When Rhychard uncovered his eyes, all he saw was Buttercup standing there with the golden pole holding the American flag. Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the sulfurous smoke floating in the air that once was Vargas. The Warrior approached her, wrapping her into his jacket with his damaged arm. She fell into him, the sobs erupting from her frail body.Rhychard held his sword in front of him, waiting for the few gargoyles that remained to attack. However, with their leader gone, they just spun in the air and flew off, leaving the place littered with carcasses and broken chunks of the building.The church shook as pieces of the ceiling began to fall around them. The magic that had started to open the way to the Nether now had nowhere to go and collapsed in on itself."C'mon, lady. Time to go.":Warrior, quick. Tryna found Renny in the pastor's office.:Rhychard led Buttercup through the chaos and wreckage around them until he reached the office of Adrian Michaels. Shelves we

Whistling filled the air as flaming arrows launched from the townspeople, aimed at Mephalus—or rather, in his vicinity. Fire blazed trails of light through the black night, streaking their way toward the bodies that littered the earth around Mephalus's feet. The arrows pierced the ground, the flames catching the dry earth and the bodies that lay dead on the ground. The flames flickered, sparking fires that engulfed all around the elven Warrior. More arrows sliced the air, igniting even more fires. The fiery rain continued.Mephalus sent furtive glances around him; flames engulfed the entire area. He screamed at the townspeople, but more fiery arrows headed off every advance he made to escape the fire. He turned to Kendalais. "Is this how your king passes judgment?" he bellowed into the night. "You allow these…humans…to kill one of your kind?"Kendalais slid his sword into its scabbard before crossing his arms over his chest. He stared down at Mephalus with cold, detached eyes. "You kn

Aradhon made his way through the woods until he found the small creek that flowed past the church property on its way to the Indian River. The sun lifted high into the afternoon sky and sweat beaded upon his brow. Still, it was not as hot as the Nether, and he was grateful his prince sent him to oversee the new Gateway. Aradhon did not lie to the Warrior. He was not directly involved in the plans to raise a new Gateway to the Nether. He was merely a…watchdog, so to speak, here to make sure the one in charge succeeded.And he would succeed. Aradhon would make sure of it. The demon, Vargas, may have underestimated the human Warrior, but Aradhon would not be so naïve. The Warrior's power resided in the sword he carried, and it was a power the human had yet mastered. That was the reason behind the meeting, after all. Aradhon wanted to gauge the level of Rhychard Bartlett's training.It wasn't far.Aradhon could see it in the Warrior's eyes as well as the slight probing the elf did of the h

Rhychard tied his long, black hair into a ponytail with a leather thong before grabbing the harness that held his collection of swords—two short swords made of iron, a substance the faerie world dreaded, and the long, bronze Guardian Sword that changed his life forever. Magic from the faerie world of the Land Under possessed the Guardian Sword, supposedly created by the Guardian himself and bestowed upon the mightiest warriors of the Sidhe elves to help protect the earth, the land of the Guardian's creation, from the Destroyer and his creatures. Rhychard became the first human Warrior of the Way to exist and tossed the realms of faerie into a tizzy. Humans weren't supposed to know the magical realm truly existed, and most times, Rhychard wished he was still ignorant of that fact, as well. He didn't ask to be a Warrior. He had been drafted by the Guardian when the Warrior elf, Jamairlo, was killed by Vargas's gargoyles. The creatures of the Void also killed Meelim, Jamairlo's coshey. Wh

Famallumi touched everything. Like a child in a toy store, he picked everything up he came in across, turning it in all directions to examine it. He pushed buttons and turned dials as Rhychard followed behind the elf turning everything off while putting his knickknacks back in place. Granted, he didn't have much clutter in his small apartment, but Famallumi made everything a bright new discovery. He turned the stereo on three times, the sound blaring, muttering, "It's a different song every time." When he discovered the television, he wanted to know why Rhychard kept other people in the small box."Are they of the Void? Is this a new Warrior contraption you've devised to imprison those who would do evil?" Famallumi searched every side of the television. "How do you get them inside?"Rhychard turned the set off as he took a deep breath. "There's no one inside. It's make-believe for entertainment. I thought you said you studied humans." However, the apprentice didn't hear him as he set