Back in the apartment, just as the sun began to shine through the spaces between skyscrapers and clouds, Zidaiku’s eyes shot open and he let out the breath he had been holding. Still feeling alarmed, he rose and took in his surroundings. Instead of the hostile Narrows, he was safely back at home, wrapped in his usual blanket, and his heart slowed down to its usual pace. He took a few slow, deep breaths, and tried to reassemble his memory. The strange and mysterious events of the night before felt like a dream to him now and he almost couldn’t remember if they had actually happened. But as he awakened to full consciousness, he felt something clutched in his right hand. When he looked, he saw that it was the star-shaped jewel that the shadow being had given to him. The points were not sharp enough to hurt his fingers and the entire thing was barely too large for him to completely hide in his closed hand. The violet glow was still there, pulsing rhythmically in the growing light of dawn. It was a fascinating object and he stared into the surprising depth of the little gem, unable to take his eyes from it.

    The bedroom door opened and Angel walked out, already looking ready to leave. She stopped her fast-paced walk when she saw Zidaiku awake and sitting up. “Oh, you’re awake,” she said, smiling. “That’s a first. Hurry and get ready, we have work today.”

    Reluctantly, Zidaiku set the jewel down on the coffee table and started his usual morning routine. He didn’t think about it again after that and instead focused on preparing himself for the day. Finally, he and Angel walked out the door and closed it behind them. The day was cool again, but this time there were dark clouds gathering in the sky and tiny rain drops were making dark spots on the pavement.

    “Crappy weather,” Angel said, looking up at the sky. “I hope it doesn’t rain on us.”

    Instead of looking up, Zidaiku was looking ahead. Someone from the main street had turned toward them and was walking closer. It was hard to make out in the semi-darkness, but Zidaiku had a bad feeling that he had seen this person not too long ago. As they continued walking toward each other, his fears were concerned. It was the shaggy-haired Factioner from the night before. He was wearing a different collared shirt, but it was still paired with the loose tie. The red Faction F was sewed into one side of the chest, a small but bold emblem. His broad sword hung from his waist, nearly grazing the ground as he walked forward with determination. Zidaiku searched his memories of the night before for any time when this Factioner might have gotten a good look at his face or learned his name, but he could think of nothing, and so he continued walking forward.

    After another moment, Angel noticed the boy as well, but didn’t think much of it until she felt Zidaiku becoming tenser by the second as they walked. “Z, what’s up?” she asked. “Did you have another bad dream last night or something?”

    Before he could answer, the two friends and the Factioner neared each other and stopped. From the casual but purposeful way the boy looked at him, Zidaiku could tell that their meeting was no mistake. Now that he had a good look at his face, he could see that the boy was about their age and had sunken eyes, a strong nose, and a firm jaw that only added to his dark appearance, as opposed to Zidaiku’s sharp eyes and features. Although his hair reminded Zidaiku of the boy he saw in his dream, their faces looked nothing alike.

    “What do you want?” Zidaiku asked shortly.

    The corner of the boy’s mouth curved into a smile. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” he asked. “I think you know what I’m here for.”

    Angel nervously turned to Zidaiku and whispered, “What is he talking about?”

    “I don’t know, I saw this guy for the first time last night,” Zidaiku whispered back. “I’ve never seen him before that.”

    “No, I mean what does he want? You didn’t do anything stupid last night, did you?”

    Chameleon interrupted them. “Our friend here has something that belongs to me. He might have shown it to you.” He paused. “The Star, Zidaiku.”

    “How do you know my name?” Zidaiku asked. “Who are you?”

    “My name is Chameleon,” he answered. “I am an Elite Captain of the Vaskel Faction, and last night, you interfered with a mission of the highest importance. I don’t want to cause you any more harm than necessary, but whether you oblige or not, I will take back the Star.”

    Zidaiku clenched his fists. “Then I guess you’ll have to take it from me. I’m not going to just give it to you!”

    Angel, alarmed, turned on Zidaiku. “What? Z! Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

    He pushed her aside. “Yes, I’m sure. I don’t know what it is, but if the Faction wants this ‘Star,’ then I’m going to make sure they can’t have it!”

    Chameleon shrugged. “Very well then.” He gripped the handle of his blade and drew it. The sound of the metal rang against the faces of the buildings surrounded them. Just as it had last night, his form began blurring in and out of focus and the area around his body became darker.    Zidaiku and Angel had no weapons, but they (reluctantly, in Angel’s case) took fighting positions and prepared themselves for the coming fight. A light wind stirred up around Zidaiku’s feet, and Angel began emitting an aura similar to Chameleon’s, only hers was bright and sharpened the image of everything around her.

    The first to strike was Chameleon. He wielded his broad sword with the same grace and power Zidaiku remembered from the night before, and he now realized how the powerful being from the night before could have fallen to this boy. The sword he carried looked heavy and dense, but Chameleon wielded it as if it were made of wood. As Zidaiku narrowly dodged the swift strokes, he heard the blade whistle past his ears. But it wasn’t the blade itself that presented the biggest threat. As if the blade itself wasn’t long enough, Chameleon began charging up his sword with dark energy and releasing large crescents of magic power as he swung. These magical attacks were not lethal or physically damaging, but being sliced through with one felt almost like the real thing. Although Zidaiku was quick on his feet, sometimes he knew he wasn’t quick enough to evade. Luckily Angel was usually ready with a shell of light that prevented any harm from coming to Zidaiku. When Zidaiku did take hits, Angel’s light reached out to him and the pain evaporated quickly. They also retaliated against Chameleon with magical attacks, but nothing they tried seemed to deter him. Zidaiku’s wind magic did as little to Chameleon as it would to a boulder, and Angel’s light attacks were always swallowed up in the shadows surrounding their opponent.

    Rain began to fall harder as the two friends came to the realization that they had little chance against Chameleon. They stood breathing heavily, trying to maintain their focus and drive, while Chameleon calmly smiled, holding his sword at the ready. “Are you ready to give it to me now?” he asked.

    “Let’s get back to the apartment,” Zidaiku whispered to Angel. “We can take this guy if we have our weapons and the others’ help.”

    “And endanger them too? Are you crazy?” Angel whispered back.

    “Have any other ideas?”

    Angel hesitated. “Fine, let’s go.”

    They turned around and ran toward the apartment. Chameleon walked after them with long strides, grinning. “I’ll catch up,” he called smugly. Zidaiku and Angel raced up the stairs and through the door of their room. The hurried noise and commotion caught the attention of everyone who had gathered in the room since Zidaiku and Angel left, and luckily, all four of the others were present.

    “What’s going on?” Melina asked. “Are you guys alright?”

    Out of breath, Zidaiku tried to speak between gasps of air. “A Faction Captain… is outside, and… he wants…” he pointed to the Star, still sitting innocently on the coffee table, “that.”

    Rusk picked it up and, without examining it, said, “Then let’s give it to him!”

    “No!” Zidaiku protested. “I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s some kind of powerful magic object. If the Faction wants it, we can’t let them get it!”

    Indigo, who was sitting in the far corner on his old and slightly ripped-up armchair, glared at Zidaiku, who he was seeing for the first time since their encounter the night before. “I can’t believe you lured him here. Give that stone to him! You are a danger to us all, Zidaiku, and it’s up to you to correct this.”

    Zidaiku’s mind struggled to quickly combine the right words. “Listen. I don’t know how he found me here. I swear it. But we can’t let him have that Star thing! The Faction is the reason I don’t have a family, and I know you all have your own reasons to hate them too. They’re criminals, and we can’t just give in to them. I’m sick of being afraid, backing down, and letting them bully us!” He looked into the eyes of each of his friends. They all exhibited a different emotion, but each of them were considering his words carefully. “Please. We have to take a stand.”

    Melina spoke first. “I’m with you, Z. You’re right. We can’t just give up.”

    Callao was quick to join in after her. “Yeah! There’s six of us, and only one of him, right? Let’s fight him off!”

    Angel shook her head. “This is suicidal, you guys. We can’t fight a Captain!”

    “Why not?” Melina said. “He might be strong, but he’s still human. The odds are in our favor.”

    Rusk set the Star back down on the table and nodded. “Melina’s right. I’m in.”

    Angel sighed and shook her head. With a defeated look at Zidaiku, she said, “Count me in, then. I can’t just sit back and watch.”

    Finally, they all turned to look at Indigo, who was watching their interaction with an icy glare. “You all have no idea what you’re getting into,” he muttered. “Once you make the Faction angry, they never let go. You’ll be running from them for the rest of your lives, even after you leave the orphan program and have a real job, a real family, a real life. Do you really want to bring that kind of misery on yourselves?”

    “What are you saying?” Zidaiku replied. “Once we have ‘real lives?’ What is this we’re living now, then? Some kind of tutorial? A training session? I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anything more real than the life I live every day, and I know that if it weren’t for the Faction, I would have a lot more to look forward to and be happy about.” He addressed them all. “I love you guys, I really do. I couldn’t live without you, and you know that. I’m not trying to be ungrateful. But the Vaskel Faction is a group of heartless criminals that do nothing but take from all of us, and we let it happen because we’re too afraid to do anything about it. Maybe if we all took a stand, we could do something about it and stop them from ruining more lives of kids just like us! Or just like me, at any rate.”

    Everyone but Indigo nodded in reply and reaffirmed their willingness to help. At that moment, a powerful force slammed into the door and shook it violently. The five fighters quickly dispersed to gather their various weapons and reassembled at the door. Zidaiku noticed Indigo, still lounging in the chair, looking curiously at the Star sitting on the table, so he picked it up and slipped it into his pocket with a warning glance at Indigo, who seemed about ready to explode with anger at being defied. He didn’t keep it in his pocket, however, and secretly slipped it to Angel, who agreed to make it vanish with her light magic and keep it in her pocket instead, although the magics inside the stone were too powerful to be completely concealed and a faint purple light could still be seen. Another blast rocked the apartment, and Chameleon’s voice from outside called, “Zidaiku! Have you made your decision?”

    The door opened and Chameleon was confronted with the threatening faces of five motivated and armed youths. “You’re not getting a thing,” Zidaiku hissed. “Leave. Now.”

    Chameleon was unimpressed by their display of bravery. “Not until I get what I came for.”

    “This is your last chance!” Zidaiku said. “Get out of here.”

    Suddenly grimacing in anger, Chameleon’s face darted forward. “No, this is your last chance,” he spat. “Don’t play games with me. This is a cute display of bravado but you are messing with a Captain of the Vaskel Faction. You have no choice but to obey.” Chameleon’s eyes strayed from Zidaiku’s firm glare to his neckline, where he noticed the black string tucked into his shirt. He reached out and pulled at it, revealing the black shard at its end. Zidaiku pulled away, offended, but Chameleon smiled darkly. “A little keepsake, I see. This brings back memories. Don’t you remember?”

    “You don’t know me,” Zidaiku said. He stuffed the necklace back inside his shirt. “Stop pretending like you do.”

    “If I don’t know you, how did I know your name, Zidaiku?” Chameleon asked. “How did I recognize you when I saw you last night, stealing the Star from us?” He sneered when he saw Zidaiku’s glare falter. “You don’t remember a thing, do you? You don’t know anything.”

    Angel stepped forward and brandished her short, rusty sword. “That’s enough.”

    “So it is you, Angel.” Chameleon smiled. “I thought I recognized you as well. I’m glad to see you’re taking your job seriously.”

    Without warning, Angel pushed through the doorway and struck. She swung her blade with force, but Chameleon was quicker and blocked it before knocking her down to the floor. The others seized this moment and sprung with weapons and magic flailing. The fought side by side, pushing hard against Chameleon’s sword skills and succeeding in driving him back, down the hallway. The fury of Callao and Melina’s staves, Rusk’s fists blazing with flame, and Zidaiku and Angel’s blades were too much for Chameleon to fight back against all at once, and finally he leaped backwards and let fly a beam of dark energy from his sword. Angel’s light shield protected them all from the attack and they pressed forward with a vengeance, encouraged at their success.

    The battle made its way down the stairs and out into the parking lot and common area. With more room, the five friends spread out in an attempt to surround Chameleon, which he could not resist for long. With their target surrounded, they stopped their attack and waited while Chameleon calmly examined his limited options. The sun peeked through a hole in the clouds and this seemed like a good sign, but their hearts sank when they noticed that Chameleon was still smiling. For a brief moment, his shadow aura retreated into him, but then it burst outward, enveloping them all in a dark mist. When it faded, they were surprised that nothing had happened.

    Suddenly, Zidaiku felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He looked down and saw a new tear in his jeans and a wound dripping blood onto his socks, but he couldn’t tell where it had come from. Then his shadow jumped away from his feet, independent of his actual movement. It changed from a two-dimensional figure trapped on the ground into a duplicate of himself, rising up from the pavement and holding two shadow daggers ready. The shadows of the others did the same, and at once, they all turned on their owners, fighting with the same skills and weapons as their counterparts.

    Angel was the first to dispel her shadow self with a quick burst of light, and her shadow melted back onto the ground and reattached itself to her feet. She started running for Zidaiku, but Chameleon, now without attackers, intercepted her. The light weight of Angel’s blade made it easy to wield, and it was strong enough to protect against Chameleon’s sword, but the battle was one-sided as she was forced backward, away from the others.

    Callao fought well against his doppelganger. The attacks his enemy made seemed overly predictable, but he was still unable to make a decent hit. Remembering the new trick Zidaiku had taught him, he shot a burst of water at the shadow’s face, but the shadow seemed unaffected. Still, Callao pressed on and finally landed a solid hit on his opponent’s side, which dissolved the shadow into its regular state. He then noticed that Angel was in trouble and he raced toward her. Gripping one end of his staff, he jumped high into the air and brought the long stick down squarely on the top of the unwitting Chameleon’s head. The stick snapped and half of it clattered to the ground.

    Enraged, Chameleon turned on him without missing a beat. With only half a staff now, Callao did no better than Angel against his enemy, although the wild strength he was now using eliminated a little of his grace and accuracy, making his strikes easier to dodge. Bravely, Callao sidestepped a sword strike and sent a burst of water at Chameleon’s face. This time, it worked, and Chameleon paused, unable to see. In that brief interval, Callao thrust his shortened staff into the stomach of his opponent, who doubled over. Callao grinned at his success, but this victory was short-lived. Chameleon’s aura doubled in intensity and he rose to his feet. One hand shot out toward Callao and a larger shadow hand reached from Chameleon’s aura and gripped the boy’s face and lifted him off the ground. Flailing his arms uselessly, trying to grab hold of at least the shadow hand but failing due to its intangible nature, Callao screamed for help.