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Durza ran hurriedly up the stairs leading to the foyer of the fortress. The tall stone walls loomed above her as guards paced above. It was rare that the Dark Lord would call upon a soldier nearly unheard of. For her to summoned meant that something important was going to happen. She held the letter tightly in her hand hardly able to contain her excitement. Ever since she was a child she had been waiting for the day she would be old enough to serve the Dark Lord. Now that she could she only wished to be more useful to him. As his soldier she would do anything she could to help him reach his goals.

“I’m here to meet with the Dark Lord.” She told the guards breathlessly showing them the letter. They opened the doors and she calmly walked in.

“Durza!” He greeted her standing from the throne and coming to greet her. “You seem out of breath.”

“Your letter said to come quickly so I did.” She couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, it is exciting news.” He laughed. “You see, I talked to your Detumi Master the other day concerning your skill. I know you’ve been working hard, as always. He thinks you may be ready to advance to Suul Rank.”

“Suul!” Durza exclaimed shocked. “Do you really mean it?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you Durza.” He told her patting her head. “I know it must seem surreal to you. You’ll have to be careful not to overwork yourself, though. I know they’re the elite soldiers but you still shouldn’t push yourself too hard.”

“I’d work hard but I know my limit.” She answered confidently despite the nervousness she felt creeping through her.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He smiled as he seemed to remember something. “Speaking of working hard I heard you were going to train with some of the less experienced soldiers today.”

“Yeah. I was on my way when the messenger came.” She explained.

“Just out of curiosity, who were you training with? I never can keep up with who all is friends anymore.”

“Let’s see there was Ember, Umbro, and the other two I just met today were Pye and Tornado.”

“Ah! You and Tornado are friends now?”

“Yeah I guess so.” Durza answered unsure of his reaction.

“Umbro. How is he? I heard he’s gotten himself into trouble a few times for some of his ideas.”

“His ideas.” Durza thought to herself. “His anti-Dark Lord ideas he must mean.”

“He’s doing okay.” She answered. “I think he’s hanging out with better people now.”

“So he’s no longer acting rebellious.” He nodded happily. “I was worried for him for a while there.”

“Yeah I think Tornado is having a good influence on him. He seems determined to follow the rules and stay out of trouble.”

“Oh good. I was worried about him, too. I’m glad to see they are finding good friends like you.” The Dark Lord took her hand to lead her to the door. “You’ll stay with them won’t you?”

“Of course I will.” She smiled back at him.

“I’m glad. Well, I should let you get back to training. It was nice seeing you again, Durza.”

She left quickly sprinting back through the forest as quickly as her legs would take her. The group could be heard training in the large clearing.

“Umbro!” She called breathlessly as she burst into the clearing.

“Durza? What’s wrong? You seem-“

“Set up the barrier.” She interrupted quietly. He hurried to set it up knowing something had happened.

“It’s up.” He told her as he came back to the group.

She fell down miserably. “I’ll join. You were right about everything! All this time I’ve been so stupid. He has always been so kind and encouraging. Then, today, because of what you had said I saw the truth behind his smile. He wanted me to keep watch over you and see if you were planning against him.”

“Durza.” Umbro knelt beside her. “I didn’t mean for you to join like this.”

“What’s worse is that I still can’t hate him.” Durza clenched her fists. “I can’t help but feel a part of him is still good.”

“I may be new to all this.” Tornado walked over to where the rest of the group had gathered. “From my experience I’ve learned something. The people themselves aren’t evil. It’s the same as nature. Nothing is good or evil. It’s just perceived a different way. While for our own reasons Umbro and I feel that what the Dark Lord is doing is evil he still has his good points. Though Umbro may say the Lord’s smile is false, maybe, what he felt for you was true.”

Durza’s sad eyes filled with admiration. The others too were surprised by his
ability with words. Tornado looked away from their gaze. “I’ll join, too.” Tornado added. “For my own reasons I’ll join your rebel army.”

“I’ll join!” Ember exclaimed. “I may not have direct reasons but I still feel it’s right.”

“Me, too.” Pye agreed.

“Alright.” Umbro explained as he helped Durza up. “For now you’re in my army. Until I can get you approved in the main one we will meet together, just us five. I’ll fill you in on all the details I can but you know it won’t be major things or where the information is coming from.”

“Understood.” Durza agreed while the others nodded.

“So for now let’s get back to training.” Umbro instructed as the others left to practice against each other. “Hey. Durza, wait.”

“What is it?” She asked turning back around.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” He asked. “I don’t mind you joining or anything but I don’t want you to regret it. After all, he’s the one who-”

Durza blew his bangs away from his eyes.

“What was that for?” He complained covering his face back up.

“You should know better than to bring up the past.” She told him. “I’ve already made my choice. Let’s go back to training.”

That night another meeting was held below Barren’s house. As expected Tornado was forbidden to enter. While sitting along at the dinner table Tornado listened as footsteps slowly sounded on the stairs stopping halfway to open the hatch and descend down to the secret room. The soft thud sounded as they closed the secret passageway. He expected the arrivals had been planned ahead of time so they wouldn’t attract too much attention. Finally as the last members came Tornado heard the metallic click of the hatch being locked from the inside. It was now that the real silence began. Never was there even a soft murmuring from the hidden meeting room.

Tornado rose from the table and walked into his room closing his door behind him and sinking to the floor. He opened a hidden drawer at the bottom of his nightstand and pulled out Aero’s note and feather. Where he held the feather it grew even deeper in color. The feather had grown so dark it didn’t even seem to be Aero’s anymore. Its true color seemed to be a memory wasting away in the darkness.

“She probably hates me by now.” He sighed putting the feather away. “Is it really better this way?”