It had all happened so quickly. Xeik had been abducted without any warning. The signs had been there, but he was far too young to notice the signs. It had been Lewis that had noticed, but by the time he had, it was far too late. The Echo Assassins, a black guild that had been working in Hoja for a time, had been informed of the unique traits that the boy had possessed. They were perfect for the guild…no, he was perfect for the guild.

And so, they took him. The ritual would make sure that he was theirs to command, and he would be molded into the perfect weapon.

Except that the ritual never came to pass. It was Lewis who came to the rescue, slaughtering everyone in his path. It was this display of brutality that had awakened something in him, the desire for death. Rescuing Xeik suddenly became less of a priority than the death of his captors. The end result, in his eyes, would be the same.

Xeik had the potential for it. Lewis thrived in it. Two sides of a coin. Too opposites. And then it all came to a head. They broke apart. And from there, the story unfolded…


—

Xeik found himself wide awake, with Mia sleeping soundly beside him. There were nights like this where his mind wandered about, the past, present, and future alight in his mind. It was tonight that his mind was focused on the past. On that fateful night he was saved. That guild had disappeared into the shadows, though from what Xeik understood, Lewis hunted down quite a few of the high operating assassins during his time.

He got up, carefully making sure not to wake Mia, and wandered out onto the terrace. The ocean of Elysia crashed below, and he took a deep breath. “I wonder…” Xeik looked back at his beautiful, sleeping wife, and smiled. “I have to know though…just to be safe.” With that thought in his mind, he disappeared off of the terrace.

The familiar streets of Hoja were awaiting Xeik. When he looked down the dark, empty streets, memories of the guild running about. He smiled, and slowly made his way down the roads.

“I think it was…here?” Xeik wondered aloud. He turned down an alley near the bakery that he used to steal from almost daily. The scent of fresh bread filled his mind, and he couldn’t help but consider coming back later. “And up here.” He jumped up and onto the roof of a now abandoned building.

Xeik wandered into the top floor, and looked around. “That room over there.” The images of how he struggled against his restraints filled his mind. Fragments of the demonic circle were still visible on the floor.

“So…the demon ritual they were doing involved Xelisth. A powerful demon lord who traded in souls, and offered power,” Xeik said as he examined the runes. “The idea was to shackle the mind and body.” But the real question still remained. “Why me..”

“Because you had the most potential I’ve ever seen in a recruit,” a voice said. At once, Xeik raised his guard. At the doorway was a ragged figure. “That fool of a boy who rescued you…Lewis was his name? Even as he is now, he would never be able to hold a candle to what you could do.”

“Right,” Xeik replied, rolling his eyes. “That sounds like a load of bullshit.”

The figure scoffed, and revealed his face. A heavily scarred man with graying hair and sullen eyes met Xeik’s bright eyes. “You wouldn’t understand. There are unique individuals who come along once in a lifetime, who’s natural power and raw talent can surpass even the power of the Gods themselves…and you were one of them. Lewis was nothing more than a failed experiment…”

“A what?” Xeik replied with a shocked expression. “What do you mean ‘experiment’?”

“But it’s not too late, Xeik,” the figure said, stepping forward. “The Echoes may have fallen on hard times, but you can change that….”

“All right, now you’re just talking crazy,” the Divine Mender replied with a sigh. “And here I thought I was going to get answers.” The ravings of the mad man were nothing to be worried about, and he dropped his guard.

“And you’re still a bleeding heart,” the man said with a smile. At once, the old runes flared to life, engulfing Xeik in a demonic red glow. “I wasn’t asking…I was commanding.”

Xeik was in agonizing pain as demonic energies flooded his body and mind. It felt as though claws were ripping at his skull, prying into his brain as they forced his will back, taking everything over. This spell was something complex, and with being caught off guard, there was nothing he could do.

“Mia…” Xeik whispered. “I’m…sorry.”

—

The exact moment that Xeik felt disconnected from her Angela stood up. She was at a family dinner with her children and her face grew grim. Xeik… Her hair was standing up on its ends.

“Is something wrong Mother?” Nerezza looked up at her.

“An emergency just happened… I’ll be back…” Angela opened a portal and left abruptly. She sent Raine into where Xeik was last spotted and sure enough dark magic was left.

“There’s no trace of him… Dark magic and demon blood though. It appears like he was kidnapped. I found his hair at the scene of the crime,” Raine laid out all the evidence. She had even smashed the road up to show the blood. The hair was nearly placed on a pillow. The evidence was all there.

“Someone takes me for a fool,” the goddess bit at her lip, and the earth rumbled across the land. The Terrowin estate shook greatly.

“Lewis,” Simone held up some of the decorative plates as Lewis tried to distract the babies. “That was no normal earthquake… Didn’t you feel it? That surge of power…” It was familiar to them even in a tiny bit that had been there. “Angela is angry…”

The two Terrowins looked at each other and opened the portal to Elysia. Mia was sitting in the room in a puddled mess. She was silently crying and looked up at Simone and Lewis. Simone had a shocked expression on her face. Angela looked grim as she looked at all the evidence she had Raine collect.

“We will find him, Mia… However, my magic is being tainted so I had to cut my connection to him as the Divine Mender for now.” Angela frowned a bit. “I will find him.” She only noticed Lewis and Simone after. “Xeik’s been kidnapped. My powers were overwhelmed in Hoja.”

The quake on Koskaan surprised everyone, but it was immediately evident to both Lewis and Simone what had happened. Angela was furious at something. Without waiting for her to find them, the two said their goodbyes to their family, and immediately made their way to Elysia.

The scene that met them was shocking, even to Lewis. Immediately he could feel that Elysia felt…wrong. The power that normally was felt when he entered the realm was stifled, as if trying to contain it’s rage. The skies outside were clouded, dulling the brilliance that normally shined.

And Lady Angela herself was there, looking over the evidence that had been brought forth by Raine. Mia was a mess, and Simone was immediately by her side, comforting her in her own way. Lewis looked at Mia solemnly, and then stepped forward towards Angela. Without waiting for a question, she stated the problem at hand.

Xeik.

Lewis felt a wave of feelings, very much similar to the ones that he felt when Simone went missing. It wasn’t nearly as intense, but the urge t o kill anyone in his path to finding his best friend was ever present…that bloodlust was the way he showed he cared. “Hoja…got it.” He turned around and started to open a portal, but the gate was snuffed before it could open.

“Angela…” Lewis sounded pissed off, which was rare. “Let me go.”

Angela turned to Lewis and shook her head, “I will in a moment. Just hear me out. Simone Terrowin stand.”

Simone hesitated as she got up and moved over next to her husband. “Lewis and Simone Terrowin. I grant you the abilities of the Divine Mender. Together you become a weapon capable of destruction.” The golden sands swirled around them. “I grant the Divine Sands. Until my Divine Mender is back by my side… You will be my Divine Weapon.”

Her eyes were dark. “You have a day before I get involved. Quickly learn how to use the powers Xeik has cultivated. Take Raine with you. She can fight better than you can.”

“My lady… Is that okay? You are angry…”

“The Voice has restricted me from moving from this realm for a day. You have a day to hunt him down.” Her look was dark as she glared past Lewis, "Or I will destroy all of Hoja to find him."

Lewis and Simone both could feel power welling inside of them, that which neither of them could possibly imagine. This was the power of the Divine Mender that Xeik held, and with it, the divine object that he so skillfully wielded. It came as a shock to Lewis what power his friend was so easily able to use.

“I had no idea Xeik was this strong,” Lewis stated with surprise. He realized that he had voiced this opinion out loud, and looked to Angela. A full day to find Xeik, or she would destroy Hoja Mesto. Lewis may have held fond memories there, but it was nothing compared to the life of his best friend. “If Hoja needs to be destroyed, then so be it…but I’ll find him before that.” There was a glint in his eyes. “I want to tear them limb from limb myself…”

There wasn’t anything left to say, and Lewis took Simone’s hand. “To Hoja, then…”

—

Raine led them to where Xeik’s last location was, and immediately Lewis recognized it. Images flashed through his mind, memories of when he had rescued Xeik from the Echoes guild. It had been an older kid named Terrance who had made the deal with them. He had owed money, and the guild was willing to pay. There had been something about Xeik that they wanted…and now…

“As much as I hate to admit it, that idiot demon hunter would be useful right about now,” Lewis knelt down and looked over the runes. “It’s probably the same spell they used all those years ago…” He closed his eyes. What the hell are we supposed to do with this?

The rainbow phoenix cleared her throat. “Isn’t it obvious?”

The ex-assassin stared blankly in her direction. “No. Not really.”

“Xeik can sense life energy. So just do that. Duh..” She made it seem as though it were simple. That kind of magic, though, was something that Xeik had trained hard to use on command.

“Fine…Simone? You’re better with magic…want to give it a shot?”

Simone took his hand and nodded to him, “We’ll do it ourselves…”

Raine took one look at Angela before she hopped through the portal. Her demeanor changed and she was oddly serious. The miniature whirlwind that Lewis could become before felt smaller in the presence of the phoenix. “My buddy was taken. I need to get him back.” She declared it to Lewis and Simone.

Simone tilted her head and looked at Lewis, “It should be like finding each other with the resonance… Only on a much larger scale… I have an idea.” She took both of Lewis’s hands and put her forehead against his. Closing her now azure eyes she took a breath. A heartbeat was low at first but then it became numerous.

“If it’s like our resonance… We should be able to find the string of his life…” It was hard to concentrate. “Lewis… Close your eyes and focus with me.” While it took Xeik a while to learn how to use it… The Terrowins were at an advantage.

Once Lewis focused with her they found a bright green thread. “There he is.” When she opened her eyes she could still see that one green thread out of the thousands she had seen before.

“Wow, it took Xeik years to learn how to do that… You basically took the knowledge and looped it between you two until you learned it… Kinda terrifying.” Raine looked around. “Anything Life and Love can do you can do… Creative applications. Simone is creative just draw from her.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “I can be creative too, you know.” Still, the intensity that had been required just to find that single green strand of life energy took a lot of effort. If it had not been for their resonance, and their own unique methods of learning, it would have been nearly impossible to single it out.

The ex-assassin was slowly realizing that Xeik was much more than he appeared on the outside. Even with proper training, Lewis doubted he could learn how to control something like this alone, if given equal time. And that thought was equally terrifying, and illuminating. Was this why he was abducted? This raw potential?

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Lewis stated as the trio took to the skies, each of them assuming their bird forms. They soared through the skies of Hoja, following the strand that matched Xeik’s life force. This path led them towards the Zets’Ki Cradle, and as they neared the highest point of the mountain, the thread of life started to shift and change. It was subtle, at first, but once Lewis realized what it was, he pointed it out.

“The Ritual. At least, that’s what they called it. A powerful spell where they force a demon into someone’s mind to take control of them. It’s a brainwashing tactic…while they train the body, the demon erodes the mind. In the end, they create the perfect soldier who will follow orders without question.” That was all he could remember getting from the unwilling participants of the Echoes Guild. Lewis silently cursed himself for not getting more information, but there was little use in dwelling on past mistakes.

They landed near the city in a mass of snow. Caverns littered the peaks of the Zujiuchi Mountains, and any one of them could hold a number of secrets.

“They were smart…” Lewis muttered. The strange of life energy weaved in and out of the caverns, and it was nearly impossible to find which one it had settled in. “Creative…” The assassin frowned. “I can be creative…” He produced the bag that had been given for the Divine Sands, and let the grains trickle onto the snow.

“Start simple,” he muttered, closing his eyes and focusing. The sands started to lift around him, forming sharp, pointed daggers that circled around him.

“Oh, real original,” Raine said snarkily.

“Shut up.” He was still focusing. “Life and love. Life and love…life and…” His eyes opened. “That’s it!” The daggers started to deform, and the sands swirled around, reforming into various small, familiar looking birds. “Search the caverns…all of you! Report back!” At once, the Snowball army swirled around Lewis, and scattered into the various caverns around.

“See…I can be creative…”

Raine waited for the bird army to come back. “You are moody Raine… It’s not good for you.”

“They took my buddy. I’m going to make them pay.” The dark look was similar to Angela's. That was when Simone realized that Raine was taking more and more after Lady Angela.

“Raine… Is that okay to do?”

“It’s not like there won’t be a mountain range when I’m done… I’m not my lady…” Once the birds were back with his location she put her hand on the mountain. “Work with me. You don’t like their rotten fleshes being inside you either. I’ll eliminate this scourge and purify this land. Grant us your durability like the mountains you are,” Raine let the prayer out in a final yell as she punched the caverns leading to the hiding area.

The land was quaking as she punched holes into the mountain. “Wait! What if it collapses on us?!”

“It won’t until we’re done… I asked the mountain to be nice!” The first assassin came out and Raine was quick to grab his face and burn him alive in rainbow flames. “Leave the peons to me and go find Xeik. I sense great power coming up ahead… and it’s familiar to me.”

Lewis was shocked that Raine was being so violent. He of all people knew what she was capable of from a fighting standpoint, but he had never seen her so brutal about it all. Not only had she spoken to the mountains and asked for their help, but she had also burned a man alive. And from what Lewis could tell, she had no intention of holding herself back. She was just as furious as her goddess over Xeik’s abduction.

“Right,” Lewis said as he and Simone darted farther into the cavern. It was easy for them to stealthily dart around the groups that were headed to meet Raine, and after a time they found themselves deep in the heart of the mountain.

Lewis and Simone were keeping to the shadows as they entered a large, hollowed out cavern. At the center was a massive demonic circle, and several apostles in key positions around a red robed man in the center.

“So you’ve come,” the man in the center said. The voice was instantly recognizable.

“Well someone has to save your ass,” Lewis replied as he pulled himself out of the shadows.

“Xeik is a fine specimen,” the man said as he turned to see Lewis. It was Xeik all right, but his eyes were a familiar crimson. The same color as Rhenakos’ eyes. “It’s really disappointing that we did not have him sooner. We wouldn’t be the shell of a guild we are today. What a waste of his potential…serving the Goddess of Life and Love? With the power he has, he could rival her alone!”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Lewis replied, narrowing his gaze.

“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to prove it.” He snapped his fingers, and at once those who were kneeling, surrounding him the circle, burst into flames. Their cries echoed out as their power was siphoned, and forced into Xeik’s body. “Years of experience in the blink of an eye…” He laughed. “Now you will see just how much of this man’s potential has gone to waste!”

Lewis lowered his stance, and was immediately thrown off guard when Xeik’s form appeared before him. It was almost effortless how Xeik knocked away the daggers, the sounds of metal clanging hitting the floor as a fist struck Lewis clean in the chest.

What the fuck!? Lewis felt the air leave his lungs as he was tossed back like a doll, tumbling back. Move. MOVE DAMNIT! He screamed at his body to act, and despite the lack of air, he managed to recover, barely landing on his feet. But Xeik wasn’t done yet, and had followed Lewis, coming in for a fierce, arcing kick. The blow landed cleanly on Lewis’ face, sending the temporary Champion back to the ground.

“Ah…it moves so well,” the fake Xeik said as he cracked his knuckles. He looked down on Lewis. “You’re too slow. Can you not see it? Xeik always had the potential that you lacked. No matter how hard you train, you will never reach this level.”

Out of the shadows, daggers started to fly at Xeik. Without pausing his speech, Xeik caught the first, and deflected the next set. “Your lovely wife is doing well, I see. I wonder how well she’d do as a trophy…” He started to move towards her position in the shadows, but Lewis’ hand shot out, grabbing the man’s leg.

“Not a chance in hell!” Lewis growled. Magic surged up his arm and through Xeik as the ex-assassin tried his hardest to hold Xeik in place. “SIMONE!”

The brilliant dark phoenix leapt out of the shadows, murder in her eyes as blue flames erupted around her and surged forward, striking Xeik dead on. This was enough to stagger him, and as he stumbled back, Lewis recovered, and took a stance.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned,” Lewis said as he tried to stall for a moment. “It’s that raw potential can’t hold up to teamwork…” Simone and Lewis both started to breath in synch, and at once their eyes shimmered a brilliant azure.

“So this is the resonance,” Xeik stated. “Show me what you’re capable of, then!” Using the dagger he stole from Simone, he rushed the duo. Lewis and Simone moved in perfect unison, twirling between the slashes from Xeik, and delivering their own blows, azure flames trailing the strikes from their blows. Daggers flashed and crossed in a flurry that was near impossible to follow, but a sudden burst of strength came from Xeik, throwing back Lewis and Simone.

How the hell is he so powerful? Is this was Xeik was always capable of? Lewis was barely holding on as Xeik pushed his offensive. Blow after blow came, and the Terrowins started to lose ground. A powerful strike knocked their weapons aside, and a quick blow to each of them tossed them back, forcing them against the wall.

“Damn it,” Lewis sputtered, gasping for air. What else can we do!?

Simone recalled a moment when they were watching Xeik’s training.

”All living things have a voice if you listen… You can talk to them too. Often if you do something for them they will do something for you.”

Her eyes grew a bit large as the resonance went into overdrive. The azure eyes were glowing intensely on both ends.

Simone staggered up and she tilted her head. Her red coat had half fallen off of her shoulder. “Hey mountain, you listening?” She looked up. “If you don’t want to get crushed by an angry goddess in ohhh I don’t know… Twelve hours… I would… I don’t know drop yourself on this moron.” Simone made a thumbs down. “I want to save you but I will not hesitate to break every bone in your body.”

The power swelled and the cavern gave way on top of all of them. “That’s a lot of dead people~” Raine appeared and she listened to the mountain. “Whoaaaa she threatened you. There, there,” Raine pet the mountain as Simone and Lewis melded out of the earth on top of the cave in.

Raine was covered in blood and some of her clothing was burnt. “I took care of the other assassins. Pretty talented. You should probably give in. If you say this was a shell… You really don’t want to know what I do to shells that make me upset.” Raine put her hands on her hips. “Is he actually done being a whiny bitch?”