Xan's eyes flashed open, their blue glow lighting up the ceiling above his bed. Someone was coming. Four someones, to be precise. They were all high ranking Blade Sorcerers. He dropped his concentration from those nearly at his door and reached out to Jira. Run, he warned telepathically, We're figured out! Get out of the city! Get Scrad! He's the one that matters! You know where to take him! He knew that only Jira would hear the message. But he also knew that she couldn't respond. To do so would only let the other Mind Benders know exactly where she was.

Xan stood up and removed a large axe from above his bed. It was nearly as tall as he was and had a large, crescent blade on each side of the shaft, forming a circle half as wide as his chest. A foot-long spike protruded from the shaft, coming up in between the tips of the two blades. Although it held no distinguishing marks, the axe was very distinctive. It looked as though it were made entirely out of wood, and there was no real telling where the shaft ended and the blade began.

A knock came from Xan's door. "Come in," he said politely. The door swung open to reveal just what he had expected, four high-ranking Blade Sorcerers. For armor, they each wore only a gold chain mail vest, which looked more ceremonial than protective. Xan let a smile cross his face as his tattoos and eyes glowed bright enough to illuminate the entire room in a soft blue glow.

The smallest of the group stepped forward. A slight probe informed Xan that this man's name was Mord, and that he was the leader of the group. Although small, Mord's reflexes surpassed those of his three comrades, and he made up for what he lost in strength with blade enchantments. He fought with two elegant hand axes, which were prominent on his belt. Xan probed each one likewise and found out exactly how the four would play off each other in a fight in such small quarters before Mord said a word.

"I suppose you already know why we're here," Mord said in a calm, soft voice as he casually rested his hands on the axes on his belt. Xan nodded grimly. "And I suppose you are aware that if you do not submit to us, you will be hunted down and killed. You will probably run, but if you go too far from the other mind benders, you will lose almost all of your power. That is when you will be taken."

Xan chuckled. "Even if you found me, you would not be able to even come close enough to harm me. The rest of the Mind Benders know that I am the most powerful of their ranks, except for maybe Tesk, and even he can't do this." As Xan finished, he turned his back on the four Blade Sorcerers to face a fifth one that had just climbed through his window. The glow of his tattoos was already strong - he needed no preparations. The Blade Sorcerer fell to the floor in a violent seizure, foaming at the mouth. Blood began to poor from the unfortunate man's ears to mix with the saliva and pool up under the man's head. Finally, with one last convulsion, the Blade Sorcerer lay still on the ground.

"You fool!" Mord spat the words out as if they were poison. His voice was different, almost sly, like a snake coiling around a helpless mouse. "Do you really think that you just happened to be that powerful by chance?"

Xan's eyes narrowed. Only then did he see beyond Mord's disguise. The man was the same height, but instead of the Blade Sorcerer garments Xan had seen him in earlier, he wore a pair of loose black silk pants that seemed to be a lighter version of the deerskin ones that Xan himself wore. He was covered with tattoos in a similar manner to Xan, and his hair was the same color as Xan's as well. His face was much more angular, as if his skin had been stretched over his bones. The man's body structure, however, had not changed. He was still rather short, no more than five feet and two inches, but his body still rippled with muscle that could react in a split second to any surroundings. He seemed to be at least ten years Xan's senior, maybe more, but it did not seem to make any difference. His tattoos and eyes glowed far brighter than Xan's. So bright that those in the room had to squint to see properly. "Tesk." Xan growled through gritted teeth.

Tesk laughed. It almost seemed to be more of a sinister cackle. "You see? Without the rest of us, you are nothing. You came to Loak when you were a teenager, Xan, asking for our help. You complained about always hearing the thoughts of those around you. It drove you crazy, for you never had a moment's peace. We took you in but saw the seeds of treachery deep in your subconscious.

"As you grew, so did your abilities, but that was all our doing. A Mind Bender always has greater power when they are near others of their kind. We just lent you a bit of ours to give you confidence. Power that we could take away once you betrayed us, like we knew you would. In planning this all out, we knew every event that happened in that alleyway, and we know where you told Jira to take Scrad. And you are right when you assume that we will not follow them there if they make it, but they can't stay there forever. Not if your precious prophecy is to come true."

Xan realized that what Tesk was saying had to be true. He already found his grip on the minds of the three remaining Blade Sorcerers in the room slipping. The light coming from his skin and eyes began to dim as those coming from Tesk became brighter. Xan eyed Tesk's belt to see that both hand axes still hung there.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to fight us?" Tesk hissed. "You are nothing without the power that I gave you, Xan. Nothing. A child would fare better."

The glow from Xan's skin died down, but his eyes grew brighter than Tesk's. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he muttered. His glowing eyes meeting those of Tesk's was all that was needed. The light spewed out of his like water from a broken dam. The beam of blue light collided with one from Tesk's eyes. Xan's quarters quickly melted away and were replaced by an empty gladiatorial arena. The light beams coming from their eyes no longer existed in the mental battlefield, but they were still there in Xan's quarters. Neither of them bore a single tattoo. They each wore a set of plate armor to hold their weapons, but the armor seemed to be more something for the nonexistent audience to look at than anything to protect their lives. "I figured that this would be a more fitting battleground for our kind." Xan put simply.

Tesk nodded. "So it is. You've done an impressive job. I never would have thought that you could do this on your own. But you forgot the fans!" With a wave of his hand, the stands filled with cheering men, women, and children. Some yelling Xan's name, but far more yelling Tesk's. "That's more like it."

Xan shot Tesk an icy glare as he brought his wooden axe to bear. Tesk drew the two hand axes off of his belt. The two of them moved into combat. Xan bided his time as he parried Tesk's blows, occasionally counterattacking, though every strike he made was either dodged or countered by Tesk's wicked little blades. Finally, Xan spotted the perfect opportunity. He caught the blades of Tesk's axes on either side of his own axe and spun the weapons out of his opponent's grip. Without shifting his great weapon an inch, he plunged the sharp tip that rose between the blades of his axe into Tesk's right shoulder. It created the image of some sort of monster trying to take a bite out of the Mind Bender's arm. The arena filled with roars from the spectators, some cheering Xan on, some booing him for injuring their fighter.

Tesk immediately jumped back into a roll to put some distance between himself and Xan. He looked on either side of himself and found that his hand axes were both too far away to retrieve while Xan was advancing on him. He shrugged and took up a bare-handed fighting stance. When Xan came at him with a viscous swipe that surely would have decapitated him, he ducked under the blade and gave Xan a nasty uppercut to the chin. The simple blow drew loud cheers from the crowd. As Xan recovered, Tesk delivered a quick kick to his temple, followed by a punch in the Adam's apple. The crowd's roar became deafening as they saw Xan stumble back, clutching his throat with one hand.

When Xan got back to his senses, he faced Tesk once more, only to find his opponent armed once more with his two hand axes. "Give up, Xan." Tesk demanded. "We might actually let you live if you do."

Xan's only answer was a wordless battle cry loud enough to rival the roaring crowd in the stands. He charged forward, slashing with amazing speed at Tesk. No matter how hard or quickly he struck, Tesk was quicker in dealing a set of painful wounds before the blow from Xan's enormous axe could find flesh. Xan unleashed a fierce downward chop at his opponent. It would have cut Tesk in half, had the smaller Mind Bender not sidestepped the blow and used his axe to cut of Xan's right hand.

Xan dropped his axe to cradle his severed hand. Tesk stepped back a couple steps to stay clear of the free flowing blood. "You know," he said, "if a Blade Sorcerer faces an unarmed opponent, he offers his opponent a sword before he kills him. They do not kill unarmed men." Xan looked up at Tesk, but no hope showed in his eyes. "I, however, am not a Blade Sorcerer!" As the last word left Tesk's mouth, both of his axes left his hands. One found it's home in Xan's throat. The other found it's home between Xan's eyes, drawing even more cheers from the crowd.

The arena melted away and Tesk was back in Xan's quarters. Xan was lying on the floor, holding an arm with no hand that still bled freely. His severed hand was on the floor next to his head. Although Tesk's axes were clean still in his belt, Xan's head and neck would have suggested otherwise. Blood flowed continuously from deep axe wounds from in between his eyes and his neck as the glowing of his eyes dimmed and burned out to be replaced by a dark brown color. The tattoos began to fade away from Xan's skin and his skin began to show a tint of green.

Tesk turned to the three Blade Sorcerers he had come with. "Let's go. Jira's still not even close to this Scrad. The three nodded and left the room. Tesk took one more look at Xan's body before following them.

------------------------

Jira was jerked awake when the door to her quarters was knocked over to make way for a sizable amount of Blade Sorcerers. She sprang up from her bed, bringing liquid metal armor around her body as she did so. Once on her feet, Jira walked slowly to the other side of the bed, where her weapons were sitting on a night stand. As she began to pick up her sword belt, one of the Blade Sorcerers spoke up. "That'll be quite enough," he said in an almost snobbish voice.

"Every last one of you knows that if this comes down to a fight, I will win," Jira said coldly, "So why don't you just let me get my things and be on my way. We could all use a little less bloodshed." As she finished talking, Jira closed the belt clasp around her waist and reached for one of her baldrics.

The Blade Sorcerer who had spoken before laughed. "That just isn't an option. We have orders to-" The man was cut off by a dagger to the throat. As he fell to the floor dying, the dagger floated back into a sheath mounted on one of Jira's baldrics.

"Does anyone else want to challenge me?" She asked, "Or can one of you get my horse ready?" One of the younger members of the group made his way from the room as the others made a clear path to the door for Jira. She slowly marked the faces of every man and woman who now stood against her as she left her room. She had commanded most of them in battle before. She had even helped to teach the youngest of them. Yet a simple order from the Mind Benders seemed to be all it took to turn even her most trusted friends against her. Then again, she thought, they can't really help it can they?

As she left the building and made her way to the stables, a voice sounded in her head that was not hers. It took her no time to recognize it as Xan's. We're figured out! He warned. Get out of the city! Get Scrad! He's the one that matters! You know where to take him! Jira nodded grimly and sprinted to the stable. As long as she could make her way out of the Loak's walls, she should be able to be safe from the Mind Benders.

As she burst into the stable, the young Blade Sorcerer was standing in between two of the stalls with a low-quality sword drawn. There was little chance that there were even any enchantments on the blade. Jira moved swiftly to the young Blade Sorcerer. "I'm sorry," she said before moving in close enough to hit the Blade Sorcerer in the temple and knock him out. Her movements were far too quick for the boy to catch, and even if he could he did not stand a chance in an armed battle against Jira.

Jira could feel the Mind Benders prying at her thoughts, and knew that they were trying to take control. She also knew that they would be perfectly happy with confusing her a bit, or finding out where she was going. She made sure to keep the wall around her mind strong, just as Xan had taught her. She had a strong mind, and that helped to repel the influence of the Mind Benders. Even so, she could not afford to lose concentration until she left the city's borders.

Jira walked over to the stall to find her horse saddled up and ready to ride. So he held out longer than I expected... She thought. She stroked her horse, Moonbeam's mane. Moonbeam was a small white mare that almost seemed to glow. What she lacked in size, she made up for in speed and endurance. Hopefully she would be able to reach Scrad before the Mind Benders could figure out where the two of them would be headed. She led Moonbeam out of the stable and set off at a gallop to the border of Loak.

---------------------

Halfway to D'Arlandor, Scrad found a sight that was most disturbing. He ran across the dead bodies of the men he had visited Loak with lying next to their equally dead horses. The faces of the men were distorted, as though their last moments were either very frightening or very painful. The eyes of both the men and the horses had been removed in what seemed to be a very messy way. Scrad noticed that his second in command was also missing his ears. Each body, regardless of species, was missing just enough limbs to make a struggle impossible. It seemed as though the eye removal was what had really killed them.

Suddenly, Scrad's horse toppled underneath him. Scrad felt a hard hit on his leg, realizing that the only thing that saved him from sharing the fate of his comrades was the liquid metal armor that he had only recently received. He fell down into a roll before coming up with his sword and knife in his hands. The sword took the shape of the saber that he was always used to using.

Scrad stared into the eyes of his assailant. They were a fiery reddish orange that seemed to glow in the night air. The man's hair was light brown and sticking up in uneven patches that were up to an inch above his scalp. The man wore a necklace of bloody eyes, which Scrad knew had probably spent only a couple hours outside of their respective sockets, and hanging from the man's ears were the ears of Scrad's second in command. The man's entire upper body was covered in intertwined hands, some much older than others, but all with uneven cuts at the wrist. The man's pants were made of many different shades of leather, all of which were lighter in color than cow's hide. The pants were held up by a belt made out of two interlocked arms. His feet were completely bare, and heavily calloused. The mere sight of the man was enough to make Scrad feel sick to his stomach. The man gave a broad smile, revealing teeth that had been filed to sharp points. "You must be Hellron. I've been waiting a while for you to show up, brother. What took you so long?"

Scrad gave the man a curious look. He didn't quite know what to say. He looked at the sword he was holding. Hellron. Scrad seemed to remember Jira calling his sword by that name. But this man couldn't be talking to his sword, could he? "My name is Scrad," he muttered angrily. He didn't quite know what to say, because he didn't entirely know what was going on.

"Suit yourself," the man said, twirling his sword in his hand. As Scrad's sword was, the newcomer's sword was made of liquid metal. The hilt, however, was made of a smooth black material that seemed to have been worn from ages upon ages of use. The blade was of a similar form to that of Scrad's saber.

"You killed my men." Scrad growled.

"Oh come on Hellron!" The man stopped for a moment. "Sorry... Scrad," he said mockingly. "Those men meant nothing! Even if they were your friends, do you think you'd do them any good by knowing them? D'Arlandor is at war with Loak, a city of wizards! Do you really expect them to welcome you with open arms when you arrive home bearing a wizard's weapon and armor? I mean, of course you will be completely protected politically, but don't tell me there aren't any extremists who would go to any measure to have you killed. Those same extremists would have killed every one of your men for allowing you to take weapons, armor, and advice from wizards! At least I can make you an offer that doesn't land you on a funeral pyre within the year!"

Scrad hated to admit it, but the man had a point. Some of the greatest warriors that D'Arlandor had at their disposal hated wizards and anything to do with them. Scrad's meeting with Jira was supposed to be completely off record. Only his superiors that sent him were supposed to know what happened between him and the wizards. If he were to bring back a wizard's weapon, he could think of at least five specific people who would not stop until they killed either him or themselves. "I will not negotiate with you." Scrad stated.

"Come on, Just hear me out," the man said. He took Scrad's following silence as permission to continue. "I'm sure you've at least heard about how we're supposed to stop the wars that are all over the land. The way I see it, the only way to do that is to conquer them all. Come with me to D'Arlandor and we'll take control of it and use it as our base of operations. That way you can say you're conquering in D'Arlandor's name if that is what suits you. From there we will attack Loak, and after that I think you'll deserve to choose our next target. So come on, Hellron, what do you say?"

Scrad tightened his grip on his sword. He couldn't believe what the man was suggesting. He also couldn't believe that part of him actually wanted to go along with the plan. But still, most of him was repulsed by the idea. His only response was a the quick movement of him throwing his knife at the man's chest. One of the many hands that made up the man's armor caught the knife and threw it back at Scrad, who ducked just in time to avoid having the blade find its home between his eyes. "Oh, come on, Hellron! You've only barely returned! I, however, have been waiting for you since we last fought! Do you really think you can even touch me right now?"

Scrad gritted his teeth. This man was talking madness. Still, he also talked with an air of confidence on his voice, as if there were something Scrad had not been informed of. But Scrad didn't care. He knew that he could not take the crazy man up on his offer of ultimate domination of the land, and so his only chance at surviving was to kill the man. Without another word, Scrad lunged himself at the man, his sword leading the way. The man casually batted Scrad's sword aside with his own, and countered by stabbing Scrad in the bicep of his sword arm.

The sword met some resistance from Scrad's armor, but still managed to penetrate both metal and skin. From the moment the man's blade touched Scrad's skin, he experienced pain beyond anything he could imagine was possible. It was as if everything bit of pain he had ever experienced in his life was being inflicted upon him all at once. He dropped his sword and fell to the ground in a fetal position.

The man spat on Scrad's body. "Look at you," he snarled, "helpless as a mouse. Where is your dignity?" He plunged his sword into Scrad's side with great force. Scrad screamed until he had no air left in his lungs. When he breathed in, it felt as if he were inhaling needles. He was barely able to gag his breaths in and out by the time the man removed the sword from his side.

"You pitiful creature!" The man spat, "You do not deserve the name of Hellron!" The man raised his sword above his head for a killing blow. At it's place hovering in the air above the man's head, the sword's blade changed from that of a saber to the gigantic blade of a claymore. A knife suddenly landed in the dirt beside Scrad's head that sprayed dirt all over his face and left a small crater in the dirt. Scrad looked up to see that the crater in his assailant's chest was much larger than that of the one in the dirt beside his head. As the hands scrambled to close up the gap, two swords plunged through the hole the dagger had created. No sooner than they appeared in the man's chest did they cut the man in two to reveal who had come to Scrad's rescue. "Jira," Scrad whispered. As he said her name, the dagger in the ground next to his head lifted off into the air and floated over to it's place on Jira's baldric.

Scrad took the hand that Jira offered him and pulled himself to his feet. "Who was that?" He asked.

"He was once a great man named Vant. He was possibly one of the most skilled Blade Sorcerers to exist. Then he found Maldolor. For a while, he wasn't any different. If anything the sword helped him become a better fighter. After a couple weeks, he began to slip up, though. He killed an apprentice because they questioned his ways. Soon he left the Blade Sorcerers and lived on the streets of Loak, waiting behind alleys for his next victim. With each passing day he lost another bit of his sanity. He began to think that he was Maldolor. Eventually the wizards of Loak were able to banish him, and until just now, we didn't even know if he was still alive or not."

Scrad looked at the body of the man called Vant. Blood was pouring from both halves of him. In one of his hands was the black hilt of a sword. The hilt slowly faded to a transparent gray before disappearing entirely. He looked about the man, seeing that his garments were proof enough that he had been driven insane by something, even if it wasn't the sword like Jira had said. "Am I going to end up like him?" Scrad asked.

Jira sighed. "To tell you the truth, I don't know. The thing is, your sword is the first appearance of Hellron that I've heard of. Maybe Xan would have known more."

Scrad suddenly realized how alone Jira was, and then wondered why she was so far from Loak. "Where is Xan?" Scrad inquired, "And why are you here?"

"Xan is dead." Jira said simply. The calmness of her voice when announcing the death of her comrade sent chills up Scrad's spine. "I would be dead too if I hadn't left when I did. The Mind Benders found out about what Xan and I did. I guess that's not too much of a surprise now that I think of it. We're going to need to leave here soon, otherwise they'll be able to tell where we are and send Blade Sorcerers after us."

"Well we can't go to D'Arlandor," Scrad said with a note of reluctance and resignation on his voice.

"No, we can't," Jira agreed. "I know exactly where we need to go. You just have to follow me.

Scrad looked to his horse doubtfully. When Vant had first attacked him, he had cut off two of the horse's legs, one in front, and one in back. The horse would never be able to stand up, let alone walk. Scrad walked over to the horse and stuck his sword through the back of it's head, putting it out of it's misery. "Looks like we'll have to ride double," he said.

Suddenly, his vision became blurry and the world around him began to spin. He heard Jira calling his name, but it sounded as though she were miles away. His legs gave out and he slumped to the ground. The moment his head hit the dirt, he fell unconscious.