Chapter 001- Damn Desert

Xhalite and his sister, Xate, have set out on a bold new adventure, little do they know what awaits them...

The blistering heat brought hell to those caught in it. The sun was a terrifying beast of fire, baking the desert below. It was hotter than an oven, a scorched and sandy landscape. It was late afternoon, the hottest time of day. For the two teenage Nungians traveling North, they were beginning to regret the journey.

"Damn desert…," The boy in green with a white shawl and brown messy hair mumbled.

"Stop complaining," the pure white short haired girl replied. “You're the one that wanted to go on this treacherous journey just because you thought you could get rich by finding rare items."

"And I will!" The boy replied. "C'mon Xate, it can't be that hard to find some valuable items with magic powers or priceless value?"

"The keyword here is rare," responded Xate, “which means they are scarce, and far apart. Not to mention many perils lie ahead. This quest you think you'll complete could end in disaster! Use your head Xhalite!"

Xhalite's long ears picked up noise. A tavern was nearby it seemed, and sure enough in the distance they saw The Sleeping Earth tavern. The Sleeping Earth is a popular location for Earth elementals to hang out before long journeys.

"Ah sweet! FOOD AND DRINK!" Exclaimed Xhalite as he fell on his face in the sand getting it all over his white shal and green shirt.

Xate facepalmed, she was his sister and naturally thought he was an idiot. Xhalite got up and they continued to walk on towards the distant tavern. Lucky for them, the chilly desert was coming to relieve them of the terrible heat.

When they finally arrived at the Sleeping Earth, night had fallen. They didn't realize how cold it was compared to the day. Xhalite opened the creaky door, he and his sister walked into the tavern. The atmosphere was lively, the candles flickered, and there was a bar tender waitress girl serving people food and drink. Xhalite stared at her for a minute and she smiled back. They both knew that they were destined to meet, and what happened that night proved just how important this twist of fate was to both of their lives. The girl couldn't have been much older than Xhalite, she had long blue hair, sea green eyes, a pink sleeve-less shirt, and a gray skirt and tights.

"I'm going to inquire about a room," said Xate, "Don't do anything foolish!"

Xhalite nodded, Xate walked off and Xhalite instantly walked towards the waitress girl. She blushed and started to walk towards the employee area. Xhalite walked faster than her, and in a failed attempt to be cool, he jumped in front of her and she bumped into him spilling several pints of mead. Bad move dude. The mead spilled all over both of them, Xhalite thought that in a drunken frenzy the girl was going to make out with him. Unfortunately for him, she actually looked at him in disgust and punched him in the stomach and walked over him as he doubled over. She went straight behind the counter and into the back room. The whole place roared with laughter.

One man shouted, "Dem tavern wenches are real hard to get for ya aren't dey boy?"

Everyone continued to laugh.

"Damn… what the hell!" Xhalite started and was interrupted by Xate.

"You idiot!" Xate yelled. "I go for a few seconds and you fail at flirting with the waitress and make a fool of yourself, me, and embarrass the poor girl!"

"Hey, you're not my mom!" Xhalite argued. "I like her!"

Xate face-palmed for the twentieth time.

The waitress girl stood behind the tavern in thought. That boy, he's funny, but I feel this won't be the last time I see him. I shouldn't have been so hard on him, I hope if I see him again he'll forgive me for hitting him. That was embarrassing though.

The air grew colder than normal, the girl looked around, then a soft but menacing voice spoke. "Out here alone are you?" A very heavy accent on a woman's voice said.

"Huh? Where are you?" The girl replied with a little fear.

"Come this way…..."

"I'm not that stupid, if you're going to try and do something to me, show yourself and I'll fight you off!" The girl shouted.

A blood red mist rolled around her, the night seemed even darker, and then the mist materialized as a woman with long purple hair, black lipstick, and dead eyes. Her skin was as pale as the dead. She wore a black, tight, cloth suit over her body up to her chest, and black long sleeved gloves with no finger-holes, just cloth wrapping around through her middle and index finger. On both of her thighs were daggers made of bone. A strange symbol was tattooed just below her neck.

"Um, hey," The waitress girl said, "I'm sorry, I don't have any money, or anything of value, and if you are thinking about something else, I'm not like that!"

"Hmm," The woman smiled. "That's okay, you don't need any of that."

"Then why? …"

The woman almost laughed then put her hand on one of her knives. The waitress girl started to back up into the door, but it was locked. She forgot that it locked from the outside and she would have to go in from the front! The woman drew her knife and quicker than sound was in front of the waitress girl threatening her life. "You'll have to come with me, if you scream, you bleed," The woman threatened. The waitress girl couldn't do anything with the knife so close to her neck. She was completely powerless. Suddenly, she was surrounded by darkness and in a flash was in the middle of the dark, cold desert.

Xhalite and Xate had rented a room, they were going to sleep. Xhalite couldn't stop thinking about the girl. That night was a peaceful, but dreamless night. The next day would prove to be more difficult than the last.

Xhalite woke up bright and early then hit his head on the bunk bed’s low hanging post. He quickly got ready, annoyed Xate until she was irritated enough to wake up, and they got dressed and went to the main room of the inn for breakfast. Then they packed up and left very quickly before eight o’ clock. They walked through the desert for quite a while, it was almost noon and had gotten really hot. Xhalite had his white shal's hood on to protect him. They had water, but only about a week’s worth, they had to continue moving. They were planning on stopping in the country of Tiagor to go to a library. Of course, they could have done this before they started back in Port Serene, Nunga, but Xhalite forgot and they had to get out fast. Xhalite remembered the day like this:

“I hate you dad!” Xate yelled. “I’ve had enough of your abuse, me and my brother are leaving!”

“No you aren’t! I’ll hunt you down! You can’t leave until you’re an adult!” Her father shouted.

Meanwhile, Xhalite stole the balancer blade from his dad’s sacred shrine, and packed some basic commodities. Both him and Xate knew that their father Slith had been a Yovanian spy for years, they had to get out of there!

"Xhalite?!" Xate woke Xhalite from his flashback. "What's with that blank stare?"

Xhalite shook himself awake. "Huh? I was just thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?" Xate asked.

Xhalite smiled. "About the wonderful sister I have of course!"

They both laughed and chased each other around for a minute. During this moment, they forgot about what lay behind, and what lay ahead. Never had they enjoyed themselves so much before.

Night came, it grew colder. They setup camp and observed all the stars and enjoyed some of the food they bought at the Sleeping Earth tavern.

"I wonder..." said Xhalite. "Where do the gods live? There's so many stars!"

"I don't know, I didn't major in philosophy ya know?" Xate repiled

"We didn't major in anything," laughed Xhalite, "we didn't graduate!"

"True," Xate responded,"we gave it all up for this stupid journey..."

Xhalite sighed. They both went to sleep.

"What the hell do you want with me?!" the waitress girl screamed.

Her captor was dragging her with ropes towards the pyramid looming in the distance. The night was colder to her now.

"You'll see, Kathruia Ahenin" the woman in black smiled, her sharp kanine's glistened in the moonlight.

Kathruia shuddered, thoughts came into her mind. Who was this creepy and evil woman? How did she know her name? She seemed supernatural, powerful, dark, deadly..

"The night is vonderful isn't it m'dear?" The woman laughed.

"No... it's cold and you're crazy!" Kathruia replied. "I hate the dark, and you should release me!"

The woman smiled cruelly. "Ah, but where would you go? You've been teleported over 50 miles North of that tavern!"

Kathruia knew the lady had a point, she couldn't go anywhere but everywhere, for miles upon miles.

A bulky man in heavy black armor with a horned helmet was stomping through the desert. He seemed to be talking to himself.

"Velu told me..." He said to himself. "My kids are two of the four white wizards, I've got to take them out. They ran away, they deserve death anyway. Rebels, they don't know the true powers at work here."

He looked down at the ground following a set of footprints. Xhalite and Xate's. He sniffed, a long unnatural sniff.

"They are following Velu as well..." he continued to talk to himself. "Velu must complete the sacrifice, if they find out, things could get ruined. I must kill them, I always hated the little brats anyway..."

He wasn’t so sure about it, even if he hated his kids and was a Yovanian, he felt wrong about it.

It was about midnight, and all three parties were about to clash...

Xhalite woke suddenly, something wasn’t right. He heard footsteps in the sand. He grabbed his sword and looked up. It was only Xate, who was still staring at the sky. She kept saying to herself, someday I’ll fly among those stars in that grand sky...

Xhalite smiled, but then frowned thinking of Kathruia. He had only seen her once,  didn’t know her name, but he kept thinking about her. He needed to find her again.
With a sudden boom, a jet of sand flew towards them at high speeds. As Xhalite dodged the jet Xate quickly rushed back to him, leaping up the dune in two quick steps.
“Xhalite!” Xate yelled over the swirling sand. “This isn’t natural- I saw a man down there!”
The sand cleared, revealing a large man cloaked in black armor.
“Alright ya stupid kids!” the man shouted, holding a huge axe above himself. “Dad’s gonna put you in yer place!”
Xhalite got in front of Xate who was terrified. He unsheathed his sword and prepared for their father to attack.
“Xate, run!” Said Xhalite quickly, but Xate had already taken off across the desert.
Xhalite stood his ground as his evil father came rushing at him.
“I’m gonna chop you and pound you into the ground!” The black armored man yelled.
Nervous as he was, Xhalite wasn’t gonna let him harm his sister. He got back in a shock absorbing stance and prepared for the impact. His father drew back his axe and prepared to attack. Xhalite mentally prepared himself quickly, and with a sudden jolt, his father had swung his axe right at him sending a vibration through Xhalite’s sword that made it hard to hold. Xhalite gritted his teeth as his father started to overpower him.
“C’mon you weakling!” Slith, as he was called, laughed. “You don’t have enough strength to stop me!”

The green gem in the hilt of Xhalite’s blade started to glow, and the blade shined a silvery color.    

Xhalite smiled confidently. “But I have the will of the balancer blade, and the will to escape your abuse forever!”

Slith was starting  to over power Xhalite. “You won’t make it, even if you kill me! There are others who could kill you with one touch.”

Xhalite got a little irritated. “You were a Yovanian right under everyone’s nose! Then you talked about how mom drowned in the bay! You killed her didn’t you?!?!”

Slith knew he had lied to his kids. “Of course I did! That b***h got what she deserved! Thought she could go tell the authorities I was a spy! So I had to silence her!”

At this point Xhalite got really angry. Suddenly, a new burst of strength grew over him and his aura turned green and grew and illuminated so brightly that even people without auric sight could see it. The sword glowed green as well. Slith looked a little unprepared.

Xate was running hard, the sand dragged and seemed to be trying to trip her. She looked behind herself to see a blast of green coming from Xhalite and flying into Slith. She knew what had happened, the balancer blade’s power is increased by the anger of the user. She also realized Xhalite didn’t know this and might have accidentally used all his energy. She had to find help, but in the middle of the desert, there was nobody. She kept running, to go back would mean certain death.

“Oof!” Kathruia was thrown onto the ground in front of a massive pyramid.

“Alright,” Velu bent over and talked into Kathruia’s ear. “Open the temple.”

Kathruia shook with fear. “How?!”

“You’re the descendant of the Alhari queen aren’t you? Open it!”

“No, what the hell are you talking about now you crazy b***h?!”

Velu grew angry and kicked Kathruia, though not hard enough to cause major damage.

“Open the door, if you don’t...” Velu smiled creepily. “You’ll be subject to a painful death.”

Kathruia struggled to get up and then pushed on the door and said random words. This went on for a while.

“Are you stupid?!” Velu yelled pushing Kathruia out of the way. “I guess I’ll do things myself!”

Suddenly, the wind picked up and the door was blown to pieces revealing a torch-lit hallway. Velu pushed Kathruia in and laughed. “This is the place! The Earth Temple!”

Slith had been thrown back into the ground by the blast, but was by no means finished yet.
“Damn you!” He barked. “You stole that sword from my shrine!”
“Shrine?!” Xhalite remarked. “You mean your arsenal of plundered weapons! This one just happened to look the coolest!”
Slith spit out a little blood. “You’re still dead, I know for a fact you can’t do that again!”  
Xhalite held his sword towards Slith. “Maybe not, but from this day forward, I vow to protect my sister and any innocent people or friends I may meet! That means I will kill you, even if you are my father, to stop you from harming my sister!”
Slith laughed. “Okay Mister ‘hero’, or should I say, fallen hero.”
Slith charged at Xhalite again.
Crap! Thought Xhalite. I don’t have much energy left, I’ve gotta stop him now or my sister will be in danger! Please, my sword, give me more strength.
Time seemed to pause. It all went white and Xhalite felt as if he was in another dimension.
“Where am I?” He asked the void.
“You’re in your soul-space. You called for help, and I’m here to grant it!”
“Who...?” Xhalite looked out and saw a beautiful girl with short green hair and tan skin. She smiled at him, she was surrounded by green energy that covered her bare body. Xhalite thought his nose was bleeding.
“I’m Rosalin, the spirit of the balancer blade. I see that you need my help. I can lend you this last bit of saved energy to stop this evil man, but Xhalite, you must promise to use my powers wisely next time!”
“I promise!” Xhalite smiled.
Suddenly he was back and Slith was about to attack him when his sword glowed green again. Xhalite, instead of strength, felt a burst of speed. He seemed to disappear and reappear right behind Slith. He stabbed him in the back. Slith keeled over in pain as Xhalite withdrew the sword. Slith coughed up blood.
“Go ahead! You won, I’m proud son, you might have a chance after all! Kill me, I am useless now!” Slith cried out.
For a moment Xhalite took pity, then as tears came over his face he raised his sword to decapitate the man. But his hands shook, and the tears came harder.
“You won! Kill me already, this pain is terrible! You’ll never defeat anyone if you don’t have the heart to kill!” Slith coughed after that bit of dialogue.
“I’m sorry,” Xhalite said, “even if you are an evil Yovanian, I cannot kill my father, or any Mystrian being.”

“Alright, then before you kill me, know this. A young virgin has already been selected as a sacrifice in the temple of Delti, or more commonly known as, the Great Pyramid. If this girl is sacrificed successfully, there will be a new world order. The Shadows will prevail.” Slith smiled.

“Shadows? Who is this girl?” Xhalite asked still shaking with fear of killing.

“Oh nobody, just a tavern wench,” Slith grinned more creepily knowing that Xhalite knew the girl.

“No... not her... you b*****d! I will save her!” Xhalite cried.

“You don’t even know her name!” Slith laughed.

“I can’t pity you anymore!” Xhalite yelled angrily.

Xhalite shook harder, then, with one quick movement he sliced Slith’s head off and looked away as it fell off and the blood spilled into the sand. He cried a little and prayed for forgiveness, he dug a hole in the sand with his sword and pushed the body into it. Then quickly ran to catch up with Xate. Dawn was coming.

Author's Note

Meh first chapter!