When we got back everyone was asking what we found, so I told them the story of Cane. They thought it was very interesting. Then I was very confused.

"The question is, how are we going to find the sword?" I asked everyone. No one seemed to know, then Sensei spoke up for the first time since we got back.

"Well you see, the sword has been broken up into four parts. The handle (which is split in two, but connects magnetically when around the sheath and blade), the sheath, and the blade. They were put in different locations so that the sword itself would be harder to find" he finished. Everyone looked at each other. I then heard the sound of claws on wood and looked over towards the hall to see my spotted beauty. I bent down and she came running towards me. I picked her up and she started licking my face.

"Haha I know, I know. You love me, but seriously you need a breath mint" everyone in the room laughed. I then turned my attention to Sensei, "So Sensei where is the first place that we need to go?" I asked him. He looked up at me and before any words fell out of his mouth I passed out...

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I woke up and I was surrounded by ice and snow. I didn't recognize this place. It had tall trees that stood as high as the skyscrapers in Orlando. The sky was a clear blue and not a cloud could be seen. Suddenly snow hit the back of my head and chills went down my spine. I heard laughter, but not just anyone's laughter. I turned around now freezing cold.

"Sam really!? That's cold!" I shouted to the brunette about ten feet away from me. He kept laughing while I bent down and created a bigger snowball. I crept closer and by the time that he stopped laughing the snowball was directly over his head.

"Oh no" was all he said before I dropped it on his head. He jumped up and ran in a big circle screaming 'cold' as I laughed. "Now you know how I felt!" I shouted as he ran around still screaming 'Drama Queen' I thought. As he was doing that I looked around and saw a path that led out of the cold forest. I turned and saw a big tree with a symbol on it. I stood right in front of the tree. I recognized the symbol, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it. I reached out and was about to put my hand on it, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Sam with a concerned look on his face. He leaned forward and pulled on the tree. He opened a door, which I was very surprised that there was a door in the tree, and he pulled me in. Inside was very warm. There were metal stairs that led down in a spiral staircase. We made it to the bottom and he sat me down on the only chair in the room.

"Kirsten, listen. 'In a place that's dark and cold, you will find a place that holds what you are searching for, but beware of the traps that are everywhere'" ok so now they're not riddles anymore just parts of sentences that make no sense...great. With that sentence, or riddle or whatever, I started to gain consciousness and enter into what I hope is the real world.

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I woke up and realized that I was in the same bed I was in when I first woke up here. I looked around and saw Toby sitting in a chair with his head on my bed and light snores coming from his mouth. I looked at the clock and realized that it was passed midnight. I looked back at my sleeping boy and sat up, then leaned over and kissed his head. He stirred a little and looked up. Once he saw me he smiled and pulled me in for a hug.

"I thought you died" he whispered in my ear. I pulled away and looked into his now dark brown eyes. "Is that what you always think whenever I pass out?" He chuckled a little and nodded his head guiltily. I smiled and kissed his forehead.

"If I were in your position I'd think the same thing" I confessed. We laughed quietly until he spoke.

"What happened?" I looked him in the eye then started speaking.

"I saw Sam. We were in a forest with snow everywhere. I turned around and saw a symbol on a tree that I recognized. Sam walked over and opened a door in the tree and walked me inside and down a spiral staircase and sat me down on a chair. He told me 'In place that's dark and cold, you will find a place that holds what you are searching for, but beware of the traps that are everywhere' and that's all that he said before he disappeared" I told him. He repeated the riddle under his breath and thought for a few seconds. He looked at me and then went out the door.

"Toby?" I followed him to Sensei's door. He knocked quietly and a few seconds later Sensei appeared at the, now, open door. Before he could speak, Toby told him the riddle and Sensei put his hand on his chin.

"Hmm, dark and cold. Maybe a cave" he said.

"Yeah but in my dream I was in a forest" I spoke up. Sensei's head immediately looked up.

"Wait a forest?" I nodded.

"Maybe He was talking about the Birchwood Forest" Sensei concluded. I looked down recognizing the name. Sensei broke my thoughts.

"That's where Zane found his true potential" I looked up. Now I remember where I heard the name and the symbol.

"Cole told me about that and showed me a picture of the symbol that was on the tree" I told them.

"Sensei, where is the Birchwood Forest?" I asked him. He motion for us to follow him into his room. He pulled out a map from under his bed and rolled it out onto the floor. He pointed it out exactly.

"Looks like we have a long trip ahead of us" I said looking between Sensei and Toby, who was kneeled on the floor across from me and next to Sensei. I turned around and walked out the door looking for the boys and girls that would be coming with us. I knocked on the door of Connor and Riley's room and a sleepy Connor opened the door. Before he could open his mouth I told him to get Riley up and told him that we are leaving. I then went to the girls room and opened the door. I saw Timber sitting up on her bed and putting her combat boots on. She looked at me and nodded already knowing the plan. I went back to my room and borrowed some of Ed and Edna's fur coats that they never use because...well because they live in the desert. I went out of my room and dropped three coats off at the girls room and two at the boys room. I gave one to Toby and he said a quiet 'thank you'. I nodded and packed the last one in my bag.

"My only question is why do they have so many coats? They live in the desert" I chuckled at Toby's question.

"I don't know Tobes. I don't know" I quickly went to the winter shoe rack and picked out all of the winter boots that they had. Thankfully they had enough pairs of boots for all of us. As I walked by the kitchen I saw Renée with a book bag putting snacks and other things that we might need inside. I gave her the boots and told her to put them on. She nodded and quickly slipped them on and continued what she was doing. I dropped the boots of to everyone in our group. I saw Connor checking his phone when I dropped the boots off to him. I saw a big book bag by the door. I picked it up and handed it to him.

"We need to be packing, not checking our status on Facebook" he smiled realizing that I still talked like we were still on earth. He grabbed the bag and started putting sleeping bags in it. It looked big enough to fit at least four sleeping bags. 'I should tell one of the others to pack a few more'. I walked out of the room and went to Sensei's room and picked up the map, rolled it up and put it in my bag. I walked back to the main room to see everyone ready to go. We hugged everyone goodbye and walked out the door. We all piled into the van and Renée got into the driver seat.

"Is everyone ready?" She asked. There a few 'yeahs' and some just nodded their heads. We took off and began the long journey to the Birchwood Forest.

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Several hours after we took off from Ed and Edna's, we started to see signs of the Birchwood Forest. Snow started falling down as we entered the beautiful forest. I looked around at the tall trees. 'Just like the ones from my dream' I thought. They were as tall as skyscrapers and had brown and white decorated all over them. Snow covered the ground and the branches. We suddenly came to a stop. Everyone stood up and put their coats on, then headed outside. Once everyone stood outside I saw a sign that said 'Beware of Treehorns'. I thought back to the story Cole had told me awhile back.

"What's a Treehorn?" Connor asked. I looked up at him and he looked at me.

"A Treehorn is a big animal that looks like its surroundings. It walks around on four legs and the only way you know that it's near is it's echoing footsteps. I remember a story that Cole told me. It was when Zane had gotten his true potential. He had destroyed their Queen then ran off so they should be harmless now" I finished. We all started looking around, curious about this area that we've never been before. I started walking around when someone called my name. I turned and immediately snow hit my face. I wiped the snow from my face and saw Renée laughing. I made a mischievous face and created a snowball from below me. It was about as big as my face, just a bit smaller. I slowly walked closer to her and when she looked at me I threw it at her. She gasped as the cold made contact with the left side of her face. I laughed as everyone started throwing snowballs at each other. Connor was sneaking up behind Riley and was about to put a snowball on his head until Timber threw one at him and he screamed cause of shock and the cold ice hitting his back. I kept laughing until someone said my name. I saw Renée standing in front of a thick tree. As I got closer I noticed something engraved into the tree. I gasped.

"That's the tree" I whispered. Toby walked up next to me and looked at me and went to the left side of the symbol. He knocked on it, causing it to echo. It sounded like metal. Somehow he was able to open the door in the tree and we looked inside. I felt a presence to my left and saw Toby looking inside as well. Inside was a spiral staircase that led down. Me and Toby glanced at each other, then I led the way into the tree. We made our way down the stairs, when I saw a table and a chair with a lamp in the corner. Once we all got to the bottom I realized that this place is actually pretty big. I turned to face everyone.

"Ok everyone search around for anything that might seem out of place" I said as everyone started searching. I looked underneath the staircase with Renée and Toby while the others searched everywhere else. I noticed that the stairs weren't touching the wall. I slipped my hand in between the stairs and the wall and followed the stairs until my hand hit something. I looked up and couldn't see anything. I felt around for what had hit my hand and accidentally pushed up. Then I heard rumbling. I turned and saw the floor following the staircase was moving.

"Guys get out of the way the floor is moving" I shouted as Riley, Connor, and Timber jumped away from that part of the floor. I walked closer to it and saw that the spiral continued on from the original staircase. Out of curiosity I started walking down, but I stopped when someone grabbed my arm. I turned and saw Toby with a worried look on his face.

"Kirsten I don't think we should go down there. It looks dangerous" he said looking from the stairs going down, then back to me.

"Toby we have to if we want to save our friends" he looked away and let go of my arm slowly. I moved away from him and down the stairs. One by one my friends followed me down, Toby being last. After about five minutes we finally made it to the bottom. At the bottom was a wide, long room and at the other end I saw a spotlight. I slowly made my way forward, but stopped almost immediately. I turned to the others.

"Be careful where you step" I whispered then turned and started to walk forward. Fortunately for us no one stepped on a trap and we made it safely to the light. Everyone stopped walking as I walked up the steps and to the pedestal. Luckily for us, sitting on the pedestal was one half of the handle. I grabbed it and waited for something to happen. Suddenly a light scanned me and started...talking?

"Who dares to disturb the resting place of the Blade of the Elders?" He asked in a robotic voice. I answered confidently.

"It is I. The Ninja of Nature. We have come to collect the pieces of the blade because there is a great evil that has arisen" I replied.

"And what might this evil be?" He asked in a questioning manor. I paused before I replied.

"Cane. Cane has come back" I answered. Suddenly a hidden door opened and out stepped a samurai in full armor. He walked up to me and out of the corner of my eye I saw Riley and Connor holding Toby back. The samurai stopped and was not even a foot away from my face.

"What do you mean Cane has arisen. I destroyed him years ago. He can't possibly come back" he nearly shouted, breathing hard so I caught a big whif of his nasty breath. I tried not to gag as I responded.

"But he did. He took our friends and took their powers. He is back and I need this to save them" I said with the same tone in my voice as the man in front me. He turned and I let out a breath of air that I didn't know I was holding. I then felt a presence behind me and arms snake around my waist. I focused on the samurai's movements. He started walking in a circle before he spoke again.

"Alright I will let you borrow the sword, but you cannot let Cane get ahold of it. Once you defeat him the sword will deconstruct itself and the pieces will return to their rightful place" he told me. I nodded like my life depended on it.

"Good now go and save the world from destruction" he said and we started heading back to the cold world above us. Once we walked up the long staircase back to the room we first entered. As soon as the last person got into the room, the floor started closing causing the whole tree to shake. Once it was closed I looked at the beautifully crafted handle in my hand. It was a silver color with a gold outline and a black dragon design was on the front and back but stopped in the middle where the handle was supposed to connect with the rest of the sword. I heard everyone walking out into the cold woods outside of the tree. I didn't expect to hear a voice behind me.

"Are you nervous?" He asked. I turned to face Toby with a serious look written all over my face.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, but I knew what he meant.

"Are you afraid to face Cane?" He asked more specifically. I looked down at the handle then back up to him. I nodded and shamefully looked down. I heard shuffling, then my face being lifted up by his cold fingers.

"It's ok to be scared. You don't have to be fearless in every situation. The only way to not be scared anymore is to face your fears. Face them with courage. You will end up being alright, ok" he finished and by now his hands are on my cheeks. I nodded as a tear fell down my cheek. He wiped it away and kissed my head. Suddenly I heard a voice come from above us.

"Come on lovebirds, we're leaving with or without you" Nicole said and I smiled. I grabbed Toby's hand and we made our way to the bus. We got out from inside and I immediately felt the cold air hit my face. Toby shut the door and followed me to the bus. I got on first and found a seat near the back. Toby sat next to me and I put my head on his shoulder.

"Everything is going to be alright, don't worry" and those were the last words I heard before I fell asleep with his head on mine and mine on his shoulder.

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Hey guys ninja_of_steel here and I hope you liked this chapter. This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written so I'm very proud of myself. I am very excited for these next chapters and I hope you are to. Well I've gotta go so I'll see all of you beautiful ninja in the next chapter.

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