The next day, Shokei and her party are about to leave Ethisia. They are making final preparations before they take off.

  "Where exactly are we heading to get to Senwald?" Rei asked Antoinette.

  "Senwald is further North from here." replied the Princess. "To get there, we need to go through a valley to get to the other side."

  Listening to this, Shokei takes the map out; in which the spirit gave her and takes a view of it. The map was clear with four divided continents.

  "Where did you get that map from?" Sadako asked.

  "I bought this map from one of the shops." Shokei said, which was not true.

  "This map looks useful if we are heading to Senwald." said Sadako, checking out the map.

  "Let's see here..." Antoinette has her eyes on the map. "From here, we are traveling through the Valley of the Great Forest. Once we get through there, we will be on Senwald territories which will lead us to the Kingdom."

  "Wait a minute!" Saeko said, trying to remember something. "Isn't there a town just before Senwald?"

  "Oh yeah! I live in Itaea." Kichiro mentioned with a grin.

  "Hmm, so if you have a pce where we can stay, then we should figure out how to sneak into Senwald then." Antoinette said to him.

  "Good point." Kichiro said.

  "Ok, we really need to get going." Antoinette said to everyone.

  "Just a minute Shokei..." Rei said and noticed the red mark on the map. "What's this mark doing on the map?"

  "Beats me." Shokei replied.

  "Perhaps...this map would bring us to another treasure maybe?" Rei said with some excitement.

  "Probably." Shokei said to her. "But it's marked at some location that is in the mountains."

  "Whatever it is, it could mean something." Rei said with a shrug. "Let's keep moving."

  Putting the map away, Shokei continues the journey with her fellow party members. Neither of her party had any idea about what happened st night to Shokei upon meeting the spirit from an ancient past. Only time will tell when it is just right.

  Leaving Ethisia, the party continues their way on the road and then they made it to the Valley of the Great Forest. This forest does lead the way to Senwald and it is wide with trees all over. The party walks through the Valley and then made their way into the Great Forest. Inside, the forest is filled with tall, bushy trees growing in strength and the clear atmosphere makes the forest feel alive and easier to breathe. The party looks around and can feel the area is quiet in nature.

  "This is the Great Forest," Antoinette tells the party. "I heard that this area became very dangerous due to bandit activities that take pce in this forest. I recalled an incident that happened a long time ago."

  "What was the incident?" Marie asked her.

  "I don't know, but the bandits here are a threat to travelers that dare come here." Antoinette tells her. "Even those from Senwald, they too can ambush and steal items or more likely to kill their targets."

  "We got that, but you haven't told us the incident." Rei reminded the princess, hoping she would not forget.

  "I can recall one time," Antoinette said. "That a missing girl found herself lost in this forest. She never made it out alive thanks to the bandits that took advantage of her."

  When the party heard about this, Marie felt sickened to her stomach, and this made Saeko felt disturbed and disgusted.

  "That's horrifically evil!" Marie shakes her head in disgust.

  "I'd...rather not think about it." Sadako said, closing her eyes.

  "We can't overthink about how dangerous this forest is now." Shokei said to them. "We will have to be cautious in case of anything."

  The party agrees and navigates their way through the forest. Antoinette stays by Shokei very close for protection. From out of nowhere, smokescreen nds in front of the group and erupts a big thick smog.

  "What the hell?!" Rei shouted as she was on high alert.

  "Oh no! It's a trap!" Antoinette said out loud. "We should back out while we can!"

  The party turns to get away from the smokescreen. Suddenly, more wave of smokescreens came down towards the party until a form of thick smog surrounded the entire party.

  "Ahhhh! Nooo, I can't see!" Marie yelled. "I can't see!!"

  "Take cover and split up!" Antoinette tells everyone. "There could be bandits that are nearby."

  The party takes cover from the enemy's attack. Shokei tries to get away from the smokescreen, but she was coughing so much that she finds it hard to breathe. Out of nowhere, a figure comes behind her and struck her behind her head, knocking her out unconscious. Antoinette tries to get away until she felt a hand touching her shoulder. She could not see who it was until she felt her head being struck and fell into unconsciousness. Then, while the smokescreen is still in effect, dark figures emerged and immediately take Shokei and Antoinette away from the scene.

  The smokescreen sted for a few minutes until it subsided. Everything was clear once again and the party reunites until Rei notices something is wrong.

  "Shokei?!" Rei looks around and calls out to her. "Shokei?! Where are you?!"

  "What the what? Say, where did Shokei and Antoinette go?" Marie asked, worried for her allies.

  "They're gone...but how?!" Tamiko asked.

  "It was a trap all right." Saeko said, pcing both hands on her hips. "I bet the enemy knew that we were walking here."

  Rei hears the outcome of all this. Then, she shakes her head and looks at her party.

  "We should not worry about them disappearing from us." Rei said. "It could be more to this scheme and they're in big trouble. We got to find them, come on!"

  Rei takes off and her party members did the same by going through the forest to find their missing allies.

  Shokei...Shokei...

  Uhhh...uhhh...

  Shokei! Shokei, wake up!!

  Uhh?

  Shokei regained consciousness after being knocked out for a period. Once she was up from the floor, she looks around to find herself and Antoinette in a small room with just one window, guarded with bars. Looking at her surroundings, she finds herself in a prison cell.

  "Where are we?" asked Antoinette.

  "Hey, are you ok?" Shokei asked her first.

  "I'm ok." Antoinette replied. "I too am recovering from being hit in the head."

  "Same...but I have a feeling we are now in the wrong pce at the wrong time." Shokei said to her.

  "So, it seems." Antoinette said, taking a deep breath. "Looks like a group of bandits caught us good."

  "Yeah, but I hope Rei and the others find us here." Shokei said, looking at the window. "Who could've kidnapped us in here?"

  Just then, the girls heard a door opening and they turn to see who was coming to them. To their surprise, they both saw a humanoid-like morphic lizard man coming in with red scales and has a sad medium brown eye. The monster is of tall height and has a masculine build. The facial appears to be a crafty attitude expression. Behind him, the lizard has a cohort on his side and looks short. The tall lizard is more of a leader shape form and is pleased to see his victims in his prison cell.

  "Umm Shokei?" Antoinette said, feeling afraid and stands behind her.

  "It's ok." Shokei said to her. "I got this."

  The tall lizard man waits for her response.

  "Who are you creeps? And why are we being held here?" Shokei asked the lead lizard man.

  "Hee hee hee hee hee hee!!" the lizard man said with a ughing smile. "I am the leader of Bloodstrike, Kod! A pleasure to have cute victims into my trap! Who are you?"

  "The names Shokei!" Shokei introduced herself to the lizard man. "Just a town girl from Malluraea. Well...Malluraea used to be a town, but..."

  "Ehhhh?" The lizard man notices who else was in the same cell. "Myyyy, what have we here? A lovely gift that my minions have brought here...why isn't it the Princess of Senwald. I am in delight!"

  Kod hissed at Antoinette, making the princess feel very uncomfortable.

  "Ewwww..." Antoinette said, feeling disturbed and holds onto Shokei from behind.

  "You would make a fine sacrifice to be part of my meal young dy." Kod tells her with his vicious tongue flirting at her.

  "Enough talk!" Shokei speaks back at the tall lizard man. "What is your real purpose for holding us as captives?"

  "As long as you two are held here, you have zero chance of escaping here alive!" Kod told her.

  Shokei listened.

  "What are we bout to do to both of you, you ask?" Kod continued. "I'll be the judge on that one. Ta-ta!"

  Kod ughs evilly and then he and his cohort leave the cell and sms the door behind, locking it.

  Once they left, Shokei and Antoinette are now alone for each other. Shokei looks back on the princess. Antoinette has a worried look on her face and she felt afraid what fate would the lizard man may do to her.

  "It's ok..." Shokei said, calming the princess. "I know how you feel about this, but I really hope we can get through this. All we must rely on is one thing and one thing only."

  Antoinette looks up at Shokei.

  "...faith." Is the one-word Shokei said.

  Antoinette nodded and held Shokei close.

  "Just as long as I'm here, I'll protect you." Shokei tells her. "I'll do my best just to protect you."

  "...thank you...Shokei." Antoinette said to her. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she didn't.

  Shokei looks up to the window. The situation appears to be troublesome as Shokei's only hope is for her party to find her and the princess.