Guardian Chapter 3
More Players to the Game

        Stephanie was getting annoyed, no, she was beyond annoyed.  Her boyfriend, who was three years older than her and in college, was one of the most high maintenence people she knew.  She had to go by his apartment and, at great personal risk to herself, wake him up.  She also had to drag him out of the library every night.  Rowen was the only person she had ever heard of that had actually been kicked out of a library for being there too much.

        Right now, she was waiting for him to check out some more books.  It was taking him forever.  They were supposed to go for a surprise visit to Mia's today.  Maybe she should go in there and drag him out? 

        She was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a flash of black energy across town.  Rowen came running out of the building.  From the wide-eyed look on his face it was apparent that he had seen it as well. 

          "Damn.  After all this time the Dynasty must be coming back."

          Stephanie refrained from comment, twirling the ruby, star-shaped pendent with an engraved symbol of Venus between her fingers.

          "Come on, let's see if Mia has any information about this."

          Going against her very nature, Stephanie kept her silence as she ran after the blue haired man.  She was scared.  The brave, stubborn Stephanie Griffin was scared.

          Sage dodged the group of girls that were approaching him.  He may have been the Flirting King back in high school, but now he was totally devoted to Mia.  Never had he felt this way about anyone.  It waas like the whole world vanished when she ws around.  He suspected it was the same way for the others when they were around their girlfriends.

          All four girls were vastly different.  Amanda Fox, Sai's girl, was very quiet and shy.  She was a very pretty 18 year old with shoulder length bright red hair and aqua blue eyes.  Stephanie Griffin,  Rowen's girlfreind, was very loud and opinionated.  She was very strong willed and prone to anger, but she was brave in everything, even things she did not like.  She was also quite pretty with dark brown, curly hair that went a little past her shoulders.  Her bright green eyes gave you the impression of a cat waiting to pounce.  Amy Dagris was Kento's.  She was a very sweet, outgoing person, and a bit of a flirt.  Her shoulder length, golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes gave her a sunny, happy appearance that she enhanced by always wearing black clothes, often with gold trim.

          His thoughts were interupted as he saw a flask of black light.  'Oh no.  I thought that the Dynasty had been distroyed!'  He ran off, the only thought he had now was to make sure Mia was safe.

          Ryo continued his walk to his apartment.  He simply couldn't get that girl out of his head.  A flash of black light nearly made him jump out of his skin.  He did not even think as he tore the other way down the street. 

          "Misty, I think I found it!"
       
          The small girl looked over at her friend.  "You did?!  What does it say?"

          Mia quickly brought up the poem on the screen.  "Here it is, Misty.  It reads:

                               Torch of spirit sought through five
                               Drinking strength from immortal fire
                               Darkest prison sheds the light
                               Churning beneath a swirl of salt
                               Burning within a throne of rock
                               Floating amongst the eyes of the ages
                               Unmoored in the stream of the sky

                               And when the Darklands shall return
                               Five sleepers will rise, five marks will burn
                               Blue fox trapped in ice
                               Red griffin in the tornado's path
                               Pink lion on the Lightning Peak
                               Gold dragon under the barren mountain
                               Silver lupix following the wildfire's path
                               Dawn's first light shows the way.

                               Five and five, the warriors ten
                               The smallest will don the armor white
                               And battle the monarch of darkness
                               The other nine a horrid discision must make
                               The wolf and firebird will die
                               The silver crystal is the key.

          "I wonder what this could mean."  Misty said almost to herself.

          "I have no idea."  Actually, Mia did have an idea.  She knew that whatever the new part of the prophecy was saying, it had something to do with the Ronin Warriors.  Misty was her best friend besides the girlfriends of the guys, but unlike the other three girls, the only Ronin Misty had met was Sage, and she didn't even know that he was a Ronin.  They had to keep the secret from her, even though she was a great help with these ancient legends, especially translating.

          Misty knew that Mia was lieing.  Mia knew more than she was letting on about.  Misty was ok with this.  She herself kept it secret that she could see the auras of other people.  It was an interesting skill to have.  It allowed her to see who she could and could not trust.  That was especially helpful since she had been on her own since she was five.  Her ability told her that Mia was a trustworthy person.