Scott and Michael both spun around. The empty halls and chambers of Adlehyde castle were giving them the creeps. Especially with the stories of the two soldiers who fought like monsters floating in their minds. "C-Come on...w-we've gotta find it before h-h-he comes..." Michael stuttered, trying to be the brave one of the duo.

Scott was shivering with fear as the two boys entered the Adlehyde castle library. Michael whispered, "You search that side of the room. I'll search this side. You know what we're looking for, so you should know it when you see it." With that, the two boys began scouring the bookshelves, searching for what they had come a long way to Adlehyde to find.

Scott gasped and shivered as a cold rush of air hit him, as if someone had just run behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see no one. He whispered to Michael, "D-Do we have to do this t-tonight?"

Michael nodded and replied, not bothering to look at his friend, "Yeah. You know what'll happen if we don't take it back to her!" Scott whimpered and turned back to the bookshelf.

Another rush of air hit him. It was followed by a girl's mischievous giggling. Scott begged Michael, his eyes extremely wide by now, "Please! Let's come back tomorrow night!! I've got a very bad feel--MMF!!!!"

Michael whirled around just to find himself face-to-face with the man whom he and Scott had been trying to avoid. Across the room, the girl, whom they had also been trying to avoid, was holding Scott's arms behind his back and also had a hand over his mouth.

The girl wore silver and black armor with a silver and black helmet. Her hair came down to her knees and was also silver. She had a silver, wolf-like tail with a golden tip, black cat- like ears, and beautiful, jade green eyes.

The man wore black, gold, and orange armor and a black and gold helmet with a black visor that hid his face. Strapped to his back was a silver and red boomerang.

They were Scott and Michael's worst fears. The infamous soldiers of Adlehyde castle. The two soldiers who fought with the strength of 1000 monsters.

Boomerang and Noble Knight.

In one fluid maneuver, Boomerang spun Michael around, pinned him to the bookshelf, and brought his hands behind his back. Boomerang hated being awakened around one o'clock in the morning, so he ended up being just a little too rough in capturing Michael.

Because of his weariness, Boomerang started babbling almost everything that came to his mind. He rambled, "You have the right to remain silent! You have the right to get an attorney! If you get Johnny Cochran, I'll kill 'ya!!" That just caused Noble Knight to burst into laughter.

She yawned, expressing that she, too, was tired, "Let's just get 'em to the dungeon." With that, both she and Boomerang took a book off of the bookshelves and hit Scott and Michael over the head, knocking them senseless.

Boomerang called down as he dragged the two still unconscious thieves down the stairs, "Hey, Matt! Open up a cell! We've got our first tenants!"

"You're kidding me!" came the response followed by the jingling of keys.

"Nope," Boomerang yawned. The dungeon was fairly new which was the main reason that it did not look nearly as dark and foreboding as it should have. The stones which made up the dungeon were a light grey color, not coal black like they should have been, and the bars and doors of the cells did not squeak whenever someone opened them.

The old dungeon of the castle, the one that Boomerang had been held in only two years ago during Filgaia's third war against the demons, collapsed just a year ago which was why the new one had been constructed and finished just a few weeks ago. Also, about a month after the defeat of Zeikfried, Cecilia had ordered the destruction of the execution room.

Boomerang sat down in a chair and yawned again. Matt sat in a chair beside him and asked, "What are you doing up? It's not your shift yet." Matt was a human soldier with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was around five feet and five inches tall, a foot shorter than Boomerang. He was also the demon's best friend. Next to Noble Knight, that is. In fact, Boomerang would have never gotten his job as a soldier if it had not have been for Matt.

Boomerang replied, taking off his helmet and rubbing his head, "I've had this terrible headache for the past two days. I decided to take a walk and see if that would clear my head up when I saw these two walking through the castle." He pointed to Michael and Scott. "I woke up Noble Knight and we caught 'em."

Matt looked around and asked, "Where is Noble, anyway?"

Boomerang laughed, "She went back to her room. She's only gotten an hour of sleep, after all."

"Only an hour?! What the hell was she doing?!"

"She was up 'til eleven playing a poker game with Jack and Rudy...what the hell are you grinning about?!"

Matt laughed, "Oh, nothing. It's just I can't help but notice that whenever someone says Noble's name, you smile."

Boomerang protested, "I do not!"

"Oh, yeah? Noble Knight."

Boomerang playfully shoved him and growled, trying to keep himself from grinning, "I'm not smiling because of that! It's because of how stupid you're acting!"

"Mmmhmm..." Matt muttered, grinning. He then started whistling the "Sitting In a Tree" song.

Boomerang leapt at him and yelled, "Shut up!!" Matt cried out and ran to the other end of the dungeon, Boomerang hot on his heels.

He gasped and looked at his surroundings. "Wh-What the hell?! Where am I?!" he asked the air. He was surrounded by darkness on all sides. The darkness was engulfing him, choking him and stealing every last breath that he had. It was as if he were drowning.

Finally, a small light in the distance penetrated the darkness. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of brilliant, white light and he found himself in a lush, green forest with green grass carpeting the ground.

Zed fell to his knees and filled his empty lungs with air. After recovering, he looked up to try and figure out where he was. The forest was beautiful and full of life. Birds flew between the trees and rested in the branches. Deer bounded across the grass not far from where Zed was sitting.

The green-haired swordsman tried to climb to his feet, but found that he could not. His chest and back were killing him. He looked down at himself, his eyes widening with fear and horror.

His chest, back, and clothes were soaked in his blood. There was an enormous wound that went straight through him, starting at his chest and ending high in his back forming a small hole straight through him. "Wh-Wh-What happened to me?!" he whispered to himself, his words strained from the pain he was feeling.

Suddenly, the image of a large book formed in front of him. The pages began to turn rapidly backwards and he found himself in a section of the forest outside of Milama just beside a lake. Before him he saw Boomerang, Lucied, Noble Knight, Rudy, Cecilia, and...himself?! There was a loud roar from the trees. Everyone in the area looked to their right and screamed in surprise and fright.

The book appeared again and the pages started to flip backwards again.

Next, Zed found himself standing on the peak of Mount Zenom. A shadowy figure was bounding away. Lucied was freeing herself from a pile of rubble. Zed's eyes widened when he saw Boomerang hanging onto the cliff side with only one hand. All of a sudden, Boomerang's grip slipped and he fell from the mountain. Zed saw himself reach out, but he was too late.

"BOOMER!!!!" Zed's figure yelled in despair.

Zed screamed, "NOOOO!!!!"

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Zed screamed, bolting upright and his eyes snapping open. Zed looked around. He was in his room at the inn of the abandoned village of Saint Centour. Everything that he had just seen had been a dream.

Zed's eyes looked as if they would pop out of his head. His heart was racing and his breathing was labored. He gasped and looked down at himself. Sure enough, the huge wound in his chest was gone. Zed lay his face in the palms of his hands and groaned, his voice muffled, "Oh, god...what a horrible nightmare..." However, he could not help but have an awful feeling that the dream would come true...

Noble Knight yawned and took another sip of her hot chocolate. She and another soldier were sitting on a bench on the stone balcony just outside the royal bedrooms of Adlehyde castle. The cool, pre-winter winds were whipping around the two of them, causing their hair to frequently get in their faces.

Stephanie (mwahaha >=D ) looked at Noble Knight and asked, "Do you want me to go get you a coat or something?" Stephanie was also a soldier. She had waist-length, golden brown hair, deep brown eyes and tan skin. She was the exact same height as Noble Knight and the two of them also had just about the same personalities. Aside from Boomerang, Stephanie was Noble Knight's best friend.

Noble Knight nodded vigorously, her fangs chattering. Stephanie entered the castle and almost immediately came back, carrying two leather jackets. The two girls instantly donned them and began to warm up.

Stephanie grinned and asked Noble Knight, "So...what's the story with you and him?" Noble Knight glared at her, unable to prevent herself from grinning.

Noble Knight retorted, "Oh, shut up! We're just friends."

"Yeah..." Stephanie teased, "But I'll bet you want to become more than just friends with him!" Noble Knight looked away, embarrassed.

"Well...yeah..." she whimpered, "Well, I can't help it! He's just too damn CUTE!!" Stephanie keeled over laughing.

"That he is!!" Stephanie laughed. She then leaned back on the bench and sighed, closing her eyes and grinning. She then turned back to Noble Knight and asked, "Why don't you tell him how you feel?"

Noble Knight replied nervously, "Because...well...what if he doesn't feel the same way? I'll look, and feel, like an idiot!!"

"NK. I've seen the way Boomerang looks at you. And his eyes definitely do not say, 'idiot'."

Noble Knight asked, kind of embarrassed, "Really?"

Stephanie smiled and nodded. "My boyfriend, Matt, keeps trying to talk some sense into him and get him to tell you how he feels!"

Noble Knight looked at the ground and muttered, "I wish I had the guts to tell him..."

"Tell him what?" Stephanie probed, grinning.

"That I've got a MAJOR crush on him..."

"I just wish I had the guts to tell her..." Boomerang muttered.

"Tell her what?" Matt probed, a grin creeping onto his face.

"That I've got a reeeeeeally big crush on her..." Boomerang finished, feeling slightly embarrassed. The two of them were raiding the kitchen in Adlehyde castle. Boomerang could not help but realize that ever since he returned to Filgaia two years ago, his appetite had grown enormously. Now his appetite was almost as big as Noble Knight's who ate over three times as much as a human would.

Matt shrugged and said, "Well...I knew that much...I mean, if you didn't have a large crush on her, why would you have almost sacrificed yourself to protect her two years ago?"

Boomerang looked at him and then down at his stomach. He still had a large scar on his stomach and his back where Zeikfried's spear, the Glumzamber, had impaled him. Boomerang then asked his friend as he stole a bread roll while the chef was not looking, "By the way, what are we gonna do about those two thieves?"

Matt shrugged. The two had tried to get some information out of the boys that Boomerang and Noble Knight had captured, but the boys were as silent as a corpse. Matt replied, "Maybe you could get Noble to help you."

"Yeah...and how about Jane? She's staying in Adlehyde for a few days."

"And what about Zed? Isn't he coming in from Saint Centour sometime this week?"

"Yeah. He should be here sometime today...err...he's here now!" Boomerang ran out of the kitchen and into the courtyard where Zed was walking. "Hey, Runt!"

Zed growled, unable to keep himself from grinning, "Don't call me that!"

Boomerang grinned underneath his visor and retorted, "I'll call 'ya whatever I want, since I'm older than you!"

"Yeah, by just one year!"

"But, still, I am older than you! Now come here. I need your help with something..."

Scott awoke to the sound of someone clearing her throat. He opened his eyes and gasped as he found himself staring down the barrel of an ARM. He rolled his eyes to the right to look at Michael whose throat was just one inch from the business end of a long sword. Scott then looked at the owner of the ARM. She was a young girl about the age of twenty. She had bright, blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She also had a mischeivous and almost maniacal grin on her face.

Scott looked at the owner of the sword and instantly realized that he was no human. His hair was bright green and his skin was a light shade of blue. His eyes were the color of the ocean and around his neck he wore a golden necklace on which an ocean blue stone was attached. The stone had the zodiac symbol of Gemini carved into it.

The girl spoke, her grin only becoming wider, "Now, answer our friends' questions or I might have to blow yer brains all over the cell!"

The man with the sword added to Michael, "And I might have to make you a new windpipe!!"

Michael franticly answered, "What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything! Just, what do you need to know?!"

Then, the soldier Boomerang stepped into the cell, followed by the soldier Noble Knight. Boomerang spoke, using a deeper, more intimidating voice than he usually used, "Why were you in the library? What were you looking for?"

Scott stuttered, "W-We were l-looking for the b-b-book called th-the 'De La Metalica'."

Noble Knight asked, "Why did you want that book?"

Michael replied, "W-We were sent to find it and take it back, because if it wasn't dealt with, something awful would happen."

Noble Knight's eyes narrowed as she asked, "What do you mean, 'something awful would happen'?"

Michael answered, "I-I don't know. She just told us to take it back to her. She said that if we didn't, the dark would be unleashed into your world."

"The dark?" Boomerang asked.

"C-C-Choraan. Th-The Lord of Nightmares..." Scott whimpered.

The green-haired swordsman looked at Boomerang, then at Noble Knight, and asked, obviously thinking that neither of them had thought to ask this question, "Who sent you?"

Michael replied, "P-P-Princess Cathrine Ardlehyde..."