(Excerpt from Wealthows diary, written in the Sanctuary, 5 years after the Second Great Conflict, about 10 in the evening.)

They said he was crazy, but I never believed them. He was sane as you and me. He was, though, accused of a crime that he never admittedalthough evidences were strictly against him. He maintained his innocence until his death. Still the fact remains that if it weren't for him, all of us would have been dead. But the people of his homeland still hold him in contempt, forever blind to his deeds and his innocence.

I have decided to start this diary but for a single purpose. My lips are tightly sealed whenever they ask me about what happened 5 years agoabout how we came to stop the Shadow from eating our world.

I know that with writing I can express things better, so I am jotting down the details of our journeyhow we came to be ordered by the king, how we came to free him and hear his tale, how we endured in the face of that horrorhow we faced his death.

My name is Wealthow, a Priestess from the great Prontera Sanctuary. I have beenand still the leader of the quest party Firnheild, consisting of a Blacksmith, a Hunter, an Assassin and a Knight. We have never been lucky with Mages and Wizards. Our first magical companion was a dear young lad named Kay, but he died in Sograt Desert after being crushed by a golem.

Altair is our Blacksmith, young and fresh sixteen when we were sent to Geffen to get the greatest "criminal" Midgard had ever seen. Altair is the so-called Pride of Alberta; he who makes the very best weapons that no master craftsman alive can ever match. Hes young and brash, always ready for action. But he can get foolhardy at times, as was proved by our brief encounter of the Undead in Glast Heim long ago.

Our Hunter, Signy, is from the woodlands of Payon. Never much of a bookworm. She hated reading above else. She preferred to shoot off any wild creature we encounter, or else setting dangerous landmines in the hard-packed streets. Her falcons name is Odin.

Sibyl is our Assassin. From the town of Morroc, one would expect her to be laconic like many others of her kind. Oh, but she is not. Shes the noisiest in our lot, and put Theodoric with her, our Knight, youre sure to run covering your ears with your hands.

Last theres Theodoric. Our Knight from Izlude. Hes a bit of a perverted maniac to me. Always kept chasing women whenever he had the chance. But he is real good in with his Lance. And that Peco-peco of his is quite fast as well.

Our second magical companion was known by the name of Nerva. Nerva alThor, in full naming. He was the brightest child Geffen, the City of Magic, had ever given birth to. He was the best in magic. Accused of slaughtering his first partymates, but he never admitted it. Argued that it was all a mistake and that what killed his companions was beyond our understandingand it was true. I myself had seen the creature, and until now it haunts my dreams.

Our journey began 5 years ago, when I had been summoned to the Prontera Castle by the King himself. My party was requested to investigate the mysterious events that have been recurring oftenest in the Northern lands. People have been fleeing from their homes, leaving farms and work behind. The North was an important asset for Prontera, because its the main provider of grains.

Al de Baran became a ghost town. In Glast Heim the peoples all vanished, and what took their place was the horrible Undead.

I was willing to accept the task, but not when the King ordered us to go to Geffen first and fetch our guide.