CHAPTER XII

Zes grabbed hold of a fallen comrade and pulled him to his feet. "You okay?" Zes asked, however the paladin did not reply. Zes then quickly hoisted the paladin on top of his shoulders and he Su-n (the term for flashstep) back to safety. Zans knowing that Zes is saving surviors, is single-handedly pushing back the skeletal troops with huge shockwaves that shatters bones. Then suddenly, a huge jet of green flame shot out from behind the skeletal troops formation, and headed straight for Zans. Zans quickly shield himself, however he flew backwards when hit. He quickly got up and to his amazement, all the skeletal troops suddenly vapourised. Zans rubbed his eyes in amazement, checking to see if he was dreaming.

"I decided they are only going to hinder the fun, so i vapourised them." A croaky voice suddenly boomed around Zans. Zes felt the magical energy of the person who had spoke and quickly Su-n to where Zans was. "This guy is a low class one, are we expecting someone so powerful so soon?" Zes said immediately as he appeared beside Zans. "Where is it?"

"It? You call me it?" a skeleton with greenish-blue flames surrounding him said, appearing suddenly behind them. Then, the flames surrounding the skeleton lashed out and hit Zes and Zans, sending them flying. "What weaklings, are you sure you two are the one i'm after? i felt a far more powerful presense before in this area." The skeleton looked around as if searching for something. "Tell me... where is your leader? I, one of the five skeleton generals, command you two to answer me!"

"We have no leader, we are fighting for ourselves." Zans replied, standing up and in one swift action punched the ground, sending a huge shockwave out towards the skeleton general. The general laugh and stomp his foot on the ground, and immediately, the shockwave ceased. "Weaklings, your magic won't work on me." Then, he gather a huge ball of green fire and raised it above his head. "Now tell me, where IS YOUR LEAD-" the general stopped suddenly and smiled. "So he has arrived..."

A gigantic black buster sword crashed into the ground behind Zes and Zans, and they turned to see someone dressed totally in black land lightly on top of the sword. The black figure was wearing a tattered cloak, covering a black dragonhide sleeveless top, and black pants made out of unknown material. The person's face was hidden all accept the eyes with black cloth. The person is actually Shadow. He knew Zans and Zes were protecting this area and felt uncomfortable when he felt the skeleton presense nearby.

Shadow mind-talked to Virgil who was observing the battle hidden by the rocky terrian. Virgil only responded by a curt nod before he turned and disappeared.

Shadow shook his head and sighed. He stepped off the sword and pulled it out of the ground. The buster sword was as tall as Shadow was, and when Shadow is carrying it, he gives off a sense of pure danger.

"Who are you?" The skeleton asked, still unable to sense Shadow's aura because of the distance. Shadow pulled a sliver ring out from his pants and slipped it on his thumb. Immediately, his aura disappeared. "I repeat...Who-" the skeleton began to question again but stopped immediately when Shadow appeared in front of it with a single Su-n. The general was shocked by the distance Shadow could travel with one su-n, however he was even more amazed when he couldn't feel any aura coming from Shadow.

"Boo?" Shadow said before he swung his weapon.

xo/- 9:05 AM
the tranquility ;