Verfys

Dear Tallion, It's been a while. I hope Ionolia is safe and i am sure it is in good hands. The Continent is slowly rebuilding and i am almost done with my tasks here. I have seen some of my old friends, and got to eat some very very tasty snakes. It's been nice to be home but i will be leaving soon.   There are many things to be done and i think my holiday is over. It's time to pick up my old swords and go back to fighting. I have been worried about those undying elves and what they are going to plan next. I cannot just ignore this anymore. The evil that we saw that night is not completely gone, and it will probably come back one day. I can't stop that from happening, but at least i can help to not be as worse.   Just in case you do not hear from me again, please tell the others i miss them. Please take care, i am not sure those demons are done with us just yet. I don't know much about what has been happening with the rest, but i knew that if i sent my follower to Ionolia, they will find you there. I have given him a snake for you, so that you know this letter is really from me.   Yours forever friend, Verfy the Fire Elemental

Dear Diary, It’s been a long while! I have been well, and I hope the others are the same. Not long after that Night, we all went our separate ways. I’ve stayed in the Continent, to help people slowly rebuild but i am preparing to leave soon. It’s been very quiet around and I feel I am much needed elsewhere.   I never got to write about that Night when the world was saved and Xantinya died. Maybe it was because there are no words I know that can describe what happened. Nixie would be much better at this. Or maybe, I never made peace with the fact that our journey was over. To be fair, I dearly miss every part of it. But now, I am headed to a new journey, one of my own. And just in case I never make it back, I want to leave something behind, something that will make people remember. The worlds may be at peace now, but true evil is never completely gone.   I guess, That Night was the happy ending we all hoped for.   The memories of what had happened are still confused in my mind to the point i hope i remember them right. It was night when Kamarad took us by the castle in Haj et Laon. We said one last prayer together before we got out of the chest. It was a fool’s hope to believe that all of us will make it out of there but I prayed with all my heart that everyone that followed us till here will get to see the ending.   Our presence was of course expected by no less than a whole army of undying elves. Before the fight started, we had only but a moment to breath while the undying elves were taking Haldic’s body away. Then every passing second became a life and death battle for us. We all knew our plan, but the enemy never ceases to surprise us and evil never rests. So while Vas, Bart and Nixie were trying to get us to the tower’s gate, we found ourselves facing the other interdimensionals. In the end, they answered to Lullaby’s call, but not as friends. I do sometimes wonder what Sikorki would have thought if he was still here. I do think it’s sad that people that once fought together, to turn against each other until none of them are left. Bajid and Jevian died at the hands of his long-ago companions, who followed them no long after. In the end, even the interdimensionals that came after us, turned against each other.The worst part is, at the end of the day, there was good in each one of them, just like there was good in Haldic and the woranians. The story of the interdimensionals is not a happy one, it’s full of pain, war and betrayals, but it is still thanks to them that we have made it this far. So no matter what any of the others say, I do hold immense respect and admiration for each one of them and I probably will for the rest of my life. If you ever meet one, dear diary, be aware. They’ll either be your greatest allies or your deadliest enemies.   We couldn’t fight all of them, the bad interdimensionals and the undying elves. And just when we thought that it’s the end of our fight, from not far, an old friend came literally blasting to our rescue. After all, no one does an entrance like that better than GhiGhi. One huge fire blast here, one huge fire blast on the other side, and like that GhiGhi made his way through the whole army of undying elves. How I missed this guy! And so, with Ghighi and Lullaby protecting us, we finally managed to get at the entrance of the imposing tower.   You thought the undying elves army was a problem? Well, wait and see what was inside of this place. If the 8 undying elves, sons of the worst demons were not that intimidating, and if Xantinya herself was not scary enough, then definitely the huge Xenatine block at the end of the room would make anyone have shivers down their spine. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the incredibly powerful purple lightinings that xenatine was sending all over the room. You may find it funny dear diary but for us, the moment we entered that tower, we got one step closer to hell. What we’ve seen and felt are beyond my power to explain. We all thought we’re prepared for what was to come, but nothing in this world can prepare you for it. Everything you think you know about this world is being questioned. Even what you saw was so distorted that you didn’t know if the pillar in front of you was there or not. If not careful, that place would make anyone despair. And of course, the demons were watching, probably throwing a party while waiting to destroy us. At that point, it was more a fight with yourself than with the enemy. Every rational part of you was saying to get out of there and leave all that misery behind, but then it was the other part saying that we cannot leave the world to become the playground of a demon.   But, we didn’t need to talk to know that we’ll choose to fight till the last moment. It wasn’t going to be easy. Getting closer and closer, Alunelu and his friends were getting ready to kill each one of us. Some of them first jumped to attack Lullaby, while the rest of us were trying to gather ourselves and do something. GhiGhi was already gone and fighting another one of the undying elves. On another corner, Marc, driven by a crazy feeling, started running around the room like a lunatic attacking everything he saw and crying in despair. Of course, he was pushed back. It was pure chaos. Seeing Marc like that was a hard hit for everyone. In the back, Tallion was struggling to keep the barricade him and Lullaby created to protect us from the undying elves outside. We had to move on but everyone was losing their minds and we were running out of time.   The pressure was so much it got to some of us. Dillen, who couldn’t bare it anymore rushed charging towards the xenatine, in probably a desperate suicide attempt to end all of this. I managed to stop him in time, and calm him down, but in our foolishness, we didn’t notice we found ourselves right in front of Alunelu. And we would have been both dead if Eve didn’t see what’s happening and got ready to help us. Not that we had a choice but, it was time for phase two of our plan: Get the undying goo in the box.   The more I think about that Night, dear diary, the more I get overwhelmed by it. I am happy it finally ended, but I miss it all so much. I miss our journey, our time on the sea, our sunny nights in the chest, and I miss every one of my friends. I should be happy with a peaceful life here in the Continent, away from troubles and finally eating some good snakes, right? But I can’t make peace with it. It was by our ignorance that Xantinya got this far, and it will happen again. We keep pretending that having the undying elves sealed in a damaschinium box is gonna stop them forever. We keep ignoring the XY war that we left behind and we keep acting as if the evil is gone. It’s an Eternal War that we got involved in and by my oath, I have to fight. I don’t want to see it come true… I don’t want people to suffer like with did that night…The way Dillen and Drenizek….   So as I was saying dear diary, Dillen and me found ourselves face to face with Alunelu. We had to follow the plan, get the elves out of their armor and seal the goo into the box. But with all the attention on us, good luck surprising an interdimensional elf. Nixie was supposed to do the trick and remind them of what they lost, and for a second it worked, but it was not enough. I didn’t have time to think after that. The things we do to survive, the power we get in a situation like this cannot be explained. It’s the small flame inside that tells you to survive and keep fighting. Dillen, just as he was supposed to brought most of the elves in one place, Eve took them out of the armour and I I found myself doing some plane manipulation to stick the goo together. It’s been long since I used those powers, but I must admit it was fun.   We only got to see Damaschini putting the elves into a box before everything went black. I didn’t know what was happening. What was going on? I thought I died for a second. I was awake but everything around was black. I didn’t see anything, I couldn’t move, it’s almost as if I was not even there. But i did hear it. I heard Dillen ,somewhere alone in there, screaming in pain as if something was torturing him. I wanted to reach him but there was NOTHING there. NOTHING. I tried calling him, tried any way to reach him. But the shouts kept going and I couldn’t do anything   And bit by bit, second by second, the sound faded away   Then silence covered all.   And only then I realized that I will never see Dillen again and I started panicking. I was pulled out of there by Lullaby and found myself in front of the undying elves again. But I couldn’t put myself together. I am happy the others didn’t hear it. I came to hate silence because of it, especially at night when everything is dark. I sometimes remember Dillen’s cheeky smile just before he went to distract that monster of demon son, and I laugh at myself for being scared. The others told me, when Dillen died, the others saw thousands of Dillen’s shadow being killed and the heard the demons laughing.   Damn you bloody snake, you should have survived this, not me. Alunelu’s friend should have killed me not you. You knew that you were gonna get hurt as bait, but you did it anyways. That’s why you smiled before, didn’t you? Sneaky Snake. *sobs* But…I’ll miss you. And I’m so sorry Dillen, i’m so sorry i couldn’t be there with you, i’m sorry that in the dearest of time, i couldn’t have your back just like you had mine. And if anyone asks I will never admit it, but we did were the best team in our party. From here on, everything becomes blurry. Things were moving around me but I was not paying attention to anything. I couldn’t tell you what was going on or who was fighting who. I felt my sanity go away and I was close to just giving up. I tried remembering about everything, I tried to focus on the good things, to remember what I fight for. Nothing. All I hear was Dillen’s screams. And I would have probably died there if it wasn’t for Tallion.   He was somewhere in behind, keeping the barricade and fighting with us at the same time. I couldn’t see much but I did hear him say something funny to Xantinya and I felt like laughing for a second. It sounds stupid when I write it, but at that time, that little joke lightened my heart a bit. That’s what we always did. Being close to death all the time and still finding the power to smile.   You may wonder what happened with the Undying Box…Well Damaschini has been keeping it safe in Alomir. Do I think it’s a good idea to have it there? Probably not. But then again, the sons of the most evil demons are in there, so it is not safe to keep anywhere.   We fought and fought and kept fighting. Each one of us had their own enemies to face. We sealed some of the undying elves, but we still had to fight the others. Each clash between Xantinya and Lullaby felt as if it was about to destroy the whole room. In the meantime Nixie,Eve and Vas were having a tea party in hell with Balan. To be fair, I could explain the whole fight and make it sound as a joke. At the end of the day Marc, who had managed to calm himself down, kissed an undying elf to distract it while the rest of us were trying to get close to the xenatine. It does not help you, dear diary, to understand what really happened, but it does make it easier for me to write it.   But this was just the beginning…   Perhaps one day, dear diary, I will tell you the whole story on how Kelly and Gilders helped us destroy the xentaine, how Vas with his powers made light in that chaos and helped us stay sane or how Lullaby defeated Xantinya while carrying poor Rafil in that battle. I could fill a whole diary just with stories about this fight. But, today is not that day. I need more strength to bring myself to talk about the rest.   Just know, in the end Xantinya unleashed her whole powers and tried to destroy us in an impressive blast but in the last seconds our common efforts to resist saved our lives. She did die by the hands of Damaschini and I felt…indifferent about it. I didn’t hate her, but I did not wish for her to exist either. She did so much harm to everyone, she killed and hurt so many by using others. I should have been happy she finally died, I should have hated her for what she did. But, I felt none of those. I was just indifferent. I think Lullaby, out of everyone, understood Xantinya the best. I for one, didn’t. She was gone, and now we had to focus on what is yet to come. Lullaby wanted to sacrifice herself, to put an end to all this misery, but we convinced her not to. We fought all of this so that Rafil and all the others to not have to. Leaving him with no mother would have already caused more harm.   After all was said and done, we started gathering together. Gilders, Vas, Marc, Kelly, GhiGhi, Lullaby, Bart, Tallion, Eve, Damaschini, Miyun and Nixie. Out of all the people that I have written about in this diary, only us were alive. We lost Drenizek that night too. Out of all the moments, he decided NOW was the time to prove that I was right. Out of all the times, Now he finally understood that his selfish desire has always been his greatest strength. Could you have not waited with that? Could you have not just stayed alive one more day? Of course not! You HAD to fight that undying elf alone! You’ve always been stubborn, always sacrificing so the others can be happy! Well guess what, it’s no fun to be right if I can’t tell you “I told you so” *Sobs* But…no one had a stronger heart and harder punches than you. It’s been tough around without your voice, there is no one left to motivate us like you used to. Don’t worry Drenizek, the others are in good hands. And just in case….I told you so! And now it’s time to talk about our AMAZING NON EXISTENT plan to get out of that tower, cause an army of undying elves doesn’t just disappear in thin air. We had just seen the worst of everything, so we decided that the front door and another fight would not be as bad. Our of all the of undying elves, not one moved or even looked at us. They seemed stunned. Thousands of years of their work gone in one night. All their plans, all they sacrificed and lost, just for nothing. We didn’t exactly wanted to stay and find out if they would be friendly with us, so we just left as soon as possible.   It was past midnight when this happened. I would say we went to sleep but none of us was able to. We did it. At the time, I thought it’s over. I thought that the pressure was gone, the fight has ended, and the world will just rebuilt itself. But here I am, after almost one year, still thinking about it. It seems dear diary that it is not yet time for me to stop. I changed so much every since we started that I cannot go back to the happy days on the sea. I am not responsible for this world anymore, but I am responsible to help it with all that I was given. And I don’t mean the interdimensional powers, but the power to love and hope.   A lot of people don’t understand the miracle that happened the night after and probably many never will. Those stars, there were ships, thousands of them, full of undying elves that were ready to destroy our dimension. How and when they became shootings stars, will only the Almighty know. I don’t know what will happen to you, dear diary, or who will find you. But, if they are fighting as we did, tell them to keep making noise. No matter how hopeless a situation is, how alone you feel, there is always a way. Just have faith, hope and love. It may sound simple, but the evil will challenge you times and times again. We ended up being broken, hurt and some of us even blind. We lost people, we lost parts of ourselves. And i do fear that, just like the interdimensionals, one day we will be a threat for this world.   So do tell them this is the legacy we left behind, our story. Do let them learn from it for the evil will return and it will be their time to fight.   So dear diary, this is my last call at arms. You must make sure someone will answer it! “Eternal war upon the strong, For there lies home to which we long In the hall of Gods an empty blade Is empty Heart and Will not made”   It’s been a pleasure, dear diary, and wish me good luck.   Goodbye, The fire elemental Verfys

Dear diary, It seems that I had more time than expected so maybe I will write one more entry before we get to Haj et Laon. Plus, I was wrong. The end of this journey is not sad, not even one bit. Actually, if I would have written a story, I do not think I could find a better ending for this than the party we just had.   For the first time this immense burden managed to get to us. As any person in this world, we all have our own unspoken fights. Some fight their thoughts; others fight to understand the world better and some even fight their own wishes. But in the end that’s the beauty of it all. During hard times, every creature on this world becomes something else, better or worse. But what makes us humans is that we know what we once were,and, let us hope, we remember how to change back. Or as Marc put it, even now in this times of war, we can remember that we used to truly smile.   It’s really been some awful days. I did not feel so gloom since we were travelling through the Western Desolation. I haven’t stayed outside much on the way here, but from what the others told me, it’s awful. We stopped in Ionolia to get supplies for damaschinium but there was nothing much left of it. Last time we were here was long ago when we tried to talk with the council. Back then, there were still people walking around, doing nothing more than their usual routine, living a very peaceful life. Now, even Usa Laomis was a ghost town. Most of the buildings were destroyed and the ruins that were still standing were only sheltering fragments of the peace that once ruled these places. I am somehow glad that Eve didn’t see it because I know she would have suffered just as much as Tallion did. I wish that I could have made him feel better. But what was there to say? We have seen this destruction before, but when it’s your own home where you have so many memories of, I can only imagine it’s even more painful.   I got spared of this suffering. Although I don’t know if that is better or worse. After all, it’s been seven long years since I left, and even destroyed as it was, home was home. And even this time, I didn’t get to see any part of Flegen myself. I was so close to my home, but yet I still somehow managed to barely miss it. I wanted to ask Nixie that day to let me go on the dragon, but I quickly realized it was more important for us that she and Kamarad strengthen their bond. Plus, the crew and Bart probably feel the same I assume, so there was no need to bring this in discussion and ruin their moods after such a good fight. I do wonder sometimes if Tallion and Bart are ever going to see their families again. I’d like to meet them too.   Apart from our little stop in Ionolia, we had quite a safe travel. Anevys is usually keeping the guard outside and the rest of us spent our time training. Maybe it was from the sun that always shines in the chest, but I was beginning to get rather annoyed by this routine. Above that, I really didn’t like sleeping alone in a room. It was boring, but I had no choice since Nixie decided that she will only share her room with Kelly. So one night, I went to the crew and asked if I could sleep with them. It was all nice and cosy until I realized it was the middle of the night and Drenizek still didn’t come to sleep. Since I believe that sleep is very important for the survival on this fight, I went to look for him with Miyun. At first, I was sure we will find him in the garden being busy with their training, so I wasn’t very worried. But after we looked in there, then in the library and then everywhere over two floors, and there was no sign of Drenizek, I began to worry a bit. There was only one place he could have been. That cursed ritual room. We ran there and tried to get in, but the room was locked. I managed to peek inside, and I saw a small glimmering light inside. Since I couldn’t do anything, I sent Miyun to call Damaschini. He knew this chest better than almost anyone so I hoped he could help.   But to no avail. All we could do is wait until Drenizek would open that door. Minutes after, we heard a click and the door opened. Drenizek barely walking, paler than ever, and with a wound on his hand came before us. I really wanted to land a punch over his face. But, seeing him so weak, I decided it would only do worse. THAT FUCKING IDIOT. THERE IS ONE THING TO NOT TALK WITH US AND A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THING TO HIDE THESE THING FROM US. Does he realize what would have happened if he died that night, without anyone knowing? How the others would have felt if, a few days before the big fight, they would have found one of our own dead in this chest? And even if we let that aside, since it didn’t happen, if you have to hide something from your friends, does that not mean that it is something bad? And even if it wasn’t, I still couldn’t get the reason why he didn’t talk with us first.Nixie let Damaschini train there, with a bit of opposition indeed, but in the end she let him. I felt a bit hurt especially because I really thought that Tallion and him, out of all people, would trust me to tell these things. But the deed was done, and it was more important to see if Drenizek was alright.   From what he told me, he wanted to get rid of a future that he very much desires but cannot have. He wanted once and for all, to get rid of his selfish desires that he knew were not going to come true, and finally not feel embarrassed by them. And thus, he used that cursed room, to keep looking at that artifact until he could no longer see anything. To use the artifact, he used his own blood again and again and again which is why he looked so pale. Truth being told, I still cannot agree with Drenizek on this subject. In my mind, the desires we have, be them selfish or not, are part of us and we cannot escape them. Plus, if not for the selfish desire then how would you manage to create any kind of future that is not lonely? Do you not become friends with someone because you WANT to? So yes, dear diary, I may be selfish but it is our desires that sometimes keep as going. But, after long conversations with Drenizek, I have decided to let him be for now. If it is what makes him better, if he truly believes it is what he needs, maybe I should not be in the way. It was still not nice that he didn’t talk with me, but I guess we all have our little secrets.   I was curious how is Nixie was going to react to the news. After all, she really doesn’t like someone to undermine her powers. We learned that very well during another talk she had with Lullaby. It was rather early in the morning, and most of us were gathered for breakfast, when Nixie and Lullaby joined. Nixie, picked up a glass and slowly hit it with a spoon to attract our attention, just like a princess. She then had this grand speech of how she loved to be our Captain and she was very happy. It all sounded to me like she was about to give up the role and go on a holiday or something. In reality, she just wanted to let us know that, for this fight, Lullaby will be the one leading us. And Nixie said that with a bright smile on her face. And I have stayed with Nixie long enough to understand that she would not like any kind of decision of such. So behind her elf façade I was sure there was something going on. To not make the whole morning an entire fight, I decided to talk with Nixie in private. So, when I got a moment, I grabbed her and took her to a separate room.   “What’s wrong Nixie? Are you upset at something?” I asked. “No, Verfy! I am completely fine! I just had an epiphany!” se replied with the same smile on her face.   OF COURSE SHE DID! Just like every time she’s upset! Let’s hear what was THE EPIPHANY this time! To this day I still didn’t understand it because she couldn’t phrase it in a clear way. But it did not matter as much to me. I just wanted to make sure Nixie is alright. The others probably worried, also interfered. There goes my plan to not create a fight. All things considered; the discussion was quickly solved afterwards when Bart came back. After Nixie’s announcement, he made a funny joke, but Eve got mad, and people started to scream at him, including me. So he got upset and left so as soon as he came back I did apologize to him. Back to the Captain problem, maybe these days I just gave up on understanding people, because I sure couldn’t get why Nixie was so upset. It was just like in the kitchen. Isbel used to be the main chef for us, and no one ever questioned that, but when it was time to make Xebec’s birthday cake, she let me take the lead and only helped me from the side. Maybe it is wrong to compare the hardest fight we have with a cake, but the principle is the same, right? It’s not like now, Nixie wasn’t the captain anymore, just that she has delegated someone else to do her job. And then again, I do not mean to be rude or anything, but I wouldn’t have followed Lullaby as a Captain unless Nixie told me to do so. I trust Lullaby with all of this, but as promised there is only one person I would follow as my Captain. Either way, I had no problem with this.   Still, I do wonder sometimes why is it important who our captain is when the possible end of the world is only days away. For better or worse, by now we all know what each one of us has to do with no orders or anything. And if we really work as one, we will take the same decision together anyways. The responsibility no longer lies on the Captain, but on all our shoulders. After all, if one of us messes up, the whole world is doomed anyways. Then, I thought the Captain would be there to raise our morale. But let’s be honest here, Marc managed to do that better than any of us. Later while we were making plans, I figured it out. Lullaby, now in her position, got the courage to speak up more which she didn’t do before. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to upset Nixie. Still, at this point, everyone gets involved in the plans, despite Nixie’s ideas. And Nixie still upset probably realized that, as a Captain, she needs to be more involved. So in a weird way, both of them are using this role to motivate themselves for this fight. But, who am I to say anything? As long as the others are in good hands and we do all we can, I will be happy.   With this problem solved, we finally could focus on making a plan, or so to say some guidelines. As you already know, our main objective will be to destroy the stones that power the Haj Et Laon tower. Step 1 was to get to the tower as fast as possible. For that we needed to pass the undying elves. After a bit of debate, we have decided that our best option would be if Lullaby, using her planes power, would manage to make a corridor for us and taking the goo out of their armor. Before the fight, Vas would link Bart and Nixie together to think as one, and then after the corridor was done, Bart and Nixie would use their planes power at the same time to make us get straight to the Tower’s gate.   Step 2. Once inside, we would need to take care of the enemies that are there. Nixie, will try to make the undying elves feel something by trying to remind them of the difference of what they used to be and what they have become. In the meantime, Mr. Order will try to use their knives and planes manipulation to bring the elves together, so that Eve can use her sword to take the goo out of their armor. That’s where I come in. I have to use the whole entropy and my sword, to glue the goo together in a huge ball which then Damaschini will lock in a box of damaschinium. We might not be able to kill them but it will hold them for long enough, so we get to the stones. To make sure everything works smoothly on this part, we need all the enemies from the outside to stay outside. Lullaby will create this kind of plane manipulation dome to stop the undying elves from going through the walls. But, since she will be extremely busy to keep Xantiniya from killing us all, Tallion will have to hold the dome.   Step 3. We destroy the stones. I don’t exactly know what the plan for this step is, but from what I know. Kelly, Iz and Damaschini will create some timed damaschinium little bombs that we could send to the stones. I am still now sure what we will do after that, but I guess we will improvise.   Some things never change, and as far as I’ve seen, we like guidelines more than plans. I did have a few more questions, like how we are going to get out of there, or how will we manage to get in the Tower if it didn’t have a door because if I was Xantinya, I wouldn’t build one but why worry the others. In theory, every idea we’ve come with should work but I honestly doubt that. It’s not going to be that easy. For some steps we have managed to find a back up plan, so if Nixie can’t make the elves feel anything, then Vas will make his magical light which Eve will be able to empower. And if the thing with Nixie and Bart doesn’t work we can always run to the door, and Drenizek will keep our backs. But for some, we get one choice and one choice only. No breaks. No mistakes. And that was a bit unnerving. So, to at least get rid of some pressure, I just wanted to make sure that everyone is at least mentally prepared. So, I went to Lullaby and the others to talk about one threat that we never talked about: demons.   “Get your shit together, what else can you do?” they asked. I didn’t want to be annoying for always bringing up subjects like these, so maybe I was wrong, and the others didn’t need this. So I backed down. I must admit, I hate it. Whenever people shut me down like this I hate it. I know that everyone keeps telling me it's not true, but in times like this i don't believe it. I am not sensitive to many things, but this is one of them. Lullaby tried to be nice and tell me that we should talk about it but I doubt others felt the same. In the end, more convinced because Bart and I got upset and angry, we began talking about this.   “I haven’t seen you all smile in a while.” Marc said at some point. I stood a bit to think about it. Just like that all the pressure in my heart disappeared. He was right. We were so focused on the bigger picture that we didn’t see the small simple things that make us happy. We have been through much worse and never been so serious in our lives. So, maybe it was time to remember that we are not the great heroes of this world, but just a party of people. And from what I have seen, the others began to feel better as well, for a huge food fight has become in the kitchen. Poor Tallion was begging us to stop wasting the food, but it didn’t quite work. I didn’t really feel that recently. It was fun. And I also found a small reason to smile that day. I don’t know if Marc noticed, but he made the first joke since Isbel died. I know that the dream I told them about was more amusing than anything. But I honestly do believe that each one of them would be a great as kings or queens. Except Vas, he is more of a saint. We couldn’t party for long because we have to train very hard for the fight. But thank you,Marc for giving our story a happy ending once and for all.   Wish us luck dear diary! We will need it. And may the Almighty protect all of us!   P.S.1: I talked with Vas for the first time in a long time. He really does talk like an old man, even if he isn’t. But it was fun. I should do it more often since he seems lonely sometimes.   P.S.2: We had a whole talk about Miyun, who believed that boys are stupider than girls. I assumed that this was Nixie’s doing but nonetheless it was amusing. I feel a bit sad for Miyun. She really must learn to understand complicated things which not even us understand very well. And it must be hard for her.   P.S.3: I am thinking what to do with that letter I received. An invitation must be honored and I really have to ask him some questions, not kill him in an instant. On the other hand, I should fight him nonetheless. Plus, I don’t even want to know how the others would feel if I said that I’d want to talk with him. Especially Lullaby and Nixie. Well, I think that I will not take a decision for now. After all, I have plenty of time to think about it after the fight.   P.S.4: Drenziek doesn’t seem to have been punished yet for breaking the orders. He will soon tell the others what happens. I hope we won’t have another fight before we get to Haj Et Laon.And why isn’t Nixie saying anything about this? Last time I broke the rules, she was very upset. Well, at this point I don’t think any punishment would work. P.S.5: Do you think my house back home at least half standing?

Dear Diary, The time has come to say goodbye. Once the solstice is here, one way or another this journey of ours will come to an end. I want to use the time that I have left, to end this story, before the future comes and alters it. So that, sealed within these pages, to keep only my precious memories of an old journey and nothing more.   For far too long I have overwhelmed you, dear diary, with feelings that are not even yours. So, I bid farewell to you today. I will keep on living in this madness what we call life however it will not be your duty to witness it anymore. But I owe it to you…one last honest entry.   I woke up early in the morning the day after the battle for the Continent to attend the funerals. I stayed for the most part of it. But, exhausted still from the fight, I went to lay in bed for an hour or so. The others, worried for my health, let me sleep too much. I woke up from bed, a bit in pain, but finally ready to begin my day. When I got out of the tent however, I realized that the day already began without me. In the extra few hours that I slept, the demons paid us an unsettling visit and Lullaby somehow managed to become friends with Xantiniya’s red dragon, who came to the burial of His Majesty King Haldric. And I only missed for a few hours…   I went to meet the others, who were just preparing some plans. With the solstice only days away, and Xantinya more decided than ever, our only chance to save this world was to destroy one of the nine towers that could link the dimensions into one. Our target was, of course, the tower in Haj et Laon as it was the closest. Yet, it was still a bit too far. What we were going to do there, was a talk for a later time, and the emergency now was to find a way to get there. A short discussion led us to the logical conclusion: we convince Xantiniya’s red dragon, Kamarad, to take us there.   There are many things that I thought we will need to do for this fight, but I have never imagined that using elvish manners to talk with a dragon would be one of them. Above else, the dragons are most loyal to their owners which is most respectable. Dragons are also proud creatures, who will respect only those who respect them in return. And probably you would think that all the talk with the parliament, the councils and the people had taught us better. But some things never change, and our audacity still stays the same. We headed outside the tent where Kamarad was laying down, resting. Damaschini, being the only one who speaks dragon language, had the difficult task of translating all that we say. Of course, the most impolite thing would have been to bomb Kamarad with questions and requests, so we decided that Nixie was the one to represent us. She was doing her best and things seemed to go well. However, the whole conversation felt like we were walking on thin ice, in danger of breaking anytime. At some point, Kamarad, offended probably by our attitude, made himself comfortable and went back to sleep. Great!   Nobody likes being woken up from their sleep, especially not a dragon that creates a heat wave just by calmly breathing. And our courage from the previous battle seemed to go somewhere into hiding, because no one was willing to try and wake Kamarad up. “Oh fine! I will do it! If Xebec didn’t kill me when I woke him up to ask if we can have a party, neither will a dragon when I request to talk with him! Plus, it is rather rude to go to sleep in the middle of a conversation, right?” I thought to myself, making a few steps towards the dragon. I know it was not exactly the best example, but it makes me feel better to make fun of the situation one way or another. I gently approached Kamarad’s face, careful to not make any moves that might startle him and began talking, while Damaschini, having no other choice, assisted me from behind. I must admit, having someone who knows dragon language in this party proved to be a blessing. “Alright Verfy, what did the elves teach you? A warm voice, long but not too boring words and a lot of ego tickling for the person in front, will make anyone a very polite individual. Or at least that’s what I understood” I thought to myself while trying to phrase the first sentences to the dragon. I explained him with the best of my powers the situation. As a response, Kamarad, let out a big warm sigh, blowing me ten meters away, then he woke up. “That was rude! But at least I am alive and Kamarad seems to be awake!” I thought. From there on, Nixie took over the discussion and tried to convince Kamarad to help.   I must admit that Kamarad was my type of dragon. He was born and raised here in the Continent and just like us he seemed to love his home. When people began to hunt his family, the dragons made an understanding with Flegen. As long as the fire elementals would protect them, the dragons of the Continent would fight for Flegen. Kamarad was the last of these dragons. He seemed to believe that in this world, there was no place for the destruction, for the one thing that dragons were made to do. And that is why, he wanted a world of fire, one where dragons would live free. He kept talking with Nixie about it and it somehow seemed that the conversation was going alright. But in vain we tried to not anger the dragon, for the first time he heard about us wanting to hurt Xantiniya, his owner, he got upset. He angrily raised his head towards us. That was not a good sign at all. For all this conversation, I preferred to stay aside and watch for we all know I am not exactly the most refined when it comes to mannerism. But seeing that the situation was getting a bit out of hand, I wanted to interfere. At first I wanted to just bulge in with an “Sorry to interrupt but…”. Then I realized that usually I do that when I want to make people listen to me and it may be rude. So, instead of doing that, I chose the more elegant option, of asking for permission to bulge in. To me, they seem almost the same, but with all of these “please and thank you” as people call them, you never know.   I managed to calm the dragon a bit, by beginning to slowly admit the mistakes of the people that for so long have killed the dragons. Then I used all the vocabulary I know to try and convince Kamarad that fire and destruction are part of this world, and as everything else, we fight to protect them. Luckily, my intervention gave Lullaby and Nixie enough time to think, and right when I almost had no other ideas of what to say, they came to the rescue. In the end, our captain with her beautiful ring, managed to somehow free Kamarad from Xantiniya’s influence, and the dragon agreed to take us to Haj et Laon.   You know, dear diary, there have been times when I have tried to hide the truth, even from you because I feared that someone will read it. And people like Dillen and Nixie will always find feelings a very useful subject for jokes. A few days ago, I went to talk with Tallion. Ever since that time in the fight when he saved me, I couldn’t let go of this feeling that I felt. But I wasn’t sure what it was, and I really wanted to know. When I got to his room, seemingly Tallion already knew why I was there since he pulled out his pipe, and for the first time ever I got to see him smoking. I don’t know what it is about Tallion, but even in the worst of times he manages to make me smile somehow. And for that I will always be very grateful. If there was someone else, maybe I wouldn’t have had this kind of conversation now but since it was Tallion I couldn’t pretend that I do not know anything. When Tallion told me that he liked me, for a second or two I did not know where my heart lies. He was nothing but great with me so far, and somehow I did open up to him more than I ever did with the others. But…I couldn’t shake off the feelings I still have for Xebec. I just couldn’t let go. But to no surprise Tallion knew that already. Maybe as the years to pass, these feelings will go away. But for now I had to be true to myself and Tallion. So as much as I appreciated his feelings, I just couldn’t share them now. This whole thing came as a surprise for me in the end. I never considered that I could be with someone else but Xebec and for now I don’t feel like I will ever change that. But, I have given up on trying to expect the future so maybe one day, someone will prove me wrong. Until then however, we had a mission to plan, so Tallion and me returned to the rest of the party.   From time to time, I wish that we were not involved in this mess. I wish that we didn’t have to carry this burden on our shoulders. Yes, we were blessed for having a chance to protect this world, for being the once that could raise their voice. But this chance costed us everything, even our own sanity. What I saw in the last few days among the party, was pure chaos. None of us are all right. None of us will ever be. And while I know that it was all our choices that led us here, I love this world a little less for it. I love this world a little less for everything that we had to endure for it. I know I shouldn’t, but I still do. And the most painful is that in one way or another this war destroyed a part of the good in us, and all of us know it but none of us will admit it, because it hurts.   This one talk about Haldric, it shouldn’t have existed. If we were who we used to be, that one idea would have been dismissed in a second. But it didn’t. Most of us didn’t hate it. I didn’t hate it. Instead, we thought of way to change it, to make it “less bad”. When Bart suggested that maybe we could raise Haldric as an undead, and use him as a distraction for Xantinya, I didn’t like the idea, but not because we used the same dirty strategy as Xantinya. No. It was the fact that I believe necromancy is the most cruel thing to do to anyone. I know they are only skeletons, and there is no life there but when I fight them, when I see them, I cannot help but feel they are human still. And it bothers me to see them like that. But then the idea changed: “What if we go straight in, bringing Haldric’s body for the burial, and we use this time, to make an opening for ourselves”, and in my mind, it all made sense. There was nothing wrong with this idea anymore. But then Tallion made a very good point: “If we win this war using the same thing that Xantinya uses, we will prove her right, and we will become nothing more than what she makes us”. Using Xantinya’s love for Haldric against her was the one thing we shouldn’t do. It was only then that I began to understand the main problem with this plan. The worst part of it was that I didn’t like considering this idea, but I did not regret it. In my mind, I somehow knew, that if I was alone, that if by any chance the stakes weren’t this high and that I wouldn’t have hurt everything that I have left in this world, I would have gone for this idea. So in other words, I would have not felt bad for using this idea, if not for the destruction of everything I care about. But listening to Tallion, Lullaby and all the others still talking about it helped me realize how important it is for us to follow what we believe in. And they were right. I was not gonna let this war get the worst of me so I quickly dismissed any other thoughts and focused on our mission.   We spent the next days in the chest while the dragon carried us around. Most of the time we tried to decide what we are going to do once we get to Haj et Laon. After long hours of discussions we barely came up with an outline of a plan: We would go down the dragon, pass through the masses of undying elves so that we reach the Tower. Once we got there, we would have to fight whatever will be in our way and at last the main mission was to find the stones that power the Tower and destroy them. Each step itself was a very hard one which we had to deal with. Since we couldn’t kill the undying elves, we had decided that we could slow them down by obstructing all their senses. We even came up with a plan for this. We knew that these creatures understand feelings but do not feel them. If we could, only for a short time to confuse them by making them feel, then Dillen would be able to gather them in one place and Miyun with Tallion could get them out of their “bodies”. That would leave them with only their magical sense which could be easily stopped using Damaschinium. The complicated part however, was how we were going to make them feel something. After a long debate, the best idea we had was that Nixie could use her powers to show the undying elves what they used to be how they are now. A striking difference if you ask me. To know that these goo creatures once used to be just elves, living in peace in a land only of their own makes me a bit sad.   Whoever said that there are always two battles in a war was right. First, you only fight to not let them win. But then, you also fight to not let the fight win. But it’s gotten tougher everyday and if you look at us, you can see that we are reaching our limits. The pressure it’s getting to us, making us fight,making us doubt ourselves and one another. As much as Kelly tried to keep us organized, the discussion of plans became a conflict between everyone. I could feel that slowly but steadily our party was falling apart and I feared it so I did the one thing that brings us together: A together torture training. I could tell you how it went and what everyone said but for this one time, I do not wish to talk about it. The irony of it all, is that our story is not much different from the undying elves. Maybe it’s not as sad but the difference of how we used to be and what we are now is overwhelming. I know you might say, dear diary, that I am being dramatic and it is not how it really is. Maybe.   But that’s how it feels for me. Maybe some have been more affected than the others but this fight got to all of us. Take Drenizek for example. The loudest voice of all became only the sound of silence. With an incredible stubbornness he still fights and wants to make us think he’s fine. But he isn’t. I did not hear a word from him in a long time and I must admit for that I felt him far away from everyone else. Or look at Kelly who used to be the most rational of us all. Then, she slowly became to understand our world better, and had a change of heart. Nonetheless, she always stood tall. But today, our madness finally got over her and she could only handle it by drinking and laughing. Even her strong rational mind finally reached the point where she didn’t understand anything anymore. Or even at Marc. He’s been constant ever since we met him. He manage to keep his simple smile on the face for this journey. He had it when he was weaker, he got it when he became stronger. But that one last battle took this smile away from him. Or Eve who after all that happened somehow feels she shouldn’t be alive. That she must die anyways so might as well help us when she does. Even Dillen, who used to aim to be the king of Worania wanted to give up his title as first mate. I know he said that if hating him will make the other more united it’s fine, especially if that protected Nixie. But, let’s be honest here. He stopped trying to be a snake a long time ago and ever since then he tried to make up for his mistake by making himself useful when he could. Not even him is the same person that used to be.   Even I have changed. I am less optimistic, less hopeful. I almost gave up today when I saw Nixie and Lullaby so discouraged. On one hand, Lullaby feels bad about the opening of Xy, and the damage that the world has suffered because of it. She wants to fight but doesn’t feel she is what she is supposed to be in the first place. She doesn’t feel like a good person and thus that her actions will be the wrong ones. On the other hand, it’s Nixie. She says she trusts herself but she is afraid that she will get bamboozled again and make us all lose. The whole morale of the party is down, some of us already feel useless for this fight. The discussion about Haldric also didn’t help, especially because the two people that have the most power to do something were on different sides. Yet, the same two people that also should be here for us, to guide us, are busy not taking responsibility for it. I was upset at them, even a bit angry. That together training should have only existed for the sole purpose of making us feel a bit better before this miserable fight not to solve the problem of Haldric’s body. In fact, I shouldn’t have been the one to make that together training. They should have. Yes what I do will make the others feel a bit better but it will never be enough if Nixie doesn’t do something herself. Now, more than anytime ever we needed Nixie to be there as a captain and we needed Lullaby to be strong. And now, more than ever they didn’t. So yes dear diary, for a second, I wanted to give up. But, when even I lose hope what will happen with the crew that followed us so far? We keep forgetting that it’s not only us who fight this war. If not for myself, at least for them I have to still keep my hope. It’s not much, but it’s all that I can do for them. The rest is not up to me anymore.   Despite this incredibly dramatic entry that I have just written, I am ready to fight. No demon, undying elf or anything else will change that. This journey that we started a year ago finally ends here. I know it. We wanted a happier ending for it but even as it is, we will treasure it. And thank you, dear diary, for keeping the memory of this journey safe.   The fight to come will only be the beginning of a new journey for us. All I can promise you is that we will win. With everything we learned so far, we will win.   Goodbye, dear diary.   May the Almighty protect us in all the journeys to come.   P.S.1: Damaschini managed to extract some kind of material from salt that we can use for Damaschinium. But we need more, so we will stop in Ionolia to gather some P.S.2: I might have been too harsh with Dillen and Nixie when i screamed at them for making fun of Tallion P.S.3: I still do not trust that dragon.

Dear Diary,   A single lifetime would not be enough to tell the whole story behind this battle. Although fighting the same fights, each one of us will remember it in a different way. Each will have their own memories, feelings and scars. But dear diary, I’ll try my best to put the pieces together for I believe it would not be fair to only say my side of the story this time.   This battle was bigger than anyone could have imagined, and more fierce than anything we’ve been through so far. I do believe that no matter how much we would have prepared ourselves, none of us was really ready for what was coming. In the back of my mind, laid the thought I’ll never see some of our party again, but I couldn’t let it out. There was a strong enemy in front of me already, I did not need another one in my mind. Before everything we had one last hug together. In the last year, every hour of every day we’ve been there for each other. We faced death together one too many times and still dared to try and face it again. We may or might never all see each other again but our bond will always be there. And neither this fight, nor anything could ever take away the love we have for each other. That’s what I told myself to be able to move on, to survive this fight. When we got to the battlefield, on the east, we saw the army of the Continent, led by Perdoto and Rudolf, slowly marching towards the enemy. From the west, The army of undeads was marching tirelessly, and it was maybe from the clouds above, but they seemed even more horrifying than before. And, slowly but surely, our redochian army in the south began to cross the river. From a hill a bit further away, Kelly, the great general of the army, was already busy sending orders to all the sides. And behind her, in an improvised medical tent, Vas, Eve, Bart and of course, Lullaby, were getting ready for what was to be, maybe the most difficult and dangerous birth in history. The rest of us, split up. Damaschini, Tallion and Miyun marched to the east, to defend the Continent army. Nixie and Xixi stayed by the river to fight the enemies there. The crew and I headed frontline along with the OrkMaaians. But we quickly separated from them, when from behind the undeads, we saw the thousands of orcs led by Jun Gara. From there on, I lost sight of what was happening with the rest. I even got lost from Dillen and Iz, who at first joined me.   Not long after the two armies clashed, the orc general and his army began to make their way through our army. Redochians were strong, but the first lines of the enemies were stronger. From the first sight, you could notice how merciless and cruel these orcs were. Even smiling and cheering while decimating the poor people. And their white armored second general, whose name I only found out later, was the worst of them. From what I heard; the others did not have an easy time either. In the east, Damaschini, Miyun and Tallion met the first lich of the battle (none other than Mal), riding his precious dragon. With no hesitation, the two of them got on the dragon, confronting the lich straight on. They have managed to corner Mal to the point where he had to retreat, leaving his dragon behind. But the struggle only had began for them. Beneath the dragon, the Continent army, helped by the redochians, were the regiment Blades of Darkness horse riders and from somewhere behind, a king in shining armor was looking forward to meeting an old “friend”. As soon as Damaschini and Miyun reached the ground, Haldric welcomed them, leaving the two no time for breathing. It must have been hard for Miyun to find herself stuck between her best friend and her father. But she managed to convince the two not to have a fight. Damaschini even apologized for what had happened in the past and by doing so, convinced Haldric to let them go this one time. As for the Blades of Darkness, Damaschini’s blackfire powers and combined with Tallion magic have managed to transform Damaschini’s PowerFlake into an explosive that halved their number. I could begin to explain to you the whole magical process which they have told me earlier today, but firstly, I would never finish writing everything, and then I would probably mistake some parts.   Near the river, Nixie has once more met her evil relatives. This time however, it was not Soreoth that faced her, but Xantinya’s son himself. From what Nixie told me, Soreoth seemed like the nicer guy, which said a lot. We still have no clue of Xantinya’s son real name, so to make the story easier to tell, Nixie has named him Alunelu. Faced with probably the deadliest creature of this world, Nixie had no choice but to stand her ground. And so she did. But no matter her efforts, she barely even touched him. Xantinya’s son, with his filthy air of superiority, went straight for the redochian troops, just so he can prove Nixie how useless she was. But our Captain knew better. She and Xixi, who just joined the fight, kept trying to stop him by clashing swords with him. As a response, Alunelu used the plane manipulation to tie them to him, grabbing Xixi by the neck. Nixie tried everything she could to free herself and save Xixi. I could feel it in her voice when she told me the story, she was mad at herself for not doing more, for not saving Xixi. Maybe for the first time since we met, I perfectly understood how she felt. It wasn’t her fault, she knows that, but the image of seeing your friend dead at your feet never goes away. And that immortal elf, just left, killing thousand in the way, leaving Nixie watch over Xixi’s headless body. And after all of that, the immortal elf even had the audacity to raise the people as undeads as well. Nixie however did not give up, using the “knowledge” power to stop the undeads, including Xixi. The irony of it all, you’ll only understand later. I think they should change the saying: “You either die as a hero or live long enough to see your friends raised as undeads”, for there is nothing more painful than that.   I wonder what the others think during fights. I usually just rush in, head on, until I realize that if I die in the first five minutes, it won’t do any good to anyone. This time, my wake up call was the first hammer in the head from Jun Gara which almost took me down for good. Only then, you forget about anything else and you just focus on the enemy before you. It’s sometimes like your muscles remember how to move on their own, almost as if you rehased this fight a thousand times before. And once you’ve done so, you always want to hit a bit more, you resist a bit more just so you win that fight. You begin to push yourself to limits you didn’t know you have until then. Somehow you head closer to death with each extra risk you take, and you know that. But still you don’t stop because you know that what you fight for is more important. And even if you die, it will mean something if you helped in any way. I was close but I did not win the fight with Jun Gara. Drenizek tried to help, but even him almost died there, twice. And poor Vef even gave his life. I never got the chance to introduce him. To be fair I don’t know much about him either, but he sure was very brave. He came to me before the fight, and swore that no matter what, he will fight alongside me and protect me. Unfortunately, that promise never ends well for anyone. When Jun Gara tried to slash through Drenizek and a few redochians, Vef tried to block him. But Jun Gara cut his head as if he wasn’t even there. I barely managed to save Drenizek by using my fire sword to block Jun Gara and absorb the energy from the impact using some plane manipulation that I made up in the spur of the moment hoping to help. And thank the Almighty it did! I kept trying to push Jun Gara in front of our troops so they hinder him, and it worked for a while. While Drenizek went behind our ally lines to rest a bit, I tried to keep Jun Gara busy. It worked fine, but I could feel it in my bones that I was close to my limits. I had to retreat but not before landing one last powerful hit on Jun Gara, who seemed almost as tired as me. I have later found out that after I left, Iz shoot Jun Gara, instantly killing him. I guess the fight I just had was not for naught.   From what the others told me,the eastern front where Damaschini, Tallion and Miyun was by far the worst. Not only some of the Blades of Darkness were alive, but now, Haldric climbed on the undead dragon, and began burning all the Continent army. Tallion and Damaschini split their power, one going for the dragon, the other staying down, helping our armies. Damaschini and the soliders were surrounded from all sides by enemies. If it wasn’t for the Chest Princess, who managed to bring the automatons into the fight just in time, probably there wouldn’t have been anything left of our friends. With the automatons holding the lines, Damaschini and the rest began their retreat. They were now also attacked by fastodan undeads, as if what they had so far was not enough. How sad it was that Damaschini had to fight Endi’e, a good friend along the years. What did I tell you? You either die as a hero or live long enough to see your friends raised as undeads. Damaschini was already hurt from the battles before and I imagine fighting the boss of the fastodans was not an easy one. He fought bravely until he could no more, and luckily Miyun and Tallion’s new followers were there to finish his job, and take him out alive. In the meantime, Tallion teleported on the dragon. There he met with Haldric, who the very next second hurried to push our magic man down. Fortunately, Haldirc was so hurried that he almost stumbled, and in a turn of events, Tallion somehow managed to make him fall from the dragon first. The dragon also fell dead not long after Haldric thanks to Tallion who used his best spells on him. Distracted to kill the dragon, Tallion did not notice a lich who began attacking him. Tallion soon realized that he won’t be able to fight it alone so he used the teleportation rune to get away.   When I woke up from the coma, I saw the OrkMaaians in front of me. They were smiling at the orcs, who were smiling back. These people really enjoy fighting too much. I wanted to join them for round two of fights, but I had decided I’d only be in the way, so together with Drenizek, Isbel and Marc, we decided to go search for Dillen who got lost trying to find a necromancer to defeat. But before we could find any necromancer or Dillen, a Lich-Lady found us. And it was not just any lich-lady. She could use her powers to turn us one against the other. Which, of course she did. In a moment, my mind went blank, and the next thing I remember was me biting on Drenizek’s leg. He wanted to protect Isbel and Marc so, despite barely holding on, he stayed behind and fought me. I could have killed Drenizek there…it was way too close. I hate this game the evil is playing of turning you against everything that you love. If I would have killed Drenizek there, I would have blamed myself. That’s how they want to destroy us. Brother against brother, friend against friend. And I am getting so tired of it. When I came to my senses, I immediately apologized but Drenizek already knew I wouldn’t hurt him intentionally. That cheap tricks of Xantinya and her allies won’t work on our party anymore, not after all we’ve been through. In that moment however, I got so scared that I’ll lose Drenizek and Marc and Isbel, that I decided to hide. I should have fought, I should have faced that Lich-Lady to the death, if necessary, just like I swore in my code. But I knew that if I did that, the others would come to help me, and will die for it. So, for the first time in a while, I ran away.   Nixie, who slowly came to her senses after Xixi’s death, was now climbing on the shoulders of a redochian, trying to find some kind of magic man that was causing a lot of heat, tiring our armies. According to her story, she met this Kasparian, whom at first, she thought was one of the generals. But then Nixie beat him very fast and realized that it was probably a soldier who lost his way. I do wonder what Hamsa was doing in the meantime.   You’d expect that if you’d stay away from the battlefield, you wouldn’t get involved in a fight,especially when one of your friends is there, giving birth to her child. Not for us, not this time. On the hill, Lullaby was giving birth to Rafil, assisted by Vas, who was very hardly focusing on ignoring the battle that was going on behind him. While giving birth to Rafil,Lullaby was also blocking Alunelu’s planes manipulations, exhausting herself. Eve, Bart, and Bajid’s father who just he came to help his family were trying their best to keep Alunelu away from Lullaby by hitting the immortal elf’s mask. After a lot of effort, they managed to destroy the mask, leaving Alunelu in his natural state of goo. But Alunelu takes after his mother when it comes to stubbornness, so he returned in a corpse of a dead soldier. Bart however managed to turn him back into the goo even trying to catch him in a vase. Of course, it was not enough to keep Alunelu away, but it was enough to make him go into his armour and fuck off somewhere far away from Lullaby. When she told me the story, Eve was extremely happy to talk about Rafil’s birth. Right after they all finished fighting for their lives, Rafil’s loud cry covered the whole room. I imagine it was a wonderful moment, especially given the circumstances. So long everyone waited and cheered for this moment, and it happened right exactly when we needed hope the most. But it didn’t last long, because Kelly walked in, bringing news about what was happening outside. With no time to spare, Luallby asked Eve for help to stand up and get ready for the fight. Meanwhile, asked by Kelly, Bart headed to help us into the battle.   From here on, our stories slowly start to collide into one. Right when we were hiding, Tallion teleported to us using the rune I had with me. First, I assumed that somehow he knew that we were in danger and came to help. However, his very straight face and the fact that he seemed rather hurt made me think that he actually tried to survive. Poor Tallion to run from something right in the mouth of a lich lady. To be fair, it raised my mood a bit, which was exactly what I needed. I looked at Drenizek and Isbel and Marc and once and for all I realized something. “If I really wanted to protect these people, I needed to fight whatever stays in our way, be it lich lady or something else. What did Nixie say? Nothing is unbeatable?” I thought for a second. I grabbed the others and went to face the Lich-Lady as we should have done from the beginning. But the irony never fails to surprise, and seconds later a huge lightning fell from the sky, revealing none other than Xantinya in her full form. “Whatever stays in our way” I thought earlier, well so be it. Tallion, Drenizek, Marc,Isbel and me versus Xantinya. At least our odds were a bit higher than 0. To be fair that’s why we came here, to stop her. So I was not going to hide anymore. Maybe we couldn’t beat her, but the more Xantinya was staying here, the less she could hurt people somewhere else.   Seeing the big lightning, everyone began to make their way to us. “Do you regret giving me the powers that I have now?” Xantinya mocked me after I tried to attack her. “All I regret is the existence of your family on this world” I thought. Jokes aside dear diary, no, I did not regret it. We saved Rafil and Lullaby and sent the message. Why would I regret all of it in the first place? Xantinya began telling me something else, but while she was doing that, I tried to dash and reach the lich lady who was watching from behind. However, in return Xantinya sent her lightning powers to me. In an instant I felt a terrible pain in every single part of my body and fell to my knees. It was like I was like I was going through hell over and over again. I could feel that after the strike, those lightnings were keeping me alive, and I hated every moment of it. I felt like an undead that is aware he’s undead. My mind just wanted everything to be gone,it wanted for me to just leave and never come back. But I didn’t want to give up. If that was what I had to endure, fine. If Xantiniya was happy to just make me die to hurt the others, fine. It wouldn’t work anyways. But, while I was still there, I had to stand up and fight. Luckily, Tallion knows one or two healing spells, and used them in combination with his magic screen to help me. I couldn’t explain you exactly what he did, but all this pain was now replaced but this warm feeling of love coming from Tallion. I could sense how much he cared for me as his family, or even more than that (?). I felt like I could breath again. Then I came back to my senses and helped by Tallion, I stood up. Right then, Nixie and Bart bulged into the middle of the fight. It seems that Nixie, coming from the west found Bart on the way and they were the first ones to join us. Thank the Almighty for making all of us mad enough to go towards a deadly place, not run away from it.   The redochians were even madder than us. They put their shield in front, to mirror the black light coming from Xantinya’s full demon form as a protest. Even in her demonic form so bright you couldn’t watch her, even when one look in her eyes could kill you, the redochinans still faced her. And soon, their queen also appeared, sword glowing, from behind a pile of dust that was created from her fight with Alunelu. Dillen made his appearance from somewhere between the soldiers, beaten up by a necromancer. Damaschini and Miyun, probably stuck in the fight on the east, came there the last. Apparently they used some plane manipulations to shoot a bullet and teleport wherever it would be. Impressive really. Now, with almost all the pieces arranged on the chess table, it was time for the countdown.   Xantinya used one of her old usual moves, putting on a whole show to try and convince us that Kelly, was in fact a traitor who was going to kill Rafil, and destroy our army. If I didn’t know Kelly better, I would have almost been convinced by her. She even went as far as “anticipating” that Kelly will ask our army to retreat, just exactly before it really happened. But in the given circumstances, that proved nothing. Xantinya fooled us once but we’re not stupid to fall for it twice. My trust for Kelly didn’t move an inch because I knew that she is an honest person and she is part of our family and us, compared to Xantinya can rely on our family. Lullaby was a bit worried, given the fact that she barely got to hold her son for a few minutes, but Nixie calmed her down fast.   In the meantime, Tallion was trying his best to fight with the lich-lady, who became even angrier than before. I could feel that I am reaching my own limits, so I had to do something to keep pushing myself just a little bit more. Before the fight, Vas, who was obviously worried as always for my life, gave me a special tonic. He said: “Be cautious with it! It’s very powerful”. And as I am the most cautious person around, of course the second I remembered about it, I drank it. I could feel the adrenaline rush through my veins, making every muscle in my body twitch. My jaw tightened, to the point where I couldn’t even talk, I clenched my fists even harder on the swords and forgot about any pain that I felt before. I was ready to go full charge on that lich-lady. Nixie, seeing the situation, intervened to help Tallion. Our captain struck the lich with “white fire” so hard that our enemy lady had no choice but to finally reveal her true form. That made her stronger, but not for a long time. Bart also came to help. He stopped the time, and gently gave me the cape he had. Thanks to that, I could use the last bit of magic that I had left in me to give myself even more energy. I had one chance to strike that lady and I was not going to waste it. When time began to work again lich lady tried to attack Tallion but Bart with an incredible will power dashed in front of Tallion, and stopped lich-lady’s spell with his rapier. Then, Tallion used his power to stop the lich lady from moving while I was around. All that was left was for me to go and land the last strikes and I did make sure not to miss them. Finally the lich lady fell down.   But just after I hit her, from behind I got attacked from some black knights in full armour and red eyes. Where did these guys come from? They weren’t here a second ago. It took me a bit to realize that I was not going to be able to beat them with normal power and I slowly began to feel the effects of tonic slowing down. I didn’t get to end this fight because I suddenly felt a blast of magic hitting me, and everything went black. Later, Tallion explained that he was trying to get rid of the same illusion of the red eyed knights, and when he did that he sent a blast of arcane around. To be fair, I think it was better for me to sleep because I don’t think I would have figured out that those knights were only in my head.   Xantinya was busy using her plane manipulation to attack everything around us. The ground was breaking, making soldiers fall in between the boulders. The sky was shining frequently changing from black to white and the other way around. Lullaby was trying her best to stop Xantinya’s attacks by creating this plane manipulation dome. In other words, everything around us was chaos. Alunelu who was not wasting any more second than needed on this fight launched an attack on Nixie. I was asleep but the others managed to tell me the rest of the story. Nixie tried once more to use her “white fire” knowledge which she recently received, focused all her feeling and elf inheritance, and shot it at Alunelu. The very next second, Alunelu disappeared. I can imagine that everyone was extremely surprised. Did Nixie really beat an immortal elf? Just like that?   But Alunelu spoiled the fun when he appeared once again. He moved his hand a bit, and Nixie felt that “whit fire” being taken away from her. The white flames that surrounded Nixie in this oval shape, took another form. And above Nixie, everyone could see The Satan’s Eye. The one that Eve saw in the Black Hole. All this time, Bart was right. Those dreams, the powers Nixie had were not to help us, instead they were made to destroy. The first time we let ourselves be fooled by demons was a mistake, the second time however, was foolish. All of us knew that, including Nixie. She received a huge shock and fell on the ground while Aluelu took this opportunity to grab her by her neck. Lullaby came into her rescue, fighting both Alunelu and Xantinya at the same time. She tried to console Nixie by reminding her that we needed our captain and then gave her a tight hug, which Bart immediately joined. But I got the feeling that Nixie did not really need that. If she really was the cry baby she seems to be, I would have left her to rot in prison. The reason why I helped her is because her audacity wakes up in the best moments. Be it Lucifer or whatever, if Nixie would let herself be defeated in that moment, I would honestly be disappointed in her, probably she would be disappointed in herself too.   Nixie tried to explain me what she did after, but to be fair I was not really able to get it. All I remember is that this time, she finally accepted her Elf Princess and when she did that, she received true help in return, receiving a small little diamond on her Sylph ring. Long live the Princess, I guess? Meanwhile, Lullaby and Xantinya were in a straight on fight. It was that kind of fight that we could not interfere because you couldn’t even get close to them. After one full force attack Lullaby, absolutely exhausted fell to her knees. But then, the miracle happened. I can only imagine how it felt for the rest to see and Bajid’s face instead of his wife’s and Lullaby stand up rushing to attack Xantinya again. Then everyone began to feel someone near them. Every person that once held us dear came to help us again, to keep fighting near us. Even dead, they never stopped to support us, and if anything, they gave us yet another chance to save this world. Miyun saw her real father, Damaschini saw Lyaria, Tallion and Eve met with their fathers who had fallen in this war. There are no words that can describe what we felt during those moments, the whole pack of emotions that overwhelms you. Your mind begins to flow down a river of memories and it seems to take an eternity to see them all, but in fact it’s just a second. You want to smile and cry at the same time, and melancholy, happiness, pain, hope and every feeling you ever had strike you straight to your chest reminding you of one single feeling: love. I just barely woke up from the coma when I felt this and for a second I really thought I died. I then saw the battlefield again and felt Lafk’u and the rest of fastodans behind me and I knew they were waiting for me to lead them into this fight. They really didn’t joke when they said “eternal war” and it was my greatest honor to join them. On the side, Vadrek and Brunek almost looked like they were making jokes about how they’re going to smash some undeads. And then, there was someone there whom I haven’t seen in a long time: my family. Dad and brothers were looking at me with weird proud smirks on their face. Mom on the other hand had this worried but very decided look on her face. I truly missed all of them, and I’ll always miss them dearly every day of my life. I was there, feet trembling trying to stand up. My strength was gone and I knew the only reason I am able to move was thanks to the power of everyone that was there for me. It reminded me of a shanty some of us used to sing on the Sapphire Sword.   “As the songs of the dead fill the space of my ears Their laughter like children, their beckoning cheers I’ll stay on the shore but still gaze at the sea I remember the fallen and they think of me For our souls in the ocean together will be”   And at last, when I tried to stand up, I felt as if Xebec’s hand gently grabbed mine helping me, almost nagging me for getting into trouble again when he’s not there.   But I had a fight that I had to continue so I didn’t waste any second before beginning to run to help our troops. The soldiers, motivated by this miracle, were pushing the undeads back. Everyone was fighting harder than ever before. Miyun told us this story of how, using the tricks from her father to fool Alunelu, and remove his immortal goo from that despicable body, by cutting its head and throwing it away somewhere. It distracted him for a while. Tallion,shaken by the whole feeling, lost himself for a second. But, from what he said, Liariya threw a banana in his head and only then he, with the whole council of Ionolians behind, flew up to the sky. You could see hundreds if not thousands of arcane bolts erasing undeads from close by. Damaschini with the power from the Erlangons that were following him, created a literally small army of minions, who began marching towards the undead lines. This was the moment we were waiting for, the attack of the white chess pieces. Xantinya herself seemed a little scared and confused, especially when from the sky, a bunch of white fire lightnings hit her. Seems that Nixie received yet another lesson from her scary teacher, Miremis.   Haldric, who joined to fight for Xantinya, was almost struck down by Isbel and Marc. I noticed their fight and wanted to join but another strong lich was faster. Whit a very fast strike he hit Isbel, who taken by surprise, fell breathless to the ground. I was meters away when it happened…METERS but I didn’t manage to notice fast enough to do anything. If I would have been a bit more careful, maybe I could have saved Isbel. I almost sank ,in my head rang loud and clear Eve’s words who reminded me how afraid I was that I was too weak to help the others. I couldn’t let that beat me now, not when we have to finish for this damn fight. I took deep breath and I kept telling myself that I need to keep moving, just a little bit more. I felt a horrible pain when I heard Marc crying and screaming in pain while running to hit the lich. But this lich was different, he managed almost effortlessly to block that attack, and Marc was now a sure target. I managed to drag Marc out there, hiding behind the Golem, which Damaschini probably sent there, but Xantinya managed to destroy. I hugged Marc tightly, for both calming him down and stopping him from jumping on the lich. I knew how much he wanted to kill that lich, but I couldn’t let him die as well. So instead, I handed him my sword, and with a very motivated voice I promised him that we will beat that lich together. How? That was the part we needed to figured it out. Marc was destroyed, barely holding on, and the lich was watching us as we were some kind of prey. I lived one too many times in this battle, and in that moment when I was staying near Marc, i felt closest to death than ever before. With my life barely hanging by a thread, I grabbed my sword and braced to throw my life in the game once more, trying to block any hit that the lich would have done. But then, a huge shadow flew over us, and Damaschini becoming all white for a second or two, threw a whole burst of white fire right into the lich’s face. Angered beyond limit, the lich changed his focus immediately. I rushed to him, while Haldric, now empowered by Xantinya was also approaching us. The lich was careless, and Damaschini used thismoment to strike him with the elvish sword.   However everything stopped and in a mere moment, from the ground thousands of shadow began killing any living being on this planet: foe or friend. It was Xantinya, who finally began to feel cornered Haldric, to everyone surprise he asked Xantinya to stop. Bart, Damaschini, Nixie and everyone else tried to use this opportunity to talk with Haldric, to convince him to give up this fight. But, he kept believing In Xantinya, and asking her to stop the shadows and spare the woranians. But then, that fucking goo head came from a side and shouted to her mother: “Don’t stop it”. For the first time, it seemed that Xantinya was conflicted, even faltering. After a few moments of hesitation, Xantiniya finally stopped the dark shadows. Probably unhappy, the undying elf vanished. I almost blinked and missed the moment when Alunelu reappeared and pierced Haldirc’s chest with a strike. That moment, Xantinya went mad, lost control of everything. She hit her son so strong that he almost died, and then disappeared into the sky, just like she appeared. And she left behind thousands of thunders that killed everything they touched. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I believed it was another scheme to beat us, but Xantiniya’s reaction seemed so…human. In her way, she…she loved Haldric. Haldric, the guy I was so mad at for invading our home, managed to make Xantiniya love him. He did the impossible. Lullaby later apologized for letting Xantinya go, but I believe that all of us would have done the same. For a moment, a tiny moment, I could understand Xantiniya’s feeling. She lost a son, a loved one. I don’t know which part made her be like humans more: The choice she had to make between Haldric and Alunelu, the feeling of pain from feeling the total betrayal of Alunelu, the realization of any lack of feeling from her own son, or the pain that she lost another son.   And how cruel is what Alunelu did! His coldness and ignorance are almost painful. But he wouldn’t have faced his mother like this, if not someone had his back. You know, Xantinya may be here, but I am starting to believe that our enemy is far more underground, watching everything very carefully from his hell throne. He is the one who truly doesn’t care, the one that would destroy our world without a second thought. The same one, who gave Nixie white power and didn’t hesitate to kill his people with it, just to keep the illusion alive. The same evil creature who haunts Eve every night since the Black Hole, and the same one that would do anything to keep a crown on his head. Him and the demons will finally come after us.   I don’t say this often but there was one thing that I agreed with Xantinya: today it did rain with blood. Today’s battle gathered all the blood of the people who fought, fight and will continue to fight for this world. The blood of our allies, brought together by the love for this world. The blood of our enemies be it either lichs, people, orcs or undeads who didn’t choose to fight this. The blood of all our friends whose souls joined to help us. Everything drop of blood spilt so far for this war was gathered in the ground of this battle field and in its memories.   Now, at the end of it all, we have to do the hardest part: say goodbye. I will miss them both. How can I not? There is no one now to make us laugh or make a whole dance show with Tallion, and no one who can be as elegant when serving meat to some hounds as us. We will bury Xixi in the water. I want to give her all the fish I can find, but she won’t eat it. Instead, I’ll do what she did the first time we met: put my wet thumb on her head, and maybe call her “Ba’tu’ta-n cap”. As for Isbel, I wish I had a crown for her but instead I’ll to cook the meal she always used to cook for me, and I’ll make sure to add onions, and no mushroom. Just like she used to do. Thanking everyone that tied today would take me years but I think that there is no need. They already know. All of them.   I feel that it’s coming, dear diary. The final moment of this war. I feel we are very close to it. And if, after this battle I barely could move my eyes, I feel like if I don’t get stronger, I will soon well…. I will not stop fighting, I will endure whatever I need to. As long as this world is safe, I will be happy no matter what It is all I wish for.   Thank the Almighty for everything He’s given us.   P.S.1: I knew they were watching! All this time everyone that died was watching us! Wait and see! We’ll pull this truth. Trust us! P.S.2: I am very worried for Marc. P.S.3: All this time, I really thought my Mom hated me, but today….today she was there with the others. used to remember her with the back turned at my and a dark expression on her face. She was watching me and I could recognize a bit of my expression when I look into the mirror. I guess I take the stubbornness from her. But I was wrong. All this years, I was wrong. She does love me. I’m so sorry Mom, for all these years I was angry at you for disappearing. I’m so so sorry. But I know now, and I will not let myself forget that ever again. P.S. 4: Seems like now we know who was the favorite parent all along. P.S.5: I apologize if i did mistakes in my writings, but dear diary, even if i would have been awake for all the fight, i do not think that i would remember everything while focusing actually fighting.

Dear Diary, “A home is not a home without a cat” Nixie oftentimes used to say. It’s been almost seven years since we’ve last been home, and somehow Hamsa is still alive. That cat is really a lucky one. But I swear to the Almighty that if Nixie mentions that Hamsa one more time I’ll fight the cat myself. It’s been seven long years of hearing the same stories about it.   Yes dear diary, we got home at last. We left the Continent during war, and we returned to see it at war again. With a few days until the solstice, we are now marching to the battle for the Continent with three hundred thousand Redochian soldiers and another two thousand OrkMaians. We must hurry! The army of the Continent is soon going to fight a whole army of undead people, orc creatures, Zarkus’s ugly relatives and everything of such. And we promised we’ll help. They hope we’ll come and help. I don’t want to let them down. I am writing from this carriage, where Isbel, Marc and me were sent to rest near Lullaby. But I’m impatient and worried. The goblins must have seen us and reported by now. Who knows what the Xantinya prepared for us.   But nevermind that, for this might be the last of my diaries so I want to explain how we got here. We were still in the dimension of the Spirit, planning our next steps. Before we could decide however, Lullaby suggested we pass the interdimensional gate to our dimension, just to see what’s on the other side. What the interdimensionals said was true, they indeed destroyed the SAI base. Even the tank I wanted to use was now in pieces. And now, the area was under the control of Orkmaaians. They were a great group of warriors who used magic to make their equipment stronger. I liked them from the beginning. Brave fighters who came all the way from west of Gava, to invalidate a prophecy about the end of the world. Sounded like friends to me. In their religion, it was said that the Gods will send some kind of sea monster to destroy the world and they came here to stop it. It took some time to understand everything they said, because Damaschini had to translate from Gavan. Some parts I didn’t really get anyways. But it was quite clear when they kneeled in front of Lullaby, raising a flag with a fish and swearing to fight any war that’s to come. And so dear diary, we got our new allies.   Who would have ever guessed we have allies so far beyond Gava? Whatever happens to us next, whatever happens in this battle, I am content with what we leave behind. Our legacy. We may not be neither the strongest, nor the smartest, but in our way, we reached the hearts of people from everywhere. Do not worry, dear diary, I do not plan to die so I promise I’ll return to write more. But when you go to such battle and you have time to rest, your mind sometimes has weird thoughts. For example, I still wonder, why did Xantinya want to destroy the Continent now, and not wait for the Solstice? If she wants to rebuild the original world anyways, why bother to spend so much time into building the most atrocious army of all just to destroy the Continent? Maybe, there is something here that could stop her or is it just for revenge?   But anyways, dear diary, The Orkmaaians even brought gifts: a whole orb full of start essence which was given to them by “the Gods”. Truth being told, they would go and pray near the Sapphire Sea, and every time, Sea’s friends would give them a small amount of star essence. So, we decided to return to the dimension of the Spirit, and use the star essence to build an interdimensional gate straight to the Continent. But, while we had the idea, we did not have any plan to build it. So, we gathered once more to have talk. In the meantime, Lullaby had to talk with the Parliament and start preparing the army for the battle.   But, before we could leave our dimension, Nixie remembered something very important: we left the Primordial Branch in the chest that had magic again, and…we forgot Anevys too. I don’t know why she was so worried. No one hurts a branch, and if Anevys saved me in Metherol, I’m sure she’d survive in the chest. But before we got to say anything, Nixie already ordered Miyun to go and bring Anevys back. When we noticed that she is not coming back, we decided that I should go in and try to search for her. I got in the chest and everything was exactly how we found it before we moved it. The nursery was no more, neither were any paintings that Nixie left behind. I tried only to track Miyun’s steps. But, they stopped in front of a random wall, as if Miyun passed through it. After what happened in the library, I have learned not to touch anything, so I decided to go back and let the others know. Amusingly enough, on my way back, I bumped into Anevys, who was coming from the garden. She was surprised to hear about Miyun, and about the magic of the chest. It seems that nothing disturbed her while she was gardening. She must be at least as lucky as Marc. Ayways, we hurried and returned outside. We didn’t know what to do, so we decided to go in the dimension of the Spirit, and maybe because there would be no magic, Miyun would be able to come back. But that didn’t work either. In the end, Damaschini decided to go again and search for Miyun. After about ten minutes or so he came back, holding Miyun in her hands. “She’s not breathing” he hurried to say. Vas and Nixie hurried and tried to help her. When she woke up, Miyun was not remembering much. But she managed to tell us that at some point, she ran out of air. Maybe changing the dimensions was a bad idea! I should have thought about it. In the end, Miyun was alright, but as an apology, she wanted Nixie to admit that Miyun is indeed the princess of the chest. To be fair, I am convinced she is some kind of boss of the chest. I mean maybe her father left something hidden for her to discover and the whole chest is just another dungeon, but I guess we will never know. But for me, the chest definitely belongs to Miyun. Probably she’ll get it when she’s older.   Now, that no one was in danger of dying anymore, we continued our mission. Lullaby went to talk with the parliament, and we focused on creating a gate. Thanks to the OrkMaaians, who somehow knew about the Continent, we managed to get a very important piece of information. It seems that the Continent, was the one place in our dimension which had a stronger link to the others. And if such place existed in our world, it must also exist in the others. Tallion came with the idea that Xantinya might have actually build her Xenatine towers right near those places. And she wanted to use them to “reset” the world, just how the Hell poem said. We thought of ways to stop that, but none of us had any ideas. We figured that the other interdimensionals might help, the ones that were Sikorki’s students, but took a different way than Lullaby, Bajid and the rest. But we had no way to contact them. In the end, when we got to the Continent, Lullaby managed to send them a message, hoping that they might come.   Back to the interdimensional gate, we spent a good part of the day to decide how we were going to arrange star essence stones. You see, based on our design, Damaschini had to infuse the stones with star essence differently. So first, as far as I understood, we needed to decide on the idea that would make the gate work. After a bit of debate, we all agreed that all dimensions are part of the same Primordial world and that our gate was not linking different places, but rather, the same place in different planes. It takes a while to start making sense, but once you understand it, it’s quite easy. To match this idea, we decided to build the gate in a straight line, with a pillar in the middle. Now, that we had the structure, all we needed to do, was to make it work. When she returned, Lullaby had to use her plane manipulation powers to help one of us link the place where we built the gate, to the place we wanted to reach in the Continent.   But we yet didn’t know what that place in the Continent was. Where exactly did we want to go? It needed to be a special place, to which one had some kind of connection. Since the others have never been to the Continent, it was up to Nixie and me to find something. I could have named many places that are special to me in the Continent: the training field where I used to train with Grandpa, the place where I used to play with Flavia and Forsun when we were kids, my small home in Flegen. But, all of them would have taken us right in the middle of the enemy. And I soon realized that probably none of them are going to be as I remember them, if they still exist of course. It was sad, but at least I was grateful if there was anything standing in the Continent. So, we had to rely on Nixie’s memories for this plan to work. “So Nixie, do you know any special place that would help us?” someone asked her. But Nixie never really mentioned such thing to me before so it took her some time to think. In the end, all those years of listening to Nixie were useful, for in many of her stories, she talked about this lake where she used to go with Elisar. I found it fitting, so I suggested it. The others seemed to agree. And it worked perfectly since in the Spirit dimension, the closest point to the other dimensions was at the bottom of the sea. So we would just need to “swim” on the other side of the same water. Good thing that Bart kept telling us how the sea in the dimension of Spirit looks similar to the shape of the Continent. Otherwise we would have never found it! So when Lullaby came back, she made some kind of spirit manipulation, and we all had the same dream. Well I am not sure if it was really a dream, but we were not in our bodies and we were somehow flying. And we were seeing everything around us, but it was different from what we saw when we were awake. Nixie managed to guide us to the sea, and we all started to follow her when she started swimming. We were underwater but we still could breath. Very suspicious dream! I was watching Nixie very closely because I was afraid not to get lost, when she just stopped. She didn’t really know where to go and neither did i. But then, I saw Xixi go deeper and deeper into the sea until we couldn’t see her anymore. I didn’t know if it was dangerous or not, so I tried to remember the Continent, and see if that would help Nixie find out if that’s the way to go. And it did! The fishes around me all started going in the direction Xixi went. A fish is always a good sign. We couldn’t talk with one another, so I just pointed at the fish to the other. But while I got distracted, Nixie got lost somewhere and now the others were searching for her. I took my eyes of her for a few minutes! How could she get lost in a sea?? To be fair, dear diary, for a second there, I wanted to continue and catch up with Nixie later, but I realized it was not a smart idea.   Then, seeing what happened, Lullaby must have broken the spell because I had these horrible dreams I don’t even want to talk about. Luckily, everyone woke up, and we had to try again. Poor Lullaby was exhausted from the whole day. She wasn’t well at all and I was very worried for her. The doctor gave her some pills to take and anticipated that she only has a few days until she needs to give birth. Yet she wanted to come with us and help. I thought it would be very dangerous until Dillen pointed out that it might be even more dangerous to leave her alone when she’ll give birth in a dimension with a thousand of hidden undying elves. It’s a bit sad to see that the safest place to give birth right now is near us on a battlefield. Either way, Nixie and me insisted that she shouldn’t come with us, but in the end, I for one realized that we still need her help. And no matter what happened to us, which one of us would stay on the side and not fight anyways? Cut my arms and legs, and I’ll still find a way to fight this. So it wasn’t fair to ask her to stay aside. I just didn’t insist on it anymore.   As for the dream, we tried again. This time, Nixie went deep in the sea, and we walked through some weird rooms, and then back in the sea. And at some point, somewhere stuck in the sand, we saw this golden staff. Suddenly, Tallion started to show to the staff and make weird faces. We couldn’t talk so I didn’t know what he wanted, but after a small challenge of understanding each other’s mime language, we decided the staff was a good thing. So Nixie went to it and tried to push it harder and harder, and somehow we made it to the other side, to the lake of the Continent. Then, we woke up and went straight to the gate to see if it worked. And it did!   Now it was finally time to use the gate. Was I ready? Of course not. I’ve had mixed feelings about the Continent since forever. I loved the place when good things happened, and I hated it when I lost everything there. But it was long ago and all I have left about the Continent, are some memories which started to fade as well. The funny thing about memories is that they are all so subjective. I sometimes wonder if what I remember about my mother was true, or I really saw her worse than she was. Maybe when she left, she just knew better or maybe she was the one who sent Grandpa to come take care of me. I’ll never know dear diary. Nonetheless, it was the moment everyone long waited for, maybe some more than the others. Going to the Continent. And I was both a bit excited and scared. I wanted to go home, to revisit all those special places, to meet the people that I once knew. But while I missed home and I wanted to return, once again I was afraid it will take everyone I have. So which one is it: Will I love or hate the Continent this time?   I was so distracted about these thoughts that I didn’t even notice that we were already there. Dark clouds were covering the sky and no ray of light go through them. I didn’t recognize the area, for I have never been in this part of the Continent, but I got this weird feeling of peace that I was finally home.The air seemed familiar. We found ourselves near what seemed to be a small empty village. One survivor approached us and told us that not long ago the orcs had raided the whole place. He gave us the news about the Continent, how they invaded Flegen and how they tried to hold the lines in Aisere. He didn’t know much more than the fact that the army of the orcs went south and that maybe somewhere in the North, it was Ghebaro’s army. I got used with the idea that Flegen is no more, but I was more worried for Nixie. Lampsidron is very close by, in the south, so the orcs could have attacked there too. Did her family actually survive this? We had to find them quick!   We had decided that it would be the best to split up and meet back in a few days. Damaschini took Miyun and they flew to the south to see what was the situation with the orcs. Nixie, Kelly and Lullaby went back to the dimension of Spirit to prepare the army and Isbel,Marc and me went North to see if we could find Ghebaro’s army. In the meantime, Bart, Eve and the rest would keep a close eye on the gate here while Xixi would travel on the lake to see what happens on the village on the other side. Before we left, Damaschini gave me a ring that controls the Gollem and said we could ride it. It was very nice of him to do so especially because we had no horses. And truth being told, it kinda saved our lives.   So we each went in their own direction. Marc, Isbel and me followed a road for a good part of the way. I was looking everywhere to see if anyone was following but I didn’t see anything. That is until we were crossing this field and we met a bunch of goblins who were riding some wolfs and who blocked our way. The pomenian warned us that these creatures were guarding the forests nearby and that they might attack us, so meeting them was expected. To be fair, I was curious to see what kind of creatures they would be. I never met one before. Their boss asked us who we are and all that stuff. I thought we could agree to leave each other alone and be on our way. That is until they started to provoke me. “I see, you are one of the fire people we annihilated not long ago” their leader said. “Don’t do it, Verfy! Don’t raise your weapon at him, you must be smarter. Do what you learnt from Nixie! When they provoke you, you provoke them back. Or did she say not to provoke them back? I don’t remember!” I thought for myself. So the next second, I told their leader: “You did? I thought it was the orcs beat the elementals!”. You see, dear diary, I didn’t hear much about goblins in my life, but even I somehow knew that they hate the orcs. They actually got very offended and raised their weapons at us.Umm…Oops? But it was the truth! I was getting ready to fight all those goblins when Marc pointed out very well “You have a Golem, Verfy. Use it!”. I totally forgot about that. Well, once again, the only way out was in front. With an amazing power, the Golem charged through the goblins, killing some of them. We then continued, but the goblins wouldn’t give up. They were following us from both parts, throwing some things at us. They were trying to make us fall so they can catch us. One of them tried to grab me but I was strong enough to make him fall from the wolf. Anyways, in the end, we managed to lose them when we got to a swamp area. It was somewhere around night, but we couldn’t rest here. We had to move on as fast as possible.   So we continued our way, until we got to another field. We decided to rest here but since it wasn’t safe, we decided to use the Golem once more. Damaschini told me that the Golem could somehow open up and transform in a sort of cage that could protect two people only. I must admit, Marc and Isbel are very amusing to travel with. We decided that we would dig a whole where I could sleep so all of us to fit under the Golem. But the goblins kept tracking us and at some point, we found ourselves surrounded by fire everywhere. The problem was that the Golem needed some time to transform back into a horse and if he passed through fire, we would have gotten burned pretty badly. Well I had no choice so I exited the cage and I tried to disperse the fire around us so that the Golem could pass through without the others getting burned. The Golem once again charged, and we managed to run away. But these goblins are very persistent, they followed us into the woods. They would have probably caught us if not for the soldiers of the Continent that managed to scare them away.   It was the middle of the night when we met the Continent soldiers for the first time. After a short introduction, Ravon Hiledis, the general that protected us from goblins, took us to the camp of the army. The camp was surrounded on all the parts by dangers: the woods were now raided by goblins, from somewhere further away we could see purple lightnings and who knows what other dangers were around. To my surprise, although the late hour, the camp was rather lively. Soldiers were moving around from one side to the other, there was light in many places and to be fair there was barely anyone sleeping. It was a rather pleasant change to see the fire elementals getting along with the others. Last time I remembered; they were enemies. I would have loved to hear more about what was happening but there was no time for stories, since it was just a bit more than a week left until the solstice. General Ravon soon welcomed us in a tent where we met a few people, some of which I recognized as being generals in the fire elementals army.   They were all looking at Isbel, Marc and me very insistently and they scared me a bit. What was I supposed to do now? We came here to see if the army was close by, but we never talked about what I should tell them if we met! I started by introducing ourselves, explaining that we are the people from the message and that we came to help. I didn’t know if I should mention the Redochian army yet so I preferred to keep it for a bit later. But then a small awkward silence fell over the room. “What do I do now? Did I do something wrong?” I started to panic myself. Thankfully, Perdoto, the current prime-governor of the Continent, started talking. “We hoped someone will come. We fought until now, hoping that someone will come to our help. Thank you!” he said. Or it was something among those lines. I felt a lot more relieved now and I focused talking with him as if the others were no even in the room. It’s easier to talk with one person rather than a council. I explained about the Redochian army that is ready to fight and that they were two days away from here.   “How did you bring all these people here?” asked an elf that presented himself as Rudolf. He seemed like a nice person and I liked him just by the fact he doesn’t have a name made of other three names like the other elves. But how was I supposed to answer that? “You see Rudolf, we are coming from another dimension. We build this interdimensional gate to the Continent by dreaming we are diving to the bottom of a sea. And now all the soldiers are passing through that gate and coming to help us.” Even in my head this sounded like I’m some kind of lunatic. Rudolf kept insisting on the subject and jokingly said: “It’s not like they came from the lake”. Actually THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. I told him that and probably seeing that I did not want to talk more about this subject, he gave up. I hope he doesn’t think I am a liar or something.   Then Perdoto and Rudolf started to explain about the current situation in the Continent, which was very bad. Most of the civilians went to hide in Zalonia, but they were far from being safe. The army of the Continent was massacred in Flegen. Then, they tried to keep their hold in Aisere, but they were forced to retreat and that’s how they arrived here. Now, with the last of their people, they had to keep the river, otherwise the enemy would soon arrive in Zalonia, and everyone in the Continent would be massacred. And the enemy was strong. An army of hundreds of thousands of undead people was only a few days away from this place, and they had a lich riding an undead dragon! I know only one lich so that guy was probably Mal (Or his full name Mallaband). Of course, the orcs wouldn’t have missed such a battle, so part of their army was here. As if that was not enough, the so-called “His Majesty” Haldric and an army of woranians were there too, and another small group of people which we recognized as casparians. But that was not all. A bit more to the north side, the ikains were riding to Zalonia, and as we already knew, the orcs were keeping the south. In other words, we either win this battle or everything that we know as a Continent would be gone forever. There was no place for us to retreat.   You must have noticed by now that His Majesty Ghebaro was missing from all this strategic planning. I had already guessed what happened when I didn’t see him in this tent with the others. But, I did not want to mention it. From what Perdoto and Rudolf told me, Xantiniya made her appearance in Aisere battle and Ghebaro, in a brave attempt to save everyone, challenged her to a fight. The army had to retreat so they did not know more about it, but they haven’t seen Ghebaro ever since. So they assumed he was dead. But, something tells me that Xantinya planned something way worse than death and we will soon find out what. But it must have been a hard hit for everyone in the Continent, since everyone loved Ghebaro, especially for Perdoto and Rudolf who, from what I understood, were close friends of the king. As expected, King Ghebaro would have done anything for his country and the Continent shall never forget that. I have not lived in the Continent while Ghebaro was king. But no one, not even Xantinya hurts our king and then, can expect the Continent to not fight back. I for one sure will. For King Ghebaro and all the others that have fought and still fight in the war.   In the end, we agreed on a plan which was pretty simple in theory. We come with the army as soon as possible, and the Continent army tries to hold of the enemy if they attacked before we arrived. Perdoto, Rudolf and the others seemed more motivated than ever to fight. More motivated that they seemed a few hours ago when we got here. I wish we could have helped them earlier but I was glad we gave them a bit of hope to get them through these few days. It was the least I could do after I wasn’t here to protect my home. The problem was that now, they were relying on us to arrive in time and help. The more I thought of that the worse it got. Nothing of what I said was yet planned. When we parted the others, the parliament still didn’t vote if the Redochian army will come or not. Who knew how long that would take. And then we actually needed to bring the army here. I placed a dangerous bet by giving them hope we’ll make it in time, and I was very afraid we’re going to be too late. But looking at all those soldiers outside, at Perdoto and Rudolf and the other generals, I just knew that they needed this motivation. So, no matter what we had to keep our promise.   Later, Perdoto took me aside and he told me stories about what happened in the Continent in the years that I was gone. You know, dear diary, the prime governor is doing an amazing job to leading the army instead of the king and he is kinder than it seems at first sight. It was nice to hear that the Continent was at peace, living united as one. He then told me how they went out the Continent and they met Marv, who was caught by some pirates (yes, dear diary, the pirates that killed Orman). They rescued him and that’s how they got our letter. To be fair, I expected Marv to not be here anymore. He’s the type that comes and goes whenever you expect the least, but to my surprise Marv was in the camp! And he was alive! It’s nice to see an old friend from time to time.   We didn’t want to waste more time, so we prepared to leave as soon as the sun comes out. Before that, Perdoto and me announced the army of the news. Probably for once in a long time, you could hear some cheers from the soldiers. A fresh breath of hope does good to any army. “Great! Now, not only the generals but also the soldiers will lose their hope if we don’t show up!” I worried for myself. We really needed to go. Of course, I was as worried for the army as I was for Nxie’s family. I asked Perdoto if he could find any elves that had her last name. But, I was in a rush and did not have time to wait for an answer. I really hope Nixie can meet them after this battle. The rest of the day was a race against time for me. We left the camp with 100 soldiers to protect us from the goblins. Every second of every minute counted. But time seemed to pass faster than ever. I was impatient. I wanted to hear the news from the others and gather that damn army. Marc, Isbel and me did not eat or rest until we got to the others. We haven’t slept in two nights when we got to the others. But there was not time for that. The moment I saw the others, I rushed to them and asked them to gather. The hope and the lives of a hundred thousand people depended on our promise to them. I did not plan to ruin it. Xantinya was here, our most powerful enemies were here, and we had the most army we’ll ever gather. I do not think I was ever more serious about something that in that moment because to me it sounded that it was our last chance to save this world. I quickly wanted to elaborate on everything the others told me but Dillen and Nixie were both in the mood of making jokes about ikains. Maybe it was because I was tired, but never in my life I have been more annoyed by them.   Either way there was no time to waste on fighting, so we quickly got back to the subject. Damaschini and Miyun also found out that the Lampsidron had been abandoned before the orcs could come, and somehow they managed to find Hamsa. Lullaby and Kelly stayed in the dimension of the Spirit to prepare the army, and when Xixi returned, she told us about a few thousand soldiers guarding the village on the other side of the lake. I'm very happy for Nixie that she managed at least to find her cat. With all of these information, we hurried to get the army from the dimension of the Spirit. On the way, I kept thinking about the motivation I saw in the soldiers earlier and I wondered if I could really do that myself on the battlefield. But I had no clue how so I went to talk with Damaschini. I needed to give him the Golem back and if anything, he knew how to do that. After all, he also is a fighter with his own code. I was curious how he uses it to motivate the others. Maybe I have a thing or two to learn from him after this battle. So dear diary, as I have told you before we are now marching to battle. I tried to rest and managed to sleep for a while, but now the impatience is keeping me awake. It felt nice to be back home. I haven’t realized until now, but I think I missed seeing other elementals around. Today, when I talked with the soldiers, I felt like I was talking with Flavia and Forsun once again. I felt more confident. And maybe Nixie is right, I don’t need to know what I’ll become. For now, all I need to know is that I am a a fire elemental soldier going to fight. That should be enough. I can worry about the rest after the battle. Also I have a new friend, his name is Vef…Wait! I hear sounds outside! I need to go dear diary!

Dear Diary, After we passed the interdimensional gate, we spent the first night somewhere on a field near the road under an improvised shelter. Tired, hurt and still shocked, we all had to gather our forces to tell the crew what happened. We talked about undying elves, about them coming in this dimension, about the buildings and how we escaped. And while we were talking, it seemed that the information slowly started to sink in for us as well.   An army of undying elves, hidden somewhere in this world… an army for which we were to blame. We set them free. Funny how You’re always free to choose, but never to stop the consequences of your choice. And this time, the consequences of our choice, will come at a cost of the lives of thousands. But we’ve made our choice, and now we have to take responsibility for it. And we will do it by fighting. If we really brought the end of our world, then we must be the ones who stop it.   We had to plan what’s going to happen next. But none of us dared to say much. There was a heavy feeling around. I suggested we rest here for now, but the others wanted to keep moving. If they were following us, the undying elves will find us no matter where we go. In the end, Glaive Boy started talking, after Nixie very unsubtly suggested she doesn’t trust him. First, he told us what they did in the past months. They rebuild a part of Legondol and then cleared the SAI from the interdimensional gate. Thank the Almighty Kelly wasn’t there anymore, otherwise the world would have really lost a great person. But while they were doing this, the interdimensionals saw our message. Then they realized for the first time that what they did was wrong. In an attempt to fix their mistake, The three interdimensionals came in Xy to help us. And thank The Almighty that they did. Glaive Boy did not ask for forgiveness for what had happened back in Legondol.   Instead, he kneeled down in front of us and apologized. He apologized in the name of all his friends and promised from now on he will do all that’s necessary to protect us.   The first time we got there, it was raining in the dimension of the Spirit.   Tallion, did kneel too in front of him, thanking Glaive Boy for everything he’s done so far. It is not oftentimes that Tallion really shows such respect for someone. I was moved by his gesture. And I for one wanted to lend a helping hand. I may not have been able to do much but forgiving him was a first step. Helping their friend was the only way to repay Reynar and Andirs for sacrificing for us. Plus, It did not seem like Glaive Boy would be ever able to forgive himself for what he’d done, especially to his own friends. And yes, it won’t bring anyone back and most of us would probably not forget what happened. But living with your friend’s blood on your own hands is a punishment one will never get rid of, even in a lifetime. And if anyone should understand, it’s us.   Then, I asked him to join us. I am no captain to do that, so I needed Nixie’s permission for it. More or less obliged by Tallion and me, she coldly nodded, not saying anything about it. Well, there was no point to have a whole fight when none of us felt well. So, I waited for everyone to go to sleep and I went to have a private talk with Nixie. I knew I was not going to convince her of anything good about the interdimensionals but it’s my persistence that always makes me at least try. But she acted colder than ever before. No matter what I’d say, she’d slash my words immediately. “I let him stay. That’s a second chance already! Nixie said and she sounded like she hated that idea. For a moment I was at loss of words. “No, you didn’t give him a second chance. You were forced to.” I thought for myself. I got sad. You know, to me, Glaive Boy didn’t do all of this for himself. He was the voice of all the interdimensionals. A lifetime- a lifetime they spent preparing for something. And what they prepared for was to die for us. Although they didn’t know it, Sikorki passed his legacy on them, when he stopped them from fighting the Five. All of them: Bajid, Jevyan, Reynar and Andirs used their powers to try to save this world and died fighting on the same side with us. And now, Glaive Boy was their voice just like we are now the voice of our world. To be shut down like this was cruel even for Nixie.   Yes, if they listened to us maybe the journey through Xy would have been easier. And maybe Eve would have not lost her eyes, or even risk to die. We did feel the consequences of their actions, but so did the others, when we opened the XY. And we got a second chance, so why not use it to put my trust in them again? Now, you may ask: “what if Zarkuz or Gilders would come back. Would you do the same?”. I don’t know. But a deep genuine sincerity is an openness of heart which you find in very few people. And Glaive Boy was definitely one of them. I for one, could not let it pass unseen. So yes, dear diary I am a fool for trusting what tried to kill us. But every wise man knows you cannot touch the moon, so only a fool will still try. Later that night, I asked Eve to come and help me with a little game with Lullaby. To our surprise, Lullaby reacted to this game even better than before, making Eve very happy. But there was more. The moment Lullaby saw Eve so happy, she responded with what seemed to be an attempt to…SMILE!? I wish Eve would have seen it with her own eyes. It was beautiful. And it was all thanks to Eve.   I thought I’d let the girls enjoy a bit of time alone and went to talk with Bart. It was time I’d tell someone what is happening every time Eve visits me. And Bart made a very good point. This was not happening with anyone else but me. Nobody complained about feeling anything like this. So why me? Bart suggested that maybe Eve and me had some kind of unsolved problem. But what could it be? From all I know, Eve and me never had a fight. Unfortunately, Bart didn’t have an answer. So, I did the most logical thing one would do. I woke up Eve in the middle of the night and started to ask her if she had a problem with me. Poor Eve probably got worried, but I still couldn’t tell her the truth. I didn’t want to upset her. “Is it because you have realized that I was the problem not Lullaby? And you fear that I might hurt her so you’re trying to keep me away from her” she asked very directly. And as always, I was very bad at lying so I ended up telling her the truth. I didn’t try in anyway to keep her away from Lullaby, for I know how important it is for her, nor I was afraid for Lullaby. Maybe Eve was right, maybe I didn’t know her like I once was. She did change, but there are a few things that will never change about her: she’ll always protect us, and she’ll believe in good. So, when she told me that she can feel all our fears and could use them against us anytime, I couldn’t help but hug her. There was no one I would have trusted with this more than her. But, that did not mean I should leave it like that. Feeling fear all the time is painful and I promised to take care of Eve. But how? Is staying with her just enough? But she was right. I was afraid. And as much as do not like to admit, this fear is slowly getting to me even more. I am afraid that what I do does not help the others, on contrary, it hurts them even more. I keep doing it, because I somehow hope that I am not right, that this fear of mine is based on nothing as they said before. I know the demons are going to use this with the first chance they get. So I cannot let them. I am no longer so decided on what I want, nor do I know who I wanna be. It will be this fear that will hurt the others, so I have to keep fighting it. And I do. It’s just recently, before I say any words, my heart shrinks a bit and I get this instinct that I’d better shut up.   The next morning, we decided to go to the capital city of Redochia to find out more information about what’s happening. We still didn’t know if the people at Lullaby’s castle were enemies or allies, and we had to make sure it’s not a trap. After a few attempts to steal a phone, we managed to finally find out some information. It seems that Redochia, in the absence of their queen and king, managed to avoid a war against the Union. Their prime-minister, Lemenis Donatavol, all this time took charge of the country and he encouraged everyone to not lose heart, for in the message they had all received, they saw their queen alive. In the end, we decided to take our shot and head for the palace. But how exactly should we get inside without being noticed?   Dear Diary, for the first time in our life, we decided to enter through the main entrance. Tallion, who is a true celebrity here just simply went to a guard and talked with him. Then the guard, ordered by someone else led the way to a hidden entrance. WHAT? THAT SIMPLE? NO WAY. I became a bit suspicious. There, they verified us of not having guns or other dangerous equipment. The guards were a bit surprised to see Kelly with us, but did not say anything. Then, we were taken to some kind of council room, where we were left to wait.   Not long after, this wise looking person came talking to us. We recognized him as being the prime minister. After a small introduction, he simply stated: “So you are Damaschini and Tallion. As the queen ordered before she left, a whole army of soldiers trained in medieval combat is ready.”   My jaw dropped. WH…WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? AN ARMY OF WHAT? At first, my guard was up, and I though he was lying about the whole thing. “So the queen told you she was leaving?” I asked suspiciously. He disapproved. “But then, how did you know you have to wait for Damaschini or Tallion” I kept asking. Then he explained how, before she disappeared, the queen sent a secret order to him in which she ordered a preparation of an army that could fight in our dimension without being noticed. Then, he learned about the royal couple’s disappearance and just tried his best to keep the country from any danger. Now, back to that army of fighters. I was beyond amazed by it. If we managed to find a gate, this could be the saving of the Continent. Lullaby gave us a chance for something that maybe we lost some hope for. Once again, I could have gone home and fight. This time on the right side. I was a bit happy but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Even with an army, we had no news about the Continent, nor we knew when’ll get there. And, it was our dimension to fight for. As much as I could have liked to have this army, asking 300.00 people to help us, felt a bit much. After all, their home might need help as well.   “Do you know what happened to the Queen and King”? the prime minister asked with a saddened expression on his face. I looked at Nixie and then at Tallion who both nodded. “Your queen is right here” we told him. For some time, Donatavol stood there speechless, looking at Lullaby. I don’t know what went through his mind, but we explained him that she needs rest, and although she is not sentient, we want to help her. The prime minister seemed willing to help us with anything we needed and he seemed relieved that the queen is finally home.   But…his relief soon faded when he heard about Bajid. “I’m sorry but I am a deeply saddened, he wasn’t born one of us, but everyone loved the King”. His words took me back to Legondol. “Who didn’t love Bajid? And now his people, will never get to see their king again. Not even one last time…” I thought a bit nostalgically. We’re in the King’s country now, so we should honor the King at last. With this in mind, I decided to talk with the others. It was time to hold a proper memorial for Bajid, the beloved king of Redochia and we couldn’t do it without the queen. So it was also time to wake up Lullaby. Eve figured that she could send her some kind of call to wake up through their connection, just like she did before. But the problem with Balan was still there. Once Lullaby would wake up, she’d wake up back in the last moment she remembers: Bajid’s death. For her, the past months did not happen, Xy was merely probably a dream. And when she’ll wake up, all the feelings she had that day in Legondol would come back at once. So, we had to find a way to make her feel more at peace during that time. We asked the prime minister if there was anyone close to Lullaby who could help her, but she had almost no one. Ghighi was not here, and Glaive Boy did not seem the closest with her. We could try to help her, but we’ve weren’t so close to her and we weren’t many. Just as I thought of it, the words of the prime minister passed my mind. That’s it! The people of Redochia. They have been there all along and they love their Queen and King AND they’ve seen the message. Now, Nixie came with the brilliant idea to gather everyone for the memorial and to wake Lullaby up, right at the time when everyone would show their love for Bajid. That way, she’ll realize who he was, and the love everyone carried for him. And then, she’ll be able to be there for Bajid, for one last time. For some reasons, Nixie was against the idea to do the memorial in the cemetery where Lullaby’s parents were buried. She thought that it would hurt her even more. But I did not agree. You see, the pain of losing someone you love will hurt her anyways, but in a weird way, I’ve come to think that burials bring you a slight feeling of peace. Plus, Bajid was part of her family, so he deserved to be remembered as one.   For this plan to work, we needed to let the people know about the return of the Queen and King. So, together with the prim minister, we decided to have a declaration in front of their weird council called Parliament which will be all over the TV. With this plan in mind, all we needed to do is wait a day until the prime minister would arrange everything. Finally, we could get some rest. GREATEST JOKE EVER!   I was dreaming of meat and snakes when Glaive Boy suddenly woke us up. “Do not panic…” he said. That was not a good start at all looking at Nixie who was already panicking. “There is something in the walls” continued Glaive Boy. He could feel a strong manipulation of planes so we knew what was going to come. But we didn’t get to do anything about the walls because we heard people at the door, saying that the prime minister sent them. Yeah, sure. Like any of us would be so stupid to believe that the soldiers of Redochia are good at manipulating the planes. We sent them away, but not even minutes after, they came back. This time, they didn’t even bother to knock, they just opened the door and talked with Nixie. “Nernixis blah blah blah…. You have a choice: Come with us, and you may live to continue your fight or die here and all that you do becomes irrelevant…blah blah blah…We’ll kill you….blah blah blah”. I told you before, didn’t i? These great speeches of how we’ll die are getting old. If they really wanted us dead, we wouldn’t even know they’re coming. Or that’s at least what I bet on, when I told Nixie to not listen to them. Of course, I was thinking of a plan to escape, after all they were just two of them. Until Glaive Boy, probably guessing what we thought said there’s more elves into the walls. Fantastic. But to our surprise, the elves did not attack us, they just left. “You’ll find out the price you need to pay for your actions soon enough” was the last thing they said before leaving. I didn’t even get to put my thoughts in order when we heard someone collapsing. Glaive Boy dropped dead behind us. He was not hurt in any way, but his face was covered in drops of sweat, as if he had been fighting something. We tried to see if his spirit was around, or if by any chance the undying elves just fooled us. Glaive Boy was indeed dead.   I wonder if it was raining that first night we spent in the Redochian castle.   We were all shocked. We didn’t even notice for one second what was happening, and it was right there near us. How could we be so careless and arrogant! Maybe I should have listened to their speech more. We thought that despite being trapped and overpowered, we would still get out of there alive because… Because what? Yes. Because we are never alone. But I forgot, dear diary, that help most of the times comes with a consequence. We should have known that Glaive Boi was doing something, we should have known that the undying elves are coming after us. We did manage to escape. But no thanks to our powers but thanks to Glaive’s Boy fight and Undying Elves interest in our existence. It was a clear reminder that nothing is unbeatable, a reminder that WE are not unbeatable.   We stayed there, talking to each other, figuring out what we should do next. Do we still hold the memorial? Do we call people? I do not like it. I feel like I am being used. The undying elves are waiting for us to do a mistake, or not do a mistake? Just why exactly do they want us alive? Or better said, what are they going to force us do this time? We wanted to strike back, but then once again we needed to deal with whatever consequences will come, which in this case could be very dangerous. But I didn’t want the message to be in vain. I don’t want that all the sacrifices to be in vain. Maybe we are not unbeatable but while we stand, we had to try something.   In the end, we had decided to keep going with our plan. It was Donatavol who managed to give us an idea of what to do, when he suggested that maybe during the parliament meeting, we should talk more about ourselves. “People will follow a person rather than an idea” he said. I never thought of it like that to be fair. But, when he said it, it reminded me of the elves in Enneth. They did not believe in the end of the world but they chose to follow us, because of who we were. But these people were not elves, nor magic men nor did they know anything about our dimension. So we really needed to convince them. We all have learnt how bad we are at pretending to be something we’re not. So, each one of us put on the outfits we use in our dimension and tried to look as normal as possible for the situation. I mean, I am sure I looked pretty good in my armor with the helmet from Xebec.   Later, we all gathered and the Prime-Minister took us to this huge room where a few hundred people, dressed in these very black and white suits, were waiting for us. The Prime-Minister started by introducing ourselves, and talking about the message. I was getting a bit worried. I love talking with the crew, but when it comes to politics people, I really am not the smartest. Luckily, all I needed to do is stay there while Nixie gave one of her speeches. Remembered when I told you that she’s getting better at them? I think this might have been the greatest one so far. And although we’ve been fighting this war together, it was like I heard the stories for the first time. Like she was finally talking from her heart. I looked at Nixie and I felt proud of her. From time to time, she would stop and try to find the right words, just like the first time she had the Captain speech. But now, she would quickly find them. None of us really understand how hard it is to be a captain, yet somehow Nixie made it. Hmmm…maybe I should start calling her General from now on! Seems that someone agreed with me. On the wall behind, there was this huge sign in the shape of a star with nine corners. While Nixie was talking, for only a second, the sign glowed a light, leaving everyone in the room with an amazed face. I will take that it was a good sign.   Now, that the interview was done, we thought we could go get some rest. But, dear diary before we could do that, Donatavol came to us with other news. Some “reporters” wanted to have a small talk with us. To explain you a bit better, these reporters are like your old neighbors that like to spy your every move and discuss about it. Except, they do that on TV so that everyone can see. Great! Luckily, we managed to postpone the meeting until after Bajid’s funeral so we have some time to prepare. Then, we gathered in a room and Kelly gave us some tips about how to deal with these reporters. Now, I am not usually embarrassed about what I say but this time we really needed to convince the others and I was very worried that I’ll not know what to say. I asked the others some questions so they can answer some of them in advance for me, but there was one that I just kept it for myself. “What if they ask me what I wanna be?” I thought for myself. It was a question the others couldn’t answer it for me. And I was scared that if I were to stumble on this one, it will affect everyone. No one trusts someone who doesn’t know where to go. The day before I had this small talk with Tallion. I have decided to try and overcome my fear, just as I promised Eve, but I had no clue how. Tallion told me this story on how he beat his fear of heights by jumping from a swing while playing. Well, that was not hard to do. Maybe if I could talk with Tallion and tell him the truth, then it would help me understand more about myself. I don’t usually talk about these things, but I do not mind sharing some thoughts with Tallion from time to time. He is a very good friend for listening. But, the conversation got confusing from here on. He asked me: “What is the first thing you think about before you take a decision?”. Nixie joined in the conversation as well, not long after. Then, they both explained to me what each one of them is thinking before deciding. Dear diary, nobody asked me that before, and to be fair I didn’t know what to answer. I do not usually spend time thinking of something specific when I take a decision. I just take it. Was I supposed to think anything before? Is it weird that I don’t? I am no brainless fighter so I do not just blindly pick an option, but I do not really have anything specific I think of. I just listen to everyone, maybe come up with some extra ideas, and then I just vote on one of the options. It was then that I realized that maybe the others can’t help me with this. They can’t tell me who I am. I just need to do it myself. Thank The Almighty we are going home! Maybe I’ll find some clues there.   That night each one of us prepared for a very long day. After more than 4 months we finally could bury Bajid as he deserved. It was true that we also had a mission to help Lullaby but this once, we could allow ourselves to be sad.I for one had many feelings that night. It was the sadness for Bajid, the hope for Lullaby and a bit of concern for what may happen. In the morning, we left the Redochian Castle and began Bajid’s ceremonial walk to the grave. Thousands of thousands of people gathered outside watching the parade pass through the streets. Many of them even joined us. Soon, we got in front of this cemetery and Bart started playing this lament that he wrote.   I looked up to the sky. It was raining very hard in the dimension of Spirit that day.   Then, everyone gathered on a field behind the cemetery, where one by one, people close to Bajid said a few words about him. Nixie, once again held an emotional speech, and Tallion followed suit. I did not stay with Bajid for a long time, nor had talked with him too much. But above all, Bajid was kind. That’s how I’ll always probably remember him. To me, he was that person who’d manage to touch your soul with only one small gesture. One smile, one lending hand, or anything would make you understand why he was so loved. We saw Bajid and Lullaby just a few times together, but every time you could see how gentle and caring he was with her. And even with us, who back then were some strangers to him, he never turned his back, not in even darkest times. Instead, he smiled. And despite meeting him for only a few days, it felt like we were friends already. No wonder his people loved him so!   “The King is dead! Long live the King!”   And thus, the place fell silent. Every soul there prayed for their beloved King and Queen. We were all in tears, for Bajid and everyone else we had lost. It was not easy so far, but at last we could be a bit at peace, for we felt people’s prayers reaching us and Lullaby. It felt heartwarming seeing that in this mess, so many souls could unite, and do more than we could have ever done alone. It was time to wake Lullaby up.   Damaschini and Eve did their special combo, and soon Lullaby fell to her knees. Eve slowly felt a grip on her hand as she tried to catch Lullaby. Then, we helped walk to Bajid’s grave for it is tradition that the most loved one to throw the first gravel on the coffin. Eve was preparing to help Lullaby but suddenly, she stood up by herself, and slowly took the shovel and threw the gravel. For others, this was normal. But we were stunned. After so much time Lullaby was finally awake. Finally, the Queen was back and both her and Rafil were safe. But Lullaby was very weak so we took her to a more private space and she sat down somewhere in a chair. We slowly got closer to her, and then we could heard a very fade “Thank you” from Lullaby. It was nice, just to hear her talk and see that she is finally back. There was no need to thank us for we only did our part as she did hers, despite not knowing it. It was all of us who sent the message, it was all of us who passed xy and who now are fighting for this world. But then, before we could say anything else, Lullaby fainted so we had to let her rest for now.   During the ceremony, I looked for Gilders. I somehow hoped that maybe, he would come at least to say goodbye to his brother. If not to take responsibility for what’s he’s done, then simply because, Bajid was his brother. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, what he told us there in Metherol was not a lie and in the end, he did see the message and tried to make up for it. But, he didn’t show up. He cowardly hid again behind someone’s back and waited for the rain to pass. We told the world about his crime, and one day he’ll see the rain just as we did today.   Before we could leave, we had to meet with the reporters, just as promised the other day. And so the show started. The questions were absolutely horrible and made no sense. “DiD yoU WaKe tHe DraGoN up?”, “Do UndEaD pEoPLe have RiGhtS?” and so on. Absolutley everything about them was stupid. How can someone become something like this and not feel sorry for themselves? And the worst part was that my face and voice was all over the internet that day. They even made a song of my weird stuttering!! Just why would you even do that? We barely said three words and they already pretend that they know everything. LET’S GIVE THE UNDYING ELVES SOME RIGHTS AS WELL, shall we? Anyways, I got very annoyed so I grabbed the others and left.   That day, we paid another visit. In a small corner of the graveyard laid a small memorial stone for the interdimensionals. I thought that Tallion might want to pray for them a bit. Out of everyone, I felt that he did indeed care for them. We’ve always seen those three together, so that’s how they should also rest. On the memorial stone laid their names. Since Glaive Boi was not the real name, we struggled to decide if they should add it or not. The name itself did not mean anything, but if you ask me, it was Glaive Boy who managed to give it a meaning. And so glaive boy was named Glaive Boi.   And on the stone was written only a small quote: “We are glad we have trained for this”. I have noticed something interesting, dear diary. These rainy days in Redochia seem a lot like our life. We bring the clouds, and then we must deal with the rain they bring. Just like we make our choices and we then feel the consequences. But I do wonder, will there also be thunder and lightning in our path? For it is always after the storm when the calmest weather comes.     May the Almighty have us in his care. P.S.1: Thank you, Glaive Boy for having our backs. We will take care of these dimensions for you. P.S.2: Now that our business is done in the dimension of the Spirit, we will soon return to the Continent. Finally, after so many years we will find out what is happening there. I am excited. But I do also fear a bit. After all, the last time I was there, we were at war with Ghebaro, who almost won. And I stole a prisoner and left. I do not think that anybody cared about that. But now, they’ve seen the message, they’ve seen I believe in the Almighty now, and that I am gone from the Continent. What will they think of me? P.S.3: I am worried about Lullaby. She just woke up for a day and already started working and helping us. The army is just enough for us. I wish she would just rest a bit. It’s been enough what she’s been through.

Dear Diary, And so our journey continues. And now we somehow made it to the “big league” as Dillen called it. How we got here is still a mystery to me, but I feel it is only the start. And with all the eyes on us, we now have to become what this world hopes us to be.   But as epic as it sounds, this life of ours have led us to see many things- both bad and good. We have left the Black Hole a few weeks ago. Eve is awake, and she’s doing alright taking in consideration that the last thing she ever saw was the evil in its purest form. She seems a lot more confident now and Bart is helping her learn how to deal with her blindness. They seem very happy together recently. No wonder, since Bart actually proposed to her. When they marry, I am sure that it will be a huge party. I am now taking care of Lullaby. Every day, I visit Eve who tells me what to do. It’s very weird however, that Balan doesn’t seem to be there anymore, at least when I am alone with Lullaby. When Eve comes around however, I do sometimes feel a bit worse. But you know, for the time being, I want her to be happy, so I still haven’t told her that.   One of the days, Nixie gathered all of us, to let us know we are going to the dimension of spirits to wake Lullaby. And she wanted to suggest holding a party for cheering everyone up. But neither the crew, Nixie nor anyone else seemed in the mood for it. Their thoughts were probably still back to the Black Hole, where they have probably felt powerless. And now that the message was sent, we had to probably fight in the big boys’ league, which was not going to be easy, especially because none of us are big boys. It was no point for me trying to prove that we did help by hoping for you could see by their faces that it did not help much.   In the end, we ended up having the big party the others were planning. But, the tournament was so long, that all of us were tired, so we did not play the other games as well. I did miss a bit of fun to be fair. And this sure brought up my mood. Well, at least for a while. You see dear diary, we have decided that we’ll have a free for all tournament so we created an arena in the garden, added some props in the middle (pans, small rocks, oil and such) and prepared ourselves for what would be, the funniest fight we had in a while. We each placed ourselves on a side of the arena and started to warm up, sometimes sharing intimidation stare contest with people on our left and right. And then, when we heard the signal from Anevys, we all ran as fast as we could to either fight someone or get the props. I was on my way to the props, when I saw that Damaschini flew there right away, taking a sit on the chair in the middle of the arena, which he will later use as his weapon.   I wanted to go and fight him. To be fair, I have always wanted to try and fight Damaschini just because I think it would have been fun to duel with him because he is a fighter, but does not fight like the rest of us. In fact, at that time, there were a few people I wanted to duel with. If not for training, at least for fun. And now I had the perfect opportunity. As I was thinking about it, I noticed that Marc wanted to attack me. That was…unexpected?! But in a very good way. I maybe didn’t notice it, but since when did our marked Marc become so brave? You know, as a fellow fighter and friend, it was one of the greatest joys I had in a while to see Marc like this. For me it didn’t matter if I won or not, but now, I was silently cheering for Marc. It would have been quite surprising for him to win. So I figured it would be smarter to fight together with him, not against. But if we wanted to have a chance, we needed to take down the strong boys first. I rushed to get in the middle because there were not many props left. And I found what was, I think, the second most useful prop- a pan. Marc however, was a bit slower, so I had to wait for him. And from here on, the real fights started. Kelly was the first one to challenge me to a duel, but as I was talking with her, I also noticed Nixie coming close by. Now, I know how that would have ended. Nixie wouldn’t miss a chance to beat me at a game and I definitely couldn’t beat both of her and Kelly at the same time. Luckily, I noticed Bart, coming behind Nixie, and tying two bananas to her feet.   Normally, I would have said something, but a game is a game, and it did no harm. When Nixie tried to move, she slipped and fell on the ground. Sorry Nixie, I learned to cheat from the best. A few seconds later, Marc also caught us from behind. “You know what Marc? Have this pan!” I told him very enthusiastically. “You have to win this, Marc” I thought to myself. In the meantime, I tried to hold off the others a much as I can. But the situation was getting tough. Damaschini came flying nearby, and Drenizek joined the middle of the arena not long after. I was ready to start fighting with Kelly, when I noticed that Nixie was trying to crawl out of this fight and run away. I looked at Marc, who looked back at me and we both had that small evil grin of our face. It’s not oftentimes you get to beat the great Captain Nixie at a game so we couldn’t miss the opportunity. In the meantime, somewhere near, Xixi and Damaschini were having a fierce fight which in the end Xixi lost by getting kicked out of the arena. But Damaschini was obviously tired. With Marc as my only ally and Kelly, Damaschini and Drenizek ready to fight us, I needed to find a way to make Marc win this. I loved Kelly’s idea to fight both her and Drenizek in a duel in three people. You see, it was both a very exciting challenge and it would have put Marc out of their targets. And I trusted that Marc could hold off Damaschini long enough for us to finish the fight. I have trained with Kelly during our trainings, but she never gets that serious as she was now. And damn, she sure was very strong. And then it was Drenizek, who might I say, has some very strong punches. The whole fight was a wonderful combinations of punches and dashes and kicks and so many more! Now, that was a fight I was excited to be a part of! I did feel bad for covering Drenizek’s face with a bag, but well props were made to be used. Funnily enough, Bart later also threw a pan on my face. But, as I was fighting them, I saw Damaschini beating Marc with the pan I gave him. Dillen taught me that you sometimes must be sneaky to get what you want so, I left Kelly and Drenizek beat each other till one of them falls, and went to help Marc. You see, if I could beat Damaschini first, and get Marc out of that fight, then together, we would have beaten whoever would have won between Kelly and Drenizek. Which was a good idea, but by the time that I got to help Marc, Damaschini already took him out of the game.   I got upset about it. You know, I did expect that one on the strong fighters on the party would win this, so I would have liked to see un unexpected turn of events. And if you ask me, Marc deserved the prize. I did not necessarily want to win for myself, so the rest of the tournament was just fights for fun. And as I expected, the fight with Damaschini did not disappoint. I tried to get that pan back,not because I was interested in it but I think Damaschini would have done well without it as well, but he wouldn’t let me. For the sake of entertainment, I even tried to throw my boot at that pan. No success of course. In the end, I did manage to take Damaschini out but since he had two fights before, it wasn’t that much of the achievement. As we were getting closer and closer to the end of the tournament, Kelly joined in to finish where we left of. We were both rather tired at this point, but I was looking forward to this duel. While we were fighting, Bart wanted to join in and went straight up to attack me with the pan, as I told you earlier. Now, that hurt quite a bit. Fine Bart, we can fight if that’s what you want. But before I could do anything, Kelly did take him out because he intruded in our duel. Then, she slowly took the pan out of my face and made sure to give me a punch in the face instead. Well, I did fight her bravely until I fell, which was not long after. But I did manage to fight almost everyone I wanted to. It would have been nice to have a small punch exchange with Dillen but he was brutally eliminated when Xixi used him as a shield against Damaschini who was attacking her with a chair. And probably, I would have liked fighting with Xixi too. Sometimes when she lifts you up, for a few seconds before you get pinned to the ground, it feels like flying.   It was a wonderful party, but now we were getting closer to Abi-Dii and we had to be prepared. We didn’t know what to expect from the Evo Drives. We spend most of the time training, but from time to time, we would go out of the chest. It felt nice to not see the day all the time, and the darkness of the space was a very nice contrast. We got to have a bit of a chat with the ship’s captain, Iz. Seems like pirates, no matter from which dimension, do not lose their adventure spirit. Iz was curious about the message and what it meant. I think that Nixie, Tallion and the others liked him and he seemed insane enough, so we did what was the most logical think to do. We asked him to join us. Now, by his shocked face, I bet he didn’t get such invitation every day. So, we left him some time to think about it. I for one, thought that some humor and a new presence around would cheer the others a bit. Surprisingly, when we got to Abi-Dii, he accepted our invitation. As we were preparing, he gathered all his clothes, then gave some final instructions to his crew, and said his goodbyes. His crew was rather sad about the captain’s departure. “Seems like we got ourselves a good pirate” I thought to myself, smiling a bit. Of course, I did have my doubts, caused by none other than Gilders, but have decided to leave them aside. Welcome to the most insane adventure you have ever signed up for, Iz.   Iz got a few days to get used to the chest and his new lifestyle while we were in the Evo Drives. In the meantime, the rest of us, kept training on our own things. I often saw Drenizek struggling to meditate in the garden, all by himself. One time, I went to talk with him, but he seemed more upset than usual. He had a big problem with that Ritual Room, which Nixie forbade. I almost forgot it exists anymore, but it seems that for him, it was a proof that all he was trying to train for were not true. He was trying hard, to meditate well enough so that he becomes stronger, and when he looks in that Ritual Room, to see nothing. When I tried to talk with him, he shut me down trying to avoid the subject. I felt a bit discouraged to insist, so instead I tried to help find another way to train. Maybe if meditation won’t help, some intense training might. But I am still worried for him. He still beats himself over and over again that he is not strong enough, that he is a liability for us, and he doesn’t know who he is anymore. I wish I could help more, but it seems that there are things I cannot understand that well.   Talking of which, dear diary, I am feeling a bit lost these days. The more we advance into this journey, the more everyone seems to slowly pave their own path, and slowly they come to understand what they are meant to become. Nixie is slowly becoming the Captain and elf heir that she was supposed to be. Tallion is working so that one day he can become The Great Wizard and use his magic to fight when we need. Eve has become our protector of sorts, and she is training to be even better at it. Bart and Damaschini are definitely our brain, with all the knowledge of planes and such, I bet one day they could become very powerful interdimensionals. But I sometimes wonder, what path do I want to take? Just what exactly do I want to become? I am neither the strongest fighter of us, nor the brightest. Until now, I always knew what to choose and I trusted my choice. But recently, I feel that there are small parts of me missing from their place. I thought I knew who I am and what am I supposed to do, but I am starting to doubt that. I know my past, still I never understood anything about elementals. I hoped that finding more about this would help, so I started to train for that. But then again, what exactly am I looking for? I found out about the interaction between the elements and my magic essence. But now what? What do I do with it? I thought I could be the party’s pillar of strength in the worst times, but not even that helped the crew and the others. It certainly didn’t help Nixie, who needed an angel to help her, nor it helps Drenizek or Miyun. I thought I have decided what I wanted for the future until I have looked in that Rituals room and realized not even that is clear anymore. I just wish I was as decided about what I want to do, as I once used to be.   Either way, the days passed quietly for most of the time in the EVO Drive. But do not worry dear diary, our journey was definitely not an easy one. It all started when we got to the last Evo Drive that would take us to Bethle. It was then when the Smart Orshag came to us to announce that the Evo Drive has had some problems. For something that has not been shut down for hundreds or thousands of years to close now was a bad sign. But there was more. The Smart Orshag continued to explain how somehow after being shut down, suddenly when we arrived here, it began to work again. That was definitely not a coincidence. The officials that were controlling the Evo Drive, being as confused as us, did not want to let anyone go in the Evo Drive for safety reasons.   So, what were we to do now? We could try and take another ship, but that meant we needed to get out of the chest. And if we do that we could also try to talk with the officials. Or we could wait for two days until we got the confirmation that the Evo Drive is safe. We didn’t know what or who could have caused all of these problems but if I learned one thing about this dimension is that if someone had the power to start of stop the Evo Drives, we didn’t have the power to beat them in a fight. Actually it was no later when we actually realized that we talk about someone who is very skillful at manipulating the planes, especially the Death Plane. The question was then, whoever started the Evo drive again, were they a friend or an enemy? The conversation soon became very heated. On one side, Eve wanted to go talk to the officials as soon as possible, using the Black Hole message as an advantage. An opinion with which I agreed. You see, dear diary, if there were actually friends on the other side, they probably needed our help. If however, there are enemies, we will eventually need to deal with them anyways if we ever wanted to leave XY. And I’d rather do it sooner than when it’s too late. But Nixie, was convinced that all of this Evo Drive problem was just a trap, and really wanted to wait, or take another ship. She kept insisting that if we were to talk with the officials, they will probably capture us or something. When she asked us what we are going to tell them, I got a bit dishearten. “Why is it so bad to tell them the truth? They will understand it, right?” I thought. But I didn’t say anything. Maybe Nixie was indeed right. Maybe we should do something else. Eve however, was more than ever set on the thing she wanted to do. And so did Nixie. I somehow felt that this conversation was taken to a completely different direction, and the girls soon started to fight. And that’s where we ended the conversation for the day. We decided to let the Smart Orshag gather more info and we would discuss it the next day in the morning again.   That night, I went to talk with Nixie, who seemed more upset than before we sent the message. Why? Well, at that time I couldn’t tell you and to be fair, she didn’t really make it clear until a lot later in the conversation. If there is one thing I could do, was to be annoyingly persistent and it was time to do it again. You see, the crew’s motivation, especially in times of need, sometimes depends on Nixie, who is probably the fastest of us to lose her spirit. But, when I confronted Nixie about it, she said that she doesn’t want to talk with me about it. “Ahem, like you have a choice” I thought to myself. “Keep going Nixie, go on and try to push me away. I have learned better. It is when you want to get rid of me that I must be the most annoying” I continued thinking. Finally, probably realizing she had no escape, Nixie started telling me how upset she was about Eve. She said that when you really want something,you’re willing to do whatever it needs for that thing and then continued that maybe she didn’t want the Black Hole message to happen that bad. Then she told me how she felt bad for believing Eve would die. Then about how she cannot be happy, despite having all the reasons to. Eve joined in the conversation at some point right exactly when we were talking about Nixie as a leader. “NoOnE FoLloWS A LeAdER tHaT dOeSn’T MaKe ThE RiGHt chOiCeS” Nixie said. How do you even know? When taking a decision, how do you know it’s the correct one anyway? I do follow Nixie because she is the captain, but I also do believe that this title itself it’s not enough to make me follow her. As she learned before, I am not exactly the most rule obeying person in this party. To me it mattered more who is the person we follow. Anyways, Eve and me tried to endlessly convince Nixie to stop being so stubborn and just go and be open with the crew and the rest about it. But it felt to no avail. Eve got more upset than anything and Nixie just didn’t seem convinced yet. We all ended up going to sleep.   Before I say anything, I want to thank you, Rostalon, for managing to do a job none of us can. It seems we need an angel to change the opinion of our leader. Anyways in the morning I was very abruptly woken up by Nixie who was suddenly happy again. On one side, I was very relieved to see Nixie back to her normal self, but on the other, something kept bothering me. Nixie gathered everyone and she described her dream. How she had this cup with all our blood in it and how it represented our sacrifices. How she drank it and then entered a locked door where she saw this huge diamond which then started burning in a white flame from which Nixie could feel some of her bad feelings. And how, in the end, she managed to bring a part of the flame near her and touched it. She said that she was given this power of knowledge that will guide Nixie to the right direction. The others seemed a bit surprised as well. For Nixie it seemed like a good thing, but Bart did not seem as convinced. After All, that fire which helped Nixie , was burning the diamond, not coming from it. I didn’t doubt the dream but I did wonder: Isn’t Nixie going to start and rely too much on her dreams? I was not really sure what to think, but since Nixie seemed so happy with it, I did not want to bring her down with any doubts. We were all happy especially because it seemed that our message managed to achieve more than we have ever hoped for. But I was worried for sure. You see, what will happen when Rostalon won’t be able to come help us? When we will not have all that help coming in our way every time we need? Who will then manage to bring Nixie back to her feet? If we couldn’t do it now, if Rostalon had to come, how we will we do it later? And if we’re not there? Then what? If we all die, Nixie should be able to pull herself back together on her own and I am afraid that she won’t manage all by herself. So, dear diary, as grateful as I was for Rostalon helping us, as worried I was that we will not be able to help him back one day. Either way, these are all my worries, there was no point to worry the others as well. Especially because the crew seemed a bit relieved after this and after all that happened, they at least needed that.   Now, that our Captain was back in business, we got back to deciding what we will do about the Evo Drive problem. In the end we came to the conclusion that Eve’s idea to talk with the Evo Drive officials was the fastest. So, we prepared some main points we wanted to say, put on the best equipment we had and off we went out the chest. We were now on the station of the Evo Drive and the moment we showed ourselves, the room changed completley. Funny how, a few months ago when we left Bethle for the first time we had to hide ourselves under fake identities and now the only way to get back was to reveal ourselves. As we were walking, I could feel all the eyes were on us. The people who were waiting for the Evo Drive to open, gathered around us from all sides. You could read on their faces both the confusion and the curiosity, but none of them dared to speak with us. Not long after, the Evo Drive officials came in our way to. “What’s your business here?” the boss asked. Nixie, more motivated than ever, took charge and held this wonderful speech. She explained how important it is for them to unite and fight and how we came in this dimension to send that message and how important the meaning behind it was for helping this world. Nixie is getting rather good at holding speeches. I for one was convinced, and so seemed the Evo Drive official. The rest of us interfered here and there, trying to show people that now they will have to choose which side they join. The Evo Drive boss, a bit conflicted by the whole situation, in the end agreed to let us pass and take the Evo Drive to Bethle. “Please, when you get to Bethle, let us know if it’s safe for us to come” was the last thing he asked us before we departed. Our plan worked and did not get us killed. And I was happy about that, but I was also happy because it seemed that the Evo Drive boss and the people there, they have felt that “something they have never felt before” as Iz described it. I remembered Elyana and how she died, and I was happy that for once, we have managed to reach the others, to make them understand. Whatever was waiting for us in Bethle, at least here we could leave behind a gram of hope.   The few days we had in the Evo Drive were unnerving for all of us. We trained and trained and spent our times preparing for anything. But of course, no matter what we did it couldn’t have prepared us for what was next. Finally, we arrived. It was the moment to see who got us here. With every step we took towards exiting the Evo Drive, I was clenching my hands on the gun, getting ready to attack whatever would be on the other side. But, once we got to the station, there was nothing. Empty. The whole station was silent, not moving, almost like frozen in time. We could feel a very strong manipulation of planes around and Marc could sense another living soul apart from us. Everyone was probably as confused and tense as I was. In the meantime, something like a small shadow moving on the ground came close to Lullaby. I tried to get her away from that as far as possible , because I was afraid that it might come to hurt her. Suddenly, a long corridor of lights stated blinking as if someone would show us which way to go. What now? Were we supposed to follow it, or were we about to fall in the middle of a trap? Bart, in an attempt to stop the manipulation of plane, disappeared only the Almighty knows where. With no ideas left and Bart gone, Tallion suggested that we should follow the lights because whatever was keeping the Evo Drive might not be able to do it forever. So one by one, in a straight line we moved along the corridor.   We soon got to another room that had some screens running a few videos. What we saw was terrible. It was videos of these enormous ships, with a symbol that looked like a reversed beech leaf. And they were attacking Bethle from all sides with rockets and things not even Iz heard of before. The whole planet was on fire, assaulted from all sides. And for us, that symbol was enough to understand what awaits on the other side. We were about to face the army of the undying elves. I know that I am made of fire, but even my face became a bit whiter than usual. No powers we had could beat one of those elves, let alone a whole army. But even with this fear in our hearts, we knew we had to try. Nixie kept repeating to herself that this cannot be true, that it all may be a trap. But we had to face the truth: the undying elves came, destroyed Bethle and if we wanted to pass through that gate, we had to somehow beat them. And as we were watching all these videos, the lights on the corridor became to blink again, this time, forming the shape of a fish. I felt a bit relieved. Whatever brought us here was definitely a friend. Once again, we followed the lights, that got us to the small ship we had to take from the Evo Drive station to Bethle. One by one, we put the space costumes on and took our ships. Whoever was helping us seemed to be able to control any transportation in this dimension. “It could be an essence bearer” one of us said confidently. WHY DID WE NOT THINK OF THAT BEFORE? It all made sense now. The Evo Drive was destroyed, just as we have seen in the videos but the essence bearer wanted to help so he used its powers to keep the Evo Drive working, so we could arrive in Bethle. We never got to know the name of this essence bearer so I decided to call him: X.Y.E.B. (xy essence bearer). I do believe it’s a fitting name for someone from the XY dimension, right?   As we were getting closer to Bethle, we could only see this black cloud of smoke covering everything that was on the ground. And the closer you got; the sky would become more lit by the uncountable number of rockets exploding. There was almost nothing left of what we saw in Bethle the first time. And although he’s never been in Bethle before, on Iz’s face we could see one tear for the place that ALL people in XY used to call their home. For me however it felt like I’ve seen this scene before but instead of rockets there were some dark arcane magic tricks, and instead of the army of undying elves there were just undead people. Behind all these differences it was the same determined desire to destroy everything that’s good in this world and that, dear diary, did make me annoyed. ARE YOU SATISFIED YOU FUCKING BITCH? JUST HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO YOU NEED TO MAKE US WITNESS THIS “JUSTICE” OF YOURS BEFORE YOU REALIZE THIS WORLD WILL NOT GIVE UP? WHAT PART OF ETERNAL WAR DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? All the fear about fighting the undying elves was replaced now with a very strong desire to fight them. So what if they’re undying elves? I’ll fight them all if that means we give this world the slightest chance to fight back.   “I’m sorry” I heard Nixie silently talking with a small disappointment in her voice. “Yes yes we know, they’re your elves and you feel responsible for it but now it’s not the time, Nixie” I thought to myself. Just as I was thinking this, the spaceship announced that there were 15 minutes left until landing. Now, we needed to come up with some kind of plan. In the end we decided that, Nixie, Damaschini, Tallion, Miyun, Bart and me will stay outside the chest while the rest will take Lullaby inside. If the undying elves were to get past us, the others had to continue what we all began. Now, with some kind of plan in mind, we said possibly the last prayer together and we got ready to exit the spaceship. “I have promised eternal war and if it kills me today, I will be ready” I thought to myself.   “You have arrived in Bethle. We wish you a pleasant stay,” said the spaceship.   So now we were in the middle of the biggest battlefield we’ve ever seen. It was still day, yet the light barely broke through the pitch-black cloud in the sky. No noise was more deafening than the explosion of the rockets and no smell stronger than the one of fire. And while some places were still standing, you still needed to watch your step, for you could always stumble upon some chunks of what used to be a building. The moment we exited , the Evo Drive station it all disappeared behind us. I thought back at the Evo Drive people that let us pass and hoped that they will understand what had happened. Once more, the Evo Drive was interrupted. And this time, there was no way it would come back. We weren’t able to save their home or ours, but I promised myself that I will fight for them. No matter what, I will fight for this people, to pay them back for their trust in us. I grabbed my gun and looked forward. Army of undying elves, here we come.   But when we took the first step we found ourselves with some small lasers on our foreheads. “Who are you and how did you get here?” asked a faraway voice. I took of my mask off and gave them a security code I had received from the Evo Drive boss. We asked them what happened. “ITA came with these massive ships and attacked us!” the voice explained. ITA?? OH NO! They still think they’re fighting ITA!!! They were Commonwealth soldiers who had no idea what is going on. They were caught in an unwinnable war against something they could not kill. “They destroyed almost all our ground army in a few days” one of them continued. That was just…cruel.   We tried to warn them but before we got to say anything, we were surrendered by a whole group of undying elves. They seemed to be going after Lullaby and the chest. Of course, we were not going to let them. Miyun tried to attack one of them, but it just moved one finger and Miyun was thrown meters away. Bart and Damaschini tried using the star essence to push them back. It worked for some time but not enough. Then, mildly bothered by our presence, the undying elves all used their manipulation planes to put us to the ground. After we barely managed to free ourselves, I tried to use my fire sword to hit them but it just went through them and then disappeared. Nixie, who received a sort of hint, touched the star essence bottle Bart was holding, and created an even more powerful light than before. So powerful that it could have been seen from miles away. And that held the elves afar from now, but warned everyone around of our presence. We were fighting with all our powers, but we were heavily outmatched. “It seems that it is going to be our last fight after all.” I thought.   But then, help came from the most unexpected side. It was the last three interdimensionals we ran from in Legondol: Reynar, Andris and Glave Boy. I…Thank you! I couldn’t hide a smile. Seeing them as allies once more meant that we did one thing right! Two of them started to attack the elves, while the other one created this powerful shield around us. The park where we needed to go was still far away but we received yet another help from X.Y.E.B. He signaled us to enter a train that was waiting on a platform nearby. While the interdimensionals were protecting us from every side, we tried our best to run as fast as possible. But in the way, a blockade of three undying elves stood their ground. Andris and Glave Boy tried to break it, but to no avail. It was our turn to try something. We tried to sync with each other and empower the light from the star essence bottle. But it was still not enough. Right of time, Eve jumped out of the chest, and with a white lighting sword she created, she hit straight through the undying elves, hitting two of them pretty hard. What did I tell you,dear diary, Eve did become our protector. Then, she tried to explain us that maybe we cannot fight them with direct manipulation of planes, and that we needed another method. Then she said something that maybe we could use magic to change the magical attributes inside the elves, so we can hit them. I think? I had no clue how to do, not that I could manipulate the magic plane anyways. And that fire sword of mine could have done nothing either. So I decided to do the only thing I could do: help Bart keep the light from the star essence.   In the end, with Eve’s help and some other manipulation of planes from the interdimensionals, we finally made it to X.Y.E.B. train. He closed the doors of the train and began to go full speed towards our destination. Damaschini used his powers to try and communicate with X.Y.E.B. It seems that the essence bearer was very happy he could finally help us with something. And until now, he was very frustrated that he couldn’t communicate with us. But as heartwarming as our conversation was, as strong were the attacks of the undying elves on X.Y.E.B. Every time, the elves would attack, their hit would just go through X.Y.E.B, but it would always leave behind some “waste”. And they did that again and again and again. Before X.Y.E.B to completely disappear, he showed us one last video: thousands of undying elves passing through the interdimensional gate. And they were not going to just one dimension, but to all of them. As undead people were not enough, they needed to bring an upgrade!   I couldn’t explain you why, dear diary, but I found X.Y.E.B to be very dear. All this time, he waited and waited, gathering all these memories and now, he was so eager to help us. I do wonder if X.Y.E.B was here for as long as the Ziddith elf was. X.Y.E.B somehow seemed happy and when we talked with him, I almost felt like he was smiling. I don’t know why, but it just melted my heart. But then, before we could ask something else, the whole train disappeared, and we could feel X.Y.E.B around no more. We were streets away from the gate now and still overwhelmed by undying elves. We started running as we never did before, but the worst was yet to come. Remember those huge buildings that touch the sky that were built in Bethle? Well now, they were all gooed (stuck together with that green disgusting elf goo) into this immense undying elf that was blocking our way. “Do you have any plan?” Reynar asked us. I barely woke up from the shock of what I’m seeing, let alone have a plan. The situation did not look good in any way. Behind us, Andris was still fighting four undying elves, but he was slowly overwhelmed. We watched in terror how one of the undying elves mercilessly slashed his throat. Reynar looked at Glave Boy as they understood each other without words then he turned to the other undying elves and prepared to attack them. “I’m glad I have trained for this” was what we last heard from Reynar. In the meantime, we tried running through the building undying elf’s legs, but he tried to block our way. While Glave Boy tried defending us from the undying building elf attacks, Damaschini tried to use his bolster on some kind of pickaxe to try and create a tunnel which helped us escape.   You know, dear diary, I do not understand why Nixie doesn’t like Sikorki. He did manage to raise these interdimensionals and make them become what they are today. It’s like he prepared them for this fight, long before it even existed. And more importantly, he managed to teach them see what’s important in this world. And maybe, some like Reynar took longer to understand, but in the end, he did follow his mentor’s path, trusting in his training and judgement. Now, we are finally in the dimension of the Spirit. And no matter what happens next, just know this, dear diary, I will never get tired of fighting ever again.   May the Almighty protect us and guide us.   P.S. 1: Thank you, X.Y.E.B for helping us! Thank you Reynar and Andris for giving hope to this world. I hope this time we have departed our ways as friends. And I promise that your sacrifices will not be in vain.   P.S.2: Damaschini, with the help of Nixie and Miyun gifted everyone a new weapon as a birthday gift. It was wonderful! Just like my big brothers would give us presents in my childhood. And they repaired Flavia for me. It was maybe the best gift they could have given me. For not only I loved that sword, but I finally have at least that part of my past completed again. I won’t lose it again! I promise!   P.S.3: Maybe I was wrong. I do think the Continent is my home and maybe I do miss it. Maybe I will never be able to go home again, but it’s alright for in your hearts, you will have never left home after all.   P.S.4: Is it bad to say that I have enjoyed this journey in XY? It had its charm, and one way or another, it made us see many memories of the universe, without giving us a serum for it. Yes, there were bad times and we lost people, but it also gave us a chance. The dimension of death gave us a chance to live. How ironic.   P.S.5: It seems that X.Y.E.B saw our message as well, so he had a soul as well. Just what exactly are the essence bearers?

Dear Diary, In a few days, it will be the end of the year. For many people in this world, it was another year, like the ones they lived before, for others it was the year that destroyed everything they had and changed their lives forever. And for us, dear diary, it was the year we started the journey to fight for this world. When I saw all those fragments of memory from this year, I almost couldn’t believe it’s us who did all of that. In this year, we had good days, when we celebrated and hoped and made lots of noise. But we also had bad days, when we stood silent in defeat, looking desperately for a way to stand up again and get past what we have lost. And how dearly I sometimes miss what we have lost! And today, I must say that I feel grateful for the chances we have gotten that let us be the ones who go through this journey. And at the same time, I feel a little proud of all of us. WE FINALLY FUCKING DID IT! WE FINALLY FOUGHT BACK! Maybe, by tomorrow, we will be attacked from three different sides with undying elves, demons and only the Almighty knows what other dangers, but at least for today, we got to be happy.   But the world keeps spinning and moving and turning, and although it is the end of the year, our journey is far from being nearly over. And as bright as today was, the days before seemed a never ending line of darkness in our thoughts. To be able to tell the whole story, I must first talk about what happened since last time I wrote. We were still counting days until we get to the black hole, and we still had no plan of how to send the message. I began to be very worried about this especially because Eve has suggested a plan in which she would look at the black hole and send the message herself. I just couldn’t stand the idea. Back then, a few weeks ago, the idea seemed like it was the same matter as it was with Marc. We had to sacrifice one person for the sake of the others. And I was very angry about it because I couldn’t understand, why and how this had to happen. Now, seeing Eve laying there in the bed, heavily wounded, made me realize this problem of mine came only from my selfish desire to not lose Eve. I would say that Drenizek was right, and all these small wishes we have, make you falter however weirdly enough, it was also my selfish wish that got me out of this madness. But that only happened later in the story.   For now, I spent all the time I had, thinking of a solution that could help us out of this, without having to sacrifice Eve. Even when training, or washing or eating, my mind was always trying to grab on something that could give us another idea. I even thought of what we could do if we didn’t send the message. But, there was nothing there. Not one idea that could help us. Not a single one. For the very first time, I felt really pressured. Like we were really running out of time.   We had many discussions about this subject. Some days ago, Nixie gathered us all to discuss what’s next. First, we needed to talk again about our plans for the black hole. Then, we had to choose how we were going to get there. I was really hoping that the others would have had more luck in finding a solution for the Black Hole. We started the conversation, throwing ideas here and there, in hope to find something. We discussed that maybe we could use the connection with Hell to get to the Black Hole but still no point. The xenatine would kill us anyways. I even tried to link this to Motar,maybe since he was the latest one to join the demons, there could be a chance. Nixie dismissed the idea immediately and I could understand why. It was pure madness to trust them. Vas and me thought that we might get some sense of humanity from them, but it was very little hope for this plans. Soon, the room felt silent. Very silent. And although the others were not saying anything, I could sense the heaviness of their thoughts. I knew that Nixie didn’t agree to Eve’s plan, neither did Tallion, who in hope to save Eve, he offered to sacrifice himself. We all would have done the same. We knew that and yet it was only Eve who could have done it. And above all, it was the possibility that Lullaby would be hurt in this mission, causing her to lose Rafil. I don’t even want to think what it was in poor Eve’s mind at the time. She must have been so sad to see all of this, and still, with a fierce courage she kept insisting her sacrifice was the only way we can do this. But the more she was saying that, the more I could feel my heart shrunk a bit. I looked again at everyone. We couldn’t have this conversation. There were no words that we could say to make the situation easier. “If we keep doing this, we will only keep hurting Eve and ourselves…” I thought. It was in that moment that I realized we would probably go with this mad plan. I tried to say something, to change the subject to next point on the list, maybe at least we could set that problem apart. But while talking I felt like I’m giving up on my friend, silently agreeing to a plan, I never had the courage to agree out loud.   Soon, the conversation changed on how we would get from Abi-Dii to the black hole. We could have chosen to try and talk with the nation named Gla. They have very advanced technology so they could have helped us get very close to the Black Hole. The problem was that they did not believe in anything but “efficiency”. And, dear diary, as you know, we are anything but efficient. It would also take us a few days to try and convince them to help us. And, we had to give them all the information we gave the Orshags about the planes. Let alone that when they would find out all of this, we could not be sure if they would let us go. But this option would guarantee us that we would have all the necessary equipment, and we could use the fastest way to the Black Hole. Plus, we could warn them about the coming war between the ITA and the Commonwealth. You see, this planet was the closest point to the Black Hole, and thus, half of the star would be affected by the Purple Horizon. Apparently, all the planets keep rotating slowly. So, the population of this planet has to constantly move from one side to another. Coincidentally, a full rotation was about to end at the same time we would be in the area. What a coincidence, right? And as Nixie doesn’t believe in coincidences, she wanted to find out if this could be linked in any way. And I have learned to trust her instincts.   The other option we had was to travel with a pirate, a fugitive from the Commonwealth, sharing the same feelings for them as the Orshags. Of course, it would be easy for them to collaborate. It was a risky option because if the Gla would find an unknown ship around their planet, they would destroy it. To avoid this, we needed to take a longer route, with a small stop on a nearby star that was neural, where we would risk meeting the Gla anyways. But, travelling with a paid pirate means that he would not ask questions, nor he needed the information about the planes. And this option would also give us a way back.   After debating, both options would take around the same time. In the end, we have voted on this matter, and decided to go with the pirate. I guess some things never change.   Now, the next part of the story is once again linked to what happened a few weeks ago. After the Zidith was destroyed, we found ourselves in the Evo-Drive. With no information gathered, we now needed anything that we could get our hands on to find a way to send the message. It was also Eve who came up with a plan. She felt that her connection with Lullaby, would be useful for finding out more about the planes and how to manipulate them. At that time, Nixie gathered all of us, and we had another one of our weird conversations. It is still difficult for many of us to understand the planes and many things related to it, so for the sake of understanding, we have to make a lot of comparisons. This time, we compared Lullaby with a lake of sorts, and Eve would need to be a fish which would swim in the lake, without disturbing anything around. So, in normal words, the plan was as follows: Eve would need to sleep so that she can have access to Lullaby’s memories, just like that time when she had a dream of Sikorki and the other guy fighting. Of course, we couldn’t access any random memory, because otherwise we would risk to access an unpleasant memory that could wake Lullaby up, so we decided that Eve should focus on memories related with Sikorki. In the meantime, Damaschini would use his planes power so that he could create a way to guide Eve through the memories and at the same time, inspire the right feelings. On this task, Bart also helped by singing. As for the rest of us, we had to hope and pray. As Vas put it back then “Prayers have more powers than you think”. So, while Eve was asleep for a good few hours, we prayed and prayed and prayed, until everyone was almost asleep.   In the end, the plan worked. When she woke up, Eve told us about some memories she has seen. The first one of them Eve (as Lullaby) was in a different world, not one that we knew. It was similar to the chest, but a lot bigger. And there were many people there, including Sikorki and the guy he fought in the first dream. Eve(as Lullaby) could see what was happening from a platform, where she was held hostage with chains. It was a memory where Sikorki put his life on the line, by fighting the other guy so the others can be set free. Both Sikorki and the other guy, were strong, and the fight lasted for a long time. Until one point when Sikorki, triggered by one of his thoughts, threw Lullaby’s sword to Eve (as Lullaby). When Eve (as Lullaby) took the sword, she felt a strong sense of assurance. She grabbed the sword and somehow managed to break that pocket dimension. All the people that were inside, were very surprised when, in a second, they found themselves in the middle of a field. It seems that, the other guy, wanted to become the master of the universe, by defeating “The Five” interdimensional. From what I understand, by using her sword, Lullaby managed to reset the reality, just as she did in Legondol with the undead people. According to Eve, in the memory when Eve(as Lullaby) grabbed the sword, she felt a very natural, strong connection between Lullaby and the sword.   The second dream Eve had, was a memory of Sikorki and all the other interdimensionals. They were doing some kind of training for the planes, where Sikorki was trying to explain to them that in order to manipulate anything, it is necessary that you feel. There was no way you could use any manipulation on something you cannot comprehend in your head. In other words, you have to either see,hear,taste,smell or touch in order to be able to manipulate the planes on an object. To show his theory, Sikorki made each one of them to try to manipulate the planes to move asmall ball in four different situations. In the first, the interdimensionals could see the balls and managed to manipulate them with no problem. On the second, the interdimensionals were turned with the back at the ball, and none of their manipulation worked. The third time, Sikorki made the interdimensionals try to manipulate the planes through a screen. As in the last case, the ball did not move. In the last case, the interdimensionals were turned with their back, but they could hear the ball rolling. In this case, some of the interdimensionals could manage to manipulate the ball, but it was extremely difficult. Jevyan, tried to use his magic sense, but as the ball had no magic essence, it was impossible for him to do anything. Then, Sikorki tried to explain them that the planes are so abstract that, in order to manipulate them, you would have to imagine how the manipulation would look like. He gave the example that in order to hit someone, one of the interdimensionals imagines that his swords become very long.   This is where we got the idea that, in order to manipulate the planes and send the message, one of us had to look at the Black Hole. Eve continued back then to tell us more of Lullaby’s memories, but I will keep them for later. I want to finish this writing before Eve becomes conscious again.   So, after Eve told us everything and struggled to do all of this process, Nixie’s only reaction was: “I thought it would be something more direct”. Hearing this, Eve got upset, took Lullaby and left because she felt that not even now, Lullaby was not considered useful. Nixie took me and we went to apologize. But that didn’t go well either. “I believe that the demon is attracting you to stay more with Lullaby, so it can consume you” Nixie very bluntly told Eve. Of course, Eve didn’t take it well and got even more upset to the point where she didn’t get out of her room for a long time. Of course, none of us really thought that Luallaby was just a plant which is not able to do anything and we were grateful for everything that Eve did for us. But, we had to show that to her as well, and words, as you’ve seen, are not our strongest attributes. So, we decided to build her a small nursery for Lullaby and Rafil, which of course would take a couple of days. And to make Eve relax, Nixie also wanted to prepare a special bath for all the girls.   Now, that brings us back to where the story left. Later that day, after the discussion about the Abi-Dii and black hole, we wanted to take Eve to see the new nursery. It was a bright room with large walls where Nixie painted a few paintings. Inside, you could find dolls made by Miyun and me, a small baby bed which the others and Tallion built with a special planet toy made by Bart and a lot of other things that everyone in the party left in the room. Eve loved the room very much and did not even know how to react to it. I was feeling better to see her at least a bit more relieved in all this mess. And now, it was time for the bath.   When we got to the bathhouse, a strong smell of perfume kicked in which I immediately recognized as one of Nixie’s bath perfumes. My nose instantly became itchy from all the smells in the room but for Eve’s sake I decided to endure it. Do not get me wrong, dear diary, I love taking short baths, but staying in water is not exactly my favorite activity. Xixi and Nixie began running around and playing with the soap bubbles, while the rest of us were trying to relax. I went to talk with Eve, see how she was doing. To be fair, I wanted to apologize, because we have let the situation come to this. We could have gathered more information, maybe then we would have managed to do something else. Anything. I wanted to try a hopeless last attempt to convince her not to insist on her plan. To no avail. Eve seemed set on doing whatever it was necessary in this world to send the message. That girl can be really stubborn sometimes, especially when she sets her mind on something. I really didn’t want her to do that, but somehow, after this discussion, it seems to me that she needed that. She needed to show herself that she can do this, to prove herself that all we do will finally get to something good. As maybe, she needed to prove herself that this world is not one in which all the good we do will eventually lead to something bad. Finally, I understood why she wanted to do this, but at the same time I also understood it meant I must let Eve be Eve, no matter how much that hurt us. Above everything, I got very sad but compared to earlier, the time didn’t seem like pressuring.   It was towards the end of our conversation when I noticed that Miyun didn’t even get in the water. When I asked her why, she simply said she is shy. I did assume that she didn’t get into the water because her hunting instincts, but I did not want to insist on that in front of the others. So, after a bit of asking, Miyun finally got into the water, and I went to talk with her alone. But it seems that I was rather annoying her, which seems to be the case most of the times I try to talk with her. After Miyun began complaining that I interrogated her and Nixie strongly agreeing with that, I gave up. It was not something I could have solved during a bath anyways. But Miyun continued on the subject, asking Nixie about her experience with boys. Now, that was not where I wanted to go with this conversation. And as I would have wanted to point out to Nixie that this is what she gets for siding with Miyun, I knew that this subject was a very sensitive one for her. Maybe a bit too sensitive.   You see, dear diary, Nixie wasn’t always alone. Long ago, before I met her, she even had a fiancée. It was her brother’s best friend, which she knew since childhood. She told me many stories about their love, and how happy she used to be. But, he met a tragic end, in the war and ever since, Nixie blamed herself for it. Nixie and him were at that time hiding their relationship from everyone, even from her own brother just because they thought it was fun. But, one time, when Elysar left to fight in the war, Nixie’s brother found one of their love letters and got extremely upset. None of them intended to hurt Nixie’s brother in such way and Elysar was decided to solve the problem. After a huge fight, Elysar, decided to leave far away so it gave Nixie’s brother some time to understand everything. That’s how he got to the eastern gate of Focoso, where he met his end. Nixie never really forgave herself or her brother for what happened. We don’t really talk about it because I know how sad it makes Nixie to remember Elysar and although she got used to the idea, it’s not a subject one likes to talk about.   She tried to avoid to tell the story, but even Tallion (who was outside the door,listening) insisted she should tell it. Tallion didn’t hear the story because Xixi scared him away and the girls seemed bothered anyways. I don’t understand. What was he going to see through the key hole anyways? So at least let him stay for the story,right? The rest are going to find out one way or another anyways. In the end, Nixie gave in and told us everything. It was a relieve to see her finally open up to the others about this, but I knew how sad she would be afterwards. It seems that most of us, the girls in our party have not had much luck in love. Well maybe Isbel and Eve could save our reputation. Eve, however, did not seem to agree with me at all. It seems that Bart’s obsession with planes have started to really annoy her. She felt that it’s almost as if they didn’t have anything to talk about, probably she felt this weird distance between them. And she was afraid to talk about it with Bart, because it might make the situation even worse. It is oftentimes that words are hard to tell, but when you have a problem with someone, you have to say them anyways. And as I see it, it was Bart we were talking about. He would have understood the situation if they talked. Alside all Nixie’s observations about how Bart doesn’t treat Eve right which I partly agree with, I believe there was a reason for it. All these months, although it was the hardest for Eve, it did not mean it wasn’t hard for Bart as well. I don’t know, dear diary, relationships are not something I know how to deal with. Each one is different, and no one can better understand that the ones that are in that relationship. So, I tried to just encourage Eve and not say anything unnecessary that could make her more upset at Bart.   After the bath, I was feeling rather down. I accepted the Eve’s plan but I still could not be at peace with it. I would have liked to Nixie about it, but after the Elysar conversation, I did not want to make her even more sad. As she said it, I was the one to raise her morale not bring it down. So, I went in the garden where I found Tallion meditating. There were a few things that I wanted to talk with him anyways so now it was the perfect time. You see, dear diary, I do admit that I do not really talk about my own feelings, especially when they are not happy ones, but Tallion does that even more often than me. Out of everyone, I think I understand him the least, and that says a lot. He never really told us what he thinks about a relationship, or if he ever had another one except Eve. After the conversation with Elysar, I really wanted to know, so I asked him directly. He looked at me with wide open eyes and asked me: “What?”. His shocked reaction was very amusing. It even made me laugh a bit. Maybe I am a bit too direct sometimes, I do not think he expected that question from me. In the end I gave up because he seemed a bit uncomfortable with the situation. I just was content with asking him to talk with Bart, maybe he could convince Bart to go and talk with Eve.   But Tallion’s surprised face was nothing compared to mine, when Nixie came and asked me: “Why can Lyaria send messages to Damaschini, and I didn’t receive anything from Elysar?”. I was in shock for a while. I kept staring at Nixie and trying to understand what in the world is she asking. “Maybe I did get a sign and I didn’t see it!” she continued. WHY IS SHE ASKING ME ALL OF THIS? Do I look like Damaschini’s best friend who knows everything about him? I did not know what to say. First of all, I believe that one way or another, if we need a sign, we will get it. I tried to explain Nixie that, but all she got to reply with is “It would be nice to receive something like that from him”. I could see how sad she was about it. .I did ask myself “Why do you need a message anyways?” but I did not think it’s time to say this out loud. It’s not like she would try to get a sign, but it seemed that she just misses Elysar. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking. And there was nothing we could do about that. She was upset and sad about Eve conversation and Elysar subject came in a very bad timing. It was later that day, that Damaschini told her the same thing as I tried to. The sign from Lyaria was a miracle, so there was no more room to ponder about it.   Now, that I think about it, I do wonder if Damaschini and Nixie ever made up after their little fight a few weeks ago. You see, as we were searching for a place to build the nursery room, everyone started to wonder around the chest and try to discover as much as possible. I almost got myself killed in the library. See, dear diary, that’s why I never go there. But, by far, Nixie discovered the most interesting room of all. It was some kind of a ritual room, where, you could choose to see what you desired most in the future, or what would you have changed most about the past. A dangerous game to play. Nixie, convinced of the addiction this ritual room could cause, ordered all of us to lock the room and never enter there again. Which to be fair, made sense for me. But Damaschini did not feel the same. He wanted to use the room for his own personal training. Of course, hearing this, Dillen stood against the idea because of the preferential treatment idea of his, while Drenizek insisted that we all should listen to what Nixie ordered. Personally, I did not understand why must we be in this situation anyways. It’s just a room that we will never enter again once we were back in our dimension because, by the looks of it, had some evil sleeping powers as well. One thing I understood for sure is that back at the fight with the dragon, i know the reason why Nixie got upset at me. “Are they an order? Then what’s the punishment?” Damaschini said. Those words sounded very very familiar to me and I understood how harmful they could be in certain situations. Cross my heart and hope to die, I will never ever undermine her authority like this again. Taking that room from Damachini would be like taking my swords, so I saw his point but Nixie was also right. I did not know how to solve the problem. In the end, Nixie managed to handle the situation properly and we all moved on with my life. Although, I am pretty sure that she was bothered by what Damaschini said.   After a bit of a talk with Nixie and Tallion , we decided that it was time to do something about Miyun. So, we did what magic-men do best: searched for a book about it in the library. I was afraid to step in there again, but I guess no book is going to eat me alive, especially since they do not have magic. I hoped. Anyways, thanks to Nixie’s bright idea to read, we found the information about circek.   We found an old book about magical creatures that had some notes about circeks. It seems that circeks have been on this world for as long as anyone can remember. The book itself didn’t offer so many details, but the notes written by the vedians, gave a lot more of the information. They were talking there about a demon. This demon had the name of Azergazeb (or as Nizie called it “Zanzibar”). In the vedian drawings, it was some kind of creature, with 6 legs headed up an another 2 heading down (just like a spider), with purple eyes in the middle and with a human body that was neither one of a girl or a boy. This Azergazeb demon had also the nickname of “unsaturated lust”. It was described as a demon who would influence others to the point where it would wake the most animalic instincts of a person. It would make them leave everything behind: family, friends, houses, everything. Below these notes, we found a legend, about a vedian prince who was loyal to this demon and used his power to prolong his life by taking advantage and killing girls. And even more below, it was this story about how the vedians managed to catch a circek and use some kind of rune that to stop her powers for a little while. While researching her, they found out that by any means, she was a human. Except, her magic essence, who seemed to be enhanced.   We put all the information together and talked and talked about it, until finally had a few ideas about the circeks. First of all, we were able to understand that, Miyun’s essence is one of a human. Which, dear diary, was very big news for us. Then,we also managed to confirm our theory that Miyun’s mother did not use her circek power on Marcon. We have finally found something that could help Miyun. Of course, we had to let her know too. So, Damaschini, Tallion, Nixie and me went to the training hall where we found Miyun, trying to practice some moves. I would like to train with her some day, it seems like we could learn a lot from each other. But, now we were here with other business. We told her everything that we discovered. I was happy that we found a way to at least get closer to her understanding what she is. “It’s all the Old Guy’s people trying to show what monsters circeks are” Miyun said as a first response. And then she kept insisting again and again that we see circeks as monsters, which, as we explained thousand times before, was not true. Then she wanted us to admit that the what circeks do is evil. Fine, it is evil, and how would it help her if I said that? Why did she keep insisting on that? Yes, what circeks do is evil, but that doesn’t make her a monster. Her choices would define what Miyun really is. In the end, we ended up saying that the rituals the circeks do are evil. Damaschini and Nixie tried to explain her that, restraining herself from doing the circek ritual would not make her less of a circek, by comparing it with elves ears, because Miyun kept insisting on this idea. Damaschini, however gave her the best explanation: “If Nixie would cut her ears, not because she was embarrassed with them, but because she wanted to help someone else, then she would still be as elf as she was before”. To be fair, I think Miyun doesn’t like me so I do not want to make the situation worse. It might be best if I learned from Damaschini and Nixie for a while. Also, very convenient information about circeks that Xantiniya failed to mention to Miyun. After all, she really didn't want Miyun to know she was a human. I wonder why.   As we had these discussions, the days passed, and we were getting closer and closer to the Black Hole. We got in Abi-Dii where we travelled for a day or so to meet with the ship pirate. Abi-dii was a very interesting place to see, especially for its technology and I would have been otherwise interested in it, if I wasn’t so distracted that we only had eight days left until we got to the Black Hole. I was being very saddened about the situation. Even now, I couldn’t find anything that could have helped Eve. I had discussions with Nixie and Tallion about it. Both of them seemed to do no better than me. We were afraid and revolted. Just how long it will be until another one of us dies? How long until there are none of them? And then, is the world still worth saving? We were talking as if, Eve would have already died, and as if, there was no hope left. And I was so tired about everything. All I wanted to do, was stay alone and rest. I knew however that the others felt the same, so I didn’t want to leave them be alone. For it is in the worst times that we must be reminded that we are not alone. So, I have decided to give them the little bags with lavender that I have prepared. It was not much and maybe now it wouldn’t help, but if it helped me, it might have helped others as well.   The rest of the eight days I spent praying for Eve, Lullaby and the others. It was the one time during the day, that I felt somehow would make me not feel that tired. However, It did not help with my mood. I was still angry that we were in this situation, still felt hopeless for not helping my friend, still…sad. One day, not long before the Black hole, I got to talk with Nixie. She came to me, once again, to discuss about Eve. You see, dear diary, I have a special coping mechanism, and that is discussing with other people. Somehow, by talking with them, it sometimes helps convince myself. Nixie, at that time, asked me again: “How could we help Eve?”. I didn’t want to give her the direct answer that she’d expect: “Nothing”. Instead, I tried to raise her morale. “Maybe we can help her by hoping. Maybe that’s the way we help. We cannot stop her from doing what she wants. But she is not dead yet, so maybe we were wrong Nixie, maybe there is a chance for her to live”. In the beginning, it was just another way to convince Nixie, and I did not necessarily believe them. I remembered of my small little selfish wish, how I wanted to believe in it! It was my selfish little wish that made me want to hope. Maybe it was selfish, but I wanted to hope that Eve was going to be alright. The more I told those words in my head, the more I was having the conversation with Nixie, the more I started to believe them. The answer I was so looking for, that I struggled so hard to find alone, was right there in front of us, hidden by the shadow of our fear of being alone. We could help by hoping. It was just then that I realized that it would be our hope that would make Eve stronger. And who said that she had to die? If there were 0,00009 chances of Eve to live, I had to believe in them. That’s what I told Drenizek, right? Suddenly, I didn’t feel so tired anymore. I wanted to fight, in my little way, I wanted to fight.   Nixie however, didn’t feel the same. For her, it must have been even harder. But she would have to endure it. For Eve’s sake. Still, in all these chaos and mess, she still found the time to think about my birthday party. I thought it was very nice of her. You see, dear diary, my birthday is not truly my birthday. As many other people, I do not know when I was born. But, when I was younger, that was the date when my family celebrated all their children. So, every year, we would have this wonderful party. After my father died, some of my brothers, who inherited his kindness, would bring everyone a present. Sometimes it was expensive snakes, sometimes small pieces of armor we could play around with. Everyone enjoyed the party, especially my oldest brother, Verif, who used to be my favorite. He was the only one that would spend a lot of time playing games with me. I was still young when he left to fight, so I do not remember him so well. During our birthdays, even mom would find time to stay with us and enjoy our games. It was very fun, and we all enjoyed it. In essence, it was nothing more than a more special play day for kids, but it felt nice to see everyone happy. We did however, celebrate our birthdays every year, until my last brother died and mom left. After that, I stopped celebrating it, until later when Nixie insisted we should celebrate it. But it felt weird. Being the only one to be celebrated felt weird, like I was alone. I didn’t like it and up to this day, I do not like the feeling so I preferred to avoid it completely. Unluckily, Nixie does not let it pass so easily. I must admit that I was a bit excited about this year, because we could all celebrate it together since many of the crew members do not have a birthday. And the small lavender bags were merely a present I wanted to prepare for them. Which is why I gave them on 12th of December.   But with only a few days left until the black hole, there was no time not the mood for parties, so we decided to postpone it until we are done. After my mood has improved, I went to talk with Bart. Now that I had my hope back, I wanted to help him a bit. After all, it was Eve and him that were the most affected. But, he seemed that he realized this hope thing a long time before I came to tell him. Well, it at least felt reassuring.   During our ride with the Xy pirate’s ship, we managed to prepare the plan. Eve just as before, was supposed to get past Lullaby’s wall, so she could influence Lullaby so that she can express in Lullaby’s mind all the ideas and memories that formed the message. Then, Lullaby would need to form this memories in her sword. The sword was a representation of all the spirits in the world so through it, we could send this message to everyone with the black hole as the link between the 9 worlds which were born from the Primordial World. Then, Eve would work as Lullaby’s eyes and watch the black hole so she can send the planes manipulation that Lullaby created in the sword.   The day before, Eve came to talk with me. She probably wanted to say a few last words, to make sure that if she left, she would leave everything in order. She told me that I shouldn’t hate the world if something happens to her, that she promises to come to my birthday party. I hugged her very tightly. Now, that was a promise I really hoped she will keep. "I know you will be there" i told her. I for one, felt alright, for the hope she will come back alive was stronger than any bad feeling. I do believe, dear diary, that I have never hoped for something so much in my hole life. I put all my heart in it. But, just in case, I assured Eve that, if she is gone, I will take care of everyone no matter how hard it will get.   At night, Eve asked to be alone to prepare. Each one went to bed early, but we knew none of us would sleep that much. I couldn’t close an eye but I was ready for whatever would come. In the morning, we all gathered on the ship, more on less prepared. Eve, took charge and ordered the Xy pirate’s crew to tie Lullaby and her with a grabbing hook of sorts, that would pull them back at the right time. Damaschini used some of his star essence to protect Lullaby, and we gave Eve Sea’s mask. Then, we had to go in another room, where we could watch the whole thing. “You promised you’d come to the party” were the last things I told Eve. And here was the countdown. One was when the pirate’s crew opened the ship window and a very powerful energy hit Eve’s room. Two, was us feeling that energy behind the door. Three, was the ship starting to shake and the lights blinking. We all tried to hold on, to make sure that we can help in case of need. Four was Eve grabbing Lullaby’s sword. We all forgot to beath at this point. I didn’t want to blink, not even for one second, in case I would miss something. Then Five, was us seeing Eve run and point Lullaby’s sword, straight in the direction of the Purple Horizon. From here on, I couldn’t concentrate on anything at all. Six, was powerful distortion we felt. Seven was the message. Memories and memories of what we did kept coming back to us, one after another. We saw the fight in Metherol, the defeat in Legondol, The primordial tree, Sea, everything. And it all ended with our dear Sapphire Sword sailing as it once did. And all we felt the same: “Fight!”.   Seconds later, Lullaby and Eve were pulled back by the grabbing hooks. Eight was the few minutes of suspense before we got to see the girls. Nine was Lullaby who seemed fine, for Damaschini’s star essence protected Rafil and hera little bit. I held my breath for a few seconds, it was now time for ten. “Come on Eve, you have to live!” was all I could think of. When we got to her, Eve was badly hurt. Her face was almost completely burned, and the hand with the sword was gone. But, she was alive. Ten, I sighted in relief in my mind. This whole fight however, costed Eve her sight. She is now being treated, but it will be a hard hit for her when she wakes up. But we will be there, every step of the way, as she’s always been for us, we will be her eyes and hands, just as she’s been for the world. For it was through her eyes that we managed to see a chance for this world. I will keep my promise, I will take care of what Eve loves most, every hour of every day.   I do wish to thank Eve for everything, but I just cannot express it in words. It’s too much. We must now find a way to help her. But for now I’ll give her that, she is indeed the bravest little fighter I’ve ever met.   We still didn’t know what happened, but we were all definitely relieved. I was a little worried for Nixie with who I had a conversation earlier today. She is still not feeling the best. “It’s just sad that we had to do it this way” she told me. I do think that sometimes, she must see the happy side of the world. But, the realization of the message is slowly sinking in for her as well. Can you imagine? Everyone that still fight will know they are not alone, not while we still stand. We gave them a chance today. The elves, Sea’s family, all the people in the Continent. They heard us! Ghebaro and the rest will fight now, with a braver heart than ever. I do wonder what the barman in Valva bar will think about us - the “mutations” that lived in his bar for a week, and the Dominor who believed us. New allies, whom we’ve never met, will see us and come in help. Gilders, Zarkuz, Haldric the demons, they all heard that they did not defeat us yet that even after they hurt us, we stood up and we fought. Maybe some of them will decide to join us. And those who died have finally seen that their sacrifice was not in vain. For it was also them who gave this world a chance. Of course, most of them must probably be very confused but we finally have an opening, and we have to use it.   So this year is over, but if there is a thing I have learned is that we love to create problems for ourselves. It doesn’t matter if it’s because we like to be explorers of the chest, or because we want to fight dragons and demons. If there is a place we should not go to, we probably will be there. Is it dangerous and it will get us killed? Most probably. Will we ever stop to do that? Of course not. Because that’s how we make noise. It is just like that time I flew on the dragon. Of course, we were fighting it and we could have fallen anytime but somehow, when we got down, I have realized that it was worth the ride. If Nixie reads this, she will say I have gone insane, but I promise you, dear diary, it is nothing of sorts. And to be fair, I am curious what will become of our story. How can I temper my curiosity when we just talked to every person in every dimension? I look around, and our crew, the pirates, everyone seemed to have understood the message. And I don’t know what other dangers will attack us, because they sure will not leave us be, but probably for the first time since the Saphire Sword,I do not feel tired at all.   Thank you the Almighty and all those who protect us for the chances you have given us. And for the most wonderful gift I could have received for my birthday.   P.S 1: In one of our talks, Nixie said that she doesn’t like Sikorki, for he was the one that made the interdimenionals who they are. But to be fair, I do not think that is a bad thing. The interdimensionals do not plan to destroy this world, they never did. And when we meet again, I really hope we will not meet as enemies, but allies.   P.S.2: I have used that room to see both my past and my future. In the future, I saw this wonderful ship, which I was captain of, and I saw Nixie, as a princess who I’d meet. And Dillen who was working for Nixie. It was rather a nice future. But while looking at it, I felt like I was lonley. I realized why, when I looked back and saw what would have happened if Xebec was alive. But that’s alright, dear diary, for those were only shards of imagination, mixed weirdly in my head and I have learned that the future cannot be predicted or foreseen.   P.S. 3.: Thank you Eve for being everything that Sea taught us to be. That's why we do not need her mask anymore, you are here.

Dear Diary, We all hope that one day, somewhere in the future, we will get to see the end of this fight. We will finally be able to follow our dream and the world will live in peace and quiet. But what if it doesn’t? What if all the years we have left are filled with endless fights and hopeless days? Is it wrong to say that despite all of this misery, i do enjoy this life of ours? Yes, it is full demons and killing and suffering. But it is also full of little details that matter. Like those moments when we sometimes have our lunch together. Isbel makes a delicious meal for all of us, but always avoids putting mushrooms in my plate because I don’t like them. Or how Vas always gets upset at me for getting hurt in fights. They are not enormous deeds, but rather small acts of kindness. And then, even the worst of moments I feel like are now part of what we do and, in a way or another, led us to where we are today. It is maybe the evil that gave such great meaning to these otherwise very normal moments. Or rather, it was because of the evil, that the good behind these deeds started to grow. You may call me an optimist, but I do still believe that whenever evil seems to have yet another victory, somewhere else, a small act of good is born. And we may not see it because it seems so small, but one day, they will have counted for something. So maybe, while good is just good, evil makes both evil and good grow.   Given the circumstances from the last couple of days, I must say that we are handling the situation well. We are currently driving in an Evo Drive to the Black Hole, as our plan suggested. But I do not know what to say. I do feel the hope of our party is hanging by a thin thread: The success to send that message. And that worries me. Soon, we will be the closest we ever were to having a chance of helping, of fighting back. This may be our only chance of creating a true legacy. Now, more than ever, we need to be prepared. Yet, most of us are still shaken from everything that happened recently.   A lot has happened after Nixie’s party. That morning, before breakfast, we met with Miyun. We barely knew each other for a few days back then but now Miyun was one of us, so whether she like it or not, we are now going to try and be her friends. It seems however, that Miyun did not know as much about everything that happened back then in Legondol so she didn’t really understood how Lullaby ended up being like she is now. We couldn’t keep this information from her, so in the end we told her the whole story. She didn’t know how to react, so for the first time since she was with us, she transformed into a squirrel and left. Of course, we went to search for her, and we found her in the room with Eve and Lullaby. There were many things we told her, about our adventures. Slowly, she seemed to open up, and transformed back into her human shape. We talked a bit more, but then Damaschini came to bring her clothes. We all decided that it was the time to introduce Miyun to the others, so it was time we headed to the table where probably the rest were waiting.   On the hallway, I stopped and talked a bit with Damaschini. Since I didn’t know much about Miyun, and he was her father, I thought it would be a good idea to talk with him about that. Maybe he didn’t want us to get involved with Miyun as much or maybe the opposite. He never really talked with us about her, so I didn’t know what I should or should not do. Because earlier that day, I felt that Miyun should have found out about Lullaby from Damaschini. So, I did not want to overstep again. Damaschini however didn’t seem to mind us to help him. He said that he is also not good at all this parenting thing and doesn’t know what to do. Understandably so. His position must be difficult at this point. He probably wants to know a lot about what happened to Miyun as well, but he is probably afraid that he will lose her again if he does anything unpleasant. I don’t know, dear diary. This situation is sometimes too much more than I can understand.   Either way, we had finally arrived to the others. Miyun very nicely presented herself in front of everyone. She talked with Bart, and asked if she could train with me, and even decided to help Isbel with her cooking. It was a very good start if you asked me. That is until, Kelly asked to talk with us privately. She made a very clear point: “What are you going to do with this girl? Don’t you see she is manipulating you? We didn’t even get to talk about the Commonwealth to her, or how she got here, or if she is followed!”. Come to think of it, we still don’t know any of those. Kelly was somehow right about all of this but Damaschini was quick to react, saying that he will be taking care of this matter. After breakfast, we were supposed to go and meet with the Dominor about the details for our plans, so se we had a small talk about that while we were eating. We had established that we will ask for help to find out about Elyana’s death so that we find a way to get to the Zidith by using the death planes and memories. We discovered that she drank so much serum before, that she probably had the memories from another thousand people. So Bart suggested that, if we could separate the memories, creating individual points, maybe there was a way to use them to travel through the death plane straight to the Zidith. Kelly and Bart discussed a lot about theories about how this Zidith could work. But we needed a lot more information for that to works, so we thought the Orshags could help.   Not soon after, we were welcomed in the Dominor’s hall. He said that he will help with whatever we needed and that the specialist that could help us with the information about Elyana would be there in a week. “A Week? We don’t have that much time left” I thought. Then, Nixie kept discussing with him about the Ziddith. At some point the Dominor asked if we figured a way to disable the Zidith for long enough for them to start a war. “The fastest we can attack is 6 months!” he said. Wait what…6 MONTHS?? HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT? I always thought we are talking about a few hours, a day maybe. But there was no way to stop the Zidith for 6 months. Visibly, everyone was a bit worried and confused, so we decided to postpone the rest of the discussion for the next day.   Once we got back to the chest, Nixie asked everyone to gather for a discussion. We had many things to decide on what to do next. 1. We had to decide if we would wait for the specialist to come and help us, or if we would leave before that. 2. Then, we had to find a strategy that would help us get to the Zidith. 3. We had still to think of a way to send the message and what we are going to do after the we had done all we could in this dimension. The whole discussion was as usual a bit disorganized until Kelly probably got annoyed at us, and took the lead. First she asked a simple question: “Until when are we planning on staying in this dimension?”. We never talked about it, but I assumed that we would be gone before the end of this year. After we made that clear, Bart tried to find important dates that could have an impact on our missions. Kelly, in the meantime, started to make some calculations about how long it would take us to get back to our dimension. It would be about 40 days, if we left that day and would not encounter any problems on the way. Since it was 15th of November, that would mean, that we would barely make it in time back home if we waited for another week. Also, based on their calculations as well, the Continent would be attacked probably before that. Hearing this, I sighted a bit. I know that I always talk about how the Continent is not really my home, but I have lived there for a long time. I wouldn’t want it to be destroyed. Everyone seemed to be eager to save the Continent. Probably because they know how much it means to Nixie. But no matter how we put it, we would have never made it there in time. Not even if we left today. As Bart put it, if we considered “Going to the Continent” as our mission for after the xy, then no matter what we chose it wouldn’t matter because we were already late. So, we have decided to change our perspective a tiny bit.   I remember the time in the war in the Continent. They army was not bad itself and the soldiers would be brave and strong. But, compared to an undead army of orcs, their strength seems to fade. Probably, if fighting under Ghebaro, they would stand a chance. That is, if Ghebaro ever managed to unite everyone. But even with Ghebaro there, they would still be alone, trapped in a prison with nowhere to escape from the undead. It was too late for us to go there and help and it felt that, by the time we would be back to our dimension, the Continent would be gone already. So, as saddening as it was, the only way we could give those people a chance, would have been by sending that dammed message. And the timing would have been extremely important. Everyday we waited, it was a day in which more people would die, a day closer to the end of the Continent and the other worlds. Who knows how many people were in the same situation in every dimension?   Thus, no more thinking about the Continent, and more thinking about our mission. There were arguments on both sides of the decision. On one side, Nixie had wanted us to stay because more information would have helped us maybe understand the death dimension better. On the other hand, there were the arguments about wasting time on something that it might have not been worth. So what was more important: information or time? To be fair, I did not know what to say. We could wait for a couple of days, that we would spend anyways if we got to the Black Hole and did not know what to do. But on the other hand, if the information would have not been as valuable, then we would have wasted too much time, because we could have thought of a strategy on the way to the Black Hole. In the end, it was decided by vote that we would leave as soon as possible.   Now for the next part number two: How would we get in the Zidith if we didn’t use the death planes. Of course, we fly as usual! It was Kelly again that suggested we should use the chest we have to fly over the shields in the Zidith and get inside. But it wasn’t as simple. We needed to pass through three different shields at least, without being noticed. The first one, was a shield of “Anti-matter” that would destroy anything that is “matter” basically: all the equipment, and accessories. Then, it was another shield that would detect any movement through the air. These two alone were very difficult to pass, but we also needed to remain invisible the whole time. It was Kelly and Damaschini and Bart talking scientifical terms at this point. So, the rest of us would just stay there and nod. In the end, from what I could understand, Kelly with the Orshags, were to build some kind of protective layers over Damaschini’s chest, so we would have no problem getting to the Zidith. Then, the Orshags would use a trebuchet from their dimension to send us flying to the 700m high building. Well, it would not be the first time for us to make such an entrance so why not?   All the preparation would take around two days, which gave us time more time to prepare and ask for anything we need. Of course, I have learned my lesson ever since I was on the Sapphire Sword: Grabbing Hooks are the hand of the Almighty in times of need. So, I asked for anything that could help us climb, grab objects, catch people if they fall from high places. You get the idea. And I was not going to refuse an armor that would help me set fire to myself. I always wanted one.   While we were preparing, Miyun came to Nixie and me to ask us a question. She wanted to know what did Talion and Damaschini told us about her. There were many stories we heard from the guys, so I did not know exactly where to begin. Did she want us to tell her about their adventures? Of course not. From what we could figure out, she wanted to know what bad things we know about her. But Tallion told us she doesn’t want to be called a monster, so I was a bit confused as what to say. In the end, we had a whole conversation about chircheks. For your information, they are animals that steal lifeforce from other people. Miyun got annoyed at us a few times and wanted to leave, because we hesitated to tell her all the bad things we heard. But in the end, she got what she wanted from us. We tried to find out more, but it seemed that it was not our place nor that she wanted to talk with us. Actually, she didn’t want to talk with anyone. It seemed that Miyun felt that the old party was embarrassed by her and only gave attention to the things that were in their benefit. So, instead of trying to get more information, we tried to convince her to give Damaschini and Tallion a chance to understand her. I felt like she wasn’t that convinced but seemed so annoyed by us that she finally accepted. So, I hurried to find the boys, in the hope that they would finally solve the problem.   I met Damaschini and Tallion on the hallways. I wanted to tell them what happened in the smallest detail so I started: “So Miyun came to us to ask us what we know about her...”. Then, Damaschini shortly replied with “I know. I already talked to her.” Well, I wanted to tell them more. I thought it would be helpful, but it didn’t seem they wanted to hear it from me because they kept making jokes. So, I decided not to give them the explanation about Miyun’s problem. We went back to Nixie and Miyun. “So, why did you bring us here” Damaschini asked. Well, I explained the situation and hoped that one of them would start talking. But we were just staying there awkwardly, just looking at each other. Very well, if it’s that weird to talk, then I’ll start. In the earlier conversation, Miyun told us about her dear friend: Haldric. She apparently misses him. “So Miyun, did you finish your letter to Haldric?” I asked inoffensively. You know, I would normally panic that Miyun is corresponding with the enemy, but in this case, I could understand. It’s not like she will be able to send the letter anytime soon. And despite this war, they are first of all friends. I would do the same with Nixie. Tallion and Damaschini seemed a bit surprised but did not react in anyway. Well, as much as Nixie and me would have insisted, it seemed the conversation did not go anywhere so I kind of gave up. Actually, I believe it made it worse because Tallion’s explanation about the chirchek was completely wrong and Damaschini was still treating her as a child. Therefore, Miyun got so upset, transformed in the squirrel and left.   In the following days, we couldn’t find her anywhere. Everyone was trying to find her, but it seemed impossible. By that time, we had already left the Orshag’s capital city, and were on our way to the Ziddith. Seeing that we couldn’t find Miyun in any way, I decided to go try to talk with Damaschini once more. This time, I tried to explain the whole problem: how Miyun feels like a monster, how she thinks that she needs to behave like a “golem” so that Damaschini can love her and all that we had previously talked about. It seems that he was a bit confused as well, especially because Miyun could now change her eye color, which she was not able to do it before. At this point, I was a bit impatient about the whole situation. It seemed that we were talking more with Miyun than her other friends were. Either way, the situation was getting pretty rough.   During those days, Miyun was stalking everyone. She was hiding in the shadows, moving through the castle. One night, Marc saw Miyun’s yellow eyes following him while sleeping, and another time, Isbel saw Miyun watching her while she was going to the toilet. As days passed by, it has become almost daily that someone would feel in danger because of Miyun. And to be fair, it seemed that most of the people on the crew had a big problem with all of this. Thus, we needed to find that girl as soon as possible. We did everything we could: Damaschini made her new weapons, we searched for her, we gave her cookies. I even screamed on all the hallways that Miyun should come and kill me already. At this point, I even thought of putting traps around but I quickly gave up the idea when I realized that 1.It would trigger Miyun’s hunting instincts even more and 2. Damaschini would kill me before I got Miyun. Ah yes, let’s keep up with searching for Miyun because we had nothing better to do than search for a squirrel hunter child in the whole chest! Great! And besides that, Nixie seemed to not care about the whole situation. She was just doing the bare minimum to find Miyun. But at this point, it was no time for stupid fights, so I just decided to comply and keep trying my best to solve the situation.   After a while, Damaschini finally managed to talk with Miyun and we all gathered to meet with her. But that child went a bit insane again. It seemed that my attempt to provoke her to a fight went wrong and instead, I only managed to anger her even more. It was never my intention to actually fight Miyun. We both know that I would not stand a chance in the first place. I just wanted to force her out of the hideout. I instantly apologize. But, now, she thought that I would actually think she is a bloodthirsty monster coming for us. It was not really the case. I do like Miyun. She is just child that has been through too much for her age and now she is just confused about how she feels and who she really is. But I swear to the Almighty, that girl knows how to step on everyone’s feet. “I wanted to see if you consider me a monster or not” she said in front of us. That is one of those questions that had no real good answer. If we said she is a monster, Myiun would have gone rogue and attack all of us. If we said we didn’t think she is a monster, she would have probably said that we are lying, and we are just trying to avoid who she really is. “Who knows if I wanted to really kill you or not” Myiun continued. I did assume that given the recent situation, she didn’t even know the answer to this question. Either way, it was quite obvious that if we considered her a monster, we would have attacked her already. Of course, none of us were thinking she is such a horrible person, but she was definitely not making the situation easier for us.   I slowly started to get impatient and started counting down in my head. This time however it ended a lot faster than in the previous fight. One was Miyun trying to flirt with Marc, and ten was also Miyun trying to flirt with Marc. I don’t care if she is even the oldest of the immortal elves and your father is Lucifer, you do not come to our house and threaten our people like that. Especially the crew. Stalk them, fine, follow them through the castle, fine. But do not dare to try and instigate fights between them. Marc is very happily spending his time with Isbel, DO NOT INTERFERE! Then, she proceeded to flirt with Tallion and Bart. Miyun should really back off until she still has the chance to. Some boys are just taken so do not touch them! But it was getting worse and worse. But by far the worst part when he started picking on Tallion. “Do you know that I was there in the fight that your father died? Maybe I even killed him!” Miyun said. Everyone held their breath. We were waiting for Tallion’s reply. I slowly looked at Nixie and she was looking back at me. “THAT FUCKING SPOILED BRAT! HOW DARE SHE SAYS SOMETHING! I DON”T CARE WHO IS YOUR FATHER! BUT SAY THAT AGAIN AND I SWEAR I’LL CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF!!” we probably both thought. Tallion didn’t say anything. He just looked very sad but did not say anything. His self-restraint amazes me sometimes. But he calmly just tried to talk with her and calm her down. I swear that sometimes Tallion intimidates me, especially in times like this when he becomes very serious. But I bet he is the only one sane from all of us. Seeing the whole situation, I asked: “What do you want to hear from us, Miyun?” She turned those yellow bright eyes with long lashes to me, and she started talking. “I do not like when I’m being interrogated” she replied to me, after I asked her a few more questions. Some bad words can sometimes change someone’s entire mood, so I decided to stop talking for a while. It was an already difficult situation so any other fight would have only caused more trouble. Finally, after a bit of flirting with all of us, Damaschini took the lead and managed to convince Miyun to go to the training hall to talk with him. Based on what Tallion told us, it seems that Damaschini is taking his “father” role a lot more serious now. Let’s hope that he will keep it like that. But, the conflict was far from being over in any way.   With Miyun and Damaschini gone, we had to find a way to deal with the whole situation. “What do you think we should do, Nixie?” asked the crew. A very valid question to which I didn’t have an answer yet. Neither did Nixie who just replied with “I don’t know how to deal with teenagers”. That wasn’t a solution in any way, but it was enough of an answer to make Dillen have a rage quit. He first blamed Nixie for being disinterested in the whole situation, despite the fact that she was responsible for the well-being of the crew. Then, he also pointed out that Miyun is not controllable in any way and could represent a problem to all of us, especially during our time at Ziddith. Nixie however seemed to become annoyed as well, so she replied to Dillen with some salty answer again. This time, Dillen got so angry that he stormed out of the room. Seeing how bad the situation was evolving, I have decided to make it stop for now. We decided to all think of a solution and meet later that day to discuss it. At this point, nobody was doing great or so it seemed. We had already been traveling for a good few days now, so soon it would have been the time to go into Ziddith and here we were fighting with each other. We really had to solve that quick.   Luckily, everyone was rather aware of that. I do not usually exchange opinions with Dillen but this time I wanted to talk with him. It almost felt that if I didn’t do it, nobody will and that was by itself a problem. It seems that there were more things that Dillen was upset about. First of all, it seemed that for him, everyone was more focused on the drama on the boat that our mission. We were so close to a point in our mission that would either save or kill all of us, but we were more preoccupied by who is kissing Eve. Fine, I admit, he had a point. I cannot deny that the whole problem with Nixie and Bart made no sense, but I couldn’t say the same about Miyun. To me, it seemed very important to discuss with Miyun before it would affect our party more than it already did. Plus, I really wanted to help that child. She seems very confused and scared and sad. But Dillen also made a very good point earlier: No matter how much we wanted to help, we couldn’t risk the mission and the safety of the crew for it. It seems that Dillen also felt that Nixie was not giving this situation enough concern and she was not doing anything about it. That was not necessarily true. Yes, technically she didn’t give me any orders to take care of this problem but since she has assigned me to take care of everyone in the party, this fell under my tasks. Yes, Dillen was also partly right when he said that I took the initiative to help Miyun, but it was because I knew that was something Nixie trusted I would do in the first place. It doesn’t require always an order to know you have to execute one.   Second of all, Dillen seemed to think that even if he said that, everyone, especially Nixie would make fun of him and not take it seriously. It turns out that after all, I was right when I felt that I am making fun of Dillen a little too much. Unfortunately, he was also right with this one. Nixie did not seem to take him seriously at all, always being sarcastic with him. Now, Marc has joined in as well and then it was me who was guilty for most of the problem. You see, dear diary, as Drenizek put it later in one of our conversations, Dillen liked being in control, and now, because he had no influence, he couldn’t control anything. When Dillen talked about this, I instantly felt bad. Now that I think about it, back to Nixie’s party, I think it was the first time Dillen left the conversation in such a defeated manner. Either way, I did have my contribution to all of this mess and I sure felt sorry for it.   It is a bit ironic how this whole friendship turned out. It’s almost like he is not a snake anymore. At first, I was fighting him over Drenizek’s alcohol and now I am gossiping with him about Nixie. Back then on the ship, I was very sure that I do not want Dillen as a second in command at all, but now I am sure that he would be a great second in command. Why the change of heart? I couldn’t tell you. I just feel that he wouldn’t lead the same as he used to back then. Or maybe now, I just understand him better. Most of the things he said that day about Miyun were not wrong and I felt a bit relieved that someone said something. Nonetheless, I have decided I might not be able to exactly make him that powerful again (I don’t exactly want to play politics in our party now), but the least I could do is try to make the others listen to his opinions. What is he going to do? Use me to manipulate the others? I really don’t think it’s something Dillen would do anymore. So if I can help I will, although as Drenizek said, Dillen would not expect me to. After all, we are friends. During the conversation, Dillen also said something about “they’re all complaining, although you, who have the most right to, you never said anything”. It seems that everyone is easily becoming more worried for me? Tallion asked me if I’m doing alright, Dillen said this, and then it was also Drenizek that asked the same thing. I guess that after some time, even I can’t hide the tiredness. I did appreciate their care though. It is not that often that someone stops from their problems to listen to yours. As for what Dillen said, I do not exactly understand how it works. Each one of us have different ways to deal with suffering. And it might take others a lot more strength to go past smaller problems. Also, if you ask me, what he said was also not true. Wasn’t he the one that just lost his wife and child? Wasn’t Drenizek the one that just lost so many cousins and Nixie who just lost the Primordial Tree and the last spark of the elvish people? Compared to all of this, Xebec’s death feels like it happened ages ago. And precisely because I felt how it is, I am trying so hard to help the others. And then, who said I didn’t really grieve about it? You see, maybe I didn’t cry and screamed and be sad. Just imagine Xebec’s upset face if he ever saw me like that. But I did grieve. I felt that pain in every sword hit in Metherol, in every wound I had from the undeads in Faen, I felt that with my whole body through the fights in Vaneolin. Each hit was a painful reminder that I am alive, and Xebec is not. But I have decided to go through it because it was the only way I could have withstand the grieve and try to move on. As I said it before, I will not let Xebec and the fastodan’s deaths to be in vain. Come to think of it, I have never heard anyone from the crew grieve for their family and friends. So, dear diary, I do not have much to complain about and as I said before, I am content with this life of ours. I have ended the conversation by promising Dillen that we will try to solve this whole situation and focus more on our mission then I went to talk with Nixie. She was obviously upset as something as well. It doesn’t happen very often that Nixie and me to see eye to eye on a problem, so I have learned that it’s the best to talk about them. “Why does it matter? We all do what we must do even if we do not like it!” replied Nixie when I asked her how she was feeling. Nixie is not an easy person to talk with. She usually hides her feelings especially when because she thinks she must act in a certain way. Which, sometimes she must, since she is a captain. But, not when it’s just Nixie and me in a room and nobody could hear except maybe Tallion. After a bit of pushing, Nixie finally told me that she is rather upset about the whole Miyun situation. In her opinion, it was Damaschini’s fault for all that happened, and he was the one that needed to solve the problem, but people wanted her to get involved in something that she shouldn’t. In this case, I did stand by Dillen’s opinion. We made a promise to protect the crew, so Miyun was somehow our responsibility too. But it was more than that, wasn’t it? Nixie still felt powerless about everything that was going on and now Miyun was somehow proving the point. Because, as I felt before, there was no good answer to Miyun’s problem. That girl is sure problematic. Responsibility for the whole crew is something no one else would probably be able to carry so that is enough for Nixie to do. I did tell her that, but I felt that was not exactly helping her. Finally, she broke down and confessed that she is afraid of us not following her if she took a wrong decision. Probably Dillen’s reaction today also didn’t help with it. As much as I wanted to banish her fears, I do not think I have that power. But I tried to calm her a tiny bit. In the end, all of us would follow her in the third gate to hell and we would find a way to get her out of there too. All captains make mistakes, but people still follow them. For me, it isn’t the way we go but how we go there. I don’t care how deep in hell I get as long as I know Nixie and the others think there is a hope on the other side. If, however, I am blindly going in there with a heart that’s not decided, then I will also probably falter. I know Nixie has a higher responsibility and it’s probably easy for me to say all of this, but she’s not alone in this. She never was. It is her responsibility but it’s not hers alone. We all play our part. Either way, when we finished this talked, she seemed to feel a bit better. I get a lot of feelings when I talk with Nixie: Sometimes is amusement, sometimes is happiness but sometimes is also anger. This time I felt a bit annoyed. She probably didn’t mean to say it thought. She was so afraid that we would leave her alone that she almost doubted our loyalty. I mean fine, I have not listed to her before, but the crew followed her everywhere. And when I mean everywhere, I really mean EVERYWHERE. Doubting that would be denying their legacy. But there is no point talking about it. I am sure Nixie didn’t do it intentionally. She was just afraid to be left alone.   After she gathered some courage, Nixie finally gathered everyone. I always admired Nixie for grand speeches. She always knows what to say to inspire the others and make them believe in her. It seems that this time was no different. Even Dillen seemed convinced about it: “As long as it’s under control. I don’t mind it.”. It gave me a bit of hope as well. It seems that after this speech, everyone was feeling slightly better. Then it was Drenizek who asked, “Do you still believe in what we do?”. Of course, I did. I was sure than everyone did. But it was only after Nixie replied with a short “Yes”, that the crew sighted in relief. We talked a bit more with the crew and the whole atmosphere seemed a bit more relieved. In times like this, there is only as much as I can do. It will always be Nixie the one who will know how to best deal with the crew and make them feel assured. And that’s why I’m happy she’s the captain. As I said before, it was only one captain I would follow in this world. Either way, our nice talk was interrupted by the Orshags who signaled us to get out of the chest. It was time to visit the Ziddith. Did we have a good plan? As always, not really. But we were all ready for whatever was in there. Or we thought so. Damaschini and Miyun joined us right when we were getting ready to leave and she apologized for whatever she said earlier. Now, I suggested Nixie that Miyun and Damaschini stay in the chest. As much as I didn’t like the idea, Dillen was right. We couldn’t risk Miyun to go rogue while we’re inside the Ziddith. The last thing we need is search for a hunting squirrel in a whole building. But Damaschini seemed to be confident enough in Miyun so Nixie decided to not leave any of us behind. Before we left, all of us said a small prayer. Even Kelly stood there and prayed with us. I do think that slowly she is starting to want to understand all this “cult” thing.   So Zidith-know-it-all, here we come! As always, the only thing that I expected was that I would be surprised one way or another. And I sure was not disappointed. When we got out of the chest, it was night and the sky was cloudy. We couldn’t even see a moon, if there was one in the first place. We didn’t have time to check the area. But even from kilometers away, the Ziddith could be clearly seen. It was this huge building with four pillars as “arms” on each side. And although very dark, you could see some lights from here and there. The industrial place we were was rather quiet at that time, almost so quiet that we could hear the heartbeats of everyone else. That huge imposing building was what we, as little as we were, had to destroy. And the following moments would decide if we were going to die or get to live another day to tell our story. Damaschini,Bart, Kelly and the Orshags made the preparations, and then we went back in the chest. There was nothing we could do but wait and countdown the time left until we were supposed to exit the chest. Every minute we were counting was a higher chance for us to survive.   After the time was done, we opened the chest, and one by one, we jumped out of the chest. I would have expected some company, but there was no one around. I have seen this before, and it’s no good sign. It is always when it’s peaceful and quiet that the worst things happen. So, the first thing I wanted to see was if the place was emptied intentionally and this was a trap, or if, indeed there were not many people around. But I didn’t seem to manage because I was distracted by this Zidith. From where we were, it looked even bigger than before. “Just how in the world are we going to destroy this thing?” I asked myself. In the center, we could loud and clear the same symbol we once saw on the temple in Bethle: the weird wasp. Only this time, it was massive. But what was even more worrisome, was the impulses of energy that the arms were sending to the center. We could feel each one of them. It was maybe the most imposing structure I have seen. I may not understand much about this technology, but no matter how you looked at it, destroying this was way beyond our powers. Or so we thought. Everyone was somehow admiring the Zidith, when we heard noises of people coming around. Obviously, we hid as well as we could. Soon, a group of people whit white masks and red robes came, and sat near some computers that were connected to Ziddith. They were writing very fast, decoding information from the Zidith. If I didn’t know they were alive, I would have thought they are complete robots. From here, the whole situation took a twisted turn. The priests became agitated. From what Bart and the others could understand, the Ziddith was telling them to start war with ITA. Now, dear diary, I do not think I ever mentioned anything about ITA. But in short, ITA is a mad organization that is led by an A.I that has so much military power that can destroy this whole dimension. If the A.I. detects a threat, they will start producing robots to fight by second. Even the Commonwealth were frightened by ITA, everyone in this world was. But that was only the beginning. Hearing the whole talk, Nixie slowly said: “Don’t go to war with ITA” and the very next second, the priest became even more confused, because they saw the same message on their computers. “Just what the…?” I thought. Somehow Nixie was able to communicate through the Zidith.   But it didn’t stop there. We were listening to the priests talking in panic, when one of them said: “Nernixis Ibriyl Allaevansar…so we meet at last”. At this point, everyone was just confused. Was this Zidith an ally or enemy? What did he want from us? But do not worry dear diary, if one asks, the answers are always there. At this point, I felt Nixie grabbing my hand. She was scared of what was happening. Probably all of us were especially since the Zidith started to melt and transform in something which we then recognized as a figure. It was wearing a white mask, with a small black tear under one eye. The rest of the body didn’t seem to be human anymore and the only thing that distinguished it from a robot were the long elves ears, made from the same white material as the mask. “Shit…is that…an immortal elf?” I think was what everyone was thinking. I looked back at Nixie. She was frozen: not talking, not moving not anything. We had to do something; we couldn’t just stay there. Seeing Nixie like that, Bart took the initiative and told us to exit the hideout. It was time for a straight fight. But the immortal elf did not even look at us. He was talking only with Nixie: “I expected that the heir of the Elf King to be to be a bit more powerful” he continued. His tone was cold, we couldn’t read any emotion on his face. He was not attacking us. He was just indifferent. He was a statue that for thousands of years stood in place, while the world moved around him. And now, it had awoken and wanted to continue from where he left of. But as any statue, he was just a representation of what that elf once used to be. A golem with a face of what once used to be the elf named Soreoth. Behind him, was this spaceship he was preparing to use. We had to do something, anything. But Nixie wasn’t moving. She was staying in place, endlessly asking this immortal elf, “why did you come here? What do you want?”. It felt that for a second, she wasn’t hearing anything around. In between his constant swearing, Bart asked her what should we do, but no response. Finally, with no warning, Marc started to shoot that elf but he didn’t move. It didn’t seem to hurt him. He kept moving to this spaceship. However Marc managed to get Nixie’s attention. She shortly mumbled: “Attack him”. That’s all I wanted to hear. Xixi was faster than me though. She took Lullaby’s sword and tried to attack him but was quickly thrown away, dropping the sword.   Now, the immortal elf, wanted to get the sword too. We were already at loss, but if we lost that too, it would be a disaster. Having no other choice, Damaschini started to fight the elf, giving me enough time to use a grabbing hook from xy to get the sword back. What did I tell you? Grabbing Hooks are the best artifacts. In the meantime, Bart’s swearing seemed to annoy the elf immortal. Spreoth grabbed Bart by the neck and I believe it was ready to attack him. I believe Bart was either scared and this was his coping mechanisms, or was trying gain Nixie some time or wanted to see if Soreoth had emotions of any kind. Xixi also wouldn’t give up. She took the sword from my hands, and attacked the elf again. This time, with an incredible power, she managed to slash the elf’s throat and his head fell on the ground.   We all got very excited for a second. And as we were preparing to leave, we were all praising Xixi for her success. That is, until Bart and Tallion stated a very good fact: “Maybe he didn’t die yet”. We all stopped in place and turned our heads. OH NO! OF COURSE HE DIDN’T DIE! HE’S IMMORTAL! We could see some green liquid helping the elf get back in one piece. No matter what we would have attacked with, it was useless. Nixie tried to at least fight his threats about the beginning of the end of the world, but to no avail. All we could do, is watch that elf, going into the spaceship and leave. It was frustrating. Suddenly, as he was departing in his spaceship, the whole Ziddith began to collapse. The Orshag Stoa made some space for us, and we managed to get out. I had to grab Xixi from there, because she was so upset that she kept hitting things. “BUT I CUT HIS HEAD” XiXi said in an angry voice. I know Xixi, I felt the same. I would have fought that elf until we found a solution to stop him, if I had the power to. But I was only a human, with not much to fight with.   We managed to get to the EVO Drive in time, before the news with ITA would spread. We were all sitting in one room in silence, each being caught by their own thoughts. I was frustrated. Once again, we couldn’t do anything to change what was about to happen. Once again, we went right we were supposed to and did exactly what Xantinya wanted us to do. That elf waited for us there just because he wanted to mock Nixie. To show her how weak good is and to make us feel responsible for all this mess. It was like on the chessboard when a pawn meets face to face with a horse, but the horse decides to jump over the pawn because it needs to capture a more important piece. WELL GUESS WHAT YOU IMMORTAL SON OF A BITCH! I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR MOCKERY! GO BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG. I have inherited the fastodan’s persistence and I will not let you destroy us! ETERNAL WAR MEANS ETERNAL WAR. I have promised you that a long time ago. And I do keep my promises. YOU MAY BE IMMORTAL, BUT YOU ARE NOT INVINCIBLE! SO SPARE ME YOUR WHOLE DRAMATIC SPEECH ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD! WE ALL HEARD IT BEFORE! IT WAS JUST A COPYCAT FROM XANINTYA’S ANYWAY.   Of course, I didn’t say that out loud, but I was definitely thinking it while going near Nixie and trying to make her stand up. She was probably in shock from what happened. By her face, endless thoughts about her feeling useless, about how powerful the immortal elves could be, about how sad everything is, were flooding through her head. But it was neither the time nor the place for that. The crew depended on her in those moments to not lose the last straw of hope they had. I made Nixie stand from the chair, and tried to talk with her. Eve, Drenizek, Bart, Damaschini, Tallion and everyone else joined in. It felt like we were talking for Nixie, but I feel that in reality, we were all talking for ourselves as well. It did seem to work. Nixie was becoming a bit more talkative and even started making jokes. You know, dear diary, I have made a vow to Nixie, and I’ll keep it. I do not care what shitty situation she’s stuck on; I’ll find a way to get her out of there. THOSE FUCKING STUPID ELVES WILL NOT GET TO NIXIE WHILE THE CREW, THE PARTY AND ME ARE STILL ALIVE. Let’s see how many rocks you can throw at us before we give up! I’m happily accepting that challenge! And when she’s ready, Nixie will take her role as a heir of the Elf King and will kick those bastards ass. And we will be there to enjoy every moment of it.   In the meantime, however, we had to talk about what we will do next. Eve said that she might be able to find something in her dreams that could help so she wanted to investigate more about Lullaby’s connection with the sword. It was in vain to try and convince her that she should take a break from staying near Lullaby. No matter how much Nixie and me worried, she seemed to have taken this as her personal task. Now, I was a bit conflicted. On one side, this whole demon thing is hurting Eve too much. We couldn’t let her endlessly suffer like this. Eve even admitted that it was too much, and talked with us about it a little. Maybe that helped. But at the same time, Eve seems very eager to have this role and seems to really want to take care of Lullaby. It also feels like she wants to prove herself she can do this. With no chance of stopping her, Nixie and me decided to let Eve continue until we get to the Black hole and send the message. And after, she will let us take care of Lullaby. Nixie insisted she wants to do that as well, but I am not planning to let her. A captain should lead, and it’s the crewmates that make the ship move. So Nixie, let us do our jobs and you focus on yours!   I keep hearing people saying very often that: “Do not expect to achieve something good without a sacrifice”. Damaschini said it first time, and now Eve too. I don’t want to think just how much we are going to need to sacrifice for this mission. It worries me. Actually no, It makes me scared. I don’t know what to expect from now on, but I sure think it will anything but easy. Later that day, Nixie insisted that we should talk with Miyun again. We never got to have a proper discussion with her. This time she didn’t seem she wants to kill us. That was a good start. It seems that Nixie took her responsibility very seriously and was ready to do whatever it took to help Miyun. We talked with her about the old party again. She told us she misses everyone. Then we got to the chirchek part again. I may never mentioned this before, but I do not think that all chircheks are monsters. I don’t know what Xantinya taught Miyun, but she was definitely wrong. It seems that all along, Miyun thought she doesn’t have a soul and it all started from Zarkuz. Honestly, I do not understand why the old party kept him. It seems he was working for Xantinya for a long time now. Anyways, there seem to be a lot of things we don’t understand about. But a kid believes what the others will tell them. So all this time, Miyun thought she was just some mercyless monster made for killing and who is not able to feel anything. Both Nixie and me were convinced she has a soul. It also seems she does not remember what happened back to the dragon fight. Xantinya must have somehow activated some kind of instinct in her that made her forgot anything but hunting. So that’s how she used her all this time. We must find a way for Miyun to be able to combine her human side with her chirchek side. She needs to hunt to live, but maybe there is a way for that to not affect other people. I feel like it will take a long time before we can really make Miyun well again, but we have to try. But, I fear we do not have time. She already feels the need to hunt, soon she will not be able to control herself. And I fear we are probably the main dish. I will talk all of this with Damaschini, he might know more about what to do. I hope.   Later that night, I went to talk with Drenizek. We didn’t really get to talk about the Elyana and I really wanted to see how he feels about it. Now, to be fair, this whole thing was just a good excuse to go and talk with him. There have been many nights when I would guard the others with Drenizek while we were in Vaneolin, and back then, having company felt rather nice. Then, Tallion joined in and the conversations became even more fun. Now I feel very close to these two. When I stay with them, it’s like I take a break from all that chaos, and we get a few moments of peace. Funnily enough, Tallion also joined this time. You see, Tallion and me have this little game of ours. When one of us goes to talk with someone, the other one is somewhere nearby to intervene. It doesn’t bother me. It’s like someone having your back.   Either way, we spent a few good hours together that night. One thing led to another, and in the end, we all ended up talking about all these things that we have felt lately. When Tallion first came in, Drenizek was telling me about how he feels he used to be voice of motivation on the party, and now, he can’t even do that. “Yeah, I can have good speeches, but yours are better.” As he put it. You know, maybe that he doesn’t have the voice he used to, but he is still the main pillar of support for us. “Like I didn’t learn the speech thing from you.” I thought from myself. Either way, Tallion immediately supported me with his arguments. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on Drenizek, because it seemed to me he was trying his hardest to be what he was. But we don’t need that. We need Drenizek to be Drenizek, whatever that Drenizek wants to be. But the conversation slowly got to other things. You see, Drenizek always wanted to help us. No matter what, he wants to protect us. Which I always appreciated him for, but you know, as his friends, we want to see him happy. And the way I see it, is that, in order to be happy, you need to have this small selfish wish of yours. Because in times of need, that small wish can motivate yourself, when nothing else will. But Drenizek doesn’t see it that way. For him, these small selfish wishes can do quite the opposite, and make you falter in a fight.   Drenizek seems that changed the most out of us. He once told us that if there is the slightest hope for something to be saved, we should try to save it. But now, he didn’t feel the same. The way he put it it’s that, back in Vaneolin, his first thought when he learned about Alomir, was to go there and save whatever could have been saved. But now, he didn’t feel he would do the same. Because hope is dangerous. But you know what, I believe that if there is even a slightest chance of finding his cousins alive, I think he should take it. It shook me a bit to hear him say that. He was the one that taught us how to hope in the first place if you ask me. Or at least he taught me. It is maybe, as he said It himself, because of everything that he has been through. He has seen death two times already, and he was ready to face it. But he didn’t, every time he came back, and now he didn’t know what to do. I don’t understand how it feels. But I assume, your world gets shaken up a bit, when you’re ready to die, but you make it alive. As I said it to him however, he got a third chance. A chance to do whatever he wants with his life. You know, talking about small selfish wishes. Do not tell them, dear diary, but my little wish is to finally see them happy each one of them. I want them to get to live the day when they can be happy again. And I get what he means. It is a dangerous wish, and it does make you falter sometimes. The closer we get to the Black Hole, to that message, the more I realize, I am becoming not willing to sacrifice anyone for this mission. Anyways, I do not know if Drenizek understood anything I said. But I tried to explain him that he got the third chance for a reason, and it is not to protect us. It is for him to become someone he wants to be. At least that’s how I see it.   You know, in some regards, I wish I would have been a better friend for Drenizek. He lived his whole life surrounded by his family, by his little cousins. And in less than a day, he found out that all he had was gone. Not before, of course, to go through the whole “disease” thing. It was then when he realized for the first time, that he was alone. Not alone alone, but you know, even when you surround yourself with other people, it sometimes seems like a wall between you and them. Especially when you lose something dear to you. Because that something, was something that brought you peace. And when it’s gone, you don’t stop living your life like you used to, and you don’t stop feeling all the good feelings. It’s just from time to time you feel far away from it. But it is not a bad thing, it just takes time to get used to it. I don’t know how to explain, dear diary, it’s too complicated. The good news is however, that Drenizek is slowly getting used to it, as he said. You know, now that I think about it, I feel like it is quite a common feeling.   Tallion also seemed to feel that for a moment. He wasn’t the happiest recently either. The whole thing that Miyun have said must have shaken him terribly. You know, normally I would have told him that he had the right to be upset, which he did. But, I know that Tallion is a lot stronger than me and maybe I would not be able to do it, but Tallion could try to work towards forgiving Miyun. If we ever found out Miyun actually killed his father, it will be probably from the demons that want to create a fight. So, in both ways, I feel like Tallion would be able to work on that side, to prepare. Now, as I said, I would probably not do the same, but I don’t know dear diary, I have never been in that situation and I hope I never will. It will take us a few days until we get to the Black Hole and we must prepare. Who knows what other surprises we will meet on the way?   May the Almighty protect everyone and give us the strength to do what we must.   P.S.1: It seems to me that Dillen and Kelly could get along very well if they talked more with each other. P.S.2: The immortal elf said something about his dad preparing something special for us and it worries me terribly. His dad is how he calls himself “The Prince of Hell” one of the three demons in the unholy trinity. Whatever it is, I am sure it will not end well. P.S.3: Miyun would better stay away from Marc and Isbel.

Dear Diary, The more we stay in here, the more I think that XY is not as great as I first thought. Actually, by now, I would gladly go back to my dimension as soon as the mission is over. At first, this “mutation” thing was funny for us, but now, I am not so sure that it is something we should even joke about. I started to wonder if we talk with programmed robots that can mime emotions or with actual people. There is a very thin line at this moment.   Yesterday was a full day for us. We have just barely woken up from the gas sleep and we were trying to figure out a way to escape. The only way in and out of that room was through a transparent wall made of energy that could be activated and deactivated through some kind of mechanism. The rest of the room was empty and probably secured by some “video cameras”. Any suspicious move we made would be trigger a signal that would immediately alert the Commonwealth.   And above all, Miyun was still not feeling the best. And when I say she was not feeling the best, I mean that her veins turned black, she had high fever and she would not wake up from the coma. In short, she was barely breathing. Not only that she had the effects of the xenatine that was taking away her life force but as friendly as she is, our dear Ayra decided it was time to pay Miyun a visit. But jokes aside, we really had to do something about Miyun or otherwise she would die before we got out of the cell. I honestly admire Miyun. To be only 14 years old and to survive that amount of xenatine is amazing. Well maybe not the fitted word but you get the idea.   We first had to somehow reach her but that Ayra demon was not going to make it easy for us.Vas was the first one to come up with an idea. He heard of a ritual that the hifrist priests would do in order to transfer the suffering from one person to the other. Since the ritual required a sacrifice to the hifrist gods, it wasn’t precisely something we could have done. But Vas said that he could try to adapt this ritual in such a way that he could temporarily take in the effects of the xenatine effects so that we could help Miyun. In other words, he would give away his life force to help us save Miyun’s. I really wanted to know more before we got ourselves into playing with people’s life so I asked Vas more about the ritual. It seems that I was a bit too insistent because Vas got a bit upset at me. I'm really sorry for upsetting him. He is the last person that I would want to upset. Most of the time I must admit I am overprotective, but when it comes to life-or-death situations, taking some risks is worth from time to time. I am hoping to keep the others safe, but I am not foolish enough to think that I will ever be able to protect them from all the risks and dangers in this world.   In the end, we gave up on this idea because it was maybe more than we could do. After a short discussion we got to do what we know best: decide on the outline of a plan and try to follow it. Each one of us had a task: Eve would mend Miyun’s wound from the xenatine ritual, Damaschini would try to reach Miyun, Bart was the one who was supposed to coordinate us and Tallion, Nixie and me had to somehow distract the demon and be moral support? Anyways, through his songs, Bart made a connection between us so that we could sense what each one of us was feeling. Damaschini almost reached Miyun only for a second before Ayra got in the way. On the outside, we could see a shadow behind Miyun. It was the same shadow we once saw coming out of Menn’e. Going only for the youngest of us. Not very nice, Ayra. The very same second, Xixi grabbed Lullaby’s sword and tried to attack the shadow but to no avail. Well we had to try again, it was mostly the only thing we could do. So we had to make some light. Thankfully, Vas is always with us. He did his magic and suddenly the whole became so bright that we could see the demon shadow again. Yet again Xixi tried to hit it, but no success. In the meantime, we could feel a lot of feelings coming from Eve and Damaschini. I don’t know what they were doing but we could feel a lot of love and warm emotions coming from them. They were not concentrating on fighting the demon, but rather on saving Miyun. As Eve told us before, the true power of good is the good itself, not the fight against evil. But the moment was brutally interrupted by a guard who came to ask as what was going on. Poor guy, imagine the face of a normal person who sees a bunch of creatures lighting up the room and fighting shadows with swords. We really come off as deranged if you ask me. But we sent our negotiator Dillen to solve this small issue. In the meantime, we tried to send the same feelings back to Damaschini and Eve. It was most we could do. It was Bart, Damaschini and Eve who did most of the job to save Miyun. Especially Eve who, using her powers, managed to create some life force that was the same as Miyun’s or at least that’s how the others explained it afterwards. It was hard to understand anything in that chaos to be fair.   The main point is that, in the end Miyun finally regained her consciousness. Seeing this Eve let out a small sight of relieve while smiling and then fell on the ground. Luckily, Bart caught her right on time. We did not have time to say anything else because the Commonwealth guards formed a line on the other side of the energy fence and required us to step back. They deactivated the wall and took Eve with them. It seems she caught some kind of virus that was very dangerous and contagious, and they were going to treat her.   Now that Miyun was safe, we had to somehow make it out of here while we still could. The whole ship was controlled by some kind of robot that was smart enough to coordinate everything. While this thing was active, we could not make any move in this place. There were two things we could have done: either make it “update” or shut it down completely. Of course, a bunch of creatures like us born in the dimension of magic had no clue whatsoever about what that meant. Kelly on the other side, seemed to be quite the expert. Quite funny how the turn of events. Without knowing, by helping Kelly we helped ourselves. We never planned for this, but I guess the “Grand Plan” works in very mysterious ways. I do wonder how in this world would we have survived in this dimension without Kelly. Probably by now, we would have become some perfumes on the shop or something.   Either way, you see, when the guards tried to touch Lullaby, a protective force covered her, and at the same time, it modified a slight part of a wall. If one would pay careful attention, you could see some kind of mechanisms going through there. So Kelly, asked Damaschini very nicely to change an element of the wall so that the robot would start investigating the problem. And like that, the robot started “updating”. That gave us around 15 minutes to escape the room, find the robot and shut it down completely. Of course, we had to be stealthy and not do anything stupid that could alert the robot and wake him up from his “updating”. And only then we needed to still find our belongings and Eve and get the hell out of here before somebody saw us. “Hmmm…. sounds exactly like any other plan that we have ever failed. It starts with us being stealthy.” I thought. But there was no need to say it. I do think everyone knew that we were not going to get out of here without making some kind of commotion.   And guess how our “Stealthy” plan started. Kelly made Xixi beat in the energy wall so that the only guard there could see us and come closer. Then, Bart tried to control his will to let us out of there. Unfortunately, the plan did not really work as expected. The guard came closer, but he only moved a bit to the right and then started to wonder what was happening. Because of course, he felt Bart’s influence. “What are you doing?” the guard asked us. We…we didn’t think that far so our replies was quite something: Nixie started coughing saying that she got the virus, I started a very awkward conversation with the guard, threatening him to help us and Tallion tried to reason with him. Poor guard was so terrified, that he called other guards. This time, they took Xixi. But, we were smarter this time. Nixie told us to hurry and give Xixi some kind of tracker so we can follow her. But since we had nothing of sorts, we resumed to the old strategy: “Xixi, leave some signs behind so we can follow you”.   You know, at first, I didn’t like these planes at all. But now, I am starting to understand why Bart and Damaschini love them so much. If properly used, they can get you out of many inconvenient situations. You could basically do anything you’d want if you had that power. As tempting as they are, I still find them a bit scary. Or rather, me having those powers would be scary. For Bart and Damaschini it works because they are responsible and know exactly when to use what. But give those power to the sword girl that suggested to take a “tank” in this dimension, and the results might not exactly be what you expected. But let’s go back to the story. After the guards left and the place calmed down a bit, we tried another strategy. Bart used his powers to control the mechanisms that were controlling the energy wall and Dillen managed to put the guard to sleep before he could say anything.   That was quite a stealthy exit if you ask me. We didn’t even have to fight anyone until a few minutes later. While we were walking, I managed to see one of the tridents left by Xixi on the walls as a sign. So we have followed that path, until we got into a huge hall. There were four doors in this hall room, besides the one that we have entered. If you walked on the right, you would instantly arrive in front of a door with another trident from Xixi. Then, in front, you could see a long corridor, ending with another door. If walked down the room, still on the right side, there was another red door. This one was designed to probably keep something important because it could only be opened with special cards from higher rank commanders. Opposite to this door, but on the left side, there was the last door.   With little time left before the robot would wake up, we decided to first open the door that Xixi left the mark to. Inside we bumped face to face with a guard and what seemed to be a doctor. All the crew jumped on the guard and he did not really stand a chance. But the doctor was still there and if he were to talk through his helmet, the robot would immediately wake up. I heard Nixie screaming “Verfi do something”. WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? HE IS TOO FAR FOR ME TO REACH HIM!! I couldn’t exactly shoot him because that would have alerted the whole ship. So in lack of any time or good ideas, I did what any sentient person would: throw at him whatever I first got my hands on. In this fortunate case, it was the gun I was holding. You know, I do not like hurting doctors because most of the time, they’re not even part of the fight. They’re just there to help other people. But, the unfortunate guy chose the worst time to come to work. Well, at least he got to sleep for a bit. In the next room, we found Xixi and Eve. Not even these guards managed to fight with Xixi, so they put her in some kind of robotic armor that kept her chained to a bed and Eve was kept in some tube that was healing her. I think?. We tried to free them, but we needed vocal command for that, and the doctor was not exactly able to talk. Sorry, that might have been my fault.   We couldn’t do anything about them, so we returned to the hall room and tried to investigate the red door. We started pressing buttons and inserting identification cards from the guards se put to sleep, but nothing worked. All the commotion however, alarmed two guards from inside the red door room. Who now exited to attack us. Luckily, we managed to stop those two as well. We were now once again, staring at the red door. According to Kelly, we needed to have a special card to insert in order to open that door. There was also a big red button there that we could have pressed but we didn’t know exactly what it would do. We spent a few good minutes staring at the red door until Kelly said that we should split up and search the rest of the doors. At this point we had around 5 minutes left until the robot would wake up. Bart with Damaschini and Tallion went to the red door and wanted to try to open it. Kelly with Drenizek, Marc and Nixie went on the left door while I took Dillen, Vas and Isbel and we went along the corridor to the right door. We opened the door, and on the other side, we found an even longer perpendicular corridor with another red door on the left side. It was dangerous to pass that corridor without the others, so I just went a bit ahead to see what was in front.   A bit further ahead, I could see another door on the left side. I did return because going alone in this ship would be pure suicide, but when I passed the red door, I saw it also had a red button. Well, at this point what bad could it cause? But when I pressed it, the door made some kind of noise. Well of course, the very next second, I could hear guards from the other side of the corridor. That might not have been a good idea. And I think I wasn’t the only one who pressed the button because I could hear the same sound coming from behind. I do wonder if buttons are put there as a trap. Either way, I ran back to Dillen, Vas and Isbel and I told them what happened. We couldn’t exactly leave the guards come to us, so I tried to go back in there and shoot them. Not exactly my brightest idea either. While they were firing at me, one of them hit a huge mechanical gun in the wall behind me, that was getting ready to blow my brains. At this point in this dimension, I do start to wonder if that was truly a mistake, or the guy was an Orshag’s spy trying to help us. It is very confusing.   “We need to get the others” I screamed at Dillen, Isbel and Vas while already running back to Damaschini, Bart and Tallion. Luckily for us, they were already ready to fight. Damaschini got the two guards we just put to sleep and used them as shields. Do not worry, dear diary, we are not so cruel to use them as sacrifices to protect ourselves. You see, when you shoot these guys, they can activate some kind of field that protects them from any gunshots. So technically, we were using their shields. We were now in the hall room, and the guards attacking us were taking cover behind the door we went to investigate. Whoever had guns hid behind Damaschini and started shooting from the left. I decided to stay on the opposite side and shoot from there.   Let’s see our position again: we are trapped in a room with five doors. We know that at least one of them (the one we entered from) is not a dead end. This door is right behind us and the alarm was triggered, so probably someone will soon come from there soon. We also know that the room where Eve and Xixi (who we didn’t release yet) is a dead end, and that we cannot open the red door. And we know nothing of the left side, but it is probably too far to reach because the guards shooting us would get into the hall room and we would be out of cover. If the guards come and shoot from behind, and we do not kill those two guards in front, we will be trapped. We could of course take cover in the medical room but then all we did until now would be for nothing because we would have no way to escape the ship. So, for me, the only way out was in front.   I see patience as a double edge sword. If you hurry too much, you’ll probably end up dead but if you wait for too long you will have the same fate. So, what I usually do, is I count to 10 before I do anything. One was the first exchange of guns, two was Dillen almost getting shot, three was the guard that I managed to shoot once. By the time I got to five, I told the others that I want to go in front because we were wasting too much time. The others didn’t seem to agree though. “You’ll die if you go there” Damaschini said. If I go alone, yes probably, but I am not quite alone, am I? Damaschini wanted to wait for Nixie and the others that weren’t here yet. But If they come and we get stuck in the middle and die, I’d rather have them wait there. So, until Nixie does what she must, I must find a way to exit this room. Six was the minions Damaschini created. Seven was me seeing that Bart trying to free Xixi and Eve, eight was the fainted guard I took to protect myself. Nine was me mentally preparing. Ten. I started running in front not looking back for even a second.   The guys probably saw me coming because they threw some kind of smoke bomb on the corridor. I couldn’t see much and the others could not see me either probably. I was trying to find my way through when I found myself being attacked by the other guard. I was caught off guard, so he managed to throw my “guard shield” on the other side of the room. I wanted to strike that guy down but he managed to block my kick. While I was fighting this guy, the other guard managed to shoot me. That thing hurt that much it almost felt like it gave me more energy to fight. Well this was not going to end well for me if I didn’t so something soon. Right I was thinking that, I saw a silhouette who jumped over me, knocking me to the ground and covering me. It was Dillen! Right behind him, I saw Damaschini’s minions, who defended us from another bullet. I will never admit it in front of Dillen, but it was a very cool entrance. It seemed that he was ready to take a bullet instead of me. I was a bit surprised. I mean I expected the others to come and help me at some point because since the guys were shooting me, they had a free corridor to move through and I heard Kelly screaming “What is this bullshit? Just everyone, full offence, NOW!”. But Dillen is a calculated rogue, he wouldn’t have jumped like that if he wasn’t a bit worried.   Now, we were on the ground and the guards were ready to shoot us. Just then, Dillen pointed his gun at my head and said “I got her. I assume you want us alive. So come get her and we can talk afterwards”. Good plan, Dillen! If we managed to bring the guards closer, it would be easier for me to fight them. But the guards were not that stupid. I tried to sneak on them, but it didn’t quite work. Dillen in the meantime, managed to get to my “guard shield” and fire at them. Now, I do not say this very often, but this time I owe Dillen one for saving my life.   Soon, the others got there and we managed to strike those two guards down. But of course, there were more guards attacking us from the perpendicular corridor. Damaschini used Tallion’s magic to create a small shield to protect him while he was advancing on the corridor whit the two “guard shields” in front. Dillen was right near him with another “guard shield” and they were holding the lines so that the others could advance. But where exactly to advance? As we were moving forward, the corridor was extending on the left side, creating another kind of hall room. Right there, there was a huge red door. We had no choice but to go in there hoping it would not be another dead end. But we needed a special card, and we had none. I assumed since I heard Kelly earlier, probably Nixie and her were behind us. So it would have been worth a try seeing if they had a card. I had so much energy that I have sprinted like I have never done before. I met with the girls and came back and checked the first locked room. There were some kind of big metal mechanisms there, and some metal barrels that were twenty times their normal size. I wanted to search for our items, but I suddenly remembered that the others needed the card.   When I returned, Damaschini was still holding the “guard shield” in front of the others and Dillen went to the normal door on the right to check. It led on another corridor that had one door on the left and one the right. What he saw there was a dozen or so of soldiers that were coming towards us. Of course he didn’t wait there to die and immediately came back and reported to us. I opened the huge red door and most of us got inside. Kelly and Nixie were not there yet, we didn’t find our items, and the soldiers would soon come. Luckily, Tallion did his magic and managed to sense that our things were nearby. At this time, Dillen was still guarding the door where the soldiers were, and he wanted to go on a suicidal mission to see if the items were there. Damaschini gave him one of the “grenades” to have with him.At this point, I could already feel my energy decrease very fast. But well, we couldn’t let Dillen alone in there with dozen of soldiers shooting him. Damaschini was busy shooting some cover fire, so I had to go help Dillen. I used my newly discovered ability to run, and arrived just in time when Dillen threw the grenade at those people. Now, our items could be on the left or on the right. If we go the wrong way, it will be very hard for us to retreat. And at this point, I felt that I would have fainted soon. I chose the door on the left. It always works. And all our belongings were there, and even more than that. “Now, Miss Chief Gunner, which one of the guns will work best to shoot the soldiers?” I thought. I would have liked to know the answer, but since I had not much knowledge about guns, I chose the biggest one and threw it to Dillen. He shot a fire so big that it threw him back with amazing strength. But that gave us enough time to run.   Finally, we made it back to the others. I thought that I heard Nixie as well. That was the last thing that I remember before fainting. It seems like once again, I might have over did it. When I opened my eyes we were outside, and everything was itchy and burning because of the air. We dressed up and we hid on some kind of dark alley, where we waited. The Orshag Stoa guards surrounded the ship and took us to safety. The Dominor even apologized for the bad protection and asked if there is anything he can do for us. He told us about that all the prisoners were to be executed the next day. Nixie asked if she could have one last chat with the toilet Girl before she was killed and she got the permission.   While she was gone, the rest of us started preparing the whole birthday party we were supposed to have the day before. It was postponed for a few days after, because we wanted to wait for Eve and Miyun who were in the hospital. While we were preparing everything, I went to talk with Drenizek because I was worried for him. He didn’t rest enough these days and didn’t talk much in general. “I am fine” said Drenizek while looking in another direction. Fine, if you don’t want to talk, I will talk. And I told him about all the legacy things. I really wanted to tell him that because it boosts up your morale in a way to know that you did something useful. And I was hoping he will tell the others as well. He is much better at convincing people than I am. He didn’t say much about it except a little “Thank you, Verfi” and a little hug. He probably thought it’s nice of me to say but it didn’t seem to lighten his mood. And that got me even more worried. Fine, keep your secrets. If you’re not going to talk with me, I’ll call in someone you’ll want to talk with.   Don’t worry, dear diary, I didn’t do it right away. I still wanted to talk with Drenizek. He is a very nice company to talk to and we weren’t particularly busy so why not. Plus Tallion joined us at some point. We ended up talking about the fight from yesterday. You see, in the lack of any plan, I usually tend to do what I do consider best and sometimes people don’t agree with me and I understand why. I just really wanted to see if my decision to go in front again was so wrong but none of them gave me a certain answer. Drenizek started saying that it would not be right if you became a burden for the others. I did think about that for a while, but I got distracted by something else. “Is he still feeling like a burden to us?” I asked myself. Maybe that is the problem. But in that case, no matter what I do or say will prove him wrong, will it? I do not believe that there is one person here who thinks that Drenizek is a burden. Not even Dillen thinks that anymore. On contrary, I do think that everyone feels like he saved our lives so many times before. You know, I usually go front line because we get stuck somewhere, or we get surrounded so my life isn’t always in danger. Drenizek on the other hand, has always gone in front, fighting the most evil things we met (See the Xenatine creature and the Deos Guy). It is then when we need most help, and he always is there. There must be somehow we should show and prove him that. At that moment, I was out of ideas so I didn’t insist anymore, but I will try to do something to help. In the meantime, I had to talk with Nixie about that. She knows all the crew better than I do.   Right after we were done with the conversation, Nixie returned from her talk with the Toilet Girl, alone. She gathered all of us, and we started going in more details of the plan I told you about. Before that, I was really wanted to know what happened with the Toilet Girl. Nixie nonchalantly talked a bit about how Toilet Girl was being tortured to get information, and then said “I offered my helping hand. If she wanted to live, she just needed to talk”. To be fair, I expected Nixie to return with that girl alive so we can discuss with her. Dear diary, do not ask me why or how, but I just felt like I wanted to help Toilet Girl. I know she kidnapped us, tricked Nixie and almost destroyed the any chances of us saving anything, but I just wanted to get her out of there. I somehow hoped that Nixie would come back with other news but seems like I was mistaken. I tried to convince the others that she could be of use to us. Like that, maybe I could convince even the most rational people to help the Toilet Girl, but I met a lot of opposition from Kelly. Understandably so, she said that we cannot trust our enemy especially when the stakes are so high. She had a point, and it was a good one. Nixie also added that Toiled Girl might not even be useful to us. Also, true. But at this point, the conversation just became very sad. Or I felt sad. We do not help people because each life is important, but because they are useful? As I said, I know I didn’t have any reason to help her, but for me, saving another life, was more than enough. And it didn’t cost us anything if we tried. The Orshags were not going to say anything to us after what happened, and they didn’t care for another prisoner anyways.   “What is the difference between her and the other people you killed back then in the spaceship?” Bart and Nixie asked me. I wanted to respond but I have decided not to. The answer to their question is that there is no difference. However, in spite of my aggressive style of being, I do not take pleasure neither killing people nor seeing them die. There must be enemies in a fight, that like it or not, we have to kill. I would not hesitate for a second to kill an enemy or fight them but be it in a fair fight. Torture is anything but fair. Our mission was more important for now so there was no time for fights. I am sure neither Bart nor Nixie meant to upset me. It was my mistake for waiting for so long to say something. Seeing that everyone was opposed to the idea, I gave up trying to convince them in any way. I planned on visiting the Torture Girl later. If they would not help me with it fine, but I was not going to let her suffer for another day. Either let her survive or kill her, but don’t make her life’s miserable for nothing.   We then talked about our plan to send the message to everyone. It sounds very easy when you write it down, but the more you think about it, the more difficult it gets. The conversation quickly escalated to Xantinya’s purposes and her goals. We all established that she want to destroy those who believe in good or convince them to join her. In a way, she wants to hurt the Almighty by using us, His creations. With this information in mind, we now had to come with an idea for the message. Drenizek didn’t say much until then, but suddenly he suggested to express a very simple message: “Fight”. With the right context and feelings, this message could help people resist whatever Xantinya is doing. I do wonder what is Drenizek thinking, he sometimes strikes me as the one with the most hope, but sometimes is quite the opposite.   Later, Drenizek and me joined Nixie to visit the Toilet Girl. It seems that Nixie also had a change of heart during our talk. As she put it “Toilet Girl got her punishment”. Still, I know Nixie. She probably regrets letting the poor girl there to be tortured. As for Drenizek, I don’t exactly know why he wanted to join and I did not really get the chance to talk with him about that yet. We went in the underground room where the Orshags were keeping the Toilet Girl. What those people did down there was absolutely horrible. “We made her think that her brain is on fire” said one of them very happyily. And that was the lightest thing they did. We immediately asked for them to help the Toilet Girl at least with a bit. “She will die tomorrow anyways.” The Orshag continued. Just what is wrong with these people? How can they do such thing and not have a sign of remorse on their face?   We had to get the Toilet Girl out of there somehow. At first, she did not reply to anything. She was just staring at us, following every move. We gave her some food and released her from the chair she was held in. Most people in this dimension do not fear death, nor do think that it is something bad. And for this part I agree. But then, they do not treasure life or they’re taught not to. So I tried to talk with her about that but still nothing. We only got her reaction when we started talking about memories and childhood. She looked at us with a confused face and then only said: “Which?”. We could make nothing out of it back then. So we continued. We got her name: Elyana Cassati. “We are all dead, all of us”, “Which?”. That’s all she said. We thought that she didn’t know she had the option to choose, or that maybe she didn’t know which choice to make. Then we insisted even more and even more. The Orshags warned us that we are causing harm, but we continued. Why? I couldn’t tell you. We just did. I don’t know maybe we just thought that her remembering something will help her. But it didn’t. It killed her. We killed her. And it was so painful that even the Orshags told us: “Good job, guys.”.   With nothing left to say, the three of us returned to the chest in our bedrooms. Drenizek was deeply shaken by what happened, and Nixie was probably not feeling better either. I kept thinking about what happened these days. What Drenizek said about being a burden, how I almost died on that spaceship, the fact that we just killed a girl. All of those thoughts just kept going on in my mind. I never hesitated, I never retraced my steps and looked back. Once I made a decision, I would always go for it. But now, it felt that maybe all this time, I haven’t taken any good decisions. Maybe Drenizek is right. I could have helped somehow else, not by the way I did. This dimension it’s becoming so confusing for me: I do not know who I should trust and who I shouldn’t (except the party), who should I fight and who should I save. I don’t even know if I should go in the frontline again or wait for someone else to do it or not do it at all. I cannot be certain of anything that I do or see. I feel like at every step I take, I am being watched from every corner of the room.   For the first time in this dimension, I truly missed home.   I wanted to talk with Nixie about it. I asked her the same question I asked Drenizek and Tallion. She immediately replied with “I think you did the right thing”. How sweet of her. It seems that she had her own thoughts tonight as well. All this time, she was feeling useless. Maybe there is no magic she can use in here, but she is far from being useless. I heard that on the spaceship she poured acid to the door, and helped Kelly get us out. Plus, there are other things that matter. She is taking care of Lullaby, she is taking care of the crew, taking decisions, talking with officials and many others. I told her that. After all, it was what all of us believed.   But at some point, another thought came through my mind: “Why is she complaining so much? Didn’t she take the captain position from Xebec?”. I only got to say the first part of this before I could stop myself. Nixie asked what is wrong with me and then continued the talk. “Don’t do it, Verfi, don’t continue this or you’ll regret it or will I? She deserves to know so she stops complaining” I thought. I pretended to suddenly go to sleep so I do not hurt her in any way. I know we are sleeping near Lullaby, but it isn’t the time to fight with each other. Of course, I can’t sleep an inch. These aren’t the demon’s thoughts but my own. I know it because I thought them a long time ago when Nixie didn’t want to hold her first speech as a captain. We all have negative thoughts, hidden somewhere in our memory. When we get angry or sad, they sometimes come out. There is no point in denying or fighting that. But as the others said earlier today, we can choose to listen to the evil, or we can choose to listen to the good. “Is Nixie even good when she didn’t bother to help Elyana from the beginning? Was it so satisfactory to see her suffer? Oh I bet she loved pouring acid to that doctor’s hand” Alright that’s it, I am stopping here, otherwise it will get worse. I will sleep and tomorrow I will feel a lot better.   May the Almighty protect us and love us all. And may the Almighty not worry, while we are alive, we will try to protect what He loves.   P.S.1: I am so sorry Elyana for what we have done to you. I hope you can forgive us. P.S.2: I do not trust the Orshags anymore. Or I don’t know what exactly to think of them. No one that is “fighting for life” would torture someone like that and laugh about it. And maybe the Dominor managed to convince us otherwise but as I learned many times before, the leader is not necessary an image of the people. If all the Orshags are like this, I am sure that I do not wish to help them. But do I even have a choice at this point? It’s not like we can run from this planet. But the Commonwealth is no better either. Ahhhh what do I do??? P.S.3: To the “guard shields”, I hope you too, can forgive us.   Dear Diary, I do not feel better. I barely slept the whole night and Nixie kept making noises all the time. I was already tired enough from that fight and that fucking demon doesn’t help. You Balan, stop reminding me that I thought “Nixie will only learn that one life matter, when one of us is going to be killed by a dragon”. I KNOW WHAT I THOUGHT! JUST STOP REMINDING ME! It is annoying. Do you want me to make a list of everything bad I ever thought so you don’t have anything else to remind me of? I’m sorry dear diary, but this demon has decided to make my morning a total mess. I have no clue how Eve deals with this all the time but we really need to hurry up and solve this issue. No matter how sane you are, it doesn’t last long with this demon. Can you even have revenge thoughts on the demon that is controlling your thoughts?   Either way, I kept acting mean with people today. I figured that If I am being mean with them, it will take my anger away and I will not end up killing them because of the demon. With some I simply don’t speak, and with some I just make a mean joke. During breakfast today, Balan was very talkative through my thoughts. He kindly reminded that on the boat I thought: “If we leave people behind to die,why don’t we leave Dillen as well, after all he said to Drenizek”. And that is because Dillen only said good morning to me. The more I think the worse it gets. But I don’t usually get those thoughts unless I am mad or angry at someone.   I do try to focus on the nice things, but I swear it is a lot more difficult than I expected. Bart came and asked Nixie and me if we wanted to visit Eve because she really needed to know that Lullaby is alright. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to let a fire girl that kills people for fun to visit your girlfriend in the hospital?” was what Balan made me think. What I was trying to think was: “Bart is a nice person, he didn’t mean to hurt you”, and what I said was “I want to train first, it will help me calm down”. But not even for training I wasn’t as good because I couldn’t focus one bit. I just gave up at some point and went to get ready for going to the hospital.   The meeting with Eve was nice despite me constantly thinking something contradictory that didn’t make any sense. Oh, just shut up Balan! I write what I want not what you tell me. Beat that! Eve could see it on our face that both Nixie and me were not doing the best but she didn’t say anything at all. She asked us if we were alright but dropped it immediately when she heard our replies.   Since we were there, we payed Miyun and Damaschini a visit as well. It was the first time we talked with Miyun so we needed to make a good impression. I decided to focus as much as possible on what is happening inside my head and focus on what is happening around me. But of course, the tiredness didn’t help at all. When Miyun first saw Nixie, she just said “Xantinya?”. Nixie took way too far and started to ask us if she looks like Xantinya because Xixi once said the same thing about a drawing of hers. Well, there went any chance of making a good impression. I did manage to not say anything that was unappropriated and just made a small joke: “Did you ever think that your drawings don’t look as good?”. But Nixie seemed to get upset so we started some kind of fight. After that, we tried to talk with Miyun and it was going…not bad? Miyun, a bit more scared of us, quietly said “You shot me”. Then Nixie proceeded to explain that we started to shoot her because she attacked Tallion and jumped on Eve. Hearing the explanation triggered some kind of instinct in Miyun, and she started acting weird. Don’t worry, dear diary, my approach to lighten up the mood was even worse. “Miyun, do you like meat?”. I probably managed to scare the poor girl away, but at least she didn’t seem like she was going to attack us anymore.   We then returned home, and I spent the rest of the day training. I wish I was as productive in my training as I am in thinking bad thoughts. But spending time alone didn’t really help. I kept constantly thinking about many kinds of bad thoughts about the others and now, I didn’t have anyone to talk with to get distracted. I decided that if I was alone I will go insane a lot faster. I’m sorry for being mean with the others ACTUALLY i am not sorry about that, why would I? they’re never saying sorry anyways! FUCK OFF BALAN and LET ME WRITE!!!!!!!   Sorry again, dear diary. Tonight was finally time for the late birthday party for Nixie. I was excited for the whole celebration until I wasn’t anymore. It all started very well. We all gathered in the chest, nicely dressed in whatever we could find in the castle. To be fair I think everyone was looking forward to drink a bottle or two after what happened in the last days. I know I did. But before we got to the real party, we needed to give our captain her gifts. The presentation DIllen came out with was quite entertaining. It began with Marc who was hand walking and thus bringing the first present: The Captain Hat. Damaschini and Isbel spent quite some time sewing everything we asked on it. I must admit it turned out to be quite unique. Each one of us added there something unique that linked them with Nixie in a way or another.Marc decided to sew a circle with a person inside, as a throw back to the time he used to live inside a rune. Isbel added a smiling onion on the hat, as a small reminder of her time as Laimon. The small playing card on the right side of the hat was Dillen’s inscription. It was the first card Nixie used to beat him at games. Somewhere nearby, it was Drenizek’s sign: laurel wreath as a reference to the highest rank in art. Kelly decided on something simpler: Sea’s mask. Xixi being Xixi designed some kind of fish with a leaf over her head. I could also see a small turtle sign that I knew was Eve’s. Right near it, was very carefull sewed a small brush that was slowly becoming a small instrument. You could guess that as Bart’s small symbol. Of course, Tallion went for a design with stones: A small sapphire that is lighting up arcane magic. Among other symbols, I noticed one snake. It was Vas’s medical insignia. As for myself, I designed a fire person staying in front of a person hugging a tree. There was a sign there that I did not recognize. Luckily, Damaschini started to explain: It was the alchemic sign for the diamond with a small leaf. Hidden somewhere in a corner, you could barely see a small smiling face. And of course, in the middle, as a sign made from all of us, was a Sapphire Sword.   But the best part was yet to come. Dillen and the crew took Nixie near the door and said: “After you,Captain Nixie”.. We all entered what used to be a ballroom. Now, it was a beautiful garden with huge flowers and plants everywhere. While in the Evo Drive station, the whole crew went shopping for different plants and flowers to add in here. They even added a small swing that Nixie could use from time to time. When Nixie opened the door, she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. I knew she doesn’t like her birthdays, but she must have been very happy. I am not the biggest fan of plants and gardens, but I must say I was impressed. It was maybe the best garden I have ever seen.   But there were still a few surprises for our Captain. Damaschini forged her a brooch of a circle with a sword pointing up. At the bottom of a sword, there was a small leaf, sprinkled with sapphire dust. And of course, we couldn’t omit Zarkuz’s head made of cake which Nixie was more than happy to cut.   Nixie just couldn’t stop crying and thanking us, while everyone else was happily joking around. Even I was feeling a lot better. But there were still a thousand of ugly thoughts that were passing through my head about everything that was happening: “What Nixie, are you going to kiss Eve again because you’re happy?”. “Oh now, you want to be a captain, because it’s too hard. Leave the orders to other people, right?”. Ahem, dear diary, give me a second. … I really wanted to be happy for Nixie and the others, after all it was the first party, we had in ages, so I did what you do at every party: You drink. The party started strong with a drinking competition between everyone. And of course, a proper toast for our captain Nixie and the crew: “For adventure and glory, And an unforgettable story”. Well, it was quite a few more toasts.   But the drinking contest didn’t last as long. Of course nobody had a chance against Damaschini, but I was close. And I was right, drinking helped not thinking about anything bad for a while. You know, when you drink you focus so much to make any basic action that you don’t have the energy or time to nurture any other kind of thoughts. So, while I was drunk, the party was very fun. Well, with a very few exceptions when Balan’s influence managed to ruin my whole mood. The worst part was when Nixie and the rest started talking about all the stories we went to. “Vadrek smelled so bad because he never washed. Nixie you were a savior for forcing everybody to wash”. “I know!” Nixie replied. You know, most of the time this would have been a very fun conversation but all I could think of was “That “horrible smelling” Vadrek burned for you in Roib. Oh yeah, it wasn’t your fault because you didn’t give any orders”. But because I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s mood, I just shut up. This wasn’t the time to talk about this. Tonight was all about Nixie and the Captain’s birthday. The crew was finally smiling and having a bit of fun. And Tallion was entertaining us by dancing with Xixi. I must admit I am surprised by how well those two can handle the combination of alcohol and spinning around.   At some point, Eve wanted to take Lullaby to sleep. And as much as I hate all this Balan thing, I was more worried that Eve would not feel well. She was just out of the hospital and at least tonight, I would have liked to see her have some fun. Nixie seemed to think the same, and offered herself. But Eve strongly refused both of us. Luckily, she was also a bit drunk so Nixie managed to distract her from leaving and I managed to give her my necklace. Since the girls were not paying attention, I took Lullaby and went to put her to sleep.   I have locked the door because I do not want the others to come in here or me to go out. I think for tonight I should let them have fun and I should rest. Although I must admit, I do not like being alone in here at all but I have started to write this diary and it feels like it’s distracting me enough. Maybe, I will write something about a dream I had a few nights ago just to keep myself entertained.   Just for tonight, dear diary. I just need to do this only for tonight. I have learned my lesson in the tough way. No matter what, I must find a way to help Eve. Like actually help her not just talk about it.   May the Almighty protect Eve and the rest of the party.   P.S.1: I did manage to thank Dillen for helping me back in the spaceship. I am still thankful for that. P.S.2: Isbel and Marc were very cute dancing together. P.S.3: Tallion asked me to dance with him tonight. It didn’t last long because Tallion is Xixi’s favorite dance partner. But I thought it was nice of him to ask.

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Dear diary, There is one thing that the fastodans did better than the others. They just disn’t know when to quit. Now, most might say it is not the wisest thing to do, but I completely disagree. As annoying as it is, persistence is one of the most admirable things in an ally. The same cannot be said for an enemy. I absolutely despise any enemy that just doesn’t know when it’s time for them to admit defeat. It was yet another day on the Evo Drive. Nixie, Eve and me decided it will be the best idea to go shopping before we reached our destination. We might be on a mission to save the world, but there is no wrong time to do some shopping. Now, I am not the biggest fan of buying clothes and make up and such, but in the lack of any interesting weapons, I decided a perfume would do. It has very interesting notes of memories. I do not wear perfume every day but who knows when such thing can come in handy. Plus, it was Nixie’s birthday soon, so it was the perfect opportunity to drag Eve and find some ideas of gifts to tell the others. To my surprise however, it seems I was rather slow. The crew already got her a gift of sorts. For a second there, I felt a bit let down. “I guess we are not the same crew after all.” I thought. Then, I came to my senses. We are talking about THE crew. The crew that keeps saving our lives and being our friends for ages now. I’m sure it is some kind of misunderstanding. Of course, I couldn’t let it be, so later that day, I went to discuss with them.   Coicidentally Nixie wanted to talk with Isbel, so we went together. You usually would try to hide such discussions from the birthday girl, but at this point I gave up. I am not a subtle person in general, let alone when it comes to hiding from Nixie. It’s like a common agreement we have. I try to not be really into her face and she turns a blind eye to whatever seems suspicious around her birthday. So it was easy for me to approach Drenizek, who probably was in charge of the whole Operation “Gift”. It turns out, I was the mean one this time. The crew felt inferior to us, to the point that they even thought that we will get a gift without them. I did not understand it at first because no matter how I looked at it, I could just not see it that way. Until well, when they explained it. “We do not have nothing left but to follow you. There is nothing we have back home, and nothing we have in the future. At the moment, all we want to do is be here and help. But we do not have a legacy like you. We are merely some people from Alomir”. First of all, they have something waiting for them in the future. I know that because that is what we are fighting for, isn’t it? That is the first thing I let them know. I do not blame them for having doubts about everything right now. The news they just received must have shaken their entire world. I did understand a part of it, since me myself had found it hard to believe that all I have believed in was basically a lie. But I had time to understand this. Time which the crew does not have because we are always on the run, fighting. One thing I understand for sure, is that it is a problem that it will take more than a discussion to solve. And if there is one thing, I can help with, is support the crew until they don’t need my help anymore. No worries, Captain Nixie, your former right hand will try and take care of this issue.   One thing that I still find it hard to work on is the legacy part. I have never given much thought about it until Kelly said it some time ago. But why does it matter so much? The way I see it, each one of us leave a legacy behind but in the eyes of others, that legacy will be torn is so many ways, that in time, all that will remain of it, it’s shattered pieces of memories. And after we will die, all that will matter is how many hearts you have touched, and how many hopes we have saved. If you ask me, in that regard, the crew has a legacy so much bigger than they imagine. First, let’s start by the influence they had over us. I would have never, in a thousand years imagined Nixie to be the captain she is today. And that is not thanks to me or anyone else of the party, but to the crew’s faith in her. It is indeed true that many have followed us into battles because they believed in us. But I do not ever think the crew has ever thought about how much influence they had in that. I am sure, that among the soldiers, there were some that feared fighting for us. Not all people of this world have such dedication for risking their life to an impossible mission. But then they saw the unwavering determination of the crew, and it gave them hope that they stood a chance. And let’s say I am ever wrong with that. They will still have the legacy of “Captain Nixie and the crew that saved the world” and all the legacy of Alomir on their shoulders. I wish I would have told them that. Unfortunately, I only thought these things afterwards. But I will make sure to let them know the next time we talk. As for the party, we have elaborated a very nice party. First, the crew will make their own gift. There was no point of them not finishing their gift because of this misunderstanding. Then, together, we will give Nixie the long-desired captain’s hat she never had. The crew will make sure to get what we need for it, and then we will make it together. As for our part of the deal, we figured that Nixie would really enjoy a pretty cake. So we decided to make her, the head of Zarkuz, as a cake. Damaschini was working on some kind of structure at the moment. But now, thanks to all the delay caused by a certain very persistent faction, all the plans will need to be delayed.   Also, I almost forgot to mention. Marc seems to be enjoying my little teases for Dillen. He finally revealed Dillen’s plans back on the ship. Apparently all Dillen wanted was to protect Isbel from the possible rage of the fastodans, and of course, get something out of it. For some reasons, Dillen felt the need to justify himself more than usual. I was a tiny bit amused. What did he think? Now that we knew his “evil” mastermind plan, we will consider him to be too much of a softie? Don’t worry,Dillen, I will make sure your reputation will not be stained. He even said something to me that was very surprising: “we’re friends, Verfi, but where would be the fun if I didn’t tease you a bit?”. First of all, thank you Dillen but I knew that already. I am not that stupid. Second of all, Now I really am worried for the crew. If not even Dillen is feeling well, there must be something very wrong going on. He would not admit that otherwise.   After a while, we met with Bart and Damaschini who were practicing planes. Ever since she woke up, Nixie seemed a bit more weird than normal. She wanted to talk with Bart about Eve but I swear the conversation did not make any sense to me. It was like one of those times back in the woods, when Nixie, being bored, started talking with one of her many personalities. Then it hit me. Probably, because of the boring life in the Evo drive, she must have started with “Myself” again. That is the name she gave to the other side of her. Don’t tell her that, but sometimes, when we used to live together, I used to hide and make a lot of noise so that she can do her weird conversation with herself. It is quite amusing to see a person scold herself although I sometimes wonder if I should do something about it. Maybe Nixie needs some “pills” too.   Anyways, while they Bart and Nixie were arguing, I got to have my own weird conversation with Tallion. It seems that his “coping mechanism” is to talk with people. Now, that made me wonder if he is ever alright. He does talk a lot. Dear diary, I am only half joking. Tallion can be unexpectedly funny sometimes and to be fair talking with him was better than listening to Nixie and Bart. Also, I think Tallion gave me an idea. With the risk of becoming the most annoying person around, I think I have made my own personal goal to try to listen to everyone around. It is not much, but if people feel the need to talk, I want to help. And even if they don’t, I will still make them talk.   Well, the whole talking about “Myself” seems to have given Bart a great idea. He wanted to try some kind of experiment to make Nixie say something she didn’t want by controlling the planes. He gave his best to explain to us, but it still didn’t make any sense to me. It seems however, that the plan worked perfectly. To be fair, I did find it very interesting to watch but anything that can control other’s will is dangerous to say the least. I was not afraid of it, but I would have rather stayed away from it because I still don’t understand precisely how it works. So, I did tell Damaschini and Bart to stay away from me. I wouldn’t want to cause any troubles by mixing up their experiments.   Later that night, Nixie asked me to look into her “detective” work. She seemed very excited about this whole thing. I did not share her enthusiasm though. You see, dear diary, I have been a little annoyed at Nixie lately. The most annoying part is that she played the “My methods were not fitted, but I wanted to help” card to not admit her mistake. Although with good intentions she precisely knew that kissing Eve would create some kind of drama, especially because she has done it before. But as our captain, she should understand better than anyone, that at the moment, it is the very last thing we need, the last thing Eve needs. I am sure that Eve was more than delighted to hear that her friend and her boyfriend kept fighting over her. “One can’t have fun of the ship, from now on I will make you write everything as a contract and sign it. Really nice Nixie, really Nice. “Hereby me, Verfys the fire elemental, I declare that I do stand opposed to any action that could harm us, the party, even a kiss”. I should have said that but it only would have annoyed Nixie more. Plus, since when is Nixie kissing Eve more than me? Nonetheless, after a short talk, Nixie finally decided to give it another try and talk with Bart.   To be honest, I do understand both parts of the story. If I were Bart and Xebec was Eve, I would have gotten annoyed at Nixie as well. But then again, I do think Bart is being stubborn too. I mean get upset at the kiss, but he should try to understand what Nixie is trying to saying. Based on our conversation with Talion earlier, I thought that Bart actually understood the point. But then he fought with Nixie on the same subject. And now I do not really know if he didn’t get the point, or he was juts upset at Nixie. If it’s the first case, then alright we can explain again. But if it is the second case, then he is no longer better than Nixie’s threat to make us write “declarations”. Either way, I do believe that both of them were a bit inconsiderate towards Eve. We should be her support at the moment together, not fight with each other who is the better support.   Finally, the next morning, it was finally time to leave this place and meet the Orshag people. While we were having our breakfast, Eve came storming in the room, got the food for Lullaby and her, and then left without saying anything. Now, dear diary, you know Eve as well as I do. She usually does say at least a word to us when we meet. So, something must have happened last night. Bart was also not on the best mood. It seems that her was upset at us very upset. Why? I had no clue. But it seemed very serious given the fact that he was acting super rude. “I Am NoT AnSWeRiNG To YoU”. Normally, I would definitely punch him, but since there was something that was bothering him, I decided to leave that for later. I did not want to create more problems that we already have. Nixie and me really tried to at least talk with us, but the more we talked, the more Bart would just be more rude. But no worries, dear diary, I was not about to give up so easily. Never underestimate the power of persistence.   Unfortunately, we were interrupted by the Orshag army who was coming to pick us up. What a nice welcome! They evacuated the whole area and sent their best guards to take us. And of course, in the middle of them was none other than Alidag. Well, as promised, I had to find out his real name. Of course, the guy wouldn’t say so easily. But if he tells me a different name everytime we meet, at some point he will run out of names and he will give us the real name. That is of course, if we ever meet him again. Otherwise, since he said that in Orshag he is called “IRSHAN”, so I will consider that his real name. Anyways, the moment we met them, the Orshag troops, which by the way are very armed, surrounded us and started to push us to follow Alidag. The path we had to follow was very long but it looked nice. As we were walking we saw that around us, there were thousands of soldiers and people who came to see our “parade”. Well, to be fair, I was not that bothered but quite the opposite. No person in their right mind would kill us in a crowd that keep screaming “Glory to the Orshag! Glory to the Dominor”. So for now, even though we were watched, it would not have been dangerous to us.   At that point I was still trying to find out why Bart was upset and was talking with the others, so I did not quite pay attention to our surroundings. Kelly said something that I really didn’t think of: “Now we are definitely their weapons”. As I said, we are the prize in some kind of hunting game, and it seems that the Orshag people have taken the lead. Well, not like we had any choice anyways. Well that definitely meant that the commonwealth was going to come after all. But, for some reasons, this whole place gave me a sense of “safety”. “No one could really win a fight against these Orshag Guards or Orshag Stoa (again this is for you Dillen)” I thought. The only thing I was a bit afraid was that, if we would not manage to strike a deal with these people, we would never leave here alive.   Also, it felt like somehow, we were the main champions fighting for the Orshag. You know, I always hated this idea. These so called “parades” have nothing to do with a real fight. They are just useless displays of power and I do hate to be part of them. I sometimes feel that they do not encourage the fight itself, but the violence behind the fight. It is like that time in a war, when one commander cuts the head of one of the diplomats. If the war is about to come anyways, why must one show their “army power” by killing an innocent? Oh yes, because it shows people how powerful one person is. So inspiring! Finally, we have made it in from of the Dominor’s castle. Well, it doesn’t look like a castle but it is imposing enough to intimidate me a tiny bit. We got inside and we finally met with the most important people in the country. Now, you might say that I am paranoic, but out of all the people here, I doubted these ministers or whatever the most. If I were to infiltrate spies, I would make sure at least one of my spies in in a high position there. So, when they asked us to take off our helmets, I was a bit hesitating. But I did not want to make a bad impression, so I just tried to remember the faces of those ministers. At least, if we were ever captured, I would know at least who the spy was.   After a few minutes of waiting, the Dominor finally made his entrance with, of course, another display of power. I must admit he seemed to have quite some power so the first thing I thought is that I do not want to have him as the main enemy. Well, I assume this was his plan anyways. He then held some kind of long speech about how we are the new allies of the Orshag that will help them finally defeat Commonwealth. I mean I appreciate the nice welcome but are you sure you got the right people? Last time I was aware of the events, if it wasn’t for Alidag, we would have probably still be in that bar asking for help. Finally, after such a show, we finally got a little time to settle down. We were taken to our rooms. But of course, before any rest we needed to talk a bit about our strategy. But guess what. Minutes after we got into the chess to discuss, we got called to the Dominor to talk with him. Of course, it took as some time to actually start telling him about other dimensions, especially because, those ministers or generals or whatever would look very worried at us. Just why exactly are they here anyways? The Dominor however seemed a nice person. He lost many things in their war with the commonwealth including his own arm. It seems that they were fighting, when one to the commonwealth’s allies shot some kind of warp in them. In the beginning, they did not feel anything but then, everything started to get chaotic and most of their ships fell to the ground. Despite all the show, it seemed that the Dominor had some kind of honor behind. He gave me the impression he was the kind of man I could trust to have a fight without any deceiving tricks. However, a small part of me doubted that. It seemed he just wanted to get close to us. I don’t know. I am becoming too paranoic here. Slowly, the Dominor managed to get everything he needed out of us: information about other dimension, the apocalypse and the planes.   I do like the Orshags and the Dominor. They were very much interested in finding out more about “Our enemy”. Now, I know that they were interested in having as much as they could from us, but it really seemed they wanted to help. And they believed us, no matter how insane we sounded. You know, maybe they will betray us, or maybe they are actually evil people who just want to destroy the commonwealth, but in the end, it matters a lot to us to know that someone is willing to listen. I don’t know about the others, but it gave me a little hope. As I said, as long as one person believes us we still have a chance. In the end, we ended the conversation with some kind of agreement: We would provide all the information they want, and they would provide more support like guns and everything else we needed.   After a long talk, we returned to the chest. You see, despite the nice welcome from the Orshags, we really needed to get to the Prime Zeith. So we had to find out a plan to get there because, the Orshags were not going to let go of their prize so easily. There were many ideas involved: find the interdimensionals and hope they would help us, take a bomb to the Zidith or even try to take some Orshags with us. But after long discussions we have decided on the following plan. I will write is as Nixie prefers: “Hereby us, the party, receive the obligation to take all the necessary measures to achieve the following plan: 1. Talk with the Dominor and convince him we are strong enough to get to the Zidith without being caught 2. Get to the Prime Zeith without being caught 3. Convince the priests that we are there because we can help them and get to the Zidith 4. Find out information from the Zidith 5. Deactivate the Zidith long enough for the Orshags to attack the commonwealth 6. Get to the black hole to send the message”   By the time the plan was done, it already became time to sleep. Before going to bed, I wanted to talk with the others to make sure thy are alright. Of course, I did not forget about Bart so I went to talk with him. Contrary to before, this time he was willing to talk…with me. Nixie wanted to join but Bart did not seem very keen on that idea, so he told her to go away. That was, dear diary, very rude if you ask me. After Nixie left, Bart told me that he was afraid that because of the planes he is working at, he thinks we would end up considering him some kind of monster. So that is why he was upset. I did tell them earlier to stay away from me while doing those experiments. That did came out the wrong way. As I told him, I was just afraid that I would ruin their experiments since I do not understand much about those. I would never consider Bart a monster no matter what he did. First of all, for now, all he did was help us so far. Then, come on we are talking about Bart. When did he ever had any bad intentions in general? Just the fact that he is being so cautious about all of this it’s the exact reason I do not think he could become a monster. He gave me the example with the interdimensionals. But that is completely different. Bart would never hurt one of us like those interdimensionals had done with Jevyan. Ever.   It was a rather long conversation so by the time we were done, the others already went to sleep. So I went to see if at least Tallion was up. You know, he talked quite a lot that day, so I was a bit worried for him. It turns out that he was just studying in the library. He tried to explain me whatever he was doing, but I think he realized I don’t quite understand much. Well now that I saw he was alright, I wanted to leae. But before I did that, he asked me how I was doing. Hmmm…I haven’t talked about it in a while. I guess I was trying to distract myself from that. It is working so far. I guess I have to thank Tallion for that. If it wasn’t for the talking with him earlier, I wouldn’t have even thought of trying to help the others. I told Tallion that I am alright and asked him if he wants to go for a walk. He could help me talk with the others. Unfortunately, everyone else was sleeping. Everyone except Drenizek. I wonder what kind of present he is preparing for Nixie. He has been busy for some nights now. I wonder if he ever sleeps.   The nest morning, Nixie tried to talk with Bart again. That was surprising in a good way. I expected that after the fight last night, Nixie would not even talk with Bart. Well, I was wrong about our captain. This time I really was mistaken. I guess we won’t need to write declarations anymore.   The first part of our plan worked out. Bart and Nixie managed to convince the Dominor to let us go to the Zidith. But the Dominor needed a bit of time discuss their strategies, so we had a few days to train and collaborate with the Orshags. They gave me a great gun and taught me how to use it. Pretty convenient if we are going to go straight to the Prime Zeith. They even offered to make ma an armor that was fire resistant. So, I could be set on fire without being burnt. It would just make me feel at home. By the way, the air here is very “toxic”, so we have to wear special masks all the time. It is very annoying. I would like to friendly fight one of those Orshag Stoa. They seem like great weapon fighters to fight with although I am pretty sure I would lose quite fast.   Last night, while we were talking to each other, Eve came to us in a very big rush. She said that she was talking with Damaschini and that they saw some kind of explosion of black fire. It seems that Damaschini started flying there. We couldn’t have let him be alone, so I suggested that we should go after him. That might have been a big mistake or more like, we could have acted a bit smarter. I really should have considered that before telling everyone to go that way. I do not make the wisest choices sometimes. Today, it was one of these days. Like back to the sea of undead people. I will tell you later why. But at least we had the brain to leave the chest behind.   When we arrived at the explosion place, there was no one around. Instead, in a circle in front of us there was a circle made of bodies. I did come to the conclusion that this circle is never a bad sign. You know, when we saw that Nixie’s reaction was: “Don’t you get a feeling that this is a trap?”. “It probably is” I replied. I did think about it but I was already too late. Funny thing is that, after we had this conversation, the thought just slipped our minds completely. What happens next, is a very tragic family reunion. It seems that the person we were about to fight was none other than Miyun. I do not know what to think about this whole thing. I’ve heard of Miyun before, but she was nothing like the stories. She was a bit frightening, and her yellow eyes were very cold. We have seen the xenatine’s effects before, but I never thought they could cause one’s so much harm. Miyun was not a child anymore. She was being used as a weapon. That child did not deserve this, no one does. She was angry, upset and sad and Xantinya used all that against everything that child held dear. How she loves to turn everything good against us! As for Miyun, I somehow think that a part of those feelings was already there before xenatine. Miyun was talking of how Damaschini abandoned her, how she felt he was cold and distant with her. She was there to finally take revenge and kill him. If that was all true, I just cannot imagine how painful it was for Miyun. If a man cannot be a father to his own child, there is nothing worse than that.   But, Damaschini didn’t seem like that at all. Even though he was attacked by Miyun and her schytes, he did not really flinch. He didn’t even try to fight Miyun’s accusations, he just agreed with them. Basically, he did anything he could to bring his child back home. I just didn’t really understand what happened between those two. If Damaschini loved Miyun so much, then why did Miyun have all those feelings? Either way, all I could think bad then was how tragic this whole fight was. Miyun’s attacks started to get very aggressive, giving her best to cut Damaschini down as fast as possible. Damaschini in return was defending as much as possible without hurting Miyun. I know that none of them wanted to kill each other, not truly at least. They were family above all, and they loved each other. Why wouldXantiny a ruin such a thing? Does she not have a family of her own? You could see Miyun, sometimes hesitating for a brief second. But that twisted dammed xenatine would not let her give up, it was corrupting her soul. At some point Tallion wanted to interfere and Miyun saw her. With an amazing force she began running towards him preparing to cut his throat. I did not mean to have anything to do with this fight, but I did not want to see Tallion die, so I tired to throw him out of the way, while Bart tried to move the earth to stop Miyun. But that girl was fast, and she jumped over us, going for a straight attack on Eve. I imagine Eve was hit pretty hard but she had to take the hit. Otherwise, Lullaby would have been hurt. The others started to shoot at Miyun, but none of them managed to hit her. Thankfully.   In the end, Damaschini managed to break Miyuns schytes and hug his little girl. But Miyun did not look fine at all. She collapsed the very next second and hasn’t been awaken ever since. I don’t know exactly why, but as Eve said, the Xenatine was consuming her lifeforce. I was a bit relieved the fight was over. But to be fair, I don’t know what will happen next. Something about this whole situation seems a bit off to me. Until a few weeks ago, Miyun was right near Xantinya. There is no way Xantinya would have let her go that easily just to come and kill Damaschini. It is not that simple. Why would Xantinya have an interest in that? She said it through Miyun’s words “you are nothing to me”. I do fear, that Miyun was sent here on purpose. She might not want to hurt us but that xenatine sure does. I do not want to blame Miyun or doubt her, but I do not know if we should let our guards down for now. Especially because, Lullaby might be the target or maybe even Eve because she is trying to help Lullaby. Or Maybe I am becoming a bit paranoid. Nonetheless, I should pay a bit of attention   You might think, dear diary ,that after the fight we have returned in our chest. That didn’t happen. Remember what I told you earlier about that trap. We were right! Also remember those Orshag Stoa that I thought could not be beaten. Some of them were laying dead on the floor behind us. There goes the “strongest mutations in this galaxy”. Now, you want to guess who was behind this trap? None other than Nixie’s TOLIET GIRL. As bad as it was, you must admit, dear diary, the situation was hilarious. We were nothing but fools. WHY DID WE NOT THINK OF THAT? It was almost obvious. It appears that our toilet girl is a dedicated fan of the commonwealth. I swear I didn’t think I would find someone more brainwashed than Zarkuz. Anyways, it seems that they have used Miyun as a bait to lure us here and catch us. We were now surrounded, with no escape and no way to contact the Orshags. The toilet girl and her friends gave us some gas to fall asleep and then we woke up in the empty room I am writing from right now.   I am not going to lie, I do not like the Toilet Girl. This commonwealth just won’t let it go already. Their persistence is very annoying. Why can’t they understand it is not their power that will keep us under control?? Is it that so hard to see that they could have saved all of us a lot of energy if they tried to at least talk with us? We would have made it to the Prime Zeith and they would have had us under observation all the time. They had a lot of chances. After the police meeting, when they met Nixie in the bar, any of the day they followed us. But why try to talk with us when it’s so much easier to fake a death and then follow “the mutations” for two weeks!!! You know, it was Alidag’s politeness and manners that brought us in the Orshag. Hmmm who would have guessed that some strangers need some help in a whole new dimension they got in? Seems very obvious to me. Anyways, as much as I am eager now to make that Zidith stop working so the Orshags can attack, I do not want to think all the people in the common wealth are like this. It is absolutely impossible.   We need to escape from wherever we are as soon as possible. If we make it to the space, it will takes us weeks to land again. And the world does not wait for that long.   May the Almighty protect us and the world. And may he never let other families be destroyed again.

Dear diary, This XY dimension is not half as bad as it seemed when we came here for the first time. It’s not as exciting or beautiful as our dear home, but I could get used to coming to visit once in a while. I do wonder however, how are the other dimensions? If we ever get to stop whatever it’s going to destroy them, it would be nice to make a small trip in all of the dimensions. For a year or two. Although, I do feel the experience would be different since we wouldn’t be wanted by the police or involved with weird people that want to destroy the greatest religion in their dimension.   I’m not gonna lie, but I do wonder sometimes if anything will amaze me after this journey is over. The Sapphire Fountain was the main amazement for us for a while, then we met the dragons, then the Primordial tree, and many others. I do fear that at some point, this long list is going to come to an end. But again, maybe I should not underestimate the wonders of this world. Until a few days ago, I did not know there is a “space” in which you can fly to begin with. I am not necessarily curious to understand how all these things work like Kelly, Bart and Damaschini. For me it’s more of the excitement for the unknown that is interesting and of course, the satisfaction of discovering something new. I used to feel this quite often during this journey, but I was so tired that it seems I have forgotten about it lately.   Anyways, we have been traveling for some time in a moving city (EVO DRIVE, *ahem* for those who really want to know the accurate term) so I have time to tell you all about the last few days. We spent another week or so in the Valva bar. The place was very crowded at night, especially when those Braski were fighting but I got used to it. And that strong drink of theirs is interesting once your neck stops burning from it. The first days were a tiny bit more difficult. After a good night rest, we all gathered together to discuss the plan of how to attract “sponsors” to help us. But by now, you already know us. Making a plan usually ends up taking hours because we get distracted very easily. That day was no different. Sometime in the middle of the discussion about what kind of people we should try to meet, we saw Marc giving Dillen some money. It seems that they made some kind of bet, and Marc was now owing Dillen. I guess some old habits never change and even once they take of their old skins, snakes do remain snakes until the very end of times. But, dear diary, guess what the bet was about. “If Verfy would say the correct name of the Prime know-it-all”. OF COURSE, I DIDN’T. I HATE NAMES. And that sneaky snake knows it too. No need to get angry at him, it is not something bad that he said anyways. But do not worry Dillen sneaky snake, if drama is what you wish for, I am always happy to help. We still need to somehow entertain the crew, don’t we? But I learned my lesson, if I do it now, it would be too obvious. I’ll just wait a tiny bit. Just put on a show for now. And I am very sure that Marc will be more willing to help with my plan and share the money with me. Actually, he can keep the money, I just want a good laugh.   Also, just because I do not write the correct names, does not mean I do not know them. It’s not much of a philosophy. I know a mast is called a mast not a “stick that catches the wind”. I actually do remember most of the names of places we have been to, or things I did not know before, but I just do not like necessarily calling them like that. So, to prove you that I am not as stupid as Dillen thinks, here how the whole Prime know-it-all works: 1. Zeith, is the actual religion that worships the information 2. Zidith, is the tall tower that gets information from all the 9 starts and sends them to be decripted 3. The Prime Zeith, is the star where the Zidith exists. Well, Dillen sneaky snake, I hope now you are happy with your victory. It’s not going to last for long. Now, back to the more important parts of the story. Despite all the fuss and interruptions, we were still trying to find a way to continue our mission. We had many ideas: work as bounty hunters or try to be escorts or convince people we have star essence. But you know, killing people for money doesn’t really sound fun to any of us. Bart was surprisingly alright with the idea, but I think it’s because it would have been the fastest way to get out of the underground. Slowly we started to put the ideas together and we came up with a great conclusion: Find a person who is rich, somehow of an outlaw themselves and crazy enough to believe us.To me, it sounded a bit of an impossible thing to find given the fact that we wouldn’t be able to exit the bar without being hunted. Little did we all knew that what we were looking for were MOST people that do not believe in the Commonwealth of this dimension. It was not one or two people, BUT ENTIRE FACTIONS and most of them seemed ready to start a war. You know, I do sometimes wonder how much of what I see is real and how much is my imagination. I am seriously starting to question my sanity. Maybe when Xantinya shot me with that lightning, I fell into a coma and this is just a dream I have or something. I don’t know but the more we continue this journey in xy the more I feel it can’t be real. Then again, from where would my mind get all these crazy ideas? This question is perhaps one of the reasons I haven’t gone insane yet. I do have imagination, but not to this extent. And to be fair the most surprising things about it all is that PEOPLE ACTUALLY DID NOT QUESTION IF OUR INFORMATION IS TRUE OR NOT. I might actually get used to the idea that we do not sound as crazy as we think we do. Or maybe people here are so intoxicated that they lost their minds as well. So I do not know which one is true, but I cannot complain. Whatever it is, I am glad that the now people in two dimensions believe us.   So, before we made this great plan to contact weird people, we went to talk with the bartender. When I mean “we” I mean Bart and Nixie. I just went with them in case there was a fight or something. I have learned from my past mistakes. I only talk with people that can understand feelings. Cold and rational people are not for me. They make too much sense, and I do not have sharp answers to reply to their questions. It is one of those cases when trying to help might cause more harm. So, I do prefer to stand aside. While I was grabbing the morning drink, Nixie and Bart told the bartender what we are searching for. He seemed to know some people that could help. It was about some kind of organization called “THE CHAIN” or something. It is some kind of organization that condemns the mutations but accept the mutants. Well before the bartender could get in contact with them, he needed to know the answer to the one question we had no clue how to reply to: “Where are you coming from?”. You know, out of all the questions that one can ask, why is this always the hardest one to answer for us? No matter what we reply to this, people look at us weirdly. If we tell the truth we risk giving important information to the wrong people, if we do not tell the truth, we are unreliable unidentified creatures. So pray tell, dear diary, how do you FUCKING ANSWER THIS FUCKING QUESTION without becoming the main attraction for a whole dimension? In the end, the bartender was so done with our failed attempts to lie so he stopped asking. He told us that he will put a good word for us and showed us another contact that could help us: some kind of scientist that just entered the bar. Well, it was a worth trying to talk with them. We first returned to the chest and discussed what we found out with the others. It was Kelly and Dillen’s turn to do their job of negotiating. Kelly said we should rely on something called “the warp” which is basically the translation for “the unknown”. It is apparently the most interesting thing around here. But we needed proof that we could have something like this. I suggested we should use my black fire sword as a sample. But since I did not want to give it away, we had to find something else. Thank the Almighty we have Xixi in our party. Some of us are just blessings on this world. I do not really know how we would have survived so far without people like Xixi and Vas.   So, now that we had all that we needed, Kelly, Bart, Dillen sneaky snake and me left the chest again. Bart was supposed to walk around the bar and keep an eye on things. Again, I was there only and only if things would go down with a fight. The conversation with the science guy did go alright, although the chances of helping each other were rather small. He was extremely busy, and it would have taken us too much time to get a reply for him. Kelly tried her best to negotiate with him, but the guy was not very friendly. In the end we gave them the blood and wanted to return to the chest. But, before we could do that, we got approached by a guy from another table. He looked exactly like a naftaim but his eyes were of a weird white. He was curious about the conversation we just had. Kelly seemed a bit suspicious but we decided to sit down nonetheless. As they were talking, Kelly suddenly stood up and excused herself for the conversation. That left Dillen and me to talk with this new guy (for those who care, his name is Alidag). I was waiting for Dillen sneaky snake to start saying something, but he was looking at me. During this awkward silence, Alidag dropped the bomb question: “So, where are you coming from?”. GREAT! Now, out of all times, when I really wanted to hear one of Dillen’s sharp replies, he decided to shut his mouth and look at me with puppy eyes. “You know better Verfy.” I will remember that Dillen! A looong loong time from now. I tried to use the excuse Kelly told us. “We are coming from far away, from a planet from the Outer Rim.”, I tried to excuse myself. “You’re not from this universe, are you?” asked Alidag. I don’t even know why I tried to hide it. I mean, 1. I wouldn’t have believed myself either and 2. They guy seemed to know who we are before we sat down and 3. Even if he was joking, he would have realized it’s true just by our reactions. I do strongly believe some people are born with a certain talent, and mine is definitely not talking with people. I really need to learn how to talk with people or just make sure I am never again near any conversation. I was about to reply with something but luckily, Bart came to rescue, and introduced himself to our new possible partner. Right on time, Bart! The guy seemed to have an interesting suggestion for us, so it was time to talk a bit more. But the place was not right, since it was an open bar where we were probably listened by half the people there. So, Alidag suggested we take a “smoke break”. He left two cigarettes on the table, and a small “chip” with a weird sign on it. It was some diamond shaped sign with a five-corner star inside. The “chip” disappeared very fast. Then, Alidag said goodbye and then left the bar.   We hurried back to the chest and let the others know. To be fair, I did not know if I should trust this guy or not, but for some reasons, I did not feel that threatened by him. Nixie, Tallion, Bart, Damaschini and me went outside as we were supposed to. In a blink of a second, we were not on the street anymore, but instead, we found ourselves in some kind of box. Well here we were to the discussion. Before anything else, Alidag made us promise to never say a word about him or this meeting. He also said that his name is fake. What a tease. Why tell us that it is not your real name, if you won’t even tell us your real name. Now, you know that I love to stick my nose where I’m not supposed to, but if we ever meet this guy again, I will find out his name one way or another. Alidag started by telling us about his purposes. It seems he belong to some war faction named Orshag. They are declared enemies of the Commonwealth, and do not believe in the death. From what Alidag said, the purpose of the Orshags is to fight for life. For many years now, they wanted to destroy the Zidith because it is just a way to control the information and it’s the greatest weapon to manipulate the masses. Nixie said remind her of the fastodans, but it does not seem so to me. I don’t know the Orshags so well, but they do not give me the same feeling. In return for the nice welcomin, we gave them as much information as we could give them on the spot: About the apocalypse that is coming, about the other dimensions and so on. To be fair, I still do not know what to think of the Orshags and especially of this guy Alidag. He seemed a bit suspicious from the beginning. He said he found out about us from the police people that arrested us. It seemed to me that he would do a lot of things to be able to make an understanding with us. Which is good for our cause, but it makes me think that what they are going to ask in return is a bit unreasonable. But it’s not a detective work to find this out, so I believe the other sensed it as well. So basically, he offered us weapons, identities, and everything we needed, and in return, we would need to come to their capital to talk with their boss. To show his good will, Alidag even removed a small tracking device from Nixie. It seems it was put there while she was staying at the bar.   Nonetheless, everyone seemed at least a bit attracted by Alidag’s suggestion. He suggested that in 6 days, we should meet at the same spot, and he will take care we have everything we need. We then returned to the chest and talked with the others. Some of us wanted to go with this deal, some of us wanted to wait and talk with the “Chain” people as well. Since we had so many days to spare, we decided it would be wise to hear their opinions as well. There is one thing I do not like about this dimension. If they help you, everyone wants something in return. They will not just help you from the kindness of their hearts. I understand why they are like this, but I still do believe it is a bit cruel. And the saddest part about all of this it’s that loyalty can be so easily bought. All you need is to have some “leverage” you can work with, and money. And yes, there is plenty of loyalty for different causes here, but I did not see a loyalty for each other as people. I am sorry dear diary; I have started to write too much. I will get back to the story. Since we did not have a way to contact anyone, all we could do is wait. Finally, we had some time to breath and train and whatever else we wanted to do. In the first few days, the trainings went alright, and we had time to talk and laugh. It was rather enjoyable. I may seem a lot more positive now, but at that time, the thoughts of not being a good friend, and regrets and so on kept distracting me from time to time. I decided that staying alone and trying to figure out what o do would not help, so I decided to ask someone. I went to Tallion first. I don’t talk much with Tallion nor spend time with him, so I thought it would be nice to try to listen to each other once in a while. And maybe, just maybe I was hoping that if I had to explain the problem, it would become more clear to me. As we were talking about it, something pained in red and black started running near us. For a slight second, I was ready to pull my sword, but then I realized it’s Eve. She seems she is not doing alright at all. That demon must be really playing with her. She told us how Nixie suggested that painting might help with stress and since she didn’t find any paper, she decided to paint her face. She seemed to have heard our conversation and wanted to join. Then, out of nowhere, Bart appeared there as well, and then Nixie too. HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY GET HERE SO FAST? And like that, my whole conversation with Tallion somehow became a super big deal.   This is precisely why I did not want to say a word in the first place. It was not something I should worry everyone with. It was a tiny problem, which I was sure it would have been solved if I talked with Tallion. I just…needed to put my thoughts in order a bit. It’s true I tried to swift the attention to Eve, who seemed upset at Bart but it did not work. They quoted me saying that I should not lie during the together trainings and that I was supposed to tell my feelings. First of all, I never lied during a together training. Second of all, THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A TOGETHER TRAINING. It was just a simple problem that could have been solved without attracting the attention of everyone in that chest. Just a casual discussion with Tallion. But under Nixie’s order, it became a together training. She even locked the door and asked Drenizek and Dillen to guard it so I don’t break it. I must take the compliment that she thinks I am strong enough to break a door, but I did not appreciate the rest. I would have not run from a together training, not even in a thousand ages. Why would I even do that? They are made for help. Also, precisely since I am aware of that, if I would have needed a together training, I would have asked for one. It would not be the first time I would have asked for one because I was not feeling well, and probably not the last either. Well, in the end, even the crew joined this together training. At this point it did not quite matter. I told them the problem and the together training did its job. It was a bitt too much hassle for nothing but it did accomplish the purpose. Also, it was kind cute that each one of them tried to give me advice. It made me a tiny bit happy. However, I must admit, they did not seem that they understood the problem as well. It was probably because I did not know how to properly explain it. I did however try to put my thoughts in order and to clarify the problem. “I do feel that what I do is not enough” I said. I know they don’t feel the same, that they feel like I always help, but I don’t feel that. I do not feel I was enough of a daughter, I am not enough of a friend, or enough of anything. It is the same old feeling that I had when I saw Flavia died. It is a fear that is constantly somewhere there in my thoughts. But every time I try to fight it off because I do not want it to harm the others. It is like a battle I have with my own feelings and I cannot afford to lose it. So I always try to find reasons to keep moving, to fight just a little longer. Lafk’u was right, everything is a fight. Bart said something about using this feeling as a motivation for training harder. For the time being I think that would be a good idea. It might help me practice shooting with a gun. I absolutely hate it. But there was more to discuss. We returned back to Eve and Bart. We tried to convince Eve that she should not worry and that Bart was only trying to do something nice and not actually lying. Eve seemed that she wanted Bart to be there for her bit at the same time that she wanted him to stay away. Nixie on the other side, was very happily trying to steal Eve from Bart. If that was her way of saying "Bart, you should take care of Eve", it was not working. She probably just made Eve more upset at Bart, and Bart probably a bit annoyed at Nixie. Nixie just can't resist doing it, can she? I believe she loves getting herself in trouble. If she wants trouble, she will get trouble. But not from Eve. I tried to stop Nixie by pulling her hair and kissing her,o the surprise of some people. Done, her attention was diverted from Eve. To be fair, me and Nixie kissed quite often (the drunk stories are the best) so for her it wasn't really a surprise. But she probably got distracted. I should be more careful with this matter, I do not want to open old wounds or unnecessarily hurt other people. Note to self: Do not make any jokes about Dillen and Nixie, or anyone and Nixie. Or just Nixie. I might upset people and I do not really wish for that.   Well, after three days of staying in the chest, we finally got word from the “Chain” people. These guys, come from the Conduit faction, somewhere in the north. To be honest with you, their belief seemed a bit weird and complicated so I will not go into much detail (Dillen sneaky snake, if you ever read this, then I just want you to know, that I know what is going on). We made the preparation and finally met them. Well, it seems that Nixie was in charge of the discussion this time. I saw she was struggling so I tried my best to help. But there it was again. The same bomb question: “Where are you coming from? We know most of the places in this universe and we have never heard of anything like you”. Nixie replied with something like: “Somewhere from the Outer Rim”. To which the Chain Guys replied with: “Alright, we understood that part so far, but from which part of the Outer Rim exactly? To which I replied: “From the north”. AH yes, Nixie and me - The Negotiators. Of course, the guys got angry and wanted to leave. But Nixie, was quick to reply and attracted their attention by talking about the black comet that travels in the sky. After a bit more of discussions, they obviously asked if we deliberately told this to someone else. Well, that’s another tricky question. You see, we could not exactly tell them about Alidag, but we couldn’t lie to them either because well we are not very good liars. So, I just went with the simple answer of “yes, we did tell the police”. Which technically, it is the truth. Alidag did not find out all these information from us, he found them out from the police and just confirmed them with us. Now, practically, that is a very big lie, and I admit it. But then again, I think I have done worse things in this life than lie to some strangers. The chain people were happy with the new information they heard. They said that it would take some time for the information to get to the main people, but after that, depending on how we send the message, they might be able to help us. The first time Nixie and me talk with someone and they actually do not try to kill us. That’s a development! Now, after other few good minutes of discussing in the chest, we decided that we will take the offer from Orshag and we will try to convince them to ally themselves with the Conduit. So we had to wait for another three days until we will meet with Alidag again. I wanted to train with Kelly some more, but on the first day, I somehow fell and sprained my ankle. With nothing left to do, I went to keep company to Lullaby, Eve and Nixie. You would never think how funny that must be! Nixie tried to do a head stand and Eve tried to imitate her but fell, hit a vase and a wardrobe fell on her. I tried to stop it, but thanks to my sprained ankle, I stumbled as well, and the wardrobe fell on my other ankle. Thank the Almighty we didn’t have to fight with anyone. I would have been dead by now.   It was finally time to leave the Valva bar. But before we left, the bartender wanted to give us one last drink. So, we set down at the table, and he went somewhere in the back. Then, he made us a sign to look under the counter. There were guns with some of our names on it. I took the one that was meant for me and started to listen to the instructions. Not bad at all. I do not like the concept of guns. If you want to fight, why would you hide under something and shoot with a gun when you can have an actual fight? But as much as I don’t like it, it is the only thing that will keep us alive in Xy. So thank you Alidag!. I wonder if we stayed longer, would we actually have become friends with the bartender? He may have just wanted the money from us, but he seemed like someone we could have around. We went on the same street we met Alidag the first time. We did not find him, but we found some kind of box, and inside the box there were a lot of things. New identities, watches with money and basically everything we needed for the way. Everything. I was very amused by our new identities! Nixie was an “engine cleanup assistant” and Bart was a baron. As for today, dear diary, my name is Baksa- a chief gunner who came from Suadien. Do I have a clue anything about Suadien? No. Will I get killed if they ask me anything about guns? Probably. But on the bright side, we at least could get scanned now. Anyways, Kelly lead the way and we soon arrived in a very populated place where there were huge boxes that you could go in space. (Yes, Dillen, I know they are called “rockets”).To be able to explain better I have to tell you about the “space”. Imagine that the space is an Infinite gigantic desert that covers everything. Now, imagine that this dessert is all blue and black. And in this desert, there are some rocks. Each rock are so big that millions of people could live on a stone. You see, apparently the stars we see on our sky are these stones. So, you imagine that trvelling through this infinite desert, going from one stone to another, would take many many many years. But the Xy people have invented these “rockets” that help you travel the same distance in minutes or days.   Before we went into those boxes, we had to use some special equipment. Some very heavy metal shoes and a very weird round helmet. The shoes help you stay to the ground, so you don’t start floating in space, and the helmet helps you breath. Anyways, you can imagine what a pleasure it was for me to walk in those metal shoes with my sprained ankles. They are comfortable when you get used to them, but the first time I put them in my feet, I couldn’t even move. So we went into the rocket and prepared to leave. Kelly was beyond excitement. It seems that she always wanted to go in space. I was happy she was living her dream. I do believe that at this point the crew does not even know what to expect anymore. I for one did not even know what to feel. I was just confused, and a bit curious and amazed. Anevys seemed however to be handling everything pretty well, especially because she had a lot of information to process recently. The start of the space journey is very weird. They count down the numbers and then when they get to 0, it starts to fly at an incredible speed. Most of us seemed to enjoy the ride. Nixie however, was a bit nostalgic. She said that she doesn’t like the space, that we are so small compared to it. It’s like something infinite and it feels empty. Well, I do see her point. After all, it does make you wonder of what power you have to do anything. But it doesn’t make me feel melancholic. On contrary, it makes me feel that I belong to something. Each one of us are a grain of sand and together with the rocks and everything else, it makes the desert. After we have reached the first stop. We had to enter the moving city I was telling you about. It works on the same principles as the rocket, but it is a lot bigger and you don’t really feel it’s moving. Everyone was excited about something. Marc and Isbel were watching some “movies”, Kelly and me went to train, others were exploring the city. Most of the time there was very peaceful. With a few exceptions of course.   The first thing that bothered me was the fact that we found that “the mutations (us) that escaped the lab were caught and sent back so there was no need to worry anymore”. That means that technically no one was following us anymore. But how exactly did that happen? We know that all the information that is going around is controlled by Commonwealth. So did they finally realize that it is better to not make everyone hunt us? And does that mean that they are coming after us? That is one possibility. The other one is that Alidag did that. But how did he manage to get past the Commonwealth then? Or maybe the Conduit decided to give us a hidden hand of help? Or there is someone else that is following us. I did feel a shiver down my spine for a tiny second. I remembered the tracking device that Nixie had. Come to think of it, the rest of us could or could not have those as well. Either way, it is bad. Because either someone is targeting Nixie, in which case, they could have followed us easily, without a tracker, since we only left the bar after 6 days or they still have trackers in all of us, in which case they are still following us. I don’t know who they are but I am starting to worry. I know there are at least a few Orshag people in this EVO Drive that have the eyes on us but I am certain they are not the only ones. Just how much attention have we already attracted towards us and how many unspoken fights happen behind of our back? Something tells me that we are a hunting prize of sorts for people in this dimension. Let’s just hope that I am overthinking this and that there is indeed no one following us. But based by the instinctive feeling that Nixie had, I highly doubt there is nothing we should worry about.   Nixie also seems very stressed and angered. She said it is because she hates waiting and space. I can understand why. It’s been two weeks since we left our dimension, and it seems that we are not going back anytime soon. She kept talking about the continent and when do we think we will be back. So most probably, she hates staying here not doing anything while our home is everyday one step closer to destruction. She misses home. And I’m sure she knows she’s not the only. We all do. This dimension is fun and all, but it’s not home. But for the sake of everything we love, we cannot turn back now. The waiting is dreadful, so we better make it worth it. But, I think we are all the most concerned for Eve. She doesn’t sleep, she spends all day acting weird, she sometimes talks nonsense and she disappeared for two days. She rested quite a bit but it seems that she cannot rest properly because she is afraid that she might do something stupid while asleep. Nixie tried to make her sleep and succeeded for a tiny while but probably not enough. I really think we might need to hurry with helping Lullaby. Maybe there is a way to send the message to GhiGhi before we get to Prime Zeith. At this point, anything looks better that letting Eve slowly go insane. The day she left, she might have wanted to stay away from us, so she doesn’t hurt us. Probably that is why she keeps her distance. She couldn’t let Lullaby alone, so she took her as well. To be fair, I feel very proud for Eve that she managed to interact with Lullaby. Eve herself looked quite happy with what she managed to achieve. It seems that it is one of the reasons that keeps her going.   It didn’t take long to find Eve, but it caused us a small heart panic attack. How could we not notice she disappeared? We asked that to ourselves too. She said she is going to leave, but I did not expect it would be for that long, so I assumed she was back from the first day. Nixie’s got a point there. We were terrible friends for that. I am sorry Eve, I will pay more attention the next time. I will try my best to keep an eye on everyone as Nixie ordered. Thankfully both Eve and Lullaby were unharmed and safe for the rest of the journey. However, Bart and Nixie seemed to have some kind of disagreement. Nixie looked very upset when Bart said that we should leave Eve alone. Well, Nixie wanted to protect Eve while staying near her, while Bart wanted to protect her by staying far away. I mean Bart doesn’t usually talk things to us unless you ask him something, but he is probably worried for Eve. So I went to talk with Bart for a bit, just to check how he feels. It seems that all these experiments he does are making him a bit confused and excited. But apart from that, he seemed to be doing decent. Bart was however scared that the demon will use him to hurt Eve. Which, let’s not fool anyone, it’s probably true. I can understand the feeling. But I did side with Nixie on this one. No matter what he does, the demon will use him nonetheless. Might as well at least help Eve in one way or another. He also has a point that it also depends on which feelings the demon uses. It is complicated indeed, but I do think that it’s better to face this together than alone. In the end, I do believe Bart understood the point. I was not the first one to tell him that after all. Tallion surprised me one of these days. He went to Bart and told him to go stay with Eve and not leave her alone. He seemed very serious about it: “If you don’t go, I will”. Very well said Tallion. Very well said. Nixie also said it earlier, just in a more angry way but with the same intention. We are now getting close to Orshag. I have trained in the last couple of days and have tried to learn how to use the gun. Also, I have also named it: “The snake killer”. Fitting name, don’t you think? No, I am joking, dear diary, it is called “Valva”. In the honor of the first place of this universe where we had some good memories. I will keep a careful eye when we get on the ground again. I still want to find out if someone is following us or not. And I might need Dillen’s sneaky snake’s help for that.   May the Almighty help us all. We might need it more than we think.   P.S. 1: I do secretly hope that Marc and Isbel get together. I do believe it would be good for both of them although being good friends also works. Whatever makes them the happiest. P.S 2: Is it me or every time that Bart is upset or something he buries himself in studies and stuff? It looks like he did that on the ship as well and he did it now too. P.S.3: Note to self: Do remember to look around all the time and search for anything that might be suspicious. If someone follows us, at some point they will need to get closer.

Dear diary, It is yet another sunny day in Xy, and we are doing better than we were yesterday. I have gotten my long-desired sleep, we are one step closer to helping this world, we have gotten some money on our hands, and most importantly, we have learned some valuable lessons along the way. I believe there is even a new unspoken rule: Do not try to do toilet conversations in a bar full of bounty hunters that are after your head. Nonetheless, it was technically a very good day. Somehow though, I still feel tired. But before I tell you what happened, I just want to talk a bit about this “internet”. I mean it’s a great invention, and very useful indeed. Instead of basically reading hundreds of books, we managed to find out most of what we were interested in about this dimension in a few hours. Great. Fast and efficient. However, as much as I like it, if I hear Nixie mention it one more time, I swear to the Almighty, I am going to hand her to the police. I know she can be obsessive about some things but given the fact that we will at some point return to our dimension, she might regret getting addicted to “the internet”. Also, it seems that there is a new trend in our party. Dillen and Nixie have started to smoke. Well, it’s not my place to judge. As many say: each to their own. Plus, they look very amusing when they smoke. I have managed to see a pattern. First, they light up their “cigarettes”. When they do that their whole attitude starts to morph. They become actors; in the most dramatic tragedy you’ve ever seen. Then, as they take their first “puff”, they lean against a wall or the back of a chair, just for more of a dramatic effect. They look through us, as we never existed, and then, with very wondering, empty eyes they look up to the celling, breathing out the “puffs” and admiring the beauty of the smoke that covers the room. Now, in their minds maybe it looks epic, but from my perspective, they look like they’re about to be possessed or something. Hmm…now that I think about it…What a coincidence: they started to smoke at the same time. But Nixie believes coincidences don’t exist…hmmm… Oh that’s it! They’re probably trying to impress each other. Cute.   Now, back to the story. After a few good hours of searching more details about this world, we have finally decided it was time to rest. We left Kelly in charge and went in the chest to sleep. I just have one question though: why do dreams must end at the most exciting time? You see, while I was sleeping, I found myself in front of the Vedian castle from the chest. The gates opened and revealed a black silhouette staying there. Then, a big spiral went towards me, everything went black, and I woke up. WHY DO ALL DREAMS END LIKE THIS? At least let me know who the silhouette is. One of the things I am a disaster at, is understanding symbols and hidden messages behind them. They mostly look the same to me. Until a few months ago, runes were some kind of abstract drawings that make no sense. Of course, I couldn’t make much of this dream either, so I asked the others. What a coincidence again! They had the same dream. All of them.   Now, at least one of them could tell me what that spiral meant. We barely started about it when Nixie had a very sudden feeling to go check up on Kelly. She seemed very scared, so I got worried as well. We exited the chest, and found Kelly fainted somewhere on a dark street. I panicked. Whatever happened to Kelly did not look good. We tried to wake her up, but she was very heavily breathing. Finally, she managed to recover a bit and tell us what happened. Kelly wanted to help us, so that night, she went to a bar and tried to beat some people to make some money. But, she had one of her pain attacks in the middle of an arm wrestle game, and lost. Because she had no money to pay, she got beaten up. She kept apologizing to us for being useless and for losing one of the watches. I couldn’t care less about those money. Kelly was breathing and talking. I felt so relieved to see her well. I understand to apologize if you make a mistake, but when you put your life on the line to be useful to us, what are you feeling sorry for? I don’t like it. Kelly, all beaten up, barely standing, apologizing to us, who spent the night having a wonderful sleep in the chest. It was the same for the Enneth elves, and it’s the same for all the crew. They all wanted to help US with something when it is us, who should help them. Their very existence here, their trust in us, is more than we could have asked for. Yet, every day, they keep helping and helping us, to the point where they hurt themselves or even worse, die. Thank the Almighty, at least after all that happened today, Kelly is finally sleeping peacefully near the others.   Today, Kelly told us the very sad story of her childhood. It seems she was a gifted child ever since she was young. Because of that, her father took her to all great since contest. She kept winning and winning until there was nothing she could have won anymore. She felt that she wanted more. When she was 15, two of her father’s friends sponsored her. Now, she could build whatever technology she wanted and go to even greater contests. But the sponsorship came at a price. To achieve it, Kelly had to sleep with both of them. And soon, those bastards started to use this to threaten her, that Kelly’s parents will find out. For more than ten years, these people took advantage of Kelly’s knowledge, building a whole “governmental empire” of advanced equipment. To make things worse, in time, her parents slowly started to realize that what Kelly was doing was not alright but did not care. As long as Kelly won all the beauty contests that she was sent to, her mother would be proud of her. When Xantinya threatened Kelly’s dimension with war, Kelly saw an opportunity and used it to gain control and power. She wanted more and more. She could have chosen to turn back, to take another way, but she chose not to. She even paid back those two bastards that used. Eventually however, her parents found out everything and without a second thought, they threw Kelly out of the house. Having nowhere to go, she ended up in the SAI. Kelly thinks that because of this, she is a horrible person. “That’s the kind of person I am” she said. Yes, maybe at that time, she was horrible. But, knowingly or unknowingly, we are trying to change, to become a bit better than we were before. For some, the past is a chain, each day a link, raveling backward to one ringbolt or another, making the future a slave of the past. But the way I see it, Kelly slowly managed to break that chain. All her life until now, Kelly was confident in her choices. She said it herself, she knew her purposes and would stop at nothing to achieve them. But ever since she has been travelling with us, she got to know a side that she never explored. It seemed that she has slowly learned how to somehow listen to her feelings as well. And that made her wiser, but a lot more uncertain which way to go. Isn’t that proof that she already changed from being that horrible person she used to be? The Kelly I see now is not the same she was back then. That’s what important, right?   There is something else as well, isn’t it? Because of everything she’s been going through, she’s losing her strength, isn’t she? She said it: “I achieved what I wanted but not it’s too late”. Every new pain attack, every new stress she’s under is weakening her. And now, when she wants to help the most, she feels the most powerless. She is trying so hard to help us in any way possible: fighting for us, guiding us through this dimension, putting her life on the line. And despite all her trust in us, there is no way we can help her with her problem. NONE. Not even in here in the most advanced dimension of Xy, there is nothing we can do for her. During the whole conversation with Kelly, I tried my best to somehow make her understand that even if growing old, she will leave something behind that will last, that all she did mattered. For all it’s worth, if I cannot do anything to save her, at least try to be there for her as a friend. At some point, Kelly said something like “When a person dies, you realize that you don’t need them”. What a stupid joke. I need Kelly, I need all of them to be here. It’s like the painting. Yes, I am the sketch, but without the small details coming from them, I would not be who I am now. So, I think that, at least I can do, is a beautiful color on Kelly’s painting. But is it enough? Before we had any other discussion, Nixie suggested we should have had breakfast. So I went with Marc and Isbel to buy some meat from the store. I’m sorry for interrupting their little date, but I really wanted to move a bit. But, for some reasons, the watch we had, suddenly turned red. I did not know what it meant so we returned to the others as fast as possible. Since there was a risk of being followed through that watch, we had to get rid of it fast. Dillen had a genius idea. He saw a rat and tried to catch it so we can put the watch on it. But the rat seems to have won this time and escaped before Dillen could get it. Seems that wasps are not the only things that can beat us. 2-0 for the Mother Nature. In the end, we managed to get rid of the watch by putting it on the pocket of a drugged guy. Good luck with the police and sorry for the trouble, Drug Guy! We then wanted to talk about the dream we all had. But, there was not much we got from it. Except for a name which Eve remembered. But it was not from this dream, but from the one she had before. Apparently the sword guy that was fighting Sikorki is called Laneas. I don’t know how it will help us in the future, but who knows. Eve seemed more irritated than usual for some reasons, and since Bart was busy spending time with Damaschini, it was my duty to invoke the secret weapon: “The Together training”- torture. Eve was not the only person I was a bit worried about. Ever since Legondol, we did not talk with the crew for some time either. And since we had no clue to go, I decided it was time to check on everyone.   I would have liked Nixie to start with this, but she passed the responsibility to me. But do not worry, dear diary, it didn’t take long before Eve took the lead. “Why did you come here?” she asked. Then she started to scream that we cam here to stop Xantinya, that it is our only purpose and that we consider Lullaby a burden. And that no matter what choice we choose we will end up in the same place as Xantinya, and because of that, this world is flawed and MANY OTHER THINGS that did not quite sound like Eve. She kept crying and screaming that we will now consider her possessed and that we are some kind of monsters. Well, she was almost right with one thing: a demon was definitely influencing her. At first Tallion and Nixie tried to calm her down but it did not seem to work. It was like the demon was twisting her mind, confusing her. It seemed that Eve was fighting with herself. She was very angry at everything and everyone, she wanted to blame someone for everything. SHE EVEN BLAMED LULLABY and slapped her. This is where it started to get quite bad. But not even this three head demon does not understand how strong our friendship with Eve is. We needed to give Eve some strength to fight it. The only thing I could think of is return the questions to Eve. “So, if we are so evil as you say, why are we even friends?”, “So you didn’t come here to save Lullaby, did you?” and so on. I knew how our Eve would reply to these, but the point was to remind her as well. I don’t know how much it helped. We tried in a way or another to get near her. “Go away before It kills you” she said. But we would not move. I trusted Eve will protect us and fight for us. And once again, she managed to protect us by beating the influence of the three head demon (the fourth more powerful demon in Hell).   Truth be told, at some point for at least a second, I did think the same things Eve said: it’s Gilders fault, Zarkuz should die, Lullaby is weak. True, I accept that. In moments of desperation, one does tend to blame the others instead of blaming themselves. However, I do not think either option are true. We interfere with each other lives every day, and we change them in a way or another. So, the choice that led to the Gilders betrayal might have been done a long time ago. It could have been changed, but still, I do not know if there is anyone to blame in that case. Of course, if I write a wrong letter, I will find the mistake, but when it comes to feelings and trust, it’s no way to say who was to blame. We each act on what to feel and think and while a writing mistake is commonly accepted as wrong because it’s barely something we all think, when we put the feelings on the game, the rules change. Because we each feel different and understand our emotions differently. Was it a mistake that Lullaby trusted Zarkuz? I for one, would say no, because that’s what I feel. One interdimensional might say yes. But in the end, we could endlessly fight about it, because we would never know who is right. So why bother taking revenge on someone who might not even be to blame, when I can try to fix what is wrong? There is one thing that the demon fighting Eve said back then that bothered me. “We all regret at least one choice we have done, even though we knew it was the good choice”. You see, with that I am alright, I don’t regret the good choices we have done. But there was another thing that began to bother me ever since: “I do not necessarily regret even the bad decisions I have made”. I knew that if I sent the fastodans on that wall in Metherol they will most likely die. I knew that, and did not go there to help them although I always claimed I will fight alonside them. Yet, I do not regret that decision, because they managed to keep the wall longer. I knew that if I was to be with Xebec, he would die protecting me. Yet I never tried to stay out of trouble for one second. Again, I do not regret it, because putting myself in trouble helped others. Even today with everyone. We know that we are hurting Kelly every time we put her in a stressful situation. Yet, we still let her do most of the jobs for us. Again, somehow, I do not regret it because without her, we would have probably not made it this far. I could give you many more examples. The loss of everyone still hurts so much I can’t even bring myself to talk with the others about it but still I would not change ONE single thing. I do not know how to explain it better than this. But I should feel something, some kind of remorse or regret for putting them in those situations, right? What about the ones that are still alive, just what kind of friend am I exactly to them? But I only got to this realization a lot later this day. After all this event, Eve managed to calm down. We sat down and put the pieces of the puzzle together. To put it simple, let’s say that Lullaby has created a wall around her, and now the three head demon is trying to siege the wall. But because it can’t get inside, it has decided it would be a better idea to attack what’s outside the siege. Us. And Eve wants to fight it alone. She said that we should not worry about this focus on something else we need to do. JUST HOW DOES SHE EXPECT ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT?? She is fighting one of the most powerful demons of hell ALONE. And once again, we get to wait and be protected by someone.   After many more deliberations, we got to a very strange conclusion: The evil tower of this dimension is in the black hole in the middle. That’s where the other undying elves live. And that we have to achieve the next purposes: 1. Help Ghighi find us, so he can be there for Lullaby when we wake her up 2. Find a way to deliver a spiritual message to people of the other dimensions. 3. Get to the Prime know it all thing and see what information we can get from there. Now that we had finally found a direction, we needed to hurry to reach at least one of them. So, the closest option was to try to get to the Prime know it all. Our first idea, was to go in front of a temple and try to get in. On the way, we saw our faces on many big “screens” saying that “Dangerous not sentient mutations” and some kind of bounty on our head. I must admit it was a bit funny for all of us, but Kelly and Dillen seemed to laugh in tears. When we got there, we stayed in front of the place for a few hours, trying to understand what the symbols on the temple mean and if we should get in there or not. In the end, we have aborted this plan because, well we couldn’t get it even if we wanted. And I for one, did not really like a temple in which people do not pray to something. Why make a temple if you do not need them? Anyways, after around four hours of walking through the city (which by the way is very tall and gloomy). We have gotten to better place. The underground. The streets looked a lot rustier and you could see that they were not the safest here. Because we looked like a bunch of visitors and we attracted too much attention, some of us had to go in the chest. The rest of us, followed Kelly into a bar. There was nothing much more different than the bars in our dimensions. Except that, in the middle of the room, there was a big place where people could fight. Before we entered, Kelly warned us that this place is dangerous, so I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being.   Recently I have received a big helmet that covers my face, so people would not see I am made of fire. I could get used to having this on my face every day. Other people cannot see any of your emotions. Like the barman could not even see my totally worried face. Perfect. Oh and it also tells me more information about this place. For example, how the weather is going to be and the amount of “toxicity” that is in one place. So it’s a good way to avoid places that would cause us harm.   Well, while Kelly was negotiating with the barman, we were just staying there, trying to not be suspicious. Well you can imagine how that would have looked suspicious nonetheless. Our story was that we were bounty hunters and that we were trying to make money. At some point, Kelly said that she has a champion that would like to fight in the arena. “Pfff she’s for sure thinking of Damaschini, easy wins for him” I thought. Then the barman asked, “The girl with the helmet?”. Then Kelly simply said “Yes”. WAIT WHAT? IS SHE OUT OF HER MIND? ME FIGHT IN THE ARENA? IS SHE PLANNING TO KILL US ALL? I don’t mind fighting, but i cannot punch people as good. THAT WAS DRENIZEK. Well, I assume a fight is a fight and since I was selected to be the Champion that day, I had to give my best. Finally, there was something I could do for the others and not just watch.   Kelly managed to negotiate something with the barman, and we got one of those watches with money and some kind of drinks. I wanted to be intimidating as Kelly so I ordered the strongest drink there is while Nixie prepared her cute voice and said “Whatever you think it’s good”. Ummm…we’re supposed to be bounty hunters, right Nixie? Well she got what she deserved, a cute drink for a cute bounty hunter. Then the barman, looked at Damaschini very weirdly. He would have liked to talk with Damaschini but seems that our big erlagon lost his tongue on the way somewhere. “If you have such a big creature with you and a champion, why do you need this little one?” the barman pointed out at Bart. Our very fast thinking bard thought of a great excuse: “I am counting the money”. Well, I guess it’s fitted.   I must admit however, I was a bit excited for the fights. We haven’t had a proper duel in a very long time. That is… until I saw who I have to fight with. I mean the fast four arms I could deal with, the ones I could deal with. The orcish looking guy was probably a good training for later. But the guy I had to fight with slashed with one “bionic arm” the throat of another fighter in 1 turn. I almost missed the action. HOW IN THE HELL WAS I GOING TO BEAT THAT BAREHANDED? Suddenly it did not feel like a duel anymore, but rather a life-or-death situation. In the beginning, Kelly looked at me very confidently, saying that she trusts me. After everything I have thought earlier, I could not look her in the eyes. Thank the Almighty for the mask. I’m sorry Kelly. It’s the first time you said that to me. I’m so sorry I could not be happier with it.   The more fights there were, the more Kelly looked even more worried. “Don’t worry Verfy, it’s just fighting a duel. I have survived a sinking army of undead. I can do this” I told myself. “However if I don’t make it, I wish the first meal I will have as a dead person to be a good snake”. But to my luck, once again, Kelly and Damaschini had to come to our rescue and go to the chest to forge me something. Now I had a gauntlet and a very nice helmet with a sword on the top of the head. I assume it was Kelly’s idea since she knows how I love to go head on in a fight. The others were ready to cheer for me. What has gotten in everyone’s mind today? EVEN DILLEN BET THE MONEY ON ME. I should be happy, and grateful and more motivated to fight. But I was looking at everyone, and the more I looked at them, the more it hurt. I had a huge hole in my stomach. I was so unfocused; I barely noticed the fight was about to start. Well, let’s get this over with. I tried to make an intimidating entrance,and I must admit the helmet helped a bit. In front of me, it stood a braski with two hands. Attached to his normal hands, he had some kind of metal “modifications” that were used as another two arms. “Where is the other half of you?” he asked with a very superior voice. You know, I learned that the smaller you are, the less space for hitting there is. But I was not in the mood for talking. I simply replied something like “I do not need it to beat you” or some kind of Nixie’s quotes. Well, one must respect their opponent, so for a few moments, I took my mind of other thoughts and focused on the fight.   Well, i got pretty hit in the beginning. So it was that kind of fight, in which I had to go all in and finish fast, or otherwise, I would be done. Three more hits like that and I would most certainly lose. So I did what I know best. Brace myself and go full force with the head in front. I swear this is my lucky move. Ever since I have done this in the Vazakis mines, it worked EVERY SINGLE TIME. On the other side, my kicks are an absolute nightmare. EVERY SINGLE TIME I tried to kick someone, I ended up being the one that took a hit. This time was no exception either. Thank the Almighty that I am flexible because at some point, the braski had my head and one leg under his leg, and he also held my left hand in one of his hands. Basically I was staying in one leg. But why do that, when I can completely let go and put him on the ground? I do not use logic very often, but when I do, it sometimes works. I had managed to hit him just in time before I could feel that I was about to faint. We hit each other a few more times after that. I was starting to become dizzy and tired. He was not doing well either. The last thing I remember, was that braski falling on the floor. But after that, it all goes blank. And that’s how, dear diary, the history began. In the Valva bar, somewhere in the underground, it happened the first interdimensional duel with someone from XY. I am sorry, I had to said it. It’s amusing.   Note to self: DO NOTE EVER USE A KICK IN AN IMPORTANT FIGHT.   I woke up near Nixie and Vas who were patching me. It seems that I somehow managed to win the fight. But I didn’t want to stay in the chest too much. I went back to the bar. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Marc and Isbel were dancing, the others were talking and Dillen was enjoying getting the money from the bets. I saw Kelly was drinking, so I went to join her. She suggested I should go rest, but I did not feel like it. I’d rather stay with her for a drink. I wanted to thank her for the helmet. I literally saved everyone’s life once again. I was feeling a bit better, almost enjoying the party. While we were chatting, we heard more and more people approaching the girl’s bathroom. Before we got to see what happened, we saw Nixie running towards us with a very scared face. Kelly sensed the situation was about to get worse, so she told Nixie to hide in the chest. When the braski in the bar came searching for Nixie, Kelly led them in another direction, and I joined them just to pretend we are actually searching for the culprit. Just what in the hell did our captain do?   Well, I could wonder that a bit later because for now, we had only a few minutes to hide from the police that was coming. To be honest, somewhere hidden in my mind, I wished for us to be caught. Imagine coming back to XY in a few years and seeing a “screen”: “Tallion Almas – dangerous non sentient mutation is wanted by the police”. I am just kidding, but getting caught now, would be very bad for all of us. We saw Nixie in the chest again. This time I noticed she had some kind of blood on her. She told us that, she was trying to find more information in the bathroom, so she began to have a conversation with the girls that were there. One of them, a bounty hunter, realized that Nixie was part of the prize she was after. The bounty hunter gave Nixie a chance to talk. So, our captain told her the truth about what was going on. The very next second, the bounty hunter fell dead, bleeding. She was neither shot nor killed by anything from exterior. Seeing this, Nixie panicked and ran away. Before the police came, Kelly, with the help of Bart, managed to find a way to hide the chest under the floor and we stayed inside. But now we were stuck there. Even if the police would leave, we would have no change of leaving unnoticed. And the more we waited, the more our chances of talking with the barman and finding a gate away were decreasing. But if we got out, we would risk the police to find out. Whitout any hesitation, once again, Kelly offered herself to go, risk her life to save us again. While we were just meant to stay here and do nothing. And yet, once again, we accepted. Again and again and again. Every time, I become willing to let the others die, to save ourselves. It’s horrible. I offered to go with Kelly, but the others wouldn’t let me. WHY? Why does she have to risk her life but we can’t even go with her? We have to stay here and wait for anything to happen. It hurts. Because I know If something was to happen with Kelly, I would be devastated. But then, I would not regret it, because she probably would have found a way to save us. LIKE EVERY FUCKING TIME. I am horrible. How do I talk with this to the others? I am so sorry, but I do not find the words to tell them, I know I should say something, but I simply can’t. I barely know how to write it for myself. I can’t put two words together about it.   The situation was tensioned enough, there was no need to make it worse. We let Kelly go and do her thing. I always trusted her and Nixie made her promise that if the things would go down, she would reveal to the police where we were, so at least we go on together. Well, an order is an order, so all I was left to do is wait. Since waiting in silence would have been dreadful, I decided to at least make some good conversation around. And there was once specific person I had in mind: a not so talkative big erlagon. Well, to be fair, he’s done quite some things for us ever since we came in XY, just like everyone else around. He did work with Kelly to make the helmet, and it is him who brought the chest, and others as well. But compared to the others, he does not even know us. So I figured it was time to at least start talking with each other and since it seems that Damaschini is rather shy, I decided to start the conversation. He told us about how he had arrived in these places so far away from how. How he met new friends, Evhai was among the first. It was nice exchanging stories and adventures for once in a while. But I did not really concentrate as much, my mind was somewhere else. I remembered about our little secret about the beginning of the world and how, not even until now, we did not tell the crew about it.   Well, we did not have anything better to do, at least try to keep an old forgotten promise, right? So I stood up and woke up Nixie, Eve and whoever was there. The whole party agreed that it was time to tell the truth to everyone, except Damaschini. After all that happened, I could understand why our guard should be up. I understood Nixie’s position as a captain, she had to protect the others. There were contradicting opinions on the matter. Some of us trusted Damaschini and some didn’t. Talion said he trusted Damaschini, but he wanted to know if Damaschini is here to stay. I was listening to the others. In general, my decision would have been clear, I would have even fought for it. Of course I trusted Damaschini, otherwise I wouldn’t have let him come all the way in XY with us. But, I doubted myself, what I felt it. Even if I should have had a vote in this. But in the end, I have decided to tell my opinion. Damaschini has helped me, so might as well give him a hand. Of course, I could not deny Nixie’s feeling, she had a point. So, I suggested another option. Give Damaschini a chance to convince Nixie and Talion he is trustworthy. After all, it was the easiest way to solve this problem.   I don’t know dear diary, at the moment I do not feel able of taking any decision. The thoughts that I wrote keep coming back. Earlier during this conversation, Nixie said something like: “Bart, would you be sad if I died?”. Of course, probably everyone would be sad. Would I regret it? I don’t know because at the moment it feels that this is the way to go, and it is paved with bodies of everyone we love. And I am afraid, that no matter what I do, I will lose them all. If I told them about what I think, I would break any thrust they have in me, but if I don’t say anything the demons would take care that the lie catches up with me. Just what am I supposed to do? Everyone has a story to tell and sometimes there are things in in we spend our lives running from. I sure do. From what he said, Damaschini had some bad stories too. We were not the most mannered people, but then again, was it ever a time when we were? We went straight to him and asked all the questions the others wanted to know. They asked everything: If he is planning on staying with us, why he did not help Miyun, what did he think about everything that happened and so on. Well, it seemed that at the end, Nixie and Talion were convinced, and we did not even need to vote again. So, it was finally time. We told everyone the Great Secret of this World, which for obvious reasons, I will still not reveal it here. Of course, everyone was in great shock. Xixi was extremely happy for some reasons, she said something about us fighting together to beat Xantinya and that is how we would save the world. Dillen, a bit freaked out, began to understand that the main person that we are fighting is not only a demon, but also an ex angel that was able to wonder on Earth. Marc and Isbel were just in shock. Vas and Drenizek were awfully quiet. Then, very calm as usual, Vas , sheding a tear started to say: “So everything we have believed so far was a lie”. I have never seen him cry before. Drenizek approached to him, and as he always does, tried to put Vas back on his feet. “It is good that we at least found the truth after all, right?”. After another moment of silence, Vas nodded and seemed a bit more light hearted. I agreed with Drenizek, plus, not all Vas believed to was a lie. In each religion, in each country, in each dimension, there is at least one tiny bit part left of the initial world. Malekat and the good brother, the war of the fastodans all of them, have a small part of truth in it. After a moment when everyone processed the information, the crew came in front of us and they bowed before us. I wonder what Drenizek is feeling, he from all sensed something before, he even saw the golden fish.   NO,NO,NO please don’t do it! Don’t look at us like we are some kind of heroes. Please don’t do it! Once again they were grateful for something we should have done from the beginning. THEY BOWED IN FRONT OF US! FOR WHAT??? Please, just don’t. I had already started crying (that helmet is very useful). I felt like I wanted to hide somewhere far away from all of them. Just stop…please. It hurt, seeing them there, knowing Kelly is upstairs, risking her life. It’s just horrible. I am just horrible. I’m so sorry! Nixie suggested a group hug and then the mood lighten up. And guess what, Kelly came back safe and sound. We told her what happened and of course she didn’t take it very well. A few weeks ago, she thought we were a cult, and now she could not see any reasons why it would not make sense. It mush have been a shock. She wanted to be alone for some time. Well after all of this she deserved it but as I was afraid, she would have another pain attack sooner or later. So, I got Bart and went after her. When we found her, Kelly was on the floor, with her eyes rolled and barely moving. I sent Bart back to get the others as soon as possible. For a few minutes, I was just sitting there near Kelly, just watching her just wondering what I should do. "Just what are we doing to her? We are killing her". The more she stays with us, the more she suffers. And she must have realized that. So why? Why is she still staying with us? We are helping our friends, but also cursing them. If they stay with us, they are meant to suffer. And I can't even regret losing a friend. I'm so sorry. After a short while, Kelly came to her senses, but her muscles felt weird, and she was a bit cold. Nixie and me hugged her to keep her warm. She said she is feeling better. I also apologized to Dillen. I felt absolutely horrible for making so much fun of him all day. He is a friend no matter what I say. I am grateful for what he is doing. I do not want to lose him either, no matter what I say. And now, more than anytime, I felt that I was meaner to him than usual.   Not even minutes after she woke up, Kelly told us that she has managed to strike a deal with the barman, who convinced the police to let her be for now. The barman will continue to help us, as long as we pay at least 35.000 of their money to him. Not all at once, but in time. He will put us in contact with other people that might help us with all we need. Well, now its up to us.Also, I am worried about Nixie. She is blaming herself for the women that died in the bathroom. She says it cannot be a coincidence that once she told all the information, and the next second that woman died. Well to be honest, I do not fully think it was a coincidence either. If in a dimension in which the information is the most valuable thing, and we had information no one else had, or could control, we would not want to get it out either. Or maybe I am overthinking. Maybe it’s just a little scheme that the barman used with the police. But I do not think it is a coincidence either. All jokes aside, those things do not exist, not in the world we live in. Well Kelly made the opportunity for us so now we need to take it. As for Nixie, she probably also feels bad for ruining our great plan. A done thing is a done thing. We will solve it somehow and the mistake will be fixed. I jsut wish she wouldn't be too hard on herself. She has already too much on her shoulders and so do the others.   I don’t know what I should do. How do I get rid of these feelings? How can I continue this way without hurting the others? Just how do I help? I want to sleep, but I can’t stop crying. I don’t know dear diary; I am very confused. This whole writing is a mess, it’s confusing. I’m sorry for that. I will be better soon. I promise. May the Almighty take care of the others and protect them. P.S.: I was right, Eve did not believe Bart about the “watching the animal-human” videos. I don’t want to spoil the surprise for Eve so I did not ask Bart what it is. But I tried to warn him to be more careful from now on. P.S. 2: The thing that is going on between Marc and Isbel is very cute.

Dear diary, I am content with my life. I have had my fair share of pain, death and loss. Yet, I try to see the good part in most of the things. Well guess what, dear diary, NOT TODAY! Today I woke up and chose to be very insufferable. I haven’t gotten a good sleep in ages so do not blame me for it. BLAME THE BLOODY WASPS. I do not require much, but from time to time, I really need a good sleep.So dear diary, do forgive me for what I am about to say, but even the brightest people have a stormy day once in a while. Let me start by telling you what happened after the massacre that Xantinya left behind. With our last strengths, we stood up¬, gathered our last pieces of broken hope and slowly began to move on. It was a hard defeat, but the appearance of the some new interdimensionals made the day a bit easier. “They are friends of Lullaby and Bajid, I am sure they will be of great help” we all thought. Greatest joke of the day. The first time one interdimensional man appears out of nowhere and betrays your party, you can blame him. But the next time, when another six people appear out of nowhere, you’d say one would be more cautious. Not us. We love to trust and help other people. Which often it is true, but sometimes, just sometimes, some people deserve a punch in the face and a kick in their nice behinds.   Bad news over bad news were given to us that day. First, the Sylph left to exile, which to be honest, I do not think it’s fair at all. I know it’s her choice, but all she did was fight for the elves, she did all she could. Then, we walked through the city, trying to help those who were left alive but most of them seemed dead anyways. Then, we were called by His Majesty, King Nathanilos. At first, I thought he called us to discuss some kind of strategy he had for the future. But guess what, no. He was on his death bed and he died minutes after apologizing for what happened. To be honest this saddened me beyond you can imagine. His Majesty, King Nathanilos., compared to what I have seen before was a leader who was heart and soul near his army. He dedicated everything he had for his kingdom. And for him to die apologizing and thanking us, did not seem right. We were no more special than some allies coming to help. No one, king or soldier, on their death bed should be thanking allies, but rather they should be spending their last minutes with the people close to him, those that they loved. I only fought one battle alongside His Majesty, King Nathanilos. One single fight. But when His Majesty appeared on the battlefield, the soldiers changed. His strength became the whole army’s strength. And he did not fear, he went in front, not hesitating for one second. Watching him die, was perhaps one of the most hurtful scenes I have ever seen.   And despite all this continuous sadness that day, we kept trying to move on. We gathered all in one room to decide what to do next. Nixie was absolutely destroyed, she couldn’t even cry, Tallion looked as pale as a ghost, Bart and Eve were so tired they barely could stand. “Look at the bright side, Verfy, we are still alive so we can still do something” I thought myself. Probably everyone was thinking the same for no one has flinched from that table until we had made our plan. I believe Nixie suggested us to rest, but everyone was not very keen on that idea, not even herself. Before doing anything else, we went to check on Lullaby because she was absolutely heartbroken about what happened. When we got there, the interdimensional people were already there. We made the introduction and then we began talking about more pressing matters: the opening of XY. As mentioned in my previous writing, we had two options: Open the Dimension or let Lullaby’s kid die. Hmm…An obvious choice for us, but seems like the interdimensional had other opinions. They suggested that sacrificing a child was worth saving the world. I could not see how that would have been a good choice in any way but I tried to understand that, for them ,that was the logical thing to do. Personally I have stopped believing in logic some time ago but each to their own.   We all draw different lines. Sometimes they intersect. Sometimes they don't. We agree on forms of evil, but judge degrees of it, saying only the worst of humanity is truly bad. And everything along the grey lines is subject to opinion. If things were approached differently, maybe we would have reached a common decision. But no. Why even listen to some people that don’t have interdimensional power, let’s just threaten them. Sure that works for me, we probably have seen worse. Oh but let’s also treat our so called “friend” like it’s a lifeless object that doesn’t hear our conversation (I take some blame for it as well). Sure, that works too, since I have done the same, I can admit it was the fault on both sides. But HOW DARE THEY tell us that “you don’t understand what it means to see thousands of people die” in front of my friends who just lost their family, friend and hundreds of others. It took all the patience I have ever mastered to not crack that Reinar’s nose and get all of us killed. Unlike others, I do understand the meaning of DISCUSSION. Congratulations to us for stumbling into the most self-important, obnoxious, pugnacious, idiots on this entire universe. (I must exclude Jevyan from this)   Well, I guess you cannot ask a jester to give up on being a jester. One can only do what they are good at. So did the interdimensional people. They started doing what they do best, use their powers. Of course, not for helping us but rather cutting our throats for standing in their way. However, Jevyan, suddenly unleashed his whole powers and stood between us and them. He was the only one that strongly disagreed with killing Lullaby. He was what is called a good friend. Poor Jevyan, he must have felt very betrayed by the others. “I am a necromancer that has been working for Xantinya all this time, that’s what you wanted to hear didn’t you?”. Those were among his last words before getting slashed by the others. Just how horrible of a person can you be to make a friend suffer so much and not feel any remorse from it?   In the meantime, we got the hint and one by one we went through the Glyph. Before Nixie and me entered, we saw Tallion flying up in the sky, ready to help Jevyan. We could no longer wait so I wanted to send Nixie first and then wait for Tallion. Before she left, Nixie made me promise that both me and Tallion would come back alive. If it wasn’t for this promise, I would have eaten that fucking glyph and the inderdimensionals could have cut me open for all I cared, but I really really wished to fight those bastards. At least they should do the whole world a favor and use those powers to make sure they have no children. But a promise is a promise, and an order is an order, and seeing that I had no time left I went through the glyph waiting for Tallion. The moment he appeared; we destroyed the glyph. Finally, we had some time to rest. HAHAHAHA. SLEEP? NO! WE NEED DEMONS because THEY are the best cure for exhaustion. I was finally sleeping, dreaming about a very nice sunset when Nixie woke me up. Apparently, some kind of wasps were attacking us. But they were not normal wasps,no no no. They were wasps sent by a demon. To be fair I was so done at the moment, that I just started hitting those wasps. But the more I hit, the worse it got. “LET THEM COME, I don’t have anything better to do than fight demonic wasps tonight. HAHAHAHAHA!”. But the sleepless nights showed their effect and after a few shockwaves, I just gave up and went to sleep like all of the others. The buzzing and fuzzing kept going the whole night. Absolutely horrendous.   I woke up by Nixie’s enthusiastic screams “I beat a demon. I beat it. And I hugged an angel ”. At first, I thought she became a bit mental after all that happened, not because I wouldn’t trust her to beat a demon, but because she was screaming and jumping around like she was seeing the world for the first time. She told us about this demon named Pank.. The beginning of the dream is not very clear in my mind, I was a bit shocked. I have not seen Nixie smile so happily in such a long time! *sigh* Perhaps this morning was not so bad after all. I just came back to reality in time to hear Nixie saying how there were a lot of me falling down from the sky, and how at some point, the demon divided her in many parts and she decided to shape one of us from each body part. I must proudly say that I was half of her ass. I honestly could have not chosen a better part for myself. It appears that our dear captain has some imagination But that’s not that important. The most important part was that SHE beat a demon! She showed that bastard Pank that she is not so weak as they thought. GET THAT, YOU BLOODY DEMONS! OUR GORGEOUS CAPTAIN KCIKED YOUR ASS ONCE AGAIN! I have never felt more proud in my life, not even at myself. And that says something. You know, I once remember Nixie as a little spoiled girl who used to gather herbs in the forest. Now, I see a young captain that hugs angels. I mean, saving her from that prison and being near her for most of the journey seems like one the biggest achievements I have. I have never cried tears of joy before but I guess it is a beginning for everything. I said it and I would say it again. There is one captain left on the world that I will follow. You know, I sometimes had my doubts, and we had our fights, but she proved times and times again that she will lead us in the right way. The demon said that he will make sure Nixie kills us. Well, jokes on him, I would find that death quite nice. Anyways,YOU DID IT, NIXIE!   Come to think of it, it’s the same for all the elves. From afar, they seem cold and very pompous. But once to know them, they are actually so loving. They won’t admit it, but they can’t hide it forever, can they? I mean look at all the elves we met so far. His Majesty King Nathanilos loved his people, The Great Sylph loved even the ones that destroyed her eyes, Selenis loved his daughter, and The Great Aosthen loved the fun. I remember when the first months living with them. I hated every moment of it. Most of the elves couldn’t even understand me, and the others were usually talking very cold and politely. Since Nixie and me used to train a lot, we didn’t have much time together. I was surrounded by unfamiliar cold faces all the time. Until one day, when a small little girl came to me very curious. She wanted to touch me but was very afraid that I would burn her. I wanted to scare her a bit, so I stood up and started walking like a monster. But I tripped and fell down. The little girl started laughing and came to me and patted my head. It was the first time I saw an elf, other than Nixie, that smiled at me. I would sometimes hang out with her. As time passed, I slowly started to talk with other elves as well, even made a few friends. I wonder what they are doing now… You know, I do not like to admit this in front of Nixie but losing the elves was a bit heartbreaking. I do not share their pain or pretend to understand their sorrow, but still I have felt their love and it slowly fade away. On a brighter note, after we heard Nixie’s story, we all set down for breakfast, while Dillen and Kelly went to scout the area. It was a perfect time to talk about how everyone was handling up with what just happened, you know the basic stuff like Gilder’s betrayal, or the fight with the interdimensional or the plan for our next adventure. But to hell with that. Tallion was just about to make my day even better. When I asked them how is everyone feeling, our wizard simply replied with: “I am upset a wasp beat me”. I don’t think I have laughed like that ages. Thank you, Tallion, I really needed that. We all changed so much but some things never change, do they? Tallion still has the most random answers, Eve still says “Nevermind” every time she thinks she bothers us and Bart is still trying so hard to hide his pervert side. I can understand now why he was friends with Heron. Anyways, I was weirdly happy. I almost forgot this feeling existed.   I always thought that happiness is not something that can be found or understood. It is but a feeling you have, when for a split second in your head the time stops, you look around and you feel a little spark inside. And as a little spark, this feeling comes and goes at the most unexpected times. So, I never bothered searching for it. What good it would do to try to force something whose beauty lies in its unpredictability? It’s like that time when we played “break bones” on the boat. Although I have gathered the best team (Lafk’u, the fastodans, Brunek and Heron), I still ended up losing miserably. But that is the beauty of this game, it is unpredictable. Break bones is one of my favorite games since when I was a child. I remember that I used to play it with my brothers. It was like a family tradition that after dad would come back from a fight, we would play this for him to make him proud. You see, after my dad and brothers started dying, we never played it again. You only can play it with a lot of people, otherwise it is not fun. So after a while I just gave up. One time I told Nixie about it. I was a bit sad when I told her the story but her response amused me terribly. Of course, you can’t play break bones in two people, but she challenged me to see who can throw a rock further away in the river. Whoever lost, had to wash the dishes that night after dinner. Nixie went first. Her throw was not bad, but I was sure I will beat her. But while I was throwing the rock, I have tripped on something, lost my balance, and dropped the rock near one of my feet. Up to this day, I am sure Nixie has done one of the tricks she learnt at home. But for her sake, I washed the dishes that night just because I know she did this game to raise my spirit.   Well anyways, back to less nostalgic stuff, it seems that Eve also had a dream. In her dream, there were two figures fighting: A wizard with a staff that had an empty circle and some sword guy. In her dream, Eve was chained, and at some point, Lullaby’s sword came straight to her.She felt that she was in control over the situation, even when chained, but somehow it wasn’t Eve’s control but someone else’s. She woke up before anything else happened. Eve recognized Sikorki in that dream, the great interdimensional that fought the other five bad guys. At the moment, we could not figure out much. We concluded for the moment, that Lullaby tried to tell us something by giving Eve a dream. After a short “Expect to die there, we have no clue what’s going to happen” briefing from Nixie, we went to open the XY dimension. The way to the gate was no problem, we even saw something they call “a tank”. Pretty interesting machine. It took some time to figure out how to open the gate. At first, we tried to do it ourselves, but it didn’t quite work. In the end, Eve managed to talk Lullaby into opening the gate and a big key hole sign appeared in front of us. I don’t know about the others, but you open a gate that may potentially lead to the destruction of this world, you reevaluate your life choices a bit, right? “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are “it could have been”. I read it once in Nixie’s books, and back then I couldn’t agree more. These days I find myself thinking more and more about what how different our lives would have been. “What for?“ you may wonder. I don’t know. Many people would say that it’s a total waste of time. Still…I can’t help it. Times and times again I imagine different, more joyful scenarios in which we would have been untroubled. I know we could all have lived a peaceful life, and probably it is the most painful thing to know. For no matter how much I long for it, I still would not trade it with what we have now. I don’t know exactly why. It’s a mix about sensing a certain responsibility for what would happen, a hope that the world is not doomed, a wish to remember what was lost and a love for what we have. So there it was. The end of the world started here, with us. And of course the hundred mivureh, and Xantiniya could not miss the moment. She came in front of us and held one of her great speeches. Xantinya, dear, we get it. The first time you had a grand speech, was frightening, even a bit intimidating. But you know, it gets old after the first few times. I was half listening to her speech but what I most remembered from it was “I am finally reunited with my all selves” . As she was saying that, she took the form of an angel of sorts. She continued her speech and then left as always. OH no, Who would have expected that? You know, times and times again, we’ve seen her grow in power, and times and times again we will probably lose in front of her. But what if we actually win?. Might as well we fight till we can no more. So do become stronger, Xantynia, shot your best shot at us. We will maybe die, but someone will remember our efforts. It is too late for you, for one person is enough to make others believe in something. And maybe that person will die as well, but the circle will never end. And in hundreds of years from now, you will still have lost. As long as one person in this entire world believes us, then we have a chance still.   With Xantinya gone, and the gate open, we had nothing left but to go see what is in XY. When we entered there, it was complete night. The place looked like nothing we have ever seen before. There were very long buildings all around. Quite ugly in my opinion. And we were in something that is called “The Park” or something like that. Full of nature all around, but I was surprised to not see any houses here. There were also some kind of flying big fireflies that were trying to follow us wherever we go. Maybe they were like the wasps and it was the demon’s way to follow us or something. Well luckily, it was not the case. They were just some more advanced lights. Not long after our arrival, we heard some voices. The language did not seem similar but doesn’t quite matter. When you are in a new dimension, and you hear people coming, you hide. And so, we did. The others entered the magic chest that Damaschini has, and I hid somewhere to protect it. And the plan would have worked perfectly, if not right after those people left, our party was starting debating as always in the middle of “the Park” about what we should do next. The two guards heard and came back and found us. The head of these creatures was as long as one of my hands probably, but the neck was normal sized. And they had fur on them. After they requested some identification papers of course we did not have, they proceeded to arrest us. To be honest, very annoying. We couldn’t even fight them because they had some kind of lasers that were pointing at us. So, we tried to communicate with them. Turns out that our common language is the old language they used to have. Of course, probably by now, you know that we are neither the best negotiators nor the smartest rogues. So of course, we ended up being arrested and they took us to some kind a white room. When we arrived there, we told them the truth about the reason we came. To no surprise, they thought we are either lying or crazy. You know, the first time I heard it from Tallion, it dind’t even cross my mind that he could be crazy. Is there something wrong with us? Because ever since we have left Tallion’s place in Ionolia, everyone we tried to convince said that we have some screw loose. Maybe Kelly was right, and we have some kind of mental illness and she studies us. Or maybe I am the crazy one and the others don’t even exist. Well either way, I cannot understand why some people just cannot believe us, if not for the story itself, then just for the simple thought that a bunch of creatures that your smart-ass system does not recognize, came to you and made such a complicated story. I mean come on, just look at Xixi, Damaschini and me and tell me you would not believe us. Or at least think about it. Apart from that, they even had a premonition that something bad will happen when a black comet would fly in the sky. Hmm what a coincidence! There was a black comet of the sky today. BUT NOOOO! Did you know, dear diary, that COINCIDENCES OF THAT SCALE ARE A THING! HAHAHAA! WHY BELIEVE A BUNCH OF “MUTATIONS”, WHEN WE CAN JUST WATCH THE BEAUTIFUL STARRY SKY TONIGHT AND ASK OURSELVES IF THE PROFFECY IS RIGHT?? NOOO,EVEN BETTER, LET’S MAKE THEM SOME KIND OF EXPERIMENTS, BECAUSE IT SURE IT’S FASTER THAN ASKING THEM DIRECTLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON. I swear that the common sense is somewhere hidden in a tenth dimension or something especially for the people that live in other dimensions. Seems none of them understand the concept of a DISCUSSION. Anyways after many attempts to try to reason with the long head people, we just gave up and started to focus on helping Lullaby.   Might as well spend our time here doing something useful. Hmmm but what could we do? I mean she was not quite sentient at that moment. Everyone was trying their best to find a solution to help Lullaby. Everyone but our beloved captain Nixie which strongly believed that we should make Lullaby see a doctor. In days like these, I don’t even bother asking Nixie what is going on inside her head. I mind my own business and I leave her thinking about whatever she does. The others seem to not mind also, everyone except Eve. I do strongly believe that we all need some good sleep. We are all a bit irascible lately. But REALLY EVE? Are you going to put on an upset face every time your dear captain choses an option that seems emotionless? Well let me enlighten you then, YOU CHOSE THE WRONG CAPTAIN FOR THAT. “Let’s stop helping Lullaby, there is nothing we can do. She is just a burden in your eyes” Eve said very angry. HAHAHAHAAA of course Eve, silly me, I don’t even know why I was trying in the first place. PFFFF IT’S DEFENETLY NOT THE REASON WE ALL CAME HERE FOR. NOOOOOO, WE CAME INTO THIS DIMENSION TO EXPLORE THIS WONDERFUL WHITE ROOM. HOW SPLENDID! IT WAS DEFENETLY WORTH HELPING XANTINYA FOR IT! I do understand the reason Nixie would feel a bit upset at Lullaby. In the end, we all lost something, and just as her, we did not have time to mourn for it but we are still standing. Strangely enough, sadness became for us a luxury of sorts. We can afford to feel it sometimes, but never to show it. What I do not understand is why, out of all times, she decided to not get involved NOW. Why not when we had to talk with the interdimensionals, why not in literally ANY OTHER TIME? I am also biased when I do not necessarily see eye to eye with someone (Dillen can confirm) but if Dillen was in such state I would try to help in a way or another. As for Lullaby, I hope she gets well soon.   Finally we put all the information together, and Bart came up with the idea how to help Lullby. We should go to sleep and see if one of us dream something. Funny how we ended up sleeping just because it would help us solve a problem. Well every hour I spend sleeping, it’s an hour that will help me calm down. So I gladly accepted this idea. I did not have any kind of dream but luckily for us, Tallion did. In the dream, he was in one of the Lullaby’s memory, where she was talking with Sikorki. He was preparing to go to fight the five interdimensionals, and had one last conversation with our dear friend. Sikorki told her that she can do a lot of good things in this world and gave her the sword. Then Tallion woke up. Finally, we were getting somewhere. We gathered some ideas and came up with a decent plan. Since the sword was the only way to communicate with Lullaby, we all put our hands on it, and put it near Lullaby. We did not try to convey a certain message, but rather let the sword decide what to tell her. We just wanted to let her know it was time for her to help Rafil. Tallion managed to make some kind of connection and we followed his lead. Various memories of Lullaby was flashing in front of our eyes. Damaschini chose a special one, the one in which Rafil was created. For a slight second it worked. Was it a good idea? Probably no. Because for some reasons Damaschini was looking and Lullaby, and Lullaby at Damaschini and so on in an endless loop. So something must have happened. Well I we will talk about that when it will become a problem. In the meantime, we tried a second time, but we chose a different memory, one with Sea. Of course, it worked. Thank you Sea, you really are always with us. Then Lullaby slowly started to move and managed to help her baby. Then became a still statue again. This time though, it seems that she was able to see the movement around.   Since we had some time left, we proceeded to plan our next move. For the long head people to not find out, we decided to have the conversation by writing. We all gathered in a circle and started writing our opinions. In the beginning it was alright but after some time everyone started so aggressively writing. Normally I do not think I would notice this because when we talk, we all get very engaged in the conversation. But for some reasons, I was not so engaged in this conversation. Maybe because I was a slow writer and couldn’t keep up with the rest. Or maybe just the simple idea that we were in an all white room, in a circle having a conversation about the future of the world in writing, made me question my sanity. Either way, I was rather listening than saying much. At some point, it seemed more than a fighting in writing, than anything else. We started talking about other things instead of our plan. I got annoyed about the writing thing because I had things to say, but the ideas were changing too fast. Again, no need to plan something for the future. Let’s talk about something a loot more fun, right Eve? Let’s talk about how Nixie thinks it’s Lullaby’s fault for what happened. What if she did? What then? Would we spend an eternity trying to convince each other that our opinion is correct? No. Then, why is it our business in any way? Especially when we had more pressing matters to discuss: like what are we going to do when we get out of that room. To be fair, for the first time in a while I was not quite decided which of the options would be better. One because I felt that my opinion would be biased because I am from the Continent. And two, because there were people we could help in both places. If we went to the Continent, we would help people fight the orcs and necromancers. If we stayed here, we would help people from other dimensions. Come to think of it, the Continent would be the last place we know in our world that could be helped and then we would need to spend even more time finding new places in hope of some allies. And that would take us months. On the other hand, just imagining the poor people in The Continent fighting an undead orc frightened me terribly. In the end I decided to vote for going back to the continent (despite me offering advantages most of the conversation for the other side). Well after a lot of talking and debating, the votes were in favor of staying in the dimension of Death.   And just in time , the long neck guys came to take us to their secret research chamber probably. They put us in a car (too complicated to explain) and took we started going. Somewhere halfway, Kelly told us to scream at her for some weird reasons. She had some kind of plan which involved her spasming on the floor again. The death dimension people came and took her, and some time later she returned. She told us that the situation is not too good. That she tried to convince them that she could be useful in any way, but did not work. So, we had to do something to escape from there. A very simple plan: Damaschini would do some of his crafty things and would somehow modify the car, we would stay in the chest, then he would take the chest and fly. While he flies, to distract the people from shooting him, he also did some kind of explosion. The plan him and Kelly made worked out perfectly. And we were out of the van in no time. Well, Damaschini seems like a nice guy for now. A new face that does not betray us is nice to see once in a while. He is very quiet though. We barely talked when we introduced ourselves. Then in the park he let us climb on his shoulders to see the city the long buildings. But apart from that, he is just quiet. Sometimes he states his opinions but I do not hear him talk with us much. Hmmm…maybe he doesn’t like us or maybe he doesn’t know what to talk about. Nonetheless, if all the people in the old party were like this, I can understand why Tallion talks so much. When we finally got to a safe place, we got out of that chest. Sooo…what now? Oh right, we don’t know. First, we had to blend in. So, it was time for Bart and Dillen to shine. They stole some clothes, disguised themselves, went to some kind of “train”, stole some money, and got us clothes and access to something called “The Internet”. Not only now we were nicely dressed, but we could buy food and whatever else we needed. Now, about that “internet”. I haven’t figured out how it works yet, but if you ask a device nicely, they will show you all the information you need. It’s a bit more convenient than books to be fair. Dillen seemed to have the time of his life there, so did Kelly and Damaschini who seemed very curious about everything around. To be fair, I do not think I could live here, but it seems that we finally have another exciting adventure ahead. So why not? This dimension sounds fun already. They have something worse than our canibals, they have humans that eat dried bodies. Now that we have so much information, we can decide where to go. We will probably do some more research about this world, and then be on our way. I really hope we can get some sleep soon. I managed to rest a bit in the chest, but we all need more. I am sure of it.   May the Almighty helps us, and give us some time to sleep. PLEASE! P.S.: By the way, dear diary, Bart is hiding something from us. He asked Kelly if he could borrow the “internet” device for a second so he could search for something. Then he went somewhere else and when he came back, the whole search history was deleted. We made fun of him for watching some porn videos. But does he really think that I would believe he would shamelessly take he device while all of us were there INCLUDING EVE and watch such things? A few days earlier when Nixie told him that in her dream, Bart was the left boob and he kept asking Nixie to say that it was what she thought not what Bart told her, because he did not want to upset Eve. Bart could fool some of us, but if he’s planning something, he might want to be more careful. P.S 2: We finally found a person in this world that understands what a DISCUSSION is. Bart went to the toilet to find out more about the prophecy and as he sat there, another guy entered the toilet. They calmly talked about the prophecy without threatening each other or calling each other names. GOOD JOB, TOILET GUY!

Dear diary, Our journey is like one of those stories Nixie used to say near the fire. I always liked her stories, but I never expected a happy ending. Still, for some reasons, I always wanted to hear them until the very end. Sometimes I was right, and the story ended badly but sometimes, I was wrong and the characters lived happily ever after. And then there were the stories that never told us what happened in the end, those which were meant to leave you curious. Those stories were the only ones I hated the most because I always wanted to know what future holds for the characters. I feel now it is the same. This is probably the final chapter of our story in Vaneolin, but not by far our last adventure. But what happens next? I feel like now more than any time before, I want to know. I need something to tell me what to do and which way to go.   A few days ago, we left Faen. We had a long road ahead full of rain, bloody cold nights spent sleeping on the ground and hours spent on trying to move the caravan. We were all dirty, exhausted and done with the situation. Still, none complained, not one of us stopped. Even when I pushed Nixie in the mud, she didn’t say a word. On contrary, at the end of the day, everyone found the energy to prepare to fight. Hmmm, who would have guessed I would live the day when Nixie won’t complain about mud? Still, we had a lot of time to talk with each other. We got to know our interdimensional new friends better and find out about their world. Apparently, they have something like an orb you can see other people through and they call it a TV. I am curious about their world, but the more I find out the weirder it becomes. I like Lullaby a lot now, she is such a nice person. She keeps apologizing for everything which i find extremely polite and nice. And she gives fishes to Xixi. Anyone who is Xixi's friend is also my friend   Kelly never talks much about other dimensions. I assume she was not in the right mood recently. I was afraid that it may have been our fault. The first night of this road, Nixie asked me to come so we can talk with Kelly. She wanted to help Kelly find a way to fix her face. To be honest I do not understand. Kelly is pretty as she is now, but if that is what Kelly wants then I am happy to help. But it seems that Kelly did not really want to be helped. She said that we cannot help her and that she is feeling uncomfortable with our feelings. I know Nixie and me are a bit extra at times, but I promise you, we only do it because we want to help. Still, I can understand that if must be difficult for Kelly to accept this. After all, until now she lived a life based on leverage, she didn’t really have friends. And now, some strangers from another world come to her and tell her that they will help and ask nothing in return. I would find it difficult myself to believe it if I was her. Nonetheless Nixie and me are hard to push aside. But I appreciated it. The fact that she was so uncomfortable with our feelings, was a sign she was thinking about them.   Apart from that, the rest of the journey was rather peaceful. I kept asking everyone if they are doing fine, but nobody seemed to have a problem. Bart was a bit suspicious but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. Eve is there for him. I think they are very cute together. And we barely met any undead people on the way. I really didn’t want some undead army to take us by surprise so I decided to stay on guard when I could. I like it but I think I said it before, I like when there is a bit of silence around. Recently however, I sometimes find it too quiet almost lonely. From time to time, Drenizek would join me. He started drinking for a while again. Maybe it is because of what happened. I mean all his dreams of going back to Alomir and being with all his large family are gone, aren’t they? I remember we talked about it. He told me that he has nothing left to lose and that now, he is working hard to protect us. I mean I think I understand. He doesn’t have anything left to fight for, but he believes in us and loves us so if he can’t have anything anymore, at least he wants to help us to be able to have something. That’s why he always goes straight on in a fight because he doesn’t have anything left to lose but what’s behind him.   Now that I think about it, I do the same. It is sad yet I never had anything to lose but what is behind me. I look around and most of us have something that they wish to fight for: Nixie has the Continent, Tallion and Eve have their legacy of ionolians even the youngest of us, Isbel has her name of Lofkia to continue fighting for. I have nothing but the people who are here and fight. Every day, those people die, and everyday we lose one more. I want to keep fighting until the last breath but with each death my weapons feel heavier, and my arms feel weaker. I am just a bit afraid that one day, me wanting to fight will not be enough to make me lift my weapon. I couldn’t explain why but that’s how it feels. I think it is the pain I am trying to get used to, it drains some of my energy away. But I will be fine, I have to be. The others lost much more than I did and more recently. Now, more than anytime before I have to be there for them to help them with what I can.   After a week or so, we finally arrived close to Legondol. The landscape was nothing like how I remembered it. Legondol used to be a beautiful place, surrounded by trees everywhere. Now, everything was burned to the ground, destroyed. The outside city was completely gone, but the fortress that was guarding the Primordial Tree was still standing for now. We had to get there as fast as we could to help with protecting what is left. But to do that, we needed to pass the lake that was surrounding the fortress and climb the walls while fighting with the undead people. Not very easy to do.   I overheard a conversation about flying between Tallion and Nixie earlier. We may not be able to climb the walls, so we need to fly over them just like…TREBUCHET STONES. We needed to become a trebuchet stone. I suggested the idea, but the others said it would be impossible. Not for Bajid though, who seemed quite excited about the idea. I never talked with him, but that guy seemed to be a lot of fun. So, we went ahead and beat the undead near the trebuchet. Then we all jumped in there and Bajid did some of his interdimensional tricks and in a second we were flying in some kind a bubble all above the fight. Quite fun. The landing was a bit tremendous, but we all got inside the fortress in one piece.   Not soon after we stood up, the Great Sylph came to us. She only had one eye now. Just what kind of monster would do such think to her? We didn’t have time to ask because we needed to go and fight. Even the Great Sylph seemed surprised by what just happened. I guess not even the strongest elves can hide their emotion when one of the Wise Elves of Enneth flies like a trebuchet stone inside your fortress together with some other elves, a fire elemental, some humans, a strygian, and some interdimensionals out of which one is Ghighi. I really want to know if Aosthen had fun flying or if he was cursing the fate, that brought him with us. But I hope the old man had fun at least now.   Well anyways, after a few minutes, we each headed to fight each where we were most needed. And so the long battle of Legondol began. Nixie, the crew and Anevys of course went with The wise elf Aosthen to the Primordial Tree while Talion, Zuzu, Eve and Bart went south to help the armies there and meet Damaschini. Xixi left to the water before we could tell her anything, and Lullaby, Gilders and Bajid followed her. Only the Almighty knows what happened with Ghighi or where he went. So that left me and Kelly to go on the west side.   I think Kelly and me make a great team in the fight. She asked me to throw her in the middle of the undead people and then I followed with no problem. We helped some of the elves to retreat from the walls and then we kept holding the lines as good as we can. Kelly and me both led the armies pretty well so our resistance was not defeated easily. At some point however, I saw Kelly fell on the ground. It was those annoying headaches again. She kept having severe attacks lately. She had one before, during the road here, now she had one during the fight. Luckily, I was there to help her until she put herself back on her feet. While we were blocking the undead people coming down from the wall, we heard the retreating horns for the south and soon from that direction, a regiment of undead swordsmen came to fight us. We were now being outnumbered and would have lost the fight if not for Nathalinos, the Great King of Elves who came from the north with his troops.   After some time, some kind of huge metal creature attacked the undead swordsmen regiment as well and destroyed most of them. I wondered what it was, but you know I was a bit too busy killing undead people to ask. Then, from behind the creature, appeared another creature, some kind of mini black dragon who I gathered to be Damaschini. Well, it’s not nice not to say hi to your allies even in a fight so I waved at both Nathalinos and Damaschini, but I don’t think they saw. Anyways, after a long fight, we managed to finally retreat. Kelly and me climbed the walls to see if there was anyone who needed help, and we noticed that there was a big magic men fight between our party and the necromancer guys going on.   We hurried to get there and what we saw was Drenizek as a stone statue, holding the mask of one of the necromancers guy. I asked what happened and Anevys quickly told me. Drenizek did it, that guy finally did it. I saw him train for this since he was still on the ship and it seemed that it finally worked. I talked with him and Tallion about this training a few days ago. I really hope it helped. But Drenizek used this power to hit a fucking demon to the death. He managed to do what he wanted, he managed to protect us. I don’t know what the others felt but I was so so proud of him. For a second, I looked at him again and some of that happiness slowly started to fade away. “Ah yes, he managed to do what he wanted…but now he is also gone” I thought. But then, someone said he is not dead, just stuck in that stone, and the energy came back twice as strong. If Drenizek can beat a demon with just a sword, we can bring him back. And that’s what we all did. Tallion did some kind of magic, Nixie as well, and the rest of us, did what Drenizek taught us best. We sang to bring him back. Lullaby was also gently manipulating some planes to help Drenizek. All these efforts worked, and in the end the stone disappeared and Drenizek fell down on his knees.   And like that we just thought the fight was over. We have lost Aosthen and the rest of the elves from Enneth, except from Elyra and many other elves that fought at our side. But before we got to prepare for the funerals, we heard that from the south 20,000 four eyes cats were making their way to fight us. Seeing that we had no chance to win, the Great Sylph ordered all of us to enter the castle and go behind the Primordial Tree.   And what happened next, dear diary, will remain in history as the Rise of the Primordial Tree. Everyone but Lullaby, The Great Sylph and King Nathalinos was now staying behind the tree, ready to fight. Not long after, five white four eyes cats made their appearance from behind the castle gates, followed by a small army. We were ordered to not attack anyone who is not attacking the tree or one of us. The great Sylph was now surrounded by a dark aura that was almost scary. In the beginning, the whitest of the four eyes cats wanted to attack the Great Sylph but to no avail. The Great Sylph deflected the attack with just one hand movement. And that was the last thing we have seen. At the same time, from one side one of the stupider four eye cat wanted to attack the tree and the whole ground shook so hard that we almost fell. Between us and the ones that were in front a great wall became to form from the branches and roots of the tree. The Primordial Tree was moving and fighting. I was shocked. The Primordial Tree which I thought to be just a symbol of the original world, was in fact, a very strong essence bearer. Needless to say, that we didn’t stay and waited for the fight to be over. Here and there, the four eyes cats started to make small holes in the wall. Perfect for us to hit them. After some time of fighting, the Primordial Tree turned back to its initial position and revealed Lullaby, The Great Sylph and King Nathalinos (who now lost one hand). The five white four eyes cats were laying dead on the ground, and the ones who were left alive immediately left Legondol.   I did not see one person who was not shocked or amazed. The whole scene was not something I would have ever believed it is true. I was looking at the tree which now was back to normal and I was wondering if it was not a dream or something. I was feeling safe. Maybe a bit too safe because when the Great Sylph asked us to join her to search for something outside the city, I agreed without thinking. It didn’t even cross my mind that the four eyes cats could be there or that could be a trap. I let my guard down. I was so happy for the victory to even think that we can still lose. A big mistake. We went to investigate and soon after we found a weird round rune. Yet again magic men things I do not understand. The others got very into investigating the rune and to be honest I was tired, so I was kinda spacing out. That is until, the rune moved underneath us. In the same second, the army of four eyes cats surrounded us and from a red dragon, Xantinya made her entrance. I must say, we should have expected something like this.   As the friendly demon she is, Xantinya did not forget to say hi to her old friends Damaschini and Tallion. She didn’t even bother looking at us. Then, she turned and started talking with the one she was really interested in, Lullaby. It was like seeing the two queens of a chess game finally meeting each other. And us, we were the pawns that needed to fight the black pawns. Xantinya was not alone this time. Behind her, there were three men and a girl that seemed to be Miyun. You could sense that the situation was not going great because not even Ghighi was smiling anymore.   Lullaby and Xantinya talked for a bit and then attacked each other. The first time they clashed swords the whole ground started shaking. It was an unimaginable fight we got to see. Lullaby’s sword was glowing stronger that I saw before, and she looked very serious. Ghighi and some black moon guy jumped at each other and in a slight of a second they disappeared. As for Bajid, him and Gilders began fighting the interdimensional that came after Lullaby long before. That left us fighting with someone called The Quill. He is some kind of magic man that writes the rules of reality. Well there we were again. Needless to say we were exhausted and going against someone that manipulates planes was not going to be easy at all. Probably something else that Xantinya planned. But we couldn’t give up now, could we?   In a helpless effort to fight this guy, Nixie and me tried to understand the magic that I was created from. At the same time, Tallion sat down in the middle of the fight, waiting for Miyun. He called for Damachini to help get their friend back, but he didn’t reply. I was a bit surprised. I saw Damaschini save us in the fight in Legondol and I thought he is a nice guy but he didn’t go after his own daughter. I am really curious what kind of person he really is. I heard many things from Tallion and other people, but I don’t know what to believe and what I shouldn’t. Nonetheless, he seems to be an ally for now and a good one in a fight. While we were fighting the Quill, this writing magic men made us bond together so hard, that if one of us moved, the other would die. Eve suggested that we should try to separate ourselves by imagining one of our bonded neighbours as an individual person. For some of us worked, the others were still stuck. I managed to individualize Nixie in my head I guess I know her good enough, I still got stuck by Eve. I mean I know it is not the moment but I was amused seeing Nixie and Dillen stuck together. What were the odds? Anyways, the Quill was about to attack us when Damaschini started telling us some kind of story. Again, not the moment, but the way we were fighting was rather hilarious than useful. While Damaschini was telling the story, we each tried to use the different perspectives we saw the story to destuck ourselves. I don’t really know dear diary, some fights are just confusing for me. Or rather, the ways we fight are unexpected all the time I just try to do whatever I can and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Even Tallion is confusing. In the middle of this fight, he teleported only the Almighty knows where.   Damaschini went ahead and attacked the writing magic guy. I saw Kelly that was staying a bit behind, looking a bit confused. Probably she didn’t know what to do. There were some SAI men near the four eyes cats. I mean seeing them, Kelly was probably thinking which side to take, if she should fight with us or go the other way. I did not have doubts in her though. We have stayed together for not a long time but it was enough for me to know. I may not always understand her, but she is a good person. That I know for sure. And despite all our differences, she is a person I would easily trust my life with in any situation. And I was right. The next moment, Kelly stepped in front of us ready to fight the writing magic man. I joined her on the right and we headed straight to attack him as well. Our swords went through the magic man, but it was the effort that mattered there. I don’t know for her but for me, this attack represented our bonded friendship.   The other people seemed to do better than us. After a lot of full force attacks from Bajid, the interdimensional guy he was fighting became ashes which fell like snow on the ground. I am not going to lie, but to be an interdimensional seems very very hard. They don’t only have cool powers but they have to know to use them right without destroying a whole world. From time to time, the ground would shake again when Xantinya and Lullaby attacked each other. Between the attacks, the queens were having small word exchanges as well. From what I could hear, Xantinya was trying to make Lullaby angry and full of bad feelings by reminding her of her father. But our Lullaby was smarter than that. She knew better. Their powers were so strong that we couldn’t get close to any of them even if we wanted. Lullaby seemed to have in her a power of many more other people. She even started talking with many voices at the time, some that were not hers. It was almost like Lullaby was representing all of us, all the people and allies that are fighting for this world. I felt she was not alone there, that she had help. And that gave me so much hope. That is until…   Until we heard a gunshot. Of course, the only one who was carrying a gun here was Gilders. We all turned around for some reasons. I mean we expected him to fight so it wasn’t nothing unexpected. But still, we all turned around. What we saw, was absolutely horrifying. It wasn’t an enemy Gilders shot, but his OWN brother. Gilders shot his own brother from behind. Bajid, who was not expecting anything, fell to the ground, dead. Lullaby, who also heard the shot, went straight to Bajid, screaming in pain. She gently sat on her knees near him, crying and hugging the breathless body of Bajid. Of course, such demon used this moment and took all the bad feelings Lullaby felt and used them to hurt her even more. Xantinya cursed the very last thing Lullaby had, her baby boy. How could any on this earth make something like this? It was such a monstrous way to hurt someone. Just how much pain and hate can someone cause until they have had enough. Just how much will Xantinya take from us until she had enough? She didn’t leave it at that. Xantinya send one of her lightings in the direction of the Primordial Tree laughing in history. She was laughing. All this time she couldn’t stop laughing. It was so horrid. Before she left with Gilders and Zarkuz, Xantinya gave Lullaby a choice: she was supposed to open the XY dimension to save her kid or let him die. It couldn’t be right. I didn’t really happen. No, it is just another one of Xantinya’s tricks. How I wanted to believe that. But it was all true. One of us, one that we trusted, mercilessly shot his own brother from behind. I remembered the day in Legondol when I looked at their family of interdimensionals. How could that have been a lie? In all of this, family was supposed to be our safe place, the place we come when we need love, and hope or anything else. In all of this, I always thought that one of our strength is the trust of each other. None of us ever expected that. None of us, ever thought that Gilders would betray us. I almost dropped my swords from the hand.   But I had no time to think about it because I saw a strong lighting come straight to Kelly. I jumped to push her aside, but instead, I think both of us got hit by the lightning. The last think I heard was Xantinya’s voice saying, “That’s what traitors deserve”. When I woke up, the situation was the same. Lullaby was still staying near Bajid, but instead of crying she was just laying there, numb. The others were just moving around. Everyone was still in shock, myself included. I didn’t even want to think about what we need to do now. I was completely out of energy. The bullet one way or another passed through all of us, not just Bajid. But I didn’t feel anger, not towards Gilders or Zarcuz- the four eyes rat. I didn’t want to make Xanitinya’s game anymore. It would be better to feel nothing at all now, than hate them. Because that is what she wants. She wants us to become monsters. She wants us to become everything we fight against. I saw Gilders look at Xantinya after, but I do not know what he though. One thing is for sure, I will not forget Gilders’s face in a long time. The face of a fallen friend. If we ever cross paths again, I will remember today, I will not let it happen again and I will fight him if needed. I will not become the monster Xantinya wants us to be, I will not take revenge.   As for Zarkuz, I had done my duty to listen to him. I was indeed curious but now, any chance of being friends is done. I consider him a coward. He hid behind the Primorial Tree when his race, which he said he had such a “special bond” were dying. He stood there laughing smiling when we were in danger. He did nothing, but use Lullaby’s kindness to fool her. He is a coward, who would rather save his own skin than fight for what he believes in. His beliefs are just fantasies of a crazy rat and nothing more. I am sure we will meet again. He does deserve a fair fight like all our enemies. Not even the Great Coward Rat can ran for a fair fight, can he?   But for now, I have to be there for Lullaby. I just cannot imagine the grief she is going through. But how can I do that when I can barely find my own strengths? I can’t even lift my weapons to fight. How could I help someone if I cannot fight? At some point, Talion came back, holding a small branch from the Primordial Tree. That lighting Xantinya used, destroyed even that strong Essence Bearer. Poor elves and Nixie, after all of this, to lose the Tree. They must have been devastated. I have to stand up for Nixie, I have to be there for her. Why cannot I fight the strenght? Why now out of all times??? But luckily, Tallion was there to save a branch. Have you ever thought how much impact can a small act of kindness have in times like these? It is not the branch, it is also what Kelly did as well, she fought for us. It is Bajid who believed in our idea to fly with a trebuchet. It is the crew who stayed with us even if we hid the truth. It is Aosthen who believed a bunch of rascals can save the Elves. The more things I thought of, the stronger I felt my arms. Slowly, I finally stood up.   Xantinya can do many things, she can take everything we have, but she cannot take us our spirit, our love. We cannot give in now, we cannot despair. If we gave her that, she would have won. Each one of us won a battle today but none of us won the war yet. She expects us to be weak. She wants to prove us that love is a weakness. But it is not. It is what holds this world together. Love, faith and hope. That’s what we are and we need to be. We cannot let Xantinya take that away from us. It wasn’t Lullaby’s love that hurt us today, it was Gilder’s hate. We were fooled, yes. But Lullaby’s is right, we have to try to understand other and to make them understand us. People make their choices on which side to be, but it is us who must try to give them the option to choose. Gilders and Zarkuz chose the other side, but Kelly didn’t, neither did the crew. This is our war. I have to go dear diary, the fight is far from being over.   May the Almighty keep loving us like He does.   Thank you dear Aosthen for your trust. Thank you, dear elves, for once again, fighting besides us. And thank you, dear Bajid. I did not know you well, but I will try to protect Lullaby for you. Oh and thank you for joining me in the trbuchet idea. P.S.: Thank you Gilders, you gave me a very valuable lesson. P.S. 2: Thank you to you too Mr. Coward Rat, you didn’t do much, but you told me about the fire inside. I guess that counts as well,right?

Dear Diary, I have spent many days in fighting in war, but I promise you, none of them was weirder than today. Not long after we met with Sylvia Halvel, we started planning what to do next. It was a hard discussion, because we knew that Legondol and Faen were both under siege and there was the Continent as well. We couldn’t be in all the places at the same time. Marv volunteered himself to go to warn the Continent. Given the situation, we had not much of a choice, so we agreed. And so we watched another one of us leave on the sea. I envy Marv a bit. I somehow wished to go to this adventure with him, but I am needed here. I did promise Eternal War after all, didn’t I? In the end, the journey took us to Faen. Here, the armies of undead people, were still preparing for the final battle, so the strategy we used in Metherol wouldn’t have worked. And we couldn’t expect that we would get any last-minute help like last time. After a few good minutes of discussion, we finally came up with a plan: we would use something to distract the necromancers on the northern side of the walls, while we would sally out with the army of elves and kill their armies. When I suggested this idea, I thought of a bigger distraction, but then Dillen had other things in mind because he suggested we should send Bart in there to pretend to be one of the necromancers. Of course, you would imagine that someone fighting against Xantinya would come up with smarter plans, like some actual war tactics, but then, who says this would not work. We even had the perfect accessories. Apparently Xixi kept one of the goat headed staffs from one of the necromancer guys. And, thanks to Tallion, we also had a name: Meknol (a necromancer guy who used to fool others by pretending to be a priest). Now, all it was left to do was to announce the elves they will need to do a sally out, and for Bart to decide what distraction to do. His “necromancer guy” story was that he was Meknol, and due to the incidents, that happened in Metherol, he was sent to search for none other than Mr. WorldsWide Tallion Almas. To distract them, Bart came up with the idea to sing them something terrible. But he wanted to practice on us first.Well in the beginning, it wasn’t something very frightening, but then Bart tried again and I’m going to be honest, it gave me some shivers down my spine. It’s surprising how powerful can some bad feelings become if expressed in the right ways. I didn’t enjoy the song at all, but that was the point. I just didn’t want to hear Bart sing those again, I don’t think it’s his style at all. Now, that “our necromancer” was ready with play his part, we had to do ours. We parted again from Bart. This time I was actually worried for him. I mean there is one thing to try to sneak near the undead people and necromancer guys, and completely another to go and pretend to be one of them.   Then, we flew inside Faen. Imagine being in a siege with undead people, and then two elves, a strygyian, a fire elemental, a masked red-haired girl, a few sailors and people fly inside your city to tell you to sally out. I would think they’re crazy to say the least, but elves don’t really say things like that out loud. And we also have the wise elf Aosthen who well, can be very convincing. So in the end, they have agreed with our plan. All we had to do was to wait for Bart’s signal, and then start attacking through the northern gate. We waited for some time before finally, Tallion told us that he has felt Bart doing something. To be honest, it was a bit of a relief to hear Bart was fine. And now, it was time for us to fight. Of course, I couldn’t stay behind and wait, so I went straight in front of the front line. It was time to show these undead people that elves do not just hide behind their walls.   Not long after we started the attack, we heard the sound of the very first swords clashing with the undead people. But I didn’t have much time listening to it because there were a few undead people waiting to jump on me. I was the first to cut an undead person in half. Seeing this, the elves behind me got a bit of motivation and charged as well. And so, a new battle started. This time however the Faen soldiers were better trained, and we were advancing slowly through the undead people lines, who were still not fully ready. It seems that the distraction of Bart worked quite well. But of course, the enemy was not weak. We were trying to beat them, but as expected, the fight was not going to be easy. Soon, they stopped our advancements and started to push back.   Happily for us, we got to a trebuchet and managed to conquer it. Then, Drenizek and whoever was nearby, set some oil to the trebucet stones and asked Nixie for help to lift them and throw them at the undead people. In the meantime, Kelly and me, moved the trebuchet so she can aim for the undead people now. Dillen tried to help but was attacked by one of the undead people and was almost hurt. I waited for so long for someone to beat this guy up, that now that it happened, I was not interested anymore. Since I was close by, I tried to help him, and then took the fighting with the undead in my own hands. Funny how a few months ago Dillen and me were fighting on alcohol, and now we fight alongside each other to kill undead people. This would have been quite entertaining for Nixie I think.   Suddenly, from behind, we heard a very loud noise. Seconds after, a bird-lizard creature appeared out of nowhere and started running through the undead people lines, killing them like it was some kind of child’s play and saying that “Your savior is here to help you”. It is not something that you see very often in a fight. Elves were so confused that they took a step back. As for me, I was looking so amazed at what was happening that I almost didn’t notice an undead was attacking me with an axe. But I knew from Tallion there is one person in the whole universe who would behave like this: GHIGHI. The guy that is smarter than anyone, and about who we heard so so many stories. I must admit, he knows how to do his entrances. Seeing the confusion between the elves was getting worse, I tried to take a bit of control and organize them. Seems that seeing the trebuchet stones flying, and Ghighi helping us, the elves responded fast to what I was saying, and started fighting even harder than before. In the end, we managed to destroy most of the armies on the east side of the fight.   But the fight was far from done, and the west side was slowly pushed back by the undead people. To make things worse, from south, there were a lot of undead coming from inside the city through the gate. Our armies were holding strong, but they were inoffensive in a comparison to the necromancer there. I left the east side, and together with Anevys, we headed south, to help our men hold the line. But when I got there, I saw the necromancer guy who was attacking Nixie. Forget the plan to help the lines, it was time to pull a Verfy and go straight to the necromancer.   Dear diary, I think you already guessed, but going straight like a bull through an army of undead people and trying to reach their boss is not the brightest idea. What happened is that, in my rage run, I did not notice an undead tripped me. Not only that I didn’t reach the necromancer, but now I was attacked by two undead people. But wait, there’s more. I managed to attack one undead, but then when I was attacking the second one, I stumbled and fell on the ground. Now, there was a marching army of undead people stepping over me. You’d say that a fighter is able to control her feet, but I could contradict you. I tried to stand up unnoticed but to no success because I tripped AGAIN. “Hmm…it could be worse” I thought. And so, it was. While I was on the ground, I started sinking in the ground. Yes, you heard well, SINKING in the ground. In the end, I could barely swim and climb on some ground, and reach the others. I don’t even want to think what Eve thought when she saw me, full of dirt, with a messy hair and barely standing, coming from behind the lines of undead people. Thank the Almighty she was there; I really needed a hug (may it be with healing or not). I was ready to tell them that the ground is sinking but then I saw Nixie nearby. Why did I not think about it before.? After the fight, I told her that I almost sunk into her spell, and we both made fun of it. I mean I can’t blame her she destroyed a lot of undead people. But I must admit that my body still hurts, and there are some ugly bruises that will probably stay for a while. As Grandpa used to say: stupidity has a price and it always get paid. He was once again so right.   The fight went on for some more time, but to be fair I was a tiny bit lightheaded, so I do not remember many details. I just know that close to the end, everyone that had magic powers hit the necromancer guy and killed him. After that, most of the undead started to kill each other until there was only one standing. Another day, another fight we have won. I mean I am sure I could have helped more if I was actually not spending my time swimming in dirt, but the others managed very well. Note to self! Next time you want to jump in the middle of the undead people, at least make sure you are able to stand on your feet first. Or better, don’t go in there at all.   And now it was time for the most dreadful part of the fight: waiting to see who is alive and who isn’t. But this time, thank The Almighty, all of our dear friends came back. The Enneth elves, who tried to help from outside, lost a few men and the Faen elves had massive losses. In the end, without their army, we wouldn’t have managed to save the city. So, it was time for us to burn the death. But we didn’t get to join them because Ghighi came back. This time he had other two people and Gilders with him.   Imagine being the boss of the Faen elves. You wake up one morning, worried about the siege. But then, some weirdos fly into your city, then they suggest you a mad plan that depends on a disguise, then one more weirdo (worse than those you have seen before) teleports himself from thin air, throws fireballs all around, kills legions of people and disappears. And now, in the end, you win the fight and think everything is finally over, but the same weirdo from before also teleports from thin air, but this time he had another three people with him. The poor elves didn’t even ask questions anymore. They continued whit the ceremonies and let us be.   Everyone was a bit awkward when we saw Gilders and the other. We knew that, in front of us stood the Queen Lullaby and King Bajid of Redochia. I for one didn’t know how to address them. They wore normal clothes so I thought they wanted to disguise themselves, and they were still kind and queen, so I thought I should address them very politely. But then Tallion was like: “Lullaby, Bajid, I’m happy to see you again” and I became even more confused. I looked around to see the reaction of the others, and I saw Kelly looking at Lullaby. There was some kind of tension involved and I could understand why. In the end, I didn’t even introduce properly to our new allies.   Before we could go and talk with our guests, Bart stopped us because there was something, he wanted to discuss about the fight today. First of all, he told us that while he was going for the necromancers, he felt something was not right with the goat-headed stuff. He wanted to understand even more, and then he saw some purple eyes and heard someone saying that “I see you”. Of course, that is never a good sign. Then, he started singing for the necromancers, and something even weirder happened, because the stuff started to drain something from the necromancers, and they fell on the ground. Bart was afraid that because of him, we might be in danger, because someone was watching us now. Well, if they were watching us, there was nothing we could do but keep fighting. I was a bit more worried about Bart. There was a bond created between him and the purple eyes. Someone said that this bond will fade in time if Bart will resist the temptation to use such powers again, but I doubt the demons are gonna let this go so easily. I felt a very bad friend, we shouldn’t have let him do all of this. It was a bad idea. Now, we have to take care of him, and make sure he is in no need to use such powers again. Which is why, those goat-headed stuffs should be destroyed as soon as possible.   Also, while he was pretending to be Meknol, he had to lead the necromancers into the fight until he met with one of us. But when Bart met Tallion, he turned sides and it was so unexpected for the necromancers that they got discouraged. I mean I understand, if Ghighi would lead us in the next battle, and then he would be changing sides, I would be very dishearten. And now, Bart didn’t know how to feel because he was happy, we won, but he was feeling bad in for those necromancers (who also died). Well I tried to explain him that he shouldn’t feel necessarily good, because well betrayal is a cruel thing, but then, he did it to help us, and it saved so many, so he shouldn’t feel bad either. Somehow, the way I see it is just you need to get used to the idea and remember it for next time. And for now, he should just rest and enjoy the rest of the day. I love fighting, but I understand the cruelty of a war. It sometimes makes us do things that we wouldn’t normally do and pushes us to limits that we didn’t know it exists. But then, we choose to do these things that other won’t so we can continue to do the things that others can’t. If it wasn’t for Bart, probably we couldn’t have won today, and yet for this victory, he had to pay his price. And I respect him for that. He did what is called the necessary bad that had to be done, but it isn’t pleasant nonetheless to do it.   While we were still talking, we noticed that Kelly has disappeared somewhere. We found her outside the village, trying to make some of the technology. Judging from earlier, she wasn’t happy seeing Bajid and Lullaby. Seems that Kelly still has a hard time understanding what a friendship is, and how to deal with it. She is used to being just a tool for other people. I find it sad. She even said that “we all know Lullaby is more useful than me”. To be fair, I couldn’t care less who is useful and who is not. I guess she never understood how it felt like to be loved by someone. I didn’t expect Kelly to fight with us in the first place. I just like her for the person and the good friend she is. It’s just hard to send the message to her.   Then, we talked a bit with Eve, who also seemed like she was not doing fine. Well, it took a it to convince her to talk, because she isolated her into some kind of trance, and she wouldn’t speak with us. Not nice Eve, not nice. But nobody, no matter how strong, can resist the singing duo between me and Nixie. We are absolutely horrible. So, in the end, Eve talked with us. She said that she felt like she was useless. But how can that be? Did she not just save my life in battle, and as far as I remember she helped Nixie with her spells? We sent the message through. She was also super worried that Nixie, for only the Almighty knows the reasons why, didn’t want to be Eve’s friend anymore. I tried to hide my smile because it was rude, but I did find the situation a bit funny. All this time, since the dragon, Eve thought Nixie hated her or something. I bet that Nixie didn’t even think about it, and judging by her reaction, I was probably right. Well, nonetheless, if Eve felt this way, we had to solve the misunderstanding. It didn’t take long. But then again, many misunderstandings don’t take long to solve if we discuss them. By this point, we made our guests to wait long enough, so we wanted to return. Kelly however, suddenly fell down, stroke by another one of those bad headaches. We hurried to take her to Vas, but all he could do is give her that leaf that calms her down and then we let her sleep. While she was resting, I went to talk with Lullaby for a bit. I wanted to properly introduce myself. I must admit, for a queen she is surprisingly shy. Xixi absolutely loved her ever since she met Lullaby. That means a lot. I also think she is a very kind person. After all, not many people pass through interdimensional gates to fight in a war, while they are pregnant. Which, is why, I thought she would like to try and talk with Kelly. After all that happened in the past, I would understand why they would not like each other. But then again, Kelly is not the tyrant she used to be, and I am sure Lullaby changed a bit as well. I don’t want them to become best friends overnight, but I think it would be nice if they at least start talking. Kelly was still under the effect of the leaf but she was able to be a bit coherent. She doesn’t really let anyone see her being weak, but I guess in this case she didn’t have a choice. Despite all the stories about her past, I could never see Kelly as a tyrant. I’ve always seen her as such a good person. I know, only a twisted mind would see a so called tyrant as good and sensitive but I see no reason not to believe in her. A person is not defined by their position but by their actions. And everytime, although maybe with some reasons, she always helped us. She also said something of being tired of finding a leverage so maybe we could help her with that. After Kelly fell asleep, the rest of us, returned to the others.   The dinner was great. We told Bajid and Lullaby everything about Sea and our journey. Lullaby seemed very happy for Sea. They must have been very good friends before Sea came to our dimension. I as a bit moved by how much Lullaby seemed to love Sea. You know, when you see them together, all these interdimensionals seem I don’t know…wholesome is the word? Like they get along with each other well, even if they have their differences. Like Ghighi wouldn’t stop making fun of Lullaby but she still loves him, and they Bajid and Gilders just act exactly like real brothers, and I don’t know, it was a very funny vibe. They seemed to enjoy our story as well. Now that I think about it, I must say, the beginning was quite amusing. I felt like so much time has passed since then, but if you think about it, it isn’t even a year since we met each other. I felt a bit nostalgic, but it was a happy nostalgy I guess. Thank The Almighty we met that day, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I was feeling so grateful and blessed to have so many good friends.   The night was going great until well, Ghighi went a bit over the top, and made a bad joke about Tallion’s home that hit straight in the healing wound that was left after the recent news we got about Ionolia and the other countries. Tallion couldn’t stand it, so he went outside for a second. Nixie, Lullaby and me followed, so we can bring him back. It’s been only a few days since he found out about his family, well since all the party found out and yet here, they are fighting. I do think it takes some strength to do it. It feels weird. A moment ago, we were so happy, and now, the atmosphere completely changed. Ah yes, we are not the same people we were in the tournament in Ionolia. We are not living without a care anymore. We are soldiers in a war for this world, and we carry a heavy weight on our shoulders. And each day, it becomes heavier and each fight it becomes tougher. I don’t think I have realized it until today, but we all changed a lot, didn’t we?   To be fair, today, more than any other day before, I was missing Xebec. It would have been nice to see what he thinks of the interdimensionals. Pretty sure he would have had many jokes about them. Usually, talking with the crew would at least make me smile, but today that didn’t help. Though, I was happy they were handling the situation very well. I wanted to go and sleep near the sea, but then again, it would do me no good to be there by myself. If anything, it would make it worse. So, I asked if anyone wanted to join. Of course, Nixie is always up for a night walk.   As we were sitting there, admiring the quiet sea, Nixie brought up the Continent again. She is worried that Marv will never make it there. I know the chances are low, but I have to believe in Marv. I do not want to think of the disaster that would be if Xantinya would get there first. I was raised there after all so I cannot say I do not care about it at all. Ghighi appeared out of nowhere and started encouraging Nixie. It was a relief to have this conversation. It kind of made me feel better. Very weird creature Ghighi is. I don’t know if he is actually smart or just pretends to be. Well anyways, he is a great fighter in my opinion. We were staying there joking around, when we saw a small boat approaching. One hooded man was sailing towards us. The boat was veeery slowly approaching so the person that was sailing didn’t have much strength. And we were kinda staying there waiting and waiting. At some point we started approaching him as well. Nixie even wanted to take his hood of because whatever it was didn’t seem to hear us asking who he is. In the end after a long wait, we realized it was none other than Zarkus. The old friend of Tallion.   This was the perfect ending of a weird day. Why was Zarkuz here in the first place? Well, since I had no clue if he is an enemy or a friend, I decided to at least try to listen to him. Apparently he came here to help us. Tallion said he is a bad person, but Lullaby seemed convinced he isn’t. By how the conversation started, I would agree with Tallion, to be fair. Zuzu or however you want to call him, seemed otherwise an interesting person, but he was very set on his opinion about the Almighty. He pretended that he had no soul, but I find it very not true. I mean the only things I met before without a soul was a dragon, and Zarkuz didn’t look a bit like them. And I went to hug him and he said he didn’t feel anything. But that is a lie because no one can resist a hug. I didn’t understand why such a nice person like Lullaby was defending him. I knew they had a discussion, but a person can say many things. So I am not quite sure how to feel about that. Anyhow, it didn’t really matter as much because, in the end we all can have different opinions, right?   Things got a bit heated after Tallion joined. By the way Nixie acted, she and Tallion were not very keen on admitting him in the party. To be honest, I did not know what to say. I am used to trusting both the people before trusting the purpose, so it would take me some time to get used to working with someone I cannot trust. And then, if Zuzu would actually betray us afterwards, what would it really happen. I was not very happy with it. But then, it was the same situation with Kelly wasn’t it? She is a completely different person than us, with completely different thinking. If we wouldn’t have worked with her, we would all be long dead. The only difference is that, about Zuzu we heard things before, but we never really worked with him ourselves, so I do not think it is fair to judge him as fast when he came here to help. I told Zuzu my honest opinion. I wanted him as an ally. I think he is smart and could have a big influence but that doesn’t mean I have to trust him or his purpose from the start. I will try to take it easy. Pretend I do not really know anything about him, except what he told me. I think it is only fair right? Where the path would take us we will see, but for now, he is a potential ally.   Well dear diary, do you think there will be other days like this in the future?   May the Almighty keep helping us win this war   P.S.: Thank you elves of Faen and Enneth who fought in the Weird Battle of Faen! You shall not be forgotten for your bravery. P.S. 2: Zuzu offered to help me understand more about the fire that I am made of. I am thinking it could be a good option but I’d like to wait a tiny bit more.

Dear diary, I’ve had enough. I have had enough of all these deaths. If war is what Xantinya really wants, then war shall she have. As from today on, I promise you, I will stop at nothing. Until now, I was ready to fight, but now I am eager to do it. I will not leave the deaths of all these people be in vain. If it’s the sorrow we must go through, then so be it, but while I have a breath, I will fight to protect any life that’s left. This is OUR world and I have had enough of those who threaten it. Today in Metherol, we gave all we could, but tomorrow, our best will become better(quote by a wise man called Drenizek). We may be small, but we understand the true magic of this world: the faith, love and hope we have. Gilders and Kelly started to feel it too, didn’t they? This is why Xantinya wants to destroy this world, because no matter her powers, while this magic exists, she will never be able to succeed. We set out to Metherol to save it- and saved it was. We did it. And it wasn’t neither the number nor the force that won the fight, but the strength everyone got in their hearts. During the fight in Metherol, we had a choice: to repent and bear away the memories of our days together, that shall there be forever peaceful but never more than a memory, or, to endure the fight, for the sake of what we all loved. I did not see one person that gave up. Not one soul that wavered.   Before we headed to the fight, we spent the night planning and talking with each other. Everyone had unfinished business to solve, and it was the perfect time, because while we hoped that we will all come back, we expected some of us won’t. I talked with Dillen for a bit. After reading the captain logbook, I realized how important Dillen was for the crew. He was the first recruited and he helped Xebec find the others. I felt that if someone had to carry Xebec’s net in this fight, it was him. Somehow, in the end, I think we finally became real friends. I also wanted to talk with Dreniek because, I was afraid he will jump again in front of those undead people and try to protect us. But I realized he is not a fool, I worried for nothing. To be honest, I needed some reassurance myself since I was not feeling quite the best after Xebec died so I called on the second official meeting of the Girls Council. I will say just this, after all the fun games with Nixie, Dillen woke up in the middle of the trip and realised he had a wife and kids. I mean at least don't include Nixie in such games. Cutting a friend in two would be unfortunate, but i would do it for Nixie. Dear diary, believe me I would tell you more, but after all that happened, I can barely remember what we talked about and with who.   After some more conversation, we came up with a plan, and got ready to fly inside Metherold, helped by some birds. We couldn’t take everyone with us, so some of the elves stayed behind. Bart was also not coming with us this time. According to our plan, he was supposed to find the necromancers so that Talion can destroy them. Before we took off, we said a heartwarming farewell to Bart. It was a dangerous mission but knowing Bart, i somehow wasn’t that worried. After all, he did make his way to save us from Roib, didn’t he?   Once we got to Metherol, the Great Council of the Wise Elves went to talk with the generals of the city. We had half a day to prepare the ground, so every second counted. Metherol was not a very big city. It was surrounded on all sides by stone walls. In the center, it was a castle, big enough to hide all the women, children and elders that were not to fight. Its gates were strong, and the walls were high, so in times of need, we were to retreat inside. On the south-east side of the city, a small harbor was sheltering around six elvish ships. On the other shore, there was the Exterior tower (built to protect the harbor of dangers from the sea) which was not conquered by the undead people.   The city has been under siege for a few days, now. The west walls were damaged hard enough to make the entrance of the undead people easier. One gate was completely destroyed. The south side was not doing better either. To try and save the harbor, the elves destroyed the last bridge that was uniting the Exterior tower with the harbor. But to no avail. For a week, the undead people worked day and night to build it back, and now, it was ready for the siege. The north and east side of the walls were not as damaged, but from what the scouts could gather, the most numerous armies was coming from the north. Apart from that, farther away, there were 600 undead horse riders that were waiting to enter the city. If one of the gates were to fall, the city would have been doomed. The east side however, was protected by a river deep enough to slow down the armies for a bit. The fight seemed impossible to win. We were lacking manpower, resources, and preparations. Fighting an army that gets bigger and does not get tired also wasn’t to our advantage. And the pirates that spotted us earlier, seemed that they were sailing to join the undead as well.   We couldn’t back down now nor we wanted to. In the end, we came up with a plan: Each on of us were to hold a side, fight as much as possible, then, slowly retreat closer and closer to the castle. Once a side was to fall, the horns would announce the others it is time to back down slowly. The point was to kill as many of their army as possible, while sparing as much as we could from ours. Of course, Xixi went straight to the eastern river, waiting for the enemies. We sent three sorcerers with her, to hold as much as possible. Miremis, decided to take care of the south side, accompanied by none other than Vas (very unexpected duo). Anevys, Marv and me were to take care of the north and protect the gate while Heron, the fastodans and Brunek would guard the north-west side of the walls. Nixie, Drenizek, Eve, and Isbel were in charge of the upper west side, near the gate that was destroyed. The lower side of the west was covered by the two druids that we had, and Marc together with the greatest warriors we had. As for the port, we figured it would be the safest place for our rogues to fight and take care of Tallion (who seemed very excited to solve an old beef he had with the pirates). The three wise elves from the Grand Council of the wise elves, each split on one side: south, west, north.   And so, the half day passed. All the armies were now on their position and ready to fight. We were waiting. It was a dreadful wait. It was dead silence everywhere. Nobody was talking, nobody was moving. Only from here and there, there was an elf running from one side to another, doing last minute preparations. But all this silence was broken by the fade sounds of the marching enemy armies. While the last ray of lights was disappearing from the sky, the sound was getting louder. And all we could do was wait, and hope. Soon, the first lines of undead people were coming to sight. We saw nothing but thousands of emotionless purple eyes, watching straight to us. Compared to many of the others, I was used to the feeling of being into a war. Still, I was worried, I have never fought anything like this before nor have tried to coordinate troops. Back then, I was just a soldier, now I had a responsibility. And I knew it very well, my purpose there wasn’t to destroy all the armies, for it was impossible, but to hold them off as long as possible.   This was the moment we were waiting for: we either win or we come back as undead people to see the world end. The first exchange of arrows started, and not long after, we could see the siege towers and the battling ram. Anevys was on the left side of the gates while I was on the right one. I lost her sight when the battle started. As soon as the siege tower came closer to us the undead people started to climb the walls. They were killing without any remorse anything that was living. I got caught up in a fight with a big undead person that came to attack us. It had a huge hammer and impenetrable armor. I haven’t felt such force in a very long time, maybe never. I couldn’t see anything out of it, just some purple eyes. My first instinct was to stay and finish it off, but then, I looked behind. Not only we were about to surrounded by undead, but if we were to stay there, the whole northern gate would fall in less than an hour. So, I ran and gave orders to slowly retreat from there. The big undead person came after me, so we continued to fight. I managed to hit it a few times, and some very weird purple liquid came out of the armor. In the end, I kill it, but I was heavily wounded as well.   It didn’t matter. We had to keep the fight on the wall just long enough for Marv and the others, to destroy the battling ram and keep the gate closed. The northern gate was made out of a wooden door behind, and an iron bars door in front. If we were to keep both of them closed, the battling ram would destroy them in a second. So, the plan was as follows: we had to close only the wooden door and let the battling ram hit it. Before the battle, I asked a few guards to spill a lot of oil in front of the wooden door. Once the battling ram were to hit the wooden door, Marv had to set the oil on fire, and destroy it. At the same time, the iron gate would close, and our soldiers would destroy the gate mechanism, so it can’t be opened from the inside. The plan worked, but everything around was a chaos. The Wise elf, was fighting something very powerful, probably a necromancer, our armies were cut in half by the undead fighter and the walls were almost completely taken over. To stop the undead from going down the wall, the poor elves had to build a barricade out of their own comrades and set it on fire. We were losing men by minute. On the north west side, I saw the wall being taken over. It was barely space for any more undead people to climb. I was ready to give the orders to play the retreat horns. But then, a strong ray of light came from the sky and there I saw Anevys and Marv with a few hundred elves, trying to make way through the undead people and down the wall.   I was fighting on the right side still, so if I were to retreat, Anevys and Marv would have had no chance to run anymore, because while they would come down the stairs, the fighters on the right sight would wait for them downstairs. So,I had to do something. But with what army? I gathered that around me there were around 300 people left, most of them not trained to fight. Thanks to one of the wise elves, every time I killed someone with my sword, around that area, a magic place would be created, where allies would heal, and enemies would be hurt. I have no powerful magic that can kill dozens, nor that can move the earth or heal the others, but if there is something I can do, is fight till I can no more. And so, I did. The more undead people I managed to kill, the longer I could keep the 300 people alive, so they can fight as well and buy some time for the left side to join us and retreat. It wasn’t anything great, but it was the most I could do.   I saw Anevys and Marv join me soon enough. It was time. We had to blow the retreat horns. The sound was heard like an echo over the fight, but soon other horns were to follow. The first one was the west side, then the south and the east. I gathered all the elves I could, and we started running for our lives. To get to the castle entrance, we had to cross the east side. But our retreat way was soon cut short by two legions of undead fighters coming from the eastern walls. While the thousands of undead people from the north were pushing us behind, the others were blocking our way to escape. We were all going to die there if we didn’t do something. With my last strengths, I tried to pave the way by creating shockwaves to push the enemies aside, while Marv and Anevys were trying everything they keep the path open for soldiers. Still, the Wise Elf was fighting the necromancer. We barely escaped but more enemies were coming from the west. The Wise Elf stayed behind and helped us run to get to the others, one of the sorceresses joined him. From there I do not remember much, some archers fired at us, I got hit by quite a few of them and I couldn’t stand anymore. I was angry, that I couldn’t do more, that I had to die like this.   The next thing I remember, was Anevys, waking me up. I do not know what I would have done without her in this fight. She saved my life and fought well. She may be new, but I feel she is catching up fast enough. And she is so amusing without knowing. Maybe we could become very good friends. I came to my senses fast enough to realize what was happening. All the army was at the gates, surrounded from all the sides. I couldn’t see the others and I would have searched for them, if not, in front of me, a huge army of soldiers were massacring our soldiers. I tried to take charge again. I searched for the undead that was organizing the others and tried to kill it with one of the sorceresses, Anevys and Marv. The moment we killed it, I ordered the rest of the elves to try to use this moment of small disorganization, to try and push back the enemy. It didn’t last long, but at least we managed to hold on just a tiny bit more. Just an extra few minute to live. But another threat was coming very close to us from the south. It was the pirates. Tallion warned us they are strong and merciless. We couldn’t let them get to the gate. So I grabbed Anevys and went to fight them. A part of the crew was there as well. I was so glad to see them alive. The pirates were led by some kind of big barbarian that looked like a chef. Each crewman attacked him one by one. It is amazing how much everyone has grown in this journey. “If Maltor, Vaderk, Xebec and the others would have been here, they would have been very proud of them” I thought. Sneaky as he is, Dillen waited to give the barbarian the last hit. He came to me with some kind of axe from an undead and we hit the bastard chef until he died.   But the fight was far from being over. In the sky, the Wise elf that saved us was fighting the necromancer with some very powerful spells which light up the whole sky. Behind us, each stood upon that hallowed ground, the defenders and attackers, fighting for survival each in their own way. The galloping horsemen were killing lines and lines on the way to the castle. And the more the fight was going on, the less chances we had to live. In a last desperate attempt to survive, each elf, each fighter, was pushing to the limits, hoping that they will make a difference, that they will survive. There were fireballs thrown all over, Tallion was doing his magic spells. Not even now, on the brink of losing, I didn’t feel like giving up, nor did the others.” If I may die as a fool for believing in ourselves then I am gladly accepting it, but not now, because now I still have to fight.” I thought again. Our army was dying; from thousands, it became hundreds, and from hundreds, it became dozens but close to the end of it all, riding from the eastern side, 600 heavily armored horsemen were making their way through the undead people, slaying everything in the way. They were Woranian fighters (not undead fighters), coming to help us. I don’t know about the others, but for me, that was like seeing great meat in a very long while.   Right when the warm sun rays ware starting the rise again, the fight was finally coming to an end. A few thousand troops of undead escaped, but it didn’t matter anymore. We were all looking around, searching for each other. Instinctively, I was looking after Nixie. And thank the Almighty, she was near Tallion. Then, I saw Eve sprinting to Bart, and Anevys, Kelly, Marv who were barely standing. I was alive, most of the others were alive, and…we won. Metherol was saved, we fought an impossible fight and won. I felt so happy I felt a tear go down my cheek. Then, I looked again to search for the crew. Marc, Vas, Dillen, Isbel and Drenizek, were still there, hugging each other. I was waiting, hoping more of us would join. We found out from Dillen that the barbaric bastard chef got Orman and killed our sailor before he had a chance to do anything. Poor Orman, after he survived all that journey on the sea, to die here. It is not a sailor’s life outside the boat. He was not only good looking, but smart as well. I didn’t talk that much with him, but we had our fun playing cards from time to time. And there was also Xixi, who joined a bit later.   But I was still waiting for Brunek, The fastodans and…Heron. But they never came back.   I remember it now. A day before, I went to talk with Lafk’u, Raizo and Menn’e. Seeing them, always gave me courage. I was worried that they did not wish to fight for this, but while Lafk’u told me that they owned the crew and Nixie nothing, he also said they were there, because they wanted to fight alongside us. A few elves that survived, to tell us the story. When the undead people conquered the north west wall, Lafk’u disappeared into the army of undead people, with Menn’e with Raizo following him. They fought to hold the wall until their very end. There were merely a few soldiers left, but our brave fastodans did not retreat, they never do. Another elf told us about Brunek who killed dozens of undead people but got badly hurt. Wounded and exhausted, Brunek was captured. Before dying, a necromancer came to him. The last thing the elf saw, was Brunek spitting on the necromancer’s foot before being killed. Such a Brunek thing to do…   And then it was the story about our Bright Eyes Heron, who barehandedly, managed to destroy the bridge from a siege tower. The surviving elves saw Heron grabbing undead people by the neck and smashing them to the ground. It is said that he was the last one standing and fighting, among a whole army of undead people, who could barely take him down (or that’s how I want to remember him).   The Enneth elves also lost many people. Two of the Wise Elves dead, fallen after they destroyed the necromancers. Two sorceress and one druid dead. And near them, lays a broken stone, one with the name of Miremis, a stone that kept alone the whole South Wall. I never had much contact with them, especially because I do not know elf language, but they helped us, they always were there to believe us.   Before we could search for their bodies, and burn everyone, we first needed rest. We used this opportunity, to talk with the ones that saved us. Their leader is called Sylvia Halvel, daughter of Elsinor, a very well-known noble man in Worania. And she gave us some news that shook us all. The so called Haldric king came with necromancers and orcs and attacked Vormiol, Worania, Cavaconda, Rascodia and Ionolia and all the people that stood against him. 500,000 people, fighters and magic men, fought against the evil, but most of them died. Yanis was killed, and so were the ionolian mages, Endi’e and the fastodans, everyone. Sylvia and those who managed to escape, took refuge on the elvish land, a few days riding from where Metherol was. To add to that, it seems that the boats that were supposed to come from Alomir to help the fight against the necromancers, was instead full of undead people. Everyone suddenly became pale. Eve and Talion had all their family in Ionolia, Bart’s mom was in Worania and all the crew had families in Alomir. We were too late to help any of them, we were too late with everything.   “Why…why are we doing all of this…if we can’t even save what we love…”.   The energy from a moment ago just disappeared from all of us. Even the sun seemed colder than usual. We kept talking with Sylvia, but none of us were paying as much attention, everyone was away in their thoughts. Sylvia gave us other bad news as well. Legondol and Faen were under siege as well, and a fleet of orcs and necromancers was ready to depart to the Continent. When she heard that, Nixie fell from her feet. Her family as well…   Everyone was destroyed. Nobody was talking or moving. That is until, Tallion stood up. He seemed so tired, but weirdly motivated. He talked about how we have to move on, to fight in the memory of what we lost. I was never happier to hear him talk. I felt for the first time, i saw a true Ionolian wizard, one that was imposing respect. He was changed. Myabe it was there all along, or not, at any way I will remember that momen. The moment Talion became more than a magic man. Drenizek supported him, with a voice that was stronger than I heard before. And I tried to join. Somehow in their hearts, I think everyone feels the same, but in times like this, someone must say it as well. It won’t help them, nothing helps with this pain, but it will maybe remind them why they are here. Or not. I cannot tell, everyone needs to find their own strength to move on. I want to be there to comfort them, and I will try my best. I did feel sad, and motivated, but most of all I felt like I had enough.   I went to talk with Nixie, knowing the others would join. She was nostalgically looking in the direction of the Continent. She could barely talk. We talked about this path we are taking. We will encounter in the way all these bad things, all this sorrow, but we must endure it. Everyday, our world is ending, and the new order begins. But this is exactly why we must endure it, because, if we die and the magic of this world dies with us, then, the new order would have won.   Nixie knew what she had to do next, she knew that we had to fight. But what to do next? Where to go? Legondol or back to the Continent? I know where her heart was pointing at, after all her family was there. But she was hesitating to say it. She just said that we should warn them. And I agree. There are people there that would listen to us, that would fight for the Continent. But I do not think that we should go there. The Enneth elves here helped us when we needed, it is our time to help them. Ionolians did listen to us after all, they did fight alongside the others, it is our turn to fight against what we told them. And now, unlike before, the humans and elves seem to be coming together. The rest must have seen it today, elves in Metherol almost cried when they saw that woranians came to help them. If the Continent is still standing, then Ghebaro must have won, so there, they are united, but here, these people need someone to unite them, to lead them into this fight. On the other hand, what the High Sylph said…. That we should keep our eyes open, and Nixie’s family…I don’t know. Maybe…if we reach Legondol in time, they could help us. Even if I lived there for so long, I know nothing of the Continent. Maybe, something in this world, could help us understand what Is going on with the Continent. But maybe, if we go to the Continent, we will find it our ourselves.   I don’t know dear diary, maybe I am biased, but I do not feel it is yet time for Nixie and me to return home. Soon, but not yet. After all of this, we found out the bodies Brunek, Heron and the fastodans close to the castle gate, meaning they were risen as undead people. I didn’t say anything to the others because they were upset. That was it, that’s where I lost my cool. “HOW DARE THEY? FUCK YOU DEMONS! FUCK YOU NECROMANCERS AND UNDEAD PEOPLE! FUCK YOU XANTYNIA”. I have had enough. ENOUGH.   “Eternal war upon the strong, For there lies home to which we long In the hall of Gods an empty blade Is empty Heart and Will not made” That’s what Lafk’u told me a day before, when we were preparing for a fight. It was the fastodan call on arms. And now, I heard it in my head again and again. Lafk’u was the closest thing I had to a father. I looked up to him and admired him. I understand why Raizo and Menn’e followed him to death. I would have done it too. Lafk’u really was…UGHH I CANNOT CRY. He trained me to become a true fighter. I may not be a full fastodan, but I do hold all of them dear in my heart, and they called me on arms, so I will join.   HOW DARE THEY TRANSFORM LAFK’U AND BRUNEK (THE KILLER OF THE UNDEAD) INTO THAT HORRIBLE THINGS? HOW DARE THEY DO THAT TO ANYONE FOR THAT MATTER? HOW DARE THEY HURT ALL MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT? HOW DARE THEY KILL SO MANY PEOPLE AND DESTROY SO MANY LANDS?   There is only one Almigthy that watches over this world. “HOW DARE THEY PRETEND TO BE GODS”. All of them, they think we are weak, and maybe we are. But even the weakest fastodan will fight till his end, even if they go full force into the darkness. No pain can be enough to make me give up, for no pain is worse than what all these people suffered. I am not sad anymore, I am fuming. That little flame inside transformed into a whole fire. ETERNAL WAR TO ALL THAT THREATENS OUR WORLD!   We were all too tired to take a decision at that, so we rested for a few hours. By the time I would have finished writing, it will be probably the time to decide what we do next. Contrary to what they say, we won a battle today. What tomorrow brings might not be as bright, but I will consider today a success. One day at a time. May the Almighty watch us fight for Him, and take care of all the souls that were lost in this war.   PS.: Thank you to all of you: brave fighters that believed in us and all of you that fought into this war. Thank you , Wise Elves that helped us, and believed in the younger ones. Thank you Miremis and Maldis, for all you have protected. Thank you, Orman, for being so brave and fighting such a brute, and for repairing all our sails all the time, maybe you are not as normal after all. Thank you, Brunek, for showing us, that the goznians are the greatest Undead killers, and extremely funny people. Thank you Menn’e and Raizo for all the trainings, fights and for being our comrades in arms. And Thank you, Lafk’u, who beside being a great fighter, you were also a great soul, who cared for his children.   PS2: Heron, thank you. Once again, you saved us all. I will miss you dearly. We began as such good friends, winning the running marathon in Ionolia. You were always there to make us laugh. And your fighting skills surpassed mine by far. I always looked up to you. When you fought Kelly, especially. It was such a great battle. Ever since I lost the battle with you, I was always training, hoping that we will have a rematch. I hope you rest well there, near your family. I love you dear friend. Although, I have seen you naked too many times, In my eyes, you will always be the BRIGHT EYES HERON VALNOR.   PS3: I want to hear all the stories about the fight. We never got a chance to talk about it. I want to know what everyone did. I heard here and there that Talion had a very fierce fight. I am so glad he is alive, especially after I heard he fought with his old foe. I do not want to lose him. I will not admit it, but he is a great wizard and a good friend. And he is always giving his best, for us. Maybe it doesn’t work all the times, but he tries his best. But do not tell him that, we don’t want him to start thinking he is “a blessed person”.   PS4: We asked Gilders to go and bring help. He is not an emotional person, but he had a very nice speech about what we saw today. He seemed also a bit beaten up as well. It seems that this world is changing people by the day. We don’t know him for long, but I think we can trust Gilders, right?

Dear Diary, Tales there be plenty in these cursed places. But in the end, everyone will forget them, everyone but the ones that lived in these tales. Because, for them, these tales are memories of everything they went through. But I do sometimes wonder about the end of our tale. I can never tell if it’s a sad or happy ending. Let me start from the beginning. Not long after I finished this the last writing, we arrived in Roib. The city was empty. Only one man was wandering the streets of the outer city. One single man that, one way or another, knew who Talion is. His old man ‘s name was Roseld. We properly introduced ourselves, and then, he invited us to his house. Surprisingly, he offered to help us get into the inner city. He had quite a plan that included us to either pretend that we are here to talk about an old debt that Vaneolin had or to make some high people from the council to disappear, so that Roseld could take the power, and get us what we want. None of the options were good. We went away for a bit so we can discuss, but the whole party seemed to be still very upset from the fight before, and we couldn’t really reach any conclusion. I didn’t realize it then, but now, I know I was very foolish. To be fair, I was so much more interested in the fact that we were fighting than to actually find an option, so I went with the easiest option. We agree with Roseld’s plan to get us in, and that’s it. Of course, you didn’t need to guess, it was a wrong choice.   When we got in, we were very nicely escorted to meet one of the High men. We tried to talk with him, but I got a feeling we were not going anywhere. And somehow, he recognized Talion Almas. And here we go again: “Talion Almas, you are imprisoned for…” I don’t even know what it was this time. We had no choice but to put the guy to sleep. But when we did that, some kind of weird gas made half of us fall asleep. The rest of us tried to do open the door so we get out. I don’t remember much after that. But when we woke up, we were in a very dark room, chained upside down. No way for us to escape. Well thank the Almighty that Bart made his way around. He told us how we were almost burned by fire, and how the High man didn’t make it. He did all sorts of tricks to get to us and make sure that Roseld and Tersiolis don’t get away with this. So basically, he was still morphed into the high magic man when he woke up on the hospital. People were asking him things in Roib language, which he doesn’t know. But Bart was smarter than that, he just said two words: Roseld, Tersiolis, and then pretended to be badly hurt and tired. It seems that Bart really saved us all. He managed to get us out of the prison, and we were ready to run. But of course Tersiolis had to stay in our way. I didn’t talk with him before, but to be honest, I think it would be better if he didn’t talk at all. We couldn’t escape, so we were locked up there for a few more days, attending some trial. Unfortunately, no gates can protect a city from the chaos within. It seems that it was rather a fight of power in Roib at the moment. Someone (*ahem Roseld ahem*) tried to assassinate the high man that was with us in the room and blame it on us. To make sure we get out alive, we had to take Tersiolis side, who was caught in all of this. It seems Tersiolis wanted to betray his very own so called “father” so he can get his skin saved . Roseld did tell us that he raised Tersiolis as his own child, it must have been painful even for such a snake old man, to see the person he cared turn against him. I did feel bad for him.   In the end, we returned to the boat with absolutely nothing. And above all the wasted time, and danger we put everyone in, we lost Vadrek in the fire. I know I said that he was brainless meat before, but since then, I have changed my opinion. He was a very strong one and so daring that I became to take a liking into him. We couldn’t even give him a proper burial. And what was worse, is that, he died for nothing. Dillen and Xebec were right to say it when we returned to the ship. It was our fault, and for that Vadrek and Brunek had to suffer. And to add up to that, Talion looked through his vision and was detected by twenty one dragons that were now coming to Roib.   During our time there, Kelly gave roibans a weapon to fight the dragons and it worked very well to one shot the first dragon, but the rest of them destroyed the weapon in a few seconds. Everything in the dragon’s way was destroyed, including Iomen and I assume Trekko as well. All we did, we did for nothing. We couldn’t protect one person, one single person. As we were sailing away, Roib got lost in the distance. We couldn’t see what was happening to it. I will hope they had survived, but I do expect they didn’t. We didn’t save the people we protected from the dragon, and because of us, one of the smartest lands were to be destroyed.   Later that day, we gathered in the Captain’s room to talk everything that happened. Dillen, Xebec and Kelly joined as well. It started with that fight when we attacked the dragon, then we talked again about Roib, then we went back to the dragon fight. Nixie was upset that we didn’t try to understand her perspective, and Bart and me were upset that Nixie didn’t seem to have the vision about protecting the life as we did. Xebec did say something that we either learn to be loyal to the captain or we choose a different and Eve seemed determined to agree with everything Nixie was saying but it was expected. The whole conversation seemed very useless to me. None of the sides would give in, and in the end, nothing we would have done now, would bring back the dead. “I don’t want to do this anymore” I thought. We would never be able to save anyone, not as we were now. I just wanted to leave, I don’t know where to go, but not there. I really really wanted to leave, but the dammed door wouldn’t open so I went back to the conversation after some persuasion from Xebec and Nixie. What did they exactly want from me? I said what I had to say. The only reason I didn’t leave the ship in that instant was that, despite everything, I still cared for people there and because THE DOOR just didn’t want to open.   The fight was getting even more heated. That is until, we realized WHY the door wouldn’t open and we found ourselves attacked by some black spikes .Well, not even then we were able to pull ourselves together. Each one of us started to do their own thing. Nixie and me tried to get everyone together, but it was waay too slow. So since everyone did whatever they wanted, I decided to do that as well. I went straight on to fight the demon. Did I have a chance by myself? Definitely not. But maybe, the others would join the fight if one of us went first. I have not many memories after that. I know that everything was scary and that I was very alone there. It was like I was seeing hell in person. At some point though, I felt a very faint warm feeling. I knew who it was coming from, so I reached out to it, so we can fight together. For some reasons, it reminded me a bit of Sea, so I called out for her to fight with us as well. I still wasn’t able to move but I knew I was fighting alongside the others. The feeling was getting so much stronger. I could feel it was coming from everyone. We were finally able to reach to each other. After the fight, everyone told me what happened. How Bart didn’t want to join to fight with the others but in the end they joined forces, how Kelly put Sea’s mask on my face and how everyone was giving everything they could for this. Sea was there with us. During the fight, at some point, I felt that there was something wrong with Xebec. I tried to reach him, but I failed. When I got my consciousness back, it was already too late. He was laying breathless on the floor, with his heart pierced. I was in shock for a second and couldn’t move. Nixie was trying to find his life force or something, but I wasn’t paying attention. My mind just was all over the place. I couldn’t even look at Xebec, I even tried to ignore he was dead for a few moments. I just didn’t want to think it is true. I looked away. My legs, my arms and every part of my body just hurt. I couldn’t pull myself together anymore. Then, Sea entered the room, looking so happy. Suddenly I became even more confused. I didn’t even know how to feel, sad or happy or none or both. After all that happened, everyone felt happy to see Sea, it was written all over their faces. I was grateful to see her there, walking around us, and giving us a bit of power. It did help me feel a little less miserable. It was my fault Xebec died, and once as before, there was nothing I did to save him. I barely heard Sea saying that “Do not ever stop making noise and do what you do. I will be always with you”. I do not know how, but she always knows exactly what to say. How I missed her! I felt like crying, but I just couldn’t. It all felt so sad and sweet at the same time. Just like the feeling when you run out of cookies. All I wanted to do was hug Sea tight and never let her go again. Even after everything that happened, she loves us. Even when we failed to protect so many, she still trusts us. That was worth something, for all of us. Before she left, she also gave us a little gift. She went closer to Xebec and left there a cookie, and somewhere near the door, she dropped a note with some names. That meant she considers all of us, including Xebec, friends, right? It was a very calming thought to have in that moment. It also seemed that the names on the small note were the names Nixie was looking for. In the end, all this fight was worth something. It got our friendship back and some new information that could help us. Sea was also right. She was there with us, and she wasn’t the only one. Everyone that has died is watching us, aren’t they? Gerki, Maltor, Vadrek… and now Xebec. They are there somewhere, watching us fight a fight they died for. They all believed it us, till the very end. With this thought, I managed to pull my last bit of strength and go face the facts properly. Xebec was dead, and there was nothing I could do to bring him back, no matter how much I wanted to. I took the shell necklace he once gave me and put it around his neck. It was our memory, and he needs to protect it until we meet again because in this cursed world, I might break it. To be honest, I was a bit surprised at Bart. I never knew he was feeling like the weak link.Out of everyone, I always thought he was the one who had the most trust in what we do together. But I do understand his point. And I think what he did it’s right. Sometimes a little trust from another person is needed so you can give your own trust. It was a problem all along. We never really shown that we trust each other, did we? I always said it but never shown it. And I think Nixie did the same thing. And I hope now, after this whole mess, he can really say he trusts us a little bit more. While we were in there, the rest of the crew came. They asked, “what are we celebrating?”. In an instance, the smiles on the party’s face were gone, and they seemed to freeze for a second. One way or another, we had to tell the crew that Xebec was dead. Since everyone hesitated, I went ahead and told them. For a moment, there was a total silence over the whole boat. I think it was harder for them to hear the news, than it was for me. Even if they recognize it or not, they admired Xebec, and they liked him. Even Dillen seemed very upset. I think in a way, him and Xebec just had a very complicated friendship, even though they didn’t like each other. The fastodans were the first ones to come pay their respects. The others followed as well. Marc started crying at some point, and then, you could hear sobs from all around. Someone told me that “you know it is alright to cry” but I didn’t want to. If Xebec saw us like this, he would have probably screamed at us to “Get back to work before we all become dragon’s feast”. I didn’t have the strength or authority to do so, but I did try to encourage them in a way he would have. After all, if there is one thing, I know he would have wanted, it was to protect this “dammed ship and the idiots on it”. It seemed that I was more motivating myself than the others. But I think that, they understood what I wanted to tell them. We are far from beating the demon that follows us, or to end this New Order that is destroying the world so we have to keep going. I had a bit of time to say goodbye alone. I finally couldn’t control myself anymore and started tearing up. I felt a bit more at peace. I never got to tell him that I loved him, but somehow, I think he knew that, and he knows it still. And I was never an easy one to love. Yet, I know that he loved me so,so much. He chose to die protecting me and the others. My worst fears did come true. It was me that brought him the end. However, in a very weird way, i feel like he was able to choose his path and he wanted to follow it to the end. I do not think I have seen that determination in him before, not when we met. If, our love gave him this strength, this freedom, if I was able to give him something he could look forward, then I am happy. It means that despite everything, for at least a bit of time, he was happy and he wanted to fight for something. Of course, it hurts. But this pain, no matter how much I try, will never go away. It will always be there because he was my special hatless captain. But I will not let it become my weakness anymore. A memory should be honored, not cried after. As for the stupid premonition. Say whatever, dear diary, but I do not think it had anything to do with Xebec’s death. That premonition was long gone, the moment Xebec realized he cares for someone. We prepared a boat and put Xebec’s body in it, letting it go at sea. Of course, we didn’t want to see him again as an undead, so we had to burn the small boat. I watched the boat sail away, slowly taking with it some of my dream. I had the honor to shoot the last arrow. Of course, I missed the first time. I am sure Xebec would have been amused at it. I smiled a bit a well. It is alright though, or more like it will be alright. I have lost an important part of my family, but the rest of my family, is still behind me crying like babies. And while the others are here, I still have a reason to fight, I still have a family to protect. Not only for me, but for Xebec, Sea and the others as well. They all wanted the best for all of us. Later, we all gathered to one room and made amends with each other. It was such a warm feeling to see everyone being there for one another. We might not always be together, so I decided to enjoy the moment. Kelly came to me and said that Sea would have wanted me to have her mask. But I did not think so. Maybe she still has more to understand, and all of this is confusing for her, but Kelly is a good person. She saved us in Roib, and then had the bright idea with the mask. She felt it in her heart what it was right to do. I hope she knows she belongs with us, no matter what. I also talked a bit with Drenizek. He seems more decided that ever to become stronger. It is good to hear that he is getting back on his feet slowly. The following days I tried to go back to my normal routine. It was nice training with the fastodans from time to time. And Bart helped me a lot. We talked about how, even in the Almighty religion, they are people fighting for Him. It helped me make up my mind. I will fight the fastodan way, but not for their gods but to protect the three virtutes of the Almighty. This is the path I want to follow from now on.   After some time, we were finally close to the Elf land. Thanks to Talion, we managed to avoid being caught in a fight with some kind of pirates, and we were going to Nesim. The ship was very well known to Talion. (he really knows too many people). There was a crew of pirates that used to be on the same side with Cato, the cat guy we always hear about. It seems they are very very powerful, or so Talion says. But, as if everything that happened was not enough, when we got close to Nesim, five ships of fresh undead elves, bearing the three-edged lance flag were coming towards us. We managed to run in time, but while the dead elf boats were coming after us from the back, the pirate ships were waiting for us in the front. So we had no choice, but to leave our Saphire Sword behind and start running through the woods. In the end, the captain and the ship went down together. As for us, seems like we need to hope that at least some elves are alright. When we got to the land, a few scouts of undead people already saw us, and then, we heard some kind of flute getting closer to us. But we were not going to find out where the noise is coming from, so we just kept going. The elves found out that, not very far away from here, the Metherol city is under siege by thousands of unded people. We could either try to help them, or keep our way to Legondol, hoping there is something there that could help us. Seems a familiar choice. This time our attitudes were different I believe. And while I still stood by my opinion that we should fight, I would have been alright if Nixie chose otherwise. I was mistaken. I should have listened more. I should have taken my own advice and try to listen to Nixie more. But after all that happened, I finally understood what Nixie tried to explain. We shouldn’t throw our lives away to fight something we have now chances to win, because we won’t be able to help if we are dead. And I guess everyone learned something new. To my surprise, Nixie actually agreed to fight this time. The elves, although visibly upset and done and demotivated, decided to also come to fight with us. I think she actually tried to accept our moral, despite disagreeing with them. As for the crew, they are still afraid that they are not strong enough, but they made it so far, so at least they have to try. We tried to tell them that, and then Drenizek said something like: “Well let’s go fight some undead people, if we are to die there, so be it.”. What was that just a second ago? Was it some kind of voice that tried to motivate the others like he used to do? That was not something you hear every day anymore, but I was glad he said it. On the way there, we had another unexpected meeting with Gildes, an interdimensional that is half brother with Lullaby’s husband, Bajid. He was sending a message from Lullaby that they are willing to come and help us fight. Well, the message was more for Damaschini and Talion, but I believe that a hand of help would be good for us. But first, we have to survive the fight in Metherol. There will be no easy fight from now on but now and it will probably get even worse every day. We might be to late, but while we breath, we have to try doing something. As for myself, I will be alright dear diary so do not worry. I will not deny i am still extremely sad, but i am also happy. I will take it easy. One day at a time. We had our last day on the sea, but now it is time for the first day on land. I cannot take a break now and to be honest I do not think i want to. Not doing anything while the world is dying is not going to make me happier, if fact it would be otherwise, I would feel even sadder. But fighting, that might help a bit.   May the Almighty love and protect us. And may we never disappoint Sea and the others who believed in us.   P.S: Thank you, Vadrek, for being you. We shall never meet such a fun but daring and stupidly brave person like you. You will be missed. And thank you, Roib people for believing in what you build and the power of your world.   P.S 2: Dear Xebec, Thank you for everything you have done for me! Please do watch over us like you always do and, I am sure you will have a good laugh, or at least you’ll be surprised, nonetheless. I will see you again at the horizon line, Captain.

Dear Diary, I feel a bit cold, but I like guarding the ship in nights like this one. It feels like it is a different ship. It is not as noisy as it is during the day, but it isn’t also dead silent. There is always the sound of the waves to keep you company. And, from time to time, you can hear noises from here and there. Sometimes, it is just Vadrek or Brunek making fun of other crewmates or people just walking around the ship. If you listen for a longer time, all the noises slowly disappear, and it is just you there but somehow you don’t feel alone. For some reasons, this small unnoticeable thing that happens every night makes me very happy. I feel at peace on this ship and tonight, more than anytime else, I need peace. Everybody keeps telling me different things, and I do not know who I should listen to. I do not even know if I should listen to myself anymore. I want to cry, but I have no real reason to. I can’t do that. I am a fighter, not a crybaby. I have to stand up and fight, no matter how hard the fight, right? I do not know… Despite all the mess that was in Prepo, the day started very well. Nixie, brought with her a new crewman. Her name was Anevys. She is another elf that used to sell flowers, but she decided she wants an adventure, so she wanted to join us. I find her quite interesting and very amusing. She didn’t talk much, but it was enough to make me like her. But, after all that happened, the poor girl probably realized too late that she chose the most cursed ship for her adventure and is now trying to find a way to escape. I think she is a brave girl. I just wish, she will not get stuck in all of the world’s mess because of us. Then, we had the first official meeting of the “Girls Council” in the bath. For now, it is just Eve, Nixie and me. But i hope the other girls will join next time. The information there are secret, so I will not say them here. Plus, I do not yet want to talk about Nixie nor Eve. But there was some very good news as well. We were preparing for a party. Drenizek and Dillen apparently started the preparation for a painting party for Nixie. At first, I didn’t realize what was happening, but Dillen pulled me aside and explained. It seemed like a very good way to lighten the mood a bit, and to provide the promised entertainment for Nixie, so I was more than happy to help. Of course, it was obviously Drenizek’s idea. He is a genius sometimes. Unfortunately, a very quiet one. Of course, I couldn’t let Heron, Bart, Eve and the rest, stay out of this, so I asked them to help us. First, we came up with the idea, that everyone should paint something, maybe it will raise their spirit a bit. We had a few good ideas, but in the end, we decided that the main theme of the drawings, would be “Something that represents your home” or something similar. Of course, it was quite simple, I already knew what I wanted to draw: A ship, with a missing stick that catches the wind, sailed by some very brave people, which sails through a large sea, with the sunrise in front. I know, dear diary, very simple and expected. But it was all I needed for my home.   Unfortunately, the party did not happen because the demons decided it was that time of the day that they needed to visit us. While we were talking for a bit, Smart Orman came running to us. It seems that he had seen Maltor’s ghost in the one of the rooms. When we went to see what was happening, we only saw one dice, on the table. Smart Orman said that “Maltor’s ghost” invited him to play some games again, like they used to. Poor Orman, he must miss his friend...We tried to explain Smart Orman what was happening was just the curse trying to get to him, but we didn’t have time for many explanations. From the other side of the ship, we heard Brunek scream and swear. The SHIP attacked him. I wanted to find out more so I can maybe catch whatever was in that room, but all I got to see, were a few rats chewing on the bed. And then, Eugen told us about his old fluffy cat Cato who appeared behind him. Whatever this is, it got a lot of power over us. And, given the situation, I am sure we are offering them enough methods to attack us. We all miss something or someone, even we admit it or not. As Bart and Eve said, it is not something we can fix now, but we have to keep fighting. It is always a fight we need to have, isn’t it?   We didn’t get to see anything on our way, just fire and smoke. The old Vedia was destroyed, and dragons were freely wondering around. We didn’t stop much until the next day when we got in Iomen. Even here, there was another fight expecting for us. When we arrived, the whole port was in a huge chaos. There was a big fire in the middle of the city, and people, were running everywhere, trying to get on the boats. There was no one to lead this place, their so-called king Tersiolis, ran away long before everybody else. We asked the crew to help us pull out the fire and we searched for a translator to help us organize the port a bit. But there was no time anymore. From far, we could hear a dragon’s voice, getting closer and closer. If people were scared before, now they became utterly terrified. They started going into the water and trying to climb on every ship, including ours. The crew was on the shore, so it was just Isbel and Kelly protecting the ship. When the crew was finally ordered to go get the ship, we could already see the dragon. It was now, up to us if we wanted to fight or not.   To be honest, we had a small discussion about this problem just a few hours before. I didn’t feel it is alright to leave all these people to die, and just run to finish our mission. I told this to the rest of the party. Nixie seemed to be against the idea, and so did Eve. “There is a difference between courage and recklessness” they said. Bart seemed a bit undecided, and so did Heron. Somehow, to my surprise, Eugen seemed to agree with me. But he was so rude with the others when he said it, that I didn’t even counted him as being on my side. Still, after some time of convincing, we started to discuss what options we had, to fight these dragons. We never got to finish that talk, and now, here we were, with a big decision to make: we leave these people and make sure we finish our mission so that we save the world, or we risk to die here, trying to fight a dragon and save the people in front of us.   Nixie gave us the order to retreat to the ship and leave as soon as possible. But I couldn’t leave. No…It was more that I didn’t want to leave. There were a few thousand people staying here in this city. If we left them here, most of them would have died. “We will save them if we get to Roib” I heard Nixie say. That was a beautiful lie to make us feel better. We all knew that, by the time we got to Roib, all these people would have been long dead. It seemed to me we were just running away because we thought of ourselves so much more important to this war than any people here. But just because we have more information, or some allies with us, doesn’t give us any right to leave these people here to die. “What kind of king leaves their people behind?” said Nixie today in Roib. I find it…what was the word…. ironic. We are no kings, but we do pretend ourselves to be responsible with protecting this world. Are these not people a part of it as well? Did they not deserved to be saved just because they do not have a part in this war? I understand that not all of us are great leaders that can influence the world and that our mission is to talk with people that can make a difference and take a decision. But that doesn’t mean forgetting about the smaller people. I did understand what the consequences of my actions were. Yes, we all could die, but just the fact that that I care more about our crew, allies and friends, doesn’t mean I have to leave other people die. Everyone is important to somebody else in the world. But my most selfish reason is that, I didn’t want everyone to live with this burden on their hearts. If we left, even if we never spoke about it, all of us would know what we did. Some of us, probably, would have been fine with it, but for some, it would have haunted them forever. We won’t be able to save everyone, but in cases like this, when we have even the slightest chance to help, why turn the other way? I simply couldn’t understand it. But it doesn’t matter anymore what any of us thinks, the fight happened, and we can’t take it back.   It was a very long fight. At first, the dragon seemed to be building a big nest on the new ruins of a king’s fortress. The dragon seemed it didn’t mind us too much. We started to follow Eve who, to everyone’s surprise, started to run straight to the mouth of the dragon. Thanks to elves, the dragon was not flying yet but it was still throwing fire at us. You could feel the power of its fire from streets away. We managed, more or less, to avoid it. By the way, dear diary, I hope Bart never gets angry at me, he seems very aggressive when he swears. The dragon was not stupid. The moment it got the chance, it spread its wings and off you go in the sky to kill Eugen, of course. I never flew so high before. If I were alone, I would have probably been very very afraid. While I was running on its head, trying to hit what I could, I saw Xixi, who was hitting the eye. On the other side of the dragon, I heard Heron’s voice who was trying to climb. And of course, there was one person, who would never miss the opportunity to risk his life to hang on something. Yes, dear diary, I was talking about Drenizek who was hanging on the dragon’s tail. It may seem very amusing now, but it really wasn’t. We had to hang on very well, and the dragon’s magic protection was extremely annoying. Our weapons were not able to hit through it a lot. In the meantime, the dragon would try very hard to eat Eugen. I wanted to help heron, and throw him close closer to the eye, so he could hit, but guess what, I failed miserably, and he fell. Poor Heron, he spent a lot of time climbing that dragon. In the end, the elves, in front with our dear Miremis, managed to bring the dragon down, and freeze it for a bit. Miremis is one of those people I will always listen to. We all tried to hit the dragon with all we had, and the dragon seemed a bit more disoriented. Somehow, Drenizek made it to the head, and used some artifact that he stole from Xebec, in the dragon’s eye. Where does he get all that courage from? I mean, fighting the dragon I understand, but stealing something from Xebec? I am joking, dear diary. The truth is that I feel he is changed. I don’t know, I want to think that he is the Drenizek we knew, but it doesn’t seem so at all, even the crazy things he does remain the same.   In the end, we didn’t kill the dragon and we didn’t manage to save all the people in the city. Although, for some good time at least, I do not think that dragon is going to come back. We didn’t lose men, but the elves did: 20 of them died. And another few good hundred people died in the city. But there were three thousand that survived. And they started gathering around us, very curious to see what was going on. They were waiting for us to talk, and we expected Nixie, as our leader, to talk for us. But she didn’t. She just refused to talk. I am no better to judge her decision, I also didn’t say anything. I thought that talking in her place, would undermine her authority more than I already did. Eugen on the other hand, went ahead and tried to talk with the people. They started cheering like he was some kind of God and they said that they would listen to whatever Eugen said. We spent the rest of the day helping around the city and burning the dead because it seems that some no-life-no dead people were somewhere close. Of course, after we sorted out a strategy how to get people out of that stupid land.   Do I regret that I chose to stay? No. But the moment I stepped back on the ship; I felt the heavy feeling that was all around. I saw Nixie’s reaction that day at the speech. She was very upset. When she decided to leave, I had to make a choice: Trust her, and leave or trust myself and stay. And while I do trust her, there are times, when I trust myself more. After I did take my decision, I felt both selfish and stupid. I was supposed to have trust in her, both as a crewmate and friend. Yet, for some reasons, I thought I know better. I didn’t think much why, but I thought I am smarter. I was really sorry, so I went to apologize to all of them. There was nothing that would give me a reason to act like that. While we were talking, Xebec stormed in very angry. And he got a point. There was a problem that almost costed our life. In very short words, the captain took too long to give orders and even when she did, they were not obeyed by the rest of us. I do not think I have seen him so upset before. He even said some nonsense that nobody there likes him. I really do not think that it is true. It was time to start fixing my newest mistake, so, the next morning I went to talk with Nixie. Eve was already there. I wanted to apologize and so did Eve. But, before I didn’t even get to an end, Nixie stated: “No, you are not sorry”. A perfect reaction from someone who was upset. I could understand why she was acting mean. As we were talking, she kept telling us that “we will see” and that she learned a very valuable lesson, and we will see. Once again, as many others before, she didn’t say anything to us. Come to think of it, every time I asked her to tell us what she thinks, she didn’t listen. Actually, she never listened to what we had to say in general. That’s the reason I chose to trust myself. She does hear our opinions, but she doesn’t consider them. It was the same with the crew, and it was the same at the conversation we had before the dragon, and her dream. I understand that she has her own good reasons to do what she does and that I, as a crewmate, I should trust her. But she didn’t properly consider the option to tell the truth until she started to run out of options and then, once again she wanted to lie to the fastodans about Menn’e, a few weeks after. And now, when I told them, I am not feeling alright with leaving people behind, she insisted that we must go no matter what, without thinking it through, not until we had a whole conversation about who agrees and who doesn’t. I understand that in emergency situations, she must take a decision fast, in which case, I would like to listen to her. But…she cannot ask of me to trust her, when she doesn’t trust us. She clearly didn’t trust the crew, and probably doesn’t trust most of our party either or so I feel. Or I don’t know, it is a weird feeling to describe. It feels like she never reaches out to us, but she expects us to reach out to her.   But again, at this point, it doesn’t matter what I think anymore. The solution is simple. I have to obey. I did a mistake, and I will fix it. It was the promise we made during the last together training. I do not need to make this more complicated than it is. Well the discussion didn’t last for much longer anyways because Eve threw away her sword and said that she will never fight again when she heard Nixie saying that “she’s done with the whole situation”. I do understand that she feels guilty and sad about everything that has been going on recently. Especially since she and Bart did have a fight, and the demons coming over us. None of us are alright. And she really cares what we, especially Bart and Nixie think. But was it such a terrible thing what we had done that it was not worth fighting for anything, anymore? Were we really just some barbarians that didn’t care about anything? When she threw the sword, she made me feel like she was disgusted by herself and me. Again, no complications, it is fine, it was probably just me feeling that because I was upset.   I am not made of stone either though. The discussion with the girls made me feel exhausted. But, I knew, that on this ship, there is a certain pirate that is more upset than us. And I think both of us needed a bit of company. So, I went to visit Xebec. We talked about the whole situation with the captainship for a long time. He once again explained me everything, and I agreed with him. He must have been both very upset and worried about everything that had happened. I apologized to him as well, especially because I made him worry, I did not intend to. After he seemed to be a bit more less upset, we talked about Nixie. He still is convinced that Nixie isn’t fitted to be a Captain. He still thinks that she is not a “woman of action” and that she proved that by not talking in front of everyone. And that, she needs to make the crew get used to her leadership. I wanted to argue with him, but I do not think I was in the position to say anything, and to be honest, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I just wanted a hug and to stay with him. Just for a few seconds...I just wanted a bit of peace. Despite that, he still seemed very upset about the whole situation so I tried to listen to him. I was not the only one who had a bad day and i hoped that at least one of us to feel better . But I did notice something that changed from before. When he talked about this ship, he said that “I would have given up the captain position anyways”. I do not know, the way he acted that day, and what he said, it made me think, that maybe, he is really trying to protect this ship now, because he really wants to, not because he is captain. Maybe it was just my imagination, but for a second there, I felt more relieved. Since I was curious, I asked him if he thought more about what he is going to do next. He seems to be quite excited for traveling this world in this ship. I’m really happy about it.   Xebec also mentioned something that he was bothered that Eugen was leading those people. I am going to admit it, the way he put it, was funny. But, i did not agree with it completely. He cared for this people, from the beginning, and he wanted to help them, more than i did. And while, the rest of us were quiet in front of the crowd (except for Bart, who i think was getting ready to say something), Eugen took this responsibility. Bart and he, thought for a long time about how we should help the survivors, while the rest of us were too busy solving our own issues. I don't know about the others, but i do not think badly about him. He is after all, the one who brought us in this journey, and he saves us in heavy fights. Even today with the dragon, he did fight bravely there. If anything, i am grateful to him. At the discussion about the dragons, it did help to know that he agreed with me. It was very nice of him. But he is sometimes just very straight forward. He did tell Eve that she should stop criticizing and start making suggestions, and then, he also told Nixie, while we were in front of the crowd that "if you don't have anything good to say, then shut up". I do not mind these offences, but, as Eugen minds that he is called in certain ways, the girls also are annoyed about certain things he says. I think we are all at fault. On one side, it is us, who do tend to pick up on everything he does, but he also doesn't make the situation easier. I know he means it well, but sometimes, maybe he should put it a lot nicer if he wants to be listened, and listen to the others as well. I am a bit worried about what happened on the ship. Isbel told us about the people he killed while trying to save the ship. I fear it might affect him, and his magic. I will talk with him when i have the chance, we don't do that too often, but maybe the two of us are more alike than i think. One of these days, I met Bart on the deck. I asked him how he was feeling after all of these events and we talked a bit about the whole situation. First, we talked about what Xebec says about Nixie, and he says he agrees to a part of it. I don’t know if that made me feel better or worse, but it doesn’t matter now. We also talked about the dragon fight. To be honest, all I heard all day was about captain, but I really wanted someone to say something about the fight and Iomen in general. It was more than the story than just a captain and some crew men fighting. But none of them said anything. I guess everyone kept their feelings for themselves. Bart talked with me about it. And not only that he talked about it, but he even gave me some advice. He also explained that he was worried about the ship, which is why he wanted to leave Iomen before the dragon attack. They were quite a few questions I had for him and it mattered most to me that he talked with me about all of them, sincerely and very heartily. I asked him how he would deal with regret, and how to deal with orders and many more. He has a whole process for dealing with orders he doesn’t agree with. Although the subjects were not the happiest, the whole talk made me feel at peace for a bit.   Well, the whole conversation made me feel better, but I was still not well. There are too many fights going on. I do not want to have them anymore. I cannot focus on all of them at the same time. I do not to fight with the party, or the crew or anyone I care about. I got too involved in all of this. I have learned my lesson; you have to choose between feelings and rationality. You can’t have both. I have to put my feelings aside, far away, and I will talk about them only when it is the case. I have to fight this as a fighter, not as a child. I cannot get mad over the smallest things, and I cannot fight the demons if I can’t control my own feelings. To be honest, I do not know exactly what to do. Everyone on this ship has their opinions, and I think that makes them who they are. But most of them do not say them, maybe I should do the same. But then, if we do not talk about our problems, why are we even here? I do not know. There are way too many fights. I feel this war is taking away everything I have, and it is merciless. And I am afraid, that, in this way, by the time we finish it, I will lose everything I have. I have to change; I cannot do mistakes anymore.   We took some of the vedian people to Trekko, where we met a nice captain who was taking care of the people there. We are now on the way to Roib but the other ships returned to take the other people from Iomen. We haven’t heard news about any of them in a day. I am very worried, before we left, we heard some dragon screams close to the island. Please, the Almighty, please protect these people that survived, and the Roib people, and all of us. And please, help us save more people in time.   P.S.: Thank you, to you all the elves that sacrificed for saving the lives of many people, and for defeating the dragon. And thank you, all the people who died on these dragon attacks. And thank you, Anevys mother, for having your daughter.

Dear diary, It is maybe the first time I am not in the mood to write. It is not because I feel bad but I do not know how to put my feelings in words. But I have to write because I want to remember everything that was so far. Since I am writing this, we have managed to escape the Organization. It wasn’t easy at all, but we had help. Last time I wrote, we were in the middle of the negotiations. Luckily, we managed to buy enough time for their leader to wake up. So Nixie and me went to talk with Miss Red Knight, who just recovered from her coma. At first, I didn’t know if I should trust her. Her story was interesting, and she seemed like a good person. Her real name is Kelly. She used to be a beautiful queen of two dimensions and a “business partner” with Xantinya. That’s how she got her big scar, fighting another girl called Antonia. At first, she seemed like a dangerous person to trust. We didn’t know anything about her and she seems that she knew how to do business, not relying so much on her emotions. Come to think of it, she is part of a spy organization and has a lot of technology that we know nothing of. But most of all, she was our only chance. It was a risky bet we had to make, and we shall see if we were wrong.   But at that time, we didn’t have a choice, but trust her. If we were as good at negotiating as we are at wasting time, Nixie and me would have probably found other options. But for now, we had two: hand in Eugen ,or hand in the biggest secrets of this world to the pew pew people. None of them were in our favor, so after some time of talking with the others, we decided that there is another option: we give Kelly all the information and we ask her sends the pew pew men only the minimum information that is needed. In the meantime, we stay here, wait for our ships to be repaired, and then, we all leave with Kelly and our map back. Basically, we put all our lives in her hands. (including the crew’s life, because the pew pew men managed to capture Orman for some reasons)   The days passed very slow, but it was finally the time to escape that place. Before we left, we needed to take Orman and other things back. We didn’t have much time, so we needed a good distraction so Nixie did what she knows best: she shook the ground. The plan was that while Nixie goes after Orman, the rest of us take our things from where they were. Of course, the pew pew men were not stupid, and we encountered some on the way, but Kelly took care of them. I was a bit worried when she said she’s going to get rid of her armor, for a second I thought she is going to come back with a whole army, but then I remembered that she has risked her life for us until now, why would she stop, now? She even tanked a few bullets so she can protect us. At some point, she almost died. But Bart was smart and made a magic that stops the time for a bit and Kelly was fine. I couldn’t do much against those guns but somehow, we managed to arrive at the ship…but…the crew was not there. All of them went to a bar nearby. I mean, we weren’t there for six days. I understand them. They got a small break from all the danger in this world, so of course they went to drink. We had not much time so Dillen and me hurried to find them. When we got there, the whole crew seemed a bit surprised, and a whole chaos was created. People started to shoot us, but we couldn’t see from where. Those pew pew guns are very fast. One almost hit Marc in the head, but I managed to help him avoid most of it. He still got shot, but at least didn’t die. We all ran as much as we could to the boat. I don’t think I have ever seen someone being so close to death, but managing to avoid it every time. From far, we could see that the ship was being shot from some powerful cannons, but then a big lighting came from the sky and hit them. “There is no one that can do those lightnings like Nixie does” I thought. Anyways, we all got to the ship and left as fast as possible.   Everyone was very confused and shocked, so we spent some time explaining the situation and presenting them our new companion. The whole crew seemed a bit scared, especially because they saw Xebec with just one arm but we had to move on as fast as possible. I was happy Kelly made it with us. We were right to put our trust in her. Maybe she is a spy or something, but at this point, we need all the allies we can get. Plus, I like her. She seems curious about this world and what we do, although she doesn’t seem to understand It fully.   That night, we stopped near a sand island. I didn’t feel at ease, so I wanted to stay awake to guard the ship. That’s where our biggest problem began. Sometime in the middle of the night, Marc came from behind and put a hand on my shoulder. But it wasn’t his hand I felt, but a big claw that was scratching my skin. I could feel blood coming out but I wasn’t sure if it is real or not. First, I wanted to ask Marc if he sees blood there but then, I remember Isbel’s reaction when we saw the onions on the floor. I didn’t want to scare Marc more than necessary, so I just asked if there is anything on my shoulder because I got a bit hurt earlier in the battle and it hurt. When he replied with “No”, I knew. That bastard demon was back. In not even a few seconds, some campfire was made in front of the ship. Then, we heard a loud pew pew shot. In an instant, Marc fell down on the flood, with a big wound in his stomach. On the other side we saw Menn’e who, when realizing that he just shot Marc, became very scared and he was almost crying. Then, we saw that ugly creature staying on stick that catches the wind. Dear diary, I became a bit scared. I didn’t know what we could do. We took Marc out of there, and asked Vas to take care of it. That bird wouldn’t stop laughing, it was so annoying. But we couldn’t focus on that, because, not even after a few minutes, Menn’e started to convulse on the floor. That creature was corrupting him and was trying to kill poor Menn’e. At some point, Eve came to us and said that on every new wood plank on this ship, there is the symbol with the three-point lance. Once again, it was chaos all over the place. Bart and Eugen both65 tried to help him, but Bart fainted, and so would have Eugen, but somehow, he managed to calm Menn’e down before that. The boy fell in a coma and we immediately took him to Vas. I hope that the Almighty will take good care of Vas when the time comes, he is a genius doctor. It was now silence, but it was not the good silence, it was a heavy one.   This creature was feeding with our bad feelings, like it did in for a long time. The situation was very serious. There was probably a lot of fear, regret and guilt that Menn’e probably felt after the death of Vazi’e and this journey. He may be a fastodan, but he is still 16 years old. Probably all the crew felt the same, I felt the same. Bart decided it was time for a together training with all of us. He asked us to look at people who we had the most problems with. I didn’t know why, but my first instinct was to look at Nixie. Very curious feeling. Then, I also started to look at the fastodans, then at Xebec and then Dillen. But why was Nixie the first one? I had to think about it for a long time that night. Of course, everyone had a person that looked at them. Bart took this opportunity to ask us how we are feeling. I was a bit afraid that nobody would want to talk so I went ahead. I was remembering all the mistakes, I felt sorry and responsible for everything but…I also was worried that we might lose, both this world and the crew. The others said what they had on their mind and then, at the end, Bart made us grab the hand of the people we were looking at. It was a promise that we would try to fix these small problems. And so, we did in the next morning. I felt a bit better than before; I hope the others felt the same.   We all went to sleep, but I for one wasn’t that sleepy. I felt so overloaded with all these feelings and empty at the same time. You see, I see this ship, as an image for the whole world. The demons are attacking it, and we have a protect and save it. But what could I do against it? A few months ago, I barely knew anything else but Worania and Elves. I felt useless. The others think I underestimate our enemies. But I really don’t. I know what we are fighting against. Well, I know that one wrong decision can be fatal for all of us, one wrong step and the demon wins, the Evil wins. But if I admit that we are fighting with something more powerful than us, that our chances are low, that the world may end and we may be responsible for it, what will it help me with? Nothing. I have to hope. If there is one good person among the pew pew people, if there was a slight chance for Drenizek to heal and he did, and if we managed to make it so far, then what if, what if we would also to manage to save the world? I know of this evil’s power, but if I fear it, doesn’t that make the fight half lost? It is not only a swords fight, but also a spirit one. I looked at the wall and thought about all that happened. Slowly, the doubt feelings were coming back. I still felt powerless. I was feeling fragile, a bit tired actually.   I wanted to tell Nixie about it, but she has her own problems to solve. And like that, I finally figured it out, why I looked at Nixie. We wouldn’t talk like we used to do, we stop being friends, we were just…the captain and the crewman. Each one of us was solving her problems, and that is is. Not now, it wasn’t the time to fall apart, I need to help her somehow, and I won’t be able to do that, if I cannot understand her. And I needed her to help me. We are very different from each other, but always once one of us had a problem, it will become the other one’s problem as well. We do not fight this alone, that’s why we are friends. The next morning, I went straight to talk wit her, but Bart was already there so I went to train with the fastodans first and try to talk with them. Sometime after, I entered the room Nixie was in. I didn’t know how to say it. I knew it would hurt her, but I had to tell her. I didn’t really have a problem with her, but this feeling, I didn’t like it. By the look on her face, she was obviously already upset. I have no manners, so I went straight to the point. We talked a bit about that, and I could notice that she was devastated by everything she heard that day. She will always be my friend before my captain, I will not let us fall apart. Dear diary, I do not know how to help, how can I find this angel and help it instead of Nixie? Or at least fight her demon for her? Again, I couldn’t. All I could do is stand there, and try to give her some advice. She is still the most important person in my life, and nothing will change that. I may not be able to protect her anymore, but I can still listen to her. Life as a captain is hard, especially on a ship like this. But it is not her fault, this one, is on all our shoulders.   I let Nixie deal with all she heard, and went to Bart. I wanted to apologize. I knew Bart was sad, and I didn’t try to help, not even one bit. I didn’t know how to say it, so I just said “I’m sorry that I didn’t ask if you’re ok everyday”. We had a nice conversation and he said that it’s alright, but I shouldn’t miss doing that every day. Then, I let him go do his things because there was one more person that I wanted to talk with. These conversations were so hard to start , there were a lot of feelings to explain, and I had no clue how.   I found Xebec, as always, steering the ship. I always felt it is easy to talk with him, but I knew that it would be a bit more difficult this time. As always, I went straight to the subject. I didn’t want him to fight this just to protect me. I didn’t want him to die for a fight he doesn’t believe in, just to protect me. I cannot ask that of him, and I felt guilty I did it until now. I understood his point as well, it was his choice. And I also know it is hard to know someone cares for you. It is a weird feeling to get used to. But I still couldn’t bring myself to not ask myself: “What if he dies because of me?”. I even wanted to make him promise that in case my life is in danger, he will not sacrifice his to save me. Thank the Almighty, he didn’t. He told me that it is a hard thing to do, and in the end, he didn’t say it. I am happy he didn’t. At that moment, I felt a bit upset, but a few days later, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise myself, so it was not right to ask him that. And it was also later that I realized that, while caring and being cared by someone, can be a dangerous feeling, because you have a constant fear you might lose that person, it can also save you. It Is a warm feeling, that makes you want to move on. Xebec and me ended up talking for a long more. I asked him to tell me his problem, to talk with me, no matter how hard it is and not tell me he is fine when he really isn’t. He told me about how he isn’t like me, he doesn’t necessarily believe in all we do, and that he wants to fight this to protect me. Yes, dear diary, I feel flattered, but I want him to find a motivation for himself. Since we were talking about this, I asked him to what he will do after this, after this war is over. He didn’t know what to answer because he never thought about it. I want him to have something to look forward to after this mess, something to really want to fight for. But I can’t give him that, he has to find it himself. It was his turn to ask the same questions. There are many things I want to do after. I want to reunite Nixie with her family and see her happy, I want to see the world be well again, I want to see the party happy, and I want to travel to see what is after the horizon line, while traveling on this ship with Xebec and the crew. I do have dreams for the future. I told Xebec about the last reason, I thought it might raise his morale and it seemed that it worked for a little bit. I hope I made him understand about what I was talking about. And of course, I will help him with the training. It is time for him to learn everything he taught me. Dear diary, wish him luck, he will need it.   At this whole time, Marc managed to wake up, but Menn’e was still not conscious. Since it was such a big demon event, we asked the elves some advise. They were already on the way to our ship, because they wanted to let us know that they will be going ahead. After we told them what happened, they offered to help us one last time, and help Menn’e. But we needed to take him on the Elf ship. Of course, the fastodans were against it. They thought that Menn’e was cursed by his gods, because he became weak in faith and started to help other gods. They didn’t want Menn’e to have more influence from someone of other religion, nor be helped by it in any way. But he really needed to get on the Elf ship if he wanted to survive. It was hard to decide. Dying because you choose to keep your beliefs, or survive with the risk of losing what you believe in. It is a tough decision to make and I understand why. But, something in my heart, told me I cannot let Menn’e die. In the end, we managed to convince the fastodans to listen to us but they told us that “whatever happens, Menn’e ‘s life will be on our shoulders”. We promised to try to not influence him and insisted that two people from the party to go on the Elf ship with Menn’e. I wanted to be there so I volunteered, but then I thought that maybe Bart or Eugen or Eve would be better for this. In case of something, I will be useless, there will be nothing I will be able to do.   What we saw during the ritual was amazing and scary. The elves gathered around Menn’e, who was in a deep sleep, and started chanting something. Then, the oldest of the Wise Elves, came close to Menn’e, who started convulsing again. The Wisest of Elves, screamed at us to make some light and, in Menn’e’s shadow, we saw the creature that was hurting him. The Wisest of Elves fought the mivureh, for a long time. But then, suddenly, both the Wisest of Elves and Menn’e fell breathless on the ground. I couldn’t believe it. I got scared. If the Wisest of Elves couldn’t beat this demon, how can we? We are just some minions who got themselves in a big fight, we had no power if the Wisest of Elves was defeated. We were just some mere soldiers. But most of all, I didn’t want to believe it, that Menn’e is dead. I ran to him and tried to call his name. One other elf approached and told us that there is a chance that Menn’e would be alive, but we have to do something fast. “Useless. There is nothing I can do. I have no power here.” I thought. I was hopeless. We are not good enough to protect him. I thought back to the war, to the trainings, to my family. I was always the weakest of brothers, even grandpa said that sometimes. I was ready to give up, but then I remember something granpa once said, when I was upset about the scolding he would give me. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only option you have”. Nobody there would have been able to save Menn’e, no one but us. His life was on our shoulder, so I had to be strong. I couldn’t lose all hope, not now. What would the others do? Yes, they would have faith. I had to try doing it. I had to simply let go and believe. But I couldn’t do it, I still didn’t understand it well. But while there was still a chance to save Menn’e, we still had to fight is some way. Then, I don’t know who, had a good idea. It sounded like Heron’s voice for a second. If I were to be officially named in front of the Almighty, then I would be at the purest moment so the power of light would be stronger. I couldn’t fight by myself, but I could let the other (the elves and Nixie) use their light and I could be just their weapon. I tried to let go of everything I was thinking, to detach from everything and everyone, and then I saw nothing but white around. Somewhere in front, I saw only Menn’e, covered by a dark black aura. At first I wanted to touch that aura, but I remembered, that I wasn’t the fighter, but the weapon, I had to help the fighters do their job. And it worked, for a second it worked. When I came back to my senses, I saw the elves doing the ritual around Menn’e again. I was relieved to see Menn’e alive, and I was happy I had helped. I managed to . What I told you about caring for someone, that’s when I realized it. It wasn’t only for Nixie and Xebec and the party; it was a feeling I felt for everyone of that ship. I can’t stay away and do nothing while I see them die. No matter how useless our efforts are, we have to try, we have to hope that we are able to do something. My hope was back, it felt lost for a second, but it came back . We waited with Menn’e to wake up and we talked with him for a bit. He told us how he saw some monsters that were calling him. It sounded quite scary and Menn’e was terrified that he was doomed, that he is not going to get to his gods. We tried to calm him down, and to let him know that he fought well. After he felt less terrified, we returned on our ship, and we told the fastodans what happened. You could see it on their face that they were relieved that Menn’e survived and they were also upset about what they heard what happened. They didn’t want to talk on this subject anymore, and we let them be for now. The truth is, we were all exhausted, so we just went to sleep.   The next morning, we found ourselves near the Sten people land. There was a thin line of water that was green, but it seemed suspicious, so Eugen used his vison to see what it was going on. When he came back, he told some shocking news. It seems that there was a huge fight between the dragon riders people and the stenians. The Sten was burning from one side to another, and there weren’t any people that were alive. The weather was very bad and we couldn’t move that day. So we asked Eugen to do his magic again. What he saw next, was even worse. The Mountain dragon was now, laying dead in the water. It was a bit of a surprise. Later, we heard some screams from the water. It was a stenian who was barely alive. We took him to Vas immediately. The guy didn’t know much common, but we managed to understood just a tiny bit of what he said. In the meantime, Vas did some tests on him, and suddenly, his face became whiter than usual. The stenian, whose name was Odu, had green blood. He managed to tell us that the Mountain Dragon fought with some kind of Tentacle Monster that spread- disease all over. At first I thought that it was helpful, but then, we found out that It was one of the two calamities that cleansed this world. This one brought the Disease everywhere. And it was in the water we were sailing on. We found Odu dead in the morning. At some point, Eugen tried to clean up the ship from any possible disease but somehow, he managed to spread it. Poor Menn’e got sick immediately. No, just after we saved him, he got sick. The fastodans must have seen that as a horrible sign, a proof that they are not going on the right path. But we had no time to talk about it, because the whole sky became gray. It was smoke. We then looked further. The whole land was covered in smoke, and further, we could see the tail of a blue dragon moving. It was bigger than the one we met. There was nothing left on land, just fire. We didn’t stop, and went straight to Prepo. What we saw there, it was even worse. There was a total chaos. There were people selling and buying everything they could, lords preparing to leave in a hurry, leaving behind dozens of people who had to flee by themselves. Dreadful, but still, it felt painfully familiar. It reminded me about the first battle I went to. I remember that I was very excited for it. I could finally be a real fighter. Flavia and Forsun did not share my enthusiasm and I soon understand why. We had to fight for a good few days, I was tired, hungry, and miserable. It was nothing that I had imagined. It was a total chaos, and we were surrounded of people dying in every second. I remembered the first person I killed. After cutting his throat, I stepped back, balancing my weight on my left foot, and smiled. “I had finally done my job as a fighter” I thought. The war turned me into something so horrifying, so cruel. I didn’t care how many people die, or how they die. All it mattered, was that we achieve our purpose. I know now, the value of every life I have taken, I understand what I had done. I can’t take it back, I can’t change my past. But I am trying, dear diary, I am trying to learn how to be a honorable fighter, not a killing machine.   Ah, yes, there I was, in the middle of a war. It shouldn’t have, but it did hurt. Somehow I hoped, that we will not have to see this again, neither Nixie nor me. It is a frightening scene, nobody should have to witness or live. If I can help with ending this war and helping this world at peace, then I will. I will fight until my last breath, if necessary. There were others who were ready to fight as well. The stenians, or what was left of them, were on their ships, ready to go back and fight for what belongs to them. Thanks to them, the dragon raiders people didn’t get further to Prepo and other lands for now. And they bought some time for many people, who wanted to run. It felt similar to our situation, the evil was threatening everything the stenians had, and even with not much chances on their side, they went to fight. We need to do the same, we need to fight for this world with everything we have. I watched the stenians ships leave the port. Not one of them flinched, stopped or came back. They faced the enemy, with honor till the very end. As they slowly disappear in the distance, I prayed for them. Th We spent one day in Prepo, trying to make some money for the crew. We gave them some gold. Luckily, people really needed what we had to sell, and Nixie and Bart made us very good deals. We let the crew have some fun for at least this day. But the very same day, what we found out from the elves, didn’t make our day brighter. Three leaves from the Primordial Tree fell. THREE of them. That must have been very saddening for the elves probably. But that was also a bad sign for us. We are running out of time, but until the last leaf has fallen, we still have a chance. We must get to the elves and start fighting as soon as possible.   May the Almighty help us protect this world, and to take care of every one that fell in this war, good or bad. P.S.: Thank you, Odu. Thank you, to all of you, stenians, who went to fight and to all who fought in this war. And thank you the most, Wisest of Elves, for dying to save our friend with all you got.  

Dear diary, These days are very weird. We almost lost the crew, laimon is isabel not laimon anymore, our boat is empty and full of water, Xantinya has talked to the whole world, nixie is cursed ,vadrek broke his back and xebec lost an arm, and we met people from other dimensions AND an organization of very loyal people with fast "pew pew weapons” who are as bad as negotiating as Poolleius, Nixie and me. And it wasn’t even a week since I wrote last time. I do not even know if I should laugh at what is happening or cry, but one thing is for sure, autumn has come, and we still haven’t finished our journey. There are many things to say, so I will take it easy because I don’t know if I ever wrote that much. The night after Maltor’s death was very busy for us. Nixie and me went to visit Laimon for a bit. She was feeling probably very upset, scared and discouraged, like all of us. It was a long conversation, about what is happening, about demons and about our goal. The whole feeling was very heavy and the more we talked, the more I felt that we push Isbel away. At some point, three onions fell in front of us. The middle one had a weird X sign on it, but that didn’t mean much for me, except well that someone was listening us of course, and it couldn’t have been the crew. Isbel (I’m still getting used to call her like this) got very scared and we had to calm her down a bit. The end of the discussion didn’t seem that solved something, but given the situation, there was nothing more we could have said to help her. We all went to sleep, but sometime in the middle of the night, Nixie woke up and told us about some dreams she had with a sparrow and her brother, but at that time nobody could focus. So after a very short conversation, we all fell back asleep. The next morning, as the days before, started absolutely great. Nixie told us all about her dreams and that there was some fight about a demon and someone else (we later figured out it was an angel), and she had more choices to do, and that in the end she woke up. She mentioned something about a green blood, wings, shovels, and so many things that it would take me the whole day just to write about her dream. Of course, it couldn’t have been just a dream but I was confused about what that exactly meant or how that would affect us. So I suggested that we have some time to think about it during breakfast. When we got to the deck, all the crew was looking at us with a lot of death stares. I didn’t know what happened, but I could guess what it was related to. I have never seen them so upset and neither did Xebec, so i figured it was finally time for a long and hard discussion. Of course, Dillen came to ask Nixie to have a meeting after breakfast, so we asked him what was all of this about. He mentioned that, the whole crew had the same dream and that we should discuss everything in front of the crew later. There goes “not telling the crew about the journey”, seems now we had no choice. And like that, my appetite was all gone. I hate breakfasts and mornings. Not very long after, all of us gathered on the deck. It was time for us to deal with this situation once and for all. It was our fault for not telling them in the first place, so now, we had to try to fix the problem. The crew was in front of us with Dillen and their speaking person. (not going to call him “sneaky snake” anymore). They were saying that we should renegotiate the contract and offered us a deal: They come with us to the first harbor, and they leave us there, and we gave the lands we promised them. While we were talking, I looked around for a bit. This whole image hurt worse than I expected. All of the crew, which until that day, I thought will be our friends no matter where we go, was now looking us with disappointment and anger. And what it hurt even more, it was that I couldn’t blame them, we should have told them sooner, we should have really treated them like our friends, not just some sailors. I did tell Xebec, so why did I not have the courage to tell them as well? Vadrek and Brunek were not making jokes with us anymore, Drenizek was so upset he could not even look us in the eyes, even Dillen’s words (who I didn’t think cared that much) were sharper than usual. I always thought of the consequences this would have for us, but not even for one minute I thought of the consequences for them, how much it would hurt them. After we heard the proposal, we asked for some time to think all of it through. I think everyone was shocked by what just happened. I was still seeing the whole image with the crew, so I couldn’t focus much on the discussion. I just didn’t want to do this anymore, Nixie was right, we couldn’t even take care of these people, how could we help to save the world. For a few moments, I just wanted to leave and not do anything but then Eve said something that “that’s how we can show them we respect them”. Respect…Respect…When I heard that, a flashback with all the happy crew came into my mind. We always asked for them to respect us, but we never did anything to earn their respect, and yet they still respected us. I didn’t feel so lost anymore, I felt a small flame growing stronger inside. It was too late to take back what happened, but maybe it wasn’t too late to fix the mistake. We had to try, to earn their respect, because we do not talk about just some sailors, we talk about our friends. If I really respected them as I said, we had to at least try to fix this, even if they chose to leave after all, we couldn’t let them leave with that disappointment in their hearts. Giving them a deal that is not even sure, wasn’t respecting them, it was giving up. Forcing them to stay, was also not respecting them, it was us being selfish. What we could do however, is be honest with them, remind them why they came with us, and give them the choice. I am not going to lie, I really really hoped they will stay, but Bart was right, if they wanted to leave, we should accept the consequences of our choice. Each one of the party was saying their opinions, and what we should and shouldn’t do. Of course, there were many opinions and suggestions but even after a few hours, we still didn’t reach a conclusion. It was a total chaos in the room. At some point Heron and Eve started to fight and I felt how all the things were not going to end well if we kept like that. I sided with Eve on this one, but I couldn’t let that make us fight. Heron was saying that, yes, we were wrong, but the crew are babies and that they shouldn’t have this attitude. I was a bit shocked by Nixie who agreed, after the night before when she told Laimon, I thought she changed her mind, but it seems she still wasn’t happy with the fact that the crew acted the way they did. I sometimes don’t understand what she is thinking. She told Laimon because she was “forced” by the circumstances, then the first reaction in the morning was “Laimon told them” and she kept saying that “now we need to tell the truth to everyone, because they will find out”. After all we have been through, all the fighting, deaths, happy moments and parties, how can you not trust the people who were there all along. The same people that made you their captain and who, despite knowing they will not get anything, they decided to come with us. If you can’t trust them, then who do you trust? Well, even though I do not understand, I trust her. So no matter what she was thinking, I am sure she intended good for all of us. No matter of what we all thought, it was time to put these opinions aside and make a choice, as a team. Eve, who strongly opposed with Nixie and Heron, took the crew side and said it was only our fault and that they have the right to be like this, and Pullius had the same opinion. I understood the crew, I would have probably felt the same. Let alone the feeling of betrayal, finding out about all the information in such a brutal way, must have been very shocking. It’s not like we hid the alcohol from them, we hid a much much bigger secret. We couldn’t have expected them to just get over it and fight this. Eve was indeed right with most of the things she said. We did act with superiority, we did wronged them. But there was one small thing I didn’t agree with. She said that we will never be able to take a decision with such a big difference in our perspectives. Yes, it is true, it complicated the situation a bit, but this difference is what is making us stronger. In the end, what is important is that we accept each other perspectives, act like adults, and find the most reasonable solution. After the talk, we went outside and Nixie had a wonderful speech in which she told them all the truth, and reminded them why they came with us and apologized for what we did. I was impressed by it and I really hoped that the crew also understood what we said there. But of course, Dillen couldn’t give us break. “is there anything you haven’t told us?” he asked in front of everyone. It wasn’t hard to understand what he meant, but I did not know how to answer. Good job Dillen, you got exactly what you wanted, catch us in a trap. If we said anything, Isbel would get upset, but if we didn’t, we would keep lying to the crew. No matter what “Maybe the fact the Laimon is a girl?” continued Dillen. I know he was upset, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit saddened. Did he really want to get rid of us that badly? Yes, he was angry, but I thought, that maybe, despite our fights, we were friends. But this was just me being selfish, i wasn’t in the position to feel disappointed or sad, we had to solve this, and it was our fault. Maybe in his weird way Dillen was trying to push us or maybe not, at this point it didn’t even matter anymore. We needed to tell the crew, I wanted to do that, if Isbel wanted to hate me for it, then so be it. But I have learned from all of this, that hiding the truth, or saying it halfway, can have very serious consequences and can hurt people, and I didn’t want to hurt the crew again, or anyone there for that matter. Plus, it would be the greatest act of disrespect for the crew, lying to them again. So I answered Dillen with “Yes, and her name is Isbel Lofkia”. And from here, the chaos began. Lafk’u and the fastodans, hearing that, started saying that they will not fight alongside a Lofkia, Dillen pulled his sword and wanted to protect Isbel, while she kept asking why I have said that. And here we were, once again, some against the others. But we couldn’t let this happen, not this time and I promised Isbel I would protect her. Since she might have not talked to me after what happened, I decided it was the time to tell her something I wanted to tell her a long time ago. I understood how she felt, i have felt that a long time ago, when Forsun and Flavia died. I couldn’t let her do what I did, killing other people for revenge. She is a smart and good person, and I just didn’t want to see her suffer more. Fighting for revenge would have not gotten her peace, it would have gotten her more pain. She was the one telling me she wanted to be free, but revenge would have only chain her even more. I tried to explain her a bit more about this, and, by her expression, she seems to have understood what I said. It was her choice what she will do, but somehow, I knew that she will not kill Pullius, I trusted she won’t. Nixie, came to help me, as usual, and handed Isbel the sword and saying: “It’s your choice, Isbel, if you want to, you can kill Pullius right here, right now”. I was so happy to see her do that. I was indeed wrong, maybe she had more trust in Isbel than I thought. Hearing all of this, Pullius fell to his knees, just like Nixie predicted, and apologized to Isbel. Of course he regrets it. No matter what they say, Pullius is one of us, and will always be and he is our friend. It was all up to Isbel now. But before she had a word to say, the fastodans interrupted the whole thing, saying that they still won’t accept Isbel among us. This was a difficult situation but Drenizek came to our rescue. He really is true friend, even in these times, when we disappoinded him, he still decided to help us. But another shock came to us when we heard his suggestion: a duel to death between him and Talion. If he were to win, the fastodans would have had their revenge, if the other way round, the fastodans will accept the situation. He gave us the choice, if we agreed to the duel, we kept what we were doing, if not, we would all throw the swords. In an instant, I threw away my sword, and looked at the party to do the same. Nobody would ever agree to such thing, Drenizek, once again, sacrificing his life to solve our problems, and two men from this ship fighting each other. Laimon, looked once again at Pullius, who was still in his knees, and she threw away the sword. It seems that she is indeed, a true fighter. She found her strength to forgive Pullius, and made him promise that Talion will help her become what her father wanted her to be. I didn’t meet her father, but I am sure that, he would have been very proud of her. She has a long fight ahead, but, in this moment, she made the choice of how she will fight it. It was a weird feeling I felt when she did that, somehow, i was happy she wouldn’t need to carry the weight of revenge with her, and I was so proud of her. It made me smile a little bit thinking that maybe I really helped her a little bit, maybe my words, had, just a little bit of an influence over this decision. It wasn’t the time, I know, but for a second there, I also thought: “Would my father be proud of what I did?”. I didn’t have time to process that too much though. We were still in the middle of a discussion, and the fastodans still didn’t throw his weapons. I had to try to convince them that their revenge, has nothing to do with Isbel. After all, in all this time, Isbel was as much as their comrade-in-arms as we all were, and that despite knowing all that happened, she decided to fight alongside them until now. I could see that the fastodans, especially Lafk’u was a bit conflicted. After a bit of time for thinking, he replied that he doesn’t know what to do, but that “Our gods told us to fight all other gods”. I didn’t see it that way, this was not a god’s fight, it was a choice we, as humans had to make. I tried to explain this to Lafk’u knowing that, despite being a fastodan and following his gods, he is also a kind man, who, at least in my opinion, knows when it is time to fight or throw away the sword. I tried to make them understand by using what Lafk’u taught me, maybe it would make more sense. I respect the fastodans, Lafk’u and their gods, so I did not want do go against what they choose to do, but I promised to protect Laimon, so I had to try. After a bit of convincing, they also, threw away the swords, and finally, we had a bit of peace. I had time to think later about everything they said, about gods and choosing what we fight for. I learned a lot from the fastodans, and I want to learn more. Their actions in fights, their style and courage, I want to learn all about it but as I said before, there is something I do not agree with. I cannot choose to fight for their gods, like they do. I do not feel it is right. Yes, i do think it is important to have faith and try to fight in such a way to prove your faith. But I see a big difference between having faith and blindly following their orders. I do not want to fight for them, and as I see it, The Almighty never asked us to. He showed us what is right and gave us the choice to fight for whatever we want. So I have made up my mind, I will learn everything I can from the fastodans, and by having faith in what The Almighty taught us, I will use all these learnings to fight for the people, protecting the life as we already do for both the bad and the good. Because I believe, that, if there is a demon in each one of us, there is also an angel to help us. And while it is a choice the person has to make for themselves, I can try and show them that there is a good side. Yes, it will not always be something I will be able to do, for it doesn’t depend only me, but I have to try. Like we tried with Isbel, like we tried with the crew. The next moment when Lafk’u threw his sword, everyone calmed down. It was time for us to finish this talk. Nixie lifted Lafk’u sword and gave it to him, and I wanted all of us to join swords. But before that, Drenizek suggested, that all of them should say what bothered them. Everyone, had their own reasons, and we listened to all of them very carefully. If we wanted the crew to trust us again, we had to fix these mistakes. After that, we apologized once again. It was time for all of them to decide if they stayed with us or not. All of them agreed to stay and follow us, the fastodans took a bit longer saying that “they cannot swear loyalty to anyone and that if their gods lead them somewhere else, they will leave” but in the end, they agreed to stay. Do not get me wrong, dear diary, we are just at the beginning of solving this problem, but it was very important to us. To end this in the proper way, Orman suggested we have a party. And since it was Eve’s birthday as well, we couldn’t refuse. But before that, there was a bit of organizing to do. First of all, Dillen was now part of all the decisions we made, and we would present everything to the crew, no matter how hard the truth is. Then, one last matter needed to be discussed. The name of the boat, it didn’t represent us. I hope Damaschini won’t mind that we changed it. From that day on, the boat was now named: The Sapphire Sword. I believe this name has a lot of meaning for all of us and represents a new beginning as well. That night, a huge party took place. Eve seemed to still be upset and was not having fun. We finally wished her happy birthday, but I don’t think it helped much. I thought that giving her Sea’s mask will help her become better. She was always very sure on what she believes in, and herself. She didn’t act like herself earlier and probably she was mad at herself. I hope we can make her understand, that all of us have these moments, of disbelief. We are not perfect, but we need to get over this, to stand up and fight again. I want to help Eve do the same, but I feel it is not only my support she needs, but Bart’s. There was one more person I wanted to talk to, before I got to drinking. My dear Xebec, was very quiet the whole day, he didn’t stay with the crew, or with us. In all this mess, he must have felt a bit alone, and hurt. Probably he thought that he doesn’t belong anywhere. But he does. He belongs by my side, in the party. I wanted to let him know that, because like today, maybe I am not there to support him. So I wanted him to know how much he means to me. I may be strong, but I do need him. Well, I am not good at explaining what I feel so I don’t know if he understood, but I think he did. He is always paying attention, so he must have understood. I would have talked a bit more with him, if I didn’t hear Nixie, near a barrel, listening to us. Well, since she was there, it was the perfect timing to take her and talk with Drenizek. I wanted to apologise to him, and I am pretty sure that Nixie had a few things to say as well. Compared to her, I didn’t want to interrupt much, so I quickly told Drenizek what I wanted and then left. I spotted Nixie giving him a painting some time after. I don’t know what they talked about but Dreniek started playing music again. He seemed to feel a bit better, which to be honest made me feel a bit better. And he even came to tell me that he appreciated I tried to help him. I hope he knows how much we appreciate and love him as a friend. AND HE STARTED PLAYING MUSIC AGAIN. Everyone was in a good mood. It seemed a bit like the old times, when Gerki, Vazi’e and Maltor were here, when there weren’t so many problems in our way. I felt a bit nostalgic, but happy at the same time. We got a second chance to protect this, and this time, we will try our best not to waste it. And dear diary, believe it or not, I even became official friends with Dillen. Well, he surely had some benefits from what he did, but I do not believe that he means bad for us. And as much as I do not like to admit, I would be a bit sad if he died. Plus, we sometimes have the same opinions, which i find it very weird, but I guess I will have to deal with it. The party lasted all night and I remember some parts of it. I remember that we danced and drank a lot, we did some hand fighting and Xebec and me were equal. Somewhere in my memory is also Nixie and Eve who kissed in front of everyone, Heron who stayed with Xixi in the Jacuzzi. Vadrek who got his face smashed by Xebec because he wanted to touch me, and Heron being naked. And for some reasons, my whole hair smelled like alcohol in the morning, but I couldn’t figure out why. I think we all got more drunk than we needed. When I woke up the whole boat was a mess, but since I had a lot of energy, I decided to clean it all up. It took a few hours, but the others were sleeping anyways. Well, the good mood didn’t last long, because the next day, a huge storm came again. And guess what, there were 40 dragon raiders boat coming closer to us, from two directions. The following days were a nightmare again. We were trying to hide for the dragon raiders ships, survive the storm, keep the boat floating and follow the elves who were leading the way. Vadrek and Brunek were trying to fix the hole in the boat that this time, was huge. At some point, we saw Brunek coming to us, full of blood, saying that a rock hit him and the boat while they were downstairs. Now, half of the ship was full of water. We tried to repair some other parts of the ship, like a part of the stick that catches the wind, but somehow Vardek feel, and broke his back and fell unconscious. In the meantime, Xixi who, was trying to fix the huge hole that was underwater, almost ran out of air. Nixie managed to hide us from the dragon raiders boats, but we were so slow, that we couldn’t see the elves ships anymore. We had to fix that hole and take the water out as fast as possible. And in the end, after a few good hours we did. The plan was very easy, Nixie would make bubbles with air in the water which Heron, Lafk’u, the fastodans, and me would breath from while fixing the boat. Then, we spent the whole night, trying to get the water out. During the storm, we threw over deck everything we didn’t need. Still, our boat could barely move. We spent another few day on sea, praying that we would reach land soon. We decided to stop to the closest port, because we needed a lot of fixing. We got to the land and decided to gather with the elves, to talk about the next days. Slowly, we entered a bay.The waters were very weird. It seemed like they were boling.Then, on the sky, we saw red lightings going in all the directions. The whole thing made me feel a bit worried, so did Xantinya’s voice who we heard from the sky. Probably everyone heard it. It sounded like a thread to all of us, like it was meant to scare everyone. Everyone was terrified, and I must admit, it was a bit scary. But we had to stand in front of this, we had to fight it. It was the first day of autumn, and we might be late, but we still have to try. Dear diary, you may think I am fool, but I do believe in us, I believe that, somehow we can stop all of this. Convincing the crew to stay with us was just a small step, compared to what will come it may prove to not be so big, but it made the flame inside light brighter than usual. We might die fighting, or we might miserably fail, but I will fight until the very end, I will not give up. For the crew, for my new family, and for everyone that believes that life still has a chance. So yes, Xantinya may threaten us, but we will not back down, she may be a demon, but we have more than she can understand. We have love, faith and hope. So yes, it is worrisome Xantinya did all of that, and we are only small people. We will need to hurry, because everyday Xantinya is growing stronger, but we will not despair at her threats, nor bow our heads to her. We will fight, with the tiny bit we have, we will fight. When we met with the elves, they seemed very very worried. And the situation didn’t get better. On the Stick that catches wind, we saw a huge ugly bird that seemed. It was big and ugly and had red eyes. The elves became more plaer than usual when they saw it. They kept saying that our boat is cursed and that Nixie was cursed and kept asking what did she do. I would normally think this was a trick from the demons, but knowing the dream she had and the white feather and green blood, I assumed the elves were right, she is possessed. I couldn’t panic, it wasn’t the time. Moments after, Nixie came closer to me and whispered that she sees Marcel and a lot of purple eyed cursed things that were heading north-east. I didn’t see any of this, but somehow, the air was a bit heavier, and the sky a bit darker. One of the elves hit the big bird on the stick and it fell down, transforming back to a normal bird. The elves were now obviously disturbed and asked Nixie to talk separately. She still needs to tell us about what happened, but for now, we are a bit caught up with negotiations. If it is true, and we are cursed, we will need to work on it, and fast, because the more we wait, I think the more powers demon we have. Dear diary, I know I may seem like I have a lot of confidence, but I am worried and sometimes afraid. I am worried about all of this, and I always rethink my decisions, every step we make can destroy us or have huge consequences. But I can have both, I can hope and worry at the same time. I can hope for our victory, but I can also prepare for the worst. I do not dream of a perfect ending, but I do hope for one. Because, without this hope, I would not have the courage to fight. I am just a normal person, so I am scared, of course I am, but I can’t leave this take over my emotions. Since everyone was tired, we decided to take a break for the day. We went to a trade post and asked for help. They said they could fix the boat and help us, but first we needed to talk with their boss, who lived in a small castle there. They called him: The red knight. Nixie and me didn’t have a good feeling about this, but we had not choice, we needed to leave as fast as possible. Dillen and Xebec made of us for being scared of something like that, but well, you can’t never predict what happens. So we went it, and had a very good dinner. Then, the so called Red Knight came in. The red knight, was a girl, and she was wearing a full armour made of steel, and had the face covered with a mask. Her sword was made of something white, but it wasn’t elvish iron, it was something different. She didn't seem to fit at all to these places. The conversation was fun but of course, something had to happen. The red Knight asked us to write our names in a log before leaving. And so we did, well, Pullius, being a bit scared, decided to write his name differently. He wrote POOLIEUSS. Of course, everyone was extremely amused and we started making jokes and laugh about it. At some point Xebec called him “Talion”. Suddenly the red knight said: “Talion Almas, what a coincidence”. Is there any place in this world where Poolieuss doesn’t have enemies? The very next second, all the people around us, pulled some “guns” out and surrounded us. To explain you a bit, these "guns" are like some kind of steel bows that shoot arrows in you very fast. Well normally, we would have probably reacted immediately, but we were so amused at POOLIEUSS that we couldn’t stop making jokes and laugh. The poor people must have thought we are crazy. They were threatening us, and we were making fun of our friend. I couldn't even take the thing seriously, i was so curious and distracted that i even asked miss Red Kinght, if it's possible for me to use a gun. After a bit of talking, the Red Knight told us that her and her people were from an organization from another dimension, that was searching for POOLIEUSS. They were in some kind of secret organisation. When things finally got serious, They gave us the choice to leave Pullius and go on with our lives or not do that. Of course, we would not let him behind so we had no choice but fight. It was one of the most difficult fights we had so far. Although we only fought with the Red Knight, she had a very unique way to fight. And her sword was very strong. My poor Xebec lost his fighing arm, i am sure his must be feeling destroyed about it. The rest of us, barely survived. Most of us were hit by electric powers, or by the sword, or both. We managed to make the Red Knight go unconscious thanks to some of Poolieuss powers, but we are still surrounded by the "gun" people. To be fair, i do not like the name of "guns", i will call them "pew pew weapons". The other people here seem to be very loyal to what they do but since both parts can kill the other, we decided to negotiate with them. At first we were peaceful, but then we decided to go to a more aggressive strategy: if they want Pullius alive, we threaten to kill him. Nixie and me are very good at wasting time and pretending to be crazy, I mean, for people who never saw a grirl of fire, works very well. To be honest, i didn't want to make a deal with them, i wanted to talk with Miss Red Knight, we would have more chances like that. It took long enough for Miss Red Knight to wake up again. Now, Nixie and me need to negotiate with her. If we ever make it out alive of here, you will know.   May the Almighty protect us all and help us help the others in time.

Dear diary, We are in the middle of the sea, and to be honest, writing is a bit annoying. The pages are all wet because of the rain so the ink is going all over the page. Also I wasn’t feeling the best these days, I even fell over the deck. I don’t think i have seen such a bad storm before. Not even Xebec is enjoying this anymore, i don’t think so. So here we were, going through the Road of storms. Before we entered, Nixie had a few announcements to tell us. She made sure to let the team know that they are in danger of death every moment of the day. Vadrek didn't seem so disturbed about it, but the others didn't seem very excited. Maltor even asked if there would be another way to pass. It is true that we could have passed near the dragon-raiders country but that seemed more dangerous than the road of storms. Then Nixie announced that Dillen the snake and me, should receive a punishment for our little fight: we needed to find a way to entertain her and the crew. I mean everyone seemed very entertained the other day when Dillen the snake and me were fighting, so we could do it again. But to be honest, i wasn't really in the mood so I decided to talk with Dillen the snake, to see what he thinks we should do. He suggested that we should play "spy eye". Not a bad idea, at all. I am sure enough that he is planning something, so why not.   Later that day, we started our journey. Nixie was training with Miremis, who set the boat on fire. Seeing that we cannot stop it with water, I decided to give up and let Nixie stop it. After all it was her training, and I had mine to do. Then, we had a very interesting conversation with Xixi. We tried to tach her how to say "boy" and "girl" in common. It seems like she didn't understand much though. She was very amazed that Bart had "three boys", whatever that meant. I thought she thinks that Bart has three children, but I am almost sure that is not what she meant. Everyone seemed very amused. Then, for some reasons, Bart decided to annoy Xixi. He showed her the forbidden sign then ran on the stick that catches the wind. Of course, she caught up with him, and threw him down. We tried to catch him but we weren't fast enough. It was very amusing. They should do that more often. Not even half a day later, up from the sky, we heard a very loud noise, and Marv started to scream that he saw something in the sky. And this is how, dear diary, we met, for the second time in my life, a dragon. I must say that it was very fast coming to get us. And also, dragons are a lot bigger when they are very close to you. I wish you never see that in your life. Right when it was ready to kill us all, Miremis, made a dragon out of water. The two big creatures had a very big fight, of course, we were still in the middle of it. There was not much I could do so I tried to help Marv, who fell over the deck. In the meantime, The black dragon freed from Miremis's spells and now was attacking us again.So with a very fast speed, he went straight to Xebec. For a second, I was ready to jump in the mouth of the dragon to get him but it was necessary after all. Nixie managed to create some kind of wind and threw Xebec in the water right before the dragon got him. I should have expected it! Nixie is always there to have my back. I was never so thankful to see someone be thrown in water before. Dear diary, I don't even know how to thank Nixie, but i will find something. I wanted to go help Xebec, but I noticed that when the dragon attacked him, it broke the wheel that gives directions. I didn't know how it works, but Bart was nearby. He told me to keep hold what was left from the wheel that gives direction, so we keep going straight. At some point, the elves came to help Miremis and they fought the dragon. Nixie joined them and was very close to freeze the dragon's whole tail. I told you before, dear diary, Nixie will become very strong some day! The others tried to help Heron (who for some reasons climbed the dragon) to come back on the boat. I remember also seeing Eve throw some veil to Drenizek who used it to make the dragon dizzy. It seemed very strong i wonder if she can give us strong veils as well.   After such a day, we all went back to sleep. We were awaken by a huge storm. For a few days, everyone had to work day and night, to make sure we go the right way. There was a lot of water everywhere, and big waves, and a lot of sharp stones that could harm the boat. At some point, we passes some stones, and Bart realized something very scary. All those stones, were in fact bones of dead dragons. Just what exactly happened to them? And, as the day could not get better, one lightning hit our big stick that catches wind, so now it was even more hard for us to sail. Everyone was really tired, almost half of us were either on the floor or throwing up. Poor Eve was in a corner, throwing up from the sickness, Dillen and Bart were somewhere laying down and the others could barely stand. Everyone except Vadrek and Brunek. Nixie also seemed in a very good shape that day. I felt a bit tired, so i stopped to rest for a bit. But once I stopped I felt very very dizzy, and at some point I only saw black. The next thing I remember is that I woke up and Nixie and Xebec kept asking me if I'm alright. Later, Nixie told me that I fell into the water and Xixi came to help me. Looking around, I barely saw a few people being able to work, so I suggested Nixie to devide the crew in two. So some can rest while the others work and the other way around. I wanted to work more but had no choice because fainting would not have helped the other, but make it worse.   When I woke up, the storm was even worse. We sent the others to sleep. Nixie had to force Drenizek to stop working. We saw him fall while carrying something. I felt bad for him. He kept forcing himself to work for so long because Dillen the snake,made him feel like a liability. By the way, since Xebec had to rest as well, Dillen the snake had to drive the boat. You can imagine that he wasn't as good as my dear Xebec, but we had no choice since the others have no clue how to sail the boat. I also didn't help much, because at some point I pulled too hard, and one of the sheets that catch the wind got ripped. I swear, dear diary, I didn't do it so I can annoy Dillen! I don't know what it was wrong with me. I wasn't feeling in my element at all. Because of that we hit a few stones until we managed to fix it. i think I would have helped more if I carried the water out of the boat, or even better, not touch anything. We kept sailing until the others woke up.   Of course, being the third day, you probably think that the storm stopped, right? But NO, it got even worse. We needed all men now to sail the boat. We even separated from the elves from a bit. At some point, we decided to stop in a bay, where the waters were a bit calmer. We all rested there and in the morning, we wanted to fix all the necessary things on the boat, including the big stick that catches wind. Well we tried our best, but even the ropes decided to give up, so our stick fell into the water. We spent the whole day trying to put it back on the boat. Now we were ready to leave, but guess WHAT. Now five ships of dragon raiders were coming to attack us. At this point, i didn't even care anymore, fighting them couldn't be wrong than the last few days and it was finally something I am good at.   People on the ship got very confused and didn't know how to act. Seeing this, Xebec screamed at them to not be lazy and start preparing to fight, and he threw Maltor in the water. Now, everyone was ready to fight. But to be honest, we were all confused what to do. Xebec said that we should go on their boats and fight, but Bart said to stay on our boat and wait for them to come. Nixie just told us to fight, but to be honest I do not exactly know what that means, so I just decided to go with the Fastodans. Of course, it wasn't very hard to fight those people (not all of them were dragon-raiders). At some point, Menn'e tied the enemies up, and I managed to throw them over the deck. I noticed however, that Laimon and Xebec needed a bit of help. I went in that direction, but by the time I got there, Nixie already managed to help Xebec and Eve went to help Laimon.I arrived just in time to kill the dragon raider that was fighting Laimon, and save her. To be honest, I was impressed how well she was fighting. I am sure she will learn to be a wonderful fighter in the future. Maybe I will manage to help her as well. Eve also fought very well. She jumped in front of a fire that was coming to us and got the hit. Bart and Xebec both defeated their enemies. Nixie was throwing ice everywhere, stopping them from moving snd Drenizek, manage to empty a whole ship of enemies.   In the end, most of the enemies were beaten, but some guy with a ring was in the water and we couldn't see him. So Nixie asked Xixi to go look for her. It was a huge fight underwater, but in the end, Xixi came back, holding the guy's body in her arms. But we soon noticed that she had lost a hand. Poor Xixi, she was of so much help, but she still lost a hand. I hope it doesn't hur her too much and that Vas will be able to help her.   After the fight, we all gathered to collect things for the boat to repair it even more. But one of us was missing. We found Maltor laying on the floor, without breath. I could feel a very very tense feel in the air. We did win but we were only half way on the road of storms. We burried him, together with all the elves that died. While the elves sang their songs, each one of us, left Maltor something behind. Orman left him his deck of cards, and Vadrek gave him the money he had ( no enough to pay his debt, but it was all he had) and the rest of us left him a bottle of alcohol. While we were there, I kept thinking about what happened. "Why did Maltor die? Why did the others die?". Yes, they died helping us fight for life and for this world. But they didn't know that, and the others don't know that either. By now, they probably realized our purpose was not only to get to the Sapphire Sea, but they still don't know anything. The contract we had, long expired (not that we would have any money to give them). We ask them to risk their lives everyday, to fight things that even we can't defeat easily so I think that we at least own them the truth. Yes, they will be angry and upset, and probably not trust us again because they would think we came all the way here, just to ask help from Enneth. We should have told them long before and now, we have to deal with what will happen. Nixie however doesn't want to tell them yet, and I don't know about the other party members. She keeps waiting for something, and I don't know what it is, but I hope it will be coming soon. I don't want to break her orders, and I will not but i hope the crew will finally find out soon. I really don't understand why she doesn't want to say. They are not babies anymore, and we can't protect them anymore. They will need to protect themselves after this journey, and if they don't know what is happening, they can't protect themselves.   Today the weather seems a lot better and we finally managed to sail a while longer. But there are many stormy days ahead, and I have hope that we will be fine but I don't know, I think the water I drank, made the fire inside a bit smaller. We still have a chance, so I will not give up, not until there is nothing left to try. We need to fight this, for everyone.   May the Almighty help us pass through the Road of storms, and protect us all.                

Dear Diary, Some days are very calm....and some just aren't. Let's start from the day we were supposed to leave the Elf city. So, I woke up in the morning as usual and I was having a wonderful morning. I heard Nixie came back from the cursed forest so I met up with her. She seemed a bit tired. After a short story about what happened, we decided to go have breakfast with the others. Before we left, she gave me a small "friendship bracelet". I was very happy for it, i'll keep wearing it as a good luck charm. I won't admit it but I missed Nixie a lot this week. Life on the boat was too quiet without her and elves weren't very fun either. And now we have matching jewelry! And I knew she has good taste. I must say that i like it just a little bit more than the necklace I got from Xebec because it is matching with Nixie’s. She is always paying attention to details, even made it red.   On the deck, everyone was doing fine and was ready to leave. I was about to go train with Xebec, as I did the whole week, when sneaky snake Dillen told Nixie, who just came back, that we should clean up the boat.(As if he didn't have the whole week to ask us to help him with that). Not a bad idea at all though, especially because the whole boat was smelling like dead fishes. Even Pullius's room was a mess.   The cleaning was going great. We divided in teams, and each one of us had to do some tasks. The last one to finish would have to clean the toilets. Of course, Orman and me had no problem. Bart with Brunek and Vadrek had to fix the holes in the boat, while Pullius and Heron had to clean the deck. It took us some time, but it was going well. I don't remember who lost but it doesn't matter anyways.   As we were all tired, we gathered on the deck, to rest for a bit and hear Nixie's story. The mood was very funny. Most of the people there were more focusing on the part of Nixie being naked, than the story. That's when I realized that it was the perfect timing to find out if anyone on this ship, had a crush on Nixie. After all, she wanted to do the same for me, right? I was very interested in one sneaky person because I had a feeling Nixie would want to know. So I looked at Heron and asked for a bit of help with that. Since we have been staying in the same room, we get along very well, so I think he understood what I wanted. He later confirmed what I already thought. It seems I was right, Dillen is interested in Nixie, but I am sure, dear diary, even you knew that already. The rest of the had short conversations in the meantime, that were more or less amusing for some and very annoying for the others. For example, I remember Eve telling Brunek to let Nixie talk, but he simply replied with: "Sorry, who are you?". I'm sorry Eve, but I couldn't stop laughing. I mean, how can you not laugh at that? I hope Nixie is feeling fine, she seemed to be having fun, but the scar on her belly tells me otherwise. I mean, I don’t think the others know how it is, but I fought a night gaunt before. If she really killed one, she had gotten pretty strong.   Eve seemed to be upset at something that day, so after the conversation was done, I went to talk with her for a bit. When I arrived, she was talking with Drenizek. I joined in as much as I could. Seems that Eve was upset at Bart for teasing her, that he is curious about naked elf girls. I tried to give her my opinion, but I am no better at this thing than her. But I mean, after what Heron told me, I was sure that every man of the ship had thought the same thing. Probably Xebec too. I don’t mind it but seems that Eve did. But she needs to talk with Bart about it, I mean probably them talking is the best way to fix the problem. I think? Vadrek and Brunek were having a very good mood. I never heard Brunek talk that much before, so I always thought that Vadrek is the one with a brain, but I guess I was wrong. They have a very funny way to annoy everyone. I can't be mad at them for anything they do. They are just funny. That night, I remember that i was talking with Nixie (Telling her what I found out from Herron), when Xebec knocked on her door. It seems that the people that were fixing the holes in the boat, did a not that good job. And that he needed help to deal with Vadrek, Brunek and the sinking ship. I mean Xebec asking for help with something like this. I couldn't help but smile a bit. Seems like Brunek is more dangerous than I thought. We all gathered to see what was happening. I noticed a bit that Xebec is still sometimes acting like the captain of the ship, giving orders around. I wonder if he would want to be captain again. Then, I turned my head around and saw Vadrek and Brunek, just laughing there, while the others were working. I think they were planning something but couldn’t really hear what. After a few hours of hard work, we all went back to sleep.   The next day was busy. I started by helping Vadrek and Brunek with their training. Since they had a very peaceful night, I figured they would love a hard training. Then, Lafk’u invited me to train with him and the others fastodans. They are my favorite people from the crew and their stories about war are always fun. I was very happy to train with them, because I really wanted to know what they think when they fight. I learned to fight from my grandpa, and he said there aren’t really any rules when you fight, but I don’t think that is true. Lafk’u seems agree with me as well. He taught me how, everything is a fight in a way, “like the boat fights the sea” he said. And he said that it is important to respect the fight, no matter who your opponent is (weak or strong). To see if I understood what he meant, he made me fight Menn’e. Poor boy, I beat him a bit too much. Vas had to take care of him after. But Lafk’u seemed happy with the result. Then we talked a bit more about how you never have to fight because you must, but because it is your choice to do so,and that you have to choose to do one thing in order to do it. In the next days, we trained and talked even more. He explained me about how the fastodans don’t wear armor because they are protected by their 12 gods, and that the fastodans have and will always fight for their gods. I felt a bit weird talking about this. I can’t explain it in words very well, but I didn’t feel like I have the same feeling. After all we have seen, I find it hard to believe these gods. But I do understand that the main idea behind what Lafk’u said is that you have to fight with faith and that you need to believe in what you fight for. I don’t know how to explain it better than this. A few days later, after a long story I still need to say, I asked Lafk’u what he would do, would he listen to his feelings in a fight or not. He simply replied that, if they helped, he would use them, but not in any other case. Xebec also said later that day, that it feels a bit more human if you don’t kill someone, while listening to your feelings. But how do you do that? What if you have to kill someone you like, how exactly do you not feel anything? I still don’t understand it well. I will talk with Lafk’u about it another day.   After this long training session, I went back to Nixie’s room to rest for a bit. She came to tell me that she is going to be gone with Miremis tonight, so she will leave me in charge. But I was a bit tired so I told her to talk with Dillen instead. We saw Miremis today. She seems a very strict teacher and she hits Nixie a lot. I wanted to interfere at some point, but I am a bit scared of Miremis. It looks like she could bum-bum be just by acting like a stone. I’m sorry, Nixie, but this time you’re on your own. After Nixie was gone, we gathered on the deck so we can have some fun. Of course, Vadrek was, as always, asking for alcohol. He heard me telling Menn’e that I will give him alcohol LATER and started asking for him. I will never use this word again. It seems to transform everyone into monsters. Of course, the brainless brother thought that we have some hidden alcohol hidden on the boat. Apparently this was true. Drenizek had two small barrels hidden somewhere here. Everyone hurried to make him give the alcohol away. Sneaky snake Dillen seemed to be the most excited for this out of all. I didn’t find not even at least surprising. I felt sorry for Drenizek, because I thought that is probably the wine he got from us, that he couldn’t drink because he was still sick. Of course, Drenizek refused, saying that he only listens to Captain Nixie, and that he is keeping the wine for someone else. As a “snake in charge”, Dillen ordered Drenizek to bring one of the bottles, not before, making sure he makes it very clear in front of everyone how grateful Drenizek should be to everyone for saving them. ( Yeah, like Dillen moved a finger more than what he usually does). I was a bit annoyed, so I tried to divert the subject, but nothing is more fun than alcohol on this apparently. They kept insisting that the all the drinks and food on the boat are equally equal to everyone. I didn’t want to get into this fight, because I wanted to spend some time with Xebec while the others stay on the deck. But at some point Dillen said “Don’t you agree with me, Verfys?” ( Now you’re asking for my opinion, you sneaky snake?).   Of course, I didn’t agree with what he was saying, and I promised Xebec I would take care of Dillen, didn’t I? So, I stepped in and took Drenizek’s side. I did have a very intense exchange of words with Dillen, most of them being very sassy. But since I knew it was not really going to go anywhere, and I wanted to go, I suggested that we can fight. It is the fastest way to solve the problem. If one of them would beat me, they could take some alcohol. They suggested Pullius as their champion, but our boy didn’t agree. (I think it would have been an interesting fight). I was so amused to see their face then. I asked if anybody wanted to fight me instead, but everyone was just quiet. Of course, poor babies, they cry for alcohol, but they wouldn’t fight for it? I guess that they could survive without it then. Sneaky snake Dillen tried to use his “snake in charge” advantages to make Drenizek bring alcohol again. Of course, he would, after all, losing in front of everyone isn’t really an option. I guess the only things he is able to fight are his tears that Nixie didn’t spent more time with him. He, then, had the courage to tell us that we favoritise Drenizek and that he is a liability for us all. When I heard that, I got very annoyed. HOW DARE HE INSULT SOMEONE LIKE THIS, AND ACT LIKE AN ARROGANT SNEAKY SNAKE WHO CAN SAY WHATEVER HE WANTS. Yes, Drenizek didn’t do much recently, with that I could have agreed, and finding him a job would have been fine, but you don’t say it like that, and definitely not humiliating him like that in front of everyone. Very well, Sneaky snake Dillen, You like to play games, let’s play one or two. The game was simple, will you manage to stop me from making Nixie realize how much of a snake you are?     The fight got very heated at this point. While Lafk’u and the fastodans stood by Drenizek, the others agreed with Dillen. I realized that this was not was going to end well. So I tried talking to Drenizek, and in the end, convinced him to bring some alcohol. We all toasted for the sake of this boat, but I saw that fastondans were not really in the mood for drinking, neither did I. So I went to them, and I remember Lafk’u saying “I’m starting to have enough of so many Dillens leading all the time”. I couldn’t have said it better.   I do not hate sneaky snake Dillen but I do not necessarily like him either, I have said it before. He intends the best for the crew AND himself. But as I said before, I can accept that as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. If that happens, I can’t agree with it anymore. Yes, you can take the alcohol, and order around, and make Drenizek work. But making him guilty for being sick, is something that neither Nixie or me would overlook. Why now, after all the moments, he decided to say this? Why has he not say it before, when Drenizek was not recovering from a deadly diseas?   I took him aside to talk with him. It wasn’t much more that wasn’t said before. He told me that “ wE ShOuLDn’t LEt OuR fEeLinGS GeT iN tHe WAy Of PRoffEssioNal MaTTerS”. Dear diary, I do not think that he has the right to talk. After all, this whole thing happened because he couldn’t control his jealousy for Drenizek. I never said I didn’t get my feelings involved after all. Of course, I would have one extra motivation to fight with him, knowing that Dillen was, to a small amount, one of the reasons Xebec was not a captain anymore.   Next day was so tiring. In the morning, Nixie came back from where she was gone, so we gathered together to update her on everything. But, she had even more news than us. Apparently, she didn’t meet Miremis on the shore, but mouthless Marcel. At first, I wanted to ask that “are you sure it isn’t better like that?” but then I realized it was not time for jokes. Nixie told us that she went close to it, thinking it was Miremis, but then mouthless Marcel turned around. Then she explained, how she saw, Pullius who was sleeping, then she saw the Royal Big Tree falling in two and the end of the elves. When she said that, Pullius also started to say that he had a dream as well. It was a dream about Cato (one of his late crewmates), who came to him, and threw the heads of all the party, at his feet saying that “I promised to kill them all, didn’t I?”. We then talked about what these dreams meant for them. Slowly, we reached the conclusion that these might be fears that they would need to work with, or a thing that they still need to solve. Eve had a great idea to help Nixie. She said that maybe, it would be the best for her to try and understand how she would feel in that situation and work to make sure she knows how to keep herself calm is something like that were to happen. With Pullius it was a bit more complicated. We talked for a long time about his party and what happened to them. Their relationship seems very weird to me and I don’t fully understand, but since Pullius is afraid of losing them, they must care for each other a lot. We reached that there are some unfinished businesses that maybe they should talk about it whenever they can. But Pullius should make sure that in the meantime he thinks about what he should say and to try to understand them as well. Also I don’t really know what is wrong with Eve recently. She seems to not like girls with long ears and yellow eyes. Is she mad about something and not saying it?   After we talked about this for a few hours, it was my time to report the incident last night. I wanted to call Dillen in, so he doesn’t say that I am saying something behind his back, but since Nixie insisted, I told her beforehand. Then, she gathered everyone, and started to talk about what happened. Everyone wanted to see the fight so they all gathered there. Nixie told us that we are some crybabies ad that next time when there is something like that to wait for her. But then Dillen came and said that what is the point of a “snake in charge” if we need to come to her to any small things. Yes, dear diary, it was my fault for disrespecting his authority, and yes, he is right about this. Which is why I was not surprised when Bart took his side. (Also Bart seems quite busy recently, I barely see him around) Of course, the problem was easily solved, and we agreed that we could make Drenizek work. Nothing too much to worry about. But then that wasn’t the point of my goal. I wanted to make him say with his own words that “Drenizek is a liability and that he is doing nothing”. Which, well, it wasn’t too hard. I knew Nixie would get upset about it, because no matter how rational Nixie is, she cares more for her babies. Drenizek also added that he will do his best to help everyone and that he and Dillen don’t like each other. And then, he confessed to Nixie?! We all knew more or less about this, but I did not expect him to do it in front of everyone. Then Dillen said “People stay with other people out of pity. And I responded with “ that’s why you’re on the boat Dillen”. Then Dillen came to me and said “ haha 1-0”. I was a bit confused, but since he also liked Nixie, I considered that I should tell her that in front of everyone. Not that Nixie didn’t know already. He just ruined his chances with Nixie, for a while at least. Well, I didn’t aim for that, but he insisted when he was a sneaky snake again. Yeahh, probably people will think I am a snitch, but dear diary, I do not mind that much. I would rather be a snitch than a snake. Or maybe sometimes I am a bit of both. I was also mean and fiery and have no excuse for it. There is one thing that does bother me though. It was one of those fights that Lafk’u said we should never have. The “remember those weaklings? Don’t be like them” kind of a fight and not because I didn’t use my sword but because it was like we were backstabbing each other with words. I was taught that being snake is something to praise, but I do not wish to live like that. It made me think that I have a long way to become a good fighter and that I am “still a child”, as grandpa use to say. Xebec seemed to enjoy it quite a bit though. I went to him and the first thing he did was to hug me. He said he didn’t have so much fun in some time. I think he was also a bit relieved that someone finally fought Dillien like that. We spent some time talking. He talked a bit about ever since he isn’t captain anymore, he feels like a bit weird, and that somehow, he still orders around but isn’t captain anymore. He also wants to help but is afraid of what might happen if he does oversteps. What really can happen? But I think it’s more because, no matter how much he doesn’t want to admit, he still wants to be captain and somehow regrets he lost it. I felt a bit sad seeing him upset, but for now, the only think I can do is stay with him and help him find something that can fill the missing piece. We then talked about our Captain Nixie. He said that he isn’t very convinced by her. And I agree, her progress is slow, but she is making progress. I do not want to put more pressure on her than she already needs. With the support of the party, she will be fine, since she is not alone . The next day, we got to a place where some elves lived and we stopped there to get more food. When we got there we were of course welcomed by elves. After a good meal, it was time for us to rest when some people from a place called Marv came to ask for our help. No,dear diary, our Marv is no king, but the place and the lizard have the same name. It was probably even more confusing for them. They asked us to help them with some kind of weird creature that lived in a weird temple. I named it the Sword Eater. Of course, we accepted and then, started our way there. We knew that until a few months ago, this temple used to be the home of necromancer. Now, however, all that was left behind was nothing but this thing that we were told about. When we got there, we saw the temple on a hill that had nothing on it. Of curse it was very weird but I have seen worse. We went ahead and looked in the temple for a bit. It all looked like a normal Almightyist temple, in the shape of a circle. Above us, there was a huge dome, very nicely decorated. In the middle of the room, you could see a small place for prayer, I think? It was all destroyed, cut in half by some dark arcane. It seems that whatever was living inside had a very big mouth. At the entrance of the temple we saw a dead person, who had a very big bite on the shoulder. All over the walls, I saw the marks of some swords. While we were looking around, Pullius was suddenly attacked but a weird black tentacle, which stucked to him, giving him damage everytime one of us would attack it. After Nixie managed to make some light, we managed to see that it was a huge creature with a lot of tentacles. It threw more of those tentacles at us, and they stuck to Bart and Heron. It was not an easy fight because every time we would hit the Sword Monster, those three would get damaged. Also, for each hit someone make, they would get some of it back. I wasn’t much of a help. The fight took a long time. It would damage us, then we would need to heal somehow so we don’t die, and then we would also need to attack. To be honest, I did enjoy this fight. Since I am used to attacking a few smaller attacks, this time I had to find a way to hit it more powerful and only a few times. I hope I was helpful to the others but as usual, no one is better in a fight than Pullius and Nixie. This time, they made they smart spells and healed us each turn, so we could attack the Sword Eater.   I don’t know what I was doing but at some point, I wanted to hit the Sword Eater, and it just got my sword. I had to continue the fight without it, which was not a problem. However, for moment in the fight, I had the memory of Flavia dying. And the sword, being taken away from me, reminded me how painful it was to lose my dear friend. I am happy I got it back. I will keep it safe until I can repair it. But don’t worry, dear diary, now I am fine and happy. But I have wonderful news. We managed to get alcohol for the crew that will last us until we will probably get to the Vaneolin elves. Thank you, Marv people, you really helped us a lot!   May the Almighty protect us, and keep us safe.          

Dear Diary, These days have been so busy that I barely had time to write but this time it's not because we are attacked by no-life-no-dead people. A few days ago, we have finally arrived in Enneth. It is nice to feel safe and I cannot say I didn't miss the elvish meat. But to live with the elves is tiring. They are very very polite, so I feel bad to not do the same. And i don't really know how to do that ( you know, when you do bum bum you don't really have time to say "sorry" or "Thank you"). Nixie and the others seemed very happy to be in such a place. I am not saying that i wasn't, it's nice to meet new people sometimes. But to be honest, the life on our boat is nicer.   Before we got here, we saw a lot of interesting places. We even saw some old stones with drawings that were once Xixi's people's city. It was right after the usual "torture training". Of course, as always, Nixie and Eve didn't seem very happy. So I tried to tell Nixie, very nicely, that if she doesn't leave her book and comes, i will bum bum her neck. Bart seemed to like the idea of being chocked by someone, because he said something like "Sexy". Eve did seem to get mad at him though, but i didn't really understand why. After all, i am pretty sure he was thinking of doing that with her not Nixie or me.   Anyways, back to the "torture training", this time the subject was just reflecting on the bad things that we are thinking about this mission we had planned for ourselves. To be honest, i am just a bit afraid that we will not live up to the expectations we made for ourselves. When I was small, my dad would always tell me that he wants me to become a great fighter, but I would always lose the fights with my brothers and get scolded by my mom for being weak. But I shouldn't worry too much this time, they are right. Nobody is forcing us to do this, we are doing this because we want to. And I have a new family who will help me. Nixie and Talion seem to be doing as fine as usual, but I was worried about Bart. He told us about how he feels tired and that he keeps being annoyed by us. I got a bit shocked because I did not know how to help him but I tried to make him feel a bit better. I used to sometimes feel that when we were at war, but i do not think it's the same thing. This time we are talking about something a lot bigger. He decided to take a day off and rest, so we let Eve take care of him. Before we left, I asked them if I could tell Xebec the truth about what was happening and they agreed. I wish I could tell all of them, but I guess Eve is right. It's not the right time. The rest of us spent the day training. I tried to help Xixi learn some common, but it was harder than expected. Well at least we had fun. I hugged her a few times, but she doesn't seem to like it. But I will do it anyways. At some point she touched my head very easily, and i thought she is so cute. I'm very happy she came with us, she is a great friend.   That evening ,I decided to visit Xebec. After all, apart from training, we didn't really talk much. The plan was to go there and have a very serious conversation with him about this trip. But that didn't work out very well. No matter how tired he is, he always spends time with me, and every time he does that, i just feel like hugging him. This time, he did the same, so instead of talking my big speech about the end of this world, I ended up staying in his arms and watching the sea. I wonder if he ever notices that i blush a lot when I'm with him.   Of course, after a few moments of not thinking of anything, I got back to my senses and actually started the tell him what I came here for. After I was done, I was waiting to see his reaction. He didn't seem shocked at all, not even worried. I didn't know if i should hug him for being him and not get scared or if I should beat him for being so calm and not caring if he ends up dying. I do like him and I know i said that if he's going to die I'll be ready, but I secretly do not want him to. But I guess that if he's crazy enough to come on Damaschini's boat and to like someone who is fighting the end of the world, then he will be fine. I decided i wanted to spend more time with him, so I asked him about stars and the weird shapes they make. I listened to some of the things he was telling me, but I got a bit distracted by him. At some point he noticed that I was not paying that much attention so he stopped talking and lean to kiss me. If he wanted to make me pay attention, it really didn't work. For a few seconds there, i stopped thinking about anything at all. I really need to calm down when he's around. We then kept talking for a bit and then we both went to sleep in our own rooms. But on the way there, I met Nixie who was on her way to visit Laimon, so I joined her. I noticed that recently, Laimon started to train with Dillen. I am happy for her. The more they train, the more Dillen will get beaten. But that’s not the point. She seems to have found the motivation to fight. She reminds me sometimes of when I was a child, but she has absolutely no one. I do not pity her, but I do understand why she would the way she does. I know we keep visiting her, but I think we need more than that to convince her to show her true identity. Also, while we were talking with her, Nixie decided to make mean jokes with me for whatever reason. But that attitude doesn’t work with me, so we ended up half fighting and half talking with Laimon. I hope we didn’t scare her too much. The next day, started as any others. I was on my way to ask Bart and Eve if they’re feeling better after the day off that they had (I decided to ask all the party everyday if they are alright). Right when I was knocking the door, Nixie came running to us saying it is an emergency. It took her a few moments to calm down and then she told us about how the Marcel boy visited Drenizek last night. Great way to start the morning, right? Since we all agreed that Marcel boy likes to see people be desperate, we decided to not panic and try to stay as calm as possible. We got together, talked and prayed for a little, until everyone calmed down. This training helped me, but I hope it helped the others too. Seems that this Marcel boy was trying to reach Nixie through Drenizek. Nice try mouthless Marcel, but it’s not going to work.   Since we were close to Enneth, the next day, Nixie decided to warn the crew about the haunted forest where the nightgaunts live. She said “do not walk, talk or breath in that direction”. Of course, Vadrek with his big boys, had something to say as always but I made sure to make him shut his mouth. Gerki tried to say something as well but I scared him with the usual warnings. I do regret it now. You see dear diary, that night, we decided to not stop so we get to Enneth faster. We were doing fine until we saw pieces of Gerki falling off from the sky. Of course, we made everyone get inside, and immediately prepared for fight. But I still felt a bit sad, when I realized that my last words to Gerki were “We still haven’t chopped that hand off”. I shouldn’t have said that, not even as a joke, I should have shut my mouth. I shouldn’t have been upset on him in the first place. It was too late now to apologies, but I read something about forgiveness in the prayer book. I will send a prayer to Gerki to forgive me and thank him for the help he had given us. I couldn’t help but feel sad for a bit. We buried him right before we arrived in Enneth, and then kept on with our journey.   Nixie and me talked Lafk’u for a bit. He seemed a bit sad that Gerki died, but he kept his honor and said that Gerki died “on duty”. I have thought of that and realized how much he respected both his friends and enemies. I am pretty sure a fastodan would rather fight a honorable enemy than a coward, but he would fight both of them with all he has, even though the coward would die in a second. I was very curious, but I asked him to tell me more about his fights. His stories are really fascinating. I don’t really talk with Lafk’u but I do respect him a lot. Finally, we have arrived in Enneth. Of course, all the elves live in very beautiful cities. But to be honest, sometimes they are bit intimidating. I have lived among the elves for two years, so I know some of their polite ways to talk to each other, but I still don’t feel at home around them. Yes, they are very nice creatures, but I know that it’s not polite to overstay their invitation. They don’t show it, but they do judge you for certain things. However I felt a bit more relieved to see that the kids liked me. One of them even gave me one of his toys. They all made those funny faces and smiled, and they made me feel a bit more relaxed. Once we got there, they welcomed us and helped us with Drenizek as fast as possible. I think he wouldn’t have lasted another few hour. I never learned Elf language, so I didn’t have to talk much. After what happened with Gerki, I was also a bit scared to say anything. I maybe should learn some manners from Nixie after all.   The others seemed very excited about this place, especially Nixie. I can imagine that this is probably the closest thing to her home that she got ever since we left the Vaneolin elves. During those years while we were hiding, she had to learn to live a miserable life, nothing compared to what she used to have back home. I tried to make it better but I wasn’t of much help back then, but I am trying my best now. After we ate, everyone seemed in high spirits. Even I felt better after some good meat. But I saw the wine and I thought about Drenizek and I suddenly didn’t want to drink it anymore. I was pretty sure he would love it, so I kept it for him. Eve and Nixie did the same, not only once, but at every party we had in Enneth. Then, of course, the High council of High Elves, invited us to join them for a talk.Nixie started talking, but then Bart came in to help, and we all started saying something. Apparently High councils don’t like people talking at the same time, but I do not understand why. We would make a better team if we explained together. But it wasn’t my decision after all, so we let Nixie talk alone. To be honest, she tried to explain something, but focused a lot of Xantinya. Dear diary, I know Nixie hates Xantinya, but she doesn’t need to make it so clear for others as well. Heron was kind enough to translate the main ideas. Pullius and I interfered a few times. At some point, the Elves seemed a bit annoyed with us (maybe it is not obvious for the others, but after living with Nixie for a while, it becomes obvious when she becomes angry). I wanted to add something, but I was a bit scared in the beginning. It took a few moments for me to think of how to say what I wanted. We ended the conversation soon after. I don’t know why but I felt like giving them the toy I received from the kid. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, I don’t want to offend them or anything. Well, it was too late now.   Later that day, they asked each one of us individually to go visit them alone. Since the others needed some time to think, and they seemed a bit upset, I went ahead. But the council didn’t talk with me. I guess they didn’t understand me. I tried to talk with them, but my Elf language is no good, so then I tried to be polite and say hi to each one of them. I don’t remember what I did after, but nothing seemed to work, so I just sat down for a few seconds and looked at them how they look at me. I had to find a way to talk with them so I took a candle, covered it with my hands and then let the light of the candle to shine through the darkness. Then I went back to my seat. At this point they stood up and made a bow. I understood that it’s time for me to go, so I bowed back, thanked them and then went back to the others. One by one, all in the party went to them and came back. Bart mentioned something about saying that he didn’t really do much. He didn’t seem in high spirit at all, but he seemed a bit relieved. I really hope he did well, there is no way to hear Bart’s songs and not like them, and even if they didn’t understand, I am pretty sure they liked Bart. And I am also sure they liked Eve, since she was so nice that she even asked about the High Elves’ personal lives. I was sure enough that we all did a great job, including Nixie who seemed to be upset that she messed up. She is very charming when she wants.   That night, the elves organized another one of their dinners for us. We were sitting at a table and they to the other one. Of course, I was trying to be as polite as possible, but I might have been a bit noisy. I really need to be careful how I act with the elves. Once in Vaneolin an elf saw me eat a snake, looked at me and ran. At some point we went to toast with the elves, and they politely accepted, but then they went back to having their conversations. I felt again that I might have done something wrong, so I went back to our table and continued what we were doing.   While I was saving the wine for Drenizek, I realized that I had another glass left from earlier. And I thought that maybe Xebec would want it. You see, I am not the biggest fan of alcohol, but I know he likes it a lot more than I do, so maybe, since it was such a good wine, he wanted to have more. I offered him the wine, and instead of taking it, he said we should have a toast. Then, he suggested that we should finish the rest of the wine, while having a little walk. Of course, I can’t say no to good wine and good company, so I accepted. We walked and talked for a bit, and then he asked me if I wanted to see how he can move the boat with only two people. I was curious if he really could do that and I was happy to spend some time with him, so I went to let Nixie know that we will be going on the ship for a bit. I actually thought if I should tell her or not, because I would give anything to see our captain Nixie’s face, when her ship was going to leave without her, but then I remembered that we would have problems with the elves, and the last thing I wanted were some arrows in my head when I’m finally having some fun. I told Nixie, and her reaction was to start making shady “have fun” face. It took me a second to realize why…It was just me and Xebec on the boat. (we don’t include Xixi because she was sleeping). Did he maybe asked me to go there with other intention? I was pretty sure that he didn’t want that, but now I was thinking about it for a bit. Not that I mind, but I was suddenly blushing too much. I hope Heron or Nixie didn’t see that. Both of the options sounded fun, so I just went back to Xebec and then we went on the ship. And I was right! I had a lot of fun. I bet he only could move that boat because I am a very fast helper who managed to move the sheets that catch the wind in time for him to move the boat. But he clearly loves sailing. I can always see him smile when we talk about the sea. But anyways, at some point, he slowed down the ship and came to stay with me. We talked for a little while again about the Elvish clothes, about Nixie and Dillen, and other stuff. I love spending time with him because in all this journey, especially now, he makes me feel a lot more free. I can just make jokes, and dance and do whatever, and he would happily join. And I know that even though he is shy, he does care a lot, not only about me, but in general. After our small conversations, I got a bit closer to him, and we cuddled and looked at the stars again. (Yes, dear diary, of course I would do that, it’s very comfortable and nice). Then, we returned to the party, where the others were almost done with the party. I wasn’t really in the mood to sleep in the Elf house, so I asked Xebec if he wants to join me to sleep on the ship. It is more comfortable than those fluffy beds.   The next morning, we were having breakfast, when we were called by the The High Council of High Elves for another talk. They were as serious as ever, so I didn’t really know what they were thinking. They gave a a great news, Drenizek was healed and was recovering so we could visit him after. Then, they told us that they would not help us with our journey. I mean they did already things for us so I understood why they wouldn’t want to give more. But what they said next, made absolutely no sense. They wanted us to give them Xixi in exchange for our help. First of all, how do they imagine we would give up one of us like she’s some kind of object. Second of all, since when do elves ask so straight forwardly and aggressively for something in return for their help. Of course, I looked around, nobody was even willing to accept. They even made the soldiers aim at us with the arrows. I had to be careful, you never know when one of them shoots an arrow by mistake. But suddenly, the High Council of High Elves, calmed down and said that they are going to help us. Then they looked at me and Bart and asked Nixie to translate us that we have their respect. I don’t like staying with elves that much, but I am sure of one thing. The High Elves are nicer that the old magic men in Ionolia (except the one that helped us), and smarter.   Later that day, we were doing our trainings. Since Nixie is always alone when we train, I asked her to join me and Xebec this time. While we were fighting, she did some earth magic. At some point, she put me and Xebec in a cage “by mistake” as she said. I am sure Nixie knows I know her better than that. Dear diary, if I wanted to end up locked somewhere with Xebec, it wouldn’t be in a cage in the middle of a field, and I would do it myself. But thanks to Nixie, I wasn’t able to concentrate anymore for the training. But it was fun making her run. When Drenizek woke up, we hurried to visit him. We all jumped and hugged him and talked with him. The medical elves didn’t let him drink the alcohol, but I am sure the wine will not go bad. He seemed to be happy to see us and to be alive. He thanked all of us, especially Nixie, and then he gave her some kind of medicine. I don’t know about the others, but I also felt very relieved, and somehow at the same time, I felt at peace for some reason. The rest of the week we spent training as much as we could. Nixie left to go in the Galaston forest. I do remember her saying “do not walk, talk or breath in that direction”, so I did listen to her advice. I mean if she can make a cage from the ground, she can lock herself in there and protect herself from nightgaunts, right?   I am worried about her but I know she is not alone so she should be fine.   Thank you,The Almighty, for helping us in our journey, and saving Drenizek. Please, take care of Gerki.

Dear diary, These days on the sea are very nice. The weather is great, the winds blow stronger everyday and I saw a whale for the first time! Nixie was right to choose this way!   Everyone on the ship seems to be doing well. Well...everyone but Drenizek,who seems to be barely able to walk. But we are trying our best to get to the miracle elvish city. And we have found some plants that may help him.   A few days ago, while we were sailing, Pullius's ghost saw some people on the land. I don't know how he does that, but he has some very useful magic. We decided to stop and see what was going on. Since we didn't know if they are dangerous, we decided to send a few people to see what was going on. We couldn't risk the lives of everyone. And who else to go, if not the "WE WANT BUM-BUM" team? ( Heron and me, Pullius, and Eve). Heron is the big muscle guy, who intimidates his enemies just by walking at them and then it’s me, who not only am made of fire, but also have two very cute black fiery swords. Behind us, it’s always Pullius, who usually just heals us, but when you angry him, he can exterminate half of the enemies with one blow. And then, it’s Eve, who always jumps the first one on the fight. I would be a bit scared to be her enemy. When you see a small girl running at you with a knife, you don’t even know what to expect. I liked this combo but it has one little tiny flaw, we do miss the diplomacy.   So, dear diary, we wanted to leave to the island. Drenizek insisted he wanted to join, but the others didn’t agree. To be honest, i think it would have been good for him to come with us. Not fight, but come on the beach with us, stay on the boat. I don’t like treating him as a sick person.It feels like treating a soldier who lost his arms, as if he wasn't a soldier at all, ignoring that in his heart, he still wants to fight. But since all the others didn’t want him to come, i decided to leave it be and just go. They are probably right, he can barely walk after all.   As we were getting closer, we got to see a lot more of what was happening. The 3 soldiers were actually 9, and they were attacking… i didn’t know who that was, but they were attacking her. That wasn’t a fair fight at all. Pullius fastly told us that the girl was some kind of fishy person (they call them stregians or something…). I wasn’t sure that we should go and help her or not, but until i decided, Eve was already swimming to the shore. Well, seems like we will be fighting after all. Of course we followed her. I mean we are the “We want BumBum team” for a reason.   When they saw us, the soldiers waved and seemed like they thought we will help them.We didn’t really understood each other, but we tried to warn them to run. By the time i got to the shore, Heron already threw Eve in front of one of them. But a few of them jumped on Eve and threw her knife away, trying to stop her. Of course, i reacted as I knew, did some woosh-woosh with the sword and killed them. I saw Heron fight somewhere in the back, and the fishy girl fighting the remaining ones. After she lost her knife, Eve got an axe, and went to hit another one. The other guy stopped her and wanted to hurt her. But Pullius did some magic shield around us so she was fine. But noone tries to hurt our little brave girl while i watch. This time however, i only put the guy to sleep. We were already winning the fight, so there were no need for more deaths.   Then, i went to another soldier, who stole the fishy girl’s sword. He was so scared that i didn’t even hit him, and he already fell on the ground. Then, slowly, they started to run away. Heron wanted to follow them and kill them, but i didn’t want to. If they were to come after us, then we would fight, but for now, we did enough.   After things calmed down a bit, we talked with the fishy girl. It was hard since we don’t know how to talk with each other, but Eve did have a few good ideas. The fishy girl asked us if we can help her get the other sword back. We did agree, but we had to talk to the others as well. So we brought Nixie and Bart here as well. We told them what happened and decided to try have a deal with the men. We gave them back the prisoneers and they gave us the sword. So we went into the woods, to find out where they hid.   In the end, We did find them…a lot of them actually. And they had some kind of trap for us. Then, they saw the prisoneers and Nixie, an elf, and started to talk with us in elvish. The conversation was long, and I didn’t really understand much, since i am one of the only ones in the party who doesn’t speak elvish. The others were trying to translate, but they were a bit busy with the negotiations. I did get the main idea: they wanted to kill the fishy girl and then they would help us with what we needed. And they were upset that we killed their men and they wanted something back for it. I believe the negotiations were not easy because everyone seemed very stressed. At some point, Nixie and Bart, who were visibly mad at us, came and asked why did we kill those man. Eve jumped and said it was her fault but it really wasn’t. The reason why I killed those man was because, we were in a fight. And in a fight, you don’t expect the other side to hit you with a wooden sword. You go there, prepared to actually fight, and die if needed. I didn’t know how powerful those man were, nor had time to ask them if they are good or not. What I saw, were 9 men attacking a girl. We could have jumped in front, but we would have risked being attacked from both sides. I do believe that sometimes choosing a side is better that fighting both, especially when we were only 4 people.   I didn’t mean to upset Nixie and Bart but i did not agree with them this time. However, they seemed to be very upset, so I tried to apologise and i said that next time we will pay more attention. There was no point on fighting on something like this, especially in front of the negotiations.   At some point, the negotiations became very agressive. One of the men shoot an arrow to the fishy girl, who of course reacted by attacking back. Seeing this, the other men tried to attack her. But little brave fighter,Eve, Heron and me, jumped in front of the fishy girl to protect her from being killed. This time, we did not attack but got some arrows in our heads.   In the end, it has been decided that the men will help us, if the fishy girl will come on our boat and never return. Then, we discussed with the fishy girl who asked us if she could go to her home, and come back with help. Nixie was harder to convince on this matter, because she had sworn on the holy book that she will take care of the fishy girl, but in the end, we all agreed. Eve did a great job convincing her.   The next day, the men came to us, bringing the plants we needed to treat Drenizek, as promised. Of course, they asked about the fishy girl. But there was a tiny problem again. She didn’t come back yet. Drenizek, once again, came to save us, and made deadly combo with Pullius, to win us some time. He started to thank the men for the medicine, and Pullius, who already talks a lot and slow, translated EVERYTHING that Drenizek said, but longer. We could have stayed there the whole day. At some point, even the men lost their patience. Luckily, our new friend, came up from the sea. Bart, who seemed to have a plan, went to the fishy girl, and pretended to take from her some kind of improvised crown, and put it on her head, as a sign of peace. And thus, the men believed his excuse that “the fishy girl went to gather some shells”.   And so, we got our new friend, Xi. Her name is longer, but i did forget it already. We then left the land and continued our journey. On the way, the boat started to move very very fast. It seems, that as promised, Xia brought help. On some coasts nearby, we saw a few fishy men who were waiting for us. And a bit behind them, a more powerful fishy man, who seemed to be their leader. They seemed friendly but imposed some kind of respect but they seemed willing to help. Who would have guessed we would have found allies on these lands? I was a bit amazed and very happy we stopped there. And thus, our team gained another important crewmate, slowly gaining new forces on the side of this life. As we passed the fishy men, Xie turned to the boss and bowed, and he slowly bowed back. They seemed to have agreed on something. We will find out what it is, when she will learn common, but until then we have another girl in our Bum-Bum team. And she is super strong. I like her, and I promised Nixie i would take care of her, so I will keep my promise. I guess Xia and me will become good friends.   The next day, Xia became hungry, but we didn’t want to stop as we needed to hurry. So Nixie did one of her magic things, and called so many fishes. It was very beautiful. At some point we even flew into the air, because one whale came to say hi. She hit our boat pretty bad, but Xia helped us repair it. It took us a bit of time but we were going fast, so it was fine. I did not like to admit it, but i liked the whale, i have never seen one before. Maybe after this war ends, i will stay on the boat with the crew (and Xebec) and travel the world. I would love the party to be there too. It would be a lot of fun.   This morning, something else unexpected happened. Drenizek, wanted to leave the boat and go by himself to a “long journey”. I got what he meant, he didn’t want us to see him die. But there is no way any of us would have let him do that. While before i was sad, now, i look at him and feel motivated to do whatever i can to save him. I don’t care of he likes us or not, or if he wants to leave or not, he is one of us, so we will be by his side. I know he doesn’t want to bother us. Even after we got him the plants his reaction was “Did you do all of this for the plants for me?”. But we will bother him. Everyone, tried in their way, to make him stay. But Drenizek couldn’t be convinced. Until, Nixie, who was in tears, told him that she will never forgive him if he left. That is when Drenizek fell on his knees and started crying. He really must care for her a lot. And she for him. I don’t usually see Nixie in tears, especially in front of others. But this time, i feel like she finally showed her real emotions to everybody. Drenizek soon fell unconscious again, and we took him to Nixie’s room. She remained there with him for the rest of the time. Two days and we’ll get to miracle elvish city. Two days and we finally have a chance to help him. For him and for Nixie.   May the Almighty protect them and love us all.

Dear diary, There is a lot to news to tell you about these days. Some of them are good and the others are....just news. We are going to a long adventure on another sea than before. I know I am made of fire, but I am starting to like this sea. To be honest, i wouldn't mind to spend my life on this ship with all the people that are here now...yes dear diary, even with Dillen. ( He is still sneaky snake, but even some snakes can be sometimes friendly).   Anyways before I tell you about that, I still need to tell you about the day spent in the "Butterfly Land". I was feeling surprisingly good, maybe it was because we were staying here or maybe all that happened gave me a strength, I don't really know, but i was pretty happy. We got together to decide what we were going to do. After all we can't really stay here forever. And to be honest, i wouldn't want to. I wanted to eat FISHES soon and I couldn't do that there. The "Butterfly land" is beautiful but it's for butterflies.   We stayed there and talked a lot with each other. It wasn't the easiest talks, because everyone had their ideas and Nixie was very not motivated. Hmmm I thought that this place is going to make her happy, but it seems that it has brought something else on her mind. Anyways, if it was something, I was sure she would talk with us so we continued the discussion. We talked about elves and humans and how to convince them to fight under the same goal. The plan was to not defend anymore but start attacking. Now that we had a lot of new information, it was time to do some bum-bum to protect this world, and fight for life and free will. I am happy Eve understood what I was saying. I am sure that if we met earlier, she would have been a better fighter than i am. She is really brave. So, in the end we decided that the liches, necromancers and no life- no death people are hated by everyone So that might be a cause they would join to fight together. I mean I don't know about the others, but I really wanted to do this bum-bum. But from here to anywhere, it is a long way and we had to decide which way we had to take. Seems like everyone was done with the Western Desolation, so we went the other way around to Enneth. I mean i did not want to go that way because I thought that going back the same way, might be better for us because we would know where to go. But now, i can at least spend some more time on the ship. Well, if we don't get killed by dragons. At some point, Heron said something mean about the Continent. I don't really remember what but I saw Nixie very sad. I think she thinks that the Continent is already lost because Xantinya is here, and she probably worries for her family. But i do not think the same. I am sure that Ghebaro is taking good care of our home and even though i was born there, I somehow feel more at home here, with the others.   We finished with the talk and then went to spend some time with the others. When the night came, Drenizek suggested we should gather on the ship, and make a big fire. He does know how to make the perfect end for this great day. So all of us, except Bart and Eve, stayed near the fire and talked. I wanted to say a story about snakes but even Nixie had the "Verfi not again" face so I gave up. But it was the perfect opportunity for sneaky snake Dillen to tell us about a sea monster he once saw. It seems pretty scary but I am glad people on his boat were alive. I don't know why but i didn't want to make bad jokes about him tonight. I guess I was really in a good mood. Then Drenizek and Nixie asked Marv if he was born from an egg. I sometimes wonder if Nixie drinks too. The conversation was very amusing in the beginning but I could feel Marv was just done with it so he went to sleep. I Guess it was time for all of us to do the same.   Well since we were going to leave the next day, I wanted to sleep in the pretty flower field. I was just looking at the stars trying to fall asleep when I saw Xebec coming. I was surprised to see him there but well I did not mind a bit of company. We talked for a bit and then he said he had something to tell me. He started to tell me about a tradition from his lands. When you appreciate a person a lot, you give them a pretty horn filled with good things. I was enjoying the story but the way he talked was even better. I think he was a bit nervous but I didn't really figure why. Then, after a few moments of talking, he said that he doesn't have a horn but he gave me a pretty shell instead. How red does the fire get? I regretted I was amused by Xebec being nervous a moment ago, it was my turn now. Well of course, I did take the shell and put it in the safe place. It was my little treasure now. I know what this meant. He really appreciated the thing I did for his birthday. Then, I kissed him shortly. It really was a good day today. We then talked a bit about his premonition. Xebec said that maybe the death wasn't really a real death but more like a change. The premonition of his parents, was indeed a bit different that it was supposed to. While he was talking, he gently touched my hair. It's really had to focus on such a serious conversation when he does things like that. He doesn't seem very changed to me but it was something in the way he talked. He seemed...happier. I really hoped I helped a bit. And he may be right about the premonition or not, but we will not find out anytime soon. The conversation got a bit more relaxed and I had some time to calm down. We talked about Nixie and how she was a bit afraid of him. He seemed very amused about it. I mean I am a bit amused too. Nixie, the Great Captain, scared to talk with Xebec. It made me smile a bit. Oh and then, I gave him a little clue about where we were going, but he didn't seem to get it. I wanted to sleep at some point so I took the blanket he gave me and asked him if he wanted to share. I thought he would have liked that. And I was right, but not after he made a joke with me. Dear diary, I did change my mind, maybe he changed a bit more. Anyways, i slept very well that night.   The next day we started our journey to Enneth. It was a sunny day with enough winds for us. Since I knew that Eve was going to be alone after the Black Sylph is gone, I wanted to ask her if I can move back in. I mean, I wouldn't like to sleep alone either. She agreed, but I could see it wasn't really what she wanted. Bart then came and suggested the same thing, her reaction was totally different. Luckily for her, I do notice these things very fast. She was a bit confused at first, but I jumped in and told Bart, that Eve would be very happy if you stayed with her. I was happy they were getting along so well and to be honest, I have fun with anybody that stays with me so I didn't mind staying with Pullius. Also now that i am sleeping in the same room with Pullius, I can guard him all night. No knives behind my back.   We talked a bit about the Almighty, and then went to move my things from Marv's room. We got interrupted by Heron. He had a small problem with the "sexy sense" again. Nixie ( now I am sure she drinks too), asked him about what everyone was thinking. This was going to be very interesting. Heron, started to talk very openly about what everyone was thinking. When he got to Eve and Bart, Heron talked a lot. Neither the couple, or the others seemed to be very happy about it. So I decided to think about something so weird it would distract everyone's attention. I mean having a fun night with Nixie and Xebec would be weird enough,right? It seemed to work, but Nixie got way too excited about this. I mean what is going on inside her drunk head? She even got a bit upset when I told her that it wasn't true. Amusingly enough, i think sneaky snake Dillen, heard something. He was probably jealous he wasn't the one we were talking about. Well i had weird conversations before, but sometimes I should expect the unexpected on the boat. I do not want to remember what everyone said, so I will not write them down here. Also I don't understand why is everyone so upset at Heron, he is trying to get rid of this thing. And it is really not that bad, I mean everyone has at least one small thing they would like to do. Even Nixie, who seems to be hiding it very well.   We had a few days of peace and silence in which we continued our trainings. I wanted to start trying to hit faster than before but I had no success training with the fastodans. Then, Dillen came to me and asked if I wanted to train with him. See, diar diary, he is not as bad. He knew I don't like him but still offered to help. Of course I said yes. I get to train while I fight Dillen. Sounds very fun. But I guess he will only be "Dillen the snake" from now on. We also talked with Laimon for a little bit. He now seems motivated to prepare herself to fight. It seems that he had found his purpose.I am really glad to hear that. He is training with Dillen the snake at the moment. He said he wants to return home, but i wonder what he will do next.   Well of course, there are always storms on a normal sea, I totally forgot that in the Western Desolation. This one was a very big storm with a lot of tall waves. At some point, it felt like we were almost flying. Xebec and Nixie were in front trying to make sure we survived. I was very very amused. Earlier that they, they talked with each other. Finally. Xebec was still ordering Nixie around about how she, as a captain, should not be afraid her crew is made. I think you can imagine how the whole thing looked like. And now, in the middle of the storm, Xebec was smiling while flying on giant waves, while Nixie was staying there, praying for her life while holding Xebec's foot. But she stayed there in front. She is really learning a lot. I wanted to stay and enjoy the view but I had to go back to work as fast as possible. There are many weird people on this ship, and I am one of them.   When we finally done with the storm, we gathered together. I was happy everyone was safe. Nixie was barely standing, but she was fine. I think? Then, I went to talk with Xebec, but I just wanted to make sure he is alright. He seemed doing perfectly fine, so I talked with him for a bit, hugged him and then I went to finish my business. Water barrels don't get carried by themselves. You see, we were moving the barrels with water, and she got Pullius, put his head into the water and asked him: "So tell me Pullius, is the rain water sweet?". He replyed with yes, and then did the same thing to Nixie. To my surprise, she also said yes. What is wrong with everyone? I mean maybe from Pullius it's not that bad, but Nixie? NIXIE? Whatever happened on the "Butterfly land" really affected her. If she keeps like this, we will have a talk. To explain you better, dear diary, the water in the barrels was ocean water, so salty.   Later we gathered again, for a "torture training" session. This time, Bart suggested that we should talk about what we felt about this journey to the "Butterflies Land". Nobody wanted to start,again, and they were also talking about other things. One day, we will be fighting and plotting, killing and other things, and they will regret not being able to talk about it with us. Anyways, Heron was the one who Bart chose to start. But Heron didn't have much to say. He still said that he needs to discover more in the future to understand. Then, it was my turn. I talked a bit about a fire I felt inside, which for me represented this feeling of wanting to fight this, to not give up. I don't really know how to explain it, you would have to feel it to understand. I think some of us did get it (Did I ever tell you my favorite couple, is also very smart?). But Nixie, found it hard to find this fire. She has a small fire in her, but she needs to make it bigger, she needs to find her will to fight all of these problems. However there were some we could have helped her with, or at least try. She even said she is a bad leader? Why would she say that? She lead us to this way, and takes care of each one of us. Even after all that happened, she said she is feeling more anxious than happy. I mean it must be stressful to be in her shoes. She is responsible for many things especially with Laimon, Dillen and Drenizek. Maybe she should for a second stop and see the happines behind this pain. After all, the Black Sylph smiled in the end, didn't she? Then Bart said, that he felt like he had learned a lot in this journey, and that he feels he had grown a lot. He is right, we all grew a lot since the beginning. The road was hard but it was all worth in the end.   Then, there were a few peaceful days again. Eve, came to ask us to help her organize the party for Bart. I could swear Bart's birthday was the next day, but as Nixie said "I can barely read". Guess I read the days wrong. I felt bad for it so I decided that his party would be the best, of course I expected Eve to have a plan. The rest of the day, while Eve was keeping Bart busy, we organised everything. Eve suggested that each of us should draw something on Bart's surprise cake. I tried to draw a heart of mean with Bart's musical instrument inside. I hope he liked it. Then at night, we sang him a few songs we knew Bart would like, and then we played a lot of games. First it was a swimming contest and some "smart man games" with black and white that I did not understand. But then the fun part came. Then the fun part came. We first played a game of who is jumping in the best way in the water. I don't remember who won, but everyone was very amused by it. I took a bit of a break from these games because I had to ask Vas to take care of Drenizek ( I will tell you about this later, i really want the party memory to be a happy one). But when I came back, I saw Bart and Eve dance so nice, that I dared everybody to compete with them. Of course, Drenizek couldn't stand back so he agreed. I couldn't resist either so I was planning to participate as well. Of course we both needed a partner, so Nixie joined Drenizek, and Xebec came to me. They really thought they could beat us. When I saw Brunek and Vadrek join, I said more as a joke that Heron and Pullius should join as a team too. And as jury, of course Dillen (well pretty sure he would have liked to dance with Nixie tho), Vas and Laimon. Pretty fun,right? Well as expected, goznians do not dance well. I do not know what happened with Eve and Bart but they seemed to be a bit slow. I was a bit upset Xebec and me don't really have serious opponents. We do make a good team. But I did talk too soon. Heron and Pullius were absolutely amazing. I swear they had practiced this before. Now that think of it...I didn't see Pullius and Herron much that day. Well, I know when to admit my defeat so I told them they were good but I was still happy for the good teamwork I mad with Xebec. Then, we played another fun game, which I call "break bones". Nixie suggested we should play it so why not. It was very fun, although I lost again. One fastodan I can beat, but two is maybe too much for me. Everyone said they had fun. But now it was time for the cake. Nixie almost set our boat on fire trying to make some fire cute bum bum on the sky but we solved it fast and tried again. They were very pretty the second time. Bart even said it was the best birthday party he ever had. I am glad he had fun. He really deserved a great party. After all, his is our great friend.   Now dear diary, remember when I had some...news? Well, i think it is time to tell you. Before we left the "Butterflies Land", Nixie came to me and told me about how she is worried that something might have happened with Drenizek. He was coughing a bit but a few days later, she talked with Vas. He said that Drenizek seems fine and that we shouldn't worry. Nixie had many more discussions with Drenizek but he was always saying that he is fine. I even tried to ask him but he wouldn't say anything. Soon, the things got even worse. He started coughing blood and soon, he even lost his voice. I think everybody noticed that. But that night at the party, we finally understood how bad he is. We found him laying on the floor, barely moving. We very fast called Vas for help, but there isn't much he can do. Dear diary, I am afraid that Drenizek might have gotten a very hard disease, because of that Xenatine. He is slowly fading away. The ship seems a bit quiet without his songs. I do not think this should happen, not to Drenizek. I didn't talk much with him, but he did make us all feel good when we weren't. Let alone that he saved us all. He is not even able to dance for a long time anymore. I think he has weeks to live. We are hoping that we will soon arrive to Enneth, that the elves might help us. But until there, I want to do something for Drenizek. He said that he likes the sound of people, so until we get to the elves, at least let him hear lots of voices every night. I think that's what the others are trying to do as well I think. After all, I do not know what will happen next, but I know I can do something now. I am also worried about Nixie. She considers Drenizek a very good friend. If something happens with him, she will be absolutely destroyed. She will try to go on, but she will need a lot of strength for this. I feel very sad because of this, because well, while he was lying on the floor, Drenizek was almost ordering us to go back there to have fun and he wants this ship to be well. You can see it in his eyes that he doesn't want to die yet. I don't know how to help but there must be a way. We have to save him. We promised we will, so at least we need to try. Please Drenizek, keep going, just a little bit more. Good people like him don't deserve to die and it's because it's him that it is even harder. He is our party boy indeed. But that is why we fight, to protect good people and to try to save them. No matter what happens, this will be a test for us, and we need to be ready to expect the unexpected. As a wise man said "heart is more important that anything else you got".   We will hurry to Enneth as much as possible. May the Almighty have Drenizek in his care, and love us all.   P.S. Drenizek seems to have lost his gods and faith? What is happening with him?

Dear diary, It is a wonderful morning. As I promised, I need to tell you everything about the great news. Believe it or not, we found a very peaceful place in the middle of the Western Desolation. We saw fishes for the first time in forever. Can you believe it? FISHES. I haven't seen or eaten one in weeks.   After that night when Nixie saw the weird clouds, we kept sailing. At some point, we passed some very pointy rocks that were very beautiful but long. Inside them, there was a very thick fog. We didn't see anything. Nixie decided to keep going for a while near the pointy rocks, so we avoid the fog part. But you could still see the rocks continue for a good long distance. So we stopped to sleep and then, the next day we decided to try our luck to the fog. Bart and Xebec looked at the map and agreed that that must be the "Sapphire Sea". We also saw something very suspicious: a white bird. But what did a bird do here? Unless well it was a bad bird who was going to attack us....The whole night I got ready for what was next. I was sure that we will fight something very big. In the morning, everyone gathered in the front of the boat, which was going right to the fog. You could see everyone was a bit worried. Suddenly, the boat stopped. There were a few moments of panic where people ran and checked the water. But there was nothing there. No purple eyes, no liches and no no life-no dead men. I was a bit confused but a lot more relieved. The answer was easier than that. It was just a magic wall in front of us. Well nothing I knew how to deal with. Our magic man had no success, neither did Nixie. So we were stuck for a bit. Since we were not moving, everyone came in front of the ship to see what happened.   In the meantime, Bart went to tell the Black Sylph that we got very close to her home. She was so excited that she came on the deck, in front of everyone. She could barely walk but I felt that she was even trying to hurry. Can you imagine,dear diary, how it felt for her? After such a long time, when she stayed in silence, she was finally close to home. I was surprised buy her coming here but not as much as the crew. I looked around and saw the confusion on their faces. Well I guess not many people get to see an "angel" twice, like our crew did. I know they said it as a joke in the beginning, when she saved us from the ugly sea lady, but yes dear diary, she is very close to an angel. You could read the surprise on their own faces. Drenizek, was now silently looking at what was happening while Xebec had a "why am I even surprised anymore, anything can happen here" face. Even Dillen seemed a bit surprised but, of course he had to say something mean: "That's why we came all the way here? That's why people died? For the creature?". If he'd knew the Black Sylph, even him would feel bad for what he said.   Slowly, the Black Sylph got closer to the wall. When she touched it, the boat started moving again. Not after long, we got to see, the most beautiful thing I could ever see. The water was so very clear, there were birds and fishes around, and the whole scenery became very very...lively. I don't know how to describe things like this, I need to learn more new words but I felt so many happy thoughts that I started to wonder if maybe it isn't only an illusion. For a second or two, everyone stayed silent, staring around what they saw. Every time I look at the crew I become a bit amused. They are all amazing in their own way, even the sneaky snake Dillen. I was happy they had survived to see this. I know they all liked it. The closer we got to the shore, the better I felt. All the bad feelings were replaced by happiness. Especially when I looked at the Black Sylph. Although we couldn't see her face, we all knew she was excited and that made me happier than anything. We had to sleep on the sea that night ,but I am sure you can imagine no one actually slept. We all stayed on the deck, looking at everything that was around: the water, the skies, everything. Everything around us reminded me of happy memories with everyone i ever loved. I stayed there and thought for a while. I realized I had a place I finally belonged to. I had the family I always wished for. In all this bad journey we had, we managed to create a special bond with each other. I don't know where this path will take us, but I wish we're always going keep this feeling. I know the crew will not stay with us forever, no matter how much I wish for that, but I will visit them in their new houses in Alomir. And the party... I don't know what I would do without them. I love them all. I really want to see them as happy as I am now.   The next day, we arrived on the shore. We looked around, and saw a big stone which had some kind of Sylph drawn on it. We followed the way there. The Black Sylph was going in front of us, leading the path. At some point we got in the middle of a field. The Black Sylph suddenly stopped. She took off her mask and gave it to us, letting us see her. She finally let us see her face. She must have really loved us. We could see she had suffered a lot, but that little smile told us a lot. The Balck Sylph was, the most beautiful person I know. Then, she vanished in the wind. She was gone. All the problems, all the pain and death, it was all worth for this moment. She was finally home. I only heard stories about her past, but i heard that she was found wondering through a field, alone. Compared to then, this time, she had us with her, and she had her real family. I hope that this time she didn't hear only silence, but the sound of our love. We all love you a lot dear Black Sylph. And thank you. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here, we wouldn't have gone to such a great adventure. You suffered so much for us and you still loved us, no matter what. Thank you for loving us every time, for encouraging us, for just being yourself. You were and are our strength. And I know your real name is Sëa, but for me, you will always be sweet Black Sylph that loves cookies. I will leave a cookie each night for you. I know you watch over us, so if you ever feel alone, come and take the cookie. Even now, i felt like writing straight to you, because maybe, just maybe, you are reading this.   While we were there, in the middle of the field, some of the Balck Sylph's family came to us. They were some small butterfly elfes, the size of a flower. I couldn't talk with them because I do not know Elvish, but Nixie did a great job during her time with the Sylph. They were very nice with us. They even showed us a few secrets using some kind of magic water. But dear diary, i can't tell you anything either. All I can say is that, sometimes the shiniest lights can be the darkest shadows and that Liches and demons are very mean things. I was pretty tired so I don't remember much of it. They were only speaking in Old elvish, so I became distracted at some point. I was wondering if the crew, who we left behind, discovered any sapphires yet, or they just gave up. We are still staying in this great place, but soon it will be time for us to leave. We need to fight for what is out there, for love and life. And we will fight this war like the Sylph taught us, with love, faith and affection. I still don't know much about religion, but the Black Sylph made me understand so much more. Even now, she showed us her love by giving us the mask. We gave her that because we wanted her to know that we are there for her, and now, in her way, she let us know that she will be with us. In her honor, we decided to make the the mask a part of our flag, as a constant memory of what we fight for. Don't tell the others, but i did cry a bit after The Black Sylph was gone. I will miss her.   May the Almighty love the Black Sylph and us all.   Also: I am bit worried about Eve. Now that the Black Sylph is not with us, i am afraid she will feel alone. I am thinking of moving back with her because I do not like her being sad.      

Dear Diary, It has been some time since I last wrote. To be honest, in the beginning I was not really in the mood to write. But now I am feeling a lot better. That day, after the vote ended, our party gathered together for another one of the “torture” training. It was the time for us to talk about the chaos that happened a day before. Nixie was the one who started this time. She talked about how she was afraid that the promises she made were in vain because we will never be able to keep them. I swear that Nixie and me sometimes couldn’t think more different. As Eve said, when you make a promise, you decide to give the best for what you promised. You might never be able to succeed, but you kept your promise by trying whatever you can do. I do understand Nixie’s feelings, especially now when she has such a big responsibility. I hope what Eve said helped Nixie understand better, or at least feel safer. I don’t really know how to explain these things, but I will try my best to support our new captain, Nixie. She is after all, my best friend. Then, we talked with Pullius Demon boi and Heron. We tried to help them solve their problems. Heron was trying to avoid talking about the problem. He promised to show us his childhood diaries and Talion said he will try to fight his little demon friend. I had a bad nightmare about Flavia and Forsun that night. I kept thinking about the people we lost in the fight. For some reasons. I remembered that day and got a bit sad. But after all, it is a memory I must live with. And so is the loss of the crewmen. I do understand that I can’t save anyone, but it doesn’t mean it hurts less to seem they die. I hate death. I tried my best to improve the mood, because we have to be strong for the other, but it didn’t really seem to work. During breakfast, the others didn’t seem to notice so I didn’t insist on that. We had enough on our heads without my own sadness. If I can’t take care of my own mood, I will surely not be able to help the others. And I know I am usually the happy one, so I do not want them to see me sad. Suddenly, when we were enjoying the breakfast, we heard a loud noise coming from under the corridor . Of course, we all went to see what happened, but the space was too narrow. Drenizek and Xebec tried to see whatever was there. But I wanted to see what’s there. Sometimes, I am surprised by this trip too. I saw in front of me a weird lizard man. Very weird. He didn’t seem to be dangerous, but I couldn’t risk so I threatened him. It seems he is Marv, one of Damaschini’s old friends. So old that not even Talion knew him in person. He was very peaceful and talked with us. I never saw a lizard man before. Hmmm is that how people feel when they see me for the first time? I was very amused. The poor lizard man was very scared and confused. He didn’t even move. Not to mention, he talked with all of us and answered all our questions. He even told me about his family. I was pretty sure he is an ally. And he must have been a smart one since he managed to find us here.I don’t know why the others doubted him so much, I mean he teleported here so I am pretty sure he could have destroyed us very fast. All he needed to do is some bum bum and done, we all would have died. People are really scared about things they have never seen before. Well I decided to trust Marv. And since I didn’t want the others to keep interrogating him for hours, I volunteered myself to guard him all the time. Also, I could swear that Eve and Bart were not there, but it seems that I wasn’t paying enough attention I appreciated that Nixie accepted that I can guard Marv, despite her small lack of trust in Marv. But she knows me well. The second that guy made a bad move; he would have had some problems. I made sure to let Marv know that in a way to not scare him too much. I wanted to do a nice impression. Also Marv was supposed to stay in the same room with Heron. After what happened, I didn’t want to leave our newcomer with Heron alone, so I moved with them. And now….Eve (and Bart) had the room to herself for now. I then, went to talk with Xebec. There was something I felt to tell him. I left Marc take care of Marv. (Now that I think about it, it wasn’t a smart move because, well, Marc can’t really move from his circle. Or maybe I did think about it?) Marv didn’t even move from where I left him. So now I am convinced that he was to trust. Anyways, I went ahead and talked with Xebec. I wanted to say sorry for doubting myself for a second, even if him, the party and Fastodans believed in me. I was feeling sad already, and this thought wasn’t helping. I guess it was one of my not nice days. Xebec said he understands what happens and I shouldn’t apologize. I did feel better about talking about it though. Xebec somehow noticed that I was upset so we talked about it. He also told me something interesting. He lost many people before, people he knew, people he fought. If he didn’t feel sadness what did he feel? And then, if he felt sadness, how does he deal with it? I was pretty curious and wanted to ask but I was more worried about him. After all, it was only one day since he wasn’t captain Xebec anymore. He said he is fine with the situation, but he wished Dillen wasn’t the first mate. I did understand Xebec point. Xebec had a big part of the guilt for the fight between the crewman but wasn’t the only guilty one. He lost his captain position, and yes, it was fair. I can’t argue with that. You know, Dillen didn’t suffer the consequences for what happened. Compared to me, Xebec doesn’t seem to have something personal with Dillen. Dear diary, I only stand Dillen because I feel like Nixie likes him. She kept him as a first mate and talks with him quite often. If she really likes him, I have no say in that and I will support her. But that doesn’t mean I need to stop making not nice comments when he talks. I am only joking about killing him, I would never do that. No matter how I feel about that person, a life is a life. Maybe I should stop making such bad jokes. I will try to make nicer ones, like Drenizek. Then, Xebec and me went back to Marv. I took him and we were walking on the boat while I was explaining him a bit more about what is happening here. I noticed that Laimon went inside Nixie’s room, so I was trying to guard it as much as possible. I, then, went to talk with Nixie. My mood was a bit better, but I still wasn’t feeling the happiest. She told me that she still didn’t talk with Laimon. So, she asked me to keep the secret a bit more. At this point, I felt I should let her know how I feel. I really didn’t agree with keeping the secret. I do not agree with lying, especially when it comes to people, I trust. And hiding the truth, is also a kind of lying. I did insist on telling the others about Laimon. In the end, I agreed to keep the secret a bit more because It is Nixie who asked me that. And I trusted she would do what she believes it was right. After the discussion, something crossed my mind. I was being very stupid. I also didn’t tell the others about how I felt in that morning, about this sadness. After I thought for a bit, I realized it was more to my sadness than I thought. It wasn’t just the fact that people died, it was more than that. It was that whole day, and the chaos about it. We fought with each other on things we should have agreed even without discussing, we doubted the value of a life and we didn’t trust each other, not truly. I must admit that even myself I doubted what Nixie would vote to save Marc, so much, that I tried to influence her vote and I also know that Nixie doesn’t really trust Pullius, for example. All these things kept bothering me, there was no way this will end well if we didn’t get our stuff together. But the perfect opportunity came along for me to talk. It was time for another “torture” training. Before that, Eve came to us and talked with us about Heron. We just needed to treat him normally. I mean easy enough I guess. Back to the “torture” training. I really don’t understand why people don’t like these trainings. It helps us communicate straight with each other and solve our problems. And yes, we fight, but that’s what people do sometimes. This time the subject was: “Why do we complicate ourselves?”. I don’t know how Bart manages every time to choose the right subject. He is always ready to listen to us. I really need to thank him for that, for being patient enough with us. And so is Eve. We talked about a lot of things. It was the perfect time for me to say what I felt. We first talked about what happened with Talion and Heron. But we kept changing the subject and walk through stuff in a very chaotic way so at some point I became confused. I understood that if we wanted to help Heron, we needed to make him talk what he thinks and remind him of his purpose. (Hmm I am really curious what is Heron feeling and thinking. It might be interesting to hear). I felt like there was no purpose to this talk, because of the chaos around. I wanted to leave at some point when Nixie started talking about which route to take on the way back. I was wayy too confused about what was happening. Eve noticed there was something wrong with me, so she stopped me. It was then I started to say all I thought at once. Ooopsie…. I told them about my “sadness” and I also said that there was no point in having this discussion. I think everyone got my point, more or less, but I know Eve got mad because she considers that these discussions have a point, even though they do not have immediate results. I should have been more careful with how I say these things. I do not consider the trainings to be useless, although I do admit that I am impatient when it comes to seeing results. I really didn’t mean to make Eve sad. I am very sorry about that. She left soon and Bart went to talk with her but after a while, he came back without her. I didn’t mean to upset her. I will try to be more patient, waayy more patient. We then continued the “torture” session. Pullius told us about a weird dream he had about a guy with no mouth. (It was a really weird dream. He was so tired after that we barely woke him up). Then Bart told us that we should not complicate our lives with certain issues. Maybe he is right, some things are easier to solve that it seems. In the end, to solve my problems as well, we came up with certain borders we should not cross: We do not take lives, we do not keep secrets and we communicate a problem, if we have one. Nixie insisted on having Eve back because she had something important to tell us. Since I was the one who made her upset, I wanted to ask her to come back. She was working on some magic drawings or runes or something. I could feel she was upset after her voice. She agreed to come back but only if it didn’t take long. I’m sorry Eve. When we came back, Nixie told everyone about Laimon, her whole past as the daughter of Lofkia, and of course, about our dear snake, Dillen. We then decided that it would be the best if she said the truth alone, and that they should pretend they don’t know. Me and Nixie would need to talk with her and try to help her with whatever we need. Thank you, Nixie, for telling them, now we can solve this together. Later that week, Nixie and me had a talk with Laimon. I don’t know what the others think, but I feel respect rather than anything for Laimon. She had a hard life, alone. No child of her age should see her parents burning. And I feel she was forced to grow way faster than she should. I feel she wants to fight, that she wants to have a purpose. But for some reasons, I do not feel she knows what she is fighting for or rather, she doesn’t know if she wants to do it. I felt she regretted hitting that woman, when she escaped. As promised, I will protect her. I do not care if that sneaky snake Dillen will try anything, nobody will lay a finger on this girl without passing through me first. She did what she did to survive and did not harm many in the way. Yes, she hates Damaschini, Pullius, and the others, but that is no reason to harm her. She doesn’t trust us yet, but I know Nixie and me make a good team together so we will help her. Also, who in the Damaschini’s party danced while people were burning? I didn’t talk much with Damaschini but he seems like a good guy. Plus, his friends seemed rather nice as well, from what Pullius and Xebec said. Well except from what was his name….Zarkis or sth? The four eye white little man…I forgot his name but he just seems weird. At some point, we passed a tall tower on the shore. We stopped near it, as the night was coming. Nixie and Pullius had a bad feeling about it so I decided to stay awake. Pullius decided to stay awake with me, but at some point, he gave up and fell asleep. I didn’t want to bother him, so I went to check the boat again. He was still sleeping when I came back. When it was almost morning, I tried to wake Pullius up but it didn’t work. I woke Bart and Nixie up so they could try helping me. When nothing worked, I called for Eve and Heron. When Eve got close to Pullius, our magic man attacked her ant got her by the neck. Since when did Pullius have that power? I guess his demon friend finally got him. Pullius didn’t even have his own voice anymore. Of course, I couldn’t let whoever that was to attack Eve, so I reacted. She was safe, but Bart went to help Pullius. Bart hugged him and started to sing in the hope that his voice would reach Pullius. But Axiol was smart. While I was away, he took a knife, which he used to stab Bart. Ughh I hate demons. Anyways, Axiol was strong enough to not let me attack him. Eve went to help Bart but Axiol grabbed her and started kissing her. Then Bart, to reach Pullius, he started kissing him as well. I wasn’t paying much attention to that because I was too busy stopping Heron from whatever he was ready to do. Apparently, it worked. I know it is not funny, but I found it very amusing (shhh, don’t tell the others, it is a serious situation). The situation has calmed down for now, but of course, Black Sylph was suffering from this. I have never seen her that bad. She was trembling and couldn’t move or talk. She moved a bit but one leg was left behind. I couldn’t stand seeing her like this. I hugged her, hoping that she would feel better. She calmed down a bit. But I saw Eve and Nixie. We had to do something. I brought Pullius in so he can talk with her. The moment she saw him, The Black Sylph, hurried to hugged him. She is, the most lovable and loving person I know. She always motiveates me with just a :) . I really,really hope we will get her home in time. After this, Pullius decided to confront Axiol. It was about time. With the help of the Black Sylph, Pullius managed to defeat Axiol. So, I decided not to call him demon boy anymore. Maybe soon, he will become a real wizard not a magic man. But I am happy for him, I knew he could do it. He might make mistakes, but we all do. We all spent our days training, afterwards. I tried to focus on the swords training, but I also started to work on improving my mood. It seemed to work, and I felt way much better. Nothing attacked us either. It seems the days are peaceful under Captain Nixie. I used these days to find something nice to give to Xebec for his birthday. I was a bit confused because I didn’t know if he would want to celebrate his birthday or not. After all, he only knew his birth date because of the premonition. I thought for a bit, but nothing seemed to fit. In the end, I decided to make him a cake. Since I only learned how to cook insects and snakes, I don’t really know who to make cakes, so I went to ask Laimon for help. I accidentally met Bart on the way. He also wanted to talk with Laimon, so we went together. Apparently he wanted to make a cookies for Eve. He really treats her right. Nice Bart! (He's been acting nice with everyone recently, he even says "good night " to us every night.) But I saw nothing or heard nothing. Bart also gave me a good idea. He said that Xebec might like some dried meat. I finally knew what to do: A cake in the shape of the sea made out of meat. I don’t know if it’s too weird, but I mean he can throw it away If he doesn’t like it. I don’t mind. The truth is that was only plart of the gift. I figured he would feel upset that day, but he will not say it. I can’t take the burden of what happened away from him, but I can at least make this day a bit less miserable. So, I thought that maybe, if I let him know he is important to someone, then he will be a bit less sad. I didn’t know how much this would help, it was worth a try. Plus, some things are better said than left unsaid. I prepared this for a few days. I may seem very direct all the time, but it does take some kind of courage for me to say things like this to people. On that day, the others wanted to do something as well. But I knew that a party dedicated for him would not be something Xebec would like. Instead, I suggested them to organize a random party as a “break” for the crew. At the party, everyone seemed to have fun. I did some kind of force contest with Vadrek (You stupid Vadrek, you’re not beating me yet). Then we played some apple game with the others and danced for a bit. At some point, Xebec came to talk with me. I told him about the cake so he suggested we should go and eat it. He seemed amused by the cake, so I am glad he liked it. It was time for me to say what I had to say. I really don’t want to imagine how I sounded because I forgot whatever I was planning to do before. His first reaction was “Even with the premonition?”. Like that has anything to do with anything. Yes, I know about the premonition, but I also know I like him. And even if he is going to die this year, well then, I will have a year to show him that I like him. If anything happens, I will probably cry of course, but I would be at peace with what happened. Then he suddenly took me to dance and said: “Now, I’m really glad I came on this ship”. I could feel he was pulling me tighter while dancing. I hope I didn’t blush too much. I already know that the others will know about this. I am not good at hiding things. Xebec doesn’t talk too much about what he feels but what he said was enough for me to understand. My plan worked; he was feeling a bit better. We spend some time of the night dancing and talking. At some point I kissed him on the cheek. I shouldn’t have done that because he replied with an even more daring kiss. I am glad I am made of fire sometimes; I blush but you can see it less. Well, I was happy, but I hoped he was feeling at least a bit happy too. Didn’t want to talk about Xebec with Pullius, who was training in Marv’s room, so I went to sleep with Nixie. A few days after, Nixie saw something weird on the sky. It was the longest day of the year. Which meant, that from that day on, the nights would become longer and days shorter. Anyways, Nixie saw the clouds moving weirdly to the east. I don’t know what that is but I have a bad feeling about it. Compared to a week ago, I felt a lot better thanks to everyone. But what was next motivated me even more but I am tired now so I will write more tomorrow. May the Almighty love all of us

:)

Dear Diary, I couldn't sleep last night. I had a lot of nightmares, each one of them being closer closer to the reality. I think I prefer not to sleep rather than these ugly dreams. I had a lot to think about anyways. Earlier, Nixie pulled me aside and told me about Laimon, who s.....he really is. The poor child came all the way here for him...it must be very scary especially after the last two days. I would have liked to tell the others but Nixie asked me not to.   We went back to the room, where we saw Eve. I really trust Eve, she is smart and kind and I really don't understand why we can't tell her. We talked for a bit and she asked us about Laimon. For a second there, I wanted to tell her. But then I looked at Nixie. I guess she must have a reason for not telling her. So I just left some vague information. Seeing the whole thing, Eve told us that we shouldn't worry and that maybe it is better if she doesn't know. I still don't agree with it since Eve could help us, and so would the others. And like that, maybe we could find a plan to make Laimon tell everyone the truth without being consequences. Yes, that child hid the truth but after all, Laimon is very young but has survived with us so far, she has a brave heart. Why not fight with us?   Then, we talked a bit more what happened that day. Eve told us a very sad story about Illien the Great, one of the Ordinators from Ionolia and his campaign in the Western Desolation. That's where she got the signs that is on the tunics she gave us. It's the flag of Ael Velle (After this day, I appreciate her gift more than ever, I finally understood what it stands for). She told us how, at that time, they got in a similar situation with us and how the kings abandoned The Great Ordinator when he refused to leave the hurt people behind. Eve, then, explained us how important life is, and that one's life is as important as the life of 100. A small memory of the war came to my mind...every time, every fight...I killed so many people, I chose to kill them. And for what? So that out country to get more power. I suddenly felt very stupid and sad. I know it was war, but was the goal really worth the lives? I can't turn back the time now and save those people, but after this talk with Eve, I made a promise to myself: From now on, I will only fight to protect the life. And I will do it with the right methods. I will give everything I can to protect it. I would have loved to stay and hear more, but there was something else that bothered my mind...How was Xebec doing. I didn't get to talk with him yet.   While he was fighting with Dillen, Xebec said something about a premonition about him dying. He didn't get to say more because the crew started to say they don't want a captain that leads them to death. I didn't hear many premonitions before, and I do not believe the ones I heard. So I wanted to understand: if something like this was fated, why not fight against this premonition? After all, they may foresee the future but they do not define it. I was really worried for Xebec, I had to see how he was doing. It was already late in the night but i knew he wouldn't sleep. I knocked on his door, and I heard Xebec ask who was there. For a second, I got very scared "What if he didn't want to talk with me?". I knew he wasn't the type to talk a lot about himself. But, to my surprise, he said to come in. Suddenly, I got very nervous. I didn't even know what to talk about. Xebec was in his room, looking at the map Bart gave him. Captain's are always holding the map of the ship, right? Probably, he was thinking abut what happened. He also probably knew why I was there so there was no point in avoiding the subject.   We talked for some time that night. He told me about his parents, how, he believed so much in a premonition that his parents had. It all started with his parents that went to an oracle in Dushen. It said that his mom was supposed to kill his father and then kill herself. But they didn't listen to it and destroyed the whole oracle. As a kid, Xebec strongly believed in this premonition. So strong that one day when his parents were fighting, he grabbed a knife and stabbed his father. Like that, at least it was him not his mom that would kill him. But he didn't aim properly, and to end his suffering, Xebec's mom, killed her own husband. She didn't want to die but to fulfill the premonition, she killed herself. To make her kid understand, before commiting suicided, she took Xebec to a oracle and "cursed" him. It was then, foreseen that Xebec would die at 31 years old and that is...in a week. I had so many mixed feelings about this. I felt a lot of sadness about the story but somehow it was a bit of love as well. A love that i felt between his parents and the love they had for him. At least I think that's why they destroyed the oracle. I am curious to find out more about him, but I will stop for now. I don't want to make him even sadder than he is. At first I wanted to convince Xebec to go against it. But I quickly gave up when he explained me how he doesn't want to go against this premonition, but will also not stay there waiting to die. In his way, he is fighting for his life. He doesn't want to die, but if he does, he would have at least had a life he wanted, not living in the fear of death. So I decided i will not stand in his way, but I will try to join him. He then asked about why I am fighting for life. I told him about the past and what I realized earlier, while talking with Eve. Before I left, he gave me the map he was looking before and then he hugged me. I really hoped he didn't see that i was waay more red than usual. I was so nervous that I didn't even realize what the map meant. When I asked him, he just laughed and said I would find out tomorrow.   It was later that night, when I finally understood. The next day, it had to be decided who will be the next captain. Did Xebec wanted me to be the captain? ME? I didn't even know how to read a map. I was so panicked but i didn't want to tell the others. What if it wasn't true? I did ask Nixie and Eve about how to read a map. Thank God these girls exist. We then talked again about premontions. Nixie explained how even though we have to play a part it is up to us how we play it. And then Eve said that even though the Almighty knows what we do, it still has value.   I thought all night about what happened. I was ready to not accept any suggestions of me being a leader. I was a soldier all my life, I did not know much, i was not that smart. I know how to fight, but that is not enough for a leader. So me being a leader would have made things worse. Vote time came fast. Xebec suggested me, Dillen suggested Nixie, Bart and Heron suggested themselves and Laimon suggested Pullius. It was a fair vote. Then, they asked us if we wanted to participate. Nixie politely refused, and I wanted to do the same, as planned last night. But then something changed. I made a promise to myself the night before. And I may not have been the best leader, but i had to try my best. And I wasn't trying my best by sitting there and doing only what I know. I had a chance to make the crew understand what Eve said, so I agreed to participate. The results were like this: Heron no votes, Pullius demon boy and Bart had both 4 , an me and Drenizek (who wanted to participate for Nixie) both had 6. Bart, Eve, Xebec, Pullius demon boy and Lafku and his boys voted for me. I was very happy to see they believe in me. Especially the fastodans. Don't tell Vadrek but they are my favorites of the whole crew.   Then people voted again. It was a tie again and everyone was silent.But I was fighting against Nixie. She is smarter than me, and she is an elf. She will easily earn the respect of everyone. I thought she would be a better leader than myself. And I would be happy to fight as her soldier because i trust her with my life. I can still keep my promise. So I wanted to give up my vote, so Nixie wins but then Xebec made me realize that I would disappoint everyone who voted with me. I couldn't do that, they trusted me, and I didn't want to disappoint them by giving up.   But then Nixie did something that surprised everyone. She changed her own vote, and like that, she won the role of leader. I was happy she did that. I was slow to find a solution, but she did find one. I was right after all, she can be a leader, and a good one. I would have liked to be a leader, but I will not give up on my promise. Not just yet. Nixie panicked so much. I was a bit amused but we had to help her. I was surprised to see how the determination she had a second ago was just gone. Come on Nixie you can to this! After she finally held her speech, our party went to have another session of "torture training". I can't wait to see how Nixie will be doing. Although, I do disagree with her opinion not to punish Gerki. I don't mind him speaking his mind, especially when he was right, but attacking another one of us, is not something I would leave unpunished. Not like cutting their arm, but a lighter punishment that would make him understand what was wrong.   I saw Xebec being a bit upset. I really hope I didn't disappoint him too much, I know he wanted me to be the captain. But I will make up to him one way or another. I will repay the trust he had in me.   May the Almighty guide us and help us on the way.

Dear diary,   These days have been a complete chaos. We barely got time to rest and there was a lot going on. I learned a lot about a lot of things. I am happy with how everything turned out but I still feel a bit sad. After all, we lost other lives....again. Everything started after fighting the no life-no death people. We had a few hours of rest but no peace lasts too long. While we were in our rooms, a black ghost made of fog came and marked one of our crewmen, Marc. I don't really understand how these magic things work but apparently the ghost linked Marc's life to it. And now , The Lich was able to track us down and come and do bum bum.   So we had to act very fast and take a decision otherwise we would put in danger everyone's life. Xebec and Dillen called us in the captain's room and we started debating. Dillen suggested we should kill Marc. I was a bit shocked to be honest. I did not expect someone on this boat to wish the death of somebody else, even in this situation. Of course, I did not agree with this....how could I? I wanted to keep my promise to the crew but Marc is also part of the crew. I can't leave someone behind just because he was the unlucky one that day. I've seen death before and I brought death to many people before...but I will not do it, not unless there is still another option left. Eve couldn't agree more. She was even more against the idea than I was. I was pretty sure she was ready to punch Dillen.   And she wasn't the only one in the room. Xebec was also not very happy because Dillen suggested that the crew should make this decision. And to be fair dear diary, I do not like Dillen either. I mean he means the best for his people, but you can't do that by killing them. Anyways, we continued the talk. In the end, Dillen said he would give us 30 min to find an answer or he will organize the vote. Xebec immediately got mad and asked Dillen since when is he the captain here to take these decisions. Then, both of them left angrily in a different direction. I swear Dillen loves being hated by everyone.   We asked Eve to go try find some magic man drawings to hide Marc. And then we tried to do something else in the meantime, because we didn't have nearly as much time as we needed. So here we were, us and poor Marc. He was frightened by everything, including us. While we were trying to help, Heron started to act very weird. I thought he just has something on his mind, but while Bart and Pullius were trying to talk with Marc, Heron suddenly started to run towards him. The poor Marc ran from Heron, and I tried to stop our dear friend from whatever he was doing. But Pullius demon boy was faster than me and he punched Heron in the face although it seemed like he didn't want to. Of course it wasn't enough to stop Heron, but it gave me some time to hit Heron in the head and put him to sleep. Pullius demon boy was also surprised by the punch he made, so I assumed it's his demon friend I need to thank for stopping Heron. In the time we had left we have tried to do something about Marc. But it was all in vain Again, I do not understand magic man talk, but it seems that our Ionolian magic man reached the Lich not the ghost.   Not long after, Xebec and Dillen came and asked us what we had done. I have never felt more useless and embarrassed than now. I wanted to say that "We had done nothing" but I felt like I would just upset everyone more. We were supposed to protect this people...and what we did was to play around like fools, punch each other in the face. And to make the things even better, Heron woke up and came naked near us. I felt helpless for a second but I had to move on, there was nothing that would give us the time back, but there was still something we could do to save Marc. It had to be.   Seeing all this, Dillen and Xebec started to prepare for the vote. We explained our options to the crew. There were 4 of them: 1. We all stay and fight whatever is coming for us 2. We kill Marc and move on 3. We go on a separate boat and we do the runes there 4. We offer Marc an experience that was worse than death.( I really don't want to know what was in Heron's mind)   The first one to vote was Bart. He made his vote public so the crew can see that we are ready to fight whatever is coming. I thought it was a bright idea so I did the same. In the end, it has been decided that we will fight, and everyone seemed already determined until...Gerki decided it is time to shoot an arrow at Marc. Gerki started talking and he said that he doesn't want to die here, and that the we should redo the votes because the crew didn't know what they were voting.   Of course, the second time, the crew voted for 2. That's when Dillen ordered Gerki to shoot a second arrow at Marc to kill him. Thank God I saw it coming because I managed to protect Marc. But it was enough for Xebec to consider this treason and that Gerki and Dillen stepped over his word. So Xebec drew his sword at Dillen. In the moment, the crew broke in two: Drenizek with the Fastodans on Xebec's side and the Alomirese on Dillen's side. I can imagine, being betrayed by your own people it's painful and although he didn't show it, Xebec was probably very hurt by it. Then, Dillen and Xebec clashed swords and they started to fight. As much as I would have enjoyed to not see Dillen anymore, there was not the time or the moment for this. There was a Lich coming for us. So I jumped in between their swords and stopped them, then Nixie joined as well. Together, we tried to talk some sense into both of them. It seemed like it was working for a second and they have calmed down.   Of course, no peace lasts too long. Dillen kept insisting on killing Marc, and we were still defending him when Pullius demon boy tried to talk his mind as we all did. But somehow he managed to make Dillen angrier than before. BOO-HOO the biggest baby got upset and started screaming. To his OWN surprise, when Dillen tried to attack him, Pullius demon boy, attacked back with an energy ball. I couldn't let Dillen get hurt, after all he is STILL part of the crew, so I took the shot for him. It seems Pullius's demon friend is smarter than Pullius himself. I'm sorry, dear diary, I shouldn't speak bad of anyone...not of Dillen or Pullius demon boy. After all, we are here together and we have to survive.   I think now, i have to explain why i dislike Dillen. After all, he is trying to save us all. Well you see, dear diary, a day after this, I asked him why he is here. And he said it was because he wanted to play game and see how it turns out. I like his motivation. I find it very daring. However, this game he plays has hurt people. He treated Marc like it was no better than a fish that we were supposed to eat for dinner to feed our hunger. He made Xebec feel the pain of the betrayal from his first crewmate and the rest of the people he cared about. And all of this ,in a moment when we needed to be together. And I do not blame him for what happened. He acted the best he could to protect as many people as possible. But in times like this, the methods matter as much as the purpose. I will not fight for life with death.   No point in saying that after this confusion, everybody on the ship panicked and there started to run around the ship and jump in the water. They were not listening to us anymore. After all of this, Xebec still stepped in, cut the sheets that we used for sailing and said no one is leaving here so we should prepare to fight. Then Eve took over trying to motivate the crew even more. I don't know about the others but they gave me back a bit of courage. Hearing them talk made me realize how important the lives of each on of us was, and that we had to protect them. Now, I was ready to fight for it...for our life. While they were preparing, I went searching for Bart, as he was gone for some time. I found him in our room, near the Black Sylph, who was hurting really bad. It broke my heart to see her like that. Again, I couldn't do much. I tried to make her feel a bit better and ask her to fight. Not with us, but with the pain she is enduring. I knew the only way to make her hurt less is to solve what we have to do. Bart was also awfully quiet. I thought there was something bothering him, but he said it is nothing. I was worried for both of them. I wanted to talk with them more, but for now, we had to be strong. All of us. So Bart and me went ahead on the deck. Everyone there was preparing.   That's when Gerki told us it is coming: A purple stone from which a huge ghost appeared. Then, dozens of ghosts surrounded the ship. And so the fight began. The crew was trying to save their life from the smaller ghosts. While the rest of us were trying to defend the big ghost and the stone. Nixie helped us with a very stormy wheather that was enough to do a lot of bum bum. While Eve and Bart were trying their best to help the crew members and Pullius demon boy was destroying small ghosts. The big ghost was extremely powerful. One small mistake and she could have killed all of us. It almost killed Nixie, Pullius demon boy, and other members of the crew. But Xebec jumped in, he took an amulet and hit the ugly creature. He seemed very motivated to kill this thing, and to fight. He even called the big ghost to fight him. Heron and me joined him. First Heron attacked, and then me and Xebec jumped over him and attacked the stone. I hit with my first sword but when my second sword touched the stone, I felt something very weird and I was thrown back. Xebec noticed and instead of attacking, he saved me. If it wasn't for him, I would have probably died soon. In the meantime, Drenizek, who I like and respect a lot, jumped on the stone. Xebec threw his net over the stone, and together with Heron ,they started to push down the stone. While they were doing that I climbed on the stick that catches the wind. Then, we all climbed on the net, and started hitting the stone. After some time, it finally broke and we were all thrown away by a huge booom.   The fight was over but there was no time for joy. We have lost yet another 4 of the bravest men we know. And the situation was still unsolved. I do not know what will happen now, but I have to try harder to keep my promise for the party and the crew. The mistakes we did today, we need to fix them fast or they will be the doom for all of us. The chaos that was today cannot happen again.   May the Almighty help us all.

Dear Diary, I have not seen it in a while, I almost forgot how it looks like...DEATH. We were in the Western Desolation for some time, but for some reason, it seems more real now than before...I shouldn't have let my guard down, I was careless. The ship has changed, not even the noisiest of us, Drenizek, doesn't make a sound anymore. It all started two days before. We woke up and immediately went to the deck, where Xebec was waiting for us. It seems that during the night, the wind blew in a weird direction and instead of going in front, we came back for a bit. Of course, everyone got a upset but it wasn't something we couldn't solve. We were stuck in an old underwater destroyed ship.   Nixie offered to sink in the black salted water and move the sand. I thank you, The Almighty, for making me stop her. Bart and Xebec made a plan to get us out of there, but we needed people to go down and push the ship. We needed the strongest men to go and do the job. So our big muscle men went down into the water, in front with Vadrek. I don't know why I didn't go too. I should have been there to help them. Why did i stay on the deck, what was in my mind? Suddenly we heard Vadrek scream "Purple Eyes". The smart boy saved us from a very horrible death.   In no time, we noticed that the ship was surrounded by deadly no life-no death people with purple eyes. We had a few moments to prepare but we were all in great danger. We divided on teams to protect the ship. I don't know much about the others did. All I can remember is that one second I was near Eve and Bart, and on the another, the no life-no death people appeared in between us. I tried to hurry up and kill as many as possible. I was very worried for my friends. But the no life-no death people kept coming. There were so many... I remembered of the days when I used to fight in the war. Only this time, it felt very different. These creatures had no skin or soul and yet they seem to have suffered more than us. What a bad fate to have. I felt nothing killing those no life-no death people, I was only happy to stop them.   At some point, the ship started moving, and we were slowly going away. But the people on the water were not doing well. Vadrek and his brother, Brunek, helped those men a lot, even if they could have costed them their life. Thanks to them, we moved the ship and the rest of the water man came up.   The battle was done, but now it was the worst part. We lost 10 men. 10 men that came with us in this suicidal mission and fought the Western Desolation for weeks. Most of them were among the water man. The Goznian brothers lost all their friends. Lafku' and the Fastodans lost 4 , and Alomir lost another 3 of their best men. They all fell fighting to protect us from a real bum bum. Most of the bodies were lost at sea, but for those on the boat, we had to properly say goodbye. We wanted to burn all of them but the Fastodans refused to do that for their own lost friends. They think burning in fire is only for the enemies. So we suggested that the Fastodans to be buried like sailors, in the waters claimed their life.   During the war, I remember someone told me that the highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. During the ceremonies, I thanked them in my thoughts. I thanked them for saving us, for trusting us, and many more. I could have saved some of them if I was there in the water, but it's too late to regret it now. We have to move on, we have to survive and honor the sacrifices of the people who trusted us. There is one thing that bothers me...did our friends became one of the no life-no death people? I feel sad thinking about that....about all of the people who had the same fate. These Liches or however they're called, are just merciless monsters. I hate them all. I think one of them woke up and is following us now.   I know how difficult must have been for the crew and its captain. You could sense it in the air, after the ceremonies. For their sake, we had to make them move on. We tried to talk with them and tell them that we are alive and we have to keep going, and that we shouldn't lose ourselves now, or we will never leave the Western Desolation. When we were done, we heard a voice saying "How long are you going to cry like little girls?". When the crew heard Xebec saying that, they stood up and started doing their jobs. I wonder if he listened to what we said and if it helped him feel a bit more motivated as well. He won't admit it but he must have not felt good either. Just because he came with us "expecting some of them to die" it doesn't make it easier to lose your friends, not even for a captain.   Dear Diary, these days I am missing the time in the mountains with Nixie. But I feel more motivated than I was until now because in this world of death, we are the only light left. We have to keep going, and bring the Black Sylph home. For her sake and the sake of this world.   May the Amighty protect our lost friends and help us in the journey.  

Dear Diary, Days in the Western Desolation are very long. I haven't seen anything but fog in the last few days. I can feel that everyone is starting to feel affected, the whole feel is very heavy. Since I last wrote, there were a lot that happened. The first day started as any other. We woke up and went to have breakfast together. After those bad nightmares, it's really nice to talk everyone in the morning. I saw that the crew keeps calling Pullius the "demon boy" so I went to try to make him feel better. We ended up talking about why he calls himself Pullius. I think I understand a part of it now, it seems I was wrong to think he was just being proud. Then, Nixie joined and we talked about rain. We asked Pullius to try, together with Nixie, to purify the water. I don't really understand their magic men talk about higher arcane, but I heard Pullius say that the rain water is salty. Hmmm...I could swear it was sweet. Next time, I'll make him taste it.   After that, we kept having some small talks, and met later in the day for our daily "let's torture people" training. I am starting to feel that they are only doing this because Bart and me insist on it. They seem to try to hide from it as much as possible. Especially Nixie. This time we didn't even finish the training. It all started as usual, and the feeling was good. Bart and Eve finally got together. I kinda assumed something since I noticed some kind of marks on Bart's neck but didn't want to be the one to start this talk. It must have been a challenge for the two to tell us, especially for Eve. . I am very happy for them, and I appreciate a lot they told us. The others were happy for them as well, everyone but our very salty magic man, Pullius. I mean maybe it was because of the water he drinks, maybe that one is salty too. I'm sorry dear diary, I shouldn't talk ugly words about my friends, but he really made me angry, he was very mean but I guess it was because he was upset.   So, after Bart told us the good news, Pullius, understandably upset, went to take a breath of air. I know he loved Eve and there is no way that he would feel good in those moments so I wanted to be there with him. I searched for him on the deck and tried to talk with him. But he kept insisting that I should not talk with him and leave. I mean I understand but he really said it in a mean manner. It seemed to me, that I was annoying him. It's true I kept insisting to stay there with him, but it was because I care for him as a friend. I get very annoyed when people tell me rude things so it's true that I wanted to cut him with my beautiful Flavia. But this time I couldn't do it, I was as sad as I was annoyed. If Pullius keeps to push everyone away, he will remain all....alone and I know, better than anyone, how that feels. As his friend, I want to make sure that doesn't happen but it's really hard sometimes.   Nixie came and we decided to go back inside and leave Pullius to have some time alone. We tried to continue the training. I talked about how Pullius makes me feel angry sometimes and how I was hoping Bart and Eve to get together. Then, Eve joined the conversation and we continued to talk about how Pullius could be a potential threat to us. Then it was Nixie's turn. She successfully avoided the subject, telling us that she doesn't understand what she feels, so there is no point to tell us. But...I am her best friend...maybe I can't understand it better but I can try. Why doesn't anybody want to tell me how they feel? Am I such a bad friend? Dear diary, I shouldn't think of this, I guess the Western Desolation is really affecting me.   After the training, we heard that Laimon and Xebec were together, so it was the time to see what they were doing. Idon't know what I was searching for but I was curious, so I dragged Nixie with me. We went there, not sure why, but we did. Then, Xebec talked with us about Laimon and we promised to keep the secret. And if Dillen was to do anything shady, to stop him. Later in the day, I continued the training with Xebec. He doesn't really like to talk about himself. He called me "nosy" because I asked him something more personal. I may be a bit nosy, maybe him like the others, don't want to talk with me. I know he seems to be strong and he may not show it, but he must be as affected by the Western Desolation, as we all are. He just needs to be a strong captain, after all his crew depend on him. Dear diary, I think I ...like him so I want to help but don't tell anyone that.Shhh! I think he got a bit upset at me, because I cut a bit of his beard during the training. I was really sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear.   Later that day, I saw Vadrek and his brother training so I decided to join them. Recently, Vadrek has started to talk a lot more with me. He is very fun to be around, especially when we train together. He seems to respect me so I decided to try help him become more of a muscle man. He was a good company since I was a bit upset of the events that day. And he helps me as well. We make a great team I think.   That night, Bart came to sleep with us. I stayed awake because I wanted to give something to Xebec as an apology present. He told me he likes the horizon line, so I painted it for him. I saw Nixie going out and coming back after a some time. The next day, she told me about how she talked with Laimon and that she gathered some water. My girl is sneaky and smart, that's why I love her. I helped her carry some barrels, but we kinda did a lot of noise so we decided to stop when Xebec shouted at us to be quiet.   The next day, we had a short meeting with Dillen and Xebec, and discussed about food portions and wind and other things like this. Then Vadrek knocked on the door. It was the perfect timing because Nixie wanted to prepare some baths for the clue. Xebec promised Vadrek to give him some alcohool if he helped. I should thank Xebec for helping Nixie and me and Vadrek Then, I gave Xebec the painting. I don't know how much he liked if but he wanted to be appreciative. I hope he will feel better soon. Anyways, the trainings didn't go much better that day either. This time, I couldn't do anything properly. Ufff I really wanted Xebec tell me more about himself.   This day didn't go well either. After the meeting, we heard that the Sylph was hurting again. I tried to touch her and say a prayer but I felt like I received no answer. NOT EVEN GOD WANTED TO TALK WITH ME. I didn't understand why he didn't answer but I suddenly felt very sad. How can you believe in something that is not answering you? I wanted to believe but I had many questions and started to think a lot about them. I thought a lot about about it, but the more I did, the more i doubted it because I couldn't get a sign.   I decided to talk with someone about it. And I felt I needed to talk with Bart about it, because he is always kind enough to listen to all our problems, and tries to solve them. So I asked him a bit about the Almighty. Eve was close by so she joined the conversation. I was very happy she did that because, she always has interesting facts to add as well. Then, i don't know how but everyone came there, even Vadrek. And they all started talking about religion. I was curious why they believed in whatever they believed. I was also very curious about what Vadrek said about the other smaller gods that were near The Almighty. I mean it is interesting to see how people all believe in the same thing but they show it in different ways. And I think I understood a bit better. To make it simple, you have to believe you believe and open your heart to these beliefs. Vadrek and Eve didn't really agree with each other on this subject so they decided to settle this as a man: With a fight of will. I was amazed by Eve, she is really strong when she wants. Vadrek also surprised me, him admitting defeat was an honorable gesture. I think he would get along very well with our party. Maybe he will want to join us after this adventure. I thought of a reward for him. I made him climb on the stick that carries the wind, while carrying some weights.   Anyways, everyone went to sleep, so will sleep soon too.   May the Almighty love us

Dear diary, Today was a good day! I really had fun. We woke up and, as everyday, we went to get our food. While we ate, Bart told us about his trip in the cursed city. I felt very sad. I mean most of the people there were good people, they shouldn’t have died because of other greedy and mean people. Then, I told them about a bad dream I had. Bart told me it was just a dream and that I shouldn’t worry. I wasn’t worried, but sad. I mean if that would happen, I would cry for days probably,…and I don’t cry. I didn’t want to stay for the rest of the conversation, so I went to give the food to Eve, who was still sleeping. Silfida Neagra was there too. We talked a bit about prayers and the Almighty. She is also sweet but smart as well.. I really consider her a very dear friend. I thought the prayers will help her remember more, but she seems to know more about prayers even if she doesn't remember anything. Then, we gathered together, did our daily training and talked about what we like and dislike the most.   After the training, I left the room and went upstairs. There was fog everywhere but I got used to it by now. Nixie was talking with the party boy of the crew and laughing. She seemed to have fun. But then they turned to me. I saw the look on her face, it was THAT look. She wanted to ask me to do something shady. But of course, I don’t want to say no to Nixie when she is that happy. But she was nice, she didn’t ask for much. She just wanted me to wake up Xebec and ask him for meat and alcohol. I don’t really understand why they didn’t do it, but I didn’t mind. I went to his room, slowly knocked on the door and then went it. I tried to wake Xebec up but he pushed me a bit. He seemed to like to sleep, I almost didn’t want to try again. But I promised Nixie so I had to. This time he stood up from the bed and started changing while I was telling him what’s happening. Dear diary, I did look at him a bit but I don't think he saw. But I did notice a big scar on his back. I didn't want to ask about it because I wouldn't like to talk about that either so we just went back to the others.   So, Nixie and her party boy, wanted to make a tournament and needed the meat as a reward. Thanks to Nixie, we were going to have a really nice day. So we had to tell the others as well. First, we went to Bart. He was in his room writing another one of his great songs. I am really curious about what he writes. He seems to put a lot of feelings in his songs. We told him about the festival and he said he will get ready. We then went to talk with the crew abut the tournament for a bit. When we were going back to our room, we saw Eve running somewhere. We asked her what was going on but at first she only told us that Talion, Bart and Silfida Neagra have a conversation, and she wanted to leave them alone. I knew she was upset because Silfida Neagra wrote something about Eve and a :( . I tried to talk with her but she said she is fine. I wish she would have told me more about what is happening but I didn’t insist. I really want her to be happy...we all do.   We didn't have time to talk more because Talion came to us very scared, saying that there is something wrong with Silfida Neagra. For a moment I got very scared as well. And you know how Talion takes a long time to explain so .we all just ran back to the room. Poor Silfida Neagra could barely stand. We all stood there for some time and talked for some time. It seems that Talion and Silfida Neagra became friends, because she wanted him to give her a hug. It was so sweet that it hurt. We all joined but Eve told us to stop. Eve was almost crying. Then I realized what it was happening. A crumble from the Silfida fell on the floor. I suddenly felt a bit sad and I know the others felt the same so I tried to show Silfida a better way to show affection. I really hope it worked.   After things calmed down a bit, Nixie and I, got Eve on the side to finish the talk. She was really not feeling well and we found out why. She broke up with Talion. I'm feeling a bit relieved to be honest. I know it's mean but it seemed better for both of them. I really really hope Eve and Talion will both be happy soon. We tried to make Eve smile as much as we could, but I feel like although she appreciates it, this help isn't what she needs right now. We were interrupted again by Talion and Heron who came to use with an idea. They wanted to make Heron our new leader. I do not think it's a bad idea but at the same time I trust Talion. I think by starting to be an actual leader, he could learn a lot, and maybe teach us something too. I didn't want him to give up so easily. I know he can do this. And I am pretty sure that Heron will help him a lot as a right hand. I was also surprised by Heron's idea. I never really saw trying to take the lead. Maybe in time, he will prove himself a good leader as well.   After this talk, we decided to go have fun at the tournament. There were a lot of fun fights. So there were three categories: Weak people , Strong Men and Normal people. They forgot to add me on the list, but I made sure to get in the Strong men category. Gerki won the Normal people contest. For me, It wasn't easy at all. I fought with the short training boss. I gave my best to bum-bum him and I did...after some time. He was strong and had experience in doing bum bum. I almost lost in the beginning but I didn't want to lose. After the fight, I saw Xebec smiling. I guess he liked the fight. I hope? In the meantime, Dillen lost his match with Herron. Even though Dillen is smart, the bum bum Heron does is stronger. I am proud of Herron. He really trained a lot. Then, I had to bum bum Heron in the final. this fight was the hardest. Herron is really a big guy. I did bum bum in stomach, and he did some bum bum in my face, and then we did more bum bum. I had almost no chance to beat him but I didn't give up until I fell on the ground. . I am proud of myself for all the punches I gave him. Next time, I will be the one eating the best meat. When I stood up, I thought I saw Xebec smirking with a "good job" smile, I think? But Nixie came to help me so I turned around and left.   The next fights were from the Weak People, they even more interesting. Talion fought very hard to beat our cook, Laimon. Poor cook got a bit hurt so he ran to the kitchen. The last fight of the tournament was Bart against Talion. Bart did a very nice bum-bum on Talion, who seemed a bit dizzy. I saw that Talion was a bit annoyed. So annoyed that he was trying to do a lot of things, but nothing worked.But then, out of nowhere, Talion did such a big bum-bum that he threw Bart, hitting him on the stick that was catching the wind. I was so amazed that I feel in the water.   This was no good. We needed to take those two somewhere else. I was relieved Bart was alright. The hit was really not easy. But we still needed to understand what was Talion doing. He said that he did it without realizing and that his demon friend tried to convince him that it was a demon's power. But he also said he had a huge urge to do that. Dear diary, do not tell anyone, but I am a bit worried for Talion. I mean if he can't control himself, he could even become a danger for us. I think it is time to work more on this part of the problem. Bart already started. I thought that was both kind and brave. The rest of us will also not give up on Talion, after all, he is one of us.   We had to calm the crew down for now, so we hurried on the deck. With a bit of help from Nixie and me, Heron did manage to convince them that we should move on and get our hope back. Nixie's boy and Xebec jumped to help very fast. Bart also showed up on the deck and started singing for the others. I was a bit worried for him but he seemed to be doing fine. Then Talion tried to explain the situation but the crew screamed to him "shut up, demon boy". It's really not a nice thing to say to someone. I should tell Talion that we are still his friends so he doesn't become more sad. Slowly, things became happy again. Then Talion and Bart did a contest and Talion won, so he went in the big final. The rest of the night was very fun. We danced, ate, drank . The three big boys who won, tried to answer some riddles and not get drunk. Talion and Gerki fell drunk on the ground so Heron won the big prize. Remember the cook, Laimon? Me and Nixie talked a lot with him, and he even thought me how to make meat better.   Dear diary, I don't know if I told you, but Nixie said there is another girl on the boat, someone from the crew. But keep this a secret! Nobody can know. To find her, I suggested to look for a special thing that only boys have, some kind of apple in the neck. Then Nixie investigated everyone who hid their neck. She spend some time searching but in the end we found her! She is Laimon. Anyways I was surprised. SHe didn't want to talk about it. When I tried to force her talk, she he ran away. After all, we talked for a bit wit him and we promised to keep the secret. I am very curious about him. Why would he want to be here and hide for so long. I know Xebec knows but I do not want to ask him. I will talk with the cook more, he seems to have an interesting life.   That night I slept like a baby. The next morning, we all met again and talked. Then, I went on the deck to train with Xebec. I was more than amazed. How can he move so fast? I did well the first time, but then I kinda stumbled. I guess I couldn't concentrate. We then talked about what he likes and doesn't like. He likes the horizon the most. I didn't expect that. I never thought of it much. We don't see it from the Continent. But Xebec is right, the horizon is a beautiful thing.   Eve didn't seem to feel happy at all that day. If I couldn't make her happy, at least talk with someone who can. I saw Eve that night in Gessen, she was happy. And since she came back with Bart, I assume he was the reason. And they always spend time together. So I asked Bart to talk with her but he was already planning to do that. Dear diary, to tell you the truth, I would be very happy for them to be together. They seem to be a good match. Bart would take care of her and I'm sure she would be loved. I hope Eve will feel better soon.   One more thing, dear diary, Talion told us to call him Pullius because he said it will help him with the training. He said that he used to be very proud to be an ionolian and a wizard and he needed to change his name so he can get rid of this. So how i understand it, Talion should be ashamed to be called Pullius. But to me, it seemed like he almost took pride of this name. Pullius is supposed to remind him to be humble, but he doesn't seem to mind it anymore. First, he casually told us to call him that, then he whispered it to Nixie's boy during the tournament and laughed. Very weird.   May The Almighty be with us and the crew.

Dear diary,

Dear diary, Today was a good day! I really had fun. We woke up and, as everyday, we went to get our food. While we ate, Bart told us about his trip in the cursed city. I felt very sad. I mean most of the people there were good people, they shouldn’t have died because of other greedy and mean people. Then, I told them about a bad dream I had. Bart told me it was just a dream and that I shouldn’t worry. I wasn’t worried, but sad. I mean if that would happen, I would cry for days probably,…and I don’t cry. I didn’t want to stay for the rest of the conversation, so I went to give the food to Eve, who was still sleeping. Silfida Neagra was there too. We talked a bit about prayers and the Almighty. She is also sweet but smart as well.. I really consider her a very dear friend. I thought the prayers will help her remember more, but she seems to know more about prayers even if she doesn't remember anything. Then, we gathered together, did our daily training and talked about what we like and dislike the most.   After the training, I left the room and went upstairs. There was fog everywhere but I got used to it by now. Nixie was talking with the party boy of the crew and laughing. She seemed to have fun. But then they turned to me. I saw the look on her face, it was THAT look. She wanted to ask me to do something shady. But of course, I don’t want to say no to Nixie when she is that happy. But she was nice, she didn’t ask for much. She just wanted me to wake up Xebec and ask him for meat and alcohol. I don’t really understand why they didn’t do it, but I didn’t mind. I went to his room, slowly knocked on the door and then went it. I tried to wake Xebec up but he pushed me a bit. He seemed to like to sleep, I almost didn’t want to try again. But I promised Nixie so I had to. This time he stood up from the bed and started changing while I was telling him what’s happening. Dear diary, I did look at him a bit but I don't think he saw. But I did notice a big scar on his back. I didn't want to ask about it because I wouldn't like to talk about that either so we just went back to the others.   So, Nixie and her party boy, wanted to make a tournament and needed the meat as a reward. Thanks to Nixie, we were going to have a really nice day. So we had to tell the others as well. First, we went to Bart. He was in his room writing another one of his great songs. I am really curious about what he writes. He seems to put a lot of feelings in his songs. We told him about the festival and he said he will get ready. We then went to talk with the crew abut the tournament for a bit. When we were going back to our room, we saw Eve running somewhere. We asked her what was going on but at first she only told us that Talion, Bart and Silfida Neagra have a conversation, and she wanted to leave them alone. I knew she was upset because Silfida Neagra wrote something about Eve and a :( . I tried to talk with her but she said she is fine. I wish she would have told me more about what is happening but I didn’t insist. I really want her to be happy...we all do.   We didn't have time to talk more because Talion came to us very scared, saying that there is something wrong with Silfida Neagra. For a moment I got very scared as well. And you know how Talion takes a long time to explain so .we all just ran back to the room. Poor Silfida Neagra could barely stand. We all stood there for some time and talked for some time. It seems that Talion and Silfida Neagra became friends, because she wanted him to give her a hug. It was so sweet that it hurt. We all joined but Eve told us to stop. Eve was almost crying. Then I realized what it was happening. A crumble from the Silfida fell on the floor. I suddenly felt a bit sad and I know the others felt the same so I tried to show Silfida a better way to show affection. I really hope it worked.   After things calmed down a bit, Nixie and I, got Eve on the side to finish the talk. She was really not feeling well and we found out why. She broke up with Talion. I'm feeling a bit relieved to be honest. I know it's mean but it seemed better for both of them. I really really hope Eve and Talion will both be happy soon. We tried to make Eve smile as much as we could, but I feel like although she appreciates it, this help isn't what she needs right now. We were interrupted again by Talion and Heron who came to use with an idea. They wanted to make Heron our new leader. I do not think it's a bad idea but at the same time I trust Talion. I think by starting to be an actual leader, he could learn a lot, and maybe teach us something too. I didn't want him to give up so easily. I know he can do this. And I am pretty sure that Heron will help him a lot as a right hand. I was also surprised by Heron's idea. I never really saw trying to take the lead. Maybe in time, he will prove himself a good leader as well.   After this talk, we decided to go have fun at the tournament. There were a lot of fun fights. So there were three categories: Weak people , Strong Men and Normal people. They forgot to add me on the list, but I made sure to get in the Strong men category. Gerki won the Normal people contest. For me, It wasn't easy at all. I fought with the short training boss. I gave my best to bum-bum him and I did...after some time. He was strong and had experience in doing bum bum. I almost lost in the beginning but I didn't want to lose. After the fight, I saw Xebec smiling. I guess he liked the fight. I hope? In the meantime, Dillen lost his match with Herron. Even though Dillen is smart, the bum bum Heron does is stronger. I am proud of Herron. He really trained a lot. Then, I had to bum bum Heron in the final. this fight was the hardest. Herron is really a big guy. I did bum bum in stomach, and he did some bum bum in my face, and then we did more bum bum. I had almost no chance to beat him but I didn't give up until I fell on the ground. . I am proud of myself for all the punches I gave him. Next time, I will be the one eating the best meat. When I stood up, I thought I saw Xebec smirking with a "good job" smile, I think? But Nixie came to help me so I turned around and left. The next fights were from the Weak People, they even more interesting. Talion fought very hard to beat our cook, Laimon. Poor cook got a bit hurt so he ran to the kitchen. The last fight of the tournament was Bart against Talion. Bart did a very nice bum-bum on Talion, who seemed a bit dizzy. I saw that Talion was a bit annoyed. So annoyed that he was trying to do a lot of things, but nothing worked.But then, out of nowhere, Talion did such a big bum-bum that he threw Bart, hitting him on the stick that was catching the wind. I was so amazed that I feel in the water.   This was no good. We needed to take those two somewhere else. I was relieved Bart was alright. The hit was really not easy. But we still needed to understand what was Talion doing. He said that he did it without realizing and that his demon friend tried to convince him that it was a demon's power. But he also said he had a huge urge to do that. Dear diary, do not tell anyone, but I am a bit worried for Talion. I mean if he can't control himself, he could even become a danger for us. I think it is time to work more on this part of the problem. Bart already started. I thought that was both kind and brave. The rest of us will also not give up on Talion, after all, he is one of us.   We had to calm the crew down for now, so we hurried on the deck. With a bit of help from Nixie and me, Heron did manage to convince them that we should move on and get our hope back. Nixie's boy and Xebec jumped to help very fast. Bart also showed up on the deck and started singing for the others. I was a bit worried for him but he seemed to be doing fine. Then Talion tried to explain the situation but the crew screamed to him "shut up, demon boy". It's really not a nice thing to say to someone. I should tell Talion that we are still his friends so he doesn't become more sad. Slowly, things became happy again. Then Talion and Bart did a contest and Talion won, so he went in the big final. The rest of the night was very fun. We danced, ate, drank . The three big boys who won, tried to answer some riddles and not get drunk. Talion and Gerki fell drunk on the ground so Heron won the big prize. Remember the cook, Laimon? Me and Nixie talked a lot with him, and he even thought me how to make meat better.   Dear diary, I don't know if I told you, but Nixie said there is another girl on the boat, someone from the crew. But keep this a secret! Nobody can know. To find her, I suggested to look for a special thing that only boys have, some kind of apple in the neck. Then Nixie investigated everyone who hid their neck. She spend some time searching but in the end we found her! She is Laimon. Anyways I was surprised. SHe didn't want to talk about it. When I tried to force her talk, she he ran away. After all, we talked for a bit wit him and we promised to keep the secret. I am very curious about him. Why would he want to be here and hide for so long. I know Xebec knows but I do not want to ask him. I will talk with the cook more, he seems to have an interesting life.   That night I slept like a baby. The next morning, we all met again and talked. Then, I went on the deck to train with Xebec. I was more than amazed. How can he move so fast? I did well the first time, but then I kinda stumbled. I guess I couldn't concentrate. We then talked about what he likes and doesn't like. He likes the horizon the most. I didn't expect that. I never thought of it much. We don't see it from the Continent. But Xebec is right, the horizon is a beautiful thing.   Eve didn't seem to feel happy at all that day. If I couldn't make her happy, at least talk with someone who can. I saw Eve that night in Gessen, she was happy. And since she came back with Bart, I assume he was the reason. And they always spend time together. So I asked Bart to talk with her but he was already planning to do that. Dear diary, to tell you the truth, I would be very happy for them to be together. They seem to be a good match. Bart would take care of her and I'm sure she would be loved. I hope Eve will feel better soon.   One more thing, dear diary, Talion told us to call him Pullius because he said it will help him with the training. He said that he used to be very proud to be an ionolian and a wizard and he needed to change his name so he can get rid of this. So how i understand it, Talion should be ashamed to be called Pullius. But to me, it seemed like he almost took pride of this name. Pullius is supposed to remind him to be humble, but he doesn't seem to mind it anymore. First, he casually told us to call him that, then he whispered it to Nixie's boy during the tournament and laughed. Very weird.   May The Almighty be with us and the crew.  

Dear Diary, The way back from the mine was great. We got a bit of time to relax. I was still not feeling great but I did not want to worry the others.   In the afternoon,Bart came to Nixie and me. He was a bit sad. I think it was something about Eve and Talion. Bart really likes her. Even if he doesn't want to show it. Well, I think it's obvious. Well I tried to make Bart feel better, but I do not know how. I'm not good at making people smile, but I hope he at least felt better to have us with him. I wonder if Eve knows he likes her that much. But she is a smart girl, she will figure it out. I think that he would make Eve happy, but I also know Talion loves her.   In two days, we were back on the ship, which was looking almost new. First, we went to see how the Black Sylph was doing. Eve brought her some kind of souvenir and she seemed happy to see us. Although shy, the Black Sylph is one of the kindest and nicest people I know. I want to help her but I do not really know how. It seems that the others don't know either. Later that day, I wanted to go shopping but Bart stopped me because he said we don't have money. I feel very sad. I really wanted to buy back all the objects that we sold for the ship.( even the sheets I stole from Talion.). Nixie asked me if I want to go with her to find some herbs for the way. We did not find much, but we had a great idea to make the others happier. We made some flower crowns as a thank you gift for those who helped us. Then, I left the crowns in their rooms.   The weather was nice so we stayed for a long time on the beach. Bart and Eve came a bit late, i don't know what they did but it seemed like they had a good time. They must have gone swimming, after all, a girl's hair doesn't get dry that fast. Is there something going on between those two or they just went to swim? I was very happy to see the Black Sylph join us for a while. She put her little hands near the fire like all of us. Why is she so cute all the time? I really want to hug her, but I do not want to hurt her. The Black Sylph left after she saw Xebec coming. He was wearing the flower crown we made for him. I'm happy I cannot blush, otherwise the others would have seen it. And I don't know if now it's the time, since Eve, Talion and Bart seem to have something going on. But I was really really happy Xebec liked the crown. I know that Bart, Eve and The Black Sylph, also liked them. We stayed and talked for hours and didn't get bored. Apparently Xebec doesn't like premonitions, and the others are no big fans of them either. But everyone seemed to have a great time.   Nixie and me wanted to go to sleep but Talion stopped to talk with us. He needed advice on what to do with Eve. I tried my best to tell him that he really needs to listen. I hope he understood what I said. It might help him in the future. In the beginning, I wanted to help him solve the problem, but it doesn't seem easy. I never see him staying with Eve but i don't really understand why. Suddenly, after the conversation, I got very tired. So I slept on the beach near Nixie.   The next morning, we started the journey through the Western Desolation. Xebec said a speech to his crew. He is quite motivating. That day, there was nothing special going on. There was a lot of wind so we sailed fast. I didn't notice the day pass. In the afternoon, we all met together to begin our training against demons. The first step was to talk about ourselves. Heron told us his story about how he couldn't save his family. He is afraid that when the time comes, nobody will believe him. I trust Heron so I will believe him. I should find a way to show him that.   Xebec was the next one. He didn't want to talk about himself. He said that he's not afraid that we won't understand but that we would understand too much. I have never seen him so serious before. I wanted to talk with him after. I went to his cabin, but he was already sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up.   Then, I talked about my past. I don't really tell this stories to other people. But they are my family. I know I can tell them that. I did feel very sad talking about it. I remembered a bit about Flavia and Forsun. They also promised me that they would stay alive. I trust our party and i know they will try to keep their promise. I need more time to think how I can help them. But I did feel relieved listening to them being so confident.   Then Nixie told us about her family. I know better than anyone how hard it is for her to be away from home. She misses everyone. I am her family for know, but I also know she misses her real family a lot. She hasn't been home for more than four years and she left behind a war. I do understand why she would be sad. I was the one taking her out so I will be the one taking her home.   Eve first talked about how she is afraid that we might be too small to change this world. And we might die trying for nothing. We told her that being so small maybe be our advantage. She is even stronger than she thinks. And very brave. She could have left Ionolia without going on the most dangerous trip she could do. And yet, here she is.   It was Talion's turn. He was very moody that day. It was probably the first and last time I will get so angry at him. You see, dear diary, the conversation was very very serious. Everyone was putting his heart on the table. And the first thing Talion said was " i don't want to play this game". I couldn't stand it so I started to scream at him. But Bart stopped me because he said the point of this conversation is to not blame or judge each other. Bart also said that Talion didn't mean what he said. I believe Bart doesn't lie so I stopped. Maybe I understood wrong. Well I should apologies to Talion I think? His biggest fear was the fact that he dragged us in all this mess for nothing and that we will die because of him. I told him before, and I will tell him again. We came here because we wanted to, and we are his team now, he is not alone in this fight. I hope he understands that soon.   For some reason, Eve seemed to have more to say. She apologized for lying to us in a moment like this. She told us that she is afraid of dying without experiencing something the way she wanted. And she would just die like this., unhappy.   Then Bart took the word. He told us about his family, and how he feels unwanted. I do understand some of the pain of not having a loving family near you. But how could someone not want Bart as a family? I swear he would be the best brother. I hope he will understand that in time, and he will get over this fear.   After a toast to ourselves, we went to our rooms to think about what everyone said. I think we will all overcome our fears if we work together. And I think so far, our teamwork was pretty good. Nixie and me, saw Eve reading, and we went to her to ask her if she wants to look at the stars with us. We talked about the three stars of Gava and many more. She seemed to be confused about what to do with Talion. It seems that Talion did something wrong again. I wanted to defend him but I couldn't. I had to be honest with Eve. The truth is, that I do not think Talion is fit for her. Ever since we met her, I never saw Eve happy with him. Not even once. And I think that he is treating her as he is treating all of us. If not, even a bit worse. I really wanted their relationship to work because I like both of them. But for both of their sakes, they shouldn't be together. But this is just me thinking. I still like both Eve and Talion, and I hope Talion will not get to mad. We advised her to do whatever is best for her and in the end that is what matters most. I was happy she talked with us. She is usually staying alone, and I know she likes it. But everyone needs a friend to talk to sometimes. Also, Bart really likes her. He even gave her some flowers.   The next morning I was with Bart and Xebec on the boat, when we saw something in front. It was a sea monster. I don't exactly know what it was but it looked like a huge black lady with a scythe. Nixie and Talion tried to help but they couldn't do it. I thought it would be the death of us. But suddenly, we saw the Black Sylph, with a black sword. In a moment, she cut the ugly monster in half, and then she disappeared     We immediately went to her room to see if she is alright. Of course, she wasn't. Some crumbles were falling from her again. She is such a wonderful person. Even when she is feeling sick because of us, she still helps us. She layed in her bed. We stayed there near her, trying to keep her company, and pray for her. There must be more that we can do for her. Until we figure out what, we decided to show her our love. To beat death with life. Eve made her a cookie cushion and we all painted on a new mask we gave her. She really really likes it. I was so happy to see her giggle. I want to do more for her. Because she is or little friend.   Not long after we arrived in the Black Sylph room, Xebec followed us. He asked us to tell him what just happened upstairs. Who did that kind of magic. He kept on insisting that whatever helped us, it was cursed and we should take care. And that we should be careful if we don't understand it fully. What is going with him? He seemed even a bit scared. He must really hate curses. But we convinced him that hw should not worry.   The next night, we stopped near the shore. We were as always, just staying on the boat and doing jobs around. In the fog in front of us, we began to see shapes of people moving and talking in gavan. It looked like one of Nixie's paintings but...alive. It was soo beautiful and peaceful. People just living their normal life, busy with daily jobs. So vivid and happy. Slowly, the fog disappeared, and the city of Iziper appeared in front of our eyes.It looked the same asthe fog, almost untouched by time, but there was no life there, nothing. How did this happen? I felt a feeling of sadness. How can something transform so much? Can you bring back what it was before? I really hope I will live to see the happiness the past, coming back here again.   Dear diary, This is just the start of this journey. May the Almighty be with us on the way and protect everyone.  

Dear Diary, A lot happened since I wrote last time. We visited some mines and it was a nice but not so nice experience. We had to leave The Monument of Life island and go to another. Eve told us about the mines before. It was said that there was a bad magic men who lived there once. So we decided to go and get some money or something. We traveled for a bit and we got to a port near the mines. We had to get ready for the mine so we started getting materials. Eve and Bart said we needed torches, so I went to find some wood. Later, we met again. Bart and Nixie also brought the necessary ingredients. But we were missing some fabric. I wanted to steal some, but Eve said she had a better idea. She took a part of her clothes, and from my cape, and used them for the torches. She also left for a bit and got new clothes. And after all of these, we had six torches.   I was curious why Talion didn't give us some Ionolian clothes, but the others told me that we shouldn't use those, because in Ionolia, "the clothes make the man". I wasn't sure I understood, but I think i kinda do now?   We went to some weird old mines. There were a lot of entrances and something called "rails". They looked very empty. I don't think anybody came here for a looonggg time. The first time I saw them, I did not know what to think of them. We went inside, and there was not much to see. Just stones and rails. On the way, we arrived at some kind of house. I didn't know you can do houses inside a mountain. Can you do that in volcanos as well?   It did not take us too long to get to the first magic thing. On the floor, near the rails, there were some weird stone drawings. They call them "runes". For me, they were some kind of lines that magic men use to make bum bum with lightings. So how I understood it: You put power one side, it goes to the big shiny stone in the end, and they came back with more power and make you die. Trust me, they hurt pretty bad. I was hit by them more than a lot.   We walked through the mines for some time. We even slept there. There were a lot of falling stones . First, we were riding a mine moving thing, some stones started to fall on us. Nixie saved me and Bart but the others, who were slower, were not so lucky. But thanks to our muscle guy, Heron, they were saved. The second time, we were the ones falling like a stone. The moving mine thing was going very fast, and we went straight, into a hole. Nixie saved us again. Her powers are getting srtronger. I am so very proud of her! She can basically control all the earth and save us all. One day, she will be a great sorcerer and I will be happily staying at her side. I'm glad I brought her here, it was the best decision I have ever made. She will not say it, but she loves everyone and will take care of them.   There were a lot of runes in the mine. At first, Talion, Eve and Bart tried to understand them. But they didn't know much. So we decided to test them. Talion volunteered to send the magic into the runes. I saw everybody stepping a lot back but I didn't want to leave Talion alone. He might need help. So I stayed in front. I got a bit fried but I am happy I did. While the rune did the bum bum on us, I could see how it did the bum bum. I tried to explain to the others because Talion didn't see and I think they understood.   Bart came up with a plan to make the big shiny stone to not be so shiny. Talion drew some new runes and tried to activate the system again. Apparently, he made them on the other way around. This time, the lightnings hit us all. We all do mistakes, and it can happen. I wasn't mad at Talion, but he started to say it was our fault for not stepping back. I just wanted to help..... I like Talion but sometimes he really is mean. After the runes were repaired, Talion tried his best to do the plan. But, after a while, he was to tired. In the meantime, Heron and me wanted to make some way through the mud. It was very funny but we ran out of air. We were both covered in mud. Bart came to help and we got out of there. He is always there to help us and to make us smile. I'm really happy he's our friend.   We saw that this plan would take too much, so we decided to do something else. Each rune, had another rune that were somehow opposite. We said it would be a good idea to use power in both the runes at the same time. It worked! We did that for the other runes as well. Talion and Nixie decided to take some of the shiny stones. We moved a bit more through the mines, and in the end, we got in front of two big walls, each had 3 stones on it. I wanted to go in front, but when I did, a lot of lightnings hit the shiny stones Nixie and Talion had, and all of us were fried. We had to stop it fast or we will all die.   Lucky us, Eve is smart and brave. She tried to stop the moving stones and connect them with the others, of the same color. She was not strong enough alone so she got fried...again. But she gave us a great idea. I suggested that we should go the same thing she did, but together. While we did that, Bart went there and took Eve to a safe place, while Talion tried to protect the rest of us. We did work like a team, only I wish Eve would have been feeling better. Heron and Nixie were also very brave. They really helped us a lot in this fight. And Bart, he doesn't fight with force, but he helps us with his ideas and he saved Eve.   We walked for a bit more, and we saw an old house, with a skeleton and a really powerful shiny stone. Talion wanted to see if there was magic there, but we were too far. We didn't see anything dangerous, so we went into the house. Eve stayed behind, because she really didn't feel well. And I can understand why. The house was very normal, a bit too normal. There were some rat holes in the walls, but apart from that, nothing much. Bart read about some dead rats that had lighting runes on them. So Nixie wanted to cover the holes. But I said that we shouldn't use magic because we don't know what it can do. Nixie stopped.   Talion had good intentions. He wanted to see if the orb is dangerous, so he used some kind of kind of skill that detects magic. I think? Of course, the very next second, the room began to be covered in rats. I m not mad at Talion because he used magic when I asked him not to. Ok, maybe just a little bit. I am more mad that, he used something he does not understand how it works. In a serious situation, I do not use a sword that I don't know how to use so he shouldn't use magic that he doesn't know it's magic. I think he should have listened to what he learned in school.   The whole room was now, almost full of rats. I remember Heron trying to attack them, but when they died, some lightning hit Heron. So we had no chance to kill all of them before they killed us. And they were quickly covering the door. I did not know what to do, but I had to do something. I did not want to see my friends die in a room full of dead rats. Not when we got so good friends. So I tried to free the door. I don't remember much from that moment. I know I went through the door and make way for the others to exit. But then everything turns black.   When I woke up again, we were outside the mines. I remember that my body hurt a lot when I woke up, and I wanted a loooott of meat. Everyone was there, I was so glad to see they are safe. Nothing hurt anymore when I saw them there. I was so relieved I don't know much about how they got out. But they did. Nixie seemed very scared. I did not want to worry anyone, and I'm sorry for that. And they saved my life. I do not know how to thank them enough. Eve took care of me, even if she was more hurt than us. She healed our hands. She is so kind. She poured some kind of healing liquid on our hands, but not on hers. I took the bottle and put some of that liquid on her hands as well. I hope she will feel better.   Dear diary, the more I know this party, the more I like them. They are all kind and willing to help each other. I really really want all of them to survive this journey and have a great life. And I want us to always be a family.   May the Almighty be with us.

Dear diary, We have left Ionolia a few days ago. We need to hurry to finish this mission before the end of the world. I took a few souvenirs from Talion's house. He wasn't happy about it but I didn't think it would matter so much for him. The trip is very fun! Everyone is great! They promised me that we will stay together no matter what, so I was very happy about it. They are my new friends. I will not lose them too.   We went to Alomir because Damaschini said we could take his ship from there. On the way we didn't have any problems. Well, at least me and Nixie didn't. Talion seems to lose his girlfriend but he doesn't seem to care. I would like to help but it's not my girlfriend. I would treat her better. Like Bart does. But he is not serious about her either since he doesn't know if he likes her or not. I like Eve so I hopes she will find a nice family.   Alomir is a nice place. It seems small and very happy. When we got there, we went to the port to search for the ship and its crew. It wasn't hard to find it because it is beautiful but the crew wasn't there. We found the captain and his men in a bar close to the ship. I did not like that Talion got my letter and showed it to a stranger but i will not get mad at that.   We had a fun night in Alomir. Bart got very very drunk but he was still playing nice songs. Eve spent a lot of time with Talion. The rest of us just drank and danced around with the crew's captain, Xebec. We had a lot of fun. I really like parties, but these guys make it even better. Heron danced better this time. I hit a few chairs but it happens. After the party, Nixie and me spent some time with Eve. She is a really sweet girl but she is a bit sad.   I do think something is weird. Talion was in Alomir but he didn't even say hi to Mazog. What really happened between them? I mean Talion said everyone abandoned him. And then Damaschini also said the others abandoned him. So from what i understand none of them wanted to abandon each other but they did? And they said they are not mad with each other, then why is Talion not saying hi to Mazog?   I think Xebec is a very interesting person. First, he trusted us when we said about Damaschini. And he didn't ask where we go until we were already far away, on the boat. When we told him where we want to go, he liked it. I think? I mean I did not expect that reaction. But he got a bit fascinated about what i am? He wanted to touch me. Not in a weird way. A bit weird but as he said "pirates don't have manners". I don't mind it,I am not really a lady. He also gave me meat and we talked for a while during our trip. He said that if the apocalypse is meant to come, then what can we do. I wonder if he has something to fight for or he just doesn't have anything else better to do. He also seems to like adventure a lot. I think we are going to get along well. Hopefully. My instincts told me he is a nice person.   On this trip, I tried to talk in front of more people. It was not that bad but not that good. Nixie and Talion didn't help at all but they tried their best. We convinced the crew to join us with a bit of help from our smart Eve. That day was a bad day. The next one,too. The crew is very fun. They are not stronger than me but they are fun. We talked a lot and we were getting along very well.   In that night, Talion's demon visited him. Talion acted pretty weird the whole day but now he was almost scary. He stood there and just said words like "come back" and "don't go by the water" and things like that. He scared me a little because there was also a shadow there. We only heard the demon saying "Talion". He sounded amused. I do not like demons. Anyways Talion did some bum bum with him. But he hit the Silfida Neagra, which came to visit us. He sent her all the bad things he had inside. Not a nice way to say "hi" to people. Apparently, before this happened, Talion made some king of bond with Silfida Neagra and she was there with him to fight the demon.   We quickly tried to help her. She was not breathing or moving or anything. But she was not dead yet. Dear diary, don't ask me how because I don't know. I was confused as well. But together with the others, we made some kind of help for the Silfida so she sees she doesn't fight alone. Thanks to Xebec we got to the Monument of Life very fast. He is a very good pirate. We carried the Silfida near the Monument and Eve asked for help. The Black Silfida was very light but when we started to climb near the Monument, she bacame very heavy like a rock. Something was not right so we tried to do something.   They explained me about the Almightiism. So what I understood is that in order to help them and the Silfida, I need to wish to let myself go and let the Almighty's power inside me, trusting that it will not destroy me or something. Bart and Eve are training me to understand even more.   I was still confused but it worked. The Black Silfida was alive? I Think again? She was alive but she can't talk, or move suddlenly because she will break for real. I mean really break. But at least she has a hand to write if she needs something. She is very weak so I will try to protect her and make her our friend as well.   Because we were so weak and Talion did bum bum in Silfida not in the demon we all decided to train and learn how to fight demons. I hope we will be fine.   The day after this was worse. We finally left again on sea and went for a day or so. When in front of us and on the shore, an army of dead skeletons appeared. I know why people don't like them now. Their necromancer boss was "Seraf" and she was mean. Talion did a bum bum again and this time it was right. Me and Herron were holding the big stick that catches the wind. And Nixie did a lot of wind that helped us, using the advice of Bart. We left them behind so we were safe. But with no wind, we could not move from the middle of the sea.   I volunteered to stay awake so the others can sleep. So that in case the monster ate us, they would die dreaming with no pain. I was scared a bit but Xebec stayed with me and gave me meat. That calmed me a lot. And we had a nice talk. The next day, we went back to The Monument of life's port. The boat was pretty damaged so Xebec, Eve and Silfida Neagra had to sell important things for them to get the money. If I ever have some money, I will try to buy them back if I find them. They did a lot for us. I should thank them with some meat.   I really want to stop the apocalypse faster. The people I met are nice. I do not want them to die.   May the Almighty be with us ( That's what Nixie says so I will use it).

Dear diary, We get a lot of surprises these days. First, Talion told us a loooooottt about what is happening in the world. All after we found out that the king Haldric of Worania left on a dragon with Xantinya. I was a bit confused in the beginning and I still am a bit. But i don't think i have time to not be smart now. I believe what Talion says. It sounds too bad to not be true. I want to go home, but if there is no home to return to, I will be sad. So I will stay here and help as much as I can because I am the only elemental outside here. And I think we might have hidden allies in this world.   While we were in Ionolia, there was a festival that we went to. It was very fun. There were a lot of people, food, games and other funs stuff. The only problem was that they costed money and we had none. Luckily for me and Herron, the marathon was free. I don't like to talk a lot about myself but I am proud I almost won. Herron is very fun and kind. He stopped in the middle of the run to help me and then he fell. But he caught up and then he won a strength contest as well. He is cool. I hope the others had fun too. Nixie was a bit sad. She lost all of her money and a beauty contest. I told her not to bet but she never listens to me. Also i think beauty contests are stupid. Nixie is very beautiful. And Bart is very good at singing songs. I liked the concert that took place but i still think Bart should have won. Also we met a guard who helped me and Herron train. To no surprise, he was a bit confused about what I am, but i can't blame him.   In that night, we had a very nice dinner. I told Eve that organising a dinner with her dad and Talion would be interesting and she listened to me. She is a smart girl and didn't want Talion to get beaten. The dinner was delicious. There was so much meat that I couldn't eat anymore. Did I ever tell you I love meat? Especially cooked fancy meat. I don't think I ever ate that well. I like Eve and her family. They fed me well. Her father was very nice and polite. And he had a very nice garden! I think Talion did say something mean to him because when we came back from the walk, Eve's father was a bit red. Also I don't understand Talion. He says he likes Eve but ignores her completely. You don't treat a girl like that. You ask her to get engaged after you told her to shut up, you ignore her when it is obvious she is flirting with another guy to make you jealous and she even waits for you for a whole year. I wanted to help him but he said it is not my business. At least he took my advice. And what is Bart doing? Flirting with your friend girlfriend is not nice...even when they are in a break.   The next day we left to the forbidden city where we talked with the high magic men council. There were a few very old powerful people who were staring at me. I was very intimidated but I had to talk with them because Nixie said we could convince them. I think it went pretty well but the council said that if the Atotputernicul command us to die, we will. I do not think that Atotputernicism works like that. At least not from what Nixie told me. Also don't tell anyone but,diary, among the council, there is a person who has a relative that came from the Continent. And he helped us. I wonder if they were more that came from the Continent into the New world.   Also, we saw something special on the way back. Out of nowhere, a very special child showed in our way. I named it "the child" because i did not know if the child was a girl or a boy. But I felt a lot of hope from the child's touch. The child showed us that there is a chance for this world. Also, the child said to go on a sapphire path until where it all began. The child has also a grand grandchild who will visit us soon. I can't wait to meet her. Meanwhile, i am still curious about what the child was and what the Black Silfida is. I just feel that I learned a lot for now, but I want to understand more about faith. I would ask the others but I don't think they know either.   After that surprise, we continued the way where another surprise waited for Talion. He wanted to ask Eve to be his wife. I couldn't stay away so I followed him and hid in a bush. I was waiting there for the special moment but Talion was a bit slow and Eve's father was getting angry. He was indirectly suggesting Talion to take Eve with him but I don't think Talion understood. So at some point I said "take her with us" and came out of the bush. I told them to have a great night then ran. But I realized Talion might need help again so I returned in the bush. When he finally asked, Eve said he has to win her but I know that somewhere in her mind, she was happy. She just needs someone to be serious about her. I think?? I don't know. Families are complicated. Anyways, Talion is a nice person so I will try to help him, for Eve's sake.   Dear diary, I already wrote a lot so I will stop here. I need to go and eat more meat while I can. I get a feeling that I will not have such a nice dinner for a while. We are going in a very dangerous trip with a lot of monsters and weird dead skeletons.        

Dear diary, It seems that men in Worania like to give free things to us. It is a good way to survive without money. We were at a bar and three guys offered us some beer and food. Nixie was suspicious as always, but I like meat so I tried to be very friendly and talked with them, even danced for a bit.   The first guy is named Talion or something. He was tall and had black hair but his clothes were a bit not nice. I like Tallion. He is so naive that is funny. We met some noble-thief that tried to sell him for money. And Talion tried to convince them that because he is some kind of magic man for Ionolia, the thief should let him alone. But he has strong powers, he killed 20 people faster than I would have. I like to stay with him because he has funny stories about dragons, and magic and Xantinya. I want to think they're true but Nixie says we shouldn't. But I really think they're true. If elementals and elves exist, why wouldn't the rest?   I was happy that the noble-thief worked with us. I didn't want to kill him. But there was something else that made me happier. During the thief attack, Bart and Herron could have run. They were not in danger. But they stayed and helped us. I want to help them too now. And I really want us to become friends. Good friends. Dear diary, i think you want to ask who are they. Let me answer: Remember when I told you about the bar...?   We met two more guys there: Herron and Bartolomeu. They are very good friends, like me and Nixie, but just different. I like Herron because he is very big and strong. He is like a mountain. You don't see him until you look up. I wanted to see him in battle but I did not get a chance. We went to fight some other nobles because the noble-thief promised us that if we help we get a boat. We wanted one so we go back home. Fights make me tired but I got a new sword. I guess it was fun in a way. Herron and Bart fell from a horse so we did not see them. The seemed a little hurt after but they are alright.   And then it is Bart. He is a very good musician and knows how to make money. I like him too. He makes a lot of jokes and his compliments are kinda cute. He seems smart but not very strong. I think that is why him and Herron make a great team. I was also very amused that he is scared of Nixie. She is not a bad person, but sometimes she is just....a bit mean. But just a bit. I can't wait to see what songs Bart is going to create next.   I like all of them and I can't wait to show them my home but I need to wait. After we did the bum bum on the nobles, Talion started crying that he misses home. I miss home too, but his home is closer. And Nixie said we need to wait for now. She seems like she wanted to go to Ionolia. But they promised that we will leave after a week. Ionolia is a a beautiful country. They have a temple where we prayed and many nice libraries.We walked around for a bit. I want to see as much as I can before I go home.   Talion has a really nice place in Ionolia and a really nice girlfriend. Her name is Eve. She is smart and strong. When we came home she punched Talion out of love. I thought it was very nice of her. Eve told us she was very upset at Talion for leaving her behind and not writing any letters for a year. I also don't write home, but I don't have a family. If i ever make a family, I will choose someone who is nicer with me than Talion. Even Eve seems to like Bart more.   I still like all of these guys. Each one of them has their own powers and I'm curious how our adventures will go. And, dear diary, let me tell you a secret. They are the first people that were not scared by how I look. Usually, people ask weird questions and get away but these guys even danced with me. I really want to thank them because they made me and Nixie feel safe, once in a very long time.          

Hmmm...i don't even know where to start. Right, maybe I should make an introduction. Not that anyone will read this but i like talking about myself. Don't tell that to other people, I don't want them to ask questions   My story is simple. I was born in the Continent of Elements, far away from where I am now. Don't really remember much from my childhood, it was pretty normal. I was raised by my grandpa who died some time ago now. He wasn't nice at all but he taught me how to beat a person with a sword and I think he loved me? One thing I learned from him: You don't have reason, you don't have fight. As for my parents, I never really cared for them. My dad died in some kind of fight and then mom left and was never seen again.   I had one thing in my life that I loved: my two childhood friends. I was happy to meet them everyday. Very fun. Until the war started. I saw one laying on the ground during a fight , and later I found out the other died as well not long after. The bastards left me alone. I was upset and everything was boring. Wake up, do jobs for Flegen, and go sleep. And again, Wake up, do jobs for Flegen, and go sleep. I had a normal life but it was just all the same. It was Xantinya's fault. I don't know how to explain but because of that dammed horse my life changed. I liked my home, but i hated how it changed.   One morning, I was guarding the prisoners, when they brought in an elf girl. Weird indeed! Her name was Nixie. We became friends because she was funny. She told me stories and made fun of the ugly guards. I was very happy to bring her food everyday. I did not want her to die so I made her a slave on a boat to Radovia. And when we got there we ran. I can't explain why I did that, but I felt that it was right. After all, what did I have to lose? My life? I could beat them all with one hand. I would get hungry but i would do that for Nixie.   Nixie is the only friend that I have so I will try to protect her. I don't want to lose her too. She is nice and funny. And don't tell her that, but sometimes smarter than me.   Anyways, Nixie did not deserve to be there so I decided to help her. After all, what did I have to lose? My life? I can cut their heads before they count to three. I sometimes miss commarades. They were the ones that helped me and Nixie escape. They convinced the higher guys to make Nixie a slave on a boat that went to recruit more people from Radovia. And so we left the Continentul Elementelor, for the first time in my life.   Our destination? Very weird one indeed. Nixie told me once that she wants to meet the other elves from over the seas. We had no other purpose, so why not visit them? It was an amusing trip. The old elf with wings was very interesting. They call her a "Silfida". She told me that Elementals are in the middle of something but she doesn't know what.   The trip was a great one but I started to miss my home a bit. So after some time, we went on the way back to the Continent of Elements. But when we got to Radovia, people started to follow us. The idiots did not have any boat going back home, so we hid in the mountains. Nixxie and me dislike people so we stayed there for some time. During the day, we trained and at night Nixie would tell me stories. I learned a lot from her about many things. I loved living with her. I never got bored when she was around.   She does complain a lot about her twin brother but I would like to have two Nixies with me. I want to have a nice family like hers,especially if we can fight every day. But I think that a person who loves you is important. For now, it is just Nixie, but maybe later, there will be more. I may even have kids. I promise not to leave them alone.   But it is finally time. We are ready to go and leave this place. I love hunting because the meat is fresh and great to eat, even raw, but I want to return home soon. Those fire idiots may be idiots but it is still my home. And they deserve to see the outside world.   Dear diary, that is all for today. I will write more soon. Goodnight!            

Dear Diary, I saw everybody is talking about their family so I want to write about mine,too. I do not like to talk about it because it makes me a little sad. And I don't need or want to be sad. My life was good so far. I cannot complain. I had a home, and food to eat and most importantly I was loved for a short time. I do not remember much since before I was 5. I just remember a bit about my father. He wanted a lot for us and for our country. He didn't really love my mom, but he was trying to be nice with her when me and the other brothers were there. He was very nice with me. We would play with wooden swords from time to time and he would tell me how important it is to be brave. He wasn't home most of the time because he would go and fight. When he got back, he would always bring back the best snakes for us to eat. I guess that's i why I like meat that much, it is the closest thing to a snake, his favorite food. My father was not the youngest, and in time, he would get more hurt with every fight but he would not give up. One day, he went away and we waited for him, but he never came back. I then heard some people telling my mom he is dead. I was very upset then, but I didn't want to cry because I know that if he was there, he would have scolded me and said that i must move on.   At that time, it was just me and my mother. All my brothers died before my dad because life in Flegen is not easy. My mom was very different from what Nixie told me about her mom. My mom always said that we would die anyways so there was no point for her to take care of us and that she never wanted children but she had no choice. She used to fight too, but she wasn't as strong as my father. She taught me a lot as well. I learned how to clean the house, cook and much more. She also taught me how to take care of her and my father after a battle. I remember that, a few days after my father died, my mom told me she is going to leave and that I should not follow her because she doesn't like me. I remember that I tried to stay with her, but she attacked me and told me that she will kill me. So I stayed behind. I don't hate her for that. Only I wish she would have loved someone in this life.   After, my life was not the best, I was trying to hunt snakes , but I was too small for that. I was also feeling very sad. Dear diary, i am not gonna lie, I did cry a bit and I was feeling very alone. For a day I didn't leave the house because I didn't want to do anything but I got a bit hungry so I had to go get some insects. The children of the neighbours would bring me some food from time to time. That's how we started to be friends. If it wasn't for them, I would have probably died of hunger a long time ago. In time, I learned to survive by helping the guards with certain jobs. If i didn't want to die as my brothers, I had to not give up.   One year later, I was cooking some food for myself when an old man came to my house. He said he was my father's dad and he also told me that my mom was dead because she was accused of some kind of crime. He came here because he heard we have a nicer house that him so he wanted to move in. He didn't expect me to still be alive. To my surprise, he was very similar with my dad, only a bit meaner. He was the one who showed dad how to fight and I convinced him to train me as well. His trainings were very strict and painful. I remember once, we were fighting, and he stroke me with his sword in the stomach. The wound healed but It hurt so bad that I didn't feel well for a month. But he was also the one, taking care of me. We did not necesarily love or hated each other. We were some kind of family staying together by need. I wanted him to train me, and he would use me for certain errands. My time with him was peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it can be in Flegen. I also had time to meet and train with the neighbour's children, my two best friends: Flavia and Forsun. They got a lot of life in them and we would do a lot of fun stuff. I felt like I was not alone anymore and that I had someone beside me. During the years however, grandpa got sick. He died when i was around 18 years old.   I was now, the only one left from my family. All alone with no family beside. I saw the family of Flavia and Forsun, and I knew I wanted to have a similar one when I grow old. My friends, invited me in their family after my grandpa died. But I know better. No family in Flegen can afford to feed a stranger and I didn't want to be a bother. Not that anywhere else was better. The war brought a lot of poverty in the whole Continent. I am grateful for my family. Each one of them, taught me something in their own way. Dear diary, I am feeling a bit sad about it, but i'm trying to move on and see the best in this life. After all, what can be that bad in a world where meat exists?. Yes, all my family died, and I miss them, but they all gave their best to live the way they wanted. And thanks to them, I lived a life that made me meet Nixie and the others.   Because I wanted to become a great fighter like my father, i started going to fights more. Flavia and Forsun joined me as well. They had no choice. They would always make me laugh after a battle but they weren't the best at fighting. One time, Flavia almost lost an arm, but she got lucky. I could feel that ,in the last years before we left the continent, there were more and more battles. And they were not easy ones. It was because of the war that Flegen, Radovia and Xantinya started. My whole life, I saw a lot of death around but never as bad. And now, dear diary, let me tell you about the time when I lost everything. The day started as any other with a fight. It was around the time when Flegen started to slowly loose, and Ghebaro's army reached Focoso. I don't remember well what happened because when you are in the middle of a fight, you have to fight. But i remember turning around and seeing an arrow going straight to Flavia's head. Forsun was not a lot behind her. He ran to his sister and tried to help. But it was too late. I understood his pain, but there was no time to stay and cry. I grabbed him and we went further. But we got surrounded by soldiers. I tried my best to fight all of them, but one soldier hit Forsun near the chest. Forsun was not moving nor fighting. He was just sitting there. Before he was struck, he looked at me, probably for the last time, with a plain empty look. And I understood that All his will to live and fight was gone. But I couldn't let him die. I had to help him. After all he did for me as a kid, for every smile and every good memory he ever gave me. The battle was almost done, and we were almost defeated. We already saw Forunis leave, so I was sure it will be certain death for us now. But Ghebaro spared all of us. That is when I started to realize, that we were fighting for someone who couldn't care less about us. Who only cared about the power. Forunis and Xantinya left on a dragon. Leaving the city and all inside it to die.   Dear diary, that day, it was the worst day of my life. I didn't care about anything. I was just tired, tired of death, tired of losing people and most of all, tired of fighting. I couldn't protect the only two people who stayed with me my whole life, Longer than any family i had. After that, I went back home, where I became a guard for the prison. That's how i met Nixie. That's how it all started. Now, I am feeling better. I have moved on, but I am keeping the feeling of that day with me. It is a great reminder of how sad a person can feel. And it motivates me everyday to be thankful and fight for what I have and love. Because, even though life is sad, it is always beautiful.