Young Master McDohl had been tossed to the far corner of the earth. The severity of the screw-up caused his landing to be less than gentle. That . . .was the understatement of the year. The resulting shockwave of the impact woke every wild animal for two miles.

The natives of the island he landed found him in a huge crater, his body broken, and his mind wracked with fever and dementia. Young Master McDohl spent two months in bed, crying out in hysterics for his father and a boy named Ted. The island medicine man had all but given up hope . . .until one day, Young Master McDohl mysteriously recovered his health completely. No one could explain it.

With the fever broken and his body restored to health, he bid fair well to the islanders and borrowed one of their boats to reach the nearest continent. It took another two weeks to find a village.

By some miracle, Templeton had been there before and given the elder one of his maps. On the downside, this was a village that had few treasures, so what little they did have was guarded jealously. It took hours before the elder would agree to even let Young Master McDohl LOOK at the map, but he had to perfom a couple of demeaning tasks first.

There had been a storm that passed by the village recently and all their fences had been destroyed. The livestock were roaming the dirt streets, uncontrolled. Of course, seeing as how there was a convienent stranger, Young Master McDohl was told to chase down the livestock.

That took almost a week.

As if it wasn't enough, the elder then told Young Master McDohl to collect some red-berries from a nearby mountainside. This seemed easy enough. Of course, no one bothered to tell him that the only place the berries grew were on the summit, with a wind chill factor that could shave years off a grown man's life.

After nearly dropping to his death three times, Young Master McDohl brought back the berries, only to watch the elder eat one, then give the rest to his pet dogs. The look on his face was one of utter stupification.

The elder was about to hand out a new task . . . when he noticed the young visitor glaring at him, the grip on his Dragon Fang Staff, hands turning white at the knuckles.

Not wanting to push his luck, the elder quickly handed over the map, more out of self-preservation than gratitude. The elder nearly had a heart attack from the scream of dispair that came from his ex-lackey.

Gregminister was over a hundred miles away! It would take forever to get back on foot. Not to mention the trip would take him straight through the heart of the Highland Empire.

With a heavy sigh, he dropped the map and headed out the door, not wanting to waste a single hour of daylight.

Now we cut to the present (or a year before Suikoden 2 started if you've been keeping up with how I used the timeline).

Judging from the directions the villagers had given him, Young Master McDohl estimated it would take him not time at all to reach Highland. Then, it was on to the Toran Republic, and Gregminister.

Young Master McDohl smiled in spite of himself. He tried to imagine the looks on everyone's faces when he finally walked past the drawbridge of Gregminister Castle. After the initial chaos, of course.

Poor Gremio would probably be crying his eyes out. Cleo and Pahn would probably scold him for being gone for so long. Lepant, who probably got the presidency while McDohl was away, would be in a hurry to unburden the leadership back on it's rightful owner. And Kasumi . . . Kasumi would probably slit his throat for skipping out on their date for about two years.

He cringed at the thought. Better let her know what had happened to him before confronting her about standing her up, in case she was royally pissed. He instantly thought of sending Viki, Juppo, and Krin. For the first time since this mess began, Young Master McDohl grinned.

However, the sound of an explosion shook him out of his reverie. The small town ahead of him had errupted in flames, screams could be heard in the air. Without a second thought, Young Master McDohl raced towards the town.

Once he was within sight of the first buildings, he skidded to a halt. The townsfolk were being menaced from a small group of black knights. They fought valliantly, but were obviously undermanned. The next actions were a mixture of reflex and outrage.

Young Master McDohl ran towards the nearest black knight, twirling his staff above his head. The black knight barely had enough time to turn his armored head to face the new assailant before the staff crashed against it, knocking him clear off his horse.

The other black knights twirled to see this, only to leave themselves open to assaults from the townsfolk fighting them. There was a few moments of pandemonium, before all the black knights were either unconscious or dead.

With the menace subdued, the runemaster of the town came forth with a Water Rune on his wrist. He raised it to the sky and rain started to pour down on the town, quenching the flames that strived to engulf the buildings.

A cheer rose from the crowd, as everyone started to dance in the rain and watch the rainbow that resulted. Many of the townsfolk crowded around Young Master McDohl, thanking him for his help. A few asked his name, but before he could answer, the mayor of the village walked up and asked if he would do him the honor of staying at his estate for dinner.

"So, you're on your way to Gregminister. That's interesting. What business do you have there?" The mayor poured Young Master McDohl a cup of warm tea. They were sitting in the Mayor's study, having just finished dinner.

"I'm going . . . " He froze. Highland and the Toran Republic were not on the best of terms. Even if they were now, there was no way for him to know that. So, Young Master McDohl decided to play it safe.

"I'm going to a reuinion."

"A reuinion?" the mayor repeated. "That must be a very special reuinion."

"It is." Young Master McDohl smiled a little.

"By the way, I never caught your name."

"My name?" McDohl blinked in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I told you. My name is . . . "

"Grandpa!"

Both of them jumped in their seats. Standing in the doorway to the mayor's study room was a little 7-year-old girl, carrying a teddy bear.

"Catherine! What are you doing up so late?" The mayor looked a little annoyed, but anyone with observational skills could tell the old man was happy to see his granddaughter.

"I wanted to see the hero!"

The young girl was studying Young Master McDohl as intently as her grandfather had, with an expression that only contributed to their resemblence.

"Go to bed, Catherine." the old mayor instructed. Reluctantly, the young girl left the room and the mayor turned back to Young Master McDohl with a warm smile.

"She is such a little wonder. She takes after her mother." Then his face took on a rather sad look as he recalled images.

"Her parents both died in a raid on this village, like the one you saw before. Our town has had a skill in making rare runes; the ones the black knights come to steal from us. Their commander is an evil man, who has been rumored to work for the Scarlet Moon Empire before it's collapse."

"Really? Because I was in Toran during the time the Scarlet Moon Empire was in power. There are several war criminals still not accounted for . . ." Young Master McDohl started, but stopped talking when he noticed the look of slight suspicion on the mayor's face.

Just when the mayor was about to ask just how he knows about Scarlet Moon war criminals, there was a piercing scream coming from the other side of the estate.

In a flash, Young Master McDohl had leapt out of his chair, grabbing his staff, and was running down the hallway. A maid at the other end had dropped her sheets and was screaming in terror.

A black knight had come in through the window and grabbed little Catherine. She struggled in his grip and when Young Master McDohl skidded around the corner, into the room, he was blasted back by a ball of flame. He crashed into the far wall, while the faint outline of a Fire Rune faded from the black knight's gauntlet.

It took Young Master McDohl a few moments to recover from the blast before he jumped out the window after the knight. It took him a second to realize he was two stories up and grabbed the ladder the knight was using to avoid becoming a bloody stain on the pavement.

He chased the knight carrying Catherine almost a mile, right past the edge of town. Once ouside of the town limits, the knight suddenly stopped and turned to face his pursuer.

The knight was staring him down for a moment before Young Master McDohl realized he was being stalled. He only had an instant to react before dozens of black knights slowly walked out of the woods. They all brandished swords and looked ready for action.

"You have a lot of guts, for such a young man. You and the rest of your snivelling comrades should just give us the runes and avoid unnecessary bloodshed."

Some of the black knights passed, to let another pass. This one looked quite different from the others in armor and demeanor. He had to be the leader.

By now, half the village were behind McDohl from a safe distance, watching the proceedings with baited breath.

"Give Catherine back or face the consequences!" Young Master McDohl shouted, weilding his staff in a battle stance. There was a pause as everyone seemed to evaluate each other carefully. Finally, the leader of the black knights burst into laughter.

"Such a flair for the dramatic. Where have I seen that kind of moxy before?" The black knight leader seemed to be deep in thought, before looking back up with a wicked smile.

"Of course! How could I have forgotten? The Liberation Army and it's juvenile leader!" The black knight leader stared directly at Young Master McDohl.

"You're Teo McDohl's brat."

The crowd murmured at the sound of the name. The president of the Toran Republic was right here, in their town, facing down the leader of the marauders.

Then, in a gesture even more shocking than the earlier revelation, the leader took off his helmet and let his blond hair cascade down around his shoulders. Young Master McDohl's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates in horror.

"I hope you haven't forgotten me already."

"YUBER!!"

Yuber laughed in amusement. The last time McDohl had seen him, it was the last great battle before the Liberation Army took Gregminister Castle in the Toran War. The Black Knight Commander had escaped, disappeared past the borders, only to reappear now.

"I was saving this for a later date, but I think I could give you a taste of what I had in mind for those Jowston weaklings." Yuber gestured and all the black knights backed into the scrub brush, the one carrying Catherine dropping her.

Before anyone could make a move, a loud roar resounded through the countryside. The nearby trees smashed to the sides as the dragon bashed it's way towards the town.

"Get out of here!" Young Master McDohl shouted to the townsfolk. They needed no further encouragement, running back to the relative safety of the town walls. However, not everyone was so lucky.

"Help! Help!" Little Catherine had tripped when she had been dropped by the black knight and couldn't get up. The drago noted a potential snack and changed course to head straight to gobble the little girl up.

For some reason, the hostiles of this area didn't have very good peripherial vision, because the dragon didn't even notice Young Master McDohl throwing his staff until it poked him rather painfully in the eye.

It roared in agony and fury, thrashing about. The staff landed against a nearby rock and before Young Master McDohl could retrieve it, the dragon's tail had landed incredibly hard on it, catapulting his weapon so high into the air, it became unable to be seen.

Then, things got more uncomfortable. The dragon's tail, still thrashing about wildly, broadsided Young Master McDohl in the gut, throwing him 50 feet across the plain.

By the time he was barely conscious enough to see, the dragon had recovered and was almost to Catherine, who was screaming in terror.

"No...."

Somewhere in the background, he could hear Yuber laughing maniacally.

"No!"

Young Master McDohl struggled to his feet, glowing with energy. The townsfolk had stopped running and were staring at McDohl. Yuber was as well, even though he knew what was going on.

"NOOOO!!!!!!!"

The world seemed to turn black and white, freezing in place. In that brief minute, Young Master McDohl hand raised his gloved hand, pointing the palm at the dragon. A shockwave of black energy shot forth from a hidden rune on his palm.

It's jaw only snapped on thin air as it's body was dragged backward. Everyone was transfixed as they watch a black circle surround the dragon, then start to rotate, leaving the rest of the world normal.

There was a brilliant flash of light. When everyone's sight adjusted, they saw that the dragon had disappeared, leaving the palpable stench of rune magic in the air.

Yuber took this opportunity to exhibit the better part of valor and disappeared into the brush, his knights closely behind.

Young Master McDohl's head was hung low, while the mayor quickly scooped up his granddaughter. The townsfolk watched for a moment, until he looked up at them. They all recoiled in fear, while Young Master McDohl looked at them in shock.

Young Master McDohl took a step forward, his mouth open to explain. That open mouth turned into a dropped jaw when the whole town nearly turned into a terrified mass. They were more scared of him than the were of Yuber!

"You had better leave. There is no place for one with the Soul Eater Rune."

The mayor's words cut like steel. The hurt must have been etched on his face, because for the briefest moment, the mayor looked with pity, before hardening his visage.

Young Master McDohl looked over at Catherine, but she only burried her face against her grandfather, crying to be saved from the evil rune.

The rain came down, but the look of shock and sadness never left McDohl's face. Slowly, he turned at started walking down the path out of town.

It was only when the town was no longer in sight did Young Master McDohl drop to his knees and start crying. All he could think of was Ted. Was this the misery he had endured in his 300 years of life? Would this burden now be McDohl's to bear?

At first, he cursed Ted. But then he relaxed, wiping the tears away. He muttered a silent prayer of apology to Ted, understanding why he was given the Rune.

As he slowly trudged his way along the muddy path, he heard the soft whistle of something moving fast. McDohl only had enough time to look up before his staff smacked him in the head.

He looked upward, a blank expression, before just keeling over and falling face down in the mud.

"Uhhhh..........."