-A/N- I own my characters. I do not own any towns, except for Tiaga. This story takes places 400 years after Crystal Chronicles did. Sorry about the long first chapter, I needed to introduce all of the characters. Some of the dashes were replaced by 3/4 symbols. Will be corrected soon.

Daiki laid back in the wagon, stretching his arms. He had not gotten a good night's sleep in some time, seeing as his fellow caravaner Katsu always dozed off while on guard, leaving Daiki to watch for monsters in the miasma-poisoned shadows.

Daiki had grown up an orphan, adopted by a Clavat family in the village of Tiaga, where he grew up. He was the only Clavat child in the village, and was often bullied by lilties, then made fun of by Selkies for being beaten by someone half his size. When he was 8 when a family of Selkies moved in next to him, bringing along with them Katsu.

They became friends after some time, and as the years went on Daiki and Katsu looked forward more and more to joining the Crystal Caravan. Their chance came when the caravan was nearly destroyed by several goblin ambushes, and the current caravaners called it quits due to the unusual goblin activity.

And so the two joined the caravan, and were accompanied by Ryuu the Yuke and a lilty, Rokuru. Over time they became so close one was never seen without the other three.

Those were the days Daiki dreamed about when he laid in the back of the wagon, reminiscing about those days with Katsu. He always loved having to wake up Katsu whenever they were supposed to sneak out at night; Katsu had never been able to stay awake all night, even before his birthday when he knew Daiki was going to sneak into his house and surprise him in the morning with decorations or presents of some sort; or when they got into a fight and Daiki would sneak into his room and leave a rotten fish. "Those were the days," he thought. "Those were the days…."

"DAIKI!"

"What now?" he thought as he got up. The caravan came to a screeching halt, sending Daiki flying out the front of it onto the ground.

"Who called me? What's going on? Who-" He was cut short as he looked up, and was face to face with an orc, who was on top of a Griffin. It seemed to be…riding it?

"What the hell?" he wondered out loud. "Orcs aren't that smart!"

He was cut short by an explosion; looking to his left he saw there was some smoke on top of the hill, where there was a group of goblins. Before he could study them further, the orc in front of him gave a muffled cry, and a plume of feathers was sent into the air. He found parts of the orc on the trees nearby, and the Griffin was laying in the middle of the road, its entrails had been trailed along the ground. A round, lead ball was lodged inside the ground near the base of a tree.

"Daiki!" Rokuru cried. He dove underneath the caravan wagon. "The frigging goblins…they've discovered gunpowder! And now they have cannons!"

"Oh, that's just great. REALLY FRIGGING GREAT! LET'S¾"

Before he could begin, a screaming goblin whizzed by them, caught on the cannon ball. He smashed into a tree, splattering blood, tree and goblin bits everywhere.

"Grr!" Rokuru growled. "Where the hell did you get gunpowder from?" He quickly unsheathed his longinus. "I'm gonna spill some goblin blood tonight!"

Balancing his weapon, he stared forward, and selected his target: the only goblin who knew how to use the gunpowder and cannon, apparently. He had been the only one working it the entire time. He started to charge, and was cut short by a leg sticking out at his head level. He hit his head and fell to the ground. "DAMMIT RYUU!"

"Save it, Lilty!" he shot back.

"I'll make short work of them!"

"I'll be shorter! Now watch!" Rokuru and Daiki watched as he fused two fire magicite and a fire ring. "Firaga," he said. "Let's use their new weapon against them!"

"WAIT!" Daiki yelled. "You've been teaching me magic, and its getting better. With my unusually short magic charge time and strong fira, I can heard them towards the gun powder. Then I can slow them and you blow them up!"

"Slow? Why not Stop?" he asked as Daiki fused two magicite.

"Because, Stop would be cruel. They wouldn't be able to move. With slow or slowga they can try to move before realizing their inevitable fate. Then it's fun to watch as they frantically try to run away."

"You had a pretty screwed up childhood, didn't you?" Ryuu asked. "Very well."

"Yeah…I grew up with Katsu, remember?"

"Oh…that is a weird childhood."

"That was the best it ever got!" Daiki yelled, sending a flame shooting up near the left end of the goblin flanks. They did exactly as he wanted: they moved in towards the cannon in the center. He repeated it on the right side. "Okay, it's time for slowga!"

"WAIT A SECOND!" Katsu yelled. "We need to dig a foxhole or something because when that blows up we're gonna be sprayed with all kinds of crap. We're gonna get some use out of that Lilty's strength after all! You need to stop them, then slow when we're done!"

"How about some HASTE!" replied Ryuu, casting haste on them. The foxhole quickly progressed, and Rokuru and Katsu dove in .

"Slowga commencing!" yelled Daiki as he cast it on the central hub of goblins around the cannon. As soon as they heard the familiar sound, Daiki dove in the hole.

"MY TURN!" yelled Ryuu. His Firaga spell quickly came together, and he focused it on the cannon. "On three…"

"One."

"Two."

"Three…."

Their initial feeling was the shockwave generated by the explosion. It was powerful enough to knock Ryuu back into the foxhole, mainly because he was in the open air. Daiki, Rokuru and Katsu were hit against the wall of the foxhole. They looked up to see a gigantic mushroom of fire, which turned black. They could feel the intense heat on their skin. Then the BOOM of the explosion was the last of the sensations, or so they hoped. It was deafening, literally. Daiki lifted his head up, and could only mumble about it's awesome power, before realizing he'd been temporarily deafened. A sharp pain ripped through his head, and he immediately tried to withdraw his head. Bits and pieces of wood, bone, and shards of metal flew into the trees nearby. They looked like the trees themselves were blowing up from the inside.

"Is it over?" Katsu asked. His answer was quick and simple: A near complete goblin skull rained down from the sky, hitting his left shoulder. He looked up, and saw tons of debris raining down.

About ten minutes passed before they ventured out. Their caravan wagon canvas was ripped to shreds, and yet their blue bison was completely untouched. It was cowering in fetal position. They assessed the damage and debated about what to do next.

"Alfitaria is about three miles southwest from here," Rokuru started. "Southeast of here is the ruins of the ancient city of Tida, which just died for no apparent reason, so I have a general idea as to where I am. I have some family in Alfitaria, so I guess that's our best bet."

"Alright," Katsu said. "Alfitaria it is."

On the road to Alfitaria, Daiki was silent most of the way, lost in his thoughts. It wasn't until it was visible to them that he finally spoke.

"Something isn't right," he said.

"What do you mean?" asked Ryuu.

"Well, for one thing, where did the goblins get gunpowder?"

"Troubling enough. Especially if they know how to manufacture it."

"Since when did the goblins lead an entire regiment into an ambush?"

"Also strange…."

"Something isn't right. I don't think it was an ambush. Did you see the orc?"

"Riding a Griffin?" piped in Katsu.

"Yeah!" replied Daiki. "They were hit by the cannon first! Maybe he was an intended target!"

"Maybe there had been a battle and he was just a straggler. That would explain the regiment of goblins, and if an orc figured out how to tame and ride a griffin, he must be of high power to ride it!"

"Then we shall see if there is any news about a goblin war. We just left home about five days ago, right? This is our first stop."

"And stopping we are!" exclaimed Rokuru. They had come up to the large gates and were passing through.

"Roki, is that you?" Someone asked from behind.

"Uncle Rai!" he cried.

Uncle Rai was a short, plump Lilty, normal for those his age. He had red hair and was carrying a leather bag full of papers.

"It's been so long, Roki! We have so much to catch up on! I've finally quit my job at that moron of a blacksmith's place and started my own! We've also moved into a bigger house! You'll love it here! Please, come to my shop and tell me all about your adventures! I can make new weapons for all of you!" He seemed to be very excited to have someone in his shop. Daiki caught some of what Rokuru said under his breath; it was something about how he hated being called Roki in front of his fellow caravaners.

"Okay, Uncle Rai," he agreed. "But first, we need to rest."

"Oh, sure!" Rai said. "By the looks of you it seems as though you guys were in that explosion a few miles northwest of here! Did you guys see it? Man, that blast was…WHOA!"

"You saw that?" Rokuru asked.

"We caused it," said Ryuu and Daiki at the exact same time.

"Wow…" Rai trailed off. "How did you…you…what?"

"Gunpowder," Katsu said. They started walking over to Rai's house.

"Gunpowder?" Rai asked. "That's…new technology. Cutting edge. Only available in—" He trailed off.

"Marr's Pass," Ryuu finished.

"Unsettling…I keep in touch with some Lilty friends Roki had over there, but lately the moogle hasn't returned from Marr's Pass…none of them have."

"You still talk to the Gahrims?"

"Of course! But…something is not right."

They were silent for the rest of the way back, until Ryuu pointed out an inn they could stay at while they were there.

"Ah! Niu's inn!" Said Rai.

"Niu?" Rokuru asked.

"My sister-in-law. She owns it. I might be able to get your Aunt Akiko to get you a discount," he said. "That is, if you stay," he added quickly.


Daiki, Katsu and Ryuu all sat by the fireplace in the lobby of the inn. Akiko persuaded her sister Niu to let them stay one night in her inn for free; Rokuru stayed with Rai and Akiko. They had been discussing about whether or not they should leave for Marr's Pass.

"We have to. If we ever want to find out how the goblins got it, we need to go there. Maybe we can find a way to stop them," reasoned Katsu.

"And what?" Ryuu asked. "Leave Tiaga to die in the Miasma, waiting for us to bring back some Myrrh?"

"The crystal will not stop any goblins, gunpowder or cannons!"

"I know. But it will die without the myrrh!"

"Damn!"

"What?"

"Did you just see those Selkies walk in!"

Ryuu grumbled something and cast Katsu a look of disgust. "Nice going, dumbass! You said that pretty loud," Daiki said. "They heard ya. Oh yeah."

The two Selkies talked to the person be hind the desk for a bit (he had been asleep, and woke up startled. It took them a few minutes to get him to put the knife down.), and looked at each other and giggled. The guy at the desk walked into the back room. One of the Selkies pointed to Katsu and started nodding. The other one tried to suppress a laugh, but failed. She nearly dropped something. Daiki was the only one to see what it was— a crystal chalice.

"They're caravaners too," he pointed out. "That's odd…"

"What?" Katsu said, eyeing them incessantly.

"They have a full chalice, and yet it is after the time the crystal should have received it. A month after, to be exact."

The person at the front had come back with a key, which he handed to them. They took it and walked over.

"Hey there," one of them said to Katsu. She introduced herself as Asuka, and she was traveling with her best friend. Her friend introduced herself as Kiyoko. Daiki questioned her wording; she had said "traveling", not "caravanning."

"Yeah, we're just drifters," Asuka said. "We were once caravaners, up 'til last year. You remember the river drying up? We were trapped on the wrong side of it."

"The guy with the boat was at Mount Kilanda," Kiyoko added. "By the time we got across the river it started again. We almost drowned, and by the time we got back, the people in Leuda said that our island was gone, swallowed by the miasma. So now we keep our chalice with us at all times, and we still have the three drops of myrrh."

"How long ago was that?" asked Asuka.

"Two years ago," Daiki said. "I remember leaving Selepation Cave and seeing a dry river. We were glad that we had taken out Daemon's Court a few weeks before, otherwise we probably would have been killed."

There was an awkward silence, broken by Kiyoko. "It was them."

Asuka looked shocked. "My god, you're right. I remember."

Another awkward silence.

"Didn't they have a lilty?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, Rokuru. Yeah, he's staying down the street with his aunt and uncle. His aunt's sister owns the place, so we get a 50 discount tonight," said Katsu.

"Where are you guys going tomorrow?" Kiyoko asked.

"Marr's Pass, but after Rokuru's uncle Rai makes us some new weapons."

"Rai? He's a blacksmith?" Kiyoko and Asuka looked shocked.

"Why is that strange?" asked Ryuu.

"He's an archeologist. He's coming close to finding out secrets of the miasma. He thinks it has existed before. Before the…the omen," said Asuka. "The comet. Remember that? And a year afterward, something came through—"

"—the sky, exploded, killed everything 15 miles around it, blocked out the sun, and 20 years later miasma appeared," Ryuu, Katsu and Daiki all said at once.

Yet another awkward silence befell them. This time they just stood there, watching the fire, absorbing it's warmth.

"We leave in two days, Marr's Pass, after Rai makes us new weapons and tells us what he knows about miasma," Daiki said. "Kiyoko and Asuka should join us. Afterwards, its either Cathuriges Mines or Iron Mine Downs to get some Myrrh. Now let's get some sleep."

"This is gonna be on hell of a year," commented Ryuu.