Eardians

Long ago on our beloved land known as Serica, there were the Four Dragon Clans, Sky, Water, Earth and Fire, also known as the Elemental Dragons. They were the land’s protectors; the Dragons protected the land from any disaster that dared to set foot onto the land. Whether it was famine, land deterioration, human wars or even the demons themselves, the Elemental Dragons were there to save Serica. However, their loyalty to Serica would face the ultimate test when one of their own turned against them.

That Dragon was a Water Dragon known as Yasuno, and she was a very unusual Dragon. Some of the Dragons even believed that she wasn’t a true Dragon at all, because she was the complete opposite of what every Dragon in the Clans believed. Yasuno loved the idea of destruction and dictatorship and plaguing the humans and every living creature with fear and hatred. She would even go into the human villages and terrorize them; because she adored hearing the humans scream bloody murder. Yasuno also had an adored taste for human flesh.

All of these things were issues that the Elemental Dragons completely frowned upon. The Elemental Dragons had tried to persuade Yasuno to change her ways; however she refused. The Clans were at a loss of what to do, they knew that they couldn’t banish her from their Clans, especially when she was that corrupted. So the Elemental Dragons had no choice but to execute her, but before they could the Elemental Dragons were invaded by a murderous demon known as Zentell. He helped Yasuno escape and the two went into hiding. No one could detect their presences, not even the Angels could sense them. It was like they had completely vanished off the face of the Earth.

The Elemental Dragons feared for their return. So the Clans called upon the Heavens and with their help the Elemental Dragons were able to create five mystical warriors. These warriors represented each element of the Earth; the elements were sky, water, earth, fire and animal. When they were created a specific Dragon Clan trained each warrior. The Sky Dragon Clan trained Itzel, the Sky Warrior; the Earth Dragon Clan trained Sirius, the Earth Warrior, and Reynard, the Animal Warrior. The Fire Dragon Clan trained Ardea, the Fire Warrior; and the Water Dragon Clan trained Lamar, the Water Warrior. The Elemetnal Dragons decided to call these warriors, Eardians and their purpose was to assist them in protecting Serica from this new threat.

Then just as the Elemental Dragons predicted it, a few years after the Eardians were created Yasuno and Zentell returned and Yasuno no longer resembled a Water Dragon, her skin and eyes had turned blood red. However, the two weren’t alone, when they returned they were leading a herd of monstrous demon-like Dragons. The Elemental Dragons were horrified by this turn of events.

Yasuno and Zentell invaded, not just the human villages, but the Elemental Dragon villages as well. Then with every invasion the two managed to recruit more minions to their pack. They plagued the humans and dragons with fear, hatred and wickedness, transforming them into demons and dragon demons themselves.

At this time was when the Elemental Dragons and Eardians learned that there was another Clan of Dragons, The Oblivion Clan. This Clan of Dragons were dark, gruesome and they loved destruction and the taste of human flesh. These were the Dragons that would give the humans nightmares for all eternity.

The Oblivion’s plan was to take out the Elemental Dragon Clans and take over Serica and eventually the entire Earth. Once the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians learned this, they immediately knew they had to stop them, since if they didn’t the Earth would be in serious danger. So the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians combined their forces and marched out to fight the Oblivion Clan.

This battle eventually turned out to be a bloody war between good versus evil. The war was so horrendous that the Elemental Dragons had to evacuate the humans into the heavens to keep them safe. The deadly battle had gone on for days, many suffered severe injuries while a small few lost their lives; but neither side refused to give up.

However, they soon realized that ridding themselves of this Clan was not going to be an easy task. The Oblivion Clan was much larger compared to the Elemental Clans and with Zentell and Yasuno constantly recruiting more minions, it made the Oblivion Clan more formidable. But the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians refused to surrender.

It was at that time that the Eardians came to the conclusion that their best option was to invade the Oblivion Clan’s village and destroy it. They figured that if they could take out the village than it would be easier to kill Zentell, Yasuno and their army. The Elemental Dragons agreed and they attacked the evil dragons’ village. The task was difficult but the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians somehow managed to demolish the wicked Clan.

Even though they were all exhausted, they knew the war was not over. Their next mission was to take out Yasuno, Zentell and their army. But even that proved to be no easy task as well; the two were the toughest opponents the Eardians had ever faced. As the battle went on the Eardians were gradually losing their strength, while the wicked creatures were only damaged and were barely losing any energy.

At that moment was when the mystic warriors called upon each other. They held hands and began to chant a spell; the spell called upon every ounce of their inner souls and inner strength and combined it into one huge blast. But what they weren’t expecting was the humans, The Heavens and the Elemental Dragons to place their own strength into the blast. Then as a team the humans, The Heavens, the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians threw the attack at the monsters. Yasuno and Zentell tried their best to fight against the large blast but they weren’t strong enough to hold back the warm filled attack.

Zentell then did something that none of them had expected him to do. He turned his attention towards Yasuno and shot her with a blast. The Eardians, the Elemental Dragons and the humans were utterly shocked with what they had just witnessed. But before they could think another thought Zentell turned to face the blast and took on the purification beam. However, he wasn’t strong enough to destroy the blast and the beam completely annihilated him.

The Eardians and the Elemental Dragons were astonished by his demise and hastily searched for him to make sure he was truly dead. Once they had confirmed that he was indeed dead the Elemental Dragons and the Eardians went after his minions, purifying the corrupted humans and dragons. They also killed the demons that originally followed both Zentell and Yasuno. When the task was done the humans, Eardians, the Heavens and the Elemental Dragons cheered for joy, because the long war was finally over.

The Angels brought the humans back to Earth and everyone celebrated the victory over The Oblivion Clan. When the villages and towns were completely restored, the Eardians made a special request to the Angels and Elemental Dragons. They made the request to become completely human, to be rid of their powers so they could live normally among the human race.

The Angels and Elemental Dragons were startled and leery of their request. But after a while of debating it the Eardians, Angels and the Elemental Dragons then came to the agreement to have their powers be sealed. Their powers would lay dormant in their bloodlines, waiting to reveal the next group of Eardians if evil dares to threaten their world again. Then with that the mystic warriors went on to live their lives as normal humans. While the Elemental Dragons and The Heavens went on to guard and protect this beloved planet like they had the years before.

The world and Serica, were finally at peace.

---

“Man,” Sighed a 15-year-old girl with her chin propped up on her palms. She had shoulder length light red hair—which was up in a ponytail— emerald green eyes and glasses. “I honestly never get tired of hearing this legend. I mean I’ve been hearing this story since I was six and it still gets to me, every single time I hear it.” The redhead was five feet and six inches tall, had a toothpick shaped body with an A cup bust line. She was wearing a white tank top, which hugged her form perfectly, blue jean shorts and flip-flops.

“I know what you mean, Mylan.” Her friend commented. The redhead met the gaze of another 15-year-old girl; she had mid-length brown hair and brown colored eyes. The brunette was the same height as the redhead and was thin but had an hourglass figure with a B cup bust line. She was wearing a light green hair band, a light green tank top that had buttons in the middle the ended just above her abdomen. The tank top also had white outlines along the sleeves and buttons. She also wore light blue jean capris and white shoes.

She waved her hand towards another 15-year-old girl with curly brown hair, “Even though Chasie only told us a summary of the tale, but whether it’s the short version or the long version it’s still a pretty exciting story.”

The curly haired girl known as Chasie smiled, “I know, I mean to imagine that this was their idea of superheroes 800 years ago.” Chasie had beautiful blue eyes and was two inches shorter than her two friends. However, even though she was a bit shorter than her friends, she had an hourglass figure like her brunette friend and bit bigger bust line than the brunette. She was wearing a blue and white sundress that hugged her form perfectly and she had white flip-flops.

“Yeah, which was way more creative than the superheroes nowadays.” Mylan voiced in while rolling her eyes. She then used her fingers to count, “Let’s see… we have the superhero duo, Ghost Man and Ghost Boy, the thunder girl hero, Thungal, the heroine that is based on the Eardians, Serica Jane, the heroes that fight with music, Music Fighters…” Mylan eyed her friend with the green hair band questionably, “Am I missing anybody?”

“Uh well… there’s also that dog detective, Dogarth, the dragon robot man, Dragoman, the group of heroes that fight huge dragon like monsters, Monster Hunters, the heroes who fight and protect love, Love Guardians… and that’s all I can think of from the top of my head.” The brunette answered before she shook her head, “But some of those were pretty creative, since I must admit I was a huge fan of all of those superheroes when I was a kid.”

“I know, Dannie, but when I was a kid every time I thought about superheroes,” Mylan waved her hands towards the curly haired girl, “I always thought of Eardians or even the those Elemental Dragons that helped them. In my book, they are the best heroes of all time.”

Dannie merely nodded, “That is true.” She then smiled at the curly haired girl, “But I must say, you told the tale quite well, Chasie.”

Chasie suddenly blushed and smiled with a hint of embarrassment in her tone, “Well, I doubt how I tell it makes any difference. But I guess it helps that this legend is one of my personal favorites,” She smiled brightly as she tilted her head, “it’s been my favorite since my father first told me the tale when I was four.”

“I’m sure this legend is everyone’s favorite.” Mylan assured, but then quickly corrected herself as she waved a finger between them, “At least with us anyway,” She then smirked at Chasie, “and your father of course.”

“Which should honestly be no surprise.” Dannie voiced in as she turned her interest from Mylan to Chasie, “Her father is a historian after all and he practically lives for finding and documenting legends like this.”

Mylan chuckled, “Yeah, that is true.”

Dannie and Chasie just smiled in response.

It was a beautiful August afternoon and Dannie Heart and her two friends, Chasity LaDave and Mylan Ronden, were sitting at a picnic table in the back of Chasie’s house. They were drinking lemonade as they conversed with one another. They each had a different flavor, Dannie had blueberry lemonade, Chasie had strawberry and Mylan had watermelon.

Dannie suddenly sighed pleasantly when a warm, cool breeze lightly blew against the three friends. “Man, it’s such a nice day out today.”

“Yeah, which is way better than yesterday.” Mylan commented, grasping her attention. “I mean it was pouring so hard yesterday that I couldn’t even go out to get the stupid mail.”

Chasie exhaled with minor frustration and leaned her cheek against her palm. “Yeah, the weather yesterday really dampened my mood. I was supposed to have a picnic with my relatives yesterday, some I haven't seen all summer. But because of the stupid rain we had to cancel it.” She sulked as she groaned, “And I was really looking forward to that.”

“Aw, well, there's always next time right?” Dannie questioned, hoping to lift her spirits.

“Unfortunately, no. Yesterday was the only day all of my relatives could get off and get together. Now the next time won't be until Pioneer Day.”

Mylan eyed her sympathetically, “Gee that sucks, considering that's not until November.”

“Tell me about it.”

“On the bright side,” Dannie spoke up with optimism, “we still have two more weeks until school starts. So I'm sure your family can figure something out before then.”

Chasie sighed, “I guess.” She then smiled, “But I'll still have you two to hang out with regardless of what happens with my family.”

“Yup, that's right.” Mylan exclaimed, “So even if your family can't work something out we'll still make sure you have some excellent fun before September.”

“Yup, like Dannie's birthday this weekend.”

Dannie chuckled and weakly scratched her cheek, “Although it won't be anything major just you two hanging out with me and some of my family.”

“Hey, it's still going be way better than sitting at home staring at a wall all day.” Mylan defended.

“True, and hey by Friday Jacques will be back from his Math Camp.”

“Oh, yeah I'm definitely excited for that!”

Dannie and Chasie paused at Mylan's immediate excitement.

Chasie suddenly smirked, “Why, Mylan, I never knew you missed him that much. I guess your 'friendship' is a little deeper than we thought.”

Mylan's cheeks turned bright red before she scoffed and looked away, “Don't be ridiculous, Chasie! He's just a friend.”

“Then why did you say you were so excited?”

“Duh, because he's my friend and I'm always thrilled to see my friends!” She gestured her hand towards the two, “Heck whenever I get the chance to hang out with you two I always get excited.”

“Whatever you say, Mylan.”

Mylan scowled, “I'm serious, Chasie, I-”

“Chasity!”

“Hm?” Chasie hummed as she peered back towards the back door of her house. At the door she found an older woman whom looked almost like her only her hair was a very dark brown. She appeared to be the same height as Mylan and Dannie and her body shape was also a bit frumpier. “Yes, mom!” Chasie called back.

“It’s 3:30 we have to get going! You don’t want to be late for your ice-skating lesson.”

“Oh wow, it’s that time already?” Chasie commented in amazement. She averted her attention back towards her friends, “Man, did the time go by fast.”

“No kidding.” Mylan remarked, thankful for the mother's interruption, “But you know what they say, ‘time flies by when you’re having fun’.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Dannie agreed as she stood up. She met Chasie’s stare and asked, “Do you need help bringing in the cups?”

“Oh, yes.” Chasie stood up as she smiled, “That would be appreciative, since knowing my luck I might end up dropping them and we don’t want that.”

“Nope, definitely not.” Mylan voiced in as she followed her friends towards Chasie’s back door.

“Then once that’s done,” Dannie peered over towards the redhead, “we should get going.”

“Yup, my thoughts exactly.”

---

“Bye!” The three friends called out to one another. Chasie then got into her mom’s car and Dannie and Mylan got on their bikes and rode away.

“So,” Dannie began as she grasped Mylan’s attention, “what are your plans for the rest of the day?”

Mylan hummed and looked up at the sky in deep thought, “Well, I need to get home so I can finish some chores before my parents get home.”

Dannie furrowed a brow, “Why didn’t you finish your chores before you met up with Chasie and me at the park?”

“Duh, because I wanted to hang out with you two. But I also didn’t want to spend the whole day cooped up in the house, especially when the weather is so nice out.”

“I understand. But still, if you would have finished all of your chores earlier you wouldn’t have to rush home.”

Mylan arched a brow, “What are you, my parents? Look, I had it all figured out before I met up with you two. Besides, all I have to do is vacuum the living room, put the clothes in the dryer and unload the dishwasher.” She shrugged, “So it’s really not a lot.”

“I guess that’s not too bad.”

Mylan just replied with a smile. She then suddenly realized where they were, “Oh, my turn is coming up.” She averted her interest towards the brunette, “Well, I'll see you on Saturday.”

Dannie nodded as she returned the smile, “Yup, see you then.”

With that the two friends parted from one another as Dannie continued her journey. She exhaled softly as she pondered out loud, “Now, what to do? It's too early to go home, mom and dad won't be expecting me until at least 6pm.”

My name is Dannie Heart and the land I live on is a country known as Serica, a modernized continent with it's own legends, trends and history. The town I live in is named Janeswater, which is located in the region known as Ecaep. However, I wasn’t originally from here. My family and I moved here from another Ecaep town known as Itzel, three almost four years ago. Wow, has it really been that long already. Gosh, it honestly has never felt that long, but then again it’s probably just me.

Now it’s time to explain my friends. You see, Chasity, Chasie for short, and Mylan have been my best friends since 8th grade. Chasie comes from a family of five and is the youngest out of three children. Her mother is in charge of her own childcare center called LaDave Care and her father teaches History at a University in Ardea, Ecaep, he also helps out at the history museum in Ardea as well. Mylan on the other hand is an only child and her mother works at the Post Office and her father is a Firefighter.

Chasie is very intelligent, especially when it comes to school, but the main talent she has is ice-skating. She’s been into that since she was twelve-years-old and I swear every time I see her perform at her recitals I can’t help but get captivated by her. One day she hopes to make a career out of it, whether it’s teaching little kids, going into the Olympics or just putting on shows.

Mylan is also a pretty sharp person like the rest of the people I know, especially when it comes to life outside of school. She also has two talents, the first one is bowling and the second one is cooking. Mylan got into both of them when she was thirteen; the bowling talent she found out at one of our honor roll field trips and the cooking she discovered in our cooking class. She’s still debating of where she wants to go but so far she’s thinking about opening her own restaurant so she can show everyone her outstanding cooking abilities.

An idea suddenly struck Dannie, “Oh, maybe I should head back to the abandoned park to see if Alex is there. I haven't seen him since my family and I went on vacation a week ago.”

“Did I hear someone say my name?’ A male child-like voice chimed in humorously.

“Huh?” Dannie came to a halt and look up towards the voice. There floating beside her was a young ghost boy, appearing to be around ten years old. She immediately smiled, “Well, speak of the dragon, it’s Alex.”

Alex merely smiled as he pointed at himself with pride, “Yup, that’s me!” His height was two inches shorter than Dannie. He had brown hair that was a little shaggy and his eyes were a gray color. He was wearing white grayish socks, jeans with holes in the knee, a t-shirt and a jacket; sometimes he wore a visible backpack with random toys and junk inside. However, he didn't have it on him today.

Heh, I guess this would be the perfect time to point out that I’m not exactly what one would call ‘normal’. Yes, that’s right I can see, touch and talk to ghosts, although I can’t say how or why it happened. All I can say is that I’ve just had this ability as long as I could remember which was when I was four years old. However, the only people who know about this unique ability of mine are my immediate family, some of my very, VERY close relatives, and some of the ghosts that are in this area.

Now this ghost boy is Alexander Fredrickson and I met him a year after I moved here and I met him at the abandoned playground. I spotted him pulling a couple pranks on some people that dared to step foot onto the playground. He tried to pull the same thing on me, but it didn’t work because I could see him. But Alex kept trying to scare me, but once he finally gave up he learned that I was able to see him. He was completely shocked at first but just as fast as the shock came to him it immediately faded and he became ecstatic. We then became fast friends, heh and to be honest Alex was actually the first friend I’ve ever met here, even before Chasie and Mylan. So even though he’s an annoying prankster, Alex is truly my best friend. I can truly be myself when I’m around him, which is something I can’t completely do around Mylan and Chasie yet and I’m not sure if I could ever be, considering they have no idea that I can talk to ghosts.

“How are you?” Dannie asked curiously with a bright smile.

“Oh I’m okay.” He lowered his gaze slightly, “I just came back from my house.”

“It’s still hard on ya, eh?”

Alex met her sympathetic smile, “You have no idea. I mean, yeah it’s only been two, three years since my death, but….” He lowered his gaze towards the ground, “It’s still hard to leave my mom and sister.”

“I understand.” Dannie replied with a warm smile, “Take as much time as you need. Since I don’t think anybody expects you to pass on until you are completely satisfied with how things are going with your family.”

The ghost boy returned the smile, “Figured you’d understand.”

“Hey,” Dannie shrugged, “you were the one that told me that you weren’t going to pass on until you knew for sure your mother and sister have found happiness again. So again take as much time as you need.”

“Thank you.”

Dannie then asked, completely changing the subject, “So, were you on your way to the abandoned park?”

“Yup, since I had a hunch that you would be on your way there as well.” He gave her a small smile, “Since that's just how you are when you have time to kill.”

She smirked, “Guess you're getting to know me way better than I thought.”

Tilting his head, Alex asked curiously, “Is that bad?”

Shaking her head, Dannie merely chuckled and assured him, “No, no that's not it at all. I'm actually glad, since I haven't had this close of a friend for a real long time.”

“Really?” Alex eyed her strangely, “What about Chasie and Mylan? Aren't they your best friends?”

“They are.” Dannie sighed and shifted her gaze to look down the road, “I just can't be my true shelf around them.”

“Oh, I take it you haven't told them about this yet?”

Shaking her head, she answered, “No, and I'm still working my way up to telling them. I mean, I know I should, since those two are truly the best girlfriends I could ever ask for. However, there's still a part of me that's scared to tell them, because I don't want to possibly lose that friendship by telling them that I'm a ghost seeing freak.”

“You're not a freak, Dannie, you're just special.”

“At least you and my family see it that way. But to everyone else, not so much.”

“Oh, who cares what they think! If they break off your friendship because of that then good riddance to them!”

“That's a lot easier said than done, Alex.”

Alex exhaled, “You know,” He crossed his arms, “your life would be a whole lot simpler if you found another ghost seer.”

Dannie rolled her eyes, “Like that's going to happen.”

“Hey, if someone like you exists then there must be more like you.”

“Well, if there are others like me then I obviously haven't come across them yet.”

“That's because you've just been looking around here, Itzel and the towns you go to. Why not try-”

The brunette maiden shot him a glare, “Search all over Serica? You do realize how impossible that is right now?

Alex swallowed his words when he remembered her current situation. Dannie was only a fifteen year old girl, who could only travel so far on her own and there's no way her parents would travel all over Serica to help her search for another ghost seer. One, it would cost a lot of money to do that, they had their jobs, two other kids to worry about and Dannie also had school coming up in two weeks.

“Well, maybe I-”

“No, Alex, I don't need you flying all over Serica terrorizing people to see if they can see you. You do that enough as it is.”

“Hey! I don't terrorize people! I just mess with the ones who deserve it.”

Shaking her head, Dannie merely rolled her eyes, “But besides that even if you were able to find someone, if they're in another region it wouldn't be easy to bring them here. Also why disrupt their lives just for my sake, that just wouldn't be right no matter how many angles you look at it.”

“But, Dannie-”

Swiftly, she held up her hand, “Alex, just stop. Leave it be, if it happens, it happens but if it doesn't that's okay too.” She gave him warm, small smile, “I've accepted long ago that I'd be the only one in Ecaep with this ability. So it's really not a big deal, my only deal is finding living beings that will accept this talent.” Her smile faded and put her focus back on the street, “And that's my only dilemma at this point.”

Alex opened his mouth to say something when Dannie cut him off again. She cast another small smile, “Anyway, let's get a move on to the abandoned park. Don't want to miss any of the fun happening there.”

The ghost boy fidgeted at her interruption, but groaned sadly before he nodded. “Right.” 'There has to be more out there. But I guess she had a point, I just hope Chasie and Mylan are those specific beings she's looking for.'

---

The warm breeze blew through the trees in a forest near the border of Ecaep and another region known as Mlac. The woodland creatures were scurrying around looking for their food and water, the bumble bees were soaring from flower to flower to produce their delicious honey while the birds sung in the trees. All the animals were at peace.

BAM! CRASH! BAM!

The animals fidgeted and perked their ears up to determine the source of the loud sound. It almost sounded like something huge had smashed into a couple trees before those trees crashed onto the ground. Loud thumps began to echo throughout the forest before more bams and crashes were heard. The animals' anxiety grew as the sounds continued and the sounds were heading in their direction. Suddenly, before the animals could run away something large burst through the trees!

The thing was gruesome, it was a huge black creature almost the height of a rhino, but it's whole body resembled a dragon. It had a black, scaly exterior, dark, blood red eyes with long fangs and claws. The creature also had a long tail and it appeared to be growing a pair of wings, like a dragon's. Another puzzling thing about the large creature, it was panting almost like it had been running for its life. It also had very deep cuts and wound marks all over its body.

When the creature burst through the trees its piercing red eyes gazed upon a male Elkhorn. The horned deer noticed the stare and motioned to run away, however, the creature was faster and stomped his large clawed paw on top of the Elkhorn. The Elkhorn made a desperate, frightened noise as the dragon like creature lowered its head with its mouth wide open, ready to bite the horned deer's head right off.

Suddenly something slightly smaller dashed out of the trees and clawed the beast right across its face. The creature roared in agony as it moved back and placed its claw over the new deep cut.

“I wouldn't eat that Elkhorn if I were you.” A male voice instructed the beast in a rough, blunt tone.

The creature scowled and shifted its gaze up towards a male figure that had perched himself on a tree branch. The figure was tall, about six feet and four inches tall and appeared to be quite muscular. He had long hair with some type of pointy cat like ears.

The figure hardened his golden amber eyes on the beast, “It could be hazardous to your health.”

The creature growled and hastily opened his mouth and shot a green fire blast at the male figure. The male gaped and swiftly jumped to another tree branch just as the blast engulfed the tree he had just stood on. The figure's eyes widened as he watched the green, intoxicating flame burn not just the tree but the plants next to it began to decay.

“What the hell!?” His ears twitched when he heard loud rustling below him. He looked and cursed when he no longer saw the creature. “Damn it! For something that's on his last bit of life, he's being darn persistent!”

“What in the world!” A feminine voice hollered out in utter shock.

The figure's ears tweaked again as he peered upwards as a blue-winged hawk flew towards him. The hawk had her eyes on the engulfed tree and hurled him a terrified glance.

“Did that thing-”

“Yup.” The figure nodded, “That's his handy work and the damn thing is still on the run.”

“Go after him, quick before he does any more damage!” The blue-winged hawk ordered, “I'll clean up his mess here while you do that.”

The male hunched down, “Right on it!” He then jumped off the tree and sped into the forest while also jumping from tree to tree in order to catch up to his prey. 'There's the bastard's scent! Oh damn it! He's heading to the town nearby! Gotta stop him before he eats something...or someone!'

---

Dannie and Alex were silent throughout their stroll through town towards the abandoned park. The park was right beside the abandoned bridge that led into woods that no living person would dare to enter, since rumor has it that there's an abandoned town in there that's haunted. Dannie scanned the rundown playground. Laughter was heard as ghost children gradually began to appear on the equipment treating the playground like it was still new.

The equipment appeared to have been designed fifty years ago, which was built with old fashion wood logs, like the ones on log cabins, and metal. Even the swing seats were made of wood. There was also a huge field behind it where an old fashion baseball diamond was, which had no wire fence to shield the players there were just wooden benches on the opposite side of each other and the dirt path players were follow to get to the home base. There was also some empty areas in the field where children could play tag and all those old kid games.

According to Janeswater history this was the very first playground to have been built in this town and no doubt it was super popular at the time. However, as the village grew into the town it was today and with new safety regulations the playground was considered unsafe because of the wood and the nasty insects that it would attract. So they built a new playground in the park that was now located in the middle of Janeswater and this one gradually lost its popularity. Once in a while children would come and play on it, but eventually the newer one became the town's favorite hangout and this one was abandoned.

Now the playground that used to have children and adults of all ages gathered around it was now old and rotten with an eerie vibe because of the ghosts that now inhabit it. The wood had grown fungus and weeds and vines were growing out of the wood. Holes were in the panels that kids use to run across and the metal poles that kept the equipment up was now all rusty and growing holes as well. The grass and trees also haven't been maintained for what looked to be many years.

“Man,” Dannie spoke up, grasping Alex's interest, “it's still so hard to imagine that this was once a hopping place.”

“Hm?” Alex hummed, looking over towards the playground, “Oh, yeah. I guess that's what happens when people get caught up on safety that they forget to realize how fun this place truly is.”

“Unfortunately.” Dannie agreed with a sigh. A small smile then appeared as she watched the ghost children play, “But at least you ghosts are making good use of it.”

“Well, someone has to.” Alex retorted, tossing her a narrowed stare, “Since you live ones aren't making any use of it.”

Dannie returned the glare, “Alex, you know darn well that they tried to make use of it again. But you ghosts kept scaring them away preventing them from doing anything with it.”

That's right, after a couple of years of abandonment the town's people wanted to make use of the lot again. However, by that time the ghosts had adopted it as theirs and made sure no one tampered with it. Then after several months of trying and failing because of the ghosts the town's people gave up and labeled the playground haunted. Ever since then no one had dared to go anywhere near this place, people have tried to prove how brave they were only to run off screaming after being tormented by the ghost children that haunted the area.

“That's because they were going to make more stores and other stupid things instead of just fixing the place up.” Alex defended, “If they would have just done that then those ghost kids wouldn't have scared them off!”

“Really?” Dannie returned with doubt, “You ghosts really would have left them alone if they just did that?”

“Yup, absolutely!”

“Even if that meant this playground would become popular again?”

Alex fidgeted when she reminded him of that. “Uh....” He looked at her with uncertainty, “Well...um....”

“I rest my case.” Dannie concluded, she knew that would be his answer. “But I will admit it's a good thing you ghosts scared them off.” She tossed him her normal friendly smile, “Or else we wouldn't have a place to hang out.”

Alex returned the smile and nodded, “You got that right.”

When the two made it to the playground all the ghost kids stopped what they were doing and smiled when they saw the two.

“Hey, it's Dannie and Alex!”

“Oh, Dannie! Alex”

“Hi, Dannie! Hi, Alex!”

“Dannie, Dannie, Alex Alex!”

The ghost kids echoed as they flew up towards them.

“Do you wanna play with us?”

“Yeah, play with us! Please?”

“Sure!” Dannie gladly answered as she got off her bike. She then placed it up on its kickstand, “That is why were are here.”

“YAY!”

“Then let's play princesses!”

“No way! Pirates is the best way to go.”

“No, princesses!”

“No, pirates!”

The boys and girls kept going back and forth about that until Dannie intervened.

“Hey, hey!” She shouted, getting the children to stop and look at her, “Come on, don't go arguing over something as silly as this. We can easily do both or we can play something completely new. But fighting about it isn't the answer.”

The ghost kids grumbled, they knew she was right but of course they didn't want to admit it.

“But we always play princesses!”

“We also play a lot of pirates.”

“Well, maybe we can play something new.” Dannie suggested. “Something that everyone will enjoy.”

The children hummed and tilted their heads as they thought about it.

“Maybe we can play tag?”

“Or hide and seek!”

Dannie chuckled weakly, feeling a sweat drop fall from the back of her head. “Sure, sure. Just make sure it's something that I can do.”

“Oh, hm, guess that leaves out flying contests.”

The brunette maiden grumbled at that, “Yeah, that's definitely out.”

“I know a good game that we can play!” An older male echoed with sudden excitement.

Everyone jumped at the abrupt voice and they all began to look around to determine the source of the male voice. Dannie immediately yelped when she felt something grab her hairband. Hastily, everyone darted their gazes above her to find a male ghost. He was a teenaged ghost who appeared to be around fifteen years of age. The boy had cheekbone length dark red hair and light blue eyes, he wasn't muscular, but he was scrawny either he was your basic average sized teenager.

“Edmund!?” Alex and the ghost kids gaped out.

“Edmund?!” Dannie gasped and noticed that he had her hairband in his grasp. “My hairband!”

Edmund chuckled at her exclamation and smirked, “Why don't we play keep-a-way.”

Her gaze instantly hardened, “Edmund, don't you dare!” Dannie jumped and motioned to snatch her hairband from him.

However, Edmund was faster and flew up higher before her fingertips could even touch it. Carefully, the faded teenager swung the hairband on his fingertips and taunted, “If you want this, you better catch me first!” He then sped off towards the forest that was across the abandoned bridge.

“Edmund! You get back here!” Dannie hollered and chased after him.

Alex and the ghost kids all grunted as they watched the scene with emotionless expressions.

“Why does Edmund always do that?”

“Yeah, he's being a big fat meany and I was really looking forward to playing with Dannie too!”

“You said it!”

“Well, Ghostville isn't too far.” Alex reminded, “So if worse comes to worse Mr. and Mrs. Blencha will step in.”

“I hope so, for Dannie's sake.”

'But really, why does Edmund always do that to Dannie and it's always her that he picks on.' Alex pondered to himself. He exhaled roughly and shook his head, 'Must be a teenager thing.'

---

“Edmund!” Dannie continued to holler angrily. She zipped her way through the trees in hopes of finding the teenaged ghost. However, she wasn't having much luck. “Oh darn it all! I think I lost him and I bet ya any money he's made himself invisible just make things difficult!” 'But darn it, why is it always me he picks on like this?! I just don't understand that kid!' She exhaled and rubbed her temples in frustration, “Maybe I should go to Mr. and Mrs. Blencha, they might know what to do.” 'They have dealt with that boy a lot longer than I have.'

Edmund Rogan is a ghost I met around the same time as Alex. I don't really know much about him, other that he's not originally from Ecaep, actually no one really knows what region he is from. No one really even knows how he died, he just wandered to this region and ended up meeting Alex and became instant friends. Now he is what one would call a pesky ghost. He loves messing with the living, no matter what age or what gender, he will just simply mess with you until he gets bored. Luckily, he doesn't severely hurt anyone, he just pulls pretty minor pranks on people. But ever since he met me and learned that I could see him and any time I'm in his field of vision he always, ALWAYS pulls something on me. Whether its scaring me half to death or these stupid keep away games where he takes something and runs with it! I mean, don't get me wrong he can be a really decent guy, but this type of thing, it's honestly getting on my last nerve.

A loud thump echoed as a sudden breeze blew past Dannie, causing the young girl to jump and dart her gaze towards the direction the wind came from.

“Wha-What on earth was that?” She turned towards the right side of the forest, “It almost sounded like something fell.” The brunette perked up when she saw a shadow of a being lying down, “Edmund?”

Curiosity came over Dannie as she made her way towards the figure. 'That did sound a bit too big to be Edmund, but one can never know with him.' “Edmund?”

Her body abruptly froze in place as an eerie, unpleasant shiver trickled down her spine. “Whoa,” Dannie hovered her hand over her chest, “my body hasn't done that in a while.” 'The last time it did that was the summer before sixth grade.' She stiffened and became very nervous.

Loud breaths were heard as another warm breeze blew through. Dannie gulped but continued to move forward towards the figure and bit by bit she made it towards the clearing where the figure was. Gently, she moved past two trees only to gasp in terror and covered her mouth. There collapsed on the ground was a creature that appeared to be the same height as a rhino! The creature had a black, scaly exterior and its whole body resembled a dragon. It had long fangs, claws, a long tail and it appeared to be growing a pair of wings, like a dragon's. The large creature also had very deep cuts and wound marks all over its body and one huge one across it's face and it looked fresh.

Hastily, Dannie zipped behind one of the trees, praying that the creature didn't see her. 'Oh my heavens, what is that thing!? I swear it's almost like...did I really see that thing? That was a real thing, right?' She swallowed hard on more time before she anxiously dared to take another peek, 'Please let it be my imagination!'

However, just as she turned something appeared on the other side of her. It quietly snuck up to her with its hands held out with her green hairband in his one hand. “AH!” The person playfully yelled as he touched her sides.

Dannie shrieked and jumped out from behind the tree. She whirled around only to growl feverishly when she saw Edmund rolling around in the air laughing. “Edmund!”

“Oh that was great! Your reaction was priceless!”

“Edmund, you idiot! There's-”

A long tail suddenly slammed down between the faded teenager and the brunette maiden. The two screamed in surprise as they both jumped back and became highly afraid of whom that belonged to.

“What the hell?!”

Dannie gulped and slowly shifted her gaze to find herself staring at the piercing, dark red eyes of the dragon like monster. A terrified yelp escaped her as she hastily moved back, her heart thumped fiercely when she realized that the creature had its eyes on her. It had a hungry look written on its face and eyes.

“Oh my-”

The creature roared almost like a T-Rex, which caused Dannie to scream bloody murder and darted in the opposite direction from Edmund.

“Dannie!” Edmund yelled with immediate fear as he watched the monster chase her down. He dropped her hairband and flew after them, “Hang on, I'm coming!” 'Damn it! This was the last thing I wanted to happen!'

Dannie panted as she high tailed it through the forest, hoping to outrun the monster. 'Damn it, just what the hell is that thing!? Why's it chasing me!? Is it still chasing me?” She motioned to peek over her shoulder only to hear loud thumps racing after her. “Yup!” She hastily turned her focus back on the path in front of her and ran faster, “Still chasing me!”

The creature roared loudly, which caused Dannie to yelp and hold her hands over her ears. She peeked over her shoulder again only to gasp in utter horror. The monster's wings grew larger right before her very eyes and as it ran it suddenly jumped off the ground and flew towards her at top speed.

“Oh God!” 'This can't be happening! This has to be a nightmare! It just has to be, there's no way something like that would be chasing me!' She held her eyes shut, 'If this is a nightmare, please, WAKE UP!'

Her foot got caught on a tree root, a startled scream came out of Dannie as she slammed onto the ground. Dannie let out a distressful groan and motioned to get up on her hands and knees. The monster's growl grasped her attention as she hurled her gaze behind her only to shriek when the creature was getting ready to grab her. She had no time to escape, the creature was coming way too fast. The beast charged with it's dragon like claws held out and Dannie let out another scream and kept herself on the ground with her head covered.

“SOMEONE HELP ME!”

The sound of a large cat roar echoed from the distance as something burst out of the bushes in front of Dannie. The cat like figure threw itself at the creature just as it was about to grab the young girl and the cat creature pierced its long fang's into the beast's arm. The beast howled in agony and roughly waved its arm, attempting to get the new figure off of it.

Dannie gasped when she heard the cat roar, 'Was that?' She heard the commotion and sat up only to widen her gaze in utter shock when she saw a huge wild cat with black fur and very sharp canines almost like a sabretooth tiger. “A mountain lion?” 'No, those aren't even around here and that coloring...it almost looks like a panthetah, a mixture of a panther and a cheetah. But those canines, I don't think I've ever seen any big wild cat with those type of fangs!'

Quickly, Dannie slapped herself to see if she was actually awake. But no matter how many times or how hard she slapped herself, she still found herself in the forest watching a huge dragon like monster and a large black panthetah type lion fight each other. She groaned in dismay, 'Just how? How is any of this possible?'

The dragon like monster continued to swing its arm until the large cat finally released it. But once the panther like cat landed on its paws, it charged at the beast and began to claw at it. It was like watching two swordsmen going at each other only with claws and fangs instead of swords. As the panthetah dodged the monster's claws it kept pouncing around and finding new spots to slice with its own sharp claws. The actions made the monster howl in pain and tried to swipe the cat, but every time the cat successfully dodged.

Dannie watched in astonishment, “Wow, that's one smart cat.” This is the first time I've seen one of these big cats in action, but something about this...I don't know seems...off. I mean, why is this, whatever it is, going after something that big?'

“Dannie!”

“Huh?” The brunette maiden whipped her attention towards the familiar male voice. She gasped when she saw Edmund flying towards her. “Edmund!”

He hastily landed next to her with the most frightened face she had ever seen him with. “Are you alright!?”

“Yeah.” She looked back at the fight that was still going on in front of her. “Just very much in shock.”

Edmund tilted his head as he eyed her strangely. He then followed her gaze only to gap with his own astonishment, “Whoa! Is that a lion fighting that...whatever the hell that thing is?”

Dannie nodded, “Yeah, I honestly don't know if it's a panthetah or not. But it certainly has a lot of guts to go up against that huge thing.”

“That's not a panthetah.”

“Huh? How would you know?”

“Because I use to live in Malric and that's the region they live in. So I've seen them a bunch of times, and that big cat there is far too large to be one or even to be a lion for that matter. It's almost the size of that ugly beast! Also panthetahs have some white spots and that cat there is completely black and those canines are way too long.”

“Had a feeling. So what do you suppose that cat is?”

“I have no clue, but I just hope it doesn't come at us.”

The dragon like monster finally managed to grab hold of the large black cat and threw it into a tree trunk. Edmund and Dannie gaped in concern but immediately yelped in fright when the monster averted its blood red eyes on Dannie once again.

“Oh no.” Dannie began to crawl away as the monster made its way towards her.

“Don't worry, Dannie!” Edmund zipped in front of her with his arms held out. He eyed down the beast, “I'll protect you!”

“Edmund! You're a ghost, he'll go right through you!”

Edmund fidgeted when she reminded him of that. 'Damn it! I completely forgot about that!'

The monster appeared before him. However, before Edmund could even do anything the beast whacked him away with such a strong force that the faded teenager flew right through a tree.

“Edmund!” Dannie yelped in shock and terror.

“Holy dragons!” Edmund yelled as he appeared on the other side of the tree. With his eyes wide with absolute shock, he pointed at the beast, “That...that beast just hit me!?”

'How?!' Dannie screamed in her head, 'How was that thing able to hit Edmund, a ghost!? Just what in the blazes is that thing?!' She suddenly screeched when she saw the beast charging right for her. Hastily, she scrambled to get up on her feet only to hear the loud cat roar. She hurled her attention behind her just in time to see the black, large cat jump on the beast and pierced it's fangs into the monster's neck.

The beast howled in agony and shook its head, attempting to shake the large cat off of it. However, the black cat kept its hold and somehow managed to grab hold of the beast, rolled over with the beast still in its grasp and with every ounce of its strength threw it far off into the forest.

“Whoa!” Dannie and Edmund chorused, flabbergasted by the sight.

“That's truly the strongest cat I've ever seen!”

The two gasped sharply when the large cat turned its golden amber eyes towards Dannie.

“Oh shit!” Edmund cursed and charged towards Dannie, “Dannie, hang on!”

Dannie gulped and slowly backed away, not certain what the cat was going to do. “E-Easy there.” She attempted to assure the cat and waved her hand, “I'm-I'm not-” She gasped and her eyebrows rose in fear as the large cat rushed towards her. Hastily, she hunched down and covered herself again, knowing she wouldn't be able to get up and run in time. 'I'm going to die!'

However, she didn't feel anything pounce or rip their claws through her, instead she felt a rushed bump against her back. 'Huh?' Dannie uncovered her head and looked behind her to find the large cat as it pushed its head against her back, very urgently. She was confounded by this, “What?” 'I thought for sure it was going to eat me. But what-'

“Whoa, what?” Edmund abruptly slowed down when he saw what the large cat was doing. He furrowed a brow, “Just what in the world is that cat doing?”

The large black cat scowled at the girl's slow reaction and hastily brought his head back down against her back. This time roughly pushing her, wanting her to get up. 'Come on! Don't just sit there! Get up!'

“Whoa!” Dannie replied and without a second thought she stood up. But she darted her gaze back on the large, wild cat. 'Did...did it just want me to get up? That's the way it's making it seem.'

“Dannie?”

Dannie looked over towards Edmund as he appeared beside her. His eyes were on the large cat, “I honestly don't know what to think of this. It's almost like it's legitimately trying to help us.”

“I know, but hey you won't hear me complain.”

“Yeah, but it's weird! It's also freaking me out a bit here.”

“Can't argue with you there.”

The large cat's eyes went wide as he listened to the conversation between the two. 'Wait! That kid's a ghost!' He tilted his head at the brunette maiden with an arched brow, 'Does she know that she's talking to a ghost?'

A loud, furious T-Rex roar thundered throughout the forest, which caused the cat's ears to twitch. He growled, hardened his gaze and averted his attention towards the direction of the roar.

“Oh no!” Dannie said in dismay, “That things coming back for more!”

“And it does not sound happy one bit.”

“YI-AHH!” Dannie suddenly screamed when she felt something big go between her legs. Her hands immediately grabbed onto...fur? 'What?' That's when she realized that she had been mounted on the large cat's back. “What?!” 'It's letting me ride on it? This is truly the oddest wild cat I've ever seen!'

“Whoa, dude!” Edmund gaped with his own amazement. He fidgeted when he took note of something, “Hey, did that cat just get bigger?”

“Huh?” Dannie took that moment to inspect the cat and was shocked to discover that the teenaged ghost was right. It was no longer the size it originally was, which was almost the size of a lion just a little bigger. It was almost the size of a grizzly bear maybe even a little bigger than that. 'What in the world is this cat?'

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ponder any more on it because once the dragon like monster roared one more time the large cat sped off further into the forest. Dannie yelped in surprise and hastily grabbed a hold of the large cat's fur to keep herself from falling off.

“Whoa! Hey, wait up!” Edmund called out as he flew after them. 'Dang, this is one fast cat! It's going way faster than any animal I've ever seen or heard about.'

Just as the three began to retreat the monster burst through the trees and flew after them.

“Holy shit! It's coming after us!” Edmund loudly announced in fear and astonishment. 'Just what the hell does this thing want?'

“We need to figure out how to get rid of it!” Dannie hollered back.

“Are you crazy!?” Edmund made it up to Dannie and feverishly waved his hand back towards the beast. “How do you expect us to get rid of that thing?” His face lit up when a thought came to him. “Let's head to Ghostville!”

“The abandoned town?” Dannie recited.

The large cat's ears twitched when he heard that. He cast a glance up at the girl, 'Ghostville? A town full of ghosts? So,' His gaze narrowed questionably on the girl, 'is she aware the kid's a ghost?'

“Yeah! Mr. and Mrs. Blencha will know what to do and-”

“No!” Dannie hastily denied.

Edmund flinched, “No?” His face hardened and yelled, “What do you mean no?! Ghostville is-”

“Ghostville is too close to Janeswater!” The brunette maiden reminded him and imitated the ghost's glare with determination, “And I do not want that beast anywhere near town!”

Edmund grunted, he now understood her quick denial. “But what other choice do we have? We can't keep running, that thing's eventually going to catch up to us!”

Dannie groaned, knowing he was right. 'But there has to be! There must be another way to get rid of that thing!'

A green light abruptly caught their attention and they yelled in terror when they saw the beast fired a greenish flame blast right at them.

'Shit!' The large cat cursed and pressed his paw on the ghost boy.

The faded teenager yelped in surprise as the cat pushed him while he jumped back with the girl still on his back. The cat did the action just in time as the green flame blew between them, destroying the plantation that it went past.

Dannie let out a frightful, distressed gasp while Edmund gaped with wide eyes and the cat merely grunted in disgust.

'This bastard is getting on my last nerve.' The cat snarled, 'But I need to take care of this girl first before I can fight him. Then again, if this girl can see ghosts I wonder...?'

“Just what the hell is this thing trying to do!?” Edmund hollered furiously, “Just what is the blasted point to all of this?”

Dannie shook her head, “I don't-”

“He wants this girl's energy.”

Both Edmund and Dannie gasped in shock when they heard the unfamiliar male voice. The two darted their gazes around in search of the voice, hoping that it was the answer to their prayers.

“He's near the end of his life and the only way for him to regain it is to steal another living being's energy.”

'That voice sounds close, very close. Almost like,' Dannie subconsciously looked down at the cat, 'he's right near me.' She inhaled when she noticed that the large cat was looking up at her.

“Which makes you his number one target.” The cat informed firmly.

“WHAT?!” Dannie and Edmund yelled in unison. Their eyes practically popped out of their sockets when they heard this large cat speak, his mouth was moving and everything.

“You can talk!?” Dannie gaped loudly, hunching down to look him straight in the eyes.

The large cat grunt and bluntly replied, “Would I be saying anything right now if I couldn't?”

'But how? Just how can this cat talk?' The brunette maiden thought to herself.

'This big cat can talk?' Edmund questioned himself before he eyed the cat oddly, 'Just what the hell is he?'

Dannie swallowed before she asked, “Just...just what are you?”

The cat grunted and was about to answer when his ears twitched. On pure instinct he jumped back just as the monster slammed down between the girl, the large cat and the faded teenager. The beast scowled as the dragon like monster glared in Dannie and the cat's direction and positioned itself so it was completely facing the two.

“Dannie!” Edmund called panic struck by this turn of events. 'Oh man, looks like this creeps getting serious. It's getting a little more aggressive with its attacks.'

Dannie gulped and lowered herself and said softly to the large cat. “S-So, that thing...wants my energy?”

“Yes,” The large cat answered, but kept his attention on the beast, “in order to keep himself alive. So I'll have to agree with you that the ghost kid's plan to go to that Ghostville is improbable.”

“Huh?”

“Not you to!” Edmund loudly complained as he flew over the beast and appeared beside the two. He hardened his expression on the cat, “Ghostville might be our only option!”

“No it's not!” The large cat shot back, “Look, I would love to drop you guys off so I can fight him seriously. However, that thing has his eyes dead set on this girl, which means that he'll definitely follow. If that abandoned town is really as close to Janeswater as you guys say it is and if that thing gets a whiff of the living humans he'll-”

“He'll go after them and it'll be a buffet line for him.” Dannie finished, not liking the sound of that. “Also the ghosts in the abandoned town will be in jeopardy as well.”

He shook his head, “No, he won't go after the ghosts. This beast is specifically looking for living beings and I need to keep him away from the living otherwise all my hard work to get him to this point will be a total waste.”

Edmund grunted, “Then what do you suggest we do?” 'Man, this is so weird, never thought I'd be standing here talking to a wild cat like this. But then again this whole thing is beyond ridiculous!'

Something flew above them, which instantly caught the wild cat's attention. Up in the sky was a blue-winged hawk and for some reason it was hovering above them.

'A blue-winged hawk?' The large cat inhaled sharply, 'That's it!' “Dannie, right?”

“Huh?” Dannie jerked her gaze downwards at the cat.

The cat glanced up at her, “You're name's Dannie, correct?”

“Uh, yeah, it is.”

“I want you to hang on tight and don't let go until I tell you to!” He then hurled his gaze at the ghost, “And if you want to follow us, ghost kid, then you better hang on too!”

“What are you-”

“I have an idea of where to go, but we need to get there quickly so I'll be running at my top speed. So I need you two to hang on otherwise the wind will knock you right off. Also,” He shifted his determined gaze at the beast to notice that the dragon monster was hunched down, “I have a feeling this guy will be losing his patience real soon here.”

Just as he predicted the beast came flying at them at full speed.

“Hang on!” The cat ordered loudly. Once he felt the firm grips of Dannie and the ghost he jumped up in time for the monster to crash right into a tree.

“Ah! He crashed!” Dannie exclaimed.

“He's getting desperate.” The wild cat explained. “So he's going to get more aggressive and bold and he's going to use every ounce of his power that he has left to catch up to us.”

“How lovely.” She bluntly replied. The brunette averted her attention back on the beast only to gasp when she noticed it had turned to face them with some bark in its mouth.

He snarled and bite down on the bark, crushing it, chewing it before he swallowed the bark.

'Wha!? He ate it!?'

The beasts eyes began go glow a poisonous green color as the green flames appeared in his mouth.

'Oh my, God!' “He's going to fire that blast again!” Dannie loudly informed the wild cat.

The large cat averted his gaze just in time to jump when the attack was fired at them. However, he noticed too late when the beast flew up to him and socked him right in the gut.

Dannie screamed as she was jerked off of the cat's back and slammed onto the ground. But darted her gaze up and cried out in dismay, “Mr. Cat!”

The cat was about to claw the beast, but the beast caught the paw and dug his own sharp claws into the cat's paw. The wild cat yelped in pain, however, before he could do anything the dragon beast punched him in the head, kneed him in the gut again, then with his other clawed hand grabbed the cat by the scruff of his neck and threw him.

Edmund screamed, still hanging onto the large cat.

“Edmund! Mr. Cat!” Dannie hollered and motioned to run after them. However, something suddenly grabbed her, causing her to scream bloody murder as it pulled her into its scaly chest and wrapped its arm tightly around her abdomen. Hastily, Dannie began to struggle getting a hunch of what it was.

A hungry, delightful scowl echoed from behind her, “Mm...food time.”

Her eyes went wide and she hurled her attention upwards to see the monster smirking at her as it held up his other claw and moved it towards her. Immediately she screamed and instinctively tried to pull away, but the beast's grip was so strong.

“Hey, ugly!” They heard a familiar teen holler out. Edmund burst out of the trees and charged towards the beast with his expression hardened, “Let go of her!”

The dragon merely snorted and just when the teenage ghost came close enough to him, the beast whacked him with his free arm.

“Edmund!” Dannie cried out as she watched the faded teenager fly through trees. Another shriek escaped her when she felt the beast fly up into the sky. 'Oh, no! I have to do something before he flies off with me!'

However, before Dannie could put a plan into motion something small and blue began fluttering in front of them. Dannie looked and inhaled, “A blue-winged hawk?!” 'Whoa, I know they live in this region, but this is the first time I've seen one this close up.'

The hawk looked furious as it began to flutter around the beast and began dive bombing the monster, pecking him and clawing it with her own talons. The dragon monster howled in agony and annoyance as he tried to whack the bird away, however, just like the wild cat, the bird was faster and managed to dodge all of the monster's attacks. The beast was still soaring up into the air, but the hawk was doing her best to keep the monster below the tree tops, however, it was still pretty high up.

'Wow, a very gutsy bird. But maybe we're near its nest and that's why it's attacking. Adult animals are very protective of their nests, especially if they have young ones in it.' Dannie wondered to herself, but hastily shook her head. 'Don't worry about that right now!' Her eyes began to dart around, hoping to find something to get her out of this monster's hold. 'There's got to be something!'

“AH!” She yelped when the monster began to twirl around in the air as he still kept trying to get rid of the hawk. Luckily, for Dannie, the beast had turned her and unintentionally moved her close to a tree branch. 'Ah, I have an idea!' She stretched out her hands, grunting as she tried to reach towards the branch, 'If I can break off a stick I can-' “Ah!” She exclaimed when both her hands managed to grab hold of the branch. She inhaled with praise, 'Yes! I got it!' She moved her one hand towards the smaller sticks, since she knew she'd be able to break one of those off. Once she grabbed hold of one of the smaller sticks she quickly began to wiggle and pull on it.

'Come on, come on!' She ushered the stick, but instant relief came over when she finally managed to break it off. “Success! AH!” Dannie yelped again as the monster spun them around again while the bird continued to peck at him. She hurled him a glare, “Alright, I've had enough of you!” Without a second thought, she stabbed the stick into the dragon monster's eye.

The monster howled in immediate pain, without thinking he released her in order to cover his eyes. Dannie suddenly gasped sharply and her eyes went wide when she realized something.

'Oh, I didn't think this through!' She shrieked as she fell towards the ground.

The blue-winged hawk gasped at the sight and dived down towards the girl. However, something a little bigger burst out of the trees from the direction the large cat was thrown. It dashed towards the girl and once it was where she was about to land, it pounced up and caught her in its arms. Dannie yelped in surprise, but instinctively wrapped her arms around her savior's neck as it landed on a sturdy tree branch.

“That was a little reckless.” The familiar male voice roughly told her.

Dannie gasped, 'Mr. Cat?!' She opened her eyes and darted her attention upwards but was utterly shocked and astonished when she found herself staring up at a man.

He had long, blue hair that appeared to reach the middle of his back and he had the most beautiful golden amber eyes she had ever seen. He had some type of brown leather choker type necklace around his neck with a woven red material in the middle of it, he also had another woven necklace around his neck only it was longer that went over his chest. It looked like it was made out of some type of rope with the same red woven material as the other necklace only this one had a feather sticking to it. The necklace looked like something an Indian would make or as Serica called them Native Tribes. The man also had a red vest that exposed his muscular chest, which matched his strong looking face that made Dannie's heart flutter a bit.

'Whoa, that's definitely not Mr. Cat. But who-' She caught a glimpse of something twitching at the top of the man's head. Looking up, she was surprised to see a pair of cat like ears on his head, 'Cat ears? So, he's not human? But then why does he look human? Just what exactly is he?'

“If I was any later you would have broken every bone in your body.”

“W-Well...I-I....” Dannie was so blown away by this man's sudden appearance that she couldn't think straight.

“But that was good quick thinking on your part.” The man praised and averted his interest back towards the beast, “Since it got you away from him.” His expression hardened with determination. “Also,” He carefully placed Dannie back on her feet. He flexed his knuckles, which caused his nails to sharpen to look like claws. “You gave me an opportunity,” He pounced towards the beast, “to strike!”

Dannie yelped and held onto the tree trunk when he pounced and caused the branch to shake slightly. Her eyes locked onto the blue-haired man as he jumped high enough to slice the beast across his back with his claws. When his claws made contact with the dragon monster it howled in deep agony when electric shocks emerged shocking the beast. The blue-haired man landed on the ground just as the monster whirled around and dived towards him. The beast managed to reach the man in time to watch him turn around and the monster clawed the man right across his chest.

The man grimaced in slight pain and jumped away from the monster, but he pounced right back and socked the beast right in the gut. He then grabbed the monster by the arm, swung him around and threw him into the forest.

“Whoa.”

“Dannie!” She heard Edmund call as he flew towards her. “Are you alright?!”

“Yeah.” Dannie shifted her interest back towards the blue haired man, “Thanks to him.”

“Hm? Whoa!” Edmund landed on the branch next to Dannie with his attention on the blue-haired man. “Who the hell's that? Never seen a guy like that around these parts.”

“No kidding.” Dannie looked ahead of her with concern, “But I wonder what happened to that large cat.”

“Hm? Hey, now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since we got thrown.”

The brunette maiden groaned in dismay, 'I hope he's okay.'

Suddenly the blue-winged hawk flew towards the brunette maiden and fluttered in front of her and Edmund. It almost looked like it was highly concerned about them.

Dannie furrowed a brow, “Um...” She ushered her hand towards the bird, “D-Don't worry, we're fine.”

“Um, what are you doing?” Edmund eyed her like she was crazy, “You do realize you are talking to a bird?”

“Of course I do!” She hurled back, “But when has-”

“Let's go!” The urgency in the voice of the cat eared man echoed as he hastily scooped Dannie back up in his arms. Disregarding her surprised yelp, he sped off, “I need to get you out of his reach!”

“Hey!” Edmund called out and flew after them with the hawk following close behind. “Wait up!” 'Dang, even this guy is fast!'

The blue-winged hawk flew faster and managed to fly up right next to the blue-haired man. He noticed and cast her a glance, “Emiko!”

'Emiko?' Dannie repeated in her mind. 'Is he talking to the bird?'

The blue-winged hawk looked at him.

“There's a barrier, correct?”

The bird eyed him mysteriously for a moment before it perked up with realization. Quickly, it nodded.

“Good.” He focused his attention on the path in front of him. “Then that's our destination!”

“Barrier?” Dannie spoke up, getting him to glance down at her. She arched a brow, “What are you talking about? Where are you taking me?”

“I'm taking you to our hideout.”

“Hideout?” 'Wait, our?' She peeked over at the hawk, 'Him and the bird?'

An all too familiar monstrous roar echoed from behind them. Hastily, they peered back only to groan in distaste when they saw the dragon like beast chasing after them.

“Damn!” Edmund cursed loudly, shooting a piercing glare in the monster's direction, “That thing just can't give us a break!”

“Emiko!” The blue-haired man practically yelled and met the hawk's gaze. “Could you-”

The hawk didn't even let him finish when she gave him a quick nod, knowing what he was going to ask. She turned around and darted towards the creature, once she was just a few feet away she flew up, held her wings up until they glowed a bright blue. She then swung her wings, throwing the blue light downward and once it hit the ground a blue blast emerged between the beast and them.

The beast howled and covered his eyes as the blue light blinded him.

“Whoa!” Dannie and Edmund gaped as their eyes went wide at the scene.

'Okay, that is definitely not a normal bird!' Dannie confirmed to herself. Her gaze drifted back to the man carrying her, 'But then again these two are both strange and that cat to.' She gasped sharply, 'Oh no! The wild cat!” “Wait!” Dannie shot up with a start. “We need to go back!”

“Go back? Are you insane!” The blue-haired man argued, “We can't go back! Now settle down or you'll fall!”

“But the cat!” Dannie went on, gesturing her arm towards the direction they were running from. “That large cat! I need to make sure he's alright!”

The blue-haired man grunted softly, “Don't worry, the cat's fine.”

She hardened her gaze up at him, “How would you know!?”

“Just trust me.” He gave her a very calm, sincere expression, “That cat is fine.”

Dannie gaped and somehow became relaxed. 'Did he...?' “Did you-”

“Our destination is up ahead!” He announced.

“Huh?” Dannie looked and was confused when she saw a bridge that was made of stone. It was a bridge that traveled between Ecaep and Mlac and they were heading towards the base of it. “What?”

“Are you kidding me?” Edmund challenged roughly as he zipped up beside the blue-haired man. He pointed at the bridge, “That is your big idea? That thing will corner us!”

“He'll corner me, but he won't touch either of you.”

“Huh?” Dannie and Edmund chorused.

“How-” Dannie began.

Another loud roar was heard from behind them, the blue-haired man hurled his attention towards the commotion to find the blue-winged hawk still throwing her blue light beams at the beast. However, the monster was pushing through, completely forgetting about his pain and injuries and just kept chasing after them.

'Damn, this guy is definitely getting desperate if he's completely ignoring his own injuries! But this is my opportunity to destroy him once and for all.' “Alright,” Once he was a good distance away base of the bridge he lifted the girl up, “it's time to finish this!”

“AH! What are you doing?!” Dannie yelped out, taking note of how he had positioned her. He looked like he was about to throw her.

“Just trust me!” The man shouted as he tossed her towards the base of the bridge.

Dannie screamed.

“You bastard!” Edmund practically screamed furiously at the blue-haired man. He motioned to fly after her, “She's going to crash into the stone wall!” A gag escaped the faded teenager when the blue-haired man grabbed him by the hook of his shirt collar.

“Oh relax.” The man grabbed the boy and positioned him so he could throw him towards the wall. “It won't hurt you!”

Edmund yelled as tears fell from his eyes, realizing he was going way too fast to stop himself from flying at the stone wall.

Dannie yelped in distress and hastily covered her face when she was now just inches away from the bridge. 'There has to be a reason for this! There just has to be! Right?' She felt herself pass through something, but it wasn't hard it was actually quite soft. It almost felt like she went through a water sprinkler, which completely baffled her. 'Did I even hit the wall?'

Finally, she uncovered her face and gasped in astonishment when she found herself flying into garden field. It was filled with beautiful flowers and the greenest grass she had ever seen in her life. There was also a little cottage that was in the middle of the beautiful garden.

“Wha-What is this?” Her body lost its momentum and she slid on the ground. She grimaced, “Ow.” Getting up on her hands and knees, she peeked over her shoulder only shriek when she saw Edmund flying right towards her.

Swiftly, she scooted out of the way just as Edmund skidded against the green grass. When he landed he had his butt up in the air while his face was tucked in the ground.

“Edmund!” Dannie jumped on her feet and rushed towards the faded teenager. She skidded on her knees and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Edmund, are you alright?”

The teenaged ghost groaned as he finally sat down on his bottom and raised his head up. He held his head as he met her gaze, Dannie couldn't help but chuckle when she saw his mouth full of grass, flowers and some dirt. When he realized it Edmund hastily spat the materials out of his mouth and wiped his tongue off in complete disgust.

“For the most part I'm okay.” Edmund replied but looked behind him. “Just a little confused. Did we actually hit the stone wall?”

“I don't know.” Dannie averted her interest towards the direction they came from. She gaped when she saw the blue-haired man as he still stood in the forest, but what surprised her was the clear material between them. The material had produced a type of wave that made her think she was staring at a lake. “What?”

Getting up on her feet, Dannie went over towards the wall. When she made it to the clear material, she poked it which caused the material to produce a smaller wave. “Whoa!” She raised her gaze to see where this material ended, but couldn't pinpoint it. “What is this stuff?”

“It's a barrier.”

“Huh?” She lowered her gaze to meet the golden amber eyes of the blue-haired man. He strolled up to the clear material until he was just a few inches in front of her. However, he didn't pass through the material. Dannie tilted her head curiously, “A barrier?”

He nodded, “Yes, and being in this barrier will keep you out of that monster's sight until I destroy him.”

'Out of his sight? Does that mean the monster won't be able to see me?' However, before Dannie could question the man any further another roar was heard. She watched the man's ears twitch as he turned completely around to face the beast as he burst through the trees.

“Well,” Edmund voiced in as he appeared beside the brunette. He crossed his arms, “Guess this guy really isn't a bastard.”

A vein popped in the blue-haired man's head in anger, 'That kid better watch that tongue of his!'

Something blue grasped the man's attention, he raised his gaze just in time to see the blue-winged hawk fly towards his side. She gave him an assertive nod as the two eyed the dragon monster down.

“Be careful!” Dannie instinctively pleaded when she noticed his stance.

The blue-haired man's ears twitched when he heard that. “Don't worry!” He flexed his knuckles with his flaming glare on the monster and scowled. “I don't intend to let this persistent pest get the best of me!” He charged the beast and pounced towards him.

The dragon monster noticed and opened his mouth to release another green fire blast.

“Oh no you don't!” The blue-haired man hollered and made another deep claw mark across the monster's face.

The beast howled, but snarled angrily and swung his claw to strike the man. However, the man was on his toes and jumped back and landed on the ground. When he landed on the ground, the blue-haired man snorted before he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

“What?” Edmund raised a brow, “Why is that guy just standing there?'

Dannie didn't say anything and just watched the man in wonder and astonishment.

The wind began to pick up around the blue-haired man as an orange light emerged around him. Some type of force whirled around inside of him and once that force had intensified enough, the man shot his eyes wide open as they shined bright orange.

“Whoa!” Dannie exclaimed, “His eyes just lit up!”

“Huh?” Edmund tilted his head and eyed her strangely, “What are you talking about? I don't see anything.”

“Huh?” Now Dannie was baffled, “But,” She looked back at the man, “that light is completely around him.” 'How could he not see that?'

The blue-winged hawk cast the girl a glance. 'She can see Duzell's aura?'

The blue-haired man narrowed his gaze on the beast, opened his mouth and yelled, “LION'S ROAR!” As he released the force that was within him a lion's roar echoed while a huge wave of an orange light came out of his mouth. As the attack made its way to his opponent the wave of orange light produced a ripple affect while the roar continued to echo.

The beast fidgeted, getting a bad feeling about the attack. Hastily, he motioned to run, however, he wasn't quick enough and the attack hit right on target. Suddenly, the monster literally couldn't move, it was like his whole body just froze in place. His eyes shot wide open when he realized that he was now in huge trouble.

“Heh, well that's a sight I like to see.” The blue-haired man scoffed smugly. His expression was still hardened, but flexed his knuckles again, “Since it just confirms how finished you are.” His orange light emerged around his fists, the light made a static sound and it looked like he was holding a ball of electricity.

Dannie gasped at the sight, not just at the sight of the orange ball but she noticed that there was a small ball of a yellow light in it. 'That light...what is it? It almost feels...pure?'

Once the electric ball was big and intense enough, the blue-haired man held out his claws that were within the ball. “Time to finish this!” He then charged towards the beast, pounced and swiped his claws right through the monster, “Expulsion Claw!”

The dragon monster practically screamed while the claws and the orange light cut right through him. But the light was much more painful as it flew into the beast, and lit him up like a nightlight before he exploded.

Dannie and Edmund yelped at the sight of that.

“Whoa! Did he seriously just blow up!?”

Dannie's eyes were wide open as she slowly nodded, “Y-Yeah...that's what it looked like.” Her head flinched as she watched the blue-haired man gently land on his feet.

He turned while he sniffed and glanced around, making sure that the beast was indeed gone. He sighed in relief when he felt no trace of the monster. 'Finally, it's over. By Gods that was not an easy fight.'

Something moved to him, which caused him to flinch and looked just as the blue-winged hawk flew towards him. “Can you sense him at all? I know I can't but I want to make completely sure before I allow myself to relax.”

“I don't sense him anywhere either. You finally got him this time.” The hawk assured him softly.

“Good.” He replied, he had never been so glad to hear those words. “Man, they are getting tougher by the day.”

“I know.” The hawk agreed and eyed him with determination, “Which is why we need to find the others and awaken them before these things get even stronger.”

“Right.” He merely nodded before he shifted his gaze towards the barrier.

Dannie and Edmund blinked completely blown away by what they had just witnessed.

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” Edmund added, “that was....AWESOME!” He hollered, which caused the brunette next to him to jump. He tossed her a smile, “I mean, did you see that?! Damn and here I thought you could only see stuff like that in movies or books! But to actually see something like that in real life...damn that was so cool!'

“Yeah,” Dannie replied softly, “that's great.”

“What? Don't you think that was cool?” Edmund quizzed very disheartened by his friend's response.

“Well, yeah, but the fact that we got attacked...that isn't what I would call great.” 'I mean, seeing a monster like that...and seeing a man and a hawk like that...what does it honestly all mean? This type of stuff doesn't happen every day. If it did it would have gotten around, even if it was for laughs and giggles.' She caught a glimpse of something moving towards them. Her eyes darted upward to make eye contact with the blue-haired man as he strolled over towards them. She got a full look at his attire, his pants were a brown color and boot like moccasins. It looked like material that the Native Tribes would make.

“Are you two okay?” He gently asked as he now stood in front of her.

A soft gasp escaped her when she finally took note of his height, 'Wow, he's tall. He's taller than my dad!' She hastily snapped herself back to reality and answered, “Y-Yeah, we're fine.” She shied her gaze away, “Just a little shocked.”

“Yeah, I could imagine.” The man peeked over his shoulder to where the beast once stood.
That's something you definitely don't see every day.”

“But that was so awesome!” Edmund exclaimed as he zipped up beside the blue-haired man. He made the man flinch as he continued to praise the blue-haired figure man. “I mean, to be able to do things like that. Man, you are so cool!”

The man blinked, a little surprised by the faded teenager's excitement. “Uh...thanks...I guess.”

“So um.” Dannie spoke up, getting him to look at her. Nervously, she asked, “Who-Who exactly are you?”

“Or the better question is.” Edmund voiced in and raised a brow at him, “What are you?”

The blue-haired man didn't answer at first, instead he eyed the two suspiciously, mentally debating if he should or not. Something landed on his shoulder, which caused him to jerk slightly. He glanced to find the blue-winged hawk perched on his shoulder. The bird gave him a soft look and nodded.

He exhaled and gave the girl his full attention, “I'm Duzell Wolverine and I'm...an Eardian."