Dimension One: Sky

A Flame

I stared at the girl in the center of the torn-down room, a soft wind brushing back her layers of reddish brown hair. Her eyes were set in a determination I had never seen before, and I knew this girl would be a great leader. She reminded me of those powerful warrior girls who always used to beat me in sparring.

Yumi turned around, eyes meeting mine. There was fire in them; a flame that I didn't see in the others, but part of that might have been from the fact I could barely see the others' eyes behind M's dark mask and Feng still hadn't approached me.

"We should go. A herd of Schraves are coming." M told me, suddenly right beside me. "I know a place where we will be safe for the night." her voice dripped of sarcastic poison, and I couldn't fully trust her to bring us to a safe place. "I swear on my life that I do know such a place, Sky Native." She added, reading my mind, though hopefully not literally.

M led the way, springing from the floor to a hole in the wall a good ten feet up. Feng seemed to melt into the shadows and materialized beside the assassin, causing her to hiss. Yumi glanced at me before whispering something to her scythe and forming wings made of some sort of silvery vapor, leaving me as the last one to show my power.

I sighed and felt my wing bones shift in relief as they extended, revealing my glossy eagle wings that jutted from my shoulder blades. The others looked mildly surprised, Feng the most, with his jaw dropping. M's eyes widened but it only took her a heartbeat to figure out my name and the dark optics narrowed again. Yumi looked amused by how the others hadn't seemed to figure it out, but did stare at them admirably.

It took the black-haired boy the entire time it took me to stretch my wings and fly up there to figure out the whole eagle wing thing.

"Ohhhhh!" Feng cried out. "I see, Deshi of the Eagle!" He spoke the moment before M was about to hop off the building and across to another. Her footing slipped and she dove forward, reaching out for the other wall.

I felt my heart leap into my throat. It would go really bad on my record if I killed a really skilled assassin by accidentally letting her slip off a tall building.

But her eyes seemed to come alive, turning a vivid blue, and I knew she had sunk into assassin mode. Like a blur, she pushed off the wall of one building and hopped from one to another, before flipping gracefully to the second one and landing in a crouch, one hand on her knee and the other on the ground. "Trying to kill me, Seer?" She growled.

Feng laughed, glancing at me nervously. "Of course not. We should be going now too..." He stuttered.

Yumi's eyes met mine for a second, and I felt my heartbeat quicken, before I nodded at Feng. "Yeah, we should he going, especially if the Schraves are coming." I finally said.

Even I could hear them now; the thunk thunk of their hooves beating the ground. I guessed only a few minutes away.

Schraves were like horses and monutain lions combined. They had hooves that were long and pointed, perfect for stabbing people, and long, thin legs that were all muscle. Their bodies were shaped like a mountain lion's, with powerful, rippling muscles under a dark coat, and a thin tail with a sharp stinger at the end for balance. They had long necks and large beady eyes, as well as swiveling ears like a cat's, and a long face with fangs protruding from their large upper jaw. Schraves traveled in packs, usually made up of one large male and a group of powerful females. They were carnivorous, and found humans and wild animals as delights to hunt and eat.

The others glanced at me as if waiting for instructions. I nodded. Yumi was the next one to cross, balancing her scythe across her shoulder and doing some kind of pretty flippy thing and landing gracefully on the other side. Feng just jumped across, though he did land on his stomach and made an odd, guttural noise.

Glancing at Yumi, I took a few steps back before dashing forward and spreading my wings to give a powerful upbeat, easily clearing the hole. Obviously, we were a very able group. I grinned. I had chosen the right people.