The next day, Shokei and her party are continuing their journey on the other side of the forest. Ahead of them, they finally reach the exit, and they are now out in the open fields of the continent.
"Up ahead, we should arrive at the small vilge of Ethisia." Antoinette said to the party.
"Got it." Shokei said.
Later, the party arrived at Ethisia. Ethisia is a small vilge that's well-poputed. It stands near a valley that leads up to the mountains and the vilge is rural that is industrialized on farming. Most of its revenue comes from travelers.
"We're here." Antoinette said.
"Great. We need to find an inn to stay." Shokei said.
"I know where there's an inn. Follow me." pointed Antoinette.
The party follows Antoinette to where the vilge's inn is located. The inn was not far from where they stand. Entering the inn, the party books themselves inside the inn and when they are settled, all of them decided to walk around the vilge.
The party splits up in pairs. Marie, however, stayed at the inn and she felt sleepy from all that traveling. Kichiro decided to hang in a tavern along with Saeko and Sadako. Rei, along with Beatrice and Tamiko, are just hanging out and checking out the farming done by the vilgers. Shokei is keeping company with Antoinette as the pair are spending time together.
"Say Antoinette..." Shokei said to her. "Tell me more about yourself."
"Umm, ok..." Antoinette said in an unsure response. "For the record, just don't call me Princess from now on, ok?"
"All right." nodded Shokei.
"Anyways, let me tell you something." Antoinette said. "I am one of the four grandchildren in my family. I have four sisters, making me the youngest out of all three and just one brother..."
"Huh? Is there something wrong?" Shokei asked, noticing that Antoinette paused.
"Oh no! It's not that i've stopped." Antoinette shakes her head. "I never wanted to go deep into my personal life. I'm...how should I say this...kind of shy and nervous on talking to people..."
"...I see..." Shokei said as her only response.
"Don't get me wrong! With you and the others, it's ok." Antoinette said. "Not that everyone in this vilge would recognize me as a Princess. This is between us, ok?"
"Right." Shokei replied.
Antoinette remained quiet for a minute. Then looks at Shokei.
"Remember when I said that I was lost in the forest when you and your party found me?" she asked her.
"Yes...why?" Shokei asked curiously.
"I'll tell you the truth." Antoinette takes a breath and says, "The truth is...I am running away from my home Kingdom."
"Seriously?" Shokei blinks and looks at her in the face. "Why are you running away from your Kingdom? Why would you do that?"
"I know I know!" Antoinette pleaded. "Honestly you have no idea what it's like for me to be a Princess in Senwald."
"No need to be nervous..." Shokei said to her. Then she stopped to look at her.
Shokei looks at the princess quietly as Antoinette became silent. Her emotions are showing a sad sign and she appears to be scared.
"...you can tell me." Shokei said to her calmly.
"Hmm?" Antoinette looks up at her directly.
"You can tell me." Shokei said, encouraging her to speak. "No one will hear our conversation except us."
Antoinette looks at her and nodded. "Ok. I will tell you everything you need to know." she said.
Shokei waits for the Princess to take a breath. Then she listens to her detail.
"Back then," she begins. "The Kingdom of Senwald was a defensive type of town. Our Kingdom was best known as the Kingdom of the Fierce Lookouts. My father was a great leader and a courageous warrior of his own knight cn, Dreamwarrior. They were a superior Knight cn that fought bravely for the Kingdom. Then one day, Senwald was under sieged by evil dark forces that pgued civilization and then my father was killed in the tragic battle..."
Shokei sees Antoinette with a tear drop rolling down on her cheek.
"After that fateful day," she continued. "A new ruler of Senwald has been repced. He was formally a prince for another Kingdom, and he looks very identical like my father. Since then, the Kingdom became unbanced and the new King is id back, unwilling to make decisions to what he can do for my Kingdom. During this time, the people in the Kingdom became reckless and are behaving violently. The people are forming into bandits and causing mischief behavior. This was the real reason why I chose to escape from my Kingdom to get away from it all. Every day, I still...miss my...my..."
Antoinette breaks down tears and started to cry. Shokei is saddened to hear all this and inside she felt sorry for her Kingdom being overruled. She tries to hold onto her emotions as she refused to cry. Her condolences show that she cares for Antoinette.
"I...I know how you feel about this..." Shokei said, breathing normally. "Maybe one day, we could fix Senwald..."
"YOU WON'T!" Antoinette yelled at Shokei, disrupting her.
Shokei opened her mouth in surprise.
"Even if we were to head back to Senwald, making changes for my Kingdom to be better is impossible!" Antoinette tells her angrily. "Don't even try to be a hero if you have high hopes for my Kingdom to recover. It will never happen. My Kingdom, my home, everything that it used to be is now turned into a hellish war zone!"
"...I see..." Shokei said sadly.
Antoinette turns from Shokei and sobs quietly. Overwhelming with emotions, Shokei can just stand there and see the Princess is very upset. She looks at her for a few minutes until silence breaks again.
"I'm terribly sorry Antoinette." Shokei tells her. "I can see the pain you went through, but..."
"It's ok." Antoinette sniffed. "I know that I didn't want to tell you or to anyone else about my situation. I did not want it to be a big deal. You don't need to apologize. And I'm sorry if I had to yell at you."
Shokei closed her mouth and nodded once. She went over and rubbed Antoinette's back to give comfort.
Antoinette responded with a hug.
"We'll get through this." Shokei said to her. "We will. Trust me."
It was around the evening and everyone in Shokei's party were already in bed, resting up before continuing their journey. Unfortunately, Shokei could not sleep. Being awake, she decides to get up and leaves the room and the inn.
I need a drink..., Shokei thought.
She notices the vilge's tavern and she went inside. Stepping in, Shokei looks around to see what action was taking pce. There were people talking while drinking occasionally and there are two troubadours pying music with their cellos. Shokei finds a nearby table, and she decides to sit there. She watches the entertainment taking pce until a waitress came by to her table.
"Hi, you need anything to eat or drink?" the waitress asked her.
"Just a gss of water." Shokei replied.
The waitress nods and within less than a minute, she returns with her water. Shokei takes a sip of water down her throat, and she is occupied with the music that's happening in the tavern.
After being inside the tavern for so long, Shokei is heading back to the inn to get some sleep.
"...emissary of light..." a voice echoed out of nowhere.
"Huh..." Shokei paused in her tracks as she hears a voice calling out in her surroundings.
"...emissary of light..."
The voice echoes through her ears as it became clear that an unknown force is talking to her.
"...Shokei..."
"Who...who's there?" Shokei asked. Fortunately, there was no one in sight as she was alone outside the vilge.
"...to the field..." the voice guided. "...meet me there..."
"What..." Shokei hears the voice once again. Then, she decided, "I guess I have no choice."
Shokei listened and walks off to a path that leads her outside of the vilge. There, she finds her way to an open grassy field. Upon arrival, Shokei looks back to see the vilge is distant from where she stands.
I'm out here...now what? thought Shokei.
Not knowing what else to expect, Shokei can see that the skies are clear and the moon shines brightly in the air. Just then, a shine of light appeared in front of her. The ray of light was very bright, Shokei covered her eyes from the distraction. Soon, the light fades out and from there, Shokei is face to face with a figure of a woman wearing a scarlet nightgown. The figure has green eyes that are like gss and her hair is in long curls. However, her appearance is in a form of a wandering spirit with bck wings, and she looks ancient.
"I am gd that you came." The woman said.
"Who are you?" asked Shokei. "And...how come I can see you?"
"The medallion...do you have it within your possession?" the spirit asked her.
"I...oh, you mean..."
Shokei takes out the medallion that she has in her possession. The star medallion emits a shining glow, and she blinks in surprise to see the effect it was giving off.
"Woah." Shokei said, staring at her star medallion.
"You, my dear, is in possession of The Antanis." The spirit said to her. "The Antanis will give a ray of light to one who possess the power to withstand the dark forces and become chosen as the emissary of light."
"Really?" Shokei asked, still puzzled.
"The medallion that you possess holds the key into saving your world and the Gaxy Forest." The spirit tells her. "Yes, you are lost in what I am saying to you, but you have no idea on what's happening to this world you stand on."
"Actually, I need to know more about this." Shokei said to the spirit. "Tell me who you are, and I want to know what's going on."
"The names Beltine." The spirit introduced herself. "I am now a spirit that comes from the Dark Age era. A time when darkness came to the pnets of Nolea and Zibato."
"Nolea?" Shokei blinks and asked. "Zibato?"
"The pnet you stand now is the world of Nolea." Beltine tells her. "Zibato is distances away from where you stand as of now."
Beltine shows Shokei the pnet Zibato from a far distance. The pnet appears to be visible but from a very far sight. It's pnet is more greenish color.
"Wow. So far away." Shokei said.
"It is." Beltine said.
"But what's the reason of all this? I need to know the truth." Shokei said.
"I am getting to that now." Beltine said. "Reminder that I am a spirit from the past and I have sensed a greater evil is about to threaten your world and the world above you."
Shokei listened.
"Let me tell you..." Beltine begin. "Five hundred years ago, many lives and civilizations were destroyed by the fiercest creatures had existed on Nolea and Zibato. The worlds on both pnets were in grave danger and it made a bigger threat to mankind. All hope was about to be lost until that exact moment; a hero fought bravely against the dark forces in the Dark Age and have conquered the greatest creation of evil that have devastated the Gaxy Forest."
"It has been foretold that in order to protect the world from succumbing to darkness, a possession of eight Mystic Gems is to be held by the Emissary of Light that will rid of the dark forces takeovers and bring peace to the Gaxy Forest. The hero was never to be seen nor heard from again as that individual was lost in a sea of darkness. Five hundred years ter, a new force of evil has been brought from the darkness and is ready to strike the world you stand on."
"That's...saying a lot." Shokei said after hearing the story.
"It may sound a lot, but I am far from finish telling you the situation that you and your allies are in." Beltine said.
"What's that?" asked Shokei.
"Now then," continued Beltine. "You are now in the Destruction Age. At this time, a new force of evil has risen, and it is draining the life sources from the pnet called Du-mek. Nobody knows what inhibits in the pnet or aware of any life forms on the pnet."
"Strange..." Shokei said. "I recall hearing Du-Mek a long time ago when I was little. I thought there was no life at all on that pnet."
"True, but times are different." Beltine said to her. "A source of pure darkness is the center of the threat that would take out this pnet you are on."
"I see..." Shokei said, looking down on the ground.
"Emissary...do you recall the strange beasts that you fought in your previous battles?" asked. Beltine.
"Yes." Shokei nodded.
"That there is a prime example of the new threats in this world." Beltine said.
"No wonder..." Shokei said.
Beltine listened.
"If you said that I am a new guardian light holder, what should I do?" Shokei asked the spirit.
"In order to restore peace to the Gaxy Forest, you must embark on a mission to find the Mystic Gems that will enlighten power to The Antanis." Beltine tells her. "Each gem is protected by a guardian that possesses the power of sacred elements that will overthrow the darkness."
"If I were to get a hold of these gems, what will happen next?" asked Shokei.
"That I have no knowledge of." replied the spirit. "You must solve the mystery to the gems that you must seek."
Shokei hears this and then nodded.
"Your quest cannot be done alone. Whoever you have in your travels should be by your side."
"Right." Shokei agreed.
"I praise that you will save the worlds before Nolea and Zibato become succumbed in eternal darkness. Until we meet again Emissary of Light."
With her st words, Beltine vanishes in a bright light. Shokei can see that the spirit disappeared from her sight. Gathering all the information that she gained, Shokei understand what she must do. Her main duty is to find the gems to return peace to the Gaxy Forest. Before she headed back, Shokei looks down and there she can see a map on the ground. She takes the map and looks at it. The map marked the first location to where the gem can be found. That location appeared to be a volcanic mountain.
Can you hear my voice Emissary? The voice of Beltine rings in Shokei's ears. The map will guide you the way in finding the gems. Don't lose your way, ok?
Shokei hears Beltine and nods. Taking the map, Shokei turns around and heads back to Ethisia. A gust of wind blows right out to the field as she is walking back to the vilge.
From meeting the spirit, Shokei returns quietly in the inn. She walked slowly back to her bed and looks to see that everyone was asleep. As she tucked into her bed, Antoinette was coming out of the bathroom and sees Shokei returning from outside.
"Hey, where were you the whole time?" asked the Princess, whispering to her.
"Just hanging around the tavern." Shokei replied quietly.
"I see." Antoinette nodded. "Good night."
Shokei goes to her bed and Antoinette gets in the same bed together. Shokei didn't want to tell her what just happened tonight, but she decided to save it until the next morning. Soon, she fell asleep.