Soulbinder (Original Story)

[Dragon Style]

OK so here is a story originally created by me, I worked and thought really hard on this and even though it's still a work on progress I've decided to share it with you, it was originally posted on another website so there might be few curse words, but I'll edit those out if they come up, so without further explanation here is my original story Soulbinder.

Summary

In the world of Edelen, a word that means soul, it’s just about as common to see ghosts as it is to see mortals. If you took the time to look around and really paid attention, then you'd notice that nearly half of the people you see walking around in this world are actually spirits. In the world of Edelen, life never really ends. Once you die, you become a spirit, and when life ends for a spirit, they are simply reborn as mortals. So, in a sense, we are all immortal. However, even if you knew this, tell me, would you still be afraid to die?

Chapter1: The Solarian Scholar

~Jakkaru~

Though it was morning, I refused to get up. I had managed to find the most perfect, comfortable position to sleep in, and if I moved, I knew I would never find it again. So, despite the knowledge that my oversleeping would hardly go unnoticed, I tried to sleep in for as long as I could. I soon felt a presence hovering over me and the soft voice a girl called out to me.

“Jakkaru,” she said as I continued my attempt at sleep by pretending that I was already asleep and did not hear her and with any luck she'd let me sleep. “Jakkaru!” she called louder once more in attempt to wake me when she said, “Alright then have it your way,” and suddenly my blanket was snatched off of me and the curtains pulled open blasting me with unpleasant sunlight. I was now awake for my position had been destroyed.

I groaned and turned over to look above me only to see the one person I'd thought I'd see, the spirit Jinora and by spirit I do mean ghost. Now I know what you're thinking. Do I have supernatural powers that allow me to talk to dead? Doesn't it freak out that a ghost is my house? And the answer would be no. You see in Edelen the world of which we lived in its just about as common to see ghost as it was to see cloud in the sky and if you take the time look around and really pay attention then you'd notice that about half of the people you see walking around in this world are actually ghost.

unlike Jinora however I was a mortal, mortal is the general name used to describe the living while the dead of course are called spirits, so to save you the long explanations Jinora is a spirit while I am a mortal. There are many names for mortals, there are all different kinds that fall into different groups for instance I am Inuko and I live in Dogma the village of dog people. As you may have guessed Inuko are dog like people and before you as just know that I do not mean that I have dog ears or fur all over my body and I most certainly do not have a tail however, my fangs are a bit sharper and longer then say, a humans. Our hair may be gray or white even if we are not old and sometimes we may have two different color eyes. We can smell things like dogs, hear things like dogs, see in the dark and we're just as fast as they are as well, we even have a dog sense of loyalty. We are believed to have been born from dogs, I mean even the word Inuko means dog child.

However not everything is perfect about being an Inuko, especially if you're one living in Dogma. For example the age adulthood around here as in the age where anybody takes you seriously or better known to me as the age when all of your friends decide to ditch you. You see in the village of Dogma anyone under the age of 15 is seen as child and therefore are treated as such by every adult in the village. I of course am only 14 and yet even though I am so close to age of 15, the 15 year old hounds still think that they have the right to treat me like a 5 year old puppy.

Children are not allowed to do anything other than play do, chores and train. We are not allowed to know about adult business, we are not allowed the know about the village secrets or to speak out against any adult even if we were right or else we will scalded for our lack of respect. So basically children are not allowed to know or do jack squat. This is why I never make friends with anyone who was born before me anymore because no matter how good of a friend they were or how close you may have thought you were in the end they all turn out the same and become know it all jerk hounds whom love to hear themselves bark. Personally if that's what it means to be an adult then screw my 15th birthday I don't ever want to grow up.

I got dressed and combed out my long soft raven black hair that draped to the end of my shoulders and shined like the suns reflection off the water. I guess if I were describe the way that I looked to you it would be that I had slightly moon kissed skin with silver eyes like the moon. I was just barely five feet tall and my hair was just a little wild and yet somehow tame as it hung down just past my shoulder blades.

I wore a black dogs collar with golden star charm that hung off the end of it. I also wore a a black sleeveless vest like shirt that exposed my back down to the end of my shoulder blades and had a loop in the front that went around my neck to hold the shirt up so that it wouldn't fall off of my chest. It was kind of like a dress actually that that stopped just at the end of my butt, but split in the front at my hips. I also wore white wraps on both my shoulders, kind of like the one you'd find on a mummy and a red sash that was tied around my hips like a belt that was tied into a knot on my right side where the rest of the sash just hung down that reached down to my knee. I wore a pair of form fitting black shorts that came down just above my knees with rectangles on the sides that would expose my shin if it had not been for light blue net shorts that I wore under them. Lastly I wore a pair of long black fingerless gloves that stopped just before my elbows with a pair of green wristband like sleeves that went from the knuckles of my fingers and just a little bit past my wrist and a pair of black shoots with silver shin guards that stopped just below my knee's.

I then had some breakfast and ate my last piece of meat, the hunting party had not yet returned so far as I had known and it always best to eat all of your meat before the flesh really started to rot. Hopefully they would back today or else if worse came to worse then I'd have to try my luck with those sour berries. I grabbed my battle fan and headed out the door.

Once I was fully outside I took stretch and began to walk forward as placed my hands behind my head and said, “Hey you know what? It's a pretty nice day, perfect actually,”

“See now aren't you glad I woke you up,” Jinora giggled as floated next to me, all smiles and almost no face.

“Yeah, why sleep in when I can take a nap out here,” I said slightly teasing while partly considering the nap.

“W-what? You can't just go back to sleep, I just woke you up,” she whined.

“Just kidding," I said before winking and sticking my tongue out at her. I liked teasing Jinora, she was my best friend after all.

I've known Jinora since I was 9 years old and like most spirits her appearance never changes, though as shifter spirit she could change appearance at anytime if she wanted too, I'm not even sure if her current appearance is truly her original, but its the way she's looked for as long as I've known her so I'll just have to believe that it is. Jinora appeared to be at least my age, possibly a little bit younger with fair skin and pink eyes. she had long brown hair that came down her hips. She had need straight and even hair with bangs that almost covered her eye brows. She also wore two golden rings on on each side of her bangs to hold a section of hair that she held in front of her shoulders that separated her bangs from the back of her hair. She wore a white Kimono with sleeves that covered her hands with a pink sash that was tied in a knot in the back wilt the rest of it just hung down into two flare with two golden bells at the end of each flare. Lastly she wore a pink celestial rode over her shoulders and under her arms that I would describe sort of like a pink see through scarf. I'd never seen Jinora's feet before, so if she did wear any shoes I wouldn't be able to tell you, but what I would tell you is that she looked like a princess.

Jinora and I began to walk around the village as we thought about what exactly it was we wanted to do today because you see despite what what the adults may think in this village may think, there comes an age where some of us children get tired of playing hide and go seek, in fact I've always been more the explorer type. My dream is to become a powerful binder with a powerful soul so I travel the world and most of all leave here. You don't really see any binders around here because most of the ghost here aren't the fighting type.

You see a soul is spirit that is bound to a mortal by the soul, mortals can only do magic if they are A. Bound to a soul or B. remember a past life and since I can barely remember to do my own chores then a past life is pretty much out of the question. The only way to do magic is to have a magical aura and the only things that had magical aura's were spirits because of course spirits are supernatural. If you remember a past life you had as a spirit then you regain whatever magical aura and power you had as a spirit. However, it's about as common for a mortal to remember their past lives as a spirit as it is for a spirit to remember when they were alive so in case you didn't get that, it doesn't really happen.

Now I know what you're thinking, if spirits can do magic then why would they agree to be bonded? What do they need mortals for? Well that's because Spirits can't really do magic per say, they really for the most part only have influence which means that they can't directly affect you. For example an ice spirit can only make it cold and even make it snow if they are strong enough, but they can't just freeze you in block of ice, not even if they wanted to.

Now your second question might be, then what about Jinora I mean she's a spirit right? And though you'd be correct that she is a spirit but you have to remember that Jinora is not violent and would be no help in a fight, besides Jinora doesn't want to be bonded , she'd much rather be my ghostly sidekick. Between you and me Jinora is shifter spirit so the only the power I'd get out of her would be shape shifting.

“Enjoying your childhood are we Jakkaru,” I heard an annoying voice say to me, “That's good its really nice when children act their age,” it said smugly as two other voices laughed with it. I turned to see the three stooges Lobo, Renard and Kitsune three people that I used to call friend, but just like every other adult in this town they turned out to be jerks, and hey did I mention that they take personal interest in my life? Oh yeah, they take time out of their busy days everyday just to bother me. Now aren't they sweet.

“Don't you three have some business take care of,” I asked with an annoyed sigh that was working its way into being a groan.

“Why looking out for you kids is our business,” said Renard

“I mean it is the responsibility for the strong to protect those weaker then them,” Lobo said

Lobo and Renard were twins who practically shared a brain, there wasn't really much for you to tell them apart with other than their clothes and the fact that Lobo really had no personality. They both had orange spiky hair with somewhat golden eyes, they each wore a black beater shite, black pants and black boots with silver shin guards that were the boy version of mine. He only difference was that Lobo wore a light blue over shirt with sleeves that hung off his shoulders with black fingerless gloves that stopped at his wrist while Renard wore a sleeveless wire hooded shirt with black wrist bands.

“Oh really? Then why is it that I'm not protecting you then,” I asked sarcastically as if I were really interested in the subject, “I mean I am stronger then you and even if it were three on one I could still beat all three of you with my eyes closed,”

“Excuse me?” Kitsune said in an offended tone.

Kitsune for as long as I've known her has always been a drama queen. She was a golden haired blonde with hazel brown eyes and fair skin like mine that was maybe just a little bit more sun kissed. She always let her hair hang down which was about as long as mine with a bangs that covered her right eye, you see Kitsune had two birthmarks of which she was ashamed of. One was on her eye and the over was on her cheek on the same side, they both resembled scars that I actually used to think were cool when we were younger, but when stacked up next to the rest of her attitude, I was pretty much over them. She wore a wire short sleeves crop top that buttoned up in the front with net shirt underneath, she also wore a blue shirt and with net shorts underneath them that stopped just before her knees. Lastly she more a pair of blue fingerless gloves that stopped around her wrist and part of blue shoes that shopped just a little bit above her ankles.

“Oh you're excused, but before you go just remember that I could kick your ass six weeks ago and just because you're almost a year older than be doesn't mean that I can't still do it now,” I said,

“Why you little,”

“Yes I am little, unlike you,” I said with my hands on my stomach, implying that she was fat,

“Children these days, no respect,” she said, “a-and don't think that village leader Perro won't hear about this,” she as she stormed off trying to hide her tears, and you know for an adult she sure was a crybaby. Lobo and Renard followed after her and you know I'd feel bad about the whole thing if we were still friends and they weren't such jerks.

“Jakkaru, are you O-”

“Yeah, I'm alright Jinora,” I replied before she could finish,

“Wow the line between adults and children is really drawn here,” a mans voice said “I'm just disappointed in the fact that some of them don't act their part correctly,” he said as I turned to see a man wearing a dirty brown cloak and really cool looking mask, it was white with red markings all over it and a circle in the middle of the fore head.

“Who are you and how did you get here?” I asked,

“My name is Amon, I am a Solarian nomad and if you must know those fellows over there let me in,” he said pointing at an almost out of sight Renard and Lobo, “I believe that it was not too long before your little...disagreement,”

“Oh, you heard that?” I said now feeling embarrassed,

“Why yes I did and may I say that for adults, they surely don't act like it,” he said,

“Well, that's just how things are around here, you become 15 and turn into jerk, personally I think it might be some kind of curse or a disease or something,” I said as he and Jinora laughed,

“Well, what do we have here?” he asked, looking at Jinora,

“Oh this is Jinora, she's-”

“A shifter spirit, is she your soul?” he asked,

“No, and I was going to say best friend,” I answered,

“Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that most souls aren't usually visible,” he said.

“It's cool so tell me why you, you know wear that?” I asked, “I mean the cloak, the mask it just seems kind of odd to me,” I said,

“Oh this?” he asked, “Well I thought you knew, but Solarians like to be judged for who they are, not what they look like, so we usually wear cloaks and mask outside out own homes” he said, “as you the saying goes it's your morality not your vanity,” he explained,

“Oh, cool...I guess, I'd didn't really know that about Solarians, I don't know much about any other race other than my own really, kids around here aren't allowed to know anything,” I explained,

“Really, so you wouldn't be able to tell me anything about that mountain pass over there?” he asked pointing out into the distance as I turned to see whee he was pointing,

“that would be a no, we're scalded if we even mention the thing and don't even think about looking at because then you get the eye,” I said turning back in his direction,

“Well that's too bad I was so looking forward to researching that pass,” he said placing his chin between his thumb and his index finger as if he were thinking about something,

“Researching?”I asked,

“Oh right, before I became nomad I was Solarian scholar and from time to time I do a little research, its kind of hobby and hard habit to break,” he explained, “listen I'd hate to ask, but do you think that you could figure out what's out there for me?”

“Me?” I asked, “yeah um, I don't know about that, I mean the adults are jerks around here, but they're pretty adamant about that place, it's forbidden,” I explained,

“Oh trust me, I understand where you are coming from, but forgive me for saying, should you really be listening to them?” he asked,

“excuse me,” I said making sure that I had heard him right,

“I'm just saying that for all their talk of adulthood how much of it do you really buy into, I mean they seem to be pretty adamant about everything, even when they are wrong,” he explained, “I mean just think about it, just about everything if forbidden for you children is it not?” he asked,

“I guess you're right about that but why can't you do it? And how can I?” I asked,

“Well if I had a soul I probably could, but you know this village inside and out, you have much better chance of sneaking past those guards than I,” he said,

“Well,” I said pondering the thought when he said,

“listen oh, I almost forgot what is your name?” he asked with a hand supportive hand on my head as knelled down a bit so he to meet me at eye level.

“Oh right, it's Jakkaru,” he said slightly laughing of embarrassment that I forgot to give him my name.

“Ah a fine name,” he said as I smiled, “Jakkaru I can see that you want more out of life than, well this,” he said gesturing to the village, “and I can see that you have the eyes of curiosity and so I am giving you your first adventure, words like forbidden just mean misunderstood and things that are misunderstood and feared and things that seem scary always turn out to be the most fun, I mean just think about it if every time someone slapped the word forbidden on to something we didn't explore it then we wouldn't learn anything now would we?” he explained with a compelling argument.

I thought about it for a moment and nodded my head, “alright then I'll do it,”

“excellent!” he said excitedly,

“but how?” I asked,

“Well-”

“Jakkaru!” I heard loud familiar voice yell to me as I attempted to shrink into my shoulders.

“Yes, village leader Perro,” I said hesitantly as I turned to face him.

Perro was the village leader and the only parent figure I actually had, he was tough and everybody listened to him. He had fair skin that just little darker than mine and green colored eyes and spiky red hair that was brushed towards the back, he also had a silver hooped earring in his left ear that hat tiny runic symbols on it. He wore a black short sleeve shirt with black somewhat baggy pants that had a yellow sash tied around his hips in the same manner as mine with boots that were the same as Lobo and Renard's. He also wore black finger gloves with silver forearm guards that started at his knuckles. Lastly he wore a long sleeved red jacket of which he always kept open with a yellow scarf that always had wrapped around his neck and also black headband.

“We need to talk,” he said in a very calm yet somehow frightening tone, “and who are you?”

“He's a Solarian nomad, Renard and Lobo let him in,” I blurted only to quickly shut up.

“I see,” he said, “Well, come along Jakkaru, we have things to discuss.

“I see well, fun fact, spirits can lift non living objects like poles you know,” said Amon, “I just thought you'd like to know,” he said with a small nervous laugh.

“Noted,” Perro said as he placed his hand firmly on my shoulder and lead me back to his house, a place I'd seen many times before.

[Dragon Style]

Chapter2: The Mountain Pass

~Jakkaru~

“So, the hunting party seems to have come back OK, I think someone mentioned that they had a bear,” I said with nervous smile as I tried to make small talk,

“Jakkaru, we've talked about this before, now how many times do I have to tell you to respect your elders?” he asked,

“When are you going to tell your elders to stop making it their life’s mission to make mine miserable?” I asked sarcastically as I crossed my arms knowing that he never would.

“Jakkaru, its important that we respect our elders because without them none of us wouldn't here today,” he calmly explained.

“Oh I think I'd be here just fine without Kitsune, Lobo and Renard,” I said, “and besides didn't you also say you have to give respect in order to get it as well?” I asked annoyed with the thought of those stooges in my head when he sighed,

“Yes, and I understand where you are coming from, I was once a pup your age too, but as adults I can't tell them what to do,” he said,

“What!?” I said with my voice slightly raised, uncrossing my arms in disbelief, “ you're the village leader, Leader you tell everyone what to do, especially me,” I said recrossing my arms.

“Yes I know, but I can't tell them how to be proper adults, that's just something they'll have to figure out on their own,” he said, “With adulthood comes responsibility, not maturity,” he explained,

“clearly,” I said referring to the stooges,

“Alright, now Jakkaru I want you to find and apologize to them OK?” he said,

“What!? But I-”

“OK?” he said as if I didn't have a choice and lets face it I didn't,

“OK,” I sighed bordering on a groan, the thought of apologizing to them almost made me physically ill.

“Alright then you may go, and trust me giving them respect is more of a punishment for them than it is for you because once they learn what it really means to be an adult then they'll realize that they never really deserved any of the respect they got from you and apologize just like you have to them, they always do,” he said,

“If you say so,” I sighed doubtfully as I walked out of door when he said.

“And Jakkaru, I know its been hard for you not having any parents, but just know that I am always there for you,”

“I know you are and, thank you,” I replied in a slightly embarrassed tone,

When I take the time to think about it I guess all of the adults in this village aren't really jerks after all, not the real adults anyway and you know what village leader Perro was right, they didn't deserve my respect or to even think that they stood as equals with him, but for him I would apologize the three stooges anyway and wouldn't you know that they were standing right there as turned around after closing the door.

“So young pup is there anything that you'd like to say to me,” Kitsune said, knowing that Perro told me to apologize so I took a deep breath and said,

“I'm sorry,” and started to walk away,

“Ah,” she said blocking my path, “For what?” she said pointing to her ear as if she were looking forward to the rest of my apology, unknowing to that, that's all she was going to get.

“Hey, I was told to apologize, not to specify,” I said before walking around her, leaving her speechless and disappointed.

I soon returned home where Jinora was waiting for me, Perro always made Jinora go home when he was lecturing me.

“So what did he say?” she asked, “what was your punishment?”

“Nothing, he just lectured me on respecting my elders and made me apologize to "them” I said referring to the stooges, “But now that I think about maybe that was my punishment, it almost killed me to even just say I'm sorry to those coyotes,”

“Yeah, that would be creative of him,” she said,

Now before any of you forget, let me just get this out of the way, if you can recall the little number about me not having any parents then well, its true. My mother died giving birth to me after she gave me my name, and my good looks by the way. As for my father, well if you figure it out then please don't hesitate to tell me.

“So are we really going to check out the pass?” Jinora asked reminding me of favor that Amon had asked of me. I thought about it and he said was right, I did know this village inside and out, I mean I could walk through the entire village backwards with my eyes closed and not hit a single thing if I wanted to. I knew what everyone did, when they were doing it and how long they were doing it. Feel free to laugh, but there was no pun intended I swear.

I knew just when I was going to do it and thanks to Amon I knew exactly how.

I waited till it deep in the middle of the of night, when everyone was asleep and sneaked through the village streets, the clam cool breeze of the summer night keeping me cool as I swiftly yet quietly made my way to guards post with nothing but sound of crickets and roaming spirits in the night. The guards always stayed and the exits of the village and were the only ones whom were awake at this hour. There were three that didn't involve climbing,the main path where our very few visitors came in through, the forest path and of course the mountain pass. I hid in a place out of sight and gave Jinora a pole. To hang on to. If Amon was right then if Jinora and I both hold on to it and then Jinora could fly me over to the other side, I didn't know why I'd never thought of this before I mean Jinora snatches the covers off me everyday.

We took the pole and held on to it tightly when Jinora flew up and lifted me off the ground, but just because she was spirit didn't mean that she had superhuman strength, she couldn't carry me forever, but if she could just get me around the first bend then we'd be alright. We didn't have to worry about the ghost, they usually kept them selves and knew when something was up, so they knew when to keep quiet, ghost love mischief and they'd tell on you, unlike some stooges I know.

“So you've never been over the pass?” I asked Jinora whispering, “I mean not even before you met me, not ever?”

“No,” She said, “I was too afraid to go anywhere before I met you and now I don't think I'd go anywhere without you,” she whispered,

“that's my Nora as spineless as a jellyfish,” I whispered jokingly,

“Well I am ghost,” she said, “we don't have any spines,” she joked back as we held in our real laughs and settled for a small set of chuckles instead.

We made it to the first bend and made our landing. I peeked around the corner of the bend to make sure that they weren't looking back because if they were then odds were that they caught our sent overhead, but thankfully they weren't. People who make guard are suppose to have strong well trained ears and noses, so against my better judgment of being happy about the fact of not getting caught, instead I was little disappointed in the fact that they had not spotted us yet. However I soon understood why they did not, I suddenly noticed that it was very windy this evening and sent of flowers was unusually strong. I found it odd, but that not odd so I brushed it off as just one of those things that just happens every now and then.

I looked at Jinora and nudged my head into the direction that we were going and then started to walk. It felt kind of creepy you know, like that felling you get when you first spend the night at an unfamiliar house or when walk home alone for the very first time. It was dark and rocky with no plant life or living tree's what so ever along the path, in fact they were all twisted and petrified as if something that scared them to death. Part of me wanted to turn back, but I knew if I just kept moving forward then soon I would get over that feeling pretty soon.

We got to the end of the path I knew something was wrong, deep down in my gut I just knew it. The entire time that we walked the path Jinora and I had not seen or felt the presence of a single spirit, this was unusual because even shy spirits have a presence.

“OK, we made it and there's nothing here,” Jinora said, “ So let's just go home OK,” she said with a twinge of fright in her voice.

“Forbidden huh,” I said, “You know what Amon was right, what kind of person forbids a place that's empty?” I asked when suddenly I noticed something behind Jinora and when I walked through her to see what it was I found myself staring at giant stone door that seemed to be perfectly carved into the side of the mountain. I walked up to it an carefully observed it. I noticed there was symbol on top of the door of three dog heads and writing across the door, it was then that I noticed that it was not one door, but two doors closed shut.

“No evil shall enter, no soulless shall pass,” I said as I read the door, “Jinora what's a soulless?” I asked,

“I'm not sure,” she said, “my entire Afterlife I've lived in Dogma village and I've never heard about that before,”

“No evil shall enter, no soulless shall pass,” I repeated to myself thinking, “Do you think you have to be a binder to get here, you know one that's is evil?” I asked, even though I'd never heard of an evil binder before, but then again I'd never really heard anything before.

I reached forward to touch the door when I heard Jinora say “Well don't open it,”

“I'm not, I just want to touch it OK,” I explain, but despite my intentions as soon as I touched the doors they flew open as if some giant freakishly large man and forced them open, knocking me back when they opened.

“Jakkaru!”Jinora screamed as I raised my hand to say,

“I'm alright, no need to worry, I'm alright,” I said, despite the fact that I'd hurt by butt upon landing on it.

I slowly got up and dusted myself off, rubbing my butt as I walked towards the now open doors that had knocked me down. I stopped right before the entrance and took a look a around, but could see nothing and even though there was big bright full moon out this evening, beyond the point where doors would have been was nothing, nothing that you could see anyway. It was just one big black shadow, it was as if light absolutely refused to shine in it.

“Hello!,” I yelled into the darkness knowing full well that I'd freak if anyone or anything actually answered me, but instead of leaving I yelled once more, “HELLO!” and “echo!” just for the fun of it and at that point even shaky Jinora had no choice but to laugh at my antics.

I smiled and snapped my fingers just as I had gotten an idea. I reach for my leg case to grab a light stone from out of it and throw it into the cave, but just as I started to reach for it a pair of golden chains shot out of then entrance and wrapped around both of my legs and snatched me in once again knocking me off my feet. However this time I hit my head upon falling and blacked out. The last thing I remember before completely loosing consciousness was the sound of doors closing shut, Jinora calling me and the sound of something growling....

~Jinora~

I watched as Jakkaru was snatched into the cave by golden chains, but by the time I had even thought to go after the doors had already shut. Now you might be wonder why I didn't press on, I mean I am I ghost so walking through doors should be simple right? But that was just it I couldn't walk through these doors and that wasn't normal for me. There was something strange about this cave, something not right and now Jakkaru was in that cave, and I couldn't get her out....

[Dragon Style]

Chapter3: Beyond the Door

~Jakkaru~

I slowly opened my eyes after waking up inside of the cave which oddly was not as dark inside as it was out. There was mana grass growing here, glowing along with the feeling of a massive spiritual presence. Mana grass was a special kind of grass, it didn't need water or sunlight. It was an eternally living plant that would only sprout up in the presence of magic, so unless you had magic you would never know that it was there. I'd heard that they only grew inside of dark places caves or deep underground.

My mind was now at ease because for a moment there I was kind of worried about the fact that there weren't any spirits around here. Perro always said that a place that even spirits wont roam shouldn’t be roamed at all, but I never was one for listening, I'd usually have to figure it out for myself which was exactly what I was doing now. Would you believe that my greatest worry at this moment was rather or not it was morning outside. If Perro found out that I was gone and where I went then I'd be doing everyone’s chores for a year. Yep that was me for you, trapped in a cave and worried about scoldings.

I didn't exactly know what happened, but I as I started to sniff around to catch the sent of flowers when I suddenly heard a voice say,

“What are you doing here odd creature?”

I looked around to see who or what was talking to me when I turned to see I giant three headed dog spirit. He was huge with red eyes and dark black fur. He had red symbols all over his body with a large flowing tail and a mane that went around him kind of like a sash. I noticed that the his sclera of his eyes were scarlet red while his iris's where a deep sky blue and he seemed to have shackles on at least two of his feet which were gold.

“Are you the one who pulled me in here?” I asked,

“Why yes I did, I heard a voice near the the end of the door and was curious about what it was,” It said in a duel voice of three, “So what are you exactly?” he asked

“I was just about to ask you the same thing, but for now I'll just go with the fact that you're just a huge spirit,” I said, “As for me my name is Jakkaru and I'm Inuko from Dogma village,” I explained

“I see and Dogma village is out there right?” he asked,

“Yeah, haven't you ever been?” I asked,

“No, I've never been anywhere but here,” he explained,

“Really?” I asked as all three of his head gave me a nod, “You sound a lot like me you know, I've never ever been outside of Dogma, that is until today that is,” I said, hoping that it was still tonight and not today.

“I see then, why did you come here?” he asked,

“Well, I really wanted to know what was out here,” I said, “So what are you doing all the way down here?” I asked.

“I'm not sure,” he said, “I've been down here all my life, but I've never actually known why,” he explained. “Or maybe I did and I just forgot, time doesn't seem to go by down here because everything remains exactly the same,”

“OK, so what exactly is it that you do down here?”

“Nothing,” he said, “But from time to time I look at the door and try to see what's on the other side,”

“The door?” I asked, in a confused yet kind of curious tone.

He then showed to the end of the tunnel where I saw a what seemed to be a glowing orange circle with strange symbols all over it, in fact the only thing that I could really make out were the four stars on it.

“This is a door?” I asked, “It just looks like a circle with a bunch of scribbles all over it,” I said in a kind of disappointed tone. “What makes you think that this is a door?” I asked,

“I'm not really sure actually,” he said “It just seems like something is on the other side,” he said,

At that moment I had the most terrifying feeling, on the other side of this door I could feel nothing. It was just like when Jinora and I were walking down the pass only this time the feeling was much stronger. All I could feel on the other side of this door was a big emptiness. I doubled back slowly fear behind the the front leg of my very enormous friend. This was not normal for me because I wasn't afraid of anyone, or anything, but this empty feeling was just not normal for me.

“Can you show me back to exit,” I asked still looking at the door, not trusting the emptiness that was on the other side.

He agreed to show to the exit, just as long as I would talk to him along the way. He seemed very lonely so I honored his request. He didn't really say anything and he knew less about things that I did. All of his life he'd been in this cave with nobody to talk to for all this time and just couldn't leave him all alone, so when we finally got back to the door I had the most brilliant idea.

“Hey, how would you like to come with me?” I asked,

“Come with you?” he asked

“Yeah, you shouldn't have to stay down here all by yourself,” I said, “so why don't you come with me,” I said “I'll introduce you to my friend Jinora and you can hang out with us in Dogma,” I said, “that is until I turn 15 anyway, once I’m officially an adult I am so out of there,” I said,

“OK then, since you put it that way I'll go with you,” he said,

“By the way, what's your name?” I asked, “ you know, I’ve been talking to you all this time and not once did I ever ask,” I said now feeling selfish.

“I believe that my name is Cerberus,” he replied,

“You believe?” I asked in a rhetorical sense, “Cerberus huh, that's a cool name I said before touching the door which had once again flown open just as they had before. I walked out and saw Jinora on the other side. I was so happy to see her and the moon that I tried to hug her, but I fell right through her.

“You know the third time you fall in one day it really loses it's charm,” I said with groan getting up off of the ground.

“Jakkaru!” she screamed excitedly, “What happened, I was so worried about you,” she said trying to hug me until she remembered that she couldn't.

“Oh nothing, my new friend here was just a little curious and decided to invite me in for for tea,” I said sarcastically,

“Really?” she asked,

“No, there is absolutely nothing in there,” I said, “But I want you to meet my new friend,” I said directing her to the door. “Jinora, this Cerberus, Cerberus meet Jinora,”

“Whoa, he's huge,” she said,

“Hello,” he replied,

“I know right? So anyway Cerberus is going to start hanging out with us from now on OK,” I said trying to walk away before she disagreed.

“Jakkaru, we can't take him with us,” she said,

“And why not? I mean he's in there all by himself and I can't just leave him in there, plus I already asked him if he wanted to go and I can't just take that back,” I explained,

“Well we can't take him like that, I mean how exactly are we going to explain to Perro where he came from?” she said, “I mean if he sees him, he's going to find out that we came here,” she explained very logically.

“Yeah, I guess you couldn't miss something that big coming into the village from the direction of the pass and if he hung out with us then we'd be busted for sure,” I said, “but there has to be a way we can take him,” I said when I had yet again another brilliant idea.

“I can bind him,” I said,

“ You can what?” she asked,

“I can bind him, don't you remember what Amon said about souls, they aren't usually visible so if I can bind him and he becomes my soul then when we sneak back to Dogma no one with ever see him,” I explained,

“Well, I guess,” she said without confidence,

“I bind him, he gets to come, I keep my promise, WE don't get in trouble and I finally become binder, it's the perfect plan,” I explained,

“No, I don't like it,” she said,

“And why not?” I asked,

“Because you said it was the perfect plan, nothing ever goes right when you say that it's the perfect plan,” she said,

“but I mean it this this time,”

“You always mean it, you've meant it ever since you were nine,” she said,

“Will you just trust me,” I said,

“Jakkaru, just do it because the more you talk, the more I believe that something is going to go wrong,” she said,

I then turned to my enormous friend to see if he would agree, because you couldn't truly bind a soul if both sides did not agree, or at least that was what I had heard anyway.

“Hey, big guy,” I said walking towards him, “So here's the thing, I can't take you with me....like this so I was wondering if you'd like to become my soul, you see that way you can come with me and I wouldn't totally get busted for coming here,” I explained,

“Well I guess I wouldn't want my new friend to get into trouble and I really would like to leave this place, so I guess I'll agree to become this soul of yours,” he said,

“Really? That is awesome,” I said with an excited laugh,

I gestured for him to lean down and did and put my hand over his head, well more like over his nose and said “Elen Gil,” the spell for binding which I had heard only a few times. He then turned into a tiny ball of light about the size of a of those big marbles you get in the set and sunk into my chest and at that moment, for a moment I started to glow. It felt kind of funny, but I felt back to normal just as soon the glowing stopped.

“Um hello? Cerberus are you still there?”I asked,

“I am still here,” he said, “I am not sure where I am, but I see see a giant silver circle in the sky,” he said,

He must have been talking about the moon, I guess he could see everything I could, and hear everything too. It was kind of cool, but weird at the same time. I looked back into the cave, but this time the door did not close and I could see into the cave. At that moment I assumed that Cerberus was the one opening and closing the door and that maybe when I touched the door, both those times that they only flew open by coincidence.

The moon was getting low in the sky so even though I was excited to finally have become a binder, I also we had to move fast if we didn't want to get caught. It took Jinora and I at least and hour to walk down this pass before. If we did not get back before sunrise we'd be caught for sure. It was at that moment that we ran down the pass, if it took us and hour to walk here then logically it would only take at 30 minutes is we ran. However, I had forgotten for a moment that I was an Inuko and that we were much faster than humans, so it didn't even take us that long.

We made it back to bend and picked up the pole, Jinora then proceeded the grab the pole along with along with me and flew just like she did before. It was still pretty windy and sent flowers was still all through the air, so if we were lucky it would serve as cover for us again. We soon landed at the same place that we had started before and I had to admit that we seemed to be going a lot faster getting back than we were leaving. I quickly looked back to make sure that the guards did not notice us, and surprisingly they did not. When we made it back to the house before I could open the door I heard a voice say,

“Jakkrau?”

I attempted the scream before I my mouth was covered by a hand and that hand by own in a late reaction to try and cover my own mouth. “Relax it's only me,” a familiar voice said, when I noticed that it was only Amon. I sighed in relief and almost laughed at the fact that I thought it was Perro.

“Oh, it's you,” I said sighing in relief,

“You have nothing to worry about, I wouldn't dream of ratting you out to your um, superiors,” he said,

“Listen, I can deal with calling them my elders, but superiors is just taking it a step too far,” I said in extreme disapproval,

“Understandable, so what did you find up on the pass my friend?”

“W-what makes you think I went to the pass?” I asked nervously,

“Oh come now,” he said, “That was the plan wasn't it? And besides what other reason could you have for coming home so late?” he asked,

“Oh right, that was your idea wasn't it,” I said now remembering the rest of the day,“Well, I met a spirit up there who became my soul,” I said proudly,

“Really? How fascinating,” he said,

“Yeah, his name is Cerberus,” I said, “But don't tell Perro or, you know like anyone about him,” I said,

“Oh, but of course,” he said, “But was there anything else up there?” he asked,

“Well,” I said thinking about the circle that I saw on the wall when I said, “No, there's literally nothing up there, mortal or spirit,” I explained, “All I found was a bunch of scribbles on the wall,” I explained.

“Oh well,” he sighed, “ then I guess their fear of the pass was irrational after all, perhaps it was only rocks slides that they were afraid of,” he said, “Well good evening to you, may you have more adventures in the future,” he said as he started to walked away and I went into the house. Tonight was very eventful, but I was tired and Jinora be damned I was was gonna sleep in tomorrow.

~Amon~

I made my way back to the cave that evening after the girl had done her part. I was glad that she had bonded the beast so soon, in fact she'd done better than I had hoped. Naive little child, she had no idea of what magic was at work tonight. I could never have done the job myself, but now that it was done I could finally enter the cave. I made my way to the door and removed my robe, revealing the true attire.

“Are you ready Anubis?”

“I'm always ready,” he said,

“Now it begins,” I said holding my hand up to the door, “Eldro annon en' lost du!” I said resiting the spell that would once again give me ultimate power and finally the world would be mine....

[Dragon Style]

Chapter4: Runaway

~Jakkaru~

I was in a state of pure amenity as dreamed that night, I dreamed about being in a field of tall flowing grass as a calm warm summer breeze blew over me. I lied on my back watching the sky with my hands resting on top of one another over my stomach. There were glowing pink flower petals blowing throw the wind, and the sky was filled with mysterious, wispy, neon colored lights and stars. There was lake not too far from the clearing that laid calm and still, acting natural mirror to reflect the sky as the crickets sang their songs throughout the night.

I started doze off when suddenly I had just noticed that the clothes I was wearing were not my own, but more the kind that knight would be wearing. I suddenly sat up to observe the leather palms of the iron plated gloves I was wearing when I heard an oddly familiar voice that I was sure I'd never heard before.

“Do you hear that?” I heard a male voice say just as an odd waling sound rang through my ears.

I woke up to sound of Jinora's voice saying the exact same thing that male voice in my dreams had said,

“Do yo hear that?” Jinora asked, “the spirits Jakkaru, can you hear them?”

I quickly rose from my bed and ran towards the front door. I almost tripped upon opening it, in fact the only thing that kept me from falling flat on my face was the fact that I was still holding on the door. I regained my composure and stood up to take a look around when I saw the most peculiar and frightening thing I'd ever seen in my life, and what I saw were frightened spirits swiftly flying in every direction just to get out of the village. The spirits in Dogma had a respect for personal privacy, so they would not enter a mortals home uninvited, not even just to pass through the walls so they could get to the other side. So you could imagine what a surprise it must have been for the Inuko of Dogma to see frightened spirits frantically passing through their walls.

Soon every spirit with the exception of Jinora and a few family spirits were gone, and every Inuko in the village was now outside.

“What's going on?” one woman asked,

“Why I'm not sure dear,” a much older, yet not elderly woman answered,

“Mommy, what's wrong with the moon?” a child much younger than I asked pointing up at the sky,

I looked up to find that the once silver moon was now crimson red, I knew I was not the only one looking when I heard the sound of the collective gasp and whispers of all the other Inuko in the background.

“A crimson moon?” I asked myself almost silently, “since when has the moon ever turn red?”

The moon had many cycles, the most common being the silver moon, but I had seen it turn many other colors before. I had seen it turn pink and green, I'd seen turn blue and even gold, but not once had I ever seen the moon the turn red.

“Just what is this we're seeing, is that truly the moon?” a boy not much older then me asked,

“It is sign form the eternal spirits, Artemis our own,” said and elder of our village, with a voice that carried just as much authority and demanded just as much attention as Perro's would,

I was odd to him talk, because I knew this old man and and not once since I was old enough to remember things had he ever spoken. His name was Ookami and everyone from young pups who were just learning to talk, to full grown Inuko who were about Perro's age or older often joked that about how Ookami was just about as old as the village himself. He never talked, he just sat there in front of his house all day watching the sky until the moon came up like it was his job to do so and once he'd seen the moon he'd retire into his home until the next morning.

I was as shocked as everyone to see him speak, but since he was the oldest Inuko in Dogma though he was not the village leader he commanded as much respect so when he spoke, people listened.

“This crimson moon is sign that dark times are times are returning,” he said,” “ It warning that with rise of demon's the soulless shall once again rule the earth,” he explained,

“Demons,” a man slightly younger than Perro laughed, “Demons are just a myth and any soulless that sill exist are either trapped down in the deep roads or stranded out in the forgotten lands,” he arrogantly explained,

“Soulless, demons, what are the both of you even talking about?” I asked feeling more confused that I had ever been,

“It is nothing that concerns you, young pup,”
Ookami said,

“And why not?” I asked getting just a little bit upset,

“Because it is an adult's job to worry,” he said, “Such burdens should not be carried upon the shoulders of children,” he explained seeming remorseful about something that had happened in his past,

“What burden is an old wives tale,” the young Inuko said with a smile on his face trying not to laugh,

“Young man you respect you elders,” the much older yet not elderly woman said firmly with a tone of annoyance and disbelief,

“Make no mistake I respect my elders, but maybe some Inuko are just too old to be handing out words of wisdom,” he said implying that what Ookami said was not at all wise, “the story of demons is just story made up by the founders of our village to trick young pups like you into obeying their rules and taking every word that they say to heart,” he explained as if revealing to me that me that childhood fairy tale that was once told to me as child was not actually real,

“I mean do you honestly believe that there's a magic door being being protected by a three headed dog spirit down at the end of that pass,” he said with a laugh as if to say are you serious?

My heart suddenly sank into stomach after hearing his words, this old wives tale just sounded way too familiar.

“That's enough,” Perro said, suddenly coming out of no where, “Ookami is right, wives tale or no, you are not to worry the children about adult manners,” he said with a growl in his voice, making the young Inuko stand down,

“I-I'm sorry Perro, I just...found it kind of ridiculous is all,” he explained with much less confidence than he had before,

“Now I want every pup back in their homes and in the bed,” he said firmly, “As for the adults there will be meeting in the village center so that we may discuss these peculiar events and we should handle them,” he said calmly,

Soon all of the children had entered their homes and the adults had all gone to the village center as I stood stood there trapped within my on thoughts, thinking about what the young Inuko had said.

“Jakkaru,” Perro called releasing me from my own thoughts, “Did you hear me?” he asked,

“Oh yeah I just kind of almost fell asleep on my feet there is all,” I said as I walked back into my house, stretching as if I had to yawn, but little did Perro know that instead of going back to bed, I was getting dressed.

“Jakkaru, where are you going?” Jinora asked closely floating behind me,

“Not me, we” I said correcting her, “grab the pole, we're going back to the pass,” I said,

“Back? No way, that creeps me out and besides I'm starting to feel that weird feeling again,” she said,

“Weird feeling?” I asked thinking that I might already know what she was talking about,

“You know, that empty one, me and you had walking down that pass,” she said confirming what I had thought, “when all the spirits ran away, I felt a huge burst of emptiness right before they fled,” she explained, “I didn't know what it was and and I wanted run, but I didn't want to leave you behind, I just couldn't” she said,

“Don't worry about it Jinora, we'll be fine and besides I'm a binder now, which means I can do magic and no person who's ever had magic has any reason to be scared of anyone or anything,” I said thinking about all of the stories I'd ever heard about any binder, “I mean, Perro has a soul and he's scared,” I explained,

Despite Jinora's concerns we headed for the pass anyway, I had some questions that needed to be answered like why the guardian in the old wives tales fit the description perfectly for Cerberus? A lot of things were starting to scare me, like the mentioning of soulless or the old wives tale about the demons and magical door that was supposed had been guarded by a three headed dog spirit. there were things I was just starting to notice, things that I should have noticed before, like how this flowery wind had the sent on unfamiliar flowers on it.

“Wow, I guess when Perro said all the adults, I guess he meant it,” I said looking at a surprisingly empty guards post,

As odd as it was I didn't dwell on it long, instead I took this opportunity to make a dash for the end of the pass with Jinora not too far behind me. The empty feeling had gotten even stronger, so much that it was almost paralyzing, but despite all of this we had had once again made it to the end of the pass when I looked over to giant cave door. It was still open which was not surprising sine that was the way we had left it, but it was not the door that bothered me at all. It was like wave after wave of deafening emptiness was pulsing out of the door, it was suffocating and I could hardly move. Jinora and I stood silent, trapped within our own thoughts and though I could not read her mind I knew that she was thinking about this empty feeling just as much as me.

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of foot steps heading towards the exit of the cave. The foot steps were calm and even, taking their time and moving ever so slowly as they moved towards the door. I could soon see a figure and when he stepped out from the shadow's I sighed relief at sight of the familiar masked nomad whom I had met just the day before, but I soon felt uneasy because this was not the same man I had met before. He was different and not just in his clothing, buy my relief did not last once I had realized that look in his eyes and this new feeling that surrounded him just wasn't the same.

He still wore the same mask even though all the red was now gold and white was now black, he even still wore a hood, but now wore a long black sleeveless jacket that split in the back and flared out into two parts that reached down just a little bit past the bend in his knees. I buttoned up on the right side of his chest with three golden buttons with black long sleeved shirt underneath. He wore pair of golden armor plated gloves with a black leather palms with black pants and black boots that stopped just below his knee's with golden shin guards and a golden sash that was tied around his waist much like mine that hung down on this left side.

There was an aura, a feeling that surrounded him, it was scary and dark. I felt as if this man was not a man, but some type of living shadow or a walking darkness. The look in his eyes were no longer curious, but completely sure, I did not know this man that stood before me, I had never met him at all.

“Jakkaru and Jinora, I expected you to be here,” he said, “your curiosity wouldn't allow you to be anywhere else” he said in the in a tone of an all knowing prophet who could tell the future,

“Amon? Is that you?” I asked not really believing that this was the man I had spoken with earlier,

“It is I,” he said, “But Amon is merely one of my many names, I just figured that this name seemed much more how would you put it, Divine,” he explained,

“One of your many names, just what is going on here,” I asked with a tone of impatience,

“Oh I believe that you know full well what is going on here,” he said, “I bet by now one of your elders has given you memo about Artemis's warning moon and that by now you know exactly, what you've done,” he said walking towards me with this arms crossed behind his back, like general who was addressing his troops, “But you won't admit it willingly will you, no you'd much rather wait for me to tell you what you already know wouldn't you,” he explained stopping not but a few feet in front of me,

He talked as if he knew what I was thinking, like he was no longer a curious scholar, but an all knowing historian. I didn't like it, because he was right, deep down I knew I had done something wrong. Ever since I'd heard about the old wives tale, I just knew that I had messed something up.

“What do you mean, I already know?” I asked, even trying to fool myself into thinking that I didn't know, hoping that if I did that the truth would not be so,

“Fine, if that's the game you want to play, then I'll play it with you,” he said talking down to me as if I were his neighbors misbehaving child, “You removed the guardian, you are the reason that ultimate power is once again within my hands, you are the reason that demons shall once again walk the earth and, you are the reason that world shall soon be mine,” he explained with a sort of firmness in his voice as if saying do you understand now?

“No, way I don't, I don't believe you,” I said still trying to make myself believe that it wasn't true,

“What is there to believe?” he asked, “I've been lying to you, using you so that you could help my achieve my goals, given you've done much better than I had hoped, but the end result is still the same,” he explained,

Once again my heart dropped, but I soon regained my confidence when I realized that the solution was so simple, I would simply just put Cerberus back. This way the guardian would be returned, what ever spell that kept the demons sealed would come back and Amon's plans would be foiled. I gave him a confident smile and even laughed a little bit, but his expression did not change of course I would really know that since I could not see his face from behind his cold dark mask. However his eyes did not change, so I simply assumed that he was not phased.

“Jakkaru?” Jinora asked worried about my sudden laughter,

“I fail to see what is so funny about your situation, but I am curious enough to find out,” he said,

“What's funny? Why that, would be you,” I said,

“Oh really, you find me funny?” he asked, “I must say that I'm flattered,” he said as if unimpressed,

“I mean don't get me wrong, you almost had me going with your whole you've been played, its all your fault routine, but maybe you shouldn't have told me just exactly what it was that I'd done wrong, because then I wouldn't know how to fix everything right now,” I explained as he began to look at me with a bit of interest in his eyes, “So if you don't mind, I'll just be putting Cerberus back now and with my new binder powers, you can't stop me,” I explained smugly,

He just stood there and looked at me for a while, not saying a word. The air had soon become awkward and my confident smile had now been traded in for a look of nervousness and confusion, he then calmly closed his eyes and slightly dropped his head as if looking at the ground when he started to laugh. It was a small laugh at first, but then it grew lager, he laughed as if I had something funny, as if I had just come up with the funniest joke of all time. He suddenly stopped laughing and looked at me with a sort of amused look in his eyes that I did not like one bit.

“Well you certainly have everything figured out now don't you” he said sarcastically, “You'll just put Cerberus back and everything will go back to normal,” he said in a mocking tone, “And if,” he laughed, “I dare to try and stop you, you'll just use your new...powers,” he said as if he were trying to make sure that he heard me right and I once again started to lose my confidence, “Oh dear child, what a fantasy world you live in, truly ignorance is bliss” he said, “But that is a fact that I've known for far too long now”

“OK, then this is part where we switch lines,” I said, “I fail to see what's funny about your Situation Amon,”

“Did you really think that it would be that easy to become a binder, a powerful spirit he may be, but it is the use of having the worlds strongest sword if you cannot unsheathe it?” he asked,

I thought for a moment and he had a point, I did not have one clue as how I was supposed to used magic, but thought I had come up with a solution. I didn't have to fight Amon, because all I had to do what unbind Cerberus and this would all be over. However, despite my plans Amon's truth had something else in mind for me, something that I was in no way shape or form expecting, or ready for. Amon then stepped aside and gave me a clear shot and running into the cave and even gestured for me to go on in. I didn't like this cockiness of his, it bothered me.

“If you want go and unbind Cerberus then by all means, go ahead,” he said, “If you manage to unbind him, then the seal will return and my plans will be foiled,” he explained,

“You're lying,” I said accusingly with my eyes narrowed at him, “If that was true then you'd never let me pass you,”

“I tell, you no lies, I just simply know that you will not do it,” he said,

“And what makes you think that?” I asked really not understanding why he would that I would pass up this opportunity,

“Just a simple fact, your fear will stop you from doing it,” he said, “Do you even know how it is, you unbind a soul? haven't you ever found it odd that whenever a binder has ever bound a soul that they never just unbind their souls?” he asked as if he were reaching his point, “There is reason that they call it a life long bond child, and that reason is that the only way to unbind a soul is if binding mortal dies,” he explained,

his words echoed in head over in and over, the sentence getting shorter in every time it was repeated in my mind until only one word constantly repeated itself in my head. Dies, that was the world, the word I kept hearing over and over.

“The door is not yet open, but there is nothing that will stop its seal from unraveling at this point,” he said, “I won't kill you, that would only foil my plans, but you do have options,” he said, “You could wait in front of the seal and wait for a demon to kill you, or you could call on your village leader for help,” he said when I looked at him in disbelief, shaking my head as if to say that Perro would never, “Oh, but he would,” he said reading my gestures perfectly,

“That's a lie!” Jinora screamed, “Perro would never harm Jakkaru!” she said furiously,

“Let's weigh his choices then shall we,” he said, “He could either kill the child that caused this problem to prevent another demon uprising or defend the child who disobeyed him on a strangers word and fight a losing battle,” he explained, “Even if he did go with the second choice she'd still die, I mean, just think about what the rest of the Inuko would do in this situation,” he said, “ They're not as level headed as your precious Perro they kill her for sure,” he said in a persuasive tone,

Jinora and I were stuck, everything that Amon said, made since and no matter how much tried to look at this situation the end result was that I would die. I wasn't ready to die, I couldn't die, I didn't want to die, I was to young, I was just a child. For the first time in my life the gap between me and adulthood suddenly seemed so large to me for the first time in my life since since all of my former friends had turned fifteen I had finally admitted to myself that I was a child and that I was not fearless because, I was afraid to die.

“You have one of two options here Jakkaru, you can either stay here and die, or can runaway and live,” he said as if offering me hope,

“Live?” I asked to myself almost silently in terrified tone,

“You don't have much time Jakkaru, the adults will find out what you have done soon and then its all over for you,” he said,

Without even thinking about it I turned tail and ran as fast I could straight out of the pass and into the forest path. The bridges gate was closed, but that did not stop me and once I had climbed over the gate I ran across the bridge and into the forest. I had no idea where I was going, but I didn't care, I just wanted to get as far away from where a I was as I possibly could, faraway Dogma and faraway from death.

[Dragon Style]

Chapter5: Lost

~Jakkaru~

It was now morning and I had finally stopped running, I didn't know how far I had gotten, but with all my stamina and speed for me to run as fast as I could until I had not only had I gotten tired, but until my legs gave out definitely implied that I was faraway from Dogma. Jinora had not spoken a word since we left, but she did follow me, keeping up with me every step off the way and not once falling behind. I rested underneath a tree, sitting on its roots hugging my knees up to my chest with face planted in them to hide my tears.

“Jakkaru?” Jinora called, “Jakkaru are you OK?” she asked,

I did not answer her, though I knew she meant well I thought it was pretty obvious that I was not OK. I was filled nothing but fear and guilt, I was filled with the fear of dying and equally with the guilt of abandoning my fellow Inuko, some dog sense of loyalty I had.

“So, how long do you think the seal will last?” she asked,

“Oh for the love of Artemis, shut up Jinora!” I snapped, lifting my face up from my knee's,

“Jakkaru, what has gotten into you?” she asked surprised at my sudden hostility,

“I just don't want to talk about it OK?” I said,

“I just wanted to know how you feeling,” she said trying to defend herself,

“Well how do you think I feel Jinora,” I replied, “I'll tell you how I feel, I feel like a coward and an idiot,” I said, “I'm the girl that ruined everything and despite knowing the solution, I'm too much if a coward to go back and face my fate,” I explained pointing back the we came in the direction of Dogma,

“Jakkaru this isn't your fault, you didn't know Cerberus was the guardian, you didn't even know that demons existed,” she said trying to make me feel better,

“you know what? You're right I didn't know, but that doesn't change the fact that I screwed everything up,” I replied, not feeling any better pacing back and forth in front of the tree, “And speaking of who knew what, why did you tell me that you were the guardian of the seal?” I asked a very silent Cerberus,

It was silent for a moment and I was starting to lose my patience which I had always had very little of but had even less now. However, before I could lose my last string patience he finally spoke.

“I did not know that I was the guardian of any seal,” he said,

“What, how can you not know that you were the guardian of such an important seal?” I asked,

“I'm not actually sure how long I've been down there, but the earliest thing that I can remember is suddenly waking up and at that moment for a while I did not even remember my own name, it was only a few days a ago I assume that the name Cerberus had repeated itself to me in my thoughts,” he said, “I believe that it was the voice of woman that called me, but until I had heard my name repeated again today by that man, the one calls himself Amon I was not even sure if the name I had given you was even my own,” he explained,

“So what are you saying, that you somehow have amnesia?” I asked,

“It would seem so,” he said,

“But how?” I asked rhetorically, not understanding how a spirit could have amnesia,

I knew that spirits had just about as much of chance at remembering their past lives as mortals did and that once a spirited started their afterlife that commonly they would not remember a thing from when they were alive. However, Cerberus was guardian spirit whom had been there for a very long time so I doubt that his reasons for lack knowing his duties had anything to with him starting his afterlife.

“I believe that if I knew we wouldn't be having this problem,” he replied in a way that would make him seem sarcastic, yet in a tone that let you know that he was completely serious,

“Whatever,” I said, “It doesn't matter, as far as I'm concerned it didn't happen and we shall never talk about again,”

“Jakkaru, I just don't think it's that simple,” Jinora said,

“Never again Jinora,” replied, making myself clear,

“Right, never again Jakkaru,” she said in tone that made me believe that she either disapproved of or didn't understand my decision,

They say that if you if you tell a lie enough times that sooner or later it would become the truth, so maybe it if I lied to myself enough it would become the truth. Maybe if I pretended that it didn't happen, maybe if I pretended that demons did not exist or that my soul was not the guardian Cerberus and that I was just some random Inuko from nowhere named Jakkaru long enough, then maybe it would eventually become the truth. With that thought in my mind I proceeded to move forward with Jinora not too far behind me.

Despite my new way of thinking it was easier thought than done, I was still pledged by the thoughts of what I had done in the back of my mind, but as time moved on I found myself successfully not thinking about it. Even though it was only for a little while the more a tried at it the longer I would go without thinking about it and Artemis willing I'd soon not be thinking about it at all, or ever again. We walked along in silence, hearing nothing, but the calls of birds and crickets, along with many other sound of creatures that lived within this forest that I could not identify.

I saw a few spirits roaming in this forest, but none of them seemed to be the spirits that had fled from Dogma. I soon put the thought of the fleeing spirits out of my mind, because it was interfering with my new thought process, but I would soon realize that my thoughts were not my only problem. In reality I had not idea where I was, I was lost and I didn't know where I was going. I'd never been outside of Dogma before and I'd hardly ever heard of any place else, they were all just names, words on a page that had no meaning. I had no idea where I was going to go, I didn't want to start making turns and end up walking around in circles or even worse find myself back in Dogma so I decided that I would just keep going straight, the forest couldn't last forever and I'd eventually reach somewhere if I did.

As I walked through the forest I continued my efforts to get Dogma and what had happened off my mind, so payed very close attention to every detail of the forest wound me. The majority of the tree's were very all, each filled with lushes green leaves, some had flowers and some of the tree's even had curtain like branches, I'd heard of tree's like that before, weeping willows I think they were called and now I could understand why they were called that. The branches just sort of hung own as if they were sort of depressed and defeated, over all it just looked like a really sad tree, and it was starting to make me sad too, so I had to move on.

The forest was filled with lush green grass, and I could see fireflies in the shade of the tree's. The bark of the tree's were dark and covered in moss, to the point were you couldn't even tell what color they were, I assumed that they were some kind of black, but I couldn't tell with all the shade. It was at that moment that a pressing matter had been brought to my attention, I hadn't eaten a thing all day and I was hungry, but it wouldn't be much of a problem me I mean I was an Inuko, a natural born hunter. It was true, I'd never hunted, before, but instinctively I had it in me. I couldn't hunt for birds because they were all up in the tree's and by the time I could even climbed up one they'd already know that I was there and fly away, but I had to find something to eat and since there wasn't a water source in site I couldn't possibly try fishing. I looked around hoping that maybe I'd spot a squirrel or something, but every time I thought I saw something, by the time I turned to see what it was it had already disappeared.

“Jinora, this isn't working,” I said stopping in my tracks,

“So what's the plan then Jakkaru?” she asked,

“Why don't you follow me up from the tree's I think it's a little too easy for my potential prey to know where I am when a nicely dressed spirit is following close behind me,” I said,

“Oh alright, sorry,” she said as she floated up into trees until she could no longer be seen.

I had to face the facts that I wasn't the only one with instincts, I was five foot predator walking around in the forest as if I were taking just a stroll, this was not hunting like behavior at all so I upped my game plan and started to skulk around like a real predator. I crept around in the forest keeping low to ground, basically crawling on my hands and knees when by a stroke of luck I spotted a deer. It had no idea what I was even there, it was just standing there, grazing on some of the grass that was low to ground.

I crept towards the deer, slowly and quietly without even making a sound and once I thought I was close enough to make a dash for it, I goofed. I had not realized that I was not yet clear of the last before I reached the deer, so when I started to lunge at it I tripped over the roots of the tree and landed right next to it. It was at that moment that the deer started to run, but I was not going to give up on it that easily so I chased after it. It was fast, fast than I thought it'd be, I'd like to think that I ran through about half the forest chasing after that thing. I was getting tired and the deer was getting father and father away from me, I saw a patch of tall grass, coming up and I knew I'd lose it if it made it inside, so in my final attempt to try and catch it, I now took my battle fan that when folded acted like a dagger and threw it at the beast. However, much to my disappointment, my fan had only scratched it and barely at that, so not only had I lost the deer, but my battle fan as well.

I dropped my head and slapped my arms down to my sides in defeat as I now took this time to catch my breath as I walked into the tall grass in order to retrieve my battle fan. I stepped into the tall grass, that was almost as tall as me and proceeded to look for my fan. I sniffed around for my own sent which should have been all over my fan when I heard a rustling in the grass. I looked around to see what it was, part of me hopelessly hoping that it was deer I had just lost not too long ago. However, despite my hopes I was in for yet another unpleasant surprise, the painful and dreadful reminder that I was not the only predator in this forest.

I suddenly noticed that something large had blocked out the sun and when I turned around a large paw suddenly his me hit my chest not only knocking me down, but knocking the wind right out of me. I looked up to see what had hit me and my eyes widened with fear once I realized that there was large black grizzly bear towering over me. but what did it paw me for, bears didn't eat Inuko's? It had suddenly occurred to me that maybe this patch of tall grass was it's territory and just as I had called only then had I noticed to awful smell of the grizzly's sent all over the place.

I stood about eight feet tall, maybe taller and almost half as wide, it had fur as black as coal with fangs much longer than mine that were tented with yellow. It's eyes were red with rage and as it lifted its paw to take another swing at me, but before I could even rollover to try and avoid it, Jinora came out to my rescue by startling the bear with her sudden appearance.

“Back off you,” she said trying her best to sound tough as the bear back off bit,

Her victory was short lived and soon the angry bear had taken a swing at her too, but since she was a spirit his paw went right through her.

“OK, what do we do now Jakkaru?” she asked panicking,

“Well isn't it obvious Jinora, run!” I yelled as I hopped up off the ground as I felt the breeze of the bears paw that had just missed me on my back,

I was very hungry and losing stamina and though I had eaten plenty of grizzly in the past I was not willing to tangle with one alone. The grizzly I had eaten was always caught by a pack of fully grown Inuko with much more experience than me and not even they always came out of it without a scratch, so once again I found myself running through what believed to be at least another half of the forest. However if I had payed any attention to why the grizzly was attacking me then I would have realized that the attack with strictly territorial and that as soon as the bears sent faded away and I was out of his territory then I could have stopped running anytime, but I was so afraid of the thought that I was going to get mauled by bear that I ran well past the point of the bears sent fading away.

I finally stopped once I had gotten tired which was a bit sooner than the other two times that I had gotten tired, this hunger was really getting to me and I needed to find food soon, but at this point I had no idea how to go about it. I sat down in front of a bush sniffing around to make sure that there weren't any odd smells, but smelled nothing out of the ordinary, a few things that were new, but nothing that smelled like marked territory.

“I guess hunting is a little harder than you thought huh,” Jinora said as if she had run out of breath, but she spirit she had no breath,

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said breathing heavily as I tried to catch my breath one last time,

I tried to lie down to try and relax but instead found myself falling through the bush and down a steep cliff like hill. I rolled uncontrollably at great speed, unable to stop myself at any point. I felt every painful rock and fallen tree branch that I snapped on the way down, but I had finally stopped and reached the bottom. Everything hurt and as a struggled to get up, I could still feel the rocks jammed into my sides and I was pretty sure that I had splinters. I dusted my self off and started to remove the splinters, luckily, not of them her actually deep, the were more poking me than anything else.

“Jakkaru, are you alright?” Jinora asked as she finally made her way down,

“No Jinora I am not alright, I'm lost, I'm hungry, I've been attacked by a bear, I lost my battle fan and for the third freaking time today I have fallen on my ass, so no Jinora I am not alright,” I answered with a bit of an attitude,

My anger was not directed at Jinora at all or even Cerberus for that matter, but towards everything else since as it seemed like everything else was out to get me. I sat down with back against the steep hill I had just fallen down, I was actually trying to lay down, but angle of the surface that I was leaning against forced me to sit up, but I still comfortable all the same. I closed my eyes as I sat against the cliff once again made and attempt at catching my breath, if I didn't find something to eat sooner or later I would die and my running away would have been for nothing. This whole food business was really messing with my new thought process, but I couldn't help, but think about what happened with the thought of my possible death had crossed my mind.

I put my hands on my head because of the headache I had gotten from not eating. I started to think less picky, I mean no one ever said that I absolutely had to eat meat, maybe I could find a fruit tree or something, find some bushes with some berries in it and if I was really that desperate for meat then maybe I should have taken a crack at some of those birds.

“This is officially the worst day of my life,” I said,

“Don't you mean the worst day of your life thus far?” Jinora asked correcting me, “this day didn't turn out so bad for us, I mean just look at where we are,” she said optimistically,

“Yes we're lost deep with a forest with no clue as to where we are or where we're going, you know it really does sound like paradise when you say it like that Jinora,” I replied sarcastically, really not in the mood for her enthusiasm,

“No, really Jakkaru look,” she said desperately trying to get my attention,

I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky feeling annoyed when I heard a somewhat familiar sound, in fact sound that I heard was a very familiar. I was the sound of calm rushing water, I looked up and found myself staring straight into stream of fresh water with fish swimming along its current.

“Jinora, tell me I'm not seeing things,” I said almost wanting to cry,

“You're not seeing things,” she laughed,

“OK, so what you're telling me is that I actually do see a stream of fresh water full of fish over there?” I asked lazily pointing at the stream in question,

“Exactly,” she answered happily,

“So I'm not just seeing things because I'm hungry right?” I asked,

“Jakkaru, I doubt that you're seeing things just because you are hungry, it wouldn't make much sense since I am telling you that you're not and your hearing has nothing to do with your sight,” she answered thinking that I was being silly,

“Good point,” I replied just before standing up to walk over to the stream,

This made things a lot easier, there were streams that flowed through Dogma and whenever the hunting party hadn't returned before or soon after all my food was all gone, I always use to fish until they came back. The thought of fishing reminded me of Perro and how we use to have fishing contest if hunting party took too long to come back. We counted the scores as one point for every fish and two points if the fish was really big, Perro would always win because he'd always catch more fish that were lager than mine. We'd fish from first light until moon rise and everyone would always come to watch us. At the end of the day Perro would always divide the fish among all the families in Dogma, always giving the families with children the bigger fish and would always give me the biggest fish he had caught as a thank you for helping him feed the village. Getting the biggest fish was always a great reward, but I never really thought of it that way. In the back of my mind I always knew that I was helping him feed the village, but it always felt like we were just having fun. I could remember every time that I'd ever had a contest with him, the entire day just me and him laughing and running around with the villagers cheering us on and the sound of slashing water in the background.

I smiled at these memories, but I soon shook them out of my head when I thought about what had happened and something that Perro once told me. I was reminde of a day when I complaining about doing my chores because I stayed up late the previous night and I tired. Perro had scalded me for staying up so late when I knew that I would have to get up early the next morning, I remember asking him why he liked to do all this work when he told me

“I don't necessarily, like doing these things, and sometimes there are days when I really don't want to do anything, but as village leader I am often forced to do thing that I really don't want to do,”

Even though I wanted to believe that Perro would never harm me I had to remember that he was the village leader, and even if he didn't want to kill me as the village leader he would have to.

These things were too painful for me to think about so I simply stopped and went on to catch my fish. Once I was full I lied down not far the stream and only then realizing that it was late in the day and almost nearly sunset. I hadn't slept since the day before yesterday and the little sleep that I did have last night I would hardly even call a nap so it was no surprise to me when I had suddenly gotten sleepy after my meal. I soon let my eye lids drop once I knew that Jinora was next to me and I could no longer say awake, it may not have been a bed made of sheep wool and bear skin, but the grass was really soft and I'd sleep on it just fine. My only hope was that another bear wouldn't show up while I was sleeping, because I knew for a fact that they liked fish too.

My eyes were now closed and to heavy lift open, so I finally fell asleep to calm white noise of calm flowing water.

[Dragon Style]

Chapter6: The Chimera

~Jakkaru~

I dreamed of nothing that day and awoke that night to familiar white light, It turned over on back to look at the sky and found not a crimson, but silver moon . This almost made me want to go back home, if Artemis's warning of dark times no longer lit the night sky then maybe Amon had failed and I no longer had to worry about dying. However, even though I wanted this to true, part of me knew full well that it was not and though I was happy to no longer have to constant red reminder hanging over my head I thought it would be best to jut stop thinking about it altogether.

“Jakkaru, you're awake,” Jinora said,

“Good evening Jinora,” I said I stood up and dusted myself off, getting all the lost dirt and grass off of my clothes,

“So do you want to start moving or should we stay here?” she asked,

“Well, I suppose that it really isn't an easy job finding food around here and all the food and water I could possibly need would be right here, but I just don't want to stay in this forest,” I said, “Its a little too close to you know where,” I said referring to Dogma try my best to avoid mentioning it by name, hoping that it I tried long enough that my new way of thinking would pay off and that one day soon I would just forget all about that place,

“I understand, but which way do we go?” she asked, “ I mean finding this stream was great, but we are still lost,” she said with a bit of worry in her voice,

“You do have a good point, I mean we've made so many twist and turns running today that for all we know we could be facing towards...there for all we know,” I said once again trying not to mention Dogma by name,

I didn't want to stay there, but I didn't want to risk walking right back to Dogma either. I thought and I thought about which way to go when I looked down at the stream and saw a reflection of the moon, if I could not figure out which way to go for myself then maybe I could ask someone else whom was much wiser than I could ever be. It was at that moment that I decided to ask the lady of the sky, the eternal spirit Artemis the moon.

In this world there were spirits, powerful spirits that no one had ever seen, they were spirits that shaped the world and ruled over it silently. Artemis the eternal spirit of the moon and guardian of the hunt watched over all Inuko, she was the reason that all dogs howled at the moon or at least that's what I had been taught anyway. I was taught that the eternal spirits for the most part were always silent, but they had ways of speaking to us without ever saying a word and with these thoughts in mind I got down on my knees, put my hands together, bowed my head and started to pray.

“Jakkaru, what are you doing?” Jinora asked before realizing that I was about to pray and floated down next to me and did the same thing that I did to what she had always done whenever I had prayed in the past and that was to pray that prayers were answered.

“I pray to the eternal spirits Artemis my own, show me the way in my time of need, I am lost and cannot return home so I beg of you great lady off the sky, guardian of the hunt and my people give me a sign...and show me which way to go,” I said, praying that I would get an answer,

I lifted my head, hoping that my prayers had not only been heard, but answered and I looked around myself for any kind of sign. An arrow shaped cloud or a gust of wind, anything that would tell me which way I should go, but I saw nothing and quickly lost hope.

“I guess children really are just meant to be seen and not heard, even by the eternal spirits,” I sighed as I dropped my head in despair.

Suddenly it seemed like the light of the moon had gotten brighter which immediately caught my attention, something had then made slash inside the stream and I got up to see what it was. I pretty much had already guessed that it was fish that made the splash, but it for some reason it did not come off as just some random splash to me, it was as if something was trying to get my attention so I walked up to the stream and looked within the area of the splash to try and see if I could find the fish that made it. I finally spotted a white fish that was just floating there in the water as all the other fish passed it by. It was the only white fish in the entire stream and it was floating right in the middle of the reflection of the silver moon. I looked in the direction that the fish was facing and I noticed path of moon light that was formed from moons light shining down through the trees and took that as my sign.

I walked across the stream, causing all the fish to scatter. However, the white fish did not budge, not even when I was right next to it. However, when I made it to the other side and I turned around to take one final look at the white fish, but it was gone, vanished, the fish had disappeared.

“Where did it go?” Jinora asked,

“I don't know,” I said looking around in the water for it,

“Maybe it just swam away,” she said,

“Yeah, maybe it did,” I said not really believing that it had,

We followed the path all night until it had disappeared with moon and the rise of the sun. I'd gotten much better had hunting that day, I'd caught just a few birds and might have even had a chance and some deer, but I decided that if I really wanted to get out of this forest that the best thing for me to do was to not even try to catch anything big.

“I spy with my little eye, something that is...green,” Jinora said as she continued out attempt as ammunition with a game of I Spy,

“Everything is green Jinora you have to be more specific,” I said for the hundredth time that day,

“OK then its tall,” she said as if this were the first time I'd told that,

“Is it a tree?” I asked in dull tone,

“Yes!” she said excitedly,

“Jinora, it was also a tree last time,” I said not really having any fun,

“Well its the only game we've got, its way too dangerous around here to play tag,” she said,

“Not to mention that I couldn't touch you anyway,” I added reminding her that she was a ghost,

“And with us just trying to get out of here we definitely can't just go off and explore,” she added,

“Yeah, and I definitely don't like the silence, so I need to do something where we can talk,” I said,

“The silence?” she asked, “Though I agree with you that I'd much rather talk to you that just float by you side silently, I wouldn't call the forest silent,” she said,

“I know, but listening to nothing but the forest all day creeps me out,” I said, “it makes me jumpy,”

“Still dreading the bears are we?” she asked already knowing what I was thinking about,

“Yeah, but its not just them,” I said looking around,

“Really, so you're afraid of something else?” she asked,

“Well, yes and no,” I said not quite knowing how to answer her,

“Well which is it?” she asked,

“Both,” I said,

“OK could you explain this to me, because I'm still confused,” she said, clearly showing it from the expression on her face to tone in her voice,

“Well, sometimes, when I get a little jumpy I find myself not only worrying about if we'll run into bears, but others things, I mean I can't help but think that there might be something in this forest that’s, well worse that a bear,” I said,

“Worse, what could be worse than a bear?” she asked,

“I don't know,” I said, “Maybe something bigger, meaner and stronger than a bear, like I lion or something,” I said,

“Lions don't live in the forest Jakkaru and besides aren't bears bigger than lions anyway?” she asked,

“Oh yeah that's right, thank you Jinora I feel a lot better knowing that,” I answered feeling relieved,

“Thank goodness, I don't like when you're scared, I mean I'm supposed the one who's always scared between the two of us,” she explained,

“I guess you are the only one between us that doesn't have a spine,” I said jokingly, causing us both to laugh,

“OK then on with the game,” she said happily,

“OK let see,” I said looking around, “What do I spy,” I said trying to find something that wasn't a tree or bush,

“Ah, I spy with my little eye,” I said looking at a pretty white flower when a bear walked out right in front of us and we froze,

“I spy with my little eye, something big and nasty,” I whispered referring to the big black grizzly bear that was now looking at us,

“Is it a bear?” Jinora whispered back with a lot of fear in her voice as if she could actually be eaten,

“That's right Jinora, you win,” I whispered oddly trying to joke at this moment,

“Yay,” she cheered nervously and almost silently,

It was at that moment that the bear let out a roar and charged right at us, but just as we were about to scream something very surprising and much more terrifying happened. Suddenly something had showed up and taken to grizzly bear down from its side. We heard the grizzly bears final cry as whatever it was delivered the killing bow and began to feats upon it, I didn't know what it was and against our better judgment to just turn around run while we had the chance, Jinora and I were just to interested in trying to figure out what it was.

It was big, even bigger than the grizzly and not just by a little either. If I had to describe it the best way I could then I would tell you that it looked like monster, the kind of creature you'd only see in your nightmares. It had goats head with long sharp horns, blood red eyes with no pupils, razor sharp teeth and a lions mane. I had the body of a lion with sharp claws and a long scaly tail that looked like a snake, in fact it was a snake with long white fangs and glowing yellow eyes which also had no pupils.

“What do you think it is?” Jinora asked,

“I'd call it my hero, but it seems to eat meat,” I said feeling very uneasy,

It's body and head were golden brown, while its mane was more of an auburn color, It's horns were bone white and it's claws were pitch black, while its like tail was a clashing dark blue. As a stood there in dread of the creature that stood before, unsure to the reason of why it was that I did not run the more that I looked at it the more that I thought I may have heard of this creature in one Perro's stories somewhere before, but where did I hear it what was its name? I could remember the story, but what did it say?

“The beast that roams near the forest edge,” I said silently to myself, desperately trying to remember this creatures name as if I were not allowed to move unless I did so when suddenly one word had popped into my head, “Chimera,” I said to myself fearfully in a whisper,

I remembered now, the old ghost story that Perro used to tell us about why it was danger to go near the forest edge alone at night, or anytime all. I remembered why it was that hunting party never allowed past a certain point, it was because of the creature that lived at the edge . I couldn't believe it, I didn't think it was real, but then again Perro never really was the type just to make things up.

Just as I had remembered it as if the it knew that I was thinking about, just waiting for me to remember its name the chimera's tail hissed as us and beast stopped eating. It was an unsettling sound, to hear that it had stopped chewing on the bear and had not turned its attention to us. I slowly started to step back as it started to turn around, the weight of its body being heard in every footstep. It was finally looking at me but it did not move, it only stared at me, standing there like a statue. There was long silence, at least two three minutes worth when it suddenly roared at me while its tail let out a loud hiss. it sounded something like a lions roar mixed in with the call off a goat, I couldn't quite describe it but it was most frightening thing I had ever heard in my life it sound like pure evil, like it was made of nothing, but pure rage and blood lust. Oddly I found my thoughts on this creature was matching Perro's story word for word, but I had no time to think about such silly things now, I had to run.

It lunged at me, but I ducked which made the beast jump right over me and that's when I took my chance to run. I could soon hear heavy food steps running behind me, getting closer to me with every step, I knew that it continued to run in a straight line that it would only gain speed and I would be caught for sure. Maneuvering around the trees wouldn't be problem for me, after all no Inuko was ever trained to run in a straight line. I started to dodge around the trees and it was working for a little while, the large creature just could not maneuver itself around the trees as quickly as I could and often had to slow down when making a turn. I was getting further and further ahead, he was more persistent than the bear and I thought had him beat...that was until I head a large snapping sound and large thud.

“Jinora, what was that?” I asked as we were running,

“You really, just don't want to know,” she said,

She was right, I really didn't want to know, but I had to know and so I turned to look behind me as I ran and to my horror I found out that the chimera had now started knocking down trees. Using its ram like head, the chimera started knocking down trees and though knocking down the trees did slow it down a bit, it was not as much as when it attempted to maneuver itself around the trees. Over time knocking down the trees became easier for the beast, the more tree's it knocked down the more room he had, the more room he had, the more speed he gained and the more speed he gained the easier the trees would fall. He was catching up to me and I wasn't even sure if he'd got tired yet, but of course with a meal full of fish and few birds inside of me I was nowhere near the edge of my limit either.

However, I knew that sooner or later one of our limits would be met and since he'd just eaten most of bear not too long ago I was starting to have my doubts that he was going to be the one between us to reach his limits first, so I had to think of something, something good. I couldn't keep running from him, he'd just keep chasing after me and I couldn't climb up a tree because then he would just knock it down and I'd be caught for sure. I was coming up with a whole lot of nothing and the only thing that I could come up with was completely insane.

“Jinora, I have an idea,” I said,

“R-really what is it?” she asked anxiously,

“It's a little crazy, but I think I should try and use magic on it,” I explained,

“You're right that is crazy,” she said, completely disapproving of the idea,

“I have to agree with her, you don't even know how to use magic,” Cerberus said,

“Well it's the only option we've got so unless you both want to keep running from the giant tree breaking menace behind us on the hope that he runs out of breath soon, which by the way I don't think is going to happen then I am going to try this,” I said firmly making it clear that I had made up my mind,

“OK,” Jinora sighed with uncertainty,

“Fine, if that is what you wish to do then I shall try my best to grant you my powers,” he said,

I stopped and turned to face the chimera whom only had a few trees left break down before he could reach me. I wasn't sure about what kind of powers Cerberus had, so it was kind of hard to visualize what he could do and since his memory somehow seemed to have been lost then I doubted that could ask him either, but there was one power of his I did know, the chains he had used to pull me into the cave, that was a power he had.

“Hey, I'm not sure if this will work, but could you try and do that thing with the chains you did that time that I met you?” I asked,

“I will try,” he answered simply,

Not too long afterwords my wrist were suddenly on fire, at first I panicked, but only of a moment until I noticed that the flames were not burning me. The flames the formed into two silver shackles that were like bracelets on my wrist and at that moment I heard the final tree snap and I quickly ducked under the creature once again as it accidentally jumped over me. I didn't waste anytime and as I extended my arms out towards the creature by some miracle the chains actually came out and wrapped around its two back legs. He bracelets seemed to also give me strength as I was able to stop the chimera from moving forward with the chains as if I were playing a simple game of tug of war, however, I forgot about its serpent tail and was caught by surprise when it tried to snap my head off. I ducked so fast that I nearly tripped and the chains loosened their grip around the chimera's legs a little, but I pulled on them to re-tighten their grip and luckily, but unintentionally tripped the chimera, making it fall ever yet another bush concealed cliff. It almost took me down with it, however, before I could fall the chains and their shackles disappeared. I looked down to where the beast had fallen, seeing that it could not make its way back up and was forced to give up on me. It looked up at me, knowing full well that it had no chance at eating me and let of a bitter roar in defeat as slowly walked away, now showing that it was fatigued.

“Hey, third times the charm!” I shouted at it, laughing at the fact that for the first time in two days that I was not the one to fall, flat on my face,

“Jakkaru, don't taunt it,” Jinora begged,

“Don't worry about it Jinora, it can't hurt us now, well it can't hurt me now anyway,” I said remembering that Jinora was spirit and could not be harmed by living things,

“I know, but better safe than sorry right?” she asked rhetorically, “Now on the other hand,” she said, “how did you do that?” she asked completely amazed,

“You know I have no idea, how did we do that?” I asked Cerberus,

“I'm not sure, maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were both thinking of the same thing,” he said, “Maybe when both the soul and the binder visualize the same things, they become a reality,” he explained,

“Could that really be how magic works?” I asked rhetorically,

“I'm not sure, but it seem to make sense to me,” he said,

“well alright then,” I said,

“what? What did he say?” Jinora asked,

“I'll explain it to you on the way,” I said, but for now, let get out of here before that chimera finds its way back,” I said,

“Right,” Jinora replied,

“Agreed,” said Cerberus as I started to run with Jinora flying right beside me.

We soon found ourselves walking without a in sight and when we looked around to see where we were it was at that moment that we realized that we'd finally made it out of the forest. I was so happy to be out of there, away from grizzly's and most of all that awful chimera. Now that we had cleared the forest, we were definitely faraway from Dogma, but it wasn't for enough for me, so we'd keep moving until it was.