Navigation Three
Demon Stone
At Alen's house, Rena wakes to find herself tied to a chair. Alen approaches with a decorative candlebra in hand. She asks what he is doing and he tells her that they are going to get married. Ever since he was a child, he had dreamed of marrying her. Mist appears around his body and from that emerge ghostly figures, each with a candle. Rena prays that Claude will help her.
Claude arrives and Alen's house and sees his horses outside. He runs up and tries to get in the front door, which is locked. He tries ramming into it, but it won't budge. Yuki calls to him from behind and tells him that the lock on the back door seems to be broken and she leads the way around back.
Rena flinches when Alen reaches for her. He asks her what is wrong and she tells him that he is not the Alen he used to be. He tells her that she is correct. He was reborn. He holds out his hand and purple stone appears, floating in a thin layer of mist just above his palm. He can feel power surging through his body. He begins the ceremony, but Claude yells from behind for him to stop.
Alen turns around and asks him who he is. Rena answers by calling Claude's name. Alen asks if Claude would not interfere with the wedding, but Claude tells him that he won't allow such a wedding. Alen's spirits make a circle around Claude and Yuki, trapping them. Alen says that he and Rena have loved each other since childhood, but, when he asks, Rena won't even look at him. When he turns her head, he can see the pity in her eyes. He shakes her and tries to get her to stop. When she starts to cry, he is shocked and steps back. The spirits fly back into Alen and the stone turns him into a monster.
Claude and Yuki run up and Claude uses his sword to cut the ropes holding Rena. They begin to leave, but Alen blocks their path. Claude takes out his pistol and is going to shoot, but Rena tells him not to, causing Alen to hit Claude and injure him badly.
Rena runs over and holds his hand. She realizes this is her fault. Suddenly, a light emits from her and Claude's wounds heal. After Claude is back to health again, they wonder if there is a way to defeat Alen without killing him. Rena remembers what he said about the stone and the power it gives. She tells Claude that he must destroy it.
Claude tries shooting the stone, but the pistol doesn't work. He then remembers it was damaged when Alen hit him, so he'll have to use the sword. As Alen attacks again, Claude tries to get directly at the stone, but Alen manages to hit himand knock him up against a pillar.
A direct attack out of the question, Claude begins to think of another way. Rena calls to Alen, asking him to wake up. As she pleads, something insode the monster wakes up and causes a weak moment. Claude sees this and attacks. The monster's reflexes are dulled by the stir of emotions, and Claude slips by and shatters the stone.
The power gone, the monster turns back into the real Alen and he collapses for a few seconds on the ground. When he gets up, he remembers nothing about what happened. They watch as the stone vanishes before their eyes.
Alen tells them that the stone was found in the Salva mines. He felt something deep within his heart when he first saw it. After a few days of admiring it, it felt like something was unleashed within his heart. He remembers nothing after that. He realises that while being controlled by the stone, he has done something terrible to Rena. Rena forgives him, since the stone was controlling him. Claude looks at a device he is carrying with him and recognizes the energy patterns.
Back at Arlia, everyone is happy that Rena is back safely. Claude has explained what happened to the elder, who assures Alen that everyone will understand. As Claude sits in Rena's house, he looks again at the energy signature. He is positive that it is the same one as back at the dome he entered with his father.
Claude has a small meeting with Alen, the elder, Rena, and Yuki. He asks if it is the only stone found at the mine and Alen assures him it was. Yuki says that with the power to turn Alen into a monster, the stone had to have come from the Sorcery Globe.
Yuki points out that animals started changing into monsters after the Sorcery Globe crashed into the planet, so the stone must have something do do with it. Claude begins to put the pieces together. He asks the elder how to get to the Sorcery Globe. When the elder asks why he is interrested, Claude just says that he is interrested. But, he thinks to himself that if he can get to the Sorcery Globe, then maybe he can figure out how he was transported to Arlia. And maybe find a way home.
As the elder leads Claude back to his place, they begin to talk about the heealing ability that Rena has. The elder says that she is the only one that has it. The truth is that Rena is not really Westa's daughter. She was found in the Shingo forest by Westa and her husband, who were overjoyed because they could not have children of their own.
Nobody actually knows anything about Rena. Not her past or why she was there. The only clue is the pend that she wears, which is the one she was wearing when she was found. Claude asks why the elder is telling him this. The elder says that Rena knows she is a little different, even though she doesn't know the truth. She's lonely. He wants Claude to take Rena with him on his journey and be her strength.
While Claude sits atop a bridge and thinks it over, Rena shows up and asks if he will take her with him. Claude afixes Rena's hairpiece back to her hair and tells her that she cannot come with him.
The next day, as Claude is about to leave, Rena comes up to him. He tells her it will be a hard journey, if she can live with that. Then Alen shows up and offers to take them to Cross. And so they begin their journey to the Sorcery Globe.