The party of five and a half headed south for Inzel. The trip took a few relatively uneventful days. Jinyu and Joan discussed living arrangements for their arrival, Tara practiced her skills with her spear as they walked, and Elli kept herself amused with a frying pan of all things. They made small talk occasionally and a "PLANG" could be heard as Elli dropped the frying pan, though occasionally this was followed by tears as she would somehow manage to hit herself with it.

This went on for about 4 days with the only disturbance happening on the 3rd day. Another mysterious creature appeared, far away from where they were expected, and seemed to have its eyes on Elli. They were all walking when a  swing and smack of the frying pan was heard. Elli turned to the ground and looked at the would-be predator. "Take that!" she shouted as she stomped and pointed the pan at the creature. It made some grunts and groans and scurried away. Toan ran to her side to see if she was ok. Romel, Solaris and Tara all snickered and laughed.

"Just make sure she has one of those all the time; the little lady seems to be able to take care of herself," Romel said with a chuckle.

Elli looked at them all, grinning from ear to ear over her victory. "Nothing is snatching me like that again!" she said with a sassy tone.

"Glad you have things well in hand, but just in case, I'll stick back here," said Solaris. He moved to the end of the group with his hand ready on his weapon.

They camped that night not to far from town. Toan, Elli, and Solaris took a walk while gathering firewood and they stumbled across a river with a small waterfall. Elli took off for it, and Toan ran after her hardly able to keep up. They stopped at the water's edge and Elli asked Toan, "Daddy, can rainbows happen at night?"

Toan looked down at her, smiled, and shook his head. "No honey, I don't think they can"
"Oh", Elli said, looking slightly disappointed.

Solaris called Toan, "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they don't exist," he said with glowing eyes while taunting and pointing up.

Toan looked up, completely bewildered by the unusual occurrence.

Elli stared up in awe and ran around cheering, "NIGHT RAINBOWS! NIGHT RAINBOWS!" She turned to her father and stuck her tongue out at him. "They ARE real!"

They gathered wood and water and headed back for camp. Elli took one last look up at the night sky, and the rainbow, just as it faded with the glow of Solaris's eyes.  Elli frowned at the disappearance but skipped back to camp with a smile at seeing such a thing.

They arrived back at camp and she asked, "Mr. Romel, do you believe in night rainbows?"

"Night rainbows? Can't say I do, I've never seen one."

Ellie reached for the frying pan as Solaris tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.

"Oh,  what I meant to say was, yes I do, I've heard of them. They are pretty amazing from what I've been told."

"Oh" Elli smiled again and dropped the pan. Romel breathed a sigh of relief. They headed to town that morning and bid each other farewell. Tara went about her way, as did the elven family.  

When Romel and Solaris were in the clear of everyone else, Romel asked, "Night rainbows? Really?"

"hey, they are rare, not impossible, I just helped a bit this time" Solaris replied. "we went through quite a bit to save her, especially you. I doubt you would have a complaint about her smiling."

"Damn, I'm not even gonna try to argue with that," he said looking at some of the scars and bruises left over from the battle. "So, where to next anyways?"

"Not sure, getting teleported was nowhere near anything I expected," replied Solaris.
"About that….." Romel turned to Solaris, "WHAT THE HELL. Just when I think you make some sense, you do or no something else that throws me for a loop. Teleportatio, c'mon?!". He walked around in circles quite confused and apparently agitated. "How do you know what you know...and don't know some of the most common things? I don't understand."

"Neither do I. These things just…come to me I guess. I can't explain any of it. It's almost like I lived a past life or something."

Romel gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry, didn't mean to be so harsh."

"Don't worry about it, it's ok." He replied.

"One more question though. I thought elves didn't do churches, so what's up with that church in the Elven capital? Don't they worship the Mother Tree or something like that?"

Solaris scratched his head in though, his eyes grew wide, seemingly realizing something important. "You are most certainly right, that church, and that museum attendant seem suspicious."

"Yeah, especially the way everyone seems to keep staring at you."

"they apparently can sense something, which I assume you can't detect, or don't care about."

Romel looked down the road as Ellie, Toan, and Jinyu faded into the crowd. "As far as I know, most magic was lost over the years, or at least isn't used nearly as much. Maybe they can use magic and could pick up on something I can't".

"Such are the abilities of more spiritual beings, and those who wield magical powers. In any case, at least one of those individuals we met seems to want me dead. We need to find him, and find out why."

"Back to the Elven capital then?", asked Romel.

"Yes, after we resupply on provision and a couple of anti-magic items."

"And what might those be, and what for?" Asked Romel.

"We'll have to find that old elf from the museum, and I'm willing to bet he'll use magic again. I have no intention of being teleported, or hit with any kind of offensive spells."

"Good idea, but, how do you fight something like that. He can warp us anywhere he wants"

"Let me worry about that, I at least have some magical resistance, at least I think I do. I can't seem to remember. You on the other hand…"

"Yeah? I what…?" Romel raised an eyebrow.

"Have next to no magical resistance I'm sure. The fact that u couldn't finish that sentence shows that."

"Pffft. Unlike you, I can't make nature grow from its previous decay. Sorry for being a mere mortal."

Solaris pointed to a shop down the road. An old rickety labeled "Magical Charms" sat at the end of the road. "We'll be going there first."

They headed to the shop and picked up some jewels and charms….cheap ones.

"Any skyports nearby" Asked Solaris.

Romel looked at his map. "A town 3 days west of here has one. It looks like it'll be a week or 2 from her to the capital on foot."

"That'll do. First we go pay that "church" a visit, then that museum."

"Yeah, looks like there's a few people that don't like us, or at least you. Being a guide for you sure proves to be bothersome. Now, about those explanations that you owe me…"

Solaris finished filling his bag and headed towards the west exit of the city.
Romel glared at him "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"And I'm ignoring you. The whole Elven capital experience bugged me…I'll give you answers afterwards, again, if you survive."

"SOOOO NOT FAIR!" Romel shouted as he grabbed his belongings and followed. "Sometimes, you are a pain."

"Sometimes, you are squishy." Solaris replied, and they headed west. The town of Favon was waiting for them.

They arrived in Favon 3 days later without any incidents, restocked supplies and headed for the skydock. Despite the fact that Solaris had seen an airship before, his look was much the same as his first encounter, similar to a small child watching fireworks for the first time. They found the ship heading to the elven capital. The two stared up at the craft. It was a magnificent vessel, made of wood with ivory trim at its seems. The mast towered above the ship and held up emerald sails with the elven kingdom's seal on them.  The ship seemed to be the largest and most elegant of them all.

Romel and Solaris both stood in awe at the bottom of the gangplank. They were snapped out of their trance by a short elven man.

"She's a beaut isn't she?" he said looking up at them. "That's the Ivory's Wind, the largest and most beautiful ship in this yard. She's the pride of the Favon fleet, and also the flagship."

Solaris looked at him, slightly bewildered. "flagship?"

"Aye," the short elf nooded, "The main ship of the Favon fleet. This is the ship that the royal families use when they travel in this region as well. It's my job to keep it in tip-top shape. I must say I do a fairly good job. Oh, the name's Oddi; pleasure to meet you gents."

"Oddi?" Romel said with a light snicker. "I'd say it's an 'odd' name, but I'm sure you've heard that countless times."

"Yeah, thanks for sparing me the lame jokes. Anyways, if you're headin' to the elven capital, this would be the way to go, now if you'll excuse me, I have a ship to board, and you're kind of blocking the way."

Romel and Solaris turned and looked back at the small crowd that had gathered and were waiting to board. They quickly grabbed their belongings and ran up the walkway.
The ship took off on the two day journey back to the elven capital. Solaris and Romel enjoyed the view along with the other passengers.

"So, done stalking the mystery girl?" Romel asked Solaris that night. They stood at the stern of the ship, the deck was almost entirely empty, except for Oddi, who was roaming around inspecting the vessel. He turned and waved at them, then went about his business.

"Stalking?" Solaris replied.

"Yeah, the random girl you've been chasing. You know, the reason we ended up in the elven capital, and the reason we ran into each other in the first place?"

"I don't think of it as stalking. I'm just searching for answers. She seems to be the only stable thing I know of. I thought maybe I'd find some answers or something. The sooner I find her, the sooner I can go on living my life without simple stupid questions like 'what happened to the childhood that I don't remember' and other questions of the sort. I plan on finding her, asking some questions, and going away, simple as that."

"And you would go…"

Just then, the ship shook violently. Romel was knocked to his feet. Solaris was flipped over the side of the craft, he hung from a piece of board which stuck out from the side of the ship. Romel staggered to his feet and looked over the side. "I'll assume you can't survive a fall like that" he yelled down as he ran to grab a rope. He tossed it down to Solaris and struggled to pull him up.

"Damn, what do you eat? You aren't light, that's for sure." He said as he pulled him up the side of the ship.

Solaris grabbed onto the railing and proceeded with talking his usual shit. "I'm not heavy, you're just weak" he teased.

You know, if I'd have let go of that rope, you'd probably have died. Can I maybe get some thanks instead of the insults?"

Solaris was now standing firmly on the deck, holding onto the rail. A few onlookers came to mke sure everything was OK. "Thank you. You most certainly did save my life".
Romel seemed content with this. "Now, about what caused the boat to shake like that…"
Oddi came up from below, covered in soot and ashes. "We've lost an engine. We can keep going, but only at half speed".

Solaris looked over at Oddi. "Tip-top shape, eh?"

Oddi looked down and pressed his fingers together. "Must've overlooked something in the engine room".

Romel looked over the side. "We seem to be losing altitude, are we gonna be able to stay airborne?"

Oddi looked over the side as well, they were indeed dropping, slowly, but surely. "OH NO!" He ran inside another door. Moments later, a groaning noise could be heard.
"Now what?" asked Romel as he looked over the side of the ship, which now had wings….big ones. "What the…"

Before he could finish his sentence, all the sails were raised and filled with wind. The ships altitude leveled off and Oddi came back up. "That should manage until we get to the elven capital, though the Ivory's Wind will be out of commission for a while."
The ship hardly made it to port in the capital, and landed with a hard jolt. Everyone exited the ship quickly. They saw the damage once they reached the ground, a portion of the bottom near the bow was cracked and a hole could be seen into the engine room.

"I guess we got here in OK enough condition" Solaris said. "Now to find that 'church'".

"Do you have any idea what to do once we get there?"

"Not really, but pestering our old friend Yohan sounds like a good place to start."

"If you say so" Romel replied.

They headed for the old church and found Yohan. His greeting was less friendly this time around. He wasn't paying attention and greeted them. "Hello."

"Hi, long time no see." said Romel.

"Oh, you again" Yohan said in a rather annoyed tone.

"Not a very friendly atmosphere for a church now is it? So, about the church in the elven capital…don't elves worship the Mother Tree?

Yohan looked at them with a hint of surprise. "Most do, this place was meant for travelers actually, much like yourselves."

"Still not so welcoming, you turn away questions quite readily it seems" said Romel.

"There are some things not all are deemed worthy of knowing" replied Yohan, who was looking anxious.

"You are saying that we can't know of a legend then?" Solaris jumped in. "Seems slightly childish to me".

"Where's the elder priest, since you don't seem to be in a very inviting mood?" Romel asked.

"He's out, its just me today. Now I'm kinda glad he stayed home today." He began to shake violently, and his appearance changed. He looked just like the old museum caretaker. "This should be fun" he said in a creapy old voice. "You survived the blight, so maybe i ca play with you for a while".

"Ooooh…shit….this doenst look good" Romel said in a trembling voice.

"Fighting in a church isn't gonna look good whether we win or lose, if we live, we're getting out of here as fast as possible" Solaris said.

"Right." Romel said with a nod.

They drew their weapons as the frail looking old man showed his true form. A tall dark elf stood before them, glowing with an violet magical aura which lit up the entire room.

"And now I will show you how the cat got killed by his curiosity" He said with a sinister laugh as he raised his staff….

He fired a strange beam of some sort at Romel, who rolled out of the way and ducked behind a bench. He looked at the table behind him, or what was left of it. It had been reduced to charred pieces of wood, some still burning, and ashes.

"Eww" Romel cringed as he removed his shield from his back and put it on. Just as he finished this, the bench he was hiding behind was gone, sharing the same fate as the table. Solaris charged at the mage, who seemed to be quite occupied trying to barbeque Romel. He swung his sword at him. It was met with a dodge and a kick to the stomach. Solaris dropped to a knee and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the pointed base of the mage's staff.

Romel took this opportunity to copy Solaris's attack strategy. He charged and swung his sword as well. The dark mage evaded and hit him in the back with his staff. Romel fell to the ground in agony.

Solaris glared at the mage as he brought himself to his feet. "Looks like mages aren't as physically weak as I recall. I'd better end this quickly" he said as his eyes began to glow.

"It seems you have fought a mage before. I assure you, I am no ordinary mage" he said as he waved his staff to the forward, sending dark magic blades flying in Solaris's direction. Solaris dodged 3 with a sidestep, and blocked another 2 with his sword. The projectiles shattered upon impact with the sword, but the energy from the impact knocked Solaris back. He stumbled and was met with a blow by the staff to his stomach while his guard was open.

Romel, still lying on the floor, looked over and saw the mage standing just out of arm's reach, and distracted with handling Solaris. He grabbed his sword and rolled himself over, using the momentum to land a blow on the mage's left leg, "Gotcha, though now I'm probably about to eat shit."

A scream of pain was let loose as the mage fell to a knee "You insolent little…" He raised his staff above his head as if preparing for a large attack. Solaris staggered to his feet.

"Not so nimble now, are you?" He said taunting the mage as he charged. He was knocked back by a magic pulse from the staff, which also knocked Romel back a bit as he tried to get up.

"FOOLS!!! I'll destroy you all here and now!" He yelled as he continued to charge for the attack. His magical aura consumed the room, tinting everything purple except for the glow of Solaris's eyes.

"You failed before, and I'll see to it that you fail again." Solaris replied as he charged, this time anticipating the magic pulse. "Now I'll show you my power". He matched the purple aura with his own golden aura. The room was split nearly down the middle as Solaris advanced through the magic field towards the mage, who was hardly able to stand with his bloody leg.

"DIE!!!" screamed the mage in a chilling voice.

"YOU FIRST!!!" Solaris replied as the staff and sword met. The force of the impact shook the building, and the magical power of the two began to destroy the place. Romel barely managed to get to his feet. He was no longer being knocked back by the magic pulse as all the mage's power and attention was focused on Solaris. He staggered forward and mumbled to himself "hit me in the back…I'm gonna be sore for weeks cuz of this…asshole." He approached the mage from behind with his sword raised above the magician's neck, just as the power struggle taking place before him reached its peak. There was an explosion, which knocked Romel back, and knocked the sword from his hand.

The jewels he had for magic defense were disintegrated by the mystical force. He came to against a wall a moment later. Solaris was standing in front of him. He reached down, pulled Romel to his feet, and handed him his sword, the point of which was covered in blood.

"And now, we leave" Solaris said. "This place is coming down". They staggered towards the door and turned and took a look at the warlock lying on the floor who uttered his last words:

"You…wont stop the darkness. It shall….consume you…all. My power...is nothing…compared to…the…power of…"

His head turned to the side. He lay there dead on the church floor, in a pool of his own blood. Romel and Solaris made it to the door and got out just as the building collapsed behind them in a blazing pile of rubble.

A few guards spotted them walking out as they were putting away their weapons. "Stop, you are hereby under arrest!"

"Yup, I knew this wasn't going to look good either way" said Romel. "Good thing those guards are wearing heavy armor."

"Aye, it slows them down considerably" replied Solaris as they made a break into the crowds.

"We'd best get out of here before they bring in archer guards, or getting out of here won't be easy at all" Romel said when they were safely hidden in a small alley. "What happened after that explosion back there anyways? One second I'm sneaking up on the bad buy, and the next, you are pulling me up. What'd I miss?"

"I saw you back there, the explosion knocked you back, and you dropped the sword, which was being held above his neck. Call it luck or whatever, but you landed the death-strike on him. I'm glad you did, had you not, that ending could've been far worse. You did good kid."

"Oh," Romel said while looking at the bloody blade. He looked a bit upset.

"What's up?" Solaris asked.

"I'd…never killed anyone before. I've never wanted to either. Back there, in the church, I raised my sword to him, and if I hadn't been knocked out like that, I probably would've still killed him. Now I guess I'm feeling remorse. Even if it was an accident, I'd have killed him otherwise. I'm a murderer" he said with tears in his eyes.

"Look, that man was evil, he tried to kill us, more than once. You slew him in self-defense, and saved both of our lives. He probably would've killed more too. We stopped him, and you should be glad that he wont be hurting us, or anyone else anymore."

Romel looked at the blade. "I suppose you are, but even so. I'm not proud of the fact that I killed him."

"I haven't killed anyone either, that I remember at least. I don't want to either. However, the path we seem to be on, or me at least, will likely have some bloodshed along the way. I told you, trouble finds me. If you want to go, you can whenever you want. No one is forcing you to stay here."

Romel looked at the ground "Well, even if I decided to go now, we're both still stuck in this city with the authorities looking for us. I think we'd have a slightly easier time sticking together believe it or not. Also, I survived another fight, and probably saved your life….which makes for 2 times now. I want answers damnit."

"You're still on about that? Just be glad you survived, you will get your answers, maybe sooner than you think. What do you think about going back to the human kingdom?"
"I could go visit my family I guess. But we have to make it out of here first, and you're, kinda missing most of your shirt."

Solaris inspected his clothing, something that had been overlooked during the escape. "Not again! I guess these clothes were fire resistant, but not blast proof. You need new gear too."

Romel looked at his clothes, which were torn and filled with holes after the battle. His shield was cracked and misshapen as well. He replied "Fine, new clothes, less suspicious gear, and then we try to get out of here."

"Sure, now, how do we get out?", questioned Solaris.

"We get to the skydock, before word spreads across the city".

They went quickly to some local merchants and bought some new clothes. Romel sold off the shield, and they were at the skydock boarding a ship bound for Tristyne. The ship took off and they saw guards searching for them in the streets.

"Looks like we made it out ok" Solaris said watching the guards running to and fro in the streets.

"Speak for yourself, my back is killing me." He called it an early night and slept for the entire trip, Solaris took the time to get some rest as well. Their journey so far had taken quite a toll on them.