As Ansem walked the long and lonely path, he was began to feel weary. He had also began to doubt if this was the path to his long awaited Supreme Darkness. It was just a dirt road.

"I'll have my Supreme Darkness, even if I have to backtrack. I need some kind of motivation." With a sigh, he fell to his knees and glared aside. "I can't keep going like this."

He sat there for three full hours, pondering on what to do next.

"I wonder if the other road is shorter. And maybe if I go back to that fork, and then down the other road, I'll get there before this damn thing leads me to wherever the hell it's supposed to lead me!"

Ansem paused. The scent of the air had changed from it's forest and mud scent. There was something else added into the mixture...something...coppery. Ansem was compelled to stand up and fight out what the new scent was. It seemed almost exciting...but he could sense that whatever caused it was not very safe for him.

"Wait...I know what this is!" He continued down the path, now running. And there, at the bottom of the road, the very end, was a puddle of scarlet red blood. It was if it had been drained there. There weren't any trails leading to it.

"Perhaps some vampire or demon had drained a victim of its blood." He thought about the possibility. "A vampire wouldn't be so careless though. And I definitely am not up to facing a demon in battle."

Ansem kneeled beside the pool of blood. He took off one of his gloved and dipped his bare index finger into it.

"It's not very cold...I hope it wasn't recent." His finger brushed up against something sharp, and he instinctively pulled his hand out. After cleaning his hand of the blood, he found a deep cut on his finger that was spouting his own blood.

"What the hell is going on."

Gingerly, with his other hand, he reached into the blood puddle and pulled the object out.

A diamond embedded sword.

"A half elf?" Sephiroth nearly laughed.

Shenter narrowed his eyes. "Yes. I am half elf and half human. Do you have a problem with that?"

"So, if humans aren't allowed in this Varden of yours, why are you its king? You are part human, are you not?"

Shenter was silent for a moment. "That may be, but if my brother were to rule over Varden…"

"…Ansem? He'd wreck the place probably. I think he's a terrible ruler."

Shenter ignored Sephiroth's comment, "He would be over-eccentric and destroy all of the traditions of the Elvin race."

"But Ansem's human, right?"

"Of course Ansem's human."

"So then he wouldn't be able to rule right?"

"I'm not talking about Ansem."

"Then who are you talking about? You are so damn confusing!"

Shenter sighed and rubbed his brow.

"Look, I will tell you my family lineage ONCE."

Sephiroth nodded. "I only need to hear it once."

"Alright, my father is a human, my mother is an elf. My mother had my brother and me, but my brother has a different father."

"Alright..."

"But my mother's husband divorced her, remarried, and had another son. Which would be Ansem."

"So let me get this straight. You, this unnamed brother of yours, and Ansem, are brothers. But Ansem isn't related to your other brother because he has two different parents."

"Correct."

"They are both your half brothers?"

"In a sense, yes."

"Why were you keeping this a secret for so long?"

"I didn't want you snooping around in my business."