Disclaimer: I think you can guess.
Note: This story takes place about one year after Talpa's defeat. Due to instances of graphic violence, language, and sexual innuendos, I'm rating it PG13, so don't say I didn't warn ya.

Ryo exhaled a huge lungful of air in relief, the incredible tension in his body eased somewhat. Rowen was going to be okay. Sage and Sekhmet - with help from Kayura - had managed to save him. Now they just had to wait for him to wake up and tell them what was going on. If he even knew.

Ryo sat back to reflect over the events of the day for a moment. Too much had occured for so short a timespan. In one day, less than a full 24 hours, they had discovered that Talpa was still alive, gone to and automatically been forced from the Dynasty, had gone through Sage's little episode, had the arrival of the Warlords, shortly followed by Rowen's arrival, had to save Rowen's life, and were just now beginning to piece any of it together.

They were gathered in the dining room, everyone except for Rowen, who was still unconsious, Mia, who was watching him in case something more should happen, Yuli, who'd been put to bed, and Cye, who was scrambling to put together a meal for their unbelievable appetites before someone else collapsed.

Coming back to the present, those gathered - Warlords and Ronins - were relaying to eachother the events of the last two weeks. They'd already covered the Ronin side of the story, and were now delving into the Warlords'.

"We really had no chance to defend ourselves, actually. It was a well-planned ambush, timed precisely when we least expected it," Dais was explaining. "Before any of us knew what was wrong, we found ourselves locked in that dungeon and stripped of our armor."

A short pause followed, and Ryo took advantage of it. "So what do we do now? We know that Talpa's doing this, and Rowen's safe-"

"At least for now," Sage muttered, earning him multiple nasty glares.

Ryo's glare lingered a bit as he continued. "I just want to figure out where we go from here. As we've covered, Kayura and the Warlords have no personal protection other than the staff and nowhere to go until this is all over, meaning they're stuck here, with us." The four under discussion looked up to protest, but Ryo cut them off. "There is no acceptable alternative to that. But we also have to do something about Talpa before he's had too much time to prepare-"

"And yet a straight out fight would be suicide until we know what he's got up his sleeve and how long Rowen will need to recover," Cye added as he busily ran between the dining room and the kitchen, carrying plates of steamy, delightful-smelling food that he'd apparently drawn out of thin air. "If he's got new Dark Warlords, we won't stand a chance at winning without Rowen's help."

"Not to mention that the new Warlords appear to have far more strength and power than they should be capable of," Dais commented. "And actually, Wildfire, the only real evidence that it's truly Talpa we're up against is the word of his goons. No one has had any direct contact with him, unless Strata neglected to mention it."

Sage was watching Dais like a hawk, searching for something he wasn't sure he would find, as if he could stare straight through him with his steely gaze. "And what did he mention? Was there anything he told you that tells us a little bit about what has happened?"

Dais shook his head. "All he ever said was he was ambushed like we were. He wouldn't say much of anything about what he'd seen or heard. Not a single thing about what happened to him." Dais looked pensive for a few seconds. "It was really the things he did that were in any way revealing."

"Like what?"

"Everything!" Sekhmet grunted as he tried to stay awake in his seat. "I may not know the boy too well, but I assure you, something was seriously disturbing that one. We just didn't think much of it at the time, I guess."

"Like how quiet and serious he was, almost like even escaping had no meaning to him," Dais murmured.

"And how he fought those Warlords - I've never seen him fight like that. Hell, I've never seen anyone, in all my five hundred years, fight like that," Sekhmet said.

"And that door - he busted it open without out ever even touching it!" Cale exclaimed at the memory.

"NANI?!"

"Cale, what are you talking about?" Ryo asked doubtfully.

"He did," Sekhmet supported. "He got really mad because he couldn't find the right key, and the door just flew right off its hinges as if it'd been hit with a two-ton battering ram. It was incredible."

"And his eyes...." Kayura said, ever so solemn, her gaze fixed on her untouched food and her voice thick with her heavy thoughts. Everyone just stared at her, uncertain of what was on the woman's mind.

"What do you mean, Kayura?" Dais asked carefully.

"It's like I was trying to tell you, Dais. The physical change in his eyes was shocking enough. I've never seen such a chilling and mesmerizing color in my life, but... The emotion locked in them was so intense, so... conflicted," Kayura looked up to the faces, blushing lightly when she realized what she'd said.

"Look, I'm just really, really exhausted, and maybe this is simply the product, but I think I've got a working theory on what they did to him fr all that time," she changed the subject suddenly.

"You do? What is it?"

Kayura sighed heavily. Cye thought he could almost see the burden that had piled upon her back. How sad, she thought, that it was of her own doing. "Well," she opened. "During our time with the Dark Dynasty, Talpa was constantly turning out new ideas and schemes for the occupation of Earth." She paused, plotting out her next words.

"When the time came, and he first witnessed the power you five have - not your armors, but each of you, personally - he began a new project." Everyone's heads picked up more alertly. "Even though he pushed us forward in the original plan, he seemingly knew that it would eventually fail. And so, he started what he called the Vallhalla Project. Only myself and Mandilyn, a haggard, cruel old wnech, but the most impressive Dark Sage and master of the Black Arts I've ever seen, were allowed to help him. No one else ever heard about it in any way.

"The plan was basically to turn your powers on themselves. He was very secretive about the whole thing, and wouldn't tell me much, but what I do know is that this may be it."

"How so?" Cye asked, his head whirling with the things she and the Warlords were telling them.

"From the bits I still remember, he planned on executing a 'divide and conquer' style attack. It involved capturing the five of you each seperately and doing something to each of you - I'd assume placing a spell, by the level of Mandilyn's involvement. Why he didn't just capture and kill you, I'm not certain, but he was confident that this would lead to his ultimate goal - taking over this realm. And with the alterations he's somehow employed in Rowen's armor..."

"'Alterations?'" Ryo pressed, suddenly very alarmed.

Kayura hesitated. "Yes. Somehow, apparently during his time as a captive in the Dynasty, something was done to his armor. Perhaps whatever spell or such thing was placed on him also affected his armor. It's... far different, compared to the original Armor of Strata."

"Stop being so subtle, Kayura," Cale butted in.

"These people want to know what's happened to the kid, so tell them!"

"Yes, I'm... sorry. It's just that this is a very hard situation to describe, you see. With such extrenuous circumstances and atrocious stakes, I'm afraid of putting things too bleakly."

"Mind if I try?" Sekhmet suggested kindly. Kayura nodded, grateful for the excuse to get the attention off herself. She wasn't accustomed to feeling such unpleasant things or for such people, and it was increased quite a bit when she felt self-conscious on top of it all.

After a second, she thought about it again. There was another thing: when had Sekhmet gotten so perceptive and thoughtful toward others? Come to think of it, she'd never seen him act so... human, or... normal. He'd been acting like this all night, in fact. Was the most insane of the Warlords and Ronins getting soft? Hmm... this would be interesting to watch.

"As Kayura was trying to explain to you all, something seriously wrong has happened to Rowen's armor. The only way to really describe it is to say that from the small amount of evidence we could gather, the appearance of both the subarmor and armor is radically different, though it is still based on the original design, I'd say. And other than that... Well, he took on and killed a Warlord and several guards outside our cell before we were out, but it looked easy for him, and he held off three more Warlords all on his own for a small battle without even coming close to being defeated. At least until..."

"Until what?"

"Well, you see, up through all that, he was only in his subarmor, which is why it's so impressive, but while he was fighting with those Warlords, he attempted to call on Strata. Only it wasn't his Strata. Like I said, the appearance was grossly different, and the instant it was on, something happened... I don't know why or what it was, but a creepy column of light engulfed him, apparently hurting him quite a bit, disappeared, he disappeared, and then he turned up here."

"In short, we have no clue what's happened to him, but it doesn't look good," Cale summed up.

Dais looked apologetically to the assembled Ronins. "I know that isn't very much, but it does indicate that Strata may still be in very real danger."

"Then that's all we need to know," Ryo stated boldly. "We've got him under our protection, so they aren't going to reach him physically, and I'll see to it that they never hurt him in any other way, either."

"I don't think it's that simple, Ryo," Sage interjected. His eyes were glazed over, both from his obvious exhaustion, and perhaps something more. His voice was unnaturally soft and indifferent, almost alien.

Oh, great, Kento griped. He's doing it again. What was this? Part of his I'm-so-proper-I-can't-get-emotional act, or something?

"What do you mean?" Cye asked Sage curiously.

"I mean that I don't think protecting Rowen is all we have to worry about. If this spell or whatever is meant to be our demise, maybe Rowen is the danger. There's a very real possibility that they got to him, and we may need protection from him."

"Nani?!" Ryo bellowed, standing up so abruptly that his chair went flying behind him. "How can you say that?" he cried. "He's your best friend! How could you even think that he's a danger to us?"

Kento was now hugging the infuriated Ryo around the waist to keep the hot-headed teen from pummeling Sage, who sat perfectly still, watching warily.

"Ryo, please calm down!" Cye pleaded.

"What is it, Sage? Why? You've got all the answers, so why don't you tell us what's going to happen? Huh? Tell us!" he screamed, all logic forgotten.

"Wildfire, please! Calm yourself, or we'll be forced to restrain you!" Kayura warned.

But Ryo was past listening. The simple insinuation had lit the fuse, and now his wildfire-like temper was a raging inferno. With a clever twist, he slipped from Kento's hold, and was on his target faster than anyone but Sage could have reacted.

But he didn't. The bearer of Halo stood still and calm, his demeanor completely cool despite the fact that he was being tightly pressed up against a wall by his throat by a rage-crazed Ryo.

"C'mon, Sage! Where's that warrior's spirit? Why aren't you standing up for yourself? Too chicken to stand behind your own words?" Ryo's ice blue eyes pierced Sage's pale grey ones intensely.

"Listen up, Date. Rowen is not a threat. Talpa's the threat. And anyone who can't see that is more dangerous than he is. So what'll it be, Sage? Which are you, the friend, or the threat?"

The tension in the room was so thick it had moved from tangible to suffocating, as it did during the few moments of deafening silence that followed as the staredown continued.

Then, a single, fat tear escaped and rolled down Sage's fair cheek, salty and bitter on his lips, and instantly turning the rage within Ryo into confusion and uncertainty.

"Guys?" Mia called cautiously from the doorway, diverting Ryo's attention for just a nanosecond too long. In the blink of an eye, Sage had slipped from Ryo's grasp and thrown him across the table, sending food and dishes everywhere.

No one even had a chance to slap on their stunned faces before Sage leapt headfirst into the well of his emotions. "Don't you even think of accusing me of being a traitor," he threatened darkly. "No one - no one - here wants him to be okay more than I do. You-" he had to stop to force down a lump in his throat. "You have no idea how worried - and how terrified - I've been for him. You don't know the things I've felt. You can't understand the things I know. It's like I've been feeling all of his pain with mine, and it feels like no pain or possible horror could ever feel. I can sense myself falling into a deep, dark pit, and there's no lifeline to catch me and pull me back up. You have no idea what that feels like. None of you do."

"Then tell us," Mia stood, pleading compassionately. "Help us understand, Sage."

Sage firmly shook his head, backing up until his back hit a door. In a flash, he was out the door and running across the lawn into the forest.

Ryo instincitvely moved to follow him, but found a rock in his path. "Let him go, Ryo," Kento urged him gently .

The silence hung in the room lingeringly, and after a few tense moments, Cye exclaimed, "So!" clapping his hands and smiling plastically. "Who's up for dessert? Hmm?"

Sage blazed through the trees like fluid lightning, his tears and rage blotting out everything as he effortlessly dodged between the rows.

The sky was a cloak of velvety, oppressive blackness overhead which cast the outside in shadow and mystery, but it could have just as easily been broad daylight and Sage still wouldn't have seen nor heard the gushing water of the river in time to stop himself from tripping and plunging into the deep, bone-chilling water.

The initial shock of the ice-cold water hit him like a hard slap in the face, claiming his breath despite the fact that he was being forced underwater by the all-controlling current that sucked him down, precious inches seperating him from a fresh lungful of air as he flailed and thrashed without reward.

His eyes were straining to stay open against the searing sting of the water, and his lungs in the freezing water felt ready to burst for sure as he continued to fight against the water that was so intent on killing him. Once, his hand broke the water and hit air, but still, he was too deep to reach air to fill his agony-filled lungs.

A sharp bend in the river threw him up against a rocky bank, and just for an instant, he had the leverage to push against the solid surface, pushing himself up unto the air. Unfortunately, it was several yards from the opposite bank that he reentered the water, but his lungs were temporarily replenished. Now for the next breath...

Somehow, through the panic that had stolen him the instant he'd fallen in, he managed to stay objective. The undertow of the stream was growing even stronger, pulling his whole body down to the rocky riverbed with a force that was only parelleled in the other four great forces of nature. But the moment his left shoulder scraped the bottom, Sage used every skill and instinct he possessed to strategically somersault around until his feet and bottom hit. With more strength than he would have given himself credit for, Sage shoved against the rock and mud, forcing himself to break free of the strong current and once again surface.

This time he reached the bank of the river, but before he could get a solid grasp of the vegetation and roots, the water pushed him around another bend, causing him to tumble, but never leave the outer rim of the water. All of a sudden, his shoes touched solid ground, just barely. Another few moments and the water leveled off at his chest, then slowly, it reached his waist. Still, the highly concentrated water pressure pushed at him, but his hand frantically shot out, and happened to close around a thick tree root that was jutting from the moist earth. With determination derived directly from that utmost primal instinct that has its precedence over all living creatures, great and small, Sage single-handedly pulled himself from the mortally dangerous waters, pulling himself up onto the muddy riverbank.

There, crouched defensilvely on the cold ground and gasping in huge lungfulls of clean, precious air, his determination melted away into sheer exhaustion warmed only slightly by a warm relief, Sage, bearer of the mystical armor of Halo and master of the element of Spirit, cried.

These emotions, these swirling masses of truth and chaos that so strongly resembled the deadly waters he'd been delivered from, which cursed - and eternally blessed - all humans from first creation, were so foreign to him that he couldn't stand them.

His heart was crying, screaming out against the intensity of the bonds squeezing it tight, and he couldn't for the life of him place why. Why should they have to in the first place?

He knew that having his best friend disappear and nearly die, then come so close to dying himself, entitles him to feel certain things, but this was insanity. He was being torn apart inside, and the cause was all too elusive, even for him. It was worse than torture; it was...Gotterdamerung....

"Having some considerable troubles, O Valiant One?"

Sage's head whipped up to the sound of a vaguely familiar voice, and he gasped. Floating just inches above the flowing waters in front of him, was a figure with the uncanny resemblance of Rowen. Sure, the entity before Sage was a good few years younger and far more transparent, but past that there was little difference between them.

A sudden dread gripped Sage's heart. An apparent ghost who could have passed as Rowen?

"Don't worry so, Halo. I'm not who you're thinking I am. My name is Alex. Alex Hashiba."

Sage's eyes widened in disbelief. "Hashiba? Then...you know Rowen?"

The spirit smiled. "I more than 'know' him. He's my little brother." He glanced down at himself. "Well, I was, at least. As you can see, he's passed me up by a few years now."

Sage just continued to stare in incredulity. I'm hallucinating. I've finally snapped and this is simply the product of my insanity.

This time Alex chuckled a little. "I assure you, Sage, I'm just as real as you are. Although sometimes I wish I weren't..."

"Wh-what happened to you? Why didn't Ro tell us he had a brother?"

Alex sighed half-heartedly. (An impressive feat for a dead guy with no vital organs whatsoever.) "I'm not surprised he hasn't. It's a long story I've got for you, but it is imperative for you to hear it."

He paused to see if Sage would make any objections, but none came.

"It happened almost a decade ago - seven years, to be exact - in our hometown in America. Rowen was only about 10 at the time, and I was 14, the age I appear as to this day. Another thing you wouldn't have heard from Rowen, is that we also had a sister, Annie, who was Rowen's twin.

"She was a gorgeous, sweet little girl. But when the two of them were together, there was no stopping them. You wouldn't believe the trouble they could manage to get themselves into. I still don't know how they pulled some of their stunts off.

"One day after school, I was on my way to pick the two of them up from their school, since I was in junior high and they were in elementary school, when my backpack began to glow a bright blue. When I looked inside, it was the neat blue marble with the kanji inside I'd found in the woods as a kid; the ball you would call my kanji orb.

"Yes, I was a Ronin Warrior. I was the Ronin of Strata, in fact. But at that time, I knew nothing of these. All I knew was that this pretty ball with the Japanese writing inside was glowing like I'd rubbed the Genie's lamp, and my soul was suddenly filled with more panic and dread than I'd ever felt in my whole life up till then.

"Without giving it a thought, I ran for the woods, even though the elementary school was in the opposite direction. I sprinted straight for the spot I always brought Ro and Annie to, a gorgeous bend in the river that ran through the forest. There's a cliff that overlooks it that you can climb up onto and see for miles around where we always went. I reached the top, and my life, both metaphorically and literally, ended."

Sage looked up far above where he knelt on the ground and saw the outlining rocks of a cliff over the river. The river had a gentle bend in its coarse here. Was this...? Were they...?

"A woman named Syria, a lowly minion of Talpa's who was dying to prove herself, was there with Ro and Annie. She said that my destiny was at hand, that her master wanted me and she'd kill Rowen and Annie if I refused to come with her right away.

"Like I said, I knew nothing about Talpa or the armors at that time, but I knew she was serious trouble." Sage could have sworn that the ghost would cry as it looked down into the clear waters of the river passing under its feet.

"I hesitated. I didn't know if she'd really hold to her word. Before I could do a thing to stop her, she threw Annie off the cliff to her death. I couldn't let Rowen die, too. So I went with her." He laughed bitterly. "If only I'd known what I was getting myself into.

"For the next 5 years, I worked as a minion of Talpa's while he awaited and prepared for the time to attack the human realm. Outwardly, I became as hardened and resolute as any of his Warlords, but inwardly, I never stopped waiting for the chance to break free of the chains that held me to my bargain: Rowen. You can't imagine the difficulty I faced in those neverending days. Talpa, even as weakened as he is without his armor, is a very formidable enemy, and an even tougher master. I was repeatedly asked to do things - horrible things which I'd have never even considered under any normal circumstances. And he gets into your mind, messing with things that don't need messing with. He never read my mind, or he'd have known of my deception, but he was always in there, somewhere.

"During this time, I kept myself sane by building up a defense against the Dynasty's power. I gathered all of the knowledge, obscure and not, that I could possibly find pertaining to any number of subjects ranging from academics to the most well-kept secrets in magic and history. Talpa has one of the largest collections of scrolls and obscure literature that has ever come into existence, and I gained great amounts of knowledge there, though my studies went far beyond that. I knew that Talpa would know everything contained in every one of those documents, so I made a point to never take only the words of those books on a subject, but went to great lengths to check and add to all of them. Who knows why Talpa never interfered. Perhaps he just didn't think it was a threat. He might have even saw my knowledge and wisdom as an advantage for him. But in any case, I was allowed to do as I pleased. And the main chunk of 'what I pleased' ended up comsisting of two things: my studies... and watching life on Earth go on without me through the years.

"Rowen was severely traumatized by what happened that day. When I went with Syria, she just left him there on the cliff, terrified and confused. It was hours before he was found, and by then he was too shocked to even know what had happened. Our parents, of course, had no idea what had happened. They found Annie's body a couple miles down the river, but there was nothing to be found of me. Without having any way of knowing what went on, everyone made something up, supposedly for Rowen's sake. I think they told him that there was a car accident or something, and just assumed he'd believe it. I think some people even suspected that I had killed Annie and then run off, and Rowen was just too terror-stricken to tell anyone." He looked wistful once more.

"But Ro, there was no fooling him. I watched him all through those 5 treacherous years, my only joy knowing that he was safe and free from my pain. But I'm not so sure he was, looking back. You know, he never - not once - went back into those woods. I know he was told that nothing happened out there, and in his shock he probably forgot he was ever there, but something, some small, lingering trail of a memory, never allowed him to get closer to that cliff than the edge of the woods, still more than a hundred yards from the river." Alex stopped, his sharp indigo eyes downcast again as he began to fall back into old memories and long-ago experiences.

"What happened after the 5 years, Alex?" Sage pressed lightly. He couldn't stop now. He just couldn't.

Alex sighed deeply. "Hell broke loose. The end of the 5 years was when the rift between the realms became large enough for Talpa's invasion to actually work. I knew right away that I had to make my move then, or die trying." His smile dripped with bitter irony. "I guess you can see which one took place.

"I got lucky, though. I executed an emergency attack plan that I'd worked out, which somehow managed to do enough damage to his forces so that he had to postpone the advance of his plans for nearly a year.

"Even though I was dead, the barriers between the realms had been damaged so much that even the Makai was affected, and I was able to pass freely between worlds. As you know, when a bearer of the Ronin armors dies, the armor is passed onto the next Ronin of whatever. By some miracle, I was able to manipulate the two and make sure that Rowen was next in line for the Armor of Strata, and you know most of what followed that: he met up with all of you and supposedly defeated Talpa, etc., etc."

Sage waited for the end of this string of new information to fully sink in before he asked, "So what went wrong? Why is he still here?"

Again the ghost boy sighed. "I think you've had enough for one day to last you a lifetime. The story had only been half told; the rest must wait.

"But one more thing: you must protect Rowen, Sage. He needs you now more than ever, and he may not be strong enough to see the dangers for himself. That is why I have revealed the things I have to you. I cannot be here to protect him as effectively as I would prefer, and for you to do it, you need all the help I can give, and then some." A heavy mist arose as he spoke to blot out all in sight, but just before it ahd, Sage heard the light, far away voice call, "I'll be here again in three days - be here."

"But I don't even know where I am! How will I find you?"

"You'll know the way. Legacy will lead you," the voice swept gently through the air on a breeze, barely above a whisper.

"Who's Legacy?" he called. But there was no answer to be heard as the mists settled and the spirit was nowhere to be seen.

"Now how do I get home?" Sage wondered aloud as he attempted to stand up. Finding his legs wouldn't support him in their exhaustion-racked state, he slumped back down onto the soft, moist earth, and was asleep in seconds.

Hmm, I like that. Aly's Alibi. Anyway, anyone else out there - any writers - who find it somewhat odd to try to express emotions for a ghost? Not to mention the dilemna of whether to call them "him" or "it".

Anyway, that one was pretty long, ne? So, now that chapters 7-9 are out, what d'ya all think of 'em? I'm already partway into chapter 10, so that should be out a lot sooner than this group was. BTW, the reason I released three at once was because chapter 7 introduced a huge twist to the plot that wasn't in my original plans, and I wrote a couple with it to make sure it came out smoothly.

Chapter 10 comes back to Rowen's side of things, as well as another battle scene or two and more on the new characters from chapter 7. Hang in there till then. Hey! At least I didn't wait this long for just a couple pages of the story, ne? I gave you 3 chapters, one of which is pretty damn long. Well, ja mata, minna.

Your psychotic, overworked author,
Aly ~~~<~~@