Fixed his eyes on the blue sky outside the window and bathed in the warm of the sunrays reached inside his room. Samuel took in the fresh morning air and reminisced on what had happened last night. Echoing from a far were the sounds of the local the temple's bell, ding-dang, ding-dang, the bell tolled, ding-dang, ding-dang the bell cried. Cried for the funeral of the two men had lost their life to the hands of the lizardmen. Such tragedy, Samuel sighed and felt sorry for those men and especially their family, now there would be kids grew up without a father, some part of him wished he could, somehow, prevent what had happened. Washed his face in the basin and put on the tunic, Samuel headed down stair and strode through the empty gloomy hall of the inn. Most of the guess had already checked out at the first sight of dawn, obviously, who would want to stay any longer at the scene of two murders, only a few workers remained to run everything, while the inn owner's widow and the family were at the funeral.

Elesil and Emma were already at the inn's eatery and were waiting for their breakfast by the time Samuel joined the table, after Samuel sat down and bade them a morning greeting, Elesil discussed what their next plan of action was.

"So, the nearest town from here was two days away" –Elesil sipped his tea- "And with the current situation, those lizardmen definably will follow and wait for us along the way, I had discussed with lady Blanchardlette that from now on we will only take rest in town and refrain from set up camp in the wilderness, that mean we will have to travel through the night."

"I'm down with it" -Samuel agreed- "But what about you? Are you up to it?" Samuel looked at Emma.

"I already spoke to her and she is confident that she is able to make the journey," Elesil said and Emma responded with a nod

After their meal, Emma asked if she could go out to town for some errant, so while Elesil get prepare for their journey, Samuel accompanied Emma on her way to the jewellery dealer in the town to sell off some of her accessories so Emma could contribute to their travel's fee.

"Are you sure about this?" –Samuel surprised at the girl's offer.

"Oh, it's fine, just a few necklaces and silver circlet, I can have new one when I get back to my home" –Emma smiled.

"Oh wait, Er... so... should I started to addressing you probably for who you are now, huh" –held his chin in thinking, Samuel humorously continued with a charming smile- "So... what do you prefer? Princess? Highness? Your Grace?"

"You're not that charming, my sir" -with an amused smirk on her face, Emma spoke, "And yes, you should, but... for right now, with the situation at hand we don't want to draw much attention to me, aren't we, so for the time being I allowed you to addressing me as a friend."

"As your wish, friend," Samuel said.

"Wait, Samuel" –Emma halted her feet- "Should we do something about the inn owner's family and the other victim, those men... you know, they lost their life because of me, because of something they had nothing to do with."

"Well..." -Samuel gave of a long sigh- "To be honest, I don't know what can we do for them... beside... well, the best I can think of was gave them some monetary aid," Samuel shrugged.

"You're right, how about we do just that" -Emma continued strode toward the jewellery dealer shop- "That the least we can do."

After sold all of her jewelleries to the jewellery dealer, except for the white jade ring that she needed for her duty, and the tattered dress she wore before at a pawnshop, even with all of its wear and tear, due to it was made from the finest of silk, imported from the Downer's kingdoms and it excellent silver embroidery work, they had gained quite a large sum of money. After that they met with Elesil and divided the money for the travelling's fee, the leftover money was arranged and donated to the Inn owner's widow and the other victim family to their gracefulness.

Before they set out Elesil had carefully casted a protective spell on both Emma and Samuel, and instructed them to keep a close distain about three lias around Elesil so that his spell would have their full effect, as Elesil explained, the spell drawn a kind of magic energy, which Elesil called Quasum, from him, and if Emma and Samuel tray too far from Elesil, they spell would weakening and eventually dissipated and lost its effect.

"But also, a word of caution" -Elesil continued his explanation- "I advise that, you two do not be too overconfident just because of the protection spell, as I had said, because the spell drawn energy from me to protect yours two from physical and most of magical harms, but if you two get hit too often the spell would drain me and potentially kill me."

Soon after, they were on their way, with Samuel offered Emma to ride on his velelis while he travelled on foot. Initially, everything seemed normal, although Emma was quite anxious when they started to reach the outskirt of the town, sweat poured out on her forehead as the sight of civilisation started to wan, and her heart was drumming in her chest as pedestrians on the street become fewer and fewer.

When they were cleared off of the town's vicinity and the wilderness beyond human settlement once again welcome them, they found no sight of being follow by the lizardmen. With the cool wind swept through the beautiful scenery before their eyes, Emma's anxiety somewhat subsided, another fifteen minutes passed, sat on the saddle, Emma swept her eyes scanned the beautiful meadow dotted with some bushes, bushes that too small for a lizardmen to hide in, and still no sight of the lizardmen to be seen, some hope flared up in Emma mind, hope that maybe, just maybe because they had given up the chase.

Their velelis were spooked and puffed up their feather as a loud crack, resounded right next to Elesil's head when they were passing through a small hill, and fell to the ground near Elesil was part of a broken arrow. The lizardmen just announced their present. Samuel quickly swept his eye through the landscape around them, and quickly found a pair of big yellow eyes with vertical pupil staring at him, right on top of the small hill they were passing through, a lizardmen was squatting in some brush holding a bow. It was the same lizardmen with chin-length hair he saw last night, Samuel's hand quickly grasped hold at his sword handler ready for a fight, but the lizardmen just squatted there, with his long neck poked his head out of the bushed watching them.

"Do not worry" -Elesil reassured the group- "That was all he could do right now."

Thus so, under that watchful stare of the lizardmen, the trio continued their journey with the shadow of that lizardmen closely followed behind. Through hill and plain they walked, and through hill and plain that lizardmen stalked, his silhouette disappeared and reappeared behind bushes and trees, sometime he was behind and sometime he was ahead of them, but strangely the lizardmen seemed to have no intention to attack despite many opportunities for him to ambush the group. Also, since morning to dusk, that and that lizardmen alone was the only one tailing the group, made Samuel wondered where were the other two. And when the stars were twinkling on the night sky above, those yellow eyes still watchfully followed the group.

As day break, Emma finally came back from her sleep on the velelis's back, it amazed Samuel that how she could sleep the whole night on the velelis's back without falling off. Hopefully she casted her gaze around once more, prayed that the lizardmen had gave up, but disappointment quickly came to her as her eyes caught that tall figure of the lizardmen watching them.

"Yah, he'd followed us the whole night, but still no intention to attack though," Samuel spoke to Emma.

"It is because of me" –Elesil watched the lizardmen standing form a far- "With my magic, I can easily kill a few of them form a far, he must be tailing us while wait for the other two to bring reinforcement."

When dusk settling in, the next town appeared on the horizon and the lizardmen disappeared from their eyes, for the time being. Samuel felt like a heavy load just had been lifted from his shoulders when the group finally settled to the table in the town's tavern waiting for their order, but then something outside the window caught his attention.

Something... strange, it wasn't the lizardmen that had been tailing them for the past two days suddenly appeared outside the window's frame or anything. Outside the tavern everything still normal, pedestrians still steadily pacing through the street on their own leisure, but somehow Samuel could saw their shadow imprinted on the ground. Indeed, it wasn't just the pedestrians but everything outside the tavern window had their shadow casted on the ground. And that was what puzzled Samuel and caught his attention in the first place, the sun has completely set and though the moon still somewhat bright on the sky, but it was no full moon like a mid-autumn night, thus there was no way its light could make everything casted a clear shadow on the ground like what he seeing outside. Soon, like Samuel, some of the pedestrians outside seemed to noticed what was going on.

"Hey... uh... Is it me or the outside seemed... brighter?" Samuel asked his companion.

Before Elesil and Emma could give Samuel their respond, the tavern's door split open and a young man came through the doorframe with bewilderment on his face.

"Everyone, loo... look outside," the young man stuttered in Bricatish, "it... it's the Hand of Quelas'Airuth."

His word putted a surprise look on everyone's face in the tavern, quickly on their foot, everybody headed toward the door whilst outside of the tavern's window, every single person on the street had raised their gaze toward something on the sky with an amazement look fixed on their face.

"Quelas'Airuth" the name somewhat familiar to Samuel's ears. If Samuel's memory served him well, he recalled, that was the name of the chief god of Bricatia's main faith, a group of deities usually referred as "Quelas'Airuth and the Fives".

"Hand of Quelas'Airuth?" -Samuel wondered out loud about what the young man just said.

"It is the name of a constellation" –Elesil sated Samuel's curiosity.

Joined the many gathering crowds of people outside amidst the sounds of the tolling bell of the town's temple, everybody in the tavern bathed in the strange light from heaven, pointing at something on the night sky, every person on the street wore a great amazement look on their face. Samuel raised his gaze upward and the light forced his eyes to slightly squinted, amidst that sea of stars on the night sky, not far from the galaxy which split the night sky in haft, was the source of the light. At the middle of the constellation shaped like a hand, brighter than a full moon could ever be, almost as bright at the sun, it radiating its light upon all beings on the mortal realm below. The sight truck Samuel to his core, his body slightly trembled as bewilderment and excitement rushed throughout every fibre of his being. A soft "whoah" of wonder burped out from his throat, since the day he learned the appreciation of the night sky, never in his live he could ever through he could witnessed it with his own eyes, the thing that could turned night into day.

A supernova.

Mesmerizing was the light show on the heaven, Samuel stood and stared in admiration of the spectacle, but unlike him, who aware that what was happening was just a normal astronomical phenomenal. Others in the crowds were not so, as Samuel quickly realized, some in the crowds burst into tear, some trembled in some kind of religious euphoria, some even fell to their knees with hands raised to chin-lever and palms face upward, a praying posture Samuel once saw while still stay with Kranwolf's family, even Emma too, joined the crowds surround her in praying.

"Beautiful is it not?" –Elesil smiled, unlike the crowds surrounded him, stood tall he still.

"Yah, never have I thought I can ever see one," Samuel replied.

As everyone on the street continued in awe of the heavenly spectacle, behind the window of the, now, empty tavern, there was a person still sitting on a table. Face obscured by a veil of long haft black and haft white hair, that person observed Samuel and his companions standing outside the window. From the individual's pocket, an old timey pocket watch was pulled out. Read the ticking clock's hand, the mysterious person mumbled "right on time", then to the book in front of that person, ink was put on paper, and words of what was happening at that moment were written.

Night eventually passed, and Samuel once again opened his eyes with the light of the morning sun welcomed him back from his slumber. Outside his room, the supernova still luminous on the heaven above like a second sun, made the morning a little brighter than usual. Samuel came to the window and gave off a long yawn, a little sluggish he felt, for his night was not very well rested, throughout the evening, a weird tingling sensation on his right hand kept bothered his sleep together with it was a strange dream, the dream was fuzzy and he couldn't recall much of it, only a vague image of him and a young woman walk around a dimly lit place.

After finished their breakfast and ready to set out again, Emma asked if they could make a short stop at the town's temple for her to attend the temple's service, to which Samuel complied. The street of the town was almost empty as nearly every person in town had gathered at the temple, as birds on nearby trees raised their morning song to complement the passion in the priest's voice. Samuel and Elesil waited outside the temple's fence while Emma jointed the attendee crowd. Gazed up to the supernova above, Samuel listening on the voice of the priest, he seemed to telling some sort of story to the attenders. Although not a religious man, Samuel did find the story the priest was telling quite interesting, on a storytelling level.

As the crowd silently listened, the passion words of the priest travelled to every ear and told them of a mythical splendorous time called the "Age of gods" where the gods walked among mortals, of the paradise on earth that once was. And then how those who now known as the Cursed Old Gods has gone mad and tried to consume all living things with their madness, and thus the Old Gods of yore waged war against each other and doomed the old world in unspeakable calamities. The priest told tales of how their ancestors had endured hardship of the "Age of wandering" of how through burning sand and melting rock they'd marched, through endless water they'd sailed, through forests that darker than the darkest of night they'd pressed through, of how they'd survived the onslaught of the unimaginable monstrosities, of the implausible monsters unleashed by the war of the gods, how they'd went against all odds just to kept the feeble ember of hope burning in search of a new land to call home. And how the merciful Quelas'Airuth was moved by the unyielding will of their ancestor's faith, and had turned his hand into a constellation and with it, shine a beacon light to the earthly realm and sent the Fives descended to guide all those who wander to a new land, Varlaurea. Then gazed upon the supernova on the heaven above, the priest ended his story with and optimistic note, as once again, the hand of Quelas'Airuth shine upon the mortal world, predicted a great splendorous time was about to come.

After the service, Emma re-joined the group and they resume their journey, out of curiously the girl asked for the reason Samuel not join the temple's service.

"Oh, eh... I'm not really a religious person or anything so... you know; it'll be weird for me to..." Samuel awkwardly shrugged.

"So, what do you think about that?" –Emma pointed at the supernova on the sky- "Don't you think it a sign of the gods?"

"Er... I think... it's just a normal astronomical phenomenal, that's all," Samuel answered.

"You called a star almost as bright as the sun, suddenly appeared on the sky is normal?" -Emma amazed as Samuel's answer.

Didn't know how to respond to the girl, Samuel just gave of an awkward smile as Emma comment of the weirdness of his viewpoint, and tried to think of something to change the subject, Elesil suddenly stop his veleis and cut off the two's conversation.

"What's it, Elesil?" Samuel asked.

"How long had we left the town? Ten? Fifteen minutes?" Elesil asked the group, "Have you two saw our guest?"

Thus, finally they'd realized they found no trace of the lizardmen who had tailing them for the past few days.

"Maybe... he finally gave up?" -Emma swept her gaze around looked for the lizardmen.

"Let's hope so," –Samuel unfastened his short sword off his velelis's saddle and hanged it on his waist- "But we still can't be so sure."

Thus, their journey continued, with a constant high alert of their surroundings.