“I’ve been meditating and now have some answers. The reason why we saw Kayura was because she was projecting herself to us. But, something went wrong with it. I was hoping that we’d go to the nether realm and find out what happened. She might not be well enough to try again.”

“But, I was set to take a closer look at that cave. Who knows what else we can discover,” Mia voiced.

“I’m with Sage,” Rowen said. The group, around the table, was silent.

“Are you sure that you want to go,” Ryo asked him.

“Yes. I want to check on Kayura.”

“Huh?”

“Is there something that we don’t know,” Cye asked. Kento just laughed.

Rowen lowered his brows, “What’s so funny? It’s no time for us to be takin’ a vacation. This needs through investigatin’ and Mia understands that.”

Ryo stood up from the table, “Ok. We’ll split into two groups. Half of us will go to the nether realm and the other half will accompany Mia to the cavern and try to figure out something about that place.”

“We should leave as soon as possible,” Sage suggested.

“Right. I’ll go with Sage and Rowen. I’m also taking White Blaze.”

“Wait! But, I want to go, too,” Cye exclaimed.

“Ok. I guess trading places isn’t a bad thing either. It’ll give us each a chance to know what’s going on. In fact, it might be faster and least complicated then telling what’s up and having to go back.”

“That’s fine with me,” Mia agreed, “I guess you guys can go now, but we won’t start until the morning.”

After the stars had been out for quite some time, the three Ronins, Ryo, Rowen, and Sage, traveled through the forest. And, like promised by the mysterious woman, the portal to the nether realm was there.

“Hey. So THAT’S our open invitation? Let’s go,” Ryo yelled.

Unfortunatly, they had a rough ride to the nether world. As the three of them got up, they gave themselves a look of ‘now what’. Ryo spotted the castle and all three started their journey. During the quiet trip, Rowen stopped and started to stare off into a different direction.

“This is going to take too long. But, riding White Blaze to the castle will be a pain if all three of us are on him. Sage, why didn’t your mystery portal hook us up with some horses?”

“Well, we can’t have everything, Ryo.” Both stopped as they heard feet running away from them, through the shallow water. They both ran after the other Ronin while yelling at him to come back. The archer easily outran the two swordsmen and the tiger. The only thing that they could follow now was the noise that he left behind.

“No. NO! Princess… ,” Rowen yelled. The other two saw that he was holding another figure’s head in his arms, as they came for him. “Princess,” he moved the figure’s head to his shoulder.

“Rowen, what happened,” Ryo asked, “Is she hurt?”

“Yeah. Just a little.”

Sage knelt beside him, “Come on, Kayura. Wake up.” He looked her over. “She’s exhausted. Let’s go.” They draped Kayura over White Blaze and ran to the castle. There the warlords, Kale, Sekhmet, and Dais took her into their care.

“Kayura, you should have come back sooner. You were missing for one full day,” Sekhmet told her.

Dais held his head up, to look at her, “You should’ve asked one of us to accompany you. Trying projections are very tiring for beginners.”

Kale cleared his throat, “Sorry for us to be so rude, but thank you for finding Kayura. None of us would have known where to look. But, what brings you here?”

“Rowen started having these visions about a past life. We wondered what they mean,” Ryo explained.

“What were these visions like?” Kale’s question went unanswered by Rowen who was undoubtably more concerned about Kayura’s health.

“You’ll have to excuse him. He has been behaving strangely since the incident.”

“I see.”

“And, now you will see,” Sage said as his kanji flared. All of them once again saw the image of all of them running through the woods together, enjoying each other’s company.

“That vision…,” Sekhmet gasped.

“I’ll confirm it. It was real. It really did happen.”

“When? Where?”

“Give me time. I’ll know it soon enough.”

“Mmm?” Everyone looked as they saw that the sound was from Kayura. “I’m hungry,” she whined.

Ryo sighes, “I’ll go get Cye.”

“MM! I did not know you cooked so well!”

“Oh believe me, ask Kento. He knows all of the best eateries around.”

“Kayura, what happened during your projection,” Ryo asked.

“I sensed that you were in the forest. But, I was not strong enough to pinpoint your exact location. I was wondering bleakly in the dark and I fell somewhere. Then, Rowen found me. Except, that being in that place made us both had a flashback. It overwhelmed me and that’s the reason why I never got back here or to you. Every time I woke up, there was another one. But, the way that you described the cave, it seemed like the ancient was there. I think he must have protected himself from Talpa there while making the armors permenant separate entities, so that they would be harder for Talpa to control.”

Cye was impressed, “That’s a very interesting fact, Kayura.”

She smiled, “Well, it’s either that or the origin of the armors. There’s more than just ours.”

“That’s impossible!”

“No, it’s not. You didn’t think our ancestors got it right the first time, do you? There were many failures that are spread throughout the world, waiting to be found. There may be something telling of what the other armor’s are. But, I’m not sure of where the scrolls for such things are. It WILL take a lot of time and, for now, our main objective here is to rebuild.”

“I’ll help!”

“What,” everyone exclaimed.

“I’ll help rebuild. It’s the least we can do until we find out what all of these memories mean. And, we’re out of school, guys, what else are we going to do?”

Kayura’s face turned expressionless, “I’m sorry. But, if there were another evil force out there, I would like to be prepared and so would you. You ronins may do what you wish, but my job is mainly to protect this realm. Sage? Is there something you wish to share?”

The blonde slowly turned around, from looking out of the window, “….”

“You seem just as preoccupied as I do,” Rowen finally spoke up.

“Most of you should,” Dais told them as he walked back in. He sat at the table, “I have meditated in my armor of Spider and learned some things. What we are seeing is false.”

“No, it can’t be….”

“It is. These events never happened in any of our lifetimes…it happened in our armors’.”

“What,” asked Ryo. “You can’t expect us to believe that.”

“I can,” smiled Kayura. “We’re not the only ones to wear the armor. I guess our armors are more alive than we’ve realized. They are harmonizing with us, now. Or rather, they wants us to harmonize with them since we’ve now excepted them and our destinies.”

“That’s bad too. In the search for my answer, I’ve seen a lot of hideous things too. You must becareful.” Ryo’s kanji flared and then he passed out on the table. “Do not be alarmed. He will be alright.” He motioned to Cye to help carry Ryo into a vacant room.

“Yes. Please? Stay for the night,” Kayura asked them.

“Of course,” Sage answered.

“Kale? Sekhment? Please show and prepare rooms for our guests. Please, accompany them, Rowen. I need to talk to Sage for a while.” Sage sat across from her. “Tell me, how you got here. None of you know how to transfer yourselves to this realm.”

“There was a woman who wore yellow. She transferred us here.”

“She? Why?”

“She sensed that you were in trouble and by yourself. She also thinks that our affairs will be of her business, later. I wish I knew who she was.”

“Sound a bit heart broken.”

“Maybe, I would know more if I could see her eyes. But, somehow I know that they would tell me a sad story anyway.”

“Then, why look forward for your next meeting?”

“Because…her soul’s kind of like Rowen’s. It wants something…but I don’t really know. It might be death, but…I don’t want to see that happen. She’s about my age, I mean, would anyone want to see or hear about someone they know die and that person being about your age?”

“I understand.”

“All I keep on thinking about if there is a next meeting.”

“Don’t worry. Sleep. You shouldn’t worry about what is not there.”

“I wish she was,” he mumbled. Kayura looked at him in shock.

“Don’t look so depressed, that’s my job,” chuckled Rowen then hit Sage with a pillow.

“Huh? Hey!”

“Good, I finally got you to stop staring at that ceiling. Thinking about holding me in your arms as we sleep together?” Sage gave him a scornful look.

“Hey. Rumors fly that people say you’re the more feminine out of the two of us,” he laughed.

“I’ll show you who’s a woman,” Sage threw a pillow into Rowen’s face and they started a pillow fight.

“Strata, …Strata? Strata? Strata?” Rowen looked about in the darkness of the woods. Listening to where the woman’s voice might come from. “Strata? Come with me.” He finally pinpointed the origin of the sound. “Come to me.” He slowly walked over to a figure. It was a woman, shorter than he, with dark hair that just about touched her shoulders. It was too dark to make out a face, but he knew she wore a light colored subarmor.

“Strata. I’ve been waiting for you. Didn’t you hear me calling? Come along with me. Let’s watch the sunset together, then, take me away into the night, along with you. Show me your stars.” She pointed to a clearing and they walked together.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t recognize my armor, Strata?”

“Am I supposed to?”

“Please. Get into your subarmor.” He did so. “I know you still may not know who I am. But, my armor has longed for yours for centuries, upon so.” He backed away from her.

“Who are you?”

“No. It’s not like Talpa. This is different.” They both saw the redish light near the end of their journey.

“I don’t understand all this.” He lept out into the light. Rowen saw the burning sky and looked at it in awe. The woman held out her hand to him from the darkness.

“I don’t either. But, I hope you’ll recognize me….” He grabbed her hand and saw that her armor was an orangey color, since it was tinted by the sun’s color, like his own.

“Your armor’s yellow?”

“Yes,” as she grabbed his hand. A rush came over him, a calm that he had never sensed before. Something that he always wanted, …someone who he knew what he felt inside because they felt the same way about it, too.

“Watch the sunset with me one day, Strata?”

He opened his eyes with the moonlight still on his face. It’s a new day, with only a few hours left before sunrise. He left and walked around the castle’s hallway. While reflecting on his dream, he saw a single light that pierced through double doors. He peaked in to see Kayura studying.

“Princess, …I mean, Kayura. You shouldn’t be studying this late.” She motioned him over to sit in a nearby chair. “You should be resting. And, this is some HUGE library. What were you reading up on?”

“Some of the other armors’ history. That IS if I can find them.”

“Kayura. You shouldn’t be doing this in the condition you’re in, now.” Kayura put down the book, walked over, and sat in his lap. She leaned over and kissed him.

“Kayura….” He looked back deeply into her dark eyes and kissed her back. She put her hands through his hair as he wrapped his arms around her. Afterward, he caressed her check with his hand and slightly shook his head.

“Kayura, …I’m sorry that I can’t. We should go back to bed.” She gave a painful expression towards the look of sadness on his face. She got up and let out the light, as he walked out, then she followed.

“Goodnight,” going into a more stressed voice, “then, Rowen.” The two walked away in opposite directions, Rowen, the only one of the two to look back at the other.