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Chapter 8: The Plan and... 27!

Everyone was now inside the audience chamber again. Cliff and Nel had just returned from Airyglyph, bearing the King's answer. He had accepted the story about 'Outer-space beings' and what not, but also insisted that he and the Queen spoke directly. The meeting place was to be one of the halls in the Ancient Ruins of Mosel. Queen Romeria decided to comply to his request, leaving Lasselle in charge and telling him to do his best in completing the Thunder Arrow. Having been chosen as her bodyguards, Fayt and his friends led the Queen towards the Ruins. Shuyin gave a mental sigh.

'Great, just why did they have to choose that particular place? Its a long walk from here...'

As the group proceeded towards the Sanmite Steppe, a small group of Dragon Brigade soldiers suddenly blocked their way.

"What do you want? We're on our way to speak to your king. Let us pass!" Nel demanded.

"No." The apparent leader answered bluntly.

"WHAT?" Cliff blurted.

"What's the meaning of this?" Maria asked.

"This war is not over. If Lord Vox were still around, he'd have stopped this sissy negotiation by brute force." The leader snarled.

"What?" Fayt said.

"I am Schweimer. Now that Lord Vox and Lord Demetrio are gone, I lead the Dragon Brigade. I will not recognize any peace with the dogs that killed Lord Vox!"

"Does the king know of this?" Queen Romeria inquired.

"Hah! How could he? I should imagine he's waiting for you fools to arrive at the rendezvous point!"

"Cretin! Watch your tongue when you speak to Her Majesty!" Nel drew her daggers threateningly.

"You shall let us pass." the Queen told him calmly.

"And I say you shall not pass! There's no need for peace! Airyglyph rule is the best thing that could happen to Aquaria!"

"You really are an idiot." Cliff sighed.

"You can say that again." Nel agreed.

"All right, whatever. Shall we teach this idiot a lesson or two, guys?" Maria asked.

"Yeah!" said Fayt, already preparing his sword.

The two sides charged. Schweimer had two dragon riders with him. Cliff and Nel faced one of the riders, while Shuyin took the other. Fayt and Maria went against the boss. Nel was leaping about, slashing everytime she got near the rider. Frustrated, the rider began to swing his lance madly, while his mount began thrashing with it's claws as well, trying to get a hold of the pesky Crimson Blade. Cliff took this chance when his foe was preoccupied to jump up and hit him with a Hammer of Might. The shockwave disoriented the rider and the beast, long enough for Nel to yell "Ice Needles!" and sent waves of sharp shards of ice against them. The ice cut into the rider, both cutting and numbing him. Cliff charged right up at the wounded dragon, and delivered 3 consecutive punches (Electric Fist) with so much force that the dragon was flung to the ground. Just as the rider was about to get up, Nel swiftly stabbed him in the back. The rider fell, and Cliff wasted no time unleashing a large sphere of energy to finish up the dragon.

Meanwhile, Fayt and Maria were struggling against Schweimer. He clearly admired Duke Vox just as Demetrio had done, but he was more skilled than the him. He would fly back just as they were about to hit him, then swoop down quickly and pounce. Fayt charged, and so did Schweimer. Just as they were about to collide, Fayt side-stepped, making Schweimer go right past him. As he passed, Fayt quickly slashed with his sword, but was parried by Schweimer's lance. Maria took aim at the rider and fired, but he had excellent reflexes, dodging the bolts swiftly and urging his mount out of the day evasively. He flew straight at her while continuing to dodge her shots. He thought to himself, 'Heh, too easy, that brat can't hit me with his sword as long as I fly high, while the girl seems to have a rather slow shot from... whatever that thing she has is.' Just as he was in stabbing distance with his lance, Maria suddenly shot multiple blasts, so that the whole area in front of her was peppered by blaster fire. Surprised, Schweimer jerked back and turned away, only to find Fayt descending upon him, sword held high above his head. Schweimer barely managed to parry, then flew higher, as a thin blue light shot clear through his torso. The rider gasped and fell from his mount onto the ground below. Fayt gave a slight cheer as Schweimer's dead body hit the floor.

However, the fallen rider's mount became a problem. It roared and swooped down on the two youth, breathing flames and swiping with it's claws. Fayt got caught in the fire and jumped back, clutching his singed arm. Maria took potshots at the dragon in order to draw it's attention. The beast dodged the shots and began soaring straight at her, ignoring the wounds it was receiving from her gun. Maria let out a frustrated growl and leapt sideways, allowing the dragon to fly past her, and turned around to take aim at it's back. But the dragon was already lying on the ground, knocked out cold. Shuyin was lowering his lance. Fayt and Maria looked towards the rider he had been fighting, and saw that rider was trapped beneath his own mount, both unconcious. Cliff and Nel brought the Queen and joined them. Fayt noted that while Shuyin cut down monsters and scums such as bandits, but usually spared most average soldiers. Shrugging mentally, he and the others continued their long journey to the Ancient Ruins of Mosel.

On their way to the Ruins, the group passed by the Lost City of Surferio, where they met up with Roger and his so-called gang and rivals. In order to search for the treasures described in some mysterious books they found, Roger decides to join up with Fayt once again. With a new member (or not-so-new), Fayt and the rest continued entered a cave and exited it on the other side, the scorching Mosel Dunes.

"Argh! This place is burning!" Fayt exclaimed.

"Yeah, no kidding, how are we supposed to get throught this!" Cliff added.

"Hmmm... if I remember correctly, there should be some oasis scattered here and there in this deserrt..." Roger recalled.

"Okay, so where are they?" Cliff asked.

"How should I know you duffus! Don't you realize how huge this place is!"

"Why you..."

"Guys, guys, calm down, you'll just drain yourselves even more." Nel intervened.

"Ah, you worry for my well-being? I am so touched beautiful miss!" Roger said in a supposedly-gallant-manly manner.

"...on second thought, carry on Cliff." Nel said in a flat tone.

"So, I guess we should scout out the oasis as we move on in order to keep ourselves cool." Maria commented.

"...Your majesty, are you sure you want to go through this?" Nel asked concernedly.

"I'll be fine, let's keep an eye out for those oasis." Queen Romeria assured her.

"Geez... where should we start?" Fayt wondered, staring out at the vast sea of sand and rock.

"...over there." Shuyin pointed.

Since no one else had any other suggestion, the group followed Shuyin, occasionally running into some of the desert monsters. After they walked for a while, the group had indeed stumbled across an oasis. Burning with heat and thirst, everyone took a quick rest. They continued to follow Shuyin's directions, which never failed to take them to one oasis after another, until they finally arrived at the Ancient Ruins.

"Wow, what an old clump of rock." Cliff said as he stared at the shabby ruins.

"...beasts that have adapted to this environment has taken residence in here, be on your guard." Shuyin cautioned as he walked on ahead.

Sure enough, the place was filled with powerful, ferocious beasts. How the King might've possibly gotten through these was almost puzzling. Shuyin, Fayt, and Cliff went up front and slashed apart any beasts that came charging at them, while Maria and Nel stood back to guard the Queen. After quite a bit of fighting, they finally made it to a hall with a circular table in it, where King Aiyglyph XIII, or King Arzei, and Count Woltar. Once greetings were over and done with, they went into discussion about how to deal with these new invaders. Even thought Airyglyph had control over some air dragons, they were not big or strong enough to carry the Thunder Arrow, and having multiple dragons carrying it would cause movement and coordination problems. In the end, Arzei and Romeria decided to attempt to capture an air dragon of immense size and strength that was called, The Marquis. Shuyin flashed an almost invisible smile upon hearing that name. Everyone except Maria, who was right next to him, failed to notice.

"What's so funny?" She asked him.

"Huh? Oh, it's... nothing."

"I don't think you would grin for 'nothing'." Maria pressed on.

"Well... Let's just say its an old memory for now, okay?" Shuyin replied, a more visible grin on his face.

"Hmm... Alright, I'll let it pass for now." Maria said mischievously.

"Albel?" Nel's voice snapped their attentions back to the meeting.

"Do you object? I, for one, am quite fond of him. What do you think, Romeria?" Arzei asked.

"I consent. This Albel shall travel with the party... You do not mind, do you?" Romeria consented.

"I personally don't mind, but..." Fayt trailed off.

"It doesn't matter what we think. The problem's gonna be what Albel thinks." Cliff said.

"Then it is settled. Albel will be waiting for you in Airyglyph. You can meet him there." Arzei told them.

"We understand." Fayt acknowledged.

"We will be expecting you."

"I must ask that you take us to Peterny, Clair can escort us from there. After that, you may head to Airyglyph." Romeria told her 'guards'.

"Yes, your majesty." Nel answered.

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Once the group was back in Peterny, Clair bid Nel and the others good luck and left with the Queen. The rest of the group headed to Airyglyph and met up with Albel, who was locked up in a dungeon at the time. It appeared that Duke Vox had accused him of treason when Albel let Fayt go at the Kirlsa Training Facility and failed to stop them from taking the copper later. At first, Albel the Wicked merely laughed at the idea of beings from another world, but as Woltar got serious and told him that he was to aid the Aquarians in capturing the Marquis, he had no choice but to take it somewhat seriously. Not at all happy about working with 'Aquarian Scums', Albel was released and joined the group on their quest to secure the almighty lord of air dragons.

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Fayt and Co. arrived in Peterny pretty late, and decided to spend a night at the inn. Since they were free until the next day, the group discussed what to do until then. Nel mentioned that there was a Inventor's Guilds nearby, where one could sign up as an inventor and submit any new things he or she creates. It was supposedly quite a hit these days. Seeing as there was nothing better to do, they decided to check it out. Once inside the building, they introduced themselves to a girl named Welch, who assisted the Guild Master. After being briefed on what the Inventor Guild was all about (Invent, file patent, hope its not some piece of crap, etc.), they decided to try it out.

"All right, now we just need some basic information about each of you, you know, like name, age, and occupation." Welch told them and gestured at Fayt. "Okay! You first!"

"Umm... My name is Fayt Leingod, age 19, I'm a college student from Ear-, I mean, an engineer from Greeton." Fayt quickly corrected himself. He didn't think that revealing the fact about 'Beings of another world' to common civilians was such a good idea.

"Wait, college student? Engineer? You're kinda confusing me here." Welch said.

"Oh, I said I'm an engineer from Greeton." Fayt repeated.

"Okay, thanks, next!" She turned to Cliff.

"The name's Cliff Fittir, age 36. I'm a Greeton engineer like the kid here." Cliff said smoothly.

"Oh, are you guys partners? That's nice, anyways, next!" She faced Nel.

"Nel Zelpher, age 23, agent of Aquaria."

"Oh? Now that's rather unusual. And you?" She nodded at Albel.

"Albel Nox... 24, Captain of the Black Brigade... Anything else, worm?" Albel snarled as if he thought this whole thing was pointless and stupid.

"Ooooookay... You next!" Welch said after giving Albel a funny look.

"Maria Traydor, age 19, umm... just an acquaintance of the engineers" Maria said uncertainly.

"Uh-huh, right." Welch jotted that down. "what about you kid?"

"Roger S. Huxley, and I'm not a kid! I'm a real man of 12 years of age, ya know! Oh yeah, I'm also the boss of the best gang in Surferio." Roger said hotly.

"Suuuure you are." Welch finally turned to the last one. "And you are?"

"...Shuyin Magna, age 27, wanderer." Shuyin said simply. He noticed that all of them were staring at him. "What?"

"TWENTY-SEVEN!" They erupted.

"...yes?"

"What the? You look around Fayt and Maria's age! But 27!" Nel exclaimed.

"Seriously, you made me think you were still a kid or something!" Cliff said.

"...The worm is actually older than I am?" Albel said with hidden astonishment.

"Uh... I know they treat me like a kid when I'm 12, but 27, that's waaay extreme."

"Wait a sec..." Cliff thought. "If you're 27 now, then 7 years ago... Wha- you were TWENTY back then!"

"...yes, what of it?." Shuyin didn't see what the fuss was all about.

"You know, you really don't look that old, that's probably why." Maria told him.

"...Oh." was all Shuyin said.