A/N - Oh goodness. It has been a little while since I last updated this story. Well, nothing to say on that part. Thanks to Getsuei-san for the review last chapter. I appreciate it.

Update: Unfortunately due to some, circumstances I will be cutting this chapter into two parts. So half will be here and half will be a bit later. Still, I hope you enjoy as always.
Read on!

Chapter XXXII - The People of the Undergound

Vladimir gave the two girls and Jake a smirk as he stood atop his dragon with the stolen spear in his hands.

"My my my. I appear to have stumbled upon some wandering children. Did you get lost perhaps?" He snickered. Jake took a defensive stance while Irra reached for her blades but Vladimir raised a hand at them.

"Ah ah ah, you won't be reaching for your weapons now." He sneered, and as he glanced at Renne, he raised a brow.

"Well, I had no idea that the royal brat's sister was into travelling." He added. Renne gave him a glare, but although she wanted to retrieve her own weapon her body refused to allow her to move. She settled for a murderous glare instead as Jake took the initiative.

"What do you want?" He growled menacingly. Vladimir started to climb off his dragon while twirling Phoekenza in his hand but the roar of another dragon made him freeze in his tracks, and he and the others looked up to see Walter and Spark soaring down towards them, making a loud thud as the dragon landed. He and a wolf, Celeste, jumped off the dragon and started to walk towards the scene.

"Vladimir Kovenchi I hereby place you under arrest for disrupting an international peace event, as well as stealing Phoekenza and the attacks on Aldevia and Riy Veilheart." He said with authority. Vladimir snickered and took an offencive stance as Walter continued to approach. Celeste kept her eye trained on the ex-avian while she wandered over to Jake, Irra and Renne and began to inspect her injuries.

"Lucky timing for us." Jake joked casually as he watched the older wolf move.
"So what do you think caused this?"

"It's a powerful bug it seems like. Someone experienced with curses did this." Celeste explained as she put a hand to her sister's stomache.
"What happened after we left Esefalss?" She inquired. Jake looked in the direction from which he and the two with him had fled and furrowed his brows in concern.

"Masaar believes there is a traitor among us and he assigned each of us a special interrogator. I highly believe Renne's wasn't who Masaar believed him to be." He responded and reached for his bladed staff. Celeste nodded as she rose to her full height and turned to Irra.

"Why are you out here then?" She asked the vampire who briefly gazed at Vladimir before turning to the wolf.

"Someone started a fire in the village. We don't know who, it doesn't appear to be demon related." She replied with a hand on her hip. They all were forced to abandon their conversation as a large gust of wind blasted past them. The four of them closed their eyes and tried to focus on the situation at hand, which happened to be Walter facing off against Vladimir. Neither avian was gaining the advantage, as the people watching from the sidelines could tell they were more or less equally matched. Vladimir attempted to kick Walter straight in the gut but the general blocked it with his arm and retaliated by using his Cyclone Spear attack, forcing the criminal backwards. Celeste turned to Irra and Jake with a serious expression as she began to ready a flock of arrows.

"Walter is going to need help apprehending him. You two, take Renne to Yukuhame. More than anyone that man can help her." She ordered. Jake sighed heavily and threw his hands up in exasperation.

"What is it with you two and that guy? Oh well no use trying to ponder it." He said, and turned to Irra who nodded and joined the fox by his side.

"We'll go ahead and take this path as far out as possible until we reach the ocean. I'll do the rest." He told the vampire, who just nodded.

"Right." She responded. Renne was falling unconscious but she managed a look at her sister who gave on back that said to "go", before she joined the avian general against Vladimir. Jake and Irra gave Renne support, and then took off.

They ran.
They ran as far and as fast as they could. But, they hadn't been paying attention to the road, and slipped right into a hidden sand trap.
They struggled, but to no avail.
They disappeared below the sand.

~~~~~~~~

The first thing Riy woke up to was the rays of sunshine.
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust them to the light shining in his vision. He survayed his surroundings out of the unease he felt upon his awakening, finding he was not in the same location he had been when he last awoke. Unlike the neatness of the last place, this one seemed more clustered. The room he was in was more circular in shape, and only one window was cut out of the walls. The structure was constructed of a straw-like material, that like its surroundings, was put together seemingly quite hastily. There was a simple brown grass textured rug spread out across the room, circular in shape as well. When he was done survaying his surroudings, Riy became painfully aware of a burning feeling in his chest and winced as he looked down to see bloody bandages wrapped around his stomache and also around his left arm. He closed one eye, feeling the pain come rushing back and he decided to try and relax, finding that moving his body wasn't the best idea right now.

"What even happened? Why am I not where I was before?" He whispered to himself as he turned his head to the right, finding a door not far from there.

"In case I need to leave quickly" He noted to himself. He returned his head to its original position of staring straight up towards the ceiling, sighing as he did. There was a short pause in his movements before he remembered something.

"Wait a minute! Where are the others?" He said to himself, quickly getting to his feet as he threw off the bed covers and headed for the door, only to collapse right in front of it, the pain from his injuries overwhelming him. As he struggled to get to his feet, the door opened and revealed a man, elven from the looks of it, wearing a short bright green tunic and brown shorts. Deep blue hair and brown eyes stared down at Riy who still attempted to rise. The man yelled out something that sounded like "Elder!", before he turned and ran away. The wolf on the ground gave up on trying to stand and just layed there in defeat. But something got his attention as someone else came to the door, and looked down. Riy looked up to meet the gaze and his eyes widened.
It was Leon.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N - Am I evil? Maybe. But as to why this happened you'll have to wait for part TWO! I hope you guys enjoyed this brief chapter and look forward to finding out more, I sure look forward to writing the next half of this chapter. Oh yeah, and hurray for new browsing options on FP!
Sayonara!