Zephirus, Kyanosa, Solari, and Chera looked around their new environment. They had been forced to leave the forest by the fire started earlier by Necrominus, and now the sun was beating down on them. Zephirus sighed and said, "Well, at least we got out of the forest..." He looked back. Where there was once a forest there was now only ashes and dead tree stumps for the entire area of the forest. "Hey, it could be worse, we could be part of the ashes," Kyanosa said, trying to cheer the group up. Chera was rather angry, her tail burnt in the escape. Solari looked over at Zephirus, and said, "C'mon, let's go." He nodded, and the group started off once more. After a while, Zephirus suddenly stopped. Chera turned, and asked, "What is it, Zeph?" Zeph replied in a silent voice, "The desert wind tells me of a presence." Suddenly, Solari began to sink. At first she was oblivious to her sinking, then she looked down and saw her knees disappearing below the sands. She screamed and cried, "Aaah! Help me, I'm sinking!" Kyanosa looked over and rushed over to help, taking Solari's outstreched hand and pulling. He began to sink as well. Zephirus took out his lance and looked over at Chera. She was trying to help both, but she had begun to sink herself. Each of the three sunk to shoulder level, then the sinking stopped. A cackle was heard, and Zephirus looked up to see Anubarik's figure silhouetted against the sun. He narrowed his eyes and readied for a fight.

Anubarik landed, looking down at Kyanosa and the felines and smiling cruelly. "You guys wait your turn, ok? I'm killing this guy first," he said, gesturing with his head to Zephirus. Anubarik readied his staff as Zephirus readied his lance. The two stared eachother down for a few minutes, then the battle began. They leaped toward eachother and begin meeting eachother blow for blow at amazing speeds. This kept on for a few moments until Zephirus tired. Anubarik leapt upon this opportunity and batted him hard into the sand. As Zephirus got up, he kicked sand into his eyes. Zephirus dropped his lance and rubbed his eyes, screaming in pain. Anubarik delivered a powerful kick to Zephirus's stomach, and Zephirus stumbled backward, hunched over from the blow. Anubarik ran up and flipped backward, delivering 2 kicks to Zephirus's face as he flipped. Zephirus flipped backward as well, but not under his own power. He landed in the sand face-first, blood coming from his nose and both corners of his mouth. Anubarik let him get up this time. Zephirus picked up his lance and charged Anubarik. Anubarik smiled, and spun, kicking Zephirus hard and flinging him aside. Zephirus spun as well, once again not under his own power and landed. His body was sprawled across the desert sand, Anubarik standing over him beaming. He flipped Zephirus over and kneeled beside him. "Night-night," Anubarik whispered with an evil smile, and whacked Zephirus upside the head with the headpiece of his staff. Zephirus was out cold. Anubarik smiled, and turned to his other three victims. "Ok, who's next?" he asked, cackling.

Zephirus opened his eyes and looked around. He was floating in a dark void filled with the howling of wind gusts. He looked over his body. He was obviously being beaten by wind gusts from all directions, but he felt nothing. He smiled, feeling quite a bit of solace in this strange realm. An image of his father then appeared before him and spoke, saying, "Welcome to the Sanctuary of Wind, Zephirus Darkwind." "Father?" he asked the image. The image replied, "Yes, I am your father...well, your father's spirit." Zephirus nodded, and asked, "Why have I been brought here?" "You have been brought here so that I may pass the torch to the next of the Darkwind bloodline," the image answered. Zephirus nodded, and the conversation continued. "Torch?" "The winds carry with them the messages of the spirits, and pick up the spirits of the dead so that they may be carried to wherever they might be going. Long ago, an evil being tried to stop the winds. He succeeded, for there was no guardian. The Goddess of Wind, quickly fading because of the ceasing of the winds, found one of our ancestors, Tenna Darkwind, and made him the Demigod of Wind, assigning him the task of stopping the evil being and starting the winds anew. He succeeded, and since then, the eldest male in each generation of Darkwinds has been the Protector of the Four Winds, the Wind Demigod. I have passed on, and now a new "torchbearer" is necessary. That torchbearer is you, Zephirus. When you awaken shortly, you will awaken with the powers of the Wind Demigod." Zephirus nodded. "Time to wake up, son," Zephirus's father said. Zephirus closed his eyes and waited to awaken.

Zephirus slowly opened his eyes. He looked up at a puzzled Anubarik. *How'd he wake up so fast, he was only out for a few seconds,* Anubarik thought. *Ah well, I'll just kill him instead of leaving him to die,* he thought, making the ankh headpiece of his staff razor sharp. Zephirus floated upward and turned to Anubarik, feeling a sudden rush of power. His pupils turned from brown to green, and his hair lengthened to his midback, developing forest-green highlights at the tips. His vest turned into an emerald breastplate, and a forest-green cape flowed behind him. The blades of his lance grew longer, larger, and sharper, and the same array of blades appeared at the other end of the lance. Anubarik blinked, and thought, *What the hell?* Zephirus landed, and thrust his right hand forward, forming a huge tornado around Anubarik. The tornado threw him around, and began bouncing air blades inside itself, leaving several dents in Anubarik's plating then flinging him several hundred feet into the air. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Anubarik screamed as he fell. He hit the ground hard, and let out another scream of pain as a loud crack was heard. He held his left arm, a part of it having snapped off at the elbow. "That's why you don't land on your arm," Zephirus remarked with a smirk on his face. Anubarik glared at Zephirus, got up, and charged at him, yelling, "You son of a b***h, I'll kick your a**!" He slashed across Zephirus's face. Zephirus touched his face, looked at the blood, then glared at Anubarik, eyes glowing green. "You'll pay for that," Zephirus stated in a calm yet obviously angry tone. Anubarik's eyes widen as Zephirus flattened his palm toward him and the air distorted around his palm. "What the..." Anubarik mumbled, eyes wide. Zephirus suddenly let loose with a hypersonic wind blade, ripping through the upper right side of Anubarik's head, removing an ear and cutting along the edge of the eye of the jackal-headed robot. The shield over Anubarik's "eyeball" fell off, revealing a small black marble-sized "eyeball" with a tiny red dot in the center. Anubarik howled, holding his head. The removed portion crackled with electricity, revealing a bit of Anubarik's mental capacitors. The orange jewel on his head also fell off, cut in two pieces by the wind blade. Anubarik looked down at the jewel, and growled, yelling, "GOD D*** YOU, YOU B******, I'LL LICK YOUR BLOOD FROM MY HANDS!!" and charging at Zephirus in a rage, shattering past the sound barrier and rushing to a speed of Mach 2. Zephirus smiled, and remained ready. At the last second he flew to the side, cutting off both Anubarik's legs at the knees. Anubarik let out a cry of pain, falling and hitting the sand hard. He rolled over and floated upward, using the desert wind to keep himself airborne. Zephirus turned, and flew toward Anubarik. Anubarik held up his staff in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Zephirus slashed, cutting the staff clean in two. Anubarik dropped it, shuddering. He looked at Zephirus in horror, knowing his time had come. Zephirus floated backward, spinning his lance. He stopped spinning, and rushed toward Anubarik.

In a second it was all over. Zephirus stood behind Anubarik, holding his lance in a post-slash position. It was clear to anyone that Anubarik had been slashed clean through from his left shoulder down to his right knee. Zephirus turned and faced Anubarik as he yelled his final curses at him: "D*** it! Lucky shot, kid!" Anubarik's core then overloaded, and sand began to swirl around him as his body shook violently. Finally, Anubarik was gone for good, his body going up in a huge explosion. When the sands had gone to rest, Zephirus collapsed, exhausted from the insane energy rush he had received. He fell into a deep sleep. Kyanosa, Solari, and Chera rose from the sands, freed from their prisons. They walked over to Zephirus and looked him over. "What happened to him?" Solari asked, puzzled. "Yeah, what? Me and Solari slept through the battle," Chera added. Kyanosa sighed, and replied, "He changed into some superpowerful master of wind...and how the heck did you two sleep through that battle?!" Solari rubbed the back of her neck, laughing, slightly embarrassed, and answered, "Well ah, we were tired, and...yeah." Chera nodded, and added, "Yeah, very tired. The explosion did wake us up though!" Kyanosa rolled his eyes, thinking, *Oy, those two are a little on the ditzy side,* and picking up Zephirus. He gestured for the felines to help him, and they started back along through the desert. As they left, the orange jewel that had fallen from Anubarik's head blackened, then shattered, indicating the total destruction of the "Dark Sand." Anubarik had been completely destroyed. However, Zephirus was now hibernating to recover from the energy surge that had occurred in his change from a normal human into a demigod...and what of Dadala? Did he escape the flames of the forest, or did they claim his life? Hopefully that question shall be answered in good time.