Chapter 5

Notes:

I wanted to release this chapter on 15th December for Tales of Phantasia's ( and the Tales series as a whole) 26th anniversary but oh well...

Enjoy

(POV Change)

Cless still half asleep, was the first one to wake up. An indescribable pain resonating from his head.

"Chester !" he tried to yell, the result, being faint moan as his lips barely registered his words.

After several minutes, he left his resting spot and decided to have a look at his surroundings. His vision was still foggy, he could barely distinguish one shape from another. As he looked up, he saw the cloudless red sky above him. As if wanting to confirm something, he touched his neck.

"My pendant... It is well and truly gone. So this wasn't a dream after all. Then, mom, dad, Chester... You guys are..." Cless interrupted himself feeling his eyes getting misty as precious memories flashed before his eyes. As much as he wanted to cry, he knew he had to keep it in.

Putting his gloominess on hold, he walked back to where he originally awoke. The first thing he noticed was the two persons lying a few steps from him. A young girl dressed in a complete set of nurse clothes. No far from her was a young boy with the weirdest garb he had ever seen.

His senses slowly coming back to him and the sight of these two persons were enough for him to recognize them.

"Mint... and Ciel ?! They...They are here too ?! That's right, we tracked down the attackers...Then Morrison used a spell...And then...We..." groaned the swordsman attempting to recall the earlier events though he quickly stopped as he felt a painful headache each time he did so.

Not wanting to stay in this unknown place any longer, he approached his sleeping friends to wake them up starting with Mint as she was closer.

When he arrived near her, he could not help but stare at her sleeping position. She was stretched out on the grass. The relaxed features on her face indicating she was having a peaceful rest. Her bangs blowind in the winds, alternated between showing and hiding her face.

It took the best of him, to stop looking at her and resuming what he intended to do in the first place.

Slowly and carefully, he kneeled over to the cleric putting his hand on her own. He slighty moved it left to right trying to wake up his partner.

"Mint, you have to wake up." With several more tries and no sign of his words reaching, the teenager started fearing the worst as his shaking became more desperate.

Finally, he heard a grumble and soon enough, Mint sat on her legs as she rubbed her eyes. Her vision still blurry, she examinated the unfamiliar environement. As she looked around, her eyes fixated themselves onto the only shape she was familiar with.

"Cless ?" She exclaimed surprised to see him. " You are ok. What is this place ?".

Cless shrugged indicating he was as clueless as she was. "Beats me. The last thing I remember is Chester sacri...helping us and Morrison..."

"Well, there is a cliff right there, let's have a look." proposed Mint.

The two strolled up to the cliff where they were greeted by the beautiful sight of landscape.

"What a view. It's beautiful." watched Mint awestruck. She turned to her left to see Cless staring absentmindedly at the horizon. "Are you ok ?"

"It's just that, everything. Everything is my fault. If it wasn't for me, my pendants,...Nothing would have-"

Mint put a hand on his shoulder. Even without looking in her direction, he could feel her fear through this motion. "Cless ! Pull yourself together ! None of this is because of you. I know it's hard, but please try to cheer up, okay ?"

"...Ok, I will try." suspired Cless, though Mint's words did nothing in appeasing his melancholy, he found it preferable to hide his pain. Deciding to be the more mature one. "It's just that...Everything happened so fast. I still remember leaving my house with Chester, how I promised my mom to bring her the finest boar I could find, the training with my dad... I lost my parents and now...I lost my "brother" too."

The cleric closed her eyes. "Chester...Mr Morrison...They can't be... No ! They can't be...I believe they are safe. I know they are." Listening to her conflicted emotions, Cless couldn't help but wonder whether she was actually believe what she was saying or if she was just trying really hard to be optimistic one.

The two stopped talking and stayed next to each other in silence. Scrutinizing everything they could find from afar, searching for a landmark or anything of that sort.

"You know." started Cless, an idea occuring to him. " Maybe we can learn more about our situation in that book Mr. Morrison gave me."

Following his companion's validation, Cless took out the dusty red book and began reading it aloud.

" Journal of Trinicus D. Morrison

Long ago, in our world, appeared an invader and a war against him erupted shortly thereafter.

The invader known as Dhaos.

Following a decisive battle against our ancestors leaving him severely wounded, Dhaos escaped using a spell to time travel to the future, to our time.

This is where, sensing his arrival Miguel and Maria Alvein, Meryl Adenade and myself, Trinicus D. Morrison made way to the mausoleum and ambushed him just as he was about to appear.

Due to a lack of forces comparable to those from the past. Defeating him was not an option. We instead devised a way to seal him for eternity.

Fortunately, despite the sheer amount of power he exuded, the plan was a success. We divided Dhaos' power between two pendants. One was entrusted to the Alvein couple, the other one was left in the care of Meryl Adenade.

We then vowed to never meet again nor to talk about what transpired that day. We can't risk someone releasing the monster lurking in eternal slumber. The monster known as Dhaos."

"So this is true, our parents were really..." Mint blurted out still processing what she read.

"The heroes that defeated Dhaos... That's crazy ! To think we could have gone our whole life without knowing any of this." said Cless just as shocked as she was.

"I have this weird feeling inside me, like we stumbled upon something we weren't meant to see." said the healer putting an hand on her chest. "But that does not matter anymore, what matters is that we find a way to defeat Dhaos. But before that we should find a place to stay at and find directions of where to go next."

"Good idea, I'm not fond of sleeping in the woods especially when we don't know how dangerous the wildlife is around here. Go wake up Ciel and we're gone."

Cheerfulessly, Mint looked at the young boy lying in the grass, sleeping on his back. "What are we going to do with him ?" She asked to no one in particular.

Cless put an hand on her shoulders in an attempt to reason with her. "There is nothing we can do for now. We just have to take him with us." He then scratched the back of his head. "We're bound to find at least one person that recognize him...I hope."

(Back to Ciel's POV)

The void. This is where I deduced to have ended judging by all the darkness around me, that or I had died but the later did not seat right with me.

It was strange though, I did not feel like a dead person or anything more like I was stuck in a place where time seemed to have frozen. With nothing else to do, I just sat on the "ground" and stood there waiting for something to happen. I thought that maybe this was the ritual awaiting the meeting with whatever deity had authority over whether you go on peacefully or get condemn to suffer for all eternity.

Despite my earlier mood plus everything that transpired, I was strangely calm. Someone else my age would probably be on their knees crying uncontrollably, but me, so far I didn't feel like that at all and besides when compared to what others had witnessed, I was doing alright.

"If only I knew where I was." As I said that a ray of light tickled my left eye. Surprised, I looked ahead towards it. How was it possible for light to be here when I was in the middle of nowhere. Nevertheless, I looked fixedly at it for a while before more and more rays came out. After a few more, I was unable to see and had to shy my eyes away.

When I opened them, I was once again in a new place. This time, I was in the middle of a small village. A real bustling town, to say the least.

Some kids were racing each other whilst adults (presumably their parents) were looking at them with joy on their face. I faced away and saw a couple happily walking hands joined, they were discussing what they were going to eat for the night. And there was even more, people going on with their daily lifes. Everywhere I looked, at every corner there wasn't single space that wasn't occupied.

The more I looked at it, the more I had that weird of feeling of déjà vu from earlier but this time the effect was so painful that it actually forced me on my knees.

"Unnh...Why...Why do this keep happening ?" I clenched my teeth overwhelmed by the torment I was receiving. Was someone purposely doing this ? Do they get their sick kick out of making me suffer literal hell like this ?

"Come on sis, you snail. Hurry up ! If you don't, I'll seriously start considering leaving you behind." A voice managed to reach my ear bringing me back to whatever reality I was in. I saw a young pink haired boy, a tad younger than me maybe around five years old. He wore a purple tunic with black pants and green and blue boots. Behind his back was hanging a rather long blue cape barely inches away from touching the ground, it was tied around his neck by a small gem on his shirt, he also wore black gloves with golden motives on it. He was laughing and running without all the care in the world.

For a reason that was still unknown to me at that time, I froze as soon as he came close. Just like when you break your mom's favorite vase or stumble upon something so shocking it leaves a mark on you, that kind of froze.

"Gee, you're always so full of energy, would it kill you to tone it down a bit ?" His sister was a girl looking around eleven. She had long hair with the same pink as his, she was dressed in a long green robe.

At this point I was mystified, the worst is that I did not even know why.

The boy rolled his eyes as his sister complained. " Yeah, yeah...Anyways, is she coming over ?" He asked full of excitement unaware of the grin growing on the older girl's face.

"Yes, it's the fifth time you've asked me this question since this morning. Is my cute little brother infatuated with my best friend ?" She put a hand to her mouth as she tried as best as she could to not laugh at the now flustered kid.

"?! Wh-Where do that come from ?..." "Shut up ! I hate you." He weakly muttered, his face now the same color as his hair.

"Come on, don't be like that. You're breaking my heart." She said wiping away imaginary tears from her eyes.

"Oh right ! Today is mommy and daddy's day off, isn't it ?" The brother asked tilting his head seemingly already over the earlier argument.

"Yes it is, do you have something in mind ?" The older girl asked curiously.

The boy shrugged. " No, I was just thinking we could all stay inside, enjoy each others." His sister simply pouted in response to his obvious lie.

"You say that but then you stay in your room and end up sleeping for more than half of the day." She scolded then paused and sigh whilst shaking her head. " Kids your age are supposed to go outside and play. Didn't you promise me you would try befriending the other children ?"

The pink haired child immediately retorked. " I was working on it really hard. But none of them approached me... What good in trying if my efforts are never met with any rewards ?" He let out, looking down in sadness. "Is it because I'm a quarter-elf ?"

Wait, these guys are elves ? They actually exist in this world ? And what's this about avoiding them ? Are they not liked around this here ?

The young girl walked over her brother and embraced him all the while letting out comforting words. "Don't you ever worry about any of this. It's just that it's been less than a month since we've moved here. The other children are just not used to you yet. Keep trying and i'm certain you will find yourself with new playmates. Just promise me to not give up and to let me know if anything bothers you." She patted his head, then playfully pinched his cheeks.

"Okay. I will." He chirped already feeling better. Watching these two at it made me feel envious. I wished I had a nice sibling too.

The pre-teen girl stopped playing with him, closing her eyes as if deep into her thoughts. "Besides, humans don't discriminate us...Only the pure-blooded elf do." I detected a hint of sadness in her voice, her brother did too though he decided to stay silent.

As soon as her brother took her back into a hug, my vision brightened until I could not see anymore and had to once more avert my eyes.

I slowly opened my eyelid to see a hand about to come into contact with my left arm. I brusquely jolted up making the person back away. I looked to my left to see Mint looking at me with a surprised expression.

"Ciel, Is something wrong ?" She asked in geniune concern. She was always so kind. She seemed like a person you could easily trust, someone with whom you could easily find yourself sharing even your darkest secret. And yet, and yet I did not, and I had no intention of revealing what I just saw to anyone. I know I was very distant to the others on things like my feelings or my past or anything at all. But, I don't know...I was never good with strangers and if I was being honest, I barely knew them at all.

"No, it's nothing. Don't worry" I said a bit too fast. The blond girl raised an eyebrow at the delivery but didn't continue. "Prepare yourself, we're leaving. The sooner we make our move, the better." She gave me no time to answer as she stood up and made her way to the cliff where our unofficial leader was standing, facing away from us.

"The sooner we...move ?" At her words, I finally took notice of our surroundings, we weren't in a dark and sinister looking cavern, instead, we were in a bone-chilling forest. This meant that Morrison's incantation was successful...but at what cost ?

If there is any chance of us meeting again, I would really like to show him my gratitude. I hope he was able to teleport himself away from the near death experience.

I stood and adjusted my clothes, clearing them from the dust they accumulated. When all that was done, I heeded in direction of the two teenagers who had just turned around. They looked...desperate. I was about to ask them what made them so sad when I looked at the object between the swordfighter's hands.

"Is this...Chester's bow...Does that mean he..." He did not answer, instead casting a downward look before walking past me, Mint and me soon followed.

Why ? Not Chester too ! We've barely known each other but I still liked to believe that we were close enough that I could call refer to him as my big brother. And for him to just die miserably like that. Why ? Why do everytime I get attached to someone they end up leaving me. Am I just cursed ?

#Different scent#

Cless : *looking down* I don't recognize this place at all, where are we ?

Ciel : I hate it here ! These plains look very depressing, they lack the livelessness that the ones before had.

Mint : The wind too. Its scent feels very different.

Ciel : *surprised* You can tell ? Explain.

Cless : "Its scent ?" What do you mean by that ?

Mint :*looking down* I don't think I can find the words to put it simply.

Cless : Well, don't worry about it. We must focus on finding someone who can help us.

#Unlucky Predicaments#

Ciel : Guys, my feet hurt badly, can't we rest here ? Just five minutes.

Cless : Sorry but we can't afford to stop now.

Ciel : Come on, we've been wandering aimlessly for two hours. At this rate, we'll die before reaching this place for help we're seeking.

Mint : *looking down* This is really a bad predicament. Not only is the fatigue gaining on us, we are out of provisions and we don't even know if we are going in the right direction.

Ciel : And we also lack any camping gears. Might as well lie on the floor waiting to get devoured by wild animals.

Cless : *sweatdropping* Now, that's a bit extreme don't you think ?

We walked, and walked and walked... But the scenery around us never changed still that same orange plain only changing colors when the sun went away, giving the moon all the splotlight.

Out of breath, I stopped walking before throwing myself on the sandy earth. I did not care if Cless still had energy or whatever, I was beyond exhausted and wasn't about to move until I recovered every last once of my stamina.

I felt a hand on my back followed by Mint's gentle voice encouraging me to not give up. "I know you're exhausted believe me we are too but-"

"I don't care ! I'm so tired, I'd sooner die than walk another meter." I answered my voice muffled by the ground. I looked up to see Cless shaking his head in disapprovement.

"This is exactly why I refused. Once you stop walking, it is really hard to persuade your body to continue."

I frowned at his reasoning. "Come on, you know just like me that we've been here for way too long. Do you think this "town" of yours will magically manifest itself right in front of us because it sensed how tired we are ? No ! Now, if you excuse me."

Satisfied with my response, I once again lied on the sand as I heard the two older person around talking. I then heard footsteps, significating someone walking away.

Judging by the sound I heard, it had to be our leader, I wondered where he was going. Was he mad at me ? Was it why he walked away, to calm himself ? No, I said what I had to say. I've walked more these past hours than I did in my entire life, I'm not used to it.

Cless was trained since his early childhood which had to mean that walking was not an issue for him and Mint told me she used to travel with her mother from a village to another with some travels being able to take 3 weeks to a month (or more) of walking.

Putting my complains aside, I decided to instead enjoy what I felt was a very limited amount of free time.

"Guys."

Damn it !

Cless came back all excited from his patrol. "I spotted a trail of smoke in the sky. Judging by the distance of where I saw it, I'd say we're really close to it."

Mint lit up at his words. "Then if we followed this trail you speak of, we might find someone who could lodge us for the night. "

"Was probably the heat making a fool out you. We're in the middle of nowhere. You probably saw clouds and got excited for nothing." I said offering my two cents. There was a high chance he was right but I was way too tired to move and I didn't feel like moving at all, not even a finger.

Cless shook his head and turned his head towards where he came from. " I doubt it. It was clearly produced from a specific place and rose up in quick succession. Natural clouds do not act like that."

Damn you and your rational way of thinking.

I jolted up, brushed my clothes and look between Mint and him shooting them my biggest, fakest smile. "That's great ! What are we waiting for then ? Let's mosey."

The both of them looked at me as if I had grown another head. Was there something on my face ?

"Let's...mosey ?" Mint quietly murmured, tried her hardest to decipher the meaning behind it.

It's not that deep

"It means... Let's go ! Have you guys never heard it before ?"

"It's my first time hearing it." answered Cless while Mint nodded.

I sweatdropped as I looked at the two teens.

Oh boy, this really is another world.

#The return of the Pun King#

Cless : Ciel...Ciel. See- El. *annoyed* Nope. Still can't find anything good.

Ciel : *approaching* What's up with you repeating my name over and over ? It's kinda freaky.

Mint : *approaching* Oh there you are Cless, I was searching for you but I could not find you.

Cless : Hmm... Oh sorry, my mind was on something important.

Ciel : *narrowing eyes* And this something involved me, how ?

Cless : *to Mint* Sorry Mint.*grinning* I didn't Mint to ignore you.

Ciel/Mint : ... Was that a pun ?

Cless : Yeah, I was scared of the delivery but I think it came out even better than I anticipated. What did you guys think ?

Ciel : It was something, that's for sure.

Mint : *looking down* Well, it was...How can I put it gently...

Ciel : I didn't know you were into puns.

Cless : *serious* The way of the pun is an art that has been transfered from generation to generation in the Alvein family. I still have a long way to go before I can become a "Pun Master" like my father and grandfather before me.

Ciel : ...

Mint : *sweatdropping* I don't know if I should admire this determination or not.

Cless : *smiling* Phew. Anyway that's one down. Don't worry Ciel, I'll be sure to find you a good one.

Ciel : *sweatdropping angrily* Like hell you will ! Leave me out of this !

The sun had just gone to rest the moment we crossed the entrance to the village discovered by Cless. Curiously, there was no one to greet us. We had to walk past few houses before we saw some villagers, gathered in front of avshop.

"Look everyone, outsiders" exclaimed a villager pointing at us as the others stopped what they were doing and fixed their gaze on us.

Some were looking with such curiosity, comparable to when you go to the zoo and see a lion for the first time. Others looked angry for whatever reason, parents were calmly ruffling their kids hair as they were hiding behind them.

"At ease guys, they're just kids."

"I wonder where they come from."

"I wonder where are their parents. They look like they're related."

"Should we call the elder ?"

Our fearless ( or clueless) leader, quietly walked towards them before stopping midway.

"This place feels...just like home." He murmured as he took glances at his surroundings.

"How rare to have outsiders in this time." We heard a voice coming to our left and all turned towards it. We saw an old man crossing the bridge and approaching us. The villagers moved aside to let him pass. He stopped in front of Cless and scrutinized us as if he was trying to decipher something.

Mint and me shared a look as Cless explained our situation and asked for informations.

The elder assumed a thinking pose as he studied what he just heard. " Toltus...Never heard of it. You lots heard of a Toltus ?" He asked the persons standing behind him. All he received was a collective amount of negative responses.

"I don't know but your eyes tell no lies. Have you perhaps been sent here by Magic ?" He asked as Cless and Mint looked at each other, seemingly lost on the subject.

I rolled my eyes at this display. God...Martel ! Martel, help me with these two. Seeing as they were still unable to even answer simply, I had to take the initiave to ask the next question. "Excuse us but we're not really familiar with this magic thingy, can you show us please ?"

The old man turned to me. " I don't see why not ? My house is not that far from here. Let's continue our chat there." When he finished, he turned away and led us to his house. I looked back to see the villagers, who had decided to follow us.

"Have they ever heard of privacy before ?"

This old man was really hospitable. As soon as we entered, he offered us food and drinks, despite us declining, he ended up insisting so much that we could only accept. Now, we were sitting around the table, I sat in between Cless and Mint with Lenios on the other side.

I took glances at the house. Villagers...everywhere. Every spot of this place was occupied by someone. The worst, they were staring at us as if we were aliens ( well, in my case, this might not be untrue).

I gave them the meanest glare I was capable of. Most of them just ignored me, those with short tempers glared back while some kids stuck out their tongues.

I clenched my teeth at them ready to get up and give them a piece of my mind." Why you..."

The elder, having been secretly keeping an eye on the exchange since the begining, decided that now was a good time to calm the tension.

"I don't think I've introduced myself before. My name is Lenios and as you can tell I am the elder of this village."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." replied Cless nodding. He then put a hand under his chin and drifted in his own world as if Lenios's words made him remember something. "(Lenios...Where have I heard that name before.)".

"I am rather surprised that you don't know about Magic ?" said Lenios frowning.

Mint who had been pretty silent voiced her thoughts. "So do we with healing, sir. It's hard to believe that you aren't familiar with clerical artes, they are really useful for quickly recovering."

"A quick way to treat wounds ? Is such a thing even possible ?" Lenios wondered to himself, the villagers doing the same.

Mint arose from her chair and walked up to where the old man was asking for his hand. Despite the curious look he had, the old man complied. The cleric gently took his hands and closed her eyes, she took a deep breath before uttering two words I had come to be familiar with those past few days.

"First Aid !"

A mix of shock, awe and confusion spread across the room. Lenios, the test subject, quickly rose from his sitting in amazement. Holding both of his hands in front of him, he rapidly looked back and forth between both of them. " Am- Amazing ! I have no clue what you did but somehow I feel all the fatigue I had in me slowly going away. I feel at least ten years younger."

He continued praising Mint and her "specials" powers for a while as the villagers started whispering to each others. Some of them eyeing our friend with intensity. Said girl just flashed a big smile at Lenios as Cless and I exchanged a look.

We sweatdropped seeing the elder being literally brought to tears. "Is being showered in healing magic that good ?" I leaned to the side and whispered to the teenager as discretly as I could manage.

"I don't think so. I mean...It feels really refreshing but not so much that I would be driven to tears." He answered back. " Maybe as you get older, you become emotional at everything."

We stopped for a while until I felt the need to complain again. "I don't want to become old."

Cless once again answered back, not taking his eyes of the weeping old man. " Yeah no kidding. I'd hate to turn into a crybaby."

Mint who had been silent since her display, looked back at us. " You two have been murmuring for a while now, what's the problem ?"

"Nothing !" replied Cless.

Mint cutely tilted her head to the side but said nothing.

I did not miss the faint shade of pink forming around the swordswielder's cheeks. I made a mental note to tease him about it later.

Lenios speaking managed to get our minds back to the main subject : magic.

"Very well !" He started clearing his throat. " I guess it's time I show you what you came for. Allow me to demonstrate." The old man put his hands in a "ball holding" position and positioned them in front of him. Less than five seconds had passed and the empty space inside the area covered by his hands began to glow brighter and brighter until a fireball materialized itself.

"Flames, come forth" Lenios chanted with intensity. The fireball travelled through the room at high speed, it rapidly escaped the window and flew outside his residence until we couldn't see it anymore.

We then heard the sound of an impact happening outside the house indicating that the fireball had come into contact with something though whether Lenios had predicted this outcome and placed a practice dummy outside or not, I could not tell.

Lenios breathed heavily, the spellcasting apparently took a lot from him. " I'm not as resilient as I was during my youth. Back then, I could cast a dozen of those without being tired." He looked sideways at us. " Well, what did you think ?"

"WOW" was Cless's answer.

"This is it !" Mint clasped her hands together. " Magic is the key to defeat Dhaos."

Lenios regretfully shook his head. "I doubt that magic alone will put an end to Dhaos."

"Wait, you guys know Dhaos ?" asked Cless, surprised at the way the elder seemed so familiar with the fabulously dressed blond man.

"There isn't a single soul alive who doesn't know of him. He has declared war and his powerful armies conquer more of the world with every passing day." Lenios explained as our faces turned from surprised to horrified then back to surprised.

I felt myself shaking in fear. "What ? But that's impossible !" I managed to blurt out.

Lenios raised an eyebrow at my weird demeanor. " Why would it be, child ?"

Mint stepped in, continuing where I left off. " Dhaos was just released from his seal. There's no way, he would have gained that much power in so little time."

Now, it was Lenios's turn to be lost in this conversation. "Are you well ? Dhaos has been tormenting us for well over a decade." The way he was talking was evident that he was telling the truth as strange as it sounded.

There had to be a logical explanation to this, we escaped Dhaos's wrath after Mars freed him. Somehow landed far away from Totus and now we learned that Dhaos somehow had been in power for over a decade. Has he been using his mind control long before what happened back there ? No impossible ! If it was true, no way they would recognize it as a sign of his revival. After all, even Morrison thought Dhaos was harmless before he went met us...Then what is it ?

"Dhaos... Appeared a decade ago..." mumbled Cless, trying his hardest to find a logic in all this mess.

The three of us ( not counting the annoying villagers talking in the back) waited expectantly for him to come back to us. When he opened his eyes, I saw how pale he went, whatever answer he came up with, it was obviously making him rather uneasy. Nontheless, he shared it with us.

"Is this...Is this our future ?"

Mint thought longly about what he said before shutting down his theory. " I believe the opposite is true, we have travelled to the past.

Cless and I looked at her astoundingly. " I knew, I knew the chief's name was familiar and now I remember why. He's the same man who built Toltus and whom the church was named after.

"Church of Lenios ?" I took a guess, the nod Cless gave me confirmed I was right.

"But the question is how far have we gone back ?" Mint wondered as she looked around the house for anything to help her.

I replied with a shrug and glanced at the old man still trying to make sense to what sounded to him as innaprehensible rambling. "What year is it ?"

Lenios looked at us, his expression still the same. " I don't understand what you are talking about but it's the year 4202 of the Aselian calender."

We silently looked at him slowly grasping the matter at hand. It finally hit us, we looked at each other in disbelief.

"That's ! A hundred years ago !" we exclaimed in unison.

"First, I get transported to a new world and now to the past of that same world. *sniff* I am never going home, am I ?

The shock was so great to her that Mint had to sit down. " That far ? That's unbelievable ! I think I'm going to faint."

"At least now we know why he didn't know about clerical artes and the thing he said about Dhaos dominating the world makes a lot more sense." Cless said nodding to himself.

Before we could talk any further, the front door was slammed open and collided loudly against the wall. Following that, was a man furiously stomping his way over to the village's chief. "ELDER !" The little groups that had formed broke away allowing him a path to us.

It was only when he came to view that I had a grip on the reason of his visit. From top to bottom, he was covered in soot. There wasn't one part of him in a different color. It was at this moment that it clicked. Lenios's little "experiment", the noise we heard outside, now that I thought about it, I think I heard a scream shortly after.

The man's voice brought me back to the present. " Elder, look what you did ! I demand an explanation !" Everyone in the room sweatdropped at the man's justified rage towards Lenios.

"This is going to be a long day, I can feel it."

It was now late at night, but the inhabitants of the elder's house still showed no sign of fatigue.

The curious villagers had left long ago, now snuggled up comfortably in their beds. While Cless and Mint were sitting at the table recounting the tales of our adventures from the begginning to now to Lenios who was now pacing the room as he listened attentively.

"Amazing. You really are from the future." I look at him with a worned out face. I wasn't used to stay up this late and usually when I do, I become easily irritable.

"What, so you were still doubting us after all." I grumbled, grinding my teeths.

If my complain was heard, the other sure as hell didn't act like they did. They opted to "ignore" me entirely.

"I know ! To be honest, I can't entirely accept it myself. But there's more important things to talk about. Can you tell us everything you know about Dhaos and magic ?" The old man looked at the caped swordsman and nodded.

"Not much is known about Dhaos. It said that he can only be harmed by magic." He said talking...slowly, way too slowly for my liking.

At this rate, we'll never catch some z's. I have to shorten this.

"That's great ! Teach us magic then." I exclaimed trying my best to hide my annoyance. Even if I was irritated, I still had to respect the old man who gently sheltered us without asking for anything.

Lenios stayed silent for a moment, turned around and looked up. "The problem is that you can't learn magic."

"What ?" our merry group was shocked hearing Lenios' declaration.

"You can't learn magic. Only a pure elf or an half-breed may use it." He elaborated as best as he could without going into to much detail.

"Then how come you are able to cast spells ?" I queried the elder. "You don't look any different from us so what do you have that we don't."

"My powers come from the fact that I have elven ancestors. You three, as far as I can tell, are pure blooded humans."

Cless and Mint looked defeated. "So basically it is impossible for us to defeat Dhaos ?!" They sighed.

Lenios' tried to raise our spirits. He told us about a man living to north in the past Euclid. He told us he was a scholar who devoted his life to the study of Magic. Althought, he is a human according to the elder, he might have already find a way for our species to channel mana into spells.

"We're very grateful for everything you've done to us." thanked our leader.

"You really are serious about fighting Dhaos."

"? Is this old man serious ! After all this...I'm done ! I'm done !"

Our healer did a quick bob of her head. " We have too ! For Chester and Mr. Morrison's sake !"

Cless closed his eyes and swayed his head from side to side. "And we owe him some payback for ruining our lives. We have to confront him even if it costs our lives." I didn't know why but I had shivers hearing him. An image of a bloodthirsty, revenge seeking Cless crossed my mind for a brief moment.

"This has taken a much more serious tone than I can handle. The worst is that not only can I not relate to his loss. I can't very well just leave. I could stay here in this village until their quest is over. But we're talking about what I assume to be months maybe even years of waiting. I don't want to separate from them even after hearing how serious they are about all of this. I don't know anymore."

"Very well. Well then, I think it's time we end our discussion. I'd be honored if you'd stay the night here."

"W-We don't want to impose ourself." Mint, the worrywart started apologizing but Lenios insisted.

"No I insist, it would be my pleasures."

As she acquiesced, we made our way to the bedroom. The room was no different than any other I've seen from this world. A small study table, a regular table holding two candles producing a dim light across the room. Our attention was directed to the two beds in the corner. There was one where Lenios' wife was already deep in slumber, the other one was empty.

Lenios turned his head to us. "Well, have a good night." And without any further interruption, he settled near his wife and began his sheep counting activity.

Mint looked at the remaining bed, a stream of idea traversed her mind before her face became red like a tomato.

Cless, oblivious as ever was too busy looking at the previously awakened couple. "Talk about a fast sleeper. I bet he could give even Dad a run for his money." Then when he looked around, he noticed the uneasiness written on his "friend's" face.

"Mint ! What's wrong ?"

"W-Well there's is...only one bed left..and...we..."

The oblivious Cless had to process this information before understanding what she was alluding to. Obviously, it didn't take long before he too became a blushing mess.

"Oh shoot ! I didn't...I wasn't trying to...I'll sleep on the floor" Fumbling for the right words, he hurriedly kept his distance from Mint and layed his body on the cold floor.

"Jeez, these guys are even more pathetic than I am."

When everyone calmed down, I called to the both of them which made them blush again when they realized I had witnessed the whole thing.

"Well I know when I am a third wheel. Since the bed is gone I guess I'll just sleep in the living room." I faked anger, putting my hands on my hips. I turned around "Good night then, please continue whatever activities you two were about to engage in." I playfully teased. I didn't have to look at them to imagine their expressions. I laughed, walking away when I heard them trying to defend themselves.

"That's right ! Today mark our first day in the past. It also been a while since I've arrived in this world. With everything that I've experienced, it's pretty hard to believe it's been less than 2 weeks. I wonder what the future holds for me, for us. I'm both scared and excited just thinking about it."

Leaving my worries aside, I entered the living room, I first sat on the couch taking one last glance at this house. "Tomorrow, we'll be on the move again." Finally, I positionned myself to sleep. Since I was small, it was pretty easy to find a comfortable position. I did a recap of the day before my drowsiness got the better of me.