It was very dark and cold, and the clomping of shoes and whispers of cloaks could be heard.

Flyte sat at the side of a dark room filled with darkly cloaked people. He looked down at his chest for the gaping hole, but there wasn't even a scar.

I could've sworn I had been killed, but if I was, then what's going on.

A man in a black cloak walked up to him. "Good to see you're awake Flyte." he said. "Follow me."

"Sure," Flyte replied. "But first I have a question. How come creepy people always know my name?"

"What can I say, people love a self-sacrificing underdog."

Flyte took this with a grain of salt, because it seemed that he hadn't sacrificed anything in the long term, but he walked with the man anyways.

When they reached their destination, which looked a lot like an armory, the odd man turned to talk to him again.

"Take this," he said, giving Flyte a pair of boots and a hooded cloak. "Grab whatever gear you need. It's about time we start your training."

That man seemed odd, based solely on the fact that while Flyte knew nothing about these people, they knew about him. "Who are you?" he asked.

The man chuckled, "I thought it was obvious, we're the dark guild."

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Flyte walked out of the armory with a chest plate under his cloak and the winter shield on his back. He was met with an even newer face.

"What pointy ears you have," the newcomer said. "I'm Telin, and the dark guild is my army." He sported a black sword at his side. Flyte at his ears. They were a bit larger and pointier than the average, but not by much, so he couldn't tell why the man would bring it up.

"What is the dark guild?" Flyte inquired.

"We're just a group of fighters who wish to unite Riftgard, if you haven't noticed the whole planet is completely split up," Telin answered. "And don't worry about Ander, he's not even close to our radar right now."

What's that supposed to mean?"

Telin showed a wolfish smile. "He's not the one we're hunting,"

Flyte followed Telin to a room where several people were sparring. Blades flashed and fights suddenly ended as blades came in to close to block.

They stopped at an empty square. "We're going to train you right here," Telin said. "But first I want you to try and breathe magic into these." Telin passed Flyte sticks as he was talking.

"First thing you will do is concentrate on a stick," Flyte listened carefully and concentrated on the stick. "Now, think of a magic word very intently. The last thing you will do is breathe out, and as you do that, you will let go of the word in your mind."

Flyte did this, and as he did, he felt something in himself change.

"Did anything happen?" Telin asked.

"I think so," Flyte replied quizzically. "But I don't know what."

"Here, I'll show you." Telin did the process with another stick. "Swing the branch at me."

Flyte hit at Telin with the stick, but as he did, the stick began to grow and Telin's stick had a trail of fire.

"Which spell did you use?" Telin asked.

"I used what felt like nature," Flyte said. "Cause it's a stick."

"Ah, the nature spell."

Telin and Flyte dueled, Flyte's stick getting more branches, and Telin's burning them away. Telin was better in a straight duel, to the point that Flyte thought he might even be able to beat Ander, but Flyte and Ander were both much better at dodging and using their forms to avoid getting hit.

Telin seemed tired of Flyte's hit and run tactics, and slowed down his feet so that he couldn't run.

Telin walked up to Flyte, his branch prepared to strike. The word Nelar popped into Flyte's head. "Nelar," Flyte said brightly.

A blinding flash of light filled the training halls and people yelled as they lost both eyesight and focus, and the only one who wasn't affected was, unironically, Flyte, who cast the spell.

Not only was Telin blinded, but he also lost power over his slowing spell. Flyte walked over to him and heard something slip from his mouth.

The light in the room vanished into a pitch-black darkness, and Flyte couldn't see a thing. He heard footsteps, but because of the padded soles on everyone's boots, he couldn't tell exactly where Telin was.

Suddenly a patch of light in the form of fire came into view. Telin's stick was on its way to him. Flyte held up his stick in an attempt to block the burning branch, but it disappeared. behind him, Flyte felt something poke his back, and he knew he had lost.

The light came back, and Telin stood behind him, his eyes healed whereas the other's eyes were not.

"Good job Flyte, but you need to be prepared for a direct counter when you use a spell like that." Telin stood tall, and he seemed like he could never run out of energy. "I'm going to need that branch now."

Flyte handed him the branch, and Telin immediately snapped it in half. Whatever had left Flyte, it had come back.

"You must be a half-elf," Telin said. "Because no elf would have the energy to use that large of a light spell after such a fight, and no human can infuse with magic."

"Then what are you?" Flyte asked. "You don't have slightly pointy ears."

"That is a discussion for another time." Telin answered, but not really. "Now come on, there's some freshly blinded people who could use sight."

It took half an hour to heal everyone's eyes, but it was made much easier due to the fact that most members of the dark guild were mages.

Many people gave Flyte glares as they were given back their eyes, but quite possibly because they saw Telin, they did nothing else.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"So Flyte," Telin said as they finished. "I'm going to give you a task that requires no blinding, healing, or any other magic." He pulled some blades out of his cloak. "I'm going to teach you knife throwing."

"Sounds fine," Flyte responded. In truth Flyte was a little miffed about the whole "not blinding" people thing, but it would be nice to regain energy. Telin directed Flyte to a room with only one work area and an outline of a human body painted on a wooden wall. He gave Flyte the knives.

"The good thing about throwing knives," he said. "Is that you can remove someone from a fight without losing all of your energy."

"The is a plus," Flyte said as he started throwing.

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After a few sweaty hours, Flyte was starting to be able to hit the inside of the outline. Telin sat behind him giving his pointers.

"It's all in the wrists," Telin told him. "Throw with the wrist with moderate force, the goal is to hit the target, not to use up all your knives as quickly as possible."

After a few weeks of dueling and knife throwing, Flyte was starting to hit the target most throws.

"Okay," Telin started. "I'm going to throw my knife at the target, and I want you to get as close to that knife as you can without hitting it."

"After a few throws, how will I know which one is yours?" Flyte asked.

"Trust me," he said. "You'll know."

Telin threw his knife to the exact middle of the chest. It glowed a soft blue.

Flyte threw one knife, and it hit the wall adjacent to the one with the outline.

"Don't worry so much about hitting the knife. If you hit it, that's not too bad."

Flyte threw another knife, and it landed on the outline's head. He threw another, and it landed at the far-left side of the outline's hip. Soon all of Flyte's knives were thrown and the closest knife was at the base of the neck.

Flyte reached towards Telin's knife because he didn't understand what was supposed to make Flyte know it was his, and he wanted to inspect it. The knife shocked Flyte, not enough to hurt, but he still felt it. "So that's why I would know," he muttered.

Flyte grabbed all of his knives and went back again. "You couldn't see that?" Telin questioned.

"See what?" Flyte asked back.

"For someone who can blind a whole hall of people, you certainly don't know much about magic, do you?" Telin stated.

"Well, I did teach myself everything I know,"

"In that case, you're not bad off," Telin stated. He took a knife from the wall. "Can you see anything going on with this?"

"No," Flyte said. "But I feel a pulse coming from it."

"Perfect," Telin said. "Now think of that pulse as a healing spell."

"Telin," Flyte stopped him. "I feel that pulse from the shield too."

"If that's the case, you are feeling the soul."

Flyte looked up. "The soul?"

"For non-elves, enchanting an item is as simple as killing someone with it."

"Is that what you did then, because you aren't anything like an elf?" Flyte yelled.

"NO," Telin shouted at Flyte. "My order would NEVER steal a soul for small power, especially not for something as useless as a twig."

"How would I know?" Flyte asked rigidly.

"There is a way to use the light spell. Imagine seeing the magic around you with your eyes. You should be able to see the 3rd plane, and then you will know whether or not I've stolen a soul."

Flyte tried to calm himself. "Nelar," he said as calmly as possible.

The world turned white. He could still see the changes a Telin breathed, but the area around him was much brighter. Around the knife in Telin's hand was an odd thing that was yellow and spherical.

"Hello," Flyte said.

"Hello," the thing whistled. "Who are you?"

"My name is Flyte."

"I sense you are more than this," it whistled. "Much more." It flew to him and twisted around Flyte in what he could only describe as a hug.

"What are you?" Flyte asked mildly.

"I am a spirit," it whistled. "A mage's spell. I travel to any place that I hear the word Elgro. And you are an ah-"

Flyte was dragged out of the world as Telin jostled his body.

"You can't stay for too long," he said. "You could forget yourself."

"Oh," Flyte said. "Sorry" but then he remembered he was mad at Telin. "Where was the proof that you didn't steal people's souls?"

"The spirit was free to move, right? If I had been the one to bind its body, it would be restrained," Telin said. "And don't worry about staying in there too long, we all get lost in the 3rd plane sometimes. What I really want to know is, How the knife lose its power?"

"I mean," Flyte started. "The only thing I did in there was talk to the spirit in it."

"You talked to it?" Telin exclaimed. "What made you think that was a smart idea?"

"It just seemed natural," Flyte responded.

"The soul deserved to be free," Telin said. "Even if it was a dangerous thing to do. Now go to bed, you have a very long day ahead of you."

Flyte went to his room and got ready to sleep, and his roommate, Perency, walked by and used magic to turn out the lights.

Flyte sat in his bed thinking, then closed his eyes and said "Nelar"

Flyte was back in the 3rd plane. He stood up. "Spirit," he yelled.

The spirit appeared in front of Flyte. "Hello Flyte," it whistled. Flyte smiled.

"What is your name spirit?" Flyte asked kindly.

"My name is Glow," It whistled. "And in human terms, I would be a girl."

Flyte thought about earlier and wanted to know something. "Glow, what were you saying earlier?"

Glow whistled a sad tune. "I don't think he wants you to know. If I told you, the tempest might take me."

Flyte frowned. "That's okay, I'll probably find out in my own world."

"You probably will," Glow whistled brightly.

"Where are the other spirits, Glow?" Flyte asked.

Glow hesitated, "I don't know," She whistled. "They were all interested in you. Very curious. You, Flyte, are like a beacon to us." Glow did the closest thing to a smile that a ball of magic could do.

Glow pulsed. "Oh, I found one," she whistled. "Follow me."

Glow flitted off, and Flyte ran after her. He caught up to her when she stopped at a lethargic spirit. Rather than yellow, he emitted a feint blue shine.

"Hello," Flyte said. "What's your name?"

"My name is Rowlo," he said. "I like this one sound, Iras, it's so pretty."

"I have one thing to ask," Flyte started. "If you are a slowing spirit, how do you get to a cast spell in time?"

"Teleportation," he grumbled matter-of-factly. He didn't seem mad; he just spoke in grumbles.

"You know," Glow whistled. "Spirits haven't been this excited about a newcomer since Ithilles came over."

"Ithilles came travelled to the 3rd plane?" Flyte asked, his interest piqued.

"Of course Ithilles went to the 3rd plane," Glow whistled. She grabbed a chair and morphed into the image of a young woman with a simple yellow dress. "He came here seeking knowledge from the light spirits, who he stayed around the most. The quickening spirits taught him how to run faster, the wind spirits taught him how to shoot, and we all taught him sword fighting."

"That's pretty amazing," Flyte said.

Glow glared at him. "I wasn't finished yet," she whistled. "As he battled Scaran, the demon king, us healing spirits kept him going, and the earth spirits leveled the ground, absolutely ruining Scaran's advantage. When he won, he drew runes around his castle, letting spirits roam around the corporeal realm."

"He sounds like he was a good man," Flyte said.

"He was," Rowlo grumbled. "And we believe that you are too."

Flyte wasn't too sure. "Believe me," he said. "The best thing I ever did for the world was die in it."

Glow arched an eyebrow. "Do you truly believe that Flyte?" she whistled. "Because I see something good in you. I don't think that you've had a bad intent through any of the complicated situation you are going through, and I'm a great judge of character."

"Also," Rowlo grumbled. "If you were truly dead, you would be glowing white, stranded in here, just like the light spirits."

Flyte thanked them inwardly "Glow," he said. "Telin said that if I stayed here too long, I'd forget myself. Is that true?"

"Think about the question, Flyte," Glow started. "And say Nelar." She smiled at him comfortingly. "Then you will know the truth better than anyone."

As he asked, he felt a firm 'no, you will not forget yourself.'

A bright white spirit spun over to Flyte. "Who are you?" It hummed.

"My name is Flyte," Flyte said. The spirit brightened.

"That sounds like light," It hummed. "I like that."

"What is your name?" Flyte asked.

"My name is Star," It hummed.

"Glow," Flyte started. "How do you draw the rune that lets spirits into my realm?" As he turned toward her he noticed that she had changed into an orb again, but upon his request she changed into a set of intricate lines.

"This is the rune," she whistled.

"Star," Flyte said. "Are you a light spirit?"

"Yes," she hummed.

"Glow, what does the hole in the middle of the rune mean."

"It lets any spirit out," she whistled. "Or it lets the ones classified by that rune out, but it is dangerous, because if you leave it too unspecific, a demon could possess the area you draw it on."

"So, do you all have runes for just yourselves?" Flyte asked.

All three answered. "Yes."

"Can I see all of them?" Flyte asked. Glow morphed into three different semi-complete shapes. "Thank you Glow."

Flyte looked to his bed, but something was wrong. "What is happening?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Glow whistled inquisitively. Flyte pointed to the bed.

"I'll look," Star hummed. She spun off, moving very quickly.

Flyte was not in his bed, and the sheets stretched off as if he had been moved.