• Chapter One: Suri

    tab Jara ran to the boy silhoutted by the dark sunset. As she got to him, he whipped around and threw a punch at her. She easily deflected his blow.
    tab They fought for a while, each taking their own blows. Eventually, they grew tired and flopped down on the floor in exaustion.
    tab She rolled over and said to him, "So, do you think I'm ready yet?"
    tab "No, not yet, you have a ways to go yet," he said to his apprentice.
    tab "Of course!" she exclaimed, "I shouldn't ask such ridiculous requests at an early time!"
    tab He smiled, "You have longer time, Jara, but not much longer!"
    tab She playfully smiled and closed her eyes. She loved having Suri as her master. He was always so kind to her, but better: he beleived she could become a fighter yet and urged her on.
    tab "Suri, why do you believe in me so much?" Jara couldn't help but ask.
    tab "Because I think you have greater abilities than any of us." he replied
    tab "You know I couldn't beat you if I tried!" she protested.
    tab "And that attitude will prove it!" he snapped.
    tab "When do you think I will be ready?" Jara asked softly, not wanting to disturb her master even more.
    tab He laughed, "Whenever you want!"
    tab She pulled back, startled, "What!"
    tab "Obviosly not now! You have no faith in yourself!" Suri could sometimes be annoying.
    tab Jara groaned, "I can get some."
    tab He frowned, "Faith isn't something you can just get: you have to earn it from yourself."
    tab Jara was already feeling some start to grow inside of herself, "How am I supposed to do that?"
    tab "You have to start by loving not just yourself, but others too."
    tab She scowled, " I don't only love myself!" Jara paused, "I love you too."
    tab "I hope you mean as a master. Now, we need some sleep for another spar tomarrow! Besides, you know they will attack soon anways! You'll need to be prepared! I will see you in the morning, Jara!" with that he walked towards thier camp.
    tab Jara remained a bit longer. She looked out over the cliff and across the horizon, the sight off the cliff was the most amazing thing she had ever seen: the skies were so clear that she could see miles off. She, too, headed back to camp.
    ***
    tab The next morning, the attack came. All of her camp was burning. Her friends were scrambling around her. Jara saw Chelsea, her best friend, grab a long sword, her specialty. Jar herself grabbed a bow an d a quiver full of arrows. She caught one aflame on one of the burning tents, the arrow was soon sent flying towards one of their enemies main troops. It hit the dry grass next to them, immediatly caght the whole area on fire. She glimpsed Suri nod approvingly at her.
    tab As the war finally died down, she saw the most terrible thing ever: Suri got shot with an arrow.
    tab Jara immediatly dropped her weapon and ran to his side. As she reached him, he slowly turned to her, "I beleive you are finally ready to be a warrior... I now pronounce you the guarder of our soul!"
    tab Jara felt as if she was the one stabbed, tears began to flow like a river from her eyes. She managed to sob, "No! You can't die now! You can't!"
    tab "See! You can love!" Suri's last whispers died around her, he reached up to touch her face in true affection, "I'll always watch over you, my little warrior..." with that his head rested on Jara's hand, foreer, her master was gone. She would never forget him. Suri was her master, and always would be, but he was more than that to her: Suri was her parent that had died and the other left her for eternity. Why did everyone around her have to die? Why was it always her?

    Chapter Two: Chelsea

    tab Chelsea saw her crouched over Suri's dead body, and immediatly ran to join her, "Jara, I'm so sorry, but you have to fight! Without you, we're gonna lose! I know that to you, this is more important right now. But, if you think about it, would you have liked his death have been in vain?"
    tab Chelsea sighed when Jara didn't respond, "Look, I know you still haven't gotten out of your apprenticeship yet, but still-"
    tab "I have too gotten out of my apprenticeship!" Jara managed to croak, "I just now got to be a warrior!"
    tab Chelsea stifled a sob, but despite, she started to cry with her best friend, "You're so strong! I would've killed myself right now!"
    tab Unfortunately, that only made things worse for Jara. She had remembered Siru's words from the night before: 'You have to start by loving not just yourself, but others too.'
    tab Jara cried out, "I'll never be good enough to be a warrior!" and with that, she ran off.
    ***
    tab The war was over, they had won. But that wasn't thanks to Jara. She had rushed off during the midst of the fight and hadn't returned.
    tab Chelsea was very worried about her friend. Had she chaesed after her, perhaps she would still be there. No, that would be too convenient. She had just had to go thinking that she would come back for the end of the battle.
    tab Chelsea had been the one that had lost her poor friend. It was all her fault that Jara was gone. Jara should have at least stayed to become a master of magic too! "What have I done," she mumbled aloud.
    ***
    tab Jara had run as far as she possibly could. She had gotten as far as she had, all in one day and one night. She was at least five miles from her camp. No, she had completely abandoned her life with her childhood friends. It had taken her that long to even come close to a town.
    tab She was practically dying of hunger and thirst. She decided she had to carry on a bit longer before resting, she had to eat.

    Chapter Three: Kairia

    tab Jara rushed through the town till she finally found a safe alleyway. Angrily, she replayed the scene in her head. It went something like this:
    ***
    tab Jara walked into the general store to buy something to eat. As she entered, she heard something whizzing by her. An arrow stuck out of the wall next to her. She froze, then slowly looked around at the bar. There were people staring at her!
    tab She dropped into her well-trained fighting crouch. "Are you trying to kill me? What did I do to you? Heck, I've never even seen you before!"
    tab He replied back very cheesily, "No, you are an outsider. Outsiders are not welcome! Now leave or I will have to call the security on you!"
    tab Jara growled, "I'd like to see you try!"
    tab The man picked up a horn and blew into it. "Aw, crap!" Jara cried, turned, and ran.
    tab As a matter of fact, Jara ran until she got to the alleyway that she was in at that exact moment. Unfortunatly, she wasn't the only one in that particular alley.
    ***
    tab Jara heard a voice behind her say, "Outsider, huh? Time do do away with you then!"
    tab She whipped around to see a chubby man coming at her, "You've gotta be kidding me!" she cried. She underestimated him hugely. The next second, he was upon her, and in the next second, he had her pinned to the ground.
    tab "Aargh!" she cried out, but even if there was someone there, they wouldn't've helped her anyways.
    tab He started trying to drag her over to a large van, but she flipped him over her shoulder, but it was hard! He was way too fat! burning_eyes She was about to be caught, but in the nick of time a girl jumped out and knocked him off his feet, where Jara used materials from his van to tie him up and gag him.
    tab The girl stood up and brushed herself off, her face in shadow.
    tab Jara awkardly approached te girl, saying, "Erm... thanks,I couldn't have-"
    tab "Shut your trap and save your breath. Gimme a break... seriously."
    tab sweatdrop
    tab She laughed and stepped into the light, "Ah ha ha! You are hilarious. I was waiting to see if you had it handled before I came in. So, I'm Kairia, and you are...?"
    tab Jara could only stare in awe. Kairia was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. She had orange-ish hair, cherry-red lips, a small nose, and round, green eyes. "I'm... Jara."

    Chapter Four:The Decision

    tab Next thing Jara knew, Kairia was dragging her along the road to a different alley. "What are we doing?" asked Jara, very confused.
    tab "We're going to get some others to travel with!" she continued, "You know it's dangerous for only two people to travel alone!"
    tab Jara knew she had a point, but was still uncomfortable having a lazy bunch of hoboes in her group. She groaned, "Why alleyway jerks? I can't stand to have people who can't fight for themselves going along with me like they're so cool"
    tab Kairia stopped and turned around, "Well, I guess I'm an "alleyway jerk", so if you don't want me in your group, that's fine, but I want others than just ourselves."
    tab Jara knew Kairia was right, and decided not to underestimate them. As she knew, doing so could just lose your happy little fearless life for you. Besides, stupid gangsters generally carried switchblades.
    tab "Alright," she decided, "I think we should get some runaways in our group, they could come in handy at any given time. So, do you know who to start with?"