8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

1/26

 The slight breeze in the air made waves in Zak’s t-shirt as he walked away from his car. It

 was a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight. That was one of the reasons he loved Colorado. The skies

tended to be clear and a brilliant blue color. No matter where in the world Zak had been Colorado

always had a special meaning to him,. Eespecially the mountains; he hadn’t found anywhere quite as

tranquil or that had the same feel or view that the Rocky Mountains of Colorado did. He stopped to

take in the scenery before he started on his way to the concert hall again. He was surprised at how

big the hall was. Because the building was new Hhe’d never been there before, it was a new building .

 The builders had set up the entire outside of the building with one-way glass. That and the circular

shape of the building made Zak think of a disco ball. It was a cool design it allowed everyone on the

inside to see the outside world, but kept that world out.

 The closer that he got to the concert hall the more people seemed to congregate. The

sidewalks went from wide and open to having pockets of people blocking the way, until there was a

solid line. It reminded him of waiting to go see a movie premiere. The only difference was that these

people were dressed normal. More normal , he corrected himself when he saw a pair of people dressed

in black cloaks walk by. Zak looked around at the rest people heading into the concert hall; some of

them looked familiar, but most of them he had never seen before. They were wearing normal

clothes to his relief; he had made the decision that if things got too weird that he’d walk away. He

 was expecting this reunion to be fun. He couldn’t remember the last time that he could say that

something had been fun. It would be a good change in pace. He had gotten an invitation the day

before from some of his old high school friends. It was short notice, but that was his way of doing

things. hHe never really planned ahead unless he had too. They were meeting at a concert and there

 was going to be over 500 people in attendance. It was something to do; something for which he

longed. Ever since Zak had come back to United States about a month ago, everything had a weird

feel about it. The concert was the first thing that he had actually been invited to since he had been

Formatted:  Font: Garamond

Formatted:  Font: Garamond, Italic

Formatted:  Font: Garamond

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

2/26

back. All he really knew about it was that one of the old student- body members had thrown it

together for all the alumni. Zak had arranged to meet the rest of his old high school friends there.

Looking around at the large hall made him think that it was going to be a challenge to find them, but

finding them was half the fun. A line was forming outside a few of the doors. The concert hall had a

massive entrance. When working at full capacity they’d have nearly forty ticket booths in operation.

Zak saw a poster for one of the bands once he entered into one of the lines. He hadn’t even heard

of the band before. He shrugged his shoulders. tThat didn’t mean too much for him; he wasn’t

familiar with most of the newer bands. Zak walked through a side door with the rest of the crowd.

 The doors opened up above the seating to a large auditorium. He looked down on the stage, as the

masses continued to pour into the auditorium from several other doors. It looked like more than

500 people.

I don’t even recognize half of these people, maybe I should have talked to more people back in high school, he

thought to himself. Zak was impressed with the concert hall. It hadn ’t e ven been built when he had

left a few years earlier. The design was super modern. It was amazing how fast things could change.

He let his eyes wander until he saw people he knew a few rows ahead of him. Zak walked down and

sat down behind them. He set his backpack on the ground, leaned forward and said, “Hey , what’s

up?”

One of them leaned back and replied, “Dude, man, where have you been? We haven’t seen

you in ages.” 

“I’ve been in the Netherlands” he said. They gave him a blank stare. “Holland?” 

Confused another asked, “Where is that?” 

 With a sigh he reluctantly said, “Amsterdam.” 

“Oh,” was the reply that followed quickly , along with, “Did you get some weed?” 

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

3/26

 The lights began to dim. “We’ll have to talk more about it later,” said Zak as the lights went

out.

 A man walked up to the podium; he began to thank them all for coming. His manner of

dress reminded Zak of a business man; his tie was tied perfectly and he was wearing a nice , solid

black suit. From what Zak could see, his face was clean shaven, but heZak  couldn’t quite tell

because of how far away the stage was.

This is lame . I don’t even see the equipment for the band, There was no way the man on the stage

 was part of a band; he was too nicely dressed and this was supposed to be some sort of rock group.

Why did I even come to this?

 The business man smiled and said, “It’s good to have all of you here. Now the fun can

begin.” Men flooded the stage holding machine guns and, more entered in from all of the exterior

doors. The stage was in the center of the building. There was a wide walkway that surrounded it,

allowing people to move around and get to their seats easier. In total there were fifteen exterior

doors that led to that business path. The mercenaries looked like the kind of soldiers that you would

expect to see from a movie. They were wearing uniforms without any markings, and they all had the

cold look of killers. They closed and locked the doors behind them chaining them up. People in the

crowd started to scream and panic.

“Now if all of you could please remain calm and follow our instructions no one will be

harmed,” announced the man on stage his voice remaining calm and unwavering. “We are going to 

be dismissing all of you row-by-row and you are going to go through the door behind me. From

there you will get more instructions. If any of you even think about playing the hero you will not

only forfeit your own lives, but also the lives of those around you.” They began to usher them out 

everyone going  row by row. As Zak’s row went he grabbed his back  pack and kept going. He looked

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

4/26

around trying to see what they were doing. Zak overheard someone saying that they thought that it

 was al-Qaida; others started to agree with them whispering among themselves. After going through a

door behind the stage they entered into a large corridor. There the gun men instructed them to leave

their coats and bags before they were escorted around the corner into another hallway. Zak set his

bag down and continued to march into the second hallway.

 The second hallway brought them to a door that led into a large open room which looked

like the inside of a warehouse. The walls were bare cement. The room was a wide open area. There

 were a few doors that led outside, or at least to what Zak assumed was outside, but they were

chained and guards were watching them. The alumni from the auditorium were being gathered in

the center of the room. Every few meters there were more guards with guns standing against the

 walls watching them. Zak saw Phil across the warehouse from him; Phil was about five-foot-seven.

He had brown hair and eyes to match them. His hair sat in a complete mess on his head. He wasn’t

the biggest guy, but he looked more toned than he had the last time that Zak had seen him. He still

had the smile that Zak was used to and his usual glow of happiness. As usual he had the air of being

lost about him. Phil did his best, but sometimes Zak wondered why he did the things that he did.

Zak thought to himself, that doesn’t make sense . hH e doesn’t belong here. He d idn’t even go to my high

school. Zak decided that he needed to figure out why Phil was there. As Zak started to get closer he

realized that Phil was talking to his friend, Van. Van was taller than Phil by a few inches, and his hair

 was a lighter brown than Phil’s; it hung over the top of his ear, but was neatly trimmed. His gray

eyes changed tint, reflecting the light as he looked around. Van had always been a fit guy, but he

didn’t look as strong as Phil looked. His face would go from being serious to being relaxed. It made

Zak wonder what was going on even more. Van usually had a goofy smile on his face, but Zak

hadn’t seen that smile on him or his usual carefree look. Why a guy that I knew from Europe would be

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

5/26

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

6/26

They must have moved everyone, he thought. Carefully he worked his way around the corner to

 where he’d left his bag . Zak shuffled through bags until he found his; it felt a lot heavier than is

should have; he decided to look inside. As he unzipped his bag, a black handle with leather grips

popped out. It had a small pommel and a rectangular hand guard. Before Zak could even think , a

screaming girl came running around the corner screaming. She was closely followed by a one of the 

soldiers who had a gun. On impulse Zak grabbed the handle and pulled out an elegant  looking  

blade. Zak had never seen a sword quite like this one before. It was a straight blade a little over three

feet long with a hand-and-a-half hilt. The blade was all black with a small silver strip on the edges.

 The handle was encrusted with symbols that were unfamiliar. It felt good in his hand. With one

motion he cut the gun in half and hit the guy in the face knocking him out. For the first time since

pulling it out of his bag, Zak took his eyes off of the sword. It now seemed as if it were a part of

him.

His head started throbbing with pain. In a dreamlike state, Zak could see the sword in his

hands, but something was different. He looked up. He was in a field fighting against people wearing

armor. They were charging at him. He lifted a sword into the air , and ran at them. Then he shook

his head the vision was over and he was back in the hallway. His hands trembling slightly, he went to

see if the girl was okay, but she had already started running again before he could. The hallway

looked clear, so he let her run and get away.  Then he grabbedHe saw  Phil’s big black bag and Van’s

light blue bag ; they were just howlike he remembered them. He grabbed them and went back to the

gym, ready to for some answers.

Zak peered in and saw that Phil and Van were both close to the door, so he threw them their

bags. Naturally this caught the guards’ attention. Two of them turned and aimed their guns straight

at Zak. He moved quickly into a defensive position, shielding his face with the sword. Before they

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

7/26

could even fire off a shot, Phil had already cut their guns apart and taken them down. Zak lowered

his sword and saw the katana that was in his friend’s hand. If only for a moment; the katana in his

hand seemed to have a mind of its own. Phil would hardly move his wrist, and everything in front of

him seemed to fall apart. Zak gazed in awe, looking  at the dark red handle of a katana resting in

Phil’s hand, a black disc with a yellow circle on the outside at the base of the blade. The l ight

reflected off of the blade and it gleaminged like the sun beating off of a freshly waxed car. Two

more mercenaries got ready to fire. Zak heard a whoosh. Looking to his right, he saw Van holding

two disc blades that were connected by a chain. He was lowering his hand ready to throw the blades 

he’d just caught.

 Just as Zak was about to say something, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around

and saw some men entering the hallway behind him. Phil and Van began to fight their way through

the hallway dodging bullets and knocking people to the ground. Some of them moaned in pain and 

others lay still. Zak couldn’t tell if they were killing them or knocking them out. Either way, it didn’t

matter. Both of them were excellent fighters. Zak stood back watching them as they fought the men.

He felt like he needed to do something; he couldn’t just watch. He ran in and every move that he

made felt automatic. The less that he thought about it, the easier the motions came. Suddenly the

gun men stopped and moved back. A hooded man in a navy blue cloak  with the hood up carrying a

jagged blade rounded the corner. Zak couldn’t see his eyes; the man crouched as he walked.

 The man chuckled saying, “Phil—  Van — I was wondering when the two of you would show

up here. I’d heard that you were running around causing trouble.” Then he looked straight at Zak,

his eyes lifeless. They sent a shiver down Zak’s spine “But you — ; you I was not expecting. I thought

that you would still be somewhere on Lunos, Oh well, now I don’t ha ve to go find you to kill you

and collect the reward on your head. The Reclaimer has been searching tirelessly for you .” His voice

Comment [SL1]: The disc blades, ja?

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

8/26

 was so calm and cold. He started laughing again as the doors to the warehouse began closing behind

them.

Zak’s head started throbbing again. He saw a poster with his face on it that said Reward:

1,000,000 gold pieces for the head of Zak Ryder. The vision stopped and the world came back into focus.

 Van looked at Phil then at Zak and said, “Go look after the others. I’ll take care of him.” 

Phil patted Zak on the shoulder, “Let’s go,” he said. As they passed through the door Van

threw one of his blades at the man with the jagged blade.

“Go!” he shouted to them, “Don’t worry about me.” He turned back to face his foe. The

guy deflected the disc with his jagged blade. Van started his charge just as the door shut.

“Okay, we need to free all of these people. Then we need to get them as far away from here

as we can before things get too serious,” said Phil.

“Who are these guys?” asked Zak , catching his breath.

“These people shooting at us with the machine guns are hired mercenaries from here on

earth. The guy with the sword is part of the Renewing military, unfortunately we’ll probably run into

more of them before this is over. . .… it would be nice if it were only the mercenaries,” explained

Phil before he was interrupted by a hail storm of bullets. They both charged down separate sides of

the room knocking out the mercenaries and destroying their guns. The bullets seemed to dance

around Phil. From the way he moved it looked more like he was dancing than fighting. Zak clumsily

dodged bullets and held back on his strikes, disabling the mercenaries rather than killing them. He

didn’t feel right taking their lives. After they had cleared the room Phil sliced the chains on the door

and kicked a side door open while yelling at everyone to get out. Luckily no one else was too injured

from all of the fighting. Phil had managed to kill or disable 80 percent of the mercenaries. Zak didn’t

even see how he was doing it. More mercenaries started to come from the back room where they

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

9/26

had been taking people. Zak ran to intercept them. Phil followed close behind. They forced them

back into the room that they were coming out of. They knew better than to let Zak and Phil get too

close with their swords. Zak and Phil then forced their way in knocking out the last of the gun men.

 The thought of killing any of them put that bad taste in Zak’s mouth. Even looking at those that

Phil had killed made him feel a little sick.

 Another large warehouse stood beyond the doors. “Interesting.” Another Renewing agent

stood on the left side of the room wearing a purple robe and hood. He was leaning against the wall

playing with his scimitar. Two more Renewing agents in black hoods came up next to him; they both

had normal broad swords. The first one looked at Phil and Zak, and with surprise in his voice said,

“I didn’t think that you would make it this far.” He looked both of them over. Then he took a

moment to straighten his stance. “Then again I wasn’t expecting our friend with the beastly looking

blade to be here, I guess the rumors of your death have been exaggerated. Not that the Reclaimer

ever stopped looking  —  he kept saying that you were still alive. That makes the reward money up for

grabs. Getting a thorn out of the Reclaimer’s side is worth more than just the money. None the less

this is where your journey ends.” Zak noticed that a line of people stood against the right wall. As he

looked closer he recognized some of them from high school. Kayla Rodgers, Aaron Davis, and Ariel

Rhoten were the ones he recognized, but there were three others that he didn’t know, though they

did seem familiar. One of them was about five-foot-eight or so and had fair skin, green eyes, and

bright red hair. She looked weak and tired except for her eyes. They were focused and intense. Her

face was covered in freckles. She had a weird metal bracelet on her left arm. The other two looked

similar to each other. They both had black hair, though one had hair that came down just below her

shoulder blades and the other had her hair just above her shoulders. They both had dark tan skin. Comment [SL2]: Was their skin dark and tan — and yes, the distinction effects p

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

10/26

Zak’s started feeling lightheaded and in pained; another vision was starting. He saw one of the two

girls swinging a scimitar at him. Suddenly he was brought back to the present.

He gasped and looked back at the hooded figure. The hooded figure looked back at him and

said, “Don’t worry about them. tTheir journey is just beginning.” He laughed again and motioned

for the other two agents to attack. Phil cut through one sword and then through its owner. Zak

blocked the attack of the other agent, holding him in place with his sword. Zak pulled ithis sword 

out of the way , and allowed the agent tohim pass, then hit himthe agent behind on the back of the

head, knocking him out. He allowed the agent to fall unconscious to the floor. The Renewing agent

said, “Hmmm. That was better than I expected. I guess I’ll have to finish you myself.” 

“Take them as far away from here as possible. I’ll finish him off and cover your escape,” said

Phil, stepping in front of Zak.

 To which Zak replied, “I’m not leaving you behind;, I’m not even sure why they’re after us,

but you aredo. Plus according to him, you wouldn’t have made it here without me.” Zak smiled at

his own comment.

“Get them out safe and get them as far away from here as you can, and I’ll explain

everything later, w hen we meet up again,” he said. “Protect them and get away. If you don’t,  we’re

all going to die.” Zak went and yelled at them to follow him. He started ushering them through the

door that they had come through. Davis grabbed a few guns as they went through. Just as Zak was

about to go through, Phil yelled, “Hey!” He threw a dagger-knife combination to Zak, winked, then

said, “I think you’ll need this.” The dagger looked familiar. tThe handle was embroidered with

symbols he didn’t recognize, but he seemed to know them. The dagger was heavier than he

expected. The knife was attached to the outside of the sheath. It was a combination sheath that

 worked well. Zak looked up. Hethought that he was seeing things; it looked like Phil was moving

fire with his hands. Comment [SL3]: This will help this laconnect more with the rest of the paragra

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

11/26

 After Zak got through the doorway it closedThe doorway closed behind Zak . He looked out

at the seven people that were now in his charge. They looked scared and confused. The three he

didn’t know seemed oddly calm. The girl with red hair introduced herself as Clare, the girl with

shorter hair introduced herself as Steh, and the girl with longer hair introduced herself as Nephtili.

Nephtili kept giving him strange looks. Zak wasn’t sure why. Kayla turned to him and asked, “What

is going on?” 

Zak closed his eyes, shook his head, and said, “You know , I used to think I knew what was

going on, but nowthen all of a sudden I cancould use a sword. Before today I’d never even used a

sword.” 

“Seriously!?” replied Nephtili Clare shot her a glare. Nephtili closed her mouth and went

quiet.

 Totally unaware, Zak said, “Yup, and I’m supposed to get you all away from here. I don’t

know where, but we should get going. I was thinking maybe about grabbing something to eat. I

haven’t had anything all day.” Everyone gave him weird look s. “I was just kidding . W e’ll figure this

out.” They stepped out into an empty lot; a bus sat around the corner from the building. “Yo Davis, 

can you hotwire a bus?” 

“Don’t know, but might as well try,” he said, walking up to the bus. He hotwired the bus

then got in the driver’s seat. They all got on the bus and started out of the lot. Zak surveyed his new

comrades —  everyone was deep in thought. They were probably thinking about what had just

happened. He couldn’t blame them.

Zak looked at his sword sitting next to him and thought. What kind of mess did you get yourself

into this time  , Ryder?  The sword edges glimmered in the light. I don’t even know where I got this thing, let

alone how I use it. Now I have a bus full of people that I’m supposed to protect, and I don’t even know why they are

after us.

Comment [SL4]: When I put these emit’s usually ‘cause you’ve got two comple

sentences within one. You can resolve them dash, semi-colon, or making it two se

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

12/26

“Where to now , Boss?” asked Davis. 

Sighing , Zak said, “Just keep going and we’ll figure it out.” He pulled out his phone to see

 what time it was; it said 9:30. He started closing his eyes when it hit him the date on his phone was

December 15, 2011. Zak’s eyes shot open as he registered what his phone said. He had thought it

 was 2010. That’s not possible ;  I’m missing over a  year, Zak thought to himself. How is that possible? Yesterday

was December 3, 2010 ,. tT here’s no way it’s been that long. What are all of these visions th at I keep having? Now

this reunion makes a lot more sense. It seemed like the timing was off. I just never questioned it. T hat doesn’t matter

now . All that matters is getting them somewhere safe. After that I can figure out what happened. 

 The bus came sputtering to a stop out on a dirt road. Davis just sat in the driver’s seat.

“What happened?” Zak asked. “Why did we stop?”

“You’re probably thinking it,” he replied. “ W e’re out of gas.” Zak looked down the bus; 

everyone else was asleep. Looking out the window he could see the slight glow of the sun breaching

the horizon, its rays dancing along the peaks of the mountains.

“You still got that gun?” he asked Davis. 

“Of course,” Davis replied, holding it up in the air.

“Hold on to it,” Zak said as he grabbed his sword and started out of the bus. “I’ll be right

back,” he whispered. “I’m going to go check out the area. K eep an eye on them.” Zak stepped out

of the bus. He could see his own breath as he felt a chill run down his back from the cold morning

mountain air.

Zak could barely make out the silhouette of the forest with the slight glow of light. He

looked as far as the head lights would take him. There was nothing but trees. He stepped out into

the trees. The world around him was cool, calm, and quiet. He didn’t even hear any birds. Zak

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

13/26

 walked around for a few minutes looking for any signs of civilization, or life. It was to no avail. Then

he heard the sound of a car engine. He looked back and saw a set of headlights moving towards the

bus. He knew there was something wrong with that —  they were in the middle of the mountains.

 The sun was just coming into view. Zak started jogging back to the bus. He got there just after the

car did. He laid his sword against a tree so it wouldn ’t call too much attention. He saw Davis come

to the front door of the bus, gun in hand. Zak motioned to him to move back, and Davis did. The

car had stopped a few meters from the bus; its lights were still on. Zak started walking towards the

car. He heard the doors open. He put his hand in front of himself trying to block the light. There

 were Ff our of  men were getting out of the car. Then he heard the blast of a gun and the whizzing of

a bullet past his head. Zak dodged towards the trees as more shots were fired. The shots buzzed past

him. He rolled behind a tree. Zak could see the bark flying off of the tree. Looking to his left he saw

his sword a few trees away. He ran to get it. As he was sprinting he felt a bullet graze his left arm.

Zak grabbed his blade and ducked behind another tree. He felt the blood dripping off of his arm in

a steady, warm stream, but the cut wasn’t too deep. 

 Another vision came on. He saw his left shoulder with a knife in it; he saw himself pulling

the blade out. Then he came back to himself. The gunshots brought his attention back to his present

situation. Zak peeked around the tree to see how many there were, still only four. They were

focusing their gunshots at him. It was nice that they weren’t shooting at the others, but Zak wasn’t

too keen on the idea that they were shooting at him.

Zak gripped his sword tightly and charged. He weaved between trees and slammed into the

first mercenary, throwing him through the windshield. Then he turned to the next gunman cutting

down against his gun and following through with a punch to the face. Then the one that was behind

Comment [SL5]: I’m assuming that laexplain how the Zak creature received the

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

14/26

the car fell to the ground. Zak slid over the hood of the car, smacking the last of them in the face

 with the side of the blade.

He looked back at the bus and called out, “Thanks for the assist.” As Zak walked back to the

bus he moved his shirt to look at his shoulder. There was scar right where the knife had been in his

 vision. He had thought the visions might be of what was coming, but now he was thinking that they

might have been things that had already happened., but hHe didn’t know why he wouldn’t

remember it. If they were visions of the past, it, would explain his missing year.

Davis called back with, “Anytime.” Zak climbed back into the bus. Now everyone was wide

awake. He asked everyone if they were alright. They responded with a few yeses, and noddings of  

heads nodding .

Kayla gasped and Nephtili exclaimed, “Is your arm alright?”

Zak looked at it. Blood was still dripping. With all the fighting , he had forgotten about it

“Yeah it’ll be fine. I just took a nick,” he said. 

“Don’t be stupid. Let us fix that up really quick,” said Steh. 

Zak took a deep breath. Then he gave in, saying, “Fine, but make it quick. We need to get

out of here before anyone else comes.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” said Davis. 

“We’ve got it taken care of,” added Clare. 

“Don’t you trust us?” threw in Davis. 

“It’s okay,” said Steh. “It’ll only take a minute to patch it up.” 

“Here, I can handle it,” said Ariel quietly. 

“We can help too. We don’t need you to take care of us,” said Kayla with a smile. Ariel then

took a piece of cloth and tied the wound to stop the bleeding.

Formatted:  Font: Garamond, Highlig

Formatted:  Font: Garamond

Comment [SL6]: Maybe something liaren’t completely useless” instead 

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

15/26

“That wasn’t too bad no w ,  was it?” teased Nephtili playfully. Her voice seemed so familiar to

him.

Zak couldn’t quite pin it but there was something really familiar about Nephtili, Steh, and

Clare. He thought that they might know something about his past. He grabbed his sword and said,

“Let’s get going. We’ll go through the forest; that way we’ll be harder to follow.” 

 After walking for about an hour-and-a-half everyone started to relax a little bit. Everyone

started talking to each other. Zak’s thoughts were still drawn to the fact that he didn’t know where

these skills were from. A year of time was a lot to lose. After another hour they decided to stop and

take a break. They had no food or water. Davis and Clare had gotten ahold of guns from the people

that were shooting at them. They all split up and scouted the area to see if they could find anything

useful. Davis went with Ariel and Steh in one direction. Nephtili went with Kayla in the opposite

direction. Zak went with Clare in another direction. They planned on meeting back in about thirty

minutes.

 After walking in silence for a few minutes Clare stopped and turned to Zak asking, “Do ye

think that he’ll be alright?”

“Who?” Zak asked. 

“Phil. Do ye think that he’ll be ‘lright?” she asked. 

Zak gave her a half smile and said, “You know, that is the first thing I’ve heard you say.” 

She kind of chuckled and said, “Ye don’t remember anything , do ye, Mukker?.” 

“Remember what?” Zak asked, “What is there that I need to remember? Can you tell me?” 

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” she said “I’m sure that it’ll all come back soon enough. It’s not me

place.” 

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

16/26

“Well I’m sure that he’ll be fine. He’s too stubborn to lose,” he smiled, hoping that what he

said was true. She smiled back.

“Thenk ye” was all she said back to him.

“Chin up. Everything is going to be okay. We’ll see them soon enough,” Zak said as

reassuringly as possible. They kept walking and chatted a little bit . Clare started to tell him about

herself.

 When they got back Nephtili and her group hadwere already returnedback . “Found

anything?” Zak asked. 

“Not really,” was her reply “how about the two of you?” 

“Same story,” Zak said. They waited a few minutes and finally Davis and his group came

back.

“You won’t believe what we found,” was all that Davis said. They followed them to an

overlook. It looked out over a valley. There was a giant stadium in the middle. It looked a lot like a

Roman arena. It had high walls and ancient-style pillars. “I’m sure we’ll find something there,” he

said. “When we first saw it there were still a few lights on.” 

“Anyone against trying?” Zak asked. “Nope, okay let’s go and see. Actually maybe we should

 wait for first light.” 

“Smart,” said Davis. “We should all probably get some shut-eye as well.” 

“Okay let’s make camp for the night,” said Steh.

Clare, Steh, and Nephtili had formed quite the clique. The entire time that they had been

 walking and making camp, everyone had been talking to each other except for Ariel. She had been

quiet nearlybasically  the entire time. Zak never really got a chance to talk to her. tThe time was never

quite right. Now everything was quieting down and everyone was settling in. Kayla, Davis, Clare,

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

17/26

and Steh were already asleep. Nephtili seemed restless; she kept pacing along the edges of the camp.

 Ariel, on the other hand, sat out in an opening on a fallen tree looking up at the stars. Zak walked

over and sat down next to her.

“You haven’t said much,” he said, sitting next to her. It sounded like she almost wanted to

laugh.

“I know . I’ve been doing a lot if thinking,” she said solemnly. 

“I can’t imagine what about,” said Zak trying to get her to smile. He couldn’t tell if she was

or not.

“I don’t know how you can stay so calm,” she started. He could already hear that she was

calming down from her tone. She’d seemed very high strung. 

“There really isn’t much in this situation that we can control,” said Zak. “So why worry

about things that are out of our control. Look at it this way;  we’ve been in and out of two or more

life or death situations today. I’d take that as something to be happy about.” 

“I still don’t understand why you’re involved in this whole thing,” she replied. 

“I don’t know why any of us are,” said Zak. 

“I’m sorry if I brought you into this,” said Ariel.

“It wasn’t your fault. How could it have been?” asked Zak. The longer they talked the more

he wanted to know what she knew, but he didn’t want to force information out of her. 

“Never mind, we should get some rest,” she said walking away. 

Zak hadn’t noticed until then that Nephtili was watching from a distance. She had stayed

back in the trees. The way she kept looking at him was l ike she knew him. Ariel was right though.

 They all needed some rest. He could talk to her later.

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

18/26

 They passed through a few more trees and came into a clearing. It had taken them a few

hours of walking the next morning to get there. It was farther than any of them thought it would be.

 The arena loomed over them. It had to have been at least fifteen stories high. They started towards

it and it grew with each passing step. None of them knew why it would be out in the middle of

nowhere. The only reason Zak even entertained the idea of going to the strange Roman building was

that they needed supplies and it was their best option. Zak noticed some tire tracks leading to the

 wall, so they followed them until they got to an opening that led inside. Zak rushed inside. Out of

curiosity the others followed him. As they entered the gates behind them shut. They all stopped and

looked at them.

“I guess that leaves us only one way to go then,” Zak said. They pressed on towards the

inner arena. As they entered Zak looked off to the right and saw all of the people that had been

taken at the auditorium sitting in a cage.

 A voice came over an intercom, and said, “What a pleasure it is to have you here. I have to

say I had my doubts that you would make it here. Would you all be so kind as to step out of the

entryway? It would be most helpful.” As he finished two huge guys in full armor came up behind

them. They must have been at least nine feet tall. They ushered them out to the center of the arena.

“Yes, that is much better,” said the voice. That was when Zak realized it was the voice of the guy

that spoke at the reunion. “You know , Zak, you have been quite the helpful Mithren. I do have to

thank you for bringing them here. You made this much easier. It’s too bad that they no longer need

your assistance. Kill the Mithren and bring the rest to me. Too bad you could have lived had you

only listened.” Zak fell down grabbing his head; this one hurt more than all of the others.

He saw a man in all white tell him “You are a Mithren.” Then he flashed to an older man

 with a white beard. He heard himself saying, “I’m a Mithren.” The pain went away and he stood

Comment [SL7]: Consider making th part of the next paragraph.

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

19/26

again. About thirty Renewing soldiers in black cloaks jumped down from the seats and completely

surrounded them. The two knights each drew a very large sword. The Renewing all had different

sorts of weapons. Zak gripped his sword tightly, getting ready to fight. Knowing that the others

 were safe was a reassuring thought for him. When the Renewing were almost on top of them, two of

the soldiers threw off their cloaks. It was Phil and Van.

Phil and Van jumped next to him pulling out their weapons. Zak was surprised how

confident they looked. He was scared for once and he was growing more and more confused. The

only reason he kept going was that he knew he needed to, but they had real purpose. “You ready for

this?” Phil asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Nice of you to do some of the work,” Zak said blocking a sword and

moving to attack.

“You had things under control, and I felt we earned a short vacation,” said Phil jokingly

sarcastically . “Tell you what; you can have the next one.” One of the Renewing agents shot a fire

ball at them. Zak rolled out of the way. That’s new  , He thought, as another vision flashed in his head.

He saw a man throwing fireballs at him in an alleyway. Phil and Van were dodging and delivering

serious strikes, trying to fend off the enemyie’s seemingly endless barrage of enemy’s. Phil started to 

creating balls of fire and throwing them at the Renewing  that were attacking them. He deflected

their fire blasts as well. Van started throwing Renewing soldiers with gusts of wind. He was moving

so fast that Zak couldn’t keep track of him. Zak looked at them in astonishment thinking, What is

 going on ?   Aa re they controlling the elements? They  were killinged a few Renewing when one of the knights

swung a sword like a baseball bat at Zak  like he was swinging a baseball bat . Zak blocked the sword,

but it threw him across the arena. He hit the wall then fell to the ground. He saw a man in all black

armor coming towards him, and then the vision faded. When he came to, the knight was standing

Comment [SL8]: Probably a better fit

Comment [SL9]: Is it just the part aboin black armor that comprises the vision?

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

20/26

above him about to slam the sword on top of him. Zak rolled out of the way, dodging the blow

 which broke off a chunk of the wall. He stood back up and saw two Renewing running towards

some stairs and up the side of a tower. One was holding Ariel and the other was holding Nephtili.

Everyone else was standing behind Phil and Van. Steh had gotten a sword from one of the

Renewing agents and was helping Phil and Van cover the others. She was weaving in and out of the

agents blows, taking them down. Phil and Van were fending off the main attack. Davis and Clare

 were providing cover fire. Clare was shooting water balls, and disks from behind Phil. Zak heard a

grunt and barely dodged another earth-shaking blow. One of the giant swords was planted in the

ground, the soldier struggling to pull it out of the ground. Using this to his advantage, Zakhe 

stepped on the blade to push himself up and cut through the weak armor at the elbow, while

propelling himself into the air. The knight snarled and stepped back letting go of the sword. Zak

landed behind him. He swung around and cut open the back of the knight’s knees, the knight fell to

the ground.

^^^ 

 As Zak stood up Van yelled at him, saying, “Go save the two in the tower!” 

“What about you?” he shouted back. 

“We have it handled. Save them,” was his reply. 

“No, I meant can’t you go up in the tower?” replied Zak jokingly.

“Just go,” answered Van. Zak started running up the tower and dodged a stream of

lightning. Another vision opened and he saw himself shooting lightning. Zak shook it off; with the

next blast Zak held out his hand and caught the lighting. He then threw it back at the Renewing. He

kept running up the tower hitting or throwing Renewing out of his way as he came across them.

Some of them shot fire, water, or electrical attacks at him, but he dodged them, or blocked them

 with his sword, and knocked the Renewing out of his way. Finally he reached the top. A helicopter

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

21/26

sat ahead. That’s where they were bringing them to. He cut one of the guards, and hit him out of the

 way, and then he kicked another one off the edge. Two more of them came at him. One had a spear,

the other an axe. They both stopped as another hooded man came down from the helicopter.

 That voice from the speakers emanated came from him, saying “You never did learn how to

give up, did you?” A helmet under the man’s hood completely covered his face. Zak realized that he

had pointed shoulder armor. Points came out and above the cloak. He had sleek , black armor under

his cloak that covered the rest of his body. His sword was still sheathed at his side , his with one 

hand resting on the handle.

“Who are you and what do you want with them?” asked Zak. 

“Don’t you remember?” he said shaking his head. “Sad really . yY ou don’t even know who I

am after all that we’ve been through, what you’re fighting for, or even who you are, for that matter.

 You are the worst killer here. It would be better for you to just go back to your life, your life here,

and forget that all of this ever happened. No one would blame you for walking away right now. I

promise that if you leave, none of my people will ever bother you again. It’s a shame; I had high

hopes for you as an asset.”

“I may not know everything, but I know enough to know that what you’re doing is no good

and that I have to try to stop you before you hurt more people,” Zak replied. 

“You’re confused. You think that what you do is for good. So you want to act the hero

part,” he said, looking over the side down into the arena. “You are on the wrong side. I am not the

 villain of this tale. Do you even know who it is that you are working for? You have no idea what

they are doing. I am trying to free this people — , to give them an opportunity to be free and equal.

 All I seek is justice. To prepare the worlds for the return of The Mormhaor. Let me show you what

power you can have if you are on the right side.” He cut his hand with a knife and raised it above his

head. Dark clouds began to form together. Out of the clouds came a giant black dragon. Its head

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

22/26

 was tiny compared to its body  which. It must have been at least a fifty meters long and twenty - five

meters wide at the shoulders. Its horns curved around its head creating the appearance of a helmet,

the points twisting to its mouth. Its tail had four spikes creating the appearance of swords pointing

out of it. It let out a roar that shook the stadium and causeding  all the fighting to stop.

 The Reclaimer then looked back down on Zak and said, “Now the choice is yours. yY ou can

try to save the two of them, or you can save all of those that call themselves innocent in the arena. I

don’t want to kill anyone. No one was ever supposed to die, but they left me no choice.” He

lowered his hand laughing. “Think fast. My pet is on his way down.” Zak looked up ats the 

descending  dragon began its decent while it that was gatheringed a blast of energy in its mouth. He

looked at the two girls beingas they  brought them to the chopper. Then Zak looked at the people

below.

Can I take down a dragon? I don’t know if I can save Nephtili and Ariel. That guy was right . I don’t

know what to do. I don’t know who I am. I thought that  I did, but now I have no idea. Zak decided he needed

to do something, so he jumped just as the dragon was passing, stabbing his blade into its back. He

started running up its back as fast as he could, dragging his blade through its flesh. Zak reached its

neck just as the dragon started to level out. He jumped, pulling , his blade out of it. Zak raised the

sword up pointing the tip down towards the dragons head. He stabbed it down forcing it through

the middle of its two horns and landed a foot on each one. As it hit the ground, tThe dragon blew

up as it hit the ground, throwing Zak. As he flew through the air he saw its body disintegrating.

Everyone on the ground looked fine. For a moment Zak felt at peace. He turned to see where he

 was going just before he crashed into the tower he had run up. Zak got up quickly wobbling from

the hit. The ground was moving as he tried to gain his balance. He saw himself in a cavern with a

girl and an African man. Zak looked down. He was standing in a pile of rubble and blood. He

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

23/26

started to fall when the vision ended. Zak realized that he was probably dizzy from the crash. He

shook his head —  he knew  he was dizzy from the crash. He then looked at the blood dripping on the

ground and thought that that may have also been a factor. Zak hadn’t taken any serious hits but the

hits were starting to add up.

Zak ran back out to the outer ring. The two Renewing agents ran at him. He grabbed the

spear of the first and threw him off the wall. It seemed like the easiest solution to him. The other

agentone shot a stream of electricity at him. Zak’s sword absorbed the shock. Then he just cut

through the axe kicking its owner out of the way. Zak continued towards the chopper. The leader

stepped out holding Nephtili by the wrist.

“I just can’t get rid of you, can I?” he said in frustration. “The ball’s back in your court.

Choose one. Remember you brought this fate.” He threw Nephtili off the edge and into the arena.

 Without hesitation Zak ran and dove off after her. He caught her on the way down, flipped around,

and fired a dark energy blast at the ground. The explosion slowed them down and cushioned their

fall. Zak landed feet first on the ground holding her in his arms. His legs gave out underneath him.

 They fell and Zak rolled onto his back. His whole body ached.

I can’t go on  , he told himself. I’ve given it my all. Any time he tried to move, his body didn’t

respond. His head was light and there wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t scream in pain. 

 Then Zak heard Phil’s voice saying, “Get up and keep going. You can do it.” Zak struggled

getting back up. Phil was next to him. “Don’t worry ; the girl’s fine, and Van has our backs. And it’s

about time that you pulled out those blasts of yours, but you need to get back up there as fast as you

can. You have to earn your vacation.”

“Can’t you or Van go?” Zak asked “I’m falling apart here. I have faith in you; y ou’ve always

been my hero.” 

Formatted:  Font: Garamond, Italic

Formatted:  Font: Garamond

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

24/26

“No, stop flattering me,” he chuckled., “ Ww e can’t go. Y ou’re the only one strong enough

to take out the Reclaimer. Oh, and by the way we could have handled the dragon. . .… just not as

easily. So thanks. But you need to get going.” He helped Zak stand back up. He patted him on the

back, “You can do it, good luck,” he added as he ran off. 

“Thanks a lot” Zak said under his breath. Zak looked up. The chopper hadn’t left yet. With

a sigh, he started running up the tower.

Zak got to the top just as it was lifting off. He ran towards it with all the strength he had left.

 The Reclaimer was hanging out of the chopper with a dark energy ball that was pulsating with

electricity and ice in his hand. He threw it straigh t at Zak. “I should have killed you in the beginning , 

hHusk . iIt would have spared me more than one sleepless night.” Zak tried to raise his sword to

block the energy ball, but his arms didn’t move. . .… he watched the energy ball coming closer. Zak

closed his eyes and heard a bang, but didn’t feel a blast. He opened his eyes. Someone hooded in all

 white had blocked it. “Why do you all keep interfering with my work ?! All of you? None of you

understand the evil that I keep at bay,” the Reclaimer yelled as he flew away. The person cloaked in

 white turned around to face Zak just as Phil, Steh, Clare, and Van came out of the tower with

swords raised to fight. They saw the helicopter flying away and lowered their swords.

 The woman in the white cloak took off her hood and said to Zak, “You chose the wrong

one to save. Now we have a lot more work to do. Who knows where he is going to bring her. At

least we saved the others.” She looked straight into his eyes and said, “You are a mess, and we have

to do something about that memory of yours, now don’t we, Master Ryder. Without that y ou won’t

be a very good Seraph. You don’t even remember how to use your powers.” Zak could feel his eye

lids getting heavier.

Comment [SL10]: Muttered?

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

25/26

 Then he heard Phil’s voice saying, “Go ahead and take a break, buddy, you earned a

 vacation. E verything is under control. We’ll tell you about everything when you wake up. He didn’t

know any better,  Amanda; he doesn’t have his memory back yet.” Zak felt his legs give way as his

eyes closed and he fell to the ground.

“The others are waiting for us,” said Amanda impatiently  and flustered. “Peter is on his way

here with reinforcements.” 

“Okay , we’ll grab Zak and get going,” said Phil in a commanding way. “We almost have our

team back together.” 

 Just before Zak passed out he thought I am definitely in over my head. 

 Then Amanda added, “Sleep while you can, Master Ryder. Y ou’ll need your strength for

 what’s coming.” Zak passed out, fighting to stay awake, but he didn’t have the strength. He felt like

he was falling apart. His body disappeared in front of all of them.

“Crap, what was that?” asked Phil, as Zak had disintegrated in front of all of them.

“That wasn’t the real Zak,” said Amanda. “That was a shadow clone. I’ll get ahold of the rest

of the Caileseques. We have a lot of work to do. If nothing else, I think we disrupted the Reclaimer ’s

plans. So that’s something.” 

“What do we do now?” asked Phil. 

“We regroup and reassess from there,” said Amanda. “Peter and his team are still gathering

 what’s left of our allies.” 

“What do you think happened to the real Zak?” asked Phil. “Do you think he’s still alive?” 

“We can worry about that later. For now let’s get these people to safety,” said Amanda.

“At least we saved Phi,” said Phil. 

8/18/2019 1 Who am I (Edit)

26/26

“They took her again while we we’re driving them away,” said Van walking back up to them.

He hunched over catching his breath. “I’m sorry . I didn’t notice them take here, and by the time I

did notice there were too many for me to handle.” 

“We still saved more than I expected,” said Amanda. “We can’t dwell. W e need to keep

moving forward.”