Zenith prepared to counterattack Dark Zenith's charge, when suddenly he heard a scream behind him and saw the goddess' head chopped off. When turned back to face Dark Zenith he managed to parry with his sword. The impact from both swords caused a bright flash and Zenith closed his eyes to keep from being blinded. When he reopened them the entire landscape had changed. He was once again outside the school and niether Dark Zenith or the goddess could b found.<br/><br/>"I-I'm back?" Zenith said to himself a little confused. "How can that be...what happened?" He said as he walked into the school to see if he could get some answers.<br/><br/>Zenith's eyes widened as he gazed upon the scene that lay before him. The students were attacking each other relentlessly, causing damage to themselves and the school itself. Upon closer inspection he noticed that it was always a guy and girl fighting each other and nothing else. It was a true battle of the sexes.<br/><br/>Zenith had to dodge and duck to avoid being hit by magical spells that were being flung through the air. It was utter chaos as bodies writhed in pain on the floor and others were being devoured by their enemies. "What's going on here?"<br/><br/>"Zenith! Is that you!?" cried a voice that sounded oddly familiar. Zenith turned his head to see if he could see the person that called out to him. It was Ric."<br/>"Zenith where have you been? You just dissappeared on us." Ric said as he approached him.<br/>"I was--" Zenith started.<br/>"There's no time for an explanation right now." Ric interuppted. "I need to speak with you privately at HQ. Follow me." Zenith had no choice and followed as ordered.<br/><br/>When they reached their destination, which was the cafeteria, Ric began speaking again without Zenith being able to get a word in.<br/>"Where the heck were you!? We've lost so many of our men and with you gone our morale has dropped! People were beginning to think you abandoned us. But we'll have time to talk about that later. As you know the enemy has re-captured the library and plan to blitz us later on this afternoon. As second-in-command I want you to lead our allies to the stairs where we'll fend them off as a distraction, while our real army lead by myself will attack from above. Any questions?"<br/><br/>"Heck yeah! What enemy? Where is Valarinth and the rest of the faculty? Why are we fighting? What the hell is going on here!?" Zenith shouted.<br/><br/>"Have you completely lost it? We're in the middle of a warzone, as always. Did you bump your head or something?"<br/><br/>Zenith realized he wasn't getting anywhere fast, so he thought he should play along and try a different approach.<br/>"I uh...I think I got hit by a mind erasing spell back there. Could you fill me in? I don't quite remember anything. The last think I remember is Dark Val attacking the school...and then..nothing."<br/><br/>"Wow. Just wow." Ric looked at Zenith skeptically. "Fine I'll fill you in. After Dark Val was defeated Valarinth began acting really strangely, but before I could get a better understanding of what was going on a weird dimension opened up and took Valarinth, the teachers, some of the students, and the rest of the faculty inside. Then it closed up as quickly as it appeared. Since then everything has gone crazy. There were issues about leadership, who should be in charge in Valarinth's absence. Naturally I stepped up, but Reiko, that mangy mutt, stood up against me. We both had our reasons for not wanting the other elected, but the issue only went from bad to worse. Males sided with males, females sided with females; neither side giving in to the other. As you can imagine there was an..."accident". After that all hell broke loose and people started fighting which resulted in what you see now. Me against Reiko...on a grand scale.<br/><br/>Zenith waited a moment to recollect his thoughts and absorb all the information Ric just gave. A lot had happened while he was imprisoned in the Shadows, three years was it, but Ric still looked the same. Come to think of it, everyone he met up with from his past looked the same. But that was beside the point.<br/>"And this 'accident' you mentioned. It wouldn't happen to be you flinging a spoonful of food at Reiko would it?" Zenith said coyly.<br/><br/>"It was an accident I say! An accident! Goosh why won't anyone believe me?" Ric yelled as he stood up.<br/><br/>"Ok, ok I get it. So now you need my help in restoring this place back to normal, right?"<br/><br/>Ric went silent and didn't say a word for a few moments. It was deathly quiet you could hear the screams and shrills echoing through the halls. "I wish it were that simple." Ric began. "...But lately we have been losing sight of what we truly wanted. Now it's all about getting revenge on those that hurt you...or killed your friend."<br/><br/>Zenith's heart sank. He didn't know why but he felt a pain in his chest when Ric uttered the word friend. It was if a bond he once shared with someone was severed and shatterd, never to be united again.<br/><br/>"Curse them! They killed...they killed Altair and Zemblo!"<br/><br/>"WHAT!?"<br/><br/>(( Sorry for the long post guys. I got carried away. ))