The day was quiet. Shynthriir would normally love to be alone where it isquite, but now it bothered him. Now it frightened him. Now, it hinted at dead. Behind that wall of silence there could me a man, a man waiting to finish the job he had sarted so long before


Shynthriir's parents were a paranoid couple, always looking behind their shoulders, always looking out for trouble. They were wanted, wanted to die. They had both commited a crime so terrible that the very mention of it would get you killed, which is why it is not mentioned here. They had had a baby, a boy, not but a few years ago. His name was Shynthriir.

The father was carrying the young boy in his arms as they both ran from the man who was after them. This man was powerfull beyong that of a small army, Shynthriir's parents had little hope to live.

They all ran, with little Shynth not knowing about what is going on or what is to happen. His parents needed to egt to the surface, the one place this man was not able to get to. The man hated the light for it would turn his body to ash at the presense of the sun's rays. They needed to get there, it was their only chance.

Closer they got to their destination, but closer still the man got to them. They were fast, but he was faster. They could see the light, the could feel tha warmth of the sun's rays on their faces when the man chasing them got close enough for a spell.

Shynthriir's mother was frozen in place, she was not stone, but there was no way to escape the holding spell that was on her. The man was about to cast it on the father, but he was again too far to cast the spell. He ran the last bit with all his might and then cast the spell once again when he caught up. The father shouted Nooo!! but his voice was lost as his body stiffened. The force of the stop sent Shynthriir flying from his father's arms and then into the open, onto the surface.



Shynthriir barely remembered those awefull times, but he spent a good amout of time learned about his past and now he knew, he knew the awefull true. The man after his parents had found a powerfull wizard that cured him of his reaction to light. He was walking the lands of Imythess searching for the kill that he missed so long ago.

Shynthriir was standing ontop a sand dune in the desert. The wind was blowing slightly, his hair, for his hood was not on this day, was blowing freely in the wind. The sun was low in the east horizon, the day had just begun.

The man was said to live in these parts and Shynthriir felt himself powerfull enough now to face his past and rid the man who killed his parents from the land. This was to be the fight, the showdown to the death.

Master Ace slowly walked across the desert sand. His ruby scaled wings folded around his body and protected him against the blowing sand. Ace's mind wandered amiss a chaos of thoughts. He tried to think of something to clear his mind, but only disturbing thoughts entered his head. Greater despise of his father arose as he thought more of the disturbing words he had heard on that lone dark night he had rescued his mother. Ace knew that there was a chance that his father did not exactly sct upon his own free will, but could still not see what would make one experiment upon their own child, let alone their wife. When Ace asked Reis if she thought that Clawd was the same person she had married, she would stay thoughtfully quiet for a few moments before changing the subject.

The winds rustled through Ace's long crimson hair. Ace looked up and was surprised to see a familiar figure not too far away. It was Shythriir. He rembered that the drow had gone t one of his classes, but had not seen him since. Hoping that the precense of another would disspell his dark thoughts Ace called out to the drow. "Shynhriir, Long time no see. Who has it been?" Ace asked warmly.

Shynthriir heard someone coming in the background and out of the corner of his eye, he saw who it was. It was Ace, the teacher that he had had at the school of magic long ago. It did little to comfort him for the trial ahead, the man, the beast that lived here.

He sighed and then looked up at Ace, then he looked out in the opposite direction, thinking that there was someone there, but there wasn't. Then he looked back to Ace. Things have been better, I can not lie. Again he looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was there, still there was nothing. I am waiting for someone; at least hoping they will show up. His voice wasn't happy, wasn't willed with the common tone that he normally would hold in it, it was empty, empty and slightly scared.

Ace was not pleased with Shynthriir's voice. He recalled that Shynthnriir had struck him as a shy one when he saw him in academy. Ace wonderif if this had anything to do with himself or other forces that pulled on the drow. "Is it me or the person that you are waiting for that you are not so enthusiastic about meeting? Apparently neither of us seem to instill enough joy in you to distill they other and quite possibly it could be both," Ace said calmly. " If you do not care for my company, just say so and I shall be gone," Master Ace said almost saddly as he opened up his large ruby wings. Ace doubted that what bother Shythriir was himself, but knew that what ever it was might be a private matter. Ace knew well of private matters and had a few of his own, but they ussually could not be handled in privacy.

Shynthriir sighed in the wind, a low, soft sigh that only showed the stress of the situation. He pulled away a stray strand of hair and pulled it back behind his right ear. He looked behind his back once again so as to make sure that the man who he was watching out for had still not come or was not coming up behind him to take Shynth's life as he did the life of his parnets.

He turned back to face Ace. The look on Ace's face was that of concern. Do you still know of your parents Ace? Again, Shynthriir sighed, then tilted his head to face the sand beneath his feet.

Ace's eyes wided instantly after Ace heard Shynthriir's question. "What do you know of my parents?" Ace said quickly in response to the question. The question was a volitale one. After listening to his own accelerated heart rate for several moments and watching Shynthriir's gaze to fis own feet, Ace found that the question was not meant in the way that Shynthriir had meant. Ace slowly tried to calm his heart rate and replied, "Yes and no. Do.....you still......" Ace's voice was still quavering. He could not muster the energy to finish the question, especially when the answer seemed so easily known. Ace now knew his mother. It had tooken what seemed an etenity to find her, but he had done so. His father lost to the winds.

If Shynthriir had seen the expression on Ace's face when he had asked the question, he might have wondered about what thought, what memories, he had brought back to Ace's own mind. Shynthriir had been facing the sand though and didn't see anything of the such, and even if he did, he would have been too cought up in his own feelings to care.

The torment in his heart was greater now that it had ever been, he knew that he needed to tell this to someone, expecially someone that would listen. Ace was here and Shynthriir knew that he would listen. He took in a breath and slightly let it out as to calm his nerves. I knew my parents, Shynthriir paused for a brief moment, Once. Again a pause filled the air as Shynthriir worked to find the words he was looking for.

I was only a young child though and I no longer have memories of them. He looked up to Ace's face now, continuing his short tale. I searched to find them, to face my past and meet the people that left me alone as a child oh so long ago. I never found them, for they were... Shynthriir couldn't say it. He wouldn't let himself believe the truth that his parents, the ones he never knew, were gone from Imythess, were gone from any place Shynthriir mught look.

Master Ace was saddened by Shynthriir. He too had searched for his lost parents. He once again felt selfish. He had memories of his father and mother, no matter how faint and few. He had more than others could hope for. He recalled when he envied Verling for his loss of memory. It seemed at the time that it would be better not to know of the gaps in his life, but he knew now that if that were the case his mother would still be sitting in that abysmal castle waiting patiently for her son to save her. Now that Ace had found Reis he had no longer the same amount of room to speak of woes and troubles. He did one last large gap to fill in his past and had now knowledge that it was much bigger than formerly thought. His father was responsible for everything wrong in Ace’s life whether inadvertently or on purpose. Ace despised of seeing his own father as an evil man, but it seemed that it was not too likely to be otherwise. Master Ace shook his head. How could he be thinking of himself at a time like this?

Shynthriir’s solemn silence was all that was needed to know the state of his parents. Master Ace knew of ways around death. Master Ace thought of offering the idea, but quickly dedcided against. Most people such means as profaning the dead rather than bringing them to life.

“I have said tales of my own life, but I doubt they compare to yours,” Ace replied calmly. His own eyes stared over the countless dunes in the distance.
“Who is it you are waitin….” Master Ace said before gaining a grasp of who it was that he was waiting for.

Shynthriir looked behind him yet again. He was in fact waiting for the very man who had killed his parents. He was rumored to live in this part of the Imythess. The desert was large however, and finding exactly were the man was would be a difficult task indeed. The man, he began and then took a break so as to finish teh sentence, The man who took the lives of my parents. He looked back to Ace, looking him in the eyes.

He is here. Somewhere. He left it at that. There was nothing more to say, Ace would easily be able to fill in the blanks, it should all be clear to him now.

Ace was now curious. How did Shynthriir know who killed his parents? Why had the man killed Shynthriir's parents? Would the man know of Shythnirr's coming. Ace felt that he should not bobmbard the drow with personal question, not now at least. "Does this man seek your death? You apparently have come here of your own accord and seek to avenge your parents, but does he have any way of knowing that he is now the hunted?" Ace asked. By Shynthriir's words this man's location was not precisely know and an oranged meeting between the two of them seemed currently highly unlikelly. Ace turned his gaze from Shynthriir's to where Shynthriir kept glancing. Ace merely stared into the distance. If Shynthriir were allowed to do this for long enough he would soon be met with mirages. Ace turned his head back to Shynthriir and waited for his reply.

I was battling in the arena with the goddess of blade, if you don't already know, she is like me, a drow. I knew not where my people lived before then, I didn't know where to look for my parents. The goddess told me these things and I followed them to Menzobarranzen. I learned there the fate of them both, and learned the name of the people who seeks my deadth. He meant to kill everyone in hy house, though I was the one that escaped.

He now walks the soil, looking for me. I might have come here on my own, but I doubt not that he knows that I am here. I am not here to kill him, though if things end up so, then I surely wouldn't not enjoy it. I came here to face him, and thus, face my past and oversome the death of my parents.

It was not easy for him to tell the tale, though he seemed more and more strengthened the more he told of it. He took a large sigh as if to hold in teh tears that surely would have come if it was not taken. He then looked back behind him, though this time it was not in fear, but in hope for what was yet to come.

Ace was glad that fear and sorrow no longer shown on the drow's face when he looked over behind him. Ace knew Verrona some what well. She had helped him relearn the drow langauge and learn how to reasonable use his two-sided sword. He was glad to hear that she had helped Shynthriir. "Vengence is not alawys through death. You surly don't mean to meet the man who killed your family say hi and become good freinds. What will you do when you face your past. What will you say and ask. What do you think he wil do?"

"Were you able to find out why all of your house was wanted dead?" Ace asked but soon nocticed that the question was unimportant. Knowing why they were wanted dead would not really help too much in most situations.

It is the way of the drow, my people. My family was gaining too much power, and he was the one in threat because of it. He killed us to get rid of the competition, though he will never be finished until he has killed my entire family. I am all that is left. Shynthriir turned back to face ace and then continued, I do not plan to kill him, though it is probably destened to happen in a fight, a showdown to the death. As for what I will do when he comes, I do not know, it will be unpredictable I would guess. The wind picked up and Shynthriir's hair started to dance in the wind, he looked at that moment as if at the peak of his power.

Ace did not feel like questioning him further, but that didn't stop the questions from forming in his mind. "What did he truley expect to happen when he met the killer of his family? It was predictable as the shining of the sun of day, Only a small chance of an eclipse. One of them would die. The Assassin would not miss his chance to take his prey. There was the possiblity that they may escape death by fleeing from the fight at the right time, but there would doubtless be a fight or an assassination depending on how quickly the assassin found out of Shynthriir's arrival," Ace thought to himself. "Are you sure he does not live in the city? I beleive that might be more comfortable, though if he has continuted to busy himself with simmilar work I could see why he would seclude himself in the middle of nowhere," Ace said as he turned his gaze into the distance. His eyes rollng across the dunes not looking for anything in paticular.

Shynthriir thought about it briefly. I know that he lives out here, he started, Because this is what I was told. Shynthriir thought a little more and then corrected himself, Wait, no. This is what I overheard in several conversations in the city. That was the truth. I aknowldge that this information might be false, but he was cut shor tby something gleaming in the horizon.

It was as it the very mention of the man had called him back to his home. In the distance, Shynthriir knew that he saw something, someone. Was it perhaps the man which he had waited so long to meet, to confront, or evern perhaps to kill if the winds of fate blew that direction. Shynthriir shielded his own eyes with his hand, in turn also holding back his hair which was wisking in his face, the face with an expression which showed all that needed to be seen.

Ace continued to scan the dunes as Shynthriir spoke. Aparently this assassin that sought after him was a reputable villan. Ace's ruby eyes turning back quickly to Shynthriir as he paused. He followed the drow's eyes to the figure in the distance. he had his doubts that the man would randomly be found wandering through the desert, but it appeared that fate might have pulled out it's hand. Ace casted a quickened spell as he rested his hand upon Shynithriir's shoulder. "Do you know what he looks like?" Ace asked as Far sight began to take effect. Shynthriir would now be ablle to see his target three times as good though it would do little good if he had no idea what his assassin looked like.

Shynthriir didn't know what the man would look like, he had only seen him once and that was back when he was only two feet tall. His vision was enhansed though, by aid from Master Ace, and then he saw the man more clearly. I presume, he started to say, That he is adorned in black robes with red trim. He was describing the person who he was looking at, His eyes gleem with fire and they seem to tell you his evil desires. Behind him, there was grand wings, the wings where what were twinkling in the distance, The wings seem to flicker constantly, though they are not white, like normal wings. They are black and it seems as if souls are trapped in them. It was a horrid sight indeed. He looked to Ace and then asked, Have you perhaps seen him before?

Ace knew he didn't know the man. He only knew three male drow and one was standing next to him. The other two were Veronna's brother and Ace's gaurdian, and Ace was sure that neither of them were the assassin and could not be so. Acted casted far sight on himself, to get a veiw of what Shythriir spoke of anyway. By his 'presumtion' it was apparent that he was decribing this drow they were looking at. "I can not say I have seen or met him before; however, the wings seem familiar in a strange sense. I have not seen anything like them though, I beleive I have read of them somewhere," Ace replied as he wondered if the drow in the distance saw them as well.

The feeling was very cold as it ran down his back, his spine. The feeling was not a pleasing one. For a moment, his eyes and the eyes of the man locked, it seemed as if he knew Shynthriir was there, who he was, why he came, how he knew to come. It seemed as if this man now knew the seemingly bottomless depths of Shynthriir's mind and soul. It was not a pleasent feeling at all. Shynthriir droped to his knees from the chill, it was starting to pain him, he didn't know if this man was the one responcable for it, though he knew that this was something far from being natural.

The Harsh wind about both Shynthriir and Ace because stonger, they started to move fast. Shynthriir then paniced, it was one thing if he fell to this man, though he would never allow another person to fall to his own fait. Ace was here, and Shynthriir feared the worse. Ace was powerful, Shynthriir knew that, though he was doubting his power against this man along with the power of Ace. Run, Shynthriir shouted to be heard over the increasing winds, Save yourself while you can. Shynthriir held a warried look on his face, both for himself and Ace, He has no nead for you, if you stay, you will only be in his way and he will kill you. His fears made his doubts grow. He thought he had everything so planned out, though he now realized that this was nothing you could plan for, this was the end, all hopes seemed lost.

Ace wathed Shynthriir from the corners of his eyes. What ever it was that droped Shynriir to his knees was unknown to Ace. Perhaps fear. Perhaps relization that this was reality, the assassin would not be settling for small talk as Shynthriir seemed to beleive in his naivity. Perhaps he even sensed the power of this being. Ace watched as the harsh wind trailed sand behind it's circle around them. Ace heard Shynthriir's words, but paid them little head. He would not run. Not when his freind and student cringed to the ground. Shynthriir may not have been know well enough to call a true freind, but Ace tusted his word.

Ace's flame red eyes returned resolutely to Shynthriir's assassin. Flames wreathed around Ace's claws. This Assassin seemed to be a mage of some sort or at least a goon with magical gadets. Ace's only fear was that too much magic would be used. If that were the case, Ace could be more a hazard than an aid. If it can to that point Ace hoped he would be quick enough to stop himself before he lost control of his body. "Am I to leave when you cower ber him, unable even to defend yourself? Besides you have better chance of leaving when you aren't on your own," Ace yelled over the winds.