300 years ago, the Land was once so peaceful and cheery. Not like the present that the Land is infested with invaders and ruling dictators. So much has changed over the past centuries that instead of nurturing people’s magical abilities as was before, it stays repressed and unused within them; but rather, they made advancements in technology. This technology should have had been used to help people and improve their lives, yet most of it is used to keep them living in fear and oppression.
The people of the Land now live in suffering under the regime of the descendants of the great and terrible Arwin Adriano who are just as ruthless as he was. Hope is running away from them and there was not much to live for except despair, anger, confusion, sadness, poverty… and hunger…

“We’re dying hungry, Dad!” a thin girl with dark brown, wavy hair and about the age of 16 yells to her father who is probably dozing off in the kitchen, “Besides, Paul is coming any minute now!” She taps her hands on the dining table, getting impatient.

An alchemist sits by the kitchen stove stirring a pot of soup while reading an old parchment of paper with poetic writing.
He quickly hides the paper in his pocket when he hears his daughter’s voice and tries to look busy.
“Don’t worry, Keiby! Dinner is almost done!” he shouts back in reply.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Sitting near the door, Keiby’s sister by the name Garcy jolts up says, “I’ll go get it!”
She fixes her long hair and makes herself presentable before she opens the door.
“Paul!” she greets him happily.
A tall handsome lad steps in without a word and ignores Garcy’s warm welcome.
There is a sign of melancholy on his face as he looked around the room—his gray eyes seem to be seeking something to make things livelier for him.
He then spots Keiby standing by the dining table waving and smiling.
He smiles back too, but frowns again when Garcy waves her hand in front of his face.
“Hello? Is Paul in there or has his soul departed to another world? Why, have you not been here before? You are acting like a stranger! Now, come, come. Dinner is waiting already… I hope,” Garcy then drags him along towards the dining area.

Surprised by the early arrival of their guest, the alchemist hastily finishes cooking the mushroom soup by grabbing a few bottles out of the cupboard (Didn’t Ed say alchemy was first discovered in the kitchen?); and out of those, he pours estimated amounts into the pot.
The soup shimmers and begins to form a whirlpool but he does not seem to notice.

“Okay, food’s ready!” he announces and makes his way to the dining table.
“Finally! I was about to die of starvation!” Keiby exclaims as she sits down on her seat and greets their guest, “Hi, Paul!”
Paul nods to her in response, and then turns to the alchemist, “Good evening, Sir John.”
“Well, enjoy! I’ll go get some bread,” John says and goes back to the kitchen.

Right then after, Garcy and Paul who are sitting opposite each other seem to be arguing about something.
“Let’s have an eating contest then. Winner is the first one to finish the soup…” Paul challenges the two of them.
Garcy immediately accepts but Keiby declines as being the far calmer one of the siblings.

Then, the contest begins.

“Hey! Paul, there’s mushroom in this soup!” Garcy complains.
“Duh… That’s why it’s called ‘mushroom’ soup,” Paul replies calmly.
“You placed this mushroom in my soup to slow me down, didn’t you?”
“I did not…”
“Of course you did! You placed it in my bowl so that I would be chewing the mushroom before I’d be able to swallow it, unlike just plain soup that it doesn’t need to be chewed!”
“Then you might have been better off with plain water. That piece of mushroom you are talking about is small enough to be swallowed right away.”
“My throat is too narrow for that! I think?”
“Then have pity on that narrow throat from all your screaming and just finish your soup… after I win...”
“No, you won’t!”

‘Those two can be so annoying,’ Keiby thought.
Trying to ignore them, she closes her eyes and tries to meditate while having another thought in mind, ‘My soup is getting cold.’
She suddenly opens her eyes sensing an abrupt silence, and to her shock, they are gone! Thinking the two are just having another contest outside, she begins to consume her soup.

Meanwhile, John is carrying a loaf of bread to the table when he sees the chairs without their occupants.
‘Are they taken by the guards? Nah… but were they not hungry? Oh, well… more soup for me!’ he thinks as he sits down and starts to eat.
Suddenly, a strange sensation spreads throughout his body.
His surroundings begin to change; and instead of seeing the inside of his dilapidated house, he sees tall and large trees towering around him.
‘Wow! Where am I? How did I get here?’ he thought wonderingly, ‘Does that mean I don’t have to do the dishes?’
He walks on trying to find out where the heck he is and how he might go back to his own home, but then all he can find are more trees, thick shrubs, and...
“JOY! You’re here too! Phew! I am relieved…” he calls and then continues, “Oh, you don’t know how ‘scared’ I was when suddenly I got here and I had no idea how to get back! Seeing that you’re so calm and all that… well, you seem to know how… how to get back home… don’t you?”
He raises his eyebrow when he realizes that “Joy” tends to be in a state of shock.
“Wh-what…? Don’t you recognize me? Aw, come on… That’s ridiculous! You can’t possibly forget your own husband! If that is so, then that would mean you forgot how to get back home too! I won’t be able to see my cute rubber ducky again!” John exclaims.
“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”
John is flabbergasted with the sudden screaming as the reaction of “Joy”, but he turns around as he hears fast footsteps of several people drawing nearer and nearer every second; and before he knew it, he is knocked by an uppercut and falls into unconsciousness.

‘It all happened so fast! Where on earth am I?’

As for Garcy, she ended up somewhere in the town square somewhere near a clock tower, and night is falling upon her. Many things came across her mind as she tries to find out what happened to her.
Wait, where are the others?
“Keiby? Dad? Paul?” she calls out, hoping they would answer but there was none. However, she sees a young man wearing a cloak with a hood standing silently in front of the clock tower.
She goes closer to him and asks, “Paul? Is that you?” but realizes it is not him, although he is about Paul’s age.
The young man turns around while he takes off his hood and sees Garcy.
“No, I don’t think I’m the one you’re looking for. But may I ask what you are doing here?” he replies.
For Garcy, it is love at first sight; but for the young man, his mind is preoccupied with something as he looks up the tower so he did not really notice her gazing at him in a goofy way.
Good thing though that she was able to snap back to reality.

“Uhm… well, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing here or even how I got here but I need to get back to my family. You see, I’m not from around this place,” she tries to explain.
“Oh, maybe I can help you. I’m Cedric by the way. ” he introduces himself.
“M-my name’s Garcy. So tell me Cedric, why were you looking up the clock tower?”
“Nothing really… I just heard this tale that some people were talking about a maiden trapped within the tower. That wouldn’t be you now, would it?”
“Yeah, it was me. I just used the elevator to get down,” Garcy jokingly replies but it looks like Cedric actually believes her. “Where exactly are we?”
“We’re in Gavellae—”
“Wait, did you just say Gavellae? But that City was destroyed by Arwin the Terrible three hundred years ago!”
Is it possible that I went back in time? She thought.
“Really?! That’s so sad. You poor crazy girl…” he shook his head sadly

“I’m not crazy, anyway, have you ever heard of Arwin the Terrible!? He invaded the peaceful city were now in 300 years ago from my time! Killed many people, and conquered all the cities using magic! I know that because I come from the future!” she yelled in frustration, close to tears.
“Okay, okay, calm down.” He said “I think I heard of someone in Pynaffoleaize who could possibly help you. Her name is Master Yema, she teaches her students in magic and how to fight.”

As Garcy heard these words, she felt a surge of hope within her that she was here for a reason and thought it was possible to change the dismal future in which she has lived in. That, or perhaps that was just the food she ate.
In another place in the past, Keiby fought desperately to try to make sense what was going on. The first thing that came to her mind is that she must have disappeared to where Garcy and Paul were. She saw that it definitely wasn’t the same place where she grew up in.

She found Paul somewhere wandering around this new environment they were in although he arrived a few hours earlier. They both agreed that it was probably the soup which caused them to be transported into a different realm or at least a different time. Well, Keiby was doing much of the thinking and Paul just agreed to what she thought.
Hey, isn’t that dad? What the heck is he wearing? Keiby thought as she spotted a man who looked very much like her father, aside from the clothes he was wearing.

“Dad! Dad! We’re here!” she called out to him. She seemed to have gotten his attention, yet as he saw her, his eyes widened in fear and terror.
“Sir, are you alright?” Paul asked the man who suddenly broke into a run and fled from his daughter and her friend.
“I think somebody’s scrambled his brains,” Keiby muttered to Paul
“Let’s follow him!” he suggested to her as they ran after him.
After so much pursuing in this strange place, they eventually saw him going inside what looked like a secret hideaway. The two of them found him again.

“Jem! Jem! There are people after me!” he shouted towards a person sleeping on a bench with a hat covering her face!
The person called Jem immediately jumped up awake, like her soul became in contact with her body once more. She hit him hard on the shoulder before speaking to him.
“Dimwit! I was asleep! And it was a good dream to! Anyway, who are these people? And why on Earth are they would they be after you?” a thought suddenly crossed her mind and she struck JC once more, “You incredible idiot! They’re probably spies and you led them right here!”
“We’re not spies! We were just looking for my dad, and he looks just like him!”
Keiby explained to Jem, who was just about her age and even possibly younger.
“Did you just say, someone like him?” she asked pointing to her servant. “Yeah, I
I think I heard some people taking how they captured him awhile ago; but I never saw him because I was sleeping until somebody woke me up.”

The real JC was also unconscious somewhere in the hideaway, tied up. It all started when he saw a woman who resembled his wife.
“Joy!” he called out to her “It’s me JC! I missed you so much!” he ran forward to greet her.

“Get away from me! You’re not my husband! And my name’s not Joy!” she yelled at him.
JC’s confusion began to grow as he was sure that it was his wife’s face he was looking at but what did she mean about him not being her husband?
The woman called up some people, and somebody knocked him over the head.
Slowly, he began to regain consciousness once again. He saw that he was in a dark room with little light, it reminded him so much of home except for the ropes that bound his hands and feet.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Garcy and Cedric hitched a ride on a traveling cart on the way to Pynaffoleaize; if they traveled on foot, it would take them at least a day for them to get there. Unfortunately for the two of them, one of the wheels of the wagon broke down as the horse ran away to avoid a rabbit lying unconscious on the road. Garcy was quite infuriated with the rabbit delaying her chances of meeting master Ciela but Cedric, on the other hand, pitied the animal and brought it along with them as they were left with no choice but to walk to Pynaffoleaize.
“I don’t see why we had to bring the rabbit along,” Garcy complained “It already caused us a lot of trouble.”
“Poor creature, its all weak.” Cedric replied cradling the unconscious creature in his arms.
”So we’re going to nurse it back to health and then one day its going to repay us?” Garcy muttered with sarcastic joy that Cedric did not notice.
“Yep, I just love helping animals in need” he said smiling proudly.
Garcy was about to make another sarcastic comment, however she held her silence because it might turn Cedric off. (<-unsa xa, switch?)

The two of them arrived early before dawn in Pynaffoleaize, tired and hungry. Garcy was about to suggest that they should cook the rabbit until Cedric spotted a place that served food for soldiers and other people on duty very early in the morning. Cedric ordered some food for the two of them to eat as they overheard the story told by a woman whose face was covered by a hood to the sailors that were listening intently.

“It is said that somewhere in the Marianas Trench is an enchanted grotto. Whoever could find that place would be guaranteed of immortality” she spoke.
“But what about those people that were never seen from again?” a gigantic sailor interrupted her, his eyes wide with fear.
“Yes, that is a good point. I would like to know that too. And how can I be sure that what you are about to give us is real?” the young captain of the ship asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
“My good captain, I assure you that this is truly the position of the stars once you are in the exact location of the grotto.” She said, pulling out a scroll of parchment from her bag. “You may have it, free of charge. As for those people that disappeared, they are just rumors. Really, what have you got to lose?” she asked him before she left their table.

“Does magic really exist?” Garcy asked Cedric after he finished his meal.
“Oh yeah, but still there are some people that insist on improving technology instead of magic. It takes a lot of skill and determination to control your powers, you wont be able to do much if you don’t practice it. Maybe Master Ciela could help you, speaking of which we, we better get going.

They continued walking on until they both realized that neither of them knew where exactly Master Ciela lived. Cedric suggested that they should rest for a while before asking people around. Both of them sat on a stone bench in awkward silence with the rabbit still unconscious. Suddenly the rabbit sprang awake with its ears all pricked up. It rubbed its head against Cedric’s hand and gazed adoringly at its savior. However as Garcy was about to pet it also, it hopped from Cedric’s lap and unto the ground, glaring at Garcy. Much more to Garcy’s surprise, it opened its mouth as if to speak… and it did…
“Achd mnchf hdnn.” It uttered at her.
Garcy was very much in shock right now. Not only did it speak! It insulted her!
“AAAAH! THE RABBIT IS TALKING! THE RABBIT IS TALKING!” she screamed out loud, jumping up and down hysterically before falling off the bench.
“I thought I knew that voice,” she heard someone say. Looking up, she saw Paul, his arms crossed and a big grin on his face.
“Garcy! You’re here too!” Keiby exclaimed, who was a bit behind Paul and followed by Jem.
“Keiby! Th-the rabbit! It talked!” Garcy stammered
Jem looked at the rabbit with a weird smile on her face. She approached the creature and patted its head. The rabbit relaxed from its defensive stance and spoke again.
“Yorle krars ecian” It said. To everyone’s surprise, except Jem, a big black wolf-like dog appeared from nowhere and bared its fangs at the rabbit. The rabbit did nothing but stare back t the dog with huge, innocent eyes. Jem extended her arm outward and the dog vanished. She then gave the rabbit another pat on the head.
“Good rabbit. You’re so smart, knowing it was an illusion” she said to it “by the way, I think it hates you”, she mentioned to a stunned Garcy calmly
“Garcy! I cant believe its you! This is amazing!”, Keiby said happily, hugging her sister. “We were on our way to see Master Ciela; Jem was going to take us to her, she said that master Ciela could help us!”
After a few moments of getting to know each other, the group ventured onward to the dwellings of Master Ciela which was just across the street from the park where they met.

“Well, here we are.” Jem said unenthusiastically. *sigh* “This is just really it.” Pointing to the large mansion in front of them while the others gaped in awe.
“You live in a mansion?” Keiby asked her.
“Not exactly. Its kind of… uhm… down there.” She explained, pointing to the ground.
“I suppose we have to dig our way down? Garcy asked, raising her eyebrows.
Jem said nothing and took a staff out of nowhere. She tapped it on the ground which heated up and shook.
Cedric immediately hid himself behind Garcy.
“What’s happening?” He asked but received no reply.
The ground stopped shaking and the so-called mansion started to vanish, revealing a tiny glass box with a key in it. Jem got the key and placed it in the ground where she pointed the house was. The key automatically submerged into the soil leaving only a glass box. The glass started to grow and engulfed them all inside it as if they were inside a huge cubed bubble. They all watched the magical transport in amazement as they themselves sank down to the soil. Cedric was close to tears.