Wild continued to row onwards. He heard the question that Jax asked but when Narome answered he chose not to listen. Wild didn't care about Narome's social life; he didn't like to make small talk to dead men. He judged most criminals by their worst qualities. For a few seconds all that could be heard was the gentle splashing of the water as the boat rocked side to side.

Jax dipped his hands into the cold water and washed off the dirt on his face before turning to Narome.

"I haven't had many friends in my life but the one I've had has always been there for me." Jax whispered looking towards Wild. "What about family? Someone close?"

As Jax waited for a reply he soaked his bandana in the river water and squeezed it dry.

"No, that's fine... I'd rather stand." stated Jayneway. "Anyway... I never had Drey figured as the sort to settle down... But here you are. Loving couple. I must say, I'm surprised. In a good way, I might add."

Especially with his line of work... she thought to herself, silently. 

DREY:

"Well." Drey gave a weak smile. "When you do what I do, you don't want anyone to know that you're married. It's complicated, to say the least." He shrugged.

Roxciel: (Darath + flashback)

In the blink of an eye, Roxciel reappeared in a deserted alleyway - in the the city of of Sabolin, in Darath. No one saw her appearance. No one should. It would catch too much attention. She needed some time to reorient herself to her new surroundings, and to gather as much information as she could. Roxciel closed her eyes can concentrated, she sensed the lay of the matter around her. In her mind, little dots formed familiar shapes and soon showed structure of the entire city. Not all of it was clear, but it was more than enough for her to make her way around.

She took a path to the main streets, where she would then blend in with the crowd. Not a soul loitered in the back alleys as she silently passed through, keeping a watch for anything unusual. Soon, as the main street was in sight, something caught her eye. Pasted on the walls was a wanted poster. It had no name, but the appearance of the man in it, along with the description, had an unnerving familiarity. It was, of course, a description of her brother that she saw within Mika's memories. She felt so close to her brother now, and yet so full of uncertainty. How much might he have changed? And was he even here as they guessed? She began to reminisce of the days she shared with her brother in the days of forgotten times...

[BEGIN MUSIC]
[0:05 (music starts)]
"Hey sis! What shall we be doing today? How about reading?" A young boy clad in simple robes gave pleasant grin.
"Huh? Reading? What's so interesting about that?"
[0:16 *]
Before their time began, they lived in innocence, their world ruled by the gods.
The twins cared little, they lived for their own world. And the gods will not stop them.
[0:38]
"Come on, it's not you have anything else to do right? They opened a library, there's loads of interesting stuff! Stories! Magic books! Everything! Here, look at this!" He held out a rolled script.
Cautiously, she took the script and read it. It was unreadable. "This... is from the library?"
"Nah, wrote that myself. But come on, let's go! Dad said he'd teach us anything we didn't know."
[1:01]
He grabbed her arm and took off towards the library. Consequently, he brought her there everyday.
They read a myriad of books, a variety of genres. Salfira repeatedly got tired of a book halfway and found another one, while Roxciel was captivated by the new worlds they presented and never put down a book until she finished.
[1:22 *]
"Sis, you wanted to learn magic right? Here, I just finished reading this." He offered a thick scroll to her.
"Hmm? It seems this would be the first time we would both finish the same book then." she beamed as she received the book.
[1:45 *]
Together, they created their magical world.
Yet, bound by the gods... they were not fulfilled.
And thus began their golden age.

[2:08 *]
For their magical world, they joined the rebellion.
With their eternal king, their world was limitless.
For they wielded the magic of the universe.
With their power, they began their reign.
[2:29 *]
"And so, Librarian. Here we stand, this is certainly a beautiful world isn't it?"
"Ah... Making fun of me again are you, brother? ...But it certainly is a beautiful world."
[2:51 *]
"That means we must protect it, along with humanity's unlimited potential. That is what we must strive towards, to allow it to flourish. What is gone can never be retrieved, it can only be created anew. Yet, all that passes through existence, will be recorded in the pages of history. Never to be forgotten, so that we may protect the future."
[3:35]
Alas, eternal as they were, their reign was not. The incident scattered the circle, now lost to the passage of time. Their name was now buried and forgotten in the books of history. The guilt was theirs to hold. The golden age was no more. What will the future hold?

[3:58]
...How could I forget? I am the Librarian. I am free to access the world's memory. All that passes through existence, will be recorded in the pages of history.
The locks on the inner compartment of her bag unlocked one by one, and a book came to rest in her hands. A magic circle appeared at her feet, and instantly, she was whisked to her secret garden. The inhabitants of the main street where none the wiser, for they could not see what just happened.

[4:24/End (Note: It actually ends just before the start of the last sentence. You may read faster though. Then it ends later.)]

Atlantis:

Aster returned the gesture with a grin.

"Good, good," He said, "This is wonderful... Alright, let's bust down this gate, and--"

As he spoke, something zipped through the air, burying itself between Atlantis and Aster. Atlantis leaned over to inspect it-- it was an arrow, finely made, with a polished tip; and a hissing bomb attatched to it.

"Ack!" Atlantis cried, hurling it away just as it was about to explode. The arrow hit the gate, bursting into flame.

Immediately, the guards took notice, and began casting shield spells-- only to fall halfway through, arrows in their arms and knees. 

Aster's pupils shrank. "Oh dear."

Atlantis looked around in fear, unsure of what was happening. "Wh-what do you mean? What's happening?"

Atlantis couldn't help but panic-- what if that Darathian General had  figured out who he was and had decided to come after him? That would not be good... What had he been thinking, starting a fight in the middle of the streets!?

But Aster seemed far more frantic-- he wasted no time running through the now-rupture gate as more arrows rained in from behind them.

"Hurry! Get in here!" He cried, "Unless you want to end up like that ghost girl!"

It took Atlantis a second to figure out what he meant-- then a second bomb-arrow struck a tree nearby, and he suddenly decided that retreat was the best idea. He ran into the compound as the tree exploded, nearly tripping and falling face-first into one of the chasms.

"Hurry!" Aster cried, strapping a rope to himself and jumping in, "Get in before she catches up!"

"What about the ghost girl?"

"She'll be fine; it's us living folk that need to worry! Now hop in before you end up as a pincushion!"

With a final glance back, Atlantis grabbed a rope and tied it around himself, then hopped into the gaping maw of the mines.

Margaret sighed as arrows flew towards her and exlosions popped everywhere. "Gee, thanks guys! Glad I chose to stick with you two! Honestly, ditching a fair lady such as I alone on a battle field...Disgraceful." She began moving slowly towards where Atlantis and Aster escaped. "And here I thought we could even be frie-" She was interrupted by a harsh stinging sensation. One of the flying arrows went right through the red ring of her neck. She hadn't felt so much pain for a long time. She collapsed to the floor, coughing. As she fell, a group of guards surrounded her.

"Huff...huff...How...DARE you harm me! I hope you're ready to pay your debts, because my debts require very HARSH payment!" A blue flame began swirling around her as she got up, her feet floating only inches off the ground. She held her amrs out, and the flames epanded and went towards each guard. They began to scream and trip, their hair and clothes burning. Margaret laughed loudly. "Aw, did I play a little too hard? I didn't mean to damage the dolls! Well, I'm sure I can fix them..." With a snap of her fingers, the flames died out, and the guards collapsed, exhausted. "Somebody make sure to replace the batteries. okay~?" She gave a wink before darting through mines after Atlantis and Aster.

???:

Amidst the forest surrounding the Mines, a figure smiled at the chaos unfolding. It quietly nocked three arrows into its bows, then, with an expert hand, released them into the final three guards, dropping them as they attempted to cast their shielding spells. The archer couldn't risk letting any more guards get their magic up, otherwise it'd be a pain to get in.

With a dark grin, the archer turned its eyes on the man called Aster. It quietly picked out a very "special" arrow, flicked a small match, lighting the fuse, and shot it in-between the man and his companion. For a few seconds, she continued slinging arrows, cutting down the guards one by one (never killing them, always aiming for non-vital areas) and tossing in a few exploding arrows every now and then.

However, one of the arrows had passed through an odd red ring of sorts... And suddenly, a girl wearing red ribbons around her began setting the remaining guards alight... The figure's eyes widened. Could this be what the archer had been looking for...?

But there was no time to think of that now-- The hunter's prey was slipping away. With a grim smile, the archer slung the bow back over their shoulder, and began to walk towards the mining compound. As they did, the light began to illuminate the figure.

Short green hair, falling down to her ears, a long, raggedy brown jacket, the sleek black bow slung over her shoulder, and a menacing broadsword slung across her back...

Her name was Aurora Wintergreen. And she'd come to collect her due.

"I haven't had many friends in my life," began Jax, "but the one I've had has always been there for me. What about family? Someone close?"

Narome turned his head to the side, watching the greenery pass behind them. Despite the constant rocking of the boat, Narome felt very still. It was almost as if it were not the boat that was moving, but the entire world around them. He brought his gaze back to the cold wooden floor. Family... someone close. The unforgettable faces of his monk village resurfaced in his mind. The faces he would never see again. That era had passed, and Narome would never know what became of his friends. The Tondoe Menace took a deep breath before deciding on his reply.

"Not anymore."

As the two former prisoners delved deeper into the vast maze that was the dungeons of Grathal, the power Ewyn felt grew stronger and stronger. As they rounded a corner, suddenly an overwhelmingly powerful wave of telepathy surged from the hall ahead and made contact with both of them. As it hit them, both of them heard one word in their minds at a volume that would be deafening had it been spoken aloud:

COME

As they looked ahead, they could see a wall at the end of the hall. It was no merely ordinary wall, however. It looked particularly poorly constructed. A few bricks were missing altogether, and there were visible cracks and spaces between those that were still in the wall. And from behind the wall, visible due to all the imperfections, was a vague glow of green light.