But instead of a crumbling ruin, I saw a massive stone castle.
"We must be in the past," said Muriel. "Just like that time we went to Amoru."
"Well, let's take a stroll through history, shall we?" asked Hassan.
Just then, we were greeted by one of the castle's guards.
"What are you doing there?" he asked. "You're supposed to be inside the castle!"
Before any of us, could talk, he led us up a flight of stairs and inside the main keep of the castle.
"There is an important ceremony going on," said the guard. "Until then, no one is allowed outside the castle."
"Okay, then," I said.
I looked around, The main lobby was basically a chamber made of stone, with a garden in the middle.
"Have you noticed?" asked a man standing near the garden. "How everyone is gone?"
"Uh, yeah," I said.
"You've come at a bad time; the king is attempting to summon a very powerful monster."
"Sure," I said.
I spoke to the others. "We'd better get some more info; I think I know how this is going to end."
Going into one of the side rooms, we found a scholar studying. I asked what was going on.
"I read about a monster more powerful than the demon king," said the scholar, "so the king had me do more research. When I found out how to summon the monsters, the king immediately ordered all preparations."
"Do you think this is a good idea?" asked Barbara.
"I don't know. The monster has no interest in our kingdom, or he would have destroyed us already. I do have concerns about the price we may have to pay."
Going upstairs, we emrged into the throne room. The king sat on a throne, his feet resting on a red carpet. He faced some guards and court staff.
"Begin the preparations immediately," ordered the king.
"Yessir!" said the guards and staff before leaving the throne room.
I walked up to the king; he looked to be in some sort of trance. A minister was standing on the carpet in the throne room.
"The king will be able to overpower the demon king," the minister said confidently. "It will all be over soon."
I thought the minister did not know just how right he was.
Going to a room to the right of the throne room, I saw two men standing near a suit of armor.
"But, General," asked this man in a uniform, "would the demon king come here?"
"I believe so," said the general, a middle-aged man wearing some sort of uniform. "He will come for this armor."
"You mean the legendary Armor of Orgo that only a hero can wear?Why would he be threatened by that? Look how easily he destroyed Calberona and the shrine at Dhama."
"The hero will come and bring the light. Until then, having this armor here will only attract the enemy. Summoning a powerful monster is only a temporary solution."
I then entered the room.
"What do you want?" asked the general. "This is a very important suit of armor in here."
I looked at the armor; a heart was engraved on the breastplate.
Going upstairs, we went to the doors of the royal bedchamber. Two women in fine dresses sat at a table; I listened in to their conversation.
"Mother," asked the younger woman, "what if Father can not control the monster? Will the world be overrun with monsters?"
"Your father consulted the scholar," replied the older woman, who was presumably the younger woman's mother. "As long as the monster is fed, there won't be any problems. Trust your father."
We left the chamber and went upstairs. The hallway was dark, and a guard stood in front of the door.
"Only the king and his staff are allowed to enter," said the guard. "Or did you bring the offering?"
"No," I replied.
"Then just wait for the ceremony to begin."
I walked downstairs.
"Maybe if we bring the offering here, we can solve this mystery," said Chamoro.
We went about the castle, asking around. We found out the name of this castle- Grace Castle.
"That was a kingdom that fell long ago," said Chamoro, "after Calberona and Dhama Shrine were destroyed in the real world."
Many people expressed confidence that the monster will kill the demon king, although some people understandably had reservations.
Walking into the kitchen, a cook and a kitchen aide were preparing food. The food smelled like something I never smelled before.
"Snake soup...with dried frog?" asked the cook, a portly woman with brown hair. "What a strange request. Will you take the offering to the ceremony?"
"Of course," I said.
"Here you go, snake soup with dried frog," she replied, handing me a ceramic bowl. "Don't spill it; it took me over an hour to cook it and the kign doesn't want any further delays."
"I'll be careful."
I went back to that dark hallway and told the guard I had the offering.
"Dried frog and snake soup," said the guard. "You may enter."
We entered the ceremony room. It was dark, lit only by a few candles; a circle was drawn around this raised platform.
"You'd better get out," said the guard.
And so I did. I went down to the throne room.
"Your highness," said a guard. "We are ready to begin the ceremony."
"Finally," said the king, getting up from his throne. He followed the guard upstairs and we followed them.
"The ceremony has finally begun," said the guard standing in front of the door. "We will start with the offering."
I could hear voices inside.
"Hidden in this land is a legendary power," said the king. "I will now summon it. Maha torana sotemishia rekidantoran higante parashikorohia!"
I then heard this thunder, and then this booming voice sounded.
"Who summons me?" asked the voice.
"I, the king of Grace, summon you. Hear my request!"
"I take orders from no one!"
The guard swung the door open to see whart was going on.
I looked and saw this image of some demon wearing a horned helmet. Only his head and torso were visible.
Lightning struck the king.
"Yeeow!" he yelled.
And then he burst into flame! The king cried out this inhuman scream that chillded to the bone, running around the room, trying to put out the fire as it sizzled his flesh. I could smell something like burnt meat over a barbecue.
"I exist only to kill," said the monster. "Nothing else can exist!"
The two guards, stunned by their liege being burned alive, come to his side. They are struck with lightning and they too burn, adding their screams to the kings' dying screams.
The guard posted at the door enters, absolutely shocked.
"The queen and princess!" he yelled. He immediately headed downstairs.
"We'd better get away before that monster decides to fry us!" yelled Muriel.
The general and his aide then entered the ceremony room.
"Oh no," said the general, looking at and smelling the burning corpses of the king and the two guards.
"What is done is done, sir," said the aide. "We had better save ourselves."
Going down to the throne room, we saw a burning body lying on the red carpet.
"Too late for him," said the general. "We must retrieve the armor." He then went through a door and appeared with the Armor of Orgo seconds later.
We followed him downstairs.
"I'll hide the armor in the underground warehouse," he said to a soldier. "Get everyone out of the castle!"
"Yessir!" snapped the guard. "Right away, sir!"
We followed the general to the outside balcony, along the stone floors and among the burning corpses. He went inside this room with a wooden floor, which was appararently used for training.
He opened one of the floorboards.
"I'll hide the armor in here," he said.
"Will you be safe, sir?" asked the aide.
"I'll seal the way. No one can get in without a pickaxe! Now get these people out of here!"
"Yes, sir."
And so we followed him outside the castle.
I looked behind. The castle was on fire!
I heard a rumbling, like thunder from a distance, and then the castle collapsed. A clouid of dust surrounded us...
And then we were standing just outside the well.
"So that was how it happened," said Hassan.
"To watch history unfold like that," said Chamoro.
"We'd better get the armor," I said, climbing up the stone staricase.
We went to the area where the wooden floor was. I took out the golden pickaxe which I had used at the Wall of Destiny.
"Okay, people," I said. I swung the pickaxe and pulled back the wooden floorboard.
There were stairs!
Going down, there was the ruins of a dungeon, with empty treasure chest.
"Nothing down here," said Muriel.
Indeed, that was true. The stone floors and walls were covered with a thin layer of dust that was kicked up whenever we walked, causing us to cough.
"There's nothing here," said Barbara.
As I walked, I felt soemthing slip.
Touching the stone floor, I found one of the tiles was loose. Lifting it upo, there was another small staircase.
"Good work," said Chamoro.
We walked down into a series of tunnels. The tunnels were bare, not even being lined with bricks.
Wandering through the tunnels, we found this suit of armor, the same one we saw back in the dream world.
I put the Armor of Orgo on.
"Poor fellow," said Hassan.
In looked at a skeleton; that was definitely the general.
As we went back outside, I then had an idea.
I peered into the well and went to the past.
We saw that Grace Castle was restored. The guard gave us the same greeting, leading us inside.
"So it's going to happen like this every time we go through," said Muriel.
"We'll do things differently," I said.
We went to the room where the general had, or will, uncover a stairs leading down to the underground warehouse. Soldiers were training in that room.
Using the golden pickaxe, I uncovered the stairs and went down. The guards did not stop us; this was apparently a replay of the original history. These people were phantoms reliving the final moments of Grace Castle.
The undergroundf warehouse was not as dusty as it would be in the future. Opening the treasure chests, we uncovered a small medal, a strength seed, and an Aeolus's Shield. We then went back to the well and back to our own time.
"Now that we have the armor, maybe we should check on the sword," said Barbara.
I agreed. I cast Return.
oooooooooooo
Returning to Longadeseo, we went back to Sally's house.
"It's you," she said, standing in her smithery. "Behold. May I present the newly-restored lengendary sword!"
I took the sword; it shone brightly. There was this aura of power to it. A lightning bolt was engraved on the blade near the hilt.
"Thank you," I replied.
"You are welcome," repleid Sally. "I can now start blacksmithing again."
"We have all the lengendary armaments now," said Chamoro.
"Next stop, the castle of the gods!" I said.