This is all original dialog, and is divided into three "parts" to represent a passage of time on the journey from the Yamarn Plain to Athlum.

Thanks to anonD for the review and Hotaru Shizuma for adding another one.


CH 3: En Route to Athlum

Part I: Story Time

Dave's army had moved out, headed back home, with us in tow. Now seemed like a good time to get to know each other. I tried to forget the last encounter I had with Emma. I still hoped we'd get along eventually. It's just…why did she have to be so formal all the time? David is the Marquis of Athlum, sure, but he looks to be about my age (note to self: ask Dave for his age when possible). Friends don't talk to each other like that, right? At least I never talked to my sister like that. Besides her, I never knew anyone my age. And while I loved my sister, she was two years younger than me and a girl. If we had grown up in the city I'm sure I'd be able to know tons of people. Geez, I hope I wasn't acting like an idiot. What if people were really different in Athlum?

I turned to Athlum's Four Generals. "Hey," I said. "I never really got all of your names. I'm Rush, Rush Sykes. But you probably all know that," I rambled.

The overwhelmingly huge Yama looked at me. "I'm Blocter. You mighta hear me yellin' down into the cave you were in. Had to make sure Lady Emma was okay. And that is – "

"I can introduce myself, you know," the qsiti spoke. "I'm Pagus. It is nice to meet you Rush," he said politely. "Among the generals I specialize in intelligence-gathering…and on my own time, I enjoy studying history." He glanced around at the surroundings. "For example, do you know why battles on the Yamarn Plain are so important?"

"Uh-oh. Don't get him started," Blocter warned in a voice he thought was quiet. However a yama's idea of quiet doesn't exactly match how other species see it. Pagus merely rolled his eyes at him.

"What is the Yamarn Plain?" I asked the qsiti scholar.

Pagus' eyes lit up at the question. "So you seek knowledge? The Yamarn Plain is actually quite close to your island, Eulam. Many have fought on it in hopes to get to Celapaleis. Which is the large city east of Athlum, of course. Defending the Yamarn plain and Athlum as well has become crucial as Celapaleis' first line of defense."

"So Athlum isn't that big?" I asked.

"Not compared to Celapaleis or Elysion. But it will seem big to you. You've never been off Eulam, have you?"

"Well…no. I mean, yeah, I'm on the mainland now, but it doesn't seem that different. But I haven't seen any cities yet!"

The qsiti smiled. It seemed quite easy to get along with him. Awesome! I just made another friend. I grinned back and continued chatting with him. It made the day pass by a lot quicker.


Part II: Swordplay

We had set up camp for the night. I glanced over at Dave. I hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him; Emma and Torgal were hogging all of his attention. But now he was by himself, going through some forms with his sword and shield. How should I go over to him? I didn't want to interrupt what he was doing. Wait, what am I thinking? I have a sword of my own! I could ask to practice with him. Brilliant.

I nervously scratched the back of my head as I approached. Why was this so hard? "Hey, Dave."

The Marquis finished thrusting at an invisible enemy. "Hello, Rush. I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Wait – you have?"

"I wanted to ask how you were feeling about your sister. You must really care about her, to go running after her like that."

"Yeah, I do. I always feel the need to protect her…even though she is a fairly good fighter herself. She's even beaten me a couple times in practice," I admitted. "That's why I came over! I wanted to spar with you. If I want to help Irina I have to be a lot stronger."

"It would be my honor." David brandished his sword. "You have to see Pagus first though. He'll cast a spell on our blades to make them not as lethal. It acts as if it were a shield. If one of us scores a hit, it will bounce off our skin. It only lasts for around half an hour though."

"That sounds ace, Dave!" And with that, we headed over to the qsiti. On the way back, we noticed the spell Pagus had cast left a light blue aura surrounding our blades. I flashed Dave a smile. "Ready?" I asked.

"Ready."

I charged. "Arrgh!" Dave easily deflected, and our sparring had begun. Thirty minutes of lunging, thrusting, dodging, and parrying had left us exhausted. I wish I could have talked to Dave more, but I was really tired. Trying to cover up the fact I was still gasping for breath, I muttered a "Thanks, Dave! I'm gonna try and get some sleep now."

"Goodnight, Rush."


Part III: Travel by Portal

"We are approaching the teleporter," Pagus informed us.

Okay, not cool. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me what anything is? "What?" I gave Pagus a blank look. I never heard of a teleporter before.

"They are a type of Remnant. Once you reach out and touch it you can think of any other teleporter you've encountered and you will appear in that location."

"Oh. Well, I've never seen one before. Or any other ones."

"It is a simple matter," Pagus began to clarify. "You must hold hands with a person who knows where you are going. "

"Wow, that's so cool! Why doesn't everybody use these?" I looked at the qsiti excitedly.

"Teleportation devices are not made to move large groups of people. They tend to get…unstable, shall we say? Additionally, you have to know the location of the teleporter in question. Typically they are found in every palace of a town or city, as well as being dotted throughout the landscape. This one would be easy to miss. It's underneath that giant bush over there. Luckily, I have a map of the area." Pagus pulled out a rather large and complex looking map, complete with a grid and a bunch of dots. He saw my confused look and said, "The different colored dots are points of interest. I could explain in more detail…"

"You really don't have to," Blocter interjected.

"Very well then. Let us enter the portal and get back to Athlum," Pagus replied as he reached out to touch the teleporter. Suddenly, he was gone!

"Whoa," I said in awe. Blocter followed suit. "Hey – wait a minute? Who is going to hold my hand?" I asked.

David stepped next to me. "I will." He grasped my hand in his, and with his other hand reached out. We were sucked in! And almost instantaneously we were in the palace of Athlum.

"Thanks Dave! Are you supposed to feel tingly afterwards?"

"I've never heard of that reaction before. You might want to speak with Pagus about it, if you have time." He gave me a quizzical look. Dave glanced at me and said, "Well…I have to meet with my generals. You may explore Athlum a little if you wish. A guard will summon you when I am finished." I headed out the palace door and heard the voices of Emma and Torgal. They must have just appeared…but my thoughts soon got distracted as I took a look around. There was a cobblestoned path, giant buildings, and tons of people! It was so awesome! Irina would love to see this! Oh…Irina. What was I thinking? I shouldn't be messing around. I had to see if I could find any kind of information on her.

I glanced around, almost getting lost. First order of business: find a map. My heart had finally stopped pumping so fast. I must have been nervous about the teleporter when I was holding Dave's hand. Yeah, that must be it.

It was as good an explanation as any.


This chapter is rather short. I was planning on having Chapter 4 being about Rush wandering around Athlum and Chapter 5 dealing with Blocter and Pagus' missions. I might combine them into one chapter, not sure yet. I keep getting distracted by replaying the actual game.