Arcane Tales

"Alto Crive, General of the Alda Royal Knights" Alto almost boasts.

Creed sighs, "And I am Creed Baticule, a Royal Knight's Commander serving directly under general Crive."

*James walks up to her*

James: <Hey! What are you doing out here? It's dangerous.>

"Well its nice to meet most of you."

*Jade walks out into the clearing and sees the little girl picking peaches.*

(Why do I always have a bad feeling about her?)

Girl: <I was waiting for you!>

*She bows to James, smiling, and waves at the others cheerfully*

Allina: <Hi there! Hum, we--do you know where we are?>

Girl: <Let's eat peaches!>

*She points at the peaches, swinging about like she's dancing*

Allina: <Who are you? Does anyone else live here?>

Girl: <Nope. Just me, but the moon lady visits sometimes! Oh, oh, I'm Momo!>

Allina: <Nice to meet you...>

*She looks at James*

Allina: <(She must be talking about Luna.) Momo, did a man in a black cloak visit you asking for a key?>

Momo: <Yes, not very nice man. He didn't even want to play with me...!>

Allina: <And did he find the key?>

*She becomes somewhat pale and steps back, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed over her chest. She stares at a peach on the floor, sniffing like she's about to cry. The branch Kentaro is stepping on snaps*

"I think you hurt her feelings Ally" Alto says rather rudely.

Creed walks over to the girl and pats her on the head, "Hey hey, it'll be alright."

*Kari steps away from the tree.*

"Kentaro..."

Kentaro:<I hear and feel it. Slow and steady...>

*Kentaro slowly begins to climb down from the tree.*

*James looks at the girl, as if expecting something from her.*

James: <Well?>

*Allina glares very menacingly at Alto. Momo lightly knocks on her own head, with her right fist, and nods to Soul and Creed before turning to James*

Momo: <Bad man... he said he'd destroy the peaches if I didn't show him the key...

*She points at the trees all around and takes a deep breath*

Allina: <...So you showed him. Well, can you show us too? We need to get out of here, and find that man.>

*She nods and sighs, turning her back on them. She spreads her arms wide opened and is enveloped in an intense orange light. A purple warp hole appears in front of her, and the orange light fades away. She turns back to them and bows*

Momo: <Bye-bye...>

Allina: <...I'm sorry, I really wish we would stay and play with you but---Why don't you come with us?>

*She giggles like Allina just said something funny*

*James slowly walks towards the warp hole.*

James: <Hmm...>

"Can we take a peach? I'm kinda hungry" Alto asks the girl.

*Kentaro jumps down and hits the ground holding a peach flower out to Kari.*

"Th-Thank you."

*She blushes and ties it to one of her ribbons.*

*Jade walks past Soul*

"(I always have a bad feeling about her...)"

*She picks up a rock and tosses it into the warp hole*

"So who's first?"

Allina: <(I don't think we have anything to worry about.)>

*She walks closer to the portal as the girl picks up a few of the big peaches and puts them in a white fabric bag that apparently appeared out of nowhere. She hands it to Alto, smiling and waves at Allina and the others. The warp hole starts glowing intensely and they hear a shriek as Allina's sucked into it. They're all blinded by light and swallowed by the portal. Next thing they know, they're appearing at the top of a cliff in a flash of light. In the distance, down below, they see Capital Sephira*

Allina: <That was very weird..>

*Jade gets up and brushes herself off.*

"You think? Where are we?"

"Not where we were" Alto pulls out a peach from the back and begins to eat it.

"Brillant deduction."

*James sighs and looks at the capital from up above.*

Kentaro:<We're not climbing down, right?>

Allina: <This is Sephira... Odd, me and James were at the cathedral when the mist took us to that place. Anyway, we should probably discuss what to do next after a nice meal!>

*After walking through the woods for a few minutes, they reach Capital Sephira's main gate. One of two armored guards standing by the gate glares at Kentaro, and starts walking towards them. They hear a strong explosion and burning pieces of wood, bricks and what seems to be a sofa are spat into the sky above the center of the city, covered in black flames. They hear screams and shrieks and, immediately afterwards, a thin tower of black fire rises into the sky at the same spot*

Allina: <...What's going on!?>

*The guard that was walking up to Kentaro darts inside through the gate. Screams are now heard all over the city, and people in the streets. Allina runs inside*

"I think we're still in trouble."

Kentaro:<Unfortunately it seems to be our civic duty to help these people.>

*The two cautiously go inside looking about for any guards that may spot them.*

Alto and Creed rush imediatly into the city with swords in one hand and the emblems of the royal knights of Alda in the other.

*James dashes inside the city, looking for anything out of the ordinary.*