I am soooo sorry for taking so long to update! Life has literally been attacking me... (I've been sick for the past week). I had no life before. Why must it suddenly attack me so hard now?

Anyway, sorry for the long update! I'll work on the next one after I finish my tests this week and hopefully get that up a lot sooner...

Oh yeah! And the Devil's Arm quest has now started! So, another game shall start as well!

There are nine Devil's Arms. Only the Fafnir is located as of now. If you want, you may suggest locations for the other eight Devil's Arms. The people who choose the best locations will get titles along with the Devil's Arm being placed in that location. The eight remaining are: Heart of Chaos (staff), Soul Eater (sword), Niflheim (book), Lunar Eclipse (bow), Muspelheim (broom), Destroyer (hammer), Nidhogg (quill), and Andvarinaut (bracers).

Please enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Tales of games. They are owned by Namco.

--Nighttime Werewolf--

We head back down and into the dinning room, where the others are waiting on us. Sauound looks particularly annoyed... That's never good.

"Eh? Everyone's here already?" Arche exclaims, surprised.

"Yeah. You're late!" I inform her. How is she such a ditz all the time...?!

"S-shaddup! So were you!"

"Nuh-uh. They sent me to look for you." I sit down, and Arche, annoyed, sits down across from me. Everyone finally begins eating; the food's out in the center, and there's a lot...! Heh, someone already put a little bit of all the meats on my plate... They know me too well.

"Itadakimasu," I hear Suzu say before she starts eating. I wonder what that means...

"So?" Sauound suddenly questions. "What exactly brings you to the country of Odin?" Ah... I guess it'd be a bad idea to tell him that he looks just like one of our enemies... And that we're trying to meet up with Merilynn...

"I'm looking for someone," Dad says. Wait, what? He's smarter than that...

"Who?"

"Celsius."

"...Wait, who?!" I question. Our other companions look just as confused as I am.

"And what makes you think that Celsius will appear before a human?" our host continues before taking another bite.

"I already have a pact with Efreet. Thus why we're in the desert..." A pact... So is this Celsius a summon spirit?! Then why haven't we heard about him before...?

"So you're a summoner..." Sauound mutters, thinking.

"Interesting..." agrees Sauound's father. "With someone like this, we might be able to stand up against Thor!"

"That's right! Klarth's one person, and he already has them beat!" Chris cheers.

"Because he can summon Efreet...?"

"Yes," the king picks back up. "Thirteen years ago, the country of Thor captured and contained an inhabitant of the Spirit World. Aska, the spirit of light... However, our spies have informed us that they can do nothing with the spirit, luckily for us."

"But they have no interest in joining any side of the war, correct?" Sauound questions coldly.

"That's correct," answers my father. We continue eating in silence...

Celsius, huh...? I wonder what kind of spirit that one is... And why haven't we heard about him?! I thought we got every summon spirit while we were in the year 6548!

"We need something unbelievably strong to beat Thor and Fenrir," Chris suddenly speaks up. "Even if it's not a summon spirit, maybe we can go after that legendary sword..."

I glance at Cless, who's trying his best to keep a calm look. He's worried, though... The legendary sword most likely means the Eternal Sword, right...? I guess we'll need to hide it in this time, too...

"That is out of the question," the king speaks up. "That sword is nothing but a child's tale—there's no way a sword like that could exist! We need out troops at their stations—we cannot have any of them search for a pirate's legend."

"But what if it does exist?" Sauound speaks up. "It'll greatly increase our chances against our enemies."

"One sword can do no such thing. Honestly, I can't believe you two are still chasing after fairytales at your age..."

This guy would be surprised if he knew what one sword could do...

The king turns to us. "How are you liking the country of Odin?"

"It's a nice country," Dad says.

"...It's a desert..." I mutter.

"Everyone's really bright here!" the swordsman speaks up.

"Are you sure it's not just the sun...?" I murmur to him.

"It's a wonderful place," the dove agrees with Cless and Dad. Keh... "Thank you for allowing us to stay!"

"I hope you consider joining us..." Sauound's father continues. "Hope's told us a lot about your skills. If you were to help us, we'd be sure that you are greatly rewarded."

"Thank you for the offer, but we don't plan on staying long or getting involved with the war. We mainly need time to get our bearings..."

"We can help out around the castle," Cless offers.

"Yes, we have to repay your kindness somehow," agrees the cleric. Oh geez...

"You're a cleric, correct?" he questions Mint. "If you could help heal people, that would help us out a lot."

"I'll do that after dinner, then!"

"Yes, I'll help as well," Milard agrees.

"Thank you... We're already spread thin enough without our knights being injured."

"Merilynn's curses aren't helping..." mutters Sauound.

"Curses?" Like...

"Yeah. She's mastered ancient, forbidden runes and is using them to create new and unusual curses," the prince explains. "She's even created one that hurts our soldiers when we try to heal them."

"She can cure curses, right?"

"I should hope so. It'd be reckless to make curses with no ideas of how to undo them..."

I turn to the others. "Do you think she might be able to get rid of Arche's curse?"

"We still have no clue what it even is..." Milard points out.

What is it... What's the same among all of those times...

The same... A library, a dictionary, a menu... a spell book... Wait a sec... "Hey, after that night that we got drunk, did Arche read something?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because every time she acts weird, she's read something just before it..."

"I do not act weird!" she argues.

"Yes you do! You make things that never happened up! You didn't even start learning Judgment!"

"I tried, but you came up too soon!"

"You had plenty of time before I went up there! And you were absorbed in the book!"

"I was not—"

"Arche-chan," Milard speaks up. "Can you read this out loud for me...?" The meerkat hands Arche a sheet of paper.

Arche takes it and stares at it, not saying anything. "Arche-chan...?" Mint speaks up.

"Arche-chan, what does it say?"

Arche jumps and stares at us, her face red. "Uh..."

"What did it say?"

"Um, it said..." She turns back to the sheet of paper and starts zoning out again. "Chester..." she mutters.

Wha?! I jump to my feet and storm over to her. I grab her shoulders and shake her. "Hey, Arche, snap out of it!"

She stares at me, confused. "Snap out of what...?"

"I see... interesting..." the summoner mutters.

"That curse definitely seems like Merilynn's style..." agrees Sauound.

"What do you mean?" Arche questions innocently. Keh...

"It seems that when you read, you see visions of things with Chester," Milard explains.

"Why me...?"

"Maybe because you're close to Arche?"

"We are not close!" Keh...! What's with all of these people trying to pair us up?! "Now you see that there's nothing going on!"

"Alternatively, maybe she's seeing visions of you because something's going on," Suzu speaks up.

"There's nothing!"

My sister laughs. "Onii-chan is slow!"

"You just noticed?" Arche sounds annoyed...

"I am not!"

"I'm sorry Chester-san, but..." Mint agrees with them?!

"All guys are slow, aren't they?" The witch pipes up.

"I guess so..." Hope agrees with a giggle.

"Eh?!" Chris looks surprised, while his best friend looks annoyed.

"We're not all slow..." Dad takes a bite of his food.

"And you're saying that you're not slow...?" challenges Milard.

"I'm not slow at all. I'm a quick learner."

"Oh geez... Klarth, you're on a completely different subject."

"How so?"

"We're talking about relations with people, not academics and research."

"Ah..."

"All guys are slow," Arche concludes. "Keep that in mind, Ami, and don't choose a stubborn one."

"Okay!"

Hope giggles. "You're all quite lively... I hope we can become friends!"

"Yes, that sounds nice," agrees Mint. Heh, Mint and Hope seem to be getting along really well...

Now that I think about it, they're kinda alike... They're both really kind and polite...

I return to my seat with a sigh. "Joke all you want... you girls are weird..." I begin eating again.

I should hurry... I can feel the moon...

But where am I planning on going in the middle of a desert? And how am I going to get any sleep...? Keh... I hate this whole werewolf thing...

We continue eating. They're talking about boring stuff now... Well, they're talking about curses and runes and magic... Dad and Chris are leading this conversation. Am I the only bored one here...?

...I think so... The only one else who seems bored at all is Sauound. Haha, Cless is trying to pay attention, but he looks so lost and confused! He shouldn't even bother trying... There's no use keeping up once Dad gets going on magic...

It's coming... I don't have much time left... I stand up. "Excuse me." Everyone grows quiet and watches as I hurry out of the room. Geez, I didn't want that much attention... Where should I go, though?

I need to get out of sight of these people. Quickly... There are the doors leading out...

There's no time! I take off running; I run past the guards and head for the mountain trail. I can't let them see me! And I can't lose control...!

It's here. I can feel the rays of the moon... I fall on my hands and knees as my body shifts in form.

I glance down at my paws. I'm a wolf now... Ugh, I feel a little sick... I can barely tell what's going on around me...

I smell...

"...ester..."

A human... I recognize that scent...

"Chester." A hand touches my head. This human is...

...Suzu...? Wait, what's Suzu doing here...?

"Does it hurt?" the ninja asks as she places a couple of blankets. She sits on one, placing more blankets in front of her, and I lay down on the other blanket. She asked a good question... I still feel a little sick... and very hungry...

"Here," She holds out a meat bun. Heh, I like Suzu! She knows just what to bring! I eat it. She waits while I eat that and a few more that she brought. I'm feeling a little better now! I guess as long as I eat some meat while a wolf, I'll be able to keep control of myself!

"Remember when we fought our darkness?" Suzu questions. What's this about...? I nod. "Do you still have your outfit from that?" I nod again. "That is the symbol of our light... That is the symbol of our victory. Don't ever lose it, no matter how your darkness evolves."

I know that... I know that, but...

"Your wolf form is a symbol of the evil in your heart. Just as this..."—she holds out an ovular tube—"...is a symbol of mine."

I sniff the container. What is it...? It feels dark... She takes it in her hands and opens it up. She pulls out a dagger. It smells like a bone...

"This dagger is known as the Fafnir. It was made from the bone of a greedy dragon, and it can bring the darkness out in those that use it. It is known as a Devil's Arms." She sheathes the weapon again. "There are eight more like it... I've been on the lookout for them ever since before we started this adventure. If we see them on our journey, I would like to hold on to them... so that I can eventually destroy them."

Devil's Arms... The evil in her heart... I'm confused. What's going on...? I give her a questioning nudge.

"...I suppose I have a right to tell you, huh...? After all, you're going through a similar thing..." Suzu pauses. "Once long ago, a demon made nine weapons using the power of darkness. He lost them throughout the world... A group of people collected them with the intent of destroying the weapons. They fought the demon, and as they killed him, most of the weapons were completely destroyed. Only three were even close to looking like what they had once been."

Then what...? I stare at her questioningly.

"...I'll tell you more if we find another."

Keh, figures... I should've known that I wouldn't get the whole thing... Still, I wonder why Suzu has the weapon...

"Are you going to stay here?"

Hm... good question... Let's see... I'm on the mountain pass, though not on the main trail. There are two cacti and high, sharp rocks that only allow for entrance to this area on one side. The main path is above me, but it's steep enough that I doubt anyone will look down. This seems like a pretty good spot! I nod.

"Good. Then we'll come get you in the morning." Suzu stands up and places the rest of the blankets on me. "I'll go make up an excuse for you." With that, she walks off.

Thanks, Suzu...

I'm not tired at all, though... What should I do while waiting for sleep...? Maybe I should train as a wolf—no, I'm afraid that I might lose control if I try that, and the castle and Olive are both so close...

I guess I'll just lay here. How boring...

It's a good thing we finally know what Arche's curse is. But why me...? Keh... And would Merilynn really make such a crazy curse...?! Sauound seems to think so, but... I don't think that kid could create such a curse. Plus Merilynn and Sauound aren't friends anymore... They're enemies. Kalinthra's their enemy, too, and it was on her diary...

I smell humans... I'm hungry... so hungry... Maybe I should hunt—

No, I'm not hunting... I'm not...

I lay my head down and close my eyes. I'm just going to try sleeping... I'm doing good so far, right...?

I see it. Friezkiel... the red snow... People afraid as I charge at them... I smell the blood, the fear... It's so cold... and I'm so hungry...

"Chester, it's time to wake up."

Uhn... It can't be morning already... "Not yet..."

"You've already missed breakfast..."

"Just save me some sausages..."

"You're missing the point."

These blankets feel so comfortable... I wish he'd just let me sleep...

"...Chester, don't make me use silver."

Silver... that stuff hurts...

Wait, silver?!

I bolt up. "Okay, you win."

Dad grins—he's kneeling beside me. "I guess werewolves don't like the morning that much, huh?"

"Hm... maybe..." I stand up and take a moment to stretch. "Man, if that's true, then this whole werewolf thing is really gonna mess up my hunting..."

"But your hearing and sense of smell have greatly improved."

"Good point... Well, my first hunting trip after all of this will certainly be interesting."

Dad holds out a plate of sausages and bacon. "Hurry up and eat. Everyone's waiting."

"Waiting...?" I take the plate and start eating.

"Yeah. Sauound and Chris left in the middle of the night, and Hope's determined to go after them."

I swallow the food in my mouth and then frown. "Wait, what happened to not getting involved?"

"Ask Cless and Mint."

Keh... I finish eating and grab my bow and quiver. I follow Dad... wait. "Where are we going...?"

"Hope wanted to meet us at the base of the mountain pass so as to not draw attention. Apparently, the king and queen don't know that Sauound and Chris are missing."

"They'd get in trouble, huh?"

"Precisely."

I can smell them all ahead... I'm getting so that I can pick out everyone's scent, I think. Heh, no one's ever gonna sneak up on me again!

Anyway, they're all standing in no particular shape, with only Arche rambling. No wonder no one else is talking... she's too loud for anyone else to talk! We have all of our equipment—Milard has the pack—so only Hope is weapon-less.

The witch finally shuts up as Dad and I join the group. Hope steps up to speak instead. "Thank you for helping me with this request."

"Any idea where they are?"

"According to the stories, the legendary sword was left on the grave of the warrior's mother."

"So they probably went to a graveyard, then?"

"Yes, but the stories are fairytales for a reason. The hero of them couldn't have existed any time since year 500; before that, we don't know much about the inhabitants of this world. The problem is that any graveyards from that time have been covered up by sand."

"Surely you have some idea of where they could be searching," Dad speaks up.

"There are three oases on the other side of the mountains. We believe that there's an ancient temple locked under the sand by one of them—and an ancient hero has every right to put his mother's grave in a temple. I believe that they'll try there first."

"If they've already been there, then hopefully it won't be too hard to find."

"All right, let's get this over with!" I call out as I let out the Rheairds—I'll pass on getting sand in my boots! Hope hops up on a Rheaird behind Mint, and the rest of us just climb on with anyone—doesn't really matter, right? Cless and I end up on the same Rheaird, with my friend being the driver.

"Let's see if we can find them above ground first!" Hope calls out.

"At least they won't be hard to pick out..." I mutter dryly. "I mean, all that's below us is sand... sand... and more sand. Did I forget to mention the sand?"

"They couldn't have gotten too far..." Cless adds as we fly through a mountain pass. There's oasis number one... I'm shocked—I actually see greenery down there! Actual grass and trees!

We veer to the left and head north. Back to sand... Ah, there's oasis number two. It looks just like oasis number one... Still no Sauound and Chris.

We head further north, over yet more sand. It's so bright... The brightness makes it really hard to look for Chris and Sauound... Are the others now having this much difficulty? They seem find, besides needing to rest their eyes every now and then... But it's blindingly bright...

"Here's the third oasis... I guess either they're not at these or they found the temple," Dad suggests.

"Let's search around the oases for a way into the temple, then," the steed suggests. Keh, more searching...

We land next to the oasis and hop off of the Rheairds. Without a word, we split up and begin searching the area for any sign of a temple. I look around in the grass. I don't see anything yet... I don't smell anything odd, either...

Definitely nothing in the grass; there's barely any of it anyway... I glance down into the water.

Nope... it's just clear water. There are fish down there, but that's about it.

We hop back on the Rheairds and head down to the next oasis, all the while searching for the prince and his friend. I still don't see 'em... Ow, this really hurts my eyes... I take a minute to rub my eyes. Keh...

We land next to the second oasis. I let someone else check the grass this time, while I wander around in the sand. Everything still seems normal...

...Except that horrible stench. What is that...?!

I hear something moving in the sand. A monster, huh? All right... I grab my bow and silently watch an arrow, watching for the enemy. Wait, there are more... That sounds like wings... I think...

Three bats charge at me—I release the arrow at one. Ouch! The other two hit me...

Four small, humanoid creatures crawl out of the sand, three wearing white and one wearing blue. Ah great... "Hey guys? A little help here?" I notch another arrow and aim it up at the sky. "Wild Rain!"

Cless charges straight past me, into the sea of monsters and arrows. "Demonic Swallow Kick!"

All right! I notch another arrow and take aim. "Piercing Line!"

"Heal!" Runes float over me, and my wounds heal up.

"Thanks!" I notch another arrow and shoot.

"Aqua Edge!" Dhaos calls out, and blades of water shoot past me and hit the monsters. Two of the bats are down. I aim at the last and shoot—it falls. All right, now time for the little guys!

"Heal!" Runes envelop the swordsman this time, who has quite a few wounds from the battle.

"Thank you!" Cless hits one of the little guys dead on, and I shoot another.

"Get ready... Spread!" Water shoots up from below them, managing to hit three of the daemons. One falls. Cless hits another and it falls. I shoot one. Keh, it's still standing...

"Pyre seal!" Milard kills one off.

Okay, now it's seriously my turn... I notch four arrows and charge dark energy into them... "Glimmer Shot!"

That got rid of it! I grin happily. "I never miss!"

The others walk over. "There were enemies?" Arche questions, surprised.

"Yeah, but we go rid of them, no thanks to you slowpokes!" I joke. The witch glares at me.

"Is everyone all right?" questions the dove, worried."

"Yes, thank you. Milard took care of us."

"We didn't find anything at this oasis, either..." Dad speaks up. "We have one more to try—I hope that if nothing else, we find Sauound and Chris..."

"Yes... I don't know where else to search if they're not there..." Hope sounds really worried... They are her friends after all, right?

"Well then let's go take a look." I let the Rheairds out of the wing pack and we climb back on them. We ascend into the air yet again and head down towards the final oasis.

I watch the sand again for Sauound and Chris. Still not seeing them... This is a particularly long stretch of sand, too... Keh, it's too bright... I close my eyes.

This is a lot better... In fact, it feels kinda nice, with the wind and all...

Why do we keep coming back to the desert, anyway? In every time period, it seems...

"There's the oasis!"

I open my eyes—it's dead ahead, and we're approaching it quickly. All right, there better be something here!

We land next to the water and I return the machines back to the wing pack. We begin our search.

I still don't smell or hear anything odd... All that's around is sand, too... I hike through the sand, wiping sweat off of my forehead. I'm tired of searching through the sand... And I'm getting hungry...

I'm not finding anything. No Sauound, no Chris, no temple. Nothing. Not even the occasional monsters... I glance at the others. They don't seem to be having much luck, either... I continue my search.

Wait, what's that? There's something in the sand... I walk over to it. A dead monster... which means that someone's already been here.

I'm closer to the ocean now... I can hear it clearly. That brings back some painful memories... Of when I got amnesia, of all of those ship rides... That bounty hunter Jerald, Undine attacking the ship, the shipwreck near Rhea's house...

The ocean... It's pretty close to the oasis... The temple isn't under that, is it...? I start walking towards the ocean. Maybe we can't find it because we're looking in the wrong—"Whoa!" I trip and fall into the sand. Keh... I push myself back up and brush myself off. What'd I trip over...? I glance down. "What the?!"

I'm standing on grey rock. It looks like sand's recently been brushed away from it, and it's surprisingly smooth and rectangular... And those lines... yep, they're cracks. This is a door... a door to the temple! "Hey, guys, I found it!"

My companions come running. "Nice find, Chester!"

"Great job, Onii-chan!"

Dad crouches down to study it. "Looks like it won't be so easy to get in..."

"I'll take care of it!" Arche cheers. Ah great...

"Nuh-uh. You'll end up destroying the whole temple!" I tell her in an attempt to stop her crazy idea.

"I will not! Just watch and see!" She begins charging up.

"Idiot...!"

"Thunder Blade!" She aims the spell at the door—it bounced off?! No way...! Lightning explodes around us.

"Ahh...!"

It clears out. Ow... That stuff really hurts...!

"Nurse!" Mint calls out. Phew...

"Thanks, Mint," I say. "At least we have you to cancel out Arche's destructiveness!"

The weasel glares at me. "Most stone doesn't do that, you know! How'd it even reflect my magic like that?!"

"If you had just listened in the first place—"

"Shut up! You didn't know that would happen, either!"

"Arche-chan, Chester-kun, that's enough," Milard says, hitting both of us on the back of the head as she says it.

"Ow!"

"At least we learned that we can't break it open with magic..." my father points out.

"Should we use force, then?" questions the steed.

"I'll give it a try, Cless-san!" Ami says eagerly. Keh...

"Ami, he said force. You're not that strong."

"Onii-chan, that's mean! I am strong—I'll break it open! See?" The kid holds up her hammer. She hits the door with it—nothing happens.

"See? You're not strong enough."

"I-I am! Let me try again... Hyah!" It still doesn't break. "Aww... F-fine, um..." She holds her hammer out in front of her. Why is she still trying...?!

Ami holds it down and jumps up into the air. She pulls her hammer up over her head and swings it down as she descends back towards the sand. "Soaring Blast!" The blast from the hammer sends out a shockwave and shatters the door. Wow...!

My sister beams proudly. "How was that?"

"T-that was great!" Cless compliments her.

"I guess you're getting better," I say.

"What do you mean 'you guess'?!"

"Ah ha ha..."

"Onii-chan!"

"You're still just a kid!"

"I'll get stronger and bigger!"

"Maybe in ten years!"

"Hey, Onii-chan! Stop being so mean!"

"Now now, Chester, you shouldn't pick on your sister..."

"Yeah, Dad's right!"

"But it's so much fun! And she's such an easy target!"

"Onii-chan!"

"Chester..."

"Ah ha ha ha ha!"

Suzu gained the title of Devil's Arm Seeker. It is one who holds the burden of the Devil's Arms and searches endlessly for them.

Chester gained the title of Nighttime Werewolf. Werewolves love the night, but they can't stand getting up early in the morning!

Mint gained the title of Destruction Neutralizer. She can neutralize destruction with her divine powers.

Ami gained the title of Strong Kid. She can break a stone door when magic can't!

Dhaos learned Spread.

Ami learned Soaring Blast.