Thefrogkiller Sorry I haven't reviewed your last . . . 3 chapters? XD I kind of got occupied and haven't got the chance, but I swear to thee I will! Lol. And I shall dedicate my chapters to whomever I want to. Mainly it's also because you're pretty much the only one reading this anymore.

Chapter 8

"Here are the files sir." A quiet and polite voice commented as a pale and slender hand set a folder stacked with papers on the inside down onto a neatly polished table. The speaker was a young Elvaan male, who in all honestly looked extremely nervous. The Hume who sat at the table paused in his writing to glance up. Smiling at the young adventurer he nodded courteously to the other individual.

"Thank you." He commented politely before stretching and giving a soft groan. When the Elvaan looked at him in concern, the Hume grinned slightly. "Do not concern yourself, it's just sitting for hours in this armor that is agony. Accursed second in command of mine is so convinced that an arrow will come flying through the window and kill me if I'm not wearing it." He said lightheartedly. The Elvaan gave a soft appreciative laugh and the Hume smiled again. "Dismissed." And he went back to writing away with a Yagudo feather quill. Two minutes later the Hume was forced to look up again when he realized the Elvaan had still not left his office.

". . . is there something you need?" He asked teasingly. The Elvaan flushed and cleared his throat.

". . . uhm. . . sir? If I may be so bold as to ask a question . . ." The Paladin Hume smiled encouragingly.

"You know you are free to speak your mind around me Ziggeraut. What is it?" Zig blinked hesitantly, than sighed and rubbed the back of his head nervously while averting his gaze slightly.

"Well . . . sir, is it at all possible to . . . to . . ." He suddenly took a deep breath and stood straighter. "Would it be possible to accompany you to the Tavnazian stronghold Commander Artemis?" He asked trying to sound confident, though inwardly he was praying. Artemis hid a smile behind his hand, though the corners of his eyes crinkled with mirth at the young adventurer's obvious shy personality. When he finally got control of himself, he let his hand drop to the desk and nodded with a cheerful smile.

"Certainly, it would be good for you to see more of the land we protect. I will make the arrangements with Wiicloud right away." Zig blinked in surprise, then grinned.

"Thank you commander!"


"They're gone! Tavnazian was wiped out by the Beastmen Zig! Artemis is dead!" Angelsheart wailed. Time once again, slowed to a near unbearable pace and Zig could swear he heard in the distance the sound of something shattering. He vaguely realized, it must have been his world, for his mind had gone empty in attempt to absorb this new bout of information. He could almost see the glass shards of reality falling around him, each piece striking against his skin leaving an imaginary wound of agony. His world was breaking. All faces in the clearing, save for the generals suddenly turned to shock, horror, or disbelief. Zig's was a mixture of all three as he tried desperately to comprehend this new turn of events. Although the silence created by Angel last for what seemed an eternity to Zig, it was eventually broken.

"T-t-that's impossible!" Scwol cried, his face in shock as he took one step forward. "There is no way Tavnazian could fall, it held three of the official army's battalions! And 7 more battalions worth of local militia!" He desperately pleaded, trying to make the outcome impossible in his mind.

"Yeah, well it fell." Kierra finally spoke. He turned to face them with tears tracks streaming down his cheeks. His eyes were hollow and filled with an aching misery, anyone could see his heart was breaking. "Don't you get it Scwol?" The Hume continued heavily. "They're all dead. Lageato, Bowmen, Onidrushka, Muramasa, Art-"

"SHUT UP!" Scwol shrieked angrily while drawing his sword. "You're lying! You fucking traitor!" Tears were starting to crawl down the Paladin's cheeks as his face became a mask of fury. His eyes had gone hard and his body tense, he seemed set into a mode of disbelief.

"Scwol!" Miaah cried shocked. "Scwol calm dow-!"

"You're fucking lying!" The Paladin cried, ignoring her. "I'll kill you for saying things like that about him-!" Kierra scowled at the other Hume mockingly.

"What's wrong Scwol? Too weak to accept the truth?" He demanded, pain making both their tempers frail and personalities explosive. A dangerous combination.

"You're probably the spy you blasted Dragoon!" Scwol snarled. "Did you lead the Beastmen through a secret entry into Tavnazian so that they could be attacked from behind? Or is your plan to make us lose hope so that when a call comes for reinforcements, we'll see it as a trap or some mere form of trickery?"

"Scwol! Kierra!" Laiata tried in vain, trying to calm both of them down, but they both ignored her.

"How dare you accuse me of betraying Artemis!"

"It's probably true isn't it you son of a bitch!"

"That is enough!" Miaah cried moving forward. Scwol however in his despair, acted rashly.

"BACK OFF MIAAH!" He snarled shoving her back and she landed with a yelp on her backside.

"Scwol Karigami, control yourself!" A voice suddenly yelled harshly, and there was a resounding slap as a hand struck the Hume across the face. Scwol stumbled back a step, his face in open shock as he glanced back at the one who had struck him.

"W-wha . . .?" Draish stared at him harshly, his arm still raised and his eyes were glittering with some unknown turmoil.

"Calm yourself." Draish hissed softly at the Paladin who seemed to be completely surprised by his friend's actions.

"B-but you heard him! He's lying! The son of a bitch is-!"

"If I have to slap you again, I will." Draish snarled softly. "Control yourself, reckless fury like that is what tears countries apart." There was a tense silence as the two glared at each other.

"Scwol . . . please." A soft voice broke in, Scwol turned to see Miaah, she hung onto his arm and her face was etched with worry. Scwol tensed, before bowing his head in shame.

"I just. . . . it can't be . . . he can't be . . ."

"Cem?" A voice suddenly broke in. All eyes reverted to Comradekage who was staring at the second in commander worriedly. "Cemeille!" Com cried again. The Elvaan female in question had gone stock still, her body tense and her gaze unwavering. Suddenly her eyes rolled back and she pitched forward.

"Shit!" Com swore and dove in to catch her. "Cemeille!" He called shaking her, then he swore again. "She's gone." He muttered sourly. Avadon had fallen to his knees in shock.

". . . how could this happen?" He murmured in disbelief, Zig dully registered that the second in commands of his generals seemed to be taking this rather well. Magetsu had seemingly ignored his own agony and was instead trying to comfort Angel, though his eyes showed a despair that tore his heart apart. Vexed was being held by Chster, who was in almost as much shock as she, but Chster had only known Artemis personally for 3 months, not like the 5 years the other's had.

"Zig?" Lai whispered softly, she hadn't been in the ShadowRiders at all . . . Laiata had been a RogueKnight, a battalion run by Merzer and his second in command Ambush. Trying to pull himself together, Zig attempted to take command of the situation.

'It's initial shock . . . that's all.' Zig tried to tell himself. 'In a few minutes I'll be fine and back to take control . . . it's not a big deal . . . people die . . . all the time.'

"B-Byuu." Zig finally managed to croak out. The stunned Elvaan turned hollowed eyes on him, his arms were wrapped around his body as if he were trying to bring some warmth back into his skin. "Send out a message, have all forces in the meeting points of all the cities." His voice sounded strangely distant, like it wasn't really him talking, just some automated machine. Byuu however, instead of obeying, suddenly tensed and his empty face became infuriated.

"Is that it?" He snarled. "You've just heard our former leader died and that's all you can say? Call a meeting?" Zig stared at him, his eyes strangely empty and he didn't say anything. Byuu's anger rose even further at this.

"What the FUCK is the matter with you? We have just lost over a quarter of our forces! We are facing a crisis here! We've just lost a whole shit load of morality too! Artemis is DEAD Zig! He and 4 others of our close friends are DEAD! This is a fucking apocalypse for us!"

"Exactly, anger will only lead to a greater crisis. We have to handle this situation as efficiently as possible." Zig replied dully, his voice was empty, there was no heart into it. And again he had the oddest feeling it wasn't really him talking. Byuu scowled, and Zig could suddenly swear he felt heat radiating off from the other Elvaan.

"Is this your idea of leading?" He hissed venomously. "Is this your idea of being a fucking commander!"

"If you don't like my methods, quit." Zig said emotionlessly.

Silence.

The tense feeling of the air was so constraining, the others found it hard to breath. Draish could have sworn time slowed as Byuu's face shifted from shock, to confusion, to anger again.

"Fuck you." Byuu snarled, then he took out his linkpearl and threw it at Zig who caught it before it smacked his face. "I resign. You're a fucking leader with no heart." And with that said, he stomped off. Laiata watched him go with shock.

"Byuu-!"

"Don't bother Laiata." Zig interrupted as he started off in the other direction. Laiata turned a surprised face to him.

"Zig?"

"We need to reassure the forces before rumors get out." The Commander continued, his voice dead. Chster nodded dumbly and they started to follow, only Lai was left in the end, looking forlorn. She stood there silently for a moment, before glancing up at the sky and sighing heavily.

'Oh goddess . . . what's happening?' She thought softly.


"Well this is peachy." Rominace grumbled, in his arms he held Ginryu's sleeping form.

"We need a place to hide, I don't want any of the knights seeing her." Vinne muttered sourly.

"I know that Vin." Rom sighed with a roll of his eyes.

"Well you're the navigator! Don't you have any idea of where we can go?" The Mithra pleaded. Rom hesitated, before sighing.

"The South end is no good, guards patrol there like bees around a hive, the North is not a welcome place, definitely too many guards because it's where the Chateau is, the Port is crawling with them like a ship with rats in case of hitchhikers, and to get a Mog House we need to talk to a guard . . ." Rom sighed. "That leaves only a resident's home." He muttered heavily. There was really only one place they could go. . . sweat rolled down the side of his face and he had paled slightly. Vin blinked at him.

"Rom?"

"Follow me." The Elvaan suddenly said and took off abruptly, weaving in and out between the alley ways.

"Ack! Hey!" Vin grumbled taking chase after him. Weaving in and out between the maze like backyards and pathways, the two hastily crossed a bridge before running down some stone steps, coming out into a courtyard, the two passed some civilians who looked at them surprised. Ignoring them, Rom took a turn into a deserted tunnel, before coming to an abrupt stop causing Vin to crash into his backside.

"OW! Cripes Rom, what did you stop like that for?" She grumbled gingerly rubbing her nose. Rom glanced at her and made a shushing sound, before taking a deep breath, readjusting his grip on Ginryu's form, he suddenly ran across the open street.

"What the heck!" The Mithra squeaked and chased after him. Stopping before a resident's home, he nodded to Vin.

"Knock on the door."

"What? Are you crazy? Do you even know these people?" She demanded. Rom stared straight ahead and sighed.

"Yes."

"Oh, well in that case." And she quickly banged on the door. When there was no response, she shifted nervously from foot to foot. They were out in open view and she didn't like it very much. Suddenly she banged on the door again cursing.

"Don't you people answer your door?" She grumbled, and as if there was someone laughing at her, the door suddenly opened and Vin, not realizing accidentally rapped on the resident's head before realizing her error.

"Eep! Sorry mister! I didn't kno- HEY!"

"What the hell do you want?" The Elvaan demanded sourly with a deadpan glance at Rom, whose cloak was currently hiding Ginryu's body.

"We need a place to hide, and quickly." Rom explained curtly. Satyr sneered at him.

"You have guts to ask to enter this place again. Can't your little friends help you?" He asked with a jerk of his head at Vin who scowled.

"No, we were sent alone. I can explain more but inside, we're too far out in the open." Rom replied quickly, his voice ushered as he glanced around.

"Tough, go find someplace else." Satyr said and started closing the door. Suddenly Rom shoved his foot forward, blocking the door from closing.

"We can't!" He suddenly snapped. "Her life depends on this right now!" He hissed moving his cloak back to reveal Ginryu's body. Satyr froze.

"Wait a fucking second-! That's-!"

"Yes, now let us inside before some Royal knight spots us!" He snarled. Satyr paused, then scowled and opened the door.

"Hurry up."


"Well that worked out wonderfully." Cane commented, he sat on the roof overlooking the courtyard. When he received no response he turned a critical eye to his two companions. "Not in the mood to chat I see." He proclaimed dully with a raised eyebrow and a half dreamy smile on his face. Celan glared at him hatefully, Cliff was doing the same.

"Just what the hell are you?" Celan hissed, her eyes untrusting. Cane's smile was bemused.

"And what do you mean by that?" He asked in a sleepy voice.

"We want to know what you are, because you sure as hell aren't Hume." Cliff snarled. Cane let out a snort of laughter.

"I believe the last time I checked, neither were you."

"We were before we were altered by the lord." Cliff snapped back. "You on the other hand . . ."

"Never were." Celan finished calmly. Cane sneered maliciously.

"Is there a point somewhere in here?" He asked quietly, and suddenly his eyes flashed with some dangerous gleam and the other two froze. They recognized that gleam anywhere. Smiling his satisfaction, Cane stood and brushed himself off. The second part of the plan had gone wonderfully, acting as an advisor, Cane had pushed the princes of Sandoria into going ahead with the betrayal of the Adventurers' leader, Ziggeraut. Now to initiate the third part.

"Are you going to assist me? Or will I have to force you by using more . . . uncouth methods?" He asked viciously with a glance back at them. They both glared hatefully at him, but started forward and he smiled again.

"Good."


Cahaurme did his best not to panic, he honestly did, but he was failing, and miserably. His daughter was nowhere to be found and he had just quit as a knight, mid-life crisis was not doing it justice.

"Lillith . . . return home." He said to his wife who blinked at him startled.

"What?"

"I said return home." Cahaurme repeated gently.

"But I-!"

"Yes, I know." He interrupted her calmly. "But Ginrie might have returned to the house and is waiting for us, I need you to wait there in case she is." Lillith glanced at him suspiciously for a moment, before sighing resignation.

"Alright, but I expect you to return home safely." She whispered, a bit surly. Then she straightened, planted a soft kiss on his cheek before smiling at him. "Good luck." And she was gone before Cahaurme could question her sudden public display of affection, his wife had never been one to like public displays, so he wondered what could have changed that. Shaking his head and sighing, he started off for South Sandoria.


"Anything?"

"No, no sign of her at the secret meeting spot."

"She's not at Helbort's or Rosel's."

"Wasn't hanging out at Regine's either."

"Couldn't find her at any of the guilds either."

"Could she have gone outside?"

"Doubtful, the guards are apparently on the lookout for her." Mabs sighed heavily.

"Where could Gin have gone?" He pondered softly into his linkpearl as he stood outside the Lion's pub.

"Maybe she's still in the chateau?" Lilli offered as she ran along the pathway to the Port.

"Can't be, those two people in cloaks took her and they left the chateau, I highly doubt they'd go back." Lazarus commented as he walked down Workman's way. Mabs bit his lower lip with frustration.

'Gin . . . where are you?'


'Time . . . what is 'time' to an Elvaan? We live for eons, time is but an irrelevant word to forms such as us, beings considered untouchable by the flow of that which is time. Death is merely but the next stage of life, most Elvaans realize this at an early age. Death may hurt, it may make an Elvaan suffer for the longest time, but eventually the Elvaan will get over it . . . they never said anything about how horrible the pain is.' Zig sat in a corner of the room, head lowered so that his bangs obscured his face and he sighed heavily, rubbing an aching temple. Chster had sent out an order via the linkshell that all adventurers were to gather in the meeting points of all the cities, for an important announcement. They had been told nothing else. Already rumors were afloat in the cities, each more ridiculous than the next. For example . . . Zig glanced up wearily as two adventurers passed by, chatting excitedly.

"I heard that Tavnazian was attacked by millions and billions of Fenrir clones! But that light . . . yea you know! The one that saved us, it came struck all the summoned avatars down, and the person who summoned them fled!"

"That's ridiculous!" The Hume retaliated. "I heard it was a horde of evil treants that came to the gates and sleeped everyone with their powder! But one whitemage didn't fall asleep so they did this weird thing, you know like that spell that was done at the battle. I think one of the generals called it a Benediction? Anyway, it woke everyone up and they all stepped on the evil monsters!"

"That's absurd!" Zig sighed and let his head drop again, that was one thing about all the rumors, they all had Tavnazian surviving in the end. Only his group of people and a select few outside the ring new the truth. Tavnazian was gone. Destroyed, visual confirmation had come a few hours ago from an overhead passing airship. Since then all air routes over Tavnazian had been suspended, fortunately only the pilot had been on the deck at the time the ship had flown over the ruins of the city. It seemed his soldiers were not in favor of believing the fact that the city had been lain to desolation.

"Sir . . ." A voice interrupted and he looked up to find Chster, his face bleak and empty as the Hume nodded. "It's time."


"We were sent by our replacement commander to assist your commander." Rom explained dully as he set Ginryu down onto a cot. Satyr glared.

"Replacement commander?" He repeated in a surly tone of voice that Vin just wanted to box his pointy ears in for.

"Our current commander was out on the field doing reconnaissance missions in the Tavnazian Archipelago." Rom explained calmly as he shook out a blanket before laying it over the child. Vin sighed.

"I wonder what he's doing right now . . ." She suddenly giggled. "Probably trying to run away from his second in command and escape paperwork!" Rom laughed.

"Yeah, Art would be running from Bale." The two members of the conspirators organization laughed quietly before noticing Satyr was staring at them with open shock.

"Uhm . . .Satyr?" Rom asked halfheartedly. The Elvaan snapped out of it, eyes wide.

"ARTEMIS? General Artemis is the leader of your organization! B-but-! He's a leader of a battalion called the-!"

"ShadowRiders?" Rom completed dully, with a sigh the Elvaan motioned for Satyr to sit down. "It's a long story." Satyr glared at him surly, before grumbling and taking a seat opposite from Rom.

"Spill."

"Okay . . . during Artemis's reign as the commander over the Adventurers forces, he came to realize that their current spy network was not enough, so thus he converted members of his own select choosing to begin a new organization. With Artemis as leader of both, he chose people he was confident could run the operations adequately and would report back to him. Eventually his spy network became the greatest organization of spying, espionage, and reconnaissance. The system was thus;

The spy organization was responsible for obtaining the information and sending out soldiers to balance unstable areas when publicly viewed forces couldn't. The Adventurers army however was in charge of acting in public view, the light more specifically. However, eventually the task of controlling the two forces became too large of a burden on Artemis and he resigned from the position as commander over the Adventurers Army, electing Ziggeraut as his replacement. He did however remain the commander over the spy network and one of Zig's most trusted generals." Rom explained softly, this was not a widely discussed subject, and his only hope by explaining this was to gain some trust from the other Elvaan.

"So . . . that would make General Artemis-?"

"The link between the spy network and the Adventurers Army." Vin completed for him cheerfully.

". . . ." Was Satyr's reply, he was in silent shock. Suddenly he seemed to snap out of his daze and glanced at the other two in suspicion. "Is Commander Ziggeraut aware of this!"

"Oh yes." Rom replied without hesitation. "In actual fact, Commander Ziggeraut is one of us, he was initiated into the spy association two months before he took over the position of commander." Satyr swallowed. Hard. Leaning back in his chair he took a deep breath.

"The organization's name is the ShadowRiders, the same of that as Commander Artemis's adventurers battalion." Vin continued while petting a cat she had found, it seemed she had discovered Satyr's household pet. The Elvaan in question was having a large time of taking it all in. Finally another question came to his mind and he stared at Rom with open suspicion.

"So who-?" Satyr was suddenly cut off when a voice suddenly blared into life, glancing around wildly, both Vinne and Rominace checked their pockets and brought forth multiple linkpearls, Satyr had a hell of a time counting them all. Finally they both shook their heads.

"Not me."

"Wait- that means-!" Satyr suddenly ran upstairs, two seconds later he came bounding down again, a green linkpearl glowing in his hands as a voice called out.


"What the-?" Mabs yelped as his linkpearl, the one given to him by Draish burst into a glowing light. Lazarus, Lilli, Opeth, Hal and Bagel all had the same thing occurring to them. And it was interesting because Cahaurme just happened to be passing by when Lazarus's burst into life, Lillith had been walking by Mabs as well.


Zig cleared his throat as he stood on a raised pedestal. The faces of hundreds of Adventurers all stared at him, and he felt the burden of his position more than ever. Here were millions of people, all depending on him, needing him to guide them through this crisis, and for a moment he felt shear terror. The pressure was too much, he couldn't possibly do this! Suddenly a soft touch to his hand made him glance to his side where Laiata stood, she smiled at him sadly, a soft and encouraging smile, and immediately Zig felt shame for having been selfish.

'. . . I'm their leader, Artemis trusted me to be able to handle this job, I'm not going to let him down . . . I can't.' Zig took a deep breath, then turned back to the crowd and suddenly called out in a clear voice.

"Many of you may have already heard, Tavnazian was attacked by the Beastmen." He started, his voice calm, and clear, though inside his heart was shattering. His voice was being heard by all adventurers, all of those who followed him. Judging from the few gasps of shock and lack of drastic responses, his guess had been right, rumors had gotten out. He wondered how truthful they were . . .

"And I'm sure, from all of the rumors you have heard that Tavnazian survived." Again there were multiple nods of heads and a few excited whispers.

'My god . . .' Laiata suddenly stared. 'They think this is a congratulatory speech!' Off to the side, Byuu stood in the shadows, his arms folded, there was evident hostility in his gaze.

'There's something wrong about Zig . . . but I can't pinpoint it . . . what the hell is it?' He thought frustrated.

"Well, I am speaking to you now to tell you . . . . Tavnazian did not survive. The fortress of the west in the Archipelago, has fallen. And with it, the former leader of the Adventurers' army, Artemis Lukita. General of the ShadowRiders."


Rom stood so quickly that his chair fell to the ground with a clatter, and although Satyr would have normally reprimanded him for being so careless and destructive, he himself was in the midst of trying to think straight. It was an information overload.

". . . Ar . . . te. . . mis . . . ?" Vin whispered brokenly.


"We have had confirmation, that the city itself was laid to ruins, and the current generals Artemis, Bowmen, Lageato and Muramasa are missing." Zig said, and now although his voice was calm, tears were starting to form at the corners of his eyes. The Adventurers before him were all shocked and horrified at this. Quite a few of them had started to cry.


Faerune fell to the floor in an undignified heap, his eyes wide and hollow with shock.

'Oh gods . . . Aly.' He thought horrified, his girlfriend had been a SilverKnight, stationed in Tavnazian. A unit ruled by Lageato with his second in command Rhaina. And they were gone. Wiped out. Suddenly he let out a scream of frustration, and agony. It joined hundreds of other voices as it rang across the lands of Vana'diel.


The WindBlades . . . ruled by Muramasa with his second in command Onidrushka. Calvin who sat on the floor the cabin on the airship he was riding in, was unable to stop the flow of tears that came rushing to the surface. A nearby Mithra, held him gently, she too was crying. The only thing that linked them, was that they were both adventurers, they had nothing else. But that was all they needed, it was enough to bind them as fellow mourners.

"M-Muramasa . . ." The little Taru sobbed. "My b-brother!"


Risx was torn from the inside. Onidrushka, his best friend from training days, dead. It was incomprehensible.

'I'll wake up . . . this is all a dream . . . wake up Risx . . . c'mon!' He thought vaguely as he leaned against a wall, his expression empty, lost.

'Just a dream . . .'


Wiicloud sat in her chair, listening dully to Zig's speech, Bowmen had been one of them, as Artemis's advisor, Bowmen had been smart, witty, athletic, and a close friend of hers. Now he was dead. She swallowed noisily and buried her head in her hands crying silently.

"Wii . . ." Past murmured softly, rubbing her back in what he hoped was comforting gesture.


Zig stayed silent for a moment, before taking a shuddering breath, and suddenly he lifted his gaze, and for all the world to see, he suddenly appeared as a determined soldier, a man with no fear, a true leader.

"I could stand here and feed you all the clichéd crap that they were heroes and martyrs. I won't. We all know how great they are, we've heard the stories, I could try to list off all the things they did for Vana'diel and two weeks later I would still be here. I won't sugarcoat it, we're facing a crisis. We have just lost our most important stronghold, and several of our most outstanding commanding officers. More importantly, we have lost friends, loved ones . . . allies." Zig paused for a moment, wondering how on Earth he was going to try and raise moral. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder slightly, he was startled to see a tiny form shoving her way rudely through the crowd, finally making it to the platform, Angel climbed up, roughly shoving people out of the way with her elbows as she did, her face slightly tearful, but happy. Surely Zig was hallucinating, Angel happy? The Mithra in question ran up and whispered hurriedly into his ear. Zig blinked in surprise, and Adventurers in the army blinked in confusion, trying to dig their way out of their sorrow that had encased them. Zig stared at Angel in shock when she pulled back a little.

"You're sure?" He asked in complete awe.

"No, I'm jerking you around." She grumbled sarcastically. "Of course I'm sure!" Zig blinked at her, than nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder in a soft thanks, she nodded, her smile watery. Then she jumped off the raised platform and ran off through the crowd again. Zig took a deep breath, trying to calm his raging mind, then he stared out, a new sort of fire in his eyes. It took Byuu a moment to suddenly realize what had been wrong, Zig had always retained hope, his commander had always kept some sort of cheerful gleam in his eyes. That was what had been wrong, before Angel had spoken to his commander, Zig had lost his spark, the hope that always burned in his eyes had been gone. Now it had returned to full blaze.

"A lot of you at this point must be near mental breakdowns. Some of you may want to go out and attack every Beastmen you find, some of you will wonder what is left to life and try to kill yourselves. I am asking you, not as a commander, but as a fellow adventurer . . . and mourner, do not do this." Laiata glanced at Zig curiously, wondering what on Earth Angel had said to him. Zig suddenly smiled softly.

"I am asking you to all remain calm, our army has already suffered too many losses, and we cannot afford any wild runners." He suddenly paused. "I understand that most of you have lost all hope at this point, I won't bullshit you, I did too. But . . . I have just heard from one of my generals, that there is hope. Two of our most esteemed officers have been discovered, alive. They are weak and injured, but are alive and are expected to pull through with perfect health. Officers Rhaina and Bale are in the hospital wards right now, and are being treated by the best of our healers." He paused for a moment, to let the reaction pass, because this announcement had held an immediate affect on all of them. Adventurers suddenly looked up, their eyes filled with dim hope that maybe . . . just maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Some suddenly started smiling, maybe there were more survivors? The question was written on all their faces, and finally Zig continued.

"There were deaths, and I'm asking you to not get your hopes up too high, it makes their falling all the more painful, but I'm asking you to also not obliterate all of your dreams. Tavnazian fell only days ago, and there are people out there. Whether they are civilians or trained soldiers, these survivors are unable to reach the city walls because of Beastmen and roaming monsters. We need to keep our heads together, and find these people. We need to bring them home. They're depending on us, and as Adventurers, we cannot let them down." Zig finally finished softly. ". . . I know a lot of you are under stress, and I'm sure many of you are wondering how on Earth I can be so calm . . . I can't say anything to change your views, I'm only trying to do the job, Artemis left me. New patrols, battalions and plans will be sent out tonight, we will get through this crisis as a team. Dismissed!"


Rom calmly picked up his chair and set it right again. Satyr was already pulling on his armor and preparing to set out.

". . . where are you going?" Satyr asked softly.

"We have to report back, we'll be dropping the girl off at her house and heading back to our HQ. No doubt our leader has already found this out." He replied softly with a last glance around himself.

"I will be staying here to protect her." Vin added in as she secured her cloak around herself again, both of them looked nervous and Satyr picked up on it immediately.

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly. Rom blinked, then sighed and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly.

"Our organization is in danger. Artemis held secrets no one else knew, with him gone . . . the ShadowRiders might be completely routed."

"Rom . . . you get going, I'll carry her to her home." Vin said quietly. "You've got a long journey ahead of you."

"But-! What if some guards catch you Vin?" Vin shook her head smiling. "I'll be fine, just because I don't have my big strong warrior partner to protect me doesn't mean I'm helpless." Rom blinked at her, protest evident in his face.

"I'll take her." A voice suddenly said calmly. Both Vin and Rom gaped at Satyr who gave his belt one last jerk and stared at them defiantly. "And it's not for you, it's for my leader, he would want her to be safe." He said glancing at Ginryu's sleeping form. Then he turned away while grabbing his cape. Rom blinked in surprise.

"Sat? Are you su-?"

"Are you going yet?" Satyr snapped at him. "If it will get you out of this house faster I'm all for it." Rom blinked, than sighed, but his lips smiled a bit.

"Thank you. I'll be on my way then." And with a tiny hug to the small Mithra, the Elvaan was suddenly out the door and swiftly running through the streets using the shadows. Satyr and Vin watched him go, and suddenly the Elvaan sighed.

"You'd better not die you insensitive jerk." One of them murmured softly. And it wasn't Vinne.


In a meeting room the generals of the Adventurers were sitting around a table. Rhaina and Bale, both Elvaans were also sitting there, looking grim and haunted. Both were pale and had multiple sword injuries, but were gloriously alive, and determined. As both officers finished retelling what had occurred, Rhaina finally dropped a horrible truth.

"No, Artemis, Bowmen and Lageato are all dead, we saw them slain with our own eyes." Zig could almost feel the hopes of the others plummet like a rock. It seemed a new weight had settled in.

"I am unsure about the whereabouts of Onidrushka and Muramasa, as for other survivors, we're not sure. Forgive us, we fled without looking for survivors . . ." Bale whispered, head bowed with shame.

"Stop being stupid." Chster grumbled looking slightly offended. "It was the only way you could have survived, for that we're grateful." Although both Bale and Rhaina nodded, anyone could see that they would be cursing themselves about that for a long time to come, and Zig sighed heavily.

"Enough, it is time to elect new generals to fill the positions." He said softly, and the others all nodded in response.

"Bale, you will take command as a General, and will fill . . . Artemis's position." Zig said hesitantly, Bale paled further, but nodded in determination.

"Understood."

"Rhaina, I will need you to take the position as Bale's second in command, I'm sorry . . ." He murmured in apology for not making her a general, she simply shook her head.

"It's alright, I now see I would never be able to take the place of a General. I accept sir." Zig nodded sighing.

"Send for Satyr and Spenlin, those two will take the place of Lageato and Bowmen. I've been meaning to promote them for some time now." Zig continued softly.

"I'll send for them right away sir." Chster said with a nod.

"Good, I'll let them choose their own second in commands. We'll also need people to begin search parties in the area though . . ." Kierra and Magetsu shared a glance before nodding.

"Sir, we'll take the job." Zig glanced up sharply as the Hume and Elvaan stepped forward.

". . . . are you certain?" The two nodded.

"Yes sir, both Kierra and myself grew up in the area of the Archipelago, and undoubtedly we would be best suited to the area." Zig paused, before sighing.

"Alright, Kierra will take lead of a new battalion, and depending on how many volunteers and soldiers can be spared in the guarding of the Archipelago will determine if you become a General Magetsu. Till then you are Kierra's support for now."

"Understood." Both adventurers said.

"Did you have replacements in mind?" Angel asked softly of the two of them. Kierra nodded.

"Tammy should be a fine replacement for me." He said with a glance at Tammyxx who saluted.

"And Kaifu will do well in my position." Magetsu declared easily with an apologetic glance at Angel. "Sorry Angel, you'll have to do without my Elvaan hotliness." He teased gently. The Mithra bopped him on the head gently smiling.

"Just be careful dummy." Kaifu however sighed heavily.

"Thanks for sticking me with a barracuda man." The Hume muttered with a dull glare at Magetsu who chuckled.

"Alright, the new plans for patrolling Tavnazian will be sent out later tonight, and we need to step up recruitment, our numbers have taken a severe beating. Is there anything else?" Zig asked shuffling his papers and going through them once again. When there was no response, Zig nodded.

"Alright then, dismissed." Standing, they all saluted him and pushed in their chairs before exiting. Zig wait for the last person to leave, who was Chster, the Hume gave him a nod and a salute, before shutting the door tightly behind him. As soon as the door had been shut firmly, Zig suddenly slumped down into his chair and gave an aggravated sigh, closing his eyes, he rubbed his temples wearily, and the flood gates to his emotions, all the emotions he had been holding in, came bursting forth all at once. Laying his head down into the nest he made with his arms, he rested his forehead against the polished wood of the table, and finally cried silently, the pressure of his job finally overcoming him. He stayed that way for several moments, just letting his sorrow come out in the form of tears, and he didn't move until a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Snapping his head up, Zig gaped at the intruder who stared at him apologetically. Quickly wiping his face the embarrassed Elvaan started shuffling his papers in an attempt to regain his composure.

"Can I help you?" Zig asked, his voice slightly hoarse. If his visitor noticed it, he said nothing.

". . . . I wanted to say I'm sorry." Byuu murmured looking off to the side. "I was selfish and let out all my anger on you . . . never realizing that you were just keeping face and supporting everyone else. I'm not as smart as I thought." He murmured softly. "I just wanted to . . . apologize." He finished lamely. Zig paused for a moment, then gently set his papers down.

". . . then I am sorry as well . . . I shouldn't have said something so rash. You're my support Byuu . . . you are just as important as a friend to me as Chster . . . I never should have said that. I don't know what came over me . . ." He murmured softly. Byuu shook his head, smiling weakly.

"Nah, we were both out of our heads."

"So . . . does this mean you're coming back?" Zig asked with a glance at the other Elvaan who cuffed him gently upside the head.

"Of course I am you dope, I can't leave you alone or goddess knows what'll happen." Zig chuckled, then pulled a pearl out of his pocket. Handing it to Byuu, the Elvaan smiled and re-equipped it.

"To be honest, I was feeling a little incomplete without this thing." He commented dryly. Zig laughed.

"Well, I have to finish off the patrol plan roster, so if you'll pardon me." The Commander suddenly commented gathering his papers and tried to stand, but Byuu immediately placed a firm hand on Zig's shoulder. Zig blinked in surprise and twisted his neck around to see what was wrong, but Byuu just held his gaze squarely.

"Zig . . . your leader face is for the others, I am your friend man. You don't keep that up in front of me. You don't have to suffer alone man." Byuu whispered calmly, Zig gaped in open shock, before dropping his surprised expression and letting his head drop down, resting it against Byuu's shoulder.

"Sorry Byuu . . . habit."

"And a stinken one at that." He grumbled dully as Zig finally let his barriers drop, and let the tears flow freely. "You're only mortal man . . . and mortals cry, it shows that maybe we Elvaans aren't the high-nosed snobs everyone thinks we are." He continued softly. "We live, and die, laugh and feel pain . . . in all honesty we're not that different from Humes at all." The tactician murmured softly wrapping his arms around the shuddering form. "It's not a sin to cry Zig . . . only a sin to not."


Laiata was walking back towards the office, having forgotten to tell the Commander something regarding the patrol roster, when she reached the office door, she nodded to the guards posted outside, and they both nodded back, she smiled at them encouragingly before knocking softly on the door and waited. When there was no response, she blinked and opened the door a bit to peer inside. Her eyes suddenly widened at the site when she saw Zig crying, and immediately she felt her worry come bubbling up to the surface, before she saw Byuu standing in front of him, and held him in a brotherly hug, patting his back gently. She smiled, and Byuu, who had heard her enter smiled softly back. She nodded and closed the door with a feeling of content. She had been worried about her crush, he had been so bottled up, it was nice to know he was finally letting his pent up emotions out. She had thought it highly unfair of Artemis to dump such a load on Zig's shoulders, yes he may have been the perfect candidate, but Zig was only 19, and not experienced enough to deal with such hardships, it was times like these that he needed support. And that was what Chster, Byuu, his generals . . . and Laiata herself was there for. Whistling softly, she started walking back to her room, feeling happier then she had all day.


"Miaah . . ." There was a soft knock at her door and the Adventurer glanced up in surprise. Standing, she set down her book and opened the door, surprised to find a sheepish Scwol standing there.

"Scwol? What's the matter love?" She asked worriedly, wondering what else could have happened. Scwol blinked at her and bowed his head with shame.

"I . . . this afternoon I . . . I hurt you. Forgive me." Miaah blinked, stunned. Suddenly she rushed forward.

"No you didn't! You were hurting, I should have given you your space!" She cried staring at him worriedly. Scwol shook his head.

"You only tried to help me, and for that I hurt you. I'm sorry." He murmured softly. 'I've shamed myself.' He thought dully and sighed. Miaah suddenly scowled.

"Scwol Karigami stop that this instant! It was my fault . . ." Scwol blinked and looked up surprised, his fiancée smiled at him sadly and suddenly hugged him. "I love you okay?" Scwol blinked again in shock, before letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and smiled softly.

"Yeah . . . and your love is all I'll ever need."

Disclaimer: People who made the chars own them, I own the plot and Ginryu as such, all unrecognizable characters belong to me as well . . . that's it. Too tired to do anything, for some reason this last chapter was so agonizing to write, I didn't enjoy it at all. (sigh) The next chapter is the same, yes I am aware I sort of lied, there SHOULD be one more chapter, and it is just as agonizingly sucky as this one. Something's wrong here . . .

Author's notes: The next following couple of paragraphs was the first draft of Chapter 8, but then I found myself absolutely hating it, so I dropped it and started rewriting the copy you see today.


Chapter 8

A stunned silence fell, as all the adventurers in the clearing, aside from those who already knew tried to absorb this information, and many of them were failing. The words Angel had yelled were ringing over and over in Zig's head as his face had frozen in shock.

'Gone . . . Tavnazian wiped out . . . Artemis dead . . .' He numbly registered these points, before he rethought the last point, and his body became deadly numb. 'Artemis is dead. . . .? Art? Can't be . . . must be someone else . . . can't be, can't be, can't be . . . .'

"A-Artemis . . . ?" Zig choked out in a hoarse voice, Kiary who still sobbed into his shirt could only nod. Laiata turned to face Zig, her face full of shock, the news had hit her hard, but she wasn't so deeply affected, for she hadn't known that many people who had been stationed in Tavnazian, but the look on Zig's face tore her apart.

"Zig . . ." There was a sound of metal crunching against the gravel as Scwol sank to his knees, a look of horrified disbelief across his face.

"Scwol!" Miaah cried panicked as she kneeled beside the stricken knight. He didn't respond, his face had gone deathly pale as he bent his head forward, hands clenched into fists at his side. His shoulders started shaking, and a low sound of hoarse crying emitted from his lips as he shook.

"No . . . no . . . NO!" Byuu screamed agonizingly. He dropped to the ground slamming his fists into the stone blocks with a heart wrenching cry, he sobbed freely, tears falling down his cheeks as he did so, raising his hands again he slammed them once more into the stone floor with another yell of anger and despair.

"Byuu!" Chster yelled running over to the Elvaan's side. Chster had been recruited into the ShadowRiders for only a month, and had only heard stories of Artemis, and having never met him in real life, his death hadn't had so great an impact on him as the others. As Byuu raised his fists again to slam them into the concrete, the Hume grabbed his wrists, holding him back from damaging his hands even further, blood dripped in tiny droplets from his wounds as the Elvaan cried brokenly.

'This . . . this can't be happening . . .' Zig thought numbly. 'It's a joke . . . some fucked up dream . . . it can't be . . . it just can't . . . .'

"Zig?"

"This . . ." The Elvaan leader finally spoke and everyone looked at him. He saw their broken faces, and immediately felt the weight of his burden, they all looked to him for guidance, they needed him to guide them, and with a mental slap to his face he reprimanded himself for being so selfish, they all looked to him to lead them, and he was supposed to show them. He cleared his throat and put his arms around the tiny Mithra that sobbed into his shirt, pulling her back a little, he attempted to smile at her, and managed a weak and watery one. With a deep breath, he pulled out his linkshell and stared at it for a moment, before closing his eyes, and activating it.

---

Via teleportation, Calvin, Risx and Faerune were all at the Crag of Holla when they heard it. Just as before when their leader's voice had rang out in fury, echoing across the land, now it rang with sadness and despair.

"Members of the Adventurers Army, though many of you may have already heard . . . we face a great loss today. The Tavnazian Archipelago, home to three of the finest battalions of our forces, has fallen."

---

"And with the city, fell some of the greatest warriors we could ever hope to have. Many of us knew members from the three units . . . the SilverKnights, the WindBlades, and the-" It was here there was a small choke, and Satyr, who listened to his pearl from inside his home numbly registered the struggled his leader must have been going through, but at this point he was too stricken by the news to care.

". . . The ShadowRiders." There was a silent pause as Zig took a deep breath, that sounded choked. "I could stand here and bullshit you all about how their death's were valiant, they were martyrs and list off all the things they did, but there's no point, we all knew the greatness of our soldiers, and I'll be honest with you. We are facing a crisis, we have lost over 300 soldiers, and some of our greatest leaders. I know many of you are grieving and are seconds away from a complete breakdown. Some of you will cry, and some of you will try to kill every Beastmen you come across. And I am asking you, not as a leader, but as an ally and fellow mourner, do not do this."

---

Almost every pair of eyes was focused on him and he could swear there was sweat trickling down the side of his temple.

"I am asking you to remain calm, we cannot afford any wild runners, Tavnazian fell only days ago, and there are people out there, survivors who cannot reach city walls because of Beastmen and monsters. We need to find those people . . . and bring them home. They're depending on us and we can't let them down."