Where should I begin? If I go back too far, then it would take too long to get to the story; but if I start too late, then you won't get what is going on or how I got to this point... I guess the best place to start is how I became a part of the Kumori Clan. Before we begin, there is one thing I should tell you; my parents died when I was young. I can't tell you how old I am now, how they died or where I came from.

The farthest, I guess, I care to go back to is when Master found me, wandering around in some woods, starving and not knowing where I was. Master was an odd looking ex-warrior who lived in the woods by himself; until I came. I didn't know what happened to him to have him living there all alone. At first, he only fed me, not talking. When I got strong enough to, he gave me a bow, told me to make some arrows, hunt for my own food, and cook it myself. Mind this: I didn't even know what a bow was. It took me a while to be able to shoot it, but I eventually got a grasp on it. I think I surprised Master (and myself) with excellent aim and stealth when hunting. After all, I had never done anything like that before. As time went on, I became much better than Master at hunting… and cooking (his cooking was terrible!).

While these skills grew, I also taught myself how to use a sword; at least that's what Master called the thing. When he decided that I needed a real sword - instead of using a stick - he gave me a few saved-up coins and told me to buy a decent one. This didn't sound like a good idea to me; I didn't know where the nearest town or any kind of civilization was.

At first I was a little reluctant to go, but Master gave me his cloak and horse. Then he told me not to come back until I got one. I didn't feel like arguing with him (I would have to guess that he was at least seven feet tall!) so, I put on the cloak and then got onto Willan - the horse - and set off in some obscure direction, hoping I would find some kind of town.

As I was riding, it came to me that Willan isn't what you would call a "regular" horse; the closest word I can think of to describe him is a unicorn. Although, he isn't like the ones from the tales you would have heard as a child.

Instead of being white, Willan was, and still is, the dark blue of midnight, almost black; with a long, slender, silver horn. His eyes are pitch black, except for small, bright star-shaped pupils; they look like they were plucked from the sky just a moment before. The horn jets out of the middle of his forehead. Just below that, there is a jewel imbedded into the skin. The jewel has an almost mystical, dark purple glow radiating from it. His mane is a dark purple mixed with some light blue and his fur has a silky feeling to it.

I could almost swear that he could, if he wanted to, just leap straight up into the air and take off even though he doesn't have wings. Riding him is close enough to flying to me!

When I snapped out of my daydream, I looked up and found that Willan had taken us right to a small town with only a few buildings. As we entered the limits, the sign read Destrátle. Even though I don't remember being there or hearing of it, the town seemed so familiar. As I looked at a few of the decimated buildings, Willan guided us towards a small stable right outside of the main part of town. As we went through the place, it seemed as if the people just dropped what they were doing and walked out, even the birds sang no tune there. The only birds I saw were ravens and vultures. They looked as if they were waiting for me to stop and let them pluck my soul from my body. Willan seemed to sense this, too, for he kept going; not looking anywhere but forward. When we reached the stables, I hesitated to get off, but I got the feeling that Willan had brought me there for a reason. I slowly got down from the giant unicorn, and took a deep breath…

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Inside, the stable had an eerie stench of death and evil to it. In the middle of the room was a sword stuck into a decrypted body. The sword looked as if it were glowing. As I got closer to it, the smell and feelings seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

Once I got to where I could almost reach the sword, an image flashed through my mind. It was of two men fighting in this very place, along time ago, a fight to the death; over something very dear to both of them. One of the men seemed familiar to me. This man was about seven feet tall, not quite as tall as Master. The other looked much smaller, yet still very strong. In strength, they were equal.

It was like I stood in the back ground, oblivious to the fighting men. They didn't seem to notice the fire starting in the corner of the room. There was a fierce storm outside at the time, but that didn't phase them at all. The roof was leaking and the hay was now burning out of control.

I felt that I should stop them, but I could do nothing; they heard none of the words coming out of my mouth, nor felt my hands trying to push them apart. Tears streamed down my face. There was the feeling of friendship within the two. Stopping them would have kept the one that the body once belonged from being killed, but I couldn't interfere, for changing the past is something you can only dream about.

After realizing that I couldn't do a thing, I stood back and watched. Behind me, there was the sound of a horse. I turned around only to see Willan with the white stars in his eyes a blood red. The sight was startling to see, I could not believe he could be so cruel. The jewel on his forehead now, too, was glowing red. Both men stopped and looked the same way, horrified.

The taller one then dropped his sword, backed up to the fire; not having anywhere else to go. The other, mesmerized by the mysterious glow of the jewel, had let go of his sword, too, yet it stayed floating in front of him. A moment later, the sword plunged into the man's chest with such force that he flew back to the spot that the body laid.

Willan reared up. His eyes white and the gem purple once again. He turned around and took off into the air, disappearing into the storm.

Before I had a chance to turn around again, the tall man ran right through me; also vanishing into the storm. Then the image was gone. I was back to the present. Willan was still in the doorway, urging me on.

As I walked up to the sword, it started to give off a black light. I wanted to go back, but Willan was starring at me with his eyes were glowing the blood red once again. Going back could have cost me dearly. So I proceeded towards the sword.

When I got close enough to the sword to grab it, there were streaks of lightning coming from the sky; sounds as if fire was raging out the shack. Reaching out towards it, my hand nervous, sparks started to fly from the sword; pricking my fingers. My fingers were now bleeding from them, and an unknown force pushed me from behind. I was hoping that the sword wouldn't come from the corpse to get me like it had this man so long before. I had no control over what was going on with my body; I was praying that I would make it out alive.

As I touched the sword, a surge of pure energy flowed through my body. Pulling on it, the energy grew more intense. Finally, the sword slipped from its long-time resting place. Everything stopped suddenly; the powerful sword was in the hands of a new owner.

Falling to my knees, I squeezed my eyes shut; trying to keep from screaming form the pain the bolt of energy had caused. As the pain subsided, I slowly opened my eyes. Looking around the totally destroyed stable, I found that the only place that wasn't completely burned was around me and the heavy, black sword. Gathering my strength, I stood up and lifted the sword for a better look…

As I inspected it, I noticed there were absolutely no marks on it; no rust, no dents or scratches. It was as if it were brand new. The blade had a few slight curves to it and the few flames that were left glistened on the shinny black metal. The grip of the handle was more than big enough for both of my small hands to fit around it, and the soft leather seemed to be shaped perfectly to fit them. The feeling of power over everything the sword gave me kept my attention for some time as I practiced holding and swinging it.

After a few minutes of this, I turned to where the door was and noticed that Willan was no longer there. I looked around the area and caught a glimpse of colors in the sky. There were a few rafters in the way, so I walked out of the burned stable.

Above me, a three-in-one crystal clear rainbow crossed the cloudless sky. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I followed it with my eyes down the barren road; where I found Willan standing under a lone tree.

I slowly walked up to him, making sure not to make a sound. As I continued to follow the rainbows they got smaller and stopped at the end of the unicorn's horn and the jewel on his head. I guess he caught me in his sight because the rainbows halted.

I attempted to touch his hide for some odd reason. Before I could though, he pulled away; rearing up as if telling me to stay back. A moment later, he was calm once again. He came over to me and urged me to get on his back. So, of course, I jumped on and he took off, back to the woods; back to Master's home.

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When we got to the cabin, Master was standing by the fire pit in front of the broken down place he called home. To the side of the pit were some freshly caught fish from the brook that ran not too far from the small clearing.

I hopped down from Willan and walked over to the stump that Master had just sat down on. "I brought a sword back like you told me to… Willan took me to this town called Destrátle…"

"That's because I told him to. That sword you found has powers that only you will be able to control. It will take time and patience on both of our parts before it will obey your command… but I believe you can handle the responsibility." After saying that, he got up from the stump. "Make the food; it better be good this time."

What he said astounded me because he rarely said a thing, especially about my cooking; but that wasn't what surprised me. The fact that he knew I had brought back a sword that seemed to have some kind of power in it and that he told Willan to go to that place is what did it.

After I was finished making dinner, I went to get Master to eat. As we were getting ready to, I thought that would be the best time to ask him about the sword and why I was "the one."

"It's not time yet. I can't tell you until we think you are old enough to know its story." He looked over to Willan, who was now standing next to a tree by the brook. He put his head down as if to say that was right.

I decided not to ask any more questions until Willan was gone; it seemed like they were communicating with each other… but the horse never left that spot.

After we ate, I went into the cabin to get ready to sleep. It bothers me that Master never came inside that night. Thinking about what he could have been doing kept me awake; I even got to see the sun rise, which never happens with me.

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The next morning, after the time I usually get up, I went out to find him.

He was sitting in his meditating pose, as if he were trying to get to a distant land. Before I got anywhere near him, he said "good morning, I hope you had a good rest…" his voice kind of trailed off.

"Yes…" I said hesitantly, "where were you last night? You never came in…."

He looked at me with a glare that I never saw before, or since. "I don't have to tell you, but I will say that you shouldn't worry yourself about an old man like me… you're tired; go back in there and get some sleep."

It felt as if he was doing something that I wasn't supposed to be seeing, so I went back into the cabin. Even though I had been worrying about him, his tone of voice made me uneasy. And I STILL didn't get any sleep.

As I was lying in bed, I heard a noise coming from outside, but I didn't get up. Listening to it for a moment, I noticed that there were two voices. Finally getting to my feet, I slowly opened the door of the building…

"Get out of here, NOW!!" Master yelled at me with his back turned. "Forget about me, just go!!"

Without thinking, I ran inside and grabbed my sword. "I don't care what you say, I'm going to stop him!" Instead of letting me fight the guy, Master turned and shoved me into the brook.

"I told you to go! I'll be fine, just leave me!"

I got up, tears running down my face. I looked back at him, the one who believed in me, and the place where I lived. My heart was beating so fast, and the only things I see were Master fighting that man and the pain on his face. He was risking his life for mine. He wouldn't let me help defend our home, our whole lives….