...Shokei...Shokei, wake up...Shokei...Shokei!!

  Shokei is being disturbed from a deep sleep and she comes back to her senses. Se wakes up to find that Rei was calling out to her.

  "R-Rei..." Shokei said, seeing her in view.

  "Geez! I thought you would never wake up." Rei said to her.

  "I'm up now...no, I'm alive!" Shokei said, looking down at herself. "You're alive too!"

  "It's crazy but...we have been rescued." Rei said to her.

  "Shokei, you're up!" Marie calls out to her.

  "How did we get here?" Shokei said, looking around as she appears to be in a fancy room. "I thought we were goners at first and then for some reason, we were saved and brought here."

  "You should thank the King' s guards for saving us." Marie said.

  "King's guards?" Shokei asked. "Wait, are we in a castle right now?"

  "Yep!" Marie replied.

  "I see..." Shokei said, seeing the interior of the castle.

  Just then, the door opens. The party turns to see who was standing there at the door. There appears someone with a crown, who happens to be the King of the castle. He walks in with two of his guards. Shokei gets up from the bed and approaches him.

  "Salutations!" The King greeted the party. "I am happy to see that all of you have survived the terrible sandstorm. I welcome all of you to the Kingdom of Ursaror."

  "Thanks." Shokei said and asked. "Who are you?"

  "Right, right! I am getting to that part. I am King Marmaduke, ruler of Ursaror." The King introduces himself.

  "Nice meeting you." Shokei said with a standing bow. "I was wondering how we all ended up here?""My royal guards are the ones who found all of you in the sandstorm." King Marmaduke replied. "My men were able to pull you all out from the storm and you are lucky enough to be alive as is."

  "So that expins how we were able to survive here." Shokei said.

  "I told you that heading to the Necropolis was not a good idea." Mizuki tells Shokei.

  "For what purpose were you heading off into the desert?" The King asked.

  "As my friend mentioned, we were heading to a Necropolis." Shokei tells him.

  "The Sacred Sanctuary?" King Marmaduke asked.

  "You knew?" Shokei asked. "You happen to know the pce?"

  "In fact, I sure indeed!" King Marmaduke replied. "But as of right now, the condition of the desert is not looking great. A terrible sandstorm is in the way, and it seems that it won't die out anytime soon. My men don't know the cause of the storm, but we don't have clues to the source. As of now, I prefer all of you to stay away from heading up northwest until the winds die down."

  "Looks like we have to put a hold for the Necropolis for now." Mizuki said to Shokei.

  "Since I have never seen you people before, I like to take this time to invite you all a feast with me as a sing of welcoming new travelers." King Marmaduke tells them.

  "Woah, really?" Shokei asked, hearing this.

  "Seriously?!" Marie asked.

  "Of course!" King Marmaduke said. "Now follow me or else the food will get cold."

  Shokei and her party followed the King of Ursaror and they have arrived at the dining room. There is a big table, wide enough, for the party to sit. The King's men have provided a variety of meals for their eating pleasure. The meals that the King's men prepared for them look delicious.

  "Wow...this feast here looks gorgeous." Sadako said with awe.

  "And tasty too." Marie added, feeling the hunger.

  "Let's eat!" The King said to the party. "There's plenty of food for everyone, so you all can help yourselves."

  Everyone proceeds to dig in and they help themselves to their meals. The party is eating at this time as they enjoy the food provided for them. The eatery sted for a while as the party fills themselves up with an appetite.

  After the meal, the party is still sitting around the table. They all had a delicious meal, and they feel stuffed up while they are in their seats.

  "Whew! I am full!" Kichiro said, rexing in his chair.

  "Me too." Tamiko said, feeling her belly full.

  "This was too much of a meal." Marie said. "But it was all worth it."

  "You said it." Saeko said.

  "Hmm..." Shokei stares at a fancy seat that looks empty on the opposite site of the table. "Seems that not everyone is here."

  "I have noticed you had your eyes on that seat." King Marmaduke said and asked. "Is there something wrong?"

  "Not really." Shokei replied. "I was eyeing on that empty seat. It looks fancy to me."

  "I see." King Marmaduke said.

  "Maybe...this chair belongs to your prince...or princess perhaps?" Shokei guessed.

  "Actually, my daughter." King Marmaduke tells her. "My own daughter, Hyacinth, has been missing since the day she was taken by an unidentifiable man that kidnapped her."

  "Really?" Shokei asked.

  "Yes." The King replied. "My daughter has traveled south of the vilge of Granacur. She does not travel alone, but she is accompanied by my guards. One of my men mentioned that Hyacinth was ambushed by bandits and his men were killed by the dastards. There was no message of ransom or reason of why they kidnapped my daughter, but I fear that she is missing or dead. I am concerned for her safety."

  "Wow, that says a lot." Rei said, listening to the story.

  "Quite." Shokei said to the King. "Are you sure that you did not receive any kind of ransom note or a threat of any sort?"

  "None." The King replied. "The dastards gave no such reason why they kidnapped my daughter."

  "If that's the case, we will help you find your daughter." Shokei tells the King.

  "You will?" The King asked, hearing the offer being accepted.

  "Of course." Shokei replied.

  "My...I don't know what to say..." King Marmaduke said. "And I was about to send out more of my men to find my daughter."

  "Where is Granacur?" Shokei asked him.

  "Right! The location." The King tells her. "Where you stand, Granacur is down south of here. The vilge should not be far as it is moderately a distance from my Kingdom."

  "That shouldn't be hard to get there." Shokei said.

  "Oh right! That reminds me." The King said with advice. "When you are at Granacur, please watch your back at all times! I know that the vilge is dangerous for travelers and there are thieves patrolling the area. So please, guard your stuff!"

  "Sounds like a vilge I don't think I want to go to..." Marie said.

  "Hey, your loss." Rei said.

  "We're...we're going to a vilge that's more of a thieving territory?" Saeko asked.

  "Definitely." King Marmaduke replied. "The thieves are disguised in pinclothes, and they can lure visitors to their trap. Please be cautious if you are to search for Hyacinth."

  "Got it." Shokei nodded. "Whatever this vilge is, we should look out for anything suspicious."

  After talking to the King, the party are looking around the castle as they take their time looking outdoors at the big view of the Kingdom. The night skies fill up as Ursaror is huge and is widely poputed. The surroundings of this Kingdom are built by bricks and is defended by thick walls. Most of the housings are colorful tiled roofs and a Bck Market is currently taking pce at this hour.

  It is getting te as the party is about to rest up before departing to Granacur for tomorrow. Shokei and her party are heading back to the guest room to get some sleep.

  "Hmm? Where did Rei go?" Shokei asked.

  "I don't know." Marie said. "Same with Lei. I wonder where she went off to?"

  "She could be with Rei I think." Shokei said. "I hope that Rei does not sneak out of this castle as long as they remain here. I hope she understands our important task for tomorrow."

  "Right." Marie said. "I hope she doesn't ditch us like she did back at Thygya."

  "Anyways, we hope that those two come back here." Shokei said. "We need some rest."

  The party tucks themselves into their beds. One of the guards sees them resting in their beds, with the absence of Rei and Lei, and closes the door.

  During the hour, Lei and Rei are spending time together. They are looking at the overview of Ursaror and they look to see the crescent moon appearing brightly and the nightly bright stars scattered over the skies.

  "Looks pretty up there, isn't it?" Lei asked.

  "It sure is..." Rei responded.

  The girls stare up at the skies for a minute. Then, Rei looks at Lei.

  "I have something to tell you." Rei said to Lei.

  "What is it?" Lei asked.

  "...I just had this dream when I was sleeping from the sandstorm." Rei said.

  "Really?" Lei asked. "What kind of dream was it?"

  "How should I say it..." Rei said, thinking of words to describe her dream. "It...it was a wet dream to be honest."

  "What was that dream?" Lei asked her. "What did it look like?"

  "This dream that I had...I find myself making out with someone." Rei replied.

  "Boy or girl?" Lei asked.

  "A girl actually." Rei tells her.

  "I see..." Lei said and asked. "Care to describe this dream of yours? If you can remember."

  "When I was in that dream," Rei expined. "I find myself fantasied with a girl that I was making love to. Her appearance looks odd, and she was seductive towards me. I find myself lost for words as my mind felt hypnotized. She held me in her arms, and I held her close. Words were said in my ear as I could not understand the message that she was telling me. The mind was thick through my thoughts, and I have not felt her words that were said through my head."

  "That's...quite interesting." Lei said, hearing all this.

  "I know..." Rei said. "It's almost as if it was real to me..."

  Hearing this made Lei's thoughts to a fshback. She recalled the moment of her capture of Rei back in Thygya and her seductive deeds that made her fall for her. Lei smiled to herself, reflecting on the passionate moment that she had her kiss with Shokei's friend.

  "Lei...Lei?" Rei calls out to her.

  "Huh?" Lei wakes up and she turns to Rei.

  "We're you just paying attention to what I was talking about?" Rei asked her.

  "I was actually." Lei said immediately. "Wh-why?"

  Rei sees her behaving this way as if she was not listening."Ehh, why the look?" Lei asked her."Fine! Forget it..." Rei said with an attitude. "Your head wasn't there in that thick head of yours. Screw this, I'm off to bed."

  "Oh c'mon!" Lei calls out to her, seeing Rei walking off. "I was paying attention!!"

  "Yeah, yeah, sure you are!" Rei said with a sarcastic tone. "But for you to just stand there, dozing off, make me think that you actually cared about this dream of mines."

  "Rei...c'mon! I was..." Lei tries to get her attention.

  "Save it you! Have a good night!" Rei tells her.

  "Hold on now!!!" Lei shouted.

  Rei paused and she turns to see Lei. She can see that she made Lei upset as her friend got angry to see her walking away.

  "Why are you walking away from me?!" Lei asked her, angrily. "I have been paying attention! I was not ignoring you! I was listening to that dream of yours! Why walk off when we are having a conversation?"

  Rei wanted to say something. Then, she walked back to meet up with Lei.

  "I...I'm sorry." Rei quietly said to her.

  "Sorry?!" Lei said back at her angrily. "Sorry that you have to walk off when you were discussing that dream of yours?! That's NO excuse of you to leave me here!"

  "Ok, ok!" Rei said, trying to calm her down. "I didn't mean to make you upset. I was hoping that you have listened to this dream of mines. I didn't mean to tell you off like that."

  "Ok..." Lei said, taking a deep breath. "But still, never ditch me like that again. You hear me?!"

  "...all right..." Rei said, turning the other cheek.

  "Back to that dream..." Lei said and asked. "It seems that you remember someone in a previous life that you must have met, have you?"

  "I...ummm..." Rei takes time to think for a moment.

  Lei waits to hear what Rei wanted to say.

  "About that dream..." Rei started again. "I remember that dream. I felt it was real to me. If I can only remember her face, I should have given my feelings for her...but then something changed..."

  "What's that?" Lei asked.

  "Well..." Rei sighed and continued. "My love for her fell apart...then a tragedy happened between her and her soulmate...and..."

  Lei waits for the response.

  "And...that's what I can recall." Rei finished.

  "I see." Lei nodded.

  "It's a long story." Rei said. "But the past is past as I hardly remember anything."

  "No worries." Lei said. "I'm sure it may come back to your memory again."

  "Yeah..." Rei said.

  "We should head back to the guest room." Lei said to her. "I'm sure we need to rest up for that trip to Granacur."

  "Yes." Rei said. "Let's head back."

  Lei and Rei heads back to the guest room. While they're heading back, Lei decides to wrap her arm around Rei. Feeling the arm linking her, Rei sees Lei doing this, but she decides to roll with it and smiles back at her. Lei is escorted by Rei as they walked back together in arms.

  Hmm, there's a strange presence within this girl... Lei thought. I am getting vibes from her, and I know that there's more to Rei that I don't know about...