The next several days the talk of the town was the stranger in the cape. Stories were running wild, every where from truth to completely made up. It seemed as if everyone had a different point of view. Rumors as to who the strange man was after were also flying.
Irene was sitting at the usual table in the YC, she had her head in her hands trying to block out the gossip of the table next to her. They, like most of the town, were talking about the dance.
Ernie walked by her and stopped, “You okay Irene?”
She lifted her head, startled, “Yeah, just tired.”
“Of listening to all those tales of the dance? I can agree with you on that.”
“Everyone seems to have a different twist on the event.” She paled as a burning wave went through her mind.
Ernie looked concerned, “Perhaps you should lie down.”
She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, “I think I’ll just head home.” Getting up from the table, she felt dizzy but didn’t show it.
Ernie watched leave, then returned to his spot behind the counter.

Flash! A young warrior leaped at her, his sword swinging to her right. She slams her sword into his and they lock swords. She shoved the sword hard into his and swept kicked him. He hit the ground with a gasp, his sword flying out of his hand. She pointed the sword at his throat.
“No, please, don’t hurt me.”
“You had your chance, but you refused to join us.” She moved the sword up and plunged it down.
Flash! Irene moved back suddenly, bumping into a tree. She looked around her and found herself in the park. She leaned back against the tree, breathing hard. *What is happening to me…* After she caught her breath and the burning subsided in her mind, she continued to walk toward the forest.
“Hey Irene! Wait up!” a voice yelled from behind her.
Turning around, she saw Chris running to catch up to her.
“Have you heard…”
“Yes, no one in this town thinks otherwise.” Irene said simply.
“I take it your tired of hearing about.”
“Just a little.”
They walked in silence until they were about half way through the park.
“You feeling okay Irene?”
She whirled around to face him, “No! I…” She shook her head. “Sorry Chris… I don’t know what’s going on with me ever since the dance.”
“Have you talked to Jake about it?”
“Jake is the last person I’d want to talk about this with…” She stopped walking and leaned against a tree. “There isn’t anything he could do anyway. If I were to tell him he’d only worry more about me than he already does.”
“He worries for good reason Irene. We all care about each other, I guess we are family.”
Irene smiled slightly at Chris, “Never thought I’d hear this from you.”
Chris shrugged and grinned, “Hey anything can happen.”
Irene suddenly slid down the tree and sat hard onto the ground, she moaned softly as the burning in her mind suddenly increased ten-fold.
“Irene?” Chris knelt down next to her.
Flash! “Irene! You of all people…” An older warrior looked at her astonished.
She laughed at him, “Anything can happen. People do change, Trion.”
The warrior shook his head sadly, “How can you undermine everything you had been taught? You’re fighting against your friends, your comrades.”
Irene looked around at the battle field, she recognized about 50 percent of the fighters.
Suddenly she was up against the tree with the warrior’s sword at her throat. He looked deeply into her eyes as she hissed at him. “I see some of your training has slipped your mind.”
“You wouldn’t do it. I know you too well Trion, you’d never be able to do it.”
He sighed, “My dear, you must understand what your doing. You are on the wrong side. You are meant for the side of light, your sword is the sword of light.”
“Sometimes prophecies can go wrong. I know my place and that is with Darrin and his army.”
“He’s using you. You are profitable to him, but as soon as your worth runs out he’ll kill you and you know it. You’ve seen what he does to those people.”
“I’m not like them.” She hit him hard in the stomach, knocking him back.
“No, you’re not like them.” He said as she rammed her sword through him.
She watched him fall, then looked up at the chaos around her. Bodies were falling on both sides, there seemed to be no clear winner in this battle. Her division had specific orders from Darrin to destroy this threat. They were one of the few remaining divisions of the Army of Light. One of her fellow soldiers, a large lizard creature, came up to her. “We mussst retreat… we are loossssing too many fightersss.”
Sighing she shot off a beam of tan fire above the battle, calling her division off. “Darrin’s going to have our hide for this one.” But she knew it had to be done. Losing an entire division was worse than losing a fight to her, but Darrin could go either way.
As her division broke off, cheering rose up from some of the younger fighters on the side of Light. As she past them the ground erupted into flames around them, their cheering died off quickly. “Consider this a warning. We are not defeated yet.”
Flash! “She just dropped down and didn’t respond.” Chris said to Jake who was also kneeling down by Irene.
Irene shook her head and looked at them. “Jake? When did you get here?”
“Are you okay? Chris said you just zoned out on him.”
She looked away briefly, “Physically I’m fine…”
Jake and Chris helped her up and they teleported back to the base.
Once Jake and Irene were alone, Jake began to pace back and forth while Irene sat in a chair with her arm over the back rest and her head resting in her hand.
“Tell me everything Irene. I know there is something going on with you and don’t tell me its nothing. I’m tired of hearing you lie to me about your condition.”
“I told you I’m fine physically. Nothing is wrong in that aspect.”
“And mentally?”
“Another story…” She said quietly.
“Explain, we have all day.”
“I can’t…” She quickly continued knowing that Jake was going to yell at her, “I don’t know what is wrong with me. I keep seeing events, some real and others that are… unknown. Right before I get one of these images my mind burns.”
Jake stopped pacing to watch her carefully to see if she leaves anything out. “What sort of events?” He asked her softly.
She began to shake slightly as she spoke of the different events. “Jake I don’t know... Can they be true? I know Darrin has lied to me before but how can he create this images that are so real?”
Jake walked up to her and she got up. He grabbed her and brought her to him, holding on to her as she continued to speak.
“They are so real… and it makes logical sense… but why? I wouldn’t do something like that… Do you remember?”
Jake looked slightly surprised at her question, “I never heard of anything about it…”
“But what?” She moved back to look him in the eyes.
“But I don’t remember much of that time. Morphera didn’t get in on a lot of the universal news. I’m sorry but I can’t help you with that.”
She nods slowly. “Even if you could, I don’t think I want to know. But I wish they would go away.”
He held onto her for quite awhile, just being together begun to calm Irene down. It hurt Jake to see her like that, she normally was one of the strong ones, holding up the others. *But even the strong must find their strength somewhere.* He told himself.

The next day Zach was walking down the hallway at school. *Last day thankfully.* The halls were crowded as usual and he waved to those he knew as they passed. Just as he reached his locker he saw a familiar face standing by his locker, fumbling with their locker combination. He couldn’t figure out where he’d seen this kid before. Then he remembered seeing the kid being picked up or chased by the school bullies, but that wasn’t why he remembered him. He took a quick glance over his shoulder as he opened his locker and he froze. *That’s Seth…*
Seth finally pulled his locker open and looked up in Zach’s direction. Recognition flashed across his face and he quickly grabbed his books and slammed the locker shut. As he passed Zach on his way to class he whispered, “Meet me here after school.”
Zach watched him go. *Wonder what he wants.*
After school Zach waited by his locker until the halls were nearly empty. Just when he was about to give up, he saw Seth walking toward him.
“Good you showed up. Now follow me, lets go somewhere where no one will overhear.”
Zach looked suspiciously at him, “How do I know that I can trust you?”
“You’ll have to go on my word, but if you don’t believe me than I’ll let you pick the place.”
The two of them walked toward the forest near their town, unknowing to Seth, close enough to the base that Zach could call for help or teleport to in case of trouble.
“Now what is it that you want.”
Seth paced slightly, as if he didn’t know how to say what he wanted to. “To put it plainly, I want to call a truce between us.”
“A truce?” Zach watched him carefully.
“I know you all won’t trust me, but we do have one thing in common.”
“And that would be?”
“Stopping Darrin. I’ll let you talk to your friends. I’ll be here tomorrow at this time to hear what you have to say.” With that he disappeared behind some trees, heading for town.

“So you’re saying that Seth wants to join us?” Stephanie asked Zach once he finished telling the entire group.
“A truce is what he said.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t quite want to associate with us.” Keisha said.
“Who would blame him for not wanting to have us as an ally?” Chris said. “Even if he isn’t completely angelic, he did upset Darrin. And we all know what Darrin does to people he doesn’t like.”
“So he’s looking for someone to cover for him.” Sarah said. “I don’t like this.”
“I agree with that.” Irene said suddenly, she had been silent through out the conversation. “He thinks that if he befriends us he can either eventually betray us to Darrin, or eventually betray us after we protect him from Darrin.”
“But what if you’re wrong?” Billy said. “He may be truthful in what he said. As we now know, he is like us, from a small town from earth. Darrin may have been his only escape from his present life.”
“True, but can we risk it?” Sarah asked.
After the discussion, Zach and Irene were talking in one corner of the room while the others were chatting about non-work related topics.
“You said that he was picked on a lot?” Irene asked Zach.
“Constantly, the guy was a magnet.”
She nodded slowly. “I guess I can see how he would think Darrin held the release for him.”
Flash! “He helped me through a rough period of time. I was trapped and none of you cared to even help.” Irene said venomously as she spin kicked her opponent. Her division had teamed up with the main army for this battle. The Army of Light had gotten stronger and larger since the last time.
“We didn’t know what happened to you…” The female warrior jumped back and then whipped her bo staff at her.
“Sure. But it’s too late now. Your pathetic army will fall to us.” She countered with her sword and they continued to fight.
Irene suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side and she dropped and rolled as her opponent tried to take advantage of the situation. She looked up quickly to see another light warrior approaching, one she didn’t recognize. He drew his bow and arrow again and aimed it at her. “You killed my grandfather.” He said simply.
She got up and looked at him with indifference. “Care to join him?”
He fired off the arrow and she caught it and snapped it before throwing to one side. “Nice try but it never works the same way twice.”
The warrior leaped at her and they fought. Bow to sword they tried to unarm the other. Irene backed up at one point and they stared at each other, both resting briefly, but ready to fight again.
< Report to me now Cougar. >
Irene looked into the battle upon hearing the voice, then turned to the warrior. “Another time.”
“No, this ends now!” And he started to her, but the female warrior held him back and whispered something to him.
Irene took that time to vanish. She reappeared next to Darrin. He was over-seeing the battle from a hill a short distance away. “Its time?”
He nodded to her. They had planned this attack carefully for the last several weeks. Mixing magic was always dangerous work. If not careful, the spell could back fire. He started chanting the spell.
Irene closed her eyes and her tan fire erupted around her, swirling madly about her. At his signal she released it in a clap of thunder and the two beams of fire collided and wrapped around each other. The ball then shot out across the field infecting each of the light warriors with its deadly fire. They cried out in pain and surprise, and Darrin laughed evilly.
Something cried out behind them and they both turned to see a warrior coming at them, already weakening from the blow. His final cry rang in her ears long after he stopped.
Flash! Irene leaped from her seat with a cry. Zach jerked back in surprise. The room grew dead silent. Irene trembled and held onto the panel for support. Then vanished from the room.
“What happened?” Jake ran over to Zach just as Irene left.
“She was saying something about Seth then went quiet. Then she just cried out and you saw the rest.”
Jake shook his head worriedly. “I wish I knew how to help her.”
Zach looked curiously at him, “I thought Seth’s control of her was gone.”
“She doesn’t think its Seth, but who knows. Whatever it is it’s eating at her. These flashbacks are gradually increasing.”
“What sort of flash backs?”

Irene reappeared in the deep forest, a place she often went to for relaxing. The last flash back had been a slap in the face. She had heard an account of what happened to the Army of Light after her sleep. No one was sure exactly what happened because so few had survived it. All they knew was that it was a duel magic spell that had wiped out the army. *Its true… I can’t believe it… I did that…* She put her arms up on a tree trunk and leaned her head against her arms. *All those lives… I’m no better than he is…*
“Why hello Cougar. Surprised to see you here.” A voice snapped her into reality.
She looked around for the source, then looked up to see Seth sitting on a branch of the tree she was leaning on.
“Too many things on your mind?” He dropped from the branch and faced her. “Now you know how I feel.”
She looked at him and after a moment, “Why did you do it?”
“Join him? What other choice was there? He was the light at the end of my tunnel I suppose. Through his training he helped me through rough times when no one was there.”
Irene looked slightly surprised to hear him say that. But before she could say anything, he continued.
“A lot like you. We are very similar.” He smiled at her realization. “You went one way and I am stuck in the middle afterward.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Truthfully? Nothing, we are the same, yet opposites.” He mused on that though, then he went on, “I suppose your group voted to deny me. It’s not like I haven’t been rejected before.”
Irene walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jerked slightly, but didn’t move away from her.
“We can help you if you’d let us.”
He looked her in the eyes, “How am I to know you all are any better than Darrin? Who is right and who is wrong?”
She paused a moment, “The question had crossed my mind numerous times, a simple thought to be toyed with, not serious. If you want my opinion, truthfully it is in the belief of the individual.”
He gave her a questioning look, “I never expected that from you.”
She continued on even as she began to shake slightly, “Back then… it seemed the right way to me, even though now I…” She looked away because she couldn’t finish.
“I always did the right thing, followed the rules, but my reward was seclusion from everyone. It seemed the right and only way…”
“I felt lost, lonely and confused. My friends… teacher… all punished and I was alone. He was the only one there…”
Silence fell as they stood facing each other. Neither spoke, but both understood where the other was coming from.
Seth threw his arms down in frustration and turned away from her. “I just don’t know!”
“A friend once told me to look within yourself, your heart will tell you what is right. I found my place, helping others, stopping other beings from suffering. Just because I faced it, doesn’t mean everyone else does too.”
Seth sighed then walked off, leaving Irene alone, her words hanging in the air.

“Christmas, my favorite time of the year!” Stephanie said smiling as she entered the main room of the base.
Jake and Irene were sitting at a small table that was set off to one side of the room. Irene was looking at the candy cane.
“Could use some snow.” Jake added and motioned Steph to sit.
“Your Spirit Animal talking?” Steph said, then looked at Irene, < She okay? > She asked Jake privately.
< I don’t know. She won’t talk about what happened that day she left so suddenly. But as far as I know, she hasn’t had a vision. >
< That’s good I suppose… > Steph added worriedly.
< Don’t worry about me. > Irene said privately to Steph.
< How’d you know? >
< You’re my sister, I know how you think. >
*Wish I could say the same.* Steph thought to herself. It frustrated her that she could do nothing to help her half-sister.
Irene got up and walked toward the hallway leading to the outside.
“We are always here if you need to talk.” Jake said to her.
She suddenly fell to one side, hitting the wall as if an invisible foe struck her. Her mind burned intensely and the images of her past zipped through her mind.
“Irene!” Both yelled and ran to her.
She pushed them away from her, “No, stay back!” Trembling she began to walk to the door, supporting herself against the wall. Jake tried to stop her but she refused. “No let me pass! Rel savte leaf meehav” Irene switched languages as if she forgot where she was.
“What is she saying?” Steph asked Jake.
Jake shook his head, “I’m not sure… something about wave and harm.” He looked frustrated, “I never learned the old language other than briefly in school…”
In light of the situation Steph smiled slightly. “Didn’t ever expect to use a foreign language?”
Jake nodded slightly, then moved forward to catch Irene as she slipped into unconsciousness mutter, “mre…mre… rana seeve.”
“Teacher, teacher, help me.” Jake translated for Steph.

“Yeah, he didn’t show. I was even early and stayed late just in case.” Zach was explaining to Jake, Sarah, Steph and Adam later that afternoon.
“All of this on Christmas Eve…” Sarah said sadly, “I suppose the work stops for nothing.”
“Go ahead and go home. There is nothing more that can be done. Enjoy the holiday with your families.” Jake said. “If anything happens I’ll let you know. But go, this is not a day to be of low spirits.”
Sarah and Zach eventually left to their respective homes. Jake sighed and sat down at the table.
“You need a rest as much as the rest of us, if not more Jake.” Adam said.
“Only when it’s over.”
Irene walked into the room having awakened from her unconscious state. She had heard voices and had come to investigate. “What’s going on?”
The three jumped, none had heard her enter, “You should be resting.” Jake stood up.
“You look like you need it more than me.”
“How are you feeling Irene?” Steph asked.
“Better… still puzzled, but who isn’t.”
“You’re telling us.” Jake said flatly.
Irene looked at him sadly, “I’m sorry Jake, but I don’t understand it anymore than…”
“You’re lying.” Jake interrupted.
Steph touched Jake on the shoulder, “Enough, let’s worry about this another time, you are both tired…”
“No, now is better than any other. Irene tell us what is going on.”
“I can’t…”
“You can and as you leader I order you to tell me what is going on.”
Silence filled the room, surprise and tension held those in attendance.
“Alright… sir.” Irene said as if she were addressing her superior. “All of it is true. It is true. Seth and I are alike in that respect. Somehow, perhaps through old age, the sleep spell I was under did not last the full 10,000 years.”
Jake continued to stand and watch her tell the story, his face a mask, hiding his emotions. Steph sat down with Adam right behind her, merely spectators.
“I was devastated when I woke several years later. No one was there, I was confused and lost until he came.” She paused, as if she were having difficulty speaking. She continued on telling them everything up through the last vision.
Jake lost his hold and looked away from her, not out of distaste, but out of his pain for her.
“At that point I questioned him… there wasn’t a logical reason for what had happened. It was then that I resisted and left him. Most of both armies had perished, leaving him alone.” She shook her head, “I don’t remember the rest. Its forever lost to me… the next thing was 10,000 years after the first spell had been placed.”
Again silence fell, this time weighed down. But Irene seemed more animated than she had been the past several days. It was as if telling her story lifted her. She turned and walked toward the door. No one rose to stop her, and she vanished.
Stephanie sat back in her chair in shock. Adam put his arms around her as Stephanie began to speak. “I just don’t understand. Who is doing this to her?”
Jake looked at where Irene had just left, “Which one, we’ve got two suspects.”
“Well I’m not going to stand around while she does this to herself.” At that Stephanie vanished leaving Adam looking surprised to find his arms empty.
“Not hard to tell they are sisters…” Jake said.
“And way too much alike in some cases.”