Aurora couldnt help but laugh. The dragon seemed noble. Aurora hadnt ever met a dragon, it was certainly an experience. However what worried her most wasnt the fish, but the soldiers from before which had called themselves the Black Eagles. Aurora had known the Black Phoenix in her childhood. Perhpas there were many more like these people, or maybe it was just some pathetic people trying to show off. They certainly didnt prove any difficulty.


"Lovers tiff?", Aurora was the first to speak.




Aurora wasnt exactly ready for a fight but had to giver her all, if they wanted to leave this place with their limbs intact of course.

"I suggest we do things the old fashioned way and cook it up", Aurora suggested. Surely it couldnt stand the heat of the water if it was boiled.

Neru stepped down from her stead and broke out into a run towards the palace without waiting for the other moonseekers when they finally reached the gates of Cesia. The time they have spent riding from port city Cesinar to the capital of Cesopia was frustrating long and soured her temper greatly. Even after her talk with Trielani, Neru was still worried and her impatience to see her family for herself was apparent.

Even in her rush, Neru noticed that some areas of the normally beautiful Cesia was reduced to rubble and the people went about their affairs with an air of urgency and discomfit, as if not wanting to be out in the open for any longer than necessary. Frowning, she abruptly stopped in mid-stride as she heard the sound of several thunderbolts coming down in a distance and her eyes widened in dismay as there were anguished cries of those whose home was wrecked.

Perhaps in an attempt to escape the scene where she could not be of help or motivated freshly to hasten towards her family, Neru took off again. Her short pause had allowed the other moonseekers to have covered enough distance to be running behind her, and they followed her all the way to the palace until they were blocked by the palace guards.

"Princess Neru!" The elderly steward that had served the Cesoireao family for almost his entire life broke into a wide toothy grin of relief as he came up to meet the second child of the old king, Ruka Cesoireao.

"Uncle Luean! Where is Yue? And Shizu? Are they safe? What happened in the city?" Neru latched onto the familiar figure like a lifeline and all the questions in her head spewed forth without any obstructions.

"Calm down, Neru." Luean patted her shoulder reassuringly with a benign smile. "They are fine, although tired and worried about the people. In fact, they are having their lunch at this very moment. Would you like to join them?"

The young royal exhaled deeply when she finally got her reassurance and very nearly collapsed against Luean, but caught herself before she did so. With her first relaxed smile in days, Neru replied nervously. "I would like that. Thank you, Uncle Luean."

"I have seen you grow up, Neru. Now come, it wouldn't be as nice if you join them after they finished their meal. They have a full schedule ahead and I can bet my old life that you have not eaten."

"I like Aurora's idea," said Krug. "However, we don't have anyone capable of boiling the entire pool. Plus, that just wouldn't be sportsmanlike."

"So what do we do?" Lynx asked.

"Simple," Krug said with a vicious smile. "We bait it. I'll take the fisherman's boat and lure it into jumping. Nefuriya can immobilize the air around it, leaving me free to chop it into pieces. Either that, or I can just kill it the moment it jumps and eliminate the middleman."

"Any other ideas?" Drewera grunted, unimpressed.

Krug frowned. "No..."

"So what should we do?"

(OOC: I'll leave it up to someone else to decide how we get the shard. Just proving I'm still alive, mostly.)

“Well, apparently that bloody monster’s scales are impenetrable, so we can’t exactly slice it up like some…er…fish.” Lynx replied to Krug bluntly as he continued, “However, bait sounds like an idea…”

“and Mister Krug volunteered to be the helpless little fluff to appease the big bad carnivore .” Syn mocked, receiving death-glares by a half-orc.

Moments passed, no other suggestions were brought out, so the entourage decided to take Krug’s idea and get on with it. Krug was proud, he sailed out towards the center of the pool in triumph, thinking that his suggestion will be naught but success…still, after a long duration of waiting, the monster didn’t resurface.

Seph, getting irritated by the results, whispered to the ear of the redhead, “Pst, why isn’t the fish making its grand appearance?”

Lynx merely shrugged back, “It read our tactics?”

Syn chuckled sarcastically, “Heh, it’s probably because its intelligence is high enough to choose a better meal.”

“I heard that! Didn’t the ugly guy got swallowed by him in the first place?!?” yelled the half-orc from afar.

“Act due to hatred?” responded the swordsman.

“Oh.”

“What if…we send a female in there then? I mean, our ladies here look better than average, appetizing enough.” Lynx suggested, his comment flattering the women mildly.

Syn smirked, “Anyone fancy a bet?”

---Approximately half-an-hour later where the bait became Eiyora instead---
“Kyaaaa!” screamed the water mage, dodging out of the boat, levitating in the air along with the others thanks to Nefuriya’s.

“I knew it, it’s really a sick bastard alright, I knew it!” chirped a joyful Lynx before he joined the rest in their attack against the monstrous beast. Just before the fillet dived back into the depths, Eiyora retaliated in time by freezing the surface of the water where it’s about to land. The escapee bashed into a block of ice, stunning itself temporarily.

Immediately, Arien aimed for its sole eye with her sling slung, with a perfect accuracy, the mythril marble pierced through the pupil of the beast, blinding it completely. The beast screeched like a banshee as it struggled its heavy adamant body towards the waters, unfortunately, Syn struck a lightning surge into its serpent mouth, resulting a still body on the block of ice.

“That was surprising easier than expected…” Nefuriya said with a slight tone of amusement as she approached the corpse, only to find a rather sudden movement of its scales which seemed to be directed at Nefuriya. As if naturally reflex, Lynx lunged himself towards her, pushing her away on the process as the scales shot off like projectiles towards him, adding a gash to his left shoulder painfully. Immediately Syn directed another chain of lightning, granting eternal sleep to the beast for good.

Two scales aimed in Aurora's direction looked quite life threatening. Thankfully Aurora's eyes managed to catch the shine of the sun against the wet scales. Quickly putting pressure on her boots she jumped into the air quickly spinning around and dodging the scales, saving her dress from being torn at the same time.

"Easy eh?", Aurora questioned taking a deep breath.

At least it had given her something to do, while they were fighting the fish she had watched. Aurora enjoyed to watch fighting more than actually fighting, but in some cases she was ready to summon her blade and fight till the end.

"What now?", Aurora asked bring unexperienced int hese situations.

Nefuriya paused mid-air, her thought process broken due to the sudden attack on her and the even more unexpected rescue from Lynx.

Okay, relax, rewind, replay motion, then think. she finally told herself firmly.

It took her even longer to understand and react to the situation. And by the time she finally moved from her spot, and cursed the fish way past the seventh hell, Syn had already fried the fish inside out.

Nefuriya muttered more curses under her breath.

"Thanks." she offered awkwardly to Lynx. She had wanted to say more, but it would be rude to inform him that his actions were unneeded when fact remained that he had gotten hurt for her.

It seemed unappropriate to admit that she had been a little worried when the swordsman had appeared out of nowhere to take the attack in her stead as well.

Wordlessly, she allowed a wind shield to form on the swordsman's wounded shoulder, and waited for Drewera, who appeared to be muffling the sounds of laughter emitting from her mouth with the back of her hand, to near her.

"Next time, inform them that even if it's not visible, you have three layers of shields on yourself, and that there's no need to attempt to save you unless a giant rock thrice your size falls on you." the dwarf guffawed, then added, "Though this does prove to be somewhat interesting..."

"What's interesting?" Eiyora asked, walking towards the duo, her hands still gripping tightly on her wooden staff until the whites were showing on her skin.

"Oh nothing. Just thought that Riya-chan would never really understand the matters of the heart. Even if they danced buck naked right in her face." Drewera smirked at the elf, who was, once again, glaring at the now dead fish, and muttering more uncomplimentary terms under her breath.

"Huh?" the water mage replied intelligently.

"Nevermind." the dwarf waved her off. Turning to the floating elf beside her, she echoed Aurora, "What now?"

"We extract the moonshard." Nefuriya replied simply.

"How?"

The fish jolted and began to turn so that it was no longer lying on its side, but on its bottom.

"So that's your grand idea." Drewera murmured, staring at the fish's mouth, which dropped as though a large weight had been placed on it.

"Since the shard was swallowed by the fish, it should be in the stomach." Nefuriya explained, and made a jerking motion with her hand.

The fish reacted with the motion, its innards swelling and retracting with each jerk of her hand.

Finally, a small glittering object floated out of it's mouth, the light it produced dimmed by the layer of slime over it.

"That's..." Aurora started.

"The moonshard." Nefuriya said.

"But it's covered with some slimey liquid. Shouldn't we remove it? I mean, it might be acidic or something." Arien added.

"I could do something." Eiyora volunteered, and summoned a blob of water from the sea. The water was splashed all over the shard, and the liquid washed off.

The shard floated onto Nefuriya's palm, and the holder that Sigel had given to Trielani, who had in turn passed three(two?) to her, appeared and enclosed the shard.

"So who's going to hold onto this now?" Nefuriya asked, gesturing at the shard in her hand.

The rest in Group A looked at the shard, then at her, but didn't deign to reply.

Nefuriya sighed, produced a small mithril chain from one of her many hidden pockets, attached one end of the chain to the shard, pulled down the high collar of her shirt and attached the other end of the chain to the satin collar that was revealed behind her shirt.

"Done." she said, returning her shirt to its previous position and tucked the moonshard behind it, ignoring the surprised looks on the others' faces. "Can we return to the inn now?"

Waiting for Nefuriya in the inn was a letter that had befuddled the innkeeper when it was delivered safely by a grayish-white hawk.

"Dear Nefuriya and everyone else,

How are you doing? Me and the others have arrived in Cesia and currently we are staying in the palace. Nothing beats coming back home, though I have a feeling some of the others are rather uncomfortable about being here. I'll talk to them later.

My family are unharmed and fine, thank Eithelwen and all the other gods. But Cesia is in a very bad state. Apparently, the shard is interrupting with the magic flows that were usually kept controlled and balance so as not to harm the city, but now that it has been affected, we had to ban the use of magic for until we found the moonshard. Needless to say, the people weren't happy, but the casualty rate did fell by quite a bit.

So now all of us are busy tracking down which little bastard is keeping the shard and causing all these. Our guess is that he wouldn't be able to use magic too, and that makes our search very much harder. But we will find him, by hook or by crook. Trielani said yesterday that if she is near enough to the shard, she could probably sense its exact location, so we'll be bringing her around the city tomorrow.

Anyway, enough about us. Have you guys confronted the giant fish yet? Well if you have not, I wish you the best of luck with it. If you need any other kind of help, don't hesitate to ask. Shizu and Yue have agreed to use their influence to help. And word has been passed around that Moonseekers can put a stop to the disasters caused by the moonshards, so I think that people will be more enthusiastic with offering information now, if not help.

Anyway, it's time for our midday meal to hear share what everyone has found out, so I'll just stop here. Hope to hear from you soon.

- Neru Eireao

Void walked through the city, seeing people quite displeased with this magic ban, having to not depend on their own phycial force. Following him was the sprite as suual, eating happily to a sweet he bought her at a bakery, just because she begged him, too. The elf wasn't in the happiest of moods, but at least he was very close to seeing his life long friend again.

He wasn't liking the fact that he had to search for this moonshard that someone was holding, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. The elf sneered at this thought, having him say:"This is pointless. There's no way the little snoop will ever reveal himself. Unless he was stupid, we're looking for a needle in a haystack here."

The sprite looks at him confusedly but goes back to eating her little treat, having him look at her and scold:"Aren't you suppose to be commenting on what I say?"

She looks at him again....but goes back to eating. "Grr...stupid sprite..."

They pass a few stores, making their further into the heart of the city. This was becoming quite a waste of time. If they didn't find what they were looking for soon, he was going to go crazy. He looks at his hand, seeing himself conjure a bit of his shadow magic, yet it starts to go out of control, having him restrain it. "Damn! Why the hell is this shard doing this," he says to himself, looking up, his eyes glowing as he homes in on the invisible currents of magic.

"If the magic flow is really the problem, then we need to find the very strand of energy that is crossing their paths. It must be either a flow itself or a field. Whatever it is, I'm sure I can find it myself. I don't need those other moonseekers help."

He keeps forward, his eyes looking for any strange looking flow until he spots something. This flow was greenish, yet sparkled as its path was curvy like a snake. He looks at it and begins to follow it, the pat leading him through alleyways and more streets, the sprite only following after as she ate peacefully. Then finally, he stops as his eyes widen. He was right back at the castle, only the flow stopped here, going right into it.

"So, it has been here all along?"

He backs into a tree, looking around for a place to enter. He didn't care about ntering legally. He was going to be the person he was and sneak his way in.

Lynx Bane’s Point Of View(POV)

I never understood why, I threw myself in for her, risking my life when I could actually deflect the projectiles from her but I couldn’t. I didn’t even give myself time to consider whatever outcome I may land in, I didn’t comprehend the situation and solve it…Nonetheless I felt extreme at ease when she’s unharmed, but like a true idiot of the year when I actually knew from my experience that wind worshippers are able to conjure an invisible shield. However, my body didn’t believe in taking chances, it fled to danger, to save her. I met the group for quite a short period, yet only she ensnared my soul, caught hold of my attention like no other. What’s happening to me… I feel weird…

Lynx wandered deep into his thoughts as the entourage made their way towards the local inn of Nas’Taar. The night was silent, the harbor lost its crowd, the slightest sound could make an echo, the group was dead beat.

Upon the entrance of the inn, the entourage automatically dispersed, some headed up the stairs to their rooms to rest their weary bodies, some stayed at the bar for a drink, a handful read the letter promptly and decided that Nefuriya would write back to Neru. The swordsman chose the roof as his resting grounds with a pint of alcohol which he rarely took to ease his confusion, there were far too much bickering down the level and privacy was on top of the list and the very sight of his elven princess would shred him completely.

“Feelings…are… weird huh?” he whispered quietly to no one in particular, taking huge gulps of the cold ale which seemed to effectively soother down his inner soul. Eventually, the youth gave in to his soberness and started hallucinated.

“Hello dear brother.” A familiar voice startled him.

“Issac… Get off my mind now.” Lynx’s eyes narrowed down upon response to the half-elf he truly hated

“Seems like someone got caught in a net, by a maiden I see.” The brother chuckled out an aura of uneasiness.

“Shut up…” Lynx retorted but only a gasp was let loose.

“Another maggot for me to prey on. Isn’t that such a cliché, don’t you think? You’ll never get happiness, you’ll suffer as it pleases me, you’ll rot away slowly… to my delight and entertainment.” hissed the voice.

“Hurt her and die.” The redhead shot back defensively before he knocked off into the abyss of slumber.

---The Next Morning---
“The next two shards are both in the Shadoris region, a pirate cave and mount Sairean. The only problem is, to which shall we travel to beforehand?” questioned Seph intelligently as he encircle his fingers around two locations on the world map.

“I vouch for the volcanic mountain. The ceaseless production of smog is spreading vastly to the west Domiria region, causing plenty of commerce to stop and hectic health problems for the dwarves, the pirates in the other hand, damage done as compared to the volcano is a small scale, which can be dealt later.” Suggested the swordsman lazily, he was still lethargic due to the massive what-should-I-do thoughts clogging his brain.

“Since the volcano is erupting as we speak, it will be challenging alone for just approaching the mouth with all that gushing of lava.” Syn piped in as he studied parchments regarding about the properties of the volcano. Then, the elf continued, “We can’t have Nefuriya levitating us forever since she’ll have to deal with the smog as well. A beast of flight that is highly resistant to heat, travels in a swift yet delicate in pace, destructive when necessary will be a tremendous asset to carrying out the mission easier, and that would be a dragon.”

“… no freaking way. That means I have to settle Iori’s condition you know.” Lynx retorted as eyes were rolling to his direction.

“It can’t be that bad, can it?” gasped a worried water-mage.

“I… have to… ki-kiss in front of him, the conditions are no animals and genders doesn’t matter but NO guys, thank you very much.” He stuttered before he finished his sentence in an extreme firm vocal expression.

“…” Silence flew past by.

“…That dragon is *beep*ed up.” Krug managed to mumble up a phrase, breaking the muteness momentarily.

Nefuriya silently agreed with Krug as she continued scribbling on the piece of parchment which was intended to be her reply to Neru.

Drewera simply snorted softly and muttered unintelligibly to herself, all the while sneaking glances at her best friend.

Lynx sighed in response, "Exactly."

A soft murmur seemed to ensue as the various members discussed their predicament. It did not take long for the windcaster to notice a strange sensation as though holes were being burnt into her head.

Inclining her head upwards, she noticed many many pairs of eyes, minus Lynx, who had decided that it was opportune moment to dig himself a grave, and Drewera, who had purposely waltzed off to the bartender, staring straight at her.

"Yes?" she asked rhetorically, sweating faintly behind her as pressure built up from all the looks directed at her.

A tiny grin began to grow on Eiyora's face, followed by Arien and Seph, Krug, Syn, and Aurora. There was almost a visible thought that went along the lines of 'Yes, she would do.' floating on the air above their heads.

"Er, if you don't mind, I'll return to my letter writing now." Nefuriya murmured, still sweating as she returned her gaze to the parchment laid before her. A vague feeling of imminent doom began to grow at the back of her mind.

When she finally ended her letter, and attached it to the leg of the messenger hawk, which took off almost immediately, the feeling had already doubled, tripled and quadrupled to the point that she was twitching mildly.

"Ye...es?" she asked again, almost shakily as she once again locked gazes with five pairs of eyes.

~*~

Apparently they decided that aspiring matchmakers was not a bad job and their first potential customers were none other than Lynx Nexus and Nefuriya Kuryutie.

"Err good day to you, Mr. Iori." Nefuriya greeted the dragon hesitantly, "What brings you here?"

I was told that my pathetic master was going to fulfil a certain task in front of me within a few minutes. Iori replied, Speaking of which, where is that wretched mortal now?

With a startled 'Oomph!' the poor swordsman was forced out of his hiding place by several pairs of oh-so-helpful hands.

Very well, since he's here. I expect the task to be completed or else... the dragon muttered, leaving the sentence hanging.

Lynx blushed to the tip of his ears, closly followed by Nefuriya who finally managed to grasp hold of the situation.

Lynx stared at Nefuriya, Nefuriya stared back.

The interval actually lasted for a whole five minutes, in which certain sounds of crowing crows and wind blowing could already be heard, before a certain female dwarf finally gave up on being patient and sent a rock flying towards the back of one Lynx Nexus.

The unfortunate redhead stumbled forward. His hands, which had been flung out to retain his balance, went to Nefuriya's shoulders instead.

Lynx, meet Nefuriya. Nefuriya, meet Lynx. Lips meet lips.


[OOC: I get the feeling the final sentence was on the verge of being very odd. But well, hope it went alright. Sasu, if you want a french, by all means. Lynx's mouth is open anyways.]

!!!! Lynx was startled mentally, his ears burning furious, his cheeks flushing deeply, his emerald pupils vibrating about mildly in shock, his heart beating rapidly as though it’s threatening to burst out of his chest. His lips were pressing against the lips which belonged to the one whom occupied his mind and priority. Soon, he closed his eyes and felt a huge burden lift off his shoulders instantly, the atmosphere froze as though time stopped itself, his body full of warmth like never before, a soothing feeling flew through his very blood veins, he was relieved.

Strangely, even though he had no kissing experience and that it was his very first, the redhead felt that kissing Nefuriya Kuryutie was right. His hands, initially on her shoulders, unconsciously wrapped around her slender waist, embracing her firmly yet gently, his lips, still unseperated from hers.

Due to a slight guilty conscious, he slowly removed his lips away, breaking the moment he wished that it could last for eternity. “Sorry.” He whispered an apology softly to the shy elf’s ear, eyes gazing at her passionately which brimmed with utmost sincerity. He wanted to say more but he feared the worst results. The fact that, he was in love with her.

“Now, you’ll aid us Iori?”

-… yes my master.- The dragon addressed Lynx, surprisingly gallantly like a knight to his king.

-You have better eyes now.- Iori mentally spoke to him privately, before vanishing into thin air.

Heh…was that a compliment? He chuckled weakly as he quietly peeked behind him at the silver-haired maiden …Neither am I going hurt you nor am I going to force you to be with me. As long as you are happy, nothing matters to me no more…But I’ll always protect you even by means of sacrificing my life… I love you, that is the definite truth.

(OOC: Awwww. So sweet. *coughs* Tag Yume)

"It's not possible. Why would anyone in the palace hide a moon shard?" The first princess of Cesopia, the head advisor of the King, shook her head at the observations stated by the moon worshipper of the group.

Neru frowned. "I don't know about that, Shizu. There can be a lot of reasons. But we must find it. Can you pinpoint the location, Trielani?"

"I can." The elf nodded and concentrated, the moonseekers in the room waiting patiently as she searched with her mind. Some made note of her increasing paleness but did not bring it up, not when she was working hard and not wanting to disrupt her efforts. "I can follow the flow of the magic from the shard and lead you all to it."

"But we are not going now, lady." Randelf spoke up. "You are going to rest. You have done enough for today, combing the streets with us. We will resume our search tomorrow. Any objections?"

"No, but I think we would better not let anyone else know this." Ray responded, and everyone else nodded their agreement. He then turned to the elder of the royalty. "Especially your staff, my lady."

Sighing, Shizu gave her agreement. "That will be for the best. I will inform Yue about it. Meanwhile, would you like to adjourn for dinner?"

"Are you kidding? I'm famished!" Trysta grinned. "Anyone wants to tell our shadowy companion that it's time for food?"

[OOC: Vex, it's up to you to respond in any way you want. ^^;]

Aurora didnt understand dragons, she didnt know a single kind. Aurora didnt quesiton the 'kissing' but inside she was a little confused by the entire process. Being a Moonseeker wasnt as difficult a she had once imagined it to be, it was like a walk in the park. Apart from the fighting of enemies including obese fish. Aurora wanted to prove herself...they were heading to a volcano next...hence the need of the dragon Maybe she coudld prove herself there, but she didnt have the skills these Moonseekers had. Aurora believed herself to be insuperior to them, although she coud handle a sword pretty` well and wasnt bad at healing wounds she had not yet had the chance to give any example of these skills. Aurora shrugged her shoulders, she wasnt entirley worried about this situation as long as she gave helpful information and the odd compliment...hopefully everything would be just fine...hopefully.

"Oh my goddess have you finished yet!?" Aurora shouted from behind the rocks hoping to get a yes. The sooner they got the Moonshards the sooner all of this would be over, then things coudl go ack to normal. With all the Moonshards they could uncover whom exactly was the one to make all of this happen.

The kiss had been... unexpected.

Nefuriya had been slightly more than stunned as she stared at Lynx, one of her mental voices, again, running laps in her head, squealing about their kiss. One the other hand though, she felt the release of a looming fear as well. A fear of something that had been locked at the back of her mind for several centuries.

However the moment might have been able to last longer if someone had not shouted from somewhere, and interrupted them from their staring match.

Squashing down the urge to glare at, or squeeze the air out of, the voice's owner, she hurriedly grasped hold of Lynx's arm and dragged him towards the group.

"We have gotten the approval of Iori, so what do we do now?" she asked slightly breathlessly.

"We'll rest and prepare for the journey today." Drewera started.

"And we'll set off for the volcano tomorrow morn." Syn continued.

~*~

Nefuriya sighed, staring at her hands as she floated several feet above the roof, careful on her intent to not be found, or interrupted, by any others. As soon as their conversation had ended, the moonseekers seperated, each shuffling in various directions towards various destination. She had taken the chance then, to float out of the fray and towards her favourite spot.

It was only when she had finally relaxed, that she realised that her hands had been trembling throughout the incident. When she noticed that, the fear that she had felt during the kiss began to rise again, threatening to overwhelm her and to swallow her full.

It had taken at least an hour for her to finally win the struggle, and get her body back in control again.

Another sigh escaped her lips and a thought that she had thought only centuries ago resurfaced on her mind again. What had happened to me before I arrived in Zigla...?

[OOC: O.o This one sounded strange, but forgive me for the lack of quality, since I haven't really been posting for at least a fortnight x.x. I swear I'll do something about it by the next post.]

Lynx lay motionless against the stone-cold walls of the inn, eyes gazing across the horizon of stars above, mind debating the consequences of his newly found warmth. To irritate or be a burden to Nefuriya was definitely out of his option but his concern was starting to prove otherwise.

Should I tell her how I feel? Maybe I should write a letter to Lakre and Randelf for advice. A oh-so-helpful mental projection portraying his two friends screwing up quadrupled his fear, hesitation of seeking solutions from them would indeed be a perfect choice.

As the evening breeze brushed by his smooth lips, the event of the kiss rose to the tip of his brain, he flushed at the flashback but the sudden thought of hate and rejection by Nefuriya and other assumptions caused him to fear. Though the pain would be unbearable and intolerable, he was willing to resign to such fate, for her.

---Moving Ahead, The Next Day, Mount Sairean---

The gush of magma was ferocious, spluttering flames around the encirclement. The heat had exceeded their expectations, several was already receiving burns despite Eiyora’s undeniable efforts in keeping them moisturized whereas Nefuriya was busy shoving aside the toxic smog away from the entourage while keeping them in high air.

“Eiyora now!” Syn ordered as Eiyora proceeded with the mission. She promptly conjured a huge rain cloud(A/N: it’s not going to be acid since the smog is away from them plus a high cloud won’t be affected much by a magma), causing a downpour into the summit of Mount Sairean. Lynx briefly summoned Iori and ride on him, swirling around the circumference into the further depths of the ‘volcano’. As foreseen, the shard was located on the direct centre on a stone pillar.

“Ugh, it burns.” Lynx yelped unconsciously as he grasped the target and shoved it into the mythril bag. Just one more moonshard, and they would be able to reconcile with the other group.

(OOC: Sorry for the poor posting style, been too busy lately. Well, whoever’s in Group A, just continue with the post, for eg. *glares at obvious target whose name starts with a Y*)

"Dear Nefuriya and everyone else,

Sorry for not writing for the past few days, things suddenly got hectic and I did not even have time to write a short message, and I have no wish to kill Iadore with exhaustion.

Have you retreived the shard in Mount Sairean yet? If you have, congratulations. If not, I am afraid I must ask that everyone to take extra cautions for you may have rivals on your side too. Obviously, we discovered the existence of our rivals and it was not pleasant.

But first, the good news. We found the shard in Cyedoria. It seemed that one of my aunts found the shard and knowing that it's a piece of Luminelle's core, tried to heal his crippled son by making him wear it. My cousin was thankfully unaffected, but the whole Cyedoria capital had to pay for her selfishness, even though it was of good intentions.

I wish I could tell you that we have more good news but I cannot. Right after we decided who to bear the shard we found, Shizu gave us the grave news that the shard in Chudoria has been taken. By whom, we do not know, only that Chetrean has been conquered as the last of their royals died, and the king of Chialrusa caused a huge uproar when he admitted to having and using the moon shard against the Chetrean royalties, but with the next breath, announced that it has been stolen.

Shizu and I believed that it has to be true as Chialrusan king is anything but a liar, though it is notoriously hard to get him to admit to anything. Which only showed how much of a panic he was in when he made that announcement. After Lakre, Ray and Trielani took a fast ship down to Chudoria and hurried to Chialrusa as quickly as they could to verify it, we were found to be right. Unfortunately, they could find no clues about the thief, and Trielani fell ill from exhaustion.

It was distressing but we could do nothing, except hurry towards the next shard so as to make sure it will not be lost to us as well. It was then when Void told us that he was leaving us to find his elven friend, and even though we tried to stop him and got into huge fight before he escaped with his sneaky shadows. At least he did not try to snatch the moon shards that me and Coran carry. I cannot imagine if we were to lose not only one shard and companion. It would be a disaster.

Without Trielani, we would be as lost as a needle in the haystack in that vast Crujen desert, so we decided to meet up with the others in Chialrusa first before advancing towards the next shard. The delay made us most anxious, but it was necessary, and gave us time to rest and recover from the fight with Void. Trielani had pretty much recovered too, and we figure that we the shard that me and Coran carries, she will be fine by the time we set of for Crujen.

Anyway, we are hours from reaching Chialrusa, and I am afraid that I will not have any time to write after that. And what I heard of Crujen's conditions is such that I fear my hawk would not be able to take flight at all. So do not expect my reply anytime soon because I have informed him to return to Shizu for the time being. I will write back only after we return to Cyedoria.

Be careful, and good luck to you guys.

- Neru Eireao"

They were travelling by sea again.

Apparently, they had decided that since pirates regularly attack local merchant ships, and loot their goods, boarding onto one such marine transport was a good method to infiltrate into their cave.

"BOOM!" a loud explosion woke Drewera from her mental reverie and sent her clattering out of her bunk, and towards the deck.

The explosion had the ship off kilter, resulting in most of the furnitures within the ship to crash against the ground, and causing a spectacular scene of chaos and confusion amongst the other passengers.

Apparently, they had also miscalculated that the normal passengers would retain their common senses during the attack. High-pitched screams were the first to go, closely followed by the angered voices of the male passengers, then the sounds of crying and the sounds of feet colliding against the wooden floor panels. Basically, the complete package of what could be called a cacophony.

Locating the familiar figures on the deck, Drewera hurried towards them, utilizing her shield to ward off the crowd's hindrance to her movement.

Quite apparently, from the dazed look on her elfin face, Nefuriya had yet to return to the present. Which she had not done ever since the kiss between herself and Lynx. Well, yeah, she did follow them around and utilized her magick whenever required, but speaking up or initiating her own actions? Nope, not yet. The only time when she did speak was when she had received Neru's letter. Other than that, practically zero. She seemed to have retreated into the deeper depths of her mind, while leaving her bodily needs and controls to her subconsciousness.

At first, they had tried various means to wake her, however, repeated failure had seen to the decrease of their patience. And eventually, they decided to simply wait till she woke on her own. Till now, Lynx and herself were the only ones who retained the patience to stay with her, and on occasions, talk to her.

Speaking of which, she had yet to see the striking redhead.

"Uhh, guys? Have you seen Lynx anywhere?" she asked.

Ciwedria, the south-west country of South Condarca was their destination. Having to walk the desert for a few days was harsh to Void and the fire sprite. Fortunately, they had found an oasis and stocked up on plenty of water, which helped them survive all the way before they had gotten to where they were headed. The sight of the building made their eyes shine in happiness, Void running quickly toward the town they spotted, the sprite speed afterwards, her knowing exactly where they were. They kept up their run all the way to the town's gates, where they stopped, huffing and puffin, a smile actually on the elf's face. He grins, proceeding forward. Him with a sprite was something to see for the villagers, however, they just continued what they were doing, not really taking the time to stare at him and his companion.

He didn't care, looking around as he looks to the sprite. She was gleaming happiness as she takes his hand and flies quickly down the street, leading him out of the town to a lovely field of flowers and trees, a small house perched on a hill, a curvy road leading up to it. She nods and flies ahead of him, himself walking by road as he makes his way to this place. It seemed to out of place for him, for he didn't like environemnts like this. There wasn't enough darkness to soothe his desires, but at least he was where he wanted to be. The sprite knocks on the door, Void approaching afterwards when it opens, an elf with logn golden hair standing there in a red and pink long dress, with nothing holding it up by her shoulder but only a strap on her back. Her ears gleamed with beautiful earrings that casted the noon sun's rays easily, and her broach was coursing with magical energies that let off a glare once in a while. The woman's blue eyes look at the spite, having her say in excitement:"Kaila, you're back!" They hug as the elf's eyes close for a moment then reopen, only to see Void standing there in complete awe. She places on an expression of surprise, too.

"Lien," he says in question.

"V-void," she replies, letting go fo her sprite friend, stepping down the small steps for a few to get closer. She comes close, placing her hand on his dark brown skin, looking into his violet eyes for a moment. "Void....your eyes....they've lost...your glimmer."

He looks away, wanting to hide the new darkness that swarmed them now, rather than the elven light that once made him an elf. She sighs, having him look back, a smile on her face before she hugs him, having him place on an expression of shock, for this was indeed very much not his way of doing things are expressing affection.

"Void...it is so good to see you again! I thought I had lost you!" Tears were flowing in her eyes, Void's arms keeping to his side, for he did not know how to react. He was just speechless. The sprite tilts her head at Void's reaction to this then comes down, grabbing his arms and placing them around Lien's body. He wanted to sneer at her, but this action only caused Lien to squeeze him tighter, her soft body against his, an experience that was greatly making him nervous. The sprite giggles and flies into the house as Lien pulls back to get a look at Void again.

"I know you've had a hard time getting here. Come in and rest." She turns, walking up to the door, looign back and gesturing for him to follow. He nods, following her and entering into her humble home.

The explosions stirred up quite a commotion as judged from the sky, the passengers, excluding the Moonseekers, were scuttling around the ship like caged rats, panicking to escape from a tragic fate. Lynx returned to the ship in a haste to reveal his scouting information where the pirates will be coming from, however as soon as he got off Iori onto the deck of the ship, several dialects of curse and swears made their way, then attacks by misled passengers.

“Fools, I’m no pirate.” He grumbled irritably, dodging each incoming pathetic attacks while counter-attacking with elbow and knee jabs. Once he was done with the oh-so-courageous mob, he immediately sought for his entourage for discussion.

When the verdict was breached, they had no choice but to float above ship level, to tail the pirates’ ship after their plunder, though some objected to such heartless act, ignoring the passengers and all; it was for a better cause or so as Syn debated. Lynx was rather worried about Nefuriya instead, who was still in her dazed state, so he asked, “Do… you hate me?” but before she could give a reply, he promptly interrupted, “Nevermind…”

What seemed for days but in reality was just hours later, the plunder and carnage was over, the vessel which the Moonseekers boarded sank into the depths of the ocean while the pirates set sail to their home cavern. Surprisingly, the journey was swift and none of the foes suspected that they were being followed, a good sign for the group.

---The Pirate’s Cave---

“Not too shabby.” Krug grinned at the decorations around the entrance of the cave, mostly hollow skulls of perhaps, the misfortunate victims were hooked to the walls as holdings for torches.

“I’ve seen better ones.” Syn quipped, earning stares that obviously questioned his remark.

“So… what’s the plan?” Lynx said, finally breaking the useless silent atmosphere.

Coincidently, both Seph and Arien replied, “Barging in wouldn’t be a good idea.” Then they both shared stares at each other, then flushed.

“…right, before the mushy drama reproduces, continue.” Lynx muttered.

Seph, who failed to imitate a cough, continued, “They are immortals which means they won’t die if the shard is in their grasp.”

“Let’s just nuke the place.” Krug whizzed.

“That makes the shard harder to find, dimwit.” Syn replied.

“Got a better idea wiseass?”

“One that will definitely surpass your ohmygodIamgoingtonukeyourplacecomeoutandkillme plan, jerk!”

“You want a piece of me? Come on!” and then the pirates were alarmed of their presence.

“You guys suck.” Lynx shook his head shamefully, then sung his head towards Nefuriya, “This sounds stupid but, don’t leave my side.”

(OOC:Yay, fight posts, yay, post.)

Drawing her own weapon, Drewera spared the misfortunate pair a glance before turning back to their opponents.

They do suck. the female dwarf thought as she slashed down the fifth pirate with her trusty knives. The others were holding their own well as well, and even Arien's pebbles managed to do some lethal damage.

"You can't even follow my knives, yet you call yourself pirates?" she taunted deftly, slashing at another.

Unbeknownst to her though, another of those sea rats whom she had beaten down had slowly gotten up from the ground and crawled to her side.

With a haywire holler, he leapt from his spot with a rusty dagger pointing at--- somewhere near neither himself nor Drewera.

However, that pathetic pirates' charge was swiftly cut short when he tripped over a rock jutting from the ground, and fell forward, his equally pathetic weapon slipping from his grasp and flying towards Drewera's thigh.

Agile she might be, the brunette knew that she would not be able to dodge that blow, and instead prepared herself for the sharp burst of pain--- that never came.

With a soft 'clang' the dagger was repelled from her form and collided against the rocky ground, stopping only when its side rubbed against the side of the cave.

Only when Drewera opened her eyes, did she realise that she was surrounded by familiar bubble formed through compressing wind together.

"Nefuriya...?" the dwarf mumbled in confusion, her eyes darting towards the immobile windcaster to a second before returning to the fight at hand.

~*~

(Nefuriya's POV)

When I finally opened my eyes again, and I mean my physical eyes, my sight was filled with the battle that seemed to have started merely a few minutes ago.

Vaguely I wondered how long I had been submerged in my thoughts. How long had it been since I had no conscious contact with the world outside of my innermost thoughts. The time I had spent in my mind seemed to last an eternity.

The dam that had sealed my memories at the back of my mind seemed to have been broken with the kiss with Lynx. My memories have been rushing towards my conscious mind ever since. Visions of places upon places, people's faces, both familiar and not, filled my mental eyes to practically its brim. Slowly, I got to know myself again. My old family, my friends, rivals, and the goddess I used to worshipped.

Luminielle, who had also been the patron goddess of us who were of elvish origin. Hers was the name mine had been derived from. Her temple was also one that had caged me since young. The temple that I was supposed to serve in till death.

In a way, the kidnapping that had me lose my memories was both fortunate and unfortunate for me. For with this kidnapping, I was free from the caged life that had been implemented on me thanks to my family. On the other hand, this was also one that had taught me how cruel life could be. It could have been the pain they had inflicted on me during their so called journey, it could also be the few decades I had spent in servitude of the noble's family in Zigla. Regardless of the cause, I was both grateful and indignant towards those bandits who had managed to snatch me from my old life and threw my in this environment which I had grown up in.

The sounds of metal clashing against each other woke me from my reverie again, and I realised that while I managed to submerge myself in my thoughts again, the others had been fighting against personnels who opposed us in our mission.

And did these 'personnels' happen to be pirates?

Noticing a flying dagger that headed for a familiar brunette, I raised my hand reflexively in that direction. The results of that action was displayed to me quite instantly as an almost transparent bubble surrounded that midget and protected her from that flying projectile.

All at once, I shrunk back. Staring at the hand that had been upraised, I wondered. Was that what I had done? Was that what I was able to do in the first place?

Wait a minute. I am Nefuriya Kuryutie am I not? Nefuriya Kuryutie the windcaster, who was best friends with Drewera Brikerio, and priestess of Favonius the wind goddess... right?

Then who is Nielle Silvin? The worshipper of Luminielle the Moon Goddess, and only female heir of the Silvin family?

Who... am I?

[OOC: Yesh~ Nefuriya is facing an identity crisis~ Anyways, not much plot progress in this post. Though Sel reminds that the pirates are like those in Pirates of the Carribean, so technically they won't die and will just keep coming until the moonshard is taken away from them and sealed inside the container.]

(Lynx’s POV)

Even though she’s active in her role, she seems…troubled, which agonizes me terribly for I’m an outsider, to her. Indescribable fear injects through my life veins like venom, whenever my ridiculous worries torment my soul.

As three undying fools approach, I howled out my anger and hatred, pumping my adrenaline and swung Judgment across the horizon. I broke their useless blades and looped their hands along the process. To my surprise, neither familiar screams of pain nor blood oozed out, instead, they attached their hands back to their usual position, great, practically zombies.

Summoning Iori would be a long process or more of a difficulty since I’m not used to converting my stamina to my willpower, I whispered a spell to bind some foes with vines and roots. Set aside their immortality, their powers were truly pathetic, even careless Eiyora could freeze them to oblivion.

There came the problem, as we start to grow wary, more pirates came in suicidal style, not that their lives were theoretically at stake. We had to find the shard and contain it, fast. Good old Krug maimed the incoming foes down, displaying his brute strength for no one in particular; still, it created an opening for us to rush into the depths of the cave. We all had one person in mind who would most likely keep the shard, the Captain.

We thought it would take ages to find the ringleader, but boy were they stupid, not only the Captain was practically showing his face at us, he was dangling the shard right in front of us, wow, I never knew anyone would represent such stupidity.

With a wave of her hand, Nefuriya levitated the shard towards us and we contained it, in mere seconds. Invulnerability no more, yes indeed! Yet those fools haven’t noticed it, except for the Captain, who peed to the ground. Moments of shouldn’t-be-explained violence and grieves later, Eiyora did a handy job in washing blood off us.

Seeing it to our convenience, we made use of the pirate ship, taking away the obvious flag sign of course, as our means of transportation. After the assignment of jobs was issued, we set our destination to Cyedoria which would take days as judged from the pirates’ map.

As evening approached, I began to wonder what would happen to me and Nefuriya after we retrieve the last shard. Quite apparently, I could not shake off the uneasiness I was feeling, so later in the evening, I knocked on her room door.

“Nefuriya…? I need to talk with you, can I come in?”

(OOC: Gawd, let the mushy part or angst part or etc commence. One note though, don’t rush the post all the way to Cyedoria, I have something planned for Lynx along the journey.)

For once, she was not sharing a room with Drewera. Only because the previous conversation she had had with the dwarf had ended with a not-so-nice touch, and the brunette, knowing her best friend's temperament, had decided to allow her the space to straighten her mind.

Alas, peace was not one to linger near her, as a knock resounded from the wooden door, and a familiar voice asked for permission to enter, she heaved a long sigh and allowed the door to open with a sweeping gust.

"What do you want?" she asked tiredly, watching with mild interest at the redhead who had been stepping into her room.

"Nefuriya---" he began, but was soon cut off by the same retort Drewera had received.

"Who is really Nefuriya Kuryutie?!"

The redhead gaped. Not in the open-mouth-and-freeze way, but more along the lines of eyes widening in shock.

Abruptly, the floating figure dropped to the ground, her un-tied hair cloaking her face as she stared to the ground in a mixture of confusion and anguish.

"I can't tell if I'm Nefuriya Kuryutie or Nielle Silvin anymore..." she mumbled almost brokenly. "I wish to be Nefuriya Kuryutie, yet, at the same time, I cannot ignore that I am, in fact, Nielle Silvin as well."

The stunned silence that had taken hold of Lynx's body soon broke, and he paced forward slowly. Kneeling down in front of the windcaster, he wrapped his arms around her fragile form, causing the high dam in her mind to collapse and moisture began leaking like an open tap out of the crevices of her eyes.

Slowly, as her sobs began to decrease she spoke, "I've gotten my memories back, Lynx. All of them. But I don't... don't know what to do... You know me as Nefuriya, yet at the same time, I am Nielle as well... I cannot ignore Nefuriya, yet I cannot deny that Nielle is me as well... what am I going to do, Lynx? what am I going to do..?"

[OOC: O.o Omg did I just write that? I think I did. Anyways, she's freaking out, so yeah, go ahead and do whatever you want.]

“Yes, you are Nefuriya Kuryutie as well as Nielle Silvin, so what…? You are you, don’t force yourself to think too much. Choose whatever decision that you are comfortable with, be it returning to your homeland or not, you’ll always be the Nefuriya I know. Know that you are not alone, I’ll always be there for you.” He consoled as he stroke his hand along her silk-like hair.

The duo remained silent under the solemn moonlight for a period of time. However, the rapture of being at a tight spot just lured him to say something he yearned so far, “Af-after we collect the last shard, will you allow me to be by your side? No, wait, that sounded a bit wrong. Nefuriya, what I’m trying to tell you is… I…” his irregular forms of stutters appeared out of his mouth as he gathered his courage.

“I love you….” And there he finally said it.

“I want to be with you…always, even by means of following you through the depths of hell till the end of time. I want to share your pain; I want to bring you happiness. You are more important than everything to me; I need you… for I love you truly…”

“Then again, I sound quite selfish, don’t you think? You probably have a fiancé or someone else in mind. Yet I still want to risk saying it.”

“Th-that’s not true… but how can I deserve you when my purity has already been soiled…”

“Even if that’s true, I do not care… So long as you are happy, so long as the flames of my devotion to you burn… I will wait, for months…years… and even decades… I want to make you happy… I want us, to be together always… Choose me, Nefuriya Kuryutie.”

(OOC: Interaction period, pardon the lateness, sucky wireless and... other problems.)

As the salty air of the sea passed through the cracks in the side of the ship Aurora opened her mouth to taste it. It was a wondrous thing to be able to connect with such a thing, not that taste really mattered after all. The pirates had been a little easier than expected; she couldn’t help but laugh every time she thought about them. Silver moonlight danced into her enclosed room as a thunderbolt made her move from a distance, thunder scared her. Lightning came after, which was strange.

"Thunder...", Aurora whispered tucking at her silk blanket to protect her smooth arms from the cold the sounds of the storm brought with it.

Since childhood she had hated it, she never really knew why...it must've been the shock. All the girls in the temple were afraid of it-Aurora laughed. At a time when sensing the moonshards was becoming more and more easier for her she didn’t want to keep on finding them, the reason being she was having a good time with these people out in the world. Never in her life had she experienced this sort of adventure, it would be hard to let it go. Alas the time for an ending wasn't too far off; eventually they would have to forget about all this.

[OOC: *swooooooooooooon* Omgwtf Sho shweet!]

"I-I..." Nefuriya was at a loss of words. She was... touched. More warm tears were spilled from her eyes, but instead of wiping them away with her trembling hand, she allowed her head to fall forward, against the soft fabric that was Lynx's shirt. Salty liquid stained the cloth as more tears rolled out between her eyelids, but neither cared.

Lying like this with her head against Lynx’s shoulder was strangely… comforting. With his firm arms wrapped around her and his intoxicating scent wafting into her nose, she felt safe, protected, and most important of all, not alone anymore. Well, in soul at least.

She seemed to be thinking everything and nothing at the same moment. With Lynx’s comforting embrace, she could almost abandon all thoughts and simply lie there for the moment to last forever. Yet, she could hear the whirling and cranking of the gears at the back of her head as thoughts were processed in her mind unconsciously.

Unknown to the windcaster, however, was the fact that she had physically fallen to fatigue, and her form simply slumped against her beloved, who gently carried her slight form to the bed in the cabin, where they spent the night together in relative peace.

~*~

Morning came to Nefuriya in a way that was unlike any others. Instead of the usual dream demons that haunted her sleep, causing her to shoot up from her bed and almost collide with the ceiling in her terror, she realized that she had managed a dreamless sleep. Cold sweat no longer coated her slick back, as her comfort was easily within reach.

Comfort… Nefuriya mused thoughtfully. Somehow, that words itself seemed to bring along with it, all her memories of the previous night. Of her confession to Lynx, and how he had comforted her.

Slitting her eyes open, she admired, with aqua blue orbs, at the sleeping features of the man whose face was a mere inch from her. With his mind safely in dreamscape, he seemed more relaxed physically. His face was no longer tense, and instead, emitted a gentle sense of calm. Slowly, her eyes traced every line, every crease on his face, intent to imprint these in her memory.

His eyes were shut tight with sleep, but his lips were parted. With every exhale, his breath brushed slightly against her skin, warming her slightly before the atmosphere seemed to snatch it from her jealously. Wistfully, she allowed a hand to rise from where it laid, on his side, and let it sidle to his face, where it twirled the strands of hair that had slipped from his mussed nest of hair to lie on his nose.

Unbeknownst to the elf, was the fact that Lynx had, in fact, awaken several minutes ago, and his arm, which had been carelessly thrown over her side, had inconspicuously left its previous allocation as well.

A soft gasp fell from her lips as a warm palm and longer, rougher fingers enclosed around hers, capturing it in a gentle hold, yet one not to be loosened easily. A smile seemed to bloom on Lynx’s face, and his eyelids parted to reveal emerald green eyes. Eyes that had her lost in its depths for a minute before reality return to her, and she flushed, diverting her eyes back to their hands.

“Good morning.” The redhead murmured.

“Morning.” Her flush seemed to deepen, into a shade that vaguely resembled a tomato.

“Did you slee—” Lynx began to ask, only to be cut off by a sudden violent rock of the ship that caused several items to collide into the ground, some shattering into pieces, while others remained relatively unharmed.

Managing to get out of their warm enclosure, with neither tripping from their entangled legs, both of them grabbed their weapons and ran, which in Nefuriya’s case meant flew, to the deck.

A… Dragon? Nefuriya thought, as her eyes identified the flying creature that was in mid-air, several feet from the deck. But it doesn’t look like Iori…

There was only one answer to the questions in their heads. A question soon to be answered by a certain redheaded swordsman.

“ISAAAAAAC!!!” the aforementioned swordsman bellowed, the rage he felt easily detected in his voice.

[OOC: Tag sasu! And finally, the version re-written and undeleted by the ebil ebil internet!]

“What a warm brotherly welcome.” Issac chirped rather sarcastically, riding on his dragon along with another unfamiliar male.

“Want me to cleave your head right away or would you prefer toyou destroyed the entire village?” responded the scarlet swordsman with the obvious hint of hatred.

“Oh-ho ho? My, rather…rational, aren’t we? You see… ever since young, father always took a liking to you, as did mother… I’m her flesh and blood, you are naught but a thief who stole all the attention and warmth from me! And so, I killed them all, and have you taste the bitter sorrow of loneliness. Hahahah.” Issac laughed hysterically or rather insanely at his own remark, Lynx, on the other hand, was trying his best to sustain his fury.

“Ever since… the mighty lord gave me such power… I feel so…superior, the ecstasy of such feeling! It’s unmatchable! And because of it, I met… Hilfred.” He continued as he stroked the shin of his beloved.

“… so that’s why the dragons practice true equality between men and women.” Krug commented, only to see a poof of smoke around Lynx emerged. Iori appeared.

(“Italic”-Iori)
(“Italic Bold”-Cencus)

“Cencus, we meet again” A typical greeting from Iori.

“Iori, still lecturing your master with tasteless comments?” It was made pretty apparent that Lynx was not the only one who suffered the rants of a white dragon.

“Your humor is dull as ever I see, but set aside that, why a dragon of high caliber like you still aid this… child?”

“Fufufu… well, he did his contract, but I’m more curious about his future.”

“Is that so?”

“Enough with the senseless reunion talk between you two; I want to listen to the…pain and agony I gave to my brother.” Issac interrupted bluntly.

“… through these months, you doomed me to a world I never expected to experience… mailing love letters from old men to women, running away from dogs, eating vegetables, scavenging wild meat, other useless errands, but most of all, you took away everyone I knew….but…” Lynx paused to look at Nefuriya, “It was worth it, because if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have met her…”

“Preposterous! Where is your filial piety? You are suppose to moan for their lost for years, decades. But now you are all warm and fuzzy?!? And bloody hell, that’s only like about months? That’s ridiculously cheesy!” Issac screeched like a child throwing a tantrum, except he failed to the attempt to leap at Lynx for he was being held back by Hilfred.

“Say whatever you must, but to me right now, she is the most important to me.”

“Blah, whatever, we’ll settle this once and for all!” Issac hissed as he unsheathed his blade.

“Forgive me, Nefuriya, but this is a battle between him and me alone.”

“Sure imbecilic brother, follow me to an isolated area. I’ll leave my band of men to entertain your friends meanwhile. You.Are.Mine.Alone.” Issac said between breaths cooly, then gave a piercing whistle, signaling his own crew to raid the Moonseeker’s ship.

Lynx turned again, and began loading himself onto Iori. He paused for a moment, then got off to hug Nefuriya, “I’ll be back, I promise.”

“I love you.” Lynx smiled as warmly as possibly he could. As he distance away from Nefuriya, she hesitated; she didn’t want him to go. However, her motions were halted by Hilfred, “Miss, where do you think you are going?” He levitated himself in her direction, revealing his ability of a wind shaman.

(OOC: Yay, fight time. Solo fights, Nefu vs Hilfred, Lynx vs Issac, so don't touch them. LE or Alexandrou, feel free to think of whatever strong enemies who are in Issac's crew and make a good fight out of it or else Yume/Me will do it.)

"Hilfred... Hilfred..." Nefuriya muttered under her breath as she stared at the man floating before herself. His name sounded vaguely familiar, and even his face seemed identical with somebody whom she had come across some months ago. Yet, she found herself unable to match his face and name together.

It seemed minutes later that an audible click seemed to resound in the air as the gears of her memory slipped into place. Her frown lightened and eyes blinked in surprise as she gasped, "Hilfred Lendine? The one who lives at North Condarca?"

There seemed to be a minute of silence, broken only by the sounds of fighting from both Lynx and the ship's side. Slender arms folded as Hilfred too stared at Nefuriya in contemplation. His knitted brows were soon released as well, as he too remembered the elf who had stumbled across his little cottage a year ago with a broken leg and fractured hand.

"Nefuriya Kuryutie?" he murmured almost in awe. "I didn't expect you to be here. I thought you returned to Zigla after you left the cottage?"

"I joined the Moonseekers." the elf replied almost in remorse as she remembered the lecture he had inflicted on her about taking care of herself when she had decided to leave for the Temple of Gales for a ceremony that she adamantly refused to miss even when her limbs had yet to fully recover. Casting her memories away, she turned to Hilfred again. "So he is the one whom you had been waiting for all the while?"

"Yeah." the emotions that seemed to reside in Hilfred's eyes as he glanced at Isaac was so obvious that Nefuriya had to be blind in order to miss it, which she was not.

"Well, I don't suppose I could judge you for your decision." Nefuriya sighed finally, herding their conversation back on track, back to the fight they were supposed participate in. "If you really love him so much, there's no other way for the two of us, ne?"

"Indeed." the silver-haired man agreed solemnly, his body floating further away from the ship as they chose their own battleground.

Drawing three of her throwing knives from their sheaths, Nefuriya flung them at Hilfred, signalling the beginning of their battle. The knives were easily blocked away, of course, and soon made a U-turn, returning to their owner with their business ends pointing at her.

Catching the knives' handles deftly with a wind-infused hand, Nefuriya swiftly dropped the alititude of her body as a cutting gale swooped towards her, slicing inches off a lock of her hair that had been unable to escape the gale's range. Before those scattered bits of hair could escape though, her free hand had several in her grasp, and they were soon straightened, almost into needles, and flung in Hilfred's direction, closely followed by the throwing knives in her other hand, and arrows drawn from her quiver, fired from her wind-imbibed bow.

The waves of attack were almost dodged by Hilfred, as he mimicked her technique and fell closer towards the sea, however the projectiles soon diverted from their paths and followed the windcaster like missiles to their targets. The needle-like hair bits were easily brushed away with his shield, but the knives and arrows, which she had enhanced with her magick, quickly pierced through the invisible sphere and struck him at his arms, whilst an arrow pierced through his upper thigh.

Surprisingly, Hilfred seemed to ignore his injuries, and instead feinted towards Nefuriya, who rose her arms to block on instinct, only to realise that four more of his gales were approaching her from her left and right, two on either side.

Her own sphere of vortex was quickly dspelled under the onslaught of attack, and one of her sleeves drooped from the a cut at the upper arm, where it was stained red from the blood that slowly flowed from her injured arm. Her legs seemed to be in a similar condition as spots of red quickly emerged on her light blue pants.

"It seems we are quite evenly matched, doesn't it?" she could only remark dryly.

[OOC: I left the fight scene at the ship to Alexandrou, since I'm sure he can handle it. So tag the both of you.]

"To Nefuriya Kuryutie and the rest of the moonseekers,

I am writing on behalf of my sister, Neru Eiren Cesoireao, as she is not in the condition to do so herself. Forgive me if this letter is too abrupt but this is all I can do to convey the message fully.

During their quest for the moonshard in the Crujen Desert, my sister and her party were attacked by an unidentified group of seekers after they found the shard. It is to my deepest regret and apology to tell you that Ray and Trysta were killed during the attack, and Trysta's shard was seized by the only survivor of their attackers who got away.

The rest of the party were not able to give chase because most of them were badly injured. Two of them, Trielani and my sister, have fallen unconscious due to the severity of their injuries, and they have yet to wake up. They are now all under our care, and concentrating on their recovery.

Me and Yue, my brother, have dispatched our best people to find out the identities of their attackers and the person who got the moonshard, but no news have returned yet. I urged for all of you to be careful, we cannot lose any lives or moonshards. And if you are able to, please reply to me as soon as possible. We look forward to your successful return.

Best regards,

Shizu Liren Cesoireao."

The twin dragons soared through the sky; one tailing the other to a completely isolated island, far away from the ship.

“Fu fu fu… at last, none shall disrupt us from this distance. Now let us disembark from our servants for the final bout! For my glory!” Issac commenced as though cheers and music filled his ears, only to receive a fart of a particular dragon which was apparently loud.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

“Fart… equals to glory…? Iori… That… was quite… a mood-shift.” Lynx’s emerald eyes twitched, being absolutely disgusted by Iori’s action.

“… He is so dead.” Issac gleamed.

“… Here I come then, brother.” Lynx replied as he unsheathed his blade Judgement, shoving the guard aside. He stance himself at a defensive position, the same way as he did with Issac when they sparred from young. With a sudden charge, Issac thrust forward, only to pierce against the blade of Judgment, recoiling Lynx with immense strength that his hooves were being pushed back against the soil literally.

“What insane strength…” he muttered as he rolled to a corner and deliver a strike.

“What sweet dexterity… I have.” Issac defended the incoming blow single-handedly, sliding his blade against Judgment’s.

“Meet Wraith, Judgment’s twin.” He grinned slyly before Lynx retreated back to leap attack him. With a brief laugh, Issac spoke, “Shadow Darkness.” Wraith emitted a form of shadow which eventually blinded the surroundings from Lynx, numbing his sight entirely, thus missing his fore mentioned attack.

“Seems like you forgotten that I’m a light user Issac, Illuminate!” He commented as his actions proceeded to counter the effect.

“No.” Issac replied, ambushing Lynx. “I’ve not forgotten.” He slashed Lynx’s back, ripping both the fabric and flesh of his behind. Grunting, Lynx tried to get even by cleaving back, but he failed.

When Issac started to whisper a familiar incantation, Lynx immediately retaliated with a defensive spell.

“Dark Banishing.”

A thud was heard, Lynx failed to finish the incantation of his spell due to the pain of the gash behind his back. Greatly weakened, he struggled to get up with the aid of focusing his weight on the pommel of his sword.

“Hmph, pathetic. I barely sweat.” His half-brother spat as he approached the other.

“You know what dear brother? I have yet to unlock the last stage of the sword. It seems that I have to defeat you for the blades to become one again.”

“Hiryuu no Shinken… the divine dragon blade… isn’t that a myth?” he coughed, eyes not wavering away from Issac.

“Hahaha, it is true, a unity between light and shadow, non-elemental and infinite! Just thinking of such power…”

“… you can’t be saved anymore Issac, you are just a mere shell of a pawn of the God you are working for, the least I can do, is to eliminate you, to free my brother’s soul and protect the rest.”

“Hu? And what else could you do? Stare me to death? Throw powerless attacks at me?” scoffed the other, preparing himself for the execution blow.

“… looks like, he’s going to do it.”

Gathering the last of his strength, with his feet firmly rooted to the ground, Lynx read out a rather unique incantation, “Saigo no Ougi… Nexus!” A faint light illuminated along the vector of Lynx’s body, just that.

“Final skill??? What kind of ----ing skill is that? Some lighting effect?” Issac laughed, only to see a reflection of himself in a pair of serene emerald eyes. He was then intimidated by an aura emitted by Lynx, sadness.

“Die.” He swung a heavy slash to the ground, cracking the earth. Lynx stood behind him, he missed.

“----! Just die already!” He reversed a horizontal slash, only to miss again. His actions were repeated till the twentieth time, Lynx disarmed him in a flash, knocking Wraith away like a tossed toy.

“What the ---- is happening now Cencus!”

“Nexus… a forgotten ancient spell of the forbidden arts named after the Fate Weaver, Siberian Nexus. Increasing the spiritual power in one’s self to achieve absolute abilities, surpassing any being, so great, that no living bodies, be it superior or not, can take it…they’ll disintegrate into nothing, after the effect wears off.”

“Why is it forbidden?” he demanded again.

“… it cut an island in half during a war.”

A sudden winch came across Issac’s stomach; initially he was battling fearlessly and gloating, but now, his heart was stoned like a rubble, a familiar loathsome feeling emerged, fear. He resented that, his body automatically charged recklessly towards his half-brother whom was illuminating brighter than usual.

Lynx unleashed a surge of demonic energy, disintegrating Issac instantly, which scorched through the sky while cutting his fore view to a great length. “Gomen ne Nefuriya. Sayonara.” He whispered as he started to fade away with the light… until the moonshard concealed in his pouch started to glint brightly, along with the blades…

(OOC: ...*looks at post*... ah hell, can't really comment much about it.)

It had come to Drewera as a large surprise when Nefuriya had landed on the ship's deck, her limbs bleeding and expression locked in what seemed to be a mixture between pain and confusion. What's worse, the poor girl promptly crumpled into a heap when her feet touched ground and the wind magick that had supported her body was lifted.

Abandoning her task of rolling the bodies of their once opponents off the ship and into the sea, where they probably could serve a better purpose, the dwarf had half dragged the limp form of her best friend into their cabin where the elf proceeded to sleep for a further two days.

With her best friend sleeping like the dead in her cabin, Eiyora in the process of recovering from a fractured right arm, Arien and Seph suffering from strangely identical thigh injuries and several other of their team mates indisposed with the job of cleaning up the deck of their ship, Drewera had no choice, but to take on the task of returning the letter they had received from Neru's sister.

It was well after the messenger hawk had disappeared out of sight that her slumbering friend decided to wake up. Groggy eyes stared unfocusedly at the pile of crumpled scrolls until Drewera, who had had enough of her staring, plopped right in the middle of her view and half-demanded that she report her bodily status alongside the events that had led to her collapse. It was then that her friend's aqua blue eyes quite literally blanked out, and she slumped against the headboard, totally unresponsive to any frantic attempts the dwarf tried to wake her.

~*~

//Flashback//

"Issac...?" Hilfred paused, his eyes wandering from his opponent, as though he was searching for someone or something somehow. It seemed only seconds after that he called out again, his voice laced with panick, startling Nefuriya, who had only just recovered from her previous surprise. "Issac? Issac! Where are you?! Why aren't you replying?! Where are you, Issac?!!"

"What..." Nefuriya could only manage to say, before gusts of wind flew simultaneously in various directions, some managing to collide into her vulnerable form, while others missed entirely. All of which originated from one source. Hilfred.

The windcaster appeared much more frantic than before, throwing gusts after gusts in any and all directions as he flew towards the battleground Issac and Lynx had chosen. Just in time to catch sight of a familiar form disintegrating into diminutive particles, no larger than bits of ash.

The animalistic howl he had released then seemed much severe a blow, compared to the others that he had dealt, the emotions in it somehow creating a solid pang in her heart, causing droplets to blur her vision and fall from her eyes.

As she glanced back at her friend, a bloodied hand wiping her tears away carelessly, all traces of confusion, stricken grief, and devastation were absent from his face, replaced by a peculiar clarity. His eyes seemed to say 'I'm sorry' as he gazed back at her calmly, his form blurring as the wind surrounding him began to swirl around him, quicker and quicker, until he was no more than a silhouette in a singular tornado and with a dramatic flash, he was gone.

The flash quickly woke Nefuriya from the grief of a good friend's death and reminded of something else equally, or even more important.

Lynx. the monosyllabic word echoed in her head, and it soon became her turn to search for someone.

Totally coincidentally, a strange glow at the corner of her eye caught her attention, and by the time she had flown towards it and identified the figures in the middle, it was too late. With yet another dramatic flash, both human and dragon disappeared, appearing to blink out of existence.

And then, black.

//Flachback//

~*~

(One week later)

"Phew, finally, ground that doesn't shake when I stand on it." Aurora said in relief as she stepped on the tiled grounds of the harbour, several in their group nodding their head in agreement.

"Alright, now that we've finally reached Cesinar, shall we proceed to meet with the others?" Drewera, alongside a not-so-unconscious Nefuriya, said hopping from the wooden board to land on the solid ground. More nods of agreement came, and they slowly staggered and swaggered their way towards the capital, Cesia.

[OOC: So very sorry that this post seems more concentrated on Nefuriya. Anyways, I'm trying a slightly different style of writing, and not very succeeding it, so if its strange, you have my apologies.]

Shizu and her younger brother were waiting at the halls when Luean led the exhausted party in, their faces carrying a similar weariness though they had not stepped foot out of the palace for two full weeks ever since they received the dark news from the seekers with Neru.

The elder royal's face fell ever so slightly as she thought of her still unconscious sister, but she quickly recovered. It would not do to be tardy before guests, especially such important ones.

As the party came to stand uncomfortably before them, Shizu spoke before one whispered about court formalities to the others, "Welcome to Cesia, everyone. I am Shizu Liren Cesoireao, Neru's elder sister."

"And I am Yue Seun Cesoireao, the current king of Cesopia." The serious looking young teen said politely with a small tired smile.. "Thank you all for coming, friends of my sister. Please, treat this place as your own home. Uncle Luean, will you take them to their rooms?"

Murmurs of thanks came from various members of the group as the majority followed the steward, leaving two of the females behind. Shizu quickly identified them as Nefuriya Kuryutie and her dwarven friend, Drewera Brikerio, and asked, "Wouldn't you like to rest first?"

Nefuriya shook her head, "This is more urgent. One of our companions is seperated from us, and we have no idea if he is... he is..."

"Dead or alive." Seeing that her friend could not go on, Drewera continued for her. "Lynx Nexus is his name, and he's a Sigel worshipper. He went missing after entering into a battle with his brother. Can you help us find him or any news of him?"

Yue clasped his hands together in front of him solemnly, "I promise you that we will have our people keep an eye out of him as well, but we cannot guarantee anything."

The dwarf nodded. "That's good enough for us. Please excuse us then, your Majesty and your Highness."

"Please, dispense with the formalities. It is cumbersome." Yue smiled. "Uncle Luean is busy, so perhaps my sister will want to lead you to your rooms? It would be a good chance to exchange brief details of the past happenings."

Shizu smiled at the suggestion. Yue was going to be a good king alright. "Indeed. I have nothing urgent and important to attend to at the moment anyway. Now, follow me if you please. Lady Kuryutie looks like she will collapse at any moment right now."

With that, they left the hall and took the corridor leading towards the guest wing. Drewera gave the princess a brief summary of the recent happenings and details of their part of the journey.

She was just about done when they reached the rooms selected for them, and before Shizu left, the princess left a very troubling message. "The other questors should be told by now, that there will be a meeting tomorrow. This may be too soon, since Trielani and Neru were still unconscious, but we have no choice.

"As we are speaking, the gods are in turmoil. The Sun God appeared before us yesterday, telling us that they sensed that Ignifer and Morwen had gotten two of the moonshards while Mirgalen was holding onto the missing last shard since the beginning. Sireaus and Tonitrus went to confront the Fire God, while Eithelwen and Favonius went in search for the other two missing gods.

Sigel urged all of the Moonseekers to not hand over any of the shards to any of the gods at this point of time. The three shards have already upsetted the balance immensely, and it was all Sigel could do to stop Domiria from being torn apart. And when you are all gathered together, you are to leave for Tyrone as soon as possible. There will be an eclipse two weeks later, and it would be the best time to restore the Moon Goddess, if they manage to get all the shards together."

[OOC: Yup, this is quite the bomb but this is not the nuke yet. The end is in sight. ^^ I'll push for it to happen, so do cooperate neh?]

---Flashback---(Rper/N: Don’t you just love them?)
Countless array of dusk-red clouds drifted past Lynx as his body lay on the smooth ground, which initiated a question, “… am I in heaven or hell?”

“Both.” Came the replies simultaneously, as though the conjoined tune of Iori and Cencus.

“Lady Luminelle’s powers spared you from destruction.” The voices answered again.

“Iori… Cencus… cut that out… the way you both speak together sounds as though you both are on hea-… wait… who are you?” the Sigel worshipper’s words halted to another question as he browsed at a silver-grey dragon.

Ingeniously, he gasped, “… oh my god… you can’t be… Cencus was female????” Being obliviously irritated, the dragon flung its enormous tail to the ground inches away from him, causing an unhappy tremor.

“Ugh you bastard! I nearly died there!”

“Ahem, we are the sky dragon, Azura, of the Kaiser clan. We were one and now reunited by you sire.” The dragon replied to the fore-mentioned question.

“And no, Cencus was male.”

Lynx was about to utter out another offensive phrase, but his shout earlier drained all his fatigue. His body was numbed with pain; it took a while till his sense of touch finally detected two items within his grasp. On his right, a blade as white as snow whereas the pommel was as dark as the abyss. On his left lies the moonshard he retrieved from the volcano months back. As his vision slurred into unconsciousness, he mouthed, “Thank you, Luminelle-sama.” In a brief moment of phase, he was awakened again. This time however, he was standing on a patch of a floating land, his body healthy and naked. A familiar figure descended from above him to satisfy his curiosity.

“Your physical body is resting now sire, we are communicating with you in your dream, in order to enlighten your mind to absorb more important matters.”

“Alright, I’m fine with that, but why in Sigel’s sake am I naked?!?” he panicked, covering the ‘priority’ areas.

“Pft, there’s nothing much to see anyway. You aren’t a woman.” Having said that, Lynx was in his usual attire instantly.

“… tell me one reason why I have the terrible, crappy, unscrupulous and horrendous feeling that Iori’s personality over-rules?”

“Smart.” Grinned the sky dragon, which added on further, “You were the successor, thus, Iori’s personality taken majority of us.”

“… #####.”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind… just quickly summarize what I need to know.”

“Right to the point, good. Lord Sigel notified us that we should travel to the temple of Tyrone to meet up the rest of the Moonseeker group as soon as possible, but that is already settled as we speak, you are now currently riding on our physical body towards the destination.”

“Now to the next important bit. Sire, whisper out, Dragnoir Suite to bind us to your body. We will be your armor and this will grant you access to our strength and spells. However, once we are unsummoned during that particular point, you will not be able to call out to us again for a month. As for the blade…”

---end flashback----(Rper/N:Finally!)

He sat by the stone steps of the Sun Temple. His wounds were not fully mended as his clothes were. A month it has been, without any contact with her. His emerald eyes stride across his fore view, to a rather nostalgic district where their first encountered occurred. It was rather silly then, revenge was his top priority but gradually, as time slide past by, from the period when he officially entered the group, it slowly shifted to the particular individual, Nefuriya. He missed the elf so much that his emotions were far too void to express it. All he could only do was glum over the steps, hugging to his knee, allowing the other leg to dangle over the edge and wait patiently as he knew she would do the same for him if the roles were swapped.

(OOC: Busy, yay. Come to think of it, I'm placed at a position in the plot where I can't write much. Quality of post=sucky. Hmmmm anyone fancy bedroom scene? =P *gets pawned/supported by a particular girl*)

"Yue! Uncle Luean said her condition has changed! What is happe-"

"Shi...zu...?"

The soft, almost inaudible sound coming from the being sitting on the bed stilled all of the elder princess's motions, and left her standing at the door with widened eyes and opened mouth.

It took some time for Shizu to fly to the bed, tears sliding down her cheeks as she embraced her younger sister carefully. "Neru! You're awake... I thought you never will..."

The sobbing went on for a while before Yue stepped closer to the bed with a smile on his face, "Shizu, if you keep this up, Neru is going to faint for lack of air."

Upon hearing that, the eldest royal removed herself quickly and wiped away her tears, a faint look of embarressment on her face. "Sorry, I was too excited and wasn't thinking straight. How are you feeling, Neru?"

"Tired, but I'm alright... My left hand hurts, but everything else feels fine..."

"Well, the healers did say that your hand suffered the worst of the injuries," Yue supplied. "You had all of us worried when you couldn't wake up for no reasons. Lady Trielani even offered to take a look at you, even though she had only just woke up yesterday."

"Is Trielani alright?" The water mage looked up at her brother frantically. "I remember that she went down before I did... and Trysta! How is she? Is she alright as well?"

"Lady Trielani is much better now. Lady Trysta..." At the mention of the fallen quest member, Yue shook his head with a sad expression that was also present on the faces of the others in the room.

"Trysta was killed during the attack... and the shard that she carries was taken by fire worshippers." The door opened, and Coran walked in, followed by Drewera. "We were too slow and injured to stop it."

"Oh... no..." Neru buried her face into her palms. "So it wasn't a dream..."

"Neru?"

"... While I slept... I heard Lady Eithelwen's voice... and I saw a lot of things... Trysta's being killed... Lynx using a forbidden spell... Lord Mirgalen and Lady Morwen disappearing in darkness... I thought it was just a dream..."

"Lynx used a forbidden spell?" Drewera's voice held just a hint of awe accompanied with shock. "I don't know about that, but the rest seemed to all be true or could be. Lord Mirgalen and Lady Morwen had went missing afterall."

Neru absorbed the news slowly and then nodded with a more business-like expression, though grief was still apparent in her eyes. "I see. A lot of things have happened while I have been asleep, haven't they?"

"Yes," Shizu patted her hand. "But we'll tell you about it later. You need to get the proper nourishment now, and I believe Yue requested for Mister Coran and Lady Drewera for a reason apart from checking on you."

The young Cesopian king nodded solemnly, "Yes, I did. I received news earlier that Lynx Nexus is currently in Tyrone, under the care of the Great Solar Shrine."

[OOC: We are very near the end now that everyone is accounted for. The next few post will take us to Tyrone, and we'll be moving towards the final scene.]

[OOC: Yes, finally a post in here again o_o]

The roads in Tyrone scarcely felt more familiar than when she had tottered on them for the first time, and the crowds were, as usual, distant to their entourage, almost as though they had never appeared in their visionary fields.

Drewera yawned lightly against the back of her hand as she alighted from her mare, turning her head only when a slender figure quite literally fell from the sky, stopping only when she was a mere feet from ground. Again, such a feat, which probably would have left the citizens of Zigla in awe, simply became another matter of little to practically zero interest to the Tyronians.

"Relax yourself, Riya." she patted her best friend's silvery mane as the wind caster hastily floated to the frontier even as her floating form wobbled gently against the billowing wind. "Be patient, you'll be able see him even if you don't rush. But we may not see our belongings if we were to leave them behind now."

A soft sigh emitted from the elf's delicate lips, but she nodded her consent anyway, gesturing for the dwarf to hurry on with her intended work. Seconds passed by quickly as they took stock of their luggage. To Drewera and Arien at least, as they hurried on with the bags saddled to each of their horses. To Nefuriya however, they weighed perhaps a tad bit longer than an hour, pushing her further from her love.

Finally the duo proclaimed all their items in good condition and location, and the entourage proceeded down the bustling streets towards the shrine, all of whom yet to recover from the weariness their long journey from Cesia to Tyrone. That had included an arduous trip by sea to Domiria, soon to be followed by more land travels with meagre breaks interspersed in between towards Great Solar Shrine, which led them to, well here.

Not that they had been torturing themselves intentionally, but one look at the earnest and hopeful face belonging to one female wind caster whenever they stopped for a break, and they were soon on the road again, heading towards the Shrine with what little amount of energy they had left.

With slow raggedy steps, they clambered up the stairs leading to the shrine, stopping only when the floating figure at their lead did, her jaw almost hitting solid ground as she stared at the crimson haired youth merely a few feet from herself.

"Lynx...?"

~*~

Finally, after much snuggling and tearing from the recently reunited couple, the moonseekers gathered in the meeting room within the Solar Temple. They settled themselves, expectantly in wait for Sigel's arrival, which took no longer than it had previously.

The same bright ray of light shone from the center of the ceiling down the room, however with less blinding magnificence, and the Sun God appeared in its midst, more gaunt, and slight weariness seeping through his appearance.

[OOC: Again, very sorry that I took so long to edit this teeny part in =.=]

Sigel stood in mid-air at the centre of the room and surveyed the seekers. How long had he waited for that moment? How long had he waited for the shards to be gathered so that his dear friend could have a chance to return back to life? He rubbed tiredly at his blue eyes. Too long. It felt like an eternity, even though it had not even taken a full year.

"My dear Moonseekers," He began, his voice clear even though he did not raise it, "Once more, we have met under this roof. Fourteen were here the last time, and not all have returned. And I see new faces here with us, who have joined during the quest itself. But I'm glad, to see all of you here, marking the end of the quest."

"But Lord Sigel, the moon shards..." Trielani spoke up, her face downcast. She had grown stronger while being in close proximity of the moon shards, and had recovered much to her normal state.

"I know, my child." Sigel let out a weary sigh, one that none would have expected from a God. "They have been taken from you or placed out of your reach. But you have done your very best, have you not? So rest assured, the quest has ended, and your wishes will be granted. Now, le-"

To the surprise of everyone, he suddenly stared up at the ceiling with a look of distraction and then, surprise lit his face. A smile crossed his features and for the first time, he resembled the Sun God that had first appeared to the Moonseekers more. "We have guests, everyone. All the Gods have arrived."

Right on cue, the room was abruptly illuminated by six bright and one shadowy divine presence. The light grew so intense that, with a strange sense of deja vu, the seekers closed their eyes so as not to be blinded. When they opened them, they saw the seven other Gods that watched over the land and people of Domiria, floating around Sigel in a circle.

Gasps went around, followed by disbelieving murmurs, when the enormity of what just happened sank in. For the entire known history, there have never been an event where all of Domiria's Gods appeared before any one person, much less say a group of people. However, with what happened to Luminelle, it seemed not as impossible as before.

"Sigel, have you told them what happened yet?" Sireaus, the Star God, who stood by the Sun God's side, asked quietly. "What about the shards of Luminelle? Are they all here?"

"The moon shards are all here now. The one stolen by Morwen's worshipper from a palace in South Condarca, and the one snatched from the questors by Ignifer's, and lastly, the one that Mirgalen hid from us since the beginning." Sigel lifted his gaze from his best friend and looked towards the fidgetting Ignifer who was being glared at by Tonitrus and Favonius. Eithelwen however, was keeping a cool eye on Morwen and Mirgalen. "And no, I have not had the chance to tell them anything before you came."

Sireaus smiled gently down at the Moonseekers, "My apologies then. We were in a little of a hurry to get here. The eclipse has been moved forward due to certain circumstances, and it will happen in not long from now."

"Can we please get to it soon?" Tonitrus rolled his eyes and sent a particularly vicious glare towards the Fire God. "I don't wish to look at his face any longer than I have to."

"Calm down, Toni." Favonius placed a hand on the Thunder God's shoulder, seemingly pacified by the guilty expression on Ignifer's face. "We will deal with him later. Resurrecting Luminelle is more importan-"

"Do you really want her resurrected?" Mirgalen, who had been silent all the while suddenly interrupted the Wind Goddess. "Did you not wish to find and keep a shard of her essence yourself?"

"I did no-"

"Stop it." Morwen said softly from her corner, easily capturing the attention of the other Gods and people in the room despite the volume and unusually emotional tone of her words. "Don't do this, Mirgalen."

"Why do you say that, Morwen?" Eithelwen asked, her voice calm but with a definitely questioning edge. "Aren't you the one who would benefit more if Luminelle is not resurrected? You have always felt inferior to her and her existence makes it difficult for you to approach Sigel, is it not?"

Sigel's eyes widened. "Eithelwen!"

The Shadow Goddess was quiet for a few moments, before she looked directly at the God of the golden orb. "What she says is true. But tell me, do you want Luminelle to come back? Even if that may not be my twin sister that you have always known? Do you want her back despite anything?"

A troubled expression came upon Sigel's features, especially with what he had been so recently informed. But at long last, he answered, with a determined tone. "Yes. I want her back, even if she will no longer be the person that she was. The people of Domiria needs her too badly for there to be another way."

Morwen took one long look at him before she sighed. "So be it."

With that, she floated down to be face to face with the pale Trielani, her hand moving out to touch the cheek of the moon priestess. "I can tell that you have given thought to the question I have asked you during your long sleep, and I shall now ask for your decision. Trielani Do'seko... will you consent to sacrificing yourself to become the vessel for the recreation of your Goddess?"

All around, even from the Gods, came loud startled gasps. There were immediate objections, and outraged cries of unfairness, but Morwen and Trielani were unaffected as they continued to look at each other in silence.

Then, Trielani said quietly. "My wish is for Sister Sabalsek to be cured. That's all that matters. She don't have to know what I have done or am going to do for her."

"I will see that it is done." The expected reply came, except that it was from Sigel instead of Morwen, speaking in a solemn and sorrowful tone. "All of Domiria will be grateful to you for this, Trielani Do'seko, priestess of the moon."

"You have some time to say your farewells to your friends." After saying that, Morwen floated up with an uncharacteristically sadness on her face, and went to speak softly with Mirgalen.

"Trielani..." Neru came up to her, a stricken look on her face. The moon priestess gave her a weak smile, and the worshipper of Eithelwen broke down and cried as Trielani wrapped her arms around the princess even as the rest came to gather around them. "Why must you... It shouldn't..."

Gently, Coran drew the weeping Neru away to give the rest a chance to do the same. Beside them, Nefuriya was openly sobbing against Lynx's chest while Seph was comforting Arien who was doing much the same. One by one, they shared words, hugs and more tears with Trielani, each saying their farewell to the gentle elf that grew on them like an older sister.

"Come, Trielani." Sigel descended from the glowing circle where the Gods were going over the finer details of what was to happen when he saw that they were done. Trielani bid everyone a final goodbye and looked around to see the world for the last time, before she turned to Sigel, her eyes ready and determined.

With a sad smile and a wave of his hand, she fell unconscious and floated towards the centre of the room where the Sun God waited. They were quickly joined by the other Gods as they too, came down to stand among the questors, and handed the three moon shards over to the remaining seekers.

Morwen stepped to the centre, holding a glowing container in her hands that was similar to those that contained the moon shards, and came to stand opposite of Sigel to the other side of Trielani. After waiting for everyone else to shift into a circle surrounding the three of them, she ran her eyes over the unconscious priestess's form, and sighed quietly.

"For good or for bad, let's begin."

As soon as the words left her, darkness surged around her. Her voice resonated around the room with an airy quality even though her lips were pursed together with concentration. Even though the Moonseekers could not see it for themselves, the sky outside the Solar Temple was rapidly darkening as the sun was being covered by an orb of darkness.

Inside the large meeting room, the seekers were alarmed when the Sun God's glow faded visibly, a sure sign that he was weakening while the Shadow Goddess was growing in power, judging by the pulsing aura around her. The Gods however, were not affected and they watched the two Gods carefully.

When the timing seemed right, Sireaus spoke up, "Those of you who have a piece of Luminelle's core, please hold them in front of yourselves."

The questors did as told, and the glass containers containing the shards all clicked open at the same time, releasing the pieces of Luminelle's core. The moon shards began glowing as they floated towards the centre and above Trielani's body, and they shone brightly as they came together. With an ethereal song that seemed to be sang by a Goddess herself and a blinding brightness, the shards merged into a single spherical crystal that began showering the room with gentle rays of light.

A single tear slided down Morwen's cheek from her dark eyes before she closed them, and her slim fingers released the catch that held the container in her hands closed. The brilliance within it moved slowly towards the core of the Moon Goddess, as though caught by a magnetic attraction, and when the two touched, the song that could still be heard abruptly soared into a crescendo and the room became as well-illuminated as the Sun God's own palace.

'Trielani, my dear child, I'm so sorry for doing this to you...'

Sigel gasped as he heard the almost inaudible voice. "Luminelle!"

"Sigel, what are you doing? Put the core into the body!" Ignifer yelled when he saw the Sun God's sudden distraction. "The eclipse is ending soon!"

Pushing his brows together into a frown, Sigel gritted his teeth and reached out towards the blazing orb with both hands and forced it down towards Trielani's floating form. At the same time, the rest of the Gods closed their eyes and their aura flared as they concentrated their powers together with the Sigel's and Morwen's.

The seekers could no longer see as the brightness of the room promised to render any opened eyes blind within moments, but they could hear the unearthly melody that could only be identified as Luminelle's song was now joined by eight other celestial voices singing with perfect timing and coorperation. Their skin tingled violently from the mixture of air pressure and spiritual presence, and they began hyperventilating as the air thinned and became hard to breath.

But before any of them could collapse, the sensations gradually came to an end as the song became softer than a whisper. As if to compensate for the discomfit caused, each breath taken was rejuvenating and had a faint scent of the night. It was not long before the questors started to open their eyes.

Trielani was no longer there, but in her place stood an elegant lady with uncanny resemblance to the Shadow Goddess beside her. However, instead of having hair and eyes that were darker than night, she had long silver hair similar to the Star God's, and golden eyes that gleamed prettily from the soft glow coming from herself. The other thing that differentiated her from her darker twin, was the grief-stricken expression on her face.

Tears rolled from her eyes as she glanced at the other Gods and settled her bitter gaze on her twin, "Why did you resurrect me? You know what I wished, I have made that very clear. You should have let me stay dead!"

"Lumi..." Mirgalen came forward and wrapped trembling hands around the Moon Goddess, whispering apologetically and not without a hint of agitation. "I'm so sorry..."

Morwen interjected before Luminelle could say anything to the upset Earth God. "Blame me, Lumi. I made the decision, and he has no choice but to follow."

"What are you talking about? Is Morwen not the one who attacked Luminelle?" The Water Goddess asked with much suspicion. "She and Mirgalen conspired together and escaped to the Shadow Abyss when they got hold of two of the moon shards!"

"Morwen did not attack Lumi." Mirgalen turned and confronted the other Gods. "I did."

"What?!"

The rest of the Gods were apparently shocked by the announcement, and the Moonseekers were no better, especially the worshippers of the Earth God. Favonius was the first to react to it, but even then, her tone was disbelieving. "But why...? We thought you love her... no, we know that you love her... why?!"

"Because I told him to." Luminelle answered instead, and ignored the uproar that she caused as she continued, "And he did it because he loves me, even though I don't deserve it at all. And Morwen did not escape to the Shadow Abyss. She and Galen went there to minimise the impact of having the shards of my core in a god's close proximity."

"But Morwen-"

"Did nothing that you are going to accuse her of!" Luminelle snapped at Ignifer before he could even say another word. "You were the one who caused your own worshipper to die because of your own greed! All of you and even her own worshippers were always misunderstanding her just because of her element and her reign over Shadow Abyss!"

To say that the Gods were stunned by the Moon Goddess's outburst was an understatement. Even Sigel looked appropriately upset and guilty, and more than a little troubled. The only Gods unaffected were Morwen, whose face had regained its usual lack of emotions, and Mirgalen, who could only looked at Luminelle with a pained expression.

But Luminelle was continuing in what sounded like a rant of things long suppressed, "I know that she acted like nothing affected her, but the bond I share with her spoke differently. And yet, despite being twins, I cannot get close enough to comfort her without either of us being hurt by each other's element. Even now. Such unfairness... and yet you would not give her a rest, would you? If anything went wrong with her being involved even only in the slightest way, she was always suspected first, was she not?

"So I thought I should prove that she is not evil being that all of you thought her to be." And she smiled, a serene little thing that felt distinctly out of place with what she had just said. "And so that she will finally have a chance to be with Sigel whom she loves, without me in the way."

Sigel shook his head, his blue eyes downcast. "Luminelle... But did not you realise the impact on the land... and the people? How could you do such a thing? How could you..."

Then, a streak of genuine regret and pain broke Luminelle's peaceful expression, and she mumbled in a heartbroken way, "I knew... it was a risk I was willing to take, for I trust Morwen, Galen and you to make it better. I intended for the three of you to make use of my core and make things better... I didn't expect to be resurrected... No, I didn't at all... Why did you? Why did you..."

Mirgalen gathered her within his powerful arms and let the miserable goddess wail in despair, mourning the deaths and pain that her decision had caused. As quiet as he had always been, he glanced at Sigel and nodded politely before the two of them shimmered and vanished from the room, leaving a group of grave and solemn Gods and mortals who had received a way too detailed explanation than they could digest.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence that covered the room, Morwen breathed a regretful sigh as she glanced at Sigel's despondent form. "I don't blame any of you. It was my destiny afterall. Lumi never understood that. She was just too kind and caring. Please... don't fault her for this. I am sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Startled by the emotions in her voice, Sigel instinctively took one step forward and was about to hug the Shadow Goddess when she shook her head and disappeared with a sad smile. And Sigel was left staring at where she stood, a strange expression on his face.

Sireaus stepped forward to stand by the Sun God, and addressed everyone in a soft subdued voice. "This is truly beyond what we expected, but it seems that this is the truth. I suspect that all of us will probably need time to absorb what had happened on our own. But rest assured, now that Luminelle has returned to us, the balance on Domiria will be restored.

"Now, Moonseekers, your task has been accomplished and it is time we speak of your rewards, as we have promised." There was benign smile on the Star God's face as he continued. "When you want to make the wish, think about it, and pray to your respective God. As long as we can do it, we will see to it that your wishes come true."

Seeing the subdued nods of the questors, Sireaus began to glow together with the other Gods. Just as they were about the last of their presence were about to vanish totally, Sigel's voice could be heard.

"Remember today, and care for your loved one. Use your wishes wisely and may our blessings reach you even after your death."

With that, they left.

---

Months later, sitting by the window of her room in the Cesia Palace, Neru watched the full moon with a pensive expression. The door opened, and Coran grumbed about busy schedule and making time to attend the double wedding for Lynx and Nefuriya, and Seph and Arien, while he tugged at the uniform required of the Head of the Palace Guards that he was wearing. Realising that his fiancee was not responding, he approached the quiet princess and inquired worriedly.

Neru turned and smiled at him, pressing a quick kiss on his lips before she leaned against him. "I was just wondering how Lady Luminelle is doing, as the moon looks splendid tonight."

"I'm sure she is doing well. Lord Mirgalen is with her, isn't he?"

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Neru looked out the window at the bright orb in the sky again, and smiled.