Alright! I am enthusiastic because I'll have fun with this chapter!

Ray goes to Conall Curach, and Mika followed him there, so…yeah…that's pretty much it.

There are going to be multiple chapters for this level. Probably three or four. And maybe more (rhyme-time…hee hee).

Also…we're going to have Ray's character chapter now! Yay!

Okay then…let's go! –pulls the chapter out of the water with a fishing rod-


Ray stood at the beginning of the swamp. In front of him loomed Conall Curach.

The sky was a dark and cloudy grey, and seemed rather sorrowful (but everything seemed sad at Conall Curach), and the rain was drizzling lightly. The grassy ground was wet and dark green, making squelching noises every time he took a step. The surrounding waters were dark and murky, and who knew what lied within the miasma-tainted depths.

Taking a deep breath, Ray thought of his reasons for coming here, and all the risks he had made by doing so.

There was no turning back. Not now, not ever.

He began to walk forward.

His first two opponents burst out of the ground almost immediately. Two snow mus, like regular mus but white in color, charged towards him. Ray swung his racket, and knocked both of them back, before shooting at the one of them again, killing it. The second mu dashed toward him, but Ray did a back flip into the air, and landed on the mu, breaking its neck.

Ray checked the chalice. He had tied it to his back with some rope so he wouldn't have to carry it. He would just have to be careful not to lose it. He began to move ahead, when he paused, looking at a stone. It appeared to be in an old Selkic text. Leaning down, he read the words:

To those who follow:

We shall build a road.

Let these stones guide you to our new haven.

Ray looked down and saw something that made his eyes widen: at the bottom of the stone, there was a bracelet. Ray picked it up. This was very familiar.

"Big sis," he whispered. She had left it there as a sign, in case something had happened. So she had read this stone. He would have to look around for more stones along the way.

He heard a loud splash, and he whirled around to see a sahagin leaping out of the water. It grinned at him, waving its large webbed hands.

"Ah…a Selkie," it croaked. "Welcome to Conall Curach!"

The sahagin ran at him, swiping a flipper at him. Ray moved back a second to late, getting a cut on his cheek, but launched himself forward, whacking the sahagin, and then kicking it into the air. The sahagin landed on the stone, where its back cracked. The monster let out a painful hiss, and Ray finished it off.

He moved on and found two blizzard bombs waiting for him. He shot one of them, and it flew into a wall before landing in the water and exploding, while the second bomb tried to hit him with a meteor spell. Ray was hit, and was sent flying backwards, while the bomb prepared to freeze him. Ray rolled out of the way as the freezing blast struck, and he shot the bomb from afar. He only managed to daze and confuse it, so he picked up a rock and threw it at the chilly monster. The bomb flopped onto the ground and exploded with a screech of rage.

Ray rested for about a minute, leaning on his club, before walking on. He caught sight of two hell plants up ahead. One of them caught sight of him, and began to cast a magic spell. Ray proceeded to try and beat it down with his club, but was hit by an extremely quick thunder spell. Ray groaned inwardly, and would've punched himself in the face if he wasn't paralyzed. This wasn't a hell plant. It was a magic plant, monsters that had the highest spell casting speed of all. Ray was hit by another spell, but eventually shook it off and struck the magic plant once more, killing it. Ray then turned to the other, and managed to defeat (after it had cast a few more magic spells at him).

Ray used a cure spell, then rubbed his head as a he received a mild headache, before he walked onwards. Eventually (after defeating around two more sahagin), he came to a large patch of weeds, with some planks of wood marking a path through them. Ray ran through the swampy field. He took out one blizzard bomb with a sneak attack, got frozen by another, but unfroze and beat it to a pulp, and found his way out of the reeds.

Two sahagin were waiting for him. "Looks like we've found another one," snarled the first sahagin.

"And he's wearing a stupid bandanna, just like the one from before," commented the other. Ray's stomach clenched. A bandanna…just like De Nam?

The two sahagin ran forward, but Ray was ready. Focusing his mind, he cast a Fira spell. Both sahagin were hit, although only one was killed. The other one tried desperately to put out the flames, and ran for the murky ponds surrounding them, but Ray cast another Fira spell as it jumped, and it fell into the water, cursing as it died.

Ray rubbed his head as he felt another pain in his head. He moved on, taking down a magic plant, another sahagin, and a snow mu. Ray found another stone after he moved around for a while.

To those who follow:

Our new haven is not far.

Press onwards with faith!

Ray looked around for another sign of his sister. He looked around, and then saw it: a torn piece of a blue bandanna was attached to the rock. The material was the exact same material as his sister's bandanna.

"So she got up to this point, too," Ray figured out, scratching his chin. But while he was pondering, he didn't hear the sounds of wet feet stomping towards him. Ray ducked just in time as he saw a shadow moving towards him, and sahagin's claw lashed out over him. Ray aimed a kick at the foul creature, but it managed to dodge, and move backwards, where another sahagin was waiting.

"Two against one?" asked Ray mockingly. "Because that's really fair!"

"Most Selkies don't care about fairness," retorted the sahagin, casting a blizzard spell at Ray. Ray hadn't noticed, and was frozen solid, as the sahagin ran at him and started slashing him with their fins and claws. Ray couldn't move. Every time one hit him, the other one would follow up just as quickly. Ray felt blood trickling down his arms and legs. What could he do?

But one of the sahagin suddenly stopped. It let out a choking cry, and fell to its knees, gasping for breath. The other sahagin looked at its friend in confusion, before feeling a sharp object in the back of its throat. Reaching for it, the sahagin pulled out a sharp, bloodstained rock, before falling over, dead. The other sahagin still kneeled, panting, but two rapidly fired projectiles ended its suffering. Ray was stunned. Where had THAT come from?

Looking over to where the attacks had came from, Ray's eyes widened as he saw someone he hadn't expected to see for a while.

Mika was walking over to him, a chalice bound to her hip, as she stood over him, arms folded.

"You got pretty damn far on your own," she said. "It took me forever to catch up to. Luckily, you killed all the monsters in my way, so that made it easier."

"How…did you…?" asked Ray.

"I stole the Fum caravan's chalice," said Mika, offering a hand to pull him up to his feet. "They had their festival recently, so they won't need it for a while. But the point is, I'm here to make sure you don't die, because if you died alone, we'd lose you AND our chalice."

"Aw…so you were worried," said Ray in a mock-sweet voice. "How cute."

"I came for the chalice, not you," said Mika. "But I'm obviously not gonna get it back until you do what you have to, so I guess I'm gonna have to tag along with you, eh?"

"I guess you will," said Ray, smirking. "Are the others going to steal chalices and join us as well?"

"Uh…no…that's the last thing I'd expect," said Mika harshly.

"Oh…so let me guess…they're all pissed at me?"

"Yeah well…you do realize Sam's going to MURDER you when you get back?" asked Mika. Ray grinned.

"When I get back? We're not out of this yet, missy," Ray pointed out.

"You're not gonna die while I'm around, smartass."

"No, but you might. Get down!" he shouted, pulling her down. A floating creature had flown right over them. It was a dark, purple ball, and it had electricity coursing through its body.

"A thunder bomb," said Ray. "Just what I wanted to deal with."

But before he could get up and fight, Mika had already made two shots with her Dual Shooter. As the bomb tried to unleash a thunder blast, it was stunned by the blows.

"It's not dead yet!" warned Mika. "Wait here."

Mika dashed forward, her hair flying out behind her, as she leaped into the air and brought her racket down on the grinning monster, smashing into the ground. However, the bomb exploded, and Mika was shocked…mentally AND physically.

"Well, that looked fun," commented Ray sarcastically, as they walked onwards, with Mika trying to flatten her hair (she managed to do so after about five minutes). Eventually, they met a sahagin and a bomb. Working together, the Selkies managed to knock both of the creatures into each other, and they both died in the thunder bomb's explosion .

Mika sat by the water, staring into it, as they took another rest.

"What is it?" asked her friend.

"It's just that…I want to try something," she stated. Ray looked at her.

"Really? What's that?" he asked curiously. Mika dipped her hand into the water, and had her hands filled with the dark liquid. She winced.

"It feels weird…it makes your hand burn, but not horribly," she said. Mika looked over at Ray.

"I'm going to drink it."

"Are you crazy? Look what happened to De Nam!"

"But we don't know if he's dead yet. Plus…if this miasma is this thick, I'll have to build up a tolerance later…why not sooner?"

"Fair enough," admitted Ray grudgingly, kneeling beside her. "I'll try some, too." He scooped up the water in his hand.

"I'll go first," said Mika. She gulped for a second, feeling somewhat afraid, but managed to make herself pour the water into her mouth.

Ray stared at her in silent anxiety. "Well?"

Mika put on a grimace of pain and disgust, as she began to cough. Kneeling over the water, she let out choking groan and threw up.

"That bad, huh?" asked Ray, rubbing her back. Mika looked up, shivering.

"Damn…it's horrible…it makes your insides feel all weird…how the hell did De Nam manage to drink it for all this time!?" Mika moaned, rubbing her stomach.

"Let me try some," said Ray, drinking the water as well.

"You're not gonna like it," warned Mika grimly. She was right. Ray was able to handle it better than Mika, although he covered his mouth with hand, and his eye twitched.

"Delicious, isn't it?" asked Mika. Ray rolled his eyes.

"Well, now we have an idea of what De Nam went through," said Ray. "C'mon, we've gotta keep moving…the longer I've been in this stinkin' place, the weirder I feel."

"What do you mean?" asked Mika.

"I don't know…," admitted Ray, shrugging his shoulders. "But the deeper I move into this place…I just feel…less alive, in a way. You know what I mean?"

"So I'm not the only one," said Mika thoughtfully. "You felt it too."

"Yeah well, I'd kinda like to know why," said Ray. "Let's go."

The two Selkies moved on quietly, until they came across two magic plants and a thunder bomb. They hid behind a large grove of reeds, watching their enemies carefully.

"Oh boy…this'll be tough…I hate those damn plants," said Ray.

"Same here," agreed Mika. "We'll both aim for them. Then we'll take out the bomb."

However, the Selkies had a bigger problem. Without the Yukes, they didn't have the Yukes' vast knowledge of all the enemies of their world. So Mika and Ray didn't know that magic plants have heightened, super-high senses, and that the two plants had already noticed the Selkies' presence.

Ray and Mika jumped into the air, as a fire spell destroyed the weeds they had been hiding in. They looked up and saw the three monsters looking at them.

"Well…that plan didn't work out so well…did it?" asked Ray, letting out a laugh. Mika rolled her eyes.

"No shit, dumb ass," she responded, taking aim with her racket. However, she was forced to abandon the attempt as a thunder spell, a blizzard spell, and a meteor spell came at them. Ray and Mika both moved out of the way, although Ray was frozen, and Mika was sent flying backwards by the meteor. She maneuvered in the air to cast a clear spell on Ray, who was burned as soon as he unfroze, but took down the plant that had burned him. Mika nailed the other plant with two shots from her trusty racket, while Ray slid under the thunder bomb and hit it into the air. The bomb exploded high in the sky, while Ray and Mika watched the remaining sparks rain down from above.

"They looked somewhat like sparks from a campfire," said Mika. "Rather pretty."

"Yeah…like works of flame…how about we call them…fireworks?" asked Ray.

"Sounds good to me," answered Mika, running a hand through her silver hair. They moved on until they found another bridge of planks. Three sahagin were waiting.

"We've been waiting for you, Selkie girl!" hissed the first one.

"Who are they?" asked Ray, bewildered.

"Let's say you missed some things when you went missing in Selepation Cave," explained Mika.

"You drove us out of our old home," snarled the second.

"Now we're going to drive you out of our new one!" roared the third.

The three sahagin let out a ferocious battle cry and dashed forward in a straight line. Mika did a front flipped and kicked one in the face, knocking it backwards, while Ray tripped one and struck the other with his maul. One of the sahagin punched Ray, while another cast a blizzard spell on Mika. Ray knocked all three of the sahagin off balance, and unfroze Mika with a clear spell. The three sahagin prowled around the caravanners in a circle. Mika and Ray both made a beckoning "come on" motion with their hands.

One sahagin leaped forward, but Ray was ready for it. He blocked its attack with his racket, and flung the creature into the air, where Mika shot it repeatedly with her dual shot, while Ray covered her. The sahagin let out its death cry as it landed into the swamp and sunk to down into the seemingly bottomless water.

Another sahagin ran forward, it's mouth wide open, hissing, and bit Ray on the arm. Ray punched its ugly green head, and the aquatic monster released him. Ray shoved his weapon into the monster's gaping maw, and the sahagin choked as it couldn't breathe. Ray knocked the dead body off of his weapon.

Ray and Mika both faced the last remaining sahagin, giving it dual death glares. The sahagin stood very still, before running forward, screeching and shrieking wildly while it waved its arms.

Ray gave Mika a weird look as he stuck out his leg and tripped the monster. It smashed its head on one of the pegs in the wooden plank they were standing on, and its dark blue blood started to spread out on the soaked wood.

"Well…that was either really weird…or funny as hell," said Mika. Ray was chuckling.

"I mean…the way it just tripped…," he said, cracking a big grin. Mika was trying not to laugh, but she couldn't help it.

"I mean, what the hell!?" asked Mika, slapping her knee. Ray was clutching his sides. Eventually, the two stopped guffawing, and looked out towards the remaining expanse of the marsh.

"Alright…enough laughing…we've got to keep going," said Ray. Mika nodded, and together, they headed in deeper.


Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd we're done.

Favorite Parts: Mika and Ray's reunion, Ray noticing his sister's signs on the stones, the "fireworks" joke, and the tripping of the sahagin.

The three sahagin returned from Selepation Cave…I'll talk about them briefly. They simply were lame little enemies. They kind of sucked at fighting. The point is, most characters get a recurring enemy (Lianora is the only one that lacks one), and the sahagin are Mika's.

Mika and Ray have reunited in the swamp of their ancestor's demise. How romantic.

This chapter didn't focus much on Ray's past, but the next two will…so yeah…just wait for that, mmkay?

Also, unlike most chapters, I'm actually going to jump away from Conall Curach next chapter. The next chapter focuses on the rest of the caravanners.

Next Chapter: The caravanners are stuck without two of their caravanners, a carriage and their chalice. Sitting in the Fields of Fum, they have no idea what they can do. However, when another caravan decides to stay in the Fields of Fum, will the Tipa caravan get a chance to visit Conall Curach?

Armstrong: And so…I review...please…review…this story…do it…for Tida…

Goblin King: You're a rather depressing fellow, aren't you? Why don't you go out and get a life? Y'know, adopt a hobby instead of brooding in despair all the time.

Armstrong: Why don't you…go out…and get some strength…weakling?

Goblin King: I'M NOT WEAK! UGH!