The heroes partied hard or a day or so in the manor, as well as tested Pinzu's alcohol tolerance. They soon realized it was almost nonexistent due to his age and his time in isolation in the mountains. Everyone present got a good laugh as he staggered around shouting things in elvish, various human languages, and a few other things which no one seemed to know.

Pinzu spent the next 2 days recovering from the 3 cups of ale he drank while everyone else simply relaxed and enjoyed being back at home. They enjoyed the pleasantries of home, and helped Pinzu get used to his new surroundings over the course of the next week, all the while, Red and Romel were noticing something different with Solaris.

"So, Solaris, what was it like being dead?" Romel asked. Red scowled at him.

"That's not a very polite question!"

"Is it? Last time I checked, it wasn't every day you get to ask someone that. Now if he didn't want to share, he would most assuredly tell us, right?"

Solaris looked over at them, then down at the ground. "I don't mind telling, and you can call me Sol, I heard you call me that once before, seems cool, and a bit easier to say. Being dead, if that's what I was, was a bit like sleeping I guess, I don't actually remember anything. Then I heard Quasar's voice telling me to get up. I felt a lot of energy, and then the next thing I know, I'm picking myself up off the floor."

Red and Romel looked at him curiously. Pinzu stood nearby, silently observing. Red asked

"You, feel OK Sol?"

He nodded, looking slightly puzzled, "I feel just fine, but the way you guys are acting seems to suggest otherwise." He stared back down at the floor.

"No, not really,  that I know of." Romel jumped in, glaring at Red."But I do have a question: can you still activate nova?"

Solaris scratched his head "no-va?"

"We…. Might have a bit of a problem here" Romel said, looking at Red and Pinzu. "Solaris me in the east courtyard in a few hours, and bring your sword."

Solaris nodded and walked off obediently. He was found waiting patiently a couple of hours later in the courtyard, just beside the huge hole that was left during the first fight with Eber.

Romel had assembled anyone of importance from the manor, Frith, Elaine, Neil, and Red. Valencia, and Andrew were also present. They greeted dSolaris warmly, which also seemed to confuse him.

Romel stood across the courtyard. "Name everyone here that you know Solaris."

Solaris did so, without questioning anything. He pointed and named Red, Niel, Pinzu, saying he remembered them only because of the last few days. They were not surprised by this, however Andrew and Valencia were.

"What happened? He remembers no one?" Valencia asked.

"Lets find out. Was that all Sol?"

Solaris shook his head. "I remember you, we met sometime a few months back. I think it was months at least." He paused, as if in thought. All of your names and faces seem familiar to me, I'm just not sure how. I feel like I've known you all for a bit longer than a day, or these few moments."

Andrew stared, quite confused. "What the hell happened? Did he get knocked out or something, and what could've hit him that hard?"

Red answered him. "A dragon named Quasar could hit him that hard. But Solaris actually…" she stopped, unable to bring herself to say it.

"Solaris was killed in combat with Eber." Romel finished the sentence for her.

"But, we saw him after you defeated eber here at the manor, The fight was here wasn't it?!"

Romel nodded and pointed to the large hole beside Solaris. "That hole is proof of the fight, the rest of this area has been rebuilt since then."

"Then how?!" she asked, still shocked and confused.

"We ran into him again in the capital city, as well as some other unfriendly things" Red rejoined the conversation.

Andrew looked at them with suspicion, "He's right there, clearly not dead!"

Pinzu raised his staff and cast some spell on Andrew and Valencia. "You shouldn't be so quick to doubt. You are here, and therefore must've known Solaris well. You know he is no ordinary person."

Andrew stood in astonishment, moving around as if he was a new person. "What, what did you do?"

"Merely a rejuvenation spell. The idea is the same for resurrection, merely on a far larger scale." Pinzu replied.

The siblings stared at Pinzu, then at each other, and then Solaris. They stood silently, content with his reply. "I'm not going to ask, I'm just going to watch. Let me know if u need me to do anything other than stand here." Andrew said.

"Actually, I do. Go punch Solaris." Romel stood ready with his sword as he spoke. Red drew her bow as well, and Neil was also ready with his sword.

"Are you insane?! He'll kill me!"

"Just do it."

Andrew approached Solaris, who looked about as frightened as Andrew. "Why is he doing this?"

Neil added, "That's what I want to know".

"I want to see something, just don't try to knock him out OK Andrew?

"I'm more concerned about what will happen to me…after he wakes up, if I could knock him out." Andrew pulled his fist back and prepared for the strike. Solaris stepped back, as if in fear.

"Uh-huh…" Romel shook his head. "He's missing more than memories, he appears to be missing part of his…. personality".

"What now?!" Red exclaimed.

Everyone else looked quite bewildered. Romel began his explanation, mostly for Neil, Red, and Pinzu's sake. "He's missing a few pieces of his memory, more than he was before, and he's also missing parts of his personality. As Andrew noted, if he ever tried to hit Solaris, there would've likely been very painful consequences, and certainly not him being fearful."

They all agreed on this, except Pinzu, who hadn't seen Solaris enough to know better. They all stayed for dinner and Romel casually asked questions of Solaris. "Didn't you say you felt a dark presence or something?"

"Yes, I do. It seems slightly stronger than it did before, maybe closer or something?"
"What about the girl you've been looking for? Do you remember that?"

"Girl, what girl?" Solaris scratched his head. "I've forgotten a lot haven't I?" he said sadly.

"A girl with golden eyes, like yours, and long white hair."

"Actually, I do remember her, from a dream I had a couple of nights ago. We were looking for her right?"
"Well, you have a choice to make. Either we go fight that dark energy and get to the bottom of what happened with your memories, or we keep looking for the girl."

"Uhm, I don't exactly like the feel of that energy, but I don't like knowing I don't know stuff I should know. Let's go check it out first. And I don't know or remember anything about where or how to find that girl."

"Are you sure you're going to be able to fight? You did kinda cower in fear at Andrew's fist earlier today." Romel reminded him.

"Well, I'd rather not, but if I have to, I guess I will"

"He doesn't seem to remember what nova is either. I would think that not knowing a major ability would make fighting much more difficult." Red looked around the table as she finished her sentence. The recommendation of going to investigate this darkness went from a slightly bad idea to an insanely stupid one with just that one sentence.

Romel looked around the table as well. "Well, unless we want Solaris here to be nothing more than a meat shield, we should investigate the dark energy. We won't get far in anything else unless we get back at least some of his memories as well."

"Well, when it's put like that, we don't really have much of a choice now, do we." Red looked over at Romel. "I hope this doesn't get us killed, and Solaris killed... again."

Romel glanced over at Pinzu, "I was hoping we'd have him for that" he said as he pointed in Pinzu's direction.

Pinzu nodded "When do we depart?"

Romel looked over at Solaris, who was playing with his food. He was on his 3rd plate, and clearly hadn't lost his appetite. "Sol, can you sense the direction of that energy?"

"Yes," he said with a mouth full of rice, "It's that way. It feels even closer than it was earlier." He pointed towards Tristyne as he spoke.

"Good, we'll have to use you as our guide. I must admit I'm not exactly OK with this, but we don't have many options. We'll prepare for the journey tomorrow, and leave in 2 days. Sound like a plan?" Romel looked around the table. No one showed any objections.

They made their preparations the next day as their break drew to a close. They left the following day, bound for Tristyne. This time there were on horseback with no carriage, which was deemed slightly more troublesome after their last trip.

As they left Azidon, heading north for Tristyne, the dark energy could be detected approaching from the west. Little did they know that the path from Fujima to Tristyne was partially in ruin. The dark being approached the gates of Tristyne and quickly subdued the guards without any warning whatsoever. He continued into the city, and himself detected Solaris's energy. He waited impatiently in Tristyne for their arrival.

As Solaris, Romel, and the other's approached Tristyne, Solaris started to regain some of his memories. He remembered Pinzu, and the first trip to Tristyne, the skydock, and other minor events. They stopped for the night not far from Tristyne. Solaris had a fitful night of sleep. He couldn't rest, able to sense the tremendous dark presence so close. They awake the next morning and had a simple breakfast. A dark aura dominated the otherwise clear sky over the city. They took up their weapons and approached the city cautiously. It was clear that this visit to Tristyne would be even more eventful than their last.

As they walked towards the middle of the city, Solaris became more tense, and was noticeably frightened. Romel took the lead and had Solaris point in the right direction. They reached the center of town and a look of pure shock and terror appeared on nearly everyone's faces. Standing before them, was a nearly complete opposite Solaris. He had black hair, purple yes, and black and blue clothes. The dark one looked up at them with a fiendish grin.

"I've been waiting for you, you light-haired wuss" he said as he summoned a sword, much like Solaris's former weapon.

Romel stared in fear "This…won't end well.." he cast incendiary guard on all of them, including Solaris, who appeared to be slightly lost as to what he was supposed to do.

Pinzu laughed."So you know some magic? Can you do this?" He cast numerous spells on all of them. They all stared at him for a moment. "What? I told you I've learned a lot over the years."

Red Ran off to the side, bow ready. She stopped and seemed surprised by her own speed. "Oh, I think I like this!" she said with a smile as she prepared to raise her bow. The dark one was upon her by the time she did so and dropped her with punch. Romel ran over to them, also faster than he expected.

"What else did you do to us?" he asked Pinzu.

Red stood up as Romel and dark Solaris collided. "More defense, you just get better and better don't you?"

Romel fought with dark Solaris, exchanging blows nearly evenly. They all beheld the sight with amazement.

"Buffs!!!" Romel yelled with cheer as he swung a normal sword at his enemy while dodging and taking minor cuts occasionally.

He did quite well, until his sword reached its limit. He'd given back Solaris his original sword, and taken a normal one from the armory at the manor. It was no match in an extended fight against the dark blade he was fighting against. The blade shattered a few moments into the fight and left Romel nearly defenseless for a moment. Red covered while he fell back to grab his staff.

She also dodged at a far higher than average rate. She became relaxed with the fight in the brief moments that she had his attention. Romel returned with his staff, and Solaris just stared blankly, still at a loss for what he should do.

Romel returned to the battle and again engaged the dark one, and asked: "Do you have a name?"

"Siralos" he replied as he parried Romel's attacks. My fight is not with you, and I grow tired of your games. Lets end this quickly, shall we?" He landed a kick to Romel's face, sending him flying into a nearby shop. Fortunately the shop was empty, and what was left of the villagers in the area began to flee the scene of the battle.

Solaris's expression finally changed from blank to sad. He ran over to Romel and tried to pull him out of the wreck of a shop. Romel pulled himself out and wiped the crushed fruit from his clothes, then slowly turned to Solaris. "Why are you here? GO FIGHT HIIIIM!"

Solaris turned around just in time to see Siralos catch, and break, Red's bow. She drew her sword, and fought desperately to not get killed. Her word was also broken by the force of Siralos's strikes.

Solaris threw his sword at Siralos to get his attention, and to avoid his landing of a death blow on Red.

"What was that? I was hoping for a match, I haven't even gotten started yet!" He picked up Solaris's sword, tossed it into the air, and leapt up after it, landing a thunderous blow, shattering it.

He landed and stared at Solaris. "I guess killing you and you friends shall suffice." He stood and activated what seemed to be a dark version of nova "Shadow burn!" The area was covered in his purple, burning aura, incendiary guard protected them from the heat, but they all felt excruciating pain. Pinzu raised his staff and casted a spell around himself. He seemed to take no damage from the aura.

Siralos was not amused by Pinzu and ran towards him, weapon ready. He was met by Romel yet again, who managed to shoulder charge him in another direction. He stopped in Pinzu's barrier.

"With Solaris like this, we aren't going to win this fight."
Red joined them in the barrier, "Obviously. So, this is what would happen if we tried to fight Sol?"

"More or less" Pinu nodded. "This is part of the power of a Flame Keeper. Without Solaris being able to fight, our best option is to run while we can."

"But if Solaris can sense him, can't he sense Solaris?" Red asked.

"I'd rather at least attempt to get away" Romel replied.

Solaris finally made it to the field and recovered in it. "This guy… is strong."
Romel's expression changed from worried to pissed. He turned to Pinzu. "Do you have any way to stall that thing so we can escape?."

Pinzu nodded just as Siralos made his way back to them. He raised his staff and the familiar beam of bright light burst forth, hitting Siralos directly, and stopping him entirely. He seemed quite stunned. "As I thought, his secondary element is darkness. I'm not a very offensive mage, we'd best go. Quickly, this way!"

They took that moment to retreat, and quickly left the city, taking up their horses at the edge of town. They rode out as fast as they could, putting as much distance between themselves and Siralos as they could.

Romel looked back at the city to see the dark aura fade. He then looked over at Red "No one died!"

"I'm still surprised by that fact, and by what we found. Solaris could do that stuff all along?" she asked

"You've seen him do some of it. I didn't know he could summon weapons though."
Solaris looked quite puzzled as they rode along. When they were a good distance away from the city, they stopped for a moment. Romel dismounted and had Solaris do the same. He bid the others to stay on their horses. Romel looked Solaris in the eyes, then brought back his fist and punched him in the face, leaving Solaris laying on the ground.

Red dismounted and was about to slap Romel, who caught her hand. "If I knew it would truly have injured him, I wouldn't have done it." He pointed down to Solaris, who was already picking himself up.

"What did you do that for?" He said with a frown.

"If you knew the old you, you'd have done far worse to yourself now, I assure you." Romel replied, shaking his head. "Do you remember anything else after fighting that….thing?"
Well, I remember, something about a little girl, and some large monster things, and a frying pan."

"That's a start. You at least remember Ellie. Then I suppose you shall remember the rest in time. I just hope you personality comes back soon, and fighting skills, or we're gonna be in for some trouble."

Romel looked at his comrades, "So, maybe we should head to the Beast Territories?"
"Depends, will it get us killed? Will we find another of that...thing waiting for us?" Red asked with a bit of an attitude.

Pinzu spoke up. "I doubt it. And we really should keep moving. Someone with an aura like his wont be able to ride a horse, none will want to be near him. We should make use of the horses, and our lead now."

"Agreed," Both Red and Romel said at the same time. They mounted their horses and rode south, towards Azidon. They stopped only for a few moments at the manor to get replacement weapons, and a shield for Solaris, who apparently failed with a sword for now.

"So, any of you ever been into the beasts' territories?" Romel asked.

"No" both Red and Solaris answered.

"No, but there are different tribes, some friendly, some not so friendly, at least that's what I've heard in my years." Pinzu answered.

"Fine, we'll manage, as long as we don't have to deal with too many creatures of the blight, and Siralos".

They approached the western edge of the beast kingdom with the threat of Silaros behind them, and unknown regions before them.