I slowly follow James as we walk down the path. The fight we had a few days ago is still flesh in our minds. He has been constantly staring at me and always on his guard when we rest. The town of Chord appears in the distance and I notice James pick up his speed. The town is slightly bigger than the common town. We have a decently sized lumber storehouse that brings in a lot of business. We walk through the street heading to his house. I keep my guard up looking around for any old enemies. With everything we’ve been through, I can’t trust anything right now. James knocks on the door and his mother opens it. She pauses looking surprised. “.. James?” He smiles and she hugs him. She is the example of beauty that everyone in town inspired to be. She smiles at me. “Hello Ashley.” I smile slightly as we head inside. James looks around at his home.

“Hey.. Where’s dad?” His mother closes the door and looks at him.

“He is at the mill. What happened to school?” He pauses smirking.

“We had some time off so we figured that we would come home.” She smiles happy.

“Once he gets back, we can all go to the inn and have some fun. We missed both of you. Do you want anything to eat?” James nods and I slightly nod.

“.. Is it okay if I go wash up?” She looks at me and nods.

“Ashley.. You know you don’t have to keep asking that. This is our home as well as ours.” I head to the bathroom after James gives me a worrying look. I go to the bathroom and wipe some cold water on my face. Being back home has my nerves shot. James’s family found me in the alley’s when I was four years old. I just don’t feel like I belong in this place. I come out of the bathroom and sit down with James and his mother. We snack for a little bit waiting for his father to return. We hear a knock at the door and his mother goes to open it. I peer to see who is at the door and it is someone from the army.

“Hello.. We are looking for any young able body men.” She pauses for a second.

“I am sorry but we don’t have anyone.” He looks in and sees me. He looks back at nodding.

“Thank you for your time.” He leaves and she closes the door. She walks back looking a little worried. James sits up looking concerned.

“What’s wrong mom?” She looks out a window and then back to him.

“The military has started to push their luck with people. Everyday more and more people are forced to join them.” James frowns slightly as the door opens and his father comes in. He pauses seeing James. He smiles coming in and gives James a big hug.

“I didn’t know you were coming home. I would have taken some work off for you.” He looks at me happy.

“Ashley.” He comes over and hugs me. I hug him back and he pulls away. “What are you guys doing here?” James looks at his father.

“We had some time off of school so we decided to come home.” He nods and looks at his wife.

“Want to go to the inn to celebrate?” She nods happy. We head outside and head to the inn. From what his mother said, I notice that the town is usually empty of men our age. We get to the inn and head inside. We sit down near the back of the inn. A waiter comes over and takes our orders. A notice that a few military men are at the bar drinking. I look at James a little worried but he doesn’t seem to worried about anything. We start to enjoy the night and I get this weird feeling. A feeling telling me to run away. James notices me looking worried.

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“Everything okay Ash?” I go to say something but one of the military men notice James. I frown as motions for his buddies to come with him.

“I think we need to g-” The men stop by our table and look at James.

“Hello sir. Do you have a moment to talk?” James frowns and stands up.

“Sure. Let's talk out back.” His parents look worried as he leads them outside. I get up and follow behind them to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. Once behind the bar, James tries to take a swing at one of the men. He connects knocking him down but the other two soon jump in beating on him. I rush to him and they stop fighting him as I cover him with my body.

“Leave him alone!” James looks up at me anger.

“Get out of here Ash!” I shake my head my no as the men look down at us.

“Guessing we could use both of them.” I turn to them raising my fists up.

“You won’t take him.” They start to laugh as one by one they slowly stop. They stare through me with a look of fear upon their face. They take of sprinting as I looked shocked. “.. I did it?” James stands up looking confused.

“How?”

“Um.. Excuse me?” We both pause and look behind us. We see a white haired woman looking both at us. She has light purple eyes and is wearing a nice traveling gear. She’s taller than both us else. She gives off this really warm nice feeling that makes you want to embrace her. James stands between me and the women.

“Who the hell are you?” She pauses and smiles sticking her hand out to him.

“My name’s Lupa. What’s yours?” I pause at the name poking my head from behind James.

“Lupa?” She pauses looking at me for a second. Her eyes go wide within a second quickly hugs me before James can react.

“ANOTHER ONE!” James frowns reaching into his pocket.

“Get off her you freak.” Lupa tries to contain herself as she lets go of me. I try to gain my bearings back as some flames lash out. We see a tiny white woman with red eyes walk toward us. Her black and red hair swirl slightly almost daring him to fight back.

“I would watch your tongue boy. Before we have anymore issues.” James smirks slightly cracking his neck slightly. I hold my hands up and shout.

“Everyone stop!” The woman and Lupa look at me. James frowns stepping between them and me. “I think these are Alistar’s friends James.” The woman frowns lowering her hands.

“Alistar? What happened to him?” I frown looking a little sad. The woman thinks for a moment and looks at Lupa.

“We need to get them someplace safe. Follow me.” The woman and Lupa lead out of the alley way before we get this burning smell coming from down the street. The woman frowns looking at Lupa.

“Get them out of here. I will go deal with that.” Lupa nods picking both me and James up. James struggles as I stare shocked at how strong Lupa is. Lupa squats down leaping into the air away from the town. Lupa jumps a few times increasing the distance each time finally stopping near a small house by a lake. She drops us off looking extremely happy. James gets up looking pissed.

“My parents are back there? What am I suppose..” He stops seeing a blazing comment heading our way. The womans lands on the ground near else looking annoyed. James stomps over to her. “I don’t think you understand..” I start to feel of dizziness as I an argument starts out between the two of them.

“Get out of my face little boy. I don’t have the time to deal with you.”

“Little boy? Oh you are a total bitch.” I start to sway noticing Lupa looking over at me concerned.

“Zona.. somethings wrong with her..” Zona frowns dismissing James walking over to me. She looks me over for a few seconds. She waves Lupa over.

“Take her inside. I need to have a talk with you.” She stares at James and James glares at her.

“Not going to happen. I am staying..” I don’t hear the rest of the conversation as I get brought into the house. Lupa helps me into a chair as that weird feeling starts to go through me again. It feels the same like before I am going into my dreams.

“Um.. What’s wrong with me?” Lupa places her head against me nuzzling slightly. The feeling gets stronger as it rushes through my total body.

“You’re a herald but something is wrong. The Sister hasn’t been with me for a few months now. I thought something awful happened but she is almost trapped inside you.”

“Sister? Inside me?” The feeling violently rushes forward causing me to hit my head off Lupa’s skull. At the moment, I realize that Lupa’s head is really strong. The impact causes my head to spin and whatever inside of me somewhat frees itself.