Darren sighed as he sat down with his sister in his father's personal study. The study was relatively small, in comparison to the rest of the rooms in the castle, and comfortable – there was red velvet curtains, a red rug, and an ornate gold and red chair. His father loved using gold and red, the colours of Adoss, wherever he could. There was a large, oak desk and a round table complete with chairs at the other end of the room and it was there that the two siblings sat.

He had to admit, things were rough since their return from the oracle. Not only did the oracle predict nothing positive in their immediate future but it was closely followed by an attack from Zahan that the oracle failed to mention, though his father thought that maybe he only saw any sign of an attack after they left. In his father's eyes, the oracle could do nothing wrong, no matter what he said. He never challenged him or even the one before that, as far as Darren knew. That oracle died when Darren was but a baby.

His father insisted that since he didn't have a lot of time left, then he would spend more time with his children. Darren had no issue with the idea of bonding with his father since he was so busy that there wasn't a lot of time for a father-son relationship to be maintained. He just took issue that it was all on advice from the oracle and he should have always tried to find time for his children anyway. His father just lapped up every word like a thirsty animal. It was like his father had no personal thoughts of his own on the matter and he might have well just handed his crown over to Igneous if he was going to act like that. However, Darren didn't want to upset his father by saying it out loud.

His sister sat down beside him but she looked very unimpressed. She been that way for a while. Darren was only a year older and he remembered that at one point, they were close. They would share everything and do everything together but he couldn't point out when that suddenly changed and she became moody and distant. He couldn't even really think of how it happened. Maybe she was jealous of him, that he was destined for the crown and she destined to be married off or maybe something else happened that neither he or his father were aware of. A sudden image of a secret lover came into his mind but he was sure that his sister was better than that.

"Darren, Lauren, thanks for coming," Father said. "I wanted to discuss Zahan's recent invasion."

"What is there to be said that hasn't been said?" Lauren asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Lauren, we've boosted security for the sake of everybody who is living and working here but that doesn't adequately address the problem. We don't quite know what Zahan intended to do with that attack of theirs but I do believe it has something to do with what the oracle said. I can die fighting... perhaps Zahan will take my life," the king said quietly, his gaze towards the floor.

"Again with the oracle..." Darren mumbled, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. He was tired of the oracle and his words.

"Darren, I believe in his power. I saw Vulcan's words come to life before my eyes and I don't believe Igneous will miss his mark either. That being said, if this how I am to die, I don't want either of you here. I want you both to seek refuge in Vedia or Silcyia."

Darren shot to his feet while Lauren's eyebrows shot up, the only change in expression Darren saw of her since they both sat down. "But father! Why do you put so much faith into his words anyway? He could say anything and you would soak it all up! You sound as if you're giving up and I'll be damned if I give up too! I'm not running away from Zahan! We didn't even need our soldiers to take care of them!"

"I'm not giving up, Darren! I'm just accepting my faith and my death but you still have a future! You and Lauren!" his father cried out, staying in his seat but leaning forward, his knuckles turning white against his grip on the chair arms.

"What kind of future do I have, father?" Lauren asked. "What did that oracle say? That I'm dressed with plain clothing? What does that mean? Not even the oracle which you so highly praise could figure that out. I don't see anything worthwhile in my future so I might as well stay." She adjusted her position, resting her head on the arm propped on the arm chair.

"Lauren..."

"The oracle said that so long as you fight, we'll both survive," Darren said, sitting down again. "That doesn't mean we should leave... or at least both of us." His father's grip on the arm chair loosened and his face relaxed. Darren didn't know exactly what he was saying. On one hand, he was agreeing with Igneous and using his words against his father but it occurred to him that he wasn't fighting for his own stay. Why was he defending Lauren? Maybe he thought there was still something for her to do in the palace, something she needed to see or say, maybe something that would snap her out of her emotional rut.

"What do you mean, Darren?"

"Lauren should stay. It might be safer for her that way, with Zahan instead of running from them," he mumbled. Lauren turned her gaze towards him, looking mildly interested in what he had to say. "But if you're so insistent that you're going to die, then the least I can do is respect your wishes and leave. I'm the one who can handle it and maybe I have something to accomplish out there."

Or maybe, he was starting to understand what Igneous was just trying to say. Maybe his disagreement mostly came from the fact that he just didn't want his father to go. He was a good father, a good king, and when his mother was still around, he was a great husband. The only negative thing that could be said was his reliance on the oracle, but it wasn't like his father was the only king or noble to have done that and his reliance come from a good place to do well for his country. Adoss would lose a great man.

His father hesitated before looking Darren straight in the eye. "Is this your gut feeling? That Lauren should stay while you go?"

"It is," he answered. His father smiled.

"I will trust you too then. You're my son and I've been teaching everything I know. If this is your feeling, then I will trust you too as a future king. But I have to ask... why?"

"As I said, I'll respect your wishes. Besides, Adoss needs somebody to fight for it."

"Pick your favourite soldier to go with you," Father said. "But I will also send a soldier named Ajax with you."

Darren blinked. He never heard of somebody by the name of Ajax and he thought he was pretty knowledgeable when it came to the soldiers, anybody with a good rank was somebody he saw and trained with regularly, or at that was the case a year ago. Darren had to take a step back, train on his own, and deal with some of the paperwork that came with being involved with the state of a country. Who is Ajax and why did his father trust him so?

"About a year ago, his father, one of the lesser known marquises, came to me to ask about the state of Adoss' external affairs, wondering if it was safe for his son to join the military. That son is Ajax, and I've heard recently that Ajax is thriving. You may not have heard because in the past year, you've been busy."

"I... see," Darren mumbled. Ajax had to be someone of skill to be advance so quickly. "So Ajax and Fara then." He stood up just as he father did and Darren was surprised when his father took him into a tight embrace. Darren felt his lip quivering a bit as he hugged his father back. It was the probably the final goodbye. He doubted he would ever see his father alive again.

"I'm proud of you both. Never forget that."

Within an hour, Darren was already packing belongings and major supplies. Fara was already with him, her auburn coloured hair tied back into a long braid with the remainder framing her face. Her brown eyes were focused on helping, and she was wearing her gold on red armour on her tall and strangely thin frame. Darren was close to her – she was an only child to a commander, so she Darren were trained together from an early age. Fara herself became a formidable trainer and commander, one that could rival her father's skills.

"Do you know Ajax?" Darren asked. Fara paused for a moment.

"I know of him," she answered quickly. "I haven't trained him personally but I've heard he's somebody who has potential because he's dedicated to learning. You know, when it's peaceful, you don't get people who try that hard."

"I see," he mumbled. He could understand wanting to work hard at training, but nobody went through so much without a purpose or a reason.

Ajax arrived while they were packing, or at least Darren assumed he had to be Ajax. He had his own bag packed. To Darren, Ajax did seem to resemble nobility, with short brown hair that was spiked back, though some stray strands fell in onto his forehead. He wore the gold on red armour and though he wasn't as heavily armoured as an armour knight, he was still well protected and he had plenty of muscle to fill out his armour. Underneath, he wore a white cotton shirt and brown pants and he topped the look off with a red cape, one that could only really be afforded by somebody with wealth. He looked at him curiously with blue eyes.

"So, this is something special, isn't it?" Ajax mumbled. "I mean, not everybody gets summoned to meet the prince. You are the prince, right? I'm not imaging this?"

"You are of nobility, right? Why would it be so strange to meet me? Your family should be attending all of the same social functions," Darren said, raising an eyebrow. Most people wouldn't know him personally but he saw a lot of nobles and there was no way the nobles missed him. It shouldn't surprise Ajax that they were in the same building.

"I may not be a commoner but my family is pretty low on the nobility social ladder so sometimes we are disregarded when other nobles walk into the room," he explained. "I still find honour in being summoned at any rate."

"Here, I think we're good for packing. We've got gold, weapons, tents, dried food, clothing, and other essential materials. Ajax, do you ride a horse?" Fara asked as she began closing their bags.

"I can," he answered. "I don't own one personally since I don't use one for battle."

"Good enough, I'll fit you with a horse. We need to get this stuff up on horses and we'll explain everything on the way."

Darren didn't know how long they would be, so he decided to take one of the packs and load it on his horse while he waited. He felt oddly antsy, so he didn't want to stop when he could be doing something. Besides, he had the feeling that the oracle was starting to make sense and it left a lump in his throat. His long path... had to do with the fight to win his kingdom back in the name of his father.

So maybe the oracle was right and Darren didn't want it to be right. He could imagine the smug look on Igneous' face as he lounged on that stupid cushion of his. He took in a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. Stop it, he had to stop it. He couldn't afford to get upset and angry at the oracle who, in the end, couldn't help his gift or at least, that's what he made it out to be. He could be making it up for all Darren knew. Regardless, his father want Igneous' opinion and he got it. His father trusted him, his father trusted the last one, and he didn't want to look like the fool king who ignored him.

He would have to work with him, at least for the confidence of the people.

Darren threw the packed bag onto his shoulder and huffed as he left the building with it, travelling to the stables with it for his own horse. He spotted Fara and Ajax there, with Ajax petting one of the horses. "Oh, you're here," Fara mumbled.

"I figured I was going to at least pack my horse while Ajax got his," Darren mumbled as he placed his bag down in his horse's stall. His horse whinnied when he saw him, probably expecting a treat. He was a good companion and a good, well trained horse, but he was a bit spoiled and he was probably not going to get the treats he wanted on the road. He saddled his horse, threw a blanket on his horse where the saddle didn't cover, then proceeded to begin to tie down his back to the horse.

Darren could have had a servant do all of it for him but Darren found some strange satisfaction in doing some hard work himself. It was boring if everything was done for him and with the situation he found himself in, he was afraid of slowing down. The only thing he could really think of was to keep moving and make some distance and it was just easier to do it himself.

Fara looked at him with sympathy. "Darren, we still have plenty of sun left."

"And I plan on using as much as I can," he mumbled. "It's my father's last wish – that I come back ready to take back Adoss. It will fall and it sounds ridiculous but the oracle said so and he's probably right! I hate it! But what the hell can I do but listen to him? I will probably end up dead if I didn't and then who would rule? Who would fight back?"

"Darren, please, I understand that you are upset and stressed but you do need to remain calm," Ajax said grabbing Darren by the shoulders and twisting him around so they were face to face. "You need to have a level head about this. Getting too emotional will cloud your judgement and if you're going to take back Adoss, you can't afford to have that happen. Breath deeply, it always helps me."

Darren listened while he could feel Fara tensing beside him. There was just something about Ajax taking charge and telling him what he needed to hear instead of what he wanted to hear that made him more focused. He did as he was told and did find himself relaxing.

"Thank you, Ajax," Darren said. Ajax grinned and patted his back. When Ajax's hand dropped, Darren's horse brushed his head against his arm. He wanted a treat.

"Hey, it's not a problem!" he answered before he headed towards the brown horse he was petting earlier. "Fara, I think this horse is the one for me."

"Very well," she said.

In The Barren...

Erin lost count of the time she spent in The Barren with the bulk of Zahan's army. She figured it had to be about a week, but time flew by when she was deep in thought. She wasn't sure how long they would spend in The Barren either so she certainly wanted to do the most she could and conquer the mysteries surrounding it once and for all. She been there before, determined to prove that The Barren was safe and should be taken advantage of but there was just nothing there to support her case. Actually, there wasn't anything at all. It was the word of two dead oracles against her own and the oracles won.

She was bound and determined to succeed this time. She couldn't handle failing again.

She pushed a lock of her purple hair back, pushed her glasses up and sat down on one of the many stones scattered around The Barren. She sat a small travelling bag on the ground beside her, where she stored a journal of all she observed, a Nosferatu tome, a writing utensil, and a couple of bottles of ink. From where she sat, she could see a dip in the landscape, one that didn't seem to be there since the last time she was there years ago. Was The Barren still changing?

She discovered a couple of things that she either hadn't noticed the first time she studied The Barren or were more recent changes since. There was the dip, that she was sure wasn't there before, and all of the rocks scattered didn't seem to be exactly random, or in other words, weren't placed there by natural processes. It looked almost as some had been placed there and her goal was to see if there was any sort of pattern.

"How goes your research?"

She recognized her queen's voice when she heard it. She wouldn't even be given the second chance had it not been for Queen Asteria. She was rather informal for a queen and that was probably why she was the one out of all the rulers in Haelin to recognize the potential of attaining more land. She was always interested in Erin's studies, both with the more recent studies of dark magic and her previous studies of The Barren and it felt great that somebody was finally looking at her studies with the same sort of passion she had.

The queen was also pretty – she had long black hair, steel coloured eyes, and black armour adorned mainly on her chest, shoulders, and thighs but the icy blue fabric under her armour, which also fanned out from her hips and stopped at her ankles, looked thick as well. She looked liked a regular soldier but at the same time, strutted confidence in both her manner and actions.

"Same old, Your Highness" Erin mumbled. "I've made more observations in the past week than I had when I studied it previously but I'm not sure how it is all connected."

"For example?"

"For one, I've never noticed that dip in the middle... it is the exact centre of Haelin, I believe, and I'm sure that it's relatively new. I've noticed a vast amount of rocks, but I'm sure some of them look as though they been moved here," she muttered, looking through the notes she brought with her.

"Is there a pattern?"

"I was going to see, Milady," Erin answered.

"My Queen," a man said suddenly, making both Erin and Queen Asteria turn around. The man seemed to be almost a whole foot taller than Erin was, with dark hair that was slicked back, and he regarded everybody with hard, brown eyes. His armour was the same colour as the queen's, except he had the armour of a wyvern rider, and true to her guess, a wyvern landed beside him, his wings folding down to his side. The man looked to be the type of persona who took everything too seriously.

"What is it, Demitri?"

"The messenger came back. The soldier, Nicias, that promised to find the oracle for you fell in battle. The troops he had in Dosia were killed and the only troops who remain are camped outside of Dosia and backing off."

The queen seemed hardly surprised, her first reaction being a mere, nonchalant shrug at the situation. "I didn't think he would succeed."

"You still let him go," he mumbled.

"I did. I figured if he was successful, then he proved himself to me. However, if he didn't, I figured it wouldn't affect my plans too much. They will be expecting us, of course, but there will be no where they can hide. They won't come here so we can expect what path they will take."

"And if you don't mind me asking, Your Highness, what exactly are those plans of yours? When you brought me along, it just seemed like you wanted The Barren but since then, you have sent troops into Dosia in hopes of capturing the oracle. What reason do you have for all of this?" Erin asked. It was the one thing that bothered her. It was one thing to ask her study The Barren again and she was excited to go, to conquer what eluded her last time but also because she studied dark magic in the mean time, hoping that she would get an answer with the new knowledge.

But it seemed like Queen Asteria wanted something more, something she realized as soon as she stepped foot in The Barren. It was odd to say in the least. Erin didn't plan on leaving – no matter where she went, the queen sought knowledge and Erin wanted to be the one to search for the answers. She wanted to provide her scholarly skills to anybody who was willing to take them.

"It's all necessary to make Zahan great, trust me. That being said, while you do research here, Erin, I will need Demitri to kill King Jarid in Dosia. I will also need you to regroup what troops remain there and but I want you to wait for me there. Try not to kill anybody who isn't involved, hence why I'm sending you and not any of the more blood thirsty generals like Russel. I can't let you know why now but all will become clear later."

Demitri just nodded, his expression staying neutral. "Would you like me to leave now?"

"Please," she answered. Erin huffed. She was really curious about the turn of events, yet the queen seemed adamant about keeping to herself. Then again, it was just one more puzzle to solve. Demitri, like the boring man he seemed to be, just hopped onto his wyvern. For a second, she saw the smallest bit of positive emotion – he affectionately patted the top of his wyvern's head – before taking off. So the man was capable of more expressions than just that hard, judging look in his eyes. How interesting it was that people could regard other people as being on the same level as dirt, yet animals could garner respect from them. Why were the animals so innocent, despite the animal world being just as cruel?

She supposed, with no moving, breathing, companion of her own – though that wasn't to say she didn't have companions – she just didn't understand.

"Do you still require anything of me or can I begin my studies for the day, Your Highness?" Erin asked. She knew it was rude to just walk away from a person of high social status. Her parents would not have forgiven her if she walked away from the Queen. They weren't even around at the moment for her to disappoint but she couldn't dare to forget anyway, just as if they were around.

"You may begin. Don't let me keep you," she answered, walking away.

Erin hopped off her rock. She was going to take a look at all of those rocks and see if there was something to do them after all. If they were placed there, then there had to be a reason why. She produced a bottle of ink from the bag before strapping it over her shoulders. She opened the ink bottle and carefully, poured some of the ink on top of the rock, marking where she started her studies. She didn't want to look at the same rocks more than once since she had a lot of ground to cover. She grinned to herself, excited for the possibilities.

But as the ink poured down the slanted surface of the rock, she noticed something odd. She didn't notice it before, either due to the light coloured rock or due to it being so thin, but there was a a collection of shallow scratches on the rock that was definitely not natural because it was in the shape of a familiar word. Though small, the word was in a language that she could find in her tome. No wonder she missed it, she thought as she realized just thinly scratched on the word was. Heck, she even sat on it. Erin cracked a smirk as excitement bubbled in her chest. She had to be the first one to come across a small word etched into a rock in the middle of The Barren. She, and nobody else, was the first one to come across a break through.

Nobody could take that away from her. Erin felt like she was on top of the world.

Not caring if she got whether or finger or purple robes got dirty, Erin traced the ink covered word with her her finger. Whoever scratched it on there seemed to have done so in a hurry, though it could also be that the tools they used to scratch the surface was difficult for the person to use. Unlike a weathered tombstone, the word hadn't eroded with time like it she would have expected. Who knew how long those rocks were around for? For all the history they had in the form of written records, The Barren was always toxic, unsafe for anybody to enter and go and scratch words on rocks. The thin scratches should have been long gone, predating any sort of records that existed and yet, she could run her finger all over it. Perhaps magic kept it preserved because as a mage, she would have been able to sense it and yet, she didn't feel anything.

The thought that it might have just been ancient graffiti crossed her mind for a brief second before she made a circle in her journal, writing the small word on the inside of it. She had to see if there were rocks with other words, other words that were guarded from the passage of time with magic. She threw everything into her bag and ran as fast as she could to the next rock, dumping ink on that rock as well. As suspected, there was a different letter on the rock. She recorded that one as well.

But what was so important about these rocks that somebody had to scribble words on rocks and then protect them with magic that was probably so weak that Erin couldn't sense the spell? The magic was probably wearing away. It was a miracle the spells lasted as long as they did and as went from rock to rock, pouring ink on top and recording the word etched on it, she began to wonder what would happen when the magic dissolved completely. The words she could read in her journal were slowly turning into a sentence and her starting rock seemed to have been in the middle and she assumed that she managed to find the end, so the next rock should have the beginning. It so far read, when translated, as:

'us from this evil'

Instead of being worried or frightened, she found herself excited. If evil was what tainted The Barren in the first place, then the rejuvenation was perhaps because the evil was gone. She thought about it but she decided that it was probably wasn't the case when she considered the queen's sudden change in plans. She wanted to improve Zahan by taking The Barren, to give her people a better chance by introducing more fertile land before she had to share with the other countries. There were no real plans for war, despite Zahan being armed, excited, and ready to go. Spending time at The Barren though, was when she decided she had to conquer Dosia, kill the king, and find the oracle.

Was she being influenced by evil?

But then again, what was evil? Dark magic was underused because people thought it was malicious and evil, that somehow hurting people with wind, thunder and fire was the best alternative. She thought that studying dark magic would take her studies of The Barren further. She remembered when she first discovered it, when she took to it, that she found that the purple lights and fog rang a bell with her. It reminded her of how The Barren used to be, so she hoped that connections could be made between the two of them. She also had magic to thank for making her excited to research again after her studies of The Barren went no where.

People considered whatever they didn't like or understand as evil. Perhaps the so called 'evil' wasn't evil, just like how dark magic wasn't evil – most people just didn't want to take the time to understand it. She couldn't refute that The Barren was downright toxic and made anything ill but then why would it change? If something was sealed here, did that automatically mean it was evil? Erin couldn't answer that, as she knew nothing of the what the evil could be. There was no actual record of it, aside from rocks that proclaimed it to be evil.

She was sure that whatever it was, it was definitely providing some sort of influence over the queen, or perhaps the queen was working with it like a partner so it spoke to her only. It was probably The Barren, whatever it truly was, that gave Queen Asteria the bigger vision, one that supposedly help Zahan. It could happen, considering that if something was sealed, the magic was probably so weak that The Barren could probably have some form of communication with them. Erin was uneasy in that she had no idea of the extent of power the supposed evil had and by the lack of knowledge in both what Zahan was dealing with and the lack of knowledge of the plan itself. Adoss was probably just a stepping stone. Perhaps the queen and the evil wanted all of Haelin, but then what was the point? It was stupid to try to take over Haelin, it was hard to control. Additionally, she was also assuming that Queen Asteria probably knew a lot more about The Barren then she let on.

Erin took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and focus herself on the evidence first and foremost. She could think of the meaning and the possible relationships of the words when she didn't have to worry about losing daylight. That was the real fun after all, connecting the evidence with possible hypotheses but there was a time and place for it. Besides, more evidence could help her focus her hypotheses from many down to a few. She couldn't wait to throw herself at it and present and confront the queen. Perhaps when presented with what she found, the queen may tell Erin more.

With a big grin on her face, she dashed to the next rock, eager to get the full message.

This chapter has a lot of rambling and is wordy since a lot of it is internal - however, we'll be back to Igneous later and he isn't as wordy as Erin is.

You will also notice that I've closed character submissions. I'm still trying to place characters that were submitted a while ago and adding more characters on top of that isn't so appealing.

And finally, time for some rambling!

I want to say something about the classes because it will become important for some characters. I get the feeling that a lot of people aren't super familiar with the three tier system in Radiant Dawn, which brought around some of my favourite classes like sentinels. From some of the character submissions I do have, they want their characters in some of those third tier classes... and it creates a little bit of trouble when we have trueblade being the highest for swords in one insistent but making swordmasters the highest in the insistence of another character. For me, somebody who dwells in Tellius, I want to promote the swordmasters but I understand that in every other game, there is no promotion. But I believe that these characters are so few in number that it shouldn't end up being to big of a deal so I will have both trueblades and swordmasters for instance. They will equivalents so to say. I will also be keeping my sentinel, like Queen Asteria here.

That being said, I'm trying to merge continents and take my favourite things from each game, not springboard from one particular game. Of course, this mean also mean that things I don't like will be mentioned sparsely or not at all and as time goes on, Outrealms being an example of the sparsely mentioned concepts. Don't be surprised if you submitted a character that has a background with canon characters don't have their backgrounds mentioned a whole lot. I'm not ignoring their background, it's just doesn't entirely match up with I want to accomplish - an original continent full of original and submitted characters.