[/)eathKiller]

Entering a shopfull of books and scrolls, Kai went about looking for a manager or consultant of some sort. He spotted about a bit and finally realized that the shop was completley empty. He walked up to a shelf labeled "Defense Mechanisms" and took a tiny book labeled "In the Rose Garden With No Pedals" He examped the book peculiarly and opened it, every page was exactly the same. He finally decided to touch his finger to the page and it erupted with light, he jumped backa bit and dropped the book, suddenly a figure emerged from the book. "Ah hello young man, I am the shop keep..." "oh... alright would you mind telling me what these books are about?" "AH i'm sorry" the lit up figure said bending down and picking up the book, light was still shining out of the pages and onto him. "I can only describe the inner workings of this single spell. Are you a level 3 in magic use? If you are not, I am afraid that you cannot use this spell."

"ummm I'm new to this whole magic thing..."

"... please look on the shelves in the back of the store, they're the ones probably covered in cobwebs... welcome to the city of Stars-Down, Llacefran, the capitol city of magic..." the book shut, the lit figure dissapeared and the book quickly slid itself back onto the shelf.

The dark armored warrior sat and stared at the shelf for a while then looked up and noticed a number 5... he went through each isle... 6... 7... 9... 47... and then finally at the back of the store... 1...

He opened up a book which read "So you wan't to be a magician" on the cover. He wasn't sure if this was the right book but he decided to give it a whirl. Immediatley a wizard appeared out of thin air, he wore a large pointy hat and had the trademark classic beard running down to his belt. "ah my boy, how can I be of service" he asked kindly.

"I would like to learn how to heal my own wounds and destroy evil..."

"ah hahaha doesn't everyone... well first we must begin witht he basics.. Take this scroll..." A scroll materialized in front of him... "and go down to the local temple and memorize it through meditation, come back here and then we'll talk..."

"but aren't I supposed to pay for something?"

"Payment is nothing to us! we are Llacefran, the richest land that ever existed..."

"May I ask a question..."

"Yes?"

"It regards your history..."

"I know a little history of Llacefran dating up to 700 years ago, so please do ask away..."

"How are you so rich?"

"Gold My boy! GOLD is the thing of kings and we have it in unlimited supply!"

"... but in my land there is PLENTY of gold, almost endless supplies of gold, but it has no value, no purpose, you can't use it to cutt meat, sheild your body, make weapons, Gold is a useless material that is as quantative as the soil itself! IRON! now that is a rare and preciouse metal that must be used wiseley..."

"Iron you say... Llacefran's mountains are only made up of the stuff, but aside from making Kettles and Cauldrons its purpose is unkown..."

The warrior took a step back and looked at the wizard wide-eyed... "ARE YOU MAD?!?"

"Wait a second, are you from the nation of Ironclad..."

"YES... yes I am..."

"AH! well 590 years ago we signed a trade agreement, you get all of the iron and we get all of the gold it was as simple as that..."

"and I can see who won on the deal" the figure said smiling...

"ah yes, of course we did!"

"...I'm not even going to argue i don't need to create an international insciedent, i've just been sent to protect you from a threat which hasn't even been proven real yet..."

"Threat my boy? what kind of threat?"

"One which could unearth the foundations of your sociotey, crumble your citys, and replace ALL of your people with a race unbenounst to this world..."

The wizard widened his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs
"...THERE IS NO RACE ON THIS PLANET THAT CAN THREATEN LLACEFRAN!"

... there was a moment of silence... the book shut and placed itself back on the shelf, the Ironclad warrior turned and walked out of the door without saying another word... he entered the town's square, and looked around, everywhere the people were concerning themselves with business, trade, money, supplying, farming, nothing of any matter in the dealings of offensive power...

"I see why they sent me to protect these stupid people... they thought i was worthless..."

----FLashback----

"Ah yes we'll send KAI! there is no more valliant a warrior than KAI to do the job!"

"ahhahAHAHAHA"

"HAHA indeed YES we must send Kai to do our bidding he's the best of our number AHHAHAHAHA"

----end Flashback----

"they weren't laughing in my honor they were laughing behind my back..." Kai thought to himself as he turned in the direction of his homeland, he cocked his tubular weapon and peered out of the site and then relaxed himself, retowing the weapon he turned toward a large gate and within moments had left the city behind him. He clenched the sword on his leg with a half-gloved hand. His exposed fingertips gliding over its rough handle surface. He looked ahead into plains and rolling feilds of grass, flowers, some ruins and gravestones sticking up every few miles along the way, and an occasional tree just partially dispersed at a random location. With this, he began to walk, until he could no longer see the kingdom he left behind him. He was now out on his own, the sun said that he was going in the right direction, lest even the SUN be stupid in Llacefran.

The warrior neared the edge of what seemed to be a mighty ravine by nightfall, he unpacked some things he'd been carrying with him and set up a camp. He looked down the ravine and saw the floor of it was as dark as night, soon he realized that night was to be upon him, in the wilderness in a foreign land to which he'd never travled. The warrior quickly lit a fire with a pouch which he opened and exploded onto a pile of twigs he'd gathered. He took off his leather gloves and warmed his hands... night was upon him now. The sun had set, the stars in the sky shone more beautifully than he had ever noticed them. it was very quiet, only the sound of an occasional insect and the howling wind caught his attention. The warrior quickly rested his head onto the soil... he yawned and pulled an animal skin over himself. A few seconds of silence passed and then he heard a twig snap. Kai quickly shot up and unsheithed his weapon, pointing it into the darkess... "Who goes there?"