Part 1
A group of statues made of a silver metal found themselfs located outside of the corners of a village. At first people would come around to take a look and assumed they were some kind of unfinished work from a frustrated artist or a present from an unknow city. Many tried to figure it out their origins but the statues just appeared out of nowhere one day and nobody knew who was responsible for them.
The villager's leader came to take a look and realized that the statues beared a striking resemblance to the group of mercenearies that had been hired to deal with a situation involving a stolen dragon egg. Two women and three men, all striking odd poses as if they were being attacked or surprised by someone. The leader assumed they were some kind of message from the mercenaries but wasn't sure what they were trying to say.
Since he didn't want to offend the group that had just recently lended their help towards them, they decided to move the statues to a sacred cave as a sign of respect. It took a long time to perform such an act as the metalic figures proved to be rather heavy for one person to carry.
Days passed and the statues continued to rest inside of that cave while being regarded as some kind of token of friendship. Days became weeks, weeks became months and months became years. It would rain, it would hail, and it would shine with the light of the sun, but the metalic objects would remain there.
There were people who would sometimes try to steal the statues but they would often be stopped by a man carrying a silver aura who would often visit the cave from time to time to pay his respects. However, after years had passed, the man stopped visiting as he felt the scene begun to cause him too much pain inside of his heart.
The statues remained there abandoned for the rest of the next two centuries just waiting to be found again.
A young lady crying in despair on her knees, two young men, one laying on the ground and another standing up, a bald man showing extreme anger in his face looking like he was trying to leap in the air, and a young girl looking confused. They all stood there inside that cave displaying their beutifull metalic textures.
One day, after linving there for so long, fate decided to let these individuals return to the world of those who could move by thesmelfs as their beutiful metalic exterior begun to crack and releasing the humans who were inside of it for the first time in two-hundred years.
Part 2
"Lilith!! Lilith!!"
A teenage girl wearing a maid outfit opened her eyes after hearing her name being called. She saw the face of a young man with brown hair looking at her while being holded in his arms, arms so thin that looked like it would have trouble sustaining the weight of any person but were still carrying her as if she was a princess.
The girl recognized the man looking at her and tried to speak.
"... D- Daren...?"
The man holding her started to cry and moved his forehead so it would touch her while trembling. After hearing the girl talk he started to talk in relieve.
"Thank the heavens!! Thank the heavens you're ok!!"
Lilith started to look around still in a state of daze and saw three other individuals looking at her. A blond man with blue eyes, a bald muscular young man and a teenage girl with black long hair and dark skin. They were all wiping their tears while standing on top of a pile of metalic fragments.
Lilith finally started to fully regain her senses and realized the situation.
"Gustav... Auren... Ria!!! You are all free!!!"
Gustav, the blond man, finished cleaning his eyes and answered her.
"We are free!"
Lilith started to cry with joy with the realization that all of her friends that she thought were lost forever were once again safe and sound.
"You are all free!!!"
The group of friends shared a hug while screaming to the sky.
"We are free!!!!!" x 4
They were overcome with emotion for a little longer before Daren, the young man with thin arms, started to realize something was wrong.
"Where... Where are we...?"
Gustav analized the area and tried to answer.
"Looks like some kind of cave? But the last thing i rememeber, we were all standing just outside of the village after our dragon mission... How did we get here?"
Daren looked around and realized that someone was missing.
"Where's Marceus...? He was with us too! Where is Marceus??"
Lilith made a depressed face and assumed what had happened.
"... She probably took him with her..."
Daren heard that and started to freeze in shock.
"'She'? ... The goddes!!! She turned us into statues and took Marceus!!"
Ria looked at them confused.
"The goddes? What? Why would she do that? We were not enemies..."
Daren looked at Ria and became extremely angry.
"Yes we are... She didn't accept me as Marceus's partner just because my power came from a curse... She must have imprisioned us here so she could escape with him! If we hurry we can find them!!"
Daren exchanged a look with Lilith and she understood what he wanted.
"I will search them using my future sight!"
While Lilith used her power to stare into the future, Ria came closer to Auren who was looking at her while still holding his tears.
"Auren...? What's wrong...?"
"It's nothing... I'm just a little-"
"Something is wrong!!"
Lilith interrupted Auren with a look of distress.
"Th- The world... The country, the cities... It's all different!!!"
The rest of the group looked at her rather confused wihtout understanding what she meant. Gustav tried to calm her down.
"Lilith relax... What do you mean by different?"
"I mean i don't recognize anything! I see us going into many places but nothing seems familiar!! This world is not like the world we know!!"
This time Daren tried to calm her down.
"Lilith don't worry... You're probably just still in shock after being transformed like that. Let's go back to the mansion and regroup with the rest of our team. If we want to save Marceus from that goddess we will need everyone's help! Ria?"
"On it!"
Ria removed a glove from her hand and started to scratch the air with her nails while a glowing energy sorrounded her arm. A scar started to open in mid-air and suddnely turned into a portal to another location. Daren grabbed hold of Lilith who still looked shocked and gave instructions to the team.
"let's go everyone, we have no time to waste!"
Part 3
After arriving at the location the group found themsefs completely astonished. The great mansion that used to be their home and the lair of all of their friends was completely gone. Gustav stared at the area where the massive building used to be and all that remained was an open field. Auren noticed the wind scar that transported all of them there was closing and started to look at the city they were in.
"Gustav... Can you contact anyone with your telepathy?"
"... There is no one..."
"... What...?"
Gustav fell on his knees and begun to shiver.
"I can't hear the voices of anyone... Even if they were in another country my power should allow me to talk with their minds... But it's all silent!! They... They're gone!!"
Ria blocked her mouth with both hands and started to shiver as well.
"You mean... They are all dead?? That woman killed all of them??"
Daren didn't want to believe in this reality. He looked at the city as well and started to wonder if maybe Ria had her powers messed up after being frozen as a statue and sent them to the wrong location since the city looked different. He reached for one of the citizens walking by and tried to talk with him.
"Excuse me sir! Can you tell me the name of this city? Please!!"
"Huh... Sure... It's the city of Emerald Dawn young man."
"Sir are you sure?? Is there another city named Emerald Dawn some place else...?"
"Not that i know of... I'm really sorry, i need to go now..."
The man left Daren who was bearing a look on his face as if someone had removed a part of his heart from his body. He looked behind him and realized that the rest of the group wasn't doing much better. Gustav stood up and came closer to him.
"Daren... What did the goddes say, exactly?"
"... She said we were a distraction for Marceus..."
"If we were a distraction... Then why were we released? There was no one in that cave with us! No one could release her spell except herself."
"You... You mean she released us? But why would she?"
"... Because... We can no longer distract Marceus..."
"..." x 4
The entire group looked at Gustav fearing what he wa about to say.
"... We can't be a distraction anymore... And i can't hear him... Because he is probably dead..."
Daren and the rest were paralyzed. Gustave tried to continue his explanation despite looking it really hard to do so.
"I think she wanted to keep us locked until Marceus was done with his job... But i can't hear him anymore... So... He... He... Must have..."
Lilith rememebred something the goddes had said before turning all of them into statues.
"He can't be dead!! She... She said she was going to make Marceus immortal..."
Gustav was the one who froze up this time.
"What!!?"
"She said... making him immortal was the only way he would understand how she works..."
Daren looked at Lilith with eyes wide open and then looked back at Gustav.
"If he was immortal... And we were locked until he finished her request... How long were we in that cave...???"
Part 4
The group of friends was resting inside of an inn in the middle of the city. Daren tried to refuse giving up hope and kept searching around for information of what had happened while they were in that cave. He returned to the inn and was received by a group of defeated eyes. Auren, Lilith and Ria were too depressed to talk but Gustav still tried to speak with him.
"... Please tell me I'm wrong..."
"..."
Daren didn't respond. Gustav understood and tried to change his question.
"How long...?"
"... I tried to ask about Marceus... They all reacted the same way... They all knew i was talking about the living weapon who kept trying to fight against evil for... Two-hundred yeards..."
The group heard this information with a shocked expressions. Auren started to whisper with a low voice.
"... We were in that cave for two-hundred years...? She kept us there for that long!!??"
Ria was the next one to speak.
"Why would she do that...? Gods are supossed to protect the people not torment them!"
Daren replaced his shock and depression with rage and frustration.
"No they're not... The gods don't care about us... They just see us as tools that they can use to their own benefits... She wanted to keep using Marceus but she had no interest in using us... And now... She is probably done with him..."
Lilith remained quiet the whole time hugging her legs on the floor against the wall. Auren tried to speak once again.
"... What do we do now...? Where do we go??"
Daren looked at him with a determined look.
"I'll find the goddess... And kill her..."
Gustav, Auren and Ria were surprised by that answer but Lilith answered with a calm voice.
"It's impossible..."
Daren looked at her stunned.
"What did you say?"
"I said it's impossible... She took all of us down like we were nothing... The moment you try to approach her she will destroy you..."
"... You don't know that..."
Lilith stood up, walked towards Daren and punched him in the face. The young man with thin muscles fell on the floor.
"You think i don't want revenge too!!?? You think i don't want to find her and make her pay!!?? She took all our friends from us for absolutely no reason!! I hate her!! I hate her so much!!! All i can think about is her stupid smile while she just turned you all into statues as if it was a silly game!!"
"Lilith... I'm..."
Daren looked at her as she kept screaming while tears were coming out from her eyes.
"I want to kill her!!! I want to kill her so bad!! But i can't!! None of us can!! You tried using your full power combined with Marceus and even that wasn't enough!! What do you think would happen if you tried to fight her now that Marceus is gone?? Do you want me to watch you die again???"
She dropped on her knees and hold her crying face with both hands.
"If only i just accepeted being his partner... If only i wasn't such a coward... And now we lost everything because of me!!! I can't lose anyone else!!"
"..."
"I know how you feel... But please!! Don't run into your death too!! I won't be able to bear any more of this guilt."
Daren holded her hands and revealed her crying face.
"Lilith... He was never going to choose you..."
"W- Wha...?"
"You knew him... He was never going to choose anyone... When i combined with him i saw into his mind... Even when you were a candidate he was never planning to choose any of you from the beggining... "
"Then..."
"None of this is your fault... You did nothing wrong, we did nothing wrong, Marceus did nothing wrong and our friends did nothing wrong! It was her who caused all of this. She turned Marceus into a weapon, she gave him that stupid mission, she decided to ignore his wish and reject us..."
"..."
Lilith realized that Daren was crying as well.
"Even if you begged him to let you become his partner he would just play it as a joke and move on... Because that's the kind of idiot he was... ... ... But even if he was an idiot, he was still my friend... My friend who helped me when i needed him, and my friend who i couldn't help when he neede me... So please... Let me avange my friend!"
Gustav stood up and started to talk while holding a crying face as well.
"I'm going too!!"
"Gustav?"
Lilith was surprised by his words.
"The other candidates... They were my family... I don't know if she killed them or if they simply lived their lifes in peace until the end... But they were people i wanted to be with... And she took that from me... I want justice for the life she stole from me!"
"I'm going as well!"
Auren also stood up and was the next one to talk.
"As the candidate's healer it was my mission to take care of all of you... I need to fulfill my duty and keep you safe. If you are going after her, then I'm going too!"
Auren turned around and looked at Ria.
"Ria, you take Lilith and bring her to a safe place!"
Ria showed resentment with that idea.
"You want to leave us?? I want payback as well!!"
"I can't lose you again!! Please just stay with Lilith in someplace safe!"
"There is no safe place! What do you think she will do once she finds out you three are after her, she will just come to kill us too!"
"Ugh..."
Ria approached Lilith who was still crying on her knees.
"Lilith... We are all that's left of our familiy... We all share the same feeling right now... And we all will take this to the end... I want you to come with us as well!"
Daren looked concerned.
"Ria, we can't force her..."
"I know! I know it's selfish... But no matter what, either we kill the goddess or she kills us... I want us all to be together until the end!! I don't want to leave her alone like this in this world where we know nothing!"
Lilith looked at every single one of them and made her decision.
"... I understand..."
"...!" x 4
"We all want the same thing... And we all want to be together..."
Lilith stood up, wiped her tears and made a determined look on her face after slaping her cheeks.
"Let's find her, and avange our friends!"