TDP: Chapter three: Power and Promises

Dart and company sail to the rocky shores of Mille Seseau. After climbing up the rock wall area and cutting through the snowy area, the Dragoons arrive at the ghost town of Neet, Dart's former hometown. there, the dragoons take a break. During this break, it is explained through conversation that the dragoons had to sneak into Mille Sesau's shores because Deningrad had suddenly closed its borders to outside countries. It is also explained that Aero and Rocland are already heading for Ulara to visit Charle.

Marcus suggests that going to Deningrad under these circumstances may not be the best idea, so Dart suggests heading to Furni, despite being under the Queen's control, might be the safest thing to do, as Dart has some friends that live in Furni, and they may be able to gather some information about the Sons of Mayfil.

Meanwhile, Aero and Rocland cut through the wasteland between Tiberoa and Mille Seseau. They encounter an enormous desert creature and engage it in battle. While Rocland fights unrestrained, Aero is unwilling to use his Dragoon spirit for obvious reasons. They move on after defeating the monster toward what looks like a cavern. Note that throughout this chapter, at certain points of the story, it would break off to Aero and Rocland's journey to Ulara (somewhat for grinding purposes, so that when Aero and Rocland rejoin the rest of the dragoons, their level won't be significantly lower than the others)

Dart and the others head out of Neet, and head towards the evergreen forest, where they are shocked to see trees being cut down by axemen, and being transported to Deningrad. Adalant makes the asumption that with the closing of Mille Seseau's borders, the major cities are down on resources, requiring the Queen to eat away at her own country. As they pass through the shrunken down forest, they stumble upon a gang of knights harrassing a Wingly child. The child is protesting against the men for cutting down the trees, and the knights are demanding that the child get out of the way. As the knights get closer, Dart instinctively intervenes. A battle ensues. Dart and the others win and the knights run off. The child thanks them and informs them that both Deningrad and Furni have been sealed off from the outside due to a disagreement between the queen and the Elder of the Wingly forest, but he would vouch for them to come to the Wingly Forest and stay there. Dart agrees and they are invited into the forest.

As they enter the forest, the village guard, Guaraha, now more heavily armed and accompanied by more winglies, are defensive at first, but Guaraha recognizes Dart and suggests that he and his team meet up with the Village Negotiator before traversing the town. Dart and the othres head toward a new building at ground level, where they meet up with Meru, who is now somewhat more conservatively dressed, and had taken the position of village negotiator after returning with Guaraha to tour the world. She explains that her job was to negotiate a relationship with humans and the winglies of the forest, and that her hope was to become an international wingly negotiator. Dart asks Meru how she lost her Dragoon spirit, and she explains that Queen Isabelle had requested it as a peace offering, but it was stolen by three cloaked men who attacked the village, and since then, tensions between the village and Deningrad have risen. Also, since the attack, Guaraha has been blaming himself for being unable to protect Meru, and has taken it upon himself to be in charge of the forest's security and has been training rigorously to increase his magic power. When Dart asks for the current location of the three cloaked men, Meru guesses that they may have taken up residence in the crystal palace.

Before leaving, Meru asks Dart the favor of stopping the Furni Axemen who are cutting down the trees of the evergreen forest. Dart agrees, saying that the border needs to be opened up at Furni anyway so that goods can be transferred normally.

As they leave the forest, they are ambushed by Knights of Deningrad and attacked. It seems that the Queen has received word of the Queen Fury docking near Neet. Before heading to Furni, Dart and the others clear the forest out of all the Axemen. After this, they head for Furni.

Despite their gates being closed off, Dart decides to break in. They are attacked by Axemen and Deningrad knights, but Dart and the others endure. The captain, a large muscular man wielding two gigantic sledge hammers, challenges Dart. Dart transforms into the Divine Dragoon, and the mere sight of this scares him away. With this, the Axemen and the Knights are chased out of town.

Dart and the others meet up with the Mayor of Furni, who Dart met and helped once 19 years ago. The mayor explains that the Axemen were among mercenaries hired by the Queen, and that their real job is to exterminate any trace of Winglies. He goes on to explain that there was word of a wingly half breed that killed one of the sacred sisters. Marcus walks outside, claiming to get some fresh air, but actually leaves the party and heads for Deningrad himself.

Meanwhile, Aero and Rocland (keep in mind that their adventure across the desert is re-met throughout the beginning of chapter three) finally reach Ulara. Aero has a flashback to when Dart gave him an unused choker that would reveal Ulara's location once they made it to the gate. Aero uses the choker and both he and Rocland head to Ulara to meet with Charle Frahma. Charle examines Aero's dragoon spirit for a moment, and tells him that it has been completely overrun by an evil spirit, to the point where it is beyond saving. Aero pleads with Charle to help him find a way to fix his dragoon spirit, as without it he is completely useless to his team. Charle tells him that the only possible way would be to send Aero's spirit inside of the dragoon stone itself to meet with the spirit invading the stone. Aero agrees, despite Rocland's protest, and Charle puts Aero to sleep.

Back at Furni, Dart and the others spend the night at a hotel. Dart tosses and turns in his sleep, feeling restless and burdened by the ever-growing weight of the Divine Dragoon spirit.

Meanwhile in Deningrad, Marcus flies to the crystal palace to meet with the Queen Isabelle. Marcus demands an answer for the prosecution against Winglies and the closing down of Mille Seseau's borders. Isabelle accuses Marcus of murdering Deningrad's beloved Sir Wilhem, and that the dragoon stone he wears in his shirt pocket is proof. Before Marcus is able to explain his case, Grey appears from the shadows and engages Marcus in battle. The fight is short lived, as Marcus's blade is unable to touch Grey. Grey snickers and throws his fist into Marcus's stomach, knocking him out cold.

The next day, Dart and the others are worried about Marcus, who hasn't returned since last night, and head to the forest to look for him. They come across a knight of Mille Seseau, who tells them that the one called Marcus Detroue is scheduled for execution in 3 hours. The dragoons immediately heads to Deningrad.

Meanwhile in Ulara, Aero, after journeying through the Red eyed dragon spirit's memory, comes face to face with the evil spirit that has been corrupting his dragoon stone. The spirit reveals himself to be none other than Melbu Frahma, the former Wingly dictator. Aero absorbs energy from the Red eyed dragon and obtains his dragoon form, and challenges Melbu Frahma to battle. At first, it seems as if Aero is victorious, but the Dragon begins to recognize Melbu's burning ambition over Aero's heroic resolve, and kicks Aero out.

Aero awakens to see his dragoon spirit floating in the air. the dragoon spirit suddenly turns into Melbu Frahma, only he is now in the Darkfire dragoon armor. After an exchange of words with his sister Charle, Melbu escapes, and Aero collapses to the floor.

Back at Deningrad, the dragoons burst into the city. Dart comments on how the city may look normal, but has the military feel of that of Kazas from the Serdian War years ago. The dragoons are attacked by Crystal Palace guards, and then attacked by Zene, the blonde Son of Mayfil. After a difficult battle, Zene is worn down, but hints that Grey is heading for Ulara to kill the red dragoon before he becomes too powerful. Dart, without thinking, transforms into the Divine Dragoon, and flies to Ulara at full speed. Zene disappears in a cloud of darkness and the remaining dragoons, under Claire's leadership, head for the crystal palace, where they are met with Grey, wielding the Blade of Mayfil, who uses it's power to knock the dragoons down. They are all taken to the same dungeon that Marcus is being held in.

After they are all imprisoned, Isabelle Grey appear in before the dragoons, Grey taunts Marcus for being part frail, while Isabelle orders a quick and quiet. execution instead of a public one. As they walk off, Archers walk in, and prepare to end the lives of all the dragoons, when they all suddenly collapse one by one. As the last archer falls to the floor, Torah is behind him. Torah, now retrained by Haschel and also now accepted by the Thunder Dragoon spirit, rescues the dragoons, and leads them toward the throne room of Isabelle.

Meanwhile, Aero wake up in Ulara, having been nursed back to health by Charle. Aero, now without a dragoon spirit, is resolved to give up and go back to Seles, but Charle urges him to rejoin the dragoons and find Melbu Frahma before something terrible happens, and that even without a dragoon spirit, Aero still has the will of a dragon, the will that can bend the rules and change destiny. This pep talk fills Aero with confidence, and he agrees to continue fighting. Suddenly, the three hear commotion from outside. Aero and Rocland head out to see Dart in his Divine Dragoon form, barely standing up, walking through Ulara. After seeing Aero, Dart admits that he is relieved to see him, returns to his human form, and passes out.

Dart is taken to Charle Frahma's home and is laid down on a bed to recover his strength. Dart, in a very tired state, explains to Aero that the Dragoons are in terrible danger, and that he needs to head to Deningrad. Charle removes the Divine dragoon spirit from Dart's hand, and explains that the Divine Dragon was never meant to be controlled by a human, so using it's power conventionally like all the other dragoon spirits takes a great toll on it's user. Regardless, Aero asks Charle to let him use the Divine Dragon spirit so that he can help his friends. Before doing so, Charle casts some sort of spell on the Dragon spirit, claiming that she focused it's energy to make it less violent and hopefully less physically straining on it's user. Aero grabs the Divine Dragoon spirit. He and Rocland are told to head to Ulara's teleportation device. Aero bids farewell to his father and leaves.

The people of Ulara gather around Aero and Rocland and grant their power to the teleporter. Aero and Rocland transform into their dragoon forms at the same time that they are transported, giving themselves a boost.

The Dragoons in Deningrad make it to the throne room to confront Isabelle, only to be confronted with Grey and Zene. Just before Grey can use his Blade of Mayfil to knock the Dragoons out like he did before, Aero appears in a green flash, now in his brand new Dragoon armor, and clashes swords with Grey, who is knocked so far back that he is thrown through the wall and into the mountains. Rocland also appears, and aims his scythe at Zene.

Zene smirks, grabs the queen, and they both vanish into darkness. Aero and Rocland are at last united with the dragoons, and Deningrad has been liberated from Isabelle's rule... for now.

Aero explains to the dragoons that Dart is resting at Ulara and that Charle Frahma altered the Divine Dragoon spirit so that humans could use it with greater ease. He also explains that the Red eyed dragoon spirit has been possessed and is on the loose. After a long discussion, the Dragoons decide to go after the Sons of Mayfil and the queen first and then worry about the Dragoon spirit. They head back to the wingly forest to inform Meru of Isabelle's dethroning and also to determine the location of the Sons of Mayfil.

The Dragoons arrive at the Forest of Winglies to find that it is under attack by a virage. The dragoons battle the Virage and defeat it, only to see it melt and leave the dead body of a Wingly behind. It is Guaraha. Meru locks herself in her parent's hut in grief. Meru's father explains that the Virage suddenly attacked shortly after the dragoons left and Meru had been keeping it at bay for a while, and that they were wondering where Guaraha had gone, but no one thought it possible that a Wingly could be turned into a Virage.

Meru cleans herself up and does her best to inform the Dragoons of the situation without crying. She explains that Isabelle and the Sons of Mayfil are probably headed for a human camp located between the edge of the mountains of Mille Seseau and the Death Frontier, formerly known as the Wingly Capital. She explains that Isabelle had been sending excavators to the Wingly Capital against the wishes of the citizens of the Wingly Forest to look for artifacts, or more specifically weapons. Adalant deduces that the Sons of Mayfil are probably using Isabelle to look for something specific that they need, since they used his father to get the Blade of Mayfil.

Meru explains that the forest was drained of it's strength defending against the Virage, so they were unable to use the teleporter. The dragoons are lead to a path behind the forest of winglies that leads to the mountains where Isabelle's excavation camp may be located. The Dragoons thank Meru for her help and head towards the Frost Mountains.

The dragoons are confronted by similar virages to the one they fought at the Forest of Winglies. When they are killed, they leave behind dead things, like dogs, wolves, even humans, and they all have stab wounds on them, like Guaraha did when his body was left behind.

After much searching, the Dragoons locate a hut in the mountains, but are unable to get near it because it's surrounded by fierce and icy winds. Suddenly, Grey appears from the wind and greets the dragoons by whistling, summoning a giant bear, and stabbing it with the Blade of Mayfil, turning it into a giant bear Virage. The dragoons battle and defeat the Virage, and Aero rushes at Grey, slashing at him. Grey dodges barely, make a remark about Aero's improvement, and disappears into the icy fog from whence he came. The fog begins to dissipate and the Dragoons head towards the camp, where they meet Isabelle again.

Marcus tries to convince Isabelle that she's being used by Grey and Zene, but Isabelle refuses to listen. Aero, Marcus, and another party member move forward, while the others are suddenly attacked by more of Grey's Virages. Aero and Marcus battle against Isabelle, who is wielding multiple artifacts. Two jewels that float around her, healing her, powering her up, and powering down Aero and the others, a Staff that allows her to cast wingly magic, and a glowing blue blade that does heavy damage to dragoons and to Marcus. Instead of attacking her, Marcus convinces the party to attack the objects instead, disarming her.

One by one, each of Isabelle's weapons are destroyed, and Isabelle staggers away from Marcus, spilling out her confessions, her betrayal to Mille Seseau, turning her back on the Sacred Sisters, and allowing the Sons of Mayfil to do as they please in her country in exchange for power and wealth. Marcus holds strong to his promise to Wilhem, and does not kill her. However, Grey is displeased with the situation, and stabs Isabelle through the back, turning her into a gigantic black winged Virage, much larger than any of the virages the dragoons have faced so far.

Marcus refuses to allow Aero to kill Isabelle, his Dragoon spirit finally recognizes him, and Marcus becomes the White Silver Dragoon. The white Silver dragoon is able to attack the Virage heart, which is invisible to the other dragoons. After destroying the Virage Heart, Marcus dives into the Virage's body and pulls Isabelle from the core. Now Aero and the other dragoons are free to kill the black Super Virage.

After the battle, Zene and Grey retreat, and Marcus uses his dragoon's healing power to revive Isabelle. They all return to Deningrad.

Two days later, Sacred Sister Luanna returns to Mille Sesau to become the next Queen, and knights Marcus for his deeds. The Dragoons and the citizens of Deningrad and the Winglies of the Wingly forest throw a cooperative ball to celebrate the Sons of Mayfil being driven out of Mille Seseau and to remember and honor the lives of both humans and winglies that were killed because of their involvement.

Meanwhile, Zene and Grey have returned to Mayfil, where Zene tells Grey that Melbu Frahma has been successfully captured and that it's only a matter of time before they learn the location of the ruins of the Divine Tree.

~End of Chapter 3

Links
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 Your on this one.

Chapter 4