"Your form is terrible!" Ian laughed as they sparred in the arena with their training group. They were split into pairs and scattered throughout the large space. Deadlox was paired with the only person that rivaled his skill with a sword and they clashed with blunt swords made of wood.

"Funny, I was going to say the same about yours." Deadlox grinned at Ian, twisting around his parry and striking out, whacking Ian in the back. Ian let out a yelp and Deadlox self-consciously glanced up at the stands to see if Sky had seen it. From the seats, his friend gave him a thumbs-up and returned to the mess of books and papers around him. He must have gotten them from wherever he went that morning; he had left the tent early.

Something whacked him in the rear and he jumped in surprise. Ian smirked. "You should have been paying attention instead of admiring the view." With a scowl, Deadlox replied by lashing out with the sword. Ian easily batted the wood to the side and stepped forward, grabbing Deadlox's arm and twisting him around so that it was pinned behind his back - all in one fluid motion. He heard Sky's faint laugh from the stands and he realized that he had been watching all along. His cheeks burned.

Ian released him, a grin on his face. He leaned on the sword like a cane. "But seriously. You should tell him."

Deadlox glared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His friend smirked. "C'mon. It's obvious. Mitch and I both know."

Nervousness formed a knot in his gut."For how long?' Deadlox dropped his voice so that only Ian could hear them.

"Mitch claims he knew from the moment he saw you two alive and together, but we both know it was really that day out in the woods."

Deadlox groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Please don't tell anyone. Especially not him. I've-I've never experienced this before."

A sudden presence appeared at his shoulder and his blood ran cold (well, technically, he was already cold-blooded) at the sight of their instructor. "Ah, to be young and in love," the man said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "But you won't have much time to see your lover if you don't get back to work, 'cause you'll be on clean-up duty for the next month. Cut the chatter." He strolled away to criticize the next dueling pair. With a shiver, the demon and Ian raised their swords to begin once more until someone else appeared beside him. Deadlox rolled his eyes. "We're starting the exercise now, so - " He stopped when he saw that it was Jerome, Mitch's friend and the ambassador from Kaon.

Jerome smiled apologetically at the pair. "I'm sorry to interrupt your training, but I need to talk to you all about something really important."

Once Sky had been retrieved from the stands and the four of them were gathered in an internal hallway in the arena, Jerome began to explain.

"Kaon and Teskra are officially at war," he said solemnly. Ian gasped feeling of dread settled over Deadlox. He glanced at Sky to gauge his reaction, but, to his surprise, the brine didn't react. Did he already know?

"Which means that Teskran forces will be advancing on Kaon now," Jerome continued. "Our own army is very powerful and well-trained, but it's small. Spruce City is our ally, but our citizens still don't know of its existence and we can't risk exposing this place unless it's completely necessary."

"Why are you telling us this?" Deadlox wanted him to get to the point.

"To get to Kaon, they have to pass between a pair of mountain peaks. It's a narrow path and dangerous to navigate. We're constructing a small, elite team to intercept the army and stop them at the peaks."

"This sounds dangerous," Ian said carefully. Jerome nodded. "There's absolutely no guarantee that anyone will come out alive. It's essentially a suicide mission. I'm asking you because you have experience together as a team and you're powerful - therefore you have a greater chance of survival."

The three young men glanced at each other. There was a long pause until Sky spoke up.

"I'm in."

Deadlox stared at him. Jerome nodded. "Thank you." He glanced at Deadlox and Ian.

Deadlox raised his hand slightly. "I will join you." Jerome nodded thanks, and Ian sighed. "Fine. We'd die if Teskra reaches us anyway."

"Thank you all." Jerome smiled - almost sadly - at them. "We'll be departing in the morning. Everyone will meet at the city gates at dawn - please don't spread the word. Bring any weapons you may need."

Before they dispersed, there was a faint thud from one of the connecting passages, and they all froze. Deadlox listened carefully, hoping to catch a trace of anything that might have been there, but he couldn't sense anything. He shook his head. It must have been from farther off. 

"I guess we don't have to keep training, do we?" Ian muttered to Deadlox as they walked away.

"Yeah," he replied, but his mind wasn't all there. He was wondering why Sky was so ready to volunteer. It was troubling, especially since he wasn't exactly the most experienced in combat. It had also forced Deadlox's hand; there was no way he'd let Sky go alone.

He glanced at Sky, who was walking ahead of him. He was staring intently at a paper from the stack tucked under his arm - odd, because Sky wasn't a big reader. 

Whatever. He'd find out later. For now, he simply watched Sky take a left at a fork in the tunnel, while he and Ian continued in the main passage. He sped up his pace, eager to get out of the tunnel. His last experience in the inner workings of an arena wasn't very pleasant, and even while they were talking to Jerome, he still couldn't help but recount the events. 

Ian seemed to sense his unease and laid a reassuring hand on his arm. "Hey. Breathe." He peered out from behind his sunglasses at him, and Deadlox was suddenly struck by how similar Ian and Sky looked - if Ian didn't have facial hair, that is. "You guys must have had it bad."

"That's an understatement," Deadlox sighed. "But at least we weren't impaled like Mitch. I mean, at least I wasn't." 

"Sky did get the worst of it, didn't he?" Ian said quietly, partly to himself. Deadlox glanced sharply at him, but now he couldn't stop thinking about it. These past few weeks had been exceedingly difficult for his friend, and he had gotten injured or hurt emotionally far more than Deadlox had. He had thought about this before, just in a different way. Now he felt the slightest bit guilty about letting him get hurt so often. 

Not this time, though, he thought determinedly. I'll protect you. 

-

Sky took his papers and books to the most peaceful place on the island - the beach - but even there he didn't feel safe. The attack by the smoke monster had left him a bit shaken up, but instead of cowering away, he had decided to take advantage of the city's enormous library and educate himself on everything to do with sorcery-originated monsters, Teskran tactics, and anything and everything he could find even remotely related to the Wither. 

In the last of those subjects, he hadn't had much luck. He had noticed that the library had little information on myths or legends of any kind, almost as if they were trying to veer away from the subject. Maybe it was too ominous for the citizens of their little utopia. 

Sky silently thanked Alesa, the instructor that had taught the class of young children that he was placed in. Early this morning, he had returned, apologized, and - taking a risky move - explained to her most of what was going on, minus his dreams about Jason. Thankfully, she had (illegal) possession of a book passed through her family - the same battered yet gleaming book that now lay in Sky's hands. In it described a familiar legend that came all too close to his dreams and explosions of power...and particularly his hatred for Deadlox's dragon-like form when he was in possession of his brine powers. 

He reached unconsciously for the amulet around his neck, running his fingers over the smooth surface of the gem. Brice had told the legend of the sister cities, and described the patrons as combatants eventually defeated, transformed, and banished by Notch. Seto's dream had involved a man with eyes of fire and a terrifying beast that had also engaged in combat before being suffocated by smoke. It couldn't be a coincidence that Sky and Deadlox had both had nightmares about the same creatures. 

A feeling of dread had settled over him. It also couldn't be a coincidence that they had spawned on the same day - the same day every sorcerer on the island had felt a disturbance in the world's magical energy. 

He knew that he and Deadlox were tangled up in this mess. That was certain. But were they destined to become enemies? To be banished? And - this was the most terrifying part to him - were they actually the beings of legend? Or were they simply cursed with their powers? Sky certainly hoped that it was the latter of the two. 

He gazed down at the battered yet beautiful book in his lap. It mentioned several myths, each involving the beings. Except here, they worked together to create and to defeat horrid monsters that rose from the depths of the still-forming world. They were as close as could be. It wasn't until the sister cities were built that they turned on each other for reasons that the book didn't mention. 

Another interesting tidbit: the city wasn't Spruce City. Sky didn't know why they had changed it and concealed its true name from it's inhabitants, but the city-state was truly called Aecredia. 

Closing the book gently, Sky laid back on the sand, putting his hands over his face. Tomorrow they would depart for a mission that they would likely die on. And while the opportunity to escape what he feared may be his fate was tempting, he intended on using this opportunity to find out whatever he could in the short time they'd be in contact with the Teskran army before they - y'know, destroyed it. 

He just wished Deadlox hadn't volunteered to go. He knew the demon had only chosen to accompany them because Sky was going, meaning that if his friend died, it would be Sky's fault. The brine let out a sigh, holding the amulet between his palms. Well, anyway, if he had to guess, they probably weren't the only ones going on this mission. Meaning he'd need to avoid the topic of his strange powers and characteristics as much as possible. 

I guess I'll need some new sunglasses.