Chronicle #1 - Chasing Stones

A woman who appeared to be in her early twenties was carrying a child wrapped up in a blanket. The child had a very odd head shape, as if it was hiding its face behind a shadowy mask. As the woman approached a river, she tripped and accidentally dropped the child. Despite the hard fall, the child remained surprisingly calm. It fell into the rapid-like current of the river and started drifting away from the woman. "My child!" the woman called out, but she was suddenly caught by one of the men pursuing her. "Where is it?" he shouted. "Where is what?" she responded. "Oh, never mind. It won't survive this river," he said, thinking the child wouldn't make it. As we watched, the child drifted down the river, and then... bang... a gunshot was heard in the distance. At that moment, the mask on the child showed red eyes, and the child, although unable to display emotions, had eyes that turned a crimson red, the color of rage, war, and wrath. What was to come of this mysterious child?

We peer a bit into the future and see that allowing this child to live will bring nothing but conflict for him and his friends. One shall wish mercy on his enemies.

We return to view the child flowing down the river, and suddenly, closer and closer, we hear fast rushing water and what appears to be a waterfall leading to a drop. Here we can see why the soldier responded that this child might not survive this river. Unbeknownst to him, this leads to a place called the Cavern of Dreams, a dungeon from which nothing ever escapes. He falls, but it's as if the mask has made a grin while the child is crying. The child is saved by a mysterious figure with horns atop his head. The child looks up and wonders who this could be, but the child then ceases his crying as if he knows he is in good care. This figure, known as an unknown entity to outsiders, picks up the child and gives him a name, thinking he is just another wandering monster abandoned in this dungeon. "I name you Kaze! May the gods shudder at your name, and kings and queens bow to you. Your dreams are unbound and unwavering. You will be a being not to be trifled with," he shouts as he then sees the destruction and his eyes slowly begin to burn, thus blinding his sight. "Well, that is unfortunate. Little one, my name is Hala the Dreamcatcher."

We skip into the future as we see a young boy training with a wooden sword against a mysterious figure resembling Hala..

"Boy, you need to create a more directional precision with your strikes rather than let your anger get the best of you." He began to notice the anger he put into his swing, the rage he used to build up his endurance and strength. A few days pass, and with training, it seems Kaze has become more fluent with his swings and has learned the basics of movement and footwork. "Master, what is my purpose?" Kaze asked, earning a shocked look on the monster's face. "Well, that is only determined by destiny, something you will find Kaze." Hala then lands a chop-like hand gesture on top of his head as both laugh and begin to spar again. Sometime into Kaze's full-on combat training, as Hala closely watches him slash a target down the middle with a seemingly perfect slice he nods his head and removes a box from the nearby shelf. "Kaze! You have mastered the blade at such a young age!" As Hala opens a box and pulls out a cloth, I created this with the finest metals within this dungeon, and this sword is Dreamcatcher made out of Dream Steel."

Bits of aura begin to spout from the blade as it gets closer and closer to Kaze. The sword slips free from his arms and began charging at Kaze, landing in his right hand.

The sword turns shadowy and the blade begins to turn a crimson blood red and let loose an inchoate pattern on the dai, and the tsuka becomes black and red. Kaze begins to grasp just above his eye towards his forehead as he feels a sharp pain from within. "Let the darkness grasp your soul!" The sword seemed to whisper to Kaze. Hala notices the mask from long ago appears on his face more as Kaze then lets loose a demonic voice that lets loose a loud shriek, "Hala, been a while, sorry to say this is no longer Dreamcatcher...this is now my blade, Nightrend, the sword that engulfs those with darkness." Then, Kaze starts to smile, and part of his mask near his mouth falls off, and you can see the sinister smile underneath as he turns towards Hala, and with the sword granting a nightmarish glow he charges at Hala "Dance of Death: Act One" in which he attempts to dodge, but in the aftermath, Hala's blade is cut in half and thus Hala tries to speak "Luc..." as his head rolls across the floor spewing a glowing hot liquid from his neck then it just seems to disappear "Master, it is every students dream to defeat their master. I have defeated you, Hala the Dreamcatcher, thus I have completed your dream as a student. Thank you! Master!" Kaze's face turns shadowy, shadowy, but you can see a glimmer of a singular tear flowing down his cheek. "I will now exact revenge against those who have killed my mother, they will taste my blade as my blade will taste their blood...Goodbye, Master." Kaze makes his way throughout the dungeon fighting various monsters but is stopped by a big room with what seems to be a bunch of giant armor pieces scattered all around the center of the room, with a massive door behind it. Suddenly, the eyes on the helmet begin to glow a bright blue as if a flame was turned on.

We peer up at the surface and see something like a military-like group constructing a fortress surrounding the dungeon's main entrance. We see a few figures looking towards the dungeon. "Whew, something in that place gives me the chills," says one. "Yes, a strong aura resides within."

We then peer to Kaze as he takes a single step into the room and steps on a pressured plate, which sets gears into moving motion; the armored behemoth begins to put itself back together in an otherworldly fashion and, from within its shadowy body, pulled out a dark colored club made out of what appears to be a dark murky energy mixed with a blue-steel like alloy, with excitement Kaze charges in only to get flung back. "Ow...ow...ow," he moans and groans in pain..., but somehow he gets back up, dusting himself off and smiling, and charges back in; he dodges the swipes and magic attacks of the beast. He runs up his arm, avoiding the giant's fast hand swipe and heading for the neck area. With a swift strike, he cleaves through the neck portion of the armored giant, slicing its massive head off and spewing a black liquid from the neck area..."whew, that was easy."...he took a stead near a rock and cleaned off his blade...suddenly a door opens behind him.

He walks through this long, dimly lit hallway in which a podium stands with a scroll. Kaze begins to read the scroll slowly.

"You have completed this dungeon. May you catch your dreams, brave warrior, as you will now be read the path you must take. You are to gather the seven others like yourself and unlock the portal between this realm and the next, for you should be the one to conquer the throne and avenge those dearest to you. Once you have completed this task, lead them to this altar and allow your soul to return to your homeland so that the world may, at last, regain its balance." Kaze takes the scroll. Still, it crumbles to dust. Kaze, with slight minor head pain, seems to have remembered what the scroll had asked of him, so he wonders to himself, "Others like me?" He questions himself, then heads towards the dungeon's exit, and begins to hear small rumbles. As Kaze exits the dungeon he begins to sense faint decent amounts of aura waiting on the outside. "Damn, a few are suppressing theirs. Still, I have to get out of here." Kaze then suppresses his aura and charges through the exit at full speed. Swiftly freeing himself from the sight of the soldiers. "What was that?" a soldier asks as Kaze speeds past him…"Interesting, very interesting" a Mysterious black shadow figure says that seemed to have noticed. The figure then recedes into the shadow of the trees.

After Kaze escapes, it seems more than just that shadowy figure notices. In a sturdy military tent set outside where a fortress is, we see a group of individuals with a certain crest on the left side of their upper chest.

"What the hell was that feeling?" A murmur was heard throughout the room. "What just came out of that hole?" one of them slams their fist on the table, splitting it in two. "Sir, calm down. For now, it appears that a mysterious creature has appeared; we must alert the Commander." as we look off into the distance, we see a set of 7 pillars, all of different colors, as they begin to glow. A mysterious figure who seems to be in the center of a crypt. "So, he made it out of the dungeon." The figure closely resembling Hala smirks.

Eight years later...Kaze, now 15 Years Old, seems to be wearing raggedy clothes and is seen running through a market area.

Kaze appears to be running from a shop owner after stealing a loaf of bread; his agility prevents the shopkeeper from catching up to him. "You will never catch me...gramps," he states with laughter. Suddenly, a figure appears before him and gives him a swift chop to the neck, dodged but stops Kaze as he looks up at the towering man. "What are you doing, boy?" The man murmurs, "I was just getting a bite to eat. I am poor and cannot afford this, so I took it," Kaze laughs. The man looks at Kaze with a glare towards Kaze and, without realizing it, tries to land a hit on Kaze. To the man's surprise, Kaze dodges the hit, which prompts him to pull out his sword, and as he does it, Kaze whispers, "I wouldn't do that. My master said swords are not to be used to make threats. They are used to kill your enemy, and once you draw your weapon, a fight to the death begins." The man looked shocked at what Kaze had said but grinned as he knew Kaze trained extensively. The two face off, and Kaze is the one to make the first move; the man matches Kaze with each slash he throws at him. "You fight well for someone so young; I can't imagine the training your master put you through."

Kaze then remembers one of the training regiments Hala put him through; he saw a dark room with giant, incredibly fast-moving, serpent-like creatures. Hala would then lock the door of this room until Kaze found the key, which was inside one of the serpents.

Kaze smiles. "Sir, I do not wish to kill you, but you reminded me of a training session my master had put me through." Kaze takes a step back, focuses energy into the flow of his body, and mutters, "Dance of Death: Spring Formal," with a slicing, ear-piercing sound. Kaze appears behind the man. As the man turns around, he watches his sword and right hand fall to the ground beside him as blood spurts from his arm. The man falls to the ground and seems to have passed out from blood loss; Kaze conjures up a dark flame-like aura around his blade that appears to cauterize the wound. He picks up a card that fell out of the man's pocket. 'Gregory Lichtenberg, Sergeant First Class, Infernal Mages Corporation.' You can hear footsteps and dust kicking up, heading towards their way. "Shit, I got to get out of here" Kaze uses his agility to scale the buildings and flee from the roof; a scout spots him and pursues but is unable to catch him. "Damn, that kid is fast." A shadow figure then appears from the wall. "Gregory, what may you be doing?" the figure asks. "Captain, he cut my arm off, he cut my fucking arm off." Gregory, now woken after being healed, realizes he has lost his arm. "I can see that. Head back to the base; luckily, Squad 0 is nearby; I am sure that infuriating woman can fix you up." As he retreats to the shadows, the figure states and appears in a nearby alleyway. "Duck, did you pick up that aura? Doesn't it remind you of that thing?" Another person comes from the dark shade. "Yeah, let's go; I can sense him a little past that cliffside." The two disappear, and with dust kicking up, we see them appear in an open field as Kaze rushes them, both sent backward to dodge. "Hmm, I can see why Gregory had trouble with you, kid." They both begin to unsheathe their swords.

Captain Duck and the shadowy figure begin to work together to take on Kaze; they rush in with some wild, combative styles; one uses his sword as if he were in the water, the other as if it were a murky swamp.

Captain Duck proceeds to sheathe his sword and mumble, "Flowering Lotus!" which seems to solidify the water in the air. As he unsheathes his blade sending a piercing crescent-shaped slash toward Kaze, who fends it off with his blade but is pushed back slightly by its velocity. Being pushed back, Kaze looks over his shoulder and sees the ground shifting towards him. "Stagnant Bog." Kaze is sent flying after being hit by this attack, which only seems to give him a bloody lip as he bites down and grins excitedly. "You two are strong; my master has hit me harder and pushed me further; it is time to get serious." Suddenly, a mysterious individual appears. "Enough" Kaze lowers his Aura and flees. The figure pushes his glasses up on his nose. "Are you two trying to get yourselves killed?" The figure asks. "Commander...." the two say in synchrony. "Enough, return to the fort; we will deal with that later."

Kaze is seen overlooking the cliffside, where he runs off to hide. "Damn, those two are strong," as he rips off part of his shirt to bandage up the cut on his arm from earlier.

"That man who appeared looked familiar; my head was all foggy just thinking about it," Kaze whispers to himself as he gets up to continue walking through the forest. Upon the sun setting, Kaze reaches a mountain-like area. Upon exiting the Northern Forest, he is suddenly met by a horde of goblins who are intimidated by his aura as they look from behind trees and rocks in the open, plain-like area. Kaze stumbles upon a broken down wagon with a horse skeleton near it, and just 30 yards down the path, he can see a sign-post, Lazar to the West, Blackthorn to the East, the Whispering Woods to the South, and the town he was just at Thornburn to the North, Kaze decides to follow the West path towards the Dwarven city of Lazar. Upon the sun finally setting and giving rise to the moon, Kaze stops for a second and senses that he is being watched; we peer closer into this sense and see a group of silhouettes clouded as a group of murky humanoid and beast like figures with glowing eyes surrounding a crystal ball overlooking this young man. "Damn, Lord Abaddon is going to want to know that man's son survived; he looks exactly like him." The figure stated. Kaze then continued as if nothing was wrong, but suddenly caught a glimpse of a mysterious purple eyed crow as he released his aura upon it, popping the bird due to its density, and so the crystal ball began to grow a deep bloody crimson red until it finally bursts in its holder, leaving the group worried. "Yeah, that is his son; he has yet to know the extent of what was bestowed upon him." A more prominent figure with glowing flame-like eyes states.

Kaze arrives at what appears to be a big entrance with a giant snakehead in tow; the guards stop him. "Halt, who goes there?" Kaze looks down at the very short man. "What are you?" he asks. "We are Dwarves, have you not heard of Dzar? The Dwarven nation to the East."

A voice is heard yelling from above as an old dwarf stands at the top of the nearby watchtower. "Well, look here. I am shocked that you managed to kill a Forest Naga and a white one." The older man inspects the kill. "Yeah, I was on my way here when I accidentally walked into a cave and found this thing." Kaze scratches his head as he suddenly begins to grow sleepy and weak. "Yep, looks like it bit you on your upper leg; just fall asleep, and I will fetch someone to carry you to the healer. "Zargin!" A small middle-aged man comes running and picks up Kaze. They run off with him through the gate and arrive at the far north gate to the city of Lazar. They then reach a house with a sign that says "Lazar Apothecary." he is then laid on the bed and administered a portion by mouth. "He should wake up in a day or two; come back to fetch him when he is awake." The woman states. The woman seems Human and much taller than the Dwarves. "Thanks' got to run." Zargin heads out. "Oh, what patient do we have now?" A man comes through the curtains of the infirmary. "Well, if it isn't former head Bishop, Dwargin. How are you?" The woman asks. "I am fine, Silvia, and it is the retired head bishop now; anyways, wow, look at what we have here." He overlooks Kaze and notices something on his forehead. "Oh dear, if the church finds out about this, Silvia, have you seen it?" She nods. "This is the reason I contacted you; if the Black Cross gets word of this, they will send those corrupt jackasses to claim this man." Dwargin begins to stroke his beard and wonder what to do. "Well, in all my time as a member of the Black Cross, only a few things had similar characteristics, with the most dangerous being a Demon." Silvia gathers he thoughts and becomes frightened.

"No need to worry; once he is up, I will get him out of here before any of this is spoken to anyone." Dwargin states as a figure races away from outside of the window.

We look back at the Fort just above the dream dungeon and see a black-cloaked man being told to rise. "Speak, what did you see, and why did you leave the Lazar post." The man asks angrily. "Sir, it has come to my attention that that recent incident involving that dungeon entrance, about a creature being set free, the apothecary in Lazar seemed to have found an individual with horn knobs on his head." The man who asked the question stands up in shock. "No...it can't be." The man gets dismissed, and we see two individuals walking in. "Captains Leo and Lance Angelheart. I am assigning you to bring this man back from Lazar." The two are in sync. "Yes, sir." the two hurriedly race out with a group of knights waiting outside the Fort. A barbaric-looking individual with light purple-bluish hair appears standing outside of the window of the Apothecary.

Fading to a distant memory, we look back 271 years ago. The Dwarven City of Lazar! An incident seems to be happening near the northern gate. 

Suddenly, a human woman collapsed from what appeared to be exhaustion at the gates. "Ma'am, are you alright?" One of the guards asked. There was no response from the woman; a younger-looking woman resembling Silvia saw her. "Oh my, what happened?" The guards explained to her that the woman just appeared from that wasteland and collapsed. The lady was carried to the church with Black Cross banners in front of it. "Bishop Dwargin! Lady Silvia needs your assistance. A few Deacons had helped carry this woman to the infirmary on the church's eastern side. "Life Heal!" Dwargins' hands glow as he places them on the woman's forehead and chest. 

The woman faintly goes in and out of consciousness, and suddenly, an orange light begins to grow within her stomach, and her womb inflates; due to the light, you can slowly see a heartbeat and then hands moving about. 

"A Rebirth!" Deacons are sent scrambling to prepare for the birth of this child; a hot water bath is running, warm towels are placed around the woman, and a set of soft pillows for her to rest her head on. "This is a miraculous moment." Dwargin watches in amazement. Looking from the outside, a dark storm rolls over the mountain range, and heat lightning begins to glow up the sky with a tint of orange and purple. "What the hell is that light?" a burning beam strikes the mountain, piercing through it and connecting with the woman's stomach. 

"What is this?!" The woman, screaming in pain, finally gives a final push as she expires. 

A faint crying grows louder as Dwargin picks up the child; he notices it has wolf-like nails. The crying stops, and suddenly, a wail is let loose as Dwargin drops the child luckily on one of the pillows nearby. The child starts crying louder and louder, wearing an orange mask, and then suddenly disappears. "Now, little one, although you have no mother nor father, you must remain calm like water. I shall name you Mizu." Dwargin cradles the child. 

A few years pass, and Mizu, now a teenager, is seen going out to the forest with these two massive axes on his back. 

"Hey Mizu!" a person he walks past waves to him and some other shop owners. He waves back and continues with his walk towards the northern gate. "Going out for firewood again, Mizu?" The guard asks. "Yes!" Mizu replies. On his way to the forest, he stops by a small pasture, where he drops his log-carrying bag near a tree and begins to swing his axes in synchrony. He begins to charge up and lets loose a slash that splits a huge tree down the middle. "That should be enough" he states. He carries two giant logs toward a chopping block and begins to chop them into smaller pieces to fit into his log-carrying bag. As Mizu turns around two roughnecks emerge from the woods, "Well, what do we have here? I heard about Lazar housing a wolfman, but I thought those rumors were false." The two young gentlemen are in their earlier teens, wearing these weird hand logos on their left torso. One of them picks up a rock and throws it towards Mizu. Mizu dodges and continues walking towards the gates of Lazar. "Hey, get back here, freak!" The one shouts. Mizu keeps walking as the two follow closely behind; as Mizu rounds the corner with the gate and the vendor stalls in sight, the two begin to attack him. One wields a spear, and the other a giant broad axe. Mizu is stabbed in the lower back by the spear. Mizu's facial expression grows dark as he lifts his head to dawn an orangish glow. The guards and vendors rushing over to see what happened are greeted by this beast of an individual. "What the hell is that." The spear user says as he pulls his spear out, spilling blood from the wound. In horror, the townspeople begin to run in fear of this orange-masked creature.

The creature lets loose a wail holding his axe, striking one of the men assaulting him in the abdomen, which is barely dodged, and striking the other in his upper forearm, nearly taking off his arm. He then kicks the one with the abdominal wound, bats the other away with his axe, and runs off into the forest. 

"What happened?" Silvia and Dwargin, panting from running to the location, notice the chaos and severity of the two's wounds. "You lot must be from that Infernal Mages Corporation. "Yeah, what of it? Did you see what that beast did to us?" The one states, Silvia looks over and sees logs scattered around a backpack. "Dwargin look." She points as they watch a figure flee further into the forest. He then looks down and sees who the bag belongs to. "Oh no!" He says with a worried look.

We go forward in time to see this individual standing outside the window, which he now attempts to climb through.

As the Man climbs through the window and enters the room, you can see a tall, dark silhouette with glowing orange eyes. The nurse and priest are seen quivering in the corner. "Who are you?" Dwargin asks as he holds his priest's staff in a defensive position. Kaze's body is still unconscious; we peer into Kaze's head, and you can hear him saying, "Get up, come on, get up!" Kaze's body was still with no movement. "Get up; why won't my body move," Kaze questions himself within his thoughts. "Lord Kaze, stand at ease, have no fear. Let me explain to you who I am." The strange, manly voice states. 

We peer into the room and see that the Man has sat down near Kaze's bed and has begun meditating, silenced and unmoved, the priest pokes him with his staff, but there is no response. 

"Do you know what he is doing?" The nurse turns to Dwargin. "That aura that I was sensing was beyond magic, and why do I sense the same from you?" Dwargin thinks to himself. We continue as the Man begins to tell Kaze a story. "The world has forgotten our kind's story. We are the new generation of bearers to curse marks and the ancestors of the 7 Royal Demons who challenged and defeated the prior Demon King long ago, the SevenSins of Satan. That is what they called them in short." The Masked Man walks towards Kaze in pitch blackness. "I am Mizu; I, along with a few others, have been awaiting your arrival; it was spoken that Doryu's son will return to the demon realm once again and defeat the current threat; his name is Abaddon. Your cousin, he is the one who killed Lord Doryu." Mizu finishes his story, reaches his hand out to Kaze, and pulls him towards the light that appeared. 

A large burst of energy shakes the cavern city, and guards begin to close in on the location. 

The guards arrive to assess what happened, and they notice Kaze, "Hey, look at this," One of the guards states, and with a wanted poster in hand, they see that Kaze is the person they are after, and the guards pick up grab him and throw him over their shoulders. Kaze, being injured, is still unable to move his body because the medicine is still affecting him. They then go to the Lazar castle dungeon, where the Infernal Mages Corporation eagerly waits to interrogate him. Kaze is chained up, and water is thrown on his face to wake him up. "Huh? Where am I? Uuuurrrgh." Kaze tries to move his arms but notices he is chained up against a wall. A dark-skinned and light-skinned duo appears out of the darkness and begins to speak to Kaze. "What do you want?" Kaze shouts to the two men. The guards peek into the cell to see what that loud yelling was. "Don't worry." The one Man says, "We just want to know where you came from and what you are." The blonde-haired Man closes his book, stands up, and walks over to Kaze, grabbing his hair. "Why do you look similar to..." Before he could finish, you could hear a faint breaking of walls in the background. "What the hell is that noise." The red-haired individual asks the guards outside of the cell. "Sirs, it seems that someone is invading the Castle." The guard alerts them in a panic. "Damn, it looks like we have to handle this matter later; let's go assist with this problem; that way, we can get back to our job and what we were sent here for." 

Crash! The wall inside the cell crumbles as guards are sent flying. 

"Who the hell...It's you," The red-haired individual states. "Leo and Lance, I apologize but must help that man escape." Mizu swiftly cuts the chains off Kaze with his giant axes. He turns around and notices Leo and Lance getting into an offensive stance. "Remember what happened last time? I wouldn't do that if I were you," Mizu states as the pair faces off with him. "Lord Kaze, let me help you." Mizu scoops up Kaze and heads for the path he created by smashing through the castle walls. "This way!" Guards can be seen following them and trying to cut them off in the castle corridors. "Where are you taking me?" Kaze asks. "To see the twins," Mizu states as they head into an area where Mizu sets Kaze down and smashes through a barricade of guards. "Kaze, I need you to remain still while I perform this ancient ritual to assist with your memory." Mizu sets Kaze down and pricks his finger to draw blood. Then, he begins drawing runes and a symbol within a circle. Mizu then gently places his hand on Kaze's head, draws an oddly shaped rune, and shouts, "Release onto those of the past." A red aura emits from Kaze, and a demonic grin appears; he quickly locates his sword and calls for it as we hear it breaking through walls to finally land in Kaze's hand. "Oh, so that is what happened. Thanks, Mizu!" Kaze says with a smile. Mizu seems happy. "Yes! Lord Kaze! it seems your memories have returned." Mizu suddenly kicks up dust in the room by punching a wall, BOOOOOOOM! The Guards shout, "Help! Call the Captain...Captain Leo! WE NEED YOU THEY ARE IN THE COURTYARD, COME PRONTO!" Through the Dust, Kaze and Mizu's silhouettes rush out of the room.

Looking behind them, they notice someone catching up to them. Mizu turns around. "Lord Kaze, go on ahead. I will handle these boys. Meet me at the graveyard just beyond the dark forest." Kaze nods his head. "Okay, I expect to be told everything. Don't die." Mizu laughs. "No worries." 

Kaze and Mizu split off down a fork in the castle corridor. Mizu comes to a large room surrounded by pillars and speaks to a figure appearing out of the shadows. Shadow Figure: "Well, if it isn't the Orange Hero, we finally caught up to you, we may be rookie captains, but we won't let you escape to ruin our reputation," he scoffs with a huge grin. Mizu smiles. "Well, Captain Lance, what do we have here? Your Twin Brother Leo?" Captain Leo steps out of the hallway into the room. Mizu grabs at his back and pulls out two colossal buster axes. Mizu smiles. "Shall we begin? No escape now, I will make sure you're down and out." The two Captains and a troupe of guards begin to charge Mizu from all Directions, but suddenly, Mizu removes the mask, revealing quite a handsome face. His face nearly prevents a few guards from fighting, but they are snapped out of it quickly when the Captain charges at him. Leo states, "You morons attack him! When he removes that mask, he is not taking us seriously. If you make a mistake, it could cost you your life!" 

We peer at Kaze, who is finally bashing through a castle wall and being met by guards outside the Castle. Kaze unsheathes his blade and slices through the defenses. He then heads towards the barricaded entrance nearest the Castle of Lazar. 

Leo and Lance charge toward Mizu, as he meets them head-on with spears and axes, stabbing and being swung. Kaze looks back as he hears the sound of an intense battle behind him, but he turns and presses onward, hacking and slashing through the various enemies that stand before him. "Damn, how many of these guards are there?" Kaze thinks to himself as he begins to feel a strange presence. "This feeling, what is this? Why is there such a strong feeling of pride behind me." Kaze, worried, looks over his shoulder, and with the slightest peek, he sees Mizu picking up the red-haired Knight by his neck as the other stabs him in his back. Mizu, unfazed by this, seems to have dawned an Orange mask that Kaze notices, and upon looking at where he was supposedly stabbed, notices the spearhead shattered, and wood is splintered at the top as we look down the hall, where the intense battle is taking place. "Damn, I never knew you were this strong," Leo states as he spits out blood while being in the grasp of Mizu. "Let him go, I said let him go!" Lance yells as he fails to turn Mizu's eye from his brother. "You two have felt the power within. Now, I will give you both a parting gift." Mizu begins by touching Leo's right eye and chanting as he kicks and screams. "What are you doing to my brother?" Lance stops as he can do nothing; they have been completely overwhelmed.

Leo opens his eyes and, through his vision, watches Mizu drop him from his clutches. He sees a yellow pigment through half of his vision, slowly fading as he passes out. 

Mizu, towering over Leo, turns towards Lance and begins drifting towards him steadily, then suddenly vanishes and reappears before him with unfathomable speed. "What..." Before Lance finishes, he is lifted off the ground as Mizu places his hand over his left eye and then releases Lance from his clutches. "You both have potential, but you are not on that level yet." Mizu grabs his chest as he remembers a person with a similar emblem on his armor, though he had a blood-red emblem on it; he runs his finger along the scar on his chest right over his wolf tattoo's eye. Mizu turns and begins to head in the direction that Kaze has left.

"Now to get out of here and meet my Lord at the graveyard," Mizu states his goal to himself. "Captain Leo, Captain Lance! Quick, get medics in here, pronto!" The guards finally enter the room to discover various injured individuals, and the two captains sprawled out on the floor. Medics immediately haul off the two. 

We catch up to Kaze, who has come across an unguarded exit, likely due to the confusion at the Castle; he runs down the long tunnel and finally reaches outside of the city. He looks back and up at the giant mountain and turns around. He then walks towards the forest in the distance, where he comes across a fog-filled graveyard. Kaze waits for about an hour; as the sun goes down, he can hear fast-paced footsteps heading towards him; he grasps his sword but is met by Mizu, and the two look at each other and smile. "Well, that was fun, wouldn't you say, Lord Kaze?" Mizu states that he has regained his stamina by catching his breath. "You do not have always to call me that; after what we just experienced, you saved me; just call me Kaze." Mizu nods but is un-waivered at the opportunity. "So where do we go next?" Kaze asks. "We meet the twins; they are found somewhere within this forest. Be careful, though; many strange creatures roam these parts," Mizu states as the pair begin walking deeper into the forest. A shadow figure behind a tree glares at them and returns towards Lazar.