Note: The following tale was conceived as a side-story to the title Angelique: Tenkuu no Requiem and became the basis for the game Angelique: Maren no Rokukishi / Maren no Roku Kishi / Six Knights of Dark Love.
About naming: Leviath's blond staff officer was referred to in certain materials released around the time of Requiem as "Kiefar" but is named "Kiefer" in Maren. I've used the seemingly original spelling of "Kiefar" here, but if you want to do a find-and-replace, feel free.
"Elis" almost certainly refers to the mythical Eris, but "Elis" has been in use for so long in the English-speaking fandom that to heck with it.
The language of Ka-Fai's home planet is apparently based on Chinese but uses some sounds that don't exist in the actual language. I don't speak Chinese myself and apologize if I've missed any references in the transliterating the proper names.
Translation by R. Capowski, 5/25/13. I can be contacted through the usual channels.

Table of Contents

Book 4: A Dream Before the Dawn (2)
1. Sea of Life
1. A Crimson Hell
3. Eye of the Wolf
4. The Second Calamity
5. The Blue of the Straits
6. Kaliari
7. Machinations
8. Demon Mist
9. Confrontation
10. The Rightful Heir
Afterword: A Call from a Distant World

1
Sea of Life

Beyond the glass lay a sea of black.

If you strained your eyes, you could make out a blanket of gold and silver grains - the light of the stars beyond.

Or you would have, had not the glow of the lamps illuminating the dining hall not outshone them. Instead, there was merely a thick darkness. The faint orange lamps swung to and fro, back and forth incessantly as Gerhard spoke. The big man threw his arms wide like a bear in his grand, wild gestures.

~*~

...So at the time, my crew was busy hunting sea serpents.

What? You don't know about sea serpents!? I'll bet there're about 5, 600 of 'em sittin' coiled at the bottom of the sea between Metamoria 'n' Gaia right now!! Their bodies are thick like THIS, and just one of 'em could wind around this room twice! An' they got three heads!! They fix those six beady little red eyes on you, and any ordinary man'd be cryin' for his mama! It's left head goes for the enemy on its left; the right one goes for the enemy on its right; and the middle one strikes dead center! But if you're strong enough...

Huh? But what about the enemies in back?

Mmm, that's a good question, Renaud! When the middle head senses something back there, it can throw itself backwards like THIS an'...HEY!! What're you laughin' at, Eugene!? You think this is a joke?! ..."You're not laughin'," you LIAR!!

OK, back to the story.

So, that mornin', I had a fleet a hundred ships strong that was crossin' the ocean three at a time. 'Cause each ship could only fit one head, right?! We had to use horses for bait - throw 'em over the prow and just go real, reeeeeeal slooooooow......

--CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP!!

And then suddenly, three heads would jump up outta the water to take the bait! What, that scare ya? Well, me too, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

So then, the hunt was on. First, we'd lop off the tail - WHAP!! It's poisonous, you know. So whew, that's one worry down - but ya can't rest yet!! You gotta hold your scimitar level like this, and go *chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop* to cut up the trunk. The important thing is that you gotta do all this before the sea serpent realizes what's happenin'. So you have your shipmates on deck sing real loud while it's all goin' on - dance, beat a drum, all that. No flutes, though - the serpents'll wanna sing along, and that makes 'em drop their bait.

Anyhow, you gotta chop until the three heads are almost off and the thing can't get its breath. And it won't have its heart anymore, of course. After that, all you gotta do is chop off the heads, fit 'em up one to a boat, and ship 'em across the sea! Why just the heads? Well, the fangs go for a real lot - people like 'em for crafts. And as soon as we got a hit, I'd send out another three boats, and they'd find another one'd waitin' for bait! Sometimes, we'd even kill 'em before they even managed to swallow!

But we'd caught...ummmm, at least thirteen or fourteen that day when I decided to call it quits. Wanna know why? Because we found even bigger game!! A sturdy freighter, lotsa guards aboard. And where there's lotsa guards...that means there's somethin' worth guardin', get my drift?

So my men surrounded the vessel - but I didn't have 'em strike yet. Face to face, one on one - that's the man's way to fight!! So my own ship sidled up to the belly of the freighter - and I reeled in my catch to bring us eye to eye. And my first mate Roran, he said: "Captain Gerhard of the pirate band Leviathan, terror of Nog's nine seas, calls ya out! Is there no one aboard with the guts ta face 'im?! Or y'could all jes' surrender quietly, and we could feed ya to the waves! Ya could escape with your lives, if the sea serpents don't get ya!"

...But no one answered.

Well, you know me, I'm a patient man, so I waited. Maybe there were extenuatin' circumstances, you know. I figured that some big shots were havin' it out in that tiny li'l cabin, screamin' their lily-livered faces off over who to throw out there. So, like I said, we waited, but there was still no sign - no "WAIT!", no "HAVE MERCY!", nothin'. I was about to drift off, what with the hot day and the sun beatin' down above us - when suddenly, they made their move!!

And what the hell - in front of me was this puffed-up peacock, this little slip of a brat with flouncy brown hair that I couldn't tell from a woman! I mean, I learned afterward that he was two years older than me, but still.

You guessed it - they sent out Giovanni! No matter who you're facin', though, there's no place for mercy on the battlefield. So I hopped over to their deck, and our duel began!

Well, as you yourself know, Renaud, that guy's a force to be reckoned with, no matter what he looks like! I'd lunge forward, and he'd dance away; he'd attack, and I'd knock away the blow - and this continued for quite some time, our one-on-one. We were fightin', and in the spare moments, I was able to finish down a sandwich for lunch and a three-cheese pie snack with my other hand! Swear to God, we had time enough for that!

But finally, I got my sword 'round his rapier and sent it flyin' up into the sunset! I got 'im by wrists and pinned 'im to the mast with two swords against 'is neck. And when I did, he started blubberin' and said: "I hate to admit it, but you thrashed me fair 'n' square. I'll play by the rules of combat; from now on, I'll call you 'boss'..."

"--I never said that, I NEVER SAID THAT!!" The present Giovanni kicked the door down to the dining hall. I felt the air crackle with electricity as I turned to look at him. "If you're looking for an easy joke, Gerhard, you couldn't find any better than that one you call a face." He was smiling, but his voice wasn't in on the jest.

"You too, Eugene. If you can sit there and listen, you could at least try to bring this a little closer to the truth!!"

Eugene sat cross-legged in a nearby wooden chair, looking up at Giovanni and snickering. "And who am I to put a damper on this grand adventure? It's not as if I'm in a position to separate fact from fiction."

"WAH HA HA!!" Gerhard burst out laughing. Only Renaud's attention was unshaken. Seated next to me, he remained a rapt listener, his eyes wide open.

"We just wouldn't dream of imposing on you to ask for the truth..." Eugene's pale stare was empty, but his smirk grew ever wider.

Giovanni only raised an eyebrow in response. "Well, it's true that Gerhard and I had quite the scuffle the first time we met."

"Really?!"

"But I wasn't the one who surrendered; he was! While we were fighting, Cain took the opportunity to sneak over to his ship and take Maria hostage. And it worked splendidly, didn't it?!" If that were the truth, it wasn't really something of which to be as proud as Giovanni was.

But Gerhard wouldn't back down. He laughed and said: "Ahhh. Well, I'm prepared to lay down my life for my crew. But Boss cut the rope back to my ship and asked us to join him - me, my sister, our crew, everyone! He'd take care of us all, he said - and he didn't lie. My battlefield wouldn't be the bounding main anymore, though - I'd be a land lubber; but I got no regrets! Leviathan's unsinkable!! OI!" On a strange high, Gerhard started in on another of his tall tales.

Being on board a ship of sorts probably brought back memories for him. Even Giovanni settled down and started laughing at his jokes, adding his own reminisces and interjections.

I turned once again away from everyone to look at the world of black outside - the sea of stars I was traversing for the first time. After the war in Shiva ended, we crossed over to Giovanni's homeland of Eurinia to obtain a ship and left our mother planet of Nog. We were currently on a voyage to another star system - to the planet of Fei Lei. The massive ship of wood and steel that carried us, our troops, our weapons, and our supplies slipped silently through space, as if it weighed nothing at all.

Its power source was a single sample of magestone stored in the hold. Magestone is a ore found on rare occasion in volcanic regions. It was light and milky white and, by itself, held no special power. But a master of magecraft could seal his own power within the stone, so that anyone - even someone with no talent in the craft at all - could access it and use magecraft themselves, making it an extremely precious resource. The larger the stone, the stronger its power, and to move a ship of this size would take a very large stone indeed. The sample I saw in the engine room was about the size of an infant's head.

For Gerhard, Eugene, and most of the troops - and for Renaud and me, certainly - this was the first time we had left the planet on which we were born. On liftoff, there were screams of terror - some people fainted. We'd been traveling for a while by now, though, so most of us had settled down.

Lord Leviath, Cain, and Kiefar were utterly composed - they were used to all this by now. I wondered how many star systems they'd visited - how far they'd traveled. I couldn't even begin to fathom it. Giovanni, who seemed to have come from wealth, was already an experienced interstellar traveler; he was very busy during the voyage, showing people around the ship, dashing to and fro to tend to the little problems that popped up during our journey.

The other Knight Captains soon became inured to the once-in-a-lifetime novelty of the voyage and began playing cards and drinking in their rooms and in the dining hall to kill time. I myself stared out into space every chance I got. The utter emptiness of the void - bereft of everything, even the smallest speck of life - held a strange power over me. Even though my body was born of my mother, my soul, so to speak, was perhaps the product of a place like this.

And if that were true, then wouldn't my soul return here after death? ...With all my heart, I hoped so. Eternal existence in the bonds of life would be a source of nothing but endless terror and pain. When my body finally rotted away, I could sleep in peace. If God did exist, that would be the only favor I would ask of him.

~*~

Behind me, Giovanni rose and said that he was going back to his room to get some shut-eye. "After all, in half a day's time, we should be at our destination!" As if on cue, the scenery out the window twisted with a vrrr. We must have put on speed for the homestretch. A cold wind suddenly crossed my sheek, and involuntarily a shiver went down my spine.

2
A Crimson Hell

The planet of Fei Lei was huge, of a size to rival Nog. It held only one-fifth Nog's population, however, and was a planet of neverending red wilderness. Merely due to the mineral composition of the soil, I knew, but to my eyes, so accustomed to abundant green, it still came as a shock.

Our shuttle touched down in the planet's largest city, Shan Su. The few wretched buildings present bent to their sides, as if to lean on each other for support; it was an extremely small city. The thick cloud cover over the low copper sky insulated the ground to produce a warm climate, but due to the low humidity, it wasn't stifling. As I cast my eyes over the dusty, rusting skyline, Cain put a hand on my shoulder.

He whispered to me: "Are you surprised? Most of the planets in our universe are like this. Our Nog is an exception. But within this red soil lies this planet's only resource. The struggle for the vast ore deposits is neverending, and the soil is stained red with the blood of its people..."

I craned my neck to take a look at his face. I desperately wanted to see it.

His sleek silver hair was cool against my cheek. He returned my gaze...with all the emotion of a steel plank.

That was all I needed to know.

Little by little, the truth revealed itself to me.

There was a constant struggle on this planet to obtain hegemony over its abundant resources - and that struggle was why we - why Lord Leviath - had claimed to come here. Under our mercenary guise, he would lead his troops in a bid to lay claim to all this planet had to offer. Before long, a storm of destruction - us - would descend upon this crimson star.

...I, at the very least, had come here to kill.

Suddenly, I came back to my senses, and I began to look about for Lord Leviath. His black-clad shadow, however, was nowhere to be found.

"Sionna! Hey, l...let's go to the marketplace!" Renaud was running toward me with flushed cheeks; he latched onto my sleeve.

"Yes, let's!" called Giovanni with a smile. "It'll be a bit before the carriages are ready; we have a little time on our hands. Why don't we all have a look at the city?"

I looked up to Cain again. His expression having regained its habitual kindness, he gave a single nod.

~*~

Eventually, our cargo was loaded, and we boarded the carriages. A crimson wasteland extended before us in all directions. Lord Leviath himself, however, was still nowhere to be seen. Cain and Kiefar had spent a long while before our departure huddled together in conference, so Lord Leviath was probably off elsewhere engaged in some manner of negotiations. Arranging for the migration and lodgings of the sizable crowds under our command was a task usually handled by the two staff officers alone. Matters had always gone off without a hitch, though, so no one hesitated to leave things in their hands.

We were now headed to Yah Ma territory in the continent's interior, purported home of the war's fiercest fighting. This conflict here was a popular uprising - revolt against the rule of colonial lords who had come from a neighboring world, a planet called Charax. As the war dragged on, however, the resistance had resorted to bald terrorism. The cycle of destruction and bloodshed was neverending, it seemed.

This time, as a rarity, we had been called in by the colonial overlords. Ostensibly, we would be fighting to restore the battered government. Yes - there would be a great deal of death necessary to accomplish this objective.

This tumultuous earth of crimson, littered with stone, undulated before our vision, gashed with the traces of now-waterless canals. Not a single settlement greeted our eyes, not even a lone tree - nothing but the desolate earth, reclaimed by primal nature, as our caravan traveled in a single, lonely file over the dust.

It was the first time I truly realized that I was on a planet far from my own.

I felt a pain in my chest at this thought. I wouldn't call it sentimentality...perhaps more the vacant realization that humanity was like a cotton hat borne away by the wind, scattered hither and yon throughout the universe without care or regard to the places where they would live out their lives...their empty, meaningless lives.

Are humans comdemned to this petty existence from the moment of their birth? I wanted to find a means of escape - find a way to slip the bonds of life yet remain alive.

~*~

We arrived at the center of Yah Ma province on the sixth night. Our lodgings this time were a mansion that had been prepared for us by the provincial lords, one that sat on a nearby plain that was, as expected, within easy reach of the city. The building seemed to have been an art museum or something similar in a previous life - it had been renovated and was now the soul of comfort.

I'd become mostly accustomed to our long journeys, but Renaud was still young, and they seemed to wear hard on him. He took ill with a fever that very night and fell into a deep sleep. Eugene nursed him day and night, refusing to leave his side, so I decided to check in on him quietly just once a day.

My thoughts had become largely consumed with that large sample of magestone I'd seen aboard the ship.

The stone installed there fed the power it emitted into the ship by way of the propulsion circuits. If you think about the nature of magecraft itself, there had to be other ways of accomplishing that - better, more effective ways. I wanted more detailed information on the practical fundamentals, on how the energy was converted.

I asked Cain if it was all right if I went to the city's library. He gave his permission, but only at a designated time, and only with an escort. And so, surrounded by several imposing guards headed by Gaillard, I made a outing to the local library.

Despite the dangers, I wandered the city's bookstores, collecting the few meager volumes they had on the underexamined subject. On one such afternoon, I found a beautiful picture book that I thought might cheer Renaud. I bought it for him and visited the room where he was whiling away the hours during his recovery.

I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I entered. Renaud lay asleep in the huge bed that dominated the middle of the room, seemingly buried in its covers. Eugene stood with his back to the doorway at the side of the bed, face cast downward. The chair in which he usually was seated had been abandoned.

I started to say something, but I hesitated. Eugene noticed me first in the interim.

"Sionna. Welcome back."

Eugene's expression was placid as always, but...for some reason, I sensed a profound anxiety behind it. I found myself unable to answer him.

Jut then, Renaud shifted sleepily beneath the covers and opened his eyes. "Oh! Sionna!" He regarded me happily and tried to rise. He seemed to be much improved.

"No, no!" Eugene yelped, pushing him back down upon the bed. But Renaud resisted, ever eager to fly off and explore our new territory. Perhaps the small fragment I had brought of the outside world could pacify him?

Hopefully, I held out the picture book with both hands.

~*~

"Looks like they've got some real live ones on their hands."

So spoke Giovanni at the dinner table that night. He always had an ear to the ground and picked up quickly on the latest news.

"Heard they lured the poor dears into a ravine and wiped out an entire unit the other day. A pity for them."

Kiefar laughed through his nose as he deftly boned the meat in front of him with his knife. Gerhard, too, gave a weird hee hee hee. The troops the resistance had decimated were private troops owned by the local lords, not our own, so no one was particularly put out.

"Their leader, Sai Yu - they call him the Iron Master. They say he has no qualms about sacrificing any of his followers to achieve his objectives. Strap 'em up with gunpowder and throw them into the enemy, burn up every man, woman, and child in a village..."

"Holy hell!" Gerhard gnawed the bone in his bare hands, his tongue protruding from a blood-red mouth. "...Ain't that a big waste a' yer men, though?" Gerhard's eyes suddenly went narrow as he took a huge slug of wine.

"Indeed. It's monstrously inefficient," said Giovanni, leaning cheek in hand, swirling the liquor in his glass with an absent-minded expression.

"An extended occupation like this warps the mind - makes the peasants bent on revenge. It's a far from uncommon storyline," Kiefar spat contemptuously. Cain, who had so far been silent for this discussion, opened his mouth to speak.

"And we'll be the next recipients of their attention."

"That goes without saying. We'll simply have to use our heads a bit, won't we?"

"...Our heads?..." Gerhard made a face as if he had swallowed the large bone in his hand. Giovanni reacted with glee. But I knew - once Gerhard set foot upon the battlefield, he'd use his head in his own way and take full command of the magnificent leadership skills of a former pirate lord.

Those sitting here were men of no mean nerve and battle talent. Even I had grown accustomed to using troops as if they were extensions of my own arms and legs. Even the youngest of us was...

"How's Renaud doing?" Cain asked Eugene, as if reading my own thoughts.

"All better, almost. He'll be able to fight if he calls." Gaze averted, Eugene spoke quickly, as if desperate to evade something. To him, losing Lord Leviath's confidence was probably a prospect more terrifying than the end of the world itself.

"Really. Keep watch over him, then." Hearing the indifference in Cain's voice, I rose from the table to leave.

"Hey, Sionna, y'haven't eaten anythin' yet!!"

"Ahhh~~, he never eats anything, that child."

There was no need to send such words after me. I didn't need loving, supportive comrades. I didn't want to kill anyone else.

I surely seemed a melancholy, sullen child, staring in silence without a reply.

"It's all right. Return to your room, Sionna."

I was grateful that Cain wasn't the type to try to close the distance between us. I could feel myself slipping into the smallest of smiles.

~*~

Lord Leviath returned - a black shadow stalking the hallways once more before we knew it. But his presence pervaded our very souls...and we grew ever more on edge as the time of battle drew nigh.

I suspended my research into magestone; Gerhard began tending to his knives. Renaud was given permission to go outside, and he bounded out front like a puppy.

"Ahh~~!" he cried, stopping short once he saw the sky above. A dry wind cut across his rosy cheeks.

Crimson sky. Crimson mountains. Crimson earth.

All melted into one great copper blur, and from a landscape both twisted and immutable rose the smell of rusted iron. Or perhaps it was the smell of blood that clung to this planet's core - permeating its very heart.

3
Eye of the Wolf

Our job was to combat the resistance that had made the crags of northern Yah Ma its stronghold. The landlords never expected us to crush the rebellion completely. The rebels, after all, were scattered all over the planet. For our employers, if we could restore order and exterminate the rebels in their own province, that would be enough.

Our indefatigable opponents were led by a man known as Sui Yun. Almost all of his followers came from the impoverished laborer classes; they shared a fierce sense of solidarity, and their willingness to sacrifice themselves knew no bounds.

Cain and Kiefar's plan was first to surround the fortress that lay on the southern tip of resistance territory on three sides and then force them out onto level ground, where we would wipe them out all in one blow. Gerhard's unit - mountain bandits now, instead of bandits of the sea - took a particularly active role, hunting the resistance troops Renaud's unit would chase from the fortress with magecraft.

The resistance did not in any way consist of disciplined troops. Once scattered, they were helpless - easy prey. Giovanni's cavalry fell upon them like wild beasts, and my arrows found their marks with ease. All too easily, it seemed, the southern fortress was destroyed. Lord Leviath remained seated for the entire battle, accompanied by his two staff officers.

When we returned to the manor, our colonial hosts were convinced beyond doubt of our worth; they met us with glee, with wine in hand. A banquet was held to commemorate our victory in the opening battle. Among the throng of red-faced, swaggering lords, however, only Lord Leviath, silently bringing his wine to his lips, seemed true royalty. There was no comparing these money-drunk pretenders to him. Even in a palace gathering of titled nobility, he seemed, as always, the lord of all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Kiefar take a tipsy nobleman who was spoiling for a fight by the arm and pluck him from the main hall with skillful sweet talk. If anyone made the slightest move on Lord Leviath, there'd be a carnival of blood in the blink of an eye. With the sort of solidarity we had among us on that front, there was no way we would lose to the resistance.

Next to me, I heard gentle breathing - the sound of Renaud in a deep sleep.

~*~

The first to realize what was happening was one of Giovanni's troops.

The rank-and-file soldiers were having their own banquet around a bonfire out front. When this member of Kirin headed back to his tent to get his belongings, however, he spotted a dark figure near the wall surrounding the mansion.

"You there - who are you!?"

But he failed to alert his comrades immediately - a mistake that proved fatal.

It was but a narrow space that separated the tent from the weapons depot.

It was there that his corpse was discovered, a sharp blade protruding from its chest.

~*~

But before the first victim was discovered, the intruder breached the fence and killed the two guards patrolling the perimeter. He then entered the interior of the compound through the back entrance.

It happened just when the banquet was almost over. The lords had begun to rise from their seats and filter out of the hall, heading for the front gate - when...

A shadow leapt forward like a lithe, black beast.

His windpipe slashed, one of the lords tried to cry out, but his throat managed only a wheeze in response. Gouts of scarlet spurted everywhere as he struggled and reeled, then fell.

The figure never stopped moving.

Quicker than the eye could register, it turned in search of fresh prey--

when a slender rapier, twinkling, met the blade. It wrapped around the knife and sent it flying.

"I've no particular obligation to these people, buuuut..." Giovanni, dressed in an outfit of his favorite deep violet, stood in the shadow's path. The lord in the intruder's sights stood rooted to the ground, his eyes wide with fear. The guards around him, too, could only gawk, dazed and utterly frozen.

Crimson lips spread into a cheerful smile. "These gentlemen are my employers for the time being, and we therefore are their guests. It would be remiss of me to permit such uncouth behavior in their presence."

As for the shadow...he merely gritted his teeth in response. The interruption seemed to prove quite vexing to him.

He was a slender man. His frame was sheathed in a crisp, dark-green combat uniform, and his deep indigo hair hung down his back bound in a single neat train. His hollow cheeks, his sharp nose, his skin ablaze with the setting sun - his crimson eyes that shone like fire; his looked like some kind of terrible wild beast. He brought to mind the feral wolves I had seen in the mountains in Shiva.

He moved his right hand - only a little.

But the con man was not about to be conned. With a single swipe of his rapier, he knocked away the knife the man drew from his left sleeve and flung.

Until moments ago, Giovanni had been drinking so much you'd think he were bathing in wine, but he betrayed no hesitation in his movements now. On the contrary, he even seemed amused by this sudden intruder.

"You...you were at the battle today...!" growled the man in a low voice.

"Indeed! *I* am one of the knights who have been hired to come and kill allll your little friends! Pleased to meet you," Giovanni replied, puffing out his chest and accentuating his point with a sharp click of his boots' high heels.

The man's killer instinct surged. He let out a cry and flung himself at Giovanni. Giovanni's expression suddenly turned serious, and he dodged just barely in time. In response, the man aimed his recovered blade at Giovanni's back - but Giovanni swiftly rallied, and then not just he, but also Gerhard and Eugene lunged forward with their own blades in hand.

"What are you doing?"

Lord Leviath's powerful voice echoed down the corridor. Startled, the man withdrew slightly; his eyes darted about, searching for the source of the voice.

With his black garb and golden sword, his charcoal hair, and his single emerald eye, Lord Leviath was the king of night. "Who are you?" asked his deep voice quietly.

The beastly man took a moment to steel himself. "I am Ka-Fai. ...On the next battlefield...we will rend you limb from limb."

Lord Leviath allowed himself a rare self-satisfied laugh. "I'll be looking forward to it."

As if he had been waiting for a reply, the man then turned and ran away. No one followed.

Finally, one of the colonial lords seemed to regain consciousness. He called out from behind a pillar: "H, he's Sui Yun's dog! A professional terrorist and a killer! Aren't you going to do something? He killed Tenga!! Aren't you supposed to protect us!?"

He was in a complete panic. The other lords also suddenly began to lose their heads, as if they had finally realized the danger that surrounded them.

Gerhard wrinkled his nose - a sign that he sensed a threat. Cain stepped swiftly forward from Lord Leviath's side. "We failed you tonight. We apologize, and we pledge our utmost efforts to dealing with those who would do you harm."

"What?" The idea of apologizing made Gerhard furious.

"However..." Cain's steel-grey eyes turned hard as he turned again to the colonial lords. "You must take due caution. We cannot protect you when you return to your manors and we are not present. It is the guards at your sides to whom you noble sirs must entrust your valuable lives."

A hush swiftly descended upon the room. The imperial lords and the bodyguards in their employ exchanged dark glances filled with terror and doubt - and quickly turned tail and ran.

"Ahh - good riddance." Giovanni took a luxuriant stretch. Animal vegetable, or mineral, he couldn't abide the presence of anything displeasing to the eye.

"Bravo, Cain!"

"Indeed. Bold words, coming from you." Cain stared flustered at Kiefar and Giovanni's glib praise.

Just then, we received an urgent message that three bodies had been found. Giovanni blanched before our eyes as he heard the courier's words. "So then...I'll see myself repaid eightfold!!" One would have never thought that the loss of a single underling would have enraged the hedonistic and casually cruel young man so. Perhaps it was a matter of his pride as a Knight Captain.

"So they're going to hand us a grisly death when next we meet? ...That's my line!" he suddenly spat down the empty hallway, clenching his fist.

~*~

But he didn't get another chance to meet the man named Ka-Fai. We were ordered to capture the eastern mountains...which were in the exact opposite direction of where the main army of his master Sui Yun was hiding. We'd take a large force into a steep mountains, fight, and then advance - over and over. We'd heard rumors of the activities of the main body of resistance troops led by Ka-Fai from time to time. He seemed to be quite busy - launching attacks on the occupying military and chasing its troops into a ravine; capturing a lord's summer home and executing every member of his family. Giovanni would relay each of these pieces of news with irritation.

Finally, he broke down and wailed: "How long is Lord Leviath going to have us stuck in these godforsaken mountains, anyway?"

"You must have patience. He has a plan." So Eugene said, but the fortresses of the eastern resistance, despite their great number, were small potatoes, and their forces were no match for us in battle. Compared to them, the western, main forces were clearly more organized, and the colonial lords' private armies and formal military had but a slim hope of victory - if they were not crushed outright. However you looked at it, the field was unbalanced.

I asked Cain about the matter numerous times. "Lord Leviath is away;" he answered, "without instructions from him, there's nothing we can do." But he seemed frustrated as well. Since our advance, Lord Leviath had left alone for the western realm. He'd come back from time to time and have brief chats with his staff officers, but would disappear again soon afterward. No one knew what was happening or what he was doing in the western theater.

Giovanni and Gerhard were gradually losing their fighting spirit. They would drink with their soldiers from the morning onward and go into battle drunk. They won anyhow.

Before, when we were in the jaws of death, we were bursting with life..... It seems strange to say, but now, without the tension of battle and our bond with Lord Leviath, there was nothing, perhaps, left to us.

"G, Giovanni and everyone always smell like wine! Don't they!?" Renaud was afraid of the wild lifestyle into which the adults had sunk; he would not go near them. Even I began butting heads more with Cain and Kiefar. I couldn't call our circumstances comfortable.

Only Eugene's placid countenance remained largely unchanged. He seemed to harbor internal doubts as well, but he instead seemed to have become more removed from the situation, in contrast to everyone else.

~*~

At length, we arrived at the largest body of resistance forces in the east.

"Once these guys go down, we'll be out of a job." Amidst these and other snide remarks, we crushed the fort in two days.

Truth be told, as long as we had Renaud's Acolytes of Death, no fortress could stand in our way. Even when the adults were half-joking, he was never less than deadly earnest. He would expend too much of his power and then collapse. It hurt to see Renaud in such a state.

After the forces left to escort prisoners of war into the city, Renaud and I sat on the rubble-strewn remains of a stone wall, watching the clouds that flowed red across the sky.

I would never cut corners, but I wouldn't waste my efforts needlessly, either. I always fought by the numbers; lived apart from emotion. The mere passage of time would not change me.

But Renaud was growing. He would continue growing. Today. And tomorrow.

"Stop."

Renaud turned his big blue eyes toward me in response to my verbal slip.

"...Huhhh? ...What did you say, Sionna?"

"...Nothing. Sorry."

~*~

No. I can't kill you.

I can't think about having you all to myself.

But I can't have you grow up...

I can't just leave you like this...

~*~

That was all I thought about. That was the kind of person I was.

The light suddenly began to fade.

I looked up. And my breath stopped.

There stood Ka-Fai.

He was wearing a uniform covered in mud. And he was staring at us.

I couldn't make a single sound in my shock.

"...Who are you?" An innocent voice rangs hollowly through my mind. That's right; Renaud didn't know. He'd been asleep at the time.

No - get away from him. He's a coldblooded killer...!

"Is Leviath here, boy?" Hearing such unexpected words from Ka-Fai's mouth was a further shock.

"L, Lord Leviath isn't here. H-He...he was going to the western mountains, he said..."

"He was supposed to be here."

"He's not." The words finally came to my lips. "W, we haven't seen him for a long time either. Really!"

"H, Honest!"

Ka-Fai stared intently at our faces. Suddenly, however, his expression lapsed into fatigue. He seemed far more haggard and gaunt than when we'd last seen him. He was supposed to have been with the main forces in the west; it must have taken all of his strength and will to make it here.

"You don't seem to be lying," he muttered haltingly.

"They're not." A familiar voice suddenly met our ears. At the same time, the hair on the back of my ears seemed to stand on end, and a strange sensation enveloped me.

Lord Leviath was standing right behind Renaud. Had he...had he just arrived via teleportation?

"LORD LEVIATH--!" shouted Renaud at the top of his lungs.

"These children were not lying. I was merely detained." Lord Leviath's mouth curled into a small smile, and he put a hand on Renaud's shoulder.

"You were honored for your distinguished service and prowess in battle, weren't you? You were on your way up in the ranks. What are you doing here?" The gentler Lord Leviath tried to sound, the more sarcastic he came across.

Ka-Fai fixed Lord Leviath with a glare of garnet - with eyes the same color as this planet's sky and soil. "Why am I here, you ask? It's because of you," he spat, as if he had to tear off his sentences word by word. "But you know the story, don't you? I met betrayal at the hands of my comrades and was captured. I had resigned myself to death. But you saved me...no - more than that...you supported all I did from the shadows and enabled my success.

I never knew - that all the time he was in the west, Lord Leviath was there to give support to this man who was our enemy.

But Ka-Fai's expression was bitter. "General Sui Yun, he praised me! He promoted me to colonel, granted me land and territories. But it was there that I realized - that even if the general and our forces stole the governors' land, another governor would merely take their place. The penury in which the peasant classes live would never change... You made me realize that."

Lord Leviath listened in silence. Little by little, Ka-Fai's face began to betray emotion.

"Tell me...what do I do now? I can't support the general anymore - but I can't abandon my homeland! I don't want to create any more people like me...!" Ka-Fai's lips were drawn and quivering.

Lord Leviath grinned. It was a terrible grin - a grin with the charm of the devil.

"Then come to me. Allow me to grant your wish."

For an instant, Ka-Fai's face went blank. Then, he gave a curt and sudden nod.

"Lord Leviath......?" A voice came from beyond the stone wall. Eugene had appeared. He was out of breath; he had probably sensed his lord's presence and come running. When he saw Ka-Fai, he cried out loud.

"Lord Leviath, that man is--!"

"Ka-Fai is my guest. But never mind that. Eugene..."

Lord Leviath's emerald eye had Eugene in its thrall before he could say another word.

"Y, yes?"

"Mobilize our forces. We're heading for the western front. Tell the others."

"......Yes!"

Eugene drew a single breath and nodded, then turned on his heels.

"You boys as well. Prepare your troops." Lord Leviath thumped Renaud and I lightly on the back, urging us forward.

I took Renaud and headed for my troops. Just then, Giovanni appeared as we rounded the corner of the stone wall.

"Lord Leviath! What on earth are you..."

He stopped dead in his tracks as he stood face to face with Ka-Fai.

"So we meet again."

Ka-Fai's crimson eyes narrowed.

"Well. You have a debt to repay. You killed one of my men." Giovanni looked as if a wish of his had been granted.

"Really." Ka-Fai bared teeth white as a wolf's. "And how many of my comrades did you kill?"

Giovanni gave a satisfied smile. "Twenty...seven, I think?"

"Good job." The men seemed to recognize that they were two of a kind. The crackling tension faded.

We heard a clamor of footsteps.

"Heyyy, Boss!"

"Lord Leviath, please explain this...!"

Gerhard, Cain, and Kiefar, huffing and puffing, all ran in so quickly that Renaud and I could do nothing but blink blankly.

"Enough of this. Are you three ready to depart?"

Lord Leviath shot them a cold glance - cold enough, indeed, to freeze all three in place.

~*~

Our forces headed from the eastern mountains to the plains by the shortest route, then began to climb again into the western mountains. The path was horribly steep, but we made it through, thanks to Ka-Fai's meticulous directions that led us every step of the way.

"So, we're finally gonna get to meet this San Shi guy!" Gerhard was in high spirits from beginning to end of the journey, finally back in his element.

"Gerhard, Gerhard, you're getting way too carried away with yourself!" Maria gave her brother a kick to the back from the luggage rack on top of the carriage. But she seemed happy, too.

"It's Sui Yun, Gerhard. You can't get people's names wrong. It's rude." So corrected Giovanni coolly. He was outwardly composed, but he hated to lose; perhaps he was thinking that he'd get his showdown with Ka-Fai one way or another.

Ka-Fai himself kept his distance from the group, always alone. He probably had always been like that. It was very rare to see emotion cross his fearless face as it did before; one could imagine that many thoughts churned beneath the stolid mask. Yes - just as only the hardiest plants and animals thrived beneath the red-brown crags. He was very much like this planet.

~*~

Once we reached the main forces of the enemy in the west, we launched a relentless assault against the resistance. At the same time, Ka-Fai vanished from sight - and then, one after another, his followers, who must themselves have been in hiding, emerged to join us. Deprived of their efforts, the resistance was fragile - almost shockingly so. They proved all the more fragile when Ka-Fai himself joined in the battle when so inclined, ruthlessly cutting down his former comrades with his blade. "War is nothing more than a kind of game. If your position changes, it is only natural that your actions should change as well." Ka-Fai's soft-spoken words appeared to put at ease the minds of the colonial lords who at first had their doubts about them - they seemed to prove his change of heart.

It was not half a month before the resistance was destroyed. Sui Yun himself was captured; he took poison in his cell. Gerhard was particularly chagrined, having lost his chance at a showdown with the enemy general.

And so it all ended. The colonial lords who controlled Yah Ma's industry, transportation, and military were secretly rendered mere figureheads. The mechanisms were in place to transfer the real power to Lord Leviath's hands; in time, the true nature of the arrangement would show itself.

But those who now realized that numbered very few.

"What will you do now?" called Ka-Fai to Lord Leviath's back that day we left Yah Ma.

Without turning around, Lord Leviath responded: "Yah Ma is yours if you want it. In return, you become mine." Ka-Fai wasn't surprised. Had he already made up his mind?

"I don't need it. Even if I had the power, I'd never wield it well."

"A wise decision," Cain cut in. "You desire more than such petty things, I imagine. I think you could find what you seek at Lord Leviath's side. ...How about it? Will you join us?"

"You'll forgive me if I'm done with being used by others," Ka-Fai replied instantly. He then slowly lowered his head. "I'm coming with you of my own free will. I'll be bringing my comrades. Are we agreed?" The dazzling sunlight brought out the deep red of his eyes even more.

"Very well," was Lord Leviath's short reply, and that was that.

I knew. Lord Leviath intended to have Ka-Fai serve him from the very first time they met. His subordinate's betrayal was only part of that plan. He was toying with Ka-Fai, as he fell into his hands - just as Yah Ma fell into his hands. I think Ka-Fai himself realized this now.

"The start of a new game. ...I'm looking forward to it." And so he took the first step in leaving his blazing red homeland behind him.

~*~

And, just then, the sound of a giant explosion shook the earth and rocked the sky.

4
The Second Calamity

The manor where we had lived until this morning had been destroyed. The fall of the great building and its chapel had come at an attack that resembled lightning.

But no lightning bolt was that convenient. That bolt was magecraft. We knew this better than anyone.

Since the hostilities in Yah Ma had already concluded, an attack from another region was suspected. An investigation was immediately launched, but neither the perpetrators nor their motive were to be found.

Cain and Kiefar were clearly shaken. This was the second time that a magecraft attack had hit us out of nowhere. This was just like the incident at the mountain fort in Shiva.

But who was responsible? And why?

I by accident once happened to catch a furtive conference between the two staff officers.

"That black shadow Sionna saw..."

"No; this attack was..."

This was no ordinary conversation; its tone was deadly serious. There was a secret at the heart of Lord Leviath's mercenary army - I was sure of it.

~*~

We finally left Yah Ma with our questions unresolved. We returned to Shan Su and there boarded a new ship.

This ship was even bigger and more impressive than the last. Until now, the army had chartered a new ship for every interstellar voyage, but this one apparently had been newly purchased.

No one was more thrilled with our magnificent ship than Gerhard. He christened it the Spring, after the pirate ship he himself had once commanded. Bubbling springs were considered good luck among pirates, Maria told us.

Myself, I was preoccupied with the issue of magestone. A ship this huge would unquestionably require an equally huge amount of propulsion.

I wanted to know how magestone was created, how it was used - everything about it, right away.

"Lord Leviath." I called to him in the dining hall, mustering my courage. "Please tell me about magestone. I'd like to know what it is, actually - how it stores and releases its power."

"Why?" Lord Leviath stared at me with his green eye. It unnerved me, like it always did. I couldn't calm myself; it was like he could see right through me. I would venture that I was not alone in my reaction.

"U, um...I was wondering if there might not be a more efficient way of using it."

Lord Leviath nodded deeply. "Very well. This should bring interesting results, knowing you."

"Thank you very much," I said, and quickly fled.

Cain, who had been watching from a distance, approached me. "That's good! Now you can study to your heart's content."

He smiled. My heart leapt, and I couldn't say anything - only nod. It had been a long time since I had been this excited.

~*~

Before the day was out, a messenger arrived from Lord Leviath. I was sent to one of the rooms in our lodgings and was upon arrival immediately confronted by about a dozen of our finest mages, with Renaud at their head. When he saw me, Renaud lit up with a smile, but he didn't approach me. He seemed to be waiting for something.

Lord Leviath beckoned me to the middle of the room and pointed to a giant sample of magestone jutting boldly from the center of the table. "This is a sample of ore excavated from the volcanic regions of Armis. I usually infuse stones with power by myself, but considering its size...we will all perform the process together."

Everyone nodded gravely. For someone who was not a mage to witness the cultivation process was an unparalleled honor.

First, Lord Leviath stood in front of the stone, holding up his hands and gathering his spiritual energy. An enormous amount of magic power filled the room, and my skin tingled with the sensation.

Lord Leviath let out his breath with a huff. I heard the bang of a shockwave as something shot from his fingertips toward the stone. Magic energy, it must have been.

Lord Leviath stepped away. Renaud took his place and performed the same procedure. I sensed that the strength of his power was somehow different, but I suppose it didn't matter. Many infused the stone with their power in this manner, returning the stone to Lord Leviath when they had finished. Sometime in the course of the process, I had grown ill from the sensation of magic power; just when I thought I would have to take an early leave, however, the magestone began to crackle with light like fireworks.

Lord Leviath raised one hand; was the stone completely filled with power? The stone was placed in a gold box and carried away by soldiers.

"You understand, then?" Lord Leviath asked, looming before me.

"I understand," I choked out.

"I'm entrusting this to you. It is infused with my power." What he held out in his hand was a sliver of magestone about the size of the tip of his thumb. The samples of magestone one usually encountered were generally far smaller than this.

"Th...thank you." I took the faintly-glowing sample in my hand and unconsciously managed a smile. When I did so, Lord Leviath gave a gentle smile in return.

It took a while before I could move from the shock.

"Sionna! You got a piece of magestone; that's great!" Renaud peered in, eyes shining. But he could use magic power on his own; he had no need of magestone. He was just unaccustomed to seeing such pretty stones, it seemed.

"If you use up its power, don't worry - I'll concentrate for you!"

"Thank you, Renaud."

I found a smile came easily to my lips today - because I was truly happy. I didn't have to force it - I knew it came to me naturally, truly of its own accord.

~*~

We lifted off from Shan Su and put the red planet of Fei Lei behind us. Our next destination was yet another star. A long voyage, we were told - long enough to put our previous excursion to shame.

I suppose it was for that purpose, then, that we had prepared for us a new starship. On board was a bar, a recreation area, a gym, and even a theater. The soldiers who had talent in singing and playing musical instruments formed a band and regaled us with their performances during morning and night at mealtime.

Giovanni was skilled at playing musical instruments as well. His fingers and mind were nimble, and every instrument came naturally to him. Eugene was adept at the transverse flute, but he rarely let us hear him play. Kiefar had a taste for stringed instruments. (To a certain extent, in his own words.) The Knight Captains who came from the common classes, myself included, were utterly hopeless musically.

It was at that time that Ka-Fai was assigned to lead a new knight corps devoted to recfonnaissance and covert operations, composed mainly of his former subordinates. He named it Liu Ying, the Flowing Shadow.

I left my cabin only when necessary, immersed in the study of magestone. Renaud would come and ask me to play, but I had no time to spend with him. He soon stopped coming to ask; I suppose he gave up.

My sleeping and eating habits became erratic, and I had barely time to spare for anyone else. Yet I was experiencing a joy I had never before known in my life. Research really seemed to agree with me.

I wanted to analyze the nature of the stone's power - to to put it to a variety of uses, like the mages did. And I didn't want just to harvest the emitted power - I wanted to use the power more efficiently. To do that, I thought, I'd need a control device.

In the center of the shelf that held my materials, the sample of magestone glowed pale white in its glass case.

5
The Blue of the Straits

After making a stopover for supplies along the way, we landed on the planet of Dune. Our journey took over two months. When we stepped off the ship, our eyes shot shut in the glare of a brilliant sun.

In contrast to Fei Lei, Dune was a jewel of natural beauty, overflowing with water and vegetation. Salandon, its largest city, was known as a playground for the nobility. After several days' rest there, we crossed the sea - and even though it wasn't the same kind of vessel, none of us were enthused at the prospect of being aboard a ship again. No one except Gerhard's group, who were all abuzz.

But it was certainly an agreeable journey, making our way between clear blue waters and a beautiful cloudless sky.

After several days, we arrived at the town of Siesta, located on the straits. We docked and disembarked, then unloaded our cargo. We absent-mindedly watched the unloading process while our lodgings were being prepared.

Renaud slept in the shade of a large tree; tired again, I suppose, from the long journey?

Beyond the wharf, I caught sight of a black shadow. It grew larger and larger as I stared at it, revealing itself to be a group of over twenty people.

"Let's do this, boys!!"

A strong young man's voice carried across the distance over to us, and the others responded with whoops of joy. One might call them young men, but they were naught but children; they had clubs and knives in their hands.

Do what? I wondered - and at just that moment, they flew toward our ship, toward the cargo we had thrown overboard.

The soldiers carrying the goods were caught unaware and ran about trying to escape. "The hell you DOIN'!?!?" Gerhard bolted to his feet, infuriated at the cowardice of the soldiers at the cargo being attacked.

"HEY!! You friggin' brats try layin' a FINGER on this cargo, and I'll break your NECKS!!" His booming voice thundered with menace as Gerhard stormed closer and closer. He grabbed a nearby boy by the collar and tossed him into the sea. In a moment, he had dealt with several of the boys in the same manner.

The soldiers finally regained their composure, and they, too, seized the rampaging boys and forced them down on the pavement. Among them, only a black-haired boy, seemingly their leader, remained to dart about nimbly and agilely, bursting with spirit.

"Hell!......Are you their boss?!" The boy stood all alone before Gerhard; he had some guts.

"Course not!! Our boss ain't got time to waste on little punks like you! You should be grateful his right-hand man's makin' time for ya!" Gerhard gave a hearty laugh, as if he had made a joke, that seemed to suit this place all too well.

"Who's his right-hand man!?"

"Talk is cheap, Gerhard."

While I hadn't been looking, Kiefar and Giovanni had retired to a prime vantage point nearby to take in the scene. The other Knight Captains began to gather around as well, and if Cain hadn't appeared, there would've been no one to quell the clamor.

The boy looked around. Almost all of his underlings had been subdued.

It was then that he pinned all his hope on one last desperate gambit.

"Hyaaa---!!"

He brandished a knife with a huge blade in front of his chest, and stabbed. "Who the hell..." With an agility you'd never have expected from his massive body, Gerhard seized the boy's arm and swiftly grabbed his blade, nimbly plucking it from his hand. He then twisted the boy's arm behind his back with all his might.

"Gyaaaah - owowOW!!"

"...do you take me for?! You stand before the famous Captain Gerhard, notorious throughout Nog's nine seas!!" he spat his favorite catchphrase, full of pride and determination as his eyes turned sharply toward the skies. In the next moment, he turned the knife around in his hand and grazed the boy's nose, plunging the blade into the ground just shy of its tip. "This is how you use a knife, boy!"

"Whoooaa, big bro!"

"Get 'em, boss!--"

His pirate gang's cheers sounded as if they were near tears.

"Is it that impressive?"

"Shameful. An allegedly grown man, taking a child as his opponent..."

I heard Ka-Fai and Eugene whispering behind me. Their opinions were quite sensible, I thought.

Gerhard now sat astride the boy, who was groaning in surrender. ".....goddammit! Friggin' hell!"

"Holy...the hell you buncha useless punks think you were gonna do? Get yer act together before you......huh?" Gerhard peered at the boy. His head was down, and he was visibly quaking.

"You all right?" Gerhard asked, on his guard to make sure that he wouldn't strike back, when suddenly--

"GRAAAAAAAAHHH--!!"

A primal howl like that of a wild beast ripped from the boy's throat, and Gerhard was thrown to the ground.

"Wha...?"

"I'm not...I'm not...I'M NOT USELESS!!"

"Th, the hell you talkin' about?"

"I can do it. I can do it!! So don't hit me...no--no, DON'T!! But I can't stand the cold, so just break it and go...just break it!!"

The words he was muttering seemed to make no sense.

"Break it... break it, BREAK IT!!! AAAAYAAA!!!!" The boy took a nearby wooden box filled with weapons, rolled it around and hoisted it up, and then flung it at some nearby soldiers. It splintered to bits. There were screams, and luggage and drops of blood flew everywhere.

"AAAA-- BREAK IT! GET OUT!! LEAVE ME ALONE!! I'LL KILL YOU!! BREAK IT!!" The boy was rampaging like a demon. It was then for the first time that his followers began to recover themselves, and made their escape en masse. They left no time to ask them what was going on. The boy flung those who tried to contain him with frightful strength; he laid waste to anything his hands could find, inanimate or not. Gerhard reached for him, but the boy bit into his flesh as if ripping meat off a bone. Gerhard screamed and withdrew.

"What's going on down there?"

"Looks like trouble!"

Everyone stood speechless, able only to gawk.

"...It's a soul sickness, I believe." This was Cain's voice, so I turned around - and when I did so, I found Lord Leviath standing with him as well.

"Shall I take care of it?" Ka-Fai brandished a throwing knife and shot a glance at his black-clad master.

Lord Leviath silently turned away from him and stood. I could see only the side with the eyepatch, so I didn't know how much his lone green eye had caught.

As if possessed, the boy with black hair spat curses and smashed everything he touched, a berserker running amok.

"Don't interfere." With that, Lord Leviath walked silently away from his retinue.

It took only a moment. Lord Leviath approached the boy, now rampaging on all fours, and executed a swift chop to the back of his neck. The boy crumpled to the ground like a broken doll.

A quick blow to the vitals, with not a wasted movement. Everyone watching gasped, and a strange silence descended upon the midmorning harbor.

"Oh, God!" It was Gerhard's exclamation that broke the silence. "I'm sorry! Put the kid somewhere where he can rest for me! My arm's screwed up!" When we looked, blood was spurting from Gerhard's right arm, stopped by his left hand. Maria and the other pirates flew to him and gathered around. "No! Him before me!"

Gerhard was worried about the boy. I'm sure that he probably felt some responsibility for him, as it was his own words that had induced his strange condition.

The boy was brought to our lodgings along the wharf.

~*~

"Did...did I do it again?" Those were his very first words upon awakening.

The boy said his name was Walter. He was seventeen years old. He was beaten by his father, a fisherman in this port town, as he grew up. About his family, he would speak no further.

At the time, he was the leader of the local juvenile delinquents. They would rob the travelers who got off the ships in gangs and split their ill-gotten gains. His comrades were in it merely for the fun, but he was secretly saving up - his dream, he said, was to someday buy a ship of his own and leave this town.

I couldn't understand why he was so desperate to leave his hometown. But no matter how much family you had, I suppose, there was still a cold, uncrossable abyss between ourselves and others, where we all remained eternal strangers.

The last image of my hometown that remained my in my mind's eye was that of the drawn curtain of the second-story window. I could never see them again - my mother...my father...Kelly, who lived within me.

"I'm sorry," Gerhard meekly said. He had stayed by the head of Walter's bed the entire time. "It was me sayin' that stupid crap that made ya go...like that, wasn't it? I'll be more careful from now on!"

In reality, Gerhard had been given detailed instructions from Lord Leviath and Cain. It was thought that the boy had been incited by his careless words and lost all reason. It could never happen again, they said.

"OK, now. Go on home." Gerhard stood up. The carriages were ready, and we were headed to our next battleground.

"Wait!" Walter suddenly rose with a start. "I dunno where you're going, but anywhere's gotta better than this! Take me with you! I smashed your guys' luggage; I gotta work off what I owe, right? I'll do anything - I mean it!"

Walter's black eyes were earnest. Gerhard, though, suddenly brought his face closer and dropped his voice: "Boy. We're headed for hell right now."

Cain, Giovanni, and I all had the same expression on our faces right then, I'd imagine.

Walter took a look around, then looked back at Gerhard.

"...Hell sounds good to me!" he declared.

Gerhard let out a sigh. He had no defense against those shining eyes; he was a kind man at heart. "Well...lemme speak to the boss." It was rare to hear such equivocation coming from him.

We'd never say no to another soldier, and if he really wanted to join us, there'd be no problem, but...that outburst before. If he had a psychogenic disorder, then there were doubts as to whether we could allow such a dangerous young man to come with us.

"Whoa, thanks! I want you to teach me your knife tricks too, OK!?"

"Whoa, whoa! I told ya, we ain't decided nothin' yet!""

Walter was cheerful, always whipping his head around brightly. It felt good, I suppose, to have a boy like him among our number. In spite of what had happened, we all began to take a liking to Walter. The boy had a strange charm.

~*~

Surprisingly, Lord Leviath acted as if he were already planning to take the boy along with us.

"He'll be of use to us. Gerhard, you will train him in preparation for becoming a Knight Captain," he said offhandedly.

"Wait, please. The boy's destructive power is indeed impressive, but if he can't control it, then wouldn't he give us more trouble than the enemy?!" Kiefar had chimed in with his official opinion.

"Sure you aren't just concerned about Gerhard scoring a few brownie points?" Giovanni flashed a malicious smile. Kiefar blanched with rage at being insulted in front of Lord Leviath.

"Ohhhh, did I strike a nerve?! My apologies!" Giovanni cackled.

"Insolent--"

"--Tend to your personal disputes later. Lord Leviath!" Cain wasted no time taking the situation in hand. "We will of course follow your orders. We merely ask that you give careful deliberation as to whether the boy will be more of a help or a hindrance in times forthcoming."

Lord Leviath seemed to smile, but just a bit. "He could pose no greater danger or threat of calamity in my journey at this late date than what already exists. He comes with us."

"Understood." Cain once again left Walter in Gerhard's hands and gave the order for our forces to move out. We left the inn where we had been resting and headed for out respective squadrons.

At the exit, Kiefar slid up alongside Giovanni. "That'll cost you." He smiled, but only with the corners of his lips.

"Cost me what, I wonder?" Giovanni gave a insouciant flip of his hand and left.

A bleary Renaud wandered by, led by the hand by one of our aides-de-camp.

Lord Leviath made his way through a camp suddenly ablaze with activity and the lines of carriages. Eugene's eyes followed his black-clad figure, his expression full of dread.

6
Kaliari

Our carriages continued their sojourn over the picturesque rural vistas of the planet of Dune.

The fields of grain were lush and green; the pure white flowers of the orchards were in full bloom. Our road finally met a wide stream whose banks were lined with rows of tall trees, little sandbars brimming with waterfowl...you could gaze at it for hours without ever getting tired.

It was like my homeland of Metamoria, sweet and warm: a pastiche of brilliant colors, of trees and villages and light. Renaud said it looked to him just like Shiva. It reminded him of the mother he had left behind there, and he broke down crying.

One could hardly believe that there could ever be war on a star so beautiful and tranquil as this. But the seed would take root so long as there were people to sow it. One unlucky rain, and it would sprout - and flourish into a great, repulsive tree.

This planet's culture was still young; its government, the source of its problems, consisted of a fractious collection of tiny city-states. We were headed to the Kaliari region, where over forty small such states had loosely formed three major alliances; the standoff between them had lasted several years now. The interim had been an endless succession of unions and dissolutions. The reason why they couldn't form one big state, I imagine, was basically because the land was too bountiful - the armies had too many natural resources to sustain them. The ruling lords would flee their castles once they saw they had no path to victory, then bide their time and raise another army once they had amassed enough power.

"It's like children playing war," said Cain with a bitter smile. "This really is an innocent world." But who had called us here to Kaliari? In truth, no one seemed to know.

~*~

The quiet had all the more impact once you remembered that the storm of war in Kaliari lay ahead.

We joined the other parties stationed at the no man's land along the border. The mercenary forces encamped there had ballooned in number, and their tents and makeshift barracks seemed to blot out the underlying countryside.

We were then instructed to conduct troop exercises, still ignorant of when or why we were going to war. Still, the complete details of the plans behind our other campaigns had up till now been kept between Lord Leviath and his staff officers, so there was no cause for alarm, we thought. We made preparations for battle on a nearby hill, developing more effective weapons and whatnot.

This was an ideal opportunity, I thought, so I decided to announce to everyone the results of the research I had conducted on our interstellar voyage. It was a bright, clear afternoon, and the sun beat down overhead as if to draw sweat from our brows. Lord Leviath, the Knight Captains, and all the aides-de-camp had been assembled. I stepped forward into the wild prairie wind with the control device in my hand.

The control device was an opaque metal rod designed to intercept magic power. The circuits within it converted magic power internally; the sample of magestone Lord Leviath had given me was wedged into it. With the added bulk of the rock, the control device fit snugly into my hand.

"So, what did you want to show us? Out with it, Sionna." Giovanni urged, crossing his arms and apparently impatient to know what was going on.

Magestone has a limited range of applications, such as powering ships and large machinery or imparting curses through long-term wear. It would spontaneously discharge its power in certain cases, but no one, it was said, could control its power willfully. That was the province of mages.

Everyone fixed me with a gimlet stare, as if in disbelief at what use I, who lacked the abilities of a mage, had for this magestone.

"......First, a surge of electric energy..." I flipped the switch and held up the control device. I then aimed it at a large stump that lay a short distance away.

There was a huge, dull boom as the stump was split in two and began to burn.

Behind me, my audience was in an uproar.

"There's a little more..." I turned around to announce. "We can also use its power for teleportation."

Everyone fell dead silent.

"Ridiculous!" exploded Kiefar in a rare loss of composure. "That's a difficult trick even for a mage to pull off - and you're saying that YOU've mastered it with a snap of your fingers?"

"Well, we won't know 'til he shows us, will we? Proof's in seein' it, ain't it?" Walter, at Gerhard's side, enthused.

"That's right! Show us, boy!" Gerhard grinned broadly and shot me one of the sharp-eyed glances he occasionally betrayed.

"As I believe you all know, you can teleport only to a place you've visited before." So far as I knew, there was only one mage alive who would teleport at will, without limitations. That was Lord Leviath, and he sat in his usual silence, buffered by the wind. It rustled his coal-black hair slightly, and I averted my eyes to refocus from the distraction.

"......Therefore, I will return to my tent." I concentrated and released the magestone's power.

I felt a peculiar sensation as if my entire body were suddenly fading away. In the next instant, I recognized the familiar sight of the inside of my tent - or gradually came to recognize, as I had arrived so quickly that my eyes needed time to adjust.

I sat down on my bed to wait, and it wasn't long before I heard a clamor of footsteps like an earthquake. Everyone came flying into my tent.

"Wow......you really are in your tent!!"

"Whoa, Sionna! I've ain't ever seen anything like that before!"

"Huh--?? Is he there?!? Ah--!!"

First to arrive were the fleet-footed Giovanni and Walter. Right behind them was Gerhard. Everyone was floored, and there was a regular tumult inside the narrow tent.

"I'm impressed, Sionna. Your research will be of considerable help to us!" Kiefar approached me with an actual full-fledged smile on his face - a complete inversion of his usual self. I turned my eyes from his to the entrance of the tent, just in time to see Eugene and Renaud come in.

Renaud ran up to me with a beaming face and gasping breath. "Wow, Sionna! I, I've never teleported b-before!"

"I know!"

"U-um, Sionna...do you think I...I might be able one day to do what you did?"

"Yes, you will! I know you will!" I cried. Renaud's power was a thousand times - ten thousand times stronger than this rock. He would become only more and more powerful as he matured, and wield ever more marvelous abilities.

"Hey - the stone's power is all used up." I removed the control device from the magestone, now just a unremarkable white lump I rolled in my hand.

"Really? ...Th-then, here - let me charge it up again for you!" Renaud grasped the stone tightly in his soft hands and flashed a brilliant smile.

"Can you do it?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yes! I've done it plenty of times with Lord Leviath and made lots of HUGE rocks!"

"No, no - not here, Renaud." Eugene stooped down and spoke softly, so the others wouldn't hear him. He was concerned that if my equipment combined with Renaud's power, the resultant overflow would run amok.

But it was too late. I had already demonstrated its power in front of too many people. It was clear that ever greater force would be put to ever greater applications - meaning, more efficient methods of destruction and murder.

Outside the tent, Lord Leviath and Cain stood side by side, bathed in golden light. They said nothing and remained expressionless, watching me. We had an unspoken understanding right from the start: I could do anything I wished, so long as I remained useful to Lord Leviath. Just like Renaud - poor, sweet Renaud, who had to shoulder such a burden due to the great innate power with which he was born. I could at least share a little of the load.

"I know that, Eugene!!" Renaud whispered as if it were a joke.

I added: "It's all right, Eugene. He'll be safe. ......We'll watch out for him - I promise."

Eugene fixed me with a look of pure shock.

7
Machinations

We'd been playing host to some strange visitors as of late. They came in several different groups, not all at once. One day, one group would come; the next, another...coming and going, one after another, restless and uneasy as they crossed enemy lines.

They would meet with Lord Leviath in his tent and then return. Cain and Kiefar would be present for these meetings as well.

On close inspection, one could tell that the rank of the visitors from day to day grew higher and higher - their clothing grew more high-class, their bearing ever more refined, the number of retainers accompanying them increasing.

One day, I was called to Cain's tent to exchange ideas on possible uses for magestone. With the use of a control device, we could infuse even weapons and armor with its energy. They could augment the abilities of whoever possessed them, allowing anyone easy access to their power. "Take Gerhard's scimitar, for example. With magestone, he could..."

"Wait." Cain stopped me and rose to his feet. "Who's there? Please, come in," he called to the entrance of his tent, drawing his sword with one hand. Underneath the desk, I, too, readied the control device to my magestone.

"F...forgive me!" All but prostrate as he entered, a man came forward, clad in the dress customary to this planet.

"Ah, was it you, Sir Hughes? You're a bit early for our meeting. And this is my tent, not..."

"Ohhh, I know! I, I beg you to forgive my impertinence. I just came to have a talk with you, Sir Cain."

"With me?" Cain stared at the man with his eyes of molten silver, his expression betraying no emotion.

The man called Hughes was middle-aged, with deeply tanned skin, a moustache adorning a gentle face. His expression, though, was marred by some sort of apparent internal distress. "To speak frankly...if you would be so kind as to give us insight into the inclinations of your esteemed chieftain...no, into how you yourself feel, there would be no bounds to my gratitude...!"

"Despite what you may believe, I cannot read my master's mind." Cain betrayed a very slight smile. "Whichever prince or lord has struck a chord with him in the past; with whom he shall continue negotiations in the future...I know only that there is not necessarily one path he may take...."

"I, Indeed! Of course - if it were not so, I'd be in quite the bind! But if you could give your assistance to our Lord Cassalo - if your lord by some inconceivable incident should meet with Lord Kenneth or those beasts of Sion, if you yourself could put a few words in your lord's ear..."

"I understand well what you wish to say, Lord Hughes." Cain raised a hand to halt the man's fevered pleas. "Please communicate those sentiments at the bargaining table. Do so, and your determination shall surely convince our lord."

"Indeed?"

"Now, please, to your feet. Go, quickly, before anyone sees you." Cain helped the man to his feet and took him outside the tent. He kept the entrance slightly open and continued watching for a while; once, I suppose, he could see the man no more, he tore his eyes away and closed the curtain.

"......So that's it," I said in a small voice. Cain's sharp ears caught my comment, and his piercing eyes trained on me.

"Yes. That is it."

"...Kiefar?"

"You understand well."

"It seems like something he'd pull."

Cain broke out into laughter at hearing the idea so plainly stated. Rare, for him. "You could say that. ...But I will serve Lord Leviath to the bitter end."

Cain at length stopped laughing. leant on his desk with his elbow and brushed his silver hair back. "He is truly a magnificent man. And his strategy will lead him to victory, in the end." Words of praise, but they were at the same time an admission of fearsome emotion. Even someone like Cain served Lord Leviath just like the rest of us, with the same deference and awe we all had. There was another side to the cool-headed staff officer he never let show.

And it was rare, indeed, for him to open his heart to me.

By finally revealing to me the truth behind this campaign, did this mean that his inclinations toward me were more warm than ill? Thinking back on it, he was the very first person to ever understand me, in my loneliness.

"It's working. I see it just by that man's reaction just now," I said, lifitng my face to meet Cain's eyes. "We'll be moving out any time now, won't we?"

He returned my stare. "Indeed." His silver eyes sparkled with a wistful touch of blue.

~*~

As predicted, in three days' time, it was all settled.

"So our employer was Alder, hmm?" Giovanni whirled about, a long-stemmed glass in his hand.

"Well, they coulda jes' said so," Walter said, alternately drawing cards and immediately throwing each one back in the pile.

"Heh, don't make no difference! It's the way things always go! Now, let's go get ready to move out!" Gerhard stood up, already rolling up his sleeves. The three got along swimmingly and as of late often acted in concert.

Finally, the battle had begun. The news spread through our camp like wildfire.

We had spent the last two months traveling amidst the most beautiful scenery. The change of seasons was now upon us, and the temperature had fallen considerably. The trees were laden with fruit, and flocks of birds flew across a clear sky.

Kaliari was divided between three great military powers: Alder, Norma, and Sion. Our destination was Alder, which lay to the east. But on our march, we were besieged by incessant visits from messengers, and Lord Leviath did not refuse them an audience. As if to flaunt our strength, we passed through Sion and Norma, taking a leisurely path to our destination of Talissa, Alder's capital.

Our old Hughes was waiting for us. This was the domain of the Lord Cassalo whom he served. Hughes greeted us with deference and beckoned us to the inner sanctum of the keep. There we found a lord and vassals with a good humor similar to their familiar retainer; they welcomed us with a feast that lasted for several days.

"I have known no greater joy than the honor of your presence in our keep. Please, grace us with the benefit of your strength." The aged lord repeated this as a mantra to Lord Leviath, never leaving his side.

Hughes's profile in the court clearly seemed to have increased considerably for his role in the negotiations. He appeared quite pleased with himself.

Our liquor-loving comrades were ecstatic at our welcome, but Eugene, Renaud, and I sat apart from the festivities. Ka-Fai sat even further away, as if completely to reject his present company. Having grown up in extreme poverty, he made no attempt to disguise his disgust at such extravagance.

Eugene seemed lost in thought for a long time. When Kiefar passed by, he grabbed him by the sleeve and whispered someting in his ear. Kiefar chuckled deep in his throat and responded, "......Try to keep quiet, if you can. The real show begins now."

After casting a fleeting baleful glance at Kiefar, Eugene averted his gaze and said nothing.

"Hmmm, the boy looks like he's fallen asleep. Always sleeping, that one." Kiefar nervously pointed at Renaud with one of his long fingers and left.

Renaud had fallen fast asleep on the table. "He really does sleep a lot." I moved the serving dishes that seemed to be in the way of his arms. Renaud grew weak at night, and lately he truly had been sleeping a great deal - frequently falling asleep at the dinner table. There was nothing we could do - he was a child, after all; so I wanted to say, but I had been a night owl since I was little, so it was hard for me to judge.

Eugene gave a start at the sound of my voice and looked at Renaud. "Then, let's let put him to bed." He smiled just a little bit, then called a soldier over and told him to carry Renaud to his room.

Eugene then got up and walked away. Something certainly seemed to be on his mind. He, too, seemed to realize that something was up.

No one had called Lord Leviath to this planet. Not at the start. We had simply marshalled our forces at the outskirts of the territory. Started our drills. As if we wanted to be seen.

And when they did notice us, the lords were shocked. Our presence had them jumping at shadows; they were falling all over themselves with plans to make this great army of mercenaries their own, prompted by nothing more than their own imaginations. They had to win our favor - not only to increase their own military might, but to prevent their rivals from increasing theirs.

And the result was as we saw - emissaries to our camp day and night. Leviath and his two staff officers never divulged who had hired us, doing all they could to mislead without actually misleading, putting forth their best efforts to sow anxiety and unease, to inflate our worth.

And here we were now.

As he said before, Kiefar thought that our true challenge now lay before us.

We probably had this planet in our sights even before we left. We had a definite objective, it seemed - but in order to accomplish it, we needed something more.

~*~

But there was just one thing that remained unclear.

Lord Leviath had gathered us together...fought through planet after planet...expanded his shadowy influence like bonds drawing ever tighter.

Why? For what purpose? Was his ambition to become the ruler of a domain that spanned our universe?

That would indeed be a grand objective. But it didn't seem to suit Lord Leviath. His quiet eye - that eye of emerald that held immeasurable light and darkness within its depths - had something else in its sights.

I - we - could do nothing but watch.

8
Demon Mist

Lord Cassalo had prepared for us a great manor house in the capital of Talissa. We even had chefs and gardeners.

"They have passable taste for a little kingdom in the sticks," said Kiefar, who seemed exceptionally pleased with his new lodgings. Someone like myself, on the other hand, felt exceptionally ill at ease in such a beautifully-furnished room. Walter himself found his bed too soft, and joked that the first night, he'd slept on the floor.

After several days, though, a person grows accustomed to his surroundings. We seemed to sense that such a long and comfortable stay would be paid for with commensurate hardship later on.

The manor was a two-story building with high ceilings, a chapel with a clock tower attached, and several outbuildings where the servants slept. The soldiers' tents had been pitched inside the grounds. Tall mountains thick with green framed the manor in back, and one could make out farm settlements scattered here and there near its foot. It was a deeply calming scene, typical of this planet.

I liked the scent of harvest time that was newly in the air, the muted brightness of the turn of season, and from time to time, I took a stroll around the manor. I encountered many birds and insects, but I now had no desire to take their lives. Was it, perhaps, because I had found to some degree a sense of purpose through joining these mercenaries? As Cain promised, I had seen the death I wanted - and yet, no matter how much of it I witnessed, I still could not find a sense of fulfillment or joy in this thing called life. Perhaps I would remain emotionally incomplete for the rest of my days.

Renaud grew restless when he heard the bells of the clock tower ring; the boy pulled me along with him, and my feet found their way to the chapel constantly. The chapel interior was simple and graceful, a charcoal wooden framework with walls painted ivory. There were many pews and a great altar constructed of the same wood. It had no icons or murals depicting the miracles of the gods, which came as a bit of a relief to me. The display of anger from Lord Leviath in the chapel in Shiva was terrible to behold - and as of yet unrepeated.

Happily, Renaud seemed to have forgotten all about that time. He would go the very first row, kneel, and offer words of prayer to his brother in heaven.

And I knew that after he killed a great many people, he offered prayers for their souls, too. His tears were beautiful - nothing that I could ever offer or approach.

~*~

Eventually, we received news that Sion's army had begun to move, and we were issued orders to move out. Cain seemed to consider this first battle to be a proving ground for our new units: Ka-Fai's Liu Ying, composed mainly of light infantry, and the provisional unit Walter had assembled from younger cavalry soldiers chosen from Gerhard and Giovanni's corps. These two units led the charge, and the other knight captains' corps followed. At the very back of the army sat Lord Leviath and his very own personal unit, clad in gold.

The two armies faced each other from across a river. The soldiers across from us bounded into the water, and the battle was joined.

But Ka-Fai's troops had already pulled out many a hard-fought victory in battles far more bitter than this; they more than rose to the challenge. The enemy was relying on sheer numbers, but they never stood a chance. In the blink of an eye, the lines of battle were broken, and Walter's subsequent charge was really just a rout. Some of our foes fell into the river with their armor on; they simply drowned where they fell.

Sion's army had no resistance to running from the outset. They turned tail and fled instantly.

"Ohhhh - goin' home already?!" a beaming Walter shouted at the retreating foe, who had already put a good distance between them and us.

"Tuh - you fight a worthless enemy like that, it's bad for your morale!" Gerhard hadn't even gotten a chance to go out on the battlefield; he vented his frustration on a nearby tree, punching it untill it fell. The soldiers who had been standing where it landed scurried away in fright.

Amidst it all, I caught a sudden glimpse of Lord Leviath. He was staring at a forest to his left; following his gaze, I spotted Eugene standing at its border.

He nodded silently.

Eugene's unit was small in number and always hidden away in an inconspicuous place, biding their time in their simple uniforms of blue-grey. So it was here as well; if you strained your eyes, you could make out a few dark shapes lurking in the forest.

Eugene moved nothing but his head, turning to utter a few words to his subordinates. The black shadows then noiselessly disappeared - all, to Eugene, apparently according to plan. He resumed his previous stance, as if nothing had happened at all.

I had always understood that Eugene's unit acted upon covert orders, but...the sight I happened to glimpse that day lingered in my heart and impressed upon it a certain sense of dread.

~*~

The rumors that confronted us when we returned to the manor should have been incredible.

Sion's defeated army, we heard, had reentered Alder territory and burned a village to the ground. The inhabitants had all been killed. Lord Cassalo was enraged and announced an invasion of Sion.

This was clearly strange. Sion's army had no reason to exact such revenge. The evidence amounted to some weapons and personal belongings from Sion troops left behind at the scene, but such items could easily be found after a battle, scattered about the battleground.

...Our battleground.

I quietly watched Eugene, who stood silently staring out the window.

The weather, I'd thought, had been getting steadily worse since morning, and before midday, a white mist had descended from the mountainside, covering everything in a thick, ashen blanket.

"This fog is trouble," muttered Cain, gazing at it through the window.

"But it could also be used to one's advantage," replied Eugene. Indeed, to the members of his Moonlight, who crept like shadows to snipe their targets, a thick fog would be their ally. The pale figure Eugene presented was itself kindred to the elusive mist.

"I hate this fog," growled Ka-Fai. Glinting with fierce red light, his almond eyes narrowed into a hard, cautious stare, and he peered into the mist ahead. He looked behind him - his sharp sixth sense, perhaps? For indeed, soon enough, from within the mist would emerge a new threat.

~*~

"Heyyy--! I saw somethin' weird out there just now!" cried Walter's voice as the boy ducked into the salon. Giovanni and Gerhard were there, where amusing themselves after dinner with a game of cards; Walter himself had been present until just a few minutes ago, when he'd left for his room. "There was some guy all in black with a hat on in the courtyard!"

I had been reading, but my head shot up with a gasp at this news.

"How much did you drink, boy!?" Giovanni laughed.

A now-irritated Walter insisted: "He was there! I saw him! If you think I'm lying, come see for yourself!"

"All right, all right, I'm coming. Now, what do I stand to win if I'm right?" With lithe movements, Giovanni rose from the couch and followed the black-haired boy out the doorway.

A little time passed.

I sat at the table in a daze. My eyes happened to meet those of Gerhard, whose rough hands had been fidgeting with the cards.

"W......what's wrong, boy?" I could see there was sweat on Gerhard's brow, too.

"I saw him." The words finally came out. "I saw the man in black.......Before, in Shiva, at midnight.....around the time that the manor was attacked." We both stood up as I spoke; the others had been gone a long time - too long. Why hadn't they come back yet?

I followed Gerhard out into the courtyard. The white mist lingered even at midnight, flowing like a thick liquid.

Walter's body was splayed across the cobblestone. "Walter! Hey--wake up!" Gerhard propped the boy up in his arms. He opened his eyes a little.

"Owowow--" Walter held his head.

Gerhard snapped: "What the hell happened?!"

"Gerhard...don't move him. Instead..." Just then, I spotted Giovanni's body in the center of the courtyard. I went to his side and tried shaking his shoulders. He gave a great cough, and his body jolted into consciousness.

"Wha--Giovanni?! Now what the hell happened to you?!" Gerhard ran to us.

"He's been strangled."

"......What?"

"I should know; I've done it enough myself. Turn him over and help him up so he can get some air in his windpipe."

"Eh?.......Ahhhh!" Gerhard turned Giovanni face up, supporting his slender back and neck.

"Uhhhh......!" Giovanni revived, albeit wracked by fierce coughs, . "He......he did it...!" He raised his left arm and pointed toward the roof of one of the buildings lining the courtyard. "......over there......"

"He flew up on the roof?" Giovanni nodded in response to Gerhard's query.

Walter ran up to us in a half-stumble. The boy had remarkable powers of recuperation. "Dammit! He must've gotten Giovanni after he smacked me! Rotten mother--just he wait!!"

"What's all this?" Kiefar had emerged from the door opposite the dining hall. Ka-Fai, too, showed himself a little while afterward.

"He got his neck wrung by some guy in black!" Gerhard answered for Giovanni, who appeared to be still in pain.

"Ohhh...fancy someone hating you that much!" Kiefar snickered.

"....Someone like you, I imagine!" Giovanni gave a terrific glare. "You've had it in for me ever since what happened in Siesta!"

"Since what happened?" Kiefar played the perfect angel. But it wasn't in his nature to overlook being disrespected in front of Lord Leviath.

Ka-Fai began to make a search of the ground nearby.

"Finding anything?" Kiefar approached with a lordly gait. Ka-Fai silently pointed to the trunk of a huge tree in full leaf. "Ahhh, I see. So he climbed that to get up on the roof..."

"The man couldn't have weighed much."

"Like you?"

"What are trying to say?" This time, it was Ka-Fai and Kiefar glaring at one another.

In the meantime, Eugene and Cain had arrived from the dining hall side. "What in God's name happened here?" Cain asked Giovanni, kneeling on the ground.

"That's what I'd like to know," he managed in a hoarse voice, holding his neck.

"A guy dressed all in black attacked us and ran up on the roof!" Walter pointed to the mist-shrouded sky. He had already regained much of his energy.

"A man in black...?" Cain looked at Kiefar. Their eyes met, then shot to me at the same time.

"I didn't see him tonight!" I replied, turning away from the many stares I suddenly felt on me.

"Then, our enemy might be once again be upon us, hm?" Eugene offered a cold opinion.

"That's right; alert the troops!" The two staff officers stood up, and everyone returned to the dining hall.

I approached Eugene. "Is Renaud still sleeping?"

"Yes." Eugene nodded.

"Hasn't he been sleeping a lot lately?"

"Mages expend a great deal of spiritual energy. They have to sleep more than others."

"Really?"

"Really." Eugene left, but I mulled over his words. If what he said were true, then what about Lord Leviath? My conversations with him had been limited in the times he'd been with us, but I'd gotten the impression that he barely slept at all. The lights were always on in his room, and I could see a tall figure constantly pacing throughout the night through the curtain on his window.

I looked up through the mist to the window of Lord Leviath's second-story chamber. There was a light on there tonight as well, and I could dimly make out Lord Leviath's figure through the haze. The sight put my mind at ease somewhat.

But in the next instant--

~*~

The room went up in flame with a bang, as if a huge amount of gunpowder had been detonated.

The shock wave blew me back. Some time passed before I could open my eyes.

The white mist had disappeared. The portion of the manor where the room had been was gone - gouged out - and covered with thick smoke.

My ears were ringing, and my field of vision gradually drowned in pitch black.

And then......I lost consciousness.

9
Confrontation

When I came to, my eyes met a ceiling covered in faint darkness.

Was it day or night? Probably twilight, as the midday warmth still lingered.

"Sionna! ......H, his eyes are open, Eugene!"

"Shhh...quiet, now."

At the head of my bed here Renaud and Eugene...no, not just them. There were several people peering at me from my bedside. I was a little shocked.

"Sionna, you gotta be hungry. I brought 'cha some fruit; want some?"

"Walter, the boy hardly eats. Stop pushin' fruit on 'im."

"'Don't do this,' 'don't do that' - you sound like a nurse!"

"I'm the nurse?! You're the mother hen, with all your fussin' over 'im!"

"Ha ha ha! That's a laugh, Gerhard--!"

"The hell you sayin'?!" And in the next instant, there was a huge fight.

Then the door opened, and someone walked in. From the footsteps, I recognized him as Cain.

"Sionna, are you awake?" It was indeed Cain. He looked down at my face with what appeared to be a bit of concern.

"Cain......what happened to Lord Leviath?"

Cain stared at me. From his lips came an unbelievable response. "The entire room was blown apart. There would be no body. Sion and Norma are attacking; they know our leader is gone. In a little while, we're going to have to make preparations to fight."

"Impossible...!" I stared at Cain's cold expression. No emotion appeared there.

"H, he's right!" Renaud took my left hand in his two warm ones. "Until the battle's over, it's true - that Lord Leviath's gone, I mean."

I covered my face with my right hand. "What...how...?!"

"Are, are you shocked, Sionna?"

"Yes, I'm shocked! I thought I was going to pass out again!" I thought everyone was going to laugh, but they didn't.

"You made the same face I did, Sionna, when I heard the news! Gets me right here, I gotta say. Dunno why!" Walter said. The look on his face made it plain that he was not joking. The others also regarded me with expressions that were deadly serious.

Did I look that shaken? When I first heard of Lord Leviath's feigned death, I thought I myself would die - not of grief, but of despair. Even now when I thought of it, there was a pain in my chest as if I were being strangled - even though no previous death had inspired in me such a feeling. Was some sort of change taking place inside me?

"I'm sorry, Sionna. I didn't mean to frighten you," Cain said in his usual soft voice.

I paused briefly and then asked: "Who was in Lord Leviath's room?"

"A body double. Kiefar and I both have given a great deal of thought to the situation since the attack in Shiva. And this makes the third... The time for us to sit idly by and be played for fools has passed."

Shiva and Yah Ma, and now Kaliari...our unknown foe had found out our location every time. Lord Leviath and his staff officers were attempting to counter him, it seemed.

"It's the man in black, isn't it?"

"Yes. I cannot say he is unconnected."

I thought back to the figure I saw, standing with its hair and cape fluttering in the wind. Diving off that precipice into the depths below...what had been his objective? I couldn't fathom why he had been there then...what he meant to accomplish there.

Was...was he our true enemy?

~*~

With the onset of the cold season, Kaliari's three great powers clashed on the fields of Alder.

Kiefar's original plan was probably to take more time, play the armies against each other, and wear them down gradually. Being Kiefar, though, he was naturally able to turn the unexpected development of the attack on Lord Leviath to his advantage. Secret messengers had been coming and going from the manor constantly, and we had promised both Norma and Sion that we would switch allegiances once the battle began.

We stared at the battle from our appointed positions on the field. With Lord Leviath's position vacant, we had only Kiefar and Cain left - and no one had been told where they had gone.

"Hey, you think...you think the boss is really all right?" Gerhard muttered with a rare lack of confidence.

"What're you sayin', Gerhard?" Walter's voice seemed to wither as he spoke.

Giovanni put the nail in the coffin. "Well...you never know, with Kiefar. He wouldn't think twice about pulling the wool over our eyes."

"Lord Leviath's just fine!" Everyone turned around at this pronouncement. "It's clear to us." Eugene put his hand on Renaud's back and nodded.

"W, whaddaya mean?"

"Guess you didn't know, did ya, Walter? Eugene and Renaud can tell when there's magecraft around - sense its presence. ...Hey, come to think of it - you can't tell where Lord Leviath is, can ya?"

"He usually dampens his aura, so we can't quite ascertain his exact whereabouts."

"Whaat? Some good you are, then!" Walter snapped, whipping his head away. But his expression held a hint of joy.

"Well, they said he's all right, so what's there to worry about!?" Gerhard bared his white teeth.

Just then, we heard the cries of battle from the front lines.

~*~

Our task was simple. One by one, each unit would disperse to various points on the battlefield...and do nothing.

So as not to arouse suspicions, we took up only positions that were difficult to defend. Since we had communicated our intentions to both of the invading armies beforehand, they didn't even attack us. Our mercenaries were completely transparent in our movements.

Of course, attacked from both sides, the Alder army was torn to pieces, but Ka-Fai's unit rescued Lord Cassalo just before his fortress fell and facilitated his escape. Cain and Kiefar immediately headed with the defeated generals for Talissa's castle. And so Alder fell into our hands. It was only a matter of time before all of Kaliari did as well.

~*~

By the time we had gotten back to the manor and finished dinner, night had already fallen.

I thought Gerhard and his crew would go crazy with not having fought, but they were quiet tonight. Since his experience in Yah Ma, I suppose they now understood that they'd get to go on a rampage sooner or later.

Renaud and Eugene retired to their rooms. I myself left the dining hall for a while as well, but the clamor of the daytime battle still rang in my mind, and I couldn't sleep. I took the book I was reading and left my room, taking a seat by a window that looked out upon the courtyard. The light, I noted, was better in the dining hall than it was in my own room. A servant brought me tea, and I spent a while immersed in my book.

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked up.

I was just in time to catch the sight of a black cape fluttering softly to the ground.

Without thinking, I snapped to my feet and cried out. Perhaps noticing from the shifting of the light, the shadow wreathed in black turned around. Disheveled long, black hair peeked from beneath his wide-brimmed hat, and his eyes glinted like a cat's in the darkness.

Just then, as if to block my view, another shadow dropped down from above. His body crouched low as he touched down, and righted itself as smoothly as silk.

It was Ka-Fai. From behind, I saw him run for the door opposite the dining hall. The man in black had bolted; Ka-Fai followed him and disappeared behind the door as well.

I called to the three figures hunched around the card table. "It's the man in black!...Ka-Fai's chasing him!" Everyone tensed and shot to their feet at once, their chairs clattering to the floor.

"Where!?"

"That way!" I pointed, and Gerhard burst out of the dining-hall door with all of his considerable might.

~*~

At either end of the corridor beyond the door lay two rooms that usually went unused. If you turned left, you would eventually reach a staircase that led up to our rooms. When we arrived, we saw a pale-haired young man leaning against the railing.

"Eugene! Which way'd he go!?"

"...upstairs!" Had the man in black attacked him? He was sheet white and could say no more. The three men ran up the staircase, and I followed.

Counting from the front, the upstairs rooms had been assigned to Renaud, Eugene, Cain, and Kiefar, with Lord Leviath's half-ruined room at the very end. There, the moonlight shone through the crumbled walls, casting the shadow of a human figure against the opposite end of the corridor. We ran up to the room's entrance and stood stunned in the doorway.

Ka-Fai, knife in hand, was facing off against the man in black. The obsidian figure stood out against the pale moonlight like the darkness itself. The confrontation was eerie and noiseless - an unreal sight.

Ka-Fai closed the difference between his opponent slowly, looking for an opening.

He slashed with his sharp knife. The figure flickered and returned in kind. It was as if he weighed nothing at all.

There was a breathless exchange of blows - but then the shade glided noiselessly forward and grabbed Ka-Fai's arm.

"Uh--!" Ka-Fai dropped his knife; he was thrown to the floor. As possessed by an unseen force, his right arm began to convulse.

Still watching his opponent, the man in black slowly began to back away. But there was nothing behind him.

He fell. Just like before.

We approached the edge of the floor, but looking down from our vantage point, we saw nothing among the shrubbery and cobblestone below. ...Had he vanished?

"Hey, you okay?" Gerhard held out his hand, but Ka-Fai said nothing and stood silently on his own. He grimaced as he held his right arm.

"Gotta be pretty stiff competition to give you a hard time," Giovanni said, a smirk on his face. Saying nothing in response, Ka-Fai walked to toward the corridor. He passed by Eugene, who had caught up with us. The two exchanged glances for but a moment. Then Ka-Fai disappeared.

"Just who is he, that man in black?" Giovanni picked Ka-Fai's knife up off the floor, toying with it in his hand.

"H--hey!! We gotta get after 'im!" Walter shouted, having snapped back to reality.

"No use if no one can catch him, hmm?" For some reason, Giovanni directed his reply at Eugene. Eugene lifted his head and was about to speak, when--

~*~

A stream of fire erupted from the dining hall below.

~*~

The blast from the explosion battered the unadorned walls and threw everyone to the rubble-strewn floor. In a split second, Gerhard was upon me, covering me with his own body. The spot where I had been standing was consumed by roaring flame.

This was no ordinary fire. ...This was a magecraft attack.

"Dammit! He already got us!" Giovanni's sharp gaze and pale face were tinged orange in the light of the blaze.

"Hurry up 'n' put it out!! Can you stand, boy?!"

"Yes...thank you."

Gerhard patted me on the head and rushed away. Walter and Giovanni both followed him. Only a dazed-looking Eugene and I were left behind.

The pillar of flame billowed up behind us. "Eugene, we have to get out of here!" I went up to him, and he looked at me with hollow eyes. "The fire's coming this way..." I took him by the sleeve and shook him.

Eugene suddenly came to. He turned around. "...Renaud!" He rushed straight for Renaud's room and flung open the door.

Little Renaud should have been sound asleep in bed. But there was no one there. The room was lightless and still as death. Eugene stood stunned for a moment, then slowly sunk to the floor.

10
The Rightful Heir

Renaud had disappeared.

Our troops, led by Leviathan's gang of former pirates, had somehow managed to put out the fire by the time half the manor had burned. Once the casualties had been accounted, the search began for the missing...namely, Renaud.

We scoured every corner of the manor and its grounds, but no trace of him could be found. Widening our search would have to wait till dawn. The possibility that he had been consumed by the fire was on everyone's minds, but no one gave it voice.

Before we realized it, Eugene had also disappeared.

With Lord Leviath's whereabouts unknown and the two staff officers away, issuing orders to our entire body of troops proved difficult, but Gerhard and Giovanni joined forces to rise to the task.

Night was already falling when we gathered in one of the rooms on the first floor of our half-burned manor to hear the situation reports from our subordinates. Everyone, as expected, looked drained.

"...And here I thought he was Eugene." Giovanni suddenly spoke, and we all were confused.

"Huh? Who was, Giovanni?"

"That man in black! The one who choked me." He put a hand to his neck, as if it still pained him. "Just a feeling I had. Guess it was far off the mark."

Ka-Fai, who had been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, slowly lifted his lids to reveal a glint of crimson beneath. "Not that far," he stated in an emotionless voice.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was chasing him before, I had already made a search of the first floor. No burglar willingly flees to higher ground. While I was doing so, Eugene came down the staircase. He said he'd run into the man upstairs. That's when I saw him."

"You're sayin' he had time to change places with 'im?" Walter was quick to catch on.

"Wait...change places with who?" Ka-Fai fixed Gerhard with a hard stare in response to his question.

"Someone whose skills were on par with your own." Giovanni's expression was now deadly serious.

"Yes." Ka-Fai nodded, and no one had anything more to say. The revelation hit us all - but no one understood what was going on. No, not even me. There was no reason for any of us to cause each other harm.

~*~

It was almost dawn, but we decided to rest for a bit to prepare ourselves for the upcoming day. We still had a war on our hands, after all.

My room was in shambles through its baptism in flame, so I had moved to another room that had been prepared for me. I lay down on a brand-new bed, and my thoughts turned to Renaud - and Eugene's lifeless eyes.

~*~

I had been right there - and yet I understood nothing. I could do nothing.

Even though I probably couldn't have saved him at any rate.

But it was my fault - for not taking an interest in anyone else.

I didn't try to see anything. And I realized nothing.

I regretted it. But it was too late.

~*~

I put my hand in my pocket and took out the magestone control device. Renaud had divided his power and shared it with me - out of concern for me. To help me. I closed my hand tightly around the device.

I pushed the button and released its power. "Please...take me to Renaud...!"

~*~

I had never wished for anything so badly in my entire life.

A teardrop fell on the back of my clenched fist.

The magestone would work only as well as I concentrated, so...

~*~

My knees ran cold beneath me, and I came to with a gasp.

It seemed as if I were kneeling on a dark stone floor. I looked up and saw a ceiling of thick, interlocked logs and wooden beams.

It was the chapel. The pews were all in their proper rows before my eyes. I had teleported behind a pillar near the entrance.

There was a light on the altar. The interior of the chapel was faintly illuminated by candlelight.

I noiselessly stood and peered out from the spot I occupied behind the pillar. What I saw took my breath away.

Renaud was lying face up on the altar. Behind it stood Lord Leviath - a coal-black figure, a ragged shred of darkness. And before the altar, kneeling and head bowed, I saw Eugene.

~*~

"Forgive me - forgive me, Lord Leviath..." His voice was trembling, and he was crying. "You knew everything...but said nothing. I took advantage of your silence and thus placed you in danger many times. I cannot atone for this crime, even with my death."

Lord Leviath stood noiselessly, as if even his breathing had stopped.

"I wanted only to save Renaud. I tried all possible means, but in the end...there was nothing I could do." Eugene raised his head, as if to shake off his confusion. "I do not know your great ambition, but I know that we are a hindrance to it. I will end my life along with Renaud's. You will see this done...!"

Lord Leviath stared hard at him. His lips parted, and from within issued one word. "No."

Eugene was beside himself with panic. "Why...why?! Then Renaud will...you will...!"

"I will not permit my followers' lives to be stolen from me so easily." He walked around the altar and, passing by Eugene, intoned: "We are bringing Renaud with us. Understood?"

Eugene hung his head in supplication. "......Yes!"

~*~

The door flung open before Lord Leviath could reach the entrance.

"Lord Leviath!" Cain and Kiefar came rushing in.

Lord Leviath's eye narrowed as he regarded the two; its emerald light shone brilliantly even in the darkness. "So Kiefar found me, did he?...Yes, I remember the cave from nine years ago."

The two staff officers exchanged glances. They then caught sight of Eugene and Renaud in the chapel. Their faces stiffened.

Cain held out a hand and pointed to the altar. "Renaud - is he...?"

Lord Leviath gave a chuckle deep in his throat. "Don't worry - he's not dead. He's simply in a deep sleep. He's be back to normal once the effects wear off."

"What are you saying?! Please explain yourself, Lord Leviath!"

"Is it true that Eugene there was the man in black?" The staff officers bombarded Lord Leviath with questions.

Lord Leviath was dispassionate as always. "...It was a simple matter. Renaud's magic power is too strong, and would on occasion shatter my force fields. This would in turn alert the emperor's mages to our location from time to time."

"What!?" Kiefar shouted. His face was white.

"So then, the previous attacks indeed have been the work of the emperor?" Cain, too, was shaken.

Myself, I didn't understand what they were saying. The Emperor's mages? Even if they did know our location, why would they attack Lord Leviath?

Heedless of these questions, Lord Leviath continued his explanation unconcerned. "Renaud's magic power was at its strongest at night, when he would sleepwalk. He would regularly walk to the chapel, disperse his magic power there, and then collapse. Eugene knew this and took on the guise of the man in black to cover up his movements, and gave him sleeping medicine in an attempt to contain his power. ...As you see, it was not successful."

The staff officers were silent.

At last, Cain knelt before Lord Leviath and bowed his head. "I beg of you...please, find a way to spare Eugene and Renaud."

Upon hearing this, Kiefar lifted his eyes. "What are you saying, Cain? These are dangerous individuals! We have no option but submit them to military discipline and punishment!"

"If we do so, then Sionna will be gravely hurt. I myself am incapable of demonstrating my love for that child. I cannot bear for him to lose his beloved friend as well...!"

My heart tore in two at his words.

He was wrong. I had always felt Cain's love. I simply had never been alive enough to understand the debt I owed him! I felt a desperate urge to cling to him and beg his forgiveness.

Kiefar laughed through his nose and sneered. "Well, isn't this special! You're disqualifying yourself, then, from your position as staff officer?"

"I know we cannot take them with us, but at least spare their lives...!"

"They're coming with us. Both of them." So Lord Leviath declared.

It was the staff officers' turn to be speechless.

"My decision is final!" With a flap of his cape, Lord Leviath left the chapel.

"Please, wait!"

"Lord Leviath!" They both ran after him in a fluster.

Eugene, too, stood once more and began to make for the exit.

His legs looked as if they would give way beneath him. I came out and lent my support to his sagging frame.

"Sionna." Eugene looked back at me with a haggard face. His eyes looked as always like two cold moons, but they were wet with tears. "I was lying to you all this time. Please forgive me."

I gave a firm nod of my head. "I'm the one who should apologize. I pretended to be your friend, but I didn't really act that way to you or Renaud..." As we staggered to the door, I gave voice to words even I myself couldn't believe I was saying. "...and so, from now on, I'm going to be a real friend to you both. I'll protect Renaud, too. I won't ever let him be killed!"

"...Thank you, Sionna." Eugene placed a hand on my shoulder, and I felt the warmth emanating from him. I still didn't understand the meaning of life. I probably never would. But here, we were all like little ships launched into a mighty river, carried along with the current. No one knew where we were or where we were going. We just knew that we never wanted our voyage to stop. And right now, I just wanted to float along together with everyone...

~*~

The night sky loomed indigo above the chapel. A full complement of stars swathed the heavens above.

Cain and Kiefar were on the staircase near the chapel entrance, looking up at the skies. Lord Leviath was there, too, in the front garden.

They were all gazing at the stars together. What was in their minds? I wondered.

I suddenly saw the other Knight Captains running up to us. Giovanni was in the lead, then came Walter, Gerhard, and Ka-Fai.

"Lord Leviath! Where've you been all this time?!"

"Good to see you're OK, boss!"

Everyone was chattering and happy at their reunion with Lord Leviath. He looked at them each in turn, then turned to Cain and the rest of us behind him. He then laughed.

"It's just like that night. I should renew my vow."

Cain gasped, and his face went white. "Lord Leviath, you can't.....!"

But Lord Leviath took no heed. His fingers went to the band of cloth that covered one eye and ripped it off.

Giovanni and the others who stood before him yelped in alarm.

Lord Leviath slowly turned his gaze back toward us...and...

We saw an eye of gold. It shone even more brilliantly than his green one, with an even greater bewitching charm.

But no one had eyes that color but...!

"My name is Leviath Ragna Alviss. The very Leviath who is the rightful heir to the Emperor's throne.

I had a reason for hiding from you until now my true name and the proof of my royal heritage. Though I was born the true heir to the throne, all was stolen from me, and I left the court. In those long years since, I've been laying the groundwork for a revolution to take back all that I had lost. To reclaim what is rightfully mine - to reclaim this very universe...!"

No one could grasp what he was saying. It was beyond our wildest imaginations. But Lord Leviath's innate royal bearing cast any doubts aside.

"And I have chosen you. You have been deemed worthy to share my fate. No matter what happens, you have my confidence until the day comes that we storm the palace gates." Lord Leviath's vow soared to the night sky.

"Never will we know defeat! Not now - not ever!"

Gerhard and Ka-Fai threw their fists in the air and cheered.

Eugene leant against the chapel door. His tears fell silently.

I felt my own heart surge with warmth. I had another revelation - that Lord Leviath's great and limber wings of black would always be over us, protecting us.

For the first time in my life, I really felt the strong ties that bind us together, one to another.

I drew near to Cain, felt for his fingers, and gave his hand a firm squeeze.

Cain's silver eyes were filled with a great, gentle light. He gave my hand a squeeze in return.

That's right. We would never know defeat.

I would never forget this night.

The night we were assembled together beneath wings of black, united as one until the end of our long battle.

END

Afterword: A Call from a Distant World

The first time I saw them, they held nearly no special attraction for me at all.

They were enemies in an RPG, midbosses. On the outside - but only on the outside - they had assumed the forms of the Guardians. They were a little scary, but they were meant as mere obstacles to your progress - just bumps in the road.

...Meant to be, anyhow, but their words and deeds revealed clear glimpses of character, and, like many players, I couldn't help but to take to them. And above all, what kind of person was this self-proclaimed Emperor Leviath who had assembled a band of such fervent followers...what had happened in this war that took place in his home universe? These questions floated through my mind; I just had to know the answers. An idea came into my mind for a gaiden novel.

In a snap, it was decided that I myself would write it, and my plans were made reality. To be honest, though, I didn't yet completely understand Leviath and his nine subordinates. With the game's settei collection in hand and the deadline closing in, I began my writing with an AAAAAAH!, and then it hit me. You could say my own journey began the moment I decided to open the story through Sionna's eyes. The moment they called, from the past - called me to another world.

Until now, the world of Angelique had depicted only pure and noble characters. But born in a universe without a queen, wouldn't they lead a somewhat more lowly, imperfect existence, more down-in-the-dirt and uncertain? When I looked at them, I saw a bit of myself, and a bit of the world I inhabit. And so, hoping that the readers would feel the same way, I little by little continued to write.

Even so, the theme of the novel remained the same as that of traditional Angelique...paradoxical though it may be here, if everyone could leave within them just a little bit of courage and hope, if we could keep alive just a glimmer of faith within ourselves, how wonderful it would be. Just as with my other characters past and present, the inhabitants of this story have become like my own little darling children to me. I was writing the story for the gaiden CDs Sankuchuari no Kagami [Mirror of the Sanctuary, Gaiden 3] at almost the same time, and I think that if you listen to all four chapters of that as well, you'll get to have a deeper understanding of these characters (a little advertisement there).

Finally, on a personal note, this is my first commercially-published novel. I know I've been a bother to many people due to my inexperience. To my editors - and to Ms. Junko Taguchi, who drew deeply beautiful illustrations that far outstripped my work - I am truly grateful. And to everyone who bought this work, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I'll be looking forward to the day we can meet again - in the world of Angelique, or in their world.

- Midori Kusanada

Midori Kusanada
As an employee of Koei, scriptwriter for many of the scenarios of the Angelique drama CDs and scenario writer for the radio program Angelique Kiss Kiss Paradise. This is her debut as a novelist.

Junko Taguchi
Illustrator active in game character design. Known for her gorgeous illustrations for the covers of the quarterly magazine Duelist Japan (Hobby Japan) and Megami no Fuuin [Seal of the Goddess] (Satomi Kikawa/Chuokoron-Shinsha), among others.