Cless's mother stood at the entrance to the house waving at her son. It was just passed dawn and Cless had bid farewell to his family. He was wearing a new breast plate and he had a new shield strapped to his back. In his left hand he held his father's sword. He treasured this sword; it was the one his father had used when he was recruited in the King's army. His steel boots made a loud clanking noise that echoed off the buildings along the path to the inn. Cless couldn't stop thinking about Chester, how he would react to the news when he came to visit later today. He decided to not tell Chester that he was leaving town; Chester needed to stay home with his mother and sister.

"So, you actually are coming," Sheena said. She was leaning against the door of the inn. She had a sack of food and necessary items thrown over her shoulder, she looked ready to leave Telius.

"Why wouldn't I?" Cless asked. He would never pass up an opportunity to fight against evil, to return the world to a peaceful stage. "Where are we going once we leave the village?"

"We are heading north to Ecluid. We will stock up on goods there. We might have to sleep on the way there though. Now let's go." Sheena started toward the north gate, Cless followed close behind her.

He had never been out the front gate of the village, and he was in awe at the amount of open land in front of them. There wasn't a house in sight, only long plains of grass and an occasional tree. The walking soon tired Cless, but he pushed himself to keep up with Sheena, he didn't want to be a burden. After an hour and a half of walking, the city of Telius was far behind them.

"Sheena," Cless's voice broke the long silence. "Where is Mizuho? I heard you and my father talking about it last night."

"Mizuho is in Tethe'alla, the other world. It is a city inhabited by ninjas and assassins," she looked back at him. "It is very small though."

"So you… you're from the other world," he was in awe. "What is it like there? Is it any different than here?"

"No, it isn't much different at all, but I must say that the technology in Tethe'alla is more advanced than it is here."

"So that's how you got here. By means of technology… it's… it's amazing at what people can make."

She smiled back at him. "Yeah, I guess it is. I was like you when I was your age. I wanted to go out and see the world, and when I did, I was amazed at it. You see, Mizuho isn't a very advanced village, so when I saw the old technology that people didn't really care about, I was amazed at even that."

"Thanks for taking me along with you, Sheena," Cless smiled.

"No problem, now we better quicken out pace it we want to reach Ecluid today."

The walk continued until sundown. They camped out at a spot a couple of miles off from Ecluid. Cless had never slept outside before, so he had to get used to the sounds of the night animals.

"Good night, Sheena," Cless whispered. He lay down on the mat Sheena had placed for him under a tree.

"Night," Sheena replied. She rolled over on her mat and quickly fell asleep.

Cless stared up at the moonlight. He was finally out on an adventure, like the ones of all the heroes in the stores that his father used to tell him at night. Yet, nothing exciting had really happened yet, and he didn't know weather to look forward to it, or fear the day it would come. His eyes slowly closed, and he soon fell fast asleep.

---

Yuan paced about his office. His long, blue hair was pulled back into a pony-tail that hung behind his back. Yuan was the leader of an organization called the Renegades. The Renegades aided the last chosens in the quest for world regeneration that took place only two years ago, and things have already gone wrong.

A soldier busted through the door of Yuan's office. "Sir," he said, he was panting.

"Get a hold of yourself soldier," Yuan replied. "Now what is it?"

"There have been confirmed sightings of Kratos, in Ecluid and we believe he is headlining back to the Cruxis headquarters,"

"So he is still alive then… Sheena must have been too weak for the job. Have there been any sightings of Sheena?"

"Not that we know of, sir."

"Thank you for the information, now get back to your post,"

"Yes sir," the soldier ran out the door.

"So… Kratos has lived through Sheena's attack… I wonder if she is still alive… And why haven't the Desians showed up in the midst of all this chaos? It's all so confusing…"

---

"Get up!"

Cless felt something hit him in the back. He opened his eyes.

"Get up!"

It was a couple Ecluid guards, and they were armed. They already had Sheena tied up. He stood up to avoid getting hit in the back by the dull end of a soldier's spear. "What are you doing?" Cless asked.

"The King has ordered us to throw you in jail, killers of Martel," When the guard said Martel all of the guards bowed and made a gesture of worship.

"This is all a big mistake! We didn't harm Martel!" He felt the dull end of the spear hit him.

"Keep quiet, kid," the soldier started to tie Cless's arms behind his back. "Malachi, take his weapons and store them in the armory."

Another guard came to Cless's side and took his father's sword. "This'll make one of the soldiers a very happy man," the soldier grinned and ran off to the castle in Ecluid.

"No! You can't take that!" Cless tried to break free, but the soldier's grasp was too strong.

"C'mon, let's take 'em back to the dungeon," said another guard.

"Let me go!" Cless struggled to get loose, then everything went black.