In the middle of a shadowy forest, a little spot of light flickers, a small clearing, surrounded by very dense trees. A Brown-haired woman sits near the fire, a tent near her. She was  a soldier, judging by the sword leaning on a nearby tree. She looked in the direction she thought was the way to her queen’s castle, She knew, that cutting through the forest was a bad idea, but being chased by a bunch of mountain dwelling orcs had forced her into the forest, At first, she was surprised that they didn’t enter, But when one brave orc had stepped foot into the forest, It just fell over, She, saw that a sliver of wood had sunk into It’s neck, The orc’s thought this place was cursed… Whatever killed that orc, hadn’t even attacked her yet. But she wasn’t going to try to sleep; the “cursed” forest might try to kill her. She, named simply Vy, by her queen, felt the past few days’ lack of sleep tugging at her eyelids. She closed her eyes, only to rest them for a moment, when she heard a twig snap, she opened her eyes, and saw nothing… What she thought was her eyes adjusting to the dark, was really the shadow that had tried to swallow her whole, receding back. Something, about this place mad her feel uneasy… “Maybe… It is cursed…” She whispered to herself. Shaking her head, she cleared such thoughts away. Vy moved the firewood away from the fire, and poured water on it, quelling most of its flame. In the dying embers of light, she stripped off the uncomfortable armor she wore; Wolf paw insignia’s covering the shoulders. She slid into her tent, “If I had gone around, it would take me three days, but… Going straight across, should have taken less than a day.” She lay down, something sharp poking her in her leg. “Ow!” Groping around in the darkness, she found her dagger. Cursing her own stupidity, she shoved if out of her way angrily, only helping to slice herself open on her palm. She walked outside, not wanting her bleeding hand to stain her bedding. Shaking her hand, to remove the excess blood, and wrapped her hand with a bandage. She stopped, and saw her blood droplets gathering together in a little puddle… Staring, her mouth hanging open, a little imp appeared, sipping her blood, it turned red; otherwise, she hadn’t been able to see it. She Growled, and ran for her sword. Picking up the deadly, also wolf insignia covered sword she turned. About fifteen imps had gathered around the blood puddle. Vy Screamed at them, and swung her sword, it passed through the imps, and they looked up, chattering at her. An Imp slightly taller than the others pointed to her bandaged hand, and screamed at the top of its lungs. She stumbled back, landing on her hindquarters near the embers of fire. A Single imp jumped at her, the rest preparing to follow. It burst into Black flame when it reached a few inches in front of her. She yelped, and then stared…

“The light from the fire?” She turned to her fire, the embers fading fast.
“Oh… Shit.” She reached out for a piece of wood, but the imps were standing in front of it, and hissed loudly when she reached for it. “E-even worse…” She whimpered. Picking up her sword, she swung it again and again at them in vain… She began crying softly… This made the imps chatter more, this time with an evil, hungering sound to it.

          The wind blew, and she looked up. The imps were looking right at her, fear in their eyes. “W-wait...” They were looking PAST her. She turned, A Brown furry figure was standing behind her. The imps screamed, and began running away. It Darted past her, and grabbed an imp in one hand. In a flash of sharp white teeth, the imp fell silent, its black blood flowing from its neck. It dashed off, and judging by the yelps and chattering of Imps, killed a few more out of the light of the fire. It grew very quiet, and the figure came back into view. It turned out to be a human figure wearing a bear fur cloak.
 spat something at her. She stared at it, when it landed next to her foot. An Imp skull. She gagged… It sat outside the ring of light; it stuck its hand into the light, Flames spouting from its flesh. It grunted in pain, and pulled back its hand. Once out of the flame, the blisters healed fast enough to see. A charred black hand healed to flesh color in seconds. “P-please! Don’t eat me!” “I won’t,” A deep voice said. “I won’t eat you… Only drink your blood. That is what the filth wanted. The lowest form of demon… Only capable of drinking from wounds.” She flinched, and moved closer to the fire. “I Think, I would have preferred my chance with the imps…” “Yeah… You would have…” She twirled her sword and stabbed, A scrunch or metal, and She saw the clawed hand that had reached for her, holding the tip of her sword, and it was squeezing so hard, that the metal was crushed, losing the edge of the blade. “A normal sword is useless.” She tried to pull it from the things grasp. It laughed, and wrenched it from her grasp, and tossed it with a large amount of force, the blunt blade sinking into a tree. “Can I make you a deal, anything?” It laughed again… Picked up a piece of firewood, and held it out to her. “R-really?” Vy reached out, and grabbed the wood. She pulled on it, but the demon wouldn’t release it. She took a stronger grip, and pulled harder. She was wrenched foreword, and a hand gripped around her wrist. It pulled her away from the light; it picked her up, forcibly sat her down on its lap, and held her in an embrace she couldn’t wriggle out of. “I have no reason to make a deal with you… Dinner.”

          It flicked its head back, and the hood of the cloak fell back, Vy gasped, It… No He had a head of silver hair, which sprung up wildly. He leaned foreword, Vy struggled, screaming. He sank his fangs shallowly into her flesh, licking the blood dripping out of the small cut. “I’ll give you a deal.” He laughed cruelly. “Become My master.” Her eyes widened… “W-what?” He laughed. “Did I stutter? Be… Mine… Be my master.” She struggled. “Will it keep me alive?” He her nuzzled her, his stubble scratching gently at her face. “It will keep you alive. It gives you, the opportunity to have, your very own personal demon. Guard… Servant… Whatever…” He says somewhat mischievously, Licking the blood the was still flowing from the cut on her  neck. “Then let me go! NOW!” “Do you agree?” “Let me go!” He releases her, and she crawls back to the light, and reaches for a piece of firewood. “Your life or mine? Will you die? Or may I serve you?” He let her get the firewood. “When this fire burns down a second time. You will make, or be forced to make your decision.” He stood up, and kicked the wood away from the fire. “I shall return…” He stomped of, leaving his cloak near the fire. It got colder as time passed… Vy Almost fell asleep several times… Her rough estimation, tells her that dawn is halfway here. “I can make it.” She lies to herself. The imps return… Glaring at her… Chittering loudly…

As the fire died down she grabbed his cloak, and wrapped it around her. She was shivering, and watching the imps… They glared at her, more hatefully than last time and their eyes latched onto the cloak. A few imps sniffed, and then screamed at her. She smiled at them. “So, you fear his cloak. Maybe you know He’ll come after you if you hurt someone wearing his cloak?” The imp’s glared, dull intelligence in their eyes. A few imps waddled off, but most of them stayed… “They look hungry.” Vy murmured.

           “So… Either I become his master or he kills me? That seems a stupid deal to me. Really, giving up his freedom, why? Maybe… He just plans to use me as a walking blood source.

But, with a face like that, I can’t really say I mind.” She smiled slightly; an imp clacked its teeth at her. “I’m sorry. I forgot about you.” She frowned at it. “There are so many of you here…” She started counting… “Seventeen… I’d say five of you are gone from last time.” She spent a few minutes considering… “Well, it would be stupid. I mean to have a demon as a servant, to give up an opportunity like that. And, I don’t really want to die.” The fire burned low, a loud rustle came from the darkness. The imps ran off, and the demon came back and sat outside the light. “So… Have you decided?” She took a deep breath. “Hey, I don’t see a reason NOT to be your master.” He smiled, his eyes reflecting the firelight strangely. “Invite me in.” “What?” “Invite me into the light…” “Why? Because otherwise, we’ll have to wait till the fire goes out and then I’ll have to protect you from imps.” She stared… “Whatever. Come here, Join me at the fire.” He growled at her. “Do it properly! Otherwise it won’t work!” She stared at him…  “Repeat after me. Servant, I invite you to share my light, and to serve me, my light will protect you.”  She echoed him. He took a step forward, and bowed to her and then stepped inside the ring of light. The firelight rippled around him, like he was a stone thrown into a pond, but them it settled around him. “Okay, Now the formal stuff.” He walked to her, and kneeled before her. “You need a symbol of bond. Just think of it.” He cut his finger with a claw, and offered the blood to her. “Drink it.” He hissed. She dipped her finger in the little bit of blood, and licked it off her finger. “I Pledge myself to your service, for as long as you would have me.” “In your eye…” “Yes, that is your chosen symbol right?” She got onto her knees, and grabbed him by an ear, squinting into his eyes… “That’s freaky.”

 “For now, you can call me Link.” He stood up, and grabbed some firewood, stacking it onto the fire. “So long… I’m going to bed. You stay here and look scary, keep those things away.” Link looked to her, the symbol in his eye glowing. “Yes mistress.” She smiled at that… “Goodnight.” “Goodnight mistress.” She flopped heavily into the tent, and by her heavy breathing, was asleep soon after. Link smiled, watching the fire. “Soon … soon I will be out of this hellish prison! Then I can kill her, and regain my freedom! Think of it… After spending my whole life imprisoned in this place. ” He whispered to himself. He looked up at the moon… “Hmm… half full…” He wrapped himself with his cloak, which she had left for him, wrapping his cloak over his tattered clothing. He sat, and waited for dawn.

          Vy yawned, and stretched her arm smacking into something. She opened her eyes, only to See Link leaning over her, she yelped, and scooted away from him. “About Time… It’s about noon…” “ Hey! You shouldn’t have let me sleep that late!” Link looked at her blankly. “If you’re tired, Sleep. It’s that simple, you wake up when you’re rested.” She glared at him. “At least wake me up, an hour after dawn or so.” Link bowed. “Yes mistress.” She stopped… “About that… You are not allowed to call me mistress anymore and that bowing… Annoying!” Link smiled. “I was waiting for you to let me stop that. Master.” She frowned at him.

She stood up, and crawled out of the tent. “ Geez, it’s cold, even in the middle of the day?” Link poked her shoulder. “I took the liberty of undressing you last night. You had a bad dream, and were covered in sweat.” She turned to him. “What?!” Link’s face was a filled with mischief.  He walked over to her supplies, and yanked out some clothing. He held it out to her. “Here…” “I never had a bad dream!” Link frowned. “I assure you, that you did.” “Tell me the truth.” “I already have.” She glared at him… And the symbol in his eye glew brightly, even in the daylight. “You have a nice figure.” Link said. He covered his mouth, face pinkish. Vy’s eyes filled with apprehension. … “So, You got to do what I tell you then…” Her face took on an evil grin. “Are there any edible animals in this forest?”  Link’s eyes filled with suspicion. “Yes?” She smiled broadly. “Hah! Okay then! Go harvest some fruit, gather herbs, whatever, and get me some MEAT!”

Link’s jaw dropped. “You have plenty of dried food already!” “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like fresh cooking! Now get to work! Chop-chop!” She clapped her hands.

Link turned to her, eyes filled with anger… “Just because I looked…” He tried to resist, but the more he did, the more his eye glowed, and he ended up running quickly away from the clearing. Link appeared not forty seconds later with her pot filled with water. “You know, if you don’t resist, it might not be such a bad thing!” He ran off again, and had armfuls of firewood. He started a fire, and began boiling the water. A few more times he ran off, and about an hour later, He had a large amount of fruit, and wild rice and herbs in a little pile near the fire. He came back again carrying a deer on his shoulders.

          Link sat at the edge of the clearing, growling to himself, looking away from her. Vy’s eyes were filled with delight, a, mixture of berries was arranged in a bowl; the pot had a wonderful smelling stew cooking in it. “Get some drinking water!” Link ran off, not of his own will to fetch water. He dropped the refilled canteen next her, and went back to grumpily sitting at the edge of the clearing. “Not smart! NOT AT ALL!!!” He shouted. “Now, all the demons in this forest will come here tonight.” “Not a problem.  Mmm, great!” Vy said. Link looked at her over his shoulder, anger in his eyes. “ Heyyy! Are you hungry?” Vy asked. Link’s stomach growled. “Okay! Come over here! Eat with me!” Link trudged over to her, and filled a bowl with stew. He ate it grumpily, while Vy was smiling happily the whole time. “You think… its any good?”

She nodded vigorously. “Where’d you learn to cook like that? I didn’t even have to add any salt!”  Link smiled… His face changing color. “I’ve spent a long time here. A long time… One learns to cook naturally. When I first had to cook, I couldn’t eat it… So I had to learn or starve. Think of it, Stuck here for years, with limited ingredients. I quickly found the best way to cook with them. She was gobbling down the stew. “Yuummy! Even the castle cook would have a hard time beating this!” Link kept a smile on for the rest of the meal. “You have no taste.” “Maybe not! But after eating rations for a while, that was awesome!” Link scratched at his ear, “The stew needed more flavor.”

“Shut up and take the complement!” “Thank you, mistress.”

“So, how come we’ve been going in this straight line for hours, and the trees aren’t getting less dense?” “She doesn’t want us to leave yet.”

“Who?” “The old hag that’s been following us the whole time.” Link stated casually. “She controls the forest, it’s like a different world, she can make the forest go on forever if she wants. She told me… A while ago, that she fell in love with a human man. Her kind killed him, because that is a Dishonorable relationship. So she created this place. She created a barrier, any demon that enters, is stuck in here, until a human releases them.  A human master. There are many demons here; most of them are imps, or other low class demons, ones with little thought. But, there are around twenty of those like myself.”

          They set up camp, and this time Link was allowed to sleep in the tent. Though it was a little crowded. He had carved intricate lines around the tent, He said that it was a “Ward” and it would warn him of intruders, and keep out weaker demons. In the tent, which was built for a maximum of two people, was just barely wide enough for two people to sleep, side by side. Vy seemed to be having nightmares, a lot lately… For the past few nights, she groaned in her sleep, Link didn’t really care. His eyes widened when tears started sliding down her cheeks. He turned over, and fell asleep. In the morning, He sat up, and looked at Vy, he frowned… Slipping from the tent, Link grabbed the cooking paraphernalia, and walked off. Minutes later, he came back, with  firewood. After that, he had a fire crackling merrily, and the area filled with the smell of food. Vy groaned in the tent. Link smiles, and enters the tent, holding a plate of food. She thanks him groggily. “So, what do you dream about?” Vy stared at him for a few seconds… “Nightmares, about my village, it was burnt to the ground.” Link’s face turns grim. “By who?” She frowns… “A single demon, I never got a good look at him, seeing how my eyes were blurred with my mother’s blood.” Link frowned… “I’m sorry.” “Soon after, I was found by scouts of my queen, they had seen the smoke, and came to help. I was the only survivor… I-it looked at me, and walked right past, as if it had wanted one alive.” Link turned away, “And your queen? What about her, is she a nice person?” She stared at him. “No, not nice at all, she sent me to a cave that was known to be infested with orcs… When I get out of this forest, I must finish killing them.” Link grinned. “No problem.” He gathered the meat he had set to dry in the sun. Link ran off for a while, and returned at sunset. “We have a problem. The old crone’s been leading us toward the Demon camp… They’ll come for us tonight… S-she knows that they hate me! Why? Does she want me to die that badly?” “Who?” “The lady who controls the forest? Forget already?” Vy blushed. “Yeah.”   Link spent the rest of the sunlight stretching… “No point in running” He grunted. “Those bastards will find us soon enough…” Link grabbed Vy’s sword, and dragged his left hand on it, covering it with his blood. “It should be able to hurt them now. Otherwise, it would be like swinging at those imps. Useless.” The sun was fading fast. Link grimaced. “ They’ll come from the east.” Link shook his bleeding hand, and it healed over before Vy’s eyes. “Fun time.” Link ran off, leaving dumbfounded Vy staring at his fleeing form. “Bye!” “Come back here!” She roared at him. Link disappeared from sight. “Oh… crap.” A twig snapped behind her, and she saw around a dozen men clad in fur like Link, staring at her. “A… A human…” A voice shrieked with glee. “Top quality meat for us tonight!” She took a step back. “U-ummm Can we talk about this?” She bumped into something, and hands grabbed her shoulders. “Nope.” “M-mummy..” Vy whimpered.

          They dragged her away from the tent, into the forest, after a few minutes, they pulled her bound form into a clearing, with several ancient, but well built stone buildings.  She was dropped heavily in the middle of the village. “Chief will be pleased.”

Vy shivered… “ So… I’m an offering to your chief?” A demon looked to her, and kicked her. “Shut it.” Vy’s lower lip trembled… There was a note from a horn, and the demons crowded around her, “How about a little blood? It heals back fast enough!”  “No.” Says a solemn voice. “We wait.” A horn blew off in the distance. “ Ah! He’s here!” There was a shuffling of feet, and the ring of demons separated. A tall, malicious, and ogre-like man stepped toward her. Vy whimpered, “C-can we talk about this?” The chief leaned toward her, and sniffed her. He smiled wickedly. “ It was unwise of you to walk into this forest. But, We will allow you to live, if you lead us one by one from the forest, if you free every single one of our tribe, Then we will even give your weight in precious metals, and Demon weaponry, which is far superior to your, weak metal sticks.” The horn blew again, but was cut out halfway through it’s note. The chief turned, and there was a loud ripping noise, and a scream. “You will not.”   Several demons cried out, and the ripping noise continued. The circle parted slightly, and Vy could see Link, dripping with blood. 

          A demon leapt at him, and Link sank his claws into the man’s arm, snapped it at the elbow and rammed his head into a tree. He pulled the man’s head back out, and slammed the tree twice more, a large dent in the tree. Link held the man up with one hand, his clawed fingers wrapped tightly around his skull. “Obliterate!” The man screamed as Link began crushing his skull in is hand. Link’s eyes began glowing red. Link smiled wickedly, his fangs lengthening. He dropped the motionless body to the ground. He turned and looked at the chief, a bloodthirsty grin on his face… “Eradicate!”  The chief stepped jumped back, and several other demons tackled Link, He shook them off like bugs. “You were outcast! You have been told never to enter our village again, and you even attack my people!” He snapped his fingers, and the group surrounded him. Link smiled. “So, no honorable one-on-one huh?” Link smiled wickedly. “Suits me just fine.” The chief was looking… afraid? “Kurigami… If you leave now, we will let you live.” “Let me live!” spat Link, “All of you couldn’t kill me!” Link growled loudly… “Release her! NOW!” “Why should we?” Link’s eyes had faded back to normal, the grin replaced by anger. “I have two good reasons for you. Number one, I will KILL you. Number two, I have marked her, look on her forehead fool!” A Demon brushed the hair from vy’s forehead. His face sank. “It is true my lord.” The tall one turned, and looked at her arm. “You forget, as an outcast, you cannot mark prey!” Link’s eyes filled with anger. He took a step toward Vy, and the group surrounded him. Another scream, and the whole group jumped back, Link held a demon in his arms, holding him as if he weigh nothing. Something sounded like it was popping out of place, and the man he held ripped in half at the stomach. His blood flowed freely onto the ground, and his intestines were hanging out of his upper half, Vy looked away, and nearly vomited. “I have no problem killing you all to rescue my master.” The chief turned pale. “Y-your master?” Link nodded, and dropped the halves of the man. “ Attack him all at once!” The group surged forward, and ripping and screams rang out in the otherwise quiet night. Vy turned away once again. Link had several clawed fists shoved into his stomach and chest, both of his arms were in other demons chest’s and they slumped to the ground. His eyes turned red once again, and he simply massacred the rest. Link, entirely bloodstained, carried Vy to a nearby house, and covered her with a blanket.  Link sat near the door, growling to himself. “I should have killed more of them. Now, since  they were only wounded, they come back the next day to reclaim this little hut…”

          Outside the open door, a crowd of demons had gathered, most of them turning pale and moving out of Link’s sight from the doorway.

Link could hear the demons whispering… “Imagine, Now not only is he banished, but a sinner as well, One with a human master, and he’s drenched himself with more blood of his own kind… If our chief hadn’t placed a sealing spell on his power, none of us would be alive…” Vy rolled over, and looked at Link. “A sealing spell?” Link frowned at her. “It’s not going to be fun, I’m exhausted from all my energy use yesterday, I’m not ready to fight them again.” “Hey! What sealing spell?” Link looked at her with a face of hatred. “The chief of this village, my former sensei, placed a sealing spell in his flesh, it limits my power, I can only use 1/3 my true power, and even that drains me completely. “That was only one third your power?” Link smiles… “I am more powerful than all of them combined. Some natural talent, some created from blood, sweat, and tears. As long as that spell in burned into his flesh, I am weakened. I could break out of this forest with my full power, but he doesn’t want me to have it. Absolute power absolutely corrupts, or some rubbish saying like that.” “What would you do with all that power?” “I would escape, that is all.” Vy looked at him suspiciously. “Any demon would use that power to destroy.” Link glared at her, “ I don’t have to worry about that, IF I get my strength back, you still have control over me, I gave my life to you after all.”

          Vy stood up, and stepped out of the building, Link reached out to grab her, pull her back in but the demons outside the door got her first. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He shouted at her. She didn’t respond, and disappeared into the crowd of demons. Link growled, and stepped outside, but was easily shoved back inside, “I’m to tired…” Link sat down heavily, “Great. Now we have tow problems, she’s been captured, and I’m basically in the same boat. Or until I’m rested… But I can’t sleep when completely surrounded by people who would dash in and slit my throat!” Nonetheless, Sleep son overtook Link.

          “Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh? If you put that much of a strain on the boy, he will hate you, definitely for the rest of his life.” Two blurred demons sat together near a fire. “I can deal with that.” The other demon, a female placed her hand on his shoulder. “Kiba… Be careful… Please.” “If I make the others hate him, he will hate me. Since we spar together, It will make him strong, Imagine, all of that boy’s power released, I will have unleashed the power that hundreds of years of selective breeding have created, that boy…  the “perfect” Demon. Capable of all elements of magic, He can live forever, as long as he drinks blood, I have the honor of training the being that will surely reestablish the demon’s place of authority  on the world. We will no longer be subdued by those dastardly werewolves.” She frowned at him, her dazzling face somehow even more so by the sadness in her eyes. “Goodnight Kiba.” “Goodnight.”

          “Graduating class, which includes every demon besides Link, you may go and pick your wooden sword from the rack, fighting over the swords is permitted.” A crowd of ten year olds move toward the sword rack, leaving a silver-haired boy standing alone, his mouth hanging open.  “Professer! Why doesn’t Link pass?” Asks one girl holding a sword with roses carved into the wooden blade. “He took less hits than everyone else!” Link smiled broadly at the girl who said this. “ He is on a different training regimen than all of you, being so much better than all of you, he will be a general, while you children are merely foot soldiers! The children holding swords look at Link with a mix of jealousy, and hate. “I’ll see you later then Leena!” Link shouts, waving to the girl. She smiles at him. “Hurry and get in our class!” the other boys murmurs angrily. “Why does that midget have the hottest girl in class like him? He’s not great at all!”   The children leave, leaving Link alone with Kiba. “You will not see her later, your new training starts tomorrow. You will train separately from all of them, though you can visit them on your free time, if you are strong enough to limp away.”

          A bloody, muddy boy falls heavily to the ground, spikes erupting from the place he fell impaling him in several places. He screamed loudly. “Get up boy.” Kiba growled at him “We train until your balance is decent, or you cannot get up, the latter giving you a hundred lashes with the dragon hide whip. The boy attempted to get up, but the larger demon kicked him back down, impaling him once again on the spikes. He screamed harder than the first time. “Faster boy!” The boy jumps to him feet, and the older demon hands him the wooden sword he dropped. “Again!”  They balance on a small path of blunt poles, surrounded by the ground covered with spikes. They clash their swords together, both of them moving in blurred motion. The older demon blocks a sword blow, and kicks out the boys feet, he jumps, and tries to land and regain his balance, but the other demon smashes him in the chest with his sword, sending him back onto the spikes. “You cannot have any free time until you are perfect!” Link grits his teeth, and gets up, and continues fighting. Later, he limps towards the field where all the children eat together. He sits down, and all of the other children scoot away. Link sighs, and eats. The girl from earlier sitting beside him. “I heard you beat sensei Kiba into a bloody pulp!”

Link smiles sheepishly. “I didn’t, I merely knocked him off the path, and he fell into the spikes.” She smiles widely. “Professor Sakura told me that that’s the first time one of his students has knocked him down!” Link changes into a crimson red. “How many times did you fall off Link?” His face loses its happiness, but he turns a darker shade of red. “Around twenty times, in the first session alone.” Leena gasps. “And you can still walk?” Link nodded. “Wow!” He smiles once again, and Kiba watches from the trees surrounding the field. “Why, I’ve told Sakura to tell Leena to leave Link alone… Sakura must feel sorry for him, I’ve told her thousands of times, to make him strong, I need to make him have no friends, to make him stand by himself, to need no one…”

          Link woke up… His head buzzing painfully… He spotted a foul smelling bowl near him. “porridge… How nice.” Link stood up painfully. And picked up the bowl. He scarfed it down, his stomach tightened, and he leaned out a window, emptying his stomach. “You moron! That was for your wounds!” Link looked up at a lithe-looking demon, with quite a nice figure. His eyes widened, and he tackled her. “ Leena!? Is that you?” He rolled out from under him, and landed three blows in quick string to his chest. He coughed, and fell heavily to his knees. “ You got off lucky this time. Not a single death. I saw the guy you ripped in half, real pretty work if I do say so myself. Your lucky more than half my childhood training was advanced healing.”

          He smiled weakly. “ I made sure to miss the vital spots.” She wrinkled her face at him. “ Your normally such a clean killer… Don’t spill a single drop of blood…” He poked his shoulder, and he smiled happily. “The thing I don’t get, is why my attacks on your village mean so little to you.” “Well, you never kill anyone, and most of the injuries you inflict heal in less than a day. And you always bring me a present!” She laughed. Link smiled broadly. “Virgin blood this time, and a ticket out of this forest!” her cat-like eyes flashed… “Kiba’s missed you.” Link growls… “ If that shows how much he missed me, I wouldn’t have come back.” She frowned. “You know he likes to test the strength of the only pupil that has surpassed him!” “ All I need him to do now is give me my strength.” Leena leaned forewarn. “ By the way, Sakura told me that there is no sealing spell! Ain’t that rich?” Link’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “N-no!” “Yup!” She chirped. Link stood up, and wobbled out of the hut, Leena forced him to use her as  crutch.    Leena was dragged Link along faster than he could limp. “That girl you brought here’s a real cutie.” She raised an eyebrow, “You got a thing for humans?” Link laughed loudly. “Of course not! I’ll only go for a girl who’s my equal, She has no fighting skills at all, she’s some mere foot soldier!”   Leena smiled at him, with a “does-that-mean-your-still-open?” face. Link saw this, but didn’t make any sign of a response. “ Where is she?” Leena smiled, “The barracks!” Link frowned. “Umm, the FEMALE section?” Leena smiled broadly. “Nope!”  Link began limping faster. “Take me to her.” “Can’t.” Leena replied. “why not?” “Because Kiba says so, he threw her inside and told them to have “Fun”. Link’s face turns dark red…

“T-that’s not good…” he muttered. “ Aww, I wouldn’t worry, they worst they would do with Kiba… oh… wait… Umm… Kiba isn’t watching them is he?” Leena started jogging toward the barracks, dragging Link behind her. They stopped at the door to the barracks,  Link struggled at the door, “L-locked?” Leena smiled and pushed him to the side. She knocked on the door, a rhythm from a song that Link couldn’t remember the name to. There was the sound of shuffling, and the door flew open, a large man was holding the doorknob. He turned. “ It’s Leena guys!” A cheer reverberated from inside.

The demon smiled mischievously at Leena. “We got a game of strip janken going on, Wanna join?” Leena blushed, and pushed him to the side, Link followed her. The room was messy, and reminded Link of an animal’s nest, articles of clothing were everywhere.

          A group of men were in a circle in the middle of the room and Link’s eyes settled on Vy’s face amid the group.  Most of them where smiling, and looking toward her. Link could understand this, seeing as how she was quite naked. With an arm over her chest, and a shirt covering her waist-down  Vy waved to Link, “ Hey! Join in!” There was a round of cheers again, and Leena sat in the circle. “Who’s turn is it?” Leena spouted loudly. A few of them looked around. Then smiled, “Newcomers go first.” Link’s eyes filled with fear. “Oohhh no, I never said I was going to play.” Leena grabbed him and pulled him to the floor. Leena had a round with the most clothed person there, a man across the circle, wearing many layers of clothing, just for this game. Link’s eyes stayed on Vy… She noticed him stared, and she grabbed a spare shirt, and put it on. Link then looked away, but still noticed that her face was red. She gave his a hateful glare, as if to say, don’t look at your master like that! Leena won, and the loser pulled off his shirt. Link couldn’t help but sigh… thinking to himself, the greatest soldiers of our clan, playing something as infantile as strip janken…   

          Minutes later, Leena was only wearing her pants, her arms wrapped around her chest. Link was shoved a fragment of cloth up his nose, to stop the bleeding. Link felt kinda bad, looking around the circle at all of the extremely muscular chests, and things below the waist…  He received a few glances from both of the girls, he knew they where wondering how he had beaten so many of the other contenders, and not have lost any clothing so far. Leena challenged him, and he lost with a rock, of course, he didn’t really want her to go naked… Then Vy won against him… He had to remove his cloak, then his shirt. Feeling disgraced, he looked at the ground, but peeked up at the girls chests a few times. Then somebody brought out the booze. Link’s chest was muscular, though not extremely bulky like the other demons, and he had scars, entertainingly enough, they looked like they were put there as decorations, instead of looking like a lost battle or a disgrace. He had a hundreds of Kanji tattooed on his left shoulder, it and covered his arm. He stood up, and was putting his clothing back on when a drunk demon shoved him down roughly. “Naww, you aren’t getting hic out of it this time.” Link growled at him, and the other demons turned to him.

          “Liiinkk!” Vy managed to squeal over the alcohol she had guzzled. “Yur stayin!” Then he saw a reddish glow in his eye, and knew he couldn’t leave. Link frowned. “Drunk!” Vy shook her head. “I mean, Drink!” Leena was laughing her head off, while Vy had gotten bossy. “Well I’ll never let master near any sake again.” She tossed him a bottle… Link sipped out of it, hating the kerosene-like smell, and taste. Link had noticed, with unspoken joy that neither of the girls were protecting their “assets” with their arms anymore. Soon enough, most of the party goers were competent. Also, Link still had on his pants, while most others didn’t. A few more demons had arrived, and also gotten wasted, Most of them female. Link’s face was crimson a combination of sake and embarrassment. He was done playing janken, but he got quite angry when he saw Vy and Leena looking at the men, and then giggling… “Bunch of disorderly drunks.” He murmured to himself. He resumed playing, several of the other contenders had gone to taking a gulp of sake instead of stripping off clothing, seeing as they had none. Link held his own until he got to drunk to be able to use his sobriety to easily beat the drunks. Soon enough he was taking giant swigs of sake when he lost a Janken.  He blacked out.

          He woke up a few hours later, with the biggest headache he could remember, and a violent urge to piss. He swaggered over the drunken forms to the door, and relived himself in the bushes. He walked back in, and made himself a little cushion to sleep on of other’s clothing. He put his clothing back on. Vy soon woke up, and scuttled over to him. She passed out again, on his “bed.” Vy woke up, the bright sunlight was pouring through the windows. She noticed that she was naked, and blurred memories filled her mind. She looked around for Link, and saw that he had vanished. She stood up, clothed herself and stumbled out the door.  She saw Link standing at the edge of the village… “Master? Can we leave soon? Don’t you have to report to your superiors or something? I don’t want to stay much longer.”

Vy eyed him angrily. “ Why do you want to leave? They seem friendly enough, and I saw you making eyes at that… Leena?” Link blushed. “The sooner we leave the forest the better.” Vy frowned at him. “ Sure, Let me just grab some supplies.” She walked off, and stuffed the rations bag full with food, which the hung-over demons gave to her happily. Link grabbed the bag from her, seeing as how she had so much in it that it she was unable to carry it. He grabbed the other bags, and strapped them to his back, his face not showing any sign that the large added weight took any effort to lift.

          When they left, Leena and a few others waved them off, Link noticed that Kiba looked slightly sad. Link made an obscene hand gesture at him, and that made the old demon’s face fill with emotion, rage apparently. Link picked up his pace. A few hours walking later, and they found themselves back at the village. Vy stared, confused and Link’s left fist was shaking with rage… “That old crone…” They walked past the village. Vy was sure that she heard laughter.   A few hours of wandering later, they were back at the village, for maybe the fifth time? “Her Name is Sakura… But she’s more properly known as the Cyclops.” Vy stared at him for a second. “The lady who controls the forest?” Link nodded. “Do you know how she does it? She doesn’t truly make the forest restart; It’s a method of hypnosis…” Link sighed… “I haven’t found a way around it yet. Even if you walk with your eyes and ears closed, you eventually get back to the village.” Vy searched his face. Link looked sad… “She won’t let anyone out, but there was a rumor, if a demon had a human master, that they would be able to break her spell, but that seems to be a lie.” Link growls angrily…

He kneels down, carving into the dirt with his claws.  

          A few seconds later..“ Hey! That might work.” Link grabbed Vy around the waist. He leaned forward, close enough to kiss her, and reached over her shoulder. There was a scrape of steel, and Link pulled her sword from the scabbard attached to her back. He scraped into the ground with it. “I’ll mark a path with the sword. We walk in a straight line, if we get back to the village; we go in a different direction. He started walking, dragging the sword in the dirt. Vy followed him, “You’ll be sharpening that thing if you dull it, even slightly.” Link nods, his face frustrated. They get back to the village, and Link smiles broadly. “This should work!” They returned to were Link had started the path. Shaking with rage, Link glared at the dirt, there were many different ridges, each the same size as the original. Vy climbed a tree, and noticed that they were in an elaborate pattern… Even higher up the tree, She smiled down at it. Link Yelled up at her. “It’s a smiley face!!!” Vy stared at the ground… It looked like a young woman’s face, with an eye patch over one eye. It was smiling mischievously, and was … Quite cute. “She has the most annoying sense of humor ever! She hypnotizes us, and draws a neat little picture, using my plan against me!” Vy was laughing up in the trees. “I think I like this woman!” She giggled gleefully… Link popped his knuckles… “You can talk to her after I beat the stuffing out of her!”

          A few hours of fruitless attempts to escape later,  Vy was sure that she heard laughter every time they ended back up at the village. Leena and a few others waved at them each time they passed. Leena was smiling… She grabbed Vy. “ Hey… Don’t tell him this, but you two are the only ones who can’t escape. Cyclops is a test, For Link, until he figures out how to escape, you are both STUCK here.” Link was already rushing away from the village… “ Do I have to do anything?” Leena smiled. “Nope!” “Can you give him a hint?” Leena looks appalled “Are you joking? We already have!”

Vy frowned… “Can I have one too?” she begged… Leena stood up and walked back to her hut. “No pain no gain!” she shouted gleefully. Vy simply stared… “ Pain? Pain is the answer?” she mumbled to herself… “So, Pain is it?” Vy twirled, “ W-wha?” Link was hanging upside down from the tree…

“ That explains it. Sensory hypnosis…” He hopped out of the tree, and grabbed Vy by the arm. “ Let’s go.” Link turned to her… “ Okay… Give me some pain…” Vy gawked at him… “ Whut?” “cut me with that sword of yours… Make it a good one.” Vy drew out her sword, which glinted eerily, as if thirsty for blood. “ Make it my right shoulder.” Link took off his cloak and shirt. Vy frowned at him, and then swung her sword. There was a crunch of bone, and Link screamed loudly… “T-That FREAKIN’ hurts!! Pull it OUUUUT!” She pulled her sword out of his shoulder, and the wound didn’t heal over quickly, like the other wounds had.

          Vy looked to her sword, the blood on it’s blade gathered about to drip off, then it shrank back, and slowly dissipated. Vy felt a slight warm sensation… She gawked at her sword. Link fell to his knees… “Pain… A delicious sensation, why? Why do you humans avoid it?” His eyes were glowing gently red, like they had back in the village. Link shook his head… “ In case you were wondering, your blade is now attached to your soul, It  is now a vampiric rune blade. The blood it absorbs, make you grow stronger. It’s a nifty trick, but really only works on humans, other races cannot grow past the strength they were born with. It is also, one of the only ways to inflict severe pain onto a demon, other wounds feel like pinpricks…”  He attempted  raised his right arm, his face contorted with pain, Vy could see the muscle twitching, trying to raise his arm. Blood began flowing quite freely from his shoulder… “Such a wound, heals as quickly as a human wound does… Very, slowly.” He closed his eyes, he began flexing the muscle in his shoulder, Vy could HEAR the damaged muscle ripping. Link’s face tightened… “Hold onto me.” She wrapped her hands gently around his left arm. He flexed it again, further ripping it Vy stared in horror. Link began walking… His breathing was heavy, pained… Vy stared at his face, the eyes clamped shut, the features contorted in pain. He started walking faster, Vy held onto him, but felt sickened, then pain began spasming up all of her limbs, focusing in her chest… She would have cried out, had the pain and nausea not suddenly stopped.

          Someone was clapping… “ Well done apprentice… Well done.” Kiba stood with his arms folded, his face in his typically angered looking face. Next to him, stood a beautiful crimson-haired woman, with waist length hair. The woman ran up, and hugged him. “Excellent! I knew you would be able to see with your “inner eye”!” Link opened his eyes, his face looking solemn. He took Vy’s sword once again, and scraped the blood from his arm. She felt a warm sensation, flowing through her body… It started at her right shoulder, then stretched out, and diminished as it spread, though it was still a very strong sensation. Vy felt strange as it reached her head… She tottered slightly, and Kiba caught her as she fell. Link grabbed her, and looked into her eyes, and then all went black.

Vy was groggy, it was painful to move, everywhere it smelt like blood…

“Link…” A girl’s voice called out… “ Are you awake? Are you okay? Kiba’s gone off for a while… I think He’s spending some time with Sakura.” Vy was shoved, “Link… come on! Get up!” There was a pleading sound to the voice, “L-link…” If Vy had the energy to sit up, she would have done so, but… She felt so tired… everything hurt… “I… I’m awake Leena…” Vy was shocked… A younger sounding Link’s voice had erupted from her lips…  Unable to control herself she sat up, pain rippling through her body, The smell of blood got worse. She opened her eyes, Bandages, She was covered in bandages… Most of them were red with blood. “N-no!” Leena gently pushed him back down “Don’t get up! You’ll just make those wounds worse!” Link/Vy eased gently back down… “You shouldn’t be here.” Vy said, “You’ll get in worse trouble than last time.” Vy thought, Thank you for coming… but didn’t say it. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but now I’ve got to report this to Professed Sakura! This isn’t training, It’s mutilation! Kiba’s cutting you up, and calls it training!”

Leena reached out, and started removing bandages… “ Stop..” Vy muttered weakly… “ I’ll replace them, and give you some pain relieving herbs.”

Vy felt warmed, happy. “Thank you Leena…”Vy’s vision blurred, but she could hear ripping of bandages…

          It faded away, as did the pain, The smell of blood was the last thing to fade. “ Don’t touch her!” Link screamed. There was a thudding sound, a fist hitting flesh. Vy fell to the ground, pain lanced up her hindquarters, and she opened her eyes. Kiba was on the ground next to her, an enraged looking Link standing over both of them. Link reached down and roughly pulled Vy from the ground. He wrapped his hands around her throat, and squeezed. His eyes were filled with rage. “What did you see?” Vy stared at him groggily, Link shook her, “What did you see!?” He shouted at her. Vy croaked through the hands clamped around her throat… “I was in a tent, blood…

 Blood everywhere, Leena changed your bandages…” Link dropped her, his eyes still filled with anger. “It’s my fault…” He said, shaking with fury. “I’m sorry. It’s an effect from the rune blade. If you absorb blood, you absorb part of them, their memories become yours…” Link growled angrily.

He stomped off, into the forest. Vy sat up, Kiba had a black eye, Kiba spat at Link’s fading form. Sakura looked sad, and gently lifted her from the ground… “I’m sorry dear… It’s entirely my fault. I had raised a circle to enhance magic; normally it takes a fatal amount of blood to see such a memory…” Vy stood up, gasping… Sakura gently patted her on the back. “Don’t worry, when he gets mad, it takes him over… It’s part of the bear totem.” Vy regained her balance, and ran after Link. She caught sight of him entering a hut, and started to enter it. “Go away…” Link growled… He put an arm to her stomach and shoved her out the door, and slammed it shut. “L-liinnnk!” Vy wailed a mixture of anger and sadness…  “You better apologize! You jerk!” Vy sat there huffily for a few minutes, and then went to sleep in the barracks.  

          Vy had a nightmare, whenever she was away from the castle, She always dreamed about the village. The odd thing was, Her point of view had changed. She was in a tree overlooking the village. She launched herself from the tree, flying  into the air, a feeling of a mixture of hunger and joy pounding through her. She landed quietly, and snuck up on a lone villager who was tending to a fire. In a quick slash of claws, he fell over, blood pouring from his neck. A scream shattered the darkness, and She turned to see a woman leading a little girl by the hand. She slaughtered the woman, Blood spurting everywhere, a large amount clung to the child’s face.  She hunched over the girl, and licked the blood from her face, holding the struggling child tightly.  Vy woke, covered in sweat and crying the name of her dead mother. Vy shivered and walked out of the barracks, avoiding stepping on any of the, one again, drunk demons. She saw a figure sitting the clearing at the middle of the village, staring longingly at the half-full moon. She stepped on a twig, and the snapping sound made the figure turn towards her. Link looked at her; his face was covered with grief.  He stood up and ran away before Vy could call out to him.

Vy woke up not long after dawn; she didn’t want to talk to Link any more.

“If he wants to be moody, and then runs away when I try to talk to him, I’ll leave him in this rotten forest!” Lifting the large leather pack, she trudged out of the village. A few hours of marching later, Vy make it out of the forest, and opened her map. She scanned the area. It took her a few minutes, but she found out where she was, and started towards the cave that contained the orcs she was supposed to eliminate. The marching rhythm flowing in Vy’s mind made the day of walking pass by relatively quickly. She set up camp, and had a dinner of dried rations before going to sleep.

“Hey, Get up…” She felt someone nudging her. “ Get up I said!” She was nudged harder. She mumbled something incoherent, and was grabbed roughly, and dragged out of her tent. The sensation of the rocky ground grinding at her skin made her painfully alert. She screamed, and struggled away from her intruder. After pulling the sword from her tent and rubbing the sleep harshly from her eyes, she saw Link standing in front of her grumpily. He bared his teeth at her. “Bad choice little girl.” Vy sprang up, and grabbed him by his shirt, She sat back down, pulling Link to his knees. “You listen to me, You will never force me physically around ever again! You will treat me with respect or I will make you suffer! You got that?” Link had attempted to get away with all his might, but was unable to break her grip. “Y-yes ma’m!” Vy stood up, pulling him with her again. “Get it? Got it? GOOD!” She dropped him to the ground. Link sat quivering fearfully on the ground, until Vy pointed to the tent. Link stood up, and mechanically packed it away, and hefted the pack, and began following Vy. Who had started marching off at an alarming pace.

“She has the strength of a berserker…” Link mumbled to himself. He sat outside the tent, listening to Vy’s deep breathing. He stood up, his face covered with a mixture of fear and anger. “That damned magic enhancer that Sakura set up made that blood the sword absorbed gave her a mental connection  with me… It would take a fatal amount of blood to just share a memory; it must have taken her years to create a magic strengthening circle that complex. I didn’t want to see her nightmares. Once she discovers it, the connection going to be a major problem.” He lay down on his back, and stared at the sky. Gazing at the sky, he let out a happy sigh. “The stars are much better here than in the forest.”

He closed his eyes, and let sleep overtake him. Link woke Vy up early, right after the sun had risen. He looked quite happy, with a large slice of beef jerky hanging out of his mouth. “Whut did joo flavor dish wit? He asked through the jerky. She glared at him, with a reprimanding face. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, its bad manners.” Link shrugged.  “Joo tink I care? Your waysh mean notink to meh.” She grabbed the jerky and tugged on it, but that only made him clamp his jaws on it tightly. “You WON’T act this way around my queen.” Link attempted to nod, but her hold on the meat made the gesture look awkward. He tugged away from her, She didn’t let go, so he pulled away harder. “Shtop ih!” He growled at her. Vy smiled and tugged harder. “It’s like playing with a puppy!” She giggled. “Ih is Nawt!” He growled at her, and he lost his grip on the jerky, she pulled it out of his mouth and waved it in front of his face. Link scowled at her. “ I’ll get you for this…” Vy smiled, and giggled once again. He tossed it to him, and he caught it in his mouth. Vy clapped and patted him on the head. “Good boy.” There was a glint of anger in his eyes, but he shrugged it off. “ Lemme shee yur map.” She handed it to him, and he stared at it. Clearly written in fresh ink was “Cave of smelly orcs”. Link looked at Vy… “How old are you?” Vy Frowned “What?  Why?” He looked back to the map. “No reason.” He folded it back up, and handed it to her.

  “Link…” Vy said in a whiney tone of voice.  “ What?” Link answered gruffly. “Tonight’s a full moon! But the cave is too far if we keep this pace!” Link shrugged. “ So?” Vy looked frustrated. “So, You carry all the supplies. I’m going ahead, unless you can keep up.” Link shrugged “Fine, but You better wait till I’m there.” Vy Nodded. “ I’ll wait for you.” Link shrugged again, “Then go! You have my blessing!” Vy smiled and dashed off. Link watched her till she disappeared behind a small hill. “If she could go hat fast without stopping to rest, why didn’t she say so before?” Link growled to himself. Link continued at the pace he had been going until the sun set, He pulled out Vy’s sleeping roll, and slid himself inside of it. He went to sleep gazing at the moon.

Link had a loud dream, Everything was all blurry, But he could smell blood. He heard the clunks of a sword hitting a wooden shields,  He could make out the faces of the rather hideous orcs, He heard a shield splintering, like it had been broken neatly in half and much screaming. Link woke up, it was still night, and the dream was still fresh in his mind. He stuffed the roll into his pack and ran the way that he had seen Vy go. He ran for an hour, He grew angry when he found that Vy had been traveling only by the light of the full moon. He could smell her on the wind, as the smell got stronger; it mixed with the rotting smell of orc filth, and blood.  The smell bit at his nose so fiercely that he knew a man with a cold could have smelt it. He passed a stream that seemed to be relatively clean, even though the ground around it smelt of orcs… Link noticed that no fish lived in it… Link nodded, knowing that overfishing is what emptied the stream. The stream has very close to the cave, which Link had to pinch his nose to enter. He found  corpses waiting for him in torchlight. He could hear the sounds of fighting deeper in the cave. Link ran deeper into the cave, following the inhuman screeches of pain.

He found her in a small circular room, fighting three still standing orcs, the orcs faced away from him, and Vy was to enveloped in the fight to see him. He snuck up quetly behind an orc, it’s attention completely focused on Vy, and wrapped his hands around it’s head, and snapped it’s neck, It coughed confusedly, and fell over, Link caught it, and lay t on the ground quetly. The other two orcs stared at him, a mixture of fear and hatred on their faces. Not letting the chance go to waste, Vy slid her broadsword into another orcs’s chest, making a bitter face as she kicked the corpse off her blade. Link slid into position at Vy’s side, and nodded at her weary face. He quickly ducked under a horizontal swing, and caught the orc’s wrist, he placed a his other hand right behind it’s elbow, and swiftly broke the joint. The orc howled in pain, He picked it up by its head, and smashed it violently against the cave wall. He couldn’t help but grin at the crunch that echoed through the cave.

As Vy wearily leaned against the cave wall, and slid into a sitting position, Link licked the blood from his hands, a wicked grin on his face. He turned to her, the grin of a demon entranced in bloodlust, He knelt in front of her, and placed his hands of her head, licking the blood from a cut on her face. Without enough energy to push him away, he sat limply as he cleaned he wounds with his tongue. It scared her, Link acting like this… It was like the demon the destroyed her village, it drank the blood from her wounds to. But what scared her the most, is that she enjoyed it, She enjoyed the warm caresses of his tongue.  He finished with her wounds, and wrapped himself around her. Vy fell asleep in his warm arms.

Vy awoke in her tent; she quickly yanked the blanket of herself, and sat up.  The pain from her forgotten wounds making her grimace, she looked the wounds over,  they had been cleaned, but were still seeping blood.   She crawled to the front of her tent, and swept the cloth hanging over the exit to the side. The smell of fire rushed in with a small gust of wind. It was still night out, the smell of ashes that met her nose was a campfire outside the tent, it looked like it had been freshly restocked with wood. Vy looked around for Link, or any sign of him, and found a wooden bowl warming near the fire. She picked the bowl up, and found a dark green paste in it… She stared at it for a few seconds, and sniffed it. “Erk! I hope he wasn’t planning on feeding that stuff to me.” “No, it’s for your wounds, Mostly that deep stab wound in your shoulder.” Vy raised an eyebrow. “ But my shoulder doesn’t hurt.” Link smiled. “Good.” He walked over to her, and pulled the shirt off of her right shoulder, revealing a piece of paper with odd writing on it. Link peeled the paper off, and a dull pain entered her arm. She swatted him away with her right arm, and yelped as pain surged through her arm. Link smiled, and pulled her shirt so he could see the wound again, he had a brush, he pried open the wound with his fingers, Vy grimaced, but let him apply the paste to the stab wound. The pain grew worse, but slowly receded to a welcome warm numbness in her shoulder. She Smiled at Link. “ What can’t you do?” Vy asked enthusiastically. Link stroked his chin. “I can’t sew, or ride horses… Or grow things… Not even weeds…” Link muttered. “ I can only tend to things that have to do directly with life, or with fighting. You rest up. We’ll go to the castle when you’re feeling better.” Vy’s eyes widened. “NO! I can still travel; these won’t stop me from that.” Link got uncomfortably close to Vy, close enough to kiss her. She backed away, but Link kept his closeness, She scrambled faster to get away, and tripped the fabric that covered the tent’s opening.   She started to fall backwards, but Link grabbed her, and pulled her into kissing range. “No,” Vy’s eyes locked onto his lips.  He slid her into the tent, and lay down on top of her. Vy’s face turned a fierce crimson. He moved forward, about to kiss her, but he only placed his forehead against hers. He smiled. “You can travel tomorrow; you have a light fever right now.” He got off of her, and noticed her crimson face, It made him smile even more. She looked… disappointed. Link’s face didn’t show it, but a brief flash pure joy flowed through his heart. Link whirled around, and put out the fire, packed away everything except the tent, so they could leave first thing in the morning.  Link made a few perverted jokes to himself, but never told Vy, that he had started liking her back. He had tried to make her think, that she was business, that he felt nothing personal toward her.

Vy was awoken oddly that morning, by Link’s tongue in fact…  it was something odd for him to do, because normally he wanted as little physical contact with her as possible. He seemed a lot more lighthearted now. More relaxed. “ My queen’s castle is very large, and the land around it is relatively flat… You can see it for quite a while, before you reach it.”  Link Couldn’t help But stare at the giant stone castle that he saw the next morning, He Didn’t notice it at first, He thought it was a mountain hidden my clouds, when Vy pointed it out to him, his jaw hung open.  There where villages surrounding the castle, Vy said that they went on for a few miles till you reached the castle and them there was a hand planted forest that surrounded the castle, a natural labyrinth.  

Link hated that smell… The village had the scent of the black sickness. The sweet smell of rotten grapes and rancid meat… HE didn’t tell Vy, but many of the people she hugged were going to die. The sickness was rampant around sources of strong evil energies… It only took root in those with weak hearts, or extremely long exposure. The sensation wasn’t very pleasant either; He had been told it felt like rotting while you were alive. It was avoidable; a quick tainting ceremony could save lives, or immediate removal from the evil energy. It looked like she already knew, because her smiles at people she knew were affected looked like painful grimaces. Link had a hard time enduring her despair, so He set his hand upon her shoulder, and guided her towards the dense forest. “Let’s go.” She nodded, wiping a tear away. “Where is it coming from?” Vy looked up at him. “IT comes from the castle, Inside linger the spirits of many unhappy dead, the castle was owned by a foul man, He gave up his soul for power… He still wanted more, so he killed many of his followers defiling their souls as well. The queen says that he still reaches for the souls of the people, inflicting this sickness upon them, we have many exorcists attempting to purify this place, but we haven’t any luck so far. Link frowned; exorcists only work on evil ghosts… This Is no ghost. He thought to himself.