• The battlefield was silent; the only noise was the soft breathing of the men and elves on their own side; men on the left and the elves on the right.
    They poised their axes and swords gently and the yells of battle began.
    Both sides raced towards each other, crying out for their loved ones.
    Then the two sides finally merged together and the clashes of steal against steal were heard.
    Cries of pain petrified Kiki but her eyes kept on focusing on the large dark figure behind the men.
    She was an elf, and she wasn’t supposed to be here. She had eluded her people for the fight and now she stood paralyzed, watching the darkness drift slowly closer.
    No one else seemed to noticed until a man was kicked onto the ground, and he caught a glimpse of the darkness.
    He let out one terrified scream before an elf jabbed his side with a sword, silencing him.
    Then the screams of terror rose to a horrifying level.
    The men and elf’s tripped and stumbled in their hurry to get away from the darkness but Kiki was frozen to the spot.
    As the darkness became closer, she saw it much more clearly.
    It was a night in armor… no, it was a night made out of smoke.
    Kiki shook her head.
    This was no time to be marveling at something that wants to kill you, Kiki thought to herself.
    Now the figures behind the night were becoming clearer; they were like ghosts; each one pale and lifeless, yet moving. They were made out of smoke, too and they were each different.
    Kiki turned and ran fast, seeing that the men and elf’s had disappeared.
    Her lungs began to tighten and her breath began to hurt.
    She wanted to stop, her legs were aching.
    Something tripped her and she fell, turned around and saw one of the lifeless creatures stare at her with blank eyes.
    It raised a sword and Kiki raised hers quickly and swiped at the smoke-creature and it wavered and disappeared. Kiki knew that it would reform so she didn’t stay around.
    She quickly jumped to her feet and continued running, ignoring her dry breathing.
    She began to see a light in the horizon and when she had reached it, she blacked out because something seemed to have stabbed her in the back.
    She wanted to scream but the blackout came quickly.



    Kiki woke up hearing whispering and soft hisses when they said a word with an “s” in it.
    She opened her eyes to see everything blurry and blinked again to focus.
    Two figures lingered above Kiki, whispering to each other, firstly not noticing that Kiki was watching them questionably.
    Then one turned their head to glimpse at what they thought was going to be a knocked out girl, but a fully awake girl returned a stare so marvelous, the person simply kept gazing at her.
    This person was a male and tall. But he was human.
    Kiki frowned.
    “Where am I?” she asked.
    “Hospital tent; I am afraid that you blanked-out in front of our camp.”
    Kiki still was worried.
    “What about that black night…and the ghosts?”
    “Spell.” said the man proudly.
    “Ah, yes. The humans have taken the magic that we use. How typical. You men are all the same.”
    The man frowned.
    “We didn’t take this magic. We learned it. There is a difference you know.”
    “Not when men are involved.” retorted Kiki.
    The man turned and picked something from a table and turned back to Kiki, an angrier look on his face.
    “We confiscated your weaponry for safety. I’m afraid that you can’t have your weapons back until you prove that we can trust you.”
    Kiki snorted.
    “Please, you really think that I will be kind to such scum such as yourself?”
    The man nodded.
    “And this scum has a name; Stefan.” The man turned on his heals and walked out of the room.
    Stefan’s companion stayed, watching Kiki with a strange look.
    “What are you looking at?” demanded Kiki.
    “Your mark.” said the man.
    Kiki turned to see a large crowning mark on her arm.
    “Yes, I know I have a birthmark, idiot! What’s so strange about that?”
    “It’s shaped like a crown. And my name is not idiot, it’s Bartholomew.”
    Bartholomew walked out of the room, as well.
    Another great relationship, Kiki lied to herself.