The new version, finished editing it myself tonight though i think i may go through a couple new drafts before i am done with it...

Prologue

                It was dark. Darker than most nights, the moon and stars obscured by clouds, the closest city was so far away that even the slightest glimmer of light couldn't reach this forest. The wind whistled, flowing around the dried dead branches of the trees. There were no other sounds as an owl floated above; listening for the scratches of claws on wood that would tell it where to strike.

                There was nothing here though, no sounds of any creatures a meal. The bird flapped its wings twice to stay afloat as the hunger gnawed at the pit of its stomach. It had flown here because there was no competition for food, and now it was becoming aware of why. There appeared to be nothing living in the forest, everything long dead. It didn't make sense; all of the wood should be providing havens for plenty of little rodents.

                The owl flapped its wings again, turning in the air to begin hunting in a new direction. The lack of prey here was driving it away. That was when it heard something.  Footsteps. Yes, it defiantly heard footsteps running through the forest. Its eyes caught a glimpse of white fabric flowing between the giant tree trunks. The gnarled branches made it too hard to fly closer but the owl floated above watching as the creature fled.  

                The owl could see it was a woman, how strange! She was wearing a white dress though close to the ground it wasn't anywhere close to that anymore, stained a red brown shade, it was worn thin in areas and nothing but threads in others. The torn tatters floated above bloodstained feet, she placed them gingerly on the ground as she ran on. Her hair had at some point been in a neat braid but that had fallen apart and now swept around her face. That face that was drawn tight with fear, her eyes wide and bright in the night. Her breath came in gasps and pants, it was clear that soon she wouldn't be able to keep running.

                Despite the apparent exhaustion flowing through her frame the woman didn't fall, she sidestepped roots that hid in the shadows, and slipped around tree trunks. She seemed to know where to step instinctively, moving swifter than most people could dream of managing during the daylight.

                What she was running from? The owl didn't know, as it circled over head it couldn't hear anything coming, it hadn't seen anything. What was so terrifying that she was sprinting like this? It decided to follow her further and then it heard it. The sound of a single claw on bark. It was a tiny snap, hardly noticeable, it shouldn't have carried far but the hunter of the night heard it.

                The woman below began to run faster, her feet that shouldn't have been able to move faster did. The lungs that should have already been ready to burst worked even harder. How she heard the noise was a question the owl might have asked if it could.

                Suddenly a bright light pierced the night; the owl screeched and flapped its wings as it rose in the air. Its eyes smarting from the unexpected light it looked back, the light was coming from the woman though it was slowly bleeding away.

                There wasn't a woman in a white dress anymore, there was a warrior. Her hair was tied back into a braid which hung down between her shoulder blades where two swords crossed over. She was wearing dark brown leather. Around her waist was a belt that was covered in knives and a single pouch which glowed faintly.

                As the owl watched on, its wings spread so that it could silently soar forward, a shadow shot towards her. A silver flash signalled that she unsheathed a single blade and the scent of copper soared skyward as a thin wiry body slammed into the base of a tree. It snarled at her as she ran on, not stopping to finish it off.

                The glow that was coming from her skin showed a creature that seemed to be made of muscle with a layer of skin and fur stretched across it. Its eyes were what sunk in though, bulging out and filled with some kind of rage that told you it wouldn't stop hunting until it was in pieces or dead, whichever came faster. The owl suddenly thought it heard rodents scampering in another direction and shifted its flight.

                The woman sheathed her sword on the run, pulled the bag from her waist along with a knife and stabbed it through the cloth at the top of the bag. Leaping through the air she slammed the knife into a tree trunk, effectively hanging the bag there. She was down to the last one, if she could just hide it then it wouldn't matter what happened to her. She stood in front of the tree while howls started behind her. Apparently she wasn't being chased by just one.

                She raised her hand towards the bag and focused; the long dead wood shuddered and then pulled the bag and knife inside itself. She kept her hand in place when two creatures leapt towards her, their claws outstretched to tear her flesh into pieces.

                The first slammed her into the tree and rode her body down to the ground. Blood welled from where claws sunk into flesh and muscle. She grunted with pain when it struck but then went down with it. Words flowed from her mouth that burned the air around them and the creature was flung from her to strike a tree with enough force that it wavered back and forth when it tried to walk towards her, clearly dazed.

                The second didn't strike so quickly but instead darted forward to slash at her exposed back. The leather parted like butter before a knife. The woman cried out at that, a slight sound before turning to face the creature, just in time to catch a tackle which threw her against the tree before it darted away.

                The first, while still wobbly on its feet, shook its head and rushed forward but stopped just out of her reach. Gingerly the woman withdrew the swords from the sheaths on her back. She lifted them up in a defensive position. She backed slowly up against the tree, never taking her eyes from the two creatures that faced her.

                Growls started low in their throats and gradually carrying forward in some bizarre harmony of hunter that has trapped its prey. One of them lunged forward, its growl growing to a roar. She turned and lashed out with both blades as it dodged back just out of reach while the second leapt for her back and shoved her to the ground before leaping off.

                The first then rushed up and clawed its way over her back before climbing into the tree. It snarled down at her while she levered herself upright. She was moving slowly now, blood was flowing from several holes in her back, her face was scratched, and she was covered in muck from the forest floor.

                "So it is like that is it?" she murmured, more to herself than to the two creatures that surrounded her now. She slammed the swords into the ground and pulled two knives from her belt before launching herself at the creature still on the ground.

                She hit it, though whether it was because she was fast enough or because the creature was surprised that she would try something like that was unknown. The two of them rolled over and over on the ground. There were flashes of knives and claws. Blood watered the long dead ground while snarls and grunts rent the night time air.

                Then as quick as the fight began it ended. The creature lay on top of her. It shuddered and snarled, then fell over. She stood up, blood pouring freely from all over her. She swayed on her feet, her hair now matted. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, but only smeared more blood. A grimace crossed her face before she yelled up at the tree "Two down, one to go, bring it you overgrown ferret!"

                The creature looked at her and nearly flew from the tree it leapt so swiftly. It slammed her into the ground, its claws digging into her shoulders. It raised its head back for a strike when she spoke again. She spoke one word but that word lit up the night, the ground shook and the creature began to glow.

                It jumped back from her, the glow becoming brighter and brighter. It howled at the night sky, it crouched down to the ground. It began to toss mud and dirt up onto its back, where they began to steam. Flames sprouted from its eyes and mouth, before spreading over its entire body as it screamed. It screamed and screamed until there was nothing more than ash on the ground, a grey powder to be blown away in the next wind.

                The woman lay still in the mud except for the rise and fall of her chest. She shuddered as she began to slowly get up. "That one still bothers me... But sometimes there is no other option." Her voice was soft, restrained. It carried that tone of someone who is struggling to keep down their vomit.

                "That may be but you still use it, and you can't argue that you are effective with it."

                The voice came from the forest, and she had frozen at the sound of it. Her shuddering, her breathing even it seemed, had frozen at the sound of that voice.

                An old man slowly walked between the trees. His body was hunched over and he leaned heavily on a twisted old cane. He wore simple clothes, all a uniform brown in color. He was completely bald, and had only a little bit of a beard on his face, pure white stubble that must have grown in the past few days. His eyes sparkled deep in his wrinkled face. He had the look of someone's ancient grandfather.

                "Why are you sitting there in the mud miss?" he asked "And such a mess you have become, let me clean you up."

                He waved one of his hands and a light waved out from it to wrap around her and lift her to her feet. It gathered around her for a moment before breaking into pieces and fading from sight. When it cleared she was clean and healed.

                "Such a cold place..."the old man muttered "what we need here is a fire and a place for me to rest my bones. It has been a long walk following you here, the least you could have done is had a fire ready..." He turned to one of the trees and gently pushed it. The tree split down the middle providing a place for him to sit. He sat and then lifted his hands and gestured at the ground in between them.  Branches snapped from the trees all around and gathered together. When he snapped his fingers they all caught fire.

                "That's much better my dear, would you like me to prepare you a seat? Or will you stand? You'll most likely stand; you would prefer to be able to run again as soon as possible. Still grasping at straws, but this time they won't help."

                It was at this point she found her voice "Salvatore what are you doing here? I knew I would be chased, knew I would be caught, but by you?" The voice that left her throat was filled with emotions, they crowded each other, fighting for space in the few words. Shock warred with fear but both of them were filled with something that there is no label for, that special kind of fear when you face a teacher or a parent knowing that you wronged them.

                Salvatore sighed at this. "What would you expect my dear? As far as everyone else thinks you are just a common thief, I know the difference though. I know what you really did." He sighed again, like a tired grandparent scolding her for taking a cookie. The only thing which gave a hint of how truly upset he was, were his eyes. They burned with a rage and pain that he kept completely from his voice.

                "I am not-" she began before he cut her off, though this time his voice thundered with power and rage "No, you are much worse than that! You betrayed my trust! You betrayed me and stole things that you don't understand, that have uses you can't imagine!" Pain coloured his voice this time. Pain and shock.

                "Salvatore please-" she began.

"No. You have only one option, return them. Return the things that you stole from me. Return them or make me take their locations from you."

                "I can't do that. I am sorry."

                "No my dear, you aren't yet, but you will be." His voice lost its passion with these words, becoming a dead thing simply swaying with wind. It was the voice of someone who accepted the costs even though they would never willingly pay it.

                Before she could say anything she flew up against a tree. She couldn't move a muscle, not a single twitch. He rose from his self made thrown. Light came down from the sky, slowly covering him as his body grew, muscle formed, he stepped from the light and was more than a head and shoulders taller. He had thick dark hair and was clean shaven.

                With a gesture the fire rose in the air and its light grew to illuminate the entire area. The light shone off the blades of the two swords, still impaled in the earth. He looked at them and strolled over to them. With a hand on each he pulled them free.

                "Nice toys let me make a little change to them." He spoke three words over one and then the other. The first began to glow with an orange like, the second with a soft blue. "See, the right words and the right power turns a simple sword into a proper channel for power. Let's have you experience that power right NOW!"

                With those words he crossed the two swords and a flood of light rushed from them to slam into her. It was blinding, a stream of power so strong that it was impossible to see her form anymore. The light burned away the tree behind her. It blazed a path through the forest. There was nothing left that it touched to burn.

                When he at last separated the swords there was nothing left behind her. Steam rose from her clothes, her body was limp and her eyes were screaming. She tried to speak, but nothing happened. He strolled towards her.

                When he smiled down at her his teeth flashed broad and white. "See the power that I can bring to bear against you? Time itself is something I can unwind. Now tell me where I can find what you stole from me!" Power thrummed from his body, visibly vibrating the air around him.  He implanted the swords in the ground on either side of himself and raised a hand towards her, palm first.

                Dark tentacles extended from his palm to wrap around her body, fastening into her flesh like giant leaches. Her back arched and she cried out, her voice harsh and broken. She began to tremble, her muscles flexing and tightening. Her body began to shut down. Darkness flickered around the edges of her vision. Just before it went completely black he closed his fist and the darkness vanished, she dropped to the ground flat on her face, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

                He walked to her side and turned her over with his foot. Her skin was pale, the frigid white of the infirm and soon to die. Sweat coated every single piece of visible skin.

He looked down at her and whispered "I taught you for years, I told you everything, and this what you do with it. You betray me. You risk the safety of the entire world." His face hardened as he continued "you cannot ever escape me. I will find you; I will follow you to The Source and drag you back until this world is safe."

                Her eyes opened as she looked up him. Her breathing was slowing down, her muscles trembled less now. Her eyes locked with him and a blast of energy raced up between them. He was knocked several feet back and up. She flipped herself to her feet and turned to face him, grabbing one of the still glowing swords from where it lay, point first in the ground.

                She rushed towards him, swinging the sword and firing bolt after bolt of blue lightning at him. He deflected them all with casual ease, sending them firing off into the dead forest all around them. They struck the trees and lit them all, causing an orange flickering light to play across the scene.

                With a gesture he sent a blinding white light between the two of them. When it cleared the fires were out, and she lay at the base of a tree, the sword gone. He walked towards her again, the expression on his face showing pain despite her never landing a critical blow.

                "What was that?" he asked "I taught you far better than that, I taught you to avoid the rushing the attack and instead focus on the weaknesses of your opponent. You know better."

                With a gesture he brought her to her feet. Though they were unsteady beneath her they held. She stumbled and he made a move to catch her but she caught herself first.

                She looked him in the eye and shrugged "You don't have any, and I figured my best bet was to try the unexpected. Apparently I was wrong."

                "You know that mistakes aren't that simple to let slide. With anyone else you would be dead on the ground. With anyone else you wouldn't have lived past that first blast."

                "Your right, with anyone else i would be dead already and no one else would have bothered to get this close" she said looking him in the eye as she spoke several glowing words in a long line. They dropped from her mouth and gathered around her.

                Salvatore leapt back from her, fear crossing his features. The words cloaked her in a glowing power that became stronger and stronger until she lit the forest in this area all by herself, brighter and harsher than daylight.

                "Why?" he asked "Why this?"

                In reply she raised her arm and unleashed energy towards him. He leapt aside and it destroyed a line of the forest, ploughed a trench through the earth and left a sound like thunder in its wake. He scrambled to pick up the remaining sword.

                "It is as you said" she spoke, her voice sounding in three, the first was her own, strong and rebellious, the second the sound of thunder over the ocean, loud and commanding. But this third voice that rang out was the one that terrified him. It was the voice of an angry god or angel, it spoke not to his ears but to his heart, he heard it in his soul. "I could not escape you, even in death when i would rejoin The Source you would find a way to hunt me. But if I no longer exist no one can continue to chase me."

                She then lunged towards him, her body moving faster than he could track, he barely had time to raise a wall around himself before she was there. He could feel the heat radiating from her through the wall of his own power.

                She placed a palm flat against it, cracks ran throughout it and it fell to pieces all around him. He felt her presence seep into him, her mind a burning presence in his own soul. His strength fled from his body and he began to fall towards her. All he could do was raise the sword in front of himself and impale her.

                She screamed and stumbled back from him. Her shriek caused cracks to form in the ground, caused trees to fracture and splinter along their height. Salvatore fell to the ground, his hands covering his ears. 

                She grasped the handle of the sword and pulled it from her flesh. Light poured from the wound instead of blood. She pressed a hand to it and looked at him. "This is my escape, my freedom at last. I know you will find your own one day. Remember though, it may not come in the form you desire."

                She sank to her knees and words began to pour from her mouth, words with no translation, words that together formed a song. Her body burned brighter and brighter. The ground around her caught fire. He rose from the ground and ran towards her, the temperature climbing the closer he got.

                He staggered the last few steps and caught her body as it fell, the last few words dropping from her lips before her eyes closed. Her skin burned his body, his clothes caught fire. The light slowly drained from her, leaving behind a dried body.

                He looked at her and tears began to form in his eyes. "Why?" he asked "Why?" he screamed to the sky. It was then that he gave in and cried, holding the mummified body of his last student.