“Elric! Elric come quick! Gorlath is wounded!” a young lady called. Her raven black hair flew behind her in the wind. She gulped and stared down at her older brother. “Gorlath…hang in there…” Gorlath, a man of about twenty-five, stared at the sky unseeingly.

Elric came up to her, his hands laden with stones. He laid three on Gorlath: two on his chest and one on his forehead. He held down the two on his chest, and started to chant in a language unknown to the girl.

“Kara tiso shamba ra. Kara tiso shamba ra. Bring this soul back to us…Bring this soul back to us.”

Gorlath stirred slightly, his eyes shifting to look at his sister. “Marisicia...please come closer.” Marisicia gulped and did so, putting her ear close to her brother’s mouth.

“As your older brother…and father’s heir…I give you blessing…may you and Elric have a happy life together…as husband and wife…” He smiled and kissed her cheek.

Elric gulped and pressed harder down. “Please…stay alive…” he muttered to himself. “You can’t die yet…curse this War…”

Marisicia heard her brother’s breathing become shallower. She kissed his forehead and she felt his brow loose its creases. When she looked at him, he was smiling peacefully.

Elric removed the stones as they lost their red glow. He sniffed and put them into the pouch on his hip. Rising, he looked down at the body. “I’ll leave it to the Fire Warriors…”

Marisicia gulped. Everyone knew that meant that the Fire Warriors would burn his corpse to a crisp. She rose also and followed Elric as he left. “He told us we can marry.”

Elric looked at her and smiled. “My child will finally have a father.” He brushed away his blonde hair and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I just wish he would have been there.”

Marisicia sighed and patted her stomach. Her swollen belly had been slowly growing for about eight months now. Soon she would give birth to their first child.

“Marisicia, I’m sorry.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

Before he could speak, an explosion shattered the ground. She closed her eyes as dust and debris clouded her vision. She ran forward unseeingly, knowing that through some way she would end up in the forests near by. Finally reaching the shelter of the trees, she looked around her.

“Elric!”

Marisicia woke up in bed, her eyes streaming with tears. “Not again…” she mumbled, one hand covering her eyes. She rose in bed and felt around for the candle. Waving her hand in front of it, she lit it. Throwing off the covers, she went to the kitchen.

Her younger brother, Felon, stared up at her. He smirked and laid his elbows on the table. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” She went to the sink and started washing her hands before having a fruit from the bowl in the middle of the table. She stared at her brother as he read a scroll. About six years ago, as he lay dying, Elric had transferred his soul to another body. The body of a thirty-five year old Fire Warrior. In reality though, Felon was only fifteen.

Marisicia sat down at the table and waved her hands in front of the knife. It sprang to life, cutting up the fruit into even slices. She took a piece of apple and started eating it slowly.

Felon, apparently bored, got up and went upstairs. Though he had the mentality and strength of a thirty-five year old, his spirit was still only of a fifteen year old. He was constantly on the move to find new things to do. As he climbed the stairs, he remembered the old man upstairs. He shrugged and decided to visit the old man, maybe take him downstairs to breakfast.

He went to the attic and knocked on the door. He entered without waiting for an answer and smiled at the old man. The man’s smile has hidden behind his thick, white beard and moustache. Felon only noticed from the crinkle of the eyes that he had smiled at all. He went towards the man and helped him up.

“Do you want some breakfast?” he asked slowly. The man nodded and followed him down. Felon sat him on the armchair nearby and the old man cuddled by the fire as Marisicia prepared some warm milk for him.

“Has he said anything to you?” she asked in a whisper, knowing that although the man could not speak, he could hear very well.

“No. Not one.” Felon sighed and went to get some herbs from the garden to make a brew for himself. He returned moments later, hands empty. He closed the windows and covered them with the blinds. He locked the door with its hundreds of bolts and put a chair against it to assure himself it was strong. Panting, he sat at the sofa.

“The Fire Land troops are advancing.”

“How fast?” a voice asked. He turned his head casually to the owl that had emerged from the chimney, covered in sooth. It flapped its wings and flew to Felon’s shoulder. It pecked his ear. “Well?”

Felon sighed. “They’re on horses.”

The owl gave off a shrill whistle. Felon covered its mouth and turned to his sister. “What are we going to do?”

Marisicia gulped and collapsed onto a chair. “I-I-I-don’t know…”

The owl flew to her and looked her in the eye. “Don’t give up. Remember Elric.”

“Yes…thank you Gorlath.” She petted her brother, imprisoned in the body of the owl. Through some mysterious manner unknown to any of them, Gorlath had come back to life in the body of the owl. She rose and went to her room. Opening drawers and cupboards, she finally found what she was looking for. Smiling, she brought out a pouch filled with five different types of stones.

“Felon! Look!” Marisicia called. Her brother ran over and leaned next to her. “What?”

Marisicia held up five different stones. “Look…they are exactly like Elric’s…the Fire Stone, Lightning Stone, Water Stone, Earth Stone and Air Stone.”

Felon took the stones into his hands. The Fire Stone started to glow in his hands as the energy of his Fire Warrior body seeped into the stone. He dropped it onto the hard earth beneath them, shattering it into smaller pieces.

“Look what you’ve done!” she screamed at him, picking the stones up. They did nothing to her, but started to cool down.

Felon muttered an apology and got up. “Let’s take them home. Vow to me you will only use them in an emergency.”

Marisicia sighed, pocketing the stones. “I promise.”

She dug deeper into the pouch, lifting up a pearly-white crystal. The Life Crystal. It started to glow in her hands, colors swirling in its center. She fastened it into the grove in her bracelet and did the same with a piece of Earth Stone. She went to her brother’s room, rummaging around in his drawers. She took out a sharp dagger with a black hilt. Also taking a leather sheath and belt, she hastened the knife in and went downstairs.

“Felon, we best fight for our land.”



Gorlath swooped over the troops over Fire Warriors. To them, he was a normal owl. He did not fear that they would attack him, for owls were seldom used as spying birds. He dived closer to them, tail feathers almost brushing their battle helmets. He gave off a hoot and one of the warriors looked up at him.

“Aye, look! ‘Tis an owl!”

“What shall we do with it?” one man asked him as they groped at Gorlath’s legs, trying to pull him down. The first speaker smirked and shrugged. “We see where it’s heading, of course.”

Gorlath gulped and flew faster, trying his best to reach the house before the warriors did. He recorded his discovery in his head. “Armless fools, mostly rookies, emblem slightly different to original Fire Land sign.” He dove down the chimney and emerged out, coughing out dust and sooth.

“Armless fools, mostly rookies, emblem slightly different to original Fire Land sign.”

Felon raised an eyebrow. “That’s odd…” Gorlath cawed in response. Marisicia just sighed and sat.

“We wait and see…”

A loud knock on the door a few minutes later signaled their arrival. Marisicia opened the door a crack after unbolting it. “Who is it?”

“We wish no harm! We are the War Resistance from the Fire Land.” Felon pushed away Marisicia and opened the door for the men. They came in and looked around. “Cosy…but we’re here on business.” One of them got out a scroll and quill. “Do you know the whereabouts of the one called Elric Burr?”

Marisicia gulped. “Urm…”

“We shall tell you nothing!” the owl screeched, surprising the Resistance. One of the warriors took a step back and slammed against the wall. He gulped.

“We’re sorry…we just did not think you knew him, after all.” He put his hands behind his back. “We heard he lived in this area though, so we came to see.”

“Why do you need Elric?” Felon asked him, glaring at the boy angrily.

“Well…w-w-we heard he was an Alchemist. We suppose that is true, being he’s from the Burr family. Then there’s the fact that Alchemists can channel all their energy into the Stones. Maybe he could help us learn how to do that with Fire stones so we could, somehow, stop this War with the other Resistances’ help.”

“Other Resistances?” Felon asked, cocking his head to one side.

“The Water Land Resistance, the Earth Land Resistance, the Wind Land Resistance, and so-on.” The apparent leader said. He towered high above everyone else, and held his shoulders back confidently, head held high in a noble way and eyes glinting proudly.

Marisicia looked at him and sighed. Turning to her brothers, she pulled them after her to one of the upstairs room. A small body lay under the blankets of one of the beds. It moved and a head of sandy hair popped out. “Mommy?” Marisicia picked up her five year old son and placed him on her lap as she sat.

“We should help them…” she told her brothers.

“What? Why!” Gorlath asked her, punctuating his sentences with an owly hoot.

“Because they can help us!” Marisicia told him, glaring at both of them. “We’ll keep the leader and four of his best warriors. The others have to camp out at least 50 feet away from us, in case of attack. Then, we’ll see…if we can trust them enough, we’ll tell them all we can about Elric.”

Felon nodded. “I agree. Gorlath?”

The owl sighed, something strange for a bird to do. “Yes…alright.”

Marisicia went downstairs with her brothers, her son slowly trudging after them. He yawned and looked up at the giants before him as they reached the kitchen. “Hello! My name’s Demior! What’s yours?!”

The Leader looked down at the child clutching the stuffed bear. He smiled and bent down. “I’m Halor. You have a nice name.”

“Demior! Breakfast!” Marisicia called. Demior toddled over to the kitchen and climbed onto the chair.

“Pancakes?! Waffles?!”

“No, fruit.” Demior pouted and trashed his legs.

“No fruit!”

Marisicia smiled. “Just like your father…he was rebellious too…and he didn’t like fruit either…”

Felon went to the Leader of the Resistance, holding hi shoulders back as he walked. “We have decided that you may stay, along with four of your trusted warriors. The rest must camp at least 50 feet away from us.”

The Leader nodded. “Very well. Saxor, Mexor, Quinor, Helor. You are to stay here. The rest of you, go camp outside!”

The rest of the Resistance saluted in response and hurried outside, measuring the distance and camping in the barren land.

The Leader, Halor, was different when he was not near his troops. He sighed and sat down on the sofa heavily, putting a hand over his eyes. “I can’t take being the Leader anymore…”

Gorlath flew over to him. “Why are you the Leader?”

“Because I’m apparently brave…” Halor sighed. “I’m not…I just have a reputation.”

Felon went to open the windows near the fireplace when he froze.

“Who spoke?”

Marisicia cocked her head to one side. “What?”

“Someone said ‘Elric’…who was it…”

No-one moved as they looked at each other. The silence made it easier to hear the name being uttered again. “Who said it?” Felon asked again. He had never heard this voice before. He felt a hand tug at his shirt sleeve and he looked down at the speechless-elder.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, forgetting for a moment the man could not speak.

The man gulped and grabbed onto Felon’s sleeve with both hands.

“Elric…”

“What is it? Speak, it’s alright…” Felon told him, leaning down to his level and coming in closer.

“Elric is my son…”