"Say Marta, just why do you own a spinner as a weapon?"

As the trio continued on to the Temple of Colette, Emil tried to divert his attention from boredom by asking their Chosen friend a few questions.

"Emil, this is really not the time for Qs & As." Mithos sighed as his little blue pools were still looking around, wary of any more monster attacks. His older friend looked at him and replied, "I know, but I'm just curious is all. I mean, for sure the priests would never allow Marta here to have something as sharp or deadly like the spinner as a weapon."

"That's true..." the young mage muttered.

"Oh. That's a rather easy thing to answer." Marta said, a grin spreading across her face. "It's because when I was around ten, I met this lumberjack who was cutting wood with a circular saw. I was amazed at it that I had begged the priests to make me a weapon that resembled it."

Emil sweatdropped as he recalled. "Well, that explains the reason why a priest went to Dad that day... It was to make you that weapon." Marta nodded. "I just like the way circular saws move." She was received with confused and bewildered stares by both Mithos and Emil. "What? Don't judge me!"

"But that kinda doesn't explain why you add in kicks whenever you attack. I thought that the priests would go all 'That is inappropriate for the Chosen to do!', and such." Mithos said, mimicking the priests.

"Well, I guess you can thank Emil for that. I usually see him add a few kicks here and there whenever he does training." The Chosen replied shrugging her shoulders as Emil blushed lightly.

"But how about the Temple? What's it like inside?" Mithos asked, his childlike curiosity taking over. Emil smirked inwardly, noticing how the tables got turned for him and Mithos.

"Well," Marta began, "For one thing, it's really dark, because hardly any sunlight gets through." Mithos' eyes widened. "Whoa, that's not quite what I was expecting..." he said.

"But then again," the Chosen added, "I've never been to the inner part either." Emil hummed. "I can't wait to see what the inside of the Temple looks like!" He said to himself, with Marta giggling and Mithos muttering "If only you could keep up that enthusiasm when we get there…"

As they arrived at the steps of the temple, the light was still pouring from the skies and into the structure. They also noticed a priest stumbling down the stairs. Emil was the first one to react and rush to the elder.

"H-Hey! What happened?" The boy asked as he propped the priest into a sitting position. He noticed that the man had his right arm, soaked in crimson, clutching his stomach area.

The priest spoke, coughing out blood as he did so. "The Desians…invaded the temple…Phaidra is still up there…" He looked up at the Chosen and added, "I'm sorry…that I will not be able to assist the Chosen…in her journey…" With a dying breath, he closed his eyes, never to open them again.

"No!" The three children cried out in unison as the man who lay before them was devoid of life. After they had given the priest a proper burial, Marta said out of the blue, "I must go and accept the Oracle." Mithos quickly turned to look at Emil. "Surely you're not gonna let her go there by herself?" The older boy merely said, "Of course not." Then, turning to the Chosen, he said, "I…Mithos and I are not letting you go alone. We're going together." The girl hid a blush that was rather evident and smiled.

"Thank you."

"Alright, let's go!" Emil said as the trio began to climb up the stairs of the temple. As they finally reached the top, they were greeted by the scene of Marta's grandmother, Phaidra, being cornered by two Desian grunts, along with a robed man who seemed to be the leader of them.

"I will ask you once more: Where is the Chosen?" The man asked, irritation slowly making its way into his voice. The old woman was still blocking the entrance, being rather brave despite knowing that these half-elves are ready to kill her by a flick of their leader's wrist. With her ancient eyes, she had spotted her granddaughter Marta, along with her two friends just behind the Desians.

"…!" She had wanted to call out to Marta, to cry out that she needed to get away, but if she were to, she'd end up endangering her.

Unfortunately, the Desians had figured it out and quickly turned around to face the girl and her acquaintances.

"Chosen, your life is mine." The man said as he commanded the grunts to seize her. Emil had stepped in-between them, a rather poor wooden sword in his right hand. "I won't let you Desians get away with anything!" The boy growled menacingly, getting into a battle pose.

One of the grunts laughed. "Desians? Hahahaha!"

"What's so funny?" Mithos demanded, preparing his kendama. The grunt that laughed smirked. "…Then die by the hands of the Desians you so hate."

The Desian grunt and his partner brandished their swords and rushed toward the children, knowing that they would emerge victorious from this petty battle.

"H-How…?" The grunt had fallen, defeated by a group of kids.

"We did it!" Emil cheered, Marta and Mithos following soon after. Their celebration was short-lived however, when the two grunts they had just defeated backed up, and a rather menacing man, swinging a ball and chain around like it was nothing, appeared.

"Get rid of them Vidarr." They heard the 'robed man' say. The scary warrior, whose name is Vidarr, began throwing the weight of the metal ball towards the trio. As they stepped back, he stepped forth, getting ready to pancake the children in the way of the Desians.

"Fireball!" Mithos cried out as his kendama released balls of flames toward the Desian. Seeing that their enemy was slightly fazed, Emil and Marta quickly began attacking him, Mithos joining soon after. These just irritated Vidarr and swat the three off of him, like they were pesky fleas.

As the three landed roughly on the ground, the only things they saw were a very large shadow, and the man who was casting said shadow. "Huff…T-This guy's strong…" Mithos said, quivering like a leaf. "He's too powerful…"

Emil looked up to see a spiked ball heading towards him. He closed his eyes, waiting for the fatal blow, but it never came. Instead, he heard a clang of metal.

"H-Huh?"

He opened his eyes to see an auburn-haired man, sword in hand, with his back turned to him. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Emil ended up finding himself thinking. Wondering why, despite he has just met this man today, nonetheless his back just being shown, the man looked strangely familiar. "Who…are you?" He found himself saying. Piercing jade eyes met the boy's line of vision.

"Get out of the way."

A/N: Augh! I don't know what to write in this part anymore! Hopefully chapter 3 will be much better.