Here's the third chapter. I will now answer some requests and questions. Lets see...

Here's one, is there gonna be any fluff? Well, I do not plan to have Albel coupled with Nel or with anyone for that matter. Don't you agree there has been enough stories with them together already? Albel is solo in my story.

And what is with Roger's dream about the chicken? It's for laughs. Roger's just a little kid. Don't be mean.

Lets see, I am accepting anonymous reviews. It's just that no one that would be considered anonymous has left a review. I accept any reviews of my story. And thanks for that compliment!

I will try harder to add more details. I am the kind of person who likes to get straight to the point and skip all the other junk. But I understand there are others who read this besides me.

About the having trouble telling who's talking... I try not to put too many he said, asked, etc. tags. It's a little repetitive and it makes the story duller by adding the same verb over and over, but I'll see what I can do.

Well, I'll just get to the chapter. Thanks for the reviews and compliments! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter III: It Begins

"Come on, Albel! It's time for me to go home!"

"Roger, leave him alone. He had a rough night."

"But he's taking so darn long! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

"I swear..."

Roger was obviously anxious to get home but a little problem was in his way. Albel had finally fallen asleep only a few hours before and was still asleep by the time Nel and Roger had already awoken. The Menodix wasn't pleased with this.

He poked at Albel's nose.

"Come on. Wake up, Sleepy Head!" he said poking more and more.

Albel turned over facing the cave wall. Roger became aggrivated.

"WAKE UP ALREADY!"

He kicked Albel right in the back of the head rather hard.

"Roger!" scolded Nel.

"He asked for it!" said Roger.

"You didn't have to kick him in the head."

"It's either my foot in his head or my axe!"

Albel turned back over and sat up now awake. He glared at Roger as he rubbed his head.

"I'll let you off, but next time I'll make you food for the maggots," he said.

"I don't wanna die! Can we please leave so he doesn't have a chance to kill me?"

"Well, you're finally awake. Did you sleep well?" asked Nel.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Cranky, are we? Maybe we'd better leave. Come on guys."

The three set out for the Sanmite Steppe once again. The sun was shining bright with no clouds to be seen. Once on the steppe, they could see the river was much wider.

Soon, Roger was waving good-bye back in Surferio. Nel and Albel went to Peterny afterwards. In the center of town, she headed north.

"My mission is complete. I must be going back to Aquios now," she had said before parting.

Albel really didn't care and headed south for Airyglyph. Finally, I can go in peace. Hopefully the king didn't notice my absence, he thought. But I'm hoping too much.

He continued on his way through the Palmira Plains, Arias, the Aire/ Kirlsa Hills, and finally Kirlsa. Albel went through the Traum Mountains.

As he finally approached the bridge connecting to Airyglyph, he thought he heard a whirring sound from above. Albel looked up behind him to see something small and black. It was barely noticable but it gradually became larger.

Albel pulled out his sword out of a strong instinct that whatever it was in the sky was dangerous. He saw that the black object had a lit fuse.

"A bomb?" he mumbled to himself. "It seems a little off."

Then he realized it was bound for the city. Just then, he heard an explosion. Albel looked behind him to see fire erupting from the city. There was another boom and more flame from another area. He saw another pillar of flame from the bomb that he had just seen.

"What is going on?"

Albel heard another whir. It sounded closer to him. But before he could see what it was, there was an explosion very close to where he was standing. He felt only a few seconds of pain before he became unconscious.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in bed with a nurse by his side.

"You're awake," she said. "How are you feeling?"

Albel didn't answer. This was all so sudden. First he was on the bridge watching fire spawn from inside the city of Airyglyph and now he was lying in bed aching all over. What was going on here?

"Judging by your silence, I guess you don't know what is going on," said the nurse.

"What is happening?" he asked.

"Aquaria and Airyglyph are currently under attack."

"Under attack? By who?"

He didn't wait for her to answer. Albel bolted out of bed ignoring how painful each step he took was. He noticed all the wounds on his body. Only some of them were in bandages while the others left very visible blood.

His first thought was to find the king. Then Albel thought, I'm talking to the king presented like this? But he didn't care enough now. He just wanted answers.Soon, he found Airyglyph XIII who looked quite surprised to see him.

"Albel? What are you doing? You are not well," the king said.

"Who's attacking us?" Albel demanded staring the king straight in the eye.

"So you've heard. Indeed, we are under attack. But I believe it is best if I told you more after you are in better condition."

"No, tell me now."

"Please Albel, listen. You are not in a good state. It seems you were hit by one of those exploding devices that landed in our town. You must rest and ease your mind for the time being."

"No! Answer me! Airyglyph is as much my concern as it is yours. I have the right to know now!"

"Very well. We have had reports from Aquaria that they have been under attack recently. Soon after we recieved the news, we were attacked as well. Luckily, only three explosions were reported in the city. Another good thing is that no one in the city was injured. You were the only one."

"But who was it that attacked us?"

"Our reports confirm it was Greeton."

"Greeton? But they have shut themselves off from the world! And what did we do to enrage them?"

"We do not know right now. The strangest thing is how they managed to launch those attacks without any sight of their people."

"They didn't send any troops into our borders?"

"No. I do not see how they sent those bombs all the way from Greeton. They do have a higher technological level than we do, but we believe it is not that much higher."

Albel became silent and looked away from the king. What did we do? We haven't attacked anyone besides Aquaria and that was a long time ago, he thought. Greeton hasn't had contact with the rest of Elicoor II for centuries. Why would they want to start now when there isn't an apparent reason to? Does this mean... there will be another war? The biggest war this country has ever seen?

His thoughts were interupted when a Black Brigade soldier walked into the audience chamber. He handed a scroll to Airyglyph XIII. The king examined it carefully, his eyes becoming a little wider in surprise.

"The Sanmite Republic was attacked too but the bombs didn't get very close to their borders," he announced. "The main cities of the republic are beyond reach so they think Greeton will give up on them for the time being."

"Why is this happening? We didn't do anything. And now the Sanmite Republic was a target?" said Albel getting more confused the more he dwelled on the problem.

"We will have to enter war once more. Airyglyph's future is at stake as well as Aquaria's. But we shall all discuss this later. Albel, you must rest now that you know. We'll have a conference when you are better."

He couldn't argue now that the questions he had asked were answered. Albel walked away not knowing or caring where he was going; he had forgotten what room he had stormed out of. Only after a few minutes of sauntering around, the nurse found him.

Albel once again was back in bed with the nurse tending to whatever wounds he had. Even after all the explaining, he was still very confused. It wasn't only about what had happened to him. It was also about this war that Airyglyph XIII was going to declare. It was about why Greeton had a sudden thirst to attack the continent of Gaitt. He couldn't take all the unanswered questions. Why was this happening?

He dwelled on in thought. More war? I always enjoyed war and I still do. But not at as much as in the past. People may not see it, but I have changed somewhat. War doesn't seem too enjoyable at the moment. And that nightmare triggered by memories of my past... What if more come? What if Aquaria and Airyglyph are forced to resort to bloodshed for the sake of our future? All those years... killing because it was my duty... bathing in my victims' blood because it was my duty... risking life because it was my duty... And it wasn't too long ago I ended my travels with Fayt and the others. They taught me there's more to life than killing. I secretly listened too. I earned their trust. I helped save the universe from the evil that threatened to destroy it. Evil was what people said I was. Destruction was what I used to do best. But do I have to give all that up because of what's happening now? If I must, so be it. If I must slaughter again, I will. But... it's such a waste. Maybe I don't have to do this by myself. There has to be some way to bring back the group. They can help. Maybe they can't fight a war this big, although I highly doubt that, but with them being nearby, my mind might rest easier. There are some things we all must resort to, and in my case, old allies. Sure, I've changed but not everything about me has. They are all still worms.

That chapter was a little shorter, but the next ones won't be this short. They will have a lot more action too. And a whole lot of other junk! Please leave a review. BTW, I think the last chapter was better than this one. But that's because there wasn't very much action in this one. Well, hope you continue reading my story!