" Lina, we just want an explanation. Please…what's going on?" Jo's green eyes looked into the blue ones before her. " Why does every one know who we are…and what exactly is it that everyone expects us to do here?"

" Ok…I'll tell you…but it won't be easy and this is going to take a little time…" Lina sighed sitting down on a low wall next to them. Jo found herself thinking back to the times when they had tried to explain their experiences to their newfound travelling companions and grinned.

" We know what you mean…" she said gently. The friends looked amongst themselves with raised eyebrows and sat down on the grass.

" Now if we're all sitting comfortably…" Lina's eyes sparkled mischievously. " Then I'll begin…"

* * * * * * * *

Lina took a deep breath before beginning, " Well…the countries of Vaniria and Aesina…"

" Vaniria is a country? I thought that was just this city…castle…place…" Marius frowned.

" Are you going to continue to interrupt me or are you going to let me tell you?" Lina glared at him.

" No…you…you go on…" mumbled Marius, his cheeks flushing pink.

" Thank you…" Lina closed her eyes and started again. " So…the countries of Vaniria and…"

" So Vaniria is a country then…?" Martin asked quietly watching as Lina tutted.

" You are in the city of Vaniria which is in the land of Vaniria!" Lina snapped.

" Oh…" Martin swallowed and averted his gaze so that Lina's blazing blue eyes didn't meet his. Lina sighed frustrated.

" Any more questions…?" She glanced at them all before continuing, " As I was saying…the countries of Vaniria and Aesina had always been happy and wonderful places to live…"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the times when the stars were still young, the neighbouring countries of Vaniria in the North and Aesina in the South were peaceful. Aesina was ruled by King Nedraw and Queen Aurora while Vaniria was ruled by Aurora's sister, Queen Eos, and her husband, King Marduk. Vaniria was a land of harvest and nature, while Aesina had learned to use the waterways to trade with distant lands and had grown wealthy.

Not long after Nedraw and Aurora had been blessed with their first child, Princess Aradia, darkness entered the land.

To the east lay the swamplands. A dank and evil place, ruled over by the self proclaimed Lord Incubus. He had long since watched while Aesina grew in prosperity and had grown jealous. His own lands were sparsely populated, as they couldn't support much life. To be honest, they couldn't support any life, all the supplies Incubus attained were through plundering the ships trading with Aesina. Incubus wanted the power and the wealth of Aesina for himself. Control of Aesina would also give him control of the waterways and the ability to covet even more land. Incubus amassed his troops and invaded Aesina.

Having never been under attack before, Aesina was not prepared for such an assault. Their armies had been trained to protect the Royal Family but they were not equipped or trained for battle. As such, Aesina's first attempts at stopping Incubus failed and he marched on towards the castle and the Royal family.

In an attempt to save their lives, those in the castle and its walled city had fled towards the North, looking for sanctuary in Vaniria. However, Incubus' scouts discovered their escape and captured the family and those travelling with them. Seeing no need for excess prisoners, Incubus let the servants go and in doing so he allowed the young Princess to escape with them.

Aurora and Nedraw were taken before Incubus and stripped of their crowns before being killed as an example of Incubus' power. Aradia, in the meantime, was taken to live with her Aunt, Queen Eos, in Vaniria where she was raised in the knowledge that her kingdom had been taken away from her but that one day, she would get it back.

* * * * *

Ten years later, having ruled Aesina through terror, Incubus' son, Obsequious, had discovered a problem when he took over his father's throne following his death. Their troops, whilst maintaining 'control', had managed to destroy the crops that were grown on the lands and since his occupation of the throne, other countries had ceased to trade with him. The land could no longer offer food and this was a problem that needed addressing. Obsequious scoured the land for resources and his greedy eyes, so like his father's, turned to Vaniria. He knew that the land was fertile and would provide ample resources for his people and army but something stopped him. A prophecy. A legend. A story that had been told to children for generations prevented his immediate invasion of Vaniria.

Hundreds and hundreds of years before the countries of Vaniria and Aesina had been named, before Incubus' rule over the swamp lands, a group of wise ones had control over all who lived between the mountains to the very North and the Desert to the South. They were a council, selected by each area of the land to protect it. They had in their possession a magical crystal that could harness the powers of the sun, the moon and the very earth itself. The crystal was the goal for many greedy rulers of faraway lands and to prevent it falling into the wrong hands, the crystal was shattered and the pieces divided amongst the council. Over the years, the pieces went missing as the wise ones died or moved around. As time passed, new rulers came to the lands and the countries of Vaniria and Aesina were created.

The crystal was gone but it's power was not forgotten. A myth sprung up among the people, everyone knew that should the crystal ever be reassembled then the magic would be reborn in those who reassembled it. Should it be in the hands of the wrong person or group then evil would stalk the land and goodness would be a thing of the past. But should a righteous person or group reassemble the crystal then evil would be renounced and joy and peace would be everlasting.

As people travelled through the land, they brought with them their own tales and legends and one day an old man from a faraway land that the people had never heard of before told them a story that became legend. He told of a group of strangers, twelve in all, who had the ability to travel through time and space from land to land. They were a group of friends who, amongst them, had the strength and determination to seek and retrieve the missing pieces of the crystal and reassemble it, bringing joy once more to the people. At first people scoffed, such a tale was fantasy. There was no way it could be true. But the old man produced a manuscript, containing the names of the strangers and the places that they had been. The old man was questioned as to the origin of the manuscript but he would not, or could not, say how he came to have it. He said that it had been in his family for generations and claimed that one of his ancestors had actually met the strangers. According to the old man, the strangers had met and befriended a group of friends including someone that the old man claimed to have been his great great great great great great great great great…Grandmother, a woman known as Mary.

The Old Man stayed in the woods bordering Vaniria and Aesina until he died, his last words were for the people to watch for a swirling cloud, which would herald the arrival of the strangers. Many believed the man to have been mad but there were those who thought his story was possible. The manuscript he produced was like nothing they had ever seen before and as such it was taken to the highest and most learned people in the land. The story it contained told of a group of friends, travelling to various strange places through strange swirling clouds, the group growing as they travelled. The story also told that upon arriving in Vaniria, one of the strangers would be injured and would need help. The old man's manuscript was studied and preparations were made should the twelve strangers appear and apothecaries all over the land began work on potions and cures for when the injured stranger needed their help. The manuscript detailed the members of the group, giving their names and descriptions of their appearance and character. The names sounded foreign and unearthly to those that read them but there was an authenticity to the story and an earnestness in the way the man had spoken of it that made people forget their doubts.

However, Obsequious' greed would only be abated by legend for so long and he too sought the crystal in order to make his own power supreme. Rumour had it that he already had one piece of the crystal in his possession. And so people began to hope and believe that one day soon a group would arrive, through a swirling cloud, bringing with them hope for the future and an end to the threat of evil.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lina's eyes glistened with a combination of hope and sadness as her story ended and the friends sat in stunned silence. The legend and history that they had heard, had hit them all. A feeling was growing deep in all of them. A sense of duty towards the people of Vaniria. No matter how unlikely it might have sounded, no matter how dangerous it might seem, somehow they all knew…that what they had heard…was undeniably true.