Chapter 7

We Are Coming Too!

The Palmira Plains wasn't as much of a cakewalk as it looked. It was filled with overgrown lizards, scorpions, and horned turtles which the two managed to fight off. The short trip ended when the town of Peterny came into Mirage's sight.

Peterny was a town of all sorts of sights on Elicoor. It was the central region separating Aquarian and Airyglyph territory. Mirage noticed that the town had gotten almost twice as lively as it had been four years ago. The newest attractions involved technology too advanced for Elicoor, she suspected it was something from Greeton.

"So far, there's nothing we've seen of the Alliance around here cap'n." Lieber said as he looked around town.

Mirage was doing the same, "I contacted Marietta earlier before leaving Arias. She gathered some details about the Alliance. According to the Federation... the Alliance haven't launched an attack on Elicoor. So this place is safe for a while... but we were requested to stay here until anything happens."

"But how do we even know they'll do something?" Lieber asked looking irritated. "We can't just stay here forever."

Mirage sighed, "And I don't understand why the Alliance would be here. We still don't know much, but I doubt we'd be given a task they were not sure of. Anyway, we'll wait for Xeim here before we head towards Aquios. Do what you need to in the meantime... we'll meet in front of the cenral market. I'm going to try contacting Xeim again, I hope he's alright."

Lieber consented to Mirage's response and decided to explore the town a little. Passing the inn and the weapon shops he came across a fruit market that offered him blueberries and blackberries at a decent price. "I'll take three." Lieber's stomach felt a little empty despite the heavy dinner he was offered last night.

He noticed a really fancy and glittering sign in front of another shop titled, "Craftsman's Guild" followed by a round smiley face. The sign prompted him to enter out of curiosity where he was greeted cheerfully by a number of inventors.

"Welcome!" they all chimed together near the entrance. Confetti was blown all around Lieber as a pile of cotton and ribbons were dropped from the ceiling.

Lieber scratched his head slowly with a puzzled look on his face, "Er... hi? What the hell's all this for?"

A short and excited young girl with ponytails jumped out in front, "Hi! I'm Welch Vineyard, and this special welcome is for you being our 1000th costumer! Congratulations! So, do you need an explanation of the guild's layout before you start inventing?"

"Oh, he does look a little classy, I bet he's already familiar with it!" said an old women who looked to be a member of the guild.

Lieber slowly backed away, "W-Wait... Inventor-? Uh... i'm not looking to sign up for anything, I was just exploring around the town. Heh." he brushed his attire nervously.

"WHAT!" Welch screamed. "And I was even looking to throw in a free date to our special costumer! Well, since you won't just get away with our warm welcome for free, I demand you be a part of this guild!"

His eyes suddenly turned wide open. "A date? Yeah, um that's what I came here for actually. To become part of this guild."

"That was just a joke, you idiot!" Welch yelled. "Now come... let me show you around Peterny's workshop."

'What the heck did I get myself into?' Lieber thought to himself as he followed Welch out of the Craftsman Guild and headed across to the item workshop.

"Lieber. So you're still here," a familiar voice struck Lieber as he turned towards his right. It was Xeim with Misty whom Lieber did not recognize. Lieber tried to act tough as Xeim approached him.

"Well duh, wasn't that the plan?" Lieber said sarcastically.

Xeim looked around the area everywhere before asking, "Where is Mirage?" Welch was given an odd look, "And who's that? You're girlfriend?"

Suddenly, Welch raised both her eyebrows as her eyes shined from the sunlight, "Oh, us two, we're going on a date!" She put her arm around Lieber.

"Wait, n-no..." Lieber tried to murmur his way out.

"Great!" Xeim smirked as he crossed his arms. "What better way to kill time, huh?"

"Hey we're not on a date." Lieber took Welch's arm off his shoulder who seemed to be almost cuddling with him, "She was just going to show me the workshop."

"Oh, way to blow the act!" Welch stomped her foot on the ground angrily.

Lieber diverted his attention towards Xeim. "Wait a minute," he put his finger on his lip as he looked towards the woman beside Xeim. "You're one to talk, musclehead! Who's this woman you brought along?"

Misty stepped up front to respond, "My name is Misty Lear."

"Ohhh sexy voice, nice pick Xeim." Lieber snickered before Welch gave him a hard kick on his shin. "Ow!"

"..." Misty and Xeim were both silent as if they were waiting for Lieber to discuss serious matters.

"Ahem! Okay, Mirage must be waiting for us at the central market area, so let's get going." Lieber replied in a serious tone. It was hard to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.

"Serious-pokes!" Welch yelled at Xeim and Misty who gave each other a confused look.

As expected, Mirage was waiting for their arrival towards the central area of Peterny. She didn't look too happy with what she was seeing. Lieber and Xeim gave each other a questioned look.

"I didn't think you guys would spend this time like this," Mirage placed her hands on her waist while narrowing her eyes on both Misty and Welch. "This isn't the time for dating, you know?"

"..." Xeim and Lieber let out a huge sigh.

"Er... i'm Misty Lear, and for your information, we're not on a date." Misty replied while batting her eyes.

"And my names is Welch Vineyard, pleased to meet you! Hey Lieber, will you hurry up and come to the workshop with me already! I've got other stuff to do you know." Welch whispered to Lieber loudly enough for everyone else to hear.

Lieber was starting to get irritated, "Hey I told you! I'm not-"

Before he could continue, a loud shriek was heard coming from the north direction. Mirage, Lieber, and Xeim ran towards the direction of the screech with Misty and Welch slowly following them. The northern area of Peterny was filled with citizens surrounding a terribly wounded Aquarian runologist. Mirage quickly ran to his aid.

"Ugh... I-It's them... Just like... th-that time, they're after the... ugh OPA. Stop them, hurry...!" the runologist tried to force out the words as he coughed blood.

"Save your breath. We have to take him to a doctor!" Mirage said while looking around the area.

"N-No, leave me... hurry to Aq...uios, the Airyglyph troops are on th-their way to aid us...!... !" he tried to speak further but he couldn't go on before meeting his death.

"Aquios..." Xeim started pondering, "Could he be talking about the Alliance? And they're after an OPA?"

Mirage turned towards him to reply, "Yes... this is most likely the Alliance's doing, and the OPA is in the shrine in Aquios. Let's hurry before any more lives are lost. Lieber, Xeim... I hope you two are well prepared."

"Wait..." Misty responded looking towards Mirage who gave her a confused look. "Do you mind if I come with you?"

"But why? You do know how dangerous it is... don't you?" Mirage asked looking concerned.

Xeim, however, didn't hesitate once about Misty's well being, "She's quite the alchemist, if it's really the Alliance we're up against... she's going to come in more handy than you think Besides, we need all the help we can get."

"An alchemist? If what Xeim says is true, then we'll need your aid. Thank you." Mirage nodded.

"No need to thank me," Misty shook her head. "I'm just glad you're willing to let me help you."

"Great! Then it's settled, i'm coming along as well!" Welch squealed out as she excited clapped her hands together. The group was just exiting Peterny but Lieber was the only one who responded to Welch's reaction.

"Would you quit following me around already?" said Lieber. "Listen, we're not going out for lunch and we're not looking for any workshops either, so just stay here where it's safe."

Welch was steaming, "Oh you ass! You don't have to be so mean!" Before storming off, she gave him another hard kick on the shin this time causing him to slip and fall down.

"OW!"

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Passing through the Irisa Fields, the group reached the city of Aquios within 5 minutes. The city was dead silent. Almost no one was in sight...

Upon entering the castle, the two guards of the castle were lying dead in a pool of blood. While others considered getting an audience with the Queen first, Mirage didn't want to waste anymore time especially after seeing the death of the guards and a few other runologists in the chapel. The path to the Sealed Caverns was open and so they made their way in.

It wasn't called a sealed cavern for no reason, it was a maze and many paths were blocked by large stone blocks. They were however taken care of from the raw power of Xeim and Mirage. A soldier dressed in dark clothes wearing a small white protective headgear could be seen far away.

"Hold on, let me take care of him." Xeim rushed to slowly sneak behind the soldier before Mirage stopped him.

"Xeim. Wait!" she whispered to him loudly, "Look at his uniform..."

"That uniform... I've seen it before. I don't think he's from the Alliance." Mirage pondered

Lieber was getting irritated, "Ah who cares what he is! We just gotta kick his butt right?"

"No! I remenber now... that's a Federation soldier. Looks like they're here already." Mirage said walking towards the soldier. "Stay here, i'll take care of this."

"Who's there!" the soldier quickly pointed his rifle towards Mirage. He was shaking a bit, he tried looking towards his right ever now and then as if he was looking for someone else at the same time.

Mirage raised both her hands with a calm and collected look on her face, "You know it's rude to point a gun at a lady. I'm Mirage Koas... leader of Quark. You're a Federation soldier, right?"

The nervous-looking soldier slowly put his rifle down, "Oh, Quark. I'm Warai Koshoto, from Federation Station #8. You're here to assist us."

"I guess you could say that," Mirage replied looking behind her to see if the others were still there. She nodded towards them and they came out and followed them, "So can you tell us a little bit about what's going on?"

"Since you're here, I guess you know the Alliance is here as well. Kaddan is a mess, if you wanna help you better hurry. The Outer Alliance commander is here as well so be careful. We're doing our best to hold them back at the moment but they're a lot stronger." the Federation soldier said as he gave each one of them an odd look.

"So what are you standing all the way out here for?" Lieber asked looking a lot more serious than usual.

Warai looked down as if struggling to look for an answer to his question, "I-I... have children. I don't know what to do..."

"What? You chicken or something!" Lieber raised an eyebrow as he leaned on the wall.

"Warai..." Mirage put her hand on his shoulder. "I know you don't want to risk your life for the sake of your family, but if you don't do anything about the Alliance... then your family will be in greater trouble. Atleast by fighting, you can keep your family safe from these terrorists."

Her words seemed to help the soldier a little, but there was still some hesitation. "B-But what difference can one soldier make? And especially a wimp like me?"

"We don't have time for this." Misty said not paying attention to any of Warai's words. She simply looked towards the wide open path which looked like it led to the Shrine of Kaddan. "Let's hurry."

Mirage nodded. "Sometimes, one is enough to make a difference." Mirage left those words to the soldier before leaving along with the rest of the group.