The next day, the party was back on the road. The sky wasn't clear, and when they walked along high ground, they were able to see the patchwork shadows of the clouds on the ground. Suyi and Shinwoo were singing a travel song to pass the time. Suyi actually had a rather nice voice. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Shinwoo.

"Sixty-five Balrogs asleep on the bridge

Sixty-five Balrogs asleep!

Shoot one down, watch as it drowns

Sixty-four Balrogs asleep on the bridge..."

Regis grit his teeth. It had been thirty-five Balrogs already and he was getting sick of it. He turned to Shinwoo before he could start another verse. "And what, pray tell, is a Balrog?" he asked.

His comrade was surprised. "You mean you don't know? But you're an Elf! You've probably seen dozens of them. Right Seira?"

The archer shook her head. "In all honesty, I've never seen nor heard of a Balrog before."

Yuna, who was walking beside her, spoke next. "Really? That's surprising. You see them fairly often around Escoria. Well, they're kind of like Watchers, and kind of like Trolls, and kind of like shadows."

"Meaning?" Seira wanted to know.

"They guard passageways." explained Ikhan. "You see them on bridges a lot, although sometimes you see them in canyons, as well. They look like Humans formed of shadows and mixed with an element - usually fire. They tend to favor element-infused whips as a weapon. Anyway, they won't let you past until you've met their terms."

"Their terms?" asked Regis.

"Yeah. Every Balrog is different," cut in Shinwoo. "Some of them want a toll; some of them want to fight the strongest member of your party; a few of them want to eat one of your party before they let you past. Regardless of the terms, They're fine to talk to, so long as you don't try to sneak past them."

"Good to know," noted Regis.

For another few minutes, things were blessedly silent. Then, Shinwoo suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, Suyi. How many Balrogs were we on?"

What with all the traveling time spent singing and joking and trying to hack into the Union's network of sanctuary portals, Regis had assumed that time spent on the road was time wasted. And so he was not in the least surprised when Ikhan insisted they go on a side trip to see the rapids of the River Undule. What did surprise him was when the human mage took out the enchanted gemstone, which Regis had seen him working on for the past week, and tossed it into the water.

"What was that about?" the Elf wanted to know.

"We're making our own mana-harvesting network," explained Ikhan. "We've got a dozen stones in ten rivers and two volcanoes."

"A mana-harvesting network?" asked Seira.

"It's Humanity's most powerful brand of magic," said Ikhan. "The Union uses it to power their places of sanctuary, but smaller parties like to use it as well. We've been working on ours since we were six and we usually access it through these," he held up the amulet around his neck. "The stones draw some of the mana from the flow of the water, or from the fire of the volcano and store it for later use. It's like a stockpile of energy, which you can pull out in an emergency."

"You mean these ridiculous things actually have a purpose?" Regis asked, mildly stunned. He had protested against wearing the amulet he'd been given, as Ikhan and Shinwoo had made their own amulets as ostentatious as possible, and also insisted on referring to them as 'bling'. They had argued about it for a good half an hour before Regis finally gave in.

In fact, memories of that very argument were swirling around Regis' head as he asked, in exasperation, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Honestly?" said Shinwoo. "We just didn't think of it. The amulets are a symbol of our team more than anything else. We don't use them on a regular basis because, whenever possible, it's really better to use your own power. If you rely amulets in place of your own mana, it'll slow the growth of your abilities."

Regis considered this. "Then, what are they used for?"

"Well, the Union's got the largest network of them in the world. They've got enough raw power to perform resurrection spells—making them nearly impossible defeat in battle. Put that together with their near-on impenetrable sanctuaries, and you've got why Humans now consider themselves most powerful among the Creatures of Light and Darkness," said the Human mage.

"What can you do with yours?" Seira wanted to know.

Ikhan shrugged. "We can use them to form sanctuary spells, but they're not powerful enough to do much else, yet."

Regis and Seira exchanged an intrigued look behind their comrades' backs. Regardless of the fact that these Humans had helped them upon their first meeting, they hadn't expected any level of competency from their chosen party. Given how the four of them seemed to act about five years younger than they actually were, the Elves had simply assumed them to be easygoing simpletons. Not that Regis and Seira hadn't liked the quartet, mind you... but still, knowing that they dabbled in the most advanced of Human magic brought a note of respect into their opinions of their new-found allies.

A week later saw them at their first destination: Ilumonae village, home of the best bow-maker around. It was for Yuna that they stopped here. Unlike her three peers, she came from a long line of warriors all in the same specialty: archery. Once she was fifteen, she was officially old enough to wield one of the Starwood bows made by the Jerrin family, and it was tradition for each new member to make the journey to Ilumonae themselves, to prove their worthiness to carry on the family reputation. Whether the Ilumonae bows were of superior quality or not, this arrangement was certainly good for the Jerrin family.

The six of them were in good spirits as they made their way over to the bow-maker's house, ignoring the suspicious looks caused by Regis and Seira's presence.

As far as villages went, Ilumonae was rather more affluent than their own home of Escoria. In comparison with Regis and Seira's home, however, it was a fairly shoddy place. Meaning there was some dissonance in opinion on the place between the two species of the party, leading to some good-natured bantering which distracted from other issues.

When they arrived at the correct building of the artisans' district, they saw a middle-aged man sitting outside on the lawn, carving a bit of wood.

"Hello," said Yuna.

"Good morning to you," said the man. "You have the look of one of the Suh family about you, if I'm not mistaken. Just turned fifteen?"

Yuna smiled. "That's right. I'm Suh Yuna. My parents send their regards."

He nodded. "Give mine to them. Well, then, Yuna, I've got a few different bows for you to choose from. Do you have a defined style of fighting yet?"

She thought about it. "I usually snipe, when possible, providing cover in a retreat or support during an attack."

He nodded again. "A team player, then. Not surprising, seeing your entourage."

She laughed. "I suppose."

"Might I suggest this one, then? It's solid. Not ideal for trick-shooting, but it'll last forever."

Yuna examined it. "I like this one, especially the carvings." She gave the other bows a cursory glance before announcing, "I'll take it."

Yuna dug around in her bag for some currency, and a few moments later, the transaction was completed.

The rest of them were congratulating Yuna on her new status as an official member of her family's warriors, and they were preparing to leave, when Yuna thought of something.

"Seira. Did you want to buy a new bow, as well?"

Seira looked a bit uncomfortable at being put on the spot, but she considered it. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to look," she said.

"Hang on," said the bow-maker. "She's an Elf, isn't she?"

"What of it?" asked Shinwoo, a hard edge to his voice.

"Elves are bloody overpowered already. Those two could kill us all right now without breaking a sweat, and you want me to give them one of my best bows? What have they ever done for us but hide in their forests and use 'non-violence' as an excuse to avoid helping us in war?"

"But, Seira does use a bow" pointed out Ikhan. "And hers is pretty out of date, by the looks of it. I don't think they've made them in that style for the last hundred years."

Jerrin snorted. "More like five-hundred, but that only proves my point. Not only are they powerful, they're arrogant about it. 'Not only can I kill you, I can do it with a weapon that's so old it's hardly useful anymore.'"

Seira studied her current bow. "I inherited this from my uncle" she said. "It's made of heartwood from one of our ancient trees. It's four-hundred years old and it will last for another thousand years." She looked at the bow-maker. "I didn't realize using it was offensive. I apologize. If you allow me to do business with you, it will let me avoid offending others in such a way in the future."

Her words made the man reconsider, if a bit reluctantly. "Well, I suppose one has to start somewhere." He thought a moment. "Just be sure to upgrade your weapons every fifty years or so, as bow styles tend to change very rapidly compared to the Elven lifespan."

Seira nodded.

Jerrin rubbed his hands together. "Now, then. What kind of bow were you looking for?"

"Shoot one down, watch as it drowns,

thirty-two Balrogs asleep on the bridge..."

They were back on the road, headed this time to Escoria, as they wanted to show Regis and Seira their home before going off on their next quest, and Regis felt that he was beginning to lose his mind.

"Do you really have to sing the song?"

Ikhan smiled wearily at him. "Of course we do... it's traditional in our village to sing this while traveling; shows anyone listening that you're not afraid of them."

"I thought you were afraid of the things out there?"

Ikhan glanced at the trio of Suyi, Yuna, and Shinwoo, who were harmonizing away without a care. "Notice how I'm not singing?" he asked.

"Ah, good point." There was silence a moment.

"So," said Regis. "What's your home like?"

"Oh, it's just a small village," said Ikhan. "We're a warrior town; we protect the surrounding lands in exchange for a share of the crops and such."

"Sound like a responsible profession."

"Yeah," agreed the Human mage. "but it winds up being about twice as much work as it should be. You see, we keep having to police our own, in order to stop people from extorting our protectorate. That's what my family does, by the way. We're one of the four clans that keeps track of everyone and makes sure nothing goes on that shouldn't."

Regis was just about to make another comment, when they rounded a curve in the canyon they were walking though, and saw that something—scratch that, someone was blocking their path.

The creature before them looked as though a sculptor had taken a lump of black clay and formed a Human out of it. Somewhere in the process of firing, however, it seemed to have cracked, and blue veins of light ran though his body. His eyes glowed indigo, and he carried two glowing, blue whips.

"Is that...?" began Regis.

"Yeah," said Shinwoo. "That's a Balrog."