Meru came dragging outside of the castle.
"I'm tired..." she muttered.
Albert smirked. "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
Meru threw a tired glare at Albert.
"Or, in this case," Haschel grinned, seeing an opportunity. "Late to bed, early to rise, makes it so you can't open your eyes."
The group laughed at the remark from Haschel, except for Meru.
She rubbed her eyes. "Oh, leave me alone."
Queen Emille came out last from the castle, carrying a sleeping Lavitz.
"We can depart now," Emille said.
Albert turned to the group. "Let us be off."
Near the border of Serdio and Tiberoa found Kongol burdened. Shana had become quickly weary, so Kongol carried her. Meru had been too tired to keep up with the others, so Kongol carried her on his back, with her arms draped around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. She slept soundly.
After crossing the border into Tiberoa, Dart stopped suddenly. He motioned for the others to halt as well.
Before any questions could be asked, Dart said, "Do you hear that?"
Silence reigned for a few moments before a distant cry rang out. It happened several more times, each time growing in volume.
"What is that?" Albert asked.
"What ever it is, it ain't happy," Haschel said.
"And it's coming nearer," Dart added.
An ugly head came over a rise in the landscape. It saw the group, and screeched again.
Meru awoke. "Wha...whaz goin' on?" She suddenly fell from Kongol's back to the ground. "Owwie..."
Dart drew his sword quickly.
Albert pulled out his spear and stood protectively in front of Emille and Lavitz.
The monster snapped at Dart, but caught only air when Dart dodged.
Dart ran up to it and performed a smooth, seven-hit combo with his sword. "Blazing Dynamo!"
Albert followed suit with six straight hits. "Gust of Wind Dance!"
The creature stubbornly stood its ground.
A scream rang out behind them.
"Shana!" Emille cried. A monster, identical to the first one, had just appeared, and snagged Shana by the wrist.
Dart whirled around. "Shana!"
The second monster pulled Shana closer to it. Shana screamed once more, struggling feebly against the stronger force.
Meru came out of nowhere and slammed her hammer into the head of the monster. "Double Smack!"
Meru immediately grabbed Shana as the monster released its hold on her.
Kongol backed them up by slicing downwards with his axe. "Pursuit!"
Meru, with hammer in hand, stood in front of Emille and Shana.
The two monsters suddenly turned and fled for no apparent reason.
"Weird..." Dart lowered his sword and looked over at Albert with a curious look on his face. Albert shared the look.
"What a curious action," Albert said.
Dart hurried over to Shana. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. "I'm fine."
Suddenly, one of the monsters returned, and reared back as if to attack. It made to do so.
Dart was the first to notice. "Albert!!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Albert whirled around to come face-to-face with the monster, but wasn't quick enough to bring his spear up in defense. The monster's head came down fast, to strike Albert.
SWISH!
The monster collapsed over onto the ground, dead, with an arrow stuck in the side of its head.
Everyone turned to look in the direction the arrow came from. A young, blonde woman stood there, her bow still up.
"Miranda!" Albert smiled. "So good to see you. And thank you..."
"You don't have to thank me," Miranda interrupted. "That's just my duty. And it's good to see all of you." She glanced at everyone. "Looks like I'm a bit late..."
Fletz, the capital city of Tiberoa.
Dart stopped to survey his surroundings. "I don't see any difference."
Albert stood beside him. "I agree with you, Dart."
It was obvious that Emille was anxious to see her father and sister. "Hurry up!"
There was a large crowd near the castle gates. Dart and co. walked up to the crowd, but could see nothing.
Dart tapped the nearest person on the shoulder. The man turned around.
"What's going on?" Dart asked.
"Princess Lisa is giving a speech before her Coming of Age ceremony tomorrow," the man replied.
"That's great," Albert said. "Looks like we made it just in time."
"I told you Albert," Emille walked up to him. "I know my sister better than anyone else."
The man who Dart was talking to gasped. "P-Princess Emille!"
"That's Queen Emille," Albert corrected.
Many people around them turned around.
"May we pass?" Emille asked.
Princess Lisa stood in the center of the clearing in the middle of the huge crowd.
In the corner of her eye, Lisa noticed the crowd shifting in one place. A familiar blonde young man garbed in red emerged from the crowd.
"Dart!" Lisa said. Several other people emerged after him. "King Albert, Shana, Meru, Kongol, Miranda!"
A person moved out from behind Albert.
Lisa's eyes brightened. "Emille!"
Emille walked up to her sister and hugged her.
"It's so good to see you again, Lisa." Emille said.
Lisa smiled. "I am extremely happy that all of you came in time for my Coming of Age. You've made me feel so special."
"It's our pleasure," King Albert said, shifting Lavitz around to his right arm.
Lisa came up to Albert. "You two should have notified me when you had a baby. What is his name?"
"Lavitz," Albert and Emille said in unison.
Lisa motioned with a hand. "Come, let's go inside the castle."
King Zior was as happy, if not happier, as Lisa was to see everyone. He was pleased with the fact that he was now a grandfather. He soon found out about Shana and Dart.
"Congradulations, both of you!" King Zior exclaimed. "Today is a great day! And tomorrow, my youngest daughter will become a woman!"
Dart threw an arm around Shana's shoulders.
"Thank you," Shana said. "But, I don't see any cause for celebration. Having babies is normal, it happens everyday."
Meru gasped quietly. There was that word again..."normal". She turned and slipped unnoticed out onto the balcony parallel to the Chamber of the Sun.
"Of course it's something to celebrate for!" King Zior's voice boomed out from inside the Chamber. "The creation of life is always joyful!"
Meru had remained out on the balcony by herself for well over an hour. Tears rolled openly down her cheeks. "I'm not normal...I've never been normal..."
"Cheer up, young one. Winglies are supposed to be strong willed, aren't they?"
Meru gasped audibly, and looked around for the source of the voice. She finally spotted the person leaning against the far pillar.
"How, how did you know that I was a Wingly?" Meru asked.
"Your wings," came the reply.
"Oh. I didn't realize that," Meru said, checking her back. "Who are you?"
The figure moved closer. Meru saw that it was a woman, with long platinum blonde hair down past her rear. She had beautiful sky-blue eyes. She was dressed in a long, flowing, white dress. Kindness seemed to radiate from her.
"I am called Erisi," she said.
"Oh. I'm Meru."
"What's wrong?" Erisi asked, leaning on the railing of the balcony. She had with her a sketchbook, and a charcoal pencil.
"Um...I...I'm not normal..." Meru said.
"What do you mean?" Erisi persisted. "Elaborate."
"I hang with Humans, but the second that they found out that I wasn't Human, that I was Wingly, they shunned me and said I wasn't normal," Meru explained.
Erisi sketched lightly in her book. "Well," she looked up, "people should of known right away that you're Wingly."
"How's that?" Meru asked.
Erisi pointed to her head. "Your hair. Only Winglies have platinum hair color. You're however, is different. Instead of having the stereotypical silver platinum, you have a bluish platinum."
"I shoulda noticed that myself," Meru said, playing with her ponytail.
"But, you shouldn't worry about not being up to par with the Humans," Erisi said, looking at her and smiling. "Because, myself, to the Humans, I wouldn't be considered 'normal' either."
Meru's eyes widened.
Erisi put her index finger to her lips. "Shh. It's a secret."
Meru smiled and nodded. "Ok."
"Oh, by the way," Erisi flipped her sketchbook around. "What do you think?"
It was an accurate picture of Meru.
"Wow!! It looks real! Cool! Can I have it?" Meru said.
Erisi smiled and carefully tore the picture from her sketchbook. "That was an overstatement of the reaction I was expecting. Look as if you're just full of surprises, Meru." She handed the sketch to her.
Meru went running back into the Chamber of the Sun.
"Look! Look at this!" She ran up to Dart and held up the picture.
Erisi came walking in behind Meru, smiling.
Dart took the picture and inspected it. "Wow. It looks real."
"That's exactly what I said!" Meru took it from Dart and showed it to everyone else in an excited dash.
Erisi chuckled.
Dart looked over at her. "Who are you?"
"I'm Erisi. And you are?" Erisi asked.
"My name is Dart." Dart said. He motioned with his hand and introduced everyone. "This is my wife, Shana. And this is Albert, King of Serdio. And of course you've already met Meru. This is Kongol, the last of the Gigantos. This is Haschel, a master of the Martial Arts. And this is the First Sacred Sister of Mille Seseau, Miranda."
"I'm pleased to meet you," Erisi nodded.
Princess Lisa walked up. "This is a good friend of mine I met within the past two years. She's spent the majority of her life in Mille Seseau. She's also an extremely good artist."
"Well, we've seen evidence of that!" Meru waved her drawing in the air.
"She did a really good painting of the Black Monster," Lisa said.
"Really?" Dart said. "Is it here?"
Erisi nodded. "Yes. Why? Did you know Rose?"
Dart looked shocked. "You know Rose?"
"Knew is more like it. Yes, she was a very close friend of mine." Erisi said. She led Dart and the others over to an easel with a covering over a framed object.
"Why is it covered?" Meru asked.
"To protect the painting from the light. The light will make it fade," Erisi said.
"You sounded so casual when you talked about Rose. Did her death mean nothing to you?" Albert asked.
Erisi placed a hand on the easel and bit her lip. "Yes, it did. But, you must realize as her former friends also, that Rose lived for over eleven millennia. She earned her well deserved rest by protecting the earth from the Holy Blessing for so many years."
She pulled the cover off of the painting.
"Wow..." Dart said. There was a murmur of awe around the crowd.
"That looks just like her, right down to the very last detail," Albert said. "Erisi, you have quite an extraordianry gift."
The painting showed Rose, in her dragoon state, with her back turned to the viewer. She was slightly angled so that she looked over her right shoulder, with her long dark brown hair tossed partly over her left wing. The detail was so fine that it included the intricate design on the handle of the rapier in Rose's right hand and that frown on her face. Even the background atmosphere of the picture depicted her personality: dark and foreboding.
Albert squatted down and read the writing int he bottom right hand corner. "The Black Monster" was the name of the painting and included the artist's signature. A small copper plaque was on the bottom of the frame. It read: "The ones who flaunt their power disappear when the truly powerful appear." -Rose, the Darkness Dragoon "The Black Monster".
"Hmm, 'The ones who flaunt their power disappear when the truly powerful appear'." Albert said. "That sounds vaguely familiar."
"She said it to the elder Bardel in the Wingly village," Dart reminded him.
"It was her favorite saying," Erisi said. "She was disgusted at Winglies that held onto the glory of the past."
Emille walked up, holding Lavitz. "Um, if I may intervene, dinner is ready." She looked at the guys and at Meru. "And no one hurt themselves dashing for the dining room!"
A laugh rang out from the group. Shana turned and looked over at Haschel and Meru. "You know she's serious, don't you?"
Haschel just stared at Shana. "Who, me?"
"Whaddya mean? We haven't done anything!" Meru said in Haschel's defense as well as hers.
Dart turned around. "Don't tempt her. She eats for at least two right now. She can probably out eat both of you in one sitting."
Haschel and Meru looked at each other. "What makes you say that?" Haschel said, grinning.
Dart and Shana left the Chamber, ignoring the pair.
Meru turned to Haschel. "Is it just me, or has Dart suddenly gotten pushy when it comes to Shana?"
"He's always been that way," Haschel answered, exiting the Chamber.