rock.

"Oh, she can definitely reach up there if you lift her up!" Keylla said, very pleased now. She came up behind the two, "Don't worry Gemma, I'll be here to help catch you if Kingy drops you."

"I promise I won't drop you, my dear!" Roni said as he leaned down to pick her up.

"Um, okay," Gemma conceded, and allowed the king to lift her up by the waist. "Yes, you're much lighter than Keylla would be!" He held her up as far as he could, and she reached up and found that she was easily able to grab onto the ledge.

"Awesome!" Keylla cried out, "Now give her more of a boost up, Ron!" She felt Roni grab hold of her legs and push her up higher to help give her more leverage to pull herself up all the way. She crawled away from the edge and straightened her scarf tied around her hair.

"Okay, Gem, I'm going to throw a rope up there, so grab it!" Keylla called, and she looked down and saw her pulling a length of rope out of his bag. She came close to the rocks and tossed it up to her, and Gemma caught it. Gemma looked around for something to tie the rope to, and found a sturdy looking tree sticking out of the ground nearby.

She went back to the edge, "Okay, I tied it to something! It should be okay for you two to climb up now!" They nodded, and Keylla picked up her bag and clambered up the rope first easily. Once he got out of the way, Roni climbed up slower, trying to be careful instead of going haphazardly like a certain somebody.

They saw that the trail on the other side of the rocks was angled upwards, leading to another dizzying tangle around the mountain. The lack of pressure from being so high up was making Gemma's head feel a bit airy, but she tried to ignore it as Keylla handed her bag back to her.

The thief clamored over to the other side of the stones and slid down to the grassy path below by the seat of her pants. She waved for them to follow, so Gemma carefully slipped herself down, using her hand to help control the speed, and felt instant relief once her boots touched the ground.

Once Roni was safely down from the rocks as well, the group continued on their way upwards over the mountains until they finally reached a little cave Keylla said that he and fellow Reigniters used as a safe place to spend the night after a long day of hiking. The cave had a couple steel torches bolted into the rock walls, and a place created in the stone ground for making a campfire.

Gemma went up to the torches and cast a fire spell on each one. She saw that the cave was indeed small, but they had more room than if they pitched a tent for the night. She sat her pack up against the back wall of the cave and untied her sleeping bag from it while Keylla was fiddling with something next to the entrance. Something cracked, and when she turned, she saw that Keylma was pulling a makeshift door into place. There was a carved-out piece at the top of the door so the smoke from their fires could go out into the fresh air outside.

"That's a clever door! It must blend into the rocks on the other side," Roni said, watching Keylla twist a sort of latch which secured it from any outsiders trying to come in. "Who came up with it?"

Keylla clapped her hands against each other to remove any dirt or dust, "My buddy Arcell. Remember him? He's a wiz with carving stone and wood." She sat her bag next to Gemma's and started unclipping his sleeping bag to settle it down on a bit of ground where there weren't many sharp rocks.

Roni pulled out a loaf of bread wrapped up in a newspaper from his bag and sat it next to him, "Ah yes, isn't he the messy haired scrub who tried sneaking into the maid's quarters the last time you came to visit me?" Roni gave his companions a sly grin. "I remember him scaring my girls half to death! Timed it to where he could see them preparing for bed. Didn't even have the courtesy to single one out to take a nice stroll in the moonlight to get to know each other better first!"

Keylla paused rolling out his sleeping bag. "Uh, yeah. Him. Hair's not that scruffy though." She coughed and finished settling the sleeping bag out.

"And isn't he the one with the fiancé, too?" Roni snickered and looked over at Gemma, who was watching the exchange with curious eyes. "It's unfortunate, isn't it, my lady? The poor girl probably isn't aware of that little story! I wonder what she would think."

Gemma wasn't sure what to think about that. She did remember what a fiancé was though. When she closed her eyes to try to pull the images together, she saw men requesting envelopes and stamps so they could write letters to their loved ones. And overhearing jokes about certain soldiers not wearing their rings on purpose when they travelled to different cities…different districts…

"Hey Ron, why do you have this newspaper guarding the bread? I haven't read that one yet," she heard Keylla say along with some crinkling, and opened her eyes.

It seemed to be getting darker already, so she whispered "fire" to herself, and willed a small flame to float over from her hand to the fireplace and let it sit and crackle to life without a thing for it to burn. Maybe she could get a spare page from the newspaper to throw into her fire to help keep the flame strong. She could keep it going without something to cling to, but it made her weary. A little help would cut the tie between her energy and the spell.

As she made to get up and ask Roni for a page of the newspaper, she saw the front cover of the article Keylla was reading peeking out from over her shoulder. Tears instantly stung at her eyes and glued her in place.

"Damn, it's wild to believe that a boy his age could do that," Keylla muttered to herself as she read. The king nodded solemnly, and then saw Gemma's face.

"Gemma, what ever is the matter?" he asked, a look of astonishment now on his face, and came over to sit next to her.

She couldn't make a sound and couldn't stop staring at that angular, cold, cold, cold face. The same man from Vigoreaux castle.

Keylla looked over, and upon realizing that she saw the photograph, folded it immediately and threw it behind her as if doing so would make it disappear altogether. The paper smacked against the side of the cave and fell open, now showing photos of people on chocobos.

Her head started pounding and swaying and she had to close her eyes to still the feeling that she was falling. She had to focus on how she was sitting on the ground, friends near, away from harm.

"Gem, I'm sorry that we let you see that," she heard Keylla saying in a rushed tone, hearing him shuffle closer in front of her. She felt Roni wrap an arm around her thin shoulders, "Don't worry, you're safe with us."

Gemma shook her head, tearing falling from her cheeks, and asked Keylla for the newspaper. She protested, saying that it might make her feel worse, but she asked again.

"I-I need to see it…I want to remember."

"Are you sure? I mean I dunno if-" the thief said with concern in her eyes as she reached back to grab the paper. She opened her eyes and as soon as it was close enough, she snatched the paper from his hand while he was still worrying over her.

Roni felt Gemma tremble as she held the newspaper with both hands and took in the picture and the headline above it.

She knew that long beard of the Emperor's, and how the man next to him seemed to tower over her in metal plated halls and felt the intensity of those cold eyes upon her. She struggled to remember the young man though, trying to search the foggy depths of her memory as she read about how he toppled a city.

A stuffed dummy in the shape of a person burned up in a puff of smoke.

"Wonderful Gemma! Now take ten paces backwards and do it again," said a metallic voice from an intercom above their heads in the practice yard.

She did as instructed, and again, the next dummy in the line-up suffered the same fate. They were testing distance that day.

"Now your turn!" said the voice. "Step ten paces forward from Gemma's position and let's see how your spells fare."

A lad with long, slightly wavy white hair in a gray tunic and knee-high black boots walked out from the side of the practice yard and came up to Gemma with a happy smile. He brushed his hand against Gemma's as she got into position and took his ten steps.

She felt a surge of energy come from the boy who held both of his hands up together with his palms facing the dummy, "Blizzard!" A shot of twinkling snowflakes fluttered from his hands and they struck the dummy dead on. It was instantly covered in ice.

"Good, good!" Came the voice again, squawking above. "Back to Gemma's side and do it once more."

The guy turned and walked back to Gemma, smiling at her again, bright blue eyes meeting her golden ones. She couldn't help but smile back. He stayed close as the girl concentrated and let her next spell fly. This time the snowflakes skittered around a few yards before it reached the dummy with a flash of light. Gemma saw that her face had fallen. She let out a sigh that made her whole body seem to droop down.

"We'll have to focus on that some more. We can't have your spells losing track like that." Now the voice was behind them instead of on the intercom.

They both turned and saw a middle-aged man with bushy dark eyebrows poking out from behind some heavy copper goggles. His matching mustache made it look like he was always unhappy.

"We'll have to cancel your runic lesson today so you can practice some more." He pointed at Gemma with a tanned gloved finger. "Fload is waiting for you inside. We'll go ahead and do your testing, Gemma."

He turned back to the young lad, "I'll have Theo come out to help you. You need to learn how to control your spells better like Gemma." When the man in the heavy beige lab coat turned to leave, the albino boy stuck his tongue out at his back and rolled his eyes.

Gemma refused to look back up until the man walked past her, and then met eyes with the other bou. They shared a disappointed sigh. She was looking forward to the runic lesson today. She loved casting her spells at her friend and watching how the boy inhaled them. His whole body would shimmer, and his hair would fly out as he absorbed the spells into his body. Gemma would only cast healing spells at him because she refused to hurt her friend. Fload was the one who would cast the flames and bolts of lightning. She looked as if she breathed them into her lungs as the energy struck her.

It was like a special time nobody else could understand unless they knew magic and could feel the beautiful energy washing over them in waves from all directions.

He went to the girl and grasped both of her hands, "Let's meet in the library later?"

"Yes, we have to get good grades on our math quiz tomorrow."

"Gemma, come on," came another voice from behind them, "The tube's waiting." The voice seemed to spit out these words with disdain.

She turned and let go of his hands, really wishing that he could stay. Gemma had to do those tests every single day. Why couldn't she have a day off from it? She took a last look at the boy before entering the building and saw her friend's eyes squeezed shut and jaw clenched, as if fighting back tears.

Gemma woke up to the sounds of a metal pot boiling and Keylla munching on an apple. She sat up and rubbed at her eyes with one hand. They felt puffy and sore.

Roni was sitting on his sleeping bag with his legs crossed, sipping on a steaming mug and reading a large leather-bound book that took up his lap. His glasses were trying to slide down his nose as he read.

"Want some tea, Gemma?" asked Keylla from where he sat in front of the fireplace. There were pages from the newspaper at the heart of the flames. He popped the remaining bit of apple into his mouth with a loud crunch. "Roni has another cup's worth over there." He waved a hand at the king.

"Sure," she replied while pulling her legs out of her sleeping bag and stretched them out and rolled her feet around in the air as she did so, making her ankles pop with relief. Keylla grabbed the teapot from its spot next to the king and pulled a deep olive glazed mug from her travel pack. She was still trying to figure out how the thief managed to carry around so many things.

"Here, I'll heat it up over the fire real quick," Keylla replaced his pot with the tea and started pouring the dark water into another mug she had sat out in front of him. It smelled like coffee. She produced a yellow apple from her bag and offered it to her. She accepted it and took a small bite—it was almost too sweet! Gemma continued to eat though and watched as the thief poured her tea into the glazed mug and handed that to her too.

A soft light ebbed into the cave from the small opening at the top of the stone door, signaling that morning had come. They could hear faint bird cries too while they ate their breakfasts and slowly woke up for the day. They were nearing the end of the trail leading out of the mountains and would soon be on their way through the valley leading to the Reigniter's hideout. Keylla told them the night before that if they made good time and did not have any hiccups along the way, then they would probably reach the hideout by that evening after the sun went down.

Once Keylla had finished off her coffee and scarfed down another yellow apple, he started stuffing things back into her travel pack and urged Roni to put away his book to help out.

"I'm almost done with this chapter, give me a few more minutes…" he said, eyes not leaving the page.

"Ugh, why are you bothering reading that anyways, Ron? Don't you know all of that stuff already?" Keylla finished securing his sleeping bag snugly in place to his travel pack and went over to Gemma's to help her do the same.

"Because," Roni sighed, glancing over at his friend, "Others come up with unique ideas for how to make things and it helps me think of how to create machines from a different vantage point." The king's eyebrows knit together with annoyance as he continued studying the pages.

"That book must be really interesting…I wonder if he'll let me look at it later." Gemma watched Roni read, her tea growing cool in her hands, and glanced away when she saw him raise his eyes up to meet hers.

"Okay Gem, you're all set!" Keylla held out her hand for her cup after she took her last long drink from it. She drew a gray bandana from her back pocket and wiped it down quickly to dry up any remaining tea so it wouldn't make his things damp. She reached over to her bag a few feet away and tucked the mug inside.

"Hey Keylla? Don't look over here for a moment please?" Gemma held up a clean pair of pink stockings, signaling that she wanted to change out her current pair. She nodded and obediently turned away, willing Roni to not look up from his book as he heard Gemma shuffle around briefly. Luckily, the king's attention had gone back to his reading and didn't seem to notice what Gemma was doing.

"I'm done," came her soft voice. Keylla looked over her shoulder at Gemma, seeing her smoothing her dress down over her thighs and tucking her other pair into her bag.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" Keylla stood and stretched her hands out high above his head with a loud pop. At this, Roni gave a sigh and snapped his book shut after marking his place by folding down the corner of the page.

Keylla unlatched the stone door and started pulling it away, revealing the bright morning sun rising slowly over the mountains. The air was crisp and fresh when Gemma stepped outside, bringing her arm up to shield her eyes from the sudden light. Birds let out chirps from nearby cliffs where they nested, and the wind blew lazily along the trails as if it was still waking up for the day.

The thief led them back onto the main trail which started going downwards steeply, "It looks like we're nearly outta here guys!" She pointed at a cave opening coming into view. "Just be careful with your footing; it's really easy to slip through here."

"Thank goodness! All of this mountain air has been making me feel so dizzy," Roni replied and let out a yawn. "I could use a nice bath! Roughing it like this is fun for a while, but I hate letting my hair get so messy."

"Oh, don't worry, we have a nice setup at the hideout where fresh river water comes out of a spout like back in town. No bucket baths for us," Keylla didn't get to finish her sentence.

Her body was thrown into the side of the mountain with a crash that made gravel rain down from above.

"What was that?!" Gemma gasped a breath before seeing a huge blur bound down from the stone cliffs above the cave opening.

The thief rubbed at the back of her neck before shouting, "Hey, what the hell was that for?!" She didn't seem too banged up by the attack and stood, withdrawing a dagger from her belt.

The culprit was now standing in the entrance of the cave with his tattooed arms crossed. The man stood taller than Roni with rippling muscles underneath sun tanned skin and his long black hair was gathered up in a high ponytail which wafted along with the wind blowing down on them.

He sneered down at the trio as they stood their ground, readying for another attack, "Well then, looks like more of you Reigniter rats are headed to your precious hideout."

"Who are you?" Roni demanded, reaching back to grab his crossbow from over his shoulder.

This made the stranger laugh, "You'd think you little bandits would get the hint after some of your comrades 'mysteriously' disappear!"

"Wait," Keylla interjected, jaws clenched, and shoulders tensed, "So you're the asshole who's been murdering my friends!"

"They were good practice," the man snorted, now taking a step towards them, "Some of them put up quite a fight, and I hope you three will too!" With that, he launched himself at the group with such speed that they couldn't see but a blur rush from sight.

Before Keylla or Roni could react, they were thrown back with a bone-crushing blow, nearly landing on top of Gemma as she scuttled out of the way.

"Fire!" she cried out in a shriek and sent a wave of flames at their attacker, but he somehow deflected her spell with a quick movement of his arms.

"Special armor?" she grimaced and made more balls of fire lash out at the man.

He couldn't dodge all of her strikes and let out deep shouts as the scent of burning flesh soon filled the air. Roni untangled himself from Keylla and left their travel packs on the ground behind Gemma and aimed his crossbow at their attacker. He let loose a round of steel arrows, a few catching in the man's side as he dashed away from Gemma's spells.

"Enough of your tricks!" the man cried, rushing at the mage and threw her backwards into the rock wall. His tough hand closed around her throat before she could move out of his reach.

"Gemma!" Keylla shouted, leaping up to sprint up behind the stranger with her dagger ready. Gemma struggled against the man's grip, finding it harder and harder to breathe, unable to release more fire as she clawed at his hand with both of hers.

The thief slashed from behind and managed to leave a long heavy gash on the stranger's back. Keylla ducked when a heavy arm swatted back at her and cut at whatever she could reach.

The king readied his crossbow to let loose another round of arrows when a voice from above thundered through the mountain pass.

"Leave them be, Sheamus!" Another tall man bounded down from the ledges overlooking the scene.

Sheamus loosened his grip on Gemma's neck and let her fall to the ground with a sickening thump. Keylla hurried over to her side and pulled her upright and withdrew a potion from one of her pockets.

Roni let the arm holding his crossbow slump down at his side, eyes wide in shock, "Rene?!"
He received a big grin from his twin before he turned his attention to Sheamus.

"My, my, my, I figured you would still be crying over that old fool!" Sheamus made his way over, shaking his head with mock pity.

"That 'old fool' was your father! How in the hell could you kill him in his sleep like that?" Rene shouted back; his face contorted with anger now.

The man went a few paces closer, giving a shrug, "He was an old coward, wanting nothing more than peace and caring for stupid pretty flowers and rabbits. He never saw my full potential, never cared to show me what true power was!"

"But he was! He was showing us how to achieve strength with purity and inner peace! All you care about are short cuts!"

"Well," Sheamus growled, "If you want inner peace so bad, I'll send you to where you'll have all the damn peace you want!" And with that Sheamus rushed at Rene and sent him flying backwards into the rock wall.

But Rene spun in the air and hit the rocks with his feet and used the momentum to kick off and caught Sheamus in the face with his fist on his way back. Sheamus hit the ground hard. Rene rolled himself to a quick stop and jumped back to Sheamus, ready with another punch.

The other man pulled himself up, cheek bleeding, and aimed a kick into Rene's side just as he appeared. That sent him sideways a couple steps, but Rene righted himself and breathed deep. He did not want to fight, but something inside told him that Sheamus would not stop, would never apologize.

Sheamus stood, facing the prince, "You'll have to do better than that little Rene."

He brought his palms together in front of his chest and whispered something briefly. Rene couldn't catch what he said, but as soon as he felt the air around them moving erratically, he knew.

The wind whirled around them and then built up into a sphere around Sheamus before exploding from the man's hands at Rene. He was thrashed back into the stones, unable to maneuver at all, as if the wind had turned into giant hands holding him in place for another blast from Sheamus to strike Rene right in his abdomen. The pain was so sudden that he didn't even have the time to cry out from the force of what felt like a hurricane pounding into him. The wind had become like daggers and sliced into his skin before the attack finally let up. He fell to all fours, chest heaving, drops of blood falling to the dirt under him. His shirt was torn all the hell.

He heard Sheamus coming towards him laughing that taunting laugh that had plagued their years together. "Father always said that air was my element!"

This made Rene grit his teeth. He breathed deep from his nose and exhaled slowly from his mouth several times to help calm his mind. He concentrated on the feeling of the sun bearing down on his back and shoulders, feeling the light soak in, feeling as if he could sense the ground below absorbing the rays as well. Everything went bright.

He pulled himself up into the proper stance, knees bent and loose, brought his arms up above his head, willing the energy to move around within and leaped to Sheamus before the man could take another step forward. His fists moved in a flurry of light and speed, allowing the energy to move him, keep punching, pummeling his friend everywhere that he could reach.

When the light faded, Sheamus was lying strewn out on his back on the ground, blood running out of his nose and ears. His shoulder looked crushed in, ugly bleeding welts littered his arms, chest, everywhere.

Rene exhaled deeply, sweat dripping from his face as he took in the sight. Sheamus coughed roughly and bloody spit flew out of his mouth.

He made his way over to Sheamus, feeling tears forming the closer he got. He brushed one of his hands up through his golden hair once he reached his friend's side.

Sheamus cracked his undamaged eye open and glared up at the prince, "Wh-when did he teach y-you…" He coughed again, shuddering his whole body violently with the action. More blood flung from his lips. Rene shook his head and grimaced down at him, "If only you hadn't been in such a rush." He turned away from Sheamus, "Until we meet again."

When he looked up and saw his brother standing several yards away, the tears finally fell from his eyes.

"Brother!" Roni shouted and dropped his crossbow in favor of running up to his twin. He pulled him into a tight hug, not caring about the blood on his twin's clothes. Rene returned the embrace twice as hard, unable to believe that his older brother was really there with him.

"Come on," came another voice. Rene looked through his tears down at the bandanaed girl pulling the petite golden haired girl along after hee. "I think it'd be best for us to have the reunion somewhere else guys." He saw him nod his head in the direction of Sheamus. Rene agreed and grabbed his brother by the hand for the first time in years and guided him away into the cave that led out of the Kolt mountains.

Once in the shadowy cave, Rene wiped the tears away with his free hand and almost bumped into Roni in the dark when he stopped suddenly in front of him.

"Thanks Keylla," Roni said, taking his bag and crossbow from the thief. The group continued through the small cave to the warm light on the other end, leading to the grassy valley at the base of the mountains. The king's grip on his brother's hand only tightened as they walked along back into the sunlight.

"So," Keylla stopped and spun around, letting go of Gemma's shoulder to face the brothers, "You're the Rene I've heard so much about!"
Rene smiled, "Heh, yes." He looked down at his brother, "Been talking about me a lot, hmm?"
Roni gave a big smile back, "Well of course! You're one of my favorite topics!"

The king gestured to his companions, "Rene, I'd like to introduce you to Keylla and Gemma. I've been traveling with them to the Reigniter's hideout."

Rene put his free hand on his hip, "What happened at the castle? Aren't you supposed to be king-ing?"

Roni sighed, "It's a long story. We'll catch you up on the way."

"Sounds good! I'll catch you guys up too." He brought his twin in for another hug, "You have no idea how much I've missed you, Roni."

Gemma stepped up to the men silently and gently pulled something from Roni's bag. "Um, Rene? Is this yours?"

She held the turtle toy up to his eye level.

The prince let out a gasp, "Mister Turtle!" He let go of Roni in favor of grasping the stuffed animal with both hands. "Where'd you get him?"

"Well, we stopped by a little cottage to rest for the night a couple days ago and I found it. Roni stole it and said something about finding somebody." She gazed up at the giant of a man now hugging the toy like a young child. She was amazed at how much he resembled Roni. From the pointed nose to the sharply defined jaw lines to his olivine eyes, he was almost like a mirror image! He was taller than the king though, and much more muscular. Also, he had strange swirling red markings leading up his arms to his shoulders and down his back from what she had seen so far.

He gave her that charming smile that made her heart flutter slightly, "Thank you guys for bringing it. I know it seems kinda silly, but Mister Turtle's been my best buddy since I was a kid." She gave him a shy smile.

"No problem big guy!" Keylla couldn't help smiling with them, "Now let's head to the hideout! I bet they'll have dinner ready for us!"