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Meanwhile, the sky is dark over the kingdom of Favraes. As countless soldiers sprint down the emptied streets, one knight stands alone in a nearby alleyway. Raindrops clink on his bronze, tattered helmet, dripping off of a long, crooked metal beak. In his enormous, beast-like hand, he holds a yellowed sheet of paper, sogged by the harsh precipitation that is swallowing the city. After reading the letter, Raedou Ganzi knows what he must do.

With a deep, long sigh, he slowly walks toward his tall brick house so he can prepare for the task at hand... Prepare for Calisto's return.

((This is excellent. But do you have permission to be changing the plans of Techni's characters?))

Dakon shrugged. "You cannot blame him for that. Times are changing - it is no longer safe to trust the random traveler. Especially, not in places like these... That brings up something else. What are you doing, traveling the desert? It's unsafe, to say the least," he noted.

"Are you heading inland?"

Farfarello didn't know the differences between regional food styles, just that he was hungary. That's one thing about Hell; you don't have to eat to stay alive. He cut to the chase, "Can I have some?"

Three days passed. Raedou waited and waited, and with every few hours he grew increasingly impatient. After the fourth day, he knew in his heart that Jaeto was not coming. In light of this, he decided to venture to Eopia himself. He gently put his belongings in a large merchant's pack, and set it next to the door. Then, he sat down at the table and treated himself to a delightful meal,
since he would have to eat sparingly during his journey.

Finally, it was time. Raedou lifted his heavy pack and strapped it to both of his shoulders, resting it comfortably on his back. He set off.

The wind was calm, and the sky was cloudy, as usual, ever since the Storm
began to plague the land. Raedou stopped, and stared at the wall of rocks in front of him. His usual route to Eopia had been blocked by an avalanche.

"The work of the Horde, no doubt." he snarled to himself.
"Damn those spineless insects." Frustrated by the abrupt change of plans,
Raedou sat down and began to draw a new route on his map.

He started by drawing a line along the mountain-like designs on his map.

"Obviously, the Horde has taken up residence near here. It would be wise
to take to the mountains and go unnoticed."



"I will be able to rest and re-supply at Erebus... That is, of course, assuming that they did not extend their thundering racism to my people."

He finished his change, and closed his metal visor.

He chuckled at himself, for he was quite satisfied by the quality of the line he had drawn, but then soon remembered that this was not the time for such things. And with that in mind, he stood up, put on his backpack, and turned left, towards the Valtican Mountains.

[Kinda... forget where I left off... mmm...]

Jaeto picked up his belongings that he'd put on the ground while he tried to break into Eopia. Then he looked around and noticed Cal was nowhere in sight. Immediately he started to panic. He'd never let her leave his sight since this trouble started. "Cal?" He called out. "Cal, where are you?" He stepped into the forest to look around.

"I'm over here..." a faint voice said. Jaeto turned to his right and saw the princess out on the path. "There is an unguarded gate over this way. We can get in through there." she waved her arm in the air, motioning for Jaeto to join her. He smiled and ran to her, finding that she was correct. An unguarded gate. They finally got to walk into Eopia. The city streets were bustling with crowds of people. They seemed to arrive right at the busiest time in the market place. There were stalls on both sides of them selling everything imaginable. But neither Jaeto nor Cal had any money to spare on such things. They quickly found an Inn and took out a room for the two of them so they could finally get some sleep.

Raedou knew only one magic spell, which he had purged from his memory, until thoughts of a counterattack raced through his mind. He looked up, and began to laugh.

"Let's show this magi what true power is."

He stood up straight, which dramatically increased his height, since he was slouching most of the time. He slowly raised his hand, and held up his index finger. He pointed it towards his assailant, and bellowed two strange words.

"TOR BOROT!"

The area where he was pointing suddenly burst into a raging explosion. Tattered debris from the mountain flew in every direction, but then stopped in midair. After about three seconds, the entire area was swallowed in a gigantic black hole, which soon collapsed upon itself, becoming a flat, dark surface were the mountain should have been. The darkness faded, leaving nothing but perfectly flattened land.

Raedou said nothing. He did nothing. He just stared in amazement at what he had forgotten so long ago.

"Impressive, but a bit of an overkill, wouldn't you say?" said a nearby voice. The voice was slightly high-pitched, but confident.

"Who are you?" Raedou said as he quickly turned around.
"And why the hell did you try to kill me?!"

A boy, looking no more than 14, stood on a tall rock, looming over where Raedou was standing. He laughed. He was a elven boy, with dark, long blue hair. His skin was fair and very pale, but not nearly as pale as other elves.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I mistook you for a Sentinel."

"A Sentinel?" Raedou tilted his head in curiosity.

"That's what I call them. Mainstays of the Horde. They've come through this area a lot as of late, and I don't care for intruders."

Raedou looked down. "Damn! I've come too late then."

"Late for what?" asked the boy.

"I wanted to go through the mountains without attracting the Horde's attention, on my way to Eopia. They blocked my usual route."

"Ah, I see. Well, my name is Perrault Terris. I am a scholar who used to live in these mountains, until you destroyed my humble home."

"Raedou Ganzi. And you should have thought of that before you attacked me with magic."

Perrault raised an eyebrow. "That was not magic, that was a curser."

Raedou said nothing, because he had no idea what a curser was, but did not want to admit it, afraid that there was a grand new invention that he had not heard of.

"Obviously you do not know what a curser is. It's a series of small stones created by my family. It allows you to use effective magic at the cost of the spell's respective stone. Of course, cursers are not nearly as potent as the real thing. And I must say, I highly doubt that any real magic spell could even come close to what you just did... with a single finger, I might add!"

Perrault jumped down from the rock he was standing on and walked toward Raedou.

"A spell that intensifies gravity and uses it as a weapon. Truly amazing...
wherever did you obtain such destructive power?"

"An old friend taught it to me when I lived in Santuinne."

"Ah, yes. I would very much like to create a curser of that spell. Would you teach it to me?"

Raedou clenched his fists. "So you can cause such destruction as I just did?! Never. It's a terrible curse to know this spell, not a blessing."

"Oh, I cannot use spells. I can only channel their energy into these crystals. Even if I did use that spell in a curser, I can guarantee that
it would merely slam an enemy to the ground and keep him there for a while, if not less."

Raedou remained silent. "...I'll think about it, I guess." He turned and began to walk away.

"Excellent. Then you won't mind if I accompany you, of course."

Raedou froze, and quickly turned around again.

"What? Why?"

Perrault smiled. "Well, two reasons..."

Raedou sat down on the ground, ready to listen.

"For the most part, I have an extensive knowledge of the Horde. Their strengths, their weaknesses, even their hunting and eating habits. If you are headed to Eopia, you will have to face the Horde, I can assure you of that. My knowledge could be very useful to you."

Raedou looked away.

"Also, I can make cursers at a moment's notice. All I need is a rock and knowledge of any necessary spell, which I have. Big rocks or small, I can make into cursers. With my help, many shortcuts will be open to you."

Raedou sighed. "Your point is well made. Very well... you can tag along."

"I knew you'd let me come! Thank you so much!"

Raedou averted his gaze. "You're quite welcome... shall we be off, then?"

He looked at Perrault, and saw that the boy was bubbling with excitement.
He was suprised, and somewhat flattered.

The boy spoke, trying hard to repress his excitement.

"Anytime you're ready."

And so they headed north for Erebus, the first checkpoint on their journey.

((Thank you very much. You know, I wasn't going to do this until Piebald made me... I'm glad she did! This is a ton of fun!))