Disclaimer's on chapter one.


The gigantes let out a guttural death song as the White Knight's blade sliced through it from left shoulder to right hip while a single swipe of Alastor's staff had the last of the red clad Farians relieved of their heads by a blade of wind invisible to the naked eye.

"That's one less problem to worry about." Alastor muttered as he vanished his staff to the storestone hanging from his belt.

"And one less unit among Nanazel's ranks." Zai added resting his warhammer against his shoulder.

Alastor looked at the behemoth of a Farian resisting the urge to shake his head. It seemed the Farian had quite the bone to pick with him over what he had done to his brethren years ago and was going to do everything he could to irk him.

"For now. But we'd better make haste to the camp before anymore of Nanazel's forces find us." Cerwyn suggested as the four regrouped once Leonard had reverted from his towering form.

The two from Balandor nodded in agreement although Cerwyn noticed that his friend still looked like he wanted to finish his business with the spellcaster even though he too agreed to the relative course of action. He just hoped Zai would refrain from calling Alastor out until after this civil war was over.

"Our fight is not over, mage." Zai told Alastor as they followed after the Farian swordsman.

"Be sure to remind me later. There's a civil war going on here that needs quelling and an old war to finish beforehand." Alastor brushed off not in the least bit intimidated by the Farian that stood a complete foot above him even with the added glare now being sent his way.


"No wonder they call it the 'Lost Forest'..." Yulie marvelled unable to tell the difference between where they were now and where they were when they first arrived despite the obvious changes in scenery. Anyone who was not familiar with the place was likely to never find their way back out- even with a well detailed map.

"The forest twists and bends because Father Yggdra wills it." Scardigne explained as he lead them further and deeper into the forest filled land.

"How so?" Yulie asked her curiosity about magicks getting the better of her.

"I'm afraid I cannot properly answer that question. Only those who bear the mantle of Archduke are privy to the mysticism surrounding Father Yggdra." Scardigne replied gesturing to the quiet, young Farian who was following along beside him. "Perhaps, My Lady, you could tell them in my stead?"

Upon hearing her name, and the suggestion given to her by her bodyguard, Miu abruptly froze causing Yulie to accidentally bump into her and nearly send her to the ground had the purplette not caught her in time.

"Sorry about that." Yulie apologised as she helped the girl back to her feet.

"No. I am the one who should be apologising, Miss Yulie." Miu said quietly as the two carried on walking after the others. "And...in regards to your question about Father Yggdra, I do not believe I will be able to help you understand any more better than General Scardigne."

"But, you're the granddaughter of the Archduke...aren't you?" Yulie asked until she just realised that that was likely a sore subject right now, what with everything that was going on right now regarding the future of Faria and all. "Sorry. That one is my fault."

The Farian was younger than herself, probably not long into her teens by the looks of it, so all this civil war nonsense was no doubt causing turmoil on her emotions which were still trying to accept the fact that her grandfather, the Archduke Dalam who had been murdered by Yshrenia the same time they had murdered King Valtos of Balandor. With all that had happened to her, Yulie was amazed Miu was not a broken down wreck although, judging by her quietness, she did not look that far off.

"I may be related to the Archduke, but that does not mean I will become the next Archduchess." Miu spoke softly. "While being relative of the current Archduke gives one a better chance of becoming the next in line, a Boyar or Ban who shows greater promise may be chosen by Father Yggdra to become the next Archduke."

"Or Archduchess." Yulie added. "With the way this Nanazel guy's been acting, there's no way he's gonna be given the privilege of sitting at the head of the table."

Miu could only turn to stare at Yulie with a look of confusion.

"It just means he won't become the next Archduke. Archduke Nanazel doesn't have a good ring anyways, if you ask me." Yulie added in afterthought.

"You speak as if you know we will be victorious." Miu noted.

"It's because I have faith in my friends." Yulie replied confidently. "You have friends too, don't you?"

"Yes. Or… at least I did." Miu said glumly remembering the last time she had seen Zai and Cerwyn.

"Hey, they might still be alive. Don't assume the worst otherwise it'll just bring you down further than you already are. As long as you believe, it'll all work out." Yulie told the Farian greenette.

That was actually a bit of a white lie. If that were actually true, then Leonard would have probably noticed her long before Yshrenia had assaulted Balandor castle last year. Still, the girl needed a confidence booster and this was a good idea.

Unaware she was being lied to, Miu could only look at Yulie in a mixture of admiration and envy. Most females around her age were either maids or ladies in waiting, all of them quiet and at the beck and call of the ones they answered to. In comparison, Yulie appeared to answer to no one but her own heart and followed her own dreams and beliefs. While it may or may not be because she was human, not Farian, it was certainly different like...something the young Farian could not put her finger on.

"We're here." Scardigne spoke up suddenly stopping in front of a gully entrance that would have gone on unnoticed had nobody knew what they were looking for.

Stepping through after the masked Farian, Yulie and Eldore were greeted by the sight of a Farian campsite housing those who would stand against Ban Nanazel. Throughout the hidden glade, tents and campfires were scattered lighting the faces of worn and weary Farians some looking as if they had just barely escaped from the madness plaguing the forest.

"These guy look like they've been hit hard." Yulie noted quietly.

"The addition of Grazel's forces clearly tipped the scales in Nanazel's favour." Eldore agreed.

"But still...is he doing this all just so he can get the Knight?" Yulie asked in concern.

If there really was a Knight here in Faria, it would be the only one yet to be broken from the sealing magic used to disarm them ten millennia ago. Grazel had used Cisna as a means of getting Leonard to find all the Knights a year ago and would have succeeded had the princess not managed to subdue the man's own Knight back in the ruins of the Dogma Rift almost at the cost of her own life.

"Let us worry about that later. Right now, we need to help the Farians reclaim their forest." Eldore told her quietly. "Even should Grazel obtain it, he still cannot wield it."

Yulie nodded in agreement. An Incorruptus needed both a Pactmaker and an Ark in said Pactmaker's hands in order to be of proper use. As it was now, Grazel could only use it merely to collect dust until he at least found the Ark and its location could be anywhere and anything.

For now, all they could do was help Miu reclaim Faria from the hands of a madman.

Entering the campsite, Miu was the first to spot a familiar face among her grandfather's people.

"Ban Lorias! You are alive!" Miu cried out running over to the wizened old Farian and hugging him.

"I am glad to see you too are alive." Lorias greeted the child before turning to her bodyguard. "General, I knew you would keep her safe."

"Alone, I would have failed, Ban Lorias." The General humbly admitted gesturing to Yulie and Eldore. "These people came to our aid. "

"I see…" Lorias said as he looked at the archer and swordmage easily seeing that they were from outside of Faria. "And who might they be?"

"Emissaries from Balandor." Miu supplied for them.

This surprised Lorias. He had thought any thoughts of peace had been quashed the moment the late King Valtos had met his end alongside his old friend Dalam.

"Some of them are still out there as we speak. They have risked their own lives to allow us to bring My Lady here unharmed." Scardigne added. "Having seen them in action, I have no doubt they can handle themselves. However…"

"They shall be lost within the trees of Faria's domain- should they have not crossed paths with us." A new voice interrupted.

Turning to face the speaker, Miu's already brightened mood brightened considerably further when she spotted two familiar faces enter the camp along with Yulie's friends. This time she could not contain her tears as she ran to greet them.

"Zai! Cerwyn!" She cried as she hugged the larger of the two Farians tightly.

"It is good to see you two are both safe." Scardigne greeted his two fellow warriors. "Any troubles escaping the Archduchy?"

"We made our escape once we were certain you and our sister were far from Nanazel's clutches." Cerwyn explained while Zai attempted to calm the weeping maiden clinging to him. "We had not long evaded our pursuers when we ran into these two outsiders."

Scardigne nodded as he glanced at Leonard and Alastor neither of them looking any worse for wear since the last time he saw them.

"No complications, I hope." The general inquired looking at both warriors catching the brief looks of guilt flashing across their faces before they could school their expressions.

"A search unit of Nanazel's troops equipped with those strange cards ran into us the same time we ran into the outsiders. We had banded together to take them on before we could have a chance to see whose side they were on." Cerwyn answered calmly. "We sort of came to a sort of understanding, you could say, during the battle."

"Then I hope that that understanding lasts until after Nanazel has been routed at the very least." Scardigne commented.

"With all due respect, General." Zai spoke up finally breaking free from Miu's arms to join the conversation with his superior. "Can we truly trust them to help us? One of them is well known to most soldiers and the other has a Knight all too similar to that of the Moon Maiden Father Yggdra protects! Who's to say they won't turn on us the moment we quell Nanazel's coup?"

Scardigne could see where Zai was coming from. The warrior had been picked on by humans due to being half Farian before finding sanctuary in his homeland. Coupled with the facts that they knew of the magicks Nanazel's forces wielded, had a Knight of their own and were accompanied by a well feared human spellcaster, the concern was well justified.

"They appear to be the enemy of those who are aiding Nanazel- the same people who murdered the late Archduke Dalam. Our foes may be different, but it is clear the sides we are on are one and the same." Scardigne told the two. "Besides...I have no doubt that, had they been our enemy, My Lady would have indeed lost you both."

Just the sight of his underlings wincing at his comment confirmed that they had indeed crossed blades as well as paths. Had that enemy unit not interfered, who knows what would have happened to the two warriors.

"That still remains to be seen." Zai commented dryly staring at the back of the head of the man who had claimed the lives of many people he once knew.

"Wow. That guy really seems to hate you." Yulie could not help but comment noticing the towering Farian's glare aimed at Alastor. "You two meet on the battlefield or something back in the day?"

"With his height? Pretty sure I would have remembered the guy if I had. And what's with this 'back in the day' stuff? You make me sound old." Alastor grunted halfheartedly attempting to swat Yulie upside the head for her choice of words.

Yulie just grinned as she ducked under his arm. Her smile quickly faded when she got a good look at the spellcaster's hand before it disappeared beneath his cloak. Before it could disappear completely, Yulie had clasped it in both her own and pulled it back out of the cloak so she could see it more clearly.

"What happened to your hand?" She asked in concern as she stared at the purple appendage.

"...A lucky blow." Alastor replied eventually as he tried to pull away from the girl only to wince as she clasped his wrist tighter. "I was going to heal it later but just forgot about it."

Ignoring the spellcaster, Yulie focused Alastor's injured hand putting into practice the teachings both Azalea and the azure mage himself had about the healing arts. Alastor could only watch in surprise as his swollen and purple hand returned to its normal pink self.

"I see you've finally learned how to use healing magic properly." Alastor noted flexing his healed hand.

"Still think of me as just extra baggage, Magician-Boy?" Yulie teased recalling one of their first conversations they had had.

"Depends. Can you cure a vespid sting yet?" Alastor countered easily.

Yulie could only reply by shoving Alastor before walking off muttering something about 'spoiling the moment again' or something along those lines. Still, that did not stop a smile from making its way onto her face one part in relief that he was, mostly, okay and the other that he was still the same guy she had first met even if there was something different about him she could not put her finger on it.


"Father Yggdra? Princess Cisna has commanded you to meet with him?" Ban Lorias inquired after the emissaries had explained their situation to him inside one of the larger tents.

"Yes. That's correct." Leonard answered curtly although he would not have put it quite like that.

Ban Lorias shared a look with General Scardigne and his two officers. Unlike most from outside of the Lost Forest, these humans had been truthful, aided in protecting Miu and had offered to help them reclaim Faria from Nanazel's pollution. The least they could do was grant them their request in return.

"I would take you to him at once, but it would do you no good." Lorias explained sadly. "Nanazel is using a malevolent force known as the 'Zore Crystals' to erode the Father's ample power."

"Zore Crystals…" Eldore grumbled recalling the ancient machinations from the Dogma War.

Because they had few spellcasters compared to those of Athwan, Yshrenia came up with devices that absorbed the natural mana of the lands and converted it into magic continuing to do so until the mana was sucked dry leaving the land barren as the plains of Van Haven Wasteland today. The only weakness they had was that, once planted, it could no longer be relocated unless stripped down piece by piece making it an easy target for the Athwans to destroy.

This, along with the Rosetta Seals, were what Grazel had given to Nanazel allowing him to stage his coup, Eldore believed.

"What will that do to Father Yggdra?" Miu asked worriedly.

"I don't know what it'll do to the guy, but those crystals will constantly drain the natural mana of the land. Given that this forest is rich in natural mana it'll be a while before any changes will occur but the power of the magic spells it churns out will be greater." Alastor supplied.

Unfortunately, it did little in comforting Miu. Quite the reverse in fact judging by the worry lines appearing on her face.

"They're large, meaning they'll be in the glades situated throughout the forest making them easy targets so they'll also be well guarded." Zai spoke up glaring daggers at Alastor for upsetting Miu.

"Thanks for the heads up, Captain Obvious." Alastor muttered under his breath with a role of the eyes getting tired of the Farian's beef with him.

"Quit it!" Yulie hissed in his ear managing to catch what the others had not as Lorias indicated to a large map of Faria covering most of the table in the centre of the room.

Having not seen a proper map of Faria save for the ones made based on what little info cartographers could obtain, even Alastor could not help but be curious but take a moment to merely study the map. While most of the forest was depicted as dark green, the forest's inner circle was divided into quarters and given a different color respectively. Recalling what his Farion comrades had told him during his army days, this was known Vertumnus where the mana was supposedly so rich and pure that all the seasons would manifest simultaneously regardless of the time of year.

Throughout the Vertumnus, small pebbles were placed indicating the likely locations of the Zore Crystals with an average of three per quarter.

"Until these crystals are destroyed, our hands are tied and access to Father Yggdra will be denied to all." Lorias explained sadly.

Leonard shared a look with his friends. Meeting Father Yggdra as per Cisna's request was important to him but, after all that had happened while rescuing the Princess from Grazel's clutches, he had come to learn that things could never be straightforward. Not only that but he believed it was the right thing to do in order to preserve the beliefs Cisna's father and Miu's grandfather held for the future of their lands and, seeing Yulie nod in silent agreement, he knew they were thinking along the same lines.

"We'll help you get rid of them." Leonard offered. He did not know what these crystals looked like but he doubted they could stand long against Wizel.

"Thank you for your aid. The Knight's power certainly would make the task easier." Lorais said thinking along similar lines.

Plans were quickly drawn up soon after. Sorted into groups, Leonard and Yulie were put into the team lead by Zai and would take out the crystals in the Autumn forest, Alastor would be in Cerwyn's team and head for the Spring forest. Once their respective targets were destroyed, both teams would converge on the Winter forest where there were twice as many crystals as in the other forests.

Eldore meanwhile, was in the General's squad whose targets were in the Summer forest where the campsite was hidden. They would first wait until word had reached them that Zai and Cerwyn's teams had destroyed at least one crystal each before commencing on their own search so as to throw off any suspicions as to where their base of operation originated.

That fate of Faria now rested in the hands of these three squads. Their actions this night would mark the turning point in the war against Yshrenia.


Finally back after how so long…& the first thing I notice is that I seem to rush things towards the end no matter how hard I try not to.

Ah well, review if possible &, until next time,

Watch this space & peace out!