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Tornado sat in his room awaiting a letter from Rook. His room was lit only by the candles by his bed. He held Rook’s reply in his hand looking over the words that seemed both a relief and torture.

Tornado,
Aero has agreed to leave for the Light Realm and I have sent word ahead of her. I will have her leave as soon as possible. Now that you have a way to contact me, please, keep me updated on what is going on there.
Rook

Tornado had to be sure that Aero had gotten to the Light Realm safely. As long as she was safe from the Dark Lord’s reach he could be calm. The raven-like bird reformed landing before him with a letter in its beak. The bird moved more smoothly as the darkness was more settled. Tornado took the letter as the bird dissolved back into darkness.

Tornado,
Aero is now in the Light Realm. She was wary of leaving, but she insisted Flora stay here. We are worried for her and plan on visiting her in a week or so to make sure she is in good health. Try not to worry, we are looking out for her.
Rook

Tornado sighed with relief feeling the tension flow from his body. He worried that she might be angry at him for making her leave, especially since she had just become accustomed to life in the Capitol. He wondered if she could be happy in the Light again.

“If only . . .” he formed the raven in his hand, “If only I could reach her.”

The bird hopped off his hand fluttering around in circles frantically. Finally, it dispersed as it ran into the wall. Tornado knew the problem. The bird couldn’t find Aero because it couldn’t follow her trail. Aero was light. His bird made from darkness couldn’t find her light.

“Flora, Rook,” he whispered softly as he lay back on his bed, “take care of her.”

The next day came with blinding light of the open shutters. Tornado turned away shielding his eyes from the sudden light.

“Come on, get up,” Durza called from her seat on the windowsill.

“I’m awake,” he growled sitting up as his eyes adjusted. “Why are you here?”

“I was worried,” she explained, “your friends are here for you. Let us help you.”

“There’s nothing you can do. Aero is in the Light Realm now. She can no longer be reached, by anyone.”

“The Light?”

“I’ve been corresponding with Rook,” he pulled the letters from the secret compartment in his bedside table, “but there’s no way for me to reach Aero. She’s safe now. I can no longer tie her to the Dark Lord. She’s free.”

“You make it sound as if you’ve given up on her,” Durza told him worriedly, “It’s almost as if you’ve abandoned her.”

“Don’t misunderstand,” he explained, “I will always love Aero no matter how far apart we are. I’m too stupid to give up. It’s to late for us. The Faery Realm has a prophecy about Rook believes is about us. He says we are the two by fate.”

“‘Two by fate’?”

“It means that we are drawn to each other because of our fate. It’s eternal. Good or bad we have no choice. I’ve come to accept it as our fate, but I fear it is her curse.”

“You’re wrong,” Durza told him, “I may not really know Aero, but from what I’ve heard of her I don’t feel she’d see it that way.”

“You’re right, she’s too foolish to sense the danger.”

At practice Durza snuck over to where Umbro stood.

“What’s wrong?” Umbro whispered facing forward to keep attention to focusing on them.

“It’s Tornado. I don’t know what he’s thinking,” she explained, “when I spoke with him he wasn’t his usual self. He’s troubled and I fear for his bond with Aero.”

“For Aero?” Umbro shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. He loves that girl far more than I thought was possible. The only way he could ever stop loving her is for Aero to ask him to.”

Durza nodded, but something didn’t feel right.

“Umbro, Durza,” Tornado’s hushed voice called them back. They turned to see him tailed by Pye and Ember.

“What is it?” Umbro asked.

“I have a favor to ask.”

After training ended the group gathered in the clearing waiting for Tornado. They heard the visitor before they could see him.

“Why do you train all the way out here? We must have walked over a mile to get here.”

“You do want to train with us, right?”

“Yeah, but this is ridiculous.”

“Consider it your warm up,” Tornado laughed as he stepped into the clearing followed by Charizo.

“Destu rank, right?” Umbro asked looking at Charizo.

“Y-yeah.”

“You fought Tornado in the rank testing?”

“I did, but I lost pretty badly,” he explained nervously.

“Tornado became strong enough to leave because of training,” Pye assured him.
“Do you see talent in him?” Durza asked Umbro in a whisper

“He has potential, but I don’t know if he’d be dedicated enough to join us.”

“In more ways than one.” She nodded.

“We should go easy on him for the first day,” Ember laughed.

“Alright.” Tornado unclipped his kamas from his belt. “Let’s get to work.”

Charizo kept up with the basics though he grew sloppy as the repetitions continued. When they split into partners he faced Pye. Tornado watched over their fight while Durza looked over Umbro and Ember. Pye had a wonderful talent for hiding his true strength. He could fight flawlessly without going too easy on his opponent. He pushed Charizo enough to keep him eager.

Tornado noticed a change in Charizo as he watched. Charizo enjoyed fighting. He became excited and stubborn as he fought. As long as he was in battle he could keep focus. He hated the idea of training because it was always the same, but fights were unpredictable.

Eventually the fights slowed as fatigue set in. Charizo was breathing heavily as he fell to his knee.

“When do we stop?” he gasped.

“Now,” Pye answered giving him a hand, “Tornado and Durza still have to fight.”

“Ready when you are.” Durza smirked turning to Tornado as Ember and Umbro let their fire die.

“Don’t hold back.” Tornado spun the kamas in his palms.

“Wait, Tornado is only a Kiva,” Charizo asked, “why is he fighting a Suul?”

“You’ll see,” Pye told him smiling.

“Tornado can be surprisingly strong,” Ember explained, “he may only be a Kiva, but . . . well, you’ll see for yourself.”

“I want to try something,” Durza called to Tornado, “fight me only with your darkness.”

“What?” he asked confused, “I’ve hardly learned to control it.”

“That is what training is for, isn’t it?” Durza rose high into the air on a pillar of earth, “let’s see how far you’ve progressed.”

Tornado summoned the dry flowing darkness from the ground as he clipped his kamas back onto his belt. He let it spread along the ground around him as he crouched low.

“Alright,” he called to Durza, “I’m ready.”

The ground shook below him violently. With a great heave it split beneath him and he fell into the empty abyss.

Durza jumped to the edge of the crevice and yelled, “Remember, Tornado, only darkness so no flying allowed!”

“What?” Charizo asked fearfully, “there’s no way!”

From the crevice surged shadowy waves spinning violently as they cut through the air. Tornado appeared through the rising darkness as it slowed to a stop. He stood upon the caliginous spiral as if it were solid ground.

Charizo gaped from where he stood by the others.

“Impressive,” Pye mused, “he’s improved a lot.”

“Durza still has the upped hand though,” Ember pointed out, “she’s stronger and is allowed to use her weapons.”

“Then we should stop them, shouldn’t we?” Charizo asked frantically, “It’s not fair for Tornado.”

Pye and Ember laughed at the idea.

“No way,” Ember told him.

“I don’t want to miss this one,” Pye explained, “Tornado has been looking forward to fighting Durza for a while. It would be a bad idea to try to stop them.”

The air became dark as it was permeated with Tornado’s power. Durza used the earth to launch herself back onto the pillar so she was even with Tornado.

“How are you feeling?” she called to him.

“I’m okay. The darkness is still draining me, but I feel pretty stable.”

“Good,” she told him as a cracking sound erupted from the pillar, “let’s test that stability.”

Durza jumped into the air sending pieces of the pillar at Tornado. She landed briefly on each stone before shooting them at varied intervals. Tornado was able to block the stones, but the ever-changing delays kept him from countering.

The spiraled form that Tornado stood on unraveled. The bands crisscrossed about the clearing rising high above the trees. Tornado ran down the band searching for Durza. Suddenly he heard and extra footstep and skidded to a stop as he turned. Durza held a dagger as she yelled slashing out. Tornado dove off the band landing on another that crossed below. Durza reached into her pouch for her throwing needles, but before she could throw them the band below her feet grew soft. It began to flow causing her to fall as it lost its solidity.

Tornado ran towards her on the same band lashing out with sharp waves of darkness. She jumped to the edge holding on to the edge as she searched for a place to land. The ground was over twenty feet below her.

“He’s actually making a Suul struggle,” Charizo awed as Durza swung to the next band. She pulled herself up turning to face Tornado.

“How are you doing? You haven’t been attacking,” Durza called.

Tornado was breathing heavily as he answered, “I can’t . . . move.”

“You used too much darkness at one time.”

Tornado nodded stumbling forward as the bands began to warp. Durza jumped commanding a pillar to catch her as they began to disintegrate.

“Tornado!” Durza yelled jumping from the pillar.

Sand burst from the ground pushing air that scattered the darkness. The sand caught Tornado gently lowering him to the ground.

Charizo sighed in relief, “made it.”

“Good work Charizo!” Ember called already running to Tornado.

“Is he alright?” Durza asked.

“He’s just unconscious,” Pye answered from where he knelt, “he’s breathing steadily. With a nights rest he should be fine.”

“Good thing Charizo caught him with his sand or it could have been much worse,” Umbro pointed out.

“I didn’t do anything special,” Charizo told them embarrassed. “How long has he been practicing with darkness?”

“He’s been working on it for a week or so now,” Durza answered.

“Only a week? Can you all do that kind of thing, too?”

“Not even close,” Ember explained, “Tornado has a sort of talent for it.”

“Not even by Suul rank?” he asked disappointed.

Durza shook her head, “only Tornado has that much control of his darkness, but do you remember what he said before we began?”

“No, what did he say?”

“He said he’s hardly learned how to control it,” Durza explained, “he can feel even more potential in himself. Who knows how far he can go with his power. We’ll just have to wait and see for ourselves.”