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Prologue

The Wharf Mistress of the Bsani airship docks watched as passengers disembarked from the latest arrival from Kokori. Most of the passengers were Pheonix and their Nezumi servants. She chuckled checking off each individual as they came across the gangplank to the docking berth. The platform floated over three hundred feet above the coast of the Basni Lands to better service the ships that kept the western Continent of Daquia and the eastern continent of Kokori trading with each other. The young female gryphon came to a title she had not seen on the records for untold years. A dragon had traveled west? She mulled over the title a moment.

A Grand master was trained by a dragon sensei in the eastern lands. Such a title was only granted to a student of the Grand Dragon, Suzujomei Oyamishima. Emperor of Kokori and hero of the great war of the past, The Culling. She frowned looking for the scales of a dragon or bright plumage of a pheonix bearing the ancestral weapons of his title. The Katana, and its sister blade the Wakizashi, were considered the blood born right of only the Dragons and the Pheonix of Kokori. One who wore the two blades was a fierce combatant and not to be taken lightly, even if taken by surprise. A dragon trained swordsman was far more deadly than the typical pheonix warrior as they mixed mysterious and powerful magics with their combat.

The individual laying claim to the name on her list is what surprised her the most. A young male Amarok, barely past his majority walked down the gangplank. He wore a travel kimono as he had for the past four months of the journey from the east. His fur was Jet black, shiny and well kept. As the lupine disembarked from the ship, the mistress checked off the name. The swords at the hip of the wolf appeared new, but from what she understood, the blades could be thousands of years old and have changed hands, sheaths and hilts many times during those years. His face was strong and proud, his single visible eye a deep and piercing blue as he took in a breath of air, his first from Daquia for over ten years. His other eye was covered by a black eye patch, the color of which just slightly brighter in tint to that of his fur.

The mistress smiled and rather enjoyed the sight of the well-muscled and trained amarok, winking at him saucily as he walked past her. He seemed oblivious to her gesture, which caused the gryphon to chuckle. He stopped a few feet from her, his voice deadpan as he nodded to her wink. "Your beauty is most certainly spell binding my lady, but my training requires that pleasures of the body must be put aside for a time." He said.

She chuckled. "Shall I get you a carriage to your destination?"

He shook his head looking southward. "I am going on foot my lady. I must return home to resolve legal matters. I would never willingly take another life with me where I need to go." He said coldly. She nodded, shivering at his tone. When she looked up from her list to ask if he had his luggage, he was gone, as if he had never been there.

She chuckled. "Bloody Amaroks. Always so sneaky." She said, shifting her attention to the next passenger.

Chapter 1

The youthful wolf stood outside the boundaries of his ancestral home, scanning the perimeter with his trained eye. Despite his eye for detail, the young male knew that several eyes were watching him. Further he knew that none of them were friendly as he cursed his own youthful lack of patience. He had purposely spent several months on foot, traveling here to his home to resolve the last wishes of his mother. He had hoped the journey would some how calm his mind to deal with what would happen here. He had planned this so many times in his mind that he had every movement planned from almost a week before his arrival. His black fur was matted down with the rain that fell here for the past three hours almost ceaselessly. He knew it was midday, though the constant gloom around the wolf and over the surrounding countryside gave the illusion that the hour was much later. To him it was not enough time. The world around him was moving too quickly for his liking. Just as the water clock in the study of his Sensei, he hear the beating of his heart, each beat of inaction bringing its rhythm that much closer to ceasing.

He was not welcome here. His homeland was more of an origin point for him. Where males were treated as favored slaves at best, and cattle or worse often times. His eyes darted around, looking again for threats before he moved again. His traveling kimono was gone now, hidden with his blades that he would reclaim when he left this place.

The estate, if it could be termed as such, was humble for a bloodline such as his. A main house, and a stable for their two dependable saurs and their family carriage. He moved quickly and carefully towards the house. Though tempted, he did not knock on the door as he had in the East, instead giving into the customs of his lands, opening the door without any warning. His eye quickly became blind as the darkness within was nearly complete save the fire that burned within the hearth. The wolf took in a breath, reaching out with his newly trained senses and with his nose as well. The scents here spoke to him of familiarity. Fear, blood, and frustration filled the air here. It reminded him of times he wished only to forget.

His nose heeded his new senses warned him of other things. The elements here spoke to him now. The air had secrets a bounty to bring to him. The Earth underfoot offered him solace and protection from threats. The fire that danced within the hearth burned happily and was always looking to spread to better climes than the simple log it consumed now. The water outside offered him it's protection as well, but in more subtle ways than the earth. Then he came to the element he was most familiar with. The Void itself spoke to him the truth. Two others were here in this room with him, alive and breathing. One healthy, the other ill and getting on in years. He focused more on the one he did not know and immediately reacted when he found a female. His hackles rose and he reflexively barred his fangs before he probed further into the void to find that the female was not Amarokine.

Before he could further query the older individual spoke from a chair sitting in front of the fire, a familiar paw with graying fur held out a small packet of what looked to be legal papers. "Welcome home my son. I wish your mother could see you the same way I see you now. She may never have shown it in your presence, but she was very proud of you..." he said before breaking out in a fit of wet coughing. The young wolf took the papers and looked curiously at his father. "Those papers are your mother's final gift to you son. Take good care of them and to that which they grant ownership." He says. The youth quickly looked up, catching movement from behind a curtain and taking a defensive stance. The older amarok chuckled at the youth's well-trained reflexes as the source of the movement came fully into view.

A young an seductive female shifted from her hiding place. She was Kitsune, a young fox dressed in seductive dress of eastern silks. The young male had a momentary struggle with his instincts before he glanced back at the door he had come through. The older wolf in the chair spoke once more before the youth left him behind. "Your mother always wished you to be free son. Go with her blessing and my prayers, for you are the last of our line to walk Sarthas now." He said, before breaking into another fit of coughing.

The youth nodded before turning his attention fully to the female. "If I had time for introductions, I would be happy to get to know you Kitsune. But for the moment, and I hope you will pardon my rush, if you wish to live then I suggest following me and heed every order I give you until we escape these lands." He said as slowly as he could bring himself to speak. She nodded quickly and became his shadow as he left the main house, quickly bolting for the carriage house. He smiled, seeing the old and dependable saurs still healthy and ready to go. They were already hooked to the carriage as he quickly opened the barn doors. The Kitsune, seeing the wolf's antics quickly guessed what was needed of her and jumped wordlessly into the carriage, sitting silently with her nose pointed towards the floor in humility as she waited for her new master to give her orders. Oblivious to the slave already in the carriage, the wolf snapped the reins to speed the suars North as fast as they would take them. He quickly glanced at the afternoon position of the sun and cursed under his breath. "This is going to be tight..." he said and set the carriage moving faster.