It begins

"Wake up, Davy." I heard a voice above me say. I slowly opened my eyes, waiting for them to adjust. I looked over to see Wind smiling down at me.

"What did you call me?" I asked, sitting up.

"Davy."

"Why Davy?"

She shrugged. "Why Davion? They sound alike, one's just easier to remember."

I looked around. Mortred was standing by a tree, staring out across the river towards the Dire. Balanar was nowhere to be seen. I stood, holding my helmet with my free hand, my sword with the other. My sheild was resting on a nearby tree.

"Did you sleep in that?" Wind asked, studying my red armor.

"Only thing I had. Besides, if we were attacked in the night I would be prepared."

"Balanar was on watch all night. He doesn't seem tired at all."

"Where is he now?"

"Scouting out more of the Dire."

I nodded, then walked over to Mortred. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine, thank you."

"Anything happen during the night?"

"That beast would know more than I."

As if on que, Balanar himself came trotting up the trail from the river.

"Balanar," I said, walking over to greet him. "Find anything?"

"Yes," He said. "You have to see this."

Balanar led us down to the river bank, then through the river. As we cautiously moved in the river, a cave came into view. A deep breathing could be heard, and Wind notched an arrow in her bow. Balanar motioned for a stop just outside the cave.

"You have to be quiet. We don't want this thing waking up." He turned, then crept into the darkness. We followed, except Mortred, who insisted she stay watch.

The cave wasn't as big as I had inticipated. It was one short tunnel, that briefly ending in a curve-around. There was, however, one huge beast sleeping inside. It was gigantic, and looked like an oversized scaled bat. We quickly had our fill and exited as soon as possible.

"That was terrifying," Wind mumbled.

"Stop." Mortred said quickly as we approached. "We are being watched."

Everyone went silent. After a few seconds, a figure came out from behind a rock on the Dire side. She was wearing a red dress, with fiery red hair and flames in her palms, just as Balanar had spoken of.

"You have good senses." The woman said, studying us.

"What is it you want?" Balanar growled.

"You obviously know what's going on around here. It's us, or you. If you surrender, we won't kill any of you."

"Over my dead body." I mumbled. The woman looked into my eyes. "I can let that happen."

"I can't." Balanar said, taking a step towards her. She sneered.

"You'll find I'm not as nice as I look."

Balanar shot towards her. She pushed her palms towards him, letting loose a wave of fire. Balanar screamed, retreating back towards us.

Mortred suddenly reached into her cloak, then pulled out a dagger, which she threw at the woman. The girl screamed as the knife sliced into her. Before I could react, Mortred was right next to the girl in mid-strike, hitting straight for the shoulder. The girl let out a huge scream as Mortred's blade dug into her shoulder. She quickly backed away, grasping her arm. She gave one last glare at all of us, then took off into the dark forest.

"Hold up your arm," The Witch Doctor issued to Balanar. The beast lifted his scalded arm and groaned as the man poured a green liquid on it. After a moment, the liquid disappeared, revealing the normal blue hue on his abnormally large biceps.

"Thank you," The beast said, studying his arm. Mortred approached our group.

"The woman is gone."

"Thank you, Mortred." I said. "That was fast thinking, what you did back there."

She nodded. "I am accustomed to thinking on my feet."

We marched down the side of the river. All eyes were on the Dire side, watching for any signs of movement. Something was off, something was different. I could feel it in the air. We turned down the main middle pathway, revealing a long, wide, tree - less passage. I suddenly stopped in awe.

One huge tower stood before us, one that was never there before. It was constructed of pure white stones, with a glowing orb in the center over twenty meters up. Behind the tower, over thirty meters away, stood another tower. Then behind that one stood a third, on higher ground. Two smaller buildings stood next to the last one, constructed with the same white stones of the towers. I turned around to see the same passageway leading through the Dire side. Past the river on the Dire ground, I saw a dark tower, with a red orb in the center higher up. Wind gasped behind me.

"Interesting," Mortred commented. "It seems these lands are preparing for battle as well."

"Then it's settled." Balanar said. "This war must be fought."

"Indeed," The Doctor said.

A huge flash of light came from behind us. I turned around to see a group of little green tree – like men running towards us from our first tower.

I pulled my sword as they came closer. Each one carried a blade, but they didn't seem willed to kill us. I put my blade down as they jogged up to us.

"Leaders," One of the first ones said. "We fight for you."

"Who are you?" I asked. They all looked over to me.

"We are yours to guide."

"That doesn't help."

"We are from an ancient race known as Terloks. Our purpose is for this war and this war only. We must save the Radiant, or all will be chaos."

"Are you the only troops we have?" Balanar scuffed.

"No. The rebirth process allows only six of us to be reborn at a time. More will come later for this lane. Six other Terloks are currently being born for the topmost lane, and also the bottom lane."

"Why are there towers here?" Wind asked.

"The towers will help us defend our ancient." One of them squeaked. "If the enemy destroys our towers, and ultimately our ancient, we will die, and the Radiant will be forever lost."

"Ancient?"

"The huge structure in the heart of our base." Another said, pointing towards the foremost tower. "Each lane has three main towers for protection. If the enemy destroys these, we will only have two towers for defending, which are located just ahead of our ancient."

"Well," I said. "Considering there are three different lanes, we can't all stay together. We should split up, and help each group of creeps push through the towers." I said. "Mortred and our Doctor should go top, Wind and Balanar bottom. I can stay mid, alone."

"It's not just the towers we will be facing." A smaller tree – man said. "They have troops like us, as well as five warriors just like yourself."

"Just as I thought," Mortred mumbled. "Will the warriors split up as we are?"

"That, we do not know." They all said simultaneously.

"Let's hope they do." I said. "Everybody, start towards your lane. Don't make any risks. I don't want any injuries." They started towards each lane. Wind walked up to me, putting her hand on my arm.

"Be safe," She said.

"You too."

She smiled, then spun around and caught up with Balanar. I turned to see the creeps staring at me.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Your call," One of them said. "We could wait for them to come to us, or charge."

"We should hit them first." I said, pulling on my helmet. I pulled out my sword, and picked up my shield with my free hand. "Everybody ready?"

They nodded, pulling out swords. I nodded. "Let's go." The little people turned towards the river, then took off straight towards the tower.

I ran just behind them, yelling my lungs out.

As we closed in on the tower, it began to bombard us with strange orbs of energy. The first creep went down just ahead of me. He let out a moan as he fell to the ground. The others didn't even look down, but continued to advance the tower.

Where were the enemy creeps? Where was the warrior I was going to test my strength against?

Suddenly, a huge blast behind me sent me flying towards the ground. After the inital shock, I turned to see a wall of stone blocking my way back.

That's when I realized it was a trap.