Oliver sat at the front of his porch as the rainwater trickled off of the roof over him, landing around the dirt as he took a bite of his own meal, a makeshift sandwich with the food he had from yesterday. 'Really glad I learned how to cook from my dad...' Oliver thought as he looked at the ring on his finger, remembering the first few times he had cooked and it ended up coming out as a black charcoal. Any time he had messed up, his dad made him run around the block three times, where he'd have a meal waiting for him at the end of it. He even did the same thing if he used his abilities to cook it, even though it always ended up better. He then looked to the dagger on his belt, the pommel shifting in the shadow of his arm as he remembered the lack of abilities he had. 'Though it is a good thing that limiter hasn't taken some of my funner abilities...'

'Only because it's a machination of your mind.' came a familiar voice in his head, making him sigh as he looked up to find a pair of eyes staring down at him. The eyes then slowly fell in front of him before Reginhard appeared in front of him, holding his own staff as he looked to the east of the house, seeing the area covered in mud as he walked to the steps of the house. "You've got a few loose screws over in the steps down here, though that's not the major concern to direct yourself to."

"Good to see you too, Reginhard." Oliver spoke as he stood up, the figure soon turning back to him with a gaze more serious than friendly, making Oliver stop from his approach as he looked to the man. "What did you mean by a machination of my own mind?"

"I mean it as it is, my lord, since the only reason the others had their abilities sealed for a period of time was because they had separated from you." Reginhard spoke as he tapped his cane on the area, the shadows under the boards soon rising and forming into memories, swarming through every event that Oliver had gone through up until this point in a matter of seconds as Reginhard kept his gaze on them. "So I've kept away for four months since my last monthly visit, making it four months every month, and you're student has returned in this time..."

"Excuse me, but you were talking about my own abilities prior, not the memories of my current life." Oliver responded as the memories ended, Reginhard's gaze clearing as he looked back to Oliver. 'It's a good thing he focuses more one problem at a time and choosing the more urgent of the two, but it still gets annoying...' Oliver thought as he remembered how he had made the being, his own gaze looking to the rain as he pondered what Reginhard said. "So what you're saying is I'm forcing myself from my abilities?"

"Exactly, though you would only have enough for three hours with how you've wasted it on the shadow fires." Reginhard spoke as his own gaze glowed orange, no doubt to scan for anyone around if Oliver knew how he was made. "It may have been eight years back in your realm of origin, but for you it's only been a year since the last events of the war. Along with that, you never took a moment to mourn those you lost properly, and are slowly pooling your emotions together again. Have you already forgotten what happened when you-"

"That's as far as you'll go on that day." Oliver interrupted immediately, his own gaze now glowing red as Reginhard looked at him with his own gaze unmoving. "Of course I haven't forgotten that day, but what do you expect me to do when I've had to live in this kind of environment? I'll only mourn properly when I've found something decent to use in memory of the losses I've suffered and caused, and the only thing that is proper for it is with Ksalso."

"Then it seems you'll be able to do it soon, but not soon enough to save your own student." Reginhard responded as his eyes cleared, the shadows rising again and forming together to reveal the same mirror he had before as Oliver looked at him in shock. Reginhard then tapped the staff into the mirror, revealing a part of the road where he could see a group of soldiers marching along, Serphia standing at the front with what appeared to be the commanding officer. "They seemed to be heading this way, and are around twenty minutes away from here."

"If they're heading here, why did you say that my inventory wouldn't be here soon enough to save her right now?" Oliver spoke, clear worry in his voice as he watched the screen, Reginhard simply directing his hand to the viewing glass as the two watched, one in fear of the unknown while the other looked on with full knowledge of what was arriving.

-Serphia-

"Gods, this cut feels like absolute shit." One of the soldiers, a spearman who had decided to go without a cloak, whined as he poked the bandage on their left hand. During their trip towards the house, he had found a small creature wandering near them and decided to tempt it over with some food. The creature went and took it gladly, but not before getting the man with one of it's claws to get them to drop it. "How much longer is it until we reach this hunters home?"

"Just a few minutes away, if we continue to walk at our current pace." Serphia responded as she looked back to the man, soon turning to the commander of their operation with a confused look. "How is he a part of this group if he's whining over a small cut like that?"

"He may whine about it, but he only complains before the job, along with the fact that he's among the only ones of us who can hunt." The commander spoke as they walked along the road, the clouds above them showing no signs of leaving despite the lightened rain. This was the same for the rest of the soldiers and guards, each bearing exceptional prowess on the battlefield, but only a few of them had ever fought the danger beasts around the land, the commander himself originally belonging to a tribe that hunted them. Out of all of them, the only ones who had ever fought danger beasts were the commander, the guy who was whining over their hand, and Serphia from her training with Oliver. "If we're lucky, we can make it to our location before the rain starts up again. Though it does make me wonder, how come he lives so far out of the city?"

"When I asked him, he only said it was because he didn't like crowds, though he seemed used to moving through them when he was going through the areas during the festival last year." Serphia responded, her own gaze keeping on the trail to look for a marker Oliver put to show the location to turn for his house. The marker in question was a spearhead stabbed into the top of one of the trees that was closer to the road than the rest. In fact, the spearhead in question was so well concealed that it would be impossible to find if you didn't know where it was, being placed in between two branches that met at the trunk. "I also learned recently that he was originally part of a war that took some of his friends, so he probably doesn't want to have the same thing happen again."

"So I guess that he took you joining the army rather hard." The commander spoke, Serphia only replying with a nod as they heard the leaves above them rustle from squirrels starting to move through them, more than likely to find or improve their shelter before the rain hits again.

"At first he didn't like the fact, but he didn't try to stop me because of his belief that we choose our own paths." Serphia responded as their steps made splashes into the puddles forming in the road. "He then decided that he'd train me even harder in combat before I even made it to the front lines, even teaching me different formations and their weak points."

"Like the shield wall you had pointed out back at the Eastern plains against the bandits?" the commander asked, Serphia only nodding in response as they made it to a turn in the road, making the man only smirk at his recollection of the events. "The commanders were pretty shocked when you knew of it while some of them had never even seen the formation put with axes and swords, and it would've been more difficult without the spear wall to hold them."

"He was pretty strict on the formations and tactics, even going so far as to buy parcel to draw out the formations in order to teach me, but it was nowhere near as hard as his training." Serphia responded, shuddering as she remembered a point she was having to keep her balance on a slick boulder, the only thing to land on around it being the grass while Oliver tossed up either seeds or pebbles at her to block. 'How the hell did he even think that kind of training up...' Serphia thought as the soldiers moved, only for all of them to stop as soon as they heard the snapping of branches. Normally they would've kept moving from them, but the commander immediately raised his left hand up, halting all of them in their tracks as he looked around the area. Serphia just kept her ears on the area around them, only hearing the light pelting of the rain overhead. However, there was a small tremor that sounded in the beat of footsteps as the rain fell, slowly growing louder as she reached for her sword, the commander only reaching for a dagger on his belt as the others went for their own weapons. The tremors were beginning to grow louder, as well, the group now feeling the ground shake as they looked at the forest around them. Though the forest itself wasn't as large as the forests in the northern lands, they still were tall enough to conceal large beasts around the area, and because of this there were some that could scale taller than a twelve man squad could handle.

"Listen up, if this is the creature we're looking for and it appears larger than the reports gave, do not flee back to the city." the commander spoke as he placed his free hand on his sword, the soldier who had the wounded hand now pulling his spear off his back, their gaze changing to that of a cold machine only set on one task as the other men just drew their weapons and formed a seven man circle gazing at the forest around them. "The last thing we need is the creature reaching a city that isn't prepared for the onslaught."

The soldiers only shouted a "Sir!" quickly in response, the guards in the group giving a slow "Understood!" as Serphia and the commander etched along the circle. The circle itself was only spears with small bucklers, the spear itself being only as long as four feet while the shields were far from large enough to defend from any attacks from a massive creatures, though small enough to allow the men better maneuverability with their own weapons. Serphia herself only had a sword and a round shield, the sword itself being a gift from Oliver that he had made for her with the money he had gotten.

"So long as you bear the resolve to live and fight for that which you believe in, you'll be able to find a way through most situations, but sometimes that isn't enough." Serphia remembered him say as she heard the leaves begin to rustle to their southern side, a massive form now appearing as it seemed to move slowly forward, causing the ground to shake as it came forward. It's fur was of a silver hue, the creature easily standing above them on four limbs. It bore two arms and legs, the arms themselves holding dagger sized claws and easily large enough to deal major damage to the rest from how it approached, the arms causing the tremors they felt. It's head bore twin horns while the face was that of a lion's, and it's eyes a blood red.

"A Behemoth with a silver pelt..." the spearman spoke as he took a defensive stance, a slow sense of dread filling all of them as the beast laid it's eyes on the group. Out of the western beasts, the behemoths were among the deadliest and most intelligent, sometimes being used by other hunting groups to face even deadlier opponents. It's size, however, towered right beside the trees as it stood on it's hind legs, it's arms outstretched and being the size of three men in height, going down to slightly taller than one if it placed it's arms back down. The beast's gaze then rested on the grouped soldiers as they moved into a spear wall, their defense holding very few openings for even a beast such as the behemoth. However, the spearman was the first to realize something wrong, seeing the beast not even fearing the wall of spears in front of it. "Get out of your formations immediately and scatter!"

By the time he had finished his sentence, the beast had already charged into the seven grouped people, Serphia and the commander jumping to the side as it's claw stretched out, the spears breaking like twigs without even scratching it's fur as their cries of surprise and pain came out next, the group now being butchered by the beast as Serphia watched in shock. Three of the men had scattered correctly and immediately moved to attack the beast with their own weapons, two coming from the beasts left and another from it's right. the creature only roared as it slashed it's arms outward, smashing the two to his left together with resounding cracks coming from both them and their weapons, and it's right hand gripping the single man that had attempted to strike it from the other side. Then, with one swift motion, it squeezed down it's hand and crushed the soldier like an ant, a sickening crack resounding through the area as it moved back down onto all fours, dropping the crumpled corpse.

"All in one fell motion..." the commander muttered, looking at the beast in shock as it looked over the bodies to see if any remained living. "

'There's a difference between a fight with the possibility of winning and a one sided battle.' Serphia remembered Oliver saying, the statement coming from the first time he had trained her with weaponry. 'When you are in a one sided fight, the best option is to take from Sun Tzu's art of war, and retreat in order to strategize a better playing field.'

"But how do you retreat from something like that..." Serphia muttered, the commander and the last remaining soldier now to her right as the beast turned to them, it's gaze bloodthirsty as the scent of blood slowly filled the air. Behind it, they could see a single man still alive, his arm being the only thing severed as he was trying to crawl away, sputtering in pain as it passed the beast's hind legs. However, his progress was halted as soon as the beast lifted it's leg and smashed down into him as if it was crushing an ant. "It's ensuring none of us come out of this alive, and isn't even taking a second thought in it's attacks."

"There's no need for it to if our weapons can't cut through that fur." The commander spoke, drawing a second dagger as he looked at the seal on the creature's arm, the behemoth itself just watching the three and waiting for them to make their move. "It bears the seal of the Northern kingdom despite it being a Western monster... We can't deal with this creature as we are, and I don't know if any of us us could hold it back to give the others time to run. The only thing we can do is fight and search for an opening. Orias, you jump to the right the moment it makes it's move, Serphia jumps to the left! I'll draw it's attention onto me and see if there are any weaknesses we can exploit."

"Sir!" the two shouted in unison, the beast now slowly approaching as the commander flipped his weapon to where he was gripping the edge of it, his gaze focusing on the eyes of the creature as he thought through a plan. 'Though I say that, we have no chance of dealing with it, and are more than likely dead...' the commander thought, his grip on the blade tightening as he reeled it back. 'However, that doesn't mean we can't at least wound it in our attempt to survive.'

-Oliver-

Oliver just stared in shock as he looked at the scene in front of him, seeing the behemoth duck under the flying dagger and charge forward to slash at the three remaining. Serphia and the spearman jumping to the sides as the third ran forward and slid under it, slashing at one of it's legs only for the blade to just flow along the hairs without a single mark of the attack. 'That area is a good half a mile away, and I wouldn't be able to help even if I had a proper weapon for it...' Oliver thought as he watched the creature lightly kicked the dagger user into one of the trees as if it was knocking back a flee, the man falling to the base grunting as the spearman backtracked closer to him. At the same time, he watched Serphia move in between the beast and the other two as the creature turned around and locked its gaze on her. 'Don't try to fight it, you idiot! That creature is far above your level of prowess and weaponry. Anyone can see that.'

"If she dies, this world will also lose a key person of it's history along with a disciple of your arts." Reginhard spoke as Oliver watched, his own body shaking as he watched Serphia take a defensive stance with her shield, Oliver's mind slowly returning to Lief as he saw her shout something to the other two. he then watched as the spearman picked the man up, taking him towards the road as Serphia ducked from a claw swipe, slashing up only for the blade to bounce off it's arm as she rolled to the side. Oliver's own gaze started to glow a dark red as the shadows around the two started to rise, seeming to pool into him as he kept mouthing a single set of words.

'Don't worry, it's my duty as your servant and creation to give my life for you. You did bring me life, after all.' Oliver heard as he remembered Lief's final words to him, his mind then going to Derek as well as his body shook harder, trying to push out whatever hell he had felt when they had both passed. 'Oliver, it's been a fun run, but it seems I'm finally going on ahead. Tell Wayland sorry for taking his sword with me.'

His gaze then noticed the seal on the monsters right arm as it swiped at Serphia, knocking her into one of the trees along the road as the two men managed to go out of sight behind the trees, more than likely waiting for it to run past them once it finished with her. 'You have walked the path of the conqueror, Oliver, and it is because of this that your ambition is your final obstacle.' came a voice in Oliver's head, a voice from before the final battle that decided his arrival to this land. 'You've constantly held yourself and your emotions back despite what it did three years ago. If you want to truly stop losing those you care about, then you have to stop acting on intellect alone and fight by both it and your instincts. Otherwise, you will lose those you care about again and again because you were too weak to be yourself.'

"No, not again..." Oliver finally spoke, his voice shaking as he felt his own emotions finally pour through him completely, the feeling of loss and the rage he had felt at the deaths of his comrades returning in one fell. His own body then began to shake violently as the darkness pooled around him, rising over his body as he felt something crack inside of him, the shadows forming ripples around him as voices started to come through them, from the conversations of merchants to the screams of anguish in a battlefield. Then, his words and the voices around stopped as the darkness blasted into the air with a deafening scream, parting the clouds as his gaze changed from a dark red into a bright orange, Reginhard only smiling as he kneeled before the man from the sheer force of his pressence, the blast of darkness soon vanishing along with the man. Oliver's voice remained, however, this time with a calm rage as it spoke to the old man. "Reginhard, ready Erebus for me, and make it quick. I'll be going over there personally to deal my judgement."

"Of course, my lord." Reginhard spoke as he looked up to a hole that was now in the porch roof, a black cloud resting over it as a pair of orange eyes stared in the location of the fight. "However, it won't be coming any time soon."

"That's fine, I'm only intending to use it after I've sent the beast to it's masters." Oliver responded, his mind recalling the seal on the monster's shoulder. his form then vanished as Reginhards did the same, the sky above the house now the only area that could see a clear blue sky from the sheer power that blasted up through it.

-Serphia-

"Take the commander and get out of here! I'll try to hold it off." Serphia shouted, making Orias nod as he picked up the commander, the man obviously dazed and with his forehead bleeding from the impact. Serphia then turned her gaze back to the behemoth, her mind going through the options. 'The way this fight is going, it would be better if at least a few of us managed to escape it...' Serphia thought, looking to the scattered corpses of the others who had simply kept in their circle. 'So this is what Oliver meant by not going against anything until you're absolutely certain of it's strength.'

She then snapped back to reality as the creature slashed towards her, ducking under it easily and slashing upward on it's arm, only to have the same response as the commander's weapon. As she scrapped her blade on the fur, she felt like she was scraping over steel itself before the creatures body bashed into her, causing her to fly back into one of the trees behind her, hearing a few cracks as her armor cushioned most of the damage, followed by a searing pain in her left arm. She then screamed as she fell to the ground with her weapons fallen beside her, clutching her arm as she saw the gaze of the creature focus on her, not even caring about the other two that had vanished from sight. 'Looks like I at least drew it's attention away...' Serphia thought as she reached down and picked up her sword while trying to move her other arm, only to find the pain in it too much to bear. 'Is this really how I'm going to die...'

"Sorry, but I won't sit idly by living in retirement if you plan on killing my disciple." came a voice, the tone of it malicious as the shadows under Serphia and the beast drew towards each other as Serphia looked down entranced at the shadows pooling together, a black form slowly rising from it as the beast halted its slow approach with the same look shock. The form then raised it's right hand hand, scattering the shadows from it as Oliver stood in it's place, his body covered in black armor that held a royal design to it. "Especially since I've lost more than enough comrades so soon from my own idiocy and hubris."

"...Oliver?" Serphia only muttered as the man stood in front of her, shadows forming as if from nothing in Oliver's hand as they wrapped together into a black blade, his gaze holding a rage she hadn't seen before.

"I've told you this time and time again, when you see an opponent far stronger than you, find a way to escape it while minimizing losses in a way that doesn't end your own life." Oliver simply spoke as he pointed the blade to the creature, fear appearing in it's eyes as he smirked. "Fortunately for you, though, any logical creature that doesn't have the naivety of humans bears an inner fear of the primordial darkness I use. Though this behemoth's fear is proper, given my title."

"Title..." Serphia only responded, still trying to wrap her head around his appearance. Oliver only sighed before he looked over to her, his eyes glowing orange as he seemed to look over her up and down.

"Seems like you have a few cracks in your left arm, along with a few bruises around your body, but nothing that can't be healed later." Oliver spoke as the glow faded, his gaze returning to the creature before his voice made a few gurgled growls that sounded almost identical to the sound the beast had made, making it back away before it turned and ran, making him smirk as the blade turned into a black ball. "And so the game of tag begins..."

"Wait, what the hell is going on? How did you get here so fast and from those shadows?!" Serphia finally spoke, a black bird coming out of the orb and flying after the beast as she walked up to him, dropping her weapon and gripping her arm as Oliver looked over to her.

"Simple, I saw you were in trouble and decided to deny a deadly fate." Oliver responded in a rather sarcastic tone as he walked over to her, looking at her arm as his gaze changed from rage to concern as the rain started to fall again, his mind already thinking through his next plan. "You more than likely want answers, and it's going to take some time till that beast makes it to its home, but I'm going to worry about your injuries at the moment."

"What do you mean by-OW!" Serphia gasped as Oliver's hand gripped her arm, sending a large wave of pain through her body as his eyes glowed a faint green. The pain, however, then began to subside as she felt her arm starting to regain it's feeling and ability to move again, making her look at him in shock as his armor faded, revealing his uniform as he sighed and let go.

"That's about as much as I can do for you with my current abilities, I'll need to focus the rest on the bird I have tailing the Behemoth." Oliver spoke, his gaze now back to the direction the creature had ran, Serphia lifting her arm in shock as she felt a mere trickle of the pain she had before. "It's not completely mended, but it will be if you just wait for a few days and not exert it."

"That doesn't explain how you got here, or how you knew I was here in the first place." Serphia spoke, soon looking to the corpses of the men that had been killed. She then looked back to Oliver, seeing him put his hands in his pockets as she felt her own anger start to swell. "Were you watching this whole time, when those men were killed?"

"Of course not, otherwise I would've jumped in to protect all of you." Oliver responded, closing his eyes as he heard the anger in her voice. He then looked down as he saw the blood of the men killed start to mix with the water, making several light red rivers of blood and water that flowed into the trees as he kept his gaze on it. "If you wish to yell at me over there deaths, it's fine. I'll take the blame of them if it's necessary, given that seven more wouldn't be that many to the numbers under my belt."

"That's not what I..." Serphia started, soon looking down as the rain fell harder. She still couldn't get her head around the scene she just saw, a beast that could easily take them out running at the sight of Oliver when he appeared from those shadows. She then remembered the sounds he had made to the beast, putting a new question in her mind. "What on earth did you say to that thing?"

"Just to run back to it's masters or I'd make it's death even worse than what it had done to the warriors lying around us." Oliver spoke, starting to walk under one of the trees before lightning flashed overhead, making him sigh as he turned and walked back out into the road, his gaze on Serphia as he kept his own gaze in concern before looking up at the sky. "Reginhard, go with Serphia back to the city and explain anything she asks about. This conversation will make me lose my focus if I'm not careful."

"If that is your wish, as well as the fact that Erebus will require some time before it can be sent." came a voice as Reginhard appeared beside the girl, making her look over at the old man in shock as he turned to her smiling. "Right now is a crucial moment to my lord's plan, so any questions you have may be directed to me."

"Who are you? More importantly, how-" Serphia started before Oliver vanished, soon reappearing behind her and giving one quick hit to her neck as he kept his gaze to the south. Her eyes soon glazed slumped forward onto the ground, Reginhard only looking to the direction that the other two had left at.

"You can come out, it's plain for us to see that you're there." Oliver spoke, Orias soon coming out from behind one of the trees with the commander, both looking at him warily as he looked to the area. "She's only knocked out, but she still needs someone to give her medical attention. Can you take her back to the city with you?"

"...Sure." the spearman and commander spoke in unison, seeing the strong presence that Oliver was giving at that moment as they approached him. As the spearman picked up Serphia, the commander simply looked to Oliver and finally spoke. "...So then, you're her instructor? Didn't expect you to be a magic user..."

"As much as I'd like to express my apologies for not arriving soon enough to save your men, I really need to focus at the moment." Oliver spoke, his gaze on the trees as his eyes held a faint orange glow, making the commander nod as he looked to the other two. Oliver then sighed before he looked over to the commander. "I do, however, have one question: Will you need to report what has happened to either the princess or your superior?"

"Both, actually, given regulations over a creature of that strength requires the military to take action." the commander responded, making Oliver smile as he looked to the trees. "They'll need to head here themselves in order to process the magnitude of this event, as well, given the new information over what you can do."

"I don't think it'd be wise telling this foreigner about the regulations." the spearman spoke as he hefted Serphia up, making Reginhard chuckle as he watched the scene.

"Trust me, he's more than likely expected all of the potential regulations your kingdom has from the year he's spent here alone." Reginhard responded, making the two look at him confused as he tapped his staff on the ground, turning to the direction of the city. "Now, if you don't mind, we must go to the city with haste. I'll explain all about my lord after we reach it."

"What did I say about using titles in front of others, Reginhard?" Oliver spoke, the two men only looking to him in shock before looking back to the old man, who once again signaled for them to follow before they complied. After that, it remained silent until the men had left the area, a black form soon rising out of Oliver's shadow as the blood smeared into the ground. "You're rather late for the fun, Eanor."

"There's been a lot to do recently in Asgard, along with watching my descendants and granting them some blessings." responded the form as it dissipated into itself to form Eanor, his gaze more hardened than before as he noticed the glow in Oliver's eyes. "So you've awakened your abilities?"

"More like I finally got over what my predecessor told me." Oliver spoke as he lifted his right hand, the shadows under his shirt flowing and dancing along his fingers as he kept his gaze towards the direction of the creature. "To think it would take the fear of losing someone close to me in order to snap me out of it... Sounds like something from the tale of some hero."

"And you're not one, with all we did?" Eanor asked as he looked to Oliver, the man only lowering his head as his gaze turned solemn. Eanor then sighed as he patted Oliver's back, his shadow form not passing through this time as Oliver felt his hand on his shoulder. "Look, take it from one of us who's lived over a few thousand years and don't go hiding your emotions like this. Trust me, it ends up worse than when we were twenty."

"...That may be the case, since we have better control over our powers than we did back then." Oliver replied, looking at his hand as the darkness reformed into a gauntlet, soon spreading the armor over his body as his eyes glowed red. "So then, knowing our luck, how much are you willing to bet that the Emerial troops will get here before the beast gives away the location of its masters?"

"That all depends on how far away they are." Eanor responded, looking to the forest as he sat down in Oliver's shadow, a small poll soon shooting out of it and above them before it expanded into the form of an umbrella, shielding them from the rain as it poured even harder. "How far away is Ksalso, by the way?"

"Right now he's waiting for me to summon him, which I can do pretty easily now since we have a wide open area above us." Oliver responded, making Eanor smirk as he sat down and turned to the man, a small table soon rising from the shadows with a chessboard on it. He then drew his dagger quickly, placing it in front of him as the seven marks gleamed in the lightning flashing above them, his own gaze calm as pieces started appearing on the board. "In the meantime, why don't we play a game to pass the time?"


Okay, maybe not as much fighting compared to what I was planning, though it's probably for the best. If I did put the fight I've been working on in this chapter, it would probably feel really rushed from the constant changes of settings. Though it feels just as rushed for this chapter...

well, at least I was sort of correct on the awakening of a king thing, though the reason why I said that will be revealed next chapter. In the meantime, I think I'll work on fixing up some more parts of the other chapters, starting with the first one, so expect some changes in it...

As always, be sure to R&R if you want to, and I hope to hear how if I need to work out some chinks in the story. Till then, this is Ron signing off.