It was a particularly sunny day when their journey began.

Birds sang, wind howled, other animals made themselves known as well in the early morning. Not a cloud in the sky.

Three males stood by the edge of the dirt road,a glass bottle perched on a collapsed dirt column in front of them. The one clad in a long sleeved dark purple and black shirt clasped shut at the collar with a shiny red and gold gem pin, hummed softly as he sat down on a mound of compacted dirt, creating a makeshift rock. His bright red eye not covered by half-mask never left the back of the tanned black haired male standing a few feet in front of him, hair blowing gently in the breeze as the ends of the red clothe tied around his forehead did the same, although a bit more wildly. The black haired man's apprentice stood closer to him, watching as the man began to lift his hands.

A smile made its way onto the sitting male's lips as he watched his long time crush and friend begin to speak as the wind howled once more. "Let's play..." The black-haired male lifted his hands in front of him, "spin the bottle." With those words, a blinding purple light shot from his out reached hands, shooting the bottle into the air, but looking like it had exploded into apprentice gasped and the ruby-eyed male stood up, smiling more and clapping as he walked over. "Simple little spell, and the crowd goes crazy." The black-haired man smirked and turned to face the other two.

The ruby-eyed man nodded and chuckled softly as the apprentice spoke. "Yeah, but, Orphen, don't you think it was a bit too much?"

The black-haired male, now known as Orphen, clenched his fists in annoyance, "Master! You have to address me as Master!"

The apprentice put his hand on the back of his head and rubbed his sandy colored hair. "Okay, yeah, whatever, Master." He said with a sigh.

"Majic does have a point, Orphen." The ruby-eyed male spoke softly, resting a hand lightly on Orphen's shoulder as he used the hand marked on the side with red runes to fan away some of the lingering dust. "You could have at least made a cleaner shot. All this dust is irritating my eye." As if to make a point, he rubbed at his unmasked eye as it watered, irritated by the grains of dirt in the air.

Orphen scoffed softly and put his hands on his hips, walking the rest of the short distance to Majic. "Listen Majic, you have one shot to get into the Hall of Fang and like it or not, I'm it. Now why don't you just be a good little boy, keep your mouth shut, keep your eyes open, and learn from the master."

As if on cue, the glass bottle he had shot into the air landed a few feet away from them, causing the ruby-eyed male to snicker from how well it had been timed. Majic ran over, crouching down next to the bottle. "You missed, didn't you! You wanted to blow it up but you missed. It wasn't perfect, was it!"

"Who said I wanted to blow it up?" Orphen said as he began to walk away without waiting for either of the others. Majic ran after him when he noticed he was leaving, but ruby-eyes stayed behind, watching as the two walked off, lost in thought as he looked at Orphen. Orphen noticed how his friend's presence wasn't there and he turned, looking at the male. "Wyvern, snap out of it! We'll leave you behind at this rate!" He yelled, causing him to snap out of his daydream and run to catch up.

-Back in Town-

While Orphen took to talking to Majic's father and eating/drinking his usual ice cream float, Wyvern was helping the old tavern owner with the dishes quietly, listening as they talked. "I can polish him, but I can't promise he'll ever be as good a sorcerer as I am." Orphen shrugged slightly as he ate some ice cream from his drink, not particularly that interested in the conversation. Wyvern smiled and turned to face Orphen completely as he dried a plate with the small towel in his hands. "Oh come on, Orphen! If you can't do it, who could?"

"You could." Orphen stated plainly as Majic came back inside the tavern. Wyvern smiled, his eyes closing as he let out a gentle laugh.

"You know I don't want an apprentice. He's all yours, my friend." He turned back around after he spoke, letting them continue their discussion without him. Majic's father continued to express his doubts on the matter to the court magician.

"It's been two moons since you allegedly began to teach my son magic, and I've yet to see any results. Not a single spell!"

"Hey man, these things take time, and since it's taking longer than I thought, we're probably going to have to renegotiate the fee."

"About that fee..."

Wyvern heard Majic protest his father's reluctance and soon after he heard a glass shatter on impact with the floor. He heard Majic's father yell at his son, but he didn't register the words. He was lost in his thoughts again, slowly falling into the muted and hushed whispers that plagued his mind since he was young. He continued to dry the dishes like nothing was wrong, which really, nothing was. He vaguely heard Orphen reverse time on the mess and it seemed to renew Majic's father's interest in having his son learn magic, so he ended the conversation on a happy note of money possibly well spent. He clapped Wyvern on the back, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Hey, Wyvern, thanks for the help but I can take over from here." With a nod, the half-masked male set the last dish in his hand in its proper place and handed the towel to the tavern owner, before turning to look at Orphen and Majic.

Orphen was drinking out of the newly fixed, fallen drink.

Wyvern sighed and shook his head when he saw what Orphen was doing, Majic blinking his eyes and staring at Orphen curiously. Orphen stared at them confused, blinking once. "What's with you two?"

Majic pointed at the drink. "I-Isn't that dirty? I mean, it was on the floor."

Orphen immediately spit out the drink and Wyvern shook his head again, before walking out of the tavern and heading to their usual destination; the tree in front of the Everlasting's mansion. Orphen and Majic weren't far behind.

When they got there, Orphem went up into the tree first, the branch they usually stayed on was thick enough for two and low to the ground so a jump from it wouldn't break anything. It was easy enough to climb into, as well. Wyvern followed, getting comfortable against the trunk of the tree as he sat down, leg dangling precariously over the edge. Orphen chose to stand, while he chose to sit. It was their usual way of scouting, at least it had been for the past year. Majic hung out around the base of the tree, complaining about not doing anything and not having done anything except seen Orphen shoot a bottle into the air, as well as wondering why they were even there.

After a few hours, Majic was still complaining.

"Majic, will you shut up already!" Wyvern snapped, tearing his gaze away from the sword hung on the mantle of the main room in the mansion to glare down at the male. Seeing the shocked look of the younger boy's face caused the glare to soften and soon enough, disappear. He looked up at Orphen. "Just tell him why you here already, would you? His complaining is beginning to hurt my head. Besides, I can do this myself."

Orphen laughed and shook his head. "Wyvern, I'm just as important to this as you are. Besides, all we are doing is birdwatching?" Wyvern gave him a look as if to say, 'Birdwatching? Really?'

"Birdwatching? I haven't seen a single bird and we've been here for hours!"

"If you would just shut up, Majic, then maybe you'd see the birds!" As soon as Orphen spoke, a Cuckoo bird comes flying into the tree, and he points up to it. "Aha! See, look, a starling!" Wyvern laughed as the bird made a "cuckoo" sounding chirp, then proceed to poop on Orphen's head.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that. Must be the rare Starling Cuckoo." Majic teased, causing Wyvern to laugh even harder, gripping his stomach as it began to hurt a little from how hard he was laughing. Orphen ignored them both and went back to watching the house, waiting for the signal from one of the troll brothers that worked in the house. Once Wyvern's laughter died away, so did he.

The first thing he noticed was that on the balcony, was the oldest daughter of the Everlasting family; Mariabella Everlasting. As soon as she looked their way after brushing her hair back from the wind, she quickly turned and went back inside.

Majic, who saw this interaction, gasped and grinned, tapping a fist into his open palm. "Ohh, birdwatching!"

Wyvern nearly choked on air and stared at him with wide eyes at his insinuation.

"It's not what you think." Orphen clarified for them both.

"Uh, hey, it's not my business, Master." Majic teased, thinking that Orphen was lying. Wyvern frowned at the idea that they were peeping on the girl. "It's really not, Majic." He said, still looking down on him before turning his gaze to Orphen. He would know when he needed to look back at the house. Right now, though, he wanted to admire Orphen, and make sure his friend wasn't overworking himself.

At around sunset, Wyvern heard the familiar voices in his head get louder as the small troll with glasses, Dortin, unsheathed the sword inside the house, causing him to close his eye. The voices seemed to be urgent this time, almost louder than usual. The battle must be close.

The girl! The girl who changed, she's coming, she's coming!

She's crazy, crazy! The evil creature is her true intentions!

Let us end her! Fight, fight!

The voices quieted quickly, but not to the muted dull they usually turn when the sword is sheathed completely, meaning Dortin didn't close it all the way like Wyvern preferred, but he could deal with a slightly louder volume. It wouldn't harm him at least.

Dortin came outside and signaled to them, because a moment after the voices dulled Wyvern felt Orphen lightly kick his leg, causing him to open his eyes once again. "Wyvern, you okay? Come on, time to go." Behind the usual carefree tone in his voice, Wyvern could hear the worry. "Yeah, I'm okay... Listen, Orphen, I think it's almost time." Slowly, he got to his feet before jumping off the branch and landing on the ground.

"What? But Dortin gave the signal that everything was normal!"

"Did you happen to forget that I'm the protector of that sword?!" He glared slightly and placed his hands on his hips as he watched Orphen jump down next. "Wyvern, you and I both know that's not true. I swear, whatever got that into your head?"

Wyvern growled in frustration as his friend passed, clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth. After all these years, it appears he still wasn't believed.

Wyvern left the tavern early the next morning, before the sun was even truly up. The sky was just beginning to change from black into the dull, extra early morning grey as he made his way to the tree for his usual spying. He stared at the sword, letting his mind wander and letting the voice of the sword drown his conscious. The voices seemed more agitated than they did the previous day, and immediately he knew the battle was soon.

"We need that sword back..." He whispered, eye staring blankly at the mansion as his hand, tattooed on the side with runes, lightly touched the gray mask covering the scarred half of his face.

"Have you been here all morning?" Wyvern jumped at the sound of Orphen's voice, his cheeks flaring red and his heart thudding against his ribcage as he looked up to see Orphen looking down on him, his hands tucked into the pockets in his black sleeveless jacket. In response to the question, Wyvern wordlessly shrugged, turning his attention back to the mansion.

Orphen thanked Majic as he was handed a pair of binoculars, and after a few moments, Wyvern once again spoke up. "I really do think she'll come for it today... We need that sword."

His old friend chuckled and glanced at Wyvern. "Relax, will ya? All it is, is stress causing you to hallucinate those voices. Like when you were younger." He returned his gaze to the sword behind the binoculars, and Wyvern once again grit his teeth. "I'm not imagining them, Orphen! It's the sword making them! Why can't you ever just believe me?!" He snapped, looking up at Orphen with a hurt expression. "She'll-" A shrill scream from the house makes its way over to the three males, cutting off Wyvern's train of thought.

"Did you guys hear something?" Majic asked, before gasping and backing up as a blonde girl, younger than Mariabella, in a dark blue dress came rushing out of mansion, a sword tight in her hands. When she got closer, Wyvern gasped, his eyes locked on the sword in her hands. He completely ignored her yelling about Orphen being a pervert and he stood. "Orphen, that's..."

The girl unsheathed the sword and the voices of it start screaming in Wyvern's head, causing him to scream and clutch it, nearly falling off the branch if it hadn't been for Orphen steadying him and pulling him close.

Free! Free! The sheath is gone!

Let's fight! Fight!

Attack the girl! Unworthy! Unworthy!

The beast is coming! Give us release!

"Wyvern?" Orphen whispered, holding his friend close as he shook in his arms. If his head hadn't felt like it was about to split open, he knew he would have been blushing from how close he was to Orphen. "Please, sheath the sword!" He yelled at the girl, his hands weaving into his long black hair and tugging at it slightly. The girl was momentarily stunned, clearly confused.

"Look, honey, why don't you put the sword down before somebody gets hurt." Orphen said sternly, looking over to her before looking back at Wyvern. His eyes widened at what he saw. Even though Wyvern's hands were covered by his hair, the red runes along the sides of his hands and trailing down his arms underneath his sleeves, were flickering a faint red color, and his friend really did look like he was in great pain, his visible eye crying out for him while also looking lost in his thoughts. Carefully, he lifted the shaking boy into his arms and jumped from the tree as the girl lifted the sword in front of herself, the runes on the middle of the sword glinting in the sun.

Wyvern moved away from Orphen the moment his feet touched the ground, his head clearing enough to move his body to move away from the two and to cause his face to burn a dark red. This was a time where he wished he had a full mask. The voices seemed to calm down a bit the longer they were unsheathed. He looked over at them again the moment the two troll brothers come running up, the more annoying one, Vulcan, donning a bucket for a helmet and a mop for a sword and yelling "Touché!"

"What are you doing?" He asked, not in the mood for one of Vulcan's idiotic schemes.

"You mean en guarde." Orphen rubbed the back of his head and his voice showed he was just as annoyed.

"Don't talk sword fighting semantics with me, you pervert!" Vulcan twirled the mop in his hands and brandished it like a sword. "Just put up your dukes and fight like a man! C'mon c'mon you chicken!"

"I had no part of this, Orphen, Wyvern, I swear to you." Dortin said with defeat, muttering a soft disappointment in his brother. Wyvern waved them off and locked eyes on the sword again, walking closer. The girl took a step back, and he held out his hand. "Sword. Now."

At the sound of an explosion, the girl and Wyvern turned to see Dortin and Vulcan be launched into the air by Orphen. The girl stared in shock. "You... How did..." As Orphen stepped closer she snapped back into focus and once again readied the sword. "Stay back!"

"Don't worry about them, they're stronger than you think." Orphen scolded with a smile as he stopped next to Wyvern, turning his head in the direction of the house.

'He must not realize the sword is right here...' Wyvern thought to himself, hating how it seemed he still wasn't believed.

He looked over at the girl when he hears the sword hit the ground, only to see her collapsed in defeat. If he hadn't been shocked to see the girl like this, he would have grabbed the sword while she was like that. "No! Okay. That's it. I'm cursed. Every guy I fall for turns out to be a loser." She cried, sniffling and being a little over dramatic overall.

"Hey, honey, I didn't know you cared about them that much. I can bring them back if you want!" Orphen looked just as confused as Wyvern felt.

"Wait a sec, hey, Cleao, is that you? You're back from boarding school already?" Majic finally spoke up as he came up from behind Orphen, shocked. The girl, apparently Cleao Everlasting, turned to face him and that was when Wyvern realized he had lost his chance at getting the sword the moment Majic accused Orphen of wanting to meet her.

"Yeah, well I don't need you playing matchmaker I can do that on my own just fine and secondly, she's not my type." At Orphen's words, Wyvern's chest tightened a little painfully and Cleao once again had the sword in her hands and pointed at Orphen.

Cleao's cheeks were dusted red as she glared a little. "Oh,I'm not your type, am I? Well let me tell you one thing, buster. If I had known your type, believe me I wouldn't have given you a second thought!" She sighed and the blush disappeared. "It's just that you looked so romantic standing on that tower, cape flowing, with the moonlight glowing behind you. But you turned out to be an immoral magician with bad fashion sense."

"Okay what is it going to take for you to realize that I am just not interested in you?"

Wyvern snickered as Cleao got in close to Orphen's face and screamed at him not to lie to her, making him more distraught. He was telling the truth.

"What, were you just looking at my wardrobe? Oh my god if you were just looking at my dress then you're a lot sicker than I thought you were."

At that, Wyvern burst into laughter, covering his mouth with his hand to try and hide his smile and muffle his laugh. His laughter was cut short by Cleao pointing the sword at him after screaming something about Majic being a peeping teen.

"What about you, huh? You think this is funny?!" Cleao growled. Wyvern chuckled and smirked.

"Sweetheart, I can assure you that we weren't peeping. And I can definitely assure you that if we were, you would not be one worth looking at. Now just drop the sword, leave it here, and go home, okay?" Orphen threw Majic his binoculars and both males stared at Wyvern's words, never having heard him sound so... Blunt (or rude towards a girl) before. "I don't supposed you would believe we were just bird watching?" Majic asked meekly, worried.

"You three keep this up and the only bird you'll see is the one I'm gonna flip ya!" It was then that Orphen noticed the sword, and he tensed. "Hey, put that down!' He and Wyvern moved away as she swung it at them, never getting a hit in on either of them.

The sky grew dark and filled with storm clouds, causing Wyvern to stop mid-dodge and get knicked on his arm. He hardly noticed it as he stared up at the sky in growing worry and fear. "Oh no..."

Letting out a cry, Cleao swung once more at Orphen, who caught the sword and disarmed it from her. The voices that had been hiding in the back of Wyvern's mind silenced the moment the sword was in Orphen's hands, at least for a little bit.

"Majic, you and Cleao need to get inside the mansion, now!" Wyvern yelled, rushing to Orphen's side. Majic and Cleao both looked confused.

"No matter what, you can't leave. I mean it, no matter what, got it?" Orphen's voice was just as demanding as Wyvern's tone had been. After a moment of hesitation, they nodded and left just as black lightning cut across the sky.

"You're hurt." Orphen stated, staring at the cut on Wyvern's arm.

"Hm?" Wyvern turned his gaze to where Orphen was looking and blinked. "Oh. Guess she knicked me when I got distracted."

"What?! Wyvern, you'll turn into-"

"No, I won't. As the protector of the Sword of Baltanders, I am unable to be transformed by wounds inflicted by the sword. If I wasn't, Orphen, then I would have already transformed into something like her." Wyvern glared slightly at Orphen, before turning towards where a crack sounded from, watching as an inter-dimensional rift appeared and ghosts started to spill out from it, wailing. The voices of the sword once again began to scream and the runes on Wyvern's hands and arms glowed again as the one the sword transformed began to appear.

She's come! She's here!

Kill her, kill her!

Foolish girl!

Stupid boy!

You can't turn back with us like this!

Wyvern clutched his head again, begging the voices to shut up and wishing he could tell them that he was going to take care of it. Orphen saw his pain and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wyvern... If this is too much for you, you can go to the mansion and stay there with the others..."

Wyvern slapped his hand away and glared. "I'm fine! You can't do this alone, you need me to help fight here! I'm just as strong as you are, if not more so, so shut up and stop telling me to turn tail and run!" He growled, his red eye filled with determination and completely in the present, no far away look in it. Orphen know that if the gray mask wasn't there, then an equally red eye would match the one he was looking at. He chuckled and smiled. "Alright then."

Orphen turned to the ghosts and blasted them with air magic, tearing them into shreds as more black lightning streaked across the sky.

"Show us the one who commands you!" Wyvern yelled, blasting them with more wind magic and destroying them to pieces as they let out a final wail. From the clouds came a giant beast; clawed hands breaching the clouds first and then two piercing, glowing red eyes, as a roar erupted and shook the world.

The Bloody August has come.