7.2 Berma Castle

It had come time to sneak into the castle, and the group was ready. Remiel didn't even need to conjure up a mist, as there was already one in these early hours of the morning. A large stone wall surrounded the castle grounds, and as it was deserted there were plenty of places where Annique thought would be safe to go over. The wall was smooth and tall, which would make it impossible for any normal person to get over it. Fortunately none of the three present were exactly normal.

Remiel went first. He pulled some of the mist and concentrated it under his feet. He built up pressure and let it burst underneath of him, clearing the wall easily. He landed in grass on the other side, and his legs nearly gave out when he landed. He prepared to catch Annique. The lady knight came over just as easily as he had, but quickly formed a heart shaped water cushion. Remiel made note of the use of magicks and watched for Jade. He heard her running toward the wall from the other side, then saw her hands catch the top of the wall. She hadn't been successful in creating magicks, but she was able to be an effective warrior without them. Annique formed another heart cushion underneath her and she nodded at Remiel. The mission had begun.

Annique suddenly perked up and looked behind them. "What is it?" Remiel asked.

"Maybe nothing. I'll be paying attention."

Jade and Remiel nodded again and they continued under the cover of trees, going very slowly and carefully. Annique followed behind, eyes furtively searching the grounds behind them. From behind them, she noticed a small light. But no, not a light... a fire.

"Run!" She whispered loud enough to be clear. The three quickened their pace, but they could see another fire high in the castle. They had been spotted and they'd have to move quickly to complete their mission successfully. They came upon the castle, but the drawbridge was being raised. Remiel smiled and began calling upon his magicks. He grabbed the water and forced it around the bridge, holding it in place so that the three could cross. Annique helped him by freezing it in place.

They began to enter the front door, but Jade put up a hand to tell them to wait. "Castles like this should have a murder hole just inside the door, where they can shoot arrows or throw boiling liquids down on us."

Remiel nodded and Annique formed a heart shaped shield. Remiel froze it and they continued. As Jade had suspected, the guards dumped boiling liquid on them, but the frozen heart shield lasted just long enough for them to get underneath.

Now inside of the main hall, the group found themselves surrounded by guards. Though it was an abandoned castle, it seemed that there was indeed something of interest to be found within its walls. Jade pulled out her iron saber and lashed out at the nearest guard. He was on the ground in an instant. Remiel pulled his sword out also, and felled another two guards. Annique, who held no weapon, proceeded to pummel her opponents with high pressured water bursts, all in the shapes of hearts. Before they knew what had happened, most of the guard had been destroyed, and the three intruders didn't have a scratch.

"Impressive work, young knights!" Came a voice from above them. "I think you'll find, however, that you're in entirely over your heads."

Annique pointed to a flight of stairs and the two knights-in-training nodded. They began ascending, no longer attempting to be silent but doing their best not to give this unknown opponent any more intuition into their strength or position.

Reaching the upstairs, they saw an odd sight. There were two men dressed in green armor, one wielding a partisan and the other holding a mace. Behind them stood a man holding what was, without a doubt, the stone of power that the group sought. The man was wearing green silk pants and wristbands, and had wings on his back. This slightly shocked the group, but they had a mission to do, and were going to accomplish it winged man or no.

"My companions will keep you company while I escort this stone off the premises, my dear little knights." The winged man said. With that he turned to walk toward an open window.

"Remiel, don't let him leave this place." Said Annique calmly. "We've got these two here."

Remiel nodded and shot himself over the two green warriors. The winged man turned around to see Remiel coming toward him and held up the stone, a great emerald that shone brilliantly under the moonlight. From the window a powerful wind came in and knocked Remiel to his knees.

Remiel used his blade to keep the wind out of his eyes, and as he did, the winged warrior rushed him. A huge blade swung at Remiel and caught him in the shoulder. Remiel howled in pain, but stood his ground. He tried to attack in turn, but the winged man's stone glowed again and another gust burst through the window.

Remiel used his water magicks to ward of some of the power of the wind, but found that most of the water was simply pushed away. He did create for himself a small pocket where he could trudge through. He drew his sword and ran as hard as he could toward the man with the wings. The emerald stopped glowing and Remiel found himself suddenly pushing too hard against a force that had ceased to exist. He tripped and fell at the winged warrior's feet.

"Haha, listen well boy," the warrior said. "My name is Coreban Dencht of the Windfolk. This stone resonates with me and I will become master of the sky. Your little raindrops won't be able to stand up to my superior power. You are but the first to fall at my feet."

Remiel grimaced that he had tripped, and pained by the gash in his arm, looked back at the two girls, who were busy fighting their own battles. He saw Jade dodging the partisan and attempting to parry, but being at a range disadvantage. Annique was also out of luck, as her opponent consistantly broke her water shields and she had no weapon with which to attack him. Remiel wanted to go back and help them.

"Your friends are going to die, you know." Coreban laughed. Suddenly Remiel's mind flashed to thoughts of all his friends and his new resolution. Not only would he be strong, but he'd believe in the strength of others. He put the other battles off his mind and focused on this current threat.

Remiel turned to Coreban and smirked. He loosened his muscles and regripped his sword. Coreban shot a burst of wind at the young knight-in-training, which Remiel pushed aside with his hand. Coreban's eyes widened, and he whistled. The two armored knights dropped their current battles and rushed between Remiel and Coreban. The winged warrior rushed back toward the window and flew into the night sky.

The two warriors Coreban had left behind turned around to see the young ladies they had left behind were standing there, and with Remiel behind them having caused their leader to escape, they surrendered.

"Where did he go off to?" Demanded Remiel.

"I don't know!" Shouted the one guard, and Remiel used magicks to surround the man's face with water. Looking at the other guard, Remiel looked hard at the other soldier. "Hope your memory's a little better." The second guard watched his comerade drowning and decided to talk. It turned out that their second base of operations was in a small town called Kinneras. It was across from the barber, the one with the red door.

"Thank you for your help, kind sirs." Remiel smiled, releasing the first guard from the drowning ball that was on his head.

Remiel looked over at the two girls, who had looks of both pity and fear. Remiel recognized the look, but assured them that he would never have killed the other man. "I have a sort of vision that can see everything that water is doing. I definitely would have stopped before killing him."

The girls nodded and the group tied the two guards up. They had a new destination and they didn't have much time to get to it.

7.1 Landing In Illea

The voyage to Illea had not been a pleasant one. In an attempt to enter the island nation as secretly as possible, the group traveled by boat in with the cargo. It was rather cramped and the three were forced to breathe through their clothing in an attempt to avoid the smell. There was something very rotten, though Remiel couldn't guess at what it was. Three days they stayed on the ship, quietly waiting for the signal of sighting the shore so that they could jump off the boat into the sea.

Finally someone shouted 'land ho' and the time came for the stowaways to jump ship. Remiel and Annique both used a small amount of magick so that their jump wouldn't make an audible splash. They stayed underwater for a few minutes, each with a water magick bubble shaped around their heads to allow them some air. After they were sure that the boat would be far enough away, they began to swim towards the shore.

Remiel signed to his teammates to stay behind him for the illegal entry to the island nation. He had a plan.

***

No stowaways were found aboard the ship, as the harbor guard finished their check of the last boat scheduled to dock that night. The salty night air chilled them and they were ready to go back into the dockhouse for the rest of their shift. As they walked back up the dock, however, the water in the air thickened around them, making their hair stick to their faces and making it impossible to see much in front of them. They heard a shout from the boat, which said "got here just in time, eh?" The guards laughed and made their way slowly back to the dockhouse.

***

Through the mist, Remiel could see everything. Though it put a large amount of strain on his body to make a mist large enough to be believeable as well as to see everything the mist touched with his water vision. The two girls were holding onto the back of his cloak as they walked down the main street. "We're looking for a temple on a hill that has a statue of a fish above it." Annique said. "I have a contact there who can put us up for the night, but we'll have to leave in the morning."

"I can see it. Follow me." Remiel responded. Through his water vision, he could see that the main road was split down the middle by a river which flowed through the center of the town to the sea. On the other side of the river was the temple, and the three crossed over on the next bridge that they came to.

Remiel lessened the density of the fog so that Annique could see where they were going, and she finally pointed out the building where they would be staying. She knocked on the door, and immediately the door swung quietly open. A voice softly said "come in quickly and without a sound."

There were no lights turned on in the house, and the group was sent straight up to the attic. No formal meeting happened, the only reaction between those in the house was that Annique handed the owner of the voice several bills and receiving a thick rolled paper in return.

In the early morning, before the sun had fully come out, Remiel began using his magick to create a mist, starting from the sea and rolling over the city. It was a much lighter mist than the one he had created the night before, but enough that the team would be able to avoid being seen.

Remiel slowly lessened the thickness of the mist until it was nearly gone. They found a park, and entered under a large archway. They came to a pond in the middle of the park and sat on a bench, where Annique finally found the right time to speak.

"Our mission is to take place in Berma Castle, nearly twenty miles from the city. It was once the capital of Illea, but has mostly fallen to ruins. Our spies have tracked the thief's movements to the castle grounds."

Hoisting their bags, the group began the trek to the castle. As they headed out of the city, they noticed that most of the doors were brightly colored. When Jade asked why this was, Annique conjectured that it likely had something to do with the fact that the sky was perpetually gray in Illea. "In fact," she said, "Illea is often called the land of Green and Gray. The grass here is much more brightly colored and beautiful here than almost anywhere in the world, but the sky is always incredibly bleak."

The group made notice that it was simpler to travel with just the three of them, but Remiel guessed that when it came time to fight, they'd be wishing that Klaus was with them. They found a small town and stopped at a pub get something to eat. While they waited, Annique and Jade began talking about love, and Remiel's mind suddenly went back to Winter.

How was Sakura doing? Had she succeeded in her efforts to use her Wind magicks to heal? Would she be able to prove that the elements weren't simply a fighting tool and that they could be used to better the world? What would Rytel be doing by now? Was he still mourning Reise, or was he back in the midst of things, fighting new battles? The fortune-teller, what was she doing now that she had driven Xavier out of Winter? What was little Monique doing? And what became of Rytel's brother, or of Daisuke the Wanderer? Remiel had been so busy with his training that he hadn't entertained thoughts like these in a long time.

Remiel suddenly thought of something that he had promised Rytel before leaving.
"I will have faith in you all. I'm going to take this time to better myself and I know that by the time I come back, we'll be ready to take on any new challenges."

Remiel smiled as the waiter brought them their meals, and it seemed that the smells had grown stronger, he could breathe easier, and he felt ready to take on the mission more than ever.