Ah, writing an original manuscript is harder than I thought. Good writer or no, blocks are way more common in the original creative process than working with fanfiction. Even so, I hope it can be a success when I'm done with it. In fact, I realize at this point that having a following of fans here on FF could be beneficial for marketing a novel when it's finally all said and done.

But back to the point, it's been far too long since I wrote for this story here. I wish Queen's Blade would get something bigger and newer than Grimoire to bring some life back into the franchise, but unfortunately we've got to settle with what we have.

When dawn finally broke over the lands of the Continent, Church was unfortunately still alone. The angelic duo he had been separated from had not returned to him at any point during the night, and he had been forced to sleep in relative discomfort and loneliness. Thankfully the weather had remained tame throughout the night, so even without shelter Church had avoided any undue trouble.

That said, morning still arrived quite unwelcome to him, though he managed to get up and get going regardless: after all, there was no point in loitering around some patch of woods in the middle of nowhere any longer. Even if he didn't know where exactly he was going, it was better to be on the move. If he was lucky he could find some semblance of a road again, and get on his way to civilization one way or another.

With that in mind, Church was currently walking towards the side of the mountain that loomed over him, in hopes of finding the road he had been traveling on before the fiasco with Elina had taken place. In hindsight, he wondered if he should have gone in the same direction that Elina had, but he failed to see how she could have known where she was going either. Besides, despite their relatively successful adventure together, Church got the feeling that Elina didn't want to see him again quite so soon.

So instead he forged his own way, counting on luck to get him to his next destination safely. That wasn't the way Church would have normally operated, but he didn't really have a choice at the moment. If he still had the map he had stolen weeks ago he may have been able to figure something out, but unfortunately that scrap of paper had not survived his multiple recent escapades.

Of course, he knew from his travels so far that Gainos was on the southern tip of the Continent, but at the moment Church didn't know which way that was. He could have tried to use the sunrise for direction, but in this world with more celestial bodies than he was even used to, Church didn't want to trust his knowledge of Earth's sun in regards to this world's.

So he had nothing to do but walk and think. Unfortunately he was pretty sore and exhausted from his exertions the previous day, but on the bright side at least he was able to relax. After the mess with Elina and everything that had gone askew before that, it was nice to have a relatively peaceful day on his hands, even if it was marred with loneliness.

In the distant past, Church would have probably enjoyed the solitude, but the past few months of excellent female company (plus Elina) had turned Church into someone who would much rather not be alone.

Not for the first time, he lamented his separation from the beautiful women he had come to know and love. This of course included the girls he had met only briefly, like Shizuka, Tomoe, and Nyx, but more than that he missed the girls he had really gotten close to. He missed Nanael's cheeky smile, a front though it may be, and her glorious blue wings. He missed Hachiel's optimism and assurance. And he most definitely missed the dynamic he had formed with Airi and Melona.

He had not seen the two of them in quite a long time, and he missed the banter and the teasing and even the drama. Church never would have thought himself capable of desiring such things, but nevertheless he did.

While his thoughts dwelt on such things, Church couldn't help but think about his time in Syrinidell as well. Admittedly, he had not thought too terribly much about the experience of late, but he could not deny the sense of longing for the companionship of the friends he had made there. He could have certainly done with Nowa's genuine cheerful smile or Alleyne's calm and soothing presence.

Church sighed to himself as he kept walking. "Man, what a hopeless guy I've turned into... can't I go one week without the company of a woman? Then again, why would I want to...?"

Concluding that there was no reason at all to lament his need for companionship, Church did away with his misgivings as his walk continued. The relatively short journey took hours, and Church could say without a single doubt that it was probably the most uneventful thing he had done since arriving in this world. In one sense it was relief, but in another it was undeniably boring. He was so used to the action and the mishaps by now that not having them seemed weird, as though they were the norm instead of peace.

That in itself was a little unsettling, but Church found that by now, he preferred the risk and the action. Apparently having put up with it for so long had turned him into someone who actually cared for it, maybe even craved it. Of course, it probably helped that almost every one of those risky events usually involved a ridiculously hot woman as well. In fact, there were very few instances he could think of so far were a mishap had not included him meeting a beautiful girl. Whatever twisted form of luck that was, Church loved it.

Then again, he did have long stints like these where he ended up being alone. They sucked, but they were probably the most introspective time for him. It was times like these where he usually got to thinking about more serious things than how to interact with the girls around him. Things like his inter-dimensional status, his ever-absent sister, and his apparent role as a hero, at least in the eyes of Daedalus.

He never had found out what it all meant. The notion of being sent to another dimension was ridiculous enough as it was, though Church could offer no other explanation for his presence in a world foreign to him. But the idea that he was here to somehow save this dimension, from what he still wasn't sure, seemed preposterous. He didn't have the right set of skills for that kind of thing. Heck, even in his own world he had not been hero material. He had been a soldier that could make small differences, but even when he had been capable he had not been saving the world on a massive scale. And now, when it came to swords, shields, and medieval warfare, he had no talent at all. How was he supposed to save anyone like that?

Then again, Daedalus had said his job wasn't necessarily fighting... what was it he had said? Something about conquering hearts? Whatever the hell that meant...

Either way, Church wondered how much time he had before any of Daedalus' words came true. Was this one of those situations where the hero was just suddenly pounced on by his destiny, or would it wait indefinitely until he was ready to face it? There was no way of knowing of course, but he sure would have liked to.

Church was so lost in thought that when he finally set foot on a road again, it took him a few moments to realize he had left the wilderness behind him. Well, it wasn't too far off, but he was definitely standing on a marked road again, even if it was mostly gravel. Of course, the question now was which way he was supposed to be going...

When Nanael and her pinkette companion returned to the place they had last left Church, they were not honestly surprised to not see him there. That was because it would have been foolish for him to wait around for them. And in truth, they were not even all that surprised to not find him anywhere on the main road he had been traveling on.

Naturally, Nanael found this extremely worrisome, but also very irritating. "He managed... somehow, even in this short span of time, he managed to get himself into some sort of trouble..."

Smiling ruefully, Hachiel could only agree. "He does seem to have a knack for it... I guess we'll have to go look for him."

"Well at least it shouldn't be hard. We can just ask the Seraph to locate him for us."

"Considering the conversation we just had with her, I doubt she'd be too cooperative Nanael..."

The blue-haired angel scowled as she crossed her arms. "Ah, I didn't think about that... darn it... well, whatever. We can get a good bird's eye view from up here and these mountain roads aren't that frequently traveled. Spotting one guy in a bright red jacket should be easy, right?"

"Maybe not as easy as you think... but I guess we don't have much of a choice. I sure hope he's just lost..."

Hachiel realized too late that building on Nanael's mounting anxiety was bad idea, especially if the expression on her face was any indication. "I'm sure he just got turned around..."

"How could he get turned around on a road with only two directions?"

"Ah... that's a fair point..."

Now both increasingly agitated and concerned, Nanael flew off in the general direction Church had been traveling in when they had left him, Hachiel quickly falling in behind her. Being half-aerial beings, angels did have astoundingly good eyesight (better then elves even, and they were tough to best in the five senses), but even so the mountain roads below them looked completely devoid of life. Even with their ability to cover vast areas very quickly, they didn't spot anything remotely close to a person for nearly thirty minutes.

However, when they did finally spot living people, it was a huge number of them: probably because they were a contingent of soldiers. Floating high above the military unit, both angels couldn't help frowning as they recognized the uniforms. Nanael in particular looked really unhappy.

"Vance... what are they doing out here?"

Hachiel's frown deepened as well, but for her it was because she was confused. "I don't know. If they were discovered here by the Queen's troops, it would surely be labeled an act of war. I can't think of any reason Vance would want to risk that."

"It could be a sneak attack right? Like a preemptive strike deal?"

"I suppose it could be, but if they were planning on something like that, this paltry number of troops would be insufficient to do any real damage. So are they scouts then? Or maybe the vanguard for a bigger army? Even then, that still wouldn't make sense... Vance just doesn't have the military power to mount an offensive against Gainos. So why are they here?"

At this point Nanael had stopped caring about the political ramifications of this situation. What she did care about was the theory that had just occurred to her.

"Hey, this is the same road Church was traveling on... do you think these guys ran into him? What if they remembered him from the mess at their castle?"

"I suppose it's a possibility..."

Apparently the mere chance of it being a possibility was enough for Nanael to decide the next course of action. Unfortunately for Hachiel, this action was to go down and confront the soldiers personally. "H-hey, Nanael! Hold on, that isn't the best idea..."

Naturally Nanael ignored her comrade, which naturally meant that Hachiel had no choice but to follow her, a heavy sigh on her lips. She wished she could say she was surprised, but she really wasn't. That said, there was nothing she could really do about it. With enough power to go about whatever business she wanted to, Nanael was very hard to stop once she was determined to do something.

With no reason to be cautious considering that she was in no danger, Nanael decided to simply land in front of the slow moving column. Needless to say, the sight of two angels landing before them on a rather desolate mountain path stopped all of the Vance soldiers in their tracks.

Of course, none of them dared respond aggressively: religious or not, most everyone knew better than to attack an angel. Faith aside, angels had proven themselves to be quite powerful in the few times they engaged in physical scuffles. These Vance soldiers were especially aware of this fact, since many of them had seen firsthand just how strong an angel was even in comparison to their own mighty Thundercloud General.

With no words or action forthcoming, Nanael jabbed a finger at the unit as a whole. "Who's in charge here? I have an important question to ask."

While the majority of the soldiers were still cowed by the sudden demands of an angel, one of the more gutsy troopers spoke up. "By what right do you demand anything of us? Our operations our outside of your jurisdiction!"

Entirely unwilling to be denied, Nanael leveled a powerful glare at this particular individual. "My jurisdiction is whatever I want it to be. If I were you I wouldn't put up so much resistance."

The combination of both her words and her expression scared the soldiers out of their wits, but Hachiel couldn't possibly condone Nanael's methods. Angels were supposed to be emissaries of righteousness and beacons of hope and what not. It perverted their very image to be so... threatening.

Still, she could not deny the results. With the soldiers too scared to offer any rebuttal and at a loss for what to do next, one of them quickly ran off towards the back of the troop, presumably to fetch her commander. For some reason said leader was a long time in coming, but it became fairly obvious when she arrived that her injuries had delayed her somewhat.

Hachiel, for one, was somewhat surprised to see the blonde. The Vance Captain of the Guards was second only to the Thundercloud General herself, the Count notwithstanding. She did not expect such a high-ranking officer to be leading this group of soldiers. Even more surprising was the state she was in. Elina Vance usually kept a regal image about herself, but at the moment she was covered in bandages from head to toe: and they weren't the decorative kind that adorned her thighs.

To say the woman had been wounded was an understatement, and despite the distinctly negative encounter they had shared in the past, Hachiel couldn't help but feel the urge to treat such injuries. It was in her nature as a healer to care for the hurt.

Surprisingly, Elina did not seem at all shocked to see the two angels. Then again, perhaps she was simply too exhausted to muster surprise in the first place. Her first words were instead very plain and relatively emotionless, which was almost comical in a situation such as this.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Despite the fact that she had practically no sympathy for the woman, Nanael's curiosity spurred her reply. "Geez, what the heck happened to you?"

If she were irritated by this blunt approach, Elina gave no sign of it. Then again, perhaps she was still simply too tired to care. "I fell."

This vague and nondescript answer left both angels gawking. "You... fell? And hurt yourself that badly?"

"It was a long fall. Look, what do you want? As you can see I'd rather not be up and about at the moment..."

Content to let that matter rest, Nanael wanted to get right to the point, but Hachiel cut her off with her own words, much to her blue companion's chagrin. "I have a few questions for you. First of all, what are you doing out here? You're way beyond your own borders. Being discovered here could lead to war between your Count and the Queen!"

These delicate questions caused Elina to glower at the angelic duo before her. "I was under the impression that the affairs of mortals were none of your concern?"

"Unless those affairs relate to an attempt to take control of the Continent through means other than Queen's Blade..."

Elina scoffed at this. "Calm down your holiness, we aren't trying to start a war we can't win. My father has no intention of starting a conflict that would produce no benefits, so you don't have to worry about us violating your precious tournament."

While this sounded reasonable enough, Hachiel was not foolish enough to accept anything Elina said at face value. "Then do you care to explain why you have troops this far into the Queen's territory?"

"No, as matter of fact I don't. There's no rule saying we can't set foot into the Queen's territory. Now, is there anything else? I have actual important matters to attend to."

While Hachiel was by no means satisfied with what she had been told, she had no reason to carry the conversation further. After all, there was no restriction saying that Vance troops couldn't move within the Queen's territory. So long as they didn't try to take the throne by force, Hachiel had no grounds to accuse them. She had no idea what they were doing here, but at this point it truly was none of her business.

As for Nanael, she had barely cared about the political aspect of all of this in the first place. All she gave a crap about was being able to ask her question.

"I don't care what you and your troops are doing out here. I just have a question for you."

While she normally would have been more aggressive and assertive in such a situation, Elina knew better than to irritate an angel in her current state. To piss of an angel even in peak condition was a terrible idea. To do it while seriously wounded? Utterly ridiculous.

"And that question is?"

"We were traveling together with a man in a red jacket just a little while ago. We saw him last on this very road. Did you run into him on your march?"

Instead of an immediate answer, Elina's first reaction was confusion and surprise as her eyebrows rose into her hairline. She had figured by now that Church was an interesting individual to say the least, but to think that he had angels as companions? Somehow he was still surprising her even after he was no longer present. That said, Elina was irked that the man managed to do that.

"And what if we did?"

The implication behind these words made Nanael scowl. "If you did it better have been a friendly, peaceful encounter. Now give me a straight answer."

Elina had half a mind to utter some snarky comment or continue being evasive, but she knew better than to risk that. The last thing she needed was to have her entire unit devastated by a furious angel.

"As a matter of fact we did. We ran into him several leagues back, well over half a day ago. To be honest we had a bit of a scuffle, but considering his crimes against my father, I hardly think it was uncalled for..."

Resisting the urge to resort to violence, albeit barely, Nanael's body nevertheless tensed in mild rage. She had very few friends in life. That said she was very prone to flying off the handle if something happened to them. "A scuffle? You attacked him?"

Seeing that pressing Nanael's buttons at the moment wasn't in her best interests, Elina raised her one free arm in a placating manner. The other was wrapped in a sling. "He's not dead, if that's what you're worried about. But don't bother asking me where he is, as I frankly have no idea. What's it to you anyway? Last time I checked angels rarely keep mortal company..."

Seeing an opportunity to turn the tables from earlier, Nanael smirked. "That's none of your business, now is it?"

Not at all pleased to have her earlier sentiment thrown back in her face, Elina couldn't help scowling at the angelic duo before her. Though the angel did have a point. Whatever they wanted with Church was none of her business. She couldn't care less what happened to him now that he was no longer useful to her.

"Fair enough. But if that was your one question, would you kindly get out of our way? We do have places to be."

Nanael didn't quite like the tone Elina was taking with her, but she inwardly admitted that she was probably feeling unusually aggressive due to the current situation. "Where'd you see him last?"

With little desire to prolong this encounter further, Elina simply jabbed her thumb in the general direction she had left Church's company. "That way. I can't tell you anything more specific than that. That said, are we done here?"

With a glare, Nanael prepared to take to the skies again. "I guess we are. But next time you run into Church, you'd better keep your hands of off him. Next time I won't forgive you so easily."

The irate angel and her partner took off too quickly for Elina to make a retort, but she couldn't help smirking at the notion of an angel being clingy and protective of a man. God above, if she knew the kind of physical intimacy they had shared in that ravine...

For a brief moment Elina experienced some twisted glee regarding the notion, but the blonde quickly dispelled it as soon as she realized that she was looking back on those events in any positive light. She absolutely refused to think of that nightmare positively. Whether or not her subconscious agreed, that was another matter...

As for Nanael and Hachiel, they were already far into the sky, but that didn't stop the pinkette of the duo from giggling about something. Naturally, this aroused Nanael's curiosity. "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, nothing... you just seemed a little... really, it's nothing."

"It's definitely something."

"I just thought it was funny how you were acting. So protective and jealous..."

Nanael's face turned deep red at this, which was an interesting contrast to her predominately blue motif. "I was not acting jealous! I was just mad because she said they had attacked him! How is that jealous?! Isn't that just being protective of your friends?!"

Hachiel smiled gleefully. "Well, friends may be one thing, but the way you were acting..."

"What are you saying?! Don't mess with me Hachi!"

"I'm just seeing the truth Nanael, don't blame me just because you make it to obvious..."

Knowing that there was no denying the truth, Nanael simply folded her arms. "So? Is there something wrong with that? I mean geez, we're just friends..."

"Not at all. I think it's adorable actually."

"Yeah, well...! I hope one day some guy comes along and makes you like this too! I'll never leave you alone about it!"

"Of course, whatever you say..."

Church didn't know if luck could be considered a skill. He also didn't know if it could be quantified. But if it was and if it could, he had to admit that it was probably one of his best skills, and he probably had more of it than most others. After he had traveled along the mountain path he had found for an hour or two, he had encountered a small caravan on their way to Gainos. Turns out he had been heading the wrong way, but thankfully he hadn't gone too far that way before being redirected. They had also told him that he was on a side road that was rarely used, so Church figured he was far removed from the main road he had been on before his run-in with Elina.

That said, he hadn't chosen to travel with the caravan. It had been full of men for one, but more importantly they had a lot of pack animals with them, and the caravan moved too slow for Church's liking. He had turned on his heel and left them behind all too quickly, somewhat put off by the distance he still had to travel, but also pleased to know that his destination wasn't still weeks beyond his reach. According to the caravan Gainos was still several dozen leagues away, but even at a leisurely walking speed Church could reach it in under a week. At a brisk pace he could probably do it in half. If he really felt like it he could throw some light jogs in there, though his knee would prevent him from covering any decent distance in one stretch.

Still, just like with Bosk, it was nice to close in on a destination that had been on the horizon for a long time. Needless to say, Church was also eager to reunite with Shizuka and Tomoe again, though he had no idea how he would go about that. He didn't know how big Gainos was really. He knew it was the capital of this nameless land he was in, but its scope still eluded him. He had never discussed it at length or in detail with anyone. Still, he figured that, like any capital city, it would be extremely crowded. Finding his female friends could be a real challenge, but he figured he could find them easily enough once the Queen's Blade tournament started. Not that he wanted to wait that long of course, but it could be his only option.

Either way, he was glad to have a clear direction to follow again. Being thrown off-track was a huge pain, even if it had been a relatively exciting adventure. He was eager to visit new places and possibly meet new people. After all, with his luck, he usually ended up meeting someone new and interesting everywhere he went, and that was definitely the highlight of his day, week, and even his month.

On the other hand, walking such a distance really sucked. He would have loved to have Snow back. Even if the mare barely moved faster than a walk, at least it would have cut down on the effort Church had to put into traveling.

Still, walking wasn't all bad. It was good exercise if nothing else, and maybe it would help strengthen his handicap. Besides, if he ever did run into Alleyne again... he certainly didn't want to be out of shape. She'd probably be disgusted with him if he let himself go like that. An expression like that from her would seriously hurt.

Besides, Nowa kept up with Alleyne's regimen all the time, and she was younger than him. It would hardly do to be completely outdone by her, even if he could never hope to really match the girl. He had to at least make an effort.

With that in mind he tackled the road before him with more gusto, though it unfortunately didn't make the journey any less boring. Being alone on the road really did bite. It meant no good conversation, no peaceful companionship, and no pretty girls to gawk at while you walked. In that sense, Church really did miss Airi and Nanael. He never got bored examining that beautiful scarlet hair or those gorgeous faint blue feathers. He supposed he could say the same about Shizuka, but he hadn't actually done much traveling with her, so Church couldn't say if her silver hair would be distracting enough to make the journey pass quickly. He had no doubt that it would be.

While he thought of it, Church briefly wondered if he could ever put such beauty to a canvas or paper. He had possessed little time for hobbies back when his job had been to defend New Eden, but following the world's destruction, he had gone to great lengths to become a proficient artist. He had chosen such a hobby because he had always been saddened by the loss of nature's beauty. He had found it even more remorseful that anyone born into the world after NOVA would likely never get to see the beauty the world had once possessed. With that in mind, Church had figured that he, someone who could remember the world as it used to be, could share his memories of blue skies and rolling waves with the rest of New Eden.

Of course he had possessed no previous skill in art before that point. He didn't even have much natural talent. Truth be told he had been awful at first, painting and drawing stuff that could have passed for the work of a third grader. And being a busy soldier, he rarely had time to truly develop any skill. It wasn't until he started seeing art as something both selfish and selfless that he got much better.

When his PTSD started growing worse, Church was told that he needed to find some way to release his stress. Preferably something other than killing bad guys. Church had found that creating art was a good way to do that. He had started making way more time to do it, especially whenever he was feeling particularly affected by his memories. Needless to say that amount of time had improved his skills greatly. He was still no master, be he definitely wasn't an amateur either.

With that thought in mind, Church felt a little down, seeing as how he had been granted no time to indulge his hobby since arriving in this world. Maybe when he got to Gainos, he'd square away some time to paint some of the scenery he had witnessed. Syrinidell seemed like a nice choice. The serene village, surrounded and protected by massive, lush trees... yeah, that seemed like a nice image. Especially if he framed that serenity around the most composed, calm, stunning blonde he knew. After all, in his mind an image of Syrinidell wasn't even complete without Alleyne. Any time he thought of the place she was there somewhere, watching over the trees or reclining in their branches. Yep, he would definitely let her be the center of it all. After all, the point of lesser beauty was to accent greater beauty, so he could hardly allow the forest to take precedence over her.

As he dwelt on different ideas for that particular piece, Church wondered how he could portray the other girls whose beauty he admired. Nanael would obviously have a gorgeous sky as her background. After all, her entire motif was blue and white, so fluffy clouds and pure skies was perfect for her. And Airi... Church wasn't sure what he could do with her, but he knew he wanted to accent the majestic beauty that was her hair. Maybe he'd have it wrapped around her, or blowing in the wind? Or maybe he could have it splayed out in clear water as she relaxed near a lake or something?

For some reason, planning all of this made Church really happy. He did like his hobby after all, and he was eager to portray the extraordinary women he had met in ways that accented just how wonderful they were. There was nothing perverse or corrupt about the notion: it was just a desire to somehow immortalize something Church felt deserved to be appreciated by all, and far into the future.

Of course, he had no idea how art was performed in this world. Hopefully painting, drawing, and canvas were the same as always. Considering that Gainos was supposed to be the cultural and structural capital of this country, maybe he could find the materials he needed there. Of course he had no money, but surely he could find a way to get some once there. He imagined that finding employment in this world was a hell of a lot easier than it was in Pre-NOVA earth.

It was thoughts like these that kept Church entertained during his travels. This was fortunate, since, for the first time in what felt like forever, his journey was mostly uneventful. No matter how many times his pace changed throughout the day, how many times he stopped to eat, rest, or relieve himself, nothing of note happened for hours and hours on end. As the sun descended behind the mountains that towered over him, Church was met with only a quiet evening, and no soldiers, assassins, or supernatural beings sought to disrupt the serenity.

In a way it was unsettling. Church was so expectant for trouble these days that he anticipated it at every corner. It was weird to think that he could have a completely peaceful twenty-four hours. He didn't expect fate to be so merciful at this point. If someone wasn't going to try and kill him, things almost seemed too boring.

But he was nevertheless thankful. It was nice to have more than a few hours of relative safety for once. On the other hand, he definitely could have done with some company for such a night, but for now he had to enjoy it alone. Glancing up at the only moon of the pair that he could see at the moment, Church admired the lunar body, and wondered what else was different in this world that he had yet to notice.

Were there more planets in their solar system? Was their sun bigger, yet farther away? Did they have a higher percentage of land mass than water? Or perhaps some crazy mountain range that reached even higher than Mount Everest? These kinds of things were major points of curiosity for Church, who had always been a sightseer. Heck, even after NOVA, Church had found some pleasure in observing the new twisted, corrupted landscapes of the world on his Legion operations.

He had never painted those scenes though. The barren, twisted forests, the broken, shattered mountains, seas stained sickly green, hellish crimson skies... in a twisted, morbid way, the new world was fascinating. They were sights no one had ever seen before NOVA, views that were works of fiction or fantasy as opposed to reality. But any interest in the new scenery of the world had quickly grown sour as the survivors lamented the loss of the world they once had. The new red sky reminded everyone of the hell their world had become. Natural green had become an entirely artificial color, unable to be seen anywhere in nature outside of the eyes of people themselves. Anyone who stood near New Eden's Hanging Edge had a view of only a barren world. A world devoid even of death, as there could be no demise without life.

Church had no desire to bring New Eden's outside view within. The last thing anyone wanted to see depicted in art was what they didn't wish to see in reality. So naturally, he had stuck with simply painting his memories of a lively world into reality.

Now that he was in a world with all that he had missed... it was something to appreciate, no doubt. Not that he had done much of that since arriving here. Rather than being appreciative of such natural beauty, Church had felt more like he was just falling back into something ordinary: something that wasn't that far in the past. Truth be told it was depressing. His world's apocalypse was so recent that being thrown back into the old still felt normal rather than extraordinary.

On the other hand, he had been rather preoccupied from day one. Mere hours after arriving in a new world, he had been roped into Airi and Melona's mysterious goals. Then he had been torn from them and into a new situation entirely. He had spent some time appreciating Syrinidell's majesty, but had quickly been distracted by the deadly conclusion to his time there. Once that was over he had been thrust into even more ridiculous situations, storming castles, fighting soldiers in isolated towns, dungeon diving in infested mines...

There had been almost no end to the situations that had demanded almost all of Church's attention since the beginning. And on top of that, most of those situations had included absolutely stunning, gorgeous women in less than modest attire. Until now, Church had been granted very little time to think about his surroundings... and despite his desire for some feminine company, Church appreciated the chance to do some solo observation of a world he had sorely missed.

Unfortunately, even when the second moon made its way over the mountaintops, it was too dark to fully appreciate the range around him. That being the case, it was also too dark to really continue traveling. If there was one place Church didn't want to be walking around blindly, it was a cliff side mountain path. With no desire to accidentally careen off the edge and die, Church quickly found a place to stay put for the night.

With the glory of nature on his mind, Church wasted no time in finding a comfortable place to lean back and gaze at the starts above. And like he had for most of the day, he thought of a girl he'd like to have at his side: he would have done anything to have his sister there with him, for the first time in so long.

When the time finally came for their little trio to set off for Sirinael, Mission was, admittedly, eager to get underway. She hated to admit it even to herself, but it was kind of exciting to set off on an adventure. Inwardly she told herself that was silly if she didn't believe any of this was happening, but it was getting harder and harder to really hold onto that belief.

That was mostly because the experience was much too real. The clarity was intense enough to seem like reality, and there hadn't been anything too strange that defied reality quite yet.

Still, it was hard for a logical woman like Mission to blindly accept the fact that she was in another dimension. She was still stubborn enough to deny her situation.

That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it though. Reality or not, things felt real, and Mission had missed clean air and the beauty of nature for years. In New Eden, trees and clean water and fresh air existed, but you were always aware that it was simulated or synthesized. It served its purpose well enough, but in a way it was still fake. There was still a novelty factor to be appreciated in a real, untainted world. Even if it wasn't real at all.

And while she had expected otherwise, Mission found that her company wasn't all that terrible. Risty and Leina were an odd duo, and they certainly didn't follow the paradigm of Mission's usual companions, but nevertheless they were interesting to be around. Of course, maybe they were more bearable company because they were both enamored with her to an extent. Leina was still amazed by the notion of a person 'from the future,' and Risty loved the idea of easy access to riches and fame, as well as knowing her own future legend.

Those were all lies of course, but apparently they were effective ones.

Either way, Mission was glad to finally be on her way to her destination. She still wasn't sure if she believed everything that was going on, but she was willing to play along for as long as it took for things to return to normal or for her actions to somehow rectify the situation.

That said, she of course had no idea where Sirinael was herself. Daedalus had appeared in her dreams last night, and simply granted her very specific information about where she would need to look on a map to find the place. Mission had meant to ask him about a lot more than that during his visit, but unfortunately the supernatural being had not stayed with her for long.

Once the sun rose, Mission and her new companions had acquired a map, and Mission had pointed out the place they were supposed to head to: some locale called Seclusion Forest. After finding the target on a map, Mission recalled Risty's words about Sirinael, about how it had belonged to the Calibara at some point: that said, why did she need to point out where their forest was when it was so easily labeled on a map?

While this was a question the girl would have wanted answered, it was too much hassle to ask it, so she simply stayed silent as Risty led her and Leina out of Liere and towards their destination. Being a pretty independent woman herself, Mission was not used to letting someone else take the lead, but she didn't really mind on this occasion, since she knew nothing about the world she was in. She didn't know its geography, its government, heck, she didn't even know anything about its culture. She was half worried that she would make some social faux pas on her journey somewhere and get herself killed.

But, at least now she was armed. With a weapon she had no idea how to use perhaps, but it was certainly better than nothing. Still, Mission would have preferred to gain some experience with her weapon and with the kind of fighting this world dealt in. She could ask for some sort of sparring session with Risty and Leina, but at the moment Mission was a little too stubborn and proud to do that. She could look into it later if her lack of skill became too painfully obvious.

For now, they were simply trekking along a sunlit beaten path that was leading them in the rough direction of the Seclusion Forest and Sirinael. Mission was content to move in silence, to enjoy the crisp morning air and clear skies, but her companions did not share the same notion. Or at least, Leina didn't. She was more talkative than Mission had first expected her to be, though most of her words were thankfully directed at Risty rather than her. It was pretty clear at this point that Leina held the redhead in pretty high esteem, though even Risty herself didn't seem sure why that was the case.

Leina was always asking the woman about just about everything, often times posing questions that Mission would have found more fitting for her to ask, being a stranger in this world. It was almost like she had literally been born yesterday: or had just led a very sheltered life. Of course, it wasn't like Mission had any room to talk. She didn't know a single thing about this world other than the fact that it bore the trappings of a medieval era. Everything else was a mystery.

But despite her unwillingness to ask questions herself, Mission intently listened to Leina and Risty's conversations, whether they were about the state of poverty in certain parts of the country, or what kind of fighters they could expect to fight when that tournament of theirs rolled around. While Mission didn't care about a lot of it specifically, she didn't like being out of the loop, and moreover, she knew that knowledge was something you could never have too much of. In a foreign world where she was a complete stranger, there was no reason to stay ignorant. The more she knew, the better off she would be in the long run.

Still, it was hard to understand most of what she overheard out of context. Discussions regarding territorial disputes between Vance and Gainos meant nothing to her, just like names of supposedly powerful or important people were just words to a stranger like Mission. Even so, she had managed to piece together a pretty decent amount of knowledge in this world just from listening in on Leina's incessant curiosity and Risty's answers to it.

This giant continent, if it really was all that big, was split into three factions. Vance, Gainos, and some strange swamp country that Mission couldn't figure out quite yet. That Gainos faction was the most powerful by far, and was led by a Queen named Aldra. There was some sort of tournament where the goal was to beat the Queen, and the winner would become the new ruler. That was honestly all Mission had manged to discern at this point.

That said, she wanted to get a better geographical grasp on this continent, so she sped up a little to catch Risty, who has the map they had acquired in her hands. "Hey, can you show me where we are on that?"

Having been silent for most of the trip so far, Risty cocked an eyebrow at the silver-haired girl next to her. "I can, but why? I can lead the way for us just fine."

"I just want to get a better idea of this continent's layout. It could be useful for me to know later."

With a shrug, Risty pointed at a spot on the map. "We're here, a few leagues from the Vance border. If you look a little to the left you can see where Liere is."

Mission studied the map intently. "So we're within Vance territory. And it covers this whole section here? Everything to the left of this border?"

"Yep. Everything to the right is the Queen's territory."

"She's got quite a bit of land on you guys."

Risty shrugged again. "Gainos is a larger political engine, and has a bigger army to govern with. Vance could never hope to command as much territory as they do, and they certainly don't have the strength to carve more land out of Gainos territory and claim it."

"Is Gainos a very militant entity?"

This time it was Leina who answered her. She did ask a lot of strange questions, but she at least seemed knowledgeable about politics. "It's hard to say. Gainos had a very formidable military, but they aren't extremely imperialistic or anything. They haven't pushed into any foreign territories for the sake of conquest in decades. Even when they went to war with the North Realm eight years ago, they were just counterattacking an enemy invasion. They didn't keep any of the land they seized or anything. Though they definitely fortified the border to a point where they could counter and crush any renewed attacks with ease..."

Mission cocked an eyebrow at the lengthy explanation. "Where is this North Realm place? It's not on the map."

"Well it's beyond Gainos' territory, so no one's really bothered putting it onto a map."

"Well isn't Vance outside of their territory? Why is it on the map?"

"It's complicated..."

Mission folded her arms behind her head. "Not like I have anything better to do..."

While Risty merely shrugged, Leina peered at the girl in confusion. "Didn't you say all of this was ancient history in your time? Shouldn't you know about all of this already?"

Caught off guard by the question, Mission nevertheless managed to shrug it off and act nonchalant. "History wasn't my strongest subject in school."

Leina didn't seem entirely convinced by this answer, but she accepted it nevertheless. "OK, so hundreds of years ago Gainos didn't exist. Vance was the strongest force on the continent, and they were constantly fighting wars with other, smaller countries in a bid to conquer more land for themselves. The battles were always bloody and fierce, and costed huge numbers of lives and resources. As the never-ending wars escalated, religion became less and less prominent because everyone was so focused on fighting and warfare. Now this next part is still controversial, as no one is sure why they intervened, but heavenly forces came down to earth and forcefully put a stop to the conflict."

Mission stopped the blonde at this point. "Wait, what? You're kidding right? Divine intervention literally stopped a war? That's ridiculous."

The girl's two companions found this sentiment confusing. "Why? Heaven probably didn't like the destruction and lack of worship due to the war..."

"But you're talking as if heaven is some physical place that can't be questioned at all. Like it's a real place rather than one people just believe in."

Leina cocked an eyebrow at her. "It is a real place. Angels are fairly involved in human affairs..."

"You mean like people you think are angels right?"

"No, like real angels. With feathery white wings and everything. I traveled with one for a short time a little while ago. And angels judge and oversee all Queen's Blade tournament matches..."

While Leina did look completely serious, Mission still gave her an incredulous look. "I'll believe it when I see it, but just go ahead and get back to your story."

"If you say so. Anyway, Heaven put an end to the hostilities, and determined that Vance was at fault for being an aggressor... but instead of just punishing them straight up, they made an offer: Vance and the coalition forces they were fighting could both choose their best warrior to fight each other. Whoever won would be allowed to take the disputed territory. But if Vance lost, they would have to withdraw back to their original territory or suffer divine retribution."

"I'm guessing Vance didn't win?"

"Exactly. Their champion lost, Vance was forced back onto their own turf, and Queen's Blade was established to continue the trend and prevent long-standing tyrannical overlords. Now warriors fight for the title to rule, just like they did back then."

Mission frowned at the entire notion of it. "Seems stupid to determine a ruler through brute force."

Risty glanced at her.

"Why? The strongest is obviously best suited to lead..."

"Are you kidding? There's more to leading a nation than being tough. There are plenty of stupid people who are strong, that doesn't make them good leaders..."

Though Mission didn't see it, Risty's eyebrow twitched at the girl's sentiment, being fully aware that she was far from the smartest woman around. "Well that's the way it is. And it's worked pretty well so far. I mean, Gainos is still in one piece, though some previous Queen's have certainly tried their hardest to tear it apart..."

Mission frowned up at the sky, finding travel in and of itself impossibly droll. "Is the current Queen any good?"

At this point Mission could tell by the looks on their faces that Risty and Leina had vastly different opinions on the matter. Neither seemed to have a definite yes or no answer though. Risty gave her piece first.

"Personally? I'm not sure. It's not like Aldra's some tyrant who executes dissidents or enslaves her people. But there's some stuff she doesn't care enough about. Slavery in Gainos territory is technically illegal, but it runs rampant in black markets everywhere, and Aldra doesn't really crack down on it. Poverty in Gainos isn't absolutely awful or anything either, but it definitely still exists... but hey, compared to the Queen before her, Aldra's a damn blessing. Kind of unfair to say she's great just because her predecessor sucked though."

Having heard Risty's point of view, Mission turned towards Leina. "And your opinion?"

"Well... to be honest I don't know a lot about her regime. But from what little I've seen, I agree with Risty. As for me, I guess I just see her as a powerful foe to overcome. She's really strong and won two tournaments in a row... she's pretty scary, though only because no one really knows anything about her."

"How can no one know anything about her? She runs the entire nation, don't you guys have paparazzi or something?"

Both girls cocked their eyebrows at Mission, making it obvious that they didn't know what she had just said. "OK, I mean, don't you guys have publicity of some sort? I mean, in my world royalty is practically followed by the press everywhere they go. It seems weird that your own Queen would be so secretive to her own people."

Risty shrugged. "Well we all know how she rules and what political decisions she's made, but she's far from the people's hero or anything. She spends most of her time locked away in the palace. Public appearances are pretty rare... although even being out of the public eye, she still has great favor and ratings among the people. After she fought and won the war with the North Realm, everyone thought she was pretty great. It was the last notable public thing she took part in aside from the last tournament."

"So she is a people's hero, just not a very well advertised one. Kind of weird, but what would I know?"

With that conversation out of the way, the trio of women descended into relative silence once more, and they continued on their way to Sirinael and an uncertain, yet exciting future.

Having spent almost all of his travel days with great company since arriving in this world, Church's long trek to Gainos seemed to take even more time than it really had. What had been four days of solid travel felt like a week and a half, mostly because he had been alone the entire time.

Or at least, alone in the sense of not having a particular companion. As he got closer to the capital, the roads became increasingly more crowded, with merchants and travelers heading both ways. Church had naturally expected this kind of traffic to grow near the capital, but it was significantly worse than he had anticipated.

Either way, he was all to eager to reach the city that he had heard about so many times and put all of this dull walking to rest for awhile. Besides, he wanted to see what Gainos looked like, since it was spoken off so fondly and so often.

He was not sure what to expect from the capital of a land like this, but he imagined it would be something similar to a larger, fortified medieval settlement or something. What he did not expect was to be able to see its massive walls while he was still several miles from the city itself.

Standing at the crest of a hill that his cobblestone road had taken him on, Church could only gawk at the city he could see far into the distance. It was far more massive than anything he had expected, and this view was from far away. Granted, all he could see really was the walls and two gigantic buildings protruding over them, but either way the sight was breathtaking even from afar. And hell, he still had to go through some place called Sheldan Free City before he got there. Or at least, some merchant he had asked about it had told him that city was along the way.

One way or another, Church was glad to see his destination was finally in sight, and within his reach. And though he would have much rather enjoyed the view with someone by his side, he quickly left his position on the hill to tackle the next stretch of his journey to the capital of this foreign world he had become a part of.

Sorry it took so long to update. I've been doing a lot of freelance work lately, and it's very tome consuming. Hopefully I'll have enough money soon to put it to rest for awhile and just get back to writing.