The Shadows Book One: The War for EarthEnd.

Chapter Two - The Anubian Invasion.

Liki Wolfspirit.

Liki was sitting alone at the counter enjoying a nice drink of honey before the Feline knight came bursting in. Everyone in the bar turned to face the knight. He spun around in his seat with a cup of sweetly flavored drink in his hand to see what was going on.

Nine years had past since Uriay had found him as a child after his village had been ravaged by a rival pack. Uriay took Liki in as his own and they traveled outland to an island by the name of Mushroom isle. There he trained him as a fighter, speciliazing in the use of two daggers. A rogue Uriay had called it, Liki's namesake. While living with Uriay, Liki learned under him to be a Shadow, a special rogue who also used magic to aid him in combat and increase his abilities. Shadows were not very common now, due to a fued with other rogues.

According to Uriay, a long time ago The Shadows were a group of rogues who used thier skills for peace, helping others and taking payments in return when accepted. For their brave work, Gaia gave a few special rogues the ability of magic, and a rogue by the name of Tikak expermented with the elements of space and created a magic only rogues could use when given Gaia's blessing, Shadows. But, only the few individuals that Gaia thought worthy and selfless enough were given this gift, and those who didn't split from the organization and began stealing and plundering, murdering any who stood in their way of valuable objects.

The Shadows fought these other rogues, who had named themselves The Grey Circle. The Grey Circle used tactics The Shadows would not however, and they kept their operations in civilian areas were Shadows could not attack without putting innocent life in danger. The Shadows died out over the long run, leaving only few left to wander the world alone, one of those being Uriay's master. That war had been over a hundred years ago, Uriay's master similary took up him and taught him like he had done Liki. Now The Shadows were not known by any common folk, only The Grey Circle and its evil.

The style of a rogue suited Liki well, his training kept him in top shape, toned and muscular for a ten year old who had not even began puberty yet. His blue eyes now glowed, the sign that he knew how to use magic. He only knew how to use Shadow magic and a few druidic spells of restorations however. Shadow magic was very powerful however, the most commonly used Shadow abilities were more powerful or just as powerful as the biggest spell any grown mage could muster. Shadows were more then an element, Uriay said many times, the Element of Shadow had it's own mind, it's own concepts, and would only allow Liki to continue to use it as long as he kept to a code that was not very strict, but very serious in it's words. Gaia gave Liki her blessing in a dream he had one day when he was seven, and he was thrilled to find he could hear the Shadows around him and control them.

Any Beast would probably underestimate Liki's ability to fight at first glance. He only stood four feet tall at ten years of age, his tan outfit did not make him seem threatening, the only thing that marked him as a fighter was the two daggers that hanged on his waist by two holdsters.

He wore the exact same outfit that Uriay had; Tan leather armor, a cowl, pants, and a belt with four pouches along his waist for various other things, and a small backpack he carried with him on his travels. As a Shadow, he was never to take off his outfit, except for batheing. It was the uniform of a Shadow.

Uriay died of old age when Liki turned ten, about two weeks after his estimated birthday. Liki mourned him with the comfort of his other foster family, the Wolfspirits, who took him in since Uriay could not really completly provide for both of them. The Wolfspirits were at first just two, a male and his mate, who were trying to have a kid, but took Liki in when Uriay asked after they arrived there. When Liki was five, they succeeded in having a child of their own, and he was named Shadey for his pure black coat.

With Uriay gone however, Liki wished to travel like he had done before setteling on Mushroom Isle. He gave a goodbye to his foster family, a hug to his step-brother, and started his way out by getting a ride from Mushroom Isle to the bigger island of Earthrend. There he traveled for a month, helping others and getting a name for himself among village folk as a very talented young Fangren who had everything possible ahead of him as he grew up. He even helped to stop an Anubain incursion on the east side of the island with some knights who at first had scoffed that they were tolerating his company but gave him recognition after they witnessed his skills and his prowess with his strange magic.

It was after that he travelled to the City of Earthend to look for more work to earn coin for a boat to Anglorum, also paying for a room at an inn while he did so. He did this for three days, and earned enough for a boat trip, and was about to make his way today. But now this knight here had burst into the scence, obviously upset, and instantly commanded of everyone in the inn.

"Everyone evacuate the city! The Anubians have invaded and taken the Harbor! Evacuate to the town of Hillside!"

"Where's Charles!?" The innkeeper screamed in terror. Liki guessed him to be her husband.

"The Anubians have taken the harbor! Knights assemble! Protect the civilians!" The knight called out into the streets, where Liki could already see numerous Beasts fleeing down the ways to the nearest city gate, while the knights in their shiny armor pushed across toward the harbor. This was very sudden, and Liki wondered how many Anubians had managed to sneak into the city to cuase enough alarm to justify evacuating the city.

"WHERE'S CHARLES!?" The innkeeper repeated, now distraught as she saw what was going on outside.

"I don't know Miss, please get out of the building before you are crushed by catapults! Now! MOVE!"

Everyone lept out of their seats at once. Liki tried to keep up, but the amount of people and the fact that they were much larger then he caused him to be tossed to the floor. He covered himself to avoid being trampled until the inn emptied completly. He ran out into the still crowded streets, staying on the side a moment to asses the situation around him like his master Uriay had taught him to do.

Liki looked up into the sky to see a small dot in the air, and it did not take long for him to realize what it was.

"Incoming catupult fire!" A knight screamed loudly and the crowds gazed up to see the incoming boulder, spreading out instantly to avoid it.

Liki ran with the crowd now, staying aware of the bigger Beasts so to not be trampled again, but his awareness and magic abilities only did so much, and the amont of activity around him overloaded his senses when he tried to use the Shadows to feel his surroundings. He was eventually tossed by a large Ursec woman who was fleeing without care for anyone else, and knocked out.

"What the HELL is going on!?" Liquid shouted as she saw her market stand suddenly trampled by a rush of running Beasts. She angerly pushed her way into the crowd, anyone coming near her was pushed back by a invisible magic force-field of somekind.

Liquid, by her name, possessed amazing abilities with the elements of water and ice. Her magic was astounding in usefullness but limited in power, but a shield made of solid ice was just as good as one made of metal in some cases, esspecially for personal force-shields when pushing through a crowd. Her feline eyes narrowed in anger as she found a knight.

"What is going on?" She demanded.

"The Anubians have invaded the harbor and taken it, they've set up catapults and there are still more docking. Please leave the city."

The Anubians eh? Liquid thought to herself as the Knight used his shield to push his way through the crowd to the harbor. Well, I don't have much else to live for if they take my home.

Liquid kept her ice shield up and began pushing her way through the crowd as well, eventually overtaking the knight. As she made her way around onto another street that had a large boulder wedged in the street her foot kicked a body and she tripped. She looked to see the body of a young male Fangren, wearing a tan leather outfit, outcold on the streets.

She grimaced, she could not well leave the boy alone in danger of being trampled. She lowered her shield to pick him up in her arms and raised it again to push her way into an allyway nearby. The crowds were thining and the amont of boulders from the catapults were increasing. She slapped the child's face with a hand, growling, "Come...on...wake...up..."

Liki yelped as he felt the fifth slap go across his face, now wide awake and staring into the eyes of a white furred female Feline. "Ow! Why are you hitting me!?"

"Becuase you don't wake up before the fifth slap!" She retorted, "Now get up, I'm getting you out of here!"

Liki stood quickly and brushed himself off, "Thanks but," He said pulling the cowl over his head, his wolf like ears poking out the top through a pair of holes, "I can get out by myself." He started walking down the ally toward a now nearly empty street, his gray bushy tail swishing behind him. The screams of fleeing Beasts was in the distance now, the city nearly empty.

He could feel the Feline following behind him through the Shadows. She hissed annoyed, "I ain't gonna let some kid go off on his own during an invasion."

Liki smiled, he could feel her worry for him burried beneath her annoyance. She cared for his well-being but had made a personality of being tough to try and maintian some amount of dignity for herself. He could sense a deeper personal reason for this, but it was burried far into her mind and he could not get a lock on it completly. It had something to do with her family though.

He peeked out of the ally and looked left and right. There were only a few Beasts here, a few straglers that had to grab everything they could possibly carry from their homes before they ran down towards the gates. Liki took a brisk run down the way with them, until he felt an extreame mix of sadness and distraught through the Shadows nearby. He stopped to stare at the house he felt it coming from, and the Feline behind him ran into him.

"Why the fuck are you stopping?!" she hissed.

"There's something here." Liki said simply and approached the house and knocked on the door. He waited and the Feline growled.

"We don't have time for this kid," she complained, "We have to go now!"

"Hang on." Liki stared at her and insisted calmly and knocked again, this time hearing a faint noise.

He called out, "Is someone there? Don't be afriad, I won't hurt you. I can help you."

A whine came from the other side of the door, and Liki felt the cause of the distress of the Beast on the other side of the door. The mind was of that of a child, about four or maybe five years old, perhaps older.

"You lost your parents in the panik...Come out please, I can help." He said soothingly.

The whine came again, and Liki heard the door's lock being undone and the door opened a crack. He pushedthe door inward the rest of the way to reveal a small Fangren boy of six years old, wearing a set of old, slightly torn silver clothing. His eyes were blue and he stood about three feet tall. His entire body was white furred except for his right paw, which was black.

Liki knelt down to be face to face and held the boy by his shoulders, he had experiance with young Fangrens thanks to his little brother back on Mushroom Isle. He gave assurance to the boy by petting his head a moment before asking, "What's your name? I'm Liki. Ly-key."

"Liki," The child repeated easily, smiling a bit now and his mind's worry easing, "I'm Blackpaw."

Liki smiled, "It's obvious where you got that name." He stated and held up the one black paw in his own.

Blackpaw smiled more and nodded, and looked at Liki's glowing eyes, his smile fading, "My parents...I lost them in the group," He whined and tackle hugged Liki, "Help me find them please!"

Liki wrapped his arms around the boy, then stood up and held the child's hand. "Okay, I'll help you, but first we have to get out of this city, it's dangerous here."

"Follow me Liki." The Feline meowed, having softened her tone seeing the young child in need, and she began to lead the way out with the two Fangren boys following behind her.