-Chapter 1: The Beginnning-

It has been almost a year since the small town of Alastar had last received their last dose of Myrrh. The last time they had received it, it was from a badly injured selkie with a note attached to his chalice, the item used to hold Myrrh, saying that all the Alastarian caravanners were slain in battle. The town of Alastar grieved for many nights over the deaths of their brave caravanners, but now it was time to send out a new team of caravanners to collect Myrrh, lest they be consumed by the living evil known as miasma.

The leaves rustled in the early morning breeze. It was so early that the sun had yet to rise over the horizon. Beside a nearby river, there sat a Clavat, leaning on a large oak tree, fishing. Beside him, there was a small pile of fish on the ground and hung on the tree was a white jacket. He adjusted his long brown sleeves beforre letting out a sigh.

"I guess the fishes don't want to say goodbye," He mused, picking up his jacket and standing up. He lifted his bracered arms and stretched as he wore his jacket. He dusted off his gray-striped brown shorts and leaned down to gather his fishes. He then set off to ward a small bag near the river, his booted feet crunching through the dry leaves on the ground.

"Well, I'd better get going to meet the others," He said to himself, letting out a yawn and rubbing his brown eyes. He crouched down and packed away his fish and rod, swapping it for his weapons; a large battered battleaxe and a contrastingly new shield. He pulled a cloth cap out of his bag and over his dark brown hair and set off from his riverside house.

"Bye mom, bye dad," Said a female Clavat, "I'll be leaving now."

"We'll miss you so much darling," cooed the girl's mother, giving her a rib-crushing hug in the process.

"Write whenever you can," said the girl's father, his dark eyes a mix of worry and pride.

The Clavat smiled at her parents, her brown hair flowing in the morning breeze. She reached up and held her red and white hood to her head as a strong gust came, her similarly colored cloak flapping in the wind. She wore leather shoes and her ankles and shins were wrapped with cloth bandages.

"Take these to defend yourself," her father said, presenting to her a sabre, a shield and a pair of worn bracers. The girl received the weapons and armor reverently.

"And this is from me," her mother said, placing an odd looking stone with a rune on it in her hand, "It helps you cast magic faster."

"Thank you," The girl replied, wiping away tears from her brown eyes, "I love you both so much!" Then she turned and began walking toward the town gate form her family's ranch.

Four Lilties stood outside the merchant store, simply smiling at one of them who proudly wore a metal bucket on his head.

"Are you seriously going to go like that?" One of the Lilties asked in a feminine voice, stifling a giggle.

"Yep," the Lilty in question replied. His dark blue armor and spear shone in the sunlight. From his bucket burst forth a wild sprout of hair that flapped in the wind.

"Well just make sure you come back alive and with Myrrh," The oldest Lilty amongst them said, patting the bucket-headed one on his shoulder.

"And kick some ass while you're at it!" The other Lilty said, pumping a fist in the air.

"Oh don't worry, I will," The bucket-headed Lilty sneered before running to the entrance of Alastar.

"Mooooooom… Stop it!" A female Lilty cried out futilely as her mother tried to cram more vegetables into her already full backpack.

"I don't care if you are going to save Alastar or not," The older Lilty said, pushing a star carrot into the bag, "You are still going to have a balanced diet."

"But meat is balanced," The younger Lilty argued, her pink and white Lilty's garb bobbing up and down as she stamped a cleated foot on the floor impatiently. She was twirling a bronze mallet in irritably while she swept back a strand of her unkempt leaf-like hair. Her blue eyes glinting with frustration as her mother attempted to shove another striped apple into the bag.

"Yes, balanced with fats and unhealthiness." The other Lilty retorted sharply as she closed the bag. Then she turned and tossed the bag at her daughter who caught it. Suddenly, a loud rip sound was heard and the backpack split, sending the fresh produce all over the floor.

"UGH!" The young Lilty cried out exasperatedly. She quickly bent down and picked up the items she wanted to bring and bolted out of the house.

"YOU COME BACK HERE AND TAKE YOUR VEGETABLES!" a loud voice boomed from the house accompanied with a flying round corn and other various produce.

The blacksmith forges were ablaze, the warm glow of the fire outlining the silhouette of a lone Selkie as he bent, forging yet another weapon. The Selkie was the very same one who brought the Alastarian chalice back a year ago. Since then, the townsfolk were kind enough to offer him lodging in their smithy.

The Selkie pulled out the rod of iron he had been tempering and quenched it in the nearby oil barrel. The rod screamed in protest as it was immersed in the black liquid, producing plenty of smoke. The Selkie left the rod in the barrel as he went over to tend to the other forge, in which there was a bronze racket top tempering. He opened the forge, the initial wave of hot air blowing out his short black hair. He squinted his green eyes to locate the metal object and pulled it out with metal tongs. He placed it on the anvil and began to hammer it, each strike sending a shower sparks flying all over the workshop. After the Selkie had finished, he turned and pulled out the iron rod and hammered the racket top around it so that they connected. He popped it back into the furnace once again to solidify the bond.

The Selkie removed the black apron he was wearing, revealing his light blue tunic and black undershirt. He went into the house to get his fur shoulder pads and gloves. After he did so, he pulled his weapon out of the forge and quenched it one last time before wrapping it with leather to protect the metal. He looked up into the sky and said quietly to himself, "Well, it's time to repay the debt I owe to these people."

The mill was silent, save for a little sniffling from the youngest of the Selkie family of five. The breeze swept past, rustling the fur trimmings and short purple sleeves of the low-cut yellow top of the departing Selkie.

"Do you have to go sis?" The Selkie kid asked, tugging the older Selkie's purple skirt, his eyes still tearing.

"Yes little bro," The Selkie replied, squatting down to see her little brother at eye level. Her green eyes too glittered, threatening to burst into tears.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to you know," Another, older Selkie said, "I could do it for you."

"It's okay big bro," The departing Selkie said, rising up, "I know what I need to do, that's why I signed up for this."

"Come back soon," The oldest Selkie said, patting her on the back onto which was strapped her weapon of choice, an oak bow. Beside him a female Selkie of his age tearing up.

"I will dad and mom," The Selkie said as she turned to leave.

Two Yukes sat on the porch of the alchemy lab, eating star carrots. They did not say a word to each other. After finishing his star carrot, the younger of the two got up and picked up his haversack. He then proceeded to grab his oak hammer which lay by his side.

"I'll be leaving now father," The Yuke said briskly, pulling the straps of the haversack over his jacketed shoulders and dusting off the seat of his blue kilt. He shielded his eyes that were below his two-horned helmet with a feathery arm as he looked up at the sky and set off down the road.

"Good bye then, son." The older Yuke replied in a raspy voice. The younger of the two simply walked off, not even looking back once as his cleated feet clanked on the road.

A female Yuke woke up in her bed, she yawned lightly and rubbed the back of her 'Spiral' style helmet. She sat and listened carefully for a while, hearing the sounds of her family's light snoring. She had already said her goodbyes and cried all her tears out the night before, therefore she decided to let her family sleep in today. Her family was in the tailoring business so naturally her clothes were made of the finest material. She pulled on her classic female Yuke blouse and traditional Yuke pants. She quickly slipped on her slippers and wen to pack her things. As she left the house, now on her back an oak staff, elaborately carved with Yukish runes, she was stopped by a small Yuke, her little sister.

"What are you doing here little sister?" the Yuke asked.

"I'm here to say goodbye," Replied the younger Yuke, "I'm worried for your safety."

"Don't worry about me," The Yuke said, rubbing the younger one's helmet, "I'll be fine."

"Come back soon, okay?" The younger Yuke said, her voice wavering.

"Okay," The departing Yuke replied, smiling kindly behind her helmet. Then she walked past the other Yuke and continued on her way.

The male Clavat arrived first along with the male Selkie. They were followed by a sprinting Lilty, holding most of her belongings in her arms and a male Yuke. After a while, a female Yuke and Clavat both arrived together. Then the other Selkie came. The last person to arrive was the Lilty who insisted on keeping a bucket on his head.

The Male Clavat spoke up. "Well, seeing that Pops isn't here yet, why don't we introduce ourselves?"

"Pops?" Asked the female Selkie, "Roland is your dad?"

"Yup," The Clavat replied casually, "Anyways, I'm Luke, 18 years old, Nice to meet you all,"

"Gar Vul, 18 as well," The male Selkie said briskly.

"Raoul, 17 going on 18," The male Lilty introduced himself, grinning like a fool.

"Uh, hi, I'm Yami…" The female Clavat said nervously, "Um… 17 years old."

"I'm Kim Las, but you can call me Kim. 17 years old too!" The female Selkie exclaimed happily, "Pleasure to meet all of you!"

"Lily, 16 years old but I'm going to be the best warrior out there!" The other Lilty said in an almost sneering manner.

"My name's Ellanoir, I'm 18 years old," The female Yuke stated in a professional manner.

"Azaroth, 19 years old," The male Yuke said.

"Nice to see that all of you are getting to know each other," Said an old voice from behind the new caravanners. They turned to see Roland, the village elder walking slowly towards them.

"Now I'm pretty sure you all know why you're here," The old Clavat began. The eight teens nodded.

"Well, seeing as how walking around the whole time will be tiring, I have taken the liberty of preparing a caravan for all of you." The caravanners cheered loudly, save for Gar Vul who simply nodded in acknowledgement.

However, the cheering died down when Roland brought out their caravan with a large, blue and fuzzy papaopamus. It looked like an extremely small hut squashed at its foundation and mounted onto a large wagon. The perches looked like they would fall off the caravan any moment and the wheels looked kind of rusty and dilapidated. The curtains and roof of the caravan were an uneven cream colour and had questionable stains on it. On the whole, it was a very small caravan for a party of their size and it did not look… up to scratch.

"This… is our caravan?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Er… yes, please do excuse its appearance," Roland said, "It was the best we could do in a month's time."

"I've seen outhouses that look better than that," Raoul scoffed, earning him a smack from Luke.

"Don't insult Pops' handiwork," Luke scolded, then turning to Roland, he said, "Thanks for the caravan Pops, we really appreciate it."

"Its looks leave plenty to be desired," Ellanoir said, "But I guess it's functional."

"Let's go already!" Kim yelled excitedly and leaping onto the rickety caravan, "To adventure, and beyond!"

AN:

Well, this is the first chapter, I know, i might be a bit boring, but this is just to introduce everyone. Btw, this is my first story and a story I was HEAVILY influenced to write this story by the Dark Ampithere's story, Tipa's Crystal Chronicles. So if there are some similarities, i hope you can understand.

For those of you who are curious about their models:

Luke - Cap

Yami - White Cap

Raoul - Bucket Head

Lily - Bare Head

Gar Vul - Shark Eyes

Kim Las - Owl Head

Azaroth - Black Mage

Ellanoir - Spiral

Alright, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!