-What It Takes to Remember-

It seemed that everywhere she went, destruction followed. It was no different when the small group of three entered the next village after resting and regaining their strength. Keyra’s heart jumped as she felt the presence of the Jewel Princess begin to rise. Her chest clenched tightly and soon after, the pain of trying to suppress what she didn’t know took over.

She dropped, clutching her chest with both her hands, tears burning at the edges of her eyes as she fought desperately. Next to her, Raiyn cursed loudly, his irritation very clear. Fay’s wings exploded from her back and she dropped down onto Keyra’s shoulder, her tiny voice trying to comfort the young woman.

Keyra couldn’t hear what the little Fae was saying, too lost in the roaring of her own unstable power. She didn’t even notice when Raiyn positioned himself in front of her once more, exactly like he’d done when they were in the forest. This time, her fight didn’t last long and she was standing in mere moments under the power of the Jewel Princess.

“Nero told me that he’d lost his blade to you,” the deep voice called gaining Keyra’s full attention.

Standing across from them were three people, Shades by their clothing. Her eyes narrowed as she eyed them and their weapons. The elven woman was a rare sight, but Keyra wasn’t worried about her heritage, it was the solid black sword that she held in her hand that worried the Princess. 

Next to the elf was a tall, burly man with white hair and dark eyes. He too held a sword, except the blade curved sharply. Finally, the younger boy standing in the shadow of the burly man caught her attention last. He seemed to be very young and wielded a pair of long swords, the handles wrapped in red cloth.

***

“And his jewel is mine,” Raiyn replied coldly. 

The elven woman laughed, shifting her posture. She put one hand on her hip as she looked towards the young swordsman, "Really? You may have it right now, but I guarantee that won't last long, boy."

Raiyn narrowed his eyes at the elf. Keyra stood up and moved next to him, her sword already out and the jewel glowing brightly. Her dark green eyes were stone cold as she leveled the weapon at the three new Shades. The tall man with white hair smiled his grin malicious with obvious evil intent. His sword came down off his shoulder. The black jewel glowed as wind began to swirl all around the blade. 

Next to him, Keyra's own weapon ignited. The wind around her pulsed, flapping his cloak, her clothing, and her long blonde hair. Raiyn let his weapon relax in his grip. The Princess enveloped herself in her magic and shot off without a second thought. 

The sword master ground his teeth, a soft growl of annoyance vibrating the back of his throat. He shot a quick look behind him to where Fay had enlarged herself. 

"Take the young boy," he ordered.

"Leave it to me!" she beamed at him. Raiyn rolled his eyes slightly and turned his attention to the elven woman who grinned at him wickedly.

"Come, bring me that Demon Jewel you stole, boy," she taunted. 

Raiyn huffed at her, not in the least intimidated or angered by her jest. The elf leveled her sword at him and rushed at him. He lifted his sword and met her head long rush with a clash of steel. The jewel on her sword began to pulse and a black mist that crackled reached out for him. 

Quickly, Raiyn disengaged and jumped away from her. The magic of her Demon Jewel just barely caught his hand, causing his fingers to go numb. 

"Electrifying, isn't it?" she cooed, her voice thick with excitement, her pale blue eyes reflecting her pleasure.

He only narrowed his gaze at her and decided to approach her more carefully. Behind the elf, he caught sight of Keyra launching a series of wind attacks against the man with the curved blade. The Shade was fending her off quite easily, making Raiyn grind his teeth. He wanted to assist her, his chest clenching tightly as he watched her just barely dodge another swipe of his blade. 

What was it going to take to make her get control of herself? More importantly, how long was it going to take to get her there? He knew that she had survived on her own on pure luck. However, everyone's luck runs out sooner or later.

"What are you looking at boy?" 

The sneering laugh caught his attention just in time for him to raise his sword. Even still, he didn't avoid the blow entirely. The elven Shades' black sword went upwards across his chest and shoulder. The jewel's power hit him hard, knocking him to the ground. Raiyn's voice shouted out in pain from her attack. 

His left hand gripped the deep cut that burned across his chest and shoulder. The sword master started to get up, but found himself face to face with her glittering sword point.

"Raiyn!" it was Fay's voice that cried out to him.

In the next instant, Raiyn was freed from the trap he'd found himself in. Keyra had launched herself at the elven woman in mindless rage. He watched her overwhelm the Shade. The Princess' wind magic exploded across the area, creating a huge dust cloud that obscured his view of the fight. All he could hear from the fighting was the Shade's voice giving a single shout of rage, and Keyra's wind blades cutting through the air. 

"Nira, you fool," the white haired Shade growled as he turned his attention on Raiyn.

The sword master got to his feet and leveled his cool gaze on the much larger Shade. The man returned the look, but a cruel, small smile barely lifted the corners of his lips. 

"Let’s see how well you stand against me," the Shade's voice was a deep, rumbling growl. 

Raiyn's sword moved in time to catch the wickedly curved tip of the weapon that came at him. The man's brute strength pushed him backwards before the Shade pulled back and swung again. He blocked the attack, barely keeping the edge away from him, but the white haired man's strength was much greater than his.

The Shade moved quickly for his size. Raiyn had never seen that style of fighting before and he found it very difficult to defend against. Even so, the curved end of the blade cut him, tearing apart his leather jerkin and shirt. Sharp burns covered his arms, torso and chest as he batted away each slash. Each time he knocked the Shade's blade aside, the curved end would catch him, no matter what. To which, Raiyn believed that was the purpose of the blade. 

The air was filled with nothing but the sounds of steel against steel, the dirt kicking up around them as they each moved around each other. Heavy breathes were taken, sometimes a short cry of pain mixed into the noises. Behind Raiyn, he could hear Keyra's voice as she gave a soft shout of rage at the elven woman. A pulse of air rushed up across his back and he knew that the Princess had launched another wind attack. 

Raiyn let the glow of his jewel brighten, pulling the power into the stone and directing it under the large Shade's feet. Vine's erupted from the ground and wrapped around the man's legs. Raiyn took the advantage, rushing forward with all of his strength, his intent to run the Shade through. However, once he was almost there, the man went up in flames, vines and all. 

Turning, he hit the ground at a roll before stopping and coming up on one knee to glare at the man. The fire went out and the Shade was still standing, albeit a little smoky. The vine's that had held him were gone, and Raiyn gave a sharp sound of annoyance. Behind the white haired Shade was the boy who was fighting with Fay.

Or rather... he was running away from Fay who was launching magic at him that the young man managed to dodge each time. Raiyn didn't spare the two of them any thought, only returned his attention to the Shade in front of him. Slowly, he got to his feet, feeling the burn of his wounds. He wasn't going to be able to fight much longer. Hopefully, the Princess killed one of them and made the others think twice and leave. Otherwise, this was going to be a very long fight. 

The Shade grinned at him, brought his sword down level to his torso and used the wind to propel himself forward much like Keyra would. Raiyn's eyes widened slightly as he realized he wasn't going to be fast enough to avoid the attack. He brought his sword downwards in an arc, barely managing to hit the tip of the blade aside so it didn't run him through. 

The power of the magic that propelled the Shade forward hit him and he was thrown away from the large man. His breath was knocked from him as he landed into the side of a wooden building. There, he slumped on the ground, trying to get air back into his lungs. Once again, the Princess switched opponents. She turned her attention onto the white haired man the moment Raiyn was launched away.

She let out a blast of icy air at him, her wind blades assaulting him without pause. Raiyn wondered what it was that was causing her to act this way. Perhaps it was the use of each of their Demon Jewel’s; whichever was more powerfully activated would gain her attention. That did make sense, but he would have thought that the electric magic would have been the most powerful out of them all.

A dust cloud caught Raiyn's attention and he looked to see Fay's magic exploding from her fingers tips in rapid succession. She stopped to see her handy work and as the dust settled, the boy was down on the ground either unconscious or dazed from the attack. Either way, it was one Shade down, and two to go.

Raiyn got up again and as he was about to send another blast of his own Angelic Jewel, the Princess whirled around and faced the elven Shade, Nira. In a blur of motion, the woman wrapped herself in her magic and ran the Shade through. At least, from where he was standing it looked like Keyra had killed the elf. However, once the dust settled from the attack and the Jewel Princess pulled back, it seemed that Nira was only wounded in her shoulder. 

To which, she disappeared and reappeared next to the white haired Shade. That is a deadly talent, Raiyn thought to himself. Of the three, the elf would most likely be the most devious and deadly to deal with. Sure the white haired man had brute strength and a wicked weapon, but the elf had innate magic and she was sure to be utterly devious in her thoughts. 

"We're falling back," he heard Nira tell the taller Shade, then she turned to look at the Princess, "Next time we meet, Princess, I'll have your blood on my blade."

Then the three Shades disappeared with a glowing circle that opened up across the ground. Once the circle closed and they were truly gone, Keyra wobbled on her feet before she dropped to her knees. Raiyn sheathed his sword and made his way over to her.

"Are you alright?" Fay asked as she rushed to the Princess.

"Fine," Keyra replied shortly. Her eyes lifted to Raiyn as he got to them and knelt down, "I remember."

He was taken aback by her words and sat there for a long time with one eyebrow arched, watching her, "What do you mean?" he asked after a while.

"I remember most of what happened. I don't know what it was, but I just.. remember being really angry and then you were getting hurt and I just.. reacted. I called on my jewel and the power just came to me. Then I attacked them."

Raiyn looked to Fay who returned his gaze as well, "So... what you're saying is that whenever Raiyn is losing a fight, you react and then you remember?" Fay said.

Raiyn's lips turned into a frown of annoyance as he eyed the fairy. Fay didn't seem to notice though as her attention was solely on Keyra. 

"I... guess," the Princess answered. 

"Well, you still need work. You can't expect me to 'lose' a fight just so you can remember," he said coldly, glaring at Fay as he spoke. She turned to him, gave a slight squeak and shrunk herself to her pixie size before rushing to Keyra's shoulder. Once she was on the safety of the woman's shoulder, she stuck her tongue out at him. 

He stood and offered his hand to Keyra to help her up, though he didn't look at her. The Princess took it and allowed him to pull her up to her feet.

"We'll stay here, then we'll keep moving."

"Alright," came her soft reply. The group of three moved through the town towards the nearest inn. None of them noticed the pair of dark brown eyes that watched them from a nearby window, the darkness keeping the person's features from being apparent. Once the trio had entered the inn, the pair of eyes disappeared into the darkness.