Prologue

The fragile man nervously opened the door, trying as hard as he could to hide his shaky, unstable emotions. A vexing squeak pierced the silent air, echoing off a high ceiling that seemed to stretch into infinity. That aside, the room was completely quiet.

An apprehensive face was illuminated in the faint glow emanating from the opposite end of the chamber; the face belonged to the man who had previously entered. But there was another being in the chamber, neither man nor beast. This being was the embodiment of pure evil.

Through the darkness that enshrouded the room, Darksol snickered pejoratively as he materialized unexpectedly. The man gulped audibly and a sense of fear seemed to radiate from his trembling form. He knew it would be impossible to turn back now, unless he would willingly feed his soul to the Evil Being standing before him.

"And?" Darksol broke the silence that followed his appearance.

"Nothing yet, sire," the skinny man replied. "But still searching." Darksol nodded, dismissing the man. The man's name was Ramladu, and he would be an eternal slave to the power of his master.

A glowing, orange orb floated slowly across a background of pale blue. Max surveyed the valley before him, wondering where his comrades could be hiding.

A large shadow blocked him from the sunlight. It grew larger and larger, before Max finally found enough sense to look up. A mess of brown feathers and armor nearly landed on him, had he not leapt out of the way. He stood, brushed himself off, and put an annoyed look on his face.

"Excuse me, Balbaroy," he muttered. "Is there a reason why you just attempted to crush me?" The huge birdman shook his head no, and watched as his leader in combat removed several feathers from his shaggy, brown hair.

"I'm sorry, Max. Tao sent me to tell you that we've spotted a large crowd of people and that they are all in this big field, and they have shovels. She thinks they are digging for something," the birdman panted. He bowed down, not to show respect for his leader, but to offer Max to hop onto his back.

Max accepted this invitation, and Balbaroy flew off in the direction he had just come from.

A strong breeze whipped through Max's hair, sending it all over his head. His blue cape and headband fluttered off wildly behind him as Balbaroy flapped his huge wings.

A bright red glow interrupted the tranquility of their flight – as Max looked down upon it, he could immediately that something had happened that he probably didn't want to know. Balbaroy lowered his altitude slightly, just to investigate the sweeping fire below. With his birds-eye view, he could see a small band of people running deeper into the woods they were flying over.

A grunt and a small scream rent the air. Balbaroy dove into the forest, away from the fire that was consuming it. A flash of pink told Max and Balbaroy that Tao had started this fire using one of her spells. A disgruntled beast maintained a headlock on her, while struggling to keep her from kicking, punching, biting, or utilizing her magical abilities on it.

Max swiftly climbed off of Balbaroy's back, and attempted to aid his comrade. He raised his sword up, with the tip closest to the ground. "Supernova all systems go!"

A beam of energy disintegrated the hideous creature, sending Tao sailing through the air even further away from the inferno. Racing after Tao, Max yelled, "What is going on?" but received no answer.

Tao's form lay unconscious on the ground, in the midst of crackling, dry leaves. Her pink hair lay in a tangle, and her clothes were wrinkled and torn in several places.

"Why was that...that thing trying to injure Tao?" Max asked, to no one in particular. Balbaroy waddled next to his leader and shook his head.

He replied with, "I have no idea. But where is everyone else? They seemed to have run off as we arrived." The birdman looked off in the direction that he remembered his comrades running. Max did the same.

"I don't know." He turned toward the blaze, and smoothly quelled it with a spell he had learned a while back. Smoke floated upwards from the locale. Charred wood littered the ground, have buried under piles of ashes.

Standing on the opposite side of ground zero was a handful of Max's comrades – Anri, Luke, Zylo, and Khris. They spotted Max, Tao, and Balbaroy, and rushed toward the three of them.

Max wore an expression of stern befuddlement. "Will one of you please tell me what is going on?"

All four of them had some sort of ignominious expression. Anri whispered, "We couldn't stop them, Max. They were too powerful." She paused for a brief moment. "The Shianwa tribe tried to overthrow us and kidnap us. We, and a few others, managed to resist their invasion, but Ken, Lowe, Amon, Hans, and Narsha were successfully abducted."

Max was flabbergasted. He'd only been separated from the Shining Force for a week, and this was how they acted?

"Max, it isn't like we just stood there doing nothing while they kidnapped five of us," Khris interjected, seeming to read his mind. "We did fight back. In fact, we killed off most of our assailants. But the ones that survived were too powerful."

"Alright, then," Max said. "Shall we go find the five that were kidnapped?"

Ramladu made his second venture into the lair of Darksol in one day. "We've found them, milord."

"Excellent. How many did you get?" Darksol replied, anticipating a healthy number. He didn't hear what he'd wanted.

"Five, sir."

Darksol forced himself into a coughing fit, then said, "You may go, Ramladu."

As the door closed gently, Darksol strolled over to his window, and pulled aside the black curtains. As he looked out across his small kingdom within Panmei, he saw his large brigade marching through the gates.