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Walking on the road that lead to the city of Keros, Xander looked up at the moon.
“I should take more of these night walks.” Smiling to himself.
As he walked out of a curve, the city appeared before him. Because it is still night, there wasn’t much activities in the city and that was probably for the best.
Walking trough the city, he made his way to the castle.

Watching her run out of the room, Roran stood up, about to give chase. "Let her be," he told himself, closing his eyes, "Amaya just needs time." Walking out of her room, he headed for the kitchen. Some food might calm his nerves. Syrva was still gone. Did she go back to the stables after our talk? If she did, why wasn't she there? Could someone have taken her, thinking she had lost her rider? No, any horse so near to the castle's town would have had a rider somewhere, any Syran would know that much. Plus, would Syrva go up to a total stranger? I think not.

Having reached the kitchen, he searrched around, finding some fruit in a basket. Grabbing a Pear, he sat on a chair, eating in silence.

Kathryn, seeing no one around, headed for her room. Entering the room, she placed Prince Fuzzles on a chair, and smiled, looking at the old small bunny. She had it ever since she was born, and always kept it with her. Leaving it alone, she blowed out the candle and went to bed.

Vivian sank to the floor, leaning against her arm which was resting on the wall. "I think Amaya killed the leader when Roran was poisoned, Amy's captor could have been the leader too and he committed suicide rather than be captured and interrogated." Closing her eyes, she pushed herself up, pulling the shoulder of her dress up so it held onto her upper arm again. "I might have contributed to this when I tortured and killed that leader and his two closest members that I told you of. This can't be coincidence..." This is part of the curse isn't it?

"Yes, the very beginning of it. If you don't appease the curse then this will spin out of control and the assasins will take over. The Strikers will then kill all of them and desecrate(sp?) the land, utterly destroying everything."

She felt tears rise to her eyes, shaking her head a little, "That isn't fair, why did you have to choose me?" She whispered, taking a shuddering breath, trying to hide her face from him. Wiping the tears away, they only seemed to form again in an instant, trying to keep herself from crying now.

Vivian put a hand to her mouth, remembering how she had promised Roran not to tell his brothers anything of that. Glancing back to him, she shook her head, moving her hand to try and wipe away her tears again. "Far too much is wrong with me...I can't tell you, I'm sorry!" She broke into a run, gathering up her skirt so she wouldn't trip over them, making her way to her room. She felt guilty, felt hopeless and afraid, felt like she was a cursed child.

Closing the door to her room quickly, Vivian fell onto her bed, sobbing. Isn't there a way to undo this curse?

"A slim one, and one that you can only do alone. You have to talk to the strikers, they are the ones who placed this curse on Syra ages ago. Bring them something that proves you are Amaya's sister, then they should listen."

Raising her head, Vivian quickly wiped away her tears, changing into her boys clothes. Her chest made it too obvious who she was, but she didn't care, grabbing her sword and quiver just in case of bandits. Pausing, she dug through the drawers of her cabinet, finding what she was looking for.

Dashing down to the stables, she patted Delene's neck, swinging up onto her back and galloping out and through the streets, sneaking out of the walls and heading to her home. Please let me succeed in this...

Once Vivian arrived to the forest where she knew the Strikers were, she got off of Delene and walked the rest of the way. It didn't take long before she reached the clearing that she just knew that they were in. Waiting calmly, she pulled a necklace that all of the Princess' of Keros had received so that the Syran royal family would know that it was them. "Strikers! Please, I need to speak with you. I am Princess Vivian, youngest sister of Queen Amaya. Please...I don't wish you harm, I just...I just don't want to die for a curse that was placed on a land not my own." She called, holding the necklace aloft while lowering her hood, her heart pounding in her chest.

They were suddenly all around her, one coming up close and eyeing the necklace, then her. "Please believe me..." She whispered, the one striker backing away from her, nodding its head in the direction of the leader. She immidiatly gave a sort of bow to the leader, straightening.

"What do you want?"

Gulping, she glanced to the sides of her, the ghost of Roran's mother appearing next to her. "I am the Princess of Shadow for the Syrans, thus I must be the sacrifice to appease the curse you placed on Syra. Please, how can I lift this curse? I...I don't want to die. I will gladly die to stop this war, but not like that...there is no honor in it."

The large creature seemed to hum in thought, Vivian thought she heard the crowd whispering at the appearence of the spirit. "I see...." Vivian felt herself grow cold, suddenly getting thrown against a tree, making the world spin a little. The leader was in front of her, the tip of his tail touching the center of her forehead. "Know why we placed it on them in the first place." She heard before images and sounds flooded her mind, her screams echoing throughout the tree's.

When the leader finally took his tail away, she slumped to the ground, tears streaming down from her eyes. "I...That..ho..wh...." Falling silent for a moment, she looked into the leaders ebony eyes, her own apologetic and filled with saddness. "I'm...I'm so, so sorry....I-"

She stopped when the leader sighed, a claw lashing out and pinning her to the tree, its palm pressing into her chest. "Remember and understand that we will lift the curse, but the burdens you will bear will compensate. We never meant for this curse to fall to the family of Keros. we are sorry that they killed Christoph, but they were right to. Now..." The leader fell quiet, silence filling the clearing. Vivian could only hear her own labored breathing, but then....There came a humming, deep and somehow soothing. She could swear that she saw all of the strikers eyes glowing, then looking to her. Light shot into her body, her scream cut off as everything went black. The clearing was consumed in a dome of light that could be seen from the castle nearby, fading within seconds.

Letting the Princess's body fall to the ground gently, the strikers looked to each other and then her again before fading away into the shadows.