Mission Decided

Once the two arrived in Sheran, they headed for the castle. A search of every room showed no signs of the king, or his associates. But in the throne room, there was a locked door. When Lyle used the key and went inside, he found a switch. After he pulled it, a distant noise was heard.

"That sounded like a hidden room opening," Rasha mused, "It must be where the king and his retainers are. Let's go find it Lyle." She grabbed his hand and began to run off.

Lyle smiled at her. He had never seen Rasha this excited about something other than flowers and cooking. What had he said to her to get her this happy?

Soon, they found a staircase that hadn't been there before. Lyle deduced it had been hidden under a trap door, and the switch had moved it out of the way. With that, both of the youths went down the stairs, and found themselves in what appeared to be a prison.

Locked in one of the cells, cowering in fear, was the king. A pair of female servants were there to aid him. But they could do nothing for their lord's nerves, so they just sat there.

"Your Majesty. I am Lyle, a knight from Alekia, and this is my best friend and ally, the sorceress Rasha. I've come to rescue you from whatever attacked here," Lyle stated.

The king yelled, "What are Knights of Alekia doing in Sheran? Are you responsible for this attack? I thought we were at peace, and now you backstab us."

One woman walked forward to calm the king down. "Your Majesty, these people are now responsible. You saw the monsters too, they're the true enemy. These kind people must have come to help us. The times are desperate, we must be willing to accept changes."

"Hard to believe someone would talk to a king like that," stated Lyle, "Must be someone of great importance. Excuse me, is there a Lilah here?"

"My name is Lilah. Did Danil send you to find me?" asked the woman who had chided the king. Rasha replied, "Yes, he did. Come, let's get the king to Alekia, where it will be safe. After that, we can take you back to Chatam." She took the key, and opened the cell.

They headed out of the castle. But as they entered the town, a pack of monsters appeared. With them, was a tall man with red hair and eyes. He had on full body steel armor, and carried an extremely large sword in his hand. There was something not quite right about him, and Lyle could easily see it. He turned to Rasha. "Quickly, escape to Alekia with the others. I'll hold this demon at bay."

Although Rasha seemed to be a little skeptical at first, she took one look into Lyle's eyes, and nodded her approval. Then, she and the others started to run. Lyle turned to face the man.

"So, you're the one who destroyed this city," he stated, "How could you do such a thing?"

"Puny knight, I AM EVIL!" exclaimed the man.

Lyle told him, "But now you are messing with me, Lyle Rehbart Reon."

The man laughed at him. "So, Maxim's descendant lives. I thought his brat would die when the island landed on Parcelyte. But I guess that fool managed to stop it somehow."

"How do you know that?" demanded Lyle, "What was Maxim to you?"

"We were enemies, young knight. My name is Raider, the Sinistrael of Destruction. I've waited years for revenge, and now I'll take all of my anger out on you!" he yelled.

Lyle knew now what he had gotten himself into. But he stood his ground anyway, and struck out at his enemy. Raider let him attack blindly for a little bit, before knocking the boy down with his incredible amount of power. Then, he moved in for the kill.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, "Stop this at once!" Then, Rasha ran right across the town, heading for Lyle. She stepped in front of him, blocking with her arms outstretched.

Raider looked taken aback. "You, woman. What are you doing? Willing to give your life for his, eh? You humans and your emotions make me laugh. I certainly wouldn't do that for anyone."

"Maybe that's why your only friends are monsters," Rasha stated, "Now, leave Lyle alone, or I'll hit you with one of my spells that'll knock you into next Tuesday."

"You've gotten lucky today. I'm in a good mood, so I'm going to spare your pathetic life. But remember, Maxim's descendant, the next time we meet, I will kill you and feed your charred remains to my monsters," Raider vowed. With that, he and the monsters disappeared.

Rasha began to heal up Lyle's wounds with her Strong spell. She asked him, "What was that all about? Who was that demon man anyway? Just looking at him gave me the chills."

Lyle let her rest in his arms. "You have a right to be frightened. He said his name was Raider, the Sinistrael of Destruction. And you know what that means."

"Yes," Rasha replied, "It won't be too long before Ramion, Rahashina, and Rugudorull come back to life as well. And that means, you're going to leave on a journey to stop them."

"Don't try and stop me Rasha. This is my destiny," Lyle said.

Rasha told him, "I won't stop you. But I'm not stopping either. You'll need help. Just like Selan gave her magic to Maxim's cause, I will devote mine to yours, Lyle."

"Then where do we go now?" he asked, "I really don't have any leads as to where to go next."

"Well, I've already taken Lilah back to Chatam, so how about we head on down to the port of Treck. We can get passage to Lorbenia, and maybe their army knows something that might be of use to us on our quest," Rasha stated.

So they began heading towards Treck. Determination shone in Lyle's eyes with every step. He would not allow the Sinistraels to destroy the world, unless they did it over his dead body.

- - - -

The whole Parcelyte thing wasn't in the original game, it was part of Lufia 2's ending (the second game was more of a prequel than sequel, as it talked about Maxim's original struggles with the Sinistraels). I just thought that it might be a nice touch to add some history that the original didn't have, as some things were definitely just tacked onto the second game, and hadn't been thought of when the first one came out. Now the adventure begins. What sort of dangers will Lyle and Rasha get into next?