Paradise

Irvine's tail-hair arrow pierces the cockatrice's breath and mouth, killing it, and Rickert is left uneasy. He knows apostles as man-eaters, yet one has just spared his life. Passengers around him whisper that Griffith fills the reborn Band of the Falcon with such creatures, and Rickert begins to question what his old comrade has become since resurfacing at the Tower of Conviction.

Once Irvine helps clear the fallen tree, the convoy rolls on. As he and Erica mend the crossbow string, Rickert broods on Griffith, recalling his appearance on the Hill of Swords beside Zodd, a presence both familiar and changed, and admitting he never looked into the rumors because caring for Erica came first. A flock of harpies breaks his reverie, and he shoots them down, earning Laban's praise. Rickert recognizes Laban from the Hundred-Year War, though Laban is startled to learn this young man once served in the original Falcons.

Trading war stories that now feel quaint against the present chaos, the travelers emerge onto open plain scattered with strange crystal shapes. Laban names them Wing Stones, raised to repel evil, and points out the World Spiral Tree glowing white where Ganishka once stood, its branches spreading. The refugees gaze in wonder as the land turns almost utopian, its crops and blossoms endlessly ready to harvest, widely believed to be blessed by the tree. Ahead lies their goal, Falconia, a haven where Laban says people may simply live as people.

Irvine kills the cockatrice, deepening Rickert's unease about apostles serving Griffith. Rickert recalls Griffith's return at the Hill of Swords with Zodd. He shoots down harpies and is recognized by Laban as a former Falcon. The convoy passes the Wing Stones and the glowing World Spiral Tree on the way to Falconia.

The twenty-two-page "Paradise" ran in Young Animal issue one on 28 December 2012 as part of the Fantasia Arc. Griffith and Zodd appear only in Rickert's remembered flashbacks.