Kira rushed along the maze of streets and alley ways. In the distance she could still see where he hone had once stood, now all there was to show for the building that once stood there was a large empty crater. Although she was a few streets away, the air around her still crackled slightly from the burning inferno of the houses around the crater. She was surprised at how how quickly it had spread, it had only started a few minutes ago when the force of the explosion ignited a few trees. She just hoped that the humidity of the night air stopped the fire from spreading too far ahead.

A thought flashed through her mind; 'Where should I go now?' Then a sudden mental scream alerted her and pushed all else from her mind. The scream was coming from a neighboring house. Then several more came flooding to her. Anguish and pain over powered her senses. Their thoughts raced a along the same pattern. Her heart ached with a pain that was not her own. Images flashed through her mind homes with broken down doors...smashed vases...torn pictures...shattered glass...They all had come home to find there loved ones killed. Each victim had looked as though virtually no physical harm had been done to them...only one thing revealed the truth of their horrific deaths. One common factor that filled Kira with dread... Each victim had been found with a series of small cuts; a few on their shoulders and one at their throat, There were no signs of their struggle. No bruising or broken limbs. It was as though the victims had been drained of all their energy, and had died out of sheer exhaustion. The victims had all been killed by higher magic. Kira almost shuddered as she thought of all those that had lost their lives already. Torean had just set off merely hours before and he had already claimed so many victims. Her heart sank as a grim thought crept through her and this is only the beginning, i guess Torean's blood thirsty rampage has begun...

Kira gathered herself and tried to push all of the negative thoughts from her mind. But one lingered. She heard a faint whisper of a whimper and knew who it was. Kira ran faster than she ever had before, the air whipped her face as she sped through the street and approached the door. Gathering magic she shaped it into a large force strike and rammed it into the wooden door, leaving a thousand shatters of splinters in her wake. Walking through the house she called out to her friend. "Tyara!" Hearing a shout she concentrated.

'No he's going to kill me!' Kira ran to the kitchen and saw Torean standing over her friend. She entered and heard her friends thoughts. 'Kira? Run!' Torean saw Tyara's change of eye line and turned. Kira walked towards them. Torean's laugh cut through her like an invisible knife. It was the same laugh she heard when he was killing her father. Kira Let loose an array of stun strikes, Torean's eyes widened and his shield faltered. His body was thrown back from the force of the strikes. His went limp and he dropped onto the table. Moaning he turned to stare at Kira.

"Come on!" Kira grabbed a horrified Tyara and ran to the front door. Hurrying down the corridor a powerful blast pushed them to the door. Turning Kira saw Torean stumbling toward them. Her shield held strong and Kira pushed him back. "I'm sorry." Kira pushed Tyara out of the house and jumped after her. Swirling to see the house she gathered all her magic. She knew this would exhaust her but she didn't care, anything to slow him down. Releasing her magic in a exquisite display of lights and sounds Tyara's house crumbled in a heap of rubble. Kira slumped to her knees and started to breath hard. Looking at the ground she hoped her plan had worked. Suddenly a light press alerted her to someone. Turning she saw Tyara rubbing her back and smiling.

"Thanks." An abrupt rumble made the girls start running from the house. A scream from behind them confirmed there worse suspicion. He was still alive. Stopping, Kira breathed hard. "Whats the matter?" Tyara stopped and pulled her friend into an alley way. Kira slumped on the wall and looked up at her friend. 'How did she learn magic?' Kira laughed at her friend. The scream stopped and Tyara looked out of the ally way. "I think he's gone down town. So..." Kira knew what her friend wanted to know.

"I'll tell you later. I'm too tired now." As she said that a shadowy figure appeared.

"Well what do we have here." The figure was joined by another. "So we meet again." The man's laugh revealed who he was. Kira stood and stared at the man.

"Don't even think of it!" The man walked into the moonlight laughing. The light from the moon bounced off his shiny bald head. It illuminated his harsh scraggy features; his nose was bent, looking as though it had been broken a few times, his chin was covered in a matted grimy beard. He looked up and the light caught his cold dark eyes that sparkled as he grinned maliciously down at her. She recognised him instantly...He was the man that had tried to attack her before.

"Why what are you going to do?" His partner remained in darkness but Kira could he was tall, big and bulky. Trying to gather magic she gasped as she remembered she had used it all to collapse the house. Staggering back she helplessly searched the ground for anything that could be used as a weapon. She looked up just in time to see the men lunge towards them. The big, bulky man grabbed Tyara and the other grasped Kira's arm pushing her to the ground. "Now, how you gonna' escape?" The man sniggered and for the first time Kira and Tyara heard the big man. His laugh was dense, and Kira cringed, almost gagging as the stench of stale bol wafted toward her. He threw Tyara to the ground beside Kira and laughed again. Suddenly something caught their attention and they simultaneously turned to look behind them. One of them said something but neither Kira nor Tyara could understand it. Kira grabbed Tyara's arm sending her a message through her mind At my signal, we make a break for it and run! Kira let go and pointed her thumb discreetly in the direction to their right. She silently counted down on her fingers so only her and Tyara could see...one...two...three! But at that precise moment the man unexpectedly groaned and fell to the floor mere metres away from Tyara's foot. He was motionless clearly dead. Kira and Tyara looked at each other both visibly gulping...that was a bit...close. Lodged in his back was a knife. The silver and blue hilt glistened and shone in the moonlight. The other bald man spun round to face his attacker. Two more of his goons had appeared at his side out of no-where blocking Kira and Tyara's path. The bald man's attention was focused on the stranger.

They circled each other, each sizing up their opponent. Kira couldn't see the strangers face, his hood was up and he was wearing a long black cloak. The bald man sprang towards him, but the stranger dashed away with the agility of a well trained warrior. He gripped the bald mans shoulder and twisted it using his own momentum against him, there was an audiable crack as his shoulder dislocated. Not stopping there the stranger then drew his leg back, kicking him hard in navel, knocking the breath out of him. As he grasped his stomach the stranger then planted one last fatal hit to the mans temple, knocking him unconscious.

Meanwhile ...Kira had motioned Tyara to dash for a way out. The goons not suspecting an attack had been slow to react to Kira and Tyara's well synchronised assault. They simultaneously had dawn back their left legs and pushed forwards full force kicked them in their balls, then drawing back thier right feet to kick them once again but this time in the stomach. Once both men were gasping for breath on the floor they motioned to hurry past them, When suddenly one gabbed Kira's foot yielding a knife. He swiped at her then Tyara seeing what was happening pulled her arm back an punched the man in the face. There was another audible crack and the man dropped to the floor unconscious.

'Kira! Are you ok?!' Tyara gasped as she saw a faint streak of blood stain Kira's robes.

'I'm alright it's just a shallow cut, no biggie' Kira lifted her shirt slightly to examine the damage, it revealed a thin red line,

'I hope it doesn't scar.' Tyara was just about to reply when they looked up hearing someone drop to the floor. Kira looked up to see the black cloaked man towering over the bald guy. He straightened out silhouetted against the moonlight. She saw he was quite tall and otherwise of average build. He slowly took off his hood finally revealing his identity.

His black hair glistened slightly in the moonlight, his hair was not quite short but it wasn't long either. He had a slight fringe to the side, framing his face. He had pale skin, but the thing that immediately stood out about him was his sparkling grey eyes. They locked into hers as he noticed them and he made his way to their direction. She was about to grab Tyara's hand and tell her to run for it when she noticed the lack of hostility in the way he came towards them. He wasn't holding any weapons, but then again she guessed there could be loads stashed away in his cloak.

'It's ok, i don't mean you any harm...' He sounded around 18...19, and from the look on his face he seemed sincere, Tyara the ever cautious one replied rather agressively; 'And why should we trust you?'

'...why do u think i bothered to save...if i wanted to...hey is she...?'

Kira hardly caught his reply because at that precise moment, she felt more exhausted than she had done in a very long time. Suddenly remembering how tired she was from her brief battle with Torean and now with the added exhaustion from the physical battle... She felt her legs buckle under her weight, and darkness enveloped her before she even hit the ground.