"So... Pops, I'm entrusting Maria to ya..." Edgar ordered standing in front of the high priest Alexander.
"But why Edgar?" Maria asked standing behind him "Why are you leaving me here?"
"Because where I'm going isn't safe, and I promised to keep you safe" he said, putting his hands on her shoulders "I can't allow you to be placed in danger's way..."
"Yeah... that's how I'll tell her..." Edgar thought as he paced in the room that the church provided for him, across from Maria's room, by his request of course "oh... if only I had the guts to tell her now..." he mumbled "I'm made of stone... why do I have these weak emotions..." he sighed flexing his mechanic arm "Even my arm's made of metal, yet I am still a weakling..."
"Mister Edgar?" a soft voice called as the door opened "I heard you pacing and talking to yourself..."
"Oh... hey Wally, come on in..." Ed said motioning for him to come in "Have a seat, I needed someone to talk to..."
"About what sir?"
"first don't call me sir... we're the same age... and second, I need you to tell the high-priest and Maria tomorrow morning that I'm heading towards the empire to take revenge for my people, tell her not to follow" he commanded, before picking up a small wooden bow and a quiver of arrows, then handed it over to Walter "give her this and tell her to remember me..." he sighed before leaping out the window.
"Woah... this is a tad confusing... but I'll do it sir" Walter muttered before getting cut off.
"Stop calling me sir!"
"damn... those jumis have quite good ears"
"Yes we do!"
"And that's it, after that all I could see was the silhouette oh a lone tree in the center of the moon..." Walter explained, having just explained his talk with Edgar the night before "He told me to give you this, Miss Maria" he said handing over a simple looking bow whittled from a hard wood.
"But why didn't he tell me he was going to leave?" Maria asked before looking at the bow, with interest 'I wonder when he made that...' she thought.
"He said that it would have been difficult on him, because you would most definitely decide to follow him" Walter sighed "and because he couldn't bear to see you sadden by the fact that he's going off to a most certain death"
"What!" She shrieked only to have the high priest interrupt her.
"I am sure that he knows all of the risks of his actions and has decided to take revenge for his fallen race..." Alexander said sagely "All we can do is wish him luck and hope that the great Mana goddess will watch over him..." he said solemnly bowing his head and placing his hands in a prayer.
"uh... High priest..." Walter said hesitantly.
"Not now Walter, it is prayer time..."
"but... she's..."
"Damn it alter boy, I said it is prayer time!" Alexander shouted slamming his fist onto the altar he always stood in front of.
"But miss Maria has run away!" Walter pleaded, winning the shocked face of the high priest.
"Damn... Walter, follow her and keep her safe" the high priest ordered "You will need protection out there..."
"But sir, you know I have no interest in sexual desires..." Walter interjected
"Not that kind of protection..." Alexander grumbled before handing him a large spear "This kind of protection, the monsters have begun their great migration that happens every few hundred years"
"Oh yeah... didn't the great Mana knight start his journey with the great migration?" Walter said, holding the spear awkwardly.
"Yes, now go... guard that girl with your life..."
"Why? it's not like she's a important political figure or a traveling high priestess" Walter said looking at him skeptically.
"Just go already, or it's double mop duty till the day you die!" Alexander shouted, as he pointed out the door.
"fine... fine... I'm going, but remember, you won't have poor little Wally to push around..." he muttered.
"Little walter... he dwarfs me..." the priest sighed jumping off of his stilts to reveal a man standing at 3'4 "silly young altar boy..."
-The night before-
"Smithy... I require your services" Edgar demanded putting a bag full of coins on the table.
"I have a name you know..." the smith sighed, walking into the light, a short almost dwarf-like figure with a large green helmet with two little horns sticking of on either side, holding a large mallet, which made him look even shorter.
"Sorry, I'm in a tad of a hurry, Please, tell me your name" Edgar sighed bowing his head.
"It's Watts, and stop looking down on me!" He demanded.
"Sorry, it's just that your kind short..." Edgar apologized kneeling down, still taller than the black-smith.
"Oh, and I bet your going to make a comment about my short temper, aren't you..." he muttered, gritting his teeth.
"Perish the thought Watts, all I want is my blade re-forged, and in a hurry" he said holding out a a simple black sword, all covered with rust and moss over from decades of inactivity.
"It'll take me an hour... Till then, you should probably just wait in the business room" he instructed pointing towards what looked like a dentist's waiting room.
"oh... heh, that might just be a good idea..." Edgar chuckled walking off, leaving the blade in the hands of the tiny man.
"It's done, and a very nice job if I say so myself" Watts chuckled holding aloft a light-steeled blade, a simple straight-edged blade, with a simple cross pattern for
"Thanks, here, you can have the whole sack" Edgar said handing over the large sack of coins, and held his hand out for the blade.
"What's the rush anyways, haven't seen craftsmanship like this since the last time the Jumis were in town..." he chuckled, inspecting the blade closely.
"Well... about that..." Edgar mumbled rubbing the back of his head.
"Your a thief aren't you" Watts chuckled handing the blade over "Far be it from me to judge how my work is used, I just supply the stuff..."
"Heh, thanks, you don't know how much I owe you for this..." Edgar sighed before walking off.
"Troops, MOVE OUT!" a red armored knight ordered in front of several different brigades, each led by a knight wearing a different colour, Leo the leader of the lion brigade was famous for their bright gold armor. The leader of the Serpent brigade, Pisces, was known for his strong fluent motions in battle. In a black metal hauberk adorned with large artificial wings was the mighty leader of the Bat brigade, Scorpio. The leader of the hawk brigade was known as Virgo the silver marksman, and he proves it through training the troops in the art of the long bow. The leader of the white troops was once a simple beserker, living with a pack of wolves, when he was found by the emperor's right hand man, who saw that they were a perfect match, thus the reason he was named Gemini, and why his brigade is called the 'wolf pack'. In charge of the mole brigade was a man who startled even the most traveled adventurer, His name was Sagittarius, but everyone always called him 'The mole'. The leader who was ordering the others around was the one known as Aries the fierce, the leader of the dragon brigade, and killed thousands of men, women, and children in the name of the empire. Finally, the leader of the manticore troops is one of the more calm and peaceful of the leaders, Libra of the forest.
"Oh great..." Shadow muttered, hidden by a large pine tree as he was watching the troops "did I ever pick a good time to travel by light..." he groaned, smacking his head against the tree, unknowingly, causing several pine-cones to fall, gaining the tree Libra's attention, only to be rewarded a knowing smile, as his troops traveled in the opposite direction.
"Alright... Ed... just stay quiet and back away..." he warned himself mentally as he snuck into a hallow tree, as he waited for the troops to leave "Now if only I knew the location of the empire's headquarters..." he sighed as the last of the troops left except for one lone solider, in a soft green robe, it was Libra leader of the Manticore troop "damn... he must have heard me..."
"Come out jumi, I will not harm you" Libra said tossing his staff down to the ground "And all of the others have left... so there is nothing to fear"
"How did you know I was there?" Shadow asked, peeking his head around the tree, just to check to make sure they were alone "I mean, I'm not that loud..."
"It was the pine-cones that gave you away" he snickered "now come out of hiding"
"Fine... but I'm going to keep my sword with me... I don't trust you dogs of the empire..." Edgar mumbled, a hand on the handle of his blade.
"I just wish to speak, I know your seeking revenge for your people, and I can understand that... but keep in mind it was only Leo's troops who did it" Libra explained "I was against the idea, genocide should not be a part of war..." he mused, kneeling on his knees "I beg for you to stop your crusade against us, at least leave me and my troops out of it" he said, offering over a single olive branch.
"Heh... Fine, I'll leave your men and women out of it... but mark my words, if they attack me I am not going to hold back" Edgar warned, taking the branch and started to walk off towards a large cavern, before stopping "Oh, and if I am to do this, you must promise to leave a young brown haired girl and her half wind-caller altar boy alone, they'll be coming this way in no time at all, the safe haven is in this direction..." he said "They are under my protection, and attacking them is just as if you attack me..."
"Understood, I shall warn my men immediately" Libra said before tossing a rolled up piece of parchment "You'll know what to do with this..."
"Why would Edgar run off like that..." Maria grumbled, trudging down a dirt road, the bow and a quiver of arrows over her shoulder "I could have helped him, but he left me with that old man, and the half-bird"
"You, I heard that birds can be great traveling companions..." a soft voice said from above.
"Who's there! I've got a bow and some arrows, and I'm not afraid to use them!" She shouted, drawing an arrow and aimed to the sky, only to have a robed figure catch the arrow just as it left her hand "Walter?"
"Yep, That old man told me to take care of you" Walter chuckled taking the spear off his back "And I plan to be as useful as I can be" he said, before ramming the spear backwards, hitting a rabite between the eyes with the round end.
"The poor rabite..." she sniffled as she ran over and hugged it, rubbing the small bump that was created "How could you!" she shouted, hugging the rabite even closer.
"I... I... I didn't know it was there..." Walter stuttered, trying not to anger Maria any more
"He didn't mean to hurt you little bunny..." she cooed, rubbing the rabite's forehead, as she picked it up and started walking off "Come on Walter, we still have to catch up with Edgar" she ordered as they continued down the road.
Later that night, as our three brave adventurers set up camp in a small clearing in the secluded woods, just as Maria and Walter started to drift off to sleep, a lone figure scurried away from the camp.
"Oh, I am but a lowly rabite, yet this human girl takes me in, and cares for my wounds..." the yellow limb-less rabbit sighed, sitting on the edge of a cliff "It harms me to know that at some point I will have to turn and eat her whole, such is the way of my species... but if only there was someway to get past this horrid tradition..." he sighed, staring off into the moon's light "Mistress Luna, grant me the knowledge to conquer this problem..."
"Man... so that's what it feels like to sleep under the stars..." Walter yawned, stretching his arms out "You up Maria?" he asked, standing outside of her little shelter they made out of loose wood, leaves, and moss.
"Just a sec" she said, walking out, her hair a little mussed "I bet I'm going to get a load of tangles from this..." she giggled trying to straighten out her hair.
"Then why not cut it, I think you'd look kinda cute with shorter hair" Walter mumbled under his breath, before noticing something gnawing on his foot "oh great... The mouth-thing's hungry..."
"Then let's go get some breakfast" Maria stated, pulling out a arrow and her bow before shooting down a owl "I'm getting pretty good at this, if I do say so myself"
"Finally, I've reached the area where Libra said that Leo's troops would be heading..." Edgar said, looking through the imperial orders that he was handed by General Libra "If this place is still the home of the dwarf race... Gaia's navel... sounds catchy..." Shadow said folding the parchment up and waded across the small pong into the cavern's entrance, only to be stopped by the vision of someone being attacked by a swarm of bats.
"Gah, get off me ya blood suckers!" the figure shrieked, flailing her knife around, managing to cut a few of them.
"Hold on, I'll help you out!" Edgar said, slicing a few bats away with his blade, only to have them come back with a vengeance "What are these things made out of?" he asked, before grabbing a few by their bodies and took a close look at one "These are morphs..." he grumbled, squeezing the bats out of their shape into a formless glop of black liquid.
"Morphs?" the figure, a young beast woman of the Rodent family, asked swinging her blade as it went through the stomach of a bat, only to have the hole reform after she removed it "But they live in frozen areas, what are they doing here?"
"There are two ways..." Edgar sighed, ripping the cloth off of his arm, and extracted the coin from it only to replace it with a silver coin with the elemental spirit of light, Wisp, was engraved upon, as his fist started to glow an intense light, causing the morphs, or Shadow-Zeros as some would call them, to flee "Come on, let's get to a safer location before they regroup" he ordered, grabbing her arm, and fled down a natural hallway that was formed through the ages like so many other caverns.
"Wait, I should at least know the name of the guy who saved me" she demanded, wrenching her arm out of his grasp.
"The name... It's Edgar, but that's not important right now" he ordered as they reached a small passageway.