Dart walked for several minutes, stepping over tree roots and under tree branches, doing his best to avoid brambles. Occasionally, he thought he noticed some twigs that were broken, likely where Lavitz and Shana had passed by. He followed the weak trail as best he could until he came to a large clearing. It appeared that someone had purposefully cut down the trees in this area and kept it decently well maintained until perhaps a year or so ago. A small shack stood on the edge of the clearing, but seemed to be slowly rotting away. Several saplings were starting to grow among the grass that was exposed to bright beams of sunlight, and vines crept their way up the outer walls of the shack. It seemed clear to him that Lavitz and Shana would seek shelter in the shack; he walked up to the open doorway.

"Guys?" he called out.

"Dart!" Shana returned. She ran to the doorway and greeted him. "Does that mean the guards are all gone?"

"Yes!" said Dart proudly. "They took the bait." He walked further into the poorly lit shack and saw Lavitz sitting in the back on a small wooden chair, his left leg bound with a tight bandage.

"Excellent," he said, beaming.

"Whoa, Lavitz, what happened?" asked Dart, concerned.

Lavitz looked down at his leg and then back up at Dart. "Oh!" he said. "It's nothing, just a spear wound from Hellena. Shana was just patching it up for me."

Dart turned to Shana in surprise. "When did you learn to do that?"

Pride crept into Shana's face as she said, "A lot happened in the five years you were gone, Dart. I learned some new things!"

"I can't believe it," Dart said, shaking his head slightly. "Shana, learning new things? And here I thought you were the same girl as back then."

Lavitz stood, slightly favoring his hurt leg, and said, "Well, buddy… Looks like she grew up." He clapped Dart on the back as Shana smiled proudly. Dart rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Glancing outside, Dart said, "We should probably stay here for just a little bit and rest, but we can't linger. The guards may or may not come back to find us."

"I agree," Lavitz said, and he went back to sit in the chair. Dart looked around the shack for other seating, but mostly just found hordes of hunting and carpentry equipment. A tanning rack, several pelts, axes, drills, and more were stacked neatly in their places. Finally, in the corner, Dart found two stools and pulled them out, setting one out for Shana and one for him. They both sat down as an awkward silence creeped into the shack.

Dart's gaze wandered around the shack and lingered on a bow, Shana's bow, lying in the corner with a quiver next to it. Remembering how Lavitz had handed off the bow to her in Hellena, he decided to ask about it. "Hey, Lavitz." He turned to face him. "How did you know that Shana could use that bow?"

"Oh," said Lavitz, obviously having forgotten about the whole thing by now. "They had the equipment labeled by cell block in the prison, and that bow was with the cell block Shana was in. I was pretty sure she was the only prisoner there, so I grabbed it."

"He was right," included Shana. "It is actually my bow, and I had it on me when they… during the attack."

Dart nodded, and the shack returned to the uncomfortable quiet. He wracked his brain for anything to say, but nothing came to him.

Finally someone spoke up. "Dart…" Shana began hesitantly. He looked up at her, waiting. "Tell me… about the last five years."

Dart opened his mouth in surprise and started to speak, although no words came out.

"Never mind!" Shana said hurriedly. "It's fine, it doesn't matter. We can deal with that later." She looked down as if trying to hide.

"No!" Dart said. "It's okay. I can tell you."

Lavitz said, "Yes, you keep saying 'five years this' and 'five years that.' What exactly happened?"

"Well, Shana and I grew up together in Seles," Dart began. "We were best friends. She was like my baby sister, but we didn't fight as much as real siblings do." Dart thought he saw the other two share a glance, but he dismissed it. "But Seles isn't my hometown. Not really." He hesitated. "I was born far north of here, in a place far colder, a town called Neet."

"Neet…" Lavitz said, ruminating on the word. "I don't think that's any town in Serdio."

"You're right," Dart said. "It wasn't. I lived there with my mother and father, until I was five years old, when the village was attacked by the Black Monster."

Lavitz looked aghast. "You mean that evil beast from legend? It's real?"

Dart nodded solemnly. "Very real. The attack began in the night. Houses started to go up in flames. My mother came and got me out of bed. She carried me as my father led us out of the village away from the fires. I'll never forget the screams..." Dart looked down at his feet. "When we got far enough out of the village that my parents thought we'd be safe, we stopped. I think - although I can't really remember enough to say for sure - that my father was a powerful warrior, because at this point, he decided to go back into the village to fend off the attacker, leaving my mother and me. But not long after, my mother decided to go back with him. She told me to hide there while she went to help Dad. There was a big fallen tree close by that had been hollowed out, and I sat in there, cold and shivering, until morning came."

Again Dart hesitated, taking a deep breath before continuing. "When I walked into the village the next day, it looked completely different. My parents were nowhere in sight. Nobody was, actually. All the houses had been burned down, except for a few black pillars here and there. I called out for my parents, but they didn't answer. I wandered through the streets until I saw something on the ground. It was a small gem, something with great sentiment for my father. He kept it with him at all times. ...It's all I have left of them now."

"I'm so sorry…" said Shana. "I didn't know."

"No, it's my fault. I wanted to keep it a secret. I'm sorry for not telling you."

"So this Black Monster, that killed your family…" said Lavitz. "Is that why you left Seles five years ago?"

"Yeah," Dart said, nodding slowly. "I set out then to hunt down the Black Monster and kill it. I had this grand idea that it lived in the wilds of the east, which is why it's so rare in Serdio, and so I spent a great deal of time there. People over there have heard of the Black Monster, but most of the time it ended up being just superstition or about a panther or something like that. I was just coming back when I learned that Seles had been attacked and Shana taken."

"So you found nothing?" asked Lavitz incredulously.

"Yep…" said Dart. "Wasted about five years for no reason."

"I wouldn't say for no reason. It seems that you learned a great deal about many other things in that time. I've seen your swordsmanship, Dart. Your skills are substantial."

Dart looked up and smiled, saying, "That would almost mean something to me if you used a real weapon in combat."

"Oh, you want to go there?" Lavitz asked, a grin breaking out on his face. "I guarantee that I could beat any swordsman in combat. Lances have superior reach. You wouldn't be able to touch me. And don't forget, I'm a professionally trained soldier."

The two broke out in laughter, feeling free-spirited for the first time in a long while. Shana simply watched with a bemused look on her face.

Once the laughter died down, Dart said, "Speaking of you being a soldier, what's been going on lately? How did you get captured?"

"Ah, yes," said Lavitz. "As you may know, a few years ago, after you left, Serdio split into two factions, Basil in the north and Imperial Sandora in the south. King Albert's number one priority has always been peace, so rather than use violence to stamp out the second faction, he tried to send delegations to garner a truce. This went on for over a year, and finally there was an uneasy peace between us. That being said, King Albert is not naïve. He began increasing the number of soldiers in the Basil military as a precaution. Naturally, Sandora saw that as a threat and started to follow suit. So now we have two almost-nations, ready and prepped for war, but waiting to see if the other does something first."

"Talk about a tense situation," Dart said, his brow furrowed in worry.

"Indeed," said Lavitz. "Lately, we believe something has tipped the balance of power in the favor of the Sandoras, because they've been sending small strikes against some of our more outlying villages, including Seles. We thought that's all it was, but apparently they had a different agenda with you." Here Lavitz looked to Shana. "However, they've been getting bolder. There is now a definite line between their territory and ours. Tension is high, and technically they've broken the truce and we're at war, but King Albert is reluctant to actually declare war right now. Because of this, he's been sending some of the knighthoods down to the border in hopes of picking up some of the enemy's movements."

"So that's how you ended up captured?" asked Shana. "King Albert sent you into danger?"

"Not exactly, no. He thought he was sending us somewhere relatively safe, but unfortunately our intel was a little weak. Sandora laid an ambush for us, and they kicked us pretty hard. They wiped out my entire knighthood." Lavitz looked down. "But, they wanted to know what we were up to. So instead of killing me, they managed to overpower me and capture me. Took my lance and my armor and dragged me off to that horrible place." Lavitz's face grew angry. "I was there for about a week before you came, Shana, and then another day before you, Dart."

"Wait," said Dart. "What exactly was it that tipped the balance of power?"

"We're not entirely sure, but it must be something big. Not just more soldiers."

Dart grew still. "Like a dragon?" he asked.

Both Shana and Lavitz exclaimed, "What?"

Dart sighed and said, "A couple days ago, moments before I found out about Seles, I was in the forest to the east, and I was attacked by a dragon. It was massive, unmistakable, and unbelievably powerful. The only reason I survived was because a passing warrior pulled me out of the way. I got this from that thing." He showed the wound on his forearm.

"Oh no," said Lavitz, covering his face in his hands. "This is a really big deal. I have to get to King Albert and tell him."

"We'll go with you," Shana said determinedly.

Lavitz looked between Shana and Dart and said, "I can't ask you guys to do that."

Dart stood. "No, Shana's right. We can't go back to Seles yet. We wouldn't be safe there. We can help you get back home. Let us do that." He held out his arm to Lavitz as Shana stood.

Shaking his head slightly, Lavitz began to grin. "I don't deserve you guys." He grabbed Dart's arm and stood to his feet, pulling Dart into a tight hug. Pulling back, he said, "Let's do it! Let's go to Bale!