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Running was all he could think of; running until he could run no more. If he slowed down, if he stopped, he would die.

He had been running for what seemed like a breathless eternity. The Guma, sleek and agile, was on his heals, living for the chase, and the slowly tiring meal before him. Darien unsuccessfully tried to outmanuver the cat like beast at every twist and turn, but it knew its territory too well. Darien knew that his only chance was swiftly coming up. The Guma was fast, but it couldn't jump far, as it was fairly heavy. If Darien could clear the gorge, He would finally be free of it.

The gorge was in sight now. He wasn't completely sure he could clear it, but he had to try. Ending up as dinner for this creature was not an option he'd like to take. Closer, ever closer they got to the gorge. It seemed it was going to take an eternity to get there. He felt he had been running for days. Closer now. Only a few more feet, and...

Thud. Darien's foot caught an outstretched root. As he fell, he unsheathed his knife, twisting around so the knife was between him and the guma. A split second later, everything went black.

"Are you okay?" A very beautiful and strangely familiar voice asked out of the shadow lingering over him.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
He felt a small hand pressing lightly on his chest. His head hurt too much to open his eyes to see what was going on.
"Your heart is still beating, so you can't be dead. What happened to you?"
"Uuuhhhnnn..." was all he could get out.
He heard a slight gasp from the shadow above him. "Hey! Can you hear me? What's your name? Are you ok?"
She was leaning in closer to him now; he could feel hear breath on his face. He really wished she wouldn't ask so many questions...

Slowly and painfully, he managed to open his eyes. Blinding light, except for the shadowy form leaning over him, was his reward. As his eyes focused, he gasped in shock at how beautiful the woman above him was. Her long, gleaming black hair fell over one shoulder, almost touching his face. All of her facial features were breathtaking, and her wide-eyed, innocent looking icy-blue eyes stared down at him. As he lost himself in the infinite depth of her eyes, she smiled slightly and blushed.

"Uuhhnn..." His right arm was pinned to the ground. Finding he couldn't move it, he painfully rolled his head over to see what the problem was. Slowly his vision focused on the large cat laying dead on his arm, his knife solidly imbeded in its chest. Well, that was pure luck, he thought.
"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up. May I ask your name?"
With some effort, he managed a whisper. "D...ar...ien..." Apparently his arm wasn't the only thing the Guma had landed on. It felt as if at least a few ribs were broken.
"Darien?"
Darien nodded slightly.
"Well, Mister Darien, I'm Sarah. What are you doing way out here, anyway? I didn't think anyone would come this far out." Sarah stood and signaled to someone.
"Darien, can you move at all?" She looked him over. "Never mind. Grell, would you please come help Darien to his feet?"
A huge arm went under the Guma, lifting it up and out of the way like a toy. Grell then grasped Darien's sides and brought him to his feet. When he let go, Darien
almost fell back down. "He no stand by himself." Grell said in a slow, lumbering voice as he brought Darien back to his feet.
"Thank you. Darien? Where are you from? There aren't any cities or villages for miles. You're not from Felgarad, are you?"
Darien stared at her blankly.
"Well, if you're not going to answer, I guess we'll have to take you to the castle. I know someone who can help you."
Castle? There weren't any castles this far south, he thought to himself.

Sarah walked out of his line of sight as Grell shifted Darien's weight to keep him upright. A moment later, the eerie, meoldic sound of an Ocarina pierced his head. The tune sounded familiar for some reason, yet he couldn't recall where he'd heard it before. When the music stopped, he heard the flapping of wings and a loud, monstrous scream. Tilting his head slightly, he caught a glimpse of a silvery white dragon as it ladned gracefully in the clearing in front of them. It was fairly large; stretching its neck, it could probably reach the tops of the trees, and had an immense wingspan as well. Grell picked Darien up and started walking toward the Dragon. The sudden movement made Darien black out again.

Felgarad Castle, the largest, most fortified castle in all of Terra, was built on a spine of mountains that started at the eastern edge of the continent and ran to the western ocean. The Castle was in the middle of a grand city, which in turn was surrounded by a very high and very large wall. The only access to it by foot was through the immense gate at the base of the wall, which was under constant watch by heavily armed guards. Most of the traffic came from the air. Airships, dragons, anything that could fly came to dock at the castle. Felgarad was a thriving port city, as well as the leading kingdom of the continent.

The silver dragon carrying Sarah, Grell, and the unconscious Darien spriraled down to the top of the castle and landed on the roost. All three passengers dismounted and headed toward the elevator doors.

"Princess! There you are! I told you I don't like it when you go off on your own like that!" The captain of the guard came skidding to a halt in front of Sarah.
"I wasn't alone. Grell was with me, and Silverwing is always with me. Now please, let us pass. We need to get him some help." She pointed at the body hanging over Grell's shoulder.
Sedrik eyed the limp bundle that Grell had slung over his shoulder. "But princess, do you know if it's safe to bring him in here? What if--"
Sarah cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Look at him. Does he look dangerous to you? I thought not. Now, please move! I don't know how bad his wounds are." With a sigh of defeat, Sedrik moved out of the way. Sarah and Grell walked through the large carved Iron doors into the elevator. Sedrik followed behind them, wondering just what this person had in mind to do when he got better.

As the elevator came to a halt, Grell stepped out with Darien still on his shoulder and turned to Sarah. “I take him to Sanctuary for you.”
“Thank you. I'll go get Sulis and meet you there.” Grell nodded his head and turned Sarah gently knocked on the intricately carved wooden door. “Sulis, are you there?”
Sulis opened the door, and took a step into the hall. “Yes, princess. May I be of service?”
“I found someone in the woods. I think he needs your help. Would you mind checking him out for me?”
“Yes, princess. I would be more than happy to.”
Sarah and Sulis walked down the hallway in silence, heading left at the junction to go to the sanctuary. Before they reached the door, Sulis asked, “Where did you say you found him?”
“Grell and I found him in the Zimbo Forest. We were miles in when Silverwing spotted him.” At hearing this, Sulis stopped abruptly. “Did he tell you where he was from? Did he tell you anything about himself?"
Sarah, bewildered at the astonishing questions Sulis was asking, looked at her quizzically. “No. All I could get from him was his name before he passed out again. Why do you ask?”
Sulis seemed to relax a bit, yet still seemed a little tense. “No reason. Let’s go see what can be done for him.”

Sedrik was standing just inside the Sanctuary when Sarah and Sulis entered. He popped to attention when the princess entered, and followed close behind her. Sarah turned her head to look at Sedrik. “I trust you didn’t do anything rash, did you?”
Sedrik stopped. “No, princess, I waited for you to get here, as you ordered.”
“Good.” She stopped and looked around briefly. “Where is he? I don’t see him.”
Grell poked his head out from above the fountain. “Back here, princess. He laying on bench.”
Sulis walked up the stairs and sat on her knees next to Darien. Sulis lifted her hands over Darien, placing one over his chest, and one over his head. She bowed her head and began reciting a spell in the ancient dialect of her long dead people. She paused briefly and turned to look at Sarah. After a moment of thought, she started the spell over. This time, strands of white light drifted down from her fingertips into Darien’s chest and around his head. As she continued the chant, the wounds on his head slowly faded away. Finishing the chant, she stood and looked to Sarah. “He should be fine now. He needs to rest, to regain his strength. Grell, could you please take him to the guest room and lay him on one of the beds?”
“Yes, Sulis.” Grell replied as he bent to pick Darien up.
Sarah followed behind Grell as he left the Sanctuary. “I want to be there when he wakes up. I have some things I want to ask him.”
“You're not the only one,” Sulis said under her breath. After what she had just seen from Darien’s thoughts, there was much to ask.

Darien eventually became aware of the soft sheets he was laying under. He still couldn’t remember what happened, or how he got to where he was. He also noticed that his arm didn’t hurt as much as it did in the Forest. He opened his eyes to see a very large room. The room had three beds in a triangular shape centered in the middle of the room. He was lying in the bed farthest from the door. To his right, off in the corner, Sarah was sleeping soundly in a chair. She was more beautiful than he had imagined. He sat up on his elbow and stared at her for a while, filling his eyes with every feature. When he was content, he coughed lightly to awaken her.

“Finally awake, I see?” Sarah said as she stretched. “That’s good. You’re up before we expected you to be.” She stood and stretched her legs. She obviously had been asleep in the chair for a long while.
“Why are you here? I mean, why are you the only one in the room?” Darien asked. “You’re not afraid of me? You don’t even know who I am.”
“No,” Sarah smirked, “I’m not afraid of you, and I’m here because I wanted to find out who you were. I at least know your name.” She walked lightly to the side of the bed and sat on it next to him. Now, I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”
“What kind of questions?” Darien asked, starting to get nervous.
“Well, for starters, what were you doing in the forest? Hardly anyone ever goes out
there. And, what was that large animal you killed?”
Darien thought for a moment. “Oh. The Guma. He must have fallen on my knife. A
Guma, as you noticed, is a rather large feline that lives in the Forest on the southern part
of the continent. What it lacks in speed, it more than makes up in ferocity. It will chase its prey until it catches it, or it loses it.”
“Southern? But you were almost at the edge of the northern part when I found you. What was it doing up there?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t even think of that until now.”
“What about your purpose of being out there in the first place?”
“I…live in the Zimbo forest. My village isn’t too far from where you found me. The gorge there runs all the way to the southern edge of it.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “You live out there?!? I’ve been going to the forest since I was old enough to protect myself, and I’ve never found a single village!”
”Well…there is my village, and four others.”
“What in the world are you doing out there? And how come I’ve never seen anyone?”
“That’s because they don’t want you to. The villages are covered in a shroud of magic, camouflaging it from the rest of the world. You can’t enter it unless you have one of these.” Darien pulled an odd looking Talisman from around his neck and held it out to Sarah. It was made of bone, it seemed, and was oddly warm to the touch. It had a circle of five gems encrusted in the center, each a different color. The White gem, at the top of the circle, was larger than the others.
“Why is this one bigger than the others?” She asked.
“It tells others which village I’m from. I’m from Z’ karna, the city of Spirit.”
Darien stopped and took the Talisman from Sarah. “Wait a minute. Why am I telling you all this? I don’t even know who you are. What are you going to do to me? Get the information you need and then kill me?”
Sarah looked shocked. “No, I just wanted to know more about you…” She looked at the ground and blushed slightly. “You seem, somehow, familiar to me. I wanted to know why.”
“Ok, well, you know enough for now. Go tell your master or whoever that I’m not going to say anything else.”
Sarah jumped off the bed, hand on her hips, and glared at Darien. She stormed off out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Darien was taken aback. What did he say that made her so mad? He didn’t know, and his head hurt too much to think about it, so he lay down and fell into a restless sleep.

"I still don't trust him, princess." Sedrik said uneasily. "We don't know much about him, and if what you say is true, you know nothing good has ever come out of that Forest..."
"Hush. I will not pass judgement until I find out more about him. There is much still I need to ask him. Now, please leave. I would like to be alone for awhile."
"But--"
"You heard me. I wish to be alone."
"Very well, your highness..." Sedrik said as he clapped a fist to his heart and left.
Sarah was still interested in Darien. She never knew about all the villages in the Forest; she had never heard anyone mention them before. Still, that doesn’t mean they don’t really exist, she thought to herself. Sarah hopped off the chair and headed for Darien’s room.

As she rounded the corner, she suddenly stopped and jumped back. Peeking around the corner, she saw Darien coming out of the room. He looked around cautiously, and headed down the hall in the other direction. Interested, she followed. He stopped at the intersection, and looked around.

No one around… I wonder where everyone is. Darien thought as he headed toward the elevator. He started forward, the elevator in sight now. Just as he got to the other side of the intersecting hallway, Sedrik tackled Darien from the side. “Where do you think you’re going, you scoundrel?!” They hit the floor with a clang and wrestled around for a moment before Darien got out of Sedrik’s grip and rolled away. As he stood, he drew his Dagger. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed? I’m not afraid to fight you!”
“I knew you were up to no good the moment I laid eyes on you!” Sedrik drew his sword, and lunged at Darien. Darien dodged the attack, and hit Sedrik in the back with the pommel of his dagger, knocking him to the ground. He tried to jump on the prone fighter, but Sedrik rolled over and sprung to his feet. Sedrik swung his sword as Darien hit the ground, but only managed to knock the knife away from his flailing opponent. The knife went skidding across the ground, and finally stopped at the feet of a looker-on.

“What’s this? A fight! Ho, but it has been many a year since I’ve seen a good fight…” The spectator said. Sedrik looked up, popped to attention and clapped a fist to his heart. “Your Majesty! I am sorry for this. I…”
“Daddy!” Sarah came running out from around the corner and stood beside the King. “What are you doing down here?”
“I heard that we had a visitor, and I came to see him, only to find him in a brawl with my Captain of the guard!” He said as he chuckled lightly.
Seeing the opportunity, Darien jumped to his feet, pulling a small knife out of his shirt. He jumped onto Sedrik’s back, and held the knife to his throat. Startled, Sedrik stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
“Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you, you bag of rusted bolts!” Darien said.
“I-I-I-I—“ Sedrik stuttered.
“Ho, good lad, please put down your weapon. He attacked you because that’s his job. If you kill him, I will have a frightful hard time finding a replacement!” The King chuckled.
Cautiously, Darien released Sedrik and sheathed his knife. Sedrik turned around, pointing his sword to Darien’s Chest.
“Well now, before you two go at it again, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself? I mean, being a visitor in my Castle, I assume I’m at least entitled to know your name.”
Darien pushed Sedrik’s sword away, and took an animated bow. “I am Darien, from the city of Z’ Karna, at your service.”
“Well met, lad. I am Corbin Griphonhart, King of Felgarad and all the surrounding lands. I, too, am at your service.”
Darien suddenly noticed Sarah and blushed. “I’m sorry if I said anything to offend you. I didn’t know…”
“It’s ok. I should have realized, you’d never know who I was.”
The King perked up. “Hold a second. Z’Karna? Praise the gods, there are still people in the sacred cities?”
Darien suddenly became alert. “You know about the ancient sities? How?
The King gave a smile as he reached into his shirt and pulled out a small bone amulet, similar to the one Darien had, only the bottom left gem, Tiger-eye, was bigger than the rest. “This amulet has been passed down in my family for many generations. My ancestors were from Taeralaz, the City of Earth, located in the Tramour Mountains. I know all about the cities, and their locations.”
Darien shook his head. “The ancient cities are no longer occupied. The cities came under attack by beings from the ethereal realm about a hundred years ago. At that time, the Great Shamans had gathered to erect magical barriers to hide the cities from the outside world. Something went wrong during the ceremony. We still don’t know why, but the spell backfired and opened a rift. Nobody was prepared for the attack. The elders stayed and defended the Crystals, while everyone else fled. The surviving villagers fled the forest and lived on the open plains for many years. Eventually, they attempted to return to the cities, but they could not be found. After setting up villages near where the cities were thought to be located, the citizens of T’Leth stumbled upon the Water City. The Shamans had managed to erect the barriers after all. Their purpose was now twofold; to keep everyone out, and keep the ethereals in. When they entered the temple, they found the elders dead inside, apparently dying while guarding the crystal. They locked themselves inside to protect it for as long as they could.” Darien lowered his head, shaking it slightly.
“It’s ok, lad. You don’t have to say anymore. I do have some questions for you, though. Are the crystals safe? And what ever happened to the ethereal beings?”
“The crystals are safe, but we don’t know what happened to the ethereals. The new shamans copied the spells around the ancient cities and erected the same barriers around our villages. We haven’t been bothered since.”
“Well, that’s good news, then. The world as we know it would be swallowed by chaos if those crystals are destroyed.” The king sighed with relief. “Well, since you’re here, would you like a tour of the castle? Maybe wander around the town?”
Darien shook his head. “Thank you, but no. I’d rather get home; I’m sure my father is worried about me.”
“Well, if you are, could we be of any service? Give you a ride, maybe?”
Darien shook his head. “No, I will walk. It will take me a while, but I will get to see the land
beyond the Forest at least once.”