Sweat poured down Ethari. He stood in a dirt ring, empty except for the straw dummy about 20 meters away from him. He panted as the sun from the grass lands beat upon his brow mercilessly. He had to train if he wanted any hope of being successful in battle.

He drew up his stick. He had carefully chosen a heavier one so it would be about equal to the mass of his sword. With that he opened his wings and rocketed himself towards the dummy.

Then he straightened himself and in a flash drifted to the right. Then he performed a side ward slash on the dummy. The dummy swayed left and right unresponsively. Ethari panted from the move. It was easy, but his dove, Cataraza was not there to help lend him some of the energy he had come to rely on. She was out flying in the sky expressing her freedom.

Ethari walked back to the spot in the center of the ring and dropped his stick. His silver eye length hair was a soggy mess and his light blue cloths were sticking to his skin. From there he dropped his club and drew his bow. There he shot the dummy, each time pulling the string farther back. And each time the dummy rocked back and forth with each shot from arrow.

His bow was pure white along with the cape that billowed behind him in the occasional breeze that occurred once and a while. After ten successful shots he went and retrieved his arrows and began some martial arts training. He ran front and side performing kicks and punches. After a while he collapsed against the fence and let out a long sigh. It had been a while since he had seen action. Just a while before, about two months ago, he hated to fight. Now he trained in the empty plains with nothing to combat except for Calan. Calan was his name for the straw dummy. He had spent so much time training he always " talked" to Calan during his breaks. Ethari laughed to himself at the lengths he had gone to in the past weeks.

It was an early morning and Cecelia was walking down to her training camp. It was an old abandoned training camp from the latest war. It was a secret war camp that housed Prisoners of War and soldiers. Only she knew about it and any person who was held or trained there. It was rather nice because it was in the middle of now where in a grassy plain with few trees surrounding it. Just enough trees so nobody could see it from afar. It was her home. She was an orphan she had no where to go. So everyday she went there. She kept few but meaningful possessions there along with food and water. It took 3 hours to get there so by time she was there she grew rather hungry.

Old weapons had been left there so Cecelia cleaned them up and practiced with them. She soon thought about the idea of officially moving into the camp.

One day when she was walking to the camp she decided to take a small detour just for a refreshing walk to get her energy going. She brushed her hand against the tall tan grass. She then saw a man practicing in a little dirt circle with a dummy. He then relaxed against a fence. She looked around no one else was near she shrugged it off and was going to walk away but decided she was in the mood for a friendly conversation. She walked up to the hung boy and introduced herself.

"Good day. I'm Cecelia Essence." She said to the young boy who just noticed she was there.

" Oh, hello, I'm Ethari Xilophent, feel free to stay here and train with me if you want." His dove returned from her flight and landed on his shoulder and stared at the visitor. Ethari pointed to his shoulder and said " this is my dove Cataraza." He then pointed to the dummy and added " and this is Calan, the straw dummy that I use to practice with.

Ethari said making small talk " What weapon do you use? I use the long sword, and the bow." He pointed to his belt with his sword attached and his bow laying on the side, with his quiver lying next to it. He saw a staff on her body so he assumed that she did use a staff. He flapped his white wings, stretching out the stiffness that had accumulated from ill use. He hadn't been out flying in a while, leaving his muscles in a tense position.

He assumed she was a elf by her pointed ears and fair complexion. He re grabbed his stick and said " I'm just going to finish up practice and calling it a day." He walked to the center of the arena and shot off into the sky. After he was about one hundred meters in the air, he rocketed down near the dummy and began a series of blows. He started a side ward slash to the left, then the right, up, and than a downward cut.

The dummy exploded. " Calan!" Ethari shouted. " Ah, man, he was my only friend out here." He grabbed at the straw remains and said " I hope I can fix him" He went inside the little building and grabbed some rope. He returned out to his little ring and pushed all the straw to pile. " Can you help please, I don't know much on repairing dummies" Ethari said with a questioning look.

"Wow we seem to have a lot in common." She said picking up some of the fallen straw. I "Except you actually have a friend. I don't. I'm alone out here." She said taking a box out of her backpack. She opened it up and inside was sewing stuff. She threaded the needle and began sewing up Calan for him. Cecelia hadn't looked up at Ethari but she could guess he was just watching her. After some time she had sewn the dummy's ripes up and sat him up straight. There you go all you have to do is put more straw in him. She said with a smile as she put away she kit.

Cecelia stood up and brushed the dirt off of herself. "Oh and to answer your question you had asked me. I usual train with some swords and daggers but I had left them at my secret fort, which apparently is no longer a secret since I just told you!"

Ethari let out a huge guffaw. He normally didn't show true emotions except for his true friends. This girl was turning out to be some one he would enjoy to spend time with. Ethari quickly closed his mouth from his sudden burst of laughter and said quickly " A sword huh. I said earlier that I prefer to use the sword as well. My friend Lothemadal uses a staff. That confuses me. He hardly does damage with it. Well I guess he doesn't have to, he summons monsters for all the close combat, well and me to."

He grabbed Calan and made a quick thank you grunt. He wasn't used to saying thanks and having things done for him. He propped Calan in the ground and added " you can use Calan whenever you like, I prefer his company." Ethari burst out with laughter at his own joke, something that he rarely did. He paced around and added yet again " so were is this 'secret' fort."

Ethari began to regret his last comment. He was talking to much and invading into her own secrets. He kept adding small comments, followed by his own laughter at his own jokes. He secretly hoped he wouldn't drive away some one like he had done so many times before. He opened his wings and stretched them to their largest size. He was tried from all the training today. Ethari let out a sigh. The sun was beginning to set and almost time for him to get some sleep. If he didn't get enough sleep he wouldn't have enough energy for the next days training, leaving him a weak shell if he didn't. If he didn't have his training circle his body would be nothing of what it normally was.

"Well, if you'd like, I can show you my training fort tomorrow. It's getting kind of late." Cecelia said looking to the western sky. "Tomorrow I'll come by early and I could take you there. Do you want to do that?" She added.

Cecelia grabbed her small bag that was sitting on the ground and flopped it onto her back. "It'll be fun! There are target boards and old ratty dummies, kind of like Calan, except he doesn't look ratty! There are also places to mediate. I'm kind of tempted to move in there she smiled!

Ethari burst out " Great, do you want to go tomorrow? Then maybe we can go train together. Calan is great and all, but he can be unresponsive. I need to learn really combat moves that someone can block and respond. Calan unfortuanately doesn't attack me back." Ethari unrolled his bed mat and put all his stuff near by. He unfolded his wings and said " excuse me but I have to go. I fly in the sky at night to keep in tune with the sky and the stars. It also makes sure my wings have plenty muscles."

With that he took of in the darkened sky. It was harder for him to fly as fast because he had been skipping his night flies, leaving his wings stiff from ill used. The chill night air enveloped around him, making him shiver. It would probably be a cold night. Cataraza was trailing behind him. She wasn't as fast as him due to her small size.

Ethari turned around briefly and grabbed his dove. He flew in circles laughing and Cataraza eyes gleaming with happiness. He turned sharply after fling for a half hour and landed near his bed mat. He laid down and grabbed Cataraza; hugging her as he drifted into sleep. He began to drift into a sleep haunted by bad dreams. He could see his sister, Kira with a sword lunging at him. In real life he just found his sister was alive and well, and a half demon. He was a full blooded angel and she was a demon.

He had only meet her once before and she had declared her heritage. She also said she was a psion and a strong warrior. Ethari had thought his sister would be the pure incarnation of good, except turned out to be the opposite. Ethari woke up in a cold sweat. It was still dark. He slipped back into a restless sleep.

"Great, do you want to go tomorrow? Then maybe we can go train together. Calan is great and all, but he can be unresponsive. I need to learn really combat moves that someone can block and respond. Calan unfortunately doesn't attack me back."

Cecelia was shocked by his response. Cecelia smiled. "Yup, no problem I'll met you right here tomorrow early and we can walk there!" With that Ethan flew off and Cecelia headed towards the training camp. The sun's were still in the sky and little diamonds glittered it's path until the sun returned. Cecelia made her way through the underbrush and all her winding hidden paths until she finally came upon her abandoned military training fort.

"Just as I left it." She said under her breath. She walked into one of the seven wooden built houses and set her things down. She rolled out her mat and pulled some blankets over her. She closed her eyes until the dawn . . .

Ethari awoke to the emerging sunlight. The sun had begun to peek over the horizen, painting the sky with a multitude of colors. Ethari stood and wiped his eyes, which were wet with tears from his dream. He walked to were he kept a few of his things and grabbed a piece of bread along with some salted pork. He tore the bread in half and put the meat in the middle, making a make shift sandwich. He consumed it greedily and made a second sandwich.

His rations was running low, he would have to stop at a town for more later. But now he had a guest. He walked to were Calan was and waited for Tyrant. She said she would come by early, she must be preparing, unless she was haunted by a bad dream herself, he was plauged by them, bieng a very stressfull person. Ethari walked to the center of the arena and greeted Calan as he had done for the past month or so, forgeting that he would be soon departing, instead of preforming his daily routine.

As he waited he dissmissed Cataraza, she did not have to stay. He would call her later if he needed her, wich was unlikly. She flew away into the clouds, vauling freedom as much as he did. Thats why he understood her need for flight. That was also why he hated bieng stuck in this rut, which he hoped that Tyrant would help him get out of it. He began to pace around the areana and whistle quitly to himself. It was kind of hard, considering that he couldn't whistle. After a minute of whistling failure he hummed to himself, waiting for Tyrant to arrive. He hoped to himself that she had not left him, thinking him to be a wierdo or murderer. If he did scare her away, he would be stuck in his daily routine of training and sleeping.