Author's note: I do not own Dragon Quest VII

The Truth Behind The Seal

Chapter 6: Rexwood's Troubles

Airlia and Alistair made it back with an hour to spare before the ship arrived. The woman dashed into the house to quickly change into her harvest gown that Amitt had spent gold on for her. However, no sooner did she get the gown out of the bag, did she find the leather bag in there for her. Puzzled, she put it on the bed, determined to get to it later on. Quickly dressing, she grabbed her coin pouch to give the remainder to Amitt when he returned.

She hurried to her mother, Mollie with a smile. "I'm sorry mother that I was gone for so long. We were looking for Kiefer and badly lost track of time unintentionally. He needed to really talk things out because of his issues with losing his mother and how the anniversary was coming up."

Her mother gave her an understanding smile. "Don't you worry about it my little one. You and your brother have grown so much, whatever you both choose to do, I'll understand and I know your father will too."

Airlia embraced her mother, and thought she caught a glimpse of worry in her mother's eyes. "Mother? What's the matter?"

Mollie shook her head, "We'll talk about it in the morning after the celebrations are over. It's time you and your brother learned everything."

Airlia tilted her head to the side to consider her mother's words before nodding. "Okay mother, let's go see father!"

Mollie grinned brilliantly as the two came from the house to see the ship peaking over the horizon it was picturesque with the sun setting in the west, the skies glowing in reds and ambers with oranges to be seen lighting the skies ablaze as they docked. The woman came over with her children to wait for the ramp to be set and for their father to come down the ramp. He ran to them and hugged his wife tightly. "Airlia, you were right as always my girl. Bountiful catch, the best in many years!"

He thought about how they wouldn't have to go fish so soon now because of the methods of preservation will keep the families of the village fed for months to come. He was grateful for a small break, and judging by the look on his wife's face, she wanted to talk to the children about their past. He saw his daughter in the sea green dress and instantly thought of the Aqua Spirit's appearance and realized why Mollie had come to that decision. He smiled as Amitt came down to the family, "My goodness that was a magnificent harvest!"

Amitt stood proud with his slightly thinner barrel chested form – his thinning hair forming a sort of a smaller crown around his head. He took in the gown on the daughter and grinned jovially, "Wow that's perfect on you my dear!"

Airlia gave a small twirl before curtsying to him. "Thank you for the gift Amitt! Before I forget, here is the change from what you gave me." She extended her hand with the pouch in tow.

He smiled before he clasped her hand over the pouch. "Keep it! You've saved us a lot of grief three years ago. And now with this bountiful catch saving us months of work, you deserve it!"

Airlia grinned up at him happily, "I'm just glad I could help father and the town!"

They came off the dock so the fish could be unloaded while the party began on the beach with the giant fire pit that was constructed being lit, reminding the siblings of the fire that when they put out, the guardian would go and relight the brazier. They shared a secret smile as Borkano came over, "So what did the two of you get into when I was away?"

Airlia turned to her father, "Mother wants to talk to us tomorrow, can we get into it then?"

He saw the seriousness that was normally not present in his child's eyes and nodded. The festivities began as people danced joyfully to the music that was being played by the minstrels in the town. Airlia bit the inside of her cheek as Mirabel danced with her brother. That woman was bad enough ripping on her for what Amitt gave her, but to say they shouldn't converse in town because of an image to maintain. Seeing the sight made her feel ill as she stood from sitting on the log and walked towards the ocean to stare out over the horizon. Something about it was always comforting, like the answer to everything lay beyond there somewhere.

She felt a hand touch her shoulder as she whirled around to see Kiefer there. "You did come!" He gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, father accepted my apology and reluctantly let me come to the festival because of you and your brother being here. I explained everything," he then lowered his voice, "But I left the ruins out of it since it is a Forbidden Zone and all." He raised his voice to normal level, "And father let me come to the harvest."

She grinned as she took his hand in a dance and gazed at his before speaking, "Father and mother want to talk with Alistair and me first thing in the morning. I took the scroll that you gave Alistair to hold when we began finding the items to Melchior on the cliff below the town of Estard. He may be able to find out more beyond what I was able to read."

Kiefer grinned at her as he spun her before pulling her close again, "That's a great idea. I haven't found the last shard, but I'm sure it's here somewhere. We can search the island tomorrow. There is no reason we wouldn't be given two shards belonging to the same drawing and yet not find the third."

The dance came to a close as Kiefer really looked at her in the gown. It had shown her form off tastefully, her hair framing her heart shaped face with telling sapphire eyes that shined with happiness, and glittered when angry. He felt his breath catch as he looked at her in the sea green dress. "Are you going to go inside for the night Airlia?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it's been a long day and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to bring about a lot of change. Meet us at the ruins about three hours after sunrise."

He nodded as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Until then Airlia. Be sure to give my best to your brother."

Airlia grinned with a nod as she walked to the house before he left the party. She went up to her bed and after dressing in her sleep clothes and tucking the dress into her closet. She put the pouch in her little chest that her father had gotten both of them to keep their valuables safe. As she lay in bed, the music from the party lulled her to sleep.

Morning came swiftly as she awoke to look in the leather bag that had been otherwise ignored thus far. She blushed as she found a forest green tunic and skirt and a matching cloth to help keep her hair out of her face. Getting dressed in the new clothing, she reclaimed her items from before, the packet of seeds and the money from Amitt. She went over to her brother's room and gently knocked on the door.

Considering it immediately opened to show her brother readying himself, she knew he wanted to get things going as fast as she did. Instead of his green tunic, he wore a white tunic with a green overcoat and his favorite green pants. He had his faithful green cap on his head as they climbed down the ladder to find their parents awake and making breakfast. Borkano turned to see his children, "Glad to see you both awake!"

They sat at the table and ate of the fish breakfast that Mollie had made before Mollie garnered the attention of her children. "First let me start off with telling you of your past, because as you both know – I am not your mother."

Airlia and Alistair paused for a moment before Airlia spoke, "I always suspected, but it doesn't matter. You both raised us without question and took care of us lovingly. To me, and I'm sure to my brother, you are our parents no matter what."

Alistair nodded in agreement of his sister's statement. "Yes, and now to what we've been up to. We found a way to explore the ruins near Rainbow Cove."

Mollie and Borkano both gaped at their children. "What? What did you find there?" Mollie asked as she sent a look to her husband.

Airlia spoke next, "There were a lot of monoliths with writing that only Alistair and I could read. It spoke of the lost world and to restore the world to its true form."

Borkano reached into his pocket, "I found this. Do you think it might help you?" He pulled out a land shard judging by its brown color.

Airlia took the shard and looked at it, realizing instantly this was the one last shard they hadn't found yet. "Yes father, where did you find it?"

He scratched his head in thought, "I found it during the harvest. If it'll help you, take it. But I beg of you children, please be careful. If it ever looks too dangerous, you come and see me."

Airlia and Alistair nodded; something told them their destiny was ahead of them. All they had to do was trust in their instincts. Airlia felt the tickle at the back of her head. My little one, you're going to discover the truth behind the world's appearance, just don't lose faith or hope. Feel free to take some water from Rainbow Cove, its properties can help you if you are thirsty or poisoned. It can also calm the greatest of fires because of the purity of the water.

Airlia turned to her brother as they both stood and embraced their parents. They quickly left the house and upon leaving town arrived at the ruins just before the preordained time to meet the prince. When they met up, he saw her in the forest green tunic and skirt as he grinned. "Well? Any thoughts of where to look for it?" The prince asked anxiously – he wanted to continue the journey.

Airlia took the shard and showed it to him, "Father found this during the harvest. Something told him it was imperative to keep it and upon inspection, it's the one that goes to the shards we found earlier."

Kiefer jumped in excitement as they began to go into the ruins only to hear a voice nearby. "You were going to leave me behind were you?"

Alistair groaned as he recognized the female voice. "Maribel? What are you doing here?"

She came out from behind a fallen wall, "I knew you were getting into something. Well either you take me along or I'll tell the king you've been playing in the forbidden zone!"

Airlia glared at the red haired girl, "Maribel, this isn't a game. If you're coming with us, you're going to pull your weight. We don't know what we're going to see or what we're going to be getting into.

The red haired woman scoffed, "It'll be fine. Let's go."

Airlia shook her head, "Follow me." She led them to the short cut to Rainbow Cove. Airlia quickly stopped by the water to dip her waterskin into the water. "Alistair fill your waterskin, Kiefer you too. Maribel if you have a waterskin fill it up. The cove is a source of pure water that we can drink. Who knows where we're going." After filling up their skins, they went through the back door and into the teleporter. "If you're afraid of this Maribel, you're better off going home."

The redhead scoffed and brushed ahead of the brunette and stepped onto the tile, disappearing from view as the others followed suit. When she came out of the Aqua Temple, Maribel looked around. "This is it? How boring!"

Airlia glared at Maribel as her brother and the prince came out, "This isn't just all of it. We are going to the room to the right of this. Everyone, let's go. Gather your courage."

They went to the land room and went to the nearest pedestal, where the tablet they had worked on the day before laid. Airlia put the last shard where it belonged as it began to glow. Everyone closed their eyes and shielded themselves from the bright light until it faded. When they opened their eyes, they were no longer in the ruins, but rather than a strange clearing in a forest.

Airlia looked up at the sky and saw how unnaturally dark it was. "How strange. Why is the sky so dark?"

Kiefer looked up with a frown, it wasn't their isle, so where were they?

Maribel frowned, "Well guys, it's been fun! Thanks for taking me with you and all but I want go home now."

Airlia looked around and something felt wrong. Aqua Spirit can you hear me? Upon no response, she knew that they were in bigger trouble than it seemed. "Guys I have a feeling we need to solve whatever the problem is plaguing this place before we can go home."

Alistair looked at her, he could feel the shiver that went through her internally and knew the problem was worse than it seemed. "Right, let's move."

They walked into the forest from the clearing, the only path available to them, until they saw something moving in the bushes ahead of them. "Everyone stay still. Not sure what's in the bushes, but we need to be sure it isn't trouble." Kiefer said as they saw three blue slimes jiggle past them in their movement.

When the slimes left Kiefer emerged shaking, "What were those…? Were they monsters? Whoa, this is getting more and more incredible by the minute!"

Maribel however looked frantic, "Those were monsters! How did they get on our island?!"

Airlia shook her head, "I don't think this is our island Maribel… I think we're somewhere else."

Maribel whipped around to look at the brunette, "What do you mean Airlia? I demand you three take responsibility and get me home now!"

Airlia growled as Alistair responded, "Airlia explained this to you already. I don't think we can go back until we solve this. She also warned you that if you came, you had to be strong and endure."

Maribel growled for a moment but nodded reluctantly. She had been the headstrong girl to jump into their adventure instead of leaving them to their own devices. They proceeded north through the forest, eventually coming out to two graves and a blonde soldier dressed in pink armor with a silver sword. The woman turned around from placing something on the graves. "What the? I've never seen you before! Who are you?"

Kiefer stepped forward as he said, "I apologize for startling you, and we mean you no harm. I am Prince Kiefer of Estard and these are my friends, Airlia and Alistair who are twins and the red head is Maribel."

The woman paused as her blue eyes searched his face to see if he told the truth. "Estard?! But it can't be! We lost all contact with the rest of the world when the darkness fell. Oh I apologize, my name is Matilda."

Airlia frowned, "What are you doing with those weeds Matilda?"

The warrior looked downcast as she spoke, "I was putting them on the graves for we have no flowers to offer the dead."

Maribel frowned as she fished into her pocket as did Airlia while the red head spoke, "Oh! Well if you want flowers, I've got some. Well I've got seeds anyways that you're welcome to use."

Matilda looked at the seeds both women offered her and said, "May I use some?"

Airlia and Mirabel didn't need to think twice, handing her both pouches. "Have them all! We can always get more later."

Matilda smiled as she spoke, feeling a little lighter, "Thank you so much! I'll go plant them right now." The tall blond soldier ran off and sprinkled the seeds generously around both graves. Returning to the group, she spoke more seriously, "That should help calm the spirits of the dead. However, we have more pressing matters now. I fear you won't be able to return to Estard so long as this darkness lasts. However there is a place for you to rest just outside the forest. I'll accompany you in thanks for the seeds just to the edge of the village."

The group looked downcast; this wasn't coming out the way any of them had hoped. They nodded resolutely as the blonde quickly led them from the forest and to east the edge of the village. When they went into the village, turning around to thank Matilda, the group saw she was gone.

"What in the world? She's gone!" Alistair said, astonished that she fled the village. Something was wrong, terribly wrong with this situation as they witnessed people destroying farms, their homes, everything. Oddly enough, there weren't any kids or women around, just men.

They proceeded over to a weeping farmer who was using his hoe to destroy his farm ground that he had taken care of so lovingly. Airlia walked over to hear him crying as he stuck the farming tool in the ground over and over again. "Sir?"

He turned to her and blinked, "How are you here now? They stole our women and our kids. They threatened us that if we want to see them ever again, we are to destroy our village with our own hands. Please, you must hide that you are a female, you and your friend. If they find you, they will kidnap you too!"

Alistair and Kiefer came over, keeping Maribel close as Kiefer questioned, "Who will kidnap them?"

The farmer ignored him, turning back to his farm, sobbing out the name, "Martha. My Martha and my Sophie, every day I pray you come back to me and it never comes true."

Airlia turned from the farmer as everyone looked around helplessly. This didn't feel right, it felt odd… As they walked around, they saw some tearing their house down plank by plank and burning pieces, while others were shattering things into tiny pieces. As they continued to walk around the edge of the downtrodden village, they saw a scholarly man on the island in the middle of the town. They approached him as he gave them a sad smile, "Traveler, would you like to hear the legend of Rex, the hero of our village?"

Airlia nodded in agreement as did the others, determined to find a solution to help this town in order to get home again someday.

He sighed heavily before beginning…

The legend begins twenty years ago, when monsters first attacked our village.

The villagers gathered together and put aside their disparate views to find a solution.

After endless debate, they resolved to defeat the formidable beasts.

But first, a courageous young man was sent off alone to the monsters' lair.

The plan was for the others to follow soon after him in full force, but not a single soul went.

No one could summon the courage to do so.

And so the brave warrior took on the monsters, waiting for help that never came.

After emerging victorious over the monsters, he collapsed to his knees and perished near their lair.

The hero's name was Rex.

Since that day, in commemoration of his valiant deeds, our town has been known as Rexwood.

Maribel gasped at the end of the store before speaking, "How tragic. But what of the missing women from the village?"

The scholar shook his head, "We don't know. We found them missing one day and a monster came to us, saying if we don't destroy our village they will never be seen again."

Kiefer nodded as they thanked the scholar for his time before looking around to see a boy seemingly busy in front of a small shack near the edge of the village. "Let's go talk to him – he might know a thing or two about the situation that the adults aren't telling us."

They nodded in agreement as they went back to the main land of the village before going around to the boy. He looked at them warily, "There's nothing back here, please leave."

Airlia kneeled down and gave him a gentle smile. "It's okay, we're here to help. We're not from around here as you might have guessed. I'm Airlia; this is my twin Alistair and our friends Kiefer and Maribel. If I'm right, you're guarding an injured person, likely a family member is you not?"

He looked at her, and after a moment he nodded, "Did you run into Matilda out there by chance?"

She nodded as she studied the small lad who only came up to her waist with dusty blond hair and emerald green eyes that were dark with worry.

"Yeah we did, that's how we found this place. We want to help." Airlia said as he nodded.

"My father's inside, badly hurt after trying to get into the tower where the monsters are. He thinks that's where everyone's being held. He doesn't know that I followed him and saw him almost killed before my eyes when Matilda showed up. Because of her – my father survived. She helped me to get my father back to Rexwood where he's been slow to recover. However he's taking a turn for the worse and I'm afraid he's going to die if I don't get him proper medicine soon." The boy said as she nodded.

"Let's go see him and see what we can do to help you both before we take on trying to find the women okay?" Airlia said as he smiled as his eyes sparkled in hope.

He led the four travelers inside the small hut to see a man bloodied and broken lying on the bed as Airlia removed her scarf to tie it around her hair to keep it pinned back. "Alistair, whatever the boy says he needs, get it. I'm going to help tend to the man's wounds. We both know mother taught me well on setting bones while mending wounds and injuries."

He nodded as they spoke to the boy about what the father would need to live as she watched them leave the hut. Airlia sighed as she turned to the lad, "What's your name?"

He gave her a small smile, "Patrick. And my father's name is Hank."

Nodding she turned to the man, "I need a needle and thread, where can I find that Patrick?"

He spoke, "I'll go get it, do we need anything else?"

She looked around and saw a stove, "Does the stove have wood in it?" At his nod, she turned to the pot, "Is that pot clean and filled with stream water?" Again he nodded as she supplied, "Right then, I should only need a needle and lots of thread. As much as you can get your hands on so I don't have to make you run all over the place. I have a cloth I can use to clean his wounds in the meanwhile."

The boy dashed out of the house and she went to the stove and got the fire raging. She walked over to the pot and dumped the water just outside the house before going inside to fill it with water from her skin that held the water from Rainbow Cove; a small amount remained in the canteen for emergency purposes. "This is purer water; it will boil faster and has some healing properties." She knew the man was slightly conscious so she wanted him to be aware of what she was doing.

When the lad returned, she checked the water to see the rolling boil it had come to and removed some hose from the rucksack and put the needle and thread into it before lowering it into the boiling water. "I need to sanitize these in order to help stitch some of the more grievous wounds together. It will stop the bleeding. The heated water will also help me to clean his wounds safely."

Patrick nodded as he pulled up a second stool. Once she was satisfied the needle and thread were clean, she removed the hose before blowing out the stove fire. Reaching into her rucksack again, she pulled out a thick cloth to help her safely move the pot from the stove and over to the stool she was going to use to help her clean his wounds for effectively. Turning to the lad, she explained. "I'm from another isle; we have a special cove where the purest water you will ever find exists. It's called Rainbow Cove. I filled my waterskin earlier with its water and that's what I boiled to try and help heal your father faster. Its waters are said to have special healing properties." She dipped the edge of the thick cloth into the water and whispered, "I'm sorry if this hurts sir, truly I am."

She cleaned his wounds before stitching them shut, his pain easing with every movement. When it was stitched up, the man's color had returned a little and his breathing eased. When she was finished she sat down on the ground. "Now we wait for my brother. He should be back shortly."

They waited no more than twenty minutes after she finished before the others returned with the shard of green healing stone. Airlia's bloodied hands and fabric attested to what she had gone through to save the man's life. She turned to Patrick, "How do we use this to save your father?"

Patrick took the shard and smiled. "We place it in water and after five minutes, it will be ready for him to drink." He grabbed a cup and went to go outside when Airlia emptied the remainder of her skin in the cup.

He looked up at her in awe, "Thanks miss! You've been such a miracle for me and my father. All of you have been." He brought the cup to his father while he waited for the water to change and show it's infused the magic. Once it was satisfactory, he held the cup to his father's lips, "Dad, you have to drink this. It will heal you the rest of the way!"

He helped his father to drink the water for a moment before turning back to the others. "Now all we can do is wait. I spoke to the inn keeper and weapon smith about your help with my father. They will gladly give you a bed for the night so that you can rest while he heals. In the morning we can figure out the next move."

Airlia nodded, "Thank you Patrick. We'll do what we can to help."

They left to go back to the isle in the middle of the pond. They went to the inn first as they were exhausted as the inn keeper merely let them past where there were four mats on the floor. He bowed his head in apology, "I'm sorry, we don't have beds right now, only these mats." Everyone shook their head in understanding.

They all picked a mat and settled in for the night. Without a word, they fell asleep.