Viginette #14

"Here we are, everyone...my secret place." Galia smiled as she waited for Miresa, Bradlin, and Arune to arrive.

"If it is your secret place, then our knowing about it doesn't make it secret anymore." Arune interjected as she waited for Miresa to unpack her tent and the jewelry box that served as a dwelling for her.

"I choose to share it with you all because you are my friends, Lady Wingblade." Galia replied. "Only me and those I consider a friend know about the Meadow of Shining Illusion. To anyone else, it is merely a dead end in the Forest of Dawn."

"Fascinating..." With that, Bradlin gathered up some sticks and twigs and began building a campfire. "So, why are we passing through the forest when we don't even need to go to Coraira yet?"

"Miresa may have awakened as the Gemsinger, and done the three deeds the Sixth Gemsinger was foretold to do within hours of awakening, but to actually begin the journey that all Gemsingers have gone on, she must receive the Gemsinger's Quest from the ruler of her own race." Galia explained.

"So that's why we're going to Selance--Leria rules there, and she rules over the humans on this continent..." Arune noted as she watched Bradlin finish starting a hearty blaze.

"That being said, know that we are not being pursued on the journey to Selance--not yet." Galia continued.

"We're not?" Miresa asked. Usually in the stories she'd heard, the Gemsinger and the party were usually pursued to the human capital city by demons and other creatures of the dark realm, and there were plenty of near misses and adventures on the way.

"The demon lord doesn't know you've awakened as the Gemsinger yet, Miresa....but as soon as you find the first of the Twelve Stones, then he will begin his pursuit." Galia replied. "His heart is too far corrupted to shine with the light of magia, and so he cannot sense mortals that have it, even if the being is the Gemsinger. But the magia he can sense comes from the Stones themselves." She let that hang as Bradlin hung some preserved beef over the campfire.

Miresa swallowed hard at the thought of the demon lord following her every move--if she died at the hand of the demon lord, (unknown) would be destroyed!