A being that was too large to be a bird, yet too small to be a jet-propelled flyer, floated just above the tips of the trees that made up the huge forest. Wings flapped gracefully and naturally, letting the leaves rustle about in the trees just below.
That being was a birdman, and the wife of Balbaroy. Her name was Amon, and she was the queen of the now-demolished Shade Abbey. Her blue wings juxtaposed nicely against her creamy white feathers, and her shining silver armor.
She could've flown higher, but she was under a powerful spell that could control her altitude while flying. The two ugly beasts that walked below her were the ones controlling the spell on her.
Amon was very clumsy with a sword, and thus, was one of the first of the five to be caught. She could struggle and distract the Shianwa warriors with her powerful wings, but it wouldn't do much to help her situation.
Her sword had been confiscated the moment she was under the influence of the guards, and had no means of protecting herself.
As her wings flapped rhythmically, she reflected on her situation: "Darksol is the last person I wanted to be wasting my time working for," she stated, dryly. "Why wouldn't he just kidnap Max? His business would be done much quicker that way…" She didn't know what hit her, but she suddenly realized why Darksol hadn't just kidnapped Max. Darksol, she contemplated, wanted to see Max suffer. But, in addition, he wanted to draw Max to Panmei, with the whole Force with him!
"And the best part about his plan is that there is no one to warn Max of this," Amon said, quietly. The rest of her journey to Darksol's territory was silent.
- - -
Bright blue hair bobbed along a trail. Bright blue hair on a small, childlike head, surrounded by ugly beings. The woman's delicate robes were being dragged along carelessly on the ground, attracting bugs, dirt and filth.
A princess shouldn't be treated like this! Narsha, the princess of Runefaust, thought, horrified. How rude!
Of the five Shining Force members that were kidnapped, Narsha was the one worse off than any of the others. Rather than having two guards accompanying her to Panmei, she had six. Of course, this provided her with fewer opportunities to escape the clutches of evil that were bringing her in.
She stumbled along, gluing her eyes to the ground as she walked. There was obviously no way that Narsha could escape from the Shianwa, no matter who came to rescue her.
The blue-haired guru looked up once, and noticed a sky to match her robes. They had emerged from the forest, and were making their way through a sunny field. She felt as if this field would offer some sort of hope to set her free; she noticed several birds flying majestically toward the sky, freer than she.
Gray clouds soon consumed the sky; the sun had disappeared. One enormous, tall building stood only a few hundred yards ahead. She knew where she was. Her father had dragged her here once, having planned to imprison her in the cellars of the building.
Her father. She had never known someone to betray her more than her father had. But that was explainable. Her father was Ramladu.
- - -
An archer would feel empty without his bow. This is exactly how Hans, the silver-haired archer, felt after those savage beasts had torn him from his campsite. They had stripped him of his only weapon; he felt naked without his bow and quiver.
But most of all, Hans felt embarrassed that he had let his team down. The Shining Force needed his excellent archery skills. There wasn't an archer in a thousand miles that could equally match Hans for talent.
The bowmaster tried not to imagine what sorts of grueling tasks Darksol would force him to do – wash every window in his tower? Scrub every square inch of the forlorn place? He knew that whatever it was, he would much rather put an arrow through Darksol's thick skull.
He wondered how Ken, Lowe, Narsha, and Amon were dealing with this torture. How long would it be until he saw them again? How long would it be until he saw anyone he knew again?
A strong gust almost whisked off his hat, which was the same hue as the leaves that were dancing rhythmically in the wind. The archer's silver hair swayed in sync with the wind. Glancing at the two bulky beings at either side of him, Hans noticed that the both of them proceeded, unperturbed by the mini-gale.
The bowmaster's excellent sense of hearing picked up a very faint, high-pitched noise; someone very far off was screaming – probably a female, judging by the pitch. Perhaps it was Narsha.
Sighing, he began to wonder if he would ever be liberated. He knew he could count on Max to help him and his fellow Force members get out of this, and possibly undermine Darksol's growing empire. But something was nagging at him, something he felt was a bad sign.
He was fully able to see Darksol's tower; it loomed monstrously a few hundred yards away. Gasping, he thought of why exactly Darksol had wanted to capture him and a few of his comrades when Max was absent. The evil being obviously wanted Max to gravitate toward his kingdom, and once the leader of the Shining Force was close enough, Darksol could efficiently annihilate him and the rest of the do-gooders that would try to stop him from reigning over Panmei and everywhere else with pure evil.
"We've arrived," was all the Shianwa guards offered to Hans.
- - -
Max woke up the remaining members of the Shining Force to tell them of a special arrival they had received. Grumpily, Tao, Khris, Zylo, and Luke emerged from their sleeping spots in their campsite to discover a few acquaintances. Members of the Shining Force that had scampered off into hiding had returned to them.
In a single-file line, a blonde, female centaur by the name of Mae, a silver-haired sorceress named Anri, a magenta-haired, female archer called Diane, and an enormous insect-like being by the name of Zuika stood on the border of the Shining Force's campsite. They all appeared to be overwhelmed with relief that they had reunited.
With her crossbow securely fastened to her back, Diane marched into the campsite, followed by the insectoid being, the centaur, and the sorceress. Max greeted each of them with an embrace, or a firm handshake in Zuika's case.
Tough as she was in battle, Mae couldn't hide her tearing eyes behind her thick, blond hair or her shining silver armor. She didn't let herself break down and cry, but her eyes welled up and were wet with tears. "Max," she said, relaxing only slightly, "I can't believe we let five of the Shining Force members get kidnapped by the Shianwa."
Max attempted to comfort the blonde centaur, and reassure her that it wasn't her fault. "Mae… it wasn't your fault. If anything, it would be my fault. I was the one who left you all to be on my own for a while. I let you guys down, and left you unprotected."
Anri dug her sky blue scepter into the ground, deciding whose side to take. She breathed in a lungful of air, and interrupted the conversation. "Max, it is our fault that the Shianwa were able to capture Ken, Lowe, Amon, Narsha, and Hans. I can tell you the whole story, not just a vague description of what happened."
Max glowered at Anri. "Well, go on! Don't keep me waiting and sassing Mae!"
Anri sighed, and began.
- - -
"What's happened here, Sawen?" Darksol's voice echoed throughout the foyer of his magnificent tower. What had once been a finely polished, inviting entrance to his large tower had now been reduced to a place that looked like some sort of major battle took place within it.
The mage that had made himself out to be clandestine and sneaky suddenly turned meek and very quiet. "I- This beast tried to rebel against the Shianwa that were guarding him. They opened fire on him demo, but he took them all out in a couple of blows. I tried to stop him by casting a very powerful Freeze spell, which seemed to be very effective in paralyzing the centaur." Sawen glanced triumphantly at Ken; the centaur sat, unable to move, in the front left corner of the room.
The Evil Being scowled in the general direction of the mage. "You idiot!"
The mage's triumphant expression vanished with those two words. His master continued, "You paralyzed a valuable key in our quest to ruling over this land!"
Wow, Ken thought. I had no clue I was so valuable. He snickered quietly to himself, and gloated over his small victory.
"…you'll have to care for Ken, Sawen. And trust me, if you do anything at all to harm him again, I will have you executed," Darksol concluded.
"I'm very sorry, Master Darksol," Sawen ruefully replied. He turned to the centaur and shyly said, "Come with me to the hospital floor."
Ken grunted annoyingly and pointed at his legs. Sawen scowled and performed a Heal level one spell on the paralyzed centaur. A soothing feeling took over his legs, and Ken was able to stand up and walk again.
Even if it was great to walk again, Ken noticed with every step he took that there was a sharp, explicit pain shooting from his hooves to his flanks. Trying not to wince or flinch, Ken limped all the way to the stairwell, where he sighed. He knew it would be a tough journey up those steps, a few of them as there were.
- - -
Leaves rustled as Max led his Force through the remainder of the forest, and closer to Panmei. Of course, they were still quite a way off from Panmei, but they were gaining ground on Darksol and his reign of terror.
A twig snapped, and Max and the force spun to face in the direction that it came from. A paranoia of evil beings following them choked Max, but was relieved to see that evil wasn't about to attack them blindly.
A human emerged from the flora around them; he looked as if he was born and raised in the wild, with minimal human interaction. He looked similar to Max, with brown hair with a green headband tied where the roots grew and had brown eyes. The only thing setting them apart was that he had no shirt, but several scars on his chest. This human had a strap on his chest, which was connected on his back by a long sword. His dark green kilt-type clothing was lightened by several hues in the sunlight, and he wore no shoes.
"And who are you?" Max inquired of the man. "You look vaguely familiar."
The man appeared to be hostile toward the group at first, but finally succumbed to them and answered the question. His speaking was choppy and awkward, but the Shining Force had no trouble deciphering it.
"I… am… called Shuo," the man replied. The leader of the Shining Force studied the man for a brief moment, and decided where he had met him before.
"Shuo…I know who you are," Max blurted out. "I thought you had died that one night a long time ago." Shuo wore an expression of befuddlement. "Shuo," Max continued, "you are my twin brother."
Tao gasped in shock, covering her mouth afterwards. "Max," she said. "You never said you had…"
Max nodded. "I know. As I said, I thought Shuo had died many years ago. When we were really young, as in five or six years old, there was a very big war going on. My mother and father decided it would be best for my brothers Kane and Shuo and me to flee the country before the war hit our town. So we ran away, but we ran straight into the war that was slowly consuming the continent.
"As we were settling into our tiny campsite one night, five or six members of the enemy tribe, whom I forget the name of, crept into our campsite and tried to kill us. But they were unsuccessfully; we fought them off. However, the day following that one, Kane and I noticed that Shuo was missing, and decided that the enemy tribe had kidnapped him and killed him. We never saw him since.
"After the war, we met up with our parents again, and my mother sent Kane and I into the future using these capsules that I found in Metapha. I had no idea that she might've sent Shuo here, because Kane and I believed him to be dead!"
Anri bowed her head, and said, "Max…you should've told us." Everyone else in the Shining Force agreed.
"So Shuo, do you want to come with us in our quest to slaughter Darksol?" Max asked. Shuo nodded, and they set off again in their search for the ultimate Evil Being.