Chapter Three: The Chase My throat was dry. I had been running for hours now, and I hadn't found any kind of civilization. How far had Faenza taken me? My body was aching everywhere, but I knew I couldn't stop. If I stopped to rest, Faenza would find me. I knew I couldn't run forever, but I could try. Nothing in Gym class prepared him for this run. This chase. All the five mile runs we did didn't even compare to this run. I listened closely and tried to drown out the sound of my heavy breathing. There was nothing I could hear. Maybe Faenza decided not to follow me. Why would he just let me go? It wouldn't make sense for him to let me go. He seemed to really want to kill me. He didn't seem like the type of person that would just give up. No, he had to be chasing after me. I was sure of it. My sight began to get a little blurry. I felt sick to my stomach. The last thing that I ate was Gringcakes, and that certainly wasn't enough to power all the running I was doing. I was getting ready to pass out, but that was when I saw a light in the near distance. It was so close. I stood up and pushed myself all the way to the light. When I got passed the light I was excited. I had finally reached a civilization. I ran up to the nearest house and knocked on the door. I waited a minute. Then, I knocked again. There had to be someone home. I looked up to the suns and saw that they were still up, but just about it go down. There had to be someone home. I attempted to knock one last time, but after I hit the door once I fell and passed out. ~~~ When I woke up I was in a bed, and there was a wet cloth on my forehead. I laid forward, but when I did the room started spin and I got light headed again. So, I stayed laid down, and tried to look at the room from where I was. The walls of this room were blue, and they were covered in posters of women. Just from what the room was decorated with, I could tell that it was a guy’s room. I laid down for another hour before someone came in. It was a woman. "Hello, I'm Korra Johnson." She introduced herself while changing the cloth on my forehead for a new cloth. "Oh, and sorry about last night. We were out for dinner and we got in late. You were passed out in front of our door when we found you. Poor thing, you must've been out for awhile." She grabbed a glass of water and helped me drink it. I was in a pretty bad condition, and Korra knew it. She was babying each sip of water to me. When I finished drinking the water I could smell food. God, food smelt so good. I hadn't realized how intoxicating food smelt. Probably because I hadn't had any in forever, and I had just ran over thirty miles. I watched her cut the food up into little pieces before she fed it to me. It was really weird having a strange woman feeding me. To be honest I felt like I was intruding. I mean, I just showed up on their footsteps, and they took me in. Plus, I'm taking up someone else's room. When she finished feeding me, she started cleaning everything up. She was very quite, but Korra was also so nice, and caring. She came around to my bedside and fluffed up my pillow. I was so thankful of her. I was really weak. That run really took a lot out of me, but I was able to manage a few words, "Thank you." Korra smiled, "You're welcome, sweetie. My brother will be up here soon to work out. He's very dedicated to his body." I watched her leave, and smile at me one last time before she closed the door. I leaned forward a bit. I was able to see the floor. All of the stuff in the room consisted of weights, work-out magazines, protein shake cans, random clothes, and work-out machines. She wasn’t lying when she said that her brother was very dedicated to his body. The door to the room opened, so I leaned back on my pillow and pretended to be asleep. The person that walked in had to of been her brother, because this person walked differently. He walked with more of a stomp in his step. While Korra was very, very light footed. It was almost like she was floating around. Her brother walked close to the bed and stood at the side. I assumed he was examining me, but I couldn’t be sure. I started to breathe a little heavier. He was still standing at the side. Wasn’t he supposed to be working out? Right now, it didn’t seem like he was too interested in working out. All I could think of was why he was watching me! I relaxed a little when I heard him walking away. I was actually beginning to fall asleep again, until I heard a loud thump and an even louder yell of explicit words. I leaned up in the bed to see, what I assumed to be, Korra’s brother. He was mumbling something underneath his breath. I wasn’t able to make out the words, but I just assumed they weren’t very good. “Hey, um, are you okay?” I asked feeling a bit awkward. He snapped his head back in embarrassment. I guess he didn’t know I was awake. He stood up quickly and walked back over to the bedside. “Hey, I know you’re our ‘guest’ or ‘patient’, but if you tell anyone what you just witnessed, I’ll kick your ass.” He walked away and grabbed some of his weights and began working out. “By the way, I’m Ara, Korra’s brother.” Ara was a pretty tall guy and very muscular. I studied his face. His brown hair was styled very neatly. As I focused more I noticed that he had a scar underneath his right eye. I wondered where it came from . . . I shook my head, “I’m Darain.” I replied back, sinking back into the bed. Ara didn’t really seem to like me. So I decided that I shouldn’t mess with him. Though, there was one question that I wanted to ask. I didn’t think that my question would make him upset, but I guess I would find out. I sat up and cleared my throat. “Ara, what did you mean when you said that I was your guys’ ‘guest’ or ‘patient’?” “Korra’s a nurse. When she saw you passed out at are door she saw you as a patient and emitted you into her ‘Hospital’.” He said rolling his eyes. “By the way, this isn’t really a hospital. Korra just didn’t want to emit you to an actual hospital, because she could tell that you weren’t from here. People that aren’t from here get treated like trash. Korra’s always been very kind hearted.” “Okay, where exactly am I?” I asked very perplexed. “You’re in Faenzic. You know, Nortic Susion.” Ara said shrugging his shoulders. Oh god. I was in the capital of Nortic Susion. It was where Faenza had grown up, and it’s the city where he formed his army. I should’ve guessed that Faenza brought me somewhere he was familiar with the surroundings. It would only be a matter of time till he found me. I needed to get out of this place before I put Ara and Korra in danger. “Ara, I have to go. Do you know which direction I need to take to get to Disen Rowan?” I asked worriedly. “Whoa, why are you in such a rush to leave?” Ara asked putting his weight down and standing up in my way. “It’s something you don’t want to know.” I responded attempting to walk past him, but Ara stepped in my way again. “Try me.” Ara replied. I knew he wasn’t going to give up, and I couldn’t waste any time. “Fine!” I yelled. I sat back on to the bed. “I’m just going to sum my whole situation up. Faenza from the Story of the Moon is back and he’s trying to reform his army. Faenza is also after the Moon Warriors, which is why he’s after me. Apparently I’m the first one that’s been discovered, so he’s trying to kill me. Now, if you don't let me go both you and Korra will be in danger.” I panted so I could catch me breathe. I was able to say that whole thing in only one breathe. Nothing felt more accomplishing than that. I looked up at Ara, who was still trying to process the whole thing. He was scratching his head and his mouth was open. It wasn’t a very pretty sight. “How do I know if you’re telling the truth?” Ara finally asked. “Thing is, is that I can’t really prove it. All I can tell you is that if you don’t listen to me you and Korra will be in-” I was cut off by a scream coming from down stairs. It sounded like Korra. Ara and I both met each others gaze and sprinted down stairs. When we got down there, there was a ghastly dark figure holding Korra. I looked at the monster closely. It was big, it had very large spike looking things on its head, it's eyes were glowing red, it was gnawing to show off it's teeth, and it was floating. Like it was a ghost. Whatever it was, it was choking Korra, and it didn’t seem like Korra could take much more of it. Ara ran towards the thing, but it just hit him into the wall. I looked at Ara, he had been knocked out. I didn't know what to do! But if I didn't do anything soon Korra was going to die, and it'd be all my fault. I couldn't let Korra die. Not after everything she's done for me. I grabbed a chair that was over to my left and I ran toward the monster and broke it on it's back. It turned around quickly and took a swing at me, but I was able to dodge it. I don't know how I was able to, but I was. I looked at the monster. It looked even more pissed. The monster threw Korra off to the side and charged at me. I looked around if there was anything else I could attack the monster with, and that's when I thought of the weights Ara used. I ran back up stair, and the monster followed me. When we were both in the room together I closed the door and locked us in there. The monster gave me a sinister grin, showing off all of it's teeth. Once again, the monster charged at me. I stayed still. Letting him just get close enough. Then, I moved to the side and the monster missed me. It crashed through the window that was behind me and crashed into the ground. I looked out of the whole in Ara's wall, and looked down at the monster. It was twitching around on the ground, and it let out a roar. I looked over to one of Ara's work out machines and started pushing it towards the hole. Once I got it to the hole I paused for a second, then I pushed it over the side. The monster let out one final roar. Right before it died. I felt weird. There was a strange feeling in my stomach. It wasn't a normal feeling. Is that how it felt to kill something? Deep down inside, I felt bad for killing the Monster. Even if there really wasn't any other way. It just didn't feel right. I pushed the feeling aside, I knew I would have to kill again. I walked down the stairs to go see Korra and Ara. When I got down I saw Ara holding Korra. He was crying. I walked over to him. "Hey, is Korra alright?" I asked cringing my face a bit. Ara shook his head slowly. "She's dead." My stomach dropped even more. It was my fault she was dead. I should've acted sooner instead of just waiting. "This was the work of Faenza, wasn't it?" Ara asked, turning around towards me. He looked very vengeful. I thought about how he must be feeling. He just lost his sister . . . I knew that if anything ever happened to Jai I'd want revenge. I nodded my head slowly. "Okay then, I'm coming with you. I need to take revenge for Korra's death." Ara said looking back at Korra. "Are you sure you want to?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I've never been more sure in my life." Ara responded, getting up and walking towards his room. ~~~~ Okay . . . I wasn't sure how to write or how to end this chapter.