Thank you all who reviewed. Anyway, onto the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean. I never have and I never will.

Chapter 4: The Peace Conference

I decided to sit on the balcony nearby and watch the scenery. I looked back down at Maria and Fayt who were still talking and this time, since I was bored, I got closer to hear what they were saying.

"Yeah, so what do you think of Alex?" Asked Fayt.

"I really don't know what I think of him. He is quite the enigma," replied Maria.

"That's for sure. He seems like one of us but at the same time, he is some how different."

"Yeah. He was able to identify a wave length that we couldn't, he was able to dispel that 'summon circle', and I have never seen a weapon like the one he wields before." Fayt nodded.

"Same here. I've never heard of or seen a weapon that can block a blast from a disrupter rifle." I slowly walked away having lost interest in their conversation. Okay, maybe I should be a little more careful from now on when I use something from where I come from. My swallow I have no choice but to use, but everything else will have to be used sparingly. I can't afford to lose any trust. About 3 hours had passed and now I was bored out of my mind.

"You sure look bored," commented a voice behind me. I turned around to see Cliff and Nel.

"Yeah, so how did it go?" I asked as I got up.

"You'll hear the details inside," said Nel. I followed them to the Audience Chamber and soon everybody was gathered back together.

"According to the report, the King of Airyglyph accepted out story at face value," said the Queen.

"Yes Your Majesty. But he also said that he wished to speak with Your Majesty directly," said Nel.

"Directly? We will never allow a hostile party into these castle walls!" Exclaimed Lasselle. I never thought it was possible for someone to be so annoying, but Lasselle proved me wrong.

"I am sure that he doesn't mean to come here. Did he mention the place of discussion?" Asked the Queen.

"Yes, he said the place was the round table at the ancient ruins of Mosel," replied Nel.

"Mosel? They may have air dragons but we have to walk!" Said Lasselle with a tone of annoyance.

"Did he say anything about body guards?" Asked the Queen.

"No, which means we can do anything we like," said Nel.

"Then you shall be my body guards."

"Take good care of Her Majesty!" Exclaimed Lasselle.

"Will do," said Fayt. We left Aquios and headed to a place called Peterny, a large, busy town. From there we went down the Sanmite Steppes. As we started to cross the bridge I sensed something. I pulled out the handle of my swallow and got ready to activate it.

"What's wrong?" Asked Maria.

"Something's coming. Be careful everyone, who knows what it could possibly be!" I exclaimed. This wasn't a program made by the Sphere Company, this was something else. A glowing array with an odd design on it appeared on the ground. Then, someone slowly started rising out. I gasped as I saw who it was. "Impossible!"

"It can't be!" Exclaimed Nel.

"No way!" Exclaimed Fayt.

"Vox?" Exclaimed Cliff. It was true, it really was Vox. But how?

"Well, not quite the welcome that I expected but it will do," said Vox.

"Who is that?" Asked Maria.

"Someone who should be dead," I replied.

"You of all people should know that life and death don't have any meaning in this universe. Or maybe you are starting to believe other wise," said Vox. How does he know all of this? How does he know that this universe is just a simulator?

"Shut up! Not another word!" I exclaimed as I activated my swallow.

"You won't be going to that sissy peace conference," said Vox as he rose his hand up. Suddenly several monsters appeared behind him and he vanished. Everyone got out their weapons and were ready to fight. We charged towards the enemy. The one I was charging towards looked like the combination of a human and a dragon of some sort. It had the body structure of a human but then it had large, sharp teeth and claws. Large horns were coming out of it's head. It lashed out at me with it's claws. I dodged both of it's attacks and cut it in half. I looked around to see that all of the monsters were being fought by everyone else. All of them but one which was slowly walking towards the Queen. The next second it started to charge. I held out my hand and a bunch of pillars of earth raised in front of the monster and it ran right into them. I took that time to charge over to the monster while it was still dazed. I brought my swallow down upon it, killing it. I deactivated my swallow and walked around the pillars to see if the Queen was safe.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your help," said the Queen. I looked around to see that everyone had finished off the monster they were fighting. They had noticed the pillars sticking out of the ground and they walked over.

"What exactly happened here?" Asked Cliff.

"I raised a few pillars of earth to block that one monster from attacking Her Majesty," I said with a grin.

"How did you do that?" Asked Maria.

"It's just something I can do," I said with the same grin on my face. Maria groaned.

"I should have known that you would say something like that."

"Let's keep going," said Nel. Nel had a look of concern on her face.

"What's up?" Asked Cliff.

"I am still trying to figure out how Vox is still walking around. Wasn't he killed by the Vendeeni? And how did he summon those monsters?"

"Who knows? Let's just hope that he doesn't show up again," said Maria.

"Anyway, let's go," said Nel. We continued walking to Mosel. After a little while we finally got to Mosel. Unfortunately, Mosel is a desert with super high temperatures.

"Why does it have to be so hot?" I asked as we were walking.

"Because it can," said Maria, directing that comment at me. I started laughing.

"What goes around comes around, huh?" I asked.

"Ten fold sometimes," said Maria with a grin.

"So true," I said. We continued walking across the desert, with occasional breaks at the nearest oasis and fighting a nearby monster here and there. We finally made it to the ancient ruins of Mosel. After some exploration, we finally found the room with the round table.

"Thank you for coming, Romeria," said the King of Airyglyph. The King of Airyglyph had somewhat long brown hair and brown eyes. To his right was an old man with short, greyish white hair. His clothing suggested that he held a high position in Airyglyph's government or something like that. "It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has been Arzei," said the Queen as she sat down in the chair facing the King.

"So what took you so long? Did you run into any trouble?"

"You could say that..." I said.

"What sort of trouble?" Asked the King as he looked over at me.

"Someone who we thought died appeared in front of our very eyes. Somehow, Vox is still alive." The King's face changed to a look of shock.

"What? How can that be? I had heard reports that he had died."

"That's what we thought," said Cliff.

"He's completely changed. He has gained some sort of weird powers and now he can summon monsters," I said.

"I see... this is truly an odd chain of events," said the King as if he was deep in thought. "So tell me, who exactly are we facing? I heard your agent's explanation earlier, but it made no sense."

"I felt the same," said the Queen. The Queen looked over at Fayt and the others. "Would you explain it to us one more time?" Fayt and Cliff nodded and they started re-explaining everything to the King and Queen.

"I find it rather hard to believe, but I guess we don't have a choice," said the King. He looked over at us. "Turning these outsiders over to them is another option, is it not?" A chill ran down my spine, if they were to turn us in to the Vendeeni all of my plans would be ruined and I would never get out of the Eternal Sphere before the Executioners come.

"That would have been an option earlier but no longer," said the Queen. I felt relieved at hearing this, so maybe things are still running on course.

"And why is that?"

"The enemy attacked the Shrine of Kaddan."

"What? They attacked Kaddan?" Exclaimed the King as a look of shock appeared on his face.

"Kaddan doesn't have anything to do with these outsiders. Leaving us with only one option..."

"Drive out the enemy," finished the King.

"That's right, so what do you think we should do?"

"According to our info, at present this 'Thunder Arrow' would be too much for a single air dragon to carry into the air."

"How about more than one dragon?" Suggested Maria.

"That too would be difficult," said the King.

"So is there any way of solving this problem?" I asked.

"Yes, we just need a bigger air dragon," said the old man.

"Where could we find such a beast?" Asked Nel.

"In the Urssa Lava caves. They are near the Bequerel Mines. Within the Urssa Lava caves is an immense air dragon known as the Marquis."

"So all we have to do is go in there and capture it, right?" Asked Cliff.

"That's right. But mistaking the Marquis as a mere air dragon might be the last thing you ever do. It will not be easy to deal with," said the King.

"We have no choice, it's the only way to solve this problem with the Vendeeni," I said.

"Do you have any objections Arzei?" Asked the Queen.

"I only request that a representative from Airyglyph be in their party," replied the King.

"Who would you have go? Surely not Woltar."

"No, I was thinking of someone else. I was thinking of sending Albel."

"Then it is settled, this Albel will join their party." The Queen looked over at Fayt. "If that is alright with you?"

"I don't mind but..." Said Fayt as his voice trailed off.

"The problem is going to be what Albel thinks," finished Cliff.

"Albel will be waiting for you at the royal city of Airyglyph, you can meet him there," said the King. The Queen nodded and looked over at Nel.

"You shall escort me to Peterny, Clair will escort me back to Aquios from there," said the Queen. Nel gave a quick nod.

"Yes Your Majesty." We left the hall of the round table and headed back to Peterny. Clair took the Queen back to Aquios while we went to Airyglyph. Airyglyph was a land covered in snow, not to mention that it was really cold. Man, how can people live in temperatures this low? We finally arrived at the castle and Woltar, the old man, was waiting for us. To my surprise we were escorted down to the dungeon. Woltar opened a door and there was a man attached to the wall. He wore purple clothing that didn't cover his lower torso. On one of his arms was a powerful looking gauntlet. He had long black hair with blonde streaks in the front.

"He's been charged with treason. But the one who brought the charges against him is no longer off this world... or so we thought. But he is no longer with Airyglyph," explained Woltar.

"Vox, right?" Asked Cliff. Woltar nodded and walked over to Albel.

"I've got an errand for you, boy." Albel looked up and opened his eyes, revealing blood red eyes. He was quite the intimidating person, not to mention that based on the conversation between Woltar and Albel it seemed like he wasn't that nice of a guy. As he slowly walked over to us, he looked straight at me with his creepy eyes.

"What the hell are you starring at, fool?" Asked Albel.

"Nothing," I said.

"Whatever, maggot." Albel walked past me.

"I don't like this anymore than you do, Albel. But we have no choice," said Nel.

"Unfortunately, you are right." We left Airyglyph and went to the Bequerel mountains. As we were walking up the path I looked over at the others.

"So somewhere in these mountains is this Urssa lava caves place, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, there is a place in one of the caves that leads to the Urssa lava caves," said Nel.

"A cave... inside a cave?" I asked as I tried to picture something like that.

"There is another cavern inside the cave. What is so hard to understand about that?" Asked Maria.

"Nothing, I just find it weird to find something inside itself." I had never worked on this part of making Elicoor II so I didn't know anything about the terrain. We continued walking and fighting the occasional monster in our path until we finally arrived at this cave that Nel was speaking about.

By the time we had reached the cave I was starting to feel a little worried about the Executioners. I could already sense a strong energy source gathering in the deep regions of space far away from Elicoor II. This energy source belonged to none other than the first Executioner fleet which was slowly starting to appear in the Eternal Sphere. I had to get out of the Eternal Sphere, I had to speak with Luther. "Maybe I could convince Luther to stop the Executioners." That was what I was thinking at the time.

Will Alex be able to get out of the Eternal Sphere? Can he convince Luther to stop the Executioners? And how is it that Vox has returned? The answers are coming soon, anyway please review.