I do not own Record of Agarest War

Chapter 1

Leonhardt had finally arrived at Alfheim with Ellis, Borgnine, and Dyshana in tow. "We must limit the length of our visit, Leonhardt. We may only have a day's rest to collect ourselves and gather our strength before we move." Dyshana had told him when they first arrived.

Leo looked around in amazement at the graceful buildings and green forests, watching all the elves. "Wow I never realized..." He trailed off, continuing to examine all the elves.

"Never realized what?" Ellis looked at Leo with wide, curious eyes.

"How many elves there are, and how different they are." He said as Dyshana approached the two of them after a lengthy discussion with Teonor.

"There used to be many more elves and they were even more diverse. Only two types of elves are still around from that long ago in the past." Dyshana seemed as though she was remembering something from a dream.

"And those two would be?" Leo looked at her expectantly.

"A story for another time is what they would be. Now we should all get some rest, we will be leaving first thing in the morning." Dyshana announced as she headed back to her room for the night.

"Goodnight Leo, night Borgnine!" Ellis said as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. It had been quite a long day for everyone and they all needed some rest.

"Leaving so soon? It's a shame but I know it would be too much to ask you to stay. But it will break Ellis' little heart to see you go. As I said I know it would simply be too much to ask." Teonor had a strange look in his eyes.

"NO! You can't leave, Leo! Make him stay!" Ellis commanded Teonor.

"No Ellis, I'm afraid Leo simply can't stay. He had a big job to do and can't stay here." Teonor told her gently.

"But it's not fair!" Ellis was pouting like a typical child.

"Why not have her go with them. She does after all have a larvae to protect her." A woman approached the group. "I'd also be more than happy to accompany her as well." It was then that Leo noticed her third eye, up until now he hadn't concerned himself to much with her.

"And just who might you be Miss...?" Leo asked her, trying to avoid staring at her third eye and looking impolite.

"You may call me Vira-Lorr, and I will reiterate. I wish to come with you on your journey." Vira confessed.

"Leo, we could use all the help we can get." Dyshana quietly reminded him. Leo looked between Vira and Ellis, his brow furrowing as he concentrated.

"Then I suppose we are all in agreement. Nice to meet you Vira-Lorr." Leo said, smiling.

"Yay!" Ellis was practically bursting with excitement.

"Oh please, call me Vira. But I'm afraid this is a package deal. He will be coming with us as well." She motioned to behind her, where a strange person was standing. He wore all black which consisted of a long coat, pants, boots, and a strange black mask. His mask had a strange swirl design on it colored in oranges, pinks, and light purples. He had long elvish hair that was a deep orange color. There was a slight clink whenever he walked, like metal scratching metal although there was no visible armor on his person. "He's my...servant." She hesitated. "But you will see he can more than help your cause."

"The more the merrier I suppose, but you do realize we are going to war here? This is not some noble quest." Leo reminded everyone.

"Well we must be on our way, thank you for your generous hospitality Teonor." Dyshana said as they were leaving Alfheim.

"Yes thank you very much Teonor." Leo said on the way out.

"I wish you all the best of luck on your travels, and may you return safely." Teonor knew that last line was a bit of a stretch. But he wanted to believe Ellis would return home safely, no he had to believe she would come back.

"It should be nightfall by the time we get back to Dodone, so we'll have time to rest up and gather supplies." Leo said as they entered Slumber Forest.

"Doesn't that depend on if you get lost in here or not?" Vira asked, much to Leo's embarrassment.

"We probably wouldn't have been able to find our way out of there if not for Ellis, isn't that right?" Leo turned to look at Ellis.

"Oh no it was nothing, you're going to make me blush." Ellis shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"A grown man getting lost in the forest, I mean honestly did you simply refuse to ask for directions?" Vira asked, to which Leo simply shrugged apologetically. Leo took note that their masked companion hadn't said a word to anyone the entire time.

"Is he a...mute?" Leo quietly asked Vira.

"As far as I can tell, yes. He speaks only in when he deems necessary which isn't very often as you can tell." Vira stole an inconspicuous glance at him.

"Yeah I noticed, but you claim he is a more than capable fighter."

"Our little group is at least ten men stronger because of him now and that probably an understatement."

"I suppose we will just have to wait and find out."

Leo was off by a little in his predictions, they had arrived in Dodone in the late afternoon with sundown quickly approaching."Good thing I was wrong, shops would have closed if we got here at sunset."

"We barely have enough time to go shopping!" Ellis complained.

"Ellis this is not luxury shopping, we need stuff like food, water, tents, that kind of thing." Leo patiently explained.

"Like camping?" Ellis asked.

"Yeah, like camping. So we need to buy camping gear." Leo still had no idea how old this little elf girl was so he knew he should probably keep things simple and easy to understand. Ellis ran off to the shopping district, saying something about how she was going on a big camping trip with Leo and the others, and Leo couldn't help but smile.

They went off to bed rather early that night in the inn, well everyone except the masked man. It was only later that night that any of them realized he hadn't said his name, and no one had asked for it. He stayed out in the bar area late in the night, sipping a cup of warm tea by the tiny fireplace. He always enjoyed being alone, when he could unmask himself and not constantly have to have his guard up, but it was a grueling life devoid of relaxation. He realized it would be morning soon and sighed in despair as he affixed the mask to his face once more. They would be leaving soon and he needed to be ready to leave.

Leo and the others were just nearing the edge of Dodone when they were approached by a startled and breathless man. "No! You can't leave down that road! It leads to Mimas!" The man paused to take a breath, "Mimas is being overrun with Gridimas soldiers!" His words come out in a flurry.

"Gridimas is invading Mimas?! We must head there immediately!" Leo said and the group left Dodone at a breakneck pace. "I just hope we are not too late."