I was frozen in my spot for a few seconds before I jumped up from the bed and leapt into my best friend's arms. "West!" he smelt like he always did, soap and sun. He smelt like home. I felt my throat close and tears spring to my eyes. I hadn't realized how much I missed him. He wrapped his arms around me and laughed.

"Nice to see you too Alastor," he called me by my last name like he always did.

"I am here too you know," Finn said. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've heard his voice.

I untangled myself from West and hugged my little brother. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked when I pulled away.

Someone behind me cleared their throat and I almost forgot that half of the Devara was in here. I stared at Bash who had a glare on his face, which wasn't uncommon but I could tell it meant something. He was not happy they were here. "Right," I said. I looked between Finn and West and the Devara. "This is my friend West and my brother Finn," I Introduced them. I pointed to everyone in the room. "That's Bash, Octavious, Nyan, and Everson. They're my ... friends."

My brother had his bright shy smile on his face and he waved awkwardly to them. West's eyes were stuck on Nyan. He looked at her transfixed, in a daze admiring her beauty. I didn't blame him, she was angelic. I giggled at his face and made way to sit on my bed, pushing Everson's feet off of my spot. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked and I was afraid I already knew the answer.

"Mom sent us," Finn replied first. His eyes shot around the room as if he were unsure of how much to say in front of them. I saved him the trouble and responded.

"I'm not going."

"Ryn, come on dont be like that," West said. "You know she would have eventually told you-"

"Did you know?" I cut him off sharply.

He looked stunned at the tone in my voice and he didn't respond. I felt like I couldn't breathe. He knew. I looked to Finn but he avoided eye contact with me. "Both of you? You both knew!" I accused. More lies. More lies from the people that I care about. I couldn't take it.

"Ryn it's not what you think," Finn started.

"What? it's not the people closest to me lying straight to my face?" I spat at him and he flinched, his eyes pained. I felt an abnormal amount of satisfaction rush through me. I wanted to hurt him. And a part of me hated that. I got up from my spot and pushed past West to the door.

"Wait, Ryn." West grabbed my arm forcing me to stop. In less than a second west's arm was off of me. I looked up to see that Bash had ripped West's arm off me. I looked around to see that they had all stood up, all of them had stood to defend me. I felt security run through me. I pushed down tears. My friends, the Devara. They cared about me and it made something in me crack.

"Don't touch her." Bash's voice was deadly.

"H-how did-" but West cut himself off shaking his head. He turned back to me but I was already out of the door.

I rushed through the corridors of Crestwood until I found a familiar set of doors, the fountain looked as it always did. Angel statues came off of the fountain creating a heavenly look. Something about this fountain always kept me steady. I sucked in a deep breath allowing the crisp air to calm my heart beat. I sank down on the grass and put my head in my hands. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry.

"I thought I'd find you here."

I don't flinch or move at the sound of Bash's voice. Somehow I knew this time that he would follow me. I felt my hands being pulled from my face. And Bash's emerald gaze staring down at me. "Don't cry."

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said to me." 

He cracked a smile. "Really? Because i said a lot of stupid stuff when we first met."

His words made a smile of my own blossom, even as tears ran down my face. "True, you were kind of an ass."

He rolled his eyes. "I was confused by the human girl my powers did not work on."

"Sure that's what that was." I wiped my face, drying off the wetness. Bash sat in front of me and leaned against the fountain. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Making me feel a little better." I smiled. "You don't get enough credit."

His eyebrows furrowed at my choice of words. "How do you mean?"

I shrugged. "Without you the group would fall apart. You're like their rock, they turn to you when something is wrong, you carry their weight for them. You don't get enough credit for it."

He shook his head shifting against the stone, where the angel's feet were. "I think it's the opposite actually," he started, shifting against the stone again. It was so small I thought I might have imagined it. I probably would've brushed it off but this is Crestwood we're talking about. When Bash moved against the fountain it shifted, pressing in.

"Bash, move."  

"What?" 

Without wanting to wait and explain I shoved him out of the way and leaned on my knees. I touched the piece of stone and it moved in slightly.

"No way," I heard Bash whisper beside me. I reached to press it in all the way but Bash stopped me.  "I'll do it."

I gave him a side glare but he just gave me one in return and stuck his hand on the fountain. He pressed the stone in fully, it gave a satisfying click once it shifted inside of the fountain. I frowned and looked at the fountain. "Nothing happened."

"Yeah," he agreed, sounding disappointed.

I looked around the fountain. There was no way that was a coincidence. I observed every inch and realized something I didn't before. Around the fountain on the bottom were numbers. Why numbers? I searched more fully. Was it some sort of clock?

"Where is this fountain from, Bash?" I knew he would know since he and the devara are the ones who created crestwood.

"It's from Elysian, it's more than a thousand years old." well that explains why i was so drawn to it.

My eyes examined every single thing about the stone, the angels, there were two of them, and something I also didn't notice was their fingers. The first angels hand was against her hip in a soothe model looking way but that wasn't what was strange. She only had four fingers. I looked at her other hand and saw that that one had one, just one. I looked at the other angel who was smaller and shorter. Her hands were above her head like she was reaching for something.

"What's going on in that head of yours Ryn?"

"Shh," I silenced him, waving a hand. That Angel held up four fingers.  I squinted at the angels and then at the number on the bottom of the stone. "Bash i need you to get me a notebook and a pencil."

I felt him sigh but heard him get up and leave and in less than a minute he brought me what I asked for. I laid it out in front of me and started writing down the numbers and translating them.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?" He asked.

"Philosophers back in ancient times believed mathematical concepts were more 'practical' so they changed letters into numbers, believing it to be more holy."

"And?"

"And look at the angels fingers."

He did and I saw it click in his eyes. I wrote down the numbers and every letter they changed into. I guess my weird knowledge for random things was good for something, well something other than getting into crestwood.
I stared at the paper after I translated everything. "Holy shit."

Bash looked over and I saw his eyes widened. We said the word at the same time, "Vad."

I felt chills crawl across my body. I looked up to see Bash grinning which was an unfamiliar sight, he was always brooding. "You're a genius."

I felt pride run through me. "I know." I stood up from the grass and walked around the fountain. I pressed the four first, it sunk into the stone with a loud click. I felt as if I were playing a video game or something. Bash pressed in the stone with the one on it, and lastly I pressed in the four again. My heart was pounding tremendously in my chest. Before I knew it, some sort of slot popped out. I knelt down and I gripped it, pulling it out and laying the stone on the grass. I slowly started to reach my hand into the hole.

"Careful," Bash said, I shot him a side glare.

My hand was wrist deep when I felt something. It felt like leather. I grasped it and fastly pulled it out, afraid to keep my hand in there much longer. It was something wrapped in leather cloth, too small to be a sword but could possibly be a dagger.

I laid it down on the grass in front of me. Both Bash and I were peering over it. I was scared. I was scared to see what lies underneath it. Bash unfolded the cloth until a flash of silver greeted me. It was a silver hilt with a small blade that looked like it had been broken off. It had once been a sword, a mighty one at that, but it was broken. There were words embroidered across the bottom. "Et lucem ac tenebras," I read the words out loud.

"Both light and dark," Bash translated, a frown on his face as he looked down at the mysterious weapon. 

"You know latin?" 

"A little." 

I looked back down at the hilt. "Do you think this is really it?"

"Yeah, maybe, if so where the hell is the other half?"

Something occurred to me then. "The poem," I said, remembering. "It said two halves of the same. It was talking about this! There must be another piece that you have to combine together."

Bash's eyebrows pulled in, he nodded. "That makes sense." he looked back up at me, his green eyes shining with excitement and adrenaline. The air suddenly felt thick around us, his gaze never left mine until they did, flicking down to my lips, only for a split second before he looked back up and cleared his throat. "We should tell the others."

I nodded, suddenly disappointed. "What about my brother and-?"

"They'll just have to wait, this is way too important, I'll tell them something, meet me in the library and I'll bring everyone else."

"Okay."

Bash left me alone with the weapon. I couldn't believe we'd found it. It was so ... easy.

Maybe too easy.

Stop. I told myself. Stop being dramatic.

I looked down at the hilt with a blade that was only four or five inches because it had been broken off. Even though I tried to feel positive, the skepticism was there. Am I just being pessimistic or is my doubt important?

I couldn't help but think, What was this weapon? What could it do? I had a feeling there was so much more to it then we knew.

It was pure silver on the handle of the hilt, there were flowers and vines entwined in the silver. It was beautiful. I felt a familiar pull run through me. The weapon was dangerous and there was something in it calling to me. I reached down slowly. I wanted to hold it. I needed to just touch it. I didn't know why I just did.

"You probably shouldn't do that," a husky voice whispered from behind me.

I yelped and whirled around, falling on my ass in the process. There was nobody there. I looked around. It was just the empty field of Crestwood. I let out a breath and stood up.

I was going crazy.

I turned around and almost ran into a body. The girl was tall, she was beautiful, she had long curly black hair and black eyes of the night sky. She had soft brown skin. She smiled down at me. "Hello there."

She was dangerous. I knew it. I knew it deep down in my bones. She was a Greer. I opened my mouth to yell for anything, anyone but the girl raised a hand and said, "Silence."

My mouth shut at her demand. She-she just commanded me to silence and it worked! I couldn't believe it. She had the same gift as Bash. Greers could have the same abilities as Devara's? I recall Nyan saying that Greers and Devara's were basically the same except also the opposite. But if I knew anything about powers and supernatural I knew that it only worked on me for a little while until it wore off.

To my left was a tall dark figure, he was wearing all black, black steel sat on his shoulders like a warrior of death. That familiar X of his swords was shown behind his back, he had knives strapped across his chest and a dark hood over his eyes concealing his identity. But I knew who he was.

Raiden.

I almost spoke his name out loud but then I remembered that they believed I had been commanded to silence.

"This is her?" The girl asked, she looked me up and down, her expression was unimpressed, if I wasn't so afraid I might have been insulted. She pulled out a knife and pointed it towards me as if I were a threat.

Bash! I screamed his name in my head like a prayer. Nothing happened. I don't know why I thought that would work. It's not like I could talk to people's thoughts, just read them.
Raiden took a step toward me but I quickly took one back as fear pulsed through my veins. "Why are you following me? What do you want from me?" I hissed out of anger, screw keeping my mouth shut, I wanted answers.

"I could've sworn I demanded her to shut up," said the girl, she didn't sound surprised, not because she expected this, because she didn't care.

"You didn't answer my question,'' I bite at Raiden, ignoring the girl.

I see his eyebrows raise behind his hood but he still does not answer me, which is aggravating.

"Rude," the girl stated in a sarcastic way. "I am in fact right here, holding a knife to you and you still only acknowledge my arrogant brother? Typical. Sometimes I hate women."

Brother.

This was Raiden's sister?

She looked nothing like him. They were opposites beside the color of their eyes. They had the same black eyes that were equally terrifying and beautiful.

"Roz, I'm sure she doesn't mean it in any way," said Raiden but he had that familiar mock in his tone.

Roz rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just take the weapon and get the bloody hell out of this wretched place."

The Vad. That's what they were here for?

Oh no.

from what I've read before, the Vad should not be placed in the wrong hands. Especially Greer hands.

Faster than I knew I could move, I snatched The Vad from its place on the grass and backed away from them.

"You shouldn't have touched that," said Raiden in an obnoxious sing-song voice.

"What do you-?" but I was cut off by a scream that I acknowledged was my own. A searing pain shot through my body. I wasn't unfamiliar to pain, especially after Aradia, but this was different. Unrecognizable. It was a mix of pain and power. Power so strong I felt like it was consuming every inch of my body. But worse than that it felt ... not bad, not good, but not bad. It felt like a relief, like a huge weight was being lifted off of my shoulders.

I dropped the Vad and fell to my knees gasping. "What ... the hell was that?"

"Power, darling," said Roz who kneeled down before me, she lifted my chin with her fingers, her black eyes staring into mine. Raiden stood above us, watching, or waiting. I wasn't quite sure. His presence unsettled me in every way. "It gets the best of us, even a Devara like you."
And then they were gone, and so was the Vad. As soon as I was sure they were gone for good, I got up off my knees and ran, I ran through the doors and halls until I burst through my dorm threshold. Everyone's eyes turned to me. I probably looked crazy, grass stained clothes, wide eyes that were frantic and a random shake in my hands.

"What's wrong, Ryn?" Finn and West came up to me.

I didn't answer them. I couldn't. I couldn't think about them right now. I just looked at Bash immediately.

"Get out," He said to Finn and West as soon as he saw the expression on my face.

They looked at him confused. West glared. "What? No. something is wrong with her-"

"Get. Out," He commanded and i knew this time he used his power on them because they didn't respond and left immediately.

The Devara rushed to my side in an instant. "What happened? Are you okay?" Bash demanded and brushed tears off of my face, had I been crying? Why was I always crying? Why was I so weak? I hated crying. I was sick of it.

"I'm fine. But It's gone Bash," I rushed out breathing quickly, I needed to tell him. "There were Greer, Raiden and-"

"Wait the same one?" Octavious asked, confusion and curiosity filling his brows. "The same one from when we were attacked?"

I nodded my head at him. My gaze shot back to Bash. "They took it."

"He wasn't alone; he was with his sister; he called her Roz," I told them. I told them everything that happened. I noticed the change in them when I said her name. I noticed the way they all stilled, they looked as if I just told them i worshipped the devil or something. Their eyes shot back and forth between each other. "Can I be let into your silent conversation please?"

"She doesn't have a brother..." whispered Nyan, from her spot on her bed. She looked ... scared? "And if she did what would he want with Ryn? She's just half devara."

"Maybe we were never told about a brother. Maybe they wanted to keep him hidden ..." said Octavious.

"That would make him the heir," said Bash, he did not sound happy.

"Can someone please enlighten me?"

"Roz is the daughter of the Shadow king, and if Raiden is actually her brother that would make him the son of the Shadow king," Ocatvious answered me.

I couldn't make sense of his words. Raiden was a prince?

"What the hell does he want with Ryn?" Everson growled. "If he lays a hand on her-"

"I don't think he wants me. If so, why wouldn't he just take me and The Vad?" I reasoned and sunk down into one of the arm chairs. "They wanted the Vad, and that's not all. They knew stuff about it. It's power." I recalled Raiden telling me not to touch it and me soon regretting it. 

"What do we do now?" Asked Nyan. "the Greer theoretically have the most powerful weapon in the world, and we handed it to them?"

"They only have half, actually," said Everson.

"That's not the point," growled Bash. "They are a step closer to having it all; they just have to find the other half."

"We have to find it before them. We have to get the other piece back," I rushed out. The Greer couldn't have the Vad. They just couldn't. They would use it on the devara. My friends ... my family. I wouldn't let them. I vowed to myself, I wouldn't let the Greer hurt them.

Everson grinned wide and mischievously. "I know exactly how we can solve both of those problems."

"How?"

"Vegas."