Of Lives Seldom Written

by Insert Coins To Begin

The chapters are long. Very long. Not too long, though. Read it, and I guarantee you will feel like a bad person for having enjoyed it or, at the very least, a bad person for having read it.

2. The Man in the Iron Mask

As Serge emerged from the tightly sealed room atop Fort Dragonia, fully clothed and looking much more like himself, all that could be heard were the exclamations of his comrades. "Serge!" they both cried in disbelief. True, they had mostly known the young man from Arni as a towering demi-human, formerly known on El Nido as the mysterious and unapproachable Lynx. What followed was a never-ending lesson in pain and futility, until finally the dragons had intervened, and with their guidance Serge sought out the Dragon Tear, the only thing left that could return his soul to its former vessel.

Now, here he was, standing before two of the many friends he had procured along the way, a blonde man hailing from the mainland by the name of Norris, and the silver-haired shrine maiden known only as Steena, the person responsible for lending him the now shattered Dragon Tear. After the initial shock of seeing Serge whole once again, Steena looked down to the contents of Serge's left hand. Serge followed her eyes and caught sight of what remained of Guldove's treasure, now a shard and shadow of its former self.

He held it up to Steena with an apologetic look, hoping to garner some forgiveness from the woman whose most prized possession he had destroyed for his own benefit. She simply smiled, however, and said, "It is no surprise it shattered as it did. But you also carry with you the broken Dragon Tear of another world, and perhaps they together hold the secret to the undiscovered Chrono Cross. Yet I sense that you still have unfinished business...." Serge simply nodded his agreement.

"Not only must you retrieve the lost souls that followed you before you lost your way, but you feel an obligation to one in particular. A promise you made, and one you wish to keep. And I have a feeling it will lead us back to Guldove." Serge again solemnly nodded.

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"I sense deep sadness beneath that mask of yours…In the near future, you, too, shall find your sanctuary of peace."

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As the silver-haired shrine maiden took her place among the crowded tables in the depths of the massive pirate ship, she pondered why everyone around her had decided to sup at the exact same time. Perhaps it was simply that no one ever left this place. The various pirates and deck hands, weaving in and out of the friends and companions Serge had dragged along, were anxious to eat whatever it was the kitchen had decided to dish out this day. Though Serge's companions, some noble and useful, others simply trailing along like refuse, were all to be complimented on their dedication, she wondered how they could put up with the food. Admittedly she ate very little anyway, but the various decadent gourmet dishes that Guldove had once offered her were certainly easier on her delicate pallet. At this point, she would be willing to trade a week's worth of the meals aboard this ship for but one bowl of fresh fruits.

Steena quickly found she was unable to stomach even the lightest of meals when suffocated among such a crowd, and rose from the table, her plate of food uneaten. The young man seated alongside her was not long in waiting to claim her plate as his own, but only one person in the entire mess took notice. His thoughts on the subject were quickly interrupted. "Yo buddy, where's yer appetite today?" The inquisitive man received no response to his question, so quickly jabbed the friend beside him in the ribs with his elbow. "You still here or what?" Karsh asked.

"Yeah," chimed Marcy, sitting across from the two. "Aren't you the one who always has, like, three servings every meal?" The two now stared at Zoah with cold, hard glares that a passer-by might almost mistake for concern. The masked man simply stood up from the table, food in hand, and glanced at them each in turn before speaking.

"I would prefer to take my mask off while eating today. If you need me, I'll be in my room." With that, the burly brute walked out of the mess, a path seemingly clearing in front of him as he walked. No one was going to stand in the way of a six foot three man with limbs as thick as small tree trunks. His was not an easy task, maintaining the pride and honour of the Acacia Dragoons. He, Karsh, and Marcy were Devas, the three of them honouring everything a dragoon stood for, and Glenn, though the young knight knew it not, would soon be admitted into his brother's former post as the fourth. Until the General felt ready to tell him, however, Zoah would certainly not divulge the secret. Secrets surrounded him on all sides, and he had learned how to keep them.

After quickly disposing of his meal over the side of the ship, Zoah decided to seek out the very person that had grabbed his attention so violently in the mess hall. In fact, what had mattered more than finding her was his desire to keep his mask firmly rooted upon his face. Were he to lift it even slightly in the process of consuming his meal, it is likely his friends and fellow Devas would have spotted the fleeting emotion that had begun to float over his face more and more often these days. Showing any kind of emotion would surely be the harbinger of doom for a man such as him. Thus, the mask was useful. After an entire afternoon of searching for her, Zoah still could not find Steena, so he settled for visiting the captain of the ship in his private quarters. As it so happened, he, the General, and Zappa were enjoying a game of poker. Zoah, invited to join, quickly accepted a seat at their table. Oh yes, the mask was indeed useful.

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As Steena wandered about aimlessly, deep within the bowels of the ship, her heart sank. Something had suddenly pushed its way to the fore of her thoughts, despite her efforts to prevent it. She felt…useless. Like so many other people on this ship, so many useless faces from faraway places. She could not help but giggle at the feeble attempt at prose her mind had unexpectedly spat out. Still, she was stricken both by how little use she had been to Serge since emerging from Fort Dragonia, and by how often she caught herself doing such little things she would never have allowed herself to back in her shrine. Perhaps this is what Direa's spirit had warned her of. Steena knew as well as anyone that the Dragon Tear would shatter, but she had made up her mind to aid Serge and she would not doubt herself now.

Alas, now that the Dragon Tear was gone, she could feel its power, the power that had once kept her steely and emotionless in the face of even the most frightful outcomes life held in store for her, dissipating with every passing day, soon to be all but a memory. She soon caught herself doing such little things as staring at people a little too long where she would normally close her eyes and listen, giggling at the slightest little thing when normally she would never feel any amusement. She also began recalling days she had thought were long forgotten, and people that were once…very close. Then it hit her, the melody that drifted to her ears upon the light sea breeze wafting into the ship. The sound was coming from outside, and was inexplicably drawing her to it.

The mage sat on the staircase leading up to the deck of the ship, whistling as he did. Yet, he did not so much sit on it as float just above it. His long purple braid drifted behind him, fluttering in the wind as the ship moved smoothly through El Nido's vast seas. His staff, floating alongside him, seemed to almost dance to the tune he whistled, and, admiring the rod's beauty as it sparkled in the sun, the mage felt somewhat tempted to remove his gold mask and let his entire face bask in the bright sun. These temptations were quickly stifled as he heard, or rather, felt, someone emerge from the ship somewhere behind him. As he rotated in the air to face the intruder, his face lit up. He was always happy to lay his eyes on a fellow traveller drawn into the ongoing orchestra of Time and Fate they were all now a part of. Many of them drifted aimlessly, each just another note, another chord, but this woman was more like an entire section of strings. "Steena! You're looking well! What brings you this way on such a day as this?"

"Your whistling has led me here…somehow," was the slender woman's reply.

"Recognise the tune from your youth, do you?" Guile asked. Steena's eyes widened with surprise. She could not explain how he had known that. Perhaps no one could. What he said next simply shocked her further. "You seem surprised. You might also be surprised to know that I realised you were standing there listening for several minutes before you revealed yourself to me." Steena barely managed to stammer out a response.

"But…I hid my presence. Not even you could have felt me here!"

"I did not feel you," came the reply, "I saw your reflection in my staff." With a simple gesture of his hand the staff floated dutifully to Guile's side, it's metallic surface shimmering in the sunlight and causing Steena to squint from the reflection. "I'm sure you're filled with questions about my knowledge of that song. Ask away."

"That melody which you were whistling. My…grandmother knew it. She would often sing it to me as a child. In fact, she wrote it."

Now it was Guile's turn to be surprised. "My my, I am in the presence of operatic royalty! The granddaughter of the illustrious and beautiful singer and composer Madame Paterson stands before me! I owe your grandmother a debt of gratitude."

"Why is that, master Guile?"

"Because," was his reply, his tone smacking of self-superiority, "she is responsible for the most wonderful experience I have ever had: that of the premiere showing of her second operetta in which she starred, and sang beautifully I might add."

"How can that be? That was over forty years ago!"

"It seems we have much to learn about each other, Mistress Steena." Then Guile allowed himself the pleasure of a single, solitary utterance that he would never have normally allowed himself to reveal. "She and I were actually a bit of an item back then." Now Steena was thoroughly confused. So many conflicting emotions and explanations drove their way into her head, each less plausible than the last, before she finally realised what had happened. The final remnants of the Dragon Tear's hold on her body floated away upon the wind as Guile's whistling had but moments ago. Now was not a good time to have this happen. As Guile slowly floated down to where the young woman had fainted he could see the blood rushing to her head, her face now beet-red. All he could muster was "Oh my…."

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As Zoah emerged from his room he could not help but feel eager for what the day might bring. Apparently Karsh had found something interesting on a small island in the other world, and had asked both he and Marcy to accompany Lady Riddel to the island. They were scheduled to meet Glenn and Serge there, and so would need to get moving soon if they were to have any chance of catching up. First they had to meet Serge at Opassa Beach and get themselves to the other world. After that, Marcy had errands, and Lady Riddel wished to….

And there, before his thoughts could even reach a satisfying conclusion, was something he later wished he hadn't seen. It was the long-legged shrine maiden that had joined them in Guldove. Steena, he remembered. She had upon her face the same expression he had seen some time before as she emerged from the mess, the almost gruesome pallor of someone who was famished, yet had no appetite for food. It may even be seasickness, he quickly realised. No matter the reason, her pain was tangibly discomforting him, as he had now stopped dead in his tracks to watch the woman slowly drag her feet down the hallway. He was taken aback at her greeting when she had not even raised her head to look at him. "Hello, Zoah."

"Miss Steena, you don't look well. I'll help you to the medical station aboard the ship." She was not anxious to be followed by anyone at the moment, but having not eaten in days she could barely stand, and Zoah was better than any cane.

"No. I'm fine, thank you. Please, just accompany me to my room. I simply need to rest." At this, Zoah felt the tension in his chest relax. Feeling helpless was not something that came easily to him, and he did not like it one bit. Yet helpless is how he had felt after watching this woman seemingly struggle to maintain her existence ever since she had boarded the ship. He quickly hunched over and placed her arm around his shoulders, supporting her as she struggled to walk. He would never let others such as Karsh know it, but he was never one to enjoy the plight of others. In fact it was downright painful for him to watch, as he had found out soon after joining the dragoons. His face had often betrayed how he truly felt when carrying out his duties. For this, others would berate him, and he would often fail to perform the less humane aspects of his job. It got to the point where he even ran away from the dragoons, skipping out on everything he had worked for. From that disappearance emerged a new man.

This new man's size and power left no room for argument, and his mask, buffed to a brilliant shine day after day, never allowed the even the slightest window into his thoughts. This new man rose quickly through the ranks, impressed many superiors, and, before anyone knew it, was a full-fledged Deva. 'Zoah' was the new moniker he had adopted. He'd thoroughly amused himself by naming his alter ego after the legendary giant that had supposedly fallen from the heavens in three pieces. Those pieces are said to have formed the cornerstones of the El Nido Triangle, and were supposedly responsible for the various inexplicable occurrences of the area. As a child, Zoah had loved such stories. Now he was one.

Steena had, by now, fallen into a deep sleep. As Zoah carried Steena into her room and laid her down on her bunk he could not help but feel a little out of place, yet he revelled in his opportunity to aid a fellow soul in pain. That night, the chef Orcha, returned alone from Guldove, and Zoah was quick to spot an opportunity. Steena awoke as her nostrils were assaulted with the sickly sweet scent of a fresh, hot meal sitting just inside her door. In her sleep-induced stupor, a ravished Steena quickly devoured the meal and crawled back under the sheets of her bed, returning once more to the dreamless sleep from whence she came. At the same time, Zoah, in the company of Marcy and Lady Riddel, disembarked for Opassa Beach and their rendezvous with Serge. The small island that Karsh had claimed to hold a monumental secret would be underfoot before tomorrow's end.

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As Steena slowly opened her eyes, she began to panic. Wherever she was, she could neither see nor feel her own body amidst the thick fog that seemingly suffocated her in this place. The thick musk of death and decay assaulted her on a much deeper level than any normal smell would. Despite her lack of a body, she could see the fog floating past her, as if she were moving forward through the dense vat of moisture. As her vision slowly came into focus she could just barely make out a distant light. A bright white, she soon realised this light was no reflection, but rather a beacon, a light source all its own. As the light grew, a figure emerged from the darkness of the fog. The massive figure stood solemnly before her, its back turned to her. The fog passed through the figure as if it were not even whole, but rather a fleeting spirit, taunting her for her unwitting passage into this endless assault of the senses. The figure's bulky grey armour jutted out from its shoulders like a set of vicious teeth, and in each hand the ghostly form held a weapon, blurred by the fog that hindered her already failing vision. These features were all illuminated by the sheen of the figure's long, white hair, unmistakeably blowing in a gentle yet intangible breeze. As the figure continued to grow in her vision, she could also see her body slowly return to her.

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On the deck of the S.S. Invincible, Guile stared up to the moons, emerging slowly from beneath the horizon, as he whiled away the night by brushing up on his astronomy. Without a need for sleep the magician oft found himself quickly tiring of his surroundings, but he had made a promise to Serge, and he was not about to go back on his word. The lithe young man took this opportunity to practise his hobby: magic. He would often feel foolish, a master mage traipsing around with a total lack of skill in simple sleight of hand, but with the rest of the world fast asleep he felt secure in the knowledge no one would harass or humiliate him after seeing the various cards fall out of his sleeve following a simple motion of his hand. Groaning as he leaned over to play yet another game of 52 pick-up, Guile felt his staff nudge him in the backside. Quickly standing up, Guile turned to look at his staff, still nudging him gently. He quickly swept over the expanse of the deck with what Kid affectionately referred to as his sixth sense (though it would undoubtedly surprise her to know he had many more than six) and felt nothing.

Guile let slip a look of frustration as his staff continued badgering him, gently rapping his arm. Fed up, Guile violently grabbed the staff from the air and held it still in his hands. Without the sound of the gentle brushing of the rod's brass cap upon his billowing white cloak, Guile's ears immediately became aware of another, much more pressing sound: that of bare feet scraping across the wooden surface of the deck. Fearing that someone had borne witness to his failed attempts at 'real' magic while staying completely hidden from him, Guile quickly spun around. By this time, Steena had climbed atop the flimsy railing running around the entire deck of the ship. As she balanced precariously, the railing's structure at risk of failing under her weight, Steena's eyes remained closed and her face maintained a look of tranquility rivalled only by that of the sea she stood poised to plunge into. Guile's hand shot towards her, his staff flying from his hand. The staff came to an abrupt halt in the path of Steena's dive, keeping her from plummeting from the height of the ship by pulling up on her waist, her legs and head dangling towards the briny blue below.

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As Steena sat up in her bed, Guile calmly paced back and forth before her, gravely contemplating the information that had been passed on to him. He would occasionally stop and stare at Steena before once more dropping his eyes and pacing. Yet he contemplated more than the dream she had described, more than the violent fluctuations of power she confessed to suffering almost daily. He contemplated the prescience of a woman he had loved long ago. Indeed, that woman and this one sitting on the bed before him did share quite a lot in common. Guile shook his head quickly, casting the thoughts back to the caverns of his mind from which they had unexpectedly emerged. This was not like him at all, getting caught up in a memory. He knew that to be a mistake suffered by too many of his peers, a mistake that was all too often fatal. He turned his thoughts to the description of her dream world, of the ghost she had seen, and of the thick, acidic fog that had surrounded her. It was undoubtedly leading her somewhere, but where?

"Perhaps it was something I ate," Steena offered. She had fewer answers to this new riddle than Guile, despite having suffered the dream and subsequent violent awakening first hand. There was a suffering soul out there, this she knew. It was her duty to seek it out and put it to rest. Thus was her destiny. She accepted it gladly, happy to point an errant spirit towards its true destination. The spirit in her dream was pleading for help, but it could very well be stronger than anything she'd faced before. It was even possible the spirit had sought her out of its own will, and that left her disconcerted.

"Somehow I doubt that," was Guile's only response. What other response could he give? He had no answers, and knew he needed further contemplation. Time; that was all he needed. No riddle had ever escaped him before. Yet each day he kept company with Serge it seemed the riddles around him became more twisted and self-contradictory than any he'd ever encountered before. This woman's presence was not helping. It was distracting. Initially, Guile felt relief when the feeling of several small boats pulling up alongside the ship interrupted his thoughts. Serge and company had returned from that island that so many of the ship's occupants had been unable to shut up about. He could ask Steena to tend to them while he sat upon the matter further. Yet just as he was about to suggest they part ways, Guile's relief turned to concern. It was obvious Steena had felt the change in the air as well, as she now stared out the window, her face overcome with sudden shock.

"Something is amiss," Guile stated. "They're bringing a burden with them, and several wounded compatriots." Steena turned to Guile, her expression now hardened in spite of her fear. "Go," Guile continued. "Hurry. I have no means with which to help, so I will stay and ponder this matter. I may yet have an answer." Steena needed no further encouragement, and rushed from the room. As she emerged into the night air, she could hear them. Nine of them, some with voices she recognised and others without. Yet none of them seemed in proper shape, and something told her that three of them required immediate help. She leapt down the stairs to where the small flotilla had parked alongside the ship. Serge, Glenn, and a familiar looking blonde were in one boat. In the next was Lady Riddel, attempting to comfort her fellow passenger, a tall, handsome young man in stunning armour, as he clutched at his head. The contents of the third caused her to gasp.

Inside the boat sat Karsh, thick bandages running across his entire body. The blood seemed unable to stop flowing forth from his body. At Karsh's feet lay Radius, asleep and looking deathly pale, and Zoah, fully conscious but struggling to move. As the boats came to a stop, Serge and the blonde woman leapt from the first boat and rushed to the one carrying the wounded. Glenn and Riddel carefully escorted the armour-clad man aboard the ship, the man still clutching at his head.

In the third boat, Marcy kneeled beside Radius, shaking him in a vain attempt to wake him as Karsh attempted to lift the massive Zoah from his prone position. Steena quickly pushed Serge and the blonde woman aside, barking orders to them as she passed. "You, young woman! Help Karsh inside and take him to the medical station immediately! I will be with him soon enough. Serge! Help me take Radius aboard! He needs immediate attention, so we will simply lay him here. Marcy, stay here and ensure Zoah's condition does not worsen! He will be fine for now, but I will be back as soon as Radius and Karsh are dealt with."

With that, supported by Orlha, Karsh limped aboard, and the two soon disappeared into the bowels of the ship. Steena and Serge quickly hefted Radius aboard the ship as his wiry frame proved even lighter than it appeared. After laying him down, Steena quickly went to work. As Serge joined Marcy in another vain attempt to lift Zoah, Steena dove deep inside Radius' body, seeking out whatever it was that had induced this vegetative state. The power made no attempt to hide itself. It was almost as if the evil swelling through Radius' body, forcing his sleep, was anxious to be found, ready to thumb its nose at anyone attempting to stop its spread through the old man's body. She could quickly tell that this force had inhabited Radius' body before, and it knew its way around. It was stronger this time, and though Steena could sense the scars of a time when Radius had beaten this force through strength of will alone, this time it had managed to bond itself to the man's heart. It would be difficult to root out.

She struggled against it, the force constantly dodging and weaving its way around her probing. Every time she cornered it, the evil would lash out and almost crush her in its wake. It was as if the darkness were innate to Radius, as if the old man had carried it with him all his life, and this darkness aimed to taunt her at every turn. Steena felt almost assured that she would not have the strength to resist should this darkness choose to force her out. Inside the boat, Zoah could no longer feel his body. He struggled to move, even his head unwilling to turn and face the sounds of what he assumed was a raging battle coming from the deck of the boat nearby. He had seen the spirit hover over Dario, just as everyone else had. Grandmaster Garai was there, leading and staying Dario's hand as he saw fit while the Masamune corrupted both their hearts. He had felt the thoughts of the dead man rush through his body when Dario tossed him aside like the refuse that constantly washed ashore on that same small island.

The bruising of his ego was now the least of Zoah's problems, however, as he remained unable to move. Karsh had bled the entire trip back, a seemingly endless flow of blood coming from every wound. It left the man weak and pale, not to mention loathsome company, and Radius had not been conscious since being struck down. What he needed now was to tell the shrine maiden what she was up against. She had the powers needed to face down the evil that sword had planted in them all, but she would need more than simply that. Zoah continued struggling to move, struggling against whatever held his body in place against its will. He concentrated all of his effort on regaining the feeling above his shoulders, and soon found he had barely succeeded. He had suffered but a glancing blow, and it was likely that, with time, Zoah could overcome the Masamune's influence within him by will alone, just as Radius had once done. With fresh blood rushing to his lips, Zoah cried out. "Enough Garai! You'll not have your way with us any further!"

Turning at this outburst, Steena was shocked to see Zoah lifting his head from the floor of the boat and yelling at her. No, not yelling at her, but at someone in her vicinity. After quickly passing him over upon arrival and noting that he could not move, Steena had never suspected that the masked brute could by himself fend off the power that had struck them all down. She soon found herself blushing at her lack of faith in the many dragoons that had joined Serge. They had many facets to their strength, and she wondered if she would only discover more. Zoah continued his tirade, yelling at the spirit flowing through Radius' veins. "We're beyond your reach now, Garai! The past is no reason to turn to hatred! Sir Radius has atoned for his mistakes! You need not harm him further!" The words that came flowing forth from his mouth surprised even Zoah, but the thoughts were impossible to ignore. The Masamune had touched him, and so his head was flooded with its essence. He suspected Karsh and Glenn were now feeling the same thing.

He knew not how this could possibly help the situation. He could simply hope Garai, or what was left of him, would still listen to reason. So, with his repertoire depleted, Zoah returned to his struggle, the feeling in his right arm gradually fading back. As he clenched his fist, Zoah could now see the shrine maiden's face fill with colour. Serge and Marcy followed Zoah's stare, to where Steena continued her work on Radius. All three gasped as Radius began to stir, and soon Steena stood up, helping Radius to his feet. Zoah now felt the feeling come rushing back through his body. As the sensation washed over him, he leapt to his feet, sending both Serge and Marcy bounding for safety outside the rocking dinghy. Steena turned to face Zoah, now coming aboard. "Thank you," was all she said. Marcy, her demeanour still uneasy, turned to Steena.

"Like, are you gonna go help Karsh or what?" she asked of Steena, to which came a curt, yet reassuring reply.

"Karsh is fine now. Whatever that evil spirit left behind is gone from this ship and all its occupants. It seems that simply calling him by his true name has weakened his power in this world significantly. For now, his hatred has been subdued." So, with that, the five of them made their way slowly inside the ship. Steena soon fell behind the troupe, prompting Zoah to wait up for her in the hallway of the ship.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Zoah, you named that spirit when you were calling out. What was the name, again?"

"Garai."

"Who was he?"

"Grandmaster Garai was a great dragoon."

"What did he…look like?"

"He was very tall, with long, white hair. His armour was very exquisite, and was supposedly buried with his body. I'm not sure about anything else. It's been a long time since I last looked at one of his portraits." Steena appeared downtrodden at his response, almost as if she had been expecting, and at the same time dreading the answer.

"I see. Thank you."

"It was nothing." With this, Steena turned to the door beside her and opened it, entering the dark room. She slowly closed the door behind her and leaned back against it, breathing a heavy sigh. It was not until she collapsed upon her bed that she discovered how much the night's events had taken their toll on her body. She could only hope that Guile soon deduced the location of the spirit calling out to her in her dreams. After nearly plummeting to her death during the first of such dreams, she worried what might happen should she suffer through another. Yet the dreams were her only clues. Now, at least, the wand'ring spirit had a name: Garai.

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She had stopped eating again, something that Zoah could stand less and less every day. The helplessness he felt while watching a friend slowly waste away in such a manner was something he could not stand. Zoah realised that he should have mentioned something to someone, something about the visibly growing trouble Zoah could see on Steena's face, but it seemed everyone simply turned a blind eye to her, content to believe a spiritualist such as herself could handle anything that came her way. Zoah was not so easily sated, and so tonight, as with other infrequent occasions, he found himself delivering a hot meal to her, scrounging up what fresh supplies he could and coercing Orcha into cooking. Marcy had caught him once. She had called him stupid for worrying too much. Perhaps he was worrying too much, but he had his reasons. Now, as he approached her door, he could hear something that rarely graced the ears present within the ship during the height of the day, let alone at an hour such as this. It was whistling. Who, he could not tell, but the whistler was approaching without making a single other sound. Not even his feet could be heard padding along the wooden planks on the floor beneath him. This, of course, was because he floated.

Guile approached Steena's door filled with a smug sense of self-satisfaction. No other riddle had taken him this long to solve, but no other riddle had ever left him with so few clues, either. Considering the miniscule amount of time Guile had spent actually pondering the riddle itself, and not the woman who had revealed it to him, he felt it a feat worthy of note. There was one last part to the riddle, though. A part he had not seen approaching. This part of the riddle now stood before him, blocking his entry into Steena's room, and it came in the form of 203 pounds of muscle sticking out from beneath a smooth metal mask.

"Sir Zoah, what brings you here at this late hour? Should you not be resting your weary little head after a day of hard wrought battle alongside your fellow dragoons?"

"I am here delivering food to Miss Steena." Zoah stated. Guile's eyes drifted down to the steaming plate of…something that Zoah held in his hands. Guile winced.

"What a horrid looking thing."

"Miss Steena enjoys it," Zoah replied. Guile was quick to respond, never one to miss the return volley of a match of verbal tennis.

"Interesting. I had not suspected any of the Devas to have the observational skills to see past their hands, let alone bear witness to the obvious physical suffering our dearest shrine maiden appears to be enduring. Then again, I suspect that's all that that mask allows you to do. See."

"I'm not interested in your—"

"Oh, but you should be, Sir Zoah," Guile interrupted. His eyes narrowed to slits as he prepared to dive in headfirst. "For you see, I knew Rosemarie when she was but a baby. Well before you knew her, anyway." With this, Guile could barely discern Zoah's eyes widening beneath his helm.

"How do you know her?" Zoah quietly asked. Before Guile could respond, both men were interrupted by a scream from the direction of the room beside them. Both quickly turned to face the door between themselves and the scream, then quickly turned back to face each other, eyeing one another sceptically. Guile was the first to break from the staring contest, gripping the handle of Steena's door firmly. Guile, attempting to turn the handle, found he could not.

"Something seems to be wrong," Guile said. It's not locked, but it seems to be stuck…." Zoah stepped between Guile and the door, removing Guile's hand from the door handle.

"Allow me."

The door, ripped from its hinges, flew across the inside of Steena's room and hit the far wall, splintering into several large pieces. As the two men entered they froze in mid-step. Before them, pinned against the roof by an unseen force, was Steena, her curved sword floating in the air mere inches beneath her throat. "What is the meaning of this?!" Guile cried, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over the room.

"I do not know!" Steena cried out in reply. "I awoke only to find myself like this!" The sword floated gently downwards, preparing to thrust straight up into the helpless woman's neck. Zoah violently pushed Guile to the ground as he rushed forward, leaping through the air at the speeding sword. He crashed headlong into the blade moments before it reached Steena's neck, and both man and object went tumbling across the room in a heap.

As Zoah stood up, hilt of the sword firmly in hand, he slowly pulled the tip of the sword out of his right shoulder. As the blood dripped from the blade to the floor below, Zoah seemed to struggle with the sword that now possessed a mind of its own. With much effort, Zoah finally slammed the sword deep into the floor of the room. The sword twitched back and forth, attempting to free itself from the floor, but was unsuccessful in its attempts. Then, suddenly, it stopped. At this same moment, Steena fell towards the floor. Guile, thrusting out a hand, managed to slow her descent, and Steena softly floated to the floor. Both men approached her. "Are you hurt?" Zoah asked, but Guile did not give Steena the chance to respond.

"It appears the dreams are now getting out of control," Guile stated. "I am glad I came around when I did, for I have to tell you that I have figured out the location of this dream weaving apparition. The heavy odour, dense fog, and ghostly appearances are all characteristic of this world's Hydra Marshes. I believe our answer lies within the belly of that uncharted beast." Steena stood up, a small smile appearing on her face for the first time in weeks.

"Finally," she gasped. "An answer to help me end this nightmare."

"I would like to accompany you, if I may," Guile added in an uncharacteristically humble manner. "But the two of us shall not get far without some brawn to accompany our brains. I suggest the addition of a third companion." With this, Guile's eyes drifted past Steena to where Zoah observed them. "After all," Guile added, "he shall not be much help to Serge after suffering such a scrape."

Zoah again became aware of the wound in his shoulder, and knew he had little choice in this matter. If Guile had not suggested he follow them, Zoah himself surely would have. "I'll gladly go with you," Zoah stated. With this, Guile wrapped his arm around Steena's shoulders and smiled at Zoah.

"Then we leave tomorrow. And Zoah?"

"Yes?"

"Wipe yourself up before you go. You're bleeding everywhere." Guile then turned and exited the room, laughing as he did so. Zoah was quick to follow him out, but turned to speak to Steena just outside her room's entrance.

"I'm sorry about the disturbance, Miss Steena. Without a door, I suggest using my room to sleep in. I'll be below-decks all night tending to this wound." Zoah then slowly surveyed the room, his eyes finally meeting Steena's. "Good night." With this, Zoah turned and departed. Soon after, Steena followed suit, leaving the room empty.

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As Zoah pulled aside the heavy foliage blocking their entry into the secluded marshes, Guile and Steena treaded warily past him. Zoah followed, letting the branches snap back to their original position as he let them go. The dense green fog sank into their skin, filling every crevice of the marsh with its putrid scent and sticky vapour. As they followed the simple foot trail leading through the marshes, they soon found their path submerged in a sickly green substance that was likely water at one time, but no longer bore any resemblance beyond density to its pure, blue ancestor. Steena timidly continued forward, but jumped back with a cry of pain just as she placed her toes into the edge of the green liquid. As Zoah and Guile came up alongside her, staring down the length of the submerged section of the path, Steena spoke. "This appears to be a very acidic substance. We should not proceed through it without further protection."

"Aye," quipped Guile, "therein lies the rub. We shan't go through it, but over it." Guile then began to softly float mere inches above the ground. As Guile raised his hands, Steena was soon floating as well, and Guile led the two of them over the stagnant pool. Steena quickly grabbed hold of Guile's arm, however, urging him to stop.

"What of Zoah?" She asked.

"I believe," Guile replied, "that he shall grow a third leg before letting anyone lift him from the ground." Steena looked over her shoulder and saw Zoah trudging through the acid behind them, keeping up an impressive pace. Zoah was pleased that the mask hid his grimace of pain, but he quickly caught up with the two and emerged from the disgusting pool with steam rising from every patch of skin below his knees. His exposed skin was now a bright red, and Zoah's metal plated footwear quickly began to corrode, but he moved down the path ahead of Guile and Steena nonetheless. Steena, aghast at Zoah's blatant lack of self-regard, spoke out, while Guile simply smirked.

"How could you do such a thing to yourself?" Steena asked. Zoah stopped mid-stride and turned to face the two of them.

"Guile could only carry one of us," was all that he said, and he resumed walking down the path. Guile chuckled, but quietly enough so that no one else could hear him. Guile knew full well he could have gone back for Zoah, but he also knew that the Deva would never allow himself such a luxury, especially in the company of Steena. In fact, Guile could tell that Zoah had wished for the opportunity to carry Steena over the acid himself. Guile pondered on how anyone who carried himself with so little dignity could have made it this far in life, but then again, Guile had never thought very much of the General and his lot. He found them intolerably short sighted. Steena, who had now wandered as far ahead as Zoah, interrupted Guile's thoughts.

"Which direction shall we go?" She asked. The three stood before a fork in the road. The lower path only led to more caustic broth and fetid fumes. The upper path led up into the heights of the marsh, above the fog and thankfully absent of any more submerged trails. He had no qualms about staying below, it mattered not to him, but he knew well which path his companions would choose.

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As she, Guile, and Zoah approached the small crowd of ecologists, Steena noticed they huddled around a gaping hole in the ground. She felt the overbearing curiosity of the men and women course through her heart, and knew in an instant they had no idea what lay below. Undoubtedly too afraid to go further, they appeared to be dropping things down the hole. As she drew closer, Steena could see that the ecologists were indeed lowering small buckets into the hole, hauling them up filled with a substance they would eventually use to substantiate their continued study of such a desolate place. Zoah was surprised to find anyone here at all, but again the mask hid his expression. One of the men of the expedition turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. He was sure it was his colleague, there to offer him a hot cup of coffee and an opportunity to go back to camp and rest. He could almost smell the coffee as he opened his eyes, but was quickly filled with disappointment as he saw the three strangers approach in a strangely dignified manner, especially considering the decrepit state of the ground on which they walked.

His disappointment soon changed to curiosity. What were other people doing here? How had they gotten past the briny pools and poisonous insects wearing those unusual clothes? He swore that, between the three of them, there still wasn't enough material for any single one of them to navigate this place safely. Yet here they stood, poised for action and dirtied by the heavy mist that had descended into the lower areas of the marsh so long ago. He soon noticed one was packing a sword, and another appeared to have a magical staff floating alongside him. He thought they must surely be simple swashbucklers, out to make a quick buck by stealing some of the resident insects' various carapaces. Wait, had he just seen the staff floating? "Ho there, good fellow!" the one with purple hair called out.

"What in the Hell are you people doing here?" was the man's reply. "You shouldn't be wandering about without protection against the elements, especially in a place like this!" As the purple-haired man approached, the woman and the other man pushed their way through the crowd around the hole and looked in. "Have you lost your minds? This is a scientific site, and I have no intention of letting you people gallivant about, poking your noses into my research and throwing a wrench into the delicate set-up we have here!" Behind him, the scientist could hear the woman's voice speaking to the other male traveller.

"This must be it. Looking down in this hole, it's exactly like my dreams. The scent, the fog, the ghostly images that fade away as I try to focus on them, this must be the source." As he turned around, the scientist nearly fell over at what he heard next.

"Then we'll have to go to in and find what you're looking for," the masked man said. The purple-haired man then quickly floated past and joined the two at the edge of the hole. Wait…had he just seen the man floating?

"You…you can't go in there," the scientist finally managed to squeak out. "It's dangerous, and we don't have any idea what's down below! What if it's a giant, scary monster with…with… nasty teeth…." The scientist could see his warnings were useless as the purple haired man and the woman began to slowly float down into the hole. Yes, this time he was sure they were floating. The man feinted. As Guile and Steena softly came to rest on the floor of the natural chamber that years of erosion had carved into the surrounding rock, Zoah leapt from the brink of the hole above and came crashing down beside them, shaking the ground as he did so. As the three looked around, they were mesmerized by the patterns of light playing on the damp walls of the cavern, the rays of sunlight from overhead glinting off the ring of water that surrounded the little tract of stone beneath their feet.

As Steena looked about, turning her stare from one curved wall to the next, she could feel something similar to what she had experienced during her dreams. The clouds of dust and vapour that floated through the air reduced all detail of her surroundings to a mere haze, and she wondered if what she was looking for was really here. Then an incredible sensation overwhelmed her, forcing her to her knees. As Guile rushed to her side, Zoah could only stare at what lay before him. There, standing on a little outcropping across the small moat, was a small ghost resembling the shape of a Dwarf. It spoke to him.

"Humans…" it said, "Mankind…. This forest…is dead…. Our Hydra…perished…. Our hatred…of mankind…is eternal. Listen to the planet's woes…humans…." Zoah turned to face Steena and Guile, telling them to turn around. They could not, however, for something had appeared on their side of the underground sanctuary as well. Zoah followed their stares to where the water had begun to boil. Slowly, several pieces of long buried bone floated out of the water, each piece gradually drifting into the air of its own volition. Guile and Steena began backing away, stopping only when they bumped into Zoah standing behind them. "There is a ghost behind us," Zoah said. Steena turned to him as both Zoah and Guile kept their eyes on the floating bone fragments.

"Of what?" Steena asked.

"A Dwarf," Zoah replied, "that says it hates us. It says the Hydra once living here perished." The bones, still rising into the air before them, began to take shape. The ghostly skeleton of a long-dead Hydra now towered over them all and began hesitantly flexing its massive jaws. Without noticing the three travellers, now backing away from it together, the massive ghoul began flailing its tails about, flicking them against the nearby walls with a loud snap. Through the groans and whines of the Hydra, sounding off as it continually expanded its tenuous hold on this new existence, Zoah managed to speak in a calm, cool, collected manner. "Perhaps we should speak to the Dwarf."

Suddenly, the ghost of the dwarf, still standing behind them, screamed out in a language that none of them could understand. All of them knew full well, however, that whatever it said was not pleasant. They turned back to the Hydra's skeleton, which had now become well aware of their presence. As the Hydra unleashed its horrid battle cry, Guile and Steena clutched at their ears. Zoah pushed his way between the two and approached the wraith, stopping just as his feet reached the edge of the tiny inlay they still stood upon. The Hydra brought its snout down, holding it inches from Zoah's mask.

As the two stared each other down, neither budging from their position, Steena called out to Zoah, urging him to get back to a safer distance. Guile had turned around to face the ghost of the Dwarf, now slowly fading from view. As Guile thrust his hand outward, a series of green strands of light emerged from the air around the ghost and threaded their way around its form, preventing it from disappearing completely. Guile simply lifted one eyebrow suggestively as the ghostly Dwarf turned to face him. "Human…" it said. "You underestimate…our malice…. The forest…will not bow to you…. You humans…all will die…." With that, the ghost vanished in a burst of light. Guile turned around as he heard the Hydra scream louder and longer than he had thought possible. The reverberations of the sound within the small grotto amplified the scream until Guile had nearly keeled over, both he and Steena tightly clutching their ears. Zoah, however, simply stood in place, staring into the gaping maw of the beast. Before the Hydra knew what was happening, Zoah struck.

Pulling his fists up quickly, Zoah caught the creature on the bottom of its jawbone. The creature's head snapped back as the bone flew up and hit the rest of its skull. The Hydra eased its head forward, shaking it from side to side in an attempt to remove the stars spinning before its eyes. As it looked down, the creature noticed the large man wading into the water at its feet, fists flying. It could feel every strike against its haggard bones resounding through its body and echoing in its head. It could hear one of its ribs give way with a loud crack. As Zoah continued to pound away at the bones comprising the body of the apparition, Steena and Guile simply stared, dumbfounded by Zoah's lightning-quick action and apparent success.

The creature, however, managed to shrug off the pounding and brought both its tails around, flicking Zoah aside as if he were nothing. Zoah crashed into a nearby wall of the cavern, shaking loose a thick cloud of dust and debris from the higher reaches of the cave. All Guile and Steena heard from the far corner was a long, low groan as the Hydra advanced on them. The creature lunged at the two, fangs bared. The two jumped aside just as the Hydra's mouth came snapping closed. It quickly swung its head to the side, managing a glancing blow on Steena that tripped her and sent her rolling into the stagnant water that surrounded them. As Guile floated to where Steena lay, barely managing to keep her head above the waterline, the Hydra lunged, baring its vicious rows of teeth. Guile flew aside, narrowly dodging the dangerous bite. As the ghastly skeleton continued snapping its jaws, Guile found himself ducking left and right through the air.

Guile could now hear the sound of bubbling and gurgling in the surrounding water. He risked a glance over and noticed that Steena's head had slipped below the water. Guile's eyes went wide and he rushed toward the scene in an effort to prevent a needless drowning. He did not, however, notice the Hydra take this moment to lunge at Guile, mouth wide open and poised to swallow him whole. At the last second, Guile noticed the ghoul coming at him, and with a sweep of his hand, his staff flew into the mouth of the Hydra, preventing the creature from closing its gaping maw. As the Hydra struggled against the staff wedged in its mouth, Guile quickly floated to where Steena lay beneath the water and grabbed her head in his hands, pulling it up above the water. Steena violently coughed, gasping for air as she rested her head in Guile's hands. Both were interrupted by the sound of shattering bone. Looking over, the two could see that the Hydra had managed to close its mouth, Guile's steadfast rod now poking out through a noticeable hole in the roof of the Hydra's snout.

The Hydra turned towards them, swaying its massive body back and forth as it revelled in its own slow, steady approach. As it drew closer, Steena and Guile could feel the gravity in the cave grow heavy. The air began to weigh down on them, forcing them deeper into the water in which they sat and leaving them struggling to stay afloat. The unseen force pushed down on them even as the creature stopped right in front of them. It may have been a trick of the light, or the fact that the creature was displaying its many teeth, but it appeared to be smiling. Guile clutched at his head, struggling to regain his concentration. If he could just summon his staff, or remember a useful spell, he could have them out of this in no time. The creature was more powerful than he had ever expected, however. The ghostly Dwarf had been right about underestimating the creature's power, but when it had first appeared Guile hadn't sensed even the slightest of what now assaulted them. He and Steena struggled to fend off the increasing pressure the dead Hydra forced onto them, even as thoughts of Zoah emerged in the back of his mind.

Zoah had, by this time, groped his way up the length of one of the cave's walls, using a steady series of grooves like a ladder. Struggling against the Hydra's downward force in the cave, Zoah had used what little strength he had left to pull himself up onto a small plateau. He lay there for a minute, staring out a hole in the cave's wall, eyeing the haggard remains of what was once the Hydra's home. It seemed that even in death the creature that called this once fertile place home could not escape the heavy-handed interference of humans. Instead of succumbing to his inner doubts, however, Zoah instead remembered that the safety of his friends was in jeopardy. It was too late for the Marsh and its inhabitants. To carry with it this sort of malice made it deserving of its fate, past and present. As he stood up, the effects of the creature's attack wearing off at this extremity of the cavern, Zoah readied himself to exact revenge on the creature for the many cuts and bruises now covering the left side of his body. The adrenaline rushed to his head and he began breathing heavily, his eyes growing wide with anticipation.

As Zoah clutched his fists tight they began to glow a bright yellow, a small beacon amidst the dank recesses of the hollow below. He twirled in place, rotating on an axis down the centre of his body. Spinning like a top, Zoah leapt into the air above the Hydra, screaming as he went. As the sound of Zoah's cries reached the Hydra, the ghoul turned and stared straight into the face of a whirling maelstrom. Zoah drove himself into the creature's head, using his body as a lethal weapon. The skull of the creature, shattered into bony fragments, was knocked from its place atop the skeletal body as several of the Hydra's ribs were blown to bits. Zoah crashed to the ground on one knee right beside Guile and Steena, looking up to make sure they were okay. He then turned back to the creature, now simply an inanimate skeleton lying lifeless on the ground, and ran over to it. As Zoah beat the motionless bones to dust, Guile called to him to stop. Zoah could not hear him however. The thrill of the fight had caught him in its wiry grasp, and Zoah was hard pressed to escape its clutches. Finally Guile's screaming, combined with Steena's added pleas, reached him. Zoah stopped and, looking about, took in the devastation he had wrought.

"I'm sorry," Zoah said, turning to face Guile and Steena as they emerged from what had almost been their watery grave. "Sometimes I lose control. It happens too often, it seems." Only Guile appeared even slightly concerned about Zoah's sudden descent into madness and subsequent return. Guile silently contemplated the sight, wondering whether to take further precaution in the future. Steena simply gaped at the destruction the fight had caused.

"Did we take the correct path, coming here and fighting this creature?" Steena asked, uncertainty creeping into her voice. "I fear my dreams will continue unabated. I do not feel here what I felt in my most violent nightmares. This is not the place I was meant to travel to for answers." Zoah looked back down to the devastated Hydra remains before speaking.

"None of us can say if we were right or not," he said. Steena continued.

"Was the looming spirit of the Marsh right to release that upon us? Were humans right to let this place descend into such a state? In the place of answers, this place gives questions, and I still have not found Garai." Zoah jerked around to face Steena at the mention of the name.

"What business do you have with Garai?" Zoah asked.

"He is the one I have seen in my dreams," answered Steena. "I know he is the restless soul who has called me on my search, and I must find him."

"I've heard Radius speak of his grave," Zoah stated. "It is in the other world, on the Isle of the Damned. Could your answer be there?" Steena was speechless as she stared past Zoah at the Hydra. The bones were dissolving into a fine white mist, and the mist was gradually collecting into a few floating spheres of light. As the spheres swept past Zoah, he noticed them for the first time and watched as they rushed towards Steena. Guile, ripped from deep contemplation by the sensation the Hydra's spirit had suddenly released, looked up at the floating particles. Reaching Steena, the spheres began to circle her body, gradually speeding up as they did. Zoah tried to rush forward, fearing the worst, but Guile stepped into his path, holding him back as he spoke.

"Don't worry, friend, this too may provide Steena with some of the answers she seeks." The spheres entered Steena's body one by one, making her jump slightly with every entry. After all of them had entered her body, a Hydra of pure light emerged from the ground where its bones had lain and snaked its way around Steena. As it continued snaking upwards into the roof of the cavern, Steena suddenly began breathing heavily and stumbling about, desperate for something to lean against. She stumbled forward into Zoah and leaned against his hefty arm as she struggled to create words from thought. "The eidolon of the Hydra has entered my body. Its spirit is at rest. Hopefully the Marsh will be relieved of its malice, even if it may never recover."

With this, Guile floated softly towards the grooved wall that would lead them out of the grotto. "If that's everything, we should be off to the Isle of the Damned. I sense that Serge will soon be arriving at Opassa Beach, so we should be able to catch him there and slip through to the other world with him." Guile stopped at the base of the wall and turned to Zoah as the man approached. "Help the lady, you stupid oaf," Guile spat. Zoah stopped and turned to face Steena, now barely keeping on her feet as she struggled forward. Zoah approached her and lifted her from her feet, carrying her to the base of the wall and eventually out of the Marshes. By the time the three emerged, the acid had rotted Zoah's footwear completely.

------------------------

Guile sat in the back of the blue dinghy, gently steering the vessel towards its destination. Steena sat alongside him, peeling a patchwork of gauze and bandages from the left side of Zoah's back. Guile calmly watched the sun dip below the distant horizon as Steena tossed the dirty bandages aside, caked blood contrasting with the pristine white of their material. Steena then carefully replaced all of the old, discarded bandages with fresh dressings, covering Zoah's frail scabs without breaking the silence that hovered over the boat. As dusk turned to darkness, Steena finished her task and moved to the front of the boat alongside Zoah. Sprawled in the seat beside the bulking mass of flesh, she quickly slipped into a deep sleep, the day's events weighing heavily on her eyelids. She did not stir as Zoah rose from beside her, allowing her to stretch out across the entire front of the boat. Zoah plopped down alongside Guile, gently rocking the boat back and forth as he did so. "I get the impression that you have some unfinished business with me," Guile said, still staring out to sea as he did so. Zoah turned to face Guile and leaned in close to his face, prompting Guile to turn and meet Zoah's stare.

"What do you know of Rosemarie?" Zoah asked him.

"As is the case with most things," Guile replied, "I know just enough to stay one step ahead, but not enough to concern myself over how anyone feels about it. And, as is also usually the case, you'll get nothing further from me. After all, a good magician never reveals his secrets." Neither man broke the silent staring contest that followed. Suddenly, in a reflex almost too subtle for even Guile to notice, Zoah winced. Small patches of red began to soak through the fresh bandages on his body. As Guile raised his eyebrows in surprise, Steena suddenly gasped, jolted from her peaceful sleep. "What is the matter?" Guile asked, turning to face the breathless woman as she wiped the cold sweat from her brow. Steena tightly clutched the side of the boat as she turned to face its other two occupants. She looked up to Zoah's wounds, some now reopening, and pointed towards them.

"I was torn from my sleep by Zoah's pain. It appears that I did not do an adequate job in dressing his wounds." Steena slowly moved to the back of the boat, reaching for Zoah's bloodied bandages as she did, but Zoah dodged her efforts by standing up and moving around her to the front of the boat, speaking to her as he did so.

"I'm fine. Sorry for waking you." Zoah took a seat in the front of the boat. Steena slowly crawled her way to the abandoned seat beside Guile, still half asleep and dazed by Zoah's reaction. Steena stared at Zoah's back, unable to tear her eyes from the blood still seeping into the previously unspoiled white bandages. Zoah, looking back at her, could see her stare resting on his cuts and offered further solace. "It's not your fault, Miss Steena. You should go back to sleep. After today, you look terrible." Steena, taken aback, turned quickly to Guile, who was now studying her face by the pale light of the moons.

"For once, I agree with the muscle," Guile stated. "You appear in dire need of sleep. You should lay down and rest, and have no fear that I will steer our craft to its destination by morning's light."

"Forgive me if I do not heed your words," Steena replied. "I should not be letting myself slip so easily into sleep. I am usually more restrained and as such I should—" Zoah interrupted her before she could finish.

"Stop berating yourself. You're only human. Rest; leave us in charge of the boat. If you don't, who's going to lead us in the morning? Him?" Zoah pointed to Guile as he finished speaking. Steena managed a small grin as Guile began chuckling.

"Heaven forbid," Guile said through his laugh. Steena looked at both of her escorts in turn before speaking again.

"Do not worry about me," Steena said. "I do not think I could return to sleep even if I wished it." At this Guile loudly snapped his fingers beside Steena's head, nearly causing her to jump from her seat. As Steena turned to face him, Guile reached around the side of her head and behind her ear. Steena began breathing heavily, Guile's stern stare making her anxious. Guile looked at her and tried to think reassuring thoughts. He had been practising, but still wasn't sure if he could pull it off. Guile quickly drew his hand back from Steena's head, causing her to jerk aside. He pulled the contents of his hand into view with his fingers. He held a small silver coin before Steena, causing her to question its origin.

"A good magician never reveals his secrets," Guile said, smirking as he closed his hands around the coin and opened them again, allowing a small dove to flutter out of the boat and into the sky above, its bright white feathers shining in the moonlight.

The three watched the bird flutter into the night sky and out of sight. Steena, a wide grin on her fatigued face, turned back to Guile. "I had no idea such things were possible," she said, her eyes filled with awe. With this Guile turned his eyes to hers and smiled suggestively. In one swift motion, he pulled a dazzling white rose from his sleeve, slipping it right under Steena's nose amidst a cloud of loosed petals from the flower. Steena timidly leaned her head forward, her eyes still watching Guile's face, and she breathed in the scent of the rose. She closed her eyes, taking the aroma in with a deep breath, before suddenly fainting forward into Guile's arms. Guile caught her clumsily, casting the flower overboard in the process, and turned to face Zoah, who now eyed Guile suspiciously. "Do not be so hasty to point fingers at me, Sir Zoah," Guile said. "You know as well as I that she would never allow herself rest without some…mild persuasion." Zoah simply turned his back to Guile and stared out to the calm ocean.

Guile slowly laid Steena down on the bottom of the boat, resting her head near his feet, and returned to the task of steering the little vessel onwards. Suddenly, Zoah broke the heavy silence. "You'd better not try anything like that again. You may see nothing wrong with your shameless manipulation, but I won't stand for it."

"I shall keep that in mind, Sir Zoah," Guile replied in a smarmy manner. "I shall keep that in mind." So the two men drifted on through the night in the small, blue raft, silently watching over an unconscious Steena, wary of the scepticism hanging heavy in the air and dragging down their hopes of finding Steena's answers on the long-neglected Isle of the Damned.

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As Steena knelt at the foot of the headstone, Zoah and Guile slowly began backing away from the brink of the outcropping beneath their feet. The two stared past Steena and out into the vast meadow of blooming flowers that lay below the cursed ground upon which they stood. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Steena, her eyes closed, continued to stroke the cairn with her hand while remaining oblivious to the concern in Guile's voice as he yelled at her to get back. The massive spirit rose from the valley below, throwing its head back and lifting both of its fearsome swords into the air over its head. Steena slowly stood up, her eyes still closed as she called out to the ethereal rendition of Garai floating before her. "Spirit!" She cried, "I feel your pain! Allow me to carry out your unfinished quest, and together we can find your peace at last!" The spirit slowly lowered its arms to its sides and tilted its head forward. It stared at the woman beneath it, her arms outstretched towards the apparition.

"Peace…" it said, its voice heavy with longing. "For the opportunity to finally be freed of this enmity, I would give anything…." Steena slowly opened her eyes as she warily stepped to the edge of the narrow escarpment. The spirit began slowly fading away, gradually filling the air with small spheres of white light. The spheres began to encircle Steena, spinning progressively faster. Then, Garai's eidolon unexpectedly looked up to the two men accompanying the woman that called to him. His stare passed over Guile without a flinch but stopped squarely on Zoah. Guile quickly jerked his head back and forth, staring at both Zoah and the phantom in turn. Then, as the spirit slowly gritted its teeth, Guile turned to Zoah and screamed for him to hide his face. "You fool!" Guile yelled at the top of his voice. "It recognises you! It will not succumb as long as you stand before it!" Zoah could only gawk at the ghost of the former dragoon grandmaster.

Guile turned back to Steena and noticed that she shivered. Grimacing at her own internal pain, Steena knew the ghost's abandonment of its own dissolution threatened to tear her apart. Guile's thoughts were overwhelmed by the fear that dripped from Zoah's every pore. Zoah was frozen as he stared at the man that held god-like sway over every fibre of his body. Every lesson he had been taught as a soldier, every story he had been told as a child, had led him to place Garai on a consecrated dais inside his own mind. That he was staring down the man himself with his body rendered all but useless did nothing to stem the wraith's pending wrath. Garai's spirit began to clutch at its head, thrashing about in the air above Steena. Steena, now forced to her knees, still managed to keep her arms outstretched towards Garai as she struggled with the man's restless soul. Garai's spirit spoke amidst its pitching, and Steena echoed the words it spoke against her will. "Zoah…." both said. "I can see you…. I…know you…. I must…destroy you…. I will…destroy you all!" The spirit's swords fell downwards, slashing towards Zoah's motionless body.

Guile's hands shot out at the descending blades, and they quickly became engulfed in a thick cloud of black smoke. As the spirit struggled against Guile's binding spell, pushing the deadly swords onward with all its strength, Zoah simply stood in place, still unable to move. A cold sweat now covered his entire body, and the fear coursing through his veins left him powerless, unable to do anything but observe the events as they unfolded around him. "Move, you jackass!" Guile screamed at him. "Move! As long as I keep this up, I cannot! Go and help Steena lest I let this restless apparition loose and turn my powers against that addle-brained sack of flesh you call a body!" Guile's cries landed on deaf ears. Zoah continued to stare up at the spirit's swords as they slowly edged towards him. Now visibly shaking, it took all of what little strength that remained in Zoah's body to turn his eyes to the sound coming from the ground beside Garai. Steena, struggling to stand and clutching at her stomach in pain, edged towards him, one arm still outstretched towards the spirit. Zoah could see the blood running out her mouth and down her neck as she cried out to the aggressive ghoul.

"Garai, please! I beg of you! Let me release you!" She pleaded to no avail, as Garai pushed even harder against Guile's tenuous hold on his swords. Zoah watched as every step Steena took elicited from her a cough of blood, and he stared as it ran down her chin to mix with the blood now gushing out her nose and ears. Her eyes bloodshot, Zoah could see her face grow pale as she lifted her outstretched arm to the sky. "Mistress Direa," Steena called out to the sky above her, "hear me!"

An eidolon of Steena's former mentor suddenly emerged from the ground, lunging at the spirit of Garai. Steena, however, was struck by a sudden fit a coughing, and as the blood spattered from her lips in a cloud of droplets, the eidolon of Direa slowed in its advance, flashing in and out of existence as Steena struggled to hold the new arrival in this world. Garai, in a sudden surge of strength, pulled one of his swords from Guile's magical hold over it and swung lengthwise at the shrine maiden's summoned ally, easily slicing right through it and causing it to permanently dissipate. As Garai's shadowy extension pulled its blade back, preparing to thrust it forwards into Steena's vulnerable figure, Zoah let loose a cry of anger, momentarily distracting it. Zoah screamed as the feeling rushed back into his limbs. After letting loose his long-winded wail, Zoah tightly clenched his fists, his breath coming shallow and heavy. Seeing Garai banish the eidolon of Steena's former mentor had sent the adrenaline shooting through his body. The thrill of battle forced his breath, and thoughts of an impending struggle made him leap from the ground towards his enemy.

Garai, noticing the attack, quickly thrust towards Steena, now lying prone on the ground with blood pouring from every orifice of her head. Zoah crashed his body headlong into Garai's arm, narrowly averting Steena's deadly skewering. Zoah, leaping back and forth, continued to narrowly dodge Garai's attacks as Guile opened his hands wide, tightening his hold on one of the spirit's swords. Garai, letting go of the sword firmly rooted in Guile's magic, suddenly lunged towards Zoah with his single remaining blade. Guile let out a gasp as his spell disappeared and the unmanned sword fell to the ground with a loud clatter. Swing after swing sent Zoah tumbling, several near misses of the blade leaving their mark on his skin. Turning his head towards Zoah, Guile was just in time to see Zoah reach up with his left hand and grab hold of the blade plummeting towards him with but his thumb and his fingers.

Zoah and Garai stared at each other, the spirit putting all of its effort into forcing its blade down into Zoah. Zoah's arm began to shake as he barely managed to keep the sharp edge of the sword from severing his thumb from his hand. Seeing a small drop of blood thread its way down the skin joining his thumb to his hand, Zoah suddenly tightened his hold on the blade. Letting loose another massive outcry, Zoah twisted his wrist violently, snapping Garai's blade in two. Garai, falling forward onto his broken sword, let out a cry of disbelief as Zoah lunged forward, the Deva's fist creating a resounding clash of metal against metal. Zoah's fist, having forced its way through Garai's body and out his back, slowly clenched and unclenched until, in one swift movement, Zoah ripped his arm from Garai's body and stepped aside, letting the towering wraith topple forwards to the ground.

Zoah tossed the sword tip in his hand aside as it, along with the rest of Garai's ghostly body, faded, replaced by spheres of light once more. Guile, rushing to Steena's side, attempted to rouse her from her stupor as he called to Zoah. "I would have thought a dragoon more capable than that! We may have won but your shameless cowering has—" Suddenly Zoah jerked his head around, his stare targeting Guile. Guile was quick to respond, his face filling with fear. "Oh my…." Zoah, charging, swung his fist at the masked magician, sending him flying backwards into a nearby cliff face. As Zoah again charged towards Guile, a shout from Steena stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Zoah, stop!" Steena cried. The burly man skidded to a halt and turned to face her, soon noticing that her wounds were healing as quickly as the spheres of light floating in the air could enter her body. Zoah's head fell forward in shame as his pounding blood began to simmer.

"I…I…." Zoah stuttered, watching the last of the white spheres enter Steena's body, "Sorry." Steena rushed past Zoah to where Guile lay, struggling to his feet. She grabbed him under the arm and helped him from the ground. "My apologies, Guile," Zoah said as he turned to face his companions. "I continue to let the frenzy of battle get the better of me." Guile simply shrugged and smiled, calling his rod to his side as he did so. Then, with a heavy sigh, Guile turned his back to his two comrades and began to slowly float back the way they had come. Steena and Zoah each followed some distance behind, and the tiny troupe made its way off the accursed Isle of the Damned.

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As the three sat in their tiny sea faring vessel, drifting slowly towards the S.S. Invincible, not a word was spoken. Three divisive, wounded souls floated amidst the surprisingly rough seas in that boat. Zoah, Guile, and Steena were their names, yet not a soul would have been able to tell at that point. Zoah was a bandaged mangled wreck from the many battles he had fought without rest against enemies, friends, and himself. Guile, still a bit dishevelled from the day's events, was dark with grime that contrasted sharply against his white suit. Steena, least recognisable of the three, appeared to be fighting off the advances of the many spirits she bore within her body, and she struggled to separate her own thoughts from the throng of activity in her head. Then they heard it. They were not alone in their sudden fear, all of El Nido had heard that cry. It was the soft, sullen cries of the Dragons, heralding the appearance of all six alongside each other for the first time in ages. All three occupants of the boat stood up in unison, looking above the horizon to the distant skies above the Sea of Eden. There, for the first time in their lives, they saw all six magnificent beasts flying together, six abreast. Steena's eyes widened as something hit her in the pit of her stomach.

Guile was quick to catch this sudden pang, and rushed forward to where Steena stood, catching her moments before she toppled overboard. As Steena clutched at her mouth Guile's face became filled with concern, while Zoah's eyes darted from the dragons to the scene in the boat. "What's wrong?" Guile asked, but Steena could not respond. All she could do was bring her hand from her mouth and point at the dragons. There, in the place of the six dragons they had known their whole lives, was now a massive, hideous creature covered in shining black scales, the end result of the dragons' sudden merging. As both Guile and Zoah became intoxicated with the scene in the sky, they did not notice Steena fall to the floor of the boat and expel the contents of her stomach over the side.

"What is going on?!" Steena cried as drops of bile and half digested food ran across her lips and dripped into the sea. "Why are the dragons doing this?!" Guile was ripped from his relaxed state by Steena's shouting and quickly knelt down beside Steena.

"Do you know what is happening, Steena?" Guile asked.

"The dragons!" She cried. "They are becoming one! I can hear their thoughts for the first time, and they have become bent on our destruction! The protectors of the ancient Dragonians, the crafters of the Dragon Tear, and the deities that I have served my entire life, bent on our destruction!"

"What the devil are you talking about?" Guile asked.

"The dragon gods whom I have spent my entire life serving, for whom Mistress Direa gave her life and soul, have played us all for fools. They wish only for the destruction of all humanity. I can hear them, their screams of agony and demands of revenge. I can…smell their bloodlust. My…my service to them as shrine maiden…all for naught…." Steena began to weep, desperately clutching to the side of the boat as she again fought off the onset of nausea. It proved too much for her, however, as her stomach emptied itself into the ocean once more before she finally fell limp, her body overpowered by the extremity of the situation.

She awoke to find herself lying amidst the medical beds aboard the S.S. Invincible. As her blurry vision returned to focus, she could see Guile leaning over her, holding a damp cloth to her forehead as his warm fingertips ran down her neck in an attempt to find her pulse. She grabbed his hand by the wrist, causing Guile to simply remove his fingers and move his stare to meet her own. "You gave us quite a scare, I must say," a wide grin appearing on his still grimy face, "even I could not tell when you would wake up. It seems as if the union of the dragons has done much more than disrupt your affinity with them. I feel as if everything in this world and the other has been turned on its head."

"Why did you bring me here?" Steena asked. Guile appeared taken aback by this question. For all of his foresight, Guile had never thought she would ask that, so he fumbled about for a good answer.

"Why, well, because…you were injured," was his only response.

"Yet why here? I am no longer welcome aboard this ship. I have always been servant to what is now revealed to be our enemy. You should not have brought me back." Steena turned her head to the wall beside her, closing her eyes as she did so. "Perhaps it would have been best if you had simply cast me out to sea, to drift ashore on some far off land like driftwood…dead and hollow." So, Guile thought, Steena's grandmother was more inherent in Steena herself than he had ever suspected possible. This was a bad time for Steena to lose faith, but he knew his mistakes of the past would not be repeated. He would not lose her in the same senseless way he had lost her grandmother long ago.

"Say something like that again and I shall knock you back to sleep myself." Steena abruptly rolled over, sitting up on her elbows so as to stare at Guile, her face horrified by such a response. After spending a moment staring into Guile's stern expression, Steena hung her head in shame.

"Then even my closest friends aboard this ship would abandon me. It is just as I suspected."

"No! It is you who is abandoning yourself!" Guile's voice, now raised to almost a shout, grasped Steena's attention as she directed her eyes back towards the tall man's sombre face. "If you really expect me to believe that someone who has faced death so fearlessly in search of their own destiny would be abandoned by their friends, then I would say that these ruffians are obviously not friends. But I know those ruffians that I speak of, myself being one of them. I would certainly not abandon you, even if everyone else on this ship did. I suspect they will not." This is what he should have said, so many years ago. Instead, he'd let his pride and ego get the better of him, and he'd consequently lost the only woman he'd ever loved. It was a high price to pay, but it would be even higher if he betrayed that woman's memory now by letting her granddaughter succumb to a similar fate.

Steena would be fine now, this he knew. He could already sense the self-hatred fading. It was, however, beginning to concern him that the hatred was now being redirected. Steena felt a burning desire for revenge against the dragons that had so foully manipulated her, so she leapt from her bed and headed for the door wearing a look of disgust. Guile, however, had other plans, and stepped into her path, blocking her from the exit. "Do not leave yet," he said. "Your body still needs rest, even if your mind is ready to take to battle." Steena could feel the rage pushing her forward, despite her fatigue. She would not let this man stand in her way. Steena's hand shot forward, grabbing Guile's arm in an attempt to pull him out of they way. Guile simply grabbed her arm and held it steady, holding her in place easily. Her eyes darted upwards to meet his. By now, his expression had softened, and his mask could not hide the concern in his voice.

"Just rest for now. You'll get your chance to fight, though Serge has plans for you other than entering that tower that rose from the ocean." Steena was struck by what he said. Not by his words, but the feeling behind them. Guile, the light-hearted and carefree magician that she had been unable to read, surreptitiously or otherwise, the enigmatic man who showed no fear and seemed unendingly prescient, stood before her with his heart bared. She could feel him now, read what he was thinking. He had given her a very limited reach into his thoughts, but it was much more than she had ever drawn from him before. In there, she could find a reason to wait.

Guile, never one to let an opportunity pass by, took a chance and dove into Steena's thoughts. Just as he suspected, she had lowered her guard. But, unlike Steena, Guile was not at all surprised by what he found in her. Just as when he had had the peace of mind to delve into her grandmother, he could feel the fear, the hesitancy, and the struggle. This time, however, he knew they would pass. He had survived his test, it seemed. As Steena gradually descended back into her usual tranquil state, Guile led her back to the nearby bed and helped her lay down upon it, sleep hitting her the moment she closed her eyes. Guile simply replaced the damp cloth atop her head and left.

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Steena surveyed the inside of the cavern at the head of Divine Dragon Falls. Though unaccompanied by anyone, her friends having all swarmed Terra Tower, Steena was sure-footed in her steps through the lustrous cave, walking between glittering pools along the stony path that she had walked in her dreams every night before Direa's death. This cave harkened back to the days of the ancient Dragonians, her ancestors, and as such this place was not new to her. Yet every time she had walked through this place in her dreams the path had unexpectedly stopped at a dead-end. Steena, assured that it was the same here, was unsure what Serge had expected her to find, but she was glad that Serge remembered her suggestion of this small excursion so many weeks ago. Clutching both worlds' shattered Dragon Tear to her chest, Steena walked steadily down the path.

Reaching a bend in a the trail, one she knew always receded to reveal a dead end, Steena gasped as she noticed an opening in the rock face that had always blocked this path in her dreams. Beyond, a soft yellow glow beckoned her forth. Rushing into this new realm of the cavern, Steena's eyes lit up as she laid them upon the two pedestals sitting in the tiny sanctuary. "By the Great Dragon Gods!" Steena shouted to the empty cavern. "It exists, just as the legends of old said it would! I never thought it possible, but what a blessing!" Steena timidly delved deeper into the small sanctum. "Now," she continued, "let's see if it's still functional." Placing a shard of one of the Dragon Tears on the nearest pedestal, Steena jerked her hand back as the pedestal suddenly lit up, lifting the shard from the pedestal and into the air in front of her.

Repeating the process with the other pedestal, Steena watched in awe as the two shards began whirling through the air. She could feel a familiar sensation well up in her as the two shards drew continually closer. The sway the Dragon Tear had previously held over her seemed to be returning, and Steena soaked up the comforting sensation as the two shards finally made contact, halting their playful dance and hiding their transformation behind a veil of light. The light faded, and Steena reached forward, claiming the relic that hung in the air before her eyes. This, she assured herself, was the Chrono Cross. Yet, as she gripped it, something unexpected happened. Steena felt the returning comfort of the Dragon Tear's sway violently sucked out of her, and replaced by an overwhelming assault of raw, guttural emotion that unabashedly pierced to the depths of her heart.

Such strong emotion had never wielded sway over her in such a powerful manner as this. As new feelings cascaded through her body, Steena became disconcerted and afraid she might never regain control of her body or her thoughts. Steena struggled to focus. When was the last time she had felt something like this? She remembered now. She had felt the same thing after learning of the dragons' new hatred for mankind. How did she overcome it? She had to concentrate, to think! What had helped her? It was…Guile. He had helped her calm down. How? She struggled to remember, the flood of emotions running through her body now making it a struggle simply to hear herself think. The strong emotions she now felt were simply fodder for the spirits she carried alongside her, engorging their already strong sway over her thoughts. What had Guile done to help her? He had opened his mind to her, for the first time since she had known him, and, she suspected, for the first time ever. What had she found?

She had found him rather surprised at the force of her reading. Obviously, Guile had expected her to timidly probe her way into his head, but she was in such a state that she dove right in. She had seen images of a woman she at first assumed to be herself, but upon further reflection she realised it was not. There were differences, not just in the appearance but also in the memories associated with that woman. So, when she had found that even the most composed and enigmatic of individuals could still experience the frailty of overpowering emotion, she had known there was no reason to doubt herself, or her friends. She had feared everyone's rejection, and her association with the hate-filled dragons. She feared the animosity of the people she wanted to help. Guile helped her realise those fears were unfounded, using himself as example. He had made it clear that, regardless of what happened, he would not abandon her over such an unexpected situation. He had shown her that she was not at fault, and that friends were not something to be undervalued.

The sudden silence was eerie, almost tangible. Steena still held in her hands the long lost Chrono Cross, key to Serge's quest. She had accomplished what hundreds of her predecessors had failed to do, and now she simply had to walk out of the cavern, never to return. With her heated thoughts cooling, her rapidly coursing blood calming, and her torrent of emotion relaxing, Steena held her head high as she emerged from the cavern, soaking up the rays of the sun as they again washed over her pale face. Confident in where her quest had led her so far, she decided to move forward now in the same manner she always had. She let her soul mark the path.

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Above her the noise was jovial, even heartening. After the debacle on Terra Tower, they had emerged victorious and were now celebrating aboard the S.S. Invincible. Steena was not participating. She had learned of both Guile's and Zoah's brushes with death. It was not a comforting thought to imagine either of her new friends in such dire straits, so she had decided to use her time to meditate. Steena sat cross-legged on the floor and leaned back against the bed she had called home for what now seemed an eternity. Not her real home of course, no semblance of that place lay in sight, but the home that the people here had made their best efforts to welcome her into. Now she worried that she had worn out the welcome of two such individuals, afraid to even speak to them again for fear that they would cast aside her earnest inquiries, or worse.

She realised that what she had put them through for her own benefit was not something she would normally push upon any living creature, yet her desire to restore the order to her dreams and bring closure to her distress had driven her to act. They had come along for her benefit, and too often she failed to realise that. Perhaps an apology was in order. The confusion she had felt over her entire trip had seemed to only keep growing, culminating in her initial contact with the Chrono Cross. With every answer, she had found many new questions. One of those questions, one she now confronted often, even as she sat upon the wooden floor of her room, was 'what am I feeling?'

As the Chrono Cross had ripped the Dragonians' influence from her fully, she had experienced so many emotions. Few of them were entirely new to her, but they had suddenly been in a position to overwhelm her, to guide her hand, or to even control her thoughts. She disliked this loss of control over her own body, but she liked to believe it had also given her insight into the manner in which people lived their entire lives. Now, as she came to terms with what one of those emotions meant for her, and what satisfying such a desire might entail, she struggled to find the words that would convey exactly how she was feeling. Then it struck. No words were needed. So she released a wave of unseen power from her body to all of the occupants of the ship, knowing full well that only one of them would ever become aware of it.

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Guile moved quickly down the hallway, his staff trailing behind. His mask hid his expression, but his pace belied a mild urgency. The sensation had hit him like an errant stone, and then left his thoughts as quickly as it had entered them. He knew the only person capable of such energy was Steena, so he had hurried here, to her room, worried that she had done something rash or, worse yet, that someone else had. Guile knocked on her door, but the only sound that greeted him was a soft voice, unmistakably Steena's. "Come in," she said. Guile rushed in, but soon stopped dead in his tracks as the darkness of the room enveloped him. He could hear footsteps padding across the wooden floor behind him, lightly but swiftly, and suddenly the door slammed shut. The only light that now remained in the room was a small patch of moonlight in the middle of the floor. Guile cautiously moved towards it as he attempted to seek out who, or what, was in the room with him, and how many there were. Yet something, or rather a combination of things, had fallen around his mind, blocking his efforts. He stopped, unable to call his staff to his side. He suspected it had gotten trapped outside the room. Slowly turning around in a full circle, Guile attempted to locate anything of use, but was unsuccessful.

Suddenly, a shadow drew across the floor. Guile turned to the window to where a sleek, feminine silhouette slowly approached against the moonlit backdrop of the window. Her hips rhythmically swinging with each step, Guile could see threads of the moonlight edge their way around the naked body, gradually outlining the graceful curves of this woman that approached him. With the distinct style of the woman's white hair glowing brightly in the moonlight, Guile knew it was Steena. As she wrapped her bare arms around him, laying her head down on his chest, Guile was hesitant to make any movement, his arms still hanging loosely at his sides and his head bent down to face the woman embracing him. He could feel her bare chest pressing into the material of his suit, warming it with the heat of her body. Guile shook his head and removed Steena's arms with his own. "What's going on?" Guile asked. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing," Steena cooed. "Absolutely nothing."

"Something's wrong here. What has gotten into you?" Guile asked as he hunched over in an attempt to look into Steena's eyes. Guile noticed a playful smile grace Steena's lips as she looked at him. Her hand rose to his face and gently brushed his cheek, loosening his mask from the place around his eyes. Guile quickly readjusted the mask and spun 'round, turning his back to Steena. Steena, taken aback, quickly walked up behind Guile placed her arms on his shoulders, gradually moving them down his back as she spoke.

"What is the matter?" Steena asked. "Am I doing something wrong?" Guile's heart nearly leapt to his throat. He knew the fact that everything was so perfectly right was precisely the problem. He looked at Steena and he saw her grandmother staring back, laughing at him with her eyes. Guile felt confusion set in. If he loved Steena, how could he know? If he was trying to grasp at the past, wouldn't that be unfair to Steena, or to the memory of his long dead lover?

"There is something unsettling about this entire situation," Guile eventually replied. Guile turned to look at her and still only saw the woman of the past. He simply could not convince himself he felt anything more for the woman standing before him now than he had ever felt. It was the woman behind her eyes that he longed for. It was a masochistic exercise to keep up the charade, and Guile knew this well. Yet how to admit it? It was exactly as his deceased lover had predicted. Steena's grandmother had told him that her beauty would pass unflawed to her descendants, and that beauty would haunt him for as long as he dwelled upon her memory.

"Guile?" Steena inquired timidly. Guile placed his hands heavily on Steena's bare shoulders and stared into her eyes, preparing to break the harsh truth to this confused and errant woman. Just outside the room, Zoah aimlessly wandered past the tightly sealed door. Turning the eyes within his helmet towards the door, he stopped. Zoah pondered whether he should even bother. Whether, after humiliating himself so many times, he even had any right to talk to her. He desperately wanted to apologise as he felt at fault for the agony she had suffered during their journeys, but Zoah felt assured that he did not even deserve that chance. He most certainly did not deserve her forgiveness. Just then, a sudden sound from behind the door caught his attention, and his pondering was cut short.

Inside, Guile slowly rubbed the cheek that had only moments ago been graced with a kind touch. Steena, still bared before him, scowled at him as she reached her arm across her chest in an attempt to cover herself. The sound that caught Zoah's attention was that of Steena smacking Guile, and Guile, resolved to take whatever punishment she thought he deserved, was simply relieved to have the truth declared. There was, however, an unexpected reaction to the sound of Steena's hand striking his face: a loud knock at the door. Both turned towards the knock as a voice called out. "Miss Steena, is everything all right in there?" The voice was Zoah's.

The turn of the knob cut through the silence of the room, and Guile's eyes went wide with fear. Turning to Steena, he cried out for both of them to hide themselves. "Why should we do that?" Guile was quick with his rebuttal.

"If Zoah sees us in a situation such as this, he will surely relapse into a state of anger. His past, it—" Guile could not finish, however, as Zoah thrust open the door and the hall's light flooded into the room, illuminating both Guile and Steena in a sickly yellow glow. Beneath his mask, Zoah's eyes widened to the size of saucers at the sight before him. "Oh my," Guile said as Zoah rushed towards him.

In his mind, Zoah could see her: Rosemarie. Together they walked towards the gates of Viper Manor, among a group of children their own age. The little girl, with her pale brown hair and similarly coloured eyes suddenly grabbed a young Zoah's hand. The thin boy, sporting bright orange hair, squeezed her hand tightly as the two set foot on the grounds of Viper Manor.

Inside Steena's room aboard the S.S. Invincible, Zoah rushed towards Guile, growling as he did. Guile, unable to move fast enough, was caught around the throat by Zoah's hand and pressed up against the wall. "Leave her alone!" Zoah screamed.

"Zoah," Guile croaked, "please stop. I shall harm you if I must, though I do not wish to." Guile's pleas landed on deaf ears as Zoah tightened his hold around Guile's neck. The mage, gasping for air, set his eyes aglow with a dark flame. Guile barely managed to croak out one final warning. "Fool. You still let your temper get the better of your muscle-bound brain? You shall regret crossing my path." With that, a bolt of energy shot forth from Guile's body, striking Zoah squarely in the chest. Zoah, tossed through the wall of both Steena's room and the room across the hall, found himself struggling to stand up inside the storage room into which he had been launched. On his feet, Zoah saw Guile approaching him through the hole his body had left in Steena's wall. Zoah entered the hall and approached Guile steadily, his fist drawn back.

Suddenly, Zoah's body became enveloped in a translucent cloud of black smoke. Guile, holding out his arm towards Zoah, watched as the mammoth man plodded forward despite the spell holding him. Zoah, preparing to unleash his fury on Guile, found himself suddenly unable to move. Steena, now wrapped in a bed sheet, ran her fingers lightly down Zoah's arm, still poised to strike. Zoah could see the magical restraint Guile had drawn over him fade away. As Steena continued removing the spell from Zoah's body, the flame in Guile's eyes died. Guile simply scoffed at Zoah and floated quickly away from the two, his staff soon taking up its place at his side. Zoah turned to face Steena, who opened her eyes. "Are you all right?" Zoah asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, Zoah," Steena replied. "Why did you do that?"

"I was stopping him from taking advantage of you."

"Taking advantage of me? Zoah, he was doing no such thing. There was no need to barge in and hurt Guile. You should have thought about what you were doing." Steena scolded him with her eyes, and Zoah quickly shied away from her stare. "Let us retire to your room, Zoah. I shan't get any sleep in here." Zoah looked back up into her face. Seeing that Steena was once again smiling, Zoah relaxed and led the way back to his room.

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Inside his room, Zoah gently held a match to a lamp. The lamp's wick quickly lapped up the match's heat and began shining brightly with its own light. As Steena sat on Zoah's bed, silently staring at the floor, Zoah gently placed himself down beside her. "Miss Steena…." Zoah trailed off.

"I told you, I am fine," came the reply, barely above a whisper. "I suspect I shall have to speak in greater detail with Guile tomorrow. Such an event I had not planned for." Steena could feel Zoah grow anxious, his discomfort tangible. She probed lightly into his mind and found a disconcerting amount of pain in his thoughts. Recalling how overpowering anger had overcome him so often, Steena quested for an answer. "Zoah," Steena said as she lightly touched Zoah on the arm, causing him to look up. "Why do you allow yourself to become so animalistic? I know that you feel regret for what you have done, so why did you do it?" Zoah stared intently at her, internally debating whether to tell her or not. Steena could sense this internal struggle, and she could feel both sides sway back and forth, neither gaining the upper hand. Steena, anxious to learn anything about what had provoked his reaction, decided to influence his decision, and subliminally urged him on. Zoah finally spoke.

"I attacked Guile because I thought he was taking advantage of you."

"I already told you, he was not." Steena stated.

"But I assumed he was," Zoah continued, "because of what happened to a friend long ago. It was unpleasant, and I wish to prevent any repetition of her fate."

"What happened?" Steena, still anxious to learn why Zoah subjected himself to such mental anguish, again urged Zoah to tell her more, and continued to draw details from him using her unseen influence.

"Her name was Rosemarie," Zoah said. "She and I were good friends through childhood. Together, we joined the Acacia Dragoons. We trained together, and our commander was cruel to all of us. I was singled out often because I often questioned his orders." Zoah hesitated before continuing, and Steena could feel him fighting back against her mental advances. She pushed more fiercely into his head, so Zoah continued. "I…didn't enjoy being cruel. Many people told me I would never succeed as a dragoon, and I believed them. Rosemarie refused to quit, so I stayed with her in the dragoons." As she listened, Steena struggled to read the man underneath the mask, yet it had suddenly become incredibly difficult to recognise anything emanating from him outside these memories. Something around them was causing interference for her, and she could no longer root out his hidden emotions. She would just have to listen. All the while, Zoah continued with his story.

"We were almost finished our training. Rosemarie asked that I meet her outside the manor one night. I didn't know what she was planning, so I was at our meeting spot early. I heard a noise. It sounded like Rosemarie had arrived, so I looked for her nearby. There, I saw one of the dragoons had cornered her. He forced her into a corner, then tried to rape her." At this Steena gasped. Zoah continued despite this reaction. "She fought back, so the dragoon drew his sword and planted it in her stomach. He then raped her as she bled to death. I watched, but I still don't know why." Steena was ready to rush out of the room, feeling disgust at the whole story, and feeling so much pity for this poor child who had to witness his friend's tortuous death. Before she could rush from the room, Zoah again spoke, only now without Steena's subconscious prodding.

"I reported it, and the culprit was caught. As a witness and friend of the victim, I was given the task of carrying out the execution. I did not consider it a privilege, and rather than kill the man, I burst into tears in front of the entire assembly. For my display, I was subject to sever punishment. I ran off soon after, only to return some years later as Zoah." Zoah turned to face Steena, expecting an extreme reaction, such as a slap or a scream, or expecting her to run from the room. Instead Steena simply stared at the floor. She could feel her heart wrenching from the tale, her tears so close to bursting forth from her eyes. She contained them for his benefit, making sure he didn't know that the story she had forced him to tell now caused her pain. She knew that would make him feel at fault. That was why he had attacked Guile. That was why he had protected her through their whole journey together. She turned her head to look up at him. Zoah was now standing by the window staring out into the night. Steena noticed for the first time that barely any natural skin was visible on his back. Scars overlapped other scars, jagged tears in the skin criss-crossed over his shoulders and spine. Steena, her head still reeling from Zoah's story, realised that she was again confused, like she had been so often in the past few days.

If it was not longing for Guile that was hounding her thoughts, perhaps this confusion lay with her feelings for Zoah. Zoah, for his part, simply folded his arms and hung his head, probably expecting her to leave. He, too, contemplated leaving, for he knew Steena needed sleep. She would not get any with him present. Zoah was interrupted when he heard her stir. Steena tightly clutched the bed sheet that covered her body as she rose from the bed and drew up behind him. "At least you know why you chose your actions," she said. "I am still not entirely sure why I approached Guile in the manner that I did. I thought what I was doing was the correct course of action, but now I am unsure. Perhaps I am still having difficulty navigating the passages of my own heart that have so recently opened up to me. Perhaps," Steena continued as she began to stroke the scars on Zoah's back with one hand, "I was merely looking for a simple answer to why I was confused. If it was love then it offered a simple explanation for my problems, but if not, that meant I still had little control over my own emotions. I suppose I was afraid."

Zoah turned to face her. "You don't need to explain yourself to me, Miss Steena," he said.

Steena continued. "That may be exactly why I am telling you. I am telling you that I am afraid of living without the power of the dragons, and I am telling you that I am afraid my nightmares, the ones that have plagued me in the past, will return. Yet when you accompany me, I feel sure no harm will ever come to me. I know you would not allow it. I am telling you that I fear being hurt. With you, I feel protected, and I wish to keep you near." As Steena moved closer to Zoah she could see her distorted reflection appear in the well-polished surface of his mask.

She slowly lifted her hands to either side of the mask, allowing the sheet covering her naked body to fall to the floor. She gripped the mask on either side and stared into Zoah's eyes. Despite her lack of dress, his eyes never left hers. She slowly pulled the mask over his head and held it between her hands, level with her chest. As Zoah's hands reached up and took the mask from her grip, Steena looked up at the face that no person had laid eyes on in many years. Zoah's hair, now faded grey from lack of exposure, remained only in clumps, the rest of his head completely bald. Lumps, scars, and bruises, evidence of many years of poor treatment and marred healing, covered his Zoah's face. Steena simply lifted both of her hands to his face and placed them on the sides of his head, closely examining the beauty that she knew she could see beneath his tortured exterior.

As she ran her fingers across his face, gently massaging each aberration they touched, Zoah remained perfectly still, holding his mask level with his torso while still staring into Steena's eyes. "Please, Zoah," Steena asked, "tell me that you will let me stay here with you this night. Spending it alone is now my greatest fear." Zoah simply lifted his arms to place his mask back on his head, breaking Steena's hold on his face. As Steena slowly lowered her arms, a look of dejection on her face, Zoah reached down to the ground and picked up the discarded bed sheet, draping it over Steena's shoulders.

"I think I'm beginning to understand, Miss Steena," Zoah said as he took a step back from her. "You're confused. Many people dwell in your heart. You're trying to figure out what you feel for each of them, and you've mistaken our friendship for something more."

"No, that's not true," Steena hurriedly replied, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I know what I feel, and it—"

"You don't know," Zoah interrupted. "None of us do. It's sad, but true. My place in your heart is one of a friend, nothing more. If you look harder, you'll soon find the person who means something more to you. You won't spend this night alone. You may, however, spend the night here." With this, Zoah stepped around a shaken Steena in order to leave the room. "I should have your room fixed by tomorrow evening," Zoah added before letting himself out and closing the door softly behind him. Steena simply moved into the vacant spot before the window and stared out into the night.

------------------------

Zoah returned to Steena's room. Guile was there, pacing just inside the large hole that used to be a wall. Guile was so distracted with his own thoughts that he did not notice Zoah approach, and so Zoah was content to watch the man pace back and forth for some time while allowing Guile's internal struggles to proceed unabated. Guile had decided against doing anything rash before ever arriving at the room in the first place, and then he had gone and destroyed the wall. He regretted that. Something about it all had simply rubbed him the wrong way, causing him to lose his hold over the course of events. It was not something Guile allowed often, and the last time he had done something like this, several people had wound up dead.

Relieved at the pain he hadn't caused, but concerned by the pain he had, Guile mulled over the details of the evening. Even a man such as him was not without a conscience. It was then that Zoah cleared his throat, so Guile stopped pacing and looked up at the man. It took all of his will to stop himself from looking further than the mask. He had no desire to learn anything more. He simply wanted to apologise, but was not even given that chance. "She's waiting in my room," Zoah said. "You should go and apologise." Guile was stunned by Zoah's accurate deductions, and he quickly began to doubt that the situation was truly so black and white.

"I cannot do that. She claims to feel something, but she does not really feel it. I—"

"Go and apologise," Zoah repeated. "Forget about yourself for now. She truly cares for you. Maybe she's confused, but that's how we all are. Well, not you, but the rest of us. I thought you'd be used to it by now. After all, this is simply about her. She needs you, so you go to her." Guile was struck still by what Zoah said, and stood in utter disbelief that the situation, as obvious as it was, had been revealed to him by, of all people, this burly man. This wasn't about his desire to honour the dead. It was about Steena's desires to understand. This was just one of the steps she had to take. Guile had helped her take similar steps in recent weeks. He should keep helping her. Guile smacked himself lightly in the forehead as he floated past Zoah and off into the depths of the ship.

------------------------

Steena continued to stare out the window towards the distant moons as she heard the door open. She could tell who it was just by the manner in which the room's air changed, and she found her heart skipping a beat as the lights of the room went out with a mere snap of his fingers. "You sent for me?" Guile asked as he drew up behind her. Steena's only response was to let out a sigh as Guile massaged the back of her shoulders. He then leaned forward and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Guile," Steena soon uttered. "Could what I feel possibly be love?"

"I could not tell you," Guile replied.

"But mustn't it be love? What else could possibly have caused my recent behaviour?"

"It may be any number of things," Guile stated. Steena slowly turned to face him, her arms draping over his shoulders as the sheet covering her body slowly slipped to the floor.

"Can't you dive into my mind?" She pleaded. "Now, as you have in the past, couldn't you tell me what is happening in my heart? In my mind?" Steena hung her head as she continued. "You know the future. Will you not tell me how I should act?"

"To be honest," Guile replied, "I have no real desire to read people. I often do it to protect myself, or my interests, but I never enjoy it. Knowing the future makes life in the present terribly dull, don't you think?"

Steena's voice quickly became filled with disdain. "I could not say," she spat, "I have not felt anything of the future since the essence of the Dragons left me many weeks ago."

"Look into my eyes," Guile said, silently wrapping his arms around Steena's waist. Steena complied, drawing her head back to stare at the green globes behind the golden mask. "What do you see?" He asked. Steena began lifting herself up on her toes in an effort to meet Guile eye-to-eye. As she stared intently into his eyes, her reflection vaguely began to take shape.

"I see…." she began as she continued lifting herself up. "Why, I see myself of course. My reflection in your eyes."

"Good," Guile replied. "I was afraid I'd gone quite insane."

"What do you mean?" Steena asked quizzically, a puzzled look drawing over her face as she questioned him.

"I thought I was looking at a passionate and beautiful young woman with a warm heart and an even warmer smile," Guile answered, "but your words made me doubt my eyes. Luckily, you told me that I was indeed looking at that same young woman." Guile then quickly pulled Steena's body into his own and pulled her face forward, forcing his way between her yielding lips and probing deep into her soft, warm mouth. As their tongues danced, Steena's hands soon found their way to the metal clasps of Guile's jacket. She detached them, allowing her to slide the billowing white jacket over Guile's shoulders and down his arms, now draped at his sides. As Steena drew her soft lips across his neck, she guided Guile back towards the bed against the wall. As his heels hit the frame of the bed Guile leaned back, sitting down on the soft and yielding mattress. He grabbed Steena's wrists, pulling her down on top of him.

As Steena continued running her lips across his neck, Guile gradually moved his fingers through her hair, pulling out the ribbons that held her shining white locks in their elaborate pose. He pulled the final ribbon from its place, letting her hair cascade down her shoulders. With his hands against her cheeks, Guile guided Steena's face towards his own, stopping to stare at her face, now outlined against the pale moonlight. As he stared at her, Guile slowly rubbed his thumb back and forth, caressing Steena's soft cheek. As he recalled the time he'd shared so long ago with such a woman, this very same woman it often seemed, he smirked. Perhaps his knowledge of the future was simply based on his awareness of a repetitious past. He could plainly see the need in Steena's eyes. The need for someone, anyone, to pledge themselves to her in the hopes that she could finally understand.

Guile knew he could never do what her eyes asked, begged, of him. He was not meant to be her shoulder to cry on. He had failed once in a similar role, for a similar woman. For now, he could only offer her the solace of a single night in the hopes that she eventually realised her feelings were unrequited. It was never his intention to let it proceed this far, but what other option did he have? She thought she needed him. For now, perhaps she did. Guile's sudden pause took her by surprise, but the way he held her head in his hands made Steena feel cherished and accepted. His touch filled her with peace of mind. She took his wrists in her hands, drawing his fingers down from her cheeks to her neck, then along her shoulders and down her chest. With a sharp intake of breath, she guided the fingers lower, drawing them down her stomach and over her hips, finally letting his hands come to rest on her thighs as she unsealed the front of his shirt and pulled it open.

As Guile removed his hands from her legs to pull the shirt from his shoulders, Steena began to slowly run her hands up and down his chiselled chest, soon leaning forward to settle another passionate kiss upon her lover's lips. Before Guile could reach forward and place his hands once more upon her graceful figure, Steena took hold of his wrists and lifted his arms into the air over their heads, leaning him onto his back as she rested the weight of her body on top of him. Steena let her forehead softly come to rest atop Guile's. Her saccharine scent left him light-headed, and he could see her skin shine amidst the darkness, the dim glow accentuated by the thin layer of moisture now covering her entire body. As she lowered his hands in her own, pulling them up to her face, she whispered to him. The heavenly aroma of her breath flooded his head, and he could barely discern her words. "Am I doing well?" she asked.

Guile's breath caught in his throat as he managed to stifle a strong cough. He struggled to fathom how this woman, who could read most people from the inside out, had failed to catch such obvious cues that she was making his skin crawl with the premonition of where the night was destined to take them. The longer he hesitated, the more he became aware that her hands were shaking, and her eyes belied a conscious timidity hidden beneath her seductive smile. "If you doubt the answer," Guile replied, freeing his hands from her tender embrace, "then you should allow me to show you." With one swift movement, Guile grasped Steena around the back of her legs and flipped her over onto her back, bouncing softly on the bed as she did so.

Guile, now on top of Steena, began rubbing one hand up and down her thigh. His other hand, held to her neck, could feel her pulse racing, and as he leaned in for another kiss he could see her face had turned a deep shade of red, a testament to the blood that had rushed to her head amidst the excitement. With two fingers, Guile drew Steena's eyes closed and brought his mouth to hers, deeply inhaling the balmy air within. As Guile moved his mouth slowly down the length of her neck, Steena found her thoughts becoming jumbled. Guile's lips found one of her breasts, and then the other, sending enticing ripples through her chest as she heard Guile remove his elegant pants. Steena's hips were soon thrusting in time with Guile's almost of their own accord. She could feel her body writhe with pleasure every time his tongue caressed the pale skin of her bare chest, and she could sense this writhing was pushing Guile forwards, bringing him closer to the edge.

Suddenly, a sensation shot through Steena's body like a bolt of lightning, and it took all of her strength not to bite through her tongue. As she felt herself lose control, Steena shuddered as the pleasant sensation rushed through her body once more, fiercer this time, before slowly subsiding. Guile's knees nearly gave way beneath him as he leaned forward, his head resting on Steena's chest. Steena clutched Guile's head in her arms as she leaned back, laying her body to rest on the bed with Guile's body atop her. As Guile continued to lightly kiss her breasts, Steena surrendered herself to sleep. She trusted Guile completely, and whatever he did, she knew she would be safe for the night in his arms.

------------------------

As he floated out of Steena's room, the door closing behind him, Guile came face to face with Zoah, vigilantly guarding the hallway. "Going so soon?" The massive man asked, more than a hint of venom apparent in his voice. "Running off in the middle of the night, you appear as if you have something to hide." Guile, breaking into his usual wry grin, quickly replied.

"You're finally learning. And here I was afraid you might be impossible to teach." Zoah did not relinquish his cold glare, so Guile humoured him. "If you must know, I'm off to the tavern in Termina. I'm of no use here. Serge intends to end this mess in a few days, and you'd be hard pressed to convince him to take you with him. He has his chosen escorts firmly in mind."

"What about Steena?" Zoah asked, again a hint of venom in his voice.

"No need to worry. She managed to figure it out. She doesn't love me, or you, or anyone really. She understands that her struggle is internal, and that her feelings are still her own, whether she controls them or not. She'll be fine without me. You, however, would do well to stick with her." With this, Guile turned and floated away, but he was soon stopped by Zoah's hand on his shoulder. Unseen to Zoah, Guile grinned, knowing full well what came next. "You want to know why?" Guile replied, stating the question more than asking it. "When Serge leaves here for the darkness beyond Time his will not be the only life at stake. What little stability remains in this world will quickly dissolve, and while I know not the exact results I do know that it shall be messy." Guile turned to face Zoah, the grin gone from his face as he continued.

"Everyone will be placed in great peril, and Steena will be no exception. You will find yourself in a position to protect her, but it will not be obvious to you or her. Whatever you decide to do, never succumb to doubting yourself or your actions, lest I tear that rotting melon you call a brain out through your worthless ass." Zoah, too stunned to reply, released his grip on Guile's shoulder, allowing him to float away. Guile was well out of sight before Zoah could even move again, resuming his vigil outside Steena's door. As Zoah leaned his burly frame against the wall, the planks beneath him creaked under the weight. Zoah suddenly heard Guile's voice call out, but he could not see the man. It was as if the voice spoke in his head only, and the words, smacking of false bravado, echoed inside his helmet. "Remember, fool, I'll not be there to save your hide next time. Don't disappoint. It would be a shame to see you drown within the sands of Time without giving me a chance to meet you again."

------------------------

So, with the sounds of the elements united, Serge was released from his role as Arbiter. The two worlds were re-woven into one, and all but Serge had had their memories ripped from them. His partner, Kid, had vanished, as had his other companions, scattered to their homes like seeds to the wind. Serge felt sad knowing that they would not remember what they did, for him and for the world, but he felt happy that someday, somewhere, he would meet them all again. Maybe he could remind them. Or maybe, they would just know.

Guile, leaning forward over the bar inside Termina's tavern, let his stare wander as the woman behind the bar watched him intently, stars in her eyes. "Keep going," she said, "I want to hear how this story ends." The woman hurriedly hushed various cries for service from the tables within the tavern and turned her stare back to the masked magician.

"Well," he said, "as the world descended into chaos around them, demons and monsters were popping up left and right. The muscular man, his expression hidden beneath the mask, beat back the foul creatures, valiantly defending the fair maiden. Alas, his efforts were discovered to be for naught. In the distance, he could see the hideous thing come flying towards the ship, riding a massive tidal wave. None saw any way to stop it. It seemed inevitable that if the wave, surely large enough to tear the ship asunder, did not kill them all, the monster surely would. Seeing the plight of his friends, the masked man lunged back into battle, recklessly wielding his body as a weapon. His weakened flesh was soon ripped from his weary bones. All that remained amidst that shell of a man was the mask. With her protector destroyed, the maiden fell to her knees and wept for her friend. She was devastated. She could not defend herself.

"But alas, she heard her friend's voice, as if it floated on the wind. As the man's body dissolved, she noticed the only thing remaining upon the ground was the mask. With her friend's guidance, she soon understood. As a man, he was unable to halt the tide of events that threatened to wash them away. Yet as a spirit, he knew that she could wield him as a weapon. So the woman, his friend, his comrade in arms, summoned his eidolon to her, and the massive man looked exactly as he had before but for the mask, which had disappeared. The man's apparition grew in size until it could have easily crushed the boat under foot. Wandering out into the sea, the spirit of the man held back the creature and scattered the massive wave upon which it rode. He struck the creature down with a mighty blow, and the skies shattered from the creature's cries.

"The madness faded, and sanity returned amidst the silent calm. The woman could only weep. But the tears were not of pain, not of sadness, but of joy. Her friend had saved them all in one final stand! Such was her knowledge of the man that she had soon realised it could have ended no other way." The woman behind the bar, now leaning in close to Guile, hanging from his every word, urged him on. "And now," Guile continued, "the man lives on forever in her heart and in her soul, forever bound to her as another wand'ring spirit."

------------------------

Zoah stepped onto the harbour in Guldove. As his feet thudded heavily across the wooden planks that passed for solid ground in the village, a young knight in dull bronze armour ran towards him. Glenn stopped beside Zoah, turning to walk alongside him as Zoah again surveyed the tiny harbour where he had landed. "Sir Zoah," Glenn said, "I am glad you have arrived."

"There's no need to call me 'Sir', Glenn," Zoah stated calmly. "You, too, are a Deva."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologise, either," Zoah said. "Just tell me why recruitment for our demi-human platoons is behind schedule. That is why I'm here, isn't it?"

"Actually," Glenn replied, "there is a small matter that we have been struggling with. The local shrine maiden, a mistress 'Direa', and her pupil have voiced concerns over our presence here. She has spoken to me personally but refuses to tell me how I can remedy the situation. I was hoping you could help."

"Don't worry," Zoah said, "I'll soon scare it out of her. Where is this shrine maiden?"

Glenn pointed away from the harbour as he spoke. "This direction. I'll lead you there." As the two walked off in the direction of the shrine they soon found all eyes were upon them, the loud sound of their progress across the wooden planks underfoot quickly drawing attention to their progress towards the lofty shrine situated in the heart of Guldove.

Fin

Author's Notes: My apologies to all of the purists for not making Zoah's dialogue ALL CAPS. Again, Flames are encouraged. I'm not kidding.