JaN : Hey guys! Thx for the nice review Tom Valor…Yea I know it's rather a pain about the level thing..I'm gonna change it soon…even Zanza was telling me about it…anyway, thx for telling me that! I am juz gonna change it soon..

Well…I hav been havin some writer's block lately (DANG!)..Meanwhile, I was checkin out some fics and it was pretty nice! At least I got a seed of ideas from there…

I wonder when was the last time I updated this fic though…..I was so busy with forums and such….. …oh yea, I juz made some parts up though…and I know…Fighting scenesare my weakness...>

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Chapter 15 : Unsolved Mysteries

Ultima and Chiaki were both shocked with the decision, but they could do nothing to change it. True enough, as the whole house is packed. Chiaki and Ultima then settled themselves on the sofa and rested. Dexy left his video camera on a cupboard facing them. It was recording everything.

In the room, Simon was studying about a piece of red stone which he had found after vanquishing one of the undead in the city earlier. All of them were still awake, but they were heading off to sleep soon.

"Simon, you better get some sleep. Tomorrow, I'll have to discuss something with everyone. And I want everyone's attention." El said, as he was putting his shirt on before he went to the top part of his double-decker bed.

Simon nodded, but he was still wondering what the stone was. He had done research long time ago on another item he found, but he doesn't remember anything about a red stone.

"Probably I should go to the Prontera Library tomorrow then.." Simon thought, and headed off to the mattress on the floor.

He realized that Szeto was already snoring, and the rest were sound asleep. He told himself to think about it tomorrow and headed off to sleep.

While downstairs, Chiaki and Ultima still felt awkward, no matter how many times they tried to brush off that feeling. They were still thinking about what happened earlier, the confession Ultima made. They tossed and turned on the sofa, as too many things were on their mind.

"Gosh…I wonder why I'm so vulnerable to Szeto's tricks…"Ultima thought, as he rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"Can't sleep?" Chiaki asked.

Ultima looked at Chiaki and said, "Well, I guess so…."

All of a sudden, Chiaki and Ultima heard some noises in the garden. Noises that sound like someone was walking on the grass. They both got up from the sofa and looked out from a small window that overlooked the garden.

"What was that sound....?" Chiaki whispered softly to Ultima's ears.

"Well, I'm just as curious as you now. I think we better check it out." Ultima replied softly.

So they both headed out to the garden. They crept slowly and quietly to the bushes. They stick to the walls and they looked out to the back. They noticed that a cloaked person was there, and he was placing something on the ground. Then, a group of prisoner skeletons appeared in front of that cloaked man. The cloaked man looked as though he was ordering the undead what to do, but Ultima and Chiaki kept a close watch. Then, the cloaked man vanished into thin air. The group of skels then walked towards Chiaki and Ultima.

"Chiaki, go up and wake everyone. I have this bad feeling that these undead are out to kill us." Ultima ordered as he took out his sword and gripped it tightly.

Chiaki nodded and quickly ran into the house. She woke everyone up and told them what was happening. Suddenly they heard a loud crash. Everyone headed out to the garden and saw what happened. They saw that Ultima was thrown to the walls, creating a loud crash and Ultima fell to the ground, unconscious. Ultima wasn't able to handle the whole group of undead all by himself, and thus; the undead had given him a hard blow.

"Ultima!!" everyone shouted.

Chiaki quickly ran towards him and took him to a safe spot behind where the gang stood. Everyone got their weapons ready, and began their battle. While they battled with the undead, Chiaki kneeled next to Ultima who was lying unconscious on the ground. She healed him, and he regained consciousness.

"Ultima! Are you alright?!" Chiaki exclaimed worriedly.

Ultima was still opening his eyes and he looked at Chiaki. They stared at each other for quite some time before Chiaki looked away.

"Thanks.." He said, as he touched her cheeks.

Chiaki held his hand, and she looked down.

"It's my pleasure.." the reply came from Chiaki.

Then, a big blast occurred. Nicot was injured and was unconscious. LeGhazo saved him, for as he's now a Priest. After sometime, the undead was finally vanquished. Again, bits of a red stone were left behind. Szeto picked it up, and Simon observed it.

"I think this has a connection to the attacks in Prontera earlier." Simon said.

Everyone stared at Simon in a way that they were unsure of what he had said, but Simon was confident that his thoughts are true. Then the whole gang observed the stone. It shone at the streak of light, but it was not as precious as diamonds.

The next day, everyone headed to the Library of Prontera. As they searched for information on the red stone, finally Rhine found some information on it.

"Look guys! It says here…." Rhine pointed at the book.

Everyone pored over that specific page of the book and it says that the stone was used summon monsters, but with the help of the Dead Branch. If monsters are summoned, the stones will become the barrier to shield the monsters from attacking the summoner. The branch will then vanish and the stone is left behind, as it can only be used once.

Everyone looked at each other and thought.

"But even if its left behind, we still can't track who summoned.." Elaine said.

"Wait! There's more!" Rhine exclaimed as she pointed to the words in the book.

It seems that the stones had no longer been used since The War era. During The War era, attackers use the stone to summon monsters and protect themselves from being attacked by the monster itself. The monsters will then treat the summoner as their master and then follows their master's wish.

When the King of Volsug had won over the battle between the kingdoms, he made a rule that the stones shall be destroyed. Soldiers confiscated the stones from all the citizens of the kingdom and he commanded the slaves to destroy the stones in the coal mine. But the King only selected a few slaves to destroy the enormous pile.

"If the slaves were asked to do that, probably one of them had taken the stone secretly to summon their own monsters…" LeGhazo said.

The rest agreed. This time, they searched high and low for the list of slaves that were commanded to destroy the stones. Finally, Szeto found something. He pulled out a scroll, and the names of the slaves were written on it.

He gathered everyone and they looked at the worn-out scroll. But to their dismay, the names listed there were based over a century ago. Everyone sighed.

"Wait! How 'bout if we search for their generations instead?" El suggested.

So the rest continued searching. After a very long time, they finally found some information on some of the slave's generation. Some of their children had passed away during the war or from some disease. So only three of them are still alive…And is lurking around in Rune-Midgard.

So they left the Library as soon as they were done with their research. When they got out, they realized that the sun was already setting! They rushed home quickly and were just in time to join Xan and Selena for dinner.

"Wow…you all spent quite a long time I see…" Xan said.

"Ah…(pants)…we're so sorry! (Pants)…." El said, as he continued panting from the run they made from the library.

Well…some of them ran too fast until they banged on El.

"OUCH!! Watch it!!" El yelled, as he was flattened by the pile of the people.

The rest scrambled back up from the fall, and apologized to El. Thank God El was fine!

"Heh heh….sorry dude…." Nico (he shall now be named Nico) said as he smiled nervously.

"Well..Let's have our dinner now, shall we?" Xan told everyone.

The rest nodded their heads and took their places around the dining table. By looking at their faces, there's no doubt that they love Xan's cooking.

Not long later, everyone finished their dinner. As they girls helped each other with the dishes, the guys discussed about the next research for tomorrow. Once the girls were done, they joined the guys and continued with the plans.

"Man……can't believe it….we've been discussing our plans since 8…and now….it's…..1…" El said before he started yawning.

The rest couldn't agree more, as it is past midnight. Suddenly…

"Wait guys….listen…" LeGhazo said in a soft tone.

Everyone strained their ears to listen to what was happening outside. The same thing like last night. Footsteps. The atmosphere was really quiet. Everyone crept slowly and silently to the door. El opened it slowly and the rest tailed behind him as he walked outside. At the door, El stopped at his tracks. He was looking at the roof where he saw a cloaked figure standing. Before he knew it, the cloaked figure began summoning monsters. The monsters jumped to the ground and surrounded the party.

Of course, this time, the amount of monsters were twice as much as last night. The gang began their battle. They fought and fought, but the number of monsters began increasing. Rhine, who was caught off-guard, was attacked by the Loli Ruri that was summoned and she was taken away.

"RHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Evan shouted in horror.

The cloaked figure on the roof then sped off into a portal. Evan quickly jumped to the roof but he was too late. The portal had closed right before him! What was left was the red stone and Rhine's necklace. He grabbed the items and clenched it in his palms.

Rhine….Stay strong…..I'll be back to save you!

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JaN : I finally updated…(that's a surprise) since I was busy with many local forums and such….One big hassle I tell ya…

Well, after months of not touching the fics, I realized that when I first wrote it, I was desperate for some romance in my life. You can tell by seeing the way I wrote it. My life changed a lot this year though. I finally found romance although I had been accepted by 2 people in my life last time, but nothing much happened between us. I've gone through so much with the current one. (A lot I tell ya) When I first wrote this, you can see that there are parts in the story about kisses and all, it's because I've never gone through that stuff before. Now, I'm very happy and well, fictions are fictions right? Hehe…

p/s : Anyone has Friendster or msn or yahoo here? Add me!! Add me!! (U can check my email in my profile…hehe)