He darted through the leafy undergrowth. He was nearly tripped by the vines. He heard the crunch of feet behind him. His breath started to come in gasps. The crunches sounded nearer. He pushed on. He was almost there. He pushed through the last thicket of bushes and into the blinding city light. He jumped back as a car whizzed past him. He raced across the street, people cursing him. He walked up to the large doors.
In the year 1000 people felt they couldn’t get out of their ongoing with no end in sight wars. Hate is all around. Two young brothers show much promise in breaking this cycle. Young Quantum Pharaohs sees how sick all of this war is making people. He also knows who to blame: the rulers. His brother goes with the flow. He joins the army. Quantum studies politics every chance he gets. A plan forms in his mind. He starts phase one of his plan. His brother, who is climbing up the military career ladder, comes home because of an injury. He wants revenge. Doctors tell him that he will permanently limp and they can do nothing for his disfigured face. After recuperating Quantum tells his brother, Josef, what he plans to do. He and his brother gather up a rather large army. They take down their section’s army. They continue till they have control of the entire continent. The brothers rule it until they have several fights over ruling it. They go to war. Quantum writes up a peace treaty that divides the country in half. Quantum sets up a dictatorship. Quantum feels quite confident in himself. He calls his land Fendora. He sets up a rather large inhabitable section near the sea. It is industrial with the forest and rivers surrounding it. Quantum hides from his people. He sets up his own advisor board, but rarely ever consults them. Josef and his closest friends become the ruling council of his land, Underland. Josef soon becomes involved in dark magic and it becomes the magic of his people. The ruling council wears signature black hooded cloaks. Josef chose these because it covers his face. Josef and Quantum are always at war.
Year: 1200. Both of them growing old still are determined to beat the other. They needed someone else to stop what was coming.
He hated going to school. No one liked him, actually no one trusted him. Why would they? He was going to be a traitor. His name proclaimed it. Jesse Nightheart. Nightheart. He would be a traitor. Everyone knew the Nightheart clan and what they did. They used dark magic to wreak havoc on the people of Fendora. They had crossed to the other side. They lived deep in the forests plotting to destroy. He didn’t want to be one of them, the fates had declared it. When he was born his parents, as was custom, had his fortune told. The fortune lady told them his last name was Nightheart. His parents like everyone else looked at him scared. They were waiting for him to snap. For him to betray them. He always felt like he didn’t belong. His parents were cautious around him. He would meet people and they were carefree around him until he said his name. It was his curse. He walked the easy mile to school. As always he ignored the dirty looks and went to his only class: Math. The school board thought that the other classes might encourage his traitorous brain. He sat through math class and tried to learn as much as he could. When the ending class bell rang he walked out of the room. The other classes were starting. He kept walking down the hall. He heard a sound and his elf ears pricked up, trying to locate the origin. He turned around and walked down the hall. When he got to the turn he saw her. Her long blonde hair was covering her face as she cried. He slowly walked toward her. She didn’t notice him. He kneeled down next to her.
He touched her shoulder, “What’s wrong?”
She stopped crying and looked up at him.
“Why do you care”, she snapped.
“Because I have nothing else to care about.”
He stood up and offered her his hand to help her up. She accepted it and he pulled her up. Then a round ball hit his face. It jarred him and he staggered. He was rubbing his cheek as three big Crosses players came walking towards them.
“Leave her alone, Nighter”. That boiled his blood. He started walking towards them, but she grabbed his arm.
“Come on Liz; let us take care of him.”
The players were a few feet away from him. He shook off Liz’s arm. The two guys who were flanking the guy who was speaking rushed him. They held his arms as the speaker took a punch at his face. Then the speaker took a small metal canister and wrapped his fingers around it. The speaker swung and hit his stomach. He felt as if he might have broken a few ribs. He fell down on his knees as the speaker hit his face repeatedly.
He faintly heard Liz shout, “Stop!” Things started to get blurry. With a rush of strength he tried to shake the arms off of him, but the speaker gave him a right hook under the chin. His teeth smacked together and his head went back. The two arms that were holding his arms loosened and he dropped to the floor. His face hit the cold tile. He was barely conscious now. He couldn’t understand the words Liz was speaking. He closed his eyes.


He woke up and saw Liz leaning over him. She wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were closed and she was talking silently, only her lips were moving. Her hands were pressing gently on his ribs. Then her hands were on the sides of his face. He felt the pain disappear. She had finally noticed he was up. She stood up and got him a cup of herbal tea.
“Drink this, it’ll make you feel better,” she said and handed him the cup. He took it and drank it. It was bitter at first and then sweet. It wet his dry throat. He started to stand up and was stung with pain. She caught him before he fell.
“Your ribs aren’t fully healed,” she explained. She helped him down.
“Why are you helping me? Don’t you know who I am?”
“I know who you are Jesse Nightheart. I just feel bad that I caused this.”
“I get beat up a lot, so this isn’t new.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep.”
“That’s so sad.”
“People don’t like me.”
“Well I like you.”
They looked at each other. Then they both burst into laughter. The conversation had taken such a weird turn. He lay down on his back. She lay down next to him.
“I don’t get it,” Liz said.
He knew she was talking about people not liking him.
“I don’t get it either.”

They lay there in silence.
“What time is it?” Liz asked.
“A little after five.”
“I have to get home, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Liz walked out of the garage and drove away. Jesse stayed where he was and sighed. She wouldn’t talk to him again. It was damaging enough that she helped him. He got up and went to his room. He sat in the office chair and did his homework. It didn’t take him long to finish his math, so he went down the stairs and out the door. He decided to take a run. He started jogging down the road. His music was the rhythmic pitter patter of his feet against the asphalt. Before he knew it; it was dark and he was a long way from home. He stopped and surveyed his surroundings. He was about six or seven miles from home. Suddenly he was surrounded by Crosses’ players. He recognized one of them as the guy who had beaten him earlier. They shoved him around, passing him from one person to the next. A few of them threw punches. He ended up on the ground. They picked him back up and kept passing him around. They soon grew bored with doing this. They all converged on him. Some of them kicked him while others threw hard blows to his face. His nose was broken and bleeding. He felt like was going to fall apart. He lay down on the cold blacktop and waited for the pain to go away. He heard a car screech to a stop and a door slam. Warm, small hands probed his body. The hands held his face.
“Jesse?” He heard a familiar voice say.
“Liz?” He said in a weak voice.
“Oh my, Jesse you need serious help,” her voice quivered. She put his arm around her neck and strained to get him up. He pushed past the pain and helped her. He pushed up with his legs and she was able to hold him upright. She led him to her car and sat him on the seat. She put his legs in and shut the door. She got in on her side and started the car. Her hands were shaking with fear. The car purred to life and she drove a mile down the road and turned down a corner. The car stopped and she got out. She ran to his side and helped him out of the car. They walked to an abandoned building. She opened the door and they went inside. She laid him on a worn out bed. She rushed to the cabinet and grabbed a large, old book. She sat next to him and paged furiously.
“Oh, where is it?” Liz wondered out loud. The paging stopped and she quickly read a section silently. She put the book down, took a deep breath, and put her hands gently on his wounded chest. She spoke in short whispers. The aching and pain soon stopped and bones mended back together. He could actually breathe without wincing. Next she moved her hands to his legs. Placing her hands at his knees she talked softly. The shoots of pain stopped suddenly. He was overjoyed when he could move his little toe. She then placed her hands on the sides of his head. After a minute she removed them.
“Open your mouth,” she commanded him. He opened his mouth and noticed that Liz looked faint. Her face was slick with sweat and she was pale. She got off the bed and fell. She didn’t move. Jesse leapt to his feet and put his fingers to her neck. He felt a strong pulse. He picked her up and laid her on the bed. He sat in the nearby chair and fell asleep. When he woke up several hours later, she was gone. He looked around. He got up and almost ran into her. He backed away and she walked past him holding a silver platter. She motioned him to sit down on the bed. He did and she cleaned up his face. The water stung his cut lip and the gashes.