You are now on your way to Altania castle through the forest. Caine is in front of both you and Custard, leading the way. Through this time you have gotten quite acquainted with both Caine and Custard. Caine has told you that he is but a feeble soldier working mainly for Prince Andromeda. Andromeda had been his friend ever since they were young. Together they saved a baby pegasus from dying.

Custard tells you that she has two sisters; Rainer and Ambrosia. Ambrosia left to work for the king of another castle and Rainer ran away to find her. She tells you that Rainer can be pretty reckless and if she's out there too long then she can get killed due to her impulsiveness. Custard is looking for Rainer and hopefully convince Ambrosia to apologize for leaving so suddenly.

You smile and nod as you listen to the both of them talking. That's when you realize, what about you? What was your story? Should you tell them who you are? Compared to them your motives aren't as pure of heart as they think. You're different, you were always reminded of that. Hate is caused by difference. You can't shake the feeling of liking the both of them though, they're really nice people.

You shouldn't blame yourself though. You were taught to not give sympathy but here you are doing just that. You stare down at the ground with your arms wrapped around your body, you feel as if somebody is watching you.

"Are you cold?" Caine asks. "Would you like to use my blanket? I don't need it until a fight arises."

You tell him no and give him a reassuring excuse. You were always good at lying. Though Caine smiles and continues walking Custard gives you an odd look.

"Then why're you shivering?" Custard asks.

You give her an excuse. There's an actual reason why you're shivering but you cannot tell her that. Then you feel something grabbing your shoulder.

You flinch. You were right and now the situation has changed. You feel a cold touch just against your neck, you try not to guess what it is and kept your eyes closed. There is breathing against your neck. It feels hot and heavy. Don't think about it, try your best not to think about it.

"Don't move," you hear an unfamiliar voice say. "If you do then your friend here dies nice and easy."

Dies. That makes your heat jump. Dies. Dies, dies, dies. You were more than likely getting robbed but hopefully that was all. You pray that you won't die oh by the gods don't die. What if it's just not death though? Are you bound to your fate? Though the situation is painful you tried not to cry though. You don't look, you won't accept it.

"You bastard!" Custard yells. "How dare you sneak attack us!?"

You feel movement behind you, it was most definitely the person constraining you. The breathing was gone but the cold touch remains. Helpless, that state of mind scares you.

"Listen, if I don't do this then you'd never listen to me," he says.

"Why do we need to listen to you!?" Oh Custard please don't aggravate him.

"Well you want your friend here alive right?"

You can hear Custard growling but it is quickly ceased.

"W-what do you want?" Caine asks.

"Let me join you."

... What? Join? He has restrained you just to join you? No, there has to be more to this.

"Why?" Custard asks. "You sneak up on us, take our tactician, threaten him and you expect us to allow you to come with us? Does that sound like something good to do!?"

"It's not exactly joining that I want to do."

"That what do you want to do!? I don't have all day!" Custard yells.

"Look don't get so worked up. I overheard you guys talking in town. You said that you're assisting Prince Andromeda."

"Yeah so?" Custard says.

"I need to see him. I have to talk to him about something important."

Talk to him? Assassination perhaps?

The sudden silence of both Custard and Caine scare you. You can only hear the sounds of the wind and footsteps. Wait... footsteps? You shudder, wanting to hold onto yourself but fearing that you may get killed. If you strain you can hear the sounds of twigs breaking under feet, it looks like somebody is being chased.

It is advisable to intervene in the situation? You can hear crying but in your position you can't do anything. You are curious though. As the sounds of footsteps get closer you desire more and more to open your eyes.

"Please... let me... go..."

The running is closer now, almost like the throbbing sound of drums in your ears. How do you feel now?

"Help me!"

You open your eyes. Below you you see a small knife held against your throat. Your entire body freezes over and your face pales. Custard locks eyes with you, you aren't sure what she's thinking but she must see your awful reaction to the knife. You can't read her face, you look down instead. Something has to be done about that running, it hurts.

Just then you feel a force colliding behind you. A sharp slashing pain hits your face. You can feel your cold blood trickling down your cheek. Your blood. Panic sets into you and tears well up for some reason. You can hear Custard and Caine's voices calling to you, you can't make out what they're saying though. You hear apologizes coming from an unfamiliar voice. You touch your cheek.

The deep gruff voices of men are above you and now they sound like screams. Why do you feel so frightened? You should be over this by now. You look at your hands, one has blood on it. That's your blood. This is like that time you were being a bad child and blood came out. This is like that punishment you received for running away again. Voices are swirling and mixing as you take in the sight of your blood. The man holding onto you is gone now along with his weapon. Thump, thump, thump do his footsteps go as they walk away from you.

The clattering of feet from far away. The clattering unlike human feet. You hear the banging of pots and pans among your ears and a fight begins. Blood, more blood. Who cares... You were told that you were nothing but trouble.

You black out.

...

When you awaken you realize that you are no longer in the forest. You are looking up at a ceiling, similar to that of inns you would always stay at. The first thing you do is touch your cheek. There are bumps there and a rough feeling of paper, you have been bandaged.

"Perry!" You hear both Custard's and Caine's voice say.

You force your head up slightly. They're both standing at the door with three unfamiliar people beside the two. Your mouth curves up a bit as you watch the two run to you with open arms.

You feel somewhat uncomfortable with them hugging you, especially since Custard's breasts are pressing against your head. You endure it though, since she seems so happy to see you alive.

Alive.

"Hey, I sorry for what happen."

You move your head slightly to see a red haired man in a large blue cloak looking straight at you. Slowly he walks to you. He must be the man that held you hostage earlier. How long ago was earlier though?

He stands by your bedside, looking down upon you. There is silence and both Custard and Caine let go of you. You want to read the red haired man, why he is here in the first place. He says nothing though and continues to look at you. Maybe he is looking for your forgiveness.

After the while of silence you snap out of your thoughts. You say that you're alright and that he has no need to apologize. You don't want to come off as rude and you don't want to be threatened again. You watch as his expression changes from solemn to amused. He chuckles.

"So I guess I should be introducing myself," he says. "My name is Alto, as I said earlier I need to talk to Andromeda."

"Prince Andromeda?" A third voice pops in, feminine unrecognizable. "What business do you have with the prince?"

You force yourself up to see who was talking. It obviously wasn't Custard and Caine didn't sound too feminine. You see a young woman with long dark purple hair. She was a very beautiful woman from the looks of it. However you can't help but notice the armor she's donning, all with the emblem of Altania on it. She must be a soldier for them.

"Oh I'm sorry I have yet to introduce myself. I am Sumire of the Altania Army. I was doing patrol in the forest when I heard the sound of screaming. That's when I found you all fighting against a local group of bandits known as Firtz. Lucky I am when I did because you were on the ground unconscious," the woman said.

You nod. She had come to your assistance. She must have been the sounds of clattering you heard before you fainted. Since both Alto and Sumire have introduced themselves who was the young man leaning by the doorway?

You look at him, he seems weak and frail. His eyes were somewhat red from crying most likely. He looks at you with frightened eyes, distant eyes. You don't really know what to say.

"Hey introduce yourself," Custard says. "Perry doesn't bite!"

He nods slowly.

"I-I'm Reisende..." he says. "I was the one... who bumped into you... I-I...I..."

He runs off.

"Oh don't worry about him," Custard says. "He's pretty shy but he's pretty damn awesome at the bow!"

You nod again, a tinge of guilt seeping into you for making him run.

"So since you're doing better, shall we head off to see Prince Andromeda?" Caine asks.

"Yeah! We need some money! If it weren't for Sumire we'd be screwed!" Custard says.

You laugh. Okay, you should head off now. You sit up and slide off the bed. Though you wobble a bit at the beginning you stand up perfectly okay. There wasn't anything wrong with you in the first place, it was all just a cut. You're fine. You look through the window to see the vibrancy of the town. This is a nice town, it would be a shame to see it in war.

...

Units Obtained

Name: Alto

Class: Thief

Affinity: Dark

Description: A young man who wants to see Prince Andromeda again. Cunning and Deceitful.

Name: Sumire

Class: Cavalry

Affinity: Wind

Description: A soldier in the Altania Army. Just and Kind.

Name: Reisende

Class: Archer

Affinity: Ice

Description: A boy who loves animals. Shy and easily scared.

...

AN: Today's my birthday :) I hope you enjoyed the story thus far, I plan on introducing lots of units pretty early which explains the sudden appearance of Alto, Sumire, and Reisende. Tell me what you think and if you have any ideas for supports then let me know :)