Volume I: A New World

Chapter VI: Night Escape

Location: Moonlight Forest, Northeastern Helhein

"Now, I see why this place is called the Moonlight Forest."

*After Ragna's recent skirmish with Lancelot and Katalina, he, Monika, and Feena were making their way out of the Moonlight Forest. As nighttime arose over them, Ragna was able to stop for a moment and admire the glistening beauty of the trees and nearby lakes of the Moonlight Forest, which was truly owning up to its name. The light from the moon could be seen reflecting off the trees, not only illuminating the path ahead of them but creating a sparkling effect all around. A bright reflection of the moon could be seen reflecting off of any body of water that was nearby. The two girls were currently a good few yards ahead of him as we walked slow, admiring the area.

"I get what Monika was talking about." He said to himself. "This place really is nice. Hell, if I wasn't paying attention, I'd probably just keep walking along, eventually getting myself lost not looking where-?!"

*Ragna suddenly clenched his side in pain. After moving his hand, it revealed blood.*

"Oh, what the hell...?" He groaned. "How long have I been bleeding like this? Didn't even think that a knife could make a cut like this..."

Damn you!

Damn all of you to hell!

"Oh, right..." He realized. "That bitch..." Ragna sighed as he continued walking. "Ah well. I'm sure it can't be that bad. I can still move pretty good... just... probably not as fast as I want."

"Hey! Ragna! Hurry up!" Monika called out from ahead of Ragna.

"Come on, we ain't got all night!" Feena also called out.

"Alright, alright!" Ragna responded.

*Ragna began walking faster to catch up with the two girls, trying to pay no mind to his bleeding injury.*

"There's no time for us to waste on waiting for me to heal." He thought to himself. "These two are in just as much shit as I am because of me as well. And we've got apparently one shot to fix this. I'll be fine."

*Ragna manages to catch up to the two girls, who had been waiting up ahead for him.*

"There you are." Monika said. "What in the world was taking you so long?"

"What, can't a guy admire this place before we get out of here?" Ragna asked.

"Can't the same guy multitask?"

"It's a lot better when you stop and look at it. I thought you would've known that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I also know that this will be wasting time too. I'm sure once this all blows over we can come back another day and admire as much as we want."

"Totally!" Feena exclaimed. "Now come on! Let's keep moving!"

*The trio began to walk once more. However, Ragna suddenly stopped once again as he felt a sharp pain from his wound.*

"Ugh! Dammit!" He thought. "How the hell is it that bad?!"

"Ragna?" Monika asked as she and Feena turned around. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah..." He sighed in response. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well... alright..."

*Ragna managed to get back his composure to make it seem like he's fine. Once again the trio continued walking.*

"Hey, Monika?" Ragna began asking. "How exactly are we supposed to reach Goldenia from here anyway?"

"That's actually where Feena comes into play." Monika answered. "She's familiar with these areas far more than I am."

"Basically what we're looking for is a small transport dock that'll be close by eventually. Feena began explaining. "It's not Goldenian or anything. It's just a public airship transporter. Once we get there we can use it to make our way back to Goldenia with ease. Nobody from the Imperial Army will know, and we can continue on with our mission with ease!"

"...Speaking of which..." Ragna started to ask. "What exactly IS our plan? Once we get there, then what? How are we supposed to make this all blow over?"

"We're going to have to go to Goldenia's King personally and explain everything." Monika answered. "If we explain things to His Highness then we can hopefully clear our names, and get more help to find a way to send you back home."

"Think that'll work?"

"Who knows?" Feena answers. "But we definitely won't know until we try!"

"I have a feeling that's your logic for everything, isn't it?" Ragna asked jokingly."

"Shut up!" Feena answered.

*Ragna and Monika laugh at their friend, who also proceeded to laugh with them as they continued walking.*

"I'm amazed at how well the three of us are getting along." Monika said. "We don't really know each other well, but we do get along like we're all friends."

"Friends, huh..." Feena said.

"Heh, well you're not wrong there." Ragna agreed. "We definitely are getting-"

*Ragna stopped once again, groaning as he clenched his side. Monika and Feena turned around immediately.*

"Dammit...!" He thought. "Not this again!"

"Ragna?!" Feena exclaimed.

"What's wrong?!" Monika asked worriedly. "What happened?! Are you alright?!"

"Just... relax...!" Ragna answered. "I'm fine."

*The girls gasped upon seeing the blood that was leaking out onto Ragna's hand.*

"No you're not!" Monika objected as she moved over towards the man. "I can see your wound. You're bleeding! And bad too!"

"No, seriously." He groaned. "It's not that bad."

"Ah, quit it with that bullshit Ragna!" Feena said. "That's bullshit and you know it!"

"Were you actually gonna try and just ride this out?!" Monika asked.

"...Yeah..." Ragna sighed, admitting defeat. "Sorry. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Besides, we're all in a hurry. And I don't plan to let some cheap shot from that bitch slow me down."

"Whether or not we're in a hurry doesn't matter."

"She's got a point." Feena added on. "I'd rather get that wound treat before it gets too serious if I were you."

"What, you two know how to?" Ragna asked.

"Of course I do." Monika answered. "Feena... not so much."

"Shut up!" Feena responded.

"Alright, that's enough." Ragna said. "Look, if it'll make the two of you feel any better, we can stop and rest once we get a little closer to the end of the forest. I don't want us to end up getting lost in here, and if we rest not, that'll probably happen.

"That is true." Monika responded. "Very well then. Let's go."

*Ragna, Monika, and Feena continued walking through the forest, heading towards the end so that Ragna could rest.*

Location: Castle Vallera, Goldenia

*The sounds of the castle's main gates closing could be heard from behind Feldia and Percival as they entered the main hallway.*

"Huh. We've actually made it inside very easily." Percival said. "Guess being a Dragon Knight is a higher rank than I thought. Back to the matter of hand, what next? How exactly are we gonna present this information to His Highness?"

"Simple enough." Feldia stated. "All we need to do is make them aware of this rumor of this monster. There shouldn't be that much to it. We don't need His Highness to believe us right away. We just need him to be aware of the possibility."

"Still though, consider the possibility they don't believe us at all. Not only will this be worthless, but the chances are Goldenia will not be prepared for any threats like this. And I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'd rather not get taken by surprise by some damn monster or Demon."

"While that may be true, there's also the chance that if we don't tell them, we will still be taken by surprise. You're a higher ranking member than I am of the Imperial Army. Haven't you or the Dragon Knights ever been given secretive orders, that haven't been made public?"

"Hence why they're secret. I can't tell you if we have or have not."

"Exactly. This is possibly our only opportunity to-"

"Oi! What the hell are you two going on about?!"

*Feldia and Percival turned around to see several Imperial Soldiers behind them. Standing in front of them was a fair woman with gray hair that covered her left eye, and wore a gray outfit with a black coat over it.*

"Oh!" Percival exclaimed. "Prime Minister."

"What are you doing out here?" Feldia asked.

"Is there a problem?" The Prime Minister asked them back. "I merely heard an unknown voice throughout the castle and came to investigate. Should there really be a problem with the Prime Minister wanting to make sure that she and His Highness are both safe from harm while in their own abode?" The woman approached Feldia and Percival, with one hand on her chin and her other arm holding up that arm. "Unless there's something that I'm missing here. A Lieutenant Officer and a Dragon Knight here by themselves. What are the two of you up to?"

"My apologies Prime Minister." Percival responded. "However our reasons for being here are because we have an urgent matter that we need to present to His Highness personally."

"Really now? 'To His Highness personally'?" The Prime Minister folded her arms and stepped back from the two. "I'm listening."

"Pardon?"

"If this situation of yours is really as drastic as you make it sound that you'd have to go to His Highness Himself, then by all means. I'll be happy to relay such an... 'urgent' message over to him myself and the rest of the court."

"The thing is, it's best if we explain things to the king directly." Feldia persisted.

"Are you resisting your superiors?" The Prime Minister scowled.

"No ma'am. By all means we are not." Percival answered. "We mean no disrespect by this at all. It's just better that we head straight to His Highness ourselves and explain."

*The woman merely pouted as she looked away from the two.*

"I'm quite offended at the two of you." She said. "To think that two of our own soldiers would have such distrust towards the Prime Minister of all people. You stain my presence with your filth!"

"She's not gonna let us go is she...?" Percival sighed.

"Looks like we don't have a choice." Feldia said. "Alright, you win. We'll tell you. But we'll need to inform the king of this right afterwards. Will that be okay?"

*The Prime Minister tapped her chin and then nodded*

"Very well, I suppose." She answered. "Now, tell me. What's so important?"

"Rumors have sprung out revolving around a recent mission involving Lieutenant Monika Weisswind." Feldia began explaining. "While she was successful in her mission, there were two casualties found. And it wasn't done by anybody from Goldenia's Imperial Army. What's worse is that it's unknown who or what caused this for sure."

"Have you not tried asking Lieutenant Weisswind directly? This was her mission after all."

"Once I arrived, the Lieutenant was nowhere to be found. I assumed that she had already began heading for Goldenia."

"Hm." The Prime Minister turned around to face the soldiers behind her. "Has there any word of Lieutenant Monika Weisswind returning to Goldenia? Any at all?"

"No, Prime Minister, there has not." One of the soldiers answered her.

"I see... Perhaps you're wrong. Maybe this is the cause of it and that there's more to the Lieutenant than meets the eye. Demons are often known to come in disguise as Man, are they not?"

"That is true, Prime Minister." Feldia answered. "But you must remember that Lieutenant Weisswind has never shown any signs of deception or treason. Not to mention that from the remaining bandits she captured we had witnesses that managed to prove that it is not her."

"Oh?"

"When I arrived, I found that two of the seven bandits that she apprehended had been killed. What killed them were obviously all the markings of a demonic source: claws and a scythe. No one of Man has ever used a scythe before or possessed powers such as these."

"If that's the case then that would either mean Monika Weisswind has been lying to us and was of Demon the entire time that we've known her. Or that there's another individual at work here. Have any of the other five said anything?"

"Yes actually. From the bandits that were taken into custody, I managed to get a little more information from out of their leader. While it's not much, I did manage to at least get a description on what this Demon looked like. He described him as looking similar to a normal man, with white hair, a red jacket, and he carries around a large sword."

"Interesting. That sounds like nothing that I've ever heard before. Is there anything else you can tell me of this... 'Demon'? A name, perhaps?"

"I'm afraid not Prime Minister. The bandit that I managed to get that information out of couldn't give me anything else. I imagine that he was in a daze during this after losing two of his allies."

*Hmph. I see."

*The Prime Minister turned around and proceeded to walk off.*

"H-Hey wait a minute!" Percival called out. "Where are you going?"

"I have duties that I need to handle." She answered.

"Wait a minute!" Feldia replied. "What about this current situation? Do you intend to present this to His Highness?"

"No. I do not. And neither will you."

"What?!"

*The Prime Minister promptly turned around once more and walked back in front of Feldia, standing directly in front of the man, staring him in the eyes.*

"From what I've been able to put together from just what you've told me, this is no more than a mere rumor." She began. "A rumor that could possibly cause an uproar in the Imperial Court. Considering you haven't put together enough facts on this case of yours yet shows that we don't need to cause this. Going off a witness you were sent to arrest isn't enough to prove to me that this is a true emergency. Best case scenario is that they're lying. Therefore that it was I shall believe at the moment. Until you two can provide me with actual proof of the existence of this 'monster', I do not want this to be mentioned to His Highness."

"But Prime Minister-!"

"Silence! my mind is set!"

"Prime Minister, if I may..." Percival starts to speak. "I understand your decision. But let's say that what Feldia says is actually correct? Then what? If this is true then this thing could possibly be on it's way to the capital as we speak. If so, the moment it arises there's no telling how it may take us by surprise. And frankly, even though I'm very skilled I'd rather not take such a risk."

"While that may be true Percival, I have to consider the fact that this may also be just a giant hoax." The Prime Minister protested. "A hoax that the two of you have apparently been caught in. And if I get caught in this as well, think of the consequences that will befall all of us. My position as a Prime Minister is a high one, and I would very much like to keep this. Therefore, until we have any solid evidence of this, there's no way that we can say for sure that His Highness needs to be informed."

"This would be making a big mistake Prime Minister!" Feldia responded. "We don't have the time to just sit around and wait with any possible threats on the loose-!"

"Demons are always a threat to us Feldia." She cut him off. "And they're constantly roaming around Riverbrandt are they not? But as long as they do not make there way into this capital, I don't intend to worry about them, or the one you seem to be so worried about. Now then. If you'll excuse me."

*Once again the woman starts walking off. However she stops as she gets a few feet from them and turns back to them.*

"One more thing; Don't think about heading to the throne room behind my back. There will be consequences."

*The Prime Minister snaps her fingers and walks off. The guards behind her all fall in line and march after her. As Percival and Feldia stood there, they thought about what just happened. In an instant, Feldia began to follow after the Prime Minister.*

"Where are you going?" Percival asked.

"I can't let this conversation end here." Feldia answered.

*Percival watched as Feldia ran off after the Prime Minister and sighed.*

"I'll... leave this to him." He said. "Let him anger that woman, not me."

*Percival turned around and began making his way towards the castle gates.*

"Still... I have to hope that the Prime Minister is right about this. Even though rumors spread, it would be great if this was all just one giant rumor and nothing more. But even then, would that make Monika a Demon? If this monster in red doesn't exist then she'd be viewed differently. But if it does, then what the hell happened to her... Ah, I'm thinking about this too much. I'd better head home."

*Percival reached the castle gates, and had walked outside.*

Location: Moonlight Forest, Northeastern Helhein

"Come on, stay still."

"Ugh, do you have to tie them so tight?"

*Finding a place for them to stop for the night, Feena had kept watch while Monika went to take care of Ragna's wound from earlier. The girl was currently tying a long bandage around his waist repeatedly, and quite tightly as well.*

"I know you want to stop this from bleeding and all," Ragna complained. "But I don't think trying to squeeze more blood out of it like this is such a good idea."

"Oh, pipe down will you?" Monika responded. "I'm doing this so that the blood stays in dammit. I've always found that tying it as tight as I possibly can is always the best solution. Not to mention that by doing so it makes sure that nothing else from the outside can infiltrate your body from this open wound."

"Well... i guess you do have a point."

"I know. Now will you stop complaining and let me work? This is just temporary until I can find a better solution."

"What do you mean a better solution?"

"Well I'm no mage or anything, but I do know a healing spell or two I can use. Only problem is, I don't have any of the things that I need to preform any of those spells. And I don't think leaving this wound untreated while I go out to look for them would be such a good idea. Therefore, I'm doing this so you can at least stay on your feet a little bit more without collapsing from the pain... hopefully."

"What do you mean 'hopefully'?"

"It's still your body after all. Only you could know how you feel."

"I suppose so. If that's the case, then I honestly feel a little better already."

*Monika moved back as Ragna began to stand back up and started to stretch, then proceeded to grab his shirt and put it back on.*

"If anything, I think I'm ready to get back up and keep on moving. What do you think, doc?"

". . . Are we seriously calling me 'doc' now?" Monika sighed in annoyance.

"Relax." He laughed. "It was just a joke. Don't blow a fuse over it." Ragna smiled as he watched Monika pout. "Come on. Let's get Feena and get out of here."

*Ragna extended his hand out to the girl who was still on the ground. Monika rolled her eyes and took his hand as he pulled her back to her feet. The two smiled and began walking over towards the tree where Feena was sitting on.*

-x-

*Resting at the top of the tree was Feena, who was merely sitting there admiring the moonlight above her. The girl sighed happily.*

"I get what Ragna was saying." She said to herself. "When you finally kick back, relax, and really take in this moonlight view..." Feena yawned. "It is really amazing. Hopefully it'll take a little while longer for the two of them to finish up... whatever it is they're doing. Gives me more time to admire- Huh?"

*Feena did a double take as she stared off into the woods below. Upon looking closely she saw a tall, shadowy figure walking weirdly around the forest. Just as she saw the one, she looked elsewhere and saw another. And another. Feena was getting to climb down the tree when, suddenly, the branch underneath her gave out, causing her to scream slightly as she fell to the ground.*

"Oww..." She groaned while standing up. "Oh, this shit isn't good..."

"Hey! Feena!"

"You alright?!"

*Feena turned around to see Ragna and Monika walking up to her.*

"What happened?" Monika asked. "I heard you screaming. Were you attacked? Are you hurt?"

"No, I wasn't..." Feena answered. "But we might all be soon."

"What do you mean?"

"What, was that girl after us again?" Ragna asked.

"No, not that." Feena replied. "But, I think we have a bad case of Shadow Stalkers in this forest."

"Shadow Sta-Really?!" Monika exclaimed.

"The hell's that?" Ragna said with concern. "More importantly, how dangerous are they for the three of us to take on?"

"We can't take them on, Ragna." Feena stated.

"What? Why?"

"For starters," Monika began. "You're still not at your best. With that injury you're basically an open target. Especially now. Secondly, Shadow Stalkers are invincible at night. You can't hope to lay a finger on them. You'll just phase through. The worse part about it is that we can't hurt them, but unfortunately they can hurt us."

"Damn... One of those, huh? Guess we'd better get a move on if we wanna get away from them."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Feena said. "Chances are they've probably heard us when I fell out of that tree. We need to get a move on right-"

"Feena!"

"Move!"

*Turning around, Feena saw a Shadow Stalker show up just behind her. The girl shrieked as she, Ragna, and Monika rolled out of the way as a large black jaw came from the Shadow Stalker, knocking down the nearby tree and nearly chowing down on Feena if she hadn't move. The three backed off slowly as the creature walked through the fallen tree

"Okay..." Ragna said. "Any chance the rest of these shits heard that tree falling?"

"Less talking, more running!"

*Monika quickly turned around after yelling out to the two. Just as they were getting ready to flee, several other Shadow Stalkers showed up behind them. Seeing this Feena and Ragna grabbed their stuff and quickly ran off after Monika, with the Shadow Stalkers in pursuit. The trio quickly dove out of the forest back onto the pathway out.*

"Hey, Monika?!" Ragna asked. "Why didn't you warn us about these things?!"

"I didn't think that they would show up in the forest!" Monika replied. "Considering the way the moon shines on this place, I thought it would've drove them off or something!"

"In front of us!"

*Feena yelled out as a Shadow Stalker was standing next to a tree and appeared in front of the group, summoning a large beast head and sending to them. Ragna sidestepped and dodged to the left, while Monika and Feena went right, diving into the forest beside them for cover*

"Dammit...!" Ragna groaned. "When is this gonna end?!"

*Ragna, out of curiosity, and stupidity, rushed at the Shadow Stalker, attempting to attack it has be brought his sword down in a vertical slash to its head. However, he was not surprised as his sword went straight through the creature.*

"Why am I not surprised..." He thought.

*Ragna quickly rolled out of the way as two dark blades came from behind, attempting to strike him diagonally. He then proceeded to dash off in the same direction that the two girls went off to The Shadow Stalker behind him took off running as well. As Ragna ran, he noticed the creature running up beside him, shadows inbound as well. The Shadow Stalker then sent a shadowy claw towards the man, who quickly ducked and rolled out of the way, which allowed the Shadow Stalker to get ahead of him and block his path. As Ragna got back up, he nearly dropped back to his knees as he held his hand over his injury, in which the bandages had loosened due to all the movement.*

"Dammit...!" He said. "Not this crap again...!"

*Ragna attempted to turn around and find an escape route. However upon doing so, he noticed another Shadow Stalker standing behind him, prevent him from going backwards. He merely gripped his sword tightly upon realizing he was trapped.8

"...Son of a bitch...!"

-x-

"Dammit Feena, keep up!"

"I am! Sheesh! I'm sure we'll find him! But with these guys on our asses, he can't be in that much trouble!"

*With Monika and Feena, the two were also currently running through the forest, making their way back to the path. However, they were currently sidetracked as three Shadow Stalkers were running after them, one in the back, and two on the sides. Feena hopelessly attempted to fire several arrows at them, praying that they would do some damage, to no effect. Suddenly the two Shadow Stalkers on the side formed two scythes made of shadows. The girls went wide eyed as the two creatures began closing in on them. Feena suddenly grabbed onto Monika's hand.*

"Feena?" She asked. "What are you-"

"Jump!" Feena yelled.

"What?"

"Just jump!"

*Monika was confused but complied. As the two scythe wielding Shadow Stalkers closed in, they swung their scythes, only to find they both collided as the two jumped into the air and quickly moved out of sight hiding in the trees. The three Shadow Stalkers stopped and looked around confused. One of them managed to spot the two running off in the opposite direction, leading to them chasing them again.*

"They're still chasing us!" Monika yelled.

"I know! I know!" Feena responded.

-x-

"Do you guys ever give up?!"

*Ragna was dodging left and right as the two Shadow Stalkers swung around their dark blades, in hopes of hitting him. While he was doing fairly well at avoiding them, he was slowed down by his wound.*

"Goddammit, this can't keep going on forever!" Ragna groaned. "How the hell are we supposed to fight against something that's a literal shadow?! We can't lay a goddamn finger on them!"

*The two Shadow Stalkers formed pitch black spears in midair, and sent them towards Ragna. With whatever strength he had left in him, he jumped out of the way and avoided their spears. Immediately afterwards he was sent back to dodging as they rushed him with their swords once again.*

"Damn bastards!" Ragna yelled while dodging another horizontal slash. "Give up or go to hell already!"

*The creature continue their attack relentlessly, ignoring what Ragna had just said. As he dodged repeatedly, he managed to find an opening for him to escape. At the moment they missed, Ragna, holding his wound, took off in a hurry, managing to get himself a few good feet away from the Shadow Stalkers before they realized what was going on. Seeing Ragna get away from them, the two Shadow Stalkers took off in an instant. However, they soon lost track of him as he ducked behind several trees. Unable to find the man right away, the two split up. As they did, Ragna came out from behind the tree.*

"Phew..." He thought. "Didn't think that would work..."

*Ragna stepped out from behind the tree and began to walk off, but keeled over in pain, grabbing his wound once more.*

"Dammit... I'd better get Monika to retie this thing again once we get out of here..."

-x-

"Stay very quiet...!"

*Monika mouthed over to Feena as the two were hiding behind separate trees. Shadow Stalkers were roaming around the area, searching the area for the two girls. Every chance they got, the girls quickly dotted off for a new hiding spot, trying to stay out of the line of sight of the Shadow Stalkers. Feena, while running however, nearly stumbled over a rock. Catching herself before she fell allowed her to come up with an idea. Quickly she there the rock across the forest away from them. Hearing the sound the Shadow Stalkers quickly went after it. Monika and Feena used this as their chance to dash away quickly.*

"Quick thinking." Monika complimented.

"Thanks!" Feena replied. "Let's just hope Ragna's doing alright on his end."

*As the two girls hurried, they managed to make their way back to the open clearing. Immediately Monika began looking around, trying to see if Ragna had beaten them there.*

"Dammit I don't see him!" She exclaimed. "You don't think they got him do you?!"

"I don't think so." Feena answered. "Ragna's a tough guy. He won't go down easily. And I don't think Shadow Stalkers would be able to take him out. Injury or no injury."

*The two suddenly turned behind them as they heard someone call out.*

"Hey! You two! A little help?"

*Monika and Feena turned around quickly as they saw Ragna making his way towards them. The two girls started walking up to the injured man. However, both paused instantly upon looking behind him.*

"Ragna!" Monika yelled as she pointed behind him. "Move!"

"What?"

"MOVE!"

*Ragna had been to turn around after seeing her point. The moment he did however, he was met with a Shadow Stalker's blade running rampant through his chest, causing great injuries as he clenched his fist in pain.*

"Dammit!" He thought. "How did I-!"

*Ragna went wide eyed suddenly as something flashed through his head. For nearly a split second he saw what appeared to be himself, looking either pained or angered, as there was also a blade through his chest. He had also saw an image of a hand, that seemed to belong to a girl, on his coat. However the rest of the image that he saw was to "blurry" to where he couldn't identify anything else.*

"What in the...?!" He thought. "What... What was that?! I know that it's me but... what's going on? That's not the same as it was now! Why the hell am I being stabbed inside of my own mind...? Is... this one of my memories...? Has this happened to me before...? But... who in the world is that with me? I think it's a girl...? Is she the one who stabbed me...? Did she do this to-?"

*Ragna was suddenly cut of from his thought as he suddenly punched in the face by one of the Shadow Stalkers after they removed its blade. He was sent flying to a nearby tree afterwards. Ragna coughed up blood as he attempted to get back on his feet and stumbled back to the ground. Monika and Feena quickly jumped in front of the man to try and scare the Shadow Stalkers off, to no effect. The girls braced themselves as the creatures rushed towards them all. However, all three suddenly looked up as they heard a loud screeching come from the Shadow Stalkers. Upon looking they saw that they were shielding their faces from the encroaching light. They could see that the sun was slowly rising. Immediately the Shadow Stalkers took off and fled.

"We... survived...?" Feena asked.

"I... think so..." Monika answered.

*The girls sighed of relief and slid down to the ground beside Ragna.*

"Thank the Gods!" Feena exclaimed. "I thought for sure that we were gonna die here!"

"Yeah about that..." Ragna groaned. "I'm... still probably bleeding out over here. If one of you could possibly take care of that, that would be nice...!"

"Oh, right!" Monika said. "Feena? Think you could find some things for me?"

"Gotcha!" Feena replied as she ran off.

*Monika sighed slightly, as she sat up against the tree. She then helped Ragna sit up as well.*

"Hey, at least you're alright." She said to him. "That impalement could've done a lot worse, you know."

"Believe it or not..." Ragna began to say. "That impalement actually helped."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well. Thanks to it, I managed to start remember something about my past."

"Y-You have?! That's great!"

"Calm down Monika, it's only partial. I haven't exactly remembered all of it. Hell, I barely remembered half of it, I think."

"Hey, it's better than nothing. You've gotta admit that!"

"Heh. Guess you're right about that."

"Well then... Since we've got a little while before Feena gets back with everything I need to hear you, I'd like to hear more about whatever part of your memory that you remember. I might be able to find something useful out of it."

"I'd be surprised if you didn't say that."

*Monika rolled her eyes slightly as she listened to Ragna's explanation of his memory.*