Note: From this point on all character played by Belladona are in italics, because Lantrea is dead...

Shallie turned... Lantrea? What could have happened now and where did her second in command come from? Shallie’s eyes searched the myst ((hehe... I love that game)) but she saw nothing and wondered whether she had imagined it all or not... This whole night seemed like nothing more then a bad dream; or she wished that it was.

It was time to find Epharen, and Caaris, whatever had happened was not something that she wanted to happen again, and it had become apparent to her that she most fix this. Whoever these Shepards were, and these Telepaths, they all needed to be stopped!

Quickening herself, Shallie finally landed at Caaris’ place. What was ahppening here? Laden and Spree were gone, but there were other Sharro; Sharro who Shallie did not know. This was too much! Listening for a moment, Shallie decided to lay low and listen before getting into trouble with these people; she needed to figure this out.

**So, you think that I am not capable of this?!** Leyla’s voice was tant, though she continued to coat her speech with sweetness. **You are wrong! I could give you anything you want, Epharen... you what Laden?! I will give hom to you!** Shallie shivered as she felt another form, something dark appear next to Leyla. Now what!

Though the face of the Sharro was hidden by darkness, his eyes shown out brightly. They seemed clouded... they seemed empty... they looked like Caaris’! Shallie tested this creature’s mind sending to him quietly, but this was not Caaris... this Sharro was just... empty.

**I will give you what you want Epharen!** Said Leyla, who began to laugh darkly. **Semahro!** The dark Sharro stepped forward, his massive paws splaying like shadows on the concrete stone. Shallie froze, she could feel the Sharro within... fighting; his thoughts came to her, but she could not aid him... What could she do?

Not Epharen... not now... no!

Epharen still stood motionless, ignoring Leyla's hissings behind her about Pherlladen. She would not give into temptation, she would not give into to temptation....
Then, most to her own surprise, her heart jumped within her chest as she felt Shallie's prescence as clear as rain. The adrenaline flooded through her as she became aware of each one who surrounded her. Leyla,Kurama, Shallie, and a new stranger..Semahro,was she called?
But above all, Epharen's gaze and attention was fixed on the pair of undeniably familiar gold eyes. And she
felt a shudder go up her spine as the
smooth, echoing voice spoke from the shadows, saying only one word. Her name.
** Epharen **, he said.
And she felt herself smile.
** Gwaildir **,she called him.
For a moment, he only stared a her, still concealed in the darkness with the exception of his eyes.
** It has been too long, my friend.**
The silky voice drifted on the air unto Epharen, blocking out all others so they could not hear. And he began to step into the light. One,white paw emerged from the shadows. And the rest of him followed.
He was a Sharro. A magnificent thing of a Sharro to behold. He was tall, taller than Epharen, and almost menacing. But his face was calm and he
seemed almost docile. White was his coat, so white it seemed he almost glowed. And upon his face were markings of gold, shimmering where light touched him. And his eyes were alight, golden
and unearthly beautiful, like two embers
set in a face of snow.
But the most extraordinary thing about him, were the pair of great, ivory wings that protruded from his shoulder blades and arched up above his back, shaped elegantly back down on either side of him. They were tremendous, one wing almost as big as himself, and yet so soft one was tempted to reach out and touch the pale,quivering feathers to discover whether they were velvet or silk. He was an earth shatteringly exquisite creature, and he stood before Epharen, his full attention upon her.
Soft gold locked with pale blue, and they only stood and stared at each other for a brief moment.
** Gwaildir. ** Epharen said his name again,smiling to see him in the light.
** Yes, Epharen, I have returned to you. Neither alone nor with light purpose.**
His voice was deep and light, yet it was apparent he came to her with ill -
tidings. Yet Epharen sighed and continued to look up into his warm amber eyes with further admiration and nostalgia. He was so dear a friend of her's, and they had been apart for long.
Usually, duty gave her no time to be wistful and think about old friends, but
when she was spared a quiet, solitary moment, Epharen's thoughts had often wandered to Gwaildir.
** Gwaildir **, she began.
** I've missed you.**
And Epharen stepped closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, the way Sharro embraced.
Gwaildir's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he then let his head move to hold Epharen's to his shoulder.
** I've missed you as well, Epharen.**

As Kerama turned to leave, he had already been expecting Shallie, nodded to her. But apparently she hadn't acknologled his presence.
As she creept up beside him, he read her recent thoughts. She had been contacted? By who?
Lantrea? Wasn't that the stupid sharro that had been ambushed? She must be delusional... after being attacked. But how could she have reached out?
Her mind should have been blocked! How could those stupid goons have forgot? He had to get there immediately...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syremina struggled to stay on her own four feet. She swayed side to side tring hard not to tumble head over heels.Her head ache was increasing dramatically. She groaned. **How long is this going to take?** She thought.
She hadn't gone very far until she to stop and rest under a nearby tree. It was almost noon now. the Nonoshon would be up soon, and that ment danger for her. But even more for those evil telepaths.
She closed her eyes.Her lips curled into an evil smile. **I soo hope they get eaten.**
~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Gyepsay had reached the clearing, Lantrea was gone. She growled in fustration. Had she really come all that way for nothing?
But wait... there must be a scent! As she sniffed the ground she could clearly make out Lantrea's scent. Unfortunately, there was unfamiliar scents that seemed to belong to two other sharro.
Gyepsay had been to late to save her friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syremina was furious. Patically at Gy, but mostly at herself. Her will to go on forward was greatly weakened. The hide out was not to far away by now, maybe she could still go back before lunch. **Nah. Sleepy time...**

Leyla’s words rang in his ears, and his mind swam. NO! NO! Not now! Semahro was a sad Sharro to have a conscience, but he was plagued with one anyways. He didn’t want to hurt this Sharro, he had no reason to really, but he had no choice. His powers were nothing more then a curse to him and it was not the first time that Semahro found himself hating his own guts for what he was doing.

Forgive me He thought to himself as he advance further on the unoticing creature. Pulling back his great ears, the Sharro struggled one last time to pull away from the control of his better but to no avail. All she had to do was give the word...

**Epharen...** Said Shallie, her heart low, she felt this Sharro’s thoughts and knew that he was being forced to do something... something to hurt Epharen.

**NOW!!! Now...** Screamed Leyla. **Your nightmares will come true, Guardian scum!** Semahro forced is way into the Guardian’s mind and wrapped his being around her thoughts and mind. he could see her life, her every thought, her every hope. But what hope was there?

Giving the word Leyla sent the powerful Sharro into this mind and pulled Epharen’s painful memories forth and shoved them into her mind’s eye; blinding her from the things that were trully underway.

Epharen let her head slip from Gwaildir's shoulder and turned to face the shadows which concealed these new strangers. Her eyes, warm with nostalgic love only moments before, now the familiar cold, pale blue that her comrades knew so well. She stared into the balckness, sensing the wicked prescences as clear in her mind as anything her eyes could see.
She also felt Shallie. Epharne felt a very strong inclination to go to her and apologize and embrace and submit to her as a faithful follower once more.
But now was not the time to for reconciliation. She must focus on her duty first. And these..miscreants must be dealt with.
Much to her surprise, one of them stepped forth from the darkness, revelaing himself. He approached grimly,as if reluctant to be dsoing so.
** Epharen **, came Shallie's voice in warning.
Gwaildir flanked Epharen protectively, yet stood motionless to let her fight this alone until she couldn't anymore. Epharen stood her ground, wary yet not attacking until she was attacked.
But the attack to come had no warning.
Epharen suddenly felt her mind being stripped and then struck in the face with her own past. Everything was suddenly there, staring at her with wicked slits of eyes.
Much like that of Zenat the night of Epharen's assualt. Again, she lived through the whole thing. The pain, the torment, the violation of her friend Belphalas, as a brother he had been to her. And then finally his death.
She was drowning in the tremendous load of her the depression she had faced during her adolescence. All that she had slavedd to conceal and forget, that had never really left her. And now it was right there in the light.

Semahro stared forward trying hard to concentrate on what he was supposed do; not that he wanted to. Epharen had begun to feel what he was doing to her, but he was far from being done. Leyla wanted more from him and he was obliged to comply. Shaking those thoughts from his head, Semahro continued with his work, hoping that what he was forced to do would not be too harmful to the Guardian.

Closing his eyes, and taking a small stumble forward, the large Sharro forced his way, once again, into the mind of the Epharen, the second in command. Looking quickly over her confused reactions, and assessing what he had done Semahro began to change the things that Epharen was seeing.

Looking at the hurtful memories that he had brought forth to her Semahro shifted the images. Turning bad memories into nightmares was easy enough for him, but as he grabbed her thoughts Semahro forced the other Sharro to believe that what she was seeing was real.

Images of dark Sharro, images of her friends and those that she loved, and pictures of their death was forced onto the writhing mind of Epharen. Semahro had one more thing that he must accomplish before feeling that his job had been done to the satisfaction of Leyla. He brought those nightmares into the reality of Epharen by adding pain, and sensations that would assault her mind and trick her into believing it all to be happening to her.

Semahro tore his mind from the Sharro when he was done, the feelings of fear and hatred were to much for the relatively gentle Sharro to handle. Leyla seized him when he came to, her thoughts and commands coming to him as no thought speech ever could. He tried to turn from his keeping but her voice and thoughts would not relent and he had no wayto escape them.

Meanwhile, Shallie sat in horror as she watched her close friend suffer through the same things as Caaris. Remembering his pain, and the images of his blood as the memories became real, Shallie could no longer stand to watch what was happening. But what could she do?

Epharen shook as she saw every memory with such clarity it was frightning. Her eyes widened as she heard screams, whispers, good, evil, love, hatred. She felt everything all over again. Epharen
saw the eyes of Belphalas, Feravell her cousin, Spreeander, Pherlladen, Shallie,
Zenat, Gwaildir. All flashing across her mind.
Then the feelings hit her full force.
Her mind, filled with horrific memories only a moment before, was now a prisoner of a violent red color. And she felt her whole body explode with pain. It was just liek the night she'd been captured by Zenat. She looked down at herself and she was covered in blood. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think.
** Epharen. **
She froze. Oh my God. Belphalas.
** Epharen. **
His voice sounded distant, empty. But it was there. It was a clear, loud echo in her mind.
** What are you doing, Epharen? **
She could not speak, only stand there quaking in terror.
** You thought you could escape me.**
It was laced with evil. Hatred. Blood lust.
And then, the scarlet in her mind was gone. Replaced now by pure, boundless black. It was a darkness so endless, so
cold, so empty, Epharen felt consumed by it. But it was not a stranger to her. She had only buried this darkness but a few years ago. But it had never really gone. And now it was back.
Epharen couldn't see. She couldn't breather. She couldn't feel or sense or cry out.
** Shallie **, she whispered.
** Shallie **, she whimpered.
But her voice was lost in the darkness.
** It's so dark. It's so cold.**
Epharen just stood frozen, her blue eyes so pale and struck with horror it was frightening. She seemed to be looking at the strangers and her friend in the darkness, at Semahro. And yet she saw nothing, no one. She was drowning in the dark, in the cold.
** Please...don't leave me here. Don't
leave me here alone.**
Epharen collapsed.

Was Syremina’s mind playing a trick on her? Images flashed across her mind like shadows crossing in to light. Each of them bore horrifically detailed memories of blood and loved ones slaughtered. These were memories, she knew that for certain, but they were not her own. She remembered nothing of these events, but she had no idea of who or where they had come from. The only person she knew on this strange land was Gyepsay, but her cousin must be far away by now. She shook her head, closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth screaming, ** MAKE THEM STOP! **

Ever since Syremina was just a little welp, she possessed a special kind of power she called the “Catch and Grab System”. If she left her mind open, with only a little bit of protection, she could pick up thoughts and out of someone’ s mind, or steal a bit of their strength. She could only do this with someone she knew, but these thoughts she had received had the markings of someone she had never met, or even encountered for that matter.

Deftly, Sy closed her channels so that she could no longer see the other sharro’s thoughts; the images came to a halt. ** But how, ** she thought, **have I gotten some strangers thoughts? ** There was no official answer to that question, but the only reasonable explanation was that she had reached out using Gyepsay’s mind. But for now Sy could only feel sorry for whose memory that was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gyepsay had given up on searching for Lantrea. She hadn’t considered her a friend since before her journey. Besides she would be fine by herself. She scanned the area with her mind, searching for Shallie’s and Epharen’s presence. Shallie’s presence was warm, just a few meters away, but Epharen’s was dim and faint. Slowly, it was fading. ** Argg! No, no I was soo close. Hold on Epharen, Shallie! Just for a minute… **She galloped as fast as she could, the hideout in view.

But there was something wrong with the hiding place. Darkness benighted the small building, tall trees loomed dangerously close to falling in on the tiny lair. The atmosphere of the surroundings was nothing compared to what was happening on the inside. She heard an ear-spitting yelp a few minutes ago, but now there was, utter silence. A ghostly, foreboding, loathsome stillness. She stopped for only a moment and then began to call out again her best friends and comrades’ names. She could feel Shallie’s presence. With a charge, she ran right into…

Semahro Left aside, the fast warning of Leyla and his own tinged reflexes forcing him out of the way before this new Sharro could impale him. His hold on Epharen was shattered, and Shallie found her opening when she left forth and dug her claws into the neck of Leyla, who screamed in pain at the attack.

Gwaildir stood with a frown as he watched Epharen collpase, Semahro decline, and Shallie attack Leyla. He did not move. Only watched. It was not his place to get involved in this mess.
And he wasn't interested besides.
He turned his attention to Epharen, who lay limply on the ground, no longer rigid with illusional pain since Semahro's hold on her mind had broken off. He knew all the dark things that ha passed through her mind's eye, though no one else did. All they knew was that Epharen had been terrified, as had been plainly displayed in her body language.
Not even Shallie knew some of the tings that Epharen had hidden in the depths of her soul from long ago. She hid it well.
But Gwaildir knew. And he had known years before when it seemed Epharen had overcome the shadow that really, she had just subdued it for the time being until it saw fit to surface once more.
He must take her away. She needed to recover, and she needed to be away from all of these hellish creatures and cicumstances until she truly did get herself under control and overcome the shadow. Shallie would have to understand. If Epharen was left to without the guidance or watchfulness of Gwaildir, she would truly fall this time. He was already in danger of losing his best friend, now another friend of his was falling vitim to the same darkness that was no stranger.
Gwaildir stepped forward decidely, his magnificent wings quivering almost unnoticeably as he did so. He would take her to his own sanctuary. And then he would have no choice but to leave her with his comrades. He had work to do in the city. His own share of evil was brewing that the Guardians were unaware of. That he knew from the High Counsel and wan't supposed to. That he had come here in the first place to warn his friends of.
Gwaildir stared down at Epharen.
**Lady fair,you know not what you face.**

**Huh? ** Gyepsay had, for the first time noticed someone else in the room, stepped in front of Gwaildir, blocking him from escape,**Who are you, and what do you think you are do...**

She stopped. Her eyes bulged as she gawked in horror, **What the heck? Who are you? Leave Epharen alone, freak! Can't you and the rest of stupid Leyla's stupid pawns know you've done enough? **
It is a well know fact that Gyepsay likes to show off. And she did so by spreading out her giant wings, blocking Gwaldir from leaving.

She looked deeply into his eyes. They seemed kind and tired, almost if he was about to bawl. It made her want to back down and continue on his journey, but she couldn't. She, after all, was no traitor. But she had no time to think, or reason within herself. So she continued to stare boldly into his burning golden eyes, hoping that he would be the first to back down.

She was about to speak again, since staring is only amusing for only a few hours, when she noticed something. He moved. Well body didn’t move but his… WINGS?!
**Do I know, you from… OKAY, WHY THE HECK DO YOU HAVE WINGS? Hmmm? Only my family has wings, and they are all dead! Except for the few that managed to escape… but they were never found…** Her voice trailed off.
She didn’t know what to believe any more. Should she hug him, or beat him to a bloody pulp? Her mind was chaotic with worry. She turned from him for a moment, and said in voice that sounded like she had seen a ghost. **Shhhshallie…**
~~~~~~~
Syremina continued walking. She senced something...but not quick enough. A sharp pain twinged on her shoulder. Hard. Before she knew it she was out cold

Gwaildir only stood unmoving as Gyepsay approached him, obviously less than content. But then she realized he was winged and it stopped her. He stared down at her with his soft, amber eyes, not knowing whether he felt pity or wistfulness shining through them.
** I know not who you are, young one.**
He said it slowly and truthfully. But he knew that she was of the same winged kind he was born of. But she knew not that there were others besides her family that had such wings.
** Now, I take my leave with my friend.
Do not hinder me this, bold one. She is beyond the aid of you or the one who stands behind who calls herself Leader.
You know not what has befallen her.**
Gwaildir moved to Epharen and lifted her to float in front of him. He pushed off the ground, pushing her body with his nose, and dissapeared into the mist.
Semahro wanted to explain himself, but his thought speech was as limited as anything else. Leyla hailed him.

**Come, let us leave this place!** Leaping into the air his Shepard disappeared the other way, as though she wished to get as far from Gwaildir as she could. What secrets did she have...? Semahro ignored his thoughts about Leyla's secrets and followed out after her, disappearing into the mist as she had.

Shallie watched them go, and her heart was heavy. She knew that Leyla would return to her base... and that was where Caaris and maybe even Zenat were, and Shallie knew that she would have to go... and rescue them...

Gyepsay watched in silence after Gwailder for a while. Then she smiled. Oh yeah, flatter me, and take off.
But she ignored him. She knew that Leyla was the brains of the operation, but if he was going go the other way...
Hey wait! Leyla was leaving!
She watched in anticipation as Shallie's eyes told her everything she wanted to know- SHE WAS GOING AFTER LEYLA!
**Shoot!** She thought, **More chasing!**
She followed after Shallie into the mist.
~~~~
Syremina felt an enormous pain sweep over her. **Oh my head, ** she mumbled, trying to remember just how she had gotten that head ache. It was not only her head, but her neck and spine were inflamed as well. She groaned when she finally realized that she wasn’t home on the island.

With great difficulty, she managed to stand on her own four feet. She shivered. It was nearly autumn, and the days were growing shorter. Why, already it was almost evening, the sun would be setting soon!

What was she going after? Why was she here? Suddenly she realized, SHE COULDN’T REMEMBER! She stood there absolutely in shock. She still knew who she was, but why she was here and not home was a complete mystery.
~~~~~~~~~
Kerama was tired. He had a long day of brain washing, and listening to Leyla as she harassed him. But the main reason for his trouble was the murder he had committed hours ago. The Guardian sharro Lantrea had intentionally killed Roscoe and the afterward other goon had killed her. But not after the last message she sent to her leader. For punishment, by the rules of Leyla, he killed the fool.

He didn’t like this job a tall. If Leyla hadn’t promise to kill his mother... he gritted his teeth. Such a powerful sharro as he shouldn’t have to submit to her outrageous demands.

Part Nine
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