Asher wasn't kidding when he said that we were leaving at first light. I was very rudely awoken by him shaking my shoulders and shouting something about the importance of time.

We trudged through the woods with Asher walking what seemed like a mile ahead of us, turning around now and again to scold our slower pace. I didn't really care what pace we were going, so I just stayed in the middle of the group and walked next to Shade.

We all continued to walk silently until the sun's soft glow began to fade out to welcome the darkness of night, it was only then that Asher finally decided to let us take a break.

"It's about time" sighed Zack, slumping down onto the floor before crossing his legs.

"Your all lucky that I didn't make you run the whole way," said Asher while shaking his head.

We all ignored Asher's comment and sat down around Zack. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out my last bottle of water, I took a small sip and closed it back up.

"How long until we get to the river?" I asked waving my bottle in the air.

About a days journey, discounting sleeping time" replied Kate. "although unless you want to join the forsaken then I would advise against drinking the water from that river"

"What do you mean?" I questioned curiously.

"Have you never heard the story of the river of Animarum?" asked Brandon in disbelief.

I looked at the dirt and shook my head.

"The river of souls?" he questioned again, using its common name.

"No, I guess my father never told me" I replied looking back up at Kate.

"They say that years ago, around the time that Lucifer was cast out he went around recruiting new followers. He killed those who wouldn't join him and trapped their souls in the river, sentencing them to a fate worse than death. An eternity alone with no purpose. Their essence flows through the river, making it seem almost alive with malice and misery." explained Kate making me shudder.

"What happens if you... ugh go into the river?" I asked, not really sure if I actually wanted to know.

"Unless you're a demon-blooded creature, it will send your mind crazy, you will be lost in your own thoughts while the forsaken pull you into the depths of the water to join them in eternity," replied Luna while looking directly at Shade.

I didn't really know how to respond so I just nodded slowly.

"Anyway, who wants to spar with me?" asked Luna getting to her feet.

Kate clapped her hands together and got to her feet with a big grin on her face.

"Your on" she smirked drawing her sword.

"What about you Brandon?" questioned Luna "wanna help me take her down?"

Brandon got to his feet quickly and stood by Luna's side, the three stepped carefully around each other taking care to calculate their opponents every move. Luna tilted her head to the side slightly, causing Brandon to jump forwards and attack, I noted that this must be some sort of signal that she uses.

Kate easily dodged his attacks and was quick to land her own, Luna joined the fight from behind, making Kate have to twirl around in an impressively hard looking technique to attempt to disarm them both.

After about two minutes of intense, fast-paced combat, Brandon and Luna's swords went flying into the air as a result of one of Kate's fierce blows. She stood before them with a large smirk on her face as the two sulked before her.

"It's not fair, you always win" complained Brandon earning a laugh to escape Kate's lips.

"Train harder, then you might beat me" she laughed.

"Anyone care to make her loose for once?" asked Brandon.

He scanned the crowd of us and seemed to be weighing up our chances of beating Kate in his mind.

"What about... Shade and Aurora?" he exclaimed.

Asher burst out laughing and stood forwards clutching his stomach, feeling offended I shot him a glare.

"That would be way too easy, the fight would be like two seconds, Shade and Aurora are my best students" he laughed, making me realise that he wasn't dissing our combat skills at all "no offence guys" he finished looking at the other elite team members.

"Ok then, I'll take your word for it. Aurora can spar with me, Shade can spar with Luna" confirmed Kate straightening her posture.

I reluctantly got up from my comfortable spot on the floor and stretched my arms up towards the sky to destress my aching limbs. I casually walked over to Kate and drew my daggers to begin the fight, in truth I was slightly nervous, not because I was scared of Kate but the last time I fought someone I became possessed.

I took a sideways glance at Shade who seemed to look quite worried, I don't know why though the was more than capable of beating Luna in combat.

"Ready?" asked Kate capturing my attention.

I nodded my head and began to circle her, I continued to do this until she struck her first blow which I blocked easily and rotated to bring my pommel down on her back. She growled lowly and straightened up with a new look of determination and concentration in her ocean blue eyes, I beaconed her on and backed up a few paces, to make her pursue me.

Our swords clashed for the first time, allowing our eyes to lock to each other. We twisted and ducked under each others blows for what seemed like forever until I finally decided that I was bored of this.

I had to admit Kate was good, in fact, she was amazing but I had a major advantage, I was by trained by Asher, and Asher was one of the best warriors that the world had seen in a long time.

I drew my blades behind me and leapt around her side, swiftly kicking her feet from under her. She crashed to the floor and looked up at me in disbelief. I took another few steps backwards and beaconed her to get up, I was giving her one last chance.

She lunged forwards taking me by surprise, she attacked my hands harshly making me drop one of my daggers. I jumped out of the way and calculated her movement, I decided that my best chance of a quick win would be to test if she could be angered easily or not. To do this, I dropped my other dagger and formed a huge smirk on my face, calling her forward mockingly with my hand.

She screamed in determination and ran full speed towards me, I dived to the floor at the last second and rolled back to my feet. She skidded to a stop and turned to faced me with an angry expression on her usually calm face, she once again ran forwards but this time I ran to meet her.

I ran straight for her right side but as soon as she started her attack I twirled to her left and wrapped my arms around her torso, sending us both to the ground. I immediately pulled my dagger off my belt and held it lightly to her throat.

Her annoyed expression eventually turned a grin so I got to my feet and held my hand out towards her. She accepted it gratefully and pulled herself up.

"Well done, you fight well," said Kate while dusting herself off.

"So do you" I replied with a warm smile.

We looked towards Luna and Shade who were preparing for their own fight.

They circled each other at a rather quick pace and I couldn't help but notice that Shade's steps seemed off, something was wrong with him, no wonder he looked worried. Shade jumped forwards and began to attack but Luna pushed him back and ran backwards away from him.

I watched in confusion as she dropped her sword and eyed shade with a smug look on her face. At first, he was taken back slightly, but he soon regained his focus and ran towards Luna with his daggers in front of him.

For some bizarre reason, Luna didn't look the slightest bit worried, she quickly pushed her arms in front of her with her palms facing towards Shade. Shade skidded to a stop, probably thinking that she had called a truce or something when her eyes darkened from their usual emerald colour to a swampy green.

Shade's hands instantly shot to his head, leaving him to scream out in pain. I watched in horror and confusion as he fell to his knees, still screaming agonisingly.

"Shade?" I asked sprinting over to him.

He clutched his head tighter and looked up at me, his eyes were filled with pain and were glowing brightly.

"What are you doing to him?" I questioned grabbing his hands.

I looked at Luna who was watching him in some sort of trance.

"Luna stop!" I commanded.

Shade screamed again, coughing out blood in the process. If she didn't stop she was going to kill him.

"Luna!" I pleaded, jumping to my feet.

Something inside me reminded me that she wasn't in control and couldn't help what she was doing, but to be honest I didn't care. I had to help Shade no matter what the cost.

I ran forwards and waved my hands in her face in a feeble attempt to break the trance but it wasn't working... nothing was working. Anger bottled inside of me, so much that it made my vision blur.

After one last pain filled scream from Shade, I jumped in front of Luna.

"I said STOP" I roared with as much authority as I could.

My wings burst involuntarily out of my back and acted as a barrier, absorbing her magic. Realising this, I grabbed both of her arms harshly and twisted them, causing her to snap out of her trance.

She looked at me with an expression that mirrored both fear and confusion.

"I- I'm sorry" she stuttered "I didn't mean for it to go that far"

I looked at her angrily and released her arms.

"Do something like that again and I swear to god I'll kill you" I growled, making sure that she knew I was being entirely serious.

She nodded her head at me before she was whisked away by Kate who attacked her with thousand questions. I allowed my wings to relax around me and took in a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Ok," said Kate loudly, gaining our attention.

She got distracted my ebony wings and stared at them for a second before she cleared her throat.

"How the hell does he have demon blood?" she asked, making us all sigh in frustration.