This one's short but there will be more if people ask.

Aphmau awoke in a bed at the church of O'khasis. This was her last day in this city, later she and the others would be leaving back to Phoenix Drop. Last night was the Oath Ceremony and Katelyn had been reinstated as a member of the Jury of Nine. There was also an attempt to kill Aphmau but the assailant failed. After everything that had happened she was just glad that she was going home. She got changed and then made her way downstairs to see the others.

Downstairs were Katelyn, Laurence and Garroth waiting for her, as well as Nirvana, the high priestess. A carriage had been prepared for their travel home which had been accommodated with supplies and food.

"Never thought I'd be glad to be back in my armor." Katelyn said stretching her arms. "Oh, you're awake! I was about to come and get you."

"Is everything ready?" Aphmau asked.

"We're all set. Ready to go."

"Yeah, let's go." Aphmau walk to Nirvana, "Thanks for letting us stay here."

"You really have to go so soon." Nirvana said sadly.

"There are people expecting us there, but you're welcome to visit anytime."

"R-Really?!"

"Yes really. We have to go, but we'll see each other again."

"Y-yeah alright. Good luck and may the gods protect you in your journey."

The group said their farewells, got on the carriage and were off back to Phoenix Drop. The king, from a tower at the castle, watched the carriage leave through the gates of the city. Behind him was his guard Barthus, and in the shadows was Devlin Blackehart, grinning.

"Troublesome aren't they?" Devlin said.

"Who, Phoenix Drop, or my sons?" the king said.

"Both considering the circumstance." His grin faded, "Why was I called here?"

"Aphmau of Phoenix Drop. She's dangerous."

"Dangerous?!" Devlin laughed, "You must be going senile old man, that woman is as dangerous as a newborn pup." He then recalled the incident a few days back, "Though she is unpredictable, that power she has is unstable. Most likely it'll kill her and we be done with that."

"There is 83.636 % of that being the case." Barthus said, shifting his glasses.

"Thanks Kumodori. Always can count on you for unnecessary statistics." Devlin faced the king once more, "I'd be happy to end this here and kill her myself, but knowing you that probably isn't good for your "reputation". Now I know you didn't call me here to talk about new allies, you're smart enough to know I don't give a damn."

"You're right," the king said, "This isn't about new allies, it is about you making new enemies."

"What?"

"I know of that assault you did on them, Redfield gave me a full report on the incident. I hope you know that they won't take this action lightly. You said it yourself, the woman is unpredictable as well as the entire village. I hope you know they now see you as a threat."

"Heh, heh, heh…" Devlin grinned and then he began to laugh maniacally, "Is that is?! HAHAHA! You think they are a threat to me!?" his laughing began to die down, "Let me tell you something old man, those weaklings would die in a single night if they went to war against me! So if you think for a second that there is a possibility that they could beat me, you better hope you die of old age before I get my hands on you."

At these words Kumodori positioned his arm between the two and glared at Blackehart. "I will not allow you to threaten our lord."

"Fine," Devlin turned to the doorway, "I'm heading home. Keep an eye on them or don't, it doesn't matter to me. What matters is that they know their place on the pecking order."

Meanwhile Aphmau and the rest were riding in carriage on their way to Phoenix Drop. Aphmau sat next to Garroth who was looking at his once severed arm. Katelyn soon noticed it and said, "Care to explain that?"

"It's nothing…" Garroth said.

"A severed arm isn't nothing."

"How did you –?"

"I've seen some injuries like that. You're lucky it was cut cleanly or it might not have been so easy to reattach. Now answer the question."

The three were silent for a second but then Laurence spoke up. "We were attacked in the woods."

"What?!" Katelyn said shocked, "Who? Zane?"

"No… Blackehart."

"One of the jury attacked you. If I had known that I wouldn't have joined! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Two reasons, first it's better for you to be in the nine for the sake of Phoenix Drop. Second—"

"We rather not go to war with O'khasis right now." Aphmau said.

"Exactly. Right now O'khasis has some of the strongest warriors in the region, if not the world. If we went to war because of Blackehart, we'd be crushed."

"What if Blackehart decides to tell the king? Branding us as enemies!"

"He won't. I'm sure of it."

The group became silent and soon they reached a township. The driver of the carriage exited the carriage and a guided them to the docks.

"A ship will take you the rest of the way there, it's one of the fastest kinds so you should reach Phoenix Drop by nightfall." The driver said. Workers unloaded their things to the ship and they prepared to set sail. A few hours passed and sunset began. Aphmau walked around to the ship to see how everyone was doing.

She saw Garroth who was resting in the cabins and Laurence looking off the edge of the front of the ship. He faced her and smiled, "You ok?"

"Feel like you ask me that a lot."

"Well I'm to make sure this cruise is as comfortable as possible. But in all serious, are you alright, you seem worried."

"I am."

"About Garroth?"

"Yeah."

"He'll be fine, the guy's been through worse. He'll get through this."

"Hope so. By the way, I have to ask you something."

"Anything."

"How come you know so much about Devlin Blackehart?"

"Oh, that's a long story… Look, as much as I want to tell you, I'm afraid that that topic is something I can't share with anybody. It's not that I don't trust you or anything like that. It's just… I just want you to know that Devlin Blackehart is an evil bastard that we shouldn't mess with unless it's absolutely necessary. I don't want you getting hurt, ok?"

"Alright."

"You should go check on Katelyn. Ever since I told her about the incident, she's been looking…regretful."

"Yeah, I'll go do that."

Aphmau walked to Katelyn who was at the ship's helm. She seemed to be in deep thought. "Katelyn?" Aphmau said quietly. At this Katelyn jumped at began to talk nervously.

"O-oh Aphmau you shouldn't sneak up on me."

"What's wrong."

"Did I do the right thing? I've been asking that question for the last few hours now and I still don't know the answer."

"About joining the nine?"

"Yes. After what Laurence told me, I can't help but feel I just put us in more danger."

"You did the opposite!"

"What?"

"If you didn't join the nine, Blackehart would've declared war on us and we would have to fight all of O'khasis. When you joined we became allied to O'khasis and now Blackehart can't touch us. And if he does he'll be kicked out the nine. Katelyn, stop doubting yourself."

"…"

"Look, I think you did the right thing. But it's important that you need to know that too."

"Yeah, your right, I still feel like I could have done something more."

"You did the best you could."

"Hey, look!" Katelyn pointed forward and there were glimmering lights the distance. A statue shined over the sea gracing the water with its light. Aphmau smiled, after what seemed to be a lifetime, she would finally get to go home.

Deep in forest a caravan was riding through a dirt path on its way to a delivery. Then the merchant's horse began going frantic. From the shadows bandits appeared, they wielded swords, bows and one of them held a strange glowing crystal. He held the stone forward and it began to glow. A fire erupted and soon part of the forest was set ablaze. Screams came from the fire but no one in miles heard the sound.