The new and improved party made short work of clearing the surrounding area of blight stricken creatures. The combination of Eber and Solaris seemed to be extremely effective. They all laughed and smiled as they completed their task. Solaris even began to get a slightly better hold of his abilities, particularly nova.

"I think I almost got it!" Solaris said with a grin as he finished off another creature.

"At least now I can tell when it's active or not".

"That's a good start." Eber said as glanced around the area at the 6 or 7 beast corpses that lay around.

"Better than a week ago." Romel added. "I'm not gonna lie: having you as an ally 3 days after I was trying to kill you is weird. It's a little unsettling, but we take out everything with no damage at all. Pinzu probably could've stayed back at the palace and slept." He looked up at Red, who was sitting in a tree. "You see anything up there Red?"

"Yeah, you were wrong about us taking no damage of any sort. Your nose is bleeding." She replied. "You weren't looking up my skirt or anything were you?" She glared down at him.
"NO! Well, not on purpose. You are sitting kinda high up…and…the wind..."

"Looks like my healing will come in handy after all." Pinzu snickered.

Red looked and aimed her bow down at Romel, blushing the entire time. "You'll pay for…. Shit!"

"What's wrong Red?" Solaris asked.

"I climbed a bit too high, and am nowhere as good at climbing down." Red muttered.

She was indeed quite high up. They thought for a moment about how to get her down.
"I suppose she could attempt to climb down, and one of us catch her if she falls" Eber said, scratching his head.

"Not gonna work, if she does fall, it'll be a strange and uncontrolled one. That tree would do some serious damage, not to mention the unexpected landing." Solaris said.

They all stared at him with amazement and suspicion. Romel spoke up. "Sol, where the hell did that come from?"

"Sorry, I guess I started talking nonsense."

"To the contrary, that was probably the most intelligent thing I've heard you say since we met." Pinzu replied.

"Oh, well thank you… I think."

"Sol, you don't remember gravity break, do you?" Eber asked.

"Gravity break? I'm not even sure what you're talking about."

"You definitely knew it. You used that skill in our fight at Azidon. It's the weightlessness thing."

"Oh, I remember that. Scared the crap outta me that day!" Romel replied.

"There were a lot of scary things about that day, but I don't think I was there for what you guys are talking about." Red inserted herself into the conversation from above.

"You'd escaped already." Romel shouted back up to her.

"Missed one guys!" She drew her bow and began firing at another creature, drawing it towards them. It emerged from the bushes. Another appeared behind it. Both seemed to be mutated forms of rams. The only effect her arrows had on them was pissing them off. One of them charged into the tree, cracking it and nearly knocking Red down. She caught herself and dangled from a limb. The other beast kept Solaris occupied for a moment.

Solaris activated nova, again without trying, and the blade that Eber gave him finally finished melting, after being around a blazing Solaris for just a bit too long.
Eber hurled ice daggers at the ram that was charging the tree, killing it. Romel's frosty blade was perfectly intact, and he distracted the creature, which charged at him. Eber repeated the ice dagger attack, finishing off that ram as well.

"Great time for you weapon to melt. I guess the weapon isn't as good unless it's in your frost aura." Solaris commented.

"You are my elemental weakness, nova and blaze burn will eventually destroy any weapon I forge, or most weapons for that matter." Eber replied. "It's not cuz I'm an ice elemental, its cuz you are that damn hot."

The tree creaked and groaned, reminding them all of the fact that Red was still hanging from the branch. "Any time now guys; I don't think this tree will hold much longer than I will!"

"Just jump, I'll catch you" Romel shouted.

"You can't hold me. I'm too heavy" she said, blushing again.

"We haven't the time to argue about this." Pinzu said, pointing to the tree.
Eber quickly sent more ice daggers at the branches which would be in Red's way on the way down, just as the tree began to fall in the same direction. The branches fell, followed shortly by Red, who was nearly immediately followed by the tree. Red looked up, noticing that she was being held by none other than Romel.

"Don't even start with the 'I'm fat' crap." He said casually, then with a look of surprise, he asked, "uhm, wasn't there a tree falling right behind you?"

They pair looked up to see the tree stopped, mere inches above them. They looked to their sides to see that a few pillars of ice attempted to hold the tree. They however were all cracked and or broken.

"Thanks Eber, you saved us, yet again." Romel shouted.

"No, those weren't strong enough to stop the tree alone. Look over there." Eber replied, pointing at Solaris. They stared in amazement, and a bit of fear. Solaris stood holding the tree, and glowing with nova, and was using blaze burn.

"I knew he was strong, but, that's just insane!" Romel said in awe. He turned and looked at Red. "Uhm, your hair, its… ignoring gravity." Sure enough, her hair was flowing up, quite against the force of gravity.

"Apparently he was using gravity break as well. You to, might want to move. That's a lot of power, and I doubt him, let alone anyone else, could keep it up for long." Eber said as he stepped back and began a long, slow cast. He paused for a moment. You may want to step away from me as well, it's about to get kinda cold."

Romel, giving the statement little thought, got up and walked off, while still carrying Red. "You can put me down now you know!" she protested.

"Oops." He put her down and they watched the power of Eber and Solaris. They were soon surrounded by an elemental barrier, just in time as both blaze burn peaked and absolute zero were activated.

The section of the tree which surrounded Solaris was pieced by enormous pillars of ice. They were impressive, but still unable to hold up the tree on their own. The tree was being burned through as Solaris's hands made contact with the tree. Solaris finally spoke, still managing to concentrate on the task at hand, namely, keeping himself from being crushed by a tree.

"I can't hold this much longer, and gravity break isn't strong enough. Eber, you're gonna have to break this thing…though blaze burn. Sorry, I know that's not easy for a master of ice to go against this kind of heat."

"Have you forgotten who I am? Actually, don't answer that, I'm already ahead of you, just let me finish this cast and you should be fine." Eber replied.

A stream of frost began to form and encircle itself around Eber. It was quite different from the aura of absolute zero. "I may not have nova, but I do have something like your shockwave. The difference is: this won't kill anyone as long as it's Sol and you guys stay behind that barrier.

"Uhm…maybe we should back up a bit more, just in case" Red said nervously. Pinzu, Romel, and Red all moved back further, and watched from behind some bushes. Romel cast the frost and flame defense spells just for a little extra defense from the auras.

"Ice torrent catastrophe!" Eber shouted as he finished his cast. A storm of icicles surrounded him and were sent in various directions. The barrier didn't stop ice daggers, so Romel blocked the stay ones that came their way, most of them at least. He fell shortly afterwards from taking quite a few hits from the daggers. Fortunately, none of them were serious. He was left with mostly light cuts and bruises, and one lump on the head from the piece that knocked him out.

Red and Pinzu stood up after the ice stopped flying and watched as the smoke and mist cleared. There stood and exhausted Eber and Solaris, as well as burned pieces of a tree, and… more pieces of a tree. Actually, it was no longer clear that a tree had even stood there, or anywhere around them for that matter. The surrounding 50 meters or so had been reduced to woodchips, mostly either burned or pieced by ice. Most of the small fires that resulted from blaze burn were even put out by what was left of the ice.

Pinzu and Red stood there, wide-eyed and shocked. "Ok, you 2 are officially broken, and so are your clothes." Red said as she turned away.

Solaris stood there, wearing only a small piece of what was left of his pants, which covered only the essentials. Eber was in slightly better shape, missing the lower half of his pants, and the right half of his shirt. He was also slightly burned. Solaris was cut and bruised from the ice torrent as well.

"Ok, now that we've all bonded, saved each other's lives, and accidentally nearly killed each other, can we go back to the palace now?" Red asked.

The auras faded and both Eber and Solaris fell to their knees. "Depends, how many of us are still able to walk?" Solaris asked. "I know I'm gonna have some trouble after that."

Eber nodded in agreement. "I'll have a problem walking too; we should be able to make it. What about you 3. You all OK?"

"Romel got knocked out by a few of your icicles." Red said in an angry tone, and with a face to match as her and Pinzu lifted him to their shoulders. He began to wake up.

"It wasn't on… pur-pose…" He managed to mutter and went silent again.

"Yeah, I don't think he's walkin'" Solaris said.

"I can… walk" He muttered again, and attempted to walk. He attempt was short lived, and he found himself on the ground in a matter of seconds. "OK, maybe... I could use some help."

"Damn, how hard was he hit?" Solaris asked.

"Pretty hard" Red replied as she examined the now bleeding knot on his forehead.
Pinzu started some chant that was unknown to them all, and lowered his staff, only to raise it again and cast something on Solaris and Eber. "Romel should be fine for now, the bleeding has stopped, though he'll have to fully wake up on his own. As for Solaris and Eber, they should be able to make it home. They may have to help each other a bit though." Pinzu looked in their direction. They were already leaning on each other, both trying to remain standing.

"Who's holding up whom here?" Red asked as she helped Romel back up.

"I think we're actually keeping each other from falling" Eber replied. Solaris nodded in agreement.

"You're lucky I can hardly walk, or I'd push you both over, just cuz I could." Romel snickered.

"Shush you. You're in no position to tease, especially since I'll probably have to walk your back to the palace." Red warned him.

"Seems as though the only one who can make it on their own this time is me, with a little help from my staff" Pinzu snickered. They all hobbled back to the palace, content and injured from a hard day's work, all except Pinzu, who only did work for the last part of the day.

Romel had come to his senses by the time they returned to that palace. The king noticed them as they were on their way to their rooms.

"What in the world happened to you?!" he exclaimed after seeing the shape everyone was in
Red replied simply: "A blizzard, a heat wave, and a tree"

"Who's bright idea was it to climb a tree that they can't climb down?" Pinzu taunted Red; there was a not so subtle seriousness to his comment. He then proceeded to stare at the ground, as if in deep thought.

"That has nothing to do with this!" she shouted back, embarrassed.

"Yes it does, or you wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place when the king asked." Eber said with a sly grin.

"Climbing in a skirt probably wasn't smart either." Romel teased.

"Shush you!" she replied, even more embarrassed and blushing heavily.

"Sol, you really need a new set of fireproof clothes…at least some better pants" Romel commented.

"Wait, he did that to his clothes?" asked the king.

"Well, it was a combination of his own blazing aura, and Eber's ice storm thing tearing them to pieces." Red replied. "This isn't the first time he's lost clothes cuz of that aura of his."

"Well, for the sake of me not having to see him walk around in so little, I'll see to it that he gets what he needs. Dinner should be ready shortly. Go get cleaned up and changed." The king said as he exited the room.

"Sol, don't you have armor that Quasar gave you? I'm pretty sure that would be fireproof, and probably stand up to those icicles a lot better than anything the king can give you. I mean, it's an armor set from a talking dragon!" Red said as she went off down the hall to her own room.

Eber departed down another hallway, off to his room. Romel, Pinzu, and Solaris continued.
"She makes a good point. You really should probably use that armor. Better than ending up naked, or mostly naked, though when that usually happens, you don't seem to care so much. Though most of the time that's happened, you were your old self…" Romel noted.

Pinzu spoke up. "You know, for someone who doesn't remember his own past, I think we know more of him than we do for the rest of us. I find this fact a bit more than mildly troubling."

"Eh?" Solaris scratched his head.

"Oh, nothing." Pinzu stopped at his room with a light sigh. The conversation ended there as Romel and Sol went to their own rooms.

A butler arrived soon after with another set of clothes for Solaris. They were frilly and high class, clearly not meant for combat. This brought everyone many laughs during dinner.

"It's got…ruffles. I don't like it." Solaris said.

"Then stop burning your clothes." Isolad said in between bites.

"Or here's an idea: wear your armor!" Red said, pointing her fork at him.
Solaris groaned and continued stuffing his face.

Pinzu leaned back in his chair, he'd finished his food and still appeared to be in though, and slightly upset. He got up. "Excuse me. I'll be out in the garden if anyone should need me."

A puzzled look spread to everyone's face as he exited the room. The rest of them quickly finished their food and went to find him.

Romel was the first to spot him. He was sitting the far end of the garden, meditating.
Eber showed up shortly after Romel. The 2 remained silent, simply observing for a moment.

"I knew someone would come looking before long. I'm not sure why I'm surprised it was you and Romel though." Pinzu said, still appearing focus on whatever it was he was thinking about. Red and Solaris showed up just after he finished his sentence.

"Is everything OK?" Solaris asked.

"Well, in the sense that we're all alive and in relatively good health, yes, I suppose everything is OK." Pinzu replied.

"Obviously everything isn't OK, at least not to you. Talk about it, we're friends after all" Red replied.

"Are we? Really?" Pinzu stood up and turned to them all. "We're 'friends'? After seeing such dramatic changes in how some of you interact with each other as of late, I can't say I'm so sure of that. Romel went from trying to kill Eber to being quite close in the span of a few days. That's not natural. Eber is partially responsible for Solaris's death, or so I've been told, and Solaris doesn't seem to have any ill will towards him. Even Red was more upset over it than Solaris was. I find this unsettling."

They just stood and listened to the old man's rant. They took seats on some of the nearby benches, as they were all in school receiving a lecture.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what to think of most of this. Red and her strange attitude and actions, The king and his shenanigans, the state of this world. Hell, I know more of Solaris, who doesn't even know his own past, that I know of anyone else here! Does anyone else find this strange? It just feels odd to me, as if something is being hidden. And Red, there's something I'd like to talk to you about after this, in private."

Red scratched her head. "Well, if you're talking about things being hidden, why don't you just say it now, with everyone around?"

"Because its considered by some to be rude to ask a woman her age. I can't pin it down. You look far older than you act most of the time. I'm not sure if you're just silly, or lecherous."

"What the hell?! Me, lecherous? How can you say something like that?" She glared at Pinzu, and looked as if she wanted to slap him.

"I will admit, I too am curious as to your age Red." Eber nodded.

Red just seemed more annoyed by this, she mumbled to herself. "Lecherous… of all the things to say, just how old do you think I am, and who would I be with to make you think…"

Romel looked in her direction. "I'm kinda curious too now actually. I trust you will give an answer, given the scene that has been made of something that really should be relatively insignificant."

Red instantly became silent. She turned and looked at Romel. "25" she said quickly.
"What was that?" Eber asked, "sorry, I didn't catch it."

"I'm 25! Now mind explaining how I'm lecherous?!" she yelled and buried her head in her hands. He was blushing again.

Pinzu looked at her, then at Romel. "Romel, how old are you?"

"I don't see how I fit into this situation, but I'm 24."

"Oh, I see." Pinzu walked over to Red and bowed. "I'm sorry, I owe you an apology for the lecherous comment I made. Please forgive my ignorance."

"Am I the only one lost here?" Romel said, with an oblivious look on his face.

"You haven't missed much if you haven't figured it out yet. Pinzu simply misunderstood something, which made things slightly complicated." Solaris replied.

"So, to avoid this conversation happening again, just how old is everyone here again?" Eber asked. "I'm 29."

"25" Red repeated.

"24" Romel replied.

"Would it surprise anyone if I told you I don't know?" Solaris answered.

"No, not really; though if I remember correctly, you were in your late teens or early twenties." Eber answered.

They all looked at Pinzu. "I'm 196 years old."

Everyone's jaw dropped simultaneously.

"Damn!" Romel said. The look of surprise on his face was shared by everyone.

"Well, Pinzu is almost assuredly the oldest of us, unless you count how long Solaris and Eber were sealed." Red commented.

"Well, Solaris is technically another race. He could possibly be older than Pinzu, though I doubt it." Eber replied.

"I thought you said he was in his late teens or early twenties." Romel asked.

"Well, there's a small chance I could be horribly wrong…right?" Eber said with a chuckle.

"I guess next would be backstories of all of us, right?" Romel looked at Pinzu.

"I suppose that would be logical." The old man replied.

The sun finished its descent and darkness fell upon the garden. They gathered up small twigs and sticks and were prepared to make a fire, until the king showed up and directed them to a firepit in the middle of the garden, he himself then retired for the evening.
They sat around the fire, as if children on a camping trip. "Do we get snacks for this story time?" Red asked.

"We just ate Red." Romel replied. "so, who's first?"

"Well, we all know Solaris's past by now, at least as much of it as he does. And we know as much of Eber's as we need to know, I think" Red said. "I guess I'll start then. Hopefully this will clear up anymore misunderstandings about me…."