The sun reached its peak, casting an indiscriminate and merciless glare upon the desert sand. Any standing in its direct rays would have been roasted within an hour. Thankfully for Chung and his group, the floating Caluso Islands that hung over them provided the prisoners enough protection from the heat to make their search through Gerard's embassy ruins bearable.

The term "prisoner" was a loose definition in this sense, as these captives were simply dropped off at the foot of the Caluso capital, free to leave if they pleased - or at least it seemed that way. Despite the unconventional laxness of their imprisonment, the Caluso left behind… a contingency.

Standing vigilant atop the nearest dune from where the group dug through the wreckage was a single, unarmed Caluso warrior. Unlike the others, this one did not seem as eager to fight and simply observed them from a distance.

Chung was fine with that. Given how the rest of the tribe had been since the outsiders' arrival, not having to worry about giving this warrior a reason to fight was a blessing in the hellish environment they were in. Even under the shade, Chung was practically drenched in sweat. Being stripped of his armor and clothing from the waist up was the most he could do to deter the heat, and manually lifting piles of rubble, knee-deep in sand, wasn't helping his situation, either. As he pushed over the remnants of a stone pillar, the young king fished out three more books that had survived Gerard's "toss".

He added them to his pile. Nearly twenty-odd books of variable sizes and content sat on a pallet of what used to be the top of a dining table. With a careful heave, the young man pulled the surface off the sand, careful not to drop any of the books, and carried them back uphill where Gerard and his family - minus Anduran - waited.

"How about 'Worran'?" Nerin said to Gerard as she idly fanned her son with a thin, soft-cover novel. Edwin, thankfully, had kept silent for the most part and had been laying on his back.

"I don't like how it sounds," Gerard commented. Practically buried in books, the archmage dug through the piles around him, haphazardly discarding each hard-cover after a simple glance of the title.

"Hindoran?"

"No…"

"Gelburin?"

"What if it's a boy?"

Nerin paused, scrunching her face in thought, "Genru."

"Pass."

"Lowenru."

"Lowenru Lewrey," Gerard chuckled, "Sounds like a tongue twister."

Nerin looked up from her son, addressing the king as he returned, "Chung."

"Why would we want to name it that- Oh, you're back," Gerard said, looking up from his book.

"You got a problem with my name?" Chung feigned a growl but smiled as he set the books down.

"I… no. That's not what I meant," Gerard replied, bashfully.

"Joking. But since I have your attention, I was sure there would be a few Trock corpses for us to work around… but there's not a body in sight. Did the Caluso clean them up overnight, or…?"

"No, I'm afraid the answer's a bit more unsettling than that," Gerard sighed, scanning the surroundings warily, "You have sand piranhas to thank."

"Sand piranhas? You've mentioned them before, but… we must have left close to a hundred bodies."

"Sand piranhas are no joke," Lu announced as she strode over to Gerard with as many books she could carry in her little arms. "If you're curious to see one, why not cut your hand open and bleed on the sand for a bit? Actually, if you do, do it really far away from us. Anyways, Gerard, here's your dumb books. Are any of them what we're looking for?"

After a quick glance over the four tomes she had dumped at his lamp, the archmage shook his head.

Sighing, Lu looked back over her shoulder at her vessel lagging behind as he struggled to drag a pile of books hastily wrapped by unused window drapes..

"Come on, human! I ain't got all day!"

The smile faded from Chung's face as he hurried to help the demon's servant. "Here," the king grasped one end of the cloth. Ciel, the man of little words, simply accepted the help and continued with his task. With no thanks given, Chung found himself unable to say much else to the soulbound man. During their trip together, Ciel had said little in terms of conversation, with his begging for help when they first met being the most Chung had ever heard the man speak. He did well to remain aloof, and it was only now, under the harsh sunlight reflecting off the surrounding sands, that Chung noticed the man was practically skin and bones.

"That demon can't keep treating you like this, you know," Chung whispered, "You won't last long at this rate."

"She sustains me," Ciel said, his voice as dry as their environment, "That's all that matters."

And just like that, the conversation was over. Chung left it at that, feeling as if the man wasn't going to give him any more information if he was pressed.

"Aww, working together... isn't that sweet?" Lu commented as they reached her, "Humans make such good servants. Your Majesty, I believe you've found your true calling."

Chung frowned at the comment, "I'd never work for a demon. Much less one who's short a few teeth."

The demoness sneered at the king, showing a clear gap where one of her top canines was missing. "Teeth are worthless in this human form, anyways," Lu grumbled, turning her head away in a huff, "Can't bite your head off when I feel like it."

"With a big enough mouth, I would probably be able to walk out unscathed through that gap."

"Why don't you shut up about my tooth, already!?"

"Why don't you shut up in general!?"

"Chung. Lu. Enough," Gerard sighed. "If I'm to find this tome, I need to focus."

"Well, if the demon helped us attack Karu at the same time, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Excuse me?" Lu interjected, "Mr. 'I'll-take-him-on-myself', I distinctly remember a certain someone stopping me from joining in. I remember it because I just couldn't wait to watch Karu make you eat your own words."

"At least Karu didn't make me eat my own tooth!"

"Shut UP about my tooth!" Lu screamed.

"Enough!" A roar so loud it caused the dune everyone sat atop to shift, erupted near them. Everyone turned to see Zudrich standing over the two bickering children, his size casting an imposing shadow as he hauled two full bookcases over his shoulders.

Clearly not in the best of moods due to the heat, Zudrich pushed past the two and setting the book cases carefully down before the archmage.

"Thank you…" Gerard said to Zudrich, more for silencing Lu and Chung than the fury guardian's haul.

"My king… Lu… we must focus on the task at hand."

"He's right," Nerin said, "Trocks are active during the twilight hours. If we're looking to return to the safety of the city in time, we must find Gerard's book."

"Sorry if I'm being pessimistic," Chung began, "But we were all kicked out by the chieftain. How would finding this book help us get back into the capital - or why would Karu even care?"

Nerin motioned towards the single Caluso observing them from a safe distance. "Because we have piqued his interest."

"Who is he?" Chung asked, "I thought he was just a guard to keep an eye on us."

Nerin chuckled, shaking her head, "Father wouldn't waste time watching those he's banished from the city. What would we do? Run away?"

"Fair point."

"That's father's second-in-command. His name is Vegar."

"Vegar…" Chung repeated, "What does he want?"

Nerin shrugged, "I'm not sure. However, if he is observing us, then there must be a reason. Father may see us as no longer part of the Caluso, but if Vegar is here, then we may have a way out of this mess."

"That's a pretty vague guess," the young king commented, unenthused by Nerin's explanation.

"But it's the only option we have," Gerard said.

"So we're here to fix Chung's El Stone problem… and hoping that fixing it gets this Vegar guy interested enough to grant us re-entry into the city before the Trocks tear us to shreds?" Lu asked.

"That's about the gist of it, yeah," the archmage replied.

Lu shrugged, "Works for me. I ain't wandering aimlessly through the desert again, if I can prevent it."

"I believe this is the one," Gerard said, holding out a book titled The Origins of Culture and El: Volume XVII. He quickly flipped through the hundreds of pages of text before going over the table of contents at the start.

"So we're almost done, then?" Chung asked, slumping into the sand to catch his breath.

"I said I believe this is the one. Hamel's culture wasn't exactly open to record as openly as the other nations, so it could be any one of these later volumes."

"So we have to keep searching?" Lu cried in exasperation.

"No, no," Gerard shook his head, "I have most of the later volumes with me, so if it's not in here, then it'll surely be in one of those. You've done well. All of you. I believe you all deserve a little break."

"But the sun's almost set," Zudrich replied, pointing at the unforgiving orb glaring directly at them from under the floating capital, "Nerin said the Trocks are mostly active in the twilight hours. I don't wish to test that statement."

"Then you'd do well to not distract me while I pore over these texts," Gerard stated firmly. "Rest. All of you. If it does come to it, I'd rather we be prepared."

Chung and the others looked at each other, an uneasiness falling upon all of them as they silently agreed and dispersed, the Hamelians and demons splitting to either side of the dune's peak.

"You think we'll have our answer in time?" Zudrich whispered to Chung, his eyes not leaving the archmage as he studied.

"I hope so. After last night's run in with those monsters, I doubt our second encounter would end well… Even if Gerard had another house to throw at them. At this point, meeting with the Sander leaders is starting to feel more and more like an unreachable goal."

"Are you giving up then, Chung?"

The king quickly shook his head. "No. Hells no. Hamel's depending on us, remember? We can't go back empty-handed. As their king, I can't grow complacent with our recovery effort. Our people deserve better living conditions, and I intend to make it happen. No matter how roundabout this all seems, if there's a way, I'll make it work."

"Then, wouldn't it be wise to combine our strength with Lu and Ciel?"

Chung scoffed at the idea and shook his head, earning an unsatisfied grimace from his fury guardian.

"My king… with all-due respect, your bias against demons is starting to cost us."

"My 'bias' against demons?" Chung repeated, "Sorry, Zudrich, but have you forgotten how our home was destroyed in the first place?"

"I haven't."

"What those monsters did to our people?"

"Lu isn't allied with the demons who attacked Senace."

"Lu isn't- how do you know that?" Chung asked.

"I talked to her," Zudrich said, feigning shock at his supposed brush with danger.

"And you believed her?"

"Why wouldn't I? She has no reason to lie on the subject."

"No reason that you're aware of," Chung warily added.

"Chung, you're being unreasonable."

The young king laid back on the sand and stared up at the underside of the floating island high above him. The sun was already low enough to shine its light on hundreds of hidden hangar bays lining the rock. Each bay was occupied by a single kite-like air vehicle. "While I don't doubt that demon's ability to rip through her enemies, she could easily turn that strength against us. And what better way to do it than when our back is turned?"

"But she's fought alongside us! She defended us from whoever that Karis demon was! She was there to help us when the Trocks attacked!"

"Have you heard the way she speaks? Have you seen the way she treats Ciel? And what about the way she eyes the El Stone of Wind? I refuse to work with her."

"Even if it helps you reach Sander?"

Chung didn't answer.

Zudrich gave a long, drawn-out sigh and said nothing further.

And just in time, too.

The two heard shuffling behind them, and the Hamelians turned to see the archmage's son dragging his feet slowly over to them.

"Hey, Edwin," the two said simultaneously. Forcing the discussion between them aside, Chung and Zudrich watched as the boy plopped himself in between the two.

The sigh of a boy bearing the weight of the world escaped Edwin's lips as he glanced over his shoulder at his mother and father before sighing again.

"What's eating you, kid?" Zudrich asked.

"I'm sad," little Edwin replied.

"Yeah? Why's that?" Chung asked, wondering what melodrama haunted the child.

"You wouldn't understand…"

Chung and Zudrich looked at each other and Chung pressed further.

"Well, would you like to explain it to us, anyways? Even if we don't understand?"

"Sure…" Edwin replied, clearly doing his best to sound annoyed at the request, "Are you two mad at me?"

"No? Why would we be?"

"I think everyone is. I helped you when you were in trouble and burned that big scary Caluso guy. I thought I did good… but then all the kids were laughing at me… And now we're all down here, and papa and mama and all of you are working hard to fix things, and Andy's been kidnapped… I just feel really sad."

Chung's brow furrowed at that, "It was dangerous of you to jump in like you did, but-"

"I just wanted to be like your friend," Edwin defended, "I thought that if I waited for the right moment, like Elsword did in your story, and FWOOSH! I'd defeat the bad guy. I wanted to be a hero and save everyone. But then he was still standing, and he came over and he- I thought- and then mama…"

Chung could see the white of the boy's knuckles as he clenched and unclenched his fist in a fit of frustration.

"And now everyone is mad at me. Why is everyone mad at me? I want to be a hero!" Edwin beat his fist on the sand again and again, kicking up the fine grains around him and causing the two to shield themselves from the mini sandstorm until he calmed down.

"Alright, alright, enough," Chung said, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders to keep him still. "As I was saying: what you did was dangerous. You could've been hurt."

"And all the other kids were laughing at me!"

"They didn't understand what you were trying to do, Edwin. Don't let it get to you."

"I didn't want to be laughed at."

"Not a lot of us do," Chung agreed.

"I hope they all die."

"Hey!" Chung growled, "You don't mean that."

"I do!" Edwin whined.

"Heroes don't wish for people to die, you know."

Hearing this visibly put Edwin at a logical impasse, and the boy looked to be at the verge of throwing another tantrum and short circuiting in the brain all at the same time.

Chung continued, "Good heroes always put the safety of others first."

"Even the mean people?"

Chung nodded. "Even the mean people."

"That's dumb. Who told you that?"

"Elsword did," Chung replied, smugly.

Finding himself once more at a logical impasse, Edwin kicked hard enough to lose one of his sandals.

"I got it," Zudrich muttered, getting up to retrieve the lost footwear.

"I don't hope they'd die, anymore," Edwin grumbled, half-heartedly.

"That's good," Chung nodded.

"But I do hope they learn their lesson."

"What lesson is that?"

"Not to laugh at me."

Chung chuckled, "Maybe you can convince them."

"Tell me another story about Elsword," Edwin said as Zudrich returned with the sandal.

"Another? Hmm… which story to tell…" Chung said idly, his attention more on Zudrich as the fury guardian silently motioned over his shoulder at the neighboring dune. Glancing over at the general direction, the young king was reminded of their silent observer who had been watching them the entire day.

Squinting at Vegar, Chung could feel cold, steely eyes staring back at him. "What story to tell, indeed…" Chung muttered.

"And did the moonstone work?" Edwin asked, "Did it stop the monster?"

Chung's face grew somber as he dropped his head, "It made us stronger, yes. With the moonstone's help, I was able to more freely tap into my guardian stone's power and use abilities that I've never thought possible. But the power of the moonstone was new to all of us, so we couldn't properly control it. Despite this, time was of the essence. The longer the demons held the gate open, the more monsters came through. And to make matters worse, Rena's wound was beginning to take its toll on her the longer the fight dragged on."

The child gasped, "No… Does she..."

Chung continued, "Raven was thrown into a fit of rage. He threw everything he had at the beast. And, without a plan, we were forced to follow. Cannon fire, lightning, fireballs… everything was poured onto the demon. Yet, Berthe absorbed the El. Its teeth and claws cracked with electricity as power surged through it!"

"No!"

"All the while, more and more of its army stepped through the gate."

"You can't lose!"

"And then... right when Berthe was about to let out its ear-splitting roar again…" Chung hung on to narration, watching as Edwin bounced in his seat, completely absorbed in the tale, "Elsword steps forward…"

Edwin gasped.

"He raises his sword..."

The child gasped louder.

"And shouts…"

"Armageddon Blade!" Edwin finished excitedly, completing his cry with a loud, unsheathing sound effect. The child jumped to his feet, swinging an invisible sword around wildly in celebration.

"Alright, alright, settle down," Chung chuckled.

"Does he win?!" Edwin asked, plopping on his seat once more to eagerly hear the rest.

Chung pauses, rewriting history in his head once more to make it at least somewhat age appropriate. "It pierces the monster's heart, and it falls dead," Chung nodded, doing well to omit the finer details.

"Yes!" Edwin sang, jumping to his feet once more and doing his best Elsword impression - which consisted in him somersaulting in the sand before swinging his invisible sword in random directions.

"I thought it was Raven who ended the beast," Zudrich whispered.

Chung shrugged, "Yeah, Elsword actually wasn't fighting Berthe and was with the others fighting all the monsters stepping through the gate at the time… But Edwin doesn't need to know that."

They both turned to the child, who had all but stopped when he got sand in his mouth. As the boy spat over and over again, Chung finally noticed Gerard casting a long shadow over his son, book in hand and cradling his chin in thought as he was apparently listening to the young king's tale.

Chung stood, brushing the sand off his leggings and approached the archmage. "Figure it out? We're sort of running out of time."

"I'm aware of the waning hours of daylight we have. I was having difficulty… until I started listening to your story," Gerard said, opening a bookmarked page of his book, "I was at a loss of explanation until a thought occurred to me while you were describing your little fight with Berthe."

"It was heavily ad-libbed," Chung waved dismissively, "Edwin wanted to hear a tale about Elsword, and I thought I'd spin a story he wanted to hear."

"But it wasn't all completely fabricated… was it?"

Chung shook his head, "No. Why?"

"Well," Gerard began, pointing at his opened page that explained what little was known about the guardian stone creation process, "You said you were able to tap into your guardian stone's power with this moonstone artifact, correct?"

"On my old guardian stone, yes."

"You mentioned that the one you currently have is your father's, I remember," Gerard nodded and pointed to a specific part of the text, "It says here in a hypothesis that the guardian stone is linked to the heart of the guardian it is bestowed upon. It is believed that the user unleashes its power by remaining true to their convictions. The stronger their faith in their belief, the more they could draw from the stone. Hm. I see now why Hamel calls their knights 'paladins'... Does that make sense to you so far?"

"Well… yeah. I never really thought about how my stone worked, and I never had the proper training with it by the time Hamel was overrun… I was fortunate that it just worked when I needed it to. Father's worked fine for me until just recently. And I don't think I've changed in my convictions at all."

"What are these 'convictions' of yours?" Gerard asked, rubbing his chin in thought again.

Chung shrugged, "I don't know… I guess, what gave me strength was protecting others. Being around Elsword so long, his attitude towards being a hero sorta rubbed off on me. I just thought that… if I could do what he could do, then I'd be doing the right thing."

"Would you say that has changed recently?"

Chung shook his head, "No. That's the whole reason I'm in Sander in the first place. I have people to help at home, and I'm not giving up until I've helped them."

"That's very noble of you… but when did your father's stone stop working exactly?"

"Ugh… I'm not sure. Somewhere after our escape from Garpai… to when I tried to signal to the Caluso that we were arriving. Pretty much around the time we picked up Lu and Ciel." Chung's words carried venom as he said the demon's name, and that only caused Gerard's brow to furrow.

"And… you'd be happier if we were rid of those two?"

"Just the demoness, yes. I can't trust her."

"Fascinating," Gerard commented, "How would you describe your father, by the way?"

"How would I describe him…?" Chung repeated, "You mean physically?"

"His personality."

"His personality… Well, he was caring. The people of Senace admired him as a king. He acted not for himself but for the people. Every decision he made was in consideration of others and for maintaining peace in our realm. I remember he'd always put his family first. He loved mother deeply, even as her health failed. When I got sick, he traveled far and wide to find a cure."

"And his convictions?"

"Ah… I'm not sure. I never gave that much thought as I was growing up."

"Nothing comes to mind? Nothing at all?"

"I see where you're trying to go with this, but… I really don't know what it was that drove him. I was too young to understand at the time."

"His conviction was Elrios," Zudrich said, handing Chung his cannon.

Chung blinked, looking up at the guardian. Zudrich pointed at the old Hamelian phrase inscribed on the young king's cannon.

"For the good of the realm… or the greater good. Whatever it was, he acted because he felt it benefited Elrios as a whole," the guardian said, "I… was sort of a fan when I was younger. I wanted to be like him."

"For the good of the realm…" Chung repeated. The paladin's battlecry… his father's battlecry. He remembered his posters and collections of books that echoed this very phrase. He remembered it as part of his father's last words to him. "Zudrich's right. My father's conviction was for the greater good."

"Ah..." Gerard replied, "And with that, I believe I've found the solution."

"You have?" both Chung and Zudrich exclaimed in unison.

"I have. Come," Gerard nodded and made his way back to the top of the dune.

"Well, what is it?" Chung asked eagerly. The archmage motioned Lu and Ciel over.

"It would require a bit of your cooperation."

"Obviously. But what would I have to do?"

Lu arrived, regarding the archmage and the king with a less than respectful, "What?"

The archmage looked at Lu, then at Chung before stepping back and allowing them to face each other. "Chung? Lu? I believe a formal truce is in order."

The demoness raised a brow at the suggestion, "Huh?"

The Hamelian took a step back. "What?! Gerard, I'm sorry, but you can't be serious."

"I am. I believe these series of events line up perfectly. You've seen what became of Garpai village, right? How the town turned into raving mad thralls? The people of the mining town outside of the old wind temple also fell under this strange spell. And that was when the demon Karis revealed herself."

"Yes, I remember. But what does that have to do with-"

"A demon powerful enough to manipulate the minds of entire villages - entire cities perhaps - is a frightening threat to Elrios, is it not?"

"Of course."

"And who among us is the most willing to help take down that threat?" Gerard asked, stepping aside and motioning at Lu.

"Me?" Lu blinked.

"Her?" Chung exclaimed.

The demoness shrugged and rubbed her nose, feigning lack of interest, "Well, I mean, Karis sorta stabbed me in the back and left me here without a vessel to die, so I may have a grudge or two against her. Your participation isn't all that needed, though. I'll find a way to kill her with or without your help."

"As we discussed moments ago, the Hamelian Guardian Stone is an artifact that draws on the heart of the user. Chung, your father's stone was created specifically for him. His strength came from acting for some greater purpose - in this case, it is for the good of the realm," Gerard explained.

"Ah," Lu exclaimed, a light bulb flicking on in her head. She grinned smugly as she extended her small, childish hand for Chung to shake, "Well, if you wanted to be friends with me, you could've just said so!"

"Friends? As if I'd befriend you, demon," the Hamelian growled.

"And therein lies the rub," Lu growled back, grinning mischievously from ear to ear, "Swear alliance with me, and you get your fancy little rock working again. Don't, and wait to be turned into trock or sand piranha food, whichever comes first. Either way, I'm going to kill Karis; your participation is strictly voluntary."

Chung scoffed at the suggestion and slapped her hand away, "I'll never ally with you."

Ciel arrived at the demoness's side placing a hand on her shoulder, "Lu."

Lu pulled back, half shrugging and bowing as she gracefully rescinded her offer. Her gauntlets materialized as she uttered a simple, "Suit yourself."

Chung stepped back defensively as she did so only to notice Edwin tugging on his mother's arm. "Mama. That Vegar guy. What's he doing?"

Chung turned to see an island platform had been lowered to pick their observer up. As the platform rose, Chung caught sight of a dark moving mass cresting the horizon. Like a flood, it swallowed each dune, drawing more and more closer until the distinct thunder of footfalls could be heard.

"They're back," Zudrich whispered, "They're back!"

A/N: Hi everyone. This chapter was edited by mirai akina. Please support her work on ffn. Thank you, again, for editing my work and the feedback. And thank you, readers, for reading c: as far as story progress goes I'd say we're about... 3/5 of the way done. please look forward to the next coming chapters!