All right! We're on to Book 4, and what is set to be my favorite part of the entire epic, the time travel book!

So, yeah, we're gonna get our introductions to everything here. So remember the relationships introduced in the spinoff book, and with that said, let's dig into Legend Book 4!

Chapter 1: Landing

Ike came to quite some time after he had jumped into the portal. As soon as he made this realization, his eyes fluttered open instantly.

The first thing he noticed was that he was staring up into one of the cloudiest skies he had ever seen outside of hell. The second thing he noticed was that he was actually unhurt.

The mercenary then sat up abruptly, and sighed in relief when he found Fiordiligi and Maria both lying down on the grass below them. The mercenary's blue eyes scanned the area before Maria sat up just as abruptly as he did.

"We're back, aren't we?" asked Maria as she sat up.

"Yep," replied Ike, looking up at the sky. "I wonder why it's so cloudy, though."

"Clouds all over the place?" Ike and Maria were both startled as they noticed Fiordiligi sitting up almost as abruptly as Ike had earlier. "They're not too dark, are they?"

"Not at all," replied Maria as she and Ike both stood up.

The cat laguz then helped Fiordiligi up as she grabbed onto Maria's shoulders instinctively. The lady of Jericho then seemed to stare out into space as Maria nodded to Ike.

"Let's get going and see what's going on," said the mercenary with a nod. "Then we'll find a good place to break this crystal and try to fix everything."

"All right," said the two women with him.

"But where do we start?" asked Maria with a shrug.

The mercenary looked around blankly, trying to figure out where to begin looking. Finally, he simply shrugged and looked at Maria.

"We'll go wherever our whims take us, I guess," said the mercenary simply.

With his said, Ike took a hold of Maria's hand, and then he led the two women along slowly, Maria and Fiordiligi both following behind him as Maria gazed at the immense amount of grass that was around them.

Eventually, Ike noticed some some smoke rising to his left. Maria noticed it two, and the small group stopped alltogether to look at the transluscent column of grey. Ike studied it, wondering what it could have been as Maria and Fiordiligi both stood by him. It was nearly dusk by the time Ike had noticed this, and the clouds had cleared by then to reveal the first blue sky Ike and Maria had seen in a long, long time.

"What is it?" asked Fiordiligi, just a little startled at the sudden stop.

"Smoke," said Maria simply. "And it looks like campfire smoke, too."

"Really?" asked the lady of Jericho, smiling. "You think we'll be able to find somebody to talk to?"

"Of course," said Ike simply. "Let's go."

The mercenary walked towards the smoke slowly, his two companions following close behind him. The group reached the place where the smoke was, and when they looked they found a rather humble scene.

Two tents were pitched by a stream, the smoke deriving from a fire that was undoubtedly used for cooking. A blonde man was kneeling over the fire, poking some fish with a stick. Maria noticed a hat laying off to the side, signifying the man's status as a travelling priest, although his robes were also a bit of a giveaway as well. The man was not all intent on cooking, however, and he noticed the three intruders peeking in on his work. Noticing this, he looked again at the fish he was cooking before turning to one of the tents.

"Cecilia!" he exclaimed.

Out of one of the tents came a rather young woman who made Ike wince the slightest bit. He regarded her purple hair in a strange kind of regard; he noticed how she and Maria could have been identical twins if not for the fact that this new woman was both human and wore a considerably different (tribal, Ike would think) outfit. She noticed the little group outside.

"H-hey!" she cried, jumping back into the tent before springing back out again with a katana in hand. "Stay away!"

"Well, that's no way to address a lady!" shouted Fiordiligi angrily.

"Hold on a second!" cried Maria as the woman moved over to them. "We're not trying to steal stuff from you!"

"I dunno, those cat ears and that tail look awfully suspicious to me!" replied the stranger as she looked at them with hard amethyst eyes.

"Oh, great, another continent without laguz..." sighed Ike under his breath.

However, the stranger heard this and stopped, suddenly tilting her head to the side.

"Laguz?" asked the woman. "What?"

"Uh... nothing..." replied Ike sheepishly, scratching the back of his cobalt hair.

Finally, the priest stood up. "Ah, never mind," he said simply, his blonde hair falling about his face. "I can see you are not thieves."

"Yeah, we're actually lost," replied Maria. "I know it's probably a dumb question, but where exactly are we?"

"You're on the Sacaen-Bern border," said the purple-haired human rather quickly. "You're lost?"

Ike shrugged. "It's a really long story," replied the mercenary. "For now, we're just lost, and we're wondering what's going on."

"Well, it's only fair you start with your own tale first," stated the priest simply. "You have a long tale coming for you as well, I assume?"

"Considering we haven't been here before, yes..." said Fiordiligi.

"Right," said the priest simply. "I am Calvin, and this is my friend and assistant Cecilia."

The other human ran over to the group, holding her hand out in a friendly manner. "Nice to meet ya!" said the woman quite cheerfully.

"And I'm Ike, and the two with me are Maria and Fiordiligi," said Ike as he took Cecilia's hand and shook it.

Calvin simply nodded. "Right," he said simply. "Where do we begin?"

"Well, it begins something like this," said Ike.

He then proceeded to tell the two people of his journeys across the world.

When Ike was finished telling his story, Cecilia and Calvin were both looking at him rather strangely. By then, the three strangers had sat down on the ground, Fiordiligi sitting absolutely still, groping around her whenever she shifted the way she sat. Both Maria and Fiordiligi had contributed some small bits of the tale, but they allowed Ike to tell the brunt of it.

"There are other continents besides Elibe?" asked the priest. "And you went through the afterlife?"

"Hard to believe, I know," said Ike with a shrug.

Cecilia simply shook her head at this. "Somehow, I find all that really, really hard to believe..."

"I wouldn't be surprised," replied Fiordiligi. "It's not every day these kinds of things happen to you..."

"We'll see soon enough," said Calvin with a shrug. "And now I suppose you want the story of Elibe of the past few years."

"Yes," said Maria. "We'd appreciate that very much."

Calvin coughed slightly to clear his throat before continuing, soft eyes looking at them briefly.

"Very well," said the priest. "Twelve years ago, there was a rather large war that was going on between Bern and the rest of the continent of Elibe."

"Bern?" asked Maria. "Ruled by king Zephiel?"

Calvin regarded this comment with a look of surprise. "Why, yes," he said. "You ran into him in the underworld, I assume?"

"Most definitely," said Fiordiligi. "Anyways, what happened after that?"

"After that?" asked the priest. "Well, to be simple, there was a peace pact that was formed between Bern and the League of Lycia."

The entire group gave confused looks to the priest. "The League of Lycia?" asked Ike. "Is that another nation?"

"It was the central opposing nation of the war," replied Calvin calmly. "Anyways, their peace pact was formed a few years ago. I think, however, that something isn't quite right here..."

"What do you mean?" asked Fiordiligi, groping her way around her as she shifted her position.

"Lately, King Roy of Lycia has been acting irrationally," said the priest. "Lycia and Bern went back into war, and they've been warring for two years now."

"Oh, dear..." said Maria. "How come we're not seeing it here?"

Cecilia shrugged at this question. "I don't know," she said. "I guess it's all by the Bern-Lycia border..."

"Hm..." Ike simply stretched his arms. "And that's what's going on?"

"Yes," replied Calvin. "That is really everything."

"Hm..." Fiordiligi was deep in thought as she pondered the implications, Ike looking at her with a certain sense of apprehension.

"Well, thanks for telling us," said Maria with a nod.

"Certainly," said Calvin. "I guess you also need a direction to head to?"

Ike nodded fervently at this. "Yes!" said the mercenary quickly.

"Very well, then," said the priest. "We'll be heading to Bern soon, so you can come along with us."

"Thank you," replied Ike, getting surprised when Fiordiligi's head darted in his direction.

Maria noticed this, and simply put an arm on Fiordiligi's arm. She also noticed that they barely had enough room for extra people.

"Hey, wait, what about extra tents?" asked Maria.

"Oh, those?" asked Cecilia. "I wouldn't worry about that. We'll do what we can."

"Saint Elimine would never forgive us if we did not," said Calvin succinctly. "Cecilia, you know what to do!"

"Yes, Calvin," replied the priest's companion quickly as she darted into one of the tents.

Ike and Maria simply looked at each other and shrugged, Fiordiligi still a little confused as she stood up with Maria's assistance. They then watched Calvin and Cecilia work, Ike lending a hand whenever necessary. The next day they would be off to Bern, and all three people were anxious as to what that would mean once they arrived...