Rushing north, he evaded the local monsters and bandits as best he could. He did have one fight with CutBunnies, but there were only three, and he took down two in the first exchange, causing the third to flee. Overall, a fast trip.

He did make one unplanned alteration to his route: in the center of the region, where the forest formed a natural restriction on travel, someone seemed to be in the final stages of building a fortress - {Probably 'cause they've heard rumours of Highland getting ready to invade,} Makoto thought darkly. {I doubt my rank as a Highland recruit will get me a warm welcome there, so I'll have to skirt the whole forest,} he reasoned. Doing so took extra time, and he ended up camping out that night, hauling his pack up into a tree so as to avoid nighttime ambushes.

The next morning, he reached the entrance to North Swallow Pass by noon, much to his relief. Secure in the knowledge that he'd be back in Highland soon, he made no attempt to hide as he approached the mountain.

The appearance of three guards from out of the hut informed him that his open approach might have been a mistake.

"Well now, what 'ave we 'ere?" asked the first guard, giving Makoto a gap-toothed smile. Makoto tried to grin back.

"I'm-" he paused. He certainly couldn't give his name and rank, but the thought of outright lying was repellent. {Grandpa Genkaku trained me too well,} he thought, and continued. "-a traveller, and I have to get back to Highland. I've heard there's been an accident, and I need to make sure my family's OK." It was technically true - he *was* travelling, and he fully intended to check in with Nanami on the way to L'Renouille.

The third guard gave him a somewhat kindly look. "Ah, I see, lad, but there's a problem 'r two with that. There's been a mist-monster here recently, and while some travellers claim to've killed it, we've had no way to confirm the story. Lady Annabelle of Muse ordered the path to be locked down for that reason... and then, well..."

"Well, what!? What *else* is wrong?" asked Makoto, who might have chanced the monster if there had been a way past the guards.

"Well, rumour has it that someone massacred Highland's Unicorn Brigade. T'weren't us, 'cause the army'd have had to march right by here to do it, but Highland's sayin' t'was us anyway. If the rumour's true, lad, they're whelmin' for war, and they wouldna look kindly 'pon travelers comin' through from Jowston. Best ye'd - Lad! Are ye ill?"

Makoto's knees had given out, and he was slumping to the ground. {Oh no... I'm too late.. too late..}

The third guard - a lieutenant, if Makoto remembered his Jowston insignia right - had hold of him and was keeping him from falling on the hard ground. "You don't look well, lad. Look here, you head west to Toto Village, right lad? You rest there, and we'll send word there about the pass as soon as it opens."

In a daze, Makoto nodded and strode sadly away. He found a decent campsite without having to go too far, and let sleep soothe away the worst of his shock. In the morning, he evaluated his options. {I shouldn't have been so quick to assume I'm too late. It'll take time for Ruka to gather the army, so I need to get back before then.} He nodded to himself. {As long as the States haven't gone to war with us yet, there's still time. OK, I know there are other ways through the mountains between here and Highland, but I *don't* know where they are. Toto's right on the mountains, though - I can probably get a good map there and get back before this goes any further. Onward!}

His arrival at Toto proved his estimates were too optimistic.

{True Runes help me, what happened?} he thought in shock. He'd crested the last hill only to find that the town was a burned-out shell. One woman in armour patrolled it quietly, stooping every so often to pick up an item off the ground and take it to a set of graves in the back of town, near a shrine.

Makoto stumbled into the town, too shocked to bother with stealth. {The place was almost familiar to me,} he sobbed in his mind. {Jowy kept telling Nanami and me stories of how he came here. How all the children called him 'Uncle Jowy...'}

He entered the clearing around the shrine to see the warrior-woman facing him, waiting. His vision blurred, and he realized he was crying. "What.. what happened here?" he managed to stammer out.

Over the next half-hour, while Makoto sobbed, the woman, whose name was Hannah, explained. "The thrice-damned Prince Ruka Blight led his White Wolves in here, lad, while I was gone. I came back from a hunting trip to find the village burned two days ago. There've been folks from Muse in to see this, and there's going to be another war over it, that's for sure, if the butcher isn't turned over to justice soon. Highland won't do it, though - they think Jowston killed off their youth brigade. All this over stupid errors and old feuds that won't let go."

Once he'd calmed down, Makoto turned to Hannah. "Could I.. Could I have some time alone in front of the shrine, please?" he asked her. "A friend of mine held this place very dear, and..."

His voice trailed off momentarily. "I want to pray for the children."

Hannah nodded approvingly, then walked away toward the river - the very same river Makoto had nearly drowned in a few nights ago. "I'll be down here if you need me- there's a girl who survived that I'm looking after."

If Makoto had really heard that, he would have gone to see if it was Pilika, Jowy's young friend. As it was, however, he knelt in front of the shrine the girl had tended. {More children gone, all because of Ruka's lust for blood. Why? Why does he want war so badly? Why bring suffering to innocents and children for it?} He paused, looking at a grave hardly four feet long - a child's final resting place. {Oh True Runes that began with the world, please - if nothing else, grant me the strength to protect others from this!}

His shock was total when the shrine door swung open, glowing softly. Thinking someone was inside, he looked in.

There was no one there, but a stone at the far end had a name chiseled into the bottom that he recognized at once. {Genkaku? No way, not Grampa,} he thought in wonder. Walking into the shrine, he read the tablet.

~Here and now we seal them away.~
~Our only regret is that~
~we could not make them one.~
~Han and Genkaku~

{Han?} Makoto wondered. {Grampa mentioned that name once - an old friend of his? What could they have-}

And with a brilliant flash, the world went white.

Blinking furiously, Makoto cleared his eyes to find he was in a different chamber. Before he could panic, a globe of light appeared before him and coalesced into a blind woman wearing priestess' robes.

"Makoto," she told him in a quiet voice, "Fate's wheel turns, and the tides of Destiny are flowing once more. Upon you and your childhood friend has fallen the task of gathering the 108 Stars. This will be a path filled with hardship for you, and the doing may break your heart- but it will also answer your prayer."

"My prayer?" Makoto echoed dumbly. "You mean my prayer to protect-"

"Yes," the woman replied. "I am Leknaat, the seer of Destiny. If you truly seek the strength you wished for, go forwards and lay claim to your future."

"You're serious, aren't you?" Makoto whispered. {*Do* I really want that kind of power?} he wondered. {I might wish for it when I can't have it, but Grampa taught me that power and responsibility are like the two sides of a one-potch coin - you can't have one without the other. Can I take up that sort of burden?}

A moment's thought brought the faces of the Unicorn Brigade to mind, and thoughts of the children he'd never known here, now dead as well, and the answer came to him in a flash.

{How can I *NOT!?*}

He strode forwards, past Leknaat, and down to where the tunnel split in two. The left-hand tunnel was dark, while a sort of shine came from the right, and Makoto followed it to a huge white shield engraved in the wall.

"Now stand before the image, and raise your right hand," Leknaat's voice came to him down the tunnel.

Makoto raised his right hand, and the image on the wall lost its light, while hundreds of tiny stars drifted down from it to his hand, which glowed in a light all its own for a moment.

Then it was over, and he walked back out to Leknaat. "Makoto, you now hold the Bright Shield Rune, just as your friend holds the Black Blade Rune," she intoned. "Together they form the Rune of Beginning, the rune that represents the start of our world. Take your Rune out into the world now, and answer the call of Destiny."

There was another flash, and Makoto was back in front of the stone tablet with Genkaku's words in it. He left the shrine, and the town, at a jog trot. {I have to hurry,} he thought. {Now I *have* to get back to Highland fast, before matters get any worse. Jowston'll be screaming for Highland blood after this - the only way to stop it will be to send Ruka to justice.}

At a jogging pace, he reached the pass entrance later that day. Only two of the soldiers were there, though, and neither one was the lieutenant.

"Oi! It's that boy again!" one barked, and the other smirked.

"We isn't lettin' ya through, boy," the second warned. "Best go back the way y' came b'fore ya gets in trouble."

Drawing himself up straight, Makoto looked each one in the eye. "I have to get through, so I'll tell you the truth. My name is Makoto Gentaro, and I'm the last survivour of the Highland Unicorn Brigade. Prince Ruka's White Wolves massacred us to give him an excuse to attack Jowston. I'm the only one who knows the truth - and I have to tell King Agares before it's too late. Please let me pass!"

The guards looked at each other, and smirked. "Well, well, well! A Highland spy, eh? What say we grab him and see 'bout our promotions?" the first guard asked the second.

"Sounds a'right to me," he replied, and they both moved in on Makoto.

"W-what? Were you even listening to what I said??" Makoto asked, moving backward.

"Sure did, boy. You're in the Highland Army and they attacked Toto. That makes y' a spy - and Lady Annabelle'll be wantin' a talk wi'ye," the first guard replied.

Still backing up, Makoto got out his tonfas and stated, "If I knew any other way through the mountains, I'd take it and not trouble you further- but I don't, so I apologize for what I'm about to do."

The first guard slowed down to get his breath back from laughter. "Heh heh! Y'hear that, Tragger? He says *He's* sorry for what *he's* gonna-"

That was as far as he got.

Rushing in, Makoto punched him in his chainmail-armoured stomach. The chain-link armour was excellent at repelling blades, but was too flexible to offer serious resistance to the blunt weapons Makoto used. The guard doubled over with a loud "OOOF!!"

Tragger, belatedly realizing he had a fight on his hands, scrabbled for his sword, drawing and slashing in one move. The draw-cut, though shaky, laid open Makoto's thigh, and he leapt back.

On a sudden instinct, he raised his right hand and murmured, "Great Blessing." A shower of stars seemed to fall around him, and his leg wound vanished - as if it had never been made.

Looking up, he found both Tragger and the first guard advancing on him with their swords drawn. {I can't let them stop me!} he thought in panic, and another moment of instinct prompted him to raise his hand again.

This time his voice was no murmur. "Shining LIGHT!"

A great ball of light seemed to grow from his hand and ascend toward the heavens, suddenly bursting into a shower of shards, a number of which struck Tragger and his friend, sending them to the ground groaning.

Makoto ran up to them. The first guard was more or less unconscious, but Tragger was trying to get up. With a quick "I'm sorry," and a one-two combination of his tonfa, he left Tragger unconscious.

Then he heard the rough voice from behind him. "I'm sorry too, kid."

Makoto tried to spin around, but he was only in time to see the flat side of a two-handed sword headed right for his face.

Blackness.