Allendrie woke wearily to the sound of rain hitting a roof. "Ugh. What happened?" he said aloud. A voice from the door startled him. "Well, well. Looks like the brat has awoken."

Allendrie studied his captor carefully. "I know you! You're Toriban. You're the last Childe of House Fangora."

"Wrong," Toriban said. "I'm the last Childe of any noble house, thanks to your murderous brother." Toriban walked towards Allendrie, hand at his weapon. "I would assume that you are not in league with him, considering how much less of you there is than when we last met," he said, gesturing to where Allendrie's left hand once was.

"I will kill my brother for what he has done to this land!" Allendrie yelled angrily. "And I will make his generals wish that they were dead!"

"I like your spirit. You're different from that sniveling little brat you used to be. There's a little problem, though, as I've already made claim to your brother's head."

"Fine! As long as he dies in the end. I take it that you wish us to work together, then."

Toriban snorted. "Hmph. I just need you to give me a way into the palace. I can take care of the rest."

"You dare deny me my revenge? You will take me with you!"

"Bah! You would be more trouble than you're worth. Under all that anger, you’re probably still a spineless little cretin. Besides, you never were good in a fight. I remember the brawl you got in with some of the other Childes."

"That was seventeen years ago! I have trained tirelessly to be the best I can possibly be. I am far superior in skill to most fighters in prime condition. I could probably even take you on!"

Toriban's eyes flashed angrily. "Really? Care to test that theory? I'll tell you what. If you can stand against me for awhile, I'll let you come along with me on my raid. What do you say?"

"Fine! Lets go!" Allendrie headed for the door, hand at his weapon's hilt. Toriban followed close behind, out into the open field outside the shack.

"I warn you though, Allendrie. I won't hold back." Toriban moved a few feet away from Allendrie and faced him, drawing his weapon. Allendrie followed suit and prepared himself. Their eyes locked for what seemed like forever, with the rain soon drenching their clothes. Finally, Toriban gave a signal to start. "Begin!"

Allendrie immediately flanked right, rushing in at Toriban from an angle. Easily blocking, Toriban countered with a series of thrusts from Crimson. Allendrie dodged each in turn, and parried the last, forcing Crimson out to the side. He used the momentum from his parry to sweep across at Toriban's head with the back of his blade. Toriban ducked and spun a complete circle to swing at Allendrie's legs. Allendrie backed away just in time, creating some space between the combatants once more.

"Hmm, not bad," Toriban said, "but our enemies will be using more than normal swordplay. I'll have to test you against that too, of course." Drawing on the Dark Art, Toriban channeled the energy into his weapon. The red-dyed blade immediately began to spark with dark power. "You Ki Shinai. The Dark Energy Blade," he explained. "This is similar to the type of stuff you will encounter when fighting Selphrin's generals. Resume!"

Toriban attacked Allendrie head on with an overhead slash. Allendrie very quickly and easily blocked, but was violently shocked by the electricity than ran through his blade. Stumbling backwards, he was barely able to mount a defense against Toriban's next attack, which had the same effect of electrocuting him. Quickly, he dodged the next attack and backed away from his opponent, causing another pause in the battle.

"Just a thought: If you ever plan on fighting me again, you may wish to insulate the handle and hilt of your sword." Allendrie just glared and panted heavily. "Too much for you Allendrie? This is nothing. Now I'll really turn up the heat!" More dark energy flowed into the blade. No longer did it simply spark. Now the blade was fully sheathed in black lightning. "Come on! If you can't beat me, then you sure as hell can't beat your brother's generals. Resume!"

Allendrie was forced to dodge several attacks that he could otherwise have blocked easily, and every time, the wind off the swing flung sparks that burned his skin. Fires started from the black sparks and were quickly put out by the rain. Allendrie knew that he had to find a way to defeat the lightning from the sword. Inspiration struck him two dodges later. Allendrie moved in towards his opponent instead of backing away. Toriban quickly changed the angle of his attack to compensate. Allendrie moved his blade in to block and prepared himself for the pain that was to come.

The instant the swords clashed, Allendrie slid his left foot forward until it came in contact with Toriban's leg. The electricity coursed through Allendrie's body into Toriban. They were both electrocuted severely before Toriban could stop the flow of dark energy, and they quickly backed off from each other in order to pat out the fires that had started on their clothes.

"Ingenious," Toriban said through staggered breaths. "You may be better than I thought. Very well, you can come with me." But Allendrie couldn't hear. He now lay unconscious on the grass. "Aww," Toriban said sardonically, "just like a baby." Toriban staggered over to Allendrie's limp body and picked him up. "Actually, another month or so of rest and further training on both our parts wouldn't hurt." Toriban carried Allendrie into the shack and laid him on the floor. Then he collapsed into sleep beside his new comrade.