(Fan/Act) Dragon's Eye, the third story of dreams(T)

Okay, so the second story sort of flopped at the end... I was in a bad mood for a while, and midterms were happening left and right. Also, I had a few personal issues that had arisen, witch needed to be hammered out.

So without further ado, I present the third book of my series, or maybe just the third part, I haven't quite decided.

Chapter 1: Mixed beginnings

"And after the 25th chapter there's only scribbled text... I can't quite get it... How does it end?"

"Can't you read any of it?"

"A few of them... The 28th chapter has the phrase 'The transformation is complete', but I don't quite understand what that means either. It always mentions the end... The end of it all."

The two children stared at the unreadable text as they willed it to become clear. There was two of them... One a boy no more than seven years of age, and the other a girl a year or two older. The boy had a hard and determined look about him, as if he was a kid who had always had to fend for himself.

"You said this was in mom's attic?"

"Under a few other things... Oh, and they were locked in a trunk..."

"David! How could you? You know mom forbade us of looking in the attic, ever!"

"I know, but this was different. It was like I was being called there... Like they wanted to be found."

The girl put her hands on her hips and tried to look angry, which was hard to do in her pink overalls (they were just so darn funny), "She said to never, ever go into the attic! I'm going to tell!"

David stood up with a newfound courage, "You will not! I know that you read these before... didn't you?"

"I... I..." The girl started.

"I knew it! Sarah! Why didn't you show me."

Sarah turned her head away and pretended to be interested in the grass, "Because you were too little to read."

David got a bit red in the face.

"Well, that last sentence in the end was the weirdest part..."

"What last sentence? It was unreadable!"

"Was not! The sentence said something about return, and then it sprouted all of this jibberish..."

Sarah took the book from David (amid complaints and threats) and flipped through the book until the end.

"What the...?"

"See? Nefartium naetue! I told you it was there!"

"There's more..." Sarah read the ancient text with squinted eyes, "In order for return, I need you to read these words, Brather. Only do it if I am needed... I still do not know the true force of what I'm to unleash... And there's these words... What the...?"

The two children read the words inside the book. They did it in unison, even without prompting.

"Nefartium naetue, grue gron vlah. Yoheivan somahn, seither VEX!"

With that, the entire world was to change...

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Twenty years have passed since the legendary fight of dreams. Kyle DarknessBringer, and Ryan DarknessDestroyer had their epic battle between good and evil.

Ryan, with all his dream-power, battled his brother, Kyle, who was posessed by a darkness originating from the beginning of Dreams.

The clash of powers created a huge crater in Dream World, though at the same time further opening Barrier of Dreams, which had opened, causing nightmares and dreams to leak into the real world.

Ryan's companions, who were saved by Ryan at the last second, disbanded. Some pursued their own dreams, while others settled down and had families. The disappearance of Kyle had destroyed almost all dark creatures. The world adjusted to having Dreams and real-life together, and peace slowly returned...

There was one thing for sure: The world was safe.

Or at least it was...

-In Dream World: World Crater

The World Crater has filled in twenty years, though some dreamers gather at times to see if the sotries were true. Few people ever stayed long, though there was one house in particular. This house had stood next to the crater as long as others could remember. Through the position of the house, a town was created. hough the town faced many times of difficulty, this house always stood strong. The house belonged to the family of Tawn. The mother is Brather Tawn.

But the twentieth year anniversary held no party or festival: Only mist and darkness.

However, that very morning, David and Sarh had read the special chant...

* * *

The water around World Crater boiled, until the entire lake looked as if a fire was lit under it. Suddenly, a whirlpool started to form in the middle of it. As the whirlpool touched the very bottom of the lake, a line of rainbow light shot into the dream-sky. The water steamed and boiled until there was absolutely none left.

The villagers took notice of this, and by the time this spectacular show had ended, five of them were already banging at Brather's door.

"Miss Tawn! Something's happening!"

A shout eminated from within, "Think I don't know that!? I'm going, already!"

A shutter opened at the roof, and a cloaked figure jumped out. The cloak covered all: They had never truly seen Brather unless she wanted to be seen.

She floated with inhuman power, and she landed squarely in the bottom of World Crater.

There was silence.

"Is she okay, daddy?" A child asked.

"She'll be fine, son."



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Mirren Edit-
Posts merged. If you're posting two parts in a day, just edit it into your first post

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I just wanted to add this bit before bed...

Chapter two: Meet Brather Tawn... again

Brather had changed in twenty years... The dark shadows under her eyes had become normal, and her skin had become fairer, tanner. Her hair, which was still black, now fell down to the middle of her back. Her eyes, which had been a deep, magical black, were now a white color.

Brather was 37 now... in essence, she was older and much more experienced-looking. Her nose was pointed much like a hawk's, and she walked with the look of someone who had trained to do so for years. She was hooded in a deep, sandy bown cloak, which was patched in areas near the elbows and on the left side. She had no weapon, though she didn't likely need one.

Had she been a little younger, she would be quite the rave in town. Now, though, she was just another bystander to the villagers... Until these things happened, of course.

No, her life had quieted down quite a bit.

As she searched for the source of the disturbance, she couldn't help but wonder if Ryan was connected. Yes, she still remembered. She had erected the house shortly after the battle, and she had served as the protector for some time. Lately, life for her had been... slow.

"Where are you? I know you caused this... whoever you are."

Height-wise, she was about 6 feet, 6 inches tall. She hadn't grown much in such a long time.

"Where... where am I?"

Brather heard the voice, and she instantly stiffened. There was someone in the crater all right. Finally seeing the hunched figure, she slowed her pace and kept up her guard. She had come a long way from the kid who ran into every fight.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Brather demanded.

The boy was clothed strangely... Half of his shirt (the left side) was white, while the other half was black. It was the same with his pants... His hair, which was a strange white, was slicked back, making the impression of spikes. His face was looking away from Brather, so she couldn't see his eyes or nose. He was very thin, like someone starved for half a year.

He looked to be about 19, though he could have been 17 or even 21.

Brather repeated her question, "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"Who... who am I?" The boy echoed. Brather almost felt sorry for him...

"And why are you here?"

"Why...?"

The boy finally turned to face Brather, and she got the strange feeling that she knew the boy...

His left eye was closed, as if he had been punched there, and his nose was a bit pointed. Strangely, for a teenager, his face was devoid of pimples or freckles. He looked surprisingly good. However, right now he was scared. His right eye was normal enough, though the colored ring around his pupil was white instead of the usual blue of green. He looked so very familiar...

"R... Ryan?"

The boy looked up as if he had heard something familiar... "Ryan? I know that name... somehow... You're... Brather! Brather Tawn! But... who... who is Brather Tawn?"

With that, the boy collapsed.

Brather aproached him curiously. "No... you aren't Ryan... But you're close..."

She picked him up as gently as possible, her left arm supporting his legs, and her right arm supporting his back.

"Ryan... what has happened to you?"

Chapter 3: Dreams?

"What are you doing?"

He was standing some twenty feet away. His face was completely veiled in shadow, as was the rest of his body.

"What are you DOING?!"

The person was now only ten feet away... Yet he hadn't taken a step...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BODY?!"

The shadow was right in front of the feild of vision. The face was visible now... it was angry.

"Gah!" The boy woke with a start. A dream... only a dream...

Brather stared at him curiously. She had carried him into her home and set him in the guest room. There, she had waited for this strange person to get back up. Since Reality and Dreams had merged, there were no true dreams... You could faint, but you would just see colored visions... Yet this boy had all of the symptoms of someone who had just had sleep. He was a bit... strange.

As the boy opened his right eye (his left eye was still closed as if it had been punched hard), he groaned.

"What... what is happening?"

Brather shifted in her seat, alerting the boy to her presence, "That is what I'd like to know."

"Er..." The boy seemed to think for a second, "I... Wait! Who am I?"

Brather got up out of her chair and stared out of the window, which was placed just above the bed the boy had been sleeping on. She pondered how to answer this... What had happened to Ryan?

"You are Ryan, Ryan Haney."

"Ryan... I know that name."

Brather let herself show a bitter smile as she turned, "Amnesia, huh? I thought amnesia was just a thing from books and movies. Then again, twenty years in your own self-induced prison can make you forget a lot of things."

"Self-induced prison? What are you talking about?"

Brather turned back out the window, though she didn't seem entirely pleased with what she saw. For a moment, she looked like the Brather Tawn of twenty years ago.

"Never mind about that... I guess I never will know all the details, myself. Hmmmm... let's start with a touch of irony... Ryan, do you know how we first met?"

"Um... I still don't know about all of this... Ryan doesn't ring a bell for me. A name that better hits me is... Jake."

Brather snorted and sat down on the bed, "Jake? From what I know, you haven't ever even met a Jake. Oh well... Just let me tell the story. Perhaps it will jog your memory.

"You see, I wasn't in a good place back then. I had just been branded by Krid... More on that later, I guess. Either way, I felt like destroying anything in my path. I did what my emotions compelled me to do, at least. As my second victim became dust, I met you.

"You were... different, then. You were ordinary, and you hated it. You were sulking in a corner of a street. I guess you had sent Switchblade off somewhere.

"When I saw you, I wondered on whether or not to kill you. You seemed ordinary enough: You wore normal clothes, and you spoke nonchalantly.

"When you saw me, you shrugged me off as if I were nothing. As I raised my newly created staff ot kill you, you laid back and asked me if I wanted to help you.

"When I said no, you turned back and said I might as well put away the staff, then. When I asked you why, you said I was too unhelpful to use it.

"You know, you never did tell me what you meant by that."

The boy's right eye gleamed with comprehension.

"I think... I think I wanted to die that night."

Well, I could have sworn I had posted in your last thread...Oh well...

Sorry for being off so long... (I'm re-formating Genesis for a project.)

All of this is quite hard to take in.

So, there was a climatic battle that we didn't know about, which we will know of in due time, Brather stayed in Dream World and... settled down and had a family... strikes me as odd... It seems that she has mellowed somewhat, (for Brather) and Ryan is found 20 years later in a crater without any memory...

And who's "Daddy"... Jake?

Who ever said the children were Brather's children?

Yeah, yeah, so I'm predictable. Yes, David and Sarah will be Brather's kids. Jake can't exactly be the father when the kids are in the twenty-years-later present stuff, which is now in the book, and they're a little too young to have happened before this epic battle (it would be weird anyway).

So the father is still yet to be decided. It could be that Brather just adopted these kids at a yound age, making them forget their original parents. It is, however, likely that the father is someone else. It will be someone unexpected, and probably someone unmentioned in any of my writings so far.

Brather a normal person... I haven't yet had the time to consider how strange that sounds!

Oh, and Jake has already been revealed.

Chapter 4: The dragon within

Brather had left after he said that... Maybe he should not have been so certain. In fact, he couldn't even be sure if he was right.

The boy sighed and sat back on a wooden chair that was in a room.

He hadn't even remembered anything... He had only understood the understanding behind it somehow. Was he really this Ryan person? From how Brather said things, even she didn't know the true facts.

"Ryan... who were you? And what did you do for this world?"

With no answer, the boy just fighed again. Finally, Brather returned with a small stack of bandages.

"Okay, open that left eye of yours."

The boy hesitated, not sure what Brather was doing.

She sighed and took a small bit of bandages from the stack, "I need to see it to diagnose the problem. You haven't opened it, so I'm assuming you got hurt there somehow. So open it already! I need to see it!"

The suddeness of Brather's last two sentences startled the boy. She had a fierce edge to things, like one who made sure what she said was what went. He started to open his left eye, though he seemed hesitant to try at all. A tiny pinprick of his eye showed and-

A door slammed open.

Two kids rushed in with obvious familiarity to the house. They were a boy and a girl, both of whom seemed to not care that they had interrupted Brather's medical expertise. The girl looked to be nine years old, and the boy looked to be about seven. If the boy had to judge, he'd have had to say that both of the children lived in the house.

"David! Sarah! I thought I just put you outside!"

The girl stepped froward and dusted off her overalls, which were a vibrant pink, "I told David that, but he didn't listen!"

Brather grinned and shooed them into another room, which the boy assumed was a living room of sorts. He noticed a faint smell of cooking food, though the name of the particular food escaped him. Unbidden, the boy followed them as the kids giggled with apparent glee at Brather's attitude with them.

As the boy took in the sights of the house, he couldn't help but notice the absence of decoration. Nothing adorned the wooden walls, and barely anything was on the floor except for the bare essentials. There was a single window in every room he saw, no matter how large or small.

There were three dorways in the living room. One led to the bedroom that the boy had been in, while another seemed to lead to a kitchen. he third door was closed, and upon further inspection, the boy saw that it was locked. However, he had no time to inspect it: Brather was still moving, and he was curious to see the entire house.

But, even as he tried to see into the kitchen, he realized that they weren't heading in that direction. They saw the kitchen only for a second until they took a sharp right and exited through yet another wooden door. The kids screamed with laughter as Brather made sure they stayed out this time.

The boy wasn't sure what to do until Brather turned back to him and said, "I have to take care of the food... can you take care of these kids for a while? I'll take care of your eye later, when I have time."

Without waiting for the boy's answer, she went inside and closed the door. The boy, with a sigh, stared into the sky. What was this all about? Why did this Brather person act so strangely with him?

But he didn't have long to ponder. David and Sarah, who he had left to their own devices, screamed suddenly.

The boy looked around and, to his surprise, saw where they were. There was a large crater, the likes of which he had never believed to exist, standing about twenty feet from the house. There was a very steep drop on the end near the house, and that was where the kids were.

Thinking about it later, the boy could not decide when it occured. One second, he was running towards the kids, and the next second they had fallen down into the crater. The next second, his left eye had opened as wide as poossible, and he heard the flapping of wings.

As he set the kids back down on the grass, he saw his reflection in one of Brather's windows...

He had become a dragon!

And so the sub-plot begins....

Anyways, I'll wait to make any comments until this part of your story is done.

Yeah... I'm writing this next chapter from the boy's point of view...

Chapter 5: Enter the dragon

I looked at what I thought was a monster, only to realize the truth.

I felt myself, my personality, still, which was good... But there was something inside me I did not feel before. It was animal... it was primitive... it was the dragon inside of me. Even now, I could feel it clawing at a part of my mind, trying to control what was rightfully it's own.

And yet something still blocked it. It was what kept me from becoming the beast, and yet it also felt alien. What was it, though?

Before I could contemplate what was happening, I noticed a flicker of movement with my left eye. I turned to see Brather, though she did not seem particularly glad to see me.

"Mommy!"

The two little kids I had only just saved now ran to her, though they were startled by how I looked, I was sure that they would see past such things. No matter what they saw though, Brather did not seem to be in a "seeing" mood. In fact, she had a glimmer of something in her eyes that I could not quite figure out. Nothing I had observed about her so far clued me in with what she was thinking.

But I think it was then that she re-assesed the situation, examining me from head to toe. The window I had first spotted myself in was still to my left, so I took a gander. The change I had done without even realizing was remarkable!

First of all, my skin had been completely changed into scales. They were a chrome color, reflecting even the smallest amount of light. They were each about two inches big each, and they looked very durable. My hands had become curled into forms of claws, the nails also hardened and lengthened. They looked very sharp. My face, though, was the most peculiar thing.

My hair had hardened to become spikes at the back of my head, and my face had become a sort of snout. It wasn't as long as a snout usually was, only being about half as big. My nose was still there, though the snout took it at the end and sort of pulled it out. I lifted a lip and glimpsed two rows of razor sharp dragon teeth. They looked like they could chew through metal. Last, and most surprising, was the arrangement of my eyes. The right eye had stayed exactly the same as said before. It was white, and exactly the shape as any other human eye. The other eye... it was different, to say the least.

A dragon's eye is a thing of legend. Many say it can detect a bird on a mountain hundreds of miles away. Other's say it can actually slow time. However, I wouldn't know how true it was... The eye was shaped like a dragon's eye, the color surrounding it the same as the right eye, but it was not fully dragon, just as my other eye was not fully human.

I was interupted by a voice. It was a voice I had not heard before.

"A gift... A gift to supress what is inside."

And then the dragon form shimmered, and I collapsed from a sudden weakness.

"To supress the chaos."

* * *

"What happened to him, Mommy?"

"He did something strange and almost unparalleled by anyone I have ever met. To be creation, human, and also to be divided at the same time. It is all very strange..."

"Mom... We said the words in the book..."

"I knew the moment I saw him. Don't worry... there is chaos within him, yes, but there is also a control that is hard to come by these days."

"What will we do now, Mommy?"

"Let him read."

I stayed quiet, listening as well as contemplating what had just happened to me. And what did Brather mean to be creation and human, both divided? And read what?

Only time would tell.

"I know you're listening, Jake, so you can cut that out!"

I opened my right eye, prefering to keep the left one closed, and smiled a slight smile.

"It's Jake now, is it?"

Chapter 6: Strange dreams and stranger secrets

"Hello?"

This time, the boy was able to walk and speak. Had he taken the time to look around this strange place, he would have seen the four shadows beforehand. Now, however, he was completely unaware of them. Until-

"You've got to be kidding me!"

A person walked into his veiw. This time, the person wasn't drawn in shadow. In fact, he was very vividly real.

The man looked to be the same age as the boy, though the two were a bit different in looks. For one, the man had two normal eyes. He also had black hair instead of white.

But other than that, there was one thing that the boy realized: They were both the same in every other trait. The other boy even had the same half-white, half-black shirt. It was so very strange...

"This is the one we let escape? I say we all escape while we have the chance!"

A single, harsh "No!" rang out, and a second shadow stepped into the dream light. This one seemed to reflect the light, so it's traits were almost invisible. The boy sheilded his eyes.

"Why not?" whined the first shadow-thing.

"Bacause," said the second shadow, "The other has already depleted some of the energy. Let it regather... Then you will emerge stronger than every. Is that a good enough answer for you, Fear?"

"Sure," spat the first shadow, "But why did the dragon escape anyway?"

Jake was startled out of his strange sleep for the second time in two days. With a quick glance at the window, he realized that it was much too late in the night for him to get up. With a groan, he put his head back down.

It had been almost a week now since he had been found in the crater, and yet he coudn't quite find out what to do with the situation. Brather had graciously acceped him into her home, giving him the promise that "her friends" would figure out what this whole thing was about. However, her friends didn't seem to exist. She never left the house, and nobody ever visited.

Once in a while, David and Sarah would talk with Jake, but as kids they couldn't tell him what they thought very well. When he played with them, he made sure to pay more attention than on the first day.

He had accepted all of this with a calm indifference, but he still felt the unrest of not knowing. What next? That was what weighed most heavily on his mind.

Jake twisted in his bed, trying to find the exact position that would allow sleep. Finding one that he found acceptable, he settled and closed his eyes.

He didn't see the shadow pass by his window.

* * *

"Jake! Dinner!"

Jake wiped the sweat from his forehead and picked up his scythe. The feild was cut pretty well, but the other half would have to wait until tomorrow. It was almost already dark. Whew, the day had gone fast!

With a quick scan of the surrounding area, he started to walk back towards home. A few villagers shouted a greeting to him before shouting for their own husbands, sons, brothers, and any other workers. Jake had grown to learn that the town was more like a farm. It made sense... people still had to eat.

But what had astounded him was the enthusiasm that they had employed to welcome him to the town. It was like they saw him as a lost relative. When he figured out why they were so friendly, he still didn't understand: They knew he lived at Brather's place.

Yet he accepted it with a calm numbness. He just seemed devoid of emotion. When he tried to explain this to Brather, she simply smiled and replied with "It's a trait you and Ryan share."

However, this did not interest Jake... no, it only made him bored.

What made him excited was when he would change into the dragon. Yes, he had figured out how to do it. Some nights, when he was sure sobody was watching, he would change and fly for miles. You see, he had discovered the large dragon wings that came with the transformation. And with them, he found a symbol of freedom and unexplained excitement. After learning how to glide, he had learned to flap. Now, he could spot a wind pattern easily. It was an exhileration that he found to be unmatched by anything else.

Twirling the scythe with a mixture of familiarity and fun, Jake quickened his pace to a run as he neared Brather's home. One last benefit of living at Brather's house was the cooking... And what wonderful cooking it was!

The first course alone could fill anyone. It was always filled with one or two new things, but the few regulars included entire chickens, banana bread, and some strange stew called "honey noodle chuckluck". When Jake asked Brather how she had so many different dishes when the town was so small, she laughed and simply replied with "I make my own food."

All in all, it was a good town.

Was being the main point.

Ah, character development galore!

Is it just me, or does Unity (if it is Unity) seem like a small town?
Has it lost it's former grandeur, or is Brather just famous/infamous?

Chapter 7: reading... and reading... and reading...

"But come on! He barely even had a chance to react! You're not saying that you would have been able to do the same thing, would you?"

Jake was argueing with Brather about it for the thousanth time, and for the thousanth time she wouldn't give him any lead in the subject.

"It's exactly why I disagree with you," said Brather, "He didn't think when he did it. It just happened. You can't actually say he thought it out."

For the umpteenth time that day, Jake smoothed back his white hair, which kept sticking up during these conversations.

"But the whole time, Ryan didn't think about his safety. He cut those devilled eggs down with only a sword and some part of his mind. You can't tell me that's not skilled, in a way."

Yes, they were talking about the two books Brather's children had found in the attic. When he first caught a glimpse of the book, he was instantly interested. In a way, he felt like he was Ryan. Although he was sure by now that that wasn't the case, he still liked to imagine it. He could also understand some of Ryan's thought process behind the things he did. Of course, after reading the first book he had moved on to the second... and was disappointed by the sudden and strange ending.

Still, it did not stop him from openly talking about it all with Brather. Today, he was discussing the time when Ryan seemingly took the swordsman variation to his life and fused with it. The strange variation only lasted so long, but it meant so many things to Jake.

It also got Jake back to wondering... Was he a creation, or was he human? It did not matter that much, but he still wanted to know. Either way, Brather did not talk too much about the story unless prompted ever so badly by Jake. She only talked, it seemed, when his curiousity proved to not disappate.

"Look," Jake said after Brather was quiet, "I don't understand one thing though... You said in the second journal that you had come back from death, and that is all very strange, but why did you stay alive even after Ryan was long gone?"

Brather whirled on him, her eyes reflecting much of what had been desribed in the book, and said aloud something Jake never forgot: "You cannot understand what I've been through, but until you even find out a part of my past, I expect you to never ask again. Ryan didn't know my full story, and nobody other than Z-"

She stopped midsentence, and suddenly started to walk away. Jake took a step towards her, but then thought better of it. Once again, he revised his view of Brather, from the woman who had found him in the crater, to the lit fuse magic-user, to the secretly disturbed woman in the present.

It also got Jake to think again. Bather had never mentioned the father of Sarah and David, and he had neer thought to ask, but now he found a mountain of questions about the husband and father. However, he had nobody to ask... Except for Geoffrey.

Geoffrey was a town elder, though that didn't stop him from being the nicest guy in town. Indeed, Geoffrey gave everything he could to keep the town morale high, and he never once lost his temper. Besides, Geoffrey had invited Jake to his house on multiple occasions... and this was the perfect chance.

"Very well," decided Jake, "I will find out about you, Brather, and then maybe I will better understand what happened to you so long ago..."

*sorry, had to cut this a bit short... SLEEP!*

*okay... time to continue.*

* * *

The man stood in front of bare soil. Or, at least, he looked like a man.

Had anyone seen him, they would not hesitate to say he was human, and yet the man seemed to eminate a silent power. An authority unsurpassed by humans, in their futile ventures power. Indeed, this man was not a man in the normal sense.

He wore the garb of a homeless man. Rags hung loosely along his torso, making his true age and weight undisernable. A coat, patched and browned with age, hung across his shoulders like that of a cloak. The sleeves were non-existant, patched holes taking their places. Rags extended from his chest and obscured the man's face, a frayed cowboy-styled hat, covering the top of his head, tipped to the man's right. The man's left eye was all that showed. It was shaped the same as a human's eye, though their color was red. The pupils of the eye were contracted as far back as possible, giving the appearance of an animal's eye when the animal feels cornered or is in a wild rage.

The man crouched low, muttering past the rags over his mouch. Their stench was powerful, much like a meal gone bad, but the man took no notice.

"Luperan," he muttered. He took a look around and said the word once more, "Luperan."

A small fire sprang from the ground, it's source unknown. There was no fuel, but the fire seemed to burn off the very ground it was attached to.

The man uttered the strange word again, "Luperan."

The fire went from a slightly small fire to a big campfire size.

"Luperan!"

The fire grew bigger and bigger the more the man uttered his word. Finally, it was the size of a bonfire. Nodding, the man stood and shouted his word aloud.

"LUPERAN!"

* * *

"So," Geoffrey stated with a dettached sigh, "You want to know more of Brather?"

Jake nodded, his enthusiasm on the subject apparent. "What has happened to her and this town? I have pnly heard talk about how she founded the town. But how exactly did that happen? And why is she so liked and admired here? And why does nobody tell me about the history of this place?"

Geoffrey brought the tips of his fingers together, creating five arcs with them. He was old... older then the town. If Jake had to judge, he would have said that the old man was eighty. Suddenly standing up, Geoffrey walked to the mantle of his fireplace. Fingering a well worn peice of wood that stood on a stand (no doubt for simple decoration), the old man seemed deep in thought.

Finally, he spoke. Every word was slow and thought out. "Brather Tawn has done much for this town... But before you know what has happened to her you must first know the situation that began with the forming of our crater.

"Think that you try to sleep one day and you find that you cannot! Worse, there appears to be a world, nay, an entire existance that you didn't know was real. The government fought to control this new world, and there was mass panic all over the world.

"Inside of the hysteria, Brather appears. She tries to restore peace, explaining and helping where she can. However, she only made things much worse. The various governments soon got wind of her powers. Incredibly, she kept going. She built the first house, the one in which you currently reside, and took up residence there.

"But the government did not allow her to live in peace. They stole her DNA, the very code of her powers. And, I'm sorry to say, they caused an uproar so feirce, Brather alone could not stop it. They used her DNA to create clones. These clones were raised to destroy, the government looking only to control what they could.

"Braher did not stand for it. She went to the clone area and destroyed the entire complex, getting help from some of the renegade clones. David and Sarah, only infants back then, were adopted by her in the process.

"But those weren't the sacrifices she made for this town. I'm just telling you how part of her time was spent. After the clone business had been taken care of, she returned here... And she was faced with a million different challenges.

Well, that was certainly unexpected, and a deviation from the norm.

Clones eh? Hmmn... interesting...
This world seems a bit detatched from Ryan's...

Actually it kind of fits in with my other story, adventures of the alchemists. Still, I made the last two posts a little fast and maybe a bit hard to follow.

I am going for the detached feeling for a reason. I'm trying to show the world Ryan did not see, while still dealing with his still-remaining problems. Of course, Ryan is still relevant in this story.

Chapter 8: Unforgotten sorrows

Sighing a very slow, almost sluggish sigh, Geoffrey walked carefully back to his seat. Taking care to bend slowly, the man's age was suddenly more apparent. Now, if Jake had to guess, he would say the man was ninety years of age.

"Brather had dealt with problems both strange and horrible, but they were the least of it all. I myself only know the story of those clones because it was mostly gathered or in the news. The rest I guessed.

"Brather returned here and lived peacefully... three years went by, and she became an avid member of the town. People seemed to gather around the crater, and back then it seemed almost unnatural. A few people stayed, me included. We started families and the town prospered. The evils of this world seemed to leave the crater well enough alone, and the sunlight seemed clean and clear.

"But one day a man came that brought us all close to death..."

Jake started at the fear and anger in the old man's voice. For once, he felt a strong sense of urgency. He couldn't identify why, but he tried to look intent to listen. Still, he could not help but ask a simple question. "What was the man's name?"

"The man's name..." Geoffrey whispered, "was Luperan."

* * *

The strange man stood up suddenly from his fire. He sensed it... the dragon had returned.

"Ah, Anger," the man stated, his voice rasping with untold age, "I was wondering when you'd return."

The shadow stayed out of the range of the fire, its shadow the only thing that could be seen. A growl eminated from the shadow of its mouth.

"And don't forget me, Luperan."

There was a rasped chuckle and the man gestured to the fire. "Sit, then. I was wondering when they'd let you escape, Fear."

Nobody moved, though the harsh reply cut through the air, "I would prefer just to hear your offer. Anger has already told me some of it... but I would like to hear the rest from you."

"Ah, so the dragon talks after all. I was wondering if you would the same relationship as Ryan and Havoc... I guess I have my answer."

"Don't mention those people in front of me, Luperan. I am predominantly Kyle-based, after all," Fear's reply strong and unwavering.

Luperan, who was apparently the strange man, cackled for a moment before replying, "I still sense a great deal of Ryan in you, though I would have to egree with what you said. You know I-"

"The offer, darkness." Fear cut in.

Luperan turned back towards the fire and held out a hand. He muttered "Luperan" once before turning back towards the shadowed dragon.

A scythe-like item now showed itself in his hands. Though, to call it a scythe would be to call Luperan normal.

Imagine a big S. now take the top and bottom curves of the S off and make it into wood. Make the curves into sharpened scythe blades that could cut a leaf in midair, and re-attach them. That was this new item... only take another S scythe and turn it sideways. Now attack it to the other. It was a weapon with four seperate scythe blades.

"This," Luperan stated with a sigh, "is something I want you to take."

Fear, who had hid in the shadows next to his dragon, walked into the slight firelight. He picked up the weapon and examined it with apparent distrust.

"And what do you want me to do with it?"

Luperan smiled, "Simply cause destruction."

* * *

"Brather is strong, I've seen her power, but Luperan... he was so much more powerful.

"He showed in our village one day, homeless and beaten up. Brather actually nursed him back to health. The few times I saw him, I always got chills. Luperan was not an ordinary man, and it showed. Mostly, though, it showed in his eyes. They were red as burning coals and darker than one could imagine.

"One day, he just disappeared... but he left so much destruction. He... he..."

Geoffrey was silent, and then he stood up again.

"He crippled this town's protector."

Jake watched as the old man walked towards a makeshift kitchen. The stove was on, though he could have sworn he never saw Geoffrey walk towards it, and the heat of it was starting to become unbearable. "But.. how?" he asked as Geoffrey extracted tea from the stove top.

The man looked tired as he said, "I'm not sure... you'd have to ask Brather that."

A sudden idea struck Jake as Geoffrey handed him a cup of tea, "There's a door in Brather's house that is always locked. What is in there? Do you know?"

Geoffrey took a careful sip of tea and then motioned at the door.

"I think you should leave now."

And it was that, with what had started as a simple conversation started a multitude of curiosities and events Jake never could fully understand.