Quest to Nowhere: Rondo

Part 1: Rondo towards Blood

The wanning moon crept over the wall of the old coliseum. It was one of the oldest building still in use within Bridgar, the capital city of the Principality of Bridgar. It was constructed mostly of stone and wood, but in the years centuries since its construction the stone was reinforced in parts with a metal infrastructure.

It was a marvel of architecture and engineering in its time, able to seat between fifty and seventy five thousand people in its seats, which all circled the large open dirt field at its center. But now, looking out along the Bridgar skyline, it is hidden by the taller and more prominent buildings that have begun to spring up in the recent century, thanks to the increased prevalence of magic which has allowed them to construct buildings of stone and metal. Allowing them to make towering buildings of over 30 stories tall.

But inside the dark and almost empty stadium stood two men on its empty dirt field. Lit only by fire pots that surrounded the inner wall of the field, it was still difficult to see. This did not seem to effect the two men at all though, who stood about 50 feet from each other. The wind whistling through the coliseum seemed to accentuate the silence.

One of the men wore all black, a black button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. On the right arm, the bunched up shirt was held in place by a dark blue clothe. His pants were also black, and hung from his hip was large sword, that had no sheath. On one side there was a large black area near the base of the two ended blade, while on the other side the same area was white. And although the was fairly large it never seemed to touch the ground, even though for it size it seemed as though it would have to.

But the man's most notable feature was a large quarter spherical metal head guard that covered up both his eyes and forehead. No straps held it in place, and there were no holes for eyes or for attaching it to anything. It seemed to merely latch onto his head. Blonde and gray hair covered the top and back of his head. It seemed to be not cared for at all, as it was incredibly messy, it also grew almost to the man's shoulders.

Although both men had rather muscular and athletic bodies, it was clear from their faces that they were both about the same age. Somewhere in their late 40s or early 50's.

The other man stood rather firmly, but in a rather non aggressive way. He wore the uniform of an officer of the Bridgar army, consisting of dark green long sleeved button down shirt with no collar, and a similarly colored pair of pants. Both of which seemed a little loose on him. His top was adorned with some medals, as well strips that signified his position as a General within the army. On either hip hung a small, slightly curved, single bladed sword. Each was no more then two and a half feet long, and they were both sheathed in red scabbards.

His hair was a faded light brown color, which seemed to make his blue eyes stand out more. It was that or his small wire framed, oval glasses, which made his eyes seem slightly larger then they actually were to anyone looking at them from straight ahead.

“I'm not here to talk,” the man in all black said as he put his left hand on his head guard. He then slowly moved the guard up revealling his very light blue eyes. Even though it was very dim, his eyes squinted a lot as if he had gone from a dark place to the outdoors on a bright spring day. A small trickle of blood, seemingly coming from under the guard, rolled down the side of his nose and just under his eye.

"I'm here to find the answer to a question I've had for a long time Rowel," he said as he started to unsheath remove of the large sword from his hip.

"I don't understand how this will answer any questions Lonoa," General Rowel said to him very calmly. "You need to stop living in the past."

In the front row of the stadium a girl in similar black clothing as Lonoa, sat cross legged on one of the seats. She had messy, light brown hair, that seemed shoulder length all around her head. It obscured some of her face, specifically her left eye which was not visible at all because of the amount of hair that had grown over it. She was Lonoa's partner in the Blue Cosmos, Maegane.

"It's not everyday you see Mr. Lonoa serious," she said to the woman standing next to her, "You should really just sit, and relax. Seeing as nothing you do could stop it."

The woman lowered the pistol she had had pointed at the girl's head, and placed it back in a holster which was situated more to the front then the side of her right hip. The woman, like Gen. Rowel, was wearing the outfit of an officer of the Bridgar Army. She was Colonel Major Karen Kyrie, she acted as somewhat of a personal assistant/consultant to General Rowel.

* * *

26 years prior...

On the eve of Bridgar's Invasion of Radou...

Colonel Rowel pushed aside the flap to the field tent and quickly made his way inside. Inside it was a lot larger then it looked from the outside with a large table laying placed in the middle of the tent. On it was a map of the surrounding area with figurines representing the Radou army's positions, and other representing the positions that they believed Bridgar had.

Inside the tent was only one man who stood looking over the table. He seemed very deep in thought, much like an expierenced chess player.

"Lonoa," Col. Rowel said to him as he stepped up to the table."I know we go back a long ways, but you should at least acknowledge my higher rank sometimes," Lonoa said with a small smirk, but without taking his eyes off the table.

"Sorry, but this really isn't the time for me to feed your ego... Sir," Rowel responded sounding rather serious.

Lonoa looked over at him sensing his tone. Unlike his future appearance Lonoa had no odd headguard covering his face back then. His hair was also much shorter, and styled in such a way that it seemed pointy.

"It seems there are more of Bridgar then we had guessed would becoming," Rowel reported, "based on the scouts numbers it seems as if we'll be outnumbered around 10 to 1."

Lonoa looked at him as he started to work out was what being said in his head, while trying to come up with a solution or new course of action to take.

"Seems like we are in a bit of an unwinnable situation, considering the circumstances," Lonoa finally said.

"Unfortunately it does," Rowel said in agreement.

"Well... there is one way perhaps..." Lonoa said as he scratched his chin, "It's a bit of a gamble, but that's all we have really."

"What are you thinking?" Rowel asked.

"I've been wanting to fight Lady Tomoe Shihouin, and I'd regret it the rest of my life if I gave up this chance," he said as he found a blank piece of paper and began to write on it. "You are going to need to get me a messanger so I can send this over to Bridgar."

Lonoa handed Rowel the piece of paper, which he read to himself.

"You can't be serious, there is no way Bridgar will go for this, let alone the politicians," Rowel said waving the piece of paper around.

"I'm the General of the army, and this is the only way we might be able to win," Lonoa said as he walked over to a weapons rack and took his sword off of it and placed it on his hip, "You said that you'd always support me, so that we could make Radou a paradise."

"I know, I will too now, but I'll go in your place," Rowel told him, "But what about Saya and ****? I've got nothing to lose."

Lonoa put his hand on Rowel's shoulder, "I know... but this is how it has to be. This won't work if I sent you out, it has to be me, and no one else."

Rowel glared at him as he was slightly angered at what Lonoa was doing, but he knew that it was the only option for success.

"Go give that to a messenger, and get it over to the Bridgar front quickly. I'm going to go to our front to inspect the troops while we wait for the reply," Lonoa said before walking out of the tent. Rowel soon followed as he tri-folded the piece of paper.

* * *

As their swords clashed in the dimly lit arena, they seemed to flash and spark upon contact with each other. Lonoa swung his sword with much force and speed, while Rowel seemed as though all he could do with his two smaller swords was block the strikes, or attempt to parry them.

“Why are you doing this?” Rowel questioned him between strikes, “What could this possibly accomplish?!”

“I understand that you have a grudge against me for joining Bridgar after the war...” Rowel continued before he is cut off by Lonoa.

“I have no grudge against you for that! I'm disappointed in you for not continuing to protect Radou,” Lonoa said, “But this fight has nothing to do with that!”

Lonoa leapt back away from his opponent lowering his sword into a rest position.

“This fight is so that I can answer a question I've had for a long time, even before the battle with Bridgar,” Lonoa said as he pointed his sword at him, “In all the years I've known you, you never fought me seriously.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rowel asked sounding somewhat puzzled.

“I want to know how strong you really are,” Lonoa told him, “Because if I can't beat you, how can I possibly beat her next time we meet!?”

* * *

Lonoa stood talking to some of the men near the front line gauging their morale, as they stood around a small fire.

“Do you really think we can win this battle sir?” rather sheepishly asked one of the soldiers.

“Well I wouldn't worry about it,” he said to them, “We wouldn't be here if there wasn't a chance to win. If all goes as planned, you guys won't have to fight too much.”

The soldiers seemed a little perplexed by the answer they were given, but before they could follow up with more questions a messenger approached them, and informed Lonoa that he was sent by Rowel to find him to tell him that a response had arrived. Lonoa wished the men luck and long life, before leaving them to their fire.

He quickly walked back to his tent, not going too fast because it might spook the other soldiers to see a General running past them. Inside the tent Rowel stood reading a piece of paper, which he looked up from as Lonoa entered.

“Well?” Lonoa asked him.

Rowel handed him the piece of paper, which Lonoa quickly took from him and read. The letter head at the top of the note said, “From the Desk of General Tomoe Shihouin of the Army of the Principality of Bridgar.”

The rest of the piece of paper was mostly blank, except for a somewhat messily scribbled handwriting on it which said:

“Sounds like fun.

-Tomoe”

* * *

“Her?” Rowel said to himself. He then closed his eyes and pushed his glasses back up on his face, “I see now. This is all because of Tomoe.”

Lonoa merely stood there and said nothing in reply.

“Well since that's the case, I guess there is no way for me to talk you out of all this,” Rowel said, “So I'll give you what you want... it's been a long time since I had to fight all out.”