Yangus plopped himself onto the only bed in the large room, grinning happily as he rubbed his stomach. Jessica sat in a chair nearby while Angelo took his normal seating position against the wall not far from her. The young man used a short bookshelf in the room as his seat.

"Oh man, I'm stuffed," Yangus announced. "I hadn' eat'in anythin' like that f'r a while. Gets y'filled right in th' tummy." He patted his full, round stomach for emphasis.

The young man couldn't help but smile at the former bandit's comment. He began to observe their surroundings out of habit while listening to the others talk.

It was a simple, spacious room. The walls were sparse of wall hangings of any sort and a cupboard and dresser sat on the opposite side where he was. The bed was in the middle of the room with a table and a pair of chairs -- one that Jessica was currently sitting at -- closeby. In the corner closest to the bed was a locked chest. It was the type of bedroom that he would have if he ever had one but oddly enough, it felt familiar to him.

"You know, helping the Dragovians is good and all," Jessica spoke, "but don't you find Chen Mui to be a bit...odd? I mean, he acts as if he hasn't been here in a while. Yet how does he know so much about us?"

"What is even stranger than Chen Mui," Angelo added, his eyes set on the palace guard, "are the elders of this place. They seem to have known you for a while."

"Really? I didn' find nuffin' strange," Yangus said.

The palace guard met Angelo's gaze before he looked down at his hands. "To be honest...this place does feel a little familiar. I don't know who those people are, though, nor how they know me."

"Haven't you been with the king and the princess all your life, though?" Jessica asked him, a little surprised at the comment. Her cheeks turned a light pink as she scratched her cheek a little. "Not that I've been eavesdropping on your conversations or anything, but when I see you and the princess together at the well, it looks like you two have known each other for a long time."

"Well..." the young man scratched the back of his head. "I actually arrived at the palace when I was eight. So...I guess you can say that we've been together since most of our childhood...."

"Wait," Angelo seemed to realize something. "You came when you were eight. You mean you weren't born in Trodain?"

He shook his head. "The captain of the guard at that time...he found me and Munchie and took me in as his son since he found that I had no relatives." He paused, wondering if it was right to reveal such a mystery to his own past. However, he figured that they would find out sooner or later and it was only right for them to know. "I...I actually don't remember what happened before then -- not even how I actually got to Trodain."

A small silence fell among them, not knowing what to say nor how to react. Even Yangus sat up at hearing his words; it made the young man a bit uncomfortable with such silence.

"...Amnesia?" Jessica finally said in a quiet voice.

The young man let out a light, somewhat bitter chuckle and smiled out of habit when he didn't feel comfortable with what he was talking about. "Something like that. I was actually lucky enough to remember my name, Ryuuichi."

He paused again before deciding to stand up and leave the room. His past really wasn't a topic that he liked to talk about very much, since he himself did not know much either. "I'll go speak to Chen Mui about our...suspicions."

With that, he walked away to find the old Dragovian and left his comrades to talk amongst themselves, brushing away what little remnants of his past behind.

---

[The next day, some hours later...]

Ryuuichi struggled to catch his breath as he and the others witnessed the large dragon transform back to its human form: a man who looked no older than himself with dark hair and amber eyes, wearing robes that were just as dark as the color of the hair on his head. The man was on one knee, clearly exhausted from battle but gone were the crazed eyes that had instilled fear in to Ryuuichi for a long time.

"What...what have I done?" the lord of Dragovians asked more to himself than to them, staring at his hands. "I was looking for a way to save my people and yet instead have diminished us to a mere few."

He looked up, stopping short at whatever else he was about to say when he met Ryuuichi's eyes. "You...so you have returned?"

The palace guard couldn't help but reply with a very confused, "Huh?"

His reaction caused the lord to change his demeanor. "Hmm... your memories have not returned it seems, Ryuuichi."

"Wait jus' one darn second," Yangus intervened into the conversation. "How do y'know Guv?"

"And not just you," Angelo added. "Everyone else in the village as well."

Ryuuichi scratched his head and sighed. He had told his comrades to not worry about him, but apparently they didn't listen.

The Lord of Dragovians glanced at his comrades before returning his gaze back to the palace guard.

"I believe that it would be easier for the one closest to you to explain the missing gap to your memories," he replied. Then in a much sterner voice he called, "Chen Mui, I can sense your presence here. Reveal yourself."

Ryuuichi felt his satchel move, and to his surprise, Munchie jumped out. His pet mouse scurried to the front where the lord stood and in a puff of smoke appeared the old Dragovian, his eyes filled with sorrow and guilt as he looked at the young palace guard. He, in turn, was left speechless.

---

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a young Dragovian woman named Xia decided to explore the world beyond her home. There on her journeys she met a man named Eltrio. Eltrio was a prince to a human kingdom and next in line to the throne. It was love at first sight, but it was not meant to be...

Hearing the news of their union, Xia's father was outraged. He believed that humans and Dragovians could not co-exist together in the human world and forced Xia back with him to the Dragovian Sanctuary, where he believed that she would be safe.

Eltrio, determined to get Xia back, ventured soon after. He fought long and hard aginst the powerful monsters that guarded the Sanctuary, regardless if he knew that he could not best them. All he wanted to see was Xia one last time...

A few days later, just before the gates, the Dragovians found Eltrio's beaten, lifeless body. Xia was devestated. For weeks, she would not eat, drink, nor speak and her sadness echoed throughout the home. Gradually, her life began to fade away.

Yet in the midst of her sadness, she discovered that she was pregnant with Eltrio's child. Despite the objections that she faced, she was determined to give birth to their child and saved the last bits of her strength to care for the being inside her up to the day the child arrived in the world. The baby was a boy, and the first half Dragovian, half human child.

Xia's father's beliefs changed during this time. He could do nothing to ease her daughter's sadness and blamed himself for bringing her death. And so, to repent for his mistakes, he brought up his grandson as how he thought his daughter would. He fought against the Council's decision to send the child away, and it succeeded for eight long years until the Lord of Dragovians decided to send the half-Dragovian, half human boy away to the human world. Xia's father then had no choice.

The Lord of Dragovians sealed away the boy's memory and sent him outside the gates to the unknown and dangerous world outside. His grandfather, Chen Mui, travelled alongside the boy in the guise of a mouse out of a request to the Lord to accompany him. In return, Chen Mui could not speak directly to the boy and could only hope that his grandson would venture out of the dangerous grounds beyond the Sanctuary safely....and accompanied him ever since.

Chen Mui handed him a ring as they sat over the fireplace of his home. Ryuuichi stared at hit as if it was some sort of foreign object, not knowing what to say. It was a typical silver ring with a familiar red jewel glittering inside.

"I believe that this was your father's," Chen Mui finally said to him after a while. "The jewel is an Argon's heart, won by your father during his trials into Argonia's Hunting Grounds. Your mother treasured this with all her heart when he gave it to her."

Something, somewhere deep inside rang with alarm as he fiddled with the ring, but he had so much to absorb and accept that it didn't really click to him just yet. The most important thing now was that he finally knew where he came from.

But it would only be after defeating Rapthorne did the palace guard see the significance behind his past.