[b][i]Paradise 'Par' Rapids - Diver's Paradise[/i][/b]

"Thanks!" Par said to Jenso as he caught the apple, then took several bites of it, making sure to suck up the juice. Once he finished eating the apple to the core, he would then wait for Jenso to begin walking again, and once the two resumed their trip to the Xena Rock Field, Par would begin talking:

"Anyway, I sounded like I switch moods very easily; it's not just because of the attack on the Divers, although that played a part. It's because, well...I dunno if I should say this to a person I just met, but...my mood swings come from when I was sixteen, when I and my parents were looking for a Mana Node in No Man's Land. It was a calm day, and we were hiking up a wooded hill in the direction of the Node, when we encountered..."

"When we encountered him. [I]The Chimera[/i]. It was a majestic beast, with the heads of a dragon, a goat, and a lion, with a serpent's tail and a feline's body, as well as wings that allowed it to fly up in the air. It swooped down on us, breathing fire and roaring vengance as the goat's head whispered strategies on how to deal with us." Par looked pained.

"My father, Arthur Rapids, was the first to fall, torn apart as he fired round after round of arcane ammunition that didn't affect the monster one bit, and which appeared to [i]strengthen[/i] it. Mother, being more clever, lifted rocks and large branches and threw it at the Chimera, which was marginally more effective. Then she was set on fire." Par was breathing in and out.

"I alone was left, firing my two pistols at the monster, which also didn't work. I raged, I cried out, and lastly, I was frightened, curling up to a ball, thinking I was doomed. I waited, waited for those claws." Determination filled Par as he tried to finish the story; during that time, he and Jenso kept walking.

"But they didn't cut through me. Rather, I found myself grasped roughly, then plopped into the Chimera's back. The next thing I knew, I was [i]flying[/i], flying as the Chimera showed me another way, an easier trail with which I can get at the Mana Node. And he set me down there, and flew off." Par's voice now seemed half-happy when recounting that last part, before he continued once more:

"I later realized that I and my family, [i]we were the invaders[/i]. What the Chimera did wasn't right, but it was in defense of its home, and what we did wasn't wrong either, but we did it in a way that trespassed on others' rights."

"The lesson I learned?" Par was still walking, "the lesson I learned was that people's motivations are complex, that you cannot box people in 'Good' or 'Evil', but one has to take into account as many factors as they could. In fact, Jenso, I'll tell you a secret."

"I didn't support Luke because I loved my freedom, although I do. I supported Luke because CMAS deliberately lies about its motivations, preventing people from understanding what they truly are. Even then, I've heard stories about how Arcadia and Teknoh are being overpopulated, and, well, it would be wrong not to take that into account."

"But, now it's different; CMAS has committed an atrocity that outrages me like the deaths of my parents, for even less reason. We could have shared some land with the Quadra-Powers; the Continent is big. But it is clear that the CMAS wants more than that, and we have to find out what that is." Par's face turned grim again, his eyebrows pulled down.

"Another thing. Restrain me if my mood swings towards violence again. The Junkers might refuse me, or mock me, or I might lose my temper for some other reason. I want to solve things peacefully just as much as you do, and I also want information about what's happening in Arcadia." Par closed his eyes, then opened them again as he walked.

"Why can't everything be easy..." he trailed off.