Nariko plowed her way through the thronging crowd of people that gathered around her. Randomly pushing people out of her way, she even threw one man onto the ground, spilling his drink all across the floor. He stared at his empty cup as if he was heartbroken and Nariko sighed, puffing out her cheeks. Stupid drunks... She muttered.

Once outside the building she turned around to the rest of the people coming out of the inn. "Can you move any faster, you don't need to walk around the people in there ya know. They're all just a bunch o' drunk losers."

Myora ran up to her and whispered in her ear, "Nariko, you aren't telepathic, how did you get in my head?" Nariko just smiled and turned away from her, putting a finger up to her lips.

"Shh... It's a secret." She said, walking off toward the west.

Jeremy laughed at Myora, pointing a convicting finger in her direction. "Ha!" He burst out, "She won't tell you! Ha, ha!"

Myora stuck out her tongue and replied with a sneer, "Yah well she doesn't even like you!"

Jeremy stood still, pouting. Waiting until he was at the back of the group of people to once again begin walking. Nariko turned around after walking for a little while, with a thoughtful expression adorning her face. "So, why are all these peeps here to find Nita anyway?" She inquired curiously.

Kasei also looked down at the man. However, instead of mere threatening, a Goro ninja had appeared. "Here," Kasei said, "If you try anything, this little guy here will slit your throat, capiche?" He finished, still embarrased about earlier, and followed the others out the room.

Orpheous and company followed in silence mostly. Orpheous whispered back to Sovelis, "I would like to talk to you sometime as well, Tempest." The voice was that far beyond his years, with valuable insight. He continued, "She is our friend as well, and whether or not she remembers us, we will risk our lives for her." They stayed in silence, paying for their own room once they reached the inn, because apperently, they were so quite, the twins leading the search party forgot about them. They stayed close by as Nariko, who had just previously came in, fished information from the evesdropper at knife point. The 'forbidden zone.' Interesting name. Finally Oprheous spoke again, "What is the forbidden zone?" He asked the question to the twins, as he did not yet know Nariko well yet. He wanted to introduce himself, but she seemed like the kind of woman who doesn't give a damn. They followed the group, and this was their way of showing that they were coming to 'rescue' Nitara.

Myora and Jeremy sighed, alas, they didn't know much about it. They looked to Nariko for help with the question, and she glanced at Orpheous.

"Well, it's the ruins of a city once known as Mylensia."

Myora gasped, she had heard stories about Mylensia, fairy-tales, just things that adults told children before they fell asleep. She had never known that Mylensia, existed, or, by the look upon Nariko's face, previously existed.

Jeremy nodded at Nariko, remembering the tales as well. He turned back to the others, "My sister and I heard tales of that place when we were children. We never knew that they were true!" He looked shocked, but his eyes had a cold look deep inside them. "Mylensia... The stories of that land are filled with bloodshed and regret. Nariko! I never knew that the stories were real! Please tell me they weren't!"

"They were, all of them." Nariko said dismally, glancing over everyone around her. "Nitara and I went there once, out of curiousity. It crushed us to see what the land had become. Once, before a a terrible tragedy struck the land, it was pleasant. They called it the City of Blossoms, and it was beautiful, the flowers covered the land no matter the weather or condition."

"And every time a gust of wind blew by petals would caress your body." Myora finished for her, remembering the tales from her childhood. She could see her mother leaning over her and her brother in her mind, The petals were so soft that it felt as if they were softer than silk, my little ones. The City of Mylensia was more beautiful than any other city in all of Rahnawyn. She saw her mother grin and her bright blonde hair fall over her shoulders softly.

Nariko nodded, looking down at the ground. She shifted her feet, "Than the sea became infected with a poison. Some sort of demon had come from the west and come into the water, it was an epidemic, and Mylensia slowly began to fall apart."

"First the flowers began to die. And the City of Blossoms lost its beauty that it had been so proud of. The people of the city became depressed, and did not know the cause of their prized blooms destruction. The ground began to die as well, and the soil below them became dry. Their crops would no longer grow and the people were relying upon other cities to supply them with produce." Nariko sighed, and looked up at the clouds slowly drifting by.

"But the other cities of Rahnawyn were afraid. They were frightened by the disease that was spreading through the land, so they exiled Mylensia, and our elders banned the citizens from entering. The elders gathered their energy together and created a seal around Mylensia, fearing that the disease that overtook the land would spread into Rayne and the rest of the Island Shrouded in Mist." Nariko waved her hand above her and sighed once more. Getting ready to continue on with her story.

"Many of the people were still inside the city when it was sealed off, and they began to sicken. They were dropping like flies, becoming diseased like the land. Originally the elders had made the seal so that living beings could pass through, but people began to come through mutated, starving, and... Contagious..."

Myora gasped, she was enthralled with the story. This was more than she had ever heard in mere fairy-tales. It was disasterous, she had no idea how she did not hear of it before.

Nariko's eyes were cold and sadness was etched deep in her irises. She looked back to the people around her and than looked to the west, supposably where Mylensia lied. "The elders strengthened their seal, no living thing in Mylensia could leave, and we all watched as the people and animals within slowly fell apart before us." She looked down and her hair fell over her face, shadowing her features. Her eyes were tearing up, "We all watched as the people in Mylensia suffered, while they were slowly destroyed by this poison that had overtaken their land!" Nariko said loudly, her teeth barring as she remembered the look upon the peoples faces.

"I was only nine at the time, it was ten years ago. But the looks upon the citizens of Mylensia's faces still are etched into my memory, clear as can be." Jeremy walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't touch me Retting!" She snapped quietly, and he slowly lifted his hand off of her shoulder. Her hand wiped off across her eyes and she wiped the moisture off onto her clothes.

She looked up, smiling feebly, "Anyway, Nita and I went to Mylensia. The land is ravaged, it's disgusting! I felt sick when I was there. The seal has broke as of two years ago, and it worries me. I am worried that the people who have taken Nita may have something to do with the poison that destroyed the City of Blossoms..."

OOC: Ooooh, I smells a plot devoloping!

IC: Kasei turned at the mentioning of Mylensia. His ears perked, but then, he realized that he had simply heard wrong. The two sounded the same, but were slightly different. And, not wanting to be seen as an idiot again, Kasei kept his mouth shut this time, though it was obvious that he was confused.

"Destroyed.....by poison, correct? Huh." Kasei said. "If they did, then we will have to capture, not kill, them if we encounter them. I would love to have a chat..." He said.

OOC: You almost did it AGAIN. Mylensia looks like Molystia, the Volgarian's word for their country. Kasei almost panicked there; he was the one who destroyed the country, order of the gods. I'll tell you the whole story when it comes.

OOC: Gosh, there's just no helping it is there? No matter what I say it seems to have some sort o' connection!

IC: Nariko looked at Kasei and smiled feebly once more, "Possibly, I was only a child when it began... There were many rumors though, demons, curses, that sort of things, but when Nita and I saw the land it looked sick. And so that's what we assumed."

OOC: YaY! This time I have returned, WITH A BACKSTORY! Yep, and my umm... Writing ability? Has gotton a lot better.

OoC: Why did you have to come up with this when I just made up a new plot for my book two? (I'm calling it Fever Run now)

IC: "Now that is interesting. I wonder what the cure could be." Cathy stood there with her arms crossed and looking the same as always, mad for no reason. Kayla looked at her and sighed.

"Do you think that the cure could be inside of the land?" Kyle asked.

"Honestly, do you really think that?" Cathy questioned.

"If you two start fighting, I'm going to bop you on the head until you have your minds set straight," Kayla warned. She saw the angry spark between her twin brother and her zora friend.

"Oh, just calm down Princess."

OoC: Where the heck is Sovelis?

Oh, and can someone tell me when someone replies? I don't get them in my Yahoo account anymore(for some odd reason). Everything is the same too.

OOC: Yep, I'll email you okay.

IC: Nariko sighed, "I don't even know if there is a cure. I'm sure though that if it was found, it would be terribly hard to make work. Anything that can cure that disaster of a land has to be extremely powerful."

By this time the band of people had reached the outskirts of the capital city of Rayne. Nariko didn't bear to look up, for the children begging on the side of the street reminded her too much of her childhood. She slowly walked over to them and dropped two golden coins in each of their hands, although there were plenty of children where they were, so it would cost her a small fortune.

She smiled at them and went down to their eye-level, one little girl looked at her with the widest grin and a twinkle in her eye. Nariko put a hand upon her shoulder and whispered someting in her ear, the little girl nodded and immediately went to tell some of the other begging children. They seemed to have formed bands of friends, children which huddled in small groups together.

"It's surprising how many memories just walking through here provokes." Nariko muttered, half to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear. "The children have become more friendly though, when Nita and I had joined them they only had smaller bands. Ones that it was hard to get into, and they were almost hostile. The children then insisted on splitting us up, like we were merchandise to be traded, so Nita and I started our own group."

She laughed as the memories of Nita and herself flooded back into her mind. Shivering upon the sidewalks a distance away from the other children, but laughing pleasantly. The kids around them seemed to look at them enviously, as if they wished they could laugh again, and the small figure that was Nita stood up and walked over to a little boy who was getting shoved around. The boy cowered beneath her green-eyed glare, but Nitara grinned from ear to ear, and offered her hand.

As if remembering him triggered something in her mind she gasped quickly, wondering how Jasper was. "I wonder where he is..." she whispered inaudibly, before looking back up from the ground that had now become hard and cracking dirt.

In the distance there was an ominous black presence looming above the clouds, and Nariko looked at it expectantly. All around it were crumbling buildings, and dead trees, there limbs reaching out as if trying to grasp a last drop of life. The ground was black and the wind blew it away each time even the smallest gale swept by, and there was no sign of any living creature.

"Mylensia." Nariko stated loudly, pointing to the disturbing land.

"Huh. Perhaps, then, I may have been there before?" Kasei says in reply to Nariko's statement. He looked saddened a bit.

They were at the outskirts now. Kasei looked down. Near him was an exceptionaly small group of children. He paused for a minuet, and looked at them. Out of his bag, he brought his own canteen flask, and his two loafs of bread that made up his standard rations. He also pulled out a shiny necklace. The shiekah bent down. "Here. The bread will go stale, so split it evenly amongst yourselves. Thi necklace is worth quite a bit. You can probably get a better meal for it." He said, handing them the drink, food, and necklace.

He stood, and returned to the group, and gazed out on to the distance. The blackened, lifeless land that was Mylensia was ominous, but it made him feel just slightly better; nothing was left of volgaria. Even the soil was burned away. All that remained of the land was stone. Kasei looked on into the decayed land, wondering what could have done this. Whatever it was, it had quite the imagination.

Kasei stepped forward, ahead of the group. "Well, then. Carefull. When do we go there?"

The children that he gave the bread quickly ran into an empty alley-way, in fear of having their meal stolen from them. But one of the little girls stood in the middle of the street waving, "Bye Mister!" she called happily, "Thank you!"

Nariko smiled, she was happy that they managed to cheer up the children. But the sight of Mylensia had saddened her. Suddenly, she fell to her knees in shock, her eyes wide.

"Nariko!" Myora and Jeremy called loudly, running to either side of her. Her eyes seemd to stare into space intself, and they were wide and unseeing, but she did not fall further to the ground.

Nariko gasped once more, and put her hands on her head, cringing with pain. NARIKO! She could hear the voice ripping into her subconcious. But she calmed herself and answered, both out loud and in her mind. "Yes?''

Where are you? Are you okay? Nariko got wide-eyed once more. "Nita?" She struggled out in a small whisper, barely inaudible. Yes, Nariko where are you?

"I'm fine, we're coming for you. Do you know which building you are in? Are you in Mylensia itself?"

Myora looked confused. "Nariko who are you talking to? What's the matter?"

Nariko hissed with pain again and grabbed her head as the voice seemed to leave and than return into her mind once more, Don't come...

"NO! We're coming and you can't make us stop!"

NARI! I don't want to endanger you. I'm going to try to fight them. I don't want you to come.

"Too bad, Nita, I'd never let you fight alone. I've never let you start the party without me." Nariko was on the verge of tears, shattered with the thought that Nitara didn't want her to come to help. "They could kill you. You can't fight them. Can you?"

They're not weak, if that's what you're thinking. But I think that they can deal. Although I don't have much energy, they've been drugging my food and this is the first time that I've been able to use my abilities since I discovered it. I don't think I can use them to escape.

Nariko barred her teeth in denial. "We have to come to help you. There's no way you can do it without us!"

Jeremy looked dumbfounded, and he still had no idea what was going on. Nariko was sitting there talking to herself, obviously in pain.

Don't come. I can't stay in your mind any longer, I'm losing energy. I'm not telling you where I am. Do. Not. Come. Got that Nari?

"NO!" Nariko yelled loudly, in her mind and outloud once again. She banged her fists into the crumbling dirt and coughed as the soil got into her nose and mouth. She grabbed her forehead as Nitara left her mind, and growled in denial. "Crap! Crud!" She muttered, trying to stand up with Myora assisting her, still puzzled about what just happened.

Kasei did not know with whom Nariko just talked. However, he was old. He was able to sense even the smallest bit of power. It was obvious someone had contacted his daughter look-alike through talepathy.

The Rebel Flame kneeled next to Nariko. His size ment he would have had to anywhay. Kasei put a comforting hand on Nariko's shoulder. "Who was it?" He asked kindly.

OOC: Yeah, Nitara, a bit about Kasei: He can sense telepathy, though he himself can't use it. He can find any magic, no matter how weak, and is good at concealing himself.

Ryk growled, racing to the front so that he stood near Nariko. "You were talking to Nitara, right? Know where she is?" he asked, but then realized, that she didn't know at all. "Damn. Damn it all." he growled soon after, kicking a random piece of trash with his clawed foot, and then leaping over to it, and shredding it to bits with his teeth.

"We've got to find her, and we need to do it within the next twelve seconds." he once more growled, spitting out a piece of the shredded garbage.

Cathy glanced at the group and sighed. She crossed her arms and glared at everyone. It was mostly directed at Ryk. "Think, dog boy, how the hell are we going to be able to save her in twelve seconds? Not even a guardian can do that." She ignored the wierd looks she got.

The zora girl looked at Nariko. "Look here, Naruko or Narako or whatever your name is, what's wrong with you?" Cathy seemed to have been getting ready to say something else, but both Kayla and Kyle hit her hard on the head.

"Are you stupid?" Kayla spat. Cathy glared at the brunette. "Never have I seen someone like you. Think, Cathy, think. Or, do you NOT have a brain?" Cathy's glare increased. "Do you think anyone else beside Nitara can make her crumble like that?"

Cathy continued her glaring and muttered slightly, "I hate you, Princess."

OoC: And people wonder why Cathy's my favorite character.

Nariko nodded lightly, "It was Nita." She said in a weak voice, her head still throbbed from the encounter with Nitara in her mind.

She choked back a small sob, "She doesn't want us to come!" Nariko yelled, "She's going to try to fight!"

Myora's eyes widened. "Well, I'm sure she can take them no problem at all." She told Nariko reassuringly.

Nariko shook her head, "She talks to big Myora. They've been drugging her food and she can hardly use her abilities. She's probably been starving herself to contact me."

Jeremy pondered that. Drugging her food? So, Nitara was going to try to fight them without her abilities, without much energy, and without eating. Was she stupid? "You're right Nariko... We have to find her before she gets herself killed."

"Wow." Nariko muttered, "The Retting boy is actually right for once. But I don't know if they'll kill her, but, ya know, she has a way with making people angry."

Jeremy nodded, remembering Nitara's antics from when they were children. She could be so kind, but if she was mad at someone it was just layer upon layer of creative insults and threatening. He smiled, if these people needed something and thought that their stubborn cousin was going to give it to them, they were sadly mistaken.

Two soft thuds hit the ground, and Kasei's Garo companions had rejoined the group. "Well. If she's planning on fighting, she's going to need some backup, won't she?" The Rebel Flame said, standing up. He looked into Nariko's eyes. "It doesn't matter if she says not to go; when you know a freind is in danger, you help them, no matter the consequences. It's just a matter of finding her, unfortunately." He finished, turning to face the destroyed land.

Nitara, huh......sound's familiar.