Chapter 1: A decade ago, prelude of a new battle

Valmar has been defeated and 1 year has passed, It is said that the king of Cyrum left his kingdom to search for his friends, the world is at peace not knowing the story that began ten years before this day.

Garlan village, it’s a beautiful day in wich swordsmen train and kids play running around, one of those kids running around houses and making a happy mischief was an eight year old Ryudo playing with his best friend Gatta. Ryudo wondered who came in the boat that arrived the day before in the middle of the storm, he didn’t really cared but he was curious, they probably took him to the chief´s house and he wanted to go see. Ryudo: “Lets go Gatta, I want to know who came in that boat in the middle of the storm and why.”

Gatta: “Ryudo you should know better, we must not go to spy to the chiefs house or we will be scowled.”

Ryudo and Gatta silently crawled to one edge of the village chiefs house, they both hid on the corner and quietly tried to crawl towards the window to spy on the situation just to find a serious armcrossed 13 year old Melfice standing in front of them.

Melfice: “Brother! You know you should not be fooling around in the chiefs house, you will cause trouble to both of us, if you want to be the greatest swordsman in Garlan as much as I do you have to quit that childish behavior.”

Ryudo: “I am sorry brother, Gatta and I were just…..Hey! what are YOU doing here? You´re not supossed to be sniffing around the chiefs house to see what happens, shouldn’t you be watching the IDOL?”

Melfice gazed at his young brother with tenderness and smiled.

Gatta: “Melfice….I heard you will start your training as a swordsman today…”

Melfice: “Yes Gatta, today my training will start, the chief told me that if I fight hard and be disciplined I may even become the next guardian of the idol.”

Ryudo: “But you haven’t told us what you´re doing here big brother…”

Melfice: “The village chief called me….”

A cracking sound was heard in the air and the 3 kids where startled, they all turned rapidly around to see the village chief coming out of his house followed by an eleven year old boy. The boy had short brown hair and seemed a little bit shy, his eyes carried the weariness of a voyage of days by sea completed by the hardships of the storm that touched land in garland the night before. He still had a few scratches made by the hardships of the storm. The two younger boys standed like statues waiting for the chief to scowl them for spying, but Melfice took a few steps forward.

Melfice: “Did you called me sir?”

Chief: “Yes Melfice……Oh hello Ryudo, Gatta”

The kids surprised that they were not reprimanded and a sudden smile rose across their faces, they could probably learn who the other boy was and what the chief wanted with Melfice. The village chief smiled to the younger kids and turned back to Melfice.

Chief: “Melfice….first of all I want to introduce you to Rik, he had a rough trip coming here, he is eleven.”

Melfice reckoned decision in the boys eyes and thought he could be a great warrior and that made him fond of the kid, he extended his hand and the boy who recently was introduced as Rik extended his hand too and shook Melfice´s.

Chief: “ Rik says he comes from Liligue city, he had quite a rough trip, he says he comes to….”

The short haired boy rushed forward interrupting the chief

Rik: “ Be the most powerfull warrior and swordsman in the world and protect the ones I love.”.

Melfice was impressed by the boys determination and smiled to him

Melfice: “I see we have the same dream, I´m sure we will fulfill it together.”

Chief: “That’s exactly the reason why I called you Melfice, Im glad you two are getting along, since you´re just beginning your training I want you to train together, you both seem fit to help the other one to blossom.”

Ryudo and Gatta were impressed, Melfice was the greatest promise the village had or so they had heard and the chief was asking him to train with a younger boy?!. Ryudo knew that boy was about three years older than he was, but he was still two years younger than Melfice, how could there be a comparison?!.

Melfice: “Rik…this is my younger brother Ryudo, he shares the same dream we share regardless his young age, and this is his best friend Gatta.”

Rik: “Hello Ryudo and Gatta, it is nice to meet you”.

Melfice: “Come, I will show you around”.

Melfice took Rik through out the whole village and introduced him to basically everyone he knew, even Reena, the girl he liked, and finally showed him Grail mountain. When they returned from the tour, they both took a sword and started practicing the basics together.

Some days later when they had just finished practice, Melfice and Rik where resting in the grass on a hill looking down towards the sea.

Melfice: “Can I ask you something my friend?”.

Rik: “Go ahead.”

Melfice: “How come you ended here? Where is your family?”.

Rik: “ I do not have one, I never met my parents. I just know I was picked up by a horrible man named Bourna that owned a bar in Agear town when I was a baby, he just picked me up so I could work for him as a slave, I was miserable. My only relief was the only person I cared about in the world, young woman named Kayla. She was the most beautiful girl in the world, she had this extremely long red hair and a beautiful smile, it would have appeared that her way of life made her harsh but she was very sweet from the bottom of her heart. She was bought as a slave when she was five, and a few days after, the man came in with me. We basically grew up together and standed hardships. She was 5 years older than me, she could have run out of that life years before, but she waited for me until I was old enough to at least run for my life. It was her who called me Rik.”

Melfice: “Why?”.

Rik: “ She was five when I came in, I guess that’s the only way she could think of to address me. Bourna didn’t even bothered to name me, he started calling me Rik too. Anyway, when I reached the age of ten and Kayla was 15 she told me that we should run away.When Bourna was death drunk after closing his bar we escaped through a window. She told me we should run for liligue city and that we would be safe there.”

Riks voice seemed to break even more as he advanced the story and Melfice couldn’t help to feel bad for the boy.

Rik: “We ran as fast as we could through the baked plains, but they were infested with monsters, at one point we couldn’t run anymore and we where face to face with a monster. I tried to fight but I was not strong enough to protect us….I fell unconscious. In fact it was Kayla who protected me, somehow she managed to kill the monster. When I woke up, she was severly injured, I tried to carry her to liligue city for some medicine, but she died on me just before…”. Rik started to cry. “ I loved her, she was the only person I cared about, she was like my sister.” Rik seemed to pull himself together, Melfice couldn’t help to pity him but he felt a great sympathy for the boy.

Rik: “Anyway, I reached Liligue city but I had nothing to do there without her. I decided I needed to be strong because I didn’t wanted to loose someone I loved again. I worked for some months there and managed to get on the skyway by the pity of the new administrator of the facility, a 30 year old thin man named Gadan, to come here to train on the art of the sword. In Liligue I heard that the most powerfull swordsmen came from this village. As you can see, I have nothing to hold on to, no place and no family.”

Melfice: “Don’t worry…..we will be your family….”

In a flash 6 years passed by…..

The air whistled hard that morning blowing the grass and the trees while two teenangers practiced with their sword in an open grassland in Grail mountain: Ryudo, who regardless his young age of 14 was known by that point to be one of the best swordsmen in the whole village, alongside with his lifelong friend Gatta. They both practiced very hard everyday to be the best and always spared with each other to sharpen their skills. While they were both sparring at what some years later would be called “the plateau of memories” Ryudo heard a voice calling for him. He turned around to see a young man walking towards him, he had brown short and spiky hair from the front, but from the back the hair was almost long enough to wrap it in a tail. He´s eyes where small, wide and brilliant, they could even seem evil if he did not know the owner as well as he did. Ryudo saw a strong 17 year old Rik coming toward him with a huge mocking smile on his face.

Rik: “Stop fooling around kid, it is your turn to watch the idol”.

Ryudo was indignated and Gatta laughed himself out, Ryudo unshed his sword grinning friendly.

Ryudo: “So, you want a piece of me as much as Gatta huh?”.

Rik smiled and unshed his sword too, he always carried a huge claymore, he had made it himself and it was made of gold and silver.

Ryudo heard a laugh behind him and turned around to find his 19 year old brother Melfice standing on his back with his sword unshed and with a huge amusement laugh on his face.

Melfice: “Brother, you know you are no match for him even though you are known as one of the best swordsmen on this village.”

Melfice turned to Rik and spoke acting indignated “I will make you pay for the disrespectfull way that you addressed my brother”. They both laughed.

Melfice: “Look at this Ryudo……”.

Rik: “Yeah…..watch and learn this is a true sword fight.”

Melfice charged against Rik with his broad sword but Rik answered with his claymore, after the sword clash, Rik attacked swinging his sword towards Melfice´s head but he parried easily spinning around ending the move behind Rik. Melfice swung his sword but Rik defended with his sword without even turning around.

Ryudo and Gatta were openmouthed they couldn’t believe that was a spar, the battle seemed fierce and powerfull, and because of the way the fight looked, they were both equally skilled. At this point Ryudo and Gatta had no doubt of why Rik and Melfice were known as the best swordsmen in Garlan, and why both of them could be protectors of the idol. When Ryudo came back to reality from his thoughts he saw both contenders in the air clashing swords and falling to the ground perfectly standing, both of them without a cut.

Rik: “Well….that was a good one huh?, but what are you doing here? It was supposed to be Ryudo who had to watch the Idol”.

Melfice: “I know…I came to tell you something.”

Ryudo came in interrupting “That was amazing!!, I will train more and beat both of you up you hear me?”.

Melfice: “Yes my brother we hear you, but right know its your turn to watch the idol”.

Ryudo: “Ok brother I will see you at home later”.

Ryudo walked towards the place where the idol was kept, Gatta offered him company during his turn and walked with him.

Rik: “What´s so urgent to make you come all the way here my friend?”.

Melfice: “I have made up my mind for something really important”.

Rik: “What´s that?”.

Melfice: “Im going to…propose…to Reena”.

Rik: “Really?, when do you plan to get married?”.

Melfice: “Probably a year from now”.

Rik: “That’s nice, let me know later when she has kicked you out of her life would you?”. Rik laughed making fun of Melfice, but Melfice knew that’s how Rik was and that in the inside he really hoped for his success.

Melfice: “Yeah there will be a big feast later….when she accepts, I hope you will come and feast on your own words”.

Rik: “That would be nice, let me know how it goes.”

Rik and Melfice walked away in their own separate ways. Rik stayed on a clearing in some part of Grail mountain, in that clearing there was a cliff from wich you could see the whole village, the beach and the sea. There was a huge tree in the very edge of the cliff, a very strange place for a tree to grow, Rik jumped to one of the branches and contemplated the whole village, the beach and the huge sea, he even noticed a cave he hadn’t seen in the six years he had lived among the swordsmen of Garlan. The cave was hidden inbetween some rocks in the shallows of the sea in the beach of Garlan. It probably hid even more when the tide was high. Rik sat on the branch absort in his thoughts and ended falling asleep.

In his dreams Rik saw the dreadfull moment in wich Kayla died in his arms and his failure to protect her. In his dream the actual 17 year old Rik watched the scene as it happened unable to interfere, he knew that if he had then the power he possessed now he could have killed the monster with one slash, but he couldn’t interfere because anyway the past couldn’t be changed, besides it was just a dream. The desperate Rik just cried alongside with his younger self of almost 7 years ago. Rik waked up startled and crying, he almost fell from the branch in which he was laying down. Clearing up his throat and drying his tears, he swore once again that a tragedy like the one that happened almost 7 years ago would never come to pass again. He swore he wasn’t going to loose a loved one for his lack of strength.

Meanwhile, Melfice had already reached the Chiefs house with a huge bunch of flowers. He faced Reena and held her hand. Reena noticed Melfice hand was trembling, something very difficult to happen to an expert brave swordsman who presumably was the strongest of all the village. Melfice voice trembled when he said: “I have come to ask you something I should have asked long ago, you know I love you and my brother Ryudo has even come to think of you as a sister, you are more than part of our little family and I wanted to make that….em…..well…..what Im trying to ask is….would you marry me?”. Very unarticulated for a handsome secure swordsman, but the words succeded in their mission. “Yes” said Reena with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Melfice: “When do you want to get married?”.

Reena: “In a couple of months to make the preparations if its ok with you”.

Melfice: “More than perfect, but more urgently, we need to celebrate”.

On the afternoon a great party was held, everyone drank, sang, ate and joked for hours. The whole village was happy because of the engagement, Melfice the strongest swordsman and protector of the village and the chiefs daughter Reena. One day Melfice would be chief and this promised a prosperous Garlan for more years.

Ryudo was overjoyed because he loved Reena very much, to the point of even considering her as his big sister. Rik was happy for his friend, but he seemed kind of worried during the whole party. It was as if he knew his dream was a sign of caution and as if he felt like that was the last night he would be able to see his friends.

When the party was over, Rik walked alone towards the beach. He sat down on the sand looking the formation or rocks that apparently had a cave hidden according to what he saw from the cliff. He hadn’t been there for five complete minutes when Melfice came, followed by Reena.

Melfice: “Whats wrong my friend? Arent you happy for us?”.

Rik looked distant and just gazed to the horizon.

Rik: “No my friend it is not that….I just have a bad feeling, I dreamed of her earlier”.

Melfice: “K..Kayla?”.

Rik. “Yes…..that dream is usually a sign…of something bad”.

Melfice: “Nonsense don’t get so ahead of yourse….what the hell?!”.

A great light came from inside the formation of rocks in the sea. The light caused a little explosion that broke away the rocks revealing a cave that went underground. It was like a tunnel below the beach. Suddenly monsters came out of the hole, they where like big black ants. They where about one meter tall and seemed to be made of darkness, they where like shadows that just had eyes. But somehow they seemed dangerous.

Melfice: “What are those?....Reena stand back.”

Melfice drew out his sword and so did Rik, they both charged towards the monsters slashing them. To their surprises the monsters turned in to shadows once sliced and where formed back again. This time the monsters regrouped and fused into a huge floating armor that seemed empty except for the yellow lost eyes that could be seen in the helment. Melfice, Rik and even Reena were shocked, all their skill had done nothing. Also they were too far away to notice that somewhere in Grail Mountain with the presence of such darkness the Idol was reacting and shaking.

Rik standed side by side with Melfice they where both prepared for battle, but they somehow knew that their swords would not damage that monster more than the previous ones. Without saying a thing Rik slashed one of Melfice´s legs. Melfice fell to his knees and Reena led out a small cry.

Melfice: “Why?”

Rik spoke without turning to look at him. “Im sorry, I once told you I was not willing to loose noone else because of my weakness, besides you have a future here…..a brother and soon a wife to care for”. Without saying more Rik charged towards the monster, he jumped as high as he could and fell over the monster tackling it down the whole to the underground passage. By that point Ryudo came down running, they could hear the sound of steel clashing, it was probably Rik´s sword against the armor. Before Ryudo could even ask what had happened a light shined from inside the hole and nothing could be heard.

Melfice used all his strength and got up, he asked Ryudo to follow him to the underground passage. Ryudo and the wounded Melfice jumped down the passage, they followed the passage but could not see or hear anything until they reached a dead end. At the end of the tunnel the only thing they saw was a golden door in the middle of nothing. It had a huge keyhole. Melfice and Ryudo both tried to open it and it was useless. The menace whatever it was, was gone, but so was their friend. He fulfilled his promise, he protected them. Melfice cried for his friend, he felt such impotence not being able to help him or save him.

Melfice: “ I wasn’t strong enough brother, but that is going to change….”

Meanwhile at Grail mountain, the Idol continued having strange reaction that would grow stronger with passing of days and weeks. So stronger became too the desire and obsession Melfice had with power.

A few months later a couple of weeks before the wedding, the Idols reactions made the people of Garlan think it was angry and so they sent Reena to see what happened with the Idol and to calm it down.

When Reena didn’t returned after one day had passed, the village chief sent Melfice to investigate. Melfice obeyed the order and went to Grail mountain but he failed to notice he was being closely followed by his younger brother Ryudo. What happened next is history…..