VI Original Story Version

by Christina Rose

Prelude - The Final Battle

I woke up. While this in itself isn't that great of a thing, for me, it signified my last time of restful peace until the big event. I sat up, looked around. One of my two companions, a tall woman wearing a flowing white dress, with long, silky blonde hair and beautiful purple eyes, was sitting next to the campfire, warming her hands. She smiled kindly to me as she noticed me waking up.

"Did you sleep well?" I nodded once in response. I heard a rustling behind me. Startled, I turned around, only to see my other companion approaching our encampment. He was big. Quite big. Save for the bushy mohawk-style hair growing from the middle of his head, he was bald, and wore only a basic tunic, with a scarf slung around the shoulders, and tied at the waist. He stood in stark contrast to the female companion's slender, graceful form.

"I've scouted our surroundings." The man explained, "There's no sign of enemy activity. It looks like our route is clear. Ready to go?"

"Right, let's go." The woman stood, brushing her hands off, smiling to both of us, "This will be the decisive encounter.. I hope we're prepared." The man grinned encouragingly, and led her up to the cliff next to where we were camped. I took a moment to put out the campfire, and then followed.

The cliff face was sheer and incredibly steep. If any of us fell, there would be no help for it, but, it was too late to turn back now. I watched, in anticipation, as the woman pulled out a golden flute and began to play a beautiful melody. After a few moments of this playing, I heard a great shriek echo across the sky, and saw the form of a majestic golden dragon swoop down in front of us, powerful wind blowing in every direction. The woman ran towards the dragon, and motioned for us to hurry, as she leapt onto the dragon's back. Seeing the dragon make no resistance, I leapt on, directly in front of the woman, and the man leapt on, taking a seat behind her.

"Alright!" I shouted in the wind, as thunder cracked around us, "Let's go! To Mudo's castle!"

The dragon let out a great roar, and took flight once again, its great form flying towards the silhouette of a large castle looming in the distance. Lightning crashed around the castle, illuminating it in brief flashes as loud thunder crashed, but the dragon kept flying, unimpeded in the least. Finally, as we neared the ominous castle, the dragon swooped low to let us off. We understood that the dragon wanted no part of the upcoming battle, and waved farewell as it flew away. Then, I noticed that the entrance to the castle was wide open.

"We seem to be welcome guests," The woman noted perceptively, seeing the same thing.

"Well, there's no turning back!" The man marched up to the entrance, with me and the woman following closely behind. The inside of the castle was impressively ornate, with elaborately carved pillars, and red carpet, trimmed with gold. I tried opening the first door I saw, but the knob wouldn't turn. Then I saw the keyhole below it, and silently cursed."They're all locked!" The woman exclaimed, trying to open a different door, "Is the lobby as far as we get?"

"This one's open!" The man gestured to the wide hallway that both of us had somehow managed to miss. We both followed, somewhat embarassed. Some legendary heroes we were! As we proceeded, the rest of the layout was very straightforward. We entered several large rooms, but all of them had only one other exit out, so there was really no danger of us getting lost. As we exited one room, we found ourselves walking across a small bridge, to a smaller parapet. As we approached the door, the woman slowed, and the man looked around anxiously.

"This is too easy, we haven't met any resistance yet! I don't like this at all."

As we pushed open the double doors to the next room, all we could see inside was thick, white mist.

"What's this.. I can't see!" The man protested loudly, as we blindly tried to make our way through the mist. Then, I heard a deep chuckling sound echoing all around me.

"Ergh!" The woman began floating up in the air, and I could tell by the look on her face that it wasn't her spellcasting that was doing it. As the man started to levitate as well, I felt a powerful force gripping my body, freezing my movement and slowly pulling my body into the air. I struggled as hard as I could, but the force was unshakeable. How could anything be this powerful?!

"Foolish humans! How stupid of you to think you could actually attack me! And here, of all places, in my stronghold!" I saw his form clearly now, and a hideous form it was. Large and obese, wearing a breastplate over the cloth draped over the rest of his body, he grinned with yellow fangs. This, then, was Demon Lord Mudo? I tried to protest, or to fight, but his power held me firmly in place. I could see the same conflict going on with my companions.

"I shall make you all regret the day you ever came here!" He raised a hand into the air, and our bodies all began to spin in the air, as he laughed evilly. I watched in silent horror as the man's body slowly turned to stone, and fell to the ground, lifeless, and then as the woman was engulfed in explosions of fire, until everything was burned away. Then he turned to look at me, still grinning. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth, hoping that my death would be a quick one. Then, there was a white light... sweeping me away.. leaving everything behind.. Part I - Botts

I woke up. While this in itself isn't that great of a thing, for me, it signified my last time of restful peace until the big event. I rolled over in bed and stretched lazily, then slowly stumbled out of bed. My sister Tanya glanced up from her book, smiling to me in a friendly way. She was a pretty girl, with shoulder-length blue hair, the same color as mine.

"Good morning! Did you hit your head?" I nodded once in response. "I heard the elder wanted to talk to you, you should go see him!"

"Sure.." I stood straight, adjusting my clothes just a little bit. I didn't want to make a bad impression on the elder!

The town of Lifecod. It's not a big town, or an important town. In fact, as far as I can tell, most people either don't know of the town's existence, or don't care. Situated on top of a steep mountain, the town is cut off from the outside world most of the time. Occasionally, some brave soul will journey outside of the town, either to visit relatives, or to go shopping at the Bazaar in Shiena, a major event, but generally, the people of the town stick to themselves, avoiding travel because of the monsters that seem so commonplace everywhere. Within the boundaries of the town, they're safe and sound.

By the way, my name is Botts. I love the sun, and my best friends in the world are my younger sister, Tanya, and my buddy, Rand. I don't remember a lot about my parents, but I've lived with Tanya for as long as I can remember. That's the reason I felt so proud when I heard that Tanya was going to be the Kami no Tsukai in this year's festival to honor the mountain spirits!

As I walked out of the front door, the birds that had been gathering around outside all suddenly flew away, startled. I looked up at the sky.. another beautiful, sunny day! Before heading to the elder's house, I greeted a few of the villagers milling around outside.

"Hey, Botts! Be careful, or Rand's gonna steal your sister away from you!"

The group of villagers all burst out in laughter. I rolled my eyes. "Did you hear that crazy rumor flying around that some guy called Demon Lord Mudo is trying to take over the world? What a laugh!"

"Don't you guys have better things to do than go around spreading silly rumors?"

"We were just taking a break! We've been up since dawn, helping with the preparations for the festival. Oh yeah, I heard the elder was looking for you! You better go see him, pronto!"

"That's right! Seeya!" I walked off, towards the elder's house. While it was one of the biggest houses in the town, that really wasn't saying much. I knocked on the door, and heard a female voice call out.

"Come in!"

Well, alright. I opened the door and walked in. I saw the elder sitting across his long dining table, looking stern, and his daughter Judy, looking cheerful and happy. "Welcome!"

"Botts, I have a favor I need to ask of you. Will you listen?" I nodded. "You know how well our local goods sell down at the bazaar, don't you?" I nodded again. "Well, we're a little bit short on money right now, and I was hoping you could carry some goods down to Shiena and get some money to hire the carpenter there to make our ceremonial Crown of Mountain Spirits."

"Sure! I've felt kind of bad about not helping much with the festival preparations.."

"You can use this bag to carry them." The elder indicated a bag resting on the table, "It's a special bag of holding, that can carry as many items as you put into it, without ever growing heavy or wearing out. Call it the town treasure, if you like, but it's yours. Now go to Shiena, it's south of here once you get off the mountain."

"Alright!" I waved to him and Judy as I left. This was great! A chance to explore the areas around the mountain.. I'd never been down there before!

"Tanya!" I peeked into the house, "I'm heading to the bazaar! I'll try and be back tonight!"

"Be careful, oniichan! There are dangerous monsters out there, and I don't want anything to happen to you!" Tanya gave me a brief hug.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!" I gave her an encouraging grin, then waved and closed the door behind me as I headed out. Leaving the general vicinity of the town, I headed straight for the only pass on the entire mountain, a short series of caves and paths leading to the outside world below us. As I walked by, I noticed Rand, snoring in a patch of grass. I went over and nudged him. "Oi, wake up!"

"..zsnfg.. but Tanya.." He blinked awake. "..eh? Hey Botts! Did you hear about Tanya becoming the Kami no Tsukai? I'm so happy! I can't wait to see her in that cute dress.." He grinned like an idiot. He was always like his, whenever he talked about Tanya!

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm heading south to get money for the crown she's supposed to wear. See you later!"

"Aniki! Pick me up a sword or something while you're down there!" He called out, and I waved as I slid down one of the less steep ledges, to the small outcropping of rock that served as a platform below.

I heard a rustling sound near me, and as I turned to try and see where it was coming from, I saw several odd creatures emerging from the brush nearby. Spotted Slimes. Most Slimes resemble a giant drop of fluid, moving around and biting people. These were special slimes, yellow, with black spots all over. We'd seen them before, and they didn't seem to be that harmful, but they could be dangerous in large groups. I held a wooden staff ready, glaring at them, and some of them backed away in fear, but the other three all charged at me.

"OW! Hey, watch it!" I shouted angrily as one of them bit my arm, and two of them bit my ankle, and started beating on one of them with my staff. The shieked and ran off, followed quickly by its buddies. I wrapped some cloth around the bites, and kept going. Damn Rand, why did he have to be such a heavy sleeper! I entered the cave that the platform jutted out from, and spied a treasure chest. ...why ANYONE would leave their stuff in a place like this, I couldn't begin to fathom, but I went over and opened the chest, and found a Dokukeshisou (antidote herb) inside. I put it in my pouch, figuring it might come in handy later, and kept going. Then, I tripped. While normally this isn't that bad of a thing, I happened to be right near what looked like a very steep pit. "Uwaaa!" As I slid down, I clawed madly at anything that I could possibly grip to break the fall, and managed to slow my descent so that I only got a bruised bum, instead of a broken one. I looked around desperately, afraid that I would be trapped in a pit and be forced to wait until some villager stumbled across the cave, to get help. Lucky! I spotted an exit a few yards away.

But, apparently, all the noise I made had attracted unwanted visitors, I noted, as I exited the cave and saw several Mandragoras gathering around the exit to cut me off. While most plants are harmless vegetation, Mandragoras are a special type of plant, whose roots are carnivorous creatures that ravenously attack anything that disturbs them. I gulped nervously. There were so many! I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and ran for it. Unfortunately, they easily kept pace with me, and I felt a vine wrapping around my feet, yanking me to the ground facefirst. I pulled myself up, madly fighting to hold them all off with my staff. I think I managed to beat one to death, but I couldn't make sure, in the middle of struggling to get away from the rest. As they started to eat at my legs, I screamed in pain, and, in sheer panic, bashed and bashed with the staff until, when I finally stopped long enough to look around, they were all dead and strewn across the ground around me. So this is what the world outside of Lifecod was like!

I tried to stand up, but the pain in my leg kept me from doing so. I sat back down, checking the wound. Ergh! It was bleeding, badly, and I felt the pain quickly spreading from the wound to the rest of my body. Damn it all, this couldn't be the end! I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that I could at least see the ceremony I was so looking forward to seeing my beloved sister in.. and without realizing it, instinctively spoke a single word, while holding my hands over the wound.

"Hoimi." Suddenly, feeling the pain go away, I opened my eyes and looked down. The wound was gone! It was like it had never existed! Had I really done that? I tried to stand up, testing my legs. While I still felt sore, it was better than the alternative, right? I made a note to remember that word.. Hoimi. It was almost like I'd known it all along...

Well, there was no time to sit and wonder. I saw the city, to the South as the elder had told me, far away on the horizon, and started walking. As I approached, it looked much bigger than what I'd initially expected. It was bustling with business from all around, and there were shops everywhere, with banners flying everywhere in the wind. Well, that was sort of expected, since there WAS a bazaar being held here.. As I wandered, trying to find any kind of clothing store to sell the homespun cloth that the townspeople wove, I saw one of the store owners waving at me, trying to get my attention.

"HEY! You there! We've got a special deal today!"

"...huh?" I blinked in confusion.

"For today only, you can get six of our special Medical Herbs for only 50 gold! If you act now, I'll even throw in this vial of Holy Water!" 50 gold?

I did some quick thinking in my head. Usually, in town, the going price for Medical Herbs was 8 gold apiece, so if it were just the herbs, this guy would be charging 2 gold more than what I'd normally pay.. but, with the free Holy Water, it was a great deal!

"I'll take it!" I paid the man with some of the gold I'd taken from the Mandragoras' bodies and put the herbs and water into the bag. Then, I spotted an old man, and, hoping that he would be a cloth seller, went over to his booth.

"Good afternoon, lad! Have a look at this!" The man unrolled a large sheet of parchment, with several huge land masses drawn on it. I noticed that there was a marker that hovered over the map, in one spot. "See this map? This is one of a kind! It's a map of the entire world, painstakingly detailed and hand-painted, but that's not all! It's also enchanted to serve as a sort of compass, marking wherever your current location is.. and you can have it!"

"...I can?"

".....for 3000 gold." I fell over. "Okay, okay! 2000 gold." The man corrected himself.

"That's too much! I don't have that kind of money, sorry, seeya." I turned to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait! You seem like a nice enough guy, how about I cut the price in half for you?"

"I barely have 200 gold, if that! I can't afford that much!"

"Okay, fine, I'll take that!" The man promptly sold me the magical map, for all of the money I had. I absently wondered, as I continued wandering, if it had all been a scam. I shrugged, and kept walking. Finally, I came across a booth with a large man selling coats and scarves.

"Excuse me.."

"Yeah?! Are you going to buy something?" The man answered, quite rudely.

"I'm Doga, the merchant. If you're looking for quality, you've come to the right place!"

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd be willing to buy this.." I showed him the homespun goods, "It makes very good material for shawls, scarves, and stuff like that, I think."

"You think, huh?" The man looked over the goods appraisingly. "I'd say they're worth about 280 gold."

"280 gold?" My heart sank. "But that's not enough to get the crown! The carpenter always charges at least 400, the elder said.."

"Well, you can either take it or leave it." The man shrugged. "This is business."

"Sorry, I can't sell them for that little." I walked off. Across the bazaar, I spotted what looked like another clothing vendor. "Excuse me.."

"Yes, how can I help you?" This guy was even bigger than the other one!

But, he was much more polite. "I'm Boga, an aspiring merchant. This is my first booth, but I've worked hard to get the best I possibly can to sell!"

"The man at the shop over there offered 280 gold for this." I showed the man the cloth. "Can you offer any more than that?"

"Well, I don't have very much money, but it looks like quality material that would sell well.. I can give you 320 gold for it."

"That's all?" I felt growing disappointment. Even if it was better than the other offer, I still wouldn't get enough to be able to afford the crown! As I walked away from the booth, Doga waved at me to come back. Curious, I went back to his booth. "So you met my little brother, huh?"

"Yeah, and he offered me more than you did, but I still need to.."

"WHAT?! That bastard! Trying to undercut my profits! How much did he offer you?!"

"Er, 320 gold, why?"

"I'll pay 350 for it, right now!" Now I was confused. "I won't let him get away with it!"

"But, that's still not enough.."

"Fine, well, at least he won't get it then!" But then I saw Boga waving me down. I went back over to his booth.

"I'm sorry about my big brother, he's like that a lot. He's a pretty big-time merchant, and all he ever thinks about are his profits. I heard his offer, but to tell the truth, I really do need fabric like this, in order to sell more.. I'll give you 380 for it, okay?"

"Well, I.." Before I could respond, Doga interrupted.

"I HEARD THAT! How dare you deal behind my back, little brother! I'm offering 420 gold, right here, right now, for that fabric!"

"I--"

"450! It's all I've made so far, but I need that fabric!"

"Er--"

"480 gold! My FINAL offer!" Doga smirked in victory, having outbid his brother, and Boga's head slumped in defeat. I gave Doga an angry glare.

"What kind of guy tries to run his own brother out of business? I'll takethe 450, thanks." Boga looked up eagerly.

"Thank you!" He pulled out a large satchel of money and gave it to me. I put it in the bag of holding, and gave him all of the fabric. Now, to visit the carpenter! I went to his house and knocked on the door. A woman answered it.

"Are you looking for my husband? I'm sorry, he's not in right now, he went to the forest to get some wood.. although I'm a little bit worried. It's been 3 days and he hasn't come back yet.."

"Really? It's important that I talk with him, I'll try and find him, okay?"

"Be careful out there, it's dangerous!"

I know, I know. Monsters are a lot more common than they used to be. I've heard it all before. I figured that I could earn enough money to make up the difference on the trip, so I sold my staff and purchased a real sword to make things easier. Rand would be so jealous! As I crossed the bridge and walked through the hills, to the thick forest behind them, I noticed something odd. There was a giant pitfall right in the middle of the woods. I wondered why it was there, but I decided to look for the carpenter first. I heard shouts of help from nearby, and, running to the source, I saw the carpenter, a tall man with a long, black beard, clinging to the edge of the pit, hanging on for dear life. I ran to help him.

"Help me up! Get me out of here!" I kneeled down and grabbed one of his arms. His grip slipped a little bit, and it was all I could do to hold his massive weight.

"Ergh--hold on! I'll pull you up!" I pulled with all of my might, slowly helping the man to a position where he could climb up. But just as he got free, the ground beneath me gave way! "WAAAAAAAA!" I screamed in panic as I fell down the side of the pit, and as I looked down, I saw not a dark pit with ground rushing up to meet me, but a huge world far below! The expanse that lay before me was mind-boggling in its size! Mountains, forests, entire oceans, how could such a place exist? I felt light as a feather, as I drifted down to the ground below. I wondered how I would ever get back, and if I did, how I would ever explain it to everyone.. I looked around. There was a great lake near where I stood, and a town next to the lake. I decided to head there, to see if I could find out some answers.

As I approached, I overheard two men saying something about a kidnapping. Kidnapping? I tried to stay absolutely quiet so that I could hear more without disturbing them. They didn't seem to hear me.

"That guy's loaded! I'm sure he could spare a few thousand gold for his own precious daughter.."

"Really! So, when are we gonna do it?" Okay, this was wrong! I had to tell someone, quickly! I made my way away from them, and saw a weapon shop nearby. I approached the shopowner.

"Excuse me, do you know where I could find the mayor?" The shopowner completely ignored me.

"Man, I sure wish I had that mirror of Lar.."

"Hello?" I waved to him, standing directly across the counter.

"A legendary artifact that could reveal anything's true form.. I could sell that for millions!" He was obviously daydreaming, and seemed completely oblivious to my presence. What bad business form! I walked off, annoyed.

Then, I saw the church. Surely a priest could help me! I walked in. The priest was hard at work, translating some giant book.

"Good afternoon, honored priest, could you possibly.." The priest looked up in surprise.

"Is someone there?"

"I need your help! There are some men planning to--"

"I could have sworn I heard something.. but there's nobody here! Why do I keep hearing that odd voice?" "That's such a rude thing to say!" I glared at the priest angrily. "I'm trying to help one of the villagers here, and this is the thanks I get?"

"God? Is that you, God? I'm listening! Please, share your wisdom with me!

Why am I here? What is the real meaning of life? God? Are you there?"

"That's enough joking around! I've had it!" I tried to grab the priest's hand, but strangely, my hand passed right through it! I walked out of the church, more confused than ever now. I spotted some kids talking near a well. Again, they seemed completely ignorant of my presence. I sighed dejectedly, not that anyone heard me, and sat on the edge of the well to listen to them.

"Hey, Charles, did you know about the house up north?"

"What about it, Jimmy?"

"I heard it had this huge evil monster in it!"

"Really? No way! I just heard that it was a place where people could see their dreams in a well. It's a weird rumor, but not.."

"But you haven't heard about all the people that have gone there and never returned? There's gotta be some kind of huge monster, with wings, and spikes, and fangs!"

"Whoa, awesome! I wanna see it!"

...a well where people could see their dreams? Maybe this was a clue! I decided to get some rest and follow up on it. I went to the inn, and the innkeeper didn't see me sleeping in a bed without paying. If I gave them money, it'd be worthless to them anyway, right? Right.

The next morning, I set out for the house. It was actually pretty close by, and I saw it after walking north along the shore of the lake for an hour or so. I knocked on the door. No answer. If there was a monster, it probably couldn't see me either, I figured. Opening the door, I walked in. If I had been expecting a monster like the one the kids described, I would have been sorely disappointed. It was an empty house, with a well inside, emitting a strange light. Well, here goes nothing! I grabbed the rope and started to slide down into the well. But as I slid, I noticed the light around me fading.

Curious, I climbed back out.. but the house was no longer there. In fact, this looked more like the area right near the forest the carpenter had been in..... Hey! That was the bridge to Shiena, right over there! I was back! I didn't know how I had gotten here, any more than I knew how there was a world in a pit, but I was back! Maybe it was all some kind of odd dream or hallucination, but I figured I had better go ahead and go back, to see if the carpenter was okay.

"Hey! It's you, kid!" The carpenter turned to me as I cautiously stepped into his house. "I thought you fell in that hole! I figured you for a goner!" ..so much for it all being a dream. "You saved my life, so I'd gone ahead and made the crown for the village, and you can have it for free!"

"Really? Uh, thanks.." I accepted the crown and put it in the bag with the rest of my stuff.

"So how'd you do it? How'd you survive?" "I uh.. went to a magical well.."

"Hahaha, you're a great kid! Don't ever lose that sense of humor. Be seein' you around!"

"Yeah, seeya, thanks!" I waved hesitantly and left the house. Well, at least I'd gotten the crown! If I hurried, I could make it just in time for the day of the festival!

As I ran up the mountain pass, through the caves, fending off Spotted Slimes and more Mandragoras with my newly purchased sword quite well, I thought more about the stange events that had happened to me over the past two days. But, the more I thought about it, the more it completely confused me, so I finally just gave up that train of thought.

"Botts!" The elder approached me as I stumbled into the village, panting, covered in bruises and small cuts from the bats I'd had to fend off in the caves. "You had us all worried, we were afraid something had happened! Did you get the crown?"

"Yeah, it's right here.." I handed it over to him. "I'm in time?"

"Just in time! We're in the final preparation stages for the festival, and Tanya's changing even as we speak! Why don't you go rest up until it begins?"

"That's a good idea, thanks." I took the elder's advice and went to me and

Tanya's house to rest, as the other villagers called out to me and waved. The gorgeous sunset beyond the mountain was wasted on me, as I lay in bed and closed my eyes.

When I woke up, it was dark outside, but I could hear lots of activity and talking. I realized then what had woken me up, Rand banging on my door.

"HEY! GET UP! It's time! Aniki~~!" Realizing I'd overslept, I quickly jumped out of bed and ran out the door, where Rand was waiting. "Took you long enough! Come on, they're all waiting on us!" I saw the group of villagers, about a dozen or so total, assembled in two straight lines, with a large gap in between them. As Rand and I took our places, one of the villagers made a shushing motion, pointing at the elder's house, where the door was opening. It was very dark, and the only light I saw was the light from the torchbearer walking out of the elder's house and standing to the side of the door. He was followed shortly by the elder, who stood at the other side, as Tanya stepped out.

The sight of her was like something out of a vision or dream. Her blue hair, usually kept up with barettes, had all come tumbling down, resting freely around her, and her white dress, illuminated by the torch light, seemed to make her glow in the darkness. Resting on her head was the wooden crown that I had gone through so much trouble to get, and it seemed to suit her perfectly. I took an involuntary step back as she strode through the assembled villagers, stunned at the change. As she walked, with the torchbearer in front and the elder behind, the rest of the villagers joined the procession, filing into the church. As we all took our seats, Tanya approached the altar and carefully handed the crown to the priest.

"We are gathered here to offer our thanks to the gods of this mountain, which has protected us for untold generations from the dangers of the outside world. We beseech them to continue protecting us another year, and offer this crown as a sign of our trust in them." The priest raised the crown and placed it on the head of the goddess statue on the dais behind the altar. Tanya turned and walked towards the seats to join me and Rand, her job finished. But, as she stood before me, there was a sudden flash of light, and everything froze, except for me and Tanya. "Tanya! What's going on!" She made no response. It was as if she didn't even hear me. As she stared forward blankly, a spirit appeared above her, taking the form of a woman. Although the woman's mouth never moved, I heard a voice nonetheless speaking to me.

"Botts.. yours is a special destiny."

"Who are you? What did you do to Tanya?!" The woman ignored my questions, continuing.

"Soon, the world will be engulfed in a terrible darkness.. your power is greatly needed to fight it."

"My power?"

"You must prepare to embark on your journey, and be ready to learn and accept your true identity."

"...true identity?" The spirit began to fade. "Wait! What do you mean, true identity!" But it was gone. I noticed that the villagers were all staring at me and Tanya in awe.

"....what? What happened to me?" Tanya shook her head, "I suddenly felt warm and dizzy.."

"Did you see that?!" One villager said to another, "It's because she's the real thing! We've never had such a true Kami no Tsukai before! That light proved it, the gods favor us!"

"Now that all of that's over with," The priest interjected loudly, "You can all go on with the festivities."

"Alright! Yeah!" The villagers all filed out of the church to celebrate the festival.

"Tanya? Are you okay?" Rand was asking her, concerned. She nodded, not protesting when he took her hand. The priest looked even more concerned.

"That was like nothing I have ever seen before, in all of my experience as a priest.." I had officially decided that this had been the strangest three days of my life. I decided to consult the elder.

"Rand, take care of Tanya, okay? I've got something I have to take care of." I exited the church, and saw that the festivities were in full swing.

People were all gathered around a campfire, dancing, singing, laughing, and drinking, as fireworks flew into the air and exploded into brilliant fragments of light. After pausing a moment to enjoy the sight of everybody's revelry, I walked into the elder's house.

"So, Botts, enjoying the party?"

"Sir, I need your advice.." I explained the entire story of what had happened with me in the strange other world. The elder nodded patiently.

"That sounds like the legend of the Phantom World. I really don't know anything about it other than the name, but if you want to learn more, I suggest going to Reidock. Here, you can use my pass. It's pretty far south of here, but if you've done this much already, you should be able to handle the trip." The elder handed me a parchment scroll. As I thanked him and left the house, I heard some talking from behind it. When I walked towards the back, suddenly, arms grabbed me and yanked me back, and a hand was clamped over my mouth. I quit struggling for a moment, after I realized it was one of the villagers, and he had been making motions for me to be quiet, indicating the two people talking. It was Rand and Tanya! I could barely make out what they were saying...

".....in my heart, I know that you're the only girl I'll ever love! Tanya, will you be my wife?"

I could see the expression of surprise on Tanya's face in my mind, more than I could with my eyes.

"Rand.. You've done so much for me, and I care about you, I really do.. but I don't think I'm ready to marry."

"Is it because you're too young?"

"No, that's not it," I saw Tanya shake her head, "It's just that something inside of me, deep down, feels.. wrong. Out of place. And it makes me feel like everything around me is wrong somehow, and that nothing is the way it should be. I just.. need time to think, that's all." I watched her leave, trying my best not to make a sound to alert anyone, and I saw Rand, silently looking over the edge of the cliff, feeling rejected and hated. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but I knew that if I did, it would only make things worse. I silently slipped away, back to the festival, where the party was still in full swing, and everyone was dancing together. But, after seeing Rand and Tanya like that, I didn't really feel like having a good time.. so, I headed back home, to get some sleep.

As I lay in bed, wide awake, listening to the sounds of the festivities outside, I reflected back on the recent events that had occurred so quickly, and came to the realization that, with the words of the spirit and the elder, my journey had not come to an end. On the contrary, it was only now truly starting.

To Be Continued...