While Ramza and Algus were busy laughing, Ramza had managed to forget about the last figure, who still had its hood on. The figure, who had remained silent for a great deal of time, finally decided to speak.

"Algus, now that you and Teta have explained everything, I believe it is time that I introduce myself to Ramza and the others."

The last red cloaked figure had removed its hood, revealing an old man with dark gray hair and very light green eyes. Ramza did not recognize the man at all. He walked over to Ramza and bowed politely.

"Ramza, I am Pirsca. I am honored to meet you, as well as your friends."

Ramza bowed in return and replied, "Are you the one who has been taking care of Teta and Algus?"

"Not exactly. The three of us have traveled together, and though I have taught them much in the ways of magic, they have taught me many things as well. In reality, we all looked out for one another, rather then one person presuming leadership. It is a shame that we could not have found you earlier. However, we still may be of use against the Zodiac Demons should you require our help."

"You know about the Zodiac Demons? How!?"

Pirsca stopped smiling. "I'm not much of a story teller I'm afraid, but I will do my best. On a dark night a few years ago, a very horrible man arrived at my dwelling. The man tried to kill me, but I managed to subdue him with magic. After reading his mind, I learned of the Zodiac Demons, and much more. I also discovered that my attempted murder had been due to a stone I found long ago within my cavern."

Yidow held up a bright stone, which was none other then yet another Zodiac stone! Everyone in Ramza's party could not believe the sight. There were fourteen stones!? Despite their shock, the party kept quiet as Ramza inspected the stone silently. Ramza pulled out Scorpio from his bag and held it up to the stone Pirsca presented.

Instantly, the two stones reacted and started to glow. Scorpio turned a bright red, while the new stone glowed in a very strange grayish color. Ramza did not appear surprised, but nearly everyone else did (all of the humans, that is).

"Another Zodiac stone.. It makes no sense... How many of these could there be?"

Pirsca put his stone back. "I believe that we hold all of them. The man who attacked me was controlled by one of the Zodiac Demons. Therefore, he knew an incredible amount of information. As soon as I read his mind, he somehow broke free of my spell and vanished. The man was named Rofel."

"Rofel?!"

Ramza clenched his fist in anger. Rofel had been the man who killed Rad while his back was turned. Rad had been a good and loyal friend, and Rofel had incinerated him with a powerful magical spell. A phoenix down was worthless against such brutal magic. To make mattes worse, Rofel had found the death of Rad highly amusing. All of the other members of Ramza's party looked angry as well. Rad had been the only member of Ramza's party ever to have been permanently killed in battle, and the death had affected everyone. Still, it had affected Ramza most, who blamed himself for not stopping Rofel earlier.

Pirsca seemed to notice the anger and pain in Ramza's eyes. "I see that you have met him too. He was a horrible man.. I detest violence and fighting, but I should have killed him when I had the chance. He was a brutal murderer who had killed many, but I still did not wish to kill the man if I could have avoided it. A mistake I regret now.."

Ramza sighed deeply. "You can't blame yourself for showing mercy. The only one to blame for the murders committed is Rofel himself.. You do not need to worry though, Rofel was killed by a friend of mine."

"I see.. I do not like asking, but I'm afraid the question must be asked. I have heard that you vanquished Altima and the Zodiac Demons, but is it true that you have done so?"

Again, Ramza was surprised at the knowledge of this man."Yes, but how did you know that we fought Altima?"

Pirsca looked very relieved. "That is a great relief.. To answer your question, Algus, Teta, and I have been searching for you for a long time. However, it appeared impossible to get reliable information as to your whereabouts. Not too long ago, we arrived at Orbonne Monastery where it was rumored your party had last been seen."

Pirsca paused for a second to let out a loud cough, but then continued. "The building appeared to have no survivors inside, aside from an injured knight. While Algus healed the knight, I tried to ask him what had happened. The knight seemed completely out of his mind. First he started shouting about Altima being defeated and with its death he was now free. However, the man suddenly became full of terror. He started to beg us to kill him, screaming out that hell would come to earth with the death of Altima. From what I had learned from Rofel, Altima was the essence of Lucavi itself, and a being of pure evil. Therefore what the man was shouting made no sense, so I assumed he had lost his mind. He tried to kill himself after Algus healed him, and I had to subdue him with a spell. When I tried to read his mind it proved impossible. We ended up bringing him to Garriland, and left him in the care of a wizard, who promised to see to his well being."

Ramza and everyone else were quite amazed by the tale. Ramza himself was at a loss of words and said nothing. The silence was eventually broken by Alma. "Teta, have you been with Pirsca all this time?"

Teta nodded. "After Algus saved me, the two of us tried to find our way back, but the cold was too intense. Both of us eventually fainted. When I woke up, we were inside the home of Pirsca."

"Pirsca is a great man, and a wizard of incredible power. I had never even heard of many types of spells he is capable of before meeting him" added Algus.

Pirsca waved aside the compliment. "Oh Algus, you do me too much credit. Both yourself and Teta were able to learn the magic which I discovered without too much difficulty."

"Yes, but we could only learn so much! Compared to yo-"

Teta was cut off by yet another loud beeping of worker 8. "Apologies for interrupting, but another human appears to be approaching. It seems to have the undead ability of teleportation."

Ramza smiled. "Another friend of yours?"

Pirsca did not appear as laid back and had a very serious expression. "No, Algus and Teta are my only companions. Whatever is approaching is probably not going to be as friendly as us. Only skilled time mages are aware of teleportation abilities, so we are probably dealing with an undead creature."

"We better prepare for the worst then. Everyone, get ready in case the undead creature decides to attack us. It might be a vampire."

"There!" Agrias, who had remained quiet throughout the entire scene but was paying strong attention nonetheless, had pointed to a relatively tall figure, which had teleported nearby without making a sound. Everyone turned to the figure, which appeared to be a middle aged man with a very solemn expression.

The man seemed to notice how highly unnumbered it was. Instead of drawing its weapon, it called out in a voice only Orlandu recognized, "I sense that you hold the Zodiac stones. Hand them to me immediately."

Before Ramza could reply, Orlandu shouted out "Linden?"

The man shook his head. "Incorrect. I used to be Linden, but I am now something much greater. I have been granted many great things. I no longer feel remorse when I kill, nor do I feel love. I can demonstrate my loss of remorse if you refuse to give me the Zodiac stones."

"What the hell happened to you? Who are you serving?"

Linden laughed quietly. "I serve only myself. I will give you one last chance to surrender the Zodiac stones."

Ramza stepped toward the figure, appearing quite angry. "You are outnumbered and stand no chance against us. You should leave, I don't want to have to fight you if it can be avoided."

Linden looked at Ramza, and Ramza took a step back. Lindens eyes were pure black.. Ramza had never seen such dark and cold eyes in a human.. "You have just proven my point. Emotions are a weakness. Allow me to show you how they can be exploited."

Linden raised his hands, and a large black barrier appeared out of nowhere. The barrier rose up into the sky, forming a protective sphere around Ramza and Linden, and blocking everything else from view. . "Very foolish, boy. You carry all of the stones with you, and you decided to risk your own well being if you could avoid violence. The mistake will cost you your life and the Zodiac Stones, for you stand no chance against me without your companions."

Ramza starred up at the thick darkness surrounding them. He could not even hear his friends on the other side. "What have you done?!"

"I have done nothing but prevented you from escaping. Your companions cannot help you now. I will kill you and take all of the Zodiac stones. Prepare for death!"

Ramza had drawn his sword just in time to block a slash from Lindens sword as the man had charged at him with a great deal of speed. After blocking the strike, Ramza threw his sword into the air. The movement knocked Lindens sword out of his hands as well. Before Linden realized what had happened, Ramza punched him in the gut with incredible force.

Linden did not even react to the punch. He teleported into the air, grabbed his sword, and teleported behind Ramza. He swung his sword at Ramza's neck, but Ramza had ducked quickly enough to avoid the blow. Ramza then rolled to the ground, and stood up in time to catch his sword as it fell into his hand.

"Impressive speed and skill. It is unfortunate that I have additional skills other then that of a sword."

Linden held out his hand and launched an electrical attack out of his palm. Ramza jumped out of the way, and Linden launched a second bolt. The second hit Ramza in the chest, and Ramza yelled out in pain. Linden launched yet a third electric strike, but Ramza rolled out of the way. Ramza took the opportunity of the roll to throw a yuragi darkness, and it hit Linden right in the palm. Ramza threw three more of the dark throwing stars in rapid succession, but Linden teleported again and avoided them. The stars flew into the black barrier and vanished.

Linden held out his uninjured hand, and this time a white ball formed. Ramza recognized the ball as a spirit, having seen the attack used before by ghouls. Linden threw the spirit at him, but Ramza vanished in a puff of smoke. The spirit did not hit its target and went crashing into the barrier, letting out a shriek before vanishing.

"Enough of this, I will show you what true power is!" Linden began to channel dark energy. A second before Ramza hit his opponent, Linden had finished preparing for the attack. "Aurora, exhale bloody air! Dark Holy!"

The dark energy had a large enough range that it cast the entire barrier within an unholy blast. Linden was unaffected by the energy, but the attack would kill any living being instantly. As soon as the blast subsided, a large crater had been formed where the blast hit, but the barrier had remained unharmed (being created with the same type of energy).

"What foolish attempts.. Now I just have to find the-"

Linden gasped as he felt a strange feeling in his sides. He looked down and saw Ramza kneeling in front of him. He also saw that two swords that had been impaled within him.

"Impossible... You could not have survived unholy magic..."

"If I reflect the magic I can." Linden gasped as he realized the boy was wearing reflection armor.

Linden eyes widened. "How could I have made such a pathetic miscalculation? Damnit.."

Linden fell to the ground, clutching the two large wounds caused by Ramza's swords. Ramza noticed a change in the mans eyes after he had sworn. His eyes had changed from dark and lifeless to blue. With the change in his eyes, Linden suddenly appeared to be in a great deal of pain.

"Where... Where am I?"

Ramza ran to Lindens side. "You need help! Remove the barrier! My friends will be able to cure those wounds!"

Linden looked at Ramza, and then to the dark barrier. He remembered... "Oh my God.. I have to help my friends! Help me.. Please! My friends need to be revived!"

Ramza looked at the man in shock, having no idea what he was talking about. "You have to remove that shield! I promise I will help your friends after we heal you!"

Linden realized for the first time how injured he was. He felt the pain and clutched his sides. "Ughhhh.." He forced himself to look at the strange black cloud surrounding them. "I... Caused that?"

Ramza cursed under his breath. "How can I break the shield? There must be a way!"

Linden felt more memories flooding into his head.. He suddenly remembered everything he had done during the past two weeks. He remembered how he could suddenly sense the energy of the Zodiac stones, that he felt every feeling in him had dying.. He recalled how the only desire within him was to get the Zodiac stones at all costs. The change was the work of the creature that had killed his friends!

Linden's eyes appeared to be burning with fury, and Ramza stepped back, afraid the man had been feigning the act to catch him off guard. Linden tried to stand up, but fell down again, coughing uncontrollably.

"It's too late.. To late to save them.." He turned to Ramza. "I'm sorry.. I don't know what happened to me. No time to explain.. You have to go to Yugo woods, located outside of Yardow Fort City. There was a horrible creature there that killed my friends and did something to me.. It wanted to fight you, told me to tell you to come there.. It said that if you do not comply, it will slaughter innocent people until you arrive.."

Ramza gasped. It was impossible! Could it be that there were demons that still lived? Could another powerful demon be trying to find the Zodiac stones? But they were all trapped forever!

Linden coughed again and realized he was not going to live for much longer. "Please.. Please avenge my friends and the innocent people murdered.. The monster is very powerful.. It has skills unlike anything I ever went up against.. Please..."

Linden coughed once more, and his chest stopped moving. Before Ramza could do anything, Linden exploded in a burst of black light. Ramza had to shield his eyes from the horrible dark light, and the volume of the explosion caused his hearing a great deal of pain in addition.

As soon as the sound stopped, Ramza turned his gaze back to where the dying man had been. Linden was gone without a trace, and the dark barrier had vanished as well..