'Because, my naive little brother, then we would have no means of getting down either.'

Ryan slapped Jaden on the back playfully and led him back to the vehicle.

'But now the Alliance is coming from the south,' said Jaden.

'Yes, we've heard. We will be ready. You don't have to worry about that. The force they bring from the south will not even be half of what they could bring across the Quartun Bridge at any moment. We have fended them off for years; we will not fail simply because they attack from another direction.'

'General,' said the driver. 'There is news.'

'What is it?' asked Ryan.

'Waikor has been defeated.'

Jaden moved quickly forward. 'What?' he asked.

The driver continued. 'The Alliance made a second attack. The entire city is now in their command.'

'When did this happen?' asked Ryan.

'Early this morning,' said the driver. 'There was a distress call.'

'Survivors?'

'Unknown, sir.'

'I have to go,' said Jaden.

Ryan turned to Jaden. 'Brother, think for a moment,' he said, signalling for a cool head to prevail in his hot-headed younger brother. 'Even if they survived, it will not be long before they are dead.'

'I can't stay here. I have to go,' repeated Jaden.

'Jaden, please, you would be throwing away your life. I can't let you do it. You have to let it go.' Ryan became silent as he saw the shudder of pain pass through his brother. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean-'

'I have to try,' said Jaden desperately. 'You said you would give me transport.'

'Yes, if the city was not under Alliance rule but-'

'Ryan, I have to find her!' Jaden yelled.

Ryan raised his hands in defeat, showing that he had no intention of fighting his brother on the issue. 'I will not argue with you, I am just trying to help you make the right decision.'

'There is no decision, I must go to her, now.'

The two brothers stared at one another, Jaden with piercing intensity and Ryan with regret and pity. But it was not long before Ryan gave in.

'It will pain me greatly if I am to lose you as well,' said Ryan. 'At least be careful. Don't try to get revenge on your own. We can help you do that when they come for us.'

Jaden nodded and Ryan seemed satisfied, knowing he would not be able to contain Jaden any longer.

'Driver, take him to the airfield. I will send orders for him to be taken to Waikor from there.'

'At once, sir.'

'I need you to come back,' said Ryan as Jaden hopped into the vehicle once more.

'It was good seeing you again,' said Jaden, and with a final bow to one another, the vehicle raced south toward the airfield at the very back of the city.

Almost an hour passed before they reached their destination, and as Ryan had said, a helicopter was waiting there for Jaden. Jaden said nothing as he was taken aboard and seated. He was almost oblivious to what was going on around him, so lost had he become in the possibilities of what may have happened at Waikor.

As the helicopter lifted into the air, Jaden asked the pilots to rouse him once they had landed, but not to disturb him until then. He then lifted the crystal around his neck to between his eyes and entered the city of ruins. He walked straight back into the single door, where a stairway had formed leading upward. He followed it into another room, and as if the crystal had read his desires, he was standing on open planes of red dirt, with countless forces of military personnel and vehicles stationed around him. None moved. He was entranced in his own thoughts of men, women and children lying lifeless-the families of Waikor, slaughtered by the very people who had killed his own family. He moved among the wreckage of buildings that had risen from the ground and then toward the edge of the battlefield. Tears welled in his eyes at what he knew was about to come-the frail, bloodied body of the one he loved, left dead under a crimson sky as fighter jets continued to circle like vultures around the carcass.

He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight, and tried to contain the hurt boiling inside him. He opened his eyes then to an evil world, of trees without leaves, black and covered in oil, the ground dry and cracked, and the sky as red as the blood that had been spilled before him. Bullets had begun to pierce the tender skin of people who had brought no harm to others, and Jaden felt something inside him break, as if a cord had simply snapped and whatever had been on either end was now flying in opposite directions away from him.

As the military forces began to move in on him, the endobraces ignited brighter than they ever had before, and Jaden was in the centre of waves upon waves of red and orange energy flowing out on to the battlefield.

The Alliance would now pay for their crimes.

With a shout of utter hatred, Jaden blocked the missiles being fired at him, causing them to explode on contact with his shield. Bullets disintegrated and artillery shells were vaporised as Jaden's power came forth. He then raced into the heart of the battle, causing men and machines alike to be sent high into the air as he passed.

To the pilots, Jaden's face remained perfectly calm, showing nothing of what he was experiencing in the crystal's realm. For hours he continued to fight against fictitious enemies until the battle finally came to an end. In his rage, he had understood something; something he had missed before, something of the dark-haired boy that had haunted his dreams in the past. With a final conscious breath, all disappeared into nothingness, and the crystal fell from his hands as he slumped back in the helicopter, where he would sleep the remainder of the journey.

Chapter Twenty-Six.

The difference between good and evil is interpretation.

March 8, 997 R.E.

The air was still, the storm above strangely silent. The great tear in the sky remained, but it was cold and gray. Jaden walked slowly through the grasses of the dream, allowing them to cling briefly to him as he passed, as if to celebrate his return and let them know that he had not forgotten. He allowed energy to run free from the endobraces, causing the grasses to grow beneath him. Like them, he was still alive, and now he shared his power with them in this forsaken place, where all was a dream, but a dream he somehow felt was more real than it seemed.

He was here now to find someone-the boy with black hair who would not speak to him. He wanted to face the danger, to stand strong against the paralysing fear. He would not be a slave to it anymore. He had realised this while within the crystal's realm.

All he had to fear was himself.

The boy was a part of him, a long lost piece of his childhood. He was a symbol of what Jaden had been years before-a child, helpless in the great and unforgiving world where disaster and greed ruled. It was what would cripple him and bring him to his knees, for no matter how powerful he became, he was mortal and at the mercy of the planet and universe.

As Jaden reached the top of the hill, the boy came into view. He stood several yards behind him and waited. A slight breeze began to blow in from the sea of oil to his right. He turned in its direction to see the military unit was now far in the distance, almost invisible on the horizon. They would be nearing their next conquest while the boy simply stood and watched, unmoving, helpless to do anything more. Jaden remembered the first day after the attack, and knew he had been like this not long ago.

'They're going to your home, aren't they?' he asked.

There was no reply at first, but the boy soon turned to him, revealing his face for the first time. His features were different to what Jaden had looked like at that age. Jaden wondered why he didn't recognise himself, or if that he had tried to hide from it so much that he had forgotten what he had been.

Tears welled in the boy's eyes as he nodded, and then all faded away as Jaden woke to the pilot's call.

'Sentinel, we have arrived.'

'At Waikor?' asked Jaden sleepily.

'As near as we can get. You'll have to walk a few miles east to get there.'

Without protest, Jaden stood and jumped out of the opened helicopter door. It was afternoon, and the sun was high, but he could find shelter from its heat in the shade of the trees as he walked.

'We will wait here for you,' said the pilot.

Jaden paused, but did not turn to him. He faced directly east, as if he were able to see his destination from where he stood.

'I'm not coming back,' he said. 'Tell General Daiyus that I am sorry.'

The pilot did not seem to have any argument as Jaden disappeared into the forest ahead, while the helicopter lifted and flew back north.

Jaden moved deep into the forest, thinking of what was to come and what he would do when he reached Waikor. He knew that his life could come to an end this day. The anger and hurt from losing Alyssa would be too strong to contain. He would exhaust himself getting the revenge he had sworn upon the Alliance so long ago. He would break the Daijuarn code, without care as he fought against those who had taken everything he had loved from him. They had first taken his home and family, and now if they had taken Alyssa, he knew that he would find no reason to hold back. A distant whisper came to mind, of a promise he had made himself when he had discovered Alyssa was still alive. He had promised he would never give in to death or suicide, as he could offer no protection deceased, and more innocent lives would be lost.

But if he had failed to protect Alyssa, despite his better judgement ... he would not be able to forgive himself.

There were constant stabbing pains in his stomach. His heart seemed to be caught in a vice that closed slowly upon it. He was desperate, in need of something, anything that would make it all stop. He began to run, as if it would allow him to escape what was inside. For two hours he did not rest, forcing himself to take the hardest routes he could find as he climbed small cliffs, swam across narrow rivers and jumped down rock ledges and over fallen trees.

He slowed when the hum of helicopter blades in motion became apparent, as well as other familiar mechanical sounds of Alliance vehicles. He knew he had to be close. Waikor was just beyond the trees. He skirted the area, trying to get as close as possible so that he could plan his attack. He avoided the fields, not wishing to be in the open for too long, and found his way to the thickest area of trees, shrubs and vines. Among them, he was able to hide the white of the Daijuarn garments, and he sat waiting, peering from a small gully behind a mess of tangled vine leaves and its host tree's limbs.

As he had expected, there were soldiers wearing Alliance uniforms roaming everywhere, the helicopters now on his right and tanks and other vehicles lined to his left. But there was no sign of the city of Waikor. All he could see was a giant wall of gray. He searched further, trying to get a glimpse of something that would reveal his true location, but beyond the wall, even the great mountain of Waikor would have been invisible. His first glimpse came when he saw a part of the city through a damaged section of the wall. It was far from him, but an entire section had been broken down, giving the aggressors access to the inner rings and confirming that the city was in fact under Alliance control. There was no sound of gunfire or any form of resistance. The Alliance had captured Waikor as they had Callibra.

The Waikorian people would either be rounded up in its centre or dead. He had to find out which answer was true. He had to get in there himself. But he would not find a way of climbing over the wall this time, nor would he attempt to sneak in. He was powerful now, and he knew it was time to show the Alliance just what they had created in him by taking what he loved.

The endobraces ignited and he stood to run out from the vines and onto the field, but as he got up, a strong force gripped him and pulled him backward, dragging him down to the ground where he was held. Jaden struggled, fighting his attacker, but quieted as the attacker's arm pointed just ahead of them, past the leaves. There Jaden saw the same black device and dim red light as he had outside the fort in Callibra; it was from the same type of landmine that had exploded when the guard fell onto it.

He hadn't seen it. He hadn't even thought to look.

His attacker had saved his life.

Soldiers came to investigate the rustle in the leaves, and a black cape was thrown over him, the one who saved his life now hiding them from the soldiers.

'What was it?' asked one of the soldiers.

After a long pause and a further rustling of the leaves, the other responded. 'Just a rat.'

The two soldiers walked away, and then Jaden's saviour spoke.

'Don't move.'

The voice was masculine and the accent was somehow familiar. Both of them remained completely still for some time before the man lifted the cape and told Jaden to get up.

'Walk back the way you came, then go north.'

'I have to get into the city,' said Jaden.

'You need to go north first,' responded the man.

Jaden complied. The man had saved his life. He deserved to be listened to for now. Jaden would argue with him later.

Both made their way from the vines with Jaden leading the way. Each time Jaden attempted to turn, the man shoved him in the back, telling him to keep walking, but Jaden needed to know the man's identity before he went any further.

'No,' he said, skipping two steps forward and turning to face him. Jaden was momentarily stunned as the face became clear, framed by long dark hair. 'You!' he shouted.

The man gave no reply as the two soldiers burst through the vines nearby.

'Sentinel!' they shouted.

'Run!' yelled the man with black hair.

Realising the danger, Jaden quickly sprinted the way the man had shoved him, falling back two steps behind him so that he was able to protect both of them from the bullets being fired. He wasn't sure if the energy he used would actually stop the bullets, but he used enough to ensure they would at least be deflected. He began to wonder if he should have tested the energy first, before thinking he could walk straight into a fortified city. It was a lesson many had tried to teach him, but his temper usually got the better of the judgment. There was no time to ponder now though as they ran as fast as they could from the soldiers, hearing the shouts of twenty or more now in their pursuit. The man that had both attacked and saved Jaden led them on a winding trail, around ledges and dense growths of trees, doing his best to lose the following Alliance soldiers. Jaden tried to gauge how far they were from them by turning his head and had almost collided with the man in front of him, who had stopped suddenly.

Jaden now saw that there was a beast from the palace in their way, and the man had no means of defence or escape. Jaden rushed forward, using the energy shown to him by Raquel to levitate the beast and slowly push it away. It screamed as it fought to break free, but without leverage, its superior muscles were of no use. Jaden threw the beast away from them with a final burst of energy, and he called for the man to follow him. But the man's face had turned white. Five more of the beasts had surrounded them.

'Trust me,' said Jaden, and he sent waves of white energy outward, pushing the beasts away and clearing the path for them as they went.

They could hear bullets being fired, most likely to make Jaden and the man think they had been seen, but the soldiers did not know that the beasts were near, and the random gunfire soon became aimed. There were screams then of man and beast alike, the Alliance soldiers walking straight into the centre of where the beasts had congregated. Orders to retreat were then shouted, and the battle continued as the gunfire moved slowly into the distance.

When he was satisfied they were safely away from the beasts and the soldiers, Jaden halted the man, refusing to go any further.

'I know you,' he said. 'You were in Callibra.'

The man looked confused.

'I saw you. You are their leader. You killed Don,' Jaden continued.

'I have killed no one by that name,' said the man.

'Who are you?'

'Who am I, or who do you think I am?' asked the man.

Jaden stared at him with hatred rising. 'You gave the order. You destroyed my village. You had him killed with that weapon of light.'

'The plasma cannon?' asked the man, now seeming to remember something. 'Ah, yes. You were inside the fort then.'

Jaden ignited the endobraces at the admission, causing the entire area to turn blue as white flares began to circle around them.

'Give me one reason why I should let you live,' said Jaden.

The man shrugged. 'I saved your life.'

'Give me another!'