Hey guys it's me again! Sorry for not being able to update much. Laziness is a real bitch...

Zero Exabyte: Please wait, it's not like I'm going to show someone from Elsword suddenly. It' going to take sometime, but the Grand Chase characters would say something about characters from Elsword before their debut.

Disclaimer: I do not own Grand Chase and Elsword.

Ryan frowned as he looked at the stinky, barren swamp called Marsh of Oblivion; they all agreed to wake up early to get to Gaikoz's Castle sooner. Elesis said that she agreed, but it turns out she was just all bark and no bite. She woke up throwing tantrums left and right after Lire woke her up. Normally, he would laugh at those funny memories, but after seeing the state of the place that he just arrived at, he doesn't feel anything except anger and rage.

He looked at the swamp with great sorrow and sadness, it really wasn't called Marsh of Oblivion before, and in fact it was one of the most beautiful places in the world before it turned into a hellhole. He remembered having picnics there with his family, when it was still a wonderland and when his family was still... alive.

"Kaze'aaze, you've gone too far." He thought with contempt. He clenched his fist so hard that blood dripped from his palms.

"Ryan, are you okay?" Lire asked softly, concern tinged in her eyes. The next thing he knew he punched hard to the tree beside him, making a hole, then after that, hurling it towards another dead tree. He panted and growled.

"Am I alright? Don't you see the state of this place?" He asked angrily, motioning to the swamp. Lire flinched at the harsh tone of Ryan. The other two girls looked at him in surprise, never really seeing the peaceful, yet mischievous druid so riled up and angry. He always had a smile on his face and he was usually happy-go-lucky. Ryan was about to continue on his rant, but the look on Lire's face made him stop. Fear. Fear was in her face, she was afraid of him. It was then that he noticed his canines have elongated. He took deep breaths and he felt his teeth retract.

"Treehugger, something bothering you?" Elesis asked warily with a twinge of concern. Ryan heaved one last, deep breath, and shook his head.

"I'm fine, it's just... it brings back painful memories." They all looked at him doubtfully yet with great concern, especially Lire, who was already very afraid of him. He smiled at them and then reassured them with a shake of his head. "It's nothing, I just needed to vent out a little anger."

"A little anger? Tree hugger, it looks like you're a little more psychotic than I am." Elesis scoffed with a smirk. Arme frowned, and then she wiped the smirk out of Elesis' face with a smack on the back of her head.

Ryan smiled half-heartedly at them, although inside, he cursed himself. He nearly let out his inner beast, something that he had been trying to conceal from them. In the short time that he'd been with them, he found that he really enjoyed being with them, so restraining his inner beast was something that he really put all of his effort to hide.

"Fine, if that was just a little tantrum then let's go! The more time that we spend here, the bigger chance my stomach will belch out its content." Elesis said with great disgust. Ryan frowned at the tone of contempt towards the place, but he couldn't do anything, because it really was disgusting.

Elesis started walking, the other two girls followed after, but not without Lire turning her head towards Ryan with a look of relief and happiness. Ryan blushed, but he immediately shook it out because of the sad thought that entered his mind.

"I bet she doesn't even remember me…" He sighed, and then he followed the walking trio.

The rain poured heavily in a blood red castle. The whole surrounding was full of the smell of blood, and all you can hear was the sound of the downpour and the clashing of the swords.

Amongst the laid waste of dead anmon scouts and soldiers, there stood Ronan. His breathing was ragged, his eyes blank, and his whole body was covered with blood and grime.

An anmon scout rushed towards Ronan with a powerful, fast thrust. Ronan jumped high. When he was on top of the anmon, he summoned a rune downwards and stabbed towards the direction of the monster.

Worried, he looked towards the direction of his dragon. It looked like it was having a bit of trouble with all of the anmon soldiers surrounding it, but one breath of fire from it, gave him assurance that it would be okay.

He ran towards the great gate of Gaikoz's castle, where a bunch of his soldier were using a battering ram to break it open with vigorous eagerness, yet all around them were dead bodies of friends and foes alike.

One of his soldiers rushed towards him with great heaving breaths, showing signs of weariness.

Ronan's eyes were filled with great sadness. He saw all of them as his brothers, they needn't die for something that only he had to do. It was his job, the queen specifically said that he'd be the one to do it, but these stupid soldiers wanted to come with him, and he couldn't dissuade them.

"Sir!" The soldier addressed Ronan as he saluted. Ronan nodded, making the soldier fall at ease. "The gate is giving in, and the men are ready to go sir!" Ronan nodded once more and looked at him with a serious gaze.

"Good. After it breaks, I want you to retreat." Ronan ordered seriously. The soldier flinched in surprise.

"But sir-" The soldier protested, but Ronan cut him off.

"No! I let you come, because I thought that it would be easy, but…" He trailed off, as overwhelming melancholy came over him. "Many of our brothers died because of my ignorance and stupidity, and I won't let it happen anymore, no one has to die for my sake. After you break open the gate, go home."

The soldier frowned in an indignant manner and was about to protest once again, but the pleading look on their commander's face made him stop.

"Please…" Ronan pleaded with a whisper. "We were fortunate that not many died. So please…" The soldier sighed in sadness. He stood straight and gave him a respecting salute, and then went off to tell his fellow soldiers.

"Please, hurry up, Lire, Arme, Ryan…" He stopped the listing in his head, and then smiled in joy and relief. "Elsa." He chuckled. They probably would've freaked out once they knew that he knew their names, excluding Ryan. After all, why would he forget the names of the group that saved him from the dark orb?

Ryan continued to tread the forest with great boredom and disinterest. He gave up on thinking sad and dark thoughts awhile ago, fearing that another outburst would occur from him.

The trip was fairly simple and quiet. There were slimes, harpies, and poison mushmons of course. But they were just small fries and they were easily taken care of, so they really hadn't broken a sweat.

"So bored!" Ryan heard Elesis voice out his thoughts. The two other girls sighed and looked at her with an annoyed expression. Why?

While they were walking around, Elesis, being the whiny kid, complained every once in a while, and they always had to take turns to calm down the Ruby Knight.

"FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" Lire shouted at Elesis. All that knew her looked at her in shock and surprise. For all of the time that the tranquil elf spent with them, they never once heard her raise her voice.

Elesis gulped in fear, and then bowed down her head, giving out a good imitation of a kicked puppy. Arme chuckled nervously and fiddled with her staff. Ryan, on the other hand, widened his eyes and grinned widely.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" He shouted out with pride. Lire, just noticed that she shouted, turned away bashfully. The other two looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He asked them.

The purple-haired mage and the red-haired knight looked at each other with a sigh. They shook their heads in sync then continued walking, the shy elf following them.

Ryan looked at their fleeting backs with a confused expression, but in the end decided that if he tried to understand what had just transpired, he'd probably take all eternity, because in the end, no man will or ever understand the mystery that is women.

As he walked, he thought deep. He wondered why it was easy for them to defeat those monsters. Heck, the monsters in the Elven Forest gave him more of a challenge. Were they laying a trap?

A shuffle came from the bush on the right of Lire. Ryan's eyes widened. What was it? He was sure that it wasn't a monster, because of the aura it was secreting. It was ancient, that he can tell, but what made it scary was the power it held. No matter how much he tried to move and attack the being behind the bushes, he just couldn't. He looked at his comrades and was astounded that they didn't feel the pressure.

"H-hey Lire!" He ran after the aforementioned elf and walked closer to her, just in case the creature tried to attack her. He might not be able to hold whatever it is off, but at least he could easily push her away if ever it was to go on offense.

Lire yelped in surprise as she was seemingly in a trance, but she immediately composed herself. She turned towards Ryan with a cute pout, making Ryan blush. He quickly turned away to hide his red face.

"What is it?" Lire asked, with the pout still on her face. Ryan coughed to calm himself and looked at Lire's golden yellow eyes.

"I just wanted to say sorry for yelling at you earlier." Lire's expression shifted into a warm and caring smile, forcing Ryan to blush once more.

"It's ok." Lire started. She opened her mouth as if she still had something to say, but hesitated. "But what are you trying to hide from me- I mean us, Ryan?" She looked at him with a questioning, yet concerned gaze.

Ryan's face warped into a panicked look, he didn't expect her to notice so quickly. He thought he hid his secret so well.

"W-what do you mean?" He tried to cover it up. But his stutter and slight sweat gave away that fact that he really was hiding something.

Lire picked it up and looked at him with determination to find out what he was hiding from them.

"I'm worried Ryan, it seems as though you don't want to let us in." Lire said sadly and quietly. Ryan gulped at his current situation; he even found it hard to concentrate on the presence behind him.

Ryan looked ahead of them and noticed that the other girls paid them no heed. He looked back at Lire and saw that she was looking at him with anticipation.

"I'm not hiding anything." Ryan insisted, but Lire refused to have any of it and continued to pry some more.

"I don't believe that." Lire said with a raised eyebrow.

Ryan was about to open his mouth again, but something caught his eye. It was a red feather that was floating gently behind Lire. Curious, he looked up, only to see a horde of harpies, staring down at them with hunger. His eyes widened in surprise, as one foolish harpy swooped down towards them in an alarming speed.

Ryan looked to where it was heading, and saw that it was speeding towards Lire, so at the last minute, he pulled her aside, forcing the harpy to catch him instead.

"RYAN!" He heard his friends shout as he was hoisted up in the air.

Ryan struggled to get out of the grip of the harpy. He looked at its companions hurrying towards him with the intent to eat him.

He summoned his axe to fend the incoming harpies, but some of the lucky ones got inside of his guard and scratched him hard. After a while, he got tired and his axe was too heavy so he couldn't keep it up anymore.

'I think I'll have to resort to that now.' He thought desperately. He dismissed his axe and concentrated on summoning his other weapon, the weapon that he hadn't mastered yet, the Jade Hook.

It shimmered into appearance, with its blade showing its sharpness. He smirked confidently as he looked on the relentless harpies.

"You want some of this?" They screeched in response, leading Ryan to smirk some more. "Then come get some!" He sliced every stupid harpy that dared to come close to him. As the last attacking harpy fell, he looked at the harpy that continued to hold on to him. He sliced of its head, forcing it to let go of him.

"TAKE THAT!" He shouted in satisfaction, until he found out that nothing was holding him in the air. "Shit." He cursed in a rare moment as he freefell towards the ground. He looked closely and saw that hundreds of goblins and one big troll appeared and cornered his other teammates.

Suddenly, he felt a sudden surge of power. He turned his Jade Hook towards the ground where there were tons of goblins piling up. He spun in a circular motion, slowly getting up heat, but the strange thing was, he couldn't feel the heat, only see it.

He finally reached the ground with a big BOOM! The ground showed a huge crater and many goblins died in the explosion. He stood up from his crouching position with his breathing ragged.

"Ryan!" His teammates rushed towards him. "Are you alright?" He heard one of them ask. He nodded wearily.

"What was that?" He heard Arme ask.

"Spinning Phantom…" He didn't know where it came from, it was as if he always knew the name of the feat that he had done.

"We'll talk about what you did later, but for now, let's concentrate on kicking their asses!" Elesis roared enthusiastically. The others nodded in agreement and went into battle position.

Ryan tried to stand up, using his weapon as a support. But it proved to be pointless, because once he stood up, he immediately buckled down under his own weight. Black started to fill his eyes, and finally he faded out.

And we're done. Don't worry I've already started on making the next chapter, and I know that my drive won't disappear anytime soon! XD

PEACE OUT!