They woke up the next day, quite content with the previous night's meal.

"Man, I had the weirdest dream." Romel said.

"What happened?" Solaris asked as they went to meet Red outside of the inn.

"We had a fight with some random guy. He was invincible. And we fought over the roast duck. It was crazy." Romel looked puzzled as he spoke.

"Too much roast duck makes people have weird dreams. I hope you aren't still full, you training begins today, assuming we can find a sparring partner for you that you won't break." Solaris replied.

"I've never been here, can't we at least go sight seeing or something? We kinda rushed in since we had injured people with us after all." Romel protested.

"Fine, free day." Solaris buried his head in his hands, mildly annoyed. He then took off on his own, exploring the city.

Romel and Red set off together, heading to the southern edge of the city, which partially rested in the northern edge of the mountain range. As they approached the edge of the city, a cold and eerie wind could be felt blowing off the mountain range. It blew back red's hair, exposing her ears, which as Romel noticed, were slightly longer than those of most humans. Romel just had to say something.

"My, what large ears you have." He said with a chuckle, remembering an old bedtime story.

"All the better to hear you with." Red replied, "I AM ¼ elf you know. My grandfather on my father's side of the family was an elf."

"Oh, I didn't know that. That does explain your skill with a bow." Romel commented.

"Bow? Oh, I specialize in ranged combat. Anything that can be thrown by a human or elf can become an effective weapon in my hand, even if it's good for only 1 shot." She said proudly.

Romel slowed his pace just slightly and took a better look at Red as she walked ahead of him. She had fiery red hair which stopped just at her shoulders, and the longer than average ears, which remained hidden most of the time. Her arms were larger than that of an average woman, and that of many men they'd come across, showing evidence of the use of the bow. Romel made a mental note to stay behind her, should she get upset, or it would likely be the end of him.

Red carried herself well, like a wise and sophisticated woman who confident in herself. Her hair was blown harder by the wind, as was her mid length skirt, which she caught before it went to high. At this same moment, she seemed to make herself aware of Romel's presence behind her. "I know you're looking, yet I can tell you aren't looking at me like a piece of meat. Such a gentleman you are."

Romel paused and blushed slightly "Uhm". He looked down at his feet. "Well, you are pretty you know. You just kinda scare people a bit, especially after how we first met you."

Red turned around and put her hand on her hip. "What do you mean by that?" she glared at him and leaned forward slightly. Romel stepped back, quite intimidated, and surprised, as he unexpectedly got a glance down at her cleavage.

"W-well…uhm…" Romel started looking at the ground, still blushing, now more than before.

"Well what?" Red questioned, still giving him a look that could nearly kill a man. As she spoke, the wind hit them again, cold and strong. Red shivered a bit as the wind pieced her thin shirt like a dagger.

"We should probably get some heavier clothes if we're gonna go exploring those mountains." Romel noted. Red nodded in agreement, her rant stopped by the cold.

As they visited the numerous shops in the area, they noticed that the bitter cold wind was quite unnatural, as noted by the conversations they heard amongst the townsfolk. They stopped and spoke with a shopkeeper as they made their purchases.

"That wind is fairly recent, and has never blown like this before during the summer months." Said the shopkeeper.

"Any idea what's causing it?" asked Romel.

"They say there's an evil force in those mountains, and that its protected by a purple mist. Anyone who has gone there to check has never returned."

"That mist doesn't sound too pleasant, but I don't have to get too close to it anyways." Red said. "I think it would be worth checking out."

"Oh no! Not again! Every time something like this starts, I get MY ass kicked!" Romel protested. "And we should probably talk to Solaris about this too."

"Of course we will." Red said with a grin and a twinkle of adventure in her eyes.
Romel buried his head in his hands. "I'll go buy some bandages and medicine." He sighed and walked off to another shop.

"Wait!" Red shouted as he reached the door of the shop they were in. Romel turned around.

"You'll need this." She tossed him a small backpack she'd just bought. Romel caught the bag, shrugged and went to go buy the supplies. Red continued her shopping as well, easily spending half of the money they'd brought along with them. She'd gotten new bags for all of them, as well as cloaks, and a thicker shirt for herself.

She caught up with Romel a short while later and they went to drop off most of their supplies at the inn. Solaris was nowhere to be seen when they arrived, and they proceeded to head towards the mountain range right after leaving the inn. They noticed a large number of guards near the town gate, all waiting around, as if waiting for an attack.

"Hmm, that's odd, and not a good sign" said Red as they exited the city. They traveled a bit into the mountains, until they came to the mysterious purple mist they were warned of. They kept their distance and were ready on their weapons.

The wind blew yet again, fiercely and frigid, still slightly more than their new clothes were meant for. They shivered. Before they knew it, the wind had blown the purple mist upon them. Red jumped back, escaping it. Romel was not so quick to react and inhaled some. He began to cough horribly. The noise made seemed to awaken something, which growled and shook the ground as it approached. Its silhouette became visible though the purple haze as it made its way towards them. It had had the basic form of a human, standing on 2 very large legs, and having 2 very large arms. Its head appeared to rise just slightly above its shoulders. It seemed to be one of the least interesting blight monsters Romel had seen.

Romel continued coughing and staggered backwards. The mist was most assuredly poisonous, and Romel wouldn't have long before the poison got the better of him. He gasped as he spoke to Red. "I got antidote for this, but…" he coughed again. "Its back at the inn. We have to….hurry."

Red nodded and drew her bow. She would have the chance to test the magical power imbued upon her weapon. She took aim at the creature as it approached Romel. Romel headed back to the city, noticeably slowed by the toxin. Red fired at the creature just as it got close to Romel. "Get going, I'll distract it!"

She underestimated the creature's speed and was hardly able to evade it. In addition, she also had to avoid the poisonous clouds that floated around the area. Night was falling as well, making it even more difficult to see both the clouds, and their path of escape.

Red struggled to fight the beast, narrowly evading both the beast and the clouds. They made their way back towards the town. Red managed to shoot the creature in its knees, slowing it down considerably, but not before taking a hard punch which knocked her to the ground. Romel found the strength to draw his sword and stab the monster's left leg once.

They turned to make their escape as the beast appeared to be retreating. Red watched it carefully as it left, and caught the glimmer of what seemed to be ice off in the distance not too far from where the beast came from as the last rays of light left the sky.

Red helped Romel back to the city gate, and they both collapsed upon their arrival at the south gate. Red was just able to mutter the name of the inn they were staying at, just as they both lost consciousness.

They awake 2 days later at the inn, with Solaris looking at each of them.

"So, we take a free day, and when I come back, Romel, is clinging to life….again, and you are unconscious? What's up with that?" Solaris questioned.

"That's one hell of a greeting." Romel replied.

"There's something funny going on in those mountains." Red said.

Solaris raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, a bitterly cold wind, in summer, and poison clouds. Also a rare occurrence of a blight outbreak closer to the inside of the continent."

"Uhm, yes actually" Romel said, slightly stunned by the accuracy of the description.

"You forgot the shimmering ice thing, also in the middle of summer" Red added on.

"What?" both Romel and Solaris said in unison.

"Yeah, there was something shiny out there, I saw it was we escaped. It shined like ice, and I agree, it shouldn't be there at this time of year."

"So, how'd you find out about all of this anyways Sol?" Romel asked.

"I was going to eventually visit the king of this continent anyways, to tell him about the events in Azidon.  While I spoke with him, I got all the info about the happenings on the southern edge of town. I also arranged for us to be able to train in the palace." Solaris replied.

"Wow, you've been busy over the last couple of days." Romel said, seemingly surprised by the show of effort from him.

"He asked us to help deal with whatever was going on. We'll recover and train for a few days, then go check it out. Sound like a plan?" Solaris asked.

"I'm fine with it." Red answered. They both stopped and turned to Romel.

"Aww, damnit!" Romel sighed. "I guess I'm in, I'll take the antidote with me next time."

"Then it's settled, I'll get revenge on that…whatever it was, it messed up my hair." Red said with her usual look of anger and determination.

The next few days were spent recovering, then training with some of the guards of the city.
Romel took the opportunity to learn how to use a staff properly, as well as learning a few more magic skills, and perfecting some of the older ones. Red practiced her swordsmanship, and Solaris worked on his use of gravity manipulation. He scared most of the guards off by floating around, and occasionally grabbing people and dragging them along with him.

About 8 days after their arrival in the city, they left for the ominous mountain range. They stopped at nearly the same place as Red and Romel did last time, weapons in hand and antidotes nearby. Solaris threw a rock into the deadly haze and a groaning familiar to 2 of them was heard. Romel and Red's muscles tightened. Solaris activated nova. The creature of the blight approached them, still injured from the previous battle. Aside from the poison clouds, this appeared to be an easy win…...

Romel glanced over at Solaris, "You wouldn't happen to be immune to poison would you?" he asked

"Not that I know of, and I have no intention of testing it out. That's going to add a 'fun' little challenge to this fight anyways." Solaris said with a grin.

"Yeah, challenge, and to fail is to risk dying. Sounds like TONS of fun!" Romel said with a look annoyance on his face. He casts flame guard on both himself and Red as the poisonous clouds began to surround them. "You are wearing fire resistant clothes this time, right?".

"Yeah, and I have another set back at the inn, and more regular clothes in my bag" Solaris replied, pointing to his back at the edge of the clearing.

"Uhm, boys, I don't mean to cut your conversation short, but there's poison everywhere, got any plans?" Red asked nervously.

Romel sheathed his sword and drew his staff. "Just a thought, maybe I can burn this off."
"Every time you try that spell, it ends in an explosion. You'll be more of a danger than the poison and the creature." Solaris attempted to convince him otherwise.

The poison was nearly upon them with no escape as the creature approached, very much immune to it. Romel raised his staff and took a deep breath "Infernal gale!" he casts the spell and a ring of blazing wind encircled them, moving outwards. It reached the cloud and set the mist ablaze, incinerating everything the mist touched.

The creature survived, and was noticeably angry, standing up straight and roaring, then charging at Romel. Solaris ran to knock Romel out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. Romel was sent flying backwards, dropping his staff and landing in a pile of ashes, all that was left of several meters around them, aside for the creature.

Red let loose a few arrows into the creature's left side as she dodged its charge at Romel. Romel picked himself up and dusted himself off while the creature was occupied getting hit from each side by Red and Solaris. He made it to his staff and moved to the other side of the clearing. He prepared himself for another casting of infernal gale, paying little attention to his surroundings as the poison cloud lingered behind him along with the relatively unnoticed ice block.

He made his 2nd casting and another spectacular burst of flames roared behind him as the mist ignited. The creature was hit on its backside and tail, and turned around, bearing its fangs at Romel, who seemed quite pleased with himself. "Man, I don't think that's ever gonna get old! I love that spell! It's a little tiring however."

The creature's tail split at its end and now waved wildly behind it. It came to a sharp point at the end, much like a scorpion's. "Well, that's new" Romel said as he stepped farther back into the clearing. "I'm not getting hit by that." He said as he raised his staff and cast a minor defense spell on himself.

"I don't think a little shield is going to help you against that tail" Solaris shouted from across the clearing.

"This will!" He made yet another attempt to cast infernal gale, which succeeded, and again set turned all of the poison mists in the area to flames. The creature raised its arms and blocked the flames, all the while, Solaris removed the creature's tail wish a blow of his sword. He moved back to avoid the angry swing sent his way as the beast roared in pain.
A cold fog filled Romel's side of the clearing as the sound of cracking ice filled the air. Romel moved off to the far side, paying it little attention. "I suppose I broke the ice block you were talking about Red. Oh well, you said it yourself, it shouldn't be here anyways, right?" Romel fixed his gaze back onto the monster, However, Red was staring at where the ice block once rested.

"S-Solar-ris. People don't usually r-rise out of ice blocks, right?" her voice trembled in fear.

"No, why do you…" he stopped midsentence as his eyes fell upon the silhouette of a person standing in the frosty mist. "Oh, that's why you asked. How could a person survive that. I only know of one person who" he was cut off, this time by Romel's screams.

"ITS EBER!!!!!!" Romel yelled in horror as he raced back to Red and Solaris.

"What?!" Solaris said as he reinforced nova, racing over to the edge of the chilly mist, knocking the monster aside as he moved.

The shadow moved as Solaris did, meeting him at the edge of the mist. An eerie purple and blue hand reached out and met with Solaris's neck in a choke hold.

He spoke in a far more evil and deep tone than last time "Oh, how I've missed you, my old friend". It was indeed Eber, transformed by his frozen slumber in the blight. As he spoke, he began to summon his sword in his right hand.

Red fired an arrow at him, which had next to no effect, though the magical damage caused by her bow cancelled the weapon's summoning.

"Nuisance!" Eber yelled as he tightened his grip on Solaris's neck. Solari's bones could be heard popping as he use all of his strength just to break free of the hold. He landed just in front of Eber, gasping for breath. Eber merely smiled and gave Solaris a mighty kick across the clearing, sending him into a pile of twisted trees.

Romel and Red rushed to help, yet were stopped by the still very much alive, and very much upset monster they had been fighting for several minutes now. They split up to deal with the creature, Romel attacked at close range with his sword and Red rained arrows upon it from a distance. She turned her attention to Eber for a moment as he approached the downed Solaris. She fired at him. He evaded the arrows as if they moved at the speed of a falling leaf in the wind.

"Blizzard breaker!" Ever said as he summoned another weapon to his hands. This time it was a large, beautifully crafted, yet still quite dangerous, ice hammer. He brought it down upon Solaris, who was still trying to pick himself up from the force of the last kick.
"SOLARIS!" Romel shouted as he ran to his aide. Eber swung the hammer in Romel's direction, sending ice daggers flying towards him. Most of them missed, except for one which hit Romel directly in the chest. Romel was knocked back by the force of the impact, yet upon catching his breath, he found that the shard shattered upon impact with the medallion Quasar had given him. He looked at it briefly as it glowed a dull golden color. He made another attempt to half Eber's assault on Solaris. Eber found time to give Solaris another smack with the hammer as Romel recovered.

Red was still quite occupied with the monster, as she'd switched to close range combat, being unable to easily dodge the new poison clouds. Romel finally managed to make it to Eber and blocked his hammer swing with his sword. The force of the impact made the area shake and the rumble of thunder echoed throughout the mountains.

Eber looked Romel in the eyes as the 2 locked weapons. "You've gotten quite a bit stronger since we last fought. I can't say the same for the blonde one here. You still can't do anything about this however! Absolute zero!" He was surrounded by his familiar shield of ice. It began to weigh down Romel's weapons, and clothes. Romel was forced back, or he would be frozen to death. He cast frost guard on himself, all the while, Red fought the monster, and Eber continued to found away at the pile of broken trees and Solaris.

"Arrrrrrggggh!" Romel yelled as he charged at Eber, actually knocking each of them to the farthest edge of the clearing. "DIE!" he shouted as he raised his sword and prepared to plunge into Eber's throat.

"I think not boy!" Eber said as he flipped Romel off of him, into the rocks nearby. Romel fell to the ground, upside down, and spent the next few moments dazed.

Red managed to find the creature's heart with her sword, and the creature fell dead just as Romel hit the ground. The creature let out a deafening scream as it flailed about, trying with all its might to resist death.

"This creature has made things quite easy for me, but now, I find it bothersome." Eber said as he swung his hammer, sending ice shards flying towards the beast and Red. Red dodged them easily at the distance she was at. The daggers quickly put the creature out of its misery and it fell to the ground, lifeless.

Red drew her bow again and fired at Eber while running at him. Eber ran to her, and caught her with his hand squeezing her cheeks. "Such a beauty, it would be a shame to kill you. I'll make this quick and relatively painless." He dropped his hammer and gave Red a hard punch to the stomach. She fell to the ground in pain, then she lost consciousness.

He turned to Romel, who was just getting up. "Now, where was I?" Eber spoke as he walked at a leisurely pace back over to Romel. He rested the end of his hammer just below Romel's chin as Romel stood on a knee, attempting to recover. Romel looked up at Eber with pure rage in his eyes.

"Any last words, boy?" Eber asked.

"Just 2…Blaze burn!" Solaris said as he threw his sword at Eber, forcing him back. Romel stood up on both feet. "Took ya long enough" he said as he turned to look at Solaris. Solaris stood in his golden aura, bruised and bloody. What was left of his shirt was stained with blood as he struggled to stand up.

"Round 2 starts now." Solaris said as he charged into Eber. Romel circled around and swung at Eber from behind. Eber did a quick spin and avoided both of them, leaving them on a collision course with each other. Solaris did a spin in the opposite direction from Eber, avoiding most of Romel's sword swing. He got his right arm cut by Romel's sword.

"Damn that hurts, not as bad as that hammer though" Solaris said with a pain-filled expression.

Romel came to a stop and they both stood and looked at Eber. "What the hell happened to this guy? He's way stronger than before, and he's kicking our asses."

"I have no idea, but this has got to end, preferably, quickly." Solaris mumbled.

"I couldn't agree more" Eber replied as he rushed at Romel, landing a kick that sent him flying across the clearing. Romel landed not far from Red, and attempted to pick himself up. His left arm was broken as he managed to block half of the kick. His ribs were in terrible pain from the part that he didn't block. He fell back to the ground and watched helplessly.

Solaris picked up his sword and swung at Eber, who just dodged getting his head cut in half by the blow. He ran his hand across his left cheek. The tip of the blade had pieced him. He looked at the dark purple colored blood on his fingertips. His eyes widened, slightly surprised as he turned and looked at Solaris with frosty colored-rage filled eyes. "This isn't the normal color of my blood." He said, clinching his teeth as he spoke. "You shall pay for this!"

Solaris grinned as he prepared for another swing. "Whatever man." He swung again, and Eber dodged the attack, jumping a good distance back as he readied himself for an offensive of his own. Solaris knew he couldn't use the full power of his blazing defensive aura, not with Romel and Red laying immobile in the clearing. Romel was still trying to make it to his feet, with very little success. Romel rested on 1 knee, just in front of Red.

"Sol, make this quick, I won't be able to hold this for long" He shouted across the clearing

"Eh?" Solaris looked over at Romel.

Romel tossed his sword over near Solaris, who picked it up and was now dual-wielding them. Romel took a deep breath and began to chant. Both him and Red were surrounded by what appeared to be a barrier. "Its an elemental shield, this will keep us safe from the frost and flames, unfortunately, I can't really move, or do anything else to help you." He rested on his staff, bruised and slightly bloody himself.

"Got it!" Solaris replied as he activated what was left of his full power. Eber did the same, however his power was far beyond Solaris's and his freezing aura all but completely put out Solaris's field.

Solaris rushed at Eber, swinging with nearly twice the speed he had earlier, Eber blocked and parried most of the attacks, taking only minor scratches here and there. He saw an opening and disarmed Solaris's right hand, leaving him holding only the cracked blade in his left.

This time Eber charged, Solaris blocked and evaded Eber shots with the hammer. Romel's sword became more and more cracked, and eventually broke after blocking a few more hammer swings. He looked at the pieces of Romel's weapon laying on the ground. Romel sighed "I knew this was going to happen eventually."

Eber caught the disarmed Solaris off guard and sent him flying into the same rocks he'd sent Romel into earlier with another hammer swing. Eber then sent waves of daggers into the rock pile where Solaris lay. The clearing was filled with a frosty mist as the daggers struck the rocks.

The frost cleared and Eber was again holding the bloody beaten Solaris in a choke hold. Solaris looked over at Romel "Get out…of here. I'm not winning this one."

Romel's eyes widened "What, you can't be serious!?" He stepped back, still hardly holding his barrier.

"Give that barrier everything you've got kid, you'll need it. DO IT NOW!" Solaris yelled at him as he grabbed Eber's wrist. Solaris locked eyes with Eber and they shared a fiendish grin.

"What do you have to smile about? I'll kill you here and now!" Eber said in an eerily happy tone.

Solaris pulled himself up, still holding on to Eber's arm, weakening his grip slightly. "I think I'll go for a tie." He said as his eyes began to glow again, he summoned all that was left of his power. "Romel, close your eyes and don't let that barrier down for anything!"

"What are you saying, no, you can't! NOOOOOO!" Romel shouted back.

"Catch ya later kid." Solaris replied. "Now, Mr Blueballs, or whatever color they may be now. I have one last trick. SUPERNOVA SHOCKWAVE!!!"

Solaris's golden aura grew, pushing back Eber's entirely. The area was filled with an blinding light and the sky rumbled with the sounds of thunder and a fierce and fiery wind blew back everything in the clearing, including Romel and Red, sending them flying into the pile of debris that was created behind them.

Romel opened his eyes to see a huge crater created by the force of the blast. He struggled to get to his feet, even more bruised and bloody than before. Red was just waking up as well.

"What happened" she asked.

"I-I don't know" he replied. He looked around and saw Solaris's sword sticking out of the pile of trees he and Red had just pulled themselves from. "That can't be good." He continued looking around and saw a piece of Eber's hammer, burned and misshapen. "Damn! Went a little overboard didn't ya Sol?"

He received no reply. "Solaris? Where are you?"

He looked around, dragging Solaris's sword behind him. Pieces of clothing could be found scattered across the clearing. Romel fell to his knees. "No, he can't be! It's impossible. He's here somewhere, maybe in a pile of rocks!"

Red walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hun, I don't think much of anything could survive that." She said with tears in her eyes. She looked up at Romel and caught a glimpse of the medallion he wore around his neck.

"Was that so shiny before?" She asked, covering her face from the light it gave off.

He looked down at it "Aaah, so bright, and…warm?" He took it off and looked at it, as much as he could. "We should take this back to Quasar. He'll know what to do. Let's get going, but first…" He put the medallion back on and tore off what was left of his shirt, placing it across Red's chest. He blushed slightly. "You're missing half of your shirt."

Red blushed slightly as well. "Well, you're walking around with a broken arm, I think I got it easy." She looked at his arm as it hung strangely.

The 2 made their way, slowly and painfully, over the piles of trees, rocks and everything else that was blasted backwards. They looked back at the clearing to see a glowing sphere of dark energy resting where Solaris and Eber last stood. "I have a feeling we should leave that alone" Red said nervously.

"I agree. Let's get the hell out of here" he replied, starting to tear up again.
They climbed down the pile and headed back to Fujima. They got the most basic of first aid, and had Romel's broken arm set into place and wrapped. They reported the incident back to the king and the following day, they were back in their carriage, heading towards the Razanden ruins. Romel looked at the pendent while they rode.

"I just can't bring myself to believe he's truly dead, not with a destiny like that." He said solemnly. "You shall meet Quasar, and we shall have answers. I shall tell you as he told me: 'if you survive, you'll get you answers"

Red nodded silently as they rode on, north of the mountains, along the road they came on.  The trip would be longer, but the path through the mountains was blocked from the battle, which they also did not want another reminder of.