They entered the palace on the far side.

Stahl wasn't resisting the guards, and because of this they had loosened their harsh grip on him.

Just inside the door was a hallway going to the left and the right, and a long deep staircase straight ahead.

They ushered him forward and down the stairs. It quickly became dark the further they went down the stairs. Every so often there was a torch propped up against the white stone walls. A cold breeze passed through the stairway.

Once they had finally reached the bottom, there was a small room. One wall was barred with a single locked gate. Two guards stood. One at each side of the door. They stood stiff and straight with their shields positioned flat behind them.

"Wait," Stahl said, resisting a little as they pulled him closer to the door, "are you sure this is the right place?"

"Oh we're sure," The guard responded, almost maliciously. The other guard escorting Stahl opened the door. The two guards next to the door took a defencive stance toward Stahl ready for an attack.

The two escorts shoved Stahl in and quickly shut the door.

"Enjoy yourself." One snickered before both escorts walked away. The other two stationary guards returned to their stiff stance, with their back to Stahl.

Stahl stood for a moment, staring at the door with a sense of confusion and concern, he knew then that what Alfonse had said was a lie, before turning to look at the rest of the room.

The room was dark. From what he could see, the room was considerably larger than the room he was just in. He hesitantly walked a forward into the dark of the room. Everything was almost black. He stopped suddenly when he heard footsteps. Loud heavy footsteps behind him.

He swung around, alarmed and ready to pull out his sword if needed. He looked up to see a tall man standing before him. He couldn't see much but a silhouette and some colour, but this man appeared big and threatening.

"Oh ho! Do not be afraid newcomer." He boomed rather loudly. But he didn't sound angry, but rather friendly. The man lit a torch in his hand and the flame roared to life. "My name is Hector."

Stahl could now see Hector. He donned heavy blue armour with yellow accents and a short cape. His armour was heavily damaged; it shows the scars of the many times it has had to pieced back together.

"I'm Stahl." he said, slightly intimidated by Hector's towering stance over him.

Hector held out his hand for a shake. He was missing most of his pinky and part of his ringer finger.

Stahl shook his hand, making note of the strong grip Hector possessed.

"Follow me." Hector said, turning to walk down the room.

Stahl followed the warrior. It was clear now that Hector has been to many battles, besides the damage to his armour, he wore two notable scars on his face. One across the bridge of his nose and another scar diagonal on his forehead.

The red cape he wore only came down to his mid back, and it was extremely tattered.

As they walked across the room Stahl could hear the patter of feet moving in the dark on both sides of them.

Eventually they came to the far end of the room. Propped up against the wall where dozens of weapons. All kinds of weapons could be found here ranging anything from swords to bows.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave your weapon here." Hector said turning to Stahl.

Stahl hesitated a bit and looked at Hector. "Why?"

"It's just a rule. Mostly as a safety precaution."

Stahl didn't question this. He didn't want to be on Hector's bad side for being argumentative, so he just unstrapped his sword and leaned it up against the wall.

He looked around at all the weapons. They all ranged so drastically in style and craftsmanship. Nothing was real interesting until he got to the end of the line.

There sat a massive gold and silver axe. It was unlike anything he had seen before. It was a dual bladed battle axe, golden base and silver edges. The end of the handle was topped with blood red jewel.

"I see you staring at the Armads." Hector said walking over. Stahl snapped back to focus at the sound of his voice. "That mighty axe is my weapon of choice. Made for slaying the gods themselves." He laughed. Stahl had no idea whether or not he was telling the truth; but he could only assume so by the shear volume and elegance of the axe. He walked up to it and ran his fingers along the complicated engravings along the edges of the gold.

"The one next to it," Hector pointed to the weapon next to Armads, "It's a weapon that belongs to a close friend of mine."

Right next to Armads sat another sizable weapon. This one was a long silver sword with a wide blade, its hilt was in a cross shape with a large translucent blue gemstone embedded in the middle and a smaller red gem at the end of the handle. Each arm of the hilt has a bright red band in the center.

"The Durandal." He announced. "Another weapon tempered to slay divinity."

There was nothing past Durandal and Armads, at least for quite some distance. Way in the corner by themselves sat two more weapons that looked to be just as fancy as Armads and Durandal and another that seemed less elegant and more threatening.

One was a silver bow with golden feather like accents on its tips. A set of golden wings where perched in the center of its arc. At least one could assume it was a bow, but it did not seem to possess a string.

The other was yet another long sword. Unlike Durandal this one was thinner in width and longer in length. It had a golden blade with a deep black hilt.

The last of the 3 was a spear, that was plain for the most part except for the base of the blade having wing like mount. It possessed two seperate bladed edges, the second hooked off of the main one, creating a large barb.

Stahl walked up to get a closer look at the weapon. It was dark in the corner farther away from Hector, but he could see the golden fixtures on the weapons glittering in the dark.

Hector walked closer to Stahl "I wouldn't mess with those." he warned. "Or as a general rule, I wouldn't mess with anything that isn't yours."

Stahl nodded and backed up from the weapons. "Do they have names too?"

"Yes," Hector responded, he pointed at the bow, "That is the Fujin Yumi. The other one," He pointed at the sword, "the Ragnell."He looked at the spear, "That one he calls Vergaun. It's not a legendary weapon unlike Fujin and Ragnell." He paused for a moment. "Come, let's sit down and talk a bit. I wouldn't mind learning a bit about you."

Hector walked a bit away, to a table that was hiding in the dark and sat down. Stahl followed and sat across from him. The moment Stahl sat down, multiple torches from around the room flickered to life. He looked around to see people who were pressed up against the wall. There was actually a lot of people in the room. They all stood up and went on doing various tasks, some chatted others returned to a table to resume what looked to be some kind of card game. A couple came to hover around Hector to get a look at Stahl.

The sudden activity, and light, surprised Stahl, he looked around to see many doors around the room leading to other rooms and halls. The entire place was plain and dirty. Everyone in the room was battered and worn. Some were heavily bandaged, others where missing limbs entirely.

Hector turned to Stahl. "So, where do you come from? Like your home kingdom."

"Oh-h, um," Stahl stuttered a bit. "I come from the kingdom of Yllise."

"Oh! Another Yllisian! We've not had one of you here in a long time."

Stahl perked up a bit hearing this, that meant other members of the Shepherds had to be here too. "Do you remember who else is here?"

Hector thought for a moment. "I believe, if I remember right, a big fellow, Frederick. He's the only one still here."

"So," Hector was looking at Stahl's armour, "What kind of combat do you specialise in?"

"Well-"

"Horseback." Another voice said, cutting him off.

Stahl turned to see a thin black haired man standing behind him. He wore a tattered black cloak and jacket with gold trim. He wore metal gauntlets that seemed, almost out of place compared to the rest of his more, noble, attire. His hair was slicked back and he stood stiff and well mannered.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Stahl looked at the man.

"Your armour." He spoke in a deep rather monotone voice. "It is made to be able to be able to twist side to side while still protecting most of your body." He walked around to Hector.

Stahl didn't quite know how to respond. He just looked surprised.

"This is Reinhardt." Hector said gesturing to the man who now stood beside him.

"Pleasure making your acquaintance." Reinhardt said taking a small bow. He seemed pleasant and well mannered. Very formal. "Your name is?" He inquired.

"This is the newcomer, Stahl." Hector introduced the young cavalier to Reinhardt and those who were hovering around.

"Wow another new kid!" another younger man popped out from behind Hector. "I'm Gray!" He said excitedly. Gray didn't seem to be nearly as beaten up as all the other people around them.

He had darker skin than both Reinhardt and Hector, who are really quite pale. He wore a green band on his head that pushed most of his dark black hair out of his face.

A smaller girl hid behind him.

He gave Stahl a warm smile, probably the most welcoming greeting he's gotten since he got here. Hector was friendly, but he had a hint of sorrow that Stahl hadn't realized till now. Gray didn't have any of that sorrow. "Do you think we could be friends?"

His offer of friendship was rather sudden but comforting.

Stahl nodded.

"YES." Gray seemed so happy about this.

"Gray here." Hector said looking at the excited teen, "Was the most recent newcomer before you. Only been here for a few days. Before him, we had Nino."

"Wait," Stahl looked back at Hector, "How long have you been here?"

"A long time." That's all he would say on the topic.

Stahl twisted to look behind Gray.

"Oh!" Gray said stepping aside. There was a rather small girl. Maybe only about 14. Her green hair was frizzed and her dress was tattered. She seemed nervous and stuck close to gray. "This is Nino." He introduced the girl.

"Nice to meet you." She said a bit hesitant.

"Nino came only a few hours before Gray. So she hasn't been here long either." Hector told Stahl.

Stahl became a bit unnerved about the fact that there was a young girl in this wretched place.

Stahl felt a sudden shiver throughout his body. He felt like he was being watched. He looked around, didn't see anyone watching him, but he still felt someone's cold gaze drilling holes into his being.

"You okay?" Gray asked, noticing Stahl's discomfort.

"Y-yeah. Just got a shiver is all." His stomach rumbled loudly. "So, when do we get to eat?"

"I'm not sure you will eat today." Reinhardt stated bluntly. There was no hint of joking in his voice.

"Wait, you kidding right?" Stahl gave a nervous laugh.

"Unfortunately, no." Hector said looking around and back to Stahl. "There often is not enough food for everyone. People eat in shifts."

A rat suddenly scuttled under out from one of the nearby doors and a frenzy broke out. Not of people running away, but instead, people trying to kill it.

"If you kill it, you keep it!" Hector explained.

The rat scurried under the table and Stahl immediately pulled up his legs wanting nothing to do with the rodent. It scuttled out from under Hector and into the shadows of a nearby by door. There was a chorus of disgruntled noises.

Suddenly there was a loud stomp, accompanied with an ugly crunch and the rattling of chains.

Nino hid herself behind Gray again.

Many people went quiet, others pretended not to even notice or acknowledge the man in the doorway. But everyone knew he was there.