New Rising

Sam sighed and looked away. "Sorry to bother you then..." He sheathed his sword and spun his shield back around onto his back. "Can I accompany you back to the castle? You seemed to have been heading there." He put his helm back on and his left eye glowed a dull red now that he wasn't suppressing it anymore. He walked alongside her and pointed to the lights. "I'm a knight there. My name is Samuel, and you are?"

Hayato staggered back abit as Naomi hissed at him, blinking a couple times. He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "well gosh miss, I don't know your name, so what else should I call you! Women...", he said under his breath.

She looked at the knight for a moment longer before giving in. "I'm Raine." The girl looked over her shoulder at the fist fighter and the snow leopard. "wait..." she walked silently up to the two. "Why did they take that?" Raine pointed at the indent in her fur. At her silence Raine spoke once more, "It's pretty obvious something was there, they wanted it, and you don't have it now". Raine looked at Sam expectantly, then back to the snow leopard. "Do you have a-" darkness "-a...a.." Her own stutter began to annoy her and she couldn't understand her inability to talk. "a.. secret?"

"I heard that." She declared matter of factly and went over to Sam. "Sam... you have to help me. They took it, one clawed my neck and he took it! I'm going to be in so much trouble when they find out that demons took it..." she had another dry sob and sighed. "I'm gonna need your help again Sam... and if they have it, hopefully they dont have the other half yet, expecially because..." she trailed off and put her hands together, seperating them slowly and sobbing again. She looked over at the other girl named Raine and sighed. "Secret is barely the half of it."

Sam nodded to Raine. "Nice to meet you then." His eyes widened as he saw what was missing around Naomi's neck. "Oh no... oh damn..." He sat down on a tree stump and took off his helm, his left eye bright red as he sighed and looked up at Naomi. "I'm sorry, I thought you could handle yourself Naomi. But now what? And you're right, god save us they dont have the other half yet. And they cant have, or I would know... at least... I think I would know." He punched the ground angrily so that his ungloved fist began bleeding. "I sure hope another adventure with you doesnt end up as bad as the last one..."

Hayato scratched his head as he heard them talk. "Look, folks, I don't know WHY this pendant is important... or I don't get WHY they want it... but one thing's for certain, sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to solve anything!" He smacked his fist into the palm of his hand.

Raine turned sharply as they spoke. Noises. "Look... Can we please just get out of here?" She caught sight of Sam's eye. A sudden pain shot through her head and she dropped to her knees. "ahh!" she looked up at him, cringing. "what the-"...

Naomi turned to Hayato and glared at him again. "You dont get it do you... of course you dont. Let me paraphrase for you. That medalion I protected, is half of a key that could very easily destroy all the light, good, and hope in the world. Not only is that bad, it's bloody horrifying! So dont mind me if I sulk for a minute because I know the great and terrible journey I will have to put my friend through... again I might add... all because I was stupid enough to think that I could be independent at all and see if I could help my friend see what was happening in the forest, and instead, attract all the demons in a hundred mile radius to come attack us because I decided to see if you were safe." She sobbed again and sank down into Samuel's arms. "It's all my fault..."

Now Hayato might seem abit dumb, and even abit insensitive, but when he spoke, he meant well. " Like I said, sitting around beating ourselves up won't solve our problems." He turned around, heading to the edge of the forest. "When you guys are done...", he said as he turned back to them with a determined look on his face. "... why don't we go kick some demon ass and grab it back?"

Sam sighed as he patted Naomi on the back. "It's not your fault Kit... we just have to figure this out." He saw Raine fall to the ground and tried to move, but was pinned by Naomi's shaking body. "Yes, you've figured it out too havent you? Naomi and I were partners several years ago, and the last time something like this happened well... remember that earthquake two years ago? That was us. The medallion split into two parts, one was given to Naomi... and the other half was given to the other side of me. The side that has the left side of my body." He took off his armor and showed the other two how half of his skin was a different shade, and down the torso were a large number of runes and tattoos. "Some say that they battle their inner demons, well, for me it's half right. I am half demon, and so is my other half. My body split in two because I promised to guard her and keep the medallion safe at the same time. So my personality was severed, and so was my body. A greater demon nearby was used as collateral so that I could have two bodies. Two brothers from the same body. Not identical in personality, but in appearance, we're mirror images."

Naomi stood up again and sighed. "Right, well we wont catch up with them, that greater demon that Raine ran into, it would have taken the medallion back to the Demon Lord. For right now, we need to go back to the castle... we need supplies and a rest before we start this journey. My home is open to both of you if you need lodging for the night, I'll cook up a midnight snack if you're hungry. Sam still has patrol tonight but he'll be fine without us in his hair for a bit." She leaned down and kissed Samuel's forehead. "I'm sorry I have to put you through this again Sam... hopefully we can reunite the two halves of you this time, and put everything right."

Raine stood on wobbly legs.. "no.. Not mirror.. Alike but not mirror. I would've recognized you instantly. It took me a while but I see it now. You're other half.. Isn't doing so well. Ill and dying. I know this because" She straightened and pulled half a medallion out of her pocket and held it to the moonlight. "You're other half was in my home. Not but a year ago. Killed my entire village. My family... He let me live and gave this to me saying 'I can't carry it for much longer'... You better be glad I'm this forgiving Sam because part of you killed... everyone I ever knew" Raine sat for a moment at the faces staring at her medallion. She shoved it away quickly and paused before saying "That armored thing.. Here with the demons. Knew I had this.. And didn't take it. They want me to have it. Why?" Darkness Raine was starting to think meeting these people wasn't just a coincidence.

Hayato overhears this, smiling as he turns back to them. "See? Everything's working out fine already! We've got the other half they're looking for, so if they want it, they gotta fight us for it! And we'll be prepared this time." He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sam stood up and took the medallion quickly, handing it to Naomi before continuing. "Same reason Kote gave you the medallion, same reason he killed your family and everyone you knew, because judging by how my left side wont stop tingling and trying to attack you. Must have been the same for Kote's right half. It's because you're a part of the darkness. Not a demon no... something... something more elegant, more... more regal than the scum of the demons. Something much... much more powerful, and yet. If I look deep enough I can see that... yes. You're somewhere in the middle, in... (I can't believe this fits so well but ugh) twilight, so to speak. The darkness inside you must have been more intense in everyone around you, which is why Kote spared you, and no one else." He groaned a little. "He left you alive because you still have a choice."

Naomi turned to Hayato again, exhasperated. "You really are an idiot arent you?" She slipped the other half of the medallion around her neck. "Now they know where we are, the Demon Lord will send his captains to attack and kill us. Kill us you moron. He wants to enslave the light and now he's one piece away from destroying all hope for the Light."

Raine reached out and broke the chain around Naomi's neck, taking the medallion. "Now listen here. If I keep one half of this. Then we are safe. Obviously you two have gone through this before. If he wanted to take it from me then he would've. If you all can trust me. Then they won't take it from me." She shoved the medallion back into her pocket and grabbed a blade off her back, pointing it at them. "As I see it. If they want me to have one half. They'd give me the other. I'll get the other half for you. Who's this demon lord?"

Sam held himself back and sighed. "I just hope in the end, you make the right choice Raine." He twisted a little and sighed. "How do you not know the demon lord? He's infamous all over the world, the worst most powerful demon to ever walk the planet, and he's out to destroy the Light by any means necessary."

Naomi gasped and tried to grab the medallion back from her, cursing a little under her breath. "You'd better not choose darkness... or I will personally kill you. But you can keep that part safe if you want. Deal?"

"I'm not worried about anyone killing me." She looked at Sam for a moment. Half of her drawn to him. The other half wanted to run for her life. Cringing at his eye, she spoke again, "Are we ever going to leave the woods?"

Sam blinked and his eyes went back to orange as he nodded, his helm back on as he trundled off towards the castle, sighing as he felt the same sliced attraction to Raine, half interested, half loathing. "Right, this way... I'll get us through the gates with no trouble..."

As the group began to head back towards the castle, Hayato walked up beside Naomi. "Hey, kitt- er, miss. Look, I want to apologize for earlier. All I'm doing is trying to make a bad situation seem a bit more bearable is all. Can't stand to see a lovely lady in distress." He offered a friendly smiled, his hands behind his back as they walked.

Naomi sighed and nodded. "I know, but you really are acting very thick when you say it cant get any worse and things like that, truth is it usually can" She caught up with Sam and patted his back. "Looks like we've gotten ourselves a troupe this time Sam... things are lookin up already."

Raine walked slowly and fell behind the group walking towards the castle. She took the medallion half and held it in her palm, examining it. "So that's what you are?" The Key to Darkness. "Shutup..." she said quietly. She was about to catch back up to the group when something caught her eye. She did a double take and standing at the edge of the woods to the right of the group was that armored thing, standing and staring. Raine jerked her head forward and ignored this. Catching up to the group she thought to herself that sleep would not come easy tonight.

Sam waved to the gate keeper and he let them in with little commotion. "Found a whole band of vagabonds today Sam?"
Sam laughed a little and smiled. "Nah, just some lost travelers. No need to get excited Thom." He patted Thom's shoulder and he brought the group forward. "Well, Naomi can take it from here, I must return to my post." He bowed to them and quickly ascended the stairs on the wall up to the guard tower and continued his patrol.

Naomi bid Sam farewell and led the other two to her home. It was a bit bigger than the norm and had two floors. "Do either of you want food? I can make some soup and I've got some bread that was out of the oven a few hours ago..." she smiled and showed Raine a guest room. "Hayato... you take the couch."