Rating: PG
Genre: action, RPG.
Setting: Gaia

The three occupants of the airship held on for dear life as the ship fell to earth. Crysta closed her eyes as the town named Conde Petie loomed in front of them. Then, with a resounding crash the airship hit the ground. Tai stood shakily up, the impact having knocked him to the ground. He looked around.

“Is everyone alright?” He asked. Meru nodded, and Crysta stood anxiously.

“What now?” She asked. Tai shrugged.

“Well, now we search for Black Mages!” Meru grinned.

“Hey, at least we got where we needed to be!” The trio climbed down the side of the airship. Crysta looked back up at it.

“How are we supposed to return this now?” Meru sighed. These mages really were hopeless. He tapped Crysta on the shoulder.

“Come on, lets get going!” Crysta nodded dumbly, and the three of them headed to the nearby town.

“Rally Ho!” Tai blinked.

“What?” The little person in front of him rolled his eyes.

“Rally Ho! It’s a dwarfish greeting!” Tai nodded in understanding

“Ah, I see…well, erm, Rally ho then.”

“Very good, you can enter our fair city!” The friends walked though the halls in Conde Petie. They had a very earthy quality to them. Crysta looked all around.

“Now what? There’s no mages here.” They had walked through the town, talking to everyone they met, but found no sign of their quarry. Now, they stood a little way away from a guard. Tai scratched his head.

“I dunno, there’s not much else we can do!” Meru was gazing thoughtfully at the guard

“I wonder what he’s guarding?”

“Does it matter?” Crysta queried.

“Not as such. I’m just wondering if maybe the mages are through the passage behind him.” Apparently the guard heard them talking, for he now addressed them.

“Nothing through here but the Iifa Tree!”

“Iifa Tree?” Tai remembered reading about this in history, it had been the cause of all the trouble, so long ago. He was fascinated by it. He turned to Crysta, who smiled.

“Let me guess, you want to go see it?” Tai smiled sheepishly,

“Well, we have no leads, we may as well do a bit of sight seeing!” Meru shook his head and muttered.

“Amateurs!” But still he followed the two down the path past the guard.

The group walked down the dusty path.

“Hmmm, I wonder what that dwarf was guarding against?” Meru queried.

“Does it matter?” They walked a little further when Crysta suddenly let out a scream. The Elf Turned quickly to look back. Meru swiftly walked to her side.

“What’s up?”

“I…I saw something up ahead.” Meru raised an eyebrow.

“So you screamed?”

“I’m sorry, it looked like trouble.” Meru shook his head and walked on. He didn’t get too far before a dagger hit the wall next to him.

“Don’t take another step.” The group turned. Standing on the ledge was the owner of the voice. It appeared to be human, or at least humanoid, wearing a black mask and garbed in black, with long dark hair falling around its face. Tai took a breath.

“Who are you and what business do you have stopping us?” Before the figure could speak again however, a rock fell out of nowhere, hitting the figure and knocking him off of the ledge on which he stood. A deafening roar made the travellers ready for battle. Something was coming along the passage.

END OF PART 7