Zenith, Book 1: Mani Mani, Chapter 2:
Zenith, Book 1: Mani Mani, Chapter 2:


RG had arrived in Twoson, and was making his way to the bus station to get his ticket, when a strange hobo crawled out of a dark corner.
"Got any spare change pal?" the dirty man whispered in a low growl.
RG ran into the station as fast as he could, but no one was there. The staff all seemed to be in the back room, discussing some procedures that would have to be taken.
Taken this opportunity, RG slid over the counter and grabbed a whole box of tickets. These would help him on his way.
A few hours later, the bus arrived, but it didn't look normal. It looked like it had been in the ocean. It was all scraped up and barnacles covered the bottom.
RG walked up the three stairs into the bus. Suddenly, the driver turned around and "looked" at him. The driver was a skeleton!
"What will it be, sonny? Ahahahahahah!" screamed the driver.
RG dove out of the bus, realizing that it was heading back towards the ocean. Now he knew that the bus driver had died. He wondered what would have happened to him if he had gotten into the bus, not realizing it was a ghost ship.
He had a decision to make, either run to Threed, or chase after the bus and hope to find some clues. He went with number one, because that had been one of the only times he had ever been that scared.

A few hours later...
He had made it to Threed, but it was also a dead town. No one was in sight, so he could not do what he came to do. There would be no use in heading back to Twoson, because no one was there. Maybe he was just having a weird dream.
He walked out into the desert, where there were still cars and people. After a long while of negotiating with a young man, RG managed to catch a ride up to Fourside.
He finally managed to get to Fourside, where he saw a strange man in the museum window. He decided to check it out.

Mani Mani's meditative trance broke.
"No!" he shrieked. "How could she have survived?"
Mani Mani punched a dent in the wall of his base with Jackie's fist.
"Oh, no matter," he said, smiling. "I can get my flunkies to take care of her. Not to mention those miserable Andonuts."
Jeff pulled a blanket over Paula's blue-tinted body.
"Be warm, my friend," Jeff whispered solemnly. He waved for his father to bring in another comforter.

"Nayc! Nath! Eon! Nual!" Mani Mani yelled.
The four UFOs quickly piled into Mani Mani's field of view.
"What is it?" Nayc and Nath asked.
"We have trouble. I thought I could augment Ness' fighting spirit by killing Paula. But she survived somehow. You have to go to Winters. Kill her. And anyone near her."

Harsemhin looked at Cirra.
"Rita, is it?"
Cirra nodded, trying to avoid the fact she was using a pseudonym.
"Well..." Dan began. "Shouldn't we be going now?"
"A few questions first, Dan: How would you spell my first name?"
Dan stuttered, then began. "H-A-R-S-E-V-I-N."
"Close. It's M-H-I-N. And Rita, my last name?"
"A-B-E-R-M-H-I-T-H?"
"Close, but it's F-Y-D-D to end with."
"OK, then let's go!" Dan motioned for Harsemhin and Cirra to leave with him.
"Won't work anyways," Harsemhin muttered.
"How?" Dan demanded angrily.
"Let me guess," Cirra said. "Only I paid?"
"Right."
"But how'd you know only I paid?" Cirra asked Harsemhin. "I thought you were a diamond."
"I was. But I wasn't. I remember everything that happened to me since 99X."
"99X?" Dan asked, flabbergasted. "You're that old?"
"Shouldn't you be old and grizzled by now?"
"I should," Harsemhin mused, "but it's an odd quirk of the Diamond Stasis I was placed in by the Giygan invaders."
"Giygan invaders?" Cirra shivered again.

Jeff placed one hand on Paula's left cheek, then quickly brought it back. It was incredibly cold.
"Is frostbite setting in?" he wondered out loud. He began to ask his dad for some water to help Paula out of this state, but never finished it.
He was interrupted by an explosion which collapsed a wall near him.
Four UFOs flew in.
"What do you want?" he cried at the UFOs.
"The fighting spirit of another to grow," Nual replied. And then she fired on Jeff, soon followed by the other three.
Jeff's face contorted into a pained one as he fell to the ground, dying.
The last thing he saw before everything faded to black was the four UFOs firing on Paula.

Dr. Andonuts rushed into the room where Jeff was caring for Paula. It sounded like there was a skirmish.
"What's happe--"
He fell to the ground, fat, dead and lifeless.

"Wonderful." Mani Mani pursed his lips.
He paced around his base.
"Now," he said, "to wait for news of these new demises to reach Ness. Save some grand disaster, Ness' fighting spirit will be augmented so that he will have to fight me in revenge. Then I can take his body, and my ascent will be complete!"

"Foggyland was the first place where the invaders attacked in 99X," Harsemhin explained. "I lived in an area called Autumns, and built a temple there. I called it the Falling Temple, although I'm sure it's been ruined by now."
Dan opened his mouth to make a comment on that, but was quickly interrupted when another merry traveller happened upon them.
He blinked a few seconds.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, quickly shoving something into his pocket. "I must be in the wrong area of the museum."
Dan quickly espied him.
"Who are you? You seem familiar, but I don't seem to recognise you."
The new arrival bowed slightly, as if to be polite.
"My name's Cyan. I'm a traveller."
Cirra quickly looked over Cyan. "My name's ...Rita," she added.
"I'm Harsemhin Aberfydd."
"Dan."
Where is he? Cyan asked. He should be here...
"Anyway," Cirra picked up, "how are we going to get you out of here, Harsemhin?"
"He could pretend to be someone who goes to my school," Dan offered.
"That wouldn't work, Dan," Cirra retorted. "He's taller than me, and I'm clearly not school age."
"That can be fixed," Harsemhin commented.
"Huh?" Cirra and Dan blinked a few times.
Mmm... this should be interesting, Cyan thought.
Harsemhin quickly gathered his effects from the exhibit, and stuffed them into his robe.
"You're stealing. You do know that, right?" Cirra asked.
"It's not stealing. These are my things."
Harsemhin closed his eyes and began to focus a second.
He opened his mouth to cry something, but stopped.
"I forgot," he meekly disclosed, "how to use that skill."

Eon, Nual, Nayc and Nath returned to Mani Mani's base.
"Did you take care of those three?" he asked them.
"Correct," Nayc intoned robotically.

Harsemhin pulled a diary-looking book out of his robe, and looked at it.
"No!" he exclaimed. "This is the wrong book! This is only a diary, not what I was looking for!"
"Use the vents then," Dan muttered.
Harsemhin racked his mind for an idea.
"No. I know what to do."
"Remember this one, too?" Dan asked sarcastically.
Harsemhin pantomimed a bow.
Cyan smiled. He was sure he knew what was about to happen.
"Sagitta Stop!" Harsemhin called out. Nothing happened.
Dan hit his head. Cirra shook hers.
"I think you mean Sagitta Halt, Harsemhin," Cyan whispered. Embarrassed, Harsemhin blushed.
"Sagitta Halt!"
Suddenly, an arrow shot from near Harsemhin, and flew through the museum, freezing everyone.
"Now," Harsemin said, "let's go."

On a sidewalk in Twoson, a brown-haired teenager was walking awkwardly with a worried look on his face.
"Hmmm...She's probably swimming in her tears right now, the poor thing. I should have gotten her something..." the brown-haired male said to himself. "Oh good! Flowers!"
He ran up to house that had a bunch of flowers, and he started to pick them.
"Joe, you're a genius!" he thought to himself.
"HEY! You're picking MY flowers in MY yard! get outta here, ya hooligan!" yelled a man who suddenly opened the front door.
Joe grabbed the flowers and ran for it. Once the person went back in their house, he began to walk again.
"Whoa! A bug!" yelped Joe to his surprise. He dropped the flowers and started stomping them in attempt to kill the insect.
"Dengit! Now they're all trampled....Maybe I'll go back to that flower patch!"

He turned around and saw the man sitting on his porch with his rifle in his hand.
"Maybe not..."
He picks up the trampled flowers and tried to make them look better.
"Could anything get worse?"
A loud crack of thunder roared and it started to rain. Joe, realizing Mother Nature was angry, picked up the pace. He finally got to where he was going: Polestar Preschool. Instead of ringing the doorbell, he walked right in.
"Mrs. Polestar?"
At a table in the far corner sat Mrs. Polestar with about fifty thousand tissues around her. She was making puddles in the table. Joe grabbed a kiddy chair and sat down next to the weeping mother.
"Oh dear god! *sob sob* I can't believe it *mourn mourn* She's gone FOREVER! OH NOOO-wah ha haaaaaaaa!"
"Mrs. Polestar, get a hold of yourself."
"Who *sniff* are you?"
"I'm Joe. I heard about your daughter, and I thought it was best that I visit you. Here take these."
He handed her the wet, trampled flowers.
"Um....thank you. *sniff* I guess."
She discretely threw them into the wastebasket.
"Not only *sob* is she dead *sniff* but now I have no one to work here. When we heard the news, the other person who worked here was in such a rage that he punched a whole through the wall. After that, he stormed out of here."
She pointed to the hole.
"That's a pretty big hole."
"Well YEAH!"
"I would be glad to work here. Would you like me to?"
"No...I want you to go to Fourside. I want you to go there and look for Paula's body alive or dead. Please do this for me."
"All right, I'm outta here then. See you later."
"Goodbye and good luck."
Joe stepped out of the preschool and grabbed a bus for Fourside.
"So, how long is this going to take?"
"No hablo íngles."
"Heh....ok."

The bus pulled into Fourside and stopped. Fourside hadn't gotten the rain yet.
"See ya later, Pedro."
"Mi nombre es Juan, tú tonto estúpido."
"Tacos nachos to you, too."
Joe got off the bus and looked around.
"Maybe that guy with the briefcase under the tree could help me," he thought to himself.
He walked up to the man. The man started the conversation.
"Nice weather," he commented.
"Yes, but it looks like rain. I'm glad that my coat has a liner!" Joe replied.
"I've been expecting you. Take the briefcase."
"Ok," responded Joe without realizing what was happening.
"I'll see you later, Mike." And with that, the man disappeared.
"Wait! Why do you have a briefcase? My name's not Mike! Where's Paula???"
Overwhelmed, he sat down next to the tree. He saw someone coming near him. The person came up next to Joe.
"Hi. My name's Joe..."
"Hey, I'm Mike. Nice to meet you, Joe."
"Hi, Mike. The pleasure is mine."
"...So. Know anything about the WEATHER???" Mike winked a couple times.
"Yeah, it looks like rain. I'm glad my coat has a liner," Joe repeated from before.
"I'm supposed to say that."
"Supposed to...Wha?"
"You know. It's me. Hand over the dough."
"What dough?"
"THE dough. Gimme the briefcase."
"No, it belongs to some dude. I have to find him and give it back to him."
"It's mine!"
Mike tried to grab the briefcase, but Joe resisted.
"It's not yours!"
"YES IT IS!!!"
"NO IT'S NOT!!!"
It went like this back and forth, and soon, a crowd formed. They started placing bets on who would get it. Then, the police showed up.
"Ok, people, move along. Nothing to see here. Hand over the briefcase."
"But it's mine..." Mike meekly commented.
"You're disturbing the peace and promoting gambling! I'll take that!"
The police officer grabbed the suitcase and opened it. To his surprise, he saw loads and loads of bills.
"Looks too suspicious....You two are coming with me!"
The two boys groaned and followed the officer.
"So, Mike...What music do you listen to?" asked Joe.
"Don't talk to me..."

With everyone frozen, Harsemhin and the rest began to climb through the vent. Dan could smell fresh, outside air, and he nodded when he saw streams of light coming through one of the tunnels. Harsemhin kicked the grate with his foot, and the quartet hopped out.
Cirra breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the warm air wash over her. However, she began to get depressed as she was left alone in her thoughts.
Harsemhin noticed this, and smiled broadly at her. He thought of the best way to cheer her up. "Would you like to go get a drink with me at the cafe?"
Cirra burst out into tears, and Harsemhin backed off.
"I'm sure she'll be more willing later."

Mani Mani sighed, and began to meditate again. He briefly paused to swat a butterfly away from his face, although the soothing nature of the animal did give him more energy.
He looked over to a tree near him, and smiled. All was going to plan.

Below this very tree, in the south of fourside, there was a small room filled to the brims with computing equipment. Inside, the four UFO's were just recovering from their latest endeavor.
Eon and Nual were batting a small PSI ball back and forth, and Nath was relaxing in front of the TV, watching anime. However, Nayc was at unrest.
"Whassamatter?" Eon said, stopping her game. The PSI Ball hit Nual in the face once Eon let go.
Nayc stared at one of the computer screens, his eyes glazed over. "This can't be..."
"What can't be?" Eon said slowly.
"SHE! MUST! DIE!" Nayc screamed hovering out of the hole.
Eon blinked.
"Well, if Nayc the grammar king is speaking in short phrases, something must be up. I'll follow him."

Nayc flew out of the whole, and began to power up a strong teleport, set for winters. At the last possible moment in his spin, another UFO jumped in his way. Both were caught in the whirl, and were teleported to the snowy town.

When the whirl slowed down, Eon quickly jumped back into a bush. She watched carefully as Nayc began to search the grounds of the southern tip of winters.
Finally, he found it. The lab he had desomated...There she was! That little blond girl was lying in the snow, refusing to die!
Nayc chuckled, and charged a beam. He fired, and watched it connect. "But wait!" A pink shield formed around the girl, and he howled in anguish. "DIE!"
He fired off beam after beam, and still the shield protected her. "ARGH!"
The UFO hovered still, panting slightly.
"A PSI shield...physical attack, here we come!"
He began to concentrate, and formed a shield around himself. With a battle cry, he sent himself hurtling toward the girl. The solid shield connected, and shattered the shield of the girl.
"Success!" He cackled, and fired off a final beam. That was all it took.
He cackled in satisfaction, but was rather cautious. He flew up to the girl, and craned his head near her chest. Not a beat.
"HAHAH! Mani Mani will be pleased! NO ONE CAN EVADE FATE!"
However, he failed to notice a dog bounding out of the burning wreckage. It began to sniff Paula's corpse, and within seconds, it had come to a conclusion. She was dead.
The dog howled into the night, and Nayc turned around. "Great, I’ve got a poodle to deal with."
The dog turned on him, growling. Nayc studied the situation. Suddenly, another UFO leapt out of the bush. "NAYC! RUN!"
"Eon! What are you doing here?" Eon gaped at Nayc, and saw the dog lung for him. "NO!"
She fired a round of beams at the dog, but it didn't matter. It had Nayc in his teeth. With a quick move, Eon slammed into the dog’s snout, knocking Nayc free. She powered up a teleport, and grabbed Nayc with her. She hit him with a light beam before they disappeared. "Give a little notice next time you go on a suicide mission!"
When the UFO's were gone, the dog howled again. He had tried so hard to save Paula.... but she was not meant to survive. Fate worked in the strangest ways.

Mrs. Lee heard muffled thuds on the stairs. As they got louder, she could see her son slowly descending.
"Oh, Ness, honey!" she said quietly, rising and meeting him halfway between the stairway and the table. "How are you feeling?"
Ness's face was as tear-streaked as Tracy's had been. "Mom...." He looked up. "How could it happen?"
There was a silence for a few moments. "I don't know. Sometimes, life can seem very unfair."
Ness trudged lifelessly over to the telephone. "I want to see if Jeff or Poo know yet. Poo probably doesn't, and Jeff might have been too busy." Mrs. Lee nodded in understanding. As Ness was about to pick up the receiver, the phone rang.

"I've already begun to make my presence and power known to Ness," remarked Mani Mani to itself. "Some messages may be in order. I'm sure that he must know at least of the bus crash by now - he must think that the girl is dead, at any rate." Mani Mani slipped back into mediation, focusing on Ness Lee.

"Tsuuraaaamiiiiiii!" wailed a dark-haired woman. "If you go to Cartame you're not going to get your homework done!!"
"Yes I will," muttered a visibly irritated TsuramiSea.
"No you won't!" snapped the woman. "You'll come home and say you're too tired, and for the rest of the weekend you won't do it!"
TsuramiSea tried very hard to keep his patience. He knew his mom just wanted him to keep his grades up, but going to Cartame wouldn't affect whether or not his homework got done. "MOM, I'll be back in this time stream in less than an HOUR. And I won't complain about being tired. My homework will get done."
"I still don't know what you mean by 'time stream'," complained Tsurami's mother.
TsuramiSea stared at the ground and grumbled, "Mom! I explained it to you FOUR TIMES already! Don't you get it yet, about the fact that when I go through the portal, it causes me to step out of time so that when I come back, I return only a few minutes after I left?"
"That doesn't make any sense, why should I understand it?" shot his mother. TsuramiSea started to say something, but she interrupted. "Okay, you can go, but you'd BETTER get your homework done when you come back!"
"Yeah, yeah," muttered TsuramiSea. "Goodbye, mom."
"Bye," said Tsurami's mother in a clipped tone. TsuramiSea went to the front door and began to walk up the road.
Okay, I'll stop for lunch somewhere in Disney, and then head for the EarthBound universe. I hope it's not another alternate dimension, thought Tsurami somewhat crabbily. It wouldn't take more than a couple of hours to get there.

"Wha-?" Siris suddenly felt a new aura simply pop into existence. He would have found this odd in itself, had a few things not been more odd: The aura was immediately familiar. More odd still: The aura was above him. He was about to consider this even more when he heard a female voice screaming from the place where the aura was. Siris, having thought for a full second, finally looked up when he heard the scream.
"Luna!" he gasped. Siris focused for a split second, and rose into the air. He flew quickly up toward the falling girl, and caught her in midair. She stopped screaming, and just as quickly, he dropped back to the ground, with Luna in his slightly-less-than-muscular arms. As he touched down on the roof, he gently let go of her, setting her on her feet. He backed away, now nervous.
"Uh... you okay?" he muttered, trying to control his heartbeat and breathing.
"I am now," Luna grinned. "Thanks."
"Uh... no problem..." Siris managed.
"You seem so familiar," Luna said, intently examining Siris's face.
"I should hope so," Siris replied, getting a hold of himself. I've been trying to reach you for a while..."

SCREEEEEEEEEECHHHHH!!!
"Hey kid! Watch where you're going!"
Matt stood dazed, standing in the middle of the street. He was only inches away from the car that had almost hit him.
"Oh...sorry..." he muttered, scrambling out of the way. I hate cities. There's so many people crowded together, cars racing down the streets and these huge, ugly buildings all over the place...
Matt was walking the streets of Fourside. He usually avoided the city at all costs, but today was different. He had come willingly and was reluctant to leave. Something that he couldn't get out of his head was keeping him there...
There's something wrong here. Very wrong. I know it; I could feel it from Dalaam, and it's only stronger now...
Matt looked at his surroundings, trying to determine the exact location of the dark aura he was feeling. He closed his eyes and focused on the presence. But whenever he came close to pinpointing it, everything got fuzzy and he lost it. He opened his eyes and clenched his fist in frustration.
What now? I suppose if I cannot sense it, I'll have to locate it the old-fashinoned way...
He looked about. There were a few small shops and stalls situated around him, nothing special. The building that caught his attention was a small, rundown place down the street.
A cafe! Maybe a few of the locals know something about this presence...Well..., it's not that likely, but it's worth a try at least.

Mike followed the officer at a safe distance. Joe was walking along side of him, blinking. He spoke up yet again. "My name's Joe. You look like a... Mike. I'm going to call you Mike, is that okay?"
Mike blinked. "I already told you my name. It is, as a matter of fact, Mike."
"Oh yeah."
The trio continued to walk out of the park, when all of a sudden a group of people dressed in black ran into the general area. They shouted. "You! Over there! You're the one who broke into Pirkle's personal files!"
The color in Mike's face was gone with that statement. Before he could think of doing anything, the sound of automatic fire filled the area. Bullets were flying everywhere. People scrambled away from the expanse of grass that filled the park. A stray bullet nearly hit Mike, but it missed. Instead, it hit the cop in the leg.
Joe shrieked. Mike blinked. Essentially, all heck was breaking loose. Trying to remain calm, Mike pulled out his 9mm. He started to return fire, and amazingly, at the sound of being fired upon, the mob ran away. Joe was tending to the police officer, when suddenly he was pulled away by the arm.
"Come on, we have to get out of here. Just hang on, alright?" Mike disappeared, taking Joe with him. He ran to the other side of the park and then behind the nearest building. That was when he became visible again.
Joe blinked. "Were we just invisible?!?!"
Mike nodded in reply.
"Wow. That's so cool. Do it again! We could go into the nearest convenience store and get food FOR FREE!!!"
Mike shook his head at the idea.
"... You're not one for talking, huh?"
Mike became livid. "Not at the moment I'm not! You made me miss out on $100,000. I'm kinda angry, ya know." He was silent for a moment to let that thought sink in. He had calmed down a bit. "Now, we're going to have to hang low for a while. The cops'll be after us because we did, in fact, break away from them. But that's okay, because I don't think that the old guy got a good look at our faces."
"I'm sorry. ... Say, let's go get a drink at the cafe. All that excitement wore me out." Joe walked off, expecting Mike to follow.
"... Fine. I could use a drink right now. Ugg..." Mike looked around, then followed Joe to the cafe. He started to feel... something. As he drew nearer to the cafe, the feeling grew stronger. Not knowing what to make of the feeling, Mike ignored it.

Harsemhin snapped his fingers angrily. "You know, I've never had to try that before. Where I'm from marriages are prearranged!"
Cirra rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm afraid that's one of the things that has chnaged since then. However, I suppose I'll let that one slide. I assume you're hungry after not eating for 1000 years?"
"Come to think of it, I am a tad hungry."

They walked to the cafe, completely missing the two people on top. The two people saw them, though, mostly due to the strange clothing Harsemhin was wearing.
"Hello. What can I get you three? Of course, you are a BIT too young for coffee..."
Harsemhin went first. "I would like a Crested Booka, if you will."
"I will, if you tell me what the heck it is! By the way...alot of people in Fourside wear strange clothing, so one gets used to it...but that's crazy, Mr..."
"Harsemhin."
Dan leaned in. "Our friend here is a bit...strange," he lied. "Could you just get him a hamburger?"
"Sure thing..." The bartender whispered back. "One...erm...Crested Booka it is!"

Kyle finally made it to Fourside. Along the way he had been talking to himself. He considered it better than just thinking.
"Well," he said,"from what I can tell, this adventure will concern a dark presence. They always do. I hate having to rely on just my water PSI attacks! Dang! Why couln't my main PSI element be something like fire... or wind..." Then Kyle began to think about his plan of action... "...I have no plan of action. Oh well, I guess I'll just maake it up as I go... like I always do..."
Kyle walked around Fourside until he got hungry. Then he went to find someplace to eat. The first place he found was Jackie's Cafe. He went in, ordered some food, and looked around. He saw this one guy who looked very out of place.
"Where'd that guy come from?" Kyle wondered out loud staring at Harsemhin.
Harsemhin heard Kyle and noticed that he was staring at him. "I'm from the year 99X, a place called Autumns. And where'd you come from?"
Kyle was suprised and somewhat embarrassed about being heard. "I'm, uh, from a little south from Threed. I don't live in a city." Kyle had unwillingly begun a conversation.

High up in the billowing clouds, on a floating mound of dirt, lies a kingdom. A kingdom ruled by a skilled Prince, sat at his throne. Anguished by the fact that the royal family of Atlus was executed in their own home. Fearing that he might be their next vitcim, he set up guards at the entrance of the castle and in the throne room, feeling pleased by the fact that his life was well-guarded. Suddenly, it struck. A loud piercing scream echoed throughout the royal hall, and then was followed with a giggle. The Prince, Poo, was immedaitly on his feet, holding the Sword of Kings.
"What is this?" Poo shouted out in a loud voice, "Show yourself!"
The guards stepped in front of Poo, ready to protect him from any harm. The suspense was awful, they couldn't wait any longer... then it finally happened. A lone guard walked into the throne room, gasping and panting. He held out his hand, as if he was calling out for help. His lip moved quietly and then he collasped to the ground with a sword stuck in his back. The guards moved in closer, ready to inspect him. The sword began to eminate a strange glow...
The guards jumped back as a dark figure entered the room, reaching out with his hand. The sword immedaitly shot up in the air and beckon to the figure's hand. The armed figure chuckled and said, "Like my sword, Prince Poo? This is the only sword that can overcome the king of swords!"
The figure vanished and four of Poo's loyal guards fell to the ground with a scream then the figure reappeared again, this time his sword was bloodier than last time. Poo shivered by the image of the person.
"Mani Mani will regain his power... and become more greater than you could ever imagine..." the figure chuckled as he raised his Sword of Shadows high in the air and let it flew down with a sickening splat. Then everything went silent, the figure disappeared, Poo's body fell to the ground in halves, while a shaking guard hid behind Poo's throne. He broke down, crying, about how he fail his master and decided to take an alternative by avenaging Poo's horrible death. He left Dalaam by climbing down a rope to the land of unknown... his first stop was in Fourside.

Meanwhile, a teenaged boy with spiked hair walked through the street of Fourside and he immedatily ran into a man in armour. The boy fell back and jumped up in anger, whipping out a sword, "Watch where you're going! You'll be sorry that you messed with Rockwell!"
The guard looked at the sword and something familar flashed back. It was him. The guard pulled out his rapier and said, "I'll pay you back for killing my dear prince!"
Rockwell wasn't paying attention, he was ready to attack with his Sword of Shadows...

Electra, former maid of Pokey during the Monotoli administration, sat on a park bench just behind the Fourside Museum. It had been ages since she was employed--ever since Monotoli fell sharply in public opinion, and he no longer held any power in the city, she had been out of work. Nervously munching on a stale piece of bread(which she had procured from a nearby trashcan), her eyes flitted about, taking in the city's atmosphere. Electra's eyes wandered to the former Monotoli Building, now Enrich Flavor. It was then that something caught her eye. Something...a shadow on the building's rooftop. Instinctively, she balled her fists and rubbed her eyes, then squinted, gazing at the rooftop. There it was...no, not there...what was it?