Bladewarriors Book 1: Refresh

"This is the longest I've ever seen it go without raining."

Myst stared up at the clouds above, eyeing them curiously as she held a hand out, expecting a drizzle, or at least a sprinkle to fall and wet her palm.

"Are you complaining?" Ivy asked, beaming a smile – happy to finally be dry for once as they traveled.

"Concerned, might be more accurate." Myst frowned, pulling her hand back in as their group paced down the road, nearly to their destination, despite the delay they had ran into first thing that morning. "I think you might have broken the sky, Frost."

"You think?' The white haired fool replied, staring up at the clouds with an excited grin on his face.

Despite the injuries he had received that morning, he was fine now. Though the tomboy had made the Arctican beg for it – and took great pleasure in doing so – Ivy had healed the boy's wounds after his battle against the Black Priest. Though it had gone against Myst's instincts and warnings, their group hadn't finished the man off. They had left him in the care of the innkeepers before departing – an idea the elderly couple hadn't been overly fond of either. Even though the nymph was certain the decision would eventually cause them problems, Flare – and Frost as well – had insisted they leave the warrior alive. Truth be told, though, Myst wasn't sure she could have dealt the man the finishing blow if they had agreed to let her, anyway.

"That'd be pretty sweet if I did!" The arctic child shouted, beaming a grin at the sky.

"I don't think it's very sweet." Myst frowned, shaking her head.

"Neither do I." Flare pouted, staring longingly at the clouds above. "This is no good at all."

"I'm sure it'll start raining again eventually." Ivy sighed, stretching her arms above her head as they continued down the road, growing ever closer to the town of Nehir. "Then we can all walk around and be completely drenched all over again."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that." Frost twisted his face in uncertainty, pondering the inevitability. "I think I'll break it again if it fixes itself."

"Please don't." Myst sighed, shaking her head. "You'll disrupt the delicate balance that maintains the realms."

The nymph lifted her gaze, following it along the path they were traveling toward its imminent conclusion – the port town of Nehir. The town rested on what could almost be an island – a small patch of land separated from the rest by a large river that split and encircled the village on either side before meeting the ocean. The small village was incredibly unremarkable when compared to the metropolis of Sentinel Bay, and wasn't much bigger than the nymph's home town of Dalga. The small seaside town was known mostly as a fishing village in the realm, which was evident by the plethora of tiny vessels lining the docks near the coast of the small hamlet. It was slightly odd that a prominent figure such as The Blue Priest would dwell in such a small town, but she was sure there had to be a reason.

"If you ask me, your realm could use a little disruption." Frost replied haughtily, crossing his arms behind his head. "You've got a bunch of people bending over backwards to die and kill for the monsters of your realm."

The nymph was silent at first as she turned her head back, staring at the listless face of the white-haired teen. She lowered her head, frowning as she faced forward once more.

"Our ways… are our ways." Myst replied, trying to form a defense for her people's culture. "They may not be perfect… but they've kept us alive for thousands of years."

"Seems to me like you all kind of gave up." Frost replied, judgingly.

"Are things so different in your realm?"

The fool turned his gaze lazily to his side, eyeing the green-haired girl as she turned a condemning eye upon him.

"Can you really say your people are standing up and fighting back against their oppressors?" Ivy questioned disparagingly.

"No… not exactly." Frost replied, disheartened. "But we're certainly not bloodying our hands in their names, either."

"I'm not saying I'm proud of all the decisions our realm has made," Myst spoke up, turning to look back at the white-haired teen as the group reached the bridge leading into Nehir. "But when you're faced with a beast who can wipe you out with a flick of her wrist, you sometimes need to make compromises."

"Is The Serpent really that powerful?" Ivy questioned, frightened by the thought.

"According to old legends and stories, yes." Myst replied, nodding her head in confirmation.

"Didn't those same stories say The Sentry was supposed to rival her power, though?" Flare inquired, turning a discerning gaze toward the nymph. "If that's the case, I don't think we have much to worry about."

"Did you miss the part where The Sentry threw a hundred foot wall of water at us?" Ivy countered, argumentatively.

"Did you miss the part where I froze that sucker solid!" Frost beamed a smile, proud of his awesomeness once more as he grinned at the green-haired girl.

"I missed the part where you did it all on your own." Ivy answered, voice filled with annoyance at the fool.

"Point is, we survived." Flare spoke up, brining the conversation back on topic. "We stood against The Sentry, united, and managed to live to tell the tale."

"Yeah, and that was with only three of us fighting!" Frost added, turning a taunting grin to the green haired girl beside him. "Imagine how well we could do if you actually helped."

"Sh-shut up!" Ivy huffed, turning a disheartened gaze toward the ground. "Next time…"

"Next time Ivy will be right there beside us." Flare finished for the tomboy, turning to give the girl an encouraging smile. "Besides, as I recall, Frost, you spent the first half of that battle getting your head buried in the sand."

"All part of my master strategy!' Frost exclaimed, undeterred by the disparaging words. "I lured him into a false sense of security, then struck when the time was right."

"Whatever the case," Myst sighed, tugging the conversation back to the reason they were visiting that town, "we won't know how powerful The Serpent is until we actually face The Serpent. And we can't do that until we figure out where The Serpent dwells."

"I know where she dwells."

A strange voice called out to the girl, sounding almost like that of a young girl – but with a noticeably darker tone to it. The nymph turned her head, glancing toward the source of the words, and finding a familiar and unwelcome face.

"You!"

Myst barely had time to shout the word as the form of the strange blue-haired girl rushed toward her, tendrils of blond hair trailing behind as she quickly approached. The nymph reached quickly to the saber at her side, sliding it from beneath her sash as she prepared to defend herself against the strange bob-cut girl – the one she had fought once before, when she had originally faced The Serpent. Before she could raise her sword, though, the girl was on top of her, sliding around behind her.

The nymph spun about, trying to face her attacker as the strange girl swung a tendril of her blonde hair upward, smacking it against the skin of the arm that grasped her blade. A searing pain shot through the limb, followed quickly by a loss of all feeling. Myst screamed out as her fingers went numb, dropping the sword to the ground. The next instant, the strange girl was spinning around her, wrapping the tendril of blonde hair completely about her before snapping it off from her head, and tying it tight to bind her.

"Myst!"

Frost and Flare both screamed out, shocked as the nymph suddenly fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The warriors of fire and ice quickly raised their arms to their swords, attempting to free them from their sheaths. The girl with the bob-cut was quick to react, though, swinging her body toward the two males with incredible speed as she flicked her head – and more of the attached blonde tendrils – at the two warriors.

Flare quickly dodged to the side, avoiding the strange attack, but Frost was not so quick – or perhaps didn't find the hair to be threatening. Either way, the next moment, the strands of blonde hair slapped against the boy's clothing, seeming to melt their way through the fabric to brush against his skin. The fool cried out as both his arms shifted through sheer agony into a complete loss of all feeling. The limbs fell lifeless at his side, his Arctic Blade clattering to the ground as well.

The Arctican dealt with, the strange attacker turned toward the fire warrior, watching as he moved in, swinging his blade down at her. She grinned, seeing the dominant red sheen run up the length of the blade as it approached. Already aware of the blade's explosive force, the girl had no intention to try and block the attack, even though her blade was resting and waiting at her side. Instead, she dodged quickly to the right, flicking her hair up at the attacking redhead. The boy tried to twist out of the way as he altered his blade's arc to follow her, but it was no use. Before his sword could reach her, her strands of blonde hair reached him. Instantly, the same blinding pain overtook the redhead, before being replaced with a numb sensation through the affected area.

Flare grunted as he struck the ground, his sword clattering away from him. He tried to push himself up to retrieve the weapon, but a sharp stomp to his back thrust him back to the earth. The next moment, he felt that same pain again, screaming out as the strange girl wrapped him in one of her blonde tendril's, just like she had with Myst.

"Mmemofurmesha!"

The girl turned her head toward the strange cry, gazing at the white haired teen as the boy rose to his feet, blade clenched between his teeth. She couldn't help but laugh as he glared at her, trying desperately to relay some sort of message to her with the sword in his mouth. It was pathetic.

The girl rushed in, ducking beneath the awkward slash of the boy and slapping a strand of her blonde hair against the boy's stomach. He collapsed to his knees almost instantly as she wound her way around him, tying the boy up the same way she had his two companions.

Only one left. The strange attacker spun her head toward the last of their group – the green-braided girl. She easily found the terror and fear that filled the girl's eyes, staring down at all of her incapacitated friends. The strange attacker grinned, not even bothering to rush the girl as she began a casual approach.

"Put it down." The bob-cut ordered, nodding to the twin-bladed sword the girl clasped in her hands. The girl glared at her defiantly, stepping back as she approached.

"Ivy…" The nymph called out from the ground, speaking to her frightened friend. "Run…"

"B-but!" Ivy's eyes darted from Myst, to Flare, to Frost. All of them! This girl had taken out all of them in a matter of seconds! The tomboy's eyes darted toward the strange yellow rope that bound her companions, shifting toward the blonde strands that hung down from their attacker's otherwise blue hair. It didn't take a genius to piece together that those things were dangerous.

"Run, Ivy!"

Flare screamed at her, turning a stern glare towards her as he tried to roll over.

"Run!"

Ivy took another step back as the strange girl grew closer, her hands shaking, her sword clattering in her grip. She… she had to run!

The tomboy spun on her heels, bolting away, deeper into the town, the clomp of each stride resonating off the buildings. She pushed herself as fast as she could, spinning around the first building to get out of sight, not bothering to look back. She had to run!

The strange girl with the bob-cut stood, shocked, staring as the plant warrior fled, dashing beyond a nearby building. She blinked, almost appalled by the cowardice. She was a Bladesmen? The strange girl laughed, turning back to her captured prey as they writhed on the ground.

"She… she really left us!" The white haired fool screamed, staring in disbelief in the direction the girl had fled. "That jerk actually left us!"

"Who are you?"

The flameheaded boy inquired, ignoring his friend's angry yell, staring up at the strange girl before him.

"Medusa."

"She's one of The Serpent's warriors." The nymph spoke up, twisting her body around as best she could to face them. "If The Sentry is her right hand, then this girl is her left."

"Am I the only one who's pissed off that Ivy left us!" Frost bellowed again. "Seriously!

"She did what was smart." Medusa replied, moving forward toward the nymph lying on the ground. The strange girl leaned down, gripping the blue-haired witch by the collar before standing and turning toward the flame-headed boy.

"She did what was cowardly, is what she did!" Frost yelled, trying to free himself despite the fact that most of his body refused to respond to his commands.

"She did what we told her to do." Flare stated calmly as the strange girl reached down, grabbing him by the collar as well.

"Yeah, but… I didn't really expect her to run!" Frost complained, frowning as Medusa reached down to grab him as well.

"It doesn't matter."

Medusa spoke up again, beginning to drag the three through town, toward the distant docks of the village.

"She'll be caught."

"And then what?" Flare questioned, trying to turn his head up to look at their kidnapper.

"Then you die."